Chapters "Ok, class dismissed," Miss Cheerilee announced as all the fillies and colts sprung from their seats, set on starting their weekend as soon as possible. "Remember the book report is due next week."
"Have a nice weekend Chipmunk," a few foals snickered as they passed by a brown colt packing his saddlebags. He glared at their backs before resuming his previous task. He was used to this kind of teasing, but it didn't mean he liked it any better.
"Goodbye Wood Chip. Have a nice weekend," Miss Cheerilee smiled at the colt as he walked out the door.
"Bye," He half mumbled.
The walk home was uneventful as other foals rushed by, going to Sugarcube Corner or the park to play. Wood Chip had no friends, mostly because he was shy and very awkward. The few times anypony expressed an interest in befriending him, he would usually scare them off unintentionally by either something he said wrong or a very weird joke. Everypony at the school would find amusement in playing games such as "Pretend Wood Chip Doesn't Exist" and "How Much Wood Could A Wood Chip Chuck" which involved throwing sticks at him. And telling on them only made things worse, up to the point where the stronger colts would beat him up after school. They did eventually cease when Miss Cheerilee finally caught them. However, it didn't put an end to the glares he received when the teacher wasn't looking.
Plopping down underneath a tree, Wood Chip decided to rest for a bit; he was in no rush to go home after all. Besides, resting gave him some time to think. Thinking seemed to be the only thing he was good at, maybe he would even get his cutie mark in it. Sighing he glanced up at the sky, once again noticing how endless it seemed. He liked that endless feeling of blue; it reminded him of endless possibility, that maybe, just maybe, he would amount to something one day.
"Chip!" a little colt came scampering up to Wood Chip as he entered the house.
"I see you finally came home," An orange mare came walking up to the two foals, wearing a look of slight disapproval.
"Sorry Mom," Wood Chip mumbled as he threw his saddlebags down.
"Mind telling me how your day went?"
The colt shrugged. "Same as always."
His mom sighed. "Dinner's almost ready. Remember we're going to that Wonderbolt Show tonight."
Wood Chip shook his head. "Wait, that's tonight?"
"Yes, I told you about it weeks ago. Mulch wanted to go for his birthday."
"It's gonna be so awesome!" the younger colt exclaimed, pumping a hoof in the air.
"Must be cool to fly," Wood Chip mumbled.
"I know, but Earth Ponies can't fly sadly," his mom headed back to the kitchen. "My first coltfriend was a pegasus."
Wood Chip only shrugged again.
"I'm so excited Chip!" Mulch beamed. "Wind Twister told me about The Wonderbolts! He said they're awesome! He also said that his uncle is one but I don't believe him."
"Can you two help me set the table?" their mom's voice called from the kitchen. Wood Chip obliged, Mulch in tow.
Mulch wouldn't stop talking throughout the entire meal. He was always that way, especially when he was excited. Wood Chip just chewed his food and listened, occationally nodding. After dinner, the three headed down to the mini stadium set up in the middle of Ponyville. They verified their tickets and got their seats, Mulch still talking at a million miles a minute.
"Hey Mulch, why don't we go get some snacks?" their mom intervened.
"Ok!" the energetic colt smiled.
"Alright. Wood Chip, you mind staying here?"
Wood Chip shrugged.
"Ok, we'll be back." and with that, she was dragged off by the young colt. "Mulch slow down!"
The older colt watched them go before looking back down at the track, seriously what was the amusement in that? He shook his head in disinterest.
Suddenly, a series of trumpets blew as a team of pegasi zoomed out into the stadium. Whoops and cheers all around; Wood Chip sat back in his seat. This was going to be a long show.
A series of hoops and areal equipment was set up, bolted to a bunch of clouds that hung at Chip's eye level. The pegasi took a quick bow to their audience before taking to the obstacle course. The lead pony went through first, barreling through a series of moving hoopes before flying into a tunnel and tumbling out in a graceful loop de loop.
The second came next, doing the same thing except soaring up a bit after coming out of the tunnel, only to dive back down a bit before pulling off three barrel rolls.
Wood Chip watched them, his eyes so glued on their areal tricks that he didn't even notice when his family returned.
After the obstacle course, the six members then raced each other along the track and the colt found himself cheering when the winner crossed the finish line. Then came the stunts all the members did together, which reminded him of graceful dancing.
Then came the grand finale, one particular member with a rainbow mane ascended above the rest before breaking into a full speed dive. The other members moved out of the way as she picked up more and more speed, forming a cone of sorts around her front body.
Suddenly, a mixture of light and sound resounded throught the sky, a rainbow streaking across the endless blue. Wood Chip stared in awe as Mulch joined the excited cheering in the crowd.
"A SONIC RAINBOOM!" He shouted. "THAT WAS A SONIC RAINBOOM!"
Chip continued to stare up at the sky, following the fading rainbow remnants, when a thought struck him like a lightning bolt. Endless possibilities.
"I wanna fly." he mumbled to himself, a smile breaking across his face. "I wanna fly."
Staring from atop a hillside, Woodchip adjusted his helmet one last time. Weeks he had spent studying up on flying and now it was time to put his knowledge to the test. The books stated that one would first need wings and even went into detail about the aerodynamics. He didn't understand that part sadly, so he just fashioned two shoddy ones out of tree branches and leaves.
"Ok Woodchip," he mumbled to himself as he walked up to his makeshift ramp. "You can do this."
Crouching down, he cautiously approached the edge, being very careful not to look down. That was the number one rule in the "Flying for Beginners" after all, so he set his eyes upward at the endless tapestry of blue. Endless possibility.
A smile began to break out across his face, as he pulled his wings open with his hooves. Finally he would feel the freedom of flight.
"One...two...three!"
And then he jumped.
He wasn't in the air two seconds before he began to drop in altitude. Panicking, he began to flap his wings rapidly, hoping for some height gain, but the action only aided in his fall. He was soon in a full out dive, headed straight for a pond.
The landing wasn't soft, even if it was in water. Woodchip was sure he cut his right leg on something when he felt a searing sting erupt from it when he hit the bottom; the swim back up wasn't easy either, the drag from his wings making it all the more difficult.
So the relief he felt upon breaching the surface of the water and getting safely to shore was unbearible. Collapsing from exaustion, Wood Chip gave himself a minute to catch his breath; Yeah, twigy wings were a bust. Another pain erupted from his leg, causing him to turn his head and look. Yeah he cut himself all right; blood seeped through a slit about three inches long up his calf. Gosh, he'd be lucky to walk on it.
"Hey look guys, it's Chipmunk!"
Wood Chip raised his head in alarm as a group of older colts approached him.
"Nice flying out there squirt," another member teased. Wood Chip cringed, did they really see that?
"Yeah, I like the part when you crashed into the pond."
They all broke out into laughter.
"What are these?" the leader approached the small colt, taking one of the wings in his hooves. "Hey look guys, it looks like Chipmunk wants to be a bird!"
The other members laughed again before breaking into a series of crude tweeting sounds.
Wood Chip huddled in his place as the tweeting grew louder and more intense, soon beating in his ears like a drum. He was sure one colt kicked dirt in his face and another tore one of his wings off. A few tears fell from his eyes before another colt chided him for being a baby.
Suddenly a wisp of air blew by Wood Chip's right ear, followed by alot of yelling. He dared to look up and was beyond surprised to see the colts being plummeted from all directions by a pony that was smaller than them. A pegasus. She was fierce too. When she knocked one colt to the ground, she would turn around and nail another as if she knew where they were coming from; and she didn't hit them softly either.
"Get outta here!" She yelled in Wood Chip's direction. He didn't need to be told twice.
Turning tail he bolted, trying his best to ignore the searing pain from his leg.
He was falling. He didn't know where and there wasn't a speck of light around him. Reaching out a hoof, he tried and failed to grasp something but only brushed against the empty air.
"Help," he meekly called out before squeezing his eyes shut, hoping for the darkness to go away.
He landed on something soft shortly after. Sitting up, he opened his eyes only to be forced to squint from the immense light that met him. He was sitting in the middle of a grassy terrain, much similar to the field he practiced his flying earlier. Getting up, he brushed himself off but soon jumped as he caught sight of a shadowy figure moving toward him. Then slowly it began to morph until it took the shape of a lanky pegasus.
"H-Hello," Woodchip attempted a nervous wave, but the shadow remained unmoved, staring at him. Then it began to laugh, low and deep at first but then slowly progressing to shrill maniacal screams. The sky around began to darken as the screams grew louder. Suddenly, another shadowy figure floated up, joining in with the screams.
"Stop it!" Woodchip crouched down, covering his ears. "Stop!"
More shadows joined in as the screams slowly morphed into taunts. "Dodo wings, Dodo wings. Chipmunks got Dodo wings."
"STOP!" he shrunk as the shadows bore down on him, growing steadily larger.
They then began to prance around him, the taunts becoming louder and more prominant until even covering his ears couldn't block it out.
Then one shadow, the pegasus, leaned down until he was face to face with the young colt.
"Earth Ponies can't fly, you idiot."
Wood Chip woke with a start, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. What was he thinking? Earth Ponies can't fly and they never will.
He cut class the next day to go sit up on the hill he tried to fly from. The bullies were at school anyway, so no chance of them bothering him up here...after all, he just wanted to be left alone. He was stupid for thinking that he could learn how to fly when he just wasn't built like that. The shadows from his dream were right...
"Hey Pansy!"
Wood Chip jolted at the voice of a filly nearby.
"Yes you, with the brown coat! I'm talking to you!"
"Leave me alone," he mumbled, lowering himself to the ground. He was only answered by a stomping of hooves and the filly grabbing his face, jerking it so hard that he swore she almost broke his neck. And the worst thing was he recognized her...she was the pegasus that saved him from the bullies the previous day.
"Don't ignore me like that," she snapped at him, giving him a death glare. "I came up here to tell you that you owe me one for me having to bail your sorry flank out yesterday."
"Ow..." Wood Chip mumbled, pulling away. "Fine, what is it you want? Money? A snack?"
"I want you to stop being such a wimp."
"What?"
"Where are your wings?"
"I...you saw what happened I'm assuming."
"And instead of trying again, you come up here to sulk."
"Shouldn't you be in class?" Wood Chip got to his hooves, raising his voice slightly.
"I don't go to school, but we're not talking about me here!" she fiddled with her ponytail. "I want to know why you let a few useless jerks get the better of you instead of coming out here and trying again."
"WHY DOES IT MATTER TO YOU?!" the small colt burst out. "WHY DO YOU CARE? Cause apparently nopony does." He sat on his flank again, looking down.
"Just because nopony else cares doesn't mean you shouldn't either," the filly sat down as well, voice slightly softer.
"Earth Ponies don't fly," Wood Chip retorted coldly.
"Fillies don't fight. Not like what you saw anyway."
He looked up slightly.
"Listen Pansy, in all honesty I think you're crazy. Insane even, but that doesn't change the fact that your idea is...well the best I've heard in a while."
"You really mean it?"
"Of course I do!" She shot back to her hooves, voice returning to its normal harshness. "If I didn't mean it, I wouldn't have said it! Now I want to see you here tomorrow afternoon, ready to fly, no exceptions!" She turned to leave. "Name's Starshine by the way."
And with that she spread her wings and took off. Wood Chip stared after her, a small smile growing on his face. Did she really mean it? Did she really just think his idea was the best she's ever heard?
