Rainbow Dash tackled the very earth itself, tearing up a huge gouge of dirt and grass whilst grinding to a sudden halt. Rocks flew and bounded away, liberated by the massive impact. In Ponyville, glasses of water rippled on dining tables.
“Ow,” she moaned. The air was shrouded, choked up by a fine dust cloud.
“Wow! That was so cool!” Hopping and buzzing her tiny wings, Scootaloo darted up to the edge of the unstable pivot. Her eyes were wide and glossy. The sky still had a rainbow-colored streak cutting through it in wild, looping patterns. Fading around the horizon, a prismatic splash radiated out in an ever-expanding ring.
“Uh, yeah, of course it was cool!” Trying to pull herself out of the ditch, Dash winced and lost her footing. Frowning, she twisted to examine her back leg. It was hard to see past her nose, and she couldn't see Scootaloo at all, but she thought she caught a glimpse of red, and her leg stung even harder. She bit her lip, trying to play it cool. Slowly, she laid flat, waiting for the air to clear. “Uugh...” she moaned.
“I can't wait to tell everypony! They're going to be so excited!” Hopping, the little orange filly clacked her hooves together. Her wings buzzed and she had a massive grin on her face. Her silhouette vanished as she ran off.
“Yeah. Excited. Ow.” Clenching her teeth, Dash limped out the hole, going up the gentle slope carved out by her impact. “Uh, Scoots, I kinda hit the ground pretty hard there. Perhaps we should, um, uh-oh.”
Where the filly had been just moments ago was a filly-shaped dust cloud. An orange and purple streak dashed over the horizon. “Or you could run off and get everypony's hopes up, including your own.” Rainbow Dash unfurled her wings, but only one side stretched out. The other was crumpled, twisted, and broken feathers hung loose and fell off. She cringed, biting her lip. “Gah! Now what am I supposed to do? I can't fly like this, and now Scootaloo's going to tell everypony to expect one epic stunt show. I can't let her down! I'll have to think of something.”
Her eyes widened and a hind leg buckled. She laid on the ground, moaning. “Okay, hospital first, then something.”
A few hours later, a much-bandaged blue pegasus knocked on Fluttershy's door. She had white gauze wrapped around numerous places, with a cast on one hind leg and her left wing held in a sling. She leaned on two canes, glancing over her shoulder.
The door swung open and a chipmunk darted out past the thatch welcome mat. Fluttershy hummed, singing softly to herself. Her grin fell at the sight of her bandaged friend. “Oh no! You're hurt!” She covered her mouth.
“It's not that bad. Just a couple of dozen bruises, sprains, and minor fractures.” Dash chuckled wanly, going from grin to wince and clutching her wrapped chest. “I'll be healed up in no time, but I, uh, have a teensy weensy little favor to ask.” Baring her teeth, she grinned like a madpony.
“A favor? Well, sure. Of course I'll help you however I can.”
“That's great, because I kinda-sorta promised Scootaloo one epic stunt flight for her birthday party tomorrow and she's already gone ahead and told everypony in town.”
“And you want me to tell them it's canceled?” Fluttershy asked.
Rainbow Dash gulped. She shrunk down and flushed. “Actually, I was thinking more like you'd take my place.”
“Me? Shouldn't you ask somepony else? You know how bad I am.”
“Don't be so hard on yourself. You're a great flier! And, well, Pinkie Pie's out of town, and I already got the Wonderbolts to do that private show for my parents. I'm still kinda new and there's a limit to that kind of thing, especially since I'll be grounded long enough to miss their next performance as well.”
Frowning, Fluttershy rubbed her chin. “What about Twilight?”
“That egghead? Sure if I wanted the kids to learn about angles, air friction, gravitational vectors, and require extensive training on abacus use just to calculate how Twilight's veering wobbling is somehow related to the Fibonacci sequence.” Dash shook her head and snorted. “Uh, no offense, but I think I'll pass. Ack.” She cricked her neck, popping it. “Ow.”
“That does sound dull. Why not get somepony else like Applejack or Rarity or Starlight?”
“This is a flying thing. I need a pony who can actually fly.”
“But Starlight can fly, kinda. She levitates herself.”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “True, but she's also kinda touchy at times. If things don't go well, I'd prefer it if the first pony who booed didn't get zapped into some kind of tentacle dimension.”
“She can do that?” Fluttershy's eyes widened and she took a step back. “Oh my.”
Dash groaned and stiffly twisted her neck to look at her bound wing. She sighed. “So, that brings me here.” She grinned again, putting on a wide smile with white teeth that sparkled in the sunlight.
“Um, well...” Scuffing a hoof on the threshold of her door, Fluttershy peeked outside and looked up. “Wait. Pinkie Pie can fly now?”
“Er...” Dash cringed. “Sometimes I wonder, but c'mon! it's Pinkie Pie! She'd find a way to make it entertaining regardless. Please, Fluttershy? Scootaloo's been looking forward to this for a very long time and I wouldn't ask if I didn't think you could do it.”
“I don't know. I don't like performing in front of a crowd and I don't really know any tricks.”
“That's not true. I've seen you pull off some wicked dives and you can really move when you need to. I'm sure with a little coaching I could help you put together a routine that they'd like.”
Shifting in the doorway, Fluttershy scraped a hoof on her welcome mat. “Can I think about this?”
“Sure, I guess, but don't think too long because the party's tomorrow morning.”
“Boo.”
Starlight Glimmer was sunning herself on a lawnchair, relaxing and sipping a fresh cup of lemonade.
“Boooo.”
Her ears perked up, and she pulled her sun mask off. Drearily, she sat up and looked around. Nopony else was nearby, just freshly-cut grass and some manicured bushes.
“Boo.”
With a tug from her magic, Starlight ripped one of the plants out of the ground, exposing a butterscotch pegasus. “Um, Fluttershy, why are you booing?”
Said pegasus promptly blushed, cheeks turning a lovely shade of red. “N-no reason,” she stammered, then quickly darted off, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Starlight shrugged and put the plant back before resuming her relaxation.
Fluttershy slunk back to her cottage where Rainbow Dash had crashed on the sofa. “Okay, so I thought about it, and this doesn't seem like a great idea.”
“Yeah. I thought about it too, and you're right. It's not a great idea. It's an awesome idea!”
“What?”
“Look. There.” Rainbow waved her less bandaged foreleg, pointing at Fluttershy's mantle. Dangling from a nail was a ribbon holding a silver horseshoe.
“My second place trophy in the relay contest at the Equestrian Games?”
“Yeah! And your first place buckball trophy.” Wincing, Rainbow Dash gradually sat up, leaning against her crutches. “The more I think about this, the more confidant I am that you'll be great at it. Now come on! We need to start practicing!”
“Um, okay...” Sinking down, Fluttershy's ears drooped and she gulped.
The deep pivot was still torn in the field. It looked like a giant claw had scratched the earth. Aside from that, the grass was long, thistles swayed in the breeze, and grasshoppers buzzed off, avoiding the two pastel ponies.
Groaning, Rainbow Dash's ears were twitching. She kept trying to flick them down at her face, where a bead of sweat was rolling down her cheek. With her legs hurt, she didn't quite have the range of motion needed to brush her face. Eventually, she just grit her teeth and ignored it.
Fluttershy stopped to pick a dandelion and blew the puff off the stem. Carried on white tufts, the seeds scattered in the wind.
“Okay, so my routine started with a big cloud sculpture of Scootaloo's face. Uh, you probably can't do something quite that detailed, but I know she likes pancakes. That's one of the easiest sculptures to do, as you can squash the clouds while bringing them down, and all you really have to do is layer them. Go ahead and do that, and I'll give you tips on how to make it faster.”
The butterscotch pegasus squinted and shielded her eyes, staring up at the sky. The clouds were way up there, very high in the sky. Far higher than she normally went. She gulped. “O-okay.”
Jumping, she took off, keeping her eyes fixed on a tiny puff about half her size that hung a little lower than the rest. Her altitude quickly rose to uncomfortable levels, hackles rising as soon as she passed the tree tops and kept on going. Nervous, her pace slowed drastically and she had to fight the urge to glide back down.
By the time she reached the cloud, she was jittery. Landing on it calmed her, at least until she peeked over the edge. Dash was so far below that she was little more than a blue speck on the meadow. Vertigo set in, and Fluttershy buried her head in the mist, shaking. This broke the cloud, causing it to dissipate.
Bereft of her perch, her heart jumped, and she nearly panicked when she fell. Snapping her wings out arrested her motion, and she was breathing heavily by the time she glided to the earth.
“Uh...” Rainbow Dash contorted her face, struggling to put on a smile. Her left eye twitched. “That was... a start. Maybe we can skip the cloud sculpture. That kind if thing takes a lot of practice, anyway.”
“S-sure, I guess.” Fluttershy hung her head. She kicked a loose rock that had been torn up by Rainbow's impact. “What else did you have planned?”
“After the cloud sculpture, I did the windmill cascade, then a vertical waterfall, the Wonderbolt sky streak, a roving twister, the moonwalk glide, a pinball dive, the lightning sky screw, a thousand foot drumroll leading into my favorite, the sonic rainboom, followed by a rainbow pretzel and, uh, a sixty to zip pinpoint landing.” Her magenta eyes drifted to the gouge scraped in the earth. “I, uh, need more practice with that last one.”
With each new stunt listed, Fluttershy winced and stared further into the dirt. “There's no way I can do any of that. I can't even move a cloud properly.”
“Heh.” Wanly chuckling, Rainbow Dash leaned on her crutches. “Yeah. I know my act is wicked cool and really hard to pull off, but you shouldn't sell yourself short. We all have our own unique moves, our own style. Just relax and show me what you can already do, what you're comfortable with. We'll build on it from there.”
“But... I don't have any moves.” Remaining on the ground, Fluttershy hung her head.
“What? Of course you do! Just pretend you're practicing for the relay race or buckball and you've got it made!” Grinning widely, Dash's eye twitched and her cheek trembled. A white bandage on the side of her neck was marred by a growing red splotch. Her eyes watered.
“Um. If you say so.” Fluttershy took a deep breath and unfurled her wings. Hopping, she flew demurely, swooping low in tiny arcs. She twirled around, brushing the ground with her tail and swooping up a pine cone. She flicked it up and balanced it on her nose. Wobbling, her balance faltered and the pine cone fell off. She stopped to land and shift through the grass looking for it.
Rainbow Dash's grin morphed into a cringe as soon as Fluttershy's back was turned. She winced and clenched her eyes shut. Another bead of sweat rolled down her face, tickling her cheek. “Y-yeah! You got it!” she yelled, and gulped. “You're doing great! Keep it up!” Her grin snapped back as soon as Fluttershy was up again, trying to balance the pine cone a bit more successfully this time. She held it there until she did another spin, and it rolled right off. Her spin was also jerky and forced.
Fluttershy might be good at certain sports, but as an aerial acrobat she was about on par with the average sixth grade pegasus. To Rainbow's trained eye, she spotted nothing that even came close to Wonderbolt level. Perhaps if she had a week to choreograph Fluttershy's basic moves into a dance routine and added some music it could be entertaining, but with less than a day to prepare the best she could really hope for was something that only mildly stank.
Sighing, the bandaged pegasus shook her head. While visions of teary-eyed Scootaloo filled her mind, this was simply too much to ask on such short notice. At this rate, Dash would be healed and back in the air herself before Fluttershy could even do a single trick worth mentioning. Fluttershy had gone further afield, practicing a 'fast' glide that could be outrun by a squirrel. As soon as the butterscotch pegasus got back, she'd call this whole thing off. Scootaloo would have other birthdays. So what if one didn't go well?
Stiffly, Dash craned her neck as Fluttershy left the field, swooping behind a tree. The action tore a scab and Rainbow yelped. She wobbled and leaned on her crutches. Teetering, she winced and forcibly straightened herself back up, taking short breaths.
Leaves crunched and twigs snapped. Her ears snapped up and she reflexively jerked her head—a mistake, as pain flared and stars swam in her field of view.
“There you are! Do you have any idea how long I've been looking for you?” A gruff, sour pink pony in nurse's garb stomped out. Her striped white and purple mane was ruffled from stomping through the woods. Snarling, she bared her teeth. “How dare you run off like that! Broken bones require a minimum three day mandatory bed rest! You are going back to the hospital right now, young lady! You are going to sleep in your cot, and you are going to like it!”
“Nooo!” Rainbow Dash wailed and hobbled off as quickly as she could. Limping on two legs, she was no match for Nurse Sweetheart, who bit Rainbow's tail and dragged the screaming pegasus back through the woods. Digging her hooves into the earth did no good, and she was rapidly hauled out of sight.
“Mmm hmm ooh ba-da!” Fluttershy had started humming while twisting, and by the time she swung back into the clearing only crickets remained. “I guess you were right. It's a lot easier to stick to the easy, safe stuff. What did you think?”
Silence hung around her. She blinked, scanning the grassy field. “Rainbow?”
Scratching her head, Fluttershy hovered as she twisted around. She swooped and checked under a rock. Little pink worms squirmed and dug into the ground. “I guess she left? Hmm, she did look a little sore. She probably went back home to lie down or something.”
Shrugging, she set the rock back down and flew up, doing a little spin. “Well, it's up to me now. I'll just have to make sure that this is a birthday party Scootaloo will never forget!”
“And she was whoosh!” Darting through the school yard, Scootaloo wove through the swing sets and around the slide as if playground was an obstacle course. “And then zow!” She jumped, buzzing her tiny wings in a flurry of pure filly energy. “And whoosh, zow, whabbosh!” Spinning and flailing her legs out, Scootaloo appeared to be trying to imitate a tangled garden hose, maybe. Or a pretzel.
The other little ponies watched with wide, shimmering eyes. They all winced when Scootaloo slammed herself into the sandbox, making a huge impression.
“And wham!” Kicking at the ground, she sent clods of sand in the air. “You just had to see it to believe it, but she literally splashed the earth, sending waves of dirt flying in the air. I've never seen anypony land like that before. It was the most awesome thing ever!”
“That does sound pretty cool,” Snips said.
“I can't wait to see it,” Apple Bloom grinned. “She must have worked really hard on this to make everything so perfect.”
Rainbow Dash stretched her neck as far as it would go. She snapped futilely at the air, aiming for the straps bound around her forelegs holding them in the air.
Many of her bandages had been redressed, and she was twice the mummy as before. Worse, she'd been placed on her back with her limbs elevated, strung up like a puppet. Barely able to wiggle, all she could do was stare at the light pink ceiling. Being trussed up was never fun, especially with the dead certainty of missing Scootaloo's birthday entirely.
“Ack!” The cut on Rainbows neck was acting up again, and she sighed, leaning back to rest on the sterile hospital pillow. It went crunch, full of uncomfortable, new age, aromatic, crystal rocks. Dash might not know much about medicine, but she was nearly certain that crystals weren't supposed to be used like that, or ever, for that matter. “I sure hope Fluttershy figures out where I went and comes to rescue me soon.” She gulped, glancing at a clock on the wall. The hands had advanced many hours since she'd been dragged in. “I hope.”
Passing over the meadow in a slow glide, Fluttershy sprinkled dead leaves and dropped pine cones as she went. “Hmm, not exactly rose petals, but I think Scootaloo will get the idea. I could buy some, but—oh!”
Her eyes widened and she shook her bag. It was an old feed sack, and leaking leaf bits from a tear in the side. “I don't have to stick to just flying tricks. If I buy a bigger bag, and maybe a cloud machine...”
She hummed as she flew into town, thinking about how various props might help. Streamers were always fun, and there were those little helicopter things that took off when spun. Perhaps one of those foam pool noodles—
Her eye caught a balloon stand and she gasped. Sure, those would be great too, but her eyes were drawn towards a large display flapping in the breeze. “Do you have one of those in orange?” She asked.
Flashing a smile, the vendor grinned with the glitter of golden bits dancing in his eyes.
Smacking her lips, Fluttershy yawned and stretched. She'd spent more than she'd intended, and was sore from flying around. Slipping into a pink night gown, she crawled into bed, thinking about all the fun little things she had planned. It might be true that Rainbow Dash's act couldn't be replicated, but she'd put together one of her own and was certain she'd thought of everything.
Tucking herself under her sheets, she snuggled down and blew out the lights. Boy was Scootaloo going to be surprised.
She also hoped that Rainbow Dash was okay. It was kind of odd not to see her. With all those injuries, she'd probably gone home to rest up. Yeah. That had to be it. Nothing to worry about.
Exhaustion claiming her, Fluttershy drifted off to sleep. Her breathing slowed, and her chest heaved with a beam of moonlight shining on her cheek. It never occurred to her that Rainbow Dash lived in a cloud and literally couldn't get home with broken wings.
“Any... minute... now...” Eyes red, Rainbow Dash stared at the ceiling. Crickets chirped outside her window, teasing the sore, sleepless pegasus with their freedom.
The door creaked and she perked up. Sadly, her hopes were dashed when the pink nurse came in pushing a steaming cart. Sweetheart flashed a grin that was so wide it split her face. She snatched Dash's rocky pillow, and tossed into a bag. With tongs in her mouth, she opened a lid on her cart. Dash couldn't see inside, but it sure let out a lot of white smoke. The air took on a crisp aroma of quartz and hickory smoke.
Fishing inside her compartment, Sweetheart pulled out a new lumpy pillow that steamed heavily, and the air shimmered around it. With a fwump, she tossed the rocky lump under Dash's head. Hot air rose around Dash's ears and she winced as the heat seemed to bake the back of her skull. “Ack. Ow. What are you doing?”
Closing up her cart, Sweetheart snickered. She walked out and flicked off the lights. “Everypony knows that crystals work best when heated. Sleep tight.”
When the door shut, the room went dark, except for a faint red glow coming from her steaming pillow. “Whyyyy?” Dash moaned. The crickets were mocking her now.
“Happy birthday, Scootaloo!” Numerous little ponies cheered around a long picnic table, seating a good score of fillies and colts. They wore tiny white cone party hats decorated with colorful splotches. They stared at the head of the table where Scootaloo was sitting, staring at a large cake covered in vanilla frosting. Off to the side, the birthday filly had amassed a genuine pile of wrapped goods, all neat, prim, and likely full of goodies.
Scootaloo grinned with wide sparkling eyes and was so excited that her purple tail waved like a fan. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and blew at the cake's eleven flickering candles. A good eight of them winked out, leaving thin wisps of smoke. A ninth flicked and went out, but the other two wavered and bounded back, burning freely. Scoots glared at them, and gave a quick puff to snuff them too.
The kids cheered, clomping their hooves on the table. Empty plates and forks rattled from the impact.
“Excuse me,” Fluttershy said as she bumped past, dragging a wagon loaded with sacks and boxes behind her. They barely paid her any attention, eyes focused on the knife cutting the cake.
“What did you wish for?” Apple Bloom asked, watching as Scootaloo removed a large corner chunk for herself and passed the knife off to Sweetie Belle. The little white unicorn went ahead and diced up the rest of the cake, levitating cube-sized chunks one at a time down the table.
Scootaloo's mouth was full, cheeks puffed out and covered in colored sprinkles and crumbs. “Mmm. Mmrmn,” she muttered.
Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes. “I don't think you're supposed to—” A motor revved up and half the ponies twisted around, looking over their shoulders. Fluttershy poured a pink fluid into a strange machine which spat out an equally pink cloud. Diamond shrugged and turned back to the table. “—ask her that.”
Gulping, the little orange birthday filly wiped her mouth. “Nah. It's fine. I think you all know what I really wished for anyway.”
“Ooh! Ooh!” Snails waved his dirty yellow crumb-stained hoof in the air. “Is it the secret surprise you spent all day bragging about yesterday?” The others rolled their eyes at the mention of the word 'secret.'
A shadow moved over the table as Fluttershy positioned the pink cloud up in the sky. Many little eyes dilated in the shade but they otherwise paid the humming pegasus no attention.
Scootaloo grinned. She stood up on the table, practically beaming. “Heh. I only got a private stunt show from none other than the greatest flier in all of Equestria! The one, the only—ack!”
Snatched by a swooping butterscotch pegasus, Scootaloo was carried up and gently placed on a bright pink fluffy cloud. “Fluttershy, what are you doing?”
“Oh. Well. I wanted to start off with a cloud sculpture, but I'm not great with clouds. I can't really, um, do anything with clouds, but I remembered they had this machine for that, and I borrowed some food coloring, and since I can't make big bust of Scootaloo I thought I'd use Scootaloo herself! And it works out even better this way because you'll have a great seat for my show.”
“Huh?” The little orange filly blinked, gingerly peeking over the edge of the abominably pink puff cloud. All of her guests were staring up at her from two neat rows along the table. “Wait. Your show? What do you mean by—?”
Fluttershy swooped down and clapped her hooves together, hovering over the table. “Listen up, my little ponies! I'm going to be your entertainment today. Isn't that great?”
“Fluttershy?” Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow.
“Wow. That is a surprise,” Sweetie Belle said.
She hovered there, grinning, staring at them. Her left eye twitched and her jaw clenched as her teeth ground together. Pulling back, she smooshed her hooves into her cheeks, forcing her lips to pucker. She kept pressing in, sliding her hooves closer until they covered her mouth.
“Um, Fluttershy? You going to do something?” Snips asked.
She jerked, gasping. Her breathing was rapid, and her eyes darted around the table at all of them staring up at her. “I—” Gulping, she shut her eyes and took a deep breath. “No no. I can do this. I just have to stay calm and relax.”
When she opened her eyes, they were all still staring at her. “Uh, o-okay, let's start off with something nice and simple.”
She swayed her hips in the air, seeming to trip and catch herself. It was a short, flopping motion, that was about as impressive as a dead fish. Everypony blinked at her.
“And after that wild, wild rumble, wait until you see this next thing!” Now spinning, Fluttershy wobbled around, twirling slowly and ungracefully.
Scootaloo cringed. She paced around her pink perch, peering around the clearing. This park was close to town, and from her vantage point she could see the tops of houses and down a few streets. A couple of ponies pointed up at her but otherwise went about their business. Not a single one of them was light blue with a rainbow mane. Where was Rainbow Dash?
“Choo choo!” Shaking her butt, Fluttershy flapped up and made a weird circular motion with her foreleg. She'd picked up a streamer, which twirled around in a looping spiral. It more twisted than spun, as her foreleg was moving too slowly for the streamer to work properly. Her pink tail swished around and she rolled. Tucking in her wings made her fall, and she snapped them out, flapping, abruptly ending the roll.
“What is she doing? Is that some kind of weird dance? Who does tricks like that?” Asked Kettle Corn, who'd drawn a circle on her plate out of pink frosting.
“I kinda like it. It's silly in a so-awful-you-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it kinda way,” said Featherweight, who pulled out a camera and started snapping pictures.
Rumble chuckled. “That's for sure. Even my grandpa can fly better than that, and he can't even find his teeth in the morning.”
“Whoosh! Whee!” Fluttershy flew back and forth in front of Scootaloo's pink cloud, turning slowly and making beeping noises as she did so.
Scootaloo gaped. When her friends pointed up at them and started laughing, heat flamed in her cheeks. This was the most embarrassing thing ever! She winced when a camera flashed, and tried to back up but there wasn't any room on her fluffy perch. She crouched into a tiny ball, trying to sink out of sight—an impossible proposition atop a garishly pink cloud. It practically beamed pink. It was so pink she could almost literally taste pink in her mouth.
Flying back up, Fluttershy paused to look at the crowd. The little kids were still laughing. “Oh. They—they like it? I guess I'm doing better than I thought.” Swooping down, she clapped her hooves together. “I call this next trick the raining of the leaves!”
Not all of the kids were paying rapt attention, and Berry Pinch took the opportunity to snag herself a second piece of cake. The maroon little unicorn licked her lips, holding a fork above her extra slice of vanilla on chocolate cake with peanut butter cookie crumbles separating the layers. Fluttershy's shadow passed overhead, and a pine cone went splat, landing in the icing. Pinch's lips curled up, quavering, and her eyes watered. Soon after, everything got smothered in a thick layer of leaves as Fluttershy swooped overhead, emptying entire trash bags at once.
While her friends were shaking themselves and digging out of the sudden leaf pile, Scootaloo's cheeks were burning. Everything was going wrong, so very, very wrong. Her beautiful, perfect birthday party was crumbling in a sea of disaster around her. Diamond Tiara scowled as the pampered pink pony picked sticks out of her luxurious mane. Watching that, Scootaloo cringed so hard that she bit her lip.
Desperate, she peeked over the edge. It was a long way down, far, but not too far. Gulping, she jumped, buzzing her wings.
Fluttershy hummed as she tossed the last empty sack in a pile at the opposite end of the table. When she twisted around, her eye caught a glimpse of Scootaloo plummeting. She gasped.
In a flash, she swooped, pumping her wings as she dove past the table. Going by, she whipped up wind so fierce that it sucked the entire collection of dead leaves right off the table, along with most of the party hats too. They sprayed out in a fluttering wave, blowing, breaking, and tumbling across the field.
“Ack!” Once again, Scootaloo was snagged by yellow hooves and carried back up to be perched on top of the pink cloud.
“Careful. You could have hurt yourself,” Fluttershy admonished, tsking before going back to her routine. Facing the crowd, she made half-swoops and kinda flopped with one wing, doing a floundering fish impersonation, apparently.
“Ya gotta admit. That was one a wicked dive,” Apple Bloom said.
“Huh. Maybe she's not so bad, after all,” Rumble added, watching a weird tumble. “I mean, she's gotta have some skill to be that bad at flying, like almost deliberate.”
Scootaloo had wide eyes, shocked. She stood still like a statue. When her friends laughed at another dumb stunt by Fluttershy, something involving whirligigs, she felt like she could just die. Frantic, she twisted about, glancing all around her and peering into every shadow she could find. Rainbow Dash was still nowhere to be seen. Her legs wobbled and she crumpled, drooping down on the pink cloud. Her lips quavered and she fought back a watering in her eyes. She couldn't cry! Not now! Not today! It was bad luck to cry on her own birthday.
“And now for the grand finale!” Fluttershy flew up with a massive grin on her face. “But, uh, since this performance is for Scootaloo, I thought I'd go for something a bit different.”
“Different?” Sweetie Belle asked. She squinted, peering up at the sky. “This whole thing has been 'different.' ”
Clenching her eyes, Scootaloo took a deep breath. At least the humiliation would be over soon. It couldn't possibly get any worse.
Flying down, Fluttershy landed. She walked over and pulled the lid off a large box, revealing some kind of crumpled orange and purple thing. Humming, she plugged it into an extension cord, and a loud whirring fan kicked in.
The orange thing billowed up, inflating so high that it towered over the picnic table, reaching so high that it rivaled the treetops. It was cylindrical in shape, with two arms that stuck straight out. The top was colored like purple hair, and it had large, goofy eyes that pointed in different directions. It also whipped about, bending and twisting in the artificial wind.
“Behold! One wacky, wild, giant, arm-flailing, inflatable tube Scootaloo!”
The little ponies couldn't contain themselves, bursting out laughing and pounding their hooves on the table.
Scootaloo gaped, watching it whip about, doing a weird dance unique to flailing tube things. She didn't have much time to contemplate, because Fluttershy flew up and grabbed her again. Taking her down halfway, she stopped to hold Scootaloo over her head, right in front of the squiggly-mouthed, derp-eyed face. “Ta-da!”
The kids all laughed again, kicking up a riot. Scootaloo flushed so hard that her face turned a deep red. A flash of light made her pupils shrink. Featherweight had flown up to take a close-up photo.
“Aagbpth. Bbrbgth,” Scootaloo sputtered. “What kind of finale was that?”
“Huh?” Fluttershy looked up, then shrunk back, sinking lower under the red-faced filly's gaze. Her ears drooped. “U-um, I thought...”
“You didn't even do any kind of flying trick! Couldn't you have at least tried to do what Rainbow did, smacking into the ground and kicking up even a little bit of dirt?”
“Fall down and break half the bones in my body?” Fluttershy cringed. “Why would I want to do that?”
“Obviously you can't do it because you're not a professional!” Screaming as loud as she could, Scootaloo waved a hoof, not caring that Fluttershy had to frantically adjust her hold to keep the filly from slipping.
“Um, please calm down. You're going to fall off if—”
“I DON'T CARE! MY BIRTHDAY IS RUINED! RUINED!” She kicked, jumping and shoving Fluttershy back at the same time. Buzzing her wings hard, she managed to pull up into a swoop, crashing on the table with a loud thud. The impact rattled everything, knocking over glasses and rattling dishes. Scootaloo's impact also crushed what little remained of the soiled, leaf-sprinkled cake.
The other kids scrambled away from the table as she got up and ran off, trailing frosting-coated hoofprints in her wake. She was sniffling and tears were running down her cheeks, but it didn't count if nopony saw her cry. She was just going to have to lock herself in her closet for the rest of eternity.
Fluttershy landed awkwardly, standing in front of the massive flailing tube Scootaloo. The others were silent, blinking and hardly moving. “Did I... Did I do something wrong?”
“Um, I don't think so?” Sweetie Belle said.
“Yeah, you were fine,” Snails said. The lanky colt rolled his eyes. “But she was really expecting Rainbow Dash.”
“Dash isn't here?” Fluttershy glanced around, frowning. “Hmm. If she's not here, she probably went back to the hospital. It's unfortunate, but I don't see why Scootaloo would make such a huge fuss over it.”
The wacky wild giant inflatable tube Scootaloo kept flapping in its own breeze. Aside from the whirring of the fan, there was an awkward silence as the fillies and colts stood there with perplexed faces.
“Hospital? Why would Rainbow Dash be in the hospital?” Diamond Tiara asked.
Fluttershy blinked several times, also confused. “She crashed during practice. Didn't Scootaloo tell you about it? I thought she was there when it happened.”
“Wait a minute.” Apple Bloom stood up and pointed at Fluttershy. “So yer telling us that the meteoric belly flop she kept bragging about wasn't part of the show after all?”
Fluttershy's eyes widened and her mouth made a little 'o.' Her cheeks flushed and she glanced away. “Ooh. I think I might know why Scootaloo's upset now.”
“She's in here,” Nurse Sweetheart said from out in the hall.
Rainbow's hospital door creaked open and somepony stomped in. She spat out a spoon which clattered on the floor. She would have turned to look, but a brand new neck brace made it difficult for her to look at anything but the ceiling. Her legs were still dressed up and elevated.
“Rainbow Dash, how could you?” a pained little voice cried out.
“I swear, those scratches in the headboard were there all along. Nopony here was trying to dig her way out of the bed with a spoon. Nope. None at all.” Her outburst was met with whimpering and sniffling and her heart sank. “Scootaloo, is that you?”
Another pony walked in, and the familiar voice of Fluttershy said, “Yes, and I think you owe her an apology.”
Rainbow cringed, suddenly glad she wasn't staring down into tearful little pony eyes. “Oh, right. I'm sorry I missed your party. I know you wanted me to be there, but—”
“It's not that! You never even told me you were hurt. I kept expecting you to show up but you never did. When Fluttershy starting doing weird flying stuff, I thought it was just a joke but it never ended, and, and...” She sniffled.
“Wait. She actually went through with it?”
“Please don't change the subject,” Fluttershy snapped.
Rainbow Dash sighed and closed her eyes. “Look, I'm really sorry, okay? I know how much you'd been looking forward to this for a very long time. I wanted everything to be perfect, and when I got hurt I just couldn't bear to break the news. I thought that if I could get somepony else to put on a show, that things might still work out.”
“It wasn't the show I cared about. It was you.” Scootaloo sniffled.
Rainbow Dash twisted in the bed, turning her head to look at the gathered ponies. Sweetheart had picked up the discarded spoon, and with a scowl she dropped it on Rainbow's breakfast tray. The morning gruel had hardly been touched, now long since cold. Fluttershy had a small frown, enough to express her displeasure but her eyes were mostly sad. With quavering lips and streaks down her chin, Scootaloo looked truly miserable.
Biting her lip, Rainbow Dash had trouble meeting Scootaloo's tearful gaze. “It still wasn't my fault. I was stuck in the hospital—”
Fluttershy narrowed her eyes. “You weren't stuck yesterday.”
“Hey! How was I supposed to know they'd catch me and drag me back?”
Sweetheart grunted. “You had a lot of nerve running off like that. Do you have any idea how much trouble you caused?”
“Um...” Rainbow Dash bit her lip and glanced away. A bead of sweat rolled down her face.
Scowling, Sweetheart waved a hoof at Rainbow Dash, swinging it just inches from her head. “In addition to causing mayhem, panic, breaking things and damaging valuable equipment, we could get in serious trouble for allowing a patient under our care to leave the premises while still undergoing treatment.”
“What did you do?” Scootaloo asked.
Dash grunted. “Hey! How am I supposed to tell anypony that I'm stuck in the hospital if I'm stuck in the hospital?”
Sweetheart groaned and shook her head. “You do know that we send notices on behalf of patients all the time, right? Notifying family and friends is part of our job. All you have to do is ask.”
“Wait, you do?” Dash blinked.
Sweetheart nodded.
“Ooh. Heh. I guess that makes all the trouble I went through to escape seem silly in retrospect.” Wanly chuckling, Rainbow Dash put on a wide grin.
“What did you do?” Scootaloo asked again.
“It sounds like you owe Sweetheart an apology too,” Fluttershy said.
Rainbow Dash nodded, or she would have if she wasn't wearing a neck brace. She kinda bobbed her head a little. “I'm sorry I painted red spots on a ponnequin and screamed about a 'plush fever,' though in my defense, I didn't expect anypony to actually try to operate on it.”
The pink nurse snorted.
“And I'm sorry about flooding the maternity ward with popcorn.”
“And?” Sweetheart narrowed her eyes.
“And the centrifuge is for sorting blood samples, not to be used as an automatic fencing machine.”
“And?”
“The x-ray machine was never meant to be taken on a joy ride.”
“And?” Sweetheart ground her teeth.
Rainbow Dash gulped. “I promise I'll behave myself.”
Sighing, Sweetheart shook her head. “Finally. That's all we really ask.” She snagged the pillow full of rocks and swapped it out for a real one. “As long as you can manage that, we won't need these new-age aromatic healing crystals to restore your karmic balance, now will we?” She grinned and winked before excusing herself to tend to other patients.
“You did all that stuff for me?” Scooatloo asked.
“Um, as misguided and pointless as it was, yeah, I guess so, but I'm not the only pony who worked hard for you today.” Rainbow Dash swiveled her eyes up to stare at Fluttershy, the only part of her body that was still fully mobile. “So you actually went through with it. How'd it go?”
“Oh.” Fluttershy's cheeks flushed and she glanced at the wall. It had one of those posters of anatomy on it showing the circulatory system. “It went fine, I guess, the kids seemed to like it.”
“Wait. They did? Now I really wish I could have seen it.”
“Laughing, mostly.” Scootaloo cringed. “It was really embarrassing.”
Fluttershy stepped up to the bed and held up a photo. “See? This is a picture of when I held her up at the end. Isn't she the most adorable little thing ever?”
“What? No! Don't show her that one!” Scootaloo jumped but it was too late; Rainbow Dash's expression was mirroring the one on the wacky, wild inflatable tube thing in the background.
“Bwa-ha ha ha ha!” Her laugh choked and ground into a pained wheeze. After coughing a few times, she eventually recovered. “Best birthday picture ever.”
“No it's not!” Scootaloo took another swipe, but Fluttershy tucked it away before the frantic filly could grab it.
“Sure it is.” Rainbow Dash chuckled. “You might not appreciate it now, but this is one of those things you'll look back and laugh at. Happy birthday, squirt. I'm sorry I messed everything up.”
“Uh, I guess it is a little silly in retrospect—” Scootaloo cringed “—just not right now.” She shook her head. “And not in a million years.”
Leaning down, Fluttershy whispered in Scootaloo's ear, “Just wait until Dash's birthday. I'll help you plan it if you want.” She winked.
“Oooh.” The little filly's eyes sparkled. She glanced up at Rainbow Dash and grinned from ear to ear. “You know, maybe this isn't such a bad birthday, after all.”