Horsefeathers

by Fervidor

Chapter 1

Scootaloo fidgeted in her chair, looking around the examining room as if trying to find a distraction. Hospitals made her nervous, and waiting for important test results made her even more nervous. Sitting next to her, Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. ”Will you calm down? I'm sure everything's fine.”
”But what if it isn't?” Scootaloo said. ”What if it's really, really bad?”
Rainbow Dash groaned. ”Oh, suck it up. You gotta be cool, like me.”
”O-Okay, Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo mumbled. ”Gotta be cool. Gotta be cool...”
The door opened and Doctor Stable entered the examining room, followed by nurse Redheart. The doctor gave Scootaloo a stern look. ”I'm afraid I have some really, really bad news, young filly.”
Scootaloo gulped. ”Oh no.”
”Nurse, the x-rays, please.” Redheart quickly hung a number of x-ray images on the wall in front of them. Most of them showed the bones in Scootaloo's wings and back. Doctor Stable pointed at them. ”As you can see from these very professional medical x-rays, Scootaloo, you are clearly suffering from a textbook example of Parvus Alae Horribilis, an incurable affliction that permanently stunts wing growth in young pegasi.”
”Permanent!?” Scootaloo shrieked. ”Incurable!?”
”Unfortunately yes,” said Doctor Stable gravely. ”I'm afraid you will never be able to fly. Ever.”
”No!” Scootaloo shook her head. ”That can't be true! There must be some mistake!”
”Nope, no mistake,” the doctor said, holding up a medical chart. ”It says so right here in your chart. 'Will never fly, ever.' That's exactly what it says. Very formal. Very official.”
”No! You're wrong!” Starting to panic, Scootaloo turned to Rainbow Dash. ”Tell them that they're wrong, Rainbow Dash! Please!”
But Rainbow Dash simply shrugged. ”Sorry, squirt, you heard what the doc said. You're just never going to get off the ground with those puny wings of yours. Speaking of which, I know I said I'd take you under my wing and teach you everything I know and become like your big sister, buuuuut I think we both know that's not going to work out now.”
”R-Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo whispered, with tears running down her face. ”W-What are you saying!?”
”Sorry, but a pegasus who can't fly is just, like, so lame,” Rainbow Dash explained. ”And I kinda have a reputation to maintain, so I can't hang out with your anymore. But don't worry, I'm sure you'll make lots of, I dunno, earth pony friends of whatever.” She spread her wings. ”Well, gotta fly!”
”No, wait!” Scootaloo shouted. She reached out but it was too late – the pegasus had already zoomed away in a rainbow streak. Seeing her vanish into the endless sky, Scootaloo desperately flittered her tiny wings in an attempt to follow her. ”Come back! Don't leave me behind! Don't leave me, Rainbow Dash!”
For a brief moment, it seemed as if she would succeed in taking off. But then the weight of her body overpowered her wings and she fell. Screaming, she plummeted down into a dark abyss.

Landing hard, Scootaloo sat upright with a yelp, completely disoriented. It took her a few moments to realize she was sitting on the floor next to her bed back home. Her room was dark – it was still the middle of the night. Apparently she had thrashed around in her sleep so much she had managed to roll out of her bed.
She drew a sigh of relief. It was just a dream. A terrifying, harrowing, utterly horrific dream, sure, but still just a dream. Where's Princess Luna when you need her?
Scootaloo picked herself off the floor and climbed back into bed. But like all foals who wake up from a bad dream, she found herself unwilling to go back to sleep for fear it would return. Reaching back with her hoof, she gently touched the feathers of her budding filly wings. They seemed so small.
”It was just a dream,” she told herself again, trying to reassure herself. ”Just a dream.”
But then she thought: What if it wasn't just a dream? What if...
What if...
And once that thought got into her head, she could not get it out. She could not unthink it, no matter how much she wanted to. It resounded in her mind over and over, quiet as a whisper and piercing like a scream. Scootaloo felt it reach down through her body and grip her heart like a dragon's claw. It choked her and left her sobbing in the darkness.
Scootaloo didn't sleep well that night. And when her mother woke her up in the morning, that terrible thought was still there.
What if I'll never fly?

At breakfast, the thought was still gnawing away at her. She wasn't hungry – if anything she felt slightly nauseous – but she forced herself to chew her food mechanically while staring into her cereal bowl with an empty look in her eyes. Inside her head, the dream kept playing over and over on repeat.
”...an incurable affliction that permanently stunts wing growth...”
”...will never fly, ever. That's exactly what it says...”
”Scootaloo, dear, are you okay? You look a bit out of it.”
Scootaloo looked up at her mother, Sundance, who'd put down her morning paper with a concerned look on her face.
”You're not feeling sick, are you?” the mother pegasus asked. Her colors were similar to Scootaloo's, but lighter in hue: golden coat, burgundy mane and amethyst eyes. Her cutie mark was a sun and two white clouds.
”Nah, it's nothing,” Scootaloo lied. ”I just didn't sleep well for some reason.”
”Oh, my poor baby,” Sundance cooed. ”You're usually so energetic.” She reached over and put a hoof on Scootaloo's forehead. ”Are you sure? If you want to call in sick, I could swoop by Cheerilee on my way to work and...”
Sighing internally, Scootaloo regarded her mother. Sundance wasn't the weakest flier in Ponyville, but mostly on account of living in the same town as Fluttershy. She did her job as a weather pony, and signed up for Winter Wrap Up and tornado duty like all the other pegasi, but she was fairly slow and had low stamina. Her best skill as a flier was her agility, but even in that area she couldn't hope to compete with an athlete like Rainbow Dash. Because of this, and because her special talent was meteorology, she preferred monitoring wide area weather patterns rather than the more physically demanding cloud clearing and wind drafting. She worked long days, soaring between high altitude clouds and sending semaphore messages to the weather teams below. Sundance sometimes joked that an earth pony in a hot-air balloon could do her job. Scootaloo didn't think it was funny, especially since her mother still came home from work exhausted and needed plenty of rest in the evenings.
”Mom, I told you, I'm fine,” Scootaloo insisted. Truthfully, she felt downright awful, but she didn't like being fussed over. It was uncool.
”Stop fussing over the kid, Sunny.” Scootaloo felt a hoof lovingly ruffling her mane from behind, and then her father came into view. ”This little firecracker is the healthiest filly in Ponyville, ain't ya Scooters?”
Scootaloo laughed nervously. ”S-Sure, dad.”
”...incurable ... permanently … never fly, ever...”
Her father was in a hurry as usual and seemed to have just left the shower. Runabout was a rust-colored earth pony with black mane and tail. He was large and fit, but had kind brown eyes that always seemed to twinkle when he looked at her. The mark on is flank was a winged horseshoe. Scootaloo had always considered it a pretty cool cutie mark, even if lately she'd started to find it just a bit ironic. His special talent was to intuitively know the fastest way to get from one place to another, and even most pegasi couldn't cover the same distances as fast as he could. In the very rare cases he was in town for the Running of the Leaves, he was always in the top five winners, even though he insisted he wasn't a very competitive pony and simply enjoyed running.
“Sorry, dear, I don't have time for breakfast,” Runabout said, kissing his wife on the cheek. “I'll grab something on the way.”
“Take care, honey,” Sundance said. As he passed her by, she pulled him in for a quick hug. “Come back soon, okay?”
“Are you kidding?” he chuckled and kissed her again. “Wild horses couldn't keep me away from you.”
Normally Scootaloo would have been making gagging sounds at such an uncool display of affection, but she wasn't in the mood today. She wished her father didn't have to go away again. Runabout worked as a runner for the Pony Express and specialized in deliveries to remote areas out of reach from the Equestrian railway system. That meant he had to spend a lot of time away from home – Scootaloo would often go days or even weeks without seeing him.
Looking at her parents together, it was pretty clear to Scootaloo that her athleticism hadn't come from the same place as her wings. Her mother could fly, but not very well. Her father was strong and fast, but he wasn't a pegasus. And before Scootaloo could stop herself, another bad thought popped up in her head:
What if I'll never fly, because I'm more earth pony than pegasus?
It was a terrible, terrible thing to consider. Scootaloo felt like she'd betrayed her father just by thinking it. She had never once resented him for being an earth pony – she loved him dearly and wouldn't trade him for any pegasus in Equestria. The shame she felt for blaming him for her own weakness, even momentarily, almost overwhelmed her. She wanted to take it back, but it was too late. The terrible thought simply joined the others echoing in the back of her head, just loud enough for her to hear.
Finally escaping Sundance's embrace, Runabout said his hasty farewells to his family and left through the front door. At best, he would return the next weekend. Soon Sundance would have to leave for work as well, to return home late in the afternoon. They were both good parents, but Scootaloo wished they weren't so busy all the time.
“Are you sure you are feeling well?” Sundance asked again.
“Yes!” Scootaloo repeated. She couldn't believe she had to talk her own mother out of letting her skip school. On a different day she might have stayed home and found some way to amuse herself until she could meet up with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, but right now the last thing she wanted was to be left all alone in the house with only her thoughts to keep her company. “Mom, you're going to be late for work if you don't hurry.”
Sundance gave her a hug. “When did you become such a responsible filly?” she murmured.
“It's a mystery,” Scootaloo said. The hug felt nice, but somehow that made it worse. Scootaloo very nearly broke down in tears at that point.
Never fly. Ever.
Her mother released her from the hug. Scootaloo sat quiet for a few heartbeats, then looked up. “...Mom!”
Sundance turned around. “Yes, dear?”
For a moment, Scootaloo wanted to tell her everything. She wanted to explain how scared she was, and how terrible she felt inside. She wanted her mother to hug her again and tell her it would be okay, no matter how uncool that was. But in the last moment, her courage failed her. She couldn't say it. “Um... When did you learn to fly?” she asked instead.
Sundance cocked her head, thinking back. “It was at the Summer Sun Celebration. It was held in Cloudsdale that year and I had stayed up all night. Your grandparents were sure I'd fall asleep but I really wanted to see the princess, so I forced myself to stay awake. When she appeared and raised the sun right before us, I became so excited that I leaped up into the air and somehow I forgot to come down. I couldn't believe I was actually flying! Of course, then I had to land and crashed straight into your grandfather. Luckily neither of us broke anything.” She paused. “Haven't I told you this story before?”
She had, of course. Scootaloo ignored the question. “How old were you?”
“A little younger than you, about a year I'd say,” Sundance said. “Why are you asking this now?”
A whole year younger than me! Scootaloo tried to put on a brave face. “J-Just curious, I guess. I had a dream about... flying.”
“Well, you know what they say, flying dreams are the best kind.” Looking at the clock, Sundance made sure she had her lunch and signal flags packed, then headed for the door. “Speaking of which, I really have to fly now. Don't be late for school! Love you!”
“Mom...” Scootaloo made once last attempt, but then she heard the front door close and knew she was alone again. The empty house was already starting to feel too large for her. She stared into her bowl of half-eaten cereals. They'd long since turned soggy.
“Mom, I'm scared...”

Scootaloo had hoped going to school and spending time with her friends would take her mind of her worries. But no matter how she tried to distract herself, the feelings persisted – the unwelcome thoughts didn't fade, nor did the cold, hard lump of terror in the pit of her stomach. She spent the hours at school in a daze, answered questions mechanically and spoke to her friends just enough to keep them from growing suspicious. She didn't want them to know.
After what seemed like an eternity, school finally ended for the day. The three Cutie Mark Crusaders left the school building, Scootaloo falling a bit behind Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, steering her scooter with her head sagging. Lost in thought, she realized Apple Bloom was trying to ask her a question. She looked up. “Huh?”
“You know, you've been really quiet all day,” Apple Bloom commented. “Ah said, we need ta come up with a plan for how to get our cutie marks today.”
“Any suggestions, Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle asked. “You usually have good ideas.”
“Well...” Scootaloo started, but then she fell silent.
She couldn't.
Scootaloo suddenly realized that she simply couldn't spend the day with them, not while feeling like this. It would be too much. They'd notice her acting strange and start asking questions and then she'd break under the weight of her own feelings and probably do something very uncool, like starting to cry. She refused to let her friends see her like that. No way.
“Actually, girls, I... I can't hang out with you today,” she said. “Sorry.”
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked surprised. “Why not?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Because...” Scootaloo tried to think of an excuse. She had to tell them something. Anything! “...Um, Rainbow Dash promised me she'd hang out with me today.”
“Really?” Sweetie Belle arched an eyebrow. “She said that?”
“Yeah! She's going to show me some of her tricks,” Scootaloo explained. What in the hay am I saying!? “Secret tricks! Just the two of us. It's, um, an Honorary Pegasi Sisters sort-of thing. Yeah.”
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle exchanged looks. Scootaloo started sweating, and she felt her forced smile growing stale. Please buy it. Please buy it...
“Oh. Well, that's just swell!” Apple Bloom smiled at her. “Congratulations, Scootaloo!”
Sweetie Belle nodded. “It's great that you two are becoming closer.”
Scootaloo let out a small sigh of relief. “So you don't mind?”
“Of course not!” Apple Bloom said. “You go have fun with Rainbow Dash. Ah'm sure me an' Sweetie Belle can find sumthin' else to do today.”
“You have to tell us all about it later, though,” Sweetie Belle stressed.
Scootaloo glanced to the side, unable to look them in the eyes. “S-Sure.”
“Well, see ya later, then!” With that, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle trotted off on their own.
Scootaloo felt horrible, her fake smile crumbling in an instant. So on top of it all, she had now resorted to lying to her friends. She sighed deeply. I'm a bad pony.
Never the less, the lie had bought her some time. But now she found herself alone again and not knowing what to do with the rest of her day. She still didn't want to go home to her empty house, but she had to avoid her fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders for the rest of the day. By the looks of it, they here headed towards Sugarcube Corner, so Scootaloo simply turned her scooter the opposite direction and zoomed off.

A while later, Scootaloo found herself in the fields just outside town, where the pony residents would sometimes arrange picnics on fair weather days. It seemed like a safe place to lay low for a while, so she had parked her scooter under a tree and sat down by the roots to try to sort out her thoughts. So far it hadn't gone well.
Okay, brain, let's be logical about this, she thought. I don't actually know my wings are defective, do I? Just because they're really small and puny and can't lift me even though I should have been flying a year ago...
She started over.
It was just a stupid dream, just like the Olden Pony and the Headless Horse. It doesn't mean anything! Unless of course my subconscious was trying to tell me something I'd already realized deep down inside and the awful truth is that my wings will never ever...
No. One more try.
Just because I can't fly now, it doesn't mean I'll never be able to fly. Maybe I just need to try really, really hard?
“Yeah!” she said. “That's what I'm gonna do! I'll prove I can fly if I just believe in myself!”
She looked around. Near the tree was a large rock, almost as tall as she was. With a new look of determination on her face, she got on her hooves, walked over to the rock and climbed on top of it.
Stretching her wings, she drew a deep breath to steady her nerves. It was now or never. This was her moment of truth. Failure was not an option! She closed her eyes and focused. She had to believe that she could fly. She had to really believe it right down to her bones. “I know I can do this,” she told herself. “I believe I can fly! I believe I can fly!”
She crouched her knees, then sprang from the rock like a coiled spring. She reached her hooves to the heavens, flapping her wings as hard as she could, trying to channel every last bit of her willpower into propelling her towards that beautiful blue sky. And for one short moment, she actually thought she would make it this time.
But then, like so many times before, she felt the merciless pull of gravity. Just like in the dream, her brief glimmer of hope turned into despair and she fell, face-planting on the unforgiving ground.
For a few seconds, she just lay there with her face in the grass. Then she struck the ground hard with her hoof. She struck it again, and again.
Failure.
“No!” She heaved herself up with a jerk, her eyes wild. “It will work! It has to work! I just need... I need...” Her eyes fell on the tree. Higher up. She had to get higher up.
Grunting through gritted teeth, she started to climb the tree. It had to work. She'd make it work. Even if she had to throw herself off a building, or a mountain, or... or...
Halfway up, her legs lost their strength, and her resolve evaporated. She no longer had to will to keep climbing. Letting go, she allowed herself to slide down the trunk of the tree, coming to a rest on the ground at its base. She had just used up the last bit of courage she had left.
Failure.
Curling up into a pathetic little ball under the tree, she felt her eyes burn and her lip tremble. The sickening feeling in her stomach and the tightness in her chest were almost physically painful now. In the background, there was a strange whooshing sound and something made the branches of the tree vibrate, but Scootaloo didn't notice.
The dam was about to burst, she could feel it. Any second now, she'd break down crying and she wouldn't be able to stop. Tears were already welling up in her eyes. She bit her lip. Any moment now...
A bright rainbow mane fell in front of her like a curtain and she found herself staring into a pair of familiar violet eyes. They belonged to a sky-blue face that smiled an upside-down smile at her. “Whatchadoing, Scoots?”
“DAH!” Scootaloo jerked away in surprise. “R-R-Rainbow Dash!? W-Wha-What are you doing here?”
Rainbow Dash, who had somehow managed to hang herself by her tail from one of the lower branches of the tree, neatly vaulted down and landed on her hoofs right next to Scootaloo.
“Heh, yeah, that's a funny story, actually,” she chuckled. “See, I was working the morning shift getting some pesky clouds out of the way above town when I happened to fly across your mom. So, we kinda stopped and chatted for a bit.”
Scootaloo actually flinched. “Oh.”
“Yeah, she said you seemed a bit out of it this morning,” Rainbow carried on. “I figured she was probably just worried over nothing. I mean, I know how moms can be, right? Still, I promised Mrs S to check up on you once my shift ended, you know, just to make sure you were doing okay. So I flew a couple of runs around town and then I spotted Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle outside Sugarcube Corner...”
Scootaloo flinched again, and her heart skipped a beat. She could already see where this was going. “Oh no.”
“...and they wondered why I wasn't with you, since I had apparently promised to hang out with you today and teach you all my secret flying tricks, some kind of Honorary Pegasi Sister sort-of thing.” Rainbow scratched her mane, giving Scootaloo an awkward glance. “I, um, guess that must have slipped my mind, huh? I mean, I didn't even now I had secret flying tricks.”
Scootaloo felt completely empty inside. It was all over. “I'm sorry,” she said, hanging her head. She couldn't even bare looking at Rainbow. “I'm sorry, I... I kinda lied to them. I didn't mean to, it just happened.”
“Yeah, I kinda figured it was something like that.” Smiling, Rainbow nudged her shoulder. “But hey, the way I see it, it won't actually be a lie if I really do hang out with you, will it?”
Scootaloo didn't answer, and still wouldn't look up. Her smile faltering, Rainbow Dash sighed and sat down next to her under the tree. “Okay, seriously now. You gonna tell me what's eating you? Even I can tell something's wrong, and that means it's gotta be real bad. This isn't like you, Scoots. Talk to me.”
“I...” Scootaloo hesitated. Part of her wanted to tell Rainbow everything, but at the same time, she didn't want her idol to know how weak she was.
“Is it about your cutie mark?” Rainbow guessed. “Because that's just a matter of...”
“It's my wings, okay?” Scootaloo looked up at the older mare with teary eyes. “I... I've tried really hard, but I can't learn how to fly. It just won't work!”
Rainbow's eyebrows shot up. “Oh! Is that all you're worried about?” Seeing Scootaloo pout, she realized she'd just put her hoof in her mouth and quickly added: “Sorry, I mean, I can see how that'd be frustrating but there's no use getting all bummed out about it. Sometimes it just takes time, you know? Heck, Fluttershy was older than you by the time she actually got good at flying.”
Scootaloo still pouted. ”Yeah, but she's Fluttershy.”
”Okay, yeah,” Rainbow said. ”Bad example. But point is, not everyone starts to fly at the same age. I know waiting for awesome stuff totally sucks, but some things can't be rushed. You're just a bit of a late bloomer, that's all.”
”A bit of a late bloomer!?” Scootaloo snapped. ”Pinkie Pie told me Pound Cake can fly already, and he's a baby!”
”Yeah,” said Rainbow, completely deadpan, ”and his sister can levitate and walk through walls, which by the way Twilight insists should be impossible. You know she actually refused to believe Pinkie when she told her about it? I don't know if Pinkie's strangeness is rubbing off on those babies or something, but they aren't exactly ordinary.”
Scootaloo hung her head. ”What if I'm not ordinary?” she whispered.
Rainbow frowned, wondering if she'd heard the filly right. “What's that?”
This was it. Scootaloo knew she had to get it out now. “W-What if... What if there's something wrong with my wings? What if they'll never grow any bigger? What if they stay small and I'm never able to fly, ever? I-I know I'm stupid and uncool for thinking like that but it's been on my mind all day and the thoughts just won't stop and... and...” She put her head in her hooves and quivered, her eyes tearing up again. “...I'm scared.”
Rainbow Dash hesitated. She was way out of her element – this emotional stuff really wasn't her thing. Her first impulse was to laugh it off and tell Scootaloo she was being silly, but something stopped her. Rainbow Dash wasn't a pony who knew a lot of big words, and she knew almost nothing about psychology: She had never heard about 'intrusive thoughts' or 'anxiety disorders', and she thought 'self-image' meant looking really cool and telling everyone how awesome you were. But somehow she sensed that this was a very serious matter, and it sparked a memory from her own youth that she had long tried to suppress. She knew she had to try hard to find the right words.
“...Hey, hey. You're not stupid and uncool,” she finally said. ”Look, it's okay to be scared. Growing up can be pretty scary sometimes. But you know, lots of pegasi your age worry about this stuff, and that's totally normal.”
”R-Really?” Scootaloo looked up. ”Did you worry about it too?”
Rainbow Dash chuckled nervously, looking away. ”Ah, well, I'm incredibly awesome, so I'm not really a good example. But yeah, a lot of colts and fillies your age feel insecure about their wings. That they're too small or too short or whatever. And it's all horsefeathers.”
Scootaloo gave the older pony a confused look. ”What?”
”Horsefeathers,” Rainbow repeated. ”You know, crock, claptrap, baloney, bunk. I could go on but I don't think your parents would like it if I taught you the more colorful expressions.” She put a comforting hoof on the filly's shoulder. ”There's nothing wrong with your wings, Scoots. They're just the right size for you, and I'm sure they're gonna grow bigger in time. And even if they don't, it doesn't matter anyway.”
Scootaloo frowned. ”What do you mean?”
”Well...” suddenly Rainbow Dash smiled. ”You know what? I can show you!”
Shifting her body, she presented her back to Scootaloo and spread her wings. ”Hop on, we're going for a ride.”
Scootaloo's eyes widened. ”You... You want me to ride on your back?”
”Aw, come on!” Rainbow chuckled. ”We just need to get airborne. Don't tell me you're embarrassed. We're practically sisters, right?”
Scootaloo did feel a bit embarrassed, even if was Rainbow Dash. This was the sort of thing foals did - foals who couldn't fly and had to be carried around by their mothers or older siblings. Still, she did want to know what her friend was planning on showing her. Looking around to make sure there wasn't anypony nearby, she climbed up on Rainbow's back and put her forelegs around her neck. “Okay, so now whaaooooaaaaaahhhh!”
Kicking off the ground, Rainbow Dash shot up towards the sky like a rocket. Holding on for dear life, Scootaloo felt her heart pounding and gasped for air in the sudden draft. She'd been wrong. This wasn't like being carried by her mother at all.
“You're doing great!” Rainbow laughed. After gaining some altitude she planed out and slowed down to a more comfortable cruise speed. “Okay, remember Winsome Falls? Just like we did then. Ready?”
“O-Okay,” Scootaloo nodded. She loosened her grip somewhat and flapped her wings. Rainbow dove slightly, causing Scootaloo to rise from her back, and maneuvered to catch the filly with her hoof. Scootaloo's own wings did the rest. “Woohoo!” Rainbow hooted. “Don't worry, kid, I got ya!”
Scootaloo didn't worry. Even though Rainbow's strong foreleg was the only thing between her and a very long drop, she felt perfectly safe with her pretend sister holding her up. It was still a little embarrassing to use Rainbow Dash as, well, 'training wings'. But even so, Scootaloo's dejected look turned into a faint smile. This was almost like flying for real.
”So where are we going?” she asked.
”I'm taking you to see a friend of mine,” Rainbow Dash said. ”If I remember the schedule right, he should be moving clouds west of town right now.”
“And you think he can... help me?” Scootaloo dared to ask.
“Well,” Rainbow shot her a sideways grin. “Let's just say he might give you a new perspective on things.”

They soon reached a large collection of clouds to the west of Ponyville. Even from a distance, Scootaloo could make out a large white shape zooming around them. They put a single weather pony on managing that many clouds?
“Hey, Snowy!” Rainbow shouted as they closed in on the massive white projectile. “Got a minute?”
“YEAH!” came a bellowing response. The white pegasus made a loop an touched down on one of the larger clouds. Rainbow and Scootaloo landed as well and when Scootaloo got a good look at Rainbow's friend, she couldn't help but stare. She could see now why he didn't need assistance.
The pegasus stallion was enormous, even bigger than Big Macintosh – Scootaloo thought he had to be the size of a grown bull, and every inch of him was bulging muscles. Aside from his white coat he had red eyes and a blond mane cut short, and his cutie mark – not surprisingly – was a dumbbell. Scootaloo could recall seeing him before, but always from a distance. He was even more intimidating up close.
“Yo, RD,” he greeted as they approached him.
“Snowflake, my pony!” Rainbow replied happily. “Still kicking flank and taking names?”
“YEAH!” the stallion exploded, flexing his muscles and causing Scootaloo to flinch back involuntarily. He seemed to notice and collected himself. “Um, I mean, yeah. So what can I help you with, Dash? I thought you had the afternoon off.”
“I do, I'm just giving the kid here some coaching,” Rainbow said. She made and introductory gesture with her hoof. “Scootaloo, this is my friend Snowflake. Snowflake, this is Scootaloo.”
“Oh yeah,” Snowflake said. “Isn't she that filly you're always trying to impre...”
Rainbow Dash quickly shut him up with a playful punch in the shoulder. “Haha. Yes. That filly. Say, Snowflake, Scoots here would really like to see your wings. Mind showing off your stuff?”
”Of course not!” The huge stallion immediately struck a bodybuilder's pose with his back turned to the girls. ”Go on, little filly! Gaze upon my majestic wings!”
Scootaloo gazed, or rather stared. Snowflake's tiny wings were barely even noticeable among the alabaster muscles. ”But...” she stammered. ”They're... They...”
They can't be much bigger than mine!
”Breathtaking, aren't they?” Rainbow Dash said, gently elbowing Scootaloo in the side. ”You know, Snowflake here is in my squadron at the Wonderbolt Academy.”
”You're a Wonderbolt cadet?” Scootaloo gasped.
”Oh yeah!” Snowflake laughed. ”Of course, I still can't hold a candle to Rainbow Dash.”
”Well, I am incredibly awesome,” Rainbow Dash chuckled. ”Still, back when we were on tornado duty, this guy clocked 11.9 in wing power.”
Scootaloo's mouth fell open. Even she knew that was way above average. ”What?”
”It's 12.1 now,” Snowflake said, looking very pleased with himself. ”I broke my record last week.”
”What?”
”Awesome!” Rainbow Dash brohoofed Snowflake. ”At this rate you might even catch up with me!”
”YEAH!”
“Well, we'd love to stay and chat,” Rainbow said and started to nudge the speechless Scootaloo towards the edge of the cloud, “but you've got work to do and me and Scoots have someplace we need to be now. See you around, Snowy, and keep up the good work!”
Snowflake nodded, raising his hoof to wave them off. “See you, Rainbow!”

Rainbow and Scootaloo left the cloud the same way they came, flying back towards Ponyville. Scootaloo was quiet for a while. She was trying to wrap her brain around what she had just learned.
“12.1 in wing power,” she finally said.
Rainbow chuckled. “Yeah, I know.”
“And he got into the Wonderbolt Academy.”
“Yep.”
“How is that even possible?”
”It's pretty simple,” Rainbow Dash said. ”The size of your wings got nothing to do with how good you are at flying, that's all.”
Scootaloo's eyes widened in surprise. ”They... don't?”
Rainbow shook her head. ”Nope! I mean, don't get me wrong, you still have to keep them in shape and practice a lot, but it's not the size that matters. Honestly, I'm surprised your mom hasn't talked to you about this stuff. Then again, she wouldn't have needed to if you'd gone to school in Cloudsdale like she did.” Rainbow frowned slightly. ”Actually, I should probably have a word with Cheerilee about that. I'm sure she's an awesome teacher and all, but earth ponies don't really get stuff like wings and flying, you know?”
Scootaloo's head was spinning a bit. This was all a lot to take in at once. ”But then why...”
”Hold on!” Rainbow interrupted and turned the two of them into a dive. ”I wasn't kidding when I said we had an appointment, and we're almost there now!”
Scootaloo now noticed they had arrived at the Ponyville clock tower, which meant they weren't far from Fluttershy's house. She wondered if they were heading there to see Rainbow's old friend, and the next moment she spotted Fluttershy on the field by the tower. But she wasn't alone – Scootaloo immediately recognized the purple pony by her side. Since her transformation, it was hard to mistake Twilight Sparkle for anypony else.
“Rainbow, you made it!” Twilight said as they came in for a landing. “Oh! Hello, Scootaloo.”
“Hey, Princess!” Rainbow Dash greeted. “Ready for your flying lesson?”
“Princess Twilight,” Scootaloo said, bowing her head slightly. It still felt weird to think of the young librarian as Equestria's newest princess and like a lot of other ponies, Scootaloo wasn't sure how to act around her now.
Twilight, however, simply groaned and rolled her eyes. “Oh, knock off the princess stuff. I'm still the same old Twilight Sparkle.” She shot Rainbow Dash a glare. “That goes double for you.”
“Yes, your Highness!” Rainbow said, making a salute with her hoof. “As you command!”
“Rainbow!”
“I'm just messing with ya, Twi!” Rainbow laughed. She gestured at Scootaloo. “Scoots here wants to learn more about flying, so I thought I'd bring her along for today's lesson. Hope you don't mind.”
“Of course not!” Twilight smiled at Scootaloo. “The more the merrier. Just... promise not to laugh when I fall on my face, okay? I'm still not very good at flying, you see. Hence the lessons.”
“Huh?” Scootaloo looked surprised. “But on your coronation day, everyone saw you fly all around Canterlot. You were making loops and stuff.”
“Ahaha, well, I got a bit carried away there,” Twilight laughed nervously. “Let's just say most of those loops weren't exactly intentional.”
“Yeah, what you all didn't see was when she lost control and crashed face first into a rain cloud a mile up north,” Rainbow said. “Me and some of the guards had to pull her Royal Highness here out by her legs. Her dress was all wet, her mane was a mess, it was hilarious.”
Twilight blushed, glancing aside. “Yeah. Not my finest hour.”
“Twilight is great at the flying part,” Fluttershy said. “But she's not very good at landings, or steering, or wing-eye coordination or, um, everything...” She fell silent, noticing the thoroughly embarrassed look on her friend's face. “Sorry, Twilight.”
“But you have such wonderful wings,” Scootaloo said. She meant it too; Twilight was very petite by alicorn standards but her wings were still larger and more regal than those of any pegasus pony Scootaloo had ever seen.
“Thanks, Scootaloo,” Twilight said. “But having a big pair of wings doesn't really help me when I have to use muscles I wasn't even born with.”
“Yeah, I was just telling Scoots how wing size doesn't matter,” said Rainbow Dash with her usual cocky smile. “It's a pretty silly thing to get hung up on, if you ask me.”
“Oh?” Fluttershy suddenly beamed a surprisingly mischievous grin at her friend. “Then I take it you've already told Scootaloo all about your shameful secret?”
Rainbow eeped and her smile twisted into a look of complete horror. “I-I-I don't know what you mean by that.”
Fluttershy's grin widened. “Oh, I think you do.”
Confused, Scootaloo looked to Twilight Sparkle, but the princess just replied with an equally confused 'beats me' expression. “Rainbow, what is she talking about?” Scootaloo asked.
“Hehe, yeah Flutters, what are you talking about?” Rainbow chuckled, desperately trying to hide her nervousness. “Stop messing around now.”
“Oh, don't be such a baby,” Fluttershy chided gently. She nudged Rainbow Dash slightly with her wing. “You said it yourself, it's no big deal. Go on, tell her.”
Sighing deeply, Rainbow scraped the grass with her hoof and looked away. “Well, thing is that Fluttrshyswngsrlrngthanmine.”
“What?” Scootaloo frowned, trying to make out Rainbow's mumbling. “I didn't catch that.”
“Fluttershyswingsareaninchlongerthanmine.”
“Come again?”
“Fluttershy's wings are an inch longer than mine!” Rainbow yelled. “There, I said! She's always had longer wings than me, even when we were fillies, and... I-I guess kinda sorta used to have a slight complex about that.”
Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. “A slight complex, huh?”
“Okay, fine! It was a huge complex! I was really jealous and said some stupid things and I nearly ruined the best friendship I've ever had!” Blushing furiously, Rainbow Dash stared at her hooves. “Happy now?”
“Awww...” Fluttershy reached over and hugged her friend, which only increased Rainbow's embarrassment. Twilight smiled brightly and even Scootaloo felt moved by the touching scene, though she would of course never admit it.
“Okay! So! Flying lesson!” Regaining her composure somewhat, Rainbow Dash managed to shove her clingy foalhood friend away. “Twilight, why don't you have Fluttershy run you through the basics again. I'd like to give Scootaloo some private coaching.”
“Of course,” Twilight said, still smiling. “Come on, Fluttershy, lets give them some room.”
“Oh, okay,” Fluttershy followed her. “Good luck, you two.”
As the two of them wandered off to the far side of the field, Rainbow turned to Scootaloo and cleared her throat. She still seemed bit flustered from all the hugging. “Ehem. So, have we learned anything about flying today?”
“I think so,” Scootaloo said. “But there's one thing I don't understand. If flying doesn't have anything to do with how big your wings are, then how come I can't get off the ground? Is it because my wings just aren't strong enough?”
“Heh, hardly,” Rainbow chuckled. “I've seen you buzz around on that scooter of yours. You've got plenty of power in those wings already, probably more than Flutters and Twi.”
“Then why...?” Scootaloo looked confused. Non of this made sense to her.
Rainbow gave her a wry smile. “Twilight told me something interesting a while ago. This is gonna sound strange, but apparently none of us should be able to fly. Like, anacomically speaking.” She paused, frowning. “I think that's the word. Anyway, unlike birds who are a lot lighter than us, pegasi or even alicorn wings shouldn't be able to lift us at all, because they aren't big enough compared to our bodies. Plus they're in the wrong place or something like that. Some unicorns think the only reason we can fly is that we think we can, because we don't understand how impossible it is.”
Scootaloo blinked. “Is that true?”
“Of course not,” Rainbow said, rolling her eyes. “That would be stupid. We can fly for the same reason we can walk on clouds. It's magic. Duh.” She flared her wings. “Here, check this out!”
She gave a little hop and, still not moving her wings at all, came to hang in the air a few inches above the ground. Scootaloo stared in amazement. “You're... floating?”
“Cool trick, huh?” Rainbow touched down on the ground again. “Most pegasi still flap their wings out of habit even when they hover, but turns out we only really need our wings for steering and generating thrust and stuff like that. The lift is just a matter of having the right mindset.”
Scootaloo cocked her head, frowning slightly. “Mindset?”
“See, my guess is you're just trying too hard,” Rainbow said. “You're trying to force yourself to fly, getting all serious about it, and that's what pulling you down. Usually when pegasi learn to fly, it's actually because they're really happy about something or get so distracted they don't notice they're doing it.”
Scootaloo recalled her mother's story, how she had jumped into the air and somehow forgotten to come down again. “...Ooooh!”
Is it really that simple?
Seeing that her young protege was starting to get it, Rainbow grinned. “Yeah, and apparently unicorn magic works kinda the same way, so Twilight already knew how to do it after growing those wings of hers. She's still awful at everything else, though, since she didn't spend her foalhood in a pegasus flight camp or, say, doing rad stunts on a scooter for practice.”
Scootaloo felt a warm sensation well up inside her. Hope. That little lump of dread and anxiety she still carried in her abdomen started to melt away. “So... I-I can really learn how to fly? Really?”
Rather than answer right away, Rainbow stood up on her hindlegs, holding her forelegs out to her sides. “Stand like this, and close your eyes.”
Scootaloo wasn't sure where this was going, but did as told. When she closed her eyes, she felt Rainbow's hooves lift her off the ground. The sound of beating wings and a rising sensation told her they were flying slowly upwards.
“Flap your wings,” Rainbow instructed, “but take it easy for now. Just move your wings slowly up and down without stressing.”
Keeping her eyes closed, Scootaloo started to move her wings up and down at the a pace matching her breathing. “Okay...”
“Good,” Rainbow said. “Now, I want you to think about light things.”
Scootaloo wrinkled her brow. “What sort of light things?”
“Doesn't matter, anything light,” Rainbow's voice said. “Clouds, feathers, balloons, a leaf soaring on the wind. Heavy thoughts bring you down, but light thoughts lift you up. Imagine you are something really light. Picture it in your mind. You are a leaf soaring on the wind.”
“Um, okay.” Scootaloo tried to picture in in her mind. A leaf, almost weightless, carried by a gentle wind...
“Are you feeling it?” Rainbow asked.
“I think so.”
“Are you a leaf on the wind?”
“Yes...”
“Say it.”
“I am a leaf on the wind...”
“Again.”
“I am a leaf on the wind.”
“Say it with feeling.”
“I am a leaf soaring on the wind!”
Rainbow let go, but Scootaloo didn't fall. She opened her eyes and found herself floating in the air high above the field, gently bobbing up and down to the slow beat of her wings.
“I'm... flying? I'm flying!” Disbelieving at first, the pitch of her voice rose as the excitement overtook her. “I'm flying! Rainbow, look! I'm really flying!”
Hovering close by, Rainbow smiled at her. “You're doing great!”
“I'm flying! I'm flyieoooaaaah!” A sudden dip broke Scootaloo's focus. Struggling to regain her altitude, she beat her wings faster, but now the weight of her body felt very apparent to her. “Oh-oh.” And with that, the spell broke. Falling out of the sky, Scootaloo let out a scream of panic.
Well before she reached the ground, however, a rainbow streak intercepted her and she felt a pair of strong forelegs catch her safely. Rainbow Dash made a soft landing and put the filly down.
“Okay,” she said, scratching her mane, “I guess it's still a bit early, huh?”
Scootaloo didn't respond. She was facing the ground and her shoulders were shaking. Rainbow frowned. Uh-oh. “Um, Scoots? Are you...”
“I flew!” Scootaloo looked up. There were tears in her eyes, but her face bore the biggest, brightest smile Rainbow had ever seen on her. “I flew! I flew! I flew!”
With a sigh of relief, Rainbow smiled back. “You sure did.”
Scootaloo threw herself into Rainbow's chest, almost knocking the air out of her lungs. Sobbing into her cyan coat, Scootaloo hugged her hard. “Thank you! Thank you! Y-You're the best!”
Rainbow Dash ruffled her mane, grateful that the filly couldn't see her own eyes tearing up a bit. “Yeah. I know.”
“Scootaloo!”
Rainbow looked up. “Hey, your friends are here.”
Scootaloo turned to look and saw that Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were indeed racing across the field with looks of excitement on their faces. They must have seen what just transpired.
“I think we've made enough progress for today, don't you?” Rainbow wiped a lingering tear off Scootaloo's cheek. “Go on. I'm sure they'll wanna hear all about it.”
“O-Okay,” Scootaloo sniffed. “Rainbow, I just... Thank you.”
Giving her mentor one last look of gratitude, Scootaloo galloped off to meet her friends. Sitting there on her haunches, smiling, Rainbow watched the three of them run off. She barely even noticed Twilight and Fluttershy walk up to her.
“We saw the whole thing,” said Twilight softly. “Rainbow Dash... has anypony ever told you how incredibly awesome you are?”
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Eh. Once or twice, I guess.”

That night, Sundance opened to the door to Scootaloo's dark room and carefully glanced inside. Finding the filly fast asleep, she snuck into the room on quiet hooves. For a few moments, she just stood by the bed and watched Scootaloo sleep. The little pony had kicked her blanket halfway down to her waist and once in a while her left wing twitched, but the look on her sleeping face was so serene that Sundance almost forgot to breathe.
She had returned home that day to find Scootaloo nearly glowing with happiness, her earlier gloomy mood gone without a trace. After hearing the story of the day's events, Sundance had promised herself to personally thank Rainbow Dash as soon as possible. Scootaloo had been so excited that her mother worried she wouldn't be able to sleep, but now Sundance could see that her worries had been unfounded – Scootaloo had gone to bed without arguing and fell asleep right away. The poor filly must have been exhausted.
Pulling the blanket up with her mouth, Sundance nuzzled her daughter lovingly, careful not to wake her up. “Sweet dreams, my little angel,” she whispered, and then snuck out of the room as silently as she'd entered.
Safely curled up in her bed, Scootaloo smiled in her sleep and dreamt about flying.