“How many of you are there?” Twilight spoke slowly. She sounded as if she were still reeling from the implications. I guess it’s a lot to take in, finding out your assistant was some sort of immortal being. Not long after the talking stage too.

“I’m surprised you’re not more shocked,” I replied.

Twilight just shrugged and rolled her eyes. “Stranger things have happened. Ponyville is like a nexus point for the weird and the chaotic.” She pursed her lips as her brow creased into a frown. “Although Ponyville was a very quiet town until I came along. Almost makes me wonder if I had something to do with it.”

I cocked my head at that. Interesting thought. Was Twilight the catalyst for greater events or were events just attracted to Twilight? I chuckled inwardly. Perhaps they were the result of some sort of cosmic entanglement and Ponyville was just an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire?

Twilight shook her head sharply, her eyes refocusing on me with greater intensity as she came back to the topic. I suppressed a groan. I was hoping that little tangent would distract her.

“So?” she demanded.

“Who?” Classic.

Twilight stomped her hoof in frustration.

“Owl—” she began testily, but I headed her off.

“Okay, okay,” I replied, I felt like our conversations were starting to get into a rhythm, I was getting a serious shot of déjá vu. I rubbed a bashful wing against my head as I composed my answer.

“I wasn’t really supposed to let slip that we were immortal,” I admitted, I kept my wing raised to stem another interjection I sensed from the alicorn. “Though you know that, but this time I have a better reason. This really wasn’t my secret to tell. Angel and… the others would not like it if their secret got out. They have their own reasons and I’m sure if you can trust me, you can trust them too.”

I could tell she didn’t like it. Twilight was practically vibrating with the need to find out more. Finally, as my words finally sunk in, she leaned back and sighed.

“I don’t like it,” she ground out. “I don’t like it, but I trust you Owlowisicious.”

The way she said it sent a tiny prick of guilt in my avian heart.

Ah feathers, I thought to myself. I’ll talk to the others about it later, maybe we could work something out.

“So, about Rainbow…” I hedged, still perched on the shelf… where her hooves couldn’t reach me.

“You’re still coming to that.” Twilight seemed adamant about it.

“Can’t we visit Fluttershy or somepony else? I feel like we’re going to the one pony that could hurt me—” I caught her glare “—unintentionally of course!”

“Now that we’ve resolved this little dispute with Angel,” I continued hastily. “We can all go to see Fluttershy.”

“No,” Twilight said shortly.

“I’m sorry?”

“I said ‘no’,” she repeated. “I still maintain that seeing Rainbow is a good idea.”

There was a short silence.

“Well,” I grumbled. “It seems we are at an impasse.”

Twilight sat on her haunches.

“Mmm.”

––––––

Twilight stared at me. I stared impassively back. We considered each other for so long I was beginning to think that we would be stuck here forever looking into each other’s eyes and trying to figure out the shape of our souls, or something. Then I did the thing. You know, the thing.

…Where I would rotate my head axially about one hundred and eighty degrees anti-clockwise.

She blinked at me in surprise. Then scowled.

“Cheater,” she groused, stomping a hoof.

“We still need to blink, you know,” I shot back defensively. “We just have a few more tricks up our proverbial sleeves.” Despite ‘cheating’ I still ruffled my feathers in pride and sank further into my perched position smugly. I knew a staring contest would be a good idea.

Surprisingly, she let loose a light giggle.

“Okay, Owlowisicious, you win,” she conceded in defeat. “I still think it was unfair that you chose a staring contest. Aren’t owls good at staring?”

“We’re good at seeing,” I corrected and then flittered towards the door.

“Cheeky Owl,” she muttered with a scowl. “Okay, let’s go.”

–––––––

As we headed out and I beelined towards Fluttershy’s cottage. I made it only a few feet before I was stopped by a sparkling magenta field.

“Oof!” I yelped, flipping head over tail in her telekinetic grip. I eyed the passersby looking curiously at me as I was hurled back towards the smug princess. Twilight’s mouth simply twitched before she set out again, towing me along.

I glared at her as I realised that the direction had moved towards Rainbow’s house. “That’s cheating!” I growled softly.

Twilight gave me a devilish grin.

“I know,” she said.

–––––

Winged creatures have the unique problem of buffeting turbulence in upper altitude currents. One of the major factors that we have to take into account is the wind speed, direction, pattern and topology when we’re flying. Most winged creatures catalogue this automatically as they grow up. It was strangely satisfying to watch someone—or in this case somepony—that was not born with wings struggle with this.

I hovered in the air watching impassively as Twilight shot past me and corkscrewed into the ground. I gently landed next to her, taking care not to giggle too loudly. Others might hear.

“I can’t believe this,” she muttered. “More than a few weeks of flying and I still can’t get the hang of this.”

“It’s all in the tips, Twilight,” I commented. From the way she glared at me, I knew the advice was a tad inflammatory, but I couldn’t resist. Hmm, maybe I should cut back on the teasing, she does have the power to level a mountain… Yeah, that might be a good idea. I can’t help it, sometimes I’m a literal bird-brain.

Twilight picked herself off the ground, her legs unsteady and shaking from the impact.

“We’ll never get to Rainbow’s house at this rate,” she growled under her breath. She probably meant to say it to herself but I caught the words, what with my excellent hearing and all. I waggled my eyebrows at her.

“Perhaps we shouldn’t go?” I suggested. Her ears twitched at my tone.

“No,” she shot back firmly. “We’re doing this. I just have to concentrate.”

I glanced back behind her and opened my beak, but then shut it. Ah, sometimes comedy writes itself.

Twilight splayed her wings out, curled her back, pointed her muzzle upwards and took a deep breath. Twilight called this her ‘meditating’ stance. She used this whenever she wanted to explore her senses and reach her full mental capacity. Or so a dusty alicorn book had so claimed. I was skeptical, but apparently it held some merit because Twilight told me it worked.

Just as Twilight was about to launch into the air, a voice cut across the temporary stillness that Twilight had invoked around herself.

“Uhh, Twilight? What are you doing?”

Startled, Twilight let out a bird-like squawk her wings down-stroking and lifting her partially off the ground. Annoyed by her magically assisted defiance, gravity roughly yanked Twilight down to the ground, face-first.

I would imagine that dear old gravity would sit back smug, knowing natural order had been painfully restored.

I hid my beak behind a wing as I alighted on the ground and looked away as Twilight shot me glare. She turned to Rainbow who swooped around and regarded the disheveled princess.

“Are you practicing flying?”

Twilight paused, then brightened. “Yes, however I have something—”

“Were you doing that ‘medicative’ state or whatsomacallit, again?” Rainbow had crossed her arms. Must be a long standing issue.

“It’s meditative but—”

“Well no wonder! You’ve got to drill flying into your body! Twilight you’re always living in your head, but sometimes you just got to do it. Luckily for you, I have some time to give one of my best pals a lesson! Come on Twilight, we need to train!”

“Rainbow if you just wait a momen– woah! Hey!”

I watched with various levels of amusement as Twilight tried to explain to Rainbow exactly why she needed to talk to her, but failed as Rainbow jerked Twilight around by the hoof.

“How about we—”

“We do some double aileron rolls? Good idea! I knew you had it in you!”

“Actually, I wanted—”

“To do the triple aileron roll? Wow, okay. It’ll be challenging, but if you’re ready to do that, I won’t stop you.”

I could see Twilight realising that each interruption only furthered Rainbow’s determination to fit in more drills and practice. Rainbow babbled on on the intricacies of pegasus flight and aerial manoeuvres and movements, oblivious to her friend’s distress. She continued to drag the flustered alicorn by the hoof until Twilight simply gave up and subjected herself to Rainbow’s friendly, if somewhat misguided, barrage of help.

I flittered along behind, pretending not to notice the carefully timed glares that Twilight was sending me. What? She wanted to find Rainbow and that’s what she got.

Author's Notes:

I finally updated, as you will be glad to see. I'm still busy as heck but I fit in writing sporadically.

Sorry, sorry, sorry! I'm still active, just not so much.

I'll let you know if I ever actually quit writing so you can assume I'm still alive if I don't say so.

Next Chapter: Rainbow finally reacts.

And as always, my incalculably valuable readers, thanks for reading!