//------------------------------// // Spread Your Wings // Story: I'll Fly Higher // by Sky Blue Angel //------------------------------// Spread Your Wings - Chapter 1 I'll Fly Higher Sky Blue Angel "Scootaloo! Are you going to go with us?" Sweetie Belle jumped on her pegasus friend and gave her a hug. "Nah, I'm gonna go try that new course they opened up at the Gym," Scootaloo threw her friend off before weakly fluttering her wings. "Ah ya' sure you don't wanna go bowlin' with us?" Apple Bloom's heavy western accent often confused others. But Scootaloo understood her just fine and shook her head. "I'm sure, Apple Bloom, Sweetie, I'm fine," Scootaloo looked at her friends, who looked back with strange looks on their faces. "Uh, you okay, Scoootaloo?" Sweetie Belle reached a hoof out to Scootaloo, but Apple Bloom stopped her. Apple Bloom shook her head. "Yeah, yeah," Scootaloo waved her friend off. "I'm just gonna go work out, okay?" "Well, we'll see you later then!" Sweetie Belle pranced away from the school. Scootaloo's red-maned friend took a quick look back at the orange pegasus, before following Sweetie. Scootaloo walked down the small road through the center of Ponyville. Her head was hung low after school, but hey, the thought of going to the Gym always cheered her up. Especially if she managed to see Rainbow Dash there. That always made her giddy and warm inside. It's not like you saw your idol each and every single day! Feeling cheered up, Scootaloo began to trot towards the large building slightly outside of town. Thinking of Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo let her mind wander before she walked into the Gym. She'd always thought that Rainbow was her sister. Yeah, it would be super cool to have an athlete like Rainbow Dash to be your sister! I mean, she was the coolest pony on the block! Who else would be an Element of Harmony and a Wonderbolt to boot? Scootaloo squealed and walked into the Gym, nodding to the secretary at the desk. Scootaloo rushed to the locker room. The rows of dull, gray lockers stretched far to the other side of the massive room. Mares of all shapes and sizes changed into exercise gear. A pink, bubbly mare with a yellow head band was lying on one of the benches. "I swear... I'm... Best... Party..." Scootaloo rolled her eyes at the gasping mare, and trotted onward. The orange pegasus let her mind drift as she opened her gray locker at the end of the locker room, away from the normal hustle and bustle of the mass of athletic mares. Today, she was alone, which let her mind wander. "Poor Scoots, she doesn't know what ah' mean," Apple Bloom hung her head. "Ah feel really bad for her, ya know?" Sweetie Belle put her hoof around Apple Bloom. "She'll be fine. Everyone's cutie marks come in sometime!" "Excuse me, could I bother you for a question?" The sudden question made Scootaloo jump. She turned around on her hooves to look up at an older mare. The mare was a gray color, with wrinkly skin. Her pearly white eyes looked at Scootaloo blankly. "I-I'm sorry to bother you," Scootaloo waved her hoof. "No, it's not a problem. I promise," She threw her school bag into her small, gray locker, before looking back at the gray mare. The are looked back at her. Her silvery gray mane was wrapped into a tight bun. "Uh... Can you help me get to my locker? Number nine thousand four hundred and fifty-four?" The mare smiled, slightly showing her yellowing teeth. Her clouded eyes twinkled despite the white that refused to let them shine. "I'm really sorry to bother you," "No, it's seriously fine," Scootaloo opened the locker for the older mare. The mare's ears flicked as she heard the click of the locker. "Thanks, deary!" The mare slowly put in her saddle bags before leaving the locker room. Scootaloo noticed how the mare's tail was cut bluntly, a mere three inches was left of her tail. Scootaloo looked at the mare, wondering how and why she was at the Gym. "Hey, what the hell took you so long?" Rainbow Dash fluttered in the air, forehooves crossed. "Come on, you've gotta be on time! You're two minutes late!" The rainbow-maned mare snorted before grabbing two identical dumbbells. "I-I'm sorry, Rainbow..." Scootaloo began to apologize, but she stopped. She knew that apology wouldn't get her anywhere. If Scootaloo wanted to be a good athlete, a great pony, she would have to work harder. Apology wouldn't get her anywhere, except for taking her back to where she started. "Lift!" Rainbow's harsh command snapped Scootaloo out of her mind's drift. She noticed the black dumbbells on her wings. "I said, LIFT!" Scootaloo didn't like the tone at which Rainbow Dash was speaking. Is she mad at me? Am I bothering her by being here? Has something happened? Scootaloo braced herself and contracted her wing muscles, slowly lifting the dumbbells on her wings. "Lift those dumbbells until I get back!" Rainbow turned away from the struggling filly. "And don't think about changing the weights or getting water," Rainbow glided away, leaving Scootaloo to train on her own. Why is she so mad at me? What did I ever do to her? Is it because... Scootaloo shook her head. Just because she didn't have her cutie mark didn't change anything. Did something happen to her? Scootaloo remembered how Rainbow Dash had lost her parents, even though she didn't know when or where or how. That even sounds like me... I don't have parents... Scootaloo realized the dumbbells weren't moving. She flexed her wings, lifting the heaving bits until she couldn't move her wings anymore. Damn it, Rainbow must've picked up the wrong weights. These are fucking heavy! Scootaloo winced as she forced her wings to bear the weight. She scrunched her face, twisting her facial features, before sighing, and dropping the two weights. "What the hell did I tell you about breaks?!" Rainbow Dash picked up Scootaloo and placed her on a treadmill. "Come on, kid!" Rainbow's voice was pleading. "Please, just keep pushing!" Hearing the desperate cry in her mentor's voice, Scootaloo perked her ear, lifted her head, and began to run. She ran as hard as she could without fainting right there in the Gym. " Some people call me little, some people call me small," Scootaloo huffed as she ran faster and faster. "But given the chance, I'll rise up-" Scootaloo flapped her wings, giving her the one last bit of OOPH to finish the last bit of the running on the treadmill. "Come on, kid. Let's get you cleaned up," Rainbow Dash picked up Scootaloo and carried her to the showers. Scootaloo didn't protest, but enjoyed the warm water hit her body. As the shower water washed away her salty sweat, Rainbow Dash began to talk. Something about physical examinations and flight camp. "You know, you're going to have to get that examination sooner or later," Rainbow Dash patted the orange pegasus's purple mane. "I know you'll be able to pass it easily. You'll be the fastest flyer in flight camp!" Scootaloo didn't hear the rest of her mentor's commitment, for she saw the same, gray mare as from before. Her wrinkly skin was sparking with a fresh layer of sweat. The mare's clouded eyes looked ahead, even though there was nothing but solid concrete wall. "Scoots?" "Uh, I think I'm going to head on home," Scootaloo shook out the water from her body. "I've got an essay to write for school," Scootaloo leaves a confused pegasus in the showers. Scootaloo remembered only a few flashes of memory from the locker room. Opening the door for the blind mare, packing her saddlebags and leaving. She didn't even catch the gray mare's name, or her cutie mark. All I know is that there's something wrong, but everypony doesn't seem to notice anything! Maybe I should just go along with the flow... I know that I shouldn't. Rainbow Dash said that I'll pass the examination. And I will. Some ponies call me little, and some call me small. But someday, I'll rise up... And stand above them all!