//------------------------------// // Giving a Flying Feather [Slice of Life] // Story: Celestial's Half-hours // by Celestial //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash was aching everywhere. Not just her wings, sore from countless hours of straining to the limit of her endurance, but also her barrel, subjected restlessly to all-new G forces; her legs, kept pointed behind all this time to improve her flight profile, and absorbing hard meetings with the ground when they weren't; her hair, whipped countless times back and forth by the supreme winds and now protesting at the root; her face, numbed from all the cold air, having managed to even pierce her natural resistance to frigid temperatures. She was really outdoing herself this time, to the point she had wondered multiple times, more convincingly with each new ache coming up, and with each new yawn surfacing from her throat, if this would really serve her in the end. AS she ascended to try her Immelman practice once again, she physically shook the notion out of her head, like last times. Madness! She had a routine to perfect, and she wasn't there, not quite yet. She had the whole Triple Twisting Traversing loop to perfect, and the Bucanneer Blaze was never coming out the way she imagined it. Maybe she was just too tired to put this much energy in it anymore... No! Nonsense! If she wanted for real to be a Wonderbolt, she'd have to be prepared for anything! Like doing stunts for the little foals after an exhausting day or training! Or saving a city from an enraged dragon right after a performance! Or... retrieving an ancient artifact right after being chained to... Wait, that can't be right. That had to be... Daring D- Her loss of concentration costed her hard, for she angled a wing too high right in the middle of an high-speed barrel roll, and ended up spiraling out of control. 'Okay, no biggie, Dash,' She thought to herself. She had recovered multiple times from a plummeting, spinning situation. What were those called? No matter, priorities Dash, priorities. That is, if her brain would just activate the right instincts like all the other times... Nope, time for manual override. What was the routine... #1. Glide to safety and keep wings- No wait, that has got to be at least #3, maybe #1 went- She didn't notice that in the meantime the spinning Earth had welcomed her with open hooves, and relocated her in the low branches of a red-leaved oak tree, but not without tho fair share of new aches and pains caused by all the higher branches that valiantly sacrificed themselves for the pegasus. Even then, her eyes were threatening to close, to catch the smallest ounce of rest.. and maybe coming back up in five minutes, yes, more energized that ever... No! Rainbow Dash forcibly pushed her eyes open. No matter what the stakes were, she couldn't continue anymore like this. As much as she had the biggest chance to join the Wonderbolts in her life ahead, in a mere 4 days, and she would have to compete against Thunderlane AND Lightning Dust for the spot, she couldn't deny that she couldn't even execute an emergency recovery maneuver to LITERALLY save her life at the moment. This was too much. Groaning in pain, she turned in place on the branch, until she slipped and fell to the ground (way easier that trying her wings and having to deal with all those sticking things in the way), landing with a grunt. Slowly, with the determination and enthusiasm of a zombie-pony, she marched towards Twilight's library. She would know what to do. She would help her exercise more. Maybe with a spell, or a potion, or... ------- Knock. Knock. Knock. "Spike, could you answer the door please?" "One moment Twilight," Spike said, putting down the pile of books that Twilight had JUST asked her to retrieve. Mares sometimes... She walked all the way to the other side of the room, grumbling, and opened the door. "Yes? Who is- WHOA!" The dragon assistant found himself submerged by the slumping, leaning, snoring body of Rainbow dash. "Spike? What's happening? I heard.... Oh." "Yeah," Spike deadpanned. "Can you awake her?" "...Nope." Spike declared, after several unsuccessful slaps and pinches to Rainbow's face. "Er, well... I guess we can give her the guest room until she wakes up," Twilight concluded, lifting the pegasus off Spike with her magic and bringing her upstairs.