Chapter 1:
Rain washed down her face and coat. Her wings flapped furiously, almost like the wings of a humming bird. But as hard as she tried, Scootaloo couldn’t stay off the ground for very long. She tried again and again, determined not to give up, but all she achieved was failure after utter failure. The storm was picking up, but Scootaloo wanted one last chance, just one more chance to show her worth. She didn’t have anyone to prove anything to; the field was empty except for her and the few animals trying to find shelter. She began to flap her wings, faster and faster. She got off the ground slowly and she soon began to flap faster.
“I’m gonna...do it,” she panted, "I’m...not gonna…fail...”
She pushed and pushed and just as she thought that she had it, her wings gave out. Scootaloo plunged to the hard, wet ground. Her entire body was covered in mud, and so was her mane. But she didn’t care about that; Scootaloo just laid there in the storm, thinking of only one thing.
“Failure. Failure. I’m such a failure.”
If the storm hadn't been raging, her loud cries would probably have been picked up by tons of ponies passing by the field going to and from Sweet Apple Acres. She couldn’t move: she could only cry, thinking only of her family and friends. She hadn’t just failed herself; she failed her parents too.
"Mom…Dad…why couldn’t you be around to teach me how to fly?” she cried out.
Soon after, she got up and began to charge as fast as she could to the Ghastly Gorge. The storm pounded her and she was beginning to feel numb. She didn’t care; it would all be over soon. She looked for the spot she had been to over the past couple of days. Soon, she found it: the tall cliff with jagged rocks at the bottom. She wanted this to be the place where she finally learned to fly. After all that training, it would be one test; either fly and live, or fall and die. She knew that day would never come and just wanted the pain and misery to go away. She wanted all of the insults and ridiculing to go away. She wanted it to all stop.
Her face was a mix of tears, mud, and rain. Her body was shivering and filthy. But she didn’t care.
“I’m never going to be a true pegasus...I don’t deserve to live.”
Scootaloo straightened her body and calmed her breathing.
Then...she jumped.
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Above the clouds, the sun was out and the young pegasi were playing on their giant temporary park. The young colts played rough, getting wet as they fell into the dark cloud under them, while the young fillies played tag, jump rope, and practiced their flying. As the young children played, one blue mare flew over them, proud of the work she and the rest of the weather team had done. She loved seeing all of the children happy. After playing with a few of the kids, Rainbow started back for Ponyville and her home. Feeling a little daring, she decided to fly under the clouds. She loved the feeling of the rain on her face as she zoomed by, the thrill of flying.
Rainbow had been a gifted flyer from the start. Her parents had seen her potential and sent her to a flight camp for the summer. The camp had classes for young, inexperienced fliers, but it also had advanced classes for those who showed the potential and the heart. Rainbow was one of those fillies. She and a group of other foals learned the techniques for how to achieve the most speed, how to approach the ground at high speeds and stop without slowing down in the air, and how to create the weather. All pegasi had to learn about the weather, but Rainbow’s class learned how to move the clouds perfectly and the conditions for making certain events like tornadoes and such. When she wasn’t in class, Rainbow raced many of the other campers. She also had a couple of friends, such as Gilda the Griffin, who was troublesome. There was also Fluttershy, who was almost Rainbows complete opposite. She had trouble flying, was quiet, and was very shy (shocker). Rainbow had met Fluttershy after she helped defend her from a group of bullies. The two had been friends ever since, helping each other overcome certain shortcomings, such as Fluttershy’s flying problem. During her time at the camp, Rainbow won the Best Young Flyers competition, and had a great future ahead of her, but she dropped out of flight school and went to work for a weather team in Ponyville. To this day, no one, not even Fluttershy, who lives in Ponyville, knows why she did it. All they know is that she couldn’t be happier.
As she dipped below the clouds, Rainbow tried to look at her surroundings. Through the storm, she could tell she was a fair distance from Ponyville. She decided she could take the path along Ghastly Gorge to save time. Although it would cost her cover from the powerful rain, if she hurried, it wouldn’t matter.
As she flew over the gorge, she thought she saw somepony in the rain. It seemed weird for someone to be out in such a bad storm, especially in Ghastly Gorge, so she decided to slow down and do a double take. From her height, she saw a purple mane and an orange coat running up the cliff of the gorge. She knew immediately who it was: Scootaloo, her biggest fan and president of the “Rainbow Dash Fan Club.” The filly idolized her, and Rainbow appreciated her loyalty. Rainbow secretly cared for the little filly a lot. Being an only child, Rainbow never had any siblings. Neither did Scootaloo, to the best of Rainbow’s knowledge. She had never heard much about Scootaloo’s family. She tried to watch out for her the best she could, but tried not to get involved too much, for both Scootaloo’s sake and hers.
Rainbow stopped in the rain and watched and Scootaloo got to the top of the cliff of the gorge. Rainbow noticed her shaking body and her face covered in tears. Before Rainbow could decide what to do, she saw Scootaloo do something that took the color out of her mane and the breath out of her lungs.
She saw her jump.
Rainbow froze in fear, not knowing what to do. But in a matter of microseconds, she snapped out of it and plunged after Scootaloo. As she chased after her, tears began to roll down/up her body. No thoughts ran through her head except one:
“Save her. Save her, Celestia dammit!”
Rainbow caught up with her as they neared the ground. She grabbed her and tried to pull up, but the rain and the speed that they were going at made it difficult. Rainbow thought only of Scootaloo, and after getting out of the range full of jagged rocks, rolled over onto her back, bracing Scootaloo on her belly hugging her, and came to a sliding stop on the ground.
The pain was terrible.
The ground was hard.
But she would live.
More importantly, Scootaloo was alive.