See The World From The Skytop
"Hello, everypony! You are listening to Skytop Radio. I am Acro! And I will be your sole supplier of bass and treble for these next few hours!" Through the speakers of the ponies that tuned in, the radio host's voice and music blared for the time he was on.
"That's it, everypony. Before I say my goodbyes, remember that I will be at the Ponyville Carnival in a few days. Hopefully it won't involve me being blasted with fireworks like last year." Acro added with a slight twinge of frustration. "But, on that note, my time is done, hope you all have a wonderful day and don't forget. You can see the world from the Skytop."
As the next song played, the red light above the DJ's head grew dim and eventually disappeared. "Another great show, Breeze. This is why you're gaining listeners." He said to himself with a grin.
A voice called as the door of the DJ booth opened. "Great job, Acro! You think you'll get a bigger crowd than last year at the Carnival?"
"Thanks, Airwaves. And I'm hoping so. I know Sparky will be doing the pyrotechnics, again. And he brings crowds in with his shows." said Acro, walking out of the booth, letting Airwaves take over the microphone.
Slowly stepping out of the building that housed Skytop Radio's broadcast, Low Breeze looked at the morning rush hour crowding of the roads. Typical of Manehattan, though. He started his way to his apartment down a couple blocks. On his way down the streets, a few ponies recognized him. Acro, as they knew him. His real name was Low Breeze, though due to his perticular fear, the nickname of Acro stuck, being short for acrophobia. Pretty unfortunate as he was a pegasus. The only ones who knew the story behind it were his older sister and his close group of friends.
As he opened the door of his apartment, he slowly fanned out his wings and streched. As he pushed his brown mane to the side for his infamous combover style, he looked around his mid-sized living space. Slightly spacious, but cozy at the same time. To the left was a living room area, that held a couch and a love seat. The opposite direction was a kitchen, where the fridge was stockpiled with food and Timberwolf Energy Drink. Then, straight ahead was a hallway with two bedrooms across from each other and a bathroom at the end. It wasn't luxerious, and Acro liked it that way.
A loud hissing noise was followed by an even louder bang from the hallway. "Welcome home, fucker! Sha-ka-ka!" The greeting and only warning was shouted from the bathroom to the front door, as two ponies flew out through the front door into the hallway of the apartment complex. Quickly, a grey stallion jumped to his hooves, smiling form ear to ear, looking down to the blue stallion he just cannon-tackled.
"You like the new cannon, Acro?" Yelled the standing pony. "Am I yelling? I didn't have ear plugs, so I'm sorry if I'm yelling."
"Ugh." Acro grumbled as he slowly stood to his hooves. "Why the fuck do you have a cannon, Sparky?"
"Because I wanted to see what it was like being one of my fireworks. Except for the potential loss of hearing, it was amazing!" Sparky said, still yelling.
Acro just held his head and walked towards the refrigerator for a drink. Flint Spark, or "Sparky" as Acro and a few others called him, was a grey coated earth stallion who created and worked with pyrotechnics and fireworks. His black and blue striped mane was kept short after a few disasters from working with fire and having long hair. He was light-hearted, outspoken, anything but subtle, and anyone who met Sparky immediately assumed he was mildly insane.
"My question is, who's gonna fix the door?" Acro called, walking out of the kitchen. "And who's gonna pay for it? Cause it wasn't my damn cannon."
Sparky had already walked back to his cannon, that was aimed from inside the bathroom doorway towards the front door, and was making sure it was still in good condition. "Well, I am, obviously. Making you pay for a door I tackled you through would just be a asshole move."
Acro smiled and kept drinking from his energy drink. He knew he made a good decision in making friends with Sparky. Unfortunately, the way they met at last year's Ponyville Carnival landed Acro in Ponyville Hospital for a few days. Thanks to Sparky wanting to "keep everypony entertained", he fired off a string of fireworks towards the DJ stage.
"This year, could you not pelt me with fireworks? Cause that would be amazing." Acro said, walking up behind Sparky.
The gray stallion turned with a frown, "But that's how we became best friends." He gained an ear to ear smile, "Maybe if I pelt you again, this year, we'll be even gooder friends!"
"Maybe you should pelt someone new, oh! You should pelt my sister with fireworks, this year." said Acro with a mischevious grin.
"The one that heads the Manehattan detachment of the royal guard? Even I'm not that crazy." Flint stated, then smiled, "Though it would be nice to be friends with your sister, too."
Acro smiled, knowing that Sparky and Short Fuse would be a good match together. He knew his sister, though her special talent was disipline, she was a big softy once you got past the angry outer shell. Acro and Fuse always got along, when Acro wasn't purposely confusing her or frustrating her to no end. She never hit him or verbally abused him, though. He could do no real wrong in her eyes. He was her baby brother and if anypony hurt him, she was one to steer clear of.
"Hey, Acro. I'm gonna have to bum one from you." Sparky stated, looking in an empty pack of cigarettes.
Acro waved Sparky to follow him as he stepped through what was left of the front door. As they walked out of the apartment complex, they viewed the morning rush hour dying and their noses were filled with the warm smell of fresh brewed coffee, the sweetness of morning pastries being prepared, and the far away smell of somepony else choosing the previlege of a smoke break with them. As they blew out smoke, they noticed a group of uniformed pegasi zooming by in the sky.
"You think that's the Wonderbolts out practicing?" Sparky questioned, looking to his pegasus friend.
"No. They stay at the academy to practice, no way they'd be this far just to practice. If they come by again, I'll be able to tell who they are." Acro answered calmly.
They sat there for a few minutes just watching the ponies of Manehattan stroll down the sidewalk, some of them taking a glance at the two and the alleyway behind them as they walk by. Eventually, as they finished their smoke break, the same unifroms flew the opposite way overtop the city.
Acro grinned, "Yeah, those aren't Wonderbolts. They're the new disaster control team. Well, technically, they're a part of the Wonderbolts, but more of a sister group. They most likely are training out here, seeing as we're on the coast near uncontrollable weather."
Sparky watched the team of pegasi in awe. "I'm glad I have a pegasi friend. I would've never known we had a disaster control team until we needed them."
"You know Vanguard's one of them , right?" Acro asked, putting out his cigarette.
Sparky followed the same motions, "You know too many pegasi that do cool things."
As the Storm Wardens flew away, Sparky regained his attention span and followed Acro as he started his way towards the music store a few blocks down. As they turned a corner of the first crossroads, they heard a loud female voice.
"What do you think you are doing, soldier? I told you to patrol the perimeter of our camp. Why the fuck are you here?"
Acro's ears twitched. He knew this voice. He also knew exactly who that orange coated, red maned royal guard was. Short Fuse had a lower ranking guard cowering in front of her as she blared her voice through his head. Sparky now realized Acro was running and caught up to him rather quickly, knowing what Acro was planning.
During her screaming, Fuse had noticed her little brother running towards them and paused, seeing the giant grin on Acro's face. Just like Sparky, she knew what he was planning. She thought to herself, "Well, this soldier does deserve it."
She glared down at the cowering guard and yelled, "Attention!"
Unfortunately for this particular guard, Acro and Fuse learned a move from a guard that was over Fuse when she was coming in. As the guard stood up into the position of attention, Acro made it to them. Suddenly the guard was blindsided by a flying hoof to the side of the snout.
"Sha-ka-ka!" Acro yelled as his hoof made contact to the guards jaw. Quickly, the guard flopped to the ground on his side.
Fuse shook her head, "He deserved a punch, but not that hard." She said as she pointed at the guard on the ground.
Acro just shrugged. "He made you mad. No one makes my sissy mad. Well, except me." He stuck out his tounge at her.
She stuck her tounge out at him, in childish retaliation. "So, you're going to the carnival, I heard?"
"Yes. Why, yes, I am. And this time I know the fireworks won't be aimed at me." Acro said grinning smugly.
Sparky smiled and waved at Fuse, who waved back and said to him, "You're lucky you didn't die when you hurt Breezy."
She loved calling him his family nickname, Breezy. It annoyed Acro when he was a colt, though now, it lets him know he still has family. And family was the only thing that let Acro and Fuse be the childish, immature, and reckless ponies they truly are.
"Well, I will be there. Not on duty!" Fuse cheered, then regained her military bearing. "And I can't wait to spend the carnival with my little brother and his best friend." She stated, then turned to smile at Sparky.
"But, remember Sparky and I have the show there. But, luckily, other DJs are coming to take over, this year." Acro said.
"Well, I have to wake up this dumbass and get back to base." Fuse said before she wrapped Acro in a tight hug. "I loveses you, Breezy."
Acro returned the hug, "I loveses you, too, sissy."
The blue and grey stallions walked off saying goodbye to Fuse, as she started to slap the young guard to wake him up. Acro and Sparky turned the corner, still headed towards the usual music store, as raindrops started coming down.
"Ah. Maybe that's why the Storm Wardens are here." Acro said, looking up to see the darkness of rain clouds looming over the city, threatening to drop the wave of water upon the steel, asphalt, and people of Manehattan.
They walked inside the music store and was greeted with the sound of orchestral electric music over the speakers. This was Mashup Music, one of the best non-franchise music stores in Manehattan. Walking in, Acro and Sparky looked around the shop, from the wall of guitars and other stringed instruments on the left to the drum and precussion area to the right. A look to the back showed a walkway to another show floor with DJ and electronic equipment among bowed, classical instruments, showing the peronalities and musical tastes of the two owners of Mashup Music.
"Welcome to Mashup Music, how may I hel- Oh! Hi, Lo-Lo." Silver Strings called from a backroom, noticing the two regulars who walked in after she stepped out.
"Hey, there, Shiny." Acro said with a warm smile.
Acro and Silver had nicknames for each other due to him coming to the store so much. Acro insisted on calling the daughter of Octavia Melody and Concerto, "Shiny", due to silver being part of her name. So, in turn, she called him something even more childish and annoying, thanks to some help from Short Fuse the second and last time Acro brought Fuse along. But after multiple visits to Mashup Music, and a few dates between the two, Acro and Silver began to find the names less annoying and more a staple that began their friendship.
"You're starting to look like your mother." Acro said, pointing his hoof to Silver's head.
"Oh, shush, you." Silver giggled, reaching to the pink hairband that holds her black mane back. "My old one broke, and I think the pink looks good." The gray mare struck a pose, throwing one of her forehooves in the air, along with one of her rear legs, and pointing her snout to the ceiling.
Acro chuckled, speaking in an accent, "Oh, yes! You've got, da magics!"
Both ponies tried to hold back laughter, but failed, and ended up laughing on the ground together. Soon enough, a lighter gray unicorn stallion walked out. His mane was spiky and ruffled, half black and light blue. He adjusted his slotted glasses and looked at the two laughing ponies on the ground, then looked at Sparky.
"Glad to see you guys, again." Shutter Shades said to Sparky, holding out a forehoof for a hoofbump.
Sparky returned the hoof bump, "Yeah, Acro wanted to come here to get new equipment for the carnival Friday night."
"I forgot that was Friday. Damn. I might need to go, just to see Acro's set." The son of Vinyl Scratch and Neon Lights, two of the best DJs in Equestrian history, stated.
As Acro got to his feet, he reached out and helped up Silver while she began to speak. "I was thinking about going, but I don't know. It might be fun."
"Well, you could always go with me. Then you're sure to have fun. You could even come on stage. A few of the Skytop DJs are doing full musical sets instead of interviews and shit like that, and you can come up during my set and pump up the crowd. You know, if you want to go with me, that is." Acro asked, confident at first, then slowly becoming more nervous and shy, realizing he was essentially asking her on a date.
"Of course I'll go with you, Lo-Lo." She said, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. "Now, that that's out of the way. Shutter, would you show Acro the new stock of DJ equipment?"
"You two are gross.." Shutter said, starting to walk from behind the counter and towards the walkway.
Acro, Sparky, and Silver all followed Shutter to the back part of the store with the DJ equipment. The equipment was astounding to Acro. He and Shutter went back and forth on which set up would be the best for his set at the carnival. Sparky left the store first, carrying a box with a new turntable on his back, then followed Acro. He was wheeling a black subwoofer that was as tall as he was, dubbed the "Bass Cannon" by Shutter's mother, Vinyl. As Acro and Sparky yelled their goodbyes back into the store, they noticed it was no longer threatening to rain. The zoom of flyers at high speeds were heard high above their heads.
Soon, they made it back to their apartment. The day went on as normal. They both went on smoke breaks outside, and listened to the townspeople on the street conversing and talking. Eventually it grew late into the night, not that you could tell due to Acro thinking it was the perfect time to test his new subwoofer, much to the entire apartment complex's dismay. But, even the blue pegasi needed sleep, though he might have had help from a certain princess.
Author's Note
Hello, everyone! This is my first fanfic. Eeek! Hope you guys enjoy. I will update when I can. Let me know what you like and what I can improve on in the comments.
Taking off, Flightless.
The chirping of the birds, the rumbling of wheels on the road, and the smell of cinnamon rolls slowly found home within the senses of a sleeping blue stallion. Acro cursed and crawled his way out of bed. The kitchen was the source of the cinnamon smell, and that's all he cared about. Crawling his way from his bedroom to the kitchen may have been a bit more work, but Acro was more worried about getting food than standing up.
"I'm guessing you're tired and smelled breakfast." Sparky said from the living room, watching Acro slide across the carpet to the linoleum floor.
Acro grumbled in response as he slowly raised himself to his hooves and grabbed a cinnamon roll with his mouth. Trotting happily into the living room, he jumped on the couch and looked to the love seat where Sparky was seated. Acro turned his head to see a television across from his current lounging place.
"Glad one of us finally got one of these bitches." Acro said, watching the Manehattan News.
The reporter was talking about multiple studies that popped up that week. Something about living longer by doing certain things, some random and some just ridiculous.
"Another study states that using curse words could possibly make you live longer." The reporter stated.
Acro's eyes went wide. "I. Will be. Immortal!", he yelled.
Soon, the two roommates went out for their morning routine of a cigarette beside the apartment complex. Their newly replaced door squeaked as they opened it to leave. As they descended the last flight of stairs, they saw multiple flyers advertising the Ponyville Carnival beginning in two days.
Acro puffed on his cigarette, "You remembered to pack, right?"
Sparky nodded while smoke poured from his nostrils.
"Good. Cause in a little bit, we're catching a train to Ponyville. I volunteered both of us to help set up."
Slam! The train doors were closed. Sparky took his face off the window of their cabin window, slowly slumping. Conversations were heard out in the hallway of the train, due to confusions about seats.
"Out of my way! Dear Luna, you guys are slow!" A voice boomed through the hallway and into Sparky's ears.
At once he shot up with a smile, knowing who the voice belonged to, trying to be as cool as possible. Acro opened his eyes, then shook his head and chuckled.
"Hello, my two idiots!" Short Fuse yelled as she slid the door of the cabin open.
"Wait, I'm pretty sure he's your only idiot..." Sparky said questioningly, pointing a hoof at Acro.
Short Fuse sat down next to Sparky, "Nope." She answered as she poked his side, "You're my idiot, too." She smiled as he jumped and looked at her.
Their smiling preoccupied the two enough for Acro, aiming to make the trip a little more fun, walked out in search of his newest weapon against eardrums.
"Now, where in the actual fuck did they put it..." Acro mumbled to himself walking throughout the train. "Sir." He said to gain an attendant's attention, "Where do you put the large luggage?"
The attendant deadpanned, "Mr. Acro, we know who you are, and we saw what you brought. To keep peace within the train and throughout the trip to Ponyville, I will not tell you the location of your speaker."
"That." Acro pointed a hoof at the attendant, "Is bullshit, good sir." He lowered his hoof and started again on his quest.
Slowly breaking eye contact with Sparky, Short Fuse turned to Acro's former lounging place, realizing he left.
"My little brother is about to do something stupid without you." She looked to Sparky, "You have a twenty second head-start to find and help him before I come to stop his dumb idea."
Unfortunately for Fuse, Sparky was surprisingly clever, and kissed her on the cheek as he bolted out of the cabin. Fuse sat there wide-eyed and red faced for almost a minute before realizing his distraction.
Trotting out of the cabin, she looked both ways looking for a trace of Sparky. Hearing a soft explosion, she followed the noise.
Sparky ran out of the cabin, surprised at how well his plan worked so far. He found Acro easy enough, just looking through the train walkways. He pulled out a bottle rocket and took aim.
"Ah! You son of a bitch!" Acro yelled as a bottle rocket glanced of his flank, hitting his microphone cutie mark. He turned and and called to Sparky, "Party train!"
Fully understanding what Acro was doing, now, Sparky took off the way he came. Looking for any sign of a large cargo space, both the stallions were on a quest to make the ride fun for the next few hours. They only needed the one speaker to make everyone have a good time. And with both of them searching, the train would be party central in no time.
Sparky was stopped by a red coated mare, grinning from ear to ear. "Nice try with the kiss, now where's Breezy?" Short Fuse asked him.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Sparky responded, trying his best to act dumb, then suddenly called out to Acro, "Shit's hit the fan! Man down! Man-durgh!"
Short Fuse walked Sparky back to the cabin with a forehoof over his mouth. When he was in, she closed the door, essentially turning this into a game of hide and seek with Acro having an ulterior motive.
Acro heard Sparky yelling, knowing his older sister is having her type of fun, stopping his shenanigans. Running away from the yelling, he found a train car with a closed door, simply labeled "Luggage". It might as well have had a blessing from the princesses themselves the way Acro stared at it. He ran for the door, opening it and closing it behind him as soon as he got inside. And there it was, the jackpot, his personal Holy Grail, his Bass Cannon.
Acro grinned wide, "Oh, fuck yeeeeeah."
Short Fuse soon passed where she caught Sparky, and kept going down the walkways. She couldn't find her little brother, "Where is he? Maybe he got better at hide and seek." She thought to herself. A few more steps and she began to hear a drum beat and somepony speaking over it. Her eyes grew wide and she braced herself for the incoming assault.
Nopony was ready except for the last few carts and Fuse. As the music rose in volume, the intensity also built. Acro rolled his Bass Cannon out of the luggage cart, getting ready for the quake he was about to unleash upon the train. As the ponies that were ready started dancing and bopping to the music, the build up stopped to single sentence from the vocalist.
"Bring the madness!" the vocalist said, the pitch of his voice dropping at the end. Then after the brief warning, the train was assaulted with vibrations from the combination of the massive sub bass and the high pitched synthesizers wobbling in and out. Sparky, instantly jumped from the cabin he was in and unleashed his wrath of fireworks and pyrotechnics. Luckily he understood the size of the train, so the fireworks were mostly limited to bottle rockets and small firecrackers. Fuse made her way to Acro through the dancing ponies, now crowding the train walkways.
"Did you really have to use that here?" She yelled to Acro over the music.
"Um... Yeah." Acro nodded, putting assurance in his decision. "Why don't you go find your future coltfriend and dance with him? Have a good time like the rest of these ponies."
Fuse thought it over briefly, even though she didn't even have to think about the decision. She wouldn't admit it outright just yet, but she did have a thing for her little brother's best friend.
"You know what? I will." She smiled and ran through the dancing ponies back to the pyrotechnic.
Acro just smiled and kept the music blasting the rest of the train ride, though he had to fend off a few attendants. Thanks to everyone having a good time and nopony getting hurt, the attendants allowed him to play the music and they even started dancing a bit. This is what Acro lived for, this type of event is what got him his cutie mark. If everypony is having fun, how could something so fun be considered a nuisance?
Author's Note
There it is! Second chapter. Woo! Finally worked on it and finished it.
If you can tell me the song I'm referencing at the end, you deserve some pasta. I really want some pasta, now.
But, I'm gonna keep updating it, hopefully you guys like it, and if you do, there's totally a way to let me know. Hintity, hint, hint.
