//------------------------------// // Already learning to fly? Great! // Story: Road to fame: My new life... As a gryphon. // by lord indisar //------------------------------// Did I already say this town clearly wasn't Ponyville? Yeah, I actually finally saw that, on the other side of the town, opposite the mountain, it was pretty flat lands that kept going so long, until I saw another mountain range so far away, it was blue with the distance. I wonder what that was? Maybe that was Canterlot? Or maybe the Smokey Mountains (some other thing on the official map. Forgot where it was, though.)? How similar was this Equestria to the show, even? Did it even follow? There's so many questions beyond just where I was. For all I know, I might actually be in Ponyville, just a different version of it. Well after passing... More than few houses, and a little extra walking, we finally got home, and Lovely Lights set me down on the couch, and got the chicken out the oven. It smelled wonderful... Though Lovely Lights didn't seem to think so, as she just stood still. I suppose this was something she hadn't done before, and wasn't prepared to do, given the way she'd grabbed a knife and how slow she was cutting the chicken. No, wait, she was using a butter knife. I don't even mean those serrated edge ones, either. I mean those things you can slide your finger acrossthe edge of 20 miles an hour, and not get cut( though it's recommended you don't. I'm Just exaggerating). So, yes. Anypony would be cutting slowly with one of those. They weren't exactly supposed to be used on meat. Though I suppose it must of been the only knife she had.... But I was getting more than just hungry at this point. If I could get on top of the counter, I could probably grab a bit of the chicken, probably faster than the unsharpened knife. But how was I going to get up there? It was much too high for me to jump, and there weren't any knobs to grab on below the counter, on the subject of climbing at least. Wait... I was a gryphon. I had wings! Maybe I could fly up to the counter? I felt one of the wings with my claws, trying to get a clue as to where the muscle was, and how to move them. The wings appeared to be attached to the back of my chest, just behind my shoulders. I tried moving my right wing, which responded slowly, but instantly, so I tried to flex both of them, and I was actually able to get them into get into a fully-extended position, perpendicular to me, as if I was preparing to glide. Now I just had to get them back in a folded position, which was easy enough, I simply had to relax the muscle, and my wings would go back into their original position. Almost like extra arms, really. I was smart enough not to actually try flapping, yet, though, since I knew I'd probably end up on my back, or worse, by doing that. Though I was going to have to try the movements, so I began slowly, carefully making a flapping motion, which was accomplished by tensing the muscles slightly, so that step was already down. I could easily feel the weak lift that was being generated from me simply moving my wings downwards, so it was easy to assume that I could do what I was thinking of doing. Well, time for the leap of faith, I told myself. I turned my wings and body a little, and flapped slowly, trying to get trajectory of where I'd be launched, and.... Well.... I gave it a big push, and I almost instantly found myself head first into the wall, if it wasn't for the fact I had my claws out in front of me. Instead, I was able to react to the impact and do a mini wall jump to the counter below, and well.. I was on the counter, just like I was aiming for. Flying was going to be a piece of cake, I bet. Well, I walked my way over to the chicken, and Lovely Lights still seemed to be stunned at what she was doing, so I did what I always do when it's chicken for dinner( though this time, I wasn't being told to wash my hands first.): grabbed the leg of the chicken, and ripped it off, as well as any meat that came with it, and began devouring it. And that's when Lovely Lights saw me, apparently, because she dashed out the door, and I could only hear gagging sounds. Go figure, I guess. Well, I quickly finished the meat on the bone, and, Still a little hungry, I ate what Lovely Lights had already carved out. With that done, and Lovely Lights still outside, I began trying to get the rest of the meat off the bone. What? It tasted great. I wasn't letting any go to waste! Lovely Lights did eventually return though, and began shredding the chicken in chunks, and placed I t in a bowl that she stored in the fridge. Huh, maybe she got over it? I kept sucking on the bone, and honestly, let's just say I didn't notice Lovely Lights leave the house, until she returned, with another white mare, though this one was a Pegasi. A friend of hers? They engaged in a little conversation, which ended with Lovely Lights leaving the house, and going somewhere. Was the other mare in the room there to watch over me, then? I suppose I had my question answered when the Pegasi walked over to me. "(Hello), Chirp. I am White Thunder. White Thunder." The mare said, waving. Uh... Was that word a greeting, then? "Hello, White Thunder???" I said back, waving to her. She nodded, which I thought meant I was correct. "Hmm.. You (really do learn fast)." She said, though in a tone I had to assume meant she wasn't teaching me anything yet. "(Well. First things first)." White Thunder said, before pointing down with her wing. "(Down), Chirp. (Down. Down.) Down. " she ordered, which I assumed she meant for me to get off the counter, so I jumped down. "Yes! (Now follow me. Follow. Me. Follow. Me.) Follow. Me" she repeated, motioning me towards her, and heading outside, which I did as well. Finally outside, White Thunder turned around and motioned to her eye. " (Watch me), Chirp. (Watch. Me. Watch. Me.) Watch. Me." She continued, before flapping her wings in quick up, and slow down motions, generating a bit of a gust, until she stopped, in a position that looked like she was going to take off, before looking at me. As if expecting me to do something... But what.... My eyes went wide. Wait...wait. Wait wait wait wait wait wait, WAIT! Was this really happening, right now? Was she going to try to get me to learn how to fly?! I mean, it's only been a day, maybe, but we're already going there??? I tried to calm down, and I outstretched my wings to match her own, however small mine were. Let's see if I can keep the number of faceplants under 5. I was feeling a little confident and safe really, knowing that if anything went wrong, I guess the Pegasus would know when to save me from crashing too hard( and maybe when not to save me, actually... Damn it). So before we even got to the air, White Thunder was showing me a bit of control, and after about an hour and a half, I was able to do that flapping thing without leaving the ground, though I did find myself leaving the ground quite a lot in that time. And while I did fall over, I only faceplanted once, so that goal was still actually possible. I also was able to learn how to recover from a messed up wing flap, thinks to a few staged slip ups from White Thunder, as well as the catlike reflexes I had. After that, it was actually time to fly, which I supposed I wouldn't screw up too badly, long as I remembered to recover. Let me tell you now, after White Thunder had verified my wings were in shape, she... Took off. And waved me to follow ( though she did stop a bit of a ways up. "(Well fuck you too,) White Thunder." I said under my breath. Did she expect me to just try? Meh... Trial by error. I did the little stunt we were doing earlier for a few moments , and after measuring my jump and which way I'd be going, just like in the kitchen with the counter, I flapped my wings and.....I wasn't touching the ground anymore, and I was getting higher, and closer to my mentor. Holy shit, I was flying. I didn't dare look down really, I feared how high I already was. Except I didn't really know how to go down....well shit... I reached White Thunder and she caught me in her hooves, preventing from going higher, and she quickly brought me back down to the ground, where she set me down. I had a guess for what my next lesson was going to be, though, and maybe I'd be able to get down on my own soon enough..... Did I say I could fly? Yes? Well I'll say it again. Holy shit, I can fly.