//------------------------------//
// As Delicate as Petals 
// Story: As Delicate as Petals 
// by EvenCrazierSpacedust 
//------------------------------//

As rainbow lights filled the air, Pipp suddenly felt something she'd never felt before. A tremendous amount of energy flowed through her wings and into her entire body, and she was filled with the overwhelming urge to fly. To just take off.

She barely had to think about it before her hooves left the ground, and soon she was soaring alongside her sister, her mother, and her newfound friend Sunny.

It felt euphoric, like a miracle, or a dream come true. The wind in her fluffy wings, and rainbows everywhere, as though her wildest filly fantasies had come true all at once. A loud laugh escaped her as she was overwhelmed by the pure joy of the moment, circling and gliding coming to her as easily as running.

But, as they do, all moments come to an end. The rainbows began to fade, and Zipp eased Sunny to the ground as her glowing wings and horn became barely more than a hologram, before it all vanished completely.

And then Pipp felt herself begin to wobble. Panic twisted her stomach. No, no, no this isn't right! The magic is supposed to be back now, why is this suddenly so hard?!

She took a slow breath, trying to compose herself, and put all the strength she possessed into keeping her wings outstretched and gliding to the ground. "Just like practice with the fans..." she told herself.

Stumbling a little on her landing, but managing to stay upright, Pipp looked up to see that her fellow pegasi were having no such issue. Rather than being a comfort, it only made her stomach twist more. "What... what's happening?"

Noticing her distress, Zipp glided down to join her. 

"Hey, what's wrong Pipsqueak?" Zipp asked in a lighthearted tone.

"Zipp, I still can't do it!" Pipp cried, once again feeling overwhelmed, but now with fear instead of joy. "It feels just like the fans for me, and you know I always needed the wires more and and..."

"Hey, breathe." Zipp attempted to calm her sister's frantic chatter with a gentle hoof on her shoulder. "You're probably just a little freaked out."

"Does it feel that way for you?"

Zipp was silent for a long moment, and then the realization of why her baby sister was so freaked out set in, and she turned her muzzle skyward. "Mom!"

Queen Haven circled above her girls for a moment, before landing beside them. "What's wrong?"

"It's Pipp. She's having trouble flying." Zipp said bluntly.

"I see..." Pipp did not understand why her mother's eyes were so full of guilt. "Zipp, go catch up with your friends. Don't say anything about your sister. Pipp... I want you to come for a little walk with me."

Zipp nodded and immediately took flight again, soaring with ease over to Sunny, Izzy, and Hitch. Pipp felt an ache deep in her heart that she simply didn't understand as her mother gently nudged her away.

They walked a fair distance, until they were far enough from the excitement that nopony would overhear them, and  far enough from the road that they wouldn't be passed by accident. When she was satisfied with their location, Queen Haven sat down in the grass, and gestured with a foreleg for her daughter to do the same.

Pipp sat down facing her mother. "Mom... please. So much has already happened today, please just tell me what's happening."

Haven took a slow breath, and then extended one wing towards Pipp. "I want you to do this."

Pipp nodded slowly, still terrified of where this conversation was going, and extended one wing toward her mother, so the tips of their wings touched. 

"I want you to look at your wing next to mine. Do you see how my feathers are sleek, sharp, and thick."

Pipp nodded, lightly running a hoof over her mother's feathers.

"Now..." It had been a long time since Pipp had heard her mother sound so sad. "Do you see how your feathers are soft, and fuzzy? Do you see how the light shines through them?"

She nodded again, feeling a lump in her throat. "The light... doesn't pass through yours... Or Zipps..."

"When you were born," Haven explained gently, as if she still saw a baby in her daughter's place rather than a teenaged princess, "the doctor told me that you have a deformity in your wings. You grow soft down where you should have flight feathers. It's very rare, but it's been something that's affected pegasi since the ancient days. I swore every doctor in Zephyr Heights to secrecy."

"So... you weren't going to tell me?" The pink pegasus had tears in her eyes, feeling like a tiny filly again as she looked up at her mother.

"Dearest..." There was sorrow in Queen Haven's eyes, and Pipp didn't even need to hear what she'd say next. She already knew she was right. But her mother spoke anyway. "Before today, it wouldn't have mattered. I thought your wings were beautiful, and I named you Petals because that's what they reminded me of. Soft and delicate."

Soft and delicate, Pipp thought bitterly, and absolutely useless.

"I did as much research as I could after I found out," Haven continued. "Most pegasi with your condition were able to fly a little. They could glide, hover, and propel themselves a little with their wings, but... that's about it. Your wings just don't catch the wind properly. But... I mean, if the old books are true, which I think tonight has proven, we used to be able to walk on clouds. You'd still be able to do that."

Pipp sniffled a little, wiping at her eyes. "What good is that if I can't reach them?!"

Not knowing what else to say, Haven bowed her head. "Would you like some time alone, Pipp?"

"Uh huh..." She stretched out her forelegs and rested her chin on them, laying on the ground in defeat.

That should have been a red flag. Pipp never wanted to be alone. But Haven left anyway.

Fortunately, Zipp knew her baby sister just a little better than her mother did, and it wouldn't be long before Pipp heard wingbeats and a soft landing behind her, followed by her sister's voice.

"Pipp..."

"Leave me alone..." Pipp whimpered. "Go enjoy your flying... or whatever..."

Instead, Zipp trotted closer, before laying down beside Pipp, their flanks touching. 

"Did mom tell you...?" Pipp whimpered. 

"Yeah, she filled me in." 

Zipp was as casual as ever. Pipp tried not to hate it, but every little thing hurt right now. Still, it would have hurt more if she'd made a big deal of it, and they both knew that.

"Mom says in the old days we could walk on clouds... I-I know she meant well, but what's that worth if I can't get up there?" 

"Who says you can't?"

Pipp looked at her sister, shocked and angry. "Mom! The doctors! Zipp, magic or no, I can't fly!"

Zipp once again put a comforting hoof on Pipp's shoulder. "I never said you could. I said, who said you can't get to the clouds. Come on, you really think I'd leave my baby sister behind?"

A soft gasp escaped Pipp, followed by a whimper, and then in seconds she was sobbing into Zipp's chest. She felt a foreleg gently wrap around her.

"When you're ready," Zipp said gently, once Pipp's sobs had been reduced to tearful hiccups, "I think I know how we can do this."

"...you won't let me fall?"

"Why would I?"

"You did at my show..."

Pipp could see the defiance in her sister's eyes. She knew Zipp wanted to tell her that was different. To be standoffish. But instead, her eyes softened. "Yeah, I did. And I'm so, so sorry for that. You don't have to forgive me, either. But if you can trust me, I promise you, I will never, ever let you fall again."

A long few minutes passed in silence before Pipp spoke again. "Okay, what's the plan?"

"Remember when we were little, and I used to give you foalback rides?"

"Yeah..."

Zipp spread her wings out. "Stand up and hop on."

After all that had happened, Pipp decided this was the least ridiculous thing that had been asked of her today. She settled on to Zipp's back. "Okay... ready."

Zipp stood, then took a running start and took off, soaring into the dawning sky. Feeling the wind in her mane like that again, Pipp couldn't help but laugh. Remembering what her mother had said about being able to glide, she stretched her own wings, delicate as petals, and they caught just enough wind to keep Pipp from weighing her sister down too much. Once again, that euphoria flooded her. 

Maybe she was delicate, but she was flying, and that was something, at the very least.