1 - The Champions of Equestria

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It was the last lap of the Sky Race, and the pegasi were going to face the Knockscrew again, right after the long straightaway. Many rookies lose lift from their wings trying to clear that turn after coming too fast from the straight. When that happens, they would hit the protective nimbostratus so hard that they would knock themselves out, leaving them unconscious for several hours; hence the name of that turn.

But this wouldn't be a problem for Rainbow Dash.

In front of her, Thunderlane was frantically flapping his wings, unfolding them at every turn in order to take full advantage of the air friction.

The two favorites of the race were flying a few feet away from each other, sometimes so close that it seemed they almost were touching. Since the other flyers were several laps behind them, the entire attention of the Cloudsdale spectators was completely centered on the two pegasi coming down the home stretch.

Rainbow had trouble seeing her opponent ahead of her: her goggles had flown off a few laps before and the wind seared her eyes, almost as if the air was burning. When she stretched her forelegs, trying to accelerate, she felt a sharp pain in her wing muscles, causing her face to twist in agony.

It’s over! thought Thunderlane with a smug smile, looking at Rainbow behind him.

Their speeds increased dramatically, as the Knockscrew drew closer. Dash had to close her sore eyes, unable to further withstand the constant winds lashing at her face.

It was in that moment that she felt a fire burning in her chest, which rose all the way to her mind.

Don’t give up! she told herself.

Rainbow squinted, trying to maintain sight of the track while pushing her body beyond its limits. The air constantly grew keener, creating a deafening roar in her ears, while the clouds began to pass by her as quick as lightning. Everything became a blur.

In the midst of the chaos, she focused on a dark spot oscillating wildly in front of her: it was Thunderlane, getting closer and closer. She couldn’t clearly recognize him, but it seemed that he was getting nervous; perhaps he could almost feel Rainbow’s breath down his neck, which was exactly what she wanted.
Another thirty feet and they would come to the notorious final turn.

Both of them zipped forward at breakneck speeds while the spectators followed their every move, afraid that the contestants would knock each other off the track while attempting to take first prize.

The rainbow-haired pegasus felt adrenaline coursing through her body.

Dash lived for moments like these: the risk, the speed, the sensation of facing fears to overcome her limits and, last but not least, victory and the attention of everypony focused on her.

Fueled by that incredible rush, Rainbow inched closer to her rival ahead until she finally got into his wake; she felt the drag fading away, followed by a sudden thrust, as if she had been shot from a cannon.

Dash bolted forward above Thunderlane, catching him off guard. He watched her from below, unable to distinguish between the pegasus and the blue sky, if not for her rainbow tail.

In that moment the blue pony fully spread out her wings, causing a twinge of pain throughout her body. Her opponent, more stunned than ever, saw Dash suddenly pull back, unaware that he had already reached the end of the straightaway.

By the time he brought his attention back to the race, it was already too late. He tried to slow down and maneuver back to the track, but his wings failed him and the black pegasus crashed loudly against the vaporous nimbostratus cloudwall.
Clouds, though soft, can be quite painful at the right speeds.

“Booya!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

With only a clear track between her and the finish line, she reopened her wings and tilted to the side in order to complete the Knockscrew. The turn pushed Rainbow Dash to her limit. Her wings trembled under the growing strain of the centrifugal force, threatening to crumple under the weight of this mighty law of physics.

“Don’t. Fail. Me. Now!” growled the pegasus between clenched teeth.

With her last ounce of strength she completed the turn, gliding rapidly towards the finish line below her.

Rainbow Dash zoomed across the line and the crowd let out a deafening cheer.

*** ***** ***

The attention of everypony was focused on Rainbow, even as the other pegasi finished the race.

She stood there, panting, with battered wings; her face showed clear signs of fatigue, but was nevertheless framed with the kind of smile that comes from a hard fought victory. When the last contestant finally crossed the finish line, the announcer signaled the end of the competition, calling out the names of the top three winners.
Even if that race wasn’t of any particular importance, for Rainbow Dash it still represented a well-earned victory: one that she wouldn’t have given up for anything in the world.

There was a quick awards ceremony, after which some pegasi among the spectators made their way to the star of the race, crowding around her. Dash took on an air of indifference despite the flood of compliments and praise.

Risk, speed, overcoming my limits... All of these are great, but there’s nothing quite like victory and being the center of attention, she repeated in her mind while smiling back at her fans with a total lack of modesty.

“Hey! What are you doing back there?” yelled Rainbow after spotting a pink tuft at the far edge of the crowd. “Same old Fluttershy. Come here!”

The other pegasi stepped aside, revealing Fluttershy partially hidden behind a small chunk of cloud.

“Oh… well… I...” she whispered.

“I can’t heeear you!” teased the blue pegasus, putting a hoof behind her ear.

Fluttershy smiled and timidly added, “…great job, Rainbow Dash!”

Rainbow returned the smile and then brought her attention back towards the fans to soak in the praise.

After celebrating for a bit, fatigue had started to heavily weigh down on the victor, so Dash decided to head out (making sure to get the last bits of praise from her fans of course) to enjoy a well-earned nap under the sunset.

“Only the best pictures on tomorrow’s newspapers!” she told the reporters before leaving.

*** ***** ***

Equestria’s horizon was filled with the reddish glow of the sun, steadily making room for the night. There were a few clouds up in the sky and, on one of them, Rainbow enjoyed a well-earned rest.

Lying on her back, hooves behind her head and directly facing the sunset, she could feel the warmth of the last rays of the evening sun. There was a deep calm all round but Rainbow's ears were ringing and her mind was still focused on the events of the day.

For several moments she relived the emotions that were evoked as her mind was brought back to the race: the wind, the clouds darting past her, dueling Thunderlane during the final stretch, reaching the finish line... and then the crowd, the compliments, and that incredible sensation of importance in the midst of her fans.

No doubt about it! Today I literally flew like the best of the best, she thought with satisfaction.

A feeble sound, barely audible despite the calm, made Rainbow suddenly turn around.

A few feet in front of her there was a pegasus that she had never seen in Cloudsdale: pale gray, slightly in his teens, with thick purple hair that was fairly long and a bit messy, holding a pencil and a piece of paper in his mouth. There was something strange about that pony but, at first glance, Dash couldn’t quite figure out what it was.

A little bit further behind, a middle-aged pegasus was watching him with a slightly melancholic expression on her face.

Probably his mom, thought Rainbow Dash, who in that moment would have wanted anything except for another fan looking for yet another autograph.

“Well, nopony said the life of a superstar was easy,” she sighed, rolling her eyes towards the sky.

She turned back to the gray pegasus and yelled, “So, who do we got here?”

The young pony put his paper and pencil in a bag that he kept at his side.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Rainbow Dash,” he said calmly, with a neutral expression on his face.

“Yeah, I know… everypony says that,” she replied with an air of superiority.

“I know that you train hard, and today you showed me that, with persistence, you can achieve great things.”

“Oh, were you at the race? Sorry if I don’t remember... it’s just that in middle of the crowd there were so many pegasi that I probably didn’t see you,” replied Rainbow, hiding a bit of embarrassment.

“I wasn’t at the race.”

“You… weren’t?”

“No,” continued the pegasus. “I observed you from up there,” he said, slowly raising his head towards a distant, isolated cluster of clouds. “It’s there where I live and observe you during your training and while you race.”

Rainbow felt slightly shocked.

“Oh wait, don’t get me wrong,” he stated with a hint of a smile. “I’m not a stalker. It’s just so hard for me to get around, and crowds can be very dangerous due to my physique.”

It was then that Rainbow clearly understood that strange feeling she had noticed when she first saw him.

Taking a closer look at the pony, she realized that he was really thin and had an unusual posture: fairly slim but his limbs weren’t quite correctly aligned. What had also seemed to be a simple pack belt actually doubled as a strap that kept his wings tightly pressed against his body. With that strange, thin body, his thick purple mane made him look even more frail.

“I’m a unique pegasus you know,” he said with a firm, almost prideful tone. “I’m the one and only pegasus in all of Cloudsdale who cannot fly.”

Rainbow’s eyes opened wide in surprise and she stared at him, completely dumbfounded. She didn’t know what to say.

All that came out was an unsure, “Oh... well...”

The mophead pony’s voice radically changed pitch, as if he wanted to quickly change the subject.

“Well yeah, it’s a weird disease, but that’s not the point.” His head slowly turned back towards the bag and he pulled out the paper and pencil from before. Holding them tightly with his teeth, he spoke as if he were chewing his writing utensils. “I don’t want your autograph to hang as a trophy in my room, like all of those stupid fans who are always crowding around you.”

With hesitation, Rainbow took what the pegasus handed her and listened to what he had to say.

“I would like you to write something to remind me that the real champions of Equestria are those who struggle to reach their goals.” His tone became more resolute as he continued. “And you, Rainbow Dash, are one of those champions.”

The rainbow pony glanced down at the paper. It was a printed photo of her crossing the finish line at the race from earlier that afternoon.

“Icarus,” said the frail pony.

“Huh?”

“My name is Icarus!” he repeated impatiently.

“Oh, right!” she quickly replied. She took the pencil between her teeth and began writing on the photo but, for some strange reason, she was so nervous that she just wrote the first thing that came to mind.

“Funny, isn’t it?” he continued. “Icarus, like the mythological pony who lost his wings from flying too close to the sun. But unlike him, I’ll never run the risk of falling to my doom, simply because I can’t fly,” he said, smiling weakly.

Rainbow remained silent as she finished up her work and handed it back.

Icarus thoroughly read over what she wrote and, once finished, added with a touch of disappointment and arrogance, “Yeah… I was expecting something more original, but I guess you’re tired from the race, so I guess this will have to do.”

Dash’s initial surprise was partially replaced with a small dose of irritation and there was silence between both of them for a moment.

“It is time to go, Icarus,” said his mother.

“I’m coming!” yelled Icarus. “I have to go now. Thanks, Rainbow,” he concluded, while putting his stuff in his backpack. He turned and, with a bit of uncertainty in his steps, limped away from her.

Dash was going to ask him how he had made it to her cloud and how he was going to leave, but then she saw him climbing carefully onto a cirrus cloud next to his mom: the most soft and delicate cloud to be found in the skies, up where the oxygen starts to thin out. Only extremely particular circumstances, such as the use of magic, were able to preserve the consistency of the cloud at lower altitudes.

“Thank you, Rainbow Dash,” said his mother loudly, right before flying away, gently pushing the cloud on which Icarus was sitting.

“It was no big deal,” replied Dash quickly, still recovering from the awkward feeling that she had felt during the entire meeting with Icarus.

She stood there for a while, watching them flying away towards the cluster of clouds that Icarus had shown her. That encounter had left her puzzled and, deep down, she could feel a strange sense of discomfort within.

“Oh, there you are Rainbow,” said Fluttershy, flying behind her.

“Uh… what?”

“Everyone is waiting for you at Pinkie’s to celebrate your victory!”

“Yeah… yeah, sure! The party!” replied Rainbow, masking her discomfort with a veil of false enthusiasm. “Let’s roll!” she exclaimed, diving from her cloud towards Ponyville.

During her headlong descent, with the wind flowing through her mane, she turned her head back one last time towards Icarus’ home. She couldn’t see it anymore: it was too far away and too dark for her to spot in Equestria’s star-filled sky.

*** ***** ***

It didn’t take long for the party to get crazy: first, it was organized by Pinkie Pie, so it was pretty much impossible to keep tame. Second, every friend of Rainbow was there to celebrate her victory. Needless to say, there were compliments, music, and plenty of cider.

“Trust me, Rainbow,” said Rarity while gesticulating with one of her hooves in the air, “your performance was absolutely breathtaking, incredible, marvelous, even when viewed from the ground!”

“Thanks…” replied Dash, with a slightly forced smile.

“Listen here, partner,” continued Applejack. “If it was up to me, I’d have you pulling my plow! I’m sure you could till all them fields in less than a day!”

“Thanks, you’re too kind…”

Twilight was seated at a table nearby with three emptied mugs of cider sitting in front of her. The feeling of inner peace that she felt was apparent by the expression etched onto her face.

“Seriously,” exclaimed the slightly out-of-it unicorn, “the way you knocked out that pegasus... that, whatshisname? Tunder... Thuderlame... was just fantastic!”

Spike pulled Twilight’s tail to get her attention.

“Uh... Twilight, you didn’t drink all those mugs by yourself, right?”

Noticing the situation, Applejack explained with an embarrassed smile, “Ah-hem, well… I had some spare barrels from a special stock to get rid of… That cider might be a little bit… stronger than usual.”

Twilight smiled back, wobbled a bit away from the table, opened up a scroll, and put a blotch of ink next to a line that read: “Analyze the effects of cider at a party: check.”

Even though she was having a good time, Rainbow wasn’t able to ignore the sensation that still lingered from the meeting with Icarus. She went over to a window to look at the starry sky, feeling a strange weight pressing down on her heart.

“Is there something wrong?” asked Fluttershy gently.

“No, everything’s just fine. It’s a party dedicated to my win at the race today, what could possibly be wrong?” Then she quickly turned around and said, “Why do you ask?”

“It’s just that all evening you have seemed kind of... out of it... as if you were worried about something,” replied her friend, lowering her gaze.

“It’s just that… you know, I’m just tired. That race was really exhausting,” said Rainbow, while trying to put on her best poker face.

After a short pause, Fluttershy replied, “I understand,” not convinced at all.

“Really, I’m fine. I’m just tired,” she concluded.

Pinkie Pie hopped excitedly towards Rainbow and extended her a mug of cider.
“Of course you’re tired! You flew like a lightning bolt! Like... like a super lightning bolt! No, no wait! You flew like a thousand lightning bolts who race to see which bolt is the boltiest!”

The pegasus smiled and took a sip of cider.

“Meh, it doesn’t seem that strong to me, Applejack...” she remarked, with an air of indifference.

*** ***** ***

It was in the dead of night when Rainbow went back to her home in the clouds. While attempting to land, she struggled to fly in a straight line and ended up crashing disastrously on the floor.

“My head...” she mumbled, bringing a hoof to her temples. “Dang cider…”

She staggered a few feet through the dark cloudy corridors of her home, before collapsing on her bed, completely exhausted. She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath.

After a couple of minutes, her thoughts returned to Icarus and she asked herself why she felt so uneasy after meeting with him. She turned, lying on her back, and stared at the ceiling as her eyelids began to close.

Moments passed, in which the blue pegasus was assailed by thousands of thoughts.
In the end she lazily covered her face with a hoof.

Sure... I don’t know exactly what kind of disease that pegasus has, but... who knows what it must be like to be a pegasus with wings and not able to fly.

She rolled around nervously in her cloud bed.

Flying is my life... every pegasus loves to fly. What must it be like to spend your entire existence among the clouds with those who can fly around with ease… while you are forced to travel with a belt strapped to your wings? Watching races from hundreds of yards away...

She stopped moving for a bit and felt that strong sense of discomfort again.

Is it possible that… I feel guilty for Icarus? Flight and athleticism have always been my strengths… I’ve always wanted to be the best of the best, while that pegasus can’t do anything but watch everypony else fly around. My problems, my races, that time when my wing got sprained or even that time when I got upset because I didn’t even finish in third place. I mean… all of my problems sound ridiculous compared to what Icarus has to face. Like when Mare Do Well stopped me dead in my tracks: I only thought of making myself look good, losing sight of what was most important... but a pony’s gotta learn, right?

There was a long pause, during which her train of thought traveled to this conclusion.

I feel so... stupid. I don’t get it. It’s as if everything important to me that I’ve lived my life for became totally worthless after meeting Icarus. If, for example, I wasn’t able to fly anymore...” But she banished that thought, terrified and incapable of imagining what that would be like.

Her focus on Icarus lasted for just a little while longer. Tiredness quickly took over, throwing Rainbow into an odd slumber filled with various images and feelings.

She would remember none of those dreams, but she would definitely be restless that night.

*** ***** ***

She woke up late in the morning and was blinded by an annoying sunray. Her head felt heavy and she noticed bags under her eyes as she quickly checked her reflection in a puddle that she used as a mirror.

“Special stock, huh?” she mumbled sarcastically.

She went outside to stretch her muscles and a gentle breeze passed by, which helped her wake up a bit. While taking in the view of the clear horizon, her eyes unconsciously fell on a tiny white spot in the sky: Icarus’ solitary home.

It’s really cut off from the rest of the world, she thought. She sat down and tried to manage the torrent of emotions she felt, having little success.

“Why in the wild world of Equestria am I still thinking about him? He just wanted an autograph, plain and simple. And if he can’t fly, what can I do about it?” she asked herself, more confused than ever.

“Sure... I must have seemed a bit insensitive, but I didn’t know what to say... Nothing like that has ever happened before. Maybe I should see him one more time... talk to him... I dunno.”

She spent several minutes fighting against her thoughts, unable to reach a conclusion.

“Screw it! I’ve never been good at these kind of things, but it doesn’t cost anything to see him! I’m sure he’ll enjoy the visit.”

And she took off, flying towards his home.

*** ***** ***

She normally wouldn’t have had any problem reaching her destination but Icarus’ home was hundreds of feet above most of the houses in the sky, not to mention the hangover she was suffering from last night.

After several minutes she finally reached the small cloudy expanse where Icarus’ house was located.

The mansion was made with clouds that were much more vaporous than your average cloud. They were probably able to maintain that state due to the high altitude. All around the house there were cirrus clouds floating in the sky, whitish wisps of smoke, more or less like what Icarus was riding on when they had met.

The building had several balconies, upon which there were some rather quaint objects: canvases, shelves filled with books, some strange silver plants and, last but not least, a huge shiny telescope mounted on a tripod.

Only enchanted objects could stay on these clouds without falling through them, thought Rainbow.

She warily approached the entrance: a large door, carved and adorned with metal vines, occupied most of the main façade. Everything around her was quiet, with the exception of high altitude winds blowing about sporadically.
Dash felt a bit uneasy in front of the impressive display, as if it were impossible to gain entrance to the home.
She summed up her courage and, with a bit of reluctance, she knocked several times on the door with her hoof.

After several minutes had passed, Rainbow knocked once again, thinking nopony was home; she was about to leave when the door slowly opened, revealing the figure of Icarus’ mother.

“Rainbow Dash?!” she asked astonished.

“Uh... yeah, it’s me,” she mumbled.

The mother appeared slightly worried due to the pegasus’ visit and after a brief pause added, “What… what brings you here?”

Dash was looking for something that would make sense to say, but even she herself didn’t know why she was there.

“Well... I’m not here for any specific reason. It’s just that... since I met Icarus, I’ve had this strange feeling... and honestly, I don’t even know why.” Her words came out almost like a confession; the other mare listened carefully and stared down at the ground. “I know it probably sounds stupid but... when I met Icarus... it’s like a part of my life has been called into question. Until yesterday, it never occurred to me... that there could be a pegasus pony with this kind of medical condition. It caught me off-guard, and I feel like I was insensitive to his circumstances.”

“Ah no,” interrupted Icarus’ mother. “Icarus admires you so much.”

“Yeah, I know… but when we met I just spouted out gibberish. I don’t think I made a good impression on him.”

“Don’t you worry, Icarus is used to the surprised reactions that he gets. He doesn’t even take notice anymore, really. In fact, he says that it makes him feel... unique,” replied the mother, with a touch of sadness on her face.

Dash sighed heavily and asked, “Speaking of which... what is going on with this condition that he has?”

“It’s really... strange,” explained the mother. “It showed up when he was about two years old... otherwise we wouldn’t have given him the name Icarus. It almost seems like a cruel joke...” she sighed bitterly. “Anyway, my name is Sunshine,” she added, after a short pause.

“Oh, my bad. You see? I didn’t even ask what your name was. You can imagine what a great conversationalist I am,” said Rainbow, feeling a little bit embarrassed.

“Don’t worry about it,” she replied with a smile. “As far as Icarus’ disease goes... I don’t want to get into too much detail, you only need to know that his disease surprised every single physician in Equestria.”

“Does it make it so that he can’t fly?”

“It’s one of the side-effects,” Sunshine continued. “It’s actually much more complicated than that. Basically his bones are extremely fragile. This is why he has to live at this altitude, so that we can make use of the skies’ softest clouds which help to make sure that he is safe and doesn’t hurt himself.”

“Is it really that bad?” she asked, showing visible signs of discomfort.

“I would be lying if I said no… As you might have noticed, because of this disease his body did not develop properly. If he were to ever spread his wings mid-air... they would snap like twigs beneath a hoof. Even walking on solid ground instead of the clouds could cause problems.”

For a split second Dash’s heart stopped.

Sunshine smiled and continued explaining.

“We try as hard as we can to make him comfortable. His father works far away from Ponyville, earning just enough money so that he can live a full life.” She then looked up to the balconies. “This whole building is enchanted: the work of dozens of unicorns whose expertise lies in the art of matter manipulation. The cirrus clouds are also enchanted, along with almost everything else around here. Those silver plants are supposed to… catalyze the magic, or whatever those unicorns said; I am not knowledgeable in such matters.”

“That makes two of us,” replied Dash, with a weak laugh.

“It’s not that bad up here: he can watch everything around him with his powerful telescope. He also reads a lot and is getting into painting. Sure,” she added sadly, “it’s not the average pegasus life…”

“Is he home right now?” asked Rainbow.

Sunshine looked down, moved closer towards Dash, and gently closed the door behind her.

“Yes he is,” she replied under her breath. “However I should warn you, Rainbow Dash: Icarus is a very peculiar pegasus. I’m not solely talking about his physique; since he was just a little colt, he has always had to live far away from other pegasi. Those few times he has been in contact with them, they hurt his feelings, and when his condition worsened he had no choice left but to live here, isolated amongst the clouds.”

“I see… but…”

“Please let me finish,” interrupted Sunshine. “What I am trying to explain to you is that you might not like Icarus. He has had to adjust to living a solitary life with constant physical pain and without anypony being able to give him even a sliver of hope for the future. He thinks in a way that nopony in Equestria could possibly understand. He doesn’t follow the same social norms that you and I are used to.”

“So... basically you are saying that he’s a little tough to deal with, right?” asked Dash, a little bit confused.

“I’m telling you that, usually, we are used to making friends with those who we like and who we enjoy spending time with. If you think that is what friendship is all about... then Icarus is going to give you a hard time,” she concluded abruptly.

At first, Rainbow thought that Sunshine was exaggerating but, looking into her eyes, she understood that she was quite serious.

“Would you prefer that I didn’t meet with him?” she asked reluctantly.

“I’m not sure,” the mother answered uneasily. “Meetings with Icarus rarely end well. Yesterday he only wanted an autograph; today, it would be different.”

There was a long pause in which Sunshine seemed troubled by a torrent of conflicting emotions.

“All right Rainbow,” she finally said. “If you would like to talk to Icarus, go ahead.”

Dash smiled. “Yeah, I just want to talk to him real quick. Honestly I don’t even know what I’ll say. I feel like I just need to talk to him, that’s all.”

“I’m pleased to hear that. Come in. You will find him upstairs. But remember what I told you,” she replied, inviting Dash inside. “Icarus isn’t like any other pony you’ve met before.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” remarked Rainbow while entering the house, showing a bit more confidence than before.

*** ***** ***

The inside was not so different from the average Cloudsdale house, except for the walls, which were less bright and defined because of the clouds used. In front of her, Dash saw a staircase leading up. She slowly walked upstairs, looking around curiously.

Reaching the top of the staircase, she found herself in a hallway with plenty of doors, of which only one was closed.
She peeked in the rooms, to see if anypony was around, but she guessed that Icarus was in the only room where the door was shut. She approached the door and took a deep breath.

“Come in,” said Icarus, having anticipated her arrival for a while.

Rainbow gently opened the door and stuck her head into the room.

Icarus sat facing a canvas on which he had already started painting. He slowly moved the brush between his teeth, creating a seemingly incomprehensible mess of color. The room was full of books and had numerous windows that gave a panoramic view of Equestria, breathtaking to say the least.

“Did you hear me coming in?” asked the guest.

“It’s always really quiet here,” answered Icarus, after putting down the brush. “Besides, you surely have noticed that I can look at the whole world from this place. Therefore, your question is idiotic: I saw you coming and I heard you knocking,” he concluded, without even looking at her.

In that moment, the words of his mother came to her mind and she tried to avoid harboring any ill feelings towards him.

“Why are you here?” asked the gray pegasus.

“Well… I… I just came to see how you were doing.”

“Half of the ponies that come to see how I’m doing are doctors, the other half are the ones looking to satiate their morbid curiosity about the freakshow. And you don’t look like a doctor to me.”

“No no,” replied Dash, feeling slightly uncomfortable. “I just wanted to talk to you.”

“Fine,” continued Icarus impassively. “What do you want to talk about?”

“When we met last night I wasn’t aware of your condition. I wouldn’t want you to think that I was being... rude. Basically, I didn’t realize that... that you...”

Icarus bowed his head and turned towards Dash with a harsh look on his face.

“So... that’s how it is, huh?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You know, Rainbow, at first I thought that you were different, that you would understand.”

The blue pegasus furrowed her brows, unable to get Icarus’ point.

“I also thought you were smarter,” he added pretentiously, “so let me enlighten you: do you really think that yesterday I came to beg for your attention? Or for your pity?”

“Well… no, I…”

“It’s funny how things change. I was just one fan among many, before you understood my situation. Right?”

Rainbow didn’t answer and Icarus seemed to grow annoyed.

“I’m sick and tired of everypony’s stupidity. Yesterday you treated me like everypony else, while today you come here to talk to me and see how I’m doing. Would you ever do that for an ordinary fan? For any average pegasus? For a pegasus in different conditions from mine?”

“Listen Icarus, I’m not here to take pity on you,” the mare answered hesitantly. “I just want to let you know that, since yesterday, I have mixed feelings. It seemed... unfair to me, that I’ve centered my whole life on flying competitions while you have to live like this. It’s something that I’ve never considered before.”

There was a moment of awkward silence which was then broken by Rainbow, trying to take control of the conversation.

“I had always been sure that I could prove myself by comparing myself with others by winning and through competition. After having met you, though...”

At those words, Icarus suddenly turned around, accidentally knocking his canvas on the floor and started breathing much more rapidly than before, clearly upset.

He stared at Rainbow with a spark of rage in his eyes and muttered, “You’re just like everypony else. At first you treated me like your equal. I thought that a pegasus whom sacrificed so much for her passion would understand. Instead, you come here now as if I were a victim of cruel fate! What? You think that I feel inferior to you? That you are some kind of role model to me?”

Dash took a step back without realizing it.

“I thought you were a champion like me,” he continued vehemently, “because, like you, I’ve had to face challenges day after day to get where I am now. Of course I don’t have a bunch of fans to prove that; the only proof is here, standing right in front of you. From what the doctors said, I would have lived at most another year and wouldn’t be able to walk after a couple of months. They told me that more than two years ago. I proved them wrong.”

“Icarus, I…”

“Merely the fact that I am here, alive and standing on my own hooves, makes me one of the greatest champions in all of Equestria!!” he yelled, with all the breath that he could muster in his fragile body.

Rainbow was shocked by the pegasus’ ardor, which initially was softened by his meek appearance. She tried to say something, anything, but not a single word came to mind.

Icarus seemed to calm down: he approached the painting and, with some effort, put it back where it was originally.

With his back turned towards Rainbow, he added, “I’ve spent several months looking for a champion like me. I didn’t find anypony similar to me, but then I saw you. I watched you during your training, during your defeats, when you kept getting back up, and I saw willpower and a combative spirit. But now that I know you better, I guess I was wrong.”

After those words, he took a piece of paper from the shelf and tossed it to her hooves with a little revulsion: it was her autographed photo.

“I wanted this to remind me that anypony can do incredible things if they fight for it. But, to you, I’m just a poor stricken pegasus, worthy only of compassion and pity. You can have it back, if you want, I don’t need it anymore,” he concluded indifferently, bringing his attention back to his painting.

“Icarus, you’ve got it all wrong,” resumed Rainbow. “It’s not like that...”

Dash felt unfairly accused by the pegasus, but deep in her heart she couldn’t deny feeling pity for him when she first saw him climb up on his cirrus cloud.

“Tell me,” added Icarus calmly, “how would you feel if tomorrow you lost your wings, and the ponies that you knew started to treat you like a victim of circumstance?”

Those words brought her back to the time when she ended up in the hospital, after breaking her wing. Being confined to a bed was terrible, sure, but the commiseration that she got from some of her visitors was even worse.
Even though she thought he was overreacting, she understood what Icarus was trying to tell her.

The words from the gray pegasus brought her back to reality.

“You may leave now.”

“Icarus, I didn’t mean to…”

But he ignored her completely and started to paint again slowly.

*** ***** ***

Rainbow left the room with the photo in her mouth and feeling miserable. When she got outside, Sunshine was sitting not too far away, waiting for her with a bitter smile on her face.

“I don’t know what you talked about,” she said, “but judging from the tone of voice, I’m guessing it didn’t go very well.”

Dash remained facing the ground.

“Yeah... it was nothing short of a disaster.”

“Don’t blame yourself. Icarus has weathered all kinds of storms, and some of them left their mark on him for the worse.”

Dash pondered for a few minutes, then looked up at the mare and said, “I think I understand… I didn’t want to sympathize with him, but if I was the one lying on the cirrus cloud and somepony tried to sympathize with me, I’d be extremely annoyed.”

“For Icarus it’s a bit different. He’s had to deal with a lot of unwanted sympathy since he was a little colt. He might have told you about the physicians. Nopony thought that he would make it, but he did nonetheless. I believe it was since then that he decided to distance himself from every form of victimization and pity.”

The blue pegasus’ face took a serious tone.

“He wants to be treated like everypony else... with dignity.”

“Exactly, I don’t think it could be said any better. He wants to be treated for what he really is: a pegasus,” concluded Sunshine.

Dash took a look at the photo she signed the previous day and started to think. Then, suddenly, she placed her hooves on Sunshine’s shoulders, whom was visibly surprised.

“Listen,” she said with conviction. “I have to ask you a very VERY big favor… Would you trust me enough to leave Icarus with me?”

“Beg your pardon?”

“If I promise you that nothing bad would happen, and if I can persuade him, would you let Icarus spend at least one day with me?”

“Well… I don’t know… It is quite dangerous for him to leave this house!”

“I realize that, and I don’t expect that you will say yes all at once.”

“What are you going to do with him?”

“There are… some ponies I would like him to meet.”

“Oh no!” said Sunshine worried. “That wouldn’t help him at all. We’ve already tried that before!”

“Please Sunshine, just give me a shot. If anything happens to Icarus, I promise you that you will never see me across these skies again,” she concluded with a look of sincerity.

Sunshine didn’t seem convinced and took some time to mull it over.

“I don’t think it is a good idea,” she finally said, “but if you can persuade him… just for one day…”

“Fantastic!” yelled Rainbow and, without wasting any time, she took off. She made a quick turn around the building and landed near one of the windows of the room where Icarus was painting.

When Icarus saw her smiling face pop up from outside, he looked surprised, then impatient.

“You’re blocking my light,” he said irritated.

“Listen here, Icarus, how long have you been locked up on this cloud?” asked Dash with a defiant look.

“It’s none of your business,” he replied indifferently. “And I thought I told you to buzz off.”

“Make me!” said Dash laughing.

The gray pegasus put down the brush, resigned.

“I swear I’ll be off in a minute, but first I have to ask you something.”

“There’s no use in trying, I won’t change my mind about you.”

“I really don’t care what you think about me. But if you’re really consistent with what you say, I want to see how much of a champion you’ve made yourself out to be.”

Icarus started to show a faint interest in Rainbow’s proposition, who had guessed that Icarus was at least as prideful as she was.

“Come with me to Ponyville tomorrow, near the ground, if you dare. There are some ponies I want you to meet,” she concluded, leaning her chin on her hoof.

“I don’t need other ponies like you around me,” he replied annoyed.

“Oh... I see. You don’t have the nerve… Months and months, maybe years, being isolated up here must have made you weak, that’s understandable.”

Icarus wasn’t dumb and he figured out that Rainbow Dash was just trying to rile him up. He never would have fallen for such a pathetic attempt to goad him if it wasn’t for his pride fueling his train of thought, which he knew would betray him at the worst possible moments.

“That’s ridiculous. And I know you just want to trick me.”

He remained silent for a bit, unsure if he should start painting or answer back again. In the end, he gave in.

“But I don’t want to sound like a hypocrite! Fine!” he said solemnly. “I’ll be there tomorrow: I’ll come to your stupid Ponyville, I’ll get rid of your so called friends and I’ll come back up here, demonstrating how pathetic you are.”

Rainbow smiled and enunciated, “I! Can’t! Wait!”

She took off from the windowsill and, flying backwards, glanced at Icarus, “Tomorrow afternoon, right after lunch time! We’ll see if you have the guts!”

“Ridiculous,” mumbled Icarus to himself, starting to paint again, feeling slightly nervous.

Before leaving, Dash glided towards Sunshine and, while stalling in midair, yelled, “Just one chance, it’s all I ask!”
And then she dove towards Ponyville.

Now I have to find a certain somepony, she thought, right before vanishing into the low altitude clouds.

2 - Cinnamon Wings

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The clock had just struck two in the afternoon when a purple unicorn and a pink pony met each other not far away from the city center. Twilight was obviously the first one to arrive, precise as the bell tower. Pinkie Pie showed up some minutes later, bouncing like a ball.
They greeted each other and sat down close together, looking towards the sky.

“Do you know anything else in particular?” asked Sparkle.

“No! Rainbow just told me to come here at two o’clock and wait for her to come from the sky!” answered the pink pony with a smile.

“You know less than me then...” replied the unicorn pensively, “because she also told me that I shouldn’t ask questions or make comments.”

“She didn’t tell me anything else. Oh wait, she also told me bye!”

“Who knows… maybe a new air trick…”

“Or maybe she wants to show us a new hat!” said Pinkie.

“Who, Rainbow Dash?” asked Twilight dumbfounded.

“Yeah! Or maybe she wants to show us a new poem she wrote! Oh, I can’t wait! I love surprises!”

“Sure, a poem…”

At a certain point, Pinkie started to bounce around more than usual and pointed to a spot in the sky that grew bigger and bigger.

“A shooting star!” she yelled.

“Uh… I don’t think so, at least not in the middle of the day. Maybe it’s… I think it’s Rainbow… but she’s pushing something…”

The pink pony started to trot around wildly, waiting for Dash to get closer. When she was a few hundred feet from them, the situation became clearer. Her friend was slowly pushing a strange cloud, and somepony was lying on it: a pegasus they had never seen before. After a while, Rainbow brought the cirrus cloud down to ground level.

“Hey guys!” she exclaimed.

The two waved back and Pinkie impatiently moved closer to Icarus.

“Who are you?!?” she yelled loudly.

The gray pegasus, looking bored, turned to Dash and mumbled, “These are the two you wanted to introduce to me?”

“I thought you were smarter than that,” replied Rainbow, mimicking the words Icarus had said to her the day before. “So let me enlighten you: yes they are.”

“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie!”

“I’m Twilight Sparkle, nice to meet you!”

Icarus looked at them with arrogance and replied, “My name’s Icarus. And whether or not it’s ‘nice’ remains to be seen.”

“I’ve never seen you around here before! Are you new in town? Where are you from? Do you like parties?” asked Pinkie Pie frenetically, which she knew how to do all too well.

“Did you overdose on carbohydrates or something? Anyway, the answers are: not exactly, none of your business, and no,” he concluded.

“What a nice cloud! It’s really cool! Why are you sitting on a cloud?”

Icarus turned towards Rainbow with a feeling of resignation.

“I get it now: you want to get back at me by making me spend an afternoon in hell with these wierdos.”

“More or less…” replied Dash with a smile.

“This is… this isn’t just a normal cloud,” said Twilight after taking a quick look. “This is an enchanted cirrus cloud!”

Icarus’ attention was slightly piqued.

Twilight continued, “Only highly trained unicorns know how to use these kinds of matter manipulation spells. A specialization in Ephemeral Preservation and a good amount of primary catalysts are required to sustain a cirrus cloud at such low altitudes.”

“Cloud!” yelled Pinkie, feeling left out of the conversation.

“What are you? Some sort of smarty pants?” asked Icarus.

Twilight blushed slightly and replied, “Well… yes actually… I study a lot and I spend most of my time in my library and…”

“Library?” interrupted the pegasus, pricking up his ears.

Rainbow smiled with ill-concealed satisfaction.

“Yes, I own a library full of ancient scrolls which I use for my studies on magic.”

At this point Icarus was bursting with excitement, but he immediately tried to hide his enthusiasm behind a mask of indifference that he was used to wearing.

“You know, Icarus has a lot of books at home too…” said Rainbow Dash. “Maybe you could share notes or... have some egghead conversations at Twilight’s library.”

“Really? Sounds fascinating!” concluded Sparkle with a smile.

Icarus tried to seem uninterested but it was all too clear how much he wanted to explore a new library and talk about magic.

“Mh… yeah… I guess I can find some spare time for that…”

“Wait wait wait!” interrupted Pinkie looking serious. “We have to welcome you first! At Sugarcube Corner!”

“Thanks but no thanks,” he replied, quickly getting rid of her.

“Yeah...” continued Rainbow, “Icarus has been doing what he wants for a long time. I don’t think he feels like dealing with a welcoming party.”

“Oh, are you shy?” asked the pink pony.

“No, it’s just stupid,” answered Icarus, slightly irritated.

Twilight then added, “Well, maybe Pinkie’s welcome parties are a little bit exuberant, but they’re fun! And besides, it’s easier to chat with a tray of fresh baked muffins!”

“Muffins?”

“You don’t know what muffins are?!” exclaimed Pinkie with honest surprise. “How’s that even possible? We must fix this right away! Get down from there and let’s go to Sugarcube Corner on the double!”

Rainbow was about to add something when she saw Icarus, hooves shaking and looking resolute, stand up. She watched him closely as he started to come down from the cirrus cloud.

“Icarus,” Dash said, “I know the maximum altitude I can reach. I assume then that you know your limits too...”

“Don’t tell me you let my mom get to you?” he replied and, after taking a deep breath, slowly got down from the cloud.

When his body weight shifted to his legs, he trembled slightly and fell on his knee. The ponies surrounding him came closer to help him but Icarus stood up by himself, requiring more than a little effort.

“See?” he said panting. “I can walk here too: it’s just a little bit harder and I have to get used to it. There’s no need to worry about me."

“All right,” stated Rainbow slightly worried. “I’ll bring your cloud anyway. Just in case.”

“You better! I’m not exactly a risk taker: I don’t like hurting myself over nothing.”

The group started up towards Sugarcube Corner. Icarus began to move slowly with faltering steps, not being used to solid ground beneath his hooves and because of his weakened legs. Pinkie Pie, totally unaware, separated from the group with quick bounces, then she turned around with surprise and started to bounce again around Icarus.

“Why are you walking so funny? Why don’t you fly? And why were you moving around on a cloud? I wanna travel around on a cloud too!”

Twilight looked at her, worried, and was about to say something, but Rainbow signaled her to keep quiet.

Without losing his cool, the gray pegasus answered, “I have a special condition. My bones are fragile and break easily.”

Pinkie stopped for a moment with a fixed expression on her face, trying to process what was said. She then started to bounce around him again.

“Gotcha! Like cinnamon sticks! If you don’t pay attention they break into itty bitty pieces!”

“You could say that,” he answered with a smile, the first sincere smile that Dash had ever seen on his face.

“You’ve got cinnamon bones!”

“I’ve got cinnamon bones,” he replied.

“Wonderful! You should make the muffins today, because… I wonder how good a pony with cinnamon bones can make yummy treats!”

“I don’t know… I’ve never done something like that before. I can give it a shot. I never back down from a challenge,” he said proudly. “But I’m not exactly an expert in… working with my hooves.”

“Oh, it doesn’t matter!” exclaimed Pinkie smiling. “You get to work with flour! There’s nothing softer than flour! And to be honest, sometimes I make a huge pile of cotton candy and lie down on it because it’s soooo soft! Like you do on your cloud!”

Icarus was trying to hold back another smile.

“And then,” concluded the pink pony, “if your bones were made of bones… but they’re made of cinnamon, so you can’t fail!”

“Wow,” said Icarus to Rainbow Dash. “The crazy pink one is cool!”

*** ***** ***

The day passed by much faster than Icarus had initially imagined it would. Pinkie Pie served him her finest sweets and, after insisting for several minutes, she managed to get him involved in cooking as well. Even Twilight and Rainbow tested their cooking abilities: Twilight tried an analytic and extremely complicated approach, which led her to finish her check list at the same time when everypony else had already finished cooking; Rainbow, on the other hoof, made some changes to make her sweets look cooler… but much less appetizing.

During the entire cooking process, Icarus made comments such as “This is an activity for fillies,” “Ridiculous!” and “I’m all covered with flour!” but, in the end, he was quite satisfied with the results.

As soon as Icarus and Twilight started to discuss about magic and books, everypony understood that it was time to move to the library.

Since Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Spike weren’t interested, they left the two to discuss and skim through numerous tomes.

“I’ve never seen that pegasus before. Is he new in town?” asked the little dragon.

“Not exactly,” answered Dash.

“Boooring!” exclaimed Pinkie while watching them pile up open books at the library.

“Guess who’s gonna rearrange everything alphabetically, by topic and by cover color…” grumbled Spike in resignation.

The three then kept quiet so that they could hear what the pegasus and unicorn were discussing.

“Exurgit Potio?” asked Icarus with his eyes on the pages.

“It’s a spell to create a revitalizing tonic. Apparently it can heal wounds too,” answered Twilight expertly.

“Does it work?”

“I’m not sure, I’ve never had the time to try it out, and alchemy is not my forte. There’s a zebra though, Zecora, who’s much more experienced than me in this area.”

“I have some enchanted catalyzing plants at home: some unicorns placed them to…”

“…to generate a condensed field of magic in a predefined space!” continued Twilight with enthusiasm.

“Ok, we totally lost ‘em,” concluded Spike.

*** ***** ***

The sun began to hide behind the hills when Icarus climbed up on his cirrus cloud. This time it was harder for him, because in his bag he had a couple of heavy books that Twilight let him borrow. The four said goodbye to each other: Icarus being the most reserved of them, of course.

“Remember,” exclaimed Twilight pointing at her books, “I want you to read them and let me know what you think.”

“I don’t think it’s going to take me too long.”

“I want you to come back and visit me! I want the cinnamon pegasus to come back and cook with me again!” said Pinkie while bouncing in place.

Icarus shook his head a little, causing a small cloud of flour to descend from his thick mane.

“Ok, but next time I want you to open the bags of flour.”

They said their last goodbyes and Rainbow started to push the cirrus cloud.

Under normal circumstances they would have made it home in only a couple of minutes, but given the fragility of the cloud and its passenger, it was necessary to fly very carefully.

The two remained silent for several minutes, then Icarus breaking the silence asked, “...why?”

“Because this cloud won’t push itself,” answered Rainbow ironically.

“You know what I’m talking about. Why did you bring me here? I want the truth.”

“It’s because I pity you, right? Isn’t that what you told me last time?”

The gray pegasus said nothing and Rainbow guessed that she was probably overdoing it with the sarcasm, so she changed her tone to be more sincere.

“Seriously though Icarus, I’ll be honest: when I came by yesterday it was because I felt sorry for you. Then, after listening to you, I realized you were almost as prideful as I am. And I would never want to feel patronized,” she concluded.

“Icarus one, Rainbow Dash negative twenty,” said Icarus with a tone of superiority.

“Don’t get me wrong: disease or no, you’re an arrogant blockhead, and sometimes I would like to throw you off of this cloud.”

“I say: how right you are, my darling,” answered Icarus, imitating a British gentlepony accent.

“So… today I wanted to bring you here for two reasons. First, I wanted you to meet some special ponies and… show how they were able to treat you with much more respect than me. The second is...”

“What...?”

“The second reason... I did it for me, that’s all,” continued Rainbow Dash with some difficulty. “I did it because I feel I’m learning new things when I’m with you.”

Icarus turned towards the blue pegasus and looked at her, surprised. Rainbow stopped pushing the cirrus cloud and the two gazed into each other’s eyes for a moment.

Icarus seemed to be holding back laughter and brought his attention again to the direction of his house.

“I know, I know. I always have this kind of effect on the mares. But don’t get ahead of yourself, you’re gonna have to wait in line just like all the others.”

Dash smiled.

“Now,” he continued, “keep pushing, otherwise I will be late for dinner. At this rate I would have already made it home just by blowing in the opposite direction, beating you and your wings.”

Dash took this as a challenge and suddenly accelerated, making sure however that her passenger wasn’t in danger. Icarus quickly tensed up, afraid that he would fall off the cloud, which was starting to travel faster than it had ever gone before. His initial fear was progressively replaced by a strange feeling of excitement as the two rapidly reached their destination.

“Is his lordship satisfied?” asked Rainbow sarcastically. Icarus was stuck to the cloud, almost like a cat clinging to the armrest of a recliner.

“If you damaged my cirrus cloud I’m going to send you the bill from the unicorns. I know where you live.”

Sunshine was waiting for them at the door, looking worried when she saw how fast they were going.

“Oops... now your mom is going to pluck both of my wings,” Dash whispered.

“I’ll handle her.”

“Let’s hope so. Listen, if you want to tomorrow, I’ll introduce you to the rest of the group, if you’re up for it,” she said with enthusiasm.

Icarus appeared to contemplate. “Let’s see: tomorrow, tomorrow... Basically I was planning on running a two hour marathon, followed by aerial tricks at high altitudes, and finishing it all off by spending the evening with my admirers.”

“You’re also forgetting the Grand Galloping Gala and going to the gym,” added Rainbow neutrally, eyes starting to close.

“No, that’s the day after tomorrow. Yeah, I think I can spare a bit of my extremely precious time, this time around.”

“Then I’ll stop by tomorrow morning!”

“What are you two talking about?” yelled Sunshine harshly. “Rainbow! Does this seem like the speed that you should be going while moving Icarus around?”

“Let me handle this,” Icarus said to Dash. He got down from the cirrus cloud, took a couple of steps towards his mother and then, pretending to be worried, cried out, “Mommy! Did you see what she did? She scared me to death!”

Rainbow Dash watched the scene completely dumbfounded.

Icarus, standing behind his mother, turned towards Rainbow with the same challenging look on his face that Dash had before the sudden acceleration.

“Why you little pegasus...” growled Dash between her teeth.

Sunshine approached her looking serious.

“Uh... look, I...”

His mother closed her eyes and added, “I know that Icarus is joking, I know him well. But seriously Rainbow Dash, you can’t fly so fast. You could really hurt him.”

“You’re right, you’re right. I shouldn’t have done that,” she admitted.

“Alright then... How did it go today?” she asked.

“Better. But I think that Icarus can tell you all about it, if he’s willing.”

“Oh... ok.”

“Would it be a problem,” continued Dash, “If I brought him to Ponyville again tomorrow?”

In that exact moment, the cirrus cloud that the pegasus had gotten off of quivered slightly, let out noises similar to a deflating balloon, and vanished in a smoky bubble.

“Ah!” exclaimed the gray pegasus laughing. “I knew it! You busted it for real!”

Rainbow recovered from her shock and cast an embarrassed smile at the mother, who was taking another deep breath.

“Fine,” she said finally. “But this time...”

“Low-speed,” continued Dash. “I promise!”

When Rainbow left the high altitude clouds to go home, she decided at the last moment to take a detour to stretch out the journey: her spirits were high and she decided to take a dive to get a taste of real high speed flying. She felt a kind of joy, inside of her, as if that day had given her something important.

Maybe, she thought, the thin air at those high altitudes is making me a little loopy.

*** ***** ***

The following morning Dash went to get Icarus, as was determined. She noted, with pleasant surprise, that the pegasus had fixed up his mane a bit.

“Hey look, Casanova!” she exclaimed laughing.

“It was my mom’s idea,” explained Icarus hastily while messing up his hair during the journey.

“You didn’t look bad. Anyway, I’ve got something in store for you this morning.”

“Something like what?” he asked with suspicion.

“If I told you now, I’m sure you would want to go back home right away.”

“Fair enough: I wanna go back home right now.”

“Of course. Tonight. Now just try and trust me.”

“I don’t trust anypony, let alone a multicolor maned pegasus,” concluded Icarus.

“You trusted me yesterday, and it seems to me that you weren’t disappointed.”

“The exception to the rule, not to mention that you destroyed an enchanted cirrus cloud and you almost let me fall into the void.”

“Want me to do it again?” asked Dash, getting ready for a dive. Icarus went rigid exactly like the last time.

“Don’t you dare!” he screamed.

“Relax, it was just a joke,” she reassured him.

After a couple of minutes, the passenger said a little timidly, “Well... can you maybe go a little bit... faster?”

Rainbow smiled and started to flap her wings with more energy, not as quick as the day before, but fast enough to visibly notice Icarus’ joy as he felt the wind on his body.

*** ***** ****

The two finally arrived in front of Carousel Boutique.

“A store for mares?” ranted Icarus. “You brought me to go shopping?!”

“Well, I brought you here to get cleaned up.”

“No way, halt, stop this cloud, turn back!”

“Oh come on, we’re almost there. At least wait until you’ve met Rarity.”

“Look: have you seen me? I'm not exactly the type of pegasus that goes around showing off fancy clothes or majestic poses! Or maybe you can't see that well?” he yelled.

“Let’s make a deal,” said Rainbow, placing the cirrus cloud in front of the Boutique. “If you were to regret coming out this morning I’ll get you back home in no time, I swear.”

“Oh no! Too easy! What do you have to lose? Nothing! Let’s do it this way: if I regret this, not only will you bring me back home, but you’ll dye your mane pink… but not just a normal pink, hot pink! I want you to look like the exact copy of your crazy friend!”

“I thought she was ‘our’ crazy friend, now…” she said with some displeasure.

The gray pegasus seemed to take back his last words.

“Mh, yeah whatever, let’s just not put the cloud before the pegasus.”

The door of the Carousel Boutique opened and Rarity appeared.

“What is all this fuss about? Oh, Rainbow Dash, it’s you!” she exclaimed smiling. “And I see you brought… a friend.”

“After this morning, I don’t think so,” concluded Icarus with resignation. “Come on, let’s get this over with. I can’t believe I’m about to do this...”

“Hi Rarity,” concluded Dash, a little bit embarrassed by Icarus’ audacity.

The unicorn seemed very confused, especially when she could see Icarus better, once he got down from the cloud.

“Uh yes, sure… come in.”

Once inside, the pegasus looked around and was left quite surprised by the large amount of elegant clothes on display. Rarity looked at Rainbow Dash for a moment, with a puzzled expression.

As a response, Dash nodded and exclaimed, “I know that you are rude, Icarus, but you really should introduce yourself.”

“Ah yes,” he responded, taking away his attention from the clothes. “My name’s Icarus, I’ve been brought here by force: this crazy pony is keeping me hostage, so I’d like you to call for help. And, as you can see, I don’t belong here,” he concluded, looking up towards the stupendous clothes hanging on the walls.

Rarity listened to him, more and more confused and then asked, “What do you mean you don’t belong here?”

“Ah, here’s yet another one! What, are you playing dumb?” he asked nervously. “Are you pulling my leg?”

At first, the unicorn seemed surprised but she immediately regained her composure.

“Look, I can see you just fine, and I ask you again: why don’t you belong here?”

“Please! I hate rhetoric! Can’t you see? Crooked hooves, fragile body, frail wings … not to mention my mane,” he exclaimed, blowing away a lock of hair hanging in front of his face.

Rarity smiled, got closer to him, and rotated a big mirror found nearby, allowing him to see his reflection.

“Don't be such a drama queen," she added. "If there's one thing that I've learned in this job, it's that the only ponies that don't 'belong here' are those who feel that they don't belong.”
Icarus looked at the mirror in dismay and lowered his gaze.

“As long as you feel inadequate,” continued Rarity, “that's what you'll be to all effects. For instance, look at Rainbow Dash: she has the same fashion sense as a wild dragon.”

“Hey!” interrupted her friend instinctively, a bit flustered.

“…but she feels phenomenal and that’s the way she appears, with or without elegant clothes.”

“Of course I’m phenomenal!” Rainbow added quickly.

The unicorn drew near the gray pegasus, appearing next to him in the reflected image.

“And look! We both have purple manes! Purple is a beautiful color! And you have such a thick mane: it’s perfect for being shaped into something fashionable. I already have in mind some things that...”

“I know that you are trying but I don’t think you are really convincing me,” interrupted Icarus, moving away from the mirror.

“I’m not trying to convince anypony. I only want you to understand that, in this line of work, I am much better with ponies whom feel beautiful on the inside. Only in this way can I bring out that beauty and show it to others.”

“You are a stylist. Your whole life is based on looks, one of the most dull and fleeting things that exists.”

Rarity, not bothered at all by those words, smiled again and continued, “My desire to look good is in a way a weakness of mine, but I’ve learned more than once that it’s what inside that counts rather than what’s on the outside. But this is my passion and, if I can help other ponies to feel better about themselves, bringing out a beauty that is not easily seen by others... then I won’t back down.”

Icarus listened to her with attention, slightly saddened.

“It’s a very noble thought... but everything has its limits.”

“Remember the deal, Icarus?” asked Rainbow. “An entire day here, nothing more, nothing less, and then you can decide to leave and never step hoof here again in Ponyville.”

The pegasus thought about it and, with reluctance, responded, “Fine! A deal’s a deal. And don’t you forget about the pink mane!”

“Oh finally!” exclaimed Rarity. “I am so excited!”

With those words, she grabbed a tape measure with her teeth and approached Icarus’ fragile body.

The gray pony felt uncomfortable during the entire ordeal. Rainbow Dash felt a little pity for him (which she tried to get rid of immediately) seeing him so vulnerable, more so than she had ever seen him before.

Rarity took some measurements, noted some details on a couple scattered pages, and quickly went to work with the help of her magic.

Icarus was fascinated watching the whole room come to life: spools, fabric, scissors, and tailoring materials started flying all around, interweaving underneath the composer’s spectacled nose, whom however did not immediately show the finished product. She decided instead to dedicate herself to the pegasus’ hair: she placed him between several mirrors, studied his mane with attention and then, with multiple floating makeup tools, started to work a few inches from his nose.

“Oh my…” exclaimed Icarus, closing his eyes.

“Relax, you have a fantastic mane! Oh! I wish everypony had hair like yours!”

“How pretty!” replied Icarus ironically, feeling locks of hair fall all over his neck. Slightly before finishing, Rarity put a towel on the pegasus’ face, who started to complain but not being able to do anything about it.

“What are you doing?”

“Relax: I don’t want to ruin the surprise!” exclaimed and delicately loosened the strap that bound his wings. She then started trying out different outfits on him, accompanied with phrases like “Uh no,” “This would look nice, even if...” and “Oh! That’s magnificent!”

“Just give up,” responded Icarus. “To do a decent job you would have to cover me with a circus tent.”

“Oh really?” asked Rarity finally sounding extremely satisfied, lifting the towel from the pegasus’ eyes.

Icarus slowly opened his eyes, observing his own reflection in the mirror in front of him.

He said nothing, only able to look at himself, with eyes bulging from their sockets: his hair was slightly shorter, which made him appear less frail and was skillfully sculpted in a way that was much more elegant. There was a small ray of silver-white light, descended delicately near his face.

Rarity had also fixed him up with some clothes: not too much and without making him look weighed down. She had replaced the old bag with a more modern, elegant, and comfortable version; right above his hooves she had placed a strip of fabric that matched the color of his mane and, finally, she had inserted a part of his tail into a silver ring so that it wouldn't lay too heavily on the ground because of its thickness.

“Well?” asked the stylist, removing her glasses with her magic. “Do you like it?”

“Don’t expect any compliments,” said Dash, with a forced smile.

Icarus glanced at the pegasus arrogantly, feeling like he was being read like an open book.

“Oh it doesn’t matter! The important thing is, if you don’t like it, you tell me! There’s nothing worse for a stylist than a falsely satisfied customer!”

Icarus felt a strange tingling inside and, with a hint of a smile, whispered, “There’s nothing worse for a stricken pegasus than somepony who’s falsely interested in him.”

He looked up towards the mirror, gave a quick look at himself and finally exclaimed, “I’ve seen worse... Yeah... I think it’ll do.”

“I think that’s the best you’re gonna get, Rarity,” Dash pointed out.

Rarity, suddenly overcome by her passion, dug her forehead into Icarus’, who worriedly stepped backwards.

“If it’s not ok you have to tell me!!” she yelled.

“It’s perfect. I love it,” he sputtered, visibly frightened.

*** ***** ***

Icarus watched Ponyville pass by beneath him, while Rainbow Dash pushed the cirrus cloud dozens of yards off the ground: they were moving towards the outskirts of town, in the direction of the countryside.

“It’s too bad that from up here they can’t see your new look.”

The pegasus muttered, pretending to be uninterested, then added, “Whose turn is it this time? What other pony are you going to subject to my accommodating personality?”

“Not just one,” replied Dash, “but tons of ponies!”

Icarus’ eyes went wide open and he swallowed loudly.

“How many, exactly?”

“Oh, uh, not a ton, just a little group... I believe there’s going to be six ponies total, including us."

“Group therapy?”

“No! Lunch with the family!”

At those words Rainbow tilted downwards, quickly going downhill towards a big, red farmhouse. During this maneuver, Icarus saw some apple orchards passing by underneath him.

“I remember these trees,” he started to say. “They can be easily spotted from my house through my telescope. There are so many of them that, from far away, they seem like a huge, iridescent carpet. In the summer it’s like a green sea, during fall it’s like a vermilion field, over the winter it almost looks like a dying forest, and in spring…”
Dash heard his voice suddenly drop to a whisper. Icarus then continued, “…in spring, when the trees are in bloom, they become a cloud cover which, looking at the horizon, seem to merge with the real clouds…”

“Unpleasant, grumpy, cook, and now poet. And I thought that you could only complain,” said Rainbow, giving him a gentle tap on his shoulder.

“You know that hurt me, right?”

“You know that I’m not falling for that, right?”

“Touché,” he concluded with an unblinking gaze.

*** ***** ***

At the end of their bickering they were already at the entrance of the farm, not too far away from the red farmhouse. A couple of ponies, initially concentrating on picking apples, came towards them as soon as they saw them approaching.

“Let all my apples go bad if that’s not the multicolored mane of the coolest pegasus in all of Equestria!” shouted Applejack merrily. “And she’s brought a guest too!”

Icarus leaned over to Dash’s ear and whispered, “If you force me to work on the farm that’s labor exploitation. You’re aware of that, aren’t you?”

“Woohoo! Rainbow Dash with a guest!” exclaimed Applebloom, coming from a nearby apple tree.

“Hey AJ! Applebloom! Big Macintosh! Is work on the farm going well?” asked the blue pegasus enthusiastically.

“Eeeeyup.”

“Everything’s fine,” continued Applejack. “We were just about to take a break to organize lunch!”

Icarus slowly got off from the cloud while Applebloom watched him with eyes full of surprise. The pegasus felt her stare on him and, initially, appeared slightly annoyed.

“Remember, she’s just a filly,” Dash whispered to him, trying not to be heard by the other ponies.

“Remember, I am the unpleasant one,” he responded in a low voice.

“Howdy, partner!” burst out the big sister. “Are you new in town? I’ve never seen you around and... whoa! What a nice cloud!”

Icarus turned for a moment towards his cloud and pedantically answered, “Oh, that? Mmh, yeah, it’s a ‘Cirrus High 4000'. It comes standard with a regeneration spell: made only in the most obscure and sophisticated laboratories."

Applejack listened to his words, pretending to understand something, and answered with a forced smile.

“Aaanyway,” continued Icarus, theatrically showing off his new look, “my name is Icarus and I’m a gray pegasus that lives in the high altitude outskirts of Cloudsdale, in a very dangerous zone where only the most well prepared ponies could survive,” he concluded proudly.

Dash looked at him completely unimpressed. “Ah... you forgot to mention that you shoot fireballs from your nostrils too.”

“I was just about to say that, my dear."

Applejack smiled. “Well, if he ain’t just like Rainbow Dash’s double."

“I’m what now? Look, I...” blurted out Icarus, but his words got covered by Applebloom’s enthusiasm whom, hearing the far off ringing of Ponyville’s bell tower, started to trot wildly towards the farmhouse yelling, “Lunch time!”

“Ah! Just in time!” said Applejack inviting them to follow her. “So, Rainbow and her friend come to visit us right before lunch time, eh? You’re not trying to take advantage of us, are you?”

And so the four, anticipated by the exuberant little sister, headed to a set table in the open air, walking at Icarus’ pace.

“Aren’t there supposed to be six of us?” asked the gray pegasus.

“Uh, yeah, we’re waiting for old Granny Smith... Is she taking a nap under an apple tree again?” muttered Applejack looking around her. “Oh, here she comes!”

The group turned back and saw the old pony, with the help of a cane, coming from a hill not far away.

“That old thing is the sixth pony?” asked Icarus with an arrogant smile.

“Icarus!” Dash reproached him.

“Don’t worry, Granny is sure old but she’s spry as a rock! Isn’t that right, granny?”

“Uh? What?” muttered Granny. “A nanny? You know we don’t need anypony else’s help on this farm!”

Icarus snickered. “Oh jeez, just a little bit more and they’re gonna have to reassemble her!”

“Now you are just being rude,” insisted the other pegasus.

”Not at all! I’m just telling the truth!” responded Icarus mirthfully, without realizing that Granny Smith had snuck up behind him and was listening through her ear trumpet. “That pony is so decrepit that even I could walk faster than her!”

”How dare you, ya whippersnapper!” yelled Granny, twirling her cane dangerously above her head. ”Show some respect or I’m gonna have to teach you the Granny Smith way!”

The pegasus took a couple of steps back, almost tripping over himself.

“Hey grandma, careful with that thing!”

”This is my farm and I’ll do whatever I want, ya little brat!"

The others, meanwhile, were shocked as they watched the scene play out.

“Think you can hit me, old hag?” he taunted her.

”You better believe it!” replied Granny annoyed.

”I bet you won’t even come close!” and, with those words, Icarus started walking clumsily towards the lunch table.

”If I catch you I’m gonna wash yer mouth out with soap!” yelled Granny, trying to catch up to him at a snail’s pace.

Applebloom, who in the meantime didn’t see anypony coming, decided to head back and watched perplexed as the two raced to reach the table: Icarus, extremely concentrated and pushing himself to his limits, limped ahead while trying to dodge Granny’s cane; Granny Smith, on the other hoof, pursued him with joints that creaked as much as the frame of a rusty gate while throwing her cane around wildly. Not too far away, Rainbow, Applejack, and Big Macintosh watched the scene perplexed.

After the initial shock, Applebloom grinned from ear to ear and started to cheer, “Go Granny!”

”Even while being in hostile territory and surrounded by enemies,” blurted out Icarus, “I won’t let myself be intimidated by so little!”

“You’ll have a lot more to worry about when I get my hooves on you, ya rascal!”

“Do me a favor,” said Rainbow Dash to the others. “No matter what happens, let’s never speak of how much we’re witnessing here again.”

“No problem, sugarcube.”

“Eeeyup.”

*** ***** ***

The family and two guests were seated around the big table which was completely covered with apple based appetizers. Icarus and Granny were seated at the opposite ends of the table and were constantly staring each other down.
Not too long afterwards the chatter picked up and Applejack brought out the first dish: brown betty covered in apple sauce.

Icarus looked at the plate placed in front of him with obvious contempt.

“This is supposed to be food?”

Rainbow scolded him with a harsh stare and shoved him with her shoulder.

“At first glance it might not seem that great,” said the cook, adjusting her hat. “But I guarantee that it’s delicious!”

“What’s wrong?” interrupted Granny. “Is his majesty too good for our brown betty??”

The pegasus felt like that was a challenge and, with some reluctance, took a bite. He started to chew slowly, then with more enjoyment, and finally finished swallowing noisily.

“I’ve eaten better... but it wasn’t too shabby.”

“What’d I tell ya?” said Applejack with a wink.

"In my day, we only had dry hay to eat, and we liked it!" Granny chimed in.

“I thought that they only ate rocks in the prehistoric age,” answered Icarus without even looking at her.

Another dispute broke out after that, but all in all lunch went by without too much trouble.

While dessert was being served, the gray pegasus noted that little Applebloom kept staring at him and he started to get nervous.

“What are you looking at?”

“You’re strange,” she responded innocently. “How come you walk like that? And how come you’ve got yer wings all tied down?”

Icarus seemed to refrain from answering, thought about what he should say, and finally whispered in her ear, “I don’t want everypony to know: truth be told... uh... I’m a dragon hunter... and this is what happened to me from my most recent fight.”

“Yeah right,” she quipped.

“Are you calling me a liar? Take a look at this!”

He pulled out a strange gem from his bag, placed it at the foot of the table and, hitting it with his hoof, made it glow. It was simply an enchanted gem that the pegasus used to read at nighttime but, to Applebloom’s eyes, it was something incredible.

“This is one of the gems that I took from the treasure of the last dragon that I faced. Do you believe me now?”

“Wooow...” exclaimed Applebloom, with the reflection of the precious gem showing in her eyes.

“You can keep it, if you want.”

“Really?!”

“Of course, I’ve got tons of ‘em and this one pales in comparison to the others.”

“How nice, thanks!”

That was the first time Icarus had heard somepony thank him. At first, he felt emotions inside that he had never experienced before and, immediately after, was overwhelmed by an intoxicating sensation of fulfillment.

The meal ended shortly after, leaving those present to talk about this and that, while Applebloom was busy continually making her magic gift light up.

At one point, the gray pegasus even started recounting about some of the most incredible things that he had ever seen from the telescope in his home. Somepony, in this case Granny Smith, doubted the truthfulness of these stories, but Icarus was so passionate in his narration that it left little room for doubt.

“Is that really true?” asked Rainbow Dash finally, still a bit skeptical.

“Well, we all tend to exaggerate a little bit, but I guarantee that there’s always some truth to an exaggeration.”

Some discussion of the topic followed and, in the end, the final goodbyes were said.
Before leaving, Icarus and Granny Smith’s stares met again.

“If we had been on my turf, I would’ve taken you down you in the blink of an eye, hag!”

“If smack talk made you move faster, you’d be a lightning bolt, ya brat!”

“If we ever meet again,” concluded the pegasus solemnly, before climbing back up on his cirrus cloud, “it will be for the final battle.”

*** ***** ***

The strange pair of pegasi continued on their journey that would soon end the day. The sun was no longer high in the sky, but still high enough to leave time before evening would fall on the picturesque landscape of Equestria.

Icarus was excited and a bit pumped up as well: he had never experienced such friendly company. Actually... he had never experienced company worthy of that name. Even the admiration of a little filly, Applebloom, had given him more satisfaction than all of the past years spent in isolation among the clouds. His new look, though unable to hide his obvious physical defects, filled him with pride as well.

All this time spent avoiding others... looking for champions like me... when all I needed was to get close to the ponies that I had always observed from afar, he thought, for the very first time.

“So, are you having fun?” asked Dash, bringing him back to reality.

“Mmm... yeah.”

“Really? Not: mmm, I’ve had more fun watching paint dry?”

“Of course I’ve had more fun watching paint dry, but my answer is still yes: I’m having fun. Where are we going now?” he asked while they travelled down a path that was near the Everfree Forest. “You’re not taking me to the Everfree Forest, right?”

“I could do that... and then leave you there,” chuckled Rainbow.

“You think I can’t take care of myself?”

“I’m sure that, with a sharp tongue like yours, you could scare off any ferocious animals within a couple of miles.”

“I resent that,” he said indifferently.

“Oh sure. Anyway, we’re visiting an old friend of mine.”

“Old? Like that old dinosaur at the farm?" asked Icarus worriedly.

Rainbow Dash laughed. “No, old in the sense that we’ve known each other since we were fillies. She’s a pegasus... and, you know, she’s always been afraid of flying.”

“That’s life for you,” he sighed. “Pegasi that want to fly but can’t, and pegasi that can fly but don’t want to.”

“Don’t be so whiny and start accepting others for who they are.”

"By being like you? By believing that you are ‘cooler’ than others?”

“Exactly!” she responded sarcastically. “The difference is that I don’t think less of others for their flaws, but rather, I appreciate my great qualities instead!”

“One of which being humility.”

“That makes two of us, Casanova.”

*** ***** ***

Crossing a small stream, they finally reached Fluttershy’s home. The pink haired pegasus was scrupulously taking care of some flowers in the area and smiled timidly when she saw them arrive.

"Hey Fluttershy, how’s it going?” burst out Dash, giving her a hard pat on the back.

“Oh... um... hey Rainbow Dash and... uh, hey...”

“...Icarus,” he responded from his cirrus cloud, without even looking in her direction, something he did often.

The two friends chatted for a bit, then Fluttershy asked, “Is this the pegasus you talked to me about?”

“Yep: this is the most arrogant, stubborn, and impolite pegasus that you will ever find in all of Ponyville!”

“Oh, now you are making me blush,” responded Icarus pompously. “And you forgot to mention a know-it-all.”

“Nice to meet you, Icarus. What a pretty cloud.”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s a Cirrus High 4000, et cetera, et cetera. You’re a pegasus: you’ve seen tons of clouds like this.”

“Uh, I...” she mumbled. “I’ve... I’ve never flown at high altitudes before...”

Icarus, still feeling pumped from his adventures earlier today, decided to bump up his self-esteem a couple of notches, sending him unexpectedly and dangerously into a level of extreme arrogance.

“Oh right. Rainbow Dash told me about you. You’re the pegasus that doesn’t want to fly. Cool stuff.” With those words came a faint feeling of annoyance, thinking about the opportunities Fluttershy had intentionally thrown away: opportunities that he instead would never be presented with.

She lowered her head and became defensive. “Well... I...”

“Icarus! Watch your mouth!” said Dash chastising him.

The pegasus stopped talking but maintained a look of superiority, then he got off his cirrus cloud and exclaimed, “Alright, I’ll be quiet, wouldn’t want anypony crying.”

When Fluttershy saw him at ground level, she finally understood her guest’s situation.

“Oh! I... I didn’t realize that...”

“Realize what?” exclaimed the gray pony suspiciously.

“No, I didn’t realize that you... well...”

“Quit babbling and speak your mind, all at once!”

Rainbow noticed that Icarus was becoming too aggressive, so she tried to say something but, with the same impetuosity he had when they met the first time at his home, he repeatedly attacked the meek Fluttershy.

“What’s wrong? Didn’t you notice? I guess now things are different, huh?”

“Oh no, it’ just...”

“That look on your face,” he continued. “I know it all too well: it’s the look of commiseration of somepony who’s looking at a poor, helpless victim, isn’t it?”

Fluttershy tried to answer back, but Icarus was so vehement that he prevented any reaction from her. Even Rainbow tried to say something but, not only due to his fit of rage, she remained speechless because of how insensitive Icarus was being.

“If I only think of all those years I spent trying to walk, observing other pegasi carelessly flying in the sky... while you could do both and didn’t want to. Not only that, but I also have to put up with your sympathy.”

“Icarus!” exclaimed Dash with a harsh glare.

“No! I won’t shut up, there’s just some times where I can’t let stuff like this slide! Because you, Fluttershy, you are just the kind of pony I’ve tried to avoid all my life: cowardly, fake, and pathetic!”

When Rainbow saw her friend stepping backwards with tears in her eyes, she burst out yelling, “THAT’S ENOUGH!!”

The gray pegasus felt the full force of that rebuke filled with anger, so he stopped what he was doing and stared at Dash, caught off guard by such an unexpected reaction.

“How dare you!” insisted Dash. “Who do you think you are?”

Icarus didn’t answer.

There was a moment of bewilderment for everypony, which was broken again by Rainbow.

“I’m sorry Fluttershy, I’ll come talk to you later, but first I need to have a little chat with him.”

Without much consideration, she hit Icarus’ flank with her head, prodding him to move away towards a more isolated spot. She pushed him so much that Icarus nearly fell down, risking being seriously hurt.

“Hey! Slow down! You’re...”

“Shut up!!” Dash interrupted him, angrier than before. “Just shut up! Is this some kind of joke?”

His friend’s words tied up his stomach in knots and he started to think that he might have seriously overdone it, trying however to justify himself.

“...I ...I know that look...”

“What look?! Fluttershy is the meekest pony I know! She wasn’t pitying you! She’s that way with everypony!” she yelled heatedly. “Your disease wasn’t even a part of this: that was totally uncalled for!”

Icarus’ legs quivered slightly and he had to sit himself down: he looked at the ground and was unable to say anything.

“I can’t believe you! I knew you were rough around the edges but this time you really outdid yourself. You should at least say you’re sorry for what you did!” she concluded, expecting an answer from him.

The answer, however, didn’t come: Icarus felt worse inside but could only stare blankly at the ground, unable to say anything.

Rainbow Dash waited for a little bit longer but, not seeing any sign of collaboration, got impatient.

“You’re unbelievable. And here I thought that a little kindness could help you enjoy life a little, breaking open that shell that you had built over the years. And instead...“

“Take me home,” he whispered.

“What was that?”

“I said, take me home.”

“I’ll get you there pronto,” replied Dash, anger still painted on her face.

She brought over the cirrus cloud and Icarus hopped on immediately. The two pegasi quickly climbed up towards the top of the clouds, without saying anything nor looking at each other.

*** ***** ***

Sunshine was standing at the door of the house when they finally arrived. She was about to reproach Dash for her high speed but, seeing their faces, she guessed something had gone wrong. The cirrus cloud quickly approached the cloud stretch and, as soon as it had landed, Icarus got off and walked towards the door, without looking back.

Rainbow watched him for a second before his mother approached her worried.

“Today… didn’t go well, did it?”

“I’m sorry Sunshine, I’m too upset to talk about it. Nothing really serious happened but… I need to cool down a bit… sorry… I gotta go."

“I understand, Rainbow Dash,” acknowledged Sunshine, aware of the situation. “Go on ahead.”

Before the pegasus left, Sunshine asked her one last thing. “Will you come back?”

“I don’t know yet. Right now I think it’s better if we don’t see each other for a bit,” she said regretfully, and then dove down to get back to Fluttershy.

She felt a torrent of emotions inside of her. She would have liked to organize everything and find a foundation to work off of, but anger still coursed through her veins, clouding her rational thoughts.

Stupid, stupid pegasus, she thought, rushing headlong towards the Everfree Forest.

3 - To Fly Without Wings

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States of mind can really affect what a pony feels inside, and Rainbow Dash felt a deep sense of frustration when she woke up the next day.
She brought her mind back to Icarus’ outburst, to his furious rant, and that spark of complacency that she had seen in his eyes when Fluttershy was left speechless. Focusing on what had happened, she had no doubt in her mind: Icarus had behaved poorly, no excuses.

Right after that thought, she brought her mind back to the words of Icarus’ mother: "Since he was just a little colt, he has always had to live far away from other pegasi” and “Those few times he has been in contact with them, they hurt his feelings, and when his condition worsened he had no choice left but to live here, isolated amongst the clouds.”

She then thought about his behavior, at the pleasure he had cooking with Pinkie Pie, talking with Twilight, at his almost touching discomfort at Rarity’s boutique and, finally, experiencing for the very first time being accepted by a group of friends.

“It’s likely that...” she said, talking to herself, “so many emotions swirling inside him that he had never truly felt before... might have spun him around a little bit, and he probably felt like he was on top of the world... for the very first time in his life.”
She then thought about it a little bit. “However, what he said to Fluttershy… He could have at least said that he was sorry.” The image of Icarus looking down, while being reproached, appeared in her mind. “In the end he seemed sorry… really sorry…”

“But right now I don’t care,” she broke off. “It’s better if I don’t think about it for a while.”

Dash had done nothing else but think about Icarus for the past two days, completely forgetting about her upcoming commitments. She quickly checked her to-do list and noted that, for the following day, there was scheduled a massive downpour, the likes of which had not been seen for ages.

There had been some complications and the pegasi had opted to bring a good portion of rain in just one stormy night: in the afternoon they needed to lay out an enormous cover of black clouds, full of rain and ready to burst after sunset.

Without wasting anymore time, she took off towards Cloudsdale to join the team in charge of the storm. During the trip she remembered that she would have another race in a couple of days.

Nothing serious, she thought, but I was forgetting about it and I didn’t train at all…

Finally she just tried to distance her thoughts, simply looking to focus on the task at hand.

*** ***** ***

It was the middle of the night when the pegasus got home, exhausted from the workload they had had to make sure the cloud cover was extended far enough. In the distance the first rumblings could be heard, sign that the storm was forming. Some purplish clouds, lightened by thunderbolts, appeared intermittently for a few fleeting moments, in the dark cloudy mass.

Rainbow observed the scene for a few moments from the window, before she lay down in bed; there was going to be a lot of noise a little later, but she was used to the sound of thunder and, at these altitudes, it would be muffled anyway.

Don’t know what tomorrow will be like, but I’ll figure things out when it comes, she concluded, right before closing her eyes and falling asleep with little effort.

Something softly woke her up: somepony had gently shaken her while she lay in bed. She slowly opened her eyes and mumbled incoherently, then she took a look around and saw that it was still dark. A sudden thunderbolt flooded the room with light, revealing Icarus sitting next to her, slightly panting. Rainbow jumped out from her bed.

“What... what... what the heck?!” she rattled, rubbing her back.

Icarus started to fidget and said, “S-sorry Rainbow! I didn’t mean to scare you!”

“What are you doing here?” she asked perplexed.

The gray pegasus, still agitated, looked out the window and tried to put some words together.

“Well, I…”

“Where’s your mom?”

“…she’s at home.”

“At home? How did you get here?”

“You’re asking me? Today you pretty much laid out a huge black carpet between me and you. All I needed was a little push to dock my Cirrus onto the clouds below and then I walked here on my own hooves.”

“What? Your mom doesn’t know you’re here?”

“What do you think?” he asked with a smile.

“You’re insane. I’m taking you back home right now.”

The unexpected guest was visibly worried and placed himself in front of Rainbow, trying to stop her.

“Wait Rainbow, just listen to me!”

“You’ve got nothing to say: you shouldn’t be here, plain and simple.”

“No, please listen to me, I need to ask you a big favor.”

“You come to me in the middle of the night, your mom completely unaware of where you are, and to top it all off you expect a favor?” she asked irritated.

Icarus took on an extremely sincere expression, lifted up a trembling hoof, and put it on Dash’s shoulder.

“Rainbow... don’t make me beg, it’s not something that I like doing, you know. I’m just asking you to listen to me.”

The blue pegasus felt torn and started to look around, trying to find something to say.

“I’m listening,” she finally said. Icarus smiled.

“Listen, I know it’s a very big favor and… so I don’t expect that you’ll agree on the spot but... well, I want you to take me to ride the storm.”

“WHAT?!” yelled Rainbow bewildered.

“I want to do what pegasi call ‘Riding the Storm’! I’ve heard that it’s one of the most fantastic flying experiences ever!”

“No way!” concluded Rainbow hastily. “You’ve lost your mind if you think that I’ll bring you in the middle of that chaos out there!”

“Have you ever ridden a storm before?” asked Icarus hopefully.

“I… yeah, a few times, but…”

“Perfect! You can do it again! Do it for me!”

“No, Icarus, it’s too dangerous, you could really get hurt. Even the most expert pegasi are reluctant to ride the storm.”

“But they’re not you! They’re not… us. They’re not champions like we are, Rainbow!”

She looked down. “No Icarus, this is too much. I can’t do it, I’m sorry."

Icarus sat down and, with extreme effort, tried to lay aside all his pride.

“Listen, Dash, I… I don’t want to leave this world as a pegasus that has never flown. I’ve tried that once, you know? When I was just a colt. I dove from a thin cloud layer and I spread my wings… I was left wearing a cast for almost a year, and you can see the results with my crooked legs and tied-down wings.”

Dash felt something digging deep in her chest.

He started to tear up. “I would dive every single day, every single moment, to experience those few seconds of emotion in the void again, but I would risk too much, so I can’t... not without you,” he concluded, looking at her intensely.

“Don’t do this to me, Icarus,” she answered, her voice trembling slightly.

“Just once. Me and you. Riding the storm. Then, if you want, I’ll hide away forever on Equestria’s highest clouds and we’ll never see each other again. Don’t deny me my last wish, I beg you.”

Rainbow was silent, not knowing what to say.

“You see?” said Icarus, rubbing his wet eyes with a hoof. “You got me to beg.”

The two pegasi were standing still, surrounded by the silence and the darkness, both broken by occasional lightning and thunderbolts.

“I... all right,” said Dash finally, feeling everything but convinced.

“Really? Awesome!” he exulted, performing the equivalent of a standing jump as best as he was capable of doing.

“But we’re doing the wrong thing…”

*** ***** ***

As soon as they were outside, Icarus observed the clouds below, while Rainbow was trying to assemble a small heap of black clouds, shaping them into an oval.

“I should put you on this cloud and take you home... riding the storm my hoof!”

A strong wind was violently ruffling the pegasus’ purple mane while he basked in the deafening roars and the thunderous light-show, now getting closer and closer.

“This isn’t a cirrus cloud though,” concluded Dash when she finished. “Are you sure this one will work?”

Icarus took a look at it. “It’ll be perfect. Storm clouds are unstable but very fluffy… even if they’re a little bit wet. But it won’t be a problem."

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“Don’t worry,” he reassured her with a half-smile. “After all, I’ve got you by my side, right?”

Icarus climbed onto his new ride, trying to get himself as comfortable as possible, while Dash positioned herself behind it, covering a large part of it with her body so that she could have the best possible grip on it.

Both of them looked hesitantly at the huge cloud stretch, thunder and lightning crackling below them.

“You still sure about this?” mumbled Dash.

“Truth is, I’ve never really been sure of anything in my life… until now."

At the end of those words, Dash got ready to jump, but Icarus interrupted her at the last second.

“Just one last thing.”

He turned his head and, with his teeth, loosened the belt around his wings, freeing them.

“Just don’t overdo it,” she warned him.

“Don’t worry, I don’t want to shatter my wings… They’re too frail for me to spread them out. I just want to feel the wind on my feathers… I want it to be like a real flight."

With that last sentence and a strong feeling of indecision to overcome, Rainbow jumped into the void.

*** ***** ***

The descent was fast. Extremely fast. Dash didn’t spread her wings out at all, letting themselves precipitate downwards in free fall at increasingly higher speeds.

Icarus felt his stomach rise and felt a burst of adrenaline throughout his body. Fear told him to hold onto the cloud beneath his legs as best as he could but, given his disabilities, he wasn’t able to do much.

As they descended, Rainbow noticed that Icarus was visibly frightened and, to avoid having things getting out of hoof, she put her body forward, gently pushing the pegasus against the cloud and bringing her head to the side, next to his, cheek to cheek.

Icarus felt her warmth on his back and his neck. He perceived Rainbow Dash’s presence next to him and he calmed down, letting excitement take over his fear.

The cloud carpet was getting closer and, when they broke through it, Icarus instinctively closed his eyes. When he reopened them, he could only gape in astonishment: the warm and cold air currents had created inside the clouds an enormous, dark, and cloudy tunnel, seething with thunder, lightning, and lights.

Dash spread her wings and started to quickly soar through the entire length of it.

Lightning strikes were literally dancing beside them, spectacularly exploding like fireworks, while the whole black tunnel was continuously twisting in the grip of the storm about to reach its apex.

The pilot pitched upwards, gradually moving to higher altitudes: they broke through the tunnel once again and passed by an endless series of clouds that were randomly strewn out around the heart of the storm, until they finally reached the top of it.

Icarus couldn’t contain his excitement and astonishment any longer: below them, the mantle kept putting on a show of lights and sounds while, above their heads, a majestic moon magically illuminated the skyline. The pegasus let out a cry of wonder.

“Are you ready to see how you really ride a storm?” asked Dash with a smile, gently pressing her cheek against his.

“Do whatever you want,” he answered, eyes filled with tears. “Just don’t stop now.”

Rainbow and Icarus dove again, faster than before. They took the same path back until they entered into the tunnel again: they darted between the electrical shocks, the deafening roars, and the rare works of art that the storm chaotically crafted within the cloud stretch.

The free fall lasted so long that they found themselves underneath the storm and a violent downpour quickly soaked them. Upon feeling that chilling sensation, Icarus started laughing like a madpony, overcome by his joy and excitement. He thanked the rain, not only for the feeling of ecstasy, but also because Rainbow wouldn’t see his tears of joy.

Rainbow got caught up in the moment as well: she realigned her flight path and cut through the rain, laughing wildly.

Seen from below, their dark shapes appeared sporadically, contrasting the clouds above illuminated by the thunder; a lightning-lit demonstration of two pegasi that were a bit crazy, in the middle of rain and euphoria.

They then decided to go back into the tunnel and savor one last maneuver. It took only a second.

A thunderbolt struck suddenly only a few feet away from them, creating a shockwave so forceful that it overpowered Rainbow Dash, whom lost her grip on the cloud.

The blue pegasus rolled several times in the air before she managed to take control of the situation and realize what was going on. Terrified and in panic, she looked around frantically, searching for Icarus. A lightning bolt on a distant cloud illuminated his dark silhouette: he was plummeting to the ground.

Without even thinking, she dove headlong for him, wildly flapping her wings to reach him as fast as she could. Despite her anxiety, she was lucid enough to be able to tear off a small chunk of a cloud during her descent.

Only a few dozen feet remained from the ground and the rain was falling heavily when Dash collided with Icarus with her cloud, doing her utmost to save him. She tried to regain altitude, but she had arrived too fast and the crash was inevitable: right before hitting the ground, she managed to turn on her back, taking on herself most of the impact. Icarus and the cloud, however, slipped out of her hooves again and they both crash landed on the wet ground in the middle of a pinewood.

*** ***** ***

Dash recovered almost immediately, feeling extremely concerned. She stood up but felt a sharp pain in her back due to the crash landing. She nervously looked around, wondering where Icarus could be.

The rain continued to fall unceasingly, pushed forward by the mighty wind from the ongoing storm.

She yelled his name again and again and then she saw him, during an extremely short lightning strike, lying on the ground not far away from her. She rushed to reach him, fearing the worst.

The pegasus lay stretched out on his side and, underneath the storm, it was difficult to get an idea of his current condition.

Rainbow tried to rouse him with a hoof: Icarus’ eyes opened wide and he suddenly started gasping for air.

“Icarus! Icarus, are you all right??” she asked worriedly, her voice partially muffled by the heavy rain.

“I… uh…” he murmured.

“How do you feel?”

Icarus waited a moment to recover and, when he tried to stand up, he collapsed to the ground uttering a cry of pain: his right wing was bent downward.

“M-my wing… it hurts…” he whispered through gritted teeth.

“Hold still, don’t move!” urged Dash, who was starting to panic once again.

Icarus tried to hide his grimace of pain behind a smile.

“Chill out Dash, everything’s all right… I think it’s just … uh… dislocated.”

He tried to delicately move his wing but the attempt resulted in another unbearable stab of pain.

“No,” he declared with closed eyes. “I think I busted it pretty bad...”

“This was a stupid idea and I, twice as stupid, agreed to go through with it!”

“Rainbow…”

“I knew I shouldn’t have done it… I knew I should’ve brought you immediately back home… I knew I…”

“Shut up for a second and listen to me!” he interrupted her. “This was the most… wonderful, the greatest, the most… amazing thing I’ve ever done. Even now, this burning pain makes me feel alive, more alive than ever…”

Rainbow Dash tried to calm down and listened to Icarus, whom continued, “Don’t have any doubts: you gave me the most intense rush of emotions that I’ve ever felt in my entire life... and which I will probably never experience again. Riding a storm is... absolutely incredible."

Icarus gulped loudly and, hesitantly added, “But even better… was riding the storm next to you."

The two looked at each other for a moment, recognizing clearly each other merely by the lightning’s light.

Eventually, Rainbow seemed to calm down completely and, with a bit of emotion in her voice, responded, “All right Icarus... actually that was... pretty awesome. But now you have a messed up wing and we’re talking under heavy rain. We’ve gotta get out of here.”

They both looked around, trying to understand where they had landed: a difficult task during a stormy night.

“I think,” Dash tried to guess, “that we’re in the Everfree Forest... Actually, I’m sure of it: do you see that path? All we have to do is follow it to get back to Ponyville, and from there we’ll get you all fixed up.”

“Are you sure?”

“Uh… maybe, I mean… yes,” she stuttered.

“You might be right… Isn’t that the same road we took… yesterday afternoon?” he asked, bringing back a bit of sorrow from that memory.

“Yeah, I think that’s it."

The wounded pegasus thought about it for a while and then drew Dash’s attention to him.

“Listen, I have another favor to ask you…”

“No more flying!” she answered instinctively.

“Yeah, that’s fine,” he nodded. “Actually, I wanted to ask something else... If that path leads to Ponyville... then that means taking it in the opposite direction will bring us to... Fluttershy’s place, right?”

“What are you getting at?” she asked with suspicion.

“Could you… could you bring me to her?”

“Icarus… it’s raining cats and dogs, you’re hurt, your mom is surely looking for you, and when she finds out what I did she’s gonna kill me! We can’t stay."

“I’ll handle her, no joke this time… But first I’d like to see Fluttershy."

Rainbow could guess what the pegasus intended to do, but she also thought that drawing out that night full of surprises was overkill. Once again, obvious common sense lost out.

“All right, Icarus... but then you are marching straight home, and there’s no Fluttershy or storm that’s changing that!”

“Deal... and, this time, I would like you to help me up."

Dash tried to push him from the side: Icarus brought himself up with intense effort and some signs of pain.

“I’m not sure you walking there would be a good idea...”

“I know my limits. I can do this but, afterwards, I’m gonna need a ride,” and then he started to limp towards the trail.

*** ***** ***

It was a long time before they spotted the home’s outline in the distance. They crossed a bridge over a small stream, with its flow almost doubled, and they finally reached the door, where they knocked.
A faint light appeared behind the windows and, shortly after, a timid Fluttershy appeared from the doorway.

“Rainbow Dash?” she exclaimed in surprise, seeing them soaking wet. “And… Icarus?!”

“Hi, Fluttershy,” answered her friend with an embarrassed smile. “Mind if we come in?”

She quickly let them inside, figuring that something had gone wrong.

“You’re dripping wet. Wait here while I get you something!” and she came back with a couple of towels. Icarus remained with his head down the whole time, staring at the floor, lightened only by a few dim candles.

Seeing the towel, he gently asked, “I’m sorry… I find it difficult to… I mean… to move my hooves as you do… and I’m dripping on the floor, I don’t want to…”

“Oh! You’re right, I’m sorry!” replied Fluttershy instinctively, gently covering him with the towel.

Icarus stared at her and the shy pegasus thought she must have said something wrong again.

“I mean… sorry like… it’s not that I think that you… well…”

Icarus felt a growing sense of regret inside him; he thought about how he had treated her the day before, and how she was treating him in that moment. He slightly shook his head, causing the towel to slide to his shoulders and approached Fluttershy.

He closed his eyes and gently lay his forehead on her chest.

“I don’t expect to be forgiven for what I said to you,” he whispered, “but I wanted to say that... I’m sorry.”

The shy pegasus’ face changed from an expression of surprise to joy. She instinctively tried to hug him but Icarus stepped back right before she could do so, feeling extremely embarrassed.

“Well… I…” he mumbled.

“It’s ok,” Fluttershy reassured him with a very sweet smile. “Everything’s all right.”

*** ***** ***

Sunshine’s yelling could be heard all the way to Ponyville, probably, and Rainbow Dash’s eyes were squinting from every high note that came from Sunshine’s throat (and there were many of them).

“Have you gone out of your mind?” she ranted. “Do you even realize what might have happened?!”

Icarus, in the meantime, was lying down nearby with his wing in a sling, resignedly listening to the fit of rage that Dash was having to suffer through.

All three of them were in the gray pegasus’ room and his mom was boiling mad. He tried to defend his friend several times but Sunshine quickly scolded him.

“You be quiet! I’ll deal with you later! Running off like that...”

“Why does everypony keep telling me to be quiet lately?” he asked himself quietly.

“And you, Rainbow, I can’t believe you did something as stupid as this! Look! Look at his wing! It could have been much worse than this too!”

“I… I have no excuses,” she admitted with regret.

“Is that all you have to say? I have no excuses?” she pressed her.

“Mom,” continued Icarus, “you can yell all afternoon but the truth is, if I could go back in time, I would do it again, even if it meant breaking all of my bones."

“Perfect! Now I’m going to have to watch to make sure that you don’t sneak out and convince her to throw you into another random storm!”

Her son became sad. “You know that’s not going to happen."

“Yes… that’s true,” answered Sunshine, after a pause that calmed her down a little.

“What do you mean?” asked Dash in a hushed tone.

“We got some news this morning,” she replied, forgetting for a moment what had just been happened. “Some very important news for Icarus… It seems… that in Baltimare a team of doctors and unicorns have found a possible solution to his problem.”

“Really?” exclaimed the blue pegasus, bursting with joy.

“Yes,” said Icarus a little angrily. “And that means I’ll have to leave tomorrow...”

Rainbow’s sudden joy faded slightly, hearing those words, but that was without a doubt the best news he could get and understood that it was also one of the few chances he had ever gotten.

“It’s a bummer that you have to leave so unexpectedly, but... this is great news! You finally have a chance to get better! That’s awesome!”

“I know, that’s true,” continued Icarus with low enthusiasm. “But it’s not a surefire cure... they’ll have to keep me under observation, do some tests. That doesn’t necessarily mean that I will heal… and they also told us that… this treatment doesn’t come without risks.. I’m not very keen about it but… if this is the only chance for my son to… to have a future with outspread wings, then…”

“You know it’s the only way, mom. I’d rather try and fail than stay my whole life sitting on a cirrus cloud with my wings fastened by a belt.”

“I know...” she admitted, lips trembling. “It’s just that... if something were to... go wrong...”

“That’s ridiculous!” he yelled, almost with his same old arrogance. “Did you see what I’ve done? I’ve ridden a storm! I’m the flightless pegasus who rode the storm! I soared through lightning and thousands of thunderbolts! I crash landed and yet I’m still here, happier than ever!”

Sunshine, hearing what her son had gone through, seemed about to faint.

“You’re not exactly helping me out here, Icarus!” exclaimed Dash.

“But it’s true!” he insisted. “I can face that and much more!”

“I need to sit down,” whispered his mother, taking a brief rest.

“You know, Rainbow Dash,” she finally said, “the mother inside me would like to tear out all of your feathers, one by one."

Dash felt uneasy again for the umpteenth time.

“As a mare, however, I’ve seen the joy in Icarus… I cannot recall in his entire life a moment of happiness greater than now… and it’s actually all thanks to you,” she concluded with a smile.

“So my feathers are safe...?”

“For now… but if you scare me like that again … your feathers will be all that’s left of you,” she uttered, looking quite serious.

Dash gulped and Sunshine left the room to prepare for the next day, leaving them alone.

“Gee, that was close… and I’m dead tired… I just want to crash on my bed and go to sleep,” sighed Rainbow.

“I’ll let you go, don’t worry. I really made you run the gauntlet tonight."

“Dealing with you is a full-time job.”

“I know, I know… it’s hard to stay away from a charming pegasus like myself."

Rainbow’s eyelids suddenly dropped and the blue pegasus swayed for a second before recovering.

“Uh… listen… I’m so tired I can hardly stand…”

“Go ahead, it’s not a problem. However…”

“What?” she asked yawning.

“Maybe later, after you’ve rested, let’s say tonight... if you would like to drop by… before I leave tomorrow… that would... be nice,” he mumbled incoherently.

“Tonight?” she asked.

“Seeing as I have to leave tomorrow… Don’t get me wrong: I hate sappy farewells but… I just wanted to… I mean… one last night with the two champions of Equestria together,” he concluded embarrassedly.

Dash smiled.

“All right, Casanova! You know that I can’t say no to a charming pegasus like yourself."

*** ***** ***

The air was cool and the night perfect: lying on the clouds near Icarus’ home, the two pegasi were watching a spectacular starry and clear sky, beautiful beyond belief, as is usual in the hours following a big storm.

Dash was lying on her back, hooves on her chest, and face looking up towards the constellations. Icarus was next to her and, due to his wing, was resting on his side: an issue which still did not prevent him from relaxing and marveling at the spectacle above them.

Everything around them was absolutely still, minus the usual gentle blowing of the high altitude winds.

“It’s silly, isn’t it?” asked Icarus, breaking the silence.

“What?”

“You know... the stars, the sky... lying here, fixated on watching a black sheet full of specks.”

“That’s not true: it’s beautiful.”

“Knowing you I would think you’d prefer activities that are a bit more... active.”

“You’re making the same mistakes I did, Icarus. Once, for example, I thought that reading was stupid, only meant for eggheads. Then my perspective changed. It took me a few weeks in the hospital and a bandage on my wing to understand that… but in the end I figured it out… Like when I was so sure about my beliefs… which I’ve learned to question by being with you…”

“Certainty gives security,” he answered thoughtfully, “but it essentially shuts every door and it leaves no open possibilities. I think you’re right, yet I still wonder what you could’ve learned by being with me... besides having patience, I mean.”

Dash looked at him with sincerity.

“Before... I raced… I’ve always raced. I thought that there was nothing worth doing unless it involved speed and the esteem of everypony else. I’ve always seen the landscape below me at such speeds that… when I finally stopped to really look at it, I realized the beauty that I was missing.” She brought her gaze back to the sky, feeling a bit of emotion growing inside her. “Instead I should have just slowed down... so that I could discover that there are ponies able to fly even without wings.”

Icarus really appreciated those words.

“The faster we fly,” replied the gray pegasus, “the more we distance ourselves from those whom cannot fly. You know, Rainbow… I think I’ve learned something too.”

“I’m all ears.”

“I... I know how I am: when you grow up being treated a certain way, you’re raised with notions that are difficult to change, I’m aware of that. And trust me, it’s not that I’ve never tried to act differently…”

“I don’t think you should change, Icarus…”

“I know… as time went by, I’ve learned not to rely on others’ opinions and to keep pushing forward. I’ve had to struggle with things that everypony else could do every day without even thinking twice about them… I’m proud of myself… even though… lately I’ve also had the opportunity to be ashamed of some things I’ve done.”

Dash remembered something she saw a while ago in a book.

“You know… once I read somewhere in a book, don’t ask me which one ‘cause I don’t remember, that you can’t improve without a little pain first.”

“What I’ve learned,” added Icarus, “is that serenity isn’t something that solely depends on a situation. In other words, it’s not hard to be happy in a happy situation... it’s a whole another story being able to always be happy.”

“Unless you want to become a spiritual master,” replied Dash laughing, “I doubt you’d even be able to do it! I can’t even imagine what that’d be like!”

“Yeah… pure utopia, right?”

“I don’t know… think about it. A week ago I thought that utopian for you was baking muffins with a somewhat wacky chef... or being in a beauty salon, or sitting down to eat with other ponies or... riding a storm.”

“...or talking underneath the stars with you.”

Both of them continued to silently watch the sky, which was occasionally cut through by some lonely shooting stars. Icarus, lost inside that black sea, was caught by a mild discomfort.

“Do you remember what I told you this morning? That I can deal with this and much more?” he asked with his voice choking up and teary eyes.

“Yeah… yeah I remember,” she answered, sensing that there was something wrong.

“Well… truth is… my situation, my disease… it’s definitely not getting any better. I’ve already went beyond the most optimistic predictions by carrying on until today…”

Dash turned to her friend and, hearing his words, felt short of breath.

“And even the therapy that I’m going to begin,” he continued, “comes with an uncertain outcome. Now I’m here looking at the sky, as I’ve already done in the past, and I’m wondering if… if this will be the last time I’ll see the stars… if I’ll be able to hear the wind blowing among the clouds again… if there will be another starry sky for me…”

Rainbow felt a deep pain in her chest. She kept looking at Icarus, whose face was slightly tear-stained, and she tried to say something. She knew all too well, however, that any words of comfort would be a waste with him, so she decided not to say anything.

She turned on her side, placed her hooves around his waist and hugged him gently, trying to not hurt him.

Finally she spread out a wing with which she used to cover the young pegasus’ injured one.

Icarus buried his head in her chest and, choked up, whispered, “I’m scared, Rainbow Dash…”

They embraced each other tightly, forgetting for a moment about the cinnamon bones.

“I wish I could say something…” added Dash with emotion. “Something magical that’d make you feel better… but the only thing I know… is that what we’re going through right now is the best proof of life and our will to live that we have. I’d really wish this moment would last forever.”

*** ***** ***

The gray pegasus leaned out from the train coach at the station, with a smile rarely seen on his face. The railway engine wasn’t moving but, from its whistles and puffs, it was clear that it would be taking off soon.
Below him, the friends that he had recently come to know gave him their best wishes.

“I hope you like it!” exclaimed Twilight excitedly. “It’s the most complete encyclopedia I could find in all of Canterlot!”

“It’s wonderful,” answered Icarus, turning towards the inside of the wide cabin.

In this order he saw: four books stacked on top of each other, brown betties, a vase with gorgeous flowers, a new outfit ready to be worn and, last but not least, a huge pile of pink cotton candy.

“Thank you all for the gifts and also for the… uh… mountain of…”

“It’s like I’ve told you!” exclaimed Pinkie with a bounce. “It’s soft like your cloud! Plus, it’s… pink! It’s also good for emergency food!”

“Thank you,” repeated the pegasus sincerely.

The group was only missing Rainbow Dash. In reality, she wasn’t missing: she was found perched on a lonely cloud, far far away. She was watching the whole scene with her teary eyes, thinking that if she had gone to him earlier, she would have gotten emotional to the point that she would have broken down and cried. Therefore she opted for a last minute appearance, to avoid a tear-jerking farewell.

She dived and, in less than no time, glided next to the group of ponies.

“Sorry I’m late!” she exclaimed, pretending to be out of breath. “I just got here from training for tomorrow’s race!”

Icarus smiled, not believing a single word she said.

“So, Casanova,” continued his friend. “Are you ready to leave?”

“Actually, after having met you I would rather stay here. But... this is something that can’t wait."

“Yeah, it’s what you gotta do. Ah, listen... I didn’t bring you any farewell presents... I’m... I’m not really good at this sort of stuff."

“Don’t worry,” he reassured her. “You’ve already given me more than you could possibly imagine.”

“Yeah, but…”

The whistle from the locomotive abruptly interrupted them and would be leaving at any moment.

“C’mon Rainbow,” answered Icarus. “We both know that we don’t like sappy farewells…”

“Well… this isn’t necessarily a farewell."

“I hope so with all my heart. And, if you have the chance, promise me… Better yet, all of you promise that you’ll come visit me."

The group enthusiastically agreed. Only Dash was not rejoicing, looking at her friend with a touch of sadness.

The whole line of wagons made a jump and the train slowly got on the move. The ponies continued their friendly goodbyes as he was progressively moving away towards his destination.
Rainbow said nothing and only watched as the speed of the train continued to rise.

When the train was a little ways away from the station, Twilight whispered, “I really hope they can help him. He deserves it."

“I like him the way he his… with cinnamon bones," replied Pinkie with a muffled voice.

Dash suddenly felt confused, as if she was lost in emptiness, and started looking around, blindsided by a sudden uneasiness.

She finally couldn’t take it anymore.

She took off and flew towards the coach carrying the pegasus. Her friends watched the whole scene astonished.

“Icarus!” she yelled, trying to shout over the sound of the accelerating train.

The gray pony leaned out again and, rubbing his hoof underneath his eyes, exclaimed, “What are you doing?! I told you no sappy farewells!”

The train gained speed and Rainbow started falling behind.

“Icarus, listen!” she continued out loud. “Tomorrow! Tomorrow, when the clock strikes two…!”

“What’s going to happen tomorrow??”

“Whatever happens, when the clock strikes two, look up at the sky, towards Ponyville! Got it?”

Icarus responded right before she slowed down and landed out of breath, but she was too far away to hear him clearly.

“Tomorrow,” repeated Dash softly. “Tomorrow at two o’clock…”

-Epilogue-

The competitors were positioned at the starting line, anxiously waiting for the checkered flag. The crowd was excitedly cheering and the tension in the air was so thick that you could cut it with a knife.
Every pegasus got into position and started frantically flapping their wings in place, preparing themselves for the impending start. A deafening noise, like a thousand crazed hornets, spread throughout the cloudy arena.
Rainbow was up in the first row, looking proud and confident. Thunderlane next to her winked and they both exchanged satisfied smiles.

After a few moments of increasing excitement, the signal was given and the competitors took off.

Dash made one of the best starts she had ever done in her life, immediately outstripping the group by several yards. The audience went wild and the sportscaster heatedly started commenting about the performance of the multicolor maned pegasus.

The squad rapidly approached the end of the straightaway, ready to take the first turn, but while the contestants started tilting in order to follow the track, Rainbow didn’t modify her flight path and carried on.

The audience gasped in surprise while the announcer babbled astonished.

The pegasus started to pull upwards more and more until she was flying vertically towards the top of the skies. The stadium behind her became farther and farther away.

She passed through different levels of clouds, cumulus, and nimbostratus, finally reaching the highest of altitudes; still far from the cirrus clouds, yet close enough to see them clearly.

She stopped to catch her breath.

Below her, the land of Equestria was visible in all of its splendor. Dash glanced at Icarus’ distant home, which by now was uninhabited: a small white dot lost in the blue. She then brought her attention back to a blurry spot on the ground, Ponyville, and, for a moment, she remembered the events that had occurred within the last couple of days. She rapidly relived her first meeting with Icarus, the feelings of discomfort, the visit that didn’t end well, the pegasus’ mane covered with flour, his interest in the library and then the outfit, the lunch, Fluttershy, ending with the storm and their talk underneath the starry sky.

She felt a brief rush of emotion and whispered, “I hope you’re watching, Icarus…”

And she nosedived.

She descended faster and faster, constantly gaining more and more speed, up until the point where she had to shut her eyes because of the wind. Her body sent clear warning signals, which were promptly ignored, as soon as the pegasus started to notice the air drag getting stronger.

Increasingly dense whitish contrails started to form around her and, while being not too far away from the stadium, she heard a deafening boom and a blinding light enveloped her completely.

*** ***** ***

Icarus continued to patiently check the clock, waiting for the minute hand to reach twelve. The train he was travelling on was by now very far away from Ponyville, having vanished beyond on the horizon many hours ago.
The clock finally struck two and the pegasus quickly looked out from the cabin window, watching the sky closely. A few minutes passed by and nothing happened.

He started to think that something had gone wrong when, suddenly, a faint glimmer appeared where earth and sky meet. This was followed by a sonic boom, like thunder, which hit the train, shaking all of the wagons for several moments. Icarus’ mane vibrated, swept backwards by a gust of wind.

Then he saw it: a big blurred circle, all the colors of the rainbow, slowly spreading outward in the blue sky, sweeping away the low altitude clouds. The valleys became painted with the iridescent reflections of the rainbow and the tear-filled eyes of the pegasus were reflecting like a mirror.

“What happened?” asked his mother behind him, worried by the commotion.

Icarus turned around with his face tear-stained and the reflection of a thousand colors coming from the window behind him.

“You know what happened?” he replied touched. “The greatest champions in all of Equestria met each other. A pegasus who couldn’t fly proved that he didn’t need wings to do so. Somepony who reached for the stars learned that it’s important to enjoy the journey while not necessarily having to reach the destination.”

The pegasus wiped his eyes.

“That’s what happened. And, despite my fears, it’s thanks to all this that today I feel more alive than ever.”

The train followed its path, travelling up and down the hills that would lead it to its final destination. It traveled farther and farther into the distance until it vanished in the horizon.
The sky, after that strange phenomenon, became clearer and brighter than ever before.

Nopony could have ever seen them clearly from the ground but, many miles away, the cirrus clouds were flying high, completely unaffected by the force that had swept away every other kind of cloud.

Author's Notes:

Thanks for reading.
Every single comment will be well accepted. We need all the support you can give to us.

This fiction was written more than a year ago, originally in Italian, on the mlp.it forum. Since then it has brought about a group of fans whom offered to create fanart and start a translation project to let the rest of the world know about it. I want to note that writing is my passion, a way for me to try and transmit my feelings and emotions through this innocent cartoon.

Currently there exists a sequel to this story called L’Ultimo Volo (The Last Flight). we're working on the translation!

I never would have thought that something like this would be translated and I will never be able to sufficiently thank the people whom made all of this possible.
I really hope that the efforts that have been put into this project will allow others to read a small story that came directly from my heart.

I would specifically like to thank:
-vale and ALittlePwning: for the translation, the proofreading and the time they dedicated to the project;
-Azzu-nyan: for the tons of fanart and the cover image;
-Crazy4pony: for basically organizing this group and making all of this possible;
-Akay: for the support and the opportunity of a published version of the story;
-E.O.W.: for the support, beta-testing and the fanart/collaboration;
-GMoody and Sidero: for the fanart and suggestions on design;
-Leia Eden: even though you won’t read these words, I thank you for the support that you gave me and for believing in this fanfic. Despite the problems that have come up... know that I care about you.

And thanks to all those who believed in me, us, and in this story.

Thanks for believing that you can really fly without wings.

Sketch by E.O.W. on http://eowdt.deviantart.com/gallery/44329984
Vectors & colors by Lantheros on http://lantheros.deviantart.com/gallery/