Finding Flight
Time seemed to stop. The blue of the sky, the bright colors of Ponyville’s buildings. All of it would be forever imprinted on RD's memory. She would even remember the hard feeling of the rough ground that fractured her wing in three places. It would haunt her.
---
“Rainbow!”
Rainbow Dash sat up stiffly, nearly falling out of her tree.
Scootaloo stood below her, staring up. “How did you get up there?”
“I climbed. How else?” Rainbow tried to smile, but couldn't quite manage it. She looked at the sky, then back at the ground. Anything to avoid the pity she knew was lurking in Scootaloo's eyes. “So...what's new, squirt?” She looked down the dirt path. “Where're the others?”
“At Sugarcube Corner.”
Rainbow frowned slightly. “So, why're you here? Last I remembered, you had a serious sweet tooth, kid.”
Scootaloo shrugged. “Yeah, but I wondered what you were up to. Fluttershy said you weren't at home after getting out today, and I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
Rainbow crawled to the trunk of the tree, and carefully scaled down. “I'm well enough, for...you know.”
“Wanna come to Sugarcube Corner with me?” asked Scootaloo, her eyes looking anywhere but at the wings pressed up against Rainbow's back.
“I guess so. Why not? It's not like I have anything else to do these days,” Rainbow said glumly.
“Have you...have you talked to the other weather ponies yet?”
Rainbow nodded. “They sent someone as soon as they heard.”
Scootaloo looked downcast. “So...what are you gonna do now?”
Rainbow paused mid-step. She brought her hoof slowly back towards the ground and looked up at the deep, blue sky. A single cloud drifted across, pushed by a blue pony almost the color of the sky. She brought her eyes down to her hoof, deliberately placed it, and kept walking.
“Say, Rainbow,” Scootaloo began tentatively, “do you—do you still want to help me learn to fly?”
Rainbow felt like something was breaking inside. “We'll have to see, sport.” She looked away at the buildings on their left trying to hide the sudden brightness of her eyes.
Suddenly, she blinked. She caught a dark blur from the corner of her eye and turned around. She spotted a slender stallion galloping at full speed towards a brick wall. Before she could yell a warning, her mouth fell open in shock.
The pony planted a hoof against the wall and seemed to fly to the top. He grabbed the top of the wall, pulled himself up and disappeared from sight.
Dash stood stock still for a moment as something seemed to click into place inside her. She started to run. “Sorry squirt!” she yelled over her shoulder. “Catch you later!” She sprinted past street after street, glancing down each one in turn. “Where did you go?” she muttered to herself. “Where?” She skidded to a stop as a shadow arched over her. She looked up just in time to see the belly of the pony as he leapt over the street and onto the adjacent building. “Hey!” she yelled. She panted, and was about to to take off running again when a head poked out over the street. He jumped off the roof and rolled to break his fall, landing up on his feet.
“Yeah?' he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“What...who...how?” she panted.
He laughed. “Name's Misty Fall. I don't think we've met.”
“I'm Rainbow Dash,” she said, impatiently. “How did you do that? You're an earth pony...but you looked like you were flying.”
He laughed again. “No, wasn't flying. I was just freerunning.”
Rainbow Dash looked up at the sky again, then back at the pony. “Will you teach me?”
---
“Woah there. Slow down. You're gonna hurt yourself.” Misty placed a hoof on Dash's shoulder. “That's the last thing you wanna do. Now, watch again. You jump up like this , split-legged, and stretch out your back leg almost straight—like this—and then put your front hoof right here. That stabilizes it—and then you just put your other hind leg back through--like this—and then you're through and off on the other side. Now you try. Slowly.” He patted the low wall they were practicing safety vaults over.
Rainbow shook the impatience out of her legs and imitated Misty. “Okay, okay. I got it. Now can you show me how to do that wall climbing thing you did?”
“Patience, Rainbow Dash. You had to learn to hover before you could fly races, right? The basics are really important. Now, again. Yeah, you can do it a bit faster, just make sure you focus on where you put your front hoof—yes. Just like that.” Misty smiled and made her do it ten more times. “Okay. Wanna practice running into it?”
“Heck yes!” Rainbow trotted back several paces and then sprinted at the low wall. She planted her front hoof on the wall and started to stretch out her back hoof...before crashing her other hind leg into the wall. Reflexively, she tried to flap her wings to break her fall, but was rewarded with a sharp pain. She cried out and hit the ground in a heap. She sat up stiffly and bit back the tears.
“You okay?” Misty squatted next to her and gently touched her wing. “I didn't notice before—what happened?”
Rainbow felt her wing and winced. “I...tripped. Over a rock. They said I--.” She couldn't finish. She didn't need to—Misty understood.
Rainbow looked at the sky again, and away. She forced herself to get up, determination in every line of her body. “I'm trying that again.” She got to her feet and backed away again. He watched her as she ran at the wall again, and cleared it.
---
Rainbow faced the wall, panting. Sweat dripped from her brow, but she wiped it away mercilessly. She set her chin and ran again. She leapt, split-legged at the wall, leaning forward, and drawing her hind legs to her chest--only to jerk backwards. She tried to roll, but the angle was wrong and she brushed past her wing. It throbbed meanly.
“Hay bales!” she swore, reaching for her left wing and squinting at one her rear-legs. She watched a dark patch form. “Oh for Luna’s sake.” She hoisted herself up on the wall and sat down.
She gingerly reached for her left wing again and felt the soft feathers. She had learned early to avoid rolling on this wing because it only made it throb for hours, but sometimes she missed. “Useless,” she muttered to herself. “Completely useless, and now they just get in the way.”
She held up her front hooves and stared at them. They had more dirt rubbed into them than they ever had before. “Earth pony,” she cracked a grin at her pun. “That’s what I am now.”
She looked up to see Misty approaching her. “Hey,” she said in surprise. “I thought you said you were done for the day.”
“And I thought I told you you were too.” He raised an eyebrow. “You’re gonna hurt yourself if you push too hard too fast.”
“But I’ve been training with you for months now!” Rainbow protested.
“True, but months don’t mean everything in this sport. My friend Skeeter’s been doing it for years and he’s still learning.” He smiled. “But anyway, keep your chest back.”
“What?”
“I am ninety percent sure you’ll clear it if you keep your chest back.” He indicated the wall with his chin.
Rainbow regarded the wall and cocked her head to one side, imagining the move in her mind. She backed up and tensed to run.
“Rainbow!” yelled a high voice. “You’ve got to come!”
She put her front hoof down and looked around. “Apple Bloom? What’s wrong?”
“You’ve. Got. To. Come,” Apple Bloom gasped.
Rainbow threw Misty a worried look. “Let’s go.” They raced off after Apple Bloom and galloped all the way to Sweet Apple Acres.
Apple Bloom raced across the orchard and up a hill, Rainbow and Misty hot on her tail. “Wait here!” she said, before galloping off.
Misty raised his eyebrows at Rainbow. “Do you have any idea what’s going on?”
Rainbow looked down at the orchard spreading out below her. She frowned as an orange figure caught her eye. “Look. Is that Scootaloo up there?”
Misty didn’t have time to reply before Scootaloo jumped out of the tree. Rainbow gasped, her heart stopping for a fraction of a second, before Scootaloo’s wings snapped out and she caught an updraft. “She’s…” Rainbow gasped.
Scootaloo flew in an arch, a huge smile visible even from their distance. She tried to do a flip, but came out of it too early and spun off away from them.
Then wind blew her even more off course and she flapped wildly to correct her direction, but it didn’t matter to Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo’s flight was beautiful to her eyes. Scootaloo finally evened out and soared onto the hill, landing about ten meters from where they stood.
Scootaloo trotted over, panting for breath and covered in a shining sheen of sweat.
“Scoots! You finally did it!” Rainbow called, an unbidden smile forming on her face. “I’m proud of you, kid!”
“Thanks, Rainbow Dash!” said Scootaloo, grinning fit to burst. “I never thought I would fly!” She excitedly recounted a blow-by-blow account of her first flight and how it had just...happened. She just opened her wings and soared. She grinned sheepishly. “The first time I was so surprised that I just fell on the ground, but the second time went a lot better.”
“Apple Bloom? Are ya up here?” called a voice Rainbow recognized. “Well, howdy, RD. And there’s Misty. What brings ya’ll here?”
Scootaloo cut in. “She saw, Applejack. She saw me fly!”
“We’re all mighty proud of you, Scoots,” Applejack said enthusiastically, “but Granny Smith just took the soup off. It’s time for dinner, fillies.” She smiled at Rainbow and Misty. “I’m sure you’d be more than welcome if you have a mind to stay.”
Rainbow glanced at Misty. “I think I’ll go. I still have a few things to organize at my new place. Thanks though.”
Misty glanced sidelong at Rainbow. “Thanks Applejack, but I have other plans for tonight. Next time for sure!” Misty waited until they were a decent distance away before breaking the silence. “You okay, Rainbow? Must be hard, watching her fly.”
“You know, I think I’m okay.” She was surprised at the truth ringing in those words. “I really am. Seeing that filly fly was music to my soul.”
---
Rainbow followed behind Misty, mimicking his movements as closely as she could. The street blurred beneath her hooves and she felt her muscles tense and release. The wind in her mane felt wonderful. She blinked, and felt herself scrabble for purchase on a railing, and then slide off. She rolled instinctively, landing on her hooves before glowering at the railing.
Misty trotted up to her, breathing evenly, but deeply. “You jumped too high on that one. Lost your control.”
Rainbow nodded, and tried to steady her breathing. “I guess it's back to practicing those again.”
He chuckled. “Of course. You know we never stop practicing, even old hacks like my friend Skeeter. He’s been freerunning for ten years now compared to your two.” Misty grinned at her, and she grinned back.
She asked, “Wanna keep going? I've still got energy left.”
“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something. A bunch of my friends from Canterlot invited me back for the weekend, and to be honest, I can't wait to go. I really like living in Ponyville and all, but it's got nothing on Canterlot's urban jungle.” He shot her a sly smile. “Want to tag?”
---
“Oh man! It's great to see you guys!” Misty gave a brief hug to his friends. “And guess who I brought? Rainbow! This here's Skeeter, the stallion who started it all, and over there is Novice, and that's Stone Dancer.”
“Hey,” she said, smiling slightly. They were all slim earth stallions that stood with a balance Rainbow had come to associate with Misty. “Good to meet you.”
“Misty told us about you, Rainbow. He said you're one heck of a quick learner. Is it true you only started two years ago? That's great!” said Skeeter.
“She trained pretty hard,” Misty said. “She picked it up real quick after she got the basics down.” He winked at her. “Plus, she’s got a lot of determination, don’t you, Rainbow?” He reached out and gently touched her wing.
“Alright. Ready?” asked Stone Dancer. He was quivering slightly.
“Yeah. Follow me?” Skeeter trotted over to a building and jumped, grabbing the fire escape ladder and pulling it down. He scaled up and waited for the others to join him before pulling the ladder up again. They made their way to the roof and stood on the edge. “We'll meet back here.” He smiled around at his friends. “Let's face the jungle, shall we?” With that, he leapt off the building and jumped between two walls to break his descent before landing in a roll and sprinting off. The others followed suit, and scattered.
Rainbow stood on the edge and looked down. She leapt over the side and landed in a roll before vaulting a railing. Her muscles rippled, tensing and releasing with ease. She didn't think, she just reacted, bypassing each obstacle in her way. Hours, or maybe minutes later, she found herself on a roof with no idea how she got there, but it didn't matter.
She flipped onto her back and jumped, all in one smooth motion designed to catch as much air as possible. She saw the sky and felt the wind tug playfully at her mane and tail. She caught herself on a lower ledge and swung down to the ground.
She grinned to herself and kept running. Who said you needed wings to fly?