"Really?" you asked to her, slightly shocked that she'd be willing to teach you how to fly.

"Sure! You can't really be a Pegasus if you can't fly, right?" she responded. Usually, you probably would've gotten offended by that, but you had only been a Pegasus for a week.

You recalled that Rainbow Dash taught Twilight how to fly, letting you know that you were in capable hoofs.

"You taught Twilight to fly, right?" you asked, reminiscing that episode.

Rainbow looked at you, confused. Had you said something wrong?

"No? I didn't? Who told you that?"

Suddenly, you realised that this must be a separate reality from the show. The show was just an interpretation of this reality, after all. To be honest, you were surprised you didn't realise this sooner due to the layout of the Golden Oak Library.

"Oh, I just assumed you did." you answered, quickly. It was the best lie you could come up with in that short space of time.

"Oh. Well, Fluttershy taught her to fly. I was busy on the day, and I figured Twilight wouldn't be flying in a way similar to me, anyway." she explained, almost boastfully.

"And what do you mean by 'similar to you'?" you asked her curiously.

"Incredibly fast, duh!" she answered with a mischievous smirk on her face, "Come on, we'd better get started with your lessons."

Rainbow Dash flew off the couch and hovered up the stairs. You knew she liked flying, but did she really have to rub it in that much?

Nevertheless, you walked after her, eventually reaching the balcony where you had previously found her.

The balcony seemed large enough to do basic hovering without crashing into anything, even with two ponies.

"We may as well start here." Rainbow stated as she finally lowered back down to the ground.

"So what're we gonna get started with?" you asked excitedly. Now that the looming pressure of the race had been subsided, there was nothing really stopping you from learning to fly, and you wanted to do it as quickly as possible.

"Well we're gonna have to start with the basic flapping of the wings and then some hovering." she instructed, demonstrating as she lifted off of the ground again.

You began moving your wings up and down, using all your energy to raise them as they fell effortlessly. However, despite your best efforts, you were not flying.

Rainbow Dash looked at you from above, watching your wing movement carefully.

"Try putting the same amount of effort into each movement." she suggested.

Trying what she had suggested, you used less energy when you raised your wings, and put more energy into the lowering of them. Surprisingly, this felt a lot easier than it had before.

Much to your happiness, and slight surprise, you felt yourself lift from the ground. You weren't very high up, probably only a few inches, but it was progress.

"I-I'm flying!" you exclaimed, extatically.

Looking up at Rainbow Dash, you saw a proud smile on her face. Although, whether it was for your progress or for her tutoring you had no idea. Looking at Rainbow, however, caused you to lose your concentration, and you fell.

Thankfully, as you weren't very high, it didn't hurt at all.

"How was that?" you asked, curious as to what she thought.

"Not bad, but we might have to work have to work on your concentration." she snickered, still floating in mid-air.

The joke she was making went straight over your head, and you were eager to continue your lessons.

"What now?" you asked her.

Rainbow grabbed an apple from a bowel that had been placed on the nearby table, and took a bite out of it. She seemed awfully smug for what next came out of her mouth.

"Jump off the balcony. If you land and don't die, you pass the lesson." she explained, lying back in mid-air with a hoof behind her head.

The balcony wasn't too high up, probably about 2 or 3 stories if it was a normal building, but it would surely kill you if you fell from it. Or at the very least, it would cripple you to the point of no return.

"Are you sure that's safe?" you asked, worried about your safety.

Rainbow's eyes were closed as she took another bite out of her apple. She didn't seem to concerned about it. You couldn't say for sure whether this calmed you or not, though.

"Sure it is. I've done similar stuff plenty of times!" Her eyes opened as she raised from her laid back position, "Watch."

She stopped eating the apple she was holding and threw it off the balcony. Upon impact with the grassy ground, it shattered into pieces.

"Um..." she said, nervously, looking at the mushy remains of the apple. "You'll be fine!"

Rainbow hit you on the back with a hoof, pushing you a little further towards the edge of the balcony.

"Fine, but if I die, I'm haunting you." you joked, as you braced to jump over the fence.

You heard Rainbow laugh behind you, but before you could respond you threw yourself over the fence. Fanning out your grey wings, you did exactly like Rainbow just taught you. You flap your wings up and down with equal amounts of effort, as too not tire you out.

Much to your relief, you felt your fall starting to slow, and before long, your hooves safely impacted the ground. The grass felt quite cushiony due to the slow speed you were falling.

"See, Storm! You did it!" Rainbow congratulated you as she flew down to you.

Despite how gracefully you floated down, seeing how Rainbow Dash flew down made you feel unaccomplished. How were you ever going to beat her in a race?

"Does that mean I can learn to fly now?" you asked, impatiently.

One reason you wanted to fly was because it was cool, but the main reason was so you could hang out with Rainbow Dash some more. You liked the others and all, but something about Rainbow made you want to be around her.

"Um... Not yet," Rainbow answered, laughing suspiciously, "There's one more thing you have to do first."

"And what would that be?" you asked, slightly disappointed.

Rainbow Dash smirked at you, not wanting to reveal what she had in store for you.

"You'll see." was the only answer you got as she began to lift from the ground again. She began flying forward at walking speed, so that you could keep up with her.

Whilst you had no idea where the two of you were going, you couldn't help but feel nervous. Knowing Rainbow Dash, it would be something that pushed what you had just learnt to the limit.
Although you were a bit confused as to why you couldn't just start learning flight right now, you chose not to question her. She knew what she was doing. She is the fastest Pegasus in Equestria, after all.

———————————————————————

After a long while of walking, the two of you eventually reached a large cliffy area. Large waterfalls dotted the landscape, causing you to recognise the area as Neighagra Falls.
You weren't going towards the waterfalls, however. Instead you were heading towards a large hill.

Rainbow Dash had no problem reaching the top of the hill, because she could fly effortlessly, however you had a much harder time. You had to walk up the large slope, not yet confident enough in your wings being able to carry you up.

Finally, you reached the top of the hill. Not much of note was there, yet you did see a sign that read 'Lover's Leap'. Not knowing what that sign meant, you walked over to it, only to see exactly what it meant.

Just beyond the sign was a huge cliff, leading right into a large lake at the base of it. There was no way you were jumping off that.

"Here we are!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed excitedly as she looked over the edge of Lover's Leap, "If you pass this lesson, you wont have to do anymore!"

You didn't quite understand what she meant, and jumped to the conclusion that you were gonna die either way.

"You want me to jump off this, don't you?" you asked her with a monotone voice.

"Yep!" she exclaimed, the mischievous grin not leaving her face.

"Yeah, no." you replied bluntly, turning around to head down the hill.

Before you could start making your way down, Rainbow Dash flew over you and blocked you.

"If you wanna fly, this is the fastest way to learn, Storm." she said to you, her voice full of both annoyance and concern, "Besides, it's perfectly safe."

She was lying. She knew full well this place was just called 'Lover's Leap' as it was a popular place for ponies who were dating to come, not to jump off. She wasn't gonna tell you that though.

The bottom of the lake was actually too shallow to break your fall upon impact with it, meaning anypony who actually jumped off would surely die. Sure, it was a major safety violation, but the place wasn't owned, so nopony bothered changing the sign.

You turned back to face the large cliff, facing what could either be your ticket to the skies or your passage to hell.

"If I pass this, I'll know how to fly right?" you asked, worried. Rainbow nodded her head in response, "And if I fail?"

"You'll land in the water, just fine!" Rainbow lied. All she wanted was for you to be able to fly, so much so that she was willing to put your safety at risk.

She believed you could do it though. She wouldn't put your life on the line if she thought you wouldn't be able to handle it.

"Ok." you replied, staring down at the still water below you.

All you felt at that moment was wind beginning to pick up, slowly starting to whip at your body more and more. You were falling.

Your wings fanned out and began to flap, just like when you had jumped off the balcony. You moved them up and down, trying as hard as you could to keep the effort balanced. And, to your relief, your fall was being slowed.

That relief was short lived, however. As you picked up more and more speed, your slowed fall was beginning to deteriorate. You sped up faster, and faster, and faster.

Please fly. Please, please fly, Rainbow Dash thought as she watched you plummeting towards the lake.

But no matter how hard you tried, your inevitable collision with the surface was fast approaching. The reflective surface of the lake was getting close, and closer, and closer.

“Oh... shit.“ Rainbow muttered to herself, instantly flying down the cliff after you. She soared through the air, reaching a hoof out too you.

With only a few seconds left before your demise, you felt two hooves wrap around you. Still shaken, you could just about make out two cyan hooves holding you. Rainbow had caught you, and was now attempting to carry you back up the cliff.

Thankfully, she got you up there, and she dropped you down onto the soft grass. You didn’t land properly, instead you instantly collapsed onto your stomach, breathless.

Rainbow landed beside you and rubbed the back of her head, nervously.

“Are you ok?” she asked after giving you a few seconds to catch your breath. Her voice seemed full of care. None of her usual cockiness or competitiveness was present.

“I’m not... Doing that... Again...” you answered between breaths. Despite her showing a caring side of her that very few ponies ever get to see, you were too blinded by your second near death experience in a week to take any notice.

“Don’t you wanna be able to fly?” Rainbow asked, her voice full of defeat. Right now, you would’ve been expecting her to be calling you a chicken, or teasing you into giving it another go, but she wasn’t, “What about the race? It can’t happen if you can’t fly!”

Never in the show had you seen such sadness in her eyes. She seemed like she was really looking forward to your race with her, but all you’d been doing this whole time was dreading it. Despite not talking to her that much yet, Rainbow Dash actually seemed to care about you.
But right now, you were to shaken to see it.

“Is that all you care about? The race? Just so you can brag about it after you win?” you snapped at her. If you could’ve seen how she was acting at this moment, you probably would’ve regretted it, “I just nearly died, Rainbow. Again.”

You didn’t notice what you had just let slip out, but quite frankly, you were sick of nearly dying.

“What do you mean again?” she asked, her own frustration starting to build up.

You didn’t answer. You just turned around and began making your way down the hill.

“It doesn’t matter. I’ll get Twilight to teach me or something.” you said, waving your hoof back at her. Despite how annoyed you were, you regretted that as soon as it left your mouth.

All of Rainbow Dash’s built up frustration subsided in an instant at that moment. As much as she wanted to come after you, she knew that you needed time to cool down after that experience.

All she could do right now though, was watch with saddened eyes as you disappeared over the hill. You knew deep down that you wouldn’t ask Twilight for her help, and Rainbow probably knew that too. You wanted Rainbow to teach you, and that‘s final. But just not yet.

Maybe tomorrow, you both thought.

Author's Notes:

So we’ve already got our first fight between Storm and Rainbow.

The tension won’t last long between them, don’t worry. While it might seem like I’m making their relationship move really fast, taking them to a place called Lover’s Leap, etc, I’m actually gonna try and make their relationship move somewhat slowly. I might be dropping hints of their subtle attraction to each other to you, but neither Storm or Rainbow know of any of those hints.
As far as Rainbow knows right now, Storm hates her for putting his life at risk, and as far as Storm knows, Rainbow didn’t really care and just wanted him to race her.

But don’t worry, the conflict will be resolved in the next chapter and they’ll be back learning to fly with each other pretty soon