Ponyfeathers

by SaintThunder

RD and Twi in the Castle

It was a typical day in Ponyville: ponies milled about the square, their cacophonous chit-chat cascading through the streets, the alleys, the trees beyond; birds sang sweetness into the air, their wingbeats in time with the music; deafening explosions and horror film sound effects from a quaint little cottage on the edge of the Everfree…

Oh the glorious sound, how it filled the clear sky! Ponyville, a tiny yet mighty (loud) village. Such a typical day could have only been achieved on a cloudless morn, with nary a raindrop to be felt by some unsuspecting bystander who would have most likely complained about it. The resident head weather mare ought to be proud of herself. And she was. Almost all the time, in fact.

But alas, the artisan was kept from appreciating her work in all its majesty, as she and her ears were entombed behind three inches of solid, sound-proof gemstone.

Rainbow Dash, the Great, the Amazing, was waiting. Worse, she was waiting and sitting down. Doing nothing. Her wings ached and ground against her sides, desperate for some action. But, she was inside Twilight Sparkle’s crystal castle, and the last time she broke something, Ms. Egghead had her help Spike with his chores for a whole week.

Dash rose from her slouch and tried to wobble her throne, because it seemed like a fun thing to do. It didn’t budge. She scooched forward. The chair remained, a solid rock upon the smooth crystalline surface.

Ugh, it’s attached to the floor, Dash groaned internally. Now, she was waiting, sitting down, and had NOTHING to play with. Her hoof absentmindedly rubbed the edge of the currently blank Cutie Map table, hoping to stumble upon the “on” switch; if it even had one.

Why am I here again? asked Dash of herself, as she was often wont to do. My butt’s not glowing and nopony else is here so…
She lowered her forehead to the table and rubbed her temples vigorously. Blunt force trauma and short term memory did not go hoof in hoof.

Twilight… needed… something? Yeah, something to do with…

Her wings fluffed and spread themselves, as if they remembered too. Dash lifted her head and stared at the star-marked throne opposite her.

These. Figures it was Twilight being all “curious” about wings again. It’s been what, a year or so? I mean, she can fly now, what else is there to-

Rainbow’s train of thought was stopped dead in its tracks by a sudden case of teleporting alicorn. She would’ve tumbled out of her throne, but by virtue of it being completely immobile, she slipped down and around instead.

“Hey Rainbow Dash, hope you didn’t wait for me too long.” Twilight Sparkle addressed the blue pony’s tush, which was straight up in the air.

“Ugh, finally, I’ve been waiting for like, EVER,” came the owner of the blue tush’s voice from the throne’s seat.

“Rainbow, I was gone five minutes.”

“Five minutes, five hours, whatevs. Let’s just get this over with.” Rainbow Dash slid her butt back down, using her wings to grip the throne.

Twilight stared wide-eyed at the movement, apparently too fascinated to care about Rainbow’s usual rudeness.

The alicorn cleared her throat. “Well, I wanted to uh, talk to you about-“

“Wing stuff. You always talk to me about wing stuff now that Daring Do’s on hiatus.” Rainbow looked up and away and scratched behind her ear.

Twilight’s brow crinkled in concern. She reached over and gave her friend a quick side wing hug.

“Aww, Rainbow. I just come to you because I KNOW you’re an expert on all things wings!”

“Yeah yeah,” droned the pegasus as she shrugged purple wings off her withers. “Look, just tell me what you wanna know, and I can teach ya, and then I can go back to practicing my new trick.”

Rainbow Dash had developed an extreme interest in the star-marked throne across from them. And the ones right next to it, and the doors behind it too. Everywhere, in fact, except for Twilight’s face, which had gone into full “concerned friend” mode.

It had been quiet for a bit longer than she was comfortable with. Ugh, what’s with-

“Anyway,” Twilight finally said to break the tension. “I wanted to know about…feather dexterity.”

“The what now?” Rainbow’s sour expression now included eyebrow raising action.

“You know, how you can just, uh…” Twilight curled her feathers, except that they didn’t.

Dash glanced in her direction. From what she could see, the Princess of Friendship was majestically spreading her wings and trying to take a dump. Her face looked like it wanted to swallow itself.

Fifteen seconds of this ridiculous nonsense passed by before Twilight stopped trying and sat her haunches on the floor, panting and lightly drizzled in sweat.

“Ya done yet?” Rainbow Dash had her hind hooves on the table, and was switching them top and bottom.

“What I -heu- mean to -heu- say is,” gasped Twilight, “I want to learn how to move my feathers.”

The Dash stared at her and flapped her wings once.

“No, I want to move them, like…like…I want to grab things.” Twilight mimed the motion with her fetlocks.

“Ah,” exhaled Dash, sitting upright. Putting her hooves on the armrest and leaning over, Dash extended her right wing and pinched the blunt tip of Twilight’s horn.

“Like that?”

Either Dash didn’t know about horns and pinching, and was just messing around; or she did and was teasing her on purpose.

Not that it mattered. Twilight was too busy blushing furiously and stammering gibberish.

“Heh, looks like I learned something about unicorns today.” Rainbow Dash leaned back again and grew that smirk on her face that was just oh so punchable.

“H-horn t-touching aside, yes, I want to learn how to finely manipulate my new fluffy digits.”

“That’s it?” Rainbow’s face could’ve made a lemon forfeit a sour contest.

“Well, it may be very easy for you, you've had wings all your life! I’ve been having trouble with just getting them to move independently. Or at all, actually.” Pouting seemed to be Twilight’s favorite activity today. Creating awkward silences was Rainbow’s.

Finally getting her breath back, Twilight stood up and stepped closer to Dash and her gem throne. Propping herself up on the armrest, she leaned in towards Dash until her nose almost touched her cheek. Had Dash been facing her, they’d have been muzzle to muzzle.

“Please help me with this Rainbow Dash? I feel its cultural impact is too important for me to ignore, and you’re the only one I’m comfortable asking about things like this, so…” Twilight started to drift away from her face. When Dash turned to look at her, their eyes didn’t meet.

Ugh, don’t get so mopey about dumb things, Twi, thought Dash. That’s my job.

“Fine.” She ran her hoof through her mane. “I’ll teach ya about the flippin’ feathers.”

Rainbow suddenly found herself two inches from the ceiling being crushed to death by a pair of alicorn magic enhanced forelegs.

“Oooh, thankyouthankyouthankyou!“ Twilight nuzzled Dash’s chest. With her strength, it soon progressed to a slight burning sensation.

“Uh,” – Dash managed to get her wings untangled – “Twi?”

Twi was too busy being cute to hear her. Naturally, this left Rainbow Dash with only one option.

“Yaaah!”

Twilight plummeted in a blur of limbs and feathers – right into a giant, maroon pillow.

“Never panic when you fall,” advised Rainbow. She began to descend with the alicorn-laden cushion. “You look like a total rookie, and you risk hitting anypony coming to catch you.”

“Wha…“ Twilight’s amethyst eyes were rolling in their sockets. Then they suddenly clicked into place, and her purple mug flushed redder than a ketchup stain on Big Mac's coat.

“Y-You pinched my horn again!” She put her hooves defensively around her protruding member.

“Well it was that or get my chest sanded off by your face,” chided Rainbow Dash. She blew on the spot assaulted by purple muzzle nuzzles. “Besides, I think you liked it.”

Twilight’s face left the visible light spectrum. Had there been any wood around, it would have probably combusted.

“Ah—I—y—you—aaah…” Too embarrassed to continue, Twilight crawled underneath her pillow and whimpered.

Rainbow Dash tried to suppress a giggle. But the attempt only made her laugh LOUDER.

The whimpering increased in volume, and the pillow shifted indignantly. Dash lifted it with her wing to find Twilight in tears.

Ugh, figures that I’d have done this today, Rainbow Dash mentally scolded herself. Grabbing the sobbing royal mess on the floor by the shoulders, Dash pulled Twilight into her embrace and held on tight. Despite everything, purple eyes met blue fur, and the flow began to ebb.

“Ah jeez, Twilight, I’m sorry.” Rainbow Dash ran her hoof through the midnight blue mane, splitting it apart from the strips of pink and purple, and continued down the smooth curve of the spine, stopping right between ruffled lavender wings. Twilight quivered gently, but otherwise did not react. There they stayed, like dusk settling into the sky, signaling the end of the day; the time for rest, peace, and quiet.

Way to go me, thought Rainbow. Always gotta take it too far down the deep end.

Her hoof ran down its path again.

But what else could I do but joke around? We got nothing to talk about anymore. No reason she’d ever call me to hang out or whatever… and she’s always so busy with things, she always has to turn me down whenever I wanna hang out…

At this distance, Rainbow could smell Twilight’s sweet vanilla scent, wafting over her and provoking a melancholic ache deep in her chest. Leaning her head on Twilight’s own seemed to dull it.

“It’s okay.” Twilight eventually pulled her face away from Rainbow’s chest, but curiously left her hooves around her neck. “I was just…overwhelmed, is all.”

Even curiouser, Twilight was still blushing. And staring at her. If Dash had had the mind to, she could…

“Uh—” Rainbow Dash: ruiner of moments. “A-about the feather thing…we can start now, right?” Rainbow Dash: currently mentally slapping herself. “I’ve got a trick to get back to. Practicing. Yeah.” Rainbow Dash: Sonic Rainbooming into a mountain after this.

“Oh.” Twilight stepped away completely. “R-right, I almost forgot with…YES, let’s start.” She adopted a wide, low stance, as if getting ready to take off.

Rainbow lifted Twilight’s chin with the tip of her feather. “We’re gonna start simple.”

---

She was scowling again.

What happened? Twilight rubbed her chin with a hoof. I thought she was finally starting to open up to me, and now…

Dash walked past her, their wings brushing briefly. Turning so that she was directly behind and to the right of Twilight, Dash overlapped her blue wing over Twilight’s purple, slightly offset.

“Okay, so I want to test your range of motion,” explained Rainbow. “Since it looks like you can’t move your feathers on your own, I’m gonna take some of the load off with mine.” She curled her primaries slightly, and Twilight’s primaries followed suit.

“Can you feel anything?” Rainbow Dash’s scowl had been demoted to frown.

Twilight did indeed feel something. And most assuredly, it was because Dash was holding her wing.

“Y-yeah, a little bit.” The temperature in Twilight’s face screeched to a halt, about-faced and marched back up to where it came.

“Okay, now you try,” advised Rainbow.

Twilight gave a short nod and strained to move her fuzzy members. From what she could see, she was able to make them (very slowly) vibrate up and down.

“Haha!” Twilight beamed at her teacher.

But Dash was none too impressed.

“Don’t get too excited yet. Feathers are like muscles, even though they’re technically magic mumbo-jumbo. You’re gonna have to do reps every single day until you can bend them without effort.”

With that, she curled her first primary under Twilight’s, and pulled it upwards.

“Now try moving your other feathers while I hold this one.”

The alicorn did as she was told. Of course, Dash did only say try.

“Are you doing anything yet? I can’t tell.”

Twilight willed her digits to MOVE already. She closed her eyes, sucked in her breath, and PULLED. But the held primary gave too much resistance.

All the commotion made her all too unwary of the sound of hooves dragging and clacking on stone behind her.

“I can…! DO THIS…!” Twilight screamed to the heavens. With a final roar of effort, the feather finally gave way.

The wrong feather. With her eyes closed, she only heard the earth-shattering SNAP as her primary (and the pony holding it) broke the sound barrier. Faster than lightning, Twilight’s horn sparked with white-hot sunlit fury. Then it exploded.

The wave of light washed over everything in a 100 meter radius. Spike, who had been just outside the great doors of the castle, was frozen in midstep. A bluejay by the window, spooked by the flash, was suspended in midair. In the kitchen, a drop of water from the sink was arrested by an unseen force.

In the throne room, Rainbow Dash, her head mere millimeters from a jagged crystal pillar, floated completely motionless above the smooth crystal floor.

Too close, thought Twilight. She stared at Rainbow’s face: eyes closed, teeth gritted, but she showed no fear; merely bracing for impact. Way too close. Thank Celestia that I knew that momentum spell…

She exhaled, and let the light of her horn fade.

The pegasus fell to the floor at a more reasonable speed, and landed flat on her back. With a groan, she slowly sat up and rubbed the back of her head.

“What the heck was that?” half-slurred Rainbow Dash.

Twilight bounded and leaped to the grounded mare, ignoring the fatigue from casting a spell of the ninth level that was both quickened and silent.

“Rainbow Dash, are you okay?!?” She scanned Rainbow’s body for any obvious injuries and found none; still, she couldn’t be sure.

“Yeah, I guess.” Rainbow looked dazed, but didn’t seem to be in pain. She suddenly disappeared with a loud pink POP, and then reappeared, standing on all four hooves, in another.

Twilight, who looked ready to let off the waterworks a second time, embraced her with wings and legs.

“Oh my gosh I didn’t mean to do that I just wanted to finally flex them so bad but I didn’t know my own strength and oh gosh Rainbow I am so sorry please don’t hate me I—”

Her mouth suddenly found itself busy dealing with a hard, furry obstruction.

“Psh, it was an accident, Twi. No big. Even if you hadn’t stopped me with…whatever you just did, I wouldn’t have blamed you.” Rainbow Dash grinned at her and squeezed back, asserting her sincerity. “I’m sure glad ya did though, hehe.”

“Mmmff oommf mmff mf,” said Twilight.

“Whoops,” went Dash, swiftly removing her hoof from the alicorn’s mouth. With the way she put it there, it was covered with a light amount of saliva. Both mares blushed at the same time, and ceased with the hugging.

“You know, I think you got the general idea. A-about the feather thing, I mean. I’m sure you can use a book or something for the resistance training. Just…keep on doing what you’re doing. Yeah. Uh, gotta-”

The wind caught Dash’s last word and blew it out of earshot. The only evidence of the pegasus had even been in the room was a single down feather, which had fallen and started tumbling next to a stack of books on the right of the doorway.

A purple glow seized the feather before it could follow the backdraft going into the hallway. Twilight walked to it, and brought it closer to her face. Reluctantly, she brought her right wing forward. Her primaries inched towards the floating feather.

Come on, just grab it. I can do this. Just-

The feather lost its luminescence and fell away from her. The double doors, finally free from the gale-force winds that held them fast against their frame, swung back and forth. Twilight’s vision blurred, its edges going dark.

Drain…catching…up to me… She slumped to the floor as gently as she could.

The last thing she saw was that sky blue down feather, flying away from her reach.

Comments

[Dash32]

Great first chapter! Keep going!

[Dillmccathron]

This is a very interesting chapter to read it hope you keep up a good work update more soon

[Quantum Logic]

Nice D&D reference. You normally play a sorcerer? Or more back when all casters could get meta-magic?

Twilight bounded and leaped to the grounded mare, ignoring the fatigue from casting a spell of the ninth level that was both quickened and silent.