Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Spike walked over to where Scootaloo had trotted out of eyesight to meet up with their friend, only to find no pony waiting for them. Rainbow Dash suggested she may have gone home but Twilight insisted they split up and search for her just to be sure. Rainbow Dash and Twilight flew back to Ponyville to search while Spike stayed behind.
“Scootaloo!” he called her name. No response. After five minutes, Spike was beginning to think she moved on but then he noticed something on the grass. It looked like the area had been displaced by a small hoof print. He kneeled down to examine it more carefully and found three similar hoof prints. Painstakingly, he managed to identify more of these hoof prints leading away from the clearing. It was times like this that he wished for super smelling powers. Oh well.
He glanced up and all his ponderings stopped, replaced with fear. The hoof prints lead to the nearby mountain that overshadowed Ponyville. What was Scootaloo planning now? Spike had an eerie feeling he knew the answer, and hoped he was wrong. He began to race after the hoof prints, running faster than he ever had before.
***
Scootaloo paced up the mountain, searching for the perfect spot. The perfect spot would hopefully be stable ground, a suitable for her to launch herself into the air. No gliding this time, she kept telling herself, this time we fly upward. For Spike.
After hearing how much Spike wanted to fly and doubted his chances of ever doing so, she wanted to prove that even a little filly like her could learn to fly with a little help from her friend. That way Spike would know some day he would fly too.
After ten minutes of searching, however, she just couldn’t seem to find the perfect spot. On the chance she failed and fell, she always had her parachute. Of course, a parachute wouldn’t stop her vertical momentum if she began approaching smaller, nearby mountains with dangerous speed. She began to waver but remembered why she had to do this.
Eventually after another ten minutes, she found a spot that seemed relatively safe. At least compared to everything else. The mountain was a level plain until at this spot where it went into a sharp drop to the valley below. Adjacent to this spot, Scootaloo saw a smaller mountain in the distance, but she could probably avoid it if she made herself glide slowly. If she could fly over it completely, it would pose no problem at all. She hoped the adrenaline would help her do so.
Scootaloo walked to the edge and chunks of rock and dirt fell from the ledge where she stepped. The ground was far from stable. Over the edge she spotted several rock outcroppings, large enough for her to sit on but she doubted there was room to do much else. Below all those, the steep drop continued to a dizzying rocky ledge far below. Honestly, it was probably the best spot she would find all day.
Why was she so worried? She had just glided next to Rainbow Dash from what was a higher point. She could do this easily, and she still had her parachute in case she failed to catch the wind. The problem was she wanted to do more than simply catch the wind; she wanted to control her flight. She had to do this. Spike had to believe.
She took several steps back readying herself to run and leap off the mountain. Rubbing her right hoof against the ground with anticipation, she narrowed her eyes in concentration and hunched her body into a springing position with her front legs tensed and ready like a spring.
“Scootaloo, stop!”
She jumped with surprise as she saw Spike racing towards her, sweating heavily and panting, “what are you doing?”
“Proving I can fly,” Scootaloo replied as Spike drew near, “I heard everything you said to Twilight, and I want to prove you’ll fly too.”
Spike’s eyes widened as he doubled over in exhaustion, wheezing and struggling to catch his breath he coughed, “Just because you’ll fly,” he struggled to stand in front of Scootaloo, “doesn’t mean that I can fly too.”
“But it will prove that with the right help and friends who never give up, you’ll be able to fly just like me,” Scootaloo insisted shifting to the left so Spike was no longer blocking her.
He just moved to block her again, even though he was winded after running up a mountain. “No, it won’t. You have wings, I don’t. You have ponies, who can tell you what to do, I don’t. You have talent, I don’t. Just because you succeed doesn’t mean I will too.”
“But it does mean that anyone can fly if they want to,” Scootaloo said determined to jump, “they just need the right help.”
She feinted moving to the right and dashed past Spike’s left side toward the ledge. As she began to leap, Spike grabbed her hind legs and pulled her back at the edge of the cliff.
“Please,” he gave her a desperate look, “don’t risk yourself for me. I’ve made peace with the fact I will never fly.” He realized Scootaloo was still determined to jump and decided he had to say something to get through her head. His head drooped as he muttered, “maybe you should too.”
Before Scootaloo or Spike could speak, the ledge they sat on rumbled. They exchanged a quick glance. The ledge crumbled and they fell. They tumbled down the drop frantically screaming for help, until Spike managed to land on an outcrop and Scootaloo managed to grab hold of an outlying rock a few feet away.
Rubbing his sore back, Spike saw Scootaloo dangling from the rock and forgot all his aches and exhaustion, “hang on, Scootaloo! I’m coming!”
Carefully, he pressed his body close to the mountainside and began to move across the outcrop towards Scootaloo. Spike’s hands grew sweaty as he delicately crossed onto very smaller outlying rocks to cross the gap. Every step he took sent debris rolling down the mountain. He wanted to rush over to Scootaloo but feared doing so would end in both of them falling. Seeing the rock she held onto tremble made him even more nervous. He quickly leapt to the next rock and almost lost his balance.
“Spike, I’m so sorry,” she whimpered as the stone she held trembled once more, “if I hadn’t been so stupid we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“We can play the blame game later,” Spike tried to suppress his own paralyzing fear as he reached a ledge close to her. Placing his feet near the edge and one hand against the mountainside, he extended his other clawed hand towards her, “take my hand!”
Scootaloo had closed her teary eyes and trembled completely terrified.
“You have a parachute,” Spike reminded her, “you’ll be alright!”
“It won’t work from this height,” she cried tightening her grip, “I’d descend too quickly for it to stop me enough!”
Spike gritted his teeth in frustration. Why hadn’t he thought to call Rainbow Dash or Twilight? He should never have followed those hoof prints without them. Why hadn’t they moved away from the ledge when it began to fell or activated the parachute sooner where it would have helped Most of all, why couldn’t either of them fly? Then, he extended his hand further.
“That’s just your fear talking,” he told her as she opened her eyes to look at him, “take my hand. I promise it will be alright.”
Scootaloo stretched her hoof towards Spike. They couldn’t reach each other. Spike stretched his hand even further, scooting even closer to his shaky ledge. They were closer, but merely inches apart. The ledge beneath Spike trembled beneath his weight. Both of their hearts skipped a beat. It wouldn’t hold him much longer. If he retreated to a more stable area he might be safe, but then she would surely fall. Spike glanced into Scootaloo’s eyes for what he realized might be the last time.
“Scootaloo,” he stretched his arm so far his muscles were screaming, “What I said before, I’m sorry. Don’t accept a life on the ground, fly in the sky some day. For both of us.”
“What are you—?” Scootaloo began until Spike finally grabbed her outstretched hoof. As the adrenaline kicked in, Spike desperately flung Scootaloo to the safety of a nearby ledge. Scootaloo looked up in time to see the ledge give way and her friend plummet down the mountainside.
Without thinking, she jumped off the ledge. Narrowing her body, she soared through the air towards the helpless Spike. With adrenaline now pumping through her body, she intercepted Spike, wrapped her hooves underneath his arms, and spread her wings, turning their rapid fall into a dangerously fast glide.
She almost thought she could feel relief until she and Spike saw they were quickly approaching another mountain and close to become stains on the rocks. They needed to gain altitude quickly. Spike told her to drop him and save herself but she told him to shove it. Desperately thinking, he grabbed Scootaloo’s hooves tightly and let out a steady burst of flames as he had before. Gradually, they did rise.
It wasn’t enough. Scootaloo knew this as the mountain came several meters closer. She racked her brain for anything she could do.
“Remember what Rainbow said,” Spike yelled in between bursts of flames, “feel don’t think!”
So she did try to feel. All she felt was terror and apprehension. If she didn’t do something, they would both bite it. Then she realized both she and Spike would bite it. She felt worry for her friend and realized she had to save them both. All she could do was flap her little wings in desperation. She had to try to fly for the both of them. Fly for both their sakes.
Spike’s steady flames kept them hovering the air and propelled them slowly upwards. Narrowly missing the rocks and the mountainside, they careened across the top of the mountain and tumbled across the ground, rolling head first across the floor towards another ledge. Spike stuck out his legs to slow their approach and Scootaloo followed suit. Limbs burning, they slid across the dirt, coming dangerously close to the ledge. Their efforts were useless as they fell off the ledge towards the rocks below.
Suddenly, they stopped. They opened their eyes to find themselves suspended in the air by purple magic and gradually lifted back to the mountain. They were gently placed at the top where Twilight Sparkle’s horn glowed with a magic aura, stopping only to join Rainbow Dash in checking their friends.
“Spike, Scootaloo,” she panicked as she nervously inspected the duo, still clenching each other, “ are you two okay? We saw Spike’s flames from Ponyville and came as quick as we could! Well, we didn’t see the flames right away with the sun in our eyes and even when we did we weren’t sure what we were seeing and we just came here not sure what to expect—!”
Spike ran to embrace Twilight and Scootaloo moved to tackle Rainbow Dash. They were both so scared from their narrow rescue and so relieved this whole ordeal was over.
“It’s my fault,” Scootaloo sniffed, “I came here hoping I could finally fly. Spike came to talk me out of it and fell trying to save me. I put us in danger, I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine, Scoots,” Rainbow Dash wrapped a hoof around her, “we saw you two crash into the mountain top and we made it here just in time to save you. You’re both alright.”
“Aren’t you mad at me?” Scootaloo shamefully asked willing to accept any punishment she was given.
“I’m just glad you’re safe,” Rainbow Dash looked Scootaloo in the eyes, “I don’t know what I’d do without my sister.”
Scootaloo gave a shaky smile and squeezed Rainbow Dash even tighter, forcing much of the air from her lungs.
Spike broke away from Twilight and looked at Scootaloo with excitement.
“You did it, Scootaloo,” he said with a beaming smile. She turned and looked at him confused.
“What did I do?” she asked wondering if he was angry.
“You flew.” At this Rainbow Dash and Twilight both turned and looked at Scootaloo with wide eyes. She blinked and tried to process what he just said.
“We were going to crash into the mountain side,” Spike eagerly explained, “but you flapped your wings and we hit the top. You moved us vertically on your own.”
Scootaloo gave him a doubtful glance, “but you were breathing fire. I thought that’s what lifted us.”
Spike shook his head and approached her. “My fire breath may have helped, but if it were alone, we wouldn’t have made it. You flapped your wings and we just made it. You flew.”
Scootaloo blinked again uncertainly. She closed her eyes and flapped her wings once more, trying to relive her sensations. What had she been thinking? No, she hadn’t been thinking. She just felt. She was desperate to save Spike and herself from colliding with the mountain and the adrenaline just took over. She flapped her wings harder, not thinking yet not dreaming.
“Open your eyes,” Rainbow Dash’s voice dripped with pride.
Scootaloo slowly opened her eyes and looked down to see she was exactly five inches off the ground. She flapped her wings harder and moved another five inches, and another, and another, and soon she was high in the sky. Her wings supported her own body, no riding on the winds, just her own strength lifting her body.
“I did it,” she said as the gravity of her achievement finally hit her, “I did it!”
She gleefully zipped through the air in summersaults, spinning in circles and figure eights. She glanced down below and saw Rainbow Dash’s eyes filled with joy, Twilight gazed astounded but equally joyed, and Spike just looked on with a satisfied knowing look, as he knew this would happen. He had no doubt.
She zoomed down and embraced Spike with tears of joy, “Oh, thank you Spike! Thank you!”
“Sure,” Spike grinned as he added mischievously, “if you want, I can jump off a taller mountain.” Twilight him a reproachful and apprehensive look as Spike giggled, “Joking, joking.”
They all laughed, even Twilight eventually gave a small smile. Spike continued, “You don’t have to thank me. You did this yourself. I should be thanking you for saving me.”
“But I couldn’t have done it without you, Spike.” Scootaloo insisted as she gripped him more tightly. “Thank you.”
Spike looked at her quizzically, “you’re the one who flew, I just gave you that book, and fell off a cliff, which by the way,” he looked at Twilight again, “I will not do again.”
“You bet you won’t,” Twilight said with a playful grin, “even if I have to chain you to a tree.”
Spike trembled at the thought, hoping she was joking. Then again, Twilight usually didn’t joke.
“You did something even greater for me,” Scootaloo redirected the subject back to his efforts, “you gave me something I haven’t had in a long time: hope. You made me believe that I could do it, and I did it. All because you didn’t give up on me, when I gave up on myself.”
She gave another joyful aerial twirl and grinned at Spike.
He smiled back. “Then I should thank you too. Because you gave me hope that I might fly too. From now on, whenever I see you in the sky, I’ll remember how you worked so hard and try to work just as hard, so I can join you up there.”
“I’ll help you learn fly like you helped me. When you do,” Scootaloo said happily, “we can fly together.”
“All of us,” Rainbow Dash interjected and stepped forward, “all three of us will fly together.”
“All four,” Twilight added, “I wouldn’t let my number one assistant going flying through Equestria without me.”
Spike smiled as she embraced him again. He could hardly wait for that day when they would all soar together.
“When we all do fly together,” Rainbow Dash smirked playfully and rose into the sky, “I hope you slowpokes can keep up with us! Come on, Scootaloo! I’ve got to teach you my Sonic Rainboom or my Buccaneer Blitz!”
Scootaloo waved one last farewell and flew away with Rainbow Dash, closely chasing after her. Spike and Twilight stood and watched them vanish behind the clouds and fade into the distance. For the first time in a long time, Spike and Scootaloo stared at the sky not with longing but anticipation. For the first time in a lifetime, both felt at peace with themselves.
The End