“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. Next Chapter: Friends in High Places Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 6 Minutes