Growing Up Sonic
Sonic Dash ran along the wide cloud bank near his parents’ home, laughing with the joy of movement and the sensation of wind in his bright yellow mane. He pushed forward with his hind legs and sprang into the air, flapping his wings in a frantic attempt to take flight.
He felt his body gain about two feet of lift before he lost his balance, tipping forward to crash head-first into the cloud. He slid several yards along the cloud bank before coming to a halt, his cyan coat covered in bruises and scratches.
“Nice flying, Sonic Crash!” came the jeering voice of another pegasus colt. Sonic looked up to see one of his school friends, Hailstone, laughing at him. He and a handful of other colts were clustered at the edge of the cloud, peering down at the ponies walking or flying along another cloud running at right angles beneath it.
“Hey, he got more air than you ever have!” rejoined Snowdrift, another of Sonic’s friends, shoving Hailstone with one hoof. The two colts flailed ineffectually at each other as Sonic trotted up to join his friends.
“Yeah, that’s right! And I’m going to be the best flier in Cloudsdale one day, while you’re all still stuck at flight school!”
The other colts laughed, although several looked as though they believed Sonic. Snowdrift in particular nodded his head. “Yeah, Hailstone! We’ve all seen how high Sonic Dash can get. Compared to him, you fly like a filly!”
“Hey, you take that back!” yelled Hailstone, launching himself at Snowdrift again, hooves extended. The two colts rolled along the cloud bank, kicking up vapour as they tussled.
Sonic turned his back on the fight, trotting over to the edge of the cloud and looking over. “What’s wrong with flying like a filly?” he asked a nearby colt, who was hauling a bucket of water towards the edge. “Spitfire’s a filly, I mean, a mare, and she’s... well, she’s Spitfire! Nopony’s as awesome as her!”
The colt set the bucket down at the edge of the cloud, directly above the other cloud below. “Yeah, but... that’s Spitfire, she’s a Wonderbolt. Most fillies are lousy fliers. I mean, look at Fluttershy. She’s a year above us and she can’t get her hooves off the cloud at all.”
“Hey!” objected Sonic, stamping a hoof on the cloud. “Fluttershy’s my friend! She tries really hard! It’s not her fault she’s so sick all the time!” He peered over the edge of the cloud again. “What are you doing with that bucket, anyway?”
The colt chuckled, as Hailstone, Snowdrift and the others clustered around the edge. “We’re waiting for Miss Windsong to come past with her fillies’ choir. They won’t know what hit them! It’ll be a bucket of water,” he added unnecessarily.
Sonic laughed, grinning down at the unsuspecting ponies beneath them. “Yeah, that’ll be pretty hilarious... wait. Why are we doing this again?”
Snowdrift gave Sonic a quizzical look. “Dude. Fillies. Bucket of water. How is that not awesome?”
Sonic shook his head and turned away. “Whatever. I’m gonna go hang out with Fluttershy.”
Hailstone laughed as Sonic trotted back down the cloud bank. “Yeah, sure, go hang out with your marefriend instead of us!” The other pegasi turned their attention to the mayhem that was about to ensue beneath them, not paying any more attention to the cyan colt.
Fluttershy’s parents greeted Sonic at the door, pleased as ever to see him. “Fluttershy’s in her room, Sonic dear,” smiled her mother, a mare with a blue coat a little darker than Sonic’s. “Here, I’ve just boiled the kettle, you and Fluttershy can have a little tea party!”
Sonic obligingly took the tea-tray in his teeth so that she wouldn’t see his grimace. Fluttershy’s “tea parties” were possibly the lamest thing Sonic ever did on a regular basis. In fact, Fluttershy had to be the least cool pony Sonic knew, including his parents. Somehow, though, the two of them had been fast friends ever since Sonic’s first day at school. Sonic usually found himself visiting Fluttershy’s house whenever his fellow colts left him exasperated or bewildered, like today.
“Sonic Dash!” exclaimed Fluttershy, looking up from the hoof-powered sewing machine at her desk. She took the tray from Sonic and carefully placed it on her dresser, then wrapped her front legs around Sonic’s shoulders in a tender hug. “I was hoping you’d come and see me today! I’ve just finished some outfits that I think you’ll really like!”
Sonic flopped onto a pile of tiny clouds in the corner of Fluttershy’s bedroom, watching as Fluttershy took the teapot between her teeth and poured them both a cup of tea. “Yeah, well, I got tired of hanging out with the other colts. They’re all being so weird lately. I’d rather be here anyway. What have you done?”
Fluttershy slid a table over to Sonic, laden with cups and saucers. She took a slurp of tea, then reached into her wardrobe and drew out a long, flowing dress. The fabric was a soft, light red with a faint blue tint, with a white trim. “I’m so proud of this!” she said as she draped the dress over her shoulders and flank. “I saved up my allowance to buy the cotton – it’s imported from the ground, you know. What do you think?”
Sonic drew in a sharp breath. “That’s awesome, Fluttershy! It’s just like the sunsets my mother makes! You should totally wear that to the Best Young Flier competition next week. We’re still going to that, right?”
“Oh, of course! That is, I’d like to, if you still want to.” Fluttershy hugged the dress tightly, then poked her head back into the wardrobe. “I’m so glad you like it! And look, I even made something for you too!”
Sonic scrambled off the cloud pile, his wings beating in excitement as he looked to see what Fluttershy had sewn for him. Fluttershy trotted forward with a bundle of cloth in her teeth and draped it over Sonic’s shoulders. “It’s a suit jacket! Just like the ones I’ve seen your father wearing. Try it on, I think I got your measurements right.”
The young colt slipped his front legs into the sleeves of the jacket, pulling it tight around his shoulders with his teeth and a helping hoof from Fluttershy. He turned to look at himself in the mirror. The jacket was made of a bright yellow cloth, matching his mane, and trimmed with a dark grey braid reminiscent of storm clouds. He shifted from left to right, trying to catch his reflection from every angle.
“Do you like it?” asked Fluttershy anxiously, watching Sonic fidgeting. “I thought the colours would go so well with your coat and mane...”
Sonic chewed on his lip. “It’s... nice, I guess,” he finally replied, sighing.
Fluttershy’s face fell, as Sonic was afraid it would. “You don’t like it.”
“No, I like it,” said Sonic hurriedly. “I like the colours, it looks awesome. I just... don’t think it suits me, that’s all.”
Fluttershy nodded and helped Sonic out of the jacket. “That’s alright. Why don’t you see if there’s anything else in my collection that you like? I usually sew when I’m bored and I can’t go outside.”
Sonic nudged Fluttershy’s neck gently. “I’m sorry you’re stuck in here so often. I’ll come around more often, I promise.” He disappeared into Fluttershy’s wardrobe, nosing through a variety of outfits, before emerging with one folded over his head. “I really like this one.”
Fluttershy stared at Sonic for several seconds before speaking. “That’s a dress, Sonic,” she said slowly, as if speaking to a much younger foal. “Fillies wear dresses. You’re a colt.”
Sonic looked awkward for a moment, then snorted and tossed his head, dropping the dress to the ground. “Yeah, you’re right. Don’t know what I was thinking.” He stomped back into the corner and threw himself down on the clouds with a sigh.
A few moments later, Fluttershy nudged Sonic’s shoulder, and draped the dress over his flank. “If you want to try it on,” she whispered, “I won’t tell anypony.”
Sonic whickered in delight, and thrust his head into the dress. Fluttershy helped him to fit his front legs and his wings through the right holes, and tightened some sashes with her teeth before ushering him in front of the mirror.
The dress was long in the body but short in the legs, covering Sonic’s rump and tail but leaving his legs free. The fabric was striped in bright red and blue, running diagonally along the dress and ending in a fluffy white trim at the hem. A darker red hem edged the wing-sleeves, contrasting against the blue of Sonic’s feathers. He stretched out his wings and danced from side to side, watching the way the stripes of the dress rippled with the motion.
Fluttershy watched Sonic modelling the dress, her heart swelling with pride and delight. “Do you like it?” she asked, fluttering her wings.
“Like it?” exclaimed Sonic, his eyes still fixed on the mirror. “I love it! It’s just the way I can see myself when I’m flying!” He flapped his wings hard, lifting a couple of inches off the floor before touching down again. “Did you make this dress for somepony?”
Fluttershy looked at her hooves, mumbling. “Spitfire.”
Sonic gasped. “Spitfire asked you to make a dress for her?”
The yellow filly nibbled on her lip. “Um, no. But I kind of pretended that she did, and this is what I would have made for her if she did. I mean, it’s not her size or anything, so... um... do you want to keep it?”
Sonic whinnied happily and pressed his neck against Fluttershy’s. “Really? I can have it? Thank you, thank you, thank you, this is so awesome! It’s exactly what I’d wear if I were a filly!”
Fluttershy blushed and returned the gesture. “Oh, Sonic, you know I’d do anything for you. You’re so good to me, coming to see me when I’m not well. Maybe you can...”
“Sonic! Your father’s here!” came Fluttershy’s mother’s voice through the bedroom door.
Sonic yelped, his wings fluttering in panic. “Quick, I gotta get this off!” he fretted, trying to shrug out of the dress without damaging it. “I don’t know what Dad’s gonna say if he sees me in this, and I don’t wanna know!”
Fluttershy eased Sonic’s wings out of their sleeves and pulled the dress over his head just as her mother opened the door. Sonic’s father, Lightning Dash, stood behind her, smiling warmly. “Hello, son! Hello, Fluttershy!” he greeted them. “Having a nice tea party?”
Sonic grinned and stepped over to greet his father, while Fluttershy did her best to look nonchalant while putting the dresses back in her wardrobe. “Yeah, Fluttershy was just showing me some of the dresses she’s made. She’s freaky good at sewing.”
Lightning ruffled his colt’s bright yellow mane with a front hoof. “I’m glad you two get on so well. Come on, your mother will be finishing work soon.”
Sire and colt made their farewells, with Sonic saying that he’d see Fluttershy at school the next day. At he trotted off after his father, he thought longingly about the dress Fluttershy had given him. Exactly what I would wear if I were a filly.
Lightning and Sonic sat on the western balcony of their home, eating hay and watching the sun set in the western sky. A blanket of altocumulus clouds lay across the sky, catching the yellow and orange rays of the sun and breaking them up into a dappled pattern of light. As the two ponies watched, the light shifted from orange to red, and then faded altogether, as the moon slowly rose behind them.
Just as the last rays of red vanished from the western sky, a small grey shape detached itself from the clouds and flew towards the house. Lightning watched with a satisfied smile as his wife came to a graceful landing on the balcony, touching down and regaining her balance just in time for her colt to rush into her embrace.
“That was great!” gushed Sonic, pointing to the western sky. “Dad and I loved it, didn’t we, Dad?”
Lightning chuckled and walked over to kiss his wife, tousling his colt’s mane as he went. “We did. It was beautiful, honey. Cloudsdale would be a dull place without your work.”
Cloud Dash kissed her husband back, then unhitched herself from the small wagon she was hauling. “And look, Sonic, I remembered my promise!”
Sonic whickered excitedly and rushed to the wagon, hauling several scoops of fluffy white cloud out of it. “Wow, this is perfect! You brought enough for my play-house, just like you said! We can start work tomorrow, right, Dad?”
Lightning nodded. “As soon as I get home. There’s a box of factory reject rainclouds on my desk that I’ll bring home tomorrow too. I was thinking you and your mother could set up a nice little waterfall effect if you get the precipitation balance right. Which I just know my little weather stallion will!”
“Of course, Dad! I’m going to be just like you when I grow up! Until I join the Wonderbolts, anyway. Hey, maybe we could mix some rainbows in there! You know, give it some colour?”
Cloud smiled in agreement. “I think it would be a delightful touch, Sonic! We are going to have so much fun together! You’re so artistic sometimes.”
“I don’t know, son,” Lightning commented. “We don’t want this to look like a filly’s house. Wouldn’t you rather we put a few storm clouds in there instead? That’d give it the proper weather stallion look.” He exchanged a worried glance with his wife, who nodded.
“Aww, but... okay, Dad. Storm clouds are cool too, right?”
Lightning smiled. “That’s my colt.”
The day of the Best Young Flier competition rolled around, and Sonic arrived at Fluttershy’s house bright and early. Fluttershy was waiting for him when he arrived, already wearing her new dress. “You came!” she squealed as she hugged him, walking him to her bedroom. “I’m so excited, can’t you tell?”
“Yeah, you’re so excited I can hardly hear you,” muttered Sonic. “Try to be a bit louder, can’t you? It’s gonna be weird if you’re the only pony not cheering for the Wonderbolts or for the competitors.”
“Alright, I’ll try. I just don’t want to sound rude or annoying if I’m too loud.” She kicked her bedroom door closed behind her and went to her wardrobe. “So, do you... want to wear your new dress today?”
“To the contest?” Sonic’s wings bated nervously, his front hooves pawing at the air. “Like, out in Cloudsdale, where everypony can see me? I mean...” he slowly relaxed and touched down on the floor again. “It’s not like I’m scared or anything, but... what are ponies going to say when they see a colt wearing a dress, no matter how awesome it is?”
He looked at the dress where Fluttershy had laid it out on her bed. “But I really want to! I like it better than anything else I’ve ever worn...” He nudged the dress with his head, sighing heavily.
“Well, you know, Sonic...” replied Fluttershy quietly, “when you’re wearing that dress, it’ll be hard for anypony to tell you’re a colt. It covers... um... everything. You know.” She squeaked and let her mane hide her face, before walking over to her dresser. “And if I put a bit of powder on your muzzle, nopony will be able to tell from the shape of your face.”
Sonic rolled his eyes. “Fluttershy, I’m not going out there in a dress and makeup. Makeup is for... it’s...” He trotted over to the dresser. “You think it would work?”
Fluttershy nodded eagerly. “I think so! Just enough to soften out the lines of your bones. And if we stick together, nopony will look at us twice.”
Sonic chewed on his lip as he looked at the pot of blue powder on Fluttershy’s dresser. This has “bad idea” written all over it, he thought, but his gaze kept trailing back to the dress on his friend’s bed. I could spend a day in that dress, looking like Spitfire. Hanging out with Fluttershy, not having to listen to the stupid colts at school and their dumb “colts versus fillies” attitude. No father telling me that colts shouldn’t like rainbows.
“Let’s do this.”
Sonic took one last look in Fluttershy’s mirror before they left for the Cloudiseum. Fluttershy was right – he did look like a filly. He was lucky that she had had a powder and cream in a colour that almost matched his coat, because it softened his face just enough to mistake it for a filly’s at a casual glance. He stretched out his wings in the best flying posture he had seen from his father, imagining a crowd cheering for him.
“And now, fillies and gentlecolts, let’s hear a round of applause for the youngest pegasus pony ever to captain the Wonderbolts, Spitfire!”
Sonic launched himself across Fluttershy’s bedroom, catching the air under his outstretched wings for long enough to let him glide onto her bed, where he crash-landed, cheering for himself. Fluttershy nuzzled her friend and laughed softly. “You do look just like her. You’ve almost got the same mane, even. Come on, we should leave now if we want to get good places at the Cloudiseum!”
The Cloudiseum was starting to fill up when they arrived, but they managed to find a standing area near the front, across the arena from the royal booth. He pointed out the white pegasi standing guard in the booth. “Look, that’s the Princess’s travelling guard! I’ve always wanted to see them! I wonder what it’s like being one of the royal guards. Look at their armour! It’s like something out of a history book.”
Fluttershy nodded eagerly. “It’s lovely,” she agreed. “It must be a great honour to work directly for Princess Celestia. Look, here she comes now!”
Sure enough, the great white alicorn herself was gliding into view, flanked by another pair of guards. All eyes in the stadium were drawn to the princess as she took up her position in the royal booth. Fluttershy admired the grace of Celestia’s flight, hardly seeming to flap her wings at all, while Sonic stood transfixed by the princess’s mane.
“I didn’t know she was so pretty!” murmured Sonic, staring at the corona of hair that trailed behind the princess like the rays of a sunrise. “I’ll never have a mane like that.”
Fluttershy leaned against her friend companionably. “Lots of ponies try to look like her, especially in Canterlot. Nopony ever really does, though.” She sighed happily, watching the princess. “I just wish I could fly the way she does.”
“Aw, come on, Fluttershy,” Sonic reassured her. “You’re starting flight school next year, and you’re getting over your illness really well. And I’ll help you, too. We’ll have you flying in no time.”
Fluttershy whickered appreciatively and passed Sonic one of the oatcakes her mother had made for them that morning, while they waited for the contest to begin. Other ponies smiled at them as they shuffled past, but nopony paid them much attention, just as Fluttershy had predicted.
The show began with a display from the Wonderbolts, as it did every year. Sonic cheered wildly as the orange-haired captain Spitfire led her troupe in their performance. He pointed out the other performers to Fluttershy as well – Spitfire’s aging second-in-command Skywheel, the younger fliers Rapid Fire and Hawkwing, and even their newest member, Soarin’. Both young ponies, however, had their gaze firmly on Spitfire for most of the performance, entranced by her agility and style, not to mention speed.
Soon the display was over and the contest itself had begun in earnest. Each competitor had their own tricks, techniques and style, and Sonic took careful mental notes as he watched, preparing for the day when he would amaze Cloudsdale with his own routine. Fluttershy simply enjoyed the spectacle and the chance to be out in the fresh air with her friend.
By the end of the show, Sonic was full of ideas and eager to be stretching his wings again. His thrice-weekly flying lessons with his father simply weren’t enough to satisfy his desire to be in the air, to feel the rush of wind in his mane and swoop and soar just like his father and his Wonderbolt idols. He would prance ahead of Fluttershy as she walked, then spin around and glide back to her. Fluttershy simply giggled and kept pace as best she could.
As Sonic landed next to Fluttershy for the fifth time, a filly’s voice from behind him made him freeze. “Hey, Fluttershy! Who’s your friend?”
Sonic turned around slowly as Fluttershy hurried past him, seeing a small herd of pegasus fillies led by a filly with a bright green coat and deep red mane. Fluttershy moved to greet the filly with a friendly nuzzle. “Dazzle! I didn’t know you and the rest of the choir were coming to the contest!”
Dazzle grinned, as the fillies behind her waved. “It was a kind of last-minute thing, and you’d already said you were going with a friend. So, what’s your name?” she asked, switching her attention to Sonic despite Fluttershy’s best attempts to distract her.
“Oh, well, Dazzle, this is my cousin, um...”
“Firefly!” Sonic chimed in, extending his front hoof to Dazzle. “Nice to meet you, Dazzle.”
“You too, Firefly!” answered Dazzle, and Sonic noticed just how lilting and measured her voice was, even simply speaking. “I really like your dress. Did Fluttershy make that for you?”
“Yeah, she did!” exclaimed Sonic, trying to keep his voice high and rounded, to hide the coltish sharpness in it. “I love it so much! She modelled it after how she thought Spitfire would dress when she’s not in her flight suit.”
A chorus of admiration for both Spitfire and the dress went through the other fillies. “Spitfire really is amazing, isn’t she?” agreed Dazzle. “I think she’s going to be the best captain the Wonderbolts have ever had!”
“Spitfire’s going to fly the Wonderbolts straight into the ground,” came a colt’s voice from behind the choir fillies. “Skywheel should never have put a filly like her in charge of the team.”
Fluttershy squeaked and hid behind Sonic, trembling. The choir fillies turned around to see a pegasus colt with a dull amber coat and dark brown hair, laughing at Dazzle. A small group of colts clustered behind him, laughing as well.
“You take that back, Hoops!” demanded Dazzle imperiously. “Spitfire is the finest flier of this generation!”
Sonic looked the colt over. He seemed vaguely familiar, about a year older than Sonic, and when Dazzle mentioned Hoops’s name, he remembered seeing him on the opposing team at a school basketball game a year or two ago. He slowly edged his way through the crowd, towards Hoops and Dazzle. Fluttershy crept along behind him, too frightened to speak.
“She’s a klutz, is what she is,” continued Hoops. “We don’t need a pony like her ruining the Wonderbolts’ performance. Skywheel should have taken over when the old captain retired. Putting a mare in charge of the team is the worst mistake they’ve ever made.”
“Why, you... miscreant!” Dazzle stammered, losing her composure for a moment. Behind her, the other fillies snorted and pawed at the cloud angrily. “How dare you say such a thing! If anything, fillies are faster than colts, and more agile, too! Better fliers in every way!”
“Oh, yeah?” demanded Hoops. “Prove it.”
Dazzle suddenly looked nervous, losing her haughty demeanour. “Oh, well, I didn’t mean me specifically... that is to say, I was speaking generally, of fillies, and...”
“That’s what I thought,” gloated Hoops. “You’re all too scared to run a race you know you’re gonna lose. Unless you want to make it a singing contest instead!” He and his cohorts laughed at the fillies again, while Dazzle turned her face away in shame and Fluttershy continued to cower.
“I’ll race you!” yelled Sonic, shoving his way to the front of the crowd. “I’m faster than you! I’m faster than any colt!”
“Well, well, well,” mused Hoops, looking Sonic up and down. “Looks like we’ve got a real Spitfire fangirl here. You sure you want to do this, little filly, or are you too afraid you’ll ruin your pretty little dress?”
“I’ll ruin your pretty little face if you keep talking!” retorted Sonic, raising one hoof threateningly. “Are we gonna do this, or are you scared that a filly’s going to beat you?”
“Oh, we’re doing this,” agreed Hoops. “First pony to make it around the Cloudiseum and back here wins.”
Dazzle gave Sonic an admiring smile, then drew a handkerchief out of her saddlebags and stood to one side of the two pegasus colts as they lined up for the race. Sonic pawed at the cloud beneath his hooves and bared his teeth at Hoops, who just snorted back at him. As soon as Dazzle waved her handkerchief, both colts sprinted off along the clouds surrounding the Cloudiseum, leaving a puff of vapour dissipating in their wake.
Hoops ran ahead of Sonic by half a body length, using his longer legs and greater strength to his advantage. As they reached the first curve in the path leading around the Cloudiseum, though, Sonic leapt into the air and spread out his wings, banking sharply and touching down perfectly, keeping his speed throughout the turn while Hoops had to corner clumsily on his hooves. Sonic landed a full body length ahead of Hoops, tossing his mane contemptuously. “Try to keep up!” he jeered, galloping along as quickly as he could.
“How’d you do that?” shouted Hoops, gaining a little bit of ground on Sonic as they moved into another straight section of the path. “You shouldn’t be able to fly like that!”
“Guess I’m just too awesome for you, then!” retorted Sonic. The two colts thundered along the track, Hoops powering ahead on the straights but Sonic losing less time on the turns. After a few minutes of running, they rounded the final turn and could see the fillies and colts waiting for them at a finish line they had drawn in the clouds. Ahead of them, the cloud path split into two, with one path ascending to lead away to another part of Cloudsdale. Sonic saw that Hoops was only a quarter of a body length behind him, and knew that he would make up that distance over the final sprint.
Taking a chance, Sonic ran up the higher path, ignoring Hoops’s confused glare. He knew he was losing ground to Hoops by taking this route, but if what his father had taught him was true, he should be able to make up that ground and more with what he was about to do. He felt the eyes of all the colts and fillies on him, and knew that this was his chance to shine.
The upper path climbed high enough that a fall would be uncomfortable if not painful, but just before it curved away from the main track, Sonic sprang off the edge, his wings and legs drawn in close to his body. As he felt his descent gain momentum, he snapped out his wings, catching the air under them and letting his dive transform into a swoop. His wings burned as he felt the stress of the drag on them, and he could hardly focus on the track in front of him for fear that he would dislocate a joint or tear a muscle. The awestruck expressions of the fillies at the finish line made him keep his eyes open, though, and he glided along swiftly, crossing the line fully three body lengths ahead of Hoops.
Sonic barely had time to register his victory before his hooves caught the cloud beneath him, sending him tumbling head over rump for several yards before grinding to a halt. Sighing in annoyance, he pulled himself upright, waiting for the “Sonic Crash” taunts to start again.
Instead, a crowd of fillies surged towards him, surrounding him and hoisting him up on their shoulders. “Three cheers for Firefly!” called Dazzle, watching Sonic with a wide grin. Fluttershy was hanging near the edge of the herd, only cheering softly but with the proudest expression on her face.
The colts had turned their backs on the fillies and were shoving Hoops with their shoulders and hooves, jeering at him. “You lost a race to a filly! What a loser!” Hoops snarled and shoved back at his friends, and soon the crowd had descended into fighting.
Dazzle made a show of ignoring the colts, walking up to Sonic and nuzzling his neck. “That was amazing! Where did you learn to run like that? And you were almost flying! You really are going to be the next Spitfire!”
Sonic felt a blush rising to his cheeks. He had never been at the centre of so many admiring gazes before, and Fluttershy was usually the only filly who ever nuzzled him like that. “Oh, well... my dad’s a pretty big-shot weather expert, and he teaches me everything he can.”
“Well, it paid off! None of us could have beaten Hoops in that race. Not even come close. It would have been so humiliating, having all those colts laughing at us.”
Sonic grinned. “Yeah, well, it’s a pity he wasn’t going to go for the singing contest idea instead. Then you’d have beaten him for sure. You have a really pretty voice.”
Dazzle looked suddenly nervous. “Oh, no, he was serious about that. Hoops is the lead treble of the Cloudsdale Colts’ Choir. I don’t think any of us could have beaten him at that either.”
“Hoops is a singer?” asked Sonic incredulously. “But he’s... he’s such a jerk! I only just met him today and I can tell!”
“Oh, he is. I have to sing with him sometimes, but I can’t stand him. Come on, forget about him. The Parthenon Milk Bar is just across the road from the Cloudiseum – I’m buying you a milkshake!”
The sun was disappearing behind the clouds as Sonic and Fluttershy finally made their way home, both exhausted after their big day. Sonic was still full of euphoria after his victory over Hoops, prancing and flapping his wings despite the protests of his aching body. Fluttershy was almost asleep on her hooves, but even her yawns couldn’t dislodge the smile from her face.
“Best day ever!” exulted Sonic, trying to shake loose a cramp in his left wing. “Did you see the look on Hoops’s face when I beat him? And I think Dazzle really likes me! Is she always that nice?”
“Dazzle? Oh, she’s wonderful,” agreed Fluttershy. “She takes her singing very seriously, and pushes the rest of the choir very hard, but she’s always very kind and generous. And she has a beautiful singing voice. You should come to one of our performances. I think you’ll have fun!”
Sonic nodded. “I’d love to! This really is the best day ever! I met so many cool ponies, and won my first real race! And I proved to that stupid colt that a filly can beat him!”
Fluttershy stopped in her tracks, looking at Sonic. “But, Sonic,” she began, cautiously, “you’re not a filly.”
“Yes I am!” retorted Sonic. “I’m faster than any colt, and I’m... I’m...”
He trailed off, his elated mood evaporating as a look of horror crossed his features.
“What’s wrong with me, Fluttershy?”
“There’s nothing wrong with you, Sonic,” Fluttershy assured him anxiously. She started to back away from him slowly, having experienced his bad moods before.
“Yes there is! How could I just... forget that I’m a colt? All afternoon, with the choir, I really thought I was a filly! They treated me like one, and it was... it was better than all the times I’ve spent hanging out with the colts at school! But I’m not a filly.” He looked down at his dress, his wings hanging dejectedly. “I’m just a freak.”
Fluttershy stepped forward again and laid her neck against Sonic’s, nuzzling him reassuringly. “You’re not a freak, Sonic. You’re just not like the other colts. That’s okay. Everypony is different, but we’re all ponies, remember? We are a circle of pony friends...”
“A circle of friends we’ll be ‘til the very end!” they finished together, Fluttershy doing her best to harmonize her sweet soprano voice with Sonic’s squeaky treble. Sonic sighed and smiled, leaning against Fluttershy. “You’re right. But what am I going to do now? Am I just going to go back to school and pretend everything’s okay, now that I know what’s wrong? And what am I going to tell Dad?”
“Well... I don’t know about your father,” Fluttershy admitted, “and I don’t think the ponies at school will understand. But you can come and hang out with the choir some more. I’m sure Dazzle wants to meet Firefly again.”
“That would be okay? I mean... what if they find out?”
Fluttershy sighed softly. “I don’t know, Sonic. I just know I’ve never seen you this happy before. And I want you to stay this happy, whatever we have to do to make that happen.”
Against his expectations, Sonic found that spending time with the colts at school was actually easier now that he knew why he didn’t fit in. He still tussled with them and strove against them to be the fastest runner and best flier in school, but soon gained a reputation for being the pony to stand up for the fillies when other colts decided to pick on them. Of course, this backfired quickly when a gang of the older fillies decided to bully the colts in return. Nothing was ever simple, he found.
On the weekends, he found himself spending more and more time with Fluttershy, Dazzle and their friends. Dazzle begged him to audition for their choir, but Fluttershy assured her that “Firefly” couldn’t carry a tune in a wagon. In private, though, Fluttershy was giving Sonic extensive voice coaching. He was terrified that his voice was going to give him away, especially once it started to deepen as he grew older, but Fluttershy’s tutelage helped him to soften out his voice, just a little.
Instead of singing, Sonic was more than happy to listen to his new friends’ performances, and they, in return, dragged him around on their activities, attending plays and social events, and simply hanging out in the many wide open spaces of Cloudsdale. Some of Dazzle’s friends asked him for help with their flying, and soon he was running regular classes for them, sharing his knowledge and enthusiasm with them.
Fluttershy continued to help Sonic with clothing, too. By the time Cloudsdale ushered in spring, Sonic had amassed a wardrobe of half a dozen dresses, from formal attire to casual clothing and a dress tailored specifically for flying. Fluttershy even sewed him a flight suit similar to those worn by professional fliers like the Wonderbolts, matching the precise shade of his coat. With this, she hoped that he would be able to pass as a filly even without a full dress, although he was reluctant to try it just yet.
Over the course of the year, Sonic did his best to keep up his alternate identity with his filly friends, and still put on a proper appearance among the colts at school. By spring, it had become clear to him that the mask of being a “normal colt” at school was just that, a mask, and it was only with Fluttershy and Dazzle that he could truly be himself. Many times he would find himself staring into his mirror, asking why he had to be born looking like he did.
Fluttershy and Dazzle moved away to attend Cloudsdale flight school at the start of the next autumn, leaving Sonic without his closest friends. To his delight, though, he found that the remaining fillies in the choir already looked up to him. They loved to hear him talk about his father’s weather work, and to attend the running and flying lessons he gave them. Without Dazzle’s magnetic charm and presence, “Firefly” was the centre of attention in their little herd, and Sonic couldn’t be happier, although he did miss his older friends.
He tried to tell his parents what he was doing, but with little success. The first time he suggested that he might like to wear a dress at home, his mother insisted that he needed to spend more time with the colts at school instead of with Fluttershy. His father eventually relented regarding the playhouse, though, and brought home a can of concentrated rainbow, helping his colt to build the beautiful structure that he wanted, with rainbow waterfalls and deep white cloud banks. His only condition was that Sonic accompany him to the weather factory, to learn about “stallions’ work”. Sonic didn’t really understand his father’s aim in that, since there were just as many mares as stallions working at the factory. Any chance to spend time with his father and learn the weather pony trade was worth taking, though, so he kept quiet about not wanting to be a stallion at all.
All too soon, the year was over, and Sonic was ready to leave home to attend flight school. His intensive training with his father meant that he could already fly, albeit only for short distances, which was still better than any other colt or filly in his class. Flight school would give him the chance to become a greater flier than even his father could teach him to be. It would be his first step towards his lifelong ambition of becoming a Wonderbolt, or a famous weather pony like his father.
More importantly, though, flight school meant a new start. A chance to be a new pony. The time he spent at flight school would be when he found out what he wanted from life, and learned how to make it happen.
“Welcome back, Fluttershy!” exclaimed Dazzle, running across the playground to give her best friend a nuzzle of greeting. “How was your summer?”
“Oh, it was nice,” replied Fluttershy. “My parents came to visit, and we talked about school, and I did some sewing, and some reading. How about yours?”
“Great! I was in a musical over at the local theatre – I never knew how much fun it could be! I just wish the old herd could have seen it – it’s so different without them. Speaking of which, is Firefly coming to flight school this year? I’ve really missed her.”
“I’m not sure,” admitted Fluttershy. “I hope so. I miss her too.”
Both fillies turned to watch the crowd of young ponies making their way into the schoolyard, when one blue filly broke away from the pack, taking to the air. She flew recklessly over the side of the cloud bank, then performed a midair somersault and streaked back over the cloud, eliciting gasps of awe from the ponies beneath her. She circled around the playground once before coming to a stop in front of Fluttershy and Dazzle, shaking out her brilliant, rainbow-coloured mane.
“Firefly?” asked Dazzle, her jaw dropping. Sonic? thought Fluttershy, amazed at what she had just seen her old friend do.
“New school, new mane, new name, pal!” grinned the filly, giving the two friends a wink before spinning around to face the crowd of fillies, colts and even a young griffon who had gathered to admire the newcomer.
“Hello, Cloudsdale Flight School!” she greeted the crowd, rearing up dramatically and spreading her wings. “Meet your new greatest flier...
“Rainbow Dash!”
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YES!!! It's finally here!!
I've been waiting for this
Worth the wait in every single way, although it is 7 A.M where I am, so a reread is certainly in order!
Exstatic that you're continueing this. By far the most original story I've seen in this fandom in just about ever.
I hope future updates won't take quite as long though!
118983
And there was much rejoicing
When this fic first came to my attention I was honestly quite skeptical about the premise. Now I’m so very glad that I read it when I did, and even happier that you’ve chosen to continue this fine work.
Keep it up hun, you’re a brilliant writer and I’m sincerely looking forward to the next installment
when's the next chapter comming? Will twilight be able to find that spell to change Rainbow's gender? I need more chapters! Please see this storyline through to the very end.
119137
This. ALL OF THIS.
119137
Oh yeah... I forgot about the spell.
Twilight should find that spell and change Rainbows gender so she could live happily!
Awesome! So amazing that you continued this!
Awesome! So amazing that you continued this!
:squee:
thats so awesome
119837 agreed
I was not expecting a continuation to one of my favouritest stories on the site! At first I was all
but then I was like 
!
Ahem.
Great to see additional backstory, dear author, I eagerly await your next chapter.
I never thought that story about somepony with the sexual identity issues can be so beautiful and interesting... I'm waiting for more of course!
Oh, you're actually continuing this? :O I read it on FFnet and thought that was it! Awesome. <3
Please, please, please continue with this story, I love it.
Please tell me you still plan on continuing this. It's an interesting story. <^w^>
Thank you for all your kind feedback, everypony! I certainly am continuing this story - how could I not? I am sorry that it is so long between updates. I have a couple of other fanfic projects taking up my time, not to mention work and family commitments, naturally. I hope to have the next chapter up within a few weeks - I'm as excited to get it written as you all are to read it, I hope!
I am pleased with the amount of beauty this story holds. It took me by surprise that Dash's secret was that she was a colt. But to be honest, being a blue Pegasus that can run fast just gave me the impression of what your name for him was referring to. It was a cute reference if that was what you originally intended. If not, you should totally take a look at it yourself. Anyways, I'm looking forward to more for this specific story. It mustn't be a dead end story. It just has to end. It just has to.
Good luck my dear Brony. Adieu~
This is a wonderful story, and as a transgender person I'm quite touched to see the issue handled so tastefully. I'm a bit biased, sure, but it's still a decent story even in its own right, and much of what Dash goes through really hits home for me. I sincerely hope to see more someday.
580058
Same boat, especially the bias. And to top it off, I am also a very tomboyish trans girl like this Rainbow Dash among other similarities (my friends and I joke about me being the more RD one of the group (technically, we are all very Twi but after we subtract that out, this is what we get)). Quite a few of the experiences RD goes through in this hit home.
Also, HopeFox, I think you handled this quite well. RD's viewpoint is written well.
Now, I have seen a few misunderstandings among the comments that I think need clarification. Rainbow Dash, here in this story, is a mare (or filly depending on which chapter), not a stallion/colt despite what her body might seem like (well, at least after she figures out who she is - for the period of her life before she figures it out, she could reasonably see herself as a filly or a colt even after that period has passed depending on how she experienced it).
I am looking forward to the next parts.
I'm not going to lie. I love this story so much.
I liked the second 'chapter' (it's not really a chapter, is it? More an entire story on its own) the most, because it's so deep in psychological sense. I don't really know what to type here, other than ''please do continue this story.''
580512
Yeah, I think this story actually hit me even harder than I'd initially thought. As I was trying to fall asleep last night, I found myself thinking about it against my will and even going so far as to shed quite a few tears for her. Especially the part where she spends all day as a filly and manages to forget she was ever a colt. When Fluttershy reminds her, she has a mild freakout, asking "What's wrong with me?!" That scene just kills me, because I know exactly how that feels, managing to make yourself forget for a while only to be smacked back down into reality and the realization that you're not normal on such a fundamental level as gender.
Existing within the social boundaries of your sex seems like it must be natural for most people, but some are just wired not to work that way, and they feel very alienated when they figure that out. Prior to my discovery that this was an actual thing that other people went through (in other words, prior to my household acquiring an Internet connection, back during the days of dial-up), I was pretty sure I was the only person who felt that way. Everyone else seemed so content with themselves in this area, and yet I knew it wasn't for me.
One thing I really liked about this story is that it was Rainbow Dash who was the subject. The stereotype (and indeed, this is actually not unheard of in practice, but by no means a rule) for transgender people is that they overcompensate and act too girly, almost eerily so, more like actors playing the part of Feminine than just people being themselves. I'm in the same boat as Rainbow Dash here; just because I have a male body and a female mind doesn't mean that I intend to overcompensate in any way. Lots of people with this problem are tomboyish or have interests outside Being As Feminine As Possible. Rainbow Dash is frequently called a lesbian by the community, and that gets on my nerves a bit because that is stereotyping, but this actually is not. It's possible to simultaneously be transgender and a tomboy. The point of this meandering paragraph is that you don't have to be obsessed with butterflies and puppies and the color pink to be transgender; the whole idea is that you want to be yourself, not some vague, shallow idea of femininity that society has painted. Being yourself just happens to include not being your assigned sex.
Really, all I'm trying to say here is that this story is brilliant and has moved me. I sympathize with Rainbow on an almost freaky level here, having lived almost every experience that she's gone through in this story. It's painful and weird and it really can destroy a weaker person like myself. I'm glad that she at least seems to have found somepony she can share it with; it's a very difficult thing to have to deal with alone. I think, even though it's pretty impossible for this to be the case, this might be my new personal headcanon for her character, just because this story has moved me to the degree that it would be difficult for me to forget about it at this point.
The second chapter was the best of the two, but both were fun to read. I enjoyed chapter two, I think, because it was more about Rainbow Dash coping with things and what was going on in her mind and her initial discovery of her problem. The first chapter was decent, but parts of it felt a bit forced, specifically her parents' speed in accepting her. And I think Applejack's problem being one purely of honesty might have been a bit of a cop-out as well; I don't see why she couldn't just have an actual problem with it. Having to slowly rebuild that relationship could have been an interesting arc, rather than letting Deus Ex Harmony solve it for us. Those minor gripes and a few spelling errors aside, this story was almost perfect. Thanks again for writing this, HopeFox. I sincerely hope to see more.
582034
Having this about RD definitely has the stereotype breaking aspect to it like you said (though as important as it is that characters can break stereotypes is that they can fit the stereotype as well if that is who they are). Cannon RD already breaks a lot of stereotypes which is a good thing. I personally really like the image below which says a lot about this.
26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lqybgnh8QQ1qeo1qto1_400.png
If people see non-stereotypical people in real life and characters in fiction, they will hopefully begin to question the stereotypes and realize that they have little general applicability (of course, some people and characters naturally fit them and that is OK but the problem lies in when people think that everyone or even a large fraction fit the stereotype).
On the more personal level, like you, I can really sympathize with RD's fillyhood experiences. Though sadly, I was not as aware when I was a kid but I did have the wish to do those sort of things as a kid, just didn't put any effort to attempting any of it. And the whole going a whole day and forgetting one's birthsex and then being reminded. Yeah, the reminding part is painful (been there a bit). Also, I am freaking jealous of her in this story. Well, I guess it is Rainbow Dash and Rainbow Dash just does being herself unlike me a lot of the time (I switch from being like that and being overly cautious all the time).
images2.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/9/9b/Rainbow_Dash_%27the_hard_way%27_S2E26.png
So much yay
!
At any rate, as I mentioned to you before, I plan on using your version of Rainbow "Sonic" Dash in a story I am writing. Within the story I plan on having her be turned into a mare and I have a pretty solid basis for how that happens. If you are interested in my take on it and would like to know more, send me a PM and I would be more than happy to discuss the details with you!
662442
I can agree with some of what you said, but I think it's more complicated than that. Yeah, girls can be tough without being lesbians or "guys," but you also sort of missed a couple points. First off, transgender does not mean "a guy who wishes he was a girl" or vice versa; it's an actual condition in which a person's thought patterns really are of a gender deviant to their sex, and it can even be examined and confirmed as a thing that exists by analyzing the activity in the brain. Therefore, Rainbow Dash is a mare, at least upstairs, whether her body says so or not; she'd have had the same brash attitude even if she'd been born female...it's unrelated entirely.
Second, while this can be misconstrued to carry the negative connotation that every tough girl is either a guy in drag or a lesbian, it can also be looked at to break another (admittedly less famous, but still real) stereotype: that transgender folk tend to overcompensate. For instance, a MtF transgender would act like Rarity or Fluttershy and totally girl it up and be all about puppies and rainbows and pink, while a FtM transgender would be a bodybuilding muscle car enthusiast who smokes like a chimney and curses like a sailor. The truth is that those things are independent of gender role beyond what society casts as such, and anyone conforming like that is usually trying to compensate for something. So in that sense, it's nice to see a story about a MtF who still has the self-esteem to enjoy what she enjoys while also wanting to be herself, and not making some vain struggle to conform to her perceived notions of what it is to be female.
TL;DR, because this was sort of a rant:
Anyone can be transgender. It's got nothing to do with their personality, likes, dislikes, sexual orientation, or anything else. I personally thought it was refreshing for the same reasons you thought it wasn't, because I like the idea of a transgender person/pony who isn't afraid to act outside the stereotypical roles of their perceived gender.
So I just found this story today and I'm glad I did. Keep up the good work
663815 This is a point I've seen mentioned in quite a few readers' reviews of this story, and I can see both sides of it. On the one hand, Rainbow Dash does get used a lot as the go-to character for gender issues, usually as they relate to sexuality, and that is unfair because it's a result of her being "the sporty one, thus obviously a lesbian". On the other hand, being the less "classically feminine" one adds a certain dimension to her deliberate transition, that she's still embracing her own core identity rather than adopting a gender role given to her by society.
The thing is, I didn't consider any of this when I chose Rainbow Dash for this story. The idea, in fact, grew entirely out of one fact, that being: Rainbow Dash's voice sounds like that of a young boy. At least to me. Now, if she were human, I could look at the screen and reconcile the sound with the image, but at the time, I hadn't watched the show for long enough to be familiar with the visual differences between mares and stallions. As such, I kept accidentally referring to Rainbow Dash as a boy, even though I knew she was a girl. Eventually I hit upon the idea of her as a transmare, and the fic just flowed from there.
I don't believe that Equestria has very much gendered culture. I don't think being an athlete is any more or less acceptable for mares than it is for stallions. As such, Rainbow's athletic aspirations are pretty much separate from her gender identity, and don't interact in any real way with her self-discovery, passing, transitioning and so on. The only real gendered culture they seem to have is clothing. As such, I had to make up the "storm clouds are for colts, rainbows are for fillies" thing, mirroring the "blue is for boys, pink is for girls" we have in modern society. I'm not exactly pleased about that, and I don't use it in any of my other stories, but I needed it for this one. So while considerations of how Rainbow Dash's personality match up with gender norms is of relevance when talking about real-world parallels (which I am all in favour of), I don't think they actually mean anything within Equestrian society.
Okay, that was longer than I planned. Anyway, thanks for all the lovely feedback, everypony! I will continue this, I promise.
668702
It's interesting to hear how you came up with the idea, that's for sure. Her voice works for it, a thought that crossed my mind as I read your story, but I never imagined that was the source of the inspiration here. Oh well, it still stands that whether by accident or not, you've simultaneously broken and enforced stereotypes here, based on which way a person chooses to see it.
While I understand and agree with your notion that Equestria doesn't have as many gender boundaries as Earth, that kind of logic doesn't usually show itself in the fandom. As much sense as everything you've said on that matter makes, the truth is that most viewers see Rainbow Dash enjoying sports and competition and obsessing over how "awesome" she is, and they immediately make the connection that she must be gay, whether her behavior is socially acceptable for mares or not (hint: it is). That same logic is going to be applied to anything that involves sexuality or gender identity in the fandom, because that's just how people think; those readers probably haven't thought about Equestrian society at all when making that call. I know I didn't consider it when I decided I liked Rainbow Dash for breaking transgender norms here.
Regardless, you made some good points, and the whole "storm clouds are for colts, rainbows are for fillies" thing makes much more sense in this new context you've provided. Thank you for replying to us, and showing that you still plan to add to this story! I'll be looking forward to it!
Dead?
685531
Yes and no (but mostly no). I honestly think it would help quite a lot, but a part of the issue (at least in my own case) is that I'm just not physically comfortable in my own body. That's pretty minor compared to how much stress would be alleviated, though; to me, the worst part about it is all the lying you have to do just to get by on a day-to-day basis. You lie about your interests, you lie about your thoughts and opinions, and most importantly you lie about who you really are. There's also the fact that it's such a social taboo; no one really has much to say on the subject, and when they do it's generally bad. That can (and in my case, did) scare a young transgender person into all sorts of disorders. Hell, it can even freak out some older people.
Really though, I think you're on the right track. If it were socially acceptable to just be yourself, no matter what you look like, much of the problem would be solved right then and there. Not all of it, and certainly not for everyone, but a good deal.
So, is this gonna be completed? I'm thinking I want to read it, but I hate reading stories and finding out they'll never finish.
750546 Absolutely worth the read. I too hope it gets finished!
sonic hmm Where did I hear Before Wait IN SEGA GAME, Yeah Every Who No See This Refence Is Clearly Bind
I want Sonic the Hegehog To See Sonic the Trangender pegasus.oh that be So funny
Interestingly enough, I think the culture you present here is too patriarchal to be accurate considering Celestia's 1000+ year reign. I understand that it's needed for the story to work and convey emotion to it's readers, and that gender issues in a significantly less patriarchal culture would be nearly impossible to accurately write about, but it still strikes me as unrealistic that after 1000+ years of Celestia being everyponies boss there would be any sort of society wide belief that girls are less competent than men at managing things, such as the kind indicated by the reactions of the boy's to Spitfire.
685531
"I do wonder sometimes, though, whether the 'woman/man trapped in a man/woman's body' thing is more about others' perceptions than the physical gender, though. If, say, a man could put on a particular badge and be treated for all intents and purposes as a woman by everyone around them, would gender identity disorders be so traumatic? "
Ok, I know this is WAY late to the party, but I was reading the comments on this wonderful story, and wanted to talk about this for anyone who might be reading:
This is a very common mindset that non-trans people have about being trans: That being trans is mainly a social and mental phenomenon, and that if we could just get rid of "The Patriarchy" or redefine gender-roles in more fluid ways, that trans people wouldn't be trans anymore.
Now I'll preface this by saying that, for some people, that is true. There are some trans people who wouldn't feel the need to transition and take steps towards feminizing or masculinizing their body if they could otherwise interact with the world as the correct gender. And it would certainly make being trans easier both from a personal and social PoV if I could just put a pin on my chest that says "I'm female." BUT, and here's the big but, it is a small percentage of trans people that would be happy with the social aspect alone. For many others, it would still be a living hell.
This idea, that we could eliminate transgenderism by living in a certain type of society, stems from the conception that gender is an entirely social construct with no basis in biology(therefore being trans must be, at it's heart, a social and mental issue). This narrative on gender has become very popular, probably as an overreaction to the misogyny which has(and still does) permeated our culture The problem is that gender has a very real biological basis. Male and female brains do have different structures, and studies have shown that transsexual men and women tend to have brains which are either androgynous or in line with their identified gender( here's a very interesting lecture on the subject , if you'd like to learn more about that).
This causes issues where the body your brain expects to have is, to varying degrees, not congruent with the body you have. Your brain says you should have grown breasts, never grown facial hair, and have a female fat distribution; this causes an intensely horrific reaction when you look down and see a masculine body. There is a fundamental mismatch between a person's body map in their brain, and their body; this is similar to issues amputees face.
What's more, you have a brain which is wired to run on one hormone, but you're being flood with the other. As anyone with hormonal issues can tell you, this causes a variety of psychological effects ranging from anger to malaise and lethargy. So even if you take the body image issues out of the equation, you still have a brain running on the wrong fuel.
Basically, there's a very real biological basis to being trans, and while it's tempting to reduce things to "it's all socially constructed and could be fixed by living in the right society," it's simply not true for many trans people.
tl;dr ....there is none, I fear I've already simplified the issue to an extent and have no wish to simplify it further.
817200 That's a very good point, and I certainly don't see Equestria as having any kind of patriarchy or gender-linked professions (unlike, say, the Big Brother ponies of G1). The way I see it, though, a society without any gender imbalance can still have gender culture and self-segregation, especially among children. Yes, Hoops and his herd think that boys are better than girls at everything, but Dazzle and her herd pretty much think that girls are better than boys at everything, it's just that Dazzle isn't a jerk about it like Hoops. This says more about their maturity than anything else, really.
Similarly with Rainbow's father, Lightning Dash. He has a very firm idea about how any son of his should grow up - basically into a copy of himself. If Rainbow had been born a cisgendered filly, Lightning would have been entirely supportive of her, and encouraged her to get into the weather industry just like him. It was seeing his "son" growing up into a mare which was a problem. He'd have been happy with a son or a daughter, but what he got didn't make sense as either of those.
862740 Thank you for that discussion! Where Rainbow stands on body dysmorphia is something I've left mostly up to the reader, because I'm not in a position to relate to it. Yes, she doesn't like what she sees in the mirror, but that might be actual discomfort with her body, or it might simply be that her body is what makes other ponies think she's a colt rather than a filly. I might expand on it later, but I'll probably leave it ambiguous. At the end of the day, Rainbow Dash is a mare because she knows she's a mare.
685947
Firstly, my apologies for taking so long to reply to this and other replies to my comment, I didn't mean to give the impression I was ignoring your (or others) rather informative posts, I just don't check in on this site very often. I had a look over the other comments in the thread, and a few other things online, To explain the reasoning behind my original post, I hadn't researched the biological or medical information on transexuality so I was operating on half-remembered information from a documentary on sex changes I watched (four?) years ago, which basically amounted to "it's difficult, painful, awkward, and has imperfect results". The sad music and the breakdown of the subject's (can't remember their name for the life of me) relationship with their family somehow ended up cached under the heading 'cost of sex change'. Meanwhile, prompted by this story, I spent a little while reading parts of a blog by a female-to-male transexual, which all focused on the social elements of their decision. So, when I gave my brain the order "find something to say to the nice person who wrote this story you enjoyed", the opinions and information at hand told me that I thought I wanted people who enjoy behaviours which don't harm others unless they make them do so (I hope that makes sense) to be able to carry out those behaviours, but that the physical surgery of sex changes should be used sparingly due to it's downsides.
In hindsight, I wasn't thinking things through properly, and forgot to realise that I wasn't properly informed to make those sorts of comments on sensitive issues. Luckily (I'm pretty sure) there's no lasting harm done, but I'm a little embarassed to have wandered into a serious discussion on Transexuality with my "whatshouldIsay?whatshouldIsay?" 'review'...
862740
Well, it's not like I've been especially prompt with replies, so I certainly can't complain.
I did my best, with the memories available of my mindset at the time and a little speculation of memories which felt relevant which are old enough to have factored into the comment, to explain why I said what I said in my reply to Keeria.
So, firstly, thank you for correcting my mistake and bringing this information to my attention. Having had a look at other sources, there seems to be decent evidence suggesting that the shift is major (complete? clear?) rather than incremental.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_transsexualism#Brain_structure
http://www.jneurosci.org/content/22/3/1027.full
I don't have the biology or neurology knowledge to actually judge the accuracy one way or another, so for the purposes of this discussion and my decision-making in the future, I'll take it as probable. If the 'distinction' between transsexuals and non-transsexuals is that complete, though, that suggests that there is a single factor which determines whether the brain develops as pattern 'male' or 'female'. If I'm remembering correctly and there are lots of differences between male and female brains (and if there weren't, I'd expect this issue to be naught), then that would explain why there doesn't seem to be a (significant) 'range' of trans sexuality with peoples' brains having different proportions of male or female brain parts.
Going off on a bit of a tangent though, I do think a lot of people would be happier if they weren't stigmatised for acting outside of current gender role expectations. Also, you've got me wondering, what sort of proportion of the population do you think transsexuals defined by this difference in the brain represent? I can't find reliable figures for anything but the number of operations performed. Admittedly any self-reporting survey isn't likely to be accurate, but have you (or anyone reading this) come across any decent estimates?
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Ah, right. I stand corrected then. I only ever actually paid attention to maybe four or five episodes so I could understand the context of FiM fanfics. (Same reason I soldiered on through Harry Potter and Naruto..) The rest is a blur of bright colours, peripheral vision, and my five year old sister's excited running commentary.
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Excellent post! This is something I wanted to articulate, but instead found myself dancing circles around. Thank you for this extremely informative post.
For the sake of argument, I'm ignoring that, them being naked, they'd notice as well as the difference in head shaps between genders on the show.
I quite liked it, actually. Well, mostly. I LOVED the gender identity thing, I'm sure alot more people have felt it then they let on... I know I have.
Fluttershy knowing makes sense, as does Rarity figuring it out due to the designing and having to know body proportions and stuff. Somehow though, I'd have thought Pinkie would know but her reactions still feels totally natural for her.
The problem is how quickly it's resolved. Her friends understanding and accepting that fast makes sense, though it shouldve been a bit more for AJ... Her parents though, should have just been... questioning there positions, not quite changing automatically.
The only other criticism is the sire/ dam ing. Artistic preference, I suppose...
Anyway, just things to work on in the next chapter. I look forward to seeing how things play out.
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This and the linked comment are kinda sweet. Same for Bindaeyen's. Specifically in that you don't mind saying this stuff around here. Says alot about our community. Though one reason for wanting to be the opposite gender is because of the societal differences. Some people wish they could be treated the way the other gender is treated as opposed to there own, or in a unisex fashion. Just my little bit of input.
Anyway, onto the review. This chapter I felt was far better then the last, mostly due to pacing. This one seemed to cover more time and havve a more gradual progression. On the other hand, she didn't reveal it to anyone save Fluttershy who saw how it began.Though gettting used to Rainbow may take some time... and I still wonder how Dash'll hide it. Is she gonna tell Dazzle about it, at least that she knew Dash as Firefly. starting to get hard to find which third person pronoun to use though... You did well with Dash though. Kept her more in character, being brash, a bit arrogant and somewhat obsessed with being "cool". I kinda agree with others in that sexism on Equestria, specifically guy against girl should be a minor thing given it's a matriarchy, but featuring it mostly in kids seems natural. Shame we now have girls bullying guys... I sense that'll come back to bite Dashie at some point.
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Yeah, unfortunately the not so well told stories out there in the media kind of help to lead people to where you were thinking. Coming out and/or transitioning (not all trans* people transition and transition may be social, physical, both, or something else) can come at great cost, it can be very rewarding, and a mix of both. Unfortunately, much of the cost is incurred because other people have a problem with it.
And that is one of the reasons I like this story. Yeah, it isn't about real people, but it is story with realistic characters (except they are ponies that sadly don't exist in real life) dealing with the issue in a real way and it is well written.
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About societal acceptance making it easier. It most definitely would make life easier for trans* people (can definitely say this from experience from when I am around people who see me as female) and would be enough for a few; but like Keeria and Bindaeyen said, it wouldn't be enough for all because it doesn't help with the physical part (though having the social part out of the way does remove one problem from one's plate which helps).
Lynn Conway has some pretty good estimates for the prevalence of trans*ness in humans at http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/TSprevalence.html.
Actually, there is a very wide range of trans*ness. There is a wide range within the binary genders of male and female, and then there is the whole wide range among people with non-binary genders that aren't really male or female but are both, neither, partially one but not entirely, etc. Some good words to search are neutrois, agender, genderqueer, bigender, etc.
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The only gender linked profession in Equestria seems to be the Royal Guard as they all appear to be stallions, but then again, a common fan hypothesis that the armor they wear makes them all look the same (well, there are a few variations but not much) might be right if the makers of the show ever decide to visit the issue and had that idea in their heads independently (it would be really neat if that was so because then even the career that appears to be gendered, actually isn't so gendered).
Overall, I think you are both pretty much right about Equestria not being too patriarchal (probably some leftovers but way way less than the human societies of today that I am familiar with).
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I hope that in season 3 there are a few androgynous/ambiguous/cross-gender appearing adult non-alicorn ponies.
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I've noticed that at least here on FiMFiction, topics like this can be discussed easily and without much of a problem (some other pony communities are this way and, sadly, a few are not but even those seem to be better about it than society at large).
I wonder how she is going to handle telling Dazzle about her name as well.
On societal differences of treatment, a lot of people, both cis and trans, would like to be treated differently, some in a more unisex way. With trans* people and transitioning, the difference in treatment is either an icing on the cake thing or a slight to major headache depending on the person in question (for me, it is a bit of a headache because as a sort of tomboyish/butch trans girl, my behaviors are going to be a lot less tolerated upon transition than when I was/am presenting as male, but the headache is still worth it for me)
i.imgur.com/dku4H.jpg
My mind is aglow with whirling, transient nodes of feels careening through a cosmic vapor of emotion.
Dead?
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Thank you for linking that article, I tried something similar with Scandinavian figures but I couldn't get any results on google in english. So I'll accept ~0.2% (of male births) as a probable minimum for male to female transsexuals, and tentatively accept 2-5% for male to female cross dressers, although I haven't been able to think of a way to go about checking the latter figures. Anyone have any estimates or information on the figures for female-to-male?
As for the alternative genders - I looked them up and while it's interesting, it's even more difficult to get reading on what proportion of humanity have the conditions than trans-sexuality/gender. If you (or anyone else) has personal experience, could you eyeball a rough percentage of population for these groups?
I don't suppose there's any hope for a new chapter anytime soon? this is the first pony fic I have seen addressing gender issues in a way that isn't just magical gender swap.
I have added this fic to the LGBT Group. If you wish to have it removed, contact me
This is amazung.. Like seriously. Please please please continue this. Its the best trans story I've read (and I've read, like, four!)
1043259 That's more than alright! I'm glad that people are finding the story meaningful.
1042301 Now that I've finished "The Other Side", my plan is to get back to "Dash's Secret" as my primary project, possibly after one or two short single-chapter stories. I'm actually already a fair way into the new chapter. I've had so much great feedback on this story that there's no way I'm going to abandon it now.
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Well then i look forward to it, especially after reading your Apple bloom story. You are a very good writer who certainly deserves to be more popular than you are. You definitely write better than me.