Thirty Minute Express Train to Story Town

by Predhack

Free Climbing

Why don’t I ever ask for help with my tricks? Huh, wow, that’s a doozy. I’m sure if I wanted to I could have gone to some fancy flight school or found a totally awesome flight instructor to give me tips, but I didn’t really want the help. I guess if I had to think of a reason it’d be because of something Fluttershy did once.

Back when we were just out of flight school Fluttershy and I used to meet to help work on her flying. Though now that I think about it the flying practice usually just turned into me trying to do a sonic rainboom again. Sorry Shy.

Anyway, we’d meet out by this hill that was perfect for posing coolly and taking off from. The hill was kinda shaped like a wedge on its side so there was a big cliff on one side that you could use to extend the dive without flying up as high from where you took off. It was a pretty short walk back of a side trail to get to the top but it was good for resting your wings on the back up. Y’know, if you weren’t awesome like me and had to rest between flights when you were a filly.

So this one day on my way there to meet Fluttershy I was runnin’ late, I was feeling kinda down cuz I must’ve tried to do a rainboom like a million times and hadn’t gotten close. But when I got there I saw Fluttershy was climbing up the cliff face. That was weird cuz Fluttershy wasn’t a great flier but she could at least fly to the top of the cliff if she really wanted to. So I flew over to the cliff and asked her what she was doing, but she was breathing really hard and had to focus on what she was doing so I just watched her.

It took her like an hour but she eventually got like halfway up the cliff and stopped next to this one branch that grew out of the cliff face. It must’ve been a couple hundred feet above the ground cuz it was smack dab in the middle and the cliff really was like a thousand feet high. She got to the branch and she’s up there shivering and clearly really scared cuz y’know Fluttershy HATES heights. I mean hates them. She doesn’t even like flying up to my house most days. Then she reaches under her wing with one hoof and drops this little pink baby bird into her hooves and she puts it in this nest I’d never noticed before with a couple other babies.

Huh? She said she found it at the base of the cliff. The cliff wasn’t sheer a baby bird falling out of its nest could probably roll or fall down it without getting hurt. I dunno they’re little and Fluttershy said it was fine.

Anyway, she puts this little baby bird into the nest and then glides down to the bottom with me, and I asked her why she didn’t just hand the bird to me when I got there. And she turned to me and said, “Because I want to help animals. I know you could fly up there and do it really easily but I knew I could do it too. And if I let somepony else do the hard parts of the job I started then I wouldn’t deserve the praise I’d get for getting it done. I mean, I’d ask for help if I needed it but if I can do something myself I’d rather do it myself, because it’s my job and nopony else’s.”

I dunno if I’m remembering it right but yeah. That’s why I’ve never asked for help with my flying. I’m Equestria’s number one flier and I got this way because I knew I could do it and I wanted to prove that the position was mine and nopony elses. I guess.

I really should thank Fluttershy. Without her I’d probably have given up and become another stunt pony that needs a huge support group to be their best. All the Dash will ever need from her friends is a cheering section.

Author's Note:

The Prompt: A childhood memory from one of the Mane Six that they never want to forget

I remember this one was hard to get cuz with only thirty minutes to write I knew there was no way I'd get the words to come out right to express the thought I had. I think it worked out.

Others using this prompt, here.