Junior Flight Camp: The Crusader and the Bullhead

by Wise Cracker

Scootaloo's First Kiss

Chapter 12: Scootaloo's First Kiss

Rainbow Dash walked over to Whimper and drew a line in the cloud. “You step over this line, I send you home. Got it?” She spoke calmly, but sternly, glaring him down.

Whimper quivered at the sudden change in tone. “Yes, ma’am.”

Rainbow nodded and trotted over to Scootaloo. “So, you’ve got the stranglehold escape down?”

Scootaloo hopped up in joy. “Yup!”

“Show me.” Rainbow Dash placed a hoof on the filly’s neck.

Just as before, she pressed down on the elbow to unbalance her opponent.

Unlike before, her opponent corrected right after. Dash didn’t remove and reposition her hoof, since a real stranglehold would involve holding her, making hooves inadequate to replicate the sensation. She did, however, stay stable and straightened her elbow. “Nope, try again.”

Scootaloo went for it again, but failed.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Know what you’re doing wrong here?”

Scootaloo tried to think. “Umm… no? I’m doing it just like I did with Whimper.”

“Yeah, but Whimper lets you win. He does things on autopilot. He doesn’t know the proper technique, even if he does use it.”

That rang a few bells in the filly’s head. “Wait, I’m confused. I thought you only knew karate. There’s no strangling in karate, is there?”

Rainbow Dash pushed slightly harder against that throat. “I never said I had a black belt in karate. That’s just one thing I know, and I’m not even that good at it. My black belt is in something pretty different, actually. Something a little more free-style. Now, what is it you’re doing wrong? I’m not going to stop pushing, kiddo.”

The pressure against the girl’s throat became uncomfortable. What’s she trying to do here? And why can’t I think… oh. In one swift motion, she pressed, turned and twisted. This time, the bigger mare went along for the ride, letting herself be unbalanced.

Rainbow Dash smiled proudly at Scootaloo, staying down so the girl could relish the sight. “Figured it out now?”

“I-I don’t know.”

Rainbow Dash got up and raised her voice so Whimper would hear too. “Whimper never took any classes in martial arts because he can’t keep up with the running part of it. He’s gasping for air as soon as the warm-up’s done. All of his moves come natural. Now, some martial arts rely only on natural movement, but that's got a few problems. When somepony tells you or shows you what to do, you start thinking. You slow down, and the move loses power because of it. The more you think about it, the slower you get, the more likely it is you fail. So the best way to learn is to see what you're supposed to do, memorise the proper technique, then keep practising until you can do it without thinking. That’s lesson one. Lesson two is dodging.”

Scootaloo raised her eyebrow, confused. “Wait, lesson one and two? If we’re not doing karate, what are we doing?”

“Don’t worry about the name, you wouldn’t know it if I told you. Now, as I was saying, you need to learn how to dodge. I’m going to punch at you now, for real. You need to get away from the punch and find the spot where you’re safe. Got that?” Rainbow Dash got on her hind legs and tensed up for an attack.

Scootaloo followed suit, albeit shakily. “Err… are you sure…”

“HUT!” The blue hoof shot forward in a blur.

Scootaloo barely had time to dodge that hoof. What the… she nearly took my head off! Good thing she wasn’t aiming right at it. The blow had come in fast and hard, and Scootaloo could feel the power and even rage behind it. Is Rainbow Dash mad at me for something?

“C-could we maybe slow down, Rainbow Dash?”

“HUT!” Another blur, another near-miss.

Again, Scootaloo backed away from a clearly angry punch. She wasn’t getting through to her idol, she was going to get beaten up and she didn’t know why.

“Is this about the fan club thing? I said I was sorry! We disbanded, just like you asked!”

“YAH!”

Another punch, another step back. Scootaloo was shaking at this point. Her angry instructor lightened up and went out of her fighting stance. “Look at where you’re standing.”

Scootaloo looked around. She’d gone three steps backwards. The implications were sinking in.

Rainbow Dash held up a hoof to Scootaloo’s nose to get her attention. “I told you to move to a safe place. If you just back up, I can always just punch again. And eventually you’re going to run out of space before I do. Look around, watch what I’m doing. Where’s the danger coming from, where the power in my punch? Find the safe spot and move there.”

Scoot’s mind was reeling. What’s Rainbow Dash trying to say here? Does she think I’m not good enough to be like her? She turned her eyes towards Whimper. Maybe she’s right. Whimper’s had it worse than me, and he’s done bigger things than I could ever do. Maybe I’m the runt now.

Scootaloo saw Whimper’s eyes on her. They spoke of friendship and respect, not the pity she was expecting. No, that can’t be it. Rainbow Dash never lets anypony hang, including me. And Whimper’s no better than me, we’re equal. I just need to get my head together. I’m not a runt, I’m a daredevil.

The last blow came in without a kiai.

Daredevil… that’s it!

Scootaloo’s rational mind may have been slow to think, but her reaction time certainly didn’t show it. She'd dodged the blow. Rainbow Dash looked to the side, over her extended right foreleg.

Right where she needed to be, Scootaloo stood with one hoof at Rainbow’s elbow. She realised she didn’t actually need to get away from her opponent, just the dangerous part of her opponent. The only dangerous part was the tip of that incoming hoof. Moving sideways and forward meant she could dodge the blow and be safe from the follow-up. She squeed as she realised what she’d done. “Lesson two, safety isn’t always where you think it is?”

Rainbow Dash grinned proudly. “You learn fast, Scootaloo. Good job. If you just remember that, you’re already miles ahead of any martial arts jocks you might run into.”

“What’s lesson three?” Scootaloo backed away to reposition herself.

Rainbow sighed softly, almost nervously. “First I show you a few more basic moves. I can’t show you number three if you can’t defend yourself.”

Scootaloo squeed. “So you’ll teach me some super cool punches and grapples?”

“Sure, and then you show Apple Bloom, she’ll tear down the place, and then Applejack will never let me hear the end of it. No, escapes and blocks are more important. You don’t need fancy stuff to attack, but a fancy defence is pretty awesome.” Rainbow winked.

Right on cue, Lyra came walking towards the cloud ring, settling down next to Whimper. “Rainbow Dash showing her stuff, huh?”

“Uhuh.” The colt looked at the line in front of him. ”She’s showing Scootaloo and me how to fight properly. It’s starting to look familiar, but I thought Rainbow Dash was a weather pony. Is she a fighter, too?”

“Good question. Honestly, I’m not sure. Everyone in Ponyville knows her by name, but not a lot of ponies make friends with her. Come to think of it, her and Scootaloo… they don’t know each other that well, either.”

“They don’t?” That was a surprise, considering how much attention Dash paid to the filly, and how much the filly praised her. They could have been sisters.

“Nope. Actually, every time I’ve seen them together, I can’t remember one time before Flight Camp that Rainbow called Scootaloo by name, just ‘squirt’ or ‘kiddo’. So no, I can’t say for sure if she’s a fighter. I know she can fight, obviously, but how well? No clue.” The nurse looked the boy over. ”What about you? How’s the breathing?”

“It’s a lot better. I still have to pace myself, I still can’t run, but I can fly with the rest now, that’s all I wanted. Thank you for asking.” He smiled weakly.

Lyra ran her hoof over the line in the cloud. “What’s with the line?”

“I’m not allowed to cross it, or I get sent home. Rainbow Dash has gotten strict now.”

Scootaloo and Rainbow were exchanging light blows, not really punching straight on but more like curling their hooves towards each other’s elbows, as if they were aiming to sideswipe each other with the edge of their hooves. Somewhere in the back of his head, Whimper realised that sort of blow was supposed to be used to hit the joints, but how he knew it was a mystery. He also noticed Dash was teaching Scootaloo some other basic moves that wouldn’t work as well against a bigger opponent. What is she up to?

Lyra nudged him. “I guess it’s to make sure you don’t get out of control. Big kid like you, you can be a real menace if you ever got it into your head.”

He groaned.“I know. I try not to be, though. That counts for something, right?”

“Of course it does. You know, you’re actually not that different from any other pony.” Lyra gave him a knowing smile.

Whimper sighed. Does everypony here know what happened with me and Kludde? “What makes you say that?”

“Well, we unicorns tend to grow up a little weird. We see our role models use magic, and we can hardly wait to master it ourselves. So on one side, you have unicorns feeling like they’re missing something, like they still need to get better to, well, be good, period. But then there’s always this moment, just one moment, after we get our magic going, that we get scared. We start realising that we can use magic to do so many things, we doubt if we should even have that sort of power. We can get a lot of things done, and pegasi and Earth ponies can’t follow all of it.” She let that last one sink in for a bit.

"So you feel sorry you're stronger?" Whimper asked, trying to follow the logic.

“Sometimes, yes. It gets lonely at one point or another, and scary for the really powerful ones. We can turn on our friends and cause them a lot of trouble, intentionally or not, and we try to find a balance between those two instincts of power and restraint. So, what I’m trying to say is it doesn’t really matter which side of that balance you’re on, there are other ponies there, Rainbow Dash included.”

Whimper looked up at her. She just thinks I’m scared of my own strength. Okay, I guess that is something a lot of ponies get. “There’s just one difference between me and unicorns.”

“No magic?”

His stomach gave off a nervous groan. “No control.”

Lyra raised her eyebrow. No control? Oh, of course. Big arms like that, heavy bulk to drag around, he’s just clumsy. No wonder he’s so nervous, after that ‘ripping heads’ thing he’s probably worried he’ll crack somepony’s ribs with a hug. “Well, the Elements of Harmony don’t have any control and they don’t seem to mind.” Lyra grinned.

“Huh?” He narrowed his eyes.

“I’m not kidding. Ponyville’s a dangerous town sometimes, and having them around doesn’t make it any safer. I’ve heard the gossip and seen it happen with my own eyes. They hurt each other, badly. Twilight’s set the whole town upside down a few times, and she didn’t realise she was doing it, either. But she tries to make up for it, and everypony forgives her.”

Whimper weighed that in his head. ”It’s still not the same.”

“Why not? Even heroes make mistakes, you know.”

Whimper didn’t reply. He just sighed as her words sank in.

“Whimper! Keep your eyes on the action!” Dash called out.

“Oh, better pay attention.” Lyra smiled that toothy smile like a petulant student who’d just been snapped awake in class.

Scootaloo braced herself. She’d gotten the hang of the basics, and pretty quickly at that. She wasn’t bad at maneuvering on her scooter, which made it so manipulating her centre of gravity was second nature to her. Now she could finally prove herself to her idol.

“Okay, just one thing before we start. Give up when it gets too much for you. I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if you don’t stop in time. Understand?”

The filly nodded.

Then she blinked.

Then she was on her back, with two front legs pressing against her throat. Something hurt in her tailbone, and her right hind leg felt like it had been stung by a bee or something.

Rainbow Dash grinned wickedly. “Gotcha.”

Rainbow Dash backed off. Scootaloo got to her hooves and shook her head. Her throat hurt from the sudden attack, as well.

“I’ll go a little slower for you.” Rainbow Dash got back into position.

With a swift motion, Dash came in for a swipe at Scoot’s hooves, landing her unceremoniously on her side.
Scootaloo groaned and shook her head, which was now starting to throb from the abuse. She was getting roughed up, and she wasn’t sure if she liked it very much.

Rainbow kept on jumping up and down, agitated. “Come on, kiddo, don’t tell me you’re too slow to keep up.”

Lyra kept her eye on Whimper. He was shaking with repressed anger.

“Easy, Whimper. Rainbow Dash knows what she’s doing.”

“But...” He gestured to his friend as she was slowly getting back on her hooves.

Lyra patted Whimper on the back to keep him calm. “I know, but what do you think she’s trying to do?”

Whimper looked at the scene, but his mind was clouding over with anger. “I don’t know. I don’t understand this. I just wanna stop it.”

“That just means you care for your friend, and that’s good. But you can’t stop it. Rainbow Dash told me what she wanted to do, and I agree with her. Have a little faith, you’ll see. It’ll be all right. I’m right here if things get out of hand. I could sedate you again if I have to.”

The boy grimaced. He shook his head, not wanting to be robbed of consciousness again.

“Last try, Scootaloo. Try to keep up.” Dash winked.

Scootaloo braced herself for the attack. This wasn’t at all like the cloudwrestling she’d seen. She was getting her head handed to her. Granted, Dash hadn’t really bothered striking her (thank Celestia), but the shoves and pokes were getting a little painful. The object wasn’t to get her opponent thrown out of the ring, it was to get her opponent down for the count and unable to fight on. She’d never really understood the difference before now.

Again, the mare came in for the attack. Despite Scootaloo’s quick reaction, she still wound up with her belly pressed against the cloud floor and one foreleg clenched behind her back, pinned under Dash’s shoulder. She was basically being sat on, with one foreleg wrenched in a very painful position. “Ow! You’re hurting me, Rainbow Dash!”

“Then give up, squirt. What are you trying to prove, anyway?” Dash seemed to mock her little opponent.

“I’m not gonna give up.” Scoot squirmed under the weight, tears forming as her wings were being squashed under the weight. She was panicking, she could barely breathe.

Whimper was trembling. She’s pinned down. Scoot doesn’t like being pinned down. “Don’t…”

Dash saw it, but she shook her head at the colt. Her expression looked serious, almost ferocious. She leaned forward with that foreleg clenched under her shoulders. She got her own arms into position near Scoot’s hoof joint, ready to start twisting it even more painfully. “Why don’t you give up?”

“Because you wouldn’t give up,” Scootaloo blurted out. ”I wanna be just like you and Whimper so…” She tried pushing herself up, but it was no good. Her wings were starting to buzz in a reflex, to no avail. All it did was make her back hurt more.

“Fine. If you’re not gonna give up, then I’m gonna keep on going.” She pushed that foreleg forward again, getting the filly crying in earnest.

Scootaloo heard a tear, like crackling embers, and something started burning under her skin. It hurt, a lot. “Ow! Why are you hurting me like this?” she whimpered.

“Because that’s what happens when you don’t give up in time.” Rainbow Dash’s voice became eerily calm.

Scootaloo sobbed. Is that regret in Dash’s voice? It doesn’t make any sense. “Fine. I give up.”

Slowly, Rainbow Dash got up. Scootaloo turned her head to her assailant and found tears just being held back in the mare’s eyes. She gestured Lyra to come forward, as well as Whimper. With a quick inspection the unicorn found the injured muscles and soothed the pain. Whimper glared at his instructor, but remained silent. He didn’t want to risk losing it.

“Why would you do that?” Scootaloo asked with a snivel, testing that sore arm as it got healed up.

“You wouldn’t give up, even when you knew you could get hurt.” Dash rubbed her eyes to get some dirt out. At least, that’s what she’d admit to.

“But I just want to be like you.” Scootaloo turned to Dash and Whimper. ”And you don’t give up.”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you. I don’t know about your friend, but I give up when I know I have to. Pushing your limits is good, but a limit is a limit for a good reason. I’m twice your size, I’m way faster than you, and you’ve never been in a real fight in your entire life. You shouldn’t even be thinking about trying to do serious sparring with me without being prepared. But you did, and you got hurt because of it.” The mare tapped the girl’s chest for emphasis.

Scootaloo pouted. “You could’ve just said so.”

“Sure. And then you’d just listen?” Dash raised an eyebrow. ”I can boss Whimper around, I know that, but not you. You wouldn’t listen to me or any other grownup. But now you know how it can feel. Think about it. Would you be careful back home if somepony told you, or would you try something dangerous just to see if you could?”

That got a blush from the little pegasus. Okay, maybe she’s got a point.

Rainbow Dash smiled down at her. “You want to be like me, and I’m flattered. But even if I push my limits, I learned to respect them, the hard way. I only got hurt once, but it hurt really bad, and it was nearly the end of me. And if you’re gonna treat me like a role model, then I’m responsible for what you do copying me. I can’t have you getting into trouble or getting hurt and then saying you did it because that’s what I’d do. I’d never forgive myself.” She grimaced. ”It’s scary for me to see you repeating mistakes I know I made, and I wish I could make sure that you don’t. You probably will anyway. But those mistakes were painful, and there’s no way I can warn you without showing that pain. I’m sorry, but that’s how it is.”

“So what you’re saying is, I’ll never be as awesome as you and I should give up trying.” Scootaloo let her head hang.

Rainbow Dash lifted her chin. “What I’m saying is, do you want to be awesome or do you want to be happy? Because the sooner you learn the difference, the better. In a real fight, you shouldn’t give up if you really can’t. When you really have to, keep going. But don’t get wrecked just trying to prove something or training. When you need to give up, it’s okay. When it doesn’t count, it’s not worth it. Lesson three is to save it for when it counts. You don’t need pain to grow, even if a lot of ponies might tell you otherwise. And how else am I supposed to get that into your head?”

“Well…”

Rainbow Dash pulled the filly close and hugged her head to her chest, one wing rubbing over her back. “I’m sorry I went too far. It’ll hurt for another day or so. But you need to realise you could have avoided it by giving up and asking me to show you how to fight right. If you ever need to defend yourself for real you’re not going to get that kind of chance. You'll need to know who you can fight and who you need to run away from. And if you practise flying to the point where you exhaust yourself, just remember that being able to fly means you can fall a lot farther down when your muscles fail. You wanna follow my example, you learn when to take a step back. That goes double for the Sonic Rainboom, don’t ever let me catch you practising that without me there. Even trying it is more dangerous than anything you know, and there are worse things that can happen than just failing it.”

Scootaloo looked up at Rainbow Dash. The mare really did look scared, like she was afraid she’d hurt Scootaloo too much, or not enough. It made her words sink in, and the filly realised that she was, at least, being treated kind of like an adult. Rainbow Dash didn’t sugar-coat it, she made things clear right from the get-go, and she cared. Sure she was coarse, sure she’d hurt her a little, but she cared. And she knew that Scootaloo would get hurt no matter what, because they really were that much alike. Scootaloo would have done the same, if she had that kind of foresight.

Besides, if Rainbow Dash didn’t go a little rough on her, the filly might as well have been taking lessons from Fluttershy.

“Come on, dry your tears and we’ll go again, slowly this time.” Dash patted her on the back and leaned in to whisper. ”And I’ll show you how to beat bigger opponents, too. Then we’ll have a fair fight.”

The filly's eyes lit up at the prospect. A fair fight with Rainbow Dash? A match as an equal to the most awesome pegasus to ever fly across Equestrian skies?

How can anyone stay mad at that?

---

Scootaloo turned to a sulking Whimper as the pair was eating dinner. “You look kinda mad.”

His ears perked up in surprise. “Hmm? Oh, it’s nothing, just my stomach’s a little upset.”

“Oh, give me a break, you really feel that bad about Rainbow Dash teaching me how to fight?” She leaned in a little for comfort.

“Umm, yes, actually. It’s not right. You looked scared, Scootaloo, and she hurt you.”

“And then she apologised and made sure it didn’t hurt as much.”

“That doesn’t make it all right.”

Scootaloo shrugged. “No, but the fact that I asked for it does.”

“You didn’t ask for it, Scoot. Rainbow Dash knew you were going to get hurt and kept on going. It’s not right.”

“Look who’s talking, mister ‘Don’t tell anyone I have a breathing problem’. At least I got something out of it. I’ve never gotten that much time that close to Rainbow Dash. That fighting practice today was better than a sleepover at her place. I’m pretty happy about it.”

The colt sighed as he worked down another slice of carrot. “I’m sorry. I just get worked up, you know? Would you believe my arm stung when she twisted yours?”

“Wow. That bad, huh?” She winced in sympathy.

A solemn nod, and the sound of carrot crunching.

Scootaloo kept up her smile. “Look on the bright side. Now we’re pretty much equal again, at least by Flight Camp standards.”

“How do you figure that?” The blue colt narrowed his eyes in thought.

“You took on Rainbow Dash in cloudwrestling and managed to fight her to a standstill. I took on Rainbow Dash in a serious sparring match and almost did as well as you, for a first time. As for everything outside of Flight Camp, after today, I know I can catch up to you.”

“You really just wanna top what I did?” Whimper sounded almost insulted at that.

“Why not? I’ve made the newspapers with my other friends, no reason you should be any different. You don’t like having your name up somewhere, but wouldn’t it be okay if your friends’ names were up in the same place?”

He smiled as that image formed in his head. “I… I guess it would be nice. But you wouldn’t go chasing any monsters just to get famous, would you?”

Scootaloo shook her head. “Nah, I think I’ve got that covered.”

“How?”

To that, she gave an unsettling grin. “Know anything about speed records?”

---

“So Scootaloo isn’t hurt too badly, then?” Twilight asked as she got another bite of her dinner.

“No, I had Lyra on standby. She’ll be fine in the morning. It’s not so bad if you can treat it quickly.” Rainbow Dash took another bite of her daisy sandwich.

“But Whimper got upset, I take it?”

“Oh yeah, he looked ready to pounce.”

“Are you really sure you’re doing the right thing?” Twilight Sparkle chanced a glance towards the pair’s table. The colt looked more cheerful than before, and Scootaloo was busy explaining something or other that must have involved quick turns and soaring, judging by how excitedly she waved her hooves.

Rainbow Dash sighed in resignation. “I’m sure, Twilight. This is something I have to do alone.”

“So, let me get this straight. You know about some problem Whimper’s got, that you only figured out after reading the Royal Guard’s report, and that I know nothing of, despite reading the same letter.”

“It’s not that big a deal, Twilight. You couldn’t know, you don’t even know what words to look for. It's complicated.”

“That’s not my point, Rainbow Dash. What bothers me is the only way you could possibly know about something that obscure is if you’ve come into contact with it yourself. So either you know a pony like him, or you are like him. Either way, that’s a pretty big deal, considering how he’s acting.”

Rainbow swallowed and sighed. “Look, I don’t like talking about it, to anyone. Part of the problem is that he… that I know when I’m being watched, or talked about, and we can tell how ponies feel when they’re watching us. Imagine feeling like you’re talking in front of a crowd, with all those eyes on you, all the time. Well, maybe not all the time, but a lot of the time. That’s not easy to get used to.

Twilight winced. “I can’t imagine it would be. But what are you gonna do about it, then?”

“I’m not going to do anything, I’m just going to try and explain it so he knows what to expect. I just want to get this thing over with and leave him alone. All this attention and talking behind his back? It’s not helpful, it’s annoying. So I’m going to sort him out tonight, have a nice long talk and that’ll be the end of it. No more talking about that fight, no more 'therapy', just having some fun at Flight Camp.”

“Can I least know what he has, or what you have, so I can look it up?” Twilight finished her carrots along with her sentence. She barely let it register that Rainbow had the same thing, instead of a friend with whatever it was.

A facehoof and a grunt answered her. “No, Twilight. You can’t, because there’s no name for it that you can look up. It’s got a dozen different names and descriptions. I can’t even pronounce most of them, and the ones I can don't make a lot of sense. The worst part of it is, it’s nearly impossible to explain in words. I’m not even sure how I’m going to explain it to him.”

The unicorn considered that. “Doesn’t that get lonely?”

Dash shrugged. “Nah.”

Twilight thought for a moment before continuing. “So how did you get it, then? How does anyone get it?”

“Twilight, you’re my friend and I like you, but just trust me on this. You don’t wanna know.” Rainbow shot her a stern look.

“Okay. I'll respect that. Just remember I’m here if you want me.”

---

Scootaloo prodded Whimper’s shoulder, noting the hard flesh beneath his fur. “Come on, lighten up. It’s no fun when you’re like this. I’ve gotten banged up worse on my scooter, honest! I kinda feel more at home now, actually.”

“It’s not that, it’s just… I feel like I’m being watched.”

Scootaloo turned around and glanced at the cafeteria. A few fillies were stealing glances his way, then quickly averted their gaze when noticed. Scootaloo and Whimper were a bit younger than everyone else, but apparently that didn’t stop the twelve-year-olds from pining over them, or rather, him.

This brought a neat little thought to the filly’s mind. She was now hanging out with the popular kid. She was used to hanging out with the cool kids, sure, but ‘cool’ and ‘popular’ didn’t always mix, because ponies could be silly like that.

“Told you you’d get attention from the fillies. I guess us being a couple only makes them like you more. How does that even work?”

Scootaloo certainly knew the concept of affection, being like alcohol for adults, namely nice but to be used in moderation. She also grasped the concept of romance, in that it was needlessly complicated and confusing, occasionally vomit-inducing, again much like alcohol, at least from what she’d gleaned from aunt Vinyl. The filly had even mastered the concept of ‘a love that dare not speak its name’, mostly because dumb movie directors always shoehorned it in during her favourite action flicks.

She did not, however, grasp the concept of just longing for someone you didn’t even know. She supposed that must be what a ‘crush’ was.

“I don’t think I like it very much. They’re looking at me all weird.” Whimper forced himself to keep staring at his empty plate and not at the girls staring at him.

Scootaloo confirmed that with another glance around the room. “How can you tell? You’re not looking back at them.”

“I don’t know, I can just feel it. When I relax, I can… I dunno, pick up things, maybe? I just thought I was imagining it.”

“No, you’re not, you’re pretty right about that one. Maybe you have ninja senses for a special talent.”

That elicited Whimper’s patented ‘This filly is kind of crazy’ look. “Ninja? Me? I stick out like an island turtle in a lake.”

“'Ninja turtle' sounds pretty cool to me.”

For the umpteenth time at Flight Camp, Whimper let his head hang. “Just... please tell me I’m imagining things, and that no one is watching me.”

“There’s about five fillies staring at you.” Scoot denied him that peace of mind. "But it’s not so bad. It just means they like you.”

“Umm… if you’re right about me not imagining it… then no, they don’t.”

Scootaloo scanned the room again. “I still don’t see how you can tell.”

“You and me both. I can't really switch it on or off, but it's on now."

“So that little training did give you something new?”

Whimper’s stomach gave off a nervous groan. “No, I've had it before, just not like this clearly. I just want it to stop. I can feel those girls wanting to hold me and hug me like a sick puppy.”

“Don’t be rude, Whimper. Just because someone likes you, doesn’t mean they’re a sick puppy.” Even Scootaloo never took her aversions that far.

“I don’t mean that. I mean they want to treat me like a sick puppy.” He buried his head in his front hooves.

“So let me get this straight. You’d rather take a beating from a girl like me and be treated like an equal, than be cuddled by a girly girl?” Scoot raised her eyebrow.

The boy shivered. “They don’t want a boyfriend, they want a pet. I like being hugged, but it feels like they want to smother me. I think I can even smell their perfumes. At least when you try beating me up, you don’t treat me like I’m beneath you. “

Scootaloo stared at him for that remark.

“What?”

She kept on staring, then wobbled the foreleg that Rainbow Dash had twisted.

“Oh, right. I said I was sorry.”

“That’s okay, you’re just looking out for me. So what do you plan to do about the staring? Just walk out?”

“They’ll just keep staring when we’re around the campfire tonight. Guess I should get used to it, huh?” He grimaced.

Scootaloo pondered it for a while. “Want me to stop them?”

“Would you?”

Scootaloo nodded solemnly. “I would. By any means necessary?”

He looked left and right at that. “Umm… sure?”

Rainbow Dash wolfed down her second helpings as she saw it happen. A few gasps went around the room, and judging by the goat sound, at least one filly had fainted.

At the table, all anyone saw was Whimper’s face, eyes closed and mouth eclipsed by an orange filly’s face and hooves.

Gone was any doubt that those two were not madly in love with each other.

They were kissing.

For quite long.

On the lips.

At least, as far as any of the foals could see.

In reality, Scootaloo merely moved her lips in close and hid the fact by holding his face with her hooves. Luckily, Whimper was a good actor, and so was Scootaloo. Everyone bought it, even most of the grownups were fooled at first.

Rainbow Dash, and a few other Ponyvillians, turned her head to Twilight. Dash and Lyra hadn't forgotten the remarks about a love potion yet.

However, to sway those fears, Twilight Sparkle quietly uttered that universal phrase that one female of a species should never say about another female. “She’s faking it.”

---

Scootaloo smirked triumphantly as the pair exited. “Well, that solved that problem.”

Whimper nodded, albeit hesitatingly. “Uhuh. And my mom’s going to kill me when she hears about this.”

“Why? Because she warned you about girls like me?” Scoot squeed.

“No. It’s just that she said if I like a girl, I should buy her dinner first, then kiss her, then sleep with her. But we were sleeping together first, then we kissed, or pretended to. Does that mean I have to buy you dinner now?” He looked at her, confused.

“Your mom said that?”

“Yeah, and then she covered her mouth like she’d said something she shouldn’t have, right before taking another sip of cider. It was a Hearth's Warming Eve party, maybe I heard her wrong.”

The girl shrugged. “She was probably just excited, I wouldn’t worry about it.”

Rainbow Dash came up from behind them. “Whimper, I’m going to want a word with you tonight. About the thing with the you-know-what.”

“She knows, Rainbow Dash. I told her the whole story.”

Rainbow Dash smiled at the two. “That’s very good of you. Anyway, I just want to get some things straight, and then nopony will bother you about it again, I promise. I’ll come find you around sundown.”

Whimper raised his eyebrows in surpise. That actually sounded quite good. “Um, okay. What do you feel like doing until then, Scootaloo? More practice?”

Just then, Scootaloo’s eye caught a grey pegasus colt with a dark mane walking out. He looked pensive, and his left ear was drooping. “Actually, why don’t you go to the cloudwrestling rings and I’ll catch up. I still need to wrap up a little something.”

“Sure.” The colt shrugged and flew off to watch some more wrestling. He still didn’t know how he did most of his fighting moves, maybe some of the older kids had a few pointers.

Scootaloo, for her part, went to talk with the grey colt. “Hey, Rumble. What’s happening?”

“Nothing much.” He sighed. ”Where’s Whimper?”

“Off beating on some bigger kids again. I was just wondering, are you all right?”

Rumble avoided looking her in the eye. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because your left ear always droops when you’re feeling embarrassed or ashamed about something, and it’s drooping now.” She pointed at said ear.

“It does? How would you know about that?”

“Let’s just say you’re lucky Celestia’s cake was a bigger story than you shopping with your mom.” Now Scootaloo avoided looking him in the eye.

“Oh, right, the Gabby Gums thing. Thanks for not printing that one.”

“You’re welcome. So what’s bothering you? That filly not liking your mane anymore?” Scootaloo wasn’t the only one who was being talked about, but Rumble’s situation strangely didn’t get as much publicity.

“No, she’s nice to hang out with. I’m fine, really.” He tried to flash her a smile, but it didn’t look too convincing.

Scootaloo made a face she normally reserved for an out of control Apple family member or a unicorn with a nervous breakdown.

“Okay, fine. I’m just wondering if you’ve decided what you’re going to do to me after camp, that’s all.”

Of course you are. Boys are just weird that way. “Rumble, I’m not going to give you a hard time for laughing at me or calling me names. And neither will Whimper.”

“But I didn’t apologise. And I’m not going to. So… just do your worst, I’m not going to say I’m sorry.”

Scootaloo smiled at that. “Rumble, who do you think you’re talking to? I don’t care about you saying you’re sorry, I care about you being sorry. And you’re sorry, I get it. So stop beating yourself up, you’re making me feel bad about it.”

“But--”

“But what? You made fun of me, big deal. You’re not a jerk, are you?”

“Umm… no?”

“Good. I hate jerks, and you're not a jerk. So I don't hate you. Could you stop moping about it now?” She noticed that left ear was rising slowly again.

“Do you boss all the colts around like that, or just Whimper?”

She chuckled at that. “Never mind. You wanna beat yourself up, go ahead. But I’m not going to do it for you. And I won’t tell Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle.”

“So we’re cool?”

“I’m cool, you... you did get in on Hurricane Day, so you’re kinda cool. But you can stop watching behind your back, I won’t do anything.”

“Well, okay,” he replied with a flourish, walking off. ”Oh, just one thing. You and Whimper -- that kiss -- that was fake, right?”

Scootaloo lowered her voice to a whisper. “Don’t tell anyone. Whimper thinks the girls want to smother him.”

“I know how that feels.” He rolled his eyes at that one.

---

“Okay, everypony, let’s wrap up and head to the fire,” Derpy said as the sun was setting. Scootaloo had enjoyed watching the display. Now that she actually knew some combat dynamics she could comment on every fighter’s style, and work out what kind she would like.

Whimper had only done a few fights, still blacking out a little when he moved, but at least now he was gutsy enough to try on his own accord.

As the rest of the foals headed off, Rainbow Dash kept Whimper back. She nodded to Derpy as the mailmare made sure everyone else was off. Whimper sighed, smiling to Scootaloo as she went out of earshot.

Whimper took a long, deep breath to steady himself. “Okay, I’m ready to talk now. What do you wanna know about the fight, Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow gulped and braced herself. “I’m not here to talk about the fight, Whimper. I want to talk about what happened afterwards.”

Whimper shrugged. “What? Nothing happened afterwards. I kept it a secret, Peachy agreed, we got into some other stuff together. There’s nothing to talk about.”.

“Yes, there is. After your fight with that demon thing, you started noticing some changes, didn’t you? You started feeling different from other ponies and you couldn’t tell why. And you started blacking out too, I guess.”

Whimper clenched his eyes shut. “I’m sorry, but I’ve had this kind of talk a million times already. I’ve heard doctors say I have some syndrome, and they just go with that. I don’t like talking about whatever it is I have, and I didn’t like doctors to begin with. Nopony understands, nopony even knows what’s wrong with me, and I wish I didn’t know, either. I know you’re an Element of Harmony and all, but what makes you think you understand?”

Rainbow Dash felt a pang in her chest at that. Some part of her hoped she was wrong, but she knew she wasn’t. This would be painful, for both of them. “You’re a slow eater. You don’t eat much but every once in a while you gorge and stuff yourself. You never put on any fat and you never eat so much it hurts the next day. But when you gorge, you eat more than normal ponies can handle, that’s what got you through that eating contest.”

Whimper looked away. “So you’ve been paying attention while I eat. Anypony can see that.”

“You can tell when ponies are watching you sometimes, and how they think about you while they’re watching you. It comes and goes, sometimes it's like reading minds but you don't know how to practise it or switch it off. You can’t handle crowds, not because of the noise, but because the excitement is contagious. You feel what everyone else feels, and it’s like you’re not really in control anymore. That works both ways, too. You can get into a mood and make it so other ponies get into the same mood without them realising it. In your case, your friends feel down when you’re feeling down, and not just because of sympathy.” Rainbow Dash kept her voice even, but a hint of sadness shone through.

Whimper kept up the denial. “You just checked that around the campfire. It’s not a big deal.”

“Okay.” She lay down a little distance from him, head pointing the same way his was. ”Not impressed yet? I'll tell you what. I'm going to start saying some things no one could possibly know. You don't have to do anything, but if you start getting scared because I'm right you can scoot a little closer.”

He nodded quietly, lying down right on the spot.

“You don’t have much of a sweet tooth. You don’t hate sweets, but you only like the softer flavours, like marzipan or merengue. You like chocolate, but not pure chocolate, at least not too much. You do like bonbons or truffles, the expensive stuff,” Dash stated matter-of-factly.

Reluctantly, he got a little closer.

“You have this weird reflex of pressing your tongue against the back of your front teeth, and sometimes when you do that you get a throbbing sensation in your forehead. Right where a horn would be if you were a unicorn.” She tapped the spot in question.

Another little scoot closer. Dash could feel her throat constricting. She was right on the mark. “You don’t want to be mollycoddled, but you like hugs, a lot. It’s embarrassing, but when someone hugs you like they mean it, you feel like you melt a little. And you can tell when they mean it. You also don’t get cold easily, but other ponies keep saying you feel cold to the touch, even when you’re not really out of breath. You think it's from the Eagle's Grasp, but it can't be because it's all over your body, not just your back.”

He was right next to her at that one. The grimace on his face spoke of betrayal, like someone had uncovered a big secret behind his back. But no one knew, so the only way Rainbow Dash could know was if she invaded his privacy. “How did you find out about all that?”

“Right after that fight, you noticed reading got a little harder. You couldn’t really keep up in school because every time you read, you get tired really easily. Reading’s a chore for you, and even if your teachers say you only need to try harder, deep down you just know you’re stupid. After a while, you decided that books just aren’t for you.” Dash gave up on hiding the sympathy and regret in her voice.

The colt locked eyes with the mare at that one. “Have you been sneaking out and talking to my teacher?”

“Aside from blacking out, you’ve had seizures, at least twice. You were completely alone, maybe asleep, and all of a sudden your body started twitching and shaking violently. You saw lights in your eyes that wouldn’t go out even if you closed them, and you heard thunder when there was nothing there. It felt like you’d die. And deep down, you feel like you’re still dying.” She was almost crying in sympathy at that last one.

Whimper’s face went blank in shock. “I never told anypony about that, not even my parents. Y-you… you couldn’t know that, there’s no way you’d know.”

Rainbow Dash bit her lip. “Yes, there is. There’s one way I could know, squirt.”

His jaw went slack. His wings relaxed and drooped over the cloud. “You too?”

Rainbow Dash chuckled and nodded. “Yup, every bit of it, and I’m sorry. You can’t imagine how sorry I am. I should have noticed it sooner. I would have noticed it sooner, but… you’re kind of special. You've got a couple of other things that hide it, and even without that it's hard to catch.”

“So you really do know what it’s like,” the boy said with an air of relief and surprise.

Rainbow Dash sighed. “I do, and you’re not going to like it.”

“But… you’re normal. So you can show me how to control it, right? Fix it so I won’t hurt my friends?”

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and shook her head. “Kid, that’s the least of your worries.”

Comments

[Cmoney1]

You....you're evil. That cliffhanger is just pure evil!
I was all excited cuz of the chapter name...and then I read the chapter.
Great chapter though!

[Wise Cracker]

1069213
Perhaps you've not read the above comments, sir, I know I'm evil. I wasn't originally going to use that title, it was just going to be 'The Real Lesson', but then I wondered:"Won't people be more excited if Scootaloo kissing is in the title?" It also made sense: Scoot basically teaches everyone a real lesson there. It's a Scootatroll! Yes, that's a thing now.

Somehow, I suspect a few people are going to start reading this fic just to get to the kiss, then notice the lack of romance tag, and then hate me.

I think I can live with that.

And you can blame others for commenting that they make such a cute couple and that I should change the tags to 'romance'. I even added a subliminal message to the kissing scene: read those sentences again, and keep an eye on the capital letters. It's not aimed at the reader, but it's a little mood-setter to really capture how much Whimper and Scootaloo care about the coupling thing. I'm quite proud of that one. I just don't see why a male/female friendship that early on would have to turn to romance, especially if it's out of character for both characters.

My main intention with this chapter was to make Scootaloo a little more believable and likeable: she's not just a tomboy, even if she gets a little over-aggressive, like her idol she does have a soft side. And even if she goes overboard (her talk with Rumble feels a little OOC in restrospect, but we never see her talking to boys on the show, so it kind of works) she does at least have a heart. This also brings Scoot's relationship with Rainbow Dash to its next logical step: Rainbow treating her like an equal, with all the pain and warning that goes with it. The idea that pain is needed for growth is something that's being sold to kids right now, and that fact is one of my pet peeves. So yeah...glad you liked the chapter, sorry that the title made you sad, but you should have seen it coming, let's be honest.

Thanks for the comment!

[edgelesspigeon]

So Rainbow Dash also has the potential to go into berserker rages? Are we going to learn how that happened, or is the next chapter going to focus mainly on Whimper's case and leave Rainbow's case mysterious? Excellent chapter by the way, you've got me hooked.

[Wise Cracker]

1072292
Not to spoil it, but the next chapter will be mostly the long conversation between Whimper and Dash. And it will be about both of them. A couple of things will start making sense, but not everything, because Rainbow Dash needs to stay a little mysterious, still. As for the berserker rages? There's still a difference between Dash and Whimper, which only adds to to the story. If you've ever seen 'Dogma', Dash is put in the position of the Metatron there (the scene where he shows up before they see the cardinal), sort of.

Next chapter will be the second to last one, btw, not counting the epilogue. Pretty much everything I wanted to put in this story is in it.

And thanks! I'm glad people are liking it.