*Scootaloo POV*
After a fit of excited squealing and fangirling over my own reflection, I quickly ran a hoof through my spectrum-coloured mane and had it spring into its normal style, then I swept enthusiastically out of the bedroom into the hall. I ran down the stairs, before remembering my wings and climbing back up again. At the top, I spread the powerful cyan wings on my back and threw myself into the air. I started to beat my wings- and went zooming up through the ceiling, out into the open air.
I squealed with delight. I stared down at the ground. It's too close, I decided, and sped up my wing-beats. I soared upwards, spiralling up steeply, then, at a great height, levelled off into a glide. As I swept over the fields around, another pegasus swept up next to me. I turned to see Rumble's big brother, Thunderlane. Flying alongside me, he said quizzically, "You're up early, Rainbow Dash. Usually you sleep in until almost midday."
"Oh, I thought I'd get up early today." It came out of my mouth without my even thinking about it. "To, uh, go see Cheerilee."
Maybe if I went to the school, Rainbow Dash would be there in my body. I didn't know how she would be reacting to this situation, but I guessed she wouldn't like it much.
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but we have to get the weather organized before we can start making social calls. So what's the schedule?" said Thunderlane.
I looked at him blankly.
"Uh, hello, head of the Ponyville weather team? You should know what weather we need, when we need it and where too. You get sent a copy of the schedule every week."
I stared at him, my mind racing. "Um... okay." I tried to remember what weather we'd had over the last few days. "Okay, so it's been quite warm... I think we're due a rainstorm at some point today. But not for too long." I garbled. I couldn't try any stunts if it was raining!
"Okay... I'll get Flitter and Cloudchaser to bring in the clouds, and Blossomforth and I will make up the cover with them. You can generate some lightning in the way you usually do... and Ditzy can... um... fill out the paperwork. Yes. She can't hurt anypony that way, surely..."
He trailed off into rambling, then tilted to spiral down to the ground. I kept flying along where I was. Generating lightning sounded dangerous, but surely it wasn't too dangerous for Rainbow Dash.
The school came into sight, but the euphoria of flight was too great for me to go down yet. As I swooped over the playground, I saw what I thought was Silver Spoon attacking Diamond Tiara; I was so confused that I spun in midair, landing on the roof of the school.
With I jolt, I saw myself looking on at the edge of the scene, looking rather miserable. I was about to sweep down to talk to...um, myself, when Diamond Tiara screamed and Cheerilee appeared. My body ran over to where Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara were glaring at each other, and I knew I couldn't just sweep in now and start talking about body swaps in the middle of a group of foals. So I flared my wings and flew away, deciding to wait for a better time.
I looped and spun, dived and soared across the sky, only stopping when I almost collided with Thunderlane. He gave me a scathing look, before waving a hoof at the thick cover of cloud he and the other pegasi had constructed.
"Time for you to do your stuff, Rainbow." he stated.
"Oh, yeah! The lightning... Uh, could you give me a show of how to do it? It seems to have slipped my mind this morning."
Thunderlane looked suspiciously at me. "But Rainbow, it's second nature for you... it's almost like a stunt..."
But when I gave him my best beseeching look, he sighed. "Okay, let's see if this jolts your memory."
He signalled to some other pegasi, who thumped the clouds. A drizzle of rain began to fall, and it quickly grew into a shower. Thunderlane set off, flying along underneath the clouds.
Then he rose, until his wings were brushing the cloud. He was moving at considerable speed, and soon I saw small sparks flickering around his wingtips. Then, with a grimace, Thunderlane lurched upwards into the cloud. The next I saw him, he was diving towards the ground, enveloped in crackling lightning. Then he lurched up again, and the electricity discharged with a boom. A tongue of lightning flashed out, followed by another.
Thunderlane rejoined me a minute later. He smelled of burnt toast. Wincing, he straightened his wings. The patch of cloud he had flown into was now discharging lightning bolts every few minutes. The electrical charge had spread through the clouds around, so it was quite a large patch. But there was still a lot of cloud to charge.
I looked at him. "Does it hurt?"
He scoffed. "You know it does. It's like you're on fire. But you must hardly feel it now, you've done it so often."
I swallowed. "Okay. I'll get to it, then."
My first several attempts ended in failure. The lightning would fizzle out before I could build it up enough, or discharge into the ground. Every time I failed, I could hear the other weather ponies muttering around me, that I was losing my touch.
It was Rainbow Dash's reputation on the line. I wasn't going to let her down again.
I took a deep breath and plunged towards the clouds. I altered my altitude until my wingtips were brushing the cloud, and as I sped along, I felt the heat building in my wings. I soared onwards, and somehow held on to the charge, which was now blitzing through my whole body. The pain was so excruciating that I almost gave up. But then I remembered Rainbow Dash, and narrowed my eyes. Despite the agony, I kept going.
As I heard the electricity beginning to crackle, I quickly lurched upwards. I couldn't see anything but cloud. Then I banked into a dive. The ground approached at an amazing rate, but the heat on my tail reminded me of the deadly lightning pursuing me. Just as it seemed I would hit the ground, I pulled up. Behind me there was a boom, and then all the pain was diminishing. The electricity was gone from my body.
I soared triumphantly back to the start point. Thunderlane was lying on a cloud. I grinned at him, but he just pointed behind me at the blanket of clouds I had yet to charge. My head spun, but I shook it and determinedly swooped forward to take on the next lot of clouds.
After I had finally finished with the clouds, I collapsed on a cloud. Thunderlane nodded at me, and the rest of the weather team left. I felt like taking a nap, but then I remembered the urgency that I talk to the real Rainbow Dash. My sore wings refused to cooperate, however, and so I had to glide to the ground and walk to the school.
But when I got there, I saw a pair of nurses carrying a stretcher out of the school. On it lay Silver Spoon. She appeared to be barely breathing, and blood was seeping from a wound on her shoulder. I was about to follow the stretcher- Silver Spoon might be a bully, but I didn't think she deserved to die- when I saw myself sitting outside the school door, staring after the stretcher.
I flew over and landed next to me. But the other me just looked up at me with dull purple eyes.
"Um... Rainbow Dash?" I asked.
The other shook her head.
"What? But you must be Rainbow Dash! I mean, I'm her, so she must be me..."
"No, Scootaloo. That's Rainbow Dash." A small orange hoof pointed at the stretcher.
"What? Rainbow Dash is Silver Spoon... I'm Rainbow Dash... so then, you're Silver Spoon?"
"Mmm hmm."
"Oh." I felt awkward talking to this pony who openly despised me. "I'll just go... then..."
"I'm a haemophiliac."
"What?"
Silver-Scootaloo turned to look at me with a disconcerting look in her eyes. "There. You know. That's why Rainbow Dash is dying."
I only heard one phrase. "Rainbow Dash is dying?"
I was gone, pursuing the stretcher before she could reply.
They didn't let me see her. They argued that I had no relation to Silver Spoon, and that she should not be disturbed by well-wishers. At the moment, doctors were battling to keep her alive.
I kicked the wall of the hospital irritably. If I hadn't made this stupid wish, none of this would have happened. I had no idea why Silver Spoon had been dragged into this too, but in the hospital waiting room I found a pamphlet and was able to read up on her condition. As I read, I found myself feeling the most deep pity for Silver Spoon. I couldn't imagine living in fear of papercuts or pinpricks, knowing that any break to my skin could potentially mean death. I knew there was nothing to do but go back to Silver-Scootaloo and find out why she was wrapped up in this.
When I got back to the school, she was still there. She was soaked to the skin, staring up at the sky.
"How am I?" she asked.
"I don't know. They wouldn't let me in."
She sighed. "Do you know why this has happened? The body swap, I mean?"
I took a deep breath. "Well, I have a theory..."
"So do I."
"Well, I saw a shooting star..."
"And wished you could fly?" she asked.
I nodded. "How did you know?"
"Well, I made that wish too."