I look down.
Nothing but 5,000 feet between the cloud I stand on and the ground.
Nothing but 5,000 feet of empty space.
5,000 feet was nothing.
I took a deep breath. In, then out.
Then I jumped.
The wind blew through my mane as I fell faster and faster. The air stung as it rushed by my face. The ground approached.
5,000 was nothing.
At the last second, I opened my wings and pulled out of my freefall just above the treetops.
A descent from that height is nothing for a pegasus when you use your wings. A descent from that height is terrifying for a pegasus when you don’t use your wings.
But I loved it. I always loved it. Not the feeling of terror, no. I loved the rush when I pulled away unharmed.
I loved the thrill of flying.
I flew through the streets of Manehatten, just high enough to avoid the tops of the carts in the street. It was the only place where I could fly as fast as I could without potentially hitting another pegasus midair.
The tall buildings in this city created some rather strong wind currents in higher altitudes that made flying dangerous, and most casual pegasi usually flew about fifteen or twenty feet off of the ground, making just above the carts the safest place to go fast if you had wings.
The route I traveled was one I favored to the point that I knew it by heart.
Left. Three seconds and four and a half flaps of my wings, then a sharp right. Curve into the turn, flap once halfway through to keep my speed up, and accelerate once I’m going straight again.
I didn’t even think about it. I just did. It was so automatic that it was almost boring.
Almost.
All too soon, I arrived at my destination. I contemplated flying around the block once more, and had I arrived anywhere else, I probably would have.
But I couldn’t risk messing this up.
As I landed at the back door of the theater, I knew this was probably going to be a make it or break it deal for me. Having no real connections beforehand in this town, if I received a bad rep from this, it would be years before anypony would be willing to give me a chance as big as this again.
I opened the door and took a step in, ready to get down to work planning out the very basics of the set design with the director—
—and promptly collided with a mare who was on her way out.
Her forehead hit my snout, she fell backward out of surprise, and I stood there like an idiot, trying to figure out why my nose suddenly hurt.
Upon regaining my senses, I noticed the mare had stood back up and was collecting several papers that she had been carrying.
“Sorry about that,” I said as I started to help collect some of the papers.
“No, no, it’s okay,” she mumbled as she stood back up, papers haphazardly held in one hoof.
As I handed her the few I had picked up myself, I finally took notice her appearance: A carefully styled two-tone blue mane, off-white coat, and a lavender hat with a red feather as a cutie mark. She wore a collar and a hair clip that both bore the same colors as her cutie mark, and admittedly, she pulled the entire look off quite well.
“At least I’m not a unicorn. That would have been much more unpleasant for both of us.”
I snapped back into reality. “Heh, yeah. Something tells me unicorn horns are not the recommended tool for nose piercings.” After we chuckled, I held my hoof out for a formal hoofshake. “My name is Earthen. I have to say, with your hair and that collar, you look like a model right out of a fashion magazine.”
With noticeable hesitation, she shook my hoof. “Uh... thank you? I’ve never heard anypony say someone looks good like that before, and I’m a fashion designer myself.”
I chuckled to myself at the bit of adorable innocence that she gave off. This mare was so unlike any other mare in this city in a refreshing way.
Once again, the gears in my head started to turn only a few seconds after hearing what she said. A fashion designer in a theater right at the planning stages of a new play. The click was almost audible when I put two and two together. “Oh! You must be making the wardrobe for the play!”
She seemed to brighten up at the mention of what I could only assume she had a passion for based on her cutie mark.
“Yes. I mostly create custom dresses, but sometimes I get to design wardrobes for plays and musicals.”
“Oh, so this isn’t your first time doing this then. I’m the pony that’s going to design and build the set. This is my first time actually being put in charge of something like this, so I was kinda in a hurry when I came in and knocked you over. ...Now that I think about it, you were probably heading out and I’m holding you up, aren’t I?”
She shook her head a little. “Not really. I was just heading out to get some lunch.”
“Well, please don’t let me hold you up,” I said as I stepped to the side. “I really should get moving myself. I have a lot to talk about with the director.”
She smiled and nodded. “Well, good luck.”
It was the moment that the door closed that I realized while I had given her my name, I never got her’s. I quite literally ran into the cutest mare I had ever met, and I forgot to get her name. I was about to chase her down when I heard my voice.
“Earthen! Good to see you!” I turned to see Lucky Clover, the owner of the theater, as he trotted in from the direction the the stage.
It just so happens that Lucky Clover was the pony that had given me the starting point that eventually lead to... well, this.
“Hey Lucky! It’s been too long since we’ve seen each other. How have things been going around here?”
“It could be better in all honesty,” he said as we started heading to the front of the theater.
“Really?” I asked. “What’s up?”
He shook his head in a manner of near disbelief. “My usual set guy isn’t going to do the upcoming play because of a near tragedy in his family. You see, his wife was pregnant and her due date was around opening night of the play.”
“But...?” I inquired him to continue.
“But there were some complications and the baby was born premature.”
“Wait,” I said as we both stopped. “Forgive me for ruining the mood, but by chance, is your usual set pony’s name Quake?”
“Why—” He eyed me over for a second, like he was making sure I wasn’t trying to play some kind of joke on him. “... Yes, it is.”
“Oh, poor ol’ Quake lives in the same apartment building that I do. I don’t think there’s a single pony in that entire building who doesn’t know about the foal being premature.”
“It’s a shame, isn’t it?” Lucky said as we started walking again. “The poor guy’s first kid, and that has to happen. Shook him up enough that he didn’t want to take the job on, and I can’t blame him. I’d probably want to stick next to my foal for a few weeks too if that happened.”
“I’ve seen them in the lobby a few times since it happened. They call her their little miracle. They even named her Mira because of it. I hear she’s doing quite well.”
“So I heard,” Lucky noted. “I’ll need a miracle myself though to find somepony to do this set. The director, Starry Burst, said she knew of a stallion who was available on short notice for these things. I’m a little worried, but she refuses to let anypony else handle it. And Celestia knows that while she’s a good director, she stubborn as a bull.”
Lucky noticed me catch a chuckle before it managed to escape. “What’s up Earthen? You find stubborn mares funny?”
“No, I— I just have to ask. Did Starry Burst by chance tell you who this stallion was?”
He shook his head. “She never bothered to. Said that while he’s been around for a bit, he’s never done a full set before. She assured me I wouldn’t know him, so I never bothered to ask.”
I finally got my little giggling fit under control as I asked, “And haven’t you been wondering about why I’m here, at your theater, at the same time that you’re supposed to meet this new pony for the first time?”
The look of confusion on Lucky’s face was priceless. “Wait, how did you know he was supposed to be—”
If he hadn’t put two and two together by that point, it was probably my stupid grin that gave me away.
“— It’s you! She was talking about you!” One could just about feel the relief radiate off of him. “Jeez, why didn’t you tell me before?”
“It’s your theater! I kinda thought you would know before me. I guess that does explain why I never heard anything from you about it.”
We opened the door to the lobby, and sitting on a bench looking over some of her notes was none other than Starry Burst.
She looked up from the heap of papers and saw me and Lucky walk in together.
“Ah, good. Right on time Earthen. It seems that you’ve already met Lucky Clover on your way in.”
“Actually,” I interjected, “I’ve known Lucky for a few years now. He’s the whole reason that I got started in this kind of stuff.”
“Really?” Starry asked, the question directed at Lucky himself.
He simply nodded his head in response.
“Well, I sure feel a little silly now,” Starry muttered to herself just loud enough that we could still hear. “Anyway, I was just going over my papers and it seems that I forgot something in the back. I’ll be back in a second.”
As she left, I turned to Lucky and decided to ask him one last question before we got down to serious business.
“Hey Lucky, I have a question for you, and if you answer it I’ll be forever grateful to you.”
A look of curiosity came over him. “Ask away.”
“I ran into a mare when I came in. Blue mane, white coat, and a hat for a cutie mark. I assume you know who she is?”
“Coco,” he stated quicky. “Coco Pommel. She’s an up and coming fashion designer, and she’s going to do the wardrobe for this play. Why?”
“Just curious, that’s all. Just curious.”
