Learning to Soar

Rainbow Dash huffed in exhaustion. No matter how many times or how fast she flapped her wings, she still couldn’t manage to fly. Not even a little bit. The cyan-colored filly wasn’t somepony who would relinquish hope very easily, but her dreams of becoming part of the Wonderbolts were dying out quickly. Performing a legendary Sonic Rainboom didn’t look like it would happen to her anytime soon either.

Rainbow stopped flapping her wings, her head drooping in shame. She’d seen Spitfire do it before, so why couldn’t she? Even Fluttershy knew how to fly for Celestia’s sake!

For a filly that couldn’t fly, living in Cloudsdale, the floating city made of clouds, was an everyday danger to her...especially when she did not have parents to care for her. It wasn’t hard to shuffle around a cloud in order to move to other places, but it always made Rainbow self-conscious when others stared at her like an unwanted outcast. Where are her parents? Why doesn’t that filly have a mare or stallion looking after her? Who’s teaching her how to fly? The whispers went on and on.

Truth was, she didn’t have a mother, a father, or even a distant relative to learn from—she'd lost her parents years ago, and nopony had stepped up as her guardian, leaving Rainbow Dash to fend for herself. Nopony was teaching her how to fly except herself and flight school—not that either of those were helping at all.

Rainbow Dash’s unruly rainbow mane became even more disorderly as she ruffled it in frustration. Tomorrow was her first flight test and she was the only filly in class that still couldn’t take to the air. She had once thought of dropping out of flight school, but decided against it immediately. She had to learn how to fly, she decided; there was no way around it.

“Would you like to...um...let me teach you?” A quiet voice from behind interrupted Rainbow’s fierce thoughts. “I...um, found you here and thought you might need some help...if you want to, of course.”

What? Rainbow Dash whipped around, finding a yellow pegasus filly her age standing on a cloud a few feet away from her. She had made sure nopony was around when she’d chosen a place to practice! How didFluttershy of all ponies find her? Fluttershy shot her a nervous grin.

Since Rainbow couldn’t afford to embarrass herself in front of a close friend from flight school, she thought of an extremely clever excuse. And by clever, it was really intellectual. As in, it was so smart it could be quoted again and again by ponies all over Equestria or stuck to a golden plaque and hung on a wall to be seen by all.

“I, err, have to go somewhere you’re not—uh, I mean, I have to go to the...to the rainbow factory!” The cyan pegasus faked a smile. “Yeah, that’s it! I have to go write a short paragraph about how rainbows are created f-for school!”  Unbeknownst to her, she was imitating a certain pony she’d meet in the near future.

Fluttershy timidly inched backwards. “O-okay, if you don’t want to...” The tone in her voice made Rainbow Dash think she didn’t believe her. Before flying off leisurely, Fluttershy left her friend with a small piece of confusing advice. “Gliding’s the best way to get started.”

While Rainbow watched her leave, she wondered what that meant. Because Fluttershy was the weakest flyer (aside from Rainbow herself) in flight school, she figured those words would have been useless to her anyway. But still... she shook her head. There was no use worrying about it anyhow.

Rainbow scooted back home on her cloud without a second thought about it.

The amazing cloud fortress that she came back to didn’t seem all that amazing after parents had left.  A rainbow trail protruded from the upper dome to the side of her home, and a dazzling colorful liquid oozed out from the end of the trail, making her cloud house look essentially like a giant multicolored fountain.

Rainbow Dash hopped off her cloud and landed on the crystal-blue sidewalk that lead to her front door. She struggled not to be overcome by emotion, focusing her eyes downward. She was too cool to blubber like a little filly, too awesome to wimp out like a chump, and too radical to...to...

A tear slid down her face. She forced herself to keep walking, ignoring how her vision started to blur. She managed to creak the door open and promptly dashed in, slamming it behind her.

       “...Fluttershy?”

“Um, present.”

“Spitfire?”

“Here!”

“Rainbow Dash?”

There was a moment of silence.

The coach cleared his throat. “Is Rainbow Dash here?”

“HERE!” Rainbow rapidly maneuvered her small cloud to the bigger one where all the other students stood.

 The coach, who had on a bright yellow workpony hat, stood on another cloud that was a safe distance away from his students. He fixed his eyes on the nearing filly in an unsympathetic manner. “You’re late."

“Won’t happen again.”

“If you insist on saying that every day, you may as well stop coming, Miss Latepants,” he flatly remarked, causing scattered laughter throughout the crowd of students. A few “Rainbow Crash” comments flew by, and snippets of students continued to chatter amiably as Rainbow’s ears flattened against her head.

Spitfire watched this scene in suppressed silence. She had one more extra year of flight training than Rainbow Dash and knew how unkind the coach could be, but he could have at least tried to sound nicer. She may not have known Dash very well, but she’d seen how the coach always seemed to be taking harsher jabs at Rainbow in particular ever since her first day in flight school. Almost as if he gained a personal affinity for her. Spitfire briefly wondered if he even knew about Rainbow Dash’s obvious flight problems. Was it why he was always hard on her? Or was there another motive to it?

A colt shifted in his spot next to her, noticing Spitfire’s intense stare at Rainbow. “Did somepony catch your interest, Spitty?”

She ignored the obvious jab, replying in a serious manner. “Yeah, Soarin’. The coach. He’s a little too harsh for his own good.” Spitfire grumbled. “Especially around first-year students. Remember that time he made us do ten times the amount of loop-de-hoops we usually were supposed to do just because somepony had his face in a pie?”

Soarin’s sly grin turned apologetic. “It wasn’t my fault somepony decided to bring blueberry pie to school!”

“That somepony was the coach,” she hissed. “I—“

The coach held up his forehoof, indicating everypony to quiet down. “This is where your first test begins.” He gestured at the six ring-shaped clouds. “You go through the loops as quick as you can, and I will time you. To pass, just simply go through the entire course without skipping anything." He paused to cough. "With that said, form a line in alphabetical order.”

Rainbow Dash gulped. There were no clouds underneath the loops to fall onto if the pegasi fell. How was she going to get out of this one?

Spitfire, who passed by her, patted a hoof on her shoulder reassuringly and continued on her way. It took Rainbow a moment to register the touch before noticing a fiery-maned pony trotting away from her to the back of the line. Although she had been in flight school for a small period of time, she knew almost all of the students’ names, and the one that had passed by her seemed genuinely concerned. Unfortunately, Rainbow Dash hadn’t the slightest clue what her name was. Fireball? Flame Head? Heatblast?

Fluttershy sauntered toward Rainbow, wishing her good luck. Her expression revealed the extreme worry she had for her flightless friend. She too must have noticed the lack of safety nets. “W-what about...um...”

“Telling a coach who barely even pays attention that I can’t fly? Fluttershy, we both have been here for a little over half a year, and yet I still can’t even get my hooves in the air for over five seconds before hitting the floor while you still fly about the same! But...” Rainbow Dash waved a dismissive hoof in the air. “I’ll just try passing the test. No big deal. I can manage.” Or so she thought. She had been avoiding flying in public, but she’d bet all her bits everypony but the coach knew.

Fluttershy didn’t seem surprised at her submissive behavior. “Oh, um...glide.” Then she walked to the F section of the line without another word.

“Glide...?” Rainbow’s thoughts shifted back to the day before. Gliding. It was to spread out your wings and let the wind flow through you, but it was only used when pegasi...fell. Oh. Did Fluttershy really think she’d—no.

        Rainbow shook her head wildly, eliciting curious stares from ponies standing behind her. She had said gliding was the best way to start, not end, as in not falling, but beginning her flight. Besides—Rainbow Dash shrugged—Fluttershy probably didn’t really mean anything by the harmless advice. She was probably reading into it too much.

She watched in amazement (and maybe some jealousy) as the ponies in front preformed several loop-de-hoops while passing through the cloud loops in numerous quick thrusts. Some ponies flew fast, some slow, some medium, and some as quick as lightning.

The coach observed with a neutral expression, scribbling on his clipboard every time a filly completed the course.

And then it was Rainbow’s turn to go.  She tentatively stepped up to the edge of the cloud, trying not to look down. Instead, she focused on the first loop-de-hoop hovering a few feet in front of her. Seeing her hesitance, the coach impatiently waved his hoof for her to begin.

She suddenly wasn’t so sure about toughing the test out. “Err—“

“What are you waiting for, Rainbow Crash?”  A brown-coated colt standing in the back jeered, interrupting her. “Still think you can join the Wonderbolts?”

“I-I...” Rainbow felt her anger returning. Her gaze hardened when she spotted Fluttershy, who had already gone through the test, cowering at the end of the line with her hooves over her eyes. Then she took a deep breath.

“Just ignore him!” The fiery-maned pony called out, slamming her hoof on his head.

Soarin’ joined in, giving him a stern look. “Shut up, Dumbbell.”

“Ow! Since when were you two allowed to butt in?” He interjected, holding a hoof to his sore head.

“Since we were more experienced than you,” they simultaneously responded in a clipped tone. Pulling the ‘higher rank than you’ card was something Soarin’ and Spitfire didn’t normally do, but they seemed to have an agreement at the moment. Bullies weren't to be tolerated. “Nopony is allowed to interrupt training except the coach.”

Coach said nothing. He only nodded his head a tiny fraction in approval at his two prized students. There was a specific reason for his making them both team leaders--their admirable agility, astounding strength, and high morals. Coach's mouth slightly curled upwards, then he turned to the filly he was supposed to be watching.

         Instead, his eyes rested on the spot she used to be standing at.

She wasn’t there.

Alarmed, the coach abruptly threw down his clipboard and flew straight down, holding on to his cap to ensure it would stay on.

 He choked on the winds biting at his throat, threatening to steal his oxygen. There was no rainbow-maned filly in sight. No...His expression turned gloomy. He tried not to let his overwhelming emotions take him as a hazy memory seeped through. Not again. The coach frantically smashed through clouds looking for the lost filly. His lungs burned, sapping at his strength.

It felt like hours before the coach ascended back into Cloudsdale grounds. His neutral face returned. He refused to give in to a sigh. Why was he so worked up over a filly whose name he barely remembered anyway?  It didn’t take away the fact that it was his fault for not paying attention to the trainee, though.

Spitfire’s eyebrows knitted together when she didn’t see Rainbow with the coach. The students looked expectantly at the coach for his final verdict as he picked up his clipboard in a timely manner, slowly fixing his cap. When he finally turned his attention to the fillies, he eloquently said nothing but “continue.” The test must go on.

Rainbow Dash felt herself being knocked about by the highspeed winds. Unable to catch any clouds to hold on to, she struggled to breathe, but instead her oxygen escaped from her open muzzle.

Barely conscious, a sad frown settled on her face as she realized her dreams of becoming a Wonderbolt and performing a Sonic Rainboom were never going to happen. She closed her eyes and fell in resignation, knowing how much of a failure in life she was.

       Suddenly, she was jolted by a certain word in her mind, a word that had been repeatedly said by Fluttershy.

       No, she wasn’t a failure, and she was going to prove it. She may have gotten a zero on the test, but it didn’t really matter to her anyway. Turns out she was prepared for this!

Rainbow Dash is awesome.

She spread out her cyan wings.

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash felt the air around her soften. The ground was no longer rushing up to meet her. She was fly—no, not flying. She was gliding.

        ”Glide,” she breathed with the tiny amount of oxygen she had left.

The brief moment of excitement drained from her face as she lost consciousness, and Rainbow fell the rest of the way down, landing on the thick branch of an apple tree.