//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Aurora's Flight // Story: Seasons: Spring // by Alexander //------------------------------// Orion and Aurora were sitting on the edge of a cloud watching the sun set. It had been nearly three weeks since Flight Camp had begun and Orion's and Aurora's friendship had grown and strengthened. As the weeks had passed and the temperatures had warmed, Orion and Aurora found themselves outside their quarters on the balcony staring and talking about the stars a lot more. Sometimes if she wasn't asleep, Rainbow Dash would come outside and sit with them. And on some nights, if she particularly felt like it, she would drag Fluttershy out of bed and drag her outside too. "Hey Aurora?" Orion asked, clearly bored with the state of things. "Yeah?" "I'm not feeling much like going out on the balcony tonight." "Why? What's up?" Aurora asked, suddenly sitting up straight. "You don't normally just say you don't feel like doing something. What's up?" Orion kicked the side of the cloud with his heels and looked around. It was beautiful sunset. "Well, you know how Mrs. Nominghoof is always trying to get inside our heads to make us better flyers under pressure?" Orion finally asked. "Yeah . . . so what about it?" Aurora asked, puzzled by what his friend meant. "She means the best, so what's the problem?" "It's nothing . . . it's just, what if what she says about my flying is true? What if I'm really all sloppy and stiff like she says I am?" Orion asked, sniffling his nose with his hoof and looking back out to the sun setting on the horizon. "What if all that's true? It's all I can think about now-a-days." Aurora took a long look at his friend and sighed. "I know we're still both little colts, but we know more than what we're granted, and if I know something, I know that you certainly are not as she says," he said as he placed a hoof on Orion's shoulder. "You're an excellent flier. Even Rainbow Dash says so and she's done the Sonic Rainboom. You can't listen to the things she says. She only says them to make you second-guess yourself. You just have to ignore it and know what's truth and what's false." Orion looked at his smiling friend and couldn't help but smile. "Yeah. You know what? I am a good flier and there ain't any teacher that's gonna tell me otherwise." "Now that's more like it," Aurora said, grinning and he stood and stretched his wings. They had been sitting still for far too long today and his wings felt like a block of metal. "I'm going to head back to our quarters. You coming?" "You know it." The two colts passed by the Rainbow Factory and watched as a worker pegasus took a bucketful of the multicolored mix and flew off into the distance. Where he went the two colts could only guess and they guessed that he had gone off to make one last rainbow for the day. As for that multicolored mixture of what Orion and Aurora weren't sure of, Orion found out one day last week that it isn't the best tasting stuff in Equestria. He remembered taking a sip that he had puddled in his hoofs and experiencing the most awkward sensation. First, it tasted a little spicy, like somepony had added in too much pepper, but then as he tasted the different colors, he was overcome with a violent shiver and revulsion. It was nasty stuff. Rainbow Dash had gotten a right good laugh out of it when Aurora had told the story of it that night while Fluttershy instantly began to worry. She was determined to do anything she could do to make sure Orion felt better. It wasn't until Orion had protested again and again that he was better that she stopped worrying and lightened up. After a while, even she began to admit that it had been pretty funny. Orion and Aurora continued on. They soon reached Aurora's favorite place of all; the Snowflake Factory. Inside the factory, pegasi were still busy at work creating the last snowflakes for the day. Creating snowflakes was an immensely sensitive and delicate operation. First, tiny beads of water were frozen into crystals, then they had to be meticulously and carefully fused together by hoof into a single snowflake. Any abnormality or screw-up by anypony would register in the form of an unequal flake. It was an incredibly delicate process. One snowflake could contain as many 1000 individual crystals. Orion wasn't quite sure why his friend liked this place so much, but he decided that if his friend liked it, then he liked it too. They continued on, not talking much except to say the occasional "Hello," or "Good night," to anypony that they had come to like. They stopped in front of the large coliseum where Rainbow Dash spent many afternoons after lessons. They listened to see if they could hear their friend trying to do some cool new trick or instructing Fluttershy on how to be a better supporter. They heard nothing so they continued on. Trainer Longwing had been honest to his every word. When the formal lessons had begun, Orion and Rainbow Dash were set together into the more advanced lessons and classes. Day after day, they would return to their beds with heavy wings and an uncomfortable throb in their muscles. Aurora was undeniably getting a lot better all the time. Even Fluttershy has shown improvement. She was now freely able to get off the ground and do the basic maneuvers such as gain altitude, lose altitude, and turn left and right. ****** The moon was already rising as Orion and Aurora drug themselves up the stairs to their sleeping quarters. They opened the door and went inside to find it almost completely free of ponies. Everypony else must still be outside somewhere. It was a break day anyways. The only other pony they saw was Dusk. Dusk was a little filly who had done just about as badly as Fluttershy had done during the initial flight test. She had a light grey coat and long white mane and tail. When she saw Orion and Aurora enter, she quickly shot up, wiped her eyes, and smiled. "Oh, hi, Orion. Hi, Aurora," she said and tried to hide beneath her covers.. "Hi, Dusk," Orion said as he walked to her bed. Aurora followed suit. "What's wrong?" Orion asked as he prodded the shivering figure beneath the covers with his hoof. The little filly stuck her head out. "They were making fun of me again," she said, another round of tears beginning to pool in her eyes. "Who are 'they'?" Aurora asked, sitting down on his haunches beside her bed. "Those boys from group 3," Dusk said, tears beginning to slide down her cheeks. "What did they say?" Dusk bit back the answer as she began to cry again. Orion sat down beside her and wrapped his wing around her shoulders. "What did they say?" Aurora asked again. Dusk wiped her eyes and cheeks and spoke so quietly that Orion and Aurora had to strain to hear. "What was that again?" Orion asked again this time, giving her shoulders a gentle rub. Dusk sniffled back her tears and said, "They said that I would never fly and that nopony would ever want to be my friend because I was a failure and because I always mess up." She broke into a fresh fit of sobs. Orion and Aurora looked at each other while she cried and they nodded in agreement. "Do you want to be our friend?" Aurora asked. "I'm completely serious. Do you want to be our friend?" he added as Dusk gave him an unconvinced look. "Why?" she asked, wiping the tears away. "You're just gonna make more fun of me, aren't you? "We would never do that, Dusk," Orion said, rubbing her shoulders. "Everypony deserves a friend. Who cares if you can't fly well? That's nothing to be ashamed of. It's the spirit and the heart of the pony that matters. Anything else other than that is nothing. Do you want to be our friend?" "You mean it?" "Of course he means it," Aurora said confidently. "Orion would never lie about them kind of things." Dusk stopped crying and nodded eagerly. "I'll be your friend if you'll be mine." "We promise," Orion and Aurora said at the same time. "But what about those boys from Group 3?" Dusk asked, a slight tremble in her voice. "What if they bully me again?" "Then we'll deal with them when the time comes," Aurora replied. "Those guys are only trying to make you sad by saying those mean things and more than likely, they're not good flyers either. All they want to do is scare others so that they wont feel so bad about themselves. It's a really mean thing, but you can't listen to what they say. Don't you worry about it. You're our friend now and as our friend, we're gonna do what it takes to make you happy." "You mean it?" Dusk asked, feeling a lot better and wiping her cheeks. "We mean it." ****** Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had agreed completely and entirely with Orion's and Aurora's decision to befriend the lonesome Dusk. They had come in later that evening to find Dusk and her new friends sitting around her bed talking and laughing. When Rainbow Dash had asked "What's up?", Orion proceeded to tell her the entire story of what had happened and what they had decided. "Where were you?" Aurora asked Rainbow Dash later that night as the five friends sat out on the balcony. The stars and moon were shining bright from their velvet bed. "Orion and I looked all around for you before we came back but we couldn't find you anywhere." Rainbow Dash scratched her mane and stood up. "Oh it's nothing, Aurora. Sorry to have obviously scared you," she said. "Fluttershy and I made our ways over to Mr. Boriolus's flight shop, 'All things Flight', and looked around at all the cool stuff he has." "Mr. Bori - who?" Orion asked. He had never heard of such a name for a pony. "Boriolus is only the coolest pegasus in all of Cloudsdale," Rainbow Dash explained. "Well, not cooler than me, anyway," she added. Everypony rolled their eyes at Rainbow's boast. "So getting away from who's cooler than who," Orion said, "What does Mr. Boriolus do? What's his shop all about?" Rainbow Dash sat back down. "You all have never been to his shop?" she asked, surprised and with a dumbfounded look on her face. Everypony except for Fluttershy shook their heads. "Wow," Rainbow continued. "So what's his store all about?" Orion asked again. "I really can't explain it to you," Rainbow Dash admitted glumly. "I'm gonna have to take you all there tomorrow after lessons. You'll all like it. I promise. His shelves are stocked full of everything a pony could wish for!" "Oh that sounds like fun," Dusk said, clopping her hooves together. "Of course it is!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "He's got everything! Capes! Goggles! Jackets! Compasses! Maps! Racing outfits! Manuals and little other booklets! An entire shelf devoted to The Wonderbolts! Mr. Boriolus has got it all!" Orion couldn't help but express his lack of enthusiasm. "I know you're all looking forward to it and all, but I really can't see it being much interest to me." Rainbow Dash looked like as if she had been hit. "You know Orion? You never fail to amaze me." "I'm sorry," Orion said, "But I'm just into that kind of stuff. But I'll go with you anyway; those maps you say he has could be pretty cool to look through." Rainbow Dash was amazed. She couldn't believe anypony could not have any interest in Mr. Boriolus's shop. She sighed. "Whatever. At least you're coming with us . . . you are coming with us tomorrow, aren't you?" Orion nodded as a breeze worked its way through the sky, rustling all of their manes and tails. Unlike the cool winds of earlier spring, this breeze was warm and it smelled so clean. Orion nodded again. "Of course I'm going with everypony tomorrow. You're all my friends; of course I'm going to go." "Good," Rainbow Dash said as she stifled a large yawn. "I'm going to bed." Everypony watched as she went back inside. "I'm going to go too," Fluttershy said, getting up and going in also. "Me too," Dusk said this time and she went inside, closing the doors behind her. It was just Orion and Aurora again. Neither of them said a word as the wind ran its course over the clouds. They sat in silence and watched the stars move across the sky. By now, Aurora also knew most of the stars and constellations so it wasn't a constant back and forth of questions and answers. They watched and they sat out until the sun was beginning to show its orange glow of dawn. The two friends went inside and went to sleep. It wouldn't be much sleep, but it would be enough. ****** Trainer Longwing came around at his usual time. The time he entered the sleeping quarters was precisely 9:30 every morning. He separated Orion and Rainbow Dash from the rest of the group and went on about telling the main herd of ponies what they would doing that day. He then rounded on his best students and had them go off to the large arena at the easternmost part of Cloudsdale. Orion and Rainbow Dash grabbed their saddlebags and immediately set off for it. The two reached the arena and went inside. The circular rows of cloud-benches rose high above their heads as they stepped into the center. In the center was a table and on the table were two note-cards with their names on them. Orion picked up his own and read it aloud. "Dust under every bench while flying. No breaks. This is so that you may get accustomed to flying for long instances. There will be an overseer pegasus there to see that you abide to the rules of this exercise." "Hey! Mine says that too!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she held her card. "So we can 'get accustomed to flying'? I'm the best flyer in Equestria!" "Rainbow Dash," Orion said, already starting to work on the chore. "Did you read the entire thing? It said 'you may get accustomed to flying for long instances'. It didn't say that you aren't used to flying. It's just an endurance thing." Rainbow Dash snorted and ripped up her card. "You're an egghead, Orion." "Excuse me? What does that mean?" "It means that you're too smart." "And you aren't?" Orion asked, already busy dusting beneath his fifth bench. His fifth bench out of his remaining nine hundred and five. "Of course I am! I'm Rainbow Dash." Orion shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Rainbow, please help. There's no way I'll be able to do all these benches all by myself." "I don't see why we can't just fly really fast and blow away all the dust. That's the easier way," Rainbow Dash angrily said as she also went to work. With a swipe of her tail, she cleared the dust away from under her own benches. "I really don't see why we can't just fly around really fast and blow the dust away," she continued to mumble. When she noticed Orion a ways ahead with his own side of the arena, completely ignoring her mumblings, Rainbow Dash stopped talking and set to work. She couldn't believe she was cleaning something manually when all she could of done was fly and around and blow the dust away. She couldn't believe it. Their job continued well into the mid-afternoon. After hours of constant flight, Orion finished his last bench. He fell plumb back on his haunches, breathing heavily. His wings hurt and he felt too heavy to move any further. He laid down on his back and watched Rainbow Dash finish her own set of benches. But she was far from tired. "See, Orion?" she boasted as she made her way to the tired pegasus that lay on his back. "You see? 1000 benches and I'm nowhere near tired. See? Endurance my hoof. I said I was the best flyer." Orion rolled his eyes and stood up, the aches and throbs in the muscles in his back and wings drove him to almost fall over. "Hey, you okay?" Rainbow Dash asked as she rushed to catch him so that he didn't fall down. "You don't look good." "I'm just tired," Orion explained. "I'm fine, really." He pushed himself off of Rainbow Dash and stood on his own. His legs were shaky but he stood. "I'm going go back to the room." Orion reached the quarters, opened the window beside his bed, and plopped back into his bed without waiting to remove his bags. He closed his eyes and he fell to a deep sleep filled with nothing but the constant sound of the wind in his ears. He did not dream. When Orion awoke, the sun had already set and the day had relinquished to night. The moon was already high in the sky and its luminous glow poured into the sleeping chambers. He rolled over on his side to find Aurora already asleep in his bed. He looked further on to the far end of the room and made out the forms of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy also in their beds; both already deep in sleep. Dusk was also fast asleep in her own bed. How long he had been asleep for, Orion did not know. He sat up and removed his bags. His wings still hurt and ached and he looked out of his open window at the moon. He sighed. Thinking back to what Mrs. Nominghoof had said, maybe he really wasn't that good of a flyer. He sighed again and laid back down. Orion fell to sleep again. The morning came and Orion rolled out of bed and onto the floor. His body was sore; his legs weak, his wings like blocks of metal, his neck ached and cracked, and he felt many times heavier than he was. Orion clambered up to his hooves and put his saddlebags on again. The weight of them only adding to his discomfort. "Good morning," he heard Aurora say. Orion turned to his friend and nodded. "We all came back late yesterday afternoon and you were all passed out on your bed," Aurora said, walking around to Orion's bed. "We tried to wake you so we could all head out to 'All Things Flight' but you never even so much as grunted." "Sorry," Orion apologized pathetically. "I was too tired." "Too tired? You were absolutely dead to the world." "I see." "Don't worry about it," Aurora said, giving his friend a pat on the back. "We decided that we would all just go this afternoon if you weren't all passed again like you were." "Thanks," Orion said, feeling a little better. "Do you wanna know what Rainbow Dash and I had to do yesterday?" "Sure. What went on?" "You know that large arena that's used for the Wonderbolt's races? Well, that's where Longwing had us go and once there, we had to clean under every single bench while flying." "Well what's so wrong with that?" Aurora asked, "Flying isn't that hard once you get used to it." "I know that, Aurora," Orion said. "But when you're not allowed any breaks from flying when you've got to do it for hours on end, it begins to hurt." Aurora nodded. "I can imagine. At my best, I can only fly nonstop for two hours or so before I start to really get tired. But for several hours like that, I just can't." "So anyway, getting away from what I had to do," Orion said, sitting back down on his bed. "What did you do yesterday?" "Oh nothing," Aurora admitted. "We just had a little lecture about recognizing different clouds and recognizing the ones that it's okay to go to and the ones that should be left alone." "That sounds like it was boring." "You have no idea, but it was still better than having to continuously fly for hours cleaning under benches." Orion saw his friends point and nodded with a smile. He felt better. He could begin to feel his wings feel less like worthless blocks and his legs were no longer as shaky as they had been. He was grateful for his friend. Longwing came by again at the same time and to Orion's amazement, he and Rainbow Dash would be having the same lesson as everypony else. ****** When their lesson about wind had finished, Orion, Aurora, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Dusk made their way out into the warm afternoon sun. It had been a long boring procession that had been marred with sleeping ponies and the constant stifling of yawns, but it was finished none-the-less. The summer sun was hot on their backs and necks as they walked. Boriolus's shop was a wonderful thing to behold. Outside were two large pillars as wide as three fully grown stallions and as tall as five. Held up by the large pillars was a complex organization of clouds that looked to have been delicately knotted by hoof one strand of cloud at a time. The door itself was only wide enough that only two stallions could stand side by side in it at a time. On the door written in bold lettering was "All Things Flight". It was truly an amazing sight. When the friends entered the tall shop, they found rows upon rows of merchandise that rose twenty feet into the air. As Rainbow Dash showed them all around the shop, there was a crying from the floor below. When the friends looked around to see who it was, they found Dusk shivering and crying surrounded by three colts many times her size. Aurora dashed to the ground and landed with a large thud in front of the colts. "You leave Dusk alone!" "What are you gonna do if we don't?" one of them jeeringly asked, a light laugh in his voice. "I'll race you and I'll beat you," Aurora said, his eyes lighted with anger. His friends landed down also. "If you keep on picking on Dusk I'll race you and I'll beat you at it." "Oh, you'll race us?" the second one mockingly sneered. "And you'll beat us? That'll be something that'll never happen." "Oh yeah?" Aurora asked, a confident tone in his voice. "How about you prove it?" "Why should we prove it?" asked the largest colt to the far right. "Why should we race against a little pony such as yourself?" "Are you afraid? You afraid that maybe I'll win?" The colts looked as though they could hit somepony. ."Fine," the first one said. "Tonight when the moon is highest, we'll be seeing you at the Celestia Memorial Arena. That is if you don't chicken out first. And if you win, we will never mess with Dusk again. If you lose, we tell the teachers you were out at night." "Fine," Aurora said. "I'll be there and I'll beat you." With that, the three colts left the shop with their heads held high. "Have you any idea what you've just agreed to?" Dusk asked as she wiped her tears when they left. "I'm nopony to go and get yourself in trouble over. If you lose and they tell, you'll get in so much trouble." "Will you not worry about it?" Aurora asked, turning around with a sheepish smile. "I know what I said. I'll beat them." "That was pretty stupid of you, Aurora," Rainbow Dash said as she took flight again. "Those guys are the same guys that used to call me 'Rainbow Crash' all the time. They'll do anything to win." "It'll be as it is," Aurora said. "I'll still beat them." "That's a very large boast," Orion said, speaking for the first time since that morning. "But I'm sure you'll be fine. I'll be there to cheer you on." "Thanks a bunch. I'll be sure not to let you down." ****** That night, when the moon was at it's highest point in the sky, Aurora and his friends secretly entered the large arena that Orion and Rainbow Dash had dusted the day before. Dusk was with them as Orion and Rainbow Dash took seats near the middle. She was determined to watch. Fluttershy however had fallen asleep earlier in her bed and would not wake. They eventually gave up and left. Aurora took his place in the middle of the arena and sat down on his haunches. He waited. As if scheduled and rehearsed, the three large colts flew in overhead and landed in front of him. "You ready, little pony?" the first asked. "As ready as I'll ever be," Aurora said, not flinching or moving at the sight of his imposing opponents. "This is gonna be a nice fair race," the third said. "We were thinking earlier and decided we're gonna play nice and fair. It's gonna be ten laps around the arena and the first pony to cross the finish line wins. No questions asked and the agreements still stand. If you win, we'll leave Dusk alone for as long as we live. But if we win, we tell the teachers you were out at night. We even brought along somepony to swing the flag." "That's fine by me." "You ready, little pony?" the first asked again, spreading his wings. "As ready as I'll ever be," Aurora replied, also spreading his own. He lifted himself into the warm night air and flew across to the starting line. He landed in front of it and looked to his friends. Orion held up his hoof, Rainbow Dash cried 'You can do it!', and Dusk simply nodded her head. Aurora let all nervousness wash away. There was no turning back. The pony swung down the green flag and Aurora soared. He was flying faster than he had ever flown before and it felt great. Aurora could feel the wind in his wings as he soared. He could do this. He was in second place and he was catching up. Lap one was finished. He could do this. He could hear his friends cheer and he flapped harder, propelling himself faster. He had caught up the largest colt and was now neck and neck with him. He flapped harder. Just as he was beginning to gain the edge, Aurora felt a large collision in his side and he was knocked down to the clouds. He could hear the angry cries from his friends and he lifted himself into the race again. He flapped and flapped, gaining speed as he crossed over into the fourth lap. He was in last, but he was catching back up. Aurora continued to flap as hard as he could and he passed one, two ponies. He was in second again as he went into the eighth lap. Aurora could do this. There was no way he was going to lose to bullies like this. There was no way he was going to lose. With the wind in his wings and his head bowed forward, Aurora flapped and he passed into first. His wings were beginning to hurt and his lungs beginning to burn, but he had to hold on. It was only a little further, he could do it, he could hold up and win. He flapped his wings and crossed the finish line as his friends erupted into cheers. He had won. Aurora landed back down on the clouds as his friends greeted him with hugs. "See? I told you I'd win." "There was never any doubt in my mind that you would," Orion said. "Although I never knew you could ever fly like that." "Neither did I," Aurora admitted with a large smile. "I was just wildly flapping as hard as I could. It felt good." "I told you they would do anything to try and win," Rainbow Dash said, also landing down. "I told you they would and they did when they knocked down in the second lap." "It's fine," Aurora said. "I still won in the end." "Thank you," Dusk quietly said as she gave him a hug. "Thank you for sticking up for me." Aurora looked at her and nodded. "Don't mention it." ****** The three colts admitted their defeat and held up their own side of the bargain. They flew off into the night and left Aurora with his friend and they went off together back to their beds. It had been Aurora's flight and he was happy.