//------------------------------//
// Late Morning 
// Story: When Hearts Take Flight 
// by cemfin 
//------------------------------//

A very nice smell woke Starburst the next morning, though it took her a second to fully open her eyes. It seemed the sun was fully in the sky. Odd, she was usually up before now.

She sat up with a stretch, and looked over to see Lyla missing from her bed once more. She must’ve overslept since it wasn’t very often her cousin woke before her. She got up off the bed, going downstairs to inspect the smell.

It, unsurprisingly, led her to the kitchen, where she saw Lyla over the stove, horn already gone, though glowing as it levitated an array of objects around.

“Morning.” She announced her presence with a yawn, going over to the table. She hated when she overslept. It always made her lag the whole morning.

“Oh, good morning.” She was greeted with a smile. “Are you hungry?” She wasn’t very, but her mother had told her the importance of breakfast, so she nodded anyway, though decided to comment on another observation she made.

“So you’re feeling better.” It was more a statement than a question, but Lyla answered anyway.

“Yes. I sent some mail out this morning, so hopefully, the items will arrive tomorrow.” She paused, blushing. “Though some things I already have.” She arched an eyebrow at the princess’ odd behavior. What possible reason would she have to be blushing?

“Items? What did you send for?” Though she asked that question, the one plaguing Starburst’s mind was who in Equestria she would be sending mail to.

Lyla smiled before answering. “Just little things. To thank everypony for yesterday.” The mention of yesterday brought back thought of that odd creature.

“Have you ever seen anything like that before?” She asked Lyla, knowing she most likely hadn’t, but perhaps she’d read something about them before. 

Lyla turned, setting two plates on the table with her magic, sitting before answering. “I have never seen anything like that before. In all honesty, you witnessed more of it than I did.”

That might’ve been true. But who could they ask about it? Surely somepony had seen something similar before. Was it a cursed being? Or a simple mutation? The only ponies she could think of knowing it would be Princess Celestia, her mom or Fluttershy.

“Maybe you should ask Aunt Twilight?” Lyla continued, due to her not responding, she assumed.

“I’m not sure. If I write her, she’ll probably fly out here, and horn or not, she’ll know you.” Lyla pouted slightly, seeing this was true. “Well ask Fluttershy later. If Annie hasn’t.”

That sounded like the best way to go about it in Star’s head. Lyla seemed to agree, nodding as she levitated out two glasses.

The problem momentarily resolved, she took the opportunity to look at the clock, and was shocked at what it read. It was almost 9:00! She had overslept.

They were almost an hour late for Lyla’s flying lesson. Well, her coaches probably were too, so she didn’t think much on it, turning back to enjoy her breakfast.

Before she could take a bite, a knock resonated through the library, alerting her that somepony was at the door.

She got up, muttering a “who could that be?” while heading to the door. She never had many visitors. About the only pony that ever came by was Candy. ‘I guess it could be her.’

Opting to open the door rather than speculate, a rainbow flew past her and into the library. She took notice of Whirlwind at the door before rolling her eyes and turning to Prism, who was now hovering in front of her.

“Where is she? She left didn’t she?” Starburst was too confused to even properly express it, giving him an odd blank star before speaking.

“What…?”

“We’ve been waiting at the entrance to Cloudsdale for almost an hour.” Whirlwind explained, coming in.

“Rainbow said that if Lyla did end up leaving, he’d have to take the other option she gave him. Least that’s what I heard.” She laughed a bit.

Starburst couldn’t help but smile at that as well. She knew there was no way Rainbow would make him do that. She turned to the kitchen in time to see Lya’s head poking out of it.

“Starburst? Who was it?” All eyes turned to her, a blush overtook her face. “Um…? Did I do something…?”

“She’s still here?” Prism was, once again, the first to break the silence. “Then why didn’t you guys come?” He continued, turning to direct the question back to Starburst.

“I overslept.” She was confused at the shocked and disbelieving looks the two pegasi gave her. “What?”

“….. You overslept..?” She felt her eye twitch at Whirlwinds question. Was it really that unbelievable?

“You overslept?” Prism reiterated the question with even more emphasis that it was she who overslept. She frowned.

“I am only a pony! I can oversleep sometimes too.” They all turned when Lyla walked up with a giggle.

“Right, that fact aside, have you guys eaten? I’ve just made breakfast.” She giggled again, quickly adding, “Well I suppose at this time it would be brunch.”

“Food? Sure!” Prim answered enthusiastically. Not surprising to her, she couldn’t think of a time he turned down food. Let alone free food.

“Well, I won’t turn that down.” Whirlwind also smiled. She could’ve called that as well. Lyla stood there for a second, blushing. Why was she blushing now?

“Um………. Prism…?” Though she asked for Prism, the all turned to her, causing her blush to deepen.

“Yeah?” He prompted her when she didn’t continue.

Starburst watched her curiously as well. She hadn’t really seen her act like that. Unless she was nervous, but what did she have to be nervous about now?

“Um, Well, I’d like to…” She looked away, to the floor before she continued. “Talk to you upstairs… if its ok?”

Starburst truly didn’t understand the way her cousin was acting. She turned to Whirlwind to see if she was as lost as she was, she concluded she had to be even more so, since she didn’t know Lyla as well as she did, but the look on the purple pegasus’ face wasn’t of confusion. She wasn’t sure what it was though.

“Sure.” It didn’t take Prism long to answer, making quick work of flying up the stairs. He didn’t seem to mind the small detour.

She watched Lyla look up after him, flapping her wings into a wobbly hover. She flapped them faster, wobbling a bit more, but gaining altitude.

“You’re flapping too fast.” Whirlwind stated simply, causing Prism to look over the side of the stars. Too see what she was talking about, she guessed. His laughter caused the lavender pony to lose her concentration, falling to the ground with a “thud.”

“Ow!….. Oh, horsefeathers…” Starburst let out a sigh. She never knew what it was, if Lyla was trying too hard, if she panicked when things didn’t go right, or if her wings simply were too weak to carry her.

She’d never admit it aloud, but she knew her cousin was near, if not fully impossible to teach. She was pretty sure half of it was her own mental blocks,  though, nopony she knew had figured out how to break through them.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw Prism fly back down and land in front of Lyla.

“Try again, “ He started, “Longer flaps. Watch me.” He demonstrated, flying back up the stairs.

It looked completely normal to her, but now that she looked, Lyla was flapping faster than she needed to. No wonder she got so tired so quickly.

Lyla looked back at her wings once more before flapping them, going a bit to the left, but immediately leaving the ground.

“Stop, stop, stop.” She dropped to her hooves when Prism stopped her, landing back down in front of her. Starburst momentarily wondered why he had stopped her. It looked like she was doing fine to her.

“Why aren’t you flappin em at the same time?” She wasn’t? that would explain why she was so unsteady.

Lyla gave him a look of confusion before speaking. “You’re supposed to?”

Whirlwind snorted, putting a hoof over her mouth before the laugh could escape. Starburst sighed. Surely one of her tutors must’ve told her something as simple as that. 

Maybe other pegasi truly didn’t pay as much attention to it. She hadn’t noticed most of the things Prism and Whirlwind had pointed out and she’d been flying since she was three months old.

“Yes.” Prism finally spoke, putting down the hoof that had come to cover his face in his frustration. “You are supposed to flap them at the same time.” He stood there, watching her take off this time.

She left the ground quickly, looking as stable as Starburst had ever seen her and flew up. Prism followed, landing at the top of the stairs. She stopped at the top of the stairs, about six inches away.

She reached out a hoof to try to get over to the stairs, and continuing the strong flaps, went above the top step.

She pulled her hoof back, leaning back a bit and accidentally going backwards. “Ah! No! No!” Starburst watched her go the wrong way, beginning to talk to her wings as if that would make them do what she wanted.

“No! Other way! No!” She saw her lean forward, going forward in a nose-dive and disappearing into the bedroom. Left alone with Whirlwind, she sighed.

“How did she get that bad…?” Whirlwind wasn’t fully asking, so she opted not to answer, going into the kitchen to fix up two more plates of the food Lyla had left in the skillet.

Whirlwind followed, quietly for a second. “What happened yesterday? I didn’t see anypony after noon.” She sat the plates of food on the table, getting out two glasses.

Prism hadn’t told her? After a second, she thought it was actually a bit understandable. If word got out that a creature like that existed in Equestria, it could very well cause a panic.

“Lyla got lost in the Everfree forest.” She kept the answer short. She picked up the milk carton, pouring its contents into one of the glasses.

It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Whirlwind, she just really didn’t want to explain that creature again. There weren’t many things in Equestria that made her feel as vulnerable as that thing did. She’d never felt as close to death as she did in that wolf thing’s presence.

“Starburst!” She jumped out of her thought when Whirlwind said her name, dropping the milk carton she held in her mouth on the floor. She looked back to see why Whirlwind had such an outburst.

The glass was drowning in milk. More of it was on the counter than the floor. Oops.

“Um…” Whirlwind started. “Do you need some help..?” It was obvious she had worried the other Pegasus, unsurprisingly so. She wasn’t the type to get lost in thought like that.

“No, I’m fine.” She continued on to cleaning up what she had spilled.





“Oww….” Lyla skidded across the floor of the bedroom, coming to a halt about three feet away from the stairs. She looked up, hearing laughter coming from above her.

“Nice one. Well, ya made it.” He, of course was the one laughing. To her surprise, he held out a hoof to her. She blushed a bit before taking it, pulling herself up with a pout.

“I did…. But it was more of a crash than flying.” Her blush darkened when her statement was met with a smirk.

“Yeah, well, don’t let it bug you too much. It was better than yesterday.” He let go of her hoof, moving away. “Jus try to do better tomorrow.” She looked away, poking at the ground, still blushing.

“I…. Suppose you’re right.” She didn’t know why it was so hard to look at him at times. Or why she got so nervous.

“Course I’m right.” He smirked again. “So what’s up?”

“Oh, right.” She went over to her little bag of belongings, reaching into it, she pulled out an envelope. “I don’t have much in the way of gifts, and I do hope you don’t have them already, but here.” She nudged it to him.

“I can’t express my gratitude enough at what you all did yesterday. I hope this begins to.” He looked at it oddly, examining it for clues before asking.

“What is it?” She smiled.

“Tickets to the Canterlot Air Show. Two of them.” She looked down before continuing. “I know you’ve expressed your disdain for sports flying, but I’d hope such a big event about it would pique your interest enough to enjoy it.”

She trailed off a bit, seeing him open the envelope to pull out two tickets. She arched a questioning eyebrow at the look he gave them.

“How did you get these..?” She couldn’t tell if he was excited or confused… until he smiled. “This shows been sold out for months.”

So he was following it. She smiled a bit, then thought back to his question. To be honest, her brother got them for her. Even though her father most likely wouldn’t have allowed her to go.

“My brother got them. Through his connections.” It wasn’t a lie, right? She only left out one word. He didn’t seem to question it.

“Heh, Well thanks.” She blushed, seeing a smile grace his face for the first time. She wanted to avert her eyes, but the task was proving to be more difficult than it sounded. She opted for attempting to speak.

“Um, Well, that is…. I’m thanking you. You… are the one that found me, after all…” She was finally able to look away, poking at the ground. Speaking made it easier to break contact, and since her business was done, she turned to start down the stairs.

“I actually have thank you gifts for everypony involved.” She continued, seeing him flying down next to her. “Yours and T’s are just the only ones here at the moment.”

He flew around, the smirk back on his face. “Aw.” He started with a teasing tone. “An here I thought I was special.” She giggled a bit before answering.

“Well, you got yours first, if that helps.” She missed the curious look he gave her at that, and headed right into the kitchen, where she saw Starburst and Whirlwind putting what looked like milk-soaked rags in the sink.

“What happened?” She questioned Starburst. It wasn’t like her to be klutzy or anything of the like that would cause such a big spill.

“Its nothing.” The look on her cousin’s face said otherwise, but she decided not to question it. She’d press for details later. If she got the chance. They all went over, taking a place at the table. 

“I hope you all like it.” She smiled when she noticed Star had headed it all up for her. She’d have to get her a thank you present too. Not just for yesterday, but for letting her stay with her as well.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard odd sounds from across the table. She looked to see Prism was the cause of it. He seemed to be a bit of a messy eater, in her opinion at least.

Perhaps it was just her, since Whirlwind wasn’t much better. She couldn’t help but let out a giggle. She really liked these two. Her laughter didn’t go unnoticed, and was questioned by Prism.

“What?” He paused his breakfast to look up at her, Whirlwind doing the same. Suddenly having all eyes on her frayed her nerves, causing her to blush.

“Um, nothing….. So what are we going to work on today?” She decided to change the subject, hoping to get the questioning eyes off her. She missed an odd look from Starburst, focusing on Prism’s answer.

“Hm? Landing.” His response confused her. It looked like it confused Starburst as well. She asked the question for the both of them.

“What does that have to do with flying?” Well, she knew it was a part of flying, she just never thought it was a big enough part to have a lesson on.

“Well, “ He started, leaning back a bit. “Most pegasi do learn how to fly first, and landing kinda comes naturally, but you panic when ya get close to the ground.”

“That’s what it is?” Whirlwind interjected. “That does explain it. I noticed she lost the bit of control she had when she got close to the ground, but I couldn’t figure out why.” It seems they knew her better than she knew herself.

“Yeah, I think that’s it. I thinks that’s why most of her landings are crashes too.” She was completely taken aback at Prism’s revelation.

“I Panic…?” She thought back to her previous flights, running them over in her head. It was true, wasn’t it? “I… suppose I do get a bit unnerved…” She trailed off as she thought.

She saw that everypony looked to be done with their food. As a good houseguest, she was about to take the plates to the sink when Starburst cut her off from it.

“I’ll get the plates.” She said it simply, but it had a bit of force behind it. She was curious as to why she’d talk to her like that before she noticed she was about to use her magic.

Being a pegasus was harder than she thought. She’d gotten so used to her magic, it was hard for her to live without it. But she could manage. She had to.

“Awright, lets do this.” Her thoughts were broken by Prism’s voice. “ Ya ready?” He turned to her, the usual smirk on his face. She looked away with a nod, feeling heat moving to her cheeks. Perhaps being a pegasus wasn’t… that bad.

She heard hoof steps heading out the door to the kitchen. When she looked up, she saw Starburst leaving the room. She followed her cousin out silently, wondering how landing worked. 

Now that she thought of it, she couldn’t remember a time where she actually landed. She always crashed or rolled. In fact, most of her flights ended in her sporting Prism’s trademark permanent band-aid, her muzzle usually being what broke her fall. 

When they got outside, she was rather shocked to see Ponyville as busy as it was. She giggled, remembering they were running an hour late.

She turned her attention to Prism and Whirlwind when they started flapping their wings, resulting in them taking flight.

She watched on in interest, walking through the streets. Starburst stayed grounded with her, and the minutes passed in silence. Lyla spoke first.

“You can fly too if you want. I know you like it.” She saw the little mare look at her from the corner of her eye. Apparently her comment didn’t deserve a response in Star’s mind.  

She sighed, looking around. It looked as though they had reached the outskirts of Ponyville once more. She turned back to her cousin with a smile.

“Ok then!” Her sudden, too happy outburst seemed to take Starburst by surprise. She didn’t comment on it, continuing.

“Since I’m the reason you’re staying grounded, I suppose I’ll just have to take flight.” The ghastly look on the little pegasus’ face was priceless.

“What? No, its-” She quit trying to talk when Lyla’s hooves left the ground. She was a tad wobbly at first, but straightened out, and flew up higher, using what she had learned a bit earlier.

Starburst followed her up, not looking as worried as before, but staying close. Her altitude piqued about five feet under the lowest cloud, and she sat there in a hover, thinking of what to do.

Usually when she leaned, she went into a nose-dive and was never quite sure why, but nose-diving from this height was not a good idea in the least.

She barely leaned over a little, waving her legs in a swimming motion. Air and water were both things you move through, water was just more dense, so it was the same basic concept, right?

She was satisfied when she started moving forward, ignoring the snort she heard from her cousin. Whirlwind doubled back, being the first of the two ahead to notice they were airborne.

“What in Equestria are you doing?” She said through amused giggles. Lyla couldn’t blame her. She probably looked ridiculous, but she was moving. That was good enough for her.

“Flying.. To Cloudsdale!” Her answer was a bit delayed. Flailing around as she was had its way of taking the breath out of a pony. 

She heard hearty laughter from below her, and looked down to see Prism right beneath her, flying on his back once more.

His sudden presence took her by shock, breaking her concentration and causing her to drop a few feet. Before she could fall the rest of the way, Prism moved around, out of the way of her fall, and pulled her back up to where she was.

“You’re flying, not swimming.” He smirked a bit. “If you wanna go forward, push a bit when ya flap. Or lean a little.” His smirk widened, “Like this.” And like that he was off, a rainbow trail following him.

She looked on, watching him lean over, then back up into a loop, and corkscrew down a bit. 

It was quite a breathtaking display, and though it didn’t really show her much in the way of moving, she watched with the utmost interest. He came to a hover in front of her, the usual smirk wide on his muzzle.

“Got it?” She was officially speechless. For a second, she almost forgot to keep flapping her wings. She didn’t know what to say… or feel.

That was the most amazing flight she’d ever seen. Not that she'd seen too many, but she was impressed. Her face suddenly felt as though it were on fire, and her heart was beating so fast she could hear it echoing through her whole body.

She thought it was the exhaustion from being airborne so long, her wing were starting to get tired, but it was a bit different… Perhaps it was something else.

“.. Wow…” She finally gathered enough of her brain to reply. After the first word, she couldn’t stop. “That was amazing, I’ve never seen anypony fly like that before!”

It seemed every time she saw that odd colt her opinion of him kept improving. They resumed their trip, she keeping up a little better now.

“Course not.” He leaned back, accepting the array of compliments she was giving, continuing. “You ain’t seen nopony fly till you’ve seen me.”

Whirlwind and Starburst both rolled their eyes at his statement, causing her to giggle.

“You know,” He continued, ignoring them. “That isn’t even one of my best moves.”

“Really?” She smiled, trying to keep up. The familiar feeling of her wings beginning to give out approaching. “I’d love to see more…” Due to said feeling, she started to descend, but gained it back, then lost it again.

Starburst and Whirlwind both were at her sides with concern.

“Are you ok?” She nodded at Starbursts question, as to not worry her. She was still ok, for the moment, though the ground kept getting closer.

“You’re descending.” Whirlwind alerted her. Perhaps she should let them know.

“Its getting hard to keep up…” She wanted to say more, but it was hard to do through her quickening pants. 

“Come on!” She looked up to see Prism pointing. “Were almost there!” It was true. They were very close to their designated meeting spot. Cloudsdale was in sight.

It hurt. It hurt a lot, but she kept going, still slowly losing altitude. She was panting heavily, starting to sweat, and felt as if she’d ran a marathon and a half by the time she hit the ground, which was pretty much a five foot drop onto her stomach.

“I…. Did it!” She lay there, feeling her wings throb with every beat of her heart. Whirlwind and Starburst both landed next to her, one on each side, both smiling.

“That was really good. I think that was easily the longest you’ve been airborne.” She could tell Starburst was being genuine in her compliments. 

Knowing the little pegasus as long as she did let her know that when she was being dishonest, she didn’t like to look other ponies in the eye.

“And you didn’t crash on the landing.” Whirlwind said, still smiling. By the time she hit the ground she was too tired to crash. She giggled inwardly at that.  Prism dropped in front of her.

“Awright, take a breather. Well get back at it in 5.” She turned to look over at him, thoughtfully. He was very odd to her.

‘If he isn’t the best flier in Equestria, he very well could be.’ Starburst’s words once again echoed in her head. She knew it wasn’t really any of her business, but she couldn’t help but wonder what had made the colt give up on something he seemed to love so much.

He didn’t seem to be one to like to be beaten at much of anything, which was a quality she was very familiar with in her cousin. He also didn’t seem to be very…… smart, for lack of a better word. He certainly was good-looking though.

“Whatcha lookin at?” She turned when she heard Whirlwinds voice, to see the purple mare smirking at her slightly.

“What..?” She wasn’t staring again was she?

“You were staring off into space. What were ya thinking so hard on?”  Whirlwind asked what seemed to be on Starburst’s mind as well, since said pony turned to the conversation at that moment. She blushed once more.

“Uh, I… believe I’m feeling better, so I suppose I should get to work! Right?” She moved, already being on the ground, she moved her wings down to do some wing ups. 

“Hey, Wind.” She heard Prism talking, but opted not to look up for fear of breaking her concentration and reinstating her embarassment. “Can you take over my weather duty today? So I can help Lyla out?”

“As long as you actually help her out.” She heard Whirlwind’s reply.

“Course I will.”

“I’ll do it.” Starburst interjected. “I missed it yesterday anyway.”

“I did it!!” Lyla’s outburst caught the attention of all three pegasi, each giving her an odd look. She didn’t pay much attention to it, too happy to care. “Ten! I did ten! In a row!!” 

“Good job.”  She looked to see Starburst smiling. Whirlwind had a similar reaction uttering a “nice work.” 

Prism half smiled happily, nudging her with his leg. “Yeah, not bad.” She felt the heat return to her face once more for an unknown reason. “Now do it again.” He continued, the smirk not leaving his muzzle.

She missed the odd look Whirlwind gave her, getting back down to try to do it again.

“Come on Star, “ Said purple pegasus spoke. “Let go get that weather outta the way.” She saw Starburst nod as they both flew off.





“So,” Starburst started, flying next to Whirlwind. She preferred working alone, but she wouldn’t object if it was Whirlwind. When it came to weather duty, she pulled her weight well.

She continued on with her statement. “What’s the forecast for today?” She landed on a nearby cloud, looking around. The skies were pretty clear to her.

“Partly cloudy. We need to bust a few clouds, but not to many. Its still pretty hot.” Whirlwind answered, landing next to her. “Nothin big.” 

Starburst nodded, looking around for a spot where it looked like the sun needed to shine through. While she was scanning the skies, Whirlwind spoke again.

“There was actually something I wanted to talk to you about.” She jumped off the cloud, flying over to a different spot, giving the clouds there a buck.

Starburst followed, doing the same to a group of clouds a few feet away. “Oh? What about?” It wasn’t very often Whirlwind took a semi-serious tone. It successfully got her interest.

“Lyla. What’re some things you can tell me about her?” She asked, leading the way to another cloud group they’d passed. Starburst followed, giving her an odd look. Why would she be asking about Lyla?

“What do you mean? What do you want to know?” She wasn’t one to talk about a pony when they weren’t there, but it was very strange for Whirlwind of all ponies, to care. 

If anypony she knew would care about another’s origins, it’d probably be Claire, but that’s just because she’s somewhat apprehensive like that at times.

“Why can’t she fly? Where does she come from? Why is she so….  Why doesn’t she know anything?” Now this just went from odd to straight up weird.

Why did Whirlwind care? Rather than question, she decided to answer what she was comfortable answering. 

“She’s from the Crystal Empire. I thought we established that. She’s very sheltered, and for the flying, you’ll have to ask her.”

She was satisfied with her answers, but frustrated that she wasn’t getting any from Whirlwind. She was about to open her mouth to ask why when she was cut off by Whirlwind continuing.

“What kind of colt does she like?” Her face fell into complete confusion. What in Equestria did that have to do with anything?

“…Why?” She was done giving out answers about her friend without getting any in return. Whirlwind broke up another cloud group before answering.

“Well, just tell me, cause I might be wrong, and I don’t wanna say anything if I’m not sure.” That added to her confusion. Sure about what? She left the question aside opting to answer. She stopped.

What kind of colt did Lyla like? She’d never thought about it. It wasn’t something either of them really talked about.

“Honestly,” She started, her mind was still drawing blanks at what to say. “I don’t know.” She continued, landing on a cloud. “We don’t really talk about them. And she hasn’t really been around many.”

‘Except for the royal guards, but she grew up with most of them.’ She looked up, continuing. “I don’t think she’s ever even had a crush.” Like she was one to speak. She couldn’t remember ever having one either.

“Never been… How has she never been around them?” Whirlwind asked with a very confused look. Starburst jumped off the cloud again, flying over to another, busting it up before she answered.

“It’s the same reason why she can’t fly. Which I can’t say.” She landed on another cloud, Whirlwind doing the same. She turned to the other mare, eyebrow arched.

“Why’d you want to know anyway?” Whirlwind looked thoughtful for a moment before answering.

“Well, I’m not sure. I don’t really know Lyla too well, but I think she might be getting a crush.” Whirlwind kept talking after that, but Starburst didn’t hear.

She was shocked. She’d never seen Lyla look twice at a stallion, no matter how much they ogled her or asked her out or.. Anything.

She didn’t even know what kind of stallion would get the attention of a beautiful crowned princess, such as Lyla.

“…but like I said, I’m not sure. It could just be how she acts, so never mind.” With that, Whirlwind flew off to break up more clouds, leaving Starburst with her thoughts.

She couldn’t believe it. Who could it be? It better be somepony good. Really good. He’d certainly have to pass her approval first.

She took off with a snort, another thought crossing her mind. It wasn’t just her the colt that courted Lyla would have to get through.

He’d have to deal with the reigning prince/former captain of the royal guard, and the crowned prince/current captain of the royal guard. Poor thing





“8.…. 8.….” Lyla fell to the ground once more. She officially hated that number now. She was able to get to ten twice, but her wings had once again started to rebel against her.

“Well, its better than yesterday.” She looked up when Prism spoke. “not where I wanna be to try control, so we’ll go on with the plan to practice landing.” 

She didn’t respond to that. It seemed like he was talking to himself to her, but she listened in curiosity anyway. He turned to her expectantly, but she missed the look, getting up. 

“Well?” He spoke a few seconds after she stood.

“What?”

“Need to practice landing.” From the emphasis he put on the word landing, she assumed he wanted to see her land. He could’ve just asked.

“Ok.” She went into a thoughtful hover. She never thought of how she usually landed. She flew up a bit higher, coming to the conclusion it’d be best not to think too hard on it. She lightened her flaps, lowering.

“Like this?” She took a small three foot drop, landing on all hooves. She was confused when he shook his head sighing. He seemed frustrated for some reason.

“I said landing, not falling.” He was definitely frustrated. Slightly, but it was there.

“I thought I did land.” She pouted slightly. She was sure that was how she usually landed. When it wasn’t a crash landing. He sighed again.

“Ok. Watch me.” She did as he asked, watching very intently as he flew straight up. Rather high, it looked. She watched on as he did a loop and went into a nose dive to the ground. 

Actually, it looked like he was going to hit it. He wouldn’t right? She let out the small breath she didn’t know she was holding when he did a 90 degree turn about six inches from the ground. If even that.

He slowed, straightening up, and came to land in front of her.

“Got it?” He turned to her with a smirk. She immediately felt heat moving to her cheeks, and turned away with a nod.

It was odd for her heart to be beating so fast at the moment… She hadn’t done any strenuous activity for a little while.

“That was an amazing display.” She turned back with a smile after she gathered herself.

“Heh, sure it was, I did it.” He smirked again, saying it as if it was plain as the sun, causing her to giggle.

“Where did you learn to fly like that? If you don’t mind my asking.” He looked thoughtful at her question. Surely he’s had more ponies than just her ask before.

“Mm, Well, I did go to summer flight camp when I was younger.” He smirked again. “Best in my class too. So I guess they didn’t really teach me much.”

He paused to think again, then looked down a bit. “I guess ma taught me most of what I know.” She smiled at that.

“My mother is the pegasus in my family, but even then, she doesn’t fly much and she’s very busy most of the time.” She turned to shift her weight before continuing.

“My father and brother are both unicorns, and being in the Crystal Empire, there aren’t many opportunities to learn much of anything in the way of flight.”

She didn’t quite know why she was telling him this. She was sure he didn’t care very much. She looked up to see him looking… surprisingly interested.

“Yeah, I guess I can understand that. Wasn’t too easy for ma to teach me either. She was pretty busy most the time and…” He stopped short, looking away. She arched an eyebrow curiously.

“And?” She prompted him to continue. He didn’t for a second, but then she heard in a low mutter,

“I was kinda scared of heights when I was little.” He brought a hoof up to scratch the back of his head, trying to laugh off his embarrassment. “Pretty dumb, huh?”

“Not in the least!” She shook her head, very adamant on her opinion of phobias. “Acrophobia is a very legitimate fear.” She blushed lightly, looking away.

“And I have more respect for you than I already did knowing you conquered it.” She smiled. “It really speaks to your character.” Her heart jumped oddly when she saw a light blush form on his face as he smiled.

“Huh, never heard anypony put it that way before.” The blush disappeared and was replaced with a smirk. “Guess it is pretty cool, huh?”

“Yes.” She nodded in agreement, laughing. “It’s a lot better than a fear of hornets. Or getting a hair cut.” He laughed aloud at that.

“Who the hay would be afraid of getting a haircut?” She tried not to let her shame show, but a blush found its way to her face and she looked away. She heard his laughter end with an “oh..”

She laughed. “No, you’re right. It is a… rather illegitimate fear.” 

“Hey!!!” They both looked to the distance at the voice they heard, seeing Whirlwind coming into view. He turned back to her.

“Well, hey, if I can get over a fear you say is legit, you should have no prob getting over one you say ain’t.” He half smiled, bumping her shoulder before trotting over to greet Whirlwind.

She blushed at the overly friendly contact. Not that she didn’t like it. It was odd though, nopony had ever been so informal to touch her so… Well, not a colt that she wasn’t related to. It was nice.

“So how’s it going?” She trotted over just as Starburst was landing, in time to hear the start of the conversation.

“Just startin’ to teach her to land.” Prism stretched with a yawn.

“Just starting?” Starburst arched an accusing eyebrow. “We’ve been gone for a little while. Why are you just starting?” He sat there for a second before turning to Lyla.

“Right, so tell me what you learned from seeing them land just now.” She did her best to hold back to giggle at Starburst’s face. She may as well have said “Slacker” out loud.

She shook the thought from her head, focusing on what she had seen the other pegasi do.

“Mm,” She started, replaying the image in her head. “Flap your wings fast backwards to slow down and…. Land?” She wasn’t sure what else there was to it. She looked up seeing him looking at her oddly. “What?”

“That’s it?” She didn’t see much of anything else happen. He seemed like he was expecting more. Luckily, Starburst asked what she was thinking.

“What’re you talking about?”

“I’ve noticed she tries to land on all fours at once. Or forelegs first.” She was confused at his statement. Was she not supposed to do that?

“She does do that, doesn’t she?” Whirlwind seemed to direct the question somewhat at Star, though it sounded to be more of a thought.

“Yeah. She does.” Starburst answered either way, turning to Prism. “Maybe you’re smarter than I give you credit for.” She chided teasingly. “ I never paid attention to flying, I just did it.”

“Of course I’m smart!” Prism frowned, apparently offended at her cousin’s statement. “I’m a genius.” Starburst opted not to say anything, replying with a roll of the eyes instead.

“Look,” He turned back to her. “For somepony who don’t know what they’re doin, landing on your forelegs is gonna end up in a faceplant over half the time. Land on your back legs first, then lower your front.” 

That seemed to make sense enough. She nodded, moving into a hover once more. She went up slowly, about ten feet before descending once more.

As she got closer, she leaned back, preparing to land. She went backwards a few feet, causing a wobble. She leaned forward to re-correct, going a bit too fast.

“No, no ah!” She started talking to herself when she started to lose what little control she had. As she got closer to the ground, she flapped her wings back a little, slowing this time, rather than going backwards. She ceased flapping when her back hooves touched the ground, allowing her front to land.

She sat there for a second looking at the ground. “I did it…” She looked up smiling. “I did it! Star I did it! I didn’t crash!”

“Yeah, you did good.” Said pony replied with a small half-smile.

“Good going Lyla.” Whirlwind interjected as well, raising a hoof out in front of Lyla, who looked at it in confusion. Whirlwind laughed again.

“Ain’t you ever heard of a hoof bump?” A what? She shook her head slowly, feeling that she should, but couldn’t recall what it could possibly be.

“Hold out your hoof.” She did as Whirlwind asked, and interestingly enough, Whrilwind brought tier hooves together in a triumphant “clunk”. Lyla giggled, smiling widely. That felt good.

“Yeah,” Everypony looked when Prism finally spoke.

She was nervous about what he had to say. Where Starburst and Whirlwind didn’t have much to say of her lack of ability, Prism was quite blunt about it. She appreciated it though.

“It was a good… attempt,” He continued. “but if you flap your wing too hard when you go to come in, you’ll actually go backwards like you did. Don’t put so much power behind it.”

“Ok.” She nodded. He truly was smart when it came to flying. Starburst turned to her.

“Its getting close to noon. I’m going to head over to Sweet Apple Acres. Are you going to come?” Lyla thought for a second.

“Are we done for the day?” She turned to make sure Prism and Whirlwind were ready to call it a day.

“Yeah, its cool. We’ll split for a bit, and I’ll find ya later so we can meet up with Candy. Cool?” She nodded.

“Overdue for an afternoon nap?” Whirlwind asked. It was more of a tease that had no need to be answered.

“He, you know it.” He smirked, taking flight. He tossed a “see ya” over his shoulder as he flew off. Lyla giggled a bit, turning to Whirlwind.

“What about you Whirlwind? Would you like to come with us?” She saw that Starburst had already started making her way back to Ponyville. She was so impatient sometimes.

“Nah.” She shook her head. “Thanks, but I already got plans. Be seein you!” She followed suit, flying off, back up to Cloudsdale.

Lyla looked up at the cloud city, not having truly seen it before. It was quite beautiful. She could see cloud buildings on their own individual clouds, rainbows circling around certain parts, and countless pegasi flying between them all.

She was getting better at flying. Perhaps she could make it up there now… Maybe.

“Lyla?” Starburst’s voice in the distance knocked her from her thoughts. She turned, starting after the little mare, taking a small glance back at Cloudsdale.