//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: Learning to Fly 
// Story: The Flame Chronicles 
// by FlameBrony1625 
//------------------------------//

"So they're called cutie marks?"

Flash and I walked out of the curry place called The Tasty Treat. As I predicted, most of the stuff they had was for ponies. There were oatcakes and stuff with hay and grass in them. However, they did have a spicy flat noodle soup, which was probably the best soup I ever had. I don't know how, but so far some of the stuff I've had here in pony world was better than the food back at home. As we talked, I finally got my answer as to why all these ponies have tattoos on their butts.

"Yep! They appear as soon as somepony figures out their special talent. Once it's been discovered... Boom." He points to his cutie mark, emphasizing his point. "This baby appears." He suddenly gives me a quizzical look. "Do you humans not have cutie marks?"

I gave him a deadpan look. "...No, Flash. We don't have tattoos that magically appear on the sides of our asses."

He let out a chuckle. "I suppose it does sound pretty ridiculous to you, but it's been like that since... well, pretty much forever. How do you humans know what your special talent is?"

"Well... we kinda just... do, if that makes any sense. At a young age, we become interested in a certain thing, and we set that as a goal. Once we go to college, we have to study hard for it if we want that certain thing to be our job. So it's kinda similar to how you ponies do... well, you know... without the tattoo appearing on your butt, hehe."

He shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so." 

"Also we have talents that we like to do for fun. For example, I played guitar a lot back at home." I said that with a bit of pride. I've always loved music back at home. "I don't want to do it for a living. It's just something I enjoy doing on my own time."

Flash nudged with a wing. "Dude, that's awesome! It's always nice to have a hobby."

"Ain't that the truth."

"By the way, I never asked ya before. Since you're... uhh, well... you know..."

"Stuck here?", I said in an emotionless manner.

He chuckled sheepishly. "Yeah... So what's your plan? What are you gonna do?"

"Well the princesses said that they're putting me under the care of someone named 'Twilight Sparkle' in 'Ponyville'. Apparently she's really close to them." We were still walking around town, and I realized that Flash hasn't said anything in the last few seconds. I looked over to him, and I'm pretty sure I saw a bit of red on his cheeks. "Uhh, you ok there, bud?"

He quickly looked up to me. "What? Oh, uhh... yeah I'm-I'm fine." He rubbed the back of his head.

"Are you sure? You haven't said anything since I mentioned..." I can't believe I didn't realize it sooner. After I said that pony's name, Flash hasn't said a word. A smirk made it's way across my face, and I leaned in closer to Flash, who's cheeks were still a little red. "Ooooohhhh, I see what's happening."

Pretty sure the red on his cheeks just got even brighter. "I don't... know what you're, uhh... talking about."

I nudged him with an elbow. "Does Mr. Wise Guy over here have an itty bitty crush on a certain someone?"

He let out an annoyed grunt and pushed me away from him, but my smirk never went away. "Watch it, Flame."

I let out a soft laugh. "Or what? You gonna put me back in the hospital?"

He looked at me with a glare. "Keep it up and I just might do that."

Ok, I get that I may be having a little too much fun pushing his buttons, but that was pretty aggressive, considering he probably could take me down since I haven't gotten fully used to my body yet. "Geez, dude. I didn't mean to get ya all riled up like that. I was just messin' with ya."  I looked away from him, feeling the uneasiness around us.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't afraid that he would keep his word. I took a quick glimpse back at him. However, to my surprise, his glare on me vanished. He took in a deep breath, and let it out. He then looked back at me with much calmer expression. "Yeah, I know, Flame. Sorry I kinda snapped like that. It's just... If you really must know... Yes, I do have a bit of a crush on somepony... Let's just leave it at that."

I smiled lightly, feeling better that there's no bad blood between us. "Fair enough." 

We continued our walk in a more easy silence. However, because we stopped talking for once, I noticed that Flash and I have been getting stares from the other ponies around town, but of course most of them were targeted towards me. Have they been staring at us the entire time we've been walking through town? Some of them looked at me as if I was this new phenomenon that no one has ever seen before. Others looked at me with what I could recognize as fear and disgust. I shouldn't be all that surprised. These ponies aren't gonna get used to me as quick as Flash and the princesses did. I looked back at Flash. "Seems I became quite popular, haven't I?", I asked in a deadpan sarcastic tone.

He chuckled a little, and looked back at me. "I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just try to ignore them." Easier said than done.

"Ugh." I turned my head to see who did that. It was a unicorn mare, whose coat was a yellowish color and mane was twirled up like a bun. She was looking at me through the corner of her eye in a way that was kinda ticking me off, but quickly shut it and raised her head up while walking away with what looked like her husband, who was also a unicorn, with a light blue coat and a mustache that would've passed in the 1800's. "That pegasus should really keep a leash on that ghastly creature.", she spoke in a really snobbish tone.

Oh no... She... Didn't!

I actually let out a growl while holding a furious expression on my face. "I'll be right back."

"Flame, no! Get back here!", he whispered intensely, but I ignored him as I walked towards that nag.

"Hey, Bun-head! Ya got somethin' to say to me!?" 

She looked back at me with an expected shock on her face, and placed a hoof on her chest and gasped rather... dramatically. "How dare you speak that way to a lady!"

My mouth curled into a smirk. "Oh I'm sorry. I had no idea I was talking to a lady."

I heard several gasps around us, and I'm pretty sure I heard a few snickers. Suddenly, that nag's husband came up to me, eyebrows furrowed and his face inches away from mine. "You should be ashamed of yourself!", he spoke in the same snobbish tone as his wife. "No one talks to my wife that way! Apologize immediately!"

"I ain't apologizin' to anyone, gramps!"

His glare deepened. "Why you scaly vermin! Apologize, or else!"

"Do your worst, you pompous asshole!"

"Flame, that's enough!" Flash pushed between me and the stallion and dragged me away. "They're not worth it! You're drawing too much attention!"

My eyes never left that old hoot's sight as Flash was keeping me from doing anything I might... keyword, might, regret. I looked at Flash, who was staring at me with those wide eyes, as if he's begging me to stop. I let out a huff, slapped Flash's hooves off of me, and quickly turned around and walked off. I didn't know where to exactly, but anywhere is better than here.

"Guard business, go back to your shopping," I heard Flash say to the crowd around us before he trotted back up to me. I kept looking straight, my face still scrunched up in anger. Who the hell did those snobby glue products think they were? No one talks behind my back and gets away with it.

"Look, Flame, I know they were way out of line, but you can't draw attention to yourself like that. You being around is enough of a scene as it is." I ignored him and kept walking, not in the mood to talk about what just happened. "Flame... FLAME!"

"WHAT!?" 

For a split second there, I felt heat spread across my body. Flash jumped back after I snapped and looked above my head. Curious as to why he was looking above me, I raised my head up, and saw smoke inches above me, rising to the sky. Whatever kind of anger I had before immediately switched to shock and confusion. Did my body catch on fire for a second? I looked back at Flash, both of us looking at each other with dumbfounded expressions on our faces.

"Uhh...", was all I could say at the moment.

"Uhh...", Flash was just as speechless as me.

"You uhh... do you... know what happened?" He nodded. "Do you... wanna tell me?"

"Y-your... y-your wings just... just caught on fire for a second!" My eyes widened. Is he serious?! "And your hair just glowed orange too!" What the hell is this body doing to me? Do I catch on fire whenever I get pissed? Is this normal for a dragon in this world?

I shook my head rapidly, trying to snap myself out of my thoughts. "Look, let's just try to forget about all this and get back to the castle. I think my headache's starting to come back."

"Yeah... sounds good to me." 

We both started our walk back to the castle in silence.





We finally managed to reach the castle, and walked up the steps, trying our best not to talk about that little incident that happened on Restaurant Row.

"Hey." I turned to Flash, who was looking at me with concern. "You good? I'd understand if your pretty upset."

I let out a sigh. "I don't know Flash. My life is just so screwed up now. I don't think I'll ever get used to this."

"Yeah, I get that." Then suddenly, his face just brightened up, causing me to flinch a bit. "Hey! I think I know what might cheer ya up."

I raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"We gotta get these babies working." He flicked one of my wings. "It really isn't that hard. Come on, I know a place." He trotted inside the castle. Did he just magically forget about what happened not too long ago? That pegasus never ceases to surprise and confuse me. Nevertheless, I followed him to wherever he was taking me.





"Here we are."

It definitely looked like it was a training room of some sorts, but it was huge! It was probably three times bigger than the gym I used to go to back in Texas. There were several rows of armor, weapons and shields. And there were a few weight lifting machines, barbells and everything. But ponies don't have any fingers. How are they supposed to grab onto anything?

I whistled. Good to know I can still do that even with a new body. "Pretty impressive gym ya got here."

"I know right? Me and some of the boys will come here and do some lifting whenever we got time off our hooves." He suddenly lifted himself off the ground, hovering right above me. "Alright, Flame. You ready to get those wings workin'?"

"Heck yeah I am!" 

A grin formed on his face, and slowly started flying circles around me. "Good. Now, listen to me carefully. Since your body structure is pretty much built like mine and everypony else's, you should have the same basic muscular patterns on your back. Have you ever felt anything tingly yet since you've been here?"

I had to think back when I walked out of the hospital and first met Flash. "Yeah, I actually did. I was trying to see if I could at least move them by shrugging my shoulders a bit, but nothing happened. Eventually I felt a little movement in my back, and my wings kinda fidgeted a little." 

"Bingo!" They say that here? "Those are the muscles used to provide movement for your wings. Shrugging your shoulders won't do anything for you except make ya look like an idiot." I frowned. That wasn't really necessary. "Now the key is don't be too tense. That'll cause you to clench your muscles and you won't get any smooth patterns when you flap." Dang. For a wise-ass, he really knows his stuff. "Now, go ahead and try to flare them open."

I closed my eyes and got into a decent position, and tried to focus my will on my back muscles. I could feel a little movement in my back, and I could feel my wings starting to move around a bit. 

"That's it.", I heard Flash encouraging me. "Just remember, don't be too tense. Just relax."

Then right on que, I felt my wings rapidly unfurl off the sides of my back. I quickly opened my eyes and looked back. They were pretty much what I expected them to look like. They were bat-like, with 5 "fingers" and a light green membrane that goes from the tip of the forearm to the side of my back. I also noticed they weren't exactly big. They were the same size as Flash's wings and pretty much every other pegasus I've seen.

I looked up at Flash with a large smile. "Hey, I did it!"

"Good job, dude! Now the fun part. In order to get nice, even flaps, ya gotta make sure you're using both your muscles calmly and evenly. Lose focus, and you're gonna land in the dirt face first."

I nodded, ready to give this a shot. Focusing on my back again, I felt my wings slowly start to move up and down, but it was terribly uneven. My wings were flailing all over the place. I heard Flash laughing in the air, causing me to look up to him and give him a glare.

"Haha, sorry. Like I said, don't lose your focus, and your flaps will be nice and even."

I closed my eyes once more. My wings were still flapping unevenly. However, I began to feel my muscles on my back, and they were contracting in a more even manner. At that moment, I actually felt my wings began to flap much more evenly, but I didn't want to jinx it and lose my focus.

"There ya go. Now try to go faster."

I obliged, feeling my wings increase in speed a little, but I still kept my eyes closed, trying not to lose my focus. I made my wings flap even faster. Barely able to keep on concentrating, I felt myself beginning to slowly lift from the ground. 

Holy crap! This is actually happening! I think I'm flying! 

A few seconds passed, and I finally opened my eyes, and I was at eye level with Flash. He was looking at me with a prideful smile. I looked back and saw my wings flapping evenly, then looked down, and saw that I was 10 feet off the ground. "I... I did it... I DID IT! I'M FLYING!"

"Heck yeah you are! High hoof!"

As I was about to slap hooves... hands... with Flash, I suddenly lost control of my flight, and twirled to the right, crashing to the floor. I felt dazed, eyes rolling all over the place, and my headache is definitely back for sure.

"Dude, are you ok?" My vision was a little wonky, but I could see the concerned look on Flash's face.

"Uuugghhh." I rubbed my head while also brushing my little hair tuft. "...That hurt."

Flash chuckled a little. "I bet. It could've been a lot worse , though." He held out his hoof, which I grabbed. He lifted me up, but I was still a little dizzy from the fall, so I was wobbling around a little. "You doing alright there?"

I shook my head rapidly. "Hehe, yeah, I'll live. But did ya see that! I actually flew!"

"Yeah you did! But there's a lot more to it than that. I may be a decent flyer, but if you really wanna learn how to do all the fun and reckless stuff, talk to Rainbow Dash when you get to Ponyville. She's got quite an ego, but she's the best flyer I know. Just try not to get yourself hurt. She tends to go overboard sometimes... no, always."

Rainbow Dash, eh? It sounds cooler than most names I've heard in this world, I'll give it that much. "Interesting. I'll keep that in mind."

"That really was impressive, Alex," a gentle voice came from behind us.

Me and Flash looked to the doorway and saw both the Princesses standing there with smiles on their faces.

"Your Majesties," Flash said as he quickly bowed down. I followed suit, and this time I managed to stay on my feet. I might finally be getting used to this, aside from running.

"Rise, my little pony... and dragon." Celestia ended that with a giggle. Me and Flash stood up and looked up at both of the rulers. "Like I said before, I was very impressed by how quickly you've learned to get yourself off the ground."

I looked back and flared my wings open. I felt a little pride build up inside me. "Yeah, for real. It might take a while for me to actually get these things working properly." I closed them and looked back up to the princesses. "But I think I can pull it off. That'll probably be what I look forward to most about being a dragon."

"I'm quite sure there's more to it about being a dragon than just flying," Luna said as if she was completely sure. "Now, it's almost time to raise the moon. Me and Tia also decided it would be fitting for you to have one last meal here before your trip to Ponyville tomorrow. Flash, you're more than welcome to join us."

"Thanks, Your Majesty, but I'm gonna politely decline. I gotta go talk to the old timer before I head home."

This caught my interest. "Old timer?"

"Yeah. My great great... uhh, well, my grandfather, Flash Magnus."

"Oh yeah, apparently some old heroes that got released from some sort of prison. I think the princesses told me about that yesterday."

"Yep, that's them. But if you really want to know more, talk to Twilight." His cheeks turned a light red after he said her name again. Geez, this guy is so lovey-dovey. "Anyway, I gotta get going. Good job on those wings, Flame. Before you leave tomorrow, come find me." He lifted his hoof toward me.

"Will do." I bumped is hoof with my fist. Soon after, he flies away from me and the princesses.

"So..." Celestia's voice caught my attention. "Shall we?"

A smile grew on my face, ready to see what the princesses have prepared. "We shall."





After another dinner that consisted of fruits and sweets, I decided to call it a night and wanted to go to bed.  Obviously a guard escorted me to my room, because I still didn't know my way around the castle. I opened the door to my room and immediately went for the bed. I climbed up on it and got under the comfy sheets, trying to find myself a decent position, since my wings kept getting in the way.

Before I dozed off, a sudden realization came to me. That town that Lyra and Bon Bon mentioned that's not too far from here... I wonder if what they were talking about was Ponyville. "Huh... maybe I'll see them again sooner than I thought." I guess I'll find out tomorrow. And without further hesitation, I closed my eyes and felt myself dozing off, preparing myself for the next chapter in my new life here in Equestria.