Working Towards The Future

by Dasponi

Chapter 51; What If?

Star Shine was flying ahead but Rainbow Dash caught up to him pretty quickly.

“So you’re going to jump into the shower before the lesson right?” she asked him when she had caught up. Star Shine turned to face her and smiled.

“Relax, I’ll have a shower when we get back yeah. Just don’t try and get gliding without me because you know how to do it.” Star Shine replied.

“Huh, I didn’t think of that.” Rainbow Dash mused. She hadn’t considered just trying to give Scootaloo the lesson herself.

“So why shouldn’t she do that?” Scootaloo asked. Her head was leant against the back of Rainbow Dash’s neck to prevent her from being buffeted by the wind. She considered getting used to the wind hitting her but didn’t want to be tired out before she even began. “Would that be dangerous?” she added nervously.

“It wouldn’t be dangerous at all.” Star Shine reassured her with a smile. Scootaloo breathed a sigh of relief. “I just don’t want to miss you glide is all.” he added, gliding over to nuzzle Scootaloo carefully so as to not be hit by Rainbow Dash’s wings.

“I don’t think I’ll get it that quickly...” Scootaloo replied softly with a nervous laugh.

“Sure you can Squirt.” Rainbow Dash reassured Scootaloo. Rainbow Dash turned to face Scootaloo but jumped when she saw how close Star Shine was to her. Star Shine jumped too and moved back to the distance he was before he moved closer. Scootaloo let out a giggle.

“She’s right you know.” Star Shine said, attracting Scootaloo’s attention. “You can do anything you set your mind to.” he added. Scootaloo nodded and the rest of the journey back passed with relative silence. Scootaloo was focusing on gliding and telling herself she could do it.

***
When the three Pegasi reached the manor Rainbow Dash flew up with Scootaloo towards the roof while Star Shine flew inside to have a quick shower and clean himself up a bit.

“Don’t forget to take the brace off, it’s pointless without magic!” Star Shine called as he separated from Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash looked at eachother curiously but did as they were told when they reached the roof and landed. Scootaloo took the brace off and placed it down on the clouds below.

“You know, I still wonder what this thing is.” Scootaloo said as she rolled the brace around on the cloud to get a good look at it. “He tells me to wear it all the time but he never says why. He ever even say why one of yours wasn’t good enough?” she asked, looking up at Rainbow Dash who shook her head.

“I don’t think so, but Twilight is going to ask him about it so I’ll let you know.” Rainbow Dash replied. Rainbow Dash laid down on the cloud and Scootaloo jumped on her back before making her way to to the top of her head. Rainbow Dash gave a small grunt at each impact.

“Rainbow?” Scootaloo asked nervously, looking away. There was clearly another question coming that she didn’t want to ask. Rainbow Dash raised her eyes to look at her as best as she could. “Do you...do you think I’ll get gliding?” Scootaloo managed to ask. Rainbow Dash moved a wing to gently brush against the side of Scootaloo, who giggled at the feeling.

“I know you will Scoots.” Rainbow Dash replied with a smile. “Then you’ll be flying in no time too.” she added with determination. Scootaloo nodded back but began fidgeting with her hooves. She clearly wasn’t as convinced as Rainbow Dash was. Rainbow Dash kicked her head back which caused Scootaloo to be knocked into the air. Rainbow Dash quickly flipped onto her back and catching Scootaloo and bringing her down to rest on her chest between her forelegs. Scootaloo giggled and buried her face into Rainbow Dash’s chest. “You can trust me to always catch you Scoots.” Rainbow Dash said, holding Scootaloo tightly against her body.

“I know.” Scootaloo replied with a smile.

“And you can trust me when I say you can fly.” Rainbow Dash added, hoisting the filly up into the air and holding her in front of her face. Scootaloo smiled but it faltered quickly.

“But what if I can’t?” Scootaloo asked softly.

“But you can.” Rainbow Dash retorted.

“But what if I-” Scootaloo began before Rainbow Dash cut her off.

“You. CAN.” Rainbow Dash emphasised, holding Scootaloo close again. “There aren’t any what if’s.” Rainbow Dash said as she nuzzled Scootaloo. “Except maybe one.” Rainbow admitted after a few seconds thought.

“So what’s that?” Scootaloo asked nervously. She was filled with a sense of fear. Maybe Rainbow Dash really was about to admit there was a chance Scootaloo could never fly. Maybe all of her fears were about to be confirmed by the one pony she held above all others, loved above all others. If Rainbow Dash actually said it then it would break her tiny heart and she knew it.

“Well you spend so much time thinking what if you can’t fly, but there’s something you aren’t thinking.” Rainbow Dash began, hefting Scootaloo up into the air again. “What if, just maybe, you CAN fly?” Rainbow Dash asked. Scootaloo’s eye widened and her heart raced as warmth from Rainbow Dash’s faith in her spread through her. Scootaloo started smiling. Not a fake one to hide feelings of doubt or sadness, but a genuine one caused by the love of another. She was beginning to feel that maybe she really could fly after all. If Rainbow Dash really believed she could do something, then maybe she really could do it. Then her smile disappeared as quickly as those thoughts and feelings. Hope was quickly replaced by despair and worry as it always was and always had been. “What’s the matter?” Rainbow Dash asked worriedly when she saw Scootaloo’s face fall.

“It’s all good saying I can fly, but if I can then why haven’t I? It’s not like I never tried...” Scootaloo said bitterly, voicing her thoughts. “I used to think I could fly all the time and it never helped.”

“...I don’t know why Scoots.” Rainbow Dash admitted after a short hesitation. She was tempted to tell Scootaloo that in the back of her own mind she did have a reason as to why Scootaloo hadn’t flown yet. She was tempted to tell her about Vacuus Medeis and how if she had it then she wouldn’t be able to fly. She thought if Scootaloo knew the reason why she wasn’t flying but knew it was something she could overcome then maybe it would help motivate her. She remembered Star Shine telling her to not tell Scootaloo about and, in the end, realised that was something he had done by giving her a limit to overcome with wingpower. By telling her she couldn’t fly without first reaching 0.1 wingpower he had given her that limit to overcome without crushing her spirit. She had been upset at first but had shown newfound determination to beat that barrier down, as was shown by how upset she had gotten that she still hadn’t done it. “Actually there is something, remember?” Rainbow Dash said as she suddenly realised something. Scootaloo looked down at her with a raised eyebrow. “Remember what Star Shine said? You couldn’t fly because you hadn’t broken 0.1 wingpower, so maybe you still haven’t done it yet.”

“What if...what if he was lying?” Scootaloo asked as she found it hard to break out of her depression. She was under the firm belief she had definitely surpassed 0.1 wingpower and should be flying by now. “What if he was just trying to make me feel better?” Scootaloo added. She was getting angry now at just the implication she might have been lied to. It was getting even harder to stop her train of thought. Rainbow Dash was having trouble looking at Scootaloo and her eyes darted all over the place as she tried to think of an answer. She didn’t think that Star Shine had lied to her about anything but knew from her past experiences with Scootaloo in a mood like this that she might not be believed. Unfortunately for Rainbow Dash Scootaloo took her nervousness and unwillingness to look her in the face as a sign she was right. “I knew it! You can’t even look at me! He’s lying and you know he is! Don’t you?!” Scootaloo cried out angrily. Rainbow Dash was on the verge of tears herself. She felt there was nothing she could do to calm Scootaloo down. Scootaloo let out a gasp as she felt something wet brush against her. Rainbow Dash looked to the side of Scootaloo and saw Star Shine stood nuzzling Scootaloo. His mane and most of his coat were still wet from the shower.

“I have never once lied to you. It’s true you need 0.1 wingpower to fly and if you still can’t then it means you probably haven’t hit it yet. But I’ll get you there, I promise.” Star Shine said shakily. It sounded like he had been crying himself but Rainbow Dash couldn’t tell with all the water stuck to him. The sudden sensation of the wetness on her had snapped Scootaloo out of her angry delusions and brought her back to reality, allowing Star Shine’s words to sink in. “Until then I want you to know how to glide. Even ponies who can’t fly know how to glide. If there is something stopping you from flying it can NOT stop you from gliding.” he added, still nuzzling Scootaloo. Scootaloo gave a resigned sigh and returned the nuzzle, showing that the message had gotten through.

“You think there could be something stopping me from flying?” Scootaloo asked nervously. Star Shine stepped back from Scootaloo to stop her from getting even wetter and shook himself dry before answering.

“This wingpower thing probably still is.” Star Shine admitted, “But you’re doing a really good job and you’ll have it beaten soon. I’d say maybe as early as by the end of the week.” he added to reassure her. Scootaloo smiled at him and he grew nervous as she kept smiling but didn’t respond. After a few seconds she burst out laughing and was joined by Rainbow Dash. “What is it?” Star Shine asked nervously, suddenly feeling very self conscious.

“I’m sorry Shine,” Rainbow Dash began before laughing some more. “It’s just, your mane...” she managed to say between laughs. Star Shine lifted a foreleg up and felt his mane and let out a gasp when he felt it far sooner than he thought he would. After he had shook it dry it had poofed out like Pinkie Pie’s and was all over the place. He ran a foreleg through his hair to push it back down and how it usually looked and eventually the girls stopped laughing at him. Rainbow Dash got to her hooves and Scootaloo jumped onto her back.

“Okay so how about we finally have this next gliding lesson?” Star Shine asked sarcastically, blowing away a strand of hair that had found it’s way in front of his face. Rainbow Dash walked over to Star Shine and wrapped her forelegs around him in a hug. Scootaloo wrapped her forelegs around his neck in a hug of her own.

“Sorry about that, but you did look pretty funny.” Rainbow Dash apologised.

“It’s alright, but I really do want to start this lesson already.” Star Shine replied, returning both Rainbow Dash’s hug and Scootaloo’s nuzzle. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo released their respective grips and together Rainbow Dash and Star Shine took off into the air.

Author's Note:

It's been a while since we had a good old fashioned breakdown. Although what actually happened was that I started writing and this is what came out in the end. I have one more chapter written and I started writing the next one after that before realising it wouldn't work and I needed to redo it So hopefully even though I have a busy day today I can dedicate some time tomorrow to writing and try and write more than one chapter in a sitting.

Also of course I'm back from vacation. Sorry I could only get one chapter up while I was gone. Now I'm back you can expect regular updates. It's almost kinda funny that there are a lot of scenes I want to write but when I try to get to them things like this chapter happen instead.

Comments

[Rainbooms]

Welcome back, man!
I can't wait for regular updates again.

[CoolB]

Welcome back! Huzzah for new chapter! Of course now I have to wait again... the downside of catching up to a great fic. Looking forward to more.

[Dasponi]

3033115
Well they've started now so you won't be waiting long Thanks

3033216
Why thank you If I write a lot I occasionally post an update when it's not a regular update day, so you might get lucky

[Blueball-Blitz]

HORAY The main man is back in town, this stories been awesome from the beginning cant wait for the next chapter !

[rainbowscoot677]

Welcome back, did ya have a good time?

[Dasponi]

3033472
Thanks, it's always nice to know people are enjoying my work. Here's hoping the rest is up to your standard

3033533
Thank you Other than the lack of a stable internet connection I can't complain about my holiday. Except for my sleeping situation. My sleep deprivation has been so bad I've started having dizzy spells

[rainbowscoot677]

3033597 plenty of bed rest should do it. (hmm, why isn't there a nurse red heart emoticon?)

[Dasponi]

3033757
I got a good amount of sleep last night (well, I kept going back to sleep ) but I actually woke up ill I seem to always do that. I'll still always get better though, and I am sleeping a little better now I'm back at home. When I was on holiday I was sleeping on a couch and while it was long, it wasn't very wide so it wasn't comfortable.

[Dasponi]

3037851
Originally it was supposed to be her wing, but I couldn't work out how that would happen and changed it. If you read the comments though you can see that I accidentally left in some of the original version

[Frankie2]

Welcome back. I hope you had a good time.
I pictured Star Shine with a Pinkie Pie hairdo...