Shattered Rainbow

by TheMajorTechie

Touch the sky for me

"Come on," Spectral Glider whined to her sister, "I wanna fly again!"

Rainbow groaned, squatting down yet again for the younger sister to scamper onto her back.

"Wheee!" the filly giggled, stretching out her tiny wings as her sister ran about the yard, "Look mommy, I'm touching the sky!"

"Yes, dear." Windy Whistles chimed from the doorway, "Don't forget to give your sister a break though, I'm sure she's getting tired by now."

Spectral paused for a moment, taking in her mother's words before glancing down at the panting Rainbow Dash. "Oh." She began, "O-oh yeah."

"Thanks." Rainbow deadpanned as the weight on her back finally lifted off, "I should probably take a nap or something. Right, mom?"

"Uhuh-yeah." Windy called from within the house, clearly distracted, "You go on and do whatever. Just take Speccy with you."

Rainbow glanced down at the filly in question. She appeared to be around Scootaloo's age, taking a few years given how the latter had been long-since enrolled in elementary, while the former was only beginning.

Then, an idea formed in her mind.

"How about another round of flying..." Rainbow began, "Real flying."

---

"Easy does it," Rainbow murmured, watching as her little sister leapt from the makeshift platform of yard toys, "Yup, just flap-flap your wings just like that, sis."

Spectral Glider hovered ever so cautiously, her tiny wings almost buzzing at their current speed.

"Alright." Rainbow nodded, "Try flying a little higher now."

With a grunt, the filly began flapping her wings harder than she thought she had ever done before. And lo and behold, slowly, slowly, she began to rise.

Spectral's face brightened with glee. "I'm doing it!" she squeaked, "Look!"

Rainbow smiled as her sister wrecklessly struggled to maneuver mid-air, quickly tumbling back to the ground in the moments immediately after.

Just like Scootaloo...

---

As the day drew to a close, Spectral Glider's flying slowly, but ever-so-steadily improved. She had gone, in a single day, from barely managing to lift herself, to gently hovering-- and to an extent, the slightest bit of actual flight. Nevertheless, Rainbow Dash felt proud.

"Dinner!" their father called from the door, breaking the filly's focus. Immediately, she plummeted face-first back into the soft clouds that made up the yard.

A tiny puff of the aforementioned clouds shot up for an instant as she snorted in annoyance.

"Hey," Rainbow said calmly as she pulled her sister from the ground, "It's alright. We all fall sometimes, remember?"

Spectral nodded quietly.

As the two sisters made their way back to the door, the elder turned to the younger.

"Sis?" Rainbow began, "Can you promise me something?"

Spectral hesitated for a moment. "Yeah?" She soon answered, unsure of what would come next.

"When you can fly better--" Rainbow continued, "Can you touch the sky for me?"

The filly grinned, and the two entered the house.