Sweetie Belle hovered in midair with small plumes of vapor puffing from the bottoms of her hooves.

"That's it. You're doing great!" Jenny cheered from the ground.

Sweetie Belle beamed with pride, then suddenly plummeted several meters. She flailed around and regained her bearings just before hitting the ground, then she collapsed into the dirt. With a huff, she brushed herself off. "This stinks..."

"Don't fret. Mastering your antigravity gyro takes a lot of practice. The gyroscope turns with your body, so don't overcorrect." Jenny explained as she levitated off the ground.

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes and kicked the ground, then activated her rocket thrusters. "Why can't I just use these instead of that dumb old anti-gravithingy?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Jenny poked Sweetie's belly bolt and pulled out a fuel gauge. "You've got about three hours worth of fuel before you'll need to gas up. Of course, at your max speed of around Mach-Five-ish, you can fly around the world in less than twenty seconds."

"Awesome! I wanna try that!" Sweetie Belle kicked off the ground with bright green flames jutting from her hooves and tail.

"Whoa! Settle down there, turbo. Those speeds are for emergencies only. Breaking the sound barrier at all could be risky, not to mention the friction heat. Just use your gyro for now." Jenny crossed her arms.

"Aw, but why? I really don't like this thing," Sweetie Belle complained.

Jenny groaned and blasted the ground with her own thrusters to creat a small crater. "Look, using rocket thrusters near the ground is dangerous, alright? You could easily crash and damage yourself, or you could accidentally hurt someone else. Just... trust me! Okay?!"

Sweetie Belle slumped down and pouted. "Fine..."

A red light began to flash on Jenny's wrist, and she rolled her eyes. "I've gotta run. Keep practicing and I'll check back in a few." She jumped into the air and blasted off into the distance.

Sweetie Belle huffed and stood up, then closed her eyes and began to levitate with wobbly instability. She flipped forward and face-planted into the dirt, then groaned. As she opened her eyes, two orange hooves were standing at her muzzle.

"Whatcha doin'?" asked Scootaloo.

Sweetie Belle hopped up and dusted herself off with a quick spin. "Nothing... I'm trying to use my stupid anti-gravimajigger because Jenny says it's the most important tool I have when facing monsters... Something about stability in midair is better than rocket thrusters alone, or... something."

"Wait, you mean you're trying to fly without rockets?" Scootaloo asked as she spread her small wings.

"Yeah. It's more like floating than flying, though," Sweetie Belle explained.

Scootaloo sighed and tucked her wings in. "I wish I was a robot..."

Sweetie Belle drooped her ears and averted her gaze. "I'm sorry, Scootaloo."

"Nah, you're good." She smiled and hopped up and down. "So what's the problem?"

Sweetie Belle shrugged. "I don't know. I can start hovering, but then I just fall forward... like I'm too top-heavy or something."

"Top-heavy, huh?" Scootaloo trotted in a circle around her bionic friend. "Well maybe the gravimajigger just isn't for you? I saw you floating with rockets earlier, just practice that instead."

"But then I'll run out of fuel." Sweetie Belle sighed and kicked the ground.

Scootaloo scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Then you'll just refuel, duh. Go on! Try it out!"

Sweetie Belle smiled and rapidly nodded. She then took a deep breath and activated her thrusters. "Alright!"

Scootaloo smiled and widened her eyes as the bright green fire lifted her friend into the air. "Nice one, Sweetie!"

Sweetie Belle nodded and carefully adjusted her hooves and tail to keep her balance while her ears folded down into stability wings. "I'm way better at this."

"You look so cool..." Scootaloo swallowed a lump in her throat and looked away while she placed her hoof to her chin.

Sweetie Belle nervously wiggled around before lowering the thrusters' outputs and gracefully landing back onto the ground. As her body reconfigured itself for non-flight, she faceplanted into the dirt once again.

Scootaloo chuckled and helped her clumsy friend to her hooves. "See? You got it all under control... Mostly, anyway."

"Yeah well there's no way I'll know for sure unless we test it out in action," Sweetie Belle said.

"You're right." Scootaloo crossed her forelegs and rubbed her chin. "I got it!"

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom each stood next to a bushel of mushy old apples while Sweetie Belle skeptically waited some distance away.

"Guys, I don't know about this," Sweetie said with a frown.

"This is perfect. Just dodge the apples we throw at you while keeping your balance. It's the perfect practice," explained Scootaloo.

"Sounds good to me." Apple Bloom grinned and lifted a squishy apple onto her front hoof.

Sweetie Belle shrugged and kicked off the ground. "Well, if you say so..."

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom each readied their mushy projectiles while Sweetie Belle balanced herself on her thrusters.

"You ready?" Apple Bloom shouted.

"I think so, just a min—"splat! Sweetie Belle shook a pile of apple goop from her face with a scowl. "What the hay was that?!"

Scootaloo blushed and shrugged. "Oops, sorry."

Sweetie Belle huffed and calmed herself. "Okay, I'm actually ready this time."

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo nodded to each other, then lifted their apples. Apple Bloom tossed her apple, and Sweetie Belle instantly dropped half a meter by manually lowering her output.

Scootaloo chucked her fruit, and Sweetie burst higher to miss it, then to the left as Apple Bloom threw another.

"Wow, nice moves, kid," Rainbow Dash said as she fluttered next to Sweetie Belle.

"Whoa-oh!" Sweetie fell to the ground, startled. "Ow..."

Rainbow Dash ducked an apple and then glared at Scootaloo, who dropped a second one. "So, Sweetie Belle. Word has it that you're some kind of super-fast-robot-flying-machine. Wanna race?"

"Uhm... I'm not sure if I have flying down mastered yet," Sweetie explained.

"Right. You're obviously better at falling down," Rainbow Dash said with a laugh. "Come on, kiddo. Take it from me: practice makes perfect. Let's do a lap around Ponyville."

Sweetie Belle looked to her two best friends, who each rapidly nodded with wide grins. "Okay. Let's do it."

"Atta girl. Okay... Ready... On your mark... Get set go!" Rainbow Dash darted into the air in a flash and disappeared into the distance.

Sweetie Belle thrust herself forward and crash landed, her thrusters plowing her face through the dirt. "Dumb rocket legs!"

She hopped back into the air and took off with a huge burst of green flames. Her ears flattened horizontally as she picked up speed, then she tilted her head to make a wide turn. The moisture in the air vaporized into a pink cloud mist as she cut through the air at transonic speeds.

Her optic scanner turned a quickly approaching hill into a grid map with several red squares along its side. Sweetie Belle detected an imminent collision, then pulled herself upward. She shot straight up into the air, and then she overcorrected herself into a downward spiral and crashed into the forest. She tucked in her legs and tore through the ground while trees and boulders were flung into the air in a plume of dirt and dust.

Sweetie Belle laid motionless and half-buried in the ground. She lifted her foreleg only to see twisted metal with sparking wires jutting out from within. Her sight went black, and she shut down.

"Psst. Wake up... Anypony home in there?"

Sweetie Belle jerked and sparked, then her eyes lit up. Her vision was blocked by a series of notations and statistics being displayed. Her systems noted sever damage to her upper right leg as well as external minor trauma dealt to every inch of her Exo-Armor. The screen minimized itself, and she was blinded by piercing sunlight.

"Wakey wakey!"

Sweetie Belle shielded her eyes as they slowly adjusted and focused. She watched her foreleg auto-repairing itself and ejecting old, twisted chunks of metal while replacing them with fresh panels from beneath. After it was complete, she lowered it to see a silhouetted mare standing over her.

"You alright?"

"Yeah. I think so. I feel funny though," Sweetie Belle said as she wobbled to her hooves.

"Funny how? Like dizzy?" Rainbow Dash asked as she examined her head. "Hmm... So I guess you really do have a long ways to go, huh?"

Sweetie Belle's ears drooped and she rolled her eyes. "I told you so..."

"Hey, no harm no... fowl," Rainbow Dash said as she glanced around the devastated forest area.

Several squirrels and rabbits crossed their arms and glared.

"I'm sorry, forest critters... I... I didn't mean to crash into your homes." Sweetie Belle widened her eyes and began to leak the excess jet engine coolant from her optical corner-ducts.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes as the boiling liquid soaked the dirt. "Hey, come on. They're forest animals that are good at surviving. They'll just hide under the fallen trees or whatever. Let's get outta here."

Sweetie Belle frowned and wiped her eyes. "Oh, well okay. I'm still very sorry... Also, I'm just gonna walk if you don't mind."

"You sure you're gonna be alright?" Rainbow Dash asked as Sweetie Belle shook a loose piece of bent armor to the ground.

"Yeah. I'm feeling better already. Thanks, Rainbow Dash. Sorry about the race, by the way." Sweetie Belle ruefully scoffed and trudged through loose earth.

"Hey, don't sweat it, kid. We'll have a rematch when you feel like you can handle yourself better. I shouldn't have pressured you when you didn't feel ready. I guess robot flying isn't like pegasus flying..." Rainbow Dash fluttered into the air and shrugged. "I'll walk ya home."

Sweetie Belle smiled as Rainbow Dash flew by her side, and the two made their way through the forest back towards home.

Sweetie Belle hovered in midair while Scootaloo and Apple Bloom cheered from the ground. She flipped around and held her balance for several long moments, then gently landed on her hooves.

Jenny clapped her hands and leaned down with a proud smile. "Awesome job! I knew you could do it."

Sweetie Belle beamed and blushed. "You know what they say, right? Practice makes perfect."

Author's Notes:

Check out a scene from this episode here: Link