Learning To Fly

by Phantomilian

Rating: teen
Tags: Tragedy, Twilight Sparkle, Sad, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rainbow Dash
Length: 2308

Rainbow Dash comes to terms with her past.

Sometimes when traumatic events happen to us as children, we never completely deal with them and simply move on. Now, Rainbow Dash is an adult, and she is quickly realizing that she will have to come to grips with her past before the memories tear her apart.

Inspired by Pink Floyd's "Learning To Fly"

Edited by: Azure-spark
http://www.fimfiction.net/user/Azure-Spark

Cover art by: recycletiger
http://recycletiger.deviantart.com

Published 2012-02-19 21:24:02 UTC
Last updated 2012-02-19 21:24:02 UTC

A Momentary Lapse Of Reason

"Come on guys! If Rainbow Dash can do it, why can't I?" Said Scootaloo. She was standing on the very top of the Sweet Apple Acres barn, preparing for her first attempt at the "Sonic Rainboom" that Rainbowdash had displayed at the Best Young Fliers competition.

"Uh...Scootaloo," Applebloom said worriedly. "I don't know if this is such a good idea. AJ would be mighty furious if she caught you on top of our barn"

"Well who says she has to know? Besides, you said she's off competing in some rodeo anyway, right?

"Relax, Applebloom, it'll all be fine. She can fly right? What's the worst that c-" Sweetie Belle’s speech was stopped when Applebloom drove her hoof into her mouth, "Sweetie Belle, please, for the love of Celestia, don't finish that sentence"

Scootaloo reared her back legs as she prepared for kick off. Her stare off into the distance was just as strong as her determination. "I'm gonna do it, just like Rainbow Dash. And I'll get my cutie mark for sure!"

She kicked off the top of the barn at a surprisingly fast speed. She looped around once and headed straight for the clouds, quickly gaining momentum.

"Wow, she's goin' awful fast!" said Applebloom, surprised. "Maybe she can do it!"

Scootaloo quickly gained altitude and before they all knew it, she was above the clouds. She hovered for a moment looking down, preparing for her dive. She knew she would have to get pretty close to the ground before she could gain the speed she thought she needed. She took a hard gulp, shut her eyes, and descended furiously.

"Where'd she go?" Said Applebloom, looking for the orange and purple blip she had last seen. Sweety-Belle said nothing, and simply stared up in amazement. Whoosh! Scootaloo came roaring down from the clouds at a shocking speed. Anypony could tell you that a young filly shouldn't fly that fast, but she didn't care.

She wanted her cutie mark, but maybe, even more-so, she wanted to be like her idol and perform the famous “Sonic Rainboom”.

Scootaloo opened her eyes as she could sense the ground drawing near. As she came within inches of the ground, she shot forward, creating a fairly large gust of wind that Applebloom and Sweetie Belle both stood in shock at.

As Scootaloo gained more and more speed, she started to realize just how fast she was going, and became frightened. "Oh, oh no... I can't control it. This is too fast, but I don't know how to sl-" Her speech was stopped when what appeared to be a cyan blur caught her right before hitting a tree dead on.

"What were you thinking, kid? You were about to go right into that tree! You could have gotten hurt!" It was Rainbow Dash, and she had saved Scootaloo from what could have been a serious injury, if not worse.

"I-I'm sorry big sis..." Rainbow didn't seem like herself. Instead of the careless go-getter she normally is, she seemed rather frustrated and concerned for Scootaloo's safety. In fact, you could almost say she was angry with her.

Rainbow Dash sat her down, and looked at her with an unpleasant expression. Listen, if you can't control yourself at that speed, then don't fly like that! It takes years of practice to control yourself at full speed."

Scootaloo looked at the ground and frowned "I'm sorry...i just wanted to be like you..." Rainbow Dash's eyes opened wide for a second, and she seemed to drift off somewhere else in time and space.

Come on little bro! It's just flying. What kind of pegasus is afraid of heights anyway?

I-I...

Just jump! JUMP!

Rainbow Dash quickly came back to the events at hand and angrily responded, "Well...then don't try to be like me!"

Scootaloo wanted to cry, but she could tell something was off about her big sister. It wasn't like Rainbow Dash to worry about safety, or especially to discourage another pony from idolizing her.

"W-Why are y-you being so mean?" Scootaloo sniffed.

"I' m...I'm not mean! I just don't want to see you hurt yourself, okay?!" What seemed to be a tear started to form from one of her rose-colored eyes. She quickly looked away and said, a little less angrily "Just...don't get hurt, ok kid?"

Scootaloo nodded, wiping away a stray tear that had fallen as a result of Rainbow's reaction. "O-o'kay..."

Rainbow Dash patted her on the head and said, "You're still my little sis, okay?" It was becoming harder for her to fight back tears.

Scootaloo smiled slightly, but was obviously still upset from the whole event. She nodded and trotted off towards her friends and apologized for worrying them.

Rainbow Dash, wincing at the thought of herself crying, opened her wings and took off quickly, like she had forgotten something she had to do. Scootaloo and the other Cutie Mark Crusaders just watched as she flew off.

I'm sorry. I know this is difficult, but there is a chance he... will not make it.

W-what?! No! My Galey is strong...he will make it...he...he has too...

I understand your pain, but we're having a very difficult time controlling the bleeding and I… just want you to be prepared for the worst...

A loud crack of thunder was heard across ponyville, waking more than a fair share of colts and mares up from their sleep. It was Rainbow Dash, and she had woken up with her hoof buried deep in a cloud that was innocently passing by where she slept.

"Come on Rainbow! It was years ago! Scootaloo was just being a kid...you got over this a long time ago. Just, go back to sleep"

She turned over in her make shift cloud-bed and closed her eyes. However, it only lasted for a minute as the sound of a familiar intellectual mare caught her attention.

"Rainbow. Rainbow! are you alright? I heard thunder. There's not supposed to be a storm for days! Is Derpy up there?"

Rainbow opened her eyes softly and said "No Twilight, it was just a... a fluke. It happens sometimes. Go back to bed, sheesh."

Twilight was concerned for rainbow. She had been noticing her not getting much sleep lately, and her drifting off even in mid-conversation. "If you're sure you're okay, Rainbow. Just know I'm here if you need somepony to talk to"

Rainbow Dash gave it a brief moment of thought, and not surprisingly, rudely told her, "I'm okay, thanks Twilight. I just need some sleep"

"Well, okay," said Twilight, before tiredly trotting back to her library further into Ponyville.

It wasn't long before Rainbow Dash was able to fall asleep again. Despite her nightmare, she was still very tired and desperate for sleep.

I'm so sorry little brother...I'm so sorry...please...please wake up...WAKE UP!

It was morning time in Ponyville, and Twilight Sparkle was awake wide and early despite the incident last night with Rainbow Dash and half of Ponyville being woken up by thunder. Twilight was sitting out on her balcony, reading a book titled "The Mysterious Blue Box of Equestria". Twilight softly chuckled to herself "Can you believe ponies actually read this stuff, Spike?"

Spike was fast asleep in his bed, and showed no signs of waking up any time soon. "I guess he is pretty tired... he didn't even wake up last night from the thunder. He's been helping me a lot lately with the library, I should just let him sleep." As Twilight reopened her book and continued reading, she heard a light knock at the door.

"Who could that be?" She thought to herself, realizing how early she had woken up. She trotted down the staircase as the unknown pony knocked again.

"Hey...Twilight, you home?"

Twilight opened the door and to her surprise, it was Rainbow Dash. "Oh, hey Rainbow, you're never up this early. What's up?"

Rainbow looked away from Twilight and simply said, "Can we talk?" Twilight grew concerned. She had never seen Rainbow Dash so quiet before. Or ask for help for that matter. Rainbow walked in, and took a seat without waiting for Twilight to offer. She sat down, and stared out the window as she began to speak.

"Twilight" She said softly, "You know a lot about magic, and ponies, right?" Twilight nodded her head and said bashfully, "Well, I'd say I've learned a thing or two."

Without hesitation, Rainbow asked her "You can erase ponies’ memories.. .right?" Twilight looked at Rainbow confused, but more concerned.

"What's this about Rainbow? Did something happen to you?" Rainbow looked back at
her, frustrated. "I don't want to talk about anything, it's just a simple question. Can you?"

Twilight nodded, "Probably... but it's dangerous and it's hard to control exactly what memories get erased. I could completely wipe out the last 10 years of your life withou-" Rainbow cut her off mid sentence "I don't care. Just try."

Twilight sighed and looked out the window Rainbow was staring out of. "No" she said
solemnly.

Rainbow punched the air in frustration and said, "Well, what use are you then? What kind of friend won't even help another out when they need them?!"

Twilight was taken by surprise at Rainbow's outburst. Rainbow has acted selfish in the past, but not to this kind of degree. Twilight noticed Rainbow fighting back tears. Twilight walked over to her and placed her hoof on the shaking pony's shoulder. "Please, talk to me. Tell me what's going on. I promise I won't judge you, or think anything less of you. You're my friend, okay?"

Rainbow looked up at her, like a lost dog finding a new owner. She closed her eyes and began to speak. "It was a long time ago... my father, my mother, me and my brother..."

Twilight's eyes opened wide "You have a brother?" Rainbow ignored her and kept
speaking as though Twilight had never spoke.

"We were all in Cloudsdale, and we were very young. Our parents were teaching us how to fly. You see, every pegasus goes to flight school to learn how to fly, but we all learn the basics from our mothers and fathers. For most, it comes naturally. But for some it's more difficult. For my brother, it was very difficult. He had a fear of heights.”

Twilight, knowing Fluttershy, wasn't surprised . She knew that even a pegasus can have a natural fear of heights.

“It's very rare for a pegasus to be afraid of heights like earth ponies and unicorns, but it happens. My parents were inside, and it was just me and him this time. My parents noticed how well I was learning to fly, and asked me to help my brother. They were confident I could handle it and so they left us alone..."

Twilight could now tell this wasn't going in a pleasant direction, and rubbed Rainbow's back softly hoping to comfort her.

"We were both standing on the edge of a cloud, preparing for take off. He kept telling me how scared he was and that he couldn't do it. He was so scared... I didn't realize how serious it was though. How could I? I was just a kid... So I egged him on to jump."

Come on little bro! It's just flying. What kind of pegasus is afraid of heights anyway?

I-I...

Just jump! JUMP!

"So he did. We both jumped at the same time, and he did it. He hovered for a moment, then moved around a little bit. Careful not to stray away from the cloud. I egged him on more though..."

Come on! You can do better than that! Fly higher, and try to keep up!

"So I took off at full speed. And he followed me... as fast as he could. He wasn't really paying attention to his control... he was... 'out of his element'. I guess he was embarrased that I called him out like that...so he tried to follow me. I don't think he even knew what he was doing..."

There you go bro! Now, faster, like me!

"It was such a beautiful day... everything was perfect for flight... I can remember it all so clearly..." A single tear slipped from her eye. She wiped it away, and tried to fight back the others welling up that she could feel in her head.

W-whoa! WHOA! Big sis, I'm flying too fast... I can't stop!

"I was too far away... I was expecting him to follow behind me."

H-help, HELP!

"Even then... I heard it..."

*SNAP*

"There is nothing in all of Equestria that makes that sound... except when a pegasus’ wing breaks..."

AAAAAAAAAAA!!

"I was too far away. I could hear him, but I wasn't anywhere near him. I tried to fly to where I heard it come from...but I... I" She sniffed, and let out a hard growl of frustration as she could no longer control her emotions.

"I couldn't find him!" She said, slamming her hoof on the coffee table.

Twilight asked hesitantly, afraid of what the answer would be, "What happened...Rainbow?"

"He jus'... he fell... into some trees below. We thought he would be okay... but he hit
one of the branches too hard."

Mom! Dad! I th-think Gale is hurt!

"He just laid there... not moving... I couldn't tell if he was even breathing..." She took a hard breath, her chest shaking vigorously. “My Mother and Father flew down as fast as they could... all I could do was watch in fear and confusion...”

Oh my Celestia! Is he ok?! What did you do Dash!

I-I didn't...

Answer me!!

"I was really young Twilight. But I knew something was wrong. I didn't realize though that he... he would..." She quickly drove her face into her hooves and yelled out of anger. "That he would die!"