They spread their wings. Starpebble and Brightsky glided out from the cliff.

But Spark fell.

They swooped down and caught his wings, flying him back to the cliff and setting him down yet again.

Spark turned back to the edge and ran without any warning.

He glanced back and saw Starpebble running after him but he was already off the edge.

And he was flying!

Sure, it was just a glide, but he was flying! He glided out from the edge and slowly made a wide turn around, hardly believing that he was actually flying. He threw his head back and neighed a cry of joy and relief and love and hope and mocking at the future.

Spark nibbled at the grass around the oasis and then raised his head to look at the sky and the clouds, which he could now touch and soar through, collecting “cloud sweat”. The future looked very promising now that he could fly and do most if not all of what other pegasi could. He was also faster than most (though not his brother Ember) due to his long legs.

In fact, what could other pegasi do that he couldn’t?

Well, fight. His life had been hard so far (certainly not as hard as Star’s, with Starpebble around) but he hadn’t actually had to learn how to fight. When he became a yearling he supposed he would go into flight school, then when he was two, learn how to fight. He intended never to use the silver starfire, so he would need to learn how to defend himself. Ember was pretty good at defending himself from the colts who would taunt him, but Spark would just run away. And he was good at that, but he couldn’t run away all his life. He wasn’t a coward.

He flexed his wings and ran a bit to rise into the air. After the cliff lesson, they had practiced for a couple hours, Brightsky showing them some of the finer points, while Starpebble just helped them with the basics. After all, she hadn’t gone to flight school either; she had left her herd too early.

It was growing closer to his first birthday every day. Only one more month; he and Ember had been born early because of their big wings and long legs and being twins.

He banked in a wide arc and plunged into a cloud, feeling the moisture bead along his gold-tipped feathers. He kept on flying, searching for an end to the mist. When no end came, he gave up and tilted his wings down and swooped out of the cloud.

As he circled down to the oasis he thought, Seeing into the future is like looking into that cloud. Impossible.

Ember trotted around a large group of weanlings, folding his wings with a flutter, thinking, Just wait until I have the starfire. Then they’ll want to be my friends… they’ll want the starfire for everything.

A filly broke away from the group and walked after him. She had to trot faster than he, as he had longer legs. “Wait up!” she called.

He paused, shook out his wings, and turned. She came a little closer, then stopped in front of him.