//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: Flying Lessons // Story: The Colt of Fire and Lightning // by ShagPony //------------------------------// Flying….yes…..such goodness….yeah…. …. Anyway, enjoy the chapter! __________________________________ (Mason’s Pov) Walking at a steady pace in front of me was Rainbow Dash who lead me and Scootaloo around the Friendship Castle to take part in flying lessons. Althought, it's actually quite pointless to me since I can't use my wings what so ever. But that doesn't mean I can't have fun with them. Besides, I'm trotting next to Rainbow Dash who is the fastest pegasus I know, so I'm sure she can help me out with it. We continued to walk around the castle until we were at the front of it. Dash then stopped walking and stretched out her wings to get the kinks out of them. When she was done she crouched down and turned to us with a smirk. “Alright squirts, hop on and I'll fly us to the park for some flight training.” Scootaloo, wasting no time, hopped on the mare’s back and settled herself down while smiling in excitement. I looked on with some hesitation, but with a quick gesture of Dash’s head to her back, I too came over and hopped on with excitement. Dash looked at us and asked if we were settled in which we both replied with a yes. Dash then nodded her head and prepared to take off. “Alright guys, hang on tight and we'll be at the park in no time.” And with a quick thrust of her wings, we were in the sky and heading towards the park, and at a decent pace mind you, especially since she has two small passengers with her. As we flew through the sky, I couldn't help but marvel at all the houses and ponies below us. All my life I have always wanted to fly. And who would've thunk that I'd be doing it right now, but of course I'm not the one flying but it's still cool. After a few minutes of flying and passing over some other houses and a few airborne pegasi, we finally came to the park. Although Pinkie showed me the park, I have never actually walked through it, and let me just say, it's a lot bigger than what I imagined it to be. While I was still marveling at the sight before me, Rainbow Dash slightly dipped down towards the ground ready for a landing. I and Scootaloo braced ourselves as the ground came closer. Rainbow Dash landed on the ground smoothly with no trouble at all, of course she's an experienced flyer so it's likely she would. When the dust cleared she tucked her wings in and knelt down allowing Scootaloo and me to disembark from her back. When we were off, Dash looked to us with a grin still plastered on her face. “Alright squirts, today I'm gonna teach ya some flying lessons. Scoots you already know the drill, some stretches along with wing-ups.” Scootaloo nodded with a smile and went over to a random spot and started her stretches. Meanwhile Dash came up to me with no smirk, but a slight frown. “Hey bud, Twilight told me you couldn't really use your wings before we left the castle.” My ears drooped a little at this, guess that's what they were talking about privately to each other. “Yeah, Twilight believes that it's because I've never had these type of muscles before.” Dash nodded her head in sympathy. “Is it because you...,” Dash quickly turned to Scootaloo who was now doing what I think are wing-ups and looked back to me, “...were a human?” I nodded in response with sadness. “Yeah, humans aren't exactly born with wings.” Dash looked to me with worry as her ears fell, but they quickly perked as she grinned. “Don't worry kid, I think I can help with this.” She said as she came around me to my back. I looked back to Dash with a questioning look as she sat down and looked at my wings for a moment. “How are you going to do that?” Dash gently grabbed my right wing and started feeling around it. “Well, since I'm born with wings and it's very natural for pegasi to know, care for, and study their wings. I'm sure I can figure something out.” I nodded and left her to work. For a few minutes Rainbow Dash just fiddled with my wings, feeling here and there. Eventually she went to the tip of my wing and put pressure on it just like Twilight and looked to me expectantly. Before she could ask I had already answered. “I can't feel anything but the slightest of pressure.” Rainbow shut her mouth and nodded and removed pressure from my wing, but instead of going down the wing, she moved down to one of the feathers and pulled a little which I felt a tiny bit. Dash then looked to me again. “Could you feel that?” I nodded a little. “Yeah but only a little bit.” She nodded again and moved to a spot Twilight went to when she moved from the tip of the wing and like Twilight she put pressure on it. And again this repeated itself. Dash would move down to a spot of my wing, put pressure and I'd give the answer I gave Twilight. But instead of moving to a new spot, she would go to one of my feathers and pull on it a little. Instead of me feeling close to nothing, I would feel a slight prick of her pulling on it, and it got more noticeable when she moved to my larger ones. After having gotten close to the joint of my wing, dash moved to one of my larger feathers and pulled on it. The moment she did I felt a slight pain from it. “Ow!” I yelped with a flinch. I looked back to Dash who was rubbing her chin in thought and nodded to herself. She then put my wing back and looked to me with a thoughtful expression. “My conclusion is Mason, that the nerves in your wings are functional to the point where you can feel your feathers being pulled slightly, but not to the point you can feel pressure on the tip. Now I haven't really experienced something like this, but I have learned a technique that might work. So I'll need you to lay down for me.” When I heard this I was a bit worried that this little experience wasn't going to be all that pleasant. “A-are you sure about this?” Sensing my discomfort, Dash looked to me with kind and encouraging eyes. “Oh not to worry Mason, I know exactly what I'm doing. Trust me, this will be over before you know it.” Still feeling a little hesitant about this, I looked to Dash for confirmation. “You sure?” She nodded with a encouraging smile. “I Pinkie Promise.” I still felt a little worried, but I decided to trust Dash’s words and got down on my belly. Dash then scooched a little closer to me and spread out both my wings. She then started feeling around my back near the joints where my wings were connected, putting pressure here and there. She eventually put pressure on a certain spot and kept her hoof there. Then she put her other hoof on the same spot and put the same amount of pressure there. “Alright, you ready kid?" I swallowed a bit to try and ease my nerves and slowly nodded. “Y-y-yeah.” Nothing happened for a few seconds. Then I felt Dash quickly put pressure on that one spot and spread her hooves out a little while still keeping pressure. The first thing I felt was a small crack, then I felt a quick but big amount of pain. I had to clench my teeth tightly just to keep myself from giving out a sharp yell. Eventually the pain subsided and nothing else happen. FWOOMP Until I heard that which I was immediately confused by, but then I gasped as I felt a breeze go through my feathers which made my eyes widen. I then slowly turned my head and gasped again to see my wings were sticking straight out. And I could actually feel them. My shock and confusion immediately turned into excitement as I smiled brightly at my wings and then to Dash who had a smile of her own. “Well looks like you can now use those wings after all Mason.” Still smiling, I quickly got up and hugged the air out of Dash. “Oh thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou, I can't believe you actually did it! I can actually feel my wings now!” The mare now getting the air back in her, hugged me back with one of her hooves. “Hey what did I tell ya Mason, I'm an awesome flyer after all. Now let's see if you can move them.” Quickly nodding I moved away from Dash looking at my wings while the rainbow maned mare stepped in front of me with her own wings stretched out. “Alright Mason, I'm gonna have you do some positions with your wings to see how well you can use them, but first we need to make sure you can feel and flex the muscles for it.” Taking my attention off my wings and onto Rainbow Dash, I nodded in acknowledgement which the mare nodded back. “Ok, now to feel those muscles Mason, it's almost like flexing your legs, except you're doing it in your back. So first, I want you to try and feel for the muscles there and try to flex them.” Nodding, I closed my eyes to try and feel for the muscles in my back and tried flexing them. I didn't get it the first time or the other times, I was always flexing my back or my shoulders. After a few more tries I felt some unknown muscles flex. My only thought was my wings. I then opened my eyes and looked at Dash with more excitement. “I flexed them!” She nodded. “Alright, now I want you to try and move them. Just do what I do.” I nodded in return and waited for her to do the first position. “Up.” She first moved her wings straight up. “Down.” And then moved her wings down to where the tip touched the ground and then back up. She repeated these a few times and kept going. Eventually she gestured for me to try it. I stuck out my tongue as I watched her do it a few more times and then I tried to move my wings up and down as if they were arms. I looked back to see if I was making any progress but to my dismay I wasn't really moving them except for a small bit. I then heard Dash give a small chuckle as she stopped moving her wings. “Don't get to upset about it, just keep trying and you'll get it.” After she said that she kept moving her wings in the same position. Not wanting to give up I kept trying to move mine like hers. After a few more times and with still no success I tightly closed my eyes and tried to move my wings even an inch. After what felt like 5 minutes I finally asked. “Am I doing anything yet?” I heard another chuckle from Dash as she answered. “I don't know, why don't you take a look.” Opening my eyes and seeing Dash with a smirk on her face, I looked back to my wings to see they were slowly going up and down. With a beaming smile on my face I did it a few more times and my wings responded but very slowly. “Hey! I'm moving them!” I heard a laugh from Dash as she responded. “Yup, you sure are Mason. Now how about we see if you can do any other positions.” I stopped moving my wings to look at Dash with excitement ready for the next positions. ********** It has been at least an hour now and I had gotten a lot of practice into using my new appendages. Dash had showed me many positions like, moving them forward and back, one up while the other goes down, and doing them in a circular motion. Heck, she even showed me how to tilt them which I wasn't very good at since it's my first time with them -including the circular motion- but the other ones I got down. After trying to tilt them again with little success Dash then folded her wings back to her sides. “Alright I think you got most of them down. Although you could use some work and exercises for them, you did pretty good for your first try.” Now tucking my wings in, I looked to Dash with beaming eyes. “Thank you so much Rainbow Dash, I'm so happy I can finally use my wings.” The mare looked to me with a proud smile of her own. “Oh, it was nothing Mason, just helping a friend out.” Dash then looked over to the other pony with us which happened to be Scootaloo. I also looked over to see Scootaloo was now finishing up her other exercises Rainbow Dash gave her when she was showing me some positions. This exercise, if I heard correctly, was for Scoots to run a certain distance from one point and then try to fly to the other. If she didn't make it, she would run the rest of the way and then try again going back to the other point. Scoots was getting some good distance with this last run but eventually hit the ground and ran the rest of the way. When she reached the end point, she sat down panting and swiped some sweat from her head. “Good job Scoots,” Dash shouted as she trotted to Scoot’s side and gave her a pat on the back, “really, for a second there, I could've sworn you were gonna go all the way.” Still panting, she smiled as she looked to Dash. “Thanks…huh...thanks Rainbow Dash...hoo...I thought I was...hah...gonna make it this time.” Giving another pat on her back, Rainbow Dash smiled. “Well you were really close, so I'm sure you'll make it next time.” Nodding, Scoots got up while taking deeper breaths. Rainbow Dash then left her side and came in front of both of us as I came to Scoot’s side. “Nice job on those exercises Scootaloo.” I congratulated. “Thank you Mason,” she responded as she got her breath back, “and nice job on your exercises as well.” In response I rubbed the back of my head with my hoof. “Well, it's nothing like yours but thanks.” Scoots smiled to me in return as she then looked to Dash and I the same. We both saw Dash doing her own wing stretches, probably for the last exercise. “Alright guys, for our last exercise, we are going to do laps around the biggest pond in the park. I will be flying while you Scoots will be running and flying for as long as you can next to me. You Mason will be running with us while repeatedly flapping your wings up and down. I would ask you to try and fly but since you're just getting used to these exercises, I don't want you to hurt yourself.” I was a bit disappointed at this because I wouldn't get to practice flying, but she was right that I was all new to this so it was the best idea for me to just train them out. “Alright squirts, let's get to it.” ********** I was getting tired real fast. We had started at least 39 minutes ago and I was already feeling exhausted from this running and flapping. I could barely lift my wings anymore. Scootaloo had started to drag next to me because she too was starting to feel exhausted. Dash however was keeping a reasonable pace ahead of us with no sign of slowing down but heck, she's older than us and she's been doing this for far longer. The flying pegasus eventually looked back at us to see us tiring ourselves out and then stopped in mid-air. “Alright guys I think that's enough for today, you can take a break now.” After hearing those words, I finally collapsed into the dirt about ready to pass out. Scootaloo slowed down a few inches in front of me, then collapsed on her stomach just about out of breath. “You did good kids,” I heard Dash say as she flew closer, “you really put in your all for this.” “Thank…heh...you...hoo, my heart.” I wheezed out. “Yeah...hah...thanks...heh...a bunch.” Scootaloo breathed. “Just you guys wait,” Dash continued as she started to fly backwards, “the more you guys do this -especially when you get older- you'll be going on for miles.” Still trying to catch my breath I wheezed out again. “Yeah…hooh...miles.” Dash chuckled in response as she started to fly in circles waiting for me and Scootaloo to catch our breath. Eventually we both caught our breath enough to sit ourselves up but we still needed to give ourselves a break. Probably me more than Scoots. “Well,” I started to break the silence, “that was quite the run.” “Yeah,” Scootaloo responded, “definitely not getting easier for me yet.” I looked to the orange pegasus in disbelief. “Really? I thought you were doing pretty good. At least, a lot better than I was doing.” Scootaloo looked to me. “Yeah but this is your first time doing this with me- I mean us, with us and I've been doing this with Rainbow Dash for about two years now.” “Well,” I said, “you still did pretty good. Heck, like Rainbow Dash said, if you keep this up you'll be going on for miles. Heck I wouldn't be surprised if you start doing what she is.” As I said that I pointed to Rainbow Dash doing flips in the air. Scootaloo looked at me for a while with a little bit of hope in her eyes. “You really think that?” “Why wouldn't I?" I said truthfully. “You've been doing really good so far.” At this Scootaloo looked to the ground with drooped ears. “Well, It's just that, some of the fillies and colts at our school have heard from Diamond that I can't fly, they are starting to believe her since one of them who is younger than me can fly yet I still can't.” I looked at Scootaloo with sympathy as she stared at the ground in sadness. I then scooched closer to her and draped a hoof around her. “Well who cares what they think. Just because you can't fly now doesn't mean you won't be able to in the future. Heck, I bet when you get older, you'll be flying as fast as Rainbow Dash, and you'll be rubbing it in their faces.” I heard Scoots sniff a little. “You really think so.” “I don't think so,” I said as she looked to me, “I know so.” Scoots looked to me with a blank expression, but it then changed to a bright smile as she hugged me. “Thank you.” I hugged her back. “Hey now, this is what friends are for.” I said as I pulled out of the hug with a smile “And like Dash said, if you keep this up, you'll probably be just as fast as her one day.” I said as I pointed a hoof to her chest. To that Scootaloo’s smile got brighter. Then Rainbow shouted to us as she came passing by. “While I really think Scootaloo has great potential Mason, you have to remember that I'm the fastest pegasus in Equest-” Except she didn't finish do to a tree meeting her face head on with a loud thunk. Both me and Scootaloo cringed as Rainbow Dash slid down the tree with a groan and feel backwards off of it. After a while of staring at Dash I snicker and looked to Scootaloo who looked to me. “Yeah, she's definitely the fastest, but probably not the most alert.” I said as I laughed. Scootaloo just looked to me with a raised eyebrow as I continued to laugh. But as they say, laughs can be contagious, and eventually she started to laugh with me. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash sat up while rubbing her head. But she was fully brought back to the planet when she heard my little joke and then both of us laughing. She then turned her head with a small glare in our direction. “So...you two think that's funny huh?” Trying to keep my laughter in, I covered my mouth with both my hooves and shook my head. “No, I don't think it's funny.” “Oh really,” the blue mare accused, “so it's probably wouldn't be funny to you if I decided to chase you.” With that Dash got a playful smirk as she got on all fours and crouched in a pouncing position with her wings flared. Still in a laughing fit I got on all fours and backed up as Scoots did the same, who at the moment was still snickering. “Well if you did that, then we would just run.” “Run? From me? As in me, Rainbow Dash. Surely you can't be serious Mason?” She responded. Not wanting to spoil this before the, probably very short chase, I responded. “Oh I am serious.” Dash then crouched lower but before she pounced I finished my sentence. “And don't call me Shirley.” With that Rainbow Dash stopped dead in her tracks and looked to me with confusion. “Wait, wha-” “RUUUUUUN!” But was then caught off guard as me and Scootaloo bolted in the opposite direction. Not wanting to lose us, she quickly shot in the sky and followed closely behind us. “Hey get back here!” Not wanting to slow down I turned my head to her. “You’ll have to catch us first!” Starting to quickly catch up, the mare quickly responded. “Oh I don't think that will be a problem for me Mason!” And with that she quickly shot at us full speed. It was so fast that Scootaloo and me didn't have enough time to register that we had been caught and then dropped in the shallow end of the pond we were exercising next to. By the time I knew I was in cold water I quickly resurfaced with a breath of air and Scootaloo doing the same thing. We then looked to each other and then to a laughing Rainbow Dash who was flying above us. “So how was that for an alert pegasus like me.” Swimming to shore to quickly dry off, I responded. “Well, it wasn't exactly alert but it was definitely fast.” Shrugging her shoulders, the blue pegasus landed next to us. “Eh, good enough I guess.” “But you gotta admit,” Scootaloo said as she shook off the excess water, “that was still kinda funny.” Dash through a hoof in the air. “Yeah, yeah, I guess it was kinda funny. But not as funny when you all got dunked in the pond.” “I thought that was kinda fun to be honest.” I said as I too shook the excess water off. Rainbow Dash nodded her head and then looked to both of us. “Well I think that's enough activities for today, what say I take you guys back home to eat and rest up.” “Yeah I could use some food.” Scootaloo said as she came next to Rainbow Dash to hop on her back. “And I could use some dry towels.” I said with a snicker as I too came next to Rainbow Dash. Both the mare and filly snickered as Scootaloo and me hopped on the mare’s back and took off for home. ********** The castle was just in sight now. Rainbow Dash had just dropped off Scootaloo at the orphanage and was ready to take me back to Pinkie’s. But then I remembered I need my phone so I asked if she could quickly take me to Twilight’s so I could get it from her. Dash landed next to the doors and allowed me to get off as she knocked on them. We didn't have to wait long as the lavender pony herself answered the door and greeted us with a warm smile. “Well it's nice to see you both here,” the princess pony said, “I take it the flight lessons went well.” “Yup, they were really fun and Rainbow Dash taught me a lot. I can even use my wings now!” I said enthusiastically. To prove this I gave my wings a tiny flap. Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement. “Yup, the little squirt can now move those little feathers of his. And I gotta say he's quite the fast learner and I'm really looking forward to teaching him a little bit more.” She said as she ruffled my mane. Twilight smiled brighter at that. “Well that's very good to hear you two. Now what can I do for you guys.” “Well I was about to take Mason here to Pinkie’s but then he asked if I could take him here so he could get this...fone from you.” Rainbow Dash said. Twilight looked to Rainbow Dash with a raised eyebrow but then quickly made an ‘oh’ expression as she teleported my phone in front of her. “Ah yes I almost forgot about that. Here you are Mason and by the way Rainbow Dash, it's phone with a p-h.” Taking my phone in my hoof, I quickly engulfed it in flames and made it disappear into god knows where. I seriously, for the life of me, still don't know where that goes. “Yeah, yeah, whatever, I still need to take him to Pinkie’s so we’ll see you later Twilight.” Rainbow Dash said as she crouched down for me. “Wait,” Twilight quickly said before I could get on Dash’s back, “I need you to take these Mason.” She finished as she handed me some rolled up paper with her magic. I took the paper with a questioning gaze and looked to Twilight. “What are these?” Twilight gestured her head to the paper. “That is a schedule for when I need you to come in for your elemental magic lessons. Celestia said it's very important that you're taught how to use it, so I made a schedule for you to come in and learn.” “Oh,” I said as I engulfed the paper in a flame to be tucked into space with my phone, “thank you Twilight.” I finished as I climbed on Dash’s back. Twilight nodded her head to me as Rainbow took off and waved a goodbye which I responded with a wave of my own. I turned my attention ahead of me to take in the sights again. I will never get tired of seeing this. As the swift pegasus continued to drift in the sky, I looked ahead to see the cupcake of Sugarcube Corner approaching. “So Mason,” Rainbow Dash said as she kept flying,” tell me about what this...fone of yours can do.” I looked to Dash and answered. “It's phone with a p-h.” She then looked to me with a playful raised eyebrow and tsked to herself. “Whatever.”