> Like a Lion
>  by Fizzyberries302
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Flightless Bird
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Violet hummed as she mixed together a fresh batch of perfume. She had already finished the rest of the perfumes and spa treatments. Her delivery pony, Scootaloo would be there soon. A year ago, she had been fighting for her life on the streets, now she was living in the cottage her cousin Fluttershy left her, after she moved out with her husband Discord. Violet made her living by making perfumes and spa treatments and then selling them via door to door business, or selling them to the local spa. 

She had just finished carrying the last few crates upstairs when she spotted a orange filly speeding towards her on her scooter, which was pulling a wagon. "Sup Violet!" Scootaloo greeted with a smile. 

"Hi Scoots, ready for todays delivery?" Violet asked, using Scootaloo's nickname.

"Yep, wagon's all set. Now what's the first thing on the list?"

"How about you help me get these crates on board, then I'll give you the list." 

Violet and Scootaloo lifted the crates of spa products onto Scootaloo's wagon and tied them down with rope. "Wait here," Violet said, going back inside to get the list. Scootaloo sat on top the large pile of crates that had filled up her wagon. She looked up at the sky and saw the dots of birds and other pegasi. She turned to look at her wings and groaned. She was born with a condition that made her wings weak and develop slower then usual, hence why she was a thirteen year old flightless bird. The other pegasi foals in flight school laughed at her for her inability to get more then 5 feet off the ground. 

She jerked her head up when Violet back, holding a checklist of houses who requested deliveries. "Alright Scoots, the crate with the tiara picture goes to Diamond Tiara, the larger ones are for the spa and-" she was cut off when she saw the sad look on Scootaloo's face. "What's wrong?"

Scootaloo sniffed. "Violet, it's these stupid wings. They can't get me off the ground." Scootaloo grumbled, flapping the tiny wings for emphasis. 

Violet set the checklist on the scooter handle and sat down next to her. "Hey, you'll get there. Your wings just need time."

"Violet, you don't understand. And average pegasus flight ability starts at the age of one, I'm twelve and still a bloody flightless bird!" she snapped.

Violet was stunned. "Scootaloo! Language!" she scolded.

Scootaloo glanced down the ground. "I'm sorry Violet, but I was born with a condition that slows the growth and development of wings. My doctor says that there's a 55% chance of me flying at the age of twenty-one. The colts and fillies in flight school pick on me because of it."

Suddenly Violet understood. "Scoots...I...I didn't know. I'm sorry,"

"It's fine, not many ponies know anyway. Only Rainbow, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle know. Not even the ponies at the orphanage know."

"You live in an orphanage?"

Scootaloo nodded. "Since I was a baby, my parents were killed in a house fire after lightning struck the roof of our home."

"Oh my gosh Scoots, I had no idea."

"It's fine, I'm not bothered by it as I don't remember anything. It's these stupid wings that bother me, I might never be able to fly."

Violet thought for a minute. "Come with me Scootaloo, I want to show you something."

They hoped down from the crates and Violet led Scootaloo into her flower garden. Violet's pet squirrel, Nutkin was running around the lawn by the oak tree. The two ponies stopped in front of a bed of tulips. "Scoots, these tulips are what give my perfumes the silky feeling, as well as the scent. But in order to get the scent and feeling to be just right, it requires time, patience, a little sunlight and water and a little love," Violet reached out and lightly kissed the closed bud of a flower. 

Instantly, the tulips opened up, revealing the beautiful colours and scent. Scootaloo sniffed on and sneezed as her nose filled with pollen. "What has this got to do with flying?"

Violet tilted her chin up and pointed to a smaller bud that hadn't opened. "See that one, that one's late. It needs a little more time then the rest," Violet picked up her watering can and sprinkled water on the bud as Scootaloo watched. "It needs a little more water," She moved away a tree branch that was blocking the sun from the flower. "A little more sun," She leaned down and kissed the soft petals. "And a little more love,"

Scootaloo's eyes widened as the bud opened, revealing the inside to be a beautiful pattern or reds, oranges, yellows and pinks. Violet pulled Scootaloo over for a closer look. "See, even though that one was late, it's the most beautiful of all," She turned to Scootaloo. "That flowers you Scootaloo,"

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. "Me?"

"Yes, so even though your wings haven't developed yet and you just need a little more sunlight, water and love. You will one day blossom," she wrapped her wing around her. "Maybe even blossom into a Wonderbolt someday."

Scootaloo blinked. "Me, a Wonderbolt. You really believe that?"

Violet nodded. "Of course, one day if your patient, your wings will blossom into the wings of a Wonderbolt."

Scootaloo felt something wet in her eyes. She flung her arms around Violet's neck. "Thank you Violet,"

Violet smiled and hugged her back. "You're welcome Scootaloo,"
> Help for Scoots
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scootaloo had left for the deliveries, leaving Violet alone in her living room. She had been thinking about Scootaloo's problem for a while now, even through her tea break. As she sipped her green tea, she thought about a way that she could help Scootaloo. She finished her tea and set the mug in the sink. "Maybe I have something on the matter," she said. She trotted over to the bookshelf and searched through the collection of recipe books and general stories. Then she found something of use. 

"'Feathers for Pegasi', that might have something useful in it." Violet sat back down in her green armchair and set the book on her lap. She opened it up and started to search through the pages. After a few minutes, she found a page on wing conditions. "That might have something on it," 

"'Minor Wing Growth Disorder', or MWGD is most known is a genetic disorder that occurs during early development in the womb. This condition only occurs in Pegasi and can be passed through generations. MWGD is uncommon, but usually occurs in fillies. The reason why is unknown. The condition slows down the development of wings, meaning that the foal will have a chance of being born with tiny wings. The age for a foal with this condition to start flying is between 10 and 14 years old. The condition has no cure, but can be managed."

"Foals born with this condition are recommended to train their wings everyday to strengthen the muscle tissue. This is a slow process, but if done right, the foal with have a higher chance of flying at the age of 12. If the foal is still lacking flight, it is recommended that the parents look to Glider Classes, to help their child get used to the feeling of flying."

Violet set the book down and thought for bit. Could this be what Scootaloo has? If so, then there was a chance that Scootaloo could fly on her own. She made these deliveries every afternoon and her wings powered her scooter, so they were clearly strong enough. She closed the book and set it in her saddle bag. "Perhaps I should see if Rainbow has any ideas." she said, throwing the bag on her back.



Violet knocked on the door to the cloud home. "Dash? You in there?!" she called out. She peeked in the fogged up windows (pun totally intended ) and saw that the house was dark. "Huh? She's not on tour right now, so she must be at the Headquarters."

The Wonderbolt Headquarters was on the outskirts of Cloudstale, so it was quite a flight to get to. Violet landed near the runaway. No pony was around. Violet jumped as several pegasi in blue and gold lightning bolt uniforms, zoomed past. Violet looked up and caught sight of a familiar rainbow mane. "Found her," she said. "They must rehearsing something. I'll just wait over on the bench." She walked over to a park bench and sat down, watching the Wonderbolts perform. In her mind, she could see an older Scootaloo flying that same formation with the future Wonderbolts. 

It was a good 15 minutes before they landed. Rainbow let out a loud. "Woohoo! That was Awesome!" Violet trotted over to her.

"Hey Dashie!" she cried. 

A security guard saw her. "What are you doing here?! This is private property!" he said, marching towards her.

"No wait, I'm not with the press, nor a fan. I'm friends with Rainbow Dash!"

The pony scoffed. "That's what everyone says," he violently grabbed her wrist. "You're coming with me, missy."

Rainbow was quick enough to spot her friend. "Hey stop, it's okay. I know her!"

The guard loosened his grip on Violet. "Are you sure Miss Dash? She doesn't have a visitor brooch on."

"Positive, now let her go or I'll tell Spitfire that you'll be looking for another job!"

The guard flinched and let go of Violet's wrist. "Okay, okay," he said, walking off.

Violet trotted up to Rainbow Dash, who was wearing her Wonderbolt uniform.

"When did you get here?"

Violet glanced up at the clock. "About fifteen minutes ago."

"Okay, so what brings you here to Headquarters?"

Violet rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, it's about Scootaloo."

Instantly, Rainbow's eyes widened in a panic. "Why? Did something happen to her?!"

"No it's not that, see when she came to pick up the deliveries, she was crying because of her wings." Violet explained.

Rainbow relaxed a little, catching on to what the problem might have been. "Oh, I guess she told her about her problem. Yeah, poor kid, she so badly wants to fly but with her problem, she might not fly until she's in her teens. So what made you come here?"

Violet reached into her saddle bag and pulled out the book. "I found this in my bookshelf, it goes over the disorder and it says that by the age of twelve, if given daily exercise would be able to use a training glider."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow and shook her head. "I don't know Violet, does it even work?"

"It certainly does." said a voice. Violet and Rainbow spun around to see Spitfire, Captain of the Wonderbolts standing there.

"Spitfire, were you eavesdropping?" Rainbow asked.

"So what if I was, I couldn't help but overhear the conversation," Spitfire gave them a concerned look. "You were talking about Scoots, weren't you?"

"Yeah, she's got a wing development disorder and I want to help her," she stopped as she remembered something Spitfire said. "Wait, what do you mean it works?"

Spitfire gave them a blank look. "Because I have the same condition,"

Violet and Rainbow stared at her shocked. None was more shocked then Rainbow Dash. "You?!"

"Yep," Spitfire flapped her wings for a little emphasis. "When I was a filly, I couldn't even get off the ground. We had to move to a house on the ground so I wasn't in danger of falling and I had to go to the Ponyville School instead of the Cloudstale School. I still attended Flight School, but I could barely get two inches off the ground at eight years old. The other pegasus foal made fun at me for my condition as they had been flying since they were in diapers. I was diagnosed at four years old, my parents made me train my wings by riding a scooter to and from school. They made me use my wings to power the scooter instead of using my legs."

"Little did I know, that the scooter riding was the treatment for my wings and sure enough, when I was ten years old I flew for the first time. It was only a short distance, but it was an amazing experience that I'll never forget. It was then that my parents switched the scooter, to training days with a glider. My mom and I would train together on weekends and on holidays. Pretty soon, when I turned twelve. I flew for the first time in the sky. I was so happy at what I achieved, that I didn't want to stop flying. I wanted to show every pony what I could do, so I guess that's what led me to becoming a Wonderbolt."

"Wow Spitfire...that's quite a story," Violet uttered.

"I don't believe it, I never thought that you, the Captain of the Wonderbolts, started off as a flightless bird." Rainbow said, in utter shock.

"Yeah, it takes time, but my wing growth eventually caught up and grew they to their full size. Now look at me," Spitfire said.

"So your saying that the Glider actually works." Violet asked. 

"Absolutely, it got me this far. If you wanna find one, I think they sell them in the Cloudstale Toyshop. Why don't you head on over."

Violet beamed. "Thanks Spitfire, you're a gem,"

"Hey, I'll help to Violet," Rainbow said. She turned to her boss. "That is, if it's okay with you Spitfire."

"Sure, go ahead. We're finished here anyway."

"Thanks, come one Rainbow lets go," Violet cried, pulled on her friends arm. 

"Hold up, Violet I have to get out of my uniform first," Rainbow chuckled.



Violet was seated on on of the benches in the locker room. Rainbow was packing her uniform into her saddle bag. "I feel like I'm getting ready for gym class," Violet said, reminiscing about her human days. There were somethings she missed about being a human; hands was one of them. It wasn't easy for Violet to regain her pony skills from her toddler years and it was hard to go from writing with her hand, to writing with her mouth. 

Rainbow chuckled. "Reminiscing about your human days are you?"

"Only the good stuff, I kinda miss some things about being human, hands is one of them."

"You sound like Lyra,"

"I know right, you shoulda seen her face last Nightmare Night."

Rainbow packed her folded up uniform into her saddle bag. "Yeah, humans are pretty cool. Look, not to take this the wrong way, but you kind of reminded me of a monkey."

Violet let out a giggle. "No actually, thats a reasonable conclusion. Humans evolved from monkeys. In fact, the closed thing related to a human is the chimpanzee,"

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Violet smirked at her. "What happened to you Rainbow, I thought you weren't into the science lesson?"

Rainbow shook her head and flung her saddle bag on. "What are you talking about, I'm not an egg head!"

Violet rolled her eyes. "Sure, now lets go get that glider."



Rainbow and Violet gawked at the glider in the toyshop window. "Wow, have a look at that beast," Violet awed. 

Rainbow gave a low whistle. "Are you sure you can afford it, I didn't bring my purse with me."

"It can't be that expensi-HOLY GUACAMOLE! That's a lot of bits." Violet cried, seeing the price tag. She turned to her friend with a grim face. Rainbow returned the look as they walked away.

"Now what! Scoots lives in an orphanage and I doubt they can pay for her treatment. Or if she has given been given treatment." Rainbow groaned.

"Actually, she has. Remember what Spitfire said. She used a scooter to train her wings and who else do we know who rides a scooter on a daily basis?" Violet asked.

Rainbow slapped her forehead. "Right, I completely forgot."

"All her life, she has been doing the first treatment and she doesn't given know it." Violet grinned.

"But what about the glider. We can't afford it without going bankrupt. Look, I've know Scoots longer than you Violet and flying as been on her bucket list since she was born. And if we can't get the glider, we're running out of options."

Violet thought about the situation for a minute. They could get all their friends together and chip in to get the glider, or they could get Discord to snap on up, but he and Fluttershy were away on their honeymoon and they weren't going to be back for another week. Even if they all did chip in to buy it, who's to say it would still be there when they got back?

Violet's eyes lit up as she remembered something from her human days. For school, her teacher took her class to a flight museum and she remembered that she bought a handbook on how gliders were built! She kept the handbook in her diary! She turned to Rainbow with a smile on her face. "If we can't buy a glider, we'll build one!"