As Pipp looked around, she could feel the magic in the air around her. Almost like a prickly feeling. Instinctively, she and Zipp spread out their wings and began flapping them, and she gasped as she saw Zipp hovering over the air, her heart swelling with joy and pride.
But then realized she was still firmly on the ground. She flapped her wings harder, and harder. She jumped up and was fluttering, for a second, maybe two, but then the very next second she was grounded.
She turned her head and saw Zipp was already many hooves off the ground, flapping her wings with utter joy. Along with many other pegsi. "What's wrong?" Izzy asked, casually holding several rocks in the air with her horn, emitting some magic.
"I," Pipp fluttered her wings again, trying to get them to lift off. Nothing except a few seconds of thrust. "I" she tired again, once more nothing but a few seconds off the ground.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Izzy asked, tilting her head. "Because you don't look okay to me. Need help?" she jerked her head to one of the rocks she was holding.
"Umm, is your horn that powerful?" Pipp asked, her eyes darting to it. She'd seen it cause a tree to knock down-with no magic!-but still.
"Don't know!" Izzy promptly dropped all the rocks, and they fell to the ground with a thud. "First time for everything, right? I can give you a lift!"
Pipp spread her wings, as she saw her subjects flying around with Zipp already giving them lessons on how to fly. They fluttered and danced in the air, as if they had no cares in the world. And she had faked it enough to know there was real joy in it. "Please do." She felt a sudden surge of power come over her, and without a second word she was hurled into the air.
She then felt her heart racing-and not in a good way-when she saw the ground rushing towards her. Pipp! Imagine this is a concert! Just spread your wings and fly! She closed her eyes, and spread her wings, flapping them just as she did in the concert.
But it didn't work. She could still feel the ground rushing at her, and she could hear Izzy shouting from below. "You got this!"
She tried. Maybe the magic of friendship would give her the boost? She flapped harder, even singing one of her songs under her breath. Hoping, praying to feel air under her wing rather than above.
Nothing. And the ground was surly inches away. Oh why did this seem to be her fate? Her life was ruined, and soon enough there would be no life, because-
She stopped. Her head jerked back causing a crack in her neck. "Oh my gosh! Are you okay?!" She opened her eyes and saw Sunny, as whatever power held her released her.
She heard fluttering besides her. "Pipp, what was that?" Zipp asked softly.
"Okay everypony! Move!" Hitch ordered from somewhere behind Pipp. "Give the mares some space! I'm sure you have a lot of questions, but move!" Pipp got to her hooves.
"I," she tried one more time. As though this time would be the time that would change it. As if some miracle would allow her to take off, into the skies.
But this time, she didn't even hover for a few seconds. She just felt less connected to the ground for a few seconds. Forcing her to admit the fact. Staring down firmly at the ground, she quietly uttered, as if that would make it any less true. "I can't fly."
Please don't hate me, this is purely self-indulgent, I whipped this up in like, five minutes.. I liked gen 5 overall, though I do think it should've been a whole season instead of a movie.
So, basically I was disappointed that Pipp wasn't disabled. Like, it doesn't have to be serious, but I genuinely felt like showing a disability would've been nice. At least a minor disability (somewhat) curable by technology.
In case you're wondering, she basically has stunted growth. As in, I believe when Pegisi are born they have dowry feathers like birds. Disregarding Baby Cakes, it takes until they are about six or seven years old to fully grow them out. Normally they start flying at five, (hence why everyone was bullying Scootaloo over it) but they still have dowry feathers until seven or sometimes even eight years old. Pipp on the other hand, er, hoof. Never developed beyond dowry wings. So while they grew in size, they didn't mature. Hence why she can't fly. For the Pegsi, this knowledge is lost so they just assume she's a late bloomer. A really late bloomer.
No worries, once they start developing flight technology (Queen Haven will insist, while also trying to hide the fact) they'll figure out how to help her using some clouds. It won't ever be as good as a natural wing because it's heavier and requires them being strapped on, and she won't be able to fly as fast as the other Pegsi due to drag. And they are susceptible to being blown away, (so no flying in intense winds) and they need to be replaced roughly weekly if the environment is too dry or moist. Dryness will cause them to evaporate because it's made of water molecules, and moistness will cause them to be too heavy to be of any use. For moistness you could probably just squeeze it, but it'd take a while to get it right.
TL:DR, Cloud Technology helps, but isn't as good as natural flying. Doesn't mean it's useless however. And no worries, if any big quests come along she'll come. She just has to be careful of humanity and the winds.
Side note: Sunny did not become an Alicorn here. Mostly because I don't think she deserves it yet. Instead she just went rainbow mode like the main six did after defeating Tirek.
Also, if I ever do another story like this, expect some random bitter pegasus to be like: "Aww, isn't this ironic? The biggest liar of them all is the only one who can't fly!" Anyways, that's all for now. Hopefully I didn't screw up and get everyone who actually knows about birds and feathers and clouds mad at me.