//------------------------------// // 44 - Soaring on Little Wings // Story: Soaring on Little Wings // by tom117z //------------------------------// The sky blue, a small breeze waving through the green blades of grass along the vast field. A few leaves from the tree the ponies were sat under became dislodged, floating away with the small gale. Only for a Little Gale to steal them away in mouth, jumping up to catch them like an excitable puppy. The small colt looked so proud of himself as he presented the leaf in his mouth to the other ponies, who all giggled at the foal’s playful antics. Sky Dancer seemed a little jealous of the sudden attention, so she immediately got competitive and started to catch more leaves than her cousin. She was definitely the daughter of Rainbow Dash. The whole family was gathered around that tree, sat on a chequered picnic blanket with the city if Cloudsdale sitting idly in the distance, the weather factory pumping away and fulfilling its duties. They weren’t that far from Ponyville, which made it easy for Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo to hop over for the gathering, and the flying city would probably pass over the town after it was done in the local area. Rainbow had of course brought Sky Dancer, who had become fast friends with her cousin, if always in some kind of competition that Little Gale didn’t quite understand. Windy Whistles and Bow Hothoof had also joined Misty Gust and Little Wing in coming down to this little family picnic, as had Silver Breeze, who just contently watched his son play. While the foals were enjoying themselves in whatever manner they saw fit, the adults were happy to nibble on the various foods they had brought with them for the picnic. Daisy and cress sandwiches, various fruits along for some sweets and a bit of cake. For drinks they had both simple juices and some cider fresh from Sweet Apple Acres that very morning, which Rainbow Dash was typically doing her best to hoard. The kids’ own meals had been hardly touched, but they would eat when they felt like it. And the way they were currently going, they would wear themselves out soon enough. “Gale!” Sky Dancer said in a babyish voice as her younger cousin hopped around the tree while giggling in delight. “Gale!” Sky Dancer gave chase, and soon they were chasing each other’s tails round and round again. More than once one of the foals would turn to run the other way, while the other would respond by doing the same, keeping the cycle ongoing. This would go on for a while… “So, bits on the winner?” Bow said jokingly. Joking or not, he got a clip around the ear from his wife. “No betting on the grandfoals, Bow!” “Heh, yes dear.” “With the way those two going, it’ll probably be a draw,” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “At least I know Sky’ll sleep well tonight.” “Not before they eat their food,” Misty stated. “If we put Gale to bed on an empty stomach he’ll be a nightmare tomorrow morning.” “He’ll come over when he’s done,” Silver Breeze assured her. “Honestly, I’m not sure where the scamp got the apitite from.” “Little Wing thinks you were a fat baby, so maybe from there?” Misty said innocently. Silver Breeze tilted his head at the mare in question, while Little Wing went very red. “Misty! Traitor!” “Fat baby, huh?” Silver deadpanned. “I was… a little out of it at the time, Gale was being born!” Little Wing protested with a pout. “And I had thought that’d stay private.” “In the family, we said,” Misty said with a smile. “I didn’t lie, did I dear?” “Still a traitor,” Little Wing decided, jabbing Misty Gust on the shoulder in defiance. “Anyway, Rainbow… Anything new in Ponyville?” “What, you mean aside from the occasional monster attack, friendship lesson, world ending nightmare or misbehaving students at Twilight’s school?” Rainbow asked with no small amount of sass, causing Little Wing to roll her eyes. “Not too much. I got Applejack to fill in for me in class today so I could be here, so I now owe her a favour. Great, huh?” “I’m sure it won’t be that bad, Applejack does seem like a nice enough mare,” Windy Whistles said, still only ever having limited contact with the apple farmer. “Pfft, we’ll see,” Rainbow Dash responded with a snort. “How are things at the school?” Misty Gust asked. “You never do talk about it. Not often, anyway.” “Ah, well… it’s as good as it ever was,” Rainbow Dash explained. “We’re getting more and more students from other species each year. I’ve got five or six dragons in my class now, and a couple of new griffons started this year.” “Oh, didn’t you say someone related to that griffon friend of yours has started?” Windy asked. “Yeah, Gilda’s got a teenaged kid that’s going,” Rainbow said somewhat sheepishly. “I… never actually thought that’d happen in a million years.” “Why ever not? You’ve long patched things up, right?” “Well, yeah. We’ve been good for years now,” Rainbow confirmed. “Just… I don’t know. Teaching my friend’s daughter is… weird. Maybe it’s just because she’s Gilda’s spitting image. In every way.” Little Wing could only assume that class had gotten suddenly louder upon that particular griffon’s arrival. “Well, don’t forget we’ve got a show next month,” Little Wing reminded her elder sister. “Dear Celestia I’m looking forward to flying with you guys again.” “Wasn’t the same without you, Wing,” Scootaloo stated honestly, nudging the younger pegasus with a wing. “The reservist we got is good, maybe even material for the main team in time. But they aren’t you, sis.” “Thanks, Scoots,” Little Wing replied. “I appreciate it. I’d better start putting in some hours of practice to get back into the swing of things first, though.” “It has been a while,” Rainbow Dash noted. “Heh, maybe this is how things go back to normal.” All eyes turned towards the rainbow maned pegasus, Windy Whistles asking: “How so, dear?” “Think about it. First Sky Dancer is born, and then Wing gets married not so long after. Then she dies. Then she isn’t. We find out she was a monkey. Then we’re dealing with ancient weird alicorn crap, and then we spend the next nine months with a grouchy and pregnant little sister calling people fat babies,” Rainbow said to them all, and Little Wing blushed more than a little. “Sheesh, saying it out loud… I thought Ponyville was where all the weirdness in my life came from.” “I think you are just a weirdness magnet, Dashie,” Bow teased. “Best. Weirdness magnet. EVER,” Windy supplemented. Rainbow blamed it all on that stupid crystalline tree… Not that Little Wing could deny the weirdness. Rainbow Dash hadn’t even been exaggerating, that was the scary part, she realised. Even scarier was that despite all that she had been through herself, she still couldn’t even hold a bit to her elder sister. In fact, just thinking about it made Little Wing all light headed… Luckily, reality came crashing back when the two foals each gave a squeak as they tripped over one another, rolling back towards the adults in a tangled pile of limbs. “BWAAAAAH,” both shouted simultaneously as they came to a halt, trying to disengage themselves from the forced embrace. Their parents all just rolled their eyes and moved to separate the foals. Once they were free, the children were placed back on the ground to get their bearings. Each swayed from dizziness for a few moments, before Sky Dancer went and glared at Little Gale. “Cheat!” she accused. Little Gale just giggled and proceeded to boop his cousin on the nose. Sky Dancer went cross eyed as her snout crinkled, trying to process the assault her poor muzzle. She then huffed, the filly crossing her hooves in a sulk. Sky Dancer’s indignation only seemed to make the other foal giggle all the more. He also saw it as incentive to go in for a second strike. And a third. And so on and so forth. “Mamaaaaa!” Sky Dancer whined as she attempted to hold off the persistent onslaught, Little Gale crouching down and pouncing like a predator chasing after his hapless prey. “MAMA!” Rainbow Dash tried not to laugh as she picked her daughter up and deposited her onto her back, Sky Dancer finding safe haven between her mother’s wings. As Rainbow Dash carried to foal back to the picnic matt, she shot another accusatory glare towards her unrepentant cousin. The foal, on his part, just responded by blowing a raspberry. Sky Dancer gave an overly exaggerated gasp at the audacity of such an insult, and promptly gave one back. Little Wing then made sure to scoop up Little Gale and bring him back to the picnic as well. “I think they just became rivals…” Silver Breeze mused. “I look forward to them competing in the ‘bolts one day,” Rainbow Dash said with a chuckle, sitting back down and placing Sky Dancer between her legs. She brought the small plastic plate carrying the foal’s food over and placed it in front of her. Little Wing did the same for Little Gale, only she placed the colt between herself and Misty Gust. Each finally began to dig into their meals, though never seemed to stop glancing at each other in almost challenge. Though there was a friendly playfulness in their glares, each eager to continue their game another time when their parents would allow it. And so the family chatted away, enjoying their spent time together. Later on Silver Breeze would enjoy playing around with a ball alongside Little Gale, Sky Dancer eventually forcing her way into the game so not to be left out. Many more hours of fun would be had, laughs shared and memories created, before the sun eventually began to dim as Cloudsdale also began to disappear into the horizon. At that point came the time to depart, each family member bidding the other a fond farewell before turning in for the night. The moon cast its bright light on the cloud city by the time that Little Wing and Misty Gust returned to their home, Little Gale almost asleep on the former’s back. They stepped into the warm home and turned on the light, ensuring that the front door was locked behind them before they stepped out of the hallway into the living room. “Well, that was fun,” Misty commented. “I think I needed a calm moment. Your sister was right for how hectic things have been for the past year.” “Tell me about it…” Little Wing muttered, glancing at the colt on her back. “But would we trade it for anything? It all turned out fine in the end, didn’t it?” Misty Gust smiled, giving her wife a loving nuzzle. “It did. It really did.” Little Wing returned the smile, before then turning to exit back out of the room. Misty followed on, and no verbal interaction was needed to know what came next. The indication was just about snoozing on Little Wing’s back, after all. Small foals need their sleep. They carefully made their way upstairs, doing their best not to disturb the colt. They headed straight for Little Gale’s room, quietly opening the door and spying the crib in the corner, surrounded by a mountain of toys. They made it to the crib without incident, and Little Wing then slowly took her son from her back and placed him down onto the small mattress. He gave a small groan at the disturbance, but quickly settled down on touching his own bed, small hooves latching onto and cuddling a Princess Twilight Sparkle plush that had been inside. The two living mothers looked down into the crib, nothing but love and adoration in his eyes. “Everything was definitely worth it, just for this,” Misty whispered, kissing Little Wing on the cheek before making her way back out of the room. Misty stopped at the doorway, turning to see that Little Wing was still by the crib. She sat down patiently, just waiting for her wife to follow. Little Wing gave her son a smile, giving him one last kiss on the forehead. “Dream of the skies, honey,” Little Wing whispered gently. “Soaring on little wings.” She then retreated from the room, joining her wife in the hallway. They gently shut the door, casting the foal’s room into darkness. And he slept peacefully, the great expanse of blue playing right before his eyes, the whole world awaiting him.