(Authors Note: This story is based on my pets and me.)
Eylora looked up into the sky above. The white clouds glistened as the watery spring sun shone in the sky. Eylora was but a tiny Baby Cybunny but had always dreamed of one thing; she wished that she could fly.
It all started when she had a dream not long ago. She had sprouted wings, beautiful silky wings that were pearly white and shimmering as the sun shone down on them. She ascended higher and higher into the sky. The sunrays were beating down on her body and covered her body in warmness. As she ascended, Eylora looked down to see the quaint rows of houses and lines of lush, green trees in the village below her. It was pure bliss to escape from the big world and enter the freedom of the skies above. By now she had risen so high that she was floating in the dazzling white clouds. She never got any further however, because she was awoken by her big sister, Jenniola.
"I wish I could have that dream again," she sighed to herself. "It felt great to fly like that."
It was getting rather cold so Eylora hopped indoors where there was a nice cooked dinner waiting for her.
"It's quite cold today so I thought I'd make us a nice hot dinner," Torey told her Neopets as she placed four steaming hot plates in front of them.
As Eylora was clumsily eating her dinner, getting food on her face and on the bib she was wearing, the little Cybunny's mind was whirring. She couldn't stop thinking about the other night. The dream felt so good that she wanted to try and fly for real. If she couldn't sprout real wings then she'd have to make her own. It couldn't be too hard, could it? All she would have to do was gather up as many bird feathers as she could and glue them all together! Easy! Of course, she'd also have to attach them to a harness of some sort, but Jenniola could help with that.
Up in her room, Eylora was hatching the plan. As she collected the feathers one of her sisters would make the harness. Then they would both stick the feathers together to make the most beautiful wings in the world.
Just then Jenniola came marching into the room demanding to know where her brush was.
"I'm sure I left it in my bedroom but I can't find it anywhere!"
"Forget about the brush! I've got something way more important! Come and sit down and I'll tell you all about it!"
Hesitant at first, Jenniola slowly walked up to Eylora's bed and sat down on the soft plush sheets.
"This wouldn't be about flying by any chance would it?" she asked, half hoping it wouldn't be what she was thinking.
"Yes... but please hear me out!"
Eylora then told Jenniola of her life story and how it was her ultimate dream to be able to fly.
"So I was thinking that maybe you could help me to make some wings, you know, so I can fly. If I can collect enough feathers then I'm sure I'll be able to do it! What do you say?"
Jenniola thought for a second. She placed her hoof on her head and gazed into Eylora's big, blue, innocent eyes.
"Ok, I'll help you," she said finally. "What do you want me to do?"
"I'll need you to make the harness for me. It's easy to make. Just get some really strong material and make one to fit my body. You don't want me to fall out of my wings do you?"
Jenniola stifled a laugh. Her sister really thought she was going to be able to fly. At least the thought of it made her happy though. That was all that mattered. It was good to have dreams; it made people live their life more, made people look forward to things.
"Of course I don't!" replied Jenniola. "I'll do what I can to help you."
Eylora raised her paws and hopped up and down on the bed.
"Okay, we will start the plan tomorrow morning! I can't wait!"
Eylora woke up to the sounds of the birds chirping outside her bedroom window. It was a cool spring day and the air was blowing slightly through her bedroom window which was half open and blowing the curtains gently. She smiled to herself and whispered "This is the day I finally get my freedom. I can fly where I want when I want! This is going to be a day to remember!"
She hopped excitedly out of her bedroom and knocked on the door to her sister's room. There was no reply. She knocked again and again but there was still no reply. She decided that if her sister wasn't going to answer her own bedroom door then she'd have to go inside whether Jenniola wanted her to or not.
Jenniola was still asleep. Mouth partly open and her eyes twitching as if she was having a really exciting dream, Eylora thought it was only best to try and wake her. She hit her hard on the head but realised her mistake too late as Jenniola swiped at her knocking her to the ground. Jenniola peered over the side of her bed.
"It's you!" she gasped, half relieved that it wasn't anything sinister. "I thought we had intruders or something! Sorry about swiping at you too."
"You still remember what's happening today, don't you?" asked Eylora.
"Of course I do. How could I possibly forget when you remind me every five minutes?"
"Well I'm going out to collect feathers now. When I return I want to see the harness completed, okay?"
"Yes boss!" replied Jenniola in a jokily manner.
With that, Eylora left her sisters bedroom and made her way downstairs into the kitchen. She grabbed a chocolate roll from the counter as well as her favourite Cherry Neocola and left through the front door into the cool air.
The wind blowing in her face was chilling. Her eyes ran as the wind blew past them and a couple of cold water droplets fell from the sky and landed on her head.
"If only it was sunny," she sighed to herself. "Oh well. I'd better go find those feathers! This is exciting!"
She decided to trek into the forest just north of where she lived. There were bound to be a few Pteri's, maybe even Lennies, lurking in there. She just hoped that they would be willing to give her a few of their feathers.
She soon arrived at the forest. She looked around her; she looked at the top of the tallest trees and in amongst the thick branches that lined the small path she walked. There had to be a feathered Neopet around somewhere.
Her heart leapt. She could hear the faint squawk of a Pteri not too far away. It was silent for a few minutes before she heard it again. It was definitely getting louder as she progressed down the path and by now she was quite excited that her dream of flying was getting nearer too.
Something blue was moving in the trees. Eylora looked up to see a Pteri perched atop a thin branch preening itself. It sensed Eylora's wide eyes looking up at it and turned its head.
"Hello," shouted Eylora. "I was wondering if you could help me."
The Pteri flew down and landed clumsily at Eylora's feet.
"What do you want?" it asked.
"Some feathers."
"What ever for?" asked the Pteri, a puzzled look upon his face.
Eylora then told him the exact same story she had told her sister the day before making sure to act sweet and innocent at all times. She was told it helped to get your own way if you did that.
The Pteri sighed. "Listen," he said his tone quite firm. "We birds need feathers. We won't be able to fly without them."
"B-But I'll need them! It's alright for you!" she cried. "What is a Cybunny supposed to do if she wants to fly?"
He held out his wing as a sign to stop talking.
"Hold on a minute," he said. "Hold on. I know what a Cybunny can do to fly. You can create your own. There's plenty of man-made feathers lying about. How about pillows? There should be hundreds of feathers inside one of those. Okay, so they're not like real feathers but they should still do the trick."
"Wow, thanks Mr. Pteri!" exclaimed Eylora. "You know a lot of things and you're so helpful!"
"I try my best," he replied winking. "Oh, and here, have this, as a gesture of good will." He plucked out the smallest feather from his left wing, handed it to her flew upwards into a hole in the tree.
As soon as she got into the door, Eylora raced upstairs and barged straight into Jenniola's bedroom. She was glad to see her sister holding up the finished harness in her hooves.
"What do you think, Eylora?" she asked.
"It looks good. I haven't done my bit yet though. I wasn't allowed any real bird feathers because birds need their feathers to fly."
"You think so?" asked Jenniola sarcastically.
"Of course!"
"Eylora, I was being sarcastic…"
"What's sarcastic mean?" asked the puzzled Cybunny.
Jenniola rolled her eyes. "You're a baby," she said. "You wouldn't understand."
"Anyway, as I was saying, we'll need to get the feathers another way. Mr. Pteri told me that pillows had fake feathers inside them. And there's some on your bed!"
Eylora hopped towards the pillows but stopped when her sister yelled at her in a pleading kind of tone.
"You can't do that! We'll get the feathers everywhere! And how am I supposed to sleep without any pillows?"
Now it was Eylora's turn to roll her eyes. "I don't want all the feathers, you know! Just a few, that's all." She stared up into Jenniola's face with those innocent blue eyes. She smiled sweetly. It always worked.
Jenniola sighed. "Okay, okay, you win. I guess it won't hurt to just take a few."
Eylora hopped up and down excitedly as she and her sister unzipped the pillows. Eylora turned the zipped side upside down releasing a white cloud of fluffy feathers. Thousands seemed to come out at once, a torrent of feathers and then 'whoosh'. The feathers were caught in an updraft of wind, choking the two sisters.
"Eylora!" yelled Jenniola through coughs. "Are you trying to choke us or something?"
When the feathers finally landed on the plush blanket and the sisters had stopped exchanging deathly glances at each other, they started to work on creating the wings. It took time and effort but a few hours later Eylora was holding a wonderful pair of white wings in her paws and was staring down at them in awe.
"They look like angels wings!" said Eylora happily.
"They do," replied her sister. "You'll look just like an angel!"
Jenniola crawled over to the bedside cabinet and pulled out a harness. It was a peculiar looking thing. It was made out of sturdy cardboard and each piece was tied together with pieces of thick string to make sure that it wouldn't come apart. Jenniola was great at creating things like this, and Eylora trusted her when she said it would be safe.
Jenniola carefully placed the harness around Eylora's body. It fit perfectly and Eylora looked absolutely stunning with her brand new wings. But now was the most important time of all; flying. Her heart beat with excitement as she lunged towards the window and opened it fully, ready to jump out.
"Eylora!" cried Jenniola frantically. "Eylora, No!"
Jenniola darted towards the window but it was too late. Eylora had already jumped out.
Eylora's heart was racing as the cool air whipped across her face. She was plummeting towards the ground until a strong breeze lifted her high up into the sky. She spread her wings and flew higher still into the now blue sky above. It was if the overcast clouds had cleared just for her. She looked down to see the quaint rows of houses and lines of lush, green trees in the village below her… just like in her dream.
"This is amazing!" she cried. "I can really fly! I've found my freedom at last!"
She weaved in and out of the few wispy clouds that hung in the sky. She looked out over the hills and forests and the many villages that could now be seen from so high above. It was absolutely amazing that she could actually fly for real.
She picked up speed and was now circling around the village, making the eyes of the villagers stare up into the sky as if they had never seen a flying Cybunny before. She screamed with joy and exhilaration as she picked up more and more speed. At one point though, and to the horror of the many people watching, she seemed to momentarily forget how to use her new wings and began to swerve this way and that before plummeting once again to the ground. She hit the ground with a thump and bounced over the grass two times stopping at Torey's feet. She sat up, legs parted, ears drooping and with a massive grin painted upon her face.
"That was awesome!" she gasped. "Amazing! I told you I would be able to fly didn't I?"
Everybody clapped at Eylora's new talent and as Torey watched her beautiful little face looking up at her happily, she felt a warm tear trickle from her left eye.
The End