How to Fly

It was just another late summer day on Sweet Apple Acres. The sun was shining down, or beating down really, and the tree branches were beginning to slump under the weight of their harvest. Lazy sounds of pigs slopping and chickens scratching met the harsh industrious noises of a young, yellow-coated mare hard at work in the shade of the barn.

Apple Bloom set down the saw once she finished severing the rough edge of a head post. She leaned it against the side of the barn along with the other parts and wiped a sheen of sweat from her brow, content to look down on her handiwork. Most ponies would see just a collection of rough wooden shapes, but Applebloom saw a dazzling crib painted with the colors of the fields and the sky full of sun, moon, and stars.

"Woooeee!" Apple Bloom hooted, trotting over to the nearby troth to grab a sip of water. She smiled briefly at the sweaty pony smiling back at her from the water's shallow depths, her red mane tied back in a stretch of lace the way Applejack liked to do it, before breaking the reflection apart into a million tiny shimmers as she drank. Applejack and Big Macintosh had gone to market, leaving Apple Bloom to watch over the farm, and she had decided to take the time to work on a little something; they'd been using the same rickety old crib since Big Macintosh was born, and she was afraid the thing was ready to start claiming victims.

Apple Bloom thought she was ready to get back to it when she was hit by a spinning head rush. She plopped down and pressed her hooves into the cool dirt while the wave of disorientation and nausea passed. "This is nothing," she reassured herself, "just a little flustered by the heat and the sudden rush of cold water is all." She smiled a bit; the little bucker growing inside her probably had something to do with it as well.

Apple Bloom was just about ready to get up and back to work when she noticed in the distance a cloaked figure walking up the path to the farm, blazing white against the organic colors of the surrounding orchards. Now who could that be? She wasn't expecting anypony until AJ and Big Mac returned that afternoon. Apple Bloom took a second to make sure her feet were going to stay steady under her before taking off to meet the visitor.

Apple Bloom intercepted the hooded intruder at the arched gate into the farm. The figure's appearance surrendered little indication as to who she was, but Apple Bloom could infer a few things. Though she could not see her downturned face for the hood she wore, Apple Bloom could still make out the slender form of a mare behind the white fabric. A pegasus too, she thought; The color and minimalist design of the cloak, unblemished but for the angular blue lines at the hem, was in vogue in Cloudsdale, or so she seemed to remember Rarity mentioning.

"Howdy stranger," Apple Bloom said, remaining polite while still firmly barring the newcomer from coming any further. "What can ah do you for?" The visitor tossed back her hood to reveal piercing and familiar purple eyes.

Apple Bloom gasped. "Scoot, is that you?" she asked, because honestly she wasn't sure if it was. The Scootaloo she remembered had been a rambunctious little thing with a messy mane and a mischievous expression that exemplified childhood, a face you couldn't imagine growing up. This slender creature before her had a countenance that appeared solemn and reserved, the kind of face worn by statues and stained glass. She might have had the orange coat and purple mane, but otherwise she could not have looked more different.

The Scootaloo doppelganger smiled softly. "Hey Apple Bloom," she said, and even though some of its tomboyish edge had been smoothed by age, Apple Bloom could still recognize her old friend's voice.

Apple Bloom leapt forward and hugged her. "It really is you!" Apple Bloom cried right into the ear of her long lost friend. Scootaloo grimaced and blushed at the open display of affection; that much about her hadn't changed at least.

"Ah haven't seen you since you left for Cloudsdale," Apple Bloom said, finally releasing Scootaloo. "Great galloping griffins, how many years has it been?"

"Twelve." Scootaloo said it as a cold statement of fact. "Twelve years last spring."

"Geez," Apple Bloom sighed. "Well come in, come in." she began to move aside for Scoot, but then quickly stepped back in her way. She looked her up and down suspiciously. "Hold up, long lost friend, eerie white robes. You ain't some kind of ghost are you, because I really can't afford any hauntings right now."

Scootaloo laughed in her new voice. "Luckily I've already passed the hug test," she said. "I'm as solid as you."

Apple Bloom checked her forelegs to make sure there wasn't any ectoplasm or some such on them. "That you have. Well come on!" Apple Bloom turned and began trotting down the path to the farmhouse with Scootaloo trailing behind her. She chattered the entire way, mostly reiterating what a shock it was to see her again after so long. Scootaloo silently nodded.

"So what brings you back after all these years?" Apple Bloom asked.

Scootaloo didn't answer immediately. "I've got a little unfinished business."

"Well ah hope it's the kind of business that takes a good long time to wrap up. Luna and Celestia, has it been awhile." Upon reaching the farmhouse, Apple Bloom threw open the door and led Scootaloo into the kitchen. The shrine dedicated to the sacred arts of cooking and eating had remained pretty much the same since Scootaloo visited last time, the fancy china watching from their special cupboard, the old smoke belching oven squatting against the wall. Apple Bloom sat her friend down at the checkered kitchen table, and went to grab the half pie sitting at the windowsill. She brought it over with a knife and began cutting slices for her and her friend.

"Ah thought once Granny Smith passed away that the secret to the perfect apple pie went with her, but you know what?" Apple Bloom offered a slice to Scootaloo before taking a large bite out of her own, "Ah fink Applefack migft be mofvin to topf her," she mumbled, chewing loudly.

Scootaloo looked to the slice of pie laid before her and back to Apple Bloom. "I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother," she said.

Apple Bloom swallowed and said, "Aw don't you worry none, it was just her time is all. Ah wish I could say she went peacefully, but she seemed determined not to go without giving death a good kick in the face to remember her by."

Scootaloo took a few courteous nibbles while Apple Bloom scarfed down the rest of her slice. Just as Apple Bloom moved to grab the knife and cut herself another piece, a slimy spotted bog frog went careening through the air, landing cleanly on the remaining quarter of the pie.

Grinning through the kitchen window was a young colt with an amber mane obscuring his eyes. "Bad Apple!" Apple Bloom screeched around the knife clenched in her teeth. He was off like a flash after that, leaving a trail of dust kicked up behind him. Apple Bloom went to the window and shouted after him "That's right, you better run! When ah tell your mom about this, she's gonna have you applebuckin until your flank falls off!"

Apple Bloom's anger at her nephew couldn't hold for long however. "Sorry about that," she said, chuckling as she returned to the table. "Applejack was just asking for trouble when she named him that. Luckily, he'll have a cousin soon enough to keep him occupied," Apple Bloom said, rubbing at her swelling belly. She stared at the big eyed green bog frog, and more importantly, to the remaining pie on which it perched. "Shoot, a little frog slime never killed nopony," she said, tossing the amphibian out the window and picking up the knife.

The entire episode had left the new Scootaloo smirking just the smallest bit like the old one. "Oh you never know, he might have gotten one of those poisonous frogs from the Everfree forest," she said, taking a real bite out of her own uncontaminated slice.

Apple Bloom stared at her. "Ah'll take my chances," she said, cutting another slice.

"So, how far along are you?" Scootaloo asked.

"Pretty far," Apple Bloom said. "Ah'm due in a few months."

"Who's the, uh…"

"The daddy?" Apple Bloom asked. "You don't know him; he's not a bad pony though. He's off touring with Sweetie Belle right now; I actually met him through one of her rehearsals. Ah didn't like him at first, but ah guess he grew on me."

Scootaloo stared blankly. "Oh that's right, you haven't heard," Apple Bloom exclaimed. "Well, ah hate to spoil it for ya Scootaloo, you really should hear her for yourself, but Sweetie Belle discovered her special talent was in singing and songwriting. She started getting really into writing musicals for the school, and one day a note crossed by a pen appeared on her flank. Now she's off on her first real tour of Equestria, singing the lead in a musical, sorry, in an opera she wrote," Apple Bloom said, stressing the formality on the word. "It's too bad you didn't come a little earlier, you could have heard them practicing. They sound good."

"An opera huh?" Scootaloo said, "Is it any better than that disaster we put on for the talent show?"

Apple Bloom giggled. "Funny you should ask. See, even after Sweetie got her cutie mark, she still had it in her head that she wanted to be like her big sister. Well, Rarity never needs help making her dresses, so Sweetie decided she shouldn't need help with writing her music…or with making her costumes, or with building her props. Rarity and I tried to assist where we could, but she would have none of it. She was meaner than a diamond dog and breathing more fire than a dragon when rehearsing for her first real opera. She was like a little Rarity, and ah don't think the big one found it a flattering picture."

"Anyway, opening night comes, and you'd be in the middle of a really intense scene, and you couldn't help but giggle at the lopsided dresses, or it'd be a dark and quiet moment when a light would come crashing down," Apple Bloom recounted, "Ah think what finally made her see reason was during the climactic balcony scene when the balcony collapsed. She started asking Rarity and me for help from then on."

Apple Bloom sighed contently at the memory. Scootaloo smiled sympathetically with her friend. "Speaking of talents," Apple Bloom said, wheeling around to show off her rump. There was a picture of two wooden planks and a saw on her flank. "This little beauty appeared a few months after you left."

"Wood," Scootaloo observed.

"Apple wood," Apple Bloom said proudly. "Ah know carpentry is kind of a boring talent, but somepony needs to build the houses and the furniture and stuff. It sure ain't as fancy as Sweetie Belle's though, and nowhere as cool as whatever your special talent turned out to be, ah'm sure." Apple Bloom stared at the former cutie mark crusader expectantly.

Scootaloo set aside the hard crust that remained of her pie and shifted in her seat. "Look, Apple Bloom, not that I don't like catching up and all, but I came here for a reason."

Apple Bloom's ears fell flat on her head. "Oh, ah'm sorry chit-chattering on like that sugar cube, go on."

"I hear you can find Rainbow Dash in town around this time of year," Scootaloo said, "I was wondering if you knew where she is."

"As a matter of fact I do, sort of," said Apple Bloom, "See, over time some of Applejack's friends started to drift away. Rainbow Dash joined the Wonderbolts as ah'm sure you know, Twilight is back studying with the princess, and Rarity decided to set up shop in Canterlot. In order to keep from falling out, they all agreed they would meet and hang out here on the farm for a few weeks every year, and today is the day they all get together. Dash should be showing up here some time tonight."

"Great," said Scootaloo, though she didn't sound that excited about it. "Would you mind if I waited here until then?"

"Ah was hoping you would," said Apple Bloom, "Not often you get to catch up with old friends, and ah'm sure you've got plenty to tell me about your days in Cloudsdale." Apple Bloom began to make a move on the final slice of pie. Maybe it was just the pregnancy that was messing with her senses again, but that last piece had seemed particularly tasty. Could it have been frog slime that was the secret to Granny Smith's perfect apple pies? "So why do you want to see Dash anyway?"

"I'm going to challenge her to a race," Scootaloo said simply, "and beat her so hard that it makes her pride bleed."

Apple Bloom spat up a slice of red delicious she had started choking on. "You're kidding right."

Scootaloo wasn't laughing. "I've never been more serious about anything in my life."

Applebloom stared at her slender friend. She thought maybe she was just being competitive, but it didn't sound that way. It sounded mean. Apple Bloom coughed out an awkward laugh. "You didn't even know how to fly back when ah knew you. Cloudsdale must have really made you fall in love with it now that you want to measure yourself against Equestria's best flier," she said.

Scootaloo didn't affirm or deny it. "All I know is that flying is what Rainbow Dash does, so that's what I have to beat her at."

Applebloom felt a cold breeze despite the swelter of the summer noon. This, she sensed, was at the heart of what was so different about this new Scootaloo, what had turned a young playful filly into this quiet and somber pegasus. "Scoot, this isn't like you. You used to worship Rainbow Dash, what happened?"

"It's a long story."

"Until Rainbow Dash gets here, what have you got but time?" Applebloom asked.

Scootaloo sighed. "Do you remember family appreciation day back in Cheerilee's class?" Applebloom nodded. "Well it all started one day in the middle of spring..."