Morning in Ponyville Shimmers (attn: Scootaloved)

[RainbowFoxxy]

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The newly appointed purple alicorn's eyelids fluttered as she dreamed.

 

Celestia walked in front of her, leading her down the corridors she had seen earlier, before her wings had been bestowed upon her. All of Twilight's memories appeared for her to gaze at. Some happy, some dreadfully sad. So many emotions welled up inside her heart until it felt as if it would burst!

 

"Princess Celestia!" She trotted quickly towards her mentor. "What do I do? I don't know where to go!"

 

Twilight called to the white alicorn who seemed to stay just out of her reach. She wouldn't look towards Twilight though there was no hint of her not wanting to. "Celestia!" Twilight called again. It was as if Celestia couldn't hear her. but then she turned her head slightly. 

 

"Twilight." She saw Celestia's lips move but her voice was so faint. "Twilight!" A bit louder... "Twilight!"

 

"Hm. Huh? Wha-!" She jerked awake to Spike shaking her gently on the shoulder.

 

"Twilight?"

 

A small yawn escaped her. "Oh Spike, it's you." She shook her head. "I was having such a strange dream. Celestia was going to talk to me and-."

 

"Twilight!" Spike blinked at her. "You told me to wake you if I thought you were going to sleep in too late and well..."

 

"Oh my gosh! Spike! What time is it?" Twilight jumped form her bed and stared at the clock. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier?"

 

"Well, you said to wake you up if I thought you'd be late and well, how long can it possibly take you to go outside?"

 

"Umm well a lot longer than five minutes!" She glared at the baby dragon.

 

"Geez, don't kill the messenger I just though- mph!" He couldn't help the smile that spread over his features or the giggle leaving his mouth. "Sorry but you look..."

 

Twilight glanced in the mirror. Her mane was an absolute nightmare! Sticking up all over and poofy like Pinkie Pie's in others. She looked like she had been sleeping for a year. So much had happened in the past day that she had pretty much passed out! "Ridiculous?" Her expression softened into a smile. "It's ok Spike! No problem!"

 

She had herself looking presentable in no time. 

 

"See that didn't take long! Easy as pie!"

 

"Yep!" She sighed slightly. She never liked going into situations she was unsure of and this would be just one of those types of situations. She spread her newly acquired wings out to the sides and stared at them. "Well, if anypony knows how to teach me to use these properly, it's Rainbow Dash!"

 

"Good luck!" Spike called after her as she trotted towards the door. She was supposed to meet Rainbow outside her library any second now.

 

Twilight gave her signature unsure chuckle. "Huh huh...yeah... I think I'm going to need it!"

[Scootaloved]

 

Could anyone blame Rainbow Dash for being so excited? Everypony else who might have been interested in matching Rainbow's wingbeat were either 1) tied to the ground, 2) total jerks, or 3) Fluttershy. It only made sense that Rainbow would burst with elation when she found somepony else with wings who could be a fly buddy to her - even greater, that she got to share the elation of flight with one of her friends! Perhaps compounded with the revelations that they were having that Twilight Sparkle was a princess, now, it might've been a bit much to jump on her like that at the opportunity, but Rainbow couldn't help it! Just as Twilight had shared in her eggheadedness with Rainbow earlier on, Rainbow could now share something with her that she enjoyed.

 

Of Rainbow's thoughts about Twilight being a princess? ... What thoughts? For Rainbow, Twilight was the same bookworm worrywart she'd always been, and she doubted some tiara was going to change that. Make her more important to the overall picture of Equestria, yeah, and Rainbow wasn't sure she was especially fond of what that part meant, but otherwise, nothing changed for her. Which was why she didn't see it as such an affront to suggest that she give Twilight flying lessons; a pony or two in the distance might have questioned her audacity, but not Rainbow. It was doubtful that Twilight knew how to use her puppies when pegasi ordinarily took years to gain mastery over them, and what better a teacher than the greatest flier herself? Twilight should count herself lucky, in Rainbow's opinion.

 

So eager was she to show her friend the ropes that she was already waiting perched on a cloud a while before the meeting time, which was why it was especially noticeable when Twilight was taking what seemed like for-ever to get out and meet her. She remained sprawled out over the cloud, feeling as though she was going to die of boredom at any moment and mentally hurrying Twilight in her mind, when finally the unico- alicorn showed her face by opening the door. Rainbow's irritated frown quickly morphed into a grin, and she quickly jumped off the cloud in order to zoom in front of her friend lickety-split.

 

"Took ya long enough, slowpoke!" Rainbow teased once she landed. "Y'ready t' go? I wanna see what those new wings'a yours can do!" She fluffed one of them up with a hoof, the grin still present.

[RainbowFoxxy]

Twilight hated being late. Even though she wasn't truly late it irked her all the same. Still she smiled though her insides were in a turmoil. The smile lasted only a few moments though. If there was one thing Twilight had never been good at it was bottling up her emotions. Her features were a mix of stress at only having five minutes to get ready and worry about having the fastest, most dare devil of trick fliers teach her how to use her wings. 

 

"Y'ready t' go? I wanna see what those new wings'a yours can do!" 

 

"Huh huh...sure Rainbow," She concentrated on welling up bravery from within.

 

She was an alicorn now, a Princess of Equestria! There was no way she should be exhibiting herself this way. Twilight had always been hard on herself and now, with this new appointment, she was going to be harder still! She wished she could lighten up about this flying thing, she really did. She wished she could be easy going and self confident the way Rainbow always seemed to be about it. But that was something she still had a long way to go on. He confidence had grown in so many areas, especially with the kind words Celestia had spoken to her when she got her wings. But she knew she had such a long way to go.

 

Twilight shook her head slightly, trying to clear it of all she was thinking about. This was supposed to be fun and exciting! It wasn't supposed to cause the knot that was forming in her stomach. She was sure of herself when it came to magic and learning, but when it came to flying? Well, she had done quite a bit of reading up on flight over the past evening. In fact it was the reason she had gotten up so late this morning. She hadn't closed "Feather Light's Compendium of the Flying Arts" until a couple hours before the sun was due to be raised. That was it! She had to concentrate on what she knew not what she was unsure about!

 

Magic swirled about her horn as the compendium levitated from the library to her side. She felt more confident already!

 

"Yes! I'm ready! I've been reading all about flight and I think I've at least got the basics down!" 

 

She lifted her wings and unfurled them. 

 

"This is pretty great isn't it?" She asked with a smile, glancing to Rainbow and then to her wings. "Now...let's see..." She moved her wings up and down a few times. "The book said I've got to gain some speed for take off..."

 

[Scootaloved]

 

Rainbow would have to be the most unobservant pony in the world to not notice the hesitation present within Twilight's body language. The uncertainty that clouded her expression and the way she appeared to zoom off into another world reinforced Rainbow's belief that Twilight actually did need a good fly - with so many thoughts buzzing in that egghead of hers, a take to the skies would help to clear it and any other worries she had. Rainbow would be more than happy to be the pony to help Twilight get that relief and relaxation, as well as experience the exhilaration that came with flying! Celestia knew that Twilight deserved to have a break, given the work that she'd put into maintaining Ponyville, nay, Equestria from what ailed it.

 

It didn't surprise her, though it earned an exasperated expression, when Twilight levitated a book to her side, as if books offered proper substitute to practice. Twilight also looked more confident once she got it, which prompted a friendly eye roll on Rainbow's part. Of course she would do that. Of course.

 

"The book prob'ly said a lot of things, but that doesn't mean y'can rely on it to teach you how to fly! Good thing y'came to me instead of attempting it on your own." She might have continued on that point, but she paused when she observed Twilight's wings. Average sized, about that of a native-born pegasus, too; in fact, Rainbow could estimate just by looking that Twilight could be a pretty strong flier with enough practice. She doubted Twilight had the same ambition when it came to it as Rainbow herself, she wasn't expecting the pony princess to be winning any medals any time soon, and even if she tried it wouldn't be against Rainbow herself, but she could definitely pull off some crazy maneuvers if she wanted to. Such a sight was encouraging if Rainbow was going to teach her flying.

 

She fluttered up a little off the air, crossing her forelegs. "You can take off from a stand-still," Rainbow explained, "but gainin' some ground speed might help you to get more lift, at least when you have no practice. Once you're done running, jump at the end of it an' give your wings a hearty flap! The jump's kiiiinda important, you gotta make sure it's got some push to it that y'can use for the wings. You'll be able to do it without thinkin' about it with enough practice!" Rainbow glanced about their area before she ushered Twilight with a hoof. "C'mon, try a take off this'a way. Don't wanna try this stuff in crowded areas."

 

It'd be pretty nasty to watch the newly anointed princess crash hard, Rainbow added to herself, but decided not to mention it. When Twilight was nervous enough as it was, mentioning a crash was probably going to suck out any remaining mojo she had.

[RainbowFoxxy]

A slightly aggravated expression crossed over Twilight's features as Dash expanded on the take off. It was obvious her studying hadn't gotten her the advanced kind of knowledge on the subject that only experience could bring. She had seen Rainbow take off from a stand still many times and now that the pegasus pointed it out, the fact was obvious. Painfully obvious.

 

She hated to admit it, even to herself, that sometimes books really didn't have all the answers. The princess had a sinking feeling that fact was going to be proved true numerous times today. She began to doubt if it really was the best idea to take Rainbow up on her offer of flight lessons. It was defiantly not going to paint Twilight in the most accomplished of lights. She had gone through so much with Rainbow and her other closest friends. They had seen her in her strengths and in her weaknesses. But this was going to be one long string of weaknesses, stretched out in full view of the confident pegasus mare. Twi sucked in a breath and blew her forelocks out of her eyes.

 

"Too late to back out now..." She muttered to herself. Plus there was some part of her that really didn't want to back out. She rather enjoyed spending time with just Dash. There was something...well, both irritating and charming about her. Something that caused her to not even hesitate a positive response when Rainbow had asked about flight lessons.

 

The aggravated expression only lasted a couple moments, probably not even long enough for Dash to recognize it. Twi replaced it with a look of determination as she eyed the area, mentally preparing a runway for herself. 

 

"Ok, so gain ground speed, jump and give my wings a good hard flap," She nodded at Rainbow, managing a smile in the process. "Doesn't sound too difficult." More work to control the rising doubt followed in her ever churning mind. 

 

They were on the road right outside of the library at the moment. Not the safest of spaces for her first take off. She decided to trot over to the side of the large tree that served as her home and work space. There was a large area of grass before her and some trees after that beyond the library. The trees were too far away to cause any immediate trouble. Plus this area was out of the eye shot of most ponies.

 

"Well, here goes nothing!" 

 

She trotted forward and then began to canter and then gallop. She gained more speed, willing her hooves to carry her forward and trying not to think of what would happen if things went wrong. She felt her wings resting on her back, the feathers moving against her sides. They felt new and weird to her. The muscles that were supposed to carry her into the air were weak and untried. But she did want to fly! She wanted to soar through the air and sense that freedom Dash had always talked about. Plus she would have Rainbow by her side... 

 

It was this thought that crossed her mind as she took her leap! Her wings unfurled in what she believed to be a mighty flap! Up she went as the draft caught under her pinions. It was an odd sensation but it felt great!

 

"Ha!" The princess exclaimed in that first lift off the ground. For a moment she was suspended but the exhilaration it brought made her forget that more than one wing flap would be required for flight. Reflexes caused additional awkward flaps but they came too late. Down she came into a roll and subsequent tumbles across the lawn. It was on the grass but it still hurt!

 

"Ouch," Twi sat up and rubbed a hoof to her shoulder. She would be fine, but her ego had already taken its first blow of the day.

[Scootaloved]

 

Usually when somepony said 'doesn't sound too difficult', it bode rather ill. Oh, Rainbow believed her friends to be the best, no doubt about it, and Twilight was hardly an exception to that rule, but that didn't mean she didn't know how this usually went. As a cautionary tale, the pegasus followed after her to the side of the tree, which Rainbow floated beside in order to watch her... Pupil? It was a little odd to think of Twilight as her pupil, in this case - sure, she was technically teaching her how to fly, but Twilight was fully grown like she was! They were probably around the same age, at that. Rainbow was more like a student tutor than anything, someone who took the honors class and... Okay, this is getting to be an eggheaded expression. Moving on!

 

And moving on indeed was what a certain purple alicorn princess was about to do. Rainbow watched as she sped up into a gallop, and dang, did she look determined. Rainbow was even tempted to hoot and holler to cheer her on if she didn't think it'd draw unwanted attention on the two of them. As it was, she followed after her friend until finally Twilight herself decided take-off time was now...time. A hearty leap in the air, and a rather high one at that, and the princess was airbound.

 

...airbound for a few seconds, that was, when she unfurled her wings but didn't do the one thing that would actually catch her air underneath her. Rainbow was accustomed to picking up a lot of information at once while in the sky, and it didn't take her much to see the problem in this case: Twilight thought that one flap was going to carry her, but it rarely did unless she was already gliding, and no way in hay was she going to be gliding that close to the ground. And it seemed Twilight realized her problem, too, as Rainbow caught sight of her eyes widening before she tumbled down into the ground again. Thankfully she wasn't too high when she did, and she landed on grass which sponged her fall, but given the ouch and the way she rubbed her shoulder, it was definitely as rough a landing as it looked.

 

Rainbow covered her mouth with her hooves, trying not to laugh. She'd been pretty ungainly herself when she was a filly, just learning how to use her wings, and this reminded her of that. Plus, honestly, a fall like that was kind of hilarious. But she didn't want to discourage Twilight by being mean about it.

 

She didn't, but that didn't prevent her from commenting, "You do kinda need to flap once you're airborne, y'know." She landed easily right next to Twilight and offered a hoof to help her back up to standing, thankfully having fought off the wave of giggles before they could become audible. "You okay?" Okay, maybe she wasn't entirely free of the giggles, given a laughing tone somehow managed to make its way into that question.

[RainbowFoxxy]

For being the Princess of Friendship Twilight still had plenty of flaws to work on those and one of the biggest was pride. She felt her cheeks go warm and a wave of embarrassed heat flowed through her as Rainbow came up holding back giggles. The purple alicorn had learned many things since first coming the Ponyville and one of those was how to deal with her issues. She fought back the urge to make excuses and lash out at Rainbow. That would have stemmed from pride for sure and was certainly not the way to be a good friend. She sucked in a breath and righted her mind. She knew the proper way to respond and that opened the way for her to move through the situation. Besides she was going to fail tons of times today, all in front of Dash, and she might as well just get used to it!

 

"You okay?"

 

Twi lifted a hoof to accept the help from her friend. She stood and shook a few stray bits of grass from her forelocks, a blush firmly in place on her cheeks. A piece of grass landed on her nose which caused her to sneeze. She was such a mess! So much so that she found herself giggling just the way Rainbow obviously wanted to.

 

"Yep! I'm fine, good to go!" She flapped her wings experimentally while giving her shoulder one more rub. The fall had hurt a little but nothing too serious.

 

"I guess I just got caught up in the moment." She shrugged and winked at her friend. "You were right Rainbow! Even though it was only for a moment, flying feels great!" She smiled but then her face went back to its look of determination. 

 

"This time I won't get too carried away. Take off, then flap!" She winked at Rainbow and took a few steps forward.

 

Soon the Princess was airborne once more! This time she was carried off the ground and up into the air by her flapping.  It was a bit tentative at first but with each movement of her wings she grew more confident.

 

"Wow! This is great!" She called out as she watched the tress go by under her hooves. 

 

After a few more moments of reveling she looked about. "Ok Rainbow Dash, what's next?"

[Scootaloved]

 

Rainbow pulled Twilight up once the alicorn grappled her hoof, giving her a once-over to make sure the princess hadn't gone and bruised herself somewhere and neither of them had noticed. Thankfully, other than a little bit of dirt that got kicked up by the crash landing landing on her fur, Twilight appeared to otherwise be intact. Well, mostly; seemed she caught some grass within her muzzle, as she let out a rather unprincess-like sneeze. That was the part that brought those giggles that fought against Rainbow's throat to surface, though it was playful at worst. She wasn't about to make fun of somepony who wasn't used to flying for crashing into the ground, far from it. Rainbow herself had been in too many crashes to count, and she was one of the best fliers out there! Full tooting her own horn intended there.

 

Twilight's little giggle made Rainbow's smile widen and relax naturally as thankfully, the princess didn't appear to be too discouraged by her not so elegant landing. There might have been some other reason the giggle brought Rainbow to smile the way she was, but she wouldn't tell you that if you asked her.

 

She nodded at Twilight's assessment of flying, stretching her own wings slightly. Twilight appeared to be none worse for wear, so Rainbow backed up in order to provide her with room as no doubt she was going to attempt again. Those little winks of hers made Rainbow's cheeks tingle, though she wasn't sure why on that part, and she was a bit too focused on providing Twilight with these lessons in order to think it through much. Instead, she fluttered back to make sure she was in the air when Twilight took off - and with that, her friend trotted off again to launch into the air, and this time, she remembered to flap those wings of hers. As Rainbow watched, she found it curious how they functioned identically to a natural born pegasus's wings; even though Twilight only acquired them as a result of some sort of...spell...thing? she didn't fully understand, but whatever ascension she went through with Princess Celestia, they displayed no weakness. In fact, Twilight was advancing rather quickly for somepony who just got them...

 

She moved slowly in the air, and her hard flaps brought her more vertical distance than horizontal, but that was no problem for Rainbow. She caught up easily by Twilight's side, zipping around her as she drifted over the trees. Some of Rainbow's flying provided near-misses to collision with Twilight in the air, but Rainbow deftly moved out of the way, even when she wasn't quite looking at her directly. "You're a great flier so far!" Rainbow cheered, whistling. "It's like you're a natural. Y'sure you had no idea you'd become an alicorn?"

 

A light tease, before the cyan pegasus swam backward in the air. "Now you gotta learn to control your speed an' altitude, and learn how to glide. If you keep flappin' like you are now," she pointed lightly to her wings with a hoof, "you're gonna tire yourself out real quick. Knowing you, I bet you've read up on air drifts an' all that, right? You're gonna wanna use those to help you soar through the air without usin' up too much effort, like this -" And with that, Rainbow spread her wings, gauging how the wind moved and tilting her body slightly accordingly, all without having to move her wings a beat. While Twilight kept flapping hers, Rainbow only beat them every once in a while, up until she drifted all the way around Twilight and in front of her, in which she flapped a bit more furiously in order to keep herself in front of the alicorn. "You try it!"

[RainbowFoxxy]

"It's like you're a natural. Y'sure you had no idea you'd become an alicorn?"

 

Twilight concentrated as she flew. She couldn't help moving her hooves through the air a bit, almost as if she were cantering slowly. She too was impressed by the fact that whatever muscles it took to fly she seemed to have been endowed with them at the same time her wings appeared. She could feel the muscles working but they were strong, capable of continuing in flight for quite some time. Twi hoped that would be a while still since she didn't intend on having any more crash landings...

 

"I wish Princess Celestia would have alluded to it..." She smiled. "But of course she didn't. That would have changed my trajectory and she didn't want me to know what I was becoming before the proper time." 

 

Speaking of trajectory, Twilight could see she was moving mostly upwards. Heights didn't bother her unduly. Being able to teleport meant she had often been quite a substantial distance above the ground on numerous occasions. Still, it helped her feel confident to have Rainbow by her side. The Princess could never seem to get enough of how Rainbow made her feel. The cyan mare exuded power and stability to Twilight. Sure Rainbow had her weaknesses and wasn't always the most stable of ponies, but she always came on strong in whatever she was doing! That was to be commended. 

 

I bet you've read up on air drifts an' all that, right? You're gonna wanna use those to help you soar through the air without usin' up too much effort, like this -" 

 

"Of course I've read up on it!" She reached out and playfully nudged her friend's shoulder as Rainbow floated by. "What did you think I'd do? Come out here without studying?" She raised and eyebrow at her friend. 

 

As Rainbow explained what to do next Twi did her best to follow suit. It was a little tricky at first. When she flapped at the wrong time or stopped flapping when the updrafts weren't lifting her but eventually she started to get a feel for it.

 

"I'm starting to think this is going to take a fair bit of practice..." As she spoke a stray gust of wind caught her wings at the wrong angle and she began to falter downwards.

 

The trees began to loom nearer than she'd like and her wing beats became a bit frantic. "Rainbow!" She called to her friend for help.