"All my life, I've wanted to fly
But I don't have the wings, and I wonder why
I can't break away..."
Most pegasi figure out flying easily enough. Heck, most of them figure out how to do it before they even get their cutie marks.
But not me. I couldn’t do it, no matter how hard I tried. I couldn’t even hover. Not for more than a few seconds, anyway. And not even Rainbow Dash, the greatest flier in Equestria, could seem to help me. We tried everything, and I failed every time. Day after day, I tried – and day after day, I failed, until finally I was ready to just give up. I’d never be able to do it. Nopony would ever be able to help me to fly...
...until one day, somepony did.
Chapters (1)
well done.
Scootaloo took over 9000 levels in badass!!!
On another note, I think this song suits perfectly this fic.
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Excellent work, liked and faved.
This is... Goddamn.
This is simply beautiful.
~Skeeter The Lurker
K this was amazing, YOUR AMAZING, SCOOTS IS AMAZING, THIS WHOLE STORY SCREAMS AMAZING!
Scootaloo you are certainly a badass
*blink blink*
What? There is something in my eye okay? *sniff*
DON'T give me that! WOULDN'T YOUR EYES BE TEARY when they just got hit by a 152MM High Explosive M64 shell?
Dude.... This is awesome.
I have no words.
This belongs on the top of the featured page.
That is all.
Beautifully written. You have a flow of prose that just makes it impossible to look away.
You particularly got me with Rainbow's line about Scootaloo being able to repeat the feat whenever he wanted.
I love me some badass Scoots. Makes me wonder why there are no Scoots in the Wonderbolts stories.
Well, I can safely say this has inspired me greatly...and now my own take on Scoot's problems with flight have gained a new dimension! Thanks for this, and well done!!
2909186
Holy cow, it made the "Featured" box already?
2909201
It just made sense to me that Dash would be happy for Scootaloo not having to go through what she went through, of spending all those years with nopony believing that she did the Sonic Rainboom because she did it as much by accident as anything else, and wasn't able to do it again for all that time.
Thanks for the compliment.
2909234
The idea of Scootaloo's problem being that she needed to find some alternative way to tap into her magic, was something that just came to me while I was building the framing story around the scene where she set off her "Skyblaster" (which was actually the part I wrote before anything else). Just like left-handed people have trouble doing things in a world where the vast majority are right-handed, and people who are "tactile" hands-on learners have trouble learning things in schools that are almost entirely focused on book learning, some few pegasi (like Scootaloo) just can't get there the "usual" way.
Plus, I kind of liked the idea that she was so desperate to learn to fly that she would even resort to (ugh!) studying.
2909310
Don't be so surprised; your story deserves it.
It actually reminded me of chapters 43-46 of Methods of Rationality, dealing with the Dementor. Sometimes, when you don't have the intuition and models that other people have, you have to know how something really works to do it.
Especially in the latter half of your story, after Scootaloo first learns to fly, your writing of her thoughts really reminded me of the inner monologue in chapter 45. And that's a seriously high standard.
Very nicely written; thoroughly fun and engaging.
2909362
(Um... "His"? I'm pretty sure I'm a filly, not a colt... or at least I was the last time I checked...)
2909379
Better get your eyes checked out; I see no incorrect pronouns there.
(Fixed; sorry, Scoots.)
Amazing, best Scootaloo fic i have ever read! II still have goosebumps.
damn it its so well writed it made me cry, it was simply amazing
That was just some kind of awesome to read.
Too late to do it now, but I'll read it when I'm more awake... and more sober.
-Mis
I had hoped that Scoots would rub it in the noses of DT and SS.
Shame I can't do YouTube embedding here that well. I need to find a crowd chant of 'This is awesome!' to put in here
This is an incredible story you've got, EquesTRON. The only thing i may suggest is that you don't need to emphasize everything with italics. (call me a hypocrit, I don't care
) No seriously, you used italics mulitiple times in one scentence at some points, which is alright, but a little overkill.
That said, I love the way you write. It's a pleasant change of pace from what some other authors on this site are giving. The way you add suspense is amazing, the speech is quality, the emotion is there. In all, you really did what a lot of editors (including me) demand; "show the story, dont tell it". Excellently executed work, my friend. Bravo.
Liked, and favourited!
Cheers
The Princess Luna
THIS IS
Should say "..Doesn't turn you into some kind of Boring, know-it-all nerd."
Awesome story, Liked and added to favourites
It is such a beautiful story that it left me spechless. So amazing. Well done, sir. Well done!
You got a little exposition filled along the way, but... this was an excellent writing. Glad to see something of good caliber within the feature box, you've got a great hand here. Plus, I love Scootaloo related stuff, and this was top tier.
Excellent job.
WOW!
This was amazing!
This fits the story so well, especially the chorus.
Much better caliber than most Scoot stories. It really feels like Scootaloo, instead a one dimensional chicken.
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(Well, I guess I can, that's what happens when you write and rewrite the same bit of text too many times.) Fixed.
Argh, I can't believe I missed that.
2910597
But since this whole thing was Scootaloo's perspective, and a lot of it was written as her stream-of-consciousness thoughts in the moment, it just seemed to fit the rhythm of how an excitable, highly-emotional filly like Scootaloo would talk or think to herself. (And sometimes, it does feel like the right way to really emphasize a character's emotional state when they're particularly wound up about something. Twilight is already getting really, really tired of everypony walking on eggshells around "The New Princess!" and bowing to her all the time 
, and hearing her 'little sister' calling herself a useless, defective failure broke Rainbow Dash's heart enough to make her go all Drill Sergeant on her over it. 
)
I don't usually punch the italics quite so much in most of the stuff I write.
2910182
Besides, sometimes it's best not to stretch out the end of a story too much (which is why the other CMCs aren't there, either). Don't worry, I'm sure DT and SS will be hearing all about the local Princess-in-residence bowing to Scootaloo; that's the sort of thing that does tend to make people talk. 
(And in some ways, that might be even more satisfying to Scoot. She doesn't have to rub their noses in it; the rest of Ponyville will do it for her. 
)
I'd thought about it, but I couldn't think of a good way to work it into the scene at the end without it feeling contrived. I doubt Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are the type to get up early on weekends.
2910970
I was approaching the story in her "voice", as though she were actually telling this story to someone, and young kids do tend to go off on bunny trails sometimes while trying to tell a story. Scoot is excitable, emotional, and passionate about things, and likes to show off, so it just "felt" right that she would sometimes go off on bunny trails to show off her knowledge, too. After all, she worked really, really hard to cram all that stuff into her head! 
Heh, well.. again, Scootaloo's inner thoughts.
Everyone else -- thanks for all the comments and votes; I'm glad to see everyone enjoyed it! 130 "favorites" is a heck of a thing to wake up to!
Nothing i can say would even come close to how epic this story is!
This is probably gonna be the last big "Scootaloo learns to fly" story.
Thanks for making it my personal favorite.
Fantastic from start to finish.
If I had any slight criticism it'd be that I kinda think maybe Applebloom and Sweetiebelle shoulda been in the 'audience' at the end, if for no other reason than seeing a Scootaloo-colored rainboom crack the sky open and rushing out to investigate.
Other than that.....yeah. Perfect.
Keep it up.
--CG
Liked, Fav'ed, and downloaded. Love the story, man. I'm a sucker for Scootalove.
Scoots is one of BEST ponies
she's adorable
liked, faved and all that
This was just plain awesome. Your command of Scootaloo's inner narrative matches her own unwavering command of the sky. I also like how you gave an intellectual reason for Scootaloo's lack of flight ability, which is untypical, and then backed it up with real science that was explained in a way that still sounded like an excited, hyperactive filly who's just starting to grasp the power of knowledge. The payoff at the end, with the revelation of Scootaloo's special technique and cutie mark, and the meaning behind both, was the icing on the cake and brought a huge smile to my face. Well done!!
Bravo good sir! I commend you for your fic. faved and liked!
Bravo. Take a bow.
This is beautiful.
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Oh, somehow, I'm sure there'll be many other stories of Scootaloo taking flight. Too many people love the little orange tomboy and want to see her succeed.
As for Applebloom and Sweetie Belle -- fair point, maybe I should have included them at the end. But, as I commented below, sometimes it's best not to stretch a story's ending out too much past the climax. One earlier draft actually had her setting off the Skyblaster closer to Ponyville, then being buried in congratulations from everypony when she landed in the town square, but I was never satisfied with how it played out. It just seems to work better, emotionally, as an intimate moment of victory between Scoot, Dash, and Twilight. You can imagine the other CMCs as part of the group of ponies racing up the trail if you like; maybe they're just too stunned by what they just saw to actually say anything.
truly an excellent fanfic , and the ending was icing on the cake , if scoots get her cutie mark in season 4 it need to be that way with that cutie mark.
Quick! Somepony with a cutie mark in art! Illustrate the skyblaster! DO IT! ...and make sure I see it.
Great story! It's just so great, seeing somepony achieve their dreams. Better still when they almost gave up. Well done!
What can I say about this story? I have no words for how well this was written. The way you started with Scootaloo's POV and then went on to a flashback sort of style. It's just great. It's not overly detailed, but it has just enough to make it seem like she's actually telling it. The little thoughts that she has from time to time give it a light hearted vibe. I like the way that you played off of Scootaloo's lack of ability to fly. I've read other stories that have her find a way to fly, but none of them have accomplished it as this on has. And also having her try a Sonic Rainboom. But fail to create it but instead create something that's her own. I've used something similar in one of my stories. Instead of Scoots pulling it off, it's Spike. Who's to say that dragon's can't create something similar to a Rainboom? Overall, I give this story a 9.5/10.
Me gusta
Spoiers if you didn't read the story yet!
I couldn't hold it in anymore once I got to the cutie mark part......
Great story
14,000 words of excellence.
Wow. Not only is this a great story played out perfectly with your POV, there aren't any errors. You've done everything right, and that's something not many people do.
This is great. This is awesome. And you should feel proud. Amazing work.
I am going to add this to my group, Heartwarming.
I must see a picture of her cutie mark.
I dunno why, but somehow the whole explanation of how Scoots was able to do what she did felt like an extended suiting up sequence. So I grabbed the coolest music for a suit up sequence I could and basked in the awesomeness.
I WANT TO CLICK THE FAVORITE BUTTON OVER
AND OVER
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AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER
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AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER...
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