By the Unfaltering Light of the Sky

by CandleEyes

Entwined

Rainbow Dash skidded to a halt, holding on the orange pegasus tight. Their hearts raced in unison. When asked about it later, the mare would always claim she had seen the little filly's ascent, but the truth of the matter was she was quite lucky to be unhurt.

Scootaloo eased herself out of Dash's grasp, who still had not fully realized what had just happened. "Thanks for saving me!" Her voice trembled, not just because she had narrowly missed breaking several bones, but because it was Rainbow Dash who had rushed to help her. "I'm Scootaloo! I'm a huge of fan of your-"

"Moves. Yeah, I know."

The smaller pony looked down in disappointment. Still just an unwelcome intrusion.

"Listen, um." She shook her head in disbelief. "What in Celestia's name were you doing up there?"

She backed away. "I... I was flying."

"You- you almost died!" She sighed. "Nevermind. I thought you were still figuring that out."

"I guess I must have done it. My wings are strong enough now."

"If you're crashing down in mid-air, they aren't."

"I guess you're right..."

"Hey, kid," Rainbow turned to face her. "Don't be so hard on yourself. First time's always difficult."

Scootaloo's eyes twinkled ever so slightly in the darkness

"I know I've been a little rough on you. And I know you're a big fan of me, in..." She gave a small laugh. "Well, in every way possible. So I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry."

The filly looked up, mouth agape.

"I just haven't been feeling good at all lately."

"What do you mean, Rainbow Dash?" She tried sounding as gentle as possible, but the filly was quite eager to help.

"Have you ever..." She couldn't believe she was trying to explain her feelings to a foal. "Have you ever felt like you just have no idea where your life is going, like you've lost sense of it?"

Scootaloo sighed and gazed deep into the ground again.

"What is it?"

"Oh, I'm just a little down with myself."

"How come? You should be proud!"

"Because..." Proud. Proud of failed attempts that almost killed her? She broke out into a whimpering sob.
Rainbow Dash's heart churned at the sight- it was her fault, wasn't it? She nuzzled her with concern. "There, there. It's alright. Please don't cry, Scootaloo." She paused. How could she bring light to this poor pony? "What if I let you fly with me?"

The filly glanced up, eyes still moist. "But... but I'm no good at flying."

"Oh, don't be silly. You can do it. Are your wings relaxed?"

Scootaloo flapped them slowly, the sudden stiffness she had experienced earlier gone. "Yep."

"Alright! I'll lead the way and you can follow- and don't worry, I'll slow down for you." With that the two pegasi lifted off.

"Ready?"

"Yeah!"

The pair surged on together.

Dash was hoping to slip back into a gentle pace, but her feisty companion would have none of it- Scootaloo had something to prove to herself. Rainbow caught up to her and pondered the fact that a little filly was leading the way. The orange one turned to her and smiled at her before speeding up again. Rainbow returned the smile and followed suit. She just hoped the girl wasn't straining herself too much. This was nothing for her, but Scootaloo had literally just learned to fly. Needless to say, the mare was taken aback when the other doubled her tempo in an instant. That pegasus was fast...

But she wasn't going to let her win that easily, no matter how adorable and innocent. The self-proclaimed fastest flier in Equestria still had her pride, and she transformed it into greater, stronger flaps, until she passed Scootaloo, grinning from ear to ear and laughing. Then she crashed into a tree.

"Rainbow Dash! Are you okay?" The orange pegasus rushed over to her mentor's side.

She groaned. "Yeah... could you try warning me the next time I'm about to fly into someting?"

"Well- I tried! You were going too fast!"

"I wonder why. It definitely wasn't because of a certain filly who decided to speed ahead of me."

Their gazes met, and they realized they were both smiling. And then they both exploded in hearty laughter, heavenly light shining down on them all the while.

Comments

[littlerobotbird]

(Okay... take two on attempting to comment, so hopefully I don't leave anything out...)

I think that the expanded scenes and the greater context has really added quite a bit to this story. It puts a lot of the action/emotion into better context than the ambiguities of the prior. Reinforces the apparent theme(s) as well... makes them a bit more obvious, for better or for worse, as well. Overall, though, I think its just become a lot more of an immersive story... doesn't have quite the separation that the original may have had.

Need to finish later-ish, but so far I don't see too much to crit on, only the odd bit of phrasing and I didn't end up seeing much past the first chapter. (immersion: it confounds criticism)

[BestiaAuris]

Awww...
So cute, yet sad in places. All of the chapters so far have been fantastic; they just get better and better! I really like this fic as it adds to the characters without contradicting them.

One of the best fics out there, it deserves much more publicity.