Practice makes perfect (Mercy X Camaria) FIN

[JetAlmeara]

Mercy was pretty sure she was close to figuring this whole flying thing out - she'd watched birds, she'd watched butterflies and she'd watched dragonflies - if they could do it then she could too, despite her adoptive fathers heartfelt wishes Mercy knew her wings were not simply there for decoration.

No she was meant to fly and fly she would. Unfortunately watching other animal fly did not always help when it came to doing it yourself and as no other Soquili in the Usdia herd she called home had wings she had mostly learned by trail and error and she was getting pretty good at leaping off the top of the small ravine and gliding to the bottom - it was the steering thing she had problems with...well that and the landing par..and how the heck was she supposed to get off the ground without jumping off something? She supposed the only way to really figure out these answers would be to keep practicing - so practice she was, leaping off the top of the ravine - gliding down...trying really hard to not stumble on her landing and to land in the place she wanted before scrambling back up to the top to try again.

 

[She-Ra of Etheria]

Soaring above the treetops, Camaria was somewhat bored. There were so few Soquili around lately for her to spy on, not even one to simply observe. Letting out a sigh the yellow mare flapped her large wings once more, gaining speed as she broke out over a large meadow. Eyes swept over the land, trees, grass, small ravine, mare jumping into ravine. Wait a second...what was that last one. Tipping her winds Camaria dove towards the ground. Why was this mare jumping into the ravine? A little bit worried Camaria landed near the edge of the ravine and quickly trotted over to see how the mare was. To her surprise the mare had managed to land safely and was working her way back up to the top of the ravine.

Blowing out a sigh of relief Camaria folded her wings against her side and walked towards where the mare would come up in just a moment. "Hello there." Camaria called out to the alicorn, taking in her light colored hide that was splashed with pink. After a moment Camaria just needed to ask the mare a question. "Just what were you doing jumping into the ravine like that?"  

[JetAlmeara]

Mercy was paying far more attention to where she was placing her hooves then anything that was happening at the top of the ravine - funny how the more treacherous part of this whole endeavor seemed to be climbing out and not -as her father insisted - the flying in part. Having made her way onto a ledge about halfway up she craned her head up to look towards the Soquili whom had spoken to her.

Mercy didn't recognize the mare but that was hardly anything new - new Soquili came through all the time - though they rarely stopped to speak with her. "Hello!" She called out cheerfully before making a jump to the next ledge up. "Well I'm teaching myself to fly" Was her response once she had safely landed on the second ledge from where she could then jump back to the top. "It's turning out to be far more work then I thought it would" She admitted, having not yet noticed that the mare she was speaking to was winged - but hey could you really blame her? She was trying to navigate a cliff here.  

[She-Ra of Etheria]

Camaria watched as the mare made her way up to the next ledge. Wait, this mare was teaching herself how to fly. How odd was that? Did she not have someone else to do that for her? A father, mother, any relative? Plus teaching one self to fly by jumping into a ravine is an extremely odd and not at all safe way to go about it. "Do you not have someone who can teach you?" She asked the mare curiously, knowing that on occasion families got separated for one reason or another. Taking a few steps back to give the mare some room Camaria glanced at the ravine and then back to the mare. Boy she was lucky that she hadn't gotten hunt jumping into that.

"You really think the ravine is the best way to learn?" Her own wings fluttered at her side as she considered what it would like to jump into the unknown and possibly getting hurt in doing so. "My names Camaria, what's yours?"  

[JetAlmeara]

Mercy gave her hide a bit of a shake once she reached the top to rid herself of the dust from climbing up and took a better look at the mare before her "Hey!" She remarked "You have wings too!" Her tone indicating that Camaria was likely the first winged Soquili Mercy had met other then herself. "I'm Mercy" she introduced herself before moving on to other subjects - it was only polite after all. "It's good to meet you Camaria."

"But no, no one else in my family has wing, I was adopted while still in my basket" She explained before glancing at the Ravine- the mare words sounded suspiciously like something her father would say and Mercy shrugged her shoulder slightly "I haven't gotten hurt yet - its not like I can jump off a tree branch like the birds to" She pointed out.  

[She-Ra of Etheria]

She laughed slightly as the other mare made a point about seeing her wings for the first time. Clearly she didn't get out too much or else she wouldn't become so excited about seeing another winged Soquili. Well, while Camaria wasn't exactly the teacher type she did feel the need to help out this mare with her flying, she did make it a point to help out others, or in some cases spy on them to gather information to use late. "Well of course I have wings." She said with a chuckle.

"You haven't been hurt yet, but look at all those rocks and roots, you might get hurt eventually." Well since she didn't have anything to do so giving Mercy a quick flying lesson or two shouldn't be any problem. "Tell you what Mercy, what would you say if I were to give you a few pointers on flying if you can tell me a bit about these lands. I live quite far from here so I would like to know more about the land I'm currently in." It would be a win win situation, she would gather some information and help with mare at the same time.  

[JetAlmeara]

"I have seen another Soquili with wings before" She explained "Though I assumed my true parents must had had them" Shuffling her wings slightly she looked back down into the ravine - recalling several bad landings where she had tripped over those exact same rocks and roots. Camaria was right of course - eventually it was likely she would get hurt - but you couldn't live your entire life being afraid of might what happen to you, otherwise no one would ever do anything.

She was about to point this out when the mare made her offer, a flying lesson in exchange for some information about the land seemed like more then a fair trade - in fact Mercy was pretty sure she was getting the better end of this deal. "Deal!" Mercy agreed quickly before the mare changed her mind. "What did you wan to know? I've lived here my entire life so I can probably answer nearly any question"  

[She-Ra of Etheria]

"Well at least one of your real parents had to have had wings or else you wouldn't. But that's not important, you have them and now you must learn how to use them." It might not be easy to teach this mare, most winged Soquili began to learn to fly at a young age so that by the time they reached adulthood they could fly quite well. At the very least she should be able to teach Mercy how to take off and lands safely without using a ravine to get her initial speed and altitude. But first she would ask a question about the land, see what it held and then move on to the lessons.

"Well, you see, I'm what some would call an informant. I travel the lands learning their lay, what they contain for food, water and shelter and then pass this knowledge on to travelers so they can always find what they need." That was for the most part true, however Camaria did on occasion use her information for other purposes as well as spy on others to alert their enemies to a weakness. But really Mercy didn't need to know about that. "So I would like to know how the land fairs, is there ample food and water, good places to shelter out stores. And of course most importantly are there any dangers that others should avoid." One could never be too certain when and where a Skinwalker or Kalona would lay claim to an area to use as their feeding grounds. She waited for Mercy to answer the question, and then she would give her the basic pointers on how to properly fly.  

[JetAlmeara]

Mercy supposed the mares words were true - the genetic make-up of her true parents was not really important at the moment, what was important was making sure that she knew how to use what he had gotten from them in the best possible way - and it was clear that her usdia family couldn't help her with this particular issue.

"Well..I can see how that could be a useful to travelers" Mercy remarked a she considered the mares explanation - it certainly answered some questions Mercy had had about why she wanted to know about the land. But her motives seemed good and Mercy didn't see any harm in answering her questions "Well we've never had any trouble finding food around and theres a river not to far away thats good for drinking - though it can sometimes flood in the spring and fall, Storms from the mountains cause some harsher currents...but its fairly gentle in the drier months. My herd shelters in a grove of trees not to far off and they welcome visitors readily enough - but other then the river when it rises I've never know there to be much danger in the area."  

[She-Ra of Etheria]

Head bobbed as Mercy spoke describing the lands and what they held. Well there wasn't anything spectacular about these lands, but knowing where water and a food source was always beneficial both for herself and those she worked for. "Sounds like a nice place to live all in all." She said as her eyes swept about taking in the grass, trees, ravine and other minor features. Well the alicorn had kept up her end of the bargain so it was time for Camaria to do the same.

"Alright, let's talk about flying." She turned her attention back to Mercy and stepped a bit closer. Stretching out her wing she used the tip to point to the spot where Mercy's wing attached to her body. "These muscles right here are you main flight muscles. If they are not strong you will not be able to fly very well or for long distances. So your first priority is to strengthen those muscles." Pulling her wing back she held them out. "Once they are a bit stronger you will be able to take off without jumping over a ravine, like this." Camaria flapped her large wings once and lifted slightly off the ground. She continued to use her wings to hover in spot showing the mare the proper way to use the muscles and her wings. After a couple of moments she lowered herself down to the ground again.

"There is a smaller set of muscles attached to those that allow you to steer and rotate your wings to fly as high or as low as you wish." Holding her wings out once more Camaria showed how the wings can move and how one would use them to turn left, right or swoop down. "Once you get those two things down flying is really quite simple."  

[JetAlmeara]

"It is" She agreed cheerfully when the other mare proclaimed her home a pretty good place to live, Mercy had always liked living her at the very least ands he couldn't imagine that anyone else wouldn't.

As Camaria went on to explain the intricate details of flying Mercy watched with an intense look on her face - she didn't want to miss even a moment of this lesson, the thought of being able to do more then glide to the bottom of the ravine was enough to capture her typically wandering attention. The most confusing part seemed to be the more delicate maneuvers involving turning and climbing of diving - but Camaria was a pretty good teacher and Mercy thought she had most of it memorized by the time she was done going through it all - once you understood the concept a lot of it seemed to be common sense really and lifting her wings she mimicked the actions the other mare had shown her to turn and climb and dive. However when she strained to try and lift herself from the ground Mercy found her wings simply weren't strong enough to do the job yet "How do I strengthen my muscles?"  

[She-Ra of Etheria]

Nodding her approval as Mercy mimicked the moves she had previously shown her. This mare was a pretty fast learner and while some of the moves weren't exactly as she had shown Mercy had done pretty darn good for only being shown once. "Very good." Watching the mare as she tried to lift herself off the ground but failed Camaria smiled encouragingly. "Well there's only one real way to make your muscles stronger and that's to use them." Sadly the mare was at a disadvantage having not been taught the basics of flight as a foal but it wasn't like she would never learn, it would just take time.

"What you want to do is move and flap your wings as much as possible, concentrating on making sure the muscle is fully flexed each time. So when your standing around grazing, or walking about, really any time at all just flap them." Camaria flapped her own wings, not hard enough to lift off the ground but to show Mercy what she meant. "It may make you look a bit silly but trust me if you do this you muscles will get strong in no time and you'll be able to fly." And then as an after thought she added. "As yo do strength them, you can add a little hop in there, so you can not only strength them but start flying as well, just stay close to the ground. Even if you only stay up for a few moments you will get stronger and each time will be able to stay up for longer." Once again Camaria flapped her wings but added in the hop to help lift her off the ground and then after a few moments landed back down.  

[JetAlmeara]

Mercy beamed at the mares praise - she'd known that she had done a pretty good job of remembering and she decided to make sure she ran herself through the movements at least once a day so that she could recall them. Repetition her father said was always the best way to remember things.

"I can do that" The mare nodded and then laughed slightly "And I don't mind if it makes me look a bit silly - half of the herd already thinks I'm crazy for jumping off the ravine anyways" She confessed with a slight roll of her eyes to indicate that she thought they were all just being silly. "Thank you for the information - I think it will really help, I'll be flying properly in no time" She told the mare sincerely - and then? Well Mercy wasn't sure exactly what she would do then but she was sure that she would figure something out..why she'd have the whole world to explore then!  

[She-Ra of Etheria]

Letting out a laugh Camaria could only imagine. Hopefully with this new found knowledge Mercy would put a stop to jumping into the ravine and become a true flier. Of course only time would tell. If the mare kept up with her practice and made sure to strengthen her muscles there should be no reason for her to not fly - barring any injuries of course. "Glad to have helped. Though I must really be going now. Perhaps I'll stop by some day soon to check on your progress."

Unfurling her wings once more Camaria glanced about once last time. "Well it was good to meet you Mercy and thanks for the information." Flapping her wings Camaria lifted off the ground and began to gain height. "Just keep practicing and one day you'll be flying like the rest of us." She called down to the brown and pink mare before tipping her wings and soaring off into the distance.