Pilot's Story

Pilot's Story

Chapter 16: Ponyville

Violet eyes slid open; slowly, hesitantly they scanned the room. Her head felt like she'd been at the wrong end of a stampede. Her eyes flitted to the window. Light, accursed light; she slammed her eyelids shut against the solar intrusion.

'Let's try that again' the mare thought to herself as her eye slid open a second time. She turned her head the other way this time, away from the wretched light.

"Hey there."

Her ears swiveled to the left and her head followed suit, her eyes widened 'So it wasn't a dream.' The... human. Tommy. She was being chased through the everfree, saw the odd carriage, jumped inside, and he was there... and now she was... "Where am I?"

"Hospital in a town called, uh... Ponyville." He said awkwardly, "Still can't get over that name."

Trixie dropped her head back down on the pillow. Ponyville, again. She shouldn't have been surprised, it was the closest town and yet her visit only weeks ago had ended in the loss of her home and possessions. She let out a sigh and rubbed her head with her hooves. "Oh."

"You don't seem very excited about that," Tommy pointed out as he leaned forward in his chair. "Problems?" he continued, giving the small pony a concerned look.

"Last time I was here... things didn't turn out so well" she started with a sigh, then turned her head on the pillow, "a pair of colts took my show a little too seriously and I went a little overboard and uh... the town was nearly leveled."

"I sense that there's a lot more to this story" Tommy said with a raised eyebrow. 'Show huh?' he thought as he watched her.

"I don't really wanna talk about it."

~~

"Could have done worse I guess."

"Run that by me again?" Eva asked her human companion as the pair trudged down the cobblestone streets of the aptly named ponyville, for the streets were crowded with ponies and their eager eyes, taking in this new creature walking alongside the mare who'd become so prominent in recent times.

James shifted uncomfortably under their gaze and his left hand absently stroked Eva's mane. "Well, we weren't sure what we were getting into when we came here, but... I have to admit, if we can't get back, this seems like a pretty nice place from what I've seen of it."

"You're still human," Eva pointed out as she leaned into the hand, 'that actually feels pretty good...' "I mean, I'm doing okay, don't get me wrong, but I've got a shiny new pair of wings that I'm garbage at using and... oh." She stopped herself.

"Something wrong?" James asked as his hand worked its way up her neck to the back of her head.

"Well, with all the commotion of the last few days I forgot I really ought to apologize to Pinkie and Dash," the little gray mare explained as her head rubbed up against the hand. 'Definately don't hate this.'

"More friends? You've been a busy little pony haven't you?" James needled as he rubbed at the base of her ear.

"Oh you'd like Dashie, she's... exuberant... and impulsive and... kind of awesome actually" she said with a laugh, "reminds me of myself thirty years ago."

"I think we're doomed then" James deadpanned. He finally noticed what his hand had been doing and pulled it back in embarrassment. "Ah... sorry about that."

Eva blushed slightly and turned her head up at him, "I'm not."

"Oh."

"...anyway," Eva redirected as her embarrassment caught up with her, "We should try to find Dash, I... need to talk to her about the other night, tell her it wasn't her fault."

A loud rumbling interrupted their walk and it was Eva's turn to look embarrassed, "But first... we should probably eat."

"That's a good idea, I haven't had a decent meal since we set down; I'm so hungry I could eat a h--" James started before he suddenly found his mouth full of hoof; It tasted of grass.

"It would be a bad idea to finish that thought in present company." Eva deadpanned as she stared up at his face with a raised eyebrow, her hoof still firmly in his mouth.

"goo foont," he mumbled around her hoof.

The mare pulled her hoof out of his mouth and grinned, "what was that?"

"Good point, so what are we dealing with here, strict vegan diet or what?" James asked as Eva lead him deeper into town.

"Eh, I was thinking waffles actually," Eva said with a grin as they stepped into the town square, she raised her left forehoof and pointed it at their destination.

"It's a... gingerbread house," James noted with some confusion as he took in the building that bore such resemblance to a baked treat.

"It's sugarcube corner, and once you get past the diabetes inducing name, everything they make is amazing." Eva explained as she limped up the steps into the front door, the smell of baked goods: cookies, cakes, muffins, and cupcakes, all assaulted her senses with sweetness.

"And we're here for waffles," James commented flatly.

"You have a problem with waffles? You too good for waffles?" Eva jabbed playfully.

"Oh no, lead on, mon capitaine."

~~

The sharp sound of a whip crack pierced the quiet of the forest's edge. The brown stallion winked into existence and hit the ground running, his hooves tore divots in the forest floor as the buzzing sound drew louder. Sweat slicked his mane to his fur as he tore through the underbrush, desperate to get to town first.

He broke through the tree line as the stainless steel orbs shot past him, he clenched his jaw and pushed himself harder, running as if his life depended on it. He tripped on a tuft of grass and went tumbling.

Panic set in when he heard the sound, like keys run across piano wire, only one thing he ever knew could make that sound.

It terrified him. He jumped back onto his hooves and looked around frantically, 'I'm risking a paradox... that... I wouldn't do that...'

And then, as soon as the sound began, it was over. The stallion watched helplessly as the orbs sped over the town. He'd failed.

"No," he said quietly, shaking his head, "No, there's always a way out." Again, he ran. He ran and prayed that he was right.

~~

"That could have gone better" James deadpanned as the pair walked towards the edge of town. The cobblestone roads gave way to dirt paths.

"Could have gone worse. I didn't really think to explain before we both just walked in, you scared them a little bit but they got over it... eventually..." Eva replied with a grimace.

"I thought the blue one was going to beat me with a rolling pin."

"Well... that was possible, but she calmed down when I explained that you're a friend of mine, and she still gave us waffles," the gray pegasus explained and nudged her companion with a forehoof.

James shrugged, "It was a little hard to enjoy them with the orange haired one glaring at me the entire time." The man shivered as he thought back to the look the stallion had given him.

"And now you're just being a baby. We're here," she announced, gesturing up with her forehoof, "Casa de Dash."

"Cloud house?" James asked incredulously as his eyes took in the absurd sight before him.

"Cloud house" Eva confirmed.

He stared at the bizarre construct of clouds and rainbows, ignored the liquid rainbow falls. He'd ignored that it was a house made of water vapor. "How are we getting up there?" he asked, focusing on the most pressing issue at hand.

"Well," Eva chuckled, "I'm going to fly up there, and you're going to stay down here, and then we'll... all..." she trailed off, looking around, her ears perked up, "do you hear that?"

James raised his eyebrow and turned his head, listening closely at the soft thumping sound approaching them, "Sounds... kinda..." he started, searching for where he'd heard that sound before as it got closer. "Sounds kind of like a helicopter on autorotation, doesn't it?" he asked.

In answer to his question, the most bizzare sight either had ever seen rose above the treetops. A pink pony on a candy-striped pedal powered rotorcraft, flying up towards the aforementioned 'Casa de Dash.'

"That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen in my life and it shouldn't be possible..." He said, slack jawed.

"Well, you ain't seen nothin yet," Eva laughed as she stretched out her wings and gave a few experimental flaps. "I'm pretty terrible at this, so try to keep your laughter to a dull roar..." She said as she crouched down and flared her wings. With a burst of strength she kicked off of the ground and flapped her wings hard, lifting sloppily off the ground and quickly gained altitude and speed towards the floating cloud house.

Her flaps were well synchronized, if amateurish, and she carried herself in the correct direction, if only because of the close proximity and size of her destination. James watched in mute fascination as the pegasus mare rolled over in mid air and crashed, spine first, into the side of the cloud structure.

Then, in spite of all rationality and logic, she bounced off the wall and fell down onto a protruding ledge before finally coming to a stop, without falling through the cloud. He watched as she shook off bits cloud that had stuck to her, as if they were balls of cotton and not just consolidated water vapor.

"Hmm, yeah I must have crashed the plane and this is just the pre-death hallucination."

~~

"So it flies without any magic at all?" Trixie asked. She was finally sitting upright on the bed, the bandages wrapped around her head were the only indicator that anything had happened to her at all. "Even pegasi use magic, maybe not to the same extent as unicorns, but still."

Tommy sighed, 'Magic... right...' he thought privately. "Well, Magic is just science that isn't fully understood yet. But heavier than air flight isn't really that difficult when you understand the fundamentals of it. Lift and thrust versus gravity and drag." he explained.

"Hmmm" she hummed, "So, if it's that simple, you just make it move fast enough and it doesn't fall?"

"Well, no, not quite that simple. The shape of a wing causes the air to move faster over the top than the bottom, which causes lower pressure on top, which... 'pulls' the wing upwards. The faster you go, the more lift you generate, though some strange things happen in the transonic range... but that's getting too far ahead," he answered as he picked up a sheet of paper and started folding.

"What are you doing?" the unicorn asked as she leaned in closer to watch.

"Making an example" he answered simply as he threw the finished product, a paper airplane, across the room. It flew in a lazy left arc, skipped off of the far wall, and came back to land on the opposite side of the hospital bed. "No magic involved. Neat huh?"

Trixie pulled the crashed airplane over to her with her magic and examined the folds in the paper. "It's so simple, just looking at it, why haven't I ever seen a pony make one before?" she asked in wonder as she turned it over, rolling it this way and that as she unfolded and refolded the thing.

Tommy stared intently at the unicorn, deep in thought. "Well," he started, "I guess if a full third of your species can fly, and another third can use magic... you wouldn't really have a vested interest in developing heavier than air powered flight, not when you can just magic something up or get a ride from someone else."

Trixie shook her head, "No, that's not right, there was a time when the three tribes were separate, Earth ponies could have used something like this, they weren't getting any help from the pegasi or unicorns but... they didn't. At least, I don't think they did, if they had they'd still have it right?"

Tommy shook his head, "I don't think so, I mean, we've only had powered flight for around a hundred years, and in the early days it was more of a show piece than anything actually useful. They became useful quickly, and we've come a long way, but... It makes sense, I think, where you're all at right now."

'Well, as much sense as magical pony land can possibly make I suppose.' he thought privately with some amusement. "So, magic?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Trixie smiled, "well, to start with, all magic comes from your anima, the strength of that magic is based on the anima flow within a pony."

Tommy blinked. "Anima... as in animating principle, spirit or soul?" he asked, his mind went back to studies of latin.

"Exactly, I thought you didn't have magic where you come from?" She asked.

"We don't have magic but we apparently share the concept of anima," he answered. 'Even if it is widely dismissed as false...'

Trixie nodded, "Well, the first step is to find your center of anima, your anima well, the spring from which you draw your magic."

~~

"Dash..." Eva said softly as the pegasus finally answered her front door. The prismatic mare looked like she'd seen better days, the bags under her eyes and her even-more-unkempt-than-normal mane spoke volumes of how she must have felt.

"Oh, you're up and around then." the surprised blue mare said as she opened the door wider, "And Pinkie is up here too huh?" she asked rhetorically as she stared at the bizarre flying contraption piloted by the pink pony.

"Yep! Pinkie too!" the earth pony answered with a laugh.

"Well, I came to see you, and, well I'm glad Pinkie is here too because I need to apologize to both of you, for the other night. Pinkie, I'm sorry I ran out on your party like that," Eva started as she turned to face the pink pony, "And Dash... I'm sorry that I put you through... know, the whole... crashing thing..." she trailed off as a blush graced her face as her apology lost cohesion and fell into awkwardness.

Dash put a hoof up on the other pegasus's shoulder. "Don't worry about it, you were trying to help a friend right? Nothing wrong with that, is there Pinkie?" she finished with a glance over at Pinkie, who was still hovering above the cloud in her candy-striped contraption.

"Yep, Dashie's right, friends are important, and helping friends is even more important, so I don't mind at all, besides, now I can throw an even bigger and better party for all three of you!" the pink party planner proclaimed with unrestrained glee.

Eva smiled, "Well... I really appreciate that, both of you. That said, one of my friends is down there right now," she said, gesturing with a hoof towards the road below, "and I'm sure he'd love to meet you both."