A long way up
He was thankfully left alone for a lapse of time where he could get the worst of it out of his system and recover before they did something else even more terrifying. Just as he was coughing, he got a few friendly pats on the back as Jarvi looked on ahead with his sharp equine eyes to study the wind's erratic patterns as it whipped harshly through the crags of the valley. The grasses below him that weren't spoiled by his expectorations looked very sweet and welcoming, but food was the last thing he had on his mind as he waited for both his stomach and heart to settle. "You okay down there, sugar flanks? We got a long way ahead of us to get back up. I mean, you do. There's plenty to eat down here, but if you want to find a safe bed to sleep in come nightfall, I recommend you put some effort into trying." The flightmaster braced his wide stiff body for takeoff and pushed off with a powerful gusty flap of his wings that left Danny alone in little time.
Jarvi was a brown caramel speck against the side of the high mountain face above before the mare could even decide what his options were. Food was indeed plentiful, but that seemed the least of his concerns when he was on an unknown planet and had no clue what to consider hostile. The only hint that he had was that the worst of the offenders would be out in force at night. Given that he didn't even begin to understand what the solar cycles for this world were, he didn't know how much time he had left so there really was none to waste.
Standing came as a triumph by itself, as his lithe legs proved very unsteady even now, though he didn't understand why except for fatigue, as he'd already somewhat learned to use them like balancing on high heels. He had to hold his knees for a second as he doubled over, dizzy with lingering nausea from the vertigo of falling. Maybe he had time for a quick meal, but realized that it might be a bad idea to fly on a full stomach. If he made it back up to the pegasi aerie, he would surely be fed and given accomodation for rest. "If", but what if he failed and ended up stuck down here? How would he survive and avoid whatever horrors lurked down in the valley floor. It was at that moment he remembered something he wish he hadn't: fledgling birds that fell out of the nest and couldn't get back up would often be feathery meals to various predators.
Danny let out a heavy breath, shielding his eyes with both paws from the harsh glare of the sun beating down at him between the cloud cover as he looked back up to the landing platform several miles above. He shouldn't have been able to see it with human eyes, but his new pegasi eyes seemed able to telescope into focus like a sniper's scope lining a target. They probably had to, to avoid aerial predators and things on the ground that could disrupt a grazing herd otherwise too occupied in feasting. "So, that's how it is," and then he paused another moment to gather his failing energies as he came to admire the dark simplicity of this current test of belonging. He supposed that if he couldn't even look after himself, he'd become a liability to the rest of them who would have to divest their energies to help and protect him from things that he wasn't able to do alone.
Would he consider that cruelty? Well, in human society everyone had to perform some kind of function or they were considered useless, a drain on welfare and the economy. It could also be that he was jumping to conclusions and that they'd come down to get him if he failed to rise to the occasion, but could he really tempt fate and count on that kind of good will? Well, okay, it was a long way up but if he tried at it, he could get to the top eventually. If he had the knack for landings, he could even take short breaks on the rocky outrcoppings between flights on his way to the top.
Remembering his bad luck that had him end up down here in the first place, Danny spent at least twenty minutes or so exercising his wings trying to get their movements synchronized with each other. This was of utmost importance, as his flight would be dangerously unsteady if he couldn't get the flapping into a uniform pattern. Normally, he assumed that this was probably handled on an instinctual level for other flighty species, but the overall magical nature of pegasi probably meant that any matter of instinct in that regard was probably still fresh in the genetic pathways and probably not something that could become reflex immediately except through effort and exercise alone. Things like breathing and walking became matters of muscle memory that one didn't have to think about to perform. Maybe in the same manner that one learned to type without actually looking at the placement of the keys every single time, perhaps one could also commit that pattern of movements and knowledge for flight to reflexes without serious thought needing to dictate sluggish responses to the act.
Either way he thought about it, reflexes or practice, flapping in unison did gradually become easier. As he lent power to the movements, he found himself hovering for seconds at a time. Each attempt had him hanging off the meadow a foot or so in the air a bit longer until he was surprised that he could stay aloft for a whole minute and showed no discernible signs of strain or tiring. Perhaps he could make it all the way to the top without pitstops, but that might prove an unnecessary risk to someone so unaccustomed to their craft. He had to do this timely and cautiously. Any mistakes could likely see him breaking a wing and tumbling to his doom. "I'll see you there." The next time he hovered, his hooves didn't come back down for a whole five minutes, for he was too busy flapping to a low peeking cliff like a sharp toe poking out of the vast tallness of the mountain.
Written by FluffyPony on 24 April 2016
