//------------------------------//
// Show me How to Fly 
// Story: Wings 
// by Silent Bob 
//------------------------------//

	"Happy New Years!" Dashie proclaimed. 

"Happy New Years! Woooo yeah!" Tom grinned, bringing a bottle of brandy to his lips. He cringed upon contact. "Ugh, give me a Rolling Rock any day. This fancy stuff isn't for me."

"Oh suck it up," Dashie said, rolling her eyes as she chugged a bottle of hard apple cider. "You know, we may have just been sitting here, but at least I've been able to keep London safe half the time."

"Yeah..."

"Oh come on, think of it!" Dashie proclaimed. "The less London is bombed the less the Prime Minister will be ordering retaliatioty attacks!"	

"Heh, you're right there. I guess it's making the war a little lighter than what it could be. You're sure you're not over-excerting yourself, right?"

"Yes mom, I'm absolutely sure," she said, sticking her tongue out. "Thunderstorm - sleep for a day. Thunderstorm - sleep for a day. I almost wonder why the Germans haven't figured out that I'm not just some piece of propoganda."

Tom gave a shrug. "Well you know ole' Addy, he loves making shit up any chance he gets."

"That whole invasion of Grass though..." Dashie shivered. "Scary thing, total conquest... if it happened to Equestria...

"It's called Greece, Dashie," Tom smirked. "But yeah... I'd hate for it to happen to America."

"Ugh, you humans and your country names. Mine are at least easy to remember! Nation of ponies? Equestria. Nation of crystal ponies? Crystal Empire. Nation of griffins? Wingmaria."

Tom rolled his eyes. "I'm sure most of our country names have significance in whatever native language they were named in."

"Yeah well..." Dashie grumbled. "Doesn't matter if I don't know what they mean. Sounds like they're just throwing darts at a board covered in random names."

"Maybe, but you know what we do have that's awesome?"

"Thumbs, right?" Dashie deadpanned.

"Well, I was going to say awesome radio shows, but that works too."

"Oh go schuck some corn," Dashie groaned. She then gave a sigh. "Still, you humans have a leg up on us..."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, despite our magics, despite the fact that the leader of our nation is pretty much a living god... there's still just as many wars. Always."

"We'd probably do the same thing in your shoes. Remember the Teranids? They still made war when they had to."

"True..."

She took a deep sigh.

"I still don't want to kill anything, Tom. The griffins killed my father, yeah... and I know they were supposed to be built as killing machines. But remember Gilda?"

Tom put on a nostalgic smile. "How could I forget? That poor thing..."

Years Prior

Tom and Dashie sat next to each other, laughing over some long-forgotten in-joke. Her wings were just starting to work at this time, growing steadily every day. Stunted, yes, but she would become a full pegasus in time.

Then... came the new kid. 

Tom's eyes widened at her sight. He had never seen a griffin before, at least not up close. He had always pictured them as fierce: deadly, creatures, yet this one...

"Hello class," the teacher called. "I'd like to introduce you to our newest student, Gilda!"

Crickets chirped.

Gilda sulked her head, glancing away from the students nervously.

All around, Tom could hear various mumbles:

"What's she doing here?"

"Weren't we just at war like five years ago?"

"Must be some stupid political ploy... you know, for her daddy to say she's the first griffin in a pegasi school. Bleh."

"Now class, does anyone want to say hi?"

Tom turned to Dashie, grinning at her. "Come on..."

Dashie simply turned away from him, and the rest of the class remained silent. 





"So, you're saying you're not going to even give her a chance?" Tom asked, as Rainbow fluttered by him. So far, she was doing a good job at this, though doing tricks was still not her forte.

"Nope, and you know darn well, Tom, why."

"Yes but... they couldn't all be evil, could they?"

"You say the Germans are..."

"N-No, I just say... t-the Nazis seem evil."

"Uh-huh."

Tom gave a grunt. "Alright, so I'm somewhat of a hypocrite. Be the bigger man, er- mare."

"Tom... we both read up on the griffins. They are literally built for violence. They don't deny this."

"Maybe there's something to them besides war..."

"Like humans?" Dashie laughed. "Tom, humans weren't built for anything. You just happen to get into a lot of wars... the griffins on the other hand..." She winced slightly. "Anyway, nuff' talkin' bout this. Check out what I learned!"

With that, she did a very basic midair backflip, all the while grinning.

"Oh crap! You nailed it!"

"Darn right I did," beamed. "I can do it better than any other pegasus could, and I've flown like half the time they have!" 

"Heh, yeah-"

Suddenly, a series of shouts came from across the playground.

"That's right, we know you hurt Cloudfoot. He plays alone with you for an hour then has to go to the nurse! Explain that!"

"H-He scratched himself on a tree thorn, I swear!"

"Likely story," the bully growled, as more and more pegasi surrounded the crowded griffin. 

"Oh no..." Tom gulped, glancing at the hopeless theme before turning towards Dashie. "Rainbow, you have to do something!"

"Why? What if she really did-"

"You know darn well she's innocent. She's like a shrinking violet, why would she hurt anyone?"

"I dunno, Tom..."

He narrowed her eyes. "Put yourself in her shoes.... metaphorically speaking, don't they seem awfully familiar?"

Rainbow gave a grunt.

"You always say that the pegasi were born to fight for those weaker than them. Well now's the chance to gain some honor! Suffering any bully isn't either of our fortes."

She glanced away from him, taking a deep breath.

"Come on, Rainbow. It's what your dad would have wanted."

Suddenly, her eyes widened, before narrowing once again. 

"You're right."

And suddenly, like a streak of lightning, she was in the middle of the ring of pegsai, all the ready to pounce on the defenseless griffin. 

"Leave her alone!" Dashie growled. 

The crowd gave a cry of bafflement. "You of all people are defending her?"

"You're darn right I am!" she cried. "Did any of you boneheads bother to check Cloudfoot to see if he might have the same story you've made up?"

"The evidence is enough!"

"You're all acting irrational. You're taking out your hate on this defensless griffin because you're stereotyping her... I'm not, so why the heck are you? What gives you the right, huh? You lose your father, grandfather, whole family to them?"

The group remained silent, glancing at each other occasionally.

And silently, they seemed to come to an agreement, before sauntering away.

Dashie then turned to a weeping Gilda, smiling. "Hey, are you alright?"

"Y-Yes," she croaked. "T-That was very brave of you."

"And it was very brave of you to come to this school." Dashie then grinned. "Hey, wanna come hang out a little after school? I bet that homework you're getting is tought for someone who doesn't live in Equestria."

Gilda blinked in bafflement. "You'd do that?"

"Who wouldn't? Come on, let's see what kind of flight tricks you have!""

And in the distance, Tom smiled warmly. 





Tom stood motionless after travelling down memory lane. 

"-Germans forcefully deporting Jews from Germany, France, Poland, and the Netherlands. This is thought to be of Hitler's 'final solution.' A barbaric ploy. In other news, Italian and German troops continue to march on Greece, as every free nation in Europe braces for invasion...

"Tom?" Dashie said, his imagination going haywire.

"[Greek] Artillery, open up!"

Shells filled the sky. The shells fell...

[Italian] "Keep moving! Keep moving! Pick a target and fire in five seconds..."

Twenty Italian tanks crossed a blackened field, opening fire and decimating Greek defensive formations."





"Mommy... where's daddy going?" a little girl cried, as an aging man wearing a golden Star of David on his uniform was escorted from her home.

"H-He'll just be going away for a while, sweetie," the mother weeped. "Just a little while..."

"But why?"

The mother narrowed her eyes. "B-Because they think he's different... than you and I."

"But why is that a bad thing?"

...

"I don't know."





"Dashie," Tom finally said, narrowing his eyes in determination. 

"Yeah?"

"What did you always say about what the strong should do?"

"Easy! It is the duty of a pegasus to protect those who deserve it. Weak or strong."

"And what have I always say about bullies?"

"That they don't do the world any good."

"Who is Hitler?"

"A bully."

"And Hitler isn't just a bully, but a liar - he's got his whole country twisted around his thumb."

A small smile came to Dashie's face. "What do you propose we do about this?"

"A long time ago my father said he wanted to see me fly. Of course he meant metaphorically... and I wasn't sure fighting Germans in a country that wasn't even mine was doing that. But now I see..."

"Both of ours wanted it, and I succeeded!"

"And now we'll both fly higher than ever before. The Nazis started the war. The Nazis are doing horrible things to their own people and the people they conquer. No... sometimes you have to stand up for what you believe in, instead of sitting in the sidelines."

"So... what's the plan?"

Suddenly, Tom snagged his old flight helmet from a nearby table. "Take a guess."

Dashie gave a shiver, still glancing at her shot-through wing. "I-I still don't want to kill anything Tom... and I really want to go home. You're right, I should be back there fighting for Equestria..." 

"But you have a good fight here ahead of you! One worthy of a pegasus. You won't even need to kill anyone if we do this right!"

Dashie took a deep breath. "You're right. Saddle up pardner, cus it's game time. And this is a game we'll play to win! HOORAH!"