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Sunbeam

by Palm Palette

Chapters

Prologue: Sunflowers and Fate

“Hold up. I want to take a look at this.” Princess Celestia pulled the reigns on her sky chariot and pointed at a fresh scar gouged through the earth. It looked as if a giant claw had scraped along, tearing up boulders and scattering dirt. Her royal escorts nodded and spiraled down, bringing her next to the groove. The early morning sun illuminated dew on the grass like beads of glass, but the trench itself was in deep shadow.

Celestia hopped down and peered in the direction that she'd been traveling. That way led to Ponyville, and the end was nowhere in sight. In the other direction, the groove stretched all the way to the base of a mountain where it was cut off and buried by a fresh rockfall. The avalanche had probably been caused by the same thing that had created the groove.

“Such power.” One of her royal guards joined her in examining the scar.

Celestia nodded slowly. She turned around and walked along the edge towards the mountain. “Yes. I had heard about Twilight's battle with Lord Tirek, but this is the first chance I've had to survey the damage.” Nearby, a boulder about the size of a house had been sliced in half. The surface looked glassy and smooth and it curved upwards into a sharp, menacing spire. Celestia shuddered. “Sombra had never been that powerful. Not even Nightmare Moon could have caused such destruction.”

“Let us be grateful then, that harmony has been restored.” The guard bowed his head in general respect.

“Yes, let's.” Celestia started walking back to her carriage. “Wait—what is that?” Breaking off, she walked through strewn rubble into the rocky field. The royal guard followed her dutifully.

Celestia stopped in front of a plant with wide spade-shaped leaves and a fuzzy, hairy stem. It had a flower bud on the tip of its stalk. “Why it's a sunflower.” Celestia smiled. “My favorite plant.”

“This mostly barren rocky field is quite a strange place to see one of those,” the guard, named Adamant, said. “It's also pretty runty for a sunflower.”

“Runty or not, it's still a sunflower. You know, I've heard a lot of tales about these flowers, and most of them are true.”

“Oh?” Adamant raised an eyebrow.

“It is said that they follow the sun throughout the day, taking in the light and basking in its glory. Once the sun passes its zenith, the flower will wish to give its thanks and open wide. Its wide, yellow blossom is a tribute to the object that it adores. However, it will only bloom if it can directly see the sun, as it wishes to be seen and appreciated.” Celestia took in a deep breath. “The most determined of sunflowers will even find a way to shine through the thickest of clouds, and this little fellow must be determined indeed to grow in this desolate, rocky terrain.”

Celestia swept a hoof out in front of her. “Why I can imagine it blooming, going to seed, and soon there will be a whole field of sunflowers here.”

Adamant snorted. He shook his head. “That's never going to happen.”

“What?”

“Even if it could find the sun through clouds, no plant, no matter how determined, can find the sun through tons of rock. Once the sun passes its zenith, this plant will be in the shadow of the mountain. It's never going to bloom. It's never going to go to seed. It will wither and die without ever showing its colors.” He sighed. “It's cruel, but sometimes fate works that way. No amount of meddling on our part can change it, either. I doubt that even Lord Tirek could have moved this mountain.”

“Well, that's depressing.”

“I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do. We should go. The mayor is awaiting your arrival.”

Celestia sighed. “I suppose you're right. As much as I'd like to fix everything, there are some things that even I cannot do.” She turned and walked back towards her royal chariot. As she did so, the morning sun glinted in her eye. Whispering to herself, she added, “Though that doesn't mean I can't try.”

Nightmare

“This is the best day in my life!” I proclaim to my reflection, who waves back at me. “Just look at all the neat stuff I got!” My eyes sparkle and glitter at the mountainous pile of gift-wrapped boxes.

“Yeah, you sure got a good haul today, me,” my reflection says, and shrugs. “But it's all just useless junk. You never get what I really want.” With that, she turns tail and leaves the frame. The mirror turns blank. Huh? What gives? Why can't she ever be happy for me? What a loser.

“Open 'em!” Apple Bloom claps her hooves together and grins madly.

“Yeah!” Sweetie Belle bursts out of the pile. “You'll love 'em!”

“Where did you two come from?” I scratch my mane and put my toothbrush down. Now isn't the time to brush my teeth. I often do that when I wake up, as that makes my mouth feel clean and it tastes nice. This stuff is completely tasteless, though, like plain, ordinary paste. I spit it out and rise my mouth. Odd, the water's completely formless. I can't feel it at all. Am I forgetting something?

“Scootaloo, are you alright?”

Huh? “Uh, yeah, I'm fine.” Why wouldn't I be? I have my friends with me, and a bunch of wonderful birthday presents.

Princess Luna pokes her head through the window. Her eyes widen and she frowns. “Strange. There's something wrong with your dream, but everything looks okay. Are you sure you're feeling well?”

“I guess...?” Now that she mentions it, I do feel hollow somehow. But everything looks alright. I'm sure I'll be fine. “Would you like to stay for cake? I don't have any yet, but when I do, I'm sure it will be dashing!”

Luna sighs. “Sorry, Scootaloo, but I have my duties to attend to. There's a slumber party in Canterlot that turned sour, and I need to remind some fillies why it's such a bad idea to devour an entire pizza right before going to bed.” With that, she excuses herself and vanishes through a floating door. Whatever, I can still have a cool party without her.

Grinning, I run towards my huge pile of gifts, and Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom stomp on the floor excitedly. This is awesome! I reach out to grab a big, pink-wrapped box with a thick, red ribbon, but it pops like a soap bubble.

“No!”

One after the other, each and every one of the birthday presents pops. The shadows darken, and spiders crawl up the bare, cracked, empty, peeling walls. “No no no!”

“Sorry, Scootaloo, but that's the way the cookie crumbles.” Sweetie Belle shrugs. “If it makes you feel better, you can still have my gift.” She offers me a small, white box.

I take it, nodding and smiling. Of course my friends wouldn't let me down. “Thanks, Sweetie. This is—um...” Inside the box is the bottom of the box. “Empty!”

“Do you like it?” Sweetie Belle grins. “I packed up our confidence in you.”

“Yeah.” Apple Bloom shrugs. “We kinda don't have any.”

“No confidence?” They each look away and refuse to meet my gaze. My heart aches from their abandonment. “But why?”

“Uh, you might wanna open my gift.” Apple Bloom gives me a large box wrapped only in old, yellow newspapers.

I'm not keen on opening it, but I have to know, what are they talking about? The paper crumbles at my touch, and with trepidation I pull off the top. Inside is just blackness. It's empty too.

“That one contains your ability to fly,” Apple Bloom says, and Sweetie nods her head.

Grr. How dare they mock me like that! Just because my wings haven't grown in yet doesn't mean that I'll be grounded forever. In fact, I was getting better at flying the last time I tried it. “Oh, ha ha. Quit fooling around, you two. Of course I can fly; I'm a pegasus! Just watch.”

I crouch down to buzz my wings, but I can't feel them. They refuse to budge. Alarmed, I twist around, and there on my sides are a pair of padlocks. “Gah! What happened to my wings!?”

“Dunno.” Sweetie Belle shrugs and floats off the ground in a cloud of magic. “Check it out: I made a new spell. I call it my 'Fly Better Than Scootaloo' spell.”

“No! Stop! You can't do that! I need to fly! Me! Not you!” She floats above, just out of reach, and my padlocks weigh me down like lead. Jumping causes them to slap at my sides, and each impact hurts worse than the one before. No no no! I can't be stuck on the ground! “Apple Bloom, you have to help me! Help me get her down and cast that spell on me. I just want to fly! I don't care how anymore.”

A light flashes on Apple Bloom's flanks and she pushes my away. Appearing there are wings. “Sorry, Scootaloo, but it looks like I got my special talent.”

“What is it?” I ask, dreading the answer.

Her cutie-mark wings unfurl, and she flaps them, taking to the air and joining Sweetie Belle in buzzing around my head. “It's flyin' better than you of course,” she says, as if it's the most obvious thing ever. “Now this is what Ah'm talkin' about. Aw, yeah! I could get used to this!”

They're so far above, spinning around, yet so close. I can reach up, but I'll never reach them. My useless padlocks won't let me fly. It's all I can do not to cry. “No! Stop! Don't leave me here! Don't fly away! This can't be happening!”

“Hey, Apple Bloom, you know what I hear? A bunch of squawking!”

“What?”

“Eeyep! B-gawk! B-gawk! B-gawk!” Both of them hover above me, pausing to flap their forelegs in a mock gesture. The building's gone, and I'm sitting in a dirt enclosure next to Fluttershy's chicken coop.

“Stop that! I'm not a chicken!”

“Says the chicken!” Sweetie Belle snickers and leans back on her magic field. “Who can't fly.”

“Yeah!” Apple Bloom does a flip and dives down to smack my head before swooping back up out of reach. It didn't hurt, but my injured pride can't take much more punishment. “Looks like we brought you home. If you don't like us, go complain to mommy chicken.”

Ooh, she did not just say that! I can take hits to myself, but that's going too far. “Hey! You do not get to insult my mother! I have the coolest mom in all of Equestria!”

“If your mom's so cool, then why isn't she here?” Sweetie Bell's green eyes glow as she glars down from above. “It's because she's a chicken.”

“No she is not! I'll show you! You'll be sorry that you've messed with me!” Kicking up a cloud, I turn to run, but it's pointless. There, on the horizon, is a giant chicken where Canterlot's mountain used to be. My ears wilt and my mouth drops. She's wearing a golden tiara and the full regalia of the sun. “No! It can't be!”

“SQUAWK!” The earth shakes with her fury. She's mad, angry at me.

I can't speak. This is beyond words. My heart wants to apologize, but my brain shuts down. I-I can't even move.

“BA-GAWK!” That wasn't good enough for her. I'm not good enough for her. She stomps the ground in fury, and it cracks, splitting open a gaping maw beneath me.

I fall into the pure blackness, padlocks weighing me down. All I can do is scream.

“Aaaaaa—”

“—aah!” Huffing for breath, I bolt upright in bed. It was a dream! Of—of course it was a dream. Luna even said so. But why was it so vivid? Why did it seem so real? Why... did it hurt so much?

The morning sun casts a ray of light on the wall, brightening up my poster of Rainbow Dash doing a sonic rainboom. Wonderbolts dart about on their posters as well. There's even one with Daring Do challenging the Dragon of Dread. All of them are in the sky. All of them are flying.

My scooter's lying in its corner, cracked and peeling. It's the closest thing I have to the freedom of flight, but it's wearing out on me; even my helmet's seen better days.

I... I've surrounded myself with poignant reminders of just how much flight means to me. I pull the covers over my head so birds can't peek in and watch me cry. This is not how I wanted to start my day.

Decadal Disaster

What am I supposed to tell them? I'm sorry, but I'm cancelling my birthday? The world doesn't work like that!

A groan courses through my body like a bad dinner trying to work its way back out. What am I thinking? I can't just blow off my friends. They probably worked hard on whatever little party they've planned. I hate birthdays, and not just because of some bad dream. Mom, my real mom, makes a point of stopping by to see me, but she barely even says 'hi' before flying off again and leaving me in the dust. At least my friends seem to care.

I'd just love to take off after my mother and force her to stay, but each and every year that looks less and less likely. It just kills me inside to watch everypony else grow up and fly away while I'm stuck on the ground forever and ever. Being one year older just makes it that much more painful to watch foals still wet behind the ears buzz around like flies.

Here I am, leaning against the door to our clubhouse. I know I should open the door, but at the same time—wait, what's that?

There's glint in the sky. It's hard to see through the apple trees, but it looks like sky chariot. It's moving at a good clip and vanishes in hardly a few seconds. But forget about that. Sky, you and me have some unfinished business. One of these days, I'm going to fly up there, and I'm going to punch you in the face for all the pain that you've caused me. I want to fly up there now, but...

I bite my lip. No matter how hard I try...

Shaking my head, I stare at the wooden door. I can't worry about my feelings now. My friends are waiting. Whelp, here goes nothing.

“Surprise! Happy birthday, Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom yell. Our clubhouse is decorated with streamers and confetti. Draped with a white cloth that looks suspiciously like Rarity's shower curtain, the table holds a lopsided cake alit with ten candles. But that's not the best part. Each of my friends are also grinning and holding gifts. Eh, screw nightmares. Maybe this birthday thing won't be so bad, after all.

I can practically feel my eyes sparkle. “Wow, thanks, girls,” I say. Apple Bloom's gift is shaped just like a scooter! I reach over for it. “So, can I open my presents now or–”

“Not yet. You have to blow out the candles first.” Sweetie Belle points at the cake. They'd apparently lit the candles too early, since hot wax is dribbling down on the frosting.

“And we have to sing 'Happy Birthday,' ” Apple Bloom adds.

“Right, of course.” I roll my eyes.

      

“Happy birthday. Happy birthday.

Happy birthday, Scootaloo.

You're one year older on this day.

You're one year wiser on this day.

One year bigger, one year stronger,

One year smarter, one year longer.

      

“Happy birthday. Happy birthday.

Happy birthday, Scootaloo.

You've earned one candle for each year.

Your life burns down but do not fear.

'Happy Birthday,' we do shout.

Make a wish and blow them out!”

      

Ugh. How embarrassing. I hope I'm not blushing too hard. Sweetie Belle has a nice voice, but it doesn't help when Apple Bloom sings like a cow.

I take a deep breath and step up to the cake and close my eyes. I wish I could fly! I blow for all I'm worth, and cheat a little by fanning with my wings too. Ten satisfying little wisps of smoke greet me when I open my eyes.

“Yay.”

“You did it!”

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle clap their hooves together. I smile. It's a hollow victory, but I'll take what I can get.

“So what did ya wish for?” Apple Bloom asks.

“You're not supposed to ask her that,” Sweetie Belle scolds.

“Naw, it's okay.” Twisting around, I inspect my tiny wings and frown. If anything, they look even smaller than they did yesterday. “It's the same thing I wish for every year...” I let my voice trail off. Perhaps I'll get lucky today and my wish will actually come true. I open them and fan the the air. It feels invigorating to pump them like that, and a swirl of confetti stirs up behind me. These are my wings, and they are for flying. “Say, I am one year older now, perhaps I really can–”

“Don't you want to open your presents first?” Sweetie Belle interrupts. She grins like a clown, and Apple Bloom points at her gift.

Their eyes are full of worry and my heart sinks. Those huge grins are just masks; they lack sincerity. No! This is just like my dream. They really don't have any confidence in me. And why should they? They know as well as I do that I still can't fly. As much as I wish for it, being a year older doesn't magically make me any more able bodied; it just makes my lack of ability to fly that much more painful. It hurts, hurts, hurts.

Sapped of my enthusiasm, I turn my attention back to the presents. “Well, I guess.”

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle exchange a look. I usually don't give up so quickly.

“Mine first.” Sweetie Belle levitates over her pink-wrapped box tied with a red ribbon.

I grab it out of the air and watch as her lime aura fades away. At least it's not empty, but... “This is heavier than I expected. You're getting better with your magic.”

“Thanks. I still feel clumsy with it, but all that practicing has made it stronger.”

I'm holding a birthday present, but I can't help but frown. “No matter how much I practice...”

“Come on, open it! I want to see what you got,” Apple Bloom says.

The package has some fancy wrapping paper, but the folds are uneven and the ribbon's a bit lopsided. Whatever, I tear it off and rip apart the paper. It wafts to the floor, revealing the box. “A new helmet?” Well, that's... a perfect gift for somepony you have no confidence in. I frown inside, but force myself to smile.

“Yep. Your old one was getting really banged up and you said it was starting to feel tight. This one's bigger, and is raspberry-purple to match your mane.”

She is right. I do need a new one. I tear off the bland-tasting tape with my teeth and pop the box open. The helmet's color is more of a deep purple, but I'm not one to complain if it fits. I try it on and shake my head around before removing it and setting it on the table by the cake. It's nice, but now that I can see it in the light, it has frills are just, well, girly. “Thanks, Sweetie Belle. It is a lot more comfortable, but did you really have to get one that's covered in little pink hearts?”

“Yes. ♥”

“Ooh, ooh, mine next!” Apple Bloom points at her present. “I bet you can't guess what it is.”

I roll my eyes. “I can already see that it's a new scooter.”

“But you don't know that for certain until ya open it. It could be a bookshelf.”

Apple Bloom's present is only partially covered in pink wrapping paper. She apparently ran out, and tried to use newspapers to cover the rest. It's distinctively scooter-shaped, and most definitely not a bookshelf. Wait, her dream-gift was covered in newspapers...

No! I am not doing this again. A new scooter is not the same thing as proof of my inability to fly! Ack. They're giving me odd looks so I better say something quick. “Apple Bloom, you didn't even wrap it properly. I can see one of the wheels sticking out.” I point at the bottom where the wrapping has come loose.

“Uh, well, it could be a bookshelf with wheels?”

Tearing off the wrapping paper, I reveal a brand new scooter. It's painted orange with two purple racing stripes down the center. “Nope, it's definitely a scooter.” And it looks awesome too. My inner self groans at more of the same, but at the same time, this is the best gift she could have given me. I hop on, and grin like the Mane-iac. Twisting the handlebars, I push off and blast my way around the room in jagged circles. It rides smooth, lacking the wobbly axle my old one has. It even responds well when I jump up and bounce off the walls.

Riding my scooter does feel like flying, with my wings abuzz and the wind whipping in my face, but forever confined to the ground. Thinking of that kills my mood. I pull to a stop. Wiping the sweat from my brow, I lean my new scooter up against the wall underneath one of my, er, our Rainbow Dash posters. “It handles well and rides smooth. Thanks, Apple Bloom. This is so much nicer than the one I have now.”

“You're welcome, glad ya like it!”

“Cake time!” Sweetie Belle proclaims and picks up a knife in her mouth. Oh right, she said she's still clumsy with magic. She probably doesn't feel comfortable levitating sharp objects yet.

I pick up the helmet to get it out of the way and place it in my new scooter's basket. My heart's still racing from running around, but I can't help but drool at the cinnamon aroma of the cake. I grab the piece that's the least covered in candle wax and stuff it in my mouth. It's moist, sweet, and crunches with apple chunks. “Mmm, this is really good.”

“Thanks, I baked it myself.” Apple Bloom scrapes the wax off her piece, and most of the frosting comes off with it. She snorts in irritation.

Wait—she baked it herself? I raise an eyebrow. “Really? I thought you said you weren't very good at that. Didn't you ruin the last batch of cupcakes you tried to make?”

She licks at the frosted wax, then glances at me and shrugs. “Ah guess, but that was like a really long time ago. All this work with potion making has rubbed off on cooking too. I've had a lot more success now that I've learned not to be so impatient and actually follow the recipes.”

“Huh.” I set down my empty plate and stare idly at the crumbs and smudge of frosting on the side. “Sweetie Belle's getting better at magic, and you're getting better at, well, stuff in general.” I buzz wings briefly, sending a gust of air through the room and stirring up the confetti again. “Me? I'm not getting better at anything.”

“Aw, don't say that, Scoots. Yer getting much better at lots of stuff.” Apple Bloom points at the scooter. “Like, I bet that you can take that apart and put it back together again just as good as it is now.”

“Oh, right.” I frown, and dark anger wells up unbidden. I don't try to fight it, as she's picking at my sore spot. “Just because I can't fly, I have to do something else. But it doesn't matter how good I get because it's not what I really want to do!”

“Well, nopony ever gets everything they want out of life. That's what my sister always tells me when I badger her for stuff,” Sweetie Belle says.

“It isn't stuff I want, Sweetie Belle.” I snap a hoof at the window. “I just want to fly.”

Apple Bloom shrugs. “Ah think it'd be fun to fly, too, but I know I'm never going to.”

Oh, she did not just say that! A flash of her dumb dream-wing-cutie mark things comes to mind, deepening my fury. I snarl and shove Apple Bloom, who nearly falls over. “You don't know what I'm going through! Of course not being able to fly doesn't bother an earth pony. You're not supposed to fly. I am!”

“Uh, sorry.” Apple Bloom hangs her head. “I didn't mean to upset you. Ah mean, it's yer birthday an—”

A clang rings from outside near our clubhouse. Rushing over to the window, I get there first and the others crowd behind me, looking over my shoulders.

Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps are hovering in the air and both look a little sheepish. The ground beneath them is covered in horseshoes. Fluttershy flies down and picks one up. She does a few loops through the nearby tree branches and extends her hoof to meet Bulk's, who's waiting for her. They both fumble and drop the horseshoe.

“What are they doing?” Sweetie Belle asks.

“It looks like they're practicing relay flying again, and not doing a very good job of it,” Apple Bloom says.

“Why are they doing that? Aren't the Equestria Games already over?”

“Maybe they're trying for the gold medal next year?”

My friends quiet down and we simply watch in silence. Fluttershy's not bad at flying, but she's super weak, and very sensitive about it. Bulk—I can hardly even see his wings!

“I don't know,” Sweetie Belle says. “They don't seem to be practicing too hard. Mostly, they're just laughing and staring at each others' eyes.”

“Augh!” I slam the blinds shut, causing the others to stumble backwards. “That's one pony who doesn't want to fly, and another who's wings are even smaller than mine, and they both have medals for flying! It's not fair! It's just not fair!”

“Uh, Scootaloo—”  Whatever she was saying gets cut off when I glare daggers at her.

“I don't want to hear it. I know it was mostly thanks to Rainbow Dash.” I sigh. “But it's still not fair.” I stomp over to our clubhouse door and fling it open. Sky, I hate you even more now. “You know what? I'm a pegasus, flying's my birthright, and today's my birthday. It's about time I claimed it. I'm going to step out there, and I'm going to fly.”

“Are ya sure about that?” Apple Bloom asks. “We are pretty high up in this tree house. If ya fall–”

“I'm not going to fall. I'm going to fly.”

“Do you at least want your helmet?” Sweetie Belle asks. She has a sweet grin, but the strap on the helmet gets caught on the basket as she tries to levitate it out. She glances back and forth, then gives up when she sees how sour I am.

“This isn't some stunt I'm trying to pull, Sweetie. All I want to do is fly. No other pegasus needs a helmet just to fly.” I glance down and involuntarily shudder. I am pretty high up. Wavering on the edge, I gulp. It's a bad idea, but I'll look stupid if I back out. I jump.

The others wince, but I'm not about to hit the ground without a fight. I buzz my wings as furiously as I possibly can. They sear with the effort, but it works. Instead of falling, I rise ever so slightly. My back arcs, and I force my aching joints to buzz even harder and harder and harder still. At this height, I could do more than break a leg, but I don't care. I'm through with failure! I'm going to go up! “I-I think I'm doing it. I'm flying; I'm—augh!”

Something pops and I see stars. My wings completely seize up. I can still move my right side, but I can't fly like this! Futilely, I wave my legs in the air and drop like a rock. The ground rushes up like a hammer to add even more injury to injury. I wince.

“Oof.” I'm knocked to the side and my eyes pop open. Fluttershy dove down to grab me, but my wing hurts far too much to properly thank her. It's all I can do to keep my teeth clenched to avoid crying out. She carries me back up to the clubhouse and walks inside, gently placing me on the floor. “You're lucky I saw you fall. Are you okay, Scootaloo?”

It feels like something's yanking on my wing, trying to tear it off. I point at it and speak though clenched teeth, “My-my wing.”

“Hmm,” Fluttershy frowns and pokes at the wayward limb, triggering another stab of white-hot pain. The poor thing sticks out at an odd angle. She motions for the others to stay back. “It looks dislocated. I can fix it, but...” She removes her horseshoe and stuffs it in my mouth. “Bite down. This is going to hurt.”

The metal's cold and—a blistering sensation of white spots sears with the agony of a fiery poker being grated over my spine. Something pops and the pain abruptly recedes, simply throbbing with misery. Tears roll down my cheeks.

Bulk Biceps sticks his nose in the door, but Fluttershy waves him off. She's still fiddling with my wing, forcing it open and closed and wiggling it around. It hurts like crazy, even as gentle as  she's trying to be.

“That's good; your range of motion is fine. Nothing is broken, so you should make a quick recovery. You'll want to ease up on using your wing for a while, but it'll be good as new once all the terrible, throbbing pain dies down.”

I slowly open my mouth. I'd been biting so hard my jaw became stiff. With a clatter, the horseshoe falls out, marred by a fresh set of teeth marks. “Ow.”

“I didn't know you were a doctor,” Sweetie Belle says. She's ignoring me to talk to Fluttershy?

“Uh, well, I'm only really supposed to work on animals.”

Apple Bloom frowns and raises an eyebrow. Does she think I'm some kind of animal? Oh for the love of—she'd better not make a chicken joke!

“But I am qualified enough to offer first aid to ponies,” Fluttershy quickly adds. The others nod, and watch me wince in pain. Are they not going to say anything? For all that they seem to care, they might as well just poke me with a stick!

“Ah'm just glad you didn't make a 'Scootaloo's a chicken' joke,” Apple Bloom says.

I'm... aghast.

Fluttershy blinks. “Huh?”

“You know, because she can't fly?” Apple Bloom says.

Fluttershy, at least, has the decency to frown. Sweetie Belle covers her mouth when she sees my very, very, sour expression. Screw pain! I'm not going to just sit here and be picked on. I glare daggers at my 'friends.' “I'm fine. Thanks for asking,” I say, practically spitting bitterness with my words.

Sweetie Belle sort of fidgets with her hooves and looks at the ground. “Uh, Scootaloo, I'm sorry that you got hurt, but–”

“I don't want to hear it.” Right now, I can't stand to be in their presence. I walk out the clubhouse and climb down the stairs.

Apple Bloom runs after me. “Wait, Scootaloo, where are you going?”

“Someplace away from here.”

“But—don't you want to play with your new scooter?”

“No!” Apple Bloom tears up when I yell back. Gah! Why does she have to be so cute? “Look, I can't even use it until my wing heals. Just, leave me alone, okay?”

Fluttershy steps out next to Apple Bloom and looks down from the balcony. “Wait, Scootaloo, don't you want something for the pain? I can get some salve from my cottage if you'd like.”

I sigh. The pain is fierce, but it's dying down already. I'll be fine on my own. It's mostly my pride that's hurt. “Fluttershy, thanks for helping me, but no, I don't need to be babied.” The words came out harsher than I intended, but she simply nods.

Turning back to the others, Fluttershy asks in a softer voice, “What are all the ribbons and confetti for? Were you having some kind of party?”

Aaargh! No! Don't tell her! I should run back and—oh, forget it! I don't care anymore. I storm down the trail back to town. All along the way, I kick at loose sticks and stones, sending them rolling. With venom, I give a large stone a particularly vicious punt. It bounces, scuffs, and skids like a crash victim that'd taken a fall so hard that it'd wish it were dead.

Life sucks! Why does it have to be so infuriating all the time? I was so close and then this happens. I can't be stuck on the ground my whole life, but my wigs would rather fall off than work properly. The pain's a dull roar now, and it won't let me forget that I'm attached to such useless lumps. Trying to fly is about as easy as trying to move a mountain. It's impossible, and if I keep trying then I'm going to wind up killing myself. I almost killed myself already.

I sigh and drag a hoof on the ground. What's the use? I might as well give up on flying altogether. And while I'm at it, I should climb into a chicken coop and start laying eggs, because that's what I really am—a chicken. Gah! I hate talking to myself when I'm miserable, because I only ever make myself feel worse. I am not a chicken, and I am not going to give up! I just... don't know what to do.

A gurgling noise catches my attention and I'm thankful for the distraction. Minuette's working on some plumbing with her magic, and soon the statue in Ponyville's town square springs to life, fanning out a spray of water in a wet umbrella. That stony mare is forever playfully frolicking, balanced on her rocky pedestal. Satisfied with the result, that spring-stepped light blue unicorn closes the access panel and skips off to tend to her other duties. How can she be so cheerful like that? Can't she see that I'm upset?

Well, I do have a reason for being in town, and the fancy white and gold royal chariot parked next to Town Hall confirms my suspicions. That must be the one I saw fly in earlier. Princess Celestia is inside, if the pegasus guards standing at attention are any indication.

She... No, no, I haven't been abandoned, not exactly. I can always return home and I won't be turned away, but, well... she hardly ever visits, and keeps everything between us secret. Is she really that ashamed of me? I wish she'd tell me why we have to go through all of this. It's another thing to ask about.

I know I should wait for a "discreet" moment, but I'm so torn right now, and not just literally. If there's anypony alive who can tell me why my wings are so tiny and useless, it's her, but asking her questions is generally an exercise in frustration. She always tells me to wait until I'm older. Well, I get older every day. All I can do is keep asking.

I walk up to one of the gold-clad white guards and stare at his orange eyes. “Excuse me, sir, but I'd like to see Princess Celestia.”

Questions and Caverns

The royal guard whips his wing out to block my passage. My ego is bruised enough already, and he's leaning down at me with a stony sneer; he's looking down on me like I'm a flea! “Sorry, kiddo, but the Princess is very busy and doesn't have time for kids. Run along now.”

Of all the rotten—I snort, expressing my frustration. I might not be able to fly, but a moron I can deal with. I glare right back, getting so close to his face that I can feel his breath on my fur. “Did she ask not to be disturbed?”

The guard blinks and rears back. “Uh, no.”

“Then you have to notify her when a pony seeks an audience or you get in trouble. It's a rule.”

“Uh...” The guard shifts nervously. “But you're just a kid. I'm sure that rule only applies to grownups.”

I narrow my eyes and speak in a slow voice, “Do you want to get in trouble?”

The other guard sighs. “You might as well do what the kid wants. She is right about that rule and it doesn't have an age limit.”

“Ugh, fine. Who should I say wants an audience?”

“She'll know it's me.” I throw my nose up, pretending to be aloof. I might as well make this as difficult for him as possible.

The guard rolls his eyes. “Whatever, kid, but don't be surprised when she ignores you.” He turns around and walks in, leaving me alone with the second one who shifts his position to stand in front of the door.

“She won't ignore me,” I mutter.

“Kid, you sure are full of yourself.” The other guard makes his distaste clear, and I can't help but wonder if I overdid it.

Maybe I am just full of myself. Celestia wouldn't have come here this early unless she had actual business to attend to. Can I really claim to be more important than what's going on in Town Hall? It doesn't take more than the pain in my aching wing to tell me that I'm nothing more than a pathetic cripple. No wonder she sent me away.

The tink of metal hoofplates scuffing on a wooden floor perks my ears up. The guard returns and professionally stands at attention. I can't help but smile. I might feel worthless, but I am still important to her. Of course Celestia would choose me over politics.

When the towering alicorn opens the door, I bow low to the ground to keep up appearances. Of all the ponies in the world, there's none quite so awesome as my mother.

“Why hello there, my little pony.” The sun princess is as bright and cheerful as a sunny day itself. Her sparkling, aurora mane wafts about on an ephemeral breeze. I wish my hair did that. Mine constantly looks like I've been licked by cows, and not the ephemeral kind.

“Princess Celestia, I'm so glad that you came to see me,” I say.

“Of course I'd come to see you. You know I come to visit every year.” She chuckles. “But what is so important that you had to call me out of my meeting so early in the morning?” Celestia's tone is light and teasing. She doesn't look at all perturbed that I interrupted her meeting.

I have so many questions that I want answers for! Gah, but those guards are right behind her in the middle of town. The few other ponies walking in the streets stop and bow when they see her. We're going to draw to a crowd at this rate. There's no way I can ask anything without raising suspicion. My frown must be eating at Celestia, because her smile fades. “Uh, can we talk? In private?” I ask.

She gives a small nod. “Yes, I think that we should.” Turning aside, she address her guards with a firm voice, “I'm sorry, but I must cancel my plans for the rest of the day. If something comes up, bring the matter to Princess Twilight. I'll return to the castle at dusk, but until then I do not wish to be disturbed.”

The guards salute. They remain professionally stoic, but I can see a hint of confusion in their eyes. I might not be able to flaunt my status, but little victories like this can sure brighten my day.

“Hop on. I know of this place by Rainbow Falls with the most wonderful view.” Celestia crouches and bends her neck low to the ground. I can never get over just how big she is. She reminds me of those pictures of dinosaurs. I crouch down and jump, wincing when my wing flares with pain. Ow, I shouldn't have tried using them to help me up. What was I thinking? I bite my lip, but thankfully the pain recedes quickly. Celestia shifts up, and I grasp her sparkling, flowing mane. Its ghostly motion tickles against my fur, and I can't help but smile. Her giant wings pump against the air and—wait, she took off already? Wow, that was so fluid I didn't even notice!

This is way different from that time I flew with Rainbow Dash. She was awesome! Carrying me on one hoof and zipping around without a care in the world. Celestia just makes the sky feel smooth. I might as well be riding a pane of glass. Tightening my grip, I lean off to one side. The ground speeds by at a steady clip, and a breeze whips over my face and through my mane. This might not be the wild ride that Rainbow Dash gave me, but it's still a wonderful feeling. It's all the joy of flight, but none of the satisfaction of doing it myself. I...

Suddenly, the flight isn't nearly as pleasant. My eyes mist up and I fell sick inside. I-I just... Even a smooth, boring flight like this is far beyond what I can do. I don't have the heart to watch anymore. Burying my face deep in Celestia's multicolor mane, I try not to cry.

…

What?

A clack of metal against stone jars me to my senses. I rub at my eyes. When did I fall asleep?

“We're here. What do you think?”

Well, nothing yet. All I can see is the back of your neck. Just let me twist around, huh, this place is sparkly, and—a roaring, um... Is that a liquid rainbow colorfall? What are we doing behind it?

I let go and hop down, consciously keeping my wings still. The impact jars my bones and I wobble awkwardly. Wincing, pain flairs up again. Still or not, my wings got shaken anyway. Why does Celestia have to be so tall?

She watches me with a concerned eye, frowning at my antics. “Are you okay? Are you hurt somewhere?”

“Huh, no I'm...” What am I saying? No, I'm not fine. I'm far from fine. My wings might heal, but I'm hurt inside with a pain that will never go away. I just can't bring myself to say that. Instead, I open my eyes and look around. “Whoa, what is this place?”

We're in the most colorful cavern that I've ever seen! Stalactites and stalagmites of all hues of the rainbow line the ceiling and floor. Curiously, I examine a large, red one. I'm so close that my breath fogs the gleaming, crystalline surface. It's slightly translucent and there appears to be a core of gray rock under the thick veneer of sparkling color. A distorted reflection of myself looks back at me. Along the walls, colorful floes of all hues creep down the gray bedrock. A small rainbow stream trickles and swirls along the edge of the cavern and dribbles out the entrance, which is cut off from the rest of the world by the steady roar of the backside of the rainbow colorfall. Filtering through the pouring rainbow, refracted sunlight makes the whole room dance with even more color.

“Do you like it? We're in a small cavern behind the largest colorfall in Rainbow Falls. The river that used to feed this place was diverted to the reservoir long ago. Ever since the rainbow falls were added, color has slowly been seeping in and transforming the place into what you see now.”

“It's amazing! I wish my friends could see this.”

Celestia smiles, but she also looks apologetic. “I'm glad that you're thinking of them, but I'm afraid that's not possible. Scootaloo, I brought you here because this is the most isolated place that I know of. The only way to get here requires coming through the colorfall itself, and to do that you'd need to both fly and know a good shield spell. The roar of the rainbow river will also stymie any potential eavesdroppers. You can speak frankly and without worry here. What is it that you wished to speak of?”

How can she bring me to a place like this and expect to talk? It's just so beautiful! I could stand here and stare at this all day. Gah! What am I thinking? She always does stuff like this; she always distracts me when my questions get too prickly for her. Well, the beauty here is superficial, but the pain in my heart is real. If she brought me here to speak frankly, than I'm going to do just that.

“Mom...” My voice trails off as I look up into the sunny eyes of Celestia. It's true; she is my mother. It's just sounds so awkward to say it, especially since I have to keep it secret. I know she said that we're safe here, but I still feel guilty. That's... not how I should feel about calling her my mother. Regardless, she has the answers I want, and I just don't know what I'll do if—if she actually answers. A dread weight holds my tongue. There's got to be a reason she hasn't answered yet; it could be dreadful! I... also can't go on without without them. I have to know!

“Mom, why can't I fly? Why are my wings so tiny? Are they ever going to grow out? Why do I have to keep everything secret? Who's my father? Am I ever going to meet him?”

“Oh, Scootaloo, daughter.” Celestia sniffles. “I'm so sorry about all of this, but...” Her voice trails off. Turning away, she watches as the colors pour down.

I waited with apprehension, curling my tail around my legs to keep them warm. The way she seems to sigh makes my heart sink. I already know what she's going to say before she even speaks.

“Scootaloo, you just have to trust me on these things, but I have my reasons. I'll tell you when you're older. I promise, okay?”

No! No more waiting! I'm not going to stand for it! If she's not going to tell me now, then I never want to hear it from her ever! “Mo-er, Princess Celestia, how much longer is this going to take? Five years? Ten? Twenty? You know, I've spent so long keeping everything secret that that I don't even think of you as my mother anymore.”

“You... don't?” Her eyes widen in shock, and she stares at me is if I'm a stranger. Good, now she knows what it feels like too. “Wait, how old are you now?”

Of all the—! “I'm ten. You should know that.”

She nods slowly, a white silhouette against the roaring rainbow. “Yes, you're growing up so quickly...”

“Are you ever going to answer my questions? Because I really want to know, and–”

“Yes.”

“–even though you always, always, always say 'no', I really think that I'm old enough this time and—wait, you are?”

“I am. This charade has always been one of my biggest regrets. Scootaloo, as of today you no longer have to keep things secret if you don't want to.”

“I don't?” What? No more secrecy? Just like that? It's been... I just...

I've never liked it, but I never thought I'd end. Not like this—but by some mistake. I've lived afraid of screwing up but—what am I worried about? I should feel happy but this just seems empty somehow. Celestia smiles at me, and I smile back. Perhaps this won't be so bad, after all. No more beating around the bush! My friends will sure flip out when they hear the truth!

“No, you don't.” Celestia looks as if she's thrown off a great weight, but her eyes are misty and her smile weakens. “But perhaps it would be best if I explained my reasoning for it in the first place.”

Now that she mentions it... “Didn't you tell me once that you didn't want me to be the child of the Equestrian court? That the nobles would pamper and spoil me in hopes of political favor and that I'd always have to worry about the motives of those who claimed to be my friends?”

“Yes. I did say that when I sent you off to live in Ponyville. I'm surprised you remembered. You were so young...” Celestia takes a deep breath. “That was just an excuse. Even in Canterlot, nopony would have bothered you with your origin hidden, but that was my problem. I wanted to keep you close, of course, but it would have been difficult to keep our secret with you there. If somepony with loose lips discovered us...”

Celestia sighs and shakes her head. “You were too young to be the center of a scandal, so I sent you off.”

“A scandal?” Uh oh, her eyes are full of... regret? I rub my foreleg with my other hoof. “What's so scandalous about me?”

“Well, not you so much as your father.”

“My father?” This is new, and not in a good way. Celestia has never spoken about him before. I'd welcome the change if it weren't for the way her shoulders slump. There's a heavy burden there. Sparkling colors dance around the room, but I can't take my eyes off of her.

“Yes. It's time that you learn of your heritage, though I think it will be easier if I show you what happened.” She frowns and waves a large white wing to encompass the room. “I know it's beautiful here, but would you mind another change in scenery?”

“I guess not, but it's not too distracting, if that's what you mean. Wait, didn't we come here for the secrecy?”

“Yes, but I have access to magic on another plane of existence which can lay bare the past. Come here, my little pony.”

“Okay...” I take a few steps forward ans she grabs me in a giant hug. She's so huge that it's absolutely smothering. Wincing, I clench my teeth as she rocks and hums. I'm not a little foal anymore! This is super-embarrassing. What's even the point of this? Does she expect me to pass out from the scent of her sunflower nectar and rose honey body wash or something? Her humming grows and the music sounds familiar. Is that Canterlot's anthem? Huh, I didn't know that was also a lullaby. Without the trumpets it sounds serene.

“Close your eyes and imagine the stars. The night sky is perfectly clear on a crisp, cool day. There is no moon and it stretches forever in all directions...” Celestia's voice is barely a whisper. It gets fainter as she speaks, and the starry mental image grows, taking over my mind and becoming as clear as a crisp night sky.

….

Celestia's voice stops. What happened? Where am I?

I'm standing inside the night sky itself. A vast, starry expanse stretches out in all directions, even down! I'm translucent, like a ghost. What's going on? Where is everyone? Where is anything? I might be a pegasus, and we like wide open spaces, but this is too much, especially with my ghostliness. My heart races and I shrink down, huddling against the only semblance of solidity here—a milky path of stars that I seem to be standing on. I wish I knew what was going on.

Stars of the Past

“Princess Celestia, are you there?” The unending emptiness of the starry void swallows my voice without even the barest hint of an echo. I'm so nervous that I could bolt, but there isn't any place to bolt to.

“Calm yourself, I am here.”

What? How did she appear so suddenly? I blink and, whoa, translucent eyelids are very unnerving. Unlike myself, she's crisp, real, and has a solidity that seems to defy reality. It's almost as if this universe is a ghost compared to her, just an extension of her sparkling, wavy mane. She looks absolutely divine in this heavenly wasteland.

I run over and huddle at her side, and I'd rather not admit it, but her warmth extends beyond mere temperature. Being in her presence is comforting, as it keeps this the vastness of the universe attempting to swallow me into oblivion at bay. “What is this place? Why is it so empty? Why am I transparent?”

“Scootaloo, this place is known as the Halls of Ascension, and it is less empty than you think.” Celestia points a gold-clad hoof down the milky path before us. Dozens of floating images open up from invisible slits and hover in the air. I... I'm at a bit of loss as to how to describe it. It's like she poured out my mind and made a living slideshow from my memories. But... I don't remember that.

“Wha–?” Running up to one, I can't help but drop my jaw as my baby self spills her bowl of greenish glop on the floor. Celestia motions again and the images fade away.

“This is the place where ponies come when they are ready to become a princess. Here, they reflect upon the vast accomplishments in their lives.”

Princess? Well, this is sudden. “You think I'm ready to be a princess?”

Celestia giggles. Her creamy mane covers one eye, and with a hoof over her mouth it looks as if she's whispering a secret to herself. “Only if you can find your own way here in the flesh. All I can do is bring you here in spirit.”

“Oh.” I look down, and through, myself. So this is some sort of dream state? I guess that explains why I'm hollow, but it's still disappointing. Turning into a princess would have been awesome! Hmm, I suppose I can ask. “Do you think that I could become one someday?”

“That is for time to tell. Nopony who makes it here ever sets out to become one. That, and I think that the answer will become clearer once your destiny is known.” Celestia points at my blank flank. Yeesh, way to rub it in, why don't you?

I frown. Of all the things I'd asked about, how could I forget to ask about my cutie mark too?

Celestia has a knowing look in her eyes. “I'm sorry, but there are some things that you need to discover on your own. What your cutie mark is going to be is one of those things.”

“Aw.” Wow, she's really piling on the disappointments, and I didn't even ask for that one. Well, obsessing about the cutie mark is more of Apple Bloom's thing, anyway. I'm going to keep pressing about my useless wings until I learn the real truth. “So what can you show me? Does my father have something to do with why I can't fly?”

“There's no reason for you to blame him for that.” Reaching in the air, Celestia pauses. “Before I reveal him, can I ask what you expect to see?”

Probably a loser, I think, darkly, but I can't say that, not to mom. “Uh, well, I guess I hadn't really thought about it. Maybe tiny wings, like Bulk Biceps, and, uh, orange I guess? Why do you ask?” Did I just think of her as mom? Why did I do that? Is it because we're talking about dad? Gah! It's just so weird!

“Well, I don't want to disappoint you. He isn't some sort of secret agent who got sent off on a spy mission or some foreign dignitary from a far-off and exotic land.”

“Oh, that kind of thing. Wait—if he isn't one of those then what else can he be?”

Celestia's examining me, but her eyes aren't betraying any emotion that I can read. She turns and opens one of those floating windows. This one shows a picture of herself. In the image, she's standing alone on her royal balcony before the sky. Her horn's alit with a soft glow and the sun gently sinks beneath the horizon by her command. The sky responds with brilliant golds, bright oranges, and deep reds, but her past self doesn't smile. Her gaze is empty and she stands there impassive.

“Why are you showing me this? Don't you do that every day?” I ask.

“Patience. I want you to see this night as I remember it.”

It's weird seeing Celestia stand next to a vision of her past self, as they both look identical. Her past version brings her head down, horn still glowing. When she lifts it again, the moon comes with it, and its motion follows her gaze in the sky. Huh? “The moon? Why are you raising the moon?”

“Luna's only been back for two years. This was nearly eleven years ago.”

“Oh, right. I forgot you used to do that too.”

“Shh.” Celestia taps a hoof to her lips as her past self begins to speak.

“Just nine more years... It's hard to believe that you've been gone for so long.” The past Celestia sighs. “I'm so very lonely without you, sister, but you're still not yourself, are you? The elements don't respond to me any more. I keep trying, but... I'm afraid they've moved on. They might have faded away over the years and now we're defenseless. I don't know what to do; I just don't. Everypony looks to me for answers, but who do I have? Sometimes, I wish I had somepony to hold me, to tell me—huh?” White ears perk up and swivel towards the open hallway behind her. “Who could that be?”

“Who were you talking to?” I ask.

“Myself mostly, but I was also talking to the moon.” She shushes me, and points at the scene still playing out.

“I thought I asked not to be disturbed at this hour.” Past Celestia confronts a pair of white unicorn guards.

“We're sorry, Princess, but there was a disturbance and the captain asked us to heighten security.” They respectfully bow in her presence, but glance at each other and share a grin, an action that caused past Celestia to raise an eyebrow. They take posts on either side of the portcullis.

Hmm, I guess it would make sense if a guardpony were my father, as they spend a lot of time close to my mother, but this situation makes me uneasy. Those two are planning something. I'm looking at them, but I don't see any resemblance. “Is one of them my father?”

“No, but he's coming soon. You'll know him when you see him.”

Past Celestia opens her mouth as if to comment, but like me, she's distracted by another disturbance down the hall. That has to be my father, yet... I can't even see him and already know there's something's seriously wrong with him. There's no rhythm or purpose to his motion and half his hoofsteps sound like they're scuffing on the floor. For a short walk, it feels like an eternity before he finally steps into view. He has an orange coat, like me, and his mane style's similar to mine, just electric blue instead of violet. He's also dressed in royal armor that doesn't fit very well, with green star on the front marks him as fresh recruit.

I... I can hardy bear to watch as he bangs against the wall and wobbles like some sort of gelatin cake. That's my father!? I'm seriously embarrassed for him, and I want to look away, but I can't tear my eyes off of him. It's a morbid curiosity on my part; if I blink, I might miss seeing him do something even lamer. Oddly, the other guards don't make any move to stop him and let him shamble out on the balcony.

“Sshpth,” he shakes his head and puffs out his chest. Nnngh. He sounds so retarded! He tries to extend his wings, but he isn't paying any attention whatsoever and slaps one against the railing. No surprise, he falls over. “You's pwetty hawt. I likes yer eyes.”

Gah! I know that mom just wants me to watch but this is too stupid! “What the hay is that?! He's an abomination! He can't even walk straight and he can barely speak.” Why would she even—? Off all the awful things in this world—if he really is my father than that means...! “No wonder I'm such a cripple; he's a retard! Or, or, a zompony! Or a retarded zompony!”

Celestia gives me an odd look, like one who isn't sure if she should laugh or frown. “Scootaloo, there's noting wrong with him, nor with you for that matter. I guess you've never seen anypony get drunk before, have you?”

Huh? How can that be normal? I've seen how Rainbow Dash acts around cider, and it's definitely not like that! “Doesn't that just make you loud?”

Celestia rubs a hoof against her chin, eyeing me suspiciously. Great. I hope she doesn't think that I was the one drinking. “In moderation it can, but if one drinks too much, motions become impeded which includes the ability to speak.”

“Why would anypony ever want to drink that much?” I ask.

“That is a good question, but it's one that far too many ponies find an answer for. Scootaloo, have you ever heard of hazing?”

Hazing? That sounds weather-like. Does that have something to do with fog? I scrunch up my face in thought, but my transparency is too distracting. Am I starting to fade? That's a disturbing thought. Celestia's looking at me expectantly. I frown and shake my head.

“Hazing is something that's long been discouraged, but still pops up every now and then. Generally, it's when a group of ponies initiate a new member into their ranks by forcing them to perform a dangerous or humiliating act. In this case, those senior guards had forced this new recruit to get drunk and dared him to proposition me.”

Not cool. “It sounds like an extreme prank.”

“Yes, you could say that. Don't think that it's harmless, though, as such an act can have permanent consequences.” Celestia reaches out and touches my nose.

“Uh...” She's talking about me? As if I'm some sort of mistake? Didn't she want me? No, if she had, she wouldn't have sent me away. Ouch, she might as well have gone ahead and stabbed me in the heart with her horn. It would have hurt less.

“Don't worry, they were properly disciplined afterward.” Her attention's turned back to the frozen image, giving me time to sniffle quietly and rub my eyes. I have my friends back home who love me. I don't need her. She's never really been my mother, and the sooner we can get this over with and part ways the better.

I'm of half a mind just to leave, but there's nowhere to go and I am still curious. Dad... he might be a loser, but he's my loser. I'm going to see this though for his sake.

Celestia's past self furrows her brow in a flash of anger. The other guards snicker, but try to hide it, poorly. Past Celestia's eyebrow rises a sliver, and she pauses. Wow, did she figure everything out just from that? A sly grin works its way onto her face. Instead of reprimanding them, she's playing along?

“You've a fine set of orbs of vision yourself.” Past Celestia reaches down and helps the orange pony back onto his hooves.

“Ora-visiash vi-shnth wha?”

“I can clearly see that you're a stallion of many fine words. I bet that you play a mean game of chess too.”

“Hey, thatsh riwht. I won a gabe onsh, but I had to mobe my wook whend da odder pony washn't looking.”

His words are so garbled that I barely make out half of what he's saying. I know Celestia said this was temporary, but I have to wince whenever he opens his mouth. It's just so embarrassing. “What is he saying?” I ask.

Celestia pauses the image. “He just bragged about cheating at chess.”

“What? Why would he do that?”

Shrugging, she says, “Alcohol addles the mind, but it can also make ponies more honest, after a fashion. They tend to lose their inhibitions, so he had no reason to question if I'd approve of his actions.”

I still didn't get it, but she seems to know what she's talking about.

The image resumes again and the other guards snicker again. Past Celestia gives a slight nod, as if confirming her suspicion. She turns back to my father.

“I really likes yer eyes,” he repeats. “I'd wuv to put dem in my shky.”

“You... what?” Past Celestia blinks. She gives my father her complete attention. I bury my face in my hooves. This is just too dumb to watch, but I guess I have no choice, as I can see through my hooves.

“Shtars to hold da moon, and set you fwee as fwiendsh.”

“Interesting.” Past Celestia's expression softens. She turns away from him and looks at the moon. Her eyes sparkles and a warm smile graces her face, and this is just so sappy that I could gag. How can she understand him?

“What kind of gibberish was that?” I ask.

“I think, perhaps, that he'd been trying to recite the words of some romantic poem he once heard, but he obviously garbled them.” Celestia smiles at her past self. At least she's enjoying it. “Because of them, I had a bit of a revelation about the prophecy concerning the return of Nightmare Moon. There was always one part that confused me. When I used the elements to banish Nightmare Moon, they also drained her alicorn power and gave it to me. While I've never been able to enter dreams, I did have complete dominion over the sky. On the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars would aid in Nightmare Moon's escape, but who else but me controlled the stars?”

“What was your reva-reva-whatever?” That's a mouthful.

“Revelation. Who else but me controlled the stars?” She looks at me with a very somber expression. It looks like a mix of defeat and regret, like she's wrestling with a terrible guilt.

“You mean...?”

Celestia nods. “Yes. When the time came, I was the one who set Nightmare Moon free. But rest assured that I already had a plan set in motion to deal with her. I was certain that Twilight could do it, but she needed a real crisis on her hooves to form the bonds of friendship needed to restore the Elements of Harmony.”

“Uh...” Wow, I never would have expected that. Hadn't Twilight said that there was no plan other than a vague request to 'make some friends'? Celestia risked all of Equestria on what amounted to a whim? Sure, it worked, but...

Well, I can see the pain in her eyes. Part of me wants to scream at her for what she did, but another part takes guilty pleasure in this. She doesn't look at me with that kind of guilt, so while I may have been an accident, at least she doesn't regret me. That's because she doesn't really know me, a dark part of my mind chimes in. Once she realizes how damaged I am...

Once again, the image of a giant chicken squawking down at me fills my mind. Gah! What a stupid dream. Why does it keep haunting me? I hate it, hate it, hate it!

“Oh, oh my. Listen to me ramble on. I'm sorry I got off topic. Let's skip ahead to speed things up.”

I'm going to try my best to forget about that and focus on dad. I have an uneasy feeling that this might be the only time that I get to see him. The image shifts into a blur, but even that doesn't help him any. His high-speed lurching antics are still lame. I'm disappointed. Dad just isn't a cool a pony. He's young, acting stupid, and the lowest rank possible in the military. Basically, he's a nopony. He's a nopony that Celestia opted to protect at my expense. It's not like I would have cared about a scandal back then. I was just a baby!

This doesn't make sense! Why would she do that? What's so special about him? I need to know more!

“Mom, who is he? What's him name?”

“Oh, it's... Hmm...” Her voice trails off and my heart sinks.

“You never even asked for his name!?”

“I did, but somehow I don't think 'Love Prince Sail-arr of the Moon' is the name he normally uses.” There's a weariness on her face, but it's like a sheen compared to the emptiness in my heart.

“Why would you not ask for it later? I mean, when he wasn't drunk?” I ask angrily. Well, I didn't mean to sound angry, but I did. Oh who am I kidding? I have every right to be angry. Everything—everything—that's happened thus far has been extremely uncool.

“He was too drunk to remember what happened that night, and I didn't want to jog his memory by approaching him the next morning. By the time I noticed there was something... different about myself, he'd already been reassigned.” Celestia sighs and closes her eyes.

“What? You don't even know where he is?” Gah! I might not like my father here, but I don't really know him. I'd like to at least meet him someday but now that's not even going to be possible? How could she be so callous with my life? Didn't she think that I'd care?

Staring at my frown, she eventually says, “There's a pony who matches his description currently working as a guard in the Crystal Empire.”

“But there are hundreds of guards in the Crystal Empire! I'll never find him!”

“Scootaloo, how many orange guard ponies have you seen?”

“Uhh...” Now that she mentions it, they're mostly crystal. Hmm...

“I don't know why, but only white and gray ponies ever sign up for the guard. An orange pony in uniform is a real oddity.”

“Great. He's a freak like me,” I groan.

“Scootaloo, of all things, the colors of one's coat doesn't make somepony a 'freak'.”

“Even if he's jet black with a blood red mane?”

“Correction: The colors of one's coat usually don't make somepony a freak. He'd be ordinary enough outside the military. Perhaps he joined because he wanted to stand out. There's nothing wrong with that.” Celestia has that soft, yet firm expression that Cheerilee gets when she's assigning detention. Great, the one time Celestia acts like a real parent is to admonish me.

I shrug. “Whatever. I still don't see why you'd want to hide everything to protect him. He's nothing special, so why bother?”

“Why don't we let the scene finish playing out before I answer that?” She points at the image floating in the starry void and it springs into motion. The scene hasn't changed much aside from a few ponies shifting position. Past Celestia now has her back to the portcullis where the other guards are and dad's leaning over the railing. He's saying something, but I still can't understand that incomprehensible babbling. I'd rather not hear it all given how rancid his voice sounds.

Past Celestia averts her gaze and looks directly at the moon. When she does, the unicorn guards levitate a bottle over to the orange pony. He grabs it and pops the cork with his teeth, getting past Celestia's attention. Wow, he's still nimble when he needs to be, though I can't help be feel ill about the thought of the contents of that bottle.

“Is that more alcohol?” I ask. “Hadn't he had enough already?”

“Yes, and I suppose those guards expected me to believe that he'd brought it with him, too. I already said they were going to be punished. With that stunt, they just made things worse for themselves.”

Past Celestia yanks the bottle from his hooves and sniffs it. “This is really strong. Where did you get it?”

He feebly waves his hooves in the air trying to reach the bottle. Attempting to spread his wings, all he manages is to flop them around. He looks really, really pathetic. “Hey, datsh mine. It wash a gifbt frob da booze ghoshts.”

“From the booze ghosts? Really?” Past Celestia is unimpressed.

“Yesh, it'sh haunted. It flew through da air wisth a glow from beyond.”

A familiar noise grates at my ears. Ugh. Do those shameless guards do anything but snicker? Don't they know that past Celestia's watching their reflection on the bottle? Her eyes narrow, but she keeps her attention on my father. “Really?”

“Itsh shpecial. If ya drinksh it fasht enouf, you can make a wish on your refleshion in da bottom.”

“Drink it?” She sniffs it again. “Oh, why not?” Past Celestia pops the bottle in her mouth and guzzles the whole thing in a few gulps. Why am I watching this? Isn't she supposed to be setting a good example? Her past self's eyes pop open and her pupils shrink. Her cheeks flush and she catches herself looking into the eyes of the stallion she'd taken the bottle from. “Wow, that really was strong.” The bottle drops and bounces up through the balcony's railing and disappears over the edge of Canterlot into the night. “I wish I hadn't just drunk that.” You can say that again. I wish I hadn't just watched you drink that. I already knew that dad was a loser, but this time I cringed from mom's antics. Were both of my parents excessively stupid that night?

“What? No! You can't wish for dat. Are you trying to make da shpirits angry?”

Past Celestia's breathing turns shallow and rapid. She reaches for him and pauses. Closing her eyes, she steadies herself and takes deep breaths. That's an odd reaction.

“Mom, what's wrong? You look–” How can I describe it? “–huffy?”

“That wasn't just a bottle of wine, Scootaloo. It was also spiked with an aphrodisiac.”

A what now? “What's that?”

“It's like a mild love potion.” She gives me a piecing stare and I feel a chill. Great, Twilight must have written to her about that mess I helped cause on Hearts and Hooves Day. Speaking of messes...

“Is that why you and dad–?”

“Perhaps it helped some, but it wasn't strong enough to override my rational thoughts. It did make me really angry, though—not at your father, of course, but at the others. If anything, my time with your father was in spite of that wine and not because of it.”

Past Celestia positiones herself between dad and the other guards. The image flickers strangely, and she steps to the side, spreading a wing as she does do. The orange pony gets caught in her feathers and winds up pathetically pinned against the balcony railing. He makes muffled protests.

Pointing at the empty floor, past Celestia says, “Now that's a shame. It looks like he finally passed out. And we were having such a wonderfully intellectual conversation. Oh, well. Would you two please escort him back to the barracks?” What the hay? The other guards nod and drape empty air over their shoulders!

“What's going on? What are they doing?” I scratched my head.

Celestia pauses the image. She put a hoof on my ghostly shoulder and looks into my eyes. “The images here in the Halls of Reflection show only the barest of truths. The illusion I created to distract the other guards existed only in their own minds. That is why you cannot see it here.”

It's a magic thing, huh. I guess that makes sense. I'd rather not stare into Celestia's eyes so I focus my attention on the picture instead.

“Oh, and one more thing–” Past Celestia pauses and those awful unicorn guards turn to look at her “–I want to see the both of you in the guard house at the crack of dawn tomorrow. Do not be late or there will be severe consequences.” They gulp and hurry off.

The image freezes again and Celestia sighs. “Originally, I was just going to give them a stern talking to, but after that last stunt I felt perfectly justified in dressing them down and kicking them out when they showed up late the next morning.”

“What? Why would they show up late after a dire warning like that?” I ask.

“Because I raised the sun an hour early.” Celestia starts the image again. Well... okay, that was kinda cool.

Once they were alone, past Celestia releases him from her wing-pin and pulls him around to kiss him on the lips. Ew, yuck! He's surprised, but has a stupid grin on his face when she finishes. This is so gross! She magically grabs his green star and practically drags him by his gorget after her down the hall.

Past Celestia opens a large wooden door emblazed with a stylized sun and grins. “My bedroom's here. Why don't you come on in, Sail-arr? I'm ready to 'walk that plank' of yours,” she purrs.

The image abruptly vanishes. I blink. “Hey. Why'd you stop it now? What happened next?”

“Scootaloo, I think you know what happened next.”

“No I don't, or I wouldn't be asking.”

Celestia stands tall, staring down at me with a flat look on her face. Did I do something wrong? Sure, it was gross but...

Finally, Celestia asks, “Scootaloo, what do you know about reproduction?”

Oh, that. “You mean that thing where he takes his thing and does that thing to your thing?”

“Yes, that, exactly.” Celestia nods. She looks relieved that she doesn't have to explain it. To be frank, I'm super-glad that I won't be hearing about it again. Ick!

I stick out my tongue and wince. “Eww, gross.”

“Hmm, I guess, but you won't always think so.”

“Mo-om. Can we please not talk about that?” I shudder.

“Of course.” Celestia bends down to kiss Scootaloo me on the forehead. I gag. All I can think of is that vision of her snogging my father. “But we still need to talk about him. Hmm...” She pauses. “Scootaloo, are you feeling okay? You're looking quite transparent.”

“I am?” I hold both hooves in front of me and looked through them. They hardly even tint the starry void beyond. “Whoa, I guess I am. Uh, I feel a bit...” Light? Faint? Hollow? Nothing? “I don't really feel anything.”

“I was afraid of that. Your inner light is fading.”

“It's what?” That doesn't sound good. I pat myself; I still feel solid, but it's like patting a tree. There's no me in there.

Celestia puts a hoof on my shoulder, touching my form gently. “It's one of the dangers of this place, but don't worry, it's nothing serious. I am going to have to send you back to recover, though. I have some shopping to do and I'll join you again shortly.”

Celestia's horn flickers and wraps me in her glow. Idly, I note that her magic's more solid and real than I am.

….

Suddenly, my raw awareness is back in the rainbow cavern. A green stalagmite sparkles and reflects eyes—eyes that looked like they belong to a pony. Something shifts and the perspective changes. There's a sensation of pushing against something solid, but that can't be right. I'm just a single point of awareness.

Mother and Daughter

Beneath the speck of awareness that's me are orange limbs and hooves that looked like they belong to a pony. One lifts, seemingly by my command. It's a leg, a foreleg to be precise. It's connected to a body, and on that body are some tiny wings. They open up and–

“Aah!” Everything comes into focus with a sharp pang of searing pain. “Ow, ow, ow.” Stinging like needles, my poor limbs throb. I curl up, and the pain brings me tears. Finally, after an eternity of agony, it subsides on its own.

“That-ugh! Of all the things to fall asleep while I was, uh, out?” I shake my head. “Man, I've heard of out-of-body experiences, but I didn't know it was possible to have one while I was still inside of it.”

Now that I've been reclaimed by my own flesh, it's wasting no time reminding me of its needs. My stomach gurgles and my throat is dry. Oh bother, I don't want to worry about food! I'd rather think about my father, but I can't concentrate when I'm starving and parched.

{///}

Scootaloo groaned and looked around the cave again. The stalactites dripped with their own colors, which dribbled down on the matching stalagmites and pooled into a swirling rainbow stream. It was pretty, but it was wasn't water, nor was it even edible. She frowned a took a closer look at one of the rainbow floes on the wall.

All of the rainbow colors formed a veneer on top of the original gray rock formations that had been carved by real water. If she could find a place that was still dull and gray, she could probably quench her thirst. There wasn't a place like that in the entrance room, but a small passage further back looked promising.

Tentatively, Scootaloo climbed inside of it. It wasn't a tight fit for a small pony like her, but no pegasus enjoyed being in cramped spaces. Beyond the hole, the cave opened up again, but it was too dark to see much. She tried waiting for her eyes to adjust, but eventually gave up and followed her ears listening for running water.

The first pool she came to she couldn't see. She dipped her hoof in it and held that up to what little light there was. Her hoof came out yellow. Nope, not water. She tried again with a different pool and wound up with a green hoof. She wondered if she should try to drink the stuff anyway. Rainbows weren't that toxic, were they? She frowned. She'd rather not chance it.

Her third attempt, she held up an orange hoof. Scootaloo groaned. It was dark and she was fumbling around and it was probably hopeless anyway. Wait—orange? She held up her other hoof that she hadn't dipped and they both looked the same. Duh! Orange was her natural color. Scootaloo still sniffed at the dark pool that she couldn't quite see. It didn't have any odor. Slowly, she extended her tongue. It tasted metallic, but it was definitely water. She must have found a spring that hadn't been contaminated.

Happily, she slurped up what she could to assuage her thirst, quickly draining the small pool. She sniffed around for more.

“Sorry for taking so long, but I had trouble at the market. I had to make certain that they were of the best quality and—Scootaloo? Where are you? Scootaloo!”

“Mom, I'm back here!” Scootaloo abandoned her search for water and ran back towards the light. That turned out to be a bad idea, because she tripped over something in the darkness and went tumbling. Rolling out of the opening and back into the cavern's gaping entrance, she flipped over and landed on her back against a sparkling, yellow stalagmite. “Aaah!”

“Scootaloo, are you okay!?” Celestia was there immediately.

Scootaloo righted herself and nodded, though she also cringed with pain. “Yeah, I'm okay. I just bumped my wing, is all. It's still sore from this morning.”

“You hurt your wing?”

“Well, yeah. I was trying to fly and pushed them too hard. My left one seized up and that was the end of that.”

“Oh no, you poor little thing.” Celestia pulled her close to pick her up and hold her. “Why didn't you tell me sooner?” {Another hug? Unwarranted? If I alter Scoot's characterization in the previous chapter, she may need to push away here.}

“Huh? It's nothing. I mean, Fluttershy already fixed it.” Scootaloo sighed. “It's just too bad she couldn't make it work right while she was at it.”

“Don't say things like that. It works just fine for who you are.” Scootaloo groaned as Celestia poked at the injury with her magic. “What happened to it? I see a bruise, but only at the base.”

“She said it got dislocated. It kind of stuck out at an odd angle.”

“Dislocated? That can be a serious injury if its not treated right. You've got to stay off that wing until it heals.” Celestia pulled out a roll of bandages. “Now hold still.”

“Mom, what are you doing?” Scootaloo was held tight as her mother wrapped her up. She couldn't have moved if she'd tried. Eventually, the filly was released and she was now adorned with one fresh splint. “Is this really necessary? I mean, it's already starting to feel better. It only really hurt when I bumped it.”

“You shouldn't be bumping it. This will keep it safe until you can recover. You should keep off it a few days.”

“Days? But mom, it's not broken.” Scootaloo looked up with wide puppy-dog eyes.

“Dear, I know you're eager to run about and be wild, but if you hurt your wing again before it has a chance to heal, you could do some permanent damage.”

“Aw, okay.” Scootaloo drooped her head. The only thing more potent than puppy dog eyes was overprotective mothers.

“Cheer up, Scootaloo. I brought you a gift.” With her horn aglow, she floated over a bouquet consisting mostly of yellow tulips. There were also white daisies, purple bell flowers, onion grass, and something red with a lot of long, thin petals that Scootaloo couldn't identify. “I'm sorry that I've been mostly absent from your life. I know it's been hard and flowers can't make up for it but–”

Scootaloo snatched the bouquet out of the air. “Yay, lunch!” The flowers were just as tasty as they smelled, full of nectar and natural floral spices.

Celestia's eyes popped open. Briefly, she looked horrified as the overly-expensive floral arrangement was gobbled up. Then she lost her composure and fell over laughing.

Finishing up, Scootaloo wiped petals off her cheeks. “Huh, what's so funny?”

With one last chortle, Celestia straightened herself back up. She peered into Scootaloo's eyes. “Oh, It's nothing. You've just reminded me of how much I've missed having a child in my life. That's all.” {That sounds like something. /facehoof}

“If you missed me so much, then why did you keep everything secret? I mean...” Scootaloo frowned. Was this really all about keeping up appearances? Was Celestia's image really more important to her than her own daughter?

Celestia sighed and twirled a hoof in the colored stream. Rainbow eddies curled around it. “If only I wasn't such a tightly scrutinized public figure...” She turned away to stare at the roaring colorfall which concealed the entrance of the cavern. After a moment of silence, she turned back to her daughter. “Scootaloo, you saw what happened in my past. My reasoning might not be the best, but I was ashamed of what I'd done.”

Scootaloo didn't answer. She turned away and watched the color drip from a green stalactite. No. You're ashamed of me. You just can't bring yourself to say it. Celestia stepped closer. The sound she made wasn't the clack of keratin, but the ring of metal. Even the way she walked was beautiful and serene, but it was all a facade, one that held a terrible secret: Scootaloo. {revised the last three paragraphs to add this angst. Too early? Dunno, perhaps fiddle with this more}

“Dear, you don't have to be upset. It's not you I'm ashamed of, just myself. On the night of your conception, your father wasn't in a sound state of mind. He was in no condition to give proper consent. To my regret, I took advantage of him.”

Scootaloo twisted and glared. How can you say that you're not ashamed of me, then admit that you regret having me! She wanted to voice those words, but held her tongue. If she spoke, she'd be sure to burst into tears. Scootaloo was stronger than that.

Celestia frowned at Scootaloo's reaction, but turned away. More to herself than her daughter, she added, “Yes, it was wrong of me. That kind of thing is very frowned upon–”

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{PLACEHOLDER FOR BREAK TIME}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}} {Le sigh. This line of revision is requiring a rewrite of this scene. I'll stop for now then return after checking ahead. The goal here will be to reach a reconciliation of some sort, but the venom in Scootaloo's reasoning needs to persist at least partly if it's going to come up later.}

“Wait, so you didn't want to get in trouble?”

“Hmm, partly, but you have to understand that because of who I am, and what I do, when I'm the one who does something wrong, it sets a very bad example for everypony else. Plus there are always ponies who'd refuse to believe that I'd be capable of any wrongdoing. In their minds, they'd blame your father, not me.”

“Huh? But didn't you say it wasn't his fault?” Scootaloo frowned. She fidgeted with the wrapper her bouquet came in and chewed on a piece of onion grass she'd missed.

“Yes. He was the real victim, and by revealing what had happened, he'd become even more of one. It was better for his sake to avoid the whole scandal and keep things secret.”

“Oh.” Scootaloo met her mother's gaze. She still had that frown on her face and drooped her eyelids a bit. “I mean, I like existing and all, but if it was going to be that much trouble, then why would you even do it in the first place?”

“Now that is a harder question to answer because it involves feelings that you won't understand until your older–” Scootaloo opened her mouth to complain, but Celestia shushed her “–but I will say this: back then, I thew away my better judgment because I expected him to forget what had happened, it'd be easy to hide, and I didn't expect to get pregnant.”

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. “What? Why didn't you expect that? Isn't the whole point of the, ugh, thing with the things to...” She stuck out her tongue and shuddered.

“Dear, when, um, 'they' talked to you about reproduction, they must have mentioned a few other things aside from how it happens?”

“It was Cheerilee, and yes, she did say a few other things.”

Celestia nodded. “Did she say anything about the consequences of waiting too long before trying to have a foal?”

“Uh, she said that the older you are, the harder it becomes to conceive, and the more like it is that you'll have complications...” Scootaloo's eyes popped open and she frowned at her bandaged wings. “Is that why I can't fly? Because you're so old?”

Celestia frowned. She probably didn't like being called 'old.' “I don't think so...” She shifted uneasily. “But you asked why I expected nothing to happen. It's because I hadn't been able to conceive in over a thousand years. I didn't think it was possible.”

“Ah.” Scootaloo's ears drooped and her head hung low. “So you didn't want me, then?”

“I didn't say that–”

Scootaloo snapped her head up. Her eyes flashed with anger. “You hardly ever visit; you kicked me out as soon as you could, and you just finished telling me what an awful inconvenience I was! What else am I supposed to believe!” {Good, I was worried that the breaking point happened later. Once I finish the earlier revision, this should pack more punch.}

“That's not what I was saying–”

“Saying? What about doing? You left left me to rot all on my own for the sake of somepony who doesn't even know that I exist!”

“You weren't alone. Pipe Down–”

“–is so old that he can hardly take care of himself, let alone me! Aaargh!” Scootaloo took aim at a blue stalagmite and bucked it as hard as she could. A sharp crack reverberated through air from the impact.

Silence fell and the only sound was the steady roar of the colorfall outside. The glassy, colored veneer had shattered from the impact, leaving a spiderweb lattice of cracks surrounding a hole all the way down to the gray limestone base. Tinkling like glass, shards of the gem-like blue glassy coating wobbled on the floor. Scootaloo picked a piece up and rolled it in her hoof. This was such a beautiful place and she'd gone and marred it...

“Are you feeling better?” Celestia's voice was soft and calm.

Scootaloo dropped the shard and clenched her eyes shut. Her eyes stung and she couldn't stop the tears from coming out. For better or worse, the alicorn princess in front of her was her mother, yet it felt alien to think of Celestia like that. “No. You've let me grow up without you.”

Celestia stiffened. Her wide eyes misted over and she drooped her head. “My little baby.” She pulled Scootaloo close to hold the filly against her chest. Wrapping her tightly in her wings, she sniffled and nuzzled against her daughter's cheek. This was not the ruler of Equestria; this was a mother who'd lost her way.

“Mom–” Scootaloo started squirming.

“Ssh. Can you be still a moment longer?”

With a small sigh, Scootaloo closed her eyes. She supposed she should feel comforted by the loving embrace, but her heart felt uneasy. It would take more than a hug to fix what was wrong. Still, her mother obviously cared. Was she being too hard? Celestia's reasoning might be hard to swallow, but Scootaloo was just an unimportant speck. The world almost literally revolved around the Sun Princess. The hug was nice, if a bit smothering, and about ten years too late. For the moment, Scootaloo let go of her anger and allowed herself to imagine that this is what it must feel like to have a mother who had always loved her and put her first.

Within the caverning maw of colors, the two ponies laid there with the smaller one deeply entrenched in the other's embrace. A multicolor mist of sparkling droplets hung in the air by the entrance. The prismatic mist caught light that filtered in through the larger, roaring rainbow and formed multiprismatic rainbow arcs that traversed many hues. Glistening wet droplets of pure color slowly beaded up on the tips of the dangling stalactites only to drop off and splatter onto the waiting stalagmites below. A stream of vibrant rainbow colors swirled against the edge of the cavern wall. Yet in the entire cavern, the single most eye-catching droplet was a bead of perfectly clear liquid that dripped off the white mare's cheek.

Scootaloo squirmed again when Celestia tightened her grip. The pain ruined the moment. “Ouch! You're squeezing my wing.”

“Sorry.” The large alicorn loosened her grip, but didn't let go. Scootaloo squirmed again and popped free. She nearly fell over but steadied herself by grabbing a green stalagmite.

The small filly looked up into her mother's teary eyes. What was Scootaloo thinking? Her mother did love her; this life had been hard on her too. Scootaloo's outburst had been for no good reason. “I'm Sorry; I shouldn't have yelled at you. I don't know what came over me.”

Celestia took a deep breath and sighed. “You don't have to make excuses for honesty, Scootaloo. It was a heavy blow, but nothing less than I deserved.”

Scootaloo glanced back at the shattered stalagmite. She was certainly on a roll today—her wing, her mother, the scenery—was she going to break everything? Her mind wandered back to her birthday party this morning. The presents she got were because her old gear was broken. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle might be annoying at times but she didn't know what she'd do without them.

In fact, they were the brightest points in her life, far more so than Celestia. What would even happen if Scootaloo decided to tell her them the truth? Would she have to go back to live in Canterlot? She wasn't certain she could bear to part from them. And what about her father? Wouldn't that ruin him as Celestia said? It wouldn't be fair to inflict that on a pony she'd never met.

“Dear, you don't have to frown so hard. When we tell the others about this, there won't be anything stopping us from spending a lot more time together.” {Uh... where did this come from? It appears like Celestia's reading minds}

“But what if I still want to keep things secret?”

“I—what?” Celestia blinked. “But you seemed so happy when I said you didn't have to.”

“That was before I had a chance to think. I don't want to live in Canterlot. I don't want to lose my friends. I don't want to hurt–” Scootaloo paused. There was another pony she had trouble picturing as one of her parents. “–dad.”

“Who said you had to live in Canterlot?”

“But how could we 'spend more time together' if we live in different places?”

“I–” Celestia's lips trembled and tears ran down her cheeks. “Please forgive me. This is so hard for me. This is the first time we've talked like this since, well, we've never talked like this before. I've come to realize that you've been a hole in my life, an empty part that just yearns to be filled. I feel like I'm just starting to get you back, and yet, you sound l-like–” Her voice started trembling and she stopped. She took a deep breath and paused to compose herself. “–like, you want me to let you go.”

Scootaloo's heart lurched. She ran up to hug her mother's leg. “Mom, it's not like that. I—” This was hard for her, but despite the distance between them both emotionally and physically, she had to say it for both their sakes. The world didn't have to be pain. “—I love you.”

“I love you too.” Celestia returned the embrace and nuzzled her daughter's cheek. That must have been what she needed to hear because while she was still crying, she put a smile on her face.

They didn't stay wrapped together as long this time and Celestia released her daughter to look into her eyes. “I guess if you don't want to live with me, I can respect that. You grew up in Ponyville, and that place is your home now.”

Scootaloo nodded. Her real home was with her friends.

“But still, there must be something I can do for you—anything. Just name it and I'll make it yours.”

“What? Anything?” Scootaloo raised an eyebrow.

“Well, anything I reasonably can. It is your birthday, and you deserve a bit more from your mother than just an expensive lunch.”

Scootaloo frowned. The pain in her wing was little more than a dull ache now, but the pain in her heart wasn't likely to ever fade. This business about her father might be important, but she set that aside. She'd deal with those emotions later. What she wanted most of all wasn't something that any pony could give her, but, well, if such a thing was possible then the powerful alicorn in the whole world would be the one who could do it. She looked up with wide eyes and met her mother's gaze. “Mom, I want to fly.”

Scootaloo Ascendent

“Fly? But Scootaloo–”

“Mom, I want to fly! Every other pegasus filly started flying ages ago.”

“Uh, well, what do you think I can do about that?”

“I don't know...” Scootaloo scrunched her face up. There had to be something Celestia could do. Wait, what about–? “Give me wings!”

“Wings? But you already have wings.”

“Wings that work. Come on, you gave Twilight wings.” Scootaloo grinned. Even if becoming an alicorn didn't fix her wings, she could still use magic, right? Perhaps flying wouldn't be so important if she could do that.

“Ah.” Celestia narrowed her lips into a slight frown. “Scootaloo, I did no such thing. Twilight earned those wings on her own.”

“That's not the way she says it happened,” Scootaloo groaned. She flopped down and flicked away a broken shard of glassy blue.

“It would have happened regardless of whether or not I'd shown up to guide her.” Celestia's frown deepened. “But Scootaloo, why do you keep saying that you can't fly?”

“Mom! Were you not listening? Aargh!” Scootaloo got up and smacked her head against the wall. Celestia winced. “I hurt my wing this morning because I was trying to fly. I almost made it but I pushed them too hard and-and...” She kept her face pressed against the wall, trying to stifle the tears in her eyes. Hopefully, the bright liquid she pressed her face against would mask them. “It's not even physically possible for me to fly.”

“Are you certain? Grounded pegasai are very rare outside of permanent injury.”

“Why would I not be certain!?” Scootaloo twisted back to glare. Her face oozed red from the colored liquid dribbling down the wall. “Don't you think that I haven't been trying?”

Celestia's eyes popped open. She levitated over a handkerchief to wipe off Scootaloo's face, who balked. “Hold still. You don't want to get any of that in your eyes.”

“Ack, mom.” Scootaloo held still, but made certain she had the biggest frowny face on that she could manage. “I've tried to fly almost every single day. I don't think I could be more certain.”

Celestia stashed the soiled cloth. “I didn't mean it that way. I was just wondering if you might be doing something wrong?”

“Doing something wrong? Don't you think that I'd have noticed by now if I was doing something wrong?” Scootaloo was exasperated. Why was her mother not listening? Did she delight in torment?

“Uh, well...”

“And Rainbow Dash and Twilight have both tried to help me fly and they weren't able to figure anything out, either. Even Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom helped, but, uh, we somehow got covered in tree sap.” Scootaloo scratched her head on that last one. They had been in an open field. She still hadn't figured out where all of that tree sap had come from.

“Hmm...” Celestia rubbed her chin. “While it's nice of them to help you out, I'm not sure they're qualified to be teaching any pony about flying.”

“What? But Rainbow Dash is an excellent flier! She's the best flier I know.”

“Yes, she is a prodigy, but that's also what makes it so hard for her to teach. Everything comes so naturally for her that she doesn't understand the troubles that other ponies go through.”

“Huh. I never thought of it that way.” Scootaloo frowned. “I always thought she was perfect.”

“No pony is that perfect, dear–” Celestia stepped over to peck Scootaloo on the head “–not even Twilight. Hmm, speaking of which, she only just got her wings and should be taking lessons herself, not trying to teach. Your other friends, while their hearts might be in the right place, aren't even pegasai.”

“So, what are you saying?”

“I think it might be best if I saw your troubles myself.”

Scootaloo thumped a hoof on her cast. “But mom, you said I can't use my wings for days! How am I supposed to show you anything like this?”

“That's fairly easy, actually. I can just take you back to the Halls of Ascension.”

“What? The empty place with all the stars?”

Celestia nodded.

“But I don't want to fade away.” Scootaloo pouted.

“Don't worry, dear. You won't fade away—not now, and not ever again.” Celestia nodded curtly. The sincerity in her voice was hard to question.

“Well, okay...” Scootaloo lowered her head and closed her eyes. She already knew what to picture, so she didn't have to listen as her mother's voice took over and lulled her with lullaby and magic.

….

Scootaloo once again found herself in the vast emptiness of starry space. This place made her hackles rise, and her transparent form wasn't very comforting.

“Mom! Are you out there? Mooom!” The nothingness swallowed her words without any hint of an echo, just like before. Scootaloo groaned. “I hate this place.”

“Calm yourself. I am here.”

Despite being able to see an infinite distance in every direction, Celestia still managed to sneak up on her. Scootaloo frowned.

The sound of Celestia's golden hoofplates rang out amongst the stars as she walked forward towards her ghostly daughter. She had a slight frown on her face as she inspected the soul before her. Her eyes narrowed. “Hold still. I want to try something.”

Scootaloo didn't have time to say anything, as she was quickly whipped up in magic. Celestia's horn glowed, lifting Scootaloo in the infinite void. Her horn sparked and the magic grew brighter. It had a faint warmth to it; it was like being wrapped in the glow from a stove on a cold winter day. It was peaceful, serene. Scootaloo wore a goofy smile. She didn't know what her mother was doing, but it felt nice.

Celestia wasn't happy, though. She snarled and bared her teeth as she battled against some unknown force. Her magic doubled and tripled. A beam of light erupted from her horn and pierced the eternity of the cosmos. Snaking wisps of light swirled around them both. The magic grew brighter and brighter still. It became so bright that it drowned out everything and Scootaloo could no longer see what was happening.

The warmth increased from a glow to a stifling heat. The light got so bright that it hurt to look at, and her translucent eyelids offered no protection. It felt as if the light was trying to bore through her, or perhaps pull her apart. The sensation was bizarre, and not pleasant. The heat became searing. It hurt. Everything hurt.

“Ow! Mom, stop!” Scootaloo cried out, and moments later everything ended. She felt like she was plunged into a cold blackness. Had she gone blind? Why would her mother do that to her?

Tightness around Scootaloo's face reminded her that she still held her eyes clenched shut. When she opened them, all she saw were floating splotches. She blinked her eyes and rubbed at them. It took a while for her eyesight to recover, but when it did she noted that she was far more opaque. She was still translucent, but only a hint of the brightest stars shone through her body.

“I am sorry, Scootaloo. I tried to bring you here fully, but I couldn't manage to do it.” Celestia panted and dripped with sweat. The droplets evaporated as soon as they left her skin in little puffs. It was strange to look at.

“What? Why?” Scootaloo tried to step forward but staggered and stopped. The experience made her woozy.

“Well, you did ask for wings like Twilight. I thought the least I could do was try.”

“Oh.” Scootaloo frowned and hung her head low. Her mood crashed, as her last hope had been extinguished. {uh, what? Seems an odd reaction if she wasn't expecting it.}

Celestia would have none of that. She stepped forward and forced her daughter's head up with her gold-clad hoof. “Chin up, Scootaloo. It's far too early to give up hope. That was only a long shot, anyway. Come, let us walk these halls and see what the Windows of Reflection will reveal.”

Scootaloo nodded once her head was free. The touch of cold metal had left an imprint on her. It was tempting to give in to Celestia's optimism, but what could a pony who never been around to see her struggles hope to accomplish? Still, Celestia had been around for a very long time. Scootaloo didn't hold much hope, but held her tongue. They walked together amongst the stars and, as before, windows into her past came open. This time, they stopped to look.

“Weren't you such an adorable little Scootiepoo back then?”

“Mom, don't look at that one.” Scootaloo spread herself up against the window displaying her baby self covered in mashed potatoes, blocking the view. “It's embarrassing.”

Celestia smiled, but moved on. “I suppose you're right. We won't find any answers by looking at that. You have to admit that you were so cute back then.”

“Mom, I wasn't that cu—wait a minute! How did you hide your pregnancy, anyway? Isn't that kind of thing rather obvious?”

“Oh, that.” Celestia giggled like a school filly sharing a dirty secret. “You wouldn't believe the size of the gowns that were in style back then. How about that vision over there?”

“Gah!” In the image Celestia had selected, Scootaloo was covered in mud. Her back was arched up with her wings buzzing furiously. She couldn't even lift her whole body off the ground. Featherweight was hiding in a tree, taking pictures.

Present day Scootaloo jumped in front of the image, blocking the view. “Not that one either. It's super embarrassing.”

“Uh, but Scootaloo–”

“Mom, I don't want you to watch it.” Scootaloo steadfastly covered it with her body. “It makes me look bad.”

“Hmm.” Celestia glanced down the hall at the floating images. Most of them showed her hanging out with her friends, but the ones showing her trying to fly weren't very flattering. “How have you felt about not being able to fly?”

“Uh, embarrassed.” Scootaloo hung her head. “I know you wanted to see me try to fly, but now that we're up here...”

“Ah.” Celestia turned away from the image and Scootaloo relaxed. “I think I know what you need. Why don't you follow me over here?”

“Um, okay...” The little orange filly trotted after her mother, who showed her a floating image of a blue sky. “What's this?”

“It's an image that I need you to look at.”

It was a blue sky, with a fair number of clouds. “But I don't see anything.”

“Then you're not looking closely enough.” Celestia pointed at it.

Scootaloo tried to figure out what she was supposed to see, but it was beyond her. “I still don't get it.”

“Scootaloo, do you want to fly?”

“Yes! Of course, I do.”

“Then I need you to look at this image. Don't worry, I'm sure that you'll find what you need to if you examine it long enough.”

“Well, okay.” She narrowed her eyes and scrunched up her little face. “Alright, then—commence operation: Stare at Blue Sky.”

It didn't look like much, but there had to be something important there if Celestia wanted her to watch it so closely. The blueness of the sky looked perfectly ordinary. The clouds were fluffy and plentiful. What did that have to do with anything? What did that mean? She frowned harder and scanned the sky again. It looked much like the sky in Ponyville, but at a different angle. Was it even the same sky? How could she tell? There seemed to be tips of trees poking at the bottom of the picture. She leaned in for a closer look. Scootaloo was staring so intently that she didn't even notice when her mother walked away.

The longer she stared, the more puzzled she became. What was the point of this image? Was it supposed to represent something she'd see if she were flying? That sort-of made sense, but it didn't tell her how to actually fly. Perhaps there was a more subtle reason for looking. All of those clouds made her uneasy. If that really was the sky over Ponyville, then Rainbow Dash was being lazy and not doing her job again.

Could that have something to do with what she was supposed to see? Pegasai were known for their weather manipulation and, well, Scootaloo had never really thought about that before. If she could ever learn to fly, would she want to work the clouds? She scratched her fuzzy head. It was something to think about, but it didn't help her fly. Maybe there was something else she was supposed to see?

Scootaloo rolled on her back and groaned. She kept staring at the image and still couldn't figure it out. She'd been watching it for so long now that she thought she could even see the clouds move. That could happen sometimes if there wasn't anypony around to guide them. Scootaloo had long since given up on trying to rationalize things and just laid there hoping for inspiration to strike.

Finally, something happened. The clouds parted briefly and a ray of light shone down towards the ground. It was a sunbeam. Now this was something that Scootaloo could enjoy looking at. When she was alone and feeling sad, the sun was always there in the sky to remind her of her mother. Even in the gloomiest of weather the sun always seemed to have a way of peeking through and spreading warmth. She knew that was just from the weather team poking holes in the clouds so they could fly through to do their work, but she preferred her own interpretation. There weren't any ponies in this image, though. Maybe it was just a sunflower blooming?

The clouds shifted again and the hole closed up. Had that been what she was sent here to see? What did it mean? Celesita was known for being enigmatic, and this was certainly a puzzle. Scootaloo frowned. She was no good at puzzles. Hoofsteps alerted her to her mother approaching.

“Mom! I can't figure it out. What am I supposed to see?”

“Oh. You're still looking at that? It was an obvious distraction.”

“What!?”

Celestia bent down and kissed her daughter on the head. “Don't worry about it. It gave me some time to catch up on what I've missed. I think those little pink hearts on your new helmet are just adorable, by the way.”

“Eergh, of course you'd think that—wait, you saw what happened?”

Celestia nodded. There was a look of... pity? sorrow? in her eyes. Scootaloo's heart sank. “You never told me that you'd gotten so good at whipping up winds. I saw the way you sent that confetti flying around the room.”

Scootaloo winced. Her mother was clearly trying to find something nice to say, but it wasn't helping. She knew she was a crippled pegasus, and now her mother knew it too. “Mom, could we, perhaps, talk about something else?”

“Something else? But I thought you wanted to talk about this, Scootaloo.”

“It's... well...” What kind of excuse would her mother believe? “When I left this morning, I kind of ran off. I didn't tell my friends where I was going and they're probably getting worried about me by now.”

Celestia nodded. “Hmm, yes. I can see how you'd think that, but you know, after you left, Fluttershy looked like she was up to something.”

“Huh?” Scootaloo raised a eyebrow.

“Why don't we check up on them? It's easy to do that from here.” Celestia focused on an empty spot and lit up her horn. Another window appeared before her, but unlike the others it remained outlined by her magic.

Friends in High Places

Celestia's newly created window showed a large, regal room. The windows and doors were framed with growths of purplish crystal. In the center of the room, seven chairs surrounded a golden disc on the floor that was emblazoned with a large white star. Most of the seats were occupied, but Rainbow Dash was standing in the center of the room while holding up her tortoise, Tank. Spike was off to one side making notes on a blackboard, and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were sitting on the floor between Rarity and Applejack. There was a large stack of jugs of water lined up against one wall.

“That's Twilight's throne room.” Scootaloo stared at it with wide eyes. “But what's going on? Why can't I hear anything? Why do they have so much water?”

Pausing for a moment, Celestia peered at the scene before answering, “You can't hear anything because this is a window to the present. It's a different type of magic. The reason they have so much water is, well, do you remember that meeting you pulled me out of with the mayor this morning?”

“Huh? What does that have to do with water?”

“Quite a bit, actually. As it turns out, Twilight's new tree castle grew taller than Ponyville's water tower.”

“So?”

“Water only flows downhill, dear. If the building's taller than the water tower, it means that they can't get any water from it.”

“Oh.” Suddenly, all of those jugs of water made sense. “So Twilight doesn't have any running water?”

“Not yet, and that's what we were talking about. I was just going to get a pump installed, but the mayor insisted on building a second water tower further up Dragon Mountain.”

“What? But that sounds like a lot more work.”

Celestia shrugged. “It is, but your water tower's often been the victim of rampaging monster attacks. Having a second one would help to get things back up and running a lot faster 'when the inevitable happens again,' as the mayor put it.”

“I guess that would help.” Scootaloo watched as Rainbow Dash encouraged Tank to buzz around the room. “But I still want to know what they're doing.”

“Why don't we take a closer look?” Celestia zoomed in the image and centered it on Spike's blackboard. The little dragon stood at attention with a piece of chalk in his claws.

On the blackboard was a grid arranged into three columns. The first column showed a series of pictures, the second was marked 'yay,' and the third 'neigh.' Spike added another tick mark in the 'yay' column next to a picture that looked like Tank's helicopter harness. There were three other tick marks there, and two in the 'neigh' column. Further down the list, images that looked like butterfly wings, a vampire fruit bat, and a bunch of party balloons had all been crossed out. The title at the top made Scootaloo feel apprehensive.

“Flight aids? Why are they looking at flight aids?” She didn't need Celestia's help to figure that one out. Even in this dreamlike realm of stars her wings were still tiny and useless.

“It seems that your friends want to see you fly just as much as you do.”

“But—I want to fly on my own. If I have to use a flight aid, everypony will know what a cripple I am.” Scootaloo turned away. She didn't have the heart to look at the watch any more.

“There's nothing wrong with using mechanical aids to help you get around, Scootaloo. You're nearly inseparable from that scooter of yours.”

“That's different. I can walk if I want to. I don't have to use the scooter.”

Celestia frowned. “Well, I don't really see how it is. The scooter lets you do things that you couldn't before. Walking doesn't let you haul you friends around or move very quickly, and you can't pull off any tricks while walking, either.”

“But nopony else can do any of those things without a scooter, either. I might not sound different, but it is.” Scootaloo sighed. “I hate being a cripple.”

“Why do you keep calling yourself a cripple? You look perfectly healthy to me.”

“Because I can't fly!” Scootloo screamed and yanked on her mostly-opaque mane. There was optimism, and there was this. Celestia must be completely crazy in the most irritating way possible.

“Uh, hold up a second.” Turning back to the window to the present, Celesita looked at the blackboard again and rubbed her chin. Then, much to Scootaloo's surprise, she reached into the picture and tapped Spike on the shoulder. He jumped.

“Mom, what are you doing?”

Spike pivoted around and scratched at the spines on his head when he didn't see anything.

“Meddling. ♥” With Spike's back turned, Celestia reached into the image again and circled the picture that looked like a giant kite. Spike eventually turned around again, and when he saw the circle he dropped his chalk and ran towards the others. Celestia closed the window. Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. Out of all the items on the list, the kite didn't look very practical.

“Now, Scootaloo–” Celestia turned to face her daughter again. “–can you remind me again why it is that you think you cannot fly?”

“Grr, do I have to say it?” Scootaloo contorted her face in anger. Celestia gave her a stern look. “Oh, forget it.” Scootaloo sighed. “I can't fly because whenever I try to go up, I can't. No matter how fast I beat my wings the best I can do is just hover, and only for a little while. I'm stuck on the ground. It sucks.”

“Hmm, that does sound like a good reason.”

“Of course it's a good reason! Why wouldn't it be!?” Scootaloo's rage returned in a flash and she snapped. “And it's all your fault! If you hadn't been such an old maid when you had me, my wings wouldn't be so tiny and malformed!”

Celestia winced. Her eyes watered and for a long moment they sat there in silence. At that moment, the distant, twinkling, faraway stars were closer together than there were to each other. “I'm sorry you feel that way, Scootaloo.”

Scootaloo frowned and hung her head. Why had she said that hurtful thing? I hadn't helped, and it didn't make her feel any better. “Mom, I—” she felt obligated to apologize, but the words just didn't come “—why won't you acknowledge how broken I am? Why do you insist on trying to give me hope when there is none?” Scootaloo choked up. She hated crying, but it was the only thing she could do. She turned her back and buried her head under her forelegs, trying to stifle the noise as best she could.

“Oh, you poor baby.” Celestia stepped forward and grabbed Scootaloo in a motherly embrace. “I know I don't show it often, but your life is a real blessing to me. You might not have been planned or expected, but I've still cherished every moment with you. Scootaloo, I love you.”

Scootaloo sniffled. She was in so much turmoil, but knew in her heart that her mother was sincere. “Mom, I love you too. It's just been so hard...”

“I know, dear. But trust me on this, we'll work through it together. I promise.” Celestia set Scootaloo back down and examined her. “How are you feeling? You're not feeling faint at all are you?”

Holding a hoof up against the starry void, Scootaloo squinted and peered through it. She was more transparent than she had been, but she was still as opaque as the average crystal pony. “Solid enough, I guess.”

“Good, because I have a feeling that we may need to stay here for a while longer.” Celestia led Scootaloo back out into the hallway lined with windows into her past. “Before we start again, I want you to know that having small wings is not the reason you can't fly.”

“It's not?” Scootaloo looked at them. “It seems obvious to me. But if that's not the reason, then what is?”

Celestia stopped her daughter to look her in the eyes. “There is no reason. I believe that you can.”

Carry the Two

“What? But I just said—” Scootaloo winced and threw up her forelegs. “How many times do I have to repeat myself!? How can you believe that I can fly? If I really could, then wouldn't I have figured it out by now!?”

Celestia rubbed at her chin. “Apparently not, but don't worry. I think I can get you pointed in the right direction.”

Scootaloo couldn't bear it. All this talk about hope was just going to bite her twice as hard when it inevitably fell flat again. As if to emphasize that point, a past version of herself struggled to get above the ground. In the image, she managed to hover for a few seconds before falling flat on her face. This past Scootaloo was discouraged, but she got up and tried again, only to suffer the same result. Present day Scootaloo just couldn't see the point.

In the starry realm, she scowled. “So are you going to tell me what I've been doing wrong?”

Celestia nodded. “Yes, two things: First of all, you keep tying something that doesn't work. Secondly, you're not approaching it from the right angle.”

“How else could I possibly do it?” Scootaloo scratched at her mane. “Isn't that the only way?”

“Why don't we leave that part of your past behind and look elsewhere?” Celestia ushered the reluctant filly further down the hall. They walked in silence as she scanned the floating images, looking for a specific one. Finally, she pointed across the isle. “There. We can find part of the answer in that one.”

Scootaloo did a double-take. “What? But I'm just sitting in Cheerilee's classroom. I'm not even trying to fly in that one.”

“Sometimes, it's not about brute force. Stopping to think about things can often lead to better results than just plugging away at them.”

Scootaloo scratched her head. What was there to think about? Cheerilee wasn't qualified to teach any sort of flying lessons. She held her tongue though, as the lesson plan started. Technically, she didn't have to worry about interrupting since the event had already taken place, but watching her teacher tap on the chalkboard had ingrained a sense of obedience in her that was hard to ignore.

“All right, class, who here remembers what we talked about yesterday?” Everypony's hoof went up (they'd be dumb not to). She pointed at one of them. “Yes, Twist.”

“We talked about velothity and motion.”

d = vt

Cheerilee nodded, and everypony's hooves went down. “Very good. Thank you, Twist.” Writing on the chalkboard, she wrote down the equation. “To summarize, the distance you travel is equal to your velocity times the time you spend traveling. Now today, we're going to further complicate things. What if your velocity is not constant, but changes steadily over time? We call that acceleration, and that's factored in like this.”

d = vt + ½at²

While Cheerilee was writing on the chalkboard, ghostly Scootaloo tugged at her mother's leg and whispered up to her, “Mom, do I have to sit through the whole lecture? Because I already saw it once.”

“Hmm, I suppose not.” Celestia paused the image and Scootaloo relaxed.

“What does this have to do with flying? Isn't this just basic physics? Equations can't tell me how I need to flap my wings.”

“Well, I suppose not, but you have to understand that us ponies invented concepts like math and physics to help us understand how the world works around us. They can't tell you how to fly, but they can describe some of the factors that go into it.”

“Like what?” Scootaloo pointed at Cheerilee's chalkboard. “Being able to calculate acceleration based on distance traveled and time taken isn't going to help me get off the ground.”

“And if it can?”

“Huh?”

“Why don't we skip ahead to the practical demonstration?” Celestia fast-forwarded the lecture until Cheerilee started dropping a ball multiple times with the students timing her. She wrote a lot of numbers on the chalkboard.

Cheerilee scratched at her chin. “Okay, class, you've each taken a shot at timing how long it took for the ball to fall one meter. So out of twelve measurements, we drop the two biggest outliers, average the rest, and...” Cheerilee made some notes as she did the calculations. “It looks like the average comes out to be point four six seconds. That's actually fairly close to the expected result. Why don't you split into groups and calculate the ball's acceleration due to gravity and see how well we did?”

Naturally, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo opted to work together.

Sweetie Belle copied the equation onto a piece of scrap paper. “Okay, so distance is equal to the initial velocity times time, plus half the acceleration times time squared. Since we know the other variables, we need to solve for acceleration if we want to calculate it.”

“Yeah, but the initial velocity is zero, so we don't have to worry about that part.” Past Scootaloo crossed it out.

“Hmm, times two... divide by time squared...” Sweetie Belle frowned. “Ew, we have to divide by time squared.”

Past Scootaloo winced. “I'll get the multiplication table.”

“Ah hate all this math stuff,” Apple Bloom complained while Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo did all the work. “It makes me feel stupid.”

Celestia paused the image there. “Do you remember the result you got?”

“Uh, yeah, we got ten meters per second squared.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow.

“We... may have done some rounding to make the calculation easier.” Scootaloo grinned. Celestia rolled her eyes. “But, uh, what was the point of making me remember that? Wouldn't it be easier to just look that number up in a book? That's what we wound up doing, anyway.”

“It would, but I wanted that calculation fresh on your mind because I'd like you to do it again soon.”

“What? Why?” Where was she going with this? It sounded like she had a plan, but it didn't make sense. Why can't she just give a straight answer?

“In a minute. But first, I want you to tell me how gravity is related to flying.” Celestia nudged her daughter with a wing, encouraging her to leave that image and walk down the Hall of Ascension with her.

Scootaloo stared down at the milky walkway because she could. “Uh, gravity is what keeps us on the ground, so... If I want to fly, I have to move faster than gravity?”

Celestia nodded. “Yes, that's correct.” In the middle of the starry field, Celestia created a glowing white board with her magic. In the bottom left corner, she drew a stick figure that looked like Scootaloo. She pointed towards one of the floating images showing Scootaloo trying to fly. “Can you tell me what your upwards acceleration is? Keep in mind that you're acting directly against gravity.”

“Uh...” Scootaloo winced as her past self landed flat on her face. “None now, but uh, before I landed I was managing to hover, so, uh, about equal to gravity?”

Celestia drew a tiny arrow above Scootaloo's stick figure and wrote, 'a ≈ g.'

“That's not very encouraging.” Scootaloo flopped down and crossed her hooves in front of her and rested her head on them. Her ears drooped low.

“Don't give up. We're not finished.” Celestia walked over and nuzzled Scootaloo until she got up again. “Come over here. Look at this one.”

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. She was on her scooter, which was tied to two ropes. Her friends were standing on skis. “That was back when we were trying out for the flag-carrying team at the Equestria Games. I, uh, missed the train so I get there on my own.” She scratched her head. “What's so important about this one?”

Celestia didn't say anything and instead let the scene unfold. Past Scootaloo and her friends donned their helmets. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle picked up the handles attached to the ropes in their mouths and pulled the lines taught. Past Scootaloo's wings blurred.

“There.” Celestia paused the image. “That is when you began moving.” She held onto the imperceptible edges of the window. “Now, let us advance the scene, say, half a second.” She tapped on the left side, and the image sprang into motion. Scootaloo and her friends left ghostly afterimages behind them. Celestia stopped it again and stepped aside. “There.” She pointed at it and gave the Scootaloo in the starry realm a measuring tape. “I want you to see how far you've moved in half a second.”

Holding the tape in her mouth, Scootaloo nodded. The image didn't have any corners to catch, so the first time she tried to stretch it out, the reel snapped back and slapped her in the face. “Ow.” She rubbed her nose. She might not be wholly present in this realm, but getting slapped still hurt. Her second attempt, she kept the reel from retracting with her hoof. “Uh, one point eight meters.” Scootaloo blinked. “Wait, that's further than the ball fell in about the same time.”

“I think you can see where I'm going with this.” Celestia put her hoof on Scootaloo's shoulder. “But I would like you to finish the calculation, all the same.” She twisted around and pulled out a pad of paper and a pencil.

Scootaloo accepted the items and stared at them. As she wrote down the equations and relevant numbers, she felt something strange. It wasn't a bad feeling; it kind of eased her soul, yet it also had an edge to it. Twice the distance traveled was three point six. Time squared was point two five. All she had to do was divide the former by the latter. Dare she...?

Hope.

That's what she was feeling. It had been gone from her life for so long that she didn't even recognize it. Ten years of failure had crushed her spirit. It had been okay at first because she had yet to grow up, but the others had grown up around her and flown off. Then the teasing started...

Scootaloo shook her head. There was a chance here, hidden in the numbers. All she had to do was–

“Dividing by point two five is the same as multiplying by four.”

d = vt + ½at²

a = 2(d-vt)/t² = 2d/t²

t = 0.5s

t² = 0.25s²

d = 1.8m

2d = 3.6m

3.6m / 0.25s² = ?

times four

3.6 * 4 = 2.4+12 = 14.4 m/s²

Scootaloo shot a glace at her mother. Way to ruin the moment. Well, the answer was, er, carry the two... She scratched on the paper. “Fourteen point four meters per second squared.”

Celestia smiled slyly, as if she were sharing a great secret. “Well there you go. That's clearly higher than gravity. You can fly.”

“But, um...” That couldn't be right, could it? Scootaloo knew she couldn't fly. Something had to be wrong. “Wait, what if the time was off? What if the acceleration wasn't constant? Wouldn't that throw things off?”

f = ma

Celestia kept her eyes fixed on her daughter's. Her smile didn't fade; it grew. “It's good to see that you were paying attention during Cheerilee's lecture, but you actually have less to worry about than you think. I don't know if you've discussed this yet, but there's another equation that's relevant here, and that's this one:” Celestia wrote it on her glowing white board. “Force is equal to mass times acceleration.”

“Force? But isn't gravity a force?”

“Well, technically yes, but we measure it based on the acceleration it causes because that's the part that's constant. Nopony really knows why that is, or how or why it came to be the value of nine point eight one meters per second squared, but when magic's not involved, everything always goes back to falling at the same speed.”

“Huh, that is weird.” Scootaloo scratched her chin then shrugged and turned back to the frozen image of herself pulling her friends. “But you were saying?”

“What I was saying is that in this particular moment, the force that you're exerting from your wings is being split amongst the three of you. By yourself, you'd have only a third of the mass to move, and, with the force remaining the same, your acceleration would triple.”

“Triple?” Scootaloo's jaw dropped.

Celestia nodded. “Yes, that is how it works.” On the glowing board, she drew a larger arrow in front of the Scootaloo stick-figure pointing forward parallel to the ground. “Hmm, since we like rounding to make the math easier...” She wrote, 'a ≈ 4g.'

Scootaloo stared blankly at Celestia's magical blackboard. She pulled her jaw shut and pinched her lips together. “But, that's still no good is it? Going fast along the ground is great and all, but that doesn't get me up.”

Celestia drew a quarter-circular arc in front of her drawing of Scootaloo. Above it, she curved an arrow until it was pointing straight up. “That's the easy part. All you have to do is ramp things up until you get pointed in the right angle.”

“Augh, puns.” Scootaloo winced.

Celestia giggled. “Sorry, I couldn't resist.” Scootaloo recovered, but still stared blankly at the board. Celestia's smile faded. “Are you okay, dear? I thought you'd be happier to see this.”

“It's—well...” Scootaloo fidgeted uneasily. “You make it sound like it's so easy.”

“It's not meant to be difficult, Scootaloo. Most pegasai can still fly even while carrying others.” Celestia unfolded a wing and pointed at the image of Scootaloo pulling her friends, but when Scootaloo looked even more apprehensive, she opted to say nothing further. {perspective error}

“I-I can see the numbers. What you say makes sense, but–” Scootaloo clenched her eyes shut, but she couldn't stop herself from tearing up. “–I've been trying and trying and trying and–”

“Ssh, it's okay, my baby.” The motherly alicorn picked up her filly and held her close to her heart. “I know how much you're been trying for this–” she peered down the hall of floating images “–well, I know now how much you've been trying for this. I admire your persistence, I really do, but the end is finally in sight. You know now what you must do. All you have to do is try one last time.”

“One last time...” Scootaloo looked up at her mother with wide eyes.

“Yes.” Celestia nodded firmly, as if she were the one who was struggling and not Scootaloo. “But we can't do that here. Come on, let's get you home.” Celestia lingered a moment longer, simply cuddling her filly before she added magic to her embrace. The warm flow washed over Scootaloo, who couldn't help but feel content.

...

Scootaloo, or rather her awareness, found herself alone again within the dazzling rainbow cavern. The sun must have been lower on the horizon because the colors cascaded through the cavern in fluctuating dance. The sparking spires that lined the cavern's maw radiated their hues out in competing patterns along the cavern's walls. Even after spending so much time here, the sheer dazzling beauty left her breathless. Scootaloo's awareness wished that her friends could see this place, but the raging colorfall that washed over the entrance was just as hostile as it was beautiful.

Wayward Sun

Beneath Scootaloo's point of awareness were the expected orange hooves that looked like they belonged to a pony. “Can we just skip ahead to the part where I recognize that it's me?” a voice that sounded like Scootalo's asked.

As if to obligate her, she first became aware of her heartbeat, then her breathing. She flexed the muscles in her forelegs and felt them respond. The jarring motion in her bone as she stomped them on the ground brought her firmly back to her senses. There was one feeling she hadn't felt, though, which was pain in her injured wing. She opened her mouth to tear off her bandages.

“And just what do you think you're doing?”

Scootaloo jumped. “Mom! You're back quickly.” She drooped her ears and crouched low.

“I didn't have to make any stops this time. But honestly, you don't have to cower as if I'm some sort of monster.”

“Uh, sorry.” Scootaloo got back up and scratched at her mane. She looked Celestia directly in the eye and twisted her neck around to tear at her bandages again.

Celestia's eyes narrowed. “But I didn't say you could do that.”

Her mother's firm, commanding voice was well practiced from centuries of ruling Equestria. It could order armies and decree the laws of the land. It was more than enough to reprimand Scootaloo, who froze. “But, mom–”

“Don't you ‘but’ me young–” Celestia stopped herself mid-rant and closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she spoke again, her voice was much softer. “Look, I know you're eager to try out what you've learned, but you still have to take your injury seriously or you could do permanent damage to your wing. I'm sorry but you'll have to wait the full three days just to make sure that you're recovered.”

“Three days?” Scootaloo groaned. “I don't think I can wait that long.”

“It's not that bad, dear. You've already waited ten years. Three more days won't hurt you, but not waiting can. Do you really want to risk ten more years of being grounded on a little bit of impatience?”

“Uh, not when you put it that way...” Scootaloo drooped her head in defeat.

“It's okay, dear. Three days will pass before you even know it.” Celestia bent down and ruffled Scootaloo's mane with her muzzle. “Come on, let's take you home. Your friends are probably looking for you by now.”

“Okay...” Scootaloo prepared to hop on her mother's back, but paused. “Wait, I want to grab a souvenir first.” She glanced around the room and her eyes caught on the shattered stalagmite. Walking over, she opened her mouth to pick up one of the glassy blue shards. She wound up with a wing in her face.

“Fossilized rainbow isn't something that you should put in your mouth, Scootaloo,” Celestia chided.

“Ackpth.” Scootaloo spat out a white feather. “Sorry.” She scooped up a pile of the shards with a foreleg and held them to close to her as she scrambled to get up on Celestia's back. It wasn't easy and she nearly dropped them, but she managed to climb up on the large white alicorn with her prize secured.

“Are you ready back there?”

Scootaloo nodded, but Celestia didn't respond. “Yes,” she added when she realized that her mother didn't actually have eyes on the back of her head.

Celestia's leap into flight was so fluid that Scootaloo hardly noticed it. That was good, because with one of her forelegs tied up holding rocks, her grip wasn't solid. Celestia enwrapped them both inside of shimmering, yellow shield.

Alert this time, Scootaloo watched as the rainbow river splashed and parted around their protective barrier. A prismatic current battered at them and tried to pull them down, but the shield was strong and they passed through unhindered. Shortly after leaving, Celestia let her protective bubble expire.

“Wow! That was awesome!” Scootaloo twisted around to watch the colorfall retreat behind them into the distance. From this side, it didn't look any different from any of the other dozens of colorfalls scattered throughout Rainbow Falls.

“I'm glad you enjoyed it,” Celestia said.

Scootaloo blinked. She watched clouds as they flew past. Where before the sight of flying had been painful to bear, she now felt exhilarated. The sky would be hers. Her heart beat fast in her chest. Anticipation was killing her. She yearned to fly now that she knew she could.

And she did know.

It was odd, in a way. Just this morning, she'd been thoroughly convinced that she'd never be able to fly in her whole life, but now she was convinced of the exact opposite. It was obvious when Celestia pointed it out, and she'd even done the math... “Say, mom, why did you make me go through all of that?”

“All of what?”

“All that math, I mean. Wouldn't it have been a lot faster just to point out that my wings are a lot stronger flying forwards than up?”

“It would, but then I'd have missed out on tutoring my favorite pupil.”

“Uh...” Scootaloo frowned. Something about that statement felt off. “You're not just saying that because I'm your daughter, are you? Everypony always says that Twilight's your favorite student.”

Celestia giggled, which resulted in some uneven wingbeats. Scootaloo tightened her grip on the sparkling, flowing mane and tried not to drop any of her glassy blue stones. “I think in this case it's best not to declare a favorite. Twilight's a wonderful pony. She's always so enthusiastic and eager to learn but she doesn't ever question me like you do. She'd much rather go out of her way to accommodate my mistakes then to actually call me out on them.

“One time, I wrote '2+2=5' on the blackboard and left her alone. She practically tore her mane out fretting over that, and the next day she brought me a twelve page report explaining why that statement was actually true.”

Scootaloo snicked. “Yeah, I could totally see her doing that.”

“It's very cute, but it does get frustrating. Truth be told, I'd rather have a student who knows I'm not perfect.”

Scootaloo's smile faded. Celestia wasn't perfect all right. Based on what she'd said this morning, all Scootaloo had to do was to look in a mirror and Celestia's imperfections would look back at her...

“Mom, when we get back to Ponyville, can you drop me off at the clubhouse?”

“Wouldn't you rather go straight to Twilight's place? I'm sure your friends will want to see you.”

“Well, yeah. I do want to see them too, but I still want to keep things secret and it's better not to be seen together if we can help it.”

“Oh, that.” Scootaloo couldn't see her mother's face, but her tone dropped. “I suppose you're right. It is, after all, what I suggested long ago.” Celestia sighed. “But I don't think you should keep this secret forever. I'll respect your wish if that's what you want, but I think it will be better in the long run to get things out in the open.”

Scootaloo wasn't so sure of that. Being revealed as the hidden daughter of the Sun Princess would draw a lot of attention, and not in a good way. There'd be paparazzi, she'd be swamped with starstruck ponies, her friends would treat her differently, and there'd also be the ugly matter of her origin story. Scootaloo was the living embodiment of Celestia's flaws. Her mother might still love her anyway, but no, it was better to keep that box unopened.

Pulling herself out of her dark thoughts, she watched the clouds stream past. There were a lot more of them now but it didn't matter. The wind whipping by would soon be at her own command. The knot of anticipation ached within her. She yearned to fly, and be free. Three days might as well be three thousand years.

“Are you thinking about your father, Scootaloo?”

“Well, I am now.” Scootaloo still watched the clouds zoom by. Her mother's mane whipping in the wind tickled her nose. She sneezed, and had to shuffle her position to avoid falling off or dropping any of her rocks.

“Are you okay back there?”

“Yeah, I just got some hair in my nose, that's all.” The clouds noticeably slowed and Scootaloo felt annoyed. She liked going faster. “Mom, do you think I'll ever get the chance to meet my father?”

“Hmm, now that you mention it, I think I can arrange for it without drawing suspicion.”

“Really?” Scootaloo's eyes and ears perked up. She hadn't expected that.

“Yes, but I'll have to talk with the mayor again when we get back to Ponyville. It might not be for another week or two, but you'll recognize the opportunity when it arrives.”

“Talk with the mayor? But don't you have to be back at Canterlot by dusk? It's getting late.”

“Really? It doesn't look much past noon, to me.”

“What?” Scootaloo looked behind her. Instead of seeing the sun laze by the clouds, it was missing. She looked up. Sure enough, it had gone the wrong way and was now roosting directly on top of the sky. “Mom, did you just...?” It shouldn't have bothered Scootaloo, but it did. She wasn't sure why, but the thought of her mother whimsically whisking the sun around made her uneasy.

“Don't worry about it. It's just my way of telling Luna that I'll be late. I'll put the sun back where it belongs when I return to Canterlot, and we can run with longer nights for a few days to balance things out if we have to.”

“Ah.” Scootaloo didn't really understand, but it sounded as if her mother knew what she was doing.

With the sun directly overhead, she looked down and watched their shadow race along the clouds. The ground was hardly visible now except for a few holes here and there. It was hard to tell where they were. A pair of pegasus ponies trying to break up the cloud bank respectfully bowed as Celestia passed. Scootaloo shrunk into her her mother's mane, hoping not to be seen.

“Mom, are we there yet?”

“Yes, actually. Hold on tight. I'll bring us down fast.” Celestia tucked in her wings and plunged through a hole in the cloud cover.

Scootaloo gulped and clutched her rocks and her mother's neck tightly. She heard the whistling wind whip past. It rustled her tail, but she was buried too deeply in her mother's mane to feel it otherwise. The pit of her stomach sank in response to the freefall. It was a terrifying sensation, but she knew she was safe. She forced down her instinctive terror and exhilaration washed over her. Flying was incredible.

Celestia spread her broad wings wide to their full extent. Scootaloo nearly had the wind knocked out of her as the breaking force pressed her against her mother's back. She heard the 'clack' of hooves hitting the ground and slowly looked up. The landing was abrupt, but smooth. If it wasn't for the noise, she could have believed they were still in the sky.

Celestia lowered her head, and Scootaloo hopped off. Her collection of fossilized rainbow shards clacked in her grip when she landed.

“Thanks, mo–” Scootaloo felt a pang of panic and snapped her jaw shut over that slip of her tongue. She glanced around nervously but relaxed when she saw nopony else. “Uh, thank you, Princess Celestia.” She forced a wide grin to allay any possible suspicion. Celestia smiled back. “I, um...” Scootaloo sniffled. Perhaps the wind in her face had made her eyes water more than she'd thought. “I guess you'll be off now?”

“Yes, sorry.” Celestia sighed. She lowered her head and brought it down to Scootaloo's level. Due to the filly's small size, it almost looked as if she were bowing. “But I do want to thank you too. It's not often that I get such quality time with... one one my subjects. I enjoyed the experience very much and I hope you learned a lot from it–”

“Yes, I did.” Scootaloo nodded vigorously.

“–but alas, my duties await and I must depart.” Celestia gave her daughter one last peck on the forehead. “I love all my little ponies,” she said softly, with a wink. Rising up to her full height, she spread out her wings and took off. Her very impressive wingspan stirred up some dried leaves. “Take care, Scootaloo, and don't forget to write.”

“I won't!” Scootaloo waved as her mother, Princess Celesita, flew off. She kept waving even after the vanishing speck in the sky was no longer visible.

Watching her mother fly off like that immediately brought back to mind the exhilarating sensation of flight. The anticipation knotted in her stomach and she ground her teeth. It was such cruelty that she'd have to wait three whole days before she could take another shot at it herself. Of course, with her mother gone, there wasn't anypony around to stop her from tearing of her cast and flying right here and now.

Overcast

Scootaloo tried to push that thought aside and climbed the ladder into the clubhouse. The place was still littered with confetti and shredded wrapping paper lay on the floor. Scootaloo walked past the now empty table with the mostly-white but somewhat stained tablecloth that once held her birthday cake. She was ten now—one whole decade. It felt odd to think that she was growing up.

Against the wall was a cabinet. She pulled open a drawer and dropped her glassy blue shards inside. Scootaloo frowned; she only had four pieces. She was certain that she'd picked up more. Oh well—she shrugged and pushed the drawer shut—that was still enough to pass out to her friends and keep one for herself. Her friends—she should get back to them.

Her brand new scooter awaited in the corner where she'd left it, but her eyes were drown to the poster on the wall above it. Rainbow Dash was whipping through the air so fast that the image blurred and her mane and tail appeared as nothing more than rainbow streaks. She had a silly grin on her face since the wind billowed out her cheeks and exposed all of her teeth. In retrospect, it wasn't a very flattering picture, but it did capture one of the things that she loved most about her idol: her flying prowess.

Scootaloo wanted to fly very badly. And now she could—almost. Her wings felt itchy trapped under her bandages.

“There's no way I'm going to wait three whole days.” Scootaloo felt better after saying that, but she also felt guilty. She was supposed to wait that long for a reason, and if she didn't, she could hurt herself. Well, Fluttershy had also said her wings would okay again once they'd stopped hurting...

Without further hesitation, Scootaloo twisted around and tore at the bandages with her teeth. The gauzy material was stretchier than she'd expected, but she managed to gnaw through it enough to break it. With part of it broken, the gauze unravelled and she tossed it onto the pile of discarded wrapping paper. It was almost like she was unwrapping another birthday present.

She had to be more careful with the cast on her left wing, but without the gauze holding it in place, She was able to tease it off and set it aside. Her feathers were terribly ruffled, but it felt good to stretch out her wings again. Tentatively, she flapped them a few times. The misaligned feathers irritated her, but there wasn't any other obvious pain. Well, she could still feel a sort of dull lingering pain, but her wing likely wouldn't hurt again unless she pushed it hard. If her calculations were correct, she shouldn't need to.

Scootaloo sat down and started straightening her feathers out with her mouth. Preening was not her favorite activity, but it was necessary if she wanted her wings to work right. The delay was irritating, but it did give her some time to think.

Technically, she could probably fly by jumping up if she managed to orient herself correctly, but after her failure this morning, the idea of jumping didn't sit well in her stomach. No, it'd be better if she could get off to a running start, and her scooter was the best option for that. Scootaloo frowned as she bit off the dangling end of a broken feather. She splayed out the neighboring ones to fill in the gap. If she wanted to use her scooter, she'd need a ramp, but where could she find a ramp that went straight up?

Her feathers looked fine on that side, so she swapped wings. Thankfully, her right one wasn't as bad as her left, but it was still quite ruffled. When was the last time she bothered to preen herself anyway? To be honest, she never really saw much of a use for it and typically didn't do it unless her wings felt more like feather dusters than fans.

She could try to make a ramp herself, but that would be a lot of work and she wasn't certain that anything she built would hold up. Apple Bloom could do a better job, but she felt ambivalent about involving her friends. They'd seen her fail one too many times.

No. She wouldn't fail. How could she even think about failing?

Scootaloo clenched her eyes shut. Her emotions were so conflicted right now. She was more certain of her ability to fly than she ever had been, yet at the same time, the back of her mind kept insisting that nothing had changed and that she was doomed to fail forever. On top of it all, she felt guilty about betraying her mother's trust.

“I shouldn't be doing this.” Scootaloo stretched out her wings and flapped them a few times. They felt like they were supposed to instead of whiffing through the air. The confetti in the room danced around behind her.

She reached for the basket in her scooter and put her helmet on. Tightening the strap under her chin, she grabbed the handlebars and rolled the scooter out the door. She had to pick it up with one foreleg while climbing down the rope ladder since the tree house didn't have an exit ramp. Speaking of ramps...

“I really shouldn't be doing this.” Scootaloo stood on her scooter with no place to go. She almost felt vindicated. Without a ramp, there was no way to get off the ground. She wouldn't have to break her promise, and she could always try again later. That was the logical thing to do, right?

She took a deep breath and looked up at the sky. It was gloomy, gray and overcast. The temperature must have dropped because it felt colder too. Those two pegasai who'd been trying to break up the cloud layer gave up and flew off. A light breeze rustled the trees. It was supposed to be a bright and sunny day. Erroneous weather was never a good sign.

The sky was foreboding, but it was also supposed to be hers. No, it was hers. She just had to claim it. A murder of crows darted out of the trees, squawking and complaining in a manner that would have made Fluttershy scowl. Scootaloo narrowed her violet eyes and snorted. She refused to be daunted by bad omens. Whatever came of this would be decided by her effort and her effort alone—not what fate had decided for her.

A glint on the horizon caught her attention. It was a flash of light from the tip of Twilight's plumbing-challenged castle. Another sign, perhaps? This one beckoned her to her friends. Scootaloo flattened her lips. She loved having their support, but right now she didn't want it or need it. The grudge the sky had against her was personal. She wanted to to show it who was boss all on her own.

Seeing Twilight's castle reminded her of something else too. Twilight's battle against the demonic centaur, Lord Tirek had left no shortage of scars across the landscape. Near the base of Deadpony Peak, a large boulder the size of a house had gotten caught in one the energy beams. It had been mostly vaporized, leaving only a wedge-shaped spire with a perfectly rounded slope. It would make the perfect ramp. It was also in the opposite direction from Twilight's castle.

Scootaloo started to turn around, but hesitated. This was her last chance to turn back. A tiny frown on her fuzzy face, she closed her eyes and listened to her heart. Its steady, rhythmic beating offered no answer. If she couldn't decide for herself, she'd look to her idol for inspiration. Rainbow Dash would never give up, and neither would she. Pivoting smoothly on one leg, Scoolaloo turned around and faced the foreboding mountain.

“I shouldn't be doing this now.” Scootaloo cocked her head to look up at the flat gray blanket smothering the sky. The wind licked at her face like a playful dog. She revved up her wings and kept a hoof on the ground to remain stationary. Sheer thrill pulsed through her veins. She leveled her head and kicked off to a fast start. “I should have done this a long time ago.”

The wind against her face was now of her own making as she shot out of the apple farm. The crude trail was rough, but her journey was fairly smooth. Her brand new scooter rode well, but it also helped that her wings gave some lift and she had long hang times on the inevitable bumps and hops. She didn't roll along the ground; she skipped.

Twilight's great battle left many scars on the landscape, and Scootaloo jumped off a grassy lip to cross a gouge dug deep through the earth. The chasm wasn't deep, but it was wide. Still, she crossed the gap with no trouble, and it was a thrill to watch the ground drop out below her. That minor success spurred her on even harder, and her real goal was in sight.

The curved spire twisted up from the rough, rocky ground like a claw set to scratch at the sky. Scootaloo was forced to slow her pace to avoid the jagged rocks strewn along the ground. Her speed might might seem slow to her, but she was an expert at maneuvering her scooter. Any other pony attempting to go that fast here would likely wind up with multiple broken legs and a fresh layer of road rash to wear underneath the inevitable full-body cast.

Scootaloo swiveled around the last jagged rock and hit the smooth base of the towering spire. The plain gray surface filled her vision as centripetal force pressed her down. She crouched low on her scooter and zoomed up. Even as she climbed, she gained speed. The rocky gray ground gave way and she fond herself staring straight up at the drab gray sky.

The wheels on her scooter kept spinning with nothing to roll against. Scootaloo grinned. She'd launched herself into the air. The real test, though, would be to see if she came back down.

Resisting the temptation to swivel midair and look down, she kept her wings buzzing and concentrated on moving forward. The feel of the wind in her face was the only judge of her success.

Scootaloo kept moving. The wind didn't die down. Her wings held her up. She was...

...flying.

It was incredible. Her heart beat with pride and wild freedom coursed through her veins. The wind wasn't beating at her; she was cutting through the sky like a knife. The clouds suddenly felt in reach and even the great heights of Deadpony Peak far beyond them were within her realm. While flying, she could go anywhere.

Still clutching her scooter, Scootaloo risked a peek and looked down. Everything looked tiny. She felt a momentary pang of panic. This was the highest up she'd ever been on her own. If she fell from this height, she could die. Scootaloo shut her mouth and forced herself to look back up. There was no need to worry about falling when she could fly.

The unfriendly layer of gray clouds blanketed the sky above her. They loomed overhead like a lid on on a cage. There wasn't an opening anywhere in sight, and a nagging feeling of dread itched at the back of her mind. She'd never done any sort of cloud-busting before. She'd never get through.

She tried to slow down to look for an opening, but she'd never flown before and wasn't any good at controlling her speed. Her forward momentum came to an end and was soon replaced by the dreadful sinking sensation of falling. Panicking, she overcompensated and flailed her wings too quickly in response. She flew up again but her left wing flared with pain.

“No!” The latest development all but drained the color from her face. Her thrill of flying was gone, replaced by an urgent need to land. The pain wasn't debilitating, but every moment she lingered and  flap she took grated her wing just a little bit more and caused it to ache just a little bit harder.

Looking down, the ground was such a long, long way off. How could she have let herself get so high? She had no idea how to land. Why had she insisted on flying before she'd recovered? Her wing felt like it was stuck in a cheese grater. Scootaloo bit her lip to mask the pain. Why had she insisted in coming out here alone? There was nopony around in any direction as far as she could see. There was nopony to catch her if she fell.

Scootaloo fought back her rising panic. She wasn't falling. She was still in control. There had to be something she could do.

There—to her left. The looming mountainside of Deadpony Peak wasn't far away. It looked like a sheer cliff, but there had to be some ledge—some perch she could land on. Twisting in midair, she aimed herself at the mountain and, in doing so, made a dreadful mistake. She was no longer facing up. She was parallel to the ground. She had no strength in that direction. That was the same angle that she'd tried and failed to fly at for ten years.

Briefly, she flew towards the mountain, but that dreadful sinking sensation returned and the pit of her stomach rolled over in dread. Scootaloo beat her wings harder, but it didn't do any good. Desperation eroded her reason, and she hurled her scooter into the void to lighten herself. It helped, briefly, but watching her signature icon tumble end over end out of sight towards the sharp rocks below broke what little reason she had left.

Her scooter vanished beneath her, and she knew she was only delaying the inevitable. She would fall next. A burst of energy shook her body as she flailed her wings and struggled against gravity. Her back arched up and her mind flooded with visions of her failures. No matter how hard she tried or how much she practiced, her wings had always failed her. Always. And now, when she need them the most, so high above the jagged rocks, they were going to fail her again.

She hurt too much. She couldn't go on.

She screamed, and fell.

Down below, a sharp crack pierced the land as the scooter smashed against the hard rocks and shattered. A lone wheel bounced from the wreckage and rolled away. Its short, but bumpy ride took it between two rocks and it came to rest next to a budding sunflower. Touched by a ray from the misplaced sun, the flower bloomed for the first time.

Scootaloo chocked on her scream when a bright light hit her face. There, above her, a tiny hole had opened in the clouds. Bright sunlight illuminated her in a narrow shaft. It was... peaceful.

The falling filly ceased struggling and looked up at the sun. “Mom...?” There was no alicorn there. It was just a hole in the clouds. Scootaloo was on her own. Her heart filled with regret, but the warm light reminded her of the soft embrace of her mother's magic. It reminded her of the time she spent in the Halls of Ascension staring at the picture of clouds. She remembered talking to her mother, holding a measuring tape in her teeth, and carrying the two. She remembered what she'd learned.

Scootaloo looked down. The ground was alarmingly close and approaching rapidly, but she still had time.

She knew what she had to do.

Twisting in the air, she faced the sun. Now aiming straight up, she forced her wings into motion. The pain was intense. The fiery grating of her joint and the sting of her past failures got lumped together into one agonizing unit. It was nearly unbearable. She couldn't move her wings quickly, but she didn't need to.

Though it felt like she was scraping rusty nails over chalkboards which also happened to be her eyeballs, her efforts paid off. The sinking sensation faded and she began climbing again. Every single motion, every wingbeat, up and down, sent searing jolts of pain through her body. Scootaloo gritted her teeth and glared at the hole in the clouds. She narrowed her eyes and focused on her goal, blotting out everything else. The sky was a big place though, and the clouds seemed impossibly far off.

Pain ruled her body, demanding that she cease her struggles. Darkness crept into the corners of her vision. It'd be so easy to give in. All she'd have to do is let it overtake her, but she refused. She was not going to give up now—not when she was so close. The sun guided her path; she let its light keep the darkness at bay. Though every inch was a struggle, she continued to gain ground in her reach for the top of the sky.

The bright shaft of sunlight illuminated her small form, framing her against the mountain. Though her shadow remained fixed in place on the ground, her body continued to climb. Her pace wasn't steady. She was slowing down.

The pain in her left wing made it difficult to move. At first, it felt like dipping a hoof into scalding butter, but now it felt like she was trying to weed thistle plants using only her tongue. She favored her good wing as much as she could, but she couldn't rely on it alone. Technically, it was possible to fly with one wing, but that was about as easy and practical as hopping on one hoof uphill in a snowstorm while wearing skis. Every little bit of power she could get out of her injured side was essential.

Scootaloo's heart filled with dread as she watched the clouds dangle just above her. She'd go up, then down, up, then down. She wasn't getting any closer to them and she was dangerously close to collapsing permanently.

On the ground, her shadow wavered between two objects. To its right was the broken and busted wheel. Her poor scooter had met a tragic end, dying young in a forceful impact on the sharp, jagged rocks. Scootaloo had ignored the bad omens, and this was the fate that destiny had in store for her.

But on the left, the sunflower was unfurling slowly. Defying fate, the plant opened up to show the world that even in the most impossible of situations, there can still be hope.

Scootaloo wavered. The smallest of nudge could send her in either direction.

The sun that guided her was too bright. Scootaloo winced and its image could still be seen as floating spots against her eyelids. This action caused her to veer, and she shifted to the right. She opened her eyes and struggled on, but she could not go up. It was almost as if the bright light from the sun was pushing her back, keeping her down. It was like her relationship with her mother.

The Sun Princess was a huge alicorn beloved by all. Scootaloo was a nopony. Nothing she could do could ever hope to shine as brightly as that. She was nothing more than a blemish on the sun's surface. Perhaps it would be better off without her...

She'd come so close to the clouds, but the pain was too much. She was no more capable of denying fate than her mother was. Scootaloo lowered her head and raised a hoof to cover her eyes. She didn't want to watch as she fell.

When she brought her hoof up, she heard a tap and felt the tug of a strap on her chin. She'd hit her hoof on her helmet—her birthday present—her gift from...

“Sweetie Belle” Scootaloo's eyes popped open. It was like somepony poured ice water down her back. In her haze of pain it was hard to think clearly, but she knew that Sweetie Belle was her friend and that she'd be terribly upset if Scootaloo allowed herself to fall to her death. That little nudge was enough to fuel a fresh round of determination. She looked back up and glared at the sun, flailing her wings as hard as she could. Since her right wing was stronger, she veered towards the left.

“I can do this,” She told herself. That's not how she felt, but she tried her best. Scootaloo gnashed her teeth and focused on flying. She was up here to prove that she could fly. There would be no more delays, no more second-guessing herself, no more pausing. It was just her and the sky, and she'd never give up or die trying.

Flailing at the sky, Scootaloo shut her eyes; the pain was so great that she saw spots in her vision. Flailing her good wing was working: she could almost touch the clouds, but it was also exhausting. She panted and huffed and her mouth and throat felt dry.

A thin wisp of cloud brushed her face and her eyes popped open. It was like running into a dew-laden cobweb. The hole in the clouds was right there. She just had to get through it.

Scootaloo struggled and clawed at the sky with her good wing. She glistened with sweat and her face was red. Her left wing had almost stopped working. She wasn't certain it was helping, though she kept moving it despite the pain. All she had to do was get up a little further and she could grab the edge, though with only one working wing her motion was erratic and she bobbed up and down just out of reach.

The exertion got to her, and her good wing was sore and slowing down. Pain permeated her limb and soaked it through. Her muscle felt like jelly. She'd come so close, and now she was sinking...

“No!” Scootaloo screamed and forced her wings—both of them—into a flurry of motion. Painful spots blurred her vision and black nothingness crept in from the sides. She was literally blinded by pain.

Paff.

Scootaloo wasn't certain if she'd passed out or if her mind had blocked her memory, but the next thing she remembered was staring a sea of white. She gasped for breath so hard that a stitch in her side jabbed at her with each breath. Her heart pounded in a frenzied zeal. Her wings were a throbbing mass of muted pain; she dared not move them.

As her body wound down and the haze in her mind receded, she suddenly realized where she was—and what she'd accomplished.

“I-I...” Scootaloo lifted a hoof. Her whole leg trembled and shook. She collapsed face-first on the fluff. Tears streamed down her cheeks. “I did it.”

She'd flown.

There was no denying her victory. Her body might ache and complain, there might be nothing but empty clouds, but it was worth every last bit of effort just to be up here. All of her failures had finally come to an end.

She remained still. Lying there with her head in the clouds, she knew that she'd never be the same pony that she was before. No, she'd still be Scootaloo, of course, but nopony could call her 'chicken' ever again—not without looking foolish, anyway. It was a silly victory, but it put a smile on her face.

The act of smiling moved her parched lips. Curious, she stuck her tongue out. The cloud tasted like humid nothing. Its moisture didn't appease her thirst. Scootaloo frowned. She didn't want to worry about that now. Instead, she rolled over and looked up at the sun. Her motion jostled her numerous sore spots, but the cloud surface was as gentle as a hammock sewn from sunshine.

It felt good to look up at the sun again. It might not be perfect, but it was still amazing. She loved the way its warmth touched her cheeks. Its radiance bathed her whole body from the tip of her tiny muzzle to the tingling in her flanks to the ratty ends of her violet tail. Alone atop the clouds, she was the only pony to enjoy it. At that moment, the sun shone only for her.

“...”

Scootaloo's ears would have perked up if they weren't confined in her helmet. She thought she'd heard a voice somewhere beneath her. It was tempting to just lay there and enjoy the sky, but she would have to get down eventually and she couldn't imagine trying to do that without help.

Spurred into painful motion, she crawled over to hole she'd come through. She drew a short breath when she realized just how high up she was. Shaking her head to clear it, she called out, “Hello? I'm up he–”

Perhaps fate wanted one last jab at her; at that moment, the hole closed up and cut her off mid-sentence. Scootaloo felt a pang of fear. Around her, the fluffy white clouds stretched on like dunes in a desert. She could crawl over to the mountain and wait for them to disperse, but the thought of spending the night clinging to a cliff with no food, no water, and no shelter sent a shiver down her spine.

Rain

Rather than panic, though, Scootaloo just got annoyed. When this was all over, she'd have to lodge a formal complaint somewhere.

So what if the cloud blocked sound? There was more than one way to get a message through. Unbuckling her helmet, she held it out at hoof's length and dropped it. It vanished through the cloud in a puff of misty tendrils, cute little pink hearts and all. She stood there with baited breath, but should have spent that time scooting back.

The cloud erupted in front of her, knocking her over. The jarring motion sent a fresh jolt of pain through her body, and she laid on her side, gasping erratically.

“Scootaloo? Is that you?”

Scootaloo's eyes popped open at the sound of a very familiar voice. “Rainbow Dash! Boy am I glad to see you!” She twisted around, wincing as she did so, and stood up to greet her honorary sister.

“Wow. I never expected to find you up here.” Rainbow Dash held out the helmet. “This is yours, I take it?”

“Yes, thank you.” Scootaloo grabbed it and, lacking any other place to put it, strapped it back on her head.

Rainbow Dash snickered. “Those little pink hearts sure are cute.”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Ugh, yeah. It was was gift from Sweetie Belle. You know how she is.”

Dash shrugged. “It looks good on you. I think she made a fine choice.”

Scootaloo frowned. She held her helmet with both hooves. “I never said I didn't like it.”

“But, uh, enough about that. What are you even doing out here? How did you get up here in the first place?” Rainbow Dash looked around. She narrowed her eyes and squinted over the rolling dunes of cloud.

Scootaloo's eyes sparkled. She put on a huge smile and even wagged her tail. “I flew up here all by myself!”

“What? No way!” Dash's eyes popped open. She flattened her lips, then pointed at Scootaloo with a sly grin. “Now this I've got to see.”

Scootaloo's mouth hung open briefly. He eyes watered and her lips started to quiver. She threw herself at Dash's feet. “Dash! You've got to believe me! I really did fly up here all by myself. I just can't do it right now because my wings are so sore a-and...” Her voice trailed off, choked off by a sob.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Calm down there, squirt. If you said you did then I believe you.” Rainbow Dash reached down to lift up Scootaloo's chin and stare into her eyes. Despite her words, Dash still had a critical look on her face.

Scootaloo fought back her tears and narrowed her bloodshot eyes. She returned the gaze with a look of defiance.

Dash couldn't help but grin. “You've sure got spunk, kid.” She opened her eyes wider and looked at Scootaloo once more, as if she were looking at a stranger. When she spoke again, her voice was much softer. “You really did fly up here all on your own.”

It wasn't a question, but Scootaloo nodded anyway.

Rainbow Dash sniffled and turned her head so Scootaloo couldn't see her face. She raised a wing and used it to wipe something from her eye. “Heh, I guess you won't be needing that thing of Twilight's after all.”

Scootaloo groaned. “Does it, by any chance, happen to look like a giant kite?”

“Huh?” Dash swung her head back. Her chin was ruffled and damp under her eye. “How did you know that?”

“Uh... lucky guess?” She hurt too much to shrug, so Scootaloo had to settle with grinning.

Dash tapped her chin, then shrugged. Twilight had wanted to keep it secret, but there were so many ponies coming and going from the castle over that water thing that any one of them could have spilled the secret. If Scootaloo didn't want to reveal who told her, that was her business. Besides, she had another question she really wanted to ask.

Rainbow Dash frowned then tapped on her chin. She was probably wondering how Scootaloo knew so much.

Quickly changing the subject, Scootaloo pointed at a bulge in Dash's saddlebags. “What's that?”

Rainbow Dash blinked, drawn out of her thoughts. “This?” She bit the lightning bolt clasp to pop it open and stuffed her muzzle inside. She pulled out a round, metallic container and held it out in front of her. “Sorry, but it's not a birthday present. It's just a canteen that Twilight gave me. She didn't want us to go thirsty while they were still working on fixing the water at her—”

Scootaloo was so thirsty that she didn't even bother to ask. The canteen was tantalizingly close and full of blessed water. She snatched the bottle from Dash's grip and popped the cork with her teeth.

“Hey!” Dash snorted as the wooden stopper fell through the cloud. She furrowed her brow. “What's the big idea? You...uh...”

Scootaloo didn't care. She just drank. The water was warm and metallic and stale and the best thing she had ever tasted in her entire life. Even after guzzling the whole thing, she held her tongue out and shook the canteen, trying to get every last drop.

“Huh. I guess you really were thirsty.” Dash put a hoof on Scootaloo's shoulder. “It's still a lot better if you ask, kiddo. I might have wanted some too.”

“Sorry.” Scootloo frowned as she passed the empty container back, which Dash put away.

Shrugging, Dash snapped the clasp shut. “Eh, don't worry about it. What I really want to know is this: how did you do it? How did you finally figure out how to fly? I mean, I'm glad Fluttershy was wrong and all, but from what she said it sounded impossible.”

“Well...” Scootaloo perked up, but her words stalled on her lips. The question brought back to mind her time in the starry realm with her mother. She wasn't ready to confide something like that to Rainbow Dash yet. “How did you know it was my birthday, anyway?”

“Fluttershy told me and—” Dash blinked. She frowned. “Hey! Don't change the subject. C’mon! I really want to know.”

“It's... well...” Scootaloo had a hard time gathering her thoughts with the older pegasus hovering in front of her gnawing at the ends of her hooves. Scootaloo glanced back at her wings. “I finally realized that my wings are a lot stronger when I'm moving forward than when I was I trying to go up. So all I had to do was just approach the problem from the right direction.”

“What? Really?” Rainbow Dash flew in close and squinted at Scootaloo's back. “That's strange. I've never heard of anything like that before.”

Scootaloo narrowed her eyes. “Well it's true. I even did the math and everything.”

“What? I'm not doubting you, squirt. They're your wings, after all. It's just odd, is all. Hmm...” Dash rubbed her chin. “Unidirectional wingpower... That's got to make it hard to steer.”

Scootaloo shuddered. “Uh, yeah. I noticed.”

Dash laughed. “Don't worry about it. The finer points of control aren't something just anypony can learn in a day. It takes a lot of time and practice to get right. It might look easy from watching us adults, but it really isn't. You have to keep in mind that most pegasi fly every day, so we're all very experienced.”

Scootaloo sat down and looked up at Rainbow Dash with rapt attention.

Dash blinked. “Oh, sorry. I've been studying too much and that kinda slipped out.”

“Huh?”

With a huge smile on her face, Rainbow Dash placed a hoof on her honorary sister's shoulder. “I think it's about time that I gave you your birthday present.”

“What? But you said you didn't have anything.”

“What? No. I said the canteen wasn't it. Here, check this out.” Rainbow Dash rummaged through her saddlebags and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. It was pink, floppy, and had serrated edges. It had a single blue balloon printed in one corner and had a white streak down the center that looked suspiciously like frosting.

Scootaloo snorted. “A napkin? You got me a used napkin?”

Dash's eyes popped open. She spat it out and grinned sheepishly. “Whoops. Sorry, that wasn't it.” She went back to rummaging through her saddlebags and pulled out a scroll which she unfurled while holding it in her mouth.

Scootaloo squinted her eyes to read it in the bright sunlight. “It's... uh...” She looked up. “You're a certified coach?”

“Yep!” Dash caught the piece of paper and rolled it up, carefully placing it back in her saddlebags. “I finally finished the course today. That little certificate proves that I'm qualified to be a fitness instructor. You can expect to see a lot more of me around the schoolhouse now.”

“Uh, that's great and all, but—”

“It also means that I can offer private tutoring for most physical exercises. This includes flying lessons.”

“Really?” Scootaloo's eyes sparkled.

“Yep! And since it's official and all, you won't have to worry about going away for flight camp, either. Not that there's anything wrong with that, mind you. It's just that I thought you'd be happier if you could stay in town closer to your friends. Speaking of which, heh, I have plenty of exercises lined up for them too. I'll keep them busy enough that you won't have to worry about leaving them out or turning flying practice into a spectator sport. By the time I'm through with you, you'll all be honed athletes.”

“Thank you! Thank you so much! This is the best birthday present I could have hoped for!”

“Yeah. I know I'm awesome.” Dash leaned back, hovering in the air. She snickered and plopped down next to Scootaloo, who grabbed Dash for a great, big hug. Her eyes popped open and she glanced around, then leaned down to give Scootaloo a warm nuzzle. “Aw, Scoots, you're awesome too. I can't wait to tell the others what you did today. Hey—you wanna race?”

“Race?” Twisting around to look at her back, Scootaloo's wings twitched and she winced. She gritted her teeth. “Uh...”

“What?” Rainbow Dash grabbed a wing and Scootaloo yelped. “Whoa, sorry. You really did a number on them. How did you even...?” Looming far above them, the mountain's ice-capped peak glinted in the sunlight. “Wait, so the first thing you did when you learned to fly is try to conquer Deadpony Peak?” Despite herself, Rainbow Dash couldn't help but chuckle. Scootaloo frowned. “Aw, kid, I'm not laughing at you. It takes a lot of guts to try something like that even for experienced flyers. There's fierce wind up there that can slam you into the mountain and bust you up pretty good. They don't call this Deadpony Peak for nothing. To make an attempt on your first flight.” Rainbow Dash whistled. “Now that's what I call some serious spunk.”

Scootaloo grinned sheepishly and rubbed at her mane. “Uh... yeah. That's totally what I was doing.”

“Don't worry, kiddo, you'll get there someday. Heh. When I'm done with you, we can race to the top!” Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes and smacked her hooves together. “But for now, let's get back to our friends, okay? They're going to love hearing about this!” Rainbow Dash hopped up and grabbed Scootaloo, wrapping her foreleg around the filly's chest. Before Scootaloo could even blink, Rainbow Dash flipped backwards and dove straight down with a leg outstretched.

The twisting motions disoriented Scootaloo, but she had time to wince and bury her face in Dash's chest before they hit the cloud. It went poomf, and she felt like she'd been buffeted by air vacuumed out of refrigerators. A sinking knot twisted in her gut as Rainbow Dash accelerated, flying down with tremendous force. The wind whipped at her face, beating her with invisible punches. She longed to open her wings and fight against the descent, but also feared what would become of them in this wind.

“Daaaablbl—” Scootaloo tried to say something, but it was a mistake to open her mouth. Her cheeks billowed out and flopped in the relentlessly driving wind; her eyelids fluffed out as well. Dash's outstretched hoof whistled in the wind. A sonic bubble formed, rippling out like a fountain. As she continued to accelerate, the bubble elongated and constricted into a cone.

Despite her best efforts to keep her wings closed, Scootaloo's right one got caught in the wind and started flopping around. Thankfully, that was her less-injured side but it was still enough to send streams of tears out of the corners of her eyes. Scootaloo had to get Dash to slow down, and did the only thing she could think of: punch Dash in the chest.

Dash made a strange noise. They slowed down abruptly and the sonic field wrapped around her leg sprang back, tossing both of them back up like a giant spring. Dash let go, and Scootaloo tumbled freely. She had most of the wind knocked out of her, but still managed to scream.

“I got you!”

Legs wrapped around her, two this time, and her erratic motion was brought to an abrupt halt. Rainbow Dash didn't try anything fancy this time and simply lowered her to the ground. Rainbow Dash panted as she hit the ground. They were still outside of town standing next to a groove gouged through the earth. The grass was damp and a light breeze blew through the air, bending the stems of poppies.

“Dash, that was really rough. What were you doing?” Scootaloo asked.

“Uh, well, I wanted it to be a surprise but you slipped at the last moment.” Dash averted her eyes and frowned. “I guess I should have known better than to try a sonic rainboom while carrying somepony.”

“A sonic rainboom!?” Scootaloo mentally kicked herself for interrupting Dash. “That would have been so cool.”

“Yeah, and I almost had it too! I guess the surprise is ruined now, but if you're feeling up for it, we can try again sometime.”

“You bet!” Scootaloo reared up in excitement. Her eyes popped open when something wet smacked her in the nose. She blinked and both ponies looked around as the ground made pattering noises and droplets splattered on their hides. “It's raining!? Oh, come on! It was supposed to be a bright and sunny day!”

Raindow Dash winced and stared up at the sky. “Oh right, the weather... I, uh, kinda forgot I was supposed to take care of that today. Fluttershy told me it was your birthday, and then we all got together at Twilight's—”

“Dash!” Scootaloo covered her face with a foreleg to keep the rain out of her eyes. With her other hoof, she pointed up. “Can't you, well, you know.”

“What, are you kidding? I can take care of that in ten seconds flat!” Rainbow Dash launched herself off the ground like a cyan missile. Even in the rain, Scootaloo was buffeted by a cloud of dust. A rainbow streak tore through the clouds in a sewing pattern. The serrations perforated the stratus sheet, creating rows of tiny sunbeams. Dash dove low, then reversed, flying up and carrying a mass of air behind her. This wasn't a pony, but a living gale.

“Wow.” Scootaloo's jaw dropped as she watched Rainbow work.

When the gale hit the cloud layer, it split apart along the perforations and peeled back like the lid of a sardine can. Dash swooped down and kicked it, sending the entire mass rolling. When it hit the mountain, the entire thing dissipated in a puff. The sun shone down from directly overhead and the wind calmed. There was a brief moment of silence, as nature itself was confused at the change of weather. Then birds started chirping and a flock of butterflies flew by. One landed on Scootaloo's nose.

That didn't last long, as it flew off when Rainbow Dash thudded to the ground. She landed on three hooves and with her wings spread wide. She held the forth hoof above her to strike a cool pose. “Oh yeah! Ten seconds flat! Nopony can clear the sky faster than—”

In less than two seconds, the sun plummeted beneath the horizon and the moon popped up. Rainbow Dash's left eye twitched.

Scootaloo couldn't help herself and burst out laughing. Princess Celes—er, her mother, sure had impeccable timing. Of course, seeing the moon in the sky reminded her of the long day she'd had and just how tired she was.

Once Rainbow Dash stopped blinking, she snickered as well. “Yeah, that was pretty funny. Say, uh, Scootaloo, I guess this means that we should... Scootaloo?” Rainbow Dash stopped. The little filly had curled up and was softly snoozing. “Asleep already? Well, I guess you did have a big day, even if I didn't know what you did for most of it. We can talk to your friends tomorrow. C'mon, kiddo. Let's get you home.”

And with that, Rainbow Dash gently picked up the sleeping filly and flew her back to Ponyville.

Epilogue: Fossilized Rainbow

The next afternoon, Scootaloo glumly stared at splintered and broken piles of scooter parts. The clubhouse was still decorated with streamers and confetti, but she hadn't the heart to clean it up. Her friends probably would have, but they were busy at school. Scootaloo, however, had spent most of the day at the hospital. She frowned at the fresh set of casts on her wings. The door creaked open, and her ears perked up.

“Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, boy am I glad to see you!”

“Scootaloo! You have to tell us all about—, uh, is that you scooter?” Sweetie Belle pointed at the piles of scrap on the table.

Apple Bloom ran over and stuck her face close to the remains. Her eyes watered and and she frowned deeply. “Aw, ya broke it.”

“Sorry, Apple Bloom. I was going to see if I could put it back together, but most of the pieces are so badly smashed up that I'd have to replace them altogether.”

Sweetie Belle levitated a warped axle and the bent handlebars. “Is there anything that's still usable?”

“Uh, it's not a complete loss...” Scootaloo shuffled through the pile and held up a loose wheel. It was only mildly dented. “While I was picking up the pieces, I did find a yummy sunflower.”

“How'd you smash it up so badly? It looks like ya dropped it off a cliff.”

Scootaloo blinked. “Well... that's basically what happened. I used it launch myself when I went flying and, uh, I kinda dropped it.”

“Flying!? Are the rumors really true? Did ya soar to top of Deadpony Peak and fight off hordes of sky pirates for the lost treasure buried at the top?” Wagging her tail, Apple Bloom reared up and put her hooves on the table, knocking some of the scrap metal off. Sweetie Belle dropped the stuff she was holding and scootched closer too.

“Pah! The sky pirates were nothing compared to the windigoes, and that wasn't even the hardest part. At the very peak, guarding the treasure, a yeti wanted me answer a riddle or he'd gobble me up!”

“Yeti? Don't you mean sphinx? Those are the ones who do the question thing. Yetis just leave big footprints or something,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Uh, right, it was a sphinx wearing a big coat that made it look like a yeti.”

“What was the riddle?” Apple Bloom asked.

“It... well...” Scootaloo made a swishing motion through the air with a hoof, as if she were punching a ghost. “The answer was a well placed snowball that knocked it off the edge. If I hadn't sprained my wings trying to haul the treasure away before it climbed back up, I could have gotten away with it too!”

Both of her friends giggled at the tall tale. Scootaloo grinned and a sparkle lit her eyes. It felt so good to be able to sit down, relax, and have fun with her friends. In a way, nothing had happened. She was still the same, excitable filly she'd always been. Yet... just lurking under her surface was a huge can of worms that could soil any amount of baked goods. Celestia insisted that she get things out in the open, but looking into the bright and cheery faces of her closest friends, she knew she couldn't risk losing them. She'd tell them someday, but not anytime soon. Those worms would stay bottled inside of her as long as possible.

A rap on the clubhouse door snapped Scootaloo back to the present. “Who is it?”

“It's me, Spike.”

“Spike!” Scootaloo's ears perked up. “Come on in!”

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle stepped aside to make way for the little dragon. “Hey, Scootaloo, do you think you could help me with...” His voice trailed off and stared at the casts on her sides.

“Is something wrong?” Scootaloo asked.

“Sorry, I didn't know you'd hurt your wings. Are you all right?”

“My wings? Yeah, they'll be fine. I really sprained them hard with all that flying I did yesterday.” She took a deep breath and sighed. “At first I was scared because I woke up last night and they felt like they were on fire, but Pipe Down took me to the hospital and they put some kind of ointment on them that felt like liquid ice. That stopped the swelling, and after some examinations they put the casts on. Thankfully, wings heal quickly so I can take them off tomorrow. Still, I'll want to ease off using my wings for a few more days. Rainbow Dash is going to be disappointed that we can't start flying lessons right away, but after yesterday, I think I've earned a few days rest.”

“Flying?” Spike blinked. “Oh right, you can do that now.”

“Yep! I flew all on my own for the very first time yesterday!”

“Wow, congratulations.” Spike turned his head and glanced out the door. “But I guess if your wings are injured, I'll have to find somepony else to help.”

“Wait. What do you want help with?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Well...” Spike leaned up to Apple Bloom and whispered, “I think Twilight's castle is haunted.”

“Haunted?”

“Yeah, remember when we gathered together yesterday, and I felt that cold chill on my shoulder, and the chalk moved by itself—”

“That sounds like magic,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Oh! That does make more sense. I wonder who...? Anyway, I spent a lot of time building a giant kite. Since you don't need it, I wanted to try taking it for a spin myself. I asked Blossomforth for whip up a breeze for me, but she refused, stating that it was far too big and I'd get carried off. Celestia had said that you were good at whipping up winds too, Scootloo, but since you're injured I'll just ask Rainbow Dash.” He turned to leave.

Scootaloo blinked. Of all the things that had happened yesterday, that bit with the giant kite had made the least sense. Celestia never did things without reason, but sometimes her motives never became clear. Still, Scootaloo felt as if it was important, so she opted to delay Spike and give herself some more time to think. “Wait a minute, Spike. I have something for you.”

“You do?”

In the corner of the room, Scootaloo opened her drawer and picked out three of her glassy, blue rocks. “Yep. Actually, it's for all of you.” Stones in hoof, she passed them out.

Sweetie Belle held her piece up to the light. “What is this? Some kind of weird gemstone?”

“Actually, It's fossilized rainbow.”

“Rainbow? But it's blue. Where are the other colors?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Uh, this is just the blue part of the rainbow. They come in all colors.”

Spike licked his lips. “It looks tasty to me.”

“Are you sure about that, Spike, because rainbow—”

Not listening, Spike tossed the glassy blue shard in his mouth and chomped it down. “Hmm, not ba—aaaah!” As if he'd been dipped in a vat of ink, blue color washed out his green scales and purple spines. He grabbed his throat and let out a huge plume of azure flame. The Cutie Mark Crusaders hit the deck, sliding up against the walls and scrambling to get out of the way. “S-s-spicy!” Spike jumped out the door and made a mad dash towards the creek.

“Is he all right?” Apple Bloom asked.

Scootaloo shrugged. “He's a dragon; I'm sure he'll be fine.”

Sweetie Belle stuck her head out the window.  “I hope so. That looked pretty strong, even for him.”

“Should we follow him?” Apple Bloom asked. She glanced between Sweetie Belle and the open door.

Scootaloo walked past and stepped outside. She was going to shimmy down the rope ladder, but paused at the threshold. There, on the ground, was the giant kite. It was of simple construction, but had orange canvas and was decorated around the edges with the cutie marks of Twilight and her friends. In the center was a black silhouette of a filly wearing a cape, the symbol of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. It really did look large enough to carry off several ponies. Lying next to that was the wagon they used when she wanted to haul her friends around with her scooter.

Something clicked, and Scootaloo gasped. Back in the starry realm, Celestia had specifically shown her an image where she was hauling her friends. When she did the math, she carried the two.

“Is something wrong, Scootaloo?” Apple Bloom asked.

“No way! Things are more right than they've ever been in my whole life! I figured out what the kite is for. Apple Bloom, do you think you could find a way to hook the kite up to the wagon so that I could carry you two when I go flying?”

“What?” Apple Bloom scrunched up her fuzzy face and tapped on her chin. “Well, Ah guess. We could sit in the wagon and hold the rope—no, it'd just fall out from under us.” She walked over to the table and cleared a corner off to make room for her notebook. “Let's see... Ah could tie the kite to the wagon, but we'd have to hold it up to get started, and if yer in front and the kite's way behind us...” She crossed out the scribbles she'd been making and wrote in a new set of numbers. “Maybe if Ah put the wagon on top the kite? But we'd need some wheels to hold it up until it got off the ground.”

Scootaloo stared over Apple Bloom's shoulder while she worked the numbers and wrote out a list of the supplies that they'd need. “Apple Bloom, are you sure you're bad a math?”

“What! Of course Ah am! It's math! Nopony uses that stuff!” Apple Bloom tapped on the table a few times. “Hmm... According to my calculations, Ah'll need more nails. We almost used them up in that birdhouse project.”

Scootaloo locked eyes with Sweetie Belle, who shrugged.

The pile of busted scooter parts on the table made her feel empty inside. She hadn't really thought about it before, but if she managed to get this flying thing down pat, she wouldn't even need her scooter anymore. That was a scary thought. Scootaloo without her scooter? She'd always known that she'd outgrow it someday, but had no idea that such a day was going to come so soon. She was really going to miss that thing.

“Scootaloo, may I ask why you want to use the kite? What's wrong with a regular sky chariot?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“It's, well...” That was a good question, but Scootaloo had her answer as soon as she tried to envision herself pulling one. “Uh, my wings, they have ooni—loony—” she blinked “—one-directional wingpower. I'd have to pull one of those straight up and you'd fall out. With a kite, that'll provide it's own lift from my breeze and we could fly at a much more level angle.”

“I see...” Sweetie Belle whispered in Apple Bloom's ear, who scribbled the words 'seatbelts' and 'steering' in the margin of her notebook.

Sitting next to Apple Bloom, her chunk of fossilized rainbow cast a watery shadow on the wooden table. Staring at the rock brought to mind the place that it had been taken from. “Sweetie Belle, do you think that you could manage a shield spell?” Scootaloo asked.

“A shield spell? Me?” Sweetie looked incredulous. “That's pretty advanced magic. I can barely lift a broom.”

“Well, not now, but eventually. Apple Bloom's got to get that wagon-kite thing working, and I've got a lot of flying practice to do before I'll be ready to start taking passengers.”

“What's all this about, anyway?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Yeah, it sounds like you have something in mind,” Sweetie Belle said.

“I—” Scootaloo blinked “—um, found a super-awesome place hidden behind a rainbow, but the only way to get there is if we all work together. It's well worth the effort! After all, you won't find rainbows frozen in stone anyplace else.” For emphasis, she pointed at the glassy shard on the table.

“Huh.” Apple Bloom cocked her head.

“That does sound exciting!” Sweetie Belle clapped her hooves. “It may take some extra studying, but I'd love to see a place like that! Oh! Speaking of crystals, Cheerilee's arranging a field trip to the Crystal Empire in three weeks.”

“She is?” Scootaloo raised an eyebrow.

“Uh, yeah.” Apple Bloom rummaged in her mane and pulled out a piece of paper. “That reminds me, I have to get Granny Smith to sign my permission slip. We'll be going on a full tour of the palace including the barracks with all the guards, and after that we can use the stadium for our own, junior version of the Equestrian games. It sounds pretty excitin'.”

Scootaloo's heart lurched and she turned away to hide her face against the wall. Dad... after all this time, I'll finally get to see him. She struggled to hold back her emotions, but they simply poured out, running down her cheeks. It was one thing to think of him as an abstract concept, but he was going to appear in the flesh, in front of her. Dare she tell him the truth? How would he react? Would he want her? Could he be trusted to keep her secret?

Her heart pounded with anticipation and dread. Thoughts flooded her mind. She really knew nothing about him, but he was her father. They were so close, yet divided by a chasm of secrecy and time. That chasm might never be mended, but this was an opportunity to build a bridge. Whoever her father was, he was bound to be awesome. Mom, thank you.

“Scootaloo, are you crying?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“What!? No! Uh, I mean, I bumped my wing aaaand it hurt a lot more than I thought it would.” Scootaloo grinned.

Sweetie Belle raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment further, for which Scootaloo was grateful. With all of the excitement, she didn't think she could hold it all in if she was pressured further.

“Shouldn't Spike have been back by now?” Apple Bloom asked.

Sweetie Belle ran over to a window. “Uh... Wait, I see him. He's still blue.” She winced. “And he just walked into a tree.”

“Ouch. We'd better go see if we can help him.” Apple Bloom perked up. “Hey! That's an idea: we can be Cutie Mark Crusader Dragon Caretakers!” She ran out the door and slid down the ladder.

Scootaloo smiled. This was a great day. Stepping back out into the air, she looked up at the vast expanse of blue sky. Sure, her wings were hurt now, but once they healed—

Her chest tightened up and she drew short breaths. Sweat beaded and rolled down her paling hide. With the force of an iron cage slamming shut, visions of her flight wrapped around her mind. Sharp rocks awaited beneath her, as she hung far up in the air with nothing to grip, nothing to stop her from falling. Her ears rang with splintering of her scooter. It sounded like the crunch of bone. And the pain... Her whole world was pain.

“Scootaloo!” Jarring motion snapped her back into the present, and she found herself staring into Sweetie Belle's big, green eyes. “Are you okay? You look like you saw a ghost.”

“Uh, yeah.” Scootaloo gulped. “I'll just... be flying low for a while.”

“Well, that does sound sensible. Now come on! We have to help Spike.” Sweetie Belle climbed down the ladder.

Scootaloo lingered a while longer. Looking down, it was only yesterday morning that the biggest fall she faced was off off this very platform. She never thought she'd be reminiscent about that. Clenching her eyes shut, she climbed down the ladder without looking at the ground or the sky.

What just happened? She'd felt fear before, but never something so visceral and raw. That was going to be a serious problem. If that kept happening, she might never fly again and all her plans would be for naught.

No. Scootaloo grit her teeth. It's just fear. It's not real. I refuse to let it control me.

She needed a goal to distract herself, and she had one. There was one thing that she hadn't told her friends about the rainbow cavern, and that was the fact that it's the best place to divulge secrets. Her mother had wanted her to get things out in the open, but she needed to work herself up for that first. And she would. She'd work herself harder than she ever had in her entire life. ♥

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