Weird RD thing I don't know

>be Anonymous
>sole human resident of Equestria
>citizen of Ponyville
>and currently very perplexed
>you're out walking with your friend Rainbow Dash, the usual ritual after you both finish work
>Dash is alternating between showing off some new tricks she's learning, performing loops and rolls around you above tree level, and hovering at head height to talk to you
>watching her fly is what's got you so deep in thought
>how the fuck does she do that?
>If you'd ask she'd just say "with my wings, silly" or something, but that's not the question
>physically, HOW do pegasi fly?
>their wings seem far too small to get them airborne with such a small surface area, let alone allow for hovering and tricks.
"Yo! Earth to anon! You there?"
>oops
>looks like you got lost in thought
"Watcha thinkin' about? You're looking pretty focused"
"Nothing, just some stuff, not important."
"Seems important. S'like you're hypnotized. What is it?"
"Alright. I'm wondering how pegasi fly."
>she looks at you like you're a complete idiot.
"With our wings, silly."
>called it
>she takes a mocking tone of voice and hovers above your head as if to prove her point
"No, physically how? Is it magic?"
"Uh, no? No magic. Just pegasi perfection."
>there goes that theory

>She finds nothing abnormal, and makes another few ultimately unsuccessful attempts at flight
>She looks back to find you watching her with growing concern, and a look of embarrassment washes over her face
"Dash, are you okay?"
>You walk over to her
"Mhm. Yeah. Probably just pulled a muscle or something with all my rigorous training, you know?"
>She seems fairly collected but you can detect just a hint of fear tinging her words
"Let's keep walking and see how you feel in a bit. It's probably nothing to worry about."
>Rainbow seems to relax a bit, she smiles and trots alongside you as you follow the meandering path around town
>She occasionally bumps your thigh with her flank or should, but it's probably unintentional
>Maybe
>As you round a bend, you bump into Fluttershy, another good friend of yours
"Oh hello Anon! And Dash! Nice to see you!"
"Nice to see you too, Flutters."
>You exchange all the typical pleasantries and talk about your day, typical stuff.
"I have to say it's kind of odd to see you down on the ground, Rainbow. I'm used to you practicing your tricks instead of walking."
"Just having some wing trouble, taking it easy for a little bit to rest."
"Wing trouble?"
"Yeah, not getting enough lift for whatever reason. Was just talking to Anon and then I just sorta fell, I guess."
"Oh my! I'm sorry to hear that. What were you talking about?"
>You cut in, and Fluttershy hovers up to your eye level
>Its nice talking to pegasi since they can do that, it's a strain on the neck when you have to literally talk down to everyone
"I was just wondering how pegasi fly with such small wings, they look too small to loft a pony, but I don't know."
>Fluttershy seems to think about it for a moment, looking back at her wings
"MEEP!"
>You and Dash both look on in horror as Fluttershy falls out of the air, landing on her haunches with a startled yelp
>She didn't fall as far as Dash, but it was enough to give the skittish yellow pony quite a startle

>She finds nothing abnormal, and makes another few ultimately unsuccessful attempts at flight
>She looks back to find you watching her with growing concern, and a look of embarrassment washes over her face
"Dash, are you okay?"
>You walk over to her
"Mhm. Yeah. Probably just pulled a muscle or something with all my rigorous training, you know?"
>She seems fairly collected but you can detect just a hint of fear tinging her words
"Let's keep walking and see how you feel in a bit. It's probably nothing to worry about."
>Rainbow seems to relax a bit, she smiles and trots alongside you as you follow the meandering path around town
>She occasionally bumps your thigh with her flank or should, but it's probably unintentional
>Maybe
>As you round a bend, you bump into Fluttershy, another good friend of yours
"Oh hello Anon! And Dash! Nice to see you!"
"Nice to see you too, Flutters."
>You exchange all the typical pleasantries and talk about your day, typical stuff.
"I have to say it's kind of odd to see you down on the ground, Rainbow. I'm used to you practicing your tricks instead of walking."
"Just having some wing trouble, taking it easy for a little bit to rest."
"Wing trouble?"
"Yeah, not getting enough lift for whatever reason. Was just talking to Anon and then I just sorta fell, I guess."
"Oh my! I'm sorry to hear that. What were you talking about?"
>You cut in, and Fluttershy hovers up to your eye level
>Its nice talking to pegasi since they can do that, it's a strain on the neck when you have to literally talk down to everyone
"I was just wondering how pegasi fly with such small wings, they look too small to loft a pony, but I don't know."
>Fluttershy seems to think about it for a moment, looking back at her wings
"MEEP!"
>You and Dash both look on in horror as Fluttershy falls out of the air, landing on her haunches with a startled yelp
>She didn't fall as far as Dash, but it was enough to give the skittish yellow pony quite a startle

>Now Dash looks scared
>Flutters is still confused
>And you're beginning to feel like you've fucked up
>Dash's instinctual panic response causes her to attempt to fly backwards, but to no avail, the tiny amount of wing area barely even disturbs the grass
>This only freaks her out more
>She's properly panicking now
>You grab her by the sides of the head and look directly into her eyes
>She backs off the panic just a bit
>You suggest finding Twilight, since she's the answer to basically every major or minor problem around here
"Y-yeah, Twilight'll know! C'mon!"
>Shes about to take off in a full sprint, but a concerned Thunderlane stops you to ask if everything's okay
>You say everything's fine and really need to get going
>A nearby unicorn who you guess saw the whole ordeal with Shy speaks up
"Yeah he just asked how pegasi fly with such small wings, and the yellow one just fell out of the air. Weirdest thing."
>Oh no
>Less than a second later Thunderlane's wings give out and he falls back on his flight school training, extending his wings to act like a parachute
>Unfortunately they don't extend evenly, and the meager amount of lift they now produce only serves to flip him over as he falls
>He hits the ground. Hard.
>Oh fuck he looks unconscious
>Now Dash and Fluttershy are VERY scared
>And so are you
>Partly for your friends and their safety
>And also because now you KNOW you've fucked up

>Somehow you've broken pony physics
>It's like pegasi could only fly because they didn't realize their wings are too small to keep them aloft
>And now you've spoken the truth
>This is going to be one of those things that gets way out of hand, you can already tell
>At this point you and Rainbow are sprinting to Twilight's at near top speed, practically dragging a still beleaguered Fluttershy along
>She's trying to keep herself from hyperventilating while also avoiding tripping over her own mane
>News of the incidents is spreading
>More pegasi are being affected
>An orange mare sails overhead before her wings lock up, careening into a lamppost from the leftover momentum
>You hit the deck as a yellow stallion tears past you, bouncing across the ground and, inexplicably, exploding into a huge fireball near the center of town
>You don't think Dash even noticed
>Fluttershy is just trying to survive the wombo combo of panic induced hyperventilating and physical exhaustion
>After dodging a few more unfortunate locals as the verbal infection spreads, you finally arrive at the library, the three of you practically bashing the door down with frantic knocking

>After about 15 seconds of frantic pounding on the door you're getting ready to kick the damn thing in
>Luckily you don't have too as a certain purple alicorn opens the door, looking confused and ,
understandably, also a bit miffed
>Once she sees the panicked expressions on your faces her tone changes immediately
"Guys? Is something wrong?"
>Just as you were about to try to explain, a pegasus blasts through the upper window of twilight's house, coming to rest in a heap against one of the bookshelves
>Ditzy Doo extricates herself from the wreckage of the shelf and shakily stands up
>She's pretty dazed from the impact, with a shake of her head she regains her balance and her eyes align in the same direction for once, if only briefly
"Uh...oops. Sorry Twilight."
"Please just try to be more careful."
"Y-you got it boss!"
>The wall-eyed mailmare gives a quick salute before stumbling across the room and taking flight back out the window like nothing happened
>You assumed she forgot how to fly like everyone else, but you forgot to account for the fact that Ditzy is a paragon of accidental chaos
>At least she's okay
>In fact you've all seemed to have forgotten about the currently propagating disaster with the intrusion of a certain muffin-loving pegasus
"Uhhh...yeah. Sooooo...what brings you three here? You seemed frantic."
>You relay the whole story to Twilight in the hope she'll magic-ex-machina it back to normal like everything else
>You regularly wince throughout your story as the sound of ponies falling from the sky intermittently reaches your ears
>She seems flabbergasted at what she's hearing
>Probably already thinking of the solution to this
"So Twi, what do you think?"
>She puts a hoof to her chin, deep in thought
"Hmmm... Yep. I think we're pretty much fucked."
>Wait what

"WHAT?!"
>Dash, Shy, and you all harmonize in shock
"There's nothing we can really do..."
>The unicorn trails off sheepishly at the end of the sentence as if she's embarrassed she doesn't have the answer
"It's not a magical affliction, so there's nothing I can do to stop it there, I don't know how it works. All we can do is stop it from spreading and work from there."
"Th-then what?!"
>Dash sounds legitimately terrified now, her voice cracking in a way that under normal circumstances would be absolutely adorable
"I don't know...memory changing spells are some of the most heavily guarded magics there are. They're extremely dangerous. I'd have to get a the original texts delivered here, under guard, which means delivery by land only, before I could do anything."
>"And how long would that take?"
>"Not sure. Maybe a week or more, unless I can get it rushed, as it is an emergency... I'll see what I can do. Even if I do get it...I'm not entirely sure it'd work on something like this. But we'll try."
>Speaking of emergencies, as Twi goes to find Spike you decide to chance a peek outside to assess the gravity of the situation
>Ponies are scattering every which way, running around with their hair figuratively -and in the case of one unfortunate mare, literally- on fire
>The northerly winds carries bits of burning mane and candy-colored shrapnel across town square
>There are even a few buildings flaming as well
>Jesus this has really gotten out of hand
>Pegasi take to take air in every direction to escape the calamity
>Dash is panicking
>Fluttershy is panicking
>You are panicking
>This can't possibly get any worse

>You shut the door in a hurry before you get killed by a projectile pegasus
>You survey the inside of Twilight's main room
>Twilight is pulling research books
>Fluttershy is trying to help but also not get in the way
>Rainbow is the one not taking it well, surprisingly
>She's just sort of curled up in the corner
>You figure she's probably trying to think of a plan by herself, being the determined pony she is
>On closer inspection, her head is sagging, shoulders shaking...
>Is Dash...crying?
>That's not Dash-like at all
>Twi and Fluttershy haven't seemed to notice yet, as they're too busy frantically researching
>You decide to see what's up with her
>A rumble echoes from the rafters as bits of dust rain from the ceiling
>That must have been a big one. You hope they're okay.
>Speaking of okay, Dash really doesn't seem to be
>She doesn't even notice you walking up to her until you put a hand on top of her shoulder
>She jumps a little bit at your touch
"Dash. What's wrong?"
"N-nothing. M'fine."
>She tries to hide her face from you. Even now she's trying to maintain her tough-girl persona
"Dash, you're gonna be fine. They'll figure this out."
"I-I know that!"
"Alright, just checking."
"But wh-what if they don't?"
"Dash..."
"What if I can't fly anymore?"
>She's starting to rile herself up, and you decide to stop it before she throws herself into hysterics
>You sweep her up into a hug, putting your hand on the back of her head as you shush her and tell her it's gonna be fine
>Dash normally won't sit still for any physical contact, and being treated like a foal like this would certainly infuriate her, but at the moment she accepts
>She throws a wing over your back and sighs into your shoulder