My Life

by Golden Script

5. "Flying" Lessons

“Stop!”

“Phththththt!”

“I- I said- S-stop it!”

“Phththththththththththt!”

“No, don’t! Please!!”

I stopped for a moment, looking up and into her tear-filled eyes, my mouth still wide open. She chuckled a little more, slowly catching her breath. I waited until her eyes met mine. And then took a deep breath.

“Phthththththththththththththththththththt!”

“No!” she screeched, kicking me off of her.

I fell backwards, a loud bang emanating from the table still covered in papers. Her head whipped up as she suddenly calmed down, looking down at the still, pegasus form that was me. Her eyes watched for movement, but I laid still. She waited a little while before meekly talking to my motionless body.

“G-Goldie? You alright?” she asked, looking me up and down. “I heard a bang.”

I didn’t respond. My head laid just under the lip of the table, a small indent on the wood evident right above it.

“Golden… Golden Script, talk to me.” She stood up and trotted over to me, hesitating for but a moment before tilting my head back to face her.

My eyes were closed and there was a calm look on my face. She reached forward, elevating my head with her hooves. Lowering her cheek to my face to check if I was breathing, she flinched back when her fur didn’t feel the ruffling of breath.

“Golden! D-don’t leave me, please! It was an accident!” she shouted to my motionless body. “Golden!” she shouted, lowering her head to my chest as tears began to flow.

“And, scene!” I shouted, suddenly brought back from the dead. “Did you get that, cameramare?” I called, looking off to the side as if there was somepony recording us.

My head hit the floor with a soft thump. She jumped back from me, probably expecting some kind of zombie to lunge at her while mumbling “Brains!”

“G-Goldie?” she asked, confused by my sudden resurrection; but that confusion quickly changed to anger as she realized I was no worse for wear.

“And you said I couldn’t be an actor…” I mumbled to myself as I stood up, brushing myself off. Our floor was exceptionally dirty. “You did great, honey! Now, go get yourself freshened up, we have a press meeting in fifteen about the new episode coming out. Remember, we don’t want them thinking I’m the one that died—not yet.”

“Golden Script, I thought you were seriously injured!” she scolded me. “I was about to go get help!”

“Well, we’re saving that for the next episode. And as long as your acting is as good as it was today, you can pretend any kind of physical trauma on me you’d like.” I poured myself a glass of water, taking a sip as I finished talking.

“Ugh…” she groaned to herself. “No funtimes for a week—you’re grounded.” She walked back into the bedroom.

I nearly dropped the glass, realizing what my antics had cost me. “Wait, no! That’s not fair!” I called after her, dashing for the bedroom door.

She gathered her paint supplies and clothes. “Well, you should have thought of that before you played dead.” She then made her way to the front door.

“But-… but-…” I couldn’t form a counter argument, fearing what other punishments could be forced on me.

“You should get those papers to your editor—I’m sure she’d just love to see what you’ve accomplished today.” There was a little more bite in her voice than I’d expected and, as the door slammed shut, I realized exactly how much I’d probably just bucked up.

I stood in the apartment for a minute, just thinking about everything and wondering what I should do next. I looked back at my work—which really did need to be delivered—and then back to the front door, considering following her to surprise her with flowers or something equally tacky.

The frustration showed on my face as I considered my options, my head whipping back and forth between the parchment and the door. A growl grew in my throat as I grabbed my keys.

“Buck it!”

---

I didn’t want to go to school. The night before had left me physically and emotionally drained. Dad didn’t come home that night, either, which didn’t help my inability to sleep. If he’d at least come back—inebriated or not—I would have been able to at least sleep a little. Instead, I stayed up all night thinking about all the different ways I could have just ruined our family.

To my knowledge, he still wasn’t home. Mom had pushed me out of the door a little early that day, probably worried about what might happen if I was home when dad got home. To be honest, I’m thankful she made me go early that day.

“Hey, Golden Script!” I heard from above me.

Glancing up, I noticed a white pegasus gliding down from above, and I recognized his voice.

“Sky Chaser!” I said, perking up at the presence of my new friend, but my muzzle quickly scrunched in confusion. “Wait, do you always come to school so early?” I asked as he touched down a few paces away.

“Well, not really; but that’s ‘cause I wasn’t going to school. I was practicing flying.” He flapped his wings.

My eyebrows furrowed as I looked at him, noticing the sweat he’d worked up. “Do you always work so hard?”

“W-well, not always…” he mumbled as a light blush graced his cheeks. “I guess I wanted to impress somepony with a new trick I’m working on.”

“Yeah? And who might that be?” I asked, genuinely curious. “Sapphire, maybe? Or could it be Ivy? Though Breezy would probably be most impressed by some aerial maneuvers.” I gasped in mock horror. “Sky, you’re not trying to win some poor filly’s heart with cheap flying tricks, are you? You should take her on a romantic date to the park or something, get to know each other!”

He’d stayed quiet for the most part through my rant, trying to cut me off here and there, but ultimately let me finish and hoof the mic back to him. After a moment, he realized he could talk.

“No, nothing like that! I’m just trying to stay in top shape and keep my skills sharp!” He glanced about, making sure to avoid making eye contact with my accusatory glare.

A moment later, I shrugged. “Okay. Just don’t do anything you’ll regret.”

“Right.” He chuckled nervously, still glancing around.

The two of us trotted in relative silence after that. It obviously got to him because he broke the silence first.

“Hey, Gold, do you always walk to school?” he asked.

“Of course, how else would I get there?” I chuckled with a raised eyebrow.

“Uh… by flying?” he suggested, ruffling his feathers.

I fell silent, stopping in my tracks, before looking back at my own feathery appendages.

“Oh… uh, right.” I chuckled, but I doubt that hid the blush that was growing on my cheeks. “Well, uh, you see...”

“You got used to walking with Rose Swirl?” he asked, finishing the thought that wasn’t going through my head.

“Huh?” I asked, processing what he said, and before he could respond my face lit up. “Oh! Yeah, that!”

“Cool. Well, if we take off now, we should get there with a few minutes to spare. Maybe even play a game of tether ball or two before everypony else gets there.” He shook out his wings, preparing for lift off, and I did the same—though more hesitantly.

He took off without issue, flapping repeatedly to gain altitude, and then spreading his wings into a shallow glide. I, on the other hoof, stood frozen on the ground, too afraid to even attempt to take off—afraid at what he’d think if I couldn’t get more than a few ponylengths off the ground. It didn’t take him long to realize I wasn’t flying behind him, so he turned around and came back.

“Something wrong, Gold?” he asked as he landed next to me, again.

“No! Nothing’s wrong! I just, uh, I’ve gotten too used to walking with Rose Swirl! I actually started enjoying the scenic route!” I tried to assure him, but my poker face was never really good—I still can’t join my friends for poker night because I lose too many bits in the endeavor.

He looked at me with the most unconvinced look I think anypony had given me up until then. It’s since been topped by my mother, father, and landlord. But I digress.

“Golden, can you fly?” he asked bluntly.

“What’re you talking about, Sky? I’m a pegasus, of course I can fly!” My laugh sounded nervous, even to myself at the time.

We held that awkward exchange for a while, just staring at each other; me with a comically large, nervous smile and him with a cold deadpan.

He shook his head with a chuckle. “You can’t fly, can you?”

“No.” My eyes dropped to the ground, studying the dirt path we’d been following up until then.

“How’d you like me to teach you?”

I looked up at him, curiosity in my eye. “You mean, teach me how to fly?” I asked.

“No, teach you how to hit an apple with a hatchet while riding a shark,” he said sarcastically. “Of course! I mean, it’s not all that hard. In fact, I bet we can get you in the air before class today!”

My spirits rose dramatically. I jumped forward, tackling him in a bearhug. “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!” I shouted, nuzzling his cheek with my own.

“Uh- you’re welcome…”

There was something… odd about his voice in that moment. Something I wouldn’t completely understand until much later in life. I looked at him questioningly, noticing the dark red blush that was slowly covering his face and the way his wings were splaying apart over the ground. It took a moment for my mind to process what was going through his head, but it became abundantly clear when I felt something poke me in the stomach.

I jumped off the poor colt with a quick “eep!” and turned away. With a strange waver in my own voice I said loudly so he could hear me while I wasn’t facing him.

“Thank you very much for teaching me how to fly, Sky Chaser!” I yelped.

“Y-yeah!” he said, garnering my attention again.

I hesitated to turn around, but when I did, I noticed he was laying on his stomach with his tail tucked under his hindquarters. I walked up next to him, looking at his far-off gaze.

“You, uh… you alright?” I asked.

“Never better,” he responded quickly.

“Storing that image for later?” I asked, a slight smirk growing on my lips.

“You bet.” He blushed lightly, but quickly quelled the redness in his cheeks.

“And as for what poked me in the stomach just now?” I began to saunter in front of him, flicking his nose with my tail.

“It was my knee,” he said, even faster than before, and the redness returned—as determined as he looked to get rid of it.

“Right… just your knee.” I stood just next to him and leaned my head down to his level. “So, are we going to get to the flying lesson or are we going to take a nap?”

“Flying, just give me a minute.” He seemed to be focusing hard, still staring off into the distance.

“What? Your knee need to calm down?” I asked with a slight chuckle. When he didn’t respond, I continued. “Hmph. Well, I don’t want to be late for class. I’ll see you there.” I began to walk off, making exaggerated hip motions like I’d seen my mother do when she was making fun of my father.

All I’m going to say for the record, it worked like a charm.

Author's Note:

So... I'm not in my right mind right now. I pumped this out in the past few hours and I'm not proud of how it turned out. BUT! I'm posting it, anyway, because I feel like this story will remain dead otherwise.

Also, I got the idea for Sky teaching Gold how to fly and couldn't help but write it down—but I couldn't do that without writing the rest of the chapter.

Leave comments and stuff, please.