“Alright, squirt,” Rainbow Dash said, “let’s go over it one more time.”

“Right!” Scootaloo said, her wings buzzing in excitement. Today, she was going to fly, just like her big sister. Rainbow Dash said so, and they’d been planning it out all morning.

“Okay, what did I say comes first?”

“Helmet and goggles,” Scootaloo reported, gesturing her to stunt helmet and goggles on the ground.

“Good,” Rainbow Dash said with a nod. “Next?”

“Both hooves forward, keep my head down.” Scootaloo held her hooves out in front of her and narrowed her eyes in focus.

Rainbow Dash stretched out her wings. “And the most important rule?”

“Don’t flap my wings until you catch up with me.”

“Actually, it’s ‘Remember to have fun’,” Rainbow Dash said teasingly, messing up Scootaloo’s mane. “But that’s important, too.”

Scootaloo smiled up her.

“Alright, Scootaloo!” Rainbow Dash said with authority. “We’ve gone over the plan. We’ve practiced the maneuvers. You ready to do it for real this time?”

Scootaloo pressed her helmet onto her head and lowered her goggles. “I am so ready.”

Rainbow Dash held her forelimbs out wide and Scootaloo jumped into a hug. With one hoof raised into the air, Rainbow Dash tightened her hold on Scootaloo with her other forelimb.

Scootaloo slowly let go of Rainbow Dash and raised both of her hooves above her head. The way they planned it out meant that Scootaloo couldn’t be holding onto Rainbow Dash.

That’s okay, though. Rainbow Dash wouldn’t let her down. She’d never let her down.

Rainbow Dash looked down at her little sister and the two locked eyes. She wasn’t going to start until she was sure Scootaloo was ready. Scootaloo nodded to her with a confident smile, and Rainbow Dash did the same.

Rainbow Dash spread her wings wide and rocketed into the air, holding onto Scootaloo even tighter than before. The wind roared in their ears as they continued to pick up speed. Once they broke through the cloud layer, Rainbow Dash started to level off to almost-parallel with the ground, and then she really poured on the speed.

Rainbow Dash could feel the pressure building up around them. Her eyes darted down to Scootaloo to see how she was doing. Behind those goggles, there was a fire in Scootaloo’s eyes. This was the moment they’d been working towards, and she was focused.

She was ready.

Rainbow Dash turned her eyes forwards and squinted into the rushing air. The pressure continued to squeeze them on all sides, but she couldn’t afford to lose focus now. She needed to go faster. Her timing had to be perfect. She’d never pulled off a Sonic Rainboom with a passenger before.

Then again, that wasn’t the plan, anyway.

Just as the pressure became almost too much to bear, she arched her back and threw Scootaloo with all of her might. Rainbow Dash spiraled backwards in the resulting purple shockwave.

Scootaloo eyes went wide as the ground passed beneath her at supersonic speed. She kept her hooves out in front of her and her wings in tight. A bright, purple contrail followed her as she arced through the sky.

But mostly importantly, she was having fun.

“Whoo-hoo!” Scootaloo cheered with an uncontainable grin on her face. She could taste the breeze and feel the wind in her coat. “This is awesome!” Her words got swept up behind her as she zoomed through the air.

Rainbow Dash suddenly flew into her field of view, trailing a rainbow behind her. She turned over to fly on her back and look Scootaloo in the eye. Knowing words would be useless, she gave Scootaloo a wink.

Scootaloo’s grin found some way to grow even wider than before as she winked to Rainbow Dash. Just as they planned, Scootaloo pushed her wings open and started buzzing them.

Very gradually, Scootaloo started to slow down and Rainbow Dash matched her pace. Rainbow Dash opened her forelimbs wide to catch her as they slowed to the point their contrails disappeared behind them. Scootaloo fell into her embrace and hugged her tight as Rainbow Dash gracefully glided backwards onto a nearby cloud.

They stayed that way for some time, slowly getting control of their breathing. Scootaloo had done the impossible. For just a moment, Scootaloo had touched greatness.

All thanks to the pony who never doubted her. Scootaloo hugged Rainbow Dash tighter than ever.

Today, she flew, just like her big sister.