Junior Flight Camp: The Crusader and the Bullhead

by Wise Cracker

Reversal of Roles

Zephyr chuckled with a mocking tone. “Didn’t you hear me? I called you a wheezy wimp, and a cheating one, now that I think about it.”

Whimper turned around, slowly and calmly. Scootaloo got a look at his eyes as he did. He was beside himself. That wasn’t Whimper behind those eyes, that was something that belonged in the Everfree Forest or Tartarus.

“I didn’t ask what you called me. I asked what you called them.”

Twilight nudged Rainbow Dash as the conversation got ugly. She slowly took a few paces towards Whimper. “Now, now, let’s not let harsh words get the better of us.”

He didn’t hear. His attention was fixed on the bullies.

“What, now you’re deaf, too? He called them a rose-scented coltcuddler and a butch fillyfooler.” Skyron stoked the bullhead up some more.

Whimper growled, his body lowering like a set up spring.

“What are you gonna do about it? You know we can still fly circles around you. You only beat me once, you’re spent.” Zephyr kept up his cocky grin.

Twilight was halfway to Whimper by then.

Not close enough.

Whimper leaped forward, wings opened menacingly and his whole body mimicking a gryphon pouncing its prey. Twilight concentrated and used her magic to grab him by the tail.

She grabbed air.

Whimper had rolled away from the spell. It was then she realised that Kludde’s spell, much like the one she’d just tried, was an instantaneous one. She’d forgotten all about that. The monster didn’t fire any bolts, bolts were easy to dodge. But something like grabbing in mid-air was impossible to dodge, or at least it was supposed to be. She lost precious milliseconds thinking about it, though.

Zephyr was off the ground by the time Whimper was in striking range, but he couldn’t flee. One light blow went to press against his chin, then a hind hoof found one of his knees and unbalanced him. The hoof on his chin pressed upward, forcing his vision away from his enraged attacker before making a circle.

The hoof came down, and the jock’s body went down along with it.

Twilight put up a barrier to hold back the other grownups as they tried to rush forward. “Don’t! If he moves that hoof...”

Doldrum Whimper had the jock in his grip, the edge of one hoof right where the chin meets the neck, the other on the nearest arm. His whole body was leaning stably on the hoof pressed to the neck, and the arm connected to it was slightly bent.

Twilight knew that grip all too well. Her brother had demonstrated it once, it wasn’t pleasant. The Royal Guard knew this grip as “Interrogation in Enemy Territory”. Everypony else came to know it as “The Final Nail”. With the hard, slightly sharp edge of a hoof pressed against just the right spot on your throat, a simple snap stretch of the arm was basically putting the final nail in your coffin. A ten-year-old had no business knowing that.

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath before barking out an order. “Whimper! Remember what I said.”

Whimper took a few ragged breaths, looking the colt in the eye. He practically spat out his words in anger. “Listen very carefully, I will say this only once. You don’t get to insult anyone to rile me up, ever, especially my friends. It’s over, no more Mister Nice Guy.”

Zephyr wheezed. “Can’t… breathe…”

Whimper felt a tear of rage fall across his cheek. “Good. Now you know how it feels. I’m through with letting things slide. I'm through with jerks like you. So if you feel like trying anything, anything at all, you just remember this. You want to fly circles around me all day, you need to be faster than me all day. And even then you can barely touch me. But me? I only need to be faster than you for a split second. And then? I will hurt you. And I might get in trouble, I might not be teacher’s pet anymore, but you will still… be… hurt. Got it?”

Zephyr nodded, a tear rolling over his face as his lungs burned. Whimper shot Skyron a spiteful look, which quickly got another scared nod.

Rainbow Dash started walking over to him, holding up a hoof to stop anyone else from trying. “Whimper, listen to me. I let you have one move. You used it, and you’ve said what you’ve had to say. You can walk away now.”

Shaking, Whimper withdrew his hoof, before wiping away the tear. His expression lightened in a matter of seconds, all the rage just died down. He went from rage to confusion as he realised what he’d done, then to regret. Turning around, he found everyone staring at him. He lowered his head in shame.

“Okay, Cloudchaser, I think we should probably keep these guys separated. You two on the track, now.” Dash pointed towards the shaking jocks. ”Some of the older kids will be flying in between you and the rest.”

Wordlessly, Zephyr and Skyron went on the track, followed by two pegasi from Flitter’s squad. Dash nudged Whimper forward, and he took off with Scootaloo and Rumble.

“Wait, that’s it? You’re not gonna punish him?” Cloudchaser asked once they were out of earshot.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Punish who? And for what?”

“Well, Whimper for attacking a team mate and Zephyr for that horrible language.”

Rainbow Dash looked her colleague in the eye. “Sure, what would that do? You punish a bully for not liking someone, it gets worse. And where do you think Zephyr got that language? Up here, or when he’s playing in competition and all the grownups are shouting across the field? Face it, nothing I do about that will work. He’ll just go home and keep hearing that kind of talk like it’s normal. I can’t fix that, he has to learn that on his own. Unless I threaten him, but I'm not allowed to.”

“And what about Whimper? Kid’s got anger issues.” Flitter shook her head slowly.

“Yeah, he does. And I think he’s handling them pretty well for his age. Did you see how he moved? He could’ve done worse, a lot worse, but he didn’t.” Rainbow tapped her hoof on the ground for emphasis. ”He knows what I expect, and he listened to me. I said he’d get one move, and he dealt with it in one move. Why would I punish him for doing exactly what I told him to?”

“So it’s okay for a kid to go straight for the throat as long as he’s dared to do it, is that what you’re saying?” Flitter raised an eyebrow at the mare’s attitude.

Twilight, finally getting over the shock of things, decided she didn’t like her friend being ganged up on. “No, what she’s saying is that something drastic is the only way to break a stubborn habit like that. Both of them are stuck in the same role, and if Whimper had just lunged for a punch, they’d have had a real fight and we’d have to send both of them home. As it is, we’ll have to get a wall in between them in the cabin. But what was he supposed to do? Just rush in and start flailing until we pulled them apart? Doing what he did made it so they’ll respect the damage he can cause. They need to treat him as an equal now. Of everything he could have done, I think this was actually the only thing that might work.”

Rainbow Dash felt pretty proud right then. “Exactly. What do they say in the Royal Guard? The perfect attack spell isn’t the one you never have to fire --”

“It’s the one you only fire once,” Twilight finished. ”And if you really think it’s that big of a deal, I can talk to him, make sure he understands the limits for defending himself. But this is still progress, actually, he stood up for himself. You can't argue with that.”

The purple pegasi shrugged at that logic and resumed checking the foals, since the argument was lost before it even started. Their students were holding up quite well. This part of the course was meant to push endurance, but none of the smaller foals were struggling yet.

Something bugged Twilight, though, about how Rainbow Dash had learned to deal with bullies. Whimper wasn’t the only one who had problems. Rainbow Dash herself had been bullied most of her life, even though she never spoke of it. Maybe she could relate to the little bullhead because of that?

The thought got stuck in her head. She knew Dash had been bullied, she’d met the bullies at the Young Flyer’s Competition. But why would anypony bully Rainbow Dash in the first place? Dash was an athlete and always had been, there was no reason she’d have to take flak from anypony. If anything, pegasi loved daredevils, whether they succeeded in their tricks or not. That made her mental processes return to Dash’s cutie mark story, which in her mind had a few plot holes, no pun intended.

As she kept her eye on the kids, the unicorn realised she was standing right where it happened. A little distance away from her there was an old barracks just under a ring, where Fluttershy must have been standing to try and clear it. A red flag was standing a little further away, that’s where she crashed when those two bullies (what were their names again?) came flying in and called her names.

The name-calling. That was what didn’t make sense. The bullies went to Flight School with her, but that was later. Flight School came after finishing grade school. No one would call her ‘Rainbow Crash’ if it wasn’t an established nickname before Flight Camp.

Meaning something had happened to Dash before Flight Camp. Something bad that she never talked about, but had left some marks.

There was only one thing for it. Twilight would have to use her extensive knowledge of psychology (acquired in two days of reading in her little book corner) to fix everything (since nothing ever went wrong when she took matters into her own hooves). She’d start by gathering information from Scootaloo, talk to Whimper to fix his confidence and anger problem, and finish with Rainbow Dash to heal whatever emotional scars she had.

What could possibly go wrong?

---

Twilight trotted over to Scootaloo as she left. “Scootaloo, could I have a word with you? Alone?”

“Sure.” She nodded to Whimper while he was heading off for dinner. He hadn’t said much while they were flying, but then he still had to spare his breath, and he was as shaken up as the jocks were. He needed some time alone, she decided, and Twilight was giving her a good excuse for giving him just that while Rainbow Dash stuck with the bullhead.

“What has Whimper told you, exactly?”

“About what?”

“About the thing with the friend and the necklace.” Twilight tried to keep it as vague as possible, just in case she didn’t know anything.

“Oh, that. Well, he doesn’t remember. He says he got lucky. That maybe him having a breathing problem was the only reason he survived.” Scootaloo fidgeted, still sorry about dragging it up the other night.

“And what do you think of that?”

Scootaloo shook her head. “I don’t know. It doesn’t sound right. Like something else is bothering him, but I don’t wanna bring up anything painful, you know? Do you know what happened? I mean, with your brother and all?”

“I have the reports, but I don’t know how Whimper feels about it. Maybe if he starts talking about it to somepony else, it’ll be easier to talk about it to a friend.” Twilight felt like she was asking permission, but really she was just testing the waters. She tried to stifle the thought that she was only doing this because Whimper and Scoot made such a cute couple. Being honest with herself, though, she had to admit that was still playing some part in her actions. Even their colour schemes matched, for pity’s sake!

The orange filly narrowed her eyes. “Umm, Twilight? No offense, but… be careful with him? He’s pretty sensitive.”

Twilight smiled at that as she started heading off with the filly in tow. She’d never pegged Scootaloo for the caring type. The defensive type, certainly, but not the caring type. She truly was turning into a little Rainbow Dash. “You’re really fond of him, aren’t you?”

Scootaloo shrugged at that. “Well, sure. He’s fun to have around, and he’s nice. And you saw what he did when that jerk called me names. We look out for each other. Even Apple Bloom wouldn’t lose it like that. Not only that, he never argues. It’s kinda like having a puppy, only bigger and smarter.”

“Plus, he’s got a bit of a reputation, like you.”

“Oh yeah, Whimper’s pretty awesome. And pretty brave, when he’s not shaking. You know he can land on his hooves when he’s being launched from a tornado?”

That mental image elicited Twilight’s patented grimace. She’d only ever seen Rainbow Dash land on her back, or crash, after an uncontrolled tornado, and she was quite certain physics made that trick next to impossible. The reflexes that would demand would have to be fast. Not fast enough to dodge an instant-cast spell, but certainly close. She was beginning to wonder whether that dodge was a fluke or not.

“Yeah, thought so.” Scootaloo broke the reverie. ”We understand each other, is all. And don’t tell anypony else, but… I just feel safe with him around, you know?”

Safe, huh? That made sense. Twilight had nearly had a cardiac arrest the first time she’d seen the filly on her scooter. No doubt Scootaloo herself got a little scared when trying tricks like that with no safety crew to catch her. It wouldn't be often, obviously, but it had to happen sometimes. And Whimper did seem to have fiercely protective streak. It must have been quite comforting to have somepony like that around her. That led Twilight to another train of thought.

“I wonder… does Whimper have any brothers or sisters?”

“He hasn’t mentioned any, no. Why?” Scootaloo tilted her head like she was hiding something.

“I’m just curious why he’d come to Flight Camp if he knew he would be failing. He couldn’t be sure his problem got fixed now. He could have waited until his wings and magic grew, like most ponies with his problem. Plus, his bullies would follow him around and up here there’s no real getting away from them. He didn’t look like he was forced to come here by his parents, so why the rush?”

Scootaloo remained silent at that, averting her eyes from the unicorn's gaze. Twilight felt the gears in her head turning, and as always things started making sense. Whimper wanted to go this year because this year was important. He was on an urgent timetable. He had to go now, he had to get over his problem before it was too late. Which, all things considered, meant one of two things. Either he is dying, or… “Okay, I think I get it now.”

“You did not hear it from me. I’m pretty sure Whimper doesn’t want to talk about it.” Scootaloo grimaced nervously.

As they reached the cantina, Twilight pretended to zip her mouth up.

Logic would triumph once more.

---

“Now, Whimper, do you know why I wanted to talk to you?” Twilight adjusted her seat. She’d gone the extra mile and gotten out her fake therapist’s glasses, as well as sculpting out a therapist’s office for herself in her book corner. She’d already added a few walls in the cloud matter of their cabin to practise, it wasn’t that hard a trick to pull off.

“Look, I’m sorry I attacked Zephyr. I don’t know what came over me.” Whimper groaned, not at all comfortable being alone with Twilight like that.

“That’s okay. I just want to talk to you about a few things, make sure everything is alright. I gather you don’t get a lot of chance to just talk about what’s bothering you, and you probably need to. So let’s start with your fight against Kludde. What can you tell me about that time?”

The colt’s face contorted at the thought. “There’s nothing to say. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“You will have to, eventually. I’ve read the reports, you know, I know what you did. You should be proud of yourself, beating a monster the Royal Guard couldn’t even catch.” She gave him a friendly smile that did absolutely nothing.

“I got lucky, that’s all.” The boy averted his gaze.

“Because of your breathing problem? You know that’s not true, right? The Royal Guard trains to be able to fight when their lungs burn like that. Luck had nothing to do with it, you beat that thing on your own strength.” She checked him for any response, but got nothing but tension and denial from his body language. His wings locked against his sides.

“Could we please talk about something else?” Whimper grabbed his head with his hooves, nearly crying out in frustration.

Twilight scribbled something on her paper and changed the subject. She gave him a beanie bag to squeeze just in case. She’d made it with coffee beans inside, always prepared. “Okay, but can I just ask why?”

He clutched the bag and ground it against his hard belly. “It was supposed to be a secret. How would you like it if you went through something like that and wanted it kept secret, and then ponies wouldn’t stop talking about it?”

Ah.

That was a valid reason to drop the topic. He didn’t want to be known as just ‘that pony’ and he’d hoped to keep the incident a secret. Of course, all the heroes of Equestria knew about it, and by sheer coincidence he’d ended up with two of them on camp. Having your secrets uncovered by a stranger wasn’t that pleasant. At least, she thought it wasn’t, she couldn’t speak from experience. “Alright, then. Let’s talk about your friends. I hear you’re friends with Peachy Pie?”

“How do you know her?”

“I saw her at a talent show, when she did some poetry on rollerblades. That, and her aunt talks about her sometimes. From what I hear, she’s a really nice girl.”

His frustrations started ebbing away, and a little vein near his wing stopped throbbing so much. “Yeah, she is nice. Always makes me laugh when I’m down. Gives everypony else in class a run for their money when they try and prank me, too.”

“And she never runs out on you, does she? She slows down for you when you can’t keep up?”

Whimper nodded. “Uh huh. She talks a lot, and I guess she tries to get me to talk, but I don’t have a lot to say.”

“But you do help out when she asks, right? On the… rock farm, I guess?”

The colt chuckled. “Uhuh. The Pies don’t really farm rocks, but moss for... I dunno, compost or special food. And the rest of their land is kept dry on purpose, something about weeds and herbs, I’m not sure.”

Twilight made a mental note at that, or rather scratched something on her mental checklist. Pinkie Pie’s family farmed a xerophyte vegetation, like thyme and rosemary, plants that got their specific taste from being in dry environments. That’s how Pinkie Pie got her sensitive (and eager) taste buds, as well as how she knew about Parasprites. Flight Camp was turning out to be quite the learning experience for Twilight.

“And you two hang out just because you both decided you wanted to be nice to each other?” She approached the issue carefully.

“Pretty much. Peachy Pie’s a little... weird. Most ponies can’t get used to her. But she’s okay, she never picked a fight with me, so we’ve been friends since a little after kindergarten, I think?” He tilted his head in thought.

“And why do you suppose she likes you?” Twilight went in for the big one. Well, one of the big ones, at least.

“I dunno, because I make things easier for her?”

There came the first crucial point that would require therapy. She shuffled a little closer. ”Whimper, you shouldn’t think that way. If you keep thinking like that, sooner or later someone will start taking advantage of you. A true friend doesn’t like you just because you do their chores, it’s because they’re happy being friends with you. Are you really a good boy because you think others will like you for it, or because you feel happy being a good boy?”

His face looked pensive at what was, pretty much, a really weird question. “I guess I feel happy. I mean, it’s not like I feel better when I’m angry or when I hurt someone. I don’t really know why anyone hangs out with me.”

Whatever had happened during that little fight with Zephyr, it had left no trace. His whole demeanour, right down to the little quiver in his ears, only served to make him look vulnerable.

That wasn’t an easy trick, since he was pulling it off with a body that looked hard enough to shatter a rock on. His skin even had a little curve inwards where his ribcage met his abdominal region. The words ‘Fluttershy on steroids’ were beginning to echo in Twilight’s mind, as well as the precaution to never bring that to the boy’s attention.

“And there aren’t any colts you talk to, huh?” Twilight squinted with a smile, taking some more notes.

“Not a lot I could talk about, really. I bulked up to get away from most of the colts. A lot of fillies, too.” He blushed, embarrassed.

“That’s pretty normal, actually. And it worked, right? You’re stronger than any foal I’ve seen your age, including Earth ponies. And you make a good impression when you meet new friends.” Twilight tried to keep his spirits up.

He shivered. Clearly this was part of the problem. She didn’t want to broach his timing just yet, though. “Anyway, what about Scootaloo? You two seem to be getting along really well.”

“Yeah, she says she’s done all this crazy stuff, like me.” He sounded like he believed it, but the fact was he didn’t have any real proof of it.

“Oh, trust me, it’s all true.” Twilight suppressed a groan. ”And then there’s a few things she probably won’t admit to. But is that the only reason you’re friends with her?”

Therapy, as far as Twilight knew, was all about facing things. Apparently, Whimper hadn’t thought about why he was friends with Scoots or Peachy. He simply didn’t have enough friends to afford the luxury of wondering about them.

“No, I just like her. She’s fun, and she seems to like me. We’re a lot alike, I guess.”

“You really are, actually. But do you know why she likes you?”

“She says she feels safe around me?” Another little shiver, and a throb near his wing.

So she did tell him about that, huh? Didn’t think she’d admit that to a boy. “What do you suppose she means by that?” Twilight tilted her head.

He started really shaking at that point. “That I’ll never hurt her. That even her friends call her stuff she doesn’t like sometimes, but I wouldn’t.”

Twilight nodded. “It’s true. ‘Chicken’, they call her, or ‘dodo’, but they don’t mean it. Sometimes friends get a little frustrated at each other, and they say things they wish they didn’t. But that doesn’t mean they’re not friends anymore. Scootaloo just likes the fact that you’re gentle. If you ever did get angry, she’d forgive you. She’s tough like that.”

Another shiver, and a clenching of the arms at the word ‘tough’. The coffee was being ground against his hard abs.

“Is it maybe because you respect each other that you decided to be friends?” Twilight’s heart sank as she posed the question. She wasn’t sure why, but this whole thing started giving her a sense of déjà vu.

“I guess that’s it, maybe. Yes, respect, that’s what it is. Like making an effort actually mattered, you know? Scootaloo’s done all this crazy stuff, it shouldn’t not matter, otherwise why bother doing it? And she signed me up for that whole wrestling thing to see what I could do when I wasn’t even sure what that was myself. I don’t want to get hurt, but… sometimes a little push is a good thing, right?”

Twilight nodded. “Of course it is. Do you suppose it’s the same way for Peachy Pie?”

“I think so. She got me into training in the first place, always told me how strong I really was on the inside, then on the outside. She’s fearless, too. She’ll laugh at anything. Giggle at the ghosties…” He trailed off. He was there again. It didn’t matter what he did. Things always went the same way.

His face showed it, too. Twilight let the silence hang over them for a moment. “So when you found her, downed and scared, your first instinct was to get her to laugh again, right?” Twilight tried.

He clenched the beanie bag she’d given him. The coffee scent was getting clearer now, like he was grinding the contents to powder. She reminded him of an otter smashing clams on its belly, only slower.

“I just thought she’d be fine if I got that necklace back for her, that’s what reminds her to laugh. She never lets me get upset, ever. She got me into an eating contest when I lost most of my appetite after that fight, and before the fight, even before I bulked up, she always stepped in when somepony tried to get me crying. She’s always strong, as long as she can laugh. What was I supposed to do? I just wanted her to laugh again, she’s fine if she can laugh. So I went after the thing, and...”

“And then you blacked out when it grabbed you by the throat,” Twilight finished.

The colt nodded. “Everything started feeling heavy, and all these flashes came up in my eyes. All bad memories: of getting left behind, running with teachers pushing me to try harder when my lungs are burning. But then there was always someone to cheer me up. She even opened a can of slugs on our bad apple team.”

“You mean she opened a can of worms.” Twilight corrected the expression.

“No. No, I don’t.”

Twilight gulped at that.

“I guess I owed her my best shot. I wanted her to feel better like she made me feel better. That’s what friends do, isn’t it?” He looked up to a nodding Twilight. ”And that thing was laughing at me for that. I don’t know what happened next, it’s just a blur until I got to the hospital. I don’t even know if I’d have risked it for anypony else. And the weird part is: I don't think we're even that close. We just hang out together a lot. It feels weird, thinking about that. Does that make me a bad pony?”

“Close or not close, you stood up for a friend, Whimper. You were brave in the face of a very real danger, and you overcame a threat to ponies all over Equestria, that’s what they hand out medals for. You’ve got a good heart. You’d have done the same for anyone, I’m sure of it.” She really was sure of it, actually, she’d seen the same attitude in her friends.

“Maybe.” He shook at the thought.

“You’re quite protective, aren’t you? Of your friends, I mean. That’s why you came to Flight Camp earlier than you should have. You wanted to be better. You think you might not be worth friends at all, am I right?”

“No, that’s not it.” He grimaced in annoyance. ”Peachy Pie and Scootaloo don’t need me to look out for them. They’re fine without me, I don’t need to be perfect or protect them all the time. You don’t understand.”

“I think I do, actually. You want to protect someone else, somepony who isn’t as fearless or as tough as your friends.” She looked over her notes, then checked his still nervous posture.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Whimper clenched that beanie bag.

“Come on, it’s all right. I know what you’re going through, I’ve seen this before.” Twilight tried to assure him to no avail.

“I’m sorry, but... nopony knows what it’s like.”

Twilight went in for the big one. The one reason he was up here to begin with. “You’re going to be a big brother soon, aren’t you?”

Silence fell and he shook violently. The colt made a crunching sound with the beanie bag. “How did you know?”

“It’s the only thing that makes sense in your situation. You don’t have a lot of friends, and the ones you do have can stand up for themselves, like you said. You basically take turns protecting each other, and you seem to think that you need to earn the right to be someone’s friend by being a good guardian for them. But nopony’s ever expected you to be a perfect protector, you just act like they do. With a baby? If it turns out to have the same breathing problem you have, then having your problem fixed here means you can fix it for them too. If not, that means they’ll be faster than you and they’ll get into trouble where you can’t protect them, just because you can’t follow. That’s the only thing that would get you up here with your wings still being so small and your bullies still following you.”

Whimper suppressed a tear. He was clinging to the beanie bag like it was a life buoy. “My mom found out the day they announced when Flight Camp would start. Would you believe that?”

“Whimper, you know you can stop, right? You can fly fine now. Even if you can’t go fast, you’ll keep up with pegasi at their normal speed, you can fly at a gallop even if you can’t sprint. Once camp is over, things will be different. You don’t have to keep moping and bringing yourself down. Despite what you might think, you stopped being a runt a long time ago, the day you decided you wanted to be stronger.” Twilight tried to get her motivational speech going.

“No, I didn’t. I’m still the runt.” He clenched his teeth in anger. The beans stopped ruffling in the bag. He couldn’t have crushed all of them, could he?

“Come on, you don’t really believe that. Look at yourself. You’re strong, everyone who really knows you, likes you, and you’re a hero recognised by the Royal Guard. How does that make you a runt?”

“You don’t understand. It’s the only thing I can be. I don’t like it, but that’s the way it is. I just don't wanna get that look. Anything but that look.” He sobbed.

Twilight nodded in sympathy. She could guess what kind of look he was referring to. “You do realise you can’t keep up that attitude around a sibling, right? Don’t you want to be a good example for your baby brother or sister?” She’d hoped that particular logic would snap him out of his self-pity.

It didn’t pan out the way she’d planned.

“No, I don’t. Babies are loud, smelly and annoying. I don’t want anything to do with it. You want to know the truth? I didn’t come here so I could keep up with it, I came to Flight Camp so I could get away from it!”

Twilight blinked. It was hard to imagine he'd actually hate his future sibling, he certainly wasn’t the jealous type.

“Um… what do you mean? Are you scared your parents won’t like you anymore?”

He shook his head violently. “You don’t understand. It’s not what you think, and I don’t want anyone to know. It’s fine as long as I can get away, and nopony needs to know. They’ll look at me if they know.”

“Know what? Do you feel jealous? Inadequate?” She reached over to try and comfort him with a pet on the mane.

He tensed up like a wound spring when her hoof approached him. His teeth were gritted together and his stress relief was cracking at the seams. Either the boy was going to burst, or the bag, and it would be ugly no matter which burst first.

“Whimper.” Rainbow Dash came in, snapping both of them to attention. ”It’s okay. You don’t have to talk about it if you’re not ready.”

Twilight frowned at her winged friend. But looking down at Whimper’s quivering form, she realised it was probably best if she stopped. Knowing how he really felt about his upcoming sibling was enough of a breakthrough, even if she didn’t understand it. She sighed. “I’m sorry if I upset you, Whimper. You can go if you don’t want to talk. But please don’t let this eat you up.”

Without a word, he dropped the beanie bag and walked out as the sun was getting ready to set. Twilight checked that beanie bag. There were no beans anymore, just powder. That kid was really tense. “I don’t understand what went wrong. I thought I had him figured out, I was sure I could help him,” the self-declared expert of child psychology started.

Rainbow Dash flashed her that patented confident smile. “That’s okay, Twilight. I figured you would need some help. That’s why I stepped in.”

Twilight’s jaw dropped. “Excuse me?”

“Getting through to kids takes a lot of work, and some ponies just aren’t cut out to handle that kind of empathy.”

This was reminding Twilight of something. Where have I heard this conversation before? And why do I feel so tempted to cover Rainbow Dash in flour?

“Oh, so you do have that kind of empathy? Don’t think I can’t figure this out, Rainbow. I know you’re hiding something just as much as Whimper is, maybe you’ve had the same sort of experience. And I know it has something to do with your cutie mark. You might have fooled everypony else with that story, but not me.”

“So what if I did?” Rainbow Dash walked up to her friend with a defiant grin. ”It’s not like you’re smart enough to do anything about it.”

The unicorn narrowed her eyes. Dash could be harsh, but she was never this offensive. Rainbow was daring her, and Twilight couldn't back down from it. “Oh, I’m pretty sure I am.”

To that, Dash’s expression shifted to something Twilight had never expected. For the briefest moment, Rainbow Dash looked like Twilight’s mirror image just as she uttered two words. Two simple words that had started their friendship and conveyed the whole of their complex relationship.

“Prove it.”

Comments

[wariyoshi]

Update

New cover art got my attention, but I didn't think Whimper looked like that XD Did you draw it?

And also, I think this story is panning out well The plot thickens with every turn! Muahahahaaa

[Wise Cracker]

992857
Hmm...how did he look different, then? I did make that myself, yes, entirely. And this is pretty much how he'd look on the show...unless I need to add some little veins, but that'd only be visible when he's moving. It's still open to suggestions, but this sticks to his description best. Yes, that's not laziness, that's accuracy, and I'm sticking by that story . There's not a lot of ways you can make a colt look muscular, but I tried. There's a little indent at his abs (it's not completely round), the strokes around his arms are a little thicker, and generally he's quite stocky. See, I noticed that every time they make a strong male character, they wind up looking round, still. Whimper's got a few sharp edges in his design to show hardness and muscle, not just strength. His face is based on generic colt and stallion faces, flatter than fillies but still with some curving. But he was vectored mostly from scratch, he looked ugly in the pony creator, trust me. As for his tail: the stroke on that is thinner, because he's slow. If they ever do put in a pegasus that's slow, they could use that as a visual cue: a thin stroke means an inconspicuous zip line.

See: a character who can't rush, will never be displayed with a zip line, so it makes sense that a character with a thin stroked tail is slow. As an added bonus, his tail is based on Soarin's, his hairdo is based loosely on Spitfire's, but darker. You know...smouldering flame. It's easier to see on the full-size image.

As for the choice of scene...come on, that one line sums up the whole fic, no?

Also: note that Scoot's smile is incredibly awkward and forced, on purpose. At that point she likes him, but is still going to hurt him. It's not a romantic smile or even a friendly smile, it's a "HeyFluttershywejustthoughtadeathmatchwouldbegoodforyoukaybye" smile.

As always, thanks for the comment, glad you like it!

[wariyoshi]

992991 Er, by looking different, I meant looking different than he did in my head (Which couldn't have been avoided, obviously). There's nothing wrongwith the way he looked at all, it's just my brain never tracked how he was described in the beginning

[Axel van Daeren]

Scootaloo remained silent at that, averting the unicorn’s gaze.

Unless you're physically grabbing someone's head, the only gaze you can avert is your own. You can however avoid someone else's gaze...