“Oh my gosh, that was weird.”
Scootaloo leaned against Rainbow Dash, who wrapped a supporting wing around her middle. Her stomach still churned from her time in the scanner. She sucked water from the bottom of a mostly empty cup. “You have to do that often?”
“Yeah, every time I get a checkup.” Rainbow Dash squeezed. “They wanna make sure my rainbooms aren’t messing up my fairy strings.”
Scootaloo set her cup down. “And?”
“Still going strong. Maybe even stronger.” Rainbow flexed her foreleg. “You think I’m ready to try three at once, or what?”
“That sounds amazing.” Scootaloo sat back and rubbed her tummy. “Do you ever get used to the scanner?”
“Heck no. It sucks.” Rainbow Dash gripped the sides of her chair and rocked. “I guess it’s like a million times better than flying out there and turning into a rainbow firecracker.”
Scootaloo giggled. “It’s a sonic rain-kaboom.”
“Hay now,” Rainbow Dash said. “I don’t mind going out in a blaze of glory, but I’ve got a few more things to do first.”
“Like what?”
Rainbow Dash shrugged her wings. Her chair legs clattered against the smooth floor as she tottered back and forth. “Star in a few more Daring Do movies, I guess. Become supreme commander of the Wonderbolts. Make Applejack take a vacation.” The rocking stopped. “But mostly, teach you to fly. I promised I would, a long time ago.”
Scootaloo squinted. “Kinda funny. I remember you being the first to say ‘maybe you will, maybe you won’t.’”
“Yeah and that was stupid of me. Dumb.” Rainbow Dash looked down. “It was a rough time, you know. I was just starting on this whole big sister kick. I didn’t know what to say, so I said what I thought would make you feel better. I didn’t say what was in my heart.”
Scootaloo pulled herself forward and rested her hoof on Rainbow Dash’s leg. “Hay, you’re doing a good job.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I know I can do better.” Rainbow Dash smiled. “I’m working on it.”
Scootaloo’s ears drooped. “So, back then… what did you mean to say? What was in your heart?”
Rainbow Dash looked up, her mane falling loose across her neck. “Sky’s the limit, Squirt. And I still wanna believe it.”
The door opened. The doctor walked in, a pegasus mare wearing a white lab coat and at least five stethoscopes. “Hello, Scootaloo. I’m Doctor Flakes, Rainbow Dash’s personal physician.”
“Hay.” Scootaloo rubbed her hooves together. “What’s up, Doc?”
Dr. Flakes chuckled. “Rainbow Dash asked the same thing, first time I saw her.” She pulled up a chair and leaned against it. “So, I suspect you want to know the details.”
Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash leaned forward simultaneously.
“That’s what I thought.” Dr. Flakes pulled out a clipboard. “Simply put, Scootaloo is the most powerful pegasus mage in recorded history.”
Rainbow Dash fell out of her chair. “Wait, what?”
Frosted Flakes nodded. “The sheer magic potential her heart pumps out is twice yours is, Rainbow, just to put it in perspective. Her fairy strings are the strongest, most durable that I’ll probably ever have the pleasure of studying.”
Scootaloo gaped. She shook her head. She shook her head some more. “Huh?”
“Makes sense, though, Squirt.” Rainbow Dash jumped up and held her hooves in front of her. “All those tricks you can do with water, all your jumping and dancing and swirling and holy cow!” She shook, a giant grin on her face. “It’s all you! You really can do things nopony else can even dream of!”
She started, her eyes wide. She turned to Dr. Flakes with a frown. “Wait. Wait, that makes no sense. Why can’t she fly?”
Dr. Flakes sucked on the inside of her cheek. “I have a theory. It’s weak, but all the evidence so far support—”
“Spit it out, Doc.” Scootaloo licked her lips with a dry tongue. “Just spit it out.”
Doctor Flakes looked down at her charts, rather than in Scootaloo’s eye. “While the fairy strings throughout your body are strong, the ones in your wings are… I don’t want to say underdeveloped, but they are very small. Built for a baby pegasus. The amount of magic they release would let an infant fly during a magic surge. They can move some air, but not enough to get you off the ground. They can’t generate enough lift.”
Scootaloo lifted her eyebrows. She jerked her head to the side. “Well then. How’d it happen?”
Dr. Flakes flipped a page, though she didn’t read it. “Um, a few things could cause it. Childhood trauma. A mutation. Congenital diseases. I don’t have enough data to support any one theory.”
“That’s not important right now,” Rainbow Dash said breathlessly. “How do we fix it?”
Flakes flipped another page. “I’m not sure you really understand—”
Rainbow Dash shoved her face in Dr. Flakes’. “How do we fix it?”
Dr. Frosted Flakes almost swallowed her tongue. Her mouth flapped. “W-we—You could wait a few years and hope the fairy strings’ development catches up. You could perform daily exercises to improve their strength.”
“There’s no surgery?” Rainbow Dash almost shouted. “No medicine? Ambrosia—”
“Ambrosia might not help!” The doctor bit down on her lip. Her eyes jumped away from Rainbow’s as she talked. “Ambrosia heals. It helps cells reproduce. It sews injuries together. Fairy strings are like nerves, they don’t reproduce. They don’t duplicate themselves. You live with what you’re born with, and they grow with you. They can be healed, yeah, but Scootaloo’s aren’t damaged; they’re small.”
“How do we fix it!” Rainbow Dash stomped down. “There has to be something. Anything.” Her wings drooped to the ground. “We can’t give up.”
“I won’t.”
Flakes and Dash turned to Scootaloo. The young orange pegasus stood on her chair with her wings flared. “I’m not giving up. I’m never giving up! I’m gonna fly, Doc. Just stand back and watch!”
Rainbow Dash looked up at Scootaloo. “Okay, Squirt. You know something I don’t know?”
Scootaloo nodded. “Take me back to Ponyville, Rainbow Dash. I’ve got an appointment with the Spirit of Chaos!”
Rainbow Dash’s mouth was a grim line. “What.”
Scootaloo folded her wings. “You know. Discord. Friend of Fluttershy, animals, and little children? Phenomenal cosmic powers? Pulled your wings off and stuck them back on without blinking?”
Rainbow Dash scrunched up her nose. “He’s weird. How do you know he’ll even wanna help?”
“Because he offered to help me however he could.” Scootaloo jumped off the chair. “Trust me on this, Dash. He’s cool. He’s gonna help me.” She gave the doctor a glance. “Unless you’ve got a better idea?”
Dr. Flakes finally met her eyes. “No. If you can hold out for a miracle, by all means do so.”
“Darn right I can.”
Scootaloo tapped her foot on a cushion. She continuously switched between staring out the window and glancing around the train car. Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, just stared into space.
“What’s wrong, sis?” Scootaloo asked after a while. “We’ve found it. The solution. The answer to all my problems. With flying, at least.”
“Yeah, but it’s Discord.” Rainbow Dash closed her eyes. “There’s always some sort of catch.”
Scootaloo sniffed. She trotted over to the vending machine and bought a bottle of water. She popped the top and caught the contents with a hoof. “Preeesenting the magical, mysterious, and oh-so-sexy Scootaloo! The most powerful pegasus mage of our time!”
She gripped the blob with both forehooves and stretched it out. She jumped, sliding the water under her legs like a jump rope. She swirled it over her head and around her body faster and faster. “See amazing feats of water manipulation! Gawk in the thrall of death-defying scooter stunts! Bear witness to magic beyond belief!”
Rainbow Dash laughed. She applauded and whistled. “Encore, encore!”
Scootaloo rolled the water into a ball, let it slide across her outstretched wings, and then kicked it. It exploded into a thousand droplets that lingered in the air.
Rainbow Dash settled down into the bench. She smiled. “Thanks, Squirt. I… think I needed that.”
“You totally did.” Scootaloo nudged her. “It’s gonna be awesome, us finally flying side by side.”
“Totally.” Rainbow Dash rubbed her leg. “Totally.”
“So what’s got you down?” Scootaloo sat across from her. “Come on, Dash. Talk to me.”
“It’s just… been one hard thing after another, you know?” Rainbow Dash pulled back her upper lip. “Like, not too much to get through, but hard. There’s always something standing in the way. And, like”—she swung a hoof—“it’s not all stuff I can just punch in the face, or plow through with my wings. I don’t know how well I deal with that kinda stuff. Stuff from the heart. It’s hard.”
She rolled her shoulders. “What if it isn’t a solution? What if it just leads to another problem? What if we’re just going in circles like we have for the last nine years?”
Scootaloo sighed. She tilted her head. “What happened to ‘I’m possible’?”
“It’s just a stupid saying, Scootaloo! A heroic speech!” Rainbow Dash shut her eyes and shook her head. She continued, quieter, “What if my speeches aren’t good enough?”
Scootaloo blinked. She drew the water droplets together to form a bubble of water. She tossed it to herself while she looked out the window. “Dash, you’re the coolest Wonderbolt. You’re the Bearer of Loyalty. You’ve saved my bacon and all of Equestria a bazillion times. More importantly, you’re the best big sister ever.”
Rainbow Dash lowered her eyebrows. The water ball splashed against her face. She coughed and blew water out of her nose.
“You think all that isn’t good enough?” Scootaloo jumped on her back. “Rainbow Dash, we gotta work on your self-esteem.”
“Nopony in the history of ever has ever said that,” Rainbow Dash said, shaking her damp mane. She gave Scootaloo a small smile. “Ever.”
She nuzzled Scootaloo under her chin. “I’m afraid of disappointing you.”
“Yeah? Maybe it’s inevitable.” Scootaloo returned the gesture. “Maybe you’ll do something one day that has me shaking my head and wondering what you were thinking. But I think I can take it.” She rested a hoof on Rainbow’s head. “Doesn’t change who you are.”
Rainbow Dash slid her foreleg around Scootaloo neck and swung her around. She rubbed the top of her head. “You know what? Best little sister ever, that’s what!”
“Hay!” Scootaloo squealed and struggled out from under Rainbow’s grip. “Watch the mane!”
The train car lurched, sending them both to the floor. They stood up and looked out the window. Canter Mountain loomed overhead.
The conductor knocked on their cabin’s door. “Sorry about that. Rockslide on the tracks. It’s gonna take a couple hours to clear it.”
Rainbow Dash looked around. “How far are we from Ponyville?”
“A few miles. Why?”
Rainbow grinned. “’Cause the skies are lookin’ a little cloudy.”
Scootaloo cocked an eyebrow. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”
Rainbow was gone and back faster than a blink. She dragged a cloud along behind her. She bowed. “Your carriage awaits, my lady.”
Scootaloo inclined her head. “Oh, thank you. It wouldn’t do to get my delicate hooves dirty.”
The conductor scratched beneath his hat. “You’re gonna ask for a refund, aren’t you?”
Scootaloo nestled in the softness of the cloudstuff. Stars twinkled overhead. “Eh. Keep the change, bosspony.”
Rainbow Dash gripped the cloud. “Ready, Squirt?”
“Oh yeah.” Scootaloo molded a set of goggles out of the cloud. “Full speed ahead.”
They blasted off in a rainbow streak, leaving the windblown conductor wobbling back and forth.
“There’s Ponyville!” Scootaloo hollered. “Aim for the north side!”
Rainbow Dash glanced at Canterlot to the east and adjusted her trajectory accordingly. “Over by Fluttershy’s?”
“Not quite. Discord’s living in the old windmill!” Scootaloo squinted into the darkness. “I can’t see the ground.”
“It’s cool. I’m navigating by memory.” Rainbow Dash scanned the darkened ground. “I think I remember.”
Her wings tilted, and they angled into a descent. Scootaloo felt it: Weightlessness. Her stomach twisted, her spine tingled, she felt lightheaded. She let go of her grip on the cloud and hovered over it.
Their angle of descent decreased, and she settled back down. Her heart beat loudly in her ears as she fought to steady her breathing.
“You okay, Squirt?”
“Yeah, Rainbow Dash.” Scootaloo looked over her shoulder with breathless laughter. “I’m fine.”
They slowed to a stop. The windmill rotated, inch by inch. Their manes swayed to match. Scootaloo knocked on the door.
The door cracked open. Two yellow eyes peered out of the shadows. “Who’s there?”
Scootaloo waved. “Um. Hi, Discord.” She reached over and dragged Rainbow Dash close. “Rainbow Dash and I are here about my wings.”
The yellow eyes narrowed. Discord’s voice chuckled. “Oh ho, ho, how serendipitous! Come in, come in!”
The door swung wide open, banishing the shadows. Standing in the doorway were two disembodied yellow eyes. Scootaloo and Rainbow shrieked.
Discord leaned in from a separate room. “Tisk, those lazy eyes of mine can never keep up. Come along, Blinky. Whitey.”
The eyes hopped through the air and landed in Discord’s eye sockets. “That’s better. Come in, girls! Have some tea.”
A teacup walked out of the room and poured itself out. Discord snatched it up. “Ahem. You’re supposed to wait for the saucer, Chip.”
“Sowwy,” Discord said out of the side of his mouth. He wiggled the teacup. “Nevaw again.”
The teacup turned into a butterfly and flew to the kitchen, where it rested in a cupboard. Furniture shuffled around as the kitchen reconfigured itself into a small sitting room. Discord took a high-backed, red chair. He blew bubbles from a pipe. “Care if I soap?”
Scootaloo shook her head. He shrugged and blew more bubbles.
“So, Discord,” Rainbow Dash said, “Scootaloo here tells me you might be able to help her.”
“Just as soon as I find out what the problem is.” Discord rested a monocle before one eye. “Then, most certainly, I can dig into a solution to your magic imbalance.”
Scootaloo turned around and spread her wings. “It’s my fairy strings. They didn’t grow in. They’re still the same size they were when I was a baby. It’s kinda hard to fly when your wings don’t release enough magic for liftoff.”
Discord’s brow furrowed. He cupped a talon over his chin and leaned back. A footrest popped out of his chair. “Fairy strings.”
“Yeah.” Scootaloo jumped into the air, spread her wings, and hovered. “So can we fix that, like, right now?”
“Actually, yes we can.” Discord glanced at Rainbow Dash. “Allowing for certain things.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “I told you, Squirt. There’s a catch.”
“It’s not a catch. Unless you believe it’s a catch-twenty-two.” Discord drummed his fingers. “You see, I can’t fix your fairy strings.”
Scootaloo’s wings drooped. She dropped to the floor.
“Rather, I shouldn’t. What I told you before is true: You can’t get something from nothing.” He held his teacup up. “It can transform from one thing to another. It can stretch or compress. It can disguise itself. It can do things it wasn’t meant to do. It can become corrupted.”
He stood up and fluttered around the room on his wings. “I could cause your fairy strings to grow. Absent my influence, they would either return to normal, which would be terrible, or they would become corrupted by the influence of un-tempered chaos magic.” He stared at her through his monocle. “In essence, to be enchanted by chaos magic is to become like me.”
Rainbow Dash jumped up between them. “Don’t you lay a paw on her!”
“Heck no, Rainbow Dash, I wouldn’t dream of it!” Discord held his hands up. “Enchantment is not the answer. But that’s the thing… You can’t get something from nothing.”
Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs. “What are you getting at?”
“Have you asked yourself why you felt no ill effects from your time as a quasi-earth pony?” Discord smirked. “Why you haven’t started to fly in corkscrews and barrel rolls? Why you remain the most loyal-est of elements? Why you stand before me today… unmarred?”
Rainbow Dash sneered. “I suspected it was because of the Elements.”
“Partially true. That’s what freed you from my little personality switcheroo. Now that was an enchantment.” Discord tapped a finger on her chest. “But mostly, it’s because I didn’t enchant your wings. I used a spell to separate them from you. I used a spell to rejoin you to them. But there was no magic in-between. There was nothing unnatural in your system. No chaos magic powering any transformation. There was just you, without your wings. And then you, with your wings. Simple?”
“So…” Scootaloo took a step forward. “So you’ll remove my wings…”
“Ahuh.”
“And give me my wings back. How will that help?”
Discord shook his head. “Scoot, Scoot, Scootaloo. I won’t be giving you the same wings back. That’s the trick. It’ll be the most painless surgery to ever be performed.”
Scootaloo’s jaw dropped.
Rainbow Dash’s body dropped. “Wait, what?”
“You seem to be saying that a lot.” Discord waved a paw. “No need to thank me for my ingenious solution, all in a day’s work for a draconequus.”
“New wings.” Scootaloo looked at her back. “New wings? Wings that aren’t my own?”
“Wings that work, Scootaloo,” Discord said. “Wings that will get you into the air and let you stay there. Wings to keep up with even the most powerful pegasi. Wings to let you fly.”
Scootaloo pursed her lips. She nodded. “Okay. Okay, I can do this. I guess I’ll miss my wings, but…” She grinned. “But I’ll have better ones, right?”
Discord laughed. “Absolutely. All that’s left is finding a donor.”
Scootaloo’s smile fell. “A donor?”
Discord flicked an ear. “Yes. A donor. A pony who has wings that can fly.” He frowned. “Don’t give me that look. I’m not a god, Scootaloo. I can’t just conjure up wings from nowhere. They have to come from something.”
“But… but all this time…” Scootaloo shook her head hard. “You just pull things out of everywhere. You make things appear and then disappear and—”
“And it all comes from somewhere.” Discord knelt before her. “I can twist, stretch, transport, grow, shrink, divide… But I cannot create. Nopony can. It’s beyond us. I could steal a pair from some Wonderbolt wannabe, but I get the feeling Celestia would look down on it.” He shrugged. “I need permission.”
“But…” Scootaloo wiped her eyes. “But who would give their wings to me?”
“I would.” Rainbow Dash stepped forward. “Give her my wings.”
Scootaloo staggered back. She held her forehooves up. “No.”
“Scootaloo, you’ll be able to fly!” Rainbow Dash took Scootaloo’s hooves in her own. “You’ll have the strongest wings in the kingdom! Think of how awesome you’ll be!”
“No!” Scootaloo jerked away. “No, I can’t take your wings away from you! They’re your life! They’re your dreams! They’re everything you have!”
“I’ll give it all up.” Rainbow Dash spread her wings. “I want you to fly, Squirt. It’s all you’ve ever wanted and I want to give that to you. I don’t want you to go through life without that feeling of freedom. Of being on top of the world. I want you to soar to your dreams, Scootaloo!”
Discord’s throat bobbed as he lifted a finger. “Actually, I was thinking more—”
“No! Stop!” Scootaloo backed away from Rainbow. “No. No, I can’t do that. I can’t do that to you. There has to be another way.”
“Creator above, Scootaloo, I promised I’d teach you to fly!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “Don’t you dare take that away from me!”
Scootaloo sat down, one hoof in their air. Her mouth moved, but no sound came out. She swallowed and tried again. “Away from you?”
Rainbow Dash pressed her hoof to her forehead. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, that sounded terrible. That’s not what I meant.”
“No? Really, no?” Scootaloo ground both hooves into the floor. “Really?” she squeaked. “It sure sounded like it came from the heart.”
Discord shuffled back into a dark corner and twiddled his thumbs.
Rainbow Dash took hesitant steps toward Scootaloo. “Squirt, I just want this good thing for you.”
“You wanna destroy your own life to do it?” Scootaloo jumped up. “You wanna throw yourself into the gutter? Quit the Wonderbolts? Leave Applewood?” A hot tear fell down her cheek. “You won’t even be able to get up to your house.”
“Scootaloo, you know you’re important. To me. To everypony.” Rainbow Dash bit her lip. “I think it’d be worth it.”
“Not to me!” Scootaloo screamed. She spun on her hind legs and barreled out the door. She heard Rainbow shout her name, but ignored it. She couldn’t let it happen. She wouldn’t. Not even if it kept her grounded forever.
She ran across the pond on her way through the park. She ignored the glint the droplets made in the moonlight. She just ran. She ran until her legs ached. She ran until her head ached. She ran until the pain in her lungs grew greater than the pain in her heart. She slumped to the newly-paved streets of Ponyville.
“What’s wrong?” her mother would say when she got home. Then Scootaloo would tell her, and she’d cry. Or Scootaloo would just barge up the stairs like usual, and then her mom would cry harder. Or she’d meet her dad, and he’d have to tell her.
When her legs stopped shaking, she got to her feet. She looked up at the building she’d collapsed next to: Carousel Boutique.
She gave the door three sharp raps. When no answer came, she knocked harder.
“I’m coming, I’m coming, for heaven’s sake.” The door latch clicked. “Honestly, for such an unpleasant hour, you can’t even be a little polite?”
Sweetie Belle was wrapped in a fuzzy pink robe, with a sleep mask pushed up on her forehead. She squinted before setting her glasses on the end of her nose. “Scootaloo?”
Scootaloo tried to smile, but she couldn’t hide the dampness on her cheeks. “H-hay. C-can I stay at your place tonight?”
Sweetie Belle held a hoof to her mouth. “Oh of course! Oh no. Is this about the fight at the restaurant? You know those things Diamond said aren—”
“No!” Scootaloo winced. “Sorry. No, it’s not about that. I just… need a place. Away.”
Sweetie rubbed her eye. She held the door open. “You’re welcome for as long as you need.”
Scootaloo walked through. Sweetie stopped her with a hoof on her back. “I think you need to talk about it.”
She led them over to her sitting room, where she set Scootaloo on her red, cushy couch. “Lucky for you, I have tea on the stove. Wait right here.”
Scootaloo stared into the fireplace. It had little more than embers burning, but that was about all that was needed in the early summer months. Soon, Sweetie would close it off completely except for special occasions.
Sweetie Belle levitated her tray to a small coffee table and poured them each a cup. “This should sooth you a little. It’ll help.” She sat next to Scootaloo. Their shoulders touched. She fiddled with her robe’s ties. “Do you wanna talk about it?”
Scootaloo held her head. “Every time I talk about it I end up hurting someone. Sometimes that’s me. Sometimes it isn’t.”
“Well, not to sound prideful, but I highly doubt you’ll be able to scare me away.” Sweetie Belle grabbed the fire poker in her magic and stirred the coals. “So fire away.”
Scootaloo hugged herself. “I can’t fly. I can’t fly, because I can’t take that away from someone.”
Sweetie’s forehead wrinkled. She slid her foreleg over Scootaloo’s shoulders. “Wanna start from the beginning?”
“My wings, the fairy strings never developed.” Scootaloo held up her hooves. “It’s like, something happened that caused all the growth to happen in my legs. It’s not fair! I don’t get why this happened! And the stupid doctor didn’t even wanna help! And—and all anypony can tell me is why it can’t happen, or why it’ll never happen! And all anypony knows is that something went wrong!”
Scootaloo glared at Sweetie. “Your fairy strings are bad. How come you can use magic?”
Sweetie looked down. “My fairy strings are shriveled and weak. The ambrosia opens them up a little. It can’t repair them, though. Not totally.”
“You’ve got a solution, though! Everything worked out!” Scootaloo stood. She waved a hoof as she talked. “All you need to do is drink a little magic potion and suddenly everything is all better! I drink a potion and get stuck on the ceiling! What’ll help me fly, Sweetie? Do I get wings of gossamer and morning dew from Twilight? Do I just become some hokey airship captain? Do I strap a glider onto my back and hope I don’t just crash?”
Scootaloo dried her eyes. She sat down beside the coffee table. “I don’t know. I don’t know where to go. What to do. It just feels like everything’s against me.”
Sweetie Belle’s voice wavered. “I-I’m not against you.”
Scootaloo met her gaze. “Thanks.”
“I’ll… get you a place to sleep.” Sweetie Belle stood up. “You take… a bath. Or a shower. Or whatever you want. Just get yourself relaxed.”
Scootaloo walked up the stairs to the bathroom, while Sweetie Belle pulled a few linins out of the closet.
Scootaloo shut the water off and leaned against the wall. She pulled the curtains aside with her wing. Steam wafted around the bathroom. She cracked the door open and called down the hall. “Sweetie, where do you keep the towels?”
“Lower cupboard, beneath the sink.”
Scootaloo opened the cupboard and was met with a variety of towels, all rolled up and stacked by color. Most of them were embroidered with an “SB.” She grabbed the top one and rubbed her head. She wiped the fogged-up mirror, revealing her messy purple mane.
She turned away quickly. Her rear leg bumped the open cupboard door. “Ouch!”
She slammed the door. Sweetie trotted up to the room. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine!” Scootaloo snapped. She swung open the cabinet behind the mirror. “Do you have a comb I could—?”
It was the medicine cabinet. There was the usual first-aid kit, mild over-the-counter painkillers, antacid tablets, an errant bottle of perfume… and one silver cylinder. Scootaloo’s throat constricted.
“Scootaloo. What are you doing?” Sweetie Belle pushed the bathroom door inward. It rested against Scootaloo’s rump. “Close the cabinet. That’s private.”
Scootaloo didn’t take her eyes off the container. She licked her lips. “Ambrosia… helps your fairy strings, right?”
All the air in Sweetie’s lungs left in a rush. “Don’t you dare—!”
Scootaloo kicked the door shut and locked it. Sweetie Belle pounded from the other side. “Open this door! Open this door right now!”
Scootaloo grabbed the container of ambrosia and took it off the shelf. Her hooves shook so badly she dropped it in the sink with a clang. She scrambled for it and held it close to her chest.
The door handle glowed bright green. “I’m breaking this door down, Scootaloo! Let me in or I’m breaking down this door!”
Scootaloo struggled to get the canister’s lid off. Every time she managed to get a grip, it would slip away.
The door’s hinges whined in protest as Sweetie’s magic twisted them into scrap. “Don’t drink it! Don’t drink it! You could die!”
The cap popped off. Scootaloo held the ambrosia to her mouth. “But I could fly.”
The door crashed against the wall and hung askew. Sweetie Belle’s tackle took Scootaloo to the floor. The bottle of ambrosia clattered into the tub, where it flowed down, down, down into the drain. Scootaloo flailed and kicked, but Sweetie held her down with all her might.
“Stop it!” Sweetie said. “Stop it! I won’t let you die, do you hear me? I won’t!”
“I have to try, Sweetie!” Scootaloo screamed. “I can’t just keep going on without trying! This might be my last chance!”
“You will fly, Scootaloo! You will!” Sweetie sobbed. “I know you will. I have to believe you will.”
Scootaloo fought to grab the edge of the tub, but Sweetie pulled her back down.
“You have to keep believing, Scootaloo,” Sweetie said. “You of all ponies need to believe.”
“Why?” Scootaloo twisted as Sweetie Belle locked her forelegs around her middle. “How am I supposed to believe? What’s left, Sweetie?”
“You were always the best of us!” Sweetie’s throat was hoarse. “When life got us down, you were always there to help us up. Ev—every time we failed, you were there to tell us it was okay. Every time you failed, you let it slide by. You kept going long after it looked like there was nothing to hope for. You kept hoping, Scootaloo. You keep hoping.”
Scootaloo stopped struggling. She just lay against the damp bathroom floor, her cheek in a puddle of water.
“Sometimes dreams die, Scootaloo.” Sweetie Belle’s chest shook. “Sometimes you wake up one morning and find out that your dream is over. But not you. Never you. You kept trying. You kept hoping. You kept fighting. You kept it up long after anyone else would have given up. You never give up. You never stop.”
Sweetie’s tight grip evolved into a firm embrace. She pressed her muzzle into Scootaloo’s shoulder. “You inspired me, Scootaloo. You showed me that I don’t have to give up. S-so now I’m not gonna let you just give up.”
Scootaloo took in halting breaths. “I-I’m s-sorry…” she cried.
They lay on the floor together, both shaking silently. Sweetie wrapped Scootaloo in a warmer hug. Her voice whispered over the tears.
“There’s a tale that’s long been told
Of three friends in days of old
Who could not be torn apart
From the song within their heart”
Scootaloo shut her eyes and shivered. Sweetie Belle released her and wrapped a towel around her. The unicorn sat next to her friend, running a hoof over her side.
“With her strong hooves on the ground
And her head within the clouds
She stood like a mountain tall
Holding out her love for all”
As she sang, Sweetie’s voice gained strength. It was rough from crying, weak from screaming. But to Scootaloo, it still managed to sound…
“There the spark lit in her breast
Shining bright to all the rest
Where it linked together souls
With every note she let unfold”
It sounded beautiful. Warmth found its way straight into her heart.
“Like a magic lightning strike
Soaring higher than a kite
Holding out hope all her days
Never doubting she amazed”
Scootaloo laughed lightly. “I wonder who that is.”
Sweetie Belle smiled and shut her eyes.
“Close your eyes
You can hear them sing
Close your eyes
They sing on their wings”
Scootaloo closed her eyes. For a moment, she thought she could hear Rainbow Dash’s voice.
“There’s a song that’s long been sung
Of three friends who stood as one
Though faced with darkness and strife
They together lived full life
And found their dreams”
Scootaloo opened her eyes. She could definitely hear Rainbow Dash’s voice outside the window. She was about to say something about it to Sweetie, when the front door rattled.
Sweetie blew a breath through her nose. “If we ignore them, they’ll go away.”
“No.” Scootaloo stood up on weak hooves. She leaned against the sink to steady herself. “No, I need to say something.”
Side by side, they staggered down the stairs. Scootaloo smirked. “We’re a couple of real good messes.”
Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes. “I think we can be forgiven this once.”
They opened the door, revealing Rainbow Dash and Discord. Rainbow Dash’s eyes were reddened. “I’m so sorry, Squirt. That was awful of me.”
“I’m sorry, too.” Scootaloo looked at her hooves. “It wasn’t fair to just run away.”
Discord tapped his foot. “Since we’re all apologizing, I suppose I’ll add in my two bits. I’m sorry for misleading you about my plan.”
Sweetie Belle gave him a sour look. “Your plan? What are you talking about?”
“Well, frankly, when I said she needed a wing donor, I wasn’t referring to Rainbow Dash at all.” He crossed his mismatched arms. “There are other ways of getting a hold of a good pair of barely-used wings.”
Scootaloo scrunched her nose up. “I don’t get it.”
Discord held his hands to the sky. “These people I have to deal with! My word!” He pointed at Scootaloo’s back. “I’ve been in contact with the hospital. Ever heard of an organ donor?”
Scootaloo’s butt hit the floor. Sweetie Belle’s grumpy expression evaporated. They looked at each other.
Rainbow Dash looked up at Discord with a grin. “I think you broke them.”
Scootaloo jumped at Discord, wrapping her forelegs around his middle. He pulled back with a startled expression on his face. Slowly, gradually, he lowered his hands and returned the hug. A silly smile scribbled its way across eclectic visage.
Sweetie Belle tumbled backward with her legs splayed in all directions. “Finally!”