A Wish of Flight

It was a nice sunny day and Twilight was on a picnic with her five closest friends. Rainbow had just returned from her trip to The Wonderbolts headquarters and was busy boasting about all the awesome things she had done and The Wonderbolts she had met there. It seemed that only good things happened to her there but she knew that wasn’t true. It simply did not make sense. When you were new somewhere you were never immediately liked. She was hiding something and Twilight knew it. She didn’t blame her for it though because Rainbow cared about her reputation. She was just like that and they were still close friends.

One thing was bothering her about this whole situation with their friendship. She overheard Cloudchaser telling Fliter how Rainbow’s Ego problems had gotten worse. Apparently while they were on weather duty the other day Rainbow told the other pegasai that now that she was in the Bolts it was much harder to get in because she was all that they needed. She also said that only somepony as awesome as her could cover multiple positions. If that was true their relationship will take a serious hit. Twilight disliked boasters and egoistic ponies above everypony else. She just couldn’t stand ponies who cared more about their own fame than other ponies.

Twilight was now angry and worried. She had to get her mind of all this so she looked up into the endless skies above her. She loved them and wished that she could experience flight through them. Sailing throughout them was her ultimate wish but for that she needed something she did not have and that was her very own pair of wings.

Since she saw a pegasus fly as a foal she felt that her place was amongst the winged ponies. When she asked her mother if she could fly like the ponies she saw she was told that she was a unicorn from a noble family and noble unicorns did not wish to fly or work the farm like the earth pony peasants and uneducated pegasus hotheads. She was even threatened that she would be grounded if she ever asked a question like that again.

It took her until she entered Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns to figure out what was wrong with her. While researching ponies who were born with a mutation or a disorder she stumbled upon a chapter about transracial ponies. Transracial ponies were ponies who believed that they should have been born as a different of the three pony races. To be born like that was rare extremely rare but not unheard off.

That’s when she knew that she truly belonged in the skies. Excited about her discovery she looked for a part about possible treatments or surgeries. She was relieved to find out that magical race reassignment surgeries indeed exist but her heart sank when she read the next line. It said that they were very expensive. She shouldn’t be worried about the cost as she came from a rich family. The problem was that her parents would never fund her surgery because of their dated beliefs. Princess Celestia was out of the question. The nobility woud be in an uproar if she got involved into sensative topics like this one.

She decided that in order to accomplish her dream she was going to have to perform the surgery herself. The idea was dangerous, a lot could go wrong and her very life was at risk but she was willing to sacrifice everything in order to accomplish her dream. In order to even have a remote chance at success she will have to become an extremely skilled mage. That will consume all the time she will have in her teenage years but it was worth it.

The lavender mare was woken from her thoughts by Rainbow Dash. “So that’s everything that happened there girls,” she said, “What do you girls think about me being accepted in the wonderbolts?”

“I am happy for you Rainbow,” said Fluttershy with a small smile.

Rarity nodded and said, “Yes I am happy for you too my dear. Achieving one’s dreams is a moment we should all be happy about.”

“Oh Oh we should totally have a ‘dreams came true’ party!” Said Pinkie excitedly.

“You know you already threw me a ‘Dashie is a Wonderbolt’ party right Pinkie?” Asked Rainbow

“Well what is wrong with more parties?” The girls knew that there was no stopping Pinkie when it came to parties so they all just agreed with her.

Twilight was just thinking about what Rarity said, that they should all be happy when a ponies dream comes true. Would they support her if she told them what her dream was? Would they be happy for her if she achieved it? She was not sure if they would and she did not want to lose her friendship with all of them. She just hoped that they won’t have anything against her.

“Oh shoot I’m late for a meeting at the Rainbow Factory. Sorry girls gotta go!” she said before flying off.

“Well I need to get going too. I have some things to do back at the farm,” said Applejack.

They all said their goodbyes and when to their homes. While walking back Twilight was thinking about her progress on the spell that would give her wings. She was so very close to be able to perform it, she could do it by the end of the week but there were problems. One of them was telling her friends and family who she truly was and what she was going to do to herself. The other one was the fact that she had to fill out some paperwork back in Canterlot so that she wouldn’t be forced to do things like go to unicorn exclusive  meetings and gatherings and could go to pegasus ones. High ranking ponies had access to those files and if they didn’t like transracial ponies they could stop her from getting a job or even attempt to frame her for something just to hurt or get rid of her.

The good thing was that the race ponies would switch to usually really liked the pony who switched. It was taken as a sign of superiority to the politicians and nobles as a consequence one could live as a pegasus for example just as a pony who was a born pegasus if not slightly better.

***

Back at the Wonderbolt Headquarters Spitfire was getting ready for a trip to Ponyville. They had a show there in a couple of days and as captain her duty was to make sure everything was safe and ready for the show. Sure, somepony else could do it but she didn’t trust them so much to do a good job. A good part of the wonderbolts were boasters or cared more for their own fame than other, more important things like show safety.

She had hoped that Rainbow would be different but she wasn’t. She kept saying that she was the best flyer in all of Equestira and bragging about her talent. Sure she was one of the most talented ponies they ever had on their team but that did not mean anything by itself. A good wonderbolt had skill, grace and above else respect for other flyers and Rainbow definitely lacked some respect for the more experienced. Hopefully she would learn to respect others more as time goes on. If she didn’t she will have problems.

Spitfire knew it was up to Rainbow Dash to change her attitude. When it came to personal views and opinions only person that could help us fix them was ourselves. She took a quick look in her suitcase. Everything what she needed for the trip was there so she closed the suitcase, picked it up with her mouth and left for Ponyville.

***

Back in her library Twilight was busy dreaming about what she could do as a pegasus. The possibilities were endless. She could be a messenger, a mailmare, a weatherpony, a stunt flyer, an aerial acrobat and so much more. She could even apply for The Wonderbolts Academy. She was sure she would be a great and talented flyer. Speaking of talents she wondered what would happen with her cutie mark if she actually did go through with the race change? Would it stay the same even though she couldn’t use magic any more? Would the mark take on another meaning or would the unlikely thing happen, would she be reduced to a blank flank again and left to rediscover her talent?

There is much to discuss on this topic. It was certainly a bit weird to consider the last possibility. Why would her cutie mark change? It made no sense what so ever. What did a cutie mark have to do with a pony’s race? Nopony could answer that question because cutie marks were usually not related with a pony’s race. Sure, it was odd to see a unicorn or pegasus farmer but it wasn’t unheard off. Twilight’s case was different because her talent was what made unicorns different from pegasai or earth ponies and that was magic. Magic was something special and unique  only unicorns could do and being talented in what made your race different was certainly important and often caused jealousy among others.

So if she was talented in the unicorn speciality, would she be talented in the pegasus speciality, flying if she was a pegasus? Twilight certainly taught she would be. It made perfect sense if cutie marks worked that way.

She was awoken from her trail of thoughts by somepony opening the front door.

“Hey Twi you got a sec?” Asked the voice. Twilight identified the pony as Rainbow Dash. She wondered what she wanted.

“Sure Rainbow what is it?” responded Twilight from her room upstairs while she was leaving it.

“Well somepony from the Wonderbolts is coming to check the town for anything that could interfere with the show that is coming up in a couple of days and I was wondering if you could help organize it and some other things,” replied Rainbow.

‘Help The Wonderbolts?’ thought Twilight. This is a chance to learn more about how they do things and how pegasai act and think in general without it being weird. After all, unicorns weren’t usually interested in pegasai behaviour and culture.

“Sure Rainbow, I would love to help,” said Twilight with a lovely smile.

“Great! I’ll be here around here in the evening. Is that okay with you?”

“Yes it’s perfectly fine.”

“Okay. Wait I have a favour to ask. Could whoever comes stay here while The Wonderbolts have a show here? It would be a huge help. All the inn’s and hotels are already full with ponies coming to see the show and the other Wonderbolts will be staying at a hotel when they get here. The problem is that the those rooms are still not ready for new guests.”

A Wonderbolt in her home? That would provide even more opportunities to learn about them. “No problem, I would love to have somepony new to talk to.”

“Thanks Twi you saved me a lot of trouble right now. See you in the evening!”

“Bye Rainbow,” said Twilight and waved her goodbye.