Clandestine Emotions

by DITZYandDJN31GH

Flight

Chapter 2

Flight

It was relatively dim, save for the pinstripes of sunlight that somehow moved through the curtains and blinds unaffected. Ribbons of gold weaved their way through the windows with little cost to their luminosity, and focused their brightness on the resting. It seemed that the sun was feeling particularly mischievous today, targeting late-sleepers on this Saturday morning. Narrow sections of light had been placed perfectly over Ditzy's eyelids while the rest of the room fell under shadows. This assault on her eyes had not gone unnoticed, she had endured the intrusion of light for some time now, but knew opening her eyes would just magnify the problem. So, content that her sheets kept the slight morning coolness at bay, she rolled on her side to escape the celestial wake-up call.

While Ditzy might have evaded the nuisance that was the sun, the grandfather clock that resided near the bottom of the staircase was not as easily avoidable. Her brain preempted the audible attack that would soon be unleashed, but did not prioritize the actual movement of getting up and out of bed. That was, until the sound of the clock's three-tone chimes reverberated through the walls, and ever so politely threw itself against her eardrums. Whilst the addition of two pillows over Ditzy's head slightly muffled the noise, it was not enough to allow the continuation of her rest.

Ditzy had been defeated.

She threw the sheets off her bed, slid onto the wood floor, and in a move of childish mockery, the clock's bombardment of sound stopped as soon as she stood up. She could almost hear the ambient laughter of the two pranksters Father Time and The Sun, before they searched on for the next poor, tired soul.

The amber wash of the morning only dimly illuminated Ditzy's room. It was simple enough, a bed, a rug, a bookshelf, two windows and a desk. She slowly walked to one of the windows, still holding on to some wayward wisps of sleep, and pulled back the barrier that should have protected her from the daylight. She shut her eyes, waiting for the flood of blinding white as she coaxed her artificial night to flee into the comfort of the shadows. As the waves of sunlight cascaded into her room, she ignored her stinging eyes and turned her back to the “heavenly splendor”.

Same room she had been in for years. Same bookshelves and blank notebooks. Same walnut desk, sloped ceiling, and books upon books that she would never find the time to read. Same collection of quills in a vase that she kept on her walnut desk, just in case she decided to utilize those blank notebooks.

Ditzy looked down on her bed, she must have left one of those quills there and went to sleep not remembering to put it away. But then she found another one, and another on the floor, and then realized that they weren't instruments of writing, but just lowly feathers. More specifically, her feathers.

“Dammit.”

Pegasi are a fascinating race. They have a rich and deep rooted history, and even a small degree of shared social psychology.

They also molt once a year.

Now was that time.

It starts off slow, and usually only lasts two or three weeks. Pegasi themselves find it embarrassing, but Unicorns and Earth Ponies find it hysterical. For the first week, flight isn't hindered, but as the days pass it gets harder and harder. Or so Ditzy has been told. As for the loss of flight, Ditzy had the mindset that you “can't miss what you never had...”, but what did bother her was school. There's really no poking fun at each other, because for the most part all Pegasi shed their feathers at the same time and rate. However, it was still annoying to walk down the hall and constantly get a face full of down and feathers.

Her nose itched at the thought.

Now that she had been ever so rudely awakened from her dreamless slumber, Ditzy rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and automatically yawned as she stretched her legs and wings. The wood floor quietly creaked in the old house, as she reflected upon the night, searching for some lost fragment of a dream. However, as she looked back to retrieve a fleeting glimpse of her imaginary paradise, she found none. Whether she had forgotten the events her mind conjured up during the night, or their were none to begin with, the time between going to sleep and waking up was not blessed with anything but the darkness of the night.

It was frustrating, Ditzy knew that she had dreamt through the evening, but could only guess what amazing scenes rolled into her mind. She had an idea though, most likely it was that one devious reoccurring dream that had both blessed and cursed her nights at the same time. Her dream's were the only place she could fly, a wonderful plane where she was able to escape into a reality in which she was able to soar well above the classmates who mocked her. But as soon as she awoke, Ditzy would be dropped back into reality, disappointed and hopelessly grounded. If only their was someone who could teach her how to get up and off of the ground, someone that was kind and willing enough to help a fellow Pegasi. Ditzy swam through her own thoughts of rightful self-pity, before a psychological event of the greatest magnitude shook her out of it.

Sometimes your train of thought is so abruptly halted that it completely forgets where the next station is. This sudden remembrance of something you may have forgotten or the realization of a previously misunderstood statement causes your eyes to open to their fullest extent, and inflicts a feeling of fear into your very core. The look on your face can be perfectly accompanied by the distant sound of glass shattering, and all of a sudden the temperature drops by an interval of a few, horrifying degrees. This is exactly what happened to Ditzy the moment she became aware of previous engagement with Raindrops.

It felt as though the windows violently opened, and the cold winter breeze returned to slam itself into her back. Her heart followed the path set by the chill shooting down her spine as one simple question arose in the back of her head.

“What time is it?”

Ditzy found her self asking the question aloud, but to no one in particular. A heartbeat passed before she set into action, speeding towards the stairs all the while flapping her wings in a frantic matter. She maneuvered the steps as fast as she could without breaking her neck, and searched for the same clock that had awoken her. Within a hair of losing her balance, Ditzy was able to swing around the corner at the bottom of the stairwell without crashing into the wall. Her sprint came to an end in front of the ornate grandfather clock that stood before her.

It was a rustic mahogany wood with a gold trim and a glass front that revealed the intricate inner workings of the machine. Her father said that it was made by the same Unicorn that fashioned the clocks in Celestia's palace, and that it was given to him as a gift after he served in the Royal Guard. It sat in the same place as far back as Ditzy could remember. Sometimes, when she was younger, Ditzy would sit in front of it, mesmerized by the predictable motions. The swing of the pendulum and the turning of the gears would capture the young filly's attention until the sudden gong of the hour would startle her away. Now, she was able to marvel at the creation when it was not forcing her awake or reminding her how late she really was.

At the moment, it was doing the latter.

It didn't take long for Ditzy to soak in the time. The minute hand clicked into place at exactly ten past twelve as she looked at it. Although slightly relieved that it was not hours past the set time of her first lesson, she was still tardy.

It could be said that Ditzy overreacted just a bit, when she burst out of her front door only having to run back moments later to close it. Her mane was entirely out of place and unattended to. The long streaks of yellow hair that normally laid a neatly tad over her eyes and down her neck was now a wiry mass either plastered to her skin or sticking up at odd angles and intervals from her head. Her frenzied appearance and gallop through the Market Center earned strange looks from those with no knowledge of what she had at stake.

In her head, Ditzy rummaged through worse case scenarios. Raindrops might have scheduled this meeting not even planning to show up, or worse, maybe she did show up on time and thought Ditzy wasn't coming. It was apparent that she was over thinking the situation, but in her head it was set in stone that her friendship rested on her arriving to Raindrops on time. With this mindset, Ditzy drove on towards the hill where the lesson was planned on taking place. With the speed at which she was moving, it was not long before she arrived at the grassy landmark.

On top of the mound, Ditzy scanned her surroundings for any sign of Raindrops. Her ears perked up for her signature laughter or that choir-like voice. Neither of her senses picked up any trace of her friend, and after what felt like a good twenty minutes, Ditzy's hope that she wasn't too late began to falter. In reality it might have been much shorter, but in Ditzy's state of excitement and fleeting doubt, time was compounded into eternity. As the arrival of her friend became less likely, Ditzy's normally outward happy demeanor faded into one of disappointment.

But wait, there it was!

The giggle. That childish, happy noise emanated from somewhere. Ditzy's ear automatically twitched at the break of silence. For a moment the sound seemed to have originated from thin air, but soon it's source was located.

Directly above.

She should have known. They only met yesterday but it was apparent that Raindrops' humor was unfaltering. Ditzy looked up and saw Raindrops hovering above, a hoof over her mouth that tried to conceal her chuckles. The antic pulled a smile and laugh from Ditzy while Raindrops landed before her.

“You showed up.” Raindrops said, still smiling.

“Of course. I'm sorry I'm late, I was really sleepy and then the sun was coming in and the clock was really loud and I forgot to close the door, and then I-” Ditzy rattled off her excuses like bullets until she eyed Raindrops' expression. It was another thing that she knew she would be seeing a lot. Cocked eyebrow, half smirk, the whole face said “Are you kidding me?” Ditzy stopped.

“No problem, I would've waited...did you run here?” Raindrops asked.

Ditzy yawned to hide her heavy breathing and replied with a poker face that could definitely use some work. “No.”

Raindrops ignored the feeble lie and continued. “Never mind, you want to get started?”

Ditzy answered with an excited nod.

“Okay, open em' up. Let's see what you got.”

Ditzy was about to comply, but was slightly taken back from Raindrops' statement when it was finished processing in her head. For reasons rarely known to those who do not possess wings, what Raindrops had asked Ditzy to do was quite an awkward request among Pegasi society. “What?” Ditzy's voice rose an octave as a small, yet still noticeable blush formed upon her cheeks.

Raindrops immediately realized the insinuation of her words, but played it off with a nervous chuckle. “Oh please, I just want to know what I have to work with.”

Catching the misinterpretation, Ditzy regained composure and mentally kicked herself for being so quick to jump to conclusions. She spread her wings, casting a shadow before her. They were a bit bigger than that of Raindrops' or any other Pegasi her age for that matter, which was tragically ironic considering the fact that she couldn't fly. Raindrops saw this and even though she wouldn't admit it, was impressed. However, she decided not to mention it for fear of making things worse than they already were.

Raindrops brought a hoof up to her chin in thought, looked at the wings for a moment, and then returned her leg to the ground. “Alright, so what do you know so far?”

Ditzy folded her wings and mimicked Raindrops' action of inquiry. Her eyes moved up to the sky in an attempt at recalling any knowledge of flight that she had gained. A few minutes passed in silence, only the occasional chatter of a bird nearby making its way through the air.

Raindrops audibly cleared her throat. She wondered if her friend had drifted off in her own way, without the ability to fly. Ditzy looked down, unaware of exactly how much time had passed. She blinked a few times, and brought her still folded wings up a few inches in a shrug of uncertainty.

“Well...okay, we'll start from the top then.” Raindrops unfolded her own wings so that they were parallel to the ground. “Put em' like this, and you can start slowly.” She began slowly flapping her wings to demonstrate the movement. It didn't help much, Ditzy wasn't looking. Her eyes were clenched shut, and she was sporadically flapping her wings with no real sense of what she was doing. The sight was pathetic really. A Pegasus with strong wings that should already be soaring through the air, desperately flailing around trying to take off.

Raindrops stopped her demonstration and eyed Ditzy's sorry imitation of a Pegasus. She had to cover her mouth for fear her muffled laughter would hurt her friend's feelings.

“Ditzy.” she said through stifled chuckles. The flailing pony stopped her pitiful attempt, and looked up.

There was the face again. One eyebrow up, one cheek raised in half a smile.

In Ditzy's mind, she couldn't fathom why her wings weren't taking her up to the clouds. Physically there was nothing wrong with them, but for some inexplicable reason it seemed that she wasn't meant to be in the air.

“Like this.” Raindrops said as she repeated to show how a Pegasus should fly.

Ditzy payed well enough attention this time, occasionally looking to her own wings to ensure that they were at the proper angle.

“Good.” Raindrops said while smiling. “Now, it's all about getting the wind under your wings and pushing off with it.” She flapped once, sending herself a few feet in the air and then gracefully gliding back down. “Like that.”

Ditzy looked at her wings once more, and then brought them up over her back and down in a forceful flurry of wind and dust. It was enough to propel her into the air higher than Raindrops, and when she opened her eyes she was airborne. Her smile stretched wider than it had ever before, and in her moment of blissful disbelief she did not hear Raindrops telling her to keep her wings straight. Instead, Ditzy attempted the feat once more, this time in midair. What followed was Ditzy's right wing producing a bit more thrust than her left, causing her to roll over and plummet to the earth backwards.

“Ditzy!”

Comments

[DreadedCandiru2]

OOOOOOoooohhhhh.......

[DITZYandDJN31GH]

425234

Share with us your revelation my dear friend.

[DreadedCandiru2]

425585
I think I know how her eyes got that way now.........

[DITZYandDJN31GH]

426344

I wish to neither confirm or deny your thoughts, but the proof shall be in the pudding...the pudding in this case being further chapters.