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.” Next Chapter: Carry the Two Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour