Born Free

by Scquishiey

Rating: everyone
Tags: Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 6235

I love to fly; but surely all Pegasi do, right?

Rainbow Dash, an audacious, speed and flight-obsessed Pegasus who can't seem to keep her hooves on the ground for long tries to show her gentle, easygoing friend who is capable of flight, but does not care for it, the amount of joy it can bring if she is able to lose herself in it properly.

Fluttershy, a meek, demure Pegasus who would rather spend her days walking through sun-kissed gardens than soaring high up above like all other Pegasus ponies, tries to show her speed demon friend that slowing down and becoming one-with-the-earth isn't so boring as one may think.

Published 2016-01-08 04:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2016-01-08 04:30:01 UTC

As Free as the Wind Blows, as Free as the Grass Grows

Five o’ clock in the evening. My favorite time to fly.

That time of the day where the sun is just about to set, but just bright enough to be able to see all that surrounds me, as its blinding light won’t interfere with my vision as it is the perfect opportunity to indulge in its quiet, dreamlike simplicity.

I stand alone on top of a grassy knoll, and all is quiet. A light breeze brews, gently wafting my colorful mane and lengthy blades of grass that brush against my cyan hooves as I stare up outwardly into the great, blue abyss, which is simply known as the sky.

Or better yet, my sky.

Yes, my sky. The only place where I can find solace after facing yet another day of the same old drudgery, my sweet escape from the mundane earth, the feelings of stress from a hard day’s work instantly vanish when I’m soaring high above the ground in the insane amount of sky.

That’s what I love most about the sky–it never ends.

And it’s all mine.

With my hooves still on the ground, I close my eyes as I breathe in loudly through flared nostrils taking in the scent of clean, open air.

My eyes open, and I furrow my brow in complete, sheer determination. I crouch down low, almost touching the grass below with my underbelly as I quickly extend my neatly folded wings in a pompous manner, resulting in them releasing a loud pomf that would easily make anyone nearby turn their heads to look at the grand sight of a Pegasus preparing for the journey back home to her sanctuary.

I don’t waste another second of my time as I begin to forcefully flap my feathered wings down, the force pushes a few blades of grass away from where I stand, resulting in lifting my weight a mere few inches above the ground. I give another robust flap and I ascend a few feet into the air. I start to vigorously flap my fully extended, outstretched wings which sends me rocketing high up into the warm, evening sky.

I'm airborne.

I give my wings a few extra flaps to help me gain altitude; I then relax, leaving my wings extended, smirking as I look down below as I am happy to have pushed the forces of gravity that had recently kept me bound to the earth. I leave all of my troubles behind as the crisp air washes them all away.

I close my eyes as an appeasing smile adorns my face. I slowly open my eyes halfway to find myself closing in on an immensely large, azure-colored lake encompassed by rocky, towering mountains. I give a smug look as I stare at the pool that’s roughly about 300 feet below me. I begin to shift my weight and lean forward; I’m now descending towards the shimmering, natural natatorium, finding myself getting closer and closer.

I fly overhead of the large basin, now only about a few inches above from touching the water as I continue to glide across the top like a specter.

I look down to see my reflection; I find a good-looking mare with magenta eyes staring back at me wearing the same, confident smirk.

She looks happy.

I reach out with an outstretched fore hoof and tap the surface of the water, distorting the face of the mare on the other side as my hoof starts to graze the surface and soon cuts through the top layer of water sending diminutive droplets that spray up and mist out all over my cerulean body.

I give a slight chortle with the thought of how lucky I am to be able to accomplish such feats. I have the ability to sail vast seas and climb treacherous mountains in an instant.

With the sky as my limit, I know that almost anything is possible.

I cast my gaze up towards the big, beautiful, blue sky which now has a slight orange tint from the sun that is soon about to set.

I retract my hoof and tuck it under myself as I quickly start to ascend back into the peaceful heavens above with one brisk flap of my mighty wings that sends ripples through the water causing large, circular undulations to appear that quickly fade away.

I return back up into the sky, and I feel nothing but a state of pure bliss when I am up here.

I was born in the sky, so I belonged in the sky.

The thoughts of wingless ponies come to mind, and how I feel pity for them. They’ll never get to experience the true feeling of freedom quite like a Pegasus does. Some will say that a Unicorn is able to fly with the help of a levitation spell, but that’s not flying, it’s just some cheap imitation. Flight is meant to be felt, to be done effortlessly, not having to focus all of your energy on one pinpoint.

Oh how I pity them.

I continue to flap my wings, sending myself off into a breakneck pace. I look behind myself as I notice every single color of a transparent rainbow lightly streaming off of my prismatic tail as I continue to sail through the airy sea of early black.

I turn my head forward again, and close my eyes once more, seeing nothing but the darkness behind my eyelids as I proceed to slow my pace, only wanting to feel the sensation of the turbulent wind that surrounds me.

I can’t help but crack a slightly obnoxious smile as I proceed to do what I live for.

With my eyes still closed, I proceed to arch my back forward, slowly bringing myself to execute a sedated backflip. I flutter my eyes open as I find myself only halfway through with completing my task; the gentle atmosphere that sundown brings is so quiet and welcoming that it’s enough to give my heart a feeling of implosion as it almost brings a tear to my eye.

Almost.

I finish my backflip, and straighten myself out once more. The heavenly rush of it all is my reason for living. This is my life, and I love it.

And no one can take that away from me.

Such a luxurious feeling to experience, my soul starts to sing as I am overcome with tranquility and happiness. So much bliss, so much relaxation, and so much freedom.

But with no one to share it with.

My smile quickly fades as I think about how I always experience this pleasure alone; I usually enjoy my solitude, but got to thinking about how great it would be to actually have someone else along for the ride for a change. Show them how to feel what I feel.

I dolefully bite my bottom lip, and glance over to my right; I see the dark trees that belong to the Everfree forest; its eerie shadow-like features can easily make anyone want to turn back and run away from it as quickly as possible.

As I continue to stare at the Everfree forest, one specific pony comes to mind, or more specifically, another Pegasus–Fluttershy. My oldest friend from my days back at flight school when I used to live in the cloud metropolis known as Cloudsdale.

She’s the most courteous one out of our group of friends. I couldn’t ask for a more trustworthy pony to go to when I need someone to talk to, or to just listen to me ramble on about my day.

She lives in a small cottage near the entrance of the Everfree forest that’s a little further away from town.

How about I go pay her a visit?

With a quick shift of my wings I quickly change direction as I head straight towards the hair-raising sight of the Everfree forest, glad that I can just go over it instead of through it.

I fly high overhead, looking down at the twisted, grey trees below with branches that resemble long, bony fingers that would most likely snag something if it were to get unfortunately close.

I grimace at the thought of it happening to me, or someone I knew.

I look straight ahead and see a small, light tan, moss-covered, timber framed cottage come into view.

I stop flapping my wings to bring myself to a slow glide and aim myself towards the dirt trail that leads to the cottage’s front entrance.

I land perfectly on the path and walk a short distance towards the round, wooden, mahogany-colored, Dutch door; I bring a fore hoof up, and give the wood a short-lived, jaunty knock.

In mere seconds I hear the sound of hooves on wooden floorboards approaching the door from the other side as I wait.

The top half of the door creaks open and I find myself face-to-face with a buttercream yellow Pegasus with a long, light pink mane and turquoise eyes staring right back at me.

Her face perks up and her eyes beam at the sight of me. I'm not sure if the reason for her jubilant reaction is because she's either really happy to see me, or if it’s just because she doesn’t get many visitors out here.

It’s most likely me.

No I’m not just saying that out of my own arrogance.

I’m not that full of myself.

It's just that Fluttershy hardly ever opens up to anyone but her close friends, being the shy pony she is.

Fluttershy always tells me how much she admires my bravery and fearlessness along with how much I’ve grown as a pony over the years that she has known me, even though I don’t see much of a positive change in my demeanor.

I’m still brash, bratty, and irritatingly bold.

But somehow she sees past all of that and still sees the good in me.

She greets me quickly and quietly with a simple hello followed by my name as she opens the bottom half of the Dutch door and walks halfway through.

I greet her back with a smile.

She then proceeds to ask me what I’m doing out here, I respond by telling her that I was on one of my leisurely flights just outside the outskirts of Ponyville.

She smiles and intently nods, carefully listening to me as I continue to fervently go on about the events of my evening.

I love how she’s always there to listen.

A sudden thought provokes me. How about I take her along for her to get a taste of my glorious world above? I mean she is a Pegasus after all, and we are born to fly.

But I know Fluttershy, as she was never the one to fly. She was always different from other Pegasi as she felt more at ease with her hooves on the ground.

I need to show her how lucky she is.

I turn my head to look towards the oak tree forest that resides on the other side of her cottage and notice that the sun is barely visible through the shadowy trees that surround the quiet area as low sunlight filters through the bunches of infinitesimal tree leaves.

I turn my head back to face her as I take in a short breath of raw air.

I look her in the eyes and proceed to ask her if she would like to accompany me on an evening flight.

She seems to be oddly taken aback by my question as she takes a step back and straightens up a bit.

She then relaxes, bows her head down a little, and slowly looks up at me with a feeble smile and nod.

We are both out back near the area which I came from before behind the Everfree forest, only about 100 feet in the air as she doesn’t like to fly very high.

That’s one thing that I don’t get about Fluttershy.

She’s afraid of heights.

I know, it's strange since a Pegasus with acrophobia is unheard of.

She was also born in the sky just like me, same exact city, but never cared much for living up there as she was never a very strong flier as a filly like I was.

She has the ability to grace the skies, touch a cloud, catch herself if she were to ever fall with complete ease, but yet she seems so uncomfortable in the air.

Even though we are both Pegasi, we are complete, polar opposites.

I turn my head to look at her as I observe her face, noticing that she seems to be a bit agitated as she stares down at the trees and grass below us, not even once lifting her head up to look out in front.

She doesn’t look relaxed as I start to take notice in her starting to tense up more and more as we continue to fly. I know she wants to land, but I just can’t bring myself to do that at the moment. Not until she starts to feel what I feel.

I look out ahead to see the gorgeous sun slowly being lowered below the horizon with the help of Princess Celestia's magic as I feel that same, goofy smile that I only get from being suspended in the air sneak its way across my face once more.

I call out to Fluttershy while waving a fore hoof out in front of myself to catch her attention. She turns her head and looks at me with big, overwrought, turquoise eyes.

I point my extended hoof out towards the now quickly descending sunset as I tell her to just look at the scene that stood before us and to take in the magnificent sight of what only ponies like us are able to perceive in such a unique way.

She follows my orders and stares at the sun with a mildly unamused look plastered on her face as the sunlight reflects off of her unimpressed, turquoise eyes, emphasizing her mild displeasure.

I scowl at the sight of her not being able to find peace and serenity in it like I do.

For the next few moments we begin to reminisce about our younger days in our former home in Cloudsdale.

We chuckle at fond memories, and grimace at not-so-pleasant ones, but all is good.

After finishing our talk about the good ol’ days, I remember the reason why I wanted to bring her out here in the first place.

To help her learn how to enjoy the sensation of flight. To show her what a Pegasus is built for.

I find her staring back down at the ground once again, seeing the look on her face as she so eagerly wants to set foot on the verdant, grassy ground once more.

I know that look– it’s the same one that I make when I look up into the sky as the feeling of knowing where I belong washes over me as I can’t help but show my need to reach out for it.

My need to touch the sky.

I guess showing her how to enjoy flight in the same exact way as I do is similar to her showing me how to slow down and enjoy walking through a grassy meadow.

Thanks, but no thanks.

She was always the one to be with nature, a very down-to-earth type of pony who held animals and the quaint wilderness near and dear to her heart.

Something that I could never be.

I still don’t want to give up; I still want to give her a chance at something that flightless ponies are envious about. I need her to realize how lucky she is.

I instruct her to follow me as I head out upfront leading her back to the large lake that I danced merrily upon earlier before I paid her an unexpected visit.

We swiftly reach the lake, and I peer down below and notice that the bright, orange sun’s reflection had disappeared, and the moon stood in its place, its incandescent glow reflected off the face of the water, giving us enough light to see what we were doing.

I turn to look at her as we hovered a hundred feet above the lake, telling her to glide down with me to the water’s surface. She looks at me, nods, and we both proceed to glide down and hover a few inches above the lagoon.

I look down at the glistening body of water and smile as I once again meet up with the mare in the lake as she too smiles back.

I look back over to Fluttershy and see her staring down at the lake with an unsure expression, most likely wondering why I brought her down here in the first place.

I smile as I call out her name, telling her to watch me and to do exactly what I am about to do.

I straighten my body out horizontally and extend a fore hoof down below and touch the tip of the water’s surface as I give my wings one hearty pump that sends me propelling forward across the surface of the water. My hoof, once again tears through the liquid barrier, sending tiny sparklets of water a short distance into the air, each droplet being illuminated by the moon’s luminescence sprinkles back down into the lake as it results in making a light pitter-patter sound as each droplet hits the surface returning back from where they were recently discharged.

My face beams and my heart pumps with excitement as a task so simple can bring me so much joy.

I turn my head around to take a look behind myself as I continue to glide across the water; I see Fluttershy sporting a dripping wet mane while bearing a not-so-happy expression.

Oops.

I quickly make a U-turn and head back to where Fluttershy hovered.

I reach her without any delay and begin to apologize multiple times for the inadvertent mess that I made out of her poor mane.

Her expression flees from mildly upset, to surprisingly calm and collected. She then smiles softly and lets out a sigh, telling me that she knew it was unintentional, and that we should both consider heading back to her home to dry off.

Oh well. I tried.

We reach her home, landing softly down onto the dirt trail near her front entrance of her cottage as she lifts a fore hoof out and begins to push the center of her door making the two halves both creak open at once.

She slowly walks in as I stay outside, neither of us muster out a single word, the only sounds being made came from her hollow hooves hitting against the floorboards.

She passes through the door frame, and then turns her head around to look at me.

She gives me a meek, heartwarming smile that I am barely able to seek out behind the pink strands of her wet, matted mane.

She opens her mouth as she is about to tell me something; she tells me to wait outside, and that she has something that she wants to show me.

I find ourselves strolling through the spacious woodland near her home that is the complete opposite of the Everfree forest. Its pasture is adorned with medium-sized oak trees and meager daisies and dandelions scattered all about across the grass-covered meadow.

I glance over at Fluttershy as she glances back with wide eyes and a soft smile.

She advises me to follow her as she gracefully jumps up into the air, spreading out her cream-colored wings and brings herself to hover a few inches off the ground.

I proceed to follow her directions with utmost eagerness as I too spread my wings out and give them a strong, passionate flap that releases a force that is of course strong enough to detach the fuzz off of the nearby dandelions from the tip of the plants, making the tiny seedlings float up and around in the air.

I ascend a few inches above ground, matching Fluttershy's position.

If anything involves me with having to fly, I’m always up for it.

She gives me a warm smile before turning her body to lead out in front as I follow closely behind.

We fly low to the ground, smoothly banking underneath and around the moonlit trees.

She gently flaps her wings downwards to pull herself up a few feet towards a thick, bare tree branch belonging to one of the many oak trees. I stop and hover a few feet away from her as I look up with a questionable face before proceeding to do the same.

She and I both find ourselves at eye level with the tree branch and I notice something resting on top of it towards the base.

A small bird’s nest with three bright yellow canary chicks huddled closely together stare up with small, beady, black eyes at the two strange, candy colored, giant birds staring down at them.

They all begin to chirp repetitively which makes me back a slight distance away from the nest.

I continue to stare at the noisy birds with a slight glower as I flex my ears downward in attempt to drown out some of the noise that I find to be mildly unpleasant.

Fluttershy takes notice to my reaction and looks at me with a bittersweet smile.

She reacts to the scene in a much more distinct manner as she slowly approaches the nest with an outstretched fore hoof, placing it on the inside, and carefully scoops out one of the tiny, yellow chicks.

The young chick being held inside of Fluttershy’s fore hoof rapidly flutters its wings as it tries to fly away, but cannot since it is still far too young.

Fluttershy smiles down at the panicked bird with glistening eyes as she brings up her other hoof and cups her hooves together to prevent the bird from making any more unsubtle movements as she looks back at me with a contented smile telling me to follow her as she starts to slowly descend back towards the ground.

I frown in dismay as I was hoping to be able to do a little more flying.

After finishing up with being slightly disappointed, I quickly fold my unfurled wings back to my sides and drop straight down towards the ground landing harshly on the soft, dewy grass on all fours.

I look over to see Fluttershy sitting down with her back rested up against the oak tree's trunk, holding her cupped hooves near her chest as she smiles up at me and tilts her head towards a spot on the grass, signifying that she wants me to accompany her.

I tilt my head in slight puzzlement, then start to canter over to where she sat, taking a seat down on the grass facing the opposite way from where she is comfortably situated so her and I can both face each other.

She looks at me with a sweet smile as she is now very happy that I had decided to join her in whatever we were about to do. She then starts to lean forward while stretching out her fore hooves and slowly begins to uncap them, presenting the baby bird being held inside.

I lean my head forward to get a closer look of the small, defenseless creature perched in Fluttershy’s hoof, tilting my head to the side as I begin to move my eyes up to meet with hers as I give a look that’s telling her that I’m not entirely sure what’s going on, or if there’s anything specific that she wants me to do.

She lets out a small giggle when she realizes how confused I must look.

She brings her other fore hoof back up and gently places the tip of it on top of the chick’s head and slowly starts petting it down to its back.

While she continues to stare at the young bird with a pleasing smile, she then asks me what I notice about the bird, and to tell her what I find that catches my eye at the first glance.

I sat there continuing to give her a quizzical look before proceeding to look back at the bird that sat in her hoof to answer the question that was given to me.

That’s an easy one. I notice its wings first of course.

I look back up to tell her my observation, and she gives me a simple smile and nod like a teacher praising a student for giving a correct answer.

She moves her empty fore hoof towards the bird again, but this time touching underneath one of the bird’s feathery wings, slightly stretching it out of its folded state.

With the petite wing still in her hoof, she inaugurates a short speech on how it is still small, but one day it will soon become large enough to carry its weight for it to be able to soar high up in the sky, becoming a great natural born flier just like me.

I feel a slight, toothy grin start to form on my face from what I believe to be a compliment.

I puff out my chest as I feel my pride wash over me as I thank Fluttershy haughtily.

She notices my cocky attitude and gives me a slight, miffed look.

I see her displeased expression, and quickly swallow my pride and clear my throat, quickly shifting my gaze back down at the bird nestled in the palm of her hoof.

Fluttershy then brings the yellow chick up close to her face, and begins to softly coo at it.

I carefully observe the way she treats the creature with such tender, loving care.

Her cooing stops as her gaze shifts down to look at a daisy near the tree where we both sat. She reaches out and grabs hold of the stem, plucking it out from the ground as she glances up at me with a devious smirk while still holding on to the flower, and proceeds to lean forward in my direction, quickly placing the daisy behind my left ear.

I blink several times to process what had just happened.

From upon realizing what she did, I slink my shoulders back and puff out my cheeks, forming a slight pout as I look up at her with a furrowed brow.

Even though I am a mare, I do not associate with such girlish things.

I hear muffled giggles coming from Fluttershy as she tells me how "adorable" she thinks I look.

I blush briefly at her word choice used to describe me as I am anything but adorable.

I playfully tell her to knock it off as I too begin to chuckle.

We both share a moment of laughter together, enjoying our time with just the two of us.

We are both interrupted with a sudden cacophony of wildlife noises such a croaking frogs, the hum of a mosquito’s beating wings, and rustling tree leaves swaying in the frigid night air.

I look up and find myself trying to fight the urge to take off into the black mass sprinkled with millions of microscopic, white stars as I feel the cool breeze ruffle up my feathered wings.

I stare up intently into the never-ending, cosmic void with wide eyes, not even noticing that my wings are slowly starting to unfurl themselves, as I already start to feel the sensation of wind flowing through my wings as it lifts me up higher and higher, putting me into a trance.

I find myself starting to sleepily close my eyelids as I inhale the cold, nighttime air, envisioning myself sailing through the starry skies.

My thoughts are interrupted when Fluttershy asks me if I would like to hold the bird.

I reopen my half-lidded eyes, shaking myself out of my daydream and turn to look down at the young, wild bird, feeling a bit unsure as I am a bit hesitant at first, but then agree to give it a try.

I cautiously extend both of my front hooves as Fluttershy does the same, gently placing the tiny chick in the palms of my hooves.

The young bird looks up at me with those tiny, black eyes and begins to chirp loudly.

I produce a wry frown and I try to hush the noisy creature in a manner that is nowhere near as subtle as Fluttershy’s.

The bird continues to chirp noisily, and I try to gently pet the bird in the same way as Fluttershy had done before, but I realize that my touch isn’t nearly as soothing.

The bird becomes antsy and begins to flaps its small-scaled wings and plants a solid, needlelike peck on my pastern.

I furrow my brow in anger as I let out a deep, irritated grumble from the sudden poking pain received by the pesky creature.

I quickly lean my head forward and scowl at the little, bothersome bird.

Fluttershy lets out a few, short chuckles at the ridiculous scene that sat before her.

It seems that I have received my comeuppance for the minor incident back at the lake.

I look up at her and quickly stretch out my front hooves, returning the little pain in the neck back to her.

She takes the bird back and quickly brings it close to her chest, and it starts to rub the side of its face against her fluffy coat.

I slightly glower at how differently the bird behaves while being held by her.

After a few seconds had passed, I find myself starting to grow quite tiresome as I find being on the ground for too long makes me become quite flustered.

I look at Fluttershy’s face as she lovingly smiles down at the bird that she is now rocking back and forth like a newborn foal.

I can’t seem to understand why she prefers to spend all of her time down here when she can easily travel to wherever she wants, whenever she wants; able to go places where most ponies have never been before.

She’s able to be as free as a bird– one that’s less of a nuisance of course.

Fluttershy moves off and away from the tree trunk and stands up on three legs, one fore hoof being lifted off the ground held onto the bird.

She looks up at me with her large, turquoise eyes that shimmer in the moonlight as she tells me that it’s getting quite late and we should start heading back towards the cottage as she lets out an almost inaudible yawn in the process of telling me.

I ardently nod my head as I am more than willing to leave the forest that I find to be absolutely nothing but bland.

I watch as Fluttershy elegantly jumps up into the air, flying back up to the nest as she places the chick back down inside next to its siblings and wishes them all goodnight before turning around to start heading out of the woods.

Fluttershy ends up choosing to walk along the grass instead of choosing to conveniently fly back to her cottage like myself.

I fly low to the ground next to her, getting a little irritated by her slow pace as she stops to take a few, short breaks every now and then to look at the scenery.

I fail to see what she finds so interesting down here, everything feels too close together and I feel entrapped within the trees.

I cast my gaze up to look through an opening of leafy tree branches, thirstily looking towards the dark, navy blue sky and notice that there are many thin, white clouds painted across the starry canvas, making it resemble a pastel painting.

I find myself once again resisting the urge to shoot up into the air, anxious to leave the humdrum forest behind.

But I won't of course, I refuse to leave Fluttershy out here alone until we return back to her cottage.

With a sad look on my face, I stay and hover under the open area of tree branches for quite some time.

I then look over to Fluttershy as I notice her closely examining a moss-covered rock.

I turn my whole body around and slowly fly up next to her.

Just out of my own childlike curiosity, I proceed to her ask what she is doing.

She turns to look at me with a gentle smile, telling me that she enjoys looking at every single detail out here in the woods and how she can't help but stop to take a look every so often.

From upon hearing this, I slink my head down at how dull I find this all to be. With me being the mare I am, I constantly crave excitement and adventure, not namby-pamby things like strolling through a forest.

As Fluttershy continues to examine the moss, I begin to feel impatient and fidgety with how slowly time is passing by. All I want is nothing more than to return back to my safe haven.

Fluttershy quickly takes notice in how unsettled I look, and asks if I am okay.

I let out a blatant sigh and respond by telling her that I’m beginning to feel a bit tired and politely ask if we are able to speed things up a bit.

She smiles and nods, and starts to promptly trot out towards the forest's exit as I eagerly turn around and follow closely behind.

We finally reach the forest’s exit, and return back to the front door of Fluttershy’s cottage.

I land down on the pathway and stare at the wooden door before turning my head to look over at Fluttershy, who is standing right beside me, and find that she is already staring up in my direction with glimmering, luminous eyes and a friendly smile.

I can’t help but also return the friendly gesture.

I break the silence, asking her if she enjoyed our evening and if she had a favorite part to all of this.

She perks up, and to my surprise, says that the lake was her favorite part.

I tilt my head as I am now very curious and ask her why.

She then continues to tell me that despite all that had happened, she had enjoyed watching me do what I love doing the most.

Flying.

She tells me that I'm a completely different pony when I'm high in the sky, that I do every flip, trick, and turn so effortlessly and so full of passion.

I'm pleased to hear that she understands me, and that I'm not as featherbrained as everyone tends to believe; I just tend to feel more than I think, which gives off the impression of me always having my head in the clouds. I'm glad that she enjoyed my subtle performance, but just a little crushed that she didn't personally enjoy her time in the air.

I failed to show her what luck having wings can bring.

She then goes on saying how grateful she is for me being able to patiently stay with her in the forest until we got back, and says that I can be such a dear when I want to be; even though I didn't behave nearly as well as she believes I did.

I am flattered by all of her kind words and bring my left fore hoof up, about to scratch the back of my neck.

My hoof brushes against my ear, and something falls off and floats down on to the ground– the daisy that Fluttershy had placed behind my ear.

We both look down at the daisy, and chuckle at each other.

Fluttershy picks up the flower and hands it over to me, telling me to keep it as a memory of this eventful night.

I smile and nod, and reach out to grab the daisy.

The night air sends off another light breeze, and it's enough to drive me over the edge.

I'm sure Fluttershy can sense how much I want to return back into the sky and fly again, and how my heart yearns for it.

I stare at her with pleading eyes.

She smiles softly, and tells me that I can go.

After hearing those words, I make a grin that's wide enough to split my face in half.

I look out into the wild black yonder, closing my eyes as I take in a deep breath, letting out a loud sigh that comes out in a vaporous form from the cold night temperature, as I stretch out my wings once again, and skyrocket back up into the ethereal sky that I longed for.

I cruise along as one last goofy smile made for the night makes its way onto my face; I look down at my left hoof which still bears the daisy and my mind returns back to Fluttershy; although I am a bit disappointed with her not being able to truly enjoy the sensation of flying today, there’s always tomorrow. And who knows? Maybe one day, just one day, she’ll finally be able to realize just how lucky she is.

The End