//-------------------------------------------------------// The Aerial Age -by TuffScruffy- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Preperations //-------------------------------------------------------// Preperations The wonders of the advancement of today's technology. What a wonderful thing. Though I never would've thought that I will be experiencing such wonders. Though the drafting letter I'm holding and the Canterlot's royal guards in front of my doorstep remind me that I will be having that experience. Reading that letter was an amazing experience already, knowing that Celestia herself signed me off for such an assignment. It's so appreciating that the Goddess of Light chose me over all the others in the town. I mean sure I made some impressive knicknacks here and there with flight but this was.....just wow! Though I am pleased with the letter and the assignment it doesn't seem the royal guards were not pleased with me. I haven't realized I was standing there with a gaping mouth for more than ten minutes. "Excuse me sir. Would you mind if you prepare your luggage for the trip? We don't have that much time to wait." said the royal guard to the left impatiently. The other guard was growing impatient as well. Waking up from my trance I immediately blushed of embarrassment. "S-sorry about that. I'll be in the carriage in a few minutes." I closed the door and ran upstairs to pack up. While leaving the guards at the door I believe I heard a hint of a sigh from one of them,giving me the indication to hurry up. Obviously. Ok what do I need for the amazing trip I'm going to have? Suit, leather jacket, toothbrush, toothpaste....Oh man I got a lot to pack! I ran from room to room getting the basic essentials of keeping hygiene and fresh. Also need to get my official license and maybe the certification? Camera as well. It took awhile. Definitely more than a few minutes. The guards outside also most definitely lost patience in waiting as they were banging the door saying to hurry up. Luckily though I got everything I need. Including the extra stuff as well. Camera. Check. A brand new journal ready for writing my day to day happenings. Check. Daring Do book. Check. Flashlight. Check. First ai- I was cut off going through my mental checklist when the guards yelled that they were going to leave. Oh crap! I busted through the front door with all of my bags of luggage coming with me. The guards was not prepared with such a sudden action, thus was toppled on with a dozen cases and bags and me of course. This also led me to have a very frustrated and annoyed group of ponies in armor to not say another word to me the whole trip to the Canterlot Aircraft Center. <<(0)>> The Canterlot Aircraft Center. What a splendid sight. It is a grand building towering that center of what seemed to be a see-through dome-like structure surrounding it. Inside the dome was like a park that's just indoors, with gleaming white lights emitting from the flames inside the tall lamp posts. There were fountains and other decor as well, making the experience in this wonderland more enjoyable. But what really caught my eye was the skyscraper in the middle. It was tall. To be honest I think that this height of the building is taller than the gleaming tower inside the Crystal Kingdom. It was jaw-dropping. And to think we are entering such a place makes me want to explode of excitement......wouldn't that be a mess. The carriage jerked to a stop. The guards got out of driver's seat and stood outside the carriage's door. One of the guards opens the door while the other goes around back to grab the luggage. "Welcome to the Canterlot Aircraft Center, Mr........" The guard took a quick look at the drafting letter for some reference on what my name is. ".....Mr.....Clowdski? Is that how you pronounce your last name?" The guard questioned out of frustration of not being able to sound out my last name. I mean really is my name really that difficult to understand? Fortunately for the guard I guess you can say he pronounced my last name sorta right. But just in case there is no misunderstanding in the future. "Just call me Aerian." As I got off the carriage however it seemed that the guard still didn't understand how to pronounce my name, judging by the way he is scrunching up his muzzle like he just heard the most absurd thing in history. I mean come on how can you not pronounce such a simple name compare to thousands of other ones in the world? Ugh Celestia really needs to let them get some sun some time. My thoughts suddenly changed when the front doors to such a building opened by itself when I stepped near it, revealing the contents inside. It was just one room, the lobby I'm guessing. There was no other doors on any of the walls around nor stairs. The only thing that was in the room was an empty desk with an old looking bell on top of it. Wondering where everypony is I walked back outside to ask the guards if there was some sort of misdirection when they were looking over the map. No one was there. The carriage remained but there wasn't any golden armored ponies anywhere. My luggage was gone too. I was checking everywhere around the carriage for my gear and personal items when I heard some sounds inside the building. I started to overcome a sense of nervousness. I went back inside the building to see where the sound was coming from. The desk? I went over to the desk to see there was a letter written on top of desk. It seemed to be directed toward me as my name is mentioned in the letter. Dear Aerian Cloudski, I apologize for not being at the desk for a moment as I am intertwined in multiple problems that need to be solved. Don't worry if you see nopony right now, they are already in the building. Your luggage was handled as well so don't worry about that either. Again apologies for the confusion and for not being able to guide you to the main building. Just hit the bell's button on your right and enter. I'll be with you shortly. P.S. Welcome to Canterlot's Aircraft Center, Mr Cloudsky. From your attendant and guide. How peculiar. I took my focus off the paper and to the service bell. Just press it huh? I looked around to see if there was another way. There didn't to be any other route so here goes nothing. I pressed down my forehoof on the button, sending out a ringing sound. Nothing else happened. My ears drooped a bit. Was this it? Nothing!? My stuff is gone, the royal guards are gone and even the receptionist is not here either! What do I do? Do I file a report to the police or something? I lam my head down on desk, frustrated at the current circumstance. Doing so made another click sound. Then all of a sudden a loud rumble started to erupt in the room. The floor was shaking very much so like a earthquake. Though this was a fairly unusual earthquake that I have ever experienced. It seemed that the source was coming fro behind the desk. As I walked around the desk however the sound stopped. So did the rumble. When I went behind a desk I was flabbergasted to see a hole right behind it. Thanks to the bright lights from the room I was able to make out a long staircase leading to the darkness. There was no way I was going down there without a light. Luckily I had my pack on. I took off my bag and searched thought it for the flashlight. Bingo. I out back on the pack and picked up the flashlight with my mouth. I looked down in the dark abyss this stairwell was leading me to. It was ominous but the receptionist said he or she will meet me shortly. Gulping down my nervousness and anxiety I walked down the stairs with the only light source being clenched between my teeth. As I walked down the stairs the rumble came back. The entrance to the stairwell closed leaving me in complete darkness. <<(0)>> The stairwell seemed to continue for a long time. Either that or I'm just that out of shape. I'm just gonna go with the first reasoning. It seemed that I was walking for about thirty minutes when a white light suddenly appeared a little more ways down the staircase. Curious I walked a bit further down the staircase to see the staircase end a few more steps, leaving a flat surface instead. When I got to the flat surface more lights started to appear down what seemed to be a hallway. At the end of the hall way there was a brightly lit room. I trotted toward it cautiously, looking behind me occasionally out of habit. When I reached the brightly lit room the room turned out to be a sort of elevator. On the wall was another piece of paper. It was a letter directed to me again. Dear Aerian Cloudsky, Hello once more, Aerian. Apologies that you had to walk down the long stairwell down here. The executives were planning to change that all together but this way it just makes this route more unnoticeable. But I digress. I wrote this note to inform you what to do once you are in the elevator. Press the bottom button which will bring you down to a lower floor to the transport station. When you get there go to the terminal. You will know what it is once you spot it. I left another note next to it for instructions on how to use it. Will see you soon. From your attendant and guide I have to go down farther? By the time this ends I'll end up in tartarus, guaranteed. I sighed and turned around to see a panel with two buttons on it. One button said the Transport Station. The other said The Spire. I was quite curious in pressing that button. But I didn't want to prolong my arrival any longer so I just did what the note said and pressed the Transport Station button. The doors closed and the elevator descended, leaving me to my thoughts, wondering what will happen when I get there.