The Conversion Bureau - How I Learned to Teach Newfoals

How I learned to Teach NewFoals – The First Lesson Continued.

By Berry Pony

“Welcome... to Flight... 101,” I repeated slowly. My mind was suddenly blank.

I was standing in a grassy field in a large greenhouse attached to the Bronx Conversion Bureau.
Outside the greenhouse, the wind blew ominous black clouds across the sky. The rafters creaked and the glass panes rattled. Inside, I eyed my eager students. Before me were three new pegasi that didn't yet know how to fly. Then, there were two humans, Jason and his girlfriend, who wanted to observe. In addition, standing nearby was my human volunteer, May Howard, who was there to assist me.

“Err, excuse me for a moment.” I said quickly. I backed away from my class and sidled over to May. Raising my left wing to screen us from the view of the class, I looked at May. “What do I say? What do I do? I've been so busy with moving from Equestria to this place and getting all settled in – I completely forgot what I was sent here to do.”

“I don't know anything about flying,” May began, putting down her tablet. “Wait a moment. You know flying... but you don't know how to teach it. Hmm... how did you learn to fly?”

“I don't really remember. It just seemed that I always knew how to fly. At first, I wasn't very fast. I couldn't fly very far. Every year, my mother would send me to summer flight camp to learn to fly faster, and further. My teacher at flight camp was an old mare that formerly served with the Royal Equestrian Guards. Sergeant Lightning Storm was a strict, and exacting instructor. She yelled at us a lot. And loudly too.” I shivered. “I still have nightmares about her from time to time.”

“But I'm sure that you did see very young pegasi foals try to fly.” May wondered. “Much like human babies taking their first steps, what did you see young pegasi foals try?”

I thought it over before replying. “My baby brother... he would jump up and down in his crib, buzzing his wings. A few days later, he started to fly all over the nursery.”

“There you go,” May said. “Just teach them the same way.”

I folded my wings against my sides and turned back to the class. “Thank you for waiting. Now if the pegasi would line up here,” I pointed out a spot with my hoof, “we can get started.” As the three pegasi lined up, I looked back to May for reassurance.

She gave me a smile and started dictating something into her tablet. Jason and his girlfriend sat down nearby.

I took my stand in front of the line of pegasi and spread my wings out. “Welcome to the ranks of the pegasi. Of the three races of ponies, we're the only ponies that can fly. Us pegasus aren't gifted with the magic of the unicorns or the quiet strength of the earth ponies. Instead, we have the wide open skies. From the earliest times, when pegasi lived as a tribe of warriors in our cloud cities, we have ruled the skies. Today, I will start you on the path to joining us in the air. Are you ready?” I took a long breath. “I WANT TO HEAR, 'YES MA'AM' from you recruits!”

The three new pegasi looked bewildered. May looked up.

“I CAN'T HEAR YOU,” I yelled. Lightning Storm would be proud of her student.

“Yes... Ma'am,” the new pegasi chorused. They suddenly wondered what they had signed up for.

“LOUDER!”

“YES, MA'AM,” the three new pegasi shouted.

“That will do,” I said. “For the first exercise, we will begin using your wings. Your wings are attached to your shoulder blades. The primary parts of your wings are the primary, the secondary and the tertial feathers. Your primary feathers - your pinons - are your longest feathers,” I added, showing my right wing and pointing out the various feathers. “The secondaries are attached to your humus and the tertials to the radius – these are closest to your body.” I folded my wings with a snap. “Primaries, secondaries and tertials. Covering them and providing them with a leading edge are the alula feathers. These are the parts making up your wing. Learn them.” I paused.

“I CAN'T HEAR YOU,” I yelled at them.

“YES, MA'AM”

“You will spread your wings,” I ordered, “and show me your alula, tertials, secondaries, and primaries.” I continued to lecture as I took them through the first steps in unfurling their wings, spreading their wings out and taking a initial few flaps. Then I took the new pegasi up to the top of the gentle slope.

“Line up there. Good. Now the point of this exercise is to use those feathers. On my mark, you will slowly flap your wings, leap up and hover. Then you will touch down and fold your wings. Do you understand?”

The white pegasus seemed hesitant. “How am I supposed to hover into the air – there's no way that I can create enough lift-”

“Watch me. I'll demonstrate.” I unfurled my plum-colored wings, gave a small hop, and flapped into the air. “It is what you get by being a pegasus. Think of your wings as just like legs and flying as running. Only much faster and much better. So, are you ready?”

“YES, MA'AM”, shouted my class.

I gave the signal and the three attempted to follow me into the air. At first, the three were jumping up and down but in a few minutes, they started to spend more time in the air. I remained hovering for a while, giving advice and encouragement.

“Good. Keep practicing until you can stay in the air.” I touched down and watched them struggle to hover. “Don't work your wings so hard,” I said to the white pegasus. “Relax, let them carry you.”

Jason was confused. “It's that easy? Just hop into the air and you're airborne? Don't you need to be flying at a certain speed to avoid stalling?”

“Honey, what's stalling?” his girlfriend asked.

“Charlene, stalling is when you lose lift flowing over your wings – and start to fall out of the sky,” Jason answered.

I flicked an ear toward Jason while watching my students get used to flapping their wings in the air. It took me a moment before remembering that Jason had mentioned trying to become a flyer.

“Jason, their way of flying is not like yours,” May spoke up. “Forget what you learned about aircraft. None of that will help you when you're a pegasus.”

Jason started to say something but stopped.

I turned back to my class of new pegasi. “That's enough.”

The three pegasi touched down gratefully, breathing hard.

“Line up again.”

My class struggled to form a line. “For this exercise, you will start here, fly into the air, fly over to this point.” I said while trotting to a spot about 10 paces away. “You will touch down, turn around, fly back and touch down. You will fly slowly and close to the ground.” I trotted back, shaking out my wings. “I will demonstrate.” I hopped into the air, flew slowly to the other spot, landed, turned around, took to the air and flew back. “To fly somewhere, rather than hovering, you merely need to lean forward a little. Are there any questions? Good. You,” I pointed at the white pegasus with my hoof.”Start when you're ready.”

The white pegasus flapped her wings, rose into the air, leaned forward, forgot to keep her wings moving and came crashing to the ground, face first.

“What did we learn from this lesson?” I said as I walked past the rump of the fallen pegasus. “Keep flying to stay in the air.” Grabbing the white pegasus by the tail with my teeth, I pulled her back to her hooves. “Next.”

The blue pegasus rose into the air, wobbled a bit and slowly flew across the field to the landing point. He touched down, turned and flew back to a cheering class. Then, it was the yellow pegasus' turn to fly to the far landing point and back. The white pegasus made her flight, flying very carefully and close to the ground. With each flight, the new pegasi gained a little confidence in themselves.

“So you can fall out of the sky,” Jason mused.

“Of course you can,” I replied. “If you stop flying, you will fall. If you are out of control, you will fall. If... there are so many ways to fall out of the sky, I can't count them all. All that I can do is teach my little newfoals how to fly safely.”

After a while, the three new pegasi looked exhausted from their efforts. “That's enough for today.” I finally shouted. “Line up again.”

As the pegasi lined up, breathing hard, I turned to May. “Could you find us some water? Warm water would be best.”

May looked up at me before putting down her tablet. She nodded and walked away, followed by Charlene.

“You have all made a start on the path to the skies.” I said to the class. “I want you to walk around to cool off. Don't lie down; your muscles will stiffen up and hurt. Water will come. Drink slowly and in small amounts. You have done well.” I paused.

“Well?” I stood waiting.

“YES MA'AM,” my class chorused.

“Next class time... err, tomorrow, sometime. Check wherever these things are posted. Dismissed.”

May and Charlene returned, carrying four buckets of water. I thanked them and watched as my class refreshed themselves. I walked away and sat down in the grass.

May and the other humans joined me after a short while. “For your first time, you didn't do too badly,” she said.

“Thank you. They're flying as well as one month old pegasus foals. I can teach a little bit more and they can get a little more practice in flying here but... in the long run, I need to take them outside for some real flying.”

We all looked up where the storm was about to break. The wind howled and the dark clouds splattered heavy droplets of rain against the panes of glass. “Your weather service has a powerful storm planned for this afternoon. When is it scheduled to end?” I wondered.

“What? Weather? What are you talking about?” May asked.

“Oh, the weather service. You know, the ones that arrange the rain and weather. Some of the pegasi that I'm teaching here will probably join the weather ponies.”

May stared at me. “We... don't control... the weather.”

The storm broke; rain began to drum unceasingly on the roof of the greenhouse. The wind pushed the sheets of heavy raindrops around.

“You don't have a weather service,” I said. “Then how do you clear away winter on Winter Wrap Up Day?”

“What's Winter Wrap Up Day?”

“That's the day that we gather into teams to clear away the remnants of winter; pegasi sweep the skies of the winter clouds, earth ponies and unicorns remove the unmelted snow... I guess, if you don't have a weather service, you just let the snow melt?”

“Winter just ends,” May laughed. “Two months of snow, freezing days and gloom ends in three months of gray slush, mud and gloom. But spring, when it finally comes, is even more glorious!”

The three pegasi had already left the greenhouse. Several earth ponies trotted in, followed by Desert Rose. Desert Rose asked them to wait before coming up to us. “Juicy Fruit, are you done with your class?”

“Just finished,” I replied. “Is that your class?”

“Yes. Applied Earth Pony 1A. My students are going to learn the subtle art of caring for plants and animals.”

The storm outside sent a blast that echoed throughout the greenhouse. The rain's drumming on the roof panes redoubled in strength. We looked up at the greenhouse roof.

“I do wish that the humans controlled their weather,” Desert Rose said. “But their weather service only reports on the weather conditions instead of doing something about it.” She turned to May. “They're reporting that there's water over the seawalls at the Bruckner Expressway, Pelham Bridge Road and the Throgs Neck Bridge are underwater and they've closed the major airports due to flooding. You'd better leave now if you're going home.”

May shook her head. “My little Nissan Electro-Cube would never make it.” She turned to look at the storm raging outside. “Could I stay here... for the night?”

Desert Rose nodded. “I can arrange that.” She looked over at Jason and Charlene. “Aren't you supposed to be in your Life in Equestria class?”

“Well, you see-” Jason began.

“CLASS! RIGHT NOW!” Desert Rose barked, stamping her hooves.

The two fled the greenhouse.

“Honestly, this Conversion Bureau is more like running a school than anything else,” the tan earth pony snorted. She turned back to May and I. “See me after my class,” she said before trotting back to her students.

I glanced at the papers that Desert Rose had left me. “I've been assigned Apartment 301 up in the west wing. My saddlebags are still in the lobby so I... guess I'll see you around?” Gathering up the sheaf of papers and the paperwork I'd have to fill out, I tucked them under my wing.

May collected her tablet. “If you don't mind, I'd like to come along. Maybe help you unpack. It's not like there's a lot of places I can go right now – what with the roads under water and rain coming down.”

“Okay...” I answered slowly.

We left the greenhouse and started walking toward the lobby.

“Speaking of schools,” May began. “You wouldn't mind coming to speak to my sister's class sometime? Amy's a teacher at a local high school and is always looking for new and interesting people to talk about their work.”

I dropped my head. “Me? You want me to talk about a future career, working for the Weather Patrol?”

“Sure. How about it?” May smiled.

“I... don't know.”

“Please think about it. Amy and the kids would love to have you.”

In the lobby, I retrieved my saddlebags and we went in search of my living quarters.