Soaring Above

by PonyThunder

Chapter Four - Coping With Failure

This can't have happened, thought Rainbow Dash. Surely, this is a dream and I'll be waking up any moment now. A few moments passed, a dead silence still hanging in the air as the dust from her crash began to settle. Rainbow Dash slowly staggered to her hooves and out of the pile of rubble she had created, and turned around only to see the terrifying face of Spitfire loom towards her as she trotted forcefully across the grass. Rainbow Dash couldn't see her eyes, but she was sure that Spitfire was furious.

"What was that, cadet!" Her voice boomed as she outstretched her neck above Rainbow Dash who was still trying to get on her hooves.

"I--"

"Do you think this is some sort of game?" Spitfire asked rhetorically. "Do you, Rainbow Dash?"

"No, Captain!" she proclaimed.

"Then why does it seem like you think it is?" Spitfire's voice somehow booming louder than before.

"I don't!" said Rainbow Dash, holding back tears as best she could.

"Oh, so I suppose your Sonic Rainboom was integral to your aerial maneuvering?"

"No, Captian, I just--"

"You just what, Rainbow Dash..."

"I just..." she sighed deeply. "I just..." She struggled to get the right words to come out of her mouth.

"That's why I thought," said Spitfire before Rainbow Dash had a chance to continue. She turned around and trotted back towards the field where the other cadets watched in cold silence the heated fury of Spitfire cast upon Rainbow Dash.

---

Scootaloo watched Dash get up out of the pile of rocks and grass, sulkily trotting away from the field. She couldn't believe it. Just like that, Rainbow Dash had failed. She watched the other Pegasi on the field lining up to continue their exams one by one. Emotions welled up inside Scootaloo. Isn't anybody going to do something? she thought to herself and looked at the others sitting next to her. All of them were too speechless to say anything.

"Well?" said Scootaloo. "Are we going to go talk to Dash, or what?"

Twilight spoke up first. "Of course, but...right now I think Rainbow Dash just needs a little time to herself."

Scootaloo pondered this for a moment, wondering how she would feel in such a situation. She definitely wouldn't want to feel alone, she decided, and took off trotting towards Rainbow Dash as Spitfire blew her whistle and the next Pegasus in line began his exam. Rainbow Dash was near the edge of the cliff the Wonderbolts Academy was perched on, about to take off.

"Dash!" she cried out.

Rainbow Dash turned her head around to see the orange filly trotting after her. She wasn't sure if she felt happy that she cared so much for her or sad that she had let her down.

"Dash," she said again more softly as she caught up to her.

"Yeah, Scoot?" she replied without a hint of emotion.

She didn't know what to say next, so all that came out was "I--I'm sorry that happened."

"Well, that makes two of us."

Dash's sarcasm directed towards her stung a little, but she continued anyways. "Can't you just go back and explain what happened?"

Rainbow Dash sighed. "Why bother. You heard what Spitfire said to me."

Scootaloo thought for a moment to the loud conversation Rainbow Dash and Spitfire had in front of everypony. "I didn't hear Spitfire say anything about you not being able to be a Wonderbolt."

"Yeah, well, sometimes you've just gotta read between the lines, you know?" Dash could feel tears start to well up inside her. She wasn't going to let herself cry in front of this filly. Especially not Scootaloo.

Scootaloo seemed determined to lift Rainbow Dash's spirits. "Do you remember what you said to me yesterday?" she asked. "You told me that if I had enough determination and put in the time, I'd be able to fly in no time."

"Well," said Rainbow Dash, still heavy with emotion. "That may be true for you, Scoot, but I might as well be a lost cause." Rainbow Dash turned back around and prepared to take off into the skies for a therapeutic flying session, but Scootaloo stopped her.

"Well, if you can't ever become a Wonderbolt, than I--I...I won't ever be able to fly!"

Dash sighed deeply. I've made a mistake, she thought. She hadn't realized how much Scootaloo really looked up to her. Everything she did, everything she said, Scootaloo was watching with complete attention. She put aside her emotions, sighed again and kicked at the ground for a moment before turning back around to face her.

“Scoot, you're never going to learn to fly with your negativity weighin' you down,” said Dash as she put a wing around her. Scootaloo looked down and let out a sigh.

“I know,” she replied dejectedly, “but I've just tried so hard and it seems like whatever I do...”

“I know it's hard, but you've just gotta keep on--”

“You don't know,” she interrupted. A tear began to well up in her eye. “You don't know how hard it is for me! You've always been able to fly. You're always been the best flyer around. How could you know what it's like to fail at something you were born to do?”

Scootaloo was softly crying now, Dash's wing still wrapped around her. “I did today,” she replied softly, letting out a sigh of her own. She looked up to the skies at the other Pegasus flying amongst the clouds. “I've spent my whole life dreaming of being a Wonderbolt. I've gotten into the Wonderbolt academy. I passed all the tests with flying colors--”

“So far, this isn't helping me at all,” she replied with another sniffle.

“All but one,” said Dash, “and it was the one that actually mattered. All of those years, all of that hard work. Wasted,” she said, letting go of Scootaloo and kicking up some dirt with her hoof. Her face felt warm from trying to hold back tears.

Seeing her idol in such a dejected state, Scootaloo's tears stopped flowing and she let out a final sniffle.

“...and it was the flying exam. The flying exam. Not even the written one, and Celestia knows that was mostly a fluke...”

Scootaloo looked up at Rainbow Dash and watched a single tear drop down from her eyes and splatter onto the dusty ground below. “Dash...” she said, choking a bit on her words. “there's something I want to tell you.”

Dash looked back at her, bringing a hoof to her face to wipe away the tears. “Yeah, Scoot?”

“I want you to know that, well, I've always kind of considered you to be my big sister.”

“Well, duh!” replied Dash, “And I consider you to be my little sister too.” She put her wing around her again.

“Yeah, but, there's more,” she replied. “I—I never really get to see my parents that much...and--”

Rainbow Dash had a sad and confused look on her face.

“--and, well. I've always kind of considered you to be like them, too.”

“Oh,” said Dash. “I...I never realized that I meant that much to you...”

Scootaloo looked embarrassed. “I shouldn't have said that,” she replied, looking away for a moment. Rainbow Dash was trying to search for the right words to say.

“There's nothing wrong with it,” she replied with a smug little smile. “I mean, I am Rainbow Dash after all.”

Scootaloo let out a little half-smile, but it quickly went away as she thought about her place in the world. Rainbow Dash seemed to notice this and quickly added, “and you're Scootloo, and nothing can ever change that.”

“But I don't want to be me,” she replied.

Dash sighed silently. Scootaloo was as stubborn as her. “Look, Scoot,” she said as she pulled her in closer with her wing, “I realized something today. Sometimes our view of ourselves can get...a little crazy.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, for example...sometimes I can be a little, um...”

“Arrogant? A sore loser? Competitive? A show-off?”

Rainbow Dash sent her a stern glance that ended up becoming a smile. “Yeah, those...the point that I'm trying to make, Scootaloo, is that the way I view myself can make me be like that. But for you, it's the opposite.”

Scootaloo thought about this for a moment. “I don't understand.”

“You put yourself down too much, and I over-inflate my own ego,” she replied hesitantly, kicking up some dirt with her hoof. “I didn't need to do a Sonic Rainboom at the end of that test, but I chose to because I wanted to become a Wonderbolt in style, and look where that got me. You're amazing, Scoot. Really, you are. I've never seen a pony go so fast on a scooter like you or be as determined to be your best."

“Well, I don't go that fast--”

“See? This is what I'm talkin' about!” said Rainbow Dash excitedly. “You do! And not just that, you do A-MAZE-ING tricks.”

“I mean, yeah, they're good, but not as amazing as you...”

“Scoot, listen to yourself. You gotta stop comparing yourself to others. Everybody is better than others at certain things. I sure as hay couldn't ride a scooter like you.”

“I guess that's true,” she said, lifting her head up a little bit with a smile.

“There's the Scootaloo I know,” replied Rainbow Dash.

“But what are you going to do, Dash?” Scootaloo looked up at the Wonderbolt Academy. “You've gotta go back and make them let you take the test again!”

“It's not that easy,” she replied. “The Wonderbolt Final Exam isn't meant to be taken twice. There are no second chances. I should have been more prepared.”

“But you were prepared! You just...kinda forgot to get enough sleep...”

"Somehow I don't think Spitfire is going to accept my lack of sleep as an excuse," said Rainbow Dash.

"Then we'll just have to think of something else."

Author's Note:

This is a longer one!

Fun fact, I actually wrote most of this chapter first, so that's probably why it ended up being so long.

Comments

[Tethered-Angel]

This is really coming along, keep up the good work!

[PonyThunder]

6889462

Thanks, I'm a bit unsure of where to take things at the moment though. I had a rough plan before I started this but I've deviated a little bit.