A new flying buddy!

Twilight paced around the library, listing out all the items she needed for her lesson while a worn-out spike was running around, carrying various items to and from Twilight’s saddlebag, ticking them off his checklist as he ran.

“Is…this…really…all….necessary?”  Spike panted between breaths.

“Of course it is, Spike” Twilight said, flipping the page of a book on flying. “I want to get the most out of this lesson as I possible can, and I want to make sure I have everything I need.”

Spike dumped the last of the equipment into the saddlebag and wiped his brow.

“And that includes 3 bottles of ink and a metre of paper?” Spike asked, raising his eyebrows.

“I might need to record special flying techniques” Twilight replied, placing the book back on the shelf. “Have you got everything?”

Spike peered around in the bag. “Well, yeah, everything is in there. But you probably won’t need half of it.”

“Nonsense” Twilight said, walking over to the saddlebag, and attempted to pull it onto her back.

“Well, have fun lugging that thing around.” Spike said, watching Twilight struggle with the heavy bag. “I sure am glad that I’m not the one carrying that tonne of stuff.”

“I’ll…do…fine!” Twilight finally pulled the bag onto her back, and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Phew…this is pretty heavy. But it’ll all come to use, I’m sure of it” she said. “You know what they say…no pain, no gain!”

Spike laughed. “That’s not pain Twilight, that’s mild back stress!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I-

She was cut off by a loud tapping on the door.

“Oh, that must be Rainbow Dash!” Twilight said excitedly, and she ran to the door and opened it, eager to get straight into her lesson.

“Oh hey Rainbow Dash! I can’t wait to-

“Letter for Twilight Sparkle” Interrupted the mail pony.

Twilight’s cheeks went red.

“Oh, uh, thanks” she said, taking the letter from the stallion’s hoof.

The mail stallion grunted and walked off.

“I wonder who this is from” Twilight said, closing the door behind her and taking a seat next to spike.

No features on the front of the letter gave away who it was from. It was just a simple envelope, sealed with wax at the back.

“Who’s it from?” Spike asked, leaning over Twilight’s shoulder to get a better look.

“I don’t know yet” Twilight said, breaking the seal and unfolding the letter. It read:

Hey Twi,

Just letting you know that I’m all set for your flying lesson, so come on down to my house whenever you like and we’ll get started. ;)

Rainbow Dash

“Oh! It’s from Rainbow Dash!” Twilight said, finishing reading out the letter.

“I wonder why she didn’t just come over here” Spike said, looking out of the window towards Rainbow Dash’s house.

Weird…Rainbow Dash had never sent a letter before. The mail service was fast, but she definitely could have got here faster. How strange.

“I’ll ask her that. But she said I can go round whenever I like, and I can’t wait to get flying!” Twilight said excitedly, jumping up. “Okay, I’ll see you later Spike!”

Twilight trotted over to the front door and opened it, but before she left, Spike called out to her.

“Wait…what am I supposed to do while you’re gone?” he asked.

“Well, what do you usually do?” Twilight replied.

“I, uh… sleep” Spike said sheepishly.

Twilight laughed and turned to leave.

“Well, you go and have yourself a nice nap” Twilight said, smiling.

She closed the door behind her and walked out into the sun.

“What a perfect day for flying” Twilight said to herself, looking up at the sky and clouds. She trotted her way slowly through Ponyville, heading towards Rainbow Dash’s house.

***

Twilight arrived at, or rather, below Rainbow Dash’s house. She looked up, admiring the mansion of cloud and wondered how in Equestria she was going to get up there. Flying was a definite no-no. Teleporting could work, but she’d never teleported onto clouds before… it could end up with her faceplanting into the ground again.

Well, there was only one way to find out. Twilight focused on the cloud before the front door. As her horn glowed the world dissipated around her, and she disappeared with a loud bang. A split second later, the world suddenly rebuilt itself, and she found herself to be standing at Rainbow Dash’s doorstep.

“Well, that went better than expected” she said, raising her hoof to the door.

She knocked three times in quick succession.

Then she waited.

And waited some more.

‘What’s taking her so long?’ Twilight thought, knocking again.

It wasn’t like Rainbow Dash to be tardy; she was the fastest pony in Ponyville. Unless she was asleep, of course. But she wouldn’t just go to sleep after telling Twilight she could come over at any time, would she?

Suddenly the door opened and Rainbow Dash stood there, wearing her blue and yellow Wonderbolt trainee costume, goggles and all, smiling happily.

“Oh hey Twilight!” she said excitedly.

“Hey Rainbow Dash!” Twilight replied, just as excited. “Wow…You look amazing!”

“Aww, thanks” Rainbow Dash replied, blushing a little. “You ready for your first flying lesson?”

Rainbow Dash blushing from a compliment? She receives compliments all the time…why should one from Twilight be any different?

Twilight flapped her wings eagerly.

“Am I ever!” she cheered.

Rainbow Dash laughed. “Alright then, come on through. I’ve set up a flying course for you.”

Twilight followed Rainbow Dash through the house, and out the back door on to a long stretch of cloud. There were clouds floating in midair, shaped in various forms such as poles and rings, to simulate a real-life flying situation.

“Welcome to the course!” Rainbow Dash said, raising her hooves up and admiring her work with pride. She had set this all up herself, bunching and shaping clouds and positioning them in the air.

“You made all of this? By yourself? For me?” Twilight asked in astonishment, examining her friend’s effort.

“Eh, it was nothing” Rainbow Dash said, smiling.

Twilight dropped her saddlebag onto the cloud below her hooves and began to rummage through it, and pulled out a pot of ink, a quill and a roll of paper. She sat down on the cloud, and dipped the quill into the pot of ink.

“Okay! What important things should I write down about flying?” Twilight asked, levitating the quill and the paper in front of her.

Rainbow Dash laughed nervously. “Uh, Twilight…you don’t need to write anything down” she said, looking slightly confused.

“What?” Twilight said, tilting her head to one side. “Surely I must need to write something I need to know! The most efficient flying vector? The best angle to take off from the ground? The frequency of wing flaps per minute?”

“Oh, Twilight! That’s not how it works at all! There’s no studying, there is no learning involved!” Rainbow Dash explained enthusiastically. “Flying will come to you naturally, it’s an instinct!”

“But I-

“Flying is not something that is to be revised, or studied. You don’t need to know every itty bitty physics calculation in your head for every possible scenario you’ll be in. You don’t need to think at all. You just feel it…and off you go. It’s natural” Rainbow Dash finished.

“But it all seems so complicated…” Twilight said.

“Trust me, it isn’t.” Rainbow assured. “When I first learned to fly I thought exactly the same thing. But after a bit of practice, I could just do it without thinking. Just don’t worry about a thing, it’s really simple.”

Twilight thought for a moment, and then proceeded to return the items back into her saddlebag.

Twilight sighed. “Alright” she said, standing up.

“There you go, that’s the spirit!” Rainbow Dash cheered. “So, are you ready to fly?” she asked.

“Just a second, let me get ready” Twilight replied, rummaging around in her saddlebag.

“Okay, I just need to go get something, I’ll be right back. When you’re ready, just stand on the edge of the cloud over there” Rainbow Dash said, pointing to a floating cloud at the top of a long flight of stairs, which were also made of cloud, before she disappeared back into the house.

Twilight pulled a helmet out of the saddlebag, with a conveniently placed hole in the top, perfectly cut for a unicorn horn. It was a dark purple colour, with a large pink stripe down the middle, matching Twilight’s mane. She pulled it over her head, clipping the strap together and tightening it adequately. She pulled out two pairs of knee pads, strapped them around her legs and stood up, and placed small purple bag which contained a parachute onto her back.

Twilight walked over and stopped at the bottom of the stairs. She breathed out slowly.

“Come on Twilight, you can do this…” she said to herself, before placing her left hoof on the first step. She hated to admit it, but she was terrified of heights. She was happy as a unicorn, where most of the time she would keep all four hooves firmly on the ground. But suddenly becoming an alicorn changed that. She really wanted to learn to fly, but her fear of heights was going be a very large obstacle she had to overcome.

She carefully inched her way up the stairs, trying not to look down.

“Don’t look down… don’t look down” Twilight repeated.

When she reached the top, she ever so slightly peeked over the edge of the cloud. It was a long way down, at least 25 metres, and the longer she looked, the further and further the ground seemed to be. Twilight’s heart pace quickened, and fear took over. She lay down and closed her eyes, quivering.

Rainbow Dash returned from the house with a stopwatch in hoof, but she dropped it when she saw Twilight cowering on the top of the platform.  She rushed up the stairs, and knelt down beside her frightened friend.

“Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked worriedly. “Are you alright?”

Twilight slowly looked up, and Rainbow Dash could see tears in her eyes.

“No…” she replied.

“What’s wrong?” Rainbow asked. “Are you hurt?”

“N-no…I…I’m terrified of heights…” Twilight said quietly, covering her face with her hooves.

“Aww…” Rainbow Dash said sympathetically, pulling Twilight into a hug. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know…I just…” she replied.

“Its okay, Twi. We can start on the ground first if you want.” Rainbow Dash suggested.

It was a very tempting offer…but Twilight couldn’t just walk away from this fear…flying is all about heights, and she would have to overcome her phobia if she was to succeed.

“N-no…I have to beat this fear of h-heights…” Twilight said, slowly pulling herself up.

Rainbow Dash held onto Twilight, and helped her keep her balance as she shakily stood up.

“W-what do I need to do?” Twilight asked, still nervous about the height.

“Well, before you do anything, you need to lose the gear” Rainbow said.

“W-wha? Why?” Twilight replied.

“It’s all just going to slow you down, it’s heavy and it will put you off-balance” Rainbow Dash explained.

“B-but w-what if I f-fall?” Twilight stuttered.

Rainbow Dash placed her hooves gently on Twilight’s shoulders. “If you fall, I’ll catch you. I promise.”

Twilight was unsure, but Rainbow Dash’s warm reaction and friendly expression gave her strength.

“Okay…” Twilight said, slowly taking off her helmet.

She sat down, and removed the parachute and her knee pads.

“Will you be okay up here for a minute?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Twilight nodded.

“Alright, I’ll be back in a second” Rainbow Dash said, picking up the equipment and walking downstairs.

Twilight watched her as she walked downstairs and returned the equipment to the saddlebag, and on the way back she bent down to pick up the stopwatch she had dropped earlier. Rainbow climbed the stairs again, and returned to Twilight.

“So, um, what do you want me to do?” Twilight asked nervously.

“Well, this may seem a bit crazy, but I need you to jump off the edge” Rainbow Dash explained.

“You need me to what!?” Twilight shouted in surprise.

“Twilight, hear me out” Rainbow said. “It’s how my father used to teach me. By jumping off something at such a height, you should just be able to extend your wings and glide without thinking. Like a reflex” she explained.

Twilight didn’t like the idea of throwing herself off a cloud…but oddly, it made sense.

“I understand…” Twilight replied, peeking uncertainly over the edge.

“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to” Rainbow assured.

“No. I must do this.” Twilight said, suddenly regaining her confidence. She carefully placed her hooves on the edge of the platform, and breathed out slowly.

“I can do this…” Twilight said, trying to convince herself.

She peeked over the edge again. That was a mistake. Twilight’s legs turned to jelly, and adrenaline surged through her blood. She jumped back quickly, and latched herself onto Rainbow Dash like you’d expect from a Scooby-Doo episode.

“I-I d-don’t think I c-can d-do this Rainbow D-Dash…” Twilight stammered.

“Yes you can Twilight…I believe in you” Rainbow said softly, and she kissed Twilight gently on the lips. She gazed lovingly into Twilight’s eyes. “I know you can.”

Twilight was thunderstruck. Rainbow Dash just…kissed her. Out of the blue. Why? Was it a gesture of encouragement? Or love? Rainbow Dash had never shown feelings of affection to her before…why now? Not that Twilight was complaining. She rather…liked it. You might even say that she loved it. But Twilight had never dwelled on the subject of love, or relationships. She was just so caught up in it all; the studying, the Crystal Empire, Discord again, becoming an Alicorn…

But Rainbow Dash’s kiss had almost stopped time… it had made her think. Maybe it was time for that. Maybe it was time to think about…relationships. Every Hearts and Hooves day is spent studying…like any other day. Maybe it was time for a change. But not…right this minute. Right now she needed to-

“JUUUUUUUUMP!”