“Haha! I did it! I did it! I– oh no.”
Scootaloo’s enthusiasm disappears as she comes to a realization. The cloud that she was planning to land her scooter on has proven to be insufficient, as both she and her scooter fall straight through the mass of white.
The cloud isn’t actually that high into the air, but it’s high enough for her sudden impact with the ground to leave a convenient Scootaloo-shaped hole in the dirt. She groans as she crawls out of the hole, her vision a bit blurry from the sudden landing.
“Scoots! You okay?”
She shakes her head just in time to see her two closest friends, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, running up to her with worry on their faces.
“I’m fiiiiiiine,” she lies. “Just fell through the cloud, nothing serious.”
“But, Scoots, you’ve been tryin’ to land on that cloud for hours.” Apple Bloom turns around to look up at a massive hill, along which she’s built a very long, very dangerous-looking ramp for Scootaloo to jump off of. “That was the sixteenth time I’ve had to adjust that ramp!”
“And now the angle is perfect!” Scootaloo, feeling undeterred by her failure, grins as she retrieves her nearby scooter. “All we need is a bigger cloud! One that will actually support me and the scooter.”
“Uhh, Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle’s high-pitched voice sounds unconvinced. “Not to be a downer, but are you sure–”
“Alright, let’s find another cloud!”
In her excitement, Scootaloo fails to acknowledge her friend’s concerns. With a roll of her eyes, Sweetie Belle simply follows her overly eager friend up the hill.
Guess she’ll just have to learn the hard way.
“Come… on!”
Sweetie Belle sweats as her tiny horn glows with magic. A nearby cloud, much bigger than the one Scootaloo previously fell through, is enveloped in a similar color of magic. However, despite her best efforts, the cloud doesn’t budge.
“Uggggggh! This would be so much easier if I could fly!”
“Hold on, I’ve got an idea. Let go of it, Sweetie Belle!”
Sweetie shrugs and drops her spell, taking the opportunity to catch her breath. Then, with a confident smirk, Apple Bloom pulls a lasso out of seemingly nowhere (an Apple family secret) and gives it a twirl before tossing it towards the cloud.
Sure enough, her aim rings true. On her first try, she ensnares her target, and with a cocky grunt, tugs on the lasso.
The cloud then immediately splits in half.
“What?!”
“Seriously?” Sweetie stares at her two open-mouthed friends with half-lidded eyes. “Did you both seriously not see that coming?”
“Sh-shut up!”
“Okay, it took some doing, but we finally got the cloud!”
Scootaloo stares up at her new cloud, which is about three times the size of the old one. Her eyes sparkle with excitement, though her two friends seem less enthused.
“Uhh, Scootaloo? Rainbow Dash did all of the work. ‘We’ didn’t do anything.”
“Hey, I called in a favor from a professional! That’s something!”
“...Sure.”
“Now, then.” Scootaloo grabs her scooter once again and grins as she looks towards the hill. “Let’s take it from the top!”
The trip to the top of the hill would likely wind her if not for how excited she is. On quick, impatient hooves, she lugs the scooter incapable of climbing such an incline without sufficient momentum in record time. Placing said scooter on the top of the ramp, she looks down towards her friends.
“Everything okay down there?!”
She’s pretty sure they’re saying something, but she’s too far away to hear them. Oh, well. They’re probably just cheering her on.
With a tap on her helmet and a lick of her lips, Scootaloo pushes off the hill, immediately zooming down the ramp at breakneck speeds. The force of the descent causes tears to fill her eyes, but the thrill of the jump is too exhilarating to deter her! As the bottom of the ramp approaches, she lets out an excited yell.
Sure enough, the air she gains is impressive. She must be thirty feet up! And if her calculations are correct, she’ll land safely on the cloud about ten feet down!
…Or at least, she would land safely on the cloud about ten feet down were it still beneath her. Unfortunately, she only gets about three seconds to process the fact that the cloud is no longer in its intended location.
Moments later, there are two Scootaloo-shaped holes in the ground.
“We tried to warn ya,” Apple Bloom mumbles. “This cloud is too big. The wind blows it right away.”
“And you didn’t stop it?”
“How would we? My lasso goes right through it and Sweetie’s magic ain’t strong enough.”
“Ugh.” Scootaloo climbs out of the hole acting noticeably more deflated than before. “Fine, then.” She takes a deep breath before holding her hoof in front of her face with newfound confidence. “I know how to solve this, too!”
“So, uh, what’s she trying to do, again?”
Rainbow Dash holds the cloud steady as she watches Scootaloo finish her ascent up the hill. Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom watch from the ground below, each sitting comfortably in a lawn chair and munching on some popcorn.
“She wants to get a bunch of airtime, but rather than land on another ramp, she wants to land on a cloud that’ll cushion her blow.”
“W-wait, what? That won’t–”
“We know,” they say in unison.
“We can’t just let her go through with this!”
“How else is she gonna learn? She sure won’t listen to our warnings.”
Rainbow Dash stares at the distant Scootaloo as she kicks off and begins to roll down the ramp. She lets out a sigh as Scootaloo takes to the air, the excited grin plastered on her face once more.
Unlike last time, the cloud is exactly where it’s supposed to be. Seeing this, she beams with delight, knowing that not only was her trick a success, but Rainbow Dash herself will be there to see her pull it off!
This excitement disappears as she falls straight through the massive cloud. At this point, she isn’t even upset. All she does is stare straight forward with a completely neutral expression as she prepares to make a third Scootaloo-shaped hole in the ground.
However, the impact never comes.
“You good there, squirt?”
Scootaloo realizes that just before hitting the ground, she was caught by her idol. Rainbow Dash gently places her down, and she looks up to see the sun shining down on her through a Scootaloo-sized hole in the cloud. Or, more specifically, a scooter-sized hole in the cloud.
“...Oooooooooooooooh.” Scootaloo feels her cheeks turn red as she sheepishly looks towards her friends, who haven’t stood from their lawn chairs. “R-right. Just because I can land on the cloud doesn’t mean my scooter can.”
“No, no it can’t,” Rainbow sighs. “You can probably get a custom one made up in Cloudsdale, though.”
“REALLY?!”
Scootaloo smiles at her sister figure, her eyes so wide and filled with so many sparkles they could light up a room.
“S-sure.” Rainbow rubs the back of her head, not entirely certain if that’s actually true. “But that’s a journey for another day. I’ve got Wonderbolt training in a few minutes!” She gives Scootaloo a gentle noogie before starting to fly off. “See ya, squirt!”
“Bye, Rainbow Dash!” With a content sigh, Scootaloo turns back to her friends, who stare at her blankly. “Isn’t she just the coolest?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Whatever.”
“And did you SEE how much air I got?! That was incredible!”
“Uh-huh,” Apple Bloom says while looking at something else.
“Now that I know I can do that, I’ve gotta go bigger!”
“Sure,” Sweetie Belle mumbles while not paying attention.
“I need to go talk to Trixie!”
Scootaloo scampers off in the direction of town, leaving Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle alone. It takes a few moments for them to realize that Scootaloo has left, and it takes them a moment more to process her words. Their eyes go wide as they immediately make a break for it in pursuit of their friend.
“Not her! ANYPONY but her!”
There’s never a dull moment with those three around, that’s for sure.