//------------------------------// // Chapter 41; More Testing // Story: Working Towards The Future // by Dasponi //------------------------------// The three Pegasus ponies bid goodbye to Rarity and Sweetie Belle and made their exit. Star Shine had accepted Rarity keeping the clothes as a good idea although Rainbow Dash neglected to tell him it was also so Rarity could style their manes when they came back. She didn’t expect him to mind much. “So where are we going?” Scootaloo asked as the trio made their way through the town. It was early evening so the streets were mostly empty except for some shops and the restaurants that were seeing ponies enjoying their dinners together. Rainbow Dash was keen to avoid eating in public again for a while. At least in Ponyville. The reason she had chosen Canterlot for the meal together had been partly because it was so out of the way and they should be able to enjoy their privacy. “I think the field under Rainbow Dash’s house should do nicely. The place we did it before. It’s quiet and best of all, out of the way.” Star Shine replied, thinking over where the best place to go would be. “Plus all the stuff we’ll need is there.” he added, smiling. Scootaloo nodded and jumped onto Rainbow Dash’s back. Rainbow Dash jumped at the suddenness of it. “Woah there Squirt, you okay?” she asked as she looked back at Scootaloo. She was worried something might have happened even though she’d not seen any reason to believe that. “I’m fine but it’ll be faster if we fly won’t it?” Scootaloo replied with a giggle. Rainbow Dash smiled as she got the message and took off into the air. “Hey wait for me!” Star Shine called as he took off after them. They had left so quickly he hadn’t realised what was going on. Back on the ground of Ponyville a pink Earth Pony with a bubbly pink mane let out a cry. She was dragging what appeared to be some kind of wagon with a large chest on it. It was pink with spots of white and various other decorations on it. The centre of the lid had a balloon design similar to the Cutie Mark of the pony dragging it. It was Pinkie Pie and her welcome wagon. “Rats! I missed him again!” she said before turning around and heading back to Sugarcube Corner to plan some more about how she could welcome Star Shine to Ponyville. He never stayed in one place for long enough for her and so she had never gotten the chance to welcome him yet. She always welcomed every new pony to Ponyville. She was beginning to consider just having Twilight magic up her and her welcome wagon with a Cloud Walking Spell and visiting him in Rainbow Dash’s house. She would have done it before but considered it an invasion of privacy. Star Shine caught up with Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo and together they made it to Rainbow Dash’s house. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo headed upstairs to find Scootaloo’s scooter and Star Shine hunted around for the anemometer that would allow them to measure Scootaloo’s wingpower. He considering grabbing the magic measuring device but felt it was too soon for that. He didn’t believe Scootaloo could have achieved 0.1 wingpower yet and there was no need to test her for Vacuus Medeis unless there was a chance she could have it. To do so would cause her unnecessary distress and worry and she’d been through more than enough of that lately. With everything in hoof everypony headed back down onto the ground to the fields below. Much like the first time they had done this, Star Shine sat and set up the anemometer while Rainbow Dash took Scootaloo a short distance away. “By the way Scootaloo, you need to take off the brace!” Star Shine called over to them. “It’ll slow you down!” he explained. Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash looked at eachother in confusion but did as they were told. Scootaloo was a little nervous about how Star Shine had used her full name. It was, to her, something grownups generally did when they were trying to hide something or about to say bad news. “Do your best Scoots.” Rainbow Dash said, nuzzling up to Scootaloo. Scootaloo nuzzled back and then put her helmet on and readied herself. Star Shine raised a hoof to signal he was ready and Scootaloo took off like a proverbial bullet and flew past Star Shine much faster than she had the first time. Rainbow Dash let out a whistle as she watched Scootaloo go. She was suitably impressed by the speed. Despite how quickly Scootaloo had clearly moved the anemometer itself didn’t move much more than before. Rainbow Dash flew over to where Star Shine was as Scootaloo turned around and made her way to him as well. “It’s gotta be more than 0.1 right? I busted my flank these past few days.” Scootaloo said as she removed her helmet and took a look at the display. Her face dropped when she saw it. “0.07?! It’s still too low?!” she cried. Star Shine winced at the sudden noise and tried to come up with something while Rainbow Dash wrapped a wing around Scootaloo to comfort her. “Now now Scoots, that’s an amazing improvement! What were you before? 0.03? To do that in five days is pretty awesome.” Rainbow Dash said to reassure Scootaloo. “Don’t you think it’s awesome?” Rainbow Dash asked, tapping Star Shine with her other wing. He jumped in surprise. “Oh? Yeah, it’s pretty awesome. 0.04 improvement...awesome...” he replied, trailing off as he was still thinking. How quickly Scootaloo had moved past the anemometer and how low it said her wingpower was just didn’t match up to him. She appeared to have more powerful wings, but none of that power was going towards faster flight. It was a sign of Vacuus Medeis. One he recognised and was hoping to not see. There were Pegasi who trained their wings endlessly but never saw much of an increase in speed because they didn’t understand that power wasn’t everything when it comes to flight speed. It helped but there was more to it than that. Training one’s wings came hand in hand with believing you could fly faster and that belief could help as much as the training itself. Scootaloo’s wingpower being low was also a sign of her depression. Her wings were getting stronger but she still believed she couldn’t fly. “See, he doesn’t think it’s very awesome. I’m still a failure.” Scootaloo said dejectedly. Rainbow Dash used the wing she had tapped Star Shine with to hit him across the face instead. He let out a cry of pain and turned to face them, giving them his full attention. Rainbow Dash was looking at him sternly and Scootaloo was looking down at the ground. He realised what he had said and how it had sounded and let out a sigh. “Scoots, you really have made quite an improvement. It might not sound like much but you more than doubled your wingpower in five days. To be honest I was actually expecting to be a little lower but really, if you keep this up, you’ll be flying in a few days time.” Star Shine with a smile. Despite not knowing how to talk to adults sometimes he still knew how to talk with kids and reassure them. Scootaloo’s face changed slowly but surely into a shaky smile. “You really think I’ll be flying soon?” Scootaloo asked quietly. She had been wanting to fly for so long she could barely believe it was something that she could get in just a few days. Sometimes she really did believe it was something she would never get at all. Star Shine smiled down at her and she gave a small buzz of her wings in happiness. “That’s more like it.” Rainbow Dash said cheerfully as she approved the much better way Star Shine had handled things. “Yeah...sorry...I was a little lost in thought.” Star Shine replied meekly as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Anyway, I think it’s still early enough if Scoots wants to get in some more practice on her scooter. I’ll go on up to the house and make us some dinner while you watch over her if you want.” Scootaloo stuck her helmet on to show what she planned to do and was about to take off on her scooter when Star Shine placed a hoof on her chest to stop her. “You’re gonna want to put the brace back on.” he said to her. “Huh? Why?” Scootaloo asked. She understood and accepted the brace was useful but she hadn’t really considered it a total necessity. “Trust me on this one.” Star Shine replied. He flew to get the brace from where Rainbow Dash had left it and hoofed it over to Rainbow Dash so she could put it back on Scootaloo. He looked like he was contemplating something for a brief second. “Ah, screw it.” he said quickly and then nuzzled Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo before heading up into the sky and to the cloud manor. “Wonder what he’s hiding this time.” Rainbow Dash said quietly as she put the brace on Scootaloo. “Hiding something?” Scootaloo asked. He asked Scootaloo to trust him which meant he was clearly hiding something but she didn’t think it could be anything bad. It was just wearing a brace after all. “He was affectionate. He’s only affectionate when he’s making up for something, or about to do something he needs to make up for.” Rainbow Dash replied. With the brace safely secured Rainbow Dash pressed the middle button to turn it on. Scootaloo let out a small gasp of pain as she still wasn’t used to the sensation of it tightening on her. Rainbow Dash nuzzled and preened Scootaloo’s wings a little. “Isn’t he always nice?” Scootaloo asked. She had never known him to be anything but sweet, except for the odd mistake here and there and the fact he was a know-it-all. “He’s always nice yes but he nuzzled me. He doesn’t like affection.” Rainbow Dash replied as Scootaloo hopped up onto her scooter. “I noticed” Scootaloo giggled as she remembered the times that Rainbow Dash had been even slightly affectionate with Star Shine and his reactions to it. They were less than enthusiastic and often embarrassing. “Yeah yeah...” Rainbow Dash replied, taking a guess at what Scootaloo was thinking about. “He’s only affectionate like that when he’s about to do something. He nuzzled me when we made him breakfast cos he was teasing me.” “Maybe he just likes you?” Scootaloo offered before taking off on her scooter so Rainbow Dash didn’t have a chance to reply. “He...likes me?” Rainbow Dash said quietly to herself. She sat down on the ground and thought about things while she watched Scootaloo zip around on her scooter. It was a theory she’d never considered. Star Shine made it clear to her before he didn’t like her like that. Scootaloo herself hadn’t meant in that way either but that’s the path Rainbow Dash’s mind took. A small blush formed on her cheeks as she thought about the implications.