//------------------------------// // My first flight. // Story: The misadventures of Light Heart // by Light Heart101 //------------------------------// Some ponies think that I found flying easier than magic, others think vice versa. To tell you the truth, for me learning how to fly fell somewhere in between. I guess in order to explain this I need to tell you about my past. My parents said that I used to be fearless, not the courageous type of fearless. I mean the "don't know the meaning of fear" type of fearless. One time my parents lost track of me on the farm. They found me later near the fields with the bulls. I didn't get hurt, and my parents are good parents. I just had a habit of getting into bad situations without worring about what could happen. However, my fearless nature that changed when I was two years old. I don't remember it clearly, so I'm going off of my parents account. It was before most of my siblings were born, being the second oldest. My parents took us to a Wonder bolts show. Even back then they did amazing stunts, at least I think so. At the end of the show one of the Wonder bolts offered to take me and my brother up for a flight. My brother accepted, but not me. I clung to the ground and started screaming "NO! NO! NO!" I dug my hooves into the ground so they couldn't lift me easily. It took them a few minutes to pry me off of the ground, but they didn't force me to fly with them. Now some ponies would think that that's the story when I learned about fear, and they would be right, but this wasn't the end of this story. My grandparents showed up a few days later to visit my family. We ended up going to the black canyon. When we got to the canyon I started sprinting to the guard rail, until I started seeing how deep it was. I got halfway to the edge when I had a Deja Vu moment. I found myself seeing a 200 foot drop. I dropped to the ground and started screaming "NO! NO! NO!". So they spent the rest of that day trying to pry me from the ground again. That story isn't only about how I learned about fear, it was how I got my fear of heights. I don't like the idea of falling from any height that's bigger than I am. My heart starts racing at the thought of looking down a great height. I'm not even comfortable with being on a floor higher than two stories. Now imagine the big problem about me getting a set of wings. It was like having bright signs saying "Face your fears" on my back. I knew that I had to use them, hey, I couldn't use them for nothing. It'd be like getting a hot air balloon and never using it. the only thing that would happen would be them wearing out and becoming weak. Luckily I found that flying is easier to study than magic. Some books I have problems understanding if I can't imagine it. Luckily most of the books on flying had pictures. Surprisingly the book that gave me the best idea about flying was 'flying for dummies'. I also had one other advantage. I could actually see how a pegasus flies. I spent a few days watching how ponies flew. You know, now that I say that out loud, it sounds creepy. It kinda explains why Rainbow Dash confronted me. She was practicing her new flight stunts when she saw me watching her. She was the best flier in town, so I spent some extra time watching her. She landed a few feet away from me and started walking towards me. "Um, why are you watching me?" Sadly her landing startled me. "I, uh, what?" She rolled her eyes. "You've been staring at me for the last hour. Are you planning on asking me on a date. I mean, I know I'm awesome, but I thought you were not planning on dating for a while?" That snapped me to my senses. I was not ready for a relationship. "NO! I mean, you've got it all wrong. I'm just trying to learn how to fly. I was just seeing how you do it." Dash raised an eyebrow. "Oh, do you want me to teach you? I did teach Twilight Sparkle." I thought about it, but I didn't like the idea of a one on one lesson with a single girl. I knew my dad would be all over me when he'd find out. "Um, I don't think so. I don't want ponies to get the wrong idea. You know that the first thing ponies will think is that we're dating. If you had several students then maybe, but I don't think we should try this alone with you. I like being accountable." Dash chuckled. "When will you start dating?" I ran my hoof through my hair, knowing I'd have to answer this for the 49th time. "When I'm ready to support a family. Right now I'm doing what I can to get by. I can't support a wife right now with how much I make right now. I have no clue if she'd have a job or even know how to cook. That and if you were talking about us then my reason is that I don't know you very well. My parents told me that a good relationship starts with a good friendship. I've only talked to you when you buy stuff from me. Right now we only know each other professionally. I'm just not ready right now." Dash shrugged. "Well, one peace of advice about flying, you've got to start practicing. Studying is one thing but you've got to start trying. You have to flap your wings sometime." My heart started racing when I started thinking about flying. I gave my best fake smile to Dash. "Thanks, oh boy!" I walked away before she could ask me what was wrong. I started thinking about being in the air. I thought about a long list of things that could go wrong. I might have been trying to evade the inevitable. I didn't think about where I would be flying, up in the air, with nice hard ground to cushion my fall. I eventually decided to try to muster up my courage. It had to happen sooner or later. I climbed to the top of a small mountain to get a good flying start. There is a strange feeling about looking down at the small town several stories below me and seeing the beautiful view stretching out for miles. When I got to the top and saw what I did, I made a major choice. I found a smaller hill. Baby steps guys! I did a few stretches for about half an hour. Then I realized that I was putting it off again. Most pegasus say that flying is a natural instinct, they keep forgetting to add that they started learning in kindergarten. I decided to just focus on getting my hooves off the ground and then cry about how high it is later. I took a deep breath, got a running start, started flapping my wings and then jumped. When I first started I flew ten feet, from the hill to the ground. Hey! No pony gets it right on the first try... Right? I looked through a few pages of "flying for dummies" and got to the top of the hill again. After the twelfth try I started to get some lift. I was now several feet off of the ground. I got so excited, until I looked down. That's when I panicked. I started to flap my hooves instead of focusing on my wings. It didn't keep me from landing on my face. I had to catch my breath after that crash. I couldn't focus on flying while seeing how far away I was from the ground. I started to get my stuff together so I could leave. I mean, there's plenty of other ways to travel, trains, walking, and if I had time I could think of others. As I started to walk away I heard a good friend of mine speak up from behind me. "You're not giving up now are you? You've almost got it." I turned around to see Frank. Frank is one of my best friends, although now I rarely see him since he moved to Griffonstone. He's an earth pony with brown hair and a white coat. His cutie mark was a silhouette of a pony doing a cartwheel. He may be an earth pony, but he's pretty good at parkour. He always encouraged me to push my limits, mentally and physically. Frank smiled as he walked up to me. "So the legend is true, you have grown your wings. Haven't I told you that you're awesome?" I gave a fake laugh. "If I can only get these things to work." Frank gave a concerned look when he saw my face. I was clearly frustrated. "You had them working for a second there, is fear getting the best of you? I know you have that fear of heights working against you." I chuckled a bit as I tried to explain my mentality. "It's not the fall that I'm afraid of, that's the fun part, it's the landing that stinks." Frank grabbed my bag as I started walking by him. "Why don't you give give it another shot?" I tried yanking my bag from him. "Because I like my feet on the ground. Don't you?" Frank pulled me back to face him. "Listen, I know this might not sound like much coming from an earth pony, but forget the fear. Forget the butterflies in your stomach. Forget the hard ground. Focus on the sky, the wind in your hair, the sense of freedom. Once you get those wings working for you it'll start being a second nature for you. When you forget about the height you'll realize that you're in control. I'll be down here watching you if anything goes wrong. Just wait before trying any tricks. Come on, you can't let your fear control you." After he said that I started thinking about it. I wasn't afraid just because it was high. I was afraid of losing control. But now I have the tools to gain control. I took a deep breath. "One more try. Then I'm going home to put some ice on my wings. They're already sore from the last few crashes." Frank gave me a pat on the back. "If you get this one I'll buy you some ice cream." I got to the top of the hill again for one more try. It took me a while to get ready this time. Thoughts of falling out of control filled my head again. I started taking deep breaths and whispering to myself. "Come on Light, fight the fear! Don't let it control you! Just clear your mind." I took a few steps and flapped my wings as I took a leap. I started gaining some altitude, but this time I looked straight forward. I started to feel the wind against my wings and mane. I felt a sense of freedom come over me, alongside a dozen other emotions. It was amazing. I know most pegasus don't feel those feelings anymore, but this was my first real flight. It's like a baby's first steps, or a child's first flight. I started to let this feeling get to my head. I tried to do a small loop. It was working, until I tried it. I crashed into a few trees before I landed on my back. Frank ran to my side, and from the look on his face he was worried that I broke something. When he called for me I didn't respond, I just laughed. Sometimes even when you get hurt you can only laugh. Nowadays I still fly, but I can't fly too high. I guess I still have a small fear of falling from the sky, but I've learned to tame my fears, and how I could turn it into my greatest strength. I'm no wonderbolt, but now I know how to fly, and I love it!