Cloudwalker
“How did it come to this…” I thought to myself as I sat in front of a pony, being judged for a crime I didn’t commit. “Just earlier today I was helping AJ make apple cider, having a blast. Now I’m sitting here on trial for theft and vandalizing private property…what’s this world come to?”
The gavel struck the podium as the small judge shrieked over the small “crowd” of dead-eyed onlookers. “Order! Order in the court!” A giddy smile danced across her face, but was quickly sniffed out when she remembered where she was. “The trial will now commence. The prosecution will now make her opening statement.”
“Of course, your honor.” Another small pony stood up on her side of the room and cleared her throat, her short-cut pinkish-red hair bouncing lightly in the breeze created by her tiny orange fluttering wings. “Yesterday, a building on Sweet Apple Acres was broken into and vandalized. A single item was taken from inside the building, a cape with the Cutie Mark Crusaders emblem embla…emb…” The prosecutor stuttered, unable to manage the word she was trying to say.
“Emblazoned?” The judge, a white unicorn with a two-tone pink and purple mane, offered.
“Yeah, that. Emblazoned on it. We don’t know why the thief stole it, or for what purpose they intended to use it for, but we have a cred…creda…”
“Credible?”
“Yeah, a credible eye witness that can confirm that the culprit was Zinnia!” The prosecutor announced, causing a gasp to erupt from the crowd. One gasp, actually, from an off-yellow earth pony with red hair. She quickly ran back to my side of the room where she took a seat and whispered into my ear, which twitched in mild annoyance, “Don’t worry, Z! I know you didn’t do it. I’ll clear your name for sure!”
I could only sigh in exasperation. “This is ridiculous.”
“The defendant will refrain from questioning the court, or speaking until she is spoken to or they will be held in contempt!” The judge said, reprimanding us.
“OBJECTION!” The little orange pegasus shouted loud enough to cause the little room to shake.
“But ah haven’t even said nothin’ yet!” My attorney whined, clasping her ears to her head from the sudden outburst.
“Not to you! To the judge! I request we use smaller words for this pre…pro…ugh, for the trial! I can’t remember all of these big legal terms.” She complained with a frustrated huff.
“But how are we supposed to get our cutie marks in Equestrian Law if you don’t use the right words?” The Judge asked.
“I don’t know, but I also don’t think that your witness is as credible as you say…considering it’s just a pinecone.” My attorney deadpanned, pointing to the object in question as it slowly teetered off the edge of the stool it had been perched on.
“You know what, let’s just forget it. Besides, I feel kinda bad for putting Zinnia on the spot like that. I don’t think I’d want a cutie mark for law if all I did all day was blame other ponies for stuff they didn’t do.” The orange filly said as she dismounted her stool and walked over to the judge, who seemed to reluctantly agree.
“Yeah, but now what do we do?” The white unicorn said, throwing her “robe” and “gavel” to the side, where I could see they were just an old towel and a wooden carpentry hammer.
“I know! Zinnia was out in the Everfree forest for a whole week! I bet you she could help us start an expedition! We could be Cutie Mark Crusader Explorers!” My attorney shouted to her friends, much to my alarm.
“But we already tried that once, remember, Apple Bloom?” The white unicorn said with a pointed look.
“Yeah, Sweetie Belle’s right. We did that two weeks ago, and remember how well that turned out?” The little pegasus fluttered her wings, seemingly agitated about their experience.
“I know, I know. You almost got bit by that baby manticore we found in a cave near Fluttershy’s cottage. You’re never gonna let me live that one down, are you Scootaloo?”
“Well…it was kind of cute…” Sweetie Belle added, to which both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo stared at her in disbelief. “What? They aren’t so scary when they’re small!”
“Small! It was still bigger than we are!” Scootaloo retorted.
“Ok…relatively small.” Sweetie Belle said with a blush.
“We couldn’t go anyway, girls. Zinnia told me all about how dangerous it was out there, and how scary it was. I mean, if even she was scared of it, then it must be pretty bad, right?”
“Oh, thank the stars, Apple Bloom learned reason from her older sister. Thanks for raising her right, AJ.” I thought to myself as I sighed in relief.
“Well I heard from Rainbow Dash that she beat up a whole pack of those timberwolf things without even using her wings! If we had her with us, there wouldn’t be anything that could stop us! I bet we could go to the old castle ruins and explore those! We could be like treasure hunters, and she’d be like our bodyguard!” Scootaloo exclaimed.
“Rarity did say that there were some old tapestries in there that she wanted to get her hooves on. If I brought one back for her…” Sweetie Belle pondered to herself. I could see the gears turning in all three of those little heads.
“Cutie Mark Crusader Treasure Hunters?” Apple Bloom asked with a widening grin.
“...ok, nevermind. AJ, you suck as a parent. Don’t quit your day-job.”
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADER TREASURE HUNTERS! YAY!” The three fillies shouted in unison, causing the glass window in the treehouse to shudder as they ran laps around the tiny room.
“Ok, ok. Girls, let’s not get ahead of ourselves now. Your sisters would kill me if I took you in there, and they are soooo much more terrifying than any timberwolf.” I said, trying to curb their enthusiasm.
“Not scarier than Twilight. I’m pretty sure she got so mad that she caught fire once.” Scootaloo said, in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Oh, yeah! My sister almost did that once too! Though it was because I used one of her glitter fabrics as a picnic blanket. Her horn was kinda smoldering all day after that…”
“Was that when we had our picnic last month?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Yeah…” Sweetie Belle answered, looking embarrassed about it as she remembered how angry her sister was with her after that.
“So that’s why we didn’t see you outside of school that whole week. I was wondering what happened to you. Apple Bloom and I had to put off our CMC duties that week.”
“Couldn’t she have just washed the fabric or something?” I asked, though something inside me screamed not to.
“Umm…well…you see, it would have been hard to wash with all those burn marks.” Scootaloo said, shuffling her hooves.
“Burn marks?”
“We kinda, maybe, tried to make a rocket outta some weird smellin’ black powder we found at Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie Pie said she made it one day when she was tryin’ to see if she could make something she called a ‘bomb pop,’ but it nearly exploded her stove.” Apple Bloom explained.
“...Pinkie needs to be on a watch list.” I struggled to hold in my disbelief that somepony could randomly discover sugar-based explosives and then just throw them out for kids to find. Pinkie was many things, but I wouldn’t have guessed that “grossly irresponsible” was one of the things.
“At least Twilight was able to fix that tree…” Sweetie Belle added.
“Okay…explosive confections aside, what else were you wanting to do today?” I asked, quickly trying to change the subject before they decided to embark upon a quest to become demolition experts.
“Well, I ain’t really thought about it. I sorta expected the trial to take longer than it did,” Apple Bloom said, kicking their “witness” towards the door of their treehouse, “I guess we could go see what Twilight’s up to.”
“She might try to make us read one of those boring books on the history of inkwells again.” Scootaloo said with a scoff.
“Yeah, no offense, but I think I would rather hang out with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon than read that again…” Sweetie Bell scrunched up her nose, “and you know how fun that is…”
“Not.” Apple Bloom said with a sigh.
“Well I could try teaching you how to make a fi-” I began, but cut myself off before finishing that sentence. Teaching three fillies how to make a fire with sticks when they nearly blew up a park sounded like a terrible idea.
“A what? What can you teach us to make!” Sweetie Bell said excitedly.
“A f-fine piece of pottery! It’s one of the skills I learned when I was studying primitive technologies! Clay pots are super useful for a ton of different things!”
“I think I’ll pass. We tried pottery last month too and that didn’t turn out so well either.” Scootaloo winced, “Mayor Mare wasn’t too happy with that hole we dug just outside of the town to find clay…”
“Why would she be mad about a little hole?” I asked, stupidly. I apparently hadn’t learned my lesson.
“Uhh…it wasn’t that little…”
“Did that stallion ever come back?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Yeah, but I heard he fell into the trench again late last week and was back in a wheelchair at the hospital…”
“We really need to apologize to him again for that…I know! Next time we’re in town, we should stop by the flower shop and ask Roseluck if we can have some flowers for him.” Sweetie Belle chimed in with a smile.
“Good Idea! I mean, who doesn’t like flowers!” Apple Bloom exclaimed happily, while I thought back to the stallion I had seen in the garden during my stay at the hospital and in the waiting room last week and wondered if that was the same pony…
“Why don’t we head there now?” Scootaloo asked as she started making for the door.
“Good Idea!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, following close behind.
“Alright, Cutie Mark Crusaders! Let’s go get some flowers!” Apple Bloom jumped up and ran out with her friends. I could hear them chatting about making a “get-well-soon” card as well, though hearing Sweetie Belle mentioning some kind of ribbon Rarity had that they could use set some alarm bells off.
“Rarity’s gonna need another spa day soon…” I shook my head and stepped out onto the front porch of the filly’s treehouse just in time to see them slip out of view as they ran off towards the town. I had always liked kids, and was more than happy to play along with those three and their antics. Besides, with as much trouble they got into, they needed somepony to supervise them before they did something truly crazy.
“Still though…I wouldn’t mind having one of my own one day…” I said with a blush, before quickly furrowing my brow.
“A kid? Or a foal? Can I even…I mean…there’s so much wrong with the logistics of that now. I would be the one carrying and having it now after all, and that’s not a particularly comfortable thought. Not to mention I’m still not really a pony. Would a thing like me be able to do that? Would I want that? I mean, I’m not even sure what I’m supposed to be, let alone if I can love myself enough to love somepony else…” I rested my forehooves on the little railing of the treehouse and looked out across the apple trees in the nearby farm, my mind full of uncomfortable thoughts.
I thought back on everything that’s happened so far and the individuals I’ve met since I arrived. Every one of them had been treating me like one of them, but the growing conflict inside me made me wonder if that was ok. Was it ok that I was taking advantage of their generosity and kindness, or that I was pretending to be something I wasn’t? Was it ok that I had lied to so many individuals who called me a friend? How could they trust me so much that they let me be alone with three little fillies like they had known me all their life?
I felt confused. I wanted to be normal, but somewhere deep inside me I knew I could never be. It seemed like the more I came to know and understand here in this world, and the more I became like them, the less like “me” I felt. Like I was quickly losing my sense of self and replacing “Seth” with “Zinnia,” but somehow in that process was becoming neither one.
“Who even am I anymore…” I whispered to myself, somberly.
Completely lost in thought, I was unaware of a little black storm cloud that was quietly making its way towards me. I heaved myself off the railing, sniffling and wiping some moisture from my eyes. I needed to keep myself busy. If I just kept working, or could distract myself with some hobby or task I could keep my mind away from…being a monster.
I began making my way back to the farm, determined to clear my thoughts with hard work and sweat. My hooves met the dirt as I exited the porch and I stretched my body, now that I had some room to do so. Remembering what Fluttershy had taught me and the suggestions of Dr. Horse, I did some preliminary exercises before trying out the “pre-flight stretches.” If nothing else, they felt really good.
I took a deep breath and pushed my hooves forward, lowering the front half of my body and lifting my rear, not noticing the little dark gray cloud floating ominously overhead. I heard a couple of pops come from my spine and shivered with delight as the cool sensation of release rushed through the affected joints. “Ok…here we go.”
I focused on the spot between my withers again, attempting to find the right muscles to move. I felt a twinge, a somewhat dull sensation as the weight of my wings shifted slightly. Nervously, I continued encouraging the flight muscles to move, fully expecting for them to throw me off balance, or maybe they’d decide to fling me into the stratosphere this time but to my surprise they moved in a slow, if not shaky and unsure, manner.
“No. Bucking. Way…”
I continued attempting the stretch, first getting my wings to point straight up. My right wing took the scenic route, opting to extend fully to the side in a gliding position before reaching into the sky while my left wing did as I asked. I then slowly rotated them forward, then down and back. I couldn’t believe what was happening, so I did it a second time for good measure. Up, then forward, down and back…mostly. My left wing got lost the second time and T-posed before going forward, but I was moving my wings.
“No. Bucking. Way!” A familiar voice came from above me, but when I looked, I couldn’t see where it came from.
“Rainbow Dash?” I called out while looking around, “You know, for as colorful as you are, you sure are hard to spot!”
“Hey! I am the champion of standing out! I’m the standing-outiest pony around!” She complained from above. My eyes darted around, landing on the little cloud several times before moving to the tree behind it.
“If you can’t see me, then that’s not my fault. Maybe you should have your eyes checked, since your wings look like they're getting better!”
“Ha ha, you’re a comedy genius too,” I retorted in a sarcastic tone, “Seriously though, where are-” A bolt of lightning and clap of thunder cut me off, scaring a few feathers off of me as I flapped my wings in fright, sending me straight into the low hanging cloud above. It looked a lot lighter than it had from the ground…well, lighter and a fair bit more blue on the inside where I found myself.
I blinked owlishly, now face to face with the prismatic mare, her magenta eyes positively sparkling with mirth. “Hiya, Z. I’d ask what’s up, but it looks like you are.”
I barely even registered that we were currently sitting inside of a cloud without needing to actually fly to stay there. All I could think about was clocking Rainbow, which I happily did, more than once. “Ouch! Cut it out, Z! You hit hard!”
“Yeah? Well excuse me Miss Thunder-Bolts-and-Lightning!” I practically shouted at her as my heart tried to pound its way through my ribcage.
“But did you die?” She grinned.
“ARGH!”
She couldn’t hold herself together anymore as laughter exploded from her and tears streamed down her face. “You should have seen yourself too! You flew up here so fast I thought you were me!” She rolled and howled for a few minutes as my cheeks burned before she could collect herself enough to bring the cloud down far enough to get my hooves back on solid ground.
“Sorry, Z. I was gonna get AJ with that one, but I saw you staring off into space and couldn’t help myself. I just needed to wait till you were done warming up before I spooked you or I might have caused you to pull a muscle. Speaking of which, why didn’t you tell me you got your wings back?”
I took a breath, finally calming my nerves enough to speak to her without wanting to give her another whack. “Actually, I just found out myself. Though…” I tried moving my wings around a bit but when I attempted to open them up one listened and the other decided to fall limp to the ground before half-heartedly standing at attention, “I think I still have a problem. I went back to the doctor a few days ago. He told me that I had some kind of nerve dysfunction because of the concussion I had, but that my wings would come back if I practiced using them more.”
“Huh. That sounds about right. We just need to work on your coordination a bit and you’ll be high in the sky again in no time!” She beamed at me, positively dripping with confidence.
“Coordination? How do I do that?”
“Well, usually you don’t have to since flying is kinda what we pegasi do. Remember Stormwind? I talked about him when we were at Shy’s place.” I nodded. He'd been brought up quite a few times by now and I’d be lying if I wasn’t curious about meeting him at some point. “Well, after he went through therapy, he had to do some special classes to help him re-learn how to use his wings.”
“And those classes helped him fly again?”
“Well, kinda. You see, the classes are meant to rebuild your flight muscles since they get weak if you don't use them for long periods of time. Your flight muscles are what control your wings, how hard or fast you can move them, and have a hoof in keeping you stable while in the air. If one side is stronger than the other, it can lead to imbalance. Usually that means you just fly a little slower since your stronger side slows down so your weaker side doesn’t have to work as hard. But if they get too weak, then they don’t really know what to do and well, you’ve seen what happens.”
I nodded again, looking at my wings as I kept them flared as best I could. It was difficult though, and I could tell what Rainbow meant by them being weak. It was hard to keep them open, let alone at the same height without one wanting to overcompensate for the other, but feeling the sun against my feathers and the heat soaking into my wings felt so amazing that I struggled to keep them open just to savor the sensation.
“Ok, so I need to work on strengthening those muscles?”
“Yup! It could take you a few weeks though, considering the condition you’re in. That is, if you went to Cloudsdale to find a pony who does those classes. But you have the best flyer in all of Equestria, right here; And I know a few shortcuts that’ll have the wind beneath your wings again in under a week!”
“Shouldn’t I go to a trained professional though? I mean, what if I mess up and hurt myself again, or worse?” I said, worried about Rainbow’s enthusiasm and her friend’s warnings to me about her unconventional methods.
“Psht. Look, you wanna fly again or what?” She aggressively poked my chest with a hoof, “Stick with me, kid. I’ll show you the fast track. I am gonna be a Wonderbolt someday soon, after all.”
“Well, I don’t have to be confident. She has enough for the both of us, and probably enough to make Fluttershy seem normal too.” But I had to admit, I could almost feel it rubbing off on me.
“Ok, ‘greatest flyer in Equestria,’ where do I go, and how do I start?”
“Well, first off we need to do something about how stiff those wings are.” She said, pointing one of her wing tips towards mine as they shuddered in place, “You shouldn’t have to work so hard to keep them still. Wings aren’t heavy, since most of the bones in them are hollow. That tells me that you’re a little too tense and need to relax.” She trotted over to me and poked at my withers, “You got any feeling back there?”
“Some. I can feel the sun on my wings now, which feels really good.”
“Great, we’re about to do something that’s gonna feel even better. Think you can lay down on your belly for me?”
“Sure.” I said as I lowered myself to the ground and nestled into place. I attempted to retract my wings, but Rainbow Dash stopped me.
“Nah, keep em’ out. You won’t have them by your sides for long anyway.” She said as she walked behind me.
“Ok, now I’m worried.”
“So uhh, remember when we said that the spot between your wings was sensitive?”
“Yeah.”
“Has anypony ever touched you there before?”
“Not before Fluttershy, you, and Aloe at the spa.”
“Oh, you’re in for a treat.” She chuckled somewhere behind me, somehow sounding a little menacing.
“I’m in for a whaAAAhhhhh-?”
“That’s the right reaction.” She said with a laugh that was somewhere between nervous and devious.
I had been made aware that the nerve clusters near the base of a pegasus’ wings were dense, but holy mother of mayhem was I not expecting that. In the span of about three seconds it had gone from a slight pain to pleasure, bliss, ecstasy, tickling pins and needles, and an odd sensation of being both completely relaxed and utterly tense at the same time. My wings shot out to both sides at a 45 degree angle and stayed stock still while she kneaded my withers like a cat kneads a soft blanket.
I had no more words, just sounds, and I thanked the stars that the fillies had left and no stallions were around because I was fairly certain that none of the noises I made were rated-PG. It only lasted a minute before she eased off, but if that’s what Aloe had been attempting to do on my spa day I vowed to visit once a week like Rarity. All-day-spa-day.
“How’s that? Feel relaxed?” Rainbow said with a smirk in her voice. I couldn’t tell if she was enjoying it because of the reaction and her penchant for pranks, or if she enjoyed it as much as I did.
“Y-yeawhahapnd.” I slurred, unable to get my mouth to work, let alone my body.
“Oh yeah, you’re probably gonna be like that for a few minutes. Try not to move too much while you come down from that high, then give your wings another test run.” She came back into view from behind me, probably a little red in the face, but I couldn't really tell, nor cared much about it at that point in time.
She talked to me while I came down, which was nice as it gave me something else to focus on other than the flurry of riotous sensations that coursed around withers. Her one sided conversation consisted mostly about the Wonderbolts and how awesome they were, and how she had been practicing for some sort of competition that was coming up in the near future. Despite her ego, she seemed genuine as she gushed about her heroes and how it was her biggest dream to fly with them one day. Her enthusiasm was contagious, almost intoxicating, as I imagined her flying beside what essentially equated to Earth’s Blue Angels and started to envy her ambition and drive.
But soon enough, the pin and needles left my body as it slowly returned to normal. I was tempted to move, but was almost afraid to, considering what had happened just moments earlier. I think Dash could see my gears kicking back into motion as I looked around nervously.
“How ya feeling?”
“I…uhh…afraid to move, honestly.”
“Yeah, sounds about right. You should be fine now though. The feeling of your flight control nerves being overloaded like that never lasts for longer than a few minutes. The first time’s always the best though.”
“Now I see why you and your friends thought it was weird when I couldn’t feel anything last time. That was…wow.” I said with a sigh.
“I was pretty sure you had pinched some kind of nerve back there, but what the doctor said makes sense too. The other option would have been that your crash could have severed a nerve, but normally you’d be in a wheelchair unless your Stormwind, or in your case…well…” She turned a shade of green thinking about what could happen to a paralyzed pony in the Everfree Forest alone, “Let’s not think about that. A-anyway, wanna try flexing those wings again?”
“S-sure.” I was still afraid to move, lest another nerve overload happened, but as I ventured to move my wing muscles, I found that not only did they react nearly instantly, but they also moved more fluidly. I raised my head and watched as I ordered my feathered appendages up and down, nearly in unison, with very little effort and only a slight variation in pattern. Much better than quivering whilst I struggled to even hold them up.
“Woah…how does that even work?” I muttered, not taking my eyes off my now mostly operational wings.
“Hehe, a little secret I picked up from a friend. One of Stormwind’s pals, Feather Fall. After Stormwind’s accident, she had felt pretty bad for him. Apparently he was pretty devastated about losing his wings, and I don’t think anypony could blame him. Fall and Storm were close, so she thought she’d do what she could to help him feel better, so she hit him with one of those. Turns out, what she did was overload his flight control nerves, which basically caused them to restart or something like that, and after a while his wings started working again.”
“Oh, like restarting a machine.”
“If you mean the cloud machines in Cloudsdale, yeah. Sometimes they can get clogged up or one of the drive belts jumps off track so they have to restart it to get it working again. So yeah, just like that.”
“What the buck is a cloud machine?” I asked myself, “I know there are a ton of things I still don't know about this place, but there’s no way they literally make clouds. What’s next, the ponies control the weather too? Well…they can move clouds around, so I wouldn’t be surprised at this point.”
“So is that something that the doctors or physical therapists do to help pegasi with nerve issues?” I asked.
“Wha- No! That kinda thing is usually way too personal. Most doctors wouldn’t do that, and most therapists usually try other things before getting that close with a patient.” Rainbow exclaimed, turning a little pink.
“So why did you do it?”
“I-I don’t know. I guess I just remembered it helping Storm, so I figured I’d try it on you.”
“So you didn’t know that it would work…”
“Well, if you put it that way…But it did, isn’t that what matters?” She said, flaring her wings and giving me a pointed expression with a twinge of awkwardness hidden behind the daggers she tried to throw at me with her eyes.
I gave my wings a tentative flap, feeling the wind catch under my wing and my body actually felt lighter as if I almost lifted off the ground. “I didn’t die, so I guess we’re good.” I said, shooting her a dirty grin.
Rainbow just rolled her eyes and scoffed in a playful manner, “Yeah, yeah, real funny. Now who’s the comedian? Just promise me you wont tell anypony what happened between us out here. Like I said, that kind of thing is supposed to be something ponies do in private. I don’t need Applejack making fun of me, or Rarity getting the wrong idea. Deal?”
“Only if you actually get my hooves off the ground.” I said, sticking out my tongue and giving her a sly wink.
“Uhh, duh? What else am I here for, dork?”
“No. Bucking. Way!” The only three words that could come to mind as Rainbow Dash pushed a cloud with me on it into the sky with her hooves. Magical unicorns and a mysterious pink earth pony have tempered my brain to accept many of the oddities I’d experienced in Equestria, but this, by far, was the most mind numbingly insane thing I’d yet to discover.
As she manually pushed the little white cotton ball I sat upon higher above the clouds, I could see what looked like an entire city floating lazily above as though suspended and constructed from the very clouds themselves. And best of all, a literal liquid rainbow waterfall flowed from what looked to be an aquifer, which fell in perfect bands of color into another reservoir that distributed the flowing chromatic river through several other fountains and fixtures before flowing off the sides of the floating city to dissolve into a sparkling shower of rainbow sparks that flitted in the wind as they fell across the landscape below.
Nothing on Earth, from the mighty Great Wall of China that could be seen from orbit, to the golden caps of the Taj Mahal, to even the Pyramids of Giza could hold a freaking candle to this glorious spectacle.
“And that’s your HOME?” I squeaked as I lost all of my marbles in a cataclysmic fan-gasm of epic proportions.
“It’s not that big a deal, Z. Every Pegasus comes by Cloudsdale at least once in their life, so it’s not like it’s something nopony’s ever seen before. In fact, Cloudsdale is what brings the seasons to places around Equestria. Didn’t you know that?”
I stared at the giant machine attached to the side of the city as it spat out a near continuous stream of clouds of various shapes and sizes, unable to process just how unbelievably mind-blowing it was. I opted not to answer Dash, as the city in the distance had my near undivided attention.
“Hey, if you’re done staring at Cloudsdale, we can start on your training.” She said, poking the side of my head with a hoof, to which I paid no attention until she dumped me off my personal Nimbus. The sudden feeling of falling snapped me out of my reverie in all the wrong ways as I could almost see the rocks at the bottom of the cliffs or ravine racing up to meet me. I shrieked as I fell for only a second before landing with a soft bounce onto a much larger cloud.
I looked around, realizing that I wasn’t in danger, and realizing that there were at least twenty or thirty sets of eyes staring at me with varying degrees of confusion, amusement, or annoyance. “Oh…oh boy, there must be a heat wave because my face feels like it’s gonna melt off.”
“But did you die?” Rainbow snickered at me as I gaped around, my face beet red. I growled at her as I got to my hooves and did my best to ignore her. I was surprised though, since Twilight and Dr. Horse said my body was recovering from some freak magical disturbance I had expected to still be unable to interact with clouds. I guess I had recovered enough by this point.
I tested the clouds underhoof, enjoying the soft, almost squishy texture that sank slightly at whatever weight I placed upon them before my hoof met resistance, preventing me from sinking further. My hooves were slightly warm, similar to how my leg felt when Dr. Horse used his magic to grab it while taking a blood sample. I figured that was an effect of magic, as my body was also pleasantly warm despite our current altitude.
“Where are we?” I asked. All around us were oddly shaped cloud formations that held their position as solidly as stone, but appeared to be as soft as pillows. Different shapes and sizes of ring-like clouds floated lazily in the air, along with moving cloud pillars, tunnels, and even a particularly lazy looking tornado. Many of the ponies here were very young, around Apple Bloom’s age, and were flying around the space like it was a giant obstacle course while other adults coached them. And every single one of the ponies here were pegasi.
“This is my old flight camp. Fluttershy and I both came here to learn how to use our wings. Well, I already knew how, ya know, being the best flyer in Equestria and all. I was even the first in my class to get her cutie mark. A lot of foals come here from Cloudsdale to learn, even the Wonderbolts visit from time to time to see all the new young flyers stretch their wings.”
I felt exceedingly self-conscious as I watched several foals zipping around the course with relative ease. Little pegasi, barely big enough to fit into a pocket, able to fly around with the grace of a sparrow, and big dumb me just learned to use her wings at thirty years old. If that didn’t feel like a kick in the pants, I didn’t know what would.
“Remember, you aren’t even a real pony though. You weren’t born here, so don’t beat yourself up about it.” I thought to myself, trying to convince myself that how I felt wasn’t being true to myself. “But why do I still feel like a garbage can as I watch these children do the one thing my body was designed for and fails to do?”
Rainbow saw me staring off and nudged me to get my attention. She had a worried expression across her face, something that I hadn’t expected to see. “H-hey, you ok? You were staring at that cloud like you were trying to set it on fire or something.”
“O-oh yeah. It’s nothing. Sorry, it’s just that we didn’t have something like this in Manehatten when I grew up.” I stammered, hoping that she’d take the excuse and move on.
“Yeah, I hear Manehattan's flight camp is nicer than Cloudsdale’s, but the coaches there are real jerks. But you have me, so no need to worry about some crummy coach, right?” She said, completely ignoring the fact I said we didn’t have one in Manehatten. She didn’t seem to even entertain the inconsistency though, instead moving on to more important matters.
Like throwing me off a cloud.
“Ready for your first flight lesson, kid?” She asked, with a sly grin across her muzzle that reeked of trouble.
“As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess. And why do you keep calling me ki- AAAAAAHHHHH”
And I was falling…again. My wings decided that the best course of action to help me fly was to clamp tightly around my barrel and lock in place.
“I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die!”
“Just open your wings!” Rainbow shouted over the rushing wind.
I reached out to grab a passing cloud, but the speed I had gathered in my free fall caused my hoof to powderize the poor fluffy bystander on impact, which only added to my horror.
“BUCK! Rainbow! Help!”
“Zinnia, seriously! Just open your wings!” She shouted more sternly this time.
“But I-OOF”
My terrified excuse was cut short by another, much thicker cloud that broke my fall. This cloud had a lot more spring to it, allowing me to slow down much more slowly and avoid injuring my limbs or crushing my liver against my abdominal wall from a sudden stop. I laid there, breathing in quick, raspy bursts as my mind reeled from my sudden introduction to the art of falling.
“Look, champ. I know you took on like, four timberwolves bare-hooved and on your own, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen another pegasus afraid of heights other than Fluttershy. And to her credit, she’s afraid of a stiff breeze.” Rainbow deadpanned as she looked down at me.
“Well I may or may not be a bit traumatized from falling into the Everfree, so how about you give me a bucking break?” I shot back angrily between gasps of air.
Rainbow rolled her eyes and held out a hoof to pick me up from my cotton crater. She chewed on her words for a moment before starting to say something, but was cut off by three stallions who had apparently watched the whole thing.
“Ha, hey look guys. It’s our old friend, Rainbow Crash!” A light brown stallion with three basketballs on his flank shouted out from the sideline as his two buddies chuckled.
“Ugh, stuff it, Hoops. Can’t you see we’re busy?” Rainbow bit back.
“Yeah, busy teaching freediving to another lame-o flyer, am I right?” One of the others, a dark brown stallion with a dumbbell cutie mark bellowed.
“Back off. Zinnia can’t help it. She had an accident like Stormwind did and she’s just learning to fly again. So how about you three go pound sand and let us be!” Rainbow seemed upset that those three were even there at all, let alone causing us grief. I figured she must have some history with them, especially since they even had a nickname for her.
“And miss out on Rainbow Crash and her cloudwalker friend flailing and failing?” Hoops said before taking on a thoughtful look. “You know what, you’re right. As much fun as it’d be to see you two at it, we’ve got better places to be. Like practicing for the upcoming competition. Hope you're ready to eat our cloudtrails, Crash.” The three stallions took to the air and flew away, laughing obnoxiously without giving Dash a chance to respond.
I could see Rainbow’s blood boiling as she watched them fly away. “Yeah! I hope you’re ready for a whole buffet! I’ll make you eat those words, both our cloudtrails, and a hoof-sandwich!” She shouted angrily, only to be met with the sound of laughter as they dipped behind a cloud bank.
“I’ll help.” I said emotionlessly as I watched them go. “If we were to beat them up, how far would be too far?”
“Not far enough.” Rainbow said, nearly spitting the words from her mouth. “Forget them. I’ll show them at the Young Flyer’s Competition. We have better things to do than worry about those three. C’mon Z, let’s try getting some wind under those wings again.” She said, picking me up in her own hooves and carrying me back to the top of the platform-cloud she had pushed me off of.
“Just promise you’ll tell me before knocking me off next time.” I said, trying to hide the anxiety I felt building up again.
“As your coach, I’ll take your request under consideration.” She said, amiably. I had honestly expected a more snarky answer from her at this point, and was almost disappointed.
Until she dropped me just at the top of the platform with the ledge just an inch away from reach.
Flying was so much harder than I thought it would be. Using the right amount of strength, making sure your wings were positioned and angled correctly to catch the wind, learning to bank into your turns so as not to run into things…or other ponies, which only happened twice while we were there…there were so many small things to figure out that were more than just, “flap.”
But Rainbow, through all her boasting, was right. She was a pretty excellent teacher where flying was concerned. She would watch me like a hawk as I’d fall, flail, and fight my way down to the soft clouds below and would tell me what I was doing wrong every time, giving me a different piece of advice or showing me what I needed to do before thrusting me off into the abyss again.
Eventually, after the tenth or so time of being unceremoniously sent into the aether, I got over my fear of falling and resigned myself to just taking the leap myself. Guess I responded pretty well to shock therapy. Doing so actually helped a great deal, as I could better control my angle of attack and experiment with how each way I leapt off the platform changed how I needed to move and react.
By the end of the day, I felt pretty confident in myself, even if I had only graduated from free falling to what I would have described as awkwardly floating like a leaf. I was able to glide on my own power, but gaining altitude or actually flying on my own was still a long way off. I could basically glide to safety, and lazily turn in wide circles before landing within a hundred feet or so of my target destination, which while even newborn pegasi could do that in their sleep, felt like a monumental achievement for me. Even Dash seemed somewhat impressed by my ability to glide for such a long period of time without tiring myself out.
“I know I’m fast, probably faster than anypony else in Equestria. But if I have one thing I’m not quite as strong at, it would be long distance flying. I tend to get pretty tired, pretty quickly. It takes a lot of strength and practice to be able to hang in the air like you do, especially for as long as you have today. Especially considering you couldn’t even fly at all yesterday. That alone makes what you’ve accomplished here pretty awesome!”
I couldn’t help but blush at Rainbow’s compliment. If I learned one thing about her that day, it was that she doesn’t give out compliments like that to just anypony. She was so confident in my ability to fly that she suggested that we try gliding the whole way back to Sweet Apple Acres. I wasn’t too sure about it, seeing as there was nothing but solid, uncaring earth underneath us the entire way. But she assured me that she would catch me if I managed to fall, which she also assured me wouldn’t happen as I had barely broken a sweat today from all my “flying” practice.
As I glided through the air, enjoying the wind as it tossed my hair about, my mind wandered back to Earth again. I remembered my last full day there, and how that morning I had watched an eagle gliding through the mountains, catching thermal vents as it slowly circled around. I remembered asking myself how it must have felt, to be able to see everything from its point of view on high. I looked below me, as ponies of all kinds milled about the town in the evening sun finishing up their chores and jobs for the day to begin an evening of relaxation before starting all over again tomorrow.
“So this is what it feels like…” I muttered as I watched three familiar fillies prancing around town with a bouquet of flowers in tow.
“What’s that, Z?” Rainbow asked as she flew beside me, actually using her wings instead of allowing the wind to do most of the work for her. I could see why she felt like she didn’t have the endurance, those wings never stopped moving.
“Nothing, just…remembering something from a past life.” I said now watching a familiar purple pony walking with another familiar white one far below me.
“Manehatten?” Rainbow asked, curious as to what I was thinking about.
“No, I’d honestly rather forget the city. I had moved there, thinking that’s where I’d find a career for myself. Instead of finding out who I was and what I was supposed to be, I found that what I wanted most was to be home with my few friends and family. That’s why I started hiking, to get away from the city and reconnect to my roots.”
“You sound an awful lot like an earth pony, Z. No wonder you and AJ get along so well.” She said with a laugh.
“Oh? Did she say that?” I asked, shooting Rainbow a quizzical look.
“Yeah, I try to stop by the farm once a day to see if they need the weather team to schedule anything specific. She only has good things to say about you though, and I can see why. You’re pretty cool in my book.”
“Thanks. Though sometimes I feel…out of place.”
“Yeah, I get that. You miss your home. I feel like that from time to time too.” She looked down to see her friends chatting far below us as well, which caused her to smile. Rarity looked up towards the sky and spotted us, which prompted her to nearly knock Twilight over in excitement as she got her to look up at us. Rainbow and I waved back at the two of them, Rarity waving happily back at us, but Twilight seemed…off? She waved back, but slowly and paying much more attention to me as I glided past, a strange, thoughtful look across her face.
“But when I get sad, and think of home, and my parents, I also remember my friends here in Ponyville. Rarity and Twilight, AJ and Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Spike, and you, and suddenly I don’t feel so lonely anymore.” She said, returning her eyes to me before turning red. “But if you tell them I said something that sappy, I’ll throw you off a cliff on our next training session.”
“Hey, you helped me get my hooves off the ground. A deals a deal, remember?”
Her smile returned and we both turned to see our destination coming into view. “So, have you thought about staying?”
“At Sweet Apple Acres? I mean, I kind of already-”
“No, in Ponyville?” She said, cutting me off. “Have you thought about staying here instead of heading back to Manehatten?”
To be honest, I hadn’t intended to move anywhere. Not like I even knew where to go anyway. Manehatten was just a cover, so it’s not like I had any real ties there to return to. I didn’t have any family to go home to either. I was alone in this world, and I guess I was just using AJ’s hospitality as an excuse to not have to come to terms with that idea.
I watched the farm as we approached it, quickly becoming larger as we neared. It had kind of become my home since I arrived, and although I tried not to call it that, I found myself always eager to return at the end of the day. The Apples had almost become my family, in a sense, and I couldn’t imagine leaving them, even if I’d only known them for a little under a month. Apple Bloom would be devastated…
I turned back to Rainbow, who was watching me closely and waiting for a reply. “I hadn’t really thought about it, to be honest. I would like to go home and visit my family again sometime, but I’m not really sure I can do that anymore.” Rainbow seemed disappointed, but I continued, “However, I can say that since I came here, since I’ve met all of you, that I have no better friends in all of Equestria; And that leaving you all to go back to the city would be like condemning myself to Tartarus.”
Dash perked up and her eyes sparkled as I finished. “So you’ll stay?”
“I guess I will. Unless you all decide to chase me out.” I said, half joking. Something inside me took my joke a little too seriously though, as I felt a stab in my gut as I thought about what I’d said.
“This. Is. Awesome! I’ll finally have a flying buddy! Even if you aren’t as fast as I am, you’re still pretty awesome in your own right! You didn’t even have to flap once the whole way here! I’m sure that by this time next year, you could take part in the Best Young Flyer’s Competition too! We could even go on to be Wonderbolts together! Wouldn’t that be crazy cool?”
“Yeah, crazy cool.” And just like that, all my enthusiasm drained. I had once again chosen to entrench myself further into “Zinnia” than “Seth” and in the process of choosing, felt even further from both. What if they discover who I really am…I don’t think Rainbow would ever forgive me for getting her hopes up like that, just to have them torn down.
“Hey, Z? You feeling ok? You look really tired all of a sudden.” Dash asked me, a worried expression on her face that didn’t suit her well at all.
“Y-yeah. I guess today took a lot more out of me than I thought.” I said as we came to a landing in a nearby field less than one hundred feet from the farm house. “I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me, Dash. Seriously, you’re the best.”
She scoffed playfully, “Duh, of course I am,” She puffed her chest out and proudly displayed her wings before softening up, “But it means a lot more coming from a friend like you, Z. Thanks.” She held a hoof out, which I returned with a hoof-bump. Dash smiled, brimming with a new level of confidence as she took back to the air. “Anyway, I gotta head home too. Need to get some shut-eye for tomorrow and that big storm we have planned. Catch you later!”
“Fly safe!” I called out to her as she left.
“Yeah, right! As if! Watch this!” She shouted as she flipped over on her back to roll her eyes at me while flying backwards.
“Famous last words, Dash…”
She spun back around, and in a near instant went from a being Rainbow Dash to a rainbow colored smear across the sky as she dashed back in the direction of the town, causing a boom to echo across the valley as she went.
“Holy hay bales, she's fast.”
“You can say that again, Sugarcube.” AJ said as she made her way over to me from the barn, cracking her neck as she trotted over. “Howdy! How’d yer day with Dash go?”
“She really is an amazing pony,” I said as we both turned to head inside, “All of you are.”
“All of us, you mean.” She corrected me with a nod. “I saw you glidin’ in with Dash. How somepony goes from not even knowin’ she has wings, to usin’ em’ in a week is beyond me. But you managed it, and you should take pride in it. How’s it feel to be one step closer to bein’ back to normal again?”
“...honestly, strange…” I didn’t really know how to respond to that. We trotted in silence the rest of the way to the house before AJ spoke up again.
“Well, I can see you’re plum well tuckered out. How about you just head on inside and get cleaned up before dinner. We’re havin’ spaghetti squash, fresh apple cider, and an apple cheesecake for dessert. Hope yer hungry, Granny Smith made extra.” She said before heading off towards the kitchen to set the table.
After my shower and dinner, I sat in my room and watched the moon rise above the horizon, wondering at the stars as they danced across the sky in a brilliant array of twinkling light, outlining Cloudsdale in the far distance, still churning out an ever growing bank of fluff for tomorrow’s storm. I tried to guess at some constellations, but all of the ones I had known on Earth were obviously missing from the beautiful array here in Equestria. The nights here were devastatingly gorgeous, but even the stars here were unfamiliar.
I sighed and threw myself under my blankets, making sure to keep my wings tucked in now that I was aware of them, to avoid laying on them in an uncomfortable way and sighed. My mind, now free from work, friends, and tasks, was free to wander and torment me with the ever growing fugue state that was slowly trying to consume me. My mind rested heavily on AJ’s words before dinner, “How’s it feel to be one step closer to bein’ back to normal again?”
“It feels like jumping into another ravine.”
Hello, Everyone! I hope this finds you well!
Finally, Rainbow Dash starts having her fun with Zinnia. I've really been looking forward to this chapters release for almost a month now, so I'm both excited and nervous to hear back from everyone. I hope I did the characters here justice. 
As always, feel free to comment or criticize, and until next week's release, we bid thee adieu. 
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And let me guess: the harder you try to hold on, the harder it gets to hold on? I kind of know that feeling.
This is amazing, I like it. I'm glad Z is doing well on her flying lessons with Rainbow Dash.
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"Get ready, though, 'cuz... It's never as sweet as the first time."
-Smiling Jack; Va,pire the Masquerade: Bloodlines.
I haven't used this one for a while!
It'll get worse the lomger you keep putting it off.
I already missed reading something new about this story!, I like to see that Zinnia is learning to "fly again", too bad that it looks a bit overshadowed by the conflict that overwhelm her mind
, I wonder how the mane six will react when they discover that zinnia is actually a human in the body of a pony, good chapter greetings and until next time 
will there be chapters in which zinnia will spend time with only one of the mane six?
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Most Likely, though I haven't written them yet. Zinnia has already spent some alone time with a couple of the mane 6, just accompanied by background characters. I'm trying to let other characters have some play time as well, since there are quite a few stories that sometimes forget their main character in favor of the core group so I want to avoid that if I can.
Not saying there won't be plenty of interaction with the crew.
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great, I hope you get what you're trying to achieve
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Just something that's fun and entertaining to read.
She knows.
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I just re-read this one. Was Z de-aged by the transformation too, or are you using the "ponies have longer lifespans so a human's equivalent age is younger than they think" thing? Because Seth was stated as being in his 30s, but Z is being treated as being roughly the same age as the Mane 6, who are supposed to be young adults, (Like, early 20's at the oldest, it's called Best Young Flyers for a reason) but also nopony batted an eye at the timeline she gave for her life history back in the hospital.
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Goal Achieved.
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Thank you so much! I'm glad you're enjoying it so far! 
Mmmhh, love the identity dysmorphia themes. It's still kind of a hit-and-miss in some places, but it's an incredibly difficult subject to portray anyways, so all in all I'd say it's good.
Ahh yes, the good old 1:1 mix of Potassium Nitrate/Chlorate and Sugar, slowly crush until soft, and then voila.
Very very frightening me.