//------------------------------// // 3.2 // Story: How Hard Could it Be? // by Richardson //------------------------------// 3.2 The chance to fly upon another pegasi’s back still thrilled Scootaloo; though her magic flickered and sparked around her the rush of flight yet eluded her. Air streamed around her; a filial ecstasy of motion. Scootaloo was as close to her idea of the summer glens as she had ever come, and only the suspicions she harbored of her chaperon and ride spoiled the occasion as they soared through the clouds. Below them slowly drifted Ponyville as the recovering town basked in the summer sun that had taken particular notice upon it; around them rolled the boiling clouds; and above shone down the deep blue skies, endlessly stretching upwards as a sea without measure. A sea with a brilliant rainbow arrowhead that stormed through open skies and fluffy cloud alike chasing after the pair. “Heya, Squirt!” Dash called as she dove before them to loop around below and behind them matched to their speed. “Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo squeaked, hopping up and down. Sunbeam slyly smirked, looking back to those behind her. Another powerful downstroke built her momentum back up as they glided over a rolling cloud approaching the town. “Squirt? Oh, you mean a Sky-Squirt? So, if I poke her in the right spot she’ll spray out a cloud trying to get away? Well, that’s quite remarkable; think of the revolution that will come with the discovery of Sky-Squids!” “Gah, no!” Scootaloo scooted back until she was up against Sunbeam’s neck and curled in upon herself. “Don’t poke me!” Dash cracked up, snorting mirthfully for a moment before falling out of sight into a cloud as laughter overtook her. Scootaloo clambered to the edge of her ride’s back, peering over in horror as she perched precariously. With her flanks left wide open, she had no warning as hooves struck from the other side mercilessly; Dash snatching Scootaloo up and clutching her to her chest to find out if it was true or not. Almost crying out did nothing to save the filly and only prolonged the dramatic and drawn-out raspberry applied directly to her tummy. The squeals of a tickled foal echoed hauntingly through the skies that evening, and while many saluted the poor filly from far below, none came to save her from the Dread Tickler Dash. “Hmm.” Dash hovered above Sunbeam, letting Scootaloo hang helplessly from her grasp. “I guess not. Or maybe somepony scared the cloud right out of her, Sunbeam.” “Oh really?” The elderly mare replied cockily as she looked over her shoulder. They were almost to the wide plain of clouds she had picked out earlier. “It couldn’t have been me, it must have been the rainbow-maned mare!” “Stop it, I’m too young to be tickled to death!” Scootaloo helplessly wheezed as her hind-legs kicked uselessly into the air. The heights didn’t scare her since she had learned how to glide, but the threat of ticklish doom did. Alighting, Sunbeam let the wind spill from her wings and flopped down onto the cloud beneath them; half-disappearing with a playful hop into the fluff. Up, up a thousand, up three thousand hooves they rested; well away from the dangers of ground level. Good thing, too—who knew what madness might be lurking in the form of Discord, Pinkie Pie, or others waiting to watch what happened down there. Escaping from Dash’s deadly tickle-grasp, Scootaloo made a break for it. Beneath her hooves the cloud-top shifted and shimmied like sterner quicksand, threatening to trip her up with every step after she wriggled free and landed. Galloping across the shifting, slurping, sloshing clouds Scootaloo moved. Spotting a convenient overhang of clouds, she jumped in before pulling it shut behind her. “Can’t get me now!” Dash looked down at the pink-stained clouds that were shining colorfully in the evening light. She needed just the right spot to jab. Her hoof struck out—clouds burst with a fluffy puff. “Nope.” “Oh, Dash. I think we’ve tickled her enough for one day. Let’s save some for tomorrow.” Sunbeam warned as she slowly hauled herself free of the morass of softer clouds she had willingly buried herself in. “There is a great deal we need to discuss and plan for.” A sigh escaped Dash; it was a topic long over-covered. “I know, Scootaloo’s training. I’ve been trying for a few years, I don’t know what you expect to accomplish that I couldn’t; no offense, Squirt.” Dash pulled Scootaloo from her partial cloud-fort before continuing. “Her pegasus-magic just hasn’t come in yet.” “Wanna bet?” Dash’s eyebrow raised as Scootaloo challenged her from behind. With no buzz of juvenile wings, Dash figured that Scootaloo was trying to show off instead of a genuine attempt. Yet, Sunbeam was pointing behind her confidently while smiling with that irritating knowing smile she had. The elder pegasus didn’t say anything; no need to spoil the surprise. Dash turned, and her jaw felt like it bounced off of the cloud. “What in the-“ Scootaloo stood still; her wings spread wide to her sides as power seemingly dripped from them. As her eyes stayed clenched shut in a zen-like trance, purple lightning flickered uncertainly from her wings in a corona of power not unlike that of a unicorn as the clouds beneath her hooves glowed purple with the backwash from her technique. “Betchya can’t do this, can you?” Scootaloo cockily quipped as she strained to hold her power. “How-“ Dash weakly asked as she pointed; eyes spread wide and disbelieving at the sight before her. Scootaloo’s magic flickered, flickering with her lack of control. With a last loud crackle of power, the lightning faded and died, letting the light of the evening sun slowly approaching the horizon stain the clouds around the filly with the pink rays of the last of the summer day. An exhale of escaped power came. Coughing once, Scootaloo hacked up a micro-sized cloud to hover around her mane. Not enough power yet—it would have been a shame to even think about trying to fly on a dark night only to meet Mistress Gravity a good mile up. “Rainbow Dash, I’m—different.” Before she could say anything more, Dash rushed her. Scootaloo squeaked; it was hard to do anything else when your face was being squeezed into a pucker by hooves grabbing her by the cheeks. Dash looked intently into her eyes as they touched nose to nose, and the scratchy noises of fan-girlish delight could just charitably be counted as words from Dash. “I’ll say!” Setting her down, Dash bowed before Scootaloo. Backing up, the filly uncomfortably looked at her idol laying prostrate before her. What fresh crazy madness had she found now? “Teach me the ways of your coolness!” Dash begged into the cloud. “Dash…” Sunbeam warned. “You can shoot lightning from your wings!” “Rainbow Dash-“ “No, wait! I’m not worthy, don’t teach me!” Dash shouted loudly into the clouds. “Dash-“ Scootaloo awkwardly tried to interject, only to be cut off. “Where were you hiding-“ “Rainbow Dash, stop this instant!” A shadow fell upon them both as Sunbeam seemed to loom large above them; her wings spreading wide and imperiously as she glared down at Dash. Her shadow spread across the cloud, and rumbling roils of thunder crawled with irritation within it. With that tiny, frightening realization that there was more to Sunbeam than met the average eye, Dash slowly crawled away from Scootaloo before sitting up and trying to look as small as possible. With a final groan of thunder from the cloud they stood upon, Sunbeam’s shadow crept back to her as she clasped her wings back to her sides and seemingly shrank back to being a normal mare. Sunbeam put a hoof to her chest, and followed a breathing exercise similar to the ones Twilight could be seen using so often. “Scootaloo cannot teach you for much the same reason that you have been unable to teach her.” Their eyes wide open and with their manes blown back from the furious force of Sunbeam’s aborted wrath, Scootaloo and Dash glanced at each other with awe before Dash raised a hoof to question. “Can we get back to the part where you-“ “No.” Working up her courage, Scootaloo poked Dash in the ribs. “Um, Rainbow Dash, I think she’s talking about how my head is different.” “And now, I’m completely lost.” “I—my parents probably weren’t pegasi. So, instead of getting the little bit that lets me fly by instinct like you do, I have to think about it and cast my magic like a unicorn.” Scootaloo explained from her limited knowledge. Closing her eyes once more brought her back into her zen focus to accomplish her next example. Shakily, a tendril of cloud arose from the fluff beneath their hooves; shakily it rose to touch Dash upon her nose; shakily did it snake around the pegasus, glowing purple hazily as it drew close and squeezed like a constrictor. “K-kind of like that.” Scootaloo strained to say. A lazy flex of Dash’s wings broke the hold with unconscious ease. With the lightest hint of a rainbow crackle, the cloudy tendril dispersed into mist around her. “Wha- you really—Scootaloo, that was one of the strangest things I have ever seen. But, I have heard of something like it.” Dash hesitantly explained, carefully picking up one of the spinning clumps of cloud from the debris to present to Scootaloo. Sunbeam took her turn to be confused as she slowly trotted over closer. “You have?” Casting her gaze at each of them in turn, a thought began to strike her that she might have been further out of contact with the common populous of Equestria than she had originally thought. “I know that your ‘Sonic Rainboom’ may be related to the conscious casting of a pegasi spell, but I have never heard of any other user who acts in the way that Scootaloo and I can manage.” “You?” Dash asked incredulously. Sunbeam flexed her wings again, and a nimbus of power crackled downwards into the clouds. Dash scooted closer to Scootaloo unconsciously, somewhat frightened of that little revelation. She cleared her throat and began. “Well, uh, I used to think that it was all old mare’s tales. You know, those stories about Flying Hoof Masters who could control clouds like unicorns could cast spells. Little rumors about wise old masters hiding in the high mountains and in the highest clouds no other pegasus could reach. Stuff like that.” Poking a cloud-piece into the air, Dash poked it over and over again to keep it floating and to keep her mind off of the fact that she was standing near the living proof that those tales were probably real. Her mouth screwed itself into a squiggle of uncertain self-doubt as the sun’s rays warmed her from behind. “There’s more like that. Some say that philosophers in the old days before the Warming could make dry air rain, and single-hoofedly make hurricanes with their minds while cutting you to bits with just the wind.” Right, just old tales. Dash wondered what other old stories that her dad had told her might be true. Then again, after Discord she probably should have asked sooner. “So, you taught Scootaloo how to do it, so where did you learn?” Feigning a cough, Sunbeam covered her mouth with a hoof to hide any betraying facial expressions. “Princess Celestia taught me when she found me early in life. I have a similar issue to Scootaloo, but I learned enough to mimic normal flight.” She lied, keeping her expression as neutral as she could. The sun called to her as it approached the last hour of its daily journey, and she answered the call thankfully, eager for any excuse to turn from the pair and stare into it to help sell her story. “I would be teaching Scootaloo myself, but I’ll need to help the Princesses teach Sweetie Belle.” Dash stopped as the last part of that statement caught her attention. “Wait, why does—Princess Celestia is coming out of hiding?” “Only for long enough each day to help Twilight and I teach Sweetie. Her power is more intense than even Twilight’s at the same age.” Sunbeam bowed her head slightly as she continued. “It was actually powerful enough to overwhelm Twilight and threw her across the room. The Princess is worried about her and agreed to help.” Belatedly, Dash only realized her mouth was hanging open when Scootaloo pushed it shut again. “She’s not kidding, Rainbow Dash. I was there, it was—nopony really knows how to describe what happened.” Scootaloo explained as her wings fluttered uncertainly over the memories. Dash averted her gaze; the clouds were more inviting than the thoughts of the power required to knock Twilight senseless since her transformation into an alicorn. Darting back and forth, Dash’s eyes betrayed her inner turmoil as she considered her options. Even she knew her tutoring had been less than helpful for Scootaloo. It had helped with her endurance, certainly; but never had the filly gotten close to going airborne before this new apparent revelation from Sunbeam. Here she was, being asked again to help by somepony who knew more than she could ever dream of knowing; and here she was, no longer certain that she could. What about what Scootaloo wanted—would she even accept no? “Dash, I sort of need more basics than the basics. Please?” Scootaloo pleaded, committing war crimes by inflicting the ultimate foal persuasion tools on her. Sunbeam prompted her further verbally, still staring off into the sunset. “Truth to tell, I’m not actually all that good. When it comes to pegasus magic, that is.” It was actually the truth. She had rather heavily neglected her pegasus aspects in favor of those needed in the court. Maybe once she had Sweetie stabilized a little, she could indulge in them once more. “While I may be a teacher, I believe you are far better than I when it comes to directing somepony in the utter fundamental aspects of pegasi magic. You were probably closer than you think to making a breakthrough with Scootaloo anyway.” Dash perked up as Sunbeam finally turned around to her; she assumed a Wonderbolts-standard position of attention with her head held high. “Well, I might know some things.” Sunbeam aimed her verbal dagger right for the pride. “And, if Scootaloo were to lose control in the air, I can think of no better pony to catch her when she falls.” The little metaphorical Dash in Sunbeam’s head fell over and died as her verbal dagger struck home and exploded the bubble of pride in the mental pegasi’s heart. Blink-Blink. “You know, flattery is a really ugly form of blackmail.” “Oh, Rainbow Dash. You’re only saying that because you don’t want it to stop, now do you?” Buzzing her wings to break up the uncomfortable adult conversation, Scootaloo unsteadily lifted herself into the air on cushions of whirling wind. “Hey, don’t be like that, you two! There are foals here! Like me!” Her unsteady hover slowly shifted, letting her point at Dash, who blinked once more at the sight of Scootaloo bobbing like a kite in the wind. “Think about it, I don’t want any other ponies ending up like me! If we work together, you could become as famous as Starswirl with me if we can-woah-woah-woaaaaaaah!” Her prideful boast was cut short by the cruel fate of high altitude wings; Scootaloo’s minimal control cutting out in the harsh blast of cold air that carried her away. The filly flew quite well in retrospect—right into a cloudbank. Dashing into action with a swift rainbow speed reaction, Dash was there in seconds to pull Scootaloo from her cloudy trap by the filly’s still visible hind-hooves. “Easy there, Squirt!” Dash admonished as she set the dizzy filly down on the clouds that made up the ground. A few light swats of her sky-blue wing dusted away the cottony clouds stuck all over the miniature pegasus. Gazing down into Scootaloo’s eyes as the filly recovered and looked up at her, she wondered just what exactly went on behind them. “You’re talking about more work than I could imagine. More work than trying to be a Wonderbolt, even. Twilight showed me what real research is like, once. You’ll be banging your head on a wall over and over again just trying to figure things out, always worrying if you’ll ever get enough done to let others work on what you built. I can try to figure out where my basics went wrong, but I have to ask you—just how far do you really want to go?” Setting a grim and determined look on her face, Scootaloo challenged back. “Dash, I don’t care what Sunbeam says. If it wasn’t for her, I probably never would have flown at all. If we figure this out, together,” Scootaloo poked Dash hard in the chest; poking her back, “We could change everything. Like you guys saving the Crystal Empire. We’ve got to go all the way.” Scootaloo held her gaze on Dash as hard as she could manage, making sure the other pegasus knew she was serious. “Good to hear it.” Dash paused as she realized Sunbeam was trying to sneak away. “Wait! Where do you think you’re going, Sunbeam? Get back here!”