A familiar jingle came from the bell above the door to Carousel Boutique as a pair of ponies wandered their way inside.
“…should be questioning the concept of a carousel under the circumstances, you know? It just seems weird to me, but I can’t quite put my finger on why, exactly…” Tank seemed deep in thought for a moment as he entered, but snapped to attention upon spotting Rarity waiting for them. “Uh, hey Rarity. You said you wanted to see us?”
Waterwing joined in the greeting, offering a cheery smile and wave.
“Ah, there you are! You’re just in time; I have a little something I thought might interest you.” Rarity gently set down her needle and thread and trotted over to a nearby table littered with miscellaneous supplies.
Tank quirked an eyebrow. “Wait. You don’t mean you already finished our outfits for the Gala, do you? I knew you were good, but geez.”
Rarity covered her mouth with a hoof and giggled softly. “Not quite…” She pored over the items on the table for a few seconds, finally locating a book and lifting it with her magic. “Actually, this mostly concerns you, Waterwing.”
Waterwing blinked, pointing a hoof at herself as she glanced between Tank and Rarity.
“Yes, you, dear!” Rarity floated the book in front of her to have another look at it. “See, I remembered an old marefriend of mine whose brother was hard of hearing… and as luck would have it, he too was a pegasus! I went and reconnected with her the other day so I could ask her about it, and when I happened to mention your, ah… communication troubles, this is what she gave me.” With that, she offered it to the two ponies before her, causing them to stare at it for several seconds.
Tank quirked an eyebrow. “What have we got here…? ‘A Beginner’s Guide to Wingsign’?”
Waterwing’s eyes went wide as she snatched the book out of the air and immediately began flipping through it.
Rarity smiled pleasantly at Waterwing hovering overhead, her snout already buried in the book, and turned to Tank. “I presume you had some other means of communicating with her before you arrived?”
Tank shrugged. “Well, yeah. We all knew sign language so we could talk to her properly, but since it requires hands that we don’t happen to have at the moment, I’m sure you can imagine we’ve had to improvise pretty heavily for the past few weeks.” He paused a moment to ponder the concept. “So you’re saying she could do it with her wings?”
Rarity nodded. “Why, certainly! Now, I was thinking - we could use this book to practice it with her for a little while, just the three of us, until we think we’ve learned enough to start teaching it to the others. All the better if you used similar methods before, since it’ll be less about the concept and more just learning the new syntax.”
“I’m liking this plan better and better every minute.” Tank brought a hoof to his chin and gave it a thoughtful rub before glancing upward at his companion. “But I guess it’s not really up to me though. What do you think?”
Still hovering above, Waterwing slowly closed the book in her hooves and gave it an excited hug, beaming down at Rarity as she nodded her agreement.
“Splendid!” With that, Rarity cleared some space at the edge of the table, allowing Waterwing to set the book there and offer all three of them room to see it. “Right then. I was thinking we could start with your name; I just know I saw 'water’ in here somewhere…”