• Published 9th Apr 2012
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Three Worlds - BlueEyedMelloon



Young fillies do their best to stay friends among a war torn Equestria.

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From High Above

"Chapter Two- From High Above"
Author- Blue Eyed Melloon
MLP- Hasbro


The coach’s whistle flashed in the sunlight as he stared intently at the line of foals. They were all flexing, waiting….

The sharp report of the whistle sent the six foals into flight. Almost immediately, two or three gained a wingspan over the others. The track was an easy oval, and all of the ponies remained close to the ground. Along both the inside and outside of the dirt track, pegasi foals jumped up and down on the clouds or hovered above them to better see the race. The stands had a few parents who came to watch the after school practice. Cloudsdale Elementary was known to have the best flying team, even if the meets were more for fun than actual standings. These were the try outs and as the race continued, the spaces between the competitors increased as some began to lag. One blue colt with shocking green hair landed, skidding to a halt and breathing heavily. A pink filly bumped into another, causing them both to tumble out of the sky and land on the track before bouncing into the clouds surrounding it. There was a collective gasp, and then exhale as two filly heads popped up out of the fluffy clouds.

The remaining four pegasi didn’t even look back, and a tan colt with a chocolate colored mane even laughed at the poor souls who had fallen. His laugh was cut short by a flash of color that shot past him, and remained three or four wingspans ahead of him. The tail waving teasingly in front of him was a flashy mixture of every color in the rainbow. The colt growled, and forced himself to go faster.

“You’ll never win Rainbow!” he shouted, thrusting his forehooves out as if to grab her annoying tail. “You’ll flicker out, just like last time! You shouldn’t even own a pair of wings!”

The confidant voice that called out to her opponent seemed to send him into a rage. “Face it Cocoa Bean, I’m gonna win and there’s nothing you can do about it!” Berry colored eyes squinted as Rainbow Dash pushed herself to the limit, rounding the final corner and reaching her top speed. A rainbow streak streamed from behind her. Cocoa Bean was infuriated, and with his last bit of strength, brought himself even with the colorful filly. As they crossed the finish line, everyone’s eyes turned from the skidding competitors to Coach, who was rising from his position on the ground to get a better view of who crossed first. The cheering was swallowed by anticipation, the other racers momentarily forgotten as they too crossed the white tape on the ground.

“The winner is..Cocoa Bean!”

“WHAT!?” Rainbow Dash’s head shot up out of the cloud bank she and Cocoa Bean had crashed into. She stared open mouthed at Coach while Cocoa extracted himself from the clouds to walk over and receive a medal. Her pupils dilated with disbelief. Cocoa Bean flashed Rainbow a cocky grin, saying “I knew you couldn’t do it.”

Anything else he was going to say was drowned out by a feral roar from the cyan filly as she leapt on Cocoa Bean, throwing bits of clouds in all directions. They rolled on the clouds for a moment in ball of fur and feathers, and came to a halt with Rainbow on top of Cocoa, her knees pinning his legs and her wings flared, tense. Her hoof came down just below his eye, and he cried out, flapping his wings helplessly and wiggling to get out of her grasp while other ponies began to shout and run toward the quarreling duo. Small as she was, Rainbow managed to keep the larger Cocoa Bean pinned long enough to hit him again in the chest.

She aimed another blow to his left forehoof before she was shoved off by one of Cocoa Bean’s buddies, a sleet grey colt by the name of Tornado. Cocoa Bean remained on his back, holding his uninjured hoof to his face while a bruise began to spread underneath his tan hide. His eye was swelling shut, and liquid seeped out from underneath the lid. Tornado held Rainbow by the wing while she strained against the hold, shouting “There is no way you beat me! You cheated!” Coach flew between them, giving Rainbow a hard stare down. She immediately stopped fighting, lowering her head and wings. She knew she was in trouble. Again.

“Get Cocoa Bean to the nurse.” Coach commanded Tornado, who released Rainbow and skittered over to his friend who was stumbling to his feet with tears in his eyes. “Rainbow. Take ten. I have races to run and I can’t be here babysitting you.” Rainbow sniffed, angry tears falling onto her blue cheeks. It wasn’t fair! She was supposed to win! When she tried to voice her opinion, her open mouth was met with a hard look and a stern gaze. “I don’t want to hear it Rainbow Dash. Scram. Now!”
She shot off toward the school proper, leaving a colorful streak behind her. The other foals pretended not to see her leave, whispering to each other and casting quick, worried glances at Cocoa and the place where Rainbow had flown off to. An awkward tension blanketed the track. Coach shook his massive head, and then turned to assure the very angry parents of Cocoa Bean that Rainbow would indeed be punished for hurting their “sweet little boy”.
“She just has a hot head.” He said, forestalling Cocoa Bean’s mother’s protests with a hoof. “I can’t get through to her if she is upset. Best to let her cool off before trying to reason with that filly.”

Rainbow sat on her favorite cloud bank, punching the fluffy seat with her hooves. Bits of fluff scattered and spun. Stupid Cocoa Bean. Stupid Coach. Why did everyone have to think she was the bad guy? And why did she have to take that stupid test? Everyone knew she was the fastest flier in Cloudsdale Elementary! She growled, kicking her back legs in frustration and rolling around. She was full of angry energy, and no way to release it. Now she was never going to make the team. Stupid Cocoa Bean. Stupid Coach.
A soft cough interrupted her moping. Rainbow Dash peeked over the side of the cloud to see a filly with a soft pink mane and butter yellow coat. She was staring up at Rainbow with large blue eyes full of sorrow, and more predominantly, fear. She fluttered a bit at Raonbow’s stare, then landed with a soft whumph and shrunk. Despite being taller than Rainbow Dash, she managed to make herself smaller than the brash filly.

“Uhm, Rainbow?” she said, voice every bit as soft as her mane. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I was hoping I could..talk to you. And make you feel better.” She cast her eyes downward, hiding one with pink hair. “But if you don’t want to, I totally understand.” She quickly added, taking a step backwards. “I just don’t like seeing you this way.”

Rainbow rolled off of her cloud to land on the one next to the other filly. “I’m sorry Fluttershy.” She said in a huff, falling backwards onto the cloud and stretching out her back legs. “I don’t mean to scare you. Cocoa Bean just makes me so mad!” She slammed a hoof against the cloud in emphasis, causing Fluttershy to squeak and flinch. Rainbow’s eyes were apologetic when they regarded the fellow Pegasus. “Sorry again. I just….I know I’m the best flier here. I know I’m the fastest. So why did Cocoa Bean beat me?” Her hooves went behind her rainbow colored hair and she stared up at the robin’s egg blue sky above them.

“Maybe you got nervous?” Fluttershy offered, sitting next to the depressed foal. “I know when I have to fly in front of a group, I get pretty scared.”

“No offense Shy, but you get scared all of the time.”

Fluttershy gave Rainbow a serene smile. “That is pretty true I guess. Maybe he knew how to better pace himself so he wouldn’t be so tired at the end of the race. Then he could catch up.”

Rainbow rolled over, cradling her head in the crook of her arm to face her buttery colored friend. “I guess so.” Her bad mood seemed to be dissipating, and Fluttershy was determined to keep her friend from moping any longer. She carefully edged to the side of the cloud and peeked over. “Hey Rainbow? Do you ever wonder what it’s like down there on the ground?”

“What are you, nuts?” Rainbow moved to where Fluttershy lay staring. The earth spread below them like a great green carpet dotted with lint the color of houses, trees and even a stain or two of a lake. Some places were hidden in shadow as clouds passed overhead on a crisp breeze, obscuring the sun for a minute or two to the ponies below. Every once in a while, the wind brought with it the faint peal of laughter, a note or two of music. All in all it was very pretty from high up.

“We can’t go down there.” Rainbow said, picking at a stray clump of cloud that had come loose. “We would get run out of town by those earth ponies.”

“I don’t understand why we can just get along.” Fluttershy said with a hint of sadness. Her gaze carried that same sadness, and even a bit of what looked like longing. “They can’t really be that bad, right?”

“Are you kidding? They chased us out of town when we were here first!” The old history lesson was taught in all Pegasus schools. “And then those unicorns came and started messing with the days and nights, calling our job useless and threatening never to raise the sun again if all of us didn’t pay them.” Rainbow’s berry eyes narrowed. “They sound like jerks.”

“You would know.” Came a sneering voice form overhead. Tornado had found Rainbow Dash’s hideout, and with him were two other colts. One was orange with a white mane, the other a darker gray than Tornado, with black stripes in his scruffy mane and tail.

“Go away.” Rainbow said, getting to her feet. She brushed her short mane away from her eyes. Fluttershy also stood, but took her place behind Rainbow Dash, eyes cast down and mouth glued shut.

“You’re the jerk for beating up Cocoa Bean!” Tornado yelled, taking a step forward. “You belong down there with those jerk earth ponies. In fact...” The orange colt, named Swizzle took the hint and dove towards Rainbow Dash, shoving her with his flank. She stumbled, eventually falling to her knees. The knock from Swizzle caused Rainbow to bump into Fluttershy, who in turn stepped backwards. One squeal was heard, and Fluttershy was gone.

“Fluttershy!”

Rainbow flew off of the cloud, searching for her yellow friend. A hole in another cloud showed that she had fallen straight down and without a backwards glance, Rainbow dove after her. The colts remained atop the first cloud, staring at where the two fillies used to be with fear. If Rainbow was going to be in trouble for hitting Cocoa Bean, they were going to be in BIG trouble for knocking perhaps the worst flier out of Cloudsdale off into the sky.

======================

Fluttershy felt like she had be falling for hours.


She was facing up at the sky, wings tightly plastered against her back. She paused in her screaming to catch her breath, and realized that if she didn’t do something soon, she would hit the ground, which definitely wasn’t as fluffy as a cloud. She shut her eyes and forced herself to roll so that her hooves were now pointing at the rapidly approaching ground. Her hair whipped above her head like an angry snake. She flailed for a moment before forcing her wings to open a little. Once the seal to her side was broken, they were ripped open, and she cried out as the muscles stretched to their very limit. A few feathers shot past her as they were popped from their place on her wings. Painfully she began to slow and through tears, Fluttershy could see that her approach to earth was delayed. She kept her throbbing, trembling wings open, but even with the resistance her descent was still too fast. She saw the trees too late, and cried out again when she hit the first set of branches. The second set knocked her out cold, and she remembered no more about the fall.

When Fluttershy finally cracked her eyes open again, she was covered in branches and leaves. Scratches etched themselves all over her body, and she didn’t find many of them until she tried to move. She lifted her head, only to have absolute pain stab into her brain. She whimpered, and covered her eyes with her hooves. Everything hurt. Even the places where her hair grew from her scalp were aching. Fluttershy lay there for an undetermined amount of time, crying her blue eyes out behind her hooves. How was she going to get home?

A rustle and footsteps woke her from her misery. There was somepony coming! Rainbow’s words echoed in her perked ears. Were they really coming to chase her away?! She squeaked, making herself as small as possible as a colt came into view. He wasn’t as young as Fluttershy, but nor was he a full grown adult. He was somewhere in between, at that awkward stage where legs and necks grow faster than the rest of him. His coat was apple red, and a shock of bright orange mane stuck out at funny angles. When he turned around a tree and saw Fluttershy, he gasped, trotting to where she lay shivering.

“Are you ok?”

His voice was a bit squeaky, but already changing from a foal’s octave to the baritone of an adult. Fluttershy snuck a glance from beneath a hoof, and saw him gazing at her closely. She mumbled something and then went promptly back to shivering.

The colt offered her a hoof, saying “Hey, I’m not gonna hurt you.” He looked around, wondering where she had come from. A falling apple brought his attention to the wreck of branches and the significant hole through them above their heads. He let out a low whistle.

“Did you fall?” he asked, looking at Fluttershy and realizing that she indeed have a pair of wings attached to her shoulder blades. She also looked worse for wear, and just so scared…

Fluttershy’s response was only to squeak and make soft crying sounds. He was going to tell on her! She was going to be run out of town and lost forever! And she would never see her mom and dad again!

The colt smiled, and sat down, willing to wait. Patience was Big Macintosh’s specialty. His Ma said it was one of his better qualitites. He didn’t have to wait too much longer though. Soon Fluttershy ran out of tears and her throat cracked mid sob. She rose to a sitting position, wiping her eyes with a dirty hoof. The look she gave Big Macintosh was one of utter despair. He shook his head and said “I said I ain’t gonna hurt you. My name is Big Macintosh. What’s yours?”

“F-F-Fluttershy.” She practically whispered, hiding beneath her tangled mane. A sniff came from behind the pink curtain.

“Fluttershy did you say? Well that’s a pretty name.” He grinned foolishly, hoping to warm the poor filly up. She seemed right out of her mind with sadness. “Why were you in our apple tree?”

Fluttershy looked up, saw the hole, and burst into apologies. “Oh, I’m s-s-soo sorry about that. I..well, I didn’t m-m-mean to. You see, they pushed me and I fell and, oh dear.” She looked ready to cry again. How was she going to pay to get them a new tree? How much did trees cost? Maybe she could work off the money…

Big Macintosh put a hoof on her shoulder and said “It’s alright. It’s just one tree. We have lots of them.” He indicated the forest of apple trees around them and for the first time, Fluttershy realized that he was right. They were surrounded by apple trees, all laden with ripe fruit ready for picking. “Now you look very scared, and very tired. I got a place that you can stay for now, but it’s a bit dangerous for you to be here, so I can’t tell my mom and dad. You can have the clubhouse though.” Fluttershy looked very confused, so the colt sighed and got to his feet. “Follow me Fluttershy.”

She followed Big Macintosh to a different part of the orchard, limping slightly. After all of that crying and the fall itself, she found that she was absolutely exhausted. Her guide stopped, and she almost bumped into him. In front of them was a large treehouse crudely made of wood. There was a ramp up to the door, and a balcony that wrapped all the way around it. Two windows had shutters with hearts carved into them. A picnic table rested beneath the treehouse in the shade.

“Here.” Big Macintosh said, walking up the ramp. He nosed open the door and let Fluttershy in. “It’s my little sister's but she doesn’t use it anymore. You can stay here until your all better. Then you can go home.” The inside was just as crude as the outside, with a roughly hewn table and chairs. There was a bookshelf covered in dust, and a space for a bedroll. Big Macintosh noticed the lack of bedding and added “I can sneak a sleeping bag from our camping stuff I think. And I can bring you something to eat if you don’t want apples.” He offered another warm smile to the shivering Fluttershy. “Don’t worry, it’s gonna be ok.”

Fluttershy stammered out a ‘thank you’ before Big Macintosh trotted away. She watched him from one of the windows until the trees obscured his path. She sat down on the ground and buried her face in her hooves. Oh what was she going to do?