I do not own any part of MLP (no matter how much I might want to...).
All rights are to hasbro.
I think.
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This story takes place before the events of Cutie Mark Chronicles, meaning that Rainbow is still a very young filly. And I mean VERY young.
Just sayin'.
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Learning to Fly
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Chapter one
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Rainbow Dash was excited. No, excited was an understatement. Rainbow Dash was euphoric.
Why, you might ask?
Today was her fifth birthday, which meant she was going to learn to fly. That's what her mother, Firefly, had told her. Though she had no idea /how/ she was going to learn, she knew she was going to learn, which was all that mattered. To be a Pegasus meant being able to fly, which was why Rainbow was practically bursting with excitement.
Though she didn't yet, soon she would care very much about just how she was going to learn such a valuable skill.
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Later that same day, Firefly had taken Rainbow to a cloud very high up in the sky. So high, in fact, that no matter how much she strained her eyes, Rainbow could not see the ground at all.
"Mommy, why are we so high up?" Rainbow asked, really wondering.
"We are up here because you are going to learn to fly," Firefly answered, "the same way all Pegasus ponies have learned to fly before."
"Wow..."
"Yes. Wow indeed. Now, if you are going to learn to fly today, why do you suppose I brought you up here?"
"Well, um.... I don't know."
"Well here's a hint: think about how baby birds learn to fly."
"Well, the mommy and her babies are all in the nest and the mommy p-"
As the answer dawned on her, Rainbow suddenly became fearful for her life. She didn't want to be pushed off of a cloud by her own mother, especially with such a great risk of death ( little did she know, however, there had hardly ever been any casualties while teaching Pegasus fillies and colts how to fly, as their mothers or fathers always flew alongside them in case they didn't get it right the first time (one could
hardly expect any foal to be able to pull such a feat(of course, it had happened a few times before))).
"Mommy... A-are you g-gonna push me off this c-cloud?" Rainbow's voice and body were shaky with fear.
"Yes, but only if you decide you don't want to just jump off yourself." Firefly spoke with a flat tone of voice. It tore her up to see her daughter so scared, let alone of her.
Rainbow steeled herself and paused before speaking again. "Mommy?"
"Yes Rainbow?"
"When should I jump and what should I do once I do jump?"
Firefly felt a great weight lift off of her shoulders when she heard that she wouldn't have to push her only daughter off of a cloud. "Well, once I'm done telling you what to do, you can jump off whenever you want. Once you jump, count to five and spread your wings as wide as you can so you can glide on a thermal back up to this cloud. If you can't do it right the first time, don't be worried, I'll be flying right next to you the whole time in case you mess up. Understand?"
"Yes! Oh, I bet this is gonna be totally awesome!" And with that, Rainbow jumped off the cloud.
She counted the seconds.
One...
As she started to fall, Rainbow began to feel... Relaxed?
Two...
She felt the air whooshing past her body, moving to make way for the mass falling through it.
Three...
Along with being relaxed, Rainbow began to feel warm, which was unusual for such high altitudes.
Four...
Rainbow focused on the task abead, preparing her muscles and using all of her concentration.
Five!
Rainbow did as her mother had said, and spread her wings as far as they could go. Instantly, the felt the thermal air current beneath her like a warm pillow gently pushing her back towards the cloud where she started. Feeling that just gliding was so easy, she decided to try a small barrel roll.
Gasping, she rolled right off the thermal.
Luckily, there was another right below, and she continued to glide up to the cloud where her mother now stood once again, no longer trying to do any tricks. Once she arrived at her destination, she was greeted with a warm hug and loving praise from her mother.
"You did such a good job! I made it on my first try, too, but I didn't try anything fancy like that barrel roll you did. When you fell off of the first thermal, I was so worried that you would fall, but you just landed right on another one and came right up here to me. You're going to be one of the best fliers in all of Equestria, I can just tell. What did you think?"
"Thanks for bringing me up here mommy. I only have one question though..."
"And what would that be?"
"Can I go again?"
"Well of course! Today is your day. You can go as many times as you want before we go home."
And Rainbow did just that.
She went a total of ten more times before she became too tired to carry on. However, she only tried doing barrel rolls on four of those other tries. She did a couple runs where she did no tricks, and the other four she spent expire experimenting with new tricks. Nonetheless, she couldn't have had more fun.
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Every day for the next month Rainbow practiced her flying, learning to glide without the use of thermals, and how to take off from the ground. Her mother had said she would be a great flier, and she wanted live up to those words, so she practiced. Improving herself was all she cared about. Thus began Rainbow's love for competition and later visit to a wonderbolts show to watch her mother spawned her love for the team and her longing to be on it.
Rainbow wanted to be the best flier in all of Equestria.
And she wanted to be a Wonderbolt.