In the late afternoon, two very exhausted pegasi made their way back to the barracks. Major Soarin wasn’t easy on the ponies that had to stay for extra training after the flag hunt. But he finally let them go, and Scootaloo and Blue Yonder still had to prepare for the upcoming inspection that evening.
“I’m sorry about breaking off and costing us the competition, and giving us extra work to do,” Scootaloo apologized once again.
“For the last time, it’s okay. I forgive you,” Blue Yonder said exasperated.
“It’s just that it reminded me of the game I used to play during recess,” Scootaloo explained. “And I would always go after the flag once I saw it, no matter what was going on.”
“I understand,” Blue Yonder said calmly. “I was angry about it then, but I’m over it now. To be honest, it was actually quite awesome how you grabbed that flag. And nothing all that bad came out of it. Yes, we had to work more afterwards, but I think we got better because of it. Besides, we still have plenty of time to get ready for the inspection.
“Do you think Silverwings and Hot Shot got ready for their inspection while we were working?” Scootaloo asked.
“I doubt it,” Blue Yonder snickered. “Silverwings always puts things off till the last minute, and Hot Shot seems like he would spend every moment he can training so he can show off while flying. I imagine all of the stallions will be working at the same time. I don’t know about our roommates though….whoa.”
They walked into their barracks room to find the whole place sparkling clean, with the fresh scent of particular flower often associated with cleaning. Nearly everything was in order—aside from the blemish that was Scootaloo’s and Blue Yonder’s area. All of the other beds were made and the floor was clean. Lavender even went the extra mile and made the top bunk of her bed in addition to her own.
“Well,” Blue Yonder finally said after gaping at the scene. “I guess that just leaves us with one thing left to do.”
With that, the two mares went over to their corner. They organized their wardrobe cabinet and then moved onto making the beds. There was a particular way they had to do it—which Scootaloo didn’t really care for, but she knew how regardless.
“You know, there’s one thing I don’t understand,” Blue Yonder stated while they worked. “You and I are about the same age and Ponyville and Cloudsdale are in the same region. Yet, I’ve never seen you at Flight Camp or Flight School.”
Scootaloo froze and remained silent. Suddenly, she zipped over to the door and then the window, making sure that nopony outside was listening. She even closed the curtain before returning to Blue Yonder with a very serious expression on her face.
“Listen,” Scootaloo said in an equally serious tone. “What I’m about to tell you is very personal, and I don’t want everypony else to know about it. So will you please keep this between us?”
“Of course,” Blue Yonder said, a little confused in this sudden shift in tone.
“Do you Pinkie Pie Promise?” Scootaloo asked.
“I have no idea what that is,” Blue Yonder replied.
“Oh…right…duh,” Scootaloo stammered. “Okay, forget that last part. Just…don’t tell anypony. Okay?”
“Okay,” Blue Yonder nodded, anticipating what she was going to be told.
“The thing is…” Scootaloo started. “When I was younger…I couldn’t fly…like, at all. Not even the couple of months after I was born, when pegasus magic goes wild. I was essentially ‘grounded’ almost my entire life.”
“You’re a late-bloomer?” Blue Yonder asked.
“The latest bloomer you could ever think was possible,” Scootaloo emphasized. “So by the time I could finally fly—which was the greatest thing I ever felt in my life—I attended Flight Camp and Flight School with foals less than half my age. I don’t think they were even a third. And even then, I wasn’t the greatest flyer. Most of those foals could fly circles around me. It was almost as bad as being teased for being a blank-flank or not being able to fly in the first place.”
Scootaloo paused for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts. The recollection of these painful memories brought her to the verge of tears. Blue Yonder remained quiet; intently listening to every word.
“I guess that’s why I look up to Rainbow Dash so much,” Scootaloo finally said, and making a sniffing sound. “She is the best and most awesome flyer I know, doing so many cool things that everypony once thought was impossible. She even took me under her wing, despite me not even having a hope of doing what she could with my stubby little wings at the time.
“She’s like a sister to me. She always encouraged me to do my best while still reassuring me that I would be awesome even if I couldn’t fly. And when I did, she was there, just as excited as I was. Even when her duties in the Wonderbolts would take her away, she would always make time for me. She literally taught me everything I know. Because of that, I managed to barely get through Flight Camp and the basic course in Flight School.
“I didn’t want to leave my friends behind after spending so much time with them over the years. They helped me out just as much as Rainbow Dash did. So I finished my schooling at Ponyville High instead of Flight School, just to be with them. Along with Rainbow Dash, they’re the greatest ponies I know, and I wouldn’t dare let anypony speak badly about them. They changed my life. And they’re the reason why I’m standing here today.”
With that, Scootaloo became quite again. She was crying freely now and desperately looking for a tissue. Blue Yonder, meanwhile, remained sitting on the floor, trying to process what she had just learned.
“Wow,” Blue Yonder finally said. “That’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard. I can’t believe just how much you went through.”
“You won’t tell anypony, right?” Scootaloo asked, after successfully finding a tissue.
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Blue Yonder said sincerely. “Your secret’s safe with me.”
“Thank you,” Scootaloo said, who then blew her nose and threw the tissue away.
“Say,” Blue Yonder said, trying to lighten the spirit of the room. “When you were in flight camp, did you ever hear the rumor of the earth-pony filly who could walk on clouds?”
“Yeah, I did,” Scootaloo replied. “I didn’t believe it at first since I was certain that other ponies were mistaken. Wings can be less noticeable than other features like a unicorn horn, for instance. But one day on the race track, I swear that I saw her; no wings whatsoever.”
“I saw her too,” Blue Yonder stated. “And I thought; ‘How are you there? It’s physically impossible!’”
“I know, right,” Scootaloo agreed. “Although, I know that Princess Twilight developed a spell to enable non-flyers to walk on clouds, but I doubt that she just casts it on any random filly.”
“Sometimes I think that there really is an earth-pony filly that can walk on clouds,” Blue Yonder said.
At that moment, the door opened and Lavender walked in, with a look of confusion on her face.
“An earth-pony filly than can walk on clouds?” Lavender repeated questioningly. “You do realize that that’s a myth, right? It’s not even possible!”
“Princess Twilight could do it through a spell before she became an alicorn,” Blue Yonder.
“Okay, but why would an earth-pony filly even be on the clouds to begin with?” Lavender demanded.
“Maybe one of her parents works at Flight Camp and the other is a unicorn that can cast the cloud-walking spell so they can spend time with each other,” Blue Yonder suggested.
Lavender scoffed at that statement and walked over to her corner of the room.
“Come on, Blue Yonder,” Scootaloo said. “Even I think that’s a bit of a stretch.”
“Yeah, probably,” Blue Yonder said, returning to making her bed. “But it could still happen.”
As the time for their inspection drew closer, the other cadets filed into the barracks. Each made some last minute preparations. They all stopped when there was a knock at the door. Snapshot was the one to open the door, revealing Lieutenant What’s-his-name and some of the film ponies.
“Good evening cadet,” the Lieutenant said. “I have been authorized to do all barracks inspections this evening by Colonel Spitfire. The camera crew is also authorized to film in the barracks for this instance only.”
He handed Snapshot a piece of paper—no doubt the hoof-written permission slip that Spitfire had mentioned earlier in regards to the film ponies.
“May we come in?” Lieutenant What’s-his-name asked, showing respect for the cadets even though he was in full authority to waltz right in if he chose to.
“Certainly,” Snapshot said, stepping aside to let the visitors in.
The film crew didn’t go much farther than the middle of the room, but Lieutenant What’s-his-name went through every corner—for obvious reasons. He was very quiet, and yet he still sent chills down Scootaloo’s back. He looked in all the cabinets, just to see if things were orderly, and checked for dust on the surface. He also looked at the beds, took a bit out of his pocket and bounced it off of every one. He paused over at Lavender’s corner.
“Who else sleeps here cadet?” He asked Lavender.
“Nopony sir,” Lavender responded. “Just me.”
“So you made both beds then?” Lieutenant What’s-his-name deduced.
“Yes sir,” Lavender confirmed.
Lieutenant What’s-his-name raised an eyebrow and jotted something down on the clipboard. He continued his inspection until he came to Scootaloo’s and Blue Yonder’s corner. He did the same thing by bouncing the bit off of the sheets. Scootaloo couldn’t help but notice that the bit seemed to bounce lower off of her bed. The lieutenant frowned a little, but didn’t say anything.
Next, Lieutenant What’s-his-name moved to the trash can and paused. Somehow, his silence was deafening at this moment. He picked up the trash can and turned it sideways for everypony to see, but not to let the contents out.
“You didn’t empty your trash can,” he said, displaying the trash can’s single occupant: a used tissue.
Scootaloo closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, but the lieutenant didn’t notice. Instead, he put the trash can down. Then, he took out his clipboard again and began writing something down. Once he had finished, he looked back up.
“However,” Lieutenant What’s-his-name stated. “Considering the cleanliness of the room and state of the beds, you passed. You are now free to go to dinner.”
He left a piece of paper with the cadets and departed, followed by the film ponies. Once they were gone, everypony let out a sigh of relief and looked at the paper he left. It was a score card of all things looked at in the inspection. There was also something written in the “notes” section.
Room is spotless and clean. All beds are made and meet standards, including one that isn’t occupied.
Regular trash disposal needs work.
“I thought we did empty the trash,” somepony said, while the note was being passed around.
“Sorry,” Scootaloo said. “It seems that everything is my fault lately.”
“Now don’t you start that again!” Blue Yonder exclaimed.
“But it was just one tissue,” Snapshot pointed out.
“One tissue that could’ve caused us to fail!” Lavender snapped.
“Hey!” Scootaloo growled at Lavender.
“Now girls, stop it!” Blue Yonder intervened. “What’s done is done. We still passed, so let’s forget it and move on. Besides, I want to go to the Mess Hall before all the good food gets taken.”
Everypony else agreed with her, leaving the barracks to go to dinner. Scootaloo and Lavender, however, gave each other nasty looks before leaving the room.
***
Later that evening, Colonel Spitfire was sitting in her office, reading reports when a knock came at her door.
“Enter,” she commanded, and in walked the lieutenant she had assigned to do the barracks inspections earlier.
‘Gah, why can’t I remember his name right now?’ she thought. ‘He’s been with us for years!’
“Here are the reports from the barracks inspection Ma’am,” the lieutenant said.
“Thank you, Lieutenant,” Spitfire said, taking the reports and looking them over. “It seems that the mares beat the stallions once again in the inspections. Did you seriously dock some points from some cadets for having one tissue in the trash can?”
“The regulations state that the trash cans must be empty for an inspection,” he explained.
“Well, I can’t fault you for being thorough,” Spitfire said. “Do you have Major Soarin’s report on the new cadets for today?”
“I do, Ma’am,” the lieutenant replied, handing another set of papers over.
Spitfire quickly read through it and sighed.
“What am I going to do with you, Scootaloo?” She said, more to herself than anypony else.
“Ma’am?” The lieutenant asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Huh?” Spitfire said, looking back up. “Oh, it’s nothing you need to concern yourself with. Thank you Lieutenant. Dismissed.”
Spitfire saluted the lieutenant and he left her office. She then quickly grabbed her personnel roster and looked it over.
‘Ah! That’s it,’ Spitfire then put the roster back in her desk with a satisfied smile on her face.