A change in Life

"You keep moving them to fast and in a weird jerking motion, relax Twi we aren't going anywhere" explained Rainbow as she hovered above her alicorn friend.

"I will have to!, I have a shipment of books coming in from Canterlot that I will need to put on the shelf and after that I then...." began the alicorn but was interrupted.

"Twilight!, relax....they do not matter, the princess has said you must learn how to fly right?"

"yes..."

"Then let me teach you, don't worry about that nonsense" stated the Pegasus. Rainbow Dash felt like she was talking to a wall some days when she talked to her alicorn friend. At first she jumped to the task of teaching Twilight how to fly happily; however she now was beginning to regret it. Twilight was even harder to teach than Scootaloo and she couldn't fly yet!. Of course Twilight could fly but it was a mediocre and awkward version.

"Stop" Rainbow ordered before her friend hovered down to the ground and she sighed with her eyes closed. She shook her head disapprovingly before returning to the ground herself, landing beside her friend. "I was trying to teach you how to fly as you would a pegasus who had amnesia, this isn't working and frankly its awkward. I don't mean to be blunt Twi, your flying is totally uncool, awkward and mediocre"

"I'm sorry?"

"We need to start from the basics, most Pegasi learn what you don't know when they are fillies. This is what your doing, you are not trusting your wings enough and are trying to move them as fast and as powerful as you can. You fear that they will fail you. This is the first step. Trust your wings as much as your horn Twi" said Rainbow before beginning to walk across the field they were in and towards a lake. "Come on Twi, I'll explain on the way"

"What do you mean by trust in my wings as much as my horn?, I know it seems like a stupid question and I get the main gist of the meaning but please evaluate this more" asked the alicorn. Dash looked at her friend as they walked.

"Your horn is not like a saddlebag or a pair of fancy shoes right?"

"My horn is my horn, Its never felt any different than it always has" Twilight replied.

"You don't think about it when you use your horn really right? It just comes naturally like breathing, walking, blinking etc correct?"

"That is the best way to describe it yes"

"You need to learn to do that with your wings. They seem out of sync when you fly sometimes and they are not graceful, its like flapping two boards with your hooves"

"Oh"

The two mares reached the small lake. Dash sat down, stretched her wings and then looked around to view her surroundings. "Alright I am going to teach you the proper way to fly, this is how Pegasi learn to fly. I was taught these techniques by my parents which I have taught to Scootaloo and now I will teach you. Usually Pegasi learn these before they are able to fly and then they practice swimming in water to get the techniques right" explained Dash as she stood and began walking into the water. "In we go"

"Uh Dash do we...." Twilight began to resist but in a flash her Pegasus friend flew up into the air at high speeds. Twilight lost sight of her friend in the sun after a few seconds before she felt someone crash into her from behind and grab her. Twilight screamed in terror and surprise before she was dropped into the freezing cold water below.

When she sat up, her entire body now soaking wet, she was met with the laughter of her friend. She glared daggers up at her pegasus friend before a dark idea came to mind. Using her magic she began to collect a large amount of water. 2 liters, 4 liters, 6 liters, 8 liters, that should be good.

With a simple thought she lifted the water from the lake and then threw it soaring through the air at her friend. Rainbow Dash had only half of a second to see it coming before it crashed into the pegasus, wetting her wings to the point of flight being impossible which caused her to collapse backwards, her wings flapping uselessly before she hit the water and sunk under the surface. Twilight giggled as her still half shocked friend rose to the surface, this causing Rainbow to want to get angry even though she couldn't help laugh herself.

"I'll give you that one Twi" Rainbow said before using her wings and legs to swim over to her friend till her hooves connected with the pebbles bellow. "Alright now before I get revenge on you I need to teach you this" the rainbow maned pegasus explained before sitting down. The water felt good as her wings sank under the surface with the rest of her body, the water surface now up to her neck. Rainbow Dash put her hooves up with the bottoms facing the sky. "Alright, lay down on my hooves so your wings are in the water, I then want you to pretend you are flying in the air, please use the most comfortable pose you use when you fly and move a little forward so I am not blocking you from opening them." Dash requested and her friend approached her.

Dash had her hooves towards the deeper part of the lake so once Twilight got into position Dash could lower her into the water so her wings were under the surface. "Open your wings as if you were flying" ordered Rainbow Dash before her friend did as she was told. "Now start moving them so you would be flying normally", again Twilight did as she was told.

Dash now clearly noticed that her friend had her wings flat each time she brought them up and back down. The water making it noticeable from slowing the motions down considerably. "Stop for a second" Dash ordered and Twilight followed the command. "You have them flat. What you need to do is curve them slightly so the are pointing to the ground. If you have them flat you will need to move them really fast like you have been doing and using more energy than you should to keep your flight. To much of a curve becomes useless, the curve allows the feathers in the wings to resist the air more. When you have them flat like you have had them the air will simply escape, the curve means more resistance which means more flying, less flapping" explained Rainbow before opening her left wing and showing Twilight how to do it, a very small curve was now noticed by twilight.

"So like this?" asked Twilight, curving her wing and trying to mimic her friends example.

"Thats right, though you cannot always fly with your wing like that" said the pegasus.

"What do you mean?" asked Twilight, now curious and confused.

"When you fly you need to adjust your wing angles according to the direction you want to go. To slow down you curve them back as far as you can and then start hovering once you get to the point of falling......does that make sense?" asked the Pegasus who received another nod from her friend. Thank Celestia she reads a lot of books and is smart enough to understand all this.... the pegasus thought gladly.

"Alright, is that it?" asked the alicorn who received a shake of the head from her friend.

"When you fly you move your wings up and down. You need to move them in circles" Dash explained before spreading her wings again. She moved her wings in a forward circular motion and imitated flying slowly so her friend could examine the motion. "This will allow you to fly faster, to go backwards quickly you use the same motion but in the opposite direction, try it" Dash requested before her friend began moving her wings once more. They weren't still as well coordinated as most pegasi's but Dash had expected this.

"I just got one question Dash, Why did we do this in water?" asked Twilight.

"I only know how to do this in water, besides I wanted to throw you into the lake and have an excuse" explained the Pegasus, flashing a smirk to her friend. "Now, I am going to tell you how to accomplish some simple flying techniques, once I am satisfied we will move from water to the air" explained Rainbow.

The rest of the day had been very uneventful. The two mares had finished the day training before sitting in the sun for an hour to dry off while Dash told Twilight about a new trick she was developing and wanting to show the Wonderbolts. Twilight had told Rainbow about Luna visiting her the night before after she was finished even though she hadn't gained much information from the night princess. A thought that had been floating through Twilight's head since earlier at the lake was still bothering Twilight as the two mares approached Ponyville.

"Dash, Why have I never heard about your family?" asked Twilight, looking to her left at her Pegasus friend galloping beside her. The pegasus slowed down to a simple jog for a moment. A blank look on her face before hesitation.

"Oh...uh....of course I have....." the Pegasus said, no longer moving and just standing there. Her cheeks had gained a small amount of pink and her ears were down against her head. Concern filled Twilight; her friend was hiding something but she did not know what. Why is she hiding her parents? was she embarrassed by them or were they not on good ground?, so many thoughts entered the alicorn's mind.

"Uh....listen Twi...I had a lot...and uh....I wish I could come back to....Ponyville but I am needed at uh....work" Rainbow Dash explained though Twilight knew she was lying and making it up on the spot. Twilight went to reply but was cut off unintentionally by Dash. "IhopetoseeyoulaterbyeTwi!" Rainbow Dash quickly said before turning and flying into the air at a very high speed as if she wanted to get as much distance between her and the ground.

"What?...." was all Twilight could say, her entire mind raced with questions. Why was Dash shy to talk about her parents? she never was shy about anything! the alicorn wondered as she continued galloping towards Ponyville only a kilometer away now.

Dash slammed the door behind her and sighed sadly. Folding her wings in she dropped down onto the cloud floor of her home. Tank was waiting for her and looking at her curiously. The tortoise was one of the 5 creatures that knew her secret. Fluttershy, Tank, her brother and her parents. "Stop giving me that look!" growled the angry cyan pegasus, pointing her hoof at her pet who did not flinch, just kept giving her the same curious look. "I...I'm sorry tank" apologized Rainbow before walking up to the tortoise, she sat down, picked him up and hugged her pet; the rough shell uncomfortable but she still received comfort from the pet as he stuck his head out so he poked her cheek. She giggled at that before setting him down.

She sighed once more. She wanted to tell her friends about the problem with her and her parents but was afraid her friends would react the same way that her parents did. Her brother hadn't contacted her in 6 years so she assumed he no longer cared. It wasn't that she did not like her parents or anything in that category. She loved them deeply, it was them that had the problem with her. When she was a teenager she told her parents her secret and what did they do? kick her out of the house and throw insults at her. When that had happened she never went back. She got a job at the weather factory and was assigned to the Ponyville district. She had not heard from them since that day. She growled with disgust, now angry at her parents for making her feel ashamed of her secret.

She looked down at her multi colored tail and chuckled with humor and sadness from the irony and the memory of insults she had heard from her family. "How ironic that I turn out gay..." the mare said before turning her attention away and looking out the window.