 Can Elephantes Fly?
by alienigenosidad
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Recently Neopia was all abuzz for Elephante Day (get it, because it comes shortly after the Festival of Buzz). These magnificent Neopets are known for their kindness and generosity, their good spirit, and their incredible trunks. Elephantes will gift the wearables on their back for a cold friend, they are the life of any party, and the can launch a peanut well over 200 meters and give joy to their Puppyblew pals. But there is one large, looming question around this beautiful species:Can they fly? All Elephante, whether they are painted Tyrannian or Baby, have two little wings poking out of their back, yet we've never ever witnessed one in flight. Even the magical Faerie Elephante, with wings larger than life, is always seen sitting or standing. Today, we're going to explore a few reasons why this beautiful beast is always on the ground. Size The first thing we're going to address is the Elephante's size. After much research, I've discovered that they are one of Neopia's smallest pets. While you'd initially think they'd be the size of a mighty Grarrl or sinister Skeith, this fun-loving pet comes in at a small 41cm. For reference, they are about the same size as a Pteri or Grundo. Shockingly, Neopia's LARGEST pet, coming in at 160cm, takes flight quite easily: the Eyrie. And the closest in size to the Elephante, the little Pteri, spends most of his time in the air. Clearly, we can rule out the Elephante's small stature, because even the Buzz, who is smaller, flies over Neopia Central with ease. We may also want to look into the correlation between wing size and body size. As the Eyrie, Pteri, and Buzz all have wings much larger than that of the little Elephante. The Neopet with the most similar body to wing ratio would be the Skeith. Skeiths are another species we haven't really seen in flight, they are usually lounging around flipping coins or behind the desk at a bank. Clearly a Skeith loves money, but is about as likely to go airborn as our Elephante friend...unless... The Forehead Gem Neopia has no shortage of magic, from the soaring city of Faerieland or the mysterious and probably non-existent Jelly World, we've seen some crazy things happen over the years. Spells are frequently cast in the Battledome and items infused with magic can be found in the smallest of shops. We can't rule out the gem that is found on the Elephante's head. Could this possess the power to overcome the body to wing ratio and lift our little friend up in the air? I've had my team focusing on this problem for year. We've studied Elephantes far and wide, watching them fight in the battledome and frolic in the fields of Meridell. As much as I'd love to tell you all the secrets of this gem, how the power of it would shock a million faeries, how a single Elephante harnesses a power that could knock the smelly socks right off Dr. Sloth...I can't tell you that. I can't tell you that because I don't know that. Why don't I know? Elephantes never seem to actually use this gem. It's almost as if it's a pointless (but fashionable) addition to their wardrobe. At best it protects them from clunking their head while foraging for food. Perhaps someday this gem will unleash some type of power, or maybe it does something only an Elephante knows (can they read minds? Predict the future?), but for now I'll be laying this theory to rest and moving on to another idea... They Like The Ground My last thought is that Elephantes just enjoy being on the ground. Maybe they can go up to the hightest clouds, soar over the oceans to Mystery Island and Krawk Island and beyond, and they just don't want to. It's more than possible that these kind little buddies just want to play Gormball with all their friends, eating peanuts with Puppyblews, or competing in the Gourmet Club Bowls championship. Life on the ground can be pretty sweet, literally. There's no chocolate shop up in the sky. And one of an Elephantes favorite activities is launching items with their massive trunks, there's no dirt to make a measurement in when you're a thousand feet above Neopia. On the flip side, maybe they just can't fly. It's easy not to fly when you are not actually capable of doing so. Unfortunately, my research is completely inconclusive and I don't have the slightest idea whether an Elephante can fly or not. The strongest evidence I have is that we've never seen it happen, so it cannot happen. But science and magic are very weird, and a lot of unexplained things happen, especially here in Neopia. In Neopia's history, spanning nearly two decades, we have seen pets dipped in magma to gain new colors, a foggy island that let loose a gaggle of playful Lutari, and an flaming evil coconut screaming in a lot of editorials...but we haven't seen this lovable Neopet take flight. Does this mean we never will? Or does the future hold something new? Crazier things have happened, I mean just look at Meteor Crash Site 725-XZ and the way it disappears just by poking it with a stick. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that someday in the near future we see an Elephante take flight all the way to the Virtupets Space Station, but for now I'll rest easy knowing that with or without flight, these gentle guys are happy just to be surrounded by friends. This is a mystery that, for now, will remain unsolved. It will join the shelf of all the other curious, unexplained things on this planet, like that mysterious lever of doom that does nothing (or something), and where exactly those Alien Aishas came from with that vending machine. One thing I do know is that thanks to the Elephante, Neopia is a much happier place and we all have a great friend to rely on. Thanks for being one of the friendliest species out there, with or without flight. We salute you!
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