Natalya groaned when a ringing blared in her ears. Turning over in her bed toward the nearby nightstand and blearily opening her eyes, she saw the infernal alarm clock that she requested from the night before, chiming away at her sanity. She raised one of her claws and let it drop onto the clock, putting an end to the noise.
Now that silence had returned, Natalya continued lying in bed, barely moving a muscle. However, after a moment, she groaned loudly and began stirring herself awake. As much as she would have liked to return to her slumber, she had things to do. Another groan later, Natalya rolled off the bed and onto her legs.
Keeping her hind legs situated, Natalya slowly stretched out with her claws, letting them slide across the floor. Her front half sank closer to the floor while her back arched upwards, similar to how a cat would stretch. She moaned softly, hearing and feeling her bones pop and her kinks work out.
Now more awake than drowsy, she moved on to doing her morning routine of stretches and exercises. Just because she was traveling did not mean she could slack off on her training. Yesterday had thrown off her schedule, and with how much pony food she had, delicious as it was, it also meant she had extra calories to burn.
Her workout lasted for around half an hour before she called it quits. Standing back up and now fully awake, she moved over to the window to open it and proceeded onto the small balcony.
Spike had given her a room with a great view, allowing her to see more than half of Ponyville. It was still pretty early in the morning, but Natalya could see a fair amount of ponies out on the streets. Most of them probably were the ones who had shops and businesses that they had to get ready before the rest of town woke up.
Natalya only spent a few minutes taking in the sights before she started to turn back into her room. However, she paused when she saw a familiar rainbow trail zip through the sky.
Natalya quickly zeroed in and watched Rainbow Dash fly from cloud to cloud, making them disappear with a buck of her hooves. There were a few other pegasi doing the same thing, but Rainbow was easily clearing her section of the sky faster than the others.
Natalya poised to fly toward Rainbow, but she froze when a grappling hook suddenly shot up in front of her and grabbed onto the railing of the balcony. She leaned forward to see who dared to intrude, and a pink box on top of a pink mane appeared in her vision.
Natalya sighed and backed away. “What are you doing, Pinkie?”
“Good morning, Natalya!” Pinkie greeted, jumping up and landing on the balcony in front of the griffon, the box on her head barely budging despite all the movement. Pointing to the box, she explained, “I thought you and the others would like some tasty breakfast treats from Sugarcube Corner!”
Not wanting to turn down free food, Natalya nodded. “I guess I could go for a bite, but did you really have to climb up to my window? Why didn’t you bother one of the others?”
“Well, when I checked Gilda’s room, she was still asleep. I don’t think she would’ve appreciated me waking her up, considering the last time I did this sort of thing for Twilight and Spike, who, by the way, don’t want me knocking on their windows as well.”
Natalya rolled her eyes. “Gee, I wonder why…”
“I know, right?”
Not wanting to continue this conversation, Natalya reached toward the box to grab some of whatever Pinkie brought, but her claw was promptly batted away by a hoof.
“Hey!” Natalya cried in a miffed tone.
“Not here! We should eat this in the dining room so that we can share it with the others.”
Natalya frowned. “I just need one quick bite. I saw Rainbow flying around, so I want to catch up to her.”
Pinkie shook her head. “Rainbow is working now, so you probably should not disturb her.”
“But all she’s doing is kicking clouds. How long does that take?”
“Not long, because she’s super fast, but there are loads of other stuff she has to do like bringing rain to all the farms as well as all sorts of boring paperwork.”
Natalya huffed. “So in other words, I have to wait for a chance to get her to train me… again.”
“Aww, don’t worry, Rainbow will have time for us a bit later. She’ll come find us when she’s done.” Pinkie started pronking toward the door, the box still somehow affixed to her mane. “Come on, let’s eat! I’m starving! I only had a dozen cupcakes before I came over!”
With her breakfast bouncing away, Natalya followed Pinkie out of her room and down the stairs. Whether it was Pinkie’s weird sense thing or just because she was familiar with the castle’s layout, Pinkie led Natalya into a large dining room without any trouble.
Taking up about half the room was a long, rectangular table covered with a pristine, white tablecloth capable of seating a great number of guests. However, Pinkie headed right for the nearby corner where a smaller round table stood that could fit around six to eight.
With a flick of her head, the box Pinkie was holding flew up into the air and landed in the center of the table. Pinkie then promptly pried the box open, pulled out a cupcake, and stuffed the entire pastry inside her mouth.
As Pinkie moaned very loudly with delight over her sweet treat, Natalya peered into the box to make her breakfast selection. The box was filled to the brim with a variety of cupcakes, cookies, donuts, and scones. Based on Gilda’s and the other ponies’ words, Pinkie and the Cakes were very capable bakers, and it showed. Each item looked just as good as the next, making it hard for her to decide.
A few moments later, Natalya finally picked out a blueberry scone with her talons and promptly bit into it. As expected, the pastry was one of the sweetest things she had ever tasted, and she decided that going to find Rainbow could wait for a bit.
“Morning,” Spike greeted, entering the room right as Natalya wiped out her scone. When he noticed the box of goodies on the table, he perked up and immediately rushed over. “Oh hey, you brought breakfast! Thanks, Pinkie!”
“You're welcome, Spike!” Pinkie chirped back. “Since Gilda and Natalya are staying here, I thought it would be nice to treat everypony to a nice, yummy Sugarcube Corner breakfast!”
“Well, I’m certainly not complaining.” Spike grabbed a glazed donut from the box and stuffed it into his mouth. “Saves me from making breakfast for everypony,” he added with a full mouth.
“So where’s Gilda? I’m so excited to see how she likes the stuff the Cakes and I made!”
As if on cue, the dining room door opened again. This time, Twilight and Gilda, the last of the castle’s current inhabitants, strolled in. Although, to be accurate, only Twilight strolled in with a smile on her face and a warm greeting to everyone else.
Gilda’s eyes were barely opened, and she groaned while she slogged over to the group, her legs dragging along the floor. Sitting down at the table, she let out another loud groan before letting her face smack into the table with a heavy thump.
“So, Gilda, how was your friendship lesson with Twilight?” Pinkie asked cheerfully.
Gilda groaned again and feebly raised her claws toward Pinkie’s neck.
Twilight looked at the slumped Gilda, as though just noticing the griffon’s lethargy. “Um, maybe I kept her up a bit too late.”
“You think?” Spike snarked. “Not everypony can survive on books like you, Twilight. I thought I told you to take it easy on Gilda.”
“You did. I just…” Twilight glanced away and lightly tapped her forehooves together. “I forgot.”
Spike rolled his eyes. “So, uh, what should we do about Gilda? Wait, is she even moving?”
“I got it!” Pinkie grabbed a cupcake from the box and a small bottle from somewhere inside her mane. She opened the bottle with her mouth and turned it over the cupcake, drizzling a thick, red liquid onto the pastry. Once the cupcake was sufficiently coated, Pinkie set the bottle down and trotted across the table toward Gilda. She then not-so-gently opened Gilda’s beak and shoved the cupcake inside.
“Really, Pinkie?” Twilight asked with a deadpan face.
Pinkie snickered. “Yep!”
Twilight sighed. Without a word, she disappeared in a burst of magenta light, only to reappear a few seconds later with a glass of milk floating beside her.
“So, what exactly is happening now?” Natalya asked.
“You’ll see…” Spike informed, watching Gilda closely.
Gilda’s eyes suddenly shot wide open, and she sat upright immediately. With a roar, she opened her beak wide, releasing a burst of flame out of her mouth.
“What… How…” Natalya glanced at the bottle on the table and got a better look on the label. “Seriously? Hot sauce?”
“My special brand!” Pinkie proudly declared.
Twilight rolled her eyes and floated the milk toward Gilda. “Here, Gilda, milk is the best neutralizer for spicy foods.”
Gilda quickly snatched the milk out of Twilight’s magic and drained it in a matter of seconds. Slamming the glass down on the table and panting heavily, she glared at Pinkie. “What the heck, Pinkie?!”
“Sorry, Gilda,” Pinkie apologized, even though she had a hoof over her mouth and a few snickers escaped her.
Gilda huffed angrily. “Pinkie, I was kept up all night by Twilight! I’m not in the mood for pranks right now!”
“Um, I would like to apologize for that, just saying,” Twilight managed to squeeze in.
“Sorry, Gilda, but I needed to wake you up!” Pinkie explained.
“Couldn’t you have thought of something else?!” Gilda argued, still fuming.
Pinkie smiled uneasily. “Sorry, Gilda. The hot sauce was the first thing that came to my mind. I wanted to wake you up because I was so excited that we’re going to spend more time with each other today. Guess I got a bit carried away.”
Gilda groaned. “Yeah, right… A bit… Fine, I’ll let it slide, considering I owe you, but just be more careful. Next time something like this happens, do something else like splashing water on me or getting me a cup of coffee.”
“Yeah… We don’t keep coffee around,” Spike informed. “Don’t want Pinkie getting into it.”
“Why would…” Gilda stopped with her beak agape. After a moment of standing still, she slowly nodded and sat back down. “Okay, maybe hot sauce isn’t so bad.”
Pinkie folded her forehooves across her chest and pouted. “The Cakes won’t even let me have decaf.”
“I don’t blame them.” Gilda selected a scone from the box and munched on it. “You’re already hyper enough as is. Things would get pretty freaky if you did manage to get some caffeine in you.”
“Like what?” Pinkie asked, her head tilted in curiosity.
“I already blocked that part of my mind for sanity purposes.”
“That’s weird, Rainbow often tells me the exact same thing.”
“Speaking of Rainbow, when is she going to get off work?” Natalya asked. Now that her hunger was sated, she was eager to get to training.
“Oh, today is only a half day for her,” Twilight informed. “Actually, she should be done really soon.”
“Really? I don’t remember her mentioning that last night.”
“Twilight just tries to memorize the schedules for all of our friends, which is totally not creepy at all,” Spike answered.
“No, it’s not!” Twilight indignantly protested. “There’s nothing wrong with knowing the optimal times to visit our friends as well as making it easy to plan group activities.”
Natalya stood up and headed for the door. “Well, I heard Rainbow’s pretty much done with work, so I’m going to go see if I can find her.”
“Aww, just stay with us, Natalya. Since you and Gilda are rooming in the castle, I bet that she’ll come here as soon as she’s done. Besides, we still have plenty of tasty treats,” Pinkie said in a sing-song voice, holding the box of sugary goods up for Natalya to see.
Natalya stared at the tempting treats. Her eyes glanced back to the door for a second before she let out a huge sigh and returned to the table. Ignoring Pinkie’s giggles, she snatched a jelly-filled donut from the box.
Stupid, tasty pony food, Natalya cursed while she spitefully enjoyed her second pastry. She usually made do with a simple and light breakfast, but with all the delicious, and more importantly free, stuff Pinkie brought, she could not help but indulge herself.
The sweet breakfast continued with light conversation passed between everyone. Even with Pinkie’s voracious appetite and everyone else having at least two helpings, they had only eaten about half the box’s contents before the dining room door opened once again.
“Hey, Rainbow,” Gilda greeted, being the first to notice the pegasus lazily fly toward them.
“Sup, everypony.” Rainbow’s gaze swiftly focused on the open box sitting on the table. “Oh, cool, I’m starving!”
“So, Rainbow,” Natalya began. “When are we—”
“Can’t talk. Eating.” Rainbow rushed over to the table and immediately began stuffing her face.
Natalya grumbled under her breath and chose to take out her frustration by eating yet another pastry.
After Rainbow wolfed down two donuts in ten seconds flat, Twilight asked, “So, Rainbow, how was work?”
Rainbow shrugged and swallowed before replying, “Meh, nothing much. Busted some clouds and then another round of helping the new weather manager get up to speed. I’m telling you, the pony they got to replace me is so forgetful.”
“Replace you?” Natalya repeated. “So what, you got a promotion or something?”
“Nah, I’m just switching to a part time position. Don’t have as much time anymore now that I got Wonderbolt training.”
Natalya’s eyes bulged when some food went down the wrong throat. She coughed and hacked loudly for a few moments until her airways were clear. Staring at Rainbow, she cried out, “You’re a Wonderbolt?!”
Rainbow smirked. “Yep.”
Natalya glared at Gilda. “Why didn’t you tell me?!”
Gilda shrugged. “You didn’t ask.”
“In Gilda’s defense,” Rainbow added before Natalya got the urge to strangle someone, “I’m not part of the main team… yet. I’m on the reserves. Still, it means I’m getting close, and who knows, maybe I’ll be an actual Wonderbolt by as soon as next season.”
“Should’ve known you were on the best flying team in Equestria. After all, you somehow were able to beat me,” Natalya begrudgingly admitted. Honestly, she was surprised that Rainbow was not on the main roster already. From what she saw at the Equestria Games and from her own race against the pegasus, Rainbow could fly circles around the current Wonderbolts.
“Aww, that’s a nice… sorta nice thing to say, Natalya,” Pinkie cooed.
“It’s not a compliment. It’s an observation.”
“So, what’s the plan for today?” Gilda asked.
“I have to go back to Sugarcube Corner soon,” Pinkie replied. “But you’re coming with me, Gilda! I’m going to be baking all day, and in the meantime, you can watch and learn all sorts of stuff from me and the Cakes.” She gasped and grabbed Gilda with both of her forehooves. “You can be like my assistant!”
“Er, sure,” Gilda agreed, backing away from the uncomfortably close Pinkie. “Helping you out in the kitchen is the least I could do with all the stuff you’re doing for me, and being able to learn at the same time sounds like a win-win to me.”
“What about you then?” Natalya asked, her gaze on Rainbow. “You free now?”
“Don’t you remember that I’m hanging out with Scootaloo today?” Rainbow reminded with a slight frown.
“I do, but doesn’t she have school or something?”
“Yeah, but it’s parent teacher conference week. She gets out at lunchtime today.”
Natalya frowned. “But that’s like two hours away. What are you doing until then?”
“Well, I…” Rainbow paused. “Er, I usually take a nap after work, but…”
“You better choose your next words carefully,” Natalya warned in a low, grave voice. “I’m really getting tired of you putting me off.”
“Hey, don’t you take that tone with me!” Rainbow shot back.
“Now, now, settle down, you two,” Twilight directed. “We can settle this without things getting out of hoof. Rainbow, I know you’re probably tired since you just got out of work, but from what I’ve gathered, you can still give Natalya training advice and directions without exerting yourself too much.”
“Do I have to?” Rainbow whined.
“You did promise her.”
Rainbow groaned. “I guess I did. I still think trying to teach her the Sonic Rainboom is a waste of time, but I don’t want to look like a flake.”
Natalya grinned. “About time something goes my way.”
“As for you, Natalya,” Twilight spoke up again, her gaze on the griffon. “Do remember that Rainbow is giving you her free time to help you. You should try to be more understanding and grateful to her. Take it easy on her, and don’t forget to not wear her out with her time with Scootaloo later.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll keep those things in mind.”
Twilight nodded happily and then turned to Gilda. “And that’s another lesson in friendship, Gilda: mediating for your friends. If you want, we can discuss—”
Gilda quickly got up. “No! No more lessons!” She wrapped one of her arms around Pinkie’s body and beat a hasty retreat toward the door. “Come on, Pinkie! We’re leaving!”
“Bye, guys!” Pinkie waved as Gilda rushed out of the room with her.
Twilight, Rainbow, and Natalya sat silently, still eyeing the door with varying amounts of amusement and confusion. An audible crunch made them turn to Spike as the dragon nibbled on a cookie.
“Told you to take it easy on her, Twilight,” Spike casually remarked, taking another bite of his cookie.
Shortly after Gilda and Pinkie fled the castle, Rainbow led Natalya to the park for their training.
The park was several blocks long with trees and patches of flowers dotting the grassy landscape. Pathways stretched from each midpoint of the park and intersected with each other in the middle in a cross shape. Plenty of benches were set up along the pathways for ponies to sit down and admire the scenery.
“Alright, don’t forget that I’m helping you only until school is out,” Rainbow reminded as they landed in a corner of the park where there were no ponies around to disturb them. “Once Scootaloo gets here, I’m all hers, got it?”
“Yeah, yeah, got it,” Natalya replied in a bored tone. “Hopefully, I’ll at least get something for me to practice on alone until you have more time. That way, I won’t have to pester you as much.”
“Then let’s hope we’re both lucky enough for that to happen…”
Ignoring Rainbow’s remark, Natalya asked, “So, what’s the first thing I need to do?”
“Um, you well… You fly really fast.”
“Well, that’s obvious. What else?”
“Uh, you have to be really, really fast?” Rainbow offered, sheepishly grinning.
Natalya stared at Rainbow with a deadpan face. “Are you serious?”
“Hey, I told you that I don’t really know how the Sonic Rainboom works! I just know that it happens when I go really fast!”
“Well, there’s gotta be something else. Some technique, something to do with the wind, anything?”
Rainbow slowly shook her head. “Uh, no, none that I can think of. All that I can come up with is go really—”
Natalya shoved her face into Rainbow’s. “Stop telling me to just go really fast!”
“Okay, okay, sheesh,” Rainbow grumbled, backing away from the loud Natalya. “I guess you could… Er, wait that won’t work… How about, uh, no… G-give me a moment!”
Natalya gritted her teeth, and her talons dug into the grass. “Rainbow… I’m going to…" She closed her eyes and slowly took a calming breath. “Fine… Whatever… Just make it quick…” she muttered and then walked away.
I waited this long just for this?! Natalya screamed inside, punctuating it with a stomp. She had not even started training, and she was already getting a headache. She could not believe that Rainbow was just trying to laze through teaching the Sonic Rainboom. It was just as bad as Rainbow trying to keep on putting it off.
But as much as Natalya wanted to just storm off or berate Rainbow some more, she knew that she had to restrain herself so as not to drive Rainbow away.
Natalya continued to take deep breaths, feeling her headache subside with each moment. By the time she began to calm down, she felt a tapping on her shoulder and turned around to find Rainbow with an uneasy smile on her face.
“Er, hey, Natalya,” Rainbow said cautiously. “I know this whole training thing hasn’t gone exactly as you expected.”
“That’s an understatement,” Natalya uttered bitterly.
Rainbow winced. “I guess that’s kind of true. Well, to be honest, I—”
“Spare me the sympathy. Tell me you thought of something that will help.”
Rainbow slowly nodded. “Okay, yeah. So the first time I did the Sonic Rainboom was during a race in Junior Speedsters Flight Camp.”
“Wait, isn’t that the same flying camp where you first met Gilda?”
“Um, yeah, it was.”
“But… but that means that you were just a filly back then… You mean to tell me that you’ve been able to do the Sonic Rainboom since you were a filly?” Natalya was finding it hard to believe that it was very much possible that she could have lost to a very young Rainbow.
“Well… yes and no. While I did do my first Sonic Rainboom as a filly, it would take years until I was able to do it again. My second one was during the Best Young Flyer Competition, which was a bit after Gilda first visited me in Ponyville. After that, I’ve been able to pull off the Sonic Rainboom pretty much anytime I wanted.”
Squashing the unease that was growing in her, Natalya asked, “So what does this all mean for me?”
“Both times were when I was in Cloudsdale. Now, Cloudsdale is a pegasus city not too far from here, and it floats high up in the clouds. I pulled off my Sonic Rainbooms by starting from there and then diving all the way down to the point where I almost hit the ground.”
Natalya nodded in understanding. “So in other words, I need to do a steep dive from really high up. But what about when we were racing? It didn’t seem like you need to make that big of a dive.”
Rainbow shrugged. “I guess it got easier the more times I did it.”
“Well, at least you gave me something to start with. I don’t think I ever tried a steep dive for so long. Anything else I should know?”
“Um…” Rainbow’s mouth scrunched up in thought. “I’ll let you know if something comes up.”
Natalya rolled her eyes. “Figures… Might as well work with what I got.” She launched herself straight up into the air, with Rainbow following after her a second later. The two of them rapidly gained altitude until Rainbow called out to Natalya that they were high enough.
Able to see the entirety of Ponyville as well as miles of the surrounding forests and fields below her, Natalya glanced over at Rainbow. When Rainbow looked in her direction, Natalya nodded at the pegasus and tucked in her wings.
Natalya angled herself so that her beak was pointed straight down as gravity took over and began dragging her down. She soon had to narrow her eyes into slits to help shield them from the stinging winds blowing into her face.
Down and down she fell as the ground rapidly drew closer, but even though Natalya could feel that she was indeed, in Rainbow’s words, going really fast, she had no idea if she was doing things correctly or not. There was no explosion or loud bang that would have marked the beginning of her own Sonic Rainboom.
When Natalya was a few seconds away from cratering into the ground, she spread her wings and pulled upwards, allowing her to glide a short distance and land safely.
Natalya breathed a small sigh, only slightly winded from her descent. She did not feel anything special or different from her normal flying during her dive. While a tad disappointed, she reminded herself that expecting some sort of miracle on her first try was naive thinking. She knew she was in for some hard work, and she was ready to keep on trying until she got something.
“So not bad for your first try,” Rainbow commented, landing beside Natalya. “You were going pretty fast, but not fast enough.”
Natalya sighed more heavily this time. “You know, just telling me to go faster is not helping.”
“Sorry, but that’s the only thing I can think of. I was following you at about the same speed, and I wasn’t feeling it.”
“And what would it be?”
“Oh, it is…” Rainbow blinked. “Oh, I just thought of something else.”
“Do tell,” Natalya said sarcastically, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.
“Well, every time I’m about to do a Sonic Rainboom, I feel something pushing back on me, kind of like wind resistance but more like a wall… But not a hard one, like more soft and stretchy.”
“So this is new information that you just so happened to remember?” Natalya asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Hey, don’t give me that look. I’m pretty much winging it trying to teach you since I never thought about teaching the Sonic Rainboom to anypony. Just be glad that I remembered this thing after only one run.”
Biting back a need to criticize again, Natalya instead asked, “So what do I do if I feel this wall? Go faster?”
“Pretty much. Every time I punched through that, the Sonic Rainboom went off.”
“Good to know I have something to shoot for now,” Natalya remarked before taking off once again.
Natalya continued to do dive after dive, but she never felt a hint of the so-called wall Rainbow mentioned. With Rainbow unable to come up with any more advice, Natalya experimented with all sorts of wing flaps, angles, and other methods that might help increase her speed, but it still was not enough.
After numerous attempts, Natalya settled down on the ground for a breather, but that was interrupted when she heard a buzzing sound. It started off faint, but it was steadily growing louder. Turning to the source of the noise, Natalya spotted a familiar orange shape rapidly coming toward them, and she groaned, realizing her time with Rainbow was up.
Scootaloo was riding on a blue scooter with red wheels, and only a tiny bit of her magenta mane could be seen peeking out of the purple, white-striped helmet she was wearing. The buzzing sound was actually coming from Scootaloo’s wings as the filly rapidly beat them as a means of propelling herself on the scooter.
“Well, Scootaloo is here,” Rainbow remarked, waving at the filly rushing toward them. “You’re free to hang out with us, if you want.”
“Nah, I’m just going to keep on training. While your methods are questionable, you at least gave me enough info for me to work by myself.”
Rainbow shrugged. “Suit yourself, but at least stay long enough to say hi to the squirt.”
Natalya tsked. “Fine, whatever.”
“Hey, Rainbow Dash. Hey, Natalya,” Scootaloo enthusiastically greeted as her scooter skidded to a stop near the two flyers. She hastily parked her scooter to the side, hung her helmet on one of the handles, and rushed back to Rainbow and Natalya.
“Hey, squirt.” Rainbow smiled and ruffled the filly’s mane.
“Sup,” Natalya curtly greeted with a blank face.
“You ready for a whole afternoon with the most awesome flyer ever?” Rainbow asked.
“You bet, Rainbow!” Scootaloo cheered. “Is Natalya joining us?”
Natalya shook her head. “You and Rainbow go do whatever you two plan to do. I just stayed to say hi before I go train some more.” She leaned slightly toward Rainbow and whispered, “That good enough? Can I go now?”
Rainbow gave an unamused look at Natalya. “Yeah, yeah, go ahead. Scootaloo and I will be hanging around here. Just don’t get into trouble,” she said with a dismissive hoof wave.
Glad that she did not have any babysitting duties, Natalya flew to the opposite end of the park to continue her training. With a routine to work on and something to shoot for, she just needed time to practice and refine her technique.
Her routine of flying up and down resumed, and she planned to keep at it until Rainbow was free again. However, she soon found out that it was going to be a bit tougher to stay on her schedule than she thought.
While she was certainly no stranger to training, she at least kept things interesting with a variety of workouts. Flying up and down with little changes for what felt like hours was getting boring. Annoying as Rainbow was, Natalya even began to miss the incessant “go faster” advice that the pegasus constantly told her. At least that helped distract her from the monotony.
Eventually, Natalya decided to take another break, both from her exercise and her boredom. Cutting her latest dive early, she flew back across the park and found Rainbow and Scootaloo right where she left them.
“Keep it up! You’re doing great!” Rainbow shouted as Natalya watched from a distance.
Scootaloo jumped up into the air. Her eyes were clenched shut, and her face was scrunched up in concentration as she rapidly beat her wings until they were nothing more than a blur. However, despite all of her efforts, Scootaloo only managed to hover in the air for a few seconds before collapsing down onto the ground with a frustrated groan.
Rainbow instantly moved toward Scootaloo and helped the filly up. “Hey, nice try there, squirt. You actually got a bit higher this time.”
“Thanks, Rainbow,” Scootaloo replied half-heartedly.
“You feel like trying again, or do you need a break?”
Scootaloo took a deep breath. “I’m going again.”
Seeing that Rainbow was obviously trying to teach Scootaloo how to fly, Natalya continued to watch the pair. Rainbow would constantly shout out encouragements and tips as Scootaloo tried her best, but every attempt ended with the filly falling to the ground a few seconds later.
During one of Scootaloo’s attempts, Natalya landed right next to Rainbow with a soft thump, but the pegasus did not even spare her a glance. All of Rainbow’s attention was on Scootaloo.
After watching Scootaloo fail a couple more times, Natalya uttered out loud, “She can’t really fly, huh?”
Rainbow whirled around immediately with the fiercest scowl Natalya had ever seen on the pegasus. “Don’t you dare, Natalya…” she warned in a low voice.
“Chill, dude, it was just an observation,” Natalya replied, unperturbed by Rainbow’s attempts to melt her with her scathing glares.
An “Oof” from Scootaloo made them both turn to see Scootaloo sprawled out on the grass once again.
“You alright there, squirt?” Rainbow asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Scootaloo promptly started flapping her wings again.
“So I might not know that much about ponies, but can’t fillies around Scootaloo’s age fly already?” Natalya asked quietly.
“Why do you want to know?” Rainbow asked warily.
“Just curious.” Upon seeing Rainbow glare at her with suspicion, she added, “Don’t worry, I’ll behave. I even said hi to her, like you asked, remember?”
Rainbow continued to eye Natalya for a few more seconds before she let out a sigh and focused back on Scootaloo. “Yeah, it’s true. Scootaloo should be able to fly, but she just can’t yet. Still, while it does kind of suck, I’m not worried. Scootaloo is just a late bloomer. She’ll get it, especially since I’m helping her.”
“If you say so.” Natalya glanced over at Rainbow again and noticed the intent stare the pegasus had on Scootaloo. “You really seem to like this filly.”
“Well, duh. She’s my sister… unofficially.”
“Unofficially?”
“We’re not from the same family, but that doesn’t matter because we care for each other just as much.”
The sound of Scootaloo falling onto the grass once again and then letting out a loud, frustrated groan grabbed Natalya and Rainbow’s attention.
Before Rainbow could do anything for Scootaloo, a familiar, perky voice shouted, “We brought cookies!”
Pinkie was pronking her way towards the group with a small, pink box bouncing on her mane. Gilda was right behind Pinkie, hovering just above the ground with a similar box in her claws.
“Just in time, you two,” Rainbow said as she helped Scootaloo up. “We really could use a break, right squirt?”
“Yeah, sure,” Scootaloo mumbled, her gaze glued to the ground while Rainbow nudged her towards Pinkie and Gilda.
Natalya joined the group as Pinkie laid out a red and white checkered picnic blanket and Gilda opened the boxes to reveal dozens of chocolate chip cookies.
“These look great, Pinkie!” Rainbow complimented, grabbing a cookie in a hoof and passing it to Scootaloo. “Thanks!”
“Thank Gilda too,” Pinkie replied, stuffing her mouth with three cookies at once. “She made a bunch of them as well.”
“Even though I was just following your instructions and you were literally looking over my shoulder all day?” Gilda dryly asked.
“Hey, it was still your claws doing the work. Besides, you learn more by doing rather than listening, so listen to me telling you that you’re doing great!”
Gilda rolled her eyes, but she had a small grin. “Thanks, but really, save the compliments for when I can make something without you holding my claw.”
Pinkie tilted her head. “But I didn’t hold your claw. Ooh, does that mean you want me to hold it now?” She reached towards Gilda’s claw with a hoof.
Gilda jerked away from the hoof as though it was some sort of monster. “No! That’s not what I meant! Just eat your cookies, Pinkie!”
“Okie dokie!”
As the five of them spent the next few minutes happily munching on the cookies, Natalya’s gaze started to wander. She glanced at Scootaloo, who was sitting between her and Rainbow, and paused when she saw that the filly was staring straight down at the half-eaten cookie at her hooves. Now that Natalya thought about it, she was pretty sure that she did not notice Scootaloo reach for any cookie since they started eating.
Rainbow must have just noticed the same thing because a second later, she asked with concern.“Hey, you alright, squirt?”
“Yeah…” Scootaloo replied in a low, weary tone.
“Well that doesn’t sound very convincing…”
“It’s nothing, Rainbow…”
“I know something is wrong. What’s up?”
Scootaloo remained silent.
Rainbow softly nudged Scootaloo’s side with a hoof. “Come on, Scootaloo. Just tell me. We’re sisters. You know I’m always ready to help you, right?”
“R-right…” Scootaloo’s gaze was still fixed on the blanket, and she stayed silent for a few more seconds before finally looking up at Rainbow and ask in a quiet voice, “Am I… Am I ever going to be able to fly?”
Rainbow’s eyes widened. “Why… Why would you ask that, Scootaloo? Of course you’re going to be able to fly.”
“Really?” Scootaloo sighed and hung her head. “Rainbow, I’m grateful that you’ve been giving me lessons, but we’ve been going at this for months. Every other pegasus in my class did not even need half that time to learn how to fly, and yet, all I can do is barely stay in the air for a few seconds.”
“Alright, so things might be a bit different for you, but we just have to keep at it. Look, I know it’s frustrating for you, but you’ll eventually get it. I promise I’ll do whatever it takes to get you flying.”
Scootaloo shook her head. “Sorry, Rainbow, I just… I think we’re just wasting our time.”
“Don’t say that, Scootaloo…”
“Huh… Too bad then. Guess you’re never going to fly, kid,” Natalya nonchalantly commented, her gaze more focused on the cookie in her claw.
Scootaloo simply slumped to the ground with a groan.
Ignoring Rainbow, who was giving her a glare that looked like she was about to shove her hoof down the griffon’s throat at any moment, Natalya continued, “Seriously, you aren’t going to fly with that kind of attitude. You have to keep your eye on the prize and keep going for it.”
“B-but what if there’s something wrong with me, and I can’t ever fly?” Scootaloo asked.
“You’re certainly not going to fly either if you sit around and whine all day, which is kind of what you’re doing right now. You have to want it and be ready to do whatever it takes to succeed. That means crushing anyone that gets in your way and being willing to do anything to come out on top.”
“Okay,” Rainbow chuckled sheepishly. “You don’t really have to go that far, but Natalya does have a point. While there might be a teeny-tiny, little chance that you might not be able to fly, that chance becomes a sure thing if you choose to give up. It’s hard, yes, but it will just make it all the much sweeter when you finally do fly.”
Scootaloo’s eyes flicked back and forth between Rainbow and Natalya. “O-okay, I guess I could at least try for a bit longer, right?”
“Whatever you say, squirt, but that doesn’t mean I’ll go easy on you.” Rainbow playfully nudged Scootaloo. “You got to do the time if you want to be a pro like me.”
Scootaloo smiled softly and began eating her cookie. “Alright, Rainbow.”
Everyone went back to the cookie picnic, but it was more enjoyable now that Scootaloo was livelier and actively participating in any conversation. Natalya was content with just eating her share of cookies in silence.
“Hey, Natalya, could we talk?” Rainbow asked quietly.
“I think we’re already doing that.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “I meant privately.”
“Do I have to?”
“Just get over here!” Rainbow barked, pulling Natalya up with her forehooves. She led the griffon a short distance, and once there were nopony nearby that could overhear their conversation, she smiled softly. “Look, I just want to say thanks. What you said to Scootaloo really means a lot to me.”
Natalya scoffed. “I didn’t do it for you. I was just getting tired of hearing her whine.”
“Well, whatever the reason, you still did a nice thing for her. Scootaloo’s flying is a really sensitive issue for her, and it doesn’t help that some spoiled brats in her class make fun of her. This isn’t the first time she got a bit depressed, but it’s definitely the first time she even thought about giving up.
“I’m glad you talked to her. Even if some of the things were a bit much, I think hearing some encouragement from another awesome flyer beside me did her a lot of good.”
“Okay, sure, whatever. Yay me, woo hoo…” Natalya uttered in a deadpan voice. “Is that all?”
“Look, I’m telling you all of this because, believe it or not, Scootaloo thinks you’re kind of cool. Not as cool as me, of course.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Well, because I’m awesome,” Rainbow said with a smirk.
Natalya simply stayed silent with a deadpan face.
“Just trying to lighten the mood,” Rainbow grumbled. “Anyway, while you were off by yourself, Scootaloo asked me a bunch of questions about you like what kind of flying stuff you do, what do you do in your free time, and all that kind of stuff. And after that whole spiel you gave her, I’m sure she respects you a lot.”
“Why are you telling me all of this?”
“Because if you’re going to hang out with me, you’re likely going to be seeing her more as well.” Rainbow took a deep breath. “I also want to say that I’m glad that you have a non-jerk side. While you made a pretty awful first impression, it does look like there’s more to you than I thought. Maybe Twilight and Pinkie were right. If we hung out some more, maybe we could actually be friends.”
“I’m not interested in friends. I just want to learn the Sonic Rainboom.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know, but seriously, I’m willing to give us as friends a shot. I’m not expecting us to be all buddy-buddy right off the bat, but at least we can try. It would make things a lot easier and fun for us.” Rainbow smiled and extended her forehoof toward Natalya. “So, what do you say? Friends?”
Natalya glanced down at the hoof. “Ehhhhh…”
“Oh come on, work with me here. Would you rather me going back to hating your guts? I’m sure that’s going to make teaching you the Sonic Rainboom fun.”
Natalya sighed and bumped Rainbow’s hoof with a balled-up claw. “Fine, whatever. Just don’t expect me to be all nice.”
Rainbow shrugged. “Well, it’s a start. Now, come on, let’s get back to those cookies before Pinkie finishes them all.”