What A Life: The Life of Dai

Dai stared at both of the mares in front of him, Twilight smiling like she did something good and was expecting a treat, tail wagging like a puppy almost as Rainbow Dash stood next to her with a grin. He had been expecting a few things, like perhaps another test to discover who his parents were, something to do with testing some magical device, or some other such pony nonsense...

Instead Twilight brought him to Rainbow, to teach him how to fly.

"No." Dai said firmly, frowning deeply.

"Come on Dai!" Rainbow told him, grinning a bit wider. "What have you got to lose? You could use the exercise, I mean... why not?"

Dai blinked his eyes. "I have told you both, I don't want t-"

"Oh horseapples!" Rainbow scoffed, "You're always telling the Crusaders about how you're like... what, a soldier or whatever?" She asked him, continuing before he could even give an answer. "Wouldn't it be a good thing to learn how to fly in case you needed to? Learn the advantages of what you can do and stuff?" She pointed out.

Dai was silent. Fuck... He thought as he sat down, rubbing his head in aggravation as he thought about that. He was surprised she thought of that, and he knew that she was right. Here he was, one of the most dangerous warriors in an unknown world and he was in a body that had the ability to fly. It was an ability that he, theoretically, could learn to utilize to prevent something bad from happening to him, such as falling from a very high building or, god forbid, being thrown from a cliff.

As a soldier, over the course of many tours he's had to learn several things to help him get past certain... troubling situations, different languages, bomb defusing, even a few other things like knife throwing, and even how to pilot a small aircraft. Of course, he's always had a problem with aircraft in general...

It wasn't that he hated flying...

...

Actually that's the exact reason.

With a tiny growl, Dai replied saying, "Theoretically... yes, it would, Rainbow... if it wasn't for one tiny problem..."

"Oh? What, you chicken?" Rainbow asked him with a teasing smirk as Rainbow gave him a suspicious look, as if thinking about something. "Scared of taking off or something?" She asked next, starting to giggle slightly.

If both mares looked closely, they could've seen a tick mark appear on his forehead, pulsating madly. "I have been in more deadly war theaters then you could imagine, I am not scared of flying!"

"Then what's your problem with it then?" Rainbow asked smugly, raising an eyebrow at Dai.

Frowning, he replied, "Simple, I don't like flying." He told them both, blue eyes narrowed at the rainbow haired mare and her best friend. "I've had... bad experiences with flying in the past..." He said quietly, shivering as he recalled a very 'fond' memory of him flying.

2028 - Over Afghanistan

Fuck this shit, fuck this shit, fuck this shit. Dai repeated this mantra again and again as the Osprey flew over enemy territory, the turbulence was getting the better of him from the constant Anti-Aircraft fire from below. Every shake, every jostle inside the cabin made him want to call in several airstrikes on the enemy position, preferably airstrikes that would level the entire landscape they were over. Nuke this entire fucking hillside and build a strip mall in its place. He thought with no small amount of hate for this place.

It had been a year since he was thrown into several missions that required him to jump from planes, something that he wasn't too keen on doing years before... it still held true today, even more so now that his plane was being shot at once more. Bullets piercing the hull of the plane, fires starting near the cockpit as alarms went off. And at least three different Navy Seals and two Marines were killed by gunfire, and another because he fell out through a gaping hole in the side of the fucking plane.

Oh yeah.

"We're gonna have to jump sooner then expected ladies!" A man yelled out, brandishing an M4. "Check your chutes and get ready to jum-" He started, before a stray round from the AA down below blasted him, tearing off half his head and spraying the wall in bright red blood.

The soldiers began to panic around Dai as fire suddenly consumed the cockpit, and the Osprey started to spin out of control, he tried to hold on but the back was blown off, and everyone began get sucked out and thrown into the air. Screams filled the air, panicked cries as the Osprey spun out of control in the high altitude of the air, and Dai was shown just how far up they were.

He was high enough that he could see for quite some distance... but low enough that his chute might not be enough...

"Shit fuck!" He yelled, trying to steady himself as he reached for his ripcord. Jets screamed through the air around him, he could hear the missiles strafing by and impacting enemy jets. He heard the gunfire from below, the thudding of artillery being fired above at the other aircraft, loud explosions and yells. He flailed in the air, trying to reach his ripcord... and once he pulled it...

He realized however, he ended up pulling too late.

The chute exploded from his pack, catching the air but not slowing his decent as much as he would have liked. The parachute exploded out of his pack and he felt the ripping sensation course through his body as the chute tried to slow him down. And it did, but not enough for a safe landing. He ended up crashing into a tree, where to his immense shock, the ropes snapped and he was sent flying down a hill. "Goddamn it!" He screamed, falling onto the ground hard, "Gah!" Another yell of pain as he rolled hard and fast, hitting rocks and fallen limbs, a sickening crack sounding somewhere as his equipment stabbed into him during the roll.

Each thing he hit was like burning hot pain, every tumble down the hill made him wish he had managed to pull sooner, but alas...

Life hated him.

Eventually he stopped rolling, landing on flat-ish ground with a sharp hiss and a groan of pain. Gunfire continued around him as something crashed nearby, blasting through the trees and exploding, sending flaming debris flying everywhere. He didn't get to shield himself, and was thus hit with said debris, a few flaming chunks of metal hitting his pack and one hitting his cheek. "F-fuck!" He tried to get up, only for his arm to give out from the agony he felt in it. One look at his arm and he saw why it hurt and gave out, something was protruding through the skin.

He didn't need to lift up the shirt sleeve to know what it was.

Goddamn it.

His breathing quickened, panic setting in as he heard the gunfire drawing closer behind him. He looked around for a place to hide, and found it in the form of a rock. He bit back the pain and forced his body to crawl up towards the rock, he had to get to cover before whatever was coming... arrived. He could hear something mechanized moving in the thick mountain foliage behind the rock he was hiding behind, and felt his nerves act up, eyes flashing towards the sky as he saw literal beams of light fire from the woods nearby accompanied by a FWOOM noise.

Those beams hit one of the other planes in the sky...

And it came crashing down...

Towards him.

"Fuck..."

Ponyville - 2030

Dai shivered as he remembered that day... which pretty much instilled his hate in flying. He never wanted to get on anymore planes, but his missions after that one always involved flying... only half of them were actually shot down, and twice was he still inside, he wasn't sure exactly how he survived either.

Luck. He figured... considering.

"So you are scared?" Rainbow teased, grinning cooly at the colt in front of her, who frowned her way.

Stepping closer to the mare, Dai said, "Listen to me, and listen well... I do not fear flying... I had several bad experiences with it and... I just don't like it." He told her, and she just leaned down to stare him in the eyes, and he could smell something like cider on her breath. "So stop saying that."

"Well prove me wrong then," She said, grinning as her muzzle was a few inches from Dai's down.

It was close enough for Twilight to start blushing...

Dai just growled under his breath, planting his butt firmly onto the floor as Rainbow did the same. The colt stared down Rainbow Dash for the longest time, before he scoffed. "I don't need to prove anything to either of you." He said before standing up and turning around and walking out of the door.

Leaving behind two mares who just frowned.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Dai sat alone on the hillside overlooking Ponyville, wings tucked at his sides as he gazed at the modestly sized farming community. He saw many pegasi flying about, moving clouds or just out for a nice flight. He saw plenty of foals younger than himself flying about, and he scowled. Flying... pfft... He scoffed at the idea... he knew Rainbow was right in a way. But he didn't want to prove her right...

"Come on!" He heard someone say off to the side, and when he turned his head he saw Scootaloo nearby a hilltop that ended in a rather steep drop a few feet down. He saw Scootaloo jump up, flapping her wings as fast as she could in an attempt to fly... only she ended up falling down onto her rump. Dai watched as the filly darted back up the hill, only to attempt it once more. "Dang it!"

The colt saw the area she was doing this in was a little bit secluded, so she had some manner of privacy while she attempted to fly... again, and again, and again. He watched as Scootaloo continued this for a few minutes, going on an hour of her constantly trying to fly. He knew all about her love for flying after watching Rainbow do it so many times, and all of the other pegasi in their school. She wanted to fly, but for some reason she was unable to fly alongside the others.

He wondered if it was a birth defect or something else preventing her from doing so.

She certainly wasn't scared of heights or pushing herself to her limits, as evidenced by the amount of sweat on her body right now and how sluggish she moved when going back up the hill. Seeing her pushing herself to the limits reminded him of the human kids he had seen wandering the streets of Kubal during his time overseas, how often they pushed themselves to the limit just to help feed their families. It was heartbreaking for some, but he found it hard to care with what all was going on...

But this was one of his friends pushing herself, for an hour now trying to fly. He sometimes watched her do so whenever he spotted her, over the years he's known her she would always push herself to fly only to fail every single time...

Ahh fuck it... He sighed before trotting over to the filly.

He arrived just as Scootaloo was resting for now, body covered in sweat and chest heaving as she tried to get her breath back. When she heard hoofsteps, she looked up and spotted Dai trotting over to her. "Oh... um, hey Dai!" She greeted weakly, waving a hoof. "I'm just uh... training, is all..."

Looking over the filly, he said, "Doesn't look like its doing you much good." He bluntly stated as the filly glared at him before looking down. "Why don't you rest?"

She huffed, looking at the ground as her wings sagged by her sides. "I don't want to rest... not until I can fly."

"You're not going to be able to fly if you end up hurting yourself like you're doing now." Dai commented, sitting down next to her. "Why don't you get Rainbow to help you out? Hell I thought she was teaching you."

"She... she does, sometimes." Scootaloo said quietly, sniffling as she wiped her nose. "She's usually busy with those friendship problems to really... spend any time with me, so I've been trying to teach myself to fly..."

Dai frowned. Wow Rainbow... nice. He thought, sighing as he looked towards the hill. "Why don't you just try gliding?"

"Gliding?" Scootaloo asked, looking up at the colt.

"You've been trying to hard to fly up that you haven't tried gliding," Before she could protest he held up a hoof. "Trust me, I've been watching you attempt to fly for years, and you never once tried to glide." He then looked at her and smiled. "Sometimes you gotta crawl before you can fly."

She rose an eyebrow at that as he helped her up and took her over to the edge, she didn't know what he had planned...

But she was willing to try whatever he had in mind if it helped her achieve her dream of reaching those clear blue skies...