//------------------------------// // Can Mario Get Scootaloo to Fly? // Story: Can Mario Interact? // by Lucky Ness //------------------------------// One day in Equestria, I was walking through Ponyville looking for someone when I noticed an orange Pegasus crying on a bench. "Why are you crying?" I ask concerned as I walk over to the filly and sit down beside her on the bench. "Who are you?" The orange filly asks me, sniffing. "My name's Lucky Ness, and I'm new here in Ponyville. I was looking for a friend of mine and was concerned when I saw you crying, Miss . . . " I trail off, inciting her to share her name. "Scootaloo," Scootaloo replies before slowly extending her hoof. "Nice to meet you," I say as I shake her hoof. "As I was saying, Scootaloo, I was looking for a friend of mine when I noticed you were crying. May I ask what happened?" "Ever since my friend Rainbow Dash got accepted into the Wonderbolts, she hasn't been around much to help me learn how to fly." Scootaloo says as she looks up at me. "Well if I can find my friend, then maybe I can help you with that." I say as I see my friend slowly approaching me in a cloud with eyes on it. "How do you suppose you're going to do that, Lucky?" Scootaloo asks skeptically. "You're a unicorn. You CAN'T fly." "I'm not going to be the one to teach you." I say as I point a light blue hoof at the cloud. "My friend will," I say as the cloud descends to the ground and a mustachioed man dressed in red and blue leaps out of the cloud. "Hey, Mario?" I say as Mario walks over to us. "We're going to have to have a change of plans." I turn to Scootaloo. "This is Scootaloo. We were wondering if you could help her learn to fly?" "I'll-a give it a try," Mario says to me before turning to Scootaloo. "Hello!" It's-a me, Mario!" The Italian plumber says enthusiastically as he reaches to shake Scootaloo's hoof. "And I'm-a gonna help you learn how to fly." Mario says before walking to the cloud and pulling out several different items, including a hat with wings on it, a pair of wings with armholes in them, a leaf, a feather, and a red star with eyes on it. "Okay, now you're-a going to try this without any items first," Mario says as he takes off his hat and puts on the hat with the wings on it. "Now you do just like Mario, OK?" Mario says before Triple Jumping and flying into the sky. Scootaloo follows Mario's example and jumps three times, only to fall back to the ground. Mario lands in front of Scootaloo and removes the Wing Cap, replacing it with his normal hat before walking over and picking up the Red Star and giving it to Scootaloo. "Okay, so now we're-a going to try it with items." Mario says as he pulls another star from the cloud, causing his hat and overalls to turn black and the buttons on his overalls to turn red. "These-a stars allow me to fly when I spin like-a this." Mario quickly spins in a circle and flies into the air before hovering down to float in front of Scootaloo. "Now you-a try." I watch as Scootaloo slowly stands up on her hind legs and attempts to spin, only to fall over in the middle of her spin without lifting off. I slowly walk over to the two of them, remembering when Mario taught me how to fly with some of those items and the hard time I had at first. "Hey, Mario? Why don't you try teaching her how to fly with the Cape Feather or the Super Leaf?" I suggest to the mustachioed plumber. "I seem to remember finding those to be the easiest to use when you first started teaching me." "Great idea, Lucky!" Mario quickly walks over to the cloud and grabs another leaf from it before instructing Scootaloo to touch the leaf he pulled out earlier. As soon as she did, a pair of raccoon ears emerge from her head and her tail turns into a raccoon's tail. "Now, to fly with-a the leaf, you need to run until you've built up enough speed to fly. You'll know when that is because you feel a special sensation in your new tail." Mario gets into a runner's stance. "Let's-a do this one together." Mario says before starting to run with Scootaloo running beside him. The two continue to run until Mario sticks his arms out and jumps, flying into the air by flipping his tail rapidly. "I can feel it, Mario." Scootaloo says before jumping into the air and trying to flip her tail to fly, only to slowly flutter back down to the ground. "That's-a okay, Scootaloo," Mario says as he slowly flutters to the ground beside her. "Some people find it-a hard to propel themselves with the tail." Mario walks over to the cloud and pulls out a feather. "In that-a case, I-a suggest the feather to them. You don't have to much with it." Mario uses the feather and dons a yellow cape. "Same situation as the leaf," Mario says as Scootaloo touches the feather, getting a crimson red cape similar to her crusader's cape. "Run until the cape doesn't touch the ground, then jump and open it up at the apex of your jump by untying it from around your neck. This will allow the cape to open like a parachute, and by repeatedly aiming towards the ground then back up, you'll be able to gain as much height and distance as you want." Mario says before getting back into a runner's stance alongside Scootaloo as I realize that Mario forgot a major step. "Uh, Mario?" I ask attempting to get Mario's attention before something terrible happens. "Yes, Lucky?" Mario asks as Scootaloo starts to run. "You forgot to tell Scootaloo that you need to hold onto the cape and how to enact the magic that causes the cape to attach itself to her back legs." I say nervously as Scootaloo jumps and soars into the sky and Mario and I see her begin to reach for the knot holding the cape around her neck. "Mama Mia!" Mario exclaims, realizing what's about to happen as he starts to run and I follow behind him at a quick trot. Mario quickly accelerates before sticking his arms out and jumping into the sky while spinning rapidly as Scootaloo continues to work on the knot. I watch in horror as Scootaloo finishes with the knot and lets go of the cape, which floats up and turns back into a feather, before Scootaloo starts to scream as she plummets towards the ground, crashing into Mario in the process, which causes him to careen out of control and fall as well. "I have to do something," I think, as I look over and see the Lakitu's Cloud Mario arrived in. I quickly run over to it and hop inside, riding in it towards Mario and Scootaloo as Mario corrects himself and slowly starts to float towards the ground. I get as close as I can to Scootaloo before enveloping her with my telekinesis and bringing her to the cloud before floating to the ground with her in it. Once the cloud is close enough to the ground, I hop out and help Scootaloo out of the cloud with my magic as Mario lands beside us. "I'm-a so sorry, Scootaloo." Mario says as Scootaloo's feather gracefully lands beside us. "I forgot about how to attach the cape to your hind legs." Mario says as he picks up the feather and puts it in his pocket. "And I'm-a sorry that I couldn't help you to fly," Mario says before turning to go before Scootaloo puts a hoof on his shoulder to stop him. "Wait, Mario, what about the wings?" "Wings?" Mario asks before turning back to her and seeing her holding a pair of wings with a hole in each of them. "Oh, Yoshi Wings. I'm not-a sure how well they'll work but you can give them a try." Mario says as he reaches over to pick them up. "Now first-a things first.We're-a going to slide these over your forelegs," Mario says as he slides the wings over Scootaloo's front hooves. "Now from what I understand-a, these wings will function like a normal pair of wings. Try flapping your wings." Mario instructs before Scootaloo slowly flaps her new wings, lifting her into the air a little bit before landing. Elated, Scootaloo flaps her wings some more, this time getting higher into the air before flapping her wings to stay airborne. "Woohoo!" Scootaloo whoops before performing a little flip in the air and landing beside us. "Thank you guys! These will definitely tide me over until Rainbow can teach me how to fly without them." "You're-a welcome, Scootaloo. Now, all you have to-a do to remove-a the Yoshi Wings is slide them off." Mario says as he walks over to me and we head into town to find the Princess. ----- In the bushes, a green unicorn watches as Lucky and Mario travel towards the town. "Soon," He says before emerging from the bush and sneaking away.