Songs of Innocence

Chapter 52: Ash Academy

A certain pegasus' house in Cloudsdale, the next day

Sun, Cozy Glow, and the Mane Five had left for Jamareca. Of course, that meant that Rainbow Dash had left, and that in itself also meant that a certain pegasus had to find a way to get flying lessons without her. She had a solution, but it would involve getting involved in her worst fear: public school. And the name of that "certain pegasus" was Tempera Ash.

Even though Sun had mostly forgotten about her, she was being taught by Rainbow ever since she asked her to teach Tempera weeks ago. But even though Rainbow was as confident in her teaching abilities as a pony could be... her ways of getting Tempera to remember what she was being taught were certainly shaky. Admittedly, Tempera thought of Rainbow more as an older sister she admired than a master of flight that could teach her everything she needed to know. As much as she didn't like it, attending flight school might be her only way to become a Wonderbolt.

On the bright side, the flight school she would be going to wasn't just any flight school - it was Iridos Academy, the same one that her older sister, Maiden Heaven, attended when she was a young mare. Speaking of her, Tempera was beginning to wonder if she should just stay home, but as always, when she was feeling lost, she decided to imagine what her sister would tell her. She stared into a framed photo of herself - being a filly at the time the photo was taken - sitting on the couch with her sister - a young mare at the time. Tempera's gaze lingered on her older sister's wings.

She kind of envied Maiden at times. She didn't like to admit it, since saying that she wished she had broken wings sounded insensitive, and also wasn't what she meant. What she did mean to say was that she envied the attention she got while being in the hospital. Of course, she knew that Maiden deserved the attention, since she needed it. But the reason Tempera had any sort of issue with it was simply because it meant that she was almost entirely forgotten about. Her parents were barely home because they were either at work or at the hospital comforting Maiden.

But even with all of that, Tempera still loved Maiden. She was the reason that Tempera was pursuing becoming a Wonderbolt at all. She was once being a beloved and well-known athlete, and when she learned that her younger sister shared her especially strong love for flying, she practically began to raise her into an athlete, just like herself. Although Maiden got all the praise and awards for winning races, Tempera didn't mind, because she was just happy that her sister was happy. 

But all it took was one unfortunate race to take all that happiness away. One month ago, Maiden was in the middle of a race with another pegasus, when all of a sudden, the wind began to work against them. At first, it was no major problem for the seemingly unstoppable Maiden, but her opponent couldn't stand a chance in the face of the roaring winds. They pushed her around relentlessly until they had complete control over her, and once they did, they sent her flying into Maiden. Along with her opponent, Maiden was sent flying to the ground, and she couldn't save herself in time, let alone save her opponent. She tried to focus on saving herself, desperately using her wings to somewhat soften the landing, but it was a foolish effort. It only caused her wing bones to shatter instantly upon impact with the ground. She could never fly again.

Yet, Tempera still wanted to follow in her hoofsteps. She knew that what happened was just a horrible accident, and arguably more importantly, that her sister wouldn't want her to stop flying. Maiden told her that she should never stop doing something if it makes her happy, and that stuck with her, even now. Now, Tempera remembered her sister's message to her, and finally, she tore her eyes away from the photo in the frame.

Without another thought, she left for school. She took to the sky and flew fast, as not to allow herself to even think about having second thoughts about going. Just as quickly as she landed on the fluffy grounds of the school, she walked in, galloping to her class filled with... well, something like confidence. Maiden couldn't fly anymore, but Tempera could, and she wasn't going to let that go to waste. She was going to follow her dreams, and nothing was going to stop her!