Mlp Generation 4.5.

Season 1, episode 2 Friends and fears part 2

Insomnia opened their eyes. They seemed to be on some kind of platform. Their head was pounding. Grimacing the pegasus sat up and felt the back of their head. There was a bump.
That's odd. They thought.
They looked around the room and realized they were in a very tall, very deep, very large, circular room. The light was coming from glowing mushrooms around Insomnia's hooves. The roof and the floor were hidden in darkness. There was only one exit visible - a door in the wall with a platform that seemed so impossibly far away.
Their heart pounded louder than their head. Their wings shook violently. They were trapped on a ledge in the middle of the large room with the only way out being to fly.
Insomnia tried to calm themselves but their breath was coming in short gasps.
"You can do this. You can do this. You just have to fly in a straight line...over the deep...dark... abyss..."
They took a shaky step towards the edge and froze. They cursed themselves.
"What kind of a Pegasus are you? Just fly!" But their wings wouldn't open. The harder they tried the more their wings seemed to stick to their body. Tears of frustration began to flow.
"Ugh! Stupid, stupid, fear!"
The mention of fear brought to mind Lucky's story about her nana. But the tree died years ago. This couldn't be the tree. Right? Insomnia wondered if the others were also trapped in their worst fears. They wondered what the other's fears were. Would they be able to break through and escape? Would they look for Insomnia and save them? Somehow the pegasus doubted it. They had only known each other for a day and were hardly close. Besides the only one who would be able to help would be Liberty.
I don't think she would help. Not with the way I've yelled at her all day. Well I wouldn't have needed to if she just focused on the class instead of balancing pencils on her nose or clawing her name into the desk.
Insomnia walked around the small platform they were on and accidentally stepped on a mushroom. They shook the luminescent mush off and watched as the glowing droplet flew over the edge. It continued until the light disappeared. Insomnia's stomach dropped.
They lay down on the platform, hugging it in terror. They covered their face as they began to cry.
"Please...some creature ...help me..." they whispered. Their voice echoed off the walls, sounding pathetic to their own ears.
Suddenly the sound of footsteps.
Insomnia looked up and around but couldn't figure out where it was coming from. It seemed to be everywhere all at once.
"Hello? Who's there? ...Liberty?" They said hopefully.
"You called?" Came the sassy response. Insomnia turned and saw the Sphinx on the other platform by the door.
"Oh thank Celestia it's you." The Pegasus breathed.
Liberty smirked. "I didn't think you'd miss me. What are you doing all the way over there?"
"The stupid tree or whatever it was put me here. Must have knocked me out."
"Me too." Liberty replied, feeling the back of her head. "But I thought Hope said it was destroyed by Sombra."
"A lot can happen in 100 years. Besides we don't know it's the tree."
"Who else would trap you in your worst fear?"
Insomnia shook their head. "I don't know...wait, so you faced your fear already?"
"Yeah." The Sphinx looked around. "And I take it this is yours?"
Insomnia looked at their hooves and didn't reply.
Liberty flew over the chasm and hovered nearby Insomnia's platform. "Are you hurt?" She asked.
Insomnia shook their head.
The Sphinx frowned. "Can't you fly?".
Insomnia still didn't reply. They wouldn't look their classmate in the eye.
"What, did no one teach you?" Liberty joked.
"My parents did." Insomnia flatly replied.
The Sphinx cocked her head to one side. "Soooo what's the problem? Why can't you fly?"
"BECAUSE IM SCARED OF FALLING!" Insomnia snapped. "Every time I open my wings I feel terrified. Every time I see a deep drop I feel like I'm going to get pulled down and I know I'm a Pegasus but I just can't do it! Go ahead, make fun of me, but I'm not going to fly across that pit."
There was a somber silence for a moment before Insomnia felt Liberty wrap her paws around their waist and lift them up.
"What are you doing?!" Insomnia shrieked. They grabbed onto Liberties neck, staring into the darkness below with wide eyes.
"Just close your eyes and count to ten." Liberty said gently.
"I did not consent to this!" Insomnia said between hyperventilating breaths.
"Just do it grumpy hoodie." Liberty said.
Not wanting to keep looking at the pit Insomnia complied, squeezing their eyes tightly shut and burying their face into the soft fluff of Liberty's aviator jacket.
"1,2," Insomnia started.
"Slower." Liberty interrupted.
"1...2..."
"There you go."
By the time Insomnia had counter to ten, the two had landed on the platform with the door. Insomnia opened their eyes and saw the very thin pillar that had been holding the platform they were on. They clung to Liberty tighter.
"Ok, loosen up. I can't breathe."
Quickly Insomnia let go and jumped to the floor. "Sorry." They paused, akwardly rubbing their leg. "And...thank you."
"No worries. Should we find the others?" The Sphinx said, rubbing her neck.
"Yeah. Let's go."
The two walked into the dark hallway in silence. After a while lanterns lit with magic began to appear on the walls, lighting up the cobwebs that spanned the space.
Insomnia eventually broke the silence. "How were you able to escape your fear on your own?"
"It wasn't the first time I've had to face that fear. Took a while but I got the courage eventually."
"Do you mind if I ask what the fear was?"
The Sphinx smirked at the pegasus. "Only if you tell me why you're afraid of height's."
"I guess that's only fair." Insomnia took a deep breath. "But it's so stupid."
"Your feelings aren't stupid." Liberty said in a surprisingly serious tone. Insomnia felt some reassurance in that.
"When I was little and just learning to fly, I dreamt of being a wonderbolt like Rainbowdash, and doing a sonic boom. After I'd learnt the basis of flight I felt like I was invincible, so I set up a course to try my first attempt at a sonic boom.
I raced towards the ground, going as fast as I could. But I lifted up too late and crashed. I hit the ground from 70 feet high going at 15.5 wing power."
Liberty cringed. "Ouch."
"Understatement." Insomnia replied. "It was bad. Really bad. I was in the hospital for months trying to recover. I had multiple broken ribs, broken legs, head injuries...thank Celestia I only lost baby teeth. But the worst was my wings. They'd already been strained too much from the speed but then hitting the ground right after...it took years with a physiotherapist before I could extend them properly." They lifted their wing to show how shakey it was and how they struggled to keep it straight.
Liberty looked on with sympathy. "No wonder you haven't opened them all day."
Insomnia nodded. "Even now I can't fully extend them like I use to. But I think the mental scars are what keep me grounded really. Every time I open my wings I feel a sense of dread. I gave up my dreams of being a wonderbolt. Just living in cloudsdale is a challenge. Thank Celestia for the cloud lifts for disabled pegasi. Otherwise I would have never been able to leave."
A silence hung between them again before the blue pegasus nudged Liberty.
"Your turn. What was your fear?"
The Sphinx laughed. "Im a creature named Liberty. What do you think my fear is?"
"So you're claustrophobic?"
"Yeah...but that wasn't the fear I was showed."
"Then what was it?"
Liberty paused for a moment.
"I was adopted. My parents are a gay pony couple in Vanhoover. They found me in a box of fireworks during a pride parade as a baby. As you can imagine it's tough being the only Sphinx for acres. When I got older I went looking for my biological family. And I found it. Well, I found my mom. She wasn't happy that I came looking for her and told me she got rid of me for a reason and to never contact her again."
"That sucks." Insomnia said, unsure what else to say.
Liberty snorted. "Yeah it sucked. I cried alot after that. But I'm the end I told myself I don't need some stinky sphinxes approval. I have two loving fathers who mean the world to me, and I mean the world to them. I didn't find out who my father was nor why I was abandoned - bio-mom refused to elaborate aside from 'she had her reasons'. My worst fear is that my father will also hate me when I find him."
"You're still trying to find him?" Insomnia asked with surprise.
Liberty nodded. "I don't know if he knows I exist and if he doesn't he deserves to know. Best case scenario he didn't know and wants to get to know me. Worst case scenario...he doesn't. But if he doesn't, I have my dads. They'll always love me no matter what."
"Any clues as to where he is? Did your mom say?"
"No...nothing yet..."
Silence.
"Why do you think your mom abandoned you?" Insomnia asked, wondering if maybe this was pushing it.
Liberty shrugged. "I don't know. I don't have any birth defects I can see. I struggled in school but I doubt she knew about my dyslexia. I'm guessing she never wanted kids and figured the best way to get rid of me was leave me somewhere."
The blue pegasus scrunched up their nose. "What a horrible creature."
"Yeah."
"If I ever meet her I'm dumping her in the swamps of the Ever Free forest."
Liberty barked with laughter. "Not if I do first."
Insomnia couldn't help but smile.