//------------------------------// // Chapter 53; Instincts // Story: Working Towards The Future // by Dasponi //------------------------------// Scootaloo's happiness was not to last for too long. When she felt herself gliding properly and the wind was weaving perfetly through her wings she felt an insatiable urge to flap them. She did it seemingly on instinct before she could stop herself. When she did she felt herself fall to the ground suddenly. She was about to try gliding again when Rainbow Dash grabbed her and held her close. “Whoa, careful there.” Rainbow Dash said. “What happened there?” she asked Star Shine, hoping he would know why Scootaloo had suddenly fell even though she had started gliding properly. “She flapped her wings.” Star Shine replied. “Why'd you do that?” he asked Scootaloo. She shrugged and shook her head. “I don't really know.” Scootaloo replied. “It just felt...right.” she did her best to explain. Star Shine smiled and grabbed Scootaloo from Rainbow Dash and threw her up into the air and started cheering. Rainbow Dash snatched her out of the air quickly by reflex. “What did you do that for?!” Rainbow Dash shouted at him. Star Shine grinned and rubbed his mane. “Sorry, it's just so great that she flapped her wings like that.” Star Shine replied. Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him. “That was an instinct to fly. If she had the wingpower she would have taken off and if she did that when she was a foal, she'd have flown.” Star Shine explained. “So that means...” Rainbow Dash mused as her brain tried to join the dots. Scootaloo looked between them, a little confused. “That means as soon as she hits 0.1 wingpower, if she moves her wings like that she’ll fly.” Star Shine explained for her. Scootaloo’s face lit up at that, as did Rainbow Dash’s. “So she doesn’t-” Rainbow Dash began before Star Shine cut her off. “Doesn’t have anything stopping her from flying, no.” Star Shine concluded for Rainbow Dash. He was smiling too. Scootaloo would have been a little more concerned about the conversation Rainbow Dash and Star Shine seemed to be having that she wasn’t privy to, but she was too happy at the prospect of being so close to flight, one of her biggest dreams, to really care or consider it. Besides, they had just confirmed that nothing was wrong so it wasn’t like she even had anything to worry about. “So when will I be flying ya think?” Scootaloo asked merrily from Rainbow Dash’s forelegs. Star Shine moved closer to her. “I’m afraid I can’t say for sure.” Star Shine replied. Scootaloo’s face fell a little and Star Shine lifted her chin up with a foreleg. “But with how quickly you’ve been improving, I think you’ll be flying in a few days if you really try.” he added. Scootaloo threw her forelegs into the air and cheered which almost caused Rainbow Dash to drop her. “A few days, you really think it’ll be that soon?” Rainbow Dash asked. She didn’t believe it could happen so quickly. Scootaloo looked up at her with a frown and so did Star Shine. “Don’t you believe in me?” Scootaloo asked sadly, playing with her front hooves nervously. Rainbow Dash realised what she had said and nuzzled the top of Scootaloo’s head. “It’s not that Squirt, it’s just...I don’t even know what it is.” Rainbow Dash replied, her voice little more than a whisper. “It’s just hard to believe it’s all happened so quickly. It’s not even been two weeks yet has it?” she added when her mind cleared up a little. “I’m just that good at my job.” Star Shine piped up. He mentally resolved to talk to Rainbow Dash about what was on her mind later but for now he felt distractions were necessary and that it was best to not let Rainbow Dash dwell on her thoughts. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo giggled at him. “Well anyway I think it’s about time for some dinner. Why don’t you and Scootaloo stay up here and practice while I go make something?” Star Shine said. Rainbow Dash nodded and Star Shine gave a quick salute before heading back down into the manor. Before heading into the kitchen to prepare food he made sure to go put the bathroom mirror back where it belonged. Scootaloo squirmed around in Rainbow Dash’s grip and made her way up Rainbow Dash and onto her head once more. “Let’s go!” Scootaloo yelled, pointing a hoof into the sky. Rainbow Dash laughed and headed in the direction Scootaloo pointed towards. It turned out that practice was good for the both of them. Scootaloo needed the practice because she couldn’t glide instantly and Rainbow Dash needed the practice because she needed to perfect how fast she had to fly for Scootaloo to take off. It took about ten minutes to get it right again and pretty much as soon as Scootaloo took off Rainbow Dash grabbed her out of the air and put her back on her back. “Huh? What’d you do that for?” Scootaloo asked in confusion. Rainbow Dash shrugged as she wasn’t entirely sure herself. “I...think it was to keep you safe.” Rainbow Dash answered slowly, trying to make sense of her thoughts. “Last time you tried to fly on your own and I didn’t want you to try that again. I didn’t even realise what I was doing.” Rainbow Dash explained when things made sense to her. “I guess you aren’t the only one who acts on instinct huh?” she added, rubbing her mane sheepishly. Scootaloo smiled and squeezed up to Rainbow Dash. “I think maternal instincts are a little different though.” Star Shine called from seemingly nowhere. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were so caught up in what the other was doing that they didn’t notice him approaching from below. “Hold on tight Squirt.” Rainbow Dash said quickly before flying down. She moved so fast that Scootaloo barely had time to react but she was able to secure a grip around Rainbow Dash’s neck. Rainbow Dash moved quickly but Star Shine saw what she was trying to do in time to get out of the way and not be hit by her. Rainbow Dash caught herself in the air and turned around to prepare to charge him again but he was nowhere to be seen. Rainbow Dash looked down and saw that he was on his way towards the cloud manor. “Come on, let’s get something to eat.” Scootaloo said shortly before her stomach rumbled. She gave a nervous laugh as it did. Rainbow Dash sighed and followed Star Shine down towards the manor. She was getting hungry herself and the lesson had taken a little longer than she expected it to. Scootaloo hadn’t been really worn out this time and she hadn’t gotten the lesson too quickly either. Star Shine moved around to the front of manor and entered through the front door whereas Rainbow Dash simply flew in through her bedroom window. It was just how she had gotten used to entering the manor from the skies surrounding it. When Rainbow Dash entered the kitchen she saw that Star Shine had beaten her there and had also laid out the food he had prepared. It was a much simpler meal this time which was why it had only taken him about ten minutes to finish putting together. It was just sandwiches and hay fries but neither Scootaloo nor Rainbow Dash were about to complain about having food made for them by somepony else. “Hey Shine, I got a question for ya.” Rainbow Dash said after she had eaten enough to settle her stomach. Star Shine looked up from his own food and even Scootaloo was distracted. “Yesterday Squirt there was really worn out after the lesson, and now she’s barely tired at all after this one. What gives?” Rainbow Dash asked, pointing a foreleg at Scootaloo. Star Shine thought about it for a few moments and, much to Rainbow Dash’s disappointment, shrugged. Even Scootaloo was slightly disappointed. She hadn’t thought about it until Rainbow Dash asked and now she was curious. It was true she didn’t feel too tired. Definitely not as tired as she had the day before. “I’m not sure, but I’ll think about it. I’ll probably have an answer for you when Scoots has been in the bath.” Star Shine replied. He returned to his food as his mind tried to work through the problems and come up with an answer. After a few minutes he smirked to himself as he got what he felt was the answer. It took a lot less time than he thought it might. “What’s up?” Scootaloo asked, noticing the smirk and the samll laugh. “You get the answer already?” Rainbow Dash added. She would have been mildly surprised if that was the case given how long he thought it might take. Star Shine smirked again and shook his head. He did have the answer but it was something he didn’t want to discuss in front of Scootaloo. “It’s not that.” he replied. “It’s just that sometimes I amaze even myself.” he added. It wasn’t a total lie at least. He had managed to impress himself by how quickly he had worked out the answer. “Yeah well you don’t impress me much.” Rainbow Dash replied sardonically. Star Shine’s face fell as he feigned his spirit being crushed and Scootaloo laughed at his reaction. “Awwwwww. You impress me sometimes.” Scootaloo admitted. She rested her head on her hooves to try and hide the small blush forming on her cheeks. “Well thank you, but I could never compete with Rainbow Dash for your affection.” Star Shine replied, smiling. Scootaloo giggled and shook her head. Rainbow Dash smiled and the three Pegasi continued their meal together. This continued for a few more minutes until Rainbow Dash noticed Star Shine seemed to be troubled by something. He was looking at the table and playing with his food absentmindedly. “Hey, Shine, you okay?” Rainbow Dash asked, poking him in the sides. He jumped and snapped to his senses. He shook his head to clear it and smiled at Rainbow Dash. “Just got something on my mind is all.” he replied. “I always do.” he added when Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes at him. “Care to share?” Rainbow Dash asked. Scootaloo looked at Star Shine nervously, wondering what was on his mind. Star Shine looked at Scootaloo sadly after Rainbow Dash asked the question. This did not help her nerves. “It’s a bit of an uncomfortable subject.” Star Shine replied, turning away from Scootaloo and looking at nothing in particular. “Is it something to do with me?” Scootaloo asked quietly. Star Shine nodded slowly. “Then I wanna know.” she added. She had taken his actions to mean that it was something about her that he didn’t want to discuss in front of her. If he was going to talk about her then she wanted to be there for it. Star Shine let out a sigh and looked at Scootaloo. “When your dad”-Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash both winced at the mention of Scootaloo’s dad-”would drop you, did you try and stop yourself falling?” Star Shine asked. Like he had said, it was an uncomfortable subject and if Scootaloo insisted on discussing it then he wanted it to be over with quickly. “Well yeah, of course.” Scootaloo replied with a nod. “It’s not like I wanted to hit the ground.” she added quietly, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. Rainbow Dash gently patted her on the head which helped calm her back down and relax her. “I thought as much.” Star Shine replied, getting up out of his seat. He walked past Scootaloo and as he did, he gave her a brief nuzzle and whispered an apology in her ear for even bringing the subject up. He continued walking and left the kitchen. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were just too surprised to stop him. Rainbow Dash ran to the door and stuck her head out to see Star Shine walking up the stairs. “Hey, what’s up?” she called out to him. Star Shine turned his head around and saw that Scootaloo had poked her head out of the kitchen too. “Nothin’ much. I just got full is all. I’m gonna go run Scootaloo’s bath while you two finish up.” Star Shine explained. He smiled at them before making his way back up the stairs. Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash looked at eachother in confusion before going back to their dinner. They didn’t have much choice but to accept his answer. Much like Star Shine had resolved to get answers from Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Dash herself resolved to get some answers out of Star Shine. It wouldn’t have been the first time he just didn’t want to say something in front of Scootaloo.