Chapter 6: Thinking Tank
Rainbow Dash rubbed her forehead and looked around the room. Derpy, Flitter, Cloudkicker, Snow Flake (or Horse Power, or ‘Roid Rage, or Bulk Biceps, depending on who you asked), and the two unicorns were looking at the speedster with mixed emotions.
Right in front of her lay form 1248, the form to send a kid home.
Rainbow Dash sighed. “Okay, let’s hear it.” No point in delaying the inevitable.
“Well, everypony’s had some time to put their thoughts on paper, and we’ve made a little list of good reasons why Whimper should go home.” Lyra passed Rainbow a piece of paper.
Rainbow looked down at the sheet of paper Lyra floated to her. It was all the unicorn’s writing, she recognised the squiggle of her ‘s’. It definitely wasn’t Lyra’s idea, though. Rainbow Dash knew her well enough to know Lyra would only send a kid home if they were missing pieces, and even then she’d be tempted to find spares.
But of course, it wasn’t up to her. They had a kid who would either slow down his group and mess with their growth or keep getting hurt trying to keep up. They had an Eagle’s Grasp case, and Eagle’s Grasp cases were simply not all fit for Flight Camp. It basically came down to what they’d want to risk and how fair it would be to the rest to risk it.
Rainbow read the first argument. “Right. First off: preserving morale.” Flitter scrunched her face at that. “Okay, sounds reasonable, but sending him home’s gonna hurt him a lot more than keeping him on board with his problem. That’s not helping him at all, that’s breaking him.”
“Okay, stop right there,” Flitter interrupted her. ”Before we go any further, I just want to know something. Are you sure you’re thinking clearly about this? Your judgment’s not affected by anything?”
“What do you mean?”
Cloudchaser gave her sister a knowing look. “She means you’re only saying that because the kid’s bulked up. You’re playing favourites because he’s an athlete, like you. If he were an egghead or an artist, you’d send him home right away, wouldn’t you?”
Oddly, the thought hadn’t occurred to either Rainbow Dash or Twilight. Suppose he was a kid who had no physical features to speak of? Suppose they were dealing with someone who had no interest at all in becoming stronger or faster? Would they treat him any different for that? More to the point, would they even be having this discussion if they didn’t know what they knew?
The letter had arrived shortly after dinner, Spike having stopped Derpy on her rounds as soon as it had come rumbling up his throat. Twilight, Lyra and Rainbow Dash were alone, already wondering what they’d do about Whimper. They knew the rest of the staff would be wanting to send him home unless they had a good reason to assume he wouldn’t be a problem.
“Well, let’s see what Shining has to say.” Twilight opened the envelope and got out the first sheet of paper, reading it aloud.
Dear Rainbow Dash,
When I got your letter, I had managed to get through three months of marriage without my dear wife thinking of children. Thank you very much for remedying that for me.
“Eheh, oops.”
I have to admit, I was very happy to hear that you’re training Whimper. The boy’s got a lot of potential, even if he doesn’t realise it. I imagine you’ll know by now that he has a breathing problem, and that he can’t run or flap his wings too fast without severe pain.
However, I’m afraid that’s not the only problem he’s suffering from. You’ll see what I mean when you read the full report. I also included the last letter Whimper received from the Royal Guard, my own personal acknowledgement for his act of bravery. Honestly, I don’t know what else I’m supposed to say to him. I imagine there are some things that I just can’t understand regarding this matter, maybe you can. Despite my best efforts I’ve not gotten him to accept the medal that he deserves.
It’s considered something of a mixed bag here in higher echelons of the Court, and so far the only ones who know about it are the Wonderbolts, the Royal Guard, the Princesses and the Ashen Blizzard, as well as anyone Whimper may have told, which is only Peachy Pie and his next of kin, as far as I know. I suppose the Elements of Harmony should be informed of the matter as well, and Lyra would most likely try to strangle me for the story as soon as she got wind of it. I think she can be trusted with it as well.
“Oh, Shining, how little you know me. You wouldn’t be able to tell me if I strangled you.”
Twilight frowned. “Who’s the Ashen Blizzard?”
“A grandmaster in martial arts, even invented a whole new school. He’s called a lot of things, almost nopony knows his real name. So kind of a bigshot.” Rainbow kept her eyes on the paper.
As big as this is, I must urge you to keep this on a need-to-know basis. Whimper specifically requested it be kept under wraps, and we are honour-bound to do so. So Twilight, Lyra, please don’t announce this for the whole camp to see, he won’t like it. And don’t try putting it into his head that he should be proud of what he did and he should accept the medal. I’m pretty sure he’d have done it by now if things were that simple. He has nopony to talk to about this, and I doubt there are a lot of ponies who can even begin to understand it. So be careful around him, please.
And Rainbow, I know it must be very, very tempting, but for the love of Celestia do not try to teach Doldrum Whimper how to fight. If he doesn’t feel like it, no good will come of it, regardless of his obvious talent. Go easy on the little guy.
Yours truly,
Shining Armour
“Not a lot of ponies would understand? What do you suppose he means by that?” Twilight got to the next letter, Obsidian Storm’s first report on the encounter, sent right before he headed out.
“Well, keep reading and we’ll find out.” Lyra hung over Twilight’s shoulder, curiosity burning her up inside.
Twilight closed her eyes and put the letter back. She shook, but for no apparent reason. “Maybe we should wait. I mean, we’re going to have to discuss him with the rest. Suppose we slip up and someone catches on?”
Lyra pressed a hoof to her face. “Please tell me you’re not serious. I’m already dying with anticipation here.”
Rainbow nodded. “She’s right. We can’t treat Whimper any different from the rest, we need to keep a level head. Whatever happened, it can’t count. Besides, he just took back a necklace, that’s not a big deal. We can wait.”
Twilight frowned at that. Lyra scrunched her face in agreement. What Rainbow Dash had just said made no sense at all. It just wasn’t possible, for one very simple reason.
Go easy on the little guy…
“Sure. I’d send him home just like that.”
Silence fell over the room. Twilight raised an eyebrow.
“If Whimper was an egghead, an artist, or anything else, I wouldn’t feel bad about sending him home. Because he wouldn’t have to feel bad about it, either. If he had something else that made him happy, I wouldn’t feel bad about sending him home. But he doesn’t, and you all know it. He’s here because he thought he could get his problem fixed if he just tried. I can’t deny him a chance to just try.”
Snow Flake shook his head in thought. “What about the rest of the Camp members? How are they going to react when they see the strongest kid on Camp wheezing when he tries to go fast? How is it going to look when they see him fail?”
“That depends, I guess. How’s it gonna look when they want to ask him how he got so strong, and he’s not around anymore? Or how about running into him once Flight Camp’s done?” Dash shot the bodybuilder a sad look. She knew he could empathise with the kid a little.
The red-eyed stallion sighed. Of course he’d considered the reactions if Whimper got sent home, but this matter was painful no matter how one looked at it. Bad enough to always fail at something, but to have a condition that punishes you for trying, that was downright cruel. It was doubly cruel for someone who wants to push their limits and leave that weakness behind. At the other end of the spectrum, forcing someone to keep going despite a crippling pain was a big red flag in his mind, and this was exactly what Dash was suggesting.
“Next thing:” Dash went over the list. ”The Wonderbolts’ judgment? What do you--”
She looked up. All the pegasi looked at her in sympathy, and it took a second for it to dawn on her. “You guys… that’s really nice of you to consider, but the Wonderbolts aren’t going to accept me just for what I do here. It doesn’t matter. If I let him stay or send him home, they’ll know. I really don’t think they’ll like me more for doing one or the other.”
Rainbow Dash chanced a glance over to Derpy. She’d looked away most of the time, brooding about the whole thing. Derpy took it hard, no doubt. The mailmare was sensitive like that, especially when kids were involved.
“Look, we can argue about sending him home or not, but don’t you think we should be discussing solutions here? Can’t we fix his problem?” Twilight looked around for any shows of confidence.
Lyra sighed. “You can’t cure Eagle’s Grasp, Twilight. You know it can’t done. You’d be wounding him just for the trying.”
“Suppose we don’t need a cure? His only problem is the rate at which he moves. I’ve seen some of the other kids with the same thing, they can keep up just fine with the rest of their flights, even if they’re slower.”
Flitter nodded reluctantly. “Well, that’s true. When their wings are bigger, they can stay up easier. Their magic's stronger, too. But for a little foal, that just ain’t in the cards. Pegasus magic isn't like unicorn magic, you can't force it without forcing your body too. If you have Eagle’s Grasp, you don’t show up for Flight Camp at his age, and that’s it. The only reason nopony thought he had it is because no one ever risks it with his condition, it's as simple as that. It’s painful, it’s sad, but that’s how it is. We can’t use magic or tools to make his wings bigger, not during the actual test. And simply making his wings stronger won’t work, either.”
Rainbow Dash looked over to her derpy-eyed colleague again. “Derpy? Mind helping us out here?”
She cringed at the attention. “Wuh-what do you want from me?”
Dash shrugged. “Well, what would you do? You’re pretty much the expert on this sort of thing, aren’t you?”
Everyone would have slapped her in the face for that remark if they hadn’t been too busy feeling shocked.
“What?” Rainbow looked around at their shocked faces. ”It’s true, isn’t it?”
A few ponies shook their heads, Derpy squinted bashfully.
“You came in fifth at the last Young Flyer’s Competition, you were third in the last Running of the Leaves and you cover plenty of distance on your job. I’m pretty sure that out of all the pegasus ponies here, you’re the only one who gets as much airtime as me and still lives on the ground, like Whimper. And yet I never see you train with the other high flyers. You’re kinda the best amateur flyer we’ve got.” Rainbow Dash gestured towards Derpy as she explained what to her was obvious.
Derpy’s expression lifted at that. “Oh, you mean that.”
“What else would I mean?”
Silence fell.
Derpy fidgeted in her seat. “Umm… I still don’t know how I could help.”
“How did you train? You never went with the pros, you didn’t even go to Flight School, but you still got your stamina up, and your speed.”
Everyone gave Derpy a hopeful look at that.
“I err… I didn’t really follow any program. I was pretty much pooped every day when I started with the mail, I just sped up over time. I didn’t even time myself, mostly I was happy to stay on schedule. Everything else? I keep moving, that’s all, and I watched the other great flyers, like you. I don’t know what to tell you. I found a lot of time to get better. I don’t think Whimper would be able to do that, though, not in less than two weeks and not with his problem.”
Rainbow Dash nodded. It was worth a shot, at least. “Okay, anyone else got any solutions?”
Silence answered her.
Cloudchaser rubbed the back of her head nervously. “Umm… you’re the best flyer we have, Rainbow, period. We were kinda expecting you to think of something if you wouldn’t send him home. I mean, if you can’t, then nopony can.”
Derpy sighed and looked at Rainbow with a sad expression. “Maybe you just need to accept that not everyone can learn to fly like you.”
There are times in life when one hears something that just clicks. Sometimes it’s a misunderstanding, sometimes it’s random. Sometimes it makes perfect sense, sometimes it sounds like complete gibberish. Dash had just gotten something to click, and she gave the rest something else to chew on. But while her little epiphany made perfect sense, her response to it was, to say the least, mildly confusing.
“Derpy, you’re a genius.”
Derpy blinked a few times and perked her ears to make sure they were working properly. What she had just heard made no sense. She’d certainly heard all of those words before, but never in that order. She’d pretty much accepted that she’d never hear them in that order, too, at least not from Dash.
Rainbow Dash stared at Bulk Biceps then.
He stared right back. "Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?"
"Oh yeah." Rainbow grinned.
He winced at the thought. "Isn't that dangerous, though?"
Rainbow shrugged and grinned. "You tell me. It would work, wouldn't it?"
The bodybuilder with the stubby wings squinted in thought. "On that one? Yeah, I guess it would. It should, definitely. You'd have to be careful, though."
Everyone looked from Rainbow to Bulk.
Flitter’s ears perked as she tried to make sense of it. "What are you talking about?"
Rainbow Dash got up from the meeting table. “I need to head off to Ponyville for a little bit. I think I have an answer, but it’ll take a day or two to work. So, look, Whimper doesn’t have that big a problem that he needs to go home right now, does he? Even if we can’t fix it, we can at least let him do the exercises at his own pace, right?”
“But that would still slow down the rest of your flight. You know how uptight management gets about their schedules.” Snow Flake rolled his eyes. “They need to be able to do the whole regime, that’s what the Gantelope is calculated for.”
“That would be a problem, but I’ve got the most organised pony in Equestria to help me out on that one.” Dash motioned to Twilight, who gave her a curt salute. ”If that’s really the only problem, then it’s not a problem, is it?”
The pegasi all nodded, Lyra following suit.
“Good. He wants to get better, and I think I know how to make it happen. We can still keep him on, and if he thinks he can’t make it through the Gantelope, he doesn’t have to. We can still send Whimper home one day in advance if we really need to.” Rainbow Dash turned to leave. ”So if that’s everything, I’m gonna head off to the ground for a bit.”
Twilight followed her friend out as Lyra called the meeting adjourned. They’d all speak with the rest of the staff and make sure the higher-ups all knew what was going on. As she came outside, the cold night air made her shiver almost as much at the thought of what was happening. “Rainbow, could I talk to you?”
Twilight looked worried, worried enough to warrant a full stop from Rainbow.
“What’s wrong?”
“’He doesn’t have anything’? You don’t know that. You’re acting really weird over this kid, Rainbow. And you’re sticking up for Whimper as he is, but you just said you’d send him home if he had his cutie mark? What is wrong with you? This isn’t like you at all.” Twilight raised an eyebrow.
“It’s complicated. You wouldn’t understand, Twilight,” came the reply.
“Why? Because I’m a unicorn?” Twilight finally dropped the hammer that had been hanging over them since the day they’d met.
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. She didn’t have to say it.
“You know, I think I’ve been a pretty good sport about this. I’ve swallowed my words and kept quiet here more than I’d like. I let Whimper get hurt just as much as you did. I’ve tried to understand the pegasus way of doing things--”
“I know, Twilight,” Dash interrupted, calmly. ”You’re trying, I appreciate it, and it’s not fair to you that it would make a difference, but it does. It’s not what you think, though; this isn’t about how pegasi do things, it’s about how we feel things. It's just different for us.”
Twilight grimaced at that. “Umm… mind explaining that?”
Rainbow held her head in her hooves, before sighing deeply and facing Twilight again. “We’re built differently from unicorns, that’s all. And we’re wired differently, we don’t care about the same things unicorns do. It’s like…” Rainbow Dash weighed her words. ”You know what the worst thing in the world is for Earth ponies? Think about Applejack or Pinkie Pie, what’s the one thing they can’t take? What’s the worst feeling for them?”
Twilight tried to picture some of her friends’ weaker moments. It wasn’t really a voluntary reaction, more of a side effect from reading so much and having such a wild imagination. Then she tried to think about what set Earth ponies apart from the rest. They had an innate bond with animals, with the land around them, but the worst thing for them? Crops gone bad, dishes going off, their trade being useless? She couldn’t put a hoof on the exact feeling.
“Feeling hopeless,” Rainbow Dash finished the thought for her. ”They’re wired to care, to set things up for the future. Take away their future, their hope, you take away everything. And what’s the worst thing for you? What makes a unicorn break down?”
Twilight really didn’t want to picture that, but she wound up doing it anyway. Losing her horn, then her friends against Discord, being held captive by the Changeling Queen, all those times she saw her own little world collapsing around her, it didn't take long to pin a name on that. “Feeling helpless.”
“Exactly. You’re wired to be in control all the time. No matter what’s happening, you can always do something about it right then and there.” She emphasised the point with a few taps of her hoof on Twilight’s chest. ”If it’s not your magic then it’s something else you can hold on to, and when that’s taken away, you break down. What do you suppose the worst thing is for a pegasus pony?”
Again, Twilight got the images all right, but she couldn’t guess what Dash meant. She felt a little sad, not being empathise like that. It made her feel like a bad friend. But then, Rainbow wasn’t holding it against her. She was being uncharacteristically patient with her, actually, and it paid off.
Twilight Sparkle had always been a big fan of facts, and now the facts were becoming clear in their friendship. She was a unicorn, Dash was a pegasus. The two were just different, and if you were one, you simply couldn’t be expected to know what it felt like to be the other. It was a simple fact of life, and one that meant Twilight just couldn’t guess at what her friend meant.
“Feeling useless.” Rainbow Dash snapped her out of her little reverie.
A lot of things became clear at that point.
“We’re the ones who can fly, we can take the high ground. We see danger coming first, we go in first. It’s in our blood, always has been, always will be. A pegasus who can’t stick up for what they hold dear, what they believe in… if they can’t be the one to defend their friends, then they’re nothing. Do you get it now? Unicorns and Earth ponies get confidence from doing things, but pegasus ponies need confidence before they try to do anything. They don’t start a hobby if they don’t think it’ll be fun. They can’t fly if they don’t believe they can fly. That’s why Whimper’s got nothing except his friends. He doesn’t have the confidence to get behind anything on his own, he needs others to do that for him. So he sticks up for them.”
This new data trickled into labyrinthine nightmare that was Twilight Sparkle’s mind. So a pegasus’ innate irrational fear was being useless? That did account for Rainbow Dash actually wanting to speed towards a dragon, wanting to help the buffalo despite not having any diplomatic influence whatsoever, it explained quite a lot, actually. The debacle with Discord must have been particularly gruelling to deal with, not to mention Mare Do Well.
Rainbow Dash had let heroics go to her head, true, but at a time when she had some time off and nothing else to do. Despite all the bravado and all the apparent differences, Twilight realised that Rainbow Dash really wasn’t that different from her friends at all. She needed to be acknowledged the same way Rarity, and actually Twilight herself, needed approval.
It took Twilight a while to understand why a pegasus would need confidence first, but she quickly figured it was probably an evolutionary boon. Nerves can make pegasus wings lock up, which means that if they’re afraid to fly, a “fly or die” situation would quickly weed out whoever let their egos get the better of common sense.
It didn’t add up entirely, though.
“Of course he can, just look at him. I’m sure he can find confidence in his strength. He just lacks speed, and speed isn’t everything, you know. I mean, Fluttershy--”
“Stop… comparing Whimper… to Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash sighed at every word then. They’d both been making that comparison quite a lot, as had most of the rest of staff, at least the ones who knew the mare in question. “Fluttershy’s a good flyer when she wants to be, and she’s a great flyer when she needs to be. But Whimper, a little hero with a medal? If a bunny’s drowning, or if someone needs help, they’re fine if Fluttershy is there, or any other pegasus who can fly properly. But Whimper has to either go slow and risk losing precious time, or go at top speed and risk collapsing. Can you imagine lying there, out of breath, unable to get up, and having to watch a bunny drown? Not to mention getting help. If he goes too fast, he won’t even be able to talk. If ponies think he’s a hero and he fails like that, it could scar him for life. I don’t blame him for refusing the medal if that’s what he’s in for.”
“Okay, I get it, you want him to feel useful.” Twilight sucked up a tear caused by that active imagination. ”But you shouldn’t get your hopes up about this hero thing. You understand that, right? Even if he gets his speed up, Whimper’s not going to accept his medal.”
“Why wouldn’t he? It’s the only thing stopping him, isn’t it?” Dash shrugged.
“No, it’s not.” Twilight sighed. ”There’s something you don’t know about Kludde, the water devil he fought.”
“Twilight, you’re kinda scaring me here.” Rainbow leaned in close.
“A water devil is like a changeling or a windigo. It feeds off the energies that are released with intense emotions, except for creatures like Kludde it’s emotionally charged memories,” Twilight said with a quiver in her voice.
“So what? He gave the kid amnesia?”
“No, it’s just the energies, not the memories themselves. Kludde feeds in two ways: either he takes a trinket that has a great sentimental value, maybe something really old with a lot of memories imbued in it, or he grabs the owners.” She slowed her words down for the last part.
Rainbow shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“Kludde doesn’t just take trinkets. He, or it, eats them. It’s a walking kiln, this spirit fire in a hollow armour. The only way Whimper could have taken back a necklace is if he got there before it was absorbed.” She gulped and took a deep breath. ”Which would mean Kludde decided to feed on him, instead.”
“You mean--”
“Whimper’s not a hero, he’s a victim. Kludde’s magic causes symptoms like an Eagle’s Grasp attack, which would be even scarier for an actual Eagle’s Grasp patient. When his prey is terrified, Kludde goes in closer and scares them to the point their life flashes before their eyes. That panic response forces the body to spend all its energy just trying to get away. That’s when Kludde feeds. Afterwards, he just tosses his victim aside and leaves them there. If they’re lucky, they can make it back to safety. If not, they’re in such a state of shock that they can’t move at all.”
“Wow. That sounds awful.”
“It is. That’s why the Royal Guard are still chasing it. That thing doesn’t even need to kill you, it just leaves you for dead. And with that spell, the only way to fight it is an ambush. Once the spell is on you, it’s over, and it’s an instantaneous one, so you can’t dodge it. The Royal Guard's tried to get that thing for years, my brother tried it himself. The best anyone's managed to do is damage it and force it to retreat, but you can't chase after it with that spell on you. And I don't think Whimper would want a medal to remind him of something that scary, especially if all it does is draw attention to his breathing problem.”
Rainbow Dash considered these new facts. Granted, they hadn’t read the whole story yet, but then that was most likely because Twilight didn’t want to have a detailed description of a child being tortured ringing in her head while they were discussing said child. They couldn’t even be sure if that was what happened, and Rainbow was pretty sure there was more to it than that.
If Whimper’s a victim, he sure doesn’t fight like one. What the hay is going on here? “Okay, that doesn’t change anything. He still needs help to fly properly, he still wants to stop being the runt.”
“So what are you going to do? You don’t have a cure, do you?” Twilight raised an eyebrow.
“I may not have a cure, but I have an idea.”
Twilight frowned at that. The standard Rainbow Dash idea didn’t seem too constructive or useful in this situation.
“Care to tell me what you have in mind?”
Dash flashed her friend a mysterious grin. “Think Rarity’s up for one more order?”
Scootaloo and Whimper sat by the cloud fire as the sun set. It was a camp fire, technically, but not the usual sort. Being away from the ground and this far up, pegasi couldn’t just rub some sticks together and expect to get a camp fire going.
So naturally, they just got some enchanted materials to serve as a floating barrier, piled up wood just below a thundercloud, gave it a little tap to use lightning as a lighter, enjoyed the warmth and bribed the laws of physics with some marshmallows. The electricity in the air made them extra fluffy.
Whimper kept his head down, and most of the other foals didn’t pay him much heed. He didn’t really have anything to say, and there wasn’t anything they could say to him, either. He looked around after finishing his marshmallows, then trotted off. “I think I’m gonna head off to bed now.”
There wasn’t much of a response. Everyone knew he’d had a medical emergency, chances were he still had a headache, or felt embarrassed about still wearing his bat plushie in public. Scootaloo followed him, just to keep him company and to get some things straight.
As they got to their cabin, stars and moon lighting their way, Whimper turned around to face her. “You don’t need to hang around me all the time, you know. I’m fine.”
“I know, I’m hitting the hay early too. Besides, I wanted to ask you something.” Scootaloo closed the door behind them.
Whimper wriggled into bed, Scootaloo stood next to it, looking down at him. He sighed. “Okay, what’s on your mind?”
“Well, I’m curious. You’re worried other ponies will look at you weird, so you stay low-profile, right? Why did you catch me that first time, then? Did you know who I was?”
Whimper nodded, his face just barely catching a stray moon ray. “Umm… vaguely, maybe. I saw your picture in the newspaper, with that ‘Gabby Gums’ story. I didn’t really realise it was you until you told me. I noticed you were down at the warm-up, and you looked scared at the dive. I thought maybe, possibly, you might want to be friends, so I tried to be friendly. And when you fell, I just didn’t think. I saw you falling, so I dove after you. It's hard to explain.” The colt tensed up at the admission.
Scootaloo narrowed her eyes. “Are you sure you’re okay, Whimper? You’re looking kinda shaky.”
“Oh, that’s nothing, I get that all the time.”
Scootaloo looked at his covers. The wings underneath were shaking like a leaf. “Whimper, is there something else that’s bothering you? Are you cold?”
He shivered even more. “N-no, just a little nervous t-twitch. It’s nothing, really, it’ll pass.”
That half-whisper voice and those innocent eyes really did make him look and sound like Fluttershy. He still had a bite to him, but as often as he spoke up, she was starting to think back home, it was the exception rather than the rule.
“Have you always had that?”
He didn’t reply, but his stomach did. It groaned, and his face contorted as he rubbed the source.
Scootaloo sat down and lowered her head to be inches away from his. He didn’t back down, but he blushed when the smell of her lavender soap hit his nostrils. “Did you get that from the bullying, or from that monster fight you got in?”
Being so close, she could hear the nervous wheeze slipping into his voice. Wrong button to push, but she had to keep going now. She had to know, to make him feel better, maybe. “What are you afraid of? That it’ll go after your friend, that it’s coming back for you? Kludde can’t fly, can it?”
“You have no idea.” He groaned, clutching his covers tighter.
“Maybe you should talk about it. I don’t really know exactly what it’s like, but I know what being scared feels like. Me and my friends have gotten into some pretty bad stuff too. You might feel better if you try.”
Whimper clenched his eyes shut, still shaking. This was really starting to weigh him down, it seemed. “I-I don’t know, Scootaloo. You might not like what you hear.”
Scootaloo tilted her head. “Come on, you can tell me. I won’t laugh or anything. You’ll feel better if you talk about it, I promise.”
His breath was coming in quicker and more ragged now. “I’m serious. It’s not what you think.”
Scootaloo nodded. Even if he was up to it, just talking at this hour would mean he’d be up all night reliving the same memories. As curious as she was, she couldn’t do that to the boy. “Okay. Don’t tell me, if it hurts that much. But at least talk to Rainbow Dash about it.”
The blue colt grimaced in the moonlight as he considered it. His stomach gave off another groan.
Scootaloo returned the grimace. She really had pushed him too far. “Promise me you’ll talk to Rainbow Dash about it?”
Whimper sighed. “I promise. But not tonight, okay?”
“Good." Scootaloo strode back to her bed and wriggled into it. ”You rest up, we’re gonna need our strength for tomorrow.”
“Why? What are we doing tomorrow?”
“The same thing I do every day: try to get a cutie mark. And I’m making you an honorary Cutie Mark Crusader.” She smiled.
Whimper’s mouth curled up a bit as the smile proved infectious. “If I don’t get sent home, you mean?”
“Rainbow Dash would never let you get sent home, Whimper.” The facts suddenly dawned on her. ”Uh oh.”
“’Uh oh’? What do you mean, ‘uh oh’?” The boy’s smile turned to a gritting of the teeth.
“I think she might already know about the whole Kludde thing. When she talked to me, she said she overheard us talking over lunch.”
Whimper’s stomach gave another groan, but his face didn’t contort this time. “Well, she is an Element of Harmony. She already knew I did something, my picture’s up in Canterlot. She’d have found out anyway.”
“I’m sorry.” Scootaloo settled into bed and lay her head down.
“No biggie,” came the sighed reply. Whimper scrunched his nose like he was brooding over something. “Hey, Scootaloo?”
“What?”
“This might sound kinda weird, but… why do you hang out with me? I mean, you could hang out with Rumble or the older kids, and you beat Zephyr. I’ll be holding you back now that you can fly.”
Scootaloo hid her smile at that. The poor guy was so used to only having one friend, he really didn’t know what to make of their friendship.
“No, you won’t. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle don’t slow me down, and they don’t even have wings. I’ve got no reason to stop hanging out with you. You’re still strong, you’re still cool, and you’re still nice. Like I said, we’re two leaves of a clover. Nothing’s changed.”
Whimper smiled. "You really think so?"
“Sure. And besides, if I don’t look out for you, some silly filly might start taking advantage of that kindness and try bossing you around. Now get some sleep, I don’t want to have to drag you out of bed again.”
“Thanks.” He smiled sheepishly as he covered up. ”Good night.”
“Good night.” The filly turned her back to him and closed her eyes.
It bugged her, though. She rolled around in bed for a while and noticed Whimper was stirring as well.
She’d gone too far there. She knew the whole Kludde thing would be painful, but she’d kept going on about it. She only wanted him to feel better. And now Whimper would be up all night worrying about it. He worried way too much to be healthy.
She could hear his breaths. Just reliving some of the memories made him wheeze.
She should do something. On the other hoof, she really shouldn’t.
Whimper tossed and turned, his breath giving the vaguest hint of a wheeze, just enough to be heard. She could tell there was no way he’d be getting any sleep tonight if she didn’t step in. The shape of his wing under the covers was shaking. That silly bat plush poked out from under the sheets.
Scootaloo sighed in frustration. What would Rainbow Dash do? She couldn’t really think of anything cool that would work, just mushy stuff. What would Scootaloo do if it was Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle stirring like that? Pretty much the same mushy, embarrassing thing she was thinking of doing now.
With a grunt of determination, Scootaloo got out of bed and shot the shape of the clouds a firm look. Their beds were just nests, really, mere indentations on the larger cloud mass made fluffy with some magic. She shoved the cloud towards Whimper’s. It was like pushing into sand bags filled with jelly, but she got it, one grunt after the other.
Whimper stared at her in the dim starlight as her bed and his were close enough to make contact. Without a word, she got back under the covers. Then she curled up the length of her tail under Whimper’s covers. “There. You can squeeze my tail if you get scared, okay? Just don’t tell anyone.”
He didn’t reply. He didn’t need to. He just wrapped his forelegs around the thick bushy tail with the feather pattern and squeezed. She figured he didn’t do that with a plush since, well, that would mean he’d need a new plush every now and then. Or have it repaired, but patchwork only holds for so long.
He unwound, he stopped shaking, and he went out like a candle. The amount of tension he was holding must have been enormous, and with his build that meant he was hard and tight all the time. She wasn’t too keen on anatomy, but she knew stress and muscles did not mix. She couldn’t let her bullhead friend lose that hard-won strength over the one real fight he’d ever been in. It was an embarrassing solution, but at least no one would notice in the dark.
In just a few minutes, he was sleeping soundly, which meant she could sleep soundly.
Scootaloo tried to turn, but there was something on her. Something heavy.
She turned her head, only to find a heavy weight pressing down on it. It was taut, it was blue.
She blinked to find Whimper’s body pressing down on hers, crushing the breath out of her.
“Whimper, don’t --” She tried to catch her breath, but the weight kept piling up. She couldn’t move, her wings started buzzing but she couldn’t move. The colt didn’t speak, he just clasped around her and squeezed. Her lungs felt like they were burning. “Please… I can’t breathe…”
She shot awake with a gasp. There was nothing on her, her friend was still sound asleep holding her tail like a comforter.
Scootaloo breathed a sigh of relief. It was just a nightmare, a silly nightmare. She took a few moments to catch her breath. Nothing to worry about.
Except she still had something to fear. Rainbow Dash stood right next to her bed, she must have heard her gasp. It was the middle of the night, and thankfully nopony else had woken up. “Bad dream?”
Scootaloo nodded.
“Whimper choking you?”
“How did you know?” Scootaloo kept her voice hushed.
“Lucky guess.” Rainbow leaned over a little closer and noticed the filly’s tail disappeared under the colt’s sheets. She gave her fan a funny grin that was partly hidden in the darkness.
“Umm… it’s not what you think.”
“You gave Whimper your tail to squeeze like a stress ball, huh? That’s why you scooted your bed over.” Dash chuckled, if very quietly.
Yep, there came the final humiliation. All that stunt work, the work on the Rainbow Dash fan club, it was all for naught. Scootaloo was now officially a mushy filly who was too embarrassing to even be seen with future Wonderbolt Rainbow Dash.
“Good thinking, squirt.”
“No, really, I’m not into that cuddly stuff… wait, what?” She barely managed enough self-restraint to keep her voice down to a whisper. If the other colts saw this, she’d never live this down. She was surprised they hadn’t woken her up when they came in.
“I know, I know. You’re not into that cuddly stuff. But he is, and meeting him halfway like that is very cool of you. I guess Twilight told you, huh?” She leaned in to the filly.
“Told me what?”
Rainbow Dash tilted her head. “You didn’t know? I had a gryphon friend once on Flight Camp who couldn’t sleep. She was homesick, said she missed the smell of home cooking. So I snuck off and dipped my tail in barbecue sauce, scooted my bed over just like you did and gave her my tail just like you’re doing. Slept like a hatchie, all camp long.”
Scootaloo was pretty sure she was still dreaming at that point.
“I guess you're more like me than you think. Now, go back to sleep, okay?” Rainbow Dash said, raising her hoof to pat her on the mane.
Scoot felt the hoof lightly fall on her head, and just like that, she felt the approval wash away the bad dreams. She’d not only done the right thing, but the cool thing, too. Those two didn’t mix all that often, certainly not for her.
She was once again Rainbow Dash-approved.
She could sleep easily again, maybe do the same thing next time right from the get-go.
“Okay.” Whimper led the way as the two flew up to the higher echelons of the Camp. ”We have full stomachs, upward mobility and time until noon. What do you wanna do?”
Scootaloo observed the new world as it unfolded before her on their cloud. Ball games in the air, diving, a racing ring in the distance near the old barracks, the works. There was only one thing a Cutie Mark Crusader worth her cape could reply to that. “All of it.”
“Excuse me.” An ocean blue-green colt came flying in, with a crescent moon cutie mark, no less. Whimper recognised him from the Cloudwrestling, round 2, or maybe 3. ”I’m Blue Moon, and you seem a bit lost. I haven’t seen you two up here before, come to think of it. You’re not new to flight games, are you?”
The two shrugged.
“Well, I don’t usually fly all that high.” Whimper blushed.
“And I only learned to fly yesterday.” Scootaloo added with a nervous smile. If her friend was going to be embarrassed, let it never be said that she wouldn’t join in.
Blue Moon’s eyes widened. “Wait, so neither of you has ever done any game in the air?”
The two foals shook their heads.
“I’ve tried bad apple, but that doesn’t usually end well.” Whimper shyly kicked the ground.
The older colt looked positively shocked. “Bu-but… then presumably neither of you has wiped out before?”
“We don’t have beaches in Ponyville, so we don’t surf. I’m don’t think swamps get waves, either,” Scoot replied, looking to a nodding Whimper.
To that, Blue Moon’s jaw dropped. Then his face turned to that of a smug salesman and he nudged the two onwards to destinations unknown.
“Come with me, my fine young feathered friends, you have some catching up to do.”