//------------------------------// // The Flying Filly's First Fog And Fall // Story: One Bolt, Moving Forward // by Boltsinger //------------------------------// Scootaloo shot out of bed, eyes wide with excitement. “Today’s the day!” She cried, gathering her things into her saddlebag. “Flight training starts today!” She put on her helmet, waving farewell to her aunts and scooting off to school. “I wonder what we’re gonna start with?” She sat in the classroom, Cheerilee doing her lesson. “How to take off, maybe?” She pulled her fellow Crusaders along to the clubhouse. “How to pick up speed?” She stared out the window as another foal got their Cutie Mark behind her. “Oh! Maybe he’ll have Soarin take me on a stunt flight so that I know how it feels!” She waved farewell to her friends and sped off, heading to the training field. “Or maybe he--” The field was empty, save for Boltsinger, Soarin, a large cloud, and the towering Pegasus that was Bulk Biceps. Boltsinger trotted over to the arriving pony. “Hi, Scootaloo! Glad you could make it!” Scootaloo took off her helmet, meeting him halfway. “Hi, Bolt.” She tilted her head to look past him at the muscular white pony. “What’s Bulk Biceps doing here? He’s… not exactly the best flyer out there…” Boltsinger chuckled, trotting with her over to them. “Better than you are right now.” Scootaloo reared back, glaring daggers at the stallion. “Hey! If I could fly, I’d be flying circles around him! My wings just aren’t big or strong enough for it, okay?!” “Strong enough, maybe.” He started. “Big enough, I’m not so sure. From what I’ve heard about from the girls, and what I’ve read in the friendship journal, this big guy can fly pretty well when he needs to. And have you seen his wings?” Scootaloo blinked, taking another look at Bulk. His wings were abysmally small, only just barely there on his hulking back. They flapped a few times, not really doing anything save for looking out of place. “He can fly well?” Soarin laughed, walking over to Bulk to put his wing on his shoulder. “Good enough to fly with Rainbow Dash in the Aerial Relay against me and the other Wonderbolts!” Bulk reared up at the compliment, flexing his forelegs and buzzing his wings. “YEAH!” He shouted, letting the hype overwhelm him. Soarin’s smile was wiped away as he went into his ‘Wonderbolt mode’. “BULK BICEPS!” he yelled, sending the much larger stallion into a salute. “I WANT YOU TO SHOW THIS FILLY HOW TO FLY RIGHT NOW!!!” “YES, SIR!” Bulk replied, dropping to all fours and buzzing his wings so fast that they looked like a fly’s in motion. He strained himself, the back of his body slowly but surely ascending. His hooves left the ground entirely, rising up far into the air after about a minute, where he hovered in place. “All right! Perfect!” Boltsinger cheered, giving Bulk a thumbs-up with his wing. “You stay right there for now! Show her how it’s done!” Bulk proudly flexed his forelegs again. “YEAH!” His wings stopped moving for a moment, sending him briefly plummeting down as he caught himself and flew back into his position. Scootaloo looked up at the huge pony now flying above her. “But his wings are smaller than mine! How can he get up there and I can’t?” Boltsinger looked down at the filly with a smile. “Only one reason for that.” He gave his wings a strong downward flap, propelling himself high into the air in nearly an instant, leaving a burst of wind in his wake that blew Scootaloo’s mane back. “Power!” He began flying around the cloud that had been brought in, packing it ever-tighter to condense it. Soarin joined in his efforts, quickening the result as the cloud fell softly to the ground, becoming a patch of localized fog. “So, now we get to the lesson proper. You’ve seen what’s possible for little wings, now let’s start you towards doing it yourself!” He landed in front of the fog. “Do you know how I built up the power in my wings before my Cutie Mark turned me into the endurance flyer I became?” Scootaloo shook her head. “No, you only told me that you used to have weak wings.” She looked over at the descended cloud. “What does it have to do with the fog?” “Everything.” The older pony began. “My family has a long history of weather work, and so cloud-busting was a common thing for us to do. The most effective way to do it, though, wasn’t by just plowing right through them.” He raised his wing, swiping it in a direction away from the cloud and sending another blast of wind through. “My brother, Brightling figured out that we can use the wind to affect more clouds at once. It’s also a good measure of how much power you can put into a single flap. So, first thing we’re gonna work on is…” He held out his hoof, motioning as if to offer that she finish the sentence. “Making a lot of wind?” Scootaloo guessed. Boltsinger patted her on the back with his wing, turning to face the fog. “That’s good, but about how much wind do you think you’ll need?” Scootaloo looked at the fog more closely. “Enough to make quick work of that fog?” “In your case, the goal is to be able to do it in up to five flaps of your wings.” He finished. “Five flaps of my wings?” She repeated, looking wide-eyed at the large gathering of water and air. “Excuse me, but have you seen my wings?!” Boltsinger laughed. “I don’t expect it immediately. That’s why it’s a goal.” He pushed the filly towards the fog with his wing. “Why don’t you give it a shot right now and see where you are. That’ll let me know what you’re working with.” The Crusader swallowed a lump in her throat, walking up to the cloud. “Just my wings, right?” She asked, looking back. Boltsinger gave her a confident nod. “Okay… I can do this! Just… flap your wings, Scootaloo!” Her wings began to flap, directing themselves in front of her. Little by little, the section of cloud directly in front of her started to disperse. She stepped forward, the effect growing stronger as her wings started to buzz. Her excitement began to bubble as she sped up, cantering full-bore into the center. She beamed as she ran through the fog, dispelling it at every turn with a jolly buzz of the wings. From the outside perspective, she could be seen jumping around, sometimes landing on top to blow it away from above. Boltsinger smiled, the sight of the filly making him think of a cat playing in the snow. After about five minutes, the fog was gone, and a winded Crusader walked back over to him, wings hanging at her sides. “I know that was a lot more than five flaps, but… That was so much fun! I didn’t think cloud-busting could be done like that!” “Well, we’ll be setting one of those up at every training session for you!” Boltsinger assured, letting his hindquarters drop to the ground. “It’s going to be… I’m gonna say our ‘measuring stick’ to determine just how much you’ve built up those flappers of yours.” “All right!” She yelled, jumping into the air and hovering for a moment. “So, what’s next?” Soarin landed behind Scootaloo, tussling her mane with his hoof as Bulk Biceps made a thunderous landing. “Next is dinner! I’m starving!” Boltsinger turned towards the town, heading towards Hay Burger. “Then after dinner, we’re gonna go over your regimen. I know this goes without saying, but you’re gonna have to do some practice at home, too.” “Okay!” the filly replied, following the stallion. The excitement she had lost upon seeing the venue had returned in full, now that she’d gotten an idea of what she was doing. And with that idea came dozens more! It was like trying to get her Cutie Mark all over again! Only this time, she was going to brainstorm ways she could bulk up those wings! Scootaloo looked at a piece of paper on her desk in class, furiously drawing a number of symbols with descriptions next to them. She added boxes to the side, rolling the paper up and placing it in her saddlebag. As the lesson came to an end, she sprang from her seat, running for the door with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle following close behind. “You ready to do some crusadin’?” Apple Bloom inquired as they galloped to the farm. “Actually, Apple Bloom, I’ve got something else in mind for today!” the Pegasus corrected, pulling her parchment from her bag. “I’ve gotta get to work on these wings of mine! I figure if I push myself, I can get up in the air in no time, and then I can help even more ponies with my awesome flying skills!” Apple Bloom looked concernedly at her orange-coated friend. “You sure about that? I don’t wanna have you go ‘n hurt yerself tryin’ to get up there too fast.” “Come on, Apple Bloom, you know I can handle this!” Scootaloo assured. “Well, I’ll see you gals tomorrow! Got lots of training to do!” With that, she veered off towards the training field, wings abuzz as she galloped along. As soon as she got to the training field, Scootaloo tossed her saddlebag aside, making for the center and dropping to the ground. If I do a whole bunch of wing-ups, I’m sure to bulk up! She figured, her forelegs extended out as she reached her little wings down. She stretched her feathers as far as they could go, but never quite felt the ground underneath them. If only my wings were big enough to reach the ground, anyway… She stood up and dusted herself off, looking around. What about weights? I could lift dumbbells like Bulk Biceps! She ran over to a set of weights, looking around for something she could lift. She pulled on some of the larger ones that her wings could almost grasp, but none would even budge. She finally came up to the smallest of them, picking one up with her mouth and reaching her wing forward in a grabbing motion. Well, I can at least lift this one… But there’s not much point if I can’t hold it in the right place… She breathed a sigh, dropping the dumbbell to the ground. What’s another way I could practice…? She looked around the field. Other ponies had started to arrive, including a number of Pegasus foals. They all chased one another back and forth, jumping up and hovering for a while before finally touching down. Seeing the buzz of their wings, she gasped. “THAT’S IT!” She shouted, drawing the attention of the other ponies. She sheepishly smiled, running over to the edge of the field. Once there, she took a good look around. Gotta make sure nopony else gets too close. I don’t wanna fall on anypony! Once the coast was clear, she closed her eyes and jumped up as high as she could, flapping her wings mightily. Rather than trying to get up high, she opted to try for a sustained hover, seeing just how long she could push herself to stay in the air. Her wings held her aloft as she felt the breeze in her mane. Yep! I think this is it! If I can’t lift weights on the ground or my own weight on the ground, then I can just test my endurance up here! “Hey, everypony! Check out how high that filly got!” somepony from the crowd called out. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen somepony so young get that far up with just one jump!” Far up? Scootaloo thought, opening her eyes. Directly in front of her was the vast blue sky. She looked down, where a bunch of ponies had gathered round. Wow! I got this high just by jumping? My wings may not be that strong yet, but I guess my legs made up for it! She raised her forelegs and cheered, the force of the motion throwing off her balance. She looked around again, letting the excitement get to her as she began to wish this proud moment could last forever. Her wings seemed to agree with her, because at that moment, they stopped. Uh-oh… Scootaloo plummeted back towards the ground. She let out a high-pitched scream during her descent, working desperately to move her tired wings. When the tiny limbs refused to flap hard enough, she closed her eyes, covering her face with her forelegs. “I GOTCHA SCOOTALOO!” The feeling of falling ceased, and a scared Scootaloo opened her eyes. Carrying her by her forelegs was a light grey Pegasus colt with purple eyes and a blown-back black mane. He was struggling a bit to stay aloft, his eyes fixed ahead of them. Scootaloo’s eyes widened, not even believing what she was seeing. “Rumble? What are you doing here?” She asked. “What’s it look like?” he responded sarcastically. “Saving your butt!” They came to a landing in the park, where Rumble turned to face the filly. “What the heck were you doing anyway? I thought your wings weren’t strong enough to fly!” Scootaloo recoiled slightly, backing up a step. “Well… That’s what I’m working on. I’ve got a flight coach now, and he’s helping me work on my wing power… I guess I got carried away with the practice, huh?” “You think?!” Rumble retorted, aggressively leaning in. “Who’s your flight coach? I wanna have a talk with him!” A knock came at the door to the castle, letting the occupants know that company had arrived. Boltsinger rose from his chair in the library, heading for the balcony so that Twilight could continue her reading. He had been making a habit of using his wings to cut out the middle-mare when greeting visitors. It made for a neat entrance, along with saving everypony the trouble of waiting for him. When he landed, he saw a sorry-looking Scootaloo with a rather unfamiliar colt. “Are you Scootaloo’s flight coach?” the colt inquired. “Eeyup.” The stallion replied. “My name is Boltsinger, and you are…?” “Peeved is what I am!” Boltsinger and Scootaloo both winced at the colt’s language. “How could you let her go out and try to fly on her own?! What the heck were you thinking?!” “Rumble, it’s not his fault!” Scootaloo interjected. “I was the one who decided to go by myself! Bolt didn’t know what was going on!” Boltsinger’s face went stern. “And what exactly was going on, Scoot?” The filly faltered a moment, looking up at the older pony. “Well… I was hoping to get some extra practice in for my training, and so I went to the field to try a few ideas I got for exercises. But I couldn’t do wing-ups or lift weights or anything else because my wings are too small! Then I saw a bunch of foals hovering and I thought that maybe if I tried to hover for as long as I could then that would help and then I jumped too high and… I fell… My wings got tired, and Rumble saved me…” Boltsinger looked at the colt next to Scootaloo, seeing the fierceness in his eyes as he looked back. He was clearly concerned about the filly, and was none too pleased with the day’s events. “I see…” he started, stepping closer to them. “I appreciate your enthusiasm, Scootaloo, but what you described is a bit outside your training regimen. Hovering is a great way to build up strength in your wings, but it’s also really easy for that to end badly, as you just learned.” He turned to face Rumble, holding out a foreleg. “Thank you for being there for her. I didn’t think she’d get quite so overzealous with her training.” Rumble put his hoof forward, giving the stallion a hoof-bump. “It’s no problem. I know she’d do the same for me. Just don’t let her do stuff like that alone again, ‘kay?” Boltsinger nodded, looking back and forth between the foals. “You know… that gives me an idea…” his gaze fell on Scootaloo. “I  would be willing to let you keep doing training like that, but only under one condition.” Scootaloo looked quizzically at the elder Pegasus. “Really? What’s your condition?” Boltsinger smiled, pushing Rumble towards her. “You’re only allowed to do that kind of training with a partner. Preferably somepony who can fly decently. You think you'd be up for it, Rumble?” Rumble looked at the Crusader, then back at Boltsinger. “Wait, what?” He directed his attention back at Scootaloo, who was now looking at him in an adorably pleading way. He averted his gaze, a tinge of red appearing in his cheeks. “Okay, I’ll do it… I could use the extra practice, anyway!” “Excellent!” the stallion exclaimed, flaring his wings. “And now, we go to Scootaloo’s house!” Scootaloo gave him a confused look. “I mean, we have to tell your aunts about what just happened. Rainbow Dash will wanna know, too. But… That’s if she’ll even talk to me.” The winged Crusader brought her head low, drooping her ears as the boys began the walk. “Aww man…” She moved her eyes to look at the pony that saved her life. “Well, I guess a little punishment is worth it…”