“I still want to talk to you.” Rainbow Dash said to Star Shine. They, and by proxy Scootaloo, were still flying down towards the green grass of Equestria below the cloud manor. She had been distracted by what Star Shine had said about Scootaloo’s feelings but Rainbow Dash was still eager for answers of her own about what she had found out at Twilight’s house.
“I know you do, and we’ll talk. Not now though.” Star Shine replied.
“Why not now?” Rainbow Dash asked. Star Shine shifted his head back in response, motioning to Scootaloo. She was huddled against Rainbow Dash’s back, protecting herself as best as possible from the wind rushing around her. Rainbow Dash sighed in resignation and continued to fly down. They reached the ground and Star Shine dropped the measuring devices on the ground. He then took the brace off, taking a deep breath once the constricting device had been removed. It wasn’t too tight but there was no denying it was made for a body that was smaller than his. He’d either need to lose some weight, or buy a bigger brace. If the brace was too large then it wouldn’t fit around a filly so he didn’t have too much choice in the matter. The brace was also a one of a kind device, and he couldn’t just replace it.
“Okay Scootaloo, this works just like the one Rainbow Dash did but there’s a small difference. This one is magic.” Star Shine explained to the filly as he began playing with the magic measurer. He put the diodes on the brace and then flicked a switch on the machine.
“Magic?” Scootaloo asked, a little confused.
“Twilight said you might have something that was enchanted, but I thought you wanted the thing to te-”Rainbow Dash said before Star Shine interrupted her. She was thinking he might want to hook it up to Scootaloo to test if she had magic on her wings.
“Test how much power was in the brace, that’s right.” he said to Rainbow Dash, emphasising the last two words and sneaking a glance at Scootaloo. “It’s magic in that it can tell how strong your wings are, and adjust itself to you. That way you can just keep it on and not have to worry about adjusting it. It also has manual settings.” Star Shine explained, pointing to each of the buttons. “This one”-the minus button-“makes it less tight and easier to move your wings. This one”-the middle button-“resets it back to automatic. Finally this one”-the plus button-”makes it tighter and harder to move. You get it?” Star Shine asked. Scootaloo nodded and the measuring device beeped, informing those around it that it had finished measuring the magic power. Star Shine looked at the display on the device and smiled. “Good, there’s enough power for a few days. I was worried it wouldn’t last long. Before we put it on though we need to test your wingpower okay?” Star Shine said to Scootaloo.
“What do you need me to do?” Scootaloo replied. Star Shine walked over to the wingpower measurer and began setting it up.
“It’s simple enough.” Rainbow Dash said, leaning down to talk to Scootaloo. “You just fly, or in your case scoot, past that thing there as fast as you can. It’ll tell you how much power your wings have.” Rainbow Dash explained. She was well versed in how to use it after seeing Twilight use it. Rainbow Dash took a few steps back and motioned for Scootaloo to come over to her. “I think from here should do. Go as fast as you can okay?” she said. Scootaloo nodded and Star Shine called over that he was ready for her to go. Scootaloo flapped and buzzed her little wings as hard as she could and took off towards Star Shine. She zipped past the device and the small part at the top that measured the windspeed generated by wings moved a small amount.
“So how’d she do?” Rainbow Dash asked, walking over to where Star Shine was.
“It’s not good. I could tell it wasn’t good when she was on my back but I didn’t think it was this bad.” he said, looking over the results. Rainbow Dash moved next to him and gasped when she saw the results.
“How could it be that low? She rides her scooter pretty quickly.” Rainbow Dash asked.
“The scooter is pretty light and she’s had it so long it has Pegasus magic in it, making it even lighter. The reason she’s never developed her wingpower much isn’t because she’s been getting stronger, but because the scooter has been getting lighter.” Star Shine explained slowly, applying logic and reasoning to the situation as he went along. It was a guess but it was the best one he could offer and it made sense once he had finished saying it.
“So what’s it say? Pretty good huh?” Scootaloo asked as she came up to them herself.
“I think it’s best you tell her.” Star Shine said to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow nodded and turned around to face Scootaloo.
“It’s uhh...it’s 0.03.” Rainbow Dash said, unable to sugarcoat the news at all. Star Shine facehoofed at her lack of subtlety and her bluntness.
“I knew I should have said it.” Star Shine said quietly to himself. He turned around himself and saw that Scootaloo looked like she was on the verge of tears. “Don’t cry Scootaloo, it’s actually pretty good.”
“Good? How can that be good?!” Scootaloo squeaked. Her voice was cracking as tears formed at her eyes.
“It’s good because a Pegasus needs to have at least 0.1 wingpower to be able to fly. So you see, the reason you can’t fly is because you’re just too weak to.” Star Shine explained.
“Oh thanks, that makes me feel SO much better!” Scootaloo replied sardonically, rolling her eyes.
“Don’t you see Scoots, this means that you CAN fly if you train up your wingpower!” Rainbow Dash said excitedly, wrapping Scootaloo up in a hug. “And you thought I said things badly.” Rainbow added to Star Shine. Star Shine sighed and rubbed his mane sheepishly.
“So how do I raise my wingpower?” Scootaloo asked once she’d calmed down.
“With this.” Star Shine said, pointing towards the magic brace on the ground. “Think you can put it on?” he said to Scootaloo. She nodded and with a bit of help from Rainbow Dash put the brace on. Star Shine offered to help but Scootaloo said she wanted Rainbow Dash to do it. Rainbow Dash was really the only pony she trusted. “Okay this might hurt a bit, but it’s the best way to raise your wingpower.” Star Shine said before pressing the button in the middle of the brace. It took a split second of waiting for the device to suddenly tighten around Scootaloo’s body. She let out a small wince of pain and Rainbow Dash wrapped a foreleg around her.
“Does it hurt?” Rainbow Dash asked, worried.
“Only about as much as yours did.” Scootaloo replied, rubbing her body where it had hurt. Rainbow Dash tentatively nuzzled Scootaloo’s wings, preening them a little as she did so. Scootaloo giggled at the feeling.
“All better?” Star Shine asked.
“Lots.” Scootaloo replied, still giggling. “So what are we going to do then? Do you want me to go around on my scooter like Rainbow did?” she asked.
“Not this time no.” Star Shine replied, shaking his head. “I want you to keep moving your wings while we take a little trip.”
“Trip? Where are we going?” Rainbow Dash asked, moving away from Scootaloo so she could start flapping her wings. Scootaloo did begin flapping her wings and it was clear from the strained expression on her face it wasn’t easy.
“Just keep moving your wings Scootaloo, you’ll get used to it eventually.” Star Shine said to the struggling filly. “As for where we’re going. Well, we’re going shopping of course!” he added to Rainbow Dash.
“Shopping? You want to go shopping?” Rainbow Dash asked him. Her confusion was clear on her face.
“Sure do.” Star Shine replied, nodding. “I didn’t bring anything at all with me from Trottingham so I want to get a few things. That’s all. Besides I’ve been stuck inside a train for the past few days. I’m a bored and want to stretch my legs.” Star Shine replied. He turned around and set off in the direction of Ponyville. Rainbow Dash’s house wasn’t too far out so he was content to walk. He also wanted to walk so that Scootaloo would keep up moving her wings. She might have stopped if she was resting on Rainbow Dash’s back.
“Geez, how many ulterior motives can one pony have?” Rainbow Dash said quietly to nopony in particular. It was clear even to her that Star Shine was probably hiding something.
“I heard that.” Star Shine said, making Rainbow Dash jump. “By the way, the answer to that is, of course, DOZENS!” he added as he turned around with a mad look on his face that would give Pinkamena a run for her bits. He laughed as he continued walking on.
“Come on Scoots, let’s go see what he wants.” Rainbow Dash said before walking after Star Shine. Scootaloo ran after her.
“Are you sure you can trust him?” Scootaloo asked when she caught up.
“I can trust him alright, don’t worry about that. He’s just a little weird and sometimes I think even he doesn’t know what he’s doing.” Rainbow Dash replied, giggling and giving Scootaloo a reassuring nuzzle.
“Oh he’s weird alright...” Scootaloo replied as she smiled at Rainbow Dash’s gesture. To her ‘weird’ may have been too soft a term. “What was he like in Flight Camp?”
“Honestly? Exactly the same.” Rainbow Dash replied, laughing at some memory Scootaloo wasn’t privy to. “Now come on, he’s getting away from us.” Rainbow Dash picked up her speed and looked behind her to make sure that Scootaloo was still close to her and she wasn’t running too far ahead. Scootaloo kept pace as best as she could, her wings buzzing as quickly as she could manage.