To Have Wings

The feeling of the wind in my face, puncturing the clouds as I go faster through the air, it is overwhelming. The green grass and candy-colored ponies beneath my hooves, the exhilaration that I get from the speed after dropping so far and then opening my wings again just close enough to the ground that I skid the ground with my hooves then shoot back up and land on a cloud, the softest thing known to us ponies. The most comforting way to rest after a long day of work or play. Oh how beautiful life is when you can fly.

“Hey, you know if you lay there and you start to sweat, the ink will rub off on your face.” I wake and everything is shaking around me. Wait, no it isn’t, I’m shaking. I blink a couple of times and I realize I had fallen asleep, and there was a purple pony trying to wake me. Then I notice the crown.

“P-P-Princess Twilight!” I quickly rose my head and the page of the book I was laying on ripped off because it had stuck to my face. From then on, I couldn’t stop myself and I just dug myself deeper and deeper into the ground. “I’m so sorry I know I’m not supposed to be here especially this late but I thought I might find what I was looking for and I,” I bowed pathetically and tried to salvage my situation. “I’m so sorry.”

Before we get any further into this story, I should tell you guys some things. I’m Stone Cloud, but I go by Cloudy. My father is one of the Wonderbolts, and my mother is in the Wonderbolts Reserve. My younger sister is a prodigy at her age and has either beaten or come extremely close to all the academy records at Wonderbolts academy.

Then there’s me. I can’t fly, nor do I have wings. I’m the first in a pureblood line to be born without wings. Well, it’s not so pureblood actually. I found out my thrice great grandpa was half earthpony on his mother’s side. So, a few generations later, here I am.

My parents had to move from their home in Cloudsdale when I came along. Immediately as I was born, I was rushed to Canterlot hospital so that I could actually lay on something. When I think about it, it’s a bit scary to know I could have died at any second right after I was born just because I was in the clouds. They moved immediately to Canterlot after I was born.

I’m still a blank flank after all this time too. My parents say it might be understandable because it’s hard to find your place in the world when the entire family has flying related jobs. Then there’s me. I don’t know what I want to do with my life, I just want to be like my parents. I want to fly. I want it so badly I snuck into the castle and went through the Royal Wing. I wanted wings, and I want them badly enough that I would, well, you get the idea.

So here I am, feebly standing in front of the Princess of Friendship and Magic with a page stuck to my face, fumbling over my words like some sort of awestruck child. Oh wait, I am.

I waited for my punishment, tears running down my face. Would she send me to the dungeon, or have me work in the castle, away from my friends and family, forever. Or maybe she was not so merciful and I would be put to death on the spot, though I’ve never heard of such a thing in Equestria, I would certainly not put it past anypony who sneaks into the Royal Wing of the library.

“Well did you find it?” She finally asked. I looked up at her, confused. “What you were looking for, did you find it?” The page that was stuck to my face pealed itself off of me, or at least so I thought until I turned to see that Princess Twilight had taken it and somehow managed to fix the page back to the rest of the page and the binding even.

“Y-Yes, Your Highness,” I answered hesitantly. She picked up the book with her magic and stared at it intently, then took a peek at the other books I had stacked next to it.

“Level 3 Physics, Mechanics, and the Biology of Birds?” She gave me this funny look like I was crazy. I just nodded. “What in the wide world of Equestria are you planning with these three,” she paused and her eyes got real wide, then she smiled. “Oh, I see,” she said looking to my flank. “No cutie mark either?”

“No,” I sighed and hung my head low with embarrassment.

“How old are you?”

“Sixteen.”

“I think that’s a new world record, or at least here in Equestria.”

“N-No,” I didn’t make eye contact, when I said it, I didn’t want to be scolded for trying to correct her, “the oldest was a twenty year old pony in Manehattan.”

“Oh so you have done your research,” she sounded like she was enjoying this, but I wasn’t going to look up.

“Yes, Your Highness. I didn’t like being made fun of for being the longest blank flank in history so I correct those who say it.”

“Well with these books it certain why it’s been so hard for you.” She took her hoof and put it on my chin. Obediently I raised my head. “What do you hope of accomplishing?”

“Well Your Highness, I,” I stopped and chose my words carefully. I definitely did not want to sound crazy to a princess. “More than anything, I want to fly.”

“Why?” she asked, not missing a beat, and somehow, her smile still seemed sincere.

“Well, I’m the first in my family to be born from an all pegasus bloodline without wings.”

“How rare,” she tilted her head, then looked back at the books. “So you want a pair of wings so badly, you’d make your own?”

“Yes, Princess Twilight.” She giggled when I answered.

“And this stuff isn’t way over your head?”

“Well, no. You see my family has always been commended for their mechanical works and their speed. My grandfather helped invent a whole new delivery system for rainbows after getting to watch the famous Rainbow Dash at the Wonderbolts Spectacular.”

“Oh I see, and your father became a Wonderbolt soon after, am I correct?” I nodded. “And isn’t your sister training at the Wonderbolt Camp at this moment?” Again, I nodded.

“H-How do you know so much about my family?” I asked beginning to feel a little uneasy. She just giggled.

“I once had a great teacher who told me that it was important for a princess to know all of her subjects. Even you Stone Cloud.”

“If you already know who I am, then why did you have to ask so many questions about me?” I asked, trying to keep things on this subject, trying to keep the thought away from me being imprisoned.

“Well, between us, I happen to see a lot of faces on a day to day basis and they all seem to blur into the same face eventually. So you can imagine not wanting to embarrass myself with accidentally calling you Big Macintosh.”

“Who’s,”

“Doesn’t matter, Stone,” she said, still not breaking her smile.

“Actually, my friends just call me Cloudy,” she giggled again.

“Well Cloudy, it’s a pleasure to meet your acquaintance. I am Princess Twilight Sparkle,” she knelt down close to my height and whispered, “but you can just call me Twilight when we’re alone.”

“But Princess,”

“Just Twilight,” she forced my mouth closed with her hoof pushing my jaw shut. “To be perfectly honest, the whole Princess thing just annoys me when I’m not in any sort of formal meeting. Even then it bothers me, but I understand the formality.”

“But,” She raised her hoof and I immediately stopped.

“No buts, Cloudy. You told me how you prefer to be called, and I’m telling you how I prefer to be called.” I know what she was saying, but agreeing to it and actually doing it are two completely different things. I mean, she’s a princess! And she just told me to call her by her first name, but.

“Why?” I asked looking to her, my face getting more wrinkled the more I thought about it.

“I already told you why,” I swear she could hold that smile forever. It was like I was looking at a robot. Only, her smile was sincere, truly sincere.

“But aren’t you going to punish me? I’m in the Royal collection of books, and I got in without permission.”

“We can just keep that our little secret,” she whispered. “Would you like to take them home?” My heart leaped. If I could take these home, I’d have plenty of time to study and try out all my ideas and theories.

“Do you really mean it?” I asked trying to contain my excitement. She nodded.

“On one condition, however.” She had raised her hoof.

“Anything Prin- uh Twilight.” She quietly laughed at me.

“You will write about your progress, and send letters once a week every Saturday, including this Saturday.”

“But that’s tomorrow, how can I,”

“I guess you’d better start writing right away, and tell me everything you figured out already.” This time her smile faded to a smirk, an evil smirk. She totally played me into finding out what exactly I was trying to build, and now she wants to keep tabs on me. For what though? To have it all to herself? To break my spirit by taking it away and making it illegal?

Then again, it’s really too great of an offer for me to refuse. Studying these books may be all I need to finish my blueprints back at home. Then I can get to work on my prototype and then a finished models.

“I’ll do it,” I said firmly.

“Good,” she turned around. “Now wait right here,” she disappeared behind a bookshelf to my left. A couple minutes later she came back with a book hovering next to her. “Try this one as well. I think studying this would be just as important as that bird biology book.” She sat it on the table next to me. Quickly, I turned to look to see what she brought.

“Pony Anatomy: Pegasus Edition,” I read aloud.

“I think you’ll find chapters four, seven, and ten most helpful. I marked them for you already.”

“But why help me?” This was confusing for me. Honestly I thought then and there she’d tell me that I was being pranked in some way. It wouldn’t be the first time, believe me. But her real answer was less clear and just left me with more questions.

“Let’s just say it’s intuition for now,” she said, putting her smile back on. “But I think you should probably head home now. I’ll tell the guards you’re on your way. Don’t wander from the path, else you’ll be arrested so don’t forget that.”
“Wait! Arrested?!” She didn’t respond, she just kept pushing me out the door.
“And don’t forget to send me a letter by tomorrow,” she said pushing me out the door and into the hallway. “I hope to hear from you soon.” She put my now fully packed saddlebags on my back and I obediently walked towards the front door, then to the gate.

Oh boy, my parents are not going to believe this. I don’t even believe it. I am still trying to wrap my head around this thing. Oh well I guess. Here goes nothing.