Firestorm and Rainbow Dash returned to camp trotting beside each other with Scootaloo sleeping soundly on Firestorms back. As they came into view of the camp Scootaloos friends fan over to them calling Scootaloos name and bombarding the two with questions. Rainbow Dash tried to shush the fillies but the damage was already done. Scootaloo let out a yawn and stretched her legs and back all while staying balanced on Firestorms back. When she was done with her stretch, Scootaloo looked at her friends and jump off of Firestorm where she was tackled into a hug.
“We were so worried about you!” Applebloom cried.
“Yeah, Twilight said something happened to your leg, are you alright?” Sweetie Belle asked.
Scootaloo pulled away from the hug as Twilight and Applejack approached the group. “Yeah, I guess a wolf got a hold of my leg and Firestorm used his magic to heal me and, well now…” Scootaloo sat flat on her bottom and stretched out her right led revealing the scar and the new coloration. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle stared slack jawed at the scar. Applejack looked over Scootaloos leg and then turned towards Twilight.
While the fillies began talking about how cool it looked for Scootaloos leg to be two different colors in addition to the fearsome scar, Twilight approached Firestorm, “Can we talk for a moment?”
Firestorm nodded and trotted after the princess without making any sound as he moved. Once they were earshot away from the others Twilight turned around to face Firestorm, “Okay, how did you do that. I looked at her leg and I knew just by looking at it there was no way she would ever walk on it again. Plus, I thought you didn’t know healing magic, if you can amputate a damaged limb, cast a spell and the limb regenerates, why couldn’t you save Fluttershys rabbit, Angel?”
Firestorm took a long deep breath, “A pony’s limb and organ failure are two different things, especially in a rabbit. Plus you’re right, I don’t know healing magic. I used my pyrokinesis and a mild damage control spell to break down, and rematerialized it on her body.”
“How were you able to do that?”
Firestorm held up his hoof which shape shifted into a dragons hand and then back into a hoof, “Marrow and muscular tissue augmentation is sorta my thing.”
“Oh, right,” Twilight said sheepishly.
The sun wouldn’t besetting for another hour or so but Firestorm felt himself becoming drowsy and put a hoof to his head, “Ugh, I don’t suppose you brought an extra tent by chance? Healing Scootaloo like I did really took a lot out of me and I honestly think it would be too dangerous for me to do my hang-from-a-tree-like-a-bat thing…”
Twilight smiled, “You’re in luck I always pack extra everything in case of emergencies.” Twilight went into her tent and returned levitating a small black box. Firestorm cocked an eyebrow. Twilight smiled, “Pinkie Pie gave it to me, she got it from her top supplier of, according to her, everything,” Twilight positioned the box close to the other tents and pushed the little red button near the carrying handle. The box sprung open and a tent spontaneously assembled. Twilight looked back at Firestorm and smiled, “Pinkie said the woodland camo was the only color option they had for this but I’m sure you won’t mind.”
“I’m cool with camo,” Firestorm shrugged.
Twilight opened the tent, “Like Pinkie Pie showed me, it comes with a sleeping bag, a pillow, a first aid kit (which was bigger than the box the tent came in), a deck of playing cards, a bag of trail mix, some bottles of water, and a flashlight.”
Firestorm stood at the opening of the tent with his mouth ajar, “There has gotta be some kind of spell on this stuff…”
“If you find it, let me know what it is,” Twilight said with a smirk, “Sleep well.”
Firestorm entered the tent and looked around, he heard hoof steps approaching and asked, “Did you forget to tell me there’s a shower in here too or something?”
“Um, no…” came the reply from a voice that didn’t belong to Twilight.
Firestorm turned around to see Scootaloo standing in the doorway of the tent shifting nervously. Firestorm swallowed hard, “Hey kiddo, um, what’s up?”
Scootaloo looked at her hooves, “Well, see I was wondering, I heard you say you were getting tired, and the thing is I was also… can I sleep with you in your tent?”
Firestorm looked over her head and saw Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack standing a safe distance from the tent. He looked down at the filly and then back to the three mares who nodded with approval. Firestorm looked back down at Scootaloo, “Yes that will be fine.”
“Thank you!” Scootaloo beaming with joy.
Firestorm laid down on his stomach on the open sleeping bag and much to his surprise, Scootaloo cuddled up right beside him. Firestorm closed the screen part of the tent to keep any bugs out but left the door open for the most part for personal reasons. Scootaloo fidgeted as she seemed to squish herself even further into Firestorms right side before looking up at him with a smile. Firestorm returned the smile but it quickly faded.
Scootaloo looked at him with some confusion, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, it’s just…” Firestorm took a deep breath, “Sweetie I am so sorry for what I did to you. I didn’t know what else to do and I knew I couldn’t…” Firestorm was stopped by a small orange hoof on his mouth.
Scootlaoo drew back her hoof, “You did what you had to do to save my leg, I’m glad you did. Besides…” Scootaloo stretched out her right leg and quickly examined it, “I think it looks pretty cool.”
Firestorm looked at her charcoal colored leg until she drew it in under her belly and looked back up at him. Firestorm had so many conflicting emotions about not only what he had done to repair the damage done to her leg, but how he felt about the filly altogether. After a moment of silence, and with sleep threatening to take him at any second, Firestorm decided to act. He leaned his head down and kissed her forehead and then said, “I love you kiddo.”
Scootaloo had begun blushing when Firestorm kissed her forehead but now she was on the verge of tears as she managed to say back, “I love you too.”
Firestorm laid his head down on the sleeping bag and Scootaloo rested her head on Firestorms neck and they both fell asleep almost at the same time.
Twilight had cast an invisibility spell on herself and her friends as they observed the tender moment between Firestorm and Scootaloo. They ushered the fillies away from the tent and answered their questions about the new bond between their friend and Firestorm and explained about Scootaloo being an orphan and why she had never told them. As the night progressed, the mares and fillies ate dinner, sat by the fire, and eventually went to bed. Before she did so, Twilight looked in at the sight of Firestorm and Scootaloo still sleeping soundly. She closed the door of their tent all the way and returned to her own tent and went to sleep.
Applejack was the first to wake up the next morning, as always. She was up before the sunrise but there was just enough light for her to see where she was going around the camp site. After performing her typical morning routing, she decided to check on the others starting with Firestorm and Scootaloo. With a steady hoof which could impress even Rarity, Applejack quietly unzipped the tent door and peered inside. What she saw made her pull away and rust to the neighboring tents to wake Rainbow Dash and Twilight to show them what she had seen. Needless to say, Rainbow Dash was considerably put out about being awoken before the sun had come up. Twilight was already in the process of waking up when Applejack came into her tent to get her.
They followed Applejack to the spare tent Pinkie Pie had provided and looked inside. Firestorm was fully spread out over his sleeping bag with every limb stretched out in every direction underneath him. Scootaloo was laid out upside down on top of his back. The mares tried to contain their laughter at the adorable sight but failed to do so when Firestorms’ eyes blinked open, his amber yellow eyes reflecting the light which was invading his tent. The mares smiled and waved innocently at him and finally gestured to Scootaloo stretched across his back. Scootaloo reached down with her hoof, scratched her belly, and let out a tiny burp which made everypony giggle. Scootaloos’ ear twitched and her eyes shot open. She threw her front hooves upward so they touched the ground. Firestorm quickly stood up as Scootaloos’ hind legs coiled up to her chest and then shot forward launching her into the air with some help from a flap of her wings. She did a midair half twist and landed on her hind legs in a kung fu style battle ready stance on Firestorms’ back.
The mares who had been giggling at an adorable sight now stood in shock at what stood before them. Scootaloos’ magenta eyes were glowing much like Firestorms’ eyes were. She took a few sharp breaths as her heart rate began to slow down before front flipping off of Firestorms’ back and once again landing only on her hind legs. She twisted the upper half of her body making her spine crack. Then she flexed her wings which let out two loud pops as the joints reached their limits. She leaned forward and supported all of her weight on her front hooves while spreading her hind legs until her hips popped. Firestorm looked away as her current stance was quite compromising. Finally Scootaloo arched her back and landed on all four hooves after a front walkover.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack turned their surprised gaze to Twilight. Twilight looked up from Scootaloo to Firestorm, “I think I’m beginning to understand now. Some of the properties of your magic must be infectious. That’s why Derpy had night vision and Scootaloo has… well, whatever that all just was!”
Scootaloo looked up at Firestorm and smiled, “I feel amazing!”
Firestorm returned the smile, leaned down, and kissed her head like he had the night before. He looked up at Twilight, “So what now?”
Twilight thought for a moment, “I have absolutely no idea!”
Scootaloo smiled at Twilight, “Who cares? I want to show Applebloom and Sweetie Belle,” she took a running start and flew out of the tent and clear over Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo stopped midair after clearing her honorary big sister, hovering above the ground as the realization hit her that she was flying. Despite his initial shock, Firestorm shifted into his ghost form, flew through Twilight and Rainbow Dash, shifted into his draconic form, grabbed Scotaloo by her midsection, back flipped, and threw her into the air, “Yeah kiddo, you’re doing it, you’re flying!” Firestorm yelled with unbridled joy.
Scootaloo began to embrace the wonderful feeling of flying and began to test her limits, flying low and maneuvering between trees. In the midst of his excitement, Firestorm had accidently woke up Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. “What in tarnation is going on out here?” Applebloom demanded.
Her answer came in the form of Scootaloo performing a high velocity flyby right in front of them. She quickly turned around and hovered in front of them, “You guys, check it out, I’m flying!”
Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other and then let out a joyful shriek before tackling their friend in a celebratory hug. Applejack leaned over to Rainbow Dash, who had never took her eyes off Scootaloo from the moment she flew out of the tent, “Ah thought she was never going to be able to fly like a normal pegasus?” she whispered.
“WHAT!?” Scootaloo called out from beneath her friends.
Everypony turned their attention to her as she quickly freed herself and looked at Rainbow Dash, “You knew?” she asked as tears began to stream down her cheeks.
Rainbow Dash looked at Scotaloo and then to Firestorm. Scootaloo pushed her friends away and moved towards Rainbow Dash flaring her wings and lowering her head as she moved closer, “You knew there was something wrong with me and you didn’t tell me?”
Rainbow Dash shifted nervously, “Scoots, I-”
“No! You should have told me! Every pegasus I know my age can fly when I can barely hover, and all this time you knew something was wrong with me and you kept it a secret, trying to teach me how to fly when you knew it was pointless!?”
Rainbow Dash was at a loss for words. After a long silence she finally opene her mouth to speak but Scootaloo wouldn’t hear it. Scootaloo hissed loudly at Rainbow Dash to keep her quiet and then let a growl echo in her throat just before she leapt into the air and flew off.
Rainbow Dash looked around at her friends as tears formed in her eyes, her body began to shake violently, and she began to hyperventilate. In a split second she collapsed crying and swearing at herself for how she had hurt the filly who loved her more than anypony else. Applejack quickly moved in to comfort her friend while Twilight moved towards Applebloom and Sweetie Belle to usher them away from the scene. She glanced over at Firestorm and gave him a knowing nod of approval.
Firestorm shifted into his ghost form as his front hooves became claws and fused with his wings, growing to three times their original length while his body became like shadowy smoke, and his hind legs and hooves became talons before taking off after Scootaloo. Twilight took the remaining two crusaders and made them breakfast and explained everything to them while Applejack calmed Rainbow Dash.
Scootaloo was flying. For the first time in her life, she not only flew on her own, but she understood why pegasi would fly whenever they were emotional. She flew just over the clouds and watched as the sun rose above them. She glanced over her shoulder at Firestorm who was keeping her pace but minding his distance. Scootaloo slowed herself so she was flying parallel with Firestorm.
Firestorm for his part seemed to fly with much more grace than Scootaloo. Because of his larger wingspan, Scootaloo beat her wings 3 to 5 times to match his 1. After about ten minutes Scootaloo broke the silence, “If she knew I couldn’t fly why didn’t she tell me?
Firestorm glanced at Scootaloo out of the corner of his eye, “I believe she was trying to protect you…”
“Protect me, how, by lying to me!?”
“When we were at the lake together, I sensed something was wrong with your wing development, I asked her about it and she said she was going to help you to fly…”
“But what if she hadn’t? What if you hadn’t come along and healed me? What then?”
Firestorm quickly propelled himself forward, rolled over, and back winged so he could look directly at Scootaloo, “If I hadn’t come along, you’d be dead right now along with your friends…”
Scootaloos mind flashed back to the fire, and then again to the wolf attack. She shook the thoughts from her head and looked up at Firestorm.
“We can’t change what has already happened, we just have to accept things as they are and look ahead to what will come next.”
Scootaloo nodded her head after pondering on Firestorms words. Firestorm rolled over and flew correctly besides Scootaloo, “Are you ready to go back to the camp?”
“Can we keep flying a little longer? It’s the first time I ever flew on my own before and it feels amazing!”
Firestorm nodded, “Absolutely kiddo.”
Rainbow Dash felt sick to her stomach. She had let her imagination come up with all kinds of horrible possibilities where Scootaloo had never learned how to fly and left her emotionally shattered. Firestorm was right, she had been giving Scootaloo false hope for so long that even though she could now fly, it was still just as painful when the truth slipped out. She sat in the same place she had been when Scootaloo lashed out at her over an hour ago, never taking her eyes off the sky in anticipation of the young pegasus return.
Twilight approached Rainbow Dash with a paper plate of warm oatmeal, warm applesauce, and a canteen of water. Rainbow Dash thanked her for the food but never looked away from the sky.
“Don’t worry Rainbow Dash, Firestorm is with her.”
“It doesn’t matter Twi, I screwed up…”
“You did what you thought was right, you tried to protect her from the truth, you gave her hope-”
“I lied to her Twilight! I promised her I would teach her how to fly even though I knew there was almost no chance she ever would!”
Twilight thought on her words for a moment, “Well, she can fly now, and you did make her a promise to teach her to fly…”
“What are you saying, Twilight?”
“What I’m saying is you should apologize to her and explain yourself. She might be able to fly but I’m sure there is a lot you can still teach her. She loves you featherbrain, she’ll forgive you, and I’m sure she would love for you to teach her how to fly.”
Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight, “You’re probably right, egghead. But still, how the hay can she fly like that? She couldn’t hover for more than a few seconds yesterday and not she can fly without any assistance?”
Twilight rubbed her chin with her hoof, “If I had to guess, I’d say it’s a side effect of Firestorms magic, just like with Derpy and how she has night vision in addition to being able to see straight.”
“Wait, wait, wait, what are you trying to say Twilight?”
Twilight took a deep breath, “I think Firestorm has infectious magic.”