Working Towards The Future

by Dasponi

Chapter Three; Lessons...Suspended

Rainbow Dash was as good as her word and over the course of the next day her and Scootaloo did various strength and endurance exercises to help build up Scootaloo's wing power. The day had started out simply enough with the usual routine of showering and breakfast, and then Rainbow Dash had flown Scootaloo down to the ground with her scooter.

Rainbow Dash’s plan was simple enough; in order to build up Scootaloo’s endurance and power with her wings, she had to use them. Since she couldn’t fly with them Rainbow decided to have her use them to push her scooter around like she normally would. Scootaloo was smart enough to question why her wings weren’t powerful enough after her years of doing this anyway, so Rainbow suggested she push herself even harder than she ever had before. Rainbow Dash designed a small course for the little filly using rocks as markers and sent her on her way.

Scootaloo set off as fast as she could, which was pretty fast, and headed for the first rock a few hundred metres away. When she reached it she turned around it and headed down to the other rock, another few hundred metres away. There were five rocks in total for a full lap of roughly a kilometre. Rainbow Dash wanted her to zip around as fast as she could for as long as she could, to get a good gauge of her endurance. Out of her own personal interest Rainbow had done the course herself before setting Scootaloo on it and had discovered she could do it sixteen times before she had to slow down. If she started at a slower pace she could do it for longer but Rainbow Dash wasn’t really one for going slower.

To the surprise of both her and Rainbow Dash Scootaloo was able to last quite a while before she started panting and had to stop. By Rainbow’s count she had done the full course about four times. It was far more than Rainbow was expecting her to be able to do. Scootaloo had endurance so it seemed she lacked strength in her wings. Rainbow had ideas on how to fix that problem too.

“Not bad Squirt. You did pretty good.” Rainbow Dash said as she walked over to where Scootaloo was resting. Rainbow gave Scootaloo a drink of water and waited until she had finished drinking before speaking again. “It seems like you can go for a while so your wings must be a bit weak, but I think I have a solution. When you can move, we’ll head up back to my house. There’s something I want to give you.” Scootaloo beamed at the prospect of getting something from Rainbow Dash and the fatigue in her bones was replaced by excitement as she jumped on to Rainbow’s back, eager to get back to the manor and see what it was. Rainbow Dash giggled at her behaviour, scooped up Scootaloo’s scooter in her hooves, and took off into the sky.

When they arrived Rainbow Dash set Scootaloo down in the living room and then hurried up to her bedroom. She paced around it, looking everywhere for what she wanted to give Scootaloo. She found what she was looking for in her cupboard where she kept all her old things from Flight Camp. Her uniform and the medals she had earned were placed neatly in a box. On top of those was a small brace and that’s what she was after. She scooped it up and ran back down to Scootaloo who was, as usual, where Rainbow Dash had left her.

“Here, try and put this on.” Rainbow Dash said before tossing the brace over to Scootaloo.

"What is it?" Scootaloo asked, looking at the device Rainbow Dash had given her. It looked like nothing she had ever seen before.

“It’s a brace, I’ll explain what it’s for when you get it on.” Rainbow replied. Scootaloo had a little trouble getting the brace on so Rainbow Dash helped her. The brace wasn’t as complicated as it looked, provided you knew what you were doing. Scootaloo didn’t, but Rainbow dash did. She told Scootaloo to extend her wings and then place them through small holes set in to the brace. When Scootaloo had done this, Rainbow pressed a small button on the back of the brace and Scootaloo instantly felt the thing tighten around her wings. She let out a small yelp of pain.

“Yeah, sorry about that. It hurts at first but you get used to it.” Rainbow explained apologetically.

“So, what’s it for?” Scootaloo asked as she attempted to nuzzle her hurt wing. She gave up after a few seconds as the brace stopped all her efforts.

“Try and flap your wings.” Rainbow Dash replied and so Scootaloo did. She tried and she tried to flap her wings but they wouldn’t move at all.

“I can’t.” Scootaloo said, straining her tiny wings as hard as she could.

“I didn’t think you’d be able to.” Rainbow replied. Scootaloo shot her a questioning look and so she explained. The brace was designed to make it more difficult for a Pegasus to move their wings. There was a setting to change how tight it was so Rainbow turned it down enough for Scootaloo to be able to move her wings. Scootaloo breathed a sigh of relief as she moved her wings again, albeit with difficulty. Rainbow further explained that she wore the brace a lot during her school years and she attributed her great speed to them. They were designed to help Pegasi increase their wing strength, which allowed them to fly faster. Rainbow Dash had been so obsessed with speed after winning the race against the ponies bullying Fluttershy that she had continued to use them long after her classmates were satisfied with their speed. Rainbow Dash was never satisfied and had actually improved as much as the braces allowed her too. She was able to fly freely when they were at their maximum setting.

“So what do we do now?” Scootaloo asked. She understood the brace and what it did but she was still unsure as to what Rainbow had planned.

“Now we go back down to the ground and we do the course again. I guess your wings never really got stronger because they had nothing stopping them, so the brace will help.” Rainbow Dash explained. Scootaloo nodded her understanding and followed Rainbow Dash outside again. When they were outside Scootaloo hopped up on to Rainbow Dash again and the two set out for the ground.

The brace really was making it very difficult for Scootaloo to move like she had before. She couldn’t build up much speed at all, never mind maintaining it over a long distance. After a few unsuccessful attempts to reach even the first rock using just the power of her wings alone Rainbow was forced to concede it might still be set too high. Rainbow adjusted the dial a little more until Scootaloo was able to flap her wings as fast as she normally would, but not for very long. There was no point in an exercise where you had to struggle if there was no effort involved.

This time Scootaloo achieved some form of moderate success. She was able to make it to the first rock at least before she had to stop and take a small break. Rainbow wouldn’t let her rest for too long, but she was still lenient with the filly and let her get her rest when she really needed it. This trend continued on for a few hours or so. Every time Scootaloo was able to make to the second rock without having to stop Rainbow Dash tightened the brace and made it harder for her to do it again. By the time they stopped for lunch Rainbow Dash had adjusted the setting twice. It wasn’t much progress, but it was progress nonetheless. When Rainbow Dash called Scootaloo over for a dinner break the little Pegasus was more than happy to stop and take a break.

“You did really good today Squirt.” Rainbow Dash said as the two ate their dinner. Scootaloo beamed at the praise. “When we’re done eating, I think we’re going to try flying again if you feel up to it.” Scootaloo gave her sore wings a little flap to test how they felt and winced a little at the small amount of pain that shot through her body.

“I think I need a longer rest.” Scootaloo sighed. Rainbow smiled at her reassuringly and patted her foreleg.

“Don’t sweat it kid. When you’re done eating I’ll run you a warm bath and you can rest and relax in there for a bit. It should help the soreness.” Rainbow Dash said. Scootaloo nodded and carried on eating her lunch.

“You really think I’ll be able to take off this time?” Scootaloo asked, the apprehension and fear she felt at asking the question clearly present in her voice.

“I’m sure of it Squirt, just you wait and see. We’ll make a flyer out of you yet. They don’t call me ‘Rainbow “Filly Trainer” Dash’ for nothing.

“I thought your middle name was “Danger”...” Scootaloo teased with a giggle. Rainbow would have chastised her but it felt good to hear Scootaloo laughing again after everything she had been through recently.

“Danger and trainer sound pretty similar, so it’ll do either way.” Rainbow Dash replied before getting up and heading to the door. “I’m going to go run your bath now so make sure you finish your food.”

“Yes ma’am!” Scootaloo replied with a mock salute. She then started eating her dinner again to show that she would indeed finish it. Rainbow Dash sighed to herself with a smile and headed for the bathroom.

Author's Note:

According to Google sixteen kilometres is about ten miles, so basically Rainbow Dash can fly for ten miles straight at a fast speed. Prepare for adorability in the next chapter which should hit you some time early next week. I'm going to say Monday. I have a significant enough backlog for two updates a week next week, but I don't want to do more than that. Things will be picking up very soon too. The next chapter is a bit of cute fluff (and some sadness if I must admit) but then we're moving on in the world, and Scootaloo is back to school.

Also pre-reading is awesome. You should do it. I actually found a few mistakes this time including a missing line of dialogue.

Comments

[Dasponi]

2516276
Thank you

[Cold Spike]

MOAR!

[Dasponi]

2520025
I'm working on moar I'm up to nine chapters written now but I'm trying to refrain from posting too much and then running out of new updates to post

[Frankie2]

Nice. Very nice. I'm ready to see what happens next. However, take your time.

[Dasponi]

2535834
Bahhh, I'm waiting for the time people tell me to hurry up and update something I'm going to throw an update up tomorrow though When it's all written I'll then throw up updates a lot more frequently of course.

[LeopardCay]

Wait a min... Is 16 KM 4 amarican miles!? 16 KM in swedish miles is 1.6 miles!!! Cuz 10 KM is 1 swedish mile... arrgghhh... im an egghead...

[Bawss]

I've been reading up to this point, and something has been bothering me slightly: run-on sentences.

In some sentences, a comma or two wouldn't go amiss. I won't put them up in the comments, but if you'd like, I could send a PM. Your call.

But you know what? The grammar Nazi in me is being (mostly) shut out by all the D'aww's, and I can actually overlook them, which is unusual for me. You have actually succeed in making me not want to copy-paste the story into Word and fix everything before my mind explodes. For this, I thank you.

More chapters, so many of them! D'awesomeness awaits!

[Harmonic Bass]

When Rainbow Dash called Scootaloo over for a dinner break the little Pegasus was more than happy to stop and take a break.

Oh hey, that's right! In Britain, dinner is lunch, not supper.
God damnit, I hate being 'Murican sometimes.

[TacoBlend]

3722736

That's what I was gonna say. Lol

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Rainbow Dash was never satisfied and had actually improved as much as the braces allowed her too.