The flight back to Ponyville was filled with random banter between the two best friends. Most time was spent by Rainbow Dash telling Swift of the different events and adventures she had shared with the girls before he came along as well as stuff she had done on her own from time to time. Things ranging from pranks on various ponies in town to stunt practice and her own trips to the hospital. Swift listened intently as he learned about his best friend.
Rainbow Dash, for her part, made sure never to ask Swift of his past, but still gave him opportunities to chip into the conversation. Typically in how he would go about learning a trick or change a prank for future attempts. Dash had come to learn from both this flight and previous conversations that Swift seemed to be talented at thinking up different ways to practice stunts she was trying, and made a point to listen to his input in that regard.
Once the duo were over Ponyville, they realized they hadn't eaten the whole day and decided to stop by Dash's house for some sandwiches and to continue their talking until Dash needed to meet up with Twilight at the library. Swift was greatly enjoying just sitting around with his friend while they could, and found he was looking forward to working along side her to keep the skies over Ponyville in the proper state each day. Eventually, as it always happens, time ran short and Dash led Swift out of the house before giving him a hug goodbye and diving down to the ground below leaving Swift on his own.
As many pegasi do when they are bored with nothing to do, Swift launched into the air and glided around, watching the ground for something, or somepony, to entertain him. Over the market district it was the usual scene of ponies buying and selling goods, or moving from one place to the next. When he glided over Sweet Apple Acres, he saw Big Mac out clearing a field for some reason, Swift had no idea why. He considered landing to help, but a fast moving trail of dirt caught his attention at the edge of the farm headed out towards the empty fields between Ponyville and the Everfree Forest.
'What's that? It looks like...' Swift banked and headed towards the object and saw it was indeed a certain orange filly on a scooter. Swift glided overhead, keeping his shadow out of her sight as he watched her power over hills and ramps.
'It's amazing what she can do with that scooter. She is like a grounded Rainbow Dash. And she would die if she knew anypony made that sort of comparison...' Swift grinned as he thought. His grin vanished as he watched the back wheel of the scooter slide as Scootaloo hit a dirt ramp and started tumbling on the field, landing at least ten feet from where she wrecked.
"SCOOTALOO!" Swift dove down and was quickly beside the filly as she started to stand up, shaking her head as it to clear it of cobwebs.
"Ok, so that won't work." She mumbled before looking around and spotting Swift beside her. She obviously hadn't heard him shout her name as she jumped back in surprise before her face turned a dark shade of red.
"Oh Swift!? Um...when did you get here?" She asked, trying her best to sound as if nothing had happened. Swift wasn't having any of it as he stepped up to her and started looking down each side of her body.
"I was following you while you were on your scooter, and saw the wreck. Are you ok? You look like you got a couple of cuts, but nothing severe. You'll still need a bandage or two." Swift spoke quickly, not allowing the poor filly a chance to reply. Once he paused, Scootaloo took the chance to stop any further worry.
"I'm fine Swift. I have had worse wrecks, and I keep bandages in my bag." She explained as she reached into her bag and pulled a small box of adhesive bandages. Swift calmed, realizing the girl must have had wrecks before if she was moving at such speeds and doing these stunts. The last thing she must want is some adult worrying, or worse, lecturing her about it.
"Smart thinking Scoots. Here, let me help with that. I know you can do it, but some of those cuts are in hard to reach spots." Swift cut off any protest to help and took a couple of bandages to cover the hard to reach spots. The areas Scootaloo could handle on her own he left for her. One thing he knew about Scootaloo was that she was very proud and didn't want help unless absolutely necessary. Swift respected that, so he allowed her to take care of the injuries she could. Once she was bandaged up, she sat down and looked over to Swift.
"Thanks Swift. Those cuts on my back would have been a pain to deal with. Why are you out here anyway? I figure you would be learning to fly from Rainbow Dash." Scootaloo asked, not making the connection to exactly how it was that Swift had arrived where they currently stood.
"Our basic lessons are done. See?" Swift opened his wings and hovered in place as the filly watched, her eyes growing wide at the sight before turning downcast.
"Yeah, I see. You learned to fly in just a day." Scootaloo spoke, depression at her own inability to fly saturating her voice. Swift landed beside the pony and placed a hoof over her back.
"Hey now, don't think of it like that. Look at me, I must have been able to fly at some point, and from what I read, most of flying is muscle memory. All Dash had to do was remind me how and my muscles seemed to handle the rest. Once you are able to fly you could do the same, though I hope you never go through a crash and memory loss like I did." Swift offered as explanation, holding the filly close. In contrast to her normal behavior, the filly leaned into Swift as he basically hugged her from the side. After a deep sigh, Scootaloo finally responded.
"Yeah, that's if I ever get to fly. Sometimes it feels like I'm just not meant to fly." Scootaloo's melancholy was starting to bother Swift, more than he even expected. He had expected she would be excited to learn to fly when she saw him able to fly, but now she seemed ready to give up on the dream.
"Come on, you telling me you don't want to start learning how to fly? And here I was, ready to give you your first lesson." Swift said, almost in a taunting manner to pull the young filly out of her funk. For a moment it seemed to work, as Scootaloo's eyes shot up, looking amazed that anypony would take the time to teach her.
'Why is she always surprised when I offer to help her with anything? I really need to investigate this, she is hiding something...' Swift's thoughts almost started to wonder, but the look on the young face before him pulled him back to the issue at hand.
"I still want to learn, sure. But I have been trying to learn for a long time now." She explained. Swift wasn't sure how to pull her from her depression and it was starting to worry him. If Dash was around he was sure Scoots would be excited in a heartbeat. Glancing around while trying to find a way to cheer up the filly currently leaning against him, he noticed something hanging out of her saddlebag off to the side.
"Scoots, why do you have rope?" He asked, an idea slowly starting to form.
"Huh? Oh, we use it while crusading. It's pretty handy for pulling things, or tying things up when we are building. Not that it has ever worked to get our cutie marks." She explained, still depressed, but curious as to why Swift was currently pulling it out of her bag. Swift simply nodded as he checked it's length.
'Yeah, this should be long enough. I think it's time Scoots got to see the world as a real pegasus.' Swift thought, grinning.
"I have an idea, Scoots."
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Twilight and Spike were working to finish putting away all the books in the library in preparation for their visitor. When Spike returned from the market, he was running with a letter in his hand: a reply from the Princess. It had been a short letter, stating that chaos magic was much to complicated to go over in a letter, and she had other news so she would be stopping by.
Today.
As per the normal, this sent Twilight into a cleaning frenzy. She knew there was something she was forgetting, but chose not to let it distract her from the vital task of making things presentable to the Princess of the Sun, and more importantly her mentor, Princess Celestia.
"Twilight, you do this every time. The Princess is not expecting the place to be spotless." Spike started, though only halfheartedly putting up a defense against the work. He had been with Twilight his whole life, so he knew the futility of such an argument. Enough so, that in his head he near perfectly mocked her predictable reply.
"Spike! You know that's not true. She is the Princess and is used to things being perfect. I can't let her think I'm forgoing my duties as librarian and student! Now help me get this bookshelf top dusted!" She ranted, borderline panicked. Using her magic, she lifted Spike up so he could dust the top of the bookshelf in question. Spike, in the meantime, briefly wondered why she didn't just levitate the duster up and do it herself.
Unfortunately Spike didn't have long to ponder that question as a knock at the door pulled Twilight's attention from the spell, and unceremoniously dropped him to the floor.
"The door! The princess is here! Oh no!" Twilight ran over to a table and quickly threw the remaining books on a shelf while Spike stood and dusted himself off before answering the door, shaking his head at the antics of his guardian. At the door was indeed a famous mare, but not the one expected.
"Rainbow Dash?! Why are you here?" Spike exclaimed, causing the commotion Twilight was raising to stop as well. There in the doorway indeed stood Rainbow Dash, which reminded Twilight of exactly what she had forgotten. The new Daring Do book was out today and Rainbow was supposed to pick it up.
"Hey Spike! New Daring Do! Been planning today for weeks remember?" Rainbow asked as she trotted into the library. The organized state brought her up short as Spike closed the door behind her. Rainbow knew Twilight was a very organized pony, but this was extreme for her which could only mean one thing. A royal visit...
"Uh, Twilight? Why didn't you say somepony was visiting?" Rainbow asked, unsure of who it might be. Most likely Celestia, but even Luna could cause this ruckus. Twilight, who had been silent up to this point released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.
"It wasn't really scheduled. Princess Celestia is going to be here any minute. As for your book..." Twilight paused and realized the book was in the stack of books on the main table, which had rapidly been thrown in every direction where a spot could be found. Realization of what this meant sent chills down Twilight's spine as she admitted the next statement.
"...I have no idea where it is." Twilight's head hung in defeat as she realized her own panic had not only caused her to misplace a book for a friend who she was trying to get to read more as it was, but also added to her work by making her go through every shelf in the library and resort. Rainbow, on the other hand, reacted very differently.
"BWAHAHA! Twilight! You egghead! You get WAY to worked up about this stuff. The Princess is not going to expect the place to be spotless." Rainbow replied, rolling on the ground laughing at her friends antics. Spike joined her in laughing as she echoed his exact statement from earlier. Twilight just watched the two for a moment, considering how to shut them up when another knock came at the door. Everypony stopped and looked at the door then to each other before Spike stood and answered it.
"Princess Celestia!" Spike said in surprise before jumping back and bowing in respect. Rainbow and Twilight both joined suit as the Princess walked in and nodded to her subjects, a friendly smile on her face.
"Please please my little ponies. You bow every time and every time I tell you there is no need. I am visiting your home. And it's a visit I am quite happy about." Princess Celestia spoke, her voice and soothing and as peaceful as it always was. Twilight and Rainbow both stood up and smiled to the Princess before them as their tension at the royal visit left. Following that, Twilight stepped forward and hugged her mentor.
"I'm excited too Princess. It's been so long. I should have read a book on chaos magic sooner." Twilight laughed as she joked with the Princess, who returned the humor with a laugh of her own.
"Very true my student. It will be good to teach you again. It looks as if you have the book out still, so perhaps we should get comfortable and I can explain why it makes no sense?" Princess Celestia offered, motioning to the lone book at the table. Twilight, forgetting she even had a guest, nodded and followed the Princess to the table, eager to learn. The Princess was more perceptive of the room however.
"Rainbow Dash. Do you wish to learn about chaos magic and order? You might not use magic, but I know weather ponies work near the Everfree and chaos magic is strong there." Princess Celestia offered. Normally Rainbow Dash would run to the hills to avoid a lecture on anything. Especially magic. However something gave her pause. It was the same something that told her to pull up out of a dive, or to bank left in a cloud to prevent hitting something hidden.
"Why not, I have time. Plus I'm curious what some old book could say to confuse Twilight and cause a royal visit." Rainbow said, her typical brashness in full force. The Princess was unaffected, and simply nodded with a knowing smile.
"Well then, let's start with chaos magic that you are familiar with. The magic of Discord."
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AUTHORS NOTE: THIS CHAPTER WAS PLANNED TO BE MUCH LONGER, BUT I FELT BREAKING IT HERE WOULD HELP BEST WITH THE FLOW. BAD NEWS IS THAT YOU WILL NEED TO WAIT A BIT TO LEARN WHAT THE DEAL WITH CHAOS MAGIC IS, AND WHAT SWIFTS PLANS ARE FOR SCOOTALOO. GOOD NEWS IS I ALREADY HAVE IT LINED OUT IN MY HEAD AND EVEN PARTLY WRITTEN DOWN, SO IT SHOULDN'T BE A LONG WAIT.
IN THE MEANTIME, FEEL FREE TO COMMENT ON WHAT YOU THINK OF THE STORY, OR WHERE YOU THINK IT MIGHT BE GOING.