The Jaeger pilot got close to the crimson pegasus that was sit in front of the panoramic window in the rest area. “Is the first time ever a two way drift between species is tested, you know?” and the winged horse simply nodded in response staring aimlessly through the window, while sitting in front of it. “Are you okay with this? You know, going against them?” the human asked one more time and the pegasus nodded again in silence. After a minute or so he sat at her side admiring the view to the sea outside the shatterdome.
The world went nuts when the ponies first appeared in earth with their titan-sized horse-like robots, mistakenly known as “Centaurs”. It have been ridiculous, no one expected pastel colored horses could produce so much havoc and destruction. People were terrified of what these exterminators could do. At first it was weird such lame characters could cause so much fear but as the war passed by, the feeling settled and it wasn’t estrange anymore they just became the cliché of an “alien race” that wanted to conquer earth. They became the enemy.
After years and years of war ‘The Resistance’ showed up, an army of ponies willing to stand against their maniacal leaders. Things got weirder after that, people equated ponies with slaughters but this new faction was kind of friendly, and...
A sight of his partner took the pilot out of its thoughts and caused him to lay his eyes upon the pegasus. He was worried about her, the shock and stress of the events that brought her here were too much. Clearly it wasn’t humans the ones that were suffering more for the misdoings of the alicorns. He had to do something to try to clear her mind, especially if he would be connected in a drift with her.
“I want to ask you something”, he said while putting his hand over her shoulder producing the same effect on her the sight did on him. “From times to times I have lucid dreams, you know? –a face of confusion appeared in his partner so he elaborated– those dreams where you are aware that you are in a dream, and you can do anything, you know? When I achieve it, I like to dream I have super powers”. These words caused her to chuckle removing for a moment the sad expression from here face, “Don’t laugh! Is cool, you know? Do stuff you can’t usually do: teleport, shot lasers or things like that. Depending on what is happening in the dream is the powers I can think of and I can do, but there is one I always think of...”, he paused looking again through the window, thinking about the next word: “fly”.
Now it was he the one staring aimlessly to the landscape. Silently imaging himself flying, straight across the sea at full speed with the wind in his face.
After a moment he came back from his thoughts, “I wasn’t a solider or any of that fancy stuff when I entered ‘voluntarily’ to the Jaeger Task Force, you know? When I became a pilot they force me to take different trainings and one was ‘H.A.L.O. jump for Dummies’, you know? I remember when the course was almost finished we had practice exercises and we had to jump from the plane...”, again he paused and let its mind go wild as the memories of the adrenaline and the speed that freefall caused came back to him.
After a moment of silence she turned to see him, interrupted his thought with a soft smile: “You humans use such silly names” and returned her face to the window, with an absent gaze. He was still in trance, processing the memories and making an effort to focus his train of thought to where he wanted to go with the conversation and not in his old memories.
“What is like to fly?”
She startled and turned to him surprised, “Why the question? I mean, you have done your training and you have flown in airplanes and the Jaeger will have wings so you actually know what it is to fly. Is nothing new for you.”
He shacked his head as a last effort to get out of the trance he was in, “is just... the jump exercises felt so great... I remember... the speed, the adrenaline, the wind hitting your face. Everything becomes secondary. Those exercises were the moments when I have felt more alive in my entire life, even more than when I pilot a Jaeger, you know? –he was agitated for the emotion at this point– And when I dream I fly, the only idea that comes to my mind is the idea I can reproduce those moments at my will, without special equipment or special procedures or special machines... the idea that I can decide when I want to feel alive.”
The conversation had pulled her full attention towards him. “Woa... That was... Well... Cheese... Well... No... Better let’s use the word ‘strong’. I had never thought it that way. Back in Equestria there are carts pulled by pegasi so ponies can fly just like humans on planes. But I never thought the fact that is different that somepony or something else fly you, to fly yourself.” She looked down thinking and another moment of silent passed, he just stared at her, expectantly. “I guess... I guess you already have the answer, it is like that. Maybe the question you wanted to ask was, how can I fly? And that partner... Is something I can’t answer. “ And they both stayed quiet, staring at the floor. The air felt think.
A robotic female voice announced through the speakers: “Interspecies drift test initiating in ten minutes”.
The pegasus shook her head, removed her gaze from the floor and smiled “You say a lot of ‘you know?’, you know?”.
That questions so out of mood hit him hard. Now he was the depressed one, but she knew how to handle the situation better. Neither of them was staring like zombies through the window, and that was good. “Yeah, I know I ask it a lot and I just can’t control it. Everyone point it out so when they do I just mock myself asking them ‘so, you did know? Ok, next time I won’t say a thing, you know? Because you already know, you know? Because as you know there is no need to say anything, you know? So I won’t say anything else, you know?’ and then people laugh... you know?” asked one last time as they both smiled relieved. The air didn’t feel thick anymore.
“You get distracted too easy, how are you qualified to pilot a jaeger?” said the pegasus while standing up, “how you avoid to get lost in a drift?” “I don’t know, maybe is because my life is in danger when I’m piloting –he said while imitating her– you also get distracted very easy, you know?” She laughed, “Yes, I did know, maybe that’s why we are drift compatible, we better go or we will get late to the test”.
And both pilots, human and pegasus left the rest area.