Falling Skies

by smileyfacer

I.

“Scooootaloooooooo! You’re late, get up, squirt!”

Rainbow’s hoofsteps were muffled as a Wonderbolt adorned quilt covered Scootaloo’s ears, but the sunlight shone brightly through the thin cover. A strange noise was emitted from the young pegasus, as she desperately tried to grab hold of the cover to block the light. But before she knew it, the older pegasus had pulled the cover away, mercilessly leaving the filly out to the chilly temperatures of the morning.

“I don’t want tooooo, Rainboooow, pleeeeease...” Scootaloo moaned, and tossed herself from side to side on the spacious bed.

“You have to! C’mon, breakfast time,” Rainbow Dash gently commanded, and nudged the filly with a hoof. Scootaloo refused to budge, and no matter how much the older mare nudged her, she didn’t move. With a smug grin plastered on her face, Rainbow found another tactic.
Soon, giggles echoed throughout the home of clouds, and Scootaloo was up before she knew it, to escape Rainbow’s cruel hooves.

---

Compared to her age, Rainbow Dash was sure she hadn’t seen a filly with such an appetite. She hadn’t known Applejack when she was little and had only heard rumours of the farmpony’s desire to eat food, but she was sure that Scootaloo could take her on in a eating contest. Rarity would definitely proclaim Scootaloo had horrendous, disastrous and terrible table manners. Rainbow figured Rarity was right, but as long as Celestia wasn’t coming over for an evening meal, the cyan mare figured that it didn’t matter much. She was just happy to have someone to have horrible table manners with.

With a wide smile on her face, Scootaloo finished her breakfast.

“Thanks for breakfast, RD!” she cheered, and carefully placed it on the counter.

“You know I enjoy making it for you, squirt. Now, Scootaloo, you best scoot to school!” Rainbow said, and tried very hard to hold her burst of laughter in. Scootaloo giggled, before putting on her saddlebags, and turning towards the older mare.

“I will, if you dash to work!”

None of them could hold back their laughter, and they both held up a hoof to bump, before holding each other tightly as they did every morning.

“Stay safe, Scoots, don’t fly too fast, alright?” Rainbow said, and ruffled up the purple mane.

“Says the speed devil herself!” Scootaloo retorted, and waved as she left the house.

---

Scootaloo was certain she never could get enough of the soft feeling that tingled her hooves as she walked on clouds. But she wasn’t sure if it was because she now knew how to get off them the way she was supposed to, or simply because it was quite special to walk on clouds. She leaned more towards the first option, and took a deep breath, as she stood upon the edge of the cloud, gazing down towards the earth. To ensure her saddlebags wouldn’t fall off during the flight, she turned around, and tightened the strap around her belly. Scootaloo felt a bit silly, as she imagined herself doing an entry for the Wonderbolts, which she did every morning, but she didn’t care.

She had a glorious sun that warmed her coat and perfect conditions to fly with a slight breeze ruffling her feathers, even if it was a little chilly. With a semi-majestic unfolding of her wings, Scootaloo closed her eyes, and jumped, folding her wings back in.

Her heart thumped loudly in her chest as the feeling of weightlessness hit her, and all of the impressions she got through her senses; strong winds of descent blowing in her mane, the howling sound of gusts in her ears and the force of her fall making her eyes tear up. She let her rapid descent continue, and opened her eyes. The first time she had done this fear had clutched her heart, but after several attempts, both with and without Rainbow Dash, she knew the distance between her home and the earth so well, she could almost do it with closed eyes. With some strain, she unfolded her wings again, gritting her teeth as she had to resist the great force of winds brutally hitting against them. That was the hardest part; to ensure that her wings were strong enough to keep her soaring. But they hadn’t failed her before, and today was not going to change that.

Through a few tense seconds, the wind ceased its howling in her ears, and the vicious battle with her wings. In beautiful and graceful unison, she was able to gently soar on the winds. Scootaloo gently rocked back and forth through the air, adding twists and turns as she did. Her wings were relaxed, yet strong and her heart was pounding, yet calm.

This was happiness, for a filly that had long since sought it out.

Scootaloo felt silly when she flew; mostly because she couldn’t stop smiling like a filly, but also because in her mind, she wasn’t adorned with a saddlebag. No, instead, a tight blue bodysuit fitted her body snugly, only revealing the strong muscles that she had worked hard to achieve. She had no problem seeing out of the protective goggles that she wore when flying at neck breaking speeds alongside Rainbow Dash, Spitfire, Soarin’ and all the others.

In her mind, Scootaloo was the youngest member of the Wonderbolts to date.

With a content sigh and an excited squeal, Scootaloo flew a bit faster just by imagining a Wonderbolt suit of her very own.

“Hey, Scootaloo! C’m’here!”

As if a bubble had burst, Scootaloo opened her eyes with surprise, and looked to where the sound had come from, causing her to smile widely.

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle stood on the ground, excitedly waving their hooves in the direction of their flying friend. Scootaloo didn’t hesitate to fly down towards the ground, effortlessly adding some awesome spins into her descent. But as she was about to land, a series of ‘oh’, ‘ah’ and other sounds of amazement started to gather where her two earthbound friends stood, as other schoolponies started to look.

Let’s give them something to look at, she thought, and instead of landing, ascended. The wind tugged lightly at her feathers as she rapidly circled around the tower that proudly stood atop the school building. The metallic rooster adorned on the tower’s top violently spun around in reaction to Scootaloo’s pattern of flight. It creaked loudly, and almost tipped over, before Scootaloo flew even higher.

She did several corkscrews as she ascended into the sky with high velocity, going higher and higher, until Scootaloo placed herself so that the only thing the ponies on the ground could see, was a small filly in front of the sun. Rainbow Dash had often told Scootaloo the story of how Rarity had done the same with her frail butterfly wings, only to have them be incinerated by the sun. Rainbow had barely managed to save Rarity, so naturally the little, and daring filly had tried it herself several times. She had only just perfected the stunt, but now, she did it every time she had the chance, and when several ponies were watching, it was no different.

Scootaloo could barely hear the excited cheers and claps that had begun emitting from the ground, but she knew they were cheering, and they were cheering for her. For the first time in her life, she had ponies cheering for her.

Although Scootaloo had done the trick before, several times, if she tried to count, but every time she did it, she got a little better, and the cheers were getting louder. She smiled inwardly, and gazed at the ground, to see her own shadow; strong wings flapping and a wild breeze in her mane. Scootaloo thought she had kept the crowd going for a long enough, and with a deep breath, she plummeted towards the earth; like she had done on her own. Scootaloo held her wings close to her body, with her hooves outstretched as she soared down at a speed that would make most ponies dizzy. The orange filly approached the earth faster and faster, and soon, began twisting and turning involuntarily in the air. A desperate fight between Scootaloo and her own body; for the first time since she learned to fly, she wasn’t able to withstand the forces of the weather conditions. She started to scream when the hard earth got closer, as control seemed more fickle and fragile, but she violently spun around couldn’t tell what was earth and what was sky.

Horrified ponies stood at the ground, pointing with their hooves towards the orange ball that so quickly was heading for her doom. Cries of desperation and fear began to emit from all the ponies, especially from Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. All they could do was watch their best friend plummet towards the ground; a fall that nopony could survive.

Scootaloo struggled to regain control of her wings, but the strong winds, that she usually fought off so easily, combined with the force of her violent twists and turns, rendered them weak and useless. Her screams never stopped, but what frightened her the most, was that the wind was so loud, she couldn’t hear it.

“Scootaloo!”

She heard a voice from above, speaking louder than the winds, and struggled to see a dash of rainbow following her.

“Scootaloo!” the voice cried again, and Scootaloo recognized the face of Rainbow Dash, desperately trying to get to her.

“I can’t get to you in time, you gotta fly, Scoots, fly!”

Scootaloo let out an agonizing groan, as she once more tried to extend her wings, but she couldn’t.

Rainbow Dash let out a cry as she pulled up, realizing she couldn’t save the orange filly.

“Rainbow Dash! Catch me!” Scootaloo pleaded, still mute to her own voice.

The last thing Scootaloo saw was Rainbow Dash’s cyan body disappear above her as she was about to collide with the hard earth.

Comments

[brad70505]

Yeah an update I hope to see another soon, I can not wait.