Cerulean

by Cherax

You're My Excuse to Travel

if you still want me to be there
i'd be there in a minute

"Glad you could make it, kid."

"Are you kidding me? I wouldn't have missed this for the world!" Scootaloo steps off her scooter and props it up against the large wooden signpost that, on one side, welcomes all travellers to Ponyville with garish pink paint, and bids them farewell on the other in a more restrained blue. The two ponies are very much alone out here, atop the crest of the hill that demarcates the town's northern limits. Behind and below them, Ponyville carries out another lazy day; before them, rolling plains unfurl languorously, verdant and inviting, little ripples of hills forming further out in prelude to the grand Unicorn Range on the horizon. Their craggy peaks stretch infinitely off to the east, and culminate in the staggering Mount Royal, centrepiece of Equestria, to the west.

Rainbow glances sideways at the filly, and grins devilishly. "You miiight not be so eager once you hear what I've got in store for us…"

"Ooh, ooh, what is it?!" Scootaloo's little wings flutter with enthusiasm, raising her momentarily to stand on the very tips of her hooves.

She gestures towards the mountain range, pointing a hoof at the closest set. Although they're dwarfed by the colossal Mount Royal, with Canterlot Plateau jutting out higher than most mountains on either side, they're still impressive in their own right. "Y'see that mountain there? The taller, darker one, in the middle of that set of three?"

"Mmhmm."

"They call that Nopony's Peak. It's a treacherous, four-mile trek up its jagged, razor-sharp slopes, almost 90 degrees to the ground the whole way up, and home to quarray eels and stone-leopards and who knows what else. You know how it got that name?"

"Nope."

"Because nopony's ever made it to the peak and back in one piece."

"Woah."

"Anyway, we're gonna jump right off it."

The filly whips her head around to face Rainbow Dash, her eyes widening as her whole face tenses. "We what?!"

"Yep," Dash continues instantly, inwardly relishing the pay-off. "Right off the top, and freefall about two-thirds of the way down. The eels will smell us coming, of course, but we should be going just fast enough at that point to slip by 'em. You'd better hope so, anyway. We ride the currents around the base a few times, and then... then we do it again, just to show 'em who's boss."

Scootaloo's gaze drifts slowly back to the horizon. She looks a thousand miles away in thought. She bites her upper lip for a moment, before finally emitting a short, "oh."

"C'mon, hotshot," she teases with her usual bravado, "don't tell me you're scared of a little baby hill like that?" She nudges Scootaloo playfully, but the girl is still staring absently at the distant threat, not saying anything. Dash's mischievous smile falters. Was that… too much? Maybe Flutters was right, maybe that was-- Damnit Rainbow, she's not you, remember? She's a school-kid.

Her demeanour softens, and she allows a bit of concern to come through in her speech. "Because y'know… I wouldn't blame you if it was. Jeez, the way I talked it up, you'd have to be downright insane to--"

"No." The filly's voice cracks a little as she forces the word out of her mouth. She turns and looks up at the older pony with what she probably thinks is a brave face. "No, we'll do it. It's okay." Her eyes dart to the mountain and back for just a second, then - "I trust you." And when she smiles, Rainbow can feel that trust rushing in to fill her heart like ballast, and she can't help but grin back. Of course, the Peak is nowhere near as nightmarish as she made it out to be (heck, nopony's even seen a stone-leopard in decades), and if the kid comes through, she'll figure that out pretty soon. But for now, she's got a whole other life in her charge, and it's more terrifying and more elating than any death-mountain freefall could ever be.