Note: Takes place mid season 2, but with knowledge of Scootaloo’s family from later seasons. Scootaloo’s world was falling apart around her, how long had she been lied to? It seemed obvious to her now...since she was born. She gripped tightly to the handlebars of her scooter as she took off down the road out of Ponyville, her wings beating furiously as they propelled her scooter forward as fast as they could, leaving a big dust cloud behind her. Her wings may have been starting to hurt and she didn’t know where she was going, but she didn’t care. The only thing going through her head was what she saw earlier that day. Monday 3:30pm After School “Ah’m so glad sugercube corner is opening again, as nice as granny’s apple tarts are I missed all the choice they have, plus,” Applebloom lowered her head and whispered to her fellow crusaders, “purely apple sweets and pies get boring after a while” They said leaving the school grounds, Scootaloo mounting her scooter and her friends hopping into the cart attached to it, setting course for Sugercube Corner. Scootaloo and Sweetie giggled as Sweetie chimed in, “Well I understand why they couldn’t keep it open, but now they are all settled i am looking forward to getting some gummy worms!” “A banana sundae is where it’s at, I can’t wait to have one again!” “We know” Sweetie and Applebloom spoke together. “Ya haven’t shut up about it since they closed last month” Bloom spoke with a smirk on her face, Sweetie muffling her giggles beside her. “Hey, I like their sundaes!” Scoot responded defensively pulling up at the bakery, walking up to the door as her fellow crusaders followed behind. Pushing open the door Pinkie was seen at the counter, Mr and Mrs cake sat at one of the tables with the cake twins on top chasing each other around the edge of it like they were on a tiny running track. Well hello there dears, Mrs cake spoke while Mr cake waved at them, keeping a close eye on the two foals making sure they didn’t fall off making laps of the table. “Hello Mr and Mrs cake” the cmc cheered together before Scootaloo hopped up to a stool beside the counter. “It’s so nice to be open again,” Mrs cake said, “You don’t realise how many ponies you talk to in a day, so when its all quiet you start to miss the company, though it has been nice having time to get little Pound and Pumpkin settled.” As she says this Pound blows a big raspberry at the cakes before picking up a bottle and guzzling at it. Scootaloo put her saddlebag on the counter, pulling out a bit and slid it over to Pinkie, “The usual Pinks” Pinkie who was looking dreamily at the cakes playing together snaps to attention “Coming right up Scoot. She reached under the table and pulled out Scootaloo’s requested beverage, “There you go!” Pinkie then flicked the bit from the counter like she was playing tiddlywinks, it landed in the open till draw before she closed it. Scootaloo, used to Pinkies.....odd ways didn’t bother to question how she pulled a freshly made shake from below the desk started slurping before letting out a satisfied moan as the straw popped from her mouth, followed by a burp she didn’t feel coming till it was too late. “Oh, hehe, sorry” “Better out then in” Pinkie giggled. “Now what about you two, how about a-” before Pinkie was able to ask the remaining crusaders what they wanted Pound without any warning dived off the table, both of the Cakes gasped before he took to the air, wings buzzing away. The straw Scootaloo had been twiddling around in her mouth as she was watching the twins play fell to the floor. After a few seconds of trying and failing to put a sentence together she found her voice. “H....how’s he doing that!” she spoke in a almost scared tone as her hoof pointed at him like she was pointing out the guilty party in a courtroom. Sweetie and Bloom seemed more shocked at Scootaloo’s reaction then the foals sudden flight. Pinkie was also confused, “you mean flying?” “Y-yes!” Scootaloo said, still pointing at the giggling filly that was flying round the room. Applebloom seemed to catch on to what was upsetting her, but Pinkie seemed blissfully unaware anything was wrong. “Hehe, he’s been flying rings round me since the Cakes first let me foalsit, they really do keep your hooves full!” “So he’s been flying since he was born!?” Scoot almost whined, hoof falling to the floor. It was then Pinkie finally noticed something wasn’t right, just as Bloom and Sweetie came up to Scootaloo sitting on stools beside her, “urm...Scoot you wanna head to your aunts place, you were expecting a postcard from your folks this week so let’s see if it arrived, yea?” Applebloom asked. “No...” Scootaloo mumbled. Sweetie at this point had guessed what was going on and joined in trying to settle their Pegasus friend “C’mon Scootaloo, how about I buy you a big banana shake to g-” Scootaloo who was only half listening at this point got up leaving half of her prized shake still on the counter as she walked to the door. “I’m going out, can you put the cart in the clubhouse for me?” Applebloom walked up to her, ears lowering slightly, a caring look on her face, “sure, but where are ya going?” Scootaloo looked up again at Pound Cake who was hovering by a jar of sweets, trying to pull it out as Mr and Mrs cake had ran out back to go get a ladder. Pinkie was sitting below him with a laundry hamper on her head ready to catch Pound if he were to fall, or the jar. “Out” Scootaloo mumbled. Monday 5:08pm (The Present) The wind had picked up, it was cold and felt like rain would follow so Scootaloo rummaged through her saddlebag, pulling out a purple coat, quickly putting it on. She then pulled out what looked like a orange stone, her Parents had gave it to her for her last birthday, they were given one as a gift from a ancient pony tribe while exploring the the lost rainforest, just south of Mt. Everhoof. She exhaled onto it and began to rub it watching it starting to glow. Warmth began to flow from the stone as she tucked it into a hoof sown pocket on the inside of her coat, finishing her outfit with her flight goggles Rainbow had given her during her flight lessons....she had now made peace with the fact all they would ever be good for to her would be keeping the rain out her eyes. Once done she set off again, still not knowing where she was going. Rain as she suspected began to fall, it was heavy and cold but her helmet, coat and goggles were providing decent protection and with the warmth of her stone she kept going, her progress still somewhat slowed. “Scootaloo!” Unsure if she was hearing things with all the noise the storm was creating around her she continued on. “Scootaloo!, kid wait up!” Looking round into the dark clouds and rain pouring from them Scootaloo saw Rainbow, not far behind her in the air, she was having real trouble trying to lower herself down in the violent wind so despite not wanting to talk to anypony right now she waited for Rainbow to make her way to the ground. Once on the ground Rainbow shouted against the wind, “I saw a hut just over there” she pointed back the way Scootaloo had came, “We need to get out of the rain, please!” Scootaloo was wearing a coat with her stone keeping her warm and she was still feeling the cold, Rainbow must be freezing not wearing anything so she gave in, not wanting to put her through anymore of this then she needed to. So Scootaloo pulled her scooter beside her as they made their way to the wooden hut. Once inside it was apparent the hut was being used as log storage, almost a quarter of the one room building was full of logs piled on top of each other. Rainbow pushed the door closed, luckily enough as old as the hut looked it was pretty solid, the only source of a small draft was a small hole on one of the door panels. As Rainbow sat opposite her Scootaloo could see she was shivering so undoing her coat, she gave it to Dash, “here” Scoot mumbled as she sat down again taking off her helmet and goggles looking down at the floor. While it was too small to do up around her the coat was nice and warm thanks to the charm in the pocket. “Wow! Is this thing a massive hot water bottle or something?” Rainbow asked, the surprise temporarily distracting her from their current situation. “It has a magic charm my folks gave me for my birthday in the pocket” she mumbled. “Heh well I guess it blows my gift out the water huh?” Rainbow says pointing at the goggles Scoot was wearing. Realising she was still wearing them she took them off and mumbled in agreement not looking up to Rainbow. For a minute or so they sat in silence with just the sound of wind and rain battering the cabin. “So um...” Rainbow said, breaking the silence “I heard what went down” “How long has everypony been lying to me Dash” This took her by surprise, both the question and her angry tone. “L-lying to you? Nopony has been lying to you kid” At this Scootaloo stood up and stamped her hoof on the creaky wooden floor. “Pegasi can fly from birth! Did my Parents tell everypony not to tell me that after they discovered I was a cripple when I was born!? So I would just keep trying thinking it would happen some day!?” Scootaloo’s angry stance started to break down as tears began to flow down her face and she sat on the floor. “Scoot your parents haven’t told anypony to lie to you, and you’re definitely not crippled!” She said as she went to bring her into a wing hug, only for Scootaloo to shove her away. “Then why can’t I fly!” At that she fell to the floor burying her face under her hooves as she started crying. “Scoot, c’mon get up, I can explain everything alright” Rainbow spoke in a calm tone as she stroked her mane “What *hic* is there to explain” she mumbled slowly raising her head. Rainbow, this time successfully brought Scoot into a winghug as she took off the warm coat and placed it between them as she sighed. “If ground based Schools are gonna teach Pegasi they need to tell you this stuff, or at least get a Pegasus tutor or something, what race of pony are the cake twins Scoot?” Rainbow said looking down to her with a caring smile on her face. “Unicorn and Pegasus, I don’t understand what your getting at” “Yea and what about the Mr and Mrs cake?” “They are....earth ponies” Scootaloo said, growing more confused. “Yep, but if you go back in their family tree there are some Pegasi and unicorns in the family, thats how they were born the race they are!” “Ok I get that, but what’s that got to do with me, am I not a proper Pegasus!?” “What? No no no, there are no unicorns in your family right?” “No, just Pegasi and a few Earth Ponies” “Good, now here is the important bit, if your a Pegasus and your family is non unicorn you can’t fly from birth, your wings have to grow and your Pegasus magic has to develop, BUT if there IS a unicorn in the family and a Pegasus is born they will have a lot more magic inside them, allowing them to fly from birth, that’s how come Pound has been flying since he was born, so long story short, nothing is wrong with you, your just a late bloomer!” “Oh wow.....” Scootaloo said, now starting to feel bad making Rainbow come all the way out here because she overreacted. “I’m sorry for making you come all the way out here” “No sweat squirt, I have flew in worse then this, but landing in it is always tricky, hehe” They stared at each other smiling before Scootaloo spoke again. “But if I’m just a late bloomer how long will it take for me to be able to fly? I have been trying and trying but I don’t get anywhere!” “Hey! You couldn’t hover when I first said I’d help you out learning to fly but now I see you do it at least once a week, plus you propelling yourself around on your scooter will be doing the world of good getting your flight muscles strong, they are already used to pulling around you and your friends, that’s better then any flight muscle work out for somepony your age!” “So...I will be able to fly?” Scootaloo said looking up at her mentor. “I promise squirt, I can’t tell you when but you’ll get in the air, and when you do we are having a party, hmmmm, you know it’s a pretty old tradition now but some Pegasi celebrate the day they first flew just like their birthday, maybe we should do that!” They both looked at each other before wrapping their hooves around each other in a hug. Outside the cabin the clouds started to calm and the rain slowed to a drizzle, with the sun breaking through in places a clear rainbow could be seen in the sky.