I was flying. Well, let’s be honest, when was I not these days? Aside from work, flying is my special talent after all. I’m pretty good at it, and I enjoy it. It brings in money, makes me happy, and gives me a chance to be alone with my thoughts when I need to be.
The latter was the reason I was up in the air now. It was early morning on a Sunday. I’d done my usual fast and hectic exercise regimen. Taking off from the cottage, I buzzed around the edge of the Everfree Forest, weaving around the uncontrollable clouds that hung near the border. After that, I dived down towards the ground and made for Sweet Apple Acres. Raising the difficulty a notch, I slalomed between the rows of apple trees before pulling up into a zoom climb. I forced myself higher and higher until I ran out of puff and stalled out. Recovering from than, I practiced my gliding, using the thermals that were beginning to form to keep myself aloft. After performing a few stunts like a split-S, an Immelmann turn, and a rolling scissors with a passing eagle Fluttershy cared for, I made for home once again.
While fun and exciting though, my workout was exercise. It served a purpose; keeping myself in shape. Sometimes though, I like to just fly for the sake of flying.
After I’d finished my workout and had a quick shower, I headed out again, with no destination in particular in mind. It was still very early. The sun was just about coming up above the horizon (I actually find myself doing a good chunk of my workout in the dark in the winter, making it extra challenging).The grass was still sparkling with dew and none of the weather patterns you’d see later on in the day had formed yet. The sky was just a deep blue expanse, with a red and golden light off to the east.
I was now about five thousand feet up or there about. Pegasi don’t have altimeters, so it’s more a case of guess work. I was gliding, straight and level heading east, somewhere past Ponyville. Right now I was following the river than ran through town. In a little while, it would turn north towards Canterlot.
Apart from the air rushing past me, I could hear very little. It was too early for most birds to be up and about, with the notable exception of Owlowiscious, who occasionally joined me out of curiosity when he was off hunting. Most ponies were still in bed too, so there were no sounds coming from Ponyville. Everything was just quiet and peaceful.
My thoughts turned to my Uncle Algernon and his own experiences of flying. This sort of quietness, he would have probably found it unsettling. It can be quite scary, being alone in the sky. If you get lost in a cloud, lose your bearings, that same peaceful sky can become quite eerie as you desperately search for landmarks. Even more so if the land below is coated in thick fog.
On the other hand though, as I said, it can be very relaxing too. Particularly as I know that no Albatross is out there looking to put me in the sight of its twin Spandau guns. The land below was green and pleasant too, not the mud and craters of No Man’s Land.
Turning my thoughts away from that terrible war, I banked over slightly. I was flying over a very thinly formed cloud. Stretching out my wingtip, I watched as it carved a course through the vapour, splitting the cloud in two. The way both sides drifted apart was actually quite mesmerising.
As the sun rose higher, fully cresting the horizon, the river below began to glitter in the early morning rays. It was going to be a warm sunny day today.
Flying over the river caused my thoughts to turn to my Cousin John and the far off Zambezi. The bush pilots out there in their smuggled Lynxes would use it for navigation just as I was using the river below. It must have been difficult for them; such a beautiful country racked by what turned out to be a pointless war.
As I continued on my way, an old song of Cousin John’s came to mind. A song that they used to sing in the bar with some of the air force guys when they were off ops.
That’s another thing I don’t have to worry about; fire. Even in modern times, nothing terrifies a pilot more than fire. Once it gets going, there’s very little time to get it under control before the flames burn away vital wires and cables, or smoke clouds your vision so you can’t see your instruments, or even, God forbid, your emergency oxygen runs out. But it was far worse in the days of the Great War. Even in Cousin John’s time, you could bail out of a burning fighter. But back then? No parachute, no ejector seat, in a wood and canvas biplane with a petrol tank under your seat. You had a simple choice to make if your plane caught fire; stay, and burn to death in your machine, or jump into the abyss with equally undesirable results.
I shook my head to clear such thoughts. Being the plane myself, as it were, I’m able to avoid a lot of problems that dog human pilots; fuel, cargo, unruly passengers, equipment failure, fire, and the dangers of an emergency landing. Don’t’ get me wrong, if you’re careless, you can easily hurt yourself; a fact Rainbow can attest to. But as a pegasus, I’m probably in more danger from being run over by a runaway wagon than I am from flying.
No, for me, flying is quite the safe bet. I can cruise for a couple hours on a good thermal or two, and just relax. Sometimes, on mornings like this I even close my eyes for a few moments and just enjoy the feeling of being in the air.
Dropping my right wing, I let myself gradually descend and change course. Before too long, I was flying about two hundred feet above the orchards of Sweet Apple Acres. With its size, the place is suitable if you want to get some space to yourself in the air. Rainbow comes here sometimes to practice, and to nap. And as I said before, the place makes up a decent chunk of my morning flight.
As I soared over the neat rows of apple trees, I picked out a large splotch of red below me. A quick turn and a second pass confirmed my suspicions; it was Big Mac. Like me, all the Apple family are early risers by the nature of their work. Big Mac seemed to be tending to a few of the apple trees. Applejack may be quite strong, and Bones may have upped his hitting power, but neither of them come close to Big Mac’s ability. Come Applebuck Season, he was pretty much their cornerstone. He also handles the heavy cider press too.
I circled around the area again. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Big Mac is awfully easy on the eyes. If I wasn’t with Dewdrop right now, I might have considered it. But until recently, he was in a fairly steady relationship with Cheerilee, a relationship which had sadly broken up. While he might have been on the market, I didn’t want to seem like I was stepping into Cheerilee’s horseshoes. And then of course, a few months later, I started going out with Dewdrop. No matter how much I might like Mac, along with almost every other mare in town, I wasn’t about to two time my coltfriend.
Still, there was no harm in dropping by to say hello to him. Plus I had been circling him like a hawk for the better part of five minutes; to fly off now would make me look a little odd.
Dropping down further, I switched into a hover and touched down a few yards in front of him. Mac promptly looked up from his work.
“Hey there, Big Mac,” I said in my usual friendly way. “Busy morning?”
“Eeyup,” he responded calmly with a nod. Big Mac never was one for small talk.
“I was just going for a quick flight around the neighbourhood,” I went on. Mac nodded again.
“Ah know,” he said, expanding his vocabulary a bit. “Ah saw ya circlin’ just now.”
I felt a blush creep up my face knowing that Mac had caught me ogling him. He knows a lot of the mares in town like him, but given his shy nature, and the fact that he’d recently gone through a painful, albeit consensual, breakup, he wasn’t inclined to do anything about it. Still, I felt a bit guilty. Luckily, Mac continued.
“Ya know you’re not the only pegasus pony here right now,” he offered, gesturing with his head the way he had come. “Ah saw Rainbow Dash nappin’ in one of the trees a little ways back. If Applejack sees her, Ah reckon she’ll be fixin’ to teach her a lesson again.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, curious. Mac explained.
“Applejack got sick of findin’ Rainbow Dash nappin’ in the apple trees; specially durin’ Applebuck Season. So last time she caught her, she hauled the pigs’ feeder filled with slop under the tree, bucked it, and knocked Rainbow Dash into it.” I chuckled at the mental image of that. And it did explain why Dash had suddenly stopped using one of her favourite napping spots.
“How about I head down that way and move her along before she gets another dunking?” I offered. Mac smiled and laughed softly.
“Well, Ah reckon she’d appreciate that,” he replied. I smiled back.
“I’ll go nab her,” I said, unfolding my wings. “That’s for the heads up, Big Mac. See you later.”
“Eeyup,” Mac replied.
Taking off again, I sped over the trees, just barely grazing the tops in search of a certain slumbering pegasus.
Finding said pegasus though, proved to be more than a little tricky. Was I doing this in the winter, nothing could be simpler. It would simply be a case of looking through the trees until I spotted a spot of cyan and rainbow. But now we were in spring, moving ever closer to summer. The trees were thick with green leaves and white and pink blossoms, completely blotting out any view between their branches from the air.
So I had to take the slower approach. Landing again, I slowly trotted through the orchard, looking up into the trees to see if I could pick out any blue or rainbow amidst the green. I suppose it didn’t hurt to give my legs some exercise as well as my wings. But like I said, being on the ground meant that the search was slow going.
It took me about ten minutes of walking through the orchard, every now and again doubling back on myself. Big Mac had said she wasn’t too far away, so I had to be fairly close.
In the end though, it wasn’t sight that helped me find her, but sound. As it turns out, Rainbow snores… a lot. I could tell why AJ was in the habit of turning her out of her sleeping berth. Working around that kind of noise all day was enough to drive anypony to distraction.
Following the appalling sound, I eventually found her in one of the older patriarchs of the orchard. She was reclining on a fairly high branch, but still easily visible from the ground, with her forelegs behind her head, resting against the trunk of the tree.
“Rainbow,” I called up to her in somewhat of a hushed tone in case Applejack was nearby. The sleeping pegasus however took no heed of me.
“Rainbow!” I tried again, somewhat louder, but still she kept on contentedly snoring, occasionally muttering something about Daring Do in her sleep.
So I flew up to her level and gave her a gentle shake. But still no response. It seemed that RD slept the sleep of the dead. So I went for a tried and true tactic my brother used to use to annoy me when we were kids.
Gently placing a hoof on her nose, I pinched it shut. In addition to being uncomfortable, it messed up her natural breathing rhythm. A few moments later and her forelegs both began to bat at me in a subconscious effort to make me let go. A second or two later, coughing, she woke up, and I released her.
Her eyes open blearily, revealing her striking magenta irises. She groaned as she came to and saw me.
“Urgh,” she complained. “Lizzie? What do you want?” I smiled in an effort to soften the blow.
“Sorry to interrupt your nap, Dash,” I said. “But Big Mac just passed by. He said if you’re still here when Applejack comes by, she’s gonna knock you into the pig trough again.”
That quickly got a response out of her.
She was up on her hooves in an instant and quickly joined me hovering in the air. Her head darted about looking for a certain orange, Stetson wearing pony. Luckily, Applejack didn’t seem to be about yet.
The two of us flew up to a nearby cloud and settled on it, since it was more than large enough for the both of us to rest on comfortably. Dash peaked over the edge, looking for AJ.
“Thanks, Lizzie,” Dash said, sounding relieved. “I only stopped to rest there for a minute. I didn’t mean to fall asleep there.” I smiled to myself, sure Dash.
“Well, I figured I wouldn’t like to be applebucked into a trough full of slops,” I replied with a shrug. “Just count yourself lucky I was around and ran into Big Mac.” Dash smiled back.
“Say, you busy today with Fluttershy or anything?” she asked. I shook my head.
“Not really,” I replied. “Discord’s dropping by today for his weekly afternoon tea. I tend to make myself scarce; I don’t think he likes the idea of having to ‘share’ Fluttershy. That and, while he may have been the one to give me my wings, he still creeps me out.” Dash laughed.
“I think he creeps everypony out sometimes,” she replied. “Still, he’s a good guy most of the time, now that he’s reformed and all.”
“That’s what makes it so weird though,” I replied. “I mean he is still the whole ‘Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony’ and everything. It’s like Fluttershy’s having tea with Hannibal Lecter.”
“Who?” I waved a hoof.
“Never mind; Earth thing,” I replied. Every now and then I still find myself saying things that make no sense to ponies.
“Say,” Dash said, changing the subject. “How about the two of us head down to Ponyville and get some breakfast at the Hayburger joint? I’m buying. It’s the least I could do for you, seeing as how you pretty much stopped AJ from covering me in muck again.”
Well, my granddad always said never turn down a free meal.
“Yeah, sure. I could go for that,” I replied.
Jumping off the cloud, the two of us began the short flight to Ponyville.
Equestria, believe it or not, has such a thing as fast food. Of course, being herbivores, all the food is plant based. There are no hamburgers or chicken nuggets, but you can get something close. The Hayburger in Ponyville is their answer to the likes of McDonalds, Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Even madder is the fact that Twilight loves it, continuing to patronise the place as a princess.
I go there every now and again myself as a guilty pleasure, or I grab a takeaway for Fluttershy and me when neither of us feels like cooking on a Friday night. It’s fairly cheap and the food actually isn’t half bad, especially compared to its Earth equivalent. I still remember the Panorama special on Subway, and how some of their staff were wiping snot on the sandwiches.
The two of us touched down just outside the place. It was still fairly early in the morning, but the place did open up for breakfast and had a few customers in there when we arrived. Trotting inside, the two of us got a small table by one of the large panoramic windows.
At this time in the morning, burgers and hay fries weren’t on the menu. Instead, the place ran a breakfast menu that was reminiscent of those old American diners. Dash got herself a carrot, egg and cheese bagel, the whole steamed carrot standing in for a sausage I guess. I on the other hoof having already had a halfway decent breakfast picked out a stack of pancakes with syrup. We also both got ourselves some coffee, particularly as Dash seemed to have trouble staying awake.
The two of us chatted as we ate. If nothing else, between the coffee and conversation, Dash was able to keep her head up. Plus, it was nice to just chat with her outside of work.
“So, how goes life in the Wonderbolts?” I asked, as I cut away at one of my pancakes. Dash sipped at her coffee.
“Not too bad,” she replied. “I’ve learned a lot these past few months, particularly about close formation flying. I tell ya, it’s a whole different ball game compared to weather work. But hey, at least I’m not stuck there at the end of each day cleaning up.” Dash had told me before that that particular honour was reserved for the worst flyer of the day. When she first started, it was the others’ way of hazing her a bit.
“So how come you were up and about so early?” Dash asked. “I know you do your exercises first thing, same as me. But I didn’t think you went all the way out to Sweet Apple Acres.” I shrugged my shoulders.
“I’d done my workout and I just felt like going for a flight,” I replied. “Ya know, see the sunrise, watch the clouds start rolling in; just enjoy the feeling of flying.” Dash smiled knowingly.
“You’re chasing that first flight feeling,” she said. I looked over at her quizzically.
“What do you mean?” I asked, dabbing my mouth with a napkin before the syrup dried.
Every pegasus pony gets like that every now and again,” Dash went on. “They try to recapture that feeling they had the first time they really flew. I still remember my first real flight when I was a filly. You never forget it.”
“I certainly haven’t forgotten mine,” I replied. “After all, it was only a couple years ago.” Dash nodded.
“I remember watching you,” she agreed. “You took to flying like a duck to water.”
Many moons ago…
I was still new to the whole 'being a pegasus' deal back then. Even today, I still remember the shock I felt when I woke up and found wings and hooves instead of hands and feet. It took me a fair while, with Fluttershy’s help, just to get walking mastered. Luckily, I was able to pick it up fairly quickly, something to do with horses on our own world. They’re usually up and about on their too long legs within minutes of being born. Still, it took a bit of effort to get the pattern down. I do remember falling and banging my jaw a few times.
Anyway, a quick visit to Twilight’s (this was before Tirek got out, when she was still living in her old library) helped explain things. The magic that had changed me was chaos based, pointing the finger squarely at Discord. After spontaneously appearing in the library, he explained his reasoning and why he had turned me into a pegasus. He also pointed out to Twilight that the spell had something called a lockout on it, which prevented it from stopping for about a week. So Twilight couldn’t undo it. I was to be stuck as a pegasus for a week.
On the one hoof, it was really unsettling for me. But as the days went by, and I began to get used to my temporary body, I found a few advantages. I was able to help Fluttershy a little more, and I wasn’t so much a burden on her, seeing as now everything in her cottage was more suited to me. However, I still couldn’t really fly, which was the big thing I’d mentioned to Discord that stopped me from helping out as much as I could.
I did try flying, hoping that I’d be able to pick it up as quickly as I did walking. But try as I might, I just couldn’t get myself stable. I could get in the air alright, a couple feet off the ground. But after a few moments, I’d start drifting around, lose my balance, tip over in one direction or another, and have an unwanted reunion with the ground. Fluttershy tried to teach me some basics, but as a weak flyer herself, she wasn’t that much help.
“Maybe you could ask Rainbow Dash for some help?” she suggested after another failed attempt. “She’s been helping Twilight get the hang of using her wings for a few months now. I’m sure she’d be able to make some time for you.”
So the two of us set off to look for her. We found her napping on a cloud just outside Ponyville. Fluttershy flew up to wake her and briefly explained my predicament.
“Well sure I can help you out, kid,” Dash replied enthusiastically. “Tell you what; meet me first thing tomorrow, and I’ll take you through some of the basics.”
And so, I did. I got up bright and early the next morning and left the cottage to meet up with Rainbow. The pegasus was waiting for me just where she said she would.
“Hey there, kid,” she said in greeting. “Let’s get you started then.”
We spent the next few hours going over the basic theories of flight and watching birds that were flying nearby. My first real problem was that I was flapping far too much, hence why I was unstable. I was trying to just get into a hover, whereas, according to Dash, the best thing was to master gliding first.
So we borrowed Twilight’s balloon and took it up to altitude. Dash parked up on a large cloud, which I could now of course walk on, something that was very strange for me, and even induced some vertigo when I looked down.
Walking over to the edge of the cloud, Dash broke off a large piece and formed it into a sort of pillow.
“Okay, we’re going to use this as a sort of training wheels,” she said. “Put this underneath you and step off the cloud. It will support your weight and do most of the flying for you. Then you can focus on controlling your wings.”
The idea of stepping off the cloud sounded more than a little dangerous to me. But Dash assured me that she’d be right beside me the whole time. So, with no small amount of trepidation, I began.
I cannot describe the feeling of sheer terror I felt when I realised that there was nothing under my hooves. I’m fairly certain I screamed a little. But as Dash said, the cloud kept me up in the air. My wings actually remained steadfastly secured at me sides, and it took quite a bit of coaxing from Dash to get me to relax enough to open then.
After that, things improved. I began to practice making gentle turns, ascending and descending slightly, and learning the basics of flying, without the threat of dropping to my death. After about half an hour, I was no longer frightened by the sight of the land far below, and we returned back to the cloud where we had started.
The next few days saw me steadily building on what I’d learned. I still used the cloud as a sort of crutch, but Dash quickly upped the ante. I was soon flying faster, pulling hard turns, rolls and, most importantly, learning how to hover, take off and land. After all, I wouldn’t always be on a cloud.
My fear of being up in the air steadily evaporated. I began to see myself as a pegasus, as a being with wings. So why did I need to be scared of heights? It wasn’t as it I could fall now, was it?
By the end of the week, Dash had me flying on my own. I still had the cloud under me, though it had become far smaller than when I started, but Dash was no longer flying on my wing. I was effectively soloing.
Finally, I came upon that day of days; my first true flight. There would be no cloud, no safety net, nopony at my side to help me out. Today, I had to take off from a cloud, fly around town in a stable manner and then perform a safe landing at Sugarcube Corner. I was nervous. As small as that cloud had been, it would have saved me had I ever panicked. Today though, I would be relying solely on my wings.
Dash took me up via balloon to our starting point; a cloud about two thousand feet up. I would jump off of this, dive, level off and use thermals to keep my altitude. I would then use known landmarks to find my way around town, avoiding any other pegasi that happened to be about. Finally, I would approach Sugarcube Corner and perform a safe, successful landing. For a first time flyer, who until a week ago hadn’t even had wings, it was a tall order. But the end of the week was fast approaching. I wanted to be able to say that I could fly before the spell gave out and I changed back to my old self. Although at that point, I was already considering staying like this.
Standing on the edge of the cloud, Dash gave me a reassuring pat on the back.
“Okay, Lizzie,” Dash said, smiling at me. “I’ll see you on the ground.”
With a single graceful leap, she dropped down below and flew the same route that I would be. I took a moment to breathe and prepare myself, and try and bottle up my fears. A particular song came into my head, which didn’t help matters.
But, there was no time like the present as my dad would say. And there was only one way off this cloud. I did my best to reassure myself. I could fly, other pegasi could fly. Heck, even Fluttershy could, so there was no way I should get bested by this. Taking one final deep breath to calm myself, I took a running leap.
Instantly, I felt the drop. There was nothing under my hooves and I began to fall. Fear kicked in immediately and my wings unhelpfully snapped to my sides, refusing to open. I had plenty of time to save myself, but still, it was not the best start. At least I didn’t scream I suppose.
As I plummeted, I remembered an amusing anecdote from one of my friends’ dads who had used to be in the army back in the day, in 2 Para; the parachute regiment.
Apparently, during the Falklands campaign, 2 Para were meant to fly in by helicopter to capture the main settlement of Port Stanley. But the freighter carrying them had been sunk a few days earlier, so they had to land with the rest of the troops and walk across the island. They all got piled into a landing craft and were taken to San Carlos Water with Royal Marine Commandos (who they hated with a passion, being from the navy) in charge of the landing craft. When they got to the beach and the doors opened, a Marine sergeant bellowed ‘disembark’. This was far too many syllables for the Paras, who stood there dumbfounded. Luckily, a Para officer saw what was happening and gave them a more familiar phrase. ‘Red light, green light, go!’
At that moment, my fear evaporated. My wings opened together and that awful feeling of falling suddenly stopped. I found myself not going downwards, but forwards through the air. I was flying.
It was…oddly serene actually. The rushing wind was gone and everything was just so quiet. It felt like I was sailing on water. Following what Dash had taught me, I carefully moved my wings, the slightest twitch affecting my pitch and bank. I stayed like that for a couple minutes before I realised that I needed to get back on course. It was just so…mesmerising. I didn’t want it to end. I just wanted to enjoy the peace and quiet.
Before long, I’d followed my landmarks and circled around town. With some effort, I made a halfway decent landing just outside Sugarcube Corner where I found not only Dash, but also all her friends, my parents and my brother. They all applauded me in their own way, although I’m sure Mum was having kittens at first. They were all proud of me though. Pinkie quickly declared that a party was in order and ushered everypony inside, leaving me and Dash a moment to talk.
“How do you feel?” she asked me. I wasn’t sure how to respond.
“It was just…wow,” I replied, still riding the high.
“Nothing like it is there,” Dash said, more of a statement than a question. “You know, for somepony who couldn’t even open their wings a few days ago, you’ve come a long way, Lizzie. I know this may sound weird, but if you want, I could probably swing you a job working with me in the Weather Patrol.”
I jumped at the prospect of paid employment. That only further served to sway my eventual decision to remain a pegasus. Two days later, having been more of a help to Fluttershy than I ever had since I arrived in Equestria, and the spell was about to run out. I asked Discord to extend it to make it permanent.
Best decision of my life.
“So what, it’s like I’m chasing that first high from back then?” I asked Dash as we finished up our meals.
“Something like that,” she replied. “I don’t know all the egghead stuff behind it, but it’s like you remember everything that much clearer, time slows down, and everything just seems so peaceful.” I nodded in understanding.
“Yeah, that about sums it up for me,” I agreed.
“It’s a gift,” Dash went on, her voice sounding far away. “Flying I mean. It’s something we all earn. We work hard to earn the right to soar through the skies. But it’s something that can just as easily be taken away if you don’t respect it. Remember that.”
“That’s awfully deep, Rainbow,” I said, with the ghost of a smile. Rainbow quickly jumped back to reality, rubbing her neck in embarrassment.
“Sorry,” she said. “I guess talking about that first flight has got me thinking. You never get it back, no matter how hard you try. But I still wouldn’t trade these wings for anything, except maybe my friends.” I polished off the rest of my meal, as did Dash.
“Come on,” I said. “Let’s go for a flight.”
And so, having paid our bill, the two of us walked out of the Hayburger and took off into the sky. While the sun was beginning to rise, and the indigo blue was beginning to give way to the grey light of a summer dawn, there were still a few stars out.
“So, where do you wanna go, Lizzie?” Dash asked as she held station on my wing. I pointed a hoof at a star that was still faintly glimmering ahead of us.
“Second star to the right,” I said. “And straight on ‘til morning.”