Lift, Weight, Thrust, and Drag
Pleading was a practiced and perfected tactic in Rainbow Dash’s arsenal, and she knew when it was time to pull out the big guns. On her knees outside the Golden Oaks Library, she threw caution and dignity to the wind and groveled as if her life depended on it. “Pinkie, please please, please, you gotta save me! Prank me with ten pounds of sneezing powder, or lock me in a closet, or…”
The poofy party planner blew a raspberry in Dash’s general direction. “Silly Dashie-kins! You can’t go back in the closet when you’re already out. Besides, don’t you have a big date tonight?”
“Yeah, that’s the problem!” The cyan mare glanced over both shoulders, tapping her hooves nervously. “Twi and I have our three month anniversary today, and she’s expecting me to be all romantic and mushy and… and… bleah!”
Pinkie patted Dash on her tousle-maned head. “Sorry, no can do, Dasharoo. It’s pink hearts and roses for you! Oooh, I know! Want me to teach you a love song? You can serenade Twily until she’s a puddle of mushy purple happiness! Listen close, the lyrics are kinda complex.” Balancing on the Library’s mailbox, she began to croon. “It’s a piece of cake to bake a pretty cake! If the way is hazy, you gotta do the cooking by the book… Wait, no, that’s the song that works on me, not the one for Twilight. Hmmm…”
While Dash hopped frantically from hoof to hoof, the pink earth mare’s performance attracted the attention of two familiar passing ponies. “Shy, Rarity, thank Celestia! You two can help me think of a way out. If not, I’m doomed! Twi expects me to have some gushy snuggle-bunny anniversary dinner in there, and I can’t! My reputation for awesomeness barely survived that trip to the spa – if word gets out that I let myself get roped into this lovey-dovey muck, I’m ruined!”
“Rainbow Dash, I’m ashamed of you!” Hooves on her hips, Fluttershy put on an epically motherly scolding face. “Some of my best friends are snuggle bunnies and lovey dovies, and they’re perfectly nice little critters! Next time you come to my cottage, I want you to apologize to all the bunnies and doves for associating them with the kind of face you’re making.”
“Really, Dash, darling, it’s not so bad.” Rarity cantered over to lay a comforting hoof around the multi-hued mare’s shoulder. “It’s only one night of sweet romance with heartfelt confessions of love and devotion. Tomorrow you can return to your usual boorish, inarticulate, emotionally deaf-mute self. Tonight, though, is a night for amour!”
Dash leapt up and hugged the alabaster mare tightly. “You’re totally right, Rares! That’s it - armor! If I can find my old Commander Hurricane getup, I can rock it all night! Twilight hates that thing, she’ll kick me out for sure, at least until she’s over this whole hearts-aflutter thing.”
The sigh was inevitable. “Not armor, dearest, amour – love! It’s Prench for… ah, even better! I can teach you some Prench love poems, certain to melt the heart of your loving Twilight. How did the one about mi amour go? Yes, it – Dash, are you listening?”
If listening meant doing her best corpse imitation, complete with lolling tongue and twitching legs pointed to the night sky, then Rainbow nailed it. Behind her a door creaked open, spilling soft light onto the four gathered ponies. From inside the sinister abode came a voice that chilled the azure pegasus’ soul. “Dashie, sweetheart, are you ready for some cuddle-wuddle time? I have a warm fire and some fuzzy blankets all ready for us!”
A lilac glow surrounded the prostrate Dash, whose eyes grew large as her hooves scraped and scratched at the earth, failing find purchase. The glow drew her into the library, overcoming her desperately flapping wings and plaintive pleas. “No! I don’t want to snuggle! I don’t want to cuddle! I’m too awesome! Too… awesome… to… cuddle!” Her cries died as the door slammed shut and the library’s lights grew dim.
~~~~~
“Are they gone, RD? Think they bought it?”
“Yep, they’re gone. I totally sold it! Shoulda been an actor.”
Taking a cyan hoof in her own, Twilight headed up the stairs to her cozily unkempt bedroom. “Are you still okay with this, Dash? You don’t have to do this for me, you know.”
“I’d do anything for you, Sparky!” Dash’s smile was visible even in the flickering candlelight. “Even this. As long as our little agreement holds, right? And I get to pick what we do for our next anniversary. So tonight I’ll do what we talked about for you, but if you breathe a word of this to anypony, the girls included - even in a friendship report - then I’m outta here.”
They reached the bedroom landing, where the purple mare turned to face her blue counterpart. “So I can’t tell them you never dropped out of flight school like you claimed?”
“No.”
“And I can’t tell anypony that not only were you not a dropout, you actually graduated with honors?”
“Definitely not.”
“And that you were so far ahead of your classmates that they asked you to be a teaching assistant in your senior year?”
“Absolutely no way.”
“And that you published articles in Cloudsdale Aeronautics Monthly under the pseudonym ‘Prismatic Charge’?”
“So. Totally. Uncool.”
“Well, then… Let’s get started. It is our anniversary, after all.” Twilight’s tail brushed Dash’s as she sauntered to her bed, where she lay on her stomach, head propped in her hooves. Her voice was the sultry whisper all librarians know but few use openly. “Dash… teach me.”
“The things I do for love,” muttered the pegasus. She turned to an easel in the corner of the room and taking a marker in her hoof, began to draw diagrams. Clearing her throat, she motioned to the crude sketch of a wing. “Okay, the four basics of wingborne flight are lift, weight, thrust, and drag. Lift counteracts the force of gravity and is a factor of airflow across the wing surface, which acts as an airfoil. Weight represents gravity and opposes lift. See the arrows I drew here?” She glanced over her shoulder and saw Twilight’s eyes closed, her head on the bed, and her front hooves nowhere to be seen.
“Thrust is created by altering the angle of attack of the lifting surface, essentially converting pure upward lift into forward motive power. Drag is the action of air friction against the body surface and counteracts thrust.” A low moan behind her caused Dash to inhale sharply, her wings silently sliding outward.
“Right. Wings can be described in terms of aspect ratio, which is the ratio of wing length to chord, or front-to-back width across a flat plane. Long, thin wings like a seagull’s have a high aspect ratio, which means they can cruise and soar without a lot of effort. They’re also found in hovering birds.”
Her pupil cooed, “Mmmm, Professor Dash, don’t stop, please…” Catching the reflection in a clock face, Dash saw Twilight roll over on the bed, shaking and trembling.
“Um.. Yeah. Low aspect ratio wings are your typical raptor wings – shorter, rounded wings meant for high speed and maneuverability. Pegasi wings are a medium aspect ratio, meaning our varying wingpower is more of a factor of innate pony magic than of pure aerodynamics.”
She turned to face her erstwhile student, promptly dropping her marker and her jaw. “Can I call off the lecture now, Twi? ‘Cause I think your class bell’s about to ring.”
Eyelids fluttering, panting heavily, Twilight managed to rasp, “Get over here, Professor… just… just don’t stop teaching.”
Dash leapt onto the bed, pinning the quivering mare beneath her. Lunging down to nip ravenously at a silken-furred lavender ear, she growled, “Okay, wing loading is the weight of the flyer divided by the total wing surface area. High wing loading – small wings relative to body weight, exemplified by pegasi – means more efficient high speed flight but requires higher takeoff and landing speed…”
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Epilogue? I think you mean Prologue. Epilogue is AFTER the main story, Prologue is BEFORE.
Seems interesting, I'll give it a go.
1736849
True. But the real action in this chapter is what happens after the chapter-within-a-chapter, and... well, makes more sense after you get through the first 840 words.
Ah. Thank you for the explanation, really clears things up. Also, I haven't started reading yet, I just put it under my favorites so I'll remember to read it later, but it seems good (I like most AppleDash, FlutterDash, and TwiDash ship stories) so I plan on reading it soon. Mustache x5 for a good ship idea!
Is it weird that Dash's lecture got me wet too?
Good lord. Pinkie gets off to Lazytown songs.
Well...
You might need medical treatment, but they would prescribe Ponies, so it's okay.
After all, the treatment for Contagious Clopping Syndrome is Ponies, so no big.
You get an up-vote just for that lecture.
Horribly, that's in character for Twilight Sparkle. I wonder if Celestia knows that she was her prize pupil's first?
Well, ooh-la-la! 'Professor' Dash? ... I think Rainbow's gonna like hearing that soon...
1736871
This chapter is really scary cause I was being pressured last night to act like a romantic for my Girlfriend last night...
The only problem is I'm more of the jumping-off-cliffs-while-still-putting-on-the-parachute kinda guy.
Luckily she's the same
Ya' know, if'n Ah were the vencha' capitalist Ah wish Ah could be, then Ah'd follow you around bottlin' up everythin' ya' write 'n go sellin' it.
1737189
Caught that, did you? If I had the skills, I'd PMV that.
And of course:
"Yar har, fiddle dee dee, being a pirate is all right with me! Do what you want cause a pirate is free, you are a pirate!"
1737021
NO. No it is not. It is perfectly normal and not weird at all. And let us never speak of this again.
Careful, Rarity, that's Twi's sister-in-law you're talking about.
And you just single handedly made me a TwiDash fan. ME WANT MORE!!
That is positively the first time I've seen basic aerodynamics succinctly explained in a way that causes someone to get excited...
Good job on the lesson and the twist at the end!
Oh Twilight
Chapter four.
1738707
Wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall during their session on Fluid Dynamics?
1739107
You, sir, are a champion of rhetoric. I bet you're a master debator.
Interesting. Knowledge is a well known sexual aid for eggheads, so....
1737651
Oh god, I burst out laughing after reading that. Thanks for the lovely image of Twilight dealing with her first heat by rereading notes from sessions with Tia, and then needing to go to the "bathroom" during some intense lessons.
Wait, I can't tell what tone of voice you're supposed to use to read that last sentence. ...Meh.
1737021
Same here! I teared up laughing so hard....
Do you even LIFT? or Thrust? (giggiy) Or even drag?
sorry, I just HAD to
Really good man, i think this earns 5 mustaches!! and of course a Twidash
1742529
Aw, gee, you're making me blush! And yes, you are impressive.
Totally never expected this! I thought Rustic and Romantic would make it instead, maybe, but I'm not one to complain. FiMFiction readers are some truly wonderful people (and ponies)!
1742692
That whole chapter was originally going to be one long series of saucy Freudian puns, but as the 30-minute writing window commenced, I changed my mind and cut it down to just the second half.
1742823
Although you should totally change your blog name to "I'm impressive!"
Yep, just ribbin' ya!
Finished my TMP submission a few minutes ago - considering TwiLuna is my OTP, I couldn't resist today's prompt - and coming back to see a packed inbox and a Featured story was a heck of a present. Your (pre-edit) post was the icing. Thanks, twice over!
But in all seriousness, that was a great chapter. Great story too.
dl.dropbox.com/u/12875849/reactions/1329029828730.gif
I like this. Very good.
Nice romance lacking clop, rare for the featured box. I applaud you.
Oh my god! This is glorious, perfect slice of life, no crazy complications for the sake of building a crazy romance, just the romance. Love it.
A-ha!! The moment I saw RD on top of Twilight, I knew shipping was gonna happen!
I 'pffft'ed so hard when she said teach me. Also, memes turn pinkie pie on.... That makes perfect sense.
Short, fluffy Twidash vignettes? Take all of my yes. All of it. No more yes for ol' Batsy. Put that yes in a bank.
You said that both long thin and short wide wings were high aspect ratio. #Corrections
This was a hilarious story though!
1738096[youtube=Jbq_1Wy70rE]
1742884 Actually, Gilda was at Junior Speedsters Flight Camp, A Different thing to Flight School altogether. I'm assuming it's something like Maths Camps or Soccer Camps, Basically a Place where they train youngsters with Talent to better utilise their Skills.
Also, I was of the Impression that Fluttershy never finished Flight School. We see she fell to the ground and earned her Animal Cutiemark at a young age, So I assumed that she left Flight school and went to a School situated on the ground, Since She doesn't appear to be a terribly good Flier
amour, not amor
I knew someone was going to use that screenshot for a TwiDash cover...
1743715 1743941
Corrections noted - thank you!
1744286 If yer speaking in fancy, at least say it right!
1743840
Thanks for the Flight School notes!
I imagine Flight School to be something like a technical boarding school: they teach the bare minimum of arts, civics, history, etc., and spend most of their class time on flight theory and practice. This way RD can still play "Professor Dash" when she needs to, as long as she sticks to what she knows, while still pleading ignorance with cries of "egghead!" when Twi brings up magical theory, archaeology, classic literature, etc.
1744360
Keep in mind that Rainbow Dash is the only three-time winner of the Heismare Trophy, awarded annually for for Excellence in Napping. When the finest snoozer in Equestria discovers that egghead librarians make even better pillows than clouds do, watch out - all bets are off!
Oh lol... Twilight with a learning fetish.... thats a nw one^^ and a hilarious one at that^^
Looked up the Lazy Town song, found this:
This is... like perfect Twidash shipping.
Okay, first you write a TwiLuna fic that breaks insurmountable levels of d'aaawww and now you have a TwiDash fic that is hilarious as well as D'aaawww filled...
How many D'aaawww nukes do you have?!
1744863 dont worry, it was^^
1744859
Well, let's see... There's a DashFire fic about half done, and I have a SoarinDash fic about 3/4 ready - my first shots at slightly sadder stories. Not sure when they'll be viewable. Because I'm posting these in 1000-word snippets, I prefer to wait until I have 4+ good chapters done before publishing them here.
As to the supply of d'aaawww...
thefireworkwarehouse.co.uk/shop/images/203-1500%20missile.png
BRILLIANT!!!
