Alternate Beginnings: Year Four

by Doug Graves


4 Against the Tide

January 5th, 996

Rainbow Dash sighs to herself as she walks along the snow covered path leading to Fluttershy's cottage. The cold snow isn't too much of a discomfort, but just the necessity of walking along instead of flying is slowly getting to her. The temptation, if she is flying, is just too great. Even the brief flight around Doug had nearly been too much, her body and spirit wanting to soar into the sky in celebration.

Alas, it is not to be. Not yet. And Rainbow has her Wonderbolt interview coming up in four months, not nearly enough time. Not if what the doctors said is true, that it will take years for her magic to fully heal. And the doctors had strongly warned her against having another foal at any point during the recovery phase; apparently the whole foaling process is draining on a pony's magic, even without considering what may or may not happen with Doug specifically. And she doesn't want to risk having the patch on her magic rupture, or whatever the doctors said. Especially if it happens when she isn't flying. At least if it happened when she is flying she would have been doing what she loves. Although she does love Doug, so maybe it'll still count.

The green top of Fluttershy's cottage comes into view, snow covering the highest branches. A few of the hardier birds occasionally flit back and forth, darting from bird feeder to house to pegasus. Fluttershy is sitting down, chatting with a few of the birds as Rainbow walks closer; Fluttershy finally noticing the rainbow mare as she crosses the stream. Fluttershy waves, smiling at Rainbow Dash as the birds chirp happily. "Morning, Fluttershy!"

"Good morning, Rainbow Dash. Oh, I'm so excited! It's been a while since we last flew together, hasn't it?"

Rainbow Dash nods, scratching the back of her mane while she looks up, "Yeah, it has been a while, I guess. But, we can make up for lost time, right? So, what awesome exercises do you have planned?" She smiles at Fluttershy, her wings spreading from her body.

"Oh, I've got a lot of exciting things for today. First off, we're going to fly around town."

"Yeah?" Rainbow looks on excitedly, giving her wings an experimental flap.

"And we're going to find all the empty nests that the southern birds have left."

Rainbow stares blankly at Fluttershy for a few seconds before uttering a curt, "What."

Fluttershy nods, "You see, a lot of those nests have grown old and are falling apart, despite Rarity's thoughtful care in putting them together. So, we need to remove all the old nests from the trees scattered over Ponyville and the surrounding forest."

"Alright, so it's a kind of race, right?" Rainbow smirks, smiling to the side and flapping her wings again, "See who can get the most nests the fastest!"

Fluttershy shakes her head, remaining in her sitting position, "No, Rainbow Dash. We have to go slow, and make sure that we find every nest."

"Aww, I don't like going slow." Rainbow pouts, looking around at the snow covered trees as her wings fold back to her body. She walks up to Fluttershy, sitting down next to her and trying to locate a few of the nests in nearby trees.

Fluttershy puts a comforting hoof around Rainbow's back, "I know, but if we don't get all the nests then one of the birds might find and use one. And if that nest breaks, then that poor bird's eggs or chicks would come tumbling out of the tree. And that would be just terrible."

"Ughhhh..." Rainbow Dash groans, looking at anything but her herdmate. "I know, I know, it would be bad, sure. But, there has to be a way to make this, I don't know, more interesting or something. And I need to learn to fly like you, so can we start with some slow flight exercises or something?"

"Oh. Um, if you think that is best, then we can do that. But..."

"Alright! So, slow flight." Rainbow stares at Fluttershy, the mare awkwardly looking off to the side. "What are we waiting for?"

"Um, okay." Fluttershy slowly lifts into the air, her wings barely beating. Rainbow Dash takes off, trying to mimic Fluttershy but going much higher, a pained look on her face at the difference between their control. Fluttershy gives Rainbow a small smile as she hovers a foot off the ground, not disturbing the grass around her, "I think we might need to start with the basics."

Rainbow Dash sighs, returning to the ground and landing with a loud thud. "Alright, 'Shy, what'dya got?" Fluttershy takes a deep breath, slowly letting it out. She repeats this several times, Rainbow Dash starting to fidget and look around the area. "So, what am I supposed to be seeing here?"

Fluttershy takes another deep breath, "Two things, Rainbow. Control." She gently blows the breath out, taking at least twice as long as the previous one.

As she breathes in, Rainbow Dash says, "And the second thing?" As Fluttershy continues breathing in Rainbow groans again, flopping onto the ground; Fluttershy slowly breathes out, taking twice as long as the previous breath.

"Patience."

Rainbow rolls her eyes while laying on the ground, "You're kidding me."

"The greatest weapon you have, Rainbow, needs to be patience." Fluttershy stares down at Rainbow, still hovering in the air.

"Ughhh..." Rainbow rolls back to her hooves, "Fine. So, I need control and patience. And I'll get those, don't worry about it. Now, what else?"

"Now, you will also need two other things when you are flying slow. Quiet and tranquility. You must strive to be at peace with your surroundings, to move in tandem when they move. To allow yourself to be rocked by the world around you, and not rock back." Fluttershy demonstrates as she flies, one of her birds flying up and grabbing a dried leaf. The bird drops the leaf, Fluttershy moving a wing back and forth, the path of the leaf not being disturbed.

Rainbow flaps her wings, the gust of wind blowing Fluttershy's mane back. The leaf flies away, the two pegasi watching as it lands in the stream. "Alright, I might need to work on that a little. Anything else?"

"Well, it is going to be very easy to want to go fast when you are flying slow, and you must stay calm." Fluttershy lands on the ground and sits still, barely moving as she watches Rainbow.

"Okay, I can do that." Rainbow moves side to side, glancing all around. "So, when do we start?"

"Whenever you are ready, Rainbow." Fluttershy smiles at Rainbow, moving no other muscles.

"Right. Sitting still. Calm." Rainbow breathes in and out before closing her eyes. After a few seconds she opens her eyes, "Okay, what's next?"

Fluttershy sighs to herself as she sits up, "Once you have mastered those aspects, you will have no trouble at all with slow flight. Now, what have we learned?"

Rainbow Dash nods, "Patience and control."

"Good."

"Quiet and tranquility."

"Yes, and most importantly?"

"Calm!"

"Right! So, now that you know the elements of slow flight, let's see it."

Rainbow flaps her wings, taking to the air. She bobs up and down as her wings beat, smiling at Fluttershy.

"Quieter!"

Rainbow looks nervously around, trying to slow her wings. This ends up increasing the amount she is bobbing up and down as each flap has to lift her even higher.

"Quieter!"

Rainbow tries taking many short flaps; this steadies her up and down motion, but increases the wing blowing against Fluttershy's face.

Fluttershy strains out a whisper, "Quieter!"

Rainbow huffs in frustration, flapping her wings hard enough to push Fluttershy back a few inches. Rainbow grunts in pain, coming to rest on the ground and rolling her wings back and forth, stretching them out. She smirks as Fluttershy rolls to her side, "Too quiet?"

Fluttershy gathers her courage, slowly standing up. "Well, Rainbow Dash, that was... nice."

Rainbow cocks her head to the side, "Nice?"

Fluttershy nods, "Nice. Now, for the first phase of our nest gathering routine, I like to think about all the locations that I placed a nest."

Rainbow watches as Fluttershy closes her eyes, the yellow pegasus barely moving as she breathes in and out. Rainbow starts fidgeting, looking at the various trees. Most of them have snow covering their green leaves, hiding any nests that might be tucked away in the branches. She turns back to Fluttershy, the pegasus still meditating. "Come on, 'Shy? When do we actually do anything?"

Fluttershy nods, "Very well, on to phase two: locating the nests. First, we move to each tree that has nests."

Rainbow nods, "Okay, moving I like. Which tree do we go to first?"

Fluttershy walks up to the tree next to them, "This one."

Rainbow smiles, "Okay, one nest coming right up!" She flaps her wings, catapulting herself into the tree. After a few seconds she sticks her head out, a brown nest half perched by her colorful mane while several birds fly around, whistling.

Fluttershy quietly moves over to Rainbow, saying in a hushed tone, "I'm sorry, Rainbow, but it seems that you forgot one of the lessons we learned."

Rainbow rolls her eyes, "Oh, heh, ya. Patience, right? Or control. Or was it calm? Tranquility?"

"Okay, maybe you didn't forget the lessons, you just didn't abide by them."

"But, Fluttershy, I got the nest, right? On to the next tree!" Rainbow flies out of the tree, dropping the nest next to Fluttershy and looking at the pegasus.

"Well, we would, except..." Fluttershy hides behind her mane, looking off to the side.

"Except?"

"Um... it's okay, we can go to the next tree." She slowly gets to her hooves.

Rainbow sighs, "Come on, 'Shy, you can tell me what's wrong."

"...You didn't get all the nests in this tree."

"What? Really?" Rainbow cranes her neck, looking into the tree to try to spot the missing nest.

Fluttershy nods, "Yes. That is why phase one is so important. A Wonderbolt routine wouldn't be nearly as spectacular if you went straight to a speedy dive, right? You have to climb first."

Rainbow rubs the back of her head, "Yeah, I guess that would end pretty poorly. Gotta make sure you're adequately prepared, before breaking into one of their awesome routines." A dreamy look slowly spreads over Rainbow's face before she shakes her head, snapping out of it. "Fine, can we go now? You know where the nests are, just tell me which trees and how many nests and I'll get 'em out."

"And what will we practice as we make our way from tree to tree?"

Rainbow grins, "Control. Patience. Something. Something. Calm." Rainbow starts walking while Fluttershy stands still. Rainbow turns around, exasperated, "Alright, what did I forget this time?"

"It's just... there's still a nest in this tree."