Saffron Ree

The moment we got home, I ran upstairs to my room and lifted out the case from my backpack. There was the feathers that had been all that had stood between me and a week of absolute boredom, Riley's leaf, and a little slip of paper.

Carefully, I lifted the piece of paper out first.

I had a great time, Saf. If you're ever back on my planet, gimme a call.

Okay, it might just be the corniest thing I've ever seen, and it was totally something Kaylee would say. On the back of the paper was a phone number. With a sigh I tucked the paper to the bottom of the box. "Riley!"

When Riley ran, it was like a stampede of horses, or a horse race. The clattering of hooves as she galloped up the hallway and then pushed my door all the way open shouldn't sound like that many ponies, but it does. "Your leaf."

Damn but she looked so happy. Riley might be a terror sometimes, who likes to push me around, but she had me wrapped around her hoof. "Can you keep it safe?"

"On one condition." As soon as I said it, her face registered complete surprise. She opened her mouth to ask what, but I couldn't keep her waiting. "You show me how to braid these feathers into my mane."

She actually jumped up onto her rear legs and clopped her forehooves together in excitement. If I wasn't a sugar-burning factory in pony shape, I could swear I just got diabetes from that. "Of course I can! Okay, so how do you want to do it?"

"Like I'd know. This is your thing. Show me what looks best."

I got a lesson all right. Apparently there was five different ways my mane could be braided to hold the feathers, and Riley needed to try each before she was satisfied. That she made sure to teach them all to me too was a given.

In the end, though, it was mid-afternoon by the time we were done, and I followed her back down the stairs (after we put the precious box of mementos in a safe place).

"Wait!" Riley looked shocked. "I haven't checked on my tree! Come on, Saf!" She reached a hoof out to me, and I knew I was defeated as I felt her deceptively iron-like grip on my foreleg.

Knowing my sister's tendencies, I gave my wings a little flap to get me up to speed so she didn't end up ripping my leg off or something. She rushed us into the back yard and right up to her tree.

"It's okay, I'm back." She let go of me and reached a single hoof out against the tree.

The sounds of Canterlot might waft to us on a breeze now and again, but that didn't stop Riley from ignoring it and me from stretching out my wings and just feeling the air again.

Gusts came and went, and though I longed to follow them to wherever they wanted to take me, I had Riley here, and fun as flying is, big brothers don't fly off and leave their little sisters.

Riley's gasp drew my attention. She stretched and leaned back from the tree. "I kinda forgot how it was here. Our trees are much faster than Earth trees. They also have a lot more magic."

"Mmhmm." I walked closer and dug my snout down and under her bely, then tossed my head in the air. Riley flew about three ponylengths into the sky, squaling, which was perfect for me to shove myself free of the ground and catch her on my back as my the second pump of my wings lifted me up to meet her.

"Saaaaaaaaf!" Her shout might have worked better to dissuade me if she weren't giggling while she did it.

I kept pumping my wings and headed off the edge of Canterlot. This was where real flying happened. Other pegasi that were out enjoying an afternoon fly whirred around us, but I headed a little further. "Are you ready?"

Riley had dug her hooves into my mane and was holding on tight. Perfect. "Ready for what?"

I rolled over midair until we were both upside down. Riley shrieked with laughter. Continuing the roll, I reached upright again and then started a canopy roll, which took us upside down again, and then led out into a steep stall until I lost forward speed, tipped over my wings and went into a dive.

Despite having had some really fun moments back on Earth, I'd missed this with every part of me. The freedom of the sky was something I couldn't give up now. Go and live back on Earth until I was old? Heck no!

Repeated and excited shouts from my back—as I worked through a set routine—didn't dissuade me in the slightest. "Saf! This is great!"

At the end of the stunts, I glided into a thermal and started my slow assent back to Canterlot. "Sorry, but I really needed to fly."

"Pfft! It was fun, Saf. Besides, you hung around with me by my tree, and I bet that was a lot more boring than getting my own personal roller coaster!" With the thermal around us, I didn't even need to flap anymore, and the only wind was going up.

"Well, you sounded like you had fun, but I probably still should have asked first."

"Saf, I had fun! Don't be a stick in the mud after just a week on Earth. You're a pegasus! FLY!"

Her shout caught me up and before I knew it I'd poured magic into my wings and started to pump them, shooting up through the thermal like a missile in flight. By the time the hot air finally fountained out and stopped, I was already moving fast enough to punch my way up through the clouds.

Riley was squealing with excitement again, which only encouraged me to start another routine of stunts—this one meant for much more advanced fliers, and probably those without an earth pony on their back. Spirals, loops, even more rolls. When one particular roll put a lot of g-forces on us, I felt Riley jolt me with her earth pony strength. The warnings signs of impending G-loc were completely dispelled and I pushed harder.

The final stunt I pulled had us rocketing toward the ground—a plaza on Canterlot itself. Pouring my magic into my wings, I snapped them out at the last moment and planted my hooves down to the pavement cleanly.

"Woo! Again!" Actually bouncing up and down on my back, Riley seemed focused on completely destroying all the bones in my shoulders.

"Hey." I shook my back, which only seemed to make staying on more of a game for Riley. "Get off. You can walk now." The ponies around us were staring a little and looking among themselves. Obviously, trying to find our parents so they could tsk at them for letting their foals run rampant. Well, Mom and Dad are back home having some alone time after nearly two weeks of being stuck on a boring world.

"Spoilsport!" With her own magic flowing, it wasn't like Riley needed held down. She just jumped from my back and landed on all fours. Unlike a cat, however, she kinda just dropped straight down with all four legs straight.

"That was pretty cool, kid. Maybe one day you'll become a Wonderbolt!"

My head snapped around at the familiar, female voice. I spotted Sudden Turn and barely managed to resist the urge to run over to her. "I don't know. I hear their junior trainers can be really tough."

"I heard that too, but somepony told me they look good in their flight suits." Sudden strode toward me and held out her hoof for me to clop against. "How you doing, Saf? I thought you weren't going to be back for a few more days? Hey, Riley!"

Riley bounced up to Sudden and clopped her hoof too. "Hi! Did you see what Saf did?"

"Sure did. Got no idea how he pulled a turn like that without blacking out. I was actually getting ready to fly up and catch you both." Now, with Sudden being an adult (but obviously not our parents), everypony seemed content to let the situation go.

"That was because of me! I gave Saf a jolt of my magic—earth pony magic!" Strutting a little, Riley walked back to me and leaned against one of my legs (a sign I knew meant she had probably overdone it).

"What, really? Earth ponies and pegasi aren't supposed to be able to do that." Turning her attention to Riley, Sudden held out a hoof, then drew it back. "I was gonna ask for you to hit me with a little, but you don't look so good. Want a lift home?"

Looking from me to Sudden, Riley shook her head. "I think Saf can still carry me. Right, Saf?"

"Of course I can, but no more using your magic. How much did you give your tree earlier?" I used a wing to grab her and flip her into the air. A little jump was all it took to catch her neatly without any jolting.

Riley settled onto my back and I felt her grab my mane again. "You're the best, Saf. Thanks."

"After letting me pull off those stunts? You deserve all the rides Riley. You wanna fly, or should we walk?"

Wiggling a little, Riley seemed to get herself comfortable on my back after a few moments. "Walk. I wanna feel the ground through you."

"You know, Sweetie Belle was telling me about a really old sorcerer who was an earth pony. Apparently nopony alive today, not even Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, or any of the Pillars know how she could—Oh! Clover the Clever! That's him. You should ask your teacher about him." Sudden fell in beside me as we walked. "I wouldn't be surprised if you got some kind of magic cutie mark, though you're still a bit young for one of those."

"Am not!"

Sudden stopped and looked at Riley for a second. "Ha! That's the spirit. Who knows, maybe you're not? From what I've seen your brother do, you're both pretty amazing for your ages."

"Yeah," I said, "but you know there's going to be more of us, right? I mean, come on, a human your age is in their final years, Sudden. Even if they have to become ponies—probably even because they'd become ponies—the portal is going to get a lot of tourists."

"That's for other ponies to worry about. I just have a crazy pegasus pulling dangerous stunts to worry about."

Riley had been slumped against my back and neck, but now she straightened up a little. "It wasn't dangerous! Not with me there!"

"Yeah, but tomorrow, when I make him try those stunts again without you, he'll find out how stupid it was. But, he already knows that, don't you, Saf?" Her tone was so sweet and soft. I knew she wasn't joking about making me try to recreate those stunts, and I knew I'd likely pass out trying and she'd have to save my ass.

"Yes, ma'am!" I barked the command out, lifting a wing to salute.

"I'll make you pay for that, too." Sudden walked with me as we made our way home. About halfway I heard a little snore come from Riley on my back. She really had given everything to let me do my stunt. "She's asleep. I know the right place where she'll get the best rest."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Sudden asked.

Sudden was a pegasus who hadn't had siblings, so I could cut her a bit of slack. "Your friend, Bloom. If she gets really tired and worn out, where does she go to relax?"

"Well, she'd always go for a walk in the orchard. Why?"

"Riley has a tree she's been helping take over the neighborhood. She's an earth pony, so if she needs a recharge, I bet that tree knows how to help her."

Raising one eyebrow, Sudden nodded her head. "Yeah, alright, I can see that. So we go and let her sleep under her tree for a bit?"

"I'll keep an eye on her. I can't exactly boost her the way she can me, but with her touching me, I can kinda push my magic out a little too. It doesn't work otherwise." I totally didn't want to tell her how I knew that. White coats were the worst—everypony could see you blush.

"Hrmm. What aren't you telling me, Saf?"

Everypony. Can. See. You. Blush. Fuck…

"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to not think of Kaylee.

It shouldn't have been embarrassing, and I don't know why I was blushing so much, but I couldn't stop.

"Saf, you're now a shade of pink approaching Flurry Heart, and if you keep going you'll wind up like her mom. What happened?"

I groaned. I did not want to be having this conversation with Sudden Turn. "I met a girl on Earth."

Sudden's face lit up. "Was she cute?"

"You're the worst, you know that?"

"Answer the question."

"She was cute, and I had a lot of fun playing games with her and Riley, and we even got to spend some time together." The words tumbled out, and as they did I found myself looking down at my short legs. It reminded me of how old I looked. "Is that what you wanted to know?"

Sudden draped her wing over my back. Her wings weren't huge to begin with, but me being so small it wasn't hard for her to cover me from the shoulders back. "Saf, I'm glad you had fun. Fun, though, doesn't make a young stallion blush like that."

"Young stallion?" I asked.

"Best term for you. You were a stallion while there, right? There's not some kind of extra stuff I should know about?"

"Yeah, yeah. I was an adult male while there, and yes, we did get up to things adults do. It was fun, and I really wanted to give her some magic while we were doing it, but without Riley touching me, I can't do it." I lifted my head up from the metaphorical (and almost physical) hole I'd let it sink into and looked back to see Sudden's wing covering Riley. "She's amazing, Sudden."

"You gotta be like Underdog—err, Vapor Trail. She's got all these cool tricks that helps other pegasi fly better. Your sister's going to need help if she's that smart, Saf."

That sounded stupid given what had happened so far. "She's normally the one helping me!"

"Shh. You got a passenger, remember?" Sudden rubbed my back a little with her wing, probably to remind me of Riley. "But, it looks like you're already helping her."

"That's only because she helped me too much."

"I grew up with Princess Twilight running around town—heck, with Rainbow Dash and all her friends helping her. If your sister's anything like Princess Twilight, and I'm getting a vibe she is, she's going to need all the help she can get."

The chatter had gotten us to the same black our house was in. We walked the last bit in silence, though the city did continue being noisy around us.

It took a little jolt of pegasus magic and I got over the fence and down to the ground again without jolting my sleepy cargo. I walked over to the tree and—with my wings—carefully slid Riley off my back and down my left wing to the ground.

You'd have to be completely stone-deaf to magic not to feel whatever it was that made the hair on the back of my neck rise. Laying down behind Riley, I spread one wing out and over her while guiding one of her hooves to touch the tree.

Serene and relaxed peace coiled around me. It was like a huge, warm blanket wrapped both of us up. "I think it's working. The tree is helping."

"How can you even tell that? I mean, I know you're good with your magic but—" Apparently she wasn't as magic-dense as she thought, because Sudden stopped then and just stared at Riley. "Wow."

"Yeah. She puts a lot into this tree, that's why I thought bringing her here when she's low might mean it would share some back." My sister was actually glowing softly, her pink coat seemingly getting a green tint. After a few silent minutes the glow softened and then faded. "I think that means I should take her inside now."

"How do you just get what needs to be done?"

"She's my sister, Sudden. I've been hanging out with her, watching her talk to trees and stuff, for weeks now. I guess I kinda just picked up on how this stuff works. At least a little." Really carefully, I tried to scoop Riley up with my wing.

But Riley wasn't so deep asleep as I could just pick her up. "Saf?"

"Hey, sleepy-head." I picked her up and held her under my wing—wrapped tight. "You were pretty out of it."

"Wha' happen'?" She yawned and seemed to pull her head down into the tunnel made by my wing.

"You used up a lot of magic letting me do stupid shit. I brought you to your tree to get a pick-me-up, now it's time for some real sleep."

"Saf?"

"Yeah?"

Riley yawned and closed her eyes. I could guess she wanted to say thanks, but it seemed her body decided sleep was a better idea.

"I kinda deserve any punishment you give me tomorrow. I gotta be more careful around her." I carried Riley in the back door and turned for the stairs leading to our bedrooms.

Putting Riley to bed, I couldn't help but smile as she burrowed under the covers and immediately started snoring again. I turned and saw Mom standing in the doorway with a raised eyebrow.

Stepping out of Riley's room, I closed the door with a wing. "We went flying and I might have tried some stupid stunts. She had to use her magic to keep me from blacking out. She slept on the walk home and I gave her some time with her tree."

Mom let out a sigh. "So long as she's okay."

"But I was being—" Mom's hoof against my mouth silenced me.

"Saffron, I bet that you had a little filly on your back telling you to do more. Yes, be careful, but I know you both well enough to know this wasn't either of your fault. You're my little darlings." That's when I noticed the big, silly grin on Mom's face.

"You look just like you did with Riley."

She froze and looked at me in surprise. "You can remember that?"

"Yeah I can. You walked around in a daze for months. I remember googling it and thinking you were on drugs or something. It's a pregnancy thing, right?"

"Probably that and a touch of being young again. Everything feels so fresh and new." Mom started toward the stairs down in front of me. "Oh. Hello, Sudden Turn. Visiting Saffron?"

Sudden let out a short and sharp snort. "More like making sure him and Riley made it back without trying another crazy stunt. Are you okay, ma'am?"

"Just getting over my time spent back on Earth. I heard about him and Riley doing something silly."

I followed Mom down the stairs and watched her head into the kitchen. That's when I realized something, and it had been something I'd slipped back into so easily my brain hadn't even told me what was going on. I snapped my eyes closed and tried to banish the image of seeing my mom walking away from me—with limited success.

"Something wrong, Saf?" Sudden asked.

"Yeah. I just lost The Game." How long, this time, was I going to have to go before I could mentally tune that out again? For that matter, why was Mom holding her tail up so high? Oh, great, more questions I don't want answers to.

Sudden tilted her head to the side. "What game?"

"It's…" How the heck do I explain The Game? "So, think of something that you don't like thinking about."

"How do I do that?"

"Well, it's not easy to explain. How about something you're embarrassed by?" Wham! It was like the purple after-image you get in your head after a bright flash goes off in your face.

"Oh. Oh! Now I get it. And once you start thinking about it, you can't stop?"

"Yeah, now you're getting it. So back on Earth, reminding someone about something like means you can tell them 'You just lost The Game.' Just now, thanks to my imagination, I did it to myself."

"So you lost twice then. Once for remembering, and a second time because it was you that reminded yourself of it. How do you win The Game?"

I laughed—short and sharp. "You don't. Even if you try to win, you lose more. The Game can never be won. At best, you can maybe lose a little less than everypony else."

"Ah. I think I've got it now. How're your wings?" Sudden lived up to her name by changing the topic and pointing to the door leading outside.

I started toward the door. "They feel really good. I burned a little magic into them earlier, but I wouldn't mind—"

"No. No flying until tomorrow. Consider that an order. Your sister passed out, twice, because she was drained of her magic and exhausted. I asked around and found out Earth is really low magic." She followed me outside.

"So why are we going out?" I asked.

"Duh, so your mom doesn't hear me grilling you about this other girl. You'd never tell me anything with her hovering around."

When I looked back, Sudden had the sneakiest grin I'd ever seen on her. "Why are you so interested in her?"

"Saf, I don't think you've quite worked out how grilling somepony for answers works. You see, when I'm grilling you, you don't get to ask the questions. How did you meet?" She followed me all the way over to the tree. Riley's tree.

I sat down and then drew one of my wings out and around to begin preening. "We were having something to eat in the restaurant at our hotel. She was the waitress."

"Ah, now you've figured it out." Sudden sat down beside me and started doing the same thing as I was—with her own wing of course. Gah, now I'd lost The Game again. "So you two hit it off right away? I take it she looked good? What about you?"

"You've seen the pictures of humans from our world?" I asked.

"What'd I tell you about grilling? Yeah, I have."

"Well, I'm about average height for a male, but you have to picture someone boring-looking like that with a braid down one side of their face filled with pegasus feathers. I didn't mean to be, but apparently that was pretty unique." After the stunts I'd pulled with Riley, my feathers were a mess. Several had to be straightened, and one I think I'd need to keep an eye on. And, this was just one wing.

"And her?"

My mind wandered for a moment and I fell back into the same thought pattern as I'd had on Earth. "At first I couldn't work out why I was attracted. The first day was just 200% confusion. We sat up late playing video games with Riley." I found a feather that might need splinting, and made a mental note to get my preening kit out later to take care of it. "Second night I figured out what it was. She was cute. She had curves in all the right places, and when she walked I started to have trouble breathing."

"Sounds like a typical stallion. Well, a stallion noticing mares. How're you feeling on this side of things?"

Why was it so easy to talk to her? "I mean, I like looking at some ponies—mares—but it wasn't as intense as what I felt back on Earth. Here it's more—intellectual. I like the way mares move, I like the way they look—particularly pegasi—but there's no…"

"Need a word? Need, imperative, desire, ache—"

"Imperative is good. I'm pretty sure Riley would like me using that. Dammit, and now I'm thinking about how much better than I am she is at all this stuff. She also doesn't have this problem to contend with."

I found a bunch of feathers that needed a lot of straightening and got to work. Sudden seemed to get that too because she went quiet.

We kept up the quiet preening for a while, until she piped up again. "You like pegasi?"

Having been wrestling with the broken feather that apparently wasn't quite broken enough to remove, I had to let it go to reply. "Well duh. Earth ponies are too—too big. Unicorns have a way of walking that just makes me think they have a stick up their butts. Pegasi move like—"

After a moment of my silence, Sudden replied, "Yeah, I know what you mean."

I went back to work on the problem feather for a bit, finally judging it salvaged. "It's all your fault."

"Huh?" Sudden lifted her snout out of her wing and looked at me over it. "What is?"

"You forgot already? I distinctly remember you flirting with me."

"Saf, that wasn't flirting. I was trying to get you to relax a bit. It worked, too. If you were just thirty years older, I'd hit you like a buckball. I like you. You have a quick mind and you speak from your heart, but you're still only twenty." What sucked the most about what she was saying was that it was true. "But that means we have years of hanging out and having fun before we maybe get to that stuff."

"Hold up. Thirty years is a long time, even in Equestria. That's like over a tenth of your life."

"We click."

I narrowed my eyes and stuck my snout back into my wing to start on the next feather—thankfully less bent than the previous one. After getting that sorted, I shook my head. "I still don't get it. Does clicking mean that much?"

"I've never clicked with another pony before, except my best friends. Either your a best friend or you're going to be something more. We can do the first bit right now, and are doing it pretty well, but the other bit… I can wait." It was almost infuriating. The more she said it, the more I wanted to ask but why? "Your dad given you the talk yet?"

"Yeah, seven years ago." I started on another feather.

"This is what I'm talking about, Saf. If I asked any other guy that, he'd try to posture and make a show of being cool. You actually tell me." When I peeked over my wing at her, she'd gone back to preening herself.

Dammit. She was right. I wouldn't speak like this to anyone. I spent a moment watching her preening and realized that right here was the perfect example of my type. "This is so unfair." I stuck my snout back into my feathers to preen the last of the damaged ones.

"I saw you."

"Huh?"

"Looking at my butt." She sounded smug. Smugger than any smug I'd ever heard in my life.

The most annoying thing was she was right. "This is so awkward."

"I bet nopony in your world ever says that about puberty."

It was utterly impossible to not laugh at that. I folded both my wings (now properly preened) and let go with a big case of the giggles. "Right? Just like nopony does here."

"I know. But look on the bright side, Saf." She stood up and turned, giving me plenty of opportunity to look not just at her, but up at her. "When you finally get through it, we'll see about trying out more than friends." Spreading her wings, Sudden winked back at me and practically danced her way into the sky.

"Maybe it is starting," I said.

Author's Note

Ask Princess Celestia (because why not?): Does this happen often? Colts or fillies inventing a new spell because nopony told them it was impossible?

"It happens about every two or three generations. The last student to accomplish this was Twilight Sparkle." Celestia's one visible eye caught the smile from her mouth and made her whole face light up with emotion. "You can imagine why I took a special interest in Riley Ree."

So I do this "Ask X" thing. X can be any pony within the story. You can ask them anything and they will definitely, hopefully reply. Keep the questions appropriate to the age-rating of the stories, and they will answer the best question in the author notes of the next chapter. The more votes a comment has the more likely I will get it to the right pony to answer. Try to keep it to one question per post! They will pick one question per chapter.

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