Flight Envy

by applejackofalltrades

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy
Length: 1850

How does it feel to fly?

"Do you ever feel like you were born… wrong?" 

"Huh?" 

"I mean… I dunno, sometimes I feel like I was meant to be a pegasus. Like you."

Rainbow often wondered what it’d be like to be a pegasus. Too bad she wasn’t born one. A mare can dream, though. Sometimes that’s all she can do.

Thank you to Sir Fiddler for prereading this :)

Published 2021-07-12 23:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2021-07-12 23:10:01 UTC

I Just Gotta Know

"Do you ever feel like you were born… wrong?"

"Huh?"

"I mean… I dunno, sometimes I feel like I was meant to be a pegasus. Like you."

"Oh, uhm, maybe?"

Rainbow craned her neck over to Fluttershy. "Seriously! I've had dreams where I was a pegasus soaring through the sky as fast as the wind itself!" She gestured up to the sky with a hoof and smiled. "The wind in my mane, the sun on my body and the ruffling of wings," she giggled. "Fluttershy, I could practically feel it!"

Fluttershy wiggled next to Rainbow. Her wings stretched awkwardly underneath her. "I've had dreams like that too. Except, in mine, I was an earth pony like you," she admitted with a blush. "I didn't have to worry about these pesky wings and I could just live on the ground with everypony else."

Rainbow gave Fluttershy a funny look. "Well, you could just move down here," she pointed out. At Fluttershy's grimace, she chortled. "I'm serious! There's this little cottage at the end of town that basically has your name on it."

"Oh, I don't know… I like visiting you, Rainbow, but moving would be a big change…"

Rainbow looked up at the clouds. The grass beneath her tickled at her back, but it felt calming as the wind softly blew her mane around. "You see that cloud up there?"

A white tuft floated in the sky. Fluttershy nodded.

"It looks like an eagle," Rainbow said with a smile. "I think I could be a good eagle. They're awesome, like me! Plus, they're great fliers, and I think I'd be a good flier too if I had wings."

"Maybe."

Rainbow snorted. "Maybe? Come on, I'd be great and you know it!" She rolled over onto her stomach and propped herself up. "I mean, I'm fast, have good reflexes, and I totally have the awesomeness to make me a good flier." With every new adjective, she struck a pose, which made Fluttershy giggle. "Right?"

The yellow pegasus nodded. "Right."

Rainbow grinned and looked down at Fluttershy. She was so… quiet all the time. But she was Rainbow's closest friend, and her only friend, really.

Plus, she was a pegasus! She was so lucky, and she didn't even know it. Sometimes, Rainbow thought that Fluttershy would really rather be an earth pony, like in her dream. And not as a joke, or anything. How could she not want wings?

Rainbow stared at Fluttershy, who stared back with a tiny smile. Rainbow shook her head, then offered a hoof. "Come on, get up. You're gonna show me how to fly."

Fluttershy blinked. "What? But you're an earth pony."

"I know," Rainbow responded with an eye roll. "Obviously. I can't fly, but you can show me like you were teaching me how."

Fluttershy took Rainbow's hoof and used it to help herself up. "Uhm, okay… I guess?"

She knew that Fluttershy wouldn't understand, but Rainbow had to know how it felt. How it felt to really fly. She trotted eagerly as she followed Fluttershy to a flatter area of the clearing.

Fluttershy flexed her wings awkwardly at her side with a slight frown. "I'm… not sure how to do this."

Rainbow gawked. "What? But you fly all the time!"

"I know," Fluttershy mumbled, "but I've never had to show anypony…"

Rainbow whined. "Oh come on, Shy. I just wanna know what it feels like!"

The pegasus looked back at her wings, then squinted. "Okay, I'll try…"

"Yes!" Rainbow cheered. If she could get Fluttershy to like flying more, then at least she had that. Even if Rainbow herself couldn't fly, helping her friend discover why flying was so awesome was pretty much the next best thing.

Rainbow grinned as Fluttershy extended her wings to her side. Her wing feathers ruffled in the gentle wind. Soft yellow primaries danced with the breeze as long, flight-ready wings prepared to take the pegasus to the sky.

Rose red eyes drifted over Fluttershy's wings. Every feather fell perfectly into place, and Rainbow knew then that Fluttershy took expert care of her wings. Fluttershy glanced at Rainbow, then took a short gallop forward. Her wings beat strongly once, sending a gust of wind that pushed Rainbow's mane back for a second and sent Fluttershy up into the sky.

Rainbow gasped in awe. She knew that Fluttershy wasn't the most graceful of fliers, but she gawked anyway. Fluttershy seemed unsure of what to do once up in the air, so Rainbow wordlessly gestured for her to keep flying.

Though a bit slow and awkward at first, Fluttershy flew back and forth above an awe-struck Rainbow. The pegasus loosened up with every turn, her smile widening until finally, she flew smoothly. The wind blowing her long mane everywhere, only further framing the pegasus in a light pink canvas.

That look. That look of bliss on Fluttershy's face as she flew was what Rainbow wished she could feel. It just looked so… freeing. So liberating. So fun.

Even though she had never flown before, Rainbow felt grounded. Watching her friend have fun in the sky made it almost bearable, though. She hoped that Fluttershy could at least learn to make the most of it. Rainbow settled down back on her side as Fluttershy giggled, now flanked with birds.

Fluttershy's wings flapped in a different pattern than Rainbow thought they would. Maybe it was because she wasn't a very experienced flier, but her wings beat a lot more often than Rainbow would have guessed. Then again, what would she know?

She watched as Fluttershy continued to giggle as she flew. With each passing moment, she eased up more and more, and even as ungraceful as she was, she was a lot of fun to watch. The midday sun behind Fluttershy made her seem like she was glowing; like some kind of… angel. Rainbow grinned, her gaze softening. Yeah, she definitely was like an angel.

Maybe she could lead her somewhere better. Rainbow didn’t have wings, sure, but Fluttershy did, and she could be happy enough for the both of them. Rainbow would make sure of it. If Fluttershy was happy, then hay, Rainbow was happy.

Her eyes followed Fluttershy as she descended back to the grass, slightly flushed. As she trotted back to Rainbow, she tried to hide in her mane. She probably forgot that Rainbow was watching her, which made the earth pony smirk.

“So was that fun?” Rainbow asked with a smug look.

Fluttershy settled down next to her friend. Rainbow could see the tips of her feathers bristling. “Yes…”

Rainbow laughed and reached over to hit Fluttershy gently on her foreleg. “I told you! I could tell. You looked so happy up there,” she recalled. Fluttershy smiled and nodded slightly, which in turn made Rainbow’s own smile widen. “How does it feel to fly?”

The pegasus stuttered and blinked a few times. “Um, I… Uh…” Her wings ruffled at her sides as she shrugged. “I don’t know? It’s kind of… scary, at first. Even for me,” she admitted. “Or maybe that’s just me… I know that all my little bird friends love to fly. Sometimes I fly with them and I have so much fun.”

Rainbow nodded. “It really looks fun. I wish I could feel what it feels like.” She looked up to the sky and sighed. “At least I can dream about it, I guess.”

The wind picked up a bit. Rainbow’s mane whipped in front of face, but she did nothing to fix it. “You know, if I was a pegasus, I bet I’d have a cool name. Something like… Rainbow Gust, or Rainbow Thunder… or Rainbow Dash,” she suggested. Rainbow smirked, feeling satisfied. “Yeah, I like Rainbow Dash.”

Fluttershy giggled next to Rainbow. “What’s wrong with Rainbow Wish?”

“You mean apart from the fact that it’s uber lame?” Rainbow responded with a groan. “It just isn’t… me. It’s so… cheesy. Why do you think I have everypony call me Rainbow and not Wish?”

“Well… Rainbow Dash? I think that name suits you, pegasus or not,” Fluttershy said with a smile. “Maybe someday I can show you how flying feels… That would be fun.”

Show her how flying feels? “How would you do that?” Rainbow asked, slightly intrigued by the idea, but mostly curious as to how she would even go about doing it.

Fluttershy pouted. “Oh, I don’t know. I didn’t think that far ahead…” She trailed off and gazed at Rainbow. “Well, you’re a little smaller than me. Maybe I could carry you… I don’t usually carry anything bigger than a rabbit or two, but if it’s to help a friend…”

Rainbow smiled and shook her head. “Maybe, but I don’t want you to hurt yourself. I can probably ask Lyra. She’s good at magic and stuff. I think she actually used to be in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, so she probably knows a spell that can help.”

She perked up, her passive smile turning into an eager grin. “Or I could go hang-gliding! Or sky-diving, or parachuting!” Rainbow sat up, propping herself up with her forelegs as she thought of other ways she could feel the wind in her mane like Fluttershy did. “Base jumping sounds fun! I know somepony who used to do that; I could ask her. You’d totally do this with me, right Shy?”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “Wait… do what?”

Rainbow leaned over until she was practically nose to nose with Fluttershy. “Oh my gosh, Fluttershy! We could go ziplining! Or high-diving! I know Ponyville has a high-diving team… Yeah!” She put her hooves on Fluttershy’s shoulders and shook her. “Do you think that would work?”

“Uhm….” Fluttershy hesitated. “Maybe? I don’t know, Rainbow. That sounds… scary. And a lot of it is just falling, not flying...”

“Oh,” Rainbow gulped. She deflated a little and retracted from Fluttershy. “You’re right.”

Fluttershy squeaked and reached out to Rainbow, keeping her from sinking further away. “But I think it would give you a good idea of what it’s like to fly. Really!”

But I’ll never really know, Rainbow thought to herself. She frowned a little, but before Fluttershy could notice, she shook it off and smiled. “Yeah. Maybe I’ll try it someday.”

Fluttershy nodded, but said nothing else. If Fluttershy noticed Rainbow’s frown, then she didn’t show it. That was okay, though. There was nothing more to say, and frankly, Rainbow decided she could definitely use a nap, and hopefully a dream to go with it. She rested her head on the floor and closed her eyes.

As the wind died down and warmth enveloped her, she swore could almost feel real feathers on her back already.

Author's Note

I wrote this literally last night and finished it up today. Nothing spectacular but I wanna share it. Sprouted from some bad feelings I was having, and I thought I’d make it into something productive.

Check out The Mystery Fluttershy Fan’s audio reading HERE!

Also check out the Chinese translation by Accurate Balance right HERE on Fimtale!