"And three, two, one, go!"
Twilight launched herself forward with all her strength, her wings propelling her fast enough to completely dispel the cloud she had been standing on. Her mane flew behind her and clear of her line of sight as the air whipped past her face. She narrowed her eyes as she took in the cloud obstacles Rainbow had set up for her this time: three cloud rings of steadily decreasing size and a large cloud wall with a narrow gap in the middle.
As she rapidly approached the first cloud ring, Twilight remembered Rainbow's lessons from earlier that day and adjusted her heading with the slightest of wing movements to position herself dead center with the ring. She flapped her wings even harder, building up more and more speed. Right before she reached it, she tucked her wings tightly to her side and dived towards the middle. Her now much more aerodynamic shape allowed her to accelerate rapidly through the ring like a bullet leaving a barrel.
"Woo! Awesome job, Twi, two more to go! You can do it!"
Twilight's ear flicked towards the voice of her support, but she kept her eyes focused on the next ring. This one was angled slightly away from her and rather off-center, meaning she'd have to pass through it coming out of a turn. Inhaling sharply, she rose her right wing ever so slightly above her center of mass, putting her into a wide, counterclockwise arc as she rapidly approached her target at its own angle.
Again, right before reaching the ring, she tightly tucked her wings to her side, allowing her more streamlined form to slip through without dispelling so much as a single tuft of the cloud.
Upon passing through, she quickly unfurled her wings to their fullest, the newfound resistance on her body bringing her down to a slightly safer speed. Feeling her left wing catch a sudden updraft, she adjusted her wings once again to properly utilize it. With a single, strong flap of her left wing, she pushed off of the updraft into a loose, clockwise roll which she used to put herself back in the center of the obstacle course.
"Keep it up, Twi! One more, then show me the big finish!"
Twilight gazed forward and took in her final obstacles. One final cloud ring floated ahead, angled slightly upwards. Behind it and in line with the ring floated a thick wall of clouds with a narrow, rectangular hole punched through it. She would have to approach the ring with a dive from above, then quickly make enough micro adjustments to continue her dive right through the gap in the wall.
She panted a little and felt her heart racing. It wasn't just from the excitement of finally gaining more control over her wings; this was her last flight exercise for the day and her body was already aching from all the previous lessons. Still, she shook off the looming exhaustion and, with continuous flaps, propelled herself up in a steady incline.
Come on, Twilight. Last one today, let's make this count. Twilight steeled herself as she reached the midpoint between the rings behind and in front of her. She ceased her flapping and, for a moment, felt her insides roll about as she briefly entered free fall.
Here we go. Twilight inhaled sharply before angling her wings down, putting herself into a rapidly accelerating glide. She focused all her attention on the ring that loomed ahead of her, making all the necessary adjustments with her wings to keep her on course. She was almost there, almost through. She could see the hole in the cloud wall lined up perfectly with the approaching ring. As she had practiced, she tucked her wings tightly to her side one last time and passed straight through the final ring witho-
Poof!
Two of her primary feathers brushed against the cloud ring. While the feathers themselves carried little mass, the force of her dive was enough for that minuscule contact to pop the ring into nothingness. The slight contact had also completely derailed her drive and, with a surprised yelp, sent her into an uncontrollable spin as she hurtled off-course.
No no no no no! Twilight panicked and began crazily flapping her wings every which way, desperate to regain control to no avail. Despite her spin, she could see the surface of the cloud wall rapidly approach her. She squeezed her eyes shut and instinctively brought her hooves up to her face to protect it from the wall when-
Whump!
Twilight felt a pair of hooves wrap around her barrel, halting her uncontrolled spin barely a second before impact. She peeked her eyes open, still panting heavily, to stare at the wall of cloud hovering inches from her face. Finally, she let out a defeated sigh and reached up with a foreleg to poke at it as her wings drooped down tiredly from her sides.
"Hehe, don't worry Twilight, you'll get the hang of it in no time!"
Twilight turned up to gaze into the magenta eyes of her savior: a cyan pegasus with a signature prismatic mane. She wore a mischievous, yet gentle smile on her muzzle. Twilight returned the expression in kind. "Thanks Rainbow. Oh what I'd give to see what you looked like when you first got used to these..." She emphasized the word with a soft ruffle of her feathers as she gazed at her wings. "...things."
Rainbow chuckled. "Ha! I doubt you'd get much entertainment watching a filly struggle with her wings. Trust me, with enough practice you'll have the same awesome level of control of your wings as me!" She paused. "Almost the same level."
Twilight raised an eyebrow at her friend, who merely sheepishly shrugged in return. Her head drooped back down from exhaustion. "At least Cadance could already fly before she became an alicorn, so she didn't have to deal with all this added stress..."
Rainbow hummed in thought. "Well, sure she probably could already fly totally fine by then. But unlike youuuu, she now had to deal with the challenge of properly controlling her unicorn magic! Just imagine Cadance at your age struggling to lift a couple of books."
Twilight closed her eyes and followed her friend's suggestion. The thought of her foalsitter, Princess of Love and ruler of the Crystal Empire, scrunching her muzzle in pained concentration as she desperately tried to use her magic to remove a single book from a bookshelf, only to send the entire row of books tumbling down upon her, elicited a guilty giggle.
Rainbow carried her up to a cloud platform she had previously prepared and plopped her down. Upon having somewhat solid ground beneath her hooves, Twilight finally let out all her exhaustion from the day's training and let herself fall flat on her face, her legs and wings splayed out all around her.
Rainbow giggled at the sight. "Wow Twilight, you weren't even flying for a couple hours and you're this puckered out already?"
Twilight groaned, too tired to even lift her head from the cloud. "I don't think I'll ever be doing aggressive, acrobatic flight for two hours straight in my life, Rainbow."
"Come on Twi, like I told you, these exercises are to help give you complete control over your agility and endurance when in the air. I know you've only had those wings for, like, a couple weeks now, but sooner or later you'll have to get used to them, so why not sooner?"
Twilight groaned again, this time too tired to even form a proper response.
"If you think that obstacle course was tough, wait until you see how the Wonderbolts practice every day!"
Finally, Twilight gathered enough strength to lift her head off the cloud and stare blankly into Rainbow's eyes. "No." Her head then unceremoniously plopped back into the clouds. Her body was aching all over, and with the warmth of the sun on her back and the sound of wind filling her ears, Twilight could feel herself starting to doze off.
"Well, ugh..." Twilight slowly but surely climbed back to her hooves. She shuffled about unsteadily for a moment as she tried to regain her balance, the world seemingly spinning around her. "... thanks Rainbow for the flight lessons today, really means a lot to me. I think I'm going to head back home for a quick nap now."
Twilight shakily cantered towards the edge of the cloud and scoured the landscape of Ponyville before her eyes settled on the Golden Oak Library. A lips spread into a sleepy smile as she crouched down and prepared to take off when a hoof on her withers stopped her.
"Woah woah woah! Slow down there, Twilight! I don't think you're in the state to fly at the moment."
Twilight looked back at Rainbow, still smiling and eyes half-open. "What do you mean? I'm totally fine."
Rainbow raised an eyebrow and gestured with her head at her wings. Confused, Twilight looked down at her own wings and saw that, despite being fully opened, they barely had the strength to rise from where they laid on the cloud around her. "Wuh-?"
Carefully, Rainbow placed a hoof on her chest and pushed her back from the edge. The sight of her beloved library vanishing from view elicited a soft whimper from Twilight. "But Rainbowwww, I really need to take a naaaap."
"Yeah you can do that, Twi, you've earned it."
Twilight turned to gaze at Rainbow confusedly. "But my library-"
"- is too far down for you to go crashing into from this height. Besides, why do you want to nap there specifically?"
Twilight cocked her head. "Well, where else am I supposed to nap?"
Rainbow blinked. "Wait, you've never..." A flicker of knowing realization flashed across her eyes. Her mischievous grin returned, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "Twilight, my friend, you're about to have possibly the best experience in your life!"
Twilight opened her mouth to protest, but Rainbow suddenly sped off into the distance before she could even get a word out. After a moment of silence, Twilight shakily crawled back towards the edge of the cloud to gaze longingly at her home. As much as she wanted to, she trusted her friend's judgement regarding her flight capacity. A quick mental check of her magic reserves showed she had more than enough magic to afford a quick teleport into her bedroom, but her mind and body were just too exhausted. She didn't want to risk accidentally teleporting into somepony else's home or worse, into a wall.
"Alright, I'm back!"
Twilight turned around and saw, to her surprise, that Rainbow had gathered some extra clouds to widen the radius of their cloud platform. "Rainbow, wha-" She yawned. "What's this for?"
Rainbow grinned back with a level of energy that rivaled Pinkie Pie. She puffed out her chest in pride. "Now that you have wings, you have the magic of all three types of ponies in you, including pegasus magic! Therefore, the responsibility falls to me to show you what I'd like to call the second best thing about being a Pegasus pony!"
Twilight's muzzle scrunched in confusion. "Huh? What's with the formal talk? And what would the first best thing about being a Pegasus pony be then?"
Rainbow snorted. "Having wings, duh! Come on, just bear with me here, Twi. You won't regret it."
Twilight raised an eyebrow, but said nothing else, which the cyan pegasus took as a cue to continue.
"As you are well aware, your new pegasus magic grants you the ability to manipulate the weather, or most importantly, the clouds!" To emphasize her point, Rainbow gently stomped a hoof, sending a small poof of cloud around her.
Twilight nodded, not sure where this was going, but curious nonetheless.
"And with the ability to naturally manipulate clouds comes the ability to touch, handle, walk, and most importantly, lie on clouds! And since this is from your inherent pegasus magic instead of a spell, you should be able to feel the clouds in better detail now, right?"
Twilight blinked. She hadn't thought of that. She recalled the last time she visited Cloudsdale, she had cast a cloud walking spell on herself and her friends. While it didn't work the same way that pegasi could walk on clouds, it created a sort of telekinetic barrier around the target finely tuned to prevent it from breaking the surface of clouds. While it worked at allowing her to walk on the clouds, it made cloud surfaces feel a little bit like trampolines. Since the cloud was never really touching her body, it felt like she was touching a soft trampoline with thick socks on all her hooves. Now that she no longer needed that spell herself, she became suddenly conscious that the feel of cloud beneath her hooves felt significantly different than before.
Turning her focus downward, Twilight reached with a hoof to prod at the cloud's surface. To her surprise, she could perfectly feel every curve and contour of it around her hoof, and she realized just how remarkably soft it was. She had been so focused on practicing her flight that she never stopped to learn the other things pegasi could do.
A soft giggle drew her attention back to Rainbow, who continued to watch her with an ecstatic grin. "Looks like you're finally beginning to see!" She took to the sky and began flying in tight, excited circles around Twilight, who did her best to stare forward to avoid getting motion sick. "Now then, allow me the honor of introducing you to the amazing, awesome, ancient tradition of pegasus ponies known aaaaaaaasssss..."
Rainbow finished her little cyclone around Twilight and plopped right in front of her, her muzzle practically touching her own.
"Cloud napping!"
Twilight blinked, her mind racing to process the name. Yes, she had seen several pegasi, especially Rainbow Dash, occasionally taking naps on the clouds after a long day of weather work or, in Rainbow's case, virtually at any time of day. She hadn't considered the fact that, with her new pegasus magic, it was something she could do now, since it was something she could never imagine herself doing anyway.
"Wa- wait, I- I mean, yes, but, what if I fall?! And what if I fall asleep for too long and the wind blows me into the Everfree Forest or something?!"
Rainbow laughed gleefully. "That's the best part, you won't! As a Pegasus, you sort of perfectly sink into the cloud, not enough to fall through or get stuck or anything, but just enough so you have to be thrashing about extremely hard to end up falling off. And that's only if you get too small of a cloud, which is why I brought a few more over just in case to make this one bigger!" She paused. "And no, the reason you're not sinking right now is cause you're consciously standing up, so your magic will keep you on the surface for the sake of your balance. Also, for relatively small clouds like this one, your pegasus magic will naturally trigger whenever you fall asleep on one to hold it in place. As long as there isn't a really strong wind or anything, you won't have to worry about the cloud drifting off to Celestia knows where!"
Twilight sputtered a little. Rainbow's explanation had mitigated her fears considerably, but the thought of doing it herself still felt a little wrong to her. "B-but is it... fine to do that? Just nap out in the open like that? I don't see other pegasi doing it that much and-"
Rainbow cut her off with a wave of her hoof. "Come on, Twi, how often did you used to look up at the sky before anyways? It's a lot more common than you think, trust me. In fact, it's to the point where most of us weather ponies added it to our list of responsibilities to keep an eye out for any napping pegasi so nothing happens. And in all of Ponyville's history, there's only been one cloud-napping related injury to date!"
"... and what happened with that case?"
"Dude tried to a take a nap on a storm cloud. That was entirely on him."
"... ah."
Rainbow lightly punched her in her shoulder. "Come on, Twi. Give it a chance, I promise you'll like it! And if you don't, I won't bother you about it ever again I promise. For Celestia's sake, I've seen you fall fast asleep on a messy pile of hardbound books before!" Rainbow shuddered at the thought. "You can totally handle a cloud!"
Twilight shuffled awkward on her hooves. "I don't know Rainbow, I-" She looked back up at her friend and took in her expression of pure cheer. She really does want to see me experience this, huh? She sighed in defeat and smiled back. "Alright, I'll give it a try."
"YES! Woooo!" Rainbow jumped up in an excited backwards loop.
Twilight giggled, then stumbled a little on her hooves. Her exhaustion from the day was finally fully catching up to her and she wanted nothing more than to lie down. "Okay, so what do I do?"
Rainbow trotted over and pat her head, much to her slight annoyance. "Just pretend this cloud is a bed! Simple as that!" She took to the air and hovered directly beside her, giving Twilight the entirety of the cloud's surface to use.
"Hmm, a bed..." Twilight stared longingly at the cloud's white, fluffy texture. Did it really look that soft before? She slowly sat down on her haunches and, ever so carefully, leaned her upper body forward and lowered herself onto the cloud. She moved her forelegs in front of her and cautiously laid her head atop them. She felt the soft tufts of compressed water vapor tickle her belly as the soft surface of cloud sank under her weight. The still fluffed-up cloud around her sides pressed gently inward like a soft, gentle embrace. Yes, this... this was nice. She let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding in. "This is actually pretty nice, Rainbow."
To her surprise, Rainbow laughed in amusement. "Oh come on Twi, that's not how you do it! I brought you the whole cloud, you're gonna use the whole cloud!" Twilight felt two hooves grab at her forelegs before yanking them forward and away from her head. Without the support of her front hooves, Twilight's head fell straight into the mass of cloud, filling her vision with white.
"Hey! What was that for?! I- I- uh-..." With her head now making full contact with the cloud, she suddenly realized just how incredibly soft it felt. The sensation of soft cloud against her cheeks, muzzle, neck, her everything, was just pure bliss. Even if she took the softest pillow she had ever laid on in her life, it paled comparison to this.
"Wha- oh Celestia..." She closed her eyes and reached out fully with her senses to her entire body where the cloud made contact with her fur and took in just how... amazing and awesome it was. She kicked back her hind legs and fully unfurled her wings to maximize the amount of contact her body made with the cloud. For a brief moment, she contemplated how embarrassing the sight must look to a random passing pegasus pony, Equestria's newest princess completely splayed out on a cloud above Ponyville for all the world to see.
Then she felt the cloud below her shift around her, and all her concerns immediately melted away into the void of happiness and relaxation brought forth by this impossible bed. She heard Rainbow giggle gently from somewhere above.
"Wow, Twi, I knew you'd be taken by surprise by I didn't think you'd love it THIS much!"
Twilight sighed contently as she carelessly rolled around atop the cloud. Just like Rainbow mentioned previously, she could feel the surface of the cloud sink in more closer to the center of the cloud. As she rolled closer to the edge, the cloud sank down less and less, creating a sort of upward incline that Twilight knew she wouldn't be able to accidentally roll off of unless she really tried. Giving in to gravity, she went completely slack and let the cloud roll her back away from the edge. "Thanks so so much for this Rainbow, this is just so... so..." Her higher brain functions struggled against the oncoming fog of sleep to access her vast vocabulary. "...so... awesome."
Rainbow snickered. "Haha, careful Twi, you're starting to sound like me there. And we both know there's only room in Equestria for one Rainbow Dash!" Through her shut eyes, Twilight imagined her friend striking one of her many signature midair poses. "Anyways, I've got to help a few pegasi nearby with preparing a rainfall planned for tomorrow at the edge of Ponyville. Sweet Apple Acres is due for its routine shower. But don't worry, I'll be keeping an eye out for you no matter how far I am! Just lay your head down and enjoy your nap, you've more than earned it after today."
Twilight felt a gust of wind followed by a whoosh that trailed away in the distance behind her, signaling her friend's departure. She wanted to lift a hoof to wave her friend off, but that would mean decreasing the total amount of surface area of her body in contact with the cloud, and that just wouldn't do.
Sighing blissfully, Twilight rolled over again to return to her original position on her stomach, and turned her head so her right cheek rested softly on the surface of her makeshift bed. As much as she enjoyed the feel of cloud on her entire face, she didn't want to risk accidentally smothering herself.
Hmm... wouldn't that be a funny headline? 'Newest Princess of Equestria Found Smothered To Death After Falling Asleep On A Cloud Facedown'. She tried to giggle, but the blanket of sleep and drowsiness only permitted a soft exhale to be released from her nose, a drunk smile plastered across her face.
A soft breeze blew by and her ears instinctively flicked in its direction before flopping back down to the sides of her head. Celestia's sun bathed her body in a gentle warmth, while the soft surface of her silvery sleep-summoning cloud graced her with a slight chill, like a pillow whose top remained forever as cool as its underside. The occasional brush of wind across her back felt like an ongoing super soft, dreamy massage. She could hear the distant sound of the many ponies of Ponyville going about their day; sounds of conversation in familiar voices, hooves clopping on dirt and gravel, doors opening and closing, wings flapping, and the gentle hum of unicorns' magic all blended together into a nearly incoherent swirl of white noise that lulled her mind to rest.
Wow... and Rainbow Dash does this on a daily basis? No wonder she naps so much, this is just so... soo... mmmmm... Gradually, all the wonderful sensations around her turned even her internal thoughts to gibberish as she gave in to the peace and bliss of sleep.
"Um... Princess?"
"..."
"Princess Twilight? Your highness?"
"...wuhh?" Slowly, Twilight opened her eyes and grogglily blinked the sleep out of her eyes. A pair of light blue eyes adorned on a light-furred, freckled face with an alternating green and pink mane similar to her own style stared back at her.
"Uh, hi Princess, this area of Ponyville is scheduled for a sunny morning tomorrow, so, um, I'm gonna have to move this cloud over to the side. If you want, you can keep napping on it after, but I can't move it while you're sleeping on it."
Twilight smacked her lips briefly and shook her head to wake herself up some more before glancing around. The sun had fallen much closer to the horizon, adorning the lower sky in a beautiful orange and red glow. Based off where the sun had been before her nap, she estimated she must've been asleep a little over an hour. The ambient sounds of Ponyville had died down significantly as most ponies had likely already returned to their homes.
"Princess?..."
Twilight blinked again and turned to face the accompanying pegasus, who stared at her expectantly. With a slight groan, she stretched her back before climbing to all four hooves. "Oh no, it's fine. I need to get home as well, thanks Blossomforth." She smiled gently. "You know, I may be a princess now, but I'm also still your friendly, local librarian. You can still call me Twilight."
"No worries, pri-, Twilight!"
Twilight unfurled her wings and easily opened them to their fullest length. She gave a few gentle flaps and confirmed that her nap had successfully restored much of her physical energy. She'd have no problem making her way back down to the library.
Her ears flicked behind her at the sound of a distant whoosh. She turned around and saw a rainbow contrail zoom away from a nearby tree below her. True to her word and her Element, it seemed Rainbow had indeed kept watch over as she slept. A soft smile crept across her face. "Well, nice seeing you Blossomforth! I've got to get home, Spike's probably made dinner already."
After receiving a nod from the pegasus, Twilight made her way to the edge of the cloud and, with many hours of practice, launched herself off with a powerful flap towards her treehouse library and home.