After learning how to fly, Twilight Sparkle was very interested in how wings work, and how pegasi learn to fly. She then had an idea... She was going to visit her pegasus friends; Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. She walked out the door of her tree home, after telling Spike what she'd do. "Alright, first I go to Fluttershy." she murmured to herself, trotting around the stone paths of Ponyville. As she came around to Fluttershy's cottage area. She admired the way the leaves flowed gently in the wind, the petals of the flowers blowing off of their stems, as her hooves clopped against the soft, green grass. She silently grinned to herself as she reached Fluttershy's cottage. She knocked on her friend's door, waiting patiently for her answer. As she heard hoofsteps from inside the cottage, soon enough the door was opened to reveal a butter yellow pegasus with a bubblegum pink mane and tail. "Oh, hello, Twilight." she said in her soft voice.
"Hey, Fluttershy. I just learned how to use my wings without going really slow, so I was wondering if you and Rainbow might mind telling me about how you two learned how to fly." she explained, making gestures with her hooves.
"Oh, of course, Twilight. When?"
"Well... when do you want? I mean, right now would be good."
"Okay. Right now it is. Just let me tell my animals and we can be on our way. Where's Rainbow?" she asked, gesturing her friend to enter.
"I was going to get her after I came over here." she said, graciously accepting the invite to come inside, then walking over to Fluttershy's couch and seating herself. Fluttershy quietly said a little 'oh', then went into her kitchen and came out with a little bit of food for each animal she has. She fed each of them, then told them while they were eating. "Twilight, Rainbow Dash and I are going to go out for a little bit. Is that alright?" she asked, smiling at them with her softest smile that would make any stallion melt. Each of them nodded, then continued on with their snack. Fluttershy turned around, then smiled at Twilight and nodded her head. Twilight then got up, and walked out her door, her friend following after her. They both walked in silence before they found themselves right underneath Rainbow Dash's cloud home. "I'll go up and ask her, you wait here." said Twilight, smiling at Fluttershy as she nodded. She stretched out her wings and took flight up to Rainbow Dash's house. How do I knock on a cloud door? Twilight asked herself, her hoof on her chin. She must have a doorbell! she said, with an 'a-ha' face on. She searched for one, and soon enough, she found one. She rang the doorbell, and closed her eyes, smiling, waiting for Dash to answer the door. "Ye-- oh, hey Twilight." she greeted, smiling at her lavender alicorn friend.
"Hey Rainbow. As you remember, I learned how to properly use my wings, and I'm very interested in how pegasi learn to fly. So I was going to invite you and Fluttershy over to my library to hear how you guys learned to fly." she said, once again gesturing with her hoof. "Fluttershy already said yes. She's down there." she pointed to Fluttershy who was patiently waiting on the ground for Twilight to hopefully return with Rainbow.
"Sure, Twilight. I have nothing better to do, and I gotta give my wings a rest. As much as I hate to admit it." she said, then chuckled. Twilight internally cheered, then started to fly down to Fluttershy, Rainbow following close behind.
As they neared the library, Fluttershy and Rainbow were talking about how they think it's cool to be a princess. "I think it would be cool to be a princess, you know, being able to use magic and all." said Rainbow, putting a hoof on top of her head where a horn would be if she had one. She made little 'pew pew' noises as she aimed her 'horn' at different things. Fluttershy giggled as they continued to walk along, ending their conversation as Twilight opened the door to her library, calling for Spike. "Spiiike!" she yelled out repeatedly, her voice seemingly echoing off the walls of the library. There was a grunt from behind the door. "Spike, there you are!" she said, then closed the door, revealing none other than Spike. She took him off the wall in a magenta aura, and placed him on the ground gently, then walked up the stairs to her bedroom, gesturing Fluttershy and Rainbow to follow. "You can come, too, if you like, Spike." she said, then giggled at herself, following Rainbow and Fluttershy up the stairs. Twilight was sitting on her blue starry blanket, watching her friends find a place to sit, too. Fluttershy simply sat in the chair by her friend's desk, where she always worked. Rainbow Dash sat on the table, right next to Fluttershy. "Who wants to go first?" she asked.
"I guess I will." said Fluttershy.
~Flashback~
Fluttershy lifted her head upon hearing her name spoken by her best friend, Rainbow Dash. "Did you see that?" she cheered, smiling at her friend. The yellow pegasus smiled at her friend. "You should really learn to fly, Fluttershy. It's so cool!" she said, fluttering her wings as she was lifted into the air. Fluttershy shook her head as she sadly looked back down. She couldn't fly, and she never would. "I can't, Rainbow. I'm just not destined to fly."
"Every pegasus needs to learn how to fly. That's one of the reason we have wings." Rainbow said, lifting her friend's head up and smiling affectionately at her.
"But I just... can't." she said in a depressed voice. She then got up and walked over to the edge of the cloud and was about to try to glide down to the ground; after all, she'd never been there before, and she wanted to be. She took a deep breath. "Fluttershy, what're you doing?" asked her friend in a confused voice.
"I have to at least know how to glide."
Rainbow's eyes went wide as she tried to read her friend before she jumped--
~Flashback interrupted~
Fluttershy turned towards the bedroom's entrance, and in came Spike, with a tray of nachos. "I thought you all might want a snack while you told stories." the three mares beamed at him as he walked in, smiling as well. "So, you were saying?"
The girls asked Spike to lay out a thick, soft blanket in the middle of the room and set the nachos in the middle. They all gathered around on the blanket, then staring intently at Fluttershy, waiting for her to continue.
~Flashback continue~
She took a deep breath, and jumped, spreading her wings, and desperately flapping them in order for her wings to catch the wind. She just stopped flapping them, took a deep breath and then began to flap again, slower and softer, which let her catch the wind. She fixed her body angle so she wasn't leaning forward, then directed herself upwards, to get back to Cloudsdale once again. When she landed, she found an amazed Rainbow Dash. "That... was... awesome!" she shouted, crushing Fluttershy in a hug. "Oh, thank you... Rainbow..." she croaked out, being rendered unable to talk due to the bone-crushing hug. Rainbow Dash finally let her go, and she fixed her now rustled mane. "I can't believe you did that! That was so awesome!"
"Thank you."
"I can't even believe you did that, I mean, that was something I'd do!" she began to ramble about how awesome it was, and how daring, while Fluttershy just kept murmuring quiet little 'thank you's.
~Flashback end~
"And that was how I learned to fly." finished Fluttershy, her hoof gesturing outwards to Rainbow. Twilight's mouth hung open. "So you jumped off of a cloud's edge?!" she said, in disbelief.
"Yes, I did."
"That sounds extreme, Fluttershy. Where did you work up the courage to do that?"
"Well, I was still a filly so I had some of that belief that maybe I could do anything I wanted to...And I can, if I really work on it."
"That's true, Fluttershy!" said Twilight, nodding her head. "Alright, enough with this stuff, it's time for my story." said Rainbow, rolling her eyes at them. "Of course." said Twilight, whereas Fluttershy just nodded.
"Alright, so--"
~Flashback begin~
Rainbow Dash was just a little foal. She was very interested in her wings, and she'd seen on those shows that her mom and dad would watch-- what was it called? News? Yeah, news -- that this group called the Wonderbolts would use their wings to fly really fast, and Rainbow Dash wanted to be as fast as them. They could go at such fast speeds that they left a trail of smoke in their wake. Every once in awhile, she'd try to fly; of course, her little foal wings were too small to lift her, but maybe she'd be able to lift herself someday. She made little noises today, because she was determined. She flapped her wings furiously, but nothing seemed to work. Nothing happened. She flapped gently. Not even an inch off of the ground. She sighed, Am I ever gonna learn? She flapped them in between, and she fluttered just above the ground. She cheered, but upon doing that, her wings stopped working, and she fell on the ground, but nevertheless, she still smiled. She learned how to partially fly! Tomorrow, she was going t--
~Flashback interrupted~
Fluttershy let out a little whimper. "What's wrong, Fluttershy?" asked Twilight, walking over to her.
"I have to..." she began, not wanting to finish. Twilight watched her expectantly, waiting concernedly for her to continued.
"...use the bathroom..." she squeaked out, and Twilight's mouth formed an 'o'.
"Follow me." she stated, helping Fluttershy up, helping her along to her bathroom in the library. They left a bored Rainbow Dash and Spike behind them. "Well, now what?" asked Rainbow, sighing, rolling her eyes and placing her head on her hoof. Spike got up. "Well, we might as well get more nachos." said Spike, picking up the empty bowl that recently had nachos in them. He brought them to the kitchen, vanishing from Twilight's bedroom. Rainbow sighed, tracing circles on the soft plush with her cyan hoof. What do I do now? Twilight and Fluttershy are in the bathroom, and Spike is getting more nachos. Though I can wait for nachos. she thought. But there has to be something to do here besides read books. She got up, and walked over to where she was previously sitting; atop Twilight's study desk. She looked at a few books, then looked at one and read the title aloud. "How Pegasi Learn to Fly. Hm." She picked it up and began to flip through it. "This must be the book that taught her how to fly!" she then heard hoofsteps. She hurriedly closed the book, then ran over to the blanket and sat back down in her previous position. "We're back!" said Twilight, a relieved looking Fluttershy next to her, returning to their spots upon the soft plush. "Where's Spike?"
"He's getting more nachos."
