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The Whitetail Woods.

Posted by EquestriaFor group 0
Equestria
Thu 12 Apr 2012
at 03:38
  • msg #1

The Whitetail Woods

-=The Whitetail Woods=-
Unlike the Everfree Forest, the Whitetail Woods are a span of light woodlands that rest to the south of Ponyville.  These woods are peaceful and bright, making them perfectly safe for Ponies and other creatures to traverse through as they please.  The woods are home to many animals and the tall trees serve to supply Ponyville with fresh maple sap for syrup.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:36, Sat 14 Apr 2012.
Widget Whatsits
player, 193 posts
The Absentminded
Pony Professor
Wed 27 Jun 2012
at 16:33
  • msg #2

Re: The Whitetail Woods

<<< FROM: The Summer Song Cafe with Twilight

Widget took in a deep breath as he and his date entered the bright and pretty woods. This time of year, everything was green and fresh, with birds and insects chirping and working away in the safety of the dapple green light that managed to escape from between the clouds that poured down from between the waving leaves. He liked the Whitetail Woods, even if he rarely had time to visit them for anything but business, though he did occasionally come to test his latest invention, when he was less sure of how steady it was. He didn't recognize the irony that he usually did less damage to the forest than he did to apple carts in the Ponyville Square when he was far more confident with the invention of choice.

As expected, there was no one else around. Good - it would be safe for whatever Twilight wanted to try on him. Well, for everypony else anyway, Widget thought jokingly to himself as he looked affectionately at Twilight once more. "It's a nice time for a walk, if nothing else," he said casually. "Not too warm and I don't think rain is scheduled until later today."
Twilight Sparkle
player, 183 posts
Wed 27 Jun 2012
at 16:48
  • msg #3

Re: The Whitetail Woods

<-- Entering from Summer Song Cafe with Widget

It was nice to just be able to stroll along without rushing anywhere for once.  So often it seemed like Twilight spent most of her time running about from place to place having to put out fires and solve problems... just having the chance to relax with some personal time was perfect.  Plus the company sure didn't hurt either.  Every now and then Twilight would glance up at the stallion at her side and find herself feeling rather foolish about how she'd reacted the other night.  She didn't really know how relationships worked or what was to become of her current situation, but she felt things were off to a good start regardless.

"No, just passing cloud cover off-and-on through the rest of the week, though mostly sunny.  There's a scheduled rainfall later next week though." Twilight mentioned as the conversation touched on the weather.  Leave it to somepony like her to memorize the weather schedule.

The lavender unicorn often came out to the woods for practice with her magic.  There was plenty she could safely do in town, but some of her experiments and studies were too noisy, messy, or flat-out dangerous to perform in the middle of Ponyville.  She knew the woods quite well as a result and led Widget along assuredly off the main path to a rather large clearing a ways off the road.  The clearing didn't quite look natural... it was too perfectly round and the trees were too evenly spaced around the perimeter.  A careful eye would notice that they were actually precisely spaced an exact measure apart from each other and in coordination with a tall rock formation in the middle that served as a giant sundial.

"Alright, this is it~!  My little hideaway spot.  I come here all the time to practice magic where it won't bother anypony." Twilight was rather proud of the spot.  It had taken a lot of careful work to get the clearing just right.
Widget Whatsits
player, 194 posts
The Absentminded
Pony Professor
Thu 28 Jun 2012
at 02:14
  • msg #4

Re: The Whitetail Woods

Widget followed Twilight up and off the path toward the secluded area some distance away, noting how far it was off the path and in which direction they were taking, noting how the gentle sound of wind whispered to them and the birds fluttered carefully in the branches above them, watching the ponies as they passed beneath them. The clearing came suddenly around them, and Widget looked around the carefully manicured space, complete with sundial. He smiled brightly as he heard Twilight's words, so laced with pride, as he took everything in, from how the trees were so carefully placed, to how the sundial was exact, and even how the leaves of the trees were perfectly manicured. Yes, he liked this place very much... It's perfection and order radiated of Twilight.

"It's beautiful, Twilight," he said sincerely as he looked back at her. "It's such a nice place to work, so calm and quiet..." He leaned in slightly to further examine the sundial, studying the angle and height as well as the material. "You worked really hard on this place, didn't you?" he commended.
Twilight Sparkle
player, 184 posts
Thu 28 Jun 2012
at 04:36
  • msg #5

Re: The Whitetail Woods

Twilight puffed a bit under the praise.  She was no braggart, but getting recognition for work well done was nice... and, frankly, she'd hoped Widget would be impressed.  It seemed a safe bet to her anyway since the two of them shared appreciation for particular work space.

"It's nothing special... besides, it was great practice for my nature spells.  Getting the trees to uproot themselves and walk over into position was pretty tough at first.  Well worth the effort." she hummed as he examined the area.  The sundial he spied was made from natural rock like many he'd seen laying around on the way there, though its shape wasn't like any that formed regularly.  It had obviously been warped and shaped by transmutation magic into its current form... though admittedly, it lacked artistry.  Had somepony like Rarity magicked up a time piece it would have been sleek and beautiful on top of functional, but with Twilight, it was utilitarian first and foremost.

By the time Widget looked up from his examination he'd find Twilight off a ways with her head lifted to the breeze.  She spied the clouds overhead and muttered to herself as she watched them lazily drift by -- he could hear bits of math floating on the breeze as she rendered a few quick observations based on the wind speed.  Whatever she was busy plotting seemed to come to a satisfactory end as the ponytailed librarian smiled brightly.  "Ah!  Perfect~!"  she chimed, obviously thinking out loud more than anything.  Her horn was lit with a purple shimmer as she turned and sent her smile Widget's way, though it was immediately lost as the view of her vanished in a glimmering whirl of magic that flowed out to ensnare her body.  It lasted only for a moment before it totally encapsulated the unicorn and burst in a flare of bright light brilliant enough to leave Widget dazzled if he was foolish enough to look directly at her when it happened.

"Sorry... I guess I should have given you some warning about that, huh?  I was a little too eager..." she apologized as spots would gradually fade from Widget's eyes.  By the time he got full clarity back he'd find Twilight looking up at him with a sympathetic wince.  Though one thing in particular was sure to catch his attention pretty quickly; last he knew he'd been on a date with a Unicorn, not an Alicorn.  Yet there she was -- from Twilight's back had sprung a full pair of elegant, long-feathered wings the same color as her lavender coat that flexed at her sides every now and then.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:38, Thu 28 June 2012.
Widget Whatsits
player, 196 posts
The Absentminded
Pony Professor
Thu 28 Jun 2012
at 09:13
  • msg #6

Re: The Whitetail Woods

Widget smiled slightly at Twilight's assertion that this clearing was nothing special, silently disagreeing with her wholeheartedly. This place was extremely special. She had put in hours here, both making the clearing and practicing her magic here. This was her sanctum and her place of balance and peace. She had used so much magic here, the air seemed to tingle with it... but that might just be Twilight's presence and happiness. Widget couldn't quite tell.

He watched her as she mentally calculated, the look on her face familiar to her visage and likely very similar to the kind of looks he often wore when pondering about his work. He somehow found the gentle rattling of calculations and math soothing, as he had often seen Twilight like this before and thought it to be more of her natural state than even being still and quiet. She even talked to herself while she read, a gentle whisper that Widget had been hard pressed not to listen to while he had prowled the shelves of the library and she had sat in study. He found himself watching her make the unknown calculations with a soft warmth in his heart, which grew only bigger when she turned to him, apparently ready to tell him what she had been calculating.

Or at least that was what he expected. Instead, a bright purple plumage blossomed into his eyes rather suddenly, and he flinched as he brought up his hoof to block the light that shone brightly off of his glasses. He was still bedazzled a few seconds after it finished, and he looked up blinking into the clearing again with a quizzical look about him. What had that been all about?

But the questions pertaining to what the bright flash had been for were quickly answered, and all other thought died away as his vision returned properly and he was looking at a much different embodiment of Twilight Sparkle. Well, not all THAT different, but the wings were something else! He had heard of incredible, difficult magic like this, but even in pictures he had seen in books, they had not been this exact, this detailed. "Oh... wow! Twilight... That's incredible!" he said as he quickly came close and examined the wings carefully, taking in their detail, circling her once as he did so to take them in at all angles. "That spell is just so difficult, and look at this! You've got it down to perfection! They look totally and completely real!"

He came back around to the front, grinning. Every day he was surprised at her prowess in magic, how exactly far it was. He had a feeling she'd surprise him every day he allowed himself to be. "Can you use them?" he asked eagerly. "Can you fly with them? Have you tried?"
Twilight Sparkle
player, 185 posts
Thu 28 Jun 2012
at 15:38
  • msg #7

Re: The Whitetail Woods

"They are real.  Fully functional and anatomically correct.  It took a lot of practice to be able to render them in this manner, but again, well worth the effort." Twilight flushed a bit in the cheeks as Widget bounced about her in scrutinizing curiosity.  She liked his attention but wasn't sure she was quite ready for so much of it directly on her all at once.  The now-winged unicorn diverted his gaze a bit as she stretched out one of her wings to the side, flaring it to its full spread so that he could get a closer look at the natural layering of feathers.

"The first time I ever tried this sort of spell was on Rarity.  That was a Flutter Wing enchantment and it gave her wings like the legendary Flutter Ponies.  She seemed to have so much fun flying despite what happened, and ever since then I'd just been dying to try it out too.  But Flutter Wings weren't really what I was looking for." Twilight explained as she rolled her shoulders demonstratively to put her wings through the motions of flight while staying grounded.  "So I did some research and a whole lot of digging.  Turns out there were already transmutation spells to grant wings already, but they were mostly censored and locked away in the Royal Archives.  The spells are really difficult and can be a little dangerous if you don't know what you're doing, or if they dispel mid-flight.  Plus there's apparently been some history of Alicorn impersonators trying to weasel their way into royalty, so it makes sense for this sort of thing to be kept away from the general public."

Twilight did have a knack for rambling, but at least it was mildly interesting information.  If Widget was even listening to her at all, that was.  He'd totally zoned out Fung Shui before when given the chance to pour over Pinkie Pie's blueprints, so a similar situation was surely likely now that he had Twilight's wings to study up close and personally.  When he came back around to the fore his excited smile took Twilight more than she expected... and despite herself, she couldn't help but share it even though she was more accustomed to the situation.  His eagerness was contagious.

"Can you use them?" he asked. "Can you fly with them? Have you tried?"

Rather than answer with words, Twilight just lit up with her own smile that quickly turned wry.  Why not show off a little?  The first time she'd ever tried flying she'd ended up face-down in the dirt with her horn wedged like a post, but she'd become more capable since then.  Taking a page from Rainbow Dash's book, Twilight hopped back a step, tucked down low as her wings spread out broadly to the sides, and leaped upward with a swift flap.  Just like that she was off like a shot straight up into the air so quickly that her dark-hued tail snapped like a whip.  Those lavender wings pumped at the air as she gained altitude all the way up to the tops of the trees around the clearing's edge and then pitched over, slowly swooping down in a broad, banking spiral back down to settle into a trotted landing back where she began.

"So... what do you think?  Do you want to try?" she asked, grinning from ear to ear.  Even if she had done it plenty of times before in practice, flying was always such an exhilarating rush.  No wonder Rainbow Dash spent the bulk of her time in the air.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:43, Thu 28 June 2012.
Widget Whatsits
player, 197 posts
The Absentminded
Pony Professor
Thu 28 Jun 2012
at 19:07
  • msg #8

Re: The Whitetail Woods

Widget might have been fully fascinated with Twilight's wings, but he did listen to her. Firstly, no offense to the stallion in question, but she was hardly Fung Shui, and he found it much easier to pay attention to her than to him. Secondly, she was talking about something very interesting to him indeed. It made sense that the wing producing spells were locked tight away, and he felt very privileged to know a pony powerful enough, and with enough connections, to pull off the difficult magic so flawlessly.

His smile remained as he stepped back, watching her take to the air with a wide-eyed wonderment as she took off like a shot into the air. He couldn't help but to laugh with glee at the sight of her flying so effortlessly and naturally, his heart thumping hard in his chest. He was quick to move forward as she landed, so excited at her poised question, he danced slightly on the tips of his hooves like he had at Sugarcube Corner when preparing for their date, and his tail almost wagged.

"Are you kidding?" he said breathlessly. "I would love to! Yes! Yes, please!" This was what he had been waiting for, all the countless hours of inventing and pushing himself to the limits and the experimentation with clockwork; to experience true flight, unhindered by limitations and aided only by his own body.
Twilight Sparkle
player, 186 posts
Thu 28 Jun 2012
at 20:23
  • msg #9

Re: The Whitetail Woods

Twilight couldn't help but laugh brightly over how giddy Widget was at the offer of flight and shook her head with the gesture.  "Alright, alright!  Just promise me one thing first: don't go trying to flap right up first thing, okay?  It's a good way to put yourself face-first into a tree or pitch flank over teakettle." she said sternly as she set a hoof onto his shoulder.  "I mean it.  This is going to be a lot different than your flight packs and I don't want you hurting yourself."

Once he'd assured her he would at least keep his hooves on the ground long enough for her to instruct him on how to fly manually, Twilight stepped back and closed her eyes.  She took a long, calming breath to focus her concentration... but then paused as she heaved it out again with a soft 'Oh, wait'.  The unicorn gave a gentle toss of her head from side to side as her horn lit up -- the gesture echoed as Widget's vest was tugged a bit and two gaps opened at the shoulders.  She hadn't torn his clothing; she'd actually modified it with a quick spell to have openings where his wings would be.  Satisfied, Twilight gave a nod and then returned to proper concentration as she closed her eyes tightly.

The spell was indeed very difficult and even more so when being cast on another pony.  The Flutter Wing spell was different -- it was an enchantment that wasn't actually a part of Rarity, hence why she was unharmed when the wings just burned up.  This spell, however, caused an actual physical transformation.  The full development of new limbs, muscle groups, skeletal forms, and neurological paths.  She'd cast it on herself enough times to know how to do it swiftly and easily, but casting it on another pony's unfamiliar body was a lot more tricky.  She had to work much more slowly as she felt her way through it.  Her horn glowed brighter and brighter as a gradual swirl of magic coursed its way over Widget's body from hoof to tail, slowly blotting out his view of the world beyond its shimmering haze.  He could feel it tightening around him... warm at first, like a blanket, but soon increasingly hot and stifling.  Just when it reached the point of feeling like he was about to be smothered it suddenly snapped and flared away in an outward burst, freeing him to take in a deep breath and no doubt reflexively spread the new wings that had formed from his back.

"Hoo... haven't done that in a while.  How do you fe--he...eeel?" Twilight asked as she opened her eyes back up, though they went wide as she took in the sight before her.  The spell had gone off just fine, but that wasn't the issue.  Alicorns honestly played a very important part in Twilight's life.  She practically worshiped the ground Princess Celestia walked on and held her in the highest of regards and affections.  Princess Luna, not so much... the relationship she had with the younger immortal was far more casual and friendly, but just as warm.  Cadence was truly beloved in many ways.  But one thing that had never occurred to Twilight until just then was a very simple, but somehow unrealized concept: an Alicorn stallion.  True, Widget wasn't actually an Alicorn, but Twilight's budding affections for him and the appearance combined to send a dark blush blooming across the mare's face as she took in the sight.

Pomf~!

Twilight's eyes widened and she quickly reached back to push her wings down from where they'd spontaneously unfurled on their own.  With them firmly at her sides, she cleared her throat and looked back to Widget with a sheepish smile.  "How do you feel?" she asked, her voice a few octaves higher from the strain of keeping her tone level.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:24, Thu 28 June 2012.
Widget Whatsits
player, 198 posts
The Absentminded
Pony Professor
Fri 29 Jun 2012
at 06:47
  • msg #10

Re: The Whitetail Woods

Despite how giddy and dancy he was, Widget was apparently able to grasp the importance of what Twilight was telling him, and nodded in agreement. "I promise," he said, and he meant it. The last thing he wanted to do was to ruin this for either of him by acting stupid and getting injured their (hopefully) first time doing this. If her own ease at casting the spell upon herself was any indication, she did this often enough, and the idea of sharing it with her many times in the future was a very happy one indeed. He had ended up horn first in the ground or stuck in trees more times than he could count, and he didn't want this one to end up one of those situations just because his heart got in the way of his head.

As the warmth of Twilight's magic began to envelope him, glowing brighter and brighter, Widget was forced to close his own eyes and wait for the difficult spell to be finished. All for the best, most likely - as excited as he was at the moment, he wasn't sure how well he would be able to handle the sight of wings actually sprouting out of his body. Glowing flutter wings were one thing, but real wings of flesh and feathers and blood might be a bit much for him to actually watch. And so, he waited, clenched and bundled in the flow of magic that cast bright shadows on the ground of the clearing, even in the middle of the day. The warmth became uncomfortable, but Widget endured, knowing in the back of his mind how powerful it had to be to actually transform his physical body. That logic didn't make it much easier to deal with, though, and he was soon hard put to not struggle, his breath coming in hot and sharp gasps as he tried to find some form of relief from the unpleasant, stifling blanket of magic.

However, it was over as quickly as it had begun, the magic whipping up and flaring away as Widget arched back and took a deep breath, his eyes snapping open, even though he couldn't see anything just yet, and he felt a sharp movement of his form he had never felt before that caused him to jerk back. He shook his head a little bit to gather himself as Twilight asked him how he felt -- sort of.

But before he could question that elongated tone of 'feel', he had looked back, and with wide eyed wonderment, he gawked at the wide wings that had sprouted right out of his back near his shoulders. He spread the wings wider, the very light powder blue feathers, the same color as his coat, sparkling with the sunlight that poured down from above, and with the magic that still filled the air so soon after such a spell had been cast. Widget felt his heart seize and his breath catch in his throat as, at long last, he arched up his wings with one small flap, enough to lighten the weight on his hooves.

"By Celestia..." he breathed, turning at last to look back at Twilight. His smile had, somehow, grown, and he threw back his head, laughing with utter glee. He wanted to take to the air at once, but even in his blind excitement, he remembered what Twilight had said, and restrained. Barely. Still, he had to show his pleasure, he had never been so happy! So, he displayed his feelings with a sharp flap of his new wings, kicking upward to stand on his hind legs and paw at the air with his front. "This is amazing!!" he cried out as he came down to land on the ground, his eyes once more on Twilight. "YOU are amazing! The best! I can't believe it...! I've got wings!!"


Twilight Sparkle
player, 187 posts
Fri 29 Jun 2012
at 16:36
  • msg #11

Re: The Whitetail Woods

Even though Twilight had been heavy with the warnings and urged Widget to practice self-control after the spell had completed, she found it hard to stick to her own words in the face of his glee.  His ecstatic energy just made her want to send him off right on the spot, riding that wave of happiness he was experiencing into the thrill of taking first flight like he'd dreamed of for so long.  She had better sense than that, but gave in a bit to that temptation as she laughed and turned aside to dash off across the broad clearing.

"C'mon, keep up~!" she called.  The unicorn led him in a wide circle around the clearing's span, holding stride with him to keep herself at his side a few paces off so that each of them had room to spread their wings.  Learning to flex certain muscles and actually utilize the new anatomy wasn't the hard part -- the body adapted swiftly and reflexively, allowing for organic introduction of the new physical information.  The hard part was actually figuring out how to use what one had correctly.  While Twilight was more the sort to learn through study and sought the knowledge of the written word first and foremost, she never turned down the wisdom of 'learning by doing'.  "Stretch them out and get a feel for the full range of movement.  It's easier if you synchronize it with your breathing -- inhale, draw up, exhale, flap down.  Feel how the wind moves along the primary and marginal coverts.  It's not like swimming -- you'll just exhaust yourself if you try and push too hard.  You can alter the angle of attack upward and downward with certain movements, like this..."

There was something to be said for a non-winged being trying to teach flying to another.  Somehow Twilight doubted someone like Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy could properly convey the necessary information.  They were born fliers and it was first nature to them; even if they were intimately more knowledgeable with the process, a lot of the understanding was innate and taken for granted.  Twilight and Widget shared a different way of thinking.  They understood the logistics, the physics, and the engineering behind such things.  She could rattle off a string of angles and degrees to him, and he would understand how to hold his wings to move through different flight poses.  She could refer to specific points of anatomy by their full scientific titles and he'd know just what she meant, especially since he'd spent so much time in study and development of mechanical versions of them.  As the two ran together, it made the learning experience much easier... and, as Twilight had to admit, more pleasurable.  It was nice having someone who could keep up...

"Alright, follow me now~!  It's ten strides, a leap, and then tuck your legs in!  We'll handle landing when we get to it!"  Twilight threw some caution to the wind as she threw herself to it as well, charging ahead in a burst of speed.  Her hooves pounded along the grass to the ten count and she flared her wings outward into a full spread, hoisting herself on the breeze and taking advantage of the wind's lift to take off.  At first she skimmed low to the ground, demonstrating how to hold one's legs close to the body, then pumped her wings to begin climbing in altitude.
Widget Whatsits
player, 199 posts
The Absentminded
Pony Professor
Sat 30 Jun 2012
at 03:42
  • msg #12

Re: The Whitetail Woods

As Twilight took off across the edge of the clearing, and shouted back at him to keep up, Widget's grin persisted and he did so, cantering after her, their hooves pattering on the grassy flat. He watched as her wings moved and she explained what to do, repeating the motions as he breathed in and flexed up, breathed out and flapped down. As she described, he could feel the wind whipping over his feathers, the exhilarating feeling of his feathers rippling on the slipstream they created. He could feel the lift even now, and felt himself running the razor's edge to flying as his excitement grew, and he wasn't sure exactly how long he would be able to last without at least trying to fly.

Thankfully, he didn't have to wait much longer. Twilight seemed quit as eager as he was to get to the fun part of having wings, and soon took off in a low, wide swoop around the clearing before beginning to pump her wings and gain altitude. "One, two, three," he breathed as he picked up speed, spreading his wings as wide as they could go. "Four, five, six," He took in a deep breath, his teeth gritting in his excitement. "Seven, eight, nine... ten!"

He arched up, wings fully spread, and he felt the wind catch him. Grasping that pull, he pumped his wings and tucked in his legs against his body. A slight decent, and he flapped again, the movement becoming more and more automated and natural feeling with each one he did. He had been very wrong... this was not at all like his flight packs. It was so much smoother, so much more natural and somehow easier to grasp than the constant stream of magic he had to put out before to keep his Daedelus Device powered. That said, he was in enough of a right mind to remember all the information he had read about flight, how pegasus had described the wind currents and slip streams and how they flew. He began to feel the drafts and soon use them to his advantage as he climbed up into the air after Twilight.

"Woo~hoo~!" he cried as he broke the treeline with her, laughing again as the wind breeze through his main and tail, ruffling his feathers as well as giving him something to glide easier on. He banked to the right, and then the left, getting a feel for his rudder, if you would, teaching himself how responsive his wing movements were to his mental commands, then breezed upward again to land himself just at Twilight's side, the tips of their wings brushing each other as the ascended toward the clouds. "I can't believe this!" he said breathlessly, feeling on the edge of tears. It was better than he had ever imagined, more incredible than his wildest dreams...
Twilight Sparkle
player, 188 posts
Sat 30 Jun 2012
at 04:02
  • msg #13

Re: The Whitetail Woods

It was a good thing Widget was a quick learner.  Twilight had a moment of quiet fear bubble up in her the moment he first took to the air and her horn glowed as she readied herself to catch him if he fumbled his take-off.  It proved an unnecessary precaution though.  With relief taking the place of concern, Twilight was able to relax once more and return fully to enjoying the glorious sensation of the wind rushing over her body.  Pegasi really didn't understand just how good they had it.  The freedom of movement, the speed, the sensation of defying gravity... it was nearly addictive.

"You're doing great~!  And while it goes against conventions, feel free to look down!" she called over as Widget leveled along beside her while they rose up over the trees.  The clearing below was becoming smaller and smaller as they flew into the sky together; they could see the gradual scope of the landscape taking form below them.  The vast spread of the Whitetail Woods, the distant mountains and foothills, and Ponyville itself became visible from a whole new perspective.  Beyond even further was the Everfree Forest and an absolutely horrible black storm that swirled about over it, though weird weather was part and parcel for that strange woodland.  The weather team wouldn't let it spill over into Ponyville, so there was nothing to worry about.

As the two neared the low-hanging clouds, Twilight broke away as she pitched upward into a steep climb.  She shot smoothly past a cluster of fluffy clouds and stalled as she hit the apex, then dropped back down with her wings tucked in close at her sides.  Rather than fall through the cloud she landed on it with a muffled 'whumph!' that tossed up bits of the puffy volume outward around her.  Anypony but Pegasi went right through clouds, but the spell granted the same sort of cloud-manipulation abilities that Pegasi had.  While the two of them couldn't go about altering weather without resorting to more magic, it did make cloud walking easy... plus clouds were unbelievably comfortable.
Widget Whatsits
player, 200 posts
The Absentminded
Pony Professor
Sun 1 Jul 2012
at 16:30
  • msg #14

Re: The Whitetail Woods

Taking Twilight's advice, Widget let himself gaze down over the expanding landscape of Equestria below them on a scale he could never have imagined. Even with his flight packs, he had never been able to sustain flight much higher than than the trees that lined Ponyville park for more than a few moments, and even then, it took a lot of concentration. But this, this was easy! This was wonderful! The trees of Whitetail Woods soon resembled modeling sticks, the individual leaves gone entirely, and Ponyville itself a short distance away looked like a child's play set, the ponies moving about on the street no bigger than ants. The feeling of his wings beating against the air, more on their own than by his conscious thought, the wind that whipped through his short main and tail and swished around his broad wings, the rush of air in his ears, all of it was exhilarating, to put it lightly, and he knew that no matter what happened between him and Twilight in the future, be it tomorrow or twenty years from now, this was something she had done for him that he would never, ever forget.

He watched Twilight rise up swiftly and then plummet back down onto a thick, fluffy cloud above them. He wasn't quite sure he was ready to just plow into a cloud face first, but the idea of landing on and walking on a cloud was exciting. His flight pack, of course, never would have allowed him to do that. He circled below for a short while, watching as Twilight ascended and then descended, and followed suit after she had 'whumph'ed into the cloud. He circled upward and glided down, but scrambled when he was noted he was coming in too shallow. It was probably a good thing that Twilight had decided to land on a cloud, even if clouds weren't awesome to land on, because it would be a lot softer landing for his first than the ground would be...

His hooves hit the cloud running and caved beneath him at the shallow angle and too high speed, sending him pitching forward face first into the cloud. His entire upper body up to his wing joints were soon lodged into the fluff. There was a pause as he gathered himself, pulled down his back hooves to brace himself, and yank upward. After a few good yanks, he eventually pulled up his head up out of the cloud, his eyes rolling slightly in his head. He shook his head to steady his vision, then leaned down to the side and clopped against his head, sending a few bits of white fluff floating from his ear. "Well, that could have gone better," he said goodnaturedly, standing up and making his way over to where Twilight was still lying in the clouds. With a grin, he flopped down in the comfortable cloud beside her, his eyes just barely open behind his oval rimmed glasses, and a smile of happy contentment on his face.
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