Flight Instruction

by muas

Jancie the blue Blumaroo sat on a fluffy cloud in Neopia, writing in her journal. She was overjoyed that her owner, Roychild, had won 5,000 NP at the Wheel of Excitement yesterday and thus could take her and her brother Grunsai, a Pteri, for a week's vacation in Faerieland.

After she finished her day's entry, she put her hands on her front paws and looked out at the amazing view. She could see clouds (most inhabited by NeoPets or humans) far off into the distance, and, a little ways away, the Faerie Queen's castle, rising up out of the clouds.

Where was Grunsai? He'd said he would only be away for a little while; he was just getting a slice of cake from the bakery below Jancie's cloud. And he was supposed to get her one, too, so there was no reason for him to have left.

She peeked over the edge, and saw the bakery a few feet down. "Grunsai!" she shouted. "Grunsai, did you get the cake? Come on!"

"Are you looking for me?" asked a Faerie Blumaroo, turning around in midair. "I'm Grundai."

"No, sorry, I'm looking for my little brother, Grunsai. With an S," Jancie clarified, smiling.

"Oh. You know, if you had wings, you could fly down there and find him yourself!" the Blumaroo chortled. "Lemme guess, you got here by UniTaxi, didn'tcha?"

"Um, yeah," Jancie replied, not sure what to make of the hostility. "So?"

Grundai was now in convulsions with laughter. "Wh...wh...why doesn't your cheap-o owner just get you a Faerie paintbrush?" he burst out when he could get some air. "I mean, come on! How cheap does somebody have to be not to buy a simple 50,000 NP item?" And with that, he flew off, leaving Jancie alone.

Why did he do that? wondered Jancie to herself, her eyes tearing up. I don't even know him, and he's making fun of me. I thought most NeoPets were nice, and they are in Tyrannia. Is it different in Faerieland? Or is he just being snobby because 50,000 NP is like pennies to his owner?

Just then, Grunsai arrived with two slices of delicious-looking cake. "Here you go," he said, placing her slice on the cloud. "Guaranteed by the Faeries to up your mood, hit points, and possibly even your level! At least, that's what the ads say. Can't wait to try this." It was then that he finally noticed his sister's mood. "Uh, Jancie? What happened?"

"A Faerie Blumaroo," she said, "just came by and began making fun of me because I don't have wings, and Roychild can't afford to buy me a Faerie paintbrush. For no reason at all! I didn't say anything mean. Why would somebody do that?"

"Oh," said Grunsai, finally understanding. "Well, some NeoPets are just mean. He's probably been told all his life that people with less than a million Neopoints are somehow less worthy of good things and it's okay to make fun of them. They're the ones who should be pitied, not us. OK? Besides, if you ever need to fly anywhere, I'm your man! Er, Pteri. I'll lift you up and carry you anyplace. No need for a Faerie paintbrush when you've got Grunsai! Right?"

But Jancie wasn't in the mood for jokes. "Whatever, Gruns. Eat your cake and find a cloud."

Grunsai stared at her, hurt, before moving over to the cloud adjacent to her. "That was just mean," he informed her. "No need for that." He took a bite of his cake and his mood changed immediately. "Wow," he chortled, staring at the chocolatey slice; "I've never tasted anything so good. I feel bloated already, and truly amazing. I have to convince Roychild to buy some of this stuff to take home. Try it, Jancie!"

Reluctantly, Jancie took a small bite out of her vanilla slice. She didn't feel any changes - no hit points increasing, and certainly not the euphoria that had swept over Grunsai. "So?" she said, shrugging.

Grunsai had already finished his slice. "Lemme have somma yours if you don't like it," he begged. "Please, please, please?"

Shrugging, she handed him her piece and watched him gobble it down. "I'm gonna go ask Roychild for some more NP to get some more of this stuff," he said, getting up. "And I'll beg the shopkeeper for the recipe!"

Jancie watched him fly off happily, and felt another pang. Why couldn't she fly, but her brother could? Was that fair? And why was the only thing that could make her fly, the hallowed Faerie Paint Brush, so expensive? Was 50,000 NP the price for happiness here?

She spotted a fire Faerie flying by and called to it, "Fire Faerie! Hello there..."

The Faerie stopped immediately and came back. "Could you give me a lift to the ground?" Jancie asked politely. "As you can see, I can't fly."

The Faerie smiled, snapped her fingers, and moved Jancie instantaneously to the cloud "ground", which in reality hovered miles above Tyrannia. "Thank you," Jancie replied. "Oh, and...there's no chance you could give me wings, is there?"

The fire Faerie shook her head sadly and flew off, leaving Jancie standing desolately in front of the bakery.

What now? she wondered. Find Roychild, and beg him to use the last of his savings for wings for me? I cannot think of any other way I could possibly earn that amazing amount of money so quickly, before we leave...it would take years, and years, even if I didn't do any more Training School courses and saved every penny I got. I'd be an old Blumaroo before I got my wings, and I'd be too old to use them.

Jancie meandered the streets of Faerieland, staring up at the sky. Many pets that were born with wings soared giddily up there, while those given artificial ones flew with a kind of uncertainty borne from spending most of their lives on the ground. But then there were the ones, natural-given wings and paintbrush-users, who flew so happily that you couldn't help but feel joyful at their expression of happiness. Jancie longed to be one of those few.

Her favourites, though, were the ones who had just got their wings, and were taking flying lessons on a little field behind the employment agency, with a big hole off to the side of it for use by the UniTaxis. They practiced takeoff, landing gracefully, loop-de-loops and keeping themselves upright in the air; and when they passed the test that granted them the right to fly freely for all time, they seemed ecstatic.

She paused to watch the lessons for a while. They seemed understaffed - just a Korbat and a Faerie Grundo for fifty students, all at different levels of flying ability. Some were nearly finished and could do dozens of tricks in the air but couldn't yet land neatly, without tearing up the clouds, while others' wings were not yet developed so they could stay aloft for more than a few seconds. The two instructors simply could not keep everybody busy all the time.

She sat on a low-lying cloud, watching them execute maneuvers and try to explain how to do them, and noticed a few being lost in the shuffle.

There was a little Gelert pup with tiny wings who was trying to learn how to take off, based on five seconds' worth of harried instructions the Grundo gave her before moving on to the next group. Jancie could see the puppy repeating the instructions to herself, but never being successful because of one thing the Grundo had forgotten to explain: you needed to get a running start. She was just jumping - no wonder it wasn't working!

And there was a Uni trying to learn how to flip in midair, and sustaining more than a few bruises for trying it; an Aisha who was more than ready for the qualifying test but who had been overlooked; a Poogle whose wings were so large in proportion with the rest of his body that he kept tripping over them; and a Lupe so young she couldn't even walk yet, much less fly. All of them had had little or no instruction or help because of the size of the class.

The Poogle stumbled back and forth, trying to untangle his delicate wings from his feet. He almost knocked into the Lupe, who pushed him far away from the others and near the UniTaxis' hole.

As Jancie watched, he just got himself more tangled up and blinded himself when he knocked a huge mound of cloud-stuff into his eyes. He kept stumbling back and forth, closer and closer to the open sky...

"No!" Jancie shouted, jumping off her cloud as she saw the Poogle getting closer to the hole. "Get away!"

As she drew nearer, she saw him jerk his head up in response to her shout, but not move at all; he was trying to clear some of the clouds from his eyes so he could see who was shouting at him. As he did so, his foot slipped on a section, and he fell tumbling down...

Into Jancie's short, blue arms.

She breathed a sigh of relief as she pulled him back up and to safety, and carefully got the cloud from his eyes and untangled his wings. "You okay?" she asked him.

He nodded tearfully, and looked up. Jancie did, as well, and saw the entire class huddled around them. "Wow," said the Grundo, "great save, ...?"

"Jancie," she replied, standing up.

"Great save, Jancie."

An orange light fluttered above the Grundo's head, then moved to take shape as a fire Faerie standing on the clouds. It was the same one who had helped her earlier. "Yes, indeed, 'great save'," said the Faerie "I think you, Jancie, have earned your wings."

"My wings? But I don't..." Jancie looked at her back, and saw bright orange wings fluttering there. "Oh my gosh!"

"A gift," said the Faerie, "for your bravery." And she was gone.

The End