//------------------------------// // Flight Lesson // Story: Stars Dashing // by RobotFox //------------------------------// Chapter 8 Flight Lesson “We’re going to what now?” Twilight questioned. “Teach him how to fly.” Rainbow Dash answered casually as ever. It was the next morning but for a change, Rainbow was actually up fairly early and Starscream and the others were still mostly asleep, except for Big Macintosh and Applejack who were currently working out in the field to gather apples for the still recovery effort for everyone. Currently, Twilight and Rainbow Dash were in the kitchen, while Granny Smith and Applebloom were cooking breakfast while Rainbow Dash and Twilight were just talking at a table. “You were skeptical for me freeing his wings yesterday. And now you want to teach him how to fly? Wasn’t that the reason you didn’t want to free him?” Twilight asked skeptically. Rainbow chuckled nervously since she did raise a good point. She didn’t tell Twilight that she was spying on them yesterday and she didn’t feel comfortable about telling the unicorn what Starscream told her last night, she had a feeling that he was trusting her with that information. “Well, I thought it over and well, I thought I could make it up to him but teaching him to fly.” She defended trying to justify her reasoning. Twilight merely crooked her neck to the side a bit as a shrug “Okay fine but how are you going to teach him? I mean I don’t think it would be a good idea to fly yet. And I’m sure that the ponies in Ponyville will need Fluttershy.” “Aw come on Twi, you know wings been through far worse.” Rainbow said proudly. “I can’t recall a time where they needed to splint your wings.” Rainbow merely sighed “Alright fine, don’t you have magic or something that can speed up the healing process or something.” Twilight rubbed the back of her neck for a moment “That’s only for minor injuries. Major injuries can’t be healed entirely and can only be performed by an Alicorn or an exceptionally powerful unicorn.” Rainbow only raised her brows at her with a smile. She sighed “Okay fine, I’ll help your wings but this will only speed up the healing process, not heal them completely.” “Okay, fine whatever.” Rainbow said dismissively waiting for Twilight to do her thing. “Alright hold on.” The unicorn said annoyed taking a few steps back. Suddenly her horn started to glow brightly. Rainbow Dash noticed her wings moving on their own and the wings ruffling a bit, being completely out of her control. After a moment it stopped and Twilight removed the bandages and the splints on her wings. “Alright, thanks Twi!” Rainbow said looking at her once again exposed wings “Not really hundred percent but it feels good stretch them out again.” “Yeah, but remember Dash, this speeds up the healing process, you’re wings are not entirely healed yet. So I recommend that-” “Time to go stretch my wings.” Rainbow said walking out. “Rainbow I think-” but it was too late, she was already walking out. The lavender unicorn only sighed “Well, so much for that.” “Oh don’t worry deary.” An eldery green mare said walking behind the unicorn “Ah recall all sorts of times were Ah went back to work when the doctor told me to stay in bed. Not exactly the wised think Ah’ve done in my youth but Ah don’t regret the none of it.” She then placed down their oatmeal as well as Applebloom bringing in a bowl of cinnamon apples. “Oh well thank you Granny Smith, Applebloom.” She then turned her attention to the little filly “Where’s Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell? I haven’t seen them all morning.” “Oh, Sweetie Bell is still asleep, but I think Scootaloo went to go talk to Starscream.” “What?!” Twilight nearly shouted shocking the two of them. She shook her head nervously and smiling “Oh, um I’ll just go check on them. Um, Starscream is still recovering after all.” After another nervous chuckle she made her way to Applebloom’s room where Starscream and Rainbow Dash were staying in. She opened the door with her magic expecting the worse. “Very common actually” Starscream said to the young filly as Twilight burst in. When she looked in she saw both Starscream and Scootaloo just sitting on the floor talking. The only significant thing was that Starscream’s mane was messier than before. Though now that she thought about it Starscream hasn’t been properly groomed since his transformation. “Oh hi Twilight! Starscream was telling me about his flying.” Scootaloo said turning to her and Starscream did the same. “Oh…right.” Twilight chuckled weakly. “Oh yes, Miss Sparkle she asked for advice in my great talent in the sky. After all, I believe all those with the capability of flight should have it.” Starscream said with a signature grin of his. “Right…of course. Um, Scootaloo, why don’t you head into the kitchen, Granny Smith and Applebloom have breakfast ready.” “Alright!” with that the little filly got on her legs and ran pass Twilight to retrieve breakfast. After she left she turned to Starscream “Well…” “Are your species sparklings so…excited?” “Well they are at least. Always trying to get their cutie marks.” Twilight then changed her tone “So um, what happened?” “Well long story short, she came in as I was waking up and she started asking me about my flying abilities. No need to worry, she doesn’t know anything about me. Besides, I can’t fly so I can’t tell her much anyhow.” “Right, look I was just wondering, did you talk to Rainbow Dash yesterday at all?” The stallion raised a brow “I mean it’s just that well, she seemed to be more comfortable about letting you fly.” Starscream knew what she meant but didn’t really want to tell her about last night. Bring up the memories to a new light was hard enough the first time and he only told Rainbow Dash because he felt comfortable then, there was something about the mare that made Starscream trust her, more so than Twilight. He merely shook his head. “I can’t fly. Not since…this” he motioned his hoof. “That’s not what-” she gave up “Look breakfast is ready.” “Excellent.” With that the two ponies made their way back to the kitchen where the rest of them were waiting for them to arrive and begin their morning nourishment. “Finally Twilight my dear you have finally arrived, I must say I expected you to have much better punctuality.” Rarity brought up while making motioning her hoof. “Sorry girls, just needed to get Star out of bed.” Twilight explained. “Ah yes, Starscream. I must say I am very much intrigued in the stallion that I have yet to properly speak to.” Starscream turned his attention to the white unicorn with elegant purple mane. He could tell just by her look that this was not going to be his favorite pony in the group. “Starscream, I must say you must simply better pay attention to you’re appearance. You’re mane simply looks like it hasn’t been groomed in days, much like you’re coat, it could use a much need bath and-” “Okay, Rarity I think all of that can wait till after breakfast.” Twilight said to the ex-seeker’s defense that currently had a look of fear and annoyance combined. “Well I suppose you are right, but right after breakfast I highly recommend that you bath immediately. You’re coat is very dirty.” Fortunately, bathing was nothing to alien to him, as a transformer, they would have to occasionally use have to ‘bath’ in the sense that they got dirty from a battle or just a plain mishap and have to be cleaned but it wasn’t as often organics did. “This is going to be a long orbital cycle.” Starscream said under his breath as he began to eat the oatmeal. --Outside, 45 minuets later-- It was still early morning and Breakfast and was out of the way but Rainbow Dash the whole time didn’t join breakfast and merely had a few apples from the trees. She was just happy to stretch her wings freely. She did take Twilight advice though and decided to take it easy and merely just simply hovering in the air a keep the tricks to a minimum. “Rainbow Dash!” a voice called on the surface. She leveled herself to the ground. “Oh hey AJ.” “Ya, wings working better now?” The famer mare asked. “Well, there’re still healing technically, but at least I can stretch them out again and being in the air for a little while.” Rainbow explained moving her wings a bit. “Well I reckon that’s good. I guess that explain why you weren’t at breakfast. Ah assumed you would be doing this when yur wings came back.” Rainbow Dash chuckled “Yeah, you know I love to fly. Do you know where Starscream is?” Applejack smirked “Well, Rarity is kinda grooming him right now.” Rainbow shook her head “Grooming him!?” “Well he was a bit dirty. But Rarity insisted that-” “I’ve had enough!” a male voice raged out. “I do not require anymore maintenance to my appearance.” Out of the house came the stallion himself outside. “Oh fine darling. But seriously, at least consider bathing daily.” Rarity’s voice called out. Rainbow smirked at scenario and took a look at the silver stallion now that he was completely clean. She had to say he did look a lot more appealing. He coat now had a shine to it with went well with the silver color as well as groomed mane that was probably from Rarity’s upkeep. “Oh, there you are Screamer.” Rainbow said smirking at the scenario that just transpired. “Whatever, Twilight said you wanted to talk to me.” Starscream explained with annoyed look. “Well I better get back to Macintosh and help him get the apples to Ponyville.” She turned her attention to Starscream “And you keep yourself in check mister.” And with that she left with Starscream giving a snort. The now-stallion turned back to Rainbow “Now then Rainbow Dash, what is it you to speak to me about?” He was hoping it had nothing to do with last night. “Well since I can fly again, and I been thinking, so I decided to teach you how to fly.” Rainbow explained in a calm tone. “I won’t lie; the ability of flight would be nice to have again.” Starscream said crooking his neck to the side. “Okay, follow me.” Both Rainbow Dash and Starscream started their way away from the orchard till they found an empty hill that was wide open and not too steep. It was just an open grass field that would make sure that no one would get seriously hurt for mistakes. “Alright, let’s get started. I’m pretty sure that the way you flew was very different than it is a pegasus.” “I don’t doubt it.” Starscream said dismissively. Within an hour, the two pegasus went over the basics of wing movement. Just as Rainbow Dash expected, Starscream was learning exceptionally fast. Within half an hour he was able to properly hover in the air and was able to master how to properly flap his wings and everything. Within a short time period after that, he was able to glide and dash in many altitudes that Equestria had to offer. Starscream was already able to fly and jet across the sky as he could before. “I got to say, you’re learning this faster than I thought.” Rainbow Dash said to the stallion in front her. Both of them were in the air just hovering in place. “Of course! I will always master the skies! Mechanical, organic, any form, I will always own the skies.” Rainbow merely chuckled at Starscream’s gloating “Right, may know the skies, but I’ll always be faster.” “Ha, I may no longer be a Cybertronian, but I’m sure that I’ll always be the fastest!” The stallion pushed. “Ha, you’re really believe that? You just learned how to fly as a pegasus and you think you’re fast than me?” “Facts, Rainbow Dash, are not beliefs.” He smirked. “Oh it’s on!” She growled no longer taking it as a game “If you’re going to start making facts, you better start backing them up!” “With pleasure Rainbow Dash.” He said with his smirk still holding strong “Name your terms mare.” Rainbow Dash glared at him for a moment then got her head in the game “One lap around Sweet Apple Acers, starting at this point.” “Fair enough.” Starscream smirked as he started to turn to the side while Rainbow flew beside him and they get into position. Both of them lowered themselves to the very edge of Sweet Apple Acres and hovered just a few feet over the apple trees. “Alright Screamer, on your mark, get set, go!” Rainbow ordered and the two pegasus dashed through the air going at impressive speeds. They weren’t going at top speed merely because it would be impractical and Rainbow Dash didn’t want to damage any of the trees, which she’s done in the past, and more damage to anything in Equestria would be impractical since the attack. The two of them raced essentially neck and neck. Neither of them could keep the lead for long without the other having to let the other pass. Not much could be said about their actual speeds though, however, to Rainbow’s fear, Starscream was actually able to keep up with, not really what she expected nor wanted. She grinned “Prepare to eat my dust Starscream!” and with that she jet with one fast flap and to the point she was just a blur of her rainbow mane. “Impressive, Rainbow Dash…let’s just see if you can hold that speed for long.” He smirked but did increase his speed to keep up. Rainbow was going at an impressive rate still wasn’t her top speed, she didn’t want to revile that to Starscream till she had to. Going at that speed she could feel her muscles straining like it usually would. She loved it, how she missed it. All of a sudden she felt her left wing suddenly crack, and sent an incredibly sharp pain in her wing. She screamed out at the sudden and unexpected pain through her body and could hardly keep it stretched and lost control. She couldn’t keep herself in the air. She tried to move it but it wouldn’t function like it should, the most she could do was poorly glide in the air but it was next to impossible to keep it up properly and the pain made it hard to focus on her flying. She lost control and headed straight downward she had tears in her eyes from the pain alone she lost sight and was having a hard time trying to focus in the air, she wanted to land but she could stop her. She closed her eyes hoping it clear up her sight. All of a sudden she felt a force from under her with her face under hair and quickly and gradually slow down. She opened her eyes and saw they were on the ground and stopped. She cleared her eyes from the tears and looked at the cushion she was under. She noticed that she was in a black mane and she was lying on another pegasus with her legs hanging on the sides. Rainbow already knew who it was “You saved me…” “You sound disappointed.” Starscream smirked. “I could have handled myself!” she argued back. She tried to get off but felt a sharp pain her wing when she tried to move it. She left her wing hanging on the side. “I thought it was strange that your wings healed up that fast. I may have been mechanical, but I do know biological immunities.” Starscream explained. “Alright alright, I don’t need this from you too. I know I’m going to get chewed out by Twilight!” She said sighing putting her head back into his mane and turning it to the side “Just take me back to the farm.” “Fair enough.” He smirked “But thank you for the lesson. I assure you it will be of great use to me.” Starscream then finally started his way to the farm as Rainbow eventually rested in his mane closing her eyes.