Service for Wings

by warpd

Chapter 1: Earn Your Wings

Scootaloo was full of surprises. Twilight Sparkle was most pleased when the young pegasus started to visit the library unprompted. Not even for the sake of studying for the next exam or pulpy fiction. Not that Twilight had a problem with pulp, all fiction was worthy in her eyes.

“So what’s she looking at then?” Spike lazily snacked on his nacho stack as Twilight worked through her own task. “She’s even got you looking through your personal stash.”

“History!” Twilight sprang up as she cycled through book after book like a rolling dispenser. A nostalgic tone colored her words as she picked through them. “The same time frame that I was studying before coming to Ponyville.”

“Oh right, you were in that conspiracy phase thinking the world was going to end via angry moon mare.” Spike slightly ribbed his caretaker.

Rolling her eyes, Twilight plucked the final book before neatly putting the rest back. “Hey, she was real. Granted, nothing went as I expected.” She turned around from her desk with a smile, “Now then.” Spike realized his self-appointed break was going to abruptly end as a shadow of books eclipsed him. “Take these to her.”

“Fine.” Swallowing his nachos, Spike wobbled a bit as he carried the stack. Twilight followed along humming to herself. “How much prep do you need to get ready for the Grand Galloping Gala? I was hoping to visit Rarity to get a new suit.”

“Just a few more things, including getting you to Rarity.” Bounding down the stairs, she looks up as Spike carefully feels out each step. “Alex Roberts will be going too, I'm pretty sure Prince Blueblood won him over, otherwise I don’t think he would go.”

After a few close calls, Spike reached the public study room. Huffing and puffing like a marathon runner, he put the books on the desk. “Hey, Scoots, got your requested material. Please, no more.”

“Oh, thanks, Spike,” Scootaloo was putting a few books away in her saddlebag, “but I just remembered I had to be somewhere really soon. So I need to get going.”

“Pick one at least.” Spike groaned as he sat down.

Twilight shook her head, “Nope, these belong to my private collection, so no borrowing. I will keep them aside so you can grab them quickly the next time you come in.” She smiled as Scootaloo snapped her saddlebag around her barrel. “So why the sudden interest in Nightmare Moon history?”

“Oh, Rainbow Da-I mean Mom was telling Summer about the adventure you all had when y’all stopped her, and it got me thinking.” Scootaloo cantered to the front door where her scooter was kept. “I asked Sweetie Bell if she could ask Rarity to bring some old newspapers from Canterlot during the time frame. She should have them now, so that’s why I’m leaving.”

Twilight opened the door for the young pegasus. “Wow. You are looking into this more than even I would have. Newspapers, very clever.”

“More like an obsession. Geez, Scoots, are you trying to join some kind of crazed moon cult?” Spike leaned on the door post, his comment earning an irritated eye roll.

“No. Just have a hunch.” Scootaloo slapped on her helmet hastily. “I’m not about to join another fanclub. Running one is already a full-time job.”

Buzzing her wings with youthful energy, Scootaloo flew off on her favorite ride. With practiced skill, she weaved through streets, backways, and stalls. Residents barely had time to react before an orange whirlwind blew past. As always, the world was a blur. Even with all of her disaster-defying stunts, Scootaloo still noticed all of the pegasi above her. Going faster. Casually.

The clubhouse came into view quickly. Scootaloo had taken every shortcut, even the ones that her parents told her not to take. Not even breaking, she lept off her scooter, allowing it to crash into a nearby bush. Wings outstretched, she caught enough air to flip higher into the air. A thump on the roof was all the occupants heard.

“Scootaloo? Is that you?” The melodious voice of Sweetie Bell greeted her.

A coughing fit told her that Applebloom was already here. “Did you have to kick up a dust storm too? We weren’t going anywhere.”

“Sorry, I lost track of time.” Scootaloo jumped off the roof to the balcony. She opened up the door to find the club had turned into a crime scene. Newspapers strewed everywhere. Most had been pinned up on the board. “Girls, you all did this already?”

“Sure did!” Applebloom smiled as she brushed aside worthless ads. “Sweetie Bell came over with the papers and figured we could help you out by cutting the cores from the apple.”

Sweetie Bell poked her chest with a smile “I think I pulled through with flying colors. Not only did Rarity bring the goods, I think we pinned the timeline like you wanted to do.”

She squeaked in surprise when Scoots wrapped them both in a hug. “You are the best, girls.”

After a few moments of returning the hug, Scootaloo looked over their work. “So what do we have here?”

“Well, we figured out the best way to see what happened when Princess Lu, er, Nightmare Moon arrived from the moon we started from the day before.” Sweetie put on her best Cheerilee impression. “Canterlot prepares for the Summer Sun Celebration. Even if Princess Celestia was going to be traveling to the small farming community–”

“That's us, by the way,” Applebloom helpfully pointed out, “Ponyville.”

“Hush, you. Princess Cadance was going to fill in for her aunt to keep the celebration going.” Sweetie Bell pointed at a picture of a younger bachelorette Cadance. The headlines had the usual showy punch, not at all upset that Princess Celestia was going to some earth pony town. “Posh citizens, incredible students, and brilliant day guards were all going to be making this celebration unforgettable.”

“So that brings me to my first question. Now, I ain’t all too familiar with military stuff, being a simple proud farmer an’ all, but what about the Night Guard?” Applebloom pushed up a picture that wasn’t on the timeline. “Captain Nightshade’s pretty important. I do know her and uncle Alex work together to help save the day.”

Scootaloo couldn’t hide her frown, as Sweetie Bell failed to give an answer. “Well, based on what I read in the history books, the Night Guard were not looked favorably upon by the general public and noble ponies. Though any attempts to disband them were always squashed by Princess Celestia. Personally, I think she did that because she always felt her sister would come back one day.”

Sweetie Bell glanced ahead at the paper timeline, “Yeah, she doesn’t show up until after Princess Luna is reinstated.” She wacks the next paper with a ruler. “Anyway, the story goes on about some events being planned, famous ponies, and the usual Canterlot fair. Then we get the special report. This one is not in the normal paper and I’m not sure who Rarity talked to to find it. Apparently, a city-wide alarm went off, telling ponies to hide. Nightmare Moon attacked Canterlot when she arrived from the moon.”

“That can’t be right. We all saw her at town hall.” Scootaloo rubbed her chin. “So what made this warning paper not normal?”

“Well, it was a dragon fire emergency system set up to give the ponies a heads-up when something bad happens.” A list of do’s and don’ts went down the line, gone was the pretentious unicorn flair. Stay indoors, don’t open the door, don’t make your shadow obvious.”

“Don’t make your shadow obvious. That’s the weird one we couldn’t figure out.” Applebloom pointed out. “Wasn’t an issue when Nightmare Moon showed up in Ponyville.”

“Probably because Nightmare Moon wasn’t in Canterlot.” Scootaloo pulled her notebook out and looked over a dog-eared page. “In the past, she had agents that worked for her. They’re kind of similar to the Shadowbolts that Mom had to fight off after she rejected their offer. Somepony had to have magic to create shadow-like creatures, hence the warning. I think I know who too, but keep going with the timeline.”

“Right then, so it gets a little weirder. Princess Luna returns. There is a big article that takes up the majority of the paper. It is a big celebration. Nothing about what happened during the night.” Quickly going through pictures of Princess Luna being integrated into her role, Captain Nightshade by her side, and adoring citizens. Princess Celestia wasn’t far behind.

“Pony propaganda.” A huskier voice made the three fillies jump up. Hanging at the window was Scootaloo’s diamond dog sister, Summer Blossom. “Me think Sun was controlling barking to help her sister. Dark Moon was bad. Hard to trust.”

“Summer! What brings you here?” Scootaloo opened the door to let her sister in, but was waved off.

“Too small. Me stay in window. Sister kicked up dust, heard ponies talking about it.” Summer sniffed the air for a moment before continuing. “You seem okay.”

“I flew over here from the library. I may have been a bit reckless.” Scootaloo blushed as rubbed the back of her neck.

Looking at the presentation, Summer tilted her head from side to side. “Me confused, why you interested in Princess Luna?”

“Well, she’s part of the story, but I’m actually looking at…” Scootaloo skimmed through the timeline before pointing to a later picture. “Her!”

In the picture for another photo op featuring Princess Luna, a pony stood next to her waving at the ceremony. Her name printed underneath it, Duchess Umbrielle. “Me don’t see what pony is. Looks strange.”

“She’s like one of the distant pony races. Thestral, bat pony, they have something in their own tongue, but I ain’t going to even try. They have their own nation called Kiri.” Sweetie Bell looked closer at the photo. “Duchess, she seems important. Of the family, Pomeline.”

“That’s the one. Her family a long time ago made a pact with Nightmare Moon. According to legend, a special pony would be born in their family that would be one of the stars that would help Nightmare Moon escape her imprisonment.” Scootaloo recited from her notes.

“So bad pony?” Summer whined.

“Well, if she’s at big old public event taking pictures with the princesses, she’s probably not evil.” Applebloom furrowed her brow. “Though she’s like some kind of bigwig politics pony, AJ always told me to watch out for those folks. They double talk their backtalk.”

“Why interest in strange pony, sister?” Summer snorted at Scoot’s strange behavior. “You beg father and mother for us to go to gala. Mom hate gala. Father care less. You meet with strange pony?”

“Yeah, I’m kind of interested to know too. After all of this research, what are you hoping for?” Sweetie Bell and Applebloom leaned in to hear their friend’s explanation.

Scootaloo sucked in her lips and looked down. “I think that there is somepony in the Pomeline family that has the power to, well this is a secret between us for now.” She stopped, a pregnant pause, then looked up with fierce hope. “The power to let me fly.”

The group flinched in shock, before an uproar of questions. “What!? Where did you even get that idea?”

“How is that possible?”

“Shadows give wings? Little sister,this is bad idea.”

The young pegasus holds up her hooves as her friends crowded around her. “Hold on, hold on. Not all at once.” Scootaloo pushed Applebloom and Sweetie Bell away. “Listen girls, it’s just a hunch. I’m not done with the research anyway. I need to be 120 percent sure that this can work before I make a donkey of myself. I already convinced Mom and Dad to take me to the Gala, I don't want to embarrass them if this was all for nothing.”

Scootaloo opened up her notes to the beginning, written down was a familiar song. “As for the idea, it was one of the Nightmare Night songs. If you join her, she'll take you away with wings to the moon. It’s supposed to be a scary song, but I started to wonder if there was some truth in it like in the holiday in general.”

“So that’s what this is all about.” Applebloom sighed as she sat back down on her haunches. “I getcha, it does sounds like a real long shot though. If there was a pony out there that could make grounded pegasus fly you’d think we would have heard about it.”

“Cousin has point. If pony make others fly, why we hear nothing. It would be all over paper.” Summer points to the work that the girls set up, mostly just about Princess Luna’s return. “Maybe was right, pony propaganda.”

“I mean, they might be bad ponies.” Sweetie Bell shrugged as she started to worry. The possibility that this could go badly made her frown. “I think you’re right to keep studying before demanding boons from bad guys. What kind of propaganda are you talking about Summer?”

Summer grabs one of the pictures that had settled beneath her and pointed to Princess Celestia. “Protect her sister, of course. Celestia do what any good sister does. Pony propaganda maybe poor choice of idea. Control and frame information. Help Princess Luna settle into new home.”

“Well if this Duchess Umbrielle was the one that helped Nightmare Moon escape would Celestia throw her into jail?” Applebloom pointed out. “I mean, Celestia wanted Luna to come back, but I think bringing back Nightmare Moon would still be a crime.” Then she hops up as a bright idea struck her. “Or, or, or maybe the family is doing ‘community service’ by returning to being aids to Princess Luna.

“Right, and with my father basically being Princess Luna’s head Paladin I think I can ask for wings that work.” Scootaloo pulled back her urge to also share in Applebloom’s excitement. “But you know, we need the full story first. I don’t want to get my hopes up yet.”

“When tell our parents?” Summer asked. “Secrets do no good if wait until final moment.”

“It has to be before we go to the Gala. I’ll present this research to them. Kind of like a presentation in class. Only this time, instead of some kind of grade, I’ll be earning working wings.” Scootaloo closed her notebook, determined to see this through.