Scootaloo had a very rollercoastery life. Things like belonging to the Cutie Mark Crusaders and learning about aerial acrobatics from Rainbow Dash made her as happy as a parasprite at a potluck. And things like not having a cutie mark and not being a proficient flyer were depressing for her. The latter had been disturbing Scootaloo for some time now, as reminders kept poking her in the face left and right. Rumble was the same age as her and not only was he good at flying, but he was allowed to join Ponyville’s pegasi to contribute to the tornado power water transfer some time ago. Scootaloo felt as though she had a lot of catching up to do. She may be able to use her wings as a propulsion system when driving her scooter, and she did get a thrill out of “swimming” in Loch Azure that one time, but she was sure none of those could compare to being up in the air above Equestrian soil.
One bitter pill for Scootaloo to swallow was the anecdote Pinkie Pie told her about Pound Cake.
“He flew around the bakery?” she spluttered.
“Like a kite,” nodded Pinkie. “And that’s not even the crazy part. The crazy part is when I tried to grab him, he pulled me off the floor and carried me all around Sugarcube Corner, bouncing me on the stairs like a ball.”
Scootaloo was sure Pinkie Pie was making this up, but before she could voice her disbelief, the party pony gave her more information about Pound.
“I’ve only ever seen him fly one other time. He got a mobile as a gift from one of Mr Cake’s relatives, and he flew around with the paper griffins and manticores above his crib.”
Scootaloo stared blankly into her milkshake.
“And Cup and Carrot said they’ve seen Pound flying once,” Pinkie wasn’t finished. “They were at a summer festival and Mrs Cake was freaking out because Pound kept hovering just out of her reach.”
A tiny pegasus like Pound can fly and I can’t? thought Scootaloo.
“Speaking of festivals,” Pinkie Pie carried on. “Any big plans for the long weekend? You’ve got like one more day of school before it starts, right?”
“Uh, yeah,” Scootaloo said tonelessly. “Uh, Babs Seed’s coming to stay with Apple Bloom for the weekend. So me and Sweetie Belle will be hanging out with them mostly, I guess.”
“Great. Well, I’ll see you at the Enamour’s Day Festival on Monday,” Pinkie Pie slapped Scootaloo on the back and went back to work.
Scootaloo spent the rest of the day brooding over a yearling accomplishing more than her. But her tension didn’t last long. Her parents noticed that she wasn’t looking too happy when she got home, and when she told them why, they had some surprising things to tell her. Scootaloo was astonished to discover that when she was a yearling, barely a day went by when one or both of her parents had to chase her around the house and snatch her from the ceiling. They even dug out an old album of Scootaloo’s baby photos, half of which depicted her fluttering feet above the floor and zooming across rooms. It took a long time for her to believe what she was hearing and seeing because she had absolutely no memory of these exploits. This was the evening when she learned something about pegasi that no one seemed to bring up before. It was a fact that eliminated all the dread she felt at never being able to fly at all. She became so absorbed by what she learned about herself and her race, that she decided to use this information for show-and-tell at school the next day.
“So, the reason yearling and adult pegasi are so good at flying but foal pegasi have trouble with it is because of the size of their wings as they grow,” Scootaloo explained as her classmates observed the baby photos she’d pinned up on the blackboard. “When pegasi are born, their bodies and their wings are in equal proportion. But the wings take longer to grow than the bodies. So after about a year, a young pegasus’ wings will barely have changed, meaning they’ll have more weight to carry. During childhood, the body grows faster than the wings, but eventually, the wings will catch up. Before a pegasus reaches adulthood, the wings will slowly return to the proportions they had at birth. So this is why foal pegasi have trouble flying even though they can do it when they are babies.”
Scootaloo took a bow as the class broke into applause.
Scootaloo had been the last to present something for show-and-tell, and after she’d taken down her photographs and gone back to her desk, Cheerilee took the floor again.
“Alright, class. Normally I would say it’s time to begin our lesson,” she said, “but the funny thing is Scootaloo just gave it.”
“Huh?!” exclaimed Scootaloo.
“I don’t know if you’ve been sneaking a peak at my lecture notes or something,” Cheerilee said with a joking smile, “but the proportions of pegasi wings as they grow was supposed to be today’s lesson.”
“So, am I being graded on that show-and-tell?” Scootaloo wondered.
Cheerilee chuckled. “No, but if you were, you’d get an A. I don’t think there’s much I could add to what you’ve said. You’ve pretty much covered everything.”
The students held their breath.
“I suppose there’s no reason to go ahead with my lesson today,” Cheerilee grinned. “So, as a special treat, class is dismissed!”
The colts and fillies cheered.
“Four day weekend!”
Amethyst Star had volunteered to ring the school bell that day, and she was surprised to see all the students leaving the schoolhouse so early.
“What’s going on?” she asked when she’d clambered down from the roof.
“We get to go home early!” beamed Snips.
“Scootaloo gave us all a lesson on pegasi wings, so Cheerilee didn’t have to,” added Snails.
With that, Amethyst Star departed along with the school ponies to decide what to do with her free time.
“I guess Apple Bloom needn’t have ditched class today,” Gilt Eyes joked as he walked away from the school along with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.
Scootaloo jumped a bit. In her excitement to present her baby pictures and showcase her newfound knowledge of young flyers, she hadn’t noticed that Apple Bloom wasn’t in class that morning.
“She didn’t ditch,” objected Sweetie Belle. “She’s just waiting for her cousin at the station.”
“Hey, since we don’t have school anymore, why don’t we go there?” suggested Scootaloo.
“You two go ahead,” Gilt Eyes said. “I’m going to the arcade with Button.”
With that, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle left the school grounds and made their way to Ponyville Station.
“That’s funny. I don’t see her anywhere.”
The two Cutie Mark Crusaders looked all around the station. Their leader was nowhere to be seen.
“Maybe she was just skipping school,” said Sweetie Belle. “I’ve heard of foals doing that on days before long weekends. Kind of a ‘double the fun’ kind of thing.”
“Did Apple Bloom actually tell you that she was gonna skip school to wait for Babs?” asked Scootaloo.
“Uh, no. I just figured that was what she was doing,” Sweetie Belle answered. “Actually, I don’t even know when Babs’ train’s coming.”
Scootaloo thought for a moment.
“Why don’t you wait here while I go to Sweet Apple Acres?” she suggested. “If I find Apple Bloom or if Babs Seed comes, we’ll meet up at some point either way.”
“Did you bring your scooter?” asked Sweetie Belle.
Scootaloo jolted. “Uh, no. I left it at school.”
“Why don’t I go to Sweet Apple Acres?” Sweetie Belle offered. “I’m pretty fast. Me and my big sister did come in second at the Sisterhooves Social.”
Scootaloo nodded and Sweetie Belle turned away.
“I’ll grab your scooter while I’m at it!” she called back as she left.
About a minute after she left, the station loudspeakers started barking.
“The 8AM from Manehattan will be arriving in ten minutes!”
At first, Scootaloo thought she should stop Sweetie Belle, but then she figured that there was no reason to abandon their plan. So she stayed and waited at the platform.
After ten minutes, the Manehattan train arrived. Babs Seed was the first passenger to exit the train.
“Hey, Scoots! How’s it goin’?” she called.
“Good to see you again, Babs,” Scootaloo said.
The two fillies hoof-bumped.
“Hey, I ain’t seeing Sweetie or my cousin anywhere,” Babs Seed looked around. “What gives?”
Scootaloo explained about the school’s early dismissal and Sweetie Belle’s trip to the orchard.
“That reminds me. How did you get outta school today?” she asked Babs.
“I got a note from my big sister,” Babs Seed replied. “She knew I wanted to spend as much time with Apple Bloom as possible.”
“Well, let’s get going then,” Scootaloo said, leading Babs Seed away from the station and towards Sweet Apple Acres.
They met Sweetie Belle along the way, who had Scootaloo’s scooter with her.
“Thanks, Sweetie,” Scootaloo said as her friend passed it to her. “So, did ya find Apple Bloom.”
“Kind of,” Sweetie Belle shrugged.
“What do ya mean, kind of?” asked Babs Seed.
“Well, I know where she is, but I didn’t actually see her. Granny Smith told me to get out there lickety-split,” answered Sweetie Belle.
“Why?”
“Apple Bloom’s sick,” Sweetie explained. “She’s got something called the Broncoitis.”
“What the heck is that?” asked Babs.
“I don’t know, but Granny Smith said it was really contagious and foals are really suspectable to it.”
“I think you mean susceptible,” Scootaloo corrected. “It means easily affected.”
“What are you? A dictionary?” asked Babs Seed.
“The point is Apple Bloom’s gonna have to stay in bed all day and all night,” Sweetie Belle turned to Babs. “Granny Smith told me to tell you it’d be a bad idea if you stayed at their barn tonight.”
Babs Seed frowned, and then turned to Scootaloo.
“Any chance I could stay at your place tonight, Scoots?” she asked.
Scootaloo blinked. “Uh, sure. Why not? I’ll just go ask my folks.”
With that, she mounted her scooter and drove away. In the meantime, Sweetie Belle and Babs Seed decided to see if they could meet up with Gilt Eyes and Button Mash at the arcade.