Rainbow Dash was determined to get Scootaloo flying, no matter what. Thankfully she was gonna get some help from husband, Bookworm, and close friend Twilight Sparkle, (best to her ability, what with the whole being pregnant). At the suggestion of Bookworm, Rainbow Dash and her protege went to the Golden Oaks Library.
"Why the hay are we at a library?" asked Scootaloo. "I wanna learn to fly, not read a book!"
"Listen Scoots, I don't wanna be here anymore than you do," exclaimed Rainbow Dash. "But Bookie says this is gonna help you learn to fly. And I trust anything my super awesome husband says."
"Oh sweet Celestia! Somepony just put me out of my misery now," groaned Scootaloo. She never liked hearing Dash gush over Bookworm.
"Quit being a smartass," said Rainbow Dash.
Mind you, as much as Rainbow Dash loved her husband, she was still Rainbow Dash. And this rainbow mained pegasus had a short attention span.
"Have you found anything yet, Bookie!?" she shouted. "I mean, how long have we been here? Two hours?"
"It's been five minutes, Dashie," replied Bookworm. "I'm looking up as many books on flight as the library has."
"What are books gonna say?" asked Scootaloo. "Flap your wings?"
"You're oversimplifying it, Scootaloo," Twilight chimed in. "Pegasus flight isn't just about flapping your wings. If that were true, you'd be flying."
"What do you know?" asked scootaloo. "You're a unicorn."
Rainbow Dash then smacked her protege upside the head.
"What the buck!?" shouted Scootaloo.
"You're talking to Twilight Sparkle!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash. "Number one pupil to Princess Celestia! You think she only reads books on unicorns?! Course not! Twilight knows the inner workings of all pony types!"
"Then why isn't she looking up the books?" asked Scootaloo.
"Duh! She's pregnant!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash. "But she can guide Bookie on where to look."
"Ok ok, fine," said Scootaloo. "I'm still trying to understand how all this is supposed to help though."
"We gotta find a way to ignite the magic in you," explained Bookworm.
"Inner magic?" questioned Scootaloo. "I'm not a unicorn."
"But that doesn't mean you don't have magic," continued Bookworm. "Everypony has magic in them; some are just more obvious. Unicorns naturally show off the most external magic, through our horns. But unicorns can't make things grow or walk on clouds. We can only walk on clouds with special spells, but no spell anywhere gives us the ability to make something grow in the soil. Pegusai can't make things grow either, but they can fly and walk on the clouds."
"I'm failing to see the point," remarked Scootaloo, not much more patient than Rainbow Dash.
"You can walk on clouds, right?" Bookworm asked the orange pegasus.
"Of course," said Scootaloo.
"And your coach, Snowflake, is able to fly despite tiny wings and a large frame," he continued.
"Sure," replied Scootaloo.
"So, you can see that it's not about size," continued Bookworm. "It's about the inner magic that gives a unicorn the ability to fly. Even unicorns don't always harness magic right away, as you can tell from your friend Sweetie Belle. Everypony, like a cutie mark, is different and uinque. Some pegasai, like Rainbow Dash, learn to fly right away, while others are much slower at it."
"You can bet Fluttershy wasn't an immediate flyer," said Rainbow Dash. "You think she's timid now...well she is...but she was way worse when we first met in flight school. But she's managed to build up enough confidence to get off the ground."
"Snowflake did mention something like that to me in gym class the other day," Scootaloo remembered.
"What did he say?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"He said I rely too much on my scooter," said Scootaloo. "That I don't have enough confidence in myself to fly and I worry too much about what might go wrong."
"Do you think he's right?" asked Rainbow Dash.
Scootaloo didn't say anything for a good while then. She started to wonder if that really was the case.
"Yeah, he's right," she said, breaking the silence. "I do rely way too much on my scooter. It's the only thing that I've ever really been good at though. My wings help me do all kinds of crazy stunts, plus they allow me to go fast. But anyttime I try to fly and I do tense up. But I know I'm meant to fly! I dream about flying all the time!"
"Scoots, I promise you that I'll do all I can to get you flying amongst the clouds," said Rainbow Dash, embracing Scootaloo.
"I know you will," replied Scootaloo, hugging her mentor back.
"Ok, I've found every book in the library on flying," chimed Bookworm. "And you're going to read them all.
He levitated a huge stack of books in front of the young pegasus.
"There's gotta be like ten books here," she exclaimed.
"There are many different takes on how to fly," Bookworm retorted. "We might as well cover all our bases. Part of my special talent is I can scan a book and know all the contents. So if you try to skip a chapter, page, or even a simple sentence I'll know when you're lying to me."
"Aw man!" exclaimed Scootaloo.
"Rainbow Dash is here to teach you to fly," he continued. "But I'm here to make sure you understand the inner workings. That's how I learned to do magic. I had to read and read like crazy to finally be able to cast spells. You're in a similiar predicament; you need to learn how flying works before actually flying."
Scootaloo eyeballed the stack of books from top to bottom and let out a huge sigh. As much as she hated to admit it, Bookworm was right. She wasn't getting anywhere on trial and error alone. But she hadn't given up yet, so she wasn't gonna let a huge stack of books stop her.