//------------------------------//
// Chapter Eight: Flight Training 
// Story: Sky Dancer, the First Flying Unicorn 
// by Scroll 
//------------------------------//

    {I must admit, sometimes my father can make a convincing argument. He's used to dealing with all kinds of students so it really isn't that much of a surprise. I think the main factor that tends to disrupt communication between us is the fact we could both take issues with each other too seriously and personally.

    {When I agreed to my father's plan, I wasn't exactly sure how I would feel at first. He relegated my flight training to weekends and that day happened to be a Tuesday so . . . I had to buckle down and get to work on my studies.

    {Despite my prior experience with my studies, I wasn't exactly sure how I would feel about the project but I tried it and discovered it felt different this time.

    {I think the biggest factor was the elation that, not only had I unlocked my special talent, but I actually had my father's permission to pursue it if I took my studies seriously and I think that, more than anything, made me feel different about the work. No longer was it a barrier between me and my true dream. 

    {Before I had to deal with the uncertainty of who I really was and working on these studies just didn't feel right, like I was moving in the wrong direction but, after I found my talent, the studies no longer mattered as much. It felt kind of neutral, actually, as if my soul simply shrugged and said, “I don't care anymore. You can pursue these studies if you want to. I already achieved my ultimate goal.”

    {But the more I thought about it, the more I realized my father was right in other ways too. If I pursued my dream of flying alone then the best that could accomplish is becoming as good as a Wonderbolt. That actually is very impressive, but those skills alone accomplished little else. It was somewhat disheartening to think that my one true special talent was something any average pegasus could already do even without their own cutie marks. If my talent was potentially that common then the only thing that separates me as special is the mere fact I am a unicorn unless I pushed this talent to its greatest extreme.

    {On the other hoof, if I could pursue and master the study of magic as well then I would have something that could really make me unique. Mastery of magic and the sky . . . there was only one type of breed of pony who could traditionally do things like that, and that is an alicorn, but even that breed only achieved that by having both wings and a horn. I was accomplishing this with a horn alone so, even compared to an alicorn, I still stood out if I could master both of these talents.

    {Besides, when I thought about my experience up on that cliff face, I remembered that feeling and instinctual certainty that every pony is born as the right breed and born at the right time and place. That everything is in its place according to some master design. That made me realize that that same thing had to apply to me as well. I was meant to be a unicorn but I was also meant to fly. Neither fact was a mistake.

    {Examining that line of reasoning further, I realized that, by being born a unicorn, I was meant to have an intrinsic connection with magic. That likely meant I was not to limit myself to just one thing, such as my special talent. Being a unicorn meant being capable of achieving far more than that.

    {I also had to factor in that I was born to the Scroll family and to a father who took his studies in pursuit of magic very seriously. He was meant to drill that stuff into me because he was right. By doing this, I could achieve my full potential, including my special talent.

    {Maybe both of these skills were important to prepare me for some future challenges in Equestria. Back then I could not imagine what it might be but, for whatever reason, Equestria was going to need a skilled flying wizard someday.

    {If every pony was indeed born at the perfect time, then my skills would be needed during the course of my lifetime. If, for some reason, my skills would continue to be needed beyond my lifetime, then perhaps it implied that I was meant to inspire and teach other unicorns the same thing in order to pass on these skills to the future. Who knows how that would eventually turn out?

    {Thinking of this, in a way, I realized I actually felt good about my studies for the first time. The feeling was not too strong at first but it grew on me over time. I really started to enjoy reading about all kinds of interesting things all across Equestria, and every spell I mastered since made me glow with a little bit of pride.

    {I recall how I felt when I charged off into the wilderness with very few resources. I had no money and no food. I only had the cloak on my back. If, back then, I had mastered many dozens of spells to boot then perhaps I would have hoofled that experience with far greater ease.

    {Every spell mastered was a new and permanent tool in my arsenal. I even contemplated how I could use each spell creatively in ways it wasn't exactly designed to do but potentially capable of accomplishing anyway.

    {Of course I was looking forward to my first official flying lessons. Considering everything I had been through, I could not help but to look forward to such things but, since the studies gained a more significant meaning for me as well, I felt more patient and content to wait for those lessons. At last I valued what those studies could accomplish for my future. As long as the flying lessons started and continued, then I felt content.

    {Your mother, of course, dropped by every now and then. One thing that changed for the better, however, was a new arrangement with my father to go meet her.

    {In addition to two hours of time for free writing each day, I also haggled for two hours of free time each day for myself. During that time, I could go outside and do whatever I wanted to, within reason of course. That included playing with whomever I wanted.

    {Upon further reflection, my father agreed that some time off from studies helped relax the mind more so that it could pursue the studies better at the conclusion of the break. That actually should have been an obvious lesson for him. As I stated before, sometimes we might overlook the obvious when an issue becomes too personal. He did take this project personally ever since his brother seemingly abandoned him by choice and his wife left him by death. He had only one pony to focus his attention on ever since and he finally agreed he pushed me too hard. By letting go of the reins a bit, he realized how that could ultimately help him to achieve his aim all the better.

    {Of course, I was happier too. I had the freedom to breathe and to be myself. Until that happened, I didn't realize why those studies in my room felt so stifling and claustrophobic. I needed time just to be myself. I didn't need too much, just a little time.

    {So, of course, my friend took advantage of it and I, for one, welcomed the change of pace as well. I had a crush on her after all. I'll freely admit that since you already know she eventually became my wife. It's really no secret at this point, but it kind of was back then. She still didn't know how I felt but that didn't change how I felt about her.

    {Of course, your mother was pretty hopping mad at me for a couple of days for galloping off without saying goodbye to her. Her main consolation was the fact I returned home safely, that I found my special talent, and we finally had permission to hang out with each other without her having to sneak through my window all the time.

    {Honestly, the shock she felt on what my special talent was greatly diminished her rage. She was still angry at me but amazed as well. I had never seen before or since such an odd combination of anger and giddy excitement.

    {It must have felt even more exciting for her since it also meant I could actually join her in something she really loved to do, fly. It meant I could identify with her and her experience more. It meant we had another thing in common. It meant we had another experience we could share with each other. Her mind spun with possibilities of places we could go that she would be excited to introduce to a first time flier. In a way, it probably reminded her of her own experiences when she first flew. It brought that new sense of joy back into her heart so she couldn't wait to get started.

    {Unfortunately, at first, we had to. Since I promised my father I would limit my flight training to weekends and only with adult supervision of a pegasus, it also meant I would stay on the ground until the weekends. That did put a damper on our excitement a bit but at least it also meant we had something to look forward to every weekend and, until then, we had time to stew on the idea. When you have time to really think things through, sometimes certain ideas occur to you that otherwise wouldn't have.

    {I think, in this case, it was quite important because an exciting idea came to her during the course of the week. She excitedly said to me she had the perfect pony in mind to be my trainer and begged me to let her take care of it. Since I trusted her explicitly, so I said sure.

    {After that, both of us shared that same proposal to my father after we agreed to the plan. His answer was . . . depends. He wanted a moment to assess the pony directly and see if this pony was really trustworthy of this duty but, on the bright side, he also said that, if he approved, he would gladly pay that pony for this service.

    {Stern Wing agreed to pass on that offer to the one she was thinking about. In her mind, she thought the little extra incentive would probably be overkill.

    [Heh. Funny thing was we managed to hire Dunken to deliver a letter to the one your mother was thinking of and we also hired him to deliver an urgent letter back to my Uncle Ramadon to inform him that I was not lost or ponynapped but, instead, managed to make my way back home on my own . . . mostly, anyway.

    {As for my uncle, I was glad he and Dunken would get a chance to meet each other. Dunken was a friendship addict and my uncle was certainly a very interesting pony to get to know. I figured the opportunity would likely enhance both of their lives so I was pleased how things turned out on that front. By knowing we had likely added another name to Dunken's ever-growing friendship list, it felt really good. I felt that he honestly deserved all the joy he could get.

    {For my part, I had a few theories bumping about in my head on whom Stern Wing was thinking about but I could just as easily conclude that whomever she was thinking about was somepony she never spoke of before.

    {But then, finally, the weekend rolled in and I was excited to see whom Stern Wing invited.}



xoxo



    {When I finally met the one Stern Wing invited, who did indeed show up, I realized that I had never met this pony personally but I had heard of him from Stern Wing and, in a peculiar way, we met even earlier than that, for the one who showed up was none other than Sky Dancer himself.}

    “Was he one of the ones you privately suspected would show up?” Star Breeze asked her father curiously. “You said you had time to contemplate this and you had several in mind. Was Sky Dancer one of them?”

    “Indeed,” Feather Wind confirmed, “and, in fact, he was the one I was secretly hoping for. I never asked who it was directly because I didn't want to spoil the surprise. If I had asked back then, I have a strong feeling your mother wouldn't have told me anyway for the same reason so . . . in the end . . . things worked out as they should.”

    {In some ways, it was a strange meeting Sky Dancer because it kind of felt like meeting a fictional character of mine who suddenly sprang to life. In an odd way, I felt as if I caused his existence. The way my uncle phrased how perception could alter reality, one never knows. Maybe I did cause his existence somehow, or maybe my vision of Sky Dancer was a kind of psychic experience.

    {Either way, it seemed we were destined to meet.

    {Sky Dancer was a dark blue pony with lighter sky blue wings and deep cerulean eyes. His mane was a combination of black and white which he describes as the two colors of the clouds. The two colors were woven in a spiral as a hoofful of dreadlocks. His cutie mark was a pair of wings attached to a cloud that was zooming fast.

    {Aside from his wings, it was uncanny how much he matched my vision of him exactly. Even the age seemed right, which was young adulthood.

    {Before the end of the week, I finally did make Stern Wing a copy of my poem, “Sky Dancer, the First Flying Unicorn.” Secretly she mailed that copy to her cousin while requesting it to be returned when he showed up.

    {In person, Sky Dancer said that the title of the poem amused him but, when he read that there was an actual flying unicorn now, he knew he had to meet me himself. Giving flying lessons to the first flying unicorn in Equestria was all the excuse he needed to show up.

    {But, if this arrangement was going to be more permanent, then an arrangement would have to be made with the Wonderbolt reserves as well. I'm not exactly sure how they reacted to that request other than the fact that I know they eventually said yes.

    {Maybe, in a way, they figured it was furthering his own practice. By teaching flying skills to another pony, maybe they figured he could become a better trainer himself. The Bolts needed ponies with those kinds of skills too, and it best went to any pony who gained that kind of experience and applied that kind of initiative the most.

    {When it came to Sky Dancer's own flying skills, it didn't take long to convince my father that this was a true professional. Sky Dancer was training to become one of the best fliers in Equestria and he was doing it through an organization that my father actually trusted. That was because my father knew the Wonderbolts had a keen eye for detail. To get that good at something, he knew everything had to be practiced over and over again until it was perfect. He could think of no better trainer for his own son other than a full-fledged Wonderbolt.

    {But, in a way, that would have been a bad thing as well. While a full-fledged Wonderbolt would have been more ideal in some ways, primarily because they are more skilled and experienced, a full-fledged Wonderbolt was also far less likely to be as available to his son than he would have cared for, so this arrangement was just right. All things considered, my father considered this arrangement unusually lucky so he agreed to the plan.

    {In fact, he actually raised the price for hiring a trainer who was beyond the caliber of what he initially expected to receive. Now that he knew better the kind of quality training Sky Dancer could provide, my father thought it was only fair to pay more for more professional work.

    {On the other hoof, he expected to get his extra money's worth. If he was going to pay more then he demanded higher quality training in return. My father was firm on that point. He told Sky Dancer, “Make my son into the best flier in all of Equestria. Since I know what kind of standards you have, I expect you to impress the same in my son.”

    {Of course, I didn't object. This was a kind of challenge that I gladly welcomed. I wasn't really thinking about the work itself at the time, I was thinking about the potential results. Not only was I going to be known as the first flying unicorn in Equestria, but I had a shot at becoming an especially good one. That seemed quite appropriate for a pony whose cutie mark specifically emphasized flying, similar to Sky Dancer's own.

    {Since it came down to this, Sky Dancer figured he might as well train his cousin Stern Wing since she had a similar dream anyway. My father didn't object other than to say he was paying Sky Dancer to train his son, not his cousin. He said that, during the weekends, to put an emphasis on training his son more between the two. Sky Dancer could always give his cousin extra lessons on other days of the week if he wished to catch her up.

    {That was true to a point, but Sky Dancer had other obligations as well. Most of his time was spent devoted to his own training so there really was only so much time he could juggle.

    {Still, he considered it an honor and a privilege to do this. It was an opportunity for him to go down in history not only as a potential member of the Wonderbolts but also as the trainer of the first flying unicorn. If he was going to be remembered for that then he wanted to try his best to make sure that unicorn left a very deep impression in history for the better. For him, there was really only one way he could do that.

    [My lessons didn't really start until the following weekend. On the first weekend, he was busy making arrangements with my father. After that, he went back to the Wonderbolt Academy and made his request there.

    {Back then, I suppose, I did not know what to expect from the Wonderbolts in terms of agreeing to this arrangement or how long it would take to reach such a decision but, in hindsight, since I gained more experience with the Bolts later on, I have to say that they made their decision remarkably quickly. I think they were intrigued with his suggestion given the circumstances, and like I said . . . it was good practice for Sky Dancer as well. In a way, it was doing more of the same thing so they said sure. It was his life anyway.}



xoxo



    “So you think you really got what it takes to be the best flier in Equestria?” Sky Dancer asked in a playfully challenging tone to Feather Wind. While Stern Wing wasn't asked directly, she was there to hear the question and she was also the first to respond.

    “Yes Sir!” Stern Wing responded firmly with her chest puffed out proudly.

    “Maybe,” Feather Wind answered far more lamely. “Certainly I wish to learn how to become a better flier than I am right now but, given my methods . . . I'm really uncertain how far I can actually go with this.”

    “Yeah, that's going to be an interesting challenge,” Sky Dancer agreed while scratching his head for two seconds. “I can't exactly tell you to bank or curve your wings to achieve better altitude. The exact principles of this science isn't clearly understood right now. We're both treading into uncharted territory, little dude.

    “Tell me then, in your own words, how are you managing flight at all?”

    While they spoke, all three ponies stood on the ground. They were also near a lake, something they figured they might use when the flight training started for safety reasons.

    A few other ponies watched curiously in the background. Rumors had already started to spread about Feather Wind's remarkable talent so they showed up to see if the rumors were true.

    {One of those ponies was actually another servant hired by my father to observe this lesson then later report back to Author Scroll. Author himself was too busy to be here personally so he hired somepony else to be an extra pair of eyes. Supervision, he figured, was the key to quality work. If he was going to pay this much for a good trainer then he might as well also go the extra mile to ensure the quality remains good.

    {For me, that supervision made me a bit nervous at the time. After all, it was just another opportunity to be judged and perhaps the lessons would get canceled if my father did not like the feedback he was getting.

    {In fact, I addressed this with him at a later time. In response, he assured me that my flying lessons would continue regardless of the quality of the trainer. Since flying was obviously part of my destiny and passion then, not only was he not going to stand in my way, but he also vowed to support my dreams as best he could as long as I kept to my studies with zeal. As long as I applied effort to what he wanted, then he assured me he would apply just as much effort, if not more so, in what I wanted.

    {Rather than me, it was the trainer himself that was being evaluated. He sent this supervisor to make sure he was getting his money's worth, and it was also possible that the extra feedback could give my father some ideas on how to improve the quality of the training. Extra information did not have to be a bad thing. The entire point of gathering information was to figure out how to do things better.

    {When he gave that explanation, it later calmed my fears.}

    “Well . . . I always felt an innate connection to the sky,” Feather Wind answered Sky Dancer. “It's always been a part of me. I constantly felt its call throughout my life, at certain times more than others. When I listen to the wind, I understand its language. It kind of feels like I'm talking to myself, albeit a more older and evolved version of myself.

    “As for flying, my cutie mark talent allows me to lighten my body weight to that of a feather. When that happens, I can be blown into the sky.”

    “Or into a tree or down a cliff or into a bed of spikes,” Sky Dancer figured. “Hate to break it to you, little dude, but that's not really flying . . . that's drifting. You might as well leap into a river current and allow it to drag you wherever it wants. Being at the mercy of the elements is not always a good thing. In fact, it rarely is.”

    “Yeah, but the wind talks to me and I to it. I can communicate my desires to it and it cares for me enough to deliver my wishes,” Feather Wind pointed out.

    “Like it delivered you most, but not all the way, back to Canterlot,” Stern Wing reminded her friend sharply. “Don't forget, you had to be rescued by Dunken Doo. If he didn't happen to fly on by, you could have remained in deep trouble.”

    “Which is something we want to avoid here,” Sky Dancer added. “Until you learn to control your course, we can't really call it flying. If you gamble on external elements all the time then eventually you're going to lose a bet.

    “We need to brainstorm a better strategy for you, else I'll have nothing worthwhile to teach you. I'm not going to encourage you into a situation too dangerous for you to hoofle.

    “Mastery of flight needs to be in gradual steps. It's just like how you first learned to trot. Before that, you had to learn how to crawl.

    “Baby steps, little dude.

    “I get and appreciate the fact you have a deep connection to the wind and that's wonderful, but for now we need to focus on something more reliable. Trust me, I have a connection to the sky as well.” Sky Dancer spread his wings widely after he said that. Because he did, Stern Wing copied him. “I've been up there enough times to know that the wind is fickle. That's why it's alluded to the spirit of freedom.

    “You may request it to deliver you somewhere and it will respond in kind if it happens to feel generous in that particular moment but, just because you feel like taking a trip to Saddle Arabia and back, doesn't mean the planet is always going to alter its entire air current system just to suit your needs at any one particular moment. The winds of Equestria is there for everypony,” he said with a broad, sweeping gesture with a hoof across the entire sky. “You can choose to be a passenger of those winds or not but, until you improve your tactics, that's all you're really accomplishing here.”

    “What about your telekinesis? You could always use that,” Stern Wing suggested.

    “Huh. Well, how about it?” Sky Dancer asked Feather Wind hopefully.

    “Possible, but very tricky,” Feather Wind answered. “Magic like that requires feeling, concentration, and line of sight. Lifting other objects is easy enough unless they are too distant, too heavy, too vague, or we're already too exhausted, but lifting ourselves . . . we bump into another problem.

    “First of all, it takes lots of energy and concentration to lift anything like our own body weight, and secondly, the shifting gravity makes it exceedingly difficult to concentrate. If that concentration breaks, we're going to fall and, depending on how high that height happens to be, it might be too dangerous to try in the first place.”

    “Wait a second. You said your weight is a factor here,” Stern Wing reminded, “but you can shift yours down to that of a feather. Can you lift a feather?”

    That question made Feather Wind pause in intrigued curiosity, then he said, “I suppose that's true. I lift up feathers all the time. I'm actually quite good at it. All of this horn writing I've done with it sort of made me an expert at it.”

    “Well, there you go!” Sky Dancer cheered. “If you can learn to telekinetically lift yourself and shift your own body weight to be as light as a feather then it shouldn't take as much concentration or energy to lift and steer yourself in mid-air. Now we've got an idea we can work with.”

    Sky Dancer folded his wings onto his back again. When he did so, Stern Wing did likewise.

    “I'm not exactly working within my element here,” Sky Dancer warned. “Using this strategy requires you to use something that's quite foreign to me. If we're going to do this, I'll be relying a lot on your feedback.

    “Baby steps, every pony, or in this case I should say baby flaps.

    “We're pioneering an entirely new science here, and we'd best be careful while we practice it in the beginning. Since I'm not an expert using your strategy, we'll learn this together.

    “At least I can say I know the sky well. I know about things like wind speeds, updrafts, downdrafts, and air pressure. It's all interconnected to the same science and we'll talk more about that later on. For now, we'll stick low to the ground and see how that goes. I don't want you any more than a few inches off the ground. We'll start there and work our way up. Okay?”

    “Okay!” Feather Wind and Stern Wing said simultaneously. They then glanced at each other in amusement a second later.

    {I remember the murmurs of the ponies who watched in the background. The idea of them witnessing the birth of an entirely new science intrigued them. A small part of me felt flattered to show them this but I felt nervous as well.

    {Sky Dancer told me to ignore them and instead focus on my own lessons.

    {As requested, I levitated myself a few inches off the ground then reported to Sky Dancer that, for the most part, this was easy, especially in terms of energy usage. I could probably hoofle this all day, just like I was when I was writing with an actual quill.

    {Concentration, on the other hoof, was a bit more of an issue. Even the slightest bit of movement felt jarring to every cell in my body. In addition, if you ever felt yourself being telekinetically lifted, you can say from experience it's kind of ticklish. All of those tiny sparks of energy within the magic aura stings like tiny, ticklish ice pricks made by thousands of needles swarming your body every single second.

    {Even if I were to suspend myself in place, it could be difficult to concentrate. It becomes much harder if I move because then I would have to deal with the shifting weight as well. Despite the fact that I was virtually weightless, I still felt myself move every which way.}

    “I feel that all the time when I fly. It's no big deal to me,” Star Breeze informed casually.

    “Yeah, but if you were using a horn and concentrating then every sensation like that threatens to break your concentration.

    “For a unicorn, concentration is best achieved by ignoring all external distractions. Instead, you're too busy focusing on what you are trying to create in your mind. You have to shove aside every other sensation except, by lifting yourself telekinetically, not only do you have to contend with the shifting weight but the tiny pinprick sensations on your hide as well. Both of those things serve as a distraction, and a distraction while trying to lift yourself can be dangerous.

    “Still,” Feather Wind lowered his left hoof over his right as they both dangled over the edge of the cloud he was on, “the core principle of this science seems too obvious to believe I was the first to think of it. Unicorns lift up objects using telekinesis all the time. It's usually the first spell we ever learn or master. Surely I am not the first to consider the possibility of lifting one's self in order to achieve a form of flight. Considering that point, I highly doubt I really am the first flying unicorn. It is difficult for all the reasons I specified earlier, but there are some ponies out there who are really good at concentration. I'm sure they could have powered through this.”

    “Failing that, I have seen unicorns teleport too,” Star Breeze recalled. “That's another way to get around. If that spell was mastered, they could potentially get across the entire planet in an instant.

    “Hmm.” Star Breeze thought on this, then said, “But if other unicorns ever tried to fly on their own using telekinesis and they just happened to be very, very good at concentration, they still could not get past the energy factor, right? If they always had to lift their own bodyweight to pull this off then it should cost them more energy to achieve, but you bypassed that problem by acquiring the natural ability to lighten your own body weight. Because of that, it's less exhausting to maintain your power.”

    “True, but without concentration, the power can't be done in the first place. I wouldn't gain the chance to spend any of my energy, even if it would have cost me very little in the long gallop,” Feather Wind pointed out. “That was the conundrum I had to deal with back then.”

    {To be honest, the only reason anything I accomplished on that day was impressive was because I was a unicorn that was flying, albeit just barely. I hovered a few inches off the ground and moved about, frequently reporting my problems and difficulties with the effort.

    {Part of me found it strange that the ponies watching in the background gasped in astonishment. One would think they never saw a flying pony before. I found that privately laughable because what I achieved on that day I considered to be downright pathetic.

    {Honestly, I achieved far more the first time I flew off the cliff. I flew over hundreds and hundreds of miles to get back to Canterlot and I was very high in the sky. It was hard to tell exactly how high because of all that spinning, but still . . . that was impressive. This was just . . .

    {Well, I guess baby flaps was an appropriate term here. It hardly accomplished much, but it was a flap in the right direction and it had the potential of great promise someday.

    {Concentration was my only problem. If I could master that, then I could master flight itself.

    {The effort cost me hardly any energy. Regardless of the altitude, my lightweight made it almost effortless in terms of magical energy cost. At this rate, I was very likely to be able to maintain high altitude far more easily than any pegasus pony in Equestria. That, at least, was something.

    {But, before my next flight training practice the following weekend, I made an awesome discovery about my cutie mark talent that would ultimately shape the rest of my life.}



xoxo



    Feather Wind took a small break from his studies. His mind needed a moment to clear, largely due to the intensity of his studies. No matter how fascinating his workload felt, the mind still needed time to digest all of this information, at least if he had any intention of retaining it.

    Feather Wind rubbed at his face with his forward hoofs for a moment before leaning back in his seat. He propped his hind legs up on the desk to help him maintain that position and rocked back and forth idly. While that happened, he telekinetically lifted his red-feathered quill and balanced it on his snout. Sometimes he tried to look at the feather on his muzzle which made him cross-eyed, giving him double vision of the feather in question.

    Darn, I sure am hot today, Feather Wind thought to himself. It sure would be nice to have a breeze in here every once in a while.

    Feather Wind was startled when a breeze suddenly rushed into his room after thinking that, right on cue. The feather on his snout blew off as the wind rustled through several dozen scrolls on his desk. It also fluttered the dark, purple, satin curtains.

    Feather Wind quickly straightened himself and looked out the window in amazement. He wondered to himself if the wind responded to his call.

    I am the wind, after all. Maybe bending the wind is no more difficult than bending myself.

    Until then, Feather Wind thought the wind like a kindly partner but, at that moment, he started to realize he had a much deeper connection to it. If his spirit was the wind then controlling it might be no more difficult than controlling his own natural body.

    Feather Wind tested this again. He thought about the feeling of wanting a breeze to rush through his room.

    Sure enough, right on cue, the wind proceeded to do so and, in fact, it responded faster this time. After that Feather Wind paused to absorb this, taking a moment to calm down his elated excitement. He could not allow those feelings to distract him because he started to realize that connecting with the wind on that level required absolute certainty. He had to know that he could do this, not be surprised by the fact that he could. That was why he took a few minutes to calm down before he tried again.

    Then he tried again, only this time he got more specific with his commands. He drew the wind in to blow in a specific direction and specific intensity. While that happened, he changed the course of the wind. He had it curved around various other parts of his room's furniture such as his chests, three bookshelves full of books, under and over a table that had a magic glow lamp (currently turned off).

    The wind cooperated with him perfectly. He caused his own red quill to spiral in the air. He locked that quill in a whirlwind then directed it across the room in various directions.

    He also took a moment to notice how his horn was not glowing. That wasn't to say he wasn't using magic, but it was a different kind of magic. This was the magic of tapping into nature more directly rather than his internal energy sources, and nature's supply of magic was infinitely larger than his personal store. Compared to it, he had a mere drop of water next to nature's ocean. For nature itself, doing this felt effortless.

    Eventually he had the quill lightly drift to his right hoof on a gentle breeze. In this, he tried to blow it as lightly and as steadily as possible. At that time he could never get it completely steady, and nowhere near as steady as his telekinetic control. Using the wind alone, blowing things about was far less precise. That was the nature of the element, after all.

    But still, he succeeded. He managed to blow the quill all the way to his right hoof without his right hoof moving a muscle. That required some precision to succeed. It wasn't perfect, but it was enough to prove a point.

    After that Feather Wind leaned back in his seat as he looked up at the ceiling in shock as it dawned on him just how much power he really had at the tip of his hooves. The power to control nature directly . . . or at least the wind itself. The wind was a very important element. It could affect many things in life in Equestria.

    It was important to realize, also, that this talent did not rely upon his horn. He could cover it up or even cut it off if he wanted to. That still wouldn't remove his ability to influence the winds. This power apparently was a direct extension of his cutie mark talent instead. It just came with the territory of his tight bond with that element.

    After a few minutes, he widened his eyes even further as something else occurred to him. In addition to influencing the wind, he also had the power to lighten his own body weight to that of a feather. As his cutie mark signified, it had a feather in it caught in the breeze of the wind. At first he made the mistake of identifying himself as the feather in the wind, but it was much more than that. He was also the wind that blew the feather. The sparkles in the wind didn't necessarily have to be his own energy supply but rather the energy that was already in nature itself but, since he had such a close relationship with nature, there was ultimately barely a difference between the two. If he was the wind itself then he always would be tapping into his own power.

    He realized he needed to be careful with this power lest he summon a tornado that could rip apart an entire city, although he also realized that same power could potentially calm down a wild tornado.

    Upon further reflection, it occurred to him that his degree of control over the winds depended solely upon his emotional connection to the sky. Not concentration, at least not directly, but almost purely based on emotion alone. It was likely, then, that creating a tornado of high intensity required emotion of equally high intensity. He would probably have to be extremely angry or upset to summon such a force.

    If the degree of emotion had direct ties to his degree of control then that served as some kind of safeguard. That meant his powers could not be too intense unless his emotions followed suit. That was easier said than done, so it also meant his powers couldn't be too intense without intense effort. Good to know, because it also meant it could not accidentally be too powerful.

    At the same time, however, it meant he had to monitor his emotions carefully and keep them in check. He had to make sure he did not feel too strong of an emotional outburst or, if he did, he had to make sure he did not channel those emotions into a specific form that required the wind.

    Since he had the power to make himself as light as a feather, and since he could also control the speed and direction of the winds, then it meant he could blow himself wherever he wished to go.

    That also didn't necessarily mean he was disrupting air currents all across the world. It was a big planet, after all. All it meant was he was influencing winds in a very localized area.

    But what does this mean, exactly? What's the science of this?

    The best I could tell, natural winds is caused by different pressures in the air. Different pressures were caused by temperature differences between one area and another. The sun was a major engine of this. Everywhere it shines, it heats the area directly in the path of its light and, across the day, it shifts positions. As it continues its steady journey across the sky, it changes the air temperature of the areas it shines on while the air gradually cools down on the areas it passes over and thereby it changes the air pressure of the sky which creates winds which blew across the world.

    Okay. Now that's how nature itself does it without direct hoofing of a pony . . . where does that leave me?

    For me to affect the course of the winds in my local area, am I somehow changing the air pressure in the area? Am I affecting the air temperature?

    So far it didn't seem so but, for all I know, the answer might actually be yes. If it is yes then aren't I using my magic to cause that change? Maybe I need my horn after all, but it wasn't glowing. I don't know, but it didn't feel like I was channeling energy up to my horn. It felt more natural than that.

    {My ability to control the winds didn't require me to understand exactly how I was doing it. It's the same thing with magic. Sure, there was a formula to follow, but the exact nitty-gritty science of how it occurred was not required. Still, it was interesting to think about and an enhanced understanding of my powers might help me to better control it later. I decided to file that thought away for later and dwell on it again at some time. Eventually it might lead to further experimentation.

    {But, at the time, it was enough to know I could do it, and that left a very deep emotional impression on me. It was mostly exciting, but also a little scary. Great power needed to be taken very seriously to prevent it from causing harm, and any great power always had the potential to cause great harm, even in ways one might not expect.}



xoxo



    {At this point in my story, I think I need to fast forward a bit into something akin to a montage, but I'll need to pause long enough to highlight some key points that led to further development down the road.

    {For instance, I did practice with my lightened body weight and wind control at my next flying session. The method I used was quite dramatically different compared to my last attempt and it led to different results, for good and for ill. It was quite a discovery. Even if I lacked the ability to drift in the wind like a feather, knowing I had the power to influence the wind itself was still quite a shocking discovery.

    {I'm not surprised that the crowd behind us gasped when I announced this discovery, which . . . by the way . . . was four times as large compared to our last session.

    {But compared to the telekinetic control, there were pros and cons to this strategy.

    {For example, I learned last week that, by lightening my body weight and lifting myself telekinetically, the cost in magical energy was negligible. If that were the only factor, I could easily maintain it all day. The problem was with concentration. My power tickled and it was exceedingly difficult to focus with shifting body weight. As light as I was, I still felt it.

    {In contrast, lightening my body weight and blowing myself on the wind alone required almost no concentration. It felt more natural than that. All I really needed to concentrate on was which direction I felt I wished to flow. This is actually remarkably easy. I could even do this without thinking, relying upon instinct alone. Because this required almost no concentration, it was, therefore, easier to maintain.

    {As for energy, it cost even less than the other attempt. The telekinetic control was already very low cost but I can honestly say that the surrender to the wind strategy probably did cost absolutely zero energy, at least at a personal level. I could even regenerate energy while floating in the air like that. It was the same as if I laid down on a couch and relaxed. With the mind calm and not focused on stress or currently performing a magical feat, the magical energy of a unicorn naturally regenerates . . . to a point, at least. Over the course of the day I would eventually say our maximum energy supply shrinks as we gradually get more tired but, until then, it could fluctuate up and down depending on how we use or don't use it. It also depended on the difficulty of the task when we do use it.

    {However, relying strictly upon light bodyweight and wind control had some pretty drastic problems. While concentration was very low and the energy cost was pretty much non-existent, maneuverability was something to be desired. Like the first time I used this power, even if I was the one directly controlling the winds, I was spinning all over the place. Try as I might, I could never get myself steady, and there was another problem too . . . I had to maintain the winds in order to remain aloft. The most I could accomplish in terms of staying in one spot was to have a whirlwind around me. I think you can imagine how dizzying that eventually grew. If the winds cease blowing then I'd float gently down to the ground. Gravity takes over if the winds do nothing. A feather may not have much gravity but it does have gravity.

    {So, basically, flight via the wind was a dizzy attempt filled with imprecision. I would zig-zag all over the place. Even if I was blown in a straight course, I could never keep myself from spinning. The wind is like a river, you see. It always flows at least a little chaotically. No degree of concentration on my part could ever seem to change that.

    {My attempts refined the wind to a point but, eventually, I seemed to encounter a limit that is a naturally built-in fact based upon the element I was drawing upon. It can't be made completely steady. Not by any pony. There is an incalculable number of factors that make it inherently chaotic. Much of it I probably don't even realize today.

    {Asking the wind directly why this is so did not yield any answers either. It could no more tell me that than you could tell me how many hairs you have in your mane. For something to work did not require conscious knowledge of how it works. It was better to just blindly accept it.

    {I remember the gasps of astonishment of the various onlookers present at our meeting and I remember thinking, “Because you are this impressed, the crowd is likely to be quite a bit larger next time unless we change training locations.”

    {I had to remember, as sloppy and impractical as that test flight was, I was still a flying unicorn. That was bound to leave an impression. Every single one of those ponies likely went home and reported to their friends and family the astonishing discovery they made on that day. For that reason alone, I was likely to grow famous. Maybe even Celestia would stop by for a visit sometime if these rumors continued to spread. I can't say she doesn't grow curious eventually when some information floats out there on a very interesting subject.

    {I also heard a whisper from among the crowd as they passed on the information that I was a member of the Scroll family, a family that had a reputation of being one of the stronger casters in Equestria. Some replied, “Oh, well I guess this makes a little more sense then.”

    {That's not why I did it. I practiced flying because I honestly just wanted to be myself. I practiced flying because I simply enjoyed flying. Being watched and judged by so many ponies, even if it was a positive judgment, made me feel embarrassed and self-conscious.

    {Despite the fact that my family happened to be famous, I was not accustomed to that much attention back then on a personal level. Even today I can only endure it in limited quantities. That was actually another key factor in my decision about leaving the Wonderbolts, but I'll get more into that later.

    {So, for my second test flight, it had mixed results. Like the last test flight, it showed promise but this time I had a difficult time conceiving how I could possibly improve using this strategy. If I blew myself harder, I would simply spin faster. Eventually I would spin so fast that the accumulated g-forces alone would knock me out. I could probably assume if I lost consciousness then, not only would the wind control stop, but I'd probably gain all my weight back.

    {That did seem to be my body's default condition.

    {In some ways, and probably many ways, that was a good thing. Being that light all the time had serious disadvantages. I couldn't even trot straight if I was that light because any degree of movement, even moving a single step forward on the ground, could make me spin out of control.

    {So I was left with a conundrum. If I used telekinesis, at least I knew I could eventually get better at my concentration. This strategy had room for improvement.

    {The other strategy, on the other hoof, came across some barriers pretty quickly because of the built-in physics of the issue. If I'm spinning out of control all the time, it's difficult to focus on going in any direction because I quickly lose my spatial orientation. I don't even know which way is up anymore. Refined control over the wind doesn't matter if you're lost, dizzy and confused. I might as well release my control over the wind and allow it to blow me in any random direction that it wants. If I choose a direction instead and I'm totally lost then I'm basically picking a random direction anyway. There is no difference.

    {Early on the second day, your mother suggested that I try a combination of the two strategies. She suggested that I lighten my body weight, push myself using refined wind control but also use telekinesis to steady myself. As long as I'm not spinning around too much, I'd be able to tell where I am going and then refined wind control would be effective.

    {She also suggested that, if I was indeed that light, I would not have to focus my energy across my entire body. I could instead focus on a single part of it and use that to guide the rest.

    {For example, she suggested I use my energy to cover only my legs with my telekinetic aura. If less surface area was being covered by the aura then the ticklish energy wouldn't be as severe.

    {Sky Dancer and I figured it was worth a shot, so I tried it.

    {Now that strategy definitely had some promise but it was a fine balancing act. Concentration and a bit of magical energy was a factor but grabbing less surface area meant less concentration, magical energy, and distraction. I still had to struggle with my shifting body weight, however, and anything that threatened concentration left me at risk of losing control of that power.

    {I also tried gentle and sporadic pushes of the wind to just “nudge” me in any direction. A little push here and a little push there then let my momentum carry me where I wanted. That . . . actually kind of worked. It was slow but more steady. I wasn't spinning around as much.

    {Compared to an average pegasus flight, that kind of low speed and poor maneuverability was downright pathetic but, again, the strategy had merits that might eventually improve later on.

    {Towards the end of the day, Sky Dancer pointed something else out to me that got me thinking. He mentioned the fact that, because I could control the wind's direction and speed directly, I could be a valuable asset to any pegasus and that by far. He said I could just carried by hoof underneath the pegasus. Since I am able to make myself so light, it made that task unbelievably easy.

    {In exchange, I could control the winds to simply blow directly at their wings. In theory, they could simply glide all the way around the world using that strategy. Their weight would no longer be a factor to that pegasus if they could rely upon a tailwind to keep them aloft and propelled the entire trip. This made the trip considerably less exhausting, or they could flap anyway and gain more speed out of it.

    {I found that proposal interesting which made me contemplate my destiny again. Based on what we had observed so far, that was a valuable contribution I could already provide.

    {Heck, that same suggestion would work with a hot-air balloon. Since I could control the winds, I could blow the balloon wherever I wanted and with greater accuracy and speed. It was something to think about.

    {That realization came in hoofy for me many years later, too. That is how I blow our airship back and forth across Equestria quickly and precisely so, in the long gallop, it turned out I eventually did make a career out of this specific aspect of my abilities after all.}



xoxo



    {It was a Monday, basically the very next day, when I went to a grassy park and simply laid my back. I relaxed on the grass. I put my forelegs behind my neck to prop it up for support then lazily dangled my left hind leg over my right hind leg as it was propped up in order to straighten my back.

    {It was there and then that I contemplated the results of last weekend's flight test, hoping to think of some strategy to help refine my flight control.

    {Because of my potentially light body weight, there were two strategies I had at my disposal. Both of them worked, but both had their own problems as well. Either way, I sensed I could only go so far with them. To get true mastery of the sky, I was convinced I was missing some critical component. Something I just wasn't thinking about yet.

    {I thought of what Sky Dancer said towards the end of our last session about how useful I could be to other pegasi due to my ability to control the winds. There was no doubt I could provide a useful contribution to Equestria using that strategy. It would be so good that ponies would pay good money just for that benefit. I could speed them across Equestria faster than almost any other strategy available to us. 

    {The potential didn't even stop there. Refined wind control was useful for other applications too. It could help with the weather, for example, or I could blow into a windmill to help generate energy that way. 

    {But, ultimately, I had to ask myself what did my heart call for? What did I yearn for?

    {The answer that came quickly was that I wanted to fly.

    {I could just dangle behind a pegasus on a string while blowing wind straight into their wings. They would fly easier and faster than ever but, for my part, I felt like I wanted more. I wanted to be able to fly on my own but, for that to happen, I had to refine one of the existing strategies I already had in front of me.}

    A wise look crept into Feather Wind as he looked at his daughter and said, “Yes, I know. You're already spoiled on this point as well. You know exactly what I will decide at that time based on what I've done since, but please continue to pay attention. By understanding the reasoning behind that decision and the problems I've discovered along the way, you get to learn the evolutionary progress of a single idea. How one idea and one experiment leads to the next and the next and the next. Understanding the process is still valuable information.”

    “I wasn't going to say anything,” Star Breeze promised then waved at her father. “Please, continue.”

    {I forgot to mention there were a few trees near the spot I laid on. I think that was the reason I chose that spot. I was in the shade, you see. Easier to enjoy looking up in the sky without the sun shining in my eyes. I also appreciated the sound the tree leaves made when the wind blew through them. It was quite relaxing.

    {Then something crashed near me that drew my attention. It was a lucky thing it did because it led to the next evolution of my flight training. There I saw a kite that had nose-dived into the earth, leaving its tail hanging in the air.

    {The young filly that was originally guiding that kite galloped up to it and plucked it out of the earth. I remember her playful giggle as she galloped away and tried to drag the kite behind her fast enough to get it to ascend again. She shortened the length of the string at first so that the kite would drag close behind her. As it dragged behind her, it lifted up but then waved about unsteadily.

    {Boy, I sure knew that feeling! I knew first hoof how wild and chaotic the winds could be.

    {It seemed like a strange contrast to my own personality, actually. I may be loose and enjoyed daydreaming but whatever thought I had in my head was usually well controlled. I wouldn't describe myself as wildly loose and whimsical. Sometimes I could even be quite methodical. I guess I get that from my father.

    {On a whim, I inwardly willed a wind to blow into that kite and secretly helped it sail upwards. Instantly it worked. The young filly at the other end of the string giggled with delight. In her eyes, she thought she got lucky to catch an updraft. I let her think that. It probably would have happened anyway eventually even if I had done nothing.}

    The kite continued to hold Feather Wind's attention as his left hind leg continued to bounce idly around his right bent leg. As he stared at it, he contemplated the physics of kites and how they work exactly.

    While staring at the kite that was above his field of vision, the filly at the other end gradually unwound more and more string. Up above, the kite's flight continued to be wild and chaotic for a while at a certain height but, as it ascended further up, it gradually became more steady. Looking upon this, Feather Wind realized that the wind was blowing more steadily at certain altitudes. The kite continued to weave in the air some but, in general, the higher it was, the more steady it was.

    Hmm. Not in my experience. I didn't fly that high yesterday, but I flew a lot further up the first time, or at least that's what I suspect. I can't be sure, but I feel like I was miles above the earth when Dunken discovered me. I was still weaving to and fro back then. Why was the wind not steady then?

    As Feather Wind thought on that, he contemplated the role the string of the kite played in this whole affair. In a way it meant the kite was tethered to the ground, held by a young filly who was, herself, on the ground. If that had not happened then the kite would sail away and get unsteady again. As it was, it was only steady because it was trying to blow away but the string would not let it. There was a resisting force in this case.

    The shape of the kite was another thing that played a role in this affair. It was made of very light materials, similar to Feather Wind when he lightened his body weight but, unlike Feather Wind, the shape of the kite aided it in refined control while up in the sky.

    Reflecting on that, Feather Wind contemplated his own body shape. Sure, he could make himself very light, but he then realized his shape was another factor in this affair. Based on the position of his legs, the shape of his torso, his mane, his neck, the shape of his head . . . he wasn't exactly aerodynamic.

    He pictured, in his head, exactly how the wind would interact with a shape like that. He thought about  how it bounced off and veered around every curve of his body. By doing that, it pushed on his body and changed his angle relative to the wind then it just kept on doing that. He spun in the air because of the repetition of this pattern. As the wind blew on him, it spun him. After that, it blew on the new area facing the wind and spun that as well and it just kept going on. He was like a spinning fan in the sky, and all of it because of the shape of his body.

    And speaking of shapes, what's with my mane lately?

    Whenever his mane was blowing in the wind it became very straight and loose. It flowed easily in whichever direction the wind happened to be blowing. However, when the wind was not blowing through his mane, it took on a different shape instead. His mane grew puffy, much like a cloud.

    To confirm that, he applied a hoof into his mane and it just sank into his white puffy mane like sticking his hoof into a soft pillow. As soon as he relaxed the pressure, his mane resumed its previous shape. As another test, Feather Wind smacked his mane hard and watched it jiggle like jello until it steadily calmed down again and resumed its puffy but otherwise steady shape.

    I admit I did not get out much from my room before, but I’ve got a distinct impression my mane didn't used to act like this before I got my cutie mark. Huh. It makes me wonder how many times discovering one's true talent changes other ponies in noticeable, physiological ways.

    “Is that true?” Star Breeze asked with wonder. “Huh. I wonder if that means I'm going to change if I discover my true talent, and I don't mean the mere discovery of the talent. If it's true we physically change as a result of the discovery then . . .”

    “I looked into that years later, mostly through other books,” Feather Wind responded to his daughter. “Research in this area has been largely inconclusive but there does seem to be some evidence that suggests a physical change in some cases. Mane shape and sometimes even color did appear to be affected sometimes, but how exactly they changed appeared to be a case by case basis. The talents themselves were as varied as the ponies themselves so the degree of change they went through varied as well. This was the best conclusion others had made so far.”

    “So, in other words, it all depends,” Star Breeze figured.

    “It looks like it, yeah,” Feather Wind confirmed.

    As he thought on it, Feather Wind in the past examined the facts as it would affect him when it came to being blown by the wind. His mane was puffy if there was no wind, otherwise it flowed with it. It could be his imagination, but his mane also seemed longer when blown by the wind.

    In terms of his shape, it wasn't much of a factor on the ground. His mane would only blow one way if he was steady and standing on the ground but, up in the sky, he was spinning all over the place, making his mane wave about wildly.

    If only there were some way I could make myself more like a kite in the sky.

    “Oh come on!” Star Breeze rolled her eyes. “You already learned this lesson at an earlier point in your life. Before you even truly flew, for that matter.”

    “Yeah, I'll admit . . . I was kind of being dumb at that moment,” Feather Wind admitted to his daughter, “but put yourself in the mindset that I was back then and apply the emotional factor. Only recently I discovered my cutie mark and, along with it, a dream come true. One that was born from an intensely painful wish when it came to its strength. If you ever get overwhelmed by something, sometimes lessons you already learned earlier gets thrown out the window.”

    {Back then inspiration finally struck me when I heard a sort of chirp sound. I glanced up and found . . .}

    Looking up at the source of the sound, Feather Wind saw a squirrel climb up a tree. Feather Wind grinned, thinking the creature was so cute. He especially liked the way the little rodent's nose moved up and down at a fairly rapid rate. The squirrel he stared at often paused for seemingly no reason. When it did resume, Feather Wind was a bit surprised how fast the squirrel could do it. Feather Wind knew for sure he couldn't climb the tree nearly that fast, not even if he lightened his own body weight.

    But then he saw something that gave him an epiphany. The squirrel in question leapt to another tree and, along the way, it spread its paws apart which stretched its flexible skin. The squirrel glided over to the next tree or, as some might call it, “Falling with style.”

    Wait a second! That's it! Feather Wind exclaimed in his mind with intense realization as he sat up straight. He also looked back up at the flying kite. Change my shape! That's it! Why didn't I think of this before? I've already done it before!

    “Exactly,” Star Breeze agreed with another roll of her eyes.



xoxo



    {And so it came to pass that the next time I gathered with Stern Wing and Sky Dancer, as well as a bunch of nameless ponies roaming about in the background, we gathered by the lakeside again and I showed them my new idea, which was actually one of my old ideas. I brought with me my new cloak, courtesy of my father's purchases.

    {Actually, I had that cloak a few weeks earlier but it was only on the third flight training visit when it finally occurred to me to use it.

    {And . . . well . . . it didn't go so well but, again, there was progress. It clearly was a step in the right direction. With the cloak tied to each end of my hooves, I didn't even need telekinetic control unless I suspended myself in mid-air. I could be blown about in the air like a sail on a sailing ship. The shape of the cloak captured the wind better than any other part of my body, especially since I could control exactly where the wind blew at me. Moreover, with my shape spread out to the four corners of that cloak, it made me more flat and aerodynamic, thus it solved my chaotically spinning problem without relying on my telekinetic control as a crutch.

    {Still, the strategy had some flaws when I started to pick up speed. This was only apparent after several future sessions using this strategy. At first, it worked wonders and we all clearly thought we found the perfect strategy but, as I picked up speed or made more daring maneuvers, my cloak flew apart. I could never tie the cloak to the ends of my hooves tightly enough to keep it from flying off eventually. It was concluded that if I could tie it on well enough, it would also cut off my blood circulation.

    {So back to the drawing board.

    {I had another idea that Sky Dancer, Stern Wing. and my father also echoed, unbeknownst to each other. I tried the cloak idea again with an extra addition. I hired some pony to sew a pocket into all four corners of the cloak and to make it large enough to stick my hooves into it.

    {With test cloak version two point oh, again we noticed a sizable improvement. As long as I pushed outward within the cloak pretty hard, my hooves stayed in each pocket of the cloak with far less risk of it slipping off. It's just like the physics of a kite, really.

    {I have to tell you, that strategy worked so well that I actually applied it for years to come. With the pockets sewn into the cloak, I had a stable grip on it which meant I could be reliably carried off by it. By nullifying my own body weight as a factor almost completely, it was the cloak that ended up weighing more. There was a bit of a drag because of that.

    {It was nothing compared to the bodyweight of a true pegasus. Combined with the cloak, I weighed approximately as much as the wings of a pegasus alone. Actually, I might have been quite a bit lighter. Perhaps only the weight of a single wing.

    {This was when my flying lessons really started to take off, and also the point where the physics of the issue was more in line with what Sky Dancer could teach me. Finally there was a shape in this situation where his lessons and advice had more of an impact.

    {In effect, I was basically flying with a single wing, that wing being the cloak itself. Since I could control the wind, however, one wing was all I really needed.

    {The shape of my cloak was also somewhat more flexible than the shape of a true pegasus's wing. In the case of a pegasus's wing, it bent inwards and outwards. It could also lift higher or lower along the side of the pegasus's body. For the most part that was pretty much it. Some had more refined control over the wing and could bend it at any point along the way up to the tip.

    {I saw some pegasi, for example, who flew through the sky by flapping only the tips of their wings while keeping the rest of it straight. There could be, in some of them, very flexible muscles along the way up to the tip of their wings. Those were usually the ones who became the most maneuverable in the sky but, even then, I never saw a pony who could bend their wings backwards.

    {Speed, on the other hoof, is mostly factored by the raw power of the flap of the entire wing.

    {In contrast, my cloak was actually flexible by being able to bend anywhere along five points of it. One on each end of my hoof and the last the hood secured over my head. By spreading this apart, I was able to capture the wind and use it to drive me in any direction it was blowing. The tension of holding the cloak spread also helped to keep my hooves within each pocket of the cloak.

    {I could also bend any of those five points to curve in many possible directions. I could bend the cloak using my middle joint of my leg or steer the entire leg up or down, left or right. Controlling the shape of the cloak was key to expert maneuverability. With the wind always on my side, I was capable of feats that even a pegasus would find difficult.

    {I also concentrated a bit to grasp the fabric within each pocket as an additional precaution to hold it in place. 

    {But, as the lessons continued and steadily got more complicated, I eventually came across another problem; the durability of the cloak itself. The stitching on each of the pockets suffered major strain sometimes. I may not have weighed much while in flight, but each of my hooves kept shifting back and forth hard within the pockets. I held the pockets apart from each other pretty firmly which is another reason that caused them to tear.

    {At low speeds they endured for quite a while but, as I picked up more speed or performed more complex maneuvers, my true limits became the physical capabilities of the cloak itself. Attempts were made to make thicker cloaks, tougher materials, more stitching. Each version did improve performances but performing complex maneuvers always strained the limits of the material eventually.

    {After a while, my father suggested that perhaps a magical item would be the final answer to this problem. Enchantments on cloaks could increase its durability but, after years of flight practice, I started to get a better idea for the basis of material for the cloak, the clouds themselves. If condensed enough, it could make a solid material for any pony to touch, and this was a material naturally born from the sky.

    {I labored for months on this project, and . . . for once . . . I did it all by myself. This project was a labor of passion, a critical component of my destiny. This was to be my official wing, basically, so I wanted to be involved in every step of its creation process from start to finish if I was to have an intimate and deeply intrinsic connection to it.

    {I actually learned the enchanting process from scratch. No doubt that, after many years of practice, my father was a better enchanter back then, but this time I insisted that I do the work myself. He didn't complain because he wanted me to learn these skills anyway. Instead, he took more of a supervisory role when he could.

    {I practiced many times on other things before moving in on the final product.

    {I also gathered premium clouds from Cloudsdale itself, straight off the weather factory, in preparation for this creation.

    {I even dreamed about crafting this cloud cloak sometimes. Lessons repeated over and over again in my mind, and sometimes my dreams gave me new insight which I used to improve the final design.

    {Then, after several months of labor, I finally did it. I crafted the perfect cloak with my own hooves. Dubbed the Mist Cloak, I've never needed to replace it ever since. It even captured and seemed to enhance the power of the wind, and it never tore no matter how much I stressed it. The material could bend or stretch but it never broke or tore. I could also rest on top of it as if it were a normal cloud but, because it was so condensed, it was also too heavy to remain aloft by itself.

    {Oh, and speaking of which, that was another thing I practiced over the years. I tried to master the refined art of standing on clouds. Being as light as I was, it wasn't too difficult. The problem came later when I realized that my ability to lighten my body weight was indeed dependent upon my consciousness. I could stand on clouds easily enough while awake, but asleep was another story.

    {Some ponies thought me insane for obsessing over this, but I was determined to learn how to sleep on clouds. It was such a comfortable sleeping material, after all, and besides that, it was an obstacle keeping me from fully connecting to the sky.

    {I tried over and over again to sleep on the clouds, and over and over again I fell right through it.

    {I recall a good nine months where I replaced my bed in my bedroom with a bathtub partially full of water. I then placed a cloud above it and tried to sleep on it. If my concentration slipped while asleep, I would fall right through the cloud and splash into the bathtub which inevitably woke me up.

    {Over time, I learned to sleep more lightly so I could maintain a light subconscious effort to keep concentrating on maintaining my light body. Eventually I succeeded and, when I did, I was overjoyed. I could fly in the sky, and I could sleep on the clouds. Life was good.}