The Side Character is a Deer

by Deergenerate

Chapter 38: Flight Lessons & Sonic Rainbooms

Sharp Spear was a Canterlot Guard, of the solar variety. He had been for a long time, since his stint as a young boy at a military school. A young pegasus with, he believed, a heart of gold. Trained and educated by dozens of officers and teachers, one of which was even Shining Armor himself. Years of training, however, couldn't have prepared him for what had happened just a few days earlier.

"Not even the changeling invasion did this much damage," Night Shield said. Sharp slowly turned to look at him, a grimace splitting his face. The grey bat pony in his blue armor turned back, the two locking eyes.

They were standing in front of the collapsed Canterlot Palace, though the fires had been put out, and most of the rubble moved, it didn't make the destruction any harder to stomach. Night Shield shook his head with a sigh, looking away from Sharp Spear.

"Come on, we're on train duty..." the bat pony sighed, "And by the looks of things it's going to be a long night."

Sharp Spear nodded as he followed after his fellow guard towards Canterlot station, a quick walk in the crisp night air. The walk through the streets of Canterlot was a quiet one, with the guards being unmolested the entire time. Not that they would have to worry about that in the first place, Canterlot used to have the reputation of the safest city on the planet. Still, a sense of unease filled all of the ponies within the town. There was a feeling of unease in the air that felt suffocating. If this kind of attack had happened once, there was a high chance it could happen again.

Sharp Poke shivered as they walked down the empty city streets. He decided he'd better get his mind off things.

"So, why do they have us on train duty again?" He asked, glancing uncomfortably to his left then his right.

"Because they felt that we were best for it?" Night responded, staring his fellow guard down.

"N-no that's not what I..." Sharp stammered, then he sighed and shook his head. "No, I meant what are we transporting on the train?"

"They gathered up all the stones from that giant statue and their loading it into a train as we speak," Night replied. "They are transferring it up to some magical research center near Vanhoover, and it's up to us and a couple of other guards to escort it."

Sharp Spear nodded, grimacing nonetheless. "Let's... let's hope it goes smoothly then..." He chuckled.

---

Rainbow Dash clapped her hooves together, signaling it was time for Derek to take to the air. The alicorn was quick to do as he was told, flapping his wings and taking off into the wonderfully blue daytime sky. He and Rainbow kept going higher and higher, soaring above the highest buildings in Ponyvile, before coming to a stop amongst the clouds. Derek chuckled to himself as he rightened himself, feeling a warm, giddy feeling go up and down his spine.

This place, up here in the skies, this might as well have been his heaven.

Rainbow chuckled as she pulled up next to him. "Never gets old huh?"

Derek laughed and shook his head. "Nope!" he laughed. "Dude, you have no idea how many times I wished I could fly when I was a kid."

"Yeah, I was the same way until I learned how to use my wings, and after that, I spent days without touching the ground, my parents had to chase me to get me into bed!" She laughed, swishing this way and that through the air. After a moment she looked down at Derek from above, she quickly moved on from that; "You've been keeping up on your wing exercises though right? If you want to fly right, you have to make sure your wings can take it!"

"Yes ma'am! Ten wing push-ups a day, and thirty flaps an hour! As instructed!" Derek instantly saluted, faltering in the air slightly.

Rainbow nodded. "Good! Now then, follow me!"

Instantly the pegasus rocketed away with a blast of rainbow light, shooting toward the ground. Derek gawked for but a moment, then he shook his head and went after her, flapping his wings as quickly as he could after her. However, despite his best efforts, he couldn't catch up!

Rainbow noticed, quickly slowing down to pull alongside him; "Here's a hint, it's not about how quickly you flap your wings. Having them open at all when your falling actually slows you down." She chuckled as she matched his speed. Derek had the slightest amount of trouble hearing her with how quickly they were going, but he caught the gist of what she was saying.

"If you want to go fast, you have to fold your wings," Rainbow laughed, before she demonstrated! "Like this!"

Derek's eyes widened as Rainbow instantly shot past him. His eyes quickly darted towards her wings, which, he noted, were folded close to her sides. He quickly did the same, following after her at a similar, though much still slower, speed.

The two dove towards the city streets, before Rainbow suddenly pulled up, with Derek following after her, laughing as he did.

"This is so awesome!" Derek cried, narrowly avoiding a tree for his trouble.

Rainbow Dash nodded as she flew just over the ground, turning sharply at the last moment to do a quick loop in the sky. Derek followed her, making a few loopsey-loops as they went.

"You know, this would be even better if I could just... fly at the speed of sound," Derek admitted, a smile on his face as the two caught up after a moment.

Rainbow Dash laughed, "Well, technically you could. If you tried to do it you'd burn out your wings though, they wouldn't be able to handle the air resistance at that speed. It would probably be like running into a wall."

Derek blinked, and shook his head. "Dang... that would suck." He chuckled.

"Yeah, I get around that though," Rainbow Dash chuckled. "Have you ever heard of the sonic rainboom?"

"No..." Derek said, cocking his head to the side.

"Okay, so it's this awesome trick that only the fastest pegasus can do! It's when you do a sonic boom, but not at the same time." Rainbow Dash explained.

"That sounds cool!" Derek laughed, he grinned as he looked up at Rainbow Dash.

"I'm guessing you want me to show you?" Rainbow asked with a chuckle.

"You bet!" Derek laughed, shaking his head.

Rainbow Dash nodded. "Alright, hang on tight!"

Derek barely had time to respond to that before Rainbow took off in a blast of wind and rainbow, going faster than Derek had ever seen her fly! Derek didn't even bother to follow after her as she suddenly turned skywards, shooting up into the sky as, with a sudden boom, there was an explosion of magical energy that launched a rainbow colored shockwave in all directions, almost knocking the alicorn out of the sky!

Derek laughed as she shot through the sky in an arch, creating a rainbow of light behind her as she went. Derek laughed, clapping his hooves as he did. Rainbow Dash's arc of rainbow magic passed by Canterlot as he did, and it was only then that he noticed the massive plume of smoke emerging from a forest between Ponyvile and Canterlot. When he turned his head down to stare at it, he saw, between the trees, the burnout form of a train.

Author's Note:

Hey hey hey! Sorry for the long wait!

Here's something I got commissioned in the time between chapters! I hope you all like it, I certainly did!

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