Prologue = Teach Me
= = = = =
Scootaloo woke up with a yawn. The first thing she did was look at the clock on the wall. After taking a second to figure out which one was the long hand, she saw that it was just after seven in the morning. "No wonder I'm so tired," she said groggily. She wished she could just sleep the whole morning away, but she was not a very sound sleeper.
After another minute or so of complaining about how early her body had woken her up - on a Saturday - she pushed the blanket aside and got up. Scootaloo didn't have much of a morning routine. Being a pony, she didn't have to dress, and being herself, she didn't have to fix her mane. Her hairstyle was literally bed-head, but that was okay since it suited her quite nicely.
She walked downstairs to have breakfast, and once or twice nearly fell asleep in her cereal bowl. After a few bowls, her head started to clear a little, and then she remembered something that she had forgotten; something she had to do today. When she realized this, her attitude improved immediately. Excitedly, she gulped down the rest of her cereal, left the bowl in the sink for later, and ran of into town.
Of course, whatever reason she had for being alright with getting up that early must have been important. She was a young filly after all, and ponies love their sleep at that age. And not only had she gotten up at seven, but she had fallen asleep at nearly midnight. She had lied awake just thinking. She did this often, because she always seemed to has something on her mind. On nights previously, the thoughts in her head had been of her cutie mark, or rather her lack of one. But recently, there was something else bothering her. This being that, as hard as she tried, she could not learn how to fly.
When she said she couldn't fly, that didn't mean she was grounded. She now had the ability to hover, but she got too tired to stay aflight for more than a minute or so. And even that very limited ability had taken her a month to figure out. It was after that that she realized she couldn't teach herself how to fly. So she went to her only parent - her dad - for help. She had no mother around, and even her remaining guardian was not hers by blood. She had not been blessed with a good family situation.
Scootaloo was adopted from the Hoofington orphanage by Forrest Dew and his wife when she was about three. A year or so later, Her foster parents divorced, and her custody was awarded to Forrest Dew. But the house belonged to the wife, so he and Scootaloo moved to Ponyville. Not only was he not her true father, but Forrest Dew was an Earth Pony. And that was Scootaloo's problem. Normally, a Pegasi would have been taught to fly from a young age by their parents. Scootaloo lacked the strength and technical skill that most young fliers had at her age, so she was barely able to hover when most were already flying at advanced levels.
When she went to her dad for help, he made the decision he thought was best. He tried to have her enrolled in the closest flight school: Cloudsdale. But her chances of being accepted to a flight school would have been higher if she was trying for a less prestigious school. In fact, it was the most prestigious flight school in all of Equestria. So students were expected to know how to fly to at least a limited extent, which Scootaloo could not. And so her application was rejected.
The application had been returned one week ago, and Scootaloo had not been able to think about anything else since then. She couldn't teach herself how to fly, and she could not go to flight school. So how could she learn to fly? The answer had hit her last night, and it was that excitement that had caused her to get very little sleep.
So now Scootaloo was walking through town, and she decided to review her plan for the day. "Okay, I can do this. I just need to find Rainbow Dash, and ask her for help. I mean, she spends all that time doing nothing, so she has the time, right? But what if she wants Bits? Ehh, I'll worry about that later." she smiled to herself, confident that before long, she would be flying with the best of them.
= = = = =
It took Scootaloo a good part of the day to find the cyan-coated weather pony. And even when she did, it took her another ten minutes to get her attention. Of course, if she had known how to fly, it would've taken next to no time at all.
"Just another reminder that I need this." she said to herself. Rainbow Dash finished her downward spiral, and landed right next to her.
"Hey, can you make this quick, I have some weather stuff to get back too." she said
Scootaloo gave Rainbow an 'are you serious' stare in response. She knew as well as anypony else in town that she was not going to do her weather duty. Or at least, not on time. "Okay, fine," said Rainbow Dash. "I was going to blow off my work anyway. What's Up?"
"I just wanted to know if you uh ... you ..."
"Spit it out squirt."
"...If you could teach me how to fly."
Rainbow Dash just stared quizzically. "Teach you to fly?"
"Uh ... Yep." Now Scootaloo was starting to get nervous. It hadn't occurred to her that Rainbow might reject her request.
"What do you mean?"
"Huh?"
"Like, how much do you already know."
"I can hover for a few seconds, I guess."
"That's it?"
"Is that bad?" asked Scootaloo dejectedly.
"Kinda." Rainbow Dash said. "It would take a lot of work. I mean a lot of work."
At that, Scootaloo perked right back up "I'm okay with a lot of work, but I really want to know how to fly. Like, even more than getting my cutie mark."
"Hmm. Well, I don't know. Why can't you do it already? Are you not strong enough, or do you need to work on technique?"
"Well ... both."
"Why?"
"Um, right. It's just that ... My dad ... He's ... He's an Earth pony. And my mom isn't with us anymore."
Now Rainbow understood the problem. She had heard of this kind of thing before, but had never seen it for herself. Granted, Rainbow Dash's parents might as well have been earth ponies for all the teaching they'd done. But she pushed the thoughts of her frequently drunk and not present parents to the back of her mind, not wanting to think about them at the moment. "I know this might be kinda ... personal, or something like that. But was your mom a Pegasus?"
"Well, yes, but my real parents didn't raise me. I'm adopted."
"Oh," said Rainbow Dash. "Adopted, and her foster parents divorced? Wow, that's about as bad as it gets." she thought to herself. After that kind of story, how could she turn this filly down?
"How much do you need. For training, I mean."
"Enough to get me into Cloudsdale academy."
"Oh. That's gonna be tough."
"I knew that coming in," said Scootaloo confidently. "I can take this."
Rainbow Dash chuckled. She was only beginning to realize it, but Scootaloo reminded her a lot of herself at that age. Determined to do better, And confident, perhaps too confident, that she would succeed in the end. "Sure. I'll teach you."
"Really?!"
"Yep."
"Do I have to pay or anything?"
Rainbow Dash shook her head. "No, nothing like that."
"Aw thanks," said Scootaloo. Although most ponies would give a hug in this instance, that wasn't how Scootaloo did things. Instead, she gave a light hoof punch to the side. Rainbow Dash was grateful for that, and returned the bump in spirit.
"So, when are we going to start?" asked Scootaloo.
Rainbow Dash thought about that for a second. "How about ... Tuesday?"
"Sure, after school will work. Where should I meet you."
"Um ... I'll be at Sugarcube Corner."
"Sugarcube Corner. Got it."
"Well, I guess that's it." said Dash matter-of-factly. As she said this, she began to take off.
"Okay then, I'll see you in two days."
"Sure will."
"And thanks a lot."
"No prob." she called behind her, already well into the sky. Now she was flying away from Ponyville in the direction of the weather crew building, which floated right around where Fluttershy lived. On the way, she thought about the lessons she would be giving.
Rainbow Dash wasn't so sure about this arrangement. She knew Scootaloo defiantly had the drive; it was written all over her face. but Rainbow Dash was worried that Scootaloo might be too far gone to teach correctly. Not only that, but she would have to teach her every step of the way, which could be a long process for some. And considering Scootaloo's situation, she would guess that it would fall on the longer side for them. "I'm going to be in this for the long haul, aren't I? Oh boy."
Scootaloo, on the other hand, had no such concerns. "Wow. I get to have Rainbow Dash teach me how to fly. She's, like, the best flier in Equestria." She raised a hoof skyward in victory. "This is going to be sweet."
= = = = =
Scootaloo arrived at the Cakes' store on the scheduled day. And true to her word, Rainbow Dash was there. When Scootaloo walked in, Rainbow Dash was talking to Pinkie Pie. "Well hiya Scootaloo," said the pink pony cheerfully. "I heard Dashie's gonna teach you how to fly!"
"Yep!" replied Scootaloo enthusiastically.
"That's awesome! Well, I'll leave her to you. I bet you two'll wanna start right away." As she said this, she straightened out a few things on the counter, then walked into the room behind her.
Scootaloo turned to Rainbow Dash, who had an interesting expression on her face, and was staring in the direction Pinkie Pie had left.
"So, you told her you were teaching me?" asked Scootaloo.
"No, I didn't." answered Rainbow Dash, still staring off to her right.
"Then how did she know?"
"I have no idea," she sighed and walked out the door, gesturing for Scootaloo to follow her. "Then again, when do we ever know with her?"
Rainbow Dash didn't say much after that. In fact, Scootaloo noticed that she seemed lost in thought, a bit detached even. Disliking the awkward tension, she decided to start up a conversation. "Are we gonna to get going right now?"
"Not quite. I have some food to get, but that's on the way."
"Where are we going?"
"The park."
"Why the park? There's open space all around here," said Scootaloo, gesturing in that manor. "This is a farm town after all."
Rainbow Dash stopped and thought about that one for a second. "I dunno. Just seems like the natural place. At least until you get up into the clouds."
"Wait, I'm going to have to fly up there?"
"Well, not right off. But soon, yeah."
"How long will that take?" Scootaloo asked.
"I have no clue." answered Rainbow Dash.
"Why not?"
They were nearing the market now, and when she noticed this, Rainbow Dash got aloft with a few quick flaps of her wings. "This'll be quicker if I just fly from stand to stand. Mind chilling here?"
"No, I'm fine."
"Okay," she said. Then she was a blur. And just after that she disappeared from Scootaloo's vision altogether. She turned her head to find the multicolor-maned pony. It took her a few seconds, but eventually she could see her hovering near the egg stand, apparently arguing over the price. Scootaloo noted that she stayed aloft throughout the entire conversation, a good ten minutes in length. When she was done there, she flew across the market to another stand Scootaloo could not see. Over the next five minutes, she saw her fly to a few more stands.
"How am I ever going to be able to fly like that?"'she wondered. "And how can she just stay in the air like that. She's, like, twice as big as me!" All of this almost made Scootaloo feel as if the goal of flight was impossible. But it also inspired her to want to be able to do that. "I mean, that is really cool."
Rainbow Dash finished off her shopping in the next five minutes, then flew back to where Scootaloo was waiting. The little filly didn't notice her right away, so she cleared her throat, jolting her from deep thought.
"Day-dreaming squirt?" she asked.
"Yeah, I guess," said Scootaloo, running a hoof through her mane in embarrassment. She quickly ran to Rainbow Dash's side, and the two walked to one of the many parks In Ponyville.
"I didn't answer your question." noted Rainbow Dash.
"Yeah, so why don't you know how long it will take?"
"You're a farther behind than you should be, and I don't know how long it will take to teach you the basic skills."
"That's it?"
"One more thing," Scootaloo didn't make a response, so Rainbow Dash continued. "The thing is, I've never taught anypony to fly before."
"Never?"
"I wasn't done!"
"Oh, sorry."
"Like I said, I've never taught it. But I got taught it, and well, I'm pretty sure I can figure this out as I go. But just because I'm new to teaching this doesn't mean this will be easy. Got it?"
"Yep."
"Also, Never interrupt me when I'm talking."
"No interrupting. Got it."
"And while I'm on rules, the last thing is do what I tell you for training. Don't slack off, or you'll never get where you want. And don't go ahead of the program. That's a great way to get hurt." Under her breath, too quietly for Scootaloo to hear, Rainbow Dash said: "Trust me, I would know."
"What was that?" asked Scootaloo.
"What was what?"
"You just whispered something at the end there."
"No, I didn't," she lied.
"Oh, okay then," said Scootaloo skeptically. "But we're here." Indeed they were. The park stretched out in front of the pair, a light breeze disturbing the leaves on the trees. Sunlight glinted off of the benches on either side of the main path, and birdsong could be heard in the distance.
"Okay, then let's get started." said Rainbow Dash. The two walked a bit farther until they were in a more secluded section of the park. "So, you said you could hover for a few seconds, right?"
"Yep, I can."
"How long have you been able to do that?"
"For a while. Maybe a month."
"And how did you figure it out?"
"I kept trying it for a few weeks."
"And eventually you were able to do it?"
"Uh huh."
"Okay, let's see what you've got." said Rainbow Dash, sitting down on a nearby bench.
"Um ... Sure," said Scootaloo nervously. She shut her eyes tightly and focused all of her energy on flapping her wings. When she got them up to top speed, she could feel them tugging her body up. She pushed off with her legs, and her body stayed off the ground. After about 20 seconds in he air, her wings started to feel some stress. After twenty-five, that stress became pain. And at thirty seconds she felt like she couldn't go on with it any longer. But she stubbornly managed to get her time all the way to thirty-five seconds, which was the best she'd done in a while.
Satisfied with her effort, she turned to Rainbow Dash.
"Hmm."
"Wait, is 'Hmm' good or is it bad?"
"'Hmm' isn't great. Your wing technique is completely wrong. You said you always use them to scooter?"
"Yep."
"Well, I think maybe your scootering might have thrown that off."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Try it again, and don't do it like you would your scooter. Just try not thinking about it."
"Okay, I guess," said Scootaloo. She started flapping and pushed off as she had done before, but this time tried to not think about it.
Unfortunately, she failed in that attempt. She spent so much time trying not to think about it that she ended up thinking about it even more than before. She didn't stay up nearly as long.
Rainbow Dash sighed. "You thought about it, didn't you?"
"Yeah, kinda."
"You say that a lot," she commented. "Okay, Let's try a different approach. Try thinking about something else other than flying. Anything you want, just not your wings."
"Sure, I guess I could do that." Scootaloo started flapping her wings for a third time. Within a second or two she pushed off.
When she got up there, she still hadn't thought of what she was going to think about. She looked around her for something to focus on. He first thing she saw when she turned her head around to the right was her flank. Her blank flank. "That's it, I'll think about my cutie mark!" she thought. "I wonder if I'll get mine before Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle do. Not that it matters. I mean, we'll all get them eventually. What if we got them all that the same time. That would be really cool ..."
Watching smugly from the bench a few feet away, Rainbow Dash wondered why she'd ever doubted herself. "I knew I could teach this," she thought. "I mean, this is my favorite thing. And she looks up to me like some sort of hero or something, so that helps. Well, I kind of am a hero. I'm one of the elements of harmony after all."
Rainbow Dash stopped her somewhat egotistical train of thought long enough to acknowledge that Scootaloo was still up there. "Wow she's been up there for almost two minutes now. That's a lot better. Her technique is much more natural; her upward motion isn't pushing her down as much. She's moving them in larger circles too." Rainbow Dash kicked her legs back and put her front legs behind her head. "Let's see how long she can keep this up."
Scootaloo kept it up for just over four minutes. Once she noticed how tired her wings were, It took her out of her thoughts. Now she had reached her real limit. She stopped flapping her wings, landing on her legs, which nearly gave out on her. Panting, she looked around confusedly.
"Hey Squirt," said Rainbow Dash, getting up from her seat.
"How long ... was I ... Up there?" Scootaloo managed.
"Four minutes or so."
"What?!" Scootaloo squeaked.
"You heard what I said." Rainbow Dash ambled over to her side and put a hoof on her shoulder. "And I have to say, I'm impressed."
"Really?" Scootaloo felt like she was living in a dream. Rainbow Dash was impressed with her!
"Yeah. I wouldn't expect that from somepony just starting out. That's almost enough strength to get you into Cloudsdale, and we just started! I think you could be a great flier if you ... Well ... I'm no good at this inspirational stuff."
Scootaloo was so worked up by this point that she felt like she would explode. Maybe even twice. "I ... I ... I ..."
Rainbow Dash realized how awestruck she was making Scootaloo feel. "Better not let her ego grow too big." she thought, grinning a little.
"But there's still more work we need to do."
Scootaloo snapped out of her awestruck expression. "Like what?"
"You need to keep improving on strength. Just find random times in the day and do this as long as you can. But don't try moving yet. That could lead to bad habits."
"Okay."
"As for technique, I think you'll be able to do it and think about it at this same time, now that you know what you have to do." Rainbow Dash stretched for a second, then started walking back into town. "I think we're done for today. Need a walk home?"
"Done? Already?"
"Well we don't want to use those muscles too much, or you might strain something. And whenever you hurt something, it gets in the way of training."
"Aww. Fine, we'll go," Scootaloo sighed.
= = = = =
"I have a question."
"Yeah Scoots?"
Scootaloo grinned at the nickname that Rainbow Dash seemed to be calling her now. It almost seemed as if she and Dash were friends now, but she couldn't be sure. "If getting into Cloudsdale Academy is so hard, then how come Fluttershy said she could barely even fly and she was there?"
"Good question. Fluttershy was never into ... well, normal flying. She was good at dance, and that's why she was there. Dance Always happens over ground, When she tried to fly without any clouds below her, she got scared. And even though she was there for something specific, she still had to do some basic flight training like everypony else."
"So she's afraid of heights?"
"Maybe, but I always thought it was the ponies watching that got her. But then again, ponies watched her dance too, and she seemed fine with that. I remember 'cause I went to one of those after we started being friends. But with the heights, I never asked her. That's kinda personal, you know."
"That's true I guess. Oh, this is my street right here." she said suddenly. They had almost walked past it while they were talking.
"You set from here?"
Scootaloo didn't want to leave Rainbow Dash because she was enjoying the conversation, but she didn't want to look like a scardy-pony who needed to be walked to their front door either. So she answered in the affirmative.
"Okay, see you next lesson."
"Friday, right?"
"Yep."
"Okay, bye Rainbow Dash!"
"See ya squirt," she replied. Scootaloo walked down the street until she got to a house three down on the left. Then she went in.
Seeing that her pupil was safely in her own house, Rainbow Dash took of for home. "Wow, living on the ground? I couldn't pull that off. I'll have to ask Derpy Hooves how she manages."
Within minutes, the shape of her cloud home could be made out in the distance. It became clearer as she closed the gap. She flew right into the door, which she always left a crack open. She wasn't worried about anypony stealing anything. It was worlds different front Cloudsdale, where most houses had three or four locks on their doors to keep out thieves. Nopony really did stuff like that in Ponyville, and Dash didn't miss the gunshots and sirens that often invaded the silence of night in her former cloud home.
As she thought about these things, she ate a quick dinner of leftover cheese and dandelion pizza, in addition to a protein shake that she blended up. After that, she did a quick core workout, but didn't leave the house since today was a off day from a flying. But then she remembered with disgust that she had a fartlek the next day. The constant speeding up and slowing down which that type of workout required was the one thing Dash despised he most in her training. Even vertical climbs didn't annoy her that much.
"Why do I make myself do those?" she asked herself in annoyance. It wasn't that Rainbow Dash made her own running schedule. Her flyer's magazine printed one in each issue, so she just took those numbers and doubled the distance. After a quick shower, she read through the last edition of Flyer's Weekly cover to cover, since she had never gotten around to it before.
Now it was getting dark outside, and Rainbow Dash needed to sit down to sort out the thoughts buzzing around her head. She went into a closet on the second floor and opened it. Inside was her junior speedster's uniform, proudly framed, and everything she'd had from both that and her short time at Cloudsdale Academy. She brought out a box that was on the bottom of a stack of three. Blowing off the dust, she balanced the box on her back and walked downstairs with it.
Once she got there, she sat down on the couch and opened it. Inside were team pictures, yearbooks, certificates, awards, and other papers. But what she was looking for was on top, so she had no need to look through the rest of those things.
She brought out a stack of papers that couldn't have been more than a quarter inch thick, owing to her abbreviated attendance at flight school. She took some of the papers from the bottom of the stack and started reading them. When she found something she wanted she put it off to the side.
After going through the entire stack, she took the papers she had taken out and started reading one of them. On top, there were words clearly marked in ink.
Cloudsdale Academy - Age Group: 1st years - Performance Results For: Final Exam
Rainbow Dash looked down the list until she found her own results that year. Her row read:
Dash, Rainbow - Ht. 2.4 ft. - Wt. 46 lbs
Sprint: 63 mph - A
Stamina: 2.43 miles in 5 min. - C
Climb: 2298 ft. - B
Dive: Failed To Hit Terminal Velocity within allotted distance - F
Form: Inconsistent. Geared Only Towards Speed - B
Hover: 3 min. 38 sec. - B
Overall Placement: 23/57
"Just like I thought," she sighed. Scootaloo definitely had quite a deal of natural ability. In fact, she was already better than Rainbow Dash's first year final exam. That was a shock, because even though Scootaloo was two years older than she had been, she had never done any training in her life.
"Maybe the scootering gave her some extra strength," Rainbow Dash thought. In fact, only thing that had kept her from flying all those years was a mental block, something which something Rainbow Dash could relate to. The thoughts took her back to her early years, a time she wished she could rewrite, or at least forget. But thankfully, the memory that came to mind was a pleasant one.
The first thing that came to mind was the exam that the results had come from. Back then, Scoring in the upper half of the class had been an accomplishment for her. But accomplishment or not, she had never been satisfied by it.
= = = = =
Rainbow Dash pushed the door open with one hoof, but didn't look at it. Her gaze was fixed on the ground below her, an utterly defeated look on her face. The door she had opened lead out of the Academy, the building in which she had just finished her final exam for her first year. Just outside the door, there was a pony waiting for her.
"Hey Dash!"
She looked up for a second to make sure the pony was who she thought it was. "Hi Sunbeam," she said, returning her gaze to the cloud under her feet.
"What's wrong?" her friend asked.
"The exam." replied Rainbow Dash
"Was it bad?"
"I was 23rd."
"You were? Why are you so upset, that's the upper half!"
"I don't know. I still feel like I can do better."
"Hey, you did fine," said Sunbeam, putting an arm around her friend. "Just because some of the class beat you doesn't mean you failed. Besides, I bet you were top ten in the sprint."
"I was eighth."
"See. That's good."
"I was fifth at the beginning of the year, Sunbeam."
"Well ... I don't know ..."
"Exactly. If I'm falling behind in the one thing I'm good at, then I'm not working hard enough." Rainbow Dash lifted her head in determination. "Which means I need to train harder."
"Train harder? You already do all the workouts they tell you to do, what more do you need?"
"Enough to make me the best in the class."
"The best in the class?" she asked quizzically. "That's a bit high, don't you think?"
Rainbow Dash turned to her friend, smiling now, any disappointment she'd had before replaced by a determination only she could muster. "Well, Probably, but you never know. I mean, It's not like we have somepony like your older sister in our class."
"Yeah, Spitfire really is something. Did you hear, she beat the climbing record for the entire school!"
"Really?"
"Yes. She flew up just over 26 miles. I think it was 26.2 or something like that."
"26 miles? That's impossible!"
"I know, right? It's so cool."
"But she's not even in her last year of school yet!"
"Yeah, exactly ..."
= = = = =
That chat had gone on for another five minutes or so, but by this time, Rainbow Dash's mind was already Drifting to another memory. It was the first day of her second year; the first time in her life when ponies noticed her for more than just her technicolor mane.
= = = = =
As Rainbow Dash turned around the last set of markers, she knew that the rigorous training - and frequent pain - she had endured over the summer had been worth it. She had pushed herself past the point of just pain, on some occasions flying through injuries that she had once considered sideline worthy. There hadn't been a day where something in her body didn't ache, but that sacrifice was paying off beautifully.
She now flew in a group much farther forward than her usual one, competing with ponies who had once left in the dust. With only the last 400 meter stretch left, Rainbow Dash did what she did best: sprint. She quickly put herself at the front of the group, with distance to boot. By the finish, she had a good 30 meter lead.
Many of the class leading flyers - the ones who were serious about flying - noticed Rainbow Dash's improvement, and the nicer ones congratulated her openly at the end of the trials. As the class sat down, the second year coach reviewed the results of this test compared to the year end exam, as well as the flight miles the class had logged over the summer, a task that everypony, no matter their forte, was required to do.
"Okay Foals, we have some standouts in our results, and the top flier list has changed dramatically since last spring. First, I would like to recognize the ponies who logged the most miles in summer training."
He cleared his throat. "The first place finisher is Gleaming Crystal, who logged 843 miles."
As the class stomped their hooves in approval, Sunbeam turned to Rainbow Dash. "Wow, that's a lot."
"That's more than I thought, I'll give him that."
"Not to impressed?"
"Oh, I am, It's still better than mine."
"Yeah, but I can't wait to see how they react when they announce yours."
"I know," said Dash. As the class quieted down, the instructor read off the next person's results.
"Our second best this year is Thunderclap, with 812 miles." once again, the class applauded their classmate's achievement.
"Next on the list is Crimson Streak, with 794 miles."
"Dang," said Rainbow Dash.
"What?" asked Sunbeam.
"Nothing. Just watch."
The trainer, whose face had been somewhat apathetic while he read of the results, now showed a smile. "Our next highest student will come as a surprise to all of you. I was surprised by this number too, so shocked i had her distance recorder checked for tampering." There was a murmur in the class at the mention that the next pony was female. It was highly unusual for fillies or mares to be ranked that high within a class. Of course, there are ponies like Spitfire who are exceptions, but in general, the entire top ten in a class, at least for endurance flying, was male, even though three quarters of the class was female. After waiting for the crowd to be silent, he trainer continued. "But after review, it appears that the device was left untouched." The stallion cleared his throat once again. "Finishing fourth in the class, Rainbow Dash flew 789 miles over the summer." The whole class started turning their heads en mass, looking in puzzlement for the filly the trainer had mentioned. Within a few moments, the whole class was looking at Rainbow Dash, who was basking in the awed attention.
And now, the trainer was trying, and failing, to silence the class.
"Nothing like this ever happens," said one pony.
"I don't care what that review says, there's no way a middle of the pack flyer did 700 miles." said another.
"I thought she was right near the back."
"Who's Rainbow Dash? I've never heard of her."
"You mean the one with the rainbow hair? Really?"
"Wow, she's going to be good this year."
"How could she possibly do that much?"
Sunbeam looked around at all the ponies who were now in a hubbub about her friend. "Wow, I know you said you did a lot, but 789 miles?"
Rainbow Dash, who had also been taking it all in, turned back to her friend, a look of giddy excitement on her face. "Yea, I know. This ... Is so ... Awesome!!" The cyan filly looked around her once again, knowing that all the hard work had been worth it. "Best day ever!"
= = = = =
Rainbow Dash woke up to the smell of old paper, a smell she generally managed to avoid unless she was visiting Twilight to pick up the next edition of Daring Doo. So why was she smelling it now?
She opened her eyes, and saw that she'd fallen asleep while daydreaming, and drooled all over one of the results sheets. She sighed, trying to rub some of it off with her elbow, with limited success.
"Whatever." continuing from where she'd left off, she picked up the results from her year two final exam. The bottom line read: 16/64. She picked up the next sheet, which read: 9/63. And the final sheet from her fourth year read: 4/66. That had been a proud test for her. She read some of the print up the page, which read:
Sprint: 134 mph - A - GRADE RECORD.
But despite setting the grade record - one that still stood as far as she knew - that year had gone catastrophically wrong. Two events happened that led her to drop out the next year.
Well, at least it had been really bad back then. By this point in her life she'd come to terms with that part of herself. Not that the teasing had been pleasant, but it had only served to push her even harder than before, just so she could prove everypony wrong. That push resulted in her making the Junior Speedsters team a few months later. It wasn't that she was barely talented enough for the team; she was one of the best there. But Normally, school dropouts were not allowed on the team. She'd had to prove herself worthy of the team not just physically, but mentally as well.
There were plenty of memories there, but Rainbow Dash ignored them. "I've had enough daydreaming for one night," she said to herself. She left the papers to be cleaned up later and walked up to her room for a nap.
= = = = =
Three Months Later:
"Alright, today we're going to learn how to break during a high speed dive." said Rainbow Dash. "We're going to climb up to about 2000 feet, then go into a dive. When we fly through those clouds over there, just stop like you normally would, but don't pull up until you've actually slowed down some."
"Why not?" asked Scootaloo, lifting off into the air, a skill which now required no effort whatsoever for her to pull off.
Rainbow followed suit, and the two started a lazy climb upward. "Well, the only time you would use this would be if you don't have time to pull up for whatever reason, like if there is thick fog and you didn't see the ground in time. If you do this right, it's about two times as tight as if you pull up."
"Oh, that makes sense," said Scootaloo. For the rest of the ascent, the two pegasi maintained silence. But when they got to about where Rainbow Dash wanted them to be, she gave a few more words of explanation.
"Okay, I'm going to do one first just to give you a better idea, even though I think you'd probably get it yourself. After, I'll climb back up to 500 feet where the place I want you to break is. When I stop there, you can do yours."
"Got it," said Scootaloo, a look of determination on her face.
"Oh, and one more thing. If you can't slow down soon enough, pull out. Just be cautious, this technique has a habit of being hard to pull of ..."
"Which is why you only use it as a last resort." finished Scootaloo.
"Right," said Rainbow. She shot Scootaloo a quick grin. "See you back down there."
Scootaloo nodded in response. Rainbow Dash wasted no time going into a nosedive, quickly reaching her terminal velocity, at which point she tucked in her wings. It didn't take long for her to reach the clouds she had specified earlier. The clouds dissipated when she hit them, and she had a passing thought that she would have to replace them.
Rainbow Dash turned her body so it faced belly-down, and at the same time flared out her wings. When she slowed down enough she started flapping them as well, decelerating her even more.
When she was at about 300 feet, she came to a complete stop. She did a gradual half loop and climbed up to about where the clouds she had gone through were. She found the nearest clouds and moved them to that spot, making sure they were almost directly under Scootaloo.
As Rainbow Dash started flying a bit to the side, she saw that Scootaloo was coming out of a small loop and had already started coming into her dive. "Just can't wait can she," marveled Rainbow Dash. "I swear she's my clone or something."
At this point in their lessons, Scootaloo was easily good enough to make it into the academy, but they decided to continue the lessons until the next school year, since Scootaloo still had normal school to finish up. Now instead of trying to get Scootaloo into the class, they were trying to make her one of the best, which seemed well within her capabilities. And this technique was something she technically didn't need to know until the year after next, but Rainbow had decided to teach it to her anyway.
Scootaloo had gone about a half of the way down in her dive, and was now approaching 1000 feet. Soon she would be at the clouds which were at 500 feet, plenty of space for her to bail of she couldn't pull it off.
From the side, she would have looked like a orange missile speeding down to the ground to lay waste to whatever lay below. Her body, now much more muscular than it once was, was streamlined against the wind, her front legs both tucked in. Although Rainbow Dash always preferred having both hooves facing forward, Scootaloo had her own way of doing things. Her wings were tight against her body, awaiting the quickly approaching cloud marker. Within a few seconds, she breached the clouds, which by the time her hind legs passed them no longer existed. She mimicked what Rainbow Dash had done, spreading her wings out to break her fall.
But suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her left wing, like it was going to fall clean off. She screamed, a sound could not be heard by anypony from this high up. In her confusion, her body started to juke wildly from side to side with only her right wing supporting her flight. Belatedly, she realized that she had to level out. She tried stretching out her wing, but when she did, the wind bent it back in a way it should not have been able to, sending a wave of unbearable pain through her body. As she blacked out, Scootaloo wondered if she would ever wake up again.
Rainbow Dash had realized well before this that something was wrong. She was now flying at top speed, hurtling towards the ground at a steep angle, struggling to speed past her terminal velocity in time to catch Scootaloo, who she now saw was spiraling wildly, apparently unconscious. In any other circumstance, she would've tried her signature Sonic Rainboom, a trick she always seemed to pull off under stress. But if she did, she risked damaging the houses in Ponyville below. Not only that, but the blast could kill more ponies than she would save by doing it.
She looked at the ground. It was only 200 feet away. She looked back to Scootaloo. She was still a ways away, but close to reaching distance.
"Okay, I can reach her, but I don't think I can pull out in time, and I can't use the breaking technique with both our weights." She realized that no matter how you sliced it, this was going to hurt. A lot. "Celestia, please let me get there in time."
The distance was closing fast. At about 50 feet, Rainbow Dash grabbed the spiraling filly, she started trying to pull up, but her fear was realized: she definitely wasn't going to make it. Both of them were not going to make it. In the last second before impact, Rainbow Dash flipped herself around so she was facing the ground instead of Scootaloo, taking the full impact of the landing.
She felt the initial impact, a pain that was so great her brain could not comprehend it. But by the second bounce, her vision was black and her brain was blank.
= = = = =
"And the last rule is do what I tell you for training. Don't slack off, or you'll never get where you want. And don't go ahead of the program. That's a great way to get hurt."
"Trust me, I would know ..."
"Trust me ...
... I would know ..."
= = = = =
"C'mon Dash, you can do this," she said, talking to herself in the mirror.
"Well, I know I can do it, but should I? I mean, Shooting Star said not to."
"But I'm not tired yet. Yeah, I can do this!"
Now done with her internal conflict, she donned her Junior Speedsters uniform, and took off out the window.
Five minutes later, she was soaring above the landscape around Wingberg, the location of the Junior Speedster's headquarters. Although moving away from Cloudsdale had been hard, she had gotten used to it over time, and knew the surrounding land like the back of her hoof. Not that she missed the school though, too many bad memories. But it seemed that all the good things about Cloudsdale were missing here, but all the bad things - crime, gangs and the like - were all too present.
It wasn't a very long dive to the ground from Wingberg, since the city was a few thousand feet lower than Cloudsdale, but she had been wrong about being tired. She felt like sleeping in midair. But she stubbornly carried on for a few minutes before turning back.
Those few minutes should have been the difference between her nearly falling fifty feet and becoming seriously injured or making it back safely. But as it turned out, it was only the difference between meeting or not meeting somebody new.
Rainbow Dash was woken up by a violent shaking. She whirled around to see who was attacking her, she saw only a griffon who was about her age, and she wasn't attacking her. All she'd done was wake her up.
"Where am I?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"Outside Wingberg." answered the griffon.
"How did I get here?"
"You were flying around, but you feel asleep mid-flight."
"I did what?!"
"You started falling out of sky so I grabbed you and brought you here."
"You were following me?"
"I was curious. Nobody ever flies this late except for me."
Rainbow Dash turned to her new acquaintance. "Who are you?"
"'Name's Gilda."
"Well, My name's Rainbow Dash, but everypony just calls me Dash."
"Well, cool meeting you Dash. You want to fly back to HQ with me?"
"Yeah, that seems like a good idea. Oh, and thanks for saving me back there. I'm much happier waking up on the grass than in the hospital."
"Don't mention it," said Gilda. And so they flew back to the dorms together. Surprisingly, Gilda was only six doors down around the corner. Rainbow Dash wondered how she hadn't known about her earlier. "Oh well. I'm glad I know her now," she thought aloud. "Or else I'd be making some friends with the nurses at the hospital right now." She dragged herself into bed, and despite her repeated jokes about being in the hospital, had a fitful sleep full of nightmares about what would have happened if Gilda hadn't shown up.