@GaruuSpike  
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, good theory.

@TheSultanAkbar  
I’d like to preface by saying that I was thinking that the pegasus weight-decreasing magic is something the pegasus can control and decides when it is and isn’t active, as well as how strong it is. Pegasi have to modulate the strength of the spell mid-flight so that they have the correct amount of weight for whatever it is that they’re doing. Too much power and they’ll get blown around by a breeze, too little and staying airborne will be too hard. Learning how to control that passive magic is probably part of the “skill” of flying that requires training. It may be more precise than expected. Ever tried to learn how to play a violin? (assuming you don’t already)
 
Pegasi do get blown around by strong winds. In Sparkle’s Seven they installed fans to prevent pegasi from flying properly (though Rainbow Dash was making use of them to perform tricks), and in Wonderbolts Academy one of the obstacles on the course was a collection of large fans that will blow pegasi away that stray into their air currents. There are probably more examples; I’ll have to do some digging.
 
Scootaloo is apparently half earth pony because of her parents, so her pegasus magic may not be as strong as a pureblood, hence why she can’t fly like other pegasus foals with similar wing size, and she’ll just fall further behind as she gets older. Bulk Biceps is of note, because his wings are even smaller than Scootaloo’s, though he can sort of fly in the sense that he slowly drifts without much control. Maybe he trains his magic just like he trains his muscles? Idk. But his wing size is definitely hurting him.
 
Remember that headcanon that Applejack is made of dark matter? Ahahaha, I’m just kidding. Perhaps Rainbow was dazed from being dropped unceremoniously and without warning just prior, causing her to temporarily lose control of her magic, hence why she yelled at AJ to “wait!” while she got it under control again… but Applejack didn’t wait, and Rainbow became the first Equestrian astronaut.
 
It would be smart to crank up the power of that spell right before you crash into something, because the less you weigh, the less your internal organs will be damaged by that sudden stop. Hence why we see Rainbow Dash crash into stuff constantly and she usually doesn’t have to go to the hospital afterwards.

@GoodVibesGorgeous  
after the movie or not, these skin textures are creeping me out. It’s fine when you see it from a distance, but if you enlarge the image and look up close it really looks like some cheap hotel room fabric texture. I get it they want the pony to resemble the actual toy they’re selling, but c’mon, actual fabric doesn’t look like that.

@GaruuSpike  
Very good point. My only gripe is if they work as weather ponies, then they’d need some stability, right? Cause if they’re working in strong winds wouldn’t their light weight and large surface area just get them blown away? Plus, Scootaloo can’t fly. Does she lack magic? Cause if she had magic, her having undeveloped wings wouldn’t matter, since she’s so light.  
Also, when does the magic kick in? When a pegasus decides to take flight? Cause remember, Rainbow Dash got launched by AJ that one time and she rocketed straight to Twilight’s balcony like a heavy object. IIRC.

@TheSultanAkbar
 
I’d argue the magic just decreases their weight. Let me tell you a bit about the square-cube law.
 
If you scale-up a bird, its mass will increase faster than the surface area of its wings, thus, it will not be able to fly after a certain point.
 
Increasing the size of the wings to make up for it… will require exponentially larger muscles, which creates even more weight, which requires even bigger wings and bigger muscles, making even more weight, and so on. Plus, having larger muscles means they will tear themselves apart without denser/stronger bones and ligaments, but denser bones creates more weight… you see the problem?
 
There’s a reason there are no large flying animals in the real world. It’s because a creature’s size has a direct negative effect on its power-to-weight ratio, and there is nothing that can be done about this. It’s just physics.
 
But if pegasi have an inherent magic that massively decreases their weight while in flight, then they’d be able to fly just fine with wings and muscles that are far too small for natural flight. Problem solved! And they might need to train because they still have to angle their wings, tuck in their legs, flap in the correct pattern, etc, and this is muscle memory that has to be developed the hard way because you can’t quite learn it from a book (aka tacit knowledge).

@TheSultanAkbar  
Tirek Need is to build-up his strength in order to take that magic And was even used as an example of how powerfull he has gotten

@Background Pony #27AD  
Yeah… well… I suppose there is no standardised magic in Equestria. Would be kind of silly if the only dissapeared magic is unicorn magic.

The answer is very simple. pegasus flight magic is not the same as unicorn magic.

@i-shooped-a-pwny  
Ok, understandable, but still, the way they flap and use their wings in the show, I don’t know, it still looks like they have very much influence over their leviation and flight and not magic. If they’d use magic they’d just levitate. Furthermore, how would they train for flight if it’s just magic?

@TheSultanAkbar  
If we really want to get pedantic, pegasi would need to have hollow bones, very low BMI and wings much much larger to create lift. I seem to recall reading many years ago that someone worked it out using a horse of average size(this is all going on a vague memory) the wings would have to be over 40 feet each in span and several feet in depth dwarfing Flurry Hearts wings by a lot.
 

They also made it a pretty big deal that Tirek Was able to steal pegasus flight magic.  
He needed a lot Of unicorn magic 1st

@Delphince  
Uhhh  
 
EDIT: This was in school raze after the magic was drained from equestria.

@Delphince  
Ok, that’s understandable, I guess. We’ll wait and see what the explanation is.
 
But still, they are seen fluttering with their wings.

The wings were for control. As far back as Season 1, there are examples such as Rainbow Dash’s wings being flipped upside-down by poison joke, causing her to lose control of her flight, but not prevent it. Without magic, pegasi couldn’t fly or walk on clouds. On multiple occasions, like the episodes with Tirek, when a pegasus or alicorn was drained of magic, they lost the ability to fly until it was returned, even after physically recovering. Scootaloo’s mixed earth pony / pegasus parentage was responsible for the rare occurrence of a pegasus being unable to fly. Wing size is irrelevant.

@i-shooped-a-pwny  
Maybe. Let’s wait and see what happens!

@Delphince  
As I recall pegasus needing magic to fly was only relevant once

@Delphince  
What? If they needed magic in FIM and there’s no magic, they probably just learned to do it themselves. Like I said, why would a pegasus not be able to fly with no magic? What are the wings then, just sort of there?

@TheSultanAkbar  
Go back and actually pay attention to the show.

@Delphince  
Really now? They’ve probably evolved muscles to do it themselves. I mean, that’s kinda dumb, no flight without magic.

It’s also worth noting that without magic in Equestria, pegasi can’t fly.

@Delphince  
(big shrug) It’s a race that managed to compose piece of music using violins and pianos somehow

@Delphince  
There’s ways of operating them. We’ll see what happens.

@Background Pony #E227  
I like rainbow bug deer, though admittedly I was a little WTF at first.
 
@GoodVibesGorgeous  
I wonder if it will be like the How to Train Your Dragon series, where the movie looks great and the TV show is similar but lower frame rate and a little cheaper feeling?

@TheSultanAkbar  
With no opposable thumbs or magic? Yuh-huh…  
There was a reason Lauren never wanted the ponies to reach steam technology, and even that and slightly beyond I can imagine with the use of mouths, foreheads, and fetlocks. Unicorn precision technically opens everything up, but at the same time discourages the need. So microcircuitry development holding a tool in your mouth? Not happening.

Right Zipp: Solid, guarded, unamused, intimidating  
Left Zipp: Absolute failure at bedroom eyes
 
I think it’s an awkward mid-blink screenshot