"Ugh! Applebloom, I can't believe you!"

"I'm not try'na be mean, Scoot, but it's true…"

"Whatever. I'm outta here!" The orange pegasus shot her friend one last garishly violet look, masking something distinctly apologetic, before jumping on her scooter and whizzing away from the girls' hideout.

Applebloom shook her head vigorously, causing her bow to go crooked. She turned to her other friend, a white unicorn with a purple and pink mane, sitting against a tree and still working on absorbing what had just happened. "Sweetie Belle, you know I wasn't bein' mean to her, right?" Her voice was fraught with worry- she felt terrible for offending her friend.

The unicorn shrugged, "I didn't think so…" She thought about Scoot's final look before she took off. It wasn't mad… Maybe she's… Aw, I dunno. The two of them turned toward the path their winged friend had sped down. Applebloom sighed.

Scootaloo fluttered her wings as hard as she could to get away from the others. After she was a good distance away, she hopped off her scooter and folded it up so as to carry it easier. She wasn't genuinely mad at Applebloom, and she even agreed with her, but she just wanted some alone time. She felt bad about how she had gone about getting it, though. I'll make it up to her somehow.

She made her way into the main part of Ponyville and decided to go see the only pony she knew who might be able to help her with her problem. She meandered slowly down street after street, watching the ground beneath her as she walked, dragging her scooter. She arrived at her destination and knocked twice, waiting.

Instead of the purple-bodied pony she was expecting, a similarly colored baby dragon with green spikes opened the door. "Oh, hey there Scootaloo. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle aren't here right now."

"Oh, I know. They're at the clubhouse." The filly walked by him and dropped her scooter near the door. Spike shut it behind her as she proceeded into the middle of the main room, where she looked around where she could see without invading the rest of the library. "Is Twilight here?" She turned back to him.

He shook his head as he approached her, "Nope. She left about a half hour ago to run to Zecora's for a few things."

Her face fell. "Oh… When will she be back?"

"Well it's not too far to Zecora's, so she should be here soon. Why, is it something I could help with?"

"Nah… Thanks Spike." She laid down on the floor and stared at the wall with a forlorn expression.

The dragon was worried, but he was sure Scoot could handle herself. He walked out of the main room into a small annexation for science. He began picking up books strewn about on the floor, and he had just put one away on botany when he heard a timid voice behind him. "Uhh, Spike? Actually, could you help me?" Spike turned around and placed the books down in a neat stack.

"Sure thing, Scoots. What is it you're after?"

"Well… Umm… I wanna…" She trailed off into almost nothingness, like Fluttershy sometimes did.

Spike scratched his head, "Didn't quite catch that."

"I wanna fly." She looked up into his eyes with a pitiful expression.

"Well, I don't have wings, Scoot…"

"No, I know that, but, like, don't you have a book on it or somethin'? I mean, this is a library."

"Oh! Actually, I think I know exactly what you need!" He walked out of the room at a brisk pace, the little filly trotting hopefully behind him.

The two of them went into the main area of the library. Spike pulled a ladder around from one side of the room to the other and climbed up to almost the top of it. He began murmuring to himself, "I… I… I-M… I-M-P-O… Umm…" He looked down at Scootaloo, watching him intently, "Hey, can you roll the ladder a little to the left?" She did so, and he continued browsing. He stepped down a few rungs and looked to his left, where he pulled out a faded dark blue book with dust collecting on the closed pages.

He climbed down to Scoot, who was literally bouncing up and down, "Did'ja find it? Did'ja?" She couldn't contain herself.

"Ah, whoa! Hey there, calm down. Here." He pushed her back a little ways to preserve his personal space and handed her the book. She tossed it on the ground so she could read it. It was titled Important Things for Fillies with Wings.

She eagerly opened it to the table of contents. She perused it briefly, then turned to a section near the end. The heading at the top read Finally Flying. She skimmed it quickly for a minute or so, Spike reading over her shoulder. She then jumped up with a loud, "Oh!" that caused her benefactor to jump. She stepped away a couple feet, then leapt forward and flapped her wings as hard as she could, only to collapse on the floor.

She pouted to herself, staring at the book with obvious irritation. Spike picked it up, then thumbed back to the beginning. "Maybe you ought to start with the basics?" He set it back in front of her, but she pushed it away and flopped on her side

"Ugh! I'll never fly, Spike!" She made an unintelligible noise of frustration as she lay there, tears starting to well up in her eyes.

Spike cringed. If there was one thing he hated more than Rarity crying, it was an innocent filly like Scootaloo crying. He sat down next to her and tapped her leg softly, "Hey there, don't cry. You just need someone to help you get this stuff down. A mentor."

Scoot sniffed. She nodded solemnly and let her eyes wander back to stare straight ahead. She thought for a moment, then gasped. She got up faster than Spike would have thought possible, with more hopping and jumping. "Oh gosh, thanks Spike! I gotta go find Rainbow! She's so cool; she can teach me for sure!" She picked up the book in her mouth and raced to her scooter. She unfolded it and zipped out of the library, wings beating as hard and fast as she could make them.

Spike was still sitting when he watched Scootaloo grow smaller as she got further from the library. She had left the door open. He laughed to himself and got up to shut it, then went back to his chores.