Flying Lessons
Starburst awoke to relative quiet. Since there were no birds singing, she figured it was before dawn. She stood up in her bed with a yawn, beginning her usual routine with a half brush to her mane.
Remembering that was about the only constant part of her usual morning routine, she ventured down the stairs, turning the lights on when she got to the bottom of them. She looked around, seeing the clock on the wall.
‘Still two hours.’ She had a while before she had to wake her friend, so she decided to clean up a bit. She didn’t care much to rearrange, reorder or anything of the like as her mother did before her, but she would dust the books once in a while.
She kept to said task for a while, fifteen minutes or so until something began to bug her. She wasn’t being loud by any means, but she had dropped a book or two and the princess above hadn’t stirred. Curiosity piqued, she sat the feather duster onto the shelf, flying up to her room.
She landed at the top of the stairs, looking to the bed Lyla had claimed the night before to see it empty. She sighed, having known the mare for as long as she had, she knew of her odd habit of falling asleep… wherever, and began to scan the room for signs of the alicorn.
She then vaguely remembered hearing the window open the night before. She went over to inspect it, seeing
nothing amiss with the window itself, but through it, she saw a light blue tail.
She sighed once more. It was a good thing she found her so early, anypony walking by could see her.
“Lyla.” She called out to rather quietly. Getting no response whatsoever, she flew to her. "Lyla!” She repeated the other pony’s name once again, careful not to startle her. Said pony looked up, hearing her name.
“Mm, Star?” She yawned, stretching a bit. “Morning.”
“Careful.” Starburst moved to the other side of her. “You’re in a tree.” She backed up, flying back through the window. She turned to see Lyla getting up.
“Oh… I did fall asleep here didn’t I?” She voiced her thoughts, hopping into the bedroom. She gave a questioning look when the lavender mare stopped suddenly, her whole demeanor brightening.
“I have flying lessons today don’t I!?” Her eyes sparkled so big, She couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.
“Well, kinda. We see if you get routine flying lessons today.” She turned to head down the stairs. “So you better get ready. We’re leaving in half an hour.” She left her cousin alone at that, going down to the kitchen. She’d almost forgotten to eat something again, Almost. She pulled a carrot out of the bag on the counter, munching it quietly.
It was the second day Lyla had been in Ponyville. It looked like she was serious about staying for the month.
Not that she could blame her. She honestly didn’t think she would’ve been able to last as long as the princess did being all cooped up like that without running away. Or going crazy. Not to mention she was the only pony Lyla knew that could, or would harbor her that wouldn’t be imprisoned for the rest of their lives.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a very loud crash, followed by a number of small “thunks”. She walked quickly out the kitchen door to Lyla on the other side of the room buried by books. She heard a small sneeze, indicating where her friend was. She looked over in time to see a lavender hoof lift a book off her head.
“Sorry!” She apologized immediately, seeing her walking over. “I-”
“Tried to fly down the stairs?” It was more finishing the sentence than asking a question. She was lucky she didn’t hit a shelf yesterday. Lyla affirmed her suspicions with a shameful nod, taking the hoof she offered.
“Well..” She looked at the fallen books, "Guess I know what we’re doing until we leave.” Lyla pouted at her.
“I said sorry…” She shook her head with a small laugh to show she wasn’t mad, then grabbed a book in her mouth, getting to work.
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Lyla felt truly bad for making them almost late again. She trotted quietly next to Starburst thought the nearly deserted streets of Ponyville, near the edge of the city it looked like.
The closer they got, the more her nerves acted up. She couldn’t even fly down a staircase… Perhaps this was asking too much. Though, It was Starburst’s idea. She supposed it would be a good idea to go with it.
It didn’t take too long to reach the designated area. She’d never been there, but she knew they were in the right place when she saw the two pegusi she’d met the day before, and a new, older rainbow-maned mare that looked… somewhat familiar.
“Why do we have to do this now? Its crazy to be up this early…” Not having been spotted yet, she overheard Prism’s comment, which received a stern look from the older mare.
“Did I just hear a complaint?”
“No…” He sighed.
“It looks like they’re all here.” Her attention turned to Starburst when she spoke for the first time since leaving the city. Her eyes shifted to her. “You ready?”
…Was she? She had to be. There wasn’t a choice, right? Her little cousin had already gone through all this trouble… She nodded, Starburst taking the cue to lead the way to them, making their presence known.
“Starburst!” Whirlwind was the first to see them. As she trotted over, the closer she got, the more Lyla moved behind the younger pony. Not truly scared, more letting her nerves and embarrassment get the better of her.
“What’s this about?” She asked, reaching them, the blue mare and Prism following close behind. Starburst waited until they were there to speak.
“Rainbow, can I speak to you privately?” Whirlwind seemed upset at that.
“If you wanted to talk to Rainbow alone then why’d you want us to come!” It was a question , but there was quite a bit of force behind it. That however, did nothing to phase Starburst.
“I’ll get to that in a minute. Bear with me, please.” Though it was commanding and stern, Starburst rarely used please… this let Lyla know she was serious about what she was doing.
Whirlwind sighed, plopping down on her rump as Star and Rainbow walked out of earshot. Lyla opted to stand, not wanting to get too comfortable.
“Do you know what she’s doin?” She turned to see Whirlwind was talking to her.
“Huh? Oh… Not fully no… but I believe it has something to do with me flying.”
“Thought you can’t.” Prism finally spoke, scratching his head. She looked down…
“I can’t.” Before she could say anything more, the blue mare, Rainbow, she assumed came back over with Starburst.
“So,” She started.” You’re Lyla? Names Rainbow Dash.”
“Nice to.. Meet you.” She nodded in uncertainty. It wasn’t that she didn’t like her, she was just a bit of a celebrity to her.
She’d never seen the pony, but she remembered her mother telling her of a Ranbow Dash that performed a sonic rainboom at her wedding… This must be that pony.
“I hear you can’t fly?” It was more a statement, but she nodded to answer anyway. “Ok then…” She saw Rainbow looking to the sky. She pointed. “Lets see ya try to fly to that cloud.” Lyla looked up to see a cloud. Not too far off… but…
“Um, not be defiant… but I can say in full confidence there is no possible way I can make that.” Rainbow gave her an odd look, but didn’t say anything, instead flying up to the cloud to lower it. She moved it down to about twenty feet up, then flew back down to them, staying airborne.
“Try that. Even if you don’t think you can.” She definitely didn’t think she could, but, at Starburst’s nod, she extended her wings, flapping into a wobbly hover. Getting her bearings on the hover, she flapped a bit faster, gaining altitude in slight, flapping faster so as not to lose it.
The cloud was getting a bit closer, but she could tell her wings were already starting to tire, and in her frantic try to gain height, she accidentally started going backwards, and in an attempt to straighten, overcorrected, going into a straight climb up, over the cloud.
The laugher of a certain onlooking colt wasn’t helping much, though it stopped rather quickly, she didn’t dare look for fear of loosing concentration.
It was starting to hurt to flap her wings, but she was too high up to just stop, the fall would leave her very badly injured, so she persevered, trying to get closer to the ground, or land on the cloud. She went into a light flitter with her wings, going into an almost free fall.
Her wings, now very sore, carried her back up to where she was as she flapped them in a desperate attempt not to fall. After another minute, if that, no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t get her wings to respond. They’d given out on her, leaving her to fall from thirty-five feet in the air.
She fell past the cloud that started it all, and closed her eyes, waiting to meet with the hard ground, and praying it be kind to her. To her surprise, the impact was a bit softer than she thought, only knocking the wind out of her… though, it didn’t feel as if she’d landed yet.
She gathered up the courage to open her eyes and let out a gasp at what she saw. Prism had caught her on his back. She looked around seeing the other three pegusi mares en route as well, she assumed he’d just gotten there first. Just in time, too… she was dangerously close to the ground.
“You ok?” He looked back at her, landing. She blushed very heavily, half in shame. She nodded, clambering off him. “That was a close one.” He smirked, lightening up at seeing that she was, in fact, ok. Whirlwind landed next to him, followed by Rainbow and Star.
“Good thing I’m so amazing” He closed his eyes with a wider, more satisfied smirk. Starburst wasn’t as amused.
“She almost fell and all you can say is how amazing you are for doing what anypony with a conscience would do?” It was more a complaining statement than a question. A statement on how nonchalant he was being, Lyla knew….. Prism didn’t.
“Well it was pretty amazing for me ta get over here before she hit the ground…” She ignored him, turning to Rainbow.
“Are you ok?” When she saw that Whirlwind was addressing her, she noded.
“I’m…. Ok….. Thank you for asking.” She turned to Prism, Starburst and Rainbow Dash having walked away a little.
“Please,” She started. “Don’t take what Starburst said to heart. She’s not one to laugh off fright as you are, so she doesn’t understand it…” She smiled. “She’s very grateful.” She paused, blushing. “We… both are.” She looked away.
“Well she better be.” He humphed a bit, but obviously had no more ill feelings towards her cousin.
“Wait…” Whirlwind caught both of their attention. “How’d you know he did that?” Oops, she did it again…
“Yeah, not many ponies know that bout me.” She felt her heartbeat speed under the questioning gazes of the two pegasi, she was never good under pressure, and she knew her talent wasn’t something ordinary.
“I suppose I’m just rather observant.” Good. That sounded good. “ My flight was…. quite pathetic, huh?” She said that as a follow up to get them off the subject. She’d take a blow to the pride to avoid more questions.
“You kidding? That was beyond pathetic. That sucked big time.” Prism answered rather simply, hovering on his back once more, both hooves behind his head. He was close enough, however, for Whirlwind to bonk on the head.
“Be nice! She tried." Lyla didn’t know weather to cry at her pathetic performance, or laugh at Prism’s honest summary of it. Neither would help much, so she opted for the latter, giggling.
“Its ok, Whirlwind. He’s right. I’m pretty hopeless…” She smiled, trying hard not to let her sadness at the memory of past performances ending the same show. “Nopony in the Crystal Empire could teach me. Tutors, off duty guards…” ‘not even my mother.’ “I’ve pretty much given up."
“What am I hearing!?” All three of them turned in shock, seeing Rainbow Dash, now finished with her conversation with Star, interrupt theirs with a stomp of her hoof.
“Listen, Yeah, you stink. Bad. But I’ve seen first hoof with enough hard work, determination and support anypony can do darn near anything.” She came closer, smiling. “You got the ability. That’s enough to work on.” She watched as she stopped next to Prism, putting a hoof on his shoulder. “You’ll fly. Even if it kills him.”
“What!?” His eyes went wide with shock. “Me !? Why!?” Rainbow gave a slight frown in his direction at the line of questioning.
“Because apparently you’ve been “mis-hearing” me all week. You owe Starburst for having her do your weather duty. I can’t believe that’s all I ask of you and you wouldn’t even do that." She sounded more sad than angry to Lyla, though her anger hid the sadness well.
“Ok, Yeah, I shouldn’ta done that, but come on! Can’t I clean her house? Or train her in flying? You know, something possible!” Lyla frowned, trying not to take offense to that.
Making it easier was the fact that he seemed to simple be fighting with his mother rather than truly not wanting to teach her. Rainbow mirrored her actions, frowning at the colt.
“How do you know you can’t do it if you haven’t even tried.” It was muttered, though everypony heard. she continued before he could respond. “Its either this or a month of weather duty by yourself.”
His defiance wavered a bit, but returned, as he was opening his mouth, she cut him off once more. “-and if you pick one and decide not to do it, you’ll be cooking your own meals from now on. I’ll also tell your dad to halt your allowance.” He paused for a minute, weighing options, she assumed.
“Fine. I’ll teach her.” Rainbow smiled a bit.
“Good. I’ll be checking in on progress every here and there, so all a you do your best.” She was mainly talking to Prism, but she turned to Lyla halfway through. “See ya!” She flew off, leaving a rainbow and the four behind her.
Lyla couldn’t believe what she’d just witnessed. Such a heated conversation melting off to nothing like that..? It was odd to say the least. And there was definitely room to leave things unresolved.
“Um…” He started to speak, walking around her, scratching the back of his head. “So…” Lyla sighed.
“It’s ok. You don’t have to teach me if you truly don’t want to. I under-”
“Shut it.” He cut her off, not rudely or in anger. He may as well have just said stop. “I already said I would, an I don’t go back on my word.” He walked past her. “Wind, you gonna help?” He’d barely got the question out before she answered.
“Duh! I mean, sure your mom gave you the job, but if I help, it could finally be my big chance!” She sounded very excited, though she seemed to mutter the last part to herself. Starburst cleared her throat.
“But,” She started. “Of course the most important part is teaching Lyla to fly?” She said it with a half smile, having no ill tone. The purple Pegasus scrached the back of her head sheepishly.
“Right, of course it is.”
“So,” Prism cut them off, turning to Lyla. “I guess to start….. Lets see how long you can keep a consistent hover.” Her wings, having been rested a bit, were good to go again.
She flapped into a hover about six inches off the ground, wobbling for a few seconds before going into a stable hover.
“So why didn’t she ever learn how to fly as a foal?” She overheard Prism’s question, wobbling once more out of shock.
“If you want to know, ask her.” Was Starburst’s nonchalant reply, to her relief. Prism didn’t seem as happy, though.
Even through talking, he and Whirlwind were watching her. Being a tall mare, she wasn’t accustomed to feeling small, but under their light scrutiny, she felt smaller than her cousin…
She was able to carry the hover for about five minutes if she had to guess, within her personal bests of airtime, before her wings gave out on her once more, dropping her on the ground with an “oof!” There was silence.
“It wasn’t that bad…” Starburst was the first to speak. Her flying was the only thing her little cousin ever sugar-coated, and she could tell she was doing so at the moment.
“I guess…” Though Whirlwind agreed, her voice was heavy with uncertainty.
“That was horrible.” Prism, the seemingly ever present voice of harshness…. But honesty, spoke up. “It better be better next time when I can time ya. Now lets see a wing up.” He sat back expectantly. There was no reaction, no movement.
“A… What?” She finally asked, eyebrow arched in confusion. She immediately regretted it, seeing the looks of disbelief she received from them. Well, all but Starburst.
“Do you not know anything…?” It was more a real question than a derogatory remark, but rhetorical, nonetheless. Prism sighed, turning to Whirlwind. “Wind, can ya show her?”
“No prob.” She got down, laying her body flat on the ground. Lyla watched with intrigue as she lowered her wings, and, keeping her hind hooves on the ground, lifted her body up with them.
“That’s a wing up. A girlie one, but, still a wing up.” He smirked, puffing his chest a bit. “Now ya wanna see a real wing up lemme show ya this-”
“Prism” Starburst cut him off, rolling her eyes. Whirlwind did as well, though with a smile.
“Maybe we should just let Lyla try.”
“But-” Lyla cut herself off at realizing what she was going to say, blushing. She somewhat wanted to see it, his version of a wing up. She saw she had succeeded in getting everypony’s attention, and blushing deeper, she muttered a “Nevermind…”
“If you have any questions, you can go ahead and ask.” Whirlwind prompted her to go on.
“…………” She had opened her mouth to continue, but opted for getting down on the ground, and assuming the position Whirlwind had showed minutes before. She didn’t know why she didn’t just ask. It wasn’t that big of a deal… was it?
She shook her head, moving her front hooves back, looking over to see all eyes on her once again. She blushed again, lowering her wings.
She was able to get herself off the ground a few inches, moving back down, this was hard. Crazy hard, but she used her wings to get herself back up once more before she fell to the ground with a small cry of pain. Her poor wings had been through tortures today she’d never seen the like of…
She looked up at the other three pegusi, each displaying a different expression. Starburst’s being frustration, disbelief for Whirlwind….
“………….. She couldn’t even do two…..” She couldn’t place Prism’s, but he was the only one being vocal about it. “My little brother can do twenty… and she can’t even do two…” After he put a hoof to his face, she looked away in shame. Starburst said something to him, but she didn’t hear it.
She’d always known she was bad, but not…. As bas as their faces told her she was. ‘if they can’t teach you nopony can.’ Her thoughts went to Starburst’s words the night before. Maybe she truly was hopeless...
“Ok!” She jumped a bit as a navy blue hoof stomped defiantly in front of her. “I’m not gonna be able ta teach you much of anything if ya can’t stay in the air for more than ten minutes at a time.” She sighed… He was going to give up on her too, she could tell. And she honestly couldn’t blame him.
“So, “ He continued. She turned away, looking at the ground. “Keep it up.”….? “Keep goin till you can do ten.” He took to the air after that, lowering a cloud and laying down on it. He paused, looking at something.
“Well? Get after it!” She blushed, seeing that he was talking to her… she must have been staring that whole time… how unbecoming… Whirlwind came up to her.
“Oh that’s nice, guess that means I’m watchin ya while he gets ta sleep…” She muttered that to herself, though Lyla still giggled. That was past the point where her tutors would abandon her. Something about him truly intrigued her.
“But, I guess he does have a point. There’s no point in trying to teach ya the way you are now. So, lets do this.” Well they could say that any way they wanted, but just the two she did hurt so bad. Could she really do ten…?
She saw movement on her right side, and turned to see Starburst laying down. At her unasked question, the orange pegasus smirked.
“Wing ups are great training.” She had to have had the best friend in Equestria in that little mare. “Whirlwind? Do you want to do them with us or keep count?”
“Nah.” She waved a hoof in response. “You two have fun.”
“Ok.” Starburst began the count, Lyla following. She was nowhere near as quick as the younger pegasus, but she tried.. She made a full two that time.
She tried again…. And again, and again, and once again. She kept going until she felt her wings were absolutely going to fall off her back… after two and a half hours at it, she still hadn’t made it to ten.
“ 8.……8.…. “ It seemed to be the number she was stuck at. If her life depended on it, she could not get past eight wing ups in a row. Her wings gave out on her once more, dropping her to the ground…. She panted heavily, not even bothering to get up.
“Darn. You actually almost had that one…” Whirlwind, the last couple times, had begun to attempt to console her. That fact did make her feel a bit better, but not enough to try again… just yet.
Though help, it did, her will was about out for that day. Sweaty, throbbing and semi-teary, she sighed, catching her breath. “You are doing better.” She didn’t look, the voice was Starburst’s.
“And I’m not lying.” She followed up rather quickly, as if expecting her next accusation.
“Well,” Whirlwind moved around, showing her a smile. “Ready to try again?” She was about to reply when she was cut off.
“Its cool, Wind.” She hear the approaching hoof steps of Prism. “She did good. Doubt Celestia herself could quadruple her wing up reps in a day.” She looked up at him when he reached where she was still laying on the ground.
“Take a break an we’ll pick up here tomorrow morning.” He held his hoof out to her with a half smile. She took it, swearing Celestia put this colt here to teach her to fly.
“Thanks…” She quietly muttered, a dark blush plain on her cheeks, easily seen through her lavender fur.
“She’s pretty tough, huh?” Whirlwind started, mainly talking to Prism.
“Yeah. It was a relief when ya broke five. There was no way she could do anything if she couldn’t do that…” She was still there! Though the last part was muttered, like most muttered things, it was still heard by everypony else.
“Thought you were asleep through that.” Whirlwind smirked. What? She honestly thought he was dead asleep, though 'Come to think of it…’ She hadn’t heard him snoring until about the last hour.
“You were watching the whole time?” Starburst seemed just as shocked as she was, though didn’t show it as much.
“No!” He stomped a hoof to emphasize his point, then looked away, a light blush barely visible on his face. “I just rolled on a bump and woke up then.” He scratched the back of his head as he spoke. “Right… well.. See you guys tomorrow. Same time.” He moved to take off.
“How do you do it!?” Lyla finally got up the courage to ask… yell. It seemed random to the ponies outside of her head, but it was something she’d been wondering about through all her work and her curiosity finally won. Her blurt did shock him enough to interrupt his take off, however.
“Huh? Who does what now?” From the looks on the two mare’s faces, he’d about summed it up for them as well. She blushed, thinking of how dumb she must’ve sounded… but she would sound even dumber if she stopped now.
“Wing ups………. You said you did them differently…” She saw Starburst roll her eyes at the smirk that followed his question.
“Well, that’s my cue to leave.” She turned to walk off.
“Star? Aren’t you going flower picking with Candy and I?” The orange mare turned back to look at her, Whirlwind and Prism both laughing for a reason she was unaware of until she saw Starburst’s face.
“Do I look like that type of pony that goes flower picking?” It was a question that needed no answer. She should’ve known that. Well, she did know that. She just didn’t want to go meet new ponies by herself.
“I’ll tell Candy to come by and get you, so stay here.” And with that, she flew off.
“So,” Prism started. “Ya wanna see a real wing up, watch this!” Whirlwind took this opportunity to go over to the cloud he’d lowered a few hours before, having seen this display quite often, she assumed.
She turned her attention back to the colt, who was on the ground in the now familiar position. Though, instead of keeping his hind hooves on the ground, he lifted his entire body weight with his wings… She was truly impressed.
“Oh my! Doesn’t that hurt?” He did about three of them before getting up and dusting himself off.
“Heh, not a bit. I can do a hundred of those easy.” He smirked in pride as he spoke. Lyla no longer knew if she was impressed or envious. There was no way she could do that.
“You must be quite an amazing flier. Even Starburst speaks highly of your skill.”
“She does?” He seemed a bit shocked at that, though the look of surprise wasn’t on his face long. “Well, of course she does.” He started a hover, about two feet off the ground, and continued.
“I’m easily the best flier in Ponyville since mom and dad are getting so old.” He moved around, floating through the air on his back, hooves behind his head.
“It must be nice to be so good at something. I’d love to fly with you and Whirlwind someday.” Come to think of it, the purple pegasus hadn’t interjected for a while. She looked over to see her asleep on her stolen cloud.
“Well, with me as your coach, you’ll be flyin in no time.” It wasn’t the first time she’d heard it, but it seemed to be more convincing coming from him. She looked up.
“Prism… may I ask you a… rather odd question?” His eyes turned to her, though she didn’t see.
“What do clouds feel like?” As she expected, the question seemed to take him a bit by surprise.
“Seriously? You’ve never…” He trailed off. “Well, I guess that does make sense.” He dropped to the ground with a snort. “You’d probly kill yourself if ya tried.” Her face fell slightly at a realization.
“…… I did. This morning…”
“That’s right!” He started laughing. “You totally would’ve died tryin to get to that cloud. If I hadn’t caught ya of course.” He smirked once more. She blushed lightly.
“Thanks for that, by the way.” He dismissed it with a half wave of his hoof.
“No prob, but why can’t ya fly anyway?” He circled her as he spoke, curiosity lacing his voice lightly. “I can tell there’s nothing wrong with your wings. ‘Cept they’re as weak as a newborn foal’s. And ya got no idea how ta use em.”
She tried to come up with a good reason, but nothing was coming to mind. She didn’t want to tell him the truth. He’d pushed her harder in one day than her private tutors had in a week… She didn’t want him to treat her any different.
“Hel-lo?” Apparently she’d been silent for quite a while, since Prism seemed to be getting tired of her silence. She sighed, still trying to come up with a different reason. She turned, looking to him.
“Lyla~!!” A familiar voice broke their conversation. They both turned to see Candy bounce up next to them. She turned to Prism. “Hey.” He waved to acknowledge her as she turned back to Lyla.
“Ready to go?” She smiled, Lyla giggling in return.
“Yeah.” She turned back to Prism. “I’ll… tell you later. Though I would like to see more of your moves sometime.” She smiled again.
“Yeah? Name the time and place. I’ll be there.” He said through another prideful smirk, which seemed to be rather permanent on his face. She wasn’t complaining, however. It fit him, in her opinion.
”Oh!” Candy got their attention with her outburst. She turned to Prism. “Wanna go pranking tomorrow?” He shrugged.
“Sure.” She turned, to Lyla’s shock, to look at her.
“Are you coming? You’re invited.” Candy smiled big. “Starburst too.” She thought for a second.
“Ok, but I have no idea how much help I’ll be.”
“It’s cool.” Prism started, striking a small pose, lifting a hoof. “You can just tag along and learn from the master.” Lyla and Candy both had problems holding their giggles back at that.
“Ok, Prankmaster, see you tomorrow.” She and Candy turned, leaving.
“Not sure Claire would agree on that.” She didn’t know what she was talking about, but didn’t bother to question it, opting to look back at the intriguing colt, who was living up to his name, bolting off in a certain direction and leaving a rainbow trail. She smiled, then turned back to talk to Candy.
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Starburst, after leaving Sugarcube Corner, harbored the idea of going back to Sweet Apple Acres, to help out, though the thought left her mind quick enough.
She wasn’t sure her hooves could handle the hard labor three days in a row, and the fling lessons had got her wanting to focus on her wings. Plus, she didn’t want to make a nuisance of herself.
She walked quietly through the streets, Letting her thoughts wonder as she decided what to do. She felt a bit guilty at leaving Lyla, knowing how shy she could be, but was comforted by the fact the hooves she left her in were Candy’s.
She mentally cursed at the realization that she once again forgot to ask about weather duty the next day. There were times she wished she lived in Cloudsdale. Maybe being closer to the other weather ponies would help her remember to ask more often. Maybe.
‘Oh, yeah…’ Thoughts of Cloudsdale brought her to the best young fliers competition taking place next Friday. ‘I wonder if Lyla will be able to make it.’ She entered, of course. Whirlwind too. She was inwardly excited about it, this being her first year meeting the age limit. She would love to have her best friend there, but it was held in Cloudsdale… ‘Maybe she could take the balloon.' She came across an interfering thought. ‘Celestia will be there.’ Princess Celestia was one of about six ponies outside the Crystal Empire that knew Lyla.
Actually, the only ponies outside of the Crystal Empire that could pick Lyla out with confidence was Canterlot royalty, and that was only because they’d visit the Crystal Empire periodically on business.
She stopped, gathering her thoughts to refocus on what to do, since she still hadn’t decided. She knew she wanted to fly, but what did she want to work on?
She continued walking, opting to train on her agility rather than speed, and she’d need trees for that. Rainbow and her family used clouds they’d maneuvered into pillars for similar training, but she felt trees were more of a challenge.
Though she could only think of two places with as many trees as she needed, one being the Everfree Forest and she could say with certainty she was not going there. The other was Sweet Apple Acres.
She sighed, figuring the Apples wouldn’t mind her using their trees in such a manner, she headed for Sweet Apple Acres…. Again.
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Lyla looked around, following Candy through streets she’d never seen. Seemingly, they had left Ponyville. She saw a small cottage they looked to be heading to, which had a very beautiful garden and little animals everywhere.
She watched Candy bounce happily up to the door, knocking on it. It was opened by a middle-aged yellow mare..
“Y-yes..? Oh! Candy. How can I help you?”
“Me, Annie, and Lyla are going flower picking and re-planting.” She smiled big, successfully asking a question within the statement.
“Oh? Well, she and T are in back.”
“Thank you miss Fluttershy!” She yelled back, bouncing off once more. Lyla followed as the yellow mare, Fluttershy, apparently, closed the door. She followed the bouncing pony to the back yard where she spotted more animals, all different kinds, and flowers of equally varying species.
She looked up to see a pastel green…… in all honesty, she didn’t really know what it was, wearing a big saddle pack, next to a light pink pony. A unicorn, from the looks.
“Annie! T!” Candy went over, Lyla deciding to stay back. Not out of fear, the green…. It somewhat looked like a bat pony to her, though slightly oversized, and… well, green, and it looked to have claws, as well.
So, the green whatever-it-was looked rather nice, she just let her shyness get the better of her once more. “We’re here!” Candy continued her previous statement, announcing their presence once more. The pink unicorn giggled, turning to them.
“Candy, Glad you could make it.” She turned somewhat to Lyla, the green bat doing the same. “Whose we?” She asked. Lyla paused a second to see if Candy would introduce her, taking over when she didn’t.
“Um, I’m Lyla. Nice to meet you.” The pink unicorn smiled.
“I’m Anthea, Please, call me Annie.” So this was Annie. It was nice to put a face to the name, as it was with somepony she’d heard quite a bit about. Such as Claire for an example.
“I’m Turquoise Blitz. Just call me T.” The green bat spoke for the first time. Actually, now that he was closer, he didn’t look much like a bat. Wait…
“You wouldn’t happen to be Claire’s younger brother?” She remembered Starburst mentioning Claire had one, and he very closely resembled a dragon.
“Yeah, how’d you know?” He, Annie and Candy laughed. She didn’t get it though, it was rather apparent they were related… oh.
She giggled as they started walking the edge of… a vast area of trees. She didn’t know what it was. She’d only ever seen as many trees at Sweet Apple Acres, but the trees she was looking at weren’t apple trees. She turned back to the group.
“To be honest,” She started, turning to T. “I thought you were some sort of bat pony. It took me a second to connect you to Claire.” This caused even more laughter for Candy and T, Annie seemed preoccupied though.
“I know Candy knows what we’re doing. Did she tell you?” She somewhat looked in Lyla’s direction, though she didn’t bother to question it.
“Somewhat. She was a bit vague on the details.” .
“I kinda don’t remember all of them.” Candy laughed guiltily.
“We’re looking for the wilting and crowded flowers to take them back and replant.” She smiled. It might sound rather pointless, but moving the flowers helps the wild fields.”
She wasn’t thinking that at all. She was wondering what the point was, but she was sure there was one. “T’ll let you know what to look for.” T? Why wouldn’t she just tell them herself?
“Why not you?” Her curiosity got the best of her, asking the question she’d thought.
“She’s kinda blind.” Candy was the one to answer. She looked back to the pink unicorn in shock. Now that she looked, her eyes did look… odd.
“I’m sorry. I had no idea.” She felt bad accidentally pointing out something like that. Annie giggled.
“It’s fine. Nopony really does.” She moved a bit closer to T as she spoke. “I’ve adapted well. I have very good hearing, and I can make out colors in bright light.” She didn’t really know how to respond to that. Luckily she didn’t have to.
“Here’s one.” She and Candy turned to T, who was pointing to a dying flower. “These are what we’re looking for.” She nodded. Candy was looking around, walking.
“Like this?” She pointed to one. It seemed like it was dying to her, but she wasn’t an expert.
“Yep.” T nodded to affirm both of their assumptions.
“Oh,” Annie started, “And watch out for dirt hornets. There are a few nests out here. But don’t be too afraid, they don’t usually bother anypony.”
Hornets. There was an insect she was familiar with. She’d never seen one first hoof, but her brother, in their youth, had a very bad encounter with them. She definitely feared an insect such as a hornet.
She walked through the field, mindful of her step, looking for dying flowers. She jumped every time she heard a sound relative to a buzz… until she finally found a flower that seemed to fit the description of what they were looking for.
She started digging to free the poor flower from the dirt. She giggled a bit at the realization that this was the first hole she’d ever dug. It was a small experience, but quite an experience, nonetheless.
She was having a good bit of fun digging up the dying flowers. She froze anytime she saw a hornet, but they didn’t seem to mind her, as Annie had said. Her eighth or ninth flower, though, didn’t go as well…
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Starburst had been practicing her agility maneuvers for a while now. She wasn’t keeping track how long, but a while. She’d seen Del’s Uncle Mac, though he’d missed her. She also saw June, pulling a cart of her cherries, but again, the other pony missed her.
She landed on the branch of a tree, taking a small break. She looked out at the orchard, apple trees being as far as the eye could see.
She really enjoyed this place. And all the Apples were so nice to her. Though Del and June’s Great Granny Smith was a bit odd. But it was in the best of ways.
The tree suddenly started shaking vigorously. Starburst, taken by surprise, lost her balance, falling rump first into a bushel basket. She officially decided apples were not a good cushion. Or nice to have land on a pony in many numbers
“Land sakes!” She turned, seeing the reason of her fall was none other than Applejack. “Star! You ok?” She held a hoof out to help her up. She took it, seeing as there was no way she was getting out of there on her own.
“Yeah… I’m ok.” She shook herself off.
“What in Equestria were ya doin in that tree?”
“I was taking a break. I was practicing my agility today. I didn’t think anypony would mind.” She helped Applejack pick up the apples that fell out of the basket when she climbed out.
“A course we wouldn’t mind, but ya shoulda told somepony you were here. Ya’ll coulda gotten pretty hurt.” Yeah, not the most flattering moment she could remember.
“Yeah, sorry bout that.” She sat the last apple back in the basket.
“Why didn’t you tell any of us anyway?” Applejack picked the now full bushel basket up on her back, taking it over to a nearby half-sized wagon.
“I guess I’ve just been coming by a lot. I didn’t want to wear out my welcome. Especially with you and Del.” The older mare’s reaction to her answer confused her. She didn’t think she said anything funny.
"Star,” She started, her laughter dying down, “Ya’ll could come here day in an day out fer the next five years an still be welcome. Yer a big help an we enjoy havin ya around. All a us.”
It was nice hearing they thought so highly of her. She liked being around them too. She did miss her family back in Canterlot, but it didn’t feel like she missed them as much when she was around the Apples.
“So, ya done flyin? If so, it’d be nice at have a tail taday.” There was no way she’d say no to that. Though Applejack wasn’t working as hard as she’d seen her, she rarely asked Star to tail her for the day, and even through their age gap, she enjoyed her company.
Answering with a nod, she followed her into the orchards.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lyla was running. Running as fast as her hooves could carry her, which was quite fast. The reason for the flower she had picked to be dying was that it had the poor luck of growing over a dirt hornet’s nest.
Which she released on them when she pulled said flower out. It was like a cloud of hornets… a thing of nightmares. She was the one who had disturbed their home and they knew it, so, she did what any sane pony would do.
She ran screaming. And she was still running. She wasn’t paying any attention to where she was going, she just ran, and kept running until she couldn’t hear the buzzing behind her anymore.
When she finally stopped, she dropped, hitting the ground. She lay there, panting heavily, looking at her new surroundings. Trees. All she could see were trees. Dark-colored, wild looking trees with vines all over them…
I wasn’t a pleasant view. The canopy was so thick, it looked like night, even though she knew for a fact it was afternoon. She had a very bad feeling, being in this place. Catching her breath, she got up, deciding to head back the way she came.
Which way was that again…?
(To be continued)
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Nice chapter. Where is your DA page. Best of luck with the next chapter. Don't keep us waiting too long.
4190666 http://cemfin.deviantart.com/
The next chapters actually kinda done. I always do them one behind to leave room for myself so I still have something to post in case something comes up.
4191528
Ok, I'll try to fix that up.
There so many typos in this chapter, I noticed quite a few in the earlier ones too (and I'm sure there are some pretty bad ones in the later chapters). I'm just going to say it as nicely as possible, get a proofreader for your future chapters and projects and go over everything you have posted with a trusted friend (preferably one that's good with English) and fix all your little hiccups. I was half way through the chapter when the typos got so bad I just couldn't stand it. I'm not trying to be mean, I really was enjoying the story up to that point and honestly would like to continue reading it but with all the typos you need to be more vigilant and have a fresh set of eyes look at your work before hitting post. You need to be aware of the There, Their, and They're rule. Also saying saying things like Lylas indicates there are more than one and saying it like Lyla's indicates something belonging to the character, don't feel to bad I've seen the same problem and some similar problems in a few professionally written works but you still have to be aware of the rules. Talk to an English teacher if you still need some help with your writing or your friend wasn't as helpful as you were hoping in fixing the errors of what you've got written up. Still like the story, just want to be able to get back in the swing of it. Everyone has a typo and error limit per chapter or story they're willing to tolerate before they stop, and I hit mine a minute or two ago. You need to be aware of the fact that that after you reach a certain point with your errors they can take the reader out of the story, the only time it is highly acceptable is if you a deliberately misspelling something to illustrate a point with a character (whether they are unfamiliar with the language or rather dumb, etc.)
Also it looks like your deviant art page is down, I get a message that says it's been taken down or suspended when I try to connect to your deviant art page.