Rider's guide to Altheion
Scootaloo ran out of the classroom as fast as her legs could carry her, skidding across the laminated plastic earth. "Whew! Never one for class!" She said whipping on her aviator's glasses. Free from her yearly seminar of the lifestyle of the courier, Scootaloo raced out of The Canterlot School of Couriers.
Whooping with joy, she set out for Tinker's Garage to pick up her baby, and eventually set off for another round of jobs. Racing along the streets of Canterlot, Scootaloo inhaled deeply, Canterlot was always one of her favorite places, the sites and smells, especially when autumn rolled around! Oh it was heavenly. She closed her eyes, and instantly regretted it as she felt her acceleration come swiftly to an end due to sudden impact.
"Owww..." she muttered rubbing her head a bit before shaking heavily, clearing it instantly. Opening her eyes, she was faced with a small colt, probably no older than 7 or 8. He stood there jittering in place with the biggest, toothiest smile.
"Excuse me miss? Are you Ms. Scootaloo?" He asked, barely hiding his excitement, Scootaloo felt herself smile as well, his joy was simply contagious.
"Yes I am. Who's asking?" She asked in a haughty tone while getting up, swishing her large free flowing amethyst mane.
"Fastest courier in Equestria?!?" He asked, his already over the top excitement building over the top.
"Fastest Courier in Altheion actually." She corrected him. He simply donned a quizzical look complete with a little head tilt.
"Altheion?" He asked simply. She shook her head.
"Altheion is the whole continent!" She said gesturing broadly with her hooves. She had expected him to tilt his head further, but the dawning look on his face took her by surprise.
"OH! Altheion! We learned about it in school!" He jumped up and down excitedly. She had to smile, not just a year ago, most ponies hadn't even known the exact location of the Griffon Kindgom, and that was just 240 miles due east of Ponyville, through the Everfee Forest. It still surprised her how every time she came back from a mail run, that ponies seemed to learn more and more about their neighbors. Well, strictly speaking, they couldn't give a damn about their neighbors. The whole reform thing had happened after Celestia's visit to Araea. The steampunk kingdom had inspired a change in her as she sought to unite Equestria with it's neighboring lands.
"Eh, I leave the politics to those who sit and wait. Me? I prefer to hit the road. " She smirked a little as the colt's mother finally caught up.
"Oh! Ares! How many times did I tell you to stop and wait you silly foal?" She asked in a fake english accent.
"Ah it's no problem ma'am. I was telling him about Altheion." She replied waving dismissively.
"SAY! Aren't you The Black Mustang?" Asked the mare, now her eyes were twinkling.
"Yeah. Yeah I am." She replied now less than enthusiastically. That was a name from another time. One she would like to forget.
"Well, I'm terribly sorry for bothering you. What do you say Ares?" She asked turning to her little colt who was now hanging his head in disappointment.
"Sorry Ms. Scootaloo." He said dejectedly.
"Ah quit it. Maybe someday you'll be as awesome as me!" She said swishing her hair again.
"Cool!" He shouted sprinting off. Both the mother and Scootaloo watched the small dustcloud shrink in the distance.
"Sigh, I guess a mothers work is never done." Replied the mare shaking her head, a small smile on her face.
"Well, I'll be off then." She said turning and running after her little hellion.
Scootaloo had to stop and watch the duo for a little while, shaking her own head in turn before remembering a very special date.
"OH SHOOT!" She screamed as she resumed her frantic tearing until she was in front of a massive 2 storey building. The frontend read in massive letters: TINKER'S ODDS AND ENDS
She always had to smile at the store name, as unique as it's owner.
"HEY TINKS! YOU GOT MY BIKE READY?!?" She shouted over the everyday-clang and bang busy of the place. The sound of machines of speed and class being built. Suddenly a window on the top storey broke as something exploded inside.
"Uh, sorry bout that Scoots, right in here!" He shouted emerging from the broken window which now had smoke pouring through.
"HEY BOYS! RAISE THE DOOR!" He shouted, instantly the massive garage door in front of the store lifted to reveal Tinker standing there in full....welder's mask.
"MMhmmhmm! MMMMM!" He shouted illustrating madly with his hooves. Scootaloo facehoofed with a small smile, gesturing to pull his mask up.
"Oh! Sorry. I was just saying WELCOME! TO HELL!" He cackled maniacally. Scootaloo knew it was all fun and games but even she had to shake her head once.
"Cut it Tinker, I'm here for the package." She smiled at the codephrase. He did too as he led her inside.
"Well! It's back and better than ever ladies and gentlecolts! It's leaner, meaner, and blacker then ever! It's! THE MUSTAAAAAAAAANG!"
He called out as a single spotlight was shed upon a cloaked bike. Even with the cloth, Scootaloo could see some serious modifications had been made.
He pulled off the cloth, and her eyes went wide.
Screw the modifications, this looked nothing like her old bike! "Tinks! What did you do?" She asked slowly walking circles and admiring aspects of the vehicle, the pulled back handlebars, the leather seat, the smell of new. But one smell was left out in the sea that usually accompanied that of a new bike.
There was no smell of gas.
"WELL! Since you literally. LITERALLY! Delivered your old one as a FLAMING WRECK. I thought I'd take it upon myself to make some *ahem* modifications." He did air quotes.
"ALRIGHT THEN! Around the same time you got back from your run, the good boys down south found a new super light alloy. Naturally I ordered a BOATLOAD! And built this thing." He said, knowing his client wasn't one for chit-chat.
Scootaloo however, wasn't even paying attention, pressing various buttons and levers, opening up different compartments to be used to easily store and remove things by the driver while on the road.
"Ooookay then. Hate to interrupt ya kiddo but I got a couple things you should hear about this bike. It has about 300 horsepower, courtesy of a new experimental engine I'm using."
Scootaloo looked up and her jaws dropped.
"That's only the tip of the Iceburg sweetheart." He chuckled deeply as he made his way over to what appeared to be a giant stack.
"Okay. Listen up. This is a funnel, it traps the various particles floating around in the air, and trust me when I say this sweetie, there are ALOT of particles floating around out there. This is basically what your engine's gonna run off of. To put it simply: air." He saw the lights in her eyes.
"Sweet! Now I can really get some distance under my hooves!" She replied, he chuckled and directed her to the back of the bike.
"Okay, bringing me to the second to last part here." He pointed at the rear end of the bike. And on that end, stood what seemed to be a turbine.
"Now, that is an Afterburner, it'll give ya a little kick in the teeth at first but once you get the hang of it." He stopped to whistle.
"Alright so I'll put this into laycolt's terms for you: There's nitrogen floating around in the air. The "Filter" which is what I'm calling that giant funnel thingy over there." He said pointing to the train whistle looking contraption which was supposed to fuel the bike. "Collects that nitrogen along with other stuff."
He walked her over to a gauge on the bike. "This here measures how much nitrogen you have. As an extra, I started you off with a full tank of it. Don't use it all in one place ya here?" He winked. And she snorted hopping onto the bike.
"Oh! And as a last service." He moved on over and pressed a seemingly innocuous. Instantly the headlight retracted and was replaced by a small minigun. "In case you get into any trouble." He winked.
"Alright! Your all set Scoots! Oh! Here's the mail you supposed to deliver, and Celestia tells me all of it's going to Tech City!" He waved her off as she slowly eased out of the garage.
At the door she reeved her engines. "Wow! You weren't kidding about the power! This thing's 'ichin to get movin'!" She called in glee.
"Have a safe trip!" He called out.
"Pfft. When do I ever?" She asked, winked, and then roared out, leaving a small smoking skid mark trail. Tinks coughed away smoke.
"That girl." He mused before heading back inside. "ALRIGHT BOYS! WE GOT ORDERS TO FILL!" He screamed as the garage door closed.
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"WWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" Shouted Scootaloo as the bike roared down the streets of Canterlot, weaving in and out of traffic, she made good time, as well as some sweet tricks. As soon as she gained some distance, she pulled a wheelie.
"Hmm...wonder if this thing has any radio?" She muttered before fiddling a bit with the many knobs and dials. Finally her efforts were greeted with success
Still pulling the wheelie, she activated the Afterburner, and watched as the world rocketed away.
Scootaloo went spinning head over heels in forward flip. With an insane grin she pulled a lever purely for the hell of it, and was absolutely astonished when two FUCKING GLIDERS WINGS game out from the bike's main body allowing it to fly. FUCKING. FLY. She pumped her hooves in the air, her yells drowned out by the roaring as the Afterburner rocketed through the open skies, probably going past the speed of sound.
Angling slightly, she bent into an airstream where the token resistance offered by air was drastically reduced offering even more speed.
She came up to a group of high-flying pegasi probably making their way to another town, finally one of them noticed the fact that: she was a pegasi, and she was riding a bike, and said bike was pulled up alongside them. In middair.
Scootaloo saw jaws drop. She pulled up her Aviator's glasses and winked. Instantly regretting it as the sheer wind dried her eyeballs instantly. With a nod, she descended just a bit and BOOOM! Shot off while restricting the still going Afterburner, squeezing as much speed as she could.
Suddenly she heard the clanging of the monstrous turbine as it's supply finally ran out. She smiled as gravity took it's immediate revenge.
"Alright then! Let's do this." She shouted to no one in particular as she pulled a backflip, the fact that there was plain air below her forced her inertia to continue her rotation while gathering force and speed. With extra effort, she tilted it sideways so she was pulling a rotational axel.
Even in the whirlwind of vertigo created by her trick, Scootaloo spotted a fast approaching landmark in the near-distance, what appeared to be a sharp rock outcropping that smoothed out after the initial jag. With just an extra bit of force, she pulled out the sideways spin and opted instead to do a full on forward flip, just barely landing on the natural ramp of sorts.
She crashed through woodland and trees, narrowly avoiding various rocks and boulders, the trees she could simply barrel through however.
Finally, she spotted a fallen tree that angled in such a way that it proved a natural ramp. With a smile, she revved the bike and hit it, gaining massive air. While airborne, she let go of the handelbars, twisted until her body faced away from the bike, and grabbed the handelbars again, keeping parallel with the bike's seat. Using her abdomen, she flipped the bike over her head until it was once again aligned with her body, only this time both of them were facing backwards, opposite of their first alignment.
She jumped in her seat as the bike finally reconnected with road.
"Thank Celestia for shortcuts." She said with a smirk as she revved yet again and roared along the road to Tech City, flat wasteland flanking her sides.
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"WAKE UP YA LITTLE BASTARD! YA GOT SHIT TA DO!"
For some reason, he thought of the History channel as he groggily awoke to the room spinning. "And with that, the mother bear gracefully awakens her cubs to fulfill another day." Wait. The room wasn't spinning. He was.
"MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!" He shouted as he was flung to the other side of the room.
Tawny"mommabear"Worker stood over the wreckage of her son's lab. Really it looked more like an evil layer, okay not so much an evil layer, but an evil layer, garage hybrid.
But with Tesla Coils, various broken machinery, metal skeletons, plans and blueprints, maps, spare parts everywhere, strange tubes filled with iridescent neon fluids, and dim lighting to boot, it definitely looked like an evil lab.
"You should really get some light in here." She started making her way to the lightswich, only to be tacked and pinned to the ground.
"MOM! Half of the chemicals here are going to explode in the high light, and the other half are gonna go inert. I literally CANNOT have you do that."
He said, behind his googles. Mommabear simply laughed as she heaved him off as easily as one would to a hyperactive puppy.
"I know kiddo. I was just kidding." She jokingly rubbed her son's mane.
For his part, Raleigh simply shook his head to clear out his mother made burrs.
"C'mon! Breakfast's ready!" She said making her way out.
Tawny was anything but, standing about 2 feet higher than the average stallion, and about twice as muscular, Tawny had labored hard in a Metal Factory, bending, shaping, tampering, and tempering different metals into usable shapes. Well, that was until Raleigh's invention. Even though her worker days were behind her, Tawny still carried herself as if she was still down in the fire-spitting belly of the beast. And with a temper to boot.
"K! Coming mom!" He yelled before turning around to what he had been working on (and what he had fallen asleep on). Sitting on the table was a stone, or seemingly stone ring with a straight line running across.
"Almost forgot this." He muttered happily to himself as he pushed it into one of his many pockets within his specially made labcoat.
"HEY! HURRY IT UP!" Shouted Tawny from the kitchen.
"YES MA'AM!" He yelled more in fright than anything else as he did a once-over in a nearby mirror. An neon green colored coat with a flaming light cyan mane greeted him, along with nearly silver eyes. A....by-product of sorts.
As soon as he finished he ran up the laminated spiral staircase leading to the house proper. The house itself was a nice old english with marble staircase, a crystal chandelier stood in the of the ceiling, casting a homely glow upon the living room.
Rae had to smile, not even a year ago they were living in a tenement in the downtown area. His mother was on the verge, living pay-check to paycheck and with no hope in site.
Well, that was before Raleigh had patented his repulser technology. Once the tech started getting circulated, Tech City, renowned for it's innovations was thrust into the future, with gravity defying cars and trains that flew through the sky. The city became an old 1940's representation of the future, with massive shining skyscrapers and robots that served your special needs.
"RAE!" His mother's screams interrupted his reminiscing as he raced towards the kitchen which was as equally glamourous as the living room. There sat his mom with a literal feast before her. Homemade granola bars, Panini ham and cheese sandwiches, and Rae's favorite: Egg cooked with olive oil in a sandwhich.
"Say, what were you workin' on last night hmm?" Questioned his mom spearing some mango slices from a nearby bowl.
"Ah nothing, just a personal gravity controller." He replied nonchalantly, finishing up his sandwhich.
"Oh that ni-wait WHAT?" She asked with the gravity of the statement finally kicking in.
He smiled as he showed her his ring. The wonder in her eyes faded. "Oh." She said before shish-kabobing another batch of fruits.
His smile grew as he pulled on it slightly. The line in the middle grew a bit as the tube of chemicals was exposed to the outside world. And as soon as he did, the various plates, bowels, and utensils began hovering just a few inches off the table, twisting and turning due to the lack of gravity to keep them in a set place.
Her eyed widened again as the bowl of mangoes levitated past her. And suddenly, she snorted and her eyes softened.
"Never settling for anything huh? You're just like your father." She said laughing a bit. Raleigh's madman smile lessened, mom didn't talk a whole lot about Dad. Truth be told she didn't talk at all. Raleigh gazed into his mother's features.
Her tan coat bulged with hidden, and not so hidden muscles, her mane was hidden by a bandana and her faced was covered in smudges. A cut she had received during her time as a worker seemed to stretch, it ran right down the cleft of her eye socket, a stray conveyer belt had caught her across the face, it was so hot that the wound had instantly cauterized.
Her silver eyes gleamed with sadness.
He lowered his arm and the ring instantly retracted, hiding the substance and returning the gravity to it's usual state.
"Oh uh, by the way, could'cha check the time? I think I mighta woken you up a bit late." She said gesturing to a cloak. This broke the two out of their individual states as he clopped on over.
"Ah it's just 8:30- shit." He said, the time suddenly dawned on him as he raced by and grabbed his board and his bag.
"Gotta go mom! See ya in a bit!" He said racing back to the window.
"Hey! Where are you going? WE'RE 25 STOREY'S UP!" She shouted as he jumped out.
"FIELD TESTING!" He shouted as he plummeted.
Worry flared up in her stomach as she watched her colt become smaller and smaller until
BOOM!
Suddenly, his descent stopped as he and nearby glass was engulfed in a light blue aura. As suddenly as he plummeted, he shot straight vertical, letting out a long whop of joy.
"That boy." She chuckled walking back over to a picture. On it was of a male unicorn much like Raleigh, only taller and with a bit of facial hair grinning as he stood next to a car with no wheels hovering in place. She whipped a tear. "Just like his father."
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Raleigh twisted around until he was facing parallel to the building. Mounting his board, he felt the familiar hum of power as it came to life.
"Alright. Here goes nothing!" He shouted, jerking his left fore-hoof upwards, instantly the ring extended, this time fully exposing the glowing azure now fully exposes glowed brighter. Instantly he felt his descent lessen as the device, COUNTERED gravity!
"HELLZ YEAH! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He whooped as he violently jerked his hoof forwards directing the flow of gravity. As he raced along with the debris, he pulled on his headset and this song came on.
Smiling madly he whooped yet again. Clutching his board he directed the gravity until he was riding up the side of a 300 storey building. It stretched out like a road in front of him as he laserflipped for the hell of it. As he neared the edge of the building he pulled off a backflip and pressed down with his back hooves which unleashed a RE-pulse, a sort of momentary speed boast built into gears like his. They pushed against air particles, shooting the gear forward. And with that, he too shot forward over the building and into the city scape below him.
"ALRIGHT! LET'S TRY THIS THING!" He yelled once again jerking his hoof upwards, this time the ring fully extended, coming up to his horeshoe. He instantly shot forward, his gravity reversed. He began spinning madly as the huge expanse of city scape faded into the distance. As soon as he felt himself go stratospheric, he stopped, levitating in air.
"Alright. HERE GOES NOTHING!" He shouted as he let natural gravity return. Feeling the G's building he leaned forward for maximum speed, only able to see because of his googles. As he flew straight down, he saw the conical barrier form, and with a smile he broke through, instantly rocketing forward.
"HAHAHA! IT WORKS! IT BLOODY WORKS!" He screamed in triumph as his body in turn screamed towards the ground, specifically, towards the school, and extra-specially towards a classroom where a certain purple maned courier mane.
(A/N: Aerea comes from this fic.One of my favorites)