Learning to Fly
© 2026 by Walter Reimer

Thumbnail art by  morgdl


Even at the ripe old age of nearly five years old, Jinzi Castro d’Estcourt knew quite a few things, notably about something, some force that made her hurt herself. When she would trip or stumble, she would hurt her nose or her knee, and the filly didn’t like that.

But she learned that the thing that made her hurt was called gravity.

Gravity made things fall down, like the slice of toast she had accidentally dropped at breakfast-time, or when one of her hooves slipped in Downtime Station’s garden area. She also knew that gravity was different from place to place, since gravity where she lived with her parents was different when she was aboard a ship, and also different when she visited her grandparents.

Jinzi had learned about gravity from walking around and playing, and had learned what it was called from her parents and from Layssa at school. Jinzi liked school; there were new friends and new things to learn.

But one day the school was closed, because Jinzi and the other children were going somewhere else for a lesson. Mommy and Papa were going with her, and all her friends had their parents with them too.

Mommy had braided Jinzi’s headfur and tail and insisted that she wear pants instead of her favorite skirt. Mommy did her headfur and tail the same way, and was also wearing pants. Papa didn’t have fur, but he was wearing pants as well.

They found themselves in a big room with a really high ceiling. The floor and walls were thick and soft, like the sofa at home, and there were rings and bars sticking out of the walls.

“Children! Children!” Layssa said. Their teacher was sitting in the middle of the floor, and the cow gestured for Jinzi and the other children to sit down facing her. Layssa said, “We’re here today to have some fun, and to learn a lesson. Are you ready?” There was a general nodding of heads. “Good!”

Layssa took a small ball from her pocket and tossed it up, catching it as she said, “Today we’re learning about gravity.” Jinzi’s ears perked up. Layssa tossed the ball and caught it again. “Gravity pulls things down, or when I toss the ball it will just keep on going, up and up, until it hit the ceiling.” She looked up as she said this and many of the children followed her gaze upward.

“Gravity is good, because it helps you grow strong,” their teacher said. “Now, who’s been on a ship?” Several paws went up. “And who’s been on another planet?” Several more, including Jinzi, put their paws up. “Did you notice a difference?”

“Planets are stinky,” one young skunk mel said, and the others giggled.

Layssa smiled. “That’s true, Lar. Planets are really big, so big they make their own gravity. For ships and stations, we make our own.” The cow’s expression grew serious. “Now, I’m going to have the gravity in this room get a little lower, so you can feel what’s happening. If you start to feel sick, let your parents know and they’ll help you. Okay? Everybody ready?” A few looked nervous, one or two looked scared, but all the children nodded.

It was very gradual, so slow that she and most of the children around her didn’t notice. Jinzi noticed when she turned her head and her braid seemed to float behind her, settling on her shoulder very slowly. A few of the other children gave a little jump, rising sedately before settling back on the floor.

“This is half gravity,” Layssa said. “Everything’s soft and padded, so you won’t get hurt if you fall. Get up and walk around.” She smiled as a few of the more adventurous children got up, a few overbalancing and falling over as they moved too fast. The grownups encouraged the children while talking among themselves.

Jinzi got to her hooves and moved around. It felt so strange, a normal step making her hoof go up a lot higher than usual and making her fall a few times. “You can do it, Jinzi,” Papa said. “Just take it slow and think about what you’re doing.”

So she did, and the number of times she fell over dropped. Layssa let Jinzi and the other children play for a moment and get used to the change before clapping her paws for order. The children gathered around and their teacher said, “Was that fun?”

“Yes!” Jinzi and the other children ed the chorus.

“Good. Are you ready to feel gravity go lower?”

“Yes!”

Again, it was gradual, and Jinzi discovered she could jump nearly her own height before falling slowly back to the padded floor. Layssa gave everyone plenty of time to adjust, although a couple children went to their parents to be consoled or looked after because they felt sick. When everyone was okay, Layssa called the children back to her. “Now, children, I’m going to lower the gravity further, but I want you all to sit very still, and don’t move until I say. All right? Can you do that?” One by one the children nodded. “If you do have to move, move very slowly.”

Jinzi felt a little lightheaded, and she caught a motion out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head to see her braided headfur and tail waving gently in the air. Some of the children who wore their headfur long were gasping in surprise as their hair drifted up, fanning out all around them. More discovered that they were in midair, a few centimeters above the floor.

“Children!” Everyone turned to look at Layssa. “On three, I want you all to slap the floor as hard as you can. Okay? One, two three!” The cow slapped the floor.
And began to rise into the air.

Jinzi slapped the floor and she started rising, her legs stretching out behind her. The feeling was odd, and a little scary. “Mommy? Papa?” the filly asked, looking around her. The floor was getting a little further away every time she looked down. “Mommy? Papa!” she called out, starting to feel a little panicked.

“Calm down, Jinzi,” her father said. “We’re coming.” Jinzi looked down and saw her mother and father rising to meet her. Other parents were doing the same thing.

Papa grabbed a small loop sticking out from the wall and grasped Jinzi’s left fetlock, the filly gasping as she stopped. Papa changed his grip on her and easily spun her around until she was looking at him upside down. Papa kissed her. “Hi, Jinzi.”

Jinzi hugged Papa and Mommy said, “Jinzi? Watch me.”

Papa said, “Watch Mommy, Jinzi.” Jinzi turned to see her mother push against the wall very gently, twisted, and curled into a ball, somersaulting a few times before spreading her arms and legs out and drifting. “Nothing to be afraid of,” Mommy said. “Just be nice and slow, and think about what you’re going to do.”

“It’s like swimming,” Papa added. “You like swimming.”

Yes, she did like swimming, and Jinzi turned and looked around. Some of the children were learning fast and screaming in laughter as they swooped and occasionally bounced off each other or the padded walls. Parents moved alongside them or stayed by the walls, offering advice.

Slowly, Jinzi pulled away from Papa and moved paw-over-paw down his outstretched arm until she had both her paws gripping his fingers. Papa nodded and said, “You’ll be fine, Jinzi,” and the filly slowly let go.

She drifted, mouth agape in awe at the sensation of flying, or maybe it was swimming. “Good girl,” Papa said. “Now, what do you want to do?”

Jinzi looked at him, and at Mommy as she twisted slowly, letting stray air currents move her around. The filly then looked up at the ceiling and the various rings and bars sticking out. “There!” she said, pointing and yelping as the motion caused her to tumble slowly.

Papa reached out and gathered her in again, while Mommy had drifted close enough to grab a pawhold. “You want to reach one of those bars?” Mommy asked.

“Uh-huh.”

“Okay. Watch what Papa does.” Jinzi watched as her father let go of his pawhold and gave himself the tiniest gentle push that propelled him upward. “Move slowly until you get used to it,” Mommy said. “Now watch how he stops.”

Papa had swung his tail close to the wall, dragging the tip across the surface and slowing down until he grabbed the bar. “See?”

“But Papa’s tail is different from mine,” Jinzi said.

“That’s right,” Mommy said, “but you have paws and hooves.” She gave Jinzi a gentle push toward Papa.

Jinzi thrashed her arms and legs, causing her to spin and tumble. “Calm down and hold still,” Papa said, and Jinzi did. She still tumbled, but she was close enough to the wall to touch it.

She touched it too hard, and went spinning away from the bar. “Papa!”

Papa pushed with his legs and reached out to her, grabbing her and tumbling end over end until his feet ed the opposite wall. He pushed, twisting around Lar and his two mommies and tumbling again, taking the impact with his legs and flexing to slow down without bouncing again. Mommy grabbed him by his tail and slowly pulled him to her.

“Let’s take a break,” Mommy said, “and we’ll try again, okay?”

It took a lot of trial and error, and Jinzi got some bumps and bruises when she discovered that while she weighed almost nothing she could still hit things as though she weighed what she did when gravity was present. But after a while she started enjoying flying through the air, laughing and playing with the other children.

Papa and Mommy were kissing, and Jinzi rolled her eyes.

Eventually Layssa called for everyone to come back down, and after making sure everyone was back down on the floor she slowly brought gravity back. Jinzi was disappointed and felt heavy. She still felt heavy as the class trip ended, dragging her hooves as she went to dinner with Papa and Mommy.

Oddly, when she went to sleep, she dreamed of flying.