• Published 15th Jul 2013
  • 2,999 Views, 54 Comments

Riding the Storm - Lantheros



Two worlds. Two completely different lifestyles. The true meaning of friendship is put to the test as two very special pegasi come to understand that you can fly without wings.

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2 - Cinnamon Wings

The clock had just struck two in the afternoon when a purple unicorn and a pink pony met each other not far away from the city center. Twilight was obviously the first one to arrive, precise as the bell tower. Pinkie Pie showed up some minutes later, bouncing like a ball.
They greeted each other and sat down close together, looking towards the sky.

“Do you know anything else in particular?” asked Sparkle.

“No! Rainbow just told me to come here at two o’clock and wait for her to come from the sky!” answered the pink pony with a smile.

“You know less than me then...” replied the unicorn pensively, “because she also told me that I shouldn’t ask questions or make comments.”

“She didn’t tell me anything else. Oh wait, she also told me bye!”

“Who knows… maybe a new air trick…”

“Or maybe she wants to show us a new hat!” said Pinkie.

“Who, Rainbow Dash?” asked Twilight dumbfounded.

“Yeah! Or maybe she wants to show us a new poem she wrote! Oh, I can’t wait! I love surprises!”

“Sure, a poem…”

At a certain point, Pinkie started to bounce around more than usual and pointed to a spot in the sky that grew bigger and bigger.

“A shooting star!” she yelled.

“Uh… I don’t think so, at least not in the middle of the day. Maybe it’s… I think it’s Rainbow… but she’s pushing something…”

The pink pony started to trot around wildly, waiting for Dash to get closer. When she was a few hundred feet from them, the situation became clearer. Her friend was slowly pushing a strange cloud, and somepony was lying on it: a pegasus they had never seen before. After a while, Rainbow brought the cirrus cloud down to ground level.

“Hey guys!” she exclaimed.

The two waved back and Pinkie impatiently moved closer to Icarus.

“Who are you?!?” she yelled loudly.

The gray pegasus, looking bored, turned to Dash and mumbled, “These are the two you wanted to introduce to me?”

“I thought you were smarter than that,” replied Rainbow, mimicking the words Icarus had said to her the day before. “So let me enlighten you: yes they are.”

“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie!”

“I’m Twilight Sparkle, nice to meet you!”

Icarus looked at them with arrogance and replied, “My name’s Icarus. And whether or not it’s ‘nice’ remains to be seen.”

“I’ve never seen you around here before! Are you new in town? Where are you from? Do you like parties?” asked Pinkie Pie frenetically, which she knew how to do all too well.

“Did you overdose on carbohydrates or something? Anyway, the answers are: not exactly, none of your business, and no,” he concluded.

“What a nice cloud! It’s really cool! Why are you sitting on a cloud?”

Icarus turned towards Rainbow with a feeling of resignation.

“I get it now: you want to get back at me by making me spend an afternoon in hell with these wierdos.”

“More or less…” replied Dash with a smile.

“This is… this isn’t just a normal cloud,” said Twilight after taking a quick look. “This is an enchanted cirrus cloud!”

Icarus’ attention was slightly piqued.

Twilight continued, “Only highly trained unicorns know how to use these kinds of matter manipulation spells. A specialization in Ephemeral Preservation and a good amount of primary catalysts are required to sustain a cirrus cloud at such low altitudes.”

“Cloud!” yelled Pinkie, feeling left out of the conversation.

“What are you? Some sort of smarty pants?” asked Icarus.

Twilight blushed slightly and replied, “Well… yes actually… I study a lot and I spend most of my time in my library and…”

“Library?” interrupted the pegasus, pricking up his ears.

Rainbow smiled with ill-concealed satisfaction.

“Yes, I own a library full of ancient scrolls which I use for my studies on magic.”

At this point Icarus was bursting with excitement, but he immediately tried to hide his enthusiasm behind a mask of indifference that he was used to wearing.

“You know, Icarus has a lot of books at home too…” said Rainbow Dash. “Maybe you could share notes or... have some egghead conversations at Twilight’s library.”

“Really? Sounds fascinating!” concluded Sparkle with a smile.

Icarus tried to seem uninterested but it was all too clear how much he wanted to explore a new library and talk about magic.

“Mh… yeah… I guess I can find some spare time for that…”

“Wait wait wait!” interrupted Pinkie looking serious. “We have to welcome you first! At Sugarcube Corner!”

“Thanks but no thanks,” he replied, quickly getting rid of her.

“Yeah...” continued Rainbow, “Icarus has been doing what he wants for a long time. I don’t think he feels like dealing with a welcoming party.”

“Oh, are you shy?” asked the pink pony.

“No, it’s just stupid,” answered Icarus, slightly irritated.

Twilight then added, “Well, maybe Pinkie’s welcome parties are a little bit exuberant, but they’re fun! And besides, it’s easier to chat with a tray of fresh baked muffins!”

“Muffins?”

“You don’t know what muffins are?!” exclaimed Pinkie with honest surprise. “How’s that even possible? We must fix this right away! Get down from there and let’s go to Sugarcube Corner on the double!”

Rainbow was about to add something when she saw Icarus, hooves shaking and looking resolute, stand up. She watched him closely as he started to come down from the cirrus cloud.

“Icarus,” Dash said, “I know the maximum altitude I can reach. I assume then that you know your limits too...”

“Don’t tell me you let my mom get to you?” he replied and, after taking a deep breath, slowly got down from the cloud.

When his body weight shifted to his legs, he trembled slightly and fell on his knee. The ponies surrounding him came closer to help him but Icarus stood up by himself, requiring more than a little effort.

“See?” he said panting. “I can walk here too: it’s just a little bit harder and I have to get used to it. There’s no need to worry about me."

“All right,” stated Rainbow slightly worried. “I’ll bring your cloud anyway. Just in case.”

“You better! I’m not exactly a risk taker: I don’t like hurting myself over nothing.”

The group started up towards Sugarcube Corner. Icarus began to move slowly with faltering steps, not being used to solid ground beneath his hooves and because of his weakened legs. Pinkie Pie, totally unaware, separated from the group with quick bounces, then she turned around with surprise and started to bounce again around Icarus.

“Why are you walking so funny? Why don’t you fly? And why were you moving around on a cloud? I wanna travel around on a cloud too!”

Twilight looked at her, worried, and was about to say something, but Rainbow signaled her to keep quiet.

Without losing his cool, the gray pegasus answered, “I have a special condition. My bones are fragile and break easily.”

Pinkie stopped for a moment with a fixed expression on her face, trying to process what was said. She then started to bounce around him again.

“Gotcha! Like cinnamon sticks! If you don’t pay attention they break into itty bitty pieces!”

“You could say that,” he answered with a smile, the first sincere smile that Dash had ever seen on his face.

“You’ve got cinnamon bones!”

“I’ve got cinnamon bones,” he replied.

“Wonderful! You should make the muffins today, because… I wonder how good a pony with cinnamon bones can make yummy treats!”

“I don’t know… I’ve never done something like that before. I can give it a shot. I never back down from a challenge,” he said proudly. “But I’m not exactly an expert in… working with my hooves.”

“Oh, it doesn’t matter!” exclaimed Pinkie smiling. “You get to work with flour! There’s nothing softer than flour! And to be honest, sometimes I make a huge pile of cotton candy and lie down on it because it’s soooo soft! Like you do on your cloud!”

Icarus was trying to hold back another smile.

“And then,” concluded the pink pony, “if your bones were made of bones… but they’re made of cinnamon, so you can’t fail!”

“Wow,” said Icarus to Rainbow Dash. “The crazy pink one is cool!”

*** ***** ***

The day passed by much faster than Icarus had initially imagined it would. Pinkie Pie served him her finest sweets and, after insisting for several minutes, she managed to get him involved in cooking as well. Even Twilight and Rainbow tested their cooking abilities: Twilight tried an analytic and extremely complicated approach, which led her to finish her check list at the same time when everypony else had already finished cooking; Rainbow, on the other hoof, made some changes to make her sweets look cooler… but much less appetizing.

During the entire cooking process, Icarus made comments such as “This is an activity for fillies,” “Ridiculous!” and “I’m all covered with flour!” but, in the end, he was quite satisfied with the results.

As soon as Icarus and Twilight started to discuss about magic and books, everypony understood that it was time to move to the library.

Since Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Spike weren’t interested, they left the two to discuss and skim through numerous tomes.

“I’ve never seen that pegasus before. Is he new in town?” asked the little dragon.

“Not exactly,” answered Dash.

“Boooring!” exclaimed Pinkie while watching them pile up open books at the library.

“Guess who’s gonna rearrange everything alphabetically, by topic and by cover color…” grumbled Spike in resignation.

The three then kept quiet so that they could hear what the pegasus and unicorn were discussing.

“Exurgit Potio?” asked Icarus with his eyes on the pages.

“It’s a spell to create a revitalizing tonic. Apparently it can heal wounds too,” answered Twilight expertly.

“Does it work?”

“I’m not sure, I’ve never had the time to try it out, and alchemy is not my forte. There’s a zebra though, Zecora, who’s much more experienced than me in this area.”

“I have some enchanted catalyzing plants at home: some unicorns placed them to…”

“…to generate a condensed field of magic in a predefined space!” continued Twilight with enthusiasm.

“Ok, we totally lost ‘em,” concluded Spike.

*** ***** ***

The sun began to hide behind the hills when Icarus climbed up on his cirrus cloud. This time it was harder for him, because in his bag he had a couple of heavy books that Twilight let him borrow. The four said goodbye to each other: Icarus being the most reserved of them, of course.

“Remember,” exclaimed Twilight pointing at her books, “I want you to read them and let me know what you think.”

“I don’t think it’s going to take me too long.”

“I want you to come back and visit me! I want the cinnamon pegasus to come back and cook with me again!” said Pinkie while bouncing in place.

Icarus shook his head a little, causing a small cloud of flour to descend from his thick mane.

“Ok, but next time I want you to open the bags of flour.”

They said their last goodbyes and Rainbow started to push the cirrus cloud.

Under normal circumstances they would have made it home in only a couple of minutes, but given the fragility of the cloud and its passenger, it was necessary to fly very carefully.

The two remained silent for several minutes, then Icarus breaking the silence asked, “...why?”

“Because this cloud won’t push itself,” answered Rainbow ironically.

“You know what I’m talking about. Why did you bring me here? I want the truth.”

“It’s because I pity you, right? Isn’t that what you told me last time?”

The gray pegasus said nothing and Rainbow guessed that she was probably overdoing it with the sarcasm, so she changed her tone to be more sincere.

“Seriously though Icarus, I’ll be honest: when I came by yesterday it was because I felt sorry for you. Then, after listening to you, I realized you were almost as prideful as I am. And I would never want to feel patronized,” she concluded.

“Icarus one, Rainbow Dash negative twenty,” said Icarus with a tone of superiority.

“Don’t get me wrong: disease or no, you’re an arrogant blockhead, and sometimes I would like to throw you off of this cloud.”

“I say: how right you are, my darling,” answered Icarus, imitating a British gentlepony accent.

“So… today I wanted to bring you here for two reasons. First, I wanted you to meet some special ponies and… show how they were able to treat you with much more respect than me. The second is...”

“What...?”

“The second reason... I did it for me, that’s all,” continued Rainbow Dash with some difficulty. “I did it because I feel I’m learning new things when I’m with you.”

Icarus turned towards the blue pegasus and looked at her, surprised. Rainbow stopped pushing the cirrus cloud and the two gazed into each other’s eyes for a moment.

Icarus seemed to be holding back laughter and brought his attention again to the direction of his house.

“I know, I know. I always have this kind of effect on the mares. But don’t get ahead of yourself, you’re gonna have to wait in line just like all the others.”

Dash smiled.

“Now,” he continued, “keep pushing, otherwise I will be late for dinner. At this rate I would have already made it home just by blowing in the opposite direction, beating you and your wings.”

Dash took this as a challenge and suddenly accelerated, making sure however that her passenger wasn’t in danger. Icarus quickly tensed up, afraid that he would fall off the cloud, which was starting to travel faster than it had ever gone before. His initial fear was progressively replaced by a strange feeling of excitement as the two rapidly reached their destination.

“Is his lordship satisfied?” asked Rainbow sarcastically. Icarus was stuck to the cloud, almost like a cat clinging to the armrest of a recliner.

“If you damaged my cirrus cloud I’m going to send you the bill from the unicorns. I know where you live.”

Sunshine was waiting for them at the door, looking worried when she saw how fast they were going.

“Oops... now your mom is going to pluck both of my wings,” Dash whispered.

“I’ll handle her.”

“Let’s hope so. Listen, if you want to tomorrow, I’ll introduce you to the rest of the group, if you’re up for it,” she said with enthusiasm.

Icarus appeared to contemplate. “Let’s see: tomorrow, tomorrow... Basically I was planning on running a two hour marathon, followed by aerial tricks at high altitudes, and finishing it all off by spending the evening with my admirers.”

“You’re also forgetting the Grand Galloping Gala and going to the gym,” added Rainbow neutrally, eyes starting to close.

“No, that’s the day after tomorrow. Yeah, I think I can spare a bit of my extremely precious time, this time around.”

“Then I’ll stop by tomorrow morning!”

“What are you two talking about?” yelled Sunshine harshly. “Rainbow! Does this seem like the speed that you should be going while moving Icarus around?”

“Let me handle this,” Icarus said to Dash. He got down from the cirrus cloud, took a couple of steps towards his mother and then, pretending to be worried, cried out, “Mommy! Did you see what she did? She scared me to death!”

Rainbow Dash watched the scene completely dumbfounded.

Icarus, standing behind his mother, turned towards Rainbow with the same challenging look on his face that Dash had before the sudden acceleration.

“Why you little pegasus...” growled Dash between her teeth.

Sunshine approached her looking serious.

“Uh... look, I...”

His mother closed her eyes and added, “I know that Icarus is joking, I know him well. But seriously Rainbow Dash, you can’t fly so fast. You could really hurt him.”

“You’re right, you’re right. I shouldn’t have done that,” she admitted.

“Alright then... How did it go today?” she asked.

“Better. But I think that Icarus can tell you all about it, if he’s willing.”

“Oh... ok.”

“Would it be a problem,” continued Dash, “If I brought him to Ponyville again tomorrow?”

In that exact moment, the cirrus cloud that the pegasus had gotten off of quivered slightly, let out noises similar to a deflating balloon, and vanished in a smoky bubble.

“Ah!” exclaimed the gray pegasus laughing. “I knew it! You busted it for real!”

Rainbow recovered from her shock and cast an embarrassed smile at the mother, who was taking another deep breath.

“Fine,” she said finally. “But this time...”

“Low-speed,” continued Dash. “I promise!”

When Rainbow left the high altitude clouds to go home, she decided at the last moment to take a detour to stretch out the journey: her spirits were high and she decided to take a dive to get a taste of real high speed flying. She felt a kind of joy, inside of her, as if that day had given her something important.

Maybe, she thought, the thin air at those high altitudes is making me a little loopy.

*** ***** ***

The following morning Dash went to get Icarus, as was determined. She noted, with pleasant surprise, that the pegasus had fixed up his mane a bit.

“Hey look, Casanova!” she exclaimed laughing.

“It was my mom’s idea,” explained Icarus hastily while messing up his hair during the journey.

“You didn’t look bad. Anyway, I’ve got something in store for you this morning.”

“Something like what?” he asked with suspicion.

“If I told you now, I’m sure you would want to go back home right away.”

“Fair enough: I wanna go back home right now.”

“Of course. Tonight. Now just try and trust me.”

“I don’t trust anypony, let alone a multicolor maned pegasus,” concluded Icarus.

“You trusted me yesterday, and it seems to me that you weren’t disappointed.”

“The exception to the rule, not to mention that you destroyed an enchanted cirrus cloud and you almost let me fall into the void.”

“Want me to do it again?” asked Dash, getting ready for a dive. Icarus went rigid exactly like the last time.

“Don’t you dare!” he screamed.

“Relax, it was just a joke,” she reassured him.

After a couple of minutes, the passenger said a little timidly, “Well... can you maybe go a little bit... faster?”

Rainbow smiled and started to flap her wings with more energy, not as quick as the day before, but fast enough to visibly notice Icarus’ joy as he felt the wind on his body.

*** ***** ****

The two finally arrived in front of Carousel Boutique.

“A store for mares?” ranted Icarus. “You brought me to go shopping?!”

“Well, I brought you here to get cleaned up.”

“No way, halt, stop this cloud, turn back!”

“Oh come on, we’re almost there. At least wait until you’ve met Rarity.”

“Look: have you seen me? I'm not exactly the type of pegasus that goes around showing off fancy clothes or majestic poses! Or maybe you can't see that well?” he yelled.

“Let’s make a deal,” said Rainbow, placing the cirrus cloud in front of the Boutique. “If you were to regret coming out this morning I’ll get you back home in no time, I swear.”

“Oh no! Too easy! What do you have to lose? Nothing! Let’s do it this way: if I regret this, not only will you bring me back home, but you’ll dye your mane pink… but not just a normal pink, hot pink! I want you to look like the exact copy of your crazy friend!”

“I thought she was ‘our’ crazy friend, now…” she said with some displeasure.

The gray pegasus seemed to take back his last words.

“Mh, yeah whatever, let’s just not put the cloud before the pegasus.”

The door of the Carousel Boutique opened and Rarity appeared.

“What is all this fuss about? Oh, Rainbow Dash, it’s you!” she exclaimed smiling. “And I see you brought… a friend.”

“After this morning, I don’t think so,” concluded Icarus with resignation. “Come on, let’s get this over with. I can’t believe I’m about to do this...”

“Hi Rarity,” concluded Dash, a little bit embarrassed by Icarus’ audacity.

The unicorn seemed very confused, especially when she could see Icarus better, once he got down from the cloud.

“Uh yes, sure… come in.”

Once inside, the pegasus looked around and was left quite surprised by the large amount of elegant clothes on display. Rarity looked at Rainbow Dash for a moment, with a puzzled expression.

As a response, Dash nodded and exclaimed, “I know that you are rude, Icarus, but you really should introduce yourself.”

“Ah yes,” he responded, taking away his attention from the clothes. “My name’s Icarus, I’ve been brought here by force: this crazy pony is keeping me hostage, so I’d like you to call for help. And, as you can see, I don’t belong here,” he concluded, looking up towards the stupendous clothes hanging on the walls.

Rarity listened to him, more and more confused and then asked, “What do you mean you don’t belong here?”

“Ah, here’s yet another one! What, are you playing dumb?” he asked nervously. “Are you pulling my leg?”

At first, the unicorn seemed surprised but she immediately regained her composure.

“Look, I can see you just fine, and I ask you again: why don’t you belong here?”

“Please! I hate rhetoric! Can’t you see? Crooked hooves, fragile body, frail wings … not to mention my mane,” he exclaimed, blowing away a lock of hair hanging in front of his face.

Rarity smiled, got closer to him, and rotated a big mirror found nearby, allowing him to see his reflection.

“Don't be such a drama queen," she added. "If there's one thing that I've learned in this job, it's that the only ponies that don't 'belong here' are those who feel that they don't belong.”
Icarus looked at the mirror in dismay and lowered his gaze.

“As long as you feel inadequate,” continued Rarity, “that's what you'll be to all effects. For instance, look at Rainbow Dash: she has the same fashion sense as a wild dragon.”

“Hey!” interrupted her friend instinctively, a bit flustered.

“…but she feels phenomenal and that’s the way she appears, with or without elegant clothes.”

“Of course I’m phenomenal!” Rainbow added quickly.

The unicorn drew near the gray pegasus, appearing next to him in the reflected image.

“And look! We both have purple manes! Purple is a beautiful color! And you have such a thick mane: it’s perfect for being shaped into something fashionable. I already have in mind some things that...”

“I know that you are trying but I don’t think you are really convincing me,” interrupted Icarus, moving away from the mirror.

“I’m not trying to convince anypony. I only want you to understand that, in this line of work, I am much better with ponies whom feel beautiful on the inside. Only in this way can I bring out that beauty and show it to others.”

“You are a stylist. Your whole life is based on looks, one of the most dull and fleeting things that exists.”

Rarity, not bothered at all by those words, smiled again and continued, “My desire to look good is in a way a weakness of mine, but I’ve learned more than once that it’s what inside that counts rather than what’s on the outside. But this is my passion and, if I can help other ponies to feel better about themselves, bringing out a beauty that is not easily seen by others... then I won’t back down.”

Icarus listened to her with attention, slightly saddened.

“It’s a very noble thought... but everything has its limits.”

“Remember the deal, Icarus?” asked Rainbow. “An entire day here, nothing more, nothing less, and then you can decide to leave and never step hoof here again in Ponyville.”

The pegasus thought about it and, with reluctance, responded, “Fine! A deal’s a deal. And don’t you forget about the pink mane!”

“Oh finally!” exclaimed Rarity. “I am so excited!”

With those words, she grabbed a tape measure with her teeth and approached Icarus’ fragile body.

The gray pony felt uncomfortable during the entire ordeal. Rainbow Dash felt a little pity for him (which she tried to get rid of immediately) seeing him so vulnerable, more so than she had ever seen him before.

Rarity took some measurements, noted some details on a couple scattered pages, and quickly went to work with the help of her magic.

Icarus was fascinated watching the whole room come to life: spools, fabric, scissors, and tailoring materials started flying all around, interweaving underneath the composer’s spectacled nose, whom however did not immediately show the finished product. She decided instead to dedicate herself to the pegasus’ hair: she placed him between several mirrors, studied his mane with attention and then, with multiple floating makeup tools, started to work a few inches from his nose.

“Oh my…” exclaimed Icarus, closing his eyes.

“Relax, you have a fantastic mane! Oh! I wish everypony had hair like yours!”

“How pretty!” replied Icarus ironically, feeling locks of hair fall all over his neck. Slightly before finishing, Rarity put a towel on the pegasus’ face, who started to complain but not being able to do anything about it.

“What are you doing?”

“Relax: I don’t want to ruin the surprise!” exclaimed and delicately loosened the strap that bound his wings. She then started trying out different outfits on him, accompanied with phrases like “Uh no,” “This would look nice, even if...” and “Oh! That’s magnificent!”

“Just give up,” responded Icarus. “To do a decent job you would have to cover me with a circus tent.”

“Oh really?” asked Rarity finally sounding extremely satisfied, lifting the towel from the pegasus’ eyes.

Icarus slowly opened his eyes, observing his own reflection in the mirror in front of him.

He said nothing, only able to look at himself, with eyes bulging from their sockets: his hair was slightly shorter, which made him appear less frail and was skillfully sculpted in a way that was much more elegant. There was a small ray of silver-white light, descended delicately near his face.

Rarity had also fixed him up with some clothes: not too much and without making him look weighed down. She had replaced the old bag with a more modern, elegant, and comfortable version; right above his hooves she had placed a strip of fabric that matched the color of his mane and, finally, she had inserted a part of his tail into a silver ring so that it wouldn't lay too heavily on the ground because of its thickness.

“Well?” asked the stylist, removing her glasses with her magic. “Do you like it?”

“Don’t expect any compliments,” said Dash, with a forced smile.

Icarus glanced at the pegasus arrogantly, feeling like he was being read like an open book.

“Oh it doesn’t matter! The important thing is, if you don’t like it, you tell me! There’s nothing worse for a stylist than a falsely satisfied customer!”

Icarus felt a strange tingling inside and, with a hint of a smile, whispered, “There’s nothing worse for a stricken pegasus than somepony who’s falsely interested in him.”

He looked up towards the mirror, gave a quick look at himself and finally exclaimed, “I’ve seen worse... Yeah... I think it’ll do.”

“I think that’s the best you’re gonna get, Rarity,” Dash pointed out.

Rarity, suddenly overcome by her passion, dug her forehead into Icarus’, who worriedly stepped backwards.

“If it’s not ok you have to tell me!!” she yelled.

“It’s perfect. I love it,” he sputtered, visibly frightened.

*** ***** ***

Icarus watched Ponyville pass by beneath him, while Rainbow Dash pushed the cirrus cloud dozens of yards off the ground: they were moving towards the outskirts of town, in the direction of the countryside.

“It’s too bad that from up here they can’t see your new look.”

The pegasus muttered, pretending to be uninterested, then added, “Whose turn is it this time? What other pony are you going to subject to my accommodating personality?”

“Not just one,” replied Dash, “but tons of ponies!”

Icarus’ eyes went wide open and he swallowed loudly.

“How many, exactly?”

“Oh, uh, not a ton, just a little group... I believe there’s going to be six ponies total, including us."

“Group therapy?”

“No! Lunch with the family!”

At those words Rainbow tilted downwards, quickly going downhill towards a big, red farmhouse. During this maneuver, Icarus saw some apple orchards passing by underneath him.

“I remember these trees,” he started to say. “They can be easily spotted from my house through my telescope. There are so many of them that, from far away, they seem like a huge, iridescent carpet. In the summer it’s like a green sea, during fall it’s like a vermilion field, over the winter it almost looks like a dying forest, and in spring…”
Dash heard his voice suddenly drop to a whisper. Icarus then continued, “…in spring, when the trees are in bloom, they become a cloud cover which, looking at the horizon, seem to merge with the real clouds…”

“Unpleasant, grumpy, cook, and now poet. And I thought that you could only complain,” said Rainbow, giving him a gentle tap on his shoulder.

“You know that hurt me, right?”

“You know that I’m not falling for that, right?”

“Touché,” he concluded with an unblinking gaze.

*** ***** ***

At the end of their bickering they were already at the entrance of the farm, not too far away from the red farmhouse. A couple of ponies, initially concentrating on picking apples, came towards them as soon as they saw them approaching.

“Let all my apples go bad if that’s not the multicolored mane of the coolest pegasus in all of Equestria!” shouted Applejack merrily. “And she’s brought a guest too!”

Icarus leaned over to Dash’s ear and whispered, “If you force me to work on the farm that’s labor exploitation. You’re aware of that, aren’t you?”

“Woohoo! Rainbow Dash with a guest!” exclaimed Applebloom, coming from a nearby apple tree.

“Hey AJ! Applebloom! Big Macintosh! Is work on the farm going well?” asked the blue pegasus enthusiastically.

“Eeeeyup.”

“Everything’s fine,” continued Applejack. “We were just about to take a break to organize lunch!”

Icarus slowly got off from the cloud while Applebloom watched him with eyes full of surprise. The pegasus felt her stare on him and, initially, appeared slightly annoyed.

“Remember, she’s just a filly,” Dash whispered to him, trying not to be heard by the other ponies.

“Remember, I am the unpleasant one,” he responded in a low voice.

“Howdy, partner!” burst out the big sister. “Are you new in town? I’ve never seen you around and... whoa! What a nice cloud!”

Icarus turned for a moment towards his cloud and pedantically answered, “Oh, that? Mmh, yeah, it’s a ‘Cirrus High 4000'. It comes standard with a regeneration spell: made only in the most obscure and sophisticated laboratories."

Applejack listened to his words, pretending to understand something, and answered with a forced smile.

“Aaanyway,” continued Icarus, theatrically showing off his new look, “my name is Icarus and I’m a gray pegasus that lives in the high altitude outskirts of Cloudsdale, in a very dangerous zone where only the most well prepared ponies could survive,” he concluded proudly.

Dash looked at him completely unimpressed. “Ah... you forgot to mention that you shoot fireballs from your nostrils too.”

“I was just about to say that, my dear."

Applejack smiled. “Well, if he ain’t just like Rainbow Dash’s double."

“I’m what now? Look, I...” blurted out Icarus, but his words got covered by Applebloom’s enthusiasm whom, hearing the far off ringing of Ponyville’s bell tower, started to trot wildly towards the farmhouse yelling, “Lunch time!”

“Ah! Just in time!” said Applejack inviting them to follow her. “So, Rainbow and her friend come to visit us right before lunch time, eh? You’re not trying to take advantage of us, are you?”

And so the four, anticipated by the exuberant little sister, headed to a set table in the open air, walking at Icarus’ pace.

“Aren’t there supposed to be six of us?” asked the gray pegasus.

“Uh, yeah, we’re waiting for old Granny Smith... Is she taking a nap under an apple tree again?” muttered Applejack looking around her. “Oh, here she comes!”

The group turned back and saw the old pony, with the help of a cane, coming from a hill not far away.

“That old thing is the sixth pony?” asked Icarus with an arrogant smile.

“Icarus!” Dash reproached him.

“Don’t worry, Granny is sure old but she’s spry as a rock! Isn’t that right, granny?”

“Uh? What?” muttered Granny. “A nanny? You know we don’t need anypony else’s help on this farm!”

Icarus snickered. “Oh jeez, just a little bit more and they’re gonna have to reassemble her!”

“Now you are just being rude,” insisted the other pegasus.

”Not at all! I’m just telling the truth!” responded Icarus mirthfully, without realizing that Granny Smith had snuck up behind him and was listening through her ear trumpet. “That pony is so decrepit that even I could walk faster than her!”

”How dare you, ya whippersnapper!” yelled Granny, twirling her cane dangerously above her head. ”Show some respect or I’m gonna have to teach you the Granny Smith way!”

The pegasus took a couple of steps back, almost tripping over himself.

“Hey grandma, careful with that thing!”

”This is my farm and I’ll do whatever I want, ya little brat!"

The others, meanwhile, were shocked as they watched the scene play out.

“Think you can hit me, old hag?” he taunted her.

”You better believe it!” replied Granny annoyed.

”I bet you won’t even come close!” and, with those words, Icarus started walking clumsily towards the lunch table.

”If I catch you I’m gonna wash yer mouth out with soap!” yelled Granny, trying to catch up to him at a snail’s pace.

Applebloom, who in the meantime didn’t see anypony coming, decided to head back and watched perplexed as the two raced to reach the table: Icarus, extremely concentrated and pushing himself to his limits, limped ahead while trying to dodge Granny’s cane; Granny Smith, on the other hoof, pursued him with joints that creaked as much as the frame of a rusty gate while throwing her cane around wildly. Not too far away, Rainbow, Applejack, and Big Macintosh watched the scene perplexed.

After the initial shock, Applebloom grinned from ear to ear and started to cheer, “Go Granny!”

”Even while being in hostile territory and surrounded by enemies,” blurted out Icarus, “I won’t let myself be intimidated by so little!”

“You’ll have a lot more to worry about when I get my hooves on you, ya rascal!”

“Do me a favor,” said Rainbow Dash to the others. “No matter what happens, let’s never speak of how much we’re witnessing here again.”

“No problem, sugarcube.”

“Eeeyup.”

*** ***** ***

The family and two guests were seated around the big table which was completely covered with apple based appetizers. Icarus and Granny were seated at the opposite ends of the table and were constantly staring each other down.
Not too long afterwards the chatter picked up and Applejack brought out the first dish: brown betty covered in apple sauce.

Icarus looked at the plate placed in front of him with obvious contempt.

“This is supposed to be food?”

Rainbow scolded him with a harsh stare and shoved him with her shoulder.

“At first glance it might not seem that great,” said the cook, adjusting her hat. “But I guarantee that it’s delicious!”

“What’s wrong?” interrupted Granny. “Is his majesty too good for our brown betty??”

The pegasus felt like that was a challenge and, with some reluctance, took a bite. He started to chew slowly, then with more enjoyment, and finally finished swallowing noisily.

“I’ve eaten better... but it wasn’t too shabby.”

“What’d I tell ya?” said Applejack with a wink.

"In my day, we only had dry hay to eat, and we liked it!" Granny chimed in.

“I thought that they only ate rocks in the prehistoric age,” answered Icarus without even looking at her.

Another dispute broke out after that, but all in all lunch went by without too much trouble.

While dessert was being served, the gray pegasus noted that little Applebloom kept staring at him and he started to get nervous.

“What are you looking at?”

“You’re strange,” she responded innocently. “How come you walk like that? And how come you’ve got yer wings all tied down?”

Icarus seemed to refrain from answering, thought about what he should say, and finally whispered in her ear, “I don’t want everypony to know: truth be told... uh... I’m a dragon hunter... and this is what happened to me from my most recent fight.”

“Yeah right,” she quipped.

“Are you calling me a liar? Take a look at this!”

He pulled out a strange gem from his bag, placed it at the foot of the table and, hitting it with his hoof, made it glow. It was simply an enchanted gem that the pegasus used to read at nighttime but, to Applebloom’s eyes, it was something incredible.

“This is one of the gems that I took from the treasure of the last dragon that I faced. Do you believe me now?”

“Wooow...” exclaimed Applebloom, with the reflection of the precious gem showing in her eyes.

“You can keep it, if you want.”

“Really?!”

“Of course, I’ve got tons of ‘em and this one pales in comparison to the others.”

“How nice, thanks!”

That was the first time Icarus had heard somepony thank him. At first, he felt emotions inside that he had never experienced before and, immediately after, was overwhelmed by an intoxicating sensation of fulfillment.

The meal ended shortly after, leaving those present to talk about this and that, while Applebloom was busy continually making her magic gift light up.

At one point, the gray pegasus even started recounting about some of the most incredible things that he had ever seen from the telescope in his home. Somepony, in this case Granny Smith, doubted the truthfulness of these stories, but Icarus was so passionate in his narration that it left little room for doubt.

“Is that really true?” asked Rainbow Dash finally, still a bit skeptical.

“Well, we all tend to exaggerate a little bit, but I guarantee that there’s always some truth to an exaggeration.”

Some discussion of the topic followed and, in the end, the final goodbyes were said.
Before leaving, Icarus and Granny Smith’s stares met again.

“If we had been on my turf, I would’ve taken you down you in the blink of an eye, hag!”

“If smack talk made you move faster, you’d be a lightning bolt, ya brat!”

“If we ever meet again,” concluded the pegasus solemnly, before climbing back up on his cirrus cloud, “it will be for the final battle.”

*** ***** ***

The strange pair of pegasi continued on their journey that would soon end the day. The sun was no longer high in the sky, but still high enough to leave time before evening would fall on the picturesque landscape of Equestria.

Icarus was excited and a bit pumped up as well: he had never experienced such friendly company. Actually... he had never experienced company worthy of that name. Even the admiration of a little filly, Applebloom, had given him more satisfaction than all of the past years spent in isolation among the clouds. His new look, though unable to hide his obvious physical defects, filled him with pride as well.

All this time spent avoiding others... looking for champions like me... when all I needed was to get close to the ponies that I had always observed from afar, he thought, for the very first time.

“So, are you having fun?” asked Dash, bringing him back to reality.

“Mmm... yeah.”

“Really? Not: mmm, I’ve had more fun watching paint dry?”

“Of course I’ve had more fun watching paint dry, but my answer is still yes: I’m having fun. Where are we going now?” he asked while they travelled down a path that was near the Everfree Forest. “You’re not taking me to the Everfree Forest, right?”

“I could do that... and then leave you there,” chuckled Rainbow.

“You think I can’t take care of myself?”

“I’m sure that, with a sharp tongue like yours, you could scare off any ferocious animals within a couple of miles.”

“I resent that,” he said indifferently.

“Oh sure. Anyway, we’re visiting an old friend of mine.”

“Old? Like that old dinosaur at the farm?" asked Icarus worriedly.

Rainbow Dash laughed. “No, old in the sense that we’ve known each other since we were fillies. She’s a pegasus... and, you know, she’s always been afraid of flying.”

“That’s life for you,” he sighed. “Pegasi that want to fly but can’t, and pegasi that can fly but don’t want to.”

“Don’t be so whiny and start accepting others for who they are.”

"By being like you? By believing that you are ‘cooler’ than others?”

“Exactly!” she responded sarcastically. “The difference is that I don’t think less of others for their flaws, but rather, I appreciate my great qualities instead!”

“One of which being humility.”

“That makes two of us, Casanova.”

*** ***** ***

Crossing a small stream, they finally reached Fluttershy’s home. The pink haired pegasus was scrupulously taking care of some flowers in the area and smiled timidly when she saw them arrive.

"Hey Fluttershy, how’s it going?” burst out Dash, giving her a hard pat on the back.

“Oh... um... hey Rainbow Dash and... uh, hey...”

“...Icarus,” he responded from his cirrus cloud, without even looking in her direction, something he did often.

The two friends chatted for a bit, then Fluttershy asked, “Is this the pegasus you talked to me about?”

“Yep: this is the most arrogant, stubborn, and impolite pegasus that you will ever find in all of Ponyville!”

“Oh, now you are making me blush,” responded Icarus pompously. “And you forgot to mention a know-it-all.”

“Nice to meet you, Icarus. What a pretty cloud.”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s a Cirrus High 4000, et cetera, et cetera. You’re a pegasus: you’ve seen tons of clouds like this.”

“Uh, I...” she mumbled. “I’ve... I’ve never flown at high altitudes before...”

Icarus, still feeling pumped from his adventures earlier today, decided to bump up his self-esteem a couple of notches, sending him unexpectedly and dangerously into a level of extreme arrogance.

“Oh right. Rainbow Dash told me about you. You’re the pegasus that doesn’t want to fly. Cool stuff.” With those words came a faint feeling of annoyance, thinking about the opportunities Fluttershy had intentionally thrown away: opportunities that he instead would never be presented with.

She lowered her head and became defensive. “Well... I...”

“Icarus! Watch your mouth!” said Dash chastising him.

The pegasus stopped talking but maintained a look of superiority, then he got off his cirrus cloud and exclaimed, “Alright, I’ll be quiet, wouldn’t want anypony crying.”

When Fluttershy saw him at ground level, she finally understood her guest’s situation.

“Oh! I... I didn’t realize that...”

“Realize what?” exclaimed the gray pony suspiciously.

“No, I didn’t realize that you... well...”

“Quit babbling and speak your mind, all at once!”

Rainbow noticed that Icarus was becoming too aggressive, so she tried to say something but, with the same impetuosity he had when they met the first time at his home, he repeatedly attacked the meek Fluttershy.

“What’s wrong? Didn’t you notice? I guess now things are different, huh?”

“Oh no, it’ just...”

“That look on your face,” he continued. “I know it all too well: it’s the look of commiseration of somepony who’s looking at a poor, helpless victim, isn’t it?”

Fluttershy tried to answer back, but Icarus was so vehement that he prevented any reaction from her. Even Rainbow tried to say something but, not only due to his fit of rage, she remained speechless because of how insensitive Icarus was being.

“If I only think of all those years I spent trying to walk, observing other pegasi carelessly flying in the sky... while you could do both and didn’t want to. Not only that, but I also have to put up with your sympathy.”

“Icarus!” exclaimed Dash with a harsh glare.

“No! I won’t shut up, there’s just some times where I can’t let stuff like this slide! Because you, Fluttershy, you are just the kind of pony I’ve tried to avoid all my life: cowardly, fake, and pathetic!”

When Rainbow saw her friend stepping backwards with tears in her eyes, she burst out yelling, “THAT’S ENOUGH!!”

The gray pegasus felt the full force of that rebuke filled with anger, so he stopped what he was doing and stared at Dash, caught off guard by such an unexpected reaction.

“How dare you!” insisted Dash. “Who do you think you are?”

Icarus didn’t answer.

There was a moment of bewilderment for everypony, which was broken again by Rainbow.

“I’m sorry Fluttershy, I’ll come talk to you later, but first I need to have a little chat with him.”

Without much consideration, she hit Icarus’ flank with her head, prodding him to move away towards a more isolated spot. She pushed him so much that Icarus nearly fell down, risking being seriously hurt.

“Hey! Slow down! You’re...”

“Shut up!!” Dash interrupted him, angrier than before. “Just shut up! Is this some kind of joke?”

His friend’s words tied up his stomach in knots and he started to think that he might have seriously overdone it, trying however to justify himself.

“...I ...I know that look...”

“What look?! Fluttershy is the meekest pony I know! She wasn’t pitying you! She’s that way with everypony!” she yelled heatedly. “Your disease wasn’t even a part of this: that was totally uncalled for!”

Icarus’ legs quivered slightly and he had to sit himself down: he looked at the ground and was unable to say anything.

“I can’t believe you! I knew you were rough around the edges but this time you really outdid yourself. You should at least say you’re sorry for what you did!” she concluded, expecting an answer from him.

The answer, however, didn’t come: Icarus felt worse inside but could only stare blankly at the ground, unable to say anything.

Rainbow Dash waited for a little bit longer but, not seeing any sign of collaboration, got impatient.

“You’re unbelievable. And here I thought that a little kindness could help you enjoy life a little, breaking open that shell that you had built over the years. And instead...“

“Take me home,” he whispered.

“What was that?”

“I said, take me home.”

“I’ll get you there pronto,” replied Dash, anger still painted on her face.

She brought over the cirrus cloud and Icarus hopped on immediately. The two pegasi quickly climbed up towards the top of the clouds, without saying anything nor looking at each other.

*** ***** ***

Sunshine was standing at the door of the house when they finally arrived. She was about to reproach Dash for her high speed but, seeing their faces, she guessed something had gone wrong. The cirrus cloud quickly approached the cloud stretch and, as soon as it had landed, Icarus got off and walked towards the door, without looking back.

Rainbow watched him for a second before his mother approached her worried.

“Today… didn’t go well, did it?”

“I’m sorry Sunshine, I’m too upset to talk about it. Nothing really serious happened but… I need to cool down a bit… sorry… I gotta go."

“I understand, Rainbow Dash,” acknowledged Sunshine, aware of the situation. “Go on ahead.”

Before the pegasus left, Sunshine asked her one last thing. “Will you come back?”

“I don’t know yet. Right now I think it’s better if we don’t see each other for a bit,” she said regretfully, and then dove down to get back to Fluttershy.

She felt a torrent of emotions inside of her. She would have liked to organize everything and find a foundation to work off of, but anger still coursed through her veins, clouding her rational thoughts.

Stupid, stupid pegasus, she thought, rushing headlong towards the Everfree Forest.