Zecora muttered something in Zebra. Robert didn't quite catch it. The dialect was from farther north than he was familiar with, but he got the gist of it. They had moved the cauldron, and some ingredients out into the woods. “We will get this right, if we must stay here all day and all night.”

“I hope we're not here that long.” Twilight said. She'd come along to check the math. It all checked out.

“We'll be here as long as it takes. Because them's the breaks.” Zecora answered, a might testily.

“Ugh.” Robert said. "Look, Twilight says your math checks out, and all the ingredients are fresh, so can we give it a shot before I start to mold.” he shook his head.

“Yes, fine. Just get to it, and cease to whine.” Zecora replied. Robert tossed in the ingredients. The explosion was really quite well contained. Twilight shielded the cauldron just in time. The fact that she only shielded the side she and Zecora were standing on was really a shame. Robert was stuck to a tree across the clearing. It hadn't actually been a clearing until the aftermath of the explosion. His wings were spread out to either side of the tree, in a pose that would have been hilarious if not for the pained expression on his face.

“I just do not understand it. All the calculations are correct, and yet every time we try, we have a mess that's just out of hand.” she considered the expression, and decided the rhyme was hard enough to be let stand.

“Umm...” Robert had managed to unstick himself from the tree. "I have a slight problem here.”

“Which is?” Twilight asked.

“These are stuck.” he flapped his wings gently. Then grunted in pain. “And now they're... damaged.”

“They just need a preening. And what do you mean, stuck?” Twilight asked, a suspicion in her mind.

“Just that. I can't make them go away. For that matter, I can't do any magic just at the moment.”

“Uh-oh.” Zecora said from the pile of ingredients. "The reason for this I do know.”

“Do tell. Robert said, struggling to keep himself calm.

“It seems that in our haste, we did not discover that we drug along not powder, but paste.”

“Paste of what?” Twilight asked.

“Paste of the Thaumus Orchidae.” Twilight's eye twitched. "I guess the jar was mislabeled.”

“Or the powder got wet.” Twilight said, lifting up the jar and examining it. "It's cracked.” For a moment, Zecora turned red and black. "So what does this mean?”

“It means, he is stuck like this until I find some fresh Thaumus Orchidae”. Zecora replied. "Unfortunately, it only grows in the Froggy Bottom Bog and only in late autumn.” Robert said something in a language neither of them recognized.

“That's four months away. Lovely.” he took a deep breath. "Meaning I'm stuck with these for that long, unless you know an alternate method of removing them.”

“It is possible that the effects will wear off in time.” Twilight offered. "Perhaps you might learn to fly?”

“I... look. The reason I learned to do the wings? I'm afraid of heights. Have been for years.” he shook his head. "I don't want to learn to fly, because it's way up there in the sky.” he waved a wing. Then winced. "I'm going to use an expletive. Cover your ears.” They did, just in time. A flock of birds exploded out of the trees and winged away from them.

“Look, you should learn to conquer your fears.” Twilight said.

“Yes, a good shaman must know his fears, if he is to help others over come theirs.” Zecora said. Robert sighed.

“Yes Teacher dear, I suspect you are right. This does not mean that I like the idea.” he winced. "I suppose, if I am stuck with theses for the time being, I should learn to take care of them.”

“Why haven't you before?” Twilight inquired.

“Simply put, unlike a Pegasus or Alicorn, I am normally not required to have them all the time. Each time I form them they appear in perfect condition. When I get them damaged, I simply reform them. Thus I have had no need to work out just how to keep them pristine.” he sighed. "It seems that the universe has caught on to my little trick and decided to teach me a lesson.”

“Do you really believe that?” Twilight asked.

“I prefer that to the alternatives. I can fight the universe. Sheer bad luck and coincidence take a lot more effort to deal with.” Robert shrugged. Twilight stared at him, but saw in his eyes that it wasn't a boast. He honestly believed that. She decided to let it go.

“Well. Umm... stand still a moment.” he nodded. Her horn glowed a bright purple and light washed over him. "That's interesting.”

“What?” he asked.

“Those tendons the points of connection for the flight muscles?”

“Yes?”

“They're different than what you showed me. They're wrapped to the bone, connecting both the flight muscles and the shoulder muscles. It's a very ingenious solution.” she looked at him expectantly.

“It is. I only wish I'd thought of it.”

“You didn't do that on purpose?”

“No, I didn't even intend to have wings. I just found myself with them after the blast.” he considered it. "I don't suppose this was a wild surge.”

“That would explain it. And...” Twilight spun back to the book of calculations. “Ah ha. For some reason this potion is triggering a wild surge every time you try to brew it. I suspect you're allergic to one of the ingredients.”

“I guess we'll have to figure out which one then, won't we?”

“Yes, otherwise you'll have the same reaction to any potion with that ingredient.”

“Perhaps we should have someone teach him to deal with his wings, before we put him inside where he might break things.” Zecora said, peering out from beneath his disheveled plumage.

“Umm... good idea.” Twilight said.

---

Fluttershy squee'd with such force that Rarities fainting couch appeared on it's own for her to fall upon. Twilight glanced surreptitiously around for either Rarity or Pinkie, but neither was to be found. An eyebrow twitch caused her Twily sense to tell her to just roll with it, which she did.

“You don't have to be quite that excited.” Robert offered. Fluttershy squeaked. "But I am glad you are.”

“Sorry. I just don't get to teach things like that very often. Most ponies want Rainbow to teach them for some reason.” Twilight flushed and coughed loudly.

“Sorry.” she said almost inaudibly.

“Oh, I didn't mean you, I mean I thought Celestia...” Fluttershy also turned bright red.

“You know, the best part about being orange is that it's almost impossible to tell when I'm blushing.” Robert interjected. The picture that stuck in the minds of the two mares was enough to send them into giggles, breaking the cycle of blushing. It turned into full blown laughter after a moment. 'Patience.' That was the word his father had always told him was key to dealing with any flavor of female. 'Be patient and they would either forgive you or kill you. And either way you were done with the problem.'

Patience paid off when he found himself being led to the couch. It was, quite frankly, rather larger than he had expected, but also occupied by a very angry rabbit.

“Angel, Robert needs the couch.” the rabbit held it's ground. It was not about to give up it's spot. Fluttershy leaned close, catching it in the light from her eyes. “Angel. Move.” The rabbit was in motion before it realized what it was doing. Hundreds of years of instinctive motions failed it as it's higher functions tried to take over and instead it face planted on the ground. Robert held his tongue. Laughter would not be appreciated.

“Oh Angel.” Fluttershy picked the rabbit up and as tough as he was, he melted in her hooves. Robert couldn't contain a snicker. And then he learned the real meaning of the term rabbit punch. For the second time that day he lost several minutes to blissful unconsciousness. He awoke to a new stripe, though not a permanent one. This one went all the way around his eye.

“Wow, little guy packs quite the whallop.” he managed.

“I'm so sorry, Angel isn't normally like that.” Fluttershy said.

“It's okay, he's just defending his territory.” Robert said. “And his man... buckhood.” he chuckled. “A totally understandable thing amongst males and I suspect, wholly incomprehensible otherwise.” Fluttershy nodded. "I suppose Twilight had something else to do?”

“Oh, yes. The Star Swirl the Bearded exhibit is coming to town soon, and she wanted to make sure everything was ready for them. You're not uncomfortable with it being just me are you?”

“Not at all. I'd prefer it.” he coughed. "I'm not unaware of how sensitive these things are. he twitched his wing and winced.” It wasn't just the feathers he'd discovered, he had a couple of brilliant bruises on the left side, presumably from knots on the tree. And they stung, particularly when he moved them. Worse when the feathers were caught up in the mix, some pulling and some being pushed.

“Oh, right. Let's get that fixed up. You've really never done this before?” he shook his head, and explained. "How very convenient.” From anypony else, Robert would have expected that comment to be acidic. From Fluttershy, it was wistful.

“It's proving less so, now that I can't.”

“Yes. Very well, we start like this.” she showed him the procedure. The only problem occurred when she had to pull a broken feather. Robert bit through the arm of her couch. "I'm sorry.”

“It's okay, it just hurt. A lot.” he took a breath. "Sorry about the couch.”

“Don't worry. I have a friend who's great at fixing things like that.” Fluttershy smiled. "I'll just ask him to repair it. I'm sure he won't mind.”

“If you're sure.” Robert said.

“I am. Would you like to try the other wing?” she asked.

“As long as you watch to make sure I do it right, I have to learn to do it sometime.” he climbed off the couch, then turned around and lay back down. Of course, getting to the wing required some contortions. Fluttershy did an admirable job of not laughing. And an equally good job of instructing. Fortunately this wing contained no bad feathers. When it was over, he folded the wing in.

“Very good.” Fluttershy said and patted him on the head. He decided against saying anything. "Would you like some tea?” she asked.

“That would be lovely.”

---

Derpy laughed. Robert sighed. “Oh come on, it's funny.”

“I suppose. Look, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with wings, but I'm afraid of heights.” he shook his head. "Twilight thinks I should learn to fly and Zecora thinks I should get over my fear of heights.”

“I think they're both right.” Derpy said. "Look, you can't be afraid of them all the time.”

“What do you mean?” he asked, taking a bite from the pile of cookies before him.

“You said, you flew Zecora back to her house.” she said. He'd told her about it after the prank delivery.

“Yeah, but I was just gliding and I knew we weren't going to die.” he replied.

“And the moment when you didn't have enough lift and dropped like a stone?”

“I just needed more power. I had to save her as much as myself.” he shrugged.

“So you weren't scared?”

“I was terrified beyond belief. Always am when I take to the air.” memory flashed, and he shook his head.

“What did it?” Derpy asked.

“Did what?” he asked, taking another bite of his lunch.

“Scared you that badly.”

“The cliffs.” he closed his eyes. "My tribe lives a top a set of black rock cliffs. When I was no more than two summers old, I was walking along the cliff side with my father. It was a sunny, warm day early in the spring. I'm not sure where my mother was, I might have known but I've forgotten. Anyway, I was walking with my father and we reached the edge of the escarpment, I stepped close to see what it looked like and I stepped on a patch of gravel. I went over the edge. It's not a small cliff, and I don't know if I would have survived. Dad came over the side after me, wrapped himself around me and cushioned my fall. Next thing I remember is waking up at the base of the cliff, my father with broken ribs and a broken leg, because he'd saved me.” he opened his eyes.

“That scared you?” Derpy asked. It wasn't disbelief in her voice, but a question.

“It didn't then. And later when I realized it, it wasn't the fall. It was what it did to my father, my big, strong father who'd always been invincible to me. I eventually realized what had happened, and then it just hit me. The worst part is that as insane as it seems, I talked myself into it, and now, I can't manage to talk myself out of it.” he shook his head.

“Alright, I admit I wasn't expecting that.” she bit into a muffin. "Most ponies really can't point to just one thing and say 'this was it'.”

“Like I said, I ended up talking myself into it. If I'd just left it alone, I'd have been fine, but...” he shrugged.

“Well, you're in luck anyway. I happen to know just the answer to your problem.” she smiled brightly at him.

“I hope you're not planning to throw me off a high place.” he said.

“Not at all.” she answered, mentally changing the ordering of her plans. "I want you to come have a talk with someone.”