"She really named it Tom? You can't be serious."
"Oh I am. You should have seen the look on her face when she realized it was just a big rock," the unicorn floated two fresh plates of pancakes onto the table, and took a seat opposite Wind Walker.
"That really was a fun day. I was in Manehatten at the time, the Mare of Liberty came to life and started to whinny and buck on her little island," Wind Walker took a bite of the pancakes. "Wow these are really good. Thanks again for breakfast."
"It's no problem at all, I just follow the recipe." The unicorn used her magic to close the cook book on the counter and float it back onto the shelf. "I'm glad they turned out alright, I'm starving." She lifted a fork of syrupy goodness, but before she could take a bite she was interrupted by a shout from outside.
"Look out beloooow!!!" A rainbow blur crashed through the kitchen window, and onto the table. As the table broke under the impact, pancakes went flying onto the walls, and Twilight's head.
"Rainbow Dash!"
"Hehe, whoops. Sorry Twilight, had a little trouble with a new trick. I'll just get out of your uh..." the pegasus looked at the pancake covered mane of her friend. "...hair. See ya'!"
"Rainbow wait!" But Rainbow Dash flew back out the window before she could say anything else. Twilight ran to the window in frustration. "Get back here, you owe me breakfast!"
"Don't worry Twilight, I'll bring her back."
"How are you going to do-" Twilight turned around to face Wind Walker, only to have him race past her and jump out the window. When she turned back around she was shocked to see the unicorn flying off after Rainbow Dash. "-that." She stared at Wind Walker in disbelief, and saw he was standing on what appeared to be two pairs of metallic wings while he flew.
She ran outside to watch the situation unfold. Rainbow Dash was standing on a cloud, Twilight assumed preparing to try whatever new trick she was working on again, with Wind Walker flying up behind her. Rainbow must have heard him approaching at the last second, because she turned around, but she was to late and to surprised to do anything about it.
"SURPRISE!" Wind Walker jumped off of the set of wings and tackled Rainbow Dash off of her cloud.
"Wooooh!" Rainbow Dash shouted as they fell, but Wind Walker appeared to just be laughing.
"Oh no!" Twilight began trying to think of a way to save her falling friends, but before she could the set of wings flew back to the falling pair. Wind Walker wrapped one foreleg around it, using the other to hold onto Rainbow Dash. The wings slowed their descent enough that their crash landing was little more than a tumble across the ground.
"Are you two alright?" Twilight ran over to check on her two friends as a small crowd of ponies formed to see what had happened. Wind Walker ended up on his back the his flank on top of Rainbow Dash, causing the tail of his coat to fall, giving Twilight her first view of his cutie mark. It was a green spiral with a pair of white wings flanking it.
It took Wind Walker a second to stop laughing before he could answer. "Yeah, I've had worse crashes than that. I'm sure Rainbow Dash has too." He got up and floated his hat back onto his head before helping Rainbow Dash up.
"Yeah, much worse, but how did you do that? You're a unicorn, you shouldn't be able to fly."
"Yes, what was that you were standing on?"
Wind Walker was dusting off himself and his coat. "Oh this?" He floated the wings, which had landed nearby, over to the girls so they could see it. "It's something an old friend made for me."
Twilight took the contraption in her magic and examined it. It was two pairs of metallic wings connected by a thin bar, forming an I shape, with a propeller on the front. It was light, and probably hollow.
"I was always jealous of pegasai as a colt, and wanted to fly myself. I got more than a few scrapes and cuts jumping out of trees with cardboard wings." He gave a chuckle at the memory. "I tried so many times I even developed the ability to control wind with my magic, grabbing any edge I could to achieve flight." His horn glowed as he demonstrated this ability by causing the wind to pick up almost enough to knock Twilight off her hooves for a second. "But even with power over wind, cardboard just wasn't enough to keep me off the ground. Vulcan, a local craftsman and inventor, tried to convince me to stop. Probably because the largest tree in town was in his back yard and he was tired of finding an injured foal under it. But despite his insistence I kept at it, determined I could perfect my magic enough to fly. Finally he gave up on talking me out of it, and made this for me."
"How does it work?" Though Twilight was listening she never took her eyes off the wings. She inspected every inch, fascinated at the invention.
"I use magic to spin the propellers, causing it to move forward. As it moves forward, wind goes into holes in the front leading to a spiral tube inside the propellers. The wind causes the propellers to spin even faster, making it move forward faster. The wings are specially shaped so that they lift off the ground when wind moves over them quickly enough. Then I just use a simple spell to keep myself stuck on it, and lean to steer it. It takes a good bit of concentration, and I'll never achieve the mastery of flight comparable to the top pegasus athletes , but it's a heck of a lot better than nothing."
"The first time he showed it to me and explained how it worked I was so excited. As soon as he finished telling me how to use it, and gave me a stern warning on being careful, I took it to his back yard and tried to use it. After a few failed attempts, I finally got it down. I flew for as long as I could, and when I was to tired to keep it up any longer I landed on a mountain outside of town. I sat there, and looked out onto the world. I could see for miles. I saw a beautiful lake, rolling hills, forests, and more. I thought about all of the stories I had heard. The books I had read, the plays I had seen, the games I had played. They were all about great hero's going on epic quests. Saving the world, battling evil beasts, and every other type of adventure imaginable. I envied them all. I craved an adventure of my own. And so I decided I would travel the world. I would walk until I saw everything under the sky, and I would use those wings to see everything in it. I would find the adventure I hungered for. I would become like the heroes I had heard about my whole life. An embodiment of courage and freedom. That's how I got my cutie mark."
"Wow that..." Twilight finally looked up from the wings and at Wind Walker. He has that look in his eyes again. But as soon as he noticed Twilight looking at him he blinked, and the look was once again replaced with his usual joy. "...That's amazing. I-I used my magic to give Rarity wings once, but I never thought of creating something that would let me fly whenever I want." Best not mention it here, I'll have to ask him later when nopony else is around.
"Yeah, that's awesome! This means that there's just that many more ponies that I can race against."
"Sorry ladies, but I'm afraid this is the only one in existence. Vulcan takes pride in his creations, and each one is unique. When I left he made me promise to never tell anypony where they could find him so that his doorstep wouldn't be flooded with more foals wanting to fly." Wind Walker took the wings back into his magic, and they began to fold on top of each other until all four wings and the propeller were laying on top of one another. "And I believe my story has distracted you two from the matter on hand."
"The matter on hand?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"What matter on hand?" Twilight agreed.
"Rainbow Dash owes us a breakfast."
"Oh yes, she does doesn't she?" Twilight turned to her friend.
"Well, see, I would love to," Rainbow Dash stammered slowly backing away. "But I really gotta go so, see ya." She began to fly off again, but this time Twilight was ready for her, seizing the rainbow tail in her purple aura, causing Rainbow Dash to fall and giving both of the unicorns a laugh. "On second thought, I could eat."