"Me?" Razz was smiling but clearly uncertain.

Bubbles wasn't smiling, but far more certain. "No way."

"But, I said--"

"She ain't taking you away!" Bubbles scowled at her significant other.

Though it wasn't what Tabitha wanted ideally, she went for it anyway. "You could come along, if you want?"

Bubbles blinked at Tabitha. "You don't mind?"

She did, but not enough to argue it. "Sure, come along. I'll probably smack into the ground next to you more often than be in the air anyway."

Bubbles flashed a smile then. "I'd like to see that. Fine, let's go show this lousy pegasus how to use those wings of hers."

Razz spread his own wings wide. "There's a nice park not far from here. We'll do this over soft grass." He kissed Bubbles suddenly, smooching her on the cheek soundly. "Thanks for being understanding."

Bubbles blushed just faintly. "Shut up..." Her eyes fixed on Tabitha. "Come on. We're going to make this trip worth it." She waved over the building. "Not my fault you don't have any guards right now."

It would be far from the first time that the building had stood without security. Besides... "That's not entirely true. Dark Vision is here and she'll keep an eye out for any creepy crawlies."

They walked in a loose group down to the very same park the colt had pointed out earlier. Razz was rambling about how to properly care for wings, but they seemed to assume one would suck on their feathers, which sort of made sense if one was without fingers.

Tabitha did have fingers. She had no intention of preening like a bird or a pegasus. There had to be a less... bestial way of going about it. "What do non-pegasi do to take care of a pegasus?"

Razz tilted his head a little, looking lost.

Bubbles sighed loudly and nudged him aside. "I get some feather wax and rub that into the wings. Pegasi salivate the stuff, or something close enough to it, get it? They can just spit. I'm a damn unicorn. My spit don't do that."

Razz reached up and brushed gently along Bubbles' sharp horn. "Pegasi don't do magic." The touching seemed to bring warmth back to Bubbles.

She huffed and glanced away even as a bottle appeared in mid-air. "This is the brand I usually get."

It had a comical picture of a pegasus grinning at the 'camera' with glistening wings. Tabitha had seen it before. She'd just ignored it while hunting for food at the grocery store. "Yeah, alright. Thanks!"

"Ain't no thing." The bottle vanished.

Razz nudged her. "You may want to bring that out. Unless you want me to preen her, you should."

Tabitha warmed at the thought of Razz just nibbling at her delicate wings. She wasn't ready for that le-- Her thoughts crashed to a stop when something else touched a wing and began to spread soothing cool stuff over it. Bubble's magic was working busily, cleaning her and spreading the feather wax around carefully. It felt... better than it had any right to feel. It also felt ticklish!

Her wings were sensitive limbs and she fidgeted as Bubbles worked. "T-thanks." She did mean that, even if her voice sounded uncertain.

Bubbles laughed at it. "You really haven't preened before," she commented as she worked. "Bet this'll get a reaction." She pressed right where the wings went into her barrel and Tabitha went rigid with pleasure and shock. Even as Tabitha recovered, Bubbles laughed. "That big thing of yours isn't just for show."

Razz snorted at her. "What she's trying to say is that being touched there by anypony you like, as a friend or otherwise, feels nice, otherwise... it kinda freaks you out."

Tabitha went a bit red. Did that mean she liked Bubbles?

Bubbles was grinning with triumph. "I won't tell anypony, promise." She put the bottle down beside herself. "You're all lubed up and ready to go. Razz, get her up there."

Razz spread one wing and then the other. "There are other steps first. Let's start with the basics." He was a methodical teacher and started going over how to hold a wing out, how to fold them properly, and all those things one should know before taking off.

Tabitha nodded as she listened, moving her wings along with the instructions. They were feeling less... alien. They were part of her, even if controlling them felt a bit odd at times, as if her mind was rebelling against the very notion of controlling extra limbs.

Razz crouched low before he jumped into the air. His wings beat powerfully and he floated there in clear defiance of what little physics Tabitha knew. He was too heavy, the flight was entirely wrong to keep him hovering, it was all wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. And yet, there he was, doing it without effort. "Why the surprised look?"

Tabitha shook it away. "I'd never really paid attention to how flying worked." And it was her turn to do it. She let out a soft grunt before she jumped into the air and pumped without coordination, landing roughly where she started with her wings pointing in different directions.

Razz rolled a hoof. "That's why we have to start with the basics. Get your wing movements down so you don't have to think about them."

Bubbles was snickering quietly to herself behind a hoof, trying in vain not to be seen laughing.

Tabitha tried to clear things with a slow breath as she spread her wings evenly left and right. She slowly brought them up and pumped them down with her eyes closed as she tried to just get the movement down. Up, Down. Up... Down.

"By Celestia!"

She opened her eyes at Bubbles' outburst and saw she was several inches off the ground. Unfortunately, knowing that made her start thinking about everything. She tilted forward abruptly and crashed right into the ground, slamming the earth with her human and pony fronts at once.

Razz winced at the crash even as he quickly approached. He offered a hoof and helped her up with a caring smile. "You did it!" he exclaimed as if nothing bad had happened.

"Did what, crashed?" Tabitha brushed dirt off of her clothes, wincing faintly. "That hurt."

"Flying hurts at first," assured Razz. "But that's what you were doing, flying!"

Bubbles nodded. "He ain't lying, boss. You were flyin'. Not very good or nothin', but there ya were."

"Right." Tabitha spread her wings. "If I can do it at all, I can do it."

"That's the spirit!" Razz's own wings practically buzzed. "Keep practicing the basics. You're lucky, your wings are already big and developed enough. Young pegasi don't get that."

Though they stuck by her side for about an hour, there was little to be gained in them staring at her. With the decision that she just had to keep practicing, they left her to it and walked off to the building, side-by-side.

Tabitha wasn't ready to throw in the towel yet. Flying was something she wanted, and if flapping her new wings was what she had to do, well, there she was.

"Can ya fly?" It was that colt. She looked over to see him smiling up at her. "Bet ya can."

Could she? "I haven't flown very much so far." To humor the foal, she tried flapping harder, desperately grabbing at the air, until she grabbed it. Her wings seemed to take hold of the sky and she lifted up from the ground smoothly despite her odd shape. There was a curious feeling, as if her entire body was straining to keep her up, but she was up.

The colt clopped his hooves with appreciation, even if Tabitha was only about half a foot from the ground, or was that a few hands? However ponies measured distances. "See? You're really good at it."

Tabitha tried to move towards the small pony, only to come in for a landing. She landed with her hooves first and trotted to a stop with a huff. "I haven't gotten the 'going places' part down by far."

The colt hardly cared. "You just--"

The coincidence was a bit strong for Tabitha. "So, hey, sorry to cut you off, but how did you--"

The colt dashed off without another word, leaving the bemused Tabitha behind. Was the colt related to the... sudden dance numbers the ponies had started, or something else entirely? She didn't know, and there wasn't much to go off of, but as things went, the colt hardly seemed a threat.

She let it go, and refocused on her alien limbs. If she could end the day being able to reliably get off the ground, that would be a signifcant step in the right direction.

Bubbles smiled at her coltfriend. "There, we helped your friend."

Razz tilted his head. "She's your friend too, and your boss."

Bubbles snorted at that. "She's my boss. You don't make friends with your boss."

"Says who?" Razz stood up tall. That seemed to help with arguing with Bubbles. "You saw it clear as I did. You tried to make her squeal and run away but she liked it."

Bubbles colored faintly. "She's a pervert..."

Razz poked her. "I didn't mind when you did it long before... um, now."

"You mean before we became a 'thing'?" She raised a brow. "Pfft... There's only one good reason we aren't flat on the street." Just as Razz was about to speak, she shoved a hoof in his muzzle. "And don't tell me cause she's nice or whatever. She wants a piece." Bubbles shook her back end. "Can't blame her entirely, but I'm all for you, babe."

Razz drew away from the hoof with a quirk of a smile. "You know she has a marefriend, right?"

Bubbles blinked. "What?"

"Seriously." Razz nodded firmly. "I was the only pony in the way, but I backed out so I could be with..." A thought tickled at him and he switched gears. "--so I could be with a way better mare."

She turned a bright red at the compliment. "Stop that!" She didn't seem to want him to actually stop anything. "You're too much." She hugged him fiercely, even her magic squeezing him with adoration. "Still, really? Anypony I know?"

He pointed up at the higher floor. "I'm pretty sure you've run into her before, Miss Pomell? Nice mare." She raised a brow. "Not nearly as nice as you, or half as awesome."

She smiled, mollified. "Well, whatever, if she wants to settle with a scaredy pony like that. She was shaking in her hooves when that thing crashed the party the other night. You shoulda seen it." She rolled her eyes. "Once I hurled it out, I had to get out of there. Her simpering was bothering me."

Razz blinked softly. "Was Tabitha alright?"

"Why wouldn't she be? She'd say somethin' if she needed help, right?"

Razz pointed at Bubbles. "Would you tell us if you were weak?"

Author's Notes:

The words took flight! Some of the letters might have fallen over, resulting in typos.