As Spike read Princess Celestia’s letter, Twilight couldn’t believe any of it. She’d been kicked out of her mentorship? She heard something in the room, a familiar sound, and she looked over at Rainbow Dash to see her stuff a hoof in her mouth and Twilight knew what she was laughing about.
“What’s the matter, Rainbow? Got something in your mouth?” She shot at the mare.
At that, Rainbow couldn’t take it any longer and she burst out laughing, falling onto the floor and rolling around clutching her sides.
“This is great! Princess Celestia has kicked you out of her mentorship! This is hilarious!” Rainbow cried, tears streaming down her face. Twilight glared down at her, then sniffed.
“Well, it looks like you’re her new student. I hope you like reading, because that’s all you’re going to be doing!” Twilight turned and leapt out the window. She unfurled her wings and tried to fly, but knowing that she’d been demoted kept creeping into her mind and she lost concentration. She had only enough time to blink before her face connected with the mailbox outside the library. She groaned and slumped to the floor, only to hear the slight laughing coming from the open window. Her cheeks burned as she thought of Rainbow Dash rolling on the floor, laughing at her.
Twilight stood up, shaking herself off, and walked away from the library. She’d show Rainbow, she’d show her that it wasn’t hard to fly. Like she’d said before, all flying was is just reading the atmosphere and the winds. Nothing to it.
The next few hours found Twilight trying to fly in an open field outside of Ponyville. Trying was the key word as she’d spent far too long figuring out her new body. She was currently on attempt number seventy-five.
THUD!
Make that seventy-six.
Twilight groaned as she got up weakly on her hooves. Her body ached from crashing into the ground so many times and she had expended more energy than she thought was necessary. She knew how dangerous it was to use too much energy in a spell, the results could be a heightened result of the spell, causing all sorts of mayhem.
She looked around, feeling defeated. Her mentorship with Princess Celestia was over. She wasn’t a unicorn anymore, just a regular pegasus. She gasped as she spun around and gazed wide-eyed at her flank. If she wasn’t a unicorn anymore, then what did that mean for her cutie mark? Without a horn, she couldn’t do magic. If she couldn’t do magic, then she couldn’t fix this. If she couldn’t fix this, then they’ll all be like this-
Pinkie erupted out from a bush nearby and stared at Twilight. “FOREVER!!!” Twilight just blinked as she watched Pinkie sink down into the bush and vanish.
Then the thought hit her. If she couldn’t do magic, then she wasn’t the Element of Magic anymore! But what did that make her? She wasn’t the leader anymore, she didn’t have a horn. Twilight lowered her head in sorrow.
“Well,” she sniffled, “maybe Applejack or Rainbow Dash could be the Element of Magic.” But then who would be their Element? She sighed, then tears started to run down her cheeks and fall onto the ground. Maybe she should just leave town. There wasn’t anything here for her, besides her friends. But they’d had an argument, and a large one, the night before. And she couldn’t be the librarian, she needed her magic to do that.
She picked herself up off the ground and started to walk toward the outskirts when she noticed a grey pegasus hovering above her. She blinked up at the pony, then noticed as a small letter floated down from the sky. She watched it fall down and land in front of her.
Twilight picked it up and turned it over, trying to find an address. Failing that, she looked up and saw that the pony was gliding down until they rested on the grass a few hooves from Twilight.
“Wanting the who with the reading,” Derpy, Ponyville’s resident mailmare stood in front of Twilight and gestured to the letter.
Twilight stared at her for a second, then picked up the letter and hoofed it back to her. Derpy shook her head.
“Wanting the who with the reading,” she repeated, gesturing to the letter again.
“You want me to read this?” Twilight asked and Derpy nodded her head.
“I,” Derpy started to say slowly, and Twilight was surprised to hear her without her accent, “Want you to read it.”
Twilight stared down at the letter, then carefully opened it. She saw no name at the top, just a short verse scrawled out in curvy quillponyship and she began to read.
Isn’t it great to be different?
Isn’t it wonderful to be exactly who you are?
When you learn to start accepting yourself,
You’ll become a shining star.
Twilight stared down at the words as tears ran down her cheeks. She looked up at Derpy who was smiling at her.
“Wanting a smile in the now,” Derpy said, slipping back into her accent, “not with the frowning. Muffin wanting the wishing with the who.”
Twilight gave a weak smile, causing Derpy to grin widely back at her.
“Thanks Derpy. That helped,” Twilight said softly.
“What with the who and the wishing in the where?” Derpy asked.
“Sorry?” Sometimes Derpy’s accent made it almost incomprehensible to understand the mailmare.
“What with the who? Wishing in the where?” Derpy said again and this time Twilight caught some of the mare’s meaning.
“Um, well. I’m learning how to fly.” Twilight bowed her head, a little embarrassed.
“What with the why?”
Twilight looked at Derpy, then said, “do you have time for a story?”
Derpy nodded her head and unslung her saddlebags from her back, laying them on the ground next to her.
Twilight took a deep breath, then started to speak.
“Well, it all started with a spellbook that Princess Celestia sent me.
“-And so now I’m learning how to fly. To be honest, I didn’t think it would be so hard.” Twilight finished her story, looking at Derpy to see her reaction.
“Who and the what with the who, right?” Derpy said, smiling.
“Yeah, I want to be friends with them again, but I can’t reverse this spell. I don’t even have a horn to try! What if we’re stuck like this forever? What if things never go back to the way they were? What if-“ Twilight started to ramble, but was stopped as Derpy placed a hoof under Twilight’s chin and turned it toward her.
“What with the Princess and the wanting? How with the who in the where?” Derpy asked, but Twilight shook her head.
“The Princess didn’t want me as her student anymore. I can’t do anything about it!” Twilight stated.
“Not with the thinking about the who. Thinking about the what,” Derpy stated, “Feeling about the who, wanting the wishing about the what. Finding the when with the who, then the what in the where can be why.
Twilight tried, she really did. But no matter how she thought about it, Derpy hadn’t made sense, or at least as far as she could tell. Then she was interrupted by a sly voice that seemed to come from the ground.
“Now, Derpy. Not in the wanting with the telling about the what and the where. When the wishing and the waiting with the who will be the wanting. Who with the what and the where when the when and the who will be the giving.” A serpentine shadow rose up from behind Twilight and fell away to reveal a familiar Draconequus.
“Discord!” Twilight cried out in surprise, “what are you doing here?”
Discord waved a talon at Twilight, “I’m just here to stop our friend Derpy from telling you exactly what’s going to happen. The surprise with your friends and the Princesses will be—oops, I have already said too much!” Discord clamped a paw over his mouth and Derpy let out a laugh.
“Not wanting the who and the what with the who, when you with the what and the where!” Derpy rolled onto the ground as she fell apart into fits of laughter.
“Now, Derpy, that’s not nice. Wishing with the who and the what,” Discord stood there with his paws on his hips. The sight just caused Derpy to laugh harder. Discord just shook his head, then snapped his fingers and vanished.
Twilight stood there, wondering what was so funny, for several minutes as Derpy regained control of herself. Then she stood up, shaking the grass from her coat, and smiled at Twilight.
“Wanting the what in the where?” she asked, pointing at the sky. She flapped her wings once to draw Twilight’s attention to them.
“Sure! I mean, if you don’t have anything else to do today,” Twilight stated. Derpy shook her head and smiled, then started to poke and prod at Twilight’s wings. She ran a hoof through them, trying to straighten the feathers out.
“Knowing how the what and the who?” Derpy asked, and Twilight just stood there, staring at her with a blank look on her face. Derpy smiled, then fanned her wings out and Twilight noticed how each feather ran parallel with the others. Twilight thought about it, then looked back at hers. She saw that there were several feathers out of alignment and she reached back with her muzzle and grasped one of the offending feathers.
She pulled on it, trying to move it back into place, when she gave a yelp of pain as she pulled too hard. Derpy flinched in surprise, then moved over to examine the feather.
“Watch how the who does the what,” she said as she bent down and grasped one of the out of place feathers in her mouth and Twilight tensed up, bracing for the pain. Derpy pulled gently on the feather, combing it with her teeth and pushing it back into place.
Twilight blinked at Derpy as she watched her do it, then Derpy smiled at her.
“Better when the who is on the what,” she stated, motioning for Twilight to lie down on the ground. Twilight bent her front legs and lowered herself into a comfortable position on the ground. Then she spread her wings out, feeling the warm sun on them and the cool breeze blow across her back and under her wings. She giggled slightly as Derpy licked one of her feathers, making sure that they were clean.
She lay there for several minutes as Derpy went about preening her feathers, straightening them. Finally, as Derpy finished with one of her wing tips, she stood up and stretched. Twilight laughed at how light her wings felt. It was almost as if they were made of clouds and she had attached them to her body.
“Wow,” she breathed, “thanks a lot, Derpy! Is this how all pegasi feel after a preening?”
Derpy nodded her head, then looked up at the sky. “Wanting the flying?” she asked, looking at Twilight. Twilight blinked in surprise, then nodded her head.
“I’ve got this body, might as well learn how to use it,” she said, flapping her wings. They really did feel quite light.
Derpy unfurled her wings, then flapped them a few times, each time they propelled her a few feet into the air. Twilight watched her for a second, then stretched her wings to their fullest wingspan, then she thrust her wings downward.
“Alright, strong beats to get me off the ground, making sure to stay steady and level as I raise-Ooof!!” Twilight started to mutter to herself when she was rudely interrupted by the ground rushing up to meet her face. She glanced up at Derpy who hovered in the air, a smile on her face.
“Ok, that didn’t work,” Twilight said, picking herself up off the ground and shaking her mane free of any pieces of grass that had collected in it from the crash.
“Not wasing in the thinking, wasing in the not thinking,” Derpy offered.
“But I can’t not think about it! It’s part of who I am! I have to take each step carefully, otherwise I risk ruining the whole thing!” Twilight protested.
“Wasing in the not thinking. Wasing in the feeling,” Derpy insisted.
“But, Derpy! When I use magic I can’t just turn off my brain! There are so many things that can go wrong with flying. If you-“Twilight started to say, but was interrupted by Derpy’s hoof being thrust over her mouth.
“Feeling with the wings, not thinking with the brain,” she insisted again.
Twilight thought about it for a few minutes, trying to understand it, when she looked up at Derpy with a gleam in her eye.
“Alright, I’ll try.” Twilight spread her wings, stretching them to their max, then pushed them downward. She yelped in surprise as she was lifted off the ground a foot, then she dropped back down as she tried to think about what to do next.
“Not in the thinking,” Derpy reminded her and Twilight nodded, trying to clear her mind of all her thoughts and just let her body do the work.
She flapped her wings again, this time lifting off the ground and staying there, a few inches off the ground. Twilight looked down, then thrust her wings downward again, pushing her body upward and toward the sky. Her wings flapped, keeping her steady as she looked around. It was different seeing the ground from higher than her head normally was.
“Wanting the flying?” Derpy asked, causing Twilight to look at her. “Wanting the following!” Derpy took off into the sky, her wings flapping.
Twilight blinked in surprise for a second, then grinned. If Derpy wanted her to follow her, then Twilight would certainly oblige her.
Twilight and Derpy spent the next couple of hours flying and practicing flying. By the end of it, Twilight was tired and sweaty, but excited. She’d been flying for about half an hour now without touching the ground. It felt wonderful to soar through the sky and feel the wind chase her.
She looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was close to the horizon. She motioned to Derpy to land for a second and she descended to the ground, Derpy following her.
“Wasing the wanting?” Derpy asked.
“It’s almost time to go home,” Twilight said, smiling, “thanks for showing me how to fly.”
“Muffin wanting with the wishing,” Derpy stated, smiling back at Twilight. She walked over and picked up her saddlebags, slinging them onto her back.
“I’m sorry I took up so much of your time, Derpy,” Twilight said, a shadow of sorrow falling onto her face.
“Not in the worrying, wishing with the smiles,” Derpy grinned and rested a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder.
Twilight looked up to see Rainbow’s house floating near Ponyville. She sighed and realized that her bed was there. Derpy followed her eyes and nodded in understanding.
“Wishing with the helping? In case of the failing?” she asked and Twilight nodded slightly.
“If it’s not too much trouble,” she said and Derpy shook her head.
Together they unfurled their wings and pushed off from the ground, Derpy staying close by Twilight in case she started to dip down.
It took some effort, but eventually Twilight and Derpy found themselves on one of the balconies on the house. Twilight looked at Derpy and smiled.
“Thanks Derpy, for all that you’ve done. I don’t think I would have figured out how to fly nearly as fast as I did if you hadn’t come along,” Twilight said.
Derpy waved a hoof. “Wanting the remembering. Wishing with the shining star.” Twilight smiled again and nodded.
“I’ll remember,” she said as she pushed open one of the cloud doors and stepped inside. She turned around in time to see Derpy flip backward off the balcony and rise up on a thermal. She turned around and shut the door, feeling the soft clouds under her hooves.
She flapped her wings slightly to catch the natural thermal that rose through the middle of the home and floated up to the third floor, where Rainbow’s bedroom was located. She didn’t even have time to think, or even to greet Tank, before she fell onto the bed and drifted off to sleep, her head resting on some of the softest clouds she’d ever felt.