Chapter Six

The Visions

Rainbow Dash soared through the skies at brisk speeds. She had always enjoyed her flying sessions. Twisting and banking about in the air without a care in the world with the warm sun on her back was always very pleasurable. However, she could not stay airborne forever; there was work to be done.

The morning prior, Dash said she'd administer lessons for her flightless sister. The cyan mare was headed home after dropping the filly off at school to put a regimen together. She slammed the front door closed and took in the sweet scent of her home. Dash strode over to her closet and, after sifting through the mess inside, retrieved an old clipboard from her coaching days.

She saw all of the marks and dents from the years of use, and abuse, and chuckled at the memories. She then thought of the lesson she gave Scootaloo the previous day. Dash chuckled at an image of the little filly's beaming face that appeared in front of her. The mare stared at this apparition with its golden aura surrounding it. She shrugged, then ambled over to her couch with a pencil, and began devising their lesson plan.

Pondering their moves, Dash decided that the best thing to do now was to show Scootaloo stretches that would strengthen some muscles, and atrophy others.

After they were finished setting the wings straight, and Scootaloo's wing muscles were properly proportioned, they'd go on to stage two. Simply put, she'd do more exercises until her wings are strong enough to grant flight. And finally, maneuvering and navigation in midair as part of stage three.

Rainbow Dash sighed as she put the clipboard down on her kitchen counter. She hadn't been at it for more than a half hour before she was finished.

"I forgot how fast I was at writing these," said Dash to herself.

It was going to become quite boring in the near future. Ponyville was entering that scheduled season that didn't require a lot of cloud busting. Since busting was her specialty, she wasn't normally tasked with cloud placing.

She paced around her house looking for something to do. Dash finally gave up the search for something to do in her entertainment-devoid home. What she needed to do is go out for a little fly around town, and find a good cloud to nap on.

After closing her front door, she cantered off the edge of her porch and entered a nose dive. She fell a long distance, and pulled up just at the last minute. The image of falling in her dream the previous night was still fresh, and her fall in reality transported her back to that place in her nightmare. She shook her head clear of the mirage and kept flying.

Something was nagging her in the back of her head, but she couldn't quite place a hoof on it. It was like she was remembering something, but nothing was there. All of these visions of her memories were fogging up her mind, and somehow clearing it at the same time.

Dash floated shakily about until she reached town where she began to search for a good cloud to nap on.

This was hopeless. All of the clouds in sight were either too small or too thin to support Dash's weight. She decided to join a few together to create a platform large enough to hold her. After wrangling together a few wisps of cloud, she clambered upon the new formation.

Something about this cloud made her think of something. "What does this remind me of?" she thought to herself. Suddenly a vision of her bawling sister appeared facing Dash. She yelped loudly and buried her head in the cloud as she realized that this cloud made her think of the one her and Scootaloo had been on in her dream.

The nagging feeling in the back of her head started to get more intense. It was as if there was something she had forgotten to do, yet there was nothing she could think of. She went over her imaginary to-do list in her head for a good fifteen minutes, but found nothing. Her list was empty as of this moment; the only thing she could think of was to go pick up Scootaloo from school for the real beginning of her lessons, but that was several hours away.

Dash buried her head deeper into the cloud in an attempt to stifle the memories and thoughts, but it didn't work. She groaned, and shot off of the cloud. The cloud spun and spun until it eventually popped. Dash descended and went for a slow flight over Ponyville.

Today was like most days. The market-place was filled with kindly merchant ponies selling their produce. After flying for a bit, she found Applejack at her apple stand.

"Hey AJ," called Dash whilst approaching her friend. "Whatcha doin?"

Applejack snapped out of a blank stare and turned to her friend. "Oh nothing,'" she said. "Jus' sittin' here sellin' some of mah apple products."

"Oh," said Dash. Another thought popped into her head. "Hey, how's Granny Smith? Scootaloo told me that Applebloom had to stay home because she was sick."

"Oh yeah," replied Applejack with a weak smile. "We got Nurse Redheart to look after her. Applebloom was able to calm down enough tah go tah school."

Dash sighed with relief. "Oh good. See Scootaloo got bullied at school yesterday, and her friends weren't there to back her up."

"She's bein' bullied at school?" inquired Applejack with an angry glare.

"It's fine, I took care of it," replied Dash. "Plus, I don't think she'll be messed with again with Applebloom there."

Applejack sighed. "Them young'ns are so violent nowadays," she said with a shake of her head. "So what brings yah here?"

Dash thought about it for a moment. She realized that she forgot her reasons for this confrontation. "Oh, just bored, I guess. There's nothing to do right now," she fabricated.

"Well, y'all could help me at mah apple stand here," suggested Applejack. Dash raised her eyebrows. Her friend should know her better than that.

"Sorry AJ, but that sounds even more boring than having nothing to do," replied Dash.

Applejack narrowed her eyes. "Oh," she said.

"Yeah well, see ya!" hollered Dash, taking to the sky once more. Applejack just shook her head again. Of course Dash wouldn't be able to sit still for the job.

Dash flew around for another while. These visions she had been seeing were starting to get to her. She wasn't schizophrenic, as far as she knew. But the images and sounds in her head were vivid, and they seemed so real.

"Okay, Rainbow Dash," she thought to herself. "Just keep flapping your wings, fly faster, and keep your head clear of everything else."

She tried focusing on her favorite pass-time, but she couldn't keep her attention on it. All of her attention was focused on thoughts of her sister. She was beginning to feel that nagging thing in her head throb, and it pulsed with every heartbeat.

Dash was beginning to get a small migraine, and as a result of it she couldn't focus on keeping flight patterns in a straight line. She narrowly avoided smashing three vendor carts to pieces.

After careening about, Dash gave up. She shakily flew to a meadow to gather her thoughts. She landed on the tall, soft grass, and began to walk about in it. Something was here, something significant.

At that moment, Dash saw a vision of her sister running about with that gold mist shimmering in ribbons behind it. Scootaloo was mouthing the words "Run with me!" Dash shook her head of this mirage. These little visions were starting to get on her nerves.

After walking about for a bit, she decided to lie down in an especially thick portion of the grass. Her biggest reason for resting was that her head was now pounding. What was that thing that she thought she remembered?

Dash began to hear her sister in her head. It began as whispers, but slowly increased in volume until they were full on shouts.

"Rainbow Dash, look!" She'd hear in her head. "Thanks for being my sister. Extra cheese! Horrible dream. Goodnight, Rainbow Dash. Wanna race?"

These voices were terrorizing Dash, and made her head spin. More and more of her sister's utterances flooded her murky mind.

"Come on, Rainbow Dash! I Win! Are they broken? Somewhere else. All alone. Your house is cool! Talking to a turtle. No parents. I love you, Rainbow Dash."

Dash bolted upright. She hadn't remembered her sister saying that. Wait…yes she does. She could recall hearing Scootaloo say it right as they were falling asleep after their nightmares. The chanting continued, but began to lose their randomness.

"Really? A sleep-over with you? Somewhere else. No parents. No family. All alone. Somewhere else. Somewhere else. Somewhere else. I love you, Rainbow Dash."

Dash took in a deep, sharp breath. That was what the nagging feeling was. At that moment of serene mental clarity and epiphany, the cyan pony knew what she needed to do.

---

Diamond Tiara wasn't in school that day, which set Scootaloo's nerves at ease. She was glad that the self-proclaimed queen of the school was sick or something and couldn't terrorize her classmates again. She was also happy that Applebloom was back.

"Hey Applebloom!" called Scootaloo to her beige coated friend "How's your grandma?"

Applebloom gave a weak smile. "Well," she began. "She ain't doin' the greatest, but she's definitely a lot better than she was a coupla days ago. We got one of them nurses from the hospital to look after her."

"Ah," replied Scootaloo. She was relieved that Granny Smith was doing better, but she was more relieved that her friend was back. "Well, I hope she feels better. Hey, have you heard anything from Sweetie Belle?"

"Nope," replied Applebloom. "Haven't heard a thing. She's all the way in Canterlot right now, so Ah don't think we should expect much from her."

"Yeah, I guess so" said Scootaloo, saddened that Applebloom hadn't heard anything from the third crusader either.

"So what did Ah miss yesterday?" inquired Applebloom as the students were claiming their seats.

"Uhh…" replied Scootaloo. She had taken half the day off yesterday after Diamond Tiara and the other fillies had bullied her senseless at recess. She decided to suck it up and tell the truth. "I sorta…left early yesterday. Diamond Tiara got really annoying, and I couldn't listen to her stupid voice anymore, so I just left."

Applebloom's face softened. "What did she do this time?" she asked.

"She…she…" started Scootaloo. It was still difficult to admit her weaknesses to anyone, but a thought towards her sister's encouraging words made her stiffen her spine. "She made fun of me because I can't fly yet."

Applebloom's eyes and ears perked. "Oh Scootaloo, don't lissin' to her, she don't know what she's talkin' about. Don't worry, I'm sure y'all'll figure it out soon." Applebloom placed a hoof on her friends back.

Scootaloo smiled as she thought of her situation. "Oh, don't worry about me, I can take it," she boasted. "Besides, Rainbow Dash said she'd teach me how to fly!"

"Wow, really?" Applebloom beamed.

"Yep! So I guess you could say she did take me under her wing, huh?"

"Yeah, Ah guess she did," said Applebloom, defeated.

"You know what else?" continued Scootaloo. "Guess where I slept last night."

"…Where…" replied Applebloom, not understanding her friend's motives for her question.

"Rainbow Dash's house," she gloated.

"Wow, really?" said Applebloom, surprised at the level the relationship was already at. "You two must be gettin' real close now!"

"I know!" admired Scootaloo, biting her lip in anticipation for what her sister had to teach her next. "I can't wait until we can do more flying lessons!"

The rest of the day dragged on. As usual, Scootaloo didn't pay attention to Cheerilee's lesson. She just looked out the window the entire time, dreaming of drifting amongst the clouds.

"Okay class, that wraps up todays lesson," concluded Cheerilee as the bell rang to go home. "And remember, my little ponies, there will be a quiz on what we've been talking about next week, so study up!"

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. She had more important lessons to get to.

"Oh Scootaloo, may I speak with you?" asked Cheerilee as the orange filly passed by her desk.

"Uh, sure," replied Scootaloo, just knowing it was going to be about her behavior or something boring like that.

"You didn't come in after recess yesterday, would you like to explain your truancy?" she grilled sternly.

Scootaloo wasn't expecting that question, though it was obvious that she would ask it. She decided to swallow her pride just one more time for the day.

"Diamond Tiara made fun of me for not being able to fly at recess, and she got all of the other fillies to do it too. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle weren't there, so I was all alone," admitted Scootaloo meekly.

"Oh my," replied Cheerilee, her tough resolve dissipating. "Well, I'll have this injustice corrected, okay? Now you run along home, Scootaloo."

Scootaloo waved as she left. Cheerilee watched her go and heaved a heavy sigh as she had to endure Diamond Tiara's parents yet again.

Scootaloo was aboard her scooter, and was about to take off with her wings when she remembered her sister's words. She figured that she needed to get it back to the place she called home, so she just used her legs like she did the day before.

She was about to turn off toward her home when a cherished voice piped up.

"Hey Squirt, where ya goin'? I thought we were doing lesson number two today," sounded a familiar, raspy voice. Scootaloo's face beamed again as she turned to see her sister's positive expression.

"Lesson two? Already?" Scootaloo asked. If her sister was going to schedule lessons every day, her heart might give out before she flies.

"Don't worry, we're not doing anything too serious right now, I'm just going to show you some stretches and exercises that will, well, fix your wings," she said to Scootaloo's relief.

Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo then flew to the middle of a field, and the cyan mare began showing the orange filly the stretches and how they were supposed to feel. After a couple of hours of these painful exercises, the two called it a day.

Scootaloo turned off onto the road on her scooter, and headed back to the orphanage. She never truly enjoyed going there, but it was where she resided for the foreseeable future.

"Promising effort, Kid. You won't be going that direction to get home for long," Rainbow Dash proudly said aloud.

Sorry for the late update, guys. You all probably know what I'm foreshadowing here, but hush; no words. Just read when I get around to writing the next chapter.