Scootaloo has always wanted to fly. So one night, she makes a wish upon a shooting star- and everything changes. But there is one particular pegasus who isn't too pleased about the results of the wish...
Scootaloo's desire to fly leads her to make a desperate wish on a shooting star. The next morning she wakes up- and everything has changed. Her wish has come true- but not in the way she expected. And Rainbow Dash is less than impressed by the effects of the wish on her...
But another pony in Ponyville has made the same wish, and this complicates things a whole lot more.
I struggled to my hooves, spitting out dust. My wings-so pitifully small- had failed me again. "You okay down there, Scootaloo?" I looked up to see a pair of bright green eyes peering over the edge of the verge at me. I huffed and started to scale the slope, my small orange hooves digging into the clay. Sweetie Belle helped me over the top of the verge, eyeing me with concern as I flexed my wings, wincing at their soreness. They were stiff and covered with dust, not to mention totally useless for flight.
"Don't ya think we should call it a day?" This was Applebloom, standing a few feet away and scuffing the ground with a yellow hoof. "Ya've tried ten times already, and ya ain't gettin' anywhere." Defiantly, I retorted, "I can't just give up. I'm a pegasus. We're meant to fly. And how will I ever be like Rainbow Dash if I can't fly?"
Applebloom looked awkward. "Ah just think ya're gonna get yerself hurt if you keep throwing yerself off of cliffs. Maybe you should ask Rainbow Dash to help ya. I'm sure she'd do it." "No! Rainbow Dash didn't need any help to fly, and neither do I!" "But Scootaloo... you've been trying for a month now, and you still aren't getting anywhere. Don't you think you should get someone to teach you- if not Rainbow Dash, then some other pegasus?"
I hung my head. "I know I haven't been getting anywhere... but I don't know what else to do. I know I can do it- I just have to keep trying." I turned back to the verge and opened my wings, shaking the dust off them. "Just one more try."
I raced towards the cliff, my hooves pounding against the ground. Then there was a lurch as the ground vanished and I was in midair. I stretched my wings as far as they would go, then began to beat them, Up. Down. Up. Down. But still I was falling, falling... The bottom of the ditch raced up to meet me and I hit the ground with a thud.
I was subdued on the way home. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom trotted ahead of me, discussing ideas for getting cutie marks, but I couldn't bring myself to join in. We parted ways on the outskirts of town, and I walked home with my head drooping.
Suddenly I felt a gust of wind hit me, and then a prismatic blur skidded to a halt beside me. "Hey, kid." The voice was self-assured, confident and friendly, and oh so cool. I turned my head and Rainbow Dash was standing there, scrutinizing me with her bright magenta eyes. Her mane was slightly windswept, her wings open. She was the image of awesomeness, and everything I wished I could be.
"Why so glum?" asked Rainbow, tilting her head to one side. I sighed. "It's nothing, Rainbow Dash." I just couldn't tell her- she might think it was uncool that I couldn't fly, and then she'd never want to talk to me again. "Oh- well, if you ever need to talk, I'm always around. Guess I'll see you later then, kid." With that, she was gone in a flurry of feathers. Next I saw her, she was a blur of rainbow colours streaking over the roofs. Then she was out of sight.
I kept walking, and soon I reached home. I shoved the door open, and grunted a half-hearted greeting to my parents. They didn't respond- they were both sitting at the table, surrounded by piles of paperwork. As I passed, my mother twitched, her curled pink mane bouncing slightly as she shook her yellow head and tutted at the paper she held before her eyes. Across the table, my father wiped sweat off his red coat, his dark blue tail brushing the floor as he shifted on his chair, flaring his wings before folding them again. Neither cast me a single glance. I dragged myself upstairs and collapsed on my bed. All my attempts at flying had worn me out, and I fell asleep almost instantly.
I woke up what must have been many hours later. It was dark outside. I got out of bed and trotted to the window. Shoving the window open, I gazed up at the stars, idly wondering whether I'd ever be able to fly beneath them. Then, out of nowhere, a flash of light sped across the sky. It was a shooting star! Seconds later it was gone, but I still closed my eyes and, concentrating hard, made a deep and fervent wish.
"I wish I could fly." The five words, whispered into the night air, were gone as quickly as the star they'd been wished on. But somehow, there was a new electricity, some kind of magical feel in the air as I trotted back to bed.
I woke up, and the first thing which I felt was an odd sense of strength. I stretched, and felt powerful muscles flexing and then winced as I heard several of them snapping. Opening my eyes, I blinked away the sleep, yawned and peered around me. Then I bolted upright. I was in the wrong room! The walls were all white, and Wonderbolt posters and paraphernalia adorned every surface. Stepping cautiously off the bed, I realised it was a Wonderbolt blanket which lay scrunched up at the bottom of the... Cloud?
I had been lying on a cloud. In the wrong room. I reached out a hoof to poke the cloud- and recoiled. My hoof was blue. A lovely, cyan blue. The same colour as Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash.
I raced over to a mirror on the adjacent wall. Rainbow Dash stared back at me. I was her, from the spectrum-coloured (slightly scruffy) mane to the colourful lightning-bolt cutie mark, right to the tips of her blue feathered wings. Her wings. Even though I knew I should be confused, maybe even in a state of panic, I felt a sudden excitement. Was it possible that, with these wings, I could fly?
But then something occurred to me. If I was Rainbow Dash, then was Rainbow Dash me? Was she waking up right now in my small orange body, in my bed, unaware of the swap? I thought about it, and yet, despite my worry for Rainbow Dash, this was a dream come true. I wasn't just like Rainbow Dash, I was her. "Aw, yeah!" I declared, grinning at myself in the mirror and flaring my new wings.
I yawned,stretching out every muscle as I did every morning when I woke up. But today, it felt different. My limbs felt too short, my muscles weak, and then, to my horror, I realised that I could no longer sense every feather on my powerful wings as I usually could. Something was badly wrong.
I pushed the covers away forcefully and stared around me. Everything was rather blurred, but it definitely wasn't my room. The walls, instead of being formed from fluffy cloud, were plastered and solid. Pictures- photographs of two fillies, one grey and one pink, were hanging on every wall. The two fillies smiled sweetly at me from every surface. Across the room there was a picture of Applejack's sister, Rarity's sister and the little orange filly who seemed to be my biggest fan... Scootaloo, I remembered. This picture had a couple of darts sticking out of it, as well as each of the fillies having had crude moustaches scribbled onto their faces.
I got up from the bed, which was most certainly not a cloud- one of the solid wood-and-mattress structures which earth ponies and unicorns tended to sleep on. The bedspread was silky and smooth, pale blue in colour. Looking around the room, I could see it was not at all cluttered, but instead neat and organised. But worst of all, everything was sparkly. The photo frames, curtains and trinkets were either covered with or made of sequins. It offended the eyes of a pony like me.
Remembering that I couldn't feel my wings, I walked over to a mirror on the wall, but since everything was blurry I tripped and fell over with a thud. "Silver, honey, is that you?" called a musical voice from downstairs. It was the voice of a mare, but I had no idea who she was or why she'd called me Silver. I didn't answer, just lying frozen on the ground. The voice called again, sounding more anxious, and then I heard hoofsteps coming towards the door. Panicked, I scrambled to my hooves and faced the door.
A white mare with a pale blue mane opened the door and looked at me with concern in her purple eyes. "Silver, did you trip? You're not hurt, are you?" She seemed really worried now. She strode over, her eyes sweeping my body as if she was looking for something. When she didn't find it, she sighed with relief.
"Well no wonder you tripped. You weren't wearing your glasses. Here they are!" I felt a hoof pushing something over my eyes, and then I could see much better. I saw the mare looking down at me and smiling. "There you are. Now get ready for school, honey. Diamond will be over soon. You overslept."
She left me alone in the room. Now I could see, I made my way over to the mirror without any more trips. I was horrified by what I saw. In the mirror I saw a grey earth pony filly (an earth pony! No wings!) with a pale grey mane and lilac eyes, complete with large blue glasses with thick lenses. The filly blinked back at me with a horrified expression on her face.
I recognised the grey filly from the photos scattered around the room. Examining my flank, I saw an ornate silver spoon there. I snorted derisively as I wondered what this filly's talent was. The filly seemed familiar, maybe I'd seen her as I flew over town a few times. Though the reason I now occupied her body was far beyond me. I supposed I'd have to consider this later, as I heard the mare- supposedly the filly's mother- trilling from downstairs,
"Silver! Diamond is here!" I skittered out onto the hallway and leaped out over the top step, only to realise in mid-air that I was without my wings. I hit the stairs halfway down and slid the rest of the way. Remarkably, though, I had no bruises- I wondered if being an earth pony made you hardier. At the sound, the mare appeared again. "Did you trip, Silver? Come here and let me check if you're hurt..."
Irritated, I pulled away from her hooves and said crossly, "I'm fine." My voice was high, with a small hint of scorn I hadn't intentionally put there. The mare withdrew, looking worried, but didn't try to check me again. But as I walked to the door to let in this 'Diamond' I could feel her running her eyes over me. I wondered why this mother was being so protective; surely all foals got a few bumps and scrapes as they grew up.
I pulled the door open to see the pink filly from all the pictures in 'my' room. A glittery, stupid-looking tiara rested on her purple and white mane, matching her cutie mark. She looked at me oddly. "Silver, where's your necklace? And your plait? You don't usually wear your mane down..." "Uh... I thought I'd try a different style today." I stammered. Diamond seemed to shrug this off. She looked at me with bright blue eyes. "Um... can I come in?"
I realised I was blocking the door and quickly stepped aside. Diamond walked in. "Hi, Sitting Pretty!" "Hello, Diamond Tiara." answered the mare. "How is your father today?" "Oh, he's well. In fact, he has a big business meeting today..." I zoned out as the two continued to chatter. I was thinking about my predicament and how I could get myself out of it.
Eventually, Sitting Pretty, as she was apparently called, looked up at a clock and gasped. "Girls, you're going to be late for school! You'd better get going. Here's your lunch, Silver Spoon." She gently strapped some saddlebags over my back. They were grey, adorned with (bleh) sequins and clasps the shape of spoons. I followed Diamond Tiara out of the door as Sitting Pretty waved us off.
I walked quietly next to Diamond, still feeling panicky about my lack of wings and where my own body was now. But then Diamond interrupted my thoughts, prodding me with a hoof and stopping me in my tracks. She pointed with a hoof at three fillies walking ahead of us. I recognised Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle appeared to be chatting quite amiably, but something was up with Scootaloo; she was staring down at her hooves.
As we approached, Scootaloo looked up. Her purple eyes met mine and she froze. I stopped too, wondering what was wrong with Scootaloo. But Diamond Tiara kept walking, and only stopped when she was blocking the path of all three fillies. She looked round, realising I wasn't with her, and called sharply, "Silver Spoon!" There was such a commanding tone in that voice that I quickly scurried forwards to stand beside her.
"So, blank flanks." drawled Diamond in a snooty tone."Tried getting your cutie mark in being total dweebs yet?" I felt her nudge me, and realised she fully expected me to agree with her. I did nothing, but Diamond Tiara didn't seem bothered. She took a few steps forward. "Not having a cutie mark is so last year. It's been, like, a year since Silver Spoon got hers, and I got mine a few months ago. Right, Silver Spoon? Bump, bump..." She started doing something with her hooves, stretching them out to me, but I just stood looking at her, utterly bemused.
Diamond lowered her hooves and sniffed as if she didn't care. She began walking, and I followed. As we walked, Diamond turned her head and threw a last sniggering cry of, "Blank flanks!" over her shoulder. She said nothing for the rest of the walk, but when we got to the school, she turned on me. "Silver Spoon, what is with you today? You made me look stupid by not doing our special hoofshake, and you've hardly spoken all day. What's..."
I was distracted by a rainbow trail zooming over town towards us. As it grew closer, I recognised my own body, soaring along with an ecstatic grin on its face. Suddenly something hit my face, hard. I fell back on my haunches, and snapped back to reality to see Diamond Tiara glaring at me her hoof raised. "Awake now?" she snarled.
I didn't even think. Furious, I launched myself forwards, sending her sprawling. Her stupid tiara went flying as we rolled across the playground. I felt it slice my shoulder , but I was so caught up in the battle that I didn't even feel the pain. Screams and shouts filled my ears as we tumbled over and over, but all that filled my head was fury. I bit and punched at the other filly, only stopping as we crashed into the fence and fell apart. I sprung instantly to my hooves, ready to counter the retaliation I was sure was coming. Instead, Diamond Tiara just screamed, "Miss Cheerileeeee!"
Cheerilee came cantering out of the school, and our audience parted to let her through. She looked disapprovingly at us both, but then froze, her eyes on my shoulder. "Silver Spoon, you're bleeding." I looked down at my shoulder. It was a cut, not incredibly deep, but deeper than just a scratch. I shrugged. I'd had worse. But Cheerilee didn't care. She looked slightly shocked at my shrug, then hustled me into the school, leaving Diamond Tiara to wail.
Looking back, I saw with some satisfaction that the pink filly was now sporting a livid black eye and several bite marks and bruises. She looked a lot worse than me. Yet Cheerilee was more bothered about me than about her. I couldn't figure it out.
Cheerilee left me in the sick bay after plastering the cut, telling me she was going to send a message to my mother. I sat absently there on the bench, turning as I heard hooves behind me. It was Scootaloo. I smiled. "Hey. Scootaloo, right?" But Scootaloo recoiled. "Who are you?" "Er- Silver Spoon." I said. "No, who are you really. Because I'm Silver Spoon." "You're Silver Spoon?" I asked.
"Yes. So, are you Scootaloo? Have we swapped bodies?" "No, I'm not Scootaloo. I'm Rainbow Dash." "Oh. Then I'm very sorry you've ended up in my body, though I can't say I miss everypony fussing over me all the time." "Oh yeah, I was wondering about that. Why do they fuss over me- er, you, so much?"
Scootaloo- or Silver Spoon- crouched down miserably. "Well, if you're going to live in my body until we can sort this out, you should know. You see- I'm a haemophiliac." "A what? I'm an athlete, not a scientist." "A haemophiliac. It means my blood doesn't clot. So if I cut myself-" "You bleed to death?" I said, appalled.
She nodded. I suddenly felt really guilty. "Oh, horsefeathers. So I attacked your best friend and possibly killed you? I'm not sure what to say... I'm so sorry, I guess." Silver Spoon shook her head. "It's okay. She isn't my best friend any more anyway; now I've been on the receiving end of her teasing I know how horrid it is. I think maybe, if I ever get my body back, I'll hang out with Sweetie Belle and Applebloom. They've been nice to me all day- even though they think I'm Scootaloo, I don't think they'd be mean like Diamond Tiara."
"But I thought you hated them. The picture in your room, with the darts and moustaches..." "Oh- well, Diamond had a lot to do with that." "Okay." I didn't quite know what to say. The plaster was now saturated with blood, and drops of Silver Spoon's life were staining my hoof which held it in place. "Um, so if this keeps bleeding, will you die? Is there a way to stop it bleeding?" "Mom keeps platelet injections, but she has to get here first."
"So... you seem awfully relaxed about this." "I know. I've thought about dying so many times before that it just doesn't faze me any more. Though I am a little concerned since technically, you're the one who's dying."
There was an awkward pause. Then, blood running down my leg, I said, "So do you think Scootaloo has my body now?" "Probably, unless there's another pony involved." Everything was quiet. My vision was starting to dim, and after a few more minutes I blacked out.
After a fit of excited squealing and fangirling over my own reflection, I quickly ran a hoof through my spectrum-coloured mane and had it spring into its normal style, then I swept enthusiastically out of the bedroom into the hall. I ran down the stairs, before remembering my wings and climbing back up again. At the top, I spread the powerful cyan wings on my back and threw myself into the air. I started to beat my wings- and went zooming up through the ceiling, out into the open air.
I squealed with delight. I stared down at the ground. It's too close, I decided, and sped up my wing-beats. I soared upwards, spiralling up steeply, then, at a great height, levelled off into a glide. As I swept over the fields around, another pegasus swept up next to me. I turned to see Rumble's big brother, Thunderlane. Flying alongside me, he said quizzically, "You're up early, Rainbow Dash. Usually you sleep in until almost midday."
"Oh, I thought I'd get up early today." It came out of my mouth without my even thinking about it. "To, uh, go see Cheerilee." Maybe if I went to the school, Rainbow Dash would be there in my body. I didn't know how she would be reacting to this situation, but I guessed she wouldn't like it much. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but we have to get the weather organized before we can start making social calls. So what's the schedule?" said Thunderlane. I looked at him blankly.
"Uh, hello, head of the Ponyville weather team? You should know what weather we need, when we need it and where too. You get sent a copy of the schedule every week." I stared at him, my mind racing. "Um... okay." I tried to remember what weather we'd had over the last few days. "Okay, so it's been quite warm... I think we're due a rainstorm at some point today. But not for too long." I garbled. I couldn't try any stunts if it was raining!
"Okay... I'll get Flitter and Cloudchaser to bring in the clouds, and Blossomforth and I will make up the cover with them. You can generate some lightning in the way you usually do... and Ditzy can... um... fill out the paperwork. Yes. She can't hurt anypony that way, surely..." He trailed off into rambling, then tilted to spiral down to the ground. I kept flying along where I was. Generating lightning sounded dangerous, but surely it wasn't too dangerous for Rainbow Dash. The school came into sight, but the euphoria of flight was too great for me to go down yet. As I swooped over the playground, I saw what I thought was Silver Spoon attacking Diamond Tiara; I was so confused that I spun in midair, landing on the roof of the school.
With I jolt, I saw myself looking on at the edge of the scene, looking rather miserable. I was about to sweep down to talk to...um, myself, when Diamond Tiara screamed and Cheerilee appeared. My body ran over to where Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara were glaring at each other, and I knew I couldn't just sweep in now and start talking about body swaps in the middle of a group of foals. So I flared my wings and flew away, deciding to wait for a better time.
I looped and spun, dived and soared across the sky, only stopping when I almost collided with Thunderlane. He gave me a scathing look, before waving a hoof at the thick cover of cloud he and the other pegasi had constructed. "Time for you to do your stuff, Rainbow." he stated.
"Oh, yeah! The lightning... Uh, could you give me a show of how to do it? It seems to have slipped my mind this morning." Thunderlane looked suspiciously at me. "But Rainbow, it's second nature for you... it's almost like a stunt..." But when I gave him my best beseeching look, he sighed. "Okay, let's see if this jolts your memory." He signalled to some other pegasi, who thumped the clouds. A drizzle of rain began to fall, and it quickly grew into a shower. Thunderlane set off, flying along underneath the clouds.
Then he rose, until his wings were brushing the cloud. He was moving at considerable speed, and soon I saw small sparks flickering around his wingtips. Then, with a grimace, Thunderlane lurched upwards into the cloud. The next I saw him, he was diving towards the ground, enveloped in crackling lightning. Then he lurched up again, and the electricity discharged with a boom. A tongue of lightning flashed out, followed by another.
Thunderlane rejoined me a minute later. He smelled of burnt toast. Wincing, he straightened his wings. The patch of cloud he had flown into was now discharging lightning bolts every few minutes. The electrical charge had spread through the clouds around, so it was quite a large patch. But there was still a lot of cloud to charge.
I looked at him. "Does it hurt?" He scoffed. "You know it does. It's like you're on fire. But you must hardly feel it now, you've done it so often." I swallowed. "Okay. I'll get to it, then."
My first several attempts ended in failure. The lightning would fizzle out before I could build it up enough, or discharge into the ground. Every time I failed, I could hear the other weather ponies muttering around me, that I was losing my touch. It was Rainbow Dash's reputation on the line. I wasn't going to let her down again.
I took a deep breath and plunged towards the clouds. I altered my altitude until my wingtips were brushing the cloud, and as I sped along, I felt the heat building in my wings. I soared onwards, and somehow held on to the charge, which was now blitzing through my whole body. The pain was so excruciating that I almost gave up. But then I remembered Rainbow Dash, and narrowed my eyes. Despite the agony, I kept going.
As I heard the electricity beginning to crackle, I quickly lurched upwards. I couldn't see anything but cloud. Then I banked into a dive. The ground approached at an amazing rate, but the heat on my tail reminded me of the deadly lightning pursuing me. Just as it seemed I would hit the ground, I pulled up. Behind me there was a boom, and then all the pain was diminishing. The electricity was gone from my body.
I soared triumphantly back to the start point. Thunderlane was lying on a cloud. I grinned at him, but he just pointed behind me at the blanket of clouds I had yet to charge. My head spun, but I shook it and determinedly swooped forward to take on the next lot of clouds.
After I had finally finished with the clouds, I collapsed on a cloud. Thunderlane nodded at me, and the rest of the weather team left. I felt like taking a nap, but then I remembered the urgency that I talk to the real Rainbow Dash. My sore wings refused to cooperate, however, and so I had to glide to the ground and walk to the school.
But when I got there, I saw a pair of nurses carrying a stretcher out of the school. On it lay Silver Spoon. She appeared to be barely breathing, and blood was seeping from a wound on her shoulder. I was about to follow the stretcher- Silver Spoon might be a bully, but I didn't think she deserved to die- when I saw myself sitting outside the school door, staring after the stretcher.
I flew over and landed next to me. But the other me just looked up at me with dull purple eyes. "Um... Rainbow Dash?" I asked. The other shook her head. "What? But you must be Rainbow Dash! I mean, I'm her, so she must be me..."
"No, Scootaloo. That's Rainbow Dash." A small orange hoof pointed at the stretcher. "What? Rainbow Dash is Silver Spoon... I'm Rainbow Dash... so then, you're Silver Spoon?" "Mmm hmm." "Oh." I felt awkward talking to this pony who openly despised me. "I'll just go... then..." "I'm a haemophiliac."
"What?" Silver-Scootaloo turned to look at me with a disconcerting look in her eyes. "There. You know. That's why Rainbow Dash is dying." I only heard one phrase. "Rainbow Dash is dying?"
I was gone, pursuing the stretcher before she could reply. They didn't let me see her. They argued that I had no relation to Silver Spoon, and that she should not be disturbed by well-wishers. At the moment, doctors were battling to keep her alive.
I kicked the wall of the hospital irritably. If I hadn't made this stupid wish, none of this would have happened. I had no idea why Silver Spoon had been dragged into this too, but in the hospital waiting room I found a pamphlet and was able to read up on her condition. As I read, I found myself feeling the most deep pity for Silver Spoon. I couldn't imagine living in fear of papercuts or pinpricks, knowing that any break to my skin could potentially mean death. I knew there was nothing to do but go back to Silver-Scootaloo and find out why she was wrapped up in this.
When I got back to the school, she was still there. She was soaked to the skin, staring up at the sky. "How am I?" she asked. "I don't know. They wouldn't let me in." She sighed. "Do you know why this has happened? The body swap, I mean?"
I took a deep breath. "Well, I have a theory..." "So do I." "Well, I saw a shooting star..." "And wished you could fly?" she asked. I nodded. "How did you know?"
When I first woke up, I felt really sick and weak. It was only a couple of seconds before I sunk back into unconsciousness.
The next thing I remember was thinking, No. No, I'm not going down like this. Fight it, Rainbow Dash.
And fight I did.
After several hours of slipping in and out of consciousness, I finally got a grip on the waking world. I opened my eyes to blinding white, and wondered fleetingly whether I was dead. But then I focused, as best I could with Silver Spoon's blurry sight, and could see three ponies leaning over me.
One was Sitting Pretty. The other two were stallions- one of them the doctor I recognised from when I'd broken my wings, and the other a black stallion with an orange mane, presumably Silver Spoon's father.
Sitting Pretty and the black stallion both looked like they'd been crying. The doctor just shone a light in my eye; it stung and ended up temporarily blinding me again. Cross, I tried to raise a hoof to swat the light away, but when my hoof moved it only twitched. I tried to move it again, but it didn't move. I looked over at my foreleg to see various tubes and drips sprouting from it. One bag was still streaming blood from a bag into my leg.
"She's conscious." said the doctor. "But it might not last long. If you want to say anything to her, this could be your last chance. I'll leave you now."
As he left, Sitting Pretty leapt forward to stroke a hoof through my mane. The stallion just smiled weakly at me and said, "We thought we'd lost you there, Silver." "Oh, Silver Spoon..." Sitting Pretty hugged me so tight I thought I'd suffocate. "Your father and I have been so worried..."
The stallion looked at me with fiery amber eyes. "You're going to pull through, Silver. You've got to fight this." "Easy Street!" chided Sitting Pretty. "She knows that." "Of course I do." My face cracked into a determined smile. "I'll make it. I'm tough."
They exchanged glances. "So we've heard."said Easy Street. Sitting Pretty looked upset. "Silver, why did you attack Diamond Tiara? Your father got a visit from Filthy Rich an hour ago demanding compensation for his daughter's 'grievous injuries.'" "If you ask me, the little snob deserved what she got." muttered Easy Street. "Dear..."
I didn't answer. Before I could formulate an explanation, the doctor came back in. "She appears to be stable; it seems the platelet transfusion worked. We'll keep her here for two days, just in case she relapses, and she can be discharged after that. Then she'll need at least a week of bed rest." My face fell. Eight days, at least, in bed? And this time, no Daring Do to rescue me? I groaned.
As I grew stronger, so I grew more frustrated. I was desperate to get my old body back, and every hour I wasted lying in this bed was one more for Scootaloo to possibly crash-land and end up crippling my body for life.
So, the night I was discharged, I lay awake in Silver Spoon's silky bed and waited. As soon as the light in the other bedroom went out, I climbed out of bed and crossed the room. Scooping up the blue glasses, I pushed them onto my muzzle and stared out of the window. High above, the stars glittered brightly. Pulling myself away, I walked to the door. Casting a glance at the window, I sighed wistfully. It would have been so much easier to just soar out of there- but in my current wingless state, that episode would probably end with a one-way trip to the hospital.
So I snuck over to the door and pushed my hoof down on the handle. It didn't move. I spent ten minutes jiggling the handle and bashing on the door (as quietly as I could) before coming to the conclusion that I had been locked in. Just as I was coming to terms with this new development, I heard the rustle of wings at the window. I turned, expecting to see myself, but it was Silver-Scootaloo. She looked over at me, her purple eyes gleaming dimly in the moonlight.
"Wait- you can fly?" It was common knowledge that Scootaloo couldn't fly; I'd been waiting for her to ask me for flying lessons for months now. "Scootaloo- uh, Scootaloo in your body- taught me." she said, her eyes sparkling. "And it's everything I dreamed it would be. I'll be so sorry to lose these wings when we sort this mess out."
"Oh, I know." I felt a new warmth towards this filly as she described her love of flying. "The freedom of flight... it's awesome. I feel so sorry for the ponies who don't have wings... everypony deserves a chance to fly." We were gleefully extolling the virtues of flight when there was a hiss from the window. "Hey! I thought we were going to sort this out?"
I knew that voice- it was mine! I turned to glare as my head, complete with all its rainbow-coloured awesomeness, popped up over the sill. Scootaloo-Dash gave me an embarrassed grin before dropping out of sight.
I trotted to the window and looked down. My body hovered beneath the window, looking up at me. "Um... long story." Scootaloo-Dash said. "Just hop on." "What?" I stared, incredulous. "Get on my back and I'll carry you down."
I was about to protest at the indignity of being carried down by myself, when a small hoof shoved me out of the window. I landed hard on Scootaloo-Dash's back. One trip down later, I hopped from my own back and fixed Scootaloo-Dash with a stony glare. Silver-Scootaloo drifted to the ground behind me and I looked at her too. "Okay." I said slowly. "Explain."
"Well, you see..." began Scootaloo-Dash.
"It was a shooting star." said Silver-Scootaloo. "Both of us-" she indicated herself and Scootaloo-Dash- wished that we could fly."
"Okay." I turned to Scootaloo-Dash. "If you wanted to fly, you should just have asked. I've been waiting months now for you to ask for flying lessons."
Scootaloo-Dash looked sheepish. "But I thought you'd think it was uncool. I mean, no-pony taught you how to fly..."
"Who told you that? Even I couldn't teach myself to fly. My father taught me when I was around your age." I said.
My body's magenta eyes were sparkling now. "Really?"
I grinned. "Yes. Really it should be your own parents who teach you, but I know they're really busy, and that's why no-pony ever sees them."
Silver-Scootaloo coughed. "Anyway, we should get going."
"Oh, yeah! We're going to be late." yelped Scootaloo-Dash. "Let's go!"
So then I was walking down the street with two pegasi flying above me. I had no idea where we were going, but then the other two stopped outside the library.
Silver-Scootaloo rapped on the door and a light came on on the second floor of the library. Twilight came to the door, rubbing sleep out of her eyes. "Oh there you are, Rainbow. Now why have you brought two fillies here in the middle of the night? And what did you want to talk to me about?"
"Let's go inside." said Scootaloo-Dash. "Then we can talk." But when we went inside, there was a shout and someone fired what sounded like a cannon. Balloons and streamers flew everywhere. "Pinkie Pie!" spluttered Twilight.
"Hi Twilight, Dashie, Scootaloo, Silver Spoon!" cried the pink pony happily. "Okay, Twilight, care to tell us why Pinkie dragged us all out of bed to come here?" Applejack said from where she stood with Fluttershy and Rarity, whose mane and tail were in curlers. "Yes, some of us have to get our beauty sleep." frowned Rarity.
"I don't know. Rainbow wanted to talk to me... I don't know how Pinkie knew or why she brought you all here." said Twilight, looking at Scootaloo-Dash. I waved a hoof at her. "Hey, Twilight, over here." The unicorn looked taken aback. "What?"
"She's right." Silver-Scootaloo pointed at me. "That's Rainbow Dash, that's Scootaloo and I'm Silver Spoon. We've somehow swapped bodies." There was a long and awkward silence. "O-kay." Applejack spoke first. "Anypony want to tell me what's going on?"
"Well, a few nights ago, both Silver Spoon and I wished on a shooting star that we could fly. The next morning, all three of us woke up in the wrong bodies." Another silence. "Okay." Twilight took a shaky breath. "We can sort this out. I'll write a letter to Princess Luna asking her to cause another shooting star. Then hopefully you can wish for things to be back to normal and they will be."
"You seem awfully relaxed about this." said Silver-Scootaloo. "Believe me." said Rarity. "It's not the strangest thing to happen to us this year."
*Scootaloo POV* Through some sympathetic nurses, who had seen how worried I was, I had learned that Rainbow Dash was stable and would be discharged in a few days. So for a while, I lived Rainbow's life. Silver-Scootaloo watched me fly around and perform stunts a few times, and then asked if I'd teach her how to use her own wings. I felt a pang; this was exactly what should have happened with Rainbow Dash and I, but still. Silver Spoon had wished to fly, so I had to make sure she got her wish. So I closely examined the wing motions which now came so naturally to me and helped her exercise her wings.
I was right there the day my body first took to the sky on its wings. The small orange wings, already stronger for all the exercise, allowed Silver-Scootaloo to glide off the verge where I had fallen so many times. After that, progress was quick. Gliding was soon second nature, and the next step- true flight- was only a short leap away.
It turned out I had been beating my wings wrong all that time. The hummingbird-like buzz of feathers which I used was tiring and not efficient to keep my body up for long. Slower, methodical wing-beats worked much better. Soon, Silver Scootaloo could fly around with Rumble and the other young pegasi while I watched wistfully from a distance.
Now, I stood in the library facing the princess of the night, telling her the story. After hearing the story, Luna sighed. "I'm afraid I cannot help you." she said.
"Huh? Why not?" I was bewildered.
"Shooting stars which grant wishes are something even I do not understand. I have no way of causing them to appear."
"Oh." Another awkward silence filled the room.
"I'm sorry, but you'll just have to wait for another star to come around before this problem can be solved. I hope you learn from this; be careful what you wish for." The princess vanished in a flash of dark blue magic.
"Well, that helped a whole lot." Silver-Scootaloo said, her voice twisted with sarcasm.
"Shhh! Have some respect; she is a princess after all." said Rarity, her white ears twitching worriedly.
"So now what are we going to do?" Rainbow Dash rounded on me, a commanding action that made me shrink back even though she currently occupied the body of a young filly where I was an older mare. A small grey hoof jabbed at me. "You'll have to watch for a star every night and wish this whole thing back to normal."
"Are you sure there's no other way?" I turned pleadingly to Twilight. "Isn't there a spell?"
The unicorn shook her head. "I'm afraid I don't know of one, and apparently Luna didn't either. There just isn't a spell for everything."
"Y'all will just have ter be patient an' wait fer another shootin' star." said Applejack simply.
Rainbow sighed, and then turned to glare at me. "But until then, no doing anything stupid like trying to do a Sonic Rainboom, okay? They're difficult even for me, and I'd rather my body didn't end up as a totally awesome, very colourful grease spot."
"I promise." I said solemnly. Then I frowned. Out of the corner of my eye I could see that Pinkie was staring disconcertingly at me, biting her hoof and trying very hard not to laugh. Looking around, I saw Rarity hiding a smirk behind a perfectly manicured hoof, Applejack grinning widely, and Twilight letting out faint chuckles. Even Fluttershy's mouth was twitching as she desperately tried not to smile.
"What are you laughing at?" I demanded.
"Sorry." giggled Rarity. "You just sounded so... so..."
"Sincere." added Twilight. "And Rainbow never sounds that sincere."
"Hey!" exclaimed Rainbow crossly. Then even she began to laugh, and I joined in.
Silver-Scootaloo just looked around at us, her eyes glittering sadly.
After that, we dispersed to our homes. I dropped off Rainbow at Silver Spoon's house; Silver-Scootaloo gazed at the house miserably as we took off.
Even though my parents weren't the most caring, I still felt a slight pain as we touched down outside my home. The kitchen light was on; my parents often stayed up late doing admin. Silver-Scootaloo trotted inside, giving me a quick backwards glance as I took off.
Alone in Rainbow Dash's cloud home, I sat down by the window, ready for a long night of watching for shooting stars. Hours passed slowly. I yawned, my eyes searching the sky for any flash of light. But there was nothing. As the sun began to peek over the eastern horizon, I wilted with fatigue.
I woke to a hoof prodding my nose. I opened my eyes to see Thunderlane, scowling at me. "Dash! We've got to get going- it's mid-afternoon and Sweet Apple Acres is due a downpour."
I dragged myself to my hooves and lifted my wings. I followed Rumble's brother through the sky over Ponyville. Through my sleepy daze, I saw something going on in the school yard; it looked like Diamond Tiara was back at school and was being quizzed by all her classmates. Silver-Scootaloo was standing with Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, away from the hubbub. But then my eyes shot open, and I saw Sitting Pretty leave the yard- with Diamond Tiara following. I tried to swoop down to find out what was going on, but Thunderlane stopped me. "No detours, Dash! This rainstorm is already late."
So I had to worry about why Sitting Pretty was with Diamond Tiara as I collected clouds and thumped them to make rain fall. As soon as the storm was finished, I shot away.
To my absolute horror, a stretcher was coming out of Silver Spoon's house, again carrying the still body of Silver Spoon. And again, the real Silver Spoon stood by watching, in my body.
"Silver!" I gasped, landing beside her. "What's happened?"
"Diamond Tiara." Silver-Scootaloo said flatly. "A stray dart, apparently, but I know otherwise. She did this on purpose."
"But why?" I asked.
Silver-Scootaloo turned to look at me, and something I deeply disliked was dancing in my own purple eyes. "Because I lied to her about the swap."
"You-what?" I said in shock.
"I told her that it was you, in my body, who attacked her. And that I'd prefer to keep this body, but you wanted to swap back. So she decided to get rid of 'you' and my body with you."
"But- that's Rainbow Dash!" I gasped. "Rainbow Dash is going to die!"
"No she isn't." disagreed Silver-Scootaloo. "Silver Spoon is going to die. You're Rainbow Dash now. And I'm Scootaloo. And I'll be able to fly- forever!"
"You bitch!" I screeched, totally flying off the handle. "You'd kill another pony-just so that you can get what you want? And you know what? You'll never be Scootaloo! And I'll never be Rainbow Dash! Because it's not what we look like that matters... it's what's inside that counts! And you must be dark as night and cold as ice inside, because that's the most selfish thing I'll ever hear!"
I flew away in a rage, pursuing the stretcher. If it was the last thing I did, I'd stop Silver Spoon!
Again, I was denied entry to the ward. So I sat outside the hospital and kicked the wall, imagining that every brick was Silver Spoon's face. When my hooves were raw, I flew up and continued venting my rage out- but on the softer clouds. Night was falling when I finally snapped out of my rage. And I looked up at the darkening sky, praying that this night, a shooting star would appear to help me.
When I flew up to Rainbow's cloud home, I found, to my fury, Silver-Scootaloo waiting for me. She was perched quite calmly on the doorstep. I shoved by her and slammed the door behind me, only for her to drift through the wall. Despite my bitter, cold hatred for her very being, something stopped me hoofing her lights out. It was the deep calm and quiet on her face; the glint in her eyes which made me feel immature and stupid, even though this filly was roughly the same age as me.
"Finished?" she asked quietly when I collapsed on the soft floor. As my anger was replaced by grief for my ailing hero, I felt tears come to my eyes. I hurriedly wiped them away, pulling my face into an angry scowl.
"How could you do this?" I hissed. "You-"
"Be quiet, Scootaloo." she said, putting an edge on my voice which it made me flinch to hear. "I'm going to tell you my story- and you are not going to interrupt."
I snarled. "This isn't the time for your life story, Silver Spoon. Rainbow Dash is dying, and I have to keep watch for a shooting star."
"The stars have only just appeared." retorted the filly. "And Rainbow Dash has until morning, at least."
"You don't know that!" I snapped.
"I do."
"And how do you know that?"
"I... I can sense it. I can feel the strength of my body going down, but it's not critical. Not yet."
"You don't even care, do you? As long as you get to keep those stupid wings... If it weren't for me and my cowardice, none of this would have happened!"
The face I had once owned twisted with emotion, but one I didn't recognise. "I care a lot, Scootaloo."
"Then why are you doing this? Why are you letting Rainbow die?"
"I told you, I'll tell you my story, Scootaloo. And then you'll understand."
I was about to argue when I saw a steely look in my purple eyes. I groaned. "Fine, tell me."
Silver-Scootaloo launched straight into the yarn. "I was only two years old when I was diagnosed as a haemophiliac. I've had a lot of scares over the years, and so every single pony who knows of my condition treats me like I might shatter at any moment. That's why I made sure Diamond didn't know. Miss Cheerilee had to be told, so she could call Mom if anything happened, but none of the foals at school knew about it. School was the only place I could be myself. But of course, then I fell in with Diamond because our dads are friends. You know all of that part.
My talent is rather silly- I'm just good at making things shine and sparkle. And when I thought about it, I decided my talent was pointless."
"But it's not!" I protested. "Everypony needs a bit of beauty in their lives, to brighten up their days." I didn't know where all this soppy mush was coming from, but I just couldn't imagine finding my talent only to wind up believing it to be pointless.
"Maybe you're right." Silver Spoon sighed. "But after what Mom thought was an attempted suicide on my part -which it wasn't- she rid the house of anything sharp or remotely dangerous. And then, when I was bored and locked in my bedroom, I saw her. Rainbow Dash, just messing around I guess, looping the loop and dive-bombing. That's when I first started wishing I could fly. Flight seemed like it was so free, so happy. And then I saw the shooting star. I never expected this- I just made the wish. And the rest- you know it all."
"So what's the problem?" I asked.
"I don't want to go back, Scootaloo. Not to that sick, earth-bound body. And I know you want your body back. So I've decided the best thing is to-"
"No." I had just worked out Silver Spoon's plan, and shook my head. "Silver Spoon, you can't do this."
"I can. I have to." Her eyes filled with tears. "I'm so sorry for everything I did to you, Scootaloo. Forgive me- but I can't face a life locked up in my room, afraid of scratches and bruises, being treated like I'm made of glass. This is what I have to do." She turned to the window, and, with all-too-perfect timing, a shooting star streaked across the sky. Silver-Scootaloo's eyes closed and I heard the words
"I wish...."
...before the world was enveloped in bright light.
I came to lying on a cloud floor, and I knew instantly that the wish had worked. My limbs and wings were shorter and weaker now, and when I opened my eyes they were orange. I stood shakily to find myself by the window. Not far away lay Rainbow Dash, not moving aside from steady breathing. I walked over to her and prodded her with my hoof. Despite the loss of her strength and wings, it had never felt so good to be in my own body.
Apparently Rainbow felt the same way, as she woke, stretched and gave a whoop, flaring her wings. Quickly I seized her foreleg to stop her flying away and began to sob out the story. As I explained to her what had happened, what Silver Spoon was doing, her face fell. In a fluid motion she swept me onto her back and we were speeding along through the air.
We touched down outside the hospital. The sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon, and I thought, panicked, of Silver Spoon's promise that her body would last until morning. Rainbow led me into the hospital, talking down every nurse or worker who tried to halt us. We arrived on the ward to find Easy Street standing firm, a lone tear forming in his eye as a distraught Sitting Pretty sobbed brokenly into his shoulder. There was no doctor in sight; apparently this was a case of 'last words'.
Silver Spoon was lying in the bed, with a scary number of tubes hooked up to her. She appeared to be unconscious, but her eyes flickered open as we approached and she smiled weakly.
Easy Street seemed to sense something secret was to be discussed, and giving us a look he led his sobbing wife out of the door. But Rainbow had only just opened her mouth to speak when a wailing pink filly came tearing in and threw herself down next to the bed. It was Diamond Tiara, though she bore no such jewels now. Her mane and tail were unkempt, her eyes red with tears.
"S-Silver!" she cried, totally ignorant of Rainbow and I's presence. "I'm sorry! I really didn't mean to..."
Silver Spoon coughed and smiled. "Diamond, please, don't blame yourself. I know it was an accident."
"W-was it?" choked the pink filly. I was so angry... but I don't think I ever meant for the dart to hit you..."
"You didn't." said Rainbow gently. Diamond snapped to attention, noticing me and Rainbow for the first time.
"How... how do y-you know that?" sniffled Diamond.
"Because I was there. It was me who occupied Silver's body these last few days, not Scootaloo. I'm very sorry I attacked you, but I was angry. But though I was out soon after the accident, I still saw it. Your hoof was shaking for some reason, and you misthrew the dart. It hit me in the leg without much force- not nearly hard enough for it to have had any purpose to injure."
Diamond stared uncomprehending for a few moments, then turned her blue gaze to me. "Th-then you-"
"I've been flying around in Rainbow's body for the whole time." I confessed.
Diamond's eyes were brimming with tears again. "But it was still my-"
"It wasn't your fault, Diamond!" snapped Silver, determinedly. Diamond shrunk back. "I'm sorry for yelling, Diamond, but none of this is your fault. It was all my decision. I don't want any of you to blame yourselves for my death."
My, Rainbow's and Diamond's ears all flattened at the last word. "You're not going to die!" I snapped. "You'll pull through."
Silver shook her head. "No. This is it. I'll be unconscious within the hour, and I won't wake again. So I want you all to shut up and listen to what I have to say."
"I want to thank you, Rainbow Dash, for first showing me that I wanted to fly, and also for being so calm through this whole situation." Silver turned to me. "And you, Scootaloo, for teaching me to fly and helping me realise that my talent isn't useless. And to thank you for that, I made you these." Silver pulled two things out from under the duvet. The first was a fabric effigy of Rainbow's cutie mark, with hundreds of sequins sewn meticulously onto it to make up the colours. The second was a pair of fabric orange wings with small silver words marked out in sequins. Thank you, it said. These wings, too, were covered in sequins, orange ones. Normally I would have grimaced at so many sparkles, but the feeling and work sewn into these were so nice I couldn't do it.
Silver pushed the first towards Rainbow and the second towards me. I took it solemnly, and Rainbow picked hers up too.
"How did you make these so fast?" Rainbow asked.
"I made them earlier, in the night. It's my special talent, so it didn't take long."
Silver Spoon turned to Diamond Tiara finally. Silver looked at her friend for a long moment before stretching out her hooves. Diamond hugged her friend, sobbing torrents into the dying filly's shoulder. It was a strain on my ears, but I thought I heard a last whisper of "Goodbye."
After that, we left Silver to say goodbye to her parents. Diamond, upon leaving the ward, threw her hooves around me and sobbed a million 'sorry's into my shoulder. I stood, tense, as Rainbow looked at me. Her gift from Silver was draped over her back, and the red, yellow and blue sequins glittered in harmony with the crystalline tears which began to fall from her magenta eyes.
Two hours later, the whispers around town were those of mourning for Silver Spoon. Over the streets came floating the keening wails of Sitting Pretty. But as I looked into the sky, cloudy as the pegasi showed their grief, I thought I saw, just for a moment, a glowing grey filly with lustrous wings soar across the sky.
I fixed Silver Spoon's last gift above my bed. I placed it just where the rising sun will catch the sequins and reflect a spectrum of colours across the walls. I really can fly now, though I have no cutie mark yet. Rainbow Dash approached Silver's parents at the funeral and asked if she could perform a Sonic Rainboom in the filly's honour. They agreed, and a brighter rainbow I've never seen.
Diamond doesn't tease us any more. We're not exactly friends, but she leaves us alone. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle have put it down to cowardice- because she doesn't have Silver to back her up any more- but Diamond and I know better.
What happened to Rainbow, Silver and I will always be our secret to keep.
Death was easier than I thought it would be. I just drifted away into darkness, in the poetic word. But enough about that. Death isn't the end.
I'm not gone. Far from it. I'm still in Ponyville, keeping a watch over my old friends. I know they'll move on soon enough, but I won't leave them, and one day, they'll join me up here. Not for a lifetime, hopefully.
And best of all, I have wings- lovely, big grey wings which can carry me anywhere I please. And they're really mine, and will be for all eternity.
I don't mourn for the life I might have lived. I truly believe I'm better off up here, since the other ponies no longer treat me like something fragile. I'm just one of them, just another spirit patrolling the skies and my old home. And something which is almost better than having wings is that I can keep using my talent.
If I ever find a pony who needs something to brighten up their life, I'll go blazing bright across the night sky and bring a little more beauty into the world.
And if they would wish on me- who knows what might happen?
