When you’re a kid, you dream big. The sky’s the limit? Hah. There are no limits to imagination! Anything you can conceive of you can dream of, because you haven’t learned when to give up. And me? Oh, did I ever dream big. I had my hero, after all. Wanted to be like her more than anything. She barely gave me the time of day at first, but as the months rolled into years, we became as close as sisters.

    And I swore I would be like her. That I would tame the sky and show I was just as good as Rainbow Dash. Well, okay, not as good, because even then I don’t think anyone would ever be as awesome as her, ever again. But, you know, up there! ‘Scootaloo’, I would say, ‘We’re gonna conquer the sky today’.

    This went on until that fateful day. A cold chair under my rump. Some sad-faced pony standing there, sending my world crashing down around me. Scootaloo, I am sorry to be the one to tell you this, but your wings simply have not developed as they should have. At this point, I fear there’s no doubt left. You are never going to fly. 

    Dash found me huddled up under a tree in the rain. It hadn’t been raining a minute earlier, but she’d heard the news and, well, thought a mood cloud was appropriate. And yea. It was. I huddled up under her wing and cried it out as we got soaked together. Ten feet away, the sun was shining, but for us, it was a gloomy, rainy day. The sorta rain that’s perfect for moping and letting all the pain out.

    I had a good cry, and Dash told me to keep my chin up, and all that mushy stuff about how I was awesome even if I couldn’t fly. That I was still her best little buddy, all that.

    And I smiled, and said thank you, but inside? Inside was another story. Inside, I knew there was no way I was ever living my life as a groundpounder. I’ve got nothing against Bloom and Belle and others of their tribes, but they aren’t pegasi. Any pegasus would understand.

    Well, any pegasus but Fluttershy, but she was clearly meant to be born an earth pony. Sometimes, the universe just doesn’t want to cooperate, I guess.

    I never thought my salvation would lie in Twilight Time. That old scooter she had me take apart and put together a million times was my first project. Then I’d fiddle with something more complicated the next time. A watch. A toaster oven. The Apple family’s broken wagon. Turned out I liked tinkering. Turned out I was kinda good at it. I mean, yea, it wasn’t my cutie mark or nothing, but Sweetie pointed out Rarity’s wasn’t a dress.

    We are more than our Cutie Marks. Far too many ponies forget that. I almost did. And yea, I love the Crusade. But I had to fly.

    Heck, if you’re reading this, you know where this is going. No way you’ve stuck your nose in here without knowing about today. So yea, the projects grew ever bigger. I got Cherry Berry to teach me all about her helicopter. Pinkie Pie as well, though she...well, never, ever, ever try to get Pinkie Pie to explain things. That girl could give Discord a headache.

    Books, too. Chewed through any book about math, engineering, wind, all the physics behind it. Pedal-power was cool and all, but that relied on Earth Pony magic to keep the blades spinning fast enough. And it looked cool, but it wasn’t fast.

    I was gonna go FAST. I was gonna make Dash proud of me. I was gonna show that stupid doctor that he was wrong.

    So I started with a hang glider. Made more sense, after all. It was like a big giant wing. Problem was, it couldn’t lift, but hey, no biggy. It just needed something to push.

    And, uh, in retrospect? Fireworks weren’t the best idea. Kinda glad I had the sense to do that over the reservoir. Still took months before my mane grew enough to not look like I’d gotten a little too close to a hungry goat. Better than being all black and sooty, though.

    But I was onto something, there. Propellers were cool, but not fast. Gah, here I go, rambling. Right, so, let’s be quick. The Crystal Express runs on, well, a mana-engine. Charged magical crystals feed it power, power turns the pistons, engine moves forward, yea?

    Obviously, in the air, you don’t have wheels to keep you going. But you do have pressure. And hey, if you’re reading this, well, look : I invented the jet engine. ‘Cause, you know, sucks in air, jets it out behind me, and I go fast.

    Really, really fast. Assuming that everything goes okay today. So, yea. I’d say wish me luck, but I don’t think I’m gonna need it.

[hr]

    Scootaloo stamped her hoofprint onto the journal, then closed it. Behind her sat her aircraft. Gleaming and ready for the maiden voyage. She wouldn’t be pushing it hard today. Get some air, circle round, come in for a landing, and then give everything a thorough checkup.

    Better safe than sorry. She didn’t have any intention of ending up like Yippee Ki-Yay. He was a legend in his time, sure. Daredevil the likes none had seen since.

    And also a faint smear somewhere in the San Palomino desert, because he decided to try riding a rocket. Bailing out wasn’t so good a plan when the thing exploded upon ignition.

    Scoots had done test burns, though, from a safe distance. Even let it taxi, and done plenty of full-power tests on the engines before she’d mounted them.

    In an hour, she’d either be that much closer to her dream. Or, well, at least she’d go out trying.

[hr]

    So, yea! It worked. Obviously. If it hadn’t worked, I wouldn’t be writing here again, would I?

    I didn’t do anything particularly fancy. I wanted to open her up, but it’s not yet time for that. Make too much noise and I won’t be able to keep it a secret any longer. Gotta be careful. Can’t let Dash find out before I’m ready.

    I want to surprise her. I want her to understand that Scootaloo defies the odds. Dash proved she could do the impossible when she did her first Rainboom. I’m gonna do the same. Go so fast that even Dash will get left in the dust.

    Anyways. I got a lot of checks to do now. Have to make sure nothing is too stressed. If anything’s showing signs of weakness now, there’s no way it’s gonna be able to handle full throttle.

Fortunately? I have help.

[hr]
    Ah want it on record right now. Scoots is a gosh-darned crazy pony. Ah mean - shucks. Why am I writing in an accent? Guess it just sounds better that way in my head. Feels a bit more like my own voice.

    But I need to stay on topic. Scoots is nuts. Sweetie and I have tried, again and again, to show her that there’s nothing wrong with the ground. We kinda gave up on it years ago, though, when it became clear she wouldn’t abandon this fool project of hers.

    Today, though, I guess I have to hand it to her. She’s built something mighty impressive. Okay, yea, Twilight helped, but that’s because doing this without magic would take years and years of assembly. A good unicorn on the other hoof can just, uh, magic the pieces into the right shape in a way a factory’d need specialized equipment for.

    I’m jealous, really. She can do in five minutes what I need hours to do. But, know what? Barn raising wouldn’t be the same without family. Magic may be a shortcut, but the experience of working matters too.

    Still, I’m rambling. Scoots is nuts. But that contraption she’s built? Wouldn’t catch me in it for all the apples in Equestria, but I won’t deny it’s impressive. And, well, her work’s sound. Least, I can’t find any holes in the blueprints. ‘Course, that doesn’t surprise me since we came up with them together.

    Filly wouldn’t take no for an answer, and I wasn’t gonna let her blow herself up. So I did the next best thing I could.

    Sweetie wanted to help too, of course, but that girl has no head for math. Or delicacy. Even she admitted that after her, ah, ‘help’, well…
    Let’s just say that Ponyville’s new town hall will hopefully last longer than the last one. Also, don’t mix volatile chemicals in Rarity’s kitchen.

    Anyway. Scoots did a good job. We did a good job. I’ve been over everything three times, and it all looks good. I want her to do more testing, but she’s not listening.

    I guess I understand. The longer we keep this up, the more likely it is Rainbow Dash finds out. Scoots wants more than anything to spring it on her as a big surprise.

    At least if anything does go wrong, we’ve taken precautions.

[hr]

    Today was Rainbow Dash’s favorite sort of day. Being a Wonderbolt was as awesome as she’d hoped, but it was exhausting. Training, travelling, performing, a breakneck schedule that lift little room for personal time.

    It made days like this all the more precious. Schedule clear as the dawn had been. One cloud snatched just to herself. Sunshine on her back. Fluffy softness on her belly. Just right for a long, lazy snooze.

    The colossal roar destroyed everything. One moment, she was in the midst of signing autographs for legions of adoring fans, the next she was spinning and flailing as her cloud disintegrated around her.

    In the moments it took to get her bearings and level out, the intruder had rocketed far ahead. The sunlight glinted off metallic hide, but Dash couldn’t get a clear picture of just what it was.

    She wasn’t the fastest pegasus alive for nothing. She owned the sky. Anyone else was an intruder. An interloper needing to be taught a lesson.

    Still, this was no ordinary race. Whatever this was, it was [b]fast[/b]. Like, Wonderbolt fast, and widening its lead.

    Only one thing for it, then. Ordinary flying wasn’t going to cut it against this monster, whatever it was. And she wasn’t going to let it menace Ponyville unchallenged.

    Goggles down, and speed up. The air bent before her, conical, colors shimmering at the edges of her vision. Barrier tightening before her, trying to snap her back. Leave her wheeling and spinning in the air.

    For a lesser pegasus, it would be too much. For Rainbow Dash, it was Tuesday. The spectrum shattered around her, and the air gave up its fight, sluicing away as prismatic waves exploded in her wake.

    The distance closed rapidly. Dash grinned as she swooped to the side, only to gape as she realized that this was no monster. Rather, a machine, and inside…

    “Scootaloo? Squirt?! What the hay are you doing in there?!”

    Scootaloo looked up and out, and though the engines and canopy of her craft meant no sound carried forth, she could only be whooping for joy, and Dash found herself swelling with pride.

    “Well, I’ll be, squirt. You did it! Congrats!”

    Scootaloo nodded to her, and then looked away, and leaned forwards. Her aircraft rocketed forward, accelerating even further, forcing Dash to pump ever harder to keep up. Even amidst the Rainboom, maintaining equilibrium began to become strained.

    Then, to her horror, she saw a small puff of smoke escape the rear of Scoot’s ship.

    ‘Hey! Squirt! Slow down! Hey!” Frantic hollering fell on deaf ears, and no matter how hard Dash flapped, Scoots was pulling further and further ahead.

    Smoke turned to sparks, and then burst into flame. A deafening roar escaped the ship as it burst the sound barrier, even as the engine’s flames grew hotter.

    Dash couldn’t keep up, no matter how she tried. It couldn’t end like this. It wouldn’t end like this. It -

    There was a faint pop, and suddenly an orange blur was rocketing up and away, even as her craft went into a catastrophic spin, listing to the side, tracing an inevitable course to the ground. Second after second, and then bright light, deafening boom as it exploded, cracking trees hundreds of yards away.

    But far above, billowing cloth exploded outwards as Scootaloo deployed her parachute, and began to leisurely float downwards.

    Rainbow wasted no time winging to her, twisting and flapping wings to keep pace. Her face contorted into an a grimace.

    “Uh, hey, Rainbow!” Scootaloo started, before Dash could begin her tirade. “Look, I can -”

    “That. was. [b]AWESOME![/b]” Rainbow Dash gushed, sweeping forwards to wrap Scootaloo in a hug. “Omigosh, omigosh, you did it, kid! You did it!”

    Scootaloo smiled, lips quirking as she showed teeth, muscles giving spasmodic twitches. “Heh. Yea. Yea, I did. But it wasn’t all a success. I gotta start construction over, Dash. All I have now is an ex-plane.”