//------------------------------// // I got ya // Story: Keeping your Promises // by RaylanKrios //------------------------------// Rainbow flew back from Canterlot feeling conflicted; the fact that she was flying at all certainly didn’t help matters. She had tried to explain why flying was so great to Applejack once, but it didn’t go well. How could anypony possibly explain what it was like to be one with the sky? To soar freely amongst the clouds, only your own inhibitions preventing you from going as high or as far as you wanted... no, it wasn’t like running in a meadow or swimming in a lake. Those were pale imitations of the sheer awesomeness of flight. Ever since Rainbow first saw the Wonderbolts, when she was a little filly, she knew that’s what she was meant to do. Most pegasi could get themselves off the ground and propel themselves through the air, but the Wonderbolts could fly. They soared through the air with such grace, at such high speeds, that they could only be considered the masters of their domain, and since that day the only thing Rainbow Dash had ever wanted was to be one of them. Until one day when a small orange pegasus said that she was looking for somepony to take her under their wing. Rainbow had played it cool when she heard Scootaloo’s request: I might be up for something like that, she thought; but inside she was anything but cool. Scootaloo could have picked any pony to idolize: one of her friends, Vinyl Scratch, or even Big Macintosh; the list was almost endless, but from that plethora of choices, she chose her. It was humbling, exhilarating, gratifying and terrifying all at the same time. At first, Rainbow had been worried that she wouldn’t live up to the filly’s expectations, but she quickly found that she had the opposite problem.That was the coolest trick ever. Hey, tell me about how you did the Sonic Rainboom again. That was the most awesome crash in the history of crashes. It was an odd feeling to be seemingly unable to disappoint Scootaloo, no matter what. She was so used to having to prove that she was the best that she didn’t quite know how to handle unquestioning adoration. And so one day, from that point onward, she had two goals; be a Wonderbolt, and make sure that Scootaloo didn’t regret her choice of idol. She had never considered a scenario where those two goals would be mutually exclusive. Despite the three hour flight back to Fluttershy’s cottage having given her plenty of time to think, she was no closer to a solution to the problem of Scootaloo’s flightlessness than she had been at the beginning of the day. You’re getting worked up for nothing, a voice in the back of her head told her. This is just like an oncoming storm: deal with it when you get there. For all you know, Luna won’t be able to find anything, or if she does, maybe it doesn’t involve losing your ability to fly. Acknowledging that she didn’t actually have a choice to make at the moment didn’t make her feel any better, but the sight of Scootaloo happily jumping around as she played with an assortment of small furry animals did. She couldn’t help but smile as she began her descent and landed with one last flap of her wings. “Hey squirt, where’d ‘Shy get off to?” she asked, resisting the urge to pick Scoots up and hug her because that would be totally uncool. “She’s inside; it’s a ‘quiet zone’ in there, so she said I could play out here,” Scootaloo said happily. It appeared that spending the day with Fluttershy was as much fun as Rainbow promised. “Cool. Well, I’m done for the day, and we’ve still got some daylight left. What do you want to do? Scootaloo appeared unsure of herself for a moment, glancing down at the ground. “Can we maybe... practice flying?” she asked with ears flat against her head. “Sure, Scoots. Let me just run inside to tell ‘Shy I’m picking you up.” “Okay.” Rainbow let herself in the cottage to find Fluttershy tucking in some baby porcupines for a nap, and as with most things Fluttershy did, it was predictably adorable. “Hey, ‘Shy” she whispered, not knowing, but not wanting to risk, the consequences of waking up a porcupine. Fluttershy looked up from her adorable task and smiled. “Did she give you any trouble?” A soft smile etched itself into Fluttershy’s face. “Oh, she was awful. I don’t know how you put up with her,” Fluttershy said quietly before letting out a small giggle. “Yeah, she’s a real terror. So it’s cool if I drop her off here tomorrow?” “Of course it is.” After a quick flight to Rainbow’s practice field, the two began their training routine. Nopony could fault Scootaloo’s effort today, that much was obvious. Rainbow put her through a grueling circuit of wingups, up-downs and shuttle runs, where the filly had to use her wings to stop her momentum before turning around; Scootaloo did all five sets without complaining once. Muscles thoroughly exercised, the pegasi began the gliding drill. Amongst non-pegasi, it was a widely held thought that gliding was an easier skill to learn than flying, but pegasi knew better. If you didn’t have the experience of creating your own thrust, it was hard to learn how to ride the air currents. Furthermore, without the wing strength to bail out if something went wrong, even a simple glide drill could result in serious injury. Put simply, you could practice flying from the relative safety of the ground, but gliding required the student to either jump, or in some cases be pushed, from a not-insignificant height. But Scootaloo wanted to fly, and she couldn’t generate enough force to lift herself off the ground consistently, which left gliding as the only viable air skill to practice. Of course, the other problem with gliding was that the same small wings that contributed to Scootaloo’s problems with generating lift also made gliding hard. Try as she might, the filly just couldn’t displace enough air to slow her descent by anything more than a few feet per second. Despite these facts, Rainbow corralled a low flying cloud and situated it over the field. She flew Scootaloo to the top of the cloud and the pair peered over the edge. They had done this particular drill a few times, but that didn’t make it any less terrifying for the young filly to stare over the edge and instinctively imagine what it would feel like to hit the ground from this height. Rainbow looked down at her protégée reassuringly. “You know I got ya, Scoots. Just keep your wings out and I’ll catch ya at the bottom, okay?” Scootaloo nodded and steeled herself for what was about to come. Tensing up, she shut her eyes and leaped off the cloud. She tried to keep her wings rigid, but after a few seconds the combination of gravity and air pressure was too much; her wings buckled and she was sent plummeting toward the ground, only to be saved by the waiting forelegs of Rainbow Dash. The duo repeated the drill ten more times until Rainbow suggested they call it a day. “But- I can g-go again,” Scootaloo said in between shaky breaths, the adrenaline and exertion of the day forcing her to suck air. “Hey, I’m proud of you squirt. I’ve seen Wonderbolt cadets that would have had a hard time with practice today, and you handled it like a champ. What’dya say we head home? Scootaloo practically glowed with pride at Rainbow’s praise. “Okay,” she said happily as she climbed on Rainbow’s back. The pair weren’t home for more than a few minutes, enjoying, or at least drinking, a post-workout protein shake, when they heard a knock at the door. Rainbow opened it to find Ponyville’s resident mailmare standing there with her usual wall-eyed grin. “Hiya, Rainbow Dash! Hiya, Scootaloo! You got a letter, Dash. Oh, and you got one too, Scootaloo.” Derpy giggled. “Hey, that rhymes.” “Thanks, Derpy,” Rainbow said as she looked down at the letter. The return address was from an office in Manehattan Rainbow didn’t recognize. Curious, she opened it to find a brief note: Ms. Rainbow Dash My name is Dr. Feather. I received your request for a wing examination from Dr. Splint. Would early next week work for you? Please reply ASAP so I can make travel arrangements. In the events of the last few days, Rainbow had forgotten all about Dr. Splint’s promise to write his colleague. She immediately felt a joyful surge of hope. Maybe she wouldn’t need Luna and her Dark Magic after all. Feeling buoyed, she looked down at Scoots who was staring at her own letter, unopened, with a look that Rainbow read as somewhere between fear and anger. “What’d ya get there squirt?” “It’s from my Mom,” the filly said softly. “Well, aren’t you going to open it? I thought things were getting better between the two of you?” “Things…” Scootaloo paused, “You promised I could stay here as long as I wanted.” “You know you can. It’s just… I’m sure she misses you.” “No. she doesn’t. And you said you weren’t going to get involved.” Scootaloo said, with a touch of indignation. Rainbow recognized the tone as one she’d used during her own childhood, and she chose to ignore it. “Easy there, Scoots; I said that it was up to you and it is. But I also know a little something about holding a grudge,” she offered gently. Scootaloo ignored the peace offering and continued with her righteous anger,“Yeah? Did your mom’s coltfriend ever hit you, and then did your mom tell you to stop making up stories when you told her about it?” “Scoots-” “I didn’t think so. So stay out of it!” she said before running up to her room leaving Rainbow shaking her head in the kitchen.