Flying Lessons (Invite Only)

[AlextheAngel]

Zed opened the front door as soon as he heard the rather hard knocking, blinking in confusion as his five-year-old son grudgingly walked in, heading straight to his room. A rather disgruntled purple Pegasus stood in the doorway, sighing and shaking his head.

 

"I can't do it." He said suddenly. "He doesn't pay attention, he strays off, and I can't get him even a foot off the ground!"

 

Zed nodded, crossing his arms. "Well, his wings are still underdeveloped. You have to remember that."

 

"That's no excuse! And it's not only that, either! Like I said before: He doesn't pay attention, his mind wanders, he keeps fantasizing about joining the Wonderbolts, and he has failed almost every quiz I've given him! To be honest, I think his brain might be underdeveloped as well!"

 

Zed blinked again, before giving the purple Pegasus an icy glare. "You have five seconds to rephrase that."

 

The Pegasus stopped dead, looking worried for a moment. "L-look, all I'm saying is that... well... he's not exactly... qualified for my level of teaching-"

 

"Four." Zed continued.

 

"All right, fine. I just can't teach him. I'm sorry, but you're going to have to find someone else!" The Pegasus said.

 

"Oh, trust me, I will. I know plenty of ponies who would be ecstatic to teach him for free. But instead of going to them, I decided to waste bits on you. I paid you to teach him, not to dump a bunch of meaningless high-class quizzes on him, and then get verbally abusive when he gets them wrong. Seriously, he's only five. Why don't you go out and have a child or two? Maybe then it'll teach you some patience." With that, the young man practically slammed the door in the Pegasus's face, before shaking his head and rubbing his temples.

 

"Daddy... am I stupid?" A small voice asked, and Zed looked up to see Alex standing in the hallway, a rather hurt look on his face.

 

"No! Gods no, Alex!" Zed said intensely, before walking over and kneeling down in front of him, one hand holding the child's shoulder.

 

"But the teacher said-"

 

"The teacher is an idiot." Zed interrupted. "He's the one that's stupid... well, and possibly me for hiring him in the first place." He sighed. "I'll see if I can find some one else. I promise you'll be flying in no time. Just like Daddy used to." He said, patting the child on the head. "Now, go get your glasses on and read a book or something. I'll try to figure this out."

 

The boy nodded and sulked back to his room, and Zed sighed, rubbing his eyes with his index finger and thumb. He needs a better teacher. Someone who's patient and good with kids... someone I can trust not to lash out at him constantly...

[Noedig]

Gale Storm finally had some time off from finishing a layout of a plan on working out a way to bring peace between ponies and the Changelings. It took him quite some time, so he needed to take a break or work on something else so he doesn't overthink anything on his plans.

He thought of visiting Zed and his son, Alex. He hadn't had time to check on how they're doing.

He flew over at their place personally. Gale noticed a purple Pegasus that just flew by him from Zed's house. Gale turned around to see him. This character was rather irked by something. Gale Storm shrugged and resumed course.

He landed and knocked on door in his usual style of knocking at a door: Tap, tap-tap, tap.

[AlextheAngel]

Zed glanced up upon hearing the tapping at the door, and he sighed before running his fingers through his hair. "Coming!" He said, before jogging across the room and opening the door. He blinked in surprise when he saw his uncle there in the doorway. "Oh! Hey, Gale. Come on in." He said, holding the door open and stepping aside to allow him inside. "I'll be honest, I wasn't really expecting company today, but you're always welcome here. So, what's up? Can I get you something?"

[Noedig]

"Actually, I came by to see how you and your family are doing." He said after entering the house. "I'm taking a break from something important. I shouldn't overthink it, so I have to take my mind off of it and do something else for a while."

He looked around to see no one else seems to be in here. "I heard your son's taking flying lessons, at long last!" He told Zed, and then looked at him. "How's he coming along?"

[AlextheAngel]

"Well, that's really nice of you." Zed replied with a smile. He wondered for a moment what exactly Gale would be working on that was so important, but he decided against asking for now. However, when the subject of Alex's flying lessons came up, the young man's glum expression reappeared on his face, and he shook his head. "Badly." He said lowly. "The only types of teachers I can find here are used to teaching high-class students, rather than five-year-old children. One of them started getting verbally abusive, and I just sent him on his way a few minutes ago." He gave a sigh, rubbing the back of his neck. "That was the last teacher I could find. I don't think there are anymore. He needs someone that's better with kids, and won't lash out at him whenever he does something wrong."

[Noedig]

"Ah, so that's whom I've seen pass by." He said. "He was rather irked."

Alex continued explaining further that there weren't any more teachers that would teach high-class subjects.

"You know, there's nothing 'high-class' about learning to fly... My foster guardian Moss taught me well on how to fly-- why that's interesting is because he is an earth pony. He died since I was a teenager, which was just before I went out to find my mark."

Zed further talked with him and finished, then Gale responded. "Well, I know a few that would have been willing to teach your son for free... but as far as I've been told, they're all unable to--" He stopped himself to reconsider what to say. "Forgive me, I actually do know somepony." He said. "Me. I can teach your boy."

[AlextheAngel]

Zed blinked in surprise upon hearing Gale's explanation. He had absolutely no idea that it was even possible for an Earth Pony to teach a Pegasus how to fly. Gale was definitely full of surprises, that was for sure. Then the young man's eyes lit up with excitement when Gale said that he would be willing to teach Alex to fly. "Wait, really?" He said. "Because that would be really helpful." Indeed, Zed believed that Gale could be just the teacher that Alex needs. As far as Zed knows, Gale is excellent with children, and has gained the boy's admiration.

[Noedig]

"Really." He replied. "I could even begin right now. But that's up to you on when I should train him."

[AlextheAngel]

"All right, then..." Zed replied with a nod, still rather surprised at Gale's sudden offer. "You can start now, actually, since the last teacher ended his session too early. He's in his room right now, if you want to see him."

[Noedig]

"I'll go see him, then." Gale Storm said. He then went to Alex's door and knocked on it and then opened the door to see Alex. "Hey, Alex." He greeted him. "How are you?"

[AlextheAngel]

Alex was sitting on his bed, the boy's nose practically buried in one of the new books that Zed had bought him. He looked up in surprise when Gale suddenly walked in and set the book aside. "Hey, Uncle Gale!" He said rather cheerfully. "I'm... okay, I guess. Learning to fly is a lot harder than I thought. My teachers are usually mean..."

[Noedig]

"Well, there is going to be a new, better teacher for you." He said. "And he's got the time and patience to give you lessons at no cost."

He entered the room and stood next to him. "Rumor has it that he wears an eye-patch, I wonder how he got that?"

[AlextheAngel]

Alex blinked in confusion, before he finally understood what Gale meant, and he excitedly stood up from his bed. "Wait, really?!" He asked, his eyes lighting up with excitement. He had been wanting Gale to teach him to fly for a while now, and was absolutely ecstatic that Gale would be choosing to teach him now.

[Noedig]

"Really." He said. "We can go out right now to get you started... you ready?"

[AlextheAngel]

Alex couldn't help but smile and jump up and down, his excitement getting the better of him. "I would love to! This is fantastic! Maybe you could teach me those tricks that you showed me that one time! Or maybe learn how to be a Wonder bolt? Or... or maybe..."

Zed leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed, chuckling a bit. He found it rather adorable whenever his kid got excited.

[Noedig]

Gale could only smile a bit.

"Or maybe teach you how to do your very own Sonic Boom?" Gale said, encouraging his fun. "Definitely that... when you're older. Follow me, will you please?" He said, he then left the house to be at its front yard. He stood outside waiting for Alex to come out as well.

[AlextheAngel]

Alex's eyes lit up even more when Gale mentioned teaching the boy how to make a Sonic Boom, but sighed when Gale added the "when you're older" part. However, his disappointment quickly disappeared as he followed Gale outside to the front yard.

"Have fun, you two. Let me know if you need anything!" Zed called from inside.

[Noedig]

Alex came out in the yard, which Gave gale the chance to examine him with precise analogy. "Hold still, please." He said to him.

First he slowly walked around Alex in a circle twice in order to see how he looks. Then he came behind him to spread one wing after another to check their size and durability.

Finally, he patted him on the head to say he's finished checking his physicality. "Alright." He said to him. "Now, let's talk about why you need to fly. First off..." He spread his wings open to demonstrate. "You've got wings. Anyone with feather wings, bat-wings, or even bug-wings are capable of flying. All of that is obvious to you and me." He flapped his wings once swiftly, which caused Gale's body to lift off the ground a foot and then land softly. "We're meant to fly, you and I." He then withdrew his wings. "Like everyone has, we all started off as babies taking our first steps. In this case, we're a bit older now, so we make learning more efficient because we're able to understand things better. However, it takes as long as it would take from crawling, to walking, to finally running... which is from flapping, to hanging, to finally flying." He explained to him. "Tell me something; from all your previous teachers attempting to teach you, what have you tried or succeeded in? Don't feel embarrassed, you can tell me."

[AlextheAngel]

Alex held still as Gale circled around him and examined his wings, glancing back curiously every once in a while. After a moment, he listened carefully as Gale began to explain how and why they were meant for flying, refraining from bombarding the Duke with questions... which was one of the things that annoyed his previous teachers. Upon hearing the question, the child sighed a bit, still feeling rather embarrassed. "Not... much." He said, biting his lip nervously. "I once hovered about five inches off the ground for about three seconds. The the teacher yelled at me and I lost concentration."

[Noedig]

"Let me make this clear when I'm teaching you." He said. "You're allowed to fail as many times as it may happen. I won't feel disappointed or ashamed from that while I'm trying to teach you. Because I know anyone who is able to fly CAN fly-- you can fly. The only things that will disappoint me are you acting recklessly and ignoring me. But, hear me out, Alex..." He put his right hoof to Alex's chest gently. "You're young and want to try new things, I understand that. Be patient. When the time comes, you will feel so glad you've waited to try the new things." He put his hoof down. "I've said my piece, now I'm going to listen to you. Fire away your questions-- I won't dodge 'em."

[AlextheAngel]

Alex was quite relieved when Gale promised not to be disappointed in him if he ever failed... of course, he did indeed sometimes have a habit of getting reckless, but he would try to avoid doing that now. He gave a nod in understanding, before his eyes suddenly lit up when Gale allowed him to ask any questions. He immediately had one ready, though... it might not have been what Gale was expecting. "If I fly close enough to the sun, will my wings catch on fire?"

[Noedig]

"If you were able to travel through empty space in order to get a lot closer to the sun, then yes... along with the rest of you." He said. "It's a splendid thing our planet is at the right distance. Thankfully, with our body the sky's the limit-- literally. Next question."

[AlextheAngel]

Alex blinked a bit in surprise at Gale's response. He had asked the same question multiple times before to his other teachers, and had gotten yelled at for "not taking anything seriously." The child smiled and shook his head. "I think I'm out of stupid questions for now." He said, laughing a bit.

[Noedig]

"Alright." He said. "Let's begin! What you're going to do is maintain flight in mid-air, no matter how far off the ground you are. The point is to keeping yourself in the air for as long as possible, and gradually staying in the air longer one after every attempt. If you can manage to stay in the air for at least three minutes, we will move to the next stage. Now, start flapping those wings so I can see what you're doing."

[AlextheAngel]

"Okay..." Alex said with a nod, before he began to flap his wings. At first, nothing seemed to happen, until the child began to rise a few inches off the ground. He hung in the air for a few seconds, before falling back down. "Hang on..." He said with a sigh before leaping into the air, flapping his wings as hard as he could. He began hovering about a foot above ground, before he slowly began to descend. "I... I'll... figure this out..." He panted, the muscles in his wings beginning to ache.