“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

I awoke on the couch after who knows how long. I checked the single clock located above the fireplace to find out it was 8:30 a.m. 'I slept for 12 hours?! Jeez I must of been really tired!'

I ate a simple breakfast of just an apple and a glass of milk. I was also pleasantly surprised to find the newspaper had been delivered on the front doorstep. Not that I really cared about too much about what was going on in Equestria on the daily, it just gave me something to do while eating my morning meal. I burst out laughing upon seeing the front page headline...

Princess Celestia Grants Citizenship to Unknown Foreigner!

The Equestrian Foreign Relations Administration revealed yesterday that under orders of Princess Celestia, they granted citizenship to a foreigner (identity classified), after said foreigner has lived in our fair country for no more than a mere week. "We were completely surprised at the princess' actions." said the Minister of Foreign Relations. "We would of objected such a preposterous idea if it had not been for the direct order from Princess Celestia herself." When asked to explain her rash decision the princess responded with, "It is a personal matter between my sister and I. I can assure you that it will cause no danger and that there is no need for concern." The Equestria Times will continue to report on this developing story as information becomes more available...

I began looking through other various articles when a knock came from my door. 'Hmm I wonder who that could be so early...'

I stood up and walked to the door which was still being pounded on by my unknown visitor. I flung the door open to find a very disgruntled looking Rainbow Dash standing outside. "Can I help you?" I asked with a confused look.

"Sure, come on in..." I replied beckoning her inside while trying to determine what could make the arrogant mare act so nervous all of a sudden.

Once I had closed the door behind me I turned to face Rainbow and spoke up, "So... what brings you here? Is there something wrong?" I asked while looking at her with concern.

"I'm sorry, ok? I've been treating you like dirt lately even when you try to be friendly... I just... I just let my stubbornness get to me sometimes... I... You didn't deserve to be treated like that I just..."

"Rainbow... You may be stubborn, arrogant, and even a bit ignorant sometimes..." her face drooped more with every word clearly expecting me to chew her out.

"...But coming here and admitting this to me is enough to show me you actually care... It must of took a lot of guts to come up here and apologize after everything that happened, and for that you have my respect and I forgive you. Now... how 'bout we start over?"

"Great! Now that we've settled our differences, am I to assume that flight lessons are back on?" I asked with a sly grin.

"Oh! I totally forgot! Yea, definitly! Meet me in town square at 4 o'clock sharp and we can get ya airborne!" she announced before walking towards the door.

'Whelp, I believe that settles all my "grudges". Good thing too, I don't like walking around knowing somepony hates my guts.'

The beginning of the day was pretty mundane after Rainbow's visit. I went to the hardware store and bought some tools and some dark blue paint. I decided to reserve buying furniture and decorations for after I had painted my new doge. After my hardware shopping, I ate lunch at a new cafe that had opened up just a block down the street from my place. By the time I was done with lunch and lugging my supplies home it was quarter to 4 so I took off for town square.

I reached the square five minutes ahead of schedule so I sat down on a bench and waited. 4:00, 4:05, 4:15, 4:30. Where the hell was she?! Finally, at around 4:35 Rainbow showed up yawning like she had just woken up. "Thanks for being on time..." I muttered.

"You bet! But first we should preen your wings. They look horrible, no offense."

I opened my wings and found that they were indeed a bit scraggly looking. Some feathers were askew and some others were matted. Rainbow cleared her throat interrupting me, "As a pegasus, your wings are the most important aspects of your body. You have to take care of them to not only look good, but be able to maintain flight as well. Why don't we head to the meadow outside of town and I can teach you proper wing care."

"Cool, lead the way..." I replied genuinely interested in what I was going to be taught.

After a ten minute walk we reached the meadow and Rainbow motioned for me to sit down. "Now, because you have no idea what you're doing, I'll preen your wings for you. After today, your gonna have to do it yourself got it?" she explained.

I nodded... "OK, when preening, you have to find the loose feathers on your wings and pull them out. Loose feathers will prevent you from maintaining stable flight and reduce your turning ability. If you don't remove them, new ones wont grow in to replace them. You also have to seal the matted feathers down with your mouth. Watch me do your right wing and then you can try the left."

Rainbow set to work on my right wing. It was one of the strangest experiences I had ever had, let me tell you. Wings on pegasi are super sensitive so every time she would yank out a feather I would grunt a bit from the momentary pain. Despite the odd feelings, I payed close attention to her process to make sure I could copy it correctly. She would examine my wing until she found a loose or matted feather and then proceed with correcting it. It took about 5 minutes for her to finish my right wing and she seemed quite embarrassed about doing it considering her reddish cheeks. I assumed that pegasi only did it to others as a intimate thing so this was awkward for her to do. "Alright, all done. Now you try." she said motioning to my left wing.

Lifting the wing and tilted my head, I set to work with Rainbow's technique memorized in my skull. It took me around 10 minutes considering me being an amateur, but I did it pretty efficiently for my first time. Even Rainbow seemed to be impressed with my work. "Not bad rookie! Now let me explain a few important things about being a pegasus that you may not have known. After that we'll get you in the air!"

"Cool. So as you probably noticed, us pegasi are a bit fluffier than other ponies. This is to keep us warm high up where the air is a lot colder. Not only that, our fur is much more hydrophobic than our earthbound friends. If it wasn't, then water droplets would accumulate on our fur and wings and freeze at high altitude. The last thing you want is icing over in the air."

This was stuff that I had mostly figured out already but it was good to have my suspicions confirmed. Rainbow seemed to know her stuff considering she was using words like 'hydrophobic' that I'd never heard her use before. She was usually a mare of simple, confident words at least from I had seen.

"Pegasi also have a far larger lung capacity than other ponies. We need to be able to get more air with every breath to provide enough oxygen thousands of meters above the ground. While flight goggles are popular among pegasi especially on long flights, our eyes are naturally adapted for high speed air travel. You don't want to push it, but you should be able to keep your eyes open and focused even when flying close to the speed of sound."

"Wow, interesting. Is there anything else?" I asked as Rainbow finished her mini-lecture.

"Yeah there's pegasus magic which is a whole 'nother area. I'm not super knowledgeable in the sciency egghead stuff behind it but here's the general gist. While earth ponies channel their magic through their hooves and the earth, and unicorns through their horns, pegasi channel through their wings and the air itself. This gives us unmatched control over the atmosphere and the weather. Pegasi are the only pony tribe besides alicorns that can naturally walk on and manipulate clouds..."

"Wait, walk on clouds?" I asked. I had heard that pegasi had control over the weather but walking on condensed water vapor seemed a bit of a stretch.

"Yep! Here I'll show you!" she replied zooming off towards a nearby cloud. She grabbed the cloud with her forelegs and to my amazement literally pushed it down until it was just inches off the ground next to me.

"Ugh... Just jump on it. Trust me, you'll be fine," Rainbow encouraged giving me a genuine grin.

I got a bit of a run up to make sure I could get enough height to land on the cloud before launching myself towards it. I watched in mild terror as my hooves descended and met the surface of the fluffy white surface. I was so certain that I would fall right through and smack into the ground but true to Rainbow's word I felt my hooves stop and just like that I was standing on the cloud. It was a spit in the face of everything I had ever been taught about clouds but yet here I was.

"Wow, look at me Rainbow, I'm doing it!" I exclaimed my eyes lighting up with childlike wonder.

"This is amazing, it's so goddamn soft," I replied still amazed at my defiance of physics.

"Yeah clouds are about the softest material you can find. Do yourself a favor and get a high quality cloud bed for your house, you wont regret it."

I didn't doubt it. Standing on the cloud was like standing on the softest of pillows and I felt inclined the just curl up right there and go to sleep. It was squishy but firm, kind of like walking on a trampoline. My hooves didn't sink in as much as indent into the cloud surface a little bit. After I had gotten my fill of cloud walking I jumped back down and Rainbow returned the cloud.

"There are several techniques to manipulating clouds and the weather but we can over those some other time. Now that you've had your fun how about we actually get you airborne before the sun goes down," Rainbow barked.

"Alright! I'm ready!" was my enthusiastic reply. I was genuinely excited to experience flight, and not just from the inside of an airplane. My reservations about flying quashed by the anticipation of soaring in a way no human ever had.

"That's the spirit. Now you're a full grown pegasus so you shouldn't have any issues with getting lift like most foals do. Your wings are likely a little weak from being unused but you should do okay. Try extending your wings and giving them a few flaps."

I did as she said and began rapidly flapping my wings. I felt a little lighter on my hooves but besides that nothing was really happening besides my body quickly losing energy. "Try doing it with longer, harder flaps. Don't try to be a hummingbird..." Rainbow explained.

I slowed down my flaps and instead gave hard pushes towards the ground. I closed my eyes with concentration just thinking about my wing movements. Slowly but surely I felt my hooves leave the ground. By the time I opened my eyes, I was five feet off the ground. "I'm doing it! I'm flying!" I exclaimed.

Just as I did so, I broke my concentration and plummeted to the ground. With a loud "Oomph" I hit the ground and rolled over in a dazed heap. My vision became blurry for a second but I was able to regain my bearings only to find Rainbow Dash laughing her ass off at my fall. "Hahahaha! You should of seen your face! You were all like 'Oh no!' and then you smacked into the ground!" she exclaimed in between laughs earning her a glare from me.

"Aww, don't be upset! You did great! Soon you'll be able to fly without even thinking about it!" she said trying to comfort me.

"Anyway... I think we should call it a day. How 'bout we do these lessons twice a week from now on. Tuesdays and Fridays. Be sure to keep your wings in good shape in the meantime!"

"Alright, sounds good! See ya later!" I yelled as she took off at incredible speeds.

I arrived back home with a smile on my face. As brief as my flight had been, I had loved every second of it. Its just an indescribable feeling to have no rope, plane, or harness holding you up, to be up there completely by yourself. I couldn't wait for Friday's lesson so that I could get more flights in.

In the meantime, I began preparing my home for painting. I put blue masking tape on molding and moved the little furniture I had away from the walls. By the time I was done, it was 7:30 and the moon had replaced the sun in the sky so I decided to make myself a simple salad for dinner. Lettuce, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, carrots and a homemade vinaigrette. (I had learned how to prepare simple meals for myself in college.) It was as simple as it gets, and it was delicious.

I went to bed with a full stomach and happy thoughts of flight in my head. What another great day it was for me, and I couldn't wait for tomorrow...

Date:07:09:2014
Location:Denver, Colorado
Status:Dr Alexander Collins is investigating the area where Vladimir Korzhakov was last seen
Time: 14:00

Dr. Collins was on the prowl. While he was waiting for that lazy agent at the CIA to get him the needed information, he had decided to investigate the area where the weather anomaly had supposedly occurred. The only real evidence he had so far was a scorch mark on the asphalt some 2 blocks east of Mr. Korzhakov's workplace. Citizens reported seeing lightning strike somewhere in the vicinity but besides that he had little information.

Upon interviewing one witness, they had reported seeing a figure crossing the street right before the lightning had stuck. Collins was almost certain that it had to have been Korzhakov. He had thanked the witness and proceeded on with his investigation.

Upon reviewing the scorch mark, he found fine dust that had a blueish color scattered around the most heavily burned area. He collected a sample to take back to the lab with him and then called it a day. As he walked back to his hotel, he could only wander what happened to the pour soul of Vladimir Korzhakov...

Well, this is new...

by CommunistTaco

Chapter 13: Чтобы Летать