Before Flight

by wkblack


Aether Wind

        Centuries of howling winds contorted the trees into horrific shapes. They stood in a wide circle around a stormy-blue mare, new to the dark world. The mare looked towards the centre of the clearing. A pillar of light stood pulsing and glowing before her. Bright green vegetation clung to its base, feeding on its light. The light emanating off of the pillar gave her white and blue-streaked mane a faint glow. She pressed forward, longing for the warmth and brightness of the light.
        Why is it shrinking? she wondered. With each step forward, the pillar moved two steps back. Breaking into a gallop, the patch of light before her grew dimmer and dimmer until its light faded to a speck in the distance. With one last step, blackness consumed her world.
        Overwhelming despair filled her and she fell to the ground, sobbing. Her crying stopped when she saw a faint glow through her closed eyelids. She spun around in excitement, but in horror, saw dark flames spreading around her. A violent breeze picked up the flames, making them circle her completely. Searching wildly for an escape, the pegasus saw a spark of light. It blipped in and out of existence in the blink of an eye. She ran towards the light full force and jumped through the barrier of fire, and—
        TWEET TWEET!
        Tripping, she shot upright in her bed and gasped. That dream again. She rubbed the sleep from her icy blue eyes and moved over to her windowsill. She rested her head in her hooves and stared out the window. Dawn always calmed her—the sun breaking over the mountainous horizon. Shadows fled, and Woodburn began waking up.
        Third time this week I've had that dream . . . Her brow furrowed. What does it mean? The town below offered little inspiration for her: it was large enough to have a few shops but small enough you could visit each of those shops before lunch. From her window she could look down Woodburn's main crossroad, but there was little to see: Blitz on his way to litigate another trial, Lilac working in her garden, Cirrus delivering the regular mail . . . No, Aether kept fixated on the northern mountains. Her upstairs window gave her a clear view of them, standing tall above the town's rooftops.
        Once her heart calmed down, she descended for breakfast. From the top of the stairs she could already hear her mother moving about in the kitchen below. Her mum had always been an early riser, and still insisted on making breakfast for her. Though no one else was in the house, Aether padded down the stairs carefully; she hated making a racket.
        Rays of sunlight licked her face from the kitchen's open window. Her father used to love how much light the house got. He had always said: “There's no better way to start your day than a cheery hello from the sun's morning rays.” Aether sat down to her bowl of oats and diced apple. The scene with the pillar kept playing in her mind. Something about the scene made her smile. Aether loved dreams—they played the heartstrings just so.
        Aether's mother looked at her sideways, like mothers do whenever they feel something is off. Intuition aside, Aether's blank stare into the distance had always been a clear indicator of her wandering mind. After a few moments of silence, her mother asked, “Are you alright, Aether? You seem quiet today.”
        Not breaking her gaze with the non-existent world, Aether swallowed her bite. “It's just this dream I keep having—I'm trying to figure out what it means . . . ” Aether felt her mother's hoof on her shoulder.
        “You don't need to worry about it; it's just a dream.” Changing tone, she added, “Was it one of those awful flying dreams again?” It often surprised Aether how high her mother's right eyebrow could rise.
        Aether huffed in annoyance. She had tried years ago to convince her mother that it wasn't just a dream—that she actually had flown. As a filly, she had begged her mum to come and see, but she refused to enter the forest. “Who knows what could be in there! Ponies get lost all the time!” Aether couldn't think of any one who had ever gone missing, but to be fair, she also couldn't think of anyone else who would actually go into the forest either. As usual, Aether chose to ignore her mother's disapproving look.
        “No, mum, it wasn't a flying dream.” Aether breathed deeply. “But it's the third time I've had this one: I see a warm pillar of light, but whenever I move towards it, it gets farther and farther away. Then I feel a warmth behind me so I turn, expecting some sort of light. Then these black flames begin to surround me and try to destroy me. The first two times I just woke up at that point, but this time there was a spark of light that led me out of the flames.” She pursed her lips in thought. “I don't really know what to make of it.”
        Her mum tapped her chin in thought. “Maybe it's your feelings of being trapped.”
        Aether pouted. “It's not just some random imagination! Why do you always wave away my dreams? The last one like this came true, so why couldn't this one?”
        “Oh Aether,” began her mother, “I'm not saying they're worthless. You just need to be able to apply your dreams more broadly, to your real life.”
        But it felt so real... Aether swallowed the rest of her oats, not caring to converse any more. She hated small talk. The pegasus threw on her jacket and jumped out the house. Childhood memories clouded her mind: failed attempts to explain what had happened as a filly. Dad would have listened. He had a knack for this sort of thing . . . Aether shook her head to expel the painful memories.
        The low drone of conversations in the town was accented by the chirping of birds in the rooftops. Without surprise, Blitz stood in front of the baker's stall, chatting with Coral. The two paused their conversation, and shot her a quick wave. Aether tilted her head in response and continued west towards the forest. Then her ears pricked up at a sound from the city centre behind her.
        “Aether!”
        A smile spread across the mare's face as she turned to face the sound: a bright yellow mare running down the street. “Canary!” She grabbed her old friend in a tight embrace, brushing against Canary's warm brown mane. Aether had always been jealous of how soft it felt.
        The yellow mare asked in a much quieter voice, “Are you going out to fly?”
        Aether nodded.
        Canary took a deep breath and nodded. “I'm ready.”
        The two mares chased their shadows into the western forest, Aether happily pulling her friend alongside her, holding her tight. “In case you try to run away,” she explained. Aether smiled, trying to banish old memories—failed attempts to help others fly.

        The winds blew so fiercely through the forest that even Aether could hardly stay upright. Perfect, she thought. Just what we needed for her first day. Canary and Aether stooped forwards, pushing against the wind through the wilds. Random beams of sunlight hit the path through the constantly shifting leaves. Though the trail was brightly lit, Canary clung to Aether's side. Aether spoke up against the wind in a sort of half yell.
        “Ever since you left, I've been exploring the wilds.” A grin played on Aether's lips. “I really like them—they have some sort of energy to them . . . I can't explain it exactly, but I just feel so alive.”
        Canary smiled. “You're prowling again.” She loved it: whenever Aether got excited, she prowled along close to the ground, like a lion stalking prey.
        “Yes I'm prowling!” Aether laughed. “Have you ever played in a waterfall? Climbed a three-story tree? Seen the sun rise from the edge of a cliff?” The pegasus beamed, looking upwards to the mountains. “It's a beautiful world out here. The bats talk all the time about its dangers but never mention its beauty.” She shook her head. “Access to another world is more than worth a few dangers.”
        Canary chuckled to herself. “Alright, alright.” She loved Aether's little rants. “So how did you first fly? What got you into this mess?”
        “So I found this cliff...”
        Aether strained upwards in the night, feeling for a nook below an outgrowing shrub. Her right hoof found a hole and she pulled her hind legs up. The climb was slow up the cliff, but with a glance below, she wagered she'd gone about twenty feet. The pegasus took a deep breath. I can do this, she told herself. Gauging up her next hoofhold, she reached for a shrub hanging out on her left side.
        Just short. Aether narrowed her eyes, took a deep breath, and jumped. “GAH!” she let out, as her sides scraped against a protruding rock. Her legs scrambled to find new hoofholds in the rough rock, quickly finding nooks to rest in. Aether surveyed the damage: her wing cover had caught on something and was nearly torn in half. Aether wriggled off the ragged cloth. It'll be fine, she told herself, holding her wings in, safe from the raging wind. Just a few more feet to the top.
        The next ledge was just a hoof out of reach. Aether squinted in the starlight, searching for her next hoofhold. The cliff was fairly smooth, and the crack she'd followed to this point had shrunk too small for her hooves to get any grip. Carefully leaning back, she surveyed the cliff face to either side. Nothing to the left. And—leaning to the right, she saw a black mark a few feet away. In a quick calculation, she tried for it with her right hoof.
        KKCCHHT!
        Her left hoof tightened around the bush it had been holding as it tore from the rock. Aether's eyes widened as she scrambled at the cliff, looking for a new hold, an old hold, any place to hold on! Hind legs held fast, but her world began to invert as she tilted backwards. No! I can still grab on to something!
        BAM!
        A freezing blast struck her from above, forcing open her atrophied wings. They screamed in pain as the wind continued, ripping her off the cliff. Her body contorted like a rag doll to the winds, helplessly battered about. Aether grimaced in pain, attempting to pull in her wings to slow the fall, but it was all she could do to keep them from bending backwards. What's the point, she wondered. Her body had faced downwards, head-first, as she hurtled towards the rocks below. As they spiralled larger and larger, Aether wondered which one would impale her.
        Then, something wonderful happened: a warm updraft caught her outstretched wings. Each feather squealed in delight at the feeling. Aether's eyes shot open. The feeling was magic! She wasn't falling; she was flying! Aether inhaled the fresh air of the forest, summoning her strength. With a powerful downstroke, she soared upwards, wind howling in her ears. The air cooled with her ascent, the pressure decreased, and she gently arced downwards. As her fall sped, she tried to slow her descent, instinctively tilting up her wings. Her wingtips trembled with exertion—her wings couldn't take much more of this. As the dark green treetops accelerated towards her, she frantically searched for the path. Exhaustion overtook her, and she tumbled into the treetops below.
        Canary interrupted the narration as they climbed over the now rocky terrain. “Hold on—you fell into the trees?! They're at least a quarter mile away! How long did you glide for?”
        Aether kicked at a pebble in front of her off the path.
        “It was only a few hundred feet, but—”
        “A few hundred!” Canary exclaimed, eyes wide, “How high were you?!”
        Aether scrunched her eyebrows in thought. “I'd been climbing since nightfall, trying to see the sun rise from the top. It had always been a dream of mine to watch a sunrise from up there,” she said, pointing her nose up at the looming cliff face. “It's a sight to behold...” Her eyes glazed over in happy memory.
        “Okay, before your mind wanders off and gets lost, let's finish the story. You were falling into the trees.”
        “Right. Oh, it was an amazing feeling—like Avondale herself were rooting for me, supporting me with her breath~”
        Canary tilted her head. “Falling into the trees?”
        Aether looked over in mild annoyance. “No—when I was flying! But anyway. I knew the general direction of town so I barged my way through the woods until I found the path.” Aether's face scrunched in delight. “I was so excited to tell everyone. I felt sure a revolution was underway! We can fly!” The pegasus sighed. “I knew it was our destiny—it just felt so right. But when I came into town . . .
        Aether dashed out of the forest at full gallop, smiling like a maniac. “Angel! Angel!”
        The lithe white pegasus turned, her golden hair swaying around her. “Aether! How's it going?” Seeing the leaves in Aether's mane, she asked, “Are you alright?”
        “I FLEW!”
        “Come again?” she asked, face blank in confusion.
        “I flew I flew I flew!!” she was nearly bouncing at this point in excitement.
        Eyebrow raised, Angel responded, “Right. I know the batponies can be exciting to hear sometimes. You can really feel the excitement from their stories.”
        Furrowing her eyebrows, Aether insisted, “No. Not bats. Me. I, Aether Storm, flew! It wasn't one of their stories; it was me.” She smiled madly.
        Angel shook her head. “Don't be silly. Everyone knows we can't fly. The wind is far too strong to—”
        “But that's just it! I didn't think it could happen either, but the wind actually lifted me up; it made me fly!”
        Glancing down, Angel saw Aether's gashed side and ruffled wings. She clicked her tongue. “You poor thing! Come, let's get you fixed up.” Angel led the lavender blue mare into her home and glanced at her uncovered wings. “You know the winds are too fierce for our wings; what were you doing without your wing cover?”
        Aether's heart was still pounding from a second flight when she knocked on Lilac's door.
        Knock. Knock. Knock.
        Lilac Shores stood a bit taller than the average pegasus of Woodburn and was noticeably stronger than most. “Aether?” she asked, staring at the pine needles scattered into Aether's white-streaked mane. “What happened to you? Come inside, out of the winds.” Lilac pulled her in and led her to her red couch. It was so soft that Aether felt like she was floating on water.
        Still, Aether couldn't sit still. “Lilac. You need to believe me.”
        The light purple mare nodded.“Of course Aether, what's up?”
        Taking a deep breath, the lavender-blue mare explained her flight. Silence followed.
        “Well? Do you believe me?”
        Lilac stared at Aether as if she were sick. “When we really want something, we can picture it so clearly that it feels real. I think that's what the bats mean when they say to try and be a flier: even though it's a moral thing, it feels like flying when we do what's right. You have a strong mind, so it's real for you.”
        Aether bit her lip, “You too? Why don't you believe me!”
        “Oh Aether, of course it was real! I'm sure you felt like you were flying! Loads of pegasi would envy you; I've heard it's a great feeling!”
        Aether slid out of the couch without responding and bolted out the door, ignoring Lilac's calls for her. Running at a gallop, Aether made for her own house. Images of thick blankets and hot chocolate filled her mind as she planned her next move. I wouldn't have to leave, she told herself. I could stay in my bed as long as I want, and just—PHWUMP. Aether found herself lying on something soft. She would recognise that colour of yellow from anywhere.
        Groaning, the bright yellow mare squeaked out,“Yep. Surprise tag. You got me.”
        “Canary!” Aether cried out in delight, stepping off her friend. “You're back!”
        Canary took Aether's hoof and pulled herself up from the ground, holding her bruised side gingerly. “Just like when we first met,” she joked, wincing again in pain. “Oof. You really did my side in this time.”
        “Sorry about that~” Aether ducked her head under the mare and lifted her onto her back. Like the hundreds of times before, Aether's hooves moved automatically towards her friend's house.
        Her friend's strength never ceased to surprise Canary. “So what were you doing at a full gallop in city centre?”
        Aether sighed. “Oh, you wouldn't believe me if I told you.” Canary's eyebrow raised in question, but Aether shook her head vehemently. “I've had enough people turn me down. If you didn't me, I'm not sure I could handle it.”
        “Try me.”
        Aether took a deep breath. Please believe me.“I flew.” Aether could feel the mare's body tighten with discomfort. “I know you don't believe me, but—”
        “No . . . ” she countered, “I-I do.”
        Aether stopped mid-trot and twisted around to look at her friend. “Seriously?!”
        Canary nodded solemnly. “While I was away, I kept having this dream: I'm wandering around town without my wing cover on, so I feel awkward—I'm just trying to get to my house. I open the door and fall into this pit. At first, I panic, but my wings open on their own and I start to fly!” She shuddered with a smile on her lips. “It felt amazing—” Canary turned to her friend. “Did you actually fly? What was it like?”
        Aether felt Canary's excitement. “I was out in the wilds, climbing, but slipped and began to fall. My wing cover tore off, and my wings were caught in the wind.”
        Canary shuddered at the thought. “Didn't that hurt?”
        Aether waved away the question. “Oh, it hurt at first, but then a warm updraft came; it caught my wings perfectly. It was just gliding at first, but I began to flap. And then,” she paused here, beaming back at the yellow mare. “I flew!”
        Canary's eyes were locked on to Aether. “C— Could you show me?”
        Aether smile grew so wide, it hurt afterwards. “I'd love to! Let's go!”
        “Now!?” Canary stumbled over her words. “I need to prepare myself—mentally—I'm not ready for it yet . . . Could we go tomorrow?”
        Aether nodded in satisfaction. “First thing in the morning.” Holding up her hoof, she added, “But if you change your mind, I'll eat you for lunch.”
        Canary smiled. “You can count on me.”