//------------------------------// // Not-so Happy Flappers // Story: My Little Pony: Friendships and Magic [Season 1] // by Alpha Wolf 4500 //------------------------------// It was a beautiful night sky overlooking Equestria. In the clear sky, Chad was flying through the night. Soaring across the sky with his wings flapping in the wind before going for a dive. Breaking through the clouds and then gliding over the waters down below. Sticking his hoof in the water as he glided above it. He looked up in the sky and swooped up into the sky. Flying straight up, the wind in his mane, the chilling feeling in his hoodie as he flew upwards towards the stratosphere, his eyes closed to savior this moment. He was so excited in his flight that he felt as if he no longer felt his wings. He felt as if he no longer felt his wings. He opened his eyes and looked at his back and saw that his wings were no longer on his back. He screamed in terror, having  his wings turned to dust. He began to fall down. He turned himself around and quickly tried to grab onto a cloud, only for his body to go straight through the cloud. He tried to use his magic, only for his horn to disappear next. He looked down and he saw how fast he was approaching the ground, despite having been flying over water. Right before he could collide with the ground; Chad jolted nearly out of his bed as the near collision with the ground woke him right up. He looked around and looked at Ace, who was still asleep. He flopped back into his bed. “Stupid fake fall wake up.” Chad said as he threw his pillow onto his own face in frustration. My Little Pony, My Big Changeling too Ahh, ahh, ahh, ahhh… [Bandit] (My Little Pony) We used to wonder what friendship could be (My Big Changeling too) [Twilight Sparkle] Until you all shared its magic with me [Rainbow Dash] Big adventure [Pinkie Pie] Tons of fun [Rarity] A beautiful heart [Applejack] Faithful and strong [Fluttershy] Sharing kindness! [Lightning Sprint] Motivate the team [Bandit] Heroics makes it all complete You have my little ponies Do you know you're all my very best friends? A few hours went by and Chad was sitting on a cloud next to Bandit, who was using magic to pull a cloud into a position. They were currently over Sweet Apple Acres, with Apple Bloom and Big Macintosh below.  “You ready Chad?” Bandit asked. Chad looked at his wings and looked down below. Apple Bloom waved at him. He waved back before looking back at the cloud. “I’m ready.” Chad answered. Bandit spread his wings, took a brief running start and jumped off the cloud with his wings spread allowing him to glide to the next cloud and land on it. He turned around and looked at Chad. “Okay Chad, now you.” Bandit said. Chad wiggled and ran to the edge, jumping and spreading his wings to glide to the other cloud. He was able to get to the other side with no trouble whatsoever. He landed and looked at Bandit. “Easy enough right?” He asked. “Well we’ve been performing the glide practice since I grew wings. I got good at it.” Chad said as he fluttered his wings, then he looked down. “There’s a few bits by that tree.” “We’ll grab them later, let’s glide to the next cloud.” Bandit said as he got ready. “Are we only gonna be gliding today?” Chad asked, making Bandit stop. “Well if you can land on three clouds without struggling, we’ll go straight to the flapping stage once we get to the ground instead of fall stopping. Sound like a plan?” Bandit asked as he fluttered his wings. Chad scrapped his hoof and took a running start, jumping into a glide. Bandit quickly flew over him to get to the cloud. Chad was able to land onto the cloud with no issues. “Okay, that’s good. But next time, wait for me to get to the other cloud.” Bandit told him. “Okay.” Chad said, his tail wagging with excitement. After a couple of extra cloud gliding, the two brothers glided down to the field, landing without a struggle. Big Macintosh walked over to them with cider and Apple Bloom walked over with apple juice. “Thanks for letting us use the field here at Sweet Apple Acres Big Mac.” Bandit said. “Eeyup.” Big Macintosh said as he gave Bandit the Cider, which he drank. “Thanks Big Mac.” “Eeyup.” “You’re a natural at Gliding Chad. You’ll be flying in no time.” Apple Bloom encouraged as she gave Chad the Apple Juice to him. “I hope so. Bandit said we’ll practice flapping after the break.” Chad said as he drank the juice he was given. After he was finished, Apple Bloom spoke up again. “You want to get Rainbow Dash and Lightning Sprint to help also?” Apple Bloom asked. “Afraid they won’t be much help. Changeling wings are different from a pegasi’s wings.” Chad said as he placed the juice box in his hoodie. Bandit gave Big Macintosh back his cider cup. “You ready Chad?” Bandit asked. Chad gave a playful and encouraged salute. Bandit began to flap his wings to hover. “Okay, now you.” Chad nodded and began to flap his wings as fast as he could, even matching the speed that Bandit was flapping them. Unfortunately, he got nothing more than his wings bringing him to his tip toes. “Come on Chad, you can do it.” Apple Bloom encouraged him. Chad gave it his all, but he got tired and went back onto his hooves, panting. “I don’t get it. Are my wings not strong enough?” Chad asked as he looked at his wings. “That could be the case, but getting the wings stronger won’t help right away.” Bandit said as he lowered himself to the ground. “It won’t?” Apple Bloom asked. “Well, our wings aren’t like a pegasi’s where the stronger the wings to quicker you can come off the ground. The stronger our wings are, the stronger we have to be to flap them.” Bandit explained to them. Chad looked at his wings. “The outside force controlling what I can and can’t do has a cruel sense of humor.” Chad said as he hung his head in shame. “Don’t ask.” Bandit said to Big Macintosh. “Eenope.” Big Macintosh responded. Bandit turned back to Chad. “You’ll fly with your wings eventually. The words I speak give you no lies, you’ll see the truth before your eyes.” Bandit told him before reciting the promise in his head. “That does fit the situation more.” Chad looked at him. “You know, when you promise I’ll do something ‘eventually’, that kinda makes it impossible for that promise to be broken.” Chad told him. “What do I say about promises?” Bandit asked him. “Don’t make one’s you can’t keep.” Chad responded, Bandit ruffled his mane. “Exactly. Come on, let’s head back home. We did enough practice for today.” Bandit said as he placed him on his back. He looked back at Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom and waved at them. They waved back as he walked back to the library. As Bandit came back home, Chad went downstairs to he and Spike’s room, where he was watching a movie. He didn’t hear Chad come in, so Chad got into stalking mode. “It's his M.O., isn't it? I mean, what are we, a team? No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're... we're a megaspell.” One of the characters said. Achilles was perched next to Spike, watching the movie as well. Chad moved closer and closer. “You need to step away.” A different voice asked. “Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?” Another voice asked. Chad got close enough to bite Spike’s tail and gave him a surprise nip, making him jump in surprise and turn around. “Surprise!” Chad told him. Spike growled. “Spike Smash!” Spike exclaimed as he tackled him. The two landed on the remote, changing the channel to a nature channel, where a hieracosphinx was soaring in the sky on screen. “As the hieracosphinx soars the skies, one can’t help but marvel at this magnificent creature’s ability of flight.” The nature commentator said, getting Chad’s attention. “Whoa.” Chad said as he looked at the tv. Spike tried to push Chad off while he was distracted, but Chad learned from last time and forced him down via hoof to the forehead as he looked at the tv. Spike tried to move his hoof. “As a mighty and strong creature, the ability to fly is not lost on one.” The nature commentator said as Chad got off and walked towards the tv. Spike sat up and looked at the tv as well. “I take it flight lessons didn’t go well today?” Spike asked. Chad shook his head as he sat in front of the tv to watch the flying of the creature on the screen. “So, what went wrong this time?” Spike asked as he grabbed the remote. “Same thing that always happens, my wings aren’t strong enough to take my body off the ground.” Chad answered. Spike offered to change the channel, via shaking the remote as Ace walked over and hopped in Chad’s hoodie. Chad nodded his head to agree. “Why don’t you start working out your wings?” Spike asked as he started flipping through channels. “Well if I do that then my wings are gonna be too heavy to flutter fast enough to get off the ground, which means I’ll have to get stronger at flapping them, which adds more weight so I can’t get off the ground.” Chad explained. “Sounds like you’ve got it rough.” Spike said as he kept flipping. “Sounds more like lazy writing.” Chad said as he seeming glared to the side. “There has to be something you can do to-” Spike let out a scream as a horror movie came on, causing Chad to take the remote and change the channel. Spike calmed down and continued what he was saying. “There has to be something you can do to start flying.” “I could keep flipping through the channels until I come across something that will inspire me to try something that could work.” Chad said as he kept going through the channels. However, all that he saw was a bunch of different channels that showed flight in one way or another. This was beginning to discourage him. “Lunch is ready!” Bandit was heard calling. Chad took Ace out of his hoodie and was about to walk back upstairs, but then Bandit spoke up again. “We’re having Neighponese Dumplings.” Chad was gonna start running, but Spike shoved him aside to barrel past him, only for Chad to drag his tail back with his magic so he could run forward, only to be grabbed by the leg. Lunch was over after a few minutes and Bandit placed a basket of left over dumplings in a refrigerator. He turned to go to his bed, but Klaw and Fang were in front of him, in begging position for two more dumplings. Bandit opened the fridge and gave both heads a dumpling before closing the door. He went back to his room only to see Chad rummaging through his stuff. “Chad?” Bandit called, making Chad flinch and hit his head on Bandit’s bed. Chad turned to look at him. “Oh, hey Bandit.” Chad said as he started putting his stuff back. “What are you doing?” Bandit asked as he walked over.  “I was looking any pictures of you flying, so I could at least see how you did it before I decide to give up.” Chad said as he looked at his stuff again. “For the day?” Bandit asked. “Forever.” “Whoa! Forever? Don’t you think that’s a little extreme?” Bandit asked him. “What’s extreme is that I’m as old as I am right now and I still can’t fly. I should be able to keep my hooves from touching the ground, but it’s like my hooves don’t wanna go anywhere but the ground. Maybe I’m just meant to be confined to the ground.” Chad said in a glum manner. “Come on Chad, I know trying to fly is hard, but you shouldn’t just give up.” Bandit pointed out. “If you give up, you’re gonna contribute to me breaking a Chadwick’s promise. And we both know how much we hate that.” Bandit told him. Chad’s face didn’t change a bit. Bandit sighed and sat down. He began to tap his chin and then he got an idea. “Hmm, how about I tell you how I learned how to fly? Will that give you some hope?” Bandit asked. Chad gave it some thought, nodded and sat on Bandit’s bed. Bandit walked over and sat in front of him as he began to remember his past. “I was only 5 years old when my wings grew big enough to support my bodyweight, and my carapace grew in too. Ironically this was on the 1,095th anniversary of momma raising the son.” (14 years earlier) Celestia walked into the throne room, her crown and peytral seemingly missing as she wasn’t wearing them but instead, she was looking for them. “I heard that it was momma’s suniversary on the same day my carapace grew in, and my wings grew bigger, I decided to surprise her with both.” Bandit narrated. A maid ran into the room in seemingly a panic. “Your highness! He has escaped from his room overnight again!” She exclaimed. Celestia turned to look at her. “Did you check the kitchen this time?” Celestia asked. “The cherry products haven’t been touched, he’s not there.” The maid told her. Celestia’s peytral and crown were sliding behind her with a paper crown above them. Celestia heard the sliding and turned to look at the moving jewelry, she giggled and turned to the maid. “Found him.” Celestia said as she walked over to the moving jewelry. She sat in front of Bandit. Bandit sat down and began to levitate the paper crown off of the crown and peytral. “Happy suniversary momma!” Bandit told her. Celestia gasped as she saw the heart on the crown that said ‘Best Mom’. “You made this?” Celestia asked. “Uh huh! Blep!” Bandit said as he blepped. Celestia smiled and blepped back. As she moved the crown to place on her head, the 2 seconds her vision was blocked by the crown, Bandit’s wings were sprouted to the side, showing her how big his wings got. Celestia gasped. Before prancing around, picking him up and spinning around with him. “Momma was so excited that my wings are big enough that she began teaching me how to fly 10 minutes later.” Bandit narrated. “Let me guess, you couldn’t get off the ground either?” Chad asked. Bandit let out a nervous chuckle. “Well, I could get off the ground, but there was one problem.” Bandit narrated. Celestia flapped her wings as a demonstration. “All you have to do is flap and lift.” Celestia instructed. Bandit nodded before taking position. He flapped his wings and wound up colliding with the roof at such an alarming speed, due to the strength of his wings giving him zero control of direction. He fell back down to Celestia’s hooves, who looked at him worried. Bandit shook his head before smiling at Celestia. “I could get off the ground just fine, but no matter how hard I tried, the only two directions I could ever go were up and down.” Bandit narrated Bandit was on the balcony outside his room and tried to fly out the window, but like last time, he went straight up. He wound up stuck in a cloud. He was flailing to get out of the cloud. A royal guard pegasus with a red coat and blue eyes flew over and pulled him out the cloud. Later that same day, Bandit found himself alone and tried again to fly forward. He went straight up and wound up clinging to a chandelier above. The same royal guard came and pulled him down. “I tried everything in my power to use my wings correctly, and practiced at every turn.” Bandit continued. Bandit was about walking out his room, only to see that royal guard, who was just clocking out of his shift, look at him slightly worried and disapproving. Bandit smiled sheepishly and went back inside. “Well, almost every turn.” The next morning, Bandit was woken up by Celestia. It was still dark out. “Every morning, momma would wake me up so that the two of us could practice before she raised the sun.” Bandit tried a various amount of tactics to fly towards Celestia on another cloud. He went down, flew back up running in place before landing on the cloud. He went make up and attempted to swim through the air before landing. He flew back up and tried to fly with his hooves stretched out like superstallion, only for his efforts to be met with failure as he flopped back onto the cloud. Celestia flew over to him and picked him up, sitting him on her lap as she turned to where she raised the sun. “Do you wanna raise the sun?” She asked. Bandit looked up at her and nodded. He looked towards the horizon and began to light his horn up. The 5 year old gave it his all to lift the sun. However, he didn’t know Celestia lit her horn to raise the sun without him knowing…..well, without 5 year old him knowing. As the sky was lit up with the morning light once more, Bandit was flown back to the castle. “So, you couldn’t fly anywhere but up and down for how long?” Chad asked. “It took me until I was seven years old to do so, and let me tell you, it was not the most ideal way to learn.” Bandit answered Two years have gone by, and Bandit was using a makeshift hang glider on his back in order to glide through the air. He was flapping his wings to keep him from hitting the ground. It was late at night, and celestia was asleep. No one knew he had snuck out of his room for the upteenth time, this time to attempt to fly. He was making good progress with his flying and was gonna make an attempt make this fun. He was rushing and got to doing somersaults in the air and performing a few tricks. He silently cheered before looking up at the stars. He then began flying up as high as he could. The wind in his mane, the chilling feeling flowing through his cape, and the beautiful night sky shrouding him from sight while at the same time illuminating his success to only himself. “It was the best moment of my life. I finally felt that I was flying for real. That I finally could soar through the sky like a bird. But then….” As Bandit continued to fly upwards, he heard a click and a breaking noise, making him look back. His hang glider broke in two and he began to fall. He quickly tried to use his wings, but his body was facing upright rather than parallel to the ground, he flew himself to the backwards right into a thundercloud, rather than straight up. The thundercloud went off and a bolt hit the back of Bandit’s head, dazing him as he began to plummet down to the ground. Bandit was spinning out of control and couldn’t tell which was was up nor which way was down. “Were you scared?” Chad asked. “Chad, I was barrelling towards the ground at terminal velocity without an idea which way was up or down. What makes you think I wasn’t scared?” Bandit asked him. “You’re…..well you?” Chad pointed out. Bandit chuckled and noogied the smaller ling. Bandit finally managed to turn his body around and saw himself gaining onto the ground. He flapped his wings and went straight up. As he did, a white blur snatched him clean out the sky. Bandit looked up and saw Celestia holding him. He know what was gonna happen next and began to brace myself. “Momma wasn’t happy with me. At all. It was one of the most reckless things that I’ve ever done. All because I wanted to fly.” Bandit narrated “What were you thinking!? You know better than to sneak out at night! Let alone doing something as dangerous as flying by yourself! You’re lucky I woke up for a midnight snack, otherwise who KNOWS what could have happened.” Celestia yelled at him. Bandit hung his head in shame and sadness. “What do you have to say for yourself young stallion?!” “I’m sorry. It was wrong of me to try to fly when I wasn’t ready. I could have gotten hurt or hurt someone else. I-I, I should’ve known better…….no. I knew better and did it anyway.” Bandit said as his ears flopped. “I will never do it again.” “You’d better not. Now go to your room. You’re grounded for the rest of the week.” Celestia told him.  “Yes mom.” Bandit said as he walked back to his room. “It was a long week to be honest. And I didn’t want to try and use my wings after that. Not because I felt like all I could do was get into trouble if I tried anything involving my wings, but I felt like I would never be able to. As if every single attempt that I could ever make would only result in me doing the same thing. Failing horribly.”  Celestia looked at Bandit on the cloud behind her after flying to it. He was sitting down, looking at his wings and didn’t even want to try. Celestia flew back over and lifted his chin. “Is everything alright?” Celestia asked him. Bandit shook his head. “It’s been a few days since you tried to fly. What’s wrong?” “Well, it’s been 2 years. Since my wings began working, but no matter what I do, if I don’t have any help, I can’t fly anywhere but up or down.” Bandit began to admit. Celestia moved her hoof and picked him up to cradle him. “If I can’t get it right after trying this hard for so long, what if I’m not meant to fly.” Celestia took what he said into consideration before hugging him tighter. “Oh Bandit, just because you can’t do something now doesn’t mean you have to quit.” Celestia told him. Bandit looked up at her. “I know. But I feel like if I can’t do it after this long, then what’s the point of trying?” Bandit asked. Celestia lifted him so the two could see eye to eye. “Not everything is gonna be easy Bandit. Raising you has taught me quite a few things, but you wanna know what you taught me?” Celestia asked him. “Yes please.” Bandit answered. “You taught me that the hardest things to accomplish are usually the most rewarding to achieve once you do. Whether it’s raising the sun, or raising a son.” She said as she poked and tickled his stomach. Bandit giggled at the tickling before Celestia put him back down. Bandit looked back at the cloud and then became filled with determination. “I’m ready to try again momma.” He told her. Celestia smiled and flew to the other cloud. “And that day, all because of momma, I was able to achieve what I thought was impossible.” Bandit spread his wings and began to flutter them. Unlike all his previous times, his wings didn’t send him flying straight up. He flew towards the cloud and landed before Celestia, stumbling a little but looked up at Celestia with a very excited smile. “I DID IT! THAT WAS SO COOL!” Bandit exclaimed happily. Celestia scooped him up and spun him around. “You did it! My precious little baby flew! You flew towards me!” Celestia exclaimed as she hugged him tight. “Are you proud of me momma?!” Bandit asked her with a wagging tail. Celestia kissed him on his cheeks and forehead with a smile. “I am so proud of you. I always am.” Celestia told him. “I learned a very, very valuable lesson that day. Just because something is hard to achieve, doesn’t mean it’s not worth achieving.” During the sunset on the same day, Bandit and Celestia were flying side by side. Allowing themselves to become silhouettes to the orange sky as they flew. Laughing and playing in the sky. Bandit began to trot on the clouds as he flapped his wings each time he came off the cloud. Celestia did a few barrel rolls above him. Bandit flew off of the last cloud and landed in Celestia’s hooves. They were still flying, before Celestia disappeared in the clouds. Bandit went through the clouds and looked around for her. She used a cloud to sneak up on him. Bandit continued looking around, not seeing the cloud inching on him. That was, not until it was too late. He tried to fly straight up, only to be grabbed by Celestia and became the victim to the belly raspberry. Bandit was heard laughing, both from being tickled and pure joy. Some time later, Celestia and Bandit were on a cloud, and looking at the sunset. Celestia nudged Bandit and gestured to the sun. “For that day, she let me set the sun for the first time ever. And I couldn’t have been happier.” Bandit let his horn and concentrated on lowering the sun. In no time at all, the sun was lowered to bring forward the beautiful night sky. Bandit looked at Celestia and let out a yawn. He looked sleepy and tuckered out. Celestia picked him up and flew back to the castle. Taking the little prince to his room, she tucked him in and placed a kiss on his forehead before leaving the room, looking back at Bandit. “Good Night Bandit. I love you.” She said before closing the door behind her to head to sleep herself. However, she only got away before hearing Bandit say; “I love you too Momma.” (Back to Present day) “So, after hearing all of that, do you think that you should give up?” Bandit asked Chad. Chad stood up while wagging his tail. “Are you kidding? I can’t wait to start flying now! I’m gonna start trying extra hard if it means I can fly with you or ma!” Chad exclaimed as he started jumping up and down on the bed. Bandit grabbed him to stop him. “Well, we still got some time kiddo. Wanna get some more practice done?” Bandit asked. “Uh huh!” Chad nodded his head. Bandit put him down and the two went back outside. Later that night, Bandit was writing the letter to Celestia while Chad, who was very tuckered out, was sleeping on his back. “Dear My Loving Mother, today Chad learned yet another valuable lesson, not about friendship but about life in general. Sometimes you’re gonna try to achieve something that might seem too far out of your reach. Sometimes you’ll try your best to succeed only to fail still. But failure doesn’t come when you don’t succeed the first time, but instead when you give up. So long as you’re still trying, you’re one step closer to your goal. Because sometimes the hardest things to accomplish are usually the most rewarding to achieve once you do.” Bandit wrote. He used his own magic to send the letter before carrying Chad to his own bed. Tucking him in before walking out of the room. “Good night Chad. I’m proud of you.” He closed the door and walked out. A smile appeared on Chad’s face after hearing those words.