Flying With New Wings

I'm surprised I got this far this fast, I mused as I relaxed for the night.

Rolling over onto my stomach, I looked over the edge of my cloud-bed and looked at the area below. I had decided to simply fly west, and I currently found myself above the Mount Saint Helens area. It had seemed like a good place to hide, since it was fairly remote. There were a few houses and buildings a few minutes away, but not so close that a lone cloud sitting still in the sky would get their attention. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do tomorrow, especially for food. I’d already eaten half of what I’d packed with me. At the moment, however, I was really, really worried about something else that had occurred while travelling. I wasn't sure if it was a big deal, but it kept --

"Hey, Soar!"

I looked to the familiar orange Pegasus that lighted down next to where I lay back on a small cloud.

"Oh, hey, Spitfire."

"What're you doing out here so late?"

I smiled and turned my attention back to the skies above me.

"Just relaxing after a long day of practice. Something wrong?"

She shook her head. "No, I was just doing some paperwork and had to deliver some of it to you. When I didn't find you in your office, I got a little worried."

"Ah. Well, I finished the paperwork you gave me earlier, so I came out here to chill."

"Which involves what, exactly?"

“Just a bit of stargazing.”

She chuckles, “You’re a hopeless romantic, you know that?”

I grin, “I can’t help it! Princess Luna’s night sky is awesome!”

I shook my head sharply, trying to get the vision out of my head. They were happening with a growing frequency that, quite frankly, frightened me. But simply having them wasn’t the scariest part for me. It wasn’t that they were clear enough that, if I hadn’t been aware of them, I would mistake them for an actual memory of my own. I sighed as the last of the most recent memory/vision/whatever faded away. Rolling onto my back and letting my wings spread out to be more comfortable, I watched as the clouds above me moved out of the way. A smile spread on my lips as I saw the half moon. Surrounding it was all the stars of the night sky.

“Luna does a better job with the constellations...” I muttered to myself.

I didn’t even bother to correct that, because from that last memory, I could tell that it was true. Don’t get me wrong, the sky above Earth was very nice, especially at night. The stars and the constellations were always a joy to look at. It just... wasn’t the same. Stars that simply come out at night, and were difficult to see as long as I was in or near the city, didn’t hold the same beauty as a night sky that had a caretaker. Especially one like Luna. I mean, I’d only really seen about five minutes worth of Equestria’s stars, but even with that little I could honestly say that it was far more visually appealing than Earth’s.

"I hope the princesses are alright..."

All the flying that I’d done earlier that day was catching up to me, and I found my eyes drifting shut. The last thing I saw as sleep finally took me was the moon and the stars, and they moved to fill my dreams.

When I finally woke up, I found that I had rolled over onto my stomach at some point, and was even drooling a little bit. Wiping it up on a foreleg, I wondered what I would do for breakfast. All I had left from yesterday was a few apples, and I wanted to save those for when I was in the middle of flying. I had my wallet and some cash that my friends had withdrawn for me, so I could always go into town and get something. Not that doing so would be the smart thing to do, but --

“Uhh, Soarin’?”

“Yeah, Fleetfoot?”

“What’re you doing?”

I grinned deviously. “Messing with Spit’s coffee.”

She shook her head slowly. “That is definitely not the smartest thing you’ve ever done.”

“Ah well, buck it. I mean, YOLO, right?”

Fleetfoot couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “Not in this case. What have you put in there already?”

“A pinch of pepper, some hot sauce, and a little bit of salt so far.”

“Gross.”

“That’s the point. Now are you gonna just stand there and watch, or are you gonna help me out here?”

She got a thoughtful look on her face. Considering that we were all currently waiting for the show to start in thirty minutes, with Spitfire outside the team wait room talking to our manager, there wasn’t much else to do right now.

“Sure,” She finally grinned. “What else were you thinking of dumping in this?”

Yeah... that was definitely notthe smartest thing I’ve ever done. Fleet and I were doing post-practice laundry for weeks.

Even though I was a bit upset at the sudden appearance of the memory-thingy, I couldn’t help but chuckle. Especially one part of it, mostly because it reminded me of my favorite Achievement Hunter. Looking at my nearly-gone food supply, then back at the nearby town...

“Ah, well, buck it. YOLO~!”

With that, I dove down towards the small town and landed just in front of the grocery store. As I walked into the building, it was very easy to notice that quite literally everyone froze and stared. Having been a member of my high school drama club, I was alright with being stared at like this. Besides, at the moment, I was hungry, and as a result I seriously did not care what they thought about me.

I was able to somehow drag a basket around the store, and grabbed a few cheap, pony-safe, travel-sized snacks. Mostly Clif bars, a few small apples, things like that. The people there were still staring. Again, not that I cared. Couldn’t be bothered. Maybe later. As I went up to the cashier, I made sure to just stare at him myself until he started to actually ring up the items.

“Uhh... that’ll be $15.72...”

Nodding, it took me a moment to pull out a twenty from my wallet and hand it to him. I grabbed the plastic bag in my teeth, containing the wonderful-smelling food and my change, before high-tailing it out of there. Once I had landed on another cloud, I couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

“Okay, that was definitely not the smartest thing I’ve ever done... but it was so worth it to see their faces!”

I shoved the items I’d gotten into my little travel bag, making sure to keep the plastic bag for something in the future. Not sure what, but something. Hey, it’s good to be prepared. I’m sure that I got on the news with all the camera phones that exist, but again, I no longer cared. Why should I? If someone doesn’t like that I’ve become a pony, they can get over it. It’s none of their business, after all. Although, something tells me I’m probably going to end up either being thrown into a psych ward, a cage for experimentation, or if I’m lucky, I’ll end up on Saturday Night Live as a guest.

...That actually seems like a good idea. Maybe I can convince Spitfire and Zecora to do that with me or something. It would certainly help dispel any fear or whatever the world probably has of these sudden transformations. Well, either way, I had no idea where that show was recorded, so it probably wouldn’t work. Not to mention I needed to meet my captain in Illinois soon. Well, soon-ish. I wasn’t in a rush, after all.

“Soarin’, hurry it up!”

I sighed and turned to see Rapidfire standing in the locker room. The impatient look on his face told me everything I needed to know.

“We’ve got to get going now!”

“Rapid,” I began to say, rolling my eyes as I continued at my own pace. “We’ve got an hour until we meet at the bar with the rest of the team. Relax.”

“Yeah, and then we gotta go pack for tomorrow’s trip to Manehatten!”

I smirked, “Already done.”

“...What. When’d you do that?”

“This morning before practice. I’ve only got a couple things left to put in my bags tomorrow morning.”

“How come you’re always ready to go and relaxed?!”

“Because I always take my life one. Day. At. A. Time. I’ve said it before, dude.”

“You’re a Wonderbolt, Soar,” Rapid said, facehooving. “Going fast is what we do.”

“Most of us, anyway. Living one day at a time is a lot easier.”

Huh. Apparently Soarin’ and I lived life with quite similar attitudes. Well, I’d gotten that from the previous flashback-like visions I’d been having for the past two days, and after this last one, I was starting to believe that maybe that personality that had taken over back with my friends... wasn’t his mind. Someone might say that it’s all a coincidence, but I don’t believe in those.

So either Soarin’s mind came with this body transformation thing -- which was looking less likely the more visions I had -- or...

I was Soarin’.

That thought made me stop in midair, flapping to stay in place. After a moment, I found a cloud to sit on for me to logic my way through this. Starting with similarities between me and him.

We both loved pie. Not enough for me to be worried about splattering one by dropping it -- a memory of that one Grand Galloping Gala flashed through my mind -- but enough for it to be my favorite food. Specifically, homemade apple pie.

We both loved to take it easy. With life in general. Certain things we worked hard on, like for Soarin’ it would be flying for the Wonderbolts. For me, it would be my job... so we were similar in that respect as well.

Wow... just a couple of things so far. They were small, insignificant things... and yet, as I thought about it, it just made me think that perhaps it was true...

Perhaps I hadn’t turned into Soarin’.

Perhaps I had returned to being Soarin’.

And for some reason... that thought was strangely comforting...