The Legendary Scooterbolt
A reddish-purple mane shifted ever so slightly in the breeze. The slight chill on her orange saliva-covered hoof confirmed the existence of the breeze, but also that it was too weak to interfere with the pegasus filly’s plan. Opening her purple eyes, Scootaloo looked upon the mostly wooden track laid out before her.
The track itself was a simple one, made of two flat pathways, leading up to or from a ramp. Between the angles and the spacing of the ramps it was clear that they were meant for a high jump rather then a long one. At the end of the landing pathway two metal poles stood like flagpoles, minus the flags. Crinkles in the metal hinting that they had once been wreckage, only to have been straitened out for the purpose that they would gain today. The final piece of the track was the small fluffy white cloud hovering at least thirty-five feet off the ground, perfectly anchored between the two ramps by the filly’s pegasus weather magic.
Scootaloo raised an eyebrow at noticing a new addition to her cloud. The rainbow mane hung past the sky-blue face of a pegasus mare, who leaned over the edge of the cloud, her rose-red eyes wore a look of concern for the filly on the ground.
“Scoots, are you sure about this?” she asked.
Bowing her head, and with a smile Scootaloo responded, “Yes, Rainbow Dash. I’m sure.”
“You sure you’re not just being overly reckless because Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle have already earned their cutie marks?”
The comment drew Scootaloo’s attention to the small white cloud with the tri-colored lightning bolt on Rainbow’s flank, and the still blank slate of orange fur on her own flank. Looking back up she answered, “I’m sure.”
“And there’s nothing I can do to stop you from trying this?” Rainbow persisted.
That brought a smile to Scootaloo’s face as she looked back up at her honorary big sister and answered, “Rainbow Dash, you taught me to fly, you taught me to kick lightning, you even taught me to make clouds. And as tempting as the idea of you hovering over me the rest of my life is, we both know that you have your own life. So even if you bust that cloud, it’s only a matter of time before your life keeps you from me long enough to make another one and try again.”
“I know. And that’s why I’d never forgive myself if you get yourself killed because of what I taught you.”
“And I won’t. You said it yourself, that my lightning control is the best you’ve ever seen. And this idea just feels… right.”
“So I can’t talk you out of this, can I?” Dash asked one last time.
Scootaloo only shook her head in response. To which Rainbow Dash bit off a piece of the cloud and flew down to the filly’s side. “What’s that for?” Scootaloo asked, motioning to the piece cloud.
“Funny thing about lightning. A bolt through the chest can start the heart as easily as it can stop it. Just do me a favor and make sure this is a pointless safety measure. Okay?” After a moment Dash ruffled her little sister’s mane, and gave a confident smile as she added, “Now what are you waiting for squirt? Go make me proud by inventing the most awesome stunt ever seen.”
Rainbow’s words of warning made Scootaloo place a hoof on her chest to feel her own heartbeat, the words of encouragement allowed the filly to step onto her trusty blue scooter, with it’s red wheals. Donning her purple helmet with two white strips, Scootaloo was ready to make her place in the world, to make her destiny.
Flapping her wings for thrust alone, she pushed her scooter to the starting point of the stunt course. Taking a deep breath, Scootaloo whispered to herself, “I can do this.” She then glanced at Rainbow Dash, and the mare nodded back to her with a look that said ‘you can do this.’
Bringing her wings up to full speed, Scootaloo shot down the track. The moment her scooter’s wheels left the takeoff ramp she stopped flapping her wings, and locked them in a glide position.
At the peak of her jump Scootaloo reached out with her front right leg and scrapped her hoof along the bottom of the cloud, just as she passed underneath it. The physical action helped point herself and her scooter downward, at the landing ramp.
However, in the filly’s heart she was doing the spiritual gymnastics of everything she’d learned about kicking lightning out of a cloud. She needed the rage to summon lightning, the love to one with it, and the emotionless focus to command it, and she needed all of these at the same time.
Doing everything in her power to hold these paradoxical feelings in balance in her heart, her orange hoof fell away from the cloud, and lightning followed it. As she descended, Scootaloo shifted her lightning-commanding hoof to point behind her, willing with every fiber of her soul for the lightning stay close behind her. The lightning obeyed by arching back and forth, between the tip of her tail and the back wheels of her scooter.
The one hoof still on the handlebars kept the wheels ready for landing, Scootaloo’s wings acted on muscle memory and twisted slightly to correct the aim of her decent. Her mind, however, was solely focused on keeping control of the lightning trying to escape her or destroy her, arching in her wake as she led it.
The moment the scooter-riding filly landed on the landing ramp, the lightning not only arched between her tail and the back wheels of the scooter, but also stretched out, forming two wakes of lightning behind the back wheels, scorching the wooden track in her wake.
As soon as Scootaloo passed between the two metal poles, she finally released the lightning from her will and brought her other front leg back to the handlebars. The lightning agreed that the easiest way to discharge was through the metal and arched from the wheels of her scooter and into the makeshift lightning rods.
With her mind free, Scootaloo brought her scooter screeching to a halt, and a few seconds after that she remembered to breath, and wonder when she’d begun holding her breath to begin with. She looked to Rainbow Dash, who finally released a held breath of her own, and sat smiling with eyes that shimmered in pure awe, and the filly knew that the stunt must have looked as awesome as she felt right now.
As Scootaloo examined of the lightning-singed tip of her tail, Dash made the quick flight over to and landed beside her honorary little sister, and said, “You did it Scoots, you did it.” Pulling the orange filly into a one-winged hug she added, “Right now, I am both so mad at you, and so proud of you.”
“Mad at me?” Scootaloo asked, with a quizzically raised eyebrow.
“I am so proud that my little sister is a super-awesome daredevil like me. And so mad that you’re going to make me worry about you every time you do your amazing signature stunt,” Rainbow answered, smiling the whole time, and punctuating her last line by tapping the filly on the flank.
As Dash removed her hoof, Scootaloo saw that some of the fur on her flank had changed color, and now depicted a red wheel with light-blue lightning coming off of it. “Told ya it felt right,” was all that the filly could say in response.
“I know. Can you just promise me one thing? That you’ll only do that stunt with me or a medic around?” Rainbow Dash asked, stepping back so she could look the younger pegasus in the eyes.
“Yeah, I can promise that.”
Pulling Scootaloo back into a hug, Dash cheered, “Great! That just leaves one question. What are you going to call your signature stunt?”
“I don’t know, I hadn’t really thought about it. How did you come up with the name for your move?”
After a moment to calm her laughing, Rainbow answered, “Scoots, the sonic rainboom was legend even before I was born. It already had a name. This is your stunt, you have to give it a name.”
“How about the scooterbolt?” Scootaloo responded.
Dash shook her head and said, “Not cool enough, try the legendary scooterbolt.”
“Do you really think it’s good enough to call it legendary?”
“Scoots, I’ve never heard of anything like it. And let’s face it, how many scooter-riding daredevils do you think are out there that also happen to be a pegasus. You’re the only one I know of, the only one that can even do what you did. So if anything that makes it even rarer and more legend worthy then the sonic rainboom.”
“Okay, the legendary scooterbolt it is!” Scootaloo cheered.
Resting a wing on Scootaloo’s back, Rainbow Dash motioned for the filly to come with her as she said, “Come on, let’s go find your friends. I’m sure Apple Bloom will agree that this is worth interrupting a harvest over. And Sweetie Belle from whatever she’s up to.”