Working Towards The Future

by Dasponi

Chapter 56; Teaching A Young Filly New Tricks

Scootaloo woke up on Friday and saw that it was later than she usually woke up. The sun was shining brightly through the window and she could hear birds chirping. Rainbow Dash would often wake up before even the morning birds. Scootaloo jumped out of bed and ran to her window. She looked up and saw that Rainbow Dash was indeed in the sky along with, for reasons unknown to her, Star Shine. They were flying around not just the sky but also eachother. It was almost like they were mirror images of eachother as they stayed parallel to eachother whilst flying in no pattern Scootaloo could see. They would also fly towards eachother at seemingly random intervals and fly so close to eachother they would almost collide head on before flying off in opposite directions again. Scootaloo watched in awe as they did this a few times before she felt the need to call out. Part of the reason she was in awe of it was because they would almost collide every time they flew towards eachother. It looked like they were about to hit eachother until the very last second when they would suddenly spin off, all the while moving in sync. Either they knew what the other was going to do or their reaction time was just that impeccable. It was a little of both in reality.

“Hey! What’cha doin’?” Scootaloo called up. Rainbow Dash and Star Shine were flying so quickly that by the time she had finished calling out to them they were flying towards eachother which was a bad time to be distracted. They both looked across at Scootaloo which meant that they weren’t paying attention to eachother and collided in midair instead of avoiding eachother. They let out cries of pain and Scootaloo buried her head in her hooves. She was feeling more than a little bad that she had caused them to hit eachother. Thankfully the collision wasn’t too bad and neither of them were really hurt. They both flew down to the window and leaned against it, still hovering in the air.

“That? It was something they taught us in Flight Camp.” Star Shine replied.

“It’s supposed to build trust and practice flying together in sync.” Rainbow Dash added.

“Sorry I made you crash...” Scootaloo said, looking downcast. Rainbow Dash was quick to pat her on the head and reassure her.

“Don’t worry about it. We’ve not done that in years so you didn’t see how much we hit eachother earlier.” she said with a sheepish laugh. Star Shine looked away nervously and stiled a giggle. “Why are you up so late anyway? You’re normally up way before now.” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I dunno. Guess I just slept really well.” Scootaloo replied. Star Shine dropped out of the sky backwards, distracting both of them, and flew into the house through the kitchen window, mimicking the 180 degree turn he had made while flying with Rainbow Dash.

“And he complains I never use a door...” Rainbow Dash whispered angrily to herself. She wasn’t too annoyed that he flew in through a window but she couldn’t help but be mildly agitated by the double standards.

“Guess he’s going to make some breakfast.” Scootaloo mused, leaning on the window and looking down where Star Shine had disappeared.

“Guess so...” Rainbow Dash replied, looking down at the empty space herself. “Hey, you wanna do something cool?” Rainbow Dash added, shifting her head up suddenly and smiling brightly at a suddenly very unnerved Scootaloo.

“Sure, I guess.” Scootaloo replied shakily. “What is it?” she added with a bit more enthusiasm. She was keen to try anything Rainbow Dash wanted her to, especially if it was some cool thing she was going to teach her.

“Well you see, you can actually do what Star Shine just did.” Rainbow Dash replied.

“I can?!” Scootaloo replied excitedly, her wings buzzing. She thought it must be something cool but not that cool. Rainbow Dash nodded and giggled at Scootaloo’s enthusiasm.

“Yeah but you only get one shot. It’s not something you need to fly for and I don’t think he actually flew anyway. He would have glided into the window and you can do it too.” Rainbow Dash explained. Scootaloo hopped up on to the windowsill and almost jumped out the window in her excitement. Rainbow Dash stuck out a foreleg to keep her in place.

“So what do I do?” Scootaloo asked. She was still practically bouncing about.

“Well first of all you need to stop moving so much.” Rainbow Dash teased. Scootaloo brought herself under control and stopped moving. “You’re also going to need to turn around, but before you do watch me so you can learn what you have to do.” she added. Scootaloo nodded and focused intently on Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash removed her hoof from Scootaloo’s chest and flew a little higher up into the air. “Watch carefully!” she called out to Scootaloo. Scootaloo watched as Rainbow Dash flew a little further up and a little further away from the house too. Rainbow Dash turned so her back was facing Scootaloo and then tucked her wings into her side. She fell backwards, much like Star Shine had and, as she guessed he had, spread her wings wide again after a few seconds and turned her body so that she made a 90 degree turn and was flying straight forwards instead of downwards. Scootaloo ooohed as Rainbow Dash made her way back to the window and gave an appreciative clop of her hooves. Rainbow Dash couldn’t resist giving a small bow and Scootaloo giggled when she did it. “So you know what you’re doing?” Rainbow Dash asked Scootaloo. Scootaloo nodded, hopped down from the window back into the room and turned her back to Rainbow Dash.

“I fall backwards, then spread my wings and turn my body so I glide right through the window right?” she asked, spreading her wings as she went through the motions. She turned back around to see Rainbow Dash nodding at her.

“Now, remember what I said. You get one shot at this. We can try again later if you mess up but it’s getting late so we’ll have to go to school not long after you eat breakfast.” Rainbow Dash explained. “ I’ll be flying down next to you if something goes wrong too.” she added as the idea to do so occured to her. Scootaloo nodded, hopped up onto the windowsill again and turned her back to the sky. She tucked her wings into her side, closed her eyes, gulped, and then went for it. She fell backwards out of the window. The wind felt the same as it had the day before. It calmed and soothed her and even though she was falling freely she still wasn’t afraid. “Now!” Rainbow Dash called after about a second. Scootaloo wanted to open her wings immediately but waited a split second longer until the wind felt just right around her body. She unfurled her wings, twisted her body, and screamed with delight as the sensation of the wind buffeting her wings hit had and she shot forward through the kitchen window. Screams of delight were soon replaced by grunts of pain both from her and the object she immediately collided with. She opened her eyes cautiously to see that she had hit the back of Star Shine’s neck. “Great work Scoots! You really did...it...” Rainbow Dash started enthusiastically before trailing off as she saw what had happened.

“Umm...what just happened?” Star Shine asked slowly. He was blinking his eyes and trying to bring himself back to reality and get rid of the stars and blurred vision. He shook his head and looked down at the ground to see Scootaloo stood in front of him and smiling nervously.

“Sorry about that. Rainbow Dash taught me how to do what you did.” Scootaloo explained.

“She taught you a trick?” Star Shine asked Scootaloo. He thought he was still a little out of it and hadn’t heard correctly. Scootaloo nodded and smiled at him. “She got it in one go?” he asked Rainbow Dash, who also smiled and nodded at him. Star Shine smiled gleefully and fell into a fit of giddy giggles. He threw Scootaloo up into the air and Rainbow Dash caught her before she could hit the ceiling.

“Hey, careful with her!” Rainbow Dash chastised him. “You’re so going to pay for this.” she added, narrowing her eyes at him.

“Sorry, it’s just that’s pretty great. She learned a trick from her idol and got it in one go.” Star Shine said, still smiling. Scootaloo squirmed with excitement as she realised that was indeed what had just happened to her.

“It is pretty awesome but still, no throwing things in the house. Especially not a little filly.” Rainbow Dash replied. She could admit that was pretty great but she was still a little annoyed he’d done the same thing twice in two days.

“Yeah yeah...” Star Shine replied, turning around to get back to making breakfast. As a result he didn’t notice Rainbow Dash stick her tongue out at him before placing Scootaloo back on the floor. “Well anyway, I made you breakfast, so sit down and I’ll feed you already.” Star Shine added suddenly to steer the conversation away from where it was. That it was him being in trouble was a good motivator to do that. Rainbow Dash sat down at the table and Scootaloo joined her.

“Hey Star, why are you here anyway?” Scootaloo asked out of the blue. Star Shine raised an eyebrow at her as he served breakfast. It was pancakes today. “I mean, you’re going to Canterlot again aren’t you?” she elaborated. “You’re normally gone when I wake up...” she added a little sadly. She had missed having Star Shine around in the mornings.

“Well you’re right. I’m going to Canterlot today, and I am usually gone before you wake up, but I’m not going to Canterlot until the afternoon today. Me and Rainbow are going to go see Twilight at lunch time”-Rainbow Dash snorted on her drink at this but Star Shine continued-” to get the brace sorted, and the lesson in Canterlot is in the afternoon. I’m going to take you to school today and then Rainbow Dash will take you to Canterlot this evening so we can go have dinner together.” Star Shine explained, laying out his entire plans for the day.

“Well that makes sense I guess.” Scootaloo replied, nodding her approval of his plans. Everything seemed to fit together just fine. Except for one tiny detail bothering Rainbow Dash.

“We’re seeing Twilight at lunch time? But what about-” Rainbow Dash began before Star shine held up a hoof to silence her. He figured she was about to ask about keeping an eye on Scootaloo during her lunch break but Scootaloo still had no idea Rainbow Dash did that.

“I’ve taken care of everything. There’s no need to worry.” Star Shine replied. He was deliberately being ambiguous so Scootaloo didn’t think too much about what they could be talking about. If it was some tiny thing Star Shine had already taken care of then it was nothing to worry about. Scootaloo saw it that way and continued eating her pancakes. Soon enough her saddlebags were packed and it was time to take her to school. If she was asked about it, she would have said it felt pretty good to be taken to school by both Rainbow Dash and Star shine.

Author's Note:

Today I did not have to write a new chapter before posting a new chapter as I already have Monday's update ready. I wrote it yesterday actually and it's a good one. Things are really being set up here properly for a major event. This major event will, thankfully, not be the finale but will help set it up. I'd say I'm worried about how what Rainbow Dash and Star Shine were doing came across, as I changed it about three times, but I think people will just be too busy thinking "Sweet Celestia Scootaloo learned a trick. Awesome!" I'm aware it's not quite a trick but it still counts as one to me, and definitely to all the ponies involved.

Also today has the potential to be a very momentous day for me. More details later. I don't want to hype everypony up just to let everypony down.

Comments

[CoolB]

Huzzah! New chapter and mention of a major event that isn't the finale! That means that after said major event there will still be more chapters to look forward to reading!

Also, hope your potentially momentous day becomes reality.

[Zman537]

I have the feeling that this is going to happen when they get to Canterlot.

They go to dinner,
Five certain mares follow,
Shenanigans.

Lots of shenanigans.

[Rainbooms]

3092867
I couldn't agree more.

[RainbowFlash96]

You're right...

Sweet Celestia, Scootaloo learned a trick? Awesome!

[twilightsparkle13]

MOAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am going to essplode once the dinner in Canterlot comes up, I just know it!

[Dasponi]

3092690
Well I have blogged about what happened on my momentous day. But I'm not sure how much of a reality it is. I had a job interview and I've got no idea how it went.

3092867>>3093030
I didn't plan that, however it would not be the first time that I took ideas from you guys. Well, maybe not you two specifically, but from the audience. You guys can think of things I can't. Having thought about it, I think I know how such shenanigans might go. Or not go. Oooh, you'll have to see.

3093105
Scoots is awesome

3094284
The Canterlot thing might not make you dawwww too much, but what comes after it definitely will.

[twilightsparkle13]

3094654

[Frankie2]

Scootaloo learned a gliding trick.
Let's see what happens next.