Scootaloo trudged into the CMC clubhouse for the next meeting. She was in such a daze, such a foggy state, she barely noticed the smiling faces of her friends. Diamond Tiara spoke first!
“Scootaloo! Long time no see! Another day of flying lessons yesterday; was it?” She beamed. “So-o, have you seen any improvement lately?”
The same question had been asked every single meeting that followed a flying lesson. Now, tired of belting out the same answer, Scootaloo resorted to another response. She opened her wings, buzzed them uselessly, and then looked down in defeat.
The other ponies looked at each other awkwardly, unsure of what to say. Finally, Sweetie Belle spoke: “Maybe next time, you’ll get it?”
Scootaloo spoke in a low, frustrated tone, one which she knew she would sincerely regret using later on: “I’ve been having flying lessons for weeks. And it’s always the same thing. No improvement!” Scootaloo scrunched up her face and beat her wings one last time, before sitting down with a huff. The frustrated had been building in her with every passing lesson - none of which ended in success - and it was finally, despite efforts to conceal it, starting to show.
“Well…” Diamond Tiara spoke with hesitance. “I remember, when I tried to become nice, it took a lot of effort. So maybe that’s what you need. That, and some confidence.”
All tension about having the two reformed rivals around had long ceased, despite recurring memories of their bullying. Even so, it still took a little bit of effort for Scootaloo to look up and smile at Diamond Tiara, like she would at her friends. “Thank you for the advice, Diamond Tiara. It’s just so… frustrating…”
She grinned. “If you keep trying, the lessons should work.”
Silver Spoon then spoke: “Whether they work or not, you like spending time with Rainbow Dash, right? Maybe this is a good thing for you to do anyway. You know, a diversion.”
Scootaloo’s gaze faltered slightly at the unexpected words, words which shed light on a new idea: Not only may the lessons never work… but was she really deluding herself by taking lessons with Rainbow Dash - lessons which would wind up being only a diversion from reality? Even if it made her feel better… Scootaloo wasn’t so sure about being a pony who thought that way; who aimed for the impossible without achieving, simply to distract herself from the reality. This, she thought, would lead her down a fairly dark path of low self-confidence that she wasn’t so sure she wanted to be on.
Applebloom didn’t speak; she just came over, and patted Scootaloo’s shoulder with sympathy.
Sweetie Belle looked at Scootaloo with shining, sympathetic eyes. She resisted the words that clogged her throat, and threatened to come out: I don’t think that flying lessons are the solution to the problem, or your feelings.
“Come on, Scoot! You can do it! Just fly up to that next cloud; it’s only two feet up! Now… go!” Rainbow Dash blew her whistle.
“Hmpf… hrrrggg…” Scootaloo levitated into the air, her wings buzzing wildly… and fell from a foot and a half.
Rainbow Dash smiled half-heartedly. “Hey, a half a foot higher than your first record! Congrats!” She put her hoof up for a high-hoof, and Scootaloo responded to it grudgingly.
“Now,” Rainbow Dash continued, as she herself flew a few inches above the cloud she stood on, “remember what I taught you about flapping your wings, and really getting those shoulder muscles in?” Her wings moved slower than usual, as a demonstration.
Scootaloo watched the way Rainbow Dash’s wings rolled and bended elegantly in the air, with effective agility and flexibility. She then folded and unfolded her wings a few times, clenched and unclenched the muscles in them, and flapped…
Scootaloo’s friends sat on the sideline, watching with amusement as Scootaloo tried her full effort to get into the air - now she got to two feet… before falling hard on the cloud.
Finally, Sweetie Belle spoke up: “Does, uh, anypony else think that these flying lessons… may not be what Scootaloo needs?”
Applebloom answered: “Well, I don’t know ‘bout that, but they did seem like the best option on our list. The least dangerous one, anyhow.”
“I agree,” chimed in Silver Spoon, who had become more talkative and involved since she got further into the habit of speaking for herself, rather than reflecting or agreeing with the words of Diamond Tiara. “Even if they don’t really work, well, Scootaloo seems to be enjoying them, and they are a start.”
“But we’ve been at a ‘start’ for three weeks already. And don’t you remember how frustrated she’s been with the results, or should I say, lack of?” As Sweetie Belle spoke, an idea chimed in her head - one which she had kept hidden for days, unsure of how the other ponies would react to it. Instead of saying the idea that threatened to leave her mouth, she simply said: “I think we should try something else.”
Applebloom frowned out of confusion. “What do ya mean, somethin’ else? We’ve brainstormed all we could, and everythin’ else seems-”
“Dangerous. I know.” Sweetie Belle glanced back at Scootaloo, who was now lying on the clouds, exhausted and defeated, with Rainbow Dash sitting beside her and talking to her. “How about if we at least ask Rainbow Dash if she thinks these flying lessons are working. She’s the pegasus after all, so she should know best.” Sweetie Belle then glanced at her friends. “And from there, we can do some more thinking. Maybe after knowing what Rainbow Dash thinks, we will have some ideas.”
The truth was, Sweetie Belle already had an idea. But it was one she would need to try without the knowing of her pessimistic friend, Applebloom.
After having a quick discussion with Rainbow Dash, all four fillies went back to Ponyville on the hot air balloon the had arrived in. Scootaloo had been left back in Cloudsdale to do more training - but by now, they knew that Rainbow Dash was only doing this to help Scootaloo feel better. She herself knew how little progress was happening, and that even with the few tweaks that Scootaloo made to her attempts, she needed bigger, stronger wings to be able to fly.
Bigger, stronger wings. Bigger. Stronger. That was what Rainbow Dash had said. Scootaloo didn’t need to learn how to fly, she needed the ability. And that was what she didn’t want to admit. That was why Sweetie Belle had decided, once and for all, to use magic to help Scootaloo fly.
Meanwhile, it was still a bit of a trip from Cloudsdale, Because of this, the fillies had a fair amount of time to talk about their faltering mission.
“A’m really worried about Scootaloo”, said Applebloom. “She wants somethin’ she can’t get. That’s the worst thin’ fer a pony; we should all be grateful fer what we ‘ave, rather than wantin’ to be somepony else.” If anypony noticed the reference Applebloom unintentionally made about Diamond Tiara needing to have become somepony else in order to be reformed, nopony mentioned it. Sometimes, it was better to leave things in the past, where they belonged.
Silver Spoon spoke: “I don’t think I’ll ever know what it’s like to not have an ability of your own race… or any of us, for that matter. Do any of you two happen to know how long Scootaloo felt so discouraged? Like, maybe as a young filly she thought that one day she would fly, but then she grew and saw that her wings wouldn’t grow…”
Sweetie Belle answered: “We never thought of her feeling so discouraged; her personality, for the most part, has always been so cheerful and bright. But I think it started a few years ago, when Applebloom and I started to notice her having moments of sulking and trying to fly. She never talked about it out loud with us until these past few weeks.”
Diamond Tiara had been quiet the entire time. But when the ponies finally arrived at the clubhouse, she spoke: “I can’t help but wonder… if it has anything to do with what I told herr… about being a pegasus who can’t fly.”
The ponies waited at the treehouse, trying to think about other ideas they could try for Scootaloo. At this point, everypony was devoted to this mission, to make Scootaloo happy.
No one had responded to Diamond Tiara’s comment about it being her fault, so there was a small elephant in the room. Everypony had mixed thoughts as to whether it was or wasn’t Diamond Tiara’s fault, but they all subconsciously decided that what’s past was past.
Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle must have had the busiest mind in the room. She, being the one pony with magic, couldn’t help feeling as though she wasn’t contributing all she could - despite Applebloom having shot down the idea of her or anypony more powerful using magic, because it was “cheating”. Unsure of what to do with the thoughts in her head, Sweetie Belle spoke up: “I wonder if we should try throwing Scootaloo out the window after all?” The words came off as overdetermined to throw a pony out the window against her will. Nevertheless, she continued: “I know Silver Spoon said it would be risky, but…” If I were to assist her with some magic, it might be worth a shot.
Silver Spoon shot Sweetie Belle a look. “Exactly. As I’ve said, it would just be too dangerous. We need to think of a better, safer idea. But it’s quite hard with a pegasus who just can’t fly-”
“Why can’t we at least try that idea? We can have a trampoline at the bottom or something! Besides, it’d be good practice for her to stay in the air.” Sweetie Belle constantly stifled her idea of levitating Scootaloo, and maybe afterwards using magic to make her wings grow.
Diamond Tiara snorted. “But Rainbow Dash told us: Her wings need to be bigger, and stronger. She knows how to fly, but she just can’t. That’s our predicament.” Then, feeling suddenly ashamed, she looked down.
The elephant in the room was back, once again. As all ponies tried to ignore it, all Sweetie Belle could think about was how good a diversion it would be if she mentioned magic- but then all these ponies would defy and doubt her. She, like her sister, was hardly taken seriously when it came to knowledge of magic. And like Applebloom had said, it would be cheating.
That said, Sweetie Belle could not stop being tempted by the thought. If these ponies would just back off, and let her help Scootaloo her way, this mission would actually get somewhere.
Sweetie Belle knew that her magic wasn’t that strong; she took after her sister in the sense of being a unicorn who wouldn’t exactly qualify for Princess Celestia’s magic school. Nevertheless, Sweetie Belle was a unicorn, so who was to say it would be impossible for her to… at least try?”
Lessons with Rainbow Dash took place three times a week now. Every other day would be an ordinary CMC meeting to follow up.
Each follow-up meeting, Scootaloo’s mood grew worse. Earlier in the month she would walk in at least attempting to smile despite the frustrated, edgy thoughts that went on in her head. Once she figured out that her friends could read her like a book, she had stopped trying to hide what went on inside her.
Scootaloo never got angry; she never punched the wall, or screamed, or anything. What everypony saw was simply frustration and depression that bottled up in her head until she just seemed drained to exhaustion.
Throughout the week, Sweetie Belle had been keeping a mental list of ways to use her magic to help Scootaloo fly. She had done a little bit of research in the library for spells that might help, and took note of magical enhancements that could help Scootaloo.
In watching her friend grow weary throughout the meeting, Sweetie Belle decided: Maybe I should use a mood-enhancement spell, to increase her confidence.
The pace of CMC follow-up meetings would go as follows: Scootaloo would give the run-down about her last flying lesson, ponies would ask her questions about how she felt the lessons were going (to which here Scootaloo would put on a confidant expression and say that she thought they would have to help her eventually), and otherwise the ponies would just talk; about Scootaloo and how she felt now and how long she's wanted to fly, not to mention brainstorming further ideas to help her strengthen her wings and agility. There would be light conversation to get to know Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon better, to better enforce their presence in the group.
Because the structure of meetings had become so loose, it wasn’t too hard for Sweetie Belle to pull Scootaloo over for a talk. The two ponies went to the corner of the clubhouse and whispered quietly:
“Scoot. I was thinking. I really want to help, and… I think I should use my magic to help you fly.”
Scootaloo’s eyes widened to the size of saucers. “M-m-”
Sweetie Belle quickly shoved her hoof into Scootaloo’s mouth to block her from blurting out the word. Then, she continued: “I’m telling you quietly like this, because I don’t want Applebloom or the others to know. She…” Sweetie Belle averted her eyes before glancing back, “thinks it would be cheating. And,” she sighed loudly, “that I’m not powerful enough.”
Scootaloo’s voice was sleepily sombre, with a touch of sympathy: “Well, no offence Sweetie, but-”
Sweetie Belle interrupted quickly before the words could sting her: “I know, I know what you’re going to say, and I know, alright? But… I want to try. I want to see if I can do it. More importantly, I want to help you.” Sweetie Belle’s sympathetic eyes met Scootaloo’s. “Scoot, I know you won’t want to hear this… we don’t think the lessons are working for you.”
To the unicorn’s surprise, Scootaloo didn’t react. Instead, she hung her head in defeat, and murmured: “I know. I just… wanted to try and see-”
“I understand that. Rainbow Dash knows you want to keep going, so she kept giving you lessons, but… she talked to us, and she too doesn’t feel confidant about this plan.”
Suddenly, Scootaloo’s expression changed. Her wings spread out, and she began to scowl. “So Rainbow Dash doesn’t believe in me. These lessons may be for nothing.”
Sweetie Belle recognized this look: It was the expression of frustrated anger that Scootaloo often had. She knew it would, with nowhere else to go, turn into defeat. It was not dangerous, rather, it was hard to watch.
Sweetie Belle could only look sadly at Scootaloo, until she looked up and said: “I like your idea. Let’s try it.”
While Sweetie Belle was off talking to Scootaloo, Applebloom took the opportunity to discuss her thoughts on the mission with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.
“I’m not so sure about the direction this is goin’. Not to mention, we went for lessons with Rainbow Dash thinkin’ that would be aur best bet. An’ it seemed perfect because, well, she’s a pegasus, and we as Scootaloo’s friends who, well, know nothin’ about flyin’ could encourage her and route her on. But…” Applebloom frowned, her hairbow sagging. “I’m afraid we may not have any more ideas.”
Diamond Tiara thought for a second. Then suddenly, her blue eyes sparkled with brilliant confidence: “I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Applebloom I think I have an idea how you can help. Or more accurately, how we can help.” She gestured around the circle at the three ponies, then continued: “We should meet sometime tomorrow - maybe during Scootaloo’s flying lessons? ‘And talk about it. I think you’ll really like this.” She grinned ecstatically, to the ponies’ surprise. “Silver spoon, you should come too.”