Chapter 2
The rest of the week passed pleasantly enough. Derpy now made a point of checking in on Scootaloo’s practice every so often as Scootaloo had predicted. However she did not neglect her duties as a mailpony and these intrusions were usually a brief hello, goodbye. If she was running ahead of schedule she would sometimes stay longer and give advice. This usually start out as some boring physics lesson about lift, thrust, and other things Scootaloo found uninteresting, although it always ended with Derpy going on some random stream of conscious that was if nothing else entertaining to watch. Still it wasn’t as big of an infringement on her privacy as she thought it would be. And despite how boring and uninteresting she had to admit that despite how odd she might be Derpy was no doubt intelligent. “If only she could just act smart more often” Scootaloo would think as she listened to her mother “ponies wouldn’t care so much about her weirdness if they just knew she was smart.”
It was now a Saturday. The Cutie Mark Crusaders limped into town in a horrible looking state. They were covered in bruises and oozing redness, which dripped in splotches leaving a scarlet trail behind them. “Guess paintball ain’t out special talent either” groaned Applebloom.
“You said it” replied Scootaloo. “It still would have been fun if they hadn’t cheated.”
“They didn’t cheat” sighed Sweetie Belle “the referee said it was all legal.”
“No, I read in that magazine that the Equestrian Paintball Association forbids flying.”
“That was an old magazine. The ref said that they changed the rules to allow flying two years ago.”
“What, they cain’t just change the rules like that cain they” asked Applebloom.
“Yes they can, it says so in the the official charter, article 4 section 7, that the association reserves the right to change the rules at any time.”
“What are you a law book” said Scootaloo.
“No I just take the time to get up to date information on something we’re doing for our cutie marks, unlike some ponies” Sweetie Belle shot back.
“I shouldn’t have to check the rules continually. Changing them at random like that is bologna and you know it, egghead.”
“What did you call me you dodo?!”
“Look we know it ain’t what our special talent is so there ain’t no point in fightin over it” Applebloom said, trying to avoid an unnecessary conflict.
“Yeah you’re right” sighed Scootaloo “let’s just get cleaned up and move on to the next plan.”
“Now yer talkin; Sweetie Bell, do ya know about where Prancer Lake Summer Camp is?”
“Yeah, all we have to do is take the train to Trotingham and it’s just outside of town.”
“Alright, This is it girls” said Scootaloo.
The three fillies each took a deep breath and yelled “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER CAMP COUNSELORS, YAAAAAAYY!!!”
“Ah, hey not so loud” Rainbow Dash suddenly appeared seemingly out of nowhere and landed in front of them. She wore a pained grimace on her face and was rubbing her ears. “Seriously I think they heard you guys in the next town. I hate to be the one to burst you bubble but you kids are too young to be camp counselors.”
“Awww” the fillies exclaimed with downtrodden faces.
“So, what where you three doing?”
“We were going to my place to get cleaned up” said Sweetie Belle “and then I guess find something else to try to get our cutie marks with.”
“OO, ah… I don’t think Rarity would like you coming into her place like that don’t you think?”
“But we got this way playin paintball, it’s not supposeta stain clothes” said Applebloom.
“Yeah but do you think for a second that Rarity will believe that” replied Rainbow Dash
“Well, now that you mention it she probably won’t” said Sweetie Belle.
“You know, I was just heading over to Twilight’s place to help her with some experiment she’s doing. I bet she’d let you clean up there and maybe you could help out too. You might even get your cutie marks in something sciency.”
“That’s a great idea” said an enthusiastic Scootaloo “just think, we could do all kinds a cool experiments”. The idea of being a scientist greatly excited her, and an opportunity to hang out with her idle didn’t hurt either.
“Yeah, it’ll be just like on Destrier’s Laboratory!” exclaimed Sweetie Belle with her characteristic voice crack.
“It’s gona to be so fun!” put in Applebloom.
The Crusaders each began to inhale a deep breath. Rainbow Dash sensing danger covered her ears and collapsed to the ground. “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER SCIENTISTS, YAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” they yelled in unison.
Despite her precautions Rainbow Dash was blown off the ground and was slammed up against the wall of a nearby building. After peeling herself from the wall and giving her head a shake “Well, ah my head, uh let’s go” Rainbow Dash said as she began to walk off toward the library, “while I’m still in one piece” she added under her breath.
The three fillies were in in the bathroom cleaning themselves off and talking about what sort of experiment they might be helping Twilight with.
“I’ll bet we’re going to clone some dinosaurs” said a wide-eyed Scootaloo.
“Or maybe we’ll be researching some space alien technology” said Sweetie Belle who was literally jumping with excitement.
“Or maybe she’s developed a formula with which we cain open up a short cut in the spacetime continuum that we cain send somthin through” exclaimed Applebloom. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle stared at her. “Ya know, a wormhole”, they continued to stare. “Oh come on, there was an article about it in the latest issue of ‘Scientific Equestrian’.”
“Applebloom, don’t tell me you’re an egghead too” said Scootaloo.
“It ain’t bein an egghead to like knowin stuff. Besides, sompony in this group has gota know this stuff, it might be imporant fer gettin our cutie marks.”
“She does have a point” put in Sweetie Belle as she toweled off her mane “none of the things we’ve tried so far require any sort of higher education, maybe we do need to look into more academically inclined special talents.”
“Oh come on” said Scootaloo who rather than using a towel just shook herself dry “it can’t really be called a special talent if somepony has to teach you how to do it.”
“Hey, don’t just shake water everywhere, that’s rude, not to mention unsanitary.”
Scootaloo sighed and apologized, she didn’t feel like arguing with her friends while there were some awesome experiments to get to.
After finally drying themselves off the Crusaders joined Twilight and Rainbow Dash who were in the main area of the library along with Spike who was preoccupied with reshelving some books which were scattered about the floor. “Ah, you’re here now we can get started” said Twilight.
“So what are we going to do? Are we going to clone dinosaurs, or go into outer space?!” asked Scootaloo, jumping up and down.
“No, no nothing like that, I just need to do a quick scan on you.”
“That’s it, ah thought ya needed our help doing somthin” said Applebloom “least that’s what Rainbow Dash told us.”
“Well yeah” said Rainbow Dash “you know it’s for one of those magical, uh, sciency,….things. Right, Twilight?”
“Uh, yeah that’s it” said Twilight.
“What has that got to do with cool experiments” asks Scootaloo. Twilight hesitated and seemed to be at a loss for word.
“It’s for a…..research paper” said Spike, detecting her distress.
“Yeah it’s part on my studies on magic. Now if you’ll just hold still for a moment we can begin.” Twilight approached Sweetie Belle first. She lowered her head toward the filly, her horn began to glow and Sweetie Belle was surrounded by a purple glow. It only lasted a few second before she moved on to Applebloom and repeated the process. Finally she came to Scootaloo, who was pouting in disappointment over not being able to do any awesome experiments. As soon as she became wraped in Twilight’s purple aura she relaxed a bit, apparently whatever spell she was using had a calming effect. Twilight took a noticeably longer time on Scootaloo than she did on the other crusaders. After a while Twilight stopped and said “well, that’s all I need for right now so you can go now girls”.
“Twilight, is something wrong” asked Sweetie Belle, who noticed that Twilight seemed to suddenly be very down.
“No, not all, I’m fine” replied Twilight with an obviously forced smile. “Thank you for your help. Maybe next time when I have something more fun to do I’ll ask you to help again.”
The three fillies left the library, after they were outside Sweetie Belle said “Well that was a disappointment”.
“Yer tellin me” said Applebloom. “Ah wonder, just what kind a research paper that was supposta be?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe Rainbow Dash was the only one Twilight wanted helping her, I notice she didn’t scan her.”
“Hey that’s right” said Scootaloo” maybe Twilight only wanted another adult to help her with the experiment. I say we stay and try to figure out what’s what.” She noticed a box that was sitting under an open window “we can see what’s happening inside over there”.
“Ya sure this is a good idea” asked Applebloom “ah mean don’t ya figure they wanted us ta leave fer a reason?”
“Don’t worry about it, we’re just going to watch.” The crusaders climbed onto the box and looked inside. They were surprised to see Derpy coming down the stairs “Hey, what’s she doing here?”
“Maybe she’s helpin with the experiment” said Applebloom.
“Shh, let’s just listen” said Sweetie Belle.
“Thank you for helping me to get Scootaloo here” Derpy said to Rainbow Dash. “She wouldn’t have wanted to come if I tried to bring her.”
“Hey, no problem, but why go through all this trouble? Isn’t your policy to always be open and honest with your kids?”
“It is, but this is a sensitive issue. She’s already upset about not being able to fly and I didn’t want to worry her unnecessarily in case this was just needless worry on my part.” Derpy then turned to Twilight “it is just needless worry right?”
Twilight was looking uncomfortable and clearly did not like to have to be the one say what it was she had to say. “I’m afraid not Derpy.” Derpy closed her eyes and sighed deeply.
“So what exactly is the matter” asked Rainbow Dash “Derpy didn’t exactly tell me why I needed to get Scootaloo here.”
“I didn’t?” said Derpy.
“I think you were going to, but then you saw a sign that said Sugercube Corner was selling muffins half price that day.”
“Oh yeah” she recollected. With a sly grin she said “That was a good day.”
“Well” said Twilight “You know how Scootaloo can’t fly?”
“Yeah, I know” said Rainbow Dash.
“Well most pegasi her age can at least fly a little bit, but she can’t fly at all.”
“True but that doesn’t mean anything. You know Spitfire from the Wonderbolts? I read in her biography that she couldn’t fly until she was way older than what Scootaloo is. Now look at her, she one of the greatest flyers in Eqestria.”
“I know” said Derpy “Scootaloo has a copy, but I saw in there that Spitfire came from an abusive family that never bothered to teach her to fly and that they would beat her for even trying. That’s not been the case with Scootaloo. I try to teach her whenever I can, I know you’ve tried to help her occasionally, and recently I’ve seen that she’s been practicing. I know there is no way she can be putting that much effort into something and not have any progress, so I thought there might be something wrong, like…aleveosis.”
“Really” said a surprised Rainbow Dash “but that’s like…really rare isn’t it?”
“Yes” said Twilight “but it does happen.”
“Uh, pardon me” interrupted Spike who had finished shelving the books “but what exactly is aleveosis?”
“It’s a rare pegasus disorder” explained Twilight. “Those inflicted have a deficiently in magic that leaves them unable to fly.”
The Crusaders were all stunned at hearing this. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked at their orange friend who stood to their left with looks of surprise, concern and empathy. Scootaloo was paralyzed. Scootaloo was glued to the spot and continued to stare and listen in a state of shock and horror, all the while hoping against hope that she had simply misheard ‘unable to fly’.
“What do you mean magic” asked Spike “Only unicorns can use magic right?”
“In terms of casting spells yes, but pegasi also have a kind of magic that helps them to fly.”
“What does magic got to do with flying?”
“You see pegasus wings are too small to be of any use. If they didn’t have some kind of magic to help them fly their wings would have to be ten times their normal size to even get them off the ground. Also they use it to help control their flight since they don’t have tail feathers like birds or a strong tail that acts as a rudder like dragons have.”
“Twilight” said Derpy, who was rather annoyed at the unicorn for suddenly just moving to a frivolous subject “if you’re finished could we please get back to Scootaloo.”
“Oh, I’m sorry” Twilight clears her throat. “Well, as I said it is aleveosis so that explains why she can’t fly.”
“But that’s not like real bad is it” said Rainbow Dash “I mean they can fix that right?”
“That’s usually the case. Normally those afflicted just need some kind of charm to amplify what little magic they do have. But I’m not sure if that can be done with Scootaloo.” Twilight placed a comforting hoof on Derpy’s shoulder. “You see, I couldn’t find any magic whatsoever. I’ve never heard of a case where the patient didn’t have at least some magic so I’m not sure how this would be treated or if it even can be.”
“Are you sure” asked a distraught Derpy.
“I’m not sure of anything yet. I know some ponies back in Canterlot who have some expertise in the medical field that I’m going to write to. If they can’t help I’m sure I can ask Princess Celestia for advice, given the extreme nature of Scootaloo’s condition she might even be willing to arrange some kind of special program to try to find a solution.”
“So that not only is she going to have to deal with being a pegasus that can’t fly, she’ll have to put up with being a medical guinea pig?”
“Derpy, I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I know…I’m sorry” said Derpy who was struggling to keep herself from crying. “I know you’re trying to help but…”
“I know, this isn’t a pleasant situation no matter how you look at it.”
A moment of uncomfortable silence past before Derpy said to Rainbow Dash “do you think that there might be any pegasi doctors in Cloudsdale that I could take her to, maybe they might know more about how to treat this sort of thing.”
“I doubt it” said Rainbow Dash. “Anyway, if she doesn’t have any magic at all she won’t even be able to walk on the clouds, so taking her there would be a bad idea, unless Twilight uses that spell of her’s for that, but even then you’d have a rough time finding a pegasi doctor in Cloudsdale of all places to treat aleviosis.”
“Why is that?”
“Well sadly there’s a cultural stigmatization of pegasus ponies that for one reason or another are unable to fly. There was even this barbaric ritual that the pegasi did for thousands of years where if a newborn foal that looked weak or unhealthy they were taken down to the surface and left to die in the elements. It’s of course been outlawed and suppressed since unification, but unfortunately it still happens from time to time.”
“What, you’re not suggesting that that’s what had happened to Scootaloo that day I found her in the forest?”
“More than likely, yes” said Rainbow Dash, feeling very ashamed of her culture at that moment.
Derpy was dwelling on her own thought and emotions when suddenly one of her wall eyes happened to drift over to window where the three fillies stood. Almost immediately her head jerked over to face them, both eyes looking straight on in horror at her daughter. Scootaloo now regained her ability to move and she ran. She ran faster than she had ever run before in her life. She became oblivious to the calls of her friends, her mother, Twilight, and even Rainbow Dash. As she ran she felt all of her dreams dying. She would never take a nap on a cloud, never fly around for the sheer joy of it, never have lunch with Rainbow Dash at her house, or anything that she had ever hoped and dreamed of doing. Now there was nothing left except to run.