//------------------------------// // A Scampy Thing to Do // Story: Appledashery // by Just Essay //------------------------------// “Nnngh!” Rainbow kicked her way through a cloud, spun, and uppercutted her hoof through another. As the misty bits trailed into evaporated nothing, she spun about, plunged, and threw her whole body through a dark gray bed. The air above Ponyville burst with a splatter of rain drops. Rainbow's wings glistened as she came up, ascending rapidly to approach another forming cloud. This time, she twirled upside down and dug her wingtips up, slicing through the haze as if with dual plows. The cloud broke into three separate columns. At this point, Thunderlane and Candy Floss flew in, breaking through the lateral bands. Midway through their task, they glanced down and saluted Rainbow Dash. Rainbow smirked and saluted back. Then she flipped, twirled about, and shot straight up, bursting up and down through the last remaining ribbon of mist, dissolving it into nothing. In the murky wake of the shattered clouds, bright golden sunlight beamed through, illuminating patches of farmland and countryside. Rainbow Dash glided evenly, surveying the landscape with thin, ruby eyes. Thunderlane and Candy Floss soared towards the far ends of Ponyvillean airspace, looking for scant patches of cloud. Halfway through Rainbow's vigil, her ears twitched at a familiar sound. Scrunching her muzzle up, she glanced downward. Far below, on the crest of a hill, she spotted three shapes: white and yellow and orange. The last shape in particular was perched at the top of a crude wooden slide with its lower end aimed towards the hillside's sharp drop. After a blink or two, Rainbow Dash smirked to herself. “Scootaloooooo!” Sweetie Belle's voice cracked. “You're going to kill yourself! And my big sister tells me that you're not supposed to do that until you're at least twenty-seven!” “Could ya at least try doin' this somewhere downhill?” Apple Bloom protested. “Yeah! Over a bed of pillows or something!” “No go, girls!” I grumbled, slapping a pair of goggles over my eyes. I could feel my lips curving as I mounted my scooter at the top of the slide and faced the wind. “My aunt always tells me that my uncle used to teach my young nephews how to swim by throwing them into a pool of water! Well, now I'm going to throw myself into the air!” “Yup.” Apple Bloom frowned up at me. “And don't y'all reckon that what goes up is gonna come down? Hard?!” “Oh, I'll come down alright!” I said with a smirk. “And if I have any pegasus instincts inside me at all, then I'll do so in the most awesome way possible!” “If you had any pegasus instincts, you wouldn't have climbed up here in the first place!” Sweetie exclaimed. “Did you or did you guys not help me build this slide?” My two friends dug their hooves into the earth, looking guilty. “We did...” “And why'd you do that, huh?” “...because it will be awesome...” “Darn tootin'!” I tightened my goggles and gripped the handles of my scooter. “So let's do this already! Can I get a count down!” “Oooh! Oooh!” Sweetie hopped in place. “I'll do it!” She took a deep breath. “Ten!... ... ...” The filly began sweating nervously. Apple Bloom rolled her eyes and stepped forward. “Ahem. Allow me. Ten... nine... eight... seven... six...” “Alrighty...” I leaned ahead, pushing my scooter to the crest of the steep slide. “...here goes nothing.” “Five... four... three... two... one—” “Happy New Year!” Sweetie Belle giggled. “Go, Scoots! Go!” Apple Bloom hopped. “Going!” I kicked forward. I plummeted down the slide. “Going...!” I hit the ramp and soared into the wild blue. “Gone!” Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were shouting something. All I caught was the tail end of “You're flying! You're flying!” “Pffft!” I groaned defeatedly into the wind. “No I'm not.” I looked down. The countryside was gliding beneath me at a blistering pace. My voice cracked, “I am flying! OmigoshOmigoshOmigosh!” A cold sweat dribbled down my trembling body. “Wh-What do I d-do?!” I clenched my eyes shut and hissed in fright. “Well, first of all, squirt, you can try friggin' relaxing.” “H-Huh?!” I popped one eye open. I looked up. A fuzzy blue body loomed directly overhead, her strong arms reaching down to brace my shoulders. In a flicker of sunlight, I saw her devilish smirk, followed by an even more devilish wink. “R-Rainbow Dash!” I swear, my heart produced that sound, not my lungs. “You're b-back!” “Heh... sorry I couldn't be around much lately, kiddo,” she said with a grin. “There isn't enough me for the whole world at once, after all.” “Oh, it's fine! It's totally fine!” I said, then sighed. “I-I just wish I could have figured out flying since the last time you saw me.” “Who says you're not flying?” “Heh... Rainbow, you're awesome, but really—” “Yeah, really!” Rainbow dipped us low enough to deposit my scooter on a tall hilltop. She then lifted us again. “No no no no—don't drop your wings! You almost had it!” “For r-real?!” “Stick them out again. Yeah. Just like that. Now...” She raised my body ahead of her, then up high. I was dealing with the winds at full-force now. It put a strain on my goggles, but if Rainbow Dash was going to give me such a boost than who was I to—? “Now, stiffen your wings, but let the rest of your body relax.” “But...” I grimaced. “How...?” “C'mon, scampy, ya do it all the time on your scooter. You just don't realize it!” “I do?” “Totally! Only—this time—don't actually beat your wings. Just pretend you're hitting a big, big ramp on your scooter and you're getting some air.” “Heh... you mean that ramp I built back there?” “For real, girl! Let your wings control just how far you go. In time, you'll know when and where to beat them to give yourself some lift!” “Some lift...” I gulped, spreading my wings out. I felt the air whistling above and behind me. “Rainbow, I-I dunno. We're going really... really fast. Wouldn't this—like—tear my feathers off or something?” “Pffft, hardly!” Her voice emanated from several feet behind me. “You seem to be made of stronger stuff than that, kid.” “H-huh?” I looked down and saw nothing but air. I looked behind myself. Rainbow Dash grinned from a distance. My voice squeaked inaudibly. I sensed my goggles fogging up. “I'm flying...” The biggest, stupidest grin. “I'm actually totally flying—Aw crap!” I plummeted instantly. “Whoah there!” Rainbow swooped down and gripped me in a flash. “One thing at a time, h-huh?!” “Those were...” I blinked, then squealed with bursting joy. “...th-the best five seconds of my life!” “Heh, if I had a bit for everytime a pony's said that to me.” “Huh?” “Heheheh... Ahem. Let's try it a few more times, squirt.” “Okay okay!” I grinned like an ecstatic cherub as we curved through the billowing atmosphere together.