"So here you are sir. Ponyville! You sure you don't need a guide still?"
Tailwind grinned. He knew the guide pony wasn't asking because he wanted the bits. 'Some ponies just don't understand the want for true independency.' "No, I can find my way around from here. Thank you sir." Tailwind assured as he handed over the bits to pay the guide.
"But sir, this is ten caps too much?"
Tailwind just smiled. "I know, thank you for the honesty though. Have a nice day!" With that Tailwind stretched his wings out to his sides and extended them about one hoof ahead of his head. Once he had his wings readied and steadied, Tailwind trotted off into town.
He listened to the ambient noise around him attentively. Occasionally his wingtips would brush against a wall, or maybe another pony. Tailspin mentally laughed at the faces the ponies must have been making as they watched him. He continued walking for a while longer before he accidently stumbled on a filly.
"Geez. Watch where you're going, you nearly made my tiara fall off!" the filly sneered.
"I'm sorry about that. I'm sure that would have been a real tragedy." Tailwind replied calmy.
"Whatever."
Shaking his head slowly, Tailwind set his wings again and continued trotting until he began to feel hungry. 'I figure I'll just trot a long until I hear somepony I can ask.'
~~~~~~~
"But Tavi... you promised." Vinyl mock whined to her marefriend.
"Now now, sometimes plans just have to change. You wouldn't really miss going to lunch would you?" Octavia asked rhetorically.
"I know you want to go any way. Now hurry up I'm hung-grah!" Vinyl finished suddenly as she turned a corner and bumped into another pony. As she pulled herself back up, Vinyl saw a stallion infront of her, with her glasses sitting upside down over his eyes.
"Sorry about that. Um, what exactly is on my face?" the stallion questioned. Octavia finished helping up Vinyl as she eyed the stallion pegasus, who had his wings oddly outstretched. Vinyl, defensive about her glasses, immediately retorted.
"Well, first you could watch where you're going, second you could give me glasses ba- oh crap." Vinyl finished as she removed her glasses from the stallions face, revealing his faded green eyes. "Oh dude I'm so sorry! I didn't realize with my glasses on you!" Vinyl backtracked quickly, while Octavia looked absolutely mortified.
Tailwind merely shook his head and laughed. "Miss, if you knew how many ponies got offended at something I did.... Ha, anyway, did I hear you two were headed out to eat? Do you mind if I just tail you to the resturaunt?"
At this Octavia looked affronted, "Excuse me sir, but I don't know what kind of ponies you take us for, but we will not simply allow you to tail us. We will lead you there and engage in proper conversation."
Vinyl giggled and 'translated' "That's fancy for 'Want to chat over lunch?'."
Smiling at the antics of the pair, Tailwind nodded his head, "I'd be delighted. I'm Tailwind by the way."
"Vinyl Scratch, and that's Octavia Philharmonica."
~~~~~~~
Now seated at a small eatery titled 'Sugar Cube Corner'. "So what happens to bring you to Ponyville mister Tailwind?" Octavia inquired.
"Please, just Tailwind. As for what brings me here, well I've never been here before so I figured I'd check it out."
Vinyl couldn't help but be puzzled, "So you just came here because you could? That makes no sense."
"Haha, Vinyl you seem like the kind of pony that is spontaneous. You think something looks cool so you try it, am I wrong?" Tailwind inquired.
Vinyl simply shook her head, then felt stupid and replied "You're right."
Smiling at this Tailwind replied, "Well same with this. I've been nearly everywhere, I just thought this would be a fun town."
Just then Mrs. Cake walked up with their order. "A salad for Miss Octavia, a seasoned rye sandwich for Miss Scratch, and your order of hay fries sir." Mrs. Cake politely slid Tailwind's plate to where it nudged his hoof on the table.
"Thank you ma'am."
The three ponies set about eating, and while he couldn't see anything, he could hear Vinyl and Octavia goofing around. "You two sound like a cute couple, if you don't mind me saying."
"Oh my, I didn't realize we were being so loud." Octavia apologized.
"You weren't, I just happen to hear that quiet." Tailwind responded kindly.
As he finished his meal he stood and made to say goodbye to the two kind mares. "I thank you for your kin-" Suddenly he was cut off by a yell.
"Hey Scratch! Long time no see!" somepony yelled.
"Oh hey Dash!" Tavi greeted back as the polychromatic mare walked up to the table.
"So how's it been, oh and I see you have Tavi with you! Hi Tavi!" the new mare greeted.
"Hello Rainbow Dash." the grey mare responded.
Tailwind had actually stayed exactly where he was though, as he couldn't figure out where this 'Rainbow Dash' was. He was about to introduce himself when the new mare asked him a very pointed question.
"Um , I know I'm awesome and a great looker I'm sure, but why are you staring at my flank?"
Octavia immediatly blushed, and Vinyl suppresed laughter, while Tailwind chortled out his reply. "A better question, Rainbow Dash, would be why you have sequestered your flank to the spot my head was facing."
Rainbow tilted her head slightly, before she caught view of his eyes. "Oh, sorry dude. Here let me shift this way and, ha! There we go, now it's all fixed. I'm Rainbow Dash by the way. Best young flier in Equestria." Dash bragged.
"I'm sure you are. So your a pegasus then?" Tailwind quested as he stretched his wings, then jerked his left wing back as he accidently draped it over somepony's back. "Um, sorry about that."
Rainbow Dash laughed loudly at Tailwind being mildly flustered. "You know, you remind me of a couple of my friends. We should hang out some time, actually what are you doing today?"
"Uhm, not much, planned on walking around."
"Well then why don't you come hang out with me?"
"Hmm, okay."
"Right then, later Scratch, Tavi!" Rainbow yelled, looking at the pair over her shoulder.
"Bye Vinyl. Bye Octavia." Tailwind said as he walked after the friendly pegasus.
Despite the fact that he knew Rainbow Dash was an athlete, Tailwind was surprised how softly she actually walked. The two weren't 7 feet out the door when Tailwind made note of this. "You walk quite softly for a sportspony."
"Do I? I guess it's because of some of the stunts I do. What made you notice?" Rainbow inquired.
"Well, I'm kind of having a hard time following you." Tailwind admitted, though he hated doing so.
"Well why didn't you say so? Here extend your wing out and then fold it halfway." Obliging the mare's request, Tailwind felt something brush against his side. "Here, now fold your wing back down." When Tailwind did so, he found that he held Dash's wing under his, both interlocked together.
"Uhm, aren't you worried that somepony might think we're a couple?"
"Eh, who cares what they think, besides I know that you didn't like admitting you needed help. This way it won't look like I'm leading you." Rainbow stated.
"Well then thank you Rainbow Dash. So where are we off to?"
"Well I need to run by Fluttershy's place, and I need to get the latest Daring Do book so I'll need to stop be the library."
"Alright then."
The two continued trotting along, and Tailwind could hear the occasional pony muttering as they went by. Stuff like, "Who is that.", "I didn't know Rainbow was dating?" and even, "Ha! I knew she wasn't a fillyfooler!". At the last remark he heard Rainbow snort.
"You do realize that we could figure out another way to do this." Tailwind offered.
At this Rainbow Dash laughed, "Hmm, ok let me go talk to my friend Applejack, I'll get her lasso and lead you down the street with it. I'll even whistle and say 'C'mon Tailwind'" Rainbow Dash was laughing pretty hard at the mere idea, and Tailwind found it amusing too.
"Yeah, and you can have a nice large order of hayfries for when I'm a good little stallion." At this point both ponies sides were shaking from laughter. "You know Dash, I have to thank you. Most ponies are too afraid to even hint at my condition, but it's nice being treated like everypony else."
"Not a problem Tailwind, 'sides you're still a pony just like everypony else." Rainbow replied smiling. Tailwind smiled aswell, even though he didn't actually know if Rainbow Dash was pleased with her own logic.
"So then, off to the library?"
"Yep, come on, and don't get worried about what other ponies think all the time, all that matters are your friends and yourself." Rainbow encouraged.
~~~~~~~
"So the library is a tree? That's pretty cool. Do you know what kind of tree?"
"Uhhhh, a leafy one? Hehe, sorry man, I'm not all into that kind of stuff."
"No problem, what do the leaves look like."
"Um, like the one on the flag for Coltnadia."
"Ok, so it's probably a big maple, but definitely a deciduos."
Rainbow let out a laugh, "I didn't take you for an egg head, Tailwind."
Tailwind of course laughed right back, thoroughly enjoying the company of a pony that treated him like he wasn't blind. After a few more steps he heard Rainbow knock on the door. When she got no answer, she pushed it open, "C'mon, I know Twilight anyway, she won't mind."
"Ok."
As the two ponies stepped into the library, a ricocheting spell flew around the corner and hit Tailwind.
"Hehe, tingly, so what was that?"
"Dunno, but I'll bet it was Twilgiht. Hey Twi, you here!?" Tailwind winced slightly at the shouting next to his head when he heard frantic hoofsteps.
"Ohmygosh this is not good!" came a frantic cry.
"Chill Twilight, whats up?" Dash said in an attempt to calm the mare down.
"You remember the 'want it need it' spell? I just accidentally shot that off and it ricocheted. Who knows what damage it could do!"
Dash nearly doubled up with laughter hearing this. "Thats the-hahaha-spell that makes the-hahehe- first thing a pony sees beco-haha-become obsessed with right?" Even though Dash was laughing, and he chuckled a little to.
"Rainbow, this is no laughing matter, what's wrong with you?"
At this Tailwind felt it prudent to intervene less the mare get too annoyed. "This spell, you say it makes a pony become obsessed with the next thing they look at, right?"
"Uhm, yes. Originally it made everypony fall in love with one thing, then I tampered with it to see if it could be a tool to help ponies reach there goals. That's when it got loose and flew off."
That's when Tailwind couldn't help but bust out laughing at how incredibly ironic the situation was. "Well then miss Twilight. Never fear, the spell hit me!"
"But wha-" Twilight started, before catching view of the stallion's eyes, which were staring off into nowhere.
Dash pulled herself together just then and told Twilight she was after the next Daring Do book. Twilight simply nodded, relieved that she hadn't released another catastrophe.
A couple minutes later Twilight returned with the book, but stopped when she realized something. "Wait, you're new in town! I didn't even realize at first. Well then, welcome to Ponyville, I'm Twilight Sparkle."
"Nice to meet you, I'm Tailwind. Anyway I'm sure we'll run into eachother again, but for the time being I'm hanging out with Rainbow Dash here."
"Well okay, have a good night!" Twilight responded.
After interlocking their wings again Tailwind and Dash walked back outside. "Dash, did she say night?"
"Uh yeah, it took longer than I thought to walk around."
The two ponies continued walking for a time when Tailwind piped up. "So where's the nearest motel?"
At this Dash chuckled. "This is Ponyville, we don't have motels. Anypony that comes here stays with family or friends."
"Ah, I see, so is there a camping store?"
"What do you need from a camping store?"
"A tent obviously. Where else do you think I'd stay, in a box in an alley?"
Dash rolled her eyes despite the fact that she knew it had no effect. "Well, you could have asked to stay at my house."
"But I wouldn't want to intrude. Besides I just met you today."
"Well I never leave a pony hanging. C'mon, I'll just grab you an extra bed and you can chill at my place for the night."
"Alright then."
The pair trotted through town until Rainbow had led Tailwind into a clearing.
"Well then, now we just need to fly up to my cloudhouse."
At this Tailwind shuffled. "Um, Dash, you forgot one important detail. I can't fly."
"Well can't you just follow my voice?"
Tailwind shook his head sadly. "No. I can't tell proper direction, altitude, or where the wind is pushing me. I"ve already tried it." As he explained, he twisted to show a nasty looking hoof long scar under his chest.
Dash thought about it for a moment, then came to an obvious idea. "Well you're still a pegasus! I got this!" With that Dash took to the skies and started testing clouds. After a few that she didn't like, she found a perfect one, soft, but secure and won't fall apart. She then pushed this cloud down to her new friend. "Here hop on this."
After feeling around, Tailwind made contact with the cloud and wandered it's 4 by 6 hoof length before settling towards the middle.
"I guess I don't have to worry about you fearing heights, and on the off chance you do, do I need to remind you to not look down?" Rainbow joked.
"Oh, of course, I'd hate to look down, I might soil myself in fear." Tailwind laughed. He slowly realised how badly he'd missed the feel of the wind in his mane. Slowly he extended his wings and sighed contentedly as the wind ruffled his feathers.
Rainbow watched this and silently promised herself she'd find a way to get this stallion back in the skies. 'No pegasi should ever be grounded! But I've seen grounded pegasi before, what makes me want to see Tailwind in the air again so badly. Ah whatever.' Shaking the spinning thoughts out of her head, Rainbow finished pushing the cloud up to her house. She made to tell Tailwind they'd arrived, but realised the stallion had fallen asleep on the ride up. Smiling, she pushed his cloud into her house, then trotted off to her bed, but not before setting her alarm. 'I'm going to need to get some advice on this. Bet Twilight can help.' With her plan for tommorrow set she settled down and fell into a slumber.
~~~~~~~
Tailwind woke up extremely comfortable. He snuggled into his bed, relishing the feel of the cloud he was on. He rolled around on it for a bit, then pulled on it, reshaped it, reshaped it again, just having fun. Then he had a random thought cross his mind. 'What do clouds taste like?' Pulling a small piece off, he gave it a tentative lick. 'Blergh, that's disgusting.'
That's when he heard laughter off to his right.
"Yeah, they don't taste as nice as they look do they?" It was Rainbow Dash of course.
"How long have you been there, Dash?"
"Well let's put it this way, I thought only Winona, she's a dog, rolled around like that!" she admitted, laughing heartily. Tailwind couldn't help but join in, imagining what he must've looked like.
"Hey, Tailwind, maybe I should get that lead rope after all."
Tailwind feigned horror, "No you foul beast!" then chucked a bit of cloud in the direction of the mare's voice.
After their bit of fun, Rainbow led Tailwind into her kitchen and grabbed them some cereal. "All I've got is 'Golden Valley Honey Oats'."
"Sounds good to me. So, what are you doing today? Work?"
"Nah, I've got to get Twilight to help me with something though. You good for wandering around for about half the day?"
"Course. I may even meet a few new ponies." Tailwind smiled.
They finished eating quickly, and Dash led Tailwind to a cloud and flew him down to the ground. They trotted together until they reached town, in which Rainbow took off for Twilight's and Tailwind started meandering through town.
It was nice and peaceful, and there weren't too many ponies out yet for him to bump into. Taking in the sounds of the morning birds, and the smell of morning dew on the grass, Tailwind found that he really enjoyed this town, despite being here for only one day.
'This town sounds and smells beautiful, though I don't know all the ponies here yet. I'll bet they're all just as nice as Octavia, Vinyl, and Rainbow Dash.' Tailwind continued trotting along when he heard music being played.
'Hmm, harp? Maybe? No, too high pitched. Well I'll just follow it and find out.'
As he drew nearer to the source, he realized that the song kept cutting off, then starting up again until the same point, then cutting off again. Guessing he was in the pony's sightline, he spoke up. "Having trouble with a note?"
"Hmm, yes, I can't seem to get my lyre tuned just right."
"Perhaps I could help, I have a good ear."
"Sure, have at it." The unicorn sighed, holding her lyre out to the stallion. She held it there for a few seconds before getting annoyed. "Are you going to take it?"
"I don't know exactly where it is."
The unicorn was about to shoot off a nasty comment about the stallion being blind when she noticed his faded green eyes and realized he was, in fact, blind. "Oh, sorry, here you go." she said instead, tapping the lyre against his left foreleg. Tailwind took the lyre and began pulling at the strings until he found the one off note. Slidding his hoof up the string, he found where to tune it at. He fiddled with it a minute, then smiled as he managed the perfect note.
"There you go, you mind if I listen to that song you were working on?"
"Sure, by the way I'm Lyra."
"Tailwind, nice to meet you."
With introductions said and done, Lyra set to work on her lyre. The song she was playing carried sad sombre tones at first, but after about two thirds of the way through it picked up eloquently into a happier tune as it ended. Tailwind was about to voice his opinion of the song, which he'd found quite enjoyable, when the sound of clapping rang out around him.
While Lyra had played the song a number of other ponies had gathered 'round to listen. Simply smiling at the fact that he'd been able to help, Tailwind worked his way out of the crowd as he heard Lyra start up another song.
Roughly an hour and a half later Tailwind was still wandering through the town when somepony tackled him and knocked him off his hooves.
'What the? I thought I ran into ponies, not the other way around?' He was about to apologize regardless when a rather loud voice sounded off next to him.
"Hiya! I'm Pinkie! You're new in town. What's your name? What're ya doing in Ponyville? Do you have family here? I don't have family here, but some ponies have family here. Ohhhhh, maybe you don't have family here, but you're searching for them because ninja ponies got the-mhmhmhmmhhhhmmhm."
"Pinkie! While Ah'm sure yer excitied about havin' somepony new in town, tacklin' 'em sure as hay ain't the way to go 'bout greetin' 'em!" a second pony hollored.
"That's not a problem at all really. Usually I'm the one running into ponies. I'm Tailwind by the way."
"Ah'm Applejack, an' this here is Pinkie Pie, she's jus' a tad bit excitable when it comes to greetin' new ponies."
"Sounds like it." Tailwind laughed as he stood up. Just as he gained footing, another pony smacked into him, only this time he found himself lifted, spun around, then put back down.
"Dash! What was that all about. Firs' Pinkie tackles the poor guy, then you come up an' start swingin' him aroun'!" Rainbow Dash merely laughed. "I already met Tailwind. Besides, I have something awesome set up. Tailwind, me and you need to go do something!"
Tailwind could hear the enthusiasm dripping pouring out of the polychromatic mares mouth. "Alright then, I'll follow you then."
"Awesome!" Rainbow took his wing in hers and led him off, leaving a very confused Applejack.
"Uh, what jus' happened?" the country mare asked, looking over at a now beaming Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie, you ok-"
"OH MY GOSH, DO YOU THINK THAT TAILWIND IS RAINBOW'S COLT FRIEND? THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE. I GOTTA TELL THE REST OF THE GIRLS AND GET READY TO THROW A PARTY!"
Applejack simply shook her head slowly, still trying to process what the hay just happened.
~~~~~~~
"So where are we going?" Tailwind asked after about an hour of walking.
"Actually, right here!" Rainbow said back excitedly.
"And where is here?"
"A field, empty for two miles in every direction!"
"Right.... now what are we doing out here?"
"It's for practice silly!"
Tailwind didn't even ask, he just cocked his head sideways and looked towards Rainbow. The mare in question giggled, holding the suspense in the air. Finally, just as it looked like Tailwind was going to voice another question Rainbow spilled everything.
"OK, so you know how I put you on that cloud last night? Well you extended your wings, which normally wouldn't say much, but it did. I thought that you had like, been blind from birth and never flew, but when you extended your wings and altered them here or there to catch or release the wind I realized that you had to have flown before. Now obviously by yourself you can't fly. Too many variables that depend on sight. All you have is hearing and touch, since taste has nothing to do with flying, unless you want to try eating a cloud again? Anyway I went to Twilight and did some research and she helped me with a couple of things so I can get you in the air again!"
Tailwind digested the information slowly before voicing his response. "Thank you, but what could possibly get me up in the air today?"
"Well you won't be in the air today. Actually you probably won't be in the air for a couple of weeks. We will be running first, and doing some wing strengthening excersises."
Tailwind was nervous at the idea, and decided to make it clear. "Dash, I'm not so sure about this. Beside, we already went over the fact that you step softly."
"I know, listen to this."
Tailwind felt the down draft that signified Rainbow taking off. He also heard something quite distinct, a whistling noise.
"Hey, if you can hear the whistle, follow me with your head!"
Tailwind did exactly that, and noted that during ascension, descension, turns, spins, acceleration, decelleration, and any other move had a distinct noise.
Dash came back down and landed next to him. "What do you think?"
"What was that!?"
"Something Twilight made. They go on the leading edges of my wings and make different noises depending on how my wings are folded. Next though we have a secondary test. I need you to memorize some different strokes from my wingtips real fast."
"Okay."
Dash then stroked her wing horizontally forward across Tailwinds side. "Accelerate."
Then backwards the same way. "Deccelerate."
Then she brought her wing forward and up at a 45 degree angle. "Left turn."
and back down the same way "Right turn."
Straight up was next "Ascend"
then straight down "Descend."
"Got them all memorized?"
"Yeah."
"Alright, but ascend and descend are for later when we're flying. For now we're going to run and get it all down."
Five hours later the two pegasi were laying in the grass panting from exertion.
"Hey Rainbow, I thought you were an athelete?" Tailwind joked.
"The very best....in the air. I don't know how these earth ponies do it."
Rolling to his hooves, Tailwind started stretching out all his worn out muscles, then remembered something important. "Forgot to tell you this because you were all excited and such, but as we were walking away from Apllejack and Pinkie Pie, Pinkie claimed that she was sure we were dating." Tailwind laughed.
Rainbow burst out laughing as well. "Geez, Pinkie sure is crazy, huh? And what was that about her tackling you?"
"Oh yeah, she tackled me to welcome me to town."
"Sounds like her!" Rainbow then got up as well, and after a bit of stretching she grabbed Tailwind's wing in hers and they headed back to her house.
~~~~~~~
The days turned into weeks which built into a month(and 3 days to get technical) and the new common occurance, other than Pinkie acting crazy, was to see Rainbow Dash and Tailwind flying through the sky together. The always stayed far enough up that everyday noises woudln't interupt Tailwind's ability to hear the whistles.
*Down stroke at 45 degrees, followed by a back stroke.* Tailwind followed suit and turned right while slowing down. Rainbow was under him, nudging her back against his tucked up hooves to let him know when to pull out of the turn, then return to her position on his left.
*Down stroke* Flaring his wings out, Tailwind came to a stop, then lowered himself to the ground.
"Flawless!" Rainbow Dash cried.
"I don't know Dash, you were a little loose on some of those turns." Tailwind joked.
"Hey, if I was loose on any turn, it's because your fat flank couldn't hook the corner." she joked right back, giving the stallion a playful push.
Dash then pulled Tailwind into a run before the brushing her wingtip straight up on his side. With that the two took off into the skies as Dash directed him here or there.
They were going perfectly, Dash expertly guiding Tailwind through a bunch of clouds when it happened. Two other pegasi flew up to them. It wouldn't have been a problem for most pegasi, but the new drafts coming off of the newcomers, mixed with the noise of the wind running through their feathers threw off Tailwind's senses, causing him to barrel into a rather solid cloud.
There was a muffled *whumpf* as Tailwind hit the cloud, knocking him unconcious. Rainbow Dash immediatly spun around and went after him, as he was now falling towards the ground. Diving as fast as she could, Dash swooped in and grabbed Tailwind out of the air and started straight towards the hospital.
She could hear the wingbeats of the other two pegasi behind her, but she'd deal with them later.
"Well your friend here has a concusion. I'll want to run a couple more tests since he was already blind, but I don't expect him to have any trouble once he comes to save a headache." Nurse Redheart said soothingly to Dash, calming her down greatly.
Just then one of the two pegasi that had caused the accident came up behind her. "Rainbow Dash, we're sor-*SMACK*"
Rainbow back-hooved the pegasus stallion and immediatly verbally laid into him.
"The hay were you thinking! I told everypony never to come near me and Tailwind when we were flying and your dumb plot comes riding right up as if you own the skies! The hay is wrong with you two, idiots!"
The stallion looked at her, ruefully rubbing his cheek. That's when Rainbow Dash understood that the pegasi weren't from Ponyvile. She'd just slapped Soarin and insulted both him and Spitfire! "Shit...."
~~~~~~~
The first thing Tailwind noted is that his head was killing him. He shook his head slightly and was immediatly rewarded with Rainbow's voice.
"Hey, you're awake."
"Yeah...what happened? I remember hearing a couple extra wingbeats, and feeling some drafts coming off of a couple of other ponies."
"That was Soarin and Spitfire of the Wonderbolts. They already apologized for what happened, they didn't realize the situation."
"Oh, and are they ok?"
"Yeah, there fine!" Rainbow answered a little too quickly.
That's when a second female voice chimed in. "Soarin's face is just a little sore. By the way Tailwind, don't piss off your marefriend here, she's got a heck of a backhoof."
Tailwind immediatly understood what had happened and grinned from ear to ear. "You backhoofed Soarin? Awesome! I mean he didn't deserve it, but still. Wait, what are you and Soarin doing here Spitfire?"
Rainbow Dash realized she didn't know the answer to that either.
"Well, we came here to talk to Rainbow Dash. We want to extend her an invitation to join the Wonderbolts."
The resounding scream in response to this remark was loud enough to wake the dead....in Canterlot.
~~~~~~~
"Alright! Take a break everyone!" Spitfire yelled as she flew towards Rainbow Dash, who'd messed up another trick. "Dash, what's going on. You've beent in 3 shows and been with us for four months now. This past month though, you've been slipping, alot."
Rainbow merely sighed as she pulled the face mask of the Wonderbolts suit off her head. "I know, it's just.... I don't know honestly. The past three months have been great, and the shows were amazing but it's all...wrong. Everypony keeps calling me the greatest, toughest, best flier in Equestria, and I've always wanted to hear that, but it just seems off now." Rainbow sighed again and hung her head.
"You miss him don't you? Tailwind?"
Dash nodded slowly. "I do. I miss all my friends of course, but I really miss him the most. I don't know why. With him gone it's just like all the point of flying disappeared. I really just want to see him again, hear him, go out flying with him. I know it sounds stupid."
Spitfire threw a comforting hoof around Dash's shoulders. "No, it doesn't. It sounds like you're in love, you just didn't realise it until after you were gone. Why don't you bring him here? Spend a few days with him and take off from practice. Tell him how you feel."
"You think it'll help?"
"Dash, I've been through this myself, most of the Wonderbolts have. Trust me, and trust yourself. Take the day off to get preperations in order, m'kay?"
"Alright then."
~~~~~~~
After a warm greeting and lunch, Rainbow and Tailwind dipped into conversation.
"So, Tailwind, you been flying since I left?"
"Nah, nopony to go out flying with. How have the Wonderbolts been doing. Been fun?"
Dash shuffled slightly at this comment. "Oh, yeah, been great!"
"That's crap Dash. What's up?"
Dash blinked, shocked that he'd seen through her lie so easily. "Um, Tailwind? No matter what I ever say, you will still be my friend, even if it upsets you, right?"
"Of course."
Steeling herself, Dash told him everything, her troubles with the crew, that she missed everypony, and finally, she told him her feelings for him. Tailwind sat there, stunned for a long time.
"How? Why me? I'm just some blind pony, I'm nopony special. I've heard what you can do. Your sonic rainbooms and so many other tricks. You could never do those with me. Besides, months ago I was too scared to even fly, much less keep up with you. I'm nopony Dash."
She didn't know why, but the resignation and defeat in his words, the acceptance that he was anything less than what she thought of him made something in her snap.
"How dare you!? How dare you think you're a nopony! You know, they call me the toughest flier, the best flier even! That's not true! Sure I can fly fast, and do all these tricks, but I can see, and I've flown my whole life. You're blind and you can not only fly, but we even have our own trick list where you've memorized half your tricks by the number of times your heart beats! You know what I'd be without my sight? Some stain on the ground, or on a wall! You're not nopony! You're somepony, and to me, you're everypony!" Dash cried, tears spilling from her eyes and dripping from her chin.
Tailwind reached out and drew Rainbow into a tight embrace. "You know what Dash? I just realized two things. I'm and idiot for starters, and that I am completely and totally in love with you."
Since she knew he couldn't make the first move, Dash lifted her chin and drew Tailwind into a passionate kiss. It seemed to carry on forever until Spitfire's voice cut through the fog clouding the two love birds minds.
"Can I just say that is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen or heard. Oh, and the girliest I've ever seen Dash act!" the Wonderbolt's leader joked.
Dash and Tailwind broke their kiss, but continued to hug eachother. "Shut up Spitefire, I can still beat your flank in any race!" Dash threatened.
Spitfire merely grinned, then she remembered something that had caught her attention. "Did you say that you two had your own stunts? That sounds like something worth seeing!"
~~~~~~~
"You ready for this Tailwind?" Dash asked as she strapped her whistles to her wings.
"I was ready to do this years ago! Question is, will you be able to keep up?"
"You know it."
Dash grabbed Tailwind and kissed him before leading him out the door. The silence was deafening, absolutely no noise at all, whatsoever. Not even animals made noise. Dash led Tailwind out into the middle of the field, then drew her wingtip straight up against his flank. Spreading his wings and listening to Dash's whistles, he lifted off of the ground to her side.
"You ready to rock this?"
"Buck yeah!"
*forward swipe* Hearing Dash's whistles about an inch ahead of him, Tailwind sped up until they were right on his left.
*Forward 45 degree swipe* Veering to his left, Tailwind could feel Dash under him, gently nudging him and keeping him on track with her wing. A nudge to his hooves and he straightened out.
*Straight up swipe* Tailwind pulled a perfect 90 degree turn and flew straight up, keeping Dash right next to him.
*Circular swipe, clockwise* Grinning, Tailwind stuck his left hoof straight out and felt Dash grab it with her right. The two went into a terrifying spin.
It was enough to leave anypony disoriented, which is why Dash had her eyes closed while Tailwind listened to his heart beating. When it reached the right number, he let go and the two went flying off in opposite direction.
Again counting his heartbeats, Tailwind jerked into a 115 degree turn around.
'One, two, three, four ,five, six ,seven' Then a 25 degree again as he felt and heard Dash right next to him again. Dash led him into a u-ey and then swiped a counter clockwise circle on him.
'Here we go, hold onto your hooves ladies and gents!' Tailwind jerked straight up again and rubbed his hooves on a powdered bag full of Pinkie's part cannon powder.
'One, two, three, four, Gallop!'
It appeared that Tailwind and Rainbow were galloping straight up if not for their wings. For every 'step' the two ponies hooves connected and let out a bang as the powder was set off.
'23, 24, 25 steps break!'
Tailwind and Rainbow flew back from eachother and arced over backwards before angling perfectly for where they'd started their vertical 'gallop'.
'Twist around now and...'
Tailwind and Dash's hooves connected perfectly, letting out an earshattering bang. They then drew eachother into and embrace and collapsed their wings.
"Still trust me Dash?!" Tailwind yelled over the rushing wind.
"Always!"
Coming to the end of his mental count of not his, but Dash's heartbeat, Tailwind flared out his wings and with a quick flip landed the couple on the clouds. There was a massive purple flash, and suddenly the cheering of thousands of ponies came crashing down from the stand of the Wonderbolts arena.
"Amazing you two!" Spitfire yelled as she flew over, "We promised to give them a show, and you two sure as hay did it!"
The Wonderbolts were about to rush forward and congratulate the couple on their first show(and what would become the most memorable Wonderbolts show in history.) when Tailwind raised his hooves for silence and pulled a mic from his suit.
"First, I'd like to thank you all for enjoying the performance!" Tailwind yelled to the crowd, which was welcomed with ecstatic cheers.
"Second, I'd like to thank the Wonderbolts for allowing me to join them, and for not judging me for my blindness!" at this Soarin ducked close to the mic and hollored, "Truth is that we're all just afraid of Dash's backhoof!" This elicited raucious laughter from the audience.
"And third, I must ask for dead silence once more for one final thing!" The crowd immediatly shut up, eager to see the next amazing thing that this blind Wonderbolt would do.
Tailwind then dropped to a knee and pulled out a small box.
"Rainbow Dash, you were my first friend since I became blind. You treated me like any other pony, and when you saw how much I missed flying, you made it your mission to get me in the air again. As we both found out when you first joined the 'Bolts', we can't live without eachother. So I ask, on the eve of our first, and definitely not our last, show , will you marry me?"
With that Tailwind opened the box and revealed a beautiful Emerald, akin to his eyes original colour, held in a white-gold bracelet band.
Dash stood there, completely and totally speechless for minutes, and just when it started to get awkward, she threw herself around Tailwind and drew him into a passionate kiss.
Spitfire smiled, then picked up the dropped microphone and said the single most obvious thing ever.
"I think that's a yes!"
A.N.~Chapter's fixed!, also if you don't like this story and decide to down vote it, I don't hold it against you.....as long as you have a good reason and you tell me why, so I can improve it. And if you don't have a good reason? Well then go troll on youtube comments please.
Also I've had a message telling my that ponies A. didn't do stuff inbetween or after what they said. That's because I could have Dash say "Hi Tailwind!" Dash yelled, as she ran in three circle did six backflips and then twisted her face into a grimace as she farted loudly. You know what Tailwind would understand from that? "Hi Tailwind *FART*" hahahaha.
B. Also in the same message it said that I didn't explain the way ponies looked. Well that's because the story is mainly about somepony that can not see what a pony looks like there fore, He wouldn't be like. "The soft brown stallion with the red mane.." He'd just be like, "The stallion in front of me(somewhere)"
Alt A.N~ reformatted this chapter in some spare time, going to be doing this with my old stories.