A light breeze flowed in the air, and there were a few stray clouds here and there. But otherwise, the sun was shining. Cloudsdale hasn't scheduled any rain clouds to be brought in, yet. Perfect day for lessons on flying, right?

...Probably not.

"I can't believe you've never flown in your entire life! What are you? A FOAL?" The gruff voice of the instructor called from above, on top of her cloud perch. She had groomed her feathers and decided to brush her mane a little bit. Good to make a good first impression for your first "student". And probably inspired by them. Oh look, they were right there.

"Hey!" An arrogant, egocentric stallion snapped from below, hooves glued to the gravel.

"Rainbow Dash, please don't be so rude," the butterscotch mare, who sat beside Rainbow Dash, barely even scolded.

"Come on, Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash said, "don't worry about it. I know what it is to teach someone. And now's my chance to prove that I make a good instructor!" The two fluttered down from the sky, greeting the strange pegasus.

"Welcome to your first flight lesson," Rainbow Dash began, "today you will learn about us pegasi and what it's like to be one."

Matt unfolded his wings for a few seconds to look at them, with perfect, shiny feathers, then returned his gaze towards the colorful mare. "Pegasuses fly, right?" He asked. Clearly he doesn't know the plural for the cartoon winged horses. "I've always wondered what it's like to fly... well, other than getting abducted by aliens and being sent into space... still," he added quietly.

"Well, yeah. We do fly," Rainbow Dash said, "but there's WAAYYY more to being a pegasus than that." She pointed up at the sky. "Look over there! What do you see?"

Matt looked in the direction of her pointing hoof, then looked back at the two pegasi with a confused look. "...nothing?" He answered.

"Exactly!" Rainbow Dash beamed. She peered closer. "You see, in some ways, all ponies are important." She drew three circles in the dirt. She planted a hoof in one of them. "We have earth ponies," she explained, "they are the farmers. With their strength and craftiness, they can pull wagons, build houses, and tend to the land." She then put her hoof in the second circle. "Then, there's the unicorns. They are the most talented with magic. They cast spells, fight off monsters, and are the smartest." She put the hoof in the last one. "Then, there's us. The pegasi. We are fast, athletic, and brave. We rule over the skies in the clouds. The rainbows that we create dance in our clear blue skies. We bring inspiration and entertainment to the earth ponies and unicorns below. We bring sunshine and plentiful rain. We watch over every town and city in Equestria, as if we were all Princess Celestia herself!" She finished with a proud grin, watching the sky below the blinding sun. Looking back at Matt, she frowned as she saw the blank look on his face. "Uh... hey, buddy. Did you get all that?" She rasped.

...

"We still fly right?" Matt had spent a good long moment thinking about what Rainbow Dash had just said. But still, the same reply.

"Right, again!" Rainbow Dash chortled with a slight edge to her tone. "You know what, let's get on with the ACTUAL lesson! Let's start with-- whoa, whoa, whoa!"

Matt was already lifting from the ground, but each wingbeat wasn't in rhythm. Rainbow Dash was pretty sure he was trying way too hard to fly, by the way he thrashed his wings. He barely lasted another second before landing hard on all fours, then his knees buckled, and he toppled over.

"Yeesh, that felt weird!" Matt said, brushing dust off his green coat, then shaking the rest off.

"Okay, yeah. Good try," Rainbow Dash observed, "buuuuut you decided to NOT follow along with the lesson AND you won't be able to fly if you don't listen. Got it?"

"Sure, okay!" Matt replied with a burst of enthusiasm.

Rainbow Dash had decided it was best to teach a lesson in the clouds. She had already used a movable cloud to help the learner make its way up to the sky.

"How do you guys STAND on this?" Matt asked, amazed by how he wasn't falling right through the puffs of water vapor that billowed under his hooves.

"It only takes one simple element in Equestria: Mmmmmmmmmagic," Rainbow Dash replied, then chuckling after. She cleared her throat. "Now, the first thing to learn about flying is rhythm in wingbeats. You want your wings to push you into the air at a certain rhythm, depending on how fast or how high you want to go." She unfolded her wings and braced her haunches for a launching example. "If you want to go up really fast, you need to put as much strength into your wings as you can, and then..." she pushed herself off the cloud, using her poweful extra pair of limbs to launch herself high into the air in just a matter of milliseconds.

"Like that!" She called from above, her voice echoing in the openness of the sky.

As soon as she came back down to land, Fluttershy cut in before she could speak. "But be careful you don't strain or confuse yourself. Remember, this is your first time flying. I advise taking it slow and practicing before you--"

"Fluttershy, he should be able to know!" Rainbow Dash hissed at her friend, ignoring the shy mare flinching sharply. But when she turned her head to look at Matt, she saw that almost blank face.

"B-but... well, even if he does, it's best we give him the basics first..." Fluttershy mumbled, not making eye contact with Rainbow Dash.

"But he looks about older than us! He's got this!" Rainbow Dash insisted.

Fluttershy managed to straighten up and look the arrogant mare in the eye. "He needs to start out with basics!" She said, "it's like a filly learning math. They can't just jump straight into algebra and physics without knowing how to add and subtract."

"Right, and two plus two equals five!" Matt said, "...or was it just four...?"

"See? Matt knows it already!" She gave Fluttershy a look of pleading. "It can't hurt for him to try, can it?"

Fluttershy sighed, "o-okay... but if he hurts himself, you may have to think about your teaching methods before trying again."

Rainbow Dash only replied with a small scoff before continuing with the lesson. Nopony told her what to do most of the time.

'Now, time to channel my awesomeness into teaching!'

"Okay, let's get flying! No need for hooves in this," Rainbow Dash said.

"But what if I never had hooves befo--?"

"FIRST, let's start with stretching out your wings. Don't want them to feel stiff in flight." Rainbow Dash couldn't help but chuckle. "Heh, you look more confused than when Twilight first got wings! I taught her the basics of flying, and trust me, she ALWAYS had trouble with flying!"

Matt still didn't move a muscle. A moment later, he looked up to the sky. He then unfurled his wings, gathered momentum, and attempted to leap into flight. His wingbeats were still out of rhythm, and his face showed panic as soon as he lifted off the cloud. He landed back down, not even five seconds into flight.

"Well, not too shabby for a second time, I guess," Rainbow Dash mumbled. "Try it again. And with your wings flapping at the same time."

Fluttershy hesitated before adding, "maybe perhaps try to stay more calm?"

Matt looked at his wings, deep in thought, before kicking off the ground again. He didn't unfold his wings all the way this time, and plopped back down on the cloud. He chuckled nervously at his mistake.

Rainbow Dash was silent for a moment, clearly hiding her impatience with a smug look. "Try... again."

The quarters of an hour passed by. Still, no progress.

Rainbow Dash finally snapped. "Yup. Thats it," she said, "you can't fly. You're more confused a foal! If you wanna learn how to fly properly, go ask somepony else. I'm not gonna help!"

Matt flinched in surprise.

"Rainbow Dash--" Fluttershy began.

"I DON'T CARE!" Rainbow Dash yelled, scaring her friend. Recollecting her temper, she sucked in a deep breath, calming down. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I just don't think I'll be able to teach somepony who barely knows how to walk on all four hooves." Praimbow Dash looked down at her hooves in disappointment.

"U-um..." Fluttershy focused her attention away from Rainbow Dash, leading her eyes straight to Matt. "I think you might have upset Matt a tiny bit..." she cowered slightly.

Rainbow Dash immediately felt guilt weigh heavy in her chest. She was supposed to bring a beginner up to an expert. Instead, she had brought the beginner even lower than that. A newbie. A defective.

"I'm sorry," Rainbow Dash sighed, "I guess frustration got me on my bad side--"

"You compare me to that of a foal?" Matt's voice was low, somewhat menacing. He straightened himself up.

"I said I'm sorry--" Rainbow Dash began.

"You have no idea what crazy adventures I've faced with Edd and Tom!" Matt interrupted. "I've survived being jabbed by pointy needles in a sand pit from abandoned ruins deep underground. I've lead a zombie apocalypse with just three legs."

As Matt began boasting, pale wings began to twitch.

"I can bend the fabric of time and space, no trouble! Just the touch of a button! I could also suck the blood out of any living thing as if I were a vampire!"

Matt's hooves slowly touched air, lifting away from his cloud perch.

"If you think for a moment that I'm not qualified to even stand on four legs, then think again! I've been on more perilous adventures than you've grown feathers."

The three ponies were silent.

"You're actually flying," Fluttershy finally mustered the courage to break the silence.

Matt froze in midair. His wings stopped flapping. He landed back on the ground, expression blank once again.

"It's that sinple..."

"I told you! Learning how to fly is like learning math skills? Amirite, Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash beamed.

"But... but I was the one to say that," Fluttershy mumbled.

"Sorry, what was that?" Rainbow Dash teased with her arrogance. She turned back to Matt. "Well, I guess you actually can fly. Try again, though. Prove to me that you can."

Matt pushed himself off the cloud once again, wings beating in sync, and in rhythm. Panic forgotten. He began to fly back down to the ground.

Rainbow Dash heard a thud, then a small and muffled "ow." Then there was the sound of hooves scrambling for footing. "Not the face!"

"Perhaps he's gonna have to learn about landing next."