Chapter 8: Rainbow’s Wracking Realisation.
Rainbow Dash circled around the kids as they walked over to the Gantelope. “Okay, everypony, you’ve practised landing, breaking your fall, and speed. Aside from that, you’ve gotten a bit of exercise to get those flying muscles nice and strong. Now it’s time for some serious business: maneuvering.”
Everyone looked up at the set of rings right after the diving portion of the Gantelope. They had another few sets just like it near the old barracks, but right now those were taken by the more experienced flyers. Rainbow Dash flew up to make sure everyone saw her right.
“Now, for this part of the course, you’ll have to learn how to roll in mid-air. The rings here are placed so close in a row that you can’t turn without losing precious time. You need to roll sideways to pass this part. In case you’re wondering why you might need this skill, let’s just say it comes in handy if you’re ever in an avalanche.” She rubbed the back of her head as she said it. She’d almost said ‘if you ever cause an avalanche’, which accounted for about half the ones she’d been in, actually.
“So the way you want to do this is -” Dash bolted off before finishing that sentence, throwing herself into rolls left and right, and making her distinct rainbow trail through that part of the course. She went faster than the naked eye, actually, and did the whole thing thrice in a matter of seconds. Twilight frowned a little at the approach. She still wasn’t sure why Dash had insisted on bringing her saddlebags along too, or what she’d asked Rarity the other night.
Rainbow Dash was turning out to be quite the mystery, but then that wasn’t news. Rainbow had always been the one friend of Twilight’s who really didn’t make sense. At least Pinkie Pie had the ‘controlled insanity’ moniker to explain her actions, but Dash? She’d never figured out the reason why Dash acted the way she did. She wasn’t even sure why the athlete was friends with Twilight, not that she was complaining.
“All right, any questions?” Dash came flying in with her drill sergeant look.
Scootaloo shook her head in amazement, jaw dropped. Whimper raised a hoof and immediately regretted it. “Yes. Could you please explain how you did that, and maybe do it slower?”
To that, Rainbow Dash smiled. “Sure. What you wanna do is fold your wings, and at the same time throw your body weight sideways. Always make sure you roll from the shoulders first. It looks like everything rolls at the same time, but it doesn’t. Shoulders first, then the rest. That way you don’t fall as much and you go straight to the side.” She did the same roll hovering in place to illustrate. ”And make sure your wings open again once you’re level, not before. Open the one on the outside of the roll first, then the one on the inside. Open too quickly and you wind up spiralling out of control. And weigh off the amount of strength you use. You’ll be hitting stuff left and right if you’re not careful. Got it?”
All five foals nodded.
Rainbow Dash landed and went towards the saddle bags. “Another thing. Whimper will be wearing one of these while training.” She got out what looked like a padded training vest with flames on it. ”This is his prize for winning at the cloudwrestling. Just to keep things fair, I’ve gotten another one in case you wanna try it. But this one’s for Whimper, he needs it. He’s asked for help, so he’s getting it. If anyone else needs help with anything, you have to ask. We don’t want to hurt anyone’s pride, and if you think you can fix it yourself, we won’t stop you. Everyone got that?”
Rumble nodded with a grimace, Zephyr and Skyron grumbled a little, but nodded as well. Twilight suppressed a smirk at Dash’s clever approach. If the jocks ran into any trouble themselves, they’d have to swallow their pride as much as Whimper and Scootaloo had. It wasn’t much, but it might help adjust their attitude.
Whimper got into the training vest a little awkwardly. First Rainbow Dash put it on the ground, then he had to lie on his back, get his limbs through the holes and button it up, then roll onto his hooves.The thick padding really stood out on his back and near his ribcage.
Scootaloo wondered what that was supposed to do, since Whimper jumped up and down to check something. Is he being weighed down? How is that supposed to help anything?
Skyron chuckled. “You look like a flying tortoise.”
“You got a problem with flying tortoises?” Dash leered at the jock.
“No, ma’am.” The jock got a look of terror on his face as the cockatrice glare went through him.
Zephyr grunted. ”Psh, you’re just playing favourites. Let me have the other one.”
“Sure, catch.” Just as politely as the question had come, Rainbow tossed the other vest right unto the lavender colt’s back in reply.
He caught it, his knees buckled once, then he collapsed. He gritted his teeth as he tried to get up. “What the… it’s like… an anvil!”
“Excuses, excuses. You wanna be treated like Whimper, you get treated like Whimper. Now you two are gonna do a run on the rings with that vest on. They’re both equally heavy, so you both get the same pressure. Any difference is between your skills alone. Unless you think you can’t handle it.”
Zephyr grunted as he barely managed to get into the vest, let alone flap his wings hard enough to get off the ground.
“This isn’t so bad,” Whimper remarked as he slowly managed to get some lift and headed up towards the rings. ”I’ve carried baskets heavier than this. Not flying, but still.” He slowly passed by the hovering mare, only at walking speed despite his quick flaps but at least moving.
Zephyr flapped his wings furiously and tried to keep up, but he wound up looking like Scootaloo had when she tried to fly earlier. He sat down and shot his instructor an angry look. “How is this fair?”
Rainbow Dash shrugged, unimpressed. “Well, Whimper can do it because he’s got a stronger back than you. Kinda like how you can fly circles around him because your lungs are stronger. Sounds fair to me.”
Zephyr didn’t bother saying he couldn’t do it, he just shed the weighted vest and lifted off. Whimper was just passing the first ring when the jock came zipping by. Zephyr went into his roll at top speed.
Then he crashed into the sides, just as Whimper tried the same manoeuvre at a slower pace. He nearly went off track himself, but managed to stabilise himself just in time. He went through the second ring and readied himself for another roll. Scootaloo kept her eye on things. Whimper was clenching his jaw just with the effort of trying to stay stable and up, while Zephyr simply refused to take it easy and wound up falling along the sides every single time.
Twilight was making notes herself, no doubt wanting to keep everything on schedule. She wasn’t sure what to make of the weighted vests, though. Tapping the one Zephyr had shed, the unicorn realised the padding was filled with cherry stones, as well as some other seeds to make it an even distribution. And judging from the weight, she was sure none of the other foals could fly with one of those strapped to their backs.
It didn’t make sense, though. Slower and stronger wingflaps did nothing for Whimper’s problem. He couldn’t speed up with just stronger flaps, surely Rainbow knew that? If anything, Whimper would be slower than before, since a stronger flap just put more of a wavy motion in a flight, not extra speed. Flying wasn’t like swimming where you were already buoyant, you needed strength to stay up as well as move forward. That was doubly true for a foal whose wingspan couldn’t carry him yet and whose magic couldn’t make him light enough yet. What am I missing here?
As the two colts landed, one having done a slow and perfect track and the other going all over the place, Twilight turned to the other kids.
“All right, now you all go single file. You’ve seen how it’s done right, just make sure you keep stable. Rainbow Dash will be up on your level if you need any help.”
Rainbow Dash suppressed a grin at that. Twilight was a quick study.
At that command, the five foals got into another round. Whimper trailed behind, of course, since he needed five flaps of the wing just to stay up where the others needed a mere two. Going forward took even more strength, and going forward fast took strength he didn’t have. Scootaloo buzzed past him once, then twice. He was falling behind again, but at least he wasn’t getting out of breath. He was pacing himself fine, but the pace he was going at was abysmally low, despite his wings moving at quick trot speed.
After a few rounds, the foals landed at their instructors’ command. Twilight made a few notes and sighed. “Okay, everypony, now on to the dive so you can chain it together.”
Once the foals were getting ready on the steps, Rainbow Dash flew in to talk to her friend. “What’s wrong?”
“You do realise that just making his wings stronger won’t work, right?”
To that, Rainbow Dash gave a confident smile. “That’s not what I’m trying to do, Twilight. Trust me, you’ll see. And speaking of which, Whimper!”
The colt nearly jumped at the sudden shout. “How are you feeling? Any head-rush?” Dash called out loud enough for everyone to hear.
“A-a little, why?” He pulled up his hooves, cringing in fear.
“Take off the vest for a bit, then.”
Rainbow Dash flew up to take the vest from him. He shook off some muscle strain before getting ready with the rest of the squad.
Twilight kept her eye on everyone. Both Zephyr and Skyron were struggling with the rolls, even when they bounced off the landing cloud to pick up speed. Nevertheless, they stubbornly refused to ask for help, so they didn’t get any. Rumble did fine, but he looked worried, probably because Scootaloo was right behind him. The poor guy really looked like he felt guilty, and now he didn’t talk to anyone in their group. Still, she’d seen him with the older kids, and he was flying fine, if a little wobbly. Scootaloo herself was proving quite the ace when it came to agility, but then that wasn’t a surprise considering she flew like a hummingbird already. She even managed to slow down her fall at last.
As for Whimper, he was doing fine technically, but he wasn’t going any faster than before. Whatever Rainbow Dash had in mind, it wouldn’t be instantaneous. Twilight couldn’t think of what, though. It had something to do with flying the way Rainbow Dash did, but didn’t all pegasi fly with the same basic technique in mind? It didn’t make any sense. And the colt wasn’t looking too happy with the state of his body, either. At least he had one thing going for him, that being a strong back.
The routines went on and on, Whimper went in and out the weighted vest a few times, and slowly but surely lunch came around. Rainbow Dash nodded when they’d finished their schedules for now, then headed over to Whimper as he and Scootaloo trotted off. Twilight kept the rest of foals going out of earshot.
“Hold up for a second.” Dash stopped the pair. ”Okay, here’s the deal. You can wait until your muscles feel a little better the day after tomorrow, or you can do a special training with me after lunch and you’ll be pain-free right after. You’ll also see what I’m trying to do right away.”
He grimaced as he considered it, averting his gaze for a moment before looking back up at her. “Umm… what’s the catch?”
“It’ll be a little weird, and it might even get painful. That goes for you too, Scootaloo. You can join in if you want, but you might not like it.” Dash winced as she considered her course of action.
Scootaloo didn’t hesitate. “I’m up for it.” She wasn’t about to pass up a chance to be with her idol, and Whimper wouldn’t back out of pain relief in embarrassment if Scoots was going ahead with it.
Rainbow Dash looked down at the boy. “Well, Whimper?”
He nodded with his eyes closed, like he knew what was going to happen. His wings twitched.
“Good. I’ll see you after lunch, then. Oh, and another thing, I’ll be timing when you wear that vest, and keeping a close eye on you most of the time. I stuck my neck out to keep you on camp, so it’s important you do exactly as I say from now on, got it? No exceptions, not in or out of flying lessons. I’ll tell you to stop when it’s getting to be too much, but you can’t quit if I don’t let you, and you do not get to run away from me. Understand?”
Whimper nodded. “Okay, I won’t. Thank you.”
“That’s including your bully problem, too. If you get in a fight, I’ll let you have one move, just one. You try a second one, I step in. Don’t expect me to go easy on you, I’m going to start pushing you to your limit if I have to. You refuse one time, I’m sending you right back home. Is that clear?” She held her hoof high to emphasise the one chance he’d get.
“Yes, ma’am.” He looked up with as defiant a sigh as he could muster.
Just what she was hoping for and just what he needed. “Perfect. Off you go, then. I’ll catch you later.”
“Umm, Twilight?” Rumble came walking into the book corner during the lunch break. As per usual on her breaks, she had her nose in a history of the use of mental loci in spellcasting, including a very interesting tidbit about the evolution of rune pages into hypnotic therapy books.
“What’s on your mind, Rumble?” She looked up just a moment. ”Looking for a book on flight dynamics?”
“No, not exactly.” He kicked the ground bashfully. ”You said that if we had a problem, we should say so. Well, I know you don’t like me as much as Whimper or Scootaloo, but…”
To that, the unicorn’s ears perked. That kind of talk from a foal set off a few red flags in her mind. “Hey, don’t say that. Just because Rainbow Dash is friends with Scootaloo and Whimper needed more help, doesn’t mean we play favourites. And it doesn’t mean we don’t like you. We’re here to teach everypony, remember?”
“Well, if that’s true... I’ve got kind of a problem, and I don’t know what’s wrong, exactly.” The colt gave a nervous smile, like he was embarrassed about it.
That he’d gone to her in private and not gone straight to the nurse set off another set of alarms in Twilight’s mind. Had he sprained something, broken something? Was he infested with one of those obscure parasites that burrow in a pony’s head or come bursting out their chests? “Why don’t you start by telling me what’s bothering you.” She lay down right in front of him before her vivid imagination kicked in and made matters worse.
He sighed and let his head hang. “I have a headache.”
Twilight blinked. Not what she was expecting. “Just that, a headache? Did you bump your head, maybe land badly?”
Rumble shook his head and pushed a hoof to it. “No, I mean I’ve had this pressure in my head for a while, a couple of weeks, maybe months. I didn’t think it was that bad, but when we were rolling, it got worse. I was feeling dizzy, and I kinda still am. Eating didn’t help, either.”
Residual dizziness, constant headaches…not good signs. “Stand up straight for me and follow my hoof, Rumble.”
The colt stood up as straight as he could, and followed the hoof as Twilight moved it left and right. He was only moving his eyes, but there was no mistaking it. He was swaying on his hooves. His balance was off, meaning that if it got worse in flight he’d be in serious trouble. That wasn't even to mention the risk of him losing his lunch if he had to roll again. She got up and tried a few cursory tests with her hooves. He’d have to go to the nurse eventually, though. “How’s your breath, and your stomach? Did you feel queasy or anything?”
She placed the back of a hoof on his forehead as he thought.
“Yeah, but it didn’t start in my stomach, and I’m not really tired, it’s just my head. Am I sick?”
“No fever…” She absently rubbed his mane and noticed something. Twilight sniffed that mane just to be sure. She narrowed her gaze as a few things came up in her head. The smell of rose water hung over the boy. “You’ve got a pretty soft mane for a colt, you know. Do you use any special shampoo?”
He blushed at that. “Yeah, I kinda have to. My hair greases up really quickly, so I have to use girl shampoo to keep from looking stupid or getting smelly." He spat out the word ‘girl’ just a little. ”My dad’s always joking I should learn to wrestle, ‘coz I’m always oiled up.”
Twilight gave him a friendly smile and nudged him out into the crowds of his playing peers. “I think I know what’s wrong. We should get you to Lyra.”
“So I am sick? Do I have worms or something?”
“You’re not sick, Rumble, you just need a little attention.” She lowered her voice to a whisper, not wanting to state the problem out loud where anyone outside might hear it. He was really taking this hard, even if he shouldn’t. Rumble acted like he ignored her, or didn’t hear. The look on his face was going to mild panic by this point. She’d stay with him, just to make sure he didn’t feel too scared. It was bad enough having to smell like a girl, let alone getting embarrassing medical issues.
Moving into the nurse’s office, Twilight noted a distinct lack of green unicorn. She gave the buzzer a gentle nudge. A low and loud voice, possibly Snow Flake’s, came hollering in reply.
“MEDIIIIIC!!!”
The sound made her ears ring. Rumble didn’t so much as flinch.
A green flash materialised in front of the two. The flash had a horn and a slasher smile. “Hi there. Please state the nature of your medical emergency.”
“Rumble’s gotten a bit dizzy from the rolling. I think he might need some cleaning up.” Twilight leaned in and winked.
“Oh? Well, let’s see then.” Lyra wasted no time in grabbing the boy’s head and ignoring all protests at the invasion of his personal space. His head was poked and prodded at every visible vein, golden eyes moving in to scrutinise the surface of his scalp and all over his head. “Yup, I think you’re right. Come with me, little guy.” A green blob of magic pushed the confused colt onwards, heedless of his struggles to get out.
“Come on, don’t worry.” Twilight tried to soothe Rumble’s concerns. ”This won’t hurt a bit. We just need to get your head under some water, that’s all.”
“Huh? Bu-but I already washed this morning!”
“I know, sweetie, but there’s just some spots you can’t reach. Now hold still, this might be a little uncomfortable.” Lyra gently placed Rumble’s head under a sink and let some warm water flow. Taking the faucet in her magical grasp, the mint unicorn aimed the stream of water straight into the boy’s exposed ear canal.
He squirmed at the uncomfortable pressure, but he was held down. The mares tried talking to him, but he didn’t hear with the water in one ear and the other one turned away from them. He felt something in his ear, like the edge of a wet towel wrapped into a point or a slimy thread. A thread that moved. It wriggled around inside, and the pressure was quite painful, nearly going right into his eardrum. He was regretting watching “Invasion of the Pony Snatchers” at this point, particularly not closing his eyes during the scene where one of the main characters became infested by a worm in the ear. His brother was cool about letting him watch classic films, but sometimes Thunderlane let him see things he really shouldn’t.
Once the nurse was satisfied, she turned him over and gave his other ear the same treatment, first filling it with warm water, then digging into it with what he now saw was a string of cotton. He grimaced as the shots of pain went into his head, but this time he heard Lyra shushing him and stroking his neck. He noticed the string came out looking a very disgusting brown, and she actually had to change it a few times to make sure she got out all of the gunk. The colt groaned a little in embarrassment, but he weathered it as best he could.
“There, all done.” She got a towel and dried off his head as she let him up. ”Feel better?”
Rumble rubbed his ears with a grimace. They were ringing, but the pressure in his head was subsiding. Their voices came in clearer, too, and he could actually hear the other foals playing outside now.
“A little. So did something get in my ears?”
Twilight shook her head. “Nothing to worry about. Your ears just got a little clumped up, that’s all. Your hair isn’t the only thing that greases up a lot. You don’t have a parasite, you're not sick, it’s just earwax, that was the pressure in your head. You should be fine now.”
“Earwax? Seriously?”
“Seriously. You’ll probably get it later, too, but if you just remember to get some water in your ears when you wash, it won’t be so bad.” Twilight smiled.
Awkwardly, Rumble started walking off. “Thanks a lot. Um, just one thing, don’t tell anyone?”
“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” Lyra swore. Twilight, for her part, still hadn’t figured out how to do that without grievously injuring herself, so she went with a simple “I promise.”
With a bound, Rumble was off.
“Can you imagine he thought he had parasites?” Twilight chuckled softly. As strange as it sounded, she was somewhat relieved to know she wasn’t the only one who got crazy ideas when scared out of her wits.
“Sure. It happens, and things get scary when you don’t know what’s wrong with you.” Lyra kept a serious tone. She’d seen it happen a few times herself, after all.
“I guess that’s just how kids are.” Twilight looked out the window, recalling her own little adventures with Cadence. ”Every problem they have seems like the biggest one in the world, but to a grownup it always looks like the same thing.”
She chanced a glance towards the higher levels. Rainbow Dash was flying off to a remote corner with Scootaloo and Whimper.
“Something exceptionally trivial.”
Rainbow Dash set down on the cloud with the two foals in tow. “Okay, this should do fine.”
Scootaloo landed in front of her and looked around the isolated patch of sky. “So what are doing here, Rainbow Dash?”
“Twilight calls this ‘Rapid Oneiric Recharging’. It’s kind of like magic, but a little different. Trust me, it’ll help with tornadoes, lightning, everything. Just lie on your backs, you’ll see how it works.”
The pair laid down on the fluffy cloud. Rainbow Dash went to lie down on her belly, folding her legs up.
Scootaloo got into the position, with Whimper following suit. “What now?”
“Now focus on your hind legs. Just hold them still and comfy. You can hold still and comfy, can’t you?” Rainbow asked with a friendlier tone than usual. It wasn’t much, but it was definitely not her usual tone of voice.
Whimper winced, but nodded. “Uhuh. I’ve done this before.”
Encouraged by her friend’s apparent experience, Scootaloo tried to follow Dash’s suggestion. She felt out how her hind hooves were positioned, then her legs. She seemed to relax automatically from just paying attention to it.
“You’ll notice you’re starting to feel a little heavier now, that’s normal. Just feel out how you’re lying down, and breathe a little slower. Just relax and sink into the cloud for now.” Dash kept her voice calm and even, letting any edge bleed out. It was quite soothing, with a little effort.
Scootaloo took a deep breath and felt that heavy sensation settle over her belly as her breath slowed. Her head was feeling a little woozy too. Whimper was shaking at this point. She perked her ears as she checked him. “You okay?”
The colt adjusted his front legs and sighed. “Just a little nervous, but I can’t back out now, can I?”
“You’ll be fine, Whimper. We’re alone, up in the clouds, and no one’s going to get hurt. It’s okay to let go for just a bit. Can you feel your forelegs getting heavy?” Rainbow Dash tilted her head to get a better look.
Whimper took another nervous breath as the heavy feeling moved up his forelegs. “Uhuh.”
“Okay, now I want you to look at that cloud right in front of you.” Dash pointed a hoof straight ahead. ”Just keep looking at it, focus all your attention just on that and following my voice. And you can stop talking. Just nod or shake your heads, okay?”
Scootaloo felt herself sinking away into the cloud. This was getting a little scary, actually, but she didn’t want to back out at this point.
“Now as you focus on that cloud and my voice, you’ll notice it’s getting harder to think. That’s okay, you can still follow what I tell you, and I won’t tell you anything bad. That heavy feeling will go a little faster up now, almost like you’re standing at the edge of a deep well. That’s fine, you don’t have to let go completely yet. Now, Whimper, Derpy told me that you can only work magic when you’re excited. That’s not because your magic works that way, it’s because you can’t relax right, that's all. We can fix that if you’ll let me. And Scootaloo, if any bad memories do come up, just remember that this is different.” Dash took a deep breath. ”You need to trust me on this, okay?”
The two foals were a little out of it. The gears in their mind had slowed, their bodies were going limp, and they couldn’t help but follow Rainbow Dash’s instructions. Not they couldn’t do anything else, they just couldn’t think of a good reason not to.
Scootaloo felt a tear roll over her eyes, even though she couldn’t think of why. What was this reminding her of so much? Why was she so afraid?
“Now sleep.” The two foals felt a hoof on their forehead and closed their eyes. Any resistance they had left turned to vapour just like the cloud they were lying on. Just as she’d said, they felt like they were falling into a deep well, always deeper and deeper. They couldn’t stop it, they just gave up control. A vague memory went through Scootaloo’s mind, a tiny paper cut in her consciousness no one had ever thought to patch up, not even her.
“I want it.“
“I need it.”
“I really like her mane.”
Loss of control. Something in her mind she didn't put there. Nothing she could do about it.
It was scary in a way Scootaloo wasn't used to, but at least she was safe this time. Maybe now she could look at it for what it was.
“Okay, this is very important. What you’re feeling right now is what’s called trance. It’s not going to make your eyes all googly, it won’t make you do things you normally wouldn’t. You’re not being controlled by anyone but yourself. You can snap out of it if it really gets too much for you, but I’m here to make sure that it doesn’t get that far.” Dash’s heart was racing as she said it. ”I’m going to remove my hoof now, and you can stay this relaxed. I’ll just read something, but it’s up to you if you want to listen or not. It’ll be just like story-time, only more real. Is that okay?”
The slumbering foals slowly nodded, Scootaloo’s mouth hanging slack and open by now.
Slowly, carefully, Dash retreated her hooves. Then she rooted through the cloud they were on and got out the book Whimper had brought with him. “Now I want you to imagine you’re standing at the base of a mountain.”
As she narrated the script, Dash contemplated what she considered her fundamental equation.
At one end of the equation, she had her past. This included breaking speed records, doing tricks that were considered hard by the pros and one that had been considered a myth for years. It also included kicking a dragon in the nose and being generally awesome.
At the other end, she had what she was doing right now. This included trying to soothe the emotions of a pegasus who couldn’t fly properly due to medical issues, trying to teach kids how to master their innate skills and using hypnosis to clear up some underlying issues.
The equation led to one conclusion.
No matter how hard she tried, no matter how fast and awesome she’d been, and no matter how much she’d avoided all things girly, biology-bloody-biology would have the last laugh.
Rainbow Dash was turning into her mother.
“Okay, you can wake up now.” Dash touched their foreheads once she was done. ”Don’t try to move too fast, things will take a while to get going again. How are you feeling?”
“Pretty good.” Scootaloo slowly stretched out. ”I’m not sure what we did, exactly, I kind of zoned out. What was it called? Rapid Ornery…”
“Rapid Oneiric Recharging. That’s what Twilight calls it.” Dash winked at her. ”Most ponies just call it a power nap. What about you, Whimper? Looks like you’re not shaking for once.”
The colt got to his hooves and wriggled his wings. He took a few deep breaths to get his bearings, but his face betrayed some disturbance, still. He had a smile on his face that just looked awkward.
“I’m fine,” he clearly lied. ”My muscles aren’t sore anymore, I’m feeling good and… strong.”
Scootaloo turned her head. He didn’t look at all happy about it. No real need to bring it up now, though, better to make sure they were both well awake.
“Come on, class is starting again, and now it’s a speed run on the rings by the old barracks. Think you’ll be able to keep up?” Rainbow Dash shot Whimper a confident smile.
Whimper wriggled his wings again and gave a cursory flap. Even after just one session with the vest, whatever had changed elicited a confident if careful grin. “Actually, I think I can manage now.”
As the foals and mare headed off to the barracks, Scootaloo tried to see what the difference was between Whimper before and after the vest. To her surprise, she got an answer when she noticed Whimper’s wingflaps came at the same pace as Rainbow Dash’s. Every foal flapped faster than an adult, she buzzed along like a hummingbird herself. But how was that going to make him faster?
Twilight was already standing ready with the three other colts, as well as two light purple pegasi coaches with the three kids from the hurricane section and two others she didn’t know. The coaches had light green manes with white highlights, and one of them had a bow in her hair. One’s hair was spikey, the other’s mostly flat. They looked like they were related, probably sisters.
Rainbow Dash smiled in greeting. “Hey Flitter, Cloudchaser. Guess we’re sharing the track now?”
“Yup. How’s everything coming along?” Cloudchaser asked.
“Well, Whimper should be fine now, but Zephyr and Skyron there don’t seem to be getting the rolling down.” Dash nodded in their general direction.
“Very funny." Zephyr rolled his eyes.
“So you’ve fixed his problem already, huh? That’s impressive. Care to show us what you’ve got, kid?” Flitter asked the colt.
Scootaloo gulped at that, but her friend gave an uncharacteristically confident grin and pushed that firm chest forward. “Sure. What do you have in mind?”
“How about a little race to warm up? You, Zephyr and Rumble, and Blue, Red and Green. Not that I don’t trust Rainbow’s training methods, but I just gotta see how much she can get done in less than a day.” Flitter winked at the two coaches.
Rainbow Dash’s face was stuck in confident grinning mode, despite Twilight’s stunned expression. Them allowing this was mind-boggling. Whimper agreeing to it was even more baffling. What the hay did she just do? “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
Whimper was already lining up with the rest. Twilight noticed the boy’s face had changed. He’d lost that little bit of nerves he usually had, and in its place something more predatory had appeared. He looked out of it, kind of angry, even.
“And go!” Flitter gave the starting signal.
Twilight turned away. She didn’t want to give anyone the satisfaction of watching an ill-advised and potentially dangerous race, certainly not on a longer track than she’d seen Whimper do already. This sort of distance would be way past his critical point, she was sure of it. She looked at Scootaloo as the race went on, and noticed the filly was breathing a little slower than usual. Scootaloo also seemed a lot more focused than normal, not even thinking of cheering anyone on. Most disconcerting was the fact that the girl's pupils were dilated, despite not looking at all excited. Twilight Sparkle wasn’t an expert on these things, but she knew what that sort of change meant. “Did Rainbow Dash put you under?”
The question snapped the orange pegasus to attention. “Huh? Oh, she just let us have a power nap, that’s all. She read something from a book, too, I’m not sure what. I zoned out a little, I think, I can’t really remember what she said.”
So Rainbow Dash knows about hypnosis? Where would she get that?
As the foals crossed the floating finish line, Twilight kept her eye on Whimper. He came in right after Red Tide, a pretty respectable time considering the red colt wasn’t even trying that hard. What’s more, he’d narrowly beaten Zephyr. Dash gave him an airborne hoofbump in congratulations at his progress.
Flitter nodded in admiration. “Wow, that is impressive. How do you suppose Dash did that? Made his wings stronger?”
Keeping a close scrutiny on Whimper’s wings, it finally dawned on Twilight. “No, I don’t think so. Look, he flaps slower than Zephyr when he tries to hover. That’s what she meant, older pegasus foals don’t have as big a problem with Eagle’s Grasp because their wings are bigger. They don’t need to spend as much effort to stay up. She weighed him down to train the muscles responsible for downward force only, which aren’t purely in the wings. Making his wings stronger would only provide forwards force, which is useless in this situation. So she made his core stronger, the muscles that keep his back and belly straight in the air.”
“Huh?” The pegasus sisters raised an eyebrow in confusion as the contestants headed straight back down to their level. Scootaloo mimicked said confused look.
“Imagine you have to go on the track with twenty wingflaps. A young foal won’t get very far, because about ten of those wingflaps are spent just to stay up. A foal with bigger wings would only need seven to stay up, or even five, while a grownup can just glide along and hardly spend any flaps at all to stay up.” Twilight drew a diagram on the clouds to illustrate. “The amount of flaps you need to stay up depends on three things: how much magic you’re using, how much you lean on your wings and how much weight your wings can carry. But if you train your core muscles and adjust your posture, you can use those to stay straight.”
“Leaving more wingflaps spent on pure speed,” Cloudchaser finished. “But then why not use this for every kid with his problem?”
“Because being weighed down puts a lot of stress on his back. His magic is being pushed to compensate, but that doesn’t do anything about the pressure he has to work against. That’s probably why Rainbow Dash asked Snow Flake about it. It’s not his wings that are being worked, it’s everything around it. He can take it because his back is strong enough, but any other foal would buckle. On top of that, the stress is forcing his magic to overcompensate, something you normally can’t do with pegasus magic. It really only works because he’s so strong, I guess.”
Zephyr and Skyron, meanwhile, were arguing about the turnout of the race. Even though the foals had expected to lose from their seniors, Whimper beating the ace flyer didn’t sit well.
“You cheated, you must have,” Skyron started as Scootaloo came flying in along with him.
Scootaloo scowled. “Sore loser.”
Zephyr glared at Whimper. “It’s true, you used the wind to shove me out of the third ring.”
Whimper pouted angrily. “I didn’t need to use any magic, Zephyr. You’re just so used to bursting in a straight line you can’t turn properly on a longer stretch. It’s not my fault you can’t keep up.”
The grownups, as well as the older foals, were getting back into the routine, letting the smaller ones finish bickering. Rainbow Dash looked like she was expecting something, and Twilight didn’t like it one bit.
“Whimper!” Dash called out as she got back to her colleagues. ”Don’t waste your breath on those guys. If they want to argue, everypony who matters is standing right here.”
Whimper turned his back to the pair, not wanting to antagonise his coach-declared-master. He trotted off to the start of the course for a steady run this time.
“You can’t hurt him anymore.” Scootaloo she turned her back on them. Rumble quietly followed suit, shaking his head.
Twilight felt a shiver run down her spine and things slowed down. She became intensely aware of what was happening all of a sudden. Flitter and Cloudchaser were looking at their foals, Whimper was walking towards them, Scootaloo and Rumble were picking up the pace to close the gap. Twilight caught her breath. Why am I feeling so tense all of a sudden? Rainbow Dash was looking up at the older foals, but her ears were perked towards her own team coming towards her. Am I somehow picking up on Dash’s tension? Twilight perked her ears in the same direction just in case and looked at their team.
“Well, they make a nice bunch, at least,” Skyron started with a nasty tone.
Zephyr grinned. “Yeah. A wheezy wimp, a rose-scented coltcuddler and a butch fillyfooler.”
Twilight barely heard it, but Whimper definitely had. He froze in place.
The air around them suddenly felt a lot colder.
Twilight looked at his eyes and realised the big mistake they’d all made. They’d been comparing Whimper to Fluttershy all camp. They’d failed to consider one crucial question regarding Doldrum Whimper and Fluttershy, one they should have asked themselves right from the start.
What would happen when Whimper finally got angry?
From the looks of it, the answer included his eyes turning into seething pools of sheer hatred. Scootaloo and Rumble backed away from the sudden change in his demeanour. His breath came in ragged, his teeth were bared, it seemed like he was radiating his anger somehow.
He was ready to snap.
He barely managed enough control for one response to the insult. It came clear, loud and imposing. “What did you call them?”