Chapter 5: Flying Lessons

"You ready to earn your wings, Clarice?" Rudolph asked.

"Oh, yes, Rudolph. I've been looking forward to nothing else." Clarice replied.

Rudolph couldn't help but smile at his doefriend's enthusiasm. "Now, remember, the key to it is to build up enough speed and then…"

"Jump into the wind!" Clarice finished excitedly. "Ready, set, go!"

The two reindeer then ran down the snowy clearing, gaining more and more speed. Rudolph was following behind her but not really catching up, much to Clarice's amusement.

"C'mon, slowpoke!" She laughed.

Rudolph giggled, upping his speed and quickly trotting past her as they were both laughing happily as they ran.

Once they both felt that they were at their maximum speed, the two fawns both jumped into the air.

Rudolph glided through the air with grace, being much more experienced. Clarice, however, floated for a moment but it didn't last long as she immediately fell into the snow with a 'splat'.

Rudolph quickly noticed this as he flew back and touched down on the ground next to her. "Are you okay?" He asked.

Clarice raised her head, spitting out some snow from her mouth. "The sun was in my eye." She brushed off.

To explain the whole thing of how reindeers fly, we have to go many years back to before Santa was the man we knew today. You see, when Santa first started to make a name for himself, he knew he needed a way to get around the world all in one night to deliver all his presents to all the little boys and girls. But he couldn't find anything fast or nimble enough. So instead, he opted to use a special magical sled, pulled by the original eight reindeer that still form his team to this day. To give them the ability to fly, Santa and Mrs Claus, known by her real name Jessica, fed the reindeer a special magical corn. With this corn, it not only increased their lifespan, but the reindeer also became intelligent, their strength increasing threefold, their stamina to near infinity, and their hooves being able to manipulate the air which allows them to fly. And when the reindeer began to have children, these abilities were passed down to their children. Most of these young reindeer are able to unlock their metaphorical wings quickly. But sometimes, there are those 'late bloomers'. Ones who wouldn't be able to fly until much later in their lives. And Clarice was unfortunately one of those 'late bloomers'.

Back to the story, Rudolph helped Clarice up… and soon found himself giggling a bit.

Clarice huffed. "It's not funny!" She tried to keep frowning, but her lover's laugh proved to be too contagious as soon she began laughing herself.

"Wanna try again?" Rudolph asked.

Clarice shrugged. "Now that I'm all warmed up, why not?"

Starting again, the two fawns began running full speed ahead. They jumped into the wind again as Rudolph flew higher and higher. Clarice, on the other hand, was going much higher than she had previously, but it lasted a whole five seconds before she started losing control and flailing about. Clarice then crashed down, rolling down a small hill and landing head first in the snow.

Once again, Rudolph touched down to help her up. Clarice shook the snow off of her, now looking much more discouraged. "Oh, who am I kidding." She said, feeling her eyes welling up a bit. "At this point, I'll never earn my wings."

Rudolph simply smiled, gently nuzzling her. "Aw, come on, Clarice, have a little faith in yourself. Like you once told me, there's always tomorrow."

"Yeah, but this is different!" Clarice insisted, still looking downcast. "I wanted to impress you so badly."

Rudolph was surprised. "Impress… me?" He asked, flustered.

"I'm just an ordinary doe." Clarice said. "And you're so famous."

Rudolph smiled again. "Just because I'm famous, that doesn't always make me better than everyone else. But the key to it is to believe in yourself, really feel like you can do it, and don't let anything weigh you down." He then lightly cupped Clarice's cheek with his hoof. "And believe, I don't know anyone more amazing than you. I love you, Clarice, ever since I first laid eyes on you."

Clarice felt her cheeks grow warm as she stared into his warm brown eyes. "Really?" She asked softly.

Rudolph nodded. "Of course." He answered, kissing her forehead.

Clarice looked momentarily dazed before she smiled again. "You're right, Rudolph. I can do it!"

"That's the spirit!" Rudolph said cheerfully. "Now one more try."

Her confidence restored, Clarice began to faster than she ever had in her life. Pouring all her love and confidence into it, she took a massive leap off the ground… and didn't fall back down.

Rudolph gasped in astonishment. "Clarice! You're flying!" He exclaimed joyfully.

Clarice barely heard him. "He loves me! He loves me!" She laughed happily, flying through the air with the grace of an angel. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer loves me!"

The young doe soon touched down with ease as Rudolph came up to her. "You did it, Clarice! You did it! Aw gee!"

Clarice smiled. "You know, this reminds me of how you reacted when I called you 'cute' at the Reindeer Games."

Rudolph blushed. "Yeah, it does."

Just then, the two young lovers saw Coach Comet approaching them from the castle.

"You two better come back to the castle." Comet told them.

"Something wrong, Coach Comet?" Rudolph asked.

"Wrong, I'll say! Santa's warehouse was robbed last night!"

Oh, that didn't sound good.

Soon, everyone from Christmas Town, all the elves, reindeer, and critters were gathered up in the main room. The crowd was loud with murmurs of concern as Santa sat down on his chair.

"Oh, I should have guarded those toys myself." Santa sighed pitifully.

Mrs. Claus gently put her hands on her husband's shoulders. "Now, Papa, you mustn't be so hard on yourself. Not even you could have seen this coming."

Santa sighed. "He took every single toy we made all throughout the year."

"So, we'll have to make new toys?" One of the elves asked.

The Head Elf shook his head. "We can't make up for a year's worth of toys in just three days!" He exclaimed, pointing to a calendar which marked it as the 21st that day. "There's just not enough time!"

"I'm afraid it's going to be a toyless Christmas this year." Santa said sadly.

Everyone looked down, seeming to be in low spirits. All except for Rudolph, who kept his head high. "Only if we give up!" He spoke up.

Now everyone turned their heads to the young red-nosed reindeer, giving him their full attention.

"I think I know where we can get enough toys to make for this year." He said.

Hermey quickly caught on. "Yes, and we know the way!"