Flight

Moony stepped outside that morning to a glorious sky.

The sun was just starting to peak over the horizon, and a few wispy clouds floated in the breeze. Today was the perfect day to test his new invention! The clouds were teasing him, floating just overhead… he wanted so badly to be up there with them, to sprout wings and reach for the sun - maybe, today would be the day where he would finally succeed.

In a mad burst of frenetic energy, the Plux dashed back inside the small, flower-filled abode where he and his butterfly companions lived. “GUYS I’M DOING IT!” he shouted once inside, and colorful, winged faces looked back at him. They weren’t really that excited, but he could understand. This wasn’t the first time he’d woken everyone up in the morning just to have them watch another flight attempt. Though some of the butterflies just flapped their wings and went back to whatever they had been doing, most of them followed Moonlitmystery outside into the crisp morning air.

Once outside, the rag-tag group took a short walk up a hill and to the top of a cliff. There waited a strange contraption - a jumbled mix of wires, feathers, and gears, with a harness apparently meant for someone to fit into. With a manic grin, Moony put it on and stepped up to the edge, paws shaking with excitement. It was going to work this time. He was going to make it work!

Several butterflies fluttered in front of him, as if to say ‘this is a bad idea and you’re seriously going to get hurt’, but he shoved them away. “No, guys, I don’t care! This is for science and for me becoming a butterfly again,” he said energetically. Hesitantly, the butterflies backed off and hovered a bit behind, to watch Moony’s leap.

“Here we go!” the excited Plux exclaimed, and with a dramatic jump he sailed off the edge of the cliff, storage contraption working madly to keep him afloat. He stayed in the air for one… two… five seconds… “IT’S WORKING! I’M FLYING!” he yelled. But just as he said that, something in the flying contraption snapped… and Moony went tumbling towards the ground.

The butterflies found him, some time later, on the bank of a river, with the contraption in pieces around him. He gazed up at them with a dazed look, grin still on his face, and said, “Progress!”

It was dangerous, for sure, but hey - he was getting better at this kind of thing! One day he’d be able to fly as long as he liked, he thought as he stumbled dizzily to his paws and limped back home. And then everything would be perfect.