Salvation

by Sandstorm Inkwell

Chapter Ten

I awoke to a hoof tapping against my cheek. Rolling my head to the left, I opened my eyes to see Scootaloo standing there, a smirk on her face. That was when I felt the pressure on my stomach. Raising an eyebrow, eliciting a giggle from Scootaloo, I rolled my head to allow me to look at my stomach. When I did, my eyes widened as I saw Twilight sleeping, her head resting on me.

We were in the clearing, the party decorations somehow picked up and packed away. I looked around some more to see my squadmates still sleeping. Looking back at the unicorn using my gut as a pillow, I sighed before smirking much the way Scootaloo did.

“Twilight. Time to get up,” I whispered, poking the unicorn's nose. Her reaction was to mumble and move her head to get away from the finger. That meant down.

“Woah now!” I exclaimed, my eyes wide as I used a hand to keep her head over my stomach. The sudden exclamation awoke the unicorn. Her eyes started at my hand and traveled up my arm until she was finally looking at my face. Her sleepy, half-opened eyes suddenly widened as her pupils dilated in shock.

“Oh!” she shouted, jumping to her hooves and blushing deeply. It was at that moment that she noticed my hand. She must have put two and two together as her blush became impossibly deeper and her pupils dilated a bit more. “Um...I-I...BYE!”

With a purple flash and popping noise, she disappeared, her teleportation spell taking her somewhere else. I sighed in relief and dismay as I sat up and looked around the clearing to see if the scene awoke anyone. My eyes made contact with Jones'. He was awake and propped up on his elbows, looking at me with a smirk. Giving a quick glance over everyone else, I felt relieved that they were still sleeping. Hopefully.

I pointed my finger at Jones, “Not a word.”

He raised one hand in defense, “Not a word,” he agreed. With that, he laid back down and placed his helmet back over his head. I doubted he actually planned to go back to sleep.

Turning to Scootaloo, I saw her snickering at me.

“Yeah, yeah Scoots, laugh it up,” I whispered, ruffling her mane. She stopped snickering and glowered at me. Smirking, I found my way to my feet and stretched briefly before turning to Scootaloo and kneeling.

“So,” I started, “I got a bit of time to burn. What d'ya want to do Scoots?”

She smiled before putting a hoof to her chin and making an 'I'm thinking' face. Finally, she put her hoof back on the ground and answered, “I want you to help me learn to fly.”

I cocked an eyebrow in surprise but I nodded nonetheless. I had promised her I'd help after all.

“Alright, let's go to a different clearing and see if any of my advice might help.”

The little filly nodded and started leading the way out of the clearing. I immediately noticed that she wasn't heading to the trail, which confused me until I remembered my first day here. The clubhouse. Of course. When she learned to fly, she wanted to remember the place where she first did it. What better place than the Crusader Clubhouse?

It didn't take us long to reach it, the walk being one made in silence. When we did reach the clearing with the big tree in it's center, Scootaloo spun around and looked up at me expectantly.

“Alright,” I started, “show me what you can do so far.”

She suddenly looked nervous as she swallowed. Despite her nervousness, she nodded and got in a takeoff position. Flapping her wings, she didn't move at first. Noticing this, sweat began to bead her forehead as she flapped harder. Finally, she lifted from the ground about two feet and began to hover. While she didn't seem to be exerting herself, sweat still formed on her forehead.

“T-this,” she began nervously, looked at the ground below her, disappointed, “is it.”

I nodded and patted the hovering filly on her head. Kneeling down to look her in the eye, I smiled,

“That's good. Now,” I put out my hand and made it flat, lining it up horizontally with the ground. I then titled it forward, “tilt yourself forward.”

Scootaloo looked at me skeptically but nodded and did as I said. Slowly, she tilted herself forward. Just as slowly, she began to move forward. Her eyes widened in delight before her pupils dilated in horror as she began to slowly approach the ground.

“Flap your wings a little harder,” I suggested.

Scoots immediately complied, flapping harder. She stopped dropping and continued moving forward but I could tell she was exerting herself to keep up with the flapping of her wings. Finally, having enough, she dropped to the ground, landing face-first. Helping her to a sitting position, I watched as she rubbed her chin.

“See? I'm no good at flying. I'll never be like Dash,” she said, saddened by the prospect. I put my hand under her chin and gently forced her to look at me,

“Don't say that, Scootaloo. Self-doubt is what takes out most people. It's nothing good. The first step in anything is to believe, in every fragment of your body, that you can do it. Understand?”

She nodded. Removing my hand, I scratched my chin in thought. I smiled wide as an idea struck me.

“Uh, why are you smiling like that?” Scoots asked, her head tilting to one side.

“Idea!” I exclaimed, “Come on!”

Without waiting for a reply, I scooped up Scootaloo and began to jog toward Ponyville.

“Where are we going?”

“You'll see,” I replied, still smiling. The filly didn't ask anything else as she just watched the trees go by. The run into town wasn't eventful and soon, I was in front of my destination, breathing just a bit heavier from the run.

“Carousel Boutique?” Scootaloo asked, “Where are we here?”

I just smiled wider as I set her down, “You'll see.”

I knocked on the door.

“Come in,” I heard in a sort of sing-song voice.

Opening the door, I stepped inside to see Rarity floating a multitude of things to the mannequin and then floating them away as soon as they touched it.

“No. No. No. No,” she repeated as each item touched the mannequin.

“Um, Rarity.”

She stopped and turned to me. She briefly looked startled before she smiled wide, “Tyler!” Her eyes glanced down to see the orange filly, “And Scootaloo! Please, please come in and close the door.”

Stepping farther inside, I waited for Scootaloo to follow before closing the door. While I did that, Rarity called up the stairs to Sweetie Bell announcing Scoots arrival. It wasn't long before the little white filly came trotting down. When the two fillies saw each other, they launched themselves away from the main room to go play.

“How may I help you?” Rarity asked as she returned to the mannequin.

“I need you to make me something.”

Her magic seemed to implode as everything dropped to the floor. I thought I had crossed some invisible line but that thought vanished as she smiled and looked at me.

“Why of course dear. Why else would see me?” she looked me over, “Something to replace that... 'uniform' of yours, I assume?” I could already see the measuring tape and silk moving toward me.

“Um, no,” the moving dressmaking equipment stopped, “I need you to make a human device.”

She looked shocked. When she recovered, she asked, “Why?”

I smiled, “Because I think it may boost Scootaloo's self-esteem.”

Rarity beamed, “Oh! Then I will do it for free. Just tell me what it is that you want Rarity to create and it shall be magnifique.”

/--\

After the visit with Rarity, Scootaloo and me were walking back to the clearing.

“So,” Scootaloo began, “What did you need to see Rarity for?”

I smirked, “Needed her to make a human thing.”

“What kind of human thing?”

“A working human thing.”

I heard her sigh in exasperation, “What kind of working human thing?”

“A reliable, working human thing.”

She threw her forehooves into the air, “Ah! Forget it!” she exclaimed. I chuckled at her reaction. She then looked up at me with a curious look on her face, “How did you know how Pegasi flew? Did you have pegasi in your world?”

I chuckled again, “No. No pegasi in my world.”

“Then how?”

“Humans craved to fly,” I began, looking up at the sky, “one of the things we made was something called a helicopter. It was this machine that worked by the spinning of giant blades called rotors. In order to go up, the rotors had to be moving at a certain speed. To go forward, they had to tilt the helicopter forward and put more power into the rotors.”

I shrugged, “Since pegasi aren't avian in their biology, I assumed that y'all flew more like helicopters.”

“Oh,” was her reply. There was a short silence before, “Why do you talk like that?”

I felt an eyebrow go up, “Like what?”

She smiled, “Well. Sometimes you have an accent like Applejack's and you'll even say some of the words that she uses. Yet, most of the time, you talk... normal.”

I chuckled, “Oh, that. I was born in the southwestern portion of the United States, my homeland. There, many people had accents like Applejack's, it was just a cultural thing. However, when I never had a real thick accent. So, when I moved away, most of the accent left and now it just slips out for certain words or when I use southern phrases like 'y'all'.”

Scootaloo laughed, “Oh, I see.”

The rest of the walk was silent. When we neared the clearing, I heard the sound of work. At the end of the trail, I spotted most of my squad, Applejack, and Big Mac. They seemed to be digging around an apple tree.

“There he is!” Gonz shouted as I approached. Grabbing a nearby shovel, he tossed it at me. I caught it easily.

“Where's Sarge?” I asked.

“Buying the house Jones found. Now help us dig up these trees,” he ordered with a smile on his face, “We're freeing Athena!”

Comments

[dargondarkfire]

this story just came out and it already has 1 down vote?! seriously did you just down vote it because its a HiE story?

Well i'm going to give this a read and then an honest opinion inkwell.

[Darkluigi]

2475397 Actually I read this story a long time ago on fanfiction.net and i'm suprised to see it just get on here

[dargondarkfire]

Is there more of it somewhere else, cause it seems like a good story from what I have read so far.