James : A Technicolour Story

Chapter 3 : Dropping Eaves

Author's Note : From here on I'll be adopting an omniscient third person PoV. It's simpler to write from and doesn't require me to constantly have to read other chapters to figure out if the character I'm narrating through knows a name, etc. I don't have to worry about giving characters knowledge they don't have through narration, only dialogue/thoughts. Enjoy!

The woeful stallion continued his trek along the path, not noticing Rainbow Dash watching and listening from behind a tree. He wiped his face of tears, and looked up. Only now did he realize how quickly he'd been travelling, as he'd seen a town. Glad something positive happened, he began to trot towards town for a moment, but slowed to a halt after thinking a moment.

"I still don't know how to fly..." He said, ironically worried someone nearby might hear him talking to himself. "Alright, Jim, time to fly." He began in a gallop, in the opposite direction of town, so as to not eventually be known as the adult pegasus that didn't know how to fly. Rainbow watched, confused as to what he was doing.

Jim jumped up, and began trying to flap his wings, which wasn't as difficult as the time he'd attempted in the Everfree. It was probably because he had warmed up his body. Gotten the blood flowing. He managed to jump and flap his wings once, still not doing much to keep him in the air.

He tried again. Only this time, not starting from a gallop. He hopped up, from an immobile stance and began to flap his wings furiously. He gasped this time, when he managed to hover. "Yes! I did it! I'm flying!" Jim yelled, not thinking about being caught, only thinking of his new success.

Rainbow Dash face-hoofed and flew down, to talk to him. "Uhm, hi." She said, uncomfortably. Jim turned around, and saw Rainbow standing there, uncomfortably watching him hover. "Oh, uh, this isn't what it looks like," He blurted out. "I mean, uh, I'm just uh..."

Rainbow Dash quirked a brow, and then chuckled. "Oh, that embarrassed, are you? Look, I'll teach you to fly if you promise never to tell anypony about me botching that landing in the forest." Jim looked her up and down, and considered this.

He had no idea how he could teach himself to fly, and even if he had managed to successfully fly, he could have a particularly odd lift-off habit or something that could lead to some awkward questions. "I suppose I have no choice, then." He muttered, pawing at the ground, awkwardly.

Rainbow beamed. She was incredibly happy she had successfully eliminated a risk to her ego. "Great! Right then, er.. you said your name was Soft Maple, right? I'll call you Softie." She joked, but paused to take a minute to actually consider the nickname. It wasn't bad.

Jim frowned. "Sure. Now hurry up and teach me to fly, Instructor." He put some emphasis on the last word, to let her know he still felt she had no authority over him, even as his flight instructor. Rainbow Dash ignored this. "Alrighty. Open your wings for me." She said, as she eyed him up and down, patting his entire body with her forehooves to get a feel for Jim's muscles.

He spread his wings open, they were about two and a half feet long each, "Like this?" He asked, trying not to react too much to all the physical contact Rainbow was giving him, feeling each of his muscles. His body was ticklish all over. "Yeah. Just like that." The raspy voiced mare replied.

She went on. "Right. So I think you've got a lot of potential for flight. You have about six inches of more wing than most other pegasi. The problem lies entirely in your technique. Watch." She showed Jim a flawless lift off, where she had simply flapped her wings once with such an incredible force that it actually lifted her up six feet.

"You try." She said hopefully. Jim complied, flapping both of his wings as just once, as hard as he could. He managed to lift off into his previous hovering position. "Good, so now you have the basic lift off that fillies and colts learn in flight school. If you can just move-" Before she could finish, in a burst of confidence, Jim had rolled his shoulders forward, and began moving. He was getting a hang of it.

Rainbow gawked at him. She couldn't believe her eyes. This stallion was only just learning to fly, for whatever reason, and was already slightly superior to Fluttershy. She couldn't hold in the excitement any more, she yelled, "You're a natural!" This caused him to lost concentration, and, forgetting his situation, stopper flapping his wings about 20 feet in the air. Thud.

Rainbow's winced as she saw him hit the ground. "Well there you go making me a liar. Couldn't you keep flying for the compliment to register?" Jim was forcing himself to not show any signs of weakness. "I could have, but the compliment ruined me." He forced himself to a standing position, his knees still looking wobbly.

Rainbow frowned, seeing his suddenly wobbling knees, she started. "Are you sure you're alright?" Jim cut her off, suddenly. "I'm fine!" He snapped, annoyed at Rainbow's sudden interest in his well being. She ignored his rudeness, and continued. "You know I could fly to town and get somepony." Jim began walking towards Rainbow, and on his third step she noticed a limp.

"You're not fine." She said, frowning, she continued. "I'm going to town, and there's nothing you can do about it. Wait here." Before Jim could object she was off, at least 100 feet in the distance. He sighed, before dropping down back onto his haunches, making conjectures as to what could be wrong with his rear left leg.

Rainbow had only just reached Twilight's house when there was a loud explosion from within. Rainbow let herself in, not terribly worried since Twilight had often enough failed experiments for her to expect such an event. "Twi? I'm coming in." Rainbow called blindly, not seeing Twilight in the immediate vicinity.

She heard Spike start in reply. "Oh, I see how it is! Since Twilight's older you don't think Spike deserves a 'hello', huh?" He seemed aggravated. Rainbow quirked a brow at the baby dragon's change in character, before brushing it off, figuring it uncool to react to Spike's complaining.

As she made the decision to let Spike cool off, Twilight came into the main room of the library, half of her face covered in soot. "Er, Twilight? You got a little somethin' on your face there." Twilight blushed, at least as far as rainbow could tell, under the soot. The two mares sat in the awkward atmosphere a moment, before Twilight opened her mouth. "Er, right. Sorry. I was trying out a new spell to enchant dishes so they would do themselves. It didn't go so well. What's up?"

"Oh! There's a new pony just outside town! He's hurt himself flying. Could you help me get him to the hospital?" Rainbow's complexion paled, a little bit, remembering the time she hurt her wing and was left in the hospital with nothing but books to accompany her. Twilight frowned. "Is it terribly bad? The Princess told me I'd have somebody staying with me awhile, he should be here any minute now."

Rainbow frowned, but decided it best to not distract Twilight from her work too much, even if it meant an idiot stallion with a bum leg having to wait a little longer for treatment. "It's alright, Twilight. It's not fatal, or anything. Just a bum leg." Rainbow smiled weakly, before moving to head out of the library.

Twilight stopped her before she could reach the door, however. "Wait. Rainbow, this could be bad. If it's broken it might heal wrong, meaning we'd have to break the bone a second time to fix it. I'll go, my guest can wait." Rainbow was surprised at Twilight's leniency with her own duty, but satisfied that the brainiac could help with anything that needed immediate attention.

"Great, Twi! C'mon! This way, hurry!" Rainbow's expression was brighter, thanks to Twilight's willingness to help. "Right, I'm coming, I'm coming." Twilight trotted after Rainbow, out of the library, Spike watching, with an annoyed expression on his face.

While Rainbow was getting Twilight :

Jim sat, against the same tree Rainbow had been spying on him before. He'd managed to limp there with his guitar from his original crashing position with some effort. He held a sad expression on his face, and he thought to himself 'I wonder what my family would think.. if they knew I'd abandoned them for some carefree world and a new life..'

Silently, a tear rolled down his cheek, and he began to strum on his guitar. Slowly, he began humming, and after a moment, actually began singing, again, in a higher pitched, tenor voice, fairly higher than the voice he'd used just hours ago.

Long before we each said goodbye

All our fights would make hate appear

I don't know why those are the days

I hold dear

You taught me how to be so fearless;

Always pushing me further each day

Saying, "You can overcome it all

and find happiness along the way if you try"

I'll go on alone with the pain

And I swear that I won't complain

'Cause I'll have the dream you gave me

To keep me strong just how I should be

You were once what made me happy

What I once had called my everything

But it faded and I could see

Being with you was all just a dream

I once thought we always would be

And never cross the finish line

But I knew that was just a wish

Of mine

I don't regret being born any longer

I have learned to cherish life

'Cause you gave me all you had and more

Though we now move on our separate ways

Without strife

I'll go on alone with the pain

And I swear that I won't complain

'Cause I'll have the dream you gave me

To keep me strong just how I should be

Even if I am far from you

When there's more than distance between us

I will pick myself up once more

With the strength I have thanks to you

I'll go on alone

With the pain

Though I want to die

I'll restrain

It's your voice that I can still hear

Like a light that will not disappear

Even if it's hard to move on

Even if I cannot stop my tears

My heart is warm because of you

And I'll hold that dear for all my years

Our time came and went by so fast

I now look back and make it last

I cannot recall what broke us

Into pieces like inside my heart

If I close my eyes I can hear

Someone laughing long ago with me

To this day I've held that right here

'Cause you're still my most precious treasure

Our time came and went by so fast

I know look bac kand make it last

I cannot recall what broke us?

Into pieces like inside my heart

If I close my eyes I can hear

Someone laughing long ago with me

To this day I've held that right here

'Cause you're still my most precious treasure

He took a deep breath as he closed his eyes after holding the last note, and sighed, the tear he'd shed now falling from his cheek into the soil. He opened his eyes and looked to his left. He noticed two silhouettes of ponies in the distance, coming closer, as the sun set behind them, and he wiped his face, trying to hold true to a particular line that would never leave his mind.

I'll go on alone with the pain and I swear that I won't complain

Author's Note : Done! A small tidbit of inspiration came to me today, and here it is! I planned to spend a week on this chapter, but it slipped my mind after my Enchanted Arms crossover, and I lost all will to write, suddenly. I hope this is satisfactory, I've got plans for the future, but other ideas are always coming, so you can always expect a twist in the future.

The song used in this chapter is "Most Precious Treasure - Angel Beats!"

Yep. I'm a freaking weaboo. To an extent, at least.

Thanks for reading! Feedback will always be appreciated!