//------------------------------//
// Chapter VII: A Song in Flight 
// Story: A New Potential 
// by EnigmaShade 
//------------------------------//


Part II: The Mundane
Chapter III: A Song in Flight


I waited in anticipation outside of Sugarcube Corner while Pinkie Pie retrieved the items I had asked to borrow. Sapphire bounced circles around me, “Daddy, what do you need a microphone for?”
I smiled, “I’m gonna put on a little show for the town, that’s all.”
“Oh! What are you gonna do,” She asked, “Comedy act? Singing? A play?”
I ruffled her hair, which prevented her next hop, “You’ll see. It’s a special secret.”
Sapphire started bouncing again, “Can’t ya give me a hint? C’mooooooooooooooon! Don’t be meeeeaaaaaan!”
I felt my smile growing wider, “You’ll see.”
She growled in frustration, so I continued, “You’re annoyance only makes my smile grow.”
She kicked my foreleg, a habit she’s had for a long time, “Meanie!”
I scooped her and hugged her to my chest, “Do I have to squish you?”
She squealed and laughed, “Nooooooooo!”
Pinkie came back out and laughed at the sight, “Poor Sapphie, getting picked on by her own dad.”
I laughed and let Sapph down on the floor, “So did you find it?”
She held out her hoof and handed me a small microphone. Then she reached back behind the door and pulled out the stand, “There you go! Perfect for a show. So, whatcha gonna do with it, huh?”
I smiled, “I’m putting on a show by the fountain. You should come. No, you MUST come.”
“Weeeell, I dunno,” She spread her hooves as if unrolling a scroll and reading it, “Let me check my schedule.”
I facehoofed, “Pinkie, you amaze me.”
“NOPE!” She pretended to fold the scroll back up, “I can go! What’s going on?”
“A surprise,” I said, unable to contain my smile, “A very special surprise.”
“Fiiiiiine,” Pinkie said and hopped past me toward the center of town.
I smiled, “Heh, you guys make this too easy.”
Sapph jumped past me, jumping backwards as we headed towards the fountain in the center of town, “Making what too easy?”
“Nothing,” I said, breaking into a trot, “Nothing at all.”
She huffed with a frown and hopped to catch up with pinkie.

*

I got to the center of town just in time to see the makeshift band finish setting up their instruments on top of a fold-out stage. Twilight set up the microphone I handed her, “So are you ready, Shade?”
I nodded, “Now that the time is here, the nerves are kinda kickin’ in.”
She smiled nervously, “Same here, but we can do this. It’s for Pinkie.”
“Not just her,” I said, “For a lot more than her now.”
I looked out to see a small crowd joining together. Fluttershy swooped in and landed gracefully next to Pinkie and Sapph. I gulped down my nervousness and climbed the stage. The chatter slowed as I approached the mic, “Good morning, everypony.”
I looked at the makeshift band and they all readied their instruments, “A couple days ago, a friend of mine inadvertently gave me the idea to share with you some music from my home.”
Luna started playing the beginning notes of the first song, and Twilight joined in, vamping while I wrapped up my mini-intro, “We have three songs for you this morning. This first one comes from one of my favorite artists when I was a young colt.”
The music looped for a third time, so I nodded for Twilight to use this loop to begin. She counted the beats with her hoof and came in right on cue, projecting her beautiful voice over the still-gathering crowd:
“Summer has come and past. The innocent can never last. Wake me up… When September ends.”
I jumped in, letting the calming beat of the music rid me of my nerves, and my voice spread amongst the awed crowd: “Like my father’s come to pass. Seven years has gone so fast. Wake me up… When September ends.”
“Here comes the rain again, falling from the stars…”
“Drenching my pain again, becoming who we are…”
“As my memory rests…”
“But never forgets what I lost.”
We sang together in perfect harmony, “Wake me up… When September ends….”
Through the song I watched the small group this show was for. Pinkie Pie broke out into tears halfway through the song. Fluttershy and Sapphire stared in awe, even as the rest of the crowd smiled at the pleasant tune. I sang my heart out. The crowd was no longer there to me. I was lost in the music. Dash went at it with the drums; Luna played beautifully and even added a few surprise, complementary notes; Twilight sang beautifully while playing her small, music powered guitar.
“Wake me up… When September ends,” Twilight and I finished the song on different notes, giving it a perfect mix of harmony and melody.
The crowd stamped their hooves in applause. I snapped out of my trance and smiled at the applause. I noticed Pinkie was still sniffling away next to Fluttershy and Sapphire.
When the applause died down, I cleared my throat and spoke again to the crowd, “This next song was written by one of my personal heroes.”
The group started the music and vamped while I spoke, “He did great things in his life, including give wonderful music to the world.”
Twilight turned off her microphone, knowing this song was my message. I looked straight at Sapphire, “This song is for my daughter. Next month begins a new Flight School, and she will be leaving me for the first time next week for six whole months. I love you, Sapphire.”
I waited for the cue and started singing, watching Sapphire the whole time, and my heart falling into my stomach, “Come, stop your crying it will be all right. Just take my hoof, hold it tight. I will protect you from all around you. I will be here don’t you cry.”
Sapphire stood up and looked at Fluttershy, hoping to get a reaction from her, but received none, “For one so small, you seem so strong. My hooves will hold you, keep you safe and warm. This bond between us can’t be broken. I will be here, don’t you cry.”
From about four meters away I could tell she was holding back, biting her lip, even, “’Cause you’ll be in my heart! Yes, you’ll be in my heart… From this day on, now and forevermore… You’ll be in my heart no matter what they say. You’ll be in my heart… always…”
She started pushing forward into the crowd, coming closer to the makeshift stage. I held back all of my emotions as I watched her push past all the ponies in her path. Fluttershy looked as if she was going to stop her, but stayed back and let her go, “When destiny calls you, you must be strong. I may not be with you, but you’ve got to hold on. They’ll see in time, I know. We’ll show them together!”
She made it to the stage and climbed up the stairs, “You’ll be in my heart! Yes, you’ll be in my heart! From this day on, now and forevermore…”
She walked cautiously closer and I sat down, watching her. The crowd no longer existed. It was just me and my precious gem. She walked closer and I scooped her up, singing the final lines, “You’ll be in my heart, always….”
She heaved a sob into my shoulder, “Always~…”
The music faded. I could feel the smile on Sapphire’s lips as she sobbed into my shoulder. She took in a shaky breath, “I love you, Daddy…”
The microphone caught her words, and an “aww” came from the crowd. I finally noticed them again. A dozen and a half of the ponies were in tears at the probably touching sight. I hugged the happy yet sobbing filly. After a minute she hopped away from me and hid next to me, realizing the fairly large crowd could see her cry.
I laughed, “Sorry, everypony.”
The crowd gave cheers to show that there was nothing to apologize for. The touching father-daughter moment seemed to put the crowd in a feel-y mood. I looked back to the band. Luna had a huge smile on her face, Twilight had glossy eyes, and Dash was gritting her teeth to keep from looking emotional.
I laughed and turned back to the microphone, “This last song I would like my daughter to sing with me.”
The band started vamping the beginning of the next song, and Sapphire looked at me horrified, “Oh, no, I can’t do that.”
I smiled, “Oh come on. We sang this together a million times back home.”
“But that was without a million eyes staring at me,” She said.
The crowd laughed, and started chanting her name. I laughed, “You’ll do fine. It’s your favorite song! Please? For me?”
She groaned, then sniffed. Twilight moved and adjusted the microphone for her size and turned it back on.
The group vamped one more time and Sapph closed her eyes and started singing. Her beautiful young voice quieted the crowd, “I’m holding on to white balloons up against the sky of doom. Tell me you see them.”
I smiled, “’Cause what’s inside of me is invisible to most. Even in clear view.”
“I’m sending out a signal to the possibility of you. ‘Cause right at this moment…”
We sang in unison, “I know you are connected to a part of me that I don’t even know myself. The changes in me are likely to be like the weather.”
I picked up the solo, “Stormy and clear. Strength into fear bound together.”
Sapphire smiled and we continued our beautiful duet. The crowd cheered when the music picked up into a more hard rock format. The crowd, again, faded into the background. It had never been a show for the town.  This was for me. For Pinkie. For Fluttershy. And, most importantly, for my beautiful gem, Sapphire.
The music slowed again back to the tempo and tone of the beginning of the song. Sapph and I looked out to the crowd with large smiles and sang together, “’Cause what’s inside of me is invisible to most… Even in clear view.”
The crowd cheered. The band, Sapphire, and I all bowed. Though Sapphire seemed reluctant at first, she enjoyed herself. She jumped up at me and clung to me in a joyous hug. I wrapped my foreleg around her to hug her back and said, “You will always be my precious little gem.”

*

The crowd dissipated in about twenty minutes. Pinkie tackled me immediately after she got to me. She started thanking me for the first song.
“I don’t know if the first song was for me or not, but it really spoke to me since I lost my first coltfriend in an accident and since Big Mac left me and—“ She continued babbling on until I couldn’t understand a single word she was saying, then she just stopped talking and hugged me and started bawling. She started calling me a great friend and a various amount of other compliments before Fluttershy snuck in a hug.
Pinkie jumped back, tears forgotten, “Oh! I forgot! It’s a good thing you mentioned it because otherwise I would have forgotten! I gotta plan a party for Scootaloo and Sapphire for when they leave for Flight School!”
She immediately bounced off towards Sugarcube Corner shouting a millionth thanks. The crusaders were now crowding Sapphire.
“Wow that was amazing, Sapphy,” Scootaloo said.
“Thanks, Scoots,” Sapphire said with a triumphant grin.
“You realize this makes us rivals,” Sweetie Belle said with a wicked grin.
“Can we still be friends? Frenemies?”
Sweetie Belle stuck out her hoof and shook Sapphires, “Frenemies.”
I turned to my little makeshift band and thanked them for their hard work, “Sorry for the short notice. I’m surprised everypony caught on so quickly, though.”
Rainbow Dash grinned and spun a drumstick around her hoof, “When it comes to learning music, we are awesomely talented. That and we kinda cheated with magic.”
I laughed, “Cheated or not, it was awesome.”
“Well you owe me a race, buddy boy,” Dash said, pointing a drumstick at me.
Fluttershy leached to my side since Pinkie left. She wouldn’t say a word about anything, but she gave a silent recognition and thanks.
It was about noon when we finished packing everything up. Twilight declared a lunch party at the lunch buffet just outside Ponyville, so we stored the stuff in Twilight’s room in the library and headed down to the buffet. Fluttershy continued to leach to me the whole walk and lay her head against my shoulder. Rather than walking with her friends, Sapphire asked to ride on my back during the walk. I didn’t mind. After not seeing her for just nine days when we first got here, I missed her terribly. I knew it would be worse knowing she would be gone for several months, so I’m going to take every moment I can these next eight days.

*

Pinkie decided to throw one giant party in the middle of town. Seven pegasi were leaving for Flight School today, so the party was to celebrate all of their departing. Sapphire danced with her small group of friends, far away from the other pegasi and their groups. Sapphire spent all yesterday with Scootaloo planning all the fun they would have in Flight School. The other two spent the whole week telling them how sad and how bored they would be for those six months.
I sat a safe distance away from her and her friends, wanting to give them the time I took away with random outings throughout the past eight days. Many of the parents and family had the same idea and gathered together and talked. Fluttershy stared at the group from beside me.
“Do you want to join them, hon,” I asked her.
“No. They are all just arrogant and conceited meanies who try to talk up their own kids to make everypony else feel lower than them,” She had a dark look on her face.
I stared at her. This was a Fluttershy I had not yet met. Her face dropped into that of shame. She let her mane fall over her eyes to block out the group, “I’m sorry…”
I laughed and wrapped my foreleg around her shoulders and pulled her into a side hug, “We all have a little bitter side.”
“I know, but it’s not… it’s not nice…”
I let out a sigh through my nose, “I hate. I hate a lot. I hate my old world. I hate that my daughter lost her father. I hate that she lost him right before her eyes. I hate that she cries. I hate that you cry. I hate.”
She seemed to sulk more, so I continued, “But I’m grateful. I’m grateful that she has a wonderful mother. I’m grateful for a beautiful fillyfriend. I’m grateful for my life here. I love Ponyville. I love the fact that I’ve made so many friends. I love your smile. I have so much to love and be grateful for that I can’t even try to list it all.”
She smiled and rubbed her head against my neck, and I still explained, “We all have a bit of bitterness in us, but it’s how we act and how we react to the things we love and hate that really matters.”
Her head rested on my shoulder now, “Shade?”
“Yes, Shy?”
“You’re weird,” She said with a large grin, “But I love you.”
I smiled and hugged her closer and kissed her on the head, “I love you, too.”
When I looked back over the party, I noticed a young stallion pegasus walking towards us, “Well aren’t you two just adorable.”
He gave a wide, perfect tooth smile, “So who are you two here for?”
I pointed my hoof at Sapphire, “For our daughter.”
Fluttershy seemed to perk up at “our”, but the pegasus talking again made her shrink back down, “Cute.”
The snobbish tone in his voice began to annoy me, “Did you need something?”
“Oh, no, no,” I recognized him as one of the ponies from the flock of parents and as a coach of one of the Second Education School’s bounceball teams, “I just noticed you two here and figured you could use a bit of conversation.”
“We prefer to stay away from groups,” I said.
He ignored my comment and watched Sapphire dancing with her friends, “I do bet that your daughter would get along splendidly with my brother. I heard her singing last week. Talented ponies do tend to stick together.”
I shook my head and gave a fake polite smile, “No, she will probably spend the whole six months by Scootaloo’s side.”
“Oh, well I do hope not,” The greenish stallion said, “She could find such better friends than that talentless orphan.”
I felt my nerves snap, but I still fought to keep my cool, “Excuse me?”
“Oh don’t act like you don’t know,” The pegasus mocked surprise, “That scoundrel is a lost cause. She will probably end up with a job like Derpy’s.”
“I personally find her a charming and polite little filly,” Fluttershy said, but immediately sunk back towards me when the stallion eyed her with scrutiny, “Uhm…”
The green pegasus looked at her for a couple moments and laughed. He called over a friend and relayed Fluttershy’s sentence and the second pegasus began laughing as well. Right in front of us. I felt something in me snap.
“SHUT! UP!” Fluttershy was standing now, her wings splayed. My anger left me, and I stared in amazement. That was the loudest I had ever heard her say anything. Her face was contorted with rage. The shout was so loud that most of the party stopped and looked.
“Listen here, you conceited little twit,” Fluttershy said, the rage spitting like venom at the stallion, “I don’t want to hear another word. You may think you are better than the rest of us, but you are not! You brag about your accomplishments and your family’s accomplishments, but the more you brag, the lower you are. And right now, you are lower than dirt. So shut your stupid mouth you arrogant FOAL!”
The party was silent. I stared in amazement at her stern assertiveness. I glimpsed Sapphire looking with a grin on her face. Her mommy was a fighter.
The pegasus was taken aback at first, but soon he and his buddy were laughing, “Really? Really, really? You believe that garbage?”
Fluttershy stayed quiet and gritted her teeth.
“A pony’s worth is judged by his accomplishments,” He said with another laugh, “And I know who you are. You’re the sad sap. The little foal that can’t do any more than sit and talk to animals.
“In fact, why don’t you go back to that right now? That’s all you’re good for,” The pegasus reached out his hoof and pushed it against Fluttershy’s shoulder, which sent her back onto her flank.
My head spun with rage. I stepped in front of her and my wings unfurled themselves, sounding like a large military flag snapping in the wind. The pegasus stepped back. I was one of the largest ponies in Ponyville, and easily the largest pegasus. My wing span reached a good three meters if not more.
I leaned my face toward him in a threatening stance, “You will not lay a hoof on my family. You can talk all you want to, but you lay one hoof—one more mother fucking hoof—on my family, I will be very, very angry.”
I lowered my voice to a whisper, to where only he could hear, “I have done things to people that you could not even imagine in your most twisted of nightmares. You will leave my sight at once and you will not come within fifteen meters of any of us, or so help me Celestia your future won’t be pretty. Is that understood?”
The pegasus was pale by the time I stood back to full height and folded my wings back up, “Scram.”
He immediately stood back up and ran back over to the group. I looked around me and everypony averted their gaze. Sapphire looked at me with a smile, but kept her distance. The rest of the crusaders looked in horror and amazement. I turned to Fluttershy. She had the same look of horror and amazement.
I lowered myself to her height and spread my forehooves, non-verbally asking for a hug. She lunged at me with a laughing smile on her face. Soon, Sapphire and her friends came over and joined for a group hug.
This is my family. I am not going to lose it. I will do anything and everything to protect it. Even if it means looking like a dick and scaring the piss out of one of the most egotistical ponies in Ponyville.

*

A large carriage drawn by four large, armored pegasi—larger than me—landed in the middle of town. The door to the carriage opened and an average sized pegasus in silver armor climbed out. He reached back into the carriage and pulled out a clipboard and sat next to the door.
“Ponyville,” He said and looked at the crowd the party gathered, “We are here for seven young pegasi for Cloudsdale Flight School, correct?”
Somepony in the crowd shouted a confirmation and he continued, “Okay, when I call your name, please step forward and board the carriage.”
“Triumph Silverblood,” He called, and a young, gray colt walked with his head high towards the bus. The stallion made a mark on his clipboard.
“Yule Prolif,” He called again, and a slightly overweight, blue-green colt walked hunkered down toward him. The stallion smiled at him, “Ah, looks like we got ourselves a potential power flier here.”
A small smile appeared on the young colt’s face and he straightened up a bit and boarded the bus. The stallion chuckled and looked back at his clipboard. He called off a couple more names.
“Daddy,” Sapphire said, standing under me.
“Yeah?”
“I don’t wanna go…” I knew this would come next.
I stepped over her and knelt next to her, “What if I told you I will come visit you?”
“I thought you can’t do that,” She said, a sparkle of hope in her eyes.
“Oh, come on,” I said, “I’m me. I can do anything.”
She smiled and pushed her hoof against my shoulder, “No you can’t….”
I smiled and ruffled her hair, making her giggle, “I’ll write a letter to the head of the school and ask, how about that?”
“Sapphire Shade,” The stallion called out.
“You promise,” She asked.
“Pinkie promise,” I said and made a shooing motion with my hoof.
“Sapphire Shade?”
She started walking toward the carriage, but kept looking back at me. Each time I did a new motion. Cross my heart. Hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye.
She made it to the bus and looked up at the stallion with the clipboard. He watched her the whole time and smiled when she looked up at him, “Ah, a case of the nerves, eh? It passes, little filly, trust me.”
She nodded and climbed the steps slowly. The stallion shook his head with the smile still on his face, “Scootaloo?”
Scootaloo turned around and hugged her friends. She then turned back and ran to the carriage, jumping up the whole set of stairs. The silver armored stallion looked inside the bus to make sure she didn’t hurt herself, shook his head, and called off the final name, giving the next filly a word of encouragement.
The stallion set the clipboard back in the carriage and stood tall and addressed the party goers, “To the parents, family, and friends of these marvelous young ponies, thank you for your trust in the Cloudsdale Flight School. We guarantee that we will return them all as great, powerful fliers. Lest we fail, we shall send a professional tutor back with them to make them fly. Thank you, Ponyville. Good day.”
The carriage had no windows, so I could not see Sapphire as the carriage pulled away from the party and headed back to the cloud city. Fluttershy watched me as the carriage pulled away.
“Why did you do that,” She asked in a soft voice. We started walking away from the party and back to the cottage.
“Do what?”
“You lied to her,” She said. Everypony knew you couldn’t visit your family in Flight School, “You even Pinkie Promised.”
“I will write the letter,” I said, “But I won’t send it. The Pinkie Promise is not broken. She’s a tough filly, and I know she’ll do great, but she needs to know that she doesn’t need me to do that.”
She nodded slowly, “And you lied to make her stronger…”
I kept my face stone even as my heart sank deeper and deeper, “You have no idea how much it hurt to do that.”