Fighting Freedom

Celestia stood between me and the core, and didn't seem like she was going to move. Her eyes, nearly a perfect image of the diamond core, were narrowed right at me. Her horn was pointed at me, ready to fire. She spoke to me saying,

"I wasn't fooled by your so called death, you yourself told me about how you can come back. I don't know how you found out about the magic source, but I cannot let you take it away. Even if it means I must resort to violence."

I put my hands up and said,

"Woah, let's not get hasty now. I'm just going to repair it all right? Just a little tune up you know."

Rarity shouted from beside me saying,

"That's right! That thing is what's keeping our world so nice. However, its breaking so it needs to be fixed."

Celestia scoffed at Rarity and said,

"Is that what he told you? This jewel is the center of all magic in the world. If he takes it, we will lose it all."

Rarity looked between the two of us, unsure who to believe. It would be a tough choice for her. I had nearly proven my story, but Celestia was her princess. If she couldn't trust her, then who could she?

Trying to defuse the situation I said,

"I just want to fix the thing before the world ends up gone. Just a quick trip down to Ponyville, and an ancient wizard takes a look at it, and then we can return it."

Celestia stomped a hoof and said,

"If there really was an ancient wizard who knew more about the core than I, I would sense him."

I really didn't want to get in a fight with Celestia, especially because I knew I would lose. Unless she made a reckless move again, but for some reason I didn't think that was going to happen.

"I'll even let you hold it if you take it down there."

Celestia shook her head,

"Enough talking. I cannot allow you to hurt my subjects by taking this away."

With that she stopped talking, and sent a spell my way. I pushed Rarity aside, and dove out of the way. The spell flew by me, and blasted against the wall. She rapid fired the spells at me, and I ran around like an idiot trying to dodge them. I would leap out of the way, only to land on my face.

After only a few seconds of this, I decided that getting close would be a good idea. If I was too close to her, she couldn't aim at me. I rolled out of the way of another spell, and began sprinting at the princess. I didn't really know how to solve this besides knocking her out. The bracelet I had turned into the wooden staff, and I put it behind my back. I hit a spell with it, and was satisfied to see the spell fly off in another direction.

I ducked under one last spell, and tried to sweep Celestia's feet from under her. She jumped up, and I slid on the ground. She came crashing back down, and her hoof crushed the ground right next to my head. I heard Rarity gasp somewhere in the background. Deciding that up close wasn't such a good idea with an Alicorn, who had three conventional weapons, mouth, horn, and hooves, and I backed up quickly. The staff returned to its bracelet form to make movement room.

I was moving out of instinct alone by this time, and it was barely keeping me moving. I could tell Celestia wasn't going full at me, and that meant that I was seriously outmatched. I got an idea when I got a chance to wipe my brow. Celestia was still standing straight, firing off spells. I kept running around and dodging, but I didn’t move any closer to her. All the while, a trail of sweat began to follow me around. It was hard to keep it up while moving so much, but I was managing.

When I had enough, I flicked my hands forward, and the water strip wrapped around Celestia's front hooves. I clenched my fists, and smirked when it turned to ice. Celestia nearly fell over, but used her wings to keep balance. She reared forwards, and slammed her hooves on the ground. The ice around her legs shattered into pieces, and all the shards went flying for me.

Acting quickly, I dropped to the ground and dodged the shards. I definitely wasn't built for this type of confrontation. All this moving around was exhausting me quickly. I turned the shards back into water, and added more sweat to the collection. I stood up slowly after that, breathing hard. Celestia fired off a few more spells, and I moved my arms in a circle motion. The sweat spread out in a circle before me, and the spells clashed against the water shield uselessly.

Celestia narrowed her eyes at me, and began a steady stream of spells. I turned the water to ice and it circled me. The spells continued to ram against the ice, and I could hear it cracking. At the last moment, I shattered it myself, and sent the shards flying forward. Several spells hit me during that time, and I was thrown backwards. I landed hard against the ground, and slid back. Celestia raised a shield of light and the shards clashed uselessly against it.

I picked myself up and propped myself on my elbows. It had hurt when I landed, and I was worried that something was broken. Celestia had stopped firing, and was approaching me slowly. I tried to get back up, but my body cried out against me. Rarity jumped in front of me when Celestia got close enough. Rarity was shaking where she was standing, and was moved to the side lightly by Celestia.

Celestia towered over me, a stern look in her eye. Her horn began to glow, but this time it was a dark purple shade.

"I cannot allow you to stay here and threaten my subjects."

The spell began to grow on her horn, and it was flung at me. I couldn't move out of the way, and I felt it hit me. It didn't hurt though. I felt kind of weird, almost as if I was being lightly pushed somewhere. However my eyes were stuck closed, and I couldn't open them. I heard a loud pop, and then a small hiss. I felt the pressure lift, and I slowly opened my eyes. I gasped when I recognized where I was, and my hands immediately went to my throat. When I realized I was still breathing, my hands flopped uselessly to my side.

I was on the moon.
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Being alive being an anomaly by itself aside, I was surprised that I could breathe on the moon. I just assumed it would be like the moon by earth. However, here I could move around just fine, and it was delightfully cool. Not too hot, nor too cold. I even felt a little breeze go past. There was no grass to sway in the wind though. The appearance of the moon was about the same as the earthen one, bland with lots of craters in it.

At first, I just walked around the moon in shock. I probably stared at the planet that was what I assumed was Equestria for 5 minutes or more. The sun was also a long distance off from me. Made me wonder how Celestia moved it around. I assumed that all of space around me was filled with air. Although that didn't really help me get off the moon. One thing was for sure, I couldn't stay here for 1000 years.

I was tempted to just try jumping at the planet, but I knew that would be no good. Eventually I just sat down on a random rock, and rifled through my robes. I had 2 books, and a precious rock. Not exactly the best way to pass time. However, I knew that somehow, these things would have to be the key to my escape, unless my bracelet suddenly wanted to help out. Judging from its cold state, I was assuming it wasn't going to.

I first began looking through the book on the elements. The only elements I had around me were Earth, or more specifically moon rock, and air. Remembering what Morkar had said about the moon, I decided to seek a solution in air. Besides, moving the moon closer to the planet might be a bad idea. I flipped page after page, and was starting to lose patience. I finally found what I was looking for at the end o the section.

According to the book, on most worlds that used air magic, flying was almost impossible through elemental control alone. Reading that put a huge dent in my plan, and I nearly gave up. However, it did say that launching oneself with a jump, or using something that could catch air to fly was very common. Only problem was that both were complicated and required a lot of power.

I had a lot of power at my disposal though. I picked up the small diamond, and examined it closely. I didn't see an on switch anywhere on it, but there had to be some way to activate it. I squeezed the thing in my hand out of frustration, and I felt a tide of power wash over me. I opened my hand and looked down at it. It was nearly pulsating with energy, and I couldn't help but grin. I squeezed it hard in my hand again, and I felt huge swathes of power flood me.

In fact, I had never felt so great in my life. I felt like I could leap miles into the air, which was what I was planning on doing. Of course I would have to do it very fast as well. There was something else besides power going into me though. My mind felt like it was pulsating, which doesn't even sound right. However, at the moment, I knew a lot of things that I didn't before. It was weird in a way. I had all this knowledge, but no idea of how I gained it. I didn't read a book or hear it from somewhere, I just knew it.

I stretched my arms, and twisted my neck back and forth. Satisfying cracks resounded through the empty space, and I prepared myself. I was all glowing confidence now, which seemed like a normal thing if I'm to be honest. I did a little hop, and then a second one. However, now that I had all this knowledge, I knew that jumping back to the planet would be futile. I pulled out the other book I had, and quickly located a spell I needed. Normally, no one would be able to build up the necessary power to do such a long distance spell, but at the moment I was flooded with energy.

I put my hands together, and I felt power build up around me. When I knew there was enough, I released it in an instant. There was another loud pop, and a small hiss. I felt stone beneath my feet again, and I grinned madly. My eyes were nearly ablaze with fire, and I was ready for round two. I was back in the core room, and Celestia had a wing over Rarity's small form. They both looked at me in surprise when I came back in. Rarity looked relieved to see me, which I took as a good sign. Celestia however was glaring at me again.

I wagged a finger at her and said,

"Didn't think you would get rid of me so easily did you?"

Every second that passed by, I felt more powerful. More and more magical knowledge flooded my brain, and it felt good. I took off my shirt, and placed it on the ground. Celestia stood up, and turned to face me. She prepared a spell and it fired at me quickly. I flicked a finger and the spell flung downwards.

"Don't think it will be so easy again."

I grinned at her and she sent a steady stream of spells at me again. I spun my body around quickly, and the air around me followed my lead. It began to form a sphere around me, and the spells would go flying off when they hit the sphere. My arms were outstretched, as if I would catch more air in such a manner. It was strange, because only knowledge of air and water magic was available. One would think that with this power, I could do anything.

Celestia frowned, when none of her spells hit and she took off into the air. Her body began to pulsate more power, and I could tell she was going serious now. She flew around the air, but no spells came flying down. The air around me slowly died down, and I waited for her to do something. Suddenly a crack appeared in the ceiling, and water began rushing at me. The front of it formed into icicles ready to spear me against the wall.

However, she had just supplied me with the one thing I really needed. Which was of course, water. I once again spun around, but this time it was the water than swirled in a spiral around me. As I was spinning, I would clench my fists and then throw my arms outward.

This caused small icicles to continuously shoot out of the water sphere and head towards Celestia. However, while she was in the air, she had plenty of room to move. I stopped spinning, and icicles stopped shooting out. The water rush had stopped as suddenly as it had started. With the water I had left, which was a sizeable amount, I created a wave for me to float on.

I stood on a patch of ice as the water went around the room in a stream. I was at the front, almost as if I was surfing. I continued to go around the room, slowly going higher. It was at this point that I was starting to feel faint, but not because I was tired. The power was starting to become over bearing. Rarity had made herself into a small huddle on the ground, trying to avoid the magic flying around. Celestia reared back and beat her wings several times. She drew in breath and then pointed her horn at me. Fire began to fly out, and I kicked my feet up and spun around.

The water took the hit, and a large chunk of it evaporated. I fell back to the ground and landed softly. I was still flooding with power, and it didn't seem to be letting up anytime soon. My leg was also burning like crazy. Upon closer inspection, I saw that I still had the fire scar, strange that I would still have it after dying. I reached my hands out and felt all around me.

Any small amount of water hidden, suddenly collected in front of me. I threw it around the entire room, and the entire floor was soaked with it. Celestia was still in the air, out of reach. I turned towards my bracelet, and it turned back into a staff. I headed at the wall at a run, and I felt the air beneath me pick up.

When I reached the wall, I put a foot on it. I smiled when I continued to run up the wall. I wasn't going super speed or anything, but I was going at a decent pace. When I reached close to where Celestia was, I jumped at her. Her face was in shock, and she barely managed to get out of the way. She flew lower to the ground, and the staff revered back to a bracelet. While Celestia hovered close to the floor, I began to run down the other wall. I kept flinging my clenched fists in the air, and soon an icicle path towards Celestia began to form.

As the path neared her, the icicles began to get bigger and bigger. They were about the size of my body by the time they reached the princess.. She once again barely managed to get out of the way, and nearly fell to the ground. The icicles continued to follow her around, and it was all she could do to dodge. As I ran around the room, I made chopping motions at her. Slices of air continued to assault the princess, and she began to falter.

At this point, I could barely comprehend what I was doing. Everything had just become instinct with all that power and knowledge flowing though me. I just let it do all the work, and I barely even had to think. The princess nearly fell to the ground, and I knew I had her. I threw my arm out with my palm outstretched. A blast of air hit her hard, and she hit a wall. A crack went out, and the dust flew off the wall.

I stopped moving, and stood over Celestia. She was still awake, but her breath was short. A sphere of air formed in my hand and I drew it back. I could hardly even think anymore. Everything was just so automatic, and it felt so good. I wasn't flowing with power anymore, I was power. I was the very embodiment of magical force.

Before I could bring my arm down again, I was tackled to the side. Rarity slammed into my body and she shouted at me. When we came to a stop she looked into my eyes and said,

"That's enough Silver, you need to calm down."

I heard what she said, but I couldn't understand why this strange pony was stopping me. I had come to defeat the princess, and she was getting in the way. I brought my hand forward, and the sphere of air smashed into Rarity's stomach. She cried out as she went flying away from me. The sound of her cry woke up the small bit of me that was still around.

I realized that I could barely even control my body any more. It was like it had gotten a mind of its own. I had to struggle to stop myself from taking another step. I wasn't going to be able to fight much longer either. All that power, and it still hadn't slowed down in growing.

Seeing that I had become my own enemy, I had the perfect spell in my arsenal. Now that I had the knowledge to cast it, I could end this right now. I clapped my hands together, and used the last bit of my consciousness to form some magic, and released it quickly. Suddenly my body hit the floor and everything went black.
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"Oooh, bad move."

"Good idea, but it was a no go."

I had a bad feeling about what was happening. I could no longer feel my body, but I was once again conscious. I picked myself up off of nothing, and glanced around. It seemed every time I wound up in this place, something even weirder was going on. This time there was a large couch and a few chairs that around 7 men were sitting in. They all looked like that mouse man I had met earlier, except each one's skin was a different color.

Adjusting to the sight of nothing but furniture, I walked over to them. The normal looking one waved me over to his chair. It expanded into a loveseat and I sat down next to him. He patted me on the back and said,

"Nice try champ."

I shook his hand off and said,

"What do you mean? And why am I here if I'm asleep?"

One of the other mouse men, a red one, said,

"Hate to break it to ya, but you're dead mate."

I feel like that would have more effect if it was my first time.

"I just cast a sleep spell though."

The mouse man next to me said,

"Which in normal cases puts you to sleep. However, when your body realized your consciousness wasn't aware anymore, it kicked you out."

I looked at him and said,

"I didn't even know that was possible."

"Once you used that shard, it became inevitable. I should've warned you about that. Your body is essentially dead at the moment. It's just a conduit of magic now. Completely inhabitable by any soul."

"So I should just jump back in there."

All of the mouse men laughed and one said,

"You would be right back here in a second."

One of them pointed forwards and said,

"Shh, he's coming to again."

I looked at where the man was pointing, and I almost gasped. A large opening in the nothing, was showing a limestone floor. Suddenly the view moved up and was looking at the body of a large horse. A hand came into view, and pushed against the ground.

"Change the view would you?"

Two of the mouse man fought over something, and suddenly the hole in front of us changed. I could see the form of Celestia struggling to get up, and what was worse, is that I saw my own body approaching her. I was a scary sight I have to admit. My eyes were literally ablaze with energy, and my clothing was moving rapidly in an invisible wind. Cracks sounded out from my body, and my face put on a grin. I noticed that the bracelet had vanished from his arm.

It was really weird to watch my body move around. It wasn't like watching a recording of yourself, because I had no memory of what the body was doing. Even worse that I knew it was just a shell now. A very deadly shell at that. One look around me told me that the rest of the mouse men were glued to what might as well be a TV.

I stood up and said,

"I got to get back in there."

I was pulled back down into the seat, and the mouse man said,

"To what purpose? Just watch and see if you can formulate a strategy. Besides you were blocking the view."

I turned to face the screen, and watched intently. I'll refer to my body as me simply to make things easy, but just know that I wasn't actually in control.

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After I had picked myself up off the floor, I had formed another ball of air in my hand. I approached Celestia with a grin on my face, and prepared to shove it into her. Before I could though, there was a large crashing sound, and the room shook. I nearly lost my balance, and I glared upwards.

Rocks descended from another hole in the ceiling, as did several shapes. Luna descended from the air, along with 7 guards, two of which were of the night guard. They forced me away from Celestia's body, and blocked me off. Two of the soldiers kept me busy while Luna sent a soft purple glow over Celestia's body. Celestia got to her feet, and seemed to be no worse for wear. They were talking to each other, but I couldn't hear what they were saying.
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Back to where I really was, sitting with the mouse men, one of them said,

"Because using the hole already there would be a ridiculous idea."

Some of the mouse men chuckled at this, and I said,

"Well now the body is screwed. Now way it can take on both princesses and 7 guards."

One of them said,

"I'm not so sure. That thing is the embodiment of magic on that world. It can probably come up with something."

One of the others said,

"Not in time though."

"Want to bet on that?"

After that, the mouse man went crazy. The screen had come to a pause as the men scrambled to place their bets. It was slightly amusing, yet somewhat horrifying. They were betting on lives after all. The screen resumed play after they had finished.

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I looked at the small force assembled before me, and grimaced. There was no way I could take them all on like this. They would physically force me down regardless of magic used. I jumped back a little, and using a combination of dangerous knowledge and extreme power, formed a few hand signs. When I landed, I shouted out a single word,

"Air!"

For a few seconds nothing happened, but suddenly, my legs and arms burst apart. Pieces of flesh and muscle flew away from me. However they stopped only a foot away from me. The ponies looked on in horror, and made no move to stop me. Fast swirling air formed around my exposed bones, and began to swirl faster and faster. When I was satisfied, the flesh and muscle came back together. My arms and legs bulged as they got used to the magical implants.

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There was a collective "OOOOOH" as the body blew apart. I was shocked at this display, and even more shocked when the body reformed. The mouse men exchanged more quick words and placed more bets. I had no idea what the body had just done, but it looked incredibly painful. I was glad that I was no longer in it.

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After I threw off the pain, I clenched my fists in anticipation. The new magical implants would make things very interesting. 5 of the guards didn't have horns, so it was likely that they would attack head on. I waited for them to move, and it wasn't until one of them screamed and charged that anyone else moved. The 5 guards charged me, and I waited till the last moment. One reached me first, and I did a back flip from him. The air that followed my feet was amplified, and he was thrown backwards. Two more came at me after that, but I quickly moved behind them. Faster than they could move, I grabbed them by their armor, and twirled them around. I threw them at the other two who were still coming at me.

They all clashed in a heap, and regrouped. Now that they wouldn't foolishly attack, things would be a lot more fun. They charged at me in a pre planned formation and I waited. One jumped over me, and tried to kick me from behind. I ducked, and put my hand on the ground. I kicked out while he was still in the air, and he went flying again. Three of them came next, and attacked me from three different sides. I dodged easily, and swung arms in a swirl. A thin line of air trailed behind my hands, and I spun around violently. My hand would narrowly miss a guard, but the air would send him flying.

The five of the pegasus guards kept up their attack, but they were way too slow. By the time they made a move, I had already moved positions. Thanks to the implants, I could move much quicker, and was much lighter. After I had continuously thrown the guards around for awhile, the unicorn guards stepped up. Two of them were of the night guard, and they lowered their horns at me. Rapid spell fire flew towards me, but it was still too slow. I was able to dodge the continuous stream of spells, and repel the guards.

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As I watched the guards get thrown around, it was hard not to route for myself. I just had to remember that my body was actually an enemy at this point. Watching my body move at speeds that should've been impossible was entertaining though. I turned to the mouse man and said,

"How is it moving that fast?"

"Magical implants of an elemental variety, favored by mages who couldn't really do much physical activity. Basically he's filed his body with violently moving air, and is controlling that air to move so quickly, a whole different way of moving around really."

"That seems a bit unfair…"

"While magical implants are very advantageous in some cases, like most magic, they come at a price. Should one of the legs or arms get cut deeply, they will violently explode. Except this time, they won't reform. I'm surprised it decided to use such a technique instead of something to do with the stone."

"Well I never really used earth magic."

"That would explain it then."

"It would?"

"When you use magic for the first time, it opens up that kind of energy for you to use. You can use that energy in new ways, and open up new paths. However, once a body is like this one, it can no longer open up new paths. It can only use magic of the type, or elements previously used. That would also explain why it isn't throwing fire balls around."

I nodded at his explanation, and looked back at the screen.

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I was getting bored of the guard’s repetitive attacks, and wanted something new. Throwing them around had been fun, but now it was getting tiresome. I threw all the guards against a wall with a heavy swiping kick. The air from such a kick was what sent them all flying. Only the princesses were able to resist the blow. While I waited for them to do something, I stretched my arms above my head. I began to spin again, and water began to come out of the air, and form around me.

Suddenly the two princess split apart and went in different directions. I felt them trying to control the water I had, but that wasn't going to work. I kept building up the amount of water I had, as they prepared an attack.

When I had enough water, I made it form a bubble around myself. Long tentacles of water extended from the bubble, and waved about. The two princesses dived at me, with light shinning from their horns. I sent tentacles after them, but they easily cut through them with their horns. However, I kept sending them out, and was eventually able to grab hold of Luna. I swung her around, and smashed her against Celestia. They managed to untangle themselves, and came at me again. This time they shot beams of light at me, and I had to drop the water to move out of the way. One of the beams narrowly cut my leg, and I sighed out of relief.

However, I paid for dodging by getting grabbed by Luna. Celestia was flying behind her, and Luna threw me at a wall. I smacked against it, and Celestia smashed against me. I held in my scream, and bit my lip hard. Blood started to seep into my mouth, and I got angry. The power and knowledge was still flowing into me, and I was going to destroy those two.

Suddenly, a fireball went past my leg, and I had to grab by leg as it burned. Strange as the ball missed me completely. I shook off the pain, and brought a wave of water to cover me again.

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I stood up off my chair and shouted,

"That's it!"

All the mouse men looked at me in confusion and one said,

"Huh?"

"I know how to take my body down. It's not using fire magic because that would cause self harm."

The mouse men conversed with each other, and then one said,

"If a large enough amount of fire was concentrated on that mark, then it would have the same effect as a deep cut."

The rest nodded in agreement, and I said,

"Well now all I got to do is get in there."

The bracelet suddenly turned back into the ornate sword, and I grinned. It was finally working with me to the fullest. I slashed downwards thinking of my destination and a hole appeared.

"No need to be so violent."

I ignored the voice, and tried to go through the hole. I was surprised when the hole refused to let me in.

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With my new wave of water I formed more tentacles of water. However, at the end of these, ice claws formed. The princesses were still flying around me, and I kept missing my swipes. However, it was all they could do to dodge. While they were kept busy with those, I began to coat the ground with water.

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"What's going on here?"

"Tch, young people these days. Go around cutting holes instead of opening them. Then they try and create multiple of the same form on one world."

"What?"

The regular mouse man said to me,

"While your body is still intact on that world, you can't use it. If the body was still inhabitable, aka alive, you would be able to jump into it again. However, your body is currently going through a meltdown of sorts. If the dead body is destroyed, by fire or whatever, it can then be created again. Imagine if you just walked up to your own corpse with the same body. You'll have to use a different form for now."

I thought about this for a few seconds and then nodded.

"I know exactly what form to use."

The mouse men began talking fast most likely making more bets. For the first time, I thought about what form I would want as I walked through the hole.

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(At this point, first person pronouns refer to Silver, and not the body that's fighting.)

I felt good. Really, really good. I was on fire, but in a good way. It was a pleasing burning sensation that made me feel all warm and tingly. It was like truly being alive. Not only that, but I felt extremely strong too. My powerful limbs could destroy a building in one swipe if I wanted. I raised a leg to test it, and brought it down quickly. The earth around me shook, and rocks went flying. I nearly hissed in satisfaction.

I felt new appendages on my back, and I tested them out extensively. It felt normal to move them oddly, although I never had them before. I also now had a tail which felt immensely powerful as well. I swung it a few times, and was satisfied that I could control it. I moved out of the dark cave I was in and out into the light. I could see Canterlot from where I was, and I was eager to go.

For one last test I lifted my head upwards, and gave a mighty roar. Billowing fire shot out of my mouth and up into the sky. It’s crimson flames lit up the ground around me, and nearly screamed danger. I closed my mouth, and the fire stopped. The warm feeling spread throughout me, and it felt amazing. I spread my wings, and for the first time ever, I took off in flight.

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