• Published 19th Oct 2013
  • 1,820 Views, 27 Comments

Tornado Twilight - Twippledash



Cloudsdale needs water from Ponyville's highland reservoir once again. Now that Twilight Sparkle has recently acquired wings, Rainbow Dash insists she must help create the needed tornado with the other pegasi.

  • ...
0
 27
 1,820

Chapter 3: Learning to Fly

Chapter 3: Learning to Fly

“Come on, Flitter! You can do better! I’ve seen butterflies flying faster than that! Go, go, go! Flap those wings! Now that’s more like it, but I know you can still do better! Keep on practicing!”

Rainbow was already in full swing coaching some early risers as Twilight arrived at the racetrack on the outskirts of Ponyville with Spike perched on her back, right on time as the sun was just peeking from behind the horizon. As Rainbow noticed Twilight had arrived, she immediately left Flitter’s side on the racetrack and swooped right next to the alicorn.

“Morning, Twilight,” she said, wearing a cap and having a whistle hanging from a string tied around her neck. “Ready for some warm-up rounds?”

Twilight sighed. “I guess I have no choice. Just give me a few minutes so I can assemble this anemometer first so we can start measuring wing powers right off the bat.” She levitated four propeller blades, a few metal supports and bolts, and the base of the anemometer with an attached gauge, setting them on the ground.

“I can do that,” Spike said, jumping off of Twilight’s back. “You just go warm up with Rainbow Dash while I’ll build this thing up. I’ve done it enough times already that I’m sure I could do it with my eyes closed and my hands tied behind my back.”

Why did you have to open your mouth? Twilight thought, glaring at her dragon assistant. There went that last plan to procrastinate the flight training, even if it could have only given her a few minutes more.

“That’s settled then,” Rainbow said before Twilight could protest. “Come on Twi! First fly a few laps around the track so I can see your flying and give you some expert advice. Once you’ve got the basics right we can start working up the speed.”

Twilight gulped. Closest to the flying she had done over the last few days had been to just flex her wings, as she had been way too engrossed with her studying and experiments in the library to even think about flight practice. And her “flying” before that had really been nothing more than hovering in place for short times or fluttering several feet forwards at a steady pace—usually ending up with a nosedive into the ground below. Even last night when she knew she should have been practicing, she had only read several books on flight theory, and before she knew it had already been long in the night. And now she was asked to fly in front of not just any pegasus, but one of the best fliers she had ever known, if not the best.

She took a deep breath. “Okay, here goes...” she said, having no more excuses to avoid getting airborne. She flared her wings open and started to slowly flap them; it was partly instinctive already, but getting airborne still asked for great conscious effort on her part. Nevertheless, she managed to lift herself a few feet off the ground, and managed to keep herself aloft, even though her hovering was quite wobbly.

“Hmm...” Rainbow inspected her flying a few feet at her side. “I’m not saying that’s a good start, but a start anyway. You hover like you haven’t been sleeping for a week, or like you’ve just had a little too much hard cider.”

“Oh, thanks for encouragement,” Twilight said sarcastically, almost losing her balance mid-air, trying to concentrate both on flying and talking at the same time. “But I can assure you I have been sleeping well the last few nights, and I am completely sober, thank you very much. What next?”

“Hey, I’m just honestly telling how your flying looks like,” Rainbow said with a shrug. “And I already said what’s next: go fly a few laps around that racetrack.” Rainbow pointed towards the racetrack with her hoof. There were five pegasi flying some laps around it already, apparently having a race against each other, while several other pegasi were around it either stretching or doing wing push-ups. “Well, what are you still waiting? Go, go, go!” She blew a quick blast into her whistle, causing Twilight to cringe.

“Okay, okay, I’m going!” Twilight shifted her weight forwards, just like all the books about learning to fly had said, to propel herself forward. Trying to get a hasty start she shifted her weight a little too much though, and all she managed to do was to make a crash landing a few feet in front of her, accompanied by a brief scream.

“Ow,” she said flatly with a muffled voice, her muzzle buried in the soil. As Twilight pulled her head off the ground, she could see Rainbow and Spike stifling their laughter. “Yeah, very funny,” she said. Despite the setback, she was soon back on her wings, this time concentrating more on her flying, and actually managed to fly forwards in a steady pace. A steady and a very slow pace.

“Hey, you’re supposed to fly, like, soar through the sky,” Rainbow said, lazily flying circles around Twilight. “Not just hover and let the gentle breeze carry you around. I know you can do better than this! Try leaning forwards a little more and put more force into those flaps.”

Easy for you to say, Twilight thought, still focusing intently on her wings just to keep herself in the air. She tried to do what Rainbow suggested anyway, and to her surprise and delight managed to keep her balance this time, increasing her flight speed significantly in the process.

“That’s better!” Rainbow said, having to actually put tiniest bit of effort in flying circles around Twilight now. “Buuut... it’s still way too slow. You really need to work on it. You know what? Forget about those laps around the racetrack for now, and just fly around here and get used to those wings of yours. I can see you are still having problems with controlling them and that’s not really something I can help you with, but I’m sure an hour or two of continuous flying will make that better.”

“Sounds like a—whoa!” Twilight said, losing balance momentarily as she looked at Rainbow, but with a quick correction somehow managed to stay in the air this time. After regaining her balance, she continued, “Eheh... I meant to say, sounds like a good plan.”

“Great! Just fly around, and try to work on speed once you get the balance right. And no slacking! I’ll be keeping an eye on you as well as all the others. I’ll get to coach the others now, but I’ll get back to you after an hour or two, so we can work on speed flight. Later!” With that she zoomed off to the middle of the racetrack, and started shouting her orders and encouragements to the pegasi there. Almost everypony had arrived already, and only a few were still missing, Fluttershy among the few.

As Twilight continued her flight practice in solitude, Spike had finished assembling the anemometer and had carried it next to the racetrack to start measuring wing powers with Rainbow’s assistance. The rest of the pegasi also arrived soon, everyone checking up at Dash before going to perform various training routines, save for Fluttershy, who after arriving talked with Rainbow Dash for a moment, and then came to see Twilight.

“Um... Twilight?” Fluttershy asked, hovering next to her.

“Oh, hi Fluttershy,” Twilight answered, having been so engrossed with her training that she hadn’t even noticed the other pegasus until she was right in front of her and spoke up. Her hovering was almost on an instinctive level already, so she could now easily talk with her without losing balance, as long as she didn’t do any sudden movements. “What are you doing here? Didn’t Rainbow give you some training to do?”

“Oh, yes,” Fluttershy said. “But she told it would be best if we two trained together, because we’re close friends and all. She also thought I would be a good pegasus to teach you some basic flying techniques. She said I was the only one who could take things slowly enough for you to keep up.”

Typical Rainbow Dash; disguising an insult as a compliment... though I’m not sure whether she insulted mine or Fluttershy’s flight capabilities more, Twilight thought. “Well, that was quite thoughtful of her, and makes sense too. We are the slowest ones of the bunch by far after all, so it’s just logical to let us train at our own pace while Rainbow coaches the others. You’re my teacher now then, I guess. So, what should we do first?”

“Oh, uh, I don’t know.” Fluttershy fidgeted nervously. “I’ve never taught flying to anypony. As a filly I was always the last one to learn everything, and I never thought I would ever teach somepony else flying. I don’t even know where to start.”

“How about you start with the very basics?” Twilight suggested. “Like, for example, how do I turn around mid-air? So far I’ve managed to hover on place and fly to nearly every direction, but I’m still trying to figure out how to make myself turn around with these things without losing my balance!” she shouted in frustration, emphasizing her point by making a sharp ninety-degree turn to the right—only to end up in a spin towards the ground below, landing face first with a loud thud.

“Oh... oh my,” Fluttershy said, Flying down next to Twilight, who was already recovering from her crash landing. “Are you all right?”

“Yes... mostly at least,” Twilight answered groggily, rubbing her temples with a hoof to alleviate a throbbing headache caused by the crash. “That wasn’t my first face to face meeting with the ground today, and I’m afraid it won’t be the last either... Anyway, let’s get back on the training before Rainbow sees us and comes to scold us for not doing any flying like she ordered, shall we?”


“Hi again, Fluttershy. How are you two doing here?”

Twilight and Fluttershy were still flying on the side as Rainbow flew by to check on their training. Twilight was now flying in wide circles twenty feet in the air, while Fluttershy was hovering below and overseeing her.

Fluttershy nodded upwards at the spinning alicorn. “Twilight has been improving significantly since we started. She’s been flying circles up there for a few minutes now, and to be honest, I’m getting slightly dizzy even just watching her.”

Rainbow nodded approvingly, looking up at Twilight, who was indeed flying in nearly perfect circles, albeit the wing power in her flying couldn’t have been any more than one. “That’s basically what we have to do in order to create that tornado—fly in circles—so it’s good to see she’s got that right at least,” she said to Fluttershy and looked back down at her. “And how about you? I know you’ve already got the ‘flying without constantly crashing or losing balance’ checked, but I hope you’ve been improving your wing power on the side while watching over her.”

“Oh yes,” Fluttershy answered, glancing down at an assortment of animals accompanying her. “My little animal friends have been helping me with my training just like last time, and they are doing a wonderful job in it too.”

“Good to hear,” Rainbow said, not even looking away from the other pegasus. “How about you two come over at the racetrack with us so we can measure your wing powers too. We’ve already got baselines for every other pegasus here, and only your measurements are missing.” Before Fluttershy could give an answer, Rainbow looked up again and shouted, “Twilight! Time to measure your wing power!”

“I’m coming!” Twilight shouted back, quickly dipping downwards to get back on the ground. She dipped a little too far once again though, and instead of making a graceful glide down like she had intended, she made a steep plunge right towards the ground. She managed to pull up right before hitting the ground slowing her descent, but still hit the ground with a thud, causing Fluttershy and Rainbow to flinch.

“I’m okay... I’m actually getting quite used to this already...” she said with a groan, standing up on the ground as the two pegasi landed beside her.

“Yeah...” Rainbow said slowly, scratching the back of her head. “You really need to work on recovering from nosedives, as well as on landing. Anyway, we’ve got some wing powers to measure, so come on!” She gestured for the other two to follow and took off to fly back towards the racetrack, where the other pegasi were still training nonstop.


“Only zero point eight? It sure felt faster than that...” Twilight said, walking back at the finish line to hear the result of her flyby. “Well, could be worse. It’s still better than what Fluttershy got on her first try last time.” She grinned sheepishly and turned towards the yellow pegasus. “Uh, no offense.”

“None taken,” Fluttershy said softly. She was on a good mood after having found out her wing power had increased to a whopping three point one since the last time, so she didn’t mind Twilight insulting the results of her old runs. She looked at Twilight, who seemed to be surprisingly content with her result; she could still remember her own reaction to finding out her wing power had been below one. “Aren’t you, uh... upset? Because of such a low score I mean. Not that being a weak flier is bad...”

“Upset? Me? Why would I be?” Twilight said with a laugh. “I’m just glad I’ve managed to do even as well as I’ve done. I mean, I’ve already flown today more than on the other days combined ever since I got my wings, and the day has barely even started! Princess Celestia always told me I was a quick learner, but I didn’t think I could improve in flying this quickly if I just put some effort in it.”

Rainbow had been checking the wing power records, and now looked up from the notepad with a snort. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you every day ever since you got those wings, but did you ever listen? No, you didn’t. You always had your nose buried in a book, or were doing some freaky experiments in your basement, or were busy re-shelving the books in the library, or had some princess duties, or whatnot. You never took on my offers to give you any flight practice. It’s almost as if you’ve been purposefully ignoring those offers and just made up some of the tasks as excuses.”

Twilight cleared her throat and looked aside awkwardly. She had thought Rainbow hadn’t been suspecting anything, but what the pegasus said about her ignoring her offers to give flight lessons was absolutely true. She had hoped nopony would have noticed, but she had been indeed actively avoiding most of the activities involving flying with her own two wings. Not because she was afraid of heights—that wasn’t true, and she even occasionally went to a ride with her hot air balloon or an open royal chariot—but because she had been afraid of flying with her own wings, fearing she might lose control of them high above the ground. Admittedly her fears had been quelled quite a bit already over the course of the last few hours, but she still didn’t find flying appealing to her.

“A-ha!” Rainbow shouted after an awkward moment of silence, pointing an accusing hoof at Twilight. “So I take it you have been avoiding my flight lessons on purpose, haven’t you?”

Twilight snapped out of her little mind trip and back to the present situation. She folded her ears back and slumped back in embarrassment. “Well... yes,” she said quietly. “But not all of those were excuses,” she continued with a defensive tone. “For example, last Thursday I really had a scheduled re-shelving day, and on the Tuesday before that—”

“I don’t want to hear you excusing your excuses or whatever you are doing now,” Rainbow interrupted her. “But what I would like to know is an answer for a simple question. Why? Why were you avoiding my flight lessons?” Her voice was curious and a little bit concerned, rather than angry or frustrated like Twilight had expected.

“Umm...” Twilight looked around, unsure what to say. She was relieved to see nopony else was paying attention to their discussion, save for Fluttershy, who was standing right next to them. “I... well...”

“She’s afraid of flying,” Fluttershy said, squeaking a little afterward. “Uh, I hope you don’t mind me saying that, Twilight.”

Twilight sat silent, with her mouth agape. A moment later she shook her head, and said to Fluttershy, “How did you—uh, I mean...” She sighed. “Okay, well, maybe I am a little afraid. Or at least I was. But how did you know? I don’t think I ever said that to anypony. I only said I was a little nervous, but I didn’t mention being afraid of flying.”

Fluttershy smiled gently. “You didn’t say it aloud, but I could easily tell that from your body language when we talked in the library yesterday. Especially those tiny twitches and droops of your wings during our discussion were sure signs of you being afraid of it, at least a little bit.”

“Huh?” Twilight looked at Fluttershy incredulously. “You really saw all that by just looking at my body and wings?”

“Yes,” Fluttershy said. “I didn’t mean to pry, but I... I just have an eye for that sort of details.”

“So... just to clarify,” Rainbow Dash said to Twilight, who now looked back at the pegasus. “You were afraid of flying, and because of that you didn’t want to take flying lessons? Why didn’t you just tell me that instead of making up those excuses?”

Twilight snorted. “I didn’t want anypony to know about my fear of flying. I bet you would have just dragged me on a cloud by force and dropped me down from there in order to make me fly the hard way if I had told you that. And what would everypony think about a princess who’s too afraid to use her own wings?”

“Hm. Good point,” Rainbow said. “That’s probably what I would have done too. But how about now? Are you still afraid?”

Twilight thought for a moment. On one hoof she still didn’t feel comfortable at flying on high altitudes, but on the other hoof she had been flying quite a lot today already, and hadn’t yet had any panic attacks or severe injuries. In fact, at the moment she wouldn’t have minded having a little flight around the meadow to learn controlling her wings better. “No, I’m not,” she said, shaking her head. “I guess my fears were quite unfounded. But I still don’t think I’m ready to fly into a tornado.”

“In that case you’ll just have to train harder.” Rainbow took a breath and blew to her whistle, causing Twilight and Fluttershy to wince at the shrill sound. She took on her wings and yelled at the face of the other two, “Get back on your wings and fly ten laps around the track, on the double! Both of you! Now!


Next several hours literally flew past with intense training, with just a short lunch break in between training sessions. Soon it was already late afternoon, and time for the last wing power measurements of the day. Rainbow was on the finish line, marking up the records with the help of Spike and shouting out orders to the others.

“Thirteen point six!” Rainbow shouted to Thunderlane, who had just flown by. “Now that’s very impressive! Not nearly as impressive as my own record of seventeen point eight, but impressive nevertheless. Flitter! Your turn!

“Nine point eight. Not quite hitting the target of ten, but almost there! Better than your last run by point four anyway, so keep up the good work! Cloudchaser, you’re next!

“Twelve point one! Wouldn’t have expected less from a fellow Wonderbolt Academy attendee. Derpy! To the start line, on the double!

“Nine point one. Not bad. Just try not to swerve off of the flightpath that much next time, okay? Fluttershy, your turn!

“Four point two! Great job Fluttershy! It may not be on the same level as with all the others...” She glanced at Twilight, who was getting ready for her flyby next to the start line. “...well, most of the others here, but it’s still a huge improvement over your record last time. You’ve almost doubled your wing power since the last tornado. If you would practice like this more regularly, like an hour or two every day, you’d have a wing power of over ten in no time!”

Fluttershy blushed. “I’m not really that good... and I don’t think I could keep up training like this for longer periods of time.”

“Nonsense, you have great potential, and you just have to find it from inside of you,” Rainbow said. “Anyway, last one! Twilight! Show what you’ve got!” she shouted towards the start line.

Twilight perked her ears at the call of her name, and stepped on the track right behind the white line painted on it. She took a few galloping steps and jumped into the air, beating her wings as hard as she could to provide maximum amount of thrust. And in a few seconds she found out she had already passed the finish line

“Two point seven,” Rainbow said after Twilight returned to the finish line, having genuinely surprised tone in her voice. “Not bad. Not bad at all, considering today is the first day you’ve ever got any real flight training. I wonder if your quick advancement has something to do with those alicorn wings; they at least look more sturdy than regular pegasus wings, and thus would probably give you better thrust.” She lowered her voice so that only Twilight could hear her. “Then again, if wing size was all that mattered, Snowflake wouldn’t be able to fly at all. And yet he’s one of the fastest pegasi here.”

Twilight took a discreet glance at the massive and muscular white pegasus with filly-sized wings on his back, and gave a tiny chuckle. “Well, I guess these bigger wings give a little advantage, but it’s probably the passive alicorn magic that matters more. You know pegasi wouldn’t be able to physically fly without some inherent pegasus magic assisting, and I think me being an alicorn makes that magic stronger. I really need to do some research and experiments on this later. Say, would you like to come to the library after the tornado, so I could—”

“No way,” Rainbow answered curtly. “Don’t try to pull me into your freaky experiments. I’ve got better things to do.” Twilight tried to protest, but Rainbow was already a few feet in the air, blowing three times to her whistle to get the attention of everypony. “Listen up everypony! Our wing powers are now measured, and according to the calculations we all together got way more than the required eight hundred wing power! I’ll go inform Cloudsdale that we are now ready, and we are moving to the highland reservoir in half an hour! Get yourselves ready by then!”

She zoomed off into the sky, leaving only a short-lived rainbow trail and a cloud of dust behind.