I sifted through my closet, looking at the various cloaks and hats to cover my wings and bare head. Mom and Dad made me wear them. My indigo hooves that faded to a peachy color at my wingtips shimmered faintly as I moved through my room, fretting the gathering. I would be fine. I'd done other gatherings... this would be the same. It should be the same, anyway.
There was the sound of Pegasus wings pumping up and down, up and down, as a taxi pulled up to the mountain. I trotted down the stairs, wishing I could unfurl my wings and fly, or even have a horn to flash down to the lower floor.
"DuskRose, darling! Open the door for your aunt and uncle!" Mom told me, not looking up from the mirror she was holding up with magic. I walked over to the giant doors and began to pull when Dad galloped towards me.
"Sunny Rose! What were you thinking, letting her open the door?!" Dad yelled. Mom looked away from the mirror and gaped at me.
"I'm sorry, dear. I wasn't even paying attention," Mom replied. She glared at me. "You can go sit in the living area, where you will remain seated until prompted." She turned away and threw her head back. Her horn glowed yellow as she opened the door for Aunt Matilda and Uncle Stormy. I sulked off to the sitting room and waited for Uncle Stormy to come follow. The rest of the family didn't know I had wings instead of a horn, so they actually like being around me. It was just Mom and Dad that thought I was bad blood. Silly them, I'm just as noble as they are... it's just that I have wings.
"Hello, Dusk! I see you have a new hat! Oh, dear, you still haven't gotten your cutie mark yet! Don't worry, I didn't get mine until I was eleven, so don't feel bad. I have a present for you." Uncle Stormy brought out a pretty gift wrapped in shiny blue paper and topped with a light green bow.
"Thank you!" I yelped excitedly. I ripped it open with my hooves and gazed at the white box. Very gently, I lifted the lid and gazed inside.
The large blue and gold bound book lay gleaming next to a long phoenix-feather quill. A small ornate black inkwell was upright and very pretty.
I reached over and hugged my uncle warmly, and he chuckled.
"You act like you never receive gifts!" I tensed up in his arms and squirmed away. I jerked back so hard my mane came out of its styling.
"What's wrong, honey?" Stormy asked kindly. I looked at him with panic glinting in my eyes.
"Nothing, I just got startled by the opening door," sure enough, my grandmother pranced in wearing a beautiful dress with fiery shoes. She sat down on a sofa next to the fireplace and smiled my way, careful not to let her disappointment at my presence noticeable.
"Granny Rose!" I said. I didn't care that my grandmother wasn't fond of me, I still loved her. When she thought I went to bed at the last family gathering, I heard her tell Mom that if I wasn't a Pegasus, she would be quite fond of me. I liked that, and I went to be with a good feeling.
"Hello, Dusk." Granny replied curtly. "I see you're well."
"Yeah, I've been great. I'll have to tell you about school! You see, I know this colt at school, and..." Granny held up her hoof.
"Later, Dusk." She told me impatiently. "Go help your mother in the kitchen."
I sighed, but nodded and got up all the same. Sulking, I trotted through the door to the kitchen and saw Mom, working hard to make the dinner. She lifted flour and roses into the air with magic. She must have done more than that before I'd come in, because she was sweating.
"Mom, I came in to help," I told her. She dropped the flour and roses and whipped around to face me. Anger sparked her eyes.
"You will only get in the way, go back to the living room!" She hissed furiously. Tears welled in my eyes and I swept out of the room and raced up the stairs as fast as I could.
"Everypony in my f-family h-hates me!" I sobbed into my pillow. My wings had snapped off of my back, tossing my cloak onto the floor.
I got up and rubbed my eyes with my hooves. They were red and puffy, and my coat was puffed out due to stress. To calm down, I began preening my wing feathers with a passion. I licked and rubbed my hoof against the soft down, and soon I had calmed down and my wings were shiny and healthy-looking.
From downstairs, I could hear Mom fuming about my run upstairs. She said that I was supposed to wait in the living room. She yelled at Granny for telling me to help, and Granny yelled back, saying that I was making her uncomfortable.
I frowned and got off of my bed. I was sure dinner was done, so I put my cloak and hat on and trotted down the stairs. Sure enough, my family was in the dining room, dipping their hooves in little bowls of warm rose-water. I sat down at my usual spot next to Mom and Dad and began dipping my own hooves. Mom scowled in my direction and I smiled warmly back at her. I really wished she would like me. I liked her.
"First course!" One of the servant Earth ponies declared cheerily, sending me a smile. Her name was Star Burst, and she had a thick silver mane with a soft black coat. She had a cutie mark in the shape of a full moon with a star on the left. Star Burst once told me that she'd gotten it when she stayed up all night at a party. She strayed away from her mother for a minute and got lost in the forest by the house. She was just a filly then, but she wasn't afraid. The night plants lit up when she touched them and looked like a thousand stars as she stepped on the moss an brushed past the leaves. She suddenly had a tingling sensation on her flank, and their was a cutie mark! Star Burst told me that she took her job as a maid to get her along with her night garden tours that she wanted to lead later in Canterlot.
She trotted over to me, pretending to lean over and set a platter down. She muttered to me quickly, "I have two tickets for a train, if you want to come." She left and let the unicorn servants to lift the silver coverings on the platters.
The food looked and smelled divine. There were pots of hot iris tea, and large pieces of birch bark seasoned with daisies and blades of soft grass. Another platter housed seafood- steaming turtle and manatee grass with coral bits and sea salt. The last platter was fresh from the Everfree Forest. There was a pyramid of chilled rose and duckweed sandwiches, topped with sweet wild zap-apple slices.
I was passed a sandwich and a slice of zap-apples by Mom, who had a smile plastered on her face. Dad passed me a bowl of steaming turtle grass. I was poured hot iris tea by Granny. Eating was great. I forgot my manners and dug in, greedy and gluttonous. Mom jabbed me with her front knee, and I stopped.
The rest of the night passed quickly. When the family was done, I was dismissed back to my room. but I wasn't allowed out for quite some time, in fact, I was beginning to get worried.
After about two hours, Mom and Dad came up to my bedroom with some bags.
"Dusk, we have decided that your are a disgrace to this family, and its name. You absolutely must leave... now." I blinked.
"What?"
"Yes. Your father and I are certain that it is for the best. You will be away from us, where you will not be as much of a disappointment to us and to yourself. I mean, how does a Pegasus compare to a unicorn? Anyway, we have decided to send you with Star Burst, as she has offered to take you. Pack up." Mom dropped the cases on the floor, releasing the magic that held them for her, and then stalked out of the room. I gaped after her and looked to Dad.
"But- but where will I go?" I asked, dazed. Dad rose up to his full height, and I shrunk back.
"That is for you to figure out for yourself," he said, before he, too, left me standing alone in my room to decide what I should bring with me in the two bags I was given.
~**~
The next morning, I was woken up at dawn by Star Burst. She regarded me with sad eyes that only made me want to cry. I was only a filly. I didn't even have my cutie-mark... and now I was being cast out of my own family? I racked my brain, all of my memories to see what I had done wrong or if there were any signs. All was for naught, because there were no signs for me to be led to believe that this would have ever happened, and there was nothing I had done to bring this on myself, except for not having a horn...
"Dusk! Are you listening?" I was jolted out of my thoughts rather violently as Star Burst prodded my with a hoof. "Come on, we have to get going before your parents wake up. The train station is about a mile away, and I have already alerted a taxi to come pick us up." I nodded deftly and put on my favorite cloak; black with little silver specks, and equipped a hat. Star Burst shot me a perplexed look, but said nothing. She may have liked me, but being a Pegasus was to be the scum of Equestria unless you had a horn to balance everything out, and unfortunately I was no Alicorn.
I hauled the bags onto my back and trotted down the stairs with Star Burst leading. One of out unicorn butlers opened the great oak doors with magic for us and gave a curt bow as we passed.
"Goodbye, Quill," Star Burst said before the doors shut on us. I hoped that one day they would open for me again. One day soon.
We had to wait about five minutes for the taxi to pull up. The Pegasus pulling smiled at me, and I only put my head down. How could he be happy to tow me away from my family? He couldn't have known, I reassured myself. It didn't do much good, but I straightened up nonetheless. After we got in, we had a twenty-minute ride ahead of us over the mountains and into a rather large valley that had virtually no trees other than the pretty apple and orange orchards. Other than that, the town was built on a few miles of open meadows. There were earthy brown and green cottages, along with the occasional pink or blue building. In what I guessed was the middle of the town, there was a rather large circle made of cobblestone with moss in the cracks.In the center of said circle, there was a giant willow tree. On the edge, there were various stands and shops. Four streets branched off of the circle at the cardinal directions, and all side-streets eventually ended up at the center circle.
"Welcome to the town of Hollow Shades. This is where I grew up, you know. It hasn't changed a bit, though I'm sure my lifelong friend, Dandelion, has moved to Canterlot by now!" Star Burst laughed, and I couldn't help but draw up a thin smile. The taxi began its decent to the town, and I found myself watching for where we would land, making guesses as we got closer to the ground.
We landed right in the middle of town, and the Pegasus driving us stopped next to the willow. Star Burst dug around in her saddlebag and brought out ten golden bits. She gave them to the driver and thanked him curtly. He nodded and trotted off, grinning and whistling a friendly tune.
"Okay, do you need anything before we hop on the train to Canterlot?" Star Burst wandered over to a shop selling very pretty and shiny apples.
"Well, no. I think we should just go..." I muttered. I was nervous and jittery, due to the fact that I had never been in the outside world. I'd never even been to the actual city of Manehattan, I just grew up in the mountains near it.
"Alright. Come on, then. We don't wanna be late!" Star Burst pulled me along the western-facing road. We stayed on the main street until we came on the wooden station. It had a cloth tarp covering that let the wind pass right through and cool the waiting area. Benches lined the walls, along with little tables covered in checkers. The inside of the station was basically just a big ticket booth and another waiting room.
I sat down on a bench and kept quiet, thinking my own thoughts. Star Burst, though, had caught sight of an old friend and was chatting with her. I was lost in my own world, thinking about what would have happened if I was one of those proud unicorns my family desired so much for me to be. I wondered if I would have been sent off as I had been... or if I would be part of the family like I desired so much to be. I thought about false memories; helping Mom entertain guests with stories of magic and mischief, using magic to prank Dad, or even being part of Granny's life like I would be anyway if I didn't have these stupid wings...
There was a long and low sigh, and when I looked up, the train was there, pulled up in the station. Star Burst came over to retrieve me, bidding her friend goodbye, and we boarded into the second to the last cart.
"So, if we're going to Canterlot, how do I get to Cloudsdale?" I wondered aloud. Star Burst turned to face me from her seat across the aisle.
"I've made arrangements for a friend of mine to come pick you up. You might know him, he's a bit famous. His name is Dust Hoof."
"The business-stallion?" Star Burst nodded and smiled enthusiastically, seemingly thrilled that I knew her friend. He was a Pegasus that would sometimes talk with Dad about work, but usually stayed away from them due to the fact that they didn't like Pegasi at all... rich or not.
"I'm glad you know him, this will make transporting you easier." I looked out the window, no longer interested in talking about my arrangements for Cloudsdale. I was, however, rather interested in learning about where I would be staying. I liked Dust Hoof well enough, but to live with him would be torture. Dusk Hoof was rather strict with his own child, Sky Runner, and didn't like it when anything was out of place. He was a very particular pony, and he liked everything perfect... no more, no less.
About an hour later, we pulled up in the station at Canterlot, where I found myself being pulled along by Star Burst into the indoor part of the landing. She sat me down on a bench and told me to wait for her while she checked into the city, as it would make accommodations for us in one of the cheaper hotels. Star Burst would stay in the hotel until she could find an apartment, or, better yet, a house. I would stay until Dust Hoof came to pick me up, which would be soon.
"Alright, Dusk, come on and follow me! The nice stallion gave me the directions to our hotel, so lets go!" Star Burst pranced around me in little circles, and I sighed inwardly. I didn't feel like being energetic. I should have, I mean, I was a filly. Not even four years old yet, and I was grossly depressed... which was bad.
"Hey," Star Burst paused mid-stride and looked at me with warm eyes. "What's the matter?"
"I just... never mind. Come on, let's go to the hotel."
Dust came to pick me up at around midday, and bowed slightly to me. When his gaze fell on Star Burst, he lit up. Thanking back, I think he might have liked my mare friend.
"Star Burst! How lovely to see you again!" He proclaimed. Star blushed and put her head down, suddenly shy. She was usually not shy.
"Hi, Dust. Come to pick up DuskRose, have you," she replied, looking up. Her blush had gone and she seemed to have recovered from her bout of shyness. She helped me with my saddlebags and smiled at me.
"Good luck, little one," she whispered into my ear. I was then pulled away from her by Dust Hoof, who was edging me towards a large golden carriage with little white wings on the side. Dust shimmied into his harness and waited patiently for me to get into the cabin. When I did, he began trotting. After a minute of that, he picked up into a canter, and then a gallop. Finally, his wings snapped open and he flapped them once, twice, three times before he was lifted into the air. The carriage followed, its little white wings pumping in time with Dust's. When his were down, the carriage's were up. In this way, we went speeding through the open blue sky. The pegasi had done a good job clearing out the sky.
"We will be in Cloudsdale in about ten minutes, DuskRose." Dust said. He was still flying, but we were going higher and higher into the sky, and I became nervous. I'd never been so high up before. In fact and truth, I'd never even flown before because a. I was never taught and b. I was not permitted to by my parents.
"Okay. Thanks," I replied, my voice quivering like a leaf in the breeze. Either Dust ignored this, or he simply didn't notice, because he didn't ask what was bothering me, and he didn't tell me to quit my whimpering. I couldn't have been happier.
Cloudsdale was beautiful. The buildings were smooth and flawless, the clouds molded to just the right shape that made the structures both pleasing to the eye, and practical. Town Hall's curving dome-shaped roof allowed wind to curve right over it, and the shops that lined Main Street blocked wind by being large and pointed. There we, of course other clouds that contained parts of the city. They were slightly smaller in size and spread apart considerably, but the city continued as if there were no breaks. I could see a large rainbow waterfall spilling out of a dome building, and I marveled at it, wondering how such a feat could have even been accomplished.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Dust asked from the driver's harness.
"Yeah... what's that rainbow over there?" I asked. Dust laughed.
"That's the weather factory. It's where rainbows and clouds are made and shipped to all parts of Equestria. Surely you must have heard of it!"
"Well, no. I've never left the mansion grounds."
Dust was silent for a moment. "Really? Why?"
"I'm a Pegasus in an all-unicorn family. It's shameful to be a Pegasus as it is, but to be one in my family... well, Mom can't just ruin the Rose family name by saying that a Pegasus was in the family!"
"You're a Pegasus, and you think that being one is shameful?" Dust asked. He sounded mad. I didn't know why, I mean, didn't he know that pegasi were just Earth Ponies with wings? We were only good for air transportation. Other than that, we were powerless and good for nothing. We hardly even contributed to the world.
Unicorns, though, they had physical manifestations of their powers! They could control the weather just like pegasi, only with their magic. They could grow any food they wanted using magic. They were the best pony specie, and that was non-debatable. Why didn't the pegasi just relinquish their weather duties, anyway? Unicorns could do the job better and more efficiently.
I said all of this, too. Dust was quiet, thinking. Finally,
"Unicorns can't walk on clouds. They don't have the capability to control the weather, because they don't have a bond with the skies and the winds like pegasi. We have our own magic, and unicorns have theirs. They also have their place. Most ponies know their place. Your family does not." The rest of the ride was in silence. I was glad to not speak. Dust was ignorant. Unicorns could take care of all of the weather and... and more! The pegasi were only allowed to control the skies because Princess Celestia found it fair to give the job to somepony other than the unicorns.
There was a thud, and I could hear the wheels of the carriage turning against the ground. Dust undid his harness and let me out. I stepped down, expecting to stand on good and solid ground... when I simply fell through it! I screamed in terror, and my cloak flapped around me. My hat flew off, and I let loose another heart-wrenching shriek. My wings snapped out and I flapped them as fast as I could, hoping the would catch the air. They didn't.
Suddenly, Dust was underneath me, grunting at my weight. I wasn't that heavy, was I? It didn't matter, though.
"You didn't step on the clouds. You stepped into a gap." Dust sighed and muttered something about fixing something. I blinked.
"Oh. Sorry for the trouble," I apologized.
The ground was soft and squishy, but firm enough so that my hooves didn't sink when I stepped down. I was eagerly exploring the area, wondering where I was. My question was answered when I looked up to see a rather large house. It was't as big as my old one, but was big enough so that it was take me a minute or two to get from one side to the next. There was a tower in one corner, and a window big enough to hold the length and height of a stallion in it.
"That tower room is yours. You will be staying with me until you can make it on your own. Now, I work from an hour after sunrise to an hour before dusk. I will drop you off at school on my way to work, and you will walk home when you're done. I have a friend who will babysit you until I get back from work. We will eat dinner, you'll bathe, and then we have an hour of relax time before bed," Dust explained, walking into the house. Dust was really quite tall, but he looked short compared to his doors. I gaped at the size, but shook my head and continued on my way into the house. There was a staircase on either side of the door, with little golden plants on white tables next to them. The clouds were smooth and polished on the inside, and they were sculpted to glorious designs and shapes. As I climbed the stairs to the bedroom in the tower, though, the ornate swirls and intricate carvings gave way to simple and plain pillars and tiles. By the time I got to the top landing, I felt like I was in a normal house. It was still very pretty, but it was plain, with nothing expensive as if it was meant for a guest. In this case, though, it wasn't. I pushed the door to my room open and peeked inside.
The room was painted a faint shimmering silver-grey, with warm golden swirls to accent the natural curls in the cloud. It was a perfect circle, and the large window I had seen earlier curved right with the wall and was actually stained glass. It depicted princess Celestia and princess Luna back to back, their wings outstretched and touching at the tips. Where there wings touched, there was a golden sun with a silver crescent moon within it. There was a windowsill bed next to it that was gold with silver bedding.
The next morning I went downstairs to eat breakfast, and found Dust making four pieces of toast. He buttered them quickly and gave two to me, and then we were off to school.
~*~
Two weeks had passed since I had arrived in Cloudsdale. I was introduced at school on my very first day as DuskRose, and there was a sudden flurry of wings as they curled up into the air. The other fillies snorted and tossed their manes angrily. I guess they had known about the Rose clan, then. I made friends with another girl who came from an all-Earth Pony family. They loved her just fine, but they didn't have the means to take care of her. Her name was Green Cloud. She was a pretty mossy green color with warm brown eyes, her mane being the same color.
"Just because your family doesn't like who we are, that doesn't mean that you don't!" She said on that first day. I shook my head.
"But I don't like who we are. Pegasi are a shameful race of ponies," I replied fervently.
"No, we are equal. We all have our own magic..." When I disagreed again, Green Cloud dropped the subject entirely.
But now, two weeks later, I found that Green had not completely forgotten the argument, as she approached me after class.
"Did you always feel the way you do about pegasi?" I turned to face her.
"No. But my parents cast me away and hated me because of these stupid wings," I gave my wings a flutter. "I wasn't doing anything wrong to make them hate me, and the family I had that didn't know about my wings loved me. So I decided that pegasi were less than unicorns and were useful only as servants. We are less than the power of the unicorns, and the sooner you realize this, the better off you'll be." Green nodded, understanding my problem.
"Are you happier, knowing that you will never be as good as the unicorns?" That made me pause. How could a filly be so smart as to question whether or not I was happy, and to analyze the problem as she had.
"I've made my peace, and so should you. That's my final answer."
"You didn't answer my question, though. Are you happy?" She tilted her head, and her eyes seemed to penetrate the deepest recesses of my mind. I thought for a moment, but couldn't find an answer that would prove her wrong. Dejectedly, I replied at last: "No."
I walked home in a foul mood, my saddlebags seemingly heaver, and the sky seemingly grayer than it already was that day. I was thinking about how awful it was that I would never, in a million years, be better than my parents. Ever.
There must have been a rush of wind or something, because when I looked up, there was a flash of blue and rainbow colored breeze. The object dipped down and there was a loud BOOM, and I stumbled over. The blue thing was being followed by a brilliant rainbow. The thing slowed down and I could just make out the shape of a speeding pony. She lowered herself to the ground and put her hooves down to the ground and galloped as fast as she could. She lowered her wings, put her head up, and slowed down to a canter, then a trot, and finally a walk. By the time she had stopped, she was right next to me.
Her mane and tail were rainbows, and her eyes were hot pink. She had a very thoughtful look on her face, and she said at last, "That needed to be about twenty percent cooler." I blinked in surprise. The creature spoke! She looked over at me and grinned, most likely at how funny I looked at the time.
"Hey, kiddo. Didya see that? That's what happens when you practice flying. Sonic Rainboom in ten seconds flat!" She told me proudly. I flashed her a funny look, and went on my way.
"Well somepony woke up on the wrong side of the cloud," I heard as I left. Whatever. That was reckless, what she did. How could she perform such a stunt like that around a filly! I continued along my way, not expecting to see the mare again. Well, I was sure I wouldn't see her again. I hoped not, anyway. Little did I know, she was my new flying instructor at school.
The next day progressed without any further action. I got up, put a clip in my mane, and went to school. My teacher was nice to me as always, Green Cloud greeted me in the morning and sat next to me, I found a paper stuck to my chair that said 'Penguin' in sloppy letters, and I did my work as usual. Until flight class.
The blue Pegasus was there, standing where Ms. Spitfire used to stand (before she was the Wonderbolts trainer, she was a flight teacher at school).
"Hello, everypony! I'm Rainbow Dash, the best flier in Equestria! I will be teaching your flight class until a permanent teacher can be appointed. Now then, flying is the best freedom in the world. You can see Equestria spread out before your very eyes, and you can feel the wind in your wings... the sky is at your command! But in order to be able to fly, you need to have strength, passion, and determination. You have to have the strength to lift your wings and flap them as hard as you can. You have to have the passion to get you off the ground, even when you're scared. You have to have the determination to get off of your rump and try again, even after falling." Rainbow paused and grinned at all of us.
"Who's ready to fly!?" She shouted. One by one, Rainbow watched my classmates flap their wings and stretch their legs. I had a feeling it was to asses their physical ability to fly, and not just to see them trying. When I stepped up, Rainbow Dash greeted me curtly, as if nothing had happened the day before. I flexed my wings, which were big for my age, and stretched out my legs, which were long, making me a fast runner.
At the end of class, Rainbow began announcing the ponies that would be allowed to continue the flight class. They were the ponies that had the physical capability to fly, any needed only to learn. Those who would not be allowed to continue were usually too small to fly well on their own and would be moved to a beginners class.
"The ponies who will learn with me are: Green Cloud, Thunder Smash, Slow Poke, Sky Fly, Bee Wing, and DuskRose, The rest of you will have to take the beginners classes to build muscle." Rainbow Dash announced when everypony had settled down. I sighed. I really didn't even want to fly. I was scared that everypony would laugh at me. I hadn't been exposed to the open sky yet, so I was sure I might has well have been an Earth Pony.
Class began simply. Rainbow Dash told us all to get in a line and breathe deeply and to focus our senses on every feather on our wing.
"Feel the wind ruffle them. Feel the magic that courses through your veins and into the recesses of your soul!" Rainbow shouted, sounding dramatic at that last sentence. I rolled my eyes but concentrated, nonetheless.
"If you are doing this correctly, you should feel a tingling sensation in your feathers. remember, if you don't feel it, that is totally alright, that just means you need a bit of practice. Now, straighten up, flap your wings, and start trotting!" I did as I was told and began. The long stretch of land that I assumed was a runway was softer than the rest of the ground. That was both reassuring and worrying.
"Canter." I picked up the pace. My mane, which was braided back today, flew behind me.
"Gallop! Start to feel- and I mean really feel your wings. At this point your should start flapping them!" I sped up and pumped my wings, up and down, up and down. I could feel every strike of my hooves on the ground reverberate up through my body and into my wings, ruffling my feathers more than necessary. I adjusted my gait and tread lighter, and I felt better. I could feel the wind rushing against me, my muscles automatically twisting my feathers to accommodate this extra resistance. As if I was just shoved, my body lifted off of the ground, and I glided over it for three seconds. I felt a flame within me, burning bright and powerful. I fueled it with my need for flying, and I pumped my wings faster and harder. That only made my trip hurt more. I had been going entirely too fast to stay on the ground. I had just tumbled hooves over head, and I was bleeding in more than one spot.
"Ow..." I moaned from my spot on the ground. How did I get scraped? I asked myself. Rainbow Dash zipped over and began assessing me.
"How did you get scraped?" I moaned again as she lifted a hoof.
"That hurts," I slurred. My head was throbbing slightly, and I could see little stars dancing around my vision.
"Okay, let's get you inside. C'mon." Rainbow hefted me up and carried me back to the schoolhouse. I heard her and my academic teacher discussing my little fall. There was laughing.
"Wha...?"
"Don't worry, Dusk. You should be fine. You have two scrapes a a couple bruises, but other than that you're not really hurt," Rainbow chuckled.
"But my head-" I began.
"You hit it, kiddo. You'll be fine. Just go ahead home, okay? I'll meet you there." I blinked. She was going home with me? The babysitter was supposed to start coming today- Oh my Celestia, Rainbow Dash is my babysitter. As I mulled over this disturbing fact, I was brought home by... Well I didn't know who brought me home at the time. I was laid down on my bed, and as soon as my head touched the pillow, I was out cold.
When I woke up, I could hear Rainbow Dash talking to Dust. I couldn't make out the words, my head was still spinning slightly. I got up, stumbled, and then steadied myself. I went downstairs and said hello to Dust.
"When's dinner?" I mumbled sleepily.
"It'll be ready in about fifteen minutes. Go wash up, for now while I talk to Rainbow Dash," Dust replied gently. I nodded and went to the nearest bathroom to clean my hooves and face. The fur around my mouth was clumped together with dried up drool, and I felt thoroughly embarrassed. I scrubbed quickly and went off to dinner.
~*~
Rainbow had been tutoring me in flying for about a month when she started asking me questions.
"So why did your family cast you out? How do you feel about the whole situation? Do you still feel like pegasi are less than unicorns?"
I answered the last question every time in the same way: "Pegasi do not have the magical capabilities that unicorns do. Unicorns can do everything a Pegasus can do, and more. MY opinions have not changed, as I am still a shameful and lesser being." Rainbow Dash pressed the matter, today, though. When I answered, she replied quickly.
"You know we have magic, too, right? We have the magic to move the clouds without trying. We have the power to stomp on a perfect white cloud and turn it gray and make it rain. We have the power to fly, despite our not-so-aerodynamic wings. A unicorn does not have the raw power to do that. Each race has its own power. You should learn that now." She walked away stiffly, and I stood after her, gaping. My mind was not made up. Not yet. I knew that at the time I was lying to myself, that I was just being too stubborn to admit that I was wrong. I just didn't conscientiously know it.
Flying became my refuge. Rainbow was slowly teaching me about the wonders of it all. How I just knew how to fly, without even thinking about it. The fact that I was thinking about it was what was keeping me from flying for more than two seconds. Finally, I had had enough. I needed to fly, and I needed to do it before the end of the school year. It had been months since I had been cast out of my family, and I needed something to be proud of, for once.
I stood on the runway that Rainbow Dash and I used for practice. I began trotting.
You can do this. You will fly.
Canter.
Lift your wings. Feel the wind. Feel you blood. Feel your feathers.
Gallop.
Up and down, up and down! Feel the wind. Feel the magic. Feel you power.
I launched myself into the air, my wings going full speed and pumping as hard as they could. I pushed a bit harder, and the flame I had felt on that first day of flight school was there again, growing on my determination. It was soon a bonfire, and I was soaring above Cloudsdale. Rainbow looked up and saw me, and cheered.
"Way too go, kid! Great job! Wooohooo!" I shouted and laughed, and in that moment, I felt pride. I felt just as I had the night of the family gathering. I was just as noble as the unicorns, I just had wings. I had my own magic. I had my own power. I had my own talent. This was the dawn of a new me. It was my new beginning. I might not have had my family on my side, but I had Rainbow, cheering me on, laughing at me, laughing with me.
I knew, in that moment, that no matter what my mom or my dad thought... I was special. Nopony could take that away.
