Chapters “This is so exciting!”
Twilight grinned at the infectious cheer that leaked from her friend’s words as they walked down the sunny path. The pegasus flapped along next to her, a whistle dangling from around her neck. Rainbow’s eyes were riveted to Twilight’s lavender wings.
“With those babies and my help you could outfly Lightning Dust! Not me, of course.” Twilight rolled her eyes, chuckling as Rainbow did a loop de loop over her head. “But anyone else, easy!”
“I don’t need to learn to outfly anyone in particular, Rainbow,” Twilight said. “Celestia says I just need to learn to fly. Besides.” She levitated a thick book out of her knapsack, flipping through the pages as she walked. “According to this, larger wings are less aerodynamic, more suited for high altitude soaring flight, while smaller ones are more preferable for quick maneuvers and building speed while—”
“Whatever.” Rainbow snorted, her wings rustling the book’s pages as she landed in front of Twilight. “Who’s your flight teacher?” She tilted her head slightly to read the name along the book’s spine. “Feather Quill or me?” She puffed out her chest.
“Well, you, of course. But I’ve been reading up on flight. Did you know—”
“Twilight, Twilight.” Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “I’m your teacher. The best flyer in Ponyville. Leave it to me!”
Twilight sighed. “Of course.”
***
“Here we are,” Rainbow said. “Ghastly gorge!”
A hawk screeched as Twilight looked over the gaping gash in the ground, and a rock skittered from under her hoof and tapped and cracked on boulders jutting from the sides of the canyon as it bounced into the abyss below.
“Um, Rainbow,” Twilight said, taking a careful step back, “Maybe we should start with something a little easier. Like, you know, taking off?”
“Well of course!” Rainbow dragged out the last word, gesturing with a hoof. “But I just wanted to show you what you’ll be able to do after I teach you. To get you fired up!”
“Oh.” Twilight’s stomach flipped as a rock eel growled from a hole in the side of the canyon. “Right. Very encouraging.”
Rainbow’s hooves clacked on the ground as she landed from her place hovering above the abyss. “Okay. So first flying lesson.” She held her head up, suddenly the picture of a drill sergeant. “Celestia has tasked me with teaching you, a new princess, how to fly. So you’re going to do your best! Right?”
Twilight stood up tall. “Right!”
“Good! First lesson.” Rainbow leapt up, suddenly hovering once again, and gestured with a hoof. “See that puffy cumulus up there?” With a flap of her wings and a burst of rainbow color she arced into the air, landing on top of it. “Get on up here! Flap those wings!”
Twilight nodded. Shucking her knapsack, she unfolded her new wings. She still wasn’t quite used to them, the long purple feathers ungainly and the weight of the wings throwing off her balance when she spread them. She stumbled as a gust of wind caught them, her feet flailing for a moment near the edge of the gorge, and she froze in place, panting hard.
“C’mon, Twilight!” Rainbow called from the cloud. “Just give ‘em a flap or two! There’s great thermals over the gorge!”
“Thermals. Warm updrafts. Great for soaring flight.” Twilight rehearsed Feather Quill to herself, the words soothing. “I can do this.”
Twilight flapped her wings down once, a rush of air blowing at the strap of her knapsack. Another flap and her stomach and heart rushed with the sensation of lift, like falling up.
“That’s great, Twilight! You’re doing it!” Rainbow hovered near the cloud. Twilight flapped her wings again, her head spinning as she looked down and realized that her hooves were off the ground, her knapsack smaller below her. “Now keep flapping! Use the air to spiral up!”
“Circling flight to gain altitude diffuses the effort of flapping one’s wings,” Twilight recited, her words swallowed up by a rush of air as she began to fall forward. Her heart leapt, beating double, but she didn’t plummet down.
Her wings spread, she glided lazily down toward the gorge, inching below the lip of the cliff. She flapped again, hard, the lift taking her back up.
Interesting. When she spread her wings out she picked up speed, her body angled down, and lost altitude. One flap would get her back up above the lip of the gorge. Angling her body up did nothing, though, and she flapped again, arcing down. What had the book said?
“Twilight, what are you doing?” Rainbow’s voice echoed in the gorge. “Get up here! Flap your wings more!”
Right. Muscles straining, Twilight flapped her wings, each beat sending her up and up. She had miscalculated the horizontal distance, she realized quickly, and stopped flapping, angling down to move forward before going straight up again. She felt foolish, but finally, her head crested the cloud and she angled down to land front hooves first next to Rainbow. She took a few deep breaths, her wings shaking slightly as she folded them.
The sudden whistle blow nearly deafened her, vibrating in her head. “Great work!” Rainbow shouted. “That wasn’t so hard, right?”
“Well, no.” Twilight peeked over the cloud, the gorge a strip of black below them and the hazy form of Ponyville a riot of color in the distance. “That wasn’t so bad at all.” She grinned as the grasp of muscle exhaustion left her and the thrill of standing on a cloud replaced it. Standing on a cloud! Like a pegasus! “Maybe I really will get the hang of this!”
“Of course you will!” Rainbow clapped her on the back. “Like I said, with my help you’ll be outflying anyone else in no time!” She arced into the air again, doing a series of corkscrew maneuvers. “Anyone who trains with me will be the best!”
Twilight gave a weak smile. She wanted to do well, but she didn’t really want to be the best. She wasn’t about to tell Rainbow that though. “So, uh..." she stared over the edge of the cloud again at her knapsack far below. "How about we focus on getting down from this cloud first?”
The rising sun sent rays of light streaming onto Twilight’s balcony, where she paced back and forth, her wings folded to her sides.
She had hoped that just by having wings she would also get some the instinctual knowledge of how to use them. Even in Feather Quill’s book, he had written about how young pegasi, even those who had trouble flying, had basic knowledge of air currents and how to position their wings to get where they wanted to go. Basic flying didn’t require much thought.
Twilight certainly didn’t have any basic flight balance or instinctual knowledge of air currents. She had magic, of course, but pegasus magic was a whole different beast.
Of course, Luna had good control of weather. She had seen the dark alicorn summon lightning many times. If Luna could learn it, Twilight was sure she could too. It would be a challenge, but Twilight had passed every test put before her. She was a princess now. She wouldn’t let Celestia down!
“Twilight?” Spike emerged from the bedroom, rubbing his eyes. “Why are you up so early?”
“Sorry Spike.” Twilight stopped pacing, ruffling her new wings. Sometimes the feathers tickled her sides, and it was annoying. “I was just thinking. And Rainbow wants to start early today. She says I need to practice precision flying. Also landing.” She winced as she remembered her clumsy landing from the cloud. Back feet first, Rainbow had told her, not front first, unless she wanted to set herself up for a crash once she learned to go faster.
“How’s that going, anyway?” Spike leaned against the doorframe, fangs flashing in a yawn. “I’ve never actually seen you fly.”
“That’s because I haven’t done much of it yet,” Twilight said with a quiet laugh. “But today you’ll see me. Rainbow wants to take me around Ponyville.”
“Bring me back some cupcakes?” Spike asked, perking up. “If you can fly, going to the market will be a lot faster.”
“Sure, Spike,” she said with a wry expression. She wondered which would be easier, flying there or teleporting.
A multi-colored streak appeared in the clear sky, and Twilight braced herself as Rainbow zipped into view, stopping short in a hover just above the balcony.
“Twilight!” The pegasus landed carefully on the edge of the balcony-back legs first, Twilight noted, a split second before the front. “Ready to take off?”
The alicorn spread her wings, thankful that there was no breeze. She wondered how she would ever learn to fly in a storm.
“Ah ah.” Rainbow smirked. “Today we’re going to fix that.”
Twilight blinked. “Fix what?”
“Yesterday you did fine, but you did a lot of things…weird, and today I figured out what it was!” Rainbow gave an apologetic grin. “When you take off, you don’t spread your wings out and just stand there first unless you want to get blown over.”
Oh. Now she tells her. Twilight folded her wings, feathers rustling. “So what’s the proper way?”
“This.” Rainbow leapt, spreading her wings at the apex of the jump, and then flapped to gain altitude. She spun in a tight circle and then alighted again, tossing her mane back. “You try.”
Twilight grit her teeth, reminding herself that she was a princess now. She had to get it right. She lowered her head, as though readying for a charge, and then ran and leaped, spreading her wings. She barely heard Rainbow’s cry of “That’s kinda not a good—!”
Her wings were spread, but her tilted head pulled her body down, arrowing her into a fast glide straight into the ground. She shoved her front legs forward, but when they hit the ground the momentum carried her over her hooves, flat on her back, her new wings beneath her covered in mud.
“Twilight!” Two Rainbow Dashes appeared by her side in a second, four purple eyes open wide. “Are you okay?”
“I think so.” Twilight rolled over, shaking her wings to rid them of mud and tiny twigs. “At least, I’ll be okay.” She rubbed her head with a hoof, the two Rainbow’s coalescing into one. “Uh, oops?”
“Alright. That was…kinda bad.” Rainbow winced as she said it, and Twilight’s stomach turned in shame. “But it’s okay! Just try again, from the ground this time. Remember what I said. You’re trying to fly like a pegasus, not charge like a unicorn.”
“Right.” Twilight shook her head, clearing residual dizziness. Spike dashed out the front door, carrying a water bottle, just as Twilight leaped again.
“Twilight!” he called. She flared her wings, flapping hard, and began to gain altitude. Spike grew smaller below her.
“I guess she’s alright?” his voice carried from the ground.
“Of course. She’s a princess.” Pride radiated from Rainbow Dash’s words. “Man, wouldn’t it be cool if she could learn to fly with me? I’ve always wanted a real flying partner, someone who could fly like Lightning Dust. Except, you know. Not be a jerk like Lightning Dust.”
“Lightning Dust? That’s the pegasus who nearly—” Spike’s words faded as Twilight spiraled higher, the rushing wind blocking them out. Twilight frowned.
Rainbow wanted someone to fly with. Someone fast and strong, and tough. That made sense, all of a sudden. Rainbow had Fluttershy to fly with, but Fluttershy, for all her good qualities, was no trick flyer, or even much of a flyer at all. Rainbow Dash really was the best flyer in Ponyville.
Twilight knew how that felt, and something yawned ahead of her in her mind. Twilight had been Celestia’s student, powerful, but alone, great at magic and not much else. She had only her brother to keep her company. Rainbow didn’t even have that.
And now, she was a princess, with power that few other ponies had. No one could match her. It was exciting, and wonderful, but...
She didn’t want to pursue her best talents all alone either.
Twilight tightened her new wing muscles, turning in midair to head back down toward Rainbow and Spike. She knew how Rainbow felt.
If Rainbow wanted a flying partner for her stunts, Twilight would do her best to be there for her. She just hoped, her stomach turning while she flapped her wings and struggled to remember Rainbow’s lessons, that she could be good enough.
Twilight arced down, then tilted her body up about ten feet off the ground, pulling her wings in just slightly to try and hover the way Rainbow Dash always did. Instead she dropped, doing her best at the last second to land flat on all four hooves, smiling as wide as she could to hide the bone jarring effect of the fall.
Rainbow and Spike just stared.
“So, Rainbow,” Twilight said between clenched teeth. “What’s next? Whatever it is, I’m ready for it!”
Rainbow’s eyes lit up. “That’s the spirit!”
Dive!
“Alright Twilight, you’re doing great.” Twilight weaved around clouds, keeping her wings spread and using the movements of her body to change direction without changing altitude. It was difficult, and more than once Twilight clipped the edge of a cloud with her wings. It was hard getting used to the fact they were solid to her now. Below her, Ponyville bustled in its usual morning routine.
Rainbow kept pace with her, flying backwards, which was probably a stunt in itself. “You’re amazing, Twilight! For an egghead, you’re pretty athletic in the air!”
Twilight grinned. Takeoff and landing was still difficult, but she was getting used to flying. She didn’t have to flap her wings quite so often, the long feathers and shape of the wings giving her the lift she needed to stay in the air. Of course, they had been cloud weaving for hours, so she figured it was only natural that she had learned something.
“Okay, Twilight, land on that cloud there. Let’s try something a little more fun!” Rainbow pointed, then zipped up ahead, landing on a cloud that they had passed several times in their circuits around the town.
Okay. She could do this. Twilight flexed her wings, then beat them powerfully, throwing her body forward like Rainbow Dash always seemed to do. The burst of speed didn’t last long, but it was enough to prevent her from having to spiral up to gain altitude. However, it didn’t prevent her from having to beat her wings frantically to gain altitude when she fell short, and she grabbed the cloud with her hooves at the last second, pulling herself up with kicks of her hind legs and beats of her wings.
"Uh, Twilight..." Rainbow began.
“Made it!” Twilight said between quick breaths, nearly falling on her face onto the cloud. She would never quite get used to how clouds felt. They weren’t quite like pillows, though they were soft. But somehow she thought she could sense the water molecules underneath her hooves, forming a lattice that felt secure one second and intangible the next. “Okay, what’s next?”
“That.” Rainbow pointed into the distance. Twilight leaned forward, blinking, then nearly stumbled on the cloud.
“No. That!” Rainbow grabbed Twilight’s head, pointing her in the right direction.
“The clock tower?”
“No!” Rainbow sighed. “Those! That circle of clouds! I set them up, and I want to see you dive through them! See if you can do it anywhere near as fast as me!” She jumped onto all fours. “Ready to try and follow me?”
Twilight’s first thought was to refuse. A dive? She studied the clouds. There were 11 of them, set up in a loose circle, all waiting to knock her out of the sky if she messed up.
But no. She had to at least try. Be fearless, like Rainbow!
“Okay,” Twilight said. “Let’s try it.”
“Good. Try and keep up!” Wind rushed, blowing Twilight’s mane into her face as Rainbow took off.
“Okay Twilight,” she said to herself. “You can do this!”
With a kick of her back legs, she launched herself off the cloud, remembering to keep her head up as she leapt. With a flare of her wings the sky took her, her speed immediately halved. Rainbow Dash was a streak of color ahead of her.
“C’mon, Twilight!” the pegasus called. “Follow my lead!”
Twilight narrowed her eyes, her shoulders burning as she flapped her wings and headed into what was quickly becoming a very fast dive, following Rainbow’s trail toward the ring of clouds. The wind whistled in her ears, her eyes watering, and her heart began to beat double. This was the fastest she had ever gone.
Her heart beating quickly became anxiety, and then panic as the rushing wind deafened her and made her blink tears and sweat from her eyes, the image of the ground below her a blurry mess that was quickly getting bigger. The ring was close, and to her left! She was going to miss it, and she was going too fast. Too fast too fast too fast!
At the last second, the blue and rainbow motley ahead of her swerved, and Twilight forced one thing into her mind—wings, now! She threw them forward, muscles straining, and turned, wrenching her shoulder with the force as she followed Rainbow through the ring. Another stray cloud puffed into nothingness ahead of her as Rainbow broke it.
“That was great, Twilight!” Rainbow bellowed over her shoulder. “A lot of pegasi would be way too scared to try a dive like that, but you did it!”
“Yeah,” Twilight said shakily, wincing as she flapped her wings and her muscles twinged. “That was great.” She eased into a circling spiral, too tired to try and hover by flapping her wings like Rainbow did.
“Check it out, Applejack’s down there.” Rainbow pointed, and Twilight spotted the red and orange forms of Big Mac and Applejack pulling carts toward Sugar Cube Corner.
“Alright, let’s take a break. Then we’ll try something even more fun!” Rainbow rocketed down toward the ground, Twilight shaking in her wake. Flapping ungainly, Twilight turned and started circling lower, toward where Rainbow was now talking with Applejack.
She had a long time to go before she could match Rainbow’s speed. She would have to try harder.
“Well, howdy there, Twilight!” Applejack tipped her hat as Twilight landed heavily on all four hooves at once, the alicorn trying to hide a wince as soreness arced up her shoulder. She would need ice tonight. “I hear Rainbow is teaching you to fly, just like Celestia said!”
“Yep!” Rainbow puffed out her chest. “She’ll be flying rings around Ponyville in no time!”
Applejack lifted her hat up. “Rings around Ponyville? Why would you want do that?”
“Why wouldn’t you?” Rainbow returned, and Applejack shook her head with a smile.
“We’re just headed into Sugar Cube Corner to pick up some supplies for Granny’s apple pies. Why not come in with us? I’m sure you could use a snack after all that learnin’ to fly, right Twi?”
“Sure! And I can grab some cupcakes for Spike!” Twilight said with a grin.
“And then you can practice balancing cupcakes during flight for Spike,” Rainbow added. Twilight blinked, but didn’t argue. She didn’t want to risk dropping Spike’s cupcakes, but if balance training was what she needed to be a good flying partner for Rainbow, then she’d do it. Surely after a meal her tired wings would recover.
“Greetings!” Mr. Cake called from behind the counter as the group of ponies entered the shop. “What can I get for you today?” He stood up, and his eyes widened as he caught sight of Twilight. “What can I get for you today, Princess?” he added.
Twilight’s face heated. “It’s okay, you don’t have to-“
“Princess?!” Mrs. Cake poked her head out of the hallway, Pound and Pumpkin cake in her arms. “Princess Twilight! Good to see you. Whatever you’d like, it’s on the house!”
Applejack turned to Twilight, raising an eyebrow. Twilight wished she could sink into the floor. It had only been a few days since returning to Ponyville after the coronation, and she hadn’t anticipated… well, this. Her friends certainly didn’t see her any differently!
“TWIIIILIIIIIGHT!” A pink blur leapt from out of nowhere, wrapping its hooves around her neck. “I haven’t seen you in forever!”
Mr. and Mrs. Cake just stared, Mr. Cake’s eye twitching.
“Pinkie,” Twilight said with a small laugh. “It’s only been a few days.” Behind the excitable pony, Mr and Mrs. Cake smiled, the tension gone from their faces. Pound cake laughed, drool leaking from his snout.
Thank goodness for Pinkie.
“I know Twilight, but the coronation was sooooo amazing and I couldn't stop thinking about it and so I thought about you but you weren’t here so it felt like I hadn’t seen you in forever! Do you want a muffin?” On the last word Pinkie leapt into the air, all four hooves off the ground.
“Uh, Pinkie? The flour?” Applejack motioned to her cart.
“Omigosh, you’re right!” Pinkie squealed. “Lemme get it!” She braced herself on two hooves, as though she was going to start aiming to be the winner of the running and the leaves, and then all momentum left her as she started hopping normally toward the back of the shop.
“Wow,” Rainbow Dash said. “I should probably help her get the bags.” The pegasus flapped along after Pinkie.
“So, how’s it going with Rainbow?” Applejack asked. Big Mac walked up to the glass display case behind her, shoving his face toward it and licking his lips. Mr. Cake watched the other stallion nervously.
“Oh, it’s alright.” Twilight tossed her mane. “I’ve got the hang of staying in the air, at least.”
“She’s not pushing you too hard, is she? You know Rainbow.” Applejack shook her head with a rueful smile.
Twilight thought to the panicky dive, the fear rising in her gut again and her folded wings twinging in memory of the wrenching twist. “It’s… it’s nothing. I can do it.”
Applejack’s eyes widened slightly. “Well, if you have any problems, be sure to tell her. She takes things pretty intense sometimes.” Applejack chuckled. “But if you just told her to slow down a bit, she’d understand for sure.”
Twilight nodded, but she wasn’t going to tell Rainbow anything of the sort. Twilight had never failed a test, and she wasn’t going to let Rainbow down.
