//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 This Isn't Flying This is Falling With Style // Story: Concord of Destiny // by Zeta Dragon //------------------------------// Chapter 4 This isn't flying this is falling' with style! You trotted over across the hard wood floor and grabbed the doorknob. Grasping the cold iron doorknob you pulled when your muscle had a spasm from an overwhelming force that pushed in making you fly back and stumble. You lie on the floor with a pink pony on top of you; her face occupies your entire field of vision as her blue eyes stare into you. “Hello Pinkie Pie.” You say with a deadpan look. “GOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING ANOOOOOOOOOON!” she says way over enthusiastically. “MMM I love the smell of waffles in the morning.” Applejack said as the rest stepped in. Twilight trotted out carrying several plates of waffles with flowers on top for flavor. Rainbow dash hovered over to twilight narrowing her eyes and nudging her friend.“He didn’t give you any trouble last night did he?” “Rainbow!” Twilight snapped “Anon was fine.” She said carefully maneuvering the plates around the Pegasus and setting them onto a small wooden table. “Oh this breakfast looks delectable Twilight.” Rarity complemented “Y-yes Twilight you sure know how to cook.” Fluttershy whispered. “Thanks girls.” Twilight said as everypony dug in. You stared at your food for a little bit seeing the inviting steam flowing off the soft waffle with a small dandelion on top. You wondered how you were supposed to eat this without any silverware and if just digging in would be the right table manners. You wondered why you were thinking this but for whatever reasons it seemed important to you. You take a quick look around and notice that everypony seems to just be digging in. Pinkie pie extends her tongue and literally licks up the entire waffle in one bite. Twilight being a princess is a little more proper using her teeth to tear off little bits. You shrug your shoulders and simply dig in tearing off moderate size pieces and scarfing them. You were hungry having not eaten anything since you were turned into a pony. You finish before everypony else except Pinkie and Applejack. Twilight then asks if you want seconds and you graciously accept. Twilight’s horn flashes and out of nowhere your plate looks like when she first brought it out. A wide smile presents itself on your face as you admire your meal. You dig in again. “So has the princess sent any word on Anon?” AJ asks “Yep she says she wants to meet with him a week from now.” “A week huh, well he ain’t ready to see the princess yet.” Rainbow dash said. “What do you mean?” Twilight asked. Rainbow got up and walked over to Twilight. She bent over and whispered something in her ear which made her try to hide a giggle which turned into a snicker. You and the others look towards the two to try and pick up any of what Rainbow said. “Ok, ok we’ll do it today.” Twilight said. “YES!!!” Rainbow shouted flying up with her foreleg raised triumphantly. The curiosity finally gets to you and you ask the million dollar question. “So what are you going to do today?” you ask. Both Rainbow and Twilight look at you, eyes half lidded with devilish grins. --- After breakfast you were hauled outside by Applejack. “Don’t worry partner it won’t be that bad.” Rainbow Dash had told Twilight she would teach you how to use those two extra limbs on your back to defy gravity and give her yet another new flying buddy. “NO, NO I can’t fly.” You protested as AJ casually dumped you on the ground. “Y-you are a Pegasus.” Fluttershy said meekly. “Yeah you’ll be a super duper flyer; you’ll be as good as Dashie here.” Pinkie said hopping up and down. “Whoa, whoa, whoa let’s not get carried away here.” Rainbow dash said. “What does learning to fly have to do with me meeting the Princesses?” You say. “Nothing. But a Pegasus colt really should know how to fly.” Twilight said smiling at you. “But so what If I can’t fly. Aren't you ponies supposed to be all loving and tolerant?” You say gesturing with your hoof. “Whatever gave you that idea?” Twilight says smiling a little more menacingly. This pony’s definitely got a mean streak in her. “Well it’s just that ever since I arrived here you all have-“ you were cut short as a certain cyan Pegasus picks you up from under your forelegs skyrocketing straight up as you see the ground getting father and farther from your feet. Twilight giggles. “RAINBOW WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” You scream as you dangle from her. “I’m teaching you how to fly, duh what do you think I’m doing?” Rainbow giggles. You feel the wind streaming down your mane and coat as you frantically whip your head around and see your vision rising above the clouds. Higher and higher she took you. For a moment you thought you were going to go into space. You look down and no longer see the ground but a sea of puffy white clouds. “R-Rainbow t-t-this is high enough please put me DOWN!” you shout. Rainbow stops her ascent and tilts her head down looking at you with wide eyes. “…OK” she says as she lets go of you! “Rainbaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!” you scream as you feel your arms and legs flailing around you. The wind stings your eyes as you’re pulled towards the ground at alarming speed. The sound of the air is deafening. You manage to look up and see Rainbow grasping her belly laughing as she rolls around in the sky. You manage to flip yourself over and see the cloud layer approaching quickly. Panic is making your body clench up. You’re skydiving without a parachute. You catch a glimpse of something in the corner of your eye and look over. Rainbow is falling beside you in a relaxed pose with her legs crossed and her forelegs wrapped as a pillow behind her head. She simply smiles at you. “Better start flappin’ those wings.” She says You look over at her and plead with her. You can barely speak as the air floods your throat when you open your mouth. “Rainbow I’m sorry I promise I’m not a danger to you or your friends.” Rainbow smirks “Oh I figured that out when you got this scarred of being dropped from 40,000 feet.” Rainbow looked down. “Uh by the way you might wanna brace yourself.” “For wha-“Your cut off again as your body slams into the cloud layer forming a hole in the puffy white sea. You cough up some cloud that you swallowed; it had a strange taste almost like butter. “I thought clouds were supposed to be soft and fluffy!” You say to rainbow. “They are but not when you belly flop onto them.” The wind picks up as does your speed. The cloud slowed you down a bit but your still falling near terminal velocity. “Seriously though you should really start thinking about extending your wings.” Rainbow said. You tried all you could but your wings wouldn’t extend. This was it you were going to die, hit the ground and splat. No you thought to yourself. Your flexed your wings outward as hard as you could. You strain the muscles forcing them to extend to their full span. The feeling was amazing, the wind caressing each individual feather. “GOOD NOW START FLAPPING THEM!” Rainbow yelled. You nodded your head and began to flap your wings but were instantly stopped. The sheer force of the air resistance pushing up wouldn’t allow your wings to even go down. You try again to no avail. Your wings are bent up from the wind in an unnatural position. Sweat was now starting to form on your brow as pure adrenaline took over. You managed to lower your wings a few inches but not nearly enough to let you obtain level altitude. The world around you was now blurred out you were going so fast. Each of your feathers was whipping helplessly in the breeze. Time seemed to slow down, seconds felt like minutes. You look down and see the soft green of the ground where five figures look up at you and Rainbow. “RAINBOW I CAN’T FLAP MY WINGS!” You shout to Rainbow who is now trailing you. “TILT YOURSELF DOWNWARD THEN RIDE THE MOMENTUM!” OK you thought to yourself this Is it. You lean your body forward which speeds up your decent. Almost immediately you feel a great weight being lifted off your wings and you quickly begin flapping them. “HARDER!” Rainbow yells. You strain closing your eyes and gritting your teeth. Before you shut your eyes you see that the ground is super close. You focus all your energy into your wings flapping them up and down as fast and as hard as you can. Up Down Up Down Up Down, that’s all you can think now. Suddenly you feel a light pressure coming from your underside. You feel the wind blowing on the fur of your stomach and chest. You look down and see nothing it’s as if the wind is carrying you. Your brain hits the realization and slowly you begin to ease yourself up. You see Twilight and the rest in the field and your heading right for them. Twilight ducks as you zoom over her head, her mane blowing in the breeze you created. You continue to pull up attempting to gallop on the air but stop as your wings do all the work for you. YOU’RE FLYING! “Ha hahahaha!” you begin to laugh hysterically having almost died. This new feeling, nothing compares to it. You have never felt so free. You feel the air all around you almost as if you’re in a pool of water swimming. You begin to climb up higher and higher from the field. You look down on six ponies Rainbow having landed and see them all cheering for you. “DO A BARREL ROLL!” Pinkie yells out. You comply twisting your body as the world spins upside down then right-side up again. This was no doubt the most fun you had in your entire life. You can’t help but scream out feeling the air whip all around you. You look behind you and see that much like Rainbow’s colored tail; yours with its blue stripe is leaving a slight hue lingering from your speed. You let your feelings pour out. “WHOOOOO HOOOOOO!” You scream. Your voice carries over the thundering whoosh of the wind slipping past you. You feel the wind on your face and in your mane all the way back to the tip of your tail. You pull up more and do a small loop de loop before leveling out again. You figure it’s time to come in for a landing spotting the small field just outside the library you line yourself up. You ease up on the flapping and feel yourself descending. The ground comes closer and closer as you feel your hooves touch down sending you galloping across the field slowing yourself down. You were panting out of the sheer thrill of your first flight. You felt yourself tackled from everywhere by a different pony. The mane six, all embracing you in a group hug. “THAT…..WAS…..AWESOME!!!” Rainbow squealed “Did you see how close to hitting the ground you were! Then you were like ‘Nerrrrmmm’ and managed to pull up at the VERY last second! Am I a great teacher or what?” "And what if I didn't manage to pull up?" you ask her annoyed that she would endanger you. "Oh I would've caught you your looking at the best flyer in Equestria!" she says. “Oh darling you were just magnificent.” Rarity complemented you. “Darn tootin’ he’s a natural.” AJ said. You sit there in the field with your six new friends. You wonder why you and Finn were brought to this place. Finn, what happened to Finn? Was he turned into a pony as well?” There were so many questions you still didn’t have answers to. What did that dream you had mean….Wait the dream you never told them about the dream. Maybe that was best saved for tonight. You were having too much fun to worry about anything right now. --- The rest of the day you spent outside with your new friends. You mainly spent it with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy as they both helped you refine your flying techniques. Night came sooner then you expected and this posed questions as to where you would stay. “Really I don’t want to intrude I can just sleep outside” you said. “Nonsense you can stay here as long as you like” Twilight remarked. “While that’s very generous of you ….” You stop to reflect on what you’re about to say. You hadn’t completely given up hope yet but the thought crept into your head. “What if Princess …..Celestia is it?” Twilight gave you a nod. “What if she can’t get me home? What if I’m stuck here for a long time?” You were about to keep going when Twilight silenced you by raising her hoof. “Listen to yourself everything is ‘What if?’ you can’t think like that. If you are stuck here for longer we’ll figure something out when that happens. Until then you just learned how to fly. You should focus on having fun and making the most of your experience here.” Twilight said giving you a smile. You thought about what she said. It did seem logical to enjoy what time you had here. Not to mention flying was extremely fun, still though you couldn’t get the homesickness to leave you. You thought back to your old life. You reflect on memories of you and Finn hanging out on a lazy afternoon. You think about that job interview you blew a few years ago. You think about all the things you took for granted sometimes even wishing them away in a ‘Why me’ sort of way. There was no doubt anymore that you missed those things. You say goodnight to the other ponies as Twilight wraps a wing around you and leads you into the Tree house. “So…” you say nervously, “All that flying made me hungry I don’t suppose you have any food.” “Oh sure thing I was just about to start dinner. Does mushroom salad sound OK?” “Yeah sounds great!” you reply. About ten minutes later you and Twilight along with spike sit down to a small dinner. You and Twilight begin munching on your salads while spike is devouring gems. Looking at the spread of rare gems before him on his plate you wonder how much money that would’ve been worth back in you world. You look down at your meal in a small wooden bowl on a nice white tablecloth. Suddenly an image flashes before you, an image of a white Alicorn with a little sister. You stare up at Twilight wondering if you should tell her. If she was taking you to see these two Princesses in a week then you may want to mention the strange vision you had. “Twilight?” You say as she stares up at you using her magic to levitate a napkin and wipe her mouth. “I have to tell you something.”