Twilight Sparkle looked up to the skies, frowning slightly. She’s gliding. I’ve barely seen her wings flap. Her friend Fluttershy had never been an amazing flier, a fact she was quick to admit, but she had also never strayed far from standard flight technique. Twilight, since her ascension, had studied both of her pegasi friends’ patterns, on top of the various books and scrolls, so that she could control her new wings competently, if not gracefully or stylishly. As such, she was quick to notice the change.
Fluttershy, for her part, hadn’t mentioned any reason for her new style. She flew so rarely in general that a strained wing didn’t seem likely. But as she helped the geese find their course on this fall afternoon, she seemed a little perturbed at having to make the tight circles to keep her altitude steady, and the few times she had flapped her wings seemed to be accompanied with a slight twinge of pain, so Twilight assumed whatever had made her friend change her flight form was unpleasant at least.
Having finished helping the traveling birds, Fluttershy descended in long circles, grabbing a bit of cloud on the way down. Hmm, Twilight thought, that’s more of a Dash thing. Her analysis was confirmed more when, rather than land on the ground, Fluttershy stop her glide a little above, braking and resting onto the small portion of cloud in front of her friend.
“Heya, Fluttershy!!” Twilight smiled lightly at her friend, trying her best to convey I’m your friend, and you can talk to me about any troubles you have, “Nice perch you have there.”
“Hello Twilight, thank you very much,” Fluttershy responded, turning her head slightly away, not unusual in itself, but in its intensity in Twilight’s eyes, “Dashie showed me how to make one without disrupting the rest of the cloud...”
“Oh? What made you want to learn how to do that?” Twilight pried, trying not to overwhelm the shy pegasus. She knew that asking too many questions, or even one wrong one, could send her friend into a near-non verbal state, and Twilight wanted to avoid both the hurt that could cause her friend and the loss of information. Fluttershy seemed to be thinking how to phrase her response. She had a look on her face that was hard to grasp, even for her.
“Well, I’ve been having to fly a little more lately to help with the seasonal migrations, and um, well, y’see,” Fluttershy was looking at the ground now, and getting a little quieter, to the point where Twilight had to twist her ears directly at her friend. “I’ve been having some trouble taking off lately.”
Twilight frowned slightly at that, looking down at the ground, her mind already whizzing through the possibilities. Fluttershy had always been a weak flier, but taking off was her best area in that endeavor (albeit usually from fright or shock, but still).
“I’ve found it easier to just, kinda, let myself fall and start from there. The cloud’s a little simpler to do that with than climbing a tree, I never enjoyed climbing much.” Fluttershy continued, her eyes still looking anywhere but at her friend, seemingly embarrassed at the process she had had to undergo for something that usually came so naturally to the other winged ponies.
Twilight’s ears perked up slightly at that. Falling out of a tree to start flight? I’ve read something about that. Recently even. The alicorn looked up at her resting friend, who had at this point taken note of her analyzing posture. Twilight figured the fact that she hadn’t made an excuse to leave meant that Fluttershy was willing to help feed her information, clearly she wanted some answers as well.
“When did you start having problems with your take-offs Flutters? Around the same time as you started needing to glide more, maybe?”
“Oh, you noticed that too Twilight? My wings just haven’t. Hmm. Controlled? The same lately. It’s hard to describe, but it’s like the muscles don’t want to flap in the same way. I first noticed it a little before the Appleloosa State Produce Competition. I went to have a picnic with Applejack to help keep her mind of how she sacrificed her Prize Apple, and I was late because I had to run instead of fly there. She didn’t mind, at least not that she said, but I felt terrible the rest of the day for having left her hanging.”
Twilight raised her head fully at that point. “The Appleloosa State Produce Competition? That was right after the whole thing with the fruit bats wasn’t it?”
“Yes that one!! I still shudder a little thinking about having been a fruit vampire, brrr” Fluttershy shuddered a little, seemingly to prove her point.
“I’m so sorry that spell had such a bad side effect, even if it was reversible in the end,” Twilight flicked her tail and winced, slightly at her mistake, slightly at what she knew she would have to say next, “And considering what you just said, I’m not so sure it was.”