Princess Celestia was in her bedroom, working over some delayed paperwork.

"Auh."

She calmly levitated paper and quill, signing orders and petitions.

"Auh."

Despite being so late at night, and technically her sister time, she was still up, making sure the kingdom was running in time and without problems.

"AUH!"

Celestia rolled her eyes and opened the window for her student.

"I´m sorry Princess," Twilight apologized. "I know I´m late for our meeting bu-oh." Twilight laid her head down upon seeing the clock.

"No need to worry Twilight, but may I ask what took you so long?"

"I´m still not used to these wings. I got lost coming back from Ponyville, not to mention all the times I crashed on the way here."

"I was under the impression your friend Rainbow Dash was giving you flying lessons."

"She isn´t exactly an expert on landing, Princess."

Celestia smiled and patted her student shoulder. "Don´t worry too much, Twilight. Can I tell you a secret? I was terrible at landing when I first started."

Twilight shared her laughs but her concern came back in a second. "Wish you could be given me these lessons, Princess."

"I´m afraid I won´t be of much help. But probably you could learn more from my old flight master."

"Your master? But you´re over a thousand years old! How can your master still be alive?"

"Thank you for reminding me how old I really am..." Celestia said with a visible vein on her face. "But if you really want to learn to fly, he is the best teacher you could ask for. Although I must warn you Twilight, he is anything like me or your friend Rainbow. He would not go soft on you."

Despite the warning, Twilight was determined to learn to master her wings so she silently nodded.

****

Rocks.

Nothing more than rocks and heath. The Royal Carriage had led both Princesses into the further regions of the Badland desert, where nopony had dared to settle down.

"Who could possibly live in this place?" Twilight asked.

"You´ll see."

Celestia guided Twilight into an old cave, buried deep in the canyon. Twilight was trembling, imagining what creature could possibly could live there. A dragon maybe?

A roar came from the darkness. Twilight folded her wings, terrified. Slowly the creature came out and to Twilight surprise was just an old griffon with a cane.

"Master Sharp Wing. I´m hap-AUH!"

"Stupid student! I told you never to come back!"

"-appy to see you again. Master, this is my pupil Twilight Sparkle. Twilight he is-"

"I know who he is. Sharp Wing was one of the Five Generals of the Griffon Kingdom. He was at the Siege of Cloudsdale. He is one of the biggest heroes of the Kingdom but, how is he here? How is he still alive? Ho-auh!"

"You ask too many questions! Why are you here?" Wing asked, still threatening them with his cane.

"My student needs your help master. She is having trouble with her new wings. Just like I was, remember?" Celestia explained.

"How can I forget the worst student I ever had? Your sister learned in one week what took you two years!" Wings stop and took a good look at Twilight. "She is small. She won´t last a day in here," and he moved back into the cave.

Twilight was already giving up but then she noticed Celestia moving back to the carriage.

"Princess?"

"Don´t worry Twilight. Master Wing may be a little grumpy but he won´t let you down. Just remember to not give up." and with that the Princess left, leaving Twilight in the entrance of the cave.

***

Twilight went looking for Master Wing and found him sitting atop a rock. She asked him when they will start but he said nothing and remained still. Twilight found a rock next to him and sit down too. She spent hours standing there, fighting sleep and hunger, until she finally gave up.

"Why are we doing this? Why aren´t you teaching me anything? How is this going to help me to get better at flying?"

At the end of her rant she was expecting another hit at the head but instead Master Wing asked.

"Do you need to fly?"

"What?"

"Do you need to fly right now? At this moment?"

"...no."

"Then just stay there."

Twilight kept quiet and waited but at the end of the day, she couldn´t go on anymore. She was hungry, she needed to move, but they were at top of the canyon and in the middle of the desert. She was too weak to teleport and it was too harsh to walk. The nearest was Appleloosa but in order to get there she had to fly. She looked at Master Wing, he was not moving at all. Twilight consider asking something but instead she looked upwards, to the night sky. To all the beautiful stars Princess Luna had spread that night...

"Why do you look up?"

"Excuse me?" Twilight asked.

"You ponies, always looking up. She did that too, watching the clouds all day. We griffons don´t do that, we look down, at the ground. That´s where the food is, that´s where life happens. Up there there´s nothing but an empty space, I don´t understand."

"Precisely because there´s nothing there is why we look up. We dream of infinite possibilities, of soarin through that starry sky. We don´t see emptiness, we see a million dreams to fulfill." Twilight explained.

Master Wing slowly nodded and closed his eyes. Twilight smiled and closed her eyes too.

***

The next morning, as the sun rises Twilight could felt her teacher´s magic. Slowly she began to float, ascending into the air and when her body was aligned with the sun she spread her wings, letting the magic and joy curse through her too. She then dove in into the canyon and went back up, performing a trick even Rainbow will envy. She met with Master Wing in the air, the old griffon still able to fly.

"Now you needed to fly?"

"I just wanted to spread my wings."

Master Wing nodded.

"I guess I learned my lesson."

"What are you talking about? This is just the beginning! Next we fight against a dragon!"

Seems like Twilight lesson had just begun.