Skyview city appeared.

Though calling it a city, singular, was a bit of an understatement. Skyview famously had undergone efforts to expand in large scale, a number of times, over many centuries. Its inhabitants however, seizing the advantage of living in a cloud city, hadn’t shown all too much regard for the constraint of physical dimensionality. The resulting metropolis was more like a loose stack of cities built on top of each other, three copious levels impaled on a gargantuan cloud pillar, exhibiting testimony to the passage of millennia from bottom to top.

“It looks really cool,” Scootaloo had described it so aptly.

Accordingly dense was the traffic, both commerce as well as tourism, but there was more than ample room to handle it all. Fluttershy got directed toward a landing platform at the very bottom, in the shade of the cities far above

They touched down among several other arrivals. This was noticeably the largest terminal along the city boundaries, and apparently meant for light travellers and small carts only.

“Wow! Look how many ponies there are,” Scootaloo said, “where are they all going?”

“Maybe in there,” Fluttershy said.

Beyond the terminal building rose the cityscape. Quite literally in fact, there was much cloudstock and air traffic above, prominently circling more densely around the cloud pillar, which was sprouting the subsequent city into the sky.

Scootaloo’s hind legs loosened as Fluttershy undid her boot straps.

Oh, right. She hadn’t even thought about that.

The platform floor was pleasantly smooth, and you could actually stand upon it. It wasn’t cloud marble, but actual stone marble. There was a fair share of earth ponies and unicorns among the passersby, and neither scarce was the sight of claws, scales, antlers, beaks, antennae, and other nameless exotica.

Fluttershy and Scootaloo traversed the terminal quickly. They carried no wares to tariff and fluttershy’s bags contained only light provisions. There were storage lockers however, perfect for stashing the saddle and their travel scarves.

“Ahh,” Fluttershy sighed deeply, shaking out her mane and her tail before quickly checking and preening her feathers.

Scootaloo also attempted to shake out her tail, but the sheer amount of clothing made her movement end up more like a confused stumble. Fluttershy fortunately came to the rescue and adjusted Scootaloo’s collar, before reaching back and smoothing the denim short skirt back down over her flank.

“Thanks, Fluttershy,” Scootaloo said, “I’m glad I didn’t freeze out there, thanks to all this gear.“ She hadn’t understood why she couldn’t wear her own clothes, but the incessant wind made her realize quickly.

“I figured I’d choose for you this time,” Fluttershy said, “Travelling long distance isn’t a matter of dressing heavily, but of dressing smartly. I didn’t have a spare coat for you, but the jacket and skirt do the trick against the wind. A set of properly knit wool underclothes to keep your temperature up comfortably, and that’s all you need for your first time.”

Fluttershy was right. Though it restricted Scootaloo’s tail movement more than anything, the thick wool pantyhose kept her hind legs wondrously warm.

“I just don’t get why it has to be this queer shade of light red,” Scootaloo said.

“Light red?” Fluttershy said.

“Yeah, light red,” Scootaloo said. It was light red. Totally. Not pink at all.

“Okay, then, light red,” Fluttershy giggled. That obviously meant she agreed.

The deafening babble fell away. They exited the echoing terminal halls onto the entrance plaza. Almost everypony seemingly had somewhere to go, but there also were many places to go. Workshops, artisans, shops and merchants openly pursued their crafts half-spilled onto the street, like in the olden days of history, housed in constructions reiterating the mentality, complete with the squat south-east Equestrian classical pegasus architecture. To increase the appearance of antiquity, every building was utterly adorned with rows of fake prayer ornaments of the Gothic keeps.

Ponies of ancient eras likely wouldn’t have tried this hard to seem like ponies of ancient eras.

“I could really drink a coffee about now,” Fluttershy said. A sizeable amount of everypony was streaming into a huge cantina.

“I thought you didn’t drink coffee?” Scootaloo said.

“I don’t often,” Fluttershy said, “but isn’t a vacation the perfect opportunity to do things you usually don’t?”

The inside smelled strongly of sweat and spices. Small, seemingly random tables filled out the massive hall, stretching the fantasy of a cozy little restaurant to a bare thread. Everypony was happily eating and chattering all around, and the food did look pretty good.

Fluttershy and Scootaloo had barely taken their seat, and a waiter had already materialized to take their order.

“I’ll have a coffee and a glass of water, please,” Fluttershy said.

“I’ll also have a cof-” Scootaloo said.

“She’ll have a hot chocolate, with whipped cream, if possible,” Fluttershy said. The waiter was already attending another table, but signalled her order confirmed.

“I think you should have something sweet and yummy,” Fluttershy preempted Scootaloo’s question, “to make the day more fun. I’d love to take a comfortable stroll through the streets and do some sightseeing. Skyview looks to be a really interesting place.”

“A stroll?” Scootaloo groaned, “Isn’t that like, super lame?”

She was beginning to feel pretty foolish.

Had Fluttershy forgotten the whispered promise? Had Scootaloo dreamt that whole thing? Because it would make her feel fairly stupid if she had.

“I believe it’ll be quite fun,” Fluttershy said, “you’ll see, you’ll enjoy it. And it will be informative as well. Miss Cheerilee had hoped that you should also learn something.”

That shut Scootaloo up quickly.

“But I thought this trip had been your idea, Fluttershy,” she mumbled.

“Well, it was me who had brought it up initially,” Fluttershy said, “but everypony else thought it was such a good idea, they promptly went along with it. Miss Cheerilee said it would do you good to get out of Ponyville for a change.”

“I don’t want to talk about Miss Cheerilee right now,” Scootaloo said. There were rather many scratches on the table. Must have been at least a hundred under her hoof alone. “Figures they’d want to get rid of me, though.”

“Nopony wants to get rid of you, Scootaloo,” Fluttershy said, “In fact, everypony has been trying to be quite supportive. Mister Home Stead has even given me some money that I’m supposed to give to you as a daily allowance. I’m keeping the money, though. I don’t believe you should need to worry about such things.”

Scootaloo should not worry? She didn’t think she’d ever heard those words in that order.

The drinks arrived. An elegant cup of perfectly smooth, pitch black, steaming coffee, and a large glass of water, for Fluttershy. The rich smoky fragrance laid like a blanket on the senses, and the mere thought of imbibing such immaculately roasted brew was enough to make your mouth water.

Fluttershy lifted the cup to her lips and merely allowed the tiniest of nips to transpire. Intense aroma visibly blossomed in her essence and mellowed her travel wearied form down to the very core. Blessed be whose soul experienced the exact quip of balance bestowed by such exalted substance.

Meanwhile, Scootaloo sat there with her lame hot chocolate.

She fought through the veritable mountains of cream and took an annoyed sip of the warm drink. The sweet chocolate richness suffused her taste, and made her feel decidedly indifferent. Her stomach was conferred with a deep, calming warmth, which was, admittedly, above average in terms of pleasantness.

She took another drink from the decent beverage and let herself relax into the creamy gentleness. Her face was all warming up as she drank from the pleasant cocoa goodness, and the delectable sweet cream made her comfortable with gentle strength. She didn’t seem to get enough of the sensation.

Fluttershy giggled. Scootaloo quickly wiped her lips free of chocolate in order to appear less enthusiastic.

“You’re so different from the other grown ups, Fluttershy,” Scootaloo said.

“You’re also different from the other grown ups, Scootaloo,” Fluttershy said.

“I’m not a grown up,” Scootaloo said.

“I’m sorry, Scootaloo, but you are,” Fluttershy said.

That warranted another swig of chocolate.

“You have your cutie mark,” Fluttershy continued, “that counts for a lot.”

“Lots of ponies have their cutie mark who are younger than me,” Scootaloo said.

“You’re old enough, too,” Fluttershy said.

“It wasn’t so long ago when I wasn’t,” Scootaloo said.

“All that’s left is one thing,” Fluttershy said, “you still have to finish school. And everypony told me that they’d really like you to do that, very, very much.”

“Boy, they’re really mad I didn’t take the graduation exam, huh?” Scootaloo said.

“Scootaloo,” Fluttershy said, “you didn’t not take the graduation exam, you didn’t qualify for the graduation exam, not even close.” Serious coffee drinking. How Scootaloo hated that. “Your grades were so low, there was no way Miss Cheerilee could let you take the exam the same time as the others, without getting into trouble herself. She says the only way you’ll be able to graduate this year is by taking the Equestrian State Graduation Exam at the end of summer, where she won’t be able to help you. She gave you the materials for the exam, right?”

“Yeah. I had to take the cart because the books were so heavy,” Scootaloo sighed.

This was decent as far as scoldings went. She even got a sweet drink out of it. But this time, something was off. The instinct to shut up and put up wasn’t there. It was so weird. Scootaloo felt like every exchange with Fluttershy actually wasn’t horribly imbalanced.

“I just don’t know,” Scootaloo said, “What should I do?”

“I don’t know either,” Fluttershy said, “but we’ll figure something out.”

“I just don’t understand,” Scootaloo continued, “nothing makes any sense. Everypony keeps dumping their stuff on me. Mister Stead keeps giving me books and telling me to read them. His old textbooks from school, and stuff from the library. I can’t understand it. I haven’t even started with the exam books yet. All the dates and numbers and texts, I just don’t know what to do with them. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disappoint them. I didn’t mean to have that fight with him and his wife.”

“Yes, Scootaloo, that was also pretty dumb,” Fluttershy said, “but only because somepony does something dumb doesn’t mean that she is dumb.”

“I just couldn’t listen to him talk about my scooter like that,” Scootaloo said, “Mister Stead said that thing’s going to be my future if I keep wasting my time with it. I should be regretting lazing in the shed instead of studying. What am I to do? How else am I going to get anywhere without my scooter?”

“Everypony knows you’re an expert in scooters, Scootaloo,” Fluttershy said.

“It was the only thing that I could make sense of,” Scootaloo said. She had her work space lumbered up with books too, since she was running out of space in her room. Lots of formulas and diagrams were in those. “I really liked the book that’s about the Lombodrik force, though. That one was simple to understand. Twilight got a small crystal marble enchanted for me when I tagged along for Sweetie Belle’s magic lessons, and then I bolted together a shielding box for it. I use it as a break on my scooter. I call it the Lombodrik break. I tested it for quite a bit. Well, that’s where the last few months went anyway, when I should have been studying …”

“Um,” Fluttershy said, “you made … something. That’s nice, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Scootaloo said, “I guess so ...“

Nice. Yeah. That’s what it was. Polite of Fluttershy to appreciate the effort, even though it hadn’t been much. Scootaloo hadn’t done anything except copy from a book, after all. Nopony else had thought much of it, but at least Fluttershy had found some nice words to say.

“It’s … nice.”

Sip of her drink. Sweet mollification.

“Made a break for your scooter, huh?” Fluttershy said, “Isn’t that good? Maybe it’ll help against all the crashes.”

“Yeah … ” Scootaloo said.

“Come on,” Fluttershy said, “We’ll figure it out, together, okay? You’re almost grown up, Scootaloo. And that’s what grown ups do, after all. Figure stuff out.” She reached out and cupped Scootaloo’s forehoof in her own.

That little contact was the warmest ray of sunlight on the coldest day of rain. Fluttershy was so nice. She smiled so gently, only for Scootaloo. Scootaloo wished she could have given in to that smile.

But she lowered her head. She was almost grown up. Talking business. Eye to eye with an adult.

Well, being eye to eye was difficult when she was at least a head smaller. Scootaloo was barely level with Fluttershy’s shoulders. It strained her neck, physically, looking up to meet her gaze.

“I’m sorry I’m so stupid,” Scootaloo said.

“Scootaloo,” Fluttershy said.

“I’m sorry I have such a stupid small brain,” Scootaloo said, “that can’t think properly. And such a stupid small body and such stupid small wings, for I can’t behave properly.”

“Scootaloo,” Fluttershy said.

“I’m like a stupid big foal,” Scootaloo said, “maybe that’s all I am.”

“Scootaloo, be still,” Fluttershy said with finality.

There was familiarity in those words.

Fluttershy leaned in and began nuzzling Scootaloo’s cheek. It was like, nothing else mattered, in that moment. Fluttershy’s nose was so soft, dabbing at Scootaloo so gently and pulling away all the worries. Scootaloo’s hoof tightened around Fluttershy’s, rapidly losing its tremble.

Her ears flicked as Fluttershy gave her face a good workover. The touch of those incredibly soft lips soothed Scootaloo’s aches in a fashion that she had never thought possible. So base. So primal. There was no trace of those adult responsibilities in it, those demons hanging over her every waking moment, just longing and instinct. Fluttershy’s warm breath enveloped her neck like a lavish blanket, her own little vestige of peace in which Scootaloo could roll up and calm down.

“Feeling better?” Fluttershy said.

“I …” Scootaloo said, “I really do. Thanks, Fluttershy.”

“Here, drink up,” Fluttershy said, and Scootaloo indulged in the last of the chocolate goodness. “What you said is not true, Scootaloo. You might be different from other ponies, but that doesn’t make you a bad pony. And it doesn’t make you a stupid pony. Like I said, we’ll figure things out, together. Okay?”

“Together?” Scootaloo said, wiping her eye.

“Together,” Fluttershy affirmed, “I promise.”

Fluttershy drank up, and then they finished the glass of water together.

“Thanks for cheering me up, Fluttershy,” Scootaloo said, “it really means a lot to me.”

“You’re very welcome, Scootaloo,” Fluttershy smiled, “I just hope I didn’t embarrass you by doing that in public, where everypony could see.”

“Well I don’t care if they did,” Scootaloo proclaimed, “and, uh, I made sure that nopony was paying attention anyway.”

That sent Fluttershy giggling sweetly.

It was true, though. Nopony really had much regard for anything beyond their own table. There had been a scuffle between one of the waiters and a patron, and it was barely sufficient to tear ponies away from their newspapers and conversations for a brief covert gawk. Business partners, friends, colleagues, families. There certainly was a lot to talk about, even at the closest tables. No way Scootaloo had been caught indulging in the affection.

Many of the classical pegasus architectural tricks became apparent in managing the volume of customers in this place. Converging lines in the floor boards and support columns and the structured play of light and dark naturally guided the masses of ponies along the most efficient paths, and allowed the waiters to serve them without stressing out too hard. Skyview’s inhabitants really seemed to have many tricks up their sleeves.

The noise increased substantially when a family was seated close by. The mother had attempted to lift her foal onto a chair, but the baby whined loudly and squirmed until she was placed on the floor again.

She wanted to climb the chair herself, despite not even seeing the top of the seat. Nonetheless she struggled and fidgeted and clumsily clambered onto the furniture under her mother’s watch.

The little filly couldn’t even move her legs properly because her diaper was clearly too large. Still she succeeded, and she couldn’t have sat on that chair any more proud. She was really adorable …

Uh oh.

Scootaloo’s head snapped back to her own table. But it was too late.

Fluttershy was grinning straight at her, a glint in her eyes.

“That’s a really cute little foal, isn’t it?” Fluttershy said.

“Uh huh,” Scootaloo said, hiding behind her mane as best as she could.

“It must be kind of neat, being a cute little foal, don’t you think?” Fluttershy said.

Scootaloo didn’t bring out a word, so desperate was she to hide away.

Fluttershy came closer so she could whisper. “Do you want to have a diaper, Scootaloo?” she said.

Her flush cheeks couldn’t produce a tone, so Scootaloo nodded vigorously.

Fluttershy chuckled. “That’s what I thought,” she said, “would you say it for me, please?”

“Yes …” Scootaloo squeaked.

“Yes, what?” Fluttershy said.

“Yes,” Scootaloo whispered, “I would like to have a d … diaper. Please.”

“Then I’ll gladly help you out, Scoots,” Fluttershy giggled. She couldn’t resist frazzling Scootaloo’s mane with a hoof.

It didn’t annoy Scootaloo at all.

“I’d feared you’d forgotten,” Scootaloo breathed, her heart still beating hard.

“Oh, I didn’t forget. I promised after all, didn’t I?” Fluttershy said, “Told ya, you’d enjoy the stroll.”

“Yeah,” Scootaloo said, “Thank you again, Fluttershy. For keeping your promise.”

“You’re very welcome, Scootaloo,” Fluttershy said, “Very well then. Let’s see if we can buy some diapers around here, and then we’ll go explore Skyview city!”

Scootaloo eagerly helped clear the table. Together they departed the cantina.