Beneath the Big Blue Sky
He squinted in the morning sun, lifting a claw to shield his eyes from the glare. He spent so much time cooped up in the library that he wasn't used to the bright light.
“You don't have to do this, you know,” he said. “I'm sure you have important Wonderbolt business to attend to, or something.”
“Are you kidding?” she said. He almost would have described her tone as 'giddy,' but he knew that she probably wouldn't appreciate that. “I wouldn't miss this for the world. Besides, we don't have any maneuvers until next week, and there's nothing that I'd rather be doing than helping my newest flying buddy earn his wings.” She paused. “I mean, you've already got your wings, but... well, you know what I mean.”
“Yeah.” He flapped the recent additions experimentally. He was still getting used to them; it was no surprise that everypony else was, too. “But really, it's okay. I can always ask Twilight for help.”
She made a dismissive wave of her hoof. “Twilight's still a rookie,” she said. “She might get you into the air, but she'll never teach you how to fly.” She was grinning at him. She could manage to look very smug, when she put her mind to it. “Besides, why take lessons from the student, when you can learn from the master?”
He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah,” he said. “Everypony knows your flying is great.”
“My flying is awesome,” she corrected him, that self-satisfied smirk still on her face. “Stick with me, young one, and you too may someday be as cool as I am.”
“Just what I always wanted,” he replied, dryly. “Can we get on with it, please?”
“Be patient,” she said, unhurriedly. “Preparation is very important, and can't be rushed. We've gotta run through the preflight checklist. And first things first, so...” She pointed a hoof toward him. “Spread 'em. I wanna see what I've got to work with.”
He found that particular bit of advice to be supremely ironic, considering that it came from so hotheaded a pony as her; patience had never struck him as being one of her virtues. But he said nothing. Instead, he obliged her, the folds of his wings flaring out upon his back. Her eyes widened. He always thought her eyes were the most curious color. Not purple, like Twilight's coat, or his own scales, but not red, either. Something in-between... rose, maybe.
“Whoa,” she whispered. It was a rare pleasure when he was able to surprise her. Her hooves made a whisper of a sound upon the grass as she drew closer to him. “I've never seen 'em up close before,” she said. “Last time I was this close to a dragon, it was trying to eat me.”
He flashed a grin of his own at her, making a point to show off a few of his gleaming teeth. “Might still happen, if you aren't nice to me,” he teased.
She gave a snort of breath. “I'll take my chances,” she replied. She lifted a hoof toward one of his outstretched wings, and stopped. “Can I...?”
He nodded.
She ran her foreleg along the edge of his wing, trailing her hoof across its bony ridges and soft membranes. She thought she saw him shiver where he stood, but she couldn't be sure. “They're so... different,” she murmured in fascination. “Nothing like pegasus wings. I'm surprised you can fly at all.”
It was his turn to snort. “You don't hear me making fun of your feathers, do you?”
“My feathers are—”
“Awesome, I know,” he sighed. He was quiet, for a moment, his wings reflexively twitching as she continued her delicate examination. “Do they really matter?” he asked. “The wings, I mean.”
“Not really,” she answered, half-distracted. She was still exploring him with those feather-light touches, gently rubbing and stroking his wing, testing its texture beneath her hoof, apparently marveling at how alien he looked, and felt. He wasn't sure how to feel about that. “Flying isn't that hard. If the birds and the bees can do it, then so can ponies.” Her wandering hoof left his wing, rising to poke against the tip of his snout. Boop. “That goes for dragons, too,” she said. She had that sly little smile on her face again.
“Hmph,” he scoffed, wrinkling his nose. “Twilight always talked about it like it was so complicated. She said it was all about aerodynamics, wind speed, air pressure, lift and thrust. Stuff like that.”
“Well, of course she'd say that,” she groaned. “You know Twilight. She's a smart pony, but she tries too hard. With her, everything is charts and graphs, experiments and explanations, and books, books, books.”
He let out an amused rumble of a sound. “Yeah,” he agreed. “That sounds like her, all right.”
Her own wings gave a beat upon her back as she shrugged. “Like I said, she's a smart pony. I know you love her. So do I. But she's always thinking too much, always looking at things from that egghead perspective. Trying to dissect and analyze everything in life takes all the magic out of it, not to mention the fun.”
He tilted his head. “Are you saying that magic makes you fly?”
“Well, yeah, that's part of it. I mean, look at me.”
He looked, as he had caught himself doing more and more often lately. She struck a pose, spreading her wings and tossing her head back, sending her mane of multicolored hair spilling down her neck and over her shoulders. She wore it longer than she used to, and a little straighter; she didn't look quite so unkempt as she once did, with her hair all frizzy, as if she had just gotten out of bed. He never asked her why she had started growing it out. Maybe he should have.
Time had been kind to her. While she was a little taller now, she otherwise looked much the same as she always had. Her build was still lithe, limber, athletic. The years hadn't slowed her a single step; if anything, she had only gotten faster, thanks to her passion, drive, and relentless training. He would have expected nothing less from a member of the Wonderbolts. She'd lost none of her fire, none of her spirit. Her coat was still the same vibrant shade of blue, as blue as the sky above, and the only wrinkles on her face were around the corners of her mouth... and she only had those, he knew, because she laughed and smiled so much.
She was pretty. He wasn't sure if she would appreciate hearing that, either.
“Look at my wings,” she continued. “See how small they are compared to the rest of me? They should be twice that size just to lift me into the air. Most ponies are the same way. And what about those royal guards in Canterlot? With all that heavy armor on, they shouldn't even be able to get off the ground. But they do, and they can fly as easily as I can. That's what pegasus magic does. It's what lets us fly, and walk on clouds, and control the weather.”
He nodded. “Okay,” he said, “so what about me?”
“What about you?” she said, lifting a hoof to thoughtfully rub it beneath her chin. “That's a good question.” She walked around him where he stood, slowly, her eyes drifting across him, studying him, trying to figure out a secret that he didn't even know he held. “I didn't know that dragons had any magic. But Princess Celestia says that there's magic in everything, so I guess it works for you the same way that it does for us.”
He turned his head to watch her, his own verdant eyes following her until she left his field of vision. “Aren't you supposed to be the expert?” he said.
“Hey, even I don't know everything,” she replied. “That's Twilight's job.” She was behind him now, inspecting him carefully, like Rarity scrutinizing every stitch of her own tailoring. “Your wings aren't any larger than mine, and you're almost the same size as me. Keep growing like you are, and you're going to be taller than I am, soon enough. Heh, I dunno if I like that.”
He peered over his shoulder at her. “Why not?” he asked, mildly annoyed.
“I've always been looking down on you, ya little runt.” Her tone was playful. “Heck, I've only just now gotten used to looking you in the eyes. What am I gonna do when you're actually bigger than me, huh?”
He smiled at her. Most ponies were frightened when he did that—he had a lot of teeth, after all—but not her. She and fear had never met. “Well,” he mused, “maybe I could give you a ride, for once. That'd be a welcome change.”
She smiled back at him. A warm, genuine smile, not like her earlier, prideful smirking. “I'd like that,” she said. She reached for his wings again, gingerly touching, stroking, with all the care that she might show to a foal, her head canted faintly to one side. “Not so little anymore, are you?” she said, more to herself than to him.
Again, he said nothing, but merely bowed his head forward, his wings trembling beneath her touch.
She was silent, for a time. “Did it hurt?” she asked at length. “When they... you know.”
“A little,” he said. A half-truth, at best, but there were some things that she was better off not knowing. “I remember there being a lot of blood, so it probably looked worse than it actually was. Twilight was really worried, though. She... she wouldn't stop crying.”
He felt her pressing against his back, between his wings. She weighed almost nothing. Her forelegs draped around his neck. “We were all worried about you, dummy,” she whispered. “Don't ever scare us like that again.” She chuckled where she lay against him. “You... you should have seen us. Half a dozen mares in the hospital waiting room, all yelling and crying and worrying themselves sick. We drove your nurses crazy.”
“I'll bet you did.” He reached up with a claw, resting it atop the spot where her legs crossed his chest. “I'm sorry.”
“S'okay,” she murmured. “S'part of growing up, I guess. For a dragon, anyway.” She rubbed the tip of her muzzle against the back of his neck. “They look good on you, you know. Handsome, even. Pretty soon, mares will be knocking down the door of the library to get to you.”
His head bowed further between his shoulders. He could feel his cheeks burning. “Aw, cut it out,” he said.
She clicked her tongue. “It's true,” she insisted. “I'm sure Twilight will be glad to finally have some other ponies to nerd around with, but whatever will Rarity think?”
The heat in his cheeks intensified. “Dash...” he grumbled.
He couldn't see her face, but he knew she was grinning from ear to ear as she rubbed her hoof against the top of his head in a fond noogie. His soft green spines bent and yielded beneath her touch. “I'm just messin' with ya,” she said. “Gotta get my licks in while I still can, after all, before you get too big for me to handle.”
“I thought there was nothing you couldn't handle,” he retorted.
“That's true,” she admitted, “but there's a first time for everything.”
Another long silence. The feel of her soft warmth against the cool firmness of his scales. It was a sensation that made his heart beat faster, and caused his breathing to subtly quicken.
“Can I ask you something?” he said.
“Shoot.”
“What's it like?”
Her chin came to rest upon his shoulder. “Flying, you mean?”
He nodded.
She didn't answer right away, but drew in a deep breath, and let it back out. She was actually thinking about what to say, which was unusual, given how quick she usually was to shoot her mouth off.
“It's hard to describe... especially to somepony who's never done it,” she began. “You know that feeling you get when Applejack greets you with a mug of fresh cider? Or when Fluttershy gives you a hug, because you're feeling down? Or when Pinkie Pie shows up at your door with a cake, because it's Tuesday, which she says is 'Cake Day'?”
He chuckled, a sound that left his lips in a raspy hiss. He was quite familiar with the time-honored traditions of Cake Day. “Yeah.”
“If you could take that feeling, and wrap yourself up in it like a snuggly blanket, using it to stay warm at night, then you'd begin to have some idea of what it's like to fly. It's happiness. It's joy. It's...”
She shifted position, stretching herself out against his back.
“... it's freedom, Spike. That's the best word for it.”
“Freedom from what?” he asked.
“Anything. Everything. There's no up or down, no left or right. There's no doubt to hold you back, no gravity to chain you down. No rules, no limits. Nothing but you and the big blue sky. It's the greatest, most liberating feeling that I've ever known.”
He nodded again, slowly. “I think I understand,” he said. “Thank you for sharing that feeling with me.”
“Hey, I wouldn't be much of a friend if I didn't,” she replied. She lifted a hoof from where it lay against his chest, gesturing toward the sky. “See, earth ponies get their magic from the ground, so they never really think about what it would be like to fly. They might get curious, every once in a while, but that's as far as it goes. And unicorns get their magic from their horns, so they'd never know the difference either way. But pegasi get their magic from the air, from the sun and wind and clouds, so that's the only place that they ever really feel at home.”
He couldn't help himself. “You sound just like Twilight,” he said.
He felt her body give a jolt against his. “Hey,” she huffed, “you take that back.”
He allowed himself a fanged smile, ignoring the wound he had inflicted to her pride, and ran the tips of his clawed fingers along the leg that remained within his grasp. “But I'm not a pegasus,” he pointed out.
“Maybe not,” she conceded, “but you've still got magic, and still got wings. That should be enough.” She slumped back to rest atop him, returning her free leg to its place around his neck. “I've been in the air since I was old enough to trot, Spike. Flying is my whole life. If I couldn't do it, you might as well just cut my wings off.”
He winced, his own wings instinctively bending inward at the unpleasant mental image.
“Sorry,” she murmured in apology. “It's just... I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't fly. I think I'd probably lose my mind.”
He lifted his other claw, sinking his fingers into the silk-soft strands of her rainbow mane. “Don't go doing that,” he said. “I already live with one crazy mare. I don't think I could handle another.”
She actually giggled—proving that she could still surprise him, too—and tenderly nuzzled him, rubbing the edge of her muzzle against his own. She hadn't always been so affectionate, but that was one thing about her that time had changed. He certainly couldn't complain.
“No promises,” she whispered. Her lips, just as soft as her feathers, brushed against his earfin, and her breath was warm upon his face.
He cupped his scaled palm against her cheek, turning his head just enough to rub the tip of his snout into the softness of her mane, and inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with her scent. She smelled of rain, and thunder, and light, and mare, and—
His wings snapped to attention upon his back, startling him so badly that he nearly toppled over. “Ah!” he cried.
“What, what?” she said, jerking her head away from his. The concern was evident in her voice. “What'd I do?”
“Nothing, it's not you, it's... nnngh.” He bit down upon his lower lip to silence the growl that threatened to well up within him. Why now, of all times? “My wings are bothering me again, that's all.”
“Does it hurt?” she asked. “Should I go get Twilight?”
He shook his head. “No, no, it's fine. It'll pass, it always does. Just... give me a minute, okay?”
“Okay.” She paused. “Wait... has this been happening to you a lot?”
“Yeah, ever since they grew in. It doesn't hurt, exactly... they just get really stiff, for no reason, and start to ache. It comes and goes. I thought maybe I was sleeping on them wrong. Twilight did the same thing, when she first got hers.”
He could have sworn that he felt a rush of heat radiating from her face, so near to his own.
“Just growing pains, I guess,” she said, after a moment. There was a tinge of jest in her voice. “You know what that means, don't you?”
He quirked a brow. “What?”
“It means that you need to break 'em in,” she said, “and I think I know just the way.” She slid off his back, lowering herself down onto her hooves, and walked back around in front of him, where he could see her. “Are you ready to go?”
He nodded. “As ready as I'll ever be, I suppose.”
“Have you had any illnesses lately?” she asked. She was poking and prodding his chest with a hoof, as if she were checking the wheels on a wagon. “Eaten anything in the last hour?”
“No.” He squinted at her. “Do you go through this every time you fly?”
“No,” she said, “but I'm the expert, remember?” She was grinning at him again.
And again, he rolled his eyes. “How could I forget?”
“Hey now, this is serious,” she said, her expression suddenly growing stern. “I'm not talking about flying a few laps around the library, low to the ground, like a filly. Twilight's not gonna be there to hold your hoof—er, claw.” She stepped closer to him. “When it's time for birds to leave the nest, their mothers push them out into the open air, and they either fly, or they fall. That's nature's way.”
He looked down upon her in silence. Then he whispered, “And if I fall?”
She lifted a foreleg, cupping her hoof against his cheek. Those rosy eyes looked back into his. “If you fall,” she whispered in reply, “then I'll catch you. I promise.”
He couldn't help but smile. “Pinkie Promise?” he said.
She laughed. The sound alone was its own reward. “Pinkie Promise,” she agreed. She leaned in closer to him, resting her forehead against his own. Her eyes were closed. “Just you, and me, and the big blue sky... okay?”
He nodded, his own eyes shut. “Okay.”
She drew away from him, slowly, putting some distance between the two of them. A beat of her wings took her into the air. She hovered there for a moment, pointing toward the horizon. “Last one to Sweet Apple Acres buys the cider!” she said, flashing him a smile that lit up the sky every bit as brightly as Celestia's sun.
“C'mon, big guy... catch me if you can!”
She took off like a shot, leaving a trail of prismatic light in her wake that streaked across the cloudless sky like a painter's brush upon the endless azure canvas. The rainbow stretched out before him, long and full and bright, inviting him to find out what was waiting at the other end.
He hesitated, briefly, and then he finally began to chase her, breaking into a run, leaping into the air, spreading his wings, and taking flight.
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- FamousLastWords · 3.2k words · 210 9 · 4.8k views
- Vexy · 44k words · 207 13 · 5.5k views
- uioui · 8.6k words · 248 16 · 14k views
- YourNeighborhoodAlicorn · 21k words · 179 18 · 5.8k views
- Closer-To-The-Sun · 3.1k words · 188 4 · 7.3k views
- GeodesicDragon · 3k words · 253 19 · 7.7k views
- Cabensis · 20k words · 400 14 · 7k views
- distortedtruth92 · 11k words · 310 15 · 8.4k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.196 seconds
Total duration
941 users online
56,237 hits today, 2,591,549 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Okay, I'm back, had to read this again.
More please author?
WINGBONER!!!
That as a great read. It was a sweet relationship between Spike and Dash. If you ever feel up for it I would love to read a follow up to this story as their relationship shows even more. Keep up the awesome work
Dayum, this is goooood. Inspiring me to writing something along similar lines I think.
Aww wow. I'm left a little in awe. Everything in this was so subtle, and I found the fact that you never explicitly stated their names quite interesting. I'm not quite sure how much it influenced the fic, but I enjoyed it regardless.
I'm not normally the one who begs for a sequel, but I can't help myself.
I'd love to hear more from this story.
Thanks for writing it!
I really loved this story, it wasn't overly detailed and it wasn't under detailed either
Keep writing ~
A good story where things are done rather then shown, quite rare around these parts what with them mary sue's n OOC ponies. Take my like good sir you deserved it.
Seriously good writing, that.
Just one word I have to say to you....
amazing.
Very cute. It felt soft to read, if that makes any sense.
A new flying buddy she can really fall for, seeing as she has falling for him already, and him for her in turn. Nice story!
More Please!
I would really love a part two its kinda cute..ok really cute
So... where exactly does the romance tag come into this?
It was a decent enough story, don't get me wrong, it just feels like it was nowhere near long enough or expanded on enough to justify that tag.
3847221 Spike's awkward wingboner, how he describes Rainbow, the fact that she's becoming more affectionate towards him, the off-handed comments about how attractive she thinks he looks. They aren't in love, or in a relationship but there's still a spark of romance there. Just because there's a romance tag, doesn't mean they have to kiss or whatever.
3847371
I'm not saying they should kiss, I'm saying that they should act on those feelings at least a little, which they don't. Physical attraction isn't romance and as long as they continue to treat eachother like friends with no indication of anything other than that, it's not a romance story.
3847584 But they do react, even if they don't act on it. There is romantic interest there, in other words there is potential. I don't know about you, but I don't find myself showing signs of arousal, or blushing in the presence of platonic friends, nor do I feel compelled to inhale their scent during a hug, or nuzzle as ponies are want to do. And even if I did, I wouldn't be compelled to act on it on a whim. There are definitely signs of romantic attraction there. Perhaps they haven't yet realized it themselves, perhaps they do realize it, but aren't sure of the social implications. Even then the focus of this story is trying to describe how it feels to fly, to someone who has never flown before. The subtle nuances of SpikeDash thrown in are subtle and not meant to detract from the point of the story.
3847637
Then let us agree to disagree.
3847716
S'all cool bro.
I like it. You should make it a multi-chaptered story though.
Wow... this story... was just... wow...
I can't describe how unbelievably amazing this story was. I am really begging for more.
I have only one question, from the subtle hints you were dropping at there, were they already dating? I'm cool if they weren't, it's just curiosity is killing me.
heh, no offense but, at first i thought this was a ok fic
. Now when i read further well this story proved me wrong makin me lik this a whole lot moar than i originally thought 
. Anyways if u find time n' inspiration then i'd either lik u to add moar chappies to this awesomely sweet fic or mak a sequel just as great sometime soon 
Loved the pace, loved the dialogue, loved the premise; This was great.
The aged personalities of Spike and Dash were portrayed really well.
Faved.
And I only Favourite the best of the best.
I like this. It's both subtle and sweet. But it makes me crave a Spike and Dash romance so bad...
3869290 Then read another SpikeDash fic then.
D'aaaaw. Good SpikeDash in any degree is rare and I really like this. Not least because angst is non-existent and it always seems to seep into the longer stories, on Dash's part and that just bugs me. As such, I really like this sweet interaction here and the fact that you manage to imply a lot of events outside the core narrative, so the story doesn't feel like it happens in a vacuum. Well done.
Horse apples, now I crave a good SpikeDash.
3865915
I'm sorry! I had to fix it!
No offence, but at first I thought this was an okay Fic. Now, once I've read further, I like this a whole lot more than I originally thought . Anyways, if you find time and inspiration then i'd like you to either add more chapters to this sweet story, or make a sequel sometime soon.
heh, no offense but, at first i thought this was a ok fic . Now when i read further well this story proved me wrong makin me lik this a whole lot moar than i originally thought . Anyways if u find time n' inspiration then i'd either lik u to add moar chappies to this awesomely sweet fic or mak a sequel just as great sometime soon
3951279
; so go rite ahead 
. altho for a moment there i thought u wanted me to do what i mentioned 
nah, i'm not always a understandable pony
Fantastic story man! Everything about it was just... perfect! I seriously hope you make more.
What does the stiff wings mean
4458599 wing boner
Sequel
"Hay Rars? I just got done hangin out with Spikey dude,Can you believe he got a wing boner!"
"Oh Dear MY Spikey Wikey?"
"spikey?"
"Yes Rarity?"
YOU - ME - BED - NOW !
5067668 >place explicit scene here< "Om nom nom"
Awww, how sweet.
Dude it was cute,funny,and awesome plz make a sequel!!!! And nice wing boner thing I laughed so hard at that
