In Which Fluttershy Learns the Pegasus Art of Falling without Dying
Learning to Soar
“Are you ready?”
So much in a single question! Was she ready? Was this something she wanted after all? It was so easy to talk about how much she wanted this, but it was a different matter entirely to stand on a cloud high up in the sky and look down.
It wasn’t that heights scared Fluttershy. No, she once again told herself as she looked back at her companion, she may be a terrible flyer, but she wasn’t that bad a pegasus. It was just the idea of flying so high up, where there was no chance of surviving a fall.
Ponyville was so small below her. She would fall for a long time.
“I…” She hated faltering, but there was just no way she could go through with this. None.
Soarin’ shushed her. “Flutters, don’t run. You have wings—beautiful wings—and they should fly sometime. You can do this.”
“But… it’s so high,” Fluttershy countered, trying not to think or look at how small her cottage was. She could think and look at nothing else. It was so tiny, and she could blot it and all of her chicken coops and trees with a single hoof. If she hadn’t recognize the path leading to it, she would never have realized that this was her own house.
“It is,” Soarin’ admitted. “It’s very high up. I’m not going to lie to you, Flutters.”
“I don’t… have to, right? I mean, they forgot the first time…”
“Yeah, they did. But Flutters, I think they didn’t. I think they didn’t believe in you.”
She scooted away from the edge of the cloud.
“I’m not sure I believe in me.”
He sighed. Suddenly, Fluttershy could feel his forelegs around her. Soarin’ kissed her forehead, and she nuzzled under his chin. Maybe if she just kept doing this, he would simply let it slide. She would distract him; it wasn’t so hard. A good nuzzling, the promise of pie sometime in the future…
But for once—perhaps even for the first time in his entire life—Soarin’ was not to be distracted from the task at hoof.
He kissed her ear and she giggled, but then he was whispering.
“How about this? I’ll show you how it works one more time, alright?”
She shook her head. I’ve seen you, Soarin’. I watch you fly all the time.
“Yeah, yeah, I know you don’t wanna do it. But trust me, won’t ya? You’ve gotta do it. Not because it’s a spot on your record, but for you. If you don’t, then you’ll always be afraid.”
And she was totally fine with that. She continued shaking her head. “No, it’s alright. I don’t mind. If it’s okay with you… Can we just stay here? On the cloud?”
“You can, yes. Watch.”
And then he was gone. She didn’t even see him take off; only a gust of strong wind and a blue blur in the sky right before her face told her what had happened. Hurrying to the edge she had retreated from, she tried to catch sight of him.
There he was, his wings almost tucked in, falling like a stone. She stared in silent awe.
And then the freefalling was done with, and he had pulled up. Soarin’ sailed straight through the hoops of cloud that he’d made for her, and did a barrel roll just for good measure. He was free, coming back up, slowing down as he climbed against the pull of gravity, almost as if he was clawing his way up some mountain’s unforgiving face.
He was beautiful. He was brave. It was like the first time she’d truly, truly seen him, when Rainbow had given them her extra tickets from the Wonderbolts to come see her first show. She’d loved it, and Rainbow had been wonderful. But then she’d seen him, how those gorgeous, strong wings beat at the air and resisted the pull of earth.
And then he was at her side again, and the memory faded away.
His mane was a mess, as it always was. He had a goofy, smug grin, as he always did. He was on the verge of laughing, as it always seemed he wanted to.
“C’mon.”
“I...” It was hard to resist. On one hoof, she was terrified. The ground was so far down, and she’d always hated dives. She had suspected what Soarin’ was sure of: the examiners who’d given her the Civilian Emergency Aid certification test had let her slide.
Diving and flying had just... not come up. Ever.
“Please? I promise you, if you freak out and your wings lock up, I’ll be right there. I’ll save you. You trust me, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
He gestured at the edge of the cloud and his grin grew wider. “Then jump. Be brave, because I know you are.”
Her hooves moved, despite every instinct that told her to stay still. Soarin’s words washed against the dam of her defenses like waves, and slowly they began to crumble. As they often did.
“It... are you sure?”
“I’ve got you. Go for it, Shy.”
She trembled, and flared her wings out. Fluttershy shook them, trying to imagine herself pulling up, soaring through the rings, hitting her mark just right... She took a deep breath.
“Want a count down?” Soarin’ asked from behind her. She jumped a little, and then nodded with embarassment.
“Three.... Two...”
She tensed. Could she do this? Maybe she shouldn’t. She’d never done this excercise right in flight school. She had her certification anyway... she should’ve never told Soarin’ about this... telling her Wonderbolt that she was afraid of freefall was such a bad idea!
“One!”
And then somehow, she jumped.
It was a nightmare. The ground was rushing to meet her, and she stared in wide-eyed terror at the bridge. Oh gods, she would never make it. She was going to crash! She’d never pull up in time! She tried to open her wings early, but they were locked to her sides and she began to scream.
But the descent tore her breath away, and there was no sound. She tried to open her wings again and pull out of the dive.
It worked. She could feel the pull on her wings and body and the wind howled in her ears, but she leveled out. The rings were right before her, but she was still barely in control of her speed and avoided clipping the bottom of the rings by an inch at most.
It took only a moment, and then she was back in the open, free of the cloud rings. She’d slowed enough to control herself, and came to a stop, hovering. She panted, her eyes wide and her heart protesting rebelliously. Her windswept mane hung in her face, and she tried to brush it away with a shaky hoof, but found it too hard to keep herself still. Laughing nervously, she shook her head and the pink strands cleared from her vision.
Soarin’ was below her, grinning like a foal at Hearth’s Warming. He let out a cry of triumph and was in front of her in a flash, wrapping her in a bear hug.
“You did it!”
She couldn’t get any words out at all. But she was fine with that; Soarin’ could talk for both of them.
He kissed her in mid air and then released her. She wobbled, but stayed upright.
“I’m proud of you, Shy. C’mon, back to the cloud so you can sit and breathe. You look like you’re about to faint.”
Fluttershy followed him up to their cloud, and tried to dispell the nervous twitching in her hooves. Some leftover terror still flowed through her, but then she watched Soarin’ and it left her.
They landed, and she folded in her wings, shocked at how the terror had drained away.
“So... was it... good?” She asked.
He grinned.
“Amazing.”
Author's Note
I told him I would write this, so I tried!
I just... can't get into her head. I'm shy too, but in different ways, I guess? I just need an invitation to communicate. Flutters is way beyond me in the shy department.
Anyhow, Soarin'Shy.
I hope you like it!
