Scootaloo hummed happily to herself as she nearly pranced out of Cheerilee's classroom. Her two best friends in the whole wide world, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, were right beside her. Together, they had gone on several poorly thought out adventures to earn their cutie mark. Yesterday, they had tried to be seamstresses at Sweetie Belle's suggestion. That hadn't worked out in the least bit and Applebloom and Scootaloo were now permanently banned from Carousel Boutique and Sweetie Belle was banned from going anywhere near Rarity's sewing machine. Scootaloo still thought that the leather-and-glitter dress she'd made was awesome. Unfortunately, Rarity had disagreed, especially after Scootaloo used up Rarity's entire collection of gemstones.

"So, what do you wanna do today?" Applebloom asked. The weather was warm today, puffy, white clouds floating in the endless blue of the sky. The weather was warming as the year turned towards summer. A cool breeze stirred the leaves and passed through Scootaloo's feathers. It reminded her that today she was having a flight lesson with Rainbow Dash. Dash had stopped her yesterday while she was on her scooter and told her that for the next lesson they were taking it to the next level. Scootaloo didn't know what that meant, but she was ready for it. Lost in thought, she almost didn't notice Sweetie Belle ask her what she thought of the idea of trying for rodeo cutie marks. Applebloom had suggested the idea, but Sweetie wasn't sure.

"Scootaloo? Equestria to Scootaloo. You there?" Applebloom asked, nudging her shoulder. "My sister has all her rodeo stuff set up. Want to try it out?"

"Aw, I'd love to girls." Scootaloo answered, a little regretfully. "But I have practice with Rainbow Dash."

"Oh yeah! How is that coming along?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I can stay in the air for longer. Watch!" Scootaloo flared her wings and lept into the air. She hovered, her wings furiously flapping and making a buzzing sound. After about twenty seconds she landed back on the ground.

"That was so cool!" Applebloom said.

"Yeah, Dash will have you flying in no time!" Sweetie Belle added.

"Thanks." Scootaloo said, smiling. "Can we try for rodeo cutie marks together? I really want to do that."

"Sure." Applebloom said.

Scootaloo said good-bye to the two, hopped on her scooter and began to ride through town. The market place was crowded in the afternoon and all the ponies gathered there were forced to move out of the way as Scootaloo zoomed past. She drove wildly, darting around ponies and stalls, using improvised ramps to jump into the air, spinning around and kicking up the dirt. Some of the adult ponies shouted after her, but for the most part they had gotten used to it. Scootaloo soon left the town behind, going towards a gentle clearing separated from the rest of town by a slowly moving brook. Scootaloo rode over the bridge and into the clearing. She passed Fluttershy's cottage, the yellow pegasus waving to her. Scootaloo waved back. The practice field was a bit farther away. Scootaloo coasted most of the rest of the way there.

As she rode she wondered what going to the next level meant. The practices already left her drenched in sweat with aching muscles. What could be next? More wing-ups? More crunches?

'Whatever it is, I'm more than ready!' Scootaloo thought to herself. Like Dash had instructed her she had been exercising every day. She could feel her body getting stronger with each exercise session. The closer she got to the field, the more she became aware of an unpleasant feeling in her stomach. Dash was waiting for her by an old oak with a whistle wrapped around her neck. She never blew the whistle. It was just there. The older pegasus smiled and gave her a friendly wave.

"How's my number one sister?" Dash asked.

Scootaloo flushed and smiled back. Then she gulped when she saw two pairs of heavy looking weights. Parking the scooter, she hesitantly approached Dash. Dash raised an eyebrow.

"Everything alright, Squirt?"

Scootaloo kept her eyes on the weights, wondering how heavy they could be. A thick line of rope was connected to each one of them.

"W-what are those?" Scootaloo finally asked, pointing at them.

"Those are wing-weights. We'll be using them later. Today, we're going to be working on our muscles. In order to fly a pegasus can not be too heavy, but their wings still have to be strong. Also, strong muscles let you heal faster from injuries. Let's get started."

Scootaloo gave one last, wary look to the wing weights.

"You're not scared, are you?" Dash asked.

Scootaloo chuckled nervously. "What? Me scared? No, of course not!"

"Sure?"

"Yep."

"If you say so, Squirt."

Dash got into position, the tips of her wings holding up her body. She seemed to find the stance easy, her body revealing no tension. Scootaloo's wings still trembled at the tips when she got into the same stance. Even so, she had gotten better at it.

"Fifteen reps. Starting now!" Dash barked.

Dash and Scootaloo both lowered down and pushed back up. Scootaloo's wings had once trembled every time she had even attempted a wing-up. Other times, she had done five or even less wing-ups before her body just collapsed. Then she had gotten till about ten without her body collapsing, but her wingtips would still tremble. Now, she could do fifteen wing-ups and her wingtips barely trembled at all. She grunted as she pushed herself back up on the twelfth rep. Dash gave her a concerned glance.

"You alright?"

Scootaloo grunted in response.

"Heh. Of course you are. You're tough." Dash praised as they went down together for the last three reps. Scootaloo stood and stretched out her wings like Dash had taught her. Dash spread out her much larger wings and bent down, stretching out her forelegs. Scootaloo followed suit.

"Now let's do some push-ups!" Dash announced, getting into the position. Scootaloo reluctantly followed.

"Why push-ups? What I really want to do is work on my wings!" Scootaloo complained as she balanced on her forelegs and pushed down. The strain of holding herself up spread through her forelegs.

"Like I told you, strong muscles let's you heal faster. I think that'd be something you'd be interested in considering the number of crashes you get into." Dash told her as she completed a rep. Scootaloo, despite her grumbling, went along with doing the push-ups. By this point, beads of sweat had begun to form on her forehead. As she pushed up for the last few reps, the beads of sweat dropped down onto the grass. Curious, she glanced over at her mentor. Rainbow Dash had a perfect form as she held herself above the ground on her hooves. Scootaloo's form was good, but she felt it was only a cheap imitation compared to her mentor. However, Dash was sweating. Scootaloo smiled as she slowly came down. Her mentor was as equine as she was. Scoootaloo pushed herself up, her muscles straining.

"Okay, that's enough." Dash said. They stretched and Dash went to retrieve the wing weights.

"You ready for this, Scootaloo?" Dash asked.

"You know I am!" Scootaloo said, trying to sound more enthusiastic than she felt.

Dash took two of the weights, stretched out her wings and strapped the weights to them. Scootaloo's jaw dropped as she read that the weights were both fifty pounds. She wasn't very good at math, but she knew fifty and fifty made one hundred.

"You can carry one-hundred pounds with your wings?" Scootaloo gaped.

"I've been doing this a long time squirt." Dash answered as she strapped a pair of two-pound weights to Scootaloo's own wings.

"I think I could do more." Scootaloo said as she tried to spread out her wings. The weights acted as a counterbalance, pulling her wings downward. She could hardly get them fully spread, only raising them a few inches. There was no real strain though.

Dash shook her head. "Uh-uh. No way. Those things can hurt. I started out at four pounds. Let's go for five reps. But tell me if it's too much. I mean it. I know you like to impress me, but if it's too much say so."

Scootaloo nodded. Dash and Scootaloo spread out their wings. Scootaloo could still only lift her wings a few inches with the weights dragging them down. The weights felt wrong. She wanted to spread them further. On the fourth attempt she strained and was able to lift them about an inch higher up. Even that sent a jolt of pain through the wings. She wondered why Dash said only to do five, but by the time the fifth rep came along she was panting and her wings were aching. Sweat trickled down her forehead and back in rivulets. Dash unhooked the weights from her wings before getting the weights off her own. She trotted to a cooler, got two bottles of water and held one out to Scootaloo. Scootaloo drank it down.

"Rainbow Dash? My wings are sore."

"You wanna know something? So are mine."

"Really?"

Dash nodded. "But can you still use them?"

Scootaloo gave them some experimental flaps. "Kind of."

"Good. Try to get in the air."

Scootaloo flapped her wings and lifted upwards. Her wings made their familiar buzzing noise. Dash shook her head.

"Try to flap, not buzz. Slow them down."

Scootaloo focused on her wings. It was a long habit and she wasn't sure if she could break it. Still, she would try. Focusing, she slowed down the flapping of her wings. She nearly fell, but to her great surprise she tipped over and her body instinctively fell into a natural form for flying. Dash grinned and patted her head. A surge of exhilaration flowed through her at the sign of approval from her mentor.

"Great. I was thinking of a game we could play."

"A game? What kind?" Scootaloo asked as she landed with Dash's help.

"It's a pegasus game. I'll show you."

After resting for a little while Dash invited Scootaloo onto her back. Scootaloo clambered up and Dash took to the sky. Scootaloo kept her hooves wrapped around Dash's neck while they rose and the world below got smaller and smaller. She could only make out vague stretches of greens and blues. They were soaring through the azure expanse, dodging puffy clouds. Scootaloo nuzzled Dash's mane. They landed on a large cloud bank and Scootaloo hopped off.

"So, what are we going to do?" Scootaloo asked.

By way of answering, Dash jumped off the cloud and held out her hooves. "It's called catch-me-if-you-can! Just jump off and try to stay in the air while I catch you. It's fun!"

Scootaloo's jaw worked up and down. "B-but I can't fly!"

"Nor could I when I first played it! But my mom and dad were there to catch me!"

What Dash left out was that this game was for foals much younger than Scootaloo, designed to get them acclimated to flying.

Scootaloo gulped, trotted to the edge of the cloud and looked down. Dash reached out her hoof and pulled her chin up.

"First rule. No looking down."

Scootaloo nodded.

"I'm right here. I'll catch you. Promise. I'd never let a friend hang or my little sister fall."

Scootaloo gulped, backed up a few paces and lept. The air rushed around her as she spread her wings. The wind whistled through her feathers and for a second the air carried her. She gasped as she soared, free for once from earthly bonds. Then her wings gave out and she started to fall. Just as she did she found herself safe in Dash's forelegs.

"Told ya I'd catch ya." Dash said with a cocky grin. She set Scootaloo back down on a cloud. Scootaloo bounced up and down.

"That was amazing! I flew! I mean, not really and it was just the air carrying me, but still I kind of flew!"

"Sure did." Dash said, giving her a playful noogie. "Wanna do it again?"

"Yes!"

Dash inched a bit further away this time. Scootaloo gave a flap of her wings in exhilaration and shot forward. The wind surged around her, flowed through her mane and feathers. Dash reached for her.

"Catch me if you can!" Scootaloo giggled, angling her wings and soaring upward. Dash went up with her and for a few seconds they flew perpendicular to each other. Scootaloo flew so close to her that her fur brushed against Dash's own. The further she went upwards the more her wings fought against gravity. A shot of pain shot through her primaries and she dropped like a rock. Dash caught her and they flew back to the clouds.

"What happened?" Scootaloo asked.

Dash laid a hoof on her back and began to massage her wings. "Looks like you got a crick. Your wings just aren't used to those kinds of angles. You'll get there, though."

"I wanna do it again."

"How do your wings feel?"

Scootaloo rustled them. "They feel better."

"Alright, but try not to go up. Just fly straight."

Dash flew away, leaving Scootaloo on the cloud. Scootaloo pawed at the cloud, angled her body and then her wings. She soared off the cloud and flapped her wings, using the air to propel herself forward. With a flap of her wings Dash flew backwards forcing Scootaloo to have to fly forward.

"Try to catch me this time, Scoots!" Dash said.

Scootaloo narrowed her eyes. A rush of warm air lifted her up and she discovered that she no longer had to flap to fly. The warm air buoyed her up and forwards.

"There called thermals." Dash said by way of explanation while floating in air and allowing the wind to wrap around her. "And they are awesome!"

Scootaloo had never felt this free in all of her years. The warm currents of air lifted her up and tickled her feathers. She only had to give light flaps to stay up. As she half-flew and half-glided she realized there was a problem with thermals. A rush of air knocked her off balance and sent her sprawling. She cried out as strong gusts of wind began to knock her little body around. Dash flew forward and caught her, shielded her from the winds with the strength of her arms.

"What's going on?"

Dash lightly cursed. "It's a wild storm! Want to see something awesome!?"

Still holding Scootaloo close to her she rushed into action, whirling and kicking away the storm clouds that had appeared. Soon, the sky was clear again. Scootaloo watched her mentor in awe. Stray gusts of wind still blew, but Scootaloo felt safe in the elder pegasus's arms. She nestled into her while Dash descended to the ground.

Dash went through her stretching routine, Scootaloo following along. "I think that's enough practice for today."

Scootaloo pouted. "C'mon, maybe just a little more?"

Dash shook her head. "No can do, Kiddo. I need to go report this to the Weather Office."

"Can I come with you?"

"Um. it's gonna be really boring." She grumbled. "Aw, horseapples. I need to go do paperwork. I wonder if I can get Blossomforth to do it for me?"

Scootaloo gave a little hop. "Yeah! You can get Blossomforth to do it! Just like I pay Applebloom to do my homework for me! Then you can get back to teaching me more!"

"You pay Applebloom to do your homework for you?"

"Oops. Don't tell her I told you that. Please?"

"Heh. As long as you don't tell anypony I get Blossomforth to do my paperwork."

They hoofbumped, sealing the deal.

"I really wanna do some more flying today." Scootaloo said, not willing to let this issue go.

"Okay. Hop on my back."

Scootaloo clambered on and soon Dash was off to the Weather Factory. More angry storm clouds had formed. Mindful of her passenger Dash didn't buck them or do anything that would risk knocking the pegasus filly off of her. Scootaloo quickly got bored and hopped off Dash's back. Dash gave a tolerant chuckle and reached out a hoof to put under the spirited young pegasus. Scootaloo, lifted up by Dash's hoof, flew alongside her till they reached the weather factory. The large building, made of sculpted cloud with rainbow falls pouring down the sides, rose up on a cloud bank. Dash and Scootaloo touched down and Dash went to find her manager. Stepping inside the building, she located the manager who was a brown pegasus mare with a stallion-like cut who was chewing bubble gum and lounging near a sign.

"Is that your filly?" She asked trotting up to them.

"She's my discarpere."

Scootaloo blinked at the unfamiliar term. The manager nodded.

"Don't usually see you here on your off day."

"Yeah, I have a wild storm to report."

The manager went to a basket and picked up several forms. She handed it to Dash who sat down at a bench, sighed, then sat down and began to fill it out.

"Ma'am, is Blossomforth on duty today?"

"I don't think so. And we're onto you. Do you think we can't tell your and her's hoofwriting apart?"

Dash sighed again and returned to filling out the forms. Scootaloo sat and waited patiently. She wondered how long filling out forms could possibly take. She waited and waited. Ten minutes had gone by and Dash was still at the desk.

"Rainbow Dash?"

"Yeah?"

"What's a discar-discarpa-"

"Student."

"Oh."

"Well, it's kind of stronger than that. It's hard to explain."

Scootaloo could already feel boredom creeping up on her. She tapped her hoof, restless.

"Told ya you'd get bored."

"Yeah."

Her wings were practically twitching. She had never felt such a rush as when she was soaring through the air. She wanted to feel it again. The twitching in her wings and the longing to feel it once more were almost overpowering. She knew it would be a very bad idea to fly without Dash's supervision, but she wanted to fly. While Dash was distracted she snuck away from the office and into the open air. A few older pegasii glanced her way, but none of them paid her much mind. She fluttered her wings as she neared the edge of the cloud. With a running start she lept from the cloud and began to flap her wings. As before, she soared through the air. But this time something was different. Her wings felt weaker. She'd flown too much, too far and there was nopony to catch her this time. Her wings locked up and she screamed as she fell. The ground inched up towards her and she could do nothing, having gone completely into free fall. Suddenly, a strong pair of hooves wrapped around her and she recognized the musky scent of a stallion.

"I got you, kid." An unfamiliar male voice said. That's when the world turned black.

...
When she woke up she was in a hospital. The harsh glare of hospital lights burned her eyes and she closed them.

"You're awake!" An excited, familiar voice proclaimed. Scootaloo sat up. Dash was at her bedside along with a grey pegasus she recalled was Rumble's brother, Thunderlane. She hopped off the bed and was suddenly wrapped in Dash's warm, feathery embrace. Scootaloo nestled into it and hugged Dash back. Her mentor held onto her as if she might disappear if she let go. Scootaloo realized she had never been held so tightly in her entire life. Oh, she had been hugged before, by her mother, her friends, various adults, even her dad at times. But never so warmly, so lovingly. She knew she was about to get a scolding, or at least deserved one for this latest stunt, but she felt so loved she couldn't bring herself to care.

"Scootaloo, don't ever do that again." Dash whispered in her ear. "Promise me if you want to fly it'll be under my supervision until you're ready to do it on your own."

"I promise."

Dash sounded almost afraid. "It was stupid of me." She didn't let go, but did loosen the embrace. "I should have been paying attention. I'm such a fuc-I'm such an idiot."

"No, you're not." Scootaloo said, nuzzling her. "I'm the idiot."

"No, you're not."

"Maybe you're both idiots?" Thunderlane offered with a chuckle.

"Um, Mister, thank you for catching me, but what happened? Did I hit the ground?"

Thunderlane shook his head. "It seems you got so scared you passed out. The nurse says you should be fine."

"Where's my mom and dad?"

"They'll be here. It's only been ten minutes since we got you here." Dash explained. "Thunderlane had to get me. I was so scared. The hospital said they'd contact your parents." Dash said, releasing Scootaloo from the wing-hug.

A few minutes passed before Oak rushed in. Scootaloo received a brief hug and a stern scolding, then got asked several times if she was certain she was alright. Scootaloo assured her mom she was fine. Then Oak left with her after bidding both Dash and Thunderlane goodbye.

Scootaloo left the hospital holding her mother's hoof. She wouldn't admit that part of her wanted it to be Dash's hoof.

Author's Notes:

I realized this story lacked a scene where Dash cuddles Scootaloo. I fixed that. Also, I have never written a chapter this long.