AN:I do not own My Little Pony.

Wings

A MLP:FiM fanfiction

Chapter 1

Big Macintosh rubbed at his side as he watched his sister's friends busy themselves with harvesting the orchard. One of the fillies, Rainbow Dash, was certainly impressive to watch. Despite being a pegasus, she was quite productive, even if she didn't necessarily have the stamina to keep bucking apple trees the whole day.

During one of her breaks, she came over rather uncomfortably close and started examining his bandages.

Feeling his personal space bubble violated, albeit by a very fetching young mare, left Big Mac a little nervous. Especially since it seemed like she was about to prod him right in the side with one of her front hooves.

He cleared his throat, and edged slightly away from her.

"What're you doin', Miss Dash?"

Rainbow Dash ignored him in favor of asking her own question.

"How'd you do this?" She asked, pointing at (but thankfully not prodding) his side.

Big Macintosh was starting to get mildly irritated with the nosy filly.

"Ah strained some muscles when Ah was doing some applebuckin' last week. Doc told me to take it easy."

"Has it gotten any better?"

Big Macintosh made a face. "Nope. In fact, Ah reckon it's actually got worse. Ah can't stay in bed all day, either 'cause that makes them cramp up somethin' fierce."

She gave him an easy grin, her impish lavender rose eyes looking him up and down.

"Well, I bet I can help you. I've had plenty of experience with injuries."

Big Mac looked to his sister for help, but she was dead to the world, snoring lightly in the shade of an apple tree.

"Lie down," ordered the rainbow filly.

Big Mac grumbled a bit, but did so anyway, no one coming to his rescue.

He closed his eyes.

A swift breeze buffeted down on him, and two pairs of hooves slowly rubbed both sides of his torso. The pain in his side began to recede, and he gave an involuntary sigh as all his tension began to melt away.

He heard giggling but didn't care, because by Celestia that filly had magic hooves, and he was pain free for the first time in a week.

Rainbow Dash blushed a little as Big Macintosh melted into the grass with a sigh. Of course, true to form, his sister had woken up from her nap and was currently looking at Rainbow with an expression that couldn't decide whether it wanted to be a suspicious leer or a knowing smirk. Twilight, Pinkie, and Rarity had all started giggling.

For once, Rainbow Dash decided to take the high road, and ignored her friends antics in favor of continuing her ministrations to the injured stallion.

After about ten minutes, Big Mac was snoozing on the grass, and Dash was left to face the music with her friends who by now were all giggling, Applejack included.

Rainbow flew over to them, scowling fiercely.

"Shut up you guys, he's been sore all week."

Applejack laughed heartily.

"Thank ya kindly, Rainbow Dash. Ah reckon that's the most peaceful Ah've seen him all week. With all mah stressin' out Ah guess Ah kinda neglected him a bit."

"I certainly can't blame you Rainbow Dash dear. He might not be royalty, but he is certainly one of the most handsome stallions in Ponyville," Rarity needled her colorful pegasus friend.

Applejack, in a rare moment of tact, decided to nip this in the bud before Rainbow flew off in a huff.

"Ah'm all for teasin' and joshin' around, but shut up! Ah don't need to hear y'all discussin' how 'handsome' mah brother is!"

With that, the conversation came back around to apple farming, and they soon got back to work.

The next day Big Mac woke up even more sore than ever. He rolled over and opened his eyes to see a concerned Apple Bloom looking at him.

"Are you all right big brother?" She asked, her eyes large and watery.

"No, Ah reckon Ah'm not all right little sis," Big Mac sighed. "Ah'm gonna go back to the doc today."

He got up and started towards the door, but after only a couple of feet he stumbled. Rather than falling to the floor, he found himself leaning up against a surprisingly sturdy Apple Bloom.

"Let me help you down the stairs Big Mac," said his little sister.

"Thanks Sugar-cube," Big Mac replied gratefully. If he was having issues with flat ground, he didn't think much about his ability to deal with stairs. And the potential for worsening his condition even more didn't even bear thinking about.

Big Mac felt a little better after breakfast, but Apple Bloom still insisted on walking with him to the doctor's office.

Along the way, the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders showed up.

"Hey there Apple Bloom, come on, we're gonna try for kayaking cutie-marks today!" Shouted the ever enthusiastic Scootaloo.

"Not right now, Scootaloo, Ah'm with walkin' with mah brother at the moment," said Apple Bloom.

Big Mac cleared his throat.

"Why don't ya go on, Apple Bloom. Ah'll be just fine on mah own."

Apple Bloom shot him a look that told him exactly what she thought of that. Big Mac shrugged, but the shifting that occurred in his sides nearly sent him to his knees for a second.

"See, he doesn't mind, back me up here Sweetie Belle!" Cried Scootaloo.

Sweetie Belle did not reply- she was staring at a wonky eyed pegasus who was peering out from a bush along the path. As if by some strange hypnotic magic, Sweetie's eyes had begun to spin in lazy circles as well.

"Ah'm taking mah brother to the doctor, and-"

This statement shook Sweetie Belle out of her stupor.

Locking eyes, she and Scootaloo began to shout "CUTIE MARK CRUSADER AMBULANCE-"

"NO!" Shouted Apple Bloom, at an even louder volume. "Ah need to make sure he gets to the doctor okay, and you have ta admit when we're trying ta get our cutie-marks, stuff gets broke a lot."

Big Mac was honestly touched. He'd never seen his sister let anything come between her and a Crusader adventure before.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle looked away somewhat ashamedly.

"Aw, don't be like that! Just come along with us and help me keep him company. Then we can go kayaking."

Big Mac smiled. It was nice having family that cared about him so much.

The walk went rather quickly, with Apple Bloom and her friends keeping him entertained. Scootaloo kept trying to walk with her rear legs sticking straight up in the air. Her wings and legs flailed about, nearly jabbing him in the eye twice. After that, he moved to the other side of the path.

Quite frankly, whatever she was doing, it looked really weird and Big Macintosh didn't think that equine anatomy was supposed to work that way.

"Hey, Scootaloo. How did ya learn ta do that?" He asked, finally unable to restrain his curiosity any longer.

"Somepony named Lyra taught me," she replied before falling on her head. "OW!"

Sensing that asking the filly if she was okay would just irritate her, he went with the other question that was bugging him.

"But... Why?" Big Macintosh inquired.

Scootaloo looked uncomfortable. Well, more uncomfortable than her odd position would suggest, anyway.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle sensed their friend's discomfort, and Big Mac saw them attempting a discrete silent inquiry as to whether a distraction was needed. He smiled, happy to see Apple Bloom learning some of the finer arts of tact, something which Applejack had honestly always had issues with.

Despite the silent offer, Scootaloo finally righted herself and began to speak, a faraway look in her eyes.

"Well... I can't really fly yet you see. My wings are a little too small and not quite strong enough. But when I am able to fly, I want to be like Rainbow Dash. You need flexibility in order to pull off the kinds of tricks that she does. And I've never seen anypony more flexible than Lyra."

Big Mac thought about what it would be like to have wings, and be unable to fly. It'd be kind of like him being unable to plow the fields. It was something that truly belonged to him. To have that be denied to him- that would be a cruel fate indeed.

He shook himself out of his introspection, realizing the need for him to say something.

"Good fer you," he said. "Yer gonna be a great flier, just like Miss Dash when you grow up."

At that, they all fell into a relative silence that lasted the rest of the way to town.

It didn't take long at all before they reached the clinic. As he walked into the doctor's office, he turned around to wave, but the Crusaders were already kayaking away... down the main street of Ponyville. A steady deluge of water was flowing through the streets from Celestia only knew where.

Apple Bloom waved at him from her kayak, and he waved dumbly back at her. He didn't even want to think about how they had managed that.