Prompt: Explorers of the Sky.
In biology, they taught us that your genes define your destiny.
“Scootaloo, what’s wrong?”
Sweetie Belle’s voice fell dead against the still air of the clubhouse. She took a few steps forward, hooves clicking against wood the only sound audible.
“Please, Scootaloo, say something. This isn’t like you!” Sweetie Belle continued as she approached her friend. Scootaloo remained motionless, just staring into a corner of the treehouse. “W-we didn’t do anything to upset you did we?”
Scootaloo shook her head.
Sweetie Belle let out her breath at the sign of her friend’s movement. “Was it something that happened at school?” She paused for a bit. “No wait, you weren’t at school today, you had something else you had to do, a doctor’s appointment was it?”
“I can’t fly.”
Sweetie Belle cocked her head. “Yeah well, we know that.”
“No!” Scootaloo turned and flared her wings. “I can’t fly as in I’ll never be able to fly, as in these stupid wings are—” Scootaloo lowered her head and turned away from Sweetie Belle again. “—defective.”
Sweetie Belle wrapped her forelegs around her friend, and buried her nuzzle against the crook of her friend’s neck. “I’m so sorry,” she choked.
It was only then that Scootaloo allowed herself to cry.
In chemistry, they taught us that you can’t create something out of nothing.
Apple Bloom watched as Scootaloo tossed the screwdriver to the ground.
“I quit!”
Apple Bloom crossed the workshop and grabbed Scootaloo before she could storm out.
“So that’s how it is?” asked Apple Bloom. “After all that reading’, all that plannin’, all that work you put it, you’re just gonna up and quit?”
Scootaloo glared back at Apple Bloom.
“What happened to the Scootaloo who said she was going to fly no matter what, the filly who was always pushing us to get our cutie marks no matter how many times we failed?” Apple Bloom looked her friend in the eye. “What happened to the friend who wouldn’t let me quit when I was after my own cutie mark?”
Apple Bloom pulled Scootaloo into a hug. “You don’t have to do this alone. Sweetie Belle and I are here for you, just like you’ve always been there for us.”
“Thanks,” Scootaloo whispered back.
Apple Bloom led Scootaloo back to her bench and took a look at the piece of machinery that Scootaloo had been working on.
“A ha,” Apple Bloom said, pointing to a misplaced capacitor, “now there’s your problem.”
In physics, they taught us that what comes up must come down.
As Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle wheeled the capsule out of the barn, Scootaloo ran through her checklist for the umpteenth time that morning. She took a deep breath as she looked out at giant collection of helium balloons floating above a metal sphere. Only a few weights tied to the side kept the entire thing from floating off into the heavens.
“Perfect day for a launch, right girls?” said Apple Bloom once they got the capsule situated.
“Yeah,” Scootaloo replied, her voice betraying her uncertainty.
She felt a hoof on her shoulder. “You okay, Scootaloo?”asked Sweetie Belle.
“Oh, yeah I’m fine,” replied Scootaloo brushing the hoof off. “It’s gonna be awesome, right?”
Scootaloo stepped forward and inspected the capsule, checking again that everything was in place.
“Hey, girls.” Scootaloo turned to face her two friends. “In case I don’t make it back—”
“Oh, you’re comin’ back,” replied Apple Bloom. “Pinkie Pie’s already got the party planned.”
“Yeah, you’ll be amazing,” said Sweetie Belle, pulling the three fillies into a big hug. “We believe in you Scootaloo.”
Scootaloo smiled at her two friends then turned to enter the capsule. As she got situated, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle cut the weights holding the rig down. Scootaloo looked out the viewport to see her friends staring up and waving. Scootaloo waved back until they were but two tiny specks on the brown and green landscape below. Soon, Scootaloo could see the huge blue oceans surrounding Equestria and the curvature of the planet as she floated higher into the atmosphere.
She closed her eyes and ran through her checklist one more time. She re-opened them and made sure all of her equipment was ready. Finally, her eyes turned toward a corner of the capsule where she had taped a picture of herself and her two best friends. They were covered head to tail in tree sap and pine needles, yet all wearing broad smiles for the camera. Her eyes lingered on the photo, remembering the day it was taken. Maybe it was only there at the edge of the world where nopony could hear her, that Scootaloo whispered, “I love you girls.”
A beep from the altimeter indicated that it was go time. Donning her space helmet and strapping on her parachutes, she took a deep breath, tasting the canned oxygen filling her lungs.
Scootaloo opened the airlock, and stepped out onto the platform. At 128,000 feet the descent would take her to speeds of over 800 miles per hour, producing her own sonic scootaboom. This would make for one hell of a cutie mark story.
In biology, they taught us that your genes define your destiny.
In chemistry, they taught us that you can’t create something out of nothing.
In physics, they taught us that what comes up must come down.
But with the help of my friends, I learned that science isn’t about defining our limitations – it’s about expanding them.