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// Wishes Only Last a Night 
// Story: Wishes Only Last a Night 
// by Sea_Shimmer 
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   She stood at the edge of a cliff.
Shutting her emerald green eyes, she outstretched her wings part way, letting the wind caress them, swirl around the center of every single feather, the strange, rough word for such a delicate section of her body, the rachis, and then leave the cycle.
Pressing the pale gray feathers once again her flank, she swallowed deeply. A tingle went up her spine, traveling once again to the delicate membrane of her wings. 
She looked up and sent a silent prayer up to Luna’s stars, the only witnesses to this silent scene.
  Luna’s light, Those stars that shine bright,
Inhaling deeply, letting the extra air flow into her lungs, she took a step backward.
The first of Luna’s subjects I see tonight
Now she galloped forward, full speed, towards the end of the cliff, almost closing her eyes,
To grant me the chance that I might
But no. Now she flung her eyes open, and charged off the cliff, spreading open her wings, letting her fears melt away like icicles on a hot Summer’s day, 
 Wish the wish I wish tonight
For a moment she felt like she was falling, and she opened her mouth, prepared to let out a silent scream before her final moments, those moments in which, once again, the only witness would be Luna’s stars, when she realized that she was flying.
Opening her eyes with a gasp, she looked down at her sock-covered hooves, which, for the first time, were not touching the ground. She let out an excited squeal, moving them around, making sure that this wasn’t some cruel hallucination that some contemptuous unicorn had played on her, but they were real. 
A smile slowly creeping across her face, her pupils glanced over at the directions of her right wing, and look, it was gliding over the wind currents, not crumpling up and failing her, not like that one fateful encounter so long ago-
The thought struck her mind, and she looked over at her left wing, but to her surprise and delight, it was whole, not bare like a strange dead chicken’s wing, as it had been back then, when everything was wrong. 
After all, who wanted a one-winged pegasus?
She shut her eyes defiantly. No. She would not think of that. Her one long-time wish had finally come true; dear Luna had, after years upon years of asking, granted that one simple request.
To fly.
Finally letting herself run free, not having a care in the world, she flapped her wings; once, twice, and then three times, and she was already twenty feet above her original position, but she wasn’t done there; she pointed her muzzle upwards, letting the wind rush through her bright green mane, the thrilling sensation of adrenaline flood through her body as she broke through the layer of clouds that had been covering the land below.
She let out a gasp that was muffled by the delicate hoof that covered her mouth. Looking around as she slowly flapped her wings to hover gently above the clouds, she felt a small tear emerge from her eye. This was what she had been missing. This was the thing she had longed for for so long, and now, it was finally here, in front of her, showing her that once again she was welcome in this land of pegasi, that there was finally a third of Equestrian ponies that she belonged too. 
Before her, silhouetted by Luna’s moon, was Cloudsdale.
For a moment she was tempted to fly into the streets, all around those little ponies, just to let them know she was there, but something tugged at her heartstrings, away from the beautiful sight, telling her no, now was not the time.
She reluctantly obeyed, but she would not be deterred so easily from impressing that invisible audience that had taunted her her whole life. 
Sharply outstretching her wings, she once again began to fly upwards, her muzzle piercing cloud after cloud as she gained altitude. The moon teasingly shone onto her coat, bathing it in such a wonderful sensation that words themselves could not describe, those rays which felt so different than they did on the ground. 
Then, when she flew to such a height that she could no longer see Cloudsdale below her, she froze for a moment in midair.
So this is where a pegasus would reach 36,000 feet, now, isn’t it? She thought with a small mischievous smile.
Then, she let herself fall backwards.
The dive was dangerous, fast, and exhilarating, her favorite combination which she hadn't felt since a small filly. For a moment she was transported back to that fateful race, the one with that one they called Rainbow Dash, that strange multi-colored maned mare which she owed both nothing and everything in her life. That mare had managed to pull off a Sonic Rainboom when there had been a simple race, nothing special.
While she had failed when her parents lives had been on the line.
For a moment she was tempted to stop, to pull up. To stop the thing that had cost her so much when she had failed to execute it.
But she had failed then. That didn’t mean she was going to fail now.
Narrowing her eyes as water began to clog up her vision, she felt herself in freefall, the exact opposite of what she had been doing only moments before. Throwing her hooves forward, she felt the pressure mounting up before them, the wrinkles that had been in her blue-green socks straightening out as the wind furiously drove itself at her.
And then she broke the sound barrier.
She looked behind her as a green pattern spotted with several dots of blue here and there exploded. For a moment she smiled sadly. Did I make you proud, Mom, Dad?
Looking back down, she realized that she was headed straight on a collision course with the ground. But as she tried to pull up, she realized it was no use. She smacked straight into the hard, gray rock in front of her.
And then there was darkness.

The young gray mare woke up. Looking at her left wing, she saw that it was once again dead and flightless.
Sometimes, she thought sadly, Wishes only last a night