Flugelhorn of my youth

As it turned out crystal airships were not known for their speed and right now could not run at night at all and it was meant for a full crew to work on it  so it took the airship a full two days and half to reach Ponyville but he was sure that with some tinkering he could get the speed up but then again he did take quite a few shortcuts building everything in the first place and had not even got around to making everything it needed to work right so working on it was a must but he got what he wanted and gave everypony something to think about.

But right now he needed to find a place to land as he looked though his telescope to land and soon found something near a cottage near  some patch of woods called Everfree forest on the map he had gotten from a resent trade but he wasn't too surprised when as soon as he landed his ship was quickly surrounded by many ponies.

As strange as it sounded this was exactly what he wanted because after being treated more or less like dirt even though he wasn't exactly treated fairly himself by Sombra but ponies being ponies looked at the crimes he committed for Sombra and not the fact that Sombra wasn't nice to him too and while they said they wanted to forget that was more part of Sombra's curse than their real desire to not remember. If they ever questioned in public it was in a way that you'd only notice if you were close enough to overhear it when they thought no pony but the pony they were talking too was in earshot.

He lowered the gangplank to see that Cadence was giving him the stinkeye because she was a obviously a little miffed with him for his showboating and the one called Celestia had a frown that was about one fourth as bad as Sombra's in a disgruntled mood.. So that was the pony he heard though the underground gossip line that had invited Discord to a party and that made him wonder if she needed a reminder that she was supposed to be a ruler first and have fun second..   The purple one had to be Twilight Sparkle and she did her best to look stern but looked more like she was trying to copy Celestia and was no where near as regal...Yet.. ..

The last Alicorn had to be Luna that he heard about and she looked more demure than anything else.. Something about her expression reminded him of the only real reason he had stayed so long in the empire if had not been for her he would've left as soon as Sombra was defeated  but love had a way of making ponies do very stupid things even if it was one-sided but when she had married a few months ago.... That when he decided to do something about everything and change his life and he wasn't above spreading his misery. He was a pirate after all..

Spike was there as well and he wanted to see how much of hero he really was for himself.. The rest he really didn't care about but that odd creature had to be Discord and he might prove interesting as long as he kept track of him.

" Well I wish I could say I'm surprised you are all here but I'd be lying mostly because I wanted you here." Aircutter said crisply

" You could've just wrote some pony! " Twilight said as soon as he said it

" Oh please like I had a reason to trust anypony in the empire to deliver my mail; Besides I don't do polite very well.. It's a pirate thing and I'm a pirate...Well ex-pirate since I don't steal anything that belongs to anypony anymore but my point is I'm a unrefined pony and never will be refined. " Aircutter said in his gravelly voice that sounded as unrefined as he said he was.

" Pirate thing?.. Are you THE  Captain Silver Aircutter as in the one who worked for Sombra? " Cadence suddenly asked with a surprised look because she had always thought he had left the empire shortly after things had calmed down considering his past.

" Ah so you have heard of me I was wondering about that since you never went after me or the others who had to serve Sombra personally" Aircutter said

Twilight turned to look at Cadence " You know this pony? " She asked as she looked at her.

" Not personally but after you left the crystal ponies started to remember more stuff and told me that there were ponies that he made work for him but there was one young orphan colt that he took in as his personal righthoof and he stole stuff and did things for Sombra  but since I heard it may not have been by choice for any of the ponies  I let the matter drop for all the ponies that personally worked for him and felt that all the ponies should be given a second chance but one name did come up many times during my questioning abut Sombra and what he did there when he ruled and that name was Sliver Aircutter! " Cadence said as she looked thoughtfully at Aircutter

" Yep! That's me! He kept beating me until I agreed to work for him but I managed to hold out until he took my eye and wing..  After that I worked so well as his personal pirate that my cutiemark ended up becoming a crystal pony pirate flag..." Aircutter said as he pointed to his cutiemark

" But a cutiemark  don't work that way! " Twilight stared say until Aircutter held up his hoof to hush her and she looked a little vexed about it but let him say whatever it was he had to say.

" That's true most of the time.. Not all the time.. A young pony if they are young enough can be made to require another cutiemark to the point they become good at something other than what they love to do and once they do get that cutiemark it changes them forever and also Sombra wasn't exactly a good father figure though he was the closest thing I had to one for most of my life and what's more he knew that trick so thanks to him I got a pirate cutiemark.. " Aircutter said with a small grumpy snort to think that this pony would think she knew it all which she didn't!.

" What I don't understand is how you could build something like this under everypony's noses and how you managed to escape me before I could do something. Shining Armor said as he looked at the airship..

" Well aside the fact I made it in a warehouse that all  ponies avoided because Sombra used it for he own ill gotten gain and other unsavory things.. Also It's not really that hard to make airships because it mostly uses the same crystal stuff that the buildings are made of with a few adjustments t make it lighter and stronger.. I mean have you not ever wondered how the buildings were made or what they were even  made of? It's really quite light stuff in spite of it's looks and when they are done working on it os not your normal crystal.

I used most of  the scrolls that tell you how to make airships and that warehouse wasn't exactly empty of stolen stuff when I first got there.. Some of went into the airship and the rest I traded for what I needed since the owners are long gone now and there's always a way to get what you need or want to know if you don't mind looking for the shady shops that deals in shady stuff and I am a pirate and pirates go to shady shops to find what they need or want to know..."

" As for escaping you..No offence but if I had to guess I'd say those guard skills of yours have been dulled quite a bit since you got married and you do have other duties on your mind like helping to run a empire among other things ,,, BTW,,,, I heard that the guy you have to looking into who was taking your desserts is the one who's taking them...Those shady shops are plenty good for all kinds of gossip.."  Air Cutter said with a smirk that made Shining Armor want to punch Aircutter's face with his hoof  but he didn't because he wasn't that kind of pony though he was tempted but he did make a quick mental note to re-hone his guard skills and to look into the matter of the disappearing desserts and maybe find a way to wipe that smirk of this pony's face without planting his hoof into Aircutter's face.. But right  he more annoyed by the  desserts right now; Cadence made those for him to enjoy; Not some other pony!!

" I see;  As for this airship...  What do we do about it Princess Celestia? " Shining Armor asked as he looked at her.

" There is nothing illegal about owning one or running it around but I do ask that you do say something to somepony about it before you move it around from this day forward. "  Celestia

" Yeah and if he don't then me and the Wonderbolts  will put the brakes on him...Hey what's so funny? Rainbow Dash demanded to know when Aircutter started laughing in such a gravelly way that most of the others thought he was sick or something.

" Oh please the Wonderbolts are little more than a bunch of glorified air born showoffs and are nothing like a real air defense team! If you said somepony  like my grandfather would stop me then I'd believe you but quite frankly all of Equestria has not had a real air defense team since my grandfather's! Now If he was still around I wouldn't have gotten two feet off the ground and as for what they call the military these days.. Their main role is to guard the princesses because there's not much in the way of other uses for them which made it easy for me to get away and I did catch them by surprise. " Aircutter said

Rainbow Dash almost shoved her face into Aircutter's face as she flew to him; YOU TAKE THAT BACK! The Wonderbolts are greatest air team in history! She said with a mad look on her face.

" If you mean they are the greatest modern air team I might mildly agree with you but the greatest air team in history was my grandfather's!" Aircutter said with a snort as he got in her face.

" Oh really? Then why have I not heard of them?" Rainbow Dash said with a snort as the two of them shoved each other around with their heads.

" Because they died trying to stop Sombra from taking over the Crystal empire more than a thousand years ago because my grandfather was none other than the leader of the 301'st Airbones squad !" Aircutter  said and Twilight, Cadence and Shining Armor gasped in shock as if they heard something unexpected because they did!!!

Rainbow Dash looked at them when she heard it.. " Don't tell me you know what he's talking about Twilight!" She said as she flew to them.

" in a way yes; Cadence knows a little more than me but she has been sending a few books she thought I might be interested in and one was the history of the Crystal Empire's air defense force.. It told of a  team that was on par with the Wonderbolts long before they were around I didn't say anything because I know how you love the Wonderbolts." Twilight said as she suddenly looked very interested in her hooves digging into the dirt to avoid looking at Rainbow Dash.

" No way! Seriously? Cadence? " Rainbow Dash looked at Cadence with pleading eyes.

" We are still working on writing abut the history about the fall of the empire to Sombra's control but  from what I learn there was an attempt to stop Sombra by the only other defense the empire had other than the tower and that was the Airbones squad but they all died attacking him and defending the empire" Cadence said with a calm face after making with her I need to relax breath.

" See! Now that's out of the way is there any other questions here or are we done here so I can see what my new town has too offer now?" AIrcutter asked as he looked at them

" WHAT? You mean you want to move here? "Rarity asked with shudder as she thought about this, this unruly and unrefined pony living in her fair town!

" That is the reason I came here" Aircutter said with a shrug.

" But why? I mean there must be heap of towns and other places you can go too. " Applejack asked as she looked at this pony trying to understand his motive for moving into Ponyville of all places to go to even if it was the nicest place in all of Equestria as far as she was concerned..

" Yes but none of them have the princess of friendship in them and yes I know about that too.. Shady shops have all kinds of info if you can find them and know what to ask for and while I'll never be refined I do hope to learn to how to make friends  since I have no clue how to make friends. " Aircutter said as he looked at their reactions which was mostly a little surprised.

" Oh I know exactly how you feel! I have such trouble understanding friendship and just when I think I understand it I learn something new like not going around trying to send ponies away to another reality! I have a feeling that maybe we can learn together and maybe even be friends seeing how we have something in common!!! " Discord said as he popped next to him and now was dressed like a pirate and hugged him but Aircutter didn't look so sure about being Discord's friend...

" Weill I suppose as the Princess of Friendship I have to help him too and maybe I can help but first tell me everything you know about your grandfather so I can write it all down for the sake of history! "  Twilight said as she began to push him a little towards her castle

" But I was so young when all happened! " Aircutter protested as he dug into the ground a little

" You know enough! Now talk if you want my help!"  Twilight said as she pushed him even harder causing a little ditch to form.

" Me and my big mouth!" Aircutter said as most of the ponies left to leave Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor behind.

" You think he will be ok with them? " Cadence asked as she watched Aircutter finally give up and followed the others.

" Yes; He knows that he needs help in learning to be a friend and I think he is off to a fine start even if he is quite unrefined. " Celestia said as she made a mental note to ask Twilight to write a report on how he was doing later on.

" I think he will be fine.." Luna said with a small smile

" In any case now that we know why he came here I think we can leave knowing he's in good hooves. " Celestia said

" I agree though it may not take him as long as it will Discord... I'll meet you at the train my dear" Cadence said as she flew off.

" I just hope he don't hurt twily's or any ponies feelings because he's got quite the bad mouth on him" Shining Armor began the walk back to the crystal train.

Finally only Rainbow Dash was only one left as she sat in midair flapping her wings just enough to stay in the air and looked like she was sitting in the air and she sat there and sat there and finally said what was on her mind before she went to join the others.

" The wonderbolts are still the better team!!!!!" She said loudly to her self.