Prologue-Pt 6: Just Me Being Me
Warning: more science of flight concepts here!!
----------------------------------
August 25th, Afternoon
“Alright, so to recap,” Twilight strutted back and forth in front of Volare like a purple drill sergeant, the book hovering inches from her nose.
“Your wings are controlled not by your shoulder muscles, but by separate joints on the ribcage. Those muscles are controlled by nerves running into your spinal cord.”
“Right, and the best explanation on how they work is by envisioning two additional limbs between your front and back legs,” Volare said, looking back over his shoulder at his own wings.
“And to move them, simply tighten the muscles along the top of the ribcage, just behind the shoulder blades to spread the wings, and relax them to lower them. The rest of the wingwork is done in the mind, translating the thoughts of up, down, back, and forth movement to the wings.”
“Just feel them there and focus on that feeling,” Twilight coached as Volare breathed in and tightened the upper ribcage muscles. He felt the breeze rustle the feathers at their tips as they rose into the air.
“Very good, Volare, now lower them.”
He breathed out and relaxed, and just by thinking about it, he folded them neatly at his sides. With a grin of accomplishment, he opened them and closed them several times before looking up at Twilight.
“Alright, ready for the next step.”
“Ok, spread your wings and turn into the wind,” Twilight explained and Volare nodded.
Just like a plane, you turn into the wind to aid in take off.
He complied and felt the wind fill his wings. He found he could rotate the joints at their base to raise or lower their profile and spread or contract the feathers at the trailing edge to catch more or less wind, just like the ailerons on a plane wing. In fact, the feathered appendages were even shaped just like aircraft wings; being somewhat thick and rounded on the leading edge and tapering on the trailing edge to the long primary flight feathers. When wind flowed over the wings, it created a higher pressure underneath them and a lower pressure above, resulting in lift!
Hey…I know these physics!
The blue Pegasus rotated his wings up and down experimentally before stretching them out almost completely horizontal and took a step into the wind. Just that single step with the position his wings were in was enough to make himself almost bounce as the wind ran up under the wing and gave him lift.
“Whoa, whoa, slow down, Volare,” Twilight warned him.
“You’ve gotta use more than just your legs to get yourself airborne, as your wing to body ratio is quite small when compared to something like a bird or butterfly. You’re going to have to flap them to get airborne, especially if you don’t have the wind to aid you.”
But at Volare’s drooping ears and tail, she sighed softly.
I suppose going a little further right now wouldn’t hurt too badly
“Alright, go ahead, Volare! Try running into the wind and gliding off the ground!” She hoped he didn’t get hurt…
Volare beamed his thanks and began trotting into the breeze. The more he felt the wind fill his wings, the faster he trotted, eventually breaking into a full on gallop, his wings stiffly pointing to either side of his body as he lowered his head and charged into the wind. He could feel the air rushing under his wings, but running into this wind was tough! For a moment, he wondered if this would even work, but all of a sudden, he felt his burning legs moving in midair and no ground beneath them! He was gliding a few feet off the ground!
“Yeah, I’m doing it!”
He then looked up and realized he was headed right for the trunk of the Library.
“Oh crap!”
“Bank left! Bank left!” he heard Twilight yell, and he dipped his left wing. Instantly, he turned to the left and just managed to miss the Library wall, instead coming to a rather sudden stop in the middle of a hedge bush.
“Volare! Volare, are you ok!?” Twilight galloped to the Pegasus who stumbled out of the bush with a shaky laugh.
“Well, that could have gone worse! How’m I doing, Twilight?”
“Um…on a scale of one to ten?” she tilted her head.
“Yeah, on that,” he shook a leaf out of his ear.
“…about a 2.”
“With 1 being the best right?” Volare’s weak smiled faded as Twilight shook her mane with a frown.
“Well crap, guess I’ll try again.”
Volare spent the next 20 minutes gliding off the ground and banking away from obstacles until he was able to mostly avoid everything, although he actually crashed into Twilight once, though not badly enough to hurt either pony. It was about that time that the Pegasus realized just how tough it was to control his yaw without a rudder.
How the heck are these pegasi able to control it?! Must be something to do with how they flap their wings…oh well, only one way to find out!
They were both determined to get him airborne, and after a few more successful runs, Volare decided he was ready to try flapping his wings and get a little higher off the ground.
“I’ll catch you if you fall, but still, be careful Volare!” Twilight urged with a worried look.
“Thanks, Twilight,” he replied and faced into the wind again. He then thought better of it once he realized he was about to go from a fixed wing aircraft of sorts to a less static wing, and the lessons he’d learned about aircraft dynamics were about to literally go flying out the window.
“Generally, a bird would take off facing into the wind to generate more lift, but because a pony has a relatively large body mass that generates drag, they can’t just plow forward into a headwind, which explains why you could only get a few feet off the ground before tiring,” Twilight explained, her nose buried in the book.
“They generate lift by running forward, and a headwind simply hinders that forward speed; therefore a tailwind is required if they’re taking off from a standstill for most pegasi. Alicorns are typically the only exception because the large size of their wings and the addition of their magic allows them to take off into any reasonable headwind. But your wings are of relatively average Pegasus size, so you’ll have to take off with the wind this time, Volare,” the Unicorn coached, setting the book down and focusing on the Pegasus.
“Once you reach gallop speed, thrust downwards and backwards with your wings until you gain altitude, then bank around me and glide; I’ll keep you steady!” Her horn lit up and surrounded him in that familiar warm aura.
“Got it!” Volare put on a resolute grin as he spread his wings and began to trot in the direction of the wind. As he picked up speed, he recalled his flight experience and raised the trailing feathers on the wings as he began to flap them experimentally, tightening and loosening the muscle clusters along his rib cage. It burned at first, but it was soon replaced with the thrill he felt as each step became lighter and lighter.
As he reached gallop speed, he flattened his ears against his head and held his tail out straight behind him as he gave the wings a mighty backwards thrust…and then he was suddenly airborne! 5 feet, 10 feet, 20 feet! This was amazing!! He was flying without the aid of machinery, something a human could only dream about! But he wasn’t a human…he was a Pegasus!!
“Yeeehaaa!!” he crowed as he tried to gain altitude, but he held up once he heard Twilight calling out to him to get back towards the ground. He reluctantly complied and circled back towards her, finding he could aid in the direction he flew by holding his forelegs before him Superman style and pointing them in the direction he wanted to go, just like the nose of an aircraft.
With the dorkiest grin of all time filling his face and making Twilight laugh so hard she nearly lost her hold on him, he circled the purple Unicorn in a glide, giving her a salute with his right hoof and doing an experimental aileron roll* that nearly crashed him into a tree before he recovered and flew back over her. By this time, Spike had woken up and was standing there by the front porch, mouth agape as Volare grinned toothily and dove towards him, buzzing the top of his spines before swooping back up again.
“Hey watch it, Volare!” Spike shook his claw at him before going to stand by Twilight.
The Pegasus gave him an apologetic smile before swooping back up and landing on top of the Library. He spread his wings and jumped off the roof, letting the wind fill them as he fell until he leveled off just above the ground and glided back down to earth, landing right in front of Twilight and Spike.
He struck a dramatic pose on his two back legs before Twilight smirked deviously and pulled his back leg out from under him, dropping him right on his flank. Spike tackled him and punched him playfully before Volare jumped to his feet, laughing like a fool. This was so exhilarating!!
The Pegasus cantered over to Twilight and bowed with a jaunty wink all of a sudden.
“Thank you, dear Ms Twilight for your assistance,” he said in a mock-royalty voice before sniggering.
“What’s gotten into you, Volare?” she laughed and hoofed him.
“Oh nothing, just the joy of flying, that’s all! Oh Twilight, if only you could experience it! Yes I know you were helping to hold me up and all, but the feeling was still real!!” His wings flapped downwards, sending a rush of air out that nearly toppled Spike over.
“Heh, I think I’ll keep my hooves planted on terra firma unless absolutely necessary,” Twilight smiled before leaning in to whisper into Volare’s ear.
“Oh and by the way…that last little maneuver you pulled off the roof…I wasn’t holding you during that.”
Volare jerked away from the Unicorn like he’d been struck in the face.
“You-what?! You weren’t holding me during that? …Oh my god I just jumped off a roof!” Volare grabbed his head with his hooves and squeezed his eyes shut as his mind raced over what he just did. He only did that because he thought she was keeping him safe!
“I thought your confidence in yourself was high enough to attempt a glide, so I let you,” she explained matter-of-factly.
“It turned out ok though, right?”
“Yes, yes, but still I”-
“Heh, smooth moves, flyboy,” they heard a voice from above them call out and they all looked up. There was Rainbow Dash sitting on a cloud and watching everything that transpired at the Library.
“For a first-timer, that was pretty gutsy!” She hopped up and glided down herself.
“H-how long have you been up there watching this!?” Volare asked in shock. He hadn’t even seen her!
“Oh, right about from where you tried that roll and nearly hit the tree,” Dash chuckled as she landed and trotted up to him and got…almost uncomfortably close.
“Um…can I help you?” Volare asked as Dash leaned in and inspected his upper body, from his wings to his muzzle and back again
“Just checking on a few things…” she tapped the base of his left wing, which flared out in reflex, nearly swatting Dash in the head.
“Heh, looks like that works…hrm…” She poked and prodded his wing in multiple places with her hoof and nose before nodding in satisfaction at the reactions from its owner. She smiled and allowed the wing to fold back down against his side. Volare couldn’t help feeling like he’d just come from the doctor’s office or something; that slightly violated sensation…
“Looks like you’re in touch with everything pretty well, Volare. You ready for the next step?” She grinned and flared her own wings.
“And what’s that?” he replied, reaching back to preen his feathers back into place with his mouth…wait did he just do that!?
Rainbow and Twilight merely laughed as Spike made a face.
“You about done there, dude?” Dash said through a giggle at her heavily blushing friend.
“Y-yes, apparently I am!” Volare sputtered.
“What’s this next step?”
“Heh…keeping up with me!” Dash grinned and took off nearly vertically with a powerful flap of her wings, blowing the rainwater off the grass in all directions. Volare stood there in shock for a moment before attempting to follow, giving himself a running start before soaring up to meet her.
“I’ll take it easy on ya!” The female Pegasus replied before zipping away at barely a fraction of her top speed. Even so, it was all Volare could do to keep her in sight. Suddenly, she was headed right back for him!!
He dove downwards as she blasted past him with a loud laugh, clearly asserting her dominance over the newbie flyer. Volare whirled in mid-air and tried to follow, but it was clearly hopeless.
“Stop messing with him, Dash!” Twilight called from the ground.
“That’s not fair!”
“Oh, he’s a tough guy; I think he can take it, Twilight!” Dash waved her off as she shot straight up into the air, daring Volare to follow her.
“Don’t do it, Volare!!!” Twilight cried, but he was determined to not look weak in front of the Pegasus who had basically been his inspiration to continue to push himself for nearly a year. A little pissed and a little embarrassed, he pushed himself now, harder than he ever had at anything, flying vertically and not even thinking now about his wings worked. He was going only on the thought of catching Dash!
Higher and higher he flew to meet the light blue dot that hovered above him. But as he finally began to near her, a sudden cramp in his stomach hit him. His whole body balled in on itself, and he began to topple out of the sky. The lack of food in his body for nearly 14 hours had finally hit him with a vengeance!
“VOLARE!!” Twilight screamed as the dark blue Pegasus fell limply through the air. She focused her efforts on grabbing him with her magic, but he was moving too fast!!
“Volare, get a grip!!!”
Volare heard her over the wind, meaning he must have been getting close to the ground. He weakly unfurled his wings, and the sudden updraft caused him to be buffeted head over hooves back up into the air. His head spun and his eyes were squeezed shut as he forced his wings open.
She was right…he had tried too much too fast…
He opened his eyes as he neared the ground, clearly seeing the terror on Twilight’s face and Spike hiding his own behind his claws. He could feel himself slowing down a little, but it wasn’t enough! The weakness in his body wouldn’t let him hold his wings out straight anymore, and they collapsed into his body. For the second time in a day, he was fully reminded of how quickly things could change up in the air as he plummeted like a rock.
But seconds before he was to impact the ground, he heard a massive rush of wind behind him and felt something soft grab him around his middle…and then he wasn’t falling anymore! He looked down to see blue hooves lighter than his own coat wrapped tightly around him and beyond that, Twilight and Spike’s faces, their mouth agape.
“Heh, trying to impress me, flyboy?” he heard the familiar voice chuckle into his ear, and he looked up to see Dash’s bright magenta eyes staring back into his own.
“M-maybe,” he managed to mumble as she lowered him towards the ground.
This was so embarrassing!
“Hey, no sweat. You’re new at this and…well, maybe I pushed ya a little too hard,” he felt her smile against his mane.
“Getting yourself killed isn’t gonna impress anypony, least of all me. But I gotta hoof it to ya; that’s was pretty decent for a newbie.” They landed on the ground and Volare walked away shakily before collapsing to the wet grass.
“Volare, what happened?!” Twilight cried as she reached his side, nuzzling him as he raised his head.
“You were doing ok, and then…you just seemed to fold up in midair! You didn’t hurt yourself, did you?” Spike asked with concern.
Volare was almost embarrassed to say it…
“Heh, would you believe I got hit with the mother of all hunger pangs?”
Everyone, even Twilight began laughing in relief.
“Are you serious, dude? You about gave us all a heart attack!” Spike thumped Volare on the back.
“Well, you DID eat his breakfast, Spike,” Twilight reminded him.
“And mine.”
“Mine too!” As Dash chimed in herself, her own stomach rumbled loudly, and she covered herself with a blush.
“Heh, seems like we’re all pretty hungry,” Twilight lifted Volare to his hooves.
“You up for some lunch?”
“Am I ever,” his eyes lit up at the mere thought of food, his ears flicked forward.
“What all do you guys have?”
“Well, I don’t have much here at the Library at the moment, Volare,” Twilight shrugged.
“But there are plenty of good places in town to grab a bite to eat, plus we can snag some supplies while we’re out. Let me get my things.” She trotted into the Library for a few moments with Spike in tow, leaving the two pegasi alone.
“Ahem, so, um,” Volare broke the silence with a cough.
“Yep, so,” Dash repeated with a smile and a whistle.
“Whatcha thinking?”
“Oh, nothing much,” he replied, scuffing at the grass with a hoof before looking back up.
“Dash…”
“Yeah?” she glanced at him with a toss of her rainbow-colored mane. She had a hard time looking at him without feeling guilty for the secret she was keeping from him…
“I…I just wanted to say thanks…I mean, I never properly said thank you for saving my sorry butt from the plane in the first place,” he took a step towards her.
“And that if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t even be here.”
Dash masked the pain she felt from that statement with a terse smile.
If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t HAVE to be here…
“And so…I just wanted to say thanks…a lot,” he leaned his neck across her and gave her the pony equivalent of a standing hug. He leaned up away from her and looked into her eyes.
“Thanks for saving me twice…guess I owe ya twice now, huh?”
“What? Nah,” Dash shook her mane. Normally she thrived on compliments and adulation, but...this was different. Way different.
“Just me being me, and nothing else.”
“Well, I’m glad you are the way you are, then, Dash,” Volare gave her cheek a tentative nuzzle as Twilight emerged from the Library without Spike.
“Spike’s not coming with us?” he asked, as Twilight adjusted the saddlebags she was carrying that bore her cutie mark.
“No, he already ate well enough for four ponies today, literally,” she squinted back at the dragon in the front doorway.
“I told him to stay here and tidy the place up.”
“Hang on a sec,” the Pegasus replied as he trotted up to Spike.
“Hey dude, don’t worry too much about the Library; I made most of the mess and I’ll get it cleaned up when I get back, ok?”
“Heh, thanks, Volare,” Spike smiled before hurrying inside.
Maybe this guy wasn’t so bad after all…
“Ok, let’s go get some chow!” Volare trotted back to Twilight. As they headed towards Ponyville, he looked back to see Dash standing there holding her cheek with a very spaced look.
“You coming, Rainbow?”
“Huh-yeah, I am!” she shook her head and hurried after her friends. Despite the breeze that caressed her face as she trotted, the place where Volare had nuzzled her burned with a guilty heat…
------------------------
* Thanks to Tyrannosaurus_Tux for pointing out that a barrel roll and an aileron roll are NOT the same thing
See his first post after this story for a picture description. ^^;
Small notes: DUN DUN DUN, Dashie feels da burn!
And lol, Volare has debilitating hunger attacks that rival Goku from DBZ
XD;
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first
386471 LOL but he don't have aileron's; he's a pony!
Thanks for the clarification though
So... does Volare know dash was the reason he crashed in the first place or not? Because in the first chapter it says she was right above the cockpit.
But ponies don't need ailerons to spin on an axis. he just spins along the spine.
386558 To clarify, he merely saw a dark silhouette as the sun was behind her. He saw it "wave" at him before jetting off before he could get a good look at it and so he got mad and chased it. So no, he DOES NOT know that thing he was chasing was Dash. That and the crash didn't so his memories any favors either.
386559 LOL I'm just kidding
Thanks for the clarification. I'll change it to aileron roll and add a footnote to your picture
Next chapter may take me a few days due to online exams and the sheer length of the thing
Another thing. when he's dying why was his last thoughts on Rainbow Dash and not on his parents or friends. Other than that love this story
386655 Funny you should ask!
That will be touched upon and explained as the story goes along (although it's partly because he saw the parallel between Dash and himself and she was his inspiration to push himself)
I don't like revealing all the details all at once
And thank you for the kind comments!
386471 Curse you, Peppy Hare! Did you not know the confusion you would cause?!
386704 LOL I didn't wanna say it, but you spoke my mind
386796
Heh, sorry. Things are just kinda weird for everyone in the story
Volare finaly achieved his dreams only for them to be taken away on the first day and now he's just trying to learn how to function in a new world
Dash feels major guilt for nearly getting Volare killed and now she's having to lie about it so he doesn't hate her (so she thinks)
Twilight feels happy/strange because she finally met a pony that she can have an in-depth scientific conversation with without boring them to death, not to mention he's a guy who doesn't think she's a major dork ^^;
and Spike feels somewhat jealous of Volare for basically invading his life and spending time with his mother figure
Sooo yeah, kinda moody, but kinda justified
LOL but don't worry, it lightens up a bit in the next chapter when a certain pony spots the newest pegasus in town...
But thank you for the comments!
Heck, thanks for EVERYONE'S comments
I'm waiting for when they send him back and the US Navy is going to be all like, "WTF are we supposed to do with a pony?"
Yeah, that'll be cool.
I sure do loves me some science!
386995 Heh...you'll see what crazy idea I have pertaining to that...or not at all
387020 Heh thanks. I was trying to strike a balance between putting in enough info to explain things while also not boring people to death
Just trying to get ya'll to appreciate the science of pegasus flight because it comes into play much more in the future
Hahahaha-You're funny. And you said no shipping. I... I see where this is going.
387194 LOL where do you suppose it's going?
Something between RD and Volare. Btw, at some point, you wrote (instead of Pegasus) pagasus.
387294 Yeah I know I mis-spelled it a few times and I thought I got it all, thanks
As for Dash and Volare...you'll see
387417 As my friend would say, "Whoa-ho-ho! Don't get too carried away there!"
387577 LOL just trust me...it's not what you expect
Sorry if this thing sent out an update you guys
I published it but the April Fools joke of the site is messing it up (especially the names)
I'll republish it once it's back to normal
Again sorry you guys
EDIT: nvm guys, just click the TOGGLE G1 Mode button at the bottom of the site
now it's all readable
XD;
How the heck are these pagasi able to control it?! Must be something to do withhow they flap their wings…oh well, only one way to find out! you can use your tail to turn
701661
uh. know this is old, but.... pony tails wouldn't work very well for that, as almost all of the tail's length is long hairs. the tail itself is probably only five or six inches in length, tops. and all that hair would just flutter like a flag, rather than acting as a rudder.
i saw a humming biirddo a barrelroll be4 dang no song thunderstorm(yes i changed from sonic lightningboom)
HOLY CRAP THIS IS SO AWESOME! I HAVE TO GO TO THE POOL RIGHT NOW (im being forced XD) BUT I SHALL RETURN! i hope... I WISH IT WAS STILL SUMMER VACATION SO I CAN READ THIS UNTIL 12:00! i have no idea y i just put caps on all that...
386471
MY MIND
386471
*The aileron roll post*
StarFox 64 lied to me
I was a lil confused at the part where Twi, Dash, and Spike where laughing at Volare for preening his wings. Was there a joke in there that i missed?
Stupid OCD.. Must. Nitpick.
Just a space missing
Pegasus.
You know... You HAD to mention g=hunger pangs over 9000...
fortunately, in another 40 minutes or so, my 2 lb plus serving of Mac n Cheese will be done, followed by a pie for dessert!
I thought this said:
1667491 Oh, they just thought it was amusing that a little pegasus instinct snuck into Volare's behavior all of a sudden
this should help
Well, at least not ones as bad as Luffy (One Piece). In episode... 46 or 47, i think, there was a 3 day party and he was eating the whole time!
3618571 ah the game theory how I loves it
It's actually kind of a shame that you blew up the F/A-18. It would have been pretty cool to have in the story. Oh well.
Its been over two years and no one pointed this out?
this is a pretty interesting story here; just one little problem
dude, dude dude, dude, dude, dude, Dude, Dude, DUDE!?
there are too many ponies here saying dude.
2777475
EHR MAH GERD!
I just realized that there hasn't been any mention of cutie marks yet. Hmm... also, Spike is a massive jerk in this story.
I don't blame Dash for the crash. That is all on the pilot for chasing after her. Nor would he be the first to disregard proper procedure and the limits of his body and equipment. The most famous of such incidents is the pilot who crashed his aircraft while chasing a UFO.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantell_UFO_incident
Aww so cute
Sounded more like Ruffy from One Piece