Truly Airborne
By: Radiogenicpony
“Congratulations, Scoots,” Rainbow Dash said clouded by a surreal haze, “you know all the steps of flight. Now you just need to use them together, only then will you be truly airborne.”
“Thank you… for everything,” was all I could manage through my smile.
“You’re welcome… you won’t see me for a while, perhaps a long while.”
“What?!... Are you going somewhere?” I asked fearfully.
This dream Rainbow Dash had taught me to fly. She had been a mentor who led me through nearly every step, and I didn’t want to lose her.
She chuckled slightly,“No, I’ll always be with you, but you won’t see me or hear me until you need me.”
“Then how will I know you’re with me?”
A wide grin crossed her face as she said her next words.
“Because, I am a part of you.”
The world began to blur away, but her grin remained as clear as the stars in the night sky.
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I awoke feeling very confused.
What, had just happened?
What did Rainbow Dash mean I wouldn’t see her again?
I looked outside my window, and saw the cyan pegasus clearing clouds from the sky.
No, that was the dream Rainbow Dash!
Maybe I should go talk to the real Rainbow Dash.
As I walked out my door, I saw Rainbow Dash landing a block away to talk to Fluttershy.
I approached them just as Rainbow Dash was preparing to take off and fly away.
“Rainbow Dash!” I shouted, hoping to catch her attention.
Rainbow stopped what she was doing and turned to face me
“Oh, hey kid.”
“Rainbow Dash, I have something I need to ask you, but it’s sort of strange.”
“All right, what is it?”
“Will I ever see you again?”
Rainbow Dash blinked twice.
“Huh? Of course you’ll see me again; I’m not going anywhere. Why would you even ask that?”
“Oh… uh… because of a dream.”
“Oh,” Rainbow Dash sighed in relief“it was just a dream you…”
“But it wasn’t just a dream!”
“You just said it was a dream.”
“It was… well sort of.”
“What do you mean ‘sort of’? Was it a dream or not?”
“Well, it was you in the dream.”
“Wait. You’ve been dreaming about me?”
“Yeah… sort of. Almost every time I learned another step of flight, it was from you teaching me in my dreams.”
“Whoa… wait what?!”
“In my dream last night, you said I wouldn’t see you again until I needed you.” I said, highly confused.“What’s going on?”
“Instinct,” said a barely audible third voice.
Rainbow Dash and I turned to look at the source of the third voice, both of us giving it questioning glances.
“Instinct,” repeated Fluttershy slightly louder than last time.
“So, you’re telling me that Scootaloo’s Instinct decided to look like me,” Rainbow Dash said, obviously knowing something I did not.
“Um… yes,” stated Fluttershy.
“What’s going on here?!” I asked.
Both mares turned back to me.
“I’ll let you explain Fluttershy…” Dash nodded,“You have more experience with it than I do.”
“Um… ok,” Fluttershy looked at her hooves, then up at me. “Scootaloo, the mare you saw in your dreams wasn’t Rainbow Dash…”
“Of course it was Rainbow Dash. I saw her myself”
“No… that was Instinct.”
After receiving a long blank stare from me, Fluttershy continued.
“Instinct appears to all ponies, earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi alike.” She continued after a brief pause, “Instinct’s purpose in appearing to pegasi is to teach them to fly and aid them when they need it most.”
“Then why hasn’t Instinct taught me how to fly sooner?”
“Because instinct only appears after you begin to learn to fly” Rainbow explained.
“But I have tried to fly in the past andInstinct never helped me.”
“That’s because you didn’t know how to start learning to fly,” Rainbow Dash clarified.“You just flapped your wings as fast as you could, hoping you would take to the skies”
“Um… if I’m not mistaken… Instinct should have appeared to you first after I gave you your first lesson about learning to fall”Fluttershy sounded.
“Yeah, that night she asked me what my reason to fly was… that indescribable feeling of gliding through dreams.”
“*Ha* I always thought it was because you wanted to be like me,” Rainbow chuckled.
“Now Rainbow, you know that wouldn’t work,” Fluttershy insisted.
“Oh right, paradoxes. The reason of flight for a pegasus has to be unique to them or they won’t be able to fly. If your reason is that you want to be like somepony else, then you have to have the same reason as them.”
“And because it’s no longer unique to the pegasi, neither of them can fly… unless they each find a new reason.”
“Or at least the second pegasus to use that reason does, but I’m not sure if instinct helps you find a new reason.”
“That doesn’t explain why Instinct looked like Rainbow Dash.”I groaned.
“Instinct takes on the form of somepony you look up to, a mentor, a friend, an idol.” Fluttershy answered.
“Now that I think about it, I probably should have guessed that the president of my fan club would have Instinct that looks like me,” commented the cyan pegasus.
After a long period of silence, Rainbow Dash spoke again.
“Well kid… I’ve got to go,” Rainbow began, “Don’t forget to do whatever Instinct told you last night, and if you are still confused or have more questions,just find me.”
Thanks Rainbow Dash” I said (cheerfully).
With that, Rainbow took to the air and flew towards a group of weather ponies preparing a light drizzle.
Um…Scootaloo, just know you can always come to see me… if you like.” Fluttershy said mildly. “For now, you should use the final
step of flight and take to the sky”
Alright, Scootaloo…” I said to myself, “with a few small flaps, take to the sky. Make your first true flight a flight to last.”
I flapped my wings and felt myself lifting off of the ground.
“Remember what Instinct said. ‘You know all the steps of flight. Now you just need to use them together,’” I recalled aloud.
I remembered everything Instinct had taught me, and the lesson Fluttershy taught as well.
As I flew higher, I heard Fluttershy cheering below me.
“Yay… way to go.”
I flew away, high in the sky with a smile on my face. Because of Instinct, I am truly airborne.
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Authors Note
Sorry for not getting this out sooner, I’m not sure what your expectations for me are, but I know mine are pretty high. I did have a great deal of difficulty when writing this, but that is only half of the problem… the other half is how amazing EQD is and how distracting it can be. I will try not to get distracted when I write Sweetie Belle’s and Applebloom’s stories, but my upload schedule may still subject to change as I am now in school once again. And now for the message. Take the advice of your good friends, family, and mentors. Know that you have the ability to do great things, all you have to do is learn the steps and put them together. Finally with this new authors note taken care of here is the only authors note I wrote before I completed the story…
When I started to try to write this story, I couldn’t do it. I was distracted easily, I couldn’t sit still, but most importantly, I did not feel the joy of writing. After a day of writing nothing and telling myself I was thinking of ideas and seeking inspiration (which wasn’t all-true), I decided I would make myself write. I didn’t, instead I went for a bike ride to the beach. When there I continued to tell myself I was seeking inspiration, as I always set my Brony playlist, on my iPod, to shuffle and hope that something inspires me. Most of the time it doesn’t work. I was on my way back from the beach to my house (I live a few miles from the beach) I still had miles left to ride on the beach itself (before I would ride five miles to my house) when my bike broke down (its repaired now though). I looked at my situation, stranded here until someone could come pick me up, not able to go to the beach itself (having to stay on the sidewalk) because I had to keep an eye on my bike. Lastly, most people by now would say ‘at least you’re on the beach’, well I’m not a beach person, I bike down there to give myself time to think, not to look at the scenery (as it does nothing for me, to elaborate no inspiration or joy comes from it for me). I told you that I usually don’t gain inspiration from my bike rides, this time however, one song ,that I had heard on the path to the beach, came to the front of my mind, and I couldn’t hold back a smile. Despite being stranded, this song had given me joy. I played the song twice in my iTunes library, then started playing a portable sound based game (not unlike Guitar Hero) many times. It suddenly dawned on me that my perspective was way off. I was at the beach when almost nobody was there, I could be alone with my thoughts, and at the same time feel like I was doing stuff with people. I set down my iPod and walked into the sand, and just started wondering. Wondering how my perspective was so far off, wondering what this story would be, and wondering why I hadn’t changed my view before. it was because of that song that I was able to start writing again, so when I finally got home, I just started writing. Series one ‘Steps Toward Flight’ is now complete, look out for series two ‘Magic of the Filly’, it’s first story will be ‘Knowledge Among the Gems’ Special thanks to my pre reader Cormac McCloppy.
