//------------------------------// // Episode 2: Learn to Fly // Story: Freeze Frame // by ToixStory //------------------------------// I woke up the next day sometime around ten, just as the blinds over the window that had been shielding me from the land of the living finally failed as the sun rose high enough for light to stream through. It wasn’t just my room getting brighter that woke me up, though. Joya had worked through the night on dresses for the Celebration; I’d spent most of my sleep listening to the gentle, steady hum of her sewing machine as, stitch by stitch, she turned bundles of fabric into her own little works of art. For the past half-hour, unfortunately, she’d switched off the machine and turned to some sort of tool that made a loud click every few seconds. It was maddening; every time my brain managed to pick out a pattern, the rhythm would change and I would stay awake a minute longer. The symphony of mechanical noise rose louder and louder until it reach a cresendo...and then it was silent again. It felt like as good time as any to get up, so I yawned, swung myself out of the silky sheets of my bed, and set my hooves on the cold, wooden floor. My back popped as I stretched it and my mouth, as usual, tasted like I’d spent the night licking the side of a mining cart. I fumbled, blurry-eyed, for the hairbrush on top of my dresser before giving up and giving my mane one good shake and stumbling out of my room. Marshmallow was gone, but the house still smelled like a bakery; probably helped by the fact that neither Joya nor I were any good at cooking and, since we had been left with a good supply of leftovers, had no desire to give it a try. Across the hall, the door to Sterling’s new bedroom was open, and the bed was empty. When we had arrived at Joya’s around midnight in the back of a police carriage, Sterling had been in some sort of muttering stupor that had left him all but dead to the world as we pulled him inside and assured the policemares that we were going to be fine. When they’d taken us into custody I’d been worried that we were going to be put into jail, but Sterling had made something of a name for himself in that area for causing accidents, and to them the explosion had been nothing more than a steady escalation of his previous failures. Nopony was hurt, and with his house gone, they let us go free. I shut Sterling’s door and walked to the bathroom. What was supposed to be a quick once-over of my coat with a washrag and maybe a short dunk in a washbasin for my mane turned into a long soak in the tin bathtub. The city had turned the hot water back on, and I decided to take full advantage of their act of generosity--even if they had only been motivated to do so in the first place because of the prestigious guests arriving from all over Equestria for Princess Celestia’s presentation of the Summer Sun Celebration. Pullmare couldn’t have any part of Fillydelphia not looking its best, even the slummier ones. I plunged as much of my body as I could underwater, and kept only the parts of my nose necessary for breathing in the air above. With any luck, my mind would drift back to the times before I had to worry about a maniacal mayor trying to off me. *        *        * An hour later I stepped out of the tub, refreshed and looking like an overly-large prune. I toweled off as best as I could and headed downstairs, unsure of what to do with myself. Everypony else was busy with the preparations while I, so far, didn’t have much to do besides make sure my camera was working--an experience only rivaled in stimulation by watching paint dry. The floor of the store was covered entirely in pieces of fabric and discarded sheets of paper with designs drawn haphazardly on them. “Joya?” I called, trying to find her in the mess. “Over here!” her voice answered from the back workroom. Inside, Joya worked at the center of a circle of ponnequins; dresses and a couple suits hung loosely from them. She had resumed the use of her clicking machine, and somehow managed to hum along with the unsteady beat. She looked up as I came in. “Well, what do you think?” she asked. I recognized my own dress, of course. It looked much the same as it had before: white satin gown with little jewels that weren’t quite diamonds sewn onto the hemline. The other dresses, though, I hadn’t seen before. “Did you do all this in one day?” I asked. “Sure did,” Joya chirped happily. Puzzled, I ran one hoof over the neat, uniform stitches and ordered lines of jewels on one of the gowns. If we were going to impress the high-class junkies from Canterlot and Manehattan, these were our best bet. “So...how?” I asked. “Did I do them all so fast?” Joya said, appearing at my side. She smiled and turned to me. “Why, by staying up all night, of course!” I recoiled at her sudden appearance. Her mane, normally in a neat bun, had fallen into a tangle of split ends and snarled curls. The eyes perched behind her sewing glasses were bloodshot, and bags hung heavy beneath them. “Are you, uh, sure that was a good idea?” I said. “The Celebration isn’t until tomorrow...” “Well of course it is, sweetie,” she said, “that’s why I’ve stayed up so long; this isn’t my first Summer Sun Celebration.” “But shouldn’t you be making outfits for, you know, customers, instead of a group of ponies you’ve only just met?” I said. “Most customers order their dresses or suits weeks in advance,” she said, “so I have no problem taking a little time off to make a dress for you.” “I didn’t say it was for me.” “You didn’t have to.” I rubbed the back of my head and mumbled a thank you while Joya sat down at her sewing machine. One hoof pumped the machine’s pedal at a steady beat, and two others guided a piece of satin through the electric needle. I looked around for something to do, and spotted a large box underneath a half-finished skirt. “What’s in here?” I said. I walked over to the box, but resisted the urge to shake it. “Oh, Sterling brought that up earlier,” Joya said. “I think it’s for you.” “For me? Really?” I said. I tore open the top and found my camera lying inside. It looked better than when I had last seen it at the factory: the case was more shiny and sleek, and the flash guard was larger--something I had meant to ask him about after the last stint of photography left me seeing spots for hours. There was a note attached. It read: Minty, replaced the film, cleaned the viewfinder, and found a new, better light bulb. Should work better now. His name was signed in a quick, scratching way as if he had been unsure of whether the letter was supposed to be formal. “What’s in the package?” Joya asked over the din of her machine. “It’s my camera--Sterling fixed it up just for me,” I said. “Awe, well that was awfully sweet of him,” she said. I clutched the note to my chest and sighed. “Yeah, it really was.” She tilted her head to the side. “Are you okay?” she said. “You look like you’re trying to inhale that letter.” I snapped the note away from my face as quickly as I could, crumpled it up, and through it on the ground. “I don’t know what you’re talk about.” “You know, Minty,” she said, waggling her eyebrows, “if I didn’t know better, I’d say you had a little crush on Sterling.” “I do not,” I snapped. “How could I? He’s weird and awkward and only knows how to talk about machines...” My sentence petered out when I looked up and saw Joya still grinning at me. “What?” “You’re face is so red that it’s turning your coat purple,” she said. She laughed. “And your voice keeps squeaking...” “It does not!” I said, intending to sound forceful. Instead, my vocal chords chose that moment to betray me, and my voice pitched so high I could have broken glass. “Dear, there’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Joya said. “It’s perfectly fine if you’re crushing on Sterling. Though I never really imagined he’d be your type.” “Alright, alright, so I might like Sterling--a little,” I grumbled. I looked down at my hooves and sighed. “Doesn’t really change the fact that he doesn’t return the feeling.” “Oh, and how would you know?” she said. “He fixed  the camera just for you, didn’t he?” I snorted. “So now if someone does something friendly for another pony, that means they like them?” I carefully picked up the discarded note and smoothed it out before placing it beside my camera. “If that’s the case, then he might just be right about there being something between me and Grapevine.” Joya gave me a look, but didn’t follow up on it. She wiped her brow and fed another piece of cloth into her machine. It whirred into motion as she spoke, “Well, that’s not the only thing he’s done.” “Oh yeah, what else?” I said. “Did he offer to pick up my mail? I’ve heard that’s a sure sign a guy’s madly in love with you.” Instead of answering, she tossed a suit at my head. I missed the catch and had to pick it up off the floor. The outfit was silky-white and had gemstones for buttons and cufflinks. In fact, when I looked closely, it almost looked a lot...like...mine. Oh no. “Joya,” I said, “please, please, please tell me that you didn’t make him a matching outfit without asking.” “What do you mean, without asking?” she said. “He requested it himself; he seemed to be under the idea that you asked him to the Summer Sun Celebration.” The tops of my ears burned. “He- he said that?” “Sure did,” Joya said. Suddenly, everything I had thought about Sterling and the Celebration was different, and for once in a good way. It was a dizzying sensation, to say the least; the most I’d hoped for was to ask him to dance. Now, it went without saying that I could afford to get into the freakier aspects of our suddenly-elevated relationship. “Maybe I should, uh, go talk to him,” I said. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Joya said. She didn’t look up from sewing machine, but I could still feel her eyes--somehow--boring into me. “Why not?” “I tried to take him one of Marshmallow’s leftover brownies,” she said, “and, well, he’s not exactly in the greatest mood to talk. Kept yelling about needing to finish some project.” She smiled and rubbed the back of her head. “Plus, Grapevine may have, uh, wanted me to tell you something.” “Is it about what happened yesterday?” I said. “No, nothing like that,” Joya said. “She just wanted you to come down to the Chronicler office, is all.” Right, I still had a job. Probably. I snatched my camera up and threw it around my neck, where it hung on a brand new strap. “Then I better get going,” I said. “If Grapevine still wants me with her, it’s probably important.” Joya nodded. “She did look a little frazzled, come to think of it.” I gathered myself up and walked out of her work room, mindful of the mess spread across the store. A couple muffins sitting uneaten on a nearby plate were claimed, and I made my way to the front door. “Do you need money for the ride to the paper building?” Joya called before I had a chance to get out the door. “No, I should have plenty,” I said. *        *        * Plenty, as it turned out, was one and a half bits, which was only good enough to get me a few blocks closer to the Chronicler building, despite making sure to pick out the cheapest cab I could find. The driver had muttered obscenities the whole ride, which were directed at me once he realized how little cash I had. The rest of the trip turned into an endurance test as I marched on a sun-beaten West Fillydelphia sidewalk with ponies who had caught the Summer Sun fever. They were already wearing some of their best clothing, and even in the worst parts of town colorful posters advertising this great city of Progress covered entire walls. In my younger and more vulnerable years, I would have been caught in the romance of such a big event, and a few weeks ago would have spent every day leading up to the Celebration in a hurried frenzy of preparation to make sure everything was just right. Now walking down West Fillydelphia with a few days’ education in city life, I found myself far more interested in the amount of dust wafting up from the streets with the massive influx of traffic from outside the city. In fact, I was so caught up in surveying the traffic that I didn’t take notice at first when a black steamcarriage pulled up beside me. It wasn’t until it’s side door opened that I started to grow nervous and consider backing away. When a voice from the interior hissed, “Minty!” I was ready to make a run for it. I would have run, if it hadn’t been for Rainbow Remedy stepping out of the car at the last second. He smiled and walked over to me, his rainbow mane thrown every which way from the wind whipped up by passing cars. “Minty,” he said, “it’s good to see you again!” I smiled back. “Same here,” I said. “But what are you doing in this part of town?” “Oh, just got done making a house call over at the Factory,” he said. “Saved my patient’s life, no big deal.” He looked at me, then up and down the sidewalk. “Though I may be asking, what’s a pony like yourself doing walking in this neighborhood? Unless you’re just the kind who likes long walks on the dirty city streets...” “I was heading to the Chronicler building,” I said. I coughed. “Though I may not have, uh, brought enough money for the cab.” He laughed and put a hoof on my shoulder. “How would you like for me to give you a ride?” he said. “We can get there faster than you can say acetylsalicylic acid.” “I don’t think I could ever say that.” “Exactly!” I placed a hoof on the bridge of my nose and shook my head before climbing up into his car and scooting into the passenger seat. Rainbow Remedy climbed in and slammed the door shut behind him. I got a good look at the interior that I hadn’t been afforded the last time I had ridden with him. Though from the outside his car resembled the one his sister drove, the interior was a different story. The ceiling was too short--so much that he had to crouch a little to avoid hitting his head--and the carpet on the seats was tattered and frayed. The dashboard was cracked in several places, and the steam engine rattled and sputtered when he turned it on and pulled away from the curb. I hacked and spat at the dust that flew in through the open windows when we pulled into the main traffic. If I finished the trip without becoming half sand monster, I would count myself lucky. “So tell me, Minty,” Remedy said, interrupting my thoughts on what sand monsters used for food, “how was it being saved by our wonderful mayor from that explosion yesterday?” “Oh, so you saw that?” I yelled over the engine noise. “Let’s just say it was less than pleasant.” “Really? I never would have guessed,” he said. He grew serious. “This puts her at an advantage, you know.” “How do you figure?” “She now has the trust and thanks of thousands of ponies in the city who see her as somepony who defends her citizens, even at the risk of personal harm.” “Okay,” I said, “how does that make a difference to our previous situation?” “Look at you, using the big words,” he said. He coughed. “Right, anyway. Our plan before was to get her to confess to the Princess, yes? Yes.” He ran a hoof through his mane. “But, now it’s not so simple.” “Why not?” I said. “Make her sing like a canary to the Princess and our job is done.” “In theory,” he said. “The only problem, however, is that before we could just call a surprise audience and get her to talk right then and there. Now, her confession is going to have to be very explicit, and very public.” “And that’s because...?” “Ponies in this town aren’t very ambivalent towards Canterlot and the royalty,” he said. “Here, magic is rare and the Princesses are two very old and lucky ponies who managed to convince an entire country to worship them. A Princess’ word against their now-beloved mayor wouldn’t hold any weight; if we can’t convince the populace directly that Pullmare is bad, she’ll never lose power.” I sank back in my seat. “Wonderful, just wonderful.” Remedy steered the car around one corner, then another. Each time, he briefly looked behind him. After another turn and another look, his eyes narrowed. “I think we may have one other problem,” he said. “What problem would that be?” I said. I looked behind us out of my window, but only saw a sea of uniform steamcars, and occasionally a carriage or two. “I believe my sister knows our situation, too.” He pressed the accelerator and the complaining of the steam engine turned into a high pitched whine as the car leapt forward. “We’re being followed.” I tried to look again, but a look from Remedy held me back. Instead, I grabbed the edges of my seat as he began to weave his rickety car in and out of the traffic. “Is this really necessary?” I cried. “Completely!” he said. He barreled through a left turn and onto one of the few streets in the city that I recognized. “Hey, there’s the Chronicler,” I said. We whizzed by it without slowing down. “...which we just passed.” “No time to stop,” Remedy said. Just hold on to something and try to put your head between your legs.” “Why would I do tha-” I began, but was shoved into the position by gravity as the steamcar rose on two wheels as Rainbow Remedy took a right turn at around forty miles per hour. The rest of the ride was a blur of somepony shouting and screaming while the doctor took his car to the absolute extremes a colt can take a machine. We zipped around and through traffic, and I’m pretty sure at one point caused a minor accident. The noise eventually died down, mostly after I realized I was the one screaming and shut my mouth. The car slowed down, too, as we reached the outer edges of the city. Remedy didn’t protest when I stuck my head out to get a good look around. Coming into Fillydelphia, I hadn’t gotten a very good look at where the countryside became the city, only the two extremes. In this area, the rowhouses moved further apart, and little, miniature pastures appeared in front of them. Most of the building materials were wood, instead of brick. I saw trees, real, big trees, for the first time in a week. “Ah, Chestnut Hill,” Remedy said. “The city hasn’t quite made its way here yet, so it’s nice to come up here every once in a while to relax.” “And to hide from Pullmare’s minions?” He smiled. “That too.” Rainbow Remedy brought the car to stop in front of a large, grassy hill with a few park benches at the top. The area was empty, save for us. I got out and enjoyed the feel of real, on-the-ground, grass under my hooves again. I followed Remedy up the hill until we reached a large oak tree which shaded fully half of the top. Birds chirped from high up in the branches, and insects buzzed around the flowers at the base. Funny that I hated the big idea of moving back to Derbyshire, but it was the little things I missed. “Well, this is the spot, but I don’t see her anywhere,” Rainbow Remedy. The illusion of a normal day was popped like the balloon of an annoying child, and I snapped back into reality. “Who’s her?” I said. Remedy reached into his hair and pulled out a small pocket watch. He checked it, looked up at the sky, looked at me, and carefully backed away. Before I could ask what the hay he was doing, I heard a loud sound coming from above me. I only had time to look up and see a blog of teal and pink before I was hit and knocked to the ground. “Ow,” I groaned. “Sorry about that,” Starshine said. She stood up and shook herself off. “Landings are still a little shaky.” Except for a few bandages still wrapped around her head, she looked like she was back to normal, a far cry from the...thing I had witnessed in the hospital bed a few days ago. “No, it’s fine,” I said. I stood up and stretched my back. “Shouldn’t you still be in the hospital, though?” She shrugged. “I guess; but it’s way more fun out here.” To prove her point, she spread her metal wings and leapt into the air, not stopping until she was perched on the highest branch of the oak tree. “Besides,” she called down. “Rainbow Remedy wanted me to meet you here.” I turned to see him desperately trying to figure out how to whistle, but instead emitting some sort of spitting motion. “I thought you said we came here to escape whoever was following us,” I said. “Well,” he said, “I may have exaggerated a bit.” “How much is a bit?” “Everything after ‘I think we have one other problem’,’ he said. “But all that about my sister being on to our predicament? That’s true.” I groaned. Great, Rainbow Remedy had dragged me out of Fillydelphia, not that I didn’t mind that little bit, to meet with Starshine when I could have been with Grapevine actually figuring out exactly what was so important that she called me for. It went without saying that I couldn’t stay, so I started to walk back. “Wait, Minty, where are you going?” Remedy called. “The Chronicler,” I answered. “Maybe if I start walking now, I can get back before Grapevine blows a gasket.” A bright white flash went off in front of me and suddenly Rainbow Remedy was there, less than a foot from my face. “So it’s Grapevine you’re worried about,” he said. I, on the other hoof, had lost my balance and fallen over in surprise in his sudden appearance. I rubbed my head. “Ugh, don’t do that,” I said. “I swear, Ponies weren’t meant to teleport; it’s just unnatural...” “More unnatural than flying?” he said with a sly smile. I grumbled, but let him help me up. “So what was that about Grapevine?” I said. “I just thought, if you’re so worried about what she’ll think if you’re late, then why not bring her back something important--like information, for example,” he said. “And I’m guessing you’ll give that to me if I stay here and do whatever it is that you brought Starshine for?” “Now you’re getting it!” he said. “And here I was, thinking I was going to have to resort to bribery or blackmail.” “Uh, thanks?” I said. I resumed the walk back to the city. “The only problem is,” I said without looking back, “if Grapevine spent yesterday with you, I’d doubt she knows less than I did. Unless, of course, you lied to her.” “I never lie,” he said quickly. “Besides, I wouldn’t have needed to lie yesterday; I hardly got a word in edgewise. I’m not even sure I said anything beyond ‘I agree’ and ‘You’re so right’.” “Alright, alright, I get the picture,” I said. “So what is it that you’ll tell me that’s so important I’ll just have to stay.” He pawed the ground rolled his head a little. “Oh, nothing special; just a little bit of history about my sister that might help yours and Grapevine’s investigation.” I glared at him. “So you’re going to withhold information from us unless I do your job or whatever?” “Not likely,” Remedy said. “I just won’t tell you until, say, tomorrow, right before the Celebration.” He shrugged. “It’s not like you need to know right now, it’s just if you want to. I’m sure a pony with instincts can go twenty-four hours without knowing some of the secrets her nemesis.” I took one last look at urban Fillydelphia before lowering my head and facing Remedy. “What was it that you had in mind for me, again?” “That’s the spirit!” he said. He laughed. *        *        * Back at the top of the hill, Starshine waited patiently for us. She seemed amused enough with seeing how fast she could open and close her wings. The sight was unsettling; every whip of the metal feathers looked like somepony unsheathing a dozen swords all at once, and right next to our faces to boot. “Oh hey, you decided to show up after all,” she said to me when we reached her. She turned to Rainbow Remedy. “Did you threaten to blackmail her, like I said?” Remedy shot her a look. “No, I convinced her in perfectly rational manner to come join us.” “You used your sister as a bribe, didn’t you?” He didn’t answer, and instead clopped his hooves together and stepped in front of me. He looked less like a doctor, and more like an overly-enthusiastic public speaker. “Alright, Minty,” he said, “you’re here today for one reason, and one reason only: to learn how to fly.” He looked at me like he expected some sort of response to the affirmative, if not outright applause for such a high-brow idea. Rather, I chose to flap my wings and jump straight up, settling for hovering a few feet off the ground. “Okay, lesson over,” I said. “Can you tell me about your sister now?” “Points for the attitude,” Remedy said, “but no, that’s not what you’re learning today.” Starshine bumped him out of the way before I could respond. “What he’s trying to say,” she said, “is that you can fly, but you can’t fly.” “What?” She sighed, then pointed at me. “What you’re doing right now, you would count as flying, right?” I nodded. “Well,” she said, “this is flying.” My protests fell on deaf ears as Starshine leapt off the ground, grabbed me around the waist, and soared into the air. We sped to the top of the tree, where she set me down gently on the highest branch. “P- Please don’t do that,” I said once my hooves were safely on something solid again. “And what is it with you Weather Corps ponies and picking us normal folk up by the waist?” I regretted what I said just a few seconds after the words left my mouth. Starshine winced, but tried to smile. “It’s okay, really,” she said. “I started too fast again, didn't I?” I looked down at the ground that looked like it was swaying far below. “Maybe a little.” She sighed. “Sorry, I just...” She looked around, and leaned in close to whisper in my ear. “...I just felt really bad about last time. I failed you, Minty, and you almost died because of me.” “That’s not the whole story, and you know it,” I said, stepping back a little. Not because I didn’t want her to whisper, but because she had a habit of spitting when she talked, and some of it was getting into my ear. “I’m the one that messed up, remember?” Starshine shook her head. Her pink hair fell over her eyes, but she didn’t try to brush it away. “My mom was an instructor for the Weather Corps, and she always used to tell me, ‘There are no bad students, only bad teachers.’” “She obviously never met me,” I said. When Starshine didn’t reply, I said, “If you really thought you were a bad teacher, you wouldn’t have shown up here in the first place.” I walked to the edge of the tree branch and spread my wings. “Now come on, I thought you were going to teach me how to fly." A flicker of a smile appeared on her face, and Starshine joined me at the edge. “Alright, you want to really learn how to fly?” she said. Her wings snapped open with the precision of a well-tuned engine. I bent my legs and flapped my wings a bit. “Oh yeah, I’m ready,” I said. “Good, let’s start,” she said. She tapped me on the back. “For starters, your stance is all wrong...” *        *        * It was a good fifteen minutes before I was allowed to take flight, and another ten before we really got moving as Starshine took her time to explain to me how to fly, mostly through showing me the exact opposite of what I was doing. “You’re trying too hard to imitate how a bird flies,” she told me. “You have to remember that not only do we have four legs, but our wings are attached to our backs; it gives us a different center of gravity.” All of it was news to me, and I was afraid to tell her that I really had learned to fly by watching birds. Derbyshire wasn’t known for its Pegasi, and really the only other ones around were in the Weather Team, which was considered a Flight School wash up dumping ground by Cloudsdale. Not that anypony new in town would have known that. Despite their low position, or maybe because of it, the Derbyshire Weather Team held itself to a sort of standard that meant no mingling with the Lower Species, even another Pegasi who was raised in their midst. Starshine spent the next few minutes teaching me about updraft and how to optimize how much I flapped my wings. “If you’re smart and know where to find the best thermals,” she said, “then you can go anywhere you want without having to tire your wings out.” She pointed at me. “You’re lucky that you’ve got natural wings; mine don’t catch air very well.” She guided me over to a spot above a row of clapboard houses lining a quiet street. “Pavement always provides really good air pockets,” she explained. She slapped me on the back. “Now, I want you to try to fly over the entire road without flapping your wings even once.” I wanted to refuse, but I didn’t want to let her or Rainbow Remedy, and by extension, Grapevine, down. Plus, it would be nice to actually learn how to properly fly. So, I took a big gulp and started to fly toward the street. As Starshine had instructed, one I reached the air over the pavement, I spread my wings as far out as I could and stopped flapping. Instead of dropping like a stone, to my surprise I actually rose a little as I rode the thermal. “Woohoo!” I cried as I glided back and forth, finally feeling what it was like to be a real Pegasus. Naturally, I chose that moment to fly out and away from the pavement and its lifting air. This time, I really did start to fall. There was a moment of terror before I flapped like mad and righted myself, taking big gulps of air as I did so. Starshine appeared at my side. There was anger spread across her face, and it looked like she was about to yell at me. She must have realized it too, because instead she took several deep breaths before responding in an even voice, “Okay, that wasn’t that bad; we’ll just need to do it again.” And we did. For another hour. And once she was begrudgingly satisfied that I could ride a thermal without turning myself into pavement decoration, we moved on to other techniques. Next, she taught me how to bank and fly in a tight circle with all the precision of a falcon. It would have been easier to learn if I had managed to wrap my head around the idea that I had to almost close one of my wings for a fast turn. My brain seemed to have the idea that, shockingly, shutting down half of what kept me in the air while flying was a bad idea. Of course, when I voiced the concern to Starshine, she looked at me like I had told her it would be a good idea to fly toward the sun sometime. We practiced a few other techniques; mostly the simple stuff that I had never really been able to figure out on my own, but nothing that really required a heap of skill to do. After all, as Starshine informed me, “At best, we’re pushing you the level of a Cloudsdale schoolfilly today; if you want to really learn how to fly, it’ll take longer than one day.” She tapped a hoof to her chin. “Or longer than a month, really.” It was jarring, but Starshine kept calm through the session, not having to raise or lower her voice the whole time. Not that she needed to change how she spoke to get across when I did something really bad, but it was a startling departure from her attitude back on Serenity, especially when I could tell it almost pained her to have to explain concepts even most young Pegasi know instinctively. When I asked her about it, she said, “After he came back, Lightning and I had a little...talk. He told me about Rainbow Remedy’s idea; that if I could teach you, really teach this time, to fly and make weather, then Lightning would consider letting me back in the Weather Corps.” “Glad Rainbow Remedy gave me a choice in the matter,” I said. “Did you really expect him to?” She had a point. “So,” I asked, “if you have to be a real instructor now, does that mean I won’t get to see the old Starshine anymore?” She batted her eyes. “Maybe not in the air, but when we’re back on the ground don’t expect anything different.” I smiled. “Never would have wanted you to be.” *        *        * For the rest of flying practice, Starshine spent her time explaining to me exactly why I couldn’t learn how to make weather for at least a few more weeks of regular practice. I tried to argue a little--mostly because of my inability to perform last time--but she wouldn’t budge on the issue. She said she wanted to make sure that if I ever had a repeat of the incident on Serenity, she would know with certainty that I could fly well enough to catch myself. The sun was beginning to droop in the sky when we flew back to the hill with the oak tree where Remedy lay asleep on the park bench. I showed it more in my outward appearance, but I could tell that Starshine was beginning to tire. We came in for a light landing, or Starshine did anyway. My tired and overexerted wings finally gave in halfway through, and I fell into a heap at the foot of the wooden bench Remedy occupied. He snorted and drowzily sat up, blinking in confusion. “What’d I miss?” Starshine filled him in while the doctor got up and stretched. “Sounds like the two of you had quite a time,” he said. “You could say that,” Starshine said. “How’d she do?” he said. “She can fly a little better than a baby sparrow; in a few months, I might be able to make something of her.” “Splendid!” Remedy said. He pulled out his pocket watch and checked it again. “Are you going to stay around much longer, by any chance?” Starshine snorted. “Are you kidding me?” she said. “I’m off the clock.” She nodded to me before leaping into the air, doing a backflip, and soaring off in the general direction of Serenity. Once she was out of sight, Remedy said, “Well now that that’s over, why don’t we see if I can’t get you back to the paper office before they send out search parties, eh?” “What about telling me about your sister?” I said. “I held up my end of the bargain.” “Oh come on, there’ll be plenty of time for that on the ride over,” Remedy said. He beckoned to the car. “Best to get going before we start, or we’ll be here all night.” I reluctantly followed him back to the steam car and remained quiet as he peeled away from the hill and back onto the roads of Fillydelphia. They were much less crowded at this later hour, so the ride was almost pleasant in his claptrap car. “So,” he said after we reached the main street that fed back into Fillydelphia proper, “what do you want to know?” A thousand questions popped into my mind, but I chose the obvious one first. “What was the point in me learning to fly today?” I said. “I mean, is it really going to make a difference when we confront Pullmare?” Okay, so two obvious questions. Along with flying, I’d never really been good with math, either. “My sister has always been, er, powerful in magic,” he said. He took a slow right turn where earlier he had sped around the curve so fast we had ended up in the oncoming lane. “Not talented, mind you; they never called her that. When she went up to the same board I did to enter into the Trottingham School for Talented Young Unicorns, they told her that she had raw power, but no way real way to control it.” “The fire,” I said. “Exactly. She’s never been able to do any other spells or tricks or conjugations, but her power in fire is unrivaled. When I went away to the School, and later to Concealed College, she stayed home and focused on her one and only strength, which she became very adept at.” I gulped. “So how exactly is flying supposed to help me against that?” “Oh, it’s not,” he said. “What?” I said. “You dragged me all the way out of Fillydelphia, and away from Grapevine for nothing?!” “Not for nothing,” he said. “The point wasn’t to teach you how to fly--we can do that any time--but to get you a little bit of confidence, which is something, according to Grapevine, that you’re lacking.” I told myself that I would need to talk to Grapevine about that later. “And just how does learning how to fly build my confidence?” “Well, for instance-” he began. His horn glowed and flashed, and suddenly I was twenty feet above the motorway, and falling fast. I caught myself halfway down and glided to where Remedy had parked the car beside the road. I glared at him the whole time. “Not funny,” I said. “Well, how do you feel?” he said. “Annoyed and angry,” I growled. “But are you afraid?” I paused, and when I thought about it a little, wanted to slam my head against the side of the car rather than respond. “No, I guess I don’t feel afraid,” I managed. “See, confidence!” he said with a cheeky grin. I gave him one more angry look before letting it go and climbing back into the car. After he started off again, I said, “Alright, so you have a point about that; is there anything else that you know that can help us against Pullmare?” He sighed. “Unfortunately, I haven’t talked to her much since she came to the city a few years back, so nothing very recent.” “How did a unicorn from Trottingham make it all the way to Fillydelphia, anyway?” I said. “It was when I was still at Concealed College, and Golden was staying with our parents,” Remedy began, using what he had given for his sister’s real name. He looked down. “They died aboard the Celestia’s Grace, the first--and so far, last--passenger aeroplane. After that, my sister must have seen her chance, and took both of our sizable inheritances and fled to Fillydelphia.” I touched a hoof to his shoulder. A look from him kept from saying more about that issue, though. Instead, I asked, “So how did a moderately-rich mare just arriving in the city become the richest business owner and mayor?” The lines around his face relaxed. “You’ve heard of the parasprite infestation about thirty years ago, correct?” he said. I nodded. “Well, for almost twenty years, the city didn’t recover. The little buggers had wiped out almost every business and industry in Fillydelphia and most companies, rather than rebuilding, simply chose to move their business elsewhere.” He paused. “It wasn’t until my sister came that she got the city back on its feet. She was the one that talked the then current mayor into lowering business taxes to almost nothing to attract more companies, and easing up on immigration so those same companies could hire the cheapest workers.” “Wait, so Pullmare’s the reason the city is in the shape it is?” I said. I’d known she was important to the city, but not to that extent. “There’s much to be said for her tactics,” Remedy said. “It helped that her love child, the Pullmare Company, was the heart of the new revitalization. When the time came to elect a new mayor, nopony even bothered to run against her.” “If she’s so important to the city, what’s going to happen if we do defeat her?” I said. Remedy shrugged. “Hopefully we get the chance to find out.” The car slowed down, and I realized that we had reached the Chronicler building. With a rattling shake, the steam car stopped at the front door. “And here we are,” Remedy said. “I hope I answered your questions satisfactorily.” “I guess,” I said. I scratched my head. “Though not really for anything that can help against Pullmare.” “Ah well, what can you do?” he said. He opened the door for me and I got out. The door shut and he said from inside, “And here, again, I drop you off in front of a building with your mission to go inside and talk to Grapevine.” He looked bemused. “I hope your choice is different than previously.” I stuck out my tongue, which turned out to be a horrible idea as he roared away and dust got on to it and into my mouth.  I coughed and hacked for a minute before walking inside the Chronicler. *        *        * The front room was dark, but it was late in the day so I just assumed that the secretary had gone home. I didn’t really notice anything unusual until I walked into the newsroom. The room was still lit by a row of fluorescents on the ceiling, but it had a great, dark empty feeling to it. Instead of the day-and-night hustle and bustle of ponies working to get the latest edition of the paper out, the room was silent. What remained of the room’s vitality were a few typewriters and printing presses, empty of the paper they had once held. I was thinking hard about leaving, assuming Grapevine wasn’t there, when I heard sound coming from Ornate’s office. I opened the door and inside was Grapevine, leaning back in our boss’ wide-backed chair, staring at the ceiling. I couldn’t tell if she noticed me come in or not, so I raised a hoof in greeting and said, “Hey.” She didn’t move or look away from whatever corner of the office she was staring at, but she said, “Well look who decided to join us.” “Sorry,” I said. “I got caught up with Rainbow Remedy...” “I figured.” The room grew silent. I cleared my throat. “Um, what happened here?” The office, like the newsroom outside, was bare save for Ornate’s desk and the chair Grapevine sat in; all the tacked up pictures and paper and the file cabinets in the corner were gone. The chair creaked when Grapevine adjusted her position a little. “Peece came with the police,” she said. “They took everything they could get their hooves on; claimed it was for ‘Disturbing the public trust,’ or whatever.” “What about the other staff?” I said. “Where is everypony?” “Peece scared most of them off,” Grapevine said. She leaned forward and the chair settled back on all four legs with a thump. “They arrested Orante and a few of the other reporters; the only reason I didn’t go with them was some special order they had.” She looked up at me for the first time. “I assume part of that is your doing?” I nodded. “Pullmare isn’t going to want any of us missing the big show,” I said. “Great, wonderful.” “Are you okay?” “Does it look like I’m okay?” she said. Upon closer examination, she was right; her eyes were bloodshot and her coat was matted and tangled where it was usually so uniform and neat. Her mane, though, remained as unruly as it always was. “They took everything, Minty,” she continued. “Everything. All the evidence we had gathered; interviews, documents, pictures, whatever. Peece has them now.” Cautiously, I asked, “Was all that really so, um, important? I thought we were just going to get Pullmare to confess to everything on her own.” “Of course it’s important!” Grapevine said. She looked like if she didn’t stay angry, she would break down in tears. “Without any evidence to look at, we have no idea what she’s doing, what she’s planning. If we go to the Celebration without knowing exactly what we’re trying to get her to say, we might as well give up now.” She let her head drop onto the desk with a thud. “Even after all we’ve done, Pullmare’s still one step ahead of us,” she said. Her voice was muffled by the desk’s wooden top. I tried to think of what to do, but couldn’t find any words. The stress and weight of everything happening was weighing down hard on her, and couldn’t help but feel like a bystander watching a one-sided kickboxing match. In fact, the way she was acting almost reminded me of how I had felt with Lightning up on Serenity... Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. “Hey, Grapevine, can I ask a question?” I said. “Whatever.” Continuing, I said, “Is there a way to get to the roof?” *        *        * A stray brick propped open the door as we stepped onto the concrete top of the Chronicler building. Grapevine had reluctantly followed me to the roof, and now paced around, looking impatient. “Okay, we’re here,” she said once I had joined her near the edge. “Now, can you tell me why I’m up here?” “You seemed a bit stressed,” I said. “Are you suggesting I should jump off?” I laughed. “No, you just reminded me of how I felt after coming back from the jail a few nights ago, and I remembered how a friend helped me get over it a little bit.” She rolled her eyes. “And that would be...?” “When was the last time you watched the sunset?” I said. I picked my words carefully, going out on a wing. “Like really watched it, not just glance at it?” “I don’t know, why?” she said. I wordlessly pointed behind her. The sun had indeed begun to set on Fillydelphia, and the view was spectacular, though still trumped by the view from Serenity. Fading sunlight glinted off the towers around downtown, and made both the Delamare and Schuylhoof rivers sparkle like diamonds in a cave. We watched electric lights blink on one by one in the reddening light. “See?” I said. Grapevine nodded, her eyes fixed on the view. I wanted to say more, to reassure her that things would turn out alright somehow and that it was best not to worry so much about such things, but I think she got the message. After a while, I sat down with my back to the door and watched her, held still by the view of the cityscape. She stood there for a long time, long after the moon had risen and the city came alive in an electric fervor. I was half-asleep at that point, but some time later I thought I heard her whisper, “Thank you.”