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 Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 11:32 pm
And so after a filling meal, Desiderius was all too glad to get away from the herd for a short while so that he could concentrate on the one lesson he did care about: Flying. He rolled his shoulders and flexed his wings, spreading them as wide as he could, as if somehow that would help them to grow larger. He turned his head to examine them, disheartened that they haven't seemed to grown any larger since yesterday. The other foals near his age in the herd had larger wings than he did by now -- why were his so small? He couldn't help but worry they would remain this way forever, just like his father's stunted wings. Tail lashing behind him, Desiderius strained even harder to spread his wings further, but to no avail -- stretching them out was clearly not going to help. In fact, it was making the joints start to feel quite sore, and so he folded them back up against his body. They were strong, at least -- the muscle was well developed and the membrane was thick enough so that it wouldn't tear easily.
They were just... too small.
His ears pricked up as he glanced around briefly to make sure no one was watching him, listening for movement, and once he was satisfied that he was alone he spread out his wings again and began to run. He could feel the breeze rushing by as he picked up speed, catching under his wings, and with all his strength he began to flap them. Today has to be the day, he thought with determination. His sights were locked on a small cliff just ahead of him -- the drop after it very short, as he wasn't foolish enough to jump off any height where he could get hurt if he failed -- and just as he reached the edge he pushed off with his hind legs to leap into the air. For a few seconds, he felt as if he were soaring -- and then those few seconds ended as the sudden sensation of falling rushed over him. With a startled cry of "whoa!" he tumbled, unceremoniously, directly into a puddle of mud.
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Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2011 5:43 am
There were a few benefits to living in the Lowlands - Ziggy had made this observation after her first visit to her grandparents. Her mother had been unable to attend, as the mare was unsteady on her hooves and as a consequence, couldn't traverse the slopes safely. However, her father had taken Hazel, Sassy and she up to meet the rest of her family when they were old enough and with the minor tumble aside, it had proved to be both an educational and enjoyable experience. Nevertheless the petite filly was glad to be home as it would have been an understatement to say that the rules placed on her family on the towering peaks were just a touch strict. For example - they would never have been allowed to explore beyond herd territory at this age.
Granted, there were certain rules that did trickle down into her own family (courtesy of her father) and she did follow them, but he was significantly more laid back than her grandpa. In short, Ziggy was permitted to wander a little bit so long as she stayed within reasonable earshot or scouting distance. Unfortunately she wasn't sure what 'scouting' distance was but she would hazard a guess it had something to do with that crazy magpie that occasionally came to dinner. After all, it was this magpie that usually came and found her... or flew for help when her brother found himself stuck knee deep in mud with no way of pulling himself out!
This afternoon she was on a mission and while most children would have wandered about idly, she had opted to keep her golden eyes peeled for the necessary materials she sought. Twigs, branches, cobwebs, vines - they all passed by and were of the sort of material she required but not one appeared to meet her standards. No, in order to make the grade they had to be strong but flexible, or failing that, they needed to be thing enough that they could be braided to strengthen them. Her assistants (a set of very bemused mice) would help with that task given that her hooves simply weren't up to the job.
You see, Ziggy had a plan. After a fateful encounter with the offspring of a harpy and the revelation that she couldn't fly despite the bracelets on her leg, Ziggy had discovered her calling. She had made a promise then and there that she was going to make some wings that would let the harpy fly. She had all the blueprints in her head - sort of - she had no idea if they would work yet but that was what experiments were for, right?
...But first she needed materials.
Puffing out her cheeks in childish exasperation, she continued to press forward and made her way round the clump of trees that blocked her path. Training her eyes back on the ground for signs of suitable materials, she didn't even noticed the other foal leaping from the ledge. It was only when she heard the familiar sound of a 'splat' that she did look up, glance left, then right and furrow her brow. Had Sassy followed her here? Every time he was around he had a penchant for faceplanting in well...pretty much everything.
Her attention momentarily drawn away from her search for materials, she looked about again and then swivelled her ears. The sound had definitely come from her right and so she looked that way again, properly this time. Before she had fully observed who it was, she opened her mouth to speak.
"Sassy you know better than to - " She paused, blinked and focused in on the purple colt. She was fairly sure her sibling didn't have a tail like that, or dinky little wings. It dawned on her at this moment that she had not been pursued by her brother, but had in fact stumbled upon someone entirely different. "You're not Sassy!" she gasped in a manner that almost resembled an accusation.
"You know, my brother jumps off ledges like that too - you probably shouldn't do that or you'll face plant real bad one day and lose your teeth," she blinked and then giggled. "Mommy told me that!" she informed Des merrily.
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Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2011 10:59 pm
Ugh. Could this get any worse? Mud clung to his pelt and mane, and if the disgusting taste on his tongue said anything he was fairly certain some had managed to make its way into his mouth. It was, all in all, incredibly undignified. He scrunched up his nose and shook his head to try and get some of the mud out of his mane, tail flicking out behind him as he stood up. With any luck, there would be a stream of water nearby to wash up in, because he certainly was not going to continue practice like this. He'd just have to find someplace else a little less filthy to jump off from. Or, preferably, just not fall again.
The startling sound of someone else's voice told him that, yes, things could get worse. The young colt turned his head toward the intruder's voice, spotting the filly whom had caught him at one of his more humiliating moments. There really was no way he could brush off what had just happened as something he'd intended to do in the first place -- no one in their right mind would dive headfirst into mud. And now she was trying to give him advice? Just wonderful. He rolled his eyes, flicking his ears back against his head in obvious annoyance at her presence.
"Well, maybe your mummy --" he said the word in a mocking tone "-- is right. Why would someone jump off a ledge if they haven't got wings like I do?" He spread his small wings as widely as he could stretch them, lifting his head in an attempt to look proud, despite how ridiculous he looked at the moment. He flapped them once before folding them back against his sides again. "What do you want here, anyway? This is my territory, you know. I was here first. It's rude to trespass without my permission."
Okay, so it was a lie -- the territory his herd had claimed wasn't near here -- but he wasn't about to tell her that.
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Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 3:59 am
Water of a duck's back, that's what it amounted to. Ziggy wasn't like many other foals and while some would have been affronted or insighted by his remarks, she took the entire sentence as a valid query. Admittedly it might have been rhetoric but she'd never been one to pick up on that. She often made rhetoric remarks and queries of her own, but given how fast she spoke, no one really had the time to answer them to begin with! Alas that was all a lesson for another time when she was more mature and had more experience with other creatures. Eventually she would pick up on sarcasm, threats and rhetoric...it was just going to take a while.
"Well," she began in a very matter-of-fact tone, her head tilting to the side as she considered his question. "I've often wondered that myself," she said confessed. "But after watching my brother I sometimes think it's just because they'd like to feel the wind beneath them even for a little while - I think deep down everyone would like to fly even if it's just once," she chirped. A smile lined her lips as she spoke, the naive filly largely unaware of his disgruntled mood.
"Course he doesn't have wings, none of my brother's do," she murmured softly. "Which is why!" her tone changed marketly to indicate her enthusiasm and she puffed out her chest proudly. "I'm on a quest; I'm going to make some wings for him and my friend so that they can fly properly - my friend can't fly very well either cause she has wings on her legs instead of on her back..."
Ziggy had no idea that the legs on said wings happened to be bracelets.
"Say -" she paused, leaned forward and stole a moment to examine his wings. "Can you fly with wings that tiny? I know flutters can fly on tiny wings, so can hummingbirds but I haven't figured out exactly how to copy those so that I can do the same with the ones I want to make -" she paused again for a proper breath. "If you can fly on yours then maybe I can take your measurements so that I can use them as a reference? It'd be really helpful!"
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