concoursec | Butterfly in the Sky, I Can Go Twice As High

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Butterfly in the Sky, I Can Go Twice As High

Characters: Rainbow Dash, Ed Elric, and Twilight Sparkle
Location: Twilight's room to start
Rating: PG (Ed is kinda foul-mouthed)
Open/Closed/Finished: Closed
Summary: Rainbow and Ed have a deal. Ed, if you will forgive the term, is ponying up his part first.

Knock knock knock. There's a Rainbow at Twilight's door.

"Twilight! Hey Twilight! I need your magical expertise!"

The pegasus pony practically radiated delight. She'd been looking forward to this for some time, now, and finally having the chance to put it into motion meant she was just plain thrilled.

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"Whatever!" He glowered. An ego was an ego no matter how far from the ground it was, and he could take a damn hint.

He shut his eyes briefly (seriously, if he overthought this, he was going to fall, he was sure) and swept both wings down in one powerful stroke. It didn't quite have the desired effect - that is, of sailing smoothly past her so he could rub it in her face, almost literally - but it did propel him higher. More or less. And backwards.

She promised, promised, promised she wasn't going to laugh and she will stick to that.

"Well, halfway there," she said, still cheerfully. "You want to take some time and try out everything?"

Maybe she should've offered that before she started challenging him to follow, she had belatedly realized.

From the look on his face, the damage was done regardless - although admitting that would have been tantamount to admitting it was remotely possible for him to look uncool, so he didn't. All he did was scowl and look off to her side. (Nothing particularly interesting there except for a passing wisp of a cloud, but at least it wasn't down.) "Everything? That include landing?"

She ducked beneath him, then came up behind him in one smooth streak. "You'll enjoy it a lot more when you've relaxed a little, you know. Here, this time actually follow me."

She slapped a hoof on his (left) shoulder lightly, then ducked around in front of him with a grin. "You know I wouldn't have brought any OTHER human up here, right? I picked you because you can handle the challenge." She winked, then spread her wings to put a few feet between them before she turned to lead the way in straight, level flight.

A mix of flattery and and a challenge? She was only using what she knew she couldn't resist if it was tried on her...

"The way you say that, it's like you know any other humans dumb enough to agree to it," he pointed out - sounding only slightly mollified, because the flattery went further than he cared to show.

He followed, anyway. Better that than being left in the middle of the vast, empty sky. Not that he was scared, obviously, but it vaguely reminded him of some other things...

It wasn't as if he'd be sweeping past her any time soon, but he was definitely picking up a little speed as he went.

She turned onto her back to face him, giggling. "Oh come on, Ed! 'Dumb' is just a word people use when they're not brave enough or strong enough to do what we can!"

Rolling back rightside-up, she banked into a lazy left turn, then an equally-casual right one, letting him learn by doing behind her.

And yes, the sky is vast and empty, miles and miles of blue above, green fields and forest and oceans stretching out miles below.

"The hell does any of that have to do with mag-" he started to say, but she'd already turned her back.

At the moment he felt about as far from relaxing as he was high up in the air, but he tried to concentrate on her movements, if only as a distraction. Then, still frowning a little from the surreality of the whole situation, he mimicked them, weaving from side to side in a controlled fashion. Despite a little shakiness - he couldn't copy her exactly, of course; however many other things that stupid spell had messed with, it at least hadn't turned him into a quadruped - he was slowly but steadily gaining ground. Sky. Whatever.

...No, goddamnit, this was still weird. If she wanted him to calm down, she was probably going to have to work at it.

She looked over her shoulder to check on him, but spying his expression, she slowed down a bit to fall into pace beside him. Rainbow really did make it look easy; flying was as natural to her as walking.

"You don't trust things you don't understand, huh?" she said. "That's what's got you on edge."

She might have given him a bit too much of an ego boost; it hadn't quite been enough to make him comfortable about any of this, but it sure as hell made him reluctant to say it out loud. Especially if he thought about this as a challenge... After all, when had he ever encountered anything he didn't turn out to be good at with enough effort?

He didn't look at her. "Who's on edge? I didn't hear anyone say a damn thing about being on edge."

"Yeah, you didn't," she said, grinning. "But you sure don't like magic. So let me put it this way to you."

She put a hoof on her chest. "I trust Twilight..." Then she stretched it out to him. "And you trust me! So relax. And have fun with it. I mean, come on, Ed, you're flying!!"

Rainbow took off on the last word, flying upwards. The rainbow streaks trailing behind her were extraordinarily vivid, up here against the blue of the sky.

"Yeah, I can tell."

He sighed and again attempted to push himself straight upward. It worked a little better than last time, which is to say he remained mostly vertical as he trailed behind her.

"You seriously gonna keep me out here till the sun sets?" he asked. With the sky as blue as it currently was, that was looking like it could be hours away...

Rainbow could see he was improving, and smiled at the sight. She knew he would!

"You bet. You're gonna want to see it. Not that I normally go in for watching that kinda thing myself, but it's worth seeing from up here if you never have!"

For all that she was downplaying her own interest, she sure seemed eager.

Yeah, too eager. The fact that he could dampen the mood more than enough for two people was only small compensation.

"And you're not gonna just let me take your word for it, is that right?"

Still, even he had to admit, there was... something in glancing down and seeing the hills and fields unfold in miniature all around him. Mostly trepidation, it was true, but that wasn't all of it. He briefly wondered what he looked like to her the rest of the time, when he was securely on the ground like he was supposed to be.

...briefly, because the obvious answer was "really goddamn small" and of course there was absolutely no point in proceeding with that particular train of thought.

"I can almost see it..." he said aloud, to distract himself further. "Must be great knowing you can just high-tail it up here and forget about the rest of us whenever you want."

"Seeing is believing!" she said brightly. "Besides, you never listen to me anyway , why would you start now?"

She dropped into a dive, at a place almost alarmingly slower than he'd ever seen her go before when she wasn't just height-adjusting or fluttering down. Still, it was enough to whip her mane and tail in the wind, in a way that just seemed natural and right.

"It's nice to get away sometimes," she called over her shoulder, "But forget? Are you kidding? I can't escape all you guys anywhere I go!"

"Yeah, what was I thinking? That sure explains how crowded it is up here."

He dipped down after her - almost managing to keep level, just fast enough for the breeze to ruffle his hair. Descending seemed a little easier to control, somehow. Then again, seeing how far it was from here to the ground, it was probably worth reminding himself not to fall all the way.

"It's something, I'll give you that," he admitted, grudgingly. "I'm not saying it's right..."

"Yeah, it's magic, I know." The ground is approaching again, but slowly, thanks to the pace she's set -- they'd been high, so now she wants him to see what all these things look like from a different perspective, close above. "You gotta admit, it'll be a pretty great story to tell someday -- when you went flying!"

He grins a little lopsidedly, whether or not she can see. "Tell it to who? Who'd believe me?" Then he pauses. "Although I guess that could go for some of the other stories, too."

He glances down again. Wait, are they landing already? He's - nah, of course he's not disappointed. Just surprised, that's all.

"So... what now?"

Heck no they're not! Rainbow pulled up a good thirty feet above the ground, which here was mostly plains, then set a course for the west.

"Ever wondered what a town looks like from above?"

His face fell as he caught on, before she'd finished voicing the suggestion. "Hey, you said we'd stay up where nobody could see. What happened to that?"

Yeah, at least from this height he knew falling wasn't going to be nearly as big a deal, but it wasn't much compensation...

"We can fly up again when we get closer! This is just so you can see it all the way I do for a bit!"

She reversed course abruptly to loop around him, laughing. "You're so used to seeing things up close, when's the last time YOU just sat back and saw everything? It oughtta be a good perspective for you!"

"Sat back and..." He looked a little aggrieved, if only on principle - that wasn't the first time someone had ever suggested something like it to him. "Never heard of a roof?" Although, no, he hadn't been hanging around many of those lately either.

"Yeah, but this is better. Taste that freedom!"

She pulled up again, all but bristling with suppressed energy. Racing, speed, performance -- they were all in her blood! Slowing down like this wasn't foreign, but she really wanted to show off what a pair of wings like hers could do.

Distracted by the scenery just below, it took him a moment to notice she was stopping, and a few more to come to a still slightly ungainly halt himself.

"Something I'm supposed to be looking at?"

"Me, because I'm so amazing in the air, of course," she said, grinning slyly. "Come on, we'll head higher again. I wanna get there before the sun sets!"

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Butterfly in the Sky, I Can Go Twice As High

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