Learn to Fly

Fluttershy sat in a field of flowers, nuzzling bunnies and stoats, surrounded by singing birds and flapping butterflies. Flowers caressed her coat. And she was happy.

Until she looked up.

The sky was red. It had fangs. It was pulling her in.

She scrabbled at the ground with her hooves, but the earth was ripped from beneath her body, and she spun into the sky, plummeting forever, screaming.

Fluttershy sat up in bed with a gasp. She tangled her blankets around her hooves and clutched them to her chest. Her eyes darted around her darkened bedroom, searching for trespassers, windigos, harpies, or boogeymen. Nothing moved. The only sound was the drone of Zephyr’s snoring from down the hall. She held still for a few more minutes, just to be sure, brushed her mane out of her eyes, slid out of bed, and snuck over to the window. Pushing up the sash, Fluttershy folded her forelegs on the sill, and looked out over the clouds around her family’s house.

Circios district had drifted up above downtown Cloudsdale during the night, and she could see its lights spreading out underneath her. Wisps of cloud drifted over the city, blotting out lights as they passed. In a week, she’d be graduating flight school. Well, ‘graduating’ was putting it strongly. Her academics were fine. Strong, even. But she’d failed her flight exam for the third time last week, and she couldn’t get her diploma until she passed.

Well. Darn them.

She shuddered, feeling bad about using such language, but… yes. Darn the Cloudsdale public school system. Darn them to heck. She was eighteen! They couldn’t keep her here. There was exactly one thing keeping her here until graduation. Well two. One was that she had no plan beyond ‘leave Cloudsdale and never come back’ — except for family birthdays and Hearth’s Warming of course. Finding a job, a place to live, replacing the few friends she had? It was too terrifying to think about. The other… well, that was even less realistic.

Fluttershy closed her eyes and thought about cyan feathers and fluttering, breathless kisses. Her cheeks started to get wet, and she felt like she had a piece of apple stuck in her throat. Stupid. It was stupid to even think about it.

With that thought, she closed the window and crawled back into bed. She was still awake when sunlight started creeping into her room. Her stomach rumbled. With a sigh, she got up, pulled on her little green robe with the pink trim, and tippy-hoofed downstairs to the kitchen. She opened the fridge, got herself some strawberries, and poured cream over them. She had just sat down to eat when she noticed a flicker of yellow and magenta at the kitchen door. She sighed. “I see you, Mom. You can come out now.”

“I’m sorry, sweetie,” said her mother, “I didn’t mean to spy on you. I was worried.”

“I understand,” said Fluttershy, glancing between her mom and the strawberries.

“Did you sleep well?”

“No.”

“Me neither.”

Fluttershy glanced down at her berries. Could she eat them? Did mom want to talk more? This was awkward. “Was there… um… anything you wanted to talk about?”

Mom took a deep breath. “I talked to Mr. Updraft.”

Oh no.

Fluttershy squinted her eyes closed. “Mom, I am not taking that test again.”

“But sweetie, you’ve worked so hard in school! It’s such a shame not to graduate because of one silly test! Please, try just one more time. It was hard for me and your father, but we both passed. It took your father three tries!”

“I tried three times, and I failed, and I’m not going to try again. I’m… I’m not a strong flier.” Her berries were going to be mushy before she got a chance to eat them, weren’t they?

“Why don’t you ask Rainbow Dash for help?”

Fluttershy’s heart stopped. “Rainbow Dash?”

“You’re still friends, aren’t you?”

Fluttershy nodded. “I guess.”

“She’s such a good flier! You should ask her for help.”

Fluttershy’s cheeks flushed. “She’s probably really busy. Anyway, why would she want to help a weak little pony like me?”

Her mom smiled and walked over to kiss Fluttershy on the top of her head. “Just because you’re not good at flying doesn’t mean you’re weak, baby. And you’ll never know if you don’t ask.”

Fluttershy glanced up at her mother. There was a knowing quality about her smile that made Fluttershy suspicious. She couldn’t know. Could she? Fluttershy looked away. “I wouldn’t want to bother her.”

“Ponies like helping their friends. It makes them feel important. And they like telling other ponies about things they know a lot about. I bet Rainbow Dash would be happy to spend time with you.”

Fluttershy gulped. Oh my gosh she did know.

“Anyway. I’ll let you eat. Promise me you’ll at least ask, though, okay?”

Fluttershy hummed noncommittally, and leaned down to eat her berries.

✭☆✭☆✭☆✭

After school that day, she found Rainbow Dash playing wingball on the athletic field. She sneaked underneath the bleachers, and watched Rainbow dodge effortlessly through the defense. She did some confusing ducking and weaving, and slammed the ball through the hoop. Or whatever everything was called? Fluttershy didn’t know much about sports. She knew a tight end when she saw one, though, so she didn’t mind watching.

Oh, how could she dare to speak to such beauty! Rainbow was perfect! So slim! So muscular! She kept her coat trimmed buzz-cut short, so that every cord of her lean, wiry muscles was visible as she moved. FLuttershy herself was twiggy and gangly and had a big butt.

When the game ended, Rainbow flapped over to her and stuck her head between the bleacher seats.

“Are you okay under there?” said Rainbow.

“Oh. Um, hi. I was… looking for my contact lens?” said Fluttershy, looking at the cloud beneath her and pretending to rifle around with her hoof.

“Uh, yeah, Fluttershy, you don’t wear contacts.”

“I don’t?” said Fluttershy, looking up at her sidelong. “How would you know?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Seriously, what's up? Did you want something from me?”

Love me, thought Fluttershy, clenching her teeth to make sure she didn’t accidentally say it out loud. After all, what would a pretty, fit filly like Rainbow want with a wimp like her? She brushed her mane back from her eyes, slunk her shoulders down like a frightened dog, and looked up at Rainbow. “I… I need help.”

Rainbow grinned. “You need help passing your flying exam. And you’re afraid to ask. Which is why you’ve been avoiding me for weeks.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened in horror. “How… how do you know that?”

“Your mom told me.”

“Oh.” Darn Mom to heck.

“Come out from under the bleachers, and we’ll go over some stuff. Back to basics. It’ll be fun. Come on!”

Rainbow Dash zipped up to a small cloud passing over the school without waiting for her. Fluttershy sighed, and wiggled out from between the bleachers. It was hard to get her rear end between them; she should have gone around the side. She rubbed her sore croup when she got through. Rainbow Dash was smirking down at her with her nose over the edge of the cloud. No doubt getting a kick out of how clumsy she was. She spread her wings, took a deep breath, and leapt up into the sky. Even on a short jump like this, the flight muscles across her chest and barrel burned with effort. She was puffing and sweaty by the time she got up to the cloud, and had to pull herself up over the edge.

“You try too hard,” said Rainbow Dash, nuzzling her where the base of her jaw met her neck.

Fluttershy jerked away, blushing. “I’m doing the best I can,” she protested. “I’m not shaped for flying.”

“Your body’s fine,” said Rainbow, drawing out the vowel in ‘fine’ in a weird way. “Flying is almost all confidence. Anypony can do it. Your mom flies great, and she’s almost as…” Rainbow paused. “You know, she’s shaped a lot like you are.”

Fluttershy slumped with shame. A pear on stilts, was what she was shaped like. “I’m sorry. Exercise is hard. I wish I looked like you.”

Rainbow grinned and nudged her. “Oh, you’ve got nothing to be sorry about. So. How about that cloud over there?”

There was only one cloud Rainbow could be talking about. Narrow, thin and light, a low-floating cirrus cloud about twenty meters away. It ought to hold her weight. Hopefully. She looked down at the roof of school, and wished she hadn’t. She felt nauseous. She wished she were on a bigger cloud. She wished she were on the ground. “Maybe something a little lower down? Maybe around the wingball field?”

“Come on Flutterbutt. What do you think this is? Flying kindergarten? Now, we haven’t got much of a runway, here, so you’ll have to do a basic wing scoop liftoff. Roll it into a glide, tilt your wings up for lift, and you’ll be up there before you know it.”

“I didn’t understand any of that,” said Fluttershy, but Rainbow was already gone. Already halfway to the cirrus cloud, actually.

Well. She’d have to do her best. She took a deep breath, jumped into the air, and started flapping like crazy. Her hooves left the cloud, and she was doing it. She was in the air! She felt wind blowing against her face, moving under her wings, moving… way too fast. And down. She was falling. The flat, rough, asphalt roof of the school was rushing up at her. She closed her eyes, and felt something soft and hard at the same time pile into her side. Legs were under her barrel, and she was set gently down on the clouds of the schoolyard.

“What the buck happened up there, Fluttershy?” said Rainbow, eyes narrow and angry. “I’ve seen rocks fly better than that.”

“I told you, I’m doing the best I can.” said Fluttershy, scrubbing at the tears running through her cheek fur with the backs of her hooves. “I’m not a strong flier.”

“That’s horse apples, Flutterbutt. I’ve seen you fly farther than that.”

“I don’t know what happened!”

“I do. You freaked out. That’s the worst thing you can do when you’re flying. If you start to feel like you can’t fly, then you can’t!”

“Well then I can’t!” said Fluttershy, and ran away towards home.

Home was about a kilometer away.

After about two blocks, she had to stop to catch her breath.

“I’m not going to let you have that attitude,” said Rainbow, who’d kept up with her the whole way. "Flying is a basic part of being a pegasus. You’re young, you’re healthy, your wings work. You can pass the bucking flight exam. Every adult pegasus in this city has!”

Fluttershy forced herself to start walking again, even though her lungs and legs burned. “Well, I’m different.”

Rainbow Dash followed her. “You’re not. Anyway, if you don’t graduate from flight school, what are you even going to do with your life?”

Fluttershy didn’t look back at Rainbow. “I’m going to the ground.”

“You’re going to the ground. And what are you going to do when you get there?”

“I don’t know. Do something with animals?”

Rainbow snorted. “Without a flight school diploma? Good luck with that.” She darted around in front of her friend. “Seriously, Fluttershy, I you need to be realistic about this.”

“Leave me alone,” whimpered Fluttershy.

“No, Flutterbutt. I care about you. I’m not going to let you do this to yourself.”

“If you cared about me, you wouldn’t call me that awful name!” And she started running again.

Rainbow Dash followed her home, and stood outside her window when she ran inside and locked the door.

Rainbow was still there when her dad got home from the factory. He talked to her — Fluttershy couldn’t hear what they were saying from her room — and she went home. Then he came upstairs and asked, through her locked bedroom door, if she wanted to talk. She said no, and eventually he went away. Zeph came home, and much later her Mom got home from working at the hospital. She drifted off to sleep listening to them talk downstairs.

When Fluttershy awoke, it was dark, and she smelled food outside her bedroom door. She cracked the door, and peeked outside, wary of traps. There was nopony waiting to ambush her with awkward questions and concerned eyes. She grabbed the plate and pulled it inside. Hay fritters and cauliflower casserole. Her dad’s cooking was wonderful, even cold.

While she was eating, she had a little think. Say she managed to pass the test. What would happen next? She’d been too scared of rejection to apply to any colleges, so she’d have to get some type of job. Or become a shut-in, more likely. Job interviews were scary. Either way, she’d be stuck in Cloudsdale.

But there was another choice. It was scary too, but it was way, way less scary than the prospect of being trapped in the clouds for the rest of her life.

Fluttershy wrote a note, and packed quickly and quietly. Then she waited for until everypony was asleep. While she did, she counted her life’s savings. Two hundred and thirty-seven bits. That would get her to the ground, at least. She looked up from her small pile of money when she heard Zeph start snoring. He was usually the last to fall asleep, and his snoring would cover the sound of her movements nicely.

✭☆✭☆✭☆✭

The Circios district boardwalk was Fluttershy’s favorite part of town. It was a network of walkways, gantries, and platforms magically anchored to the clouds of the district, full of warehouses for food deliveries from the ground, and hotels, restaurants, and shops for visiting earth ponies and unicorns. It also had the closest airship station — just a wooden platform and a ticket booth, not like the massive station down in central Cloudsdale. A few private balloons were anchored down at the end, but there were no airships in sight. The platform was almost deserted. She went up to the tired-looking gray stallion reading a newspaper behind the desk at the ticket booth.

“Um… Excuse me? I don’t mean to interrupt, but when’s the next airship to the ground?”

The stallion blew out through his mustache, and said, “Ground’s a big place, missy. Care to be any more specific than that?”

“No, thank you. Anyplace on the ground is good.”

“Well. Let’s see.” He set down his newspaper, and unfolded a complicated timetable. “Cloudsdale’s over the Canter River Valley right now. There’s an airship coming in from Canterlot at… let’s see… six forty five.”

“Six forty-five?” said Fluttershy, her voice trembling with horror. Her dad woke up to get ready for work at five o’clock every morning. She had to be out of town by then. “Oh no, that’s far too late. Don’t you have anything else?”

“Not to the ground. Number forty-five skybus to Eurus district comes in half an hour. You can connect with the twenty-eight to Downtown Station from there. Maybe they’ve got something else.”

Fluttershy sighed. “I’ll take a bus ticket, then, I guess.”

“Half a bit, please.”

She dragged her bags over to a bench and laid down on it, and stared disconsolately at her bus ticket.

“Hey, lady. Sorry to eavesdrop, but were you looking for a ride to the ground?”

Fluttershy looked up. A pink earth pony mare with a yellow mane and wearing goggles strapped across her forehead was standing next to her. “Yes. I am.”

“I’m headed down to Ponyville when my balloon finishes heating up. I can take you there for fifty bits.”

Fifteen minutes later, Fluttershy was huddled in the basket of a purple hot air balloon, trying to pretend there was more than a couple of inches of wood between her and a long drop towards the ground, and her bus ticket was blowing across the station platform, forgotten.