The Soul's Twin

by RDTwin

Flying Time

Twilight looked gloomily out of her window and sighed. The pegasi had scheduled a big rainstorm and she had failed to invite anypony over to keep her company. Spike was busy with his chores downstairs and the old library seemed about as dismal as the Everfree Forest. Twilight wrapped her tail around herself and laid on her bed. Usually she would have something to do, especially now that she was an alicorn. One would think that there would at least be an advanced book of spells that she could be working on--heck, maybe even a Daring Do book, but, no, she had read and re-read those books--but, sadly, it seemed fate was not looking well upon her.

Spike came up the stairs. “Hey, Twilight, I’m finished downstairs is there anything else...” He trailed off. “Uh, Twilight, are you alright?”

“I don’t know, Spike.” Twilight looked at him. “It’s just… for the first time in my life, I have nothing to do. I never, ever thought I’d be saying this, but… I’m bored.” Her ears and wings drooped.

“Really?” asked Spike. “But I thought you had the whole week planned out!”

“Well, I did,” Twilight said, getting off her bed and trotting over to her calendar. “But when Rainbow announced the rainstorm yesterday, I was so busy with that Duplication Spell that I hardly had time for anything else, let alone apologizing for hitting her with it after she scared me.” She sighed. “At least there weren’t any side effects, or none that we know of yet.” Her ears flattened as she thought about that.

“Well, you were kinda busy yesterday, so I can’t say I blame you.”

They both stood there, listening to the rain until Spike’s face lit up with an idea. “I got it!” he said with a smile.

“What? Got what?” Twilight asked him with a confused look.

“Well,” began Spike hesitantly, “you spend so much time on your magic spells, but now that you’re a princess, I haven’t seen you so much as notice your wings.” Spike paused. “Well, except at night time that is.”

Twilight glared at him.

Spike put his hands up in defense. “Hey, I’m just saying that, maybe if you practice, they’ll get easier to handle.” Twilight hesitantly unclasped her wings from her flanks and looked at them uncertainly. “Come on,” encouraged Spike, “I’m sure you have at least ONE book on flying in this library.”

Twilight broke from her anticipation and smiled at Spike. “You’re right, Spike. I could do with a change of focus.” She walked over to him and nuzzled him. “What would I do without my number-one assistant?”

She and Spike trotted downstairs to look for a book on flight. “Hmm,” Spike muttered to himself, “where was that book Scootaloo is always reading?” He stroked his chin for a second before he snapped his fingers and scurried up a ladder. “Hey Twilight! I found something.”

Twilight stuck her head out from behind a bookshelf. “Really?”

“Yeah! This is the book that Scootaloo reads all the time.” Twilight magically levitated the book over to her and read the cover. Flight Tips for Young Pegasi

“Well, I guess there’s a beginning for everything.” She took the book over to her special reading spot by her bay window and settled down in the pillows to read the book. Shortly thereafter, Spike came over to Twilight with a short stack of books.

“Here,” he said, sitting them down, “these are all the books you have on flying.” He produced another, smaller volume from behind his back. “I even brought over the anatomy book on unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies.” He proudly placed it on top of the pile.

Twilight’s ears pulled down to match her smile. “Thanks, Spike.”

He retired to the loft and, out of genuine curiosity, watched Twilight as she became thoroughly engrossed in her book. He saw Twilight stretch her wings out fully and slowly test each one, stretching and flexing each muscle to get the feel of them. Then she pulled out the anatomy book and scrutinized every page on pegasus wings to learn exactly how they functioned. In no time at all, she attempted her first time hovering.

It wasn’t pretty.

She closed her eyes with a nervous sigh and double-checked the angle of her wings. Then, cautiously, she began to flap.

The first few times she failed to get the angle right and only hovered for a second each time. After a stubborn groan, she tried again. Spike watched nervously as more and more space grew between Twilight and the floor. Curious to see how she had progressed, Twilight opened her eyes and did the one thing she probably should not have done. She looked down.

Instantly, panic set in, and she lost all concentration on her wings and went plummeting towards the floor. Spike cringed as she hit the floor.

THUD!

He rushed down to see her getting back up on all four hooves, rubbing her nose. “Twilight, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Spike,” she said, still rubbing her nose. “I just landed in the wrong position.” Before Spike could start laughing, he heard a knock on the door of the library.

“I’ll get it, Twi.” He walked over to the door and opened it, and standing just in the dry spot was none other than Rainbow Dash herself.

“Hey Spike,” she said casually, “I was on my way home from training with Fleetfoot and Spitfire and, uh—thought I’d stop by. Also,” she said, sheepishly rubbing the back of her neck, “your house is a lot closer than mine and I was getting kinda soaked.” Spike chuckled and led the slightly soaked pegasus inside.

Twilight had once again returned to her pile of books and was viciously attacking the fourth one in the pile, completely unaware of her guest.

Rainbow took one look at Twilight and shook her head, Egghead, she thought to herself jokingly. If it’s not a novel, it’s a spell book; and if it’s not a spell book, she paused before finishing, I’m not gonna’ go there.

“Hey, Twilight!” She spoke up but received no answer. Twilight continued to slip away into her book.

“Uh, Twilight?” Still nothing.

The pegasus looked around and saw the alicorn’s inkwells perfectly lined up on her desk. An evil smirk spread across her face and she “accidentally” nudged one into the other, creating a sharp clink sound, immediately snapping Twilight out of her trance.

“Oh, hi, Rainbow Dash,” she said after freaking out for a second. “What brings you over here?”

Rainbow Dash watched Twilight casually wander over to her inkwells and realign them.

“Oh, well, ya’ know, I was flying back from practice and I thought I could take a short detour before heading home.” She walked over to the book Twilight had recently set down, “So, whatcha’ readin’?” Rainbow read the title. Advanced Flying Techniques.

Rainbow Dash set the book down and looked at Twilight with a raised eyebrow. “Really?”

“What?” Twilight asked innocently.

“I mean this.” She pointed a hoof at the stack of books. “You’re trying to learn to fly by reading?”

“Um, yeah,” Twilight answered, unsure of the response she was going to get.

Rainbow facehoofed. “Of course you would,” she muttered, half to herself and half to Twilight. “Look Twi,” she said, “flying isn’t something you can learn from books.” A big grin swept across her face. “It’s something pegasuses--”

“Pegasi,” Twilight corrected.

“Whatever. Pegasi with experience teach the other ones.”

“But where would I find an experienced pegasus to teach me?” asked Twilight as she placed a hoof on her chest in mock sarcasm.

“Hey,” Rainbow said, “I’m not so busy that I can’t take time out for my friends. I’m not the Element of Loyalty for nothing, ya know.”

Twilight chuckled as Rainbow flipped her mane in pride. “So, you tried hovering yet?”

“Well, um...” Twilight began.

“Yeah,” Spike interrupted, “and she was awesome! Well, except for the fact that she landed rough.”

“Rough?” Dash asked.

“Okay, she crashed.”

“Okay Spike,” Twilight said, her horn glowing purple, “I think you have some books to organize upstairs.”

“No, I don’t,” protested Spike. “I just finished less than an hour ago.” He turned around to point at a large pile of books upstairs in the loft. He turned back to glare at Twilight before heading upstairs. Rainbow Dash could hardly hold back a laugh as Spike moped off in defeat.

“You looked down, didn’t you?” Dash asked after regaining her composure.

“Huh?” Twilight looked surprised.

“You looked down before you landed rough.” Rainbow emphasized the last two words.

“How’d you know?” exclaimed Twilight.

“It’s one of the first mistakes all pegasus… pegasi make. Even I did it. Fortunately, Fluttershy and I had clouds to break our fall. By the way yours sounds, you weren’t so lucky.”

“No really. Ya think?” said Twilight, the sarcasm dripping from her voice.

“Well,” Dash said, “the first thing we need to do is to teach you how to land properly. Next I can get you comfortable with hovering, and once we get those down, then we can work on moving around in the air.”

“Okay,” said the eager alicorn, “let’s get started.”

Rainbow then started explaining, in detail, the position to land in, the tuck-and-roll method, and a few other concepts. Soon enough, though, the newly trained alicorn was ready for her second attempt at hovering.

“All right,” Rainbow said, “let’s double-check everything: wings, open and parallel to the floor.”

“Check.”

“Shoulders relaxed and easy to move.”

“Check.”

“Mind alert.”

“Check.”

“Eyes, OPEN.”

Twilight gave a little smirk before answering, “Check.”

“Alright,” said Rainbow Dash. “When you start flapping, start out gentle, like I showed you. Not hard--that’s only useful for a quick ascent, which is only needed in an emergency or when you’re showing off to your friends.” Some of her cockiness came back into the teacher’s voice.

Twilight, now confident in her new trainer, began gently flapping her wings just hard enough to get her airborne.

“Good,” said Dash. “Maybe, ever so slightly, add a little more power.”

Twilight beat a little harder, now evening her altitude with Rainbow’s. “Good, keep it steady.” Then after a few seconds of hovering, Dash asked, her eyes glimmering in anticipation, “So how’s the view up here?”

The alicorn looked around. “Well, now that I can actually look without plummeting to my death, it’s... very nice. I can see why flying is such a big deal to you, Rainbow. I feel so... free.”

“Exactly!” the pegasus exclaimed with an aerial loop. “It’s AWESOME up here! Oh Celestia, once we get you movin’ around…” Rainbow by now was doing barrel-rolls and somersaults and other acrobatic maneuvers like crazy as she finished, “I’ll teach you the really cool stuff.”

“Thanks Rainbow, but I think for now... aaahh!” Twilight turned her head to see Rainbow hurtling towards her.

In the middle of a barrel-roll and, due to her inability to move in the air, she couldn’t do anything to prevent the inevitable collision. The next instant, there was a tangle of hooves and wings and they both plummeted to the floor. Luckily, Twilight was able to conjure a small, purple bubble shield around them both before impacting the floor; unluckily, a hole appeared in the floor from the force of the shield landing on it.

Rainbow shook the confusion out of her head and stood back up as Twilight moved them out of the crater made in her floor and dissolved the shield.

“Wow, that magic does come in handy!” Rainbow looked down at the hole in the floor and her face flushed in embarrassment. “Yeah, sorry about that;” she started rubbing the back of her neck again, “I don’t know what came over me. It’s just that, the Wonderbolts are so strict that I haven’t exactly had a friend to just fly with, especially with my weather job being first priority.”

“It’s okay, Rainbow.” said Twilight, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “Everypony sometimes acts like a filly when they’re having fun.” A crimson color mingled with her amethyst cheeks. “Even me.”

“Thanks, Twi.” Rainbow appreciated her understanding. She tried to offer to help fix the floor, but Twilight wouldn’t hear of it.

“No, Rainbow, as I said for the twentieth time.” That pony was so determined sometimes.

“All right, then.” Rainbow finally accepted her defeat. She turned to walk towards the door intending to go home, but then she brightened.

“Hey Twi, Pinkie’s throwing a party tomorrow night and we’re all going to be there, as is your favorite mixer, Vinyl Scratch.” She looked around nervously for Spike as she beckoned Twilight closer in secrecy. “It’s going to be one of those parties.”

Twilight grew a knowing smirk. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Author's Note:

Big thanks to DJ-Vinyl and Bad_Seed for their editing job. This is the first installment of a series so I hope that you will stay and enjoy it as it grows. Positive or negative comments are cool; they will help me to express the story better.

Comments

[Daring Deux]

You should cite the cover art. It's from here. You'll also be able to get it in a better resolution there. And it has already been used on this story. Not that matters terrible, I suppose.

[Bad_Seed_72]

Good start so far. Despite the lack of a Romance tag, I suspect TwiDash.

[RDTwin]

3593979
I don't know if it will grow into a romance, per-say, but I will keep it in mind should it turn that way.
Its more of an adventure based story.