//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: A Helping Hoof // Story: Initial D: First Equestria Stage // by SixShooterOutlaw //------------------------------// A few days after their first few lessons, the guys were mostly improving, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Kenji and Itsuki were back in the park to practice flying more. "Aright guys, you've got hovering down pat" Rainbow told them "And you're getting better at flying" she looked at the two of them "I want you to show me your stuff, Kenji you're up first" she finished pointing at him. "Alright" Kenji responded, then took off to the sky, flying pretty fast. "You're doing great, Kenji!" Rainbow shouted "Keep it up!". Kenji then pulled off a corkscrew maneuver, perfectly! Rainbow, Fluttershy and Itsuki all looked on in shock, then Kenji performed three barrel rolls in a row before slowing down to land, his legs wobbled slightly when he did. "How was that?" Kenji asked. Rainbow still was in shock then she shook her head and said "That. Was. AMAZING!". "I don't know why I did that, it kinda just came to me" Kenji added modestly. "Alright Itsuki, your turn" Rainbow told him. Itsuki then got prepared to fly, he started flying and was flying at a normal pace, then decided to fly a little faster and did that pretty well, so he tried the corkscrew, which when he started to do it he did the first loop pretty well, the second one too then he tried the third one but didn't realize he was flying just a few feet above the ground. "ITSUKI!" Rainbow shouted "YOU'RE FLYING TO CLOSE TO THE GROUND YOU'RE GONNA.." Rainbow was cut off by Itsuki hitting the ground...hard. Rainbow Dash winced, Fluttershy had a horrified look on her face and Kenji cringed, using a wing to cover his face. "Oouuch" Itsuki groaned painfully "Flying sucks". "I'll go get the first aid kit" Fluttershy announced "Again". After Fluttershy returned with the first aid kit and wrapped Itsuki's hurt hoof in a bandage, she left to go check on her animals, Rainbow was talking with Kenji about his flying skills when she noticed Itsuki looked a little down. "Hey Kenji" Rainbow said to him "Why don't you practice a little more, I'm gonna go see if Itsuki's alright". "Got it" Kenji replied and he took off to the sky. Rainbow walked over to where Itsuki was sitting and sat down next to him. "Hey, Itsuki" Rainbow said to him "Is something bothering you?". "No" Itsuki replied sadly "It's nothing". "It sure sounds like something" Rainbow responded "You can tell me, is it about the flying?". Itsuki looked at her "Yeah" he then looked over and watched Kenji flying around with ease "Look how good Kenji's doing, he can do barrel rolls and I can't stay in the air for three seconds without falling on my face". "I know how that is" Rainbow admitted. "What?". "I know how it feels to fail at flying". "How can you?" Itsuki asked "From what I've heard, you're one of the best fliers ever". "I wasn't always that way". "What do you mean?". Rainbow looked around to make sure no one could hear her then she looked back at Itsuki. "When I was a filly, I couldn't fly all that well either" Rainbow told him. "Come on, you couldn't have been that bad". "They called me 'Rainbow Crash'" she said flatly. "Oh". "Yeah, but you know what I did? I trained and trained" Rainbow explained "I trained so hard, so I could achieve my life long dream to join the best flying team in Equestria, The Wonderbolts, and with all my practicing I finally reached my dream, so if a filly they called 'Rainbow Crash' can be a Wonderbolt, you can be an awesome flier" Rainbow then gave him a smile "And I'll help you any way I can, how about I become your personal flying coach? I think with a lot of practice, you'll be flying like a pro in no time. So, what do you say? ". Itsuki then reached over and gave Rainbow a hug "Thank you Rainbow Dash" he said tearfully. "Hehehe, thanks, I take that as a 'yes" Rainbow said, slightly blushing from the sudden hug, "Now, let's get back to training!". "Yes, ma'am!" Itsuki said. "And we'll start tomorrow morning" Rainbow told him. "Got it" Itsuki nodded and tried flying again. Down at Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Takumi were getting ready to haul apples. "Alright, since you're gettin' so good at haulin' apples" Applejack drawled then she gave Takumi a determined stare "So we're gonna have ourselves a little race" she looked ahead "The race will be from here, at the edge of the road that leads to the farm, all the way over to the barn". Pinkie then hitched a cart to Applejack then one to Takumi, she then stood in front of them. "Okay ponies, on the count of three, you start this race, got it?" Pinkie asked. The two nodded their heads in response. "One".. They looked at each other. "Two.." They looked straight ahead. "THREE!!". Takumi and Applejack took off galloping quickly. "Alright, my little ponies, Applejack has the lead at the moment" Pinkie Pie announced as she watched them race, Applejack, like Pinkie said, had a good lead. "I think I've got this" Applejack thought to herself. "Okay, I've just got to focus" Takumi thought "I can do this" he then suddenly broke into a dead gallop. "Whoa-oh-oh" Pinkie sounded shocked "It looks like Takumi might be able to pull this off". Then right at that moment, Takumi pulled ahead of Applejack and won the race. "AND IT'S OVER!! TAKUMI WINS!!!!" Pinkie shouted, she then hopped over to the two tired ponies in front of the barn. "Wow, you did great Takumi" Applejack told him "I was sure surprised when you over took me". "Thanks" Takumi replied. "Well, that was an awesome race you two!" Pinkie Pie added happily. "Yeah, but I'm a might tired and wanna take a break" Applejack said to her. "Same here" Takumi added. At the castle, Twilight was trying to figure out what to do with Iketani's magic lessons. "So, we've tried teacups and brooms" Twilight said to him "And you couldn't control them, how about we try books?". Rarity trotted over to her and whispered "Are you sure that's a good idea? I hope you're using paperbacks because I don't think either one of us or anyone in the 10-foot radius wants to be hit with a low-flying hardcover book". "Relax, I'm only going to teach him how to turn the page of a book" Twilight told her. Twilight set a book on the floor in the middle of the three of them. "Okay Iketani, we're going to try something a little different" Twilight explained "You're going to try and turn a page in this book". "Do you think I can?" Iketani asked "I can't even lift up a teacup". "I think you can!" Twilight replied and opened the book "Just focus". Iketani focused on the page, it began to turn but quickly fell back down and the book slid across the ground and hit the wall. Iketani let out a defeated sigh, "I'll never get the hang of this" he said sounding disappointed. "You will get it, I know it!" Twilight said trying to cheer him up. "Some Unicorns have a harder time with magic than others, darling" Rarity added. "All I can do is make teacups explode and turn brooms into missiles" Iketani replied "I can't even turn a page in a book without having some sort of problem". Twilight walked over and placed a hoof on Iketani's shoulder "Listen Iketani" Twilight began "Not many ponies know about this, but I've had some problems with magic. Before I got into Celestia's school, I had to pass an entrance exam, I was very nervous and when the Sonic Rainboom happened, I lost control of my magic. I accidentally caused the ponies doing the exam to be caught in a magic bubble hovering over the ground, turned my parents into potted plants and caused a then a newly hatched Spike into a towering dragon!" she took a breath then continued "And I also had many failures before then! So, don't think that you're alone in having magic problems and don't ever, ever think that it's hopeless! You can do this". "Really?" Iketani asked hopefully. "I have the utmost confidence that you can!" Twilight told him. "I'm sure by the end of the week, you'll be a master of telekinsis" Rarity said with a smile. "You two really think so?" Iketani asked them. "Hey Twilight" Rarity said "I have and idea, why don't you do some one-on-one training with him?" she suggested "I mean, it might be easier for him and besides I've got to design some new outfits to sell at my boutiques". "That's a great idea" Twilight replied "Then I can really get to the historical and technical aspects of Unicorn magic!" she clapped her hooves excitedly "This is going to be so much fun! I'll have to get all my old magic training books from when I was still learning magic". "Well, if you think it will help" Iketani said "I'm up for anything". "Alright, let's do this!" Twilight said excitedly "We start in the morning!".