//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: Home is Where the Heart is // by smileyfacer //------------------------------// As the warm rays of the sun struck the orange face of a pegasus filly, she quickly hid under her covers to hide from the brutal light. But even under the Wonderbolt cover, the rays continued to shine brightly unto Scootaloo's face. She groaned loudly, and threw her covers off with great energy. Scootaloo blinked her eyes several times to make the blur disappear from them, and slowly she saw how the common room was empty. Suddenly frantic about being late for school, she tumbled out of the bed, getting caught in the massive cover that displayed a Wonderbolt, ever so proudly posing heroically. Scootaloo yelled loudly as she saw no way of getting out of the evil trap, and tore violently at the fabric. "Get me outta here!" she cried, still pulling at the cloth. Until she heard a loud rip, and stopped moving altogether. Her heart beated fast, and tears took shape in her eyes as she looked in the darkness, and saw a massive tear in the cover. It was big enough for Scootaloo to crawl through it, and she carefully stepped out of her cave. As she stood in the empty common room, with a big tear in her favorite cover, it seemed to much to bear. The little filly sniffled as she saw where the tear was, right across the noble Wonderbolt, splitting the heroic face in half. "Aw, hay..." she mumbled, and sat down, the day already seemed to matter less and less. She stomped angrily at the whole part of the cover, before gently making her bed, thus that the tear did not show, as she'd just likely get in trouble. The little filly quickly galloped out of the common room and into the hall, where she expected herself to find the rest of the orphans preparing to walk to school with the headmistress. Scootaloo glanced around, seeing nopony around, before she looking straight ahead, only to crash with the brink pink coat of Ms. Sprinkles. The old mare groaned loudly as she was nearly knocked over by the little filly. "Scootaloo! Why are you up?" she exclaimed loudly, and stretched out a helping hoof to Scootaloo. The little filly merely shook her head. "I'm late for school!" she shouted, before the lunch mare blocked her way with a wide smile. "Scootaloo, darling. It's the day of the field trip. They left hours ago." In her morning rush, Scootaloo had forgotten about her detention, and not to mention her little adventure that had caused the detention in the first place. She sighed before glancing at Ms. Sprinkles. "Thanks Ms. Sprinkles. Um, I might've messed up on my bedsheet..." "Oh my, what happened?" Scootaloo couldn't help but smile at the genuine concern of the mare, and made way towards the common rooms. The lunch mare gasped as she saw the tear that Scootaloo showed her. "My my my. Dear Scootaloo, you mustn't rush in the mornings. It's an awful big hole." Ms. Sprinkles said and held up the cover. Her head could just be inside of the tear, and she poked her head through it, making funny faces at Scootaloo. The little filly giggled at the older mare's antics. "I know, but can you fix it before the headmistress gets here?" To all of the ponies living at the orphanage, ms. Sprinkles always seemed like the handymare. Was there a problem that didn't involve cooking of the sorts, she was ready with needle and thread, bandaids or just about anything that could happen when it involved colts and fillies, and this was no exception. "Certainly, but don't you know that she's got some business to do with the mayor?" Scootaloo's eyes widened, and tilted her head in confusion. "What, she's not gonna be here all day?" Ms. Sprinkles shook her head, and quietly folded the cover together in order to avoid the tear growing larger. When done, she motioned Scootaloo closer, and the little filly hopped excitedly towards her. "I think there's somepony waiting for you outside. But don't be too long, I'll stall the headmistress when I can." she said, winking at Scootaloo before gently nudging the filly towards the exit. Scootaloo smiled widely, and galloped as fast as her short legs could carry her towards the hall. She swung the doors open, and gasped loudly when she saw who stood outside. "Hey squirt, ready for a day of flying?" Scootaloo couldn't help but try to calm her nerves. Rainbow Dash explained how she had approached the headmistress about her plan, but was rejected, much to her annoyance. Instead, Ms. Sprinkles had told her that the headmistress would be out all day, and was willing to stall the boss in case she returned earlier. Scootaloo was honored beyond words, that Rainbow Dash was willing to do this for her. Maybe someone did care, after all. Scootaloo now stood on a cloud, right next to Rainbow Dash. Like always, whenever she was training somepony, she had a whistle hung around her neck, a pair of goggles, and a cap placed upon her multicolored mane. "Scootaloo! Now is the time, for you to fly! So get those wings started, and be ready to soar!" she said, puffing her chest and flaring her wings for dramatic effect. Scootaloo tried to smile without showing her obvious fear. Unfortunately, Rainbow picked up on it immediately. "What's wrong, Scoots? Are you scared?" Scootaloo wasn't that afraid of flying. She knew that the mare would pick her up if something went wrong, but the fact of seeing Rainbow Dash's expression when she said her was the fear of her reaction, so she shook her head. "Scootaloo, are you afraid?" Scootaloo glanced at Rainbow Dash, who seemed to understand it. "What of?" she asked, and sat down next to Scootaloo, with a foreleg embracing the filly. "I'm afraid you're gonna think I'm a loser because I'm afraid to disappint you by not flying as well as you the first time I try to fly, and it's really scary, but I know that you'll catch me if I fall and I just really wanna be like you, and be a Wonderbolt, and be the best young flyer in Eques-" "Scootaloo!" The little filly abruptly stopped talking, and glanced at Rainbow Dash with a sheepish smile. "It's all about overcoming your fears. Fear is natural, but don't make it lose your cool," the mare smiled, and ruffled up Scootaloo's mane, "now, I'll go first, and wait for you to jump." Scootaloo took a huge breath and nodded. The cyan mare pulled down her goggles before quickly jumping off the cloud, and did a few corkscrews and loops before gliding quietly about in the blue sky. She turned towards Scootaloo who glared over the edge of the cloud. "You can do it, Scootaloo!" she encouraged, and tried to calm the filly down by flying closer to the cloud she stood upon. "I can do it!" the filly exclaimed, and without further hesitation, she jumped. At first the feeling of weightlessness scared the filly, and her limbs were all over the place as she sprawled about in fear. Her panic caused herself to turn wildly around in the air, scaring Scootaloo even more. The rush of the wind as she fell almost made her go deaf and blind. She could vaguely hear Rainbow Dash shouting over the wind, and the filly struggled to open her eyes. "Spread your wings, Scootaloo! I know you've been training, you've worked so hard on this moment! They're strong enough! They'll make you a Wonderbolt!" Scootaloo gritted her teeth, and tried to spread her wings. For a minute, she could feel the wind against her small wings, and soared for just a second, but the force was too strong, and the wings stood vertical. Scootaloo proceeded to fall. Panic started to clutch her heart, and she looked to Rainbow Dash in fear. "I can't do it!" she whined, and tears started to take shape in her eyes. Partly from the wind stinging them and partly from her disappointment in herself. "Yes, you can! I'm not going to catch you!" "What?!" "I'm not! You have to fly!" Rainbow Dash shouted, and the next thing Scootaloo saw was the mare disappearing out of her sight. She desperately tried to turn her head to regain sight of the mare, but to no avail. Scootaloo, you have to do this! You know you can do it. No, I can't! I'm too weak! I'm gonna die! Use your wings! Scootaloo saw the earth getting closer and closer with every second, and gritted her teeth again. Once again she attempted to open her wings, and groaned as the strong wind struck them again. She could feel the force trying to pull them upwards again, but this time, they didn't. Scootaloo felt how she slowed down, and how the wind now worked with her, instead of against her. The wind was now silent, and Scootaloo soared upon the winds, instead of fighting them. Her eyes slowly opened and she couldn't believe it when she looked at her wings. They weren't flapping, but the feathers rustled slightly as the winds brushed against them. "I knew you could do it, Scootaloo!" Rainbow Dash said, as she came next to the little filly. Suddenly on the verge of tears, Scootaloo smiled widely at the mare. "I thought you'd let me fall..." she mumbled and glanced downwards, as the earth approached the two pegasi at a much more comfortable pace. Rainbow Dash refrained from answering until they landed. Scootaloo's legs and wings seemed to be made out of jelly, as she could barely stand on them. She felt the urge to kiss the ground, but refrained from it when she realized what she just had done. I flied! The achievement was too hard to not brag about, and within a second, Scootaloo were jumping around Rainbow Dash as the experienced flyer removed her goggles. "I flied! I flied! I flied!" Scootaloo said, as if a chant she had learned from Zecora herself. Rainbow Dash wasn't one to be bothered about grammar, but even she had trouble not correcting Scootaloo's words. She decided it didn't matter. She stopped Scootaloo's chant, and instead held the filly tight. "I'll always be here pick you up." she said, her voice thick with emotion. "Thanks." Scootaloo replied, before the cyan mare ended their embrace, coughing slightly. "Ready for a second go?" Scootaloo nodded in excitement, and quickly crawled unto Rainbow Dash's back. A very exhausted Scootaloo returned to the orphanage, and she quickly went inside. She and Rainbow Dash had carefully tried to avoid the gaze of the returning schoolponies and headmistress as they were done with the flight training of today. She quickly galloped into the common room, and smiled as she saw how the tear in her cover was gone. Upon close inspection of the tear, Scootaloo saw just how nice a job Ms. Sprinkles had done with the stitching, that it seemed there never had been a hole in a cover. She suddenly heard the door to the common room open, and dashed under her cover, pretended to sleep. It was the rest of the ponies, going straight to bed after a long day of exploring a major city of Equestria. "Too bad that Scootaloo couldn't stay out of trouble long enough to join us. I bet she would've loved it." she heard one of them say, and smiled slyly under her covers. Pfft, I betcha my day is way better than some stupid field trip! "Whatever, it's not like she's worth bringing anyway." "Shut up! Scootaloo is a cool pony!" One of the ponies snorted. "She's lame. She sleeps with a teddybear, for hays sake! And what about that freakout she had yesterday? She's a weirdo. Not to mention she can't fly!" Scootaloo cringed at the harsh words, and wanted to jump out of bed and show that stupid colt who could fly. She continued to hide under her covers as the conversation about her went on. It seemed that a lot of ponies had thought Scootaloo was strange, and after the show yesterday, they only thought more so. Only one, a filly, she could hear, was the one who defended her. She had never bothered to become friends with the other orphans after she found Applebloom and Sweetiebelle. As silence came, Scootaloo peeked over her covers, and found every other pony dead asleep. She quickly opened her drawer and grabbed Teddy. She had never thought that the other orphans thought so badly of her. She's a weirdo! She's a blank flank! The insults that were thrown behind her back made her accomplishment earlier that day seem meaningless. Just like myself...