Author's Note

I'm proud to present the first edit of my first story that has consumed my free time for several weeks. Please forgive any spelling errors. I wrote it on notepad, and was often tired when writing. I plan on going through and fixing errors. I tried to make it so the clop chapters are optional, you should be able to skip them if you so wish and still get the story. This is my first story, so any feedback, good or bad, would help me out. Also, Rob, if you somehow manage to find this story on the internets somewhere: DON'T READ THE CLOP CHAPTERS. Don't make this weird. Please.

Monday

Monday

The sun is shining in through my window. I can hear carts rolling and ponies bustling. I crawl out of bed and look out my window at the beautiful city of Manehattan. Up above, there are pegasi flying and clouds drifting east. Way down below are the streets, filled with earth ponies and unicorns walking about, all heading off to work. I yawn and walk downstairs to get some food, when I hear my door buzzer ring.

My best friend and fellow flyer Aerodrome is at my door. I can hear her yelling through the speaker, demanding that I pick up. I approach the speaker/microphone and respond to her rather urgent and irritated summons.

"Good morning."

"Wing Nut, you were supposed to be at the airfield an hour ago." she says in a rather harsh tone, cutting me off.

"It's only 9 o'clock isn't it?" I ask in the nicest tone I can, as I glance at my clock and realise that it's 1100.

"No, It's eleven." she responded angrily. "And I think you need to start taking this team more seriously. It is YOUR team after all."

"I'll get some food and I'll be over in about half an hour." I respond, not paying any mind to her most previous comment. "Just head over to the field, and I'll meet you there."

"Wing Nut, we need to go now-"

"MMMKAY, bye." I say as I hang up the intercom.

There are a lot of things I dislike. One of those things is having my mornings interrupted (even if it's my fault, like now). Should I have been nicer to her? Probably. Was I ever going to be nice to a pony telling me that I had to get to work over the intercom, one minute after I wake up? Probably not. Unless they brought donuts or something. Or cake. Cake is good.

So in the next few minutes I pack my saddlebag, eat some slices of leftover pizza, lock my door, and set off for my desk/flight job at Trotter Field. The sky is especially beautiful today. There is no wind, no rain, and no worries as I fly effortlessly through the scattered cumulus clouds, leaving pony-shaped holes in them as I go.

A short 15 minute flight, and I arrive at the field. I bypass security with my card and enter my office. Aero is sitting at my desk, just staring at me.

"Hello." I say simply, to the desk-invader.

"Oh, hello. fancy meeting you here."

"I work here. That's my desk."

"Is it? I apoligize, sir. I didn't know."

We both sit (or stand, in my case, because my chair was being used.) in silence for a few seconds, before she begins scolding me on my lateness. Despite the boringness of her lecture, I sit, and listen, and sit. and listen. And after a long one minute, I say ok, and shoo the desk-hijacker away. After all, I have work to catch up on. I begin typing.

Life Below
by Wing Nut

I kneel down, ready to spring
preparing for my flight.
I feel the wind, spread my wings,
and take off into the night.

Not many ponies enjoy flying
quite as much as I.
I savor every single moment
that I'm in the sky.

I slowly gain altitude,
and creep closer to the clouds.
The only sound I hear is wind,
No announcers or cheering crowds.

For being an airshow pony,
almost any time you fly,
there are ponies down below,
screaming and watching you up high.

I look down and see Manehattan,
And all of the glowing lights.
The city is so beautiful
Especially from this height.

I can feel the wind all around me,
and as it powerfully blows,
I close my eyes and think
about how my life is below.

I sit in my office at the airfield
and fill out paperwork.
I read a bunch of study guides,
and people treat me like a jerk.

They act like I'm a lesser being
Because I'm not with the wonderbolts.
I've wanted to start my own team
since I first flew as a colt.

And now that my dream is finally realised,
they act like we're the worst.
Yet we still get the crowds wound up,
And in contests, we often come first.

I open my eyes and clear my mind,
And stop thinking these unhappy thoughts.
Now's not the time, I say to myself,
I should enjoy being aloft.

The ponies below mean nothing right now.
They will mean nothing later on.
Because I know I will fly, until the moment I die.
And I'll be happy all along.

"What a productive hour and a half." I tell myself. "Time for lunch". I head down the hall to the break room and get out my boring turkey sandwich. Thirst sets in and I head to the refrigerator to grab some juice. And that's when I see it. A two-leveled turkey club sandwich, sitting on a plate with a sticky note, reading "Aerodrome's sandwich. DO NOT TOUCH!"

It's a beautiful piece of food. Sitting alone in the fridge, with the interior light shining gently on its soft toasted exterior. Underneath are glistening tomatoes, crunchy lettuce, juicy turkey slices, and meaty bacon strips. All held together with a light coat of mayonnaise.

And it's all mine.

I swap my turkey sandwich with the delicious looking club and escape back to my office. I devour the food in less than a minute, and dispose of the evidence, being the crumb covered plate. Aero will surely find out soon, and she's going to assume it was me that ate it (though it was this time). It's 1245 and Aero usually doesn't eat until 1300, so I have at least a little calm before the storm. I'm prepared for the consequences and the yelling. It was worth it.

My computer is still on and I see that my poem is still open. I save and close it, and underneath the window is a message from 12 o'clock telling me to finish the performance flight plan for the next airshow season. "There's the message" I say, remembering that I was supposed to be awaiting it, and then be ready to work on it. There was alot of typing I had to do if I was to catch up on the work I missed. I begin the task, because I may not care about some of the work I do, but when it comes to flying and airshows, I'll do anything I need to. Performing in shows is and always was my dream after all.

1301 and I hear a knock on my office door. I brace myself and say the words.

"Come in". Aero enters the room silently and stares at me. I stare back at her.

"Yes?"

"You stole my sandwich."

"No."

"Please, I can tell that that crappy single slice of turkey sitting between two pieces of bread came from you. It looks exactly like the sandwiches I've seen you eat before." She reasons.

"I've never had a sandwich like that before." I respond and look back at her with a straight face. We sit in silence for a second and then we both begin laughing calmly. Aero looks past me and out my window towards the airfield. I turn around and look out as well to see three pegasi approaching the strip lazily.

"You knew it was me who stole your sandwich." I say simply.

"Who else would have stolen it?" She laughs back as she takes a seat in the chair on the opposite side of my desk. "So have you finished the flight plan for this season's shows?" she asks seriously, leaning in towards me over my desk.

"I-"

"No?" She cut me off.

"Nope. I forgot about the fact that I was supposed to be waiting for the message. You'll be happy to know that as soon as I remembered, I got started on it though."

"Good." She said simply. "I'm glad to see you giving a buck about something. So... as soon as you finish it, we have the rest of the day off, because we won't need the plan until tomorrow at noon."

"Great. That should be easy enough." I say, rotating back to face my desk.

"My work for the day is already done." she says. "Maybe I'll surf the internet, or plot against you for stealing my sandwich, or maybe have a nice clop. I have nowhere to be. Mind if I stay here?"

"In my office? Only if you're going to be clopping or plotting against me." I reply jokingly.

Suddenly another knock came on my door.

"Do you know who that could be?" I ask Aero.

"No idea." She responds.

"Enter!" I call to the door.

Our team's manager trots through the door to our suprise, and she looks disheveled and tired. She closes the door behind her the instant she enters the room.

"Oh, Vertigo. It's you. What's up?" I ask. "Is something wrong?"

"Well..." She says. "Some news ponies are here and they want to interview you."

"So yes?" Aerodrome replies irritably.

"News ponies..." I grumble quietly.

Vertigo continues. "They want to discuss the previous airshows that you performed in at Rainbow Falls and Cloudsdale. They want to know the secret to your success, your motivation, where you started flying, and other miscellaneous interview crap."

"Please don't let them in" Aerodrome replies bluntly as I sit silently. I knew she would respond for me.

"Very well." Vertigo says. "I'll try to keep them out."

She trots silently over to the door and begins opening it slowly. Suddenly there is a major commotion outside, and the three ponies Aero and I watched fly in burst into the room and pushed right through Vertigo. Aerodrome hung her head and looked at the model pegasus on the corner of my desk as the three invaders lined up happily in the back of the room.

"Come in." I mutter quietly, making Aerodrome giggle. "Can I help you?" I ask the ponies as Aero gets up to leave.

"I'm going to go do that thing now." she says as she exits my office.

"Hi." Begins the red mare on the left. "My name is Paper And Quill, I'm with the Manehattan Times, and I'd like to ask a few questions regarding some previous airshows you performed in."

"Can I say 'no'?" I ask, much to the chagrin of the news ponies. They ignore me and just start asking questions.

"You won first place for 'most entertaining performance' at the previous 'Cloudsdale Airshow'. How do you, yourself, feel you did during that show?

"'I' is not how I would look at it. I see it as more of a 'we', because we are, after all, a TEAM. Anyway, I think we did well. It was certainly a blast to perform for all of those ponies, and our last performance routine was great I think."

The stallion standing in the middle scribbled down what I had said on a notepad swiftly. He looked focused and intent with his boring and tiring job, and completed writing only to look up and prepare to write even more. Quill continued.

"So, do you think you deserved the award you received that day? What other awards do you plan on going for?"

"WE." I say angrily. "WE are a team. WE work together. If you try to credit me alone for everything one more time, you're going to have to leave." I relax for a moment. "I think our team deserved that award just as much as any other team did. The judges just liked us the most. Maybe it was the bright paint we use to dye our feathers when we perform. Ponies seem to like that." More scribbling and then momentary silence.

"What are the next airshows you, Wing Nut, are going to be performing in? which ones are you excited about?

"Get the buck out of my office. I have work to do." I say simply. I warned them and they didn't listen. They walk glumly to my office door and I dismiss them.

1325 and Aerodrome returns to my office.

"How long did it take to get ride of them this time?" she asks as she prances through my door.

"Like, five minutes" I answer. "They know what they did."

"More 'Wing Nut is the only pony on the team' reporters?"

"Exactly."

1530 and Aero and I have completed the flight plan. She wasn't obligated to stay and help, but she wanted to. Now we have a perfect plan that we created together and both agree on entirely.

"That's it then." I begin. "We're done until tommorrow at noon. Nopony else is flying with the two of us this season either, so it should be nice and easy. At least I hope. We'll need to practice extra hard, because the next airshow is on friday." A momentary pause, and she asks that familiar question.

"Want to grab a drink?"

"Yeah. That sounds good."

1. We got some imported Apple Family Cider, which is in it's best season now, and went out to eat dinner as well. We talked and wandered for about an hour, and now here we are. Sitting in my loft on the 17th floor watching TV. There is some stupid show on about alien ponies and how everything ever accomplished by ponykind was actually the work of aliens who were working alongside Princess Luna. Suddenly I realise that Aerodrome is asleep. How long has she been asleep for?

I check the time and decide I should probably go to sleep too. So I turn off the TV, pull the blanket down from the back cushion of the couch, and fall asleep with Aerodrome in my hooves.