-7th Sunrise-
-Training in Ponyville: Flight-
I stop to catch my breath. Thorn stops next to me and looks around. He sits down and folds his wings. ‘Wings really are quite helpful for speed,’ I observe.
“Why did we run from them?” Thorn asks absentmindedly. I exaggerate a shiver.
“They told me a few stories of their crusades when I first met them. I'd rather not end up covered in injuries and tree sap.” I reply while feathering out my wings. It's still weird to have wings - or, well, to be a pony in general. Thorn chuckles at my reply. I give him a playful glare and throw some grass at him. A look of surprise crosses his face.
“Do that again,” he insists. I raise an eyebrow but repeat my action. He smiles and claps his hoofs a little. I look at the grass, but notice nothing unusual about it.
“What?” I inquire, my voice filling with confusion.
He keeps smiling, “You didn't use your hooves.” He explains matter-of-factly. I look down at my hooves and back at him. ‘I used magic?’ I think with awe and wonder.
“I used magic!” I yell, jumping up suddenly. Thorn falls backwards in a fit of laughter while I hop around in joy. “Yes! Yes! Yes! I did it! I us-” I trip on a rock while jumping and tumble down a hill that I never realized we were on. My fall interrupts my exclamations, and I land on my back, bursting into laughter almost immediately. Thorn flies down and lands next to me.
I look up at him and the sun outlines him -causing him to appear as if glowing. His eyes are filled with joy, and sparkle as he looks back at me.
‘Too bad he's a mortal,’
My mind freezes up when that thought crosses my mind. ‘Why would I think that?’ l wonder.
‘You're just going to get hurt,’
My whole body goes rigid now. I don't understand why these thoughts are crossing my mind, and what they're suggesting is upsetting.
‘All that matters is getting home,’
I blink. Home. Right, yes. When did the idea of home become upsetting? No, not upsetting, less appealing. I never wanted to come here in the first place.
“Daybreak?” Thorn asks, and I realize my eyes are closed. I open them and stand up. I look around at everything. The trees, shrubs, grass, and the flowers. Finally I look at Thorn. “Is everything alright?” He asks, concern dripping from his quiet voice.
There isn't any of this stuff at home
No clouds, no trees, no flowers, and...no ponies. All there is back home is millions of stars, and planets, and debris from foolish planets. All of that is amazing, and beautiful, but, it's nothing like here. But if I stay here, will anything ever really compare to there?
Strangely, I'm glad I don't have to choose.
Thorn waves his hoof in front of my face. I blink at him, and suddenly remember that he asked me something. “Oh, sorry I sort of got lost in my mind.” I reply, scratching my head awkwardly. He looks relieved, but I'm not sure. “We should go find Rainbow Dash, I think the breaks probably over.” I say, and he nods. We head off towards the park Twilight told us Rainbow Dash was most likely to be napping in.
It takes all of five minutes before I spot her Rainbow mane hanging off the side of a cloud. “Hey! Miss Egotist!” I yell, looking up at the cloud. Rainbow Dash’s mane moves, indicating that she's waking up. “Hey show off! Wake up!” I continue, and Rainbow Dash sits straight up and looks down at me.
“Why you little!” She yells, flying down to me. “Don't you know it's rude to call ponies names?” She asks, landing in front of me. She puffs out her chest as she continues, “Especially a pony as awesome as me.”
I deadpan at her. “Don't you know it's obnoxious to show off?” I reply. She ruffles her wings.
“Whatever, let's just get started.” She says. I groan.
“Why do you have to teach me? Couldn't literally any other Pegasus teach me?” I complain, and both Thorn and Rainbow give me a look of annoyance. “Ok, ok. I'll stop.” I say, waving my hooves up in front of me.
“Ok. First step is stretching.” Rainbow says, starting to do so herself. I copy what she does, and with an eye roll Thorn does too. “When you fly you want to pay attention to everything, so that you miss nothing. If you can learn that, it will help in other areas of life too.” She says, transitioning between stretches. “Truly the best way to learn is to practice. Just try to fly higher than a hover for now.” Rainbow adds, taking off. I get myself a few feet into the air and attempt to follow her. Anyone with any sense could tell that while she still kept speed on me, she had significantly reduced it to stay within my sight. I hate that it's necessary.
We continue flying for an hour, taking very few breaks. By the end of the practice my whole body hurts. Twilight finds us afterwards, and takes us back to her castle for dinner.
“Celestia sent a pegasus carriage to take you two home, so as soon as you're done you can leave.” Twilight says. We finish eating and say goodbye to everypony.
The moment my head hits the pillow, or maybe a few seconds before, I'm asleep.