//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: Onyx's Origins 
// by Onyx_Eclissius 
//------------------------------//

 I ran at full speed, approaching the edge of the roof. I fluttered my wings a few times to prepare them, and then I jumped right off the building. I slapped my wings against empty air, threw my legs outward, superhero style, and flew forward.
“Way to go, Onyx!”, shouted Sapphire. I looked back at her with a smirk, proud of myself. When I turned back, I caught a glimpse of Mother’s silhouette against the moon. My wings locked up and I swerved down, out of control. I hit the mattress with a soft POMF!
“Gahhh!”, I shouted angrily, “I was so close! You threw me off, Sparks!”
“How did I throw you off?”, she called back, “You were doing fine until you looked at the moon. What is it about it that screws you up?”
“My mother is trapped up there! What would you do if somepony you cared about ended up exiled to the moon?”
“I don’t know. If you went to the moon, I’d probably be pretty upset every time I looked at the thing”, she said thoughtfully. 
“Exactly”, I said, re-entering the school. I made the climb back up to the roof. Thanks to my Earth pony training, I was able to make this trip for the twelfth time, relatively unparsed. I backed up to the edge of the roof and ran at full speed once more.
“Onyx! Stop!”, cried Sapphire, grabbing me before I made it to the other side, “Are you nuts? You just jumped off of a building twelve times in a row! You need to take a break.”
“I can take a break when I can fly properly”, I said bitterly.
“It’s 3 in the morning! You need to sleep!”
“So? I still can’t fly.”
“If you keep pushing yourself like this, you’ll collapse! We can’t be caught out here when Ms. Ariel prepares her class. I remember hearing her say that she gets here at 5.”
“Alright, alright”, I said, turning away. I trotted a few feet away from Sapphire, and then I turned back and ran off the building, “After one more jump!”
I cut through the sky, gliding to the ground, stumbling slightly when my hooves touched the dirt.
“Onyx, you are completely insane!” said Sapphire, flying down to meet me.
“Am I, now? Have I ever told you the definition of insanity?”
“No, you don’t need to,  I already know”
“I’ll take total insanity if it means I can fly”, I said with a smile.
“Not to burst your bubble, but that wasn’t exactly flight. You sort of just floated to the ground.” said Sapphire.
“Yes, but I’m getting there!”, I laughed, “Tell me that’s not progress. Go ahead, I’ll wait.”
“That’s all good and well, but we really need to get going”, said Sapphire, glowing bright yellow. “Can you stop being so happy? We’re going to get caught!”
“No dice, Sapphire! I’m ecstatic! You’re right though. We should get going”, I said, trotting away briskly. 
“How are you still standing?”, asked Sapphire, increasing her pace to match mine. “You have to be exhausted!”
“Physically? Yes. Mentally? Also yes. But none of that matters because I’m one step closer to my goal. I haven’t been happy like this in a long time! All we have to do is get back to the orphanage before my adrenaline rush dies”, I said, slowing down slightly.
“You’re going to pass out soon, aren’t you?”, asked Sapphire.
“That I can guarantee you. It’s alright though, I can see the orphanage from here.” 
“How are we getting in?”
“Dawn knows that I sometimes sneak out at night. She won’t care.”
“Why do you do that?”
“Sometimes, I like to be away from everypony. By ‘sometimes’ I really mean ‘every second of the day’. The only time I can enjoy such solitude is at night”, I explained, reaching the back door of the orphanage. I picked the lock with magic and trotted upstairs. As soon as I saw my bed, I collapsed onto it, face first.
“We made it, yay” I said unenthusiastically.
“Just barely. Listen, Onyx, I don’t think this is such a good idea. These nighttime sessions.”
“Nighttime sessions?!”, I asked in shock, “Please choose another phrase, one not so...eh..suggestive”, I looked at her intently while still dozing off, “You mean the flying lessons? Why not?”
“We might get caught, plus it’s not healthy to go so long without sleep. Three hours is not a healthy rest.”
“Be that as it may, I do better at night. I always knew that, but it wasn’t until today that I thought to learn at night.”
“I’ve been in class with you for a few days now, and you seem to be doing better. Why not just let Ms. Ariel teach you with the rest of the class?”
“I don’t like her. And I don’t easily take criticism from people I abhor. You’re lucky I decided to take you to her class at all.”
“But I thought you said that you needed her.”
“I did, until you came about. You can help me at night. I could stop going to her classes completely, if I wanted to.”
“Why do you choose to keep going?”
“Cut my time in half. Normally, my schedule for learning is half a week of class. One half of that time is the instructional period and the other half is practical applications. Using this method, I can double my instruction and my practice time, cutting the time it’ll take me to learn in half”, I said, eyes falling heavy.
“I think it’s time for you to get some sleep”, said Sapphire, noticing my tired eyes.
“Maybe you’re right. Give me a second, I’ll move over”, I said drowsily.
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll sleep on the floor”, she said kindly.
“No, no, I’ll… I’ll… I’ll move”, I said, fighting sleep with all my might. Sapphire rolled me onto my back and covered me with a blanket.
“You need me to sing you a lullaby? Tell you a story? Maybe give you a little kiss goodnight?”, she joked.
“I’m too tired to come up with a witty retort. Good night”, I said, shutting my eyes.

The next morning, Sapphire and I ate a quick breakfast, and then booked it to school. When we arrived, we realized that we had forgotten to move the mattress. Eyeing it nervously, we rushed past it, hoping to pass by undetected. We quickly ran to the roof, blending in with a group of fillies and colts. Ariel gave the entire group a long winded lecture, reminding us that if we were caught on school grounds after hours, we would be expunged from the class. After she had blown off enough steam, she began to drill us. She had designed a small obstacle course, with rings suspended in midair and hurdles for us to run and jump over, along with S-turns and cones made of cloud that we’d have to dart between.
“Along this course will be 14 flags”, said Ariel, “You have a week to learn the course and practice before the exam begins. During this exam, you will have 4 minutes to grab all thirteen flags. If you manage to get them all within the time limit, you will pass this class and become a certified flyer. If you fail, you will have to wait a full year to retake the test. I have nothing more to tell you, so I will leave you alone to practice. Good luck to all of you.”
“Is she serious?”, I asked Sapphire, getting in line to try the course, “That was the least help I’ve ever received! No tips, no words of advice!”
“Oh, and a word of advice? Try not to plummet to the ground like some of you in the group. Try to keep your horns out of the dirt.” said Ariel, smirking with a smug grin.
“What does she mean?”, asked Sapphire, “This is a Pegasus class. Who has a horn…Oh! I see.”
“You know, Sparks, sometimes you’re really smart and great to have around. Other times, you remind me of that ditzy filly at the orphanage. You know? The one who got her head stuck in the sink!” I said, watching her coat change to a dark red, “I hate that mare! She’s going on my list of ponies whose face I wish to incinerate!”
“Calm down, Onyx”, said Sapphire, looking at me as if she were upset, “Stay focused. You can’t expect to do your best if you’re seeing red.”
“Oh, ha ha, very funny”, I said, breathing deeply. Her coat shifted to a lighter shade of red, “I guess I have to start practicing, rather than training.”
“What, no training montage!?”, exclaimed Sapphire.
“What? No, get out of here Sparks.”

Our schedule for the next week was pretty repetitive: we were out of bed at 6 in the morning. After a quick breakfast, we would run to school, flexing our wings along the way to prepare ourselves for the oncoming work out. When we got there, we ran through the course quickly. For the first few days, I couldn’t get into the air by myself, but by Wednesday, I was able to take off properly. After we made it through the course a few times, we would take a short break, enjoy a light lunch, and stretched out our wings. After another few runs on the course, we headed home, where we waited for night to fall. As soon as the moon arose, we headed back to school, where we practiced a bit more. On the last night of practice, I ran through the course in 5 and a half minutes.
“Not. Good. Enough!” I groaned to myself.
“It’ll be okay, Onyx”, said Sapphire, finishing the course for the third time, each of which she completed in less than three minutes, each time, “You always do better under pressure. You’ll be fine on the exam.”
“No, no, no! I’m going to fail!” I said angrily.
“No you won’t. You’ll ace it.”
“What makes you so confident?”, I asked.
“Because, you study a lot, master everything you do and always accomplish your goals. I’ve never seen you fail at anything before, so I don’t see what makes you think you’ll start now.”
“You’ve never seen me fail before? If that’s the case, then how do you explain…you? That was a failure of course. I failed to bring back Mother.”
“Well, you should get your eyes checked. Sure, you didn’t do exactly what you were trying to do, but you succeeded in breathing life into a rock! That’s pretty cool! You took a crystal off of the floor and turned it into a friend!”
“Friend?”, I said, slightly confused, “You consider me a…friend?”
“Best friend”, said Sapphire, “Well…the best friend I can think of.”
“Thanks”, I said quietly, “You’re a good…friend, too. I never had an actual friend before.” 
“That’s a darn shame for everypony else in Equestria, because you’re amazing!”
“No, I’m not all that great”, I said.
“Yeah, you are. Remind me again: What is your goal?”
“To bring Mother back”, I said.
“And?”
“Bring down Celestia”
“And?”
“Find a new home”
“What else?”
“Rule over New Equestria with Mother!”, I exclaimed.
“Ok, yeah! And you’re going to pull off every single thing on that list, even if it takes you to your death, am I right?”
“Yeah! Wait, I’m not going to die, so no?”
“Just say yes so we can move on”
“Yes?”
“So, what are you going to do in the morning?”, she asked, nudging me slightly on the shoulder.
“Ace this exam!”
“Are you going to show Ariel who’s the boss?”
“Yeah, I will! I’ll show that gritty hag what’s coming to her!”
“You sure will!”, she said, leading me down from the roof. We made our way back home. On our walk, I had time to contemplate what she said. 
“Friend?”, I thought to myself, “I never did expect for that to happen”