Finding Her Wings

by Starscribe


Friend

“What are you doing down here, exactly?” Scootaloo asked. “Just… walking around in circles?” It was hard to say how long they’d been traveling now since her breakdown. Still there was no sign of a return path to Equestria, though it did seem like their path had widened into a proper road.

“I don’t get to see the same places twice. My biggest goal has just been surviving. That’s sometimes easier said than done. When there’s any time left over, I keep my eyes open for any ways out. Haven’t found any yet, but that hasn’t stopped me from looking.”

“Well now you’ve got pegasus eyes on your side,” she declared. “A pegasus pony can spot a cloud from a hundred miles,” she recited. “But I… never got to that part of the weathermare training.” Her wings spread behind her. The feathers itched strangely, but she couldn’t bend her arms quite right to scratch them. “You think we might still be close to Equestria? Maybe these lights will lead us back to my home! You should meet my friends, they’re awesome. I think you’d love Ponyville.”

Emily giggled, covering her face with one hand. “If it’s called ‘Ponyville’, then I agree with you completely. I think I’d love it. You can pose in a few selfies with me. I’d love to send my brother some pictures from somewhere called ‘Equestria.’ And you were training to be a weatherman you said? That sounds even cuter. Cloudy with a chance of horses today, with a cold front moving up the Wasatch…”

Something was coming into view down the passage, though it didn’t seem like Ponyville, or any part of the Castle of the Two Sisters for that matter. It might not be Ponyville, but it was a town. Wide streets spread away from them, with charming little houses separated with little white fences.

For somewhere underground, it didn’t feel as dark as she expected. A diffuse glow seemed to radiate down from the ceiling, a dull red right before dawn. It felt like Scootaloo should be having trouble seeing, but her eyes were adjusting fine. 

There were no ponies or other creatures in the streets, and the homes seemed run-down.

“Interesting…” Emily took a few steps forward. “Almost looks like we found somewhere modern this time. Lucky for your first stop.” With a growing grin she took Scootaloo’s hand, tugging her forward into town. “Let’s see what we can salvage, yeah?”

Scootaloo nearly fell over as she was yanked, her wings spreading reflexively to catch her. Not strong enough that she could take off and pull away, but at least it kept her from falling over.

“How can there be a town down here?” Scootaloo asked, her voice almost lost in the echo. “I thought this was between worlds or something!”

“It is,” Emily said. “And sometimes cute things fall in. Cute girls, cute neighborhoods.” They dodged onto a wide boulevard, with huge metal hulks resting along the road. Even with them taking up much of the space, the streets would still have seemed excessive in Equestria.
 
Emily stopped in front of one building, with a mannequin posing proudly just behind the dusty glass. She tugged on the door, then winced as it clicked. Locked.

“You’re a unicorn, right?” Scootaloo asked. “So magic it open.” 

“A unicorn,” she repeated, grinning all over again. “That’s… not quite the way I’d describe it. I do know a few spells.” She bent down, lifting a fallen brick off the ground. “This one’s called ‘breaking and entering.’” She threw it at the glass with all her might. 

Scootaloo winced in horror, and the window shattered.

A terrible noise echoed out from within, making Scootaloo wince with pain. Her ears would’ve folded down, if they could still do that. “Why is it so loud?”

Emily froze in place, seeming equally horrified. She spun slowly around, her eyes so wide they were almost black. “There shouldn’t have been enough power for that,” she whispered. “In a place this old… it shouldn’t work.”

The cavern shook around them. Bits of debris tumbled from old buildings. Glass shook in its mounting. A few seconds later, the siren was answered with an animalistic roar. The dull red glow overhead faded from its diffuse read to embers, then went out.

“Run.” Emily turned, grabbing Scootaloo’s wrist again and dragging her along. This time she held like a vice. Back to the main street, then into a direction that was as far from the roar as possible.

Scootaloo couldn’t keep up. She didn’t know how to run on just two legs, and every attempt to slip into a gallop would’ve tripped her if she didn’t have Emily to lean on. 

But she was faster than she’d been at first. There were no separate movements for running and cantering and so on, but she could lengthen her stride, bouncing from one long leg to the next. “What was that?”

“Security!” Emily called back. 

Stone ground on stone. The little strings of orange and black lanterns overhead flickered, then went out, plunging them into darkness. Emily had her flashlight, though the uneven glow did little to light the way. All the while, huge legs pounded after them in the dark, gaining. “It’s the immune system. And we’re the disease.”

Scootaloo didn’t know what the buck that was, but she could hear that they were losing ground fast. “Can they climb?”

Emily shook her head. 

“There’s a tower up there, maybe a castle?” Scootaloo pointed with her free hand, up towards a large stone building with white on its sides and a letter rising from the top.

“The church?” Emily winced, as something exploded through a house behind them. A little like a worm, with rows of interlocking teeth that glittered in the darkness. Teeth wide enough to swallow them both without hesitation. “You’ve got wings! Save yourself!”

She did have wings. Wings she couldn’t use… but still, what else what she supposed to do? 

Scootaloo flapped with all her might, falling into rote she’d spent years practicing. None of Rainbow’s drills had worked for her before. But this was all she’d wanted. The entire reason she’d come to this place to begin with. She was supposed to get her flight, and become a normal pegasus. Supposed to get the confidence she needed to tell the ponies she cared about how she felt.

Her body was too long and too thin and made her feel things for a creature that looked nothing like a pony. But it didn’t matter. Her wings were there, strong and wide enough that she actually began to lift.

Her shoes scraped along the ground, then began to dangle below her as her wings carried her up. 

Scootaloo squealed with joy, shoving the bag away. “Ditch yours!” she yelled. “Now!” 

Emily obeyed, flinging her shoulders down to the side. Scootaloo bent down, wrapping Emily in a tight hug and soaring up into the air. Her chest squeezed painfully against the other girl, and her weak forelegs began to slip, but she didn’t give up. 

She could barely see where she was going, just the faint reflection off the bell in the church’s tower. But it was a destination.

There’s magic in the middle. Maybe you can find what you’re looking for.

The monster roared beneath them, its grinding jaws snapping at nothing as it tore buildings apart. But it wasn’t changing direction. While Scootaloo turned towards the church, it continued straight ahead towards the wall.

A few seconds later, she landed on the balcony, dropping to one knee to catch her breath. Broken feathers fell onto the ground around her, as her wings got their first flight-pruning of her life. “I… did it,” she panted. “I actually flew.”

“You sure did.” Emily wrapped an arm around her shoulder, clinging to her. “You saved my life, horse girl.” She leaned down, and Scootaloo felt a set of lips of her oversized forehead. But they were soft, and smelled like fruit.

If her heart could’ve lifted any higher, it would’ve.

Scootaloo sat back, not looking like an idiot this time as she rested her back up against the wall. Her body was slick with sweat around her face and bare arms, but she hardly cared. If that was the price to not be eaten today, she’d pay it. “You said… before you came here, that you didn’t have any magic.”

Emily hung from her arm, nodding once. “Yeah, why?”

“It was the same with me, but with flying.” She spread her wings behind her. “There were babies in my town who could fly when I couldn’t. It was like a whole world I wasn’t allowed to visit. I don’t really know what happened, but now… now it’s fixed. I think I got what I wanted.”

Emily settled down beside her, resting her back against the old church wall. She reached over, taking one of the thin limbs she called hands in one of her own. She reached her fingers through like she was weaving a cloth, tightening them around Scootaloo’s hand.

It was confusing—those hands were so sensitive, she wanted to pull free. But not enough to try it—it felt nice. Here was someone who’d never seen her as a freak and a failure. A fresh start, almost.

She might be stretched and strange looking, but that wasn’t the worst thing in a companion. Scootaloo was all those things now too. 

If she couldn’t go home for a bit, at least the company would be interesting.