Like Winter Skies
Rainbow Dash was flying through the ice cold air, high above the snow covered mountains below her. The athletic pegasus just loved to fly high up into the sky, regardless how cold it was. She lived to fly, to soar into the skies and dive down again, to do tricks while flying or pulling off difficult flight maneuvers. But this time, she wasn’t alone on her trip into the mountains. She looked down on a little orange pegasus filly with a purple mane, who was flying up to her. Scootaloo begged Rainbow Dash forever since she figured out how to fly take her on a flying trip, till the athletic pegasus finally agreed to do it. And now she was here, high up in the mountains, waiting for the filly to catch up to her after each corner.
Since Scootaloo just learned how to fly at all, she was a really slow flyer – unlike Rainbow Dash. It was annoying her that she had to wait for the filly so often, but she knew that the first steps of learning something new were always hard. But it was still annoying her that she took the little filly with her, she just had to stop every time and couldn’t fly at full speed as she was used to. She could hear how the young pegasus was heavily breathing as she came closer to her. “Hey, if I have to always wait for you, you should probably just fly back to Ponyville.” She knew that it was rude of her to say those words to a filly that just learned to fly, but she didn’t care about – In the end, she was here to fly in her time off duty and enjoy herself.
Scootaloo looked up to Rainbow Dash with a sad look on her face as her idol said such words to her. “I … just … can’t fly … faster …” She needed to breathe in between each word or two. She was exhausted from trying to keep up with the speed of the athletic pegasus. “I just … can’t … keep up with … you…” Not yet. She just thought it, but she was sure that, if she just trained hard enough for it, she will be just as good as Rainbow Dash. Her idol just shrugged and flew away while Scootaloo tried to follow her. This whole flying thing was harder than she thought. But she knew that she wouldn’t give up her dream, even if it probably was a mistake to go flying with Rainbow Dash in the mountains. The cold posed the greatest problem to her since she was never flying in such cold temperatures before.
Scootaloo could see Rainbow Dash disappearing in the distance and tried to fly faster to catch up to her, she tried her best to follow the cyan pegasus, but Rainbow Dash was flying too fast for her. Scootaloo caught herself as she thought that it probably would have been a better idea to ask Fluttershy to fly with her first. The timid pegasus would probably have waited for her and would have cared about her flying skills. And Fluttershy wouldn’t have taken her to the mountains. Scootaloo shook her head which caused her to lose control over her course for a moment, but she caught herself within a second again. She felt like she shouldn’t be here, in this height or even in the mountains at all. She just was flying around Ponyville on a low altitude before, and now she was flying in the mountains.
But now she was here and it was of no use to lament about it since she didn’t want to disappoint her idol. Also it would have turned all the time she begged Rainbow to take her with her into wasted time. She suddenly realized that she lost Rainbow and was lost. She had no idea where she was, nor how she had to fly to get back to Ponyville, and she felt a sudden panic rising up deep within her as she realized this. She didn’t think as she flew as fast as she could, checking the entire horizon for the cyan colored pegasus, but without any result. Scootaloo could feel her heart beating as fast as possible and the adrenaline rushing through her veins as she randomly flew around, looking for Rainbow.
The young filly could feel the ice cold wind under her skin and fur as a harsh breeze came up. She couldn’t fly anymore in this cold and had to land. She decided to go down next to a small spot covered by some large rocks, which protected the spot from the cold wind. The thin layer of snow on the ground didn’t pose a problem for her to land. She looked one last time to the sky, checking it for any sign of Rainbow Dash, but even now, she had no luck. The athletic pegasus was nowhere to be seen. She lay on the ground, rolling herself up to a ball and closing her eyes. There was nothing that she could do without any idea where she was, she couldn’t even try to walk back to Ponyville. She sighed and threw a last look to the sky, as a snow flake dropped on her nose.
A few peaks away, Rainbow Dash was hovering in place in wait for Scootaloo. She looked to the sky and let out a sigh. She would never take Scootaloo for a trip again if she wouldn’t learn how to fly faster. She was waiting for a while now, and got nervous. It never took Scootaloo that long to close up to her, and she started to become worried about the young filly. It probably wasn’t her best idea to take an inexperienced pegasus filly on a trip into the mountains. She slowly flew back to where she came from, keeping an eye out for the filly. The wind kept getting harsher by the minute and soon she would have to return to Ponyville.
As she was looking for Scootaloo, Rainbow was now almost sure that she had lost her. She felt guilty because she was probably flying too fast for the filly to keep up with her. And the upcoming snow didn’t make it easier for her to spot the filly. She flew around for a long time, but she couldn’t find any trace of Scootaloo. The sun was already setting and the darkness of the night was growing while large flocks of snow made it almost impossible for Rainbow to fly. But then she knew that she couldn’t return to Ponyville without Scootaloo. What would the townsfolk say? What would her friends think of her? She had to find the filly again, but she had to land now since there was too much snow falling down and clinching on her wings, and the cold of the snow, the night and the wind forced her to go down.
But when Rainbow couldn’t fly anymore in this weather, she knew that Scootaloo couldn’t fly by any chance. She went looking for the filly by foot now. She walked around, as a formation of some rocks caught the pegasus’ attention. Rainbow thought that Scootaloo might have found a place that would protect her from the weather. While she was walking over to the rocks, the wind and snow just intensified. When she finally reached the rocks, the weather was too harsh to continue searching. But as she stepped between the rocks she knew that it wasn’t necessary anymore. Scootaloo was lying between the rocks, rolled up with her eyes closed.
Scootaloo looked one last time up into the night sky, but she could only see the falling snow through the rocks and occasionally a star sparkling through the snowflakes. She sighed and closed her eyes. She thought that this was probably the end, alone in the night, out in the mountains. If only she hadn’t asked Rainbow Dash to take her with her on a trip. She wished that she could be at home in a warm bed, with a blanket over her. For a moment she thought that her wish came true, as something warm covered her up. She opened her eyes again to see a well-known face smiling at her.
“Rainbow Dash …?” Her voice was just a whisper. “How did you …?” She was interrupted by the other pegasus, who put a hoof on her mouth. “I’m here and you’re here. That is all that counts right now.” Scootaloo could feel how some tears filled her eyes as she pressed her face in the rainbow colored mane of her friend. “I thought it was the end …” She whispered in Rainbows mane. “That it all would be over …” Rainbow just looked at the little filly, placing a hoof around her. “Hey, I wouldn’t leave you behind. And when we’re back in Ponyville, I’ll show you how to fly!” She could see how Scootaloo lifted her face from her mane, and she could see the tears in her eyes.
“Really? You would do that?” The athletic pegasus just smiled. “Yep, I would do that.” Scootaloo kept quiet and cuddled up to Rainbow Dash. She could feel a warmth in her heart like she never felt before. Was this how it was to have a family? She didn’t know and thought about till she slept in. She would never have a real answer, but she thought that the famous pegasus would be the closest to a family she could have. “Rainbow Dash”, she whispered before she slept in, “I wish you were my big sister …” She closed her eyes and drifted away into her dreams, leaving the other pegasus looking at the filly with a smile on her face, while a small tear rolled down her face.
And as the dawn came, the snowstorm was gone, a thick layer of snow covered the mountains now. They took off to fly back to Ponyville, but this time, Rainbow was adapting her speed to Scootaloos, who was flying right next to her. They didn’t say anything, but they both knew that this little adventure changed the relationship between them.