A Week In The Life Of Wing Nut

by Wing Nut Kaelon

Rating: mature
Tags: Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Romance, Sex, Random, Slice of Life
Length: 24468

The first ever Crystal Festival airshow is fast approaching, and Wing Nut and Aero are excited to fly.

Wing Nut and Aero are excited to fly for the first ever Crystal Festival airshow on Friday, but first they have to learn the flight plan and get to the Crystal Empire. First person story about their trip.

Published 2015-12-08 03:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2015-12-08 03:40:01 UTC

Tuesday

Tuesday

Aerodrome wakes me abruptly with a nudge and a loud

"Get up, it's time to get over to the airfield." I groan, open my eyes, and blindly look around my living room. The bright sun shining into my face makes it impossible to see anything at the moment.

"There's no school today, I checked." I mumble back to her, barely awake.

"Get up." she orders me sternly as she heads over to my fridge and steals my food. I clumsily rise off the couch to challenge her, but I'm too tired to actually do anything about it. I watch in slight dissapointment as she takes my last few pieces of pizza over to my table and finishes them.

"I guess that's payback for eating your club yesterday." I say as she looks at me happily.

I'm awake now and I find another sandwich in the fridge. I eat the food, grab my saddlebag, and leave with Aerodrome to work. The sky is completely devoid of clouds and the sun is shining brightly down on Equestria.

"What a perfect day to learn this season's routine." I say to Aero happily.

"I agree. There's barely even any wind today." We glide lazily next to each other and talk about Celestia, flying, food, and other things for the rest of the flight to the field.

At 0945 we land on the strip and trot into the administration building. Aero retreats to her own office, while I make sure Vertigo, our team's manager is at the field. I knock on her office door and she grants me entry.

"Are you ready to begin the new season today?" she asks excitedly.

"Ready as ever. I hope we can memorize all of the maneuvers in the set before Friday."

"I can move the performance over to Saturday if you need me to."

"No, we can do it."

"Oh! that reminds me, Wing Nut, I've managed to find a train to the Crystal Empire for 80 fewer bits than before."

"That's great news." I say. "So what's the catch?"

"It leaves tonight at 1800."

"Oh. Does Aero know?"

"I'll tell her too."

"Fair Enough."

I walk over to her desk and sit down in the visitor's chair.

"Now, what did you need to see me about?" she asks me.

"Nothing, I just wanted to make sure you were here. Also that you were prepared to supervise us and help us with learning the tricks."

"Yeah, I'm always ready to help you guys out." She begins. "Especially when it's just you two and no other ponies to deal with. I know both of you well, so it's alot easier than having to learn what other ponies are like while simultaneously trying to train them."

"I know exactly what you mean. I'm glad we're all ready to go at noon." I reply.

"See you then." she says as I exit her office. I've already forgotten about the train tonight.

Next, I go to Aerodrome's office. She's sitting at her desk, reading over the flight plan we created yesterday. She glances at me for a second, and instantly returns to her reading.

"I guess you didn't feel like knocking?" she says to me.

"Nah. I don't need to knock. It's not like you have anything to hide from me that I haven't already seen or learned of."

"I guess that's true." she laughs.

"So how has your day been so far?" I ask.

"You've been with me since you woke up."

"That's true. In fact, YOU were thing that woke me up." I laugh.

"Oh, please." she retorts.

We are in the first stages of getting ready to fly. I clean and polish my goggles as I sit in Aero's office with her. She is currently standing in front of me, with her snout buried under her right wing. I can't help but notice that her right hind leg is bent and lifted slightly off the ground, as if she is focusing extremely hard on whatever she is doing.

"Whatcha doin'?" I ask her happily, causing her to pull her face out from under her wing.

"I have a feather here on the inside of my wing that won't straighten out, no matter what I try." She spread her wing to show indeed, a feather bent outwards and sticking out several inches. I place my goggles on my chair, approach slowly, and try to rub out the feather with my nose, but it just won't straighten.

"Weird." I say. "I don't think I've ever come across that problem before."

"I haven't either."

"Is the feather broken?"

"I don't think so."

"Hmmm." I finish, picking my goggles back up off of the chair. She sits down next to me in another visitor chair. I resume polising the final smudges off of my lenses as Aero watches me worriedly.

"I hope this doesn't become a problem." She says, continuing to preen herself even more. After about ten more minutes of trying to fix it, she finally gives up and continues getting ready.

At 1150 we are ready to begin practice. We are standing next to the landing strip alongside Vertigo, who is reading documents on a clipboard. Aero's goggles are all scratched up and I wonder why she doesn't replace them. A few more Pegasi fly in and land together, and then the sky is ours.

All three of us take off together, flying side by side, with Aerodrome on my right. We fly straight up as soon as we leave the ground, Vertigo is lazily and inaccurately following us, as she is only here to help us memorize the routine.

"Finish the loop" she says to us, and we obey. We messily fly around the loop, then level out a few meters above the ground.

"Delta into pass" she yells, and we both fly away from the other, her going left, and me going right. Continuing the bank, we turn around and begin heading straight for each other.

"Pass into hammerheads!" she calls. "And a hug!" We pass each other, gliding up into a stall as we go. I can see Aero mirroring my flight path a few meters away. After a second of hangtime, and as we slowly drift closer, we tuck in our wings and begin to fall back down to the ground. Aero and I grab each other and embrace as we fall, out go the wings, and then we let go and level out in opposite directions before we hit the ground.

"Nice!" Vertigo calls to us. "Now come here!"

Aero and I fly back over to Vertigo, who is hovering over where we split during the delta. She turns the clipboard in her hooves to face us and begins to speak.

"This is something new I am trying. I have a checklist for the different parts of this flight plan. Once I believe you deserve a perfect score on a maneuver, I will check the box." She states.

"Did we have to use experimental methods NOW, when we have less than a week to memorize an entire show?" Aerodrome reacts as I look at the list indifferently.

"This should help speed things up." Vertigo answers. "I think this will work well. Why would I have incorporated it if I didn't think it would work?"

"Fine, but if we aren't ready for the Crystal Festival airshow, or whatever it's called on Friday, I'm going to blame you." Aero finishes.

"What's our next move?" I interject, breaking the spontaneous hostility.

"Next, we are doing..." Vertigo looks at the clipboard. "Seperate immelmann's to face each other, then form a column over the crowd, Wing Nut in back. After that, we begin the solo section. Aero will go first. To signal a finish, she will fly straight at you. Wing Nut, enter how you please, and to signal a finish, fly up and wait for a brohoof from Aero. Once you've gotten it, get in a line, and return to me.

"Let's start from the hug." I say.

"I'll stay close on your solo, to get that brohoof done with as little idle time as possible." Aero replies.

Aerodrome and I fly up to the area we hugged, grab each other, and drop back down into the routine. We break off and soar up towards where the audience would be. Aero drifts slowly into the way of my flight path, and I join up behind her. We fly past, and far behind the "stands" and once we're far enough to be out of sight, we about face and fly low right above the backs of our nonexistent audience. As we pass over the audience reference point, I break off and fly vertically into the air above the stands, up far enough to be out of Aero's way. Aero remains flying straight over the imaginary stands. She begins a series of flips, rolls, twirls, and even some aerial ballet, before finishing with a high speed pass.

I notice her flying towards me, and I turn to face her as well. She passes me and then it's my turn. Unlike her, I begin with a high speed flyby. Because that's just how I roll. I turn around and when I'm passing over the audience, I glide slightly up, tuck in my wings, and lean into a backflip. They always seem to like that. I perform a bunch of other sexy maneuvers, then corkscrew vertically for Aero. She flies at me, bumps my hoof, and I accelerate as fast as I can towards her in the direction she passed me in. We then stop and fly back towards Vertigo.

"That was great, ponies." She says to us.

"Yeah it was!" I agree as Aero looks over at me.

"Do you know what you are doing next?" She asks us with a smile.

"We have a long series of extremely difficult maneuvers that Aero and I came up with yesterday, correct?"

"Yup. Once in formation, you fly out in front of the audience and you do corkscrews around a central point in between you. Then you surf on Aero's back for-"

"Woah, woah, woah." Aerodrome interrupts. "What? I never agreed to have that in the routine." After a brief pause, she looks at me angrily.

"I may have added that one this morning when I was getting my goggles out of my office." I say. "Just do it. Please?"

"Fine." she agrees.

"Anyway," Vertigo continues, "After you've surfed around for a little bit, you two are going to recite a few lines. You are going to instantly deteriorate the maneuver quality and pretend to lose track of what you are doing. Then, you meet in front of the audience. Aero will yell: "I thought we were diving next!" Then Wing Nut, you yell: "This performance's quality just took a dive!" Then after a brief pause, you guys will dash straight up and fall opposite ways to form an 'M' shape. Got that?" Both Aero and I nod excitedly.

We begin at the brohoof. I hover in the air in the area I ended the solo in, and she flies in and slaps my hoof. I take off after her and we fly side by side back around towards the audience. Then, I land on her back, fold my wings, and begin surfing. She rocks back and forth in the air like a pendulum, forcing me to keep my balance until we reach the audience, then she banks around to the right as I jump off of her back. She starts climbing quickly as I fly back out in front of the stands. She turns, flies back to me, and yells her line.

"I thought we were supposed to take a dive next!"

"This performance's quality just took a dive!" I yell back. Pause. Then we shoot up simultaneously into the air. We are flying belly to belly, watching each other as we ascend, slow down, and begin to fall back down. We fly away from each other, slowly increasing the speed at which we approach the ground in two seperate arc shapes.

"NOW HALF OUTSIDE LOOPS UPWARDS AND PASS EACH OTHER!" I hear Vertigo scream. I begin an outside loop a few meters above the ground, flying down towards the sky. I can see Aero mirrorring me from across the aerial stage when I look down. Then suddenly, Vertigo yells something. But I didn't hear what it was she said, because I was distracted by the sudden sensation of my head crashing into something, and a pain shooting up my back.

I wake up in the dirt, surrounded by scattered cardboard boxes and blank printer paper. A red unicorn with a brown mane is staring down at me with a concerned and apologetic look, and I can see Aerodrome and Vertigo flying towards me hurriedly from behind her.

"What the buck did I hit this time?" I tiredly ask the mare.

"I was making a paper delivery, and I wasn't paying attention to where I was bringing this cart." She explained. "And I walked right into your way. I'm so sorry."

"Another 2000 sheets of paper?"

"Yeah, for a 'Wing-Nut'." She says. I see Aerodrome land behind her followed by Vertigo.

"UGH, THIS HAS TO STOP." I mumble loudly. Suddenly, a burst of pain goes off in my head, making me cringe.

"Wing Nut, are you okay?!" Vertigo yells to me, as the unicorn flushes and realises that I was the pony that was to recieve the paper.

"I think I'm fine." I say. "I've been in worse."

"Like that time that little colt threw a rock that hit you in the head, and then you crashed into that pile of rocks?" Aerodrome asks enthusiastically.

"Exactly."

Vertigo looks at the two of us dumbly.

"Didn't you spend a week in the hospital that time?" she asks as the red pony backs away slowly. "How could you be so casual?"

"Well, I'm fine now aren't I?" I answer.

"At the moment? No!"

"yes I am. shut up."

1320, and I'm in the break room eating food that was left unattended for too long, and watching the TV. The three of us decided it would be best for me to not fly for the rest of the day. At 1325 Aero walks in.

"Aren't you supposed to be in the infirmary?" She questions me.

"I was hungry, so I left." I answer. "Now I'm here." She pauses for a moment before agreeing.

"Ok."

She sits down next to me happily, yet without a word. We watch TV in silence for a minute, before she begins to talk.

"I wish you would be more careful. For a few moments there, I thought you might have been dead. The way you didn't make any attempt to make your landing any softer. You just tumbled."

"I think I was unconscious for a couple seconds right after the collision." I say peacefully. "Hey, did you know that paper cart I hit was another delivery for me, that some idiot had ordered and sent my way deliberately to annoy me. Again."

"I don't care about the paper!" she says to me sternly. "Are you really okay?"

"Well, I have a terrible headache, and my back and neck hurt from taking the full brunt of a crash, but other than that I'm fine... For the most part."

"Maybe you should go home until the train leaves tonight?" Aero suggests.

"Nah. I'd rather stay here."

"At least come with me to my office."

"Okay."

1330 and I've eaten plenty of break room food and followed Aero to her office. She is watching me thoughtfully while I sit in a chair and look at a painting of The two of us performing at an airshow in Fillydelphia. It was presented to us by a fan and I let Aero keep it for herself, because she really liked it. I really like it too.She breaks the silence.

"There's nothing to do. We are supposed to be practicing right now, but we can't."

"I would rather be practicing as well, but if I'm not going to seek medical care, the least I can do is avoid flying for the rest of today. What really sucks is that we're going to be sleeping on a TRAIN tonight. What a way to begin the healing process."

"I don't like it either Wing, but We can't fly all that way, and we got the tickets cheaper than they were before. I'll help you out tonight if you need me too. You deserve a good night's sleep after that crash."

"You make things so much easier for me, Aerodrome."

"Vertigo found the tickets."

"But Vertigo never talks to me about the downsides of what she does for us, nor tailors anything to me based on my personal well being."

"That is true." Aero concludes. "I am pretty nice."

"This trip should be pretty good, though. Even if we are going to be sleeping on a train tonight."

I get out of the chair and walk over to Aero's window, Which unlike mine, on the other side of the building, has a great view of Manehattan. I can see dozens of little colorful ponies flying around in the sky, and hundreds walking around on the sidewalks in the distance.

"Maybe we should pack for the trip." She suggests suddenly, breaking the momentary silence. "You know, because we leave today."

"That's a good idea. I'll get my saddlebag ready th-" I pause as another burst of pain shoots through my head. Aero is looking at me strangely. "It's just my head." I tell her.

"That's not good, Wing. You should get that checked out."

"I'm fine."

"Please?" she asks, giving me huge puppy dog eyes.

"I'll return to the on-site medics and let them look at it." I say with a sigh. "But I don't think there's anything wrong with me."

"Good."

I've returned to the medics, who said I was okay and sent me off with some headache medicine, and I've also packed my saddlebags up with my flight stuff.

"Did you pack what we need for the trip?" Aero asks me the very moment I enter her office.

"They said I'm fine, thanks for asking." I say sarcastically. "But yes. And before you begin reading down a checklist of things I need, I have the feather paint, my goggles, a copy of the flight plan, a map, 200 bits, and a cold turkey sub.

"Good. I have 150 bits, my goggles, and an extra pillow."

"An extra pillow?"

"Yes. For extra softness."

"Ok then." Just then, a knock comes from Aero's door. Aero calls to the knocker, and Vertigo enters the room.

"Good. I went by Wing Nut's office, but nopony was there." she announces. "I'm here to make sure you ponies are ready for the train ride. It's a long one."

"We were just talking about that." Aerodrome answers. "Both of us are ready to go."

"I'm am ready to go." I say dumbly as I let one eye drift away in some random direction.

"Is he okay?" Vertigo asks Aero. "Please don't tell me that the crash broke him."

"I don't know." Aerodrome replies concernedly. "He can't remember what the medic ponies said." Vertigo gives me a concerned and scared look as she leaves the room. As soon as the door closes, Aero and I crack up laughing.

"Nice quick thinking."

"You too."

1800 and we're on the train, which has been moving for about five minutes.

"This train is taking the most back-flank route possible." I declare as I read the rail map. "We're taking the North route through the Foal Mountains, then we're stopping at Canterlot for an hour, then we're going almost straight West underneath Cloudsdale towards the Unicorn Mountain Range, back Northeast through Galloping Gorge, and then up to the Crystal Empire. Luckily, Equestria is relatively small, or we probably wouldn't even make it there by Friday."

"No one said the Friendship Express was direct." Aero replies.

"At least not on the one route we need it to take." I say.

"I still can't believe that you lied to me about having a brain injury." Vertigo complains.

"We didn't tell you I had a brain injury." I say.

"Yeah, I said that he forgot what the medics had told him." Aero Agrees.

"Whatever."

"Oh, don't be like that, Vertigo. It's all in good fun."

"Good fun?" She sounds angry now.

"I was the one that got hurt."

"Stop it, ponies." Aero interrupts. "We should all just get along with each other and drink some alcohol in the food car." She adds with a wink.

"Sounds good to me." I say.

"I'd rather get some sleep." Vertigo says as she gets up to go to the sleeping car. "I'll see you later." We watch her leave in silence as an angry, sad aura lingers in the cabin. More silence.

"Ok. let's go!" I say quickly.

Tuesday Night (Clop)

Tuesday night

The food car is absolutely packed with hungry ponies trying to get something to eat. This particular food car is organized like a restaraunt, with tables and chairs on the right side, a tiny bar on the left, and a waiter's podium at the entrance. It even has fancy dark wood and velvet themed decor. A sign hanging on the podium states that there are 30 minute wait times for tables. And that's the first thing I see.

"That's ridiculous" I say to Aerodrome as we walk in.

"Yeah, it is." she agrees. I can tell she's looking at the same thing I am.

"Luckily we're not here for food, I can't imagine waiting for that long to get some overpriced 'special Friendship Express soup' or whatever they're selling."

"You've got that right. We'd probably never get out of here."

The waiter pony runs over to greet us about ten seconds after we enter, and tells us that there are no tables available.

"Sorry, but we are very busy tonight, and cannot accomodate any more ponies here at this particular time. There is another car that sells cheap snacks and drinks on the opposite end of the train." And then he runs off. Aero and I look at each other simultaneously.

"Let's go?" She says.

"Yup." I respond simply.

We make our way towards the end of the train, going through all of the passenger and sleeping areas, until we find the alternative food car. This one is quite the opposite of the fancy restaraunt train car. It has a single counter/bar on the left with a donut menu, and a drink menu. The walls are all white and it has, overall, a diner theme. There is a brown stallion unicorn with a black mane behind the counter. As soon as the stallion sees us, he goes from slouched over and leaning on the counter with a frown to standing naturally and in a friendly manner. We walk over to the counter and take seats as his smile switches from fake to genuine.

"Hello, my name is Cheap Treat. You're the first customers of the day, and I'd like to welcome you."

"But it's past six o'clock."

"Yes. And you're the first." He says, with the slightest hint of sadness.

"You don't have to pretend to be happy for us." Aerodrome says to him. "We understand."

"Oh, but I am happy. I'm glad to see ponies coming in and not leaving instantly after they realise that this isn't another sleeping car. Yesterday, not a single stallion, mare, or foal bought anything."

"Why wouldn't they want donuts and drinks?" Aero asks him.

"That's what I don't understand!" he says happily. "I like you two." His smile is now huge and completely real. So would you like some of said donuts and drinks?"

"Do you have strawberry donuts?" I ask immediately.

"I'll grab one for you." he says, as his horn starts glowing. And a strawberry donut emerges from behind the counter and places itself in front of me.

"What about you, mare?" he asks Aero.

"Glazed." Aero answers.

"My favorite." he says as he gets her a glazed donut. "Tell me if you want anything else."

"Actually," Aero begins, "Do you have any Mare In The Moon?"

"The beer?" he asks.

"Yeah" Aero answers.

"I think so, hold on." He checks behind the counter for a few seconds and pulls out a bottle. "Do you want one too?" he asks me.

"That sounds great, actually." I answer. He grabs a second one. "Let's hope this doesn't get too out of hand."

We've been at this bar for about an hour. I stopped myself at three drinks, but Aero drinks much more often than I, and has had five, yet somehow is only 'slightly more drunk than me' (lies, lies, lies). Cheap Treat stopped selling them to her after that. I've had five donuts and am getting a slight stomachache, but five drinks is just unfathomable to me with an airshow coming up. The three of us have been conversing since Aero and I sat down at the bar. Treat has really become a friend to us. I like food. He makes food. We just clicked.

We learned that he has been trying to open up a pastry shop, but he can't seem to find a place to do it. I invited him to come check out the empty building across the street back in Manehattan, and he accepted. Turns out, a while ago, he just brought some of his products on the train, and they said he could stay, so he did. And that's the closest he could get going to a business.

"I'd be glad to escape this train." He says. "It's getting me nowhere anyway."

"So are you coming with us to the Crystal Empire and back to Manehattan?" I ask him.

"Sure. I'd love to. Maybe I could even buy that building back in Manehattan you were talking about."

"This train's... is too slow." Aero slurs.

"Wow." I say as I look at Aerodrome. "Really? You're not drunk?"

"No. I'm fine" She says.

"There's a reason I stopped selling you drinks." Treat laughs.

I look over at the clock and suddenly realise what time it is.

"Maybe we should go to sleep."

"Yeah. Less go back to th' sleepy car and find something to do." Aero says with less than perfect pronunciation.

"Like go to sleep?" I suggest. Aero just laughs.

"I guess I'll see you ponies back in here tomorrow morning then? Maybe around ten?" Treat asks me.

"Yup. I'll see you then." I respond.

Aero and I leave the food car and head to our sleeping rooms. Only, she doesn't go to her own. She follows me to mine.

"Aero, what do you want?" I ask her as she enters the room and pushes the door closed with her nose.

"To have some fun."

"You're way to drunk for that."

"I was only faking to get you out of that damn bar. You never would have left if you weren't concerned about me in some way."

"You're probably right- Wait, so you had five drinks and you're still sober?"

"Barely. Just keep in mind that I drink a lot more than you."

"Bu- Whatever. It doesn't matter."

Suddenly she places one hoof on my chest and pushes me back into my bed. She has a playful and excited look in her eyes, and her wings are unfurling just barely. I look at her black and yellow mane and think about what is unfolding. She shushes me when I open my mouth, crawls over to the bed, and lies down against me. I'm lying on my left side, the upper half of my body propped up on my front leg. Aero is lying on her back up against me.

"You sure you want to do this?" I confirm with her.

"Why wouldn't I?" She asks back.

She brings her snout up to my neck as I sit motionless, and begins to rub it gently with the side of her face. I still don't move, out of fear of her stopping. She slides her snout up to the bottom of my chin, and then back down to my neck, where she pauses. Up my neck, down my neck, up my neck, down my neck. Only this time, she doesn't start moving up. She just continues down extremely, beautifully, unbearably slowly.

I can feel her rest her left hoof on top of my flank as she stops moving down in front of my groin. She is breathing gently on my thighs as I accept the inevitable and begin letting my erection grow larger. She bumps the tip with her nose, sending a shiver through me, and causing my wings to start spreading slowly. The next thing I feel is her warm, wet, slimy mouth closing around my shaft. I close my eyes and let her work, Her breathing getting slightly quicker as she moves back and forth along my penis. In. Out. In. Out. Her tongue is swirling around my tip as my head begins to spin as well. Then she stops. She suddenly pushes me onto my back and clambers on top of me.

If they weren't before, my wings are open now. She is standing over me, her flank above mine, and looking up at her facial expression, I can see how much she really wants to do this. She lays her chest on mine and rests her chin top of my snout. She presses her groin against mine, and I feel her rubbing her vaginal lips along my length. She releases a heavy breath onto my forehead and gasps gently. Then she slides up my body, guides it in, and slides back down to where she was. It enters slowly and steadily as she fully extends her own wings and begins to hum quietly.

"HMMMMMMMM."

"You all right?" I manage to ask her. She responds by beginning to thrust back and forth.

"I'm just fine." She squeezes out between humps. Her hot vagina is massaging all sides of my shaft at once as she slowly moves back and forth along my body. I can feel her walls rubbing gently and without tension, yet somehow still generating enough friction to pull and push on me. Then she stops.

"Is there something wrong?" I ask her.

"Nothing at all." The reason she stopped becomes clear as she places her hooves on my chest and sits up, her wings twitching as if they can't decide whether to be out or in. She is now in a sitting position, with her hind legs at my sides, and her front legs on my chest. Looking up at my best friend, wings fully spread again and biting her lip, I can see in her eyes weeks worth of stress slowly vanishing into thin air. She waits for a short while to continue the sex as she takes a moment to lean foward and rub her clitoris against my length. She begins to hum again as she does so, and is clearly enjoying this way too much. After about thirty seconds of doing this, she stops, stands my stallionhood up with her hooves, and sits her crotch down on top of it.

The sensation begins again as I enter her hot, slimy vagina. She opens her eyes and looks down at me with a tired smile, beginning to rise and fall as she does so. I close my eyes in return and let her move up and down, as I unconsciously bring my hooves up to rest on her thighs. She releases a grunt every few times she goes down, and the sound is making it even easier for me to enjoy myself. I open my eyes for a moment, and see her still looking into them. Based on her expression, she is obviously trying her hardest to make this a good experience for me. Suddenly, the train hits a bump, causing her to rise off of me momentarily, then slam back down, bottoming her out.

She laughs loudly as this happens, and her huge smile fills me with glee. She regains her balance quickly and continues her work, going up and down, up and down, up and down. I feel a pressure building up in my groin.

"Aero, I'm going to cum!" I warn. She says nothing, only continues slightly faster. The pressure continues growing. "Uuh!" I say without wanting to. She continues. The sensation is so powerful. Too great for me to smile, so my mouth just hangs open dumbly. Both of our crotches are soaked. It feels like all of the blood in my body is in my cheeks. I arch my back and thrust my flank foward into Aero as I release what I had been holding in. She hums slightly as I do so.

After a brief pause, Aero leans foward and lies down on top of me.

"uuuhhh." I say to her. She smiles and kisses me on the nose. "Would you like a turn now?" I ask her.

"Turn?"

"I know you were trying your hardest to make it good for me. I'm asking if you would like me to do the same for you."

"Maybe I would. I'd like to achieve orgasm tonight, too."

"Perhaps I'll get started then. Roll onto your belly and close your eyes."

Aerodrome rolls off of me and onto the bed and closes her eyes. I get out and go around the bed, behind her. At least as cose as can in this tiny room. I can see that her eyes are still closed. Lying down behind her flank, I can see my product dripping out of her, as well as her own. I lean in to Kiss the rim of the hole. Aero shudders as I do so. I take my hoof, place it on the spot where I had just kissed her, and then slowly insert the tip of it into the hole. I feel the same slimy sensation as I had before, along my shaft. Only this time it's on my hoof. I press my hoof downward and rub against the bottom wall. Aero begins to hum again, and I know I made the right move. I pull my hoof out, take a deep breath, and replace it with my snout. Pushing my nose in, I feel The walls tighten around it. I open my mouth slightly and stick my tongue out, licking the bottom of her marehood, and her clitoris. Aero's wings extend again, and peeking around her tail, I see her leaning her head back. She is humming loudly now.

I bring my tongue around in a ring shape, pause to lick her clit, bring it around. Pause. Around again. And then I begin to suck on it instead. She stops humming and lets out an almost silent moan instead. Continuing to suck and lick, I bring my hooves up and begin rubbing one on the underside of her groin, underneath where I have my face, and the other I place on top of her flank. She stops making any noise, begins to stand up slightly, and digs her face into my pillow. I can hear her breathing from back here, she is breathing swiftly and sharply.

Her silence boosts my confidence, and I pause, take a breath, and continue. My right hoof rubbing her belly, my left hoof hugging her flank, and my face buried in her crotch, I feel her shuddering madly. Her breathing is getting even heavier, her part is soaking my face, and she is slowly standing her back legs up higher and higher. Determined to pay her back, I take my mouth off of her clit, jam it in her vagina, and wait for the perfect time to finish this. After a few seconds, her breathing can't get any heavier, and I bring my mouth back down again to finish it. Intead of a suck or tug, I give it a gentle kiss. Aero Tenses up momentarily and then collapses onto my bed as I release her from my hooves. Her eyes are still closed.

Crawling over her and lying to her left, I see that she has a huge, blissful smile plastered across her face.

"How was that?" I ask her.

"It was okay. You'll have to try harder next time." She says. "Overall, I give it a 'B'."

"Wow. Thanks. You're so generous." I laugh at her.

"What about mine? How did I do?"

"I'm feeling generous, so I'll give it a 'D+'." I say smugly.

"Oho, then. I guess I'll have to try harder too."

"We should get to sleep now." I declare quietly. "Tomorrow we arrive in the Crystal Empire, and we are continuing to learn the routine. It shouldn't take long. We were the ones that wrote it."

"Yeah, this is going to be a great airshow." Aero whispers back. "On that note, You're right. we probably should be going to sleep now."

"Good night, Aerodrome."

"Good night, Wing Nut."

Wednesday

Wednesday

The sun is shining directly into my face from outside the window against my bed. I can feel Aerodrome breathing and lying against me with her warm wing spread and wrapped around me. The train is rattling and bumping around, and I wonder how I fell asleep in the first place. Oh, yeah. I was drunk. I'm glad I stopped at three drinks, because I can tell that I narrowly avoided a bad hangover. I can't get out of bed because of how Aero has me comfortably trapped under her wing, but that's ok. I look out the window at the passing scenery. Based on the all of the trees and cliffs, we're probably somewhere around Galloping Gorge.

About 10 minutes after I wake up, I feel Aero begin to stir. Her wing folds in slowly and she yawns contentedly. Rolling over to face her, I see that her eyes are opening and she's scanning me already.

"You woke up swiftly." I say to her. She has a look of suprise in her eyes as she realises that she woke up next somepony. Then she closes them and laughs, obviously remembering why she was here. "Did you sleep well?"

"I kinda crashed last night, so I slept like a filly." She answers enthusiastically.

"Good. So did I."

"Nine fifteen. I should probably get out of this bed now." I say after a period of silence. I crawl over Aero and out of the bed, and I stand in front of the small mirror. My wings are puffed up and scruffy looking and my mane is completely unrecognizeable as my own. The front is folded up on top of my head, the top is bent out sideways randomly, and the back is puffed up and sticking out at every angle.

"Wow." I turn to Aero. "What did you do to my mane?" She rolls over and looks at me.

"I didn't do anything to your mane." She says. "I never touched it." She begins preening her feathers with her nose. Then a knock comes from the door. I turn and look through the peephole to see Vertigo standing outside the room.

"Wing Nut, I can't find Aero anywhere." She says through the door. I open it a crack and she pokes her head in before I can poke mine out. "Wing Nut- Oh." She sees Aero lying on my bed, looking disheveled. Aero turns embarassedly to look at Vertigo as soon as she hears her voice, and their eyes meet. Vertigo backs out of the room slowly without another word. Aero's face is red.

"Aren't we supposed to meet the stallion that sold us drinks last night?" I ask after a minute of awkward silence.

"Cheap Treat?" Aero asks, forgetting about Vertigo for a moment.

"Yeah. aren't we supposed to meet him at ten?"

"I think so." Aerodrome says as she crawls out of the bed and stands next to me.

"Well, let's go then."

"Give me a minute, I want to fix my mane."

Aero and I are sitting in the food car. Out the window I can see that we are descending down a hill from the top of a cliff, and entering the barren, empty field that is the last stretch before the Crystal Empire. Aero is looking out the window too, appearing to be deep in thought. A series of rattles at the door break her concentration. Cheap Treat enters slowly, walks over, and sits down next to Aerodrome.

"Hey, pegasi."

"Hi."

"Hey, Treat."

"I'm going to call you two 'pegasi' from now on. Anyway, correct me if I'm wrong." He begins excitedly.

"Go on." I reply.

"From what I remember, The plan we made last night is, I'm going to get off at the Crystal Empire with you, then I'm going to go watch the games, and when you two leave on Saturday, I'm coming with you to Manehattan, where there is an empty building up for sale that you know of, and then I can build my bake shop. Right?"

"Exactly."

"Ok. I couldn't stop thinking about it last night and I couldn't wait to ask." He says happily. "So... Would you pegasi like some breakfast?" Aero and I look at each other, and we don't even need to think about the question to know the answer.

"Yup."

The train just pulled up to the Crystal Empire station. Aerodrome, Cheap Treat, Vertigo, and I all step off of the train and form a small bunch on the platform. There is an impressive crystal train station in front of us. Vertigo leads our group in, and I'm amazed by the beauty of the building's interior. The building has glowing magenta walls, with a dark royal blue floor, and light blue windows that almost match my mane. Hanging all around us, there are banners displaying beautiful depictions of crystals, advertisements for the crystal fair, and banners with some fancy design with a blue heart in the middle. It looks oddly familiar. Is it somepony's cutie mark?

"Aero, do you recognize that?" I ask, pointing my hoof at the banner.

"Yeah. That's Princess Cadence's cutie mark. She kind of rules this place." She answers.

"That's why I recognize it." I say with comprehension. The station is surprisingly empty, and we realise how few other ponies were on the train with us.

"Aren't ponies from all over coming to visit the crystal fair?" I ask Vertigo.

"I don't know. I've never been."

"I've been to the crystal fair before." Treat interjects with a high level of energy. "I had a food stand here once. The fair is mostly crystal ponies, with a few non-crystal ponies mixed in. Most of the very few outsiders are famous, or athletes, or performers like you. But everyone else is a crystal pony."

"Oh." Aerodrome says. "I would have expected more tourists to be coming."

"Well, we'll still have a huge crowd, I think." Vertigo states.

"I hope so." Aero replies. "So where are we headed first?"

"Well, the reservations I made for the hotel were for tomorrow night, but maybe the room will be empty, and they'll let us in anyway." Vertigo answers. "Let's head there. Follow me."

Vertigo leads us towards the massive tower in the center of the city. About two-thirds of the way there, we turn and enter a large building called the 'Quartz Quarters'. After a brief argument with the front desk pony, we get the room key and enter. Since we only made reservations for the three of us originally, Cheap Treat rents a room down the hall from ours.

"Here we are." she says as we enter the beautifully furnished room. Everything is made of crystal here, and a lot of them are translucent, so they project pretty colored light onto other pretty colored light emitting objects. The walls are a deep magenta, and the floor is a glistening blue. Scanning the room, I see it has two beds, a TV, a single armchair, and a balcony ovelooking the massive avenues, and more colorful buildings.

"Is every building here magenta?" I ask anypony that wants to answer.

"I hope not. That would spoil a large portion of the beauty this place has to offer." Aero says.

"Let's get unpacked, ponies." Vertigo orders us.

"1500" I say in response to Aero's asking the time. We've been up in the air for a while, finishing learning the routine. Memorizing the maneuvers hasn't been hard. After all, Aero and I were the ones that designed it. What has been hard is getting the maneuvers to look good. The later parts of the routine are a long string of difficult timing and tough tricks. At least there's nothing to crash into out here, We're practicing in one of the empty fields just outside the city. Thoughout the day some small groups of crystal ponies have come to watch us for a bit, giving us a reference point to use as the audience.

"Hey! Wing Nut!" Vertigo yells. "Are you listening?"

"Uh, yeah." I respond.

"Then head over there with Aero and do the maneuver!" She commands me.

"The cirrus break?" I ask, though I'm not sure what I'm actually supposed to be doing.

"No! I just said that we were ironing out the outside loops into passes!" she yells.

"Oh. I wasn't listening, I was thinking about something else." I say as I look down at some of the crystal ponies sitting and watching us.

"Wing Nut, Let's go! I'm tired, and I want to go back to the hotel, or eat, or sleep, or do whatever I find relaxing at the moment in time I'm done!" Aero adds to the yelling.

"ALRIGHT!" I finally yell back, beginning to fly slowly towards Aerodrome. "Geez, I haven't married you yet, Aero." I mutter to myself.

We begin with the downward archs, Aero and I flying towards each other, pull into the outside loops where I crashed yesterday, and we finish them this time, passing each other head on.

"Good!" Vertigo calls enthusiastically to us. "Now do it, and the maneuvers around it again until they're perfect!" Aero and I let out a collective sigh as we return to our starting positions.

The sun has set, the ponies have all gone home, and everyone is hungry. I can see the crystal heart glowing underneath the palace, far away at the end of the road.

"My wings hurt." I complain to vertigo as we trot down the road towards the hotel.

"It's not my fault you have such abnormally large wings. And that it takes so much effort to flap them." She responds.

"My wings hurt too." Aero says to Vertigo, bringing out massive sad puppy eyes.

"I'm not going to let you two deliberately annoy me this time, so you can manipulate me and get what you want." Vertigo responds smartly, stopping, looking at me, then looking at Aerodrome.

"Buck." Both Aero and I say.

We reach the hotel and enter swiftly, only to grab some bits and leave. But as we're grabbing our money, Cheap Treat shows up at the door to our room.

"Hey, pegasi." he greets us as his face lights up with hopefulness.

"Hi Treat." I say back.

"So, I'm just going to be completely honest here..." He responds nervously. "My day has been nothing but sleeping and sitting in my room alone, and I was wondering if maybe I could join you ponies in whatever you're doing? I don't want to be bored anymore." The three of us look at each other.

"Sure, you can come to dinner with us." Aero tells him.

"Oh, Thank you. I'll pay for myself so you don't have to."

"YES. You will." I state extremely angrily as I glare at him menacingly, opening my wings fully. He looks absolutely terrified of me as I do. "Relax. I'm only joking." I say after a few seconds, losing the expression.

"Oh." he says back, staring straight ahead. Then without another word, he turns and leaves quickly to go get his money.

"Was that wrong?" I turn and ask Aero.

"Just a little."

A few minutes later we have found a restaraunt. We walk in quietly and sit down in a booth together. This particular building has a high, arched ceiling. The walls are a deep, emerald green, lit at regular intervals by white crystal wall lamps. At the far end is a small stage with a thin, evenly lit waterfall running behind it, acting as a backdrop.

"This place is beautiful." I declare happily.

"You've got that right. I could sit and look around this building all night." Vertigo agrees.

"What do you think the stage is for?" Aero asks.

"I don't know, but I seriously hope it's something good. I had some loud pony 'playing' guitar in the hotel halls today, while simultaneously yelling song lyrics and stumbling around." Cheap Treat adds. "He was there for almost two hours, and I can't take any more bad music today."

I wave the waiter pony over once we've all decided what we want. He is a short maroon crystal unicorn with a red and pink mane.
"Hello, my name is Swift Quill, and I'll be your server tonight." He tells us in a usual waitery tone, looking over at Aero. "Are you ready to order?"

"Yes." I answer him.

"What would you ponies like tonight?"

"I'd like a salad." Cheap treat says to the waiter, who magically writes it down on a notepad.

"I'll have a plain cheese pizza." Vertigo says. Swift scribbles it down.

"Make it a 16-inch. I want some too." I add. More scribbling.

"I'm going to try the traditional crystal soup." Aero tells the waiter.

"Oh, excellent choice, for an excellent looking mare." He says to her, writing her order down extremely slowly as he leans in awkwardly close. The table is silent and Aero glances at me, then back at the waiter.

"Um... thanks." She says back, leaning away from him and into me.

"I'll be right back with your order, mare."

"What about OUR food?" I call to him as he prances away towards the kitchen.

"Oh, god." Aero sighs.

"Another one of these." I finish.

"Does this kind of thing happen a lot?" Treat asks me.

"Not a LOT, but certainly more often than it should." Vertigo says back to Treat.

"I belong to Wing Nut, and nopony else." Aero announces to the table.

"Belong?" I ask her. "I don't know. 'Belong' sounds kind of... well, possessive. I thought we were just best friends."

"Oh, please." Vertigo says sarcastically to me. "I saw Aero in your bed on the train this morning. I saw your ruffled feathers. Your disheveled manes. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out." Aero blushes, I flush, Vertigo smirks at me, and Treat says nothing and pretends he didn't hear any of what was said.

Ten minutes later, the food comes. Swift takes extra time to make sure Aerodrome knows that he got her an extra large bowl of soup. For no charge of course.

"So, are you ponies here for the crystal fair?" Swift asks Aero, and only Aero.

"Yes, we're performing an airshow in the stadium on Friday for the fair." She answers.

"Well, then you must be a pretty good flyer than, eh?" He nudges her, to her disgust.

"Yes, we're some of the best." She says matter-of-factly, obviously in an attempt to get rid of him.

"Hey! get out of here!" Vertigo yells at him. He's gone in half a second.

As we begin to eat our meals, an orange crystal pony walks onto the stage on the other side of the restaraunt with an announcement.

"Tonight, we have a very special event." He says. "After some hoop jumping through, and a lot of planning and asking, we have a very important pony, here to read one of his favorite books for you... This is Dr. Whooves, reading 'A Night In The Sunny Fields of Day'." A brown earth pony with a black mane, a tie, and carrying a book in his mouth walks onto the stage.

"Hello." He begins, placing the book on a small stand in front of him. "I don't like speeches, so I'm just going to jump right in to this book that I never realised is 'one of my favorites'." He looks angrily over at the orange pony for a moment, then begins reading.

"This starry night,"

"Aaaannd... I'm bored." I say to Aero. After she doesn't respond, I turn my head back over at the reader and listen.

"Where the flowers grow, and the sun takes flight from the sky. There you will find me at night. Crying. Weeping. Waiting for the night to come."

"...What?" I mouth silently to myself.

"The dead flowers that grow here, but don't, but do..." He trails off for a moment, squinting at the pages confusedly. "...Grow so slowly as I wait for you here, during the day, and there during the night."

"Why is my plate not covered in food?" I wonder. There's a deep philosophical question. Deeper thatn this story at least.

I stack up a few slices of pizza on to my plate, as the FASCINATING paradox of a story continues on.

"The black is not black at night. It is green. And during the day, it is blue." I let out a loud, stressed out sigh as the Dr. reads this part. I can tell by his radiating enthusiasm for this story, that it makes about as much sense to him as it does to me.

"Lest. Rest. Nest. Crest. Wrong. Pest."

"Could I make a million bits if I wrote a story like this, and published it?" I ask Aero.

"Anyone with writing skill of this caliber DESERVES a million bits. Now be quiet. I'm trying to hear the story." She says, shushing me.

I let out another sigh and rest my head down on the table.

2035.

"But, no. You may. But don't, as I don't want you to."

2040.

"The green is not green, but blue. don't you see?"

2045.

"Yes, I do not."

I am woken up by Aero.

"You missed the last section of the book!" Aero says.

"That's ok. I think I'll be fine." I reply.

"I think we should go soon. It's late, and since the book is over, we have no reason to stay here." Vertigo says. "Everyone, give me some bits, I'll pay for the food, and then we can leave."

"THANK CELESTIA!" I exclaim.

Thursday

Thursday

An alarm goes off, instantly rousing everypony in the hotel room.

"Uuuhhhh..." Aero groans next to me.

"Uuuuhhh." Vertigo responds from the other bed.

"Ugh." I add to the conversation. "What time is it?"

"Six." Vertigo mumbles tiredly. "We have a full day of flying to do today, also we're preparing for the festival, so buckle up." she continues.

"Why?" I ask tiredly, beginning to sit up.

"Because the festival's tommorrow." Aero grumbles.

All three of us stumble out of the beds simultaneously, and without another word, we travel down to the lobby, where the breakfast is kept. After a few minutes we are awake enough to fully function. Aero and I sit down and eat some prepackaged cereal bowls, while Vertigo tracks down a Manehattan Times newspaper.

"Wing Nut?" Aero begins.

"Yes, Aero?"

"...Nothing. Nevermind."

"Um..." I say. "...Okay."

The TV in the breakfast area is playing a local broadcast recapping the previous Crystal Fair.

"...tomorrow, the horns will play, the jousting will commence, and the games will begin again." the news pony says. "Last year we had a great fair. Not only was it the first fair in over a thousand years, but it was also the first fair under the rule of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. It took a bit to get the fair going, but by the end of the day, probably everypony in the Empire had visited it. Even if only for a while."

Suddenly, Vertigo slaps a newspaper down on the table.

"Wing Nut, Aero!" She says excitedly. "You're in the paper!"

"The Manehattan Times?" Aero asks.

"No, the Crystal Empire one!" She opens the paper and begins to read it to us. "These two Manehattan Pegasi, who are winners of countless medals in the fields of entertainment and flying skill, will be performing tomorrow in the Crystal Stadium for the Crystal Fair. They, among others, will be flying in a series of aerial performances and competitions, in the first ever 'Crystal Festival Airshow'." She turns the paper around. "And then it has a photo of you two flying through some clouds together."

"I don't know about 'COUNTLESS' medals." I say.

"We do have a lot though." Vertigo answers.

"Yeah, we do." Aero adds happily. "Now we're famous HERE too." a huge smile stretches across her face.

"Alright, let's get eating now." Vertigo tells us. "We have to get to practicing."

It's 1300 now. I've been practicing so hard that I lost track of time. Vertigo's clipboard is now covered in a myriad of check marks, to the delight of our team, and onlookers alike. They may not know about our checklist, but they certainly seem to be enjoying the increasing quality.

"Alright." Vertigo says. There's only one maneuver here not checked off."

"Is it the end?" I ask, already knowing the answer.

"Yes. You still have yet to fly that maneuver perfectly." she tells us.

"We've got all day though, so It's okay. Right?" Aero asks.

"Actually, we've got another fifteen minutes, because we have to report to the stadium at 1330. Lets go!" Aero and I scramble into formation, fly up, and dive into the maneuver. We take each other's hooves, open our wings, and we fall bellies-down toward the ground. Right before we hit the ground, we line up our lower hooves, flap up, and kick off of each other, flying in two arches in opposite ways. We both backflip, and land on the ground.

"Should we have done something less ridiculous for the end?" I ask Aero.

"Nah." She replies.

"That was merely ok." Vertigo yells. "DO IT AGAIN!"

Several times later, she finally gives us the last checkmark.

"Well, you're ready for the show tomorrow. Now run straight through everything one more time. For good measure."

"One more time?" I ask, looking up at her as she hovers in front of me.

"Only one more time." Vertigo confirms.

"Ok."

"Wait, nevermind. We have to get to the stadium now!" Vertigo realises. "Come on!" Vertigo flies off in the direction of the stadium, while Aero and I get a running takeoff after her, still wearing of goggles. The three of us race to the stadium. Luckily the top is open, and we are able to fly right in to the middle of the field, where a crowd of pegasi is about to be briefed on the airshow. We land clumsily just in time to hear the speaker begin. He is a white unicorn with a two-tone blue mane and a red hat.

"Hello, flyers. My name is Shining Armor. You may recognize me as the ruler of this fair empire, but for now, I'd like you to see me as a manager. Welcome to the Crystal Empire, to you foreigners out there." He yells. "And more importantly, everypony! Welcome to the first ever Crystal Festival Airshow!" A dozen enthusiastic pegasi cheer and stomp. "So, tomorrow, as I seriously hope you know, is the Crystal Festival. All of you are exceptional flyers, and that is why you were invited here today, so I presume you all have a performance prepared for the show. If you don't have one ready, please fully open your wings so I can see you." every single pegasus with open wings folds them swiftly, and the ones with closed wings don't move at all. "Excellent. So, I expect all performers to be at the stadium, in the green room, tomorrow at seven-thirty in the morning. For those of you that haven't been here before, there is a walkway that leads from the stadium to the Crystal Tower. At the end of the walkway, coming from the tower, you will see a blue door on the right. It leads to the green room, and also to a stairwell that leads to the field. Meet me there, bring what you need for the show, and wait for a manager to tell you or your team to go. The show will be run in sections. Each team will take a turn flying, followed by the soloists, then everypony together will fly three laps around the field, so the audience can see you. The airshow should end at around one o'clock, and after it, you are free to roam the festival or give out autographs or joust, or- Oh that's right!" He looks extremely excited. "Everypony participating in the airshow will recieve a pass to enter the jousting tournament at 2 o'clock, during the fair. You may use the pass to either compete or spectate, so choose wisely. Any questions?"

I turn excitedly to Aero. She knows what I'm thinking.

"No." she tells me.

"Why not?" I ask her.

"Because it's dangerous."

"And flying isn't?"

"We make money off of flying"

"I'll make some off of jousting too."

"NO." she says sternly.

"Fine." I pretend to submit. I'm not going to tell her that I'm competing whether she likes it or not. Shining Armor continues the briefing, going on about what order we will be flying in and other things. I zone out.

The not-so-brief brief is over and the three of us are trotting down the road together. We're just wandering, looking for a place to eat, buy a souvenir, a museum, something. And then I find it.

"Look." I say, stopping and motioning to the store window. "A glass shop. Maybe they can replace the lenses in your beat-up old goggles, Aero." She looks at me tiredly, then at the shop window, as I look at the beaten up old goggles on her head.

"Ok. I'll get them repaired." She says.

"I'm going to go back to the hotel and sleep." Vertigo says.

"Ok."

"Bye, Vert."

Aero and I enter the shop and approach the counter. There is a maroon crystal unicorn standing there.

"Hello, welcome to 'Red Ruby Glassworks'." He says to us. "If there's anything I can do to help you two, just let me know."

"Actually, there is." I tell him. "Is it possible to replace the lenses in these flight goggles?" Aero places her goggles on the counter and the shopkeeper takes a look at them.

"Hmmm." After a few moments he looks up at us. "Yes, This is a very simple fix. I could have this done in about two minutes."

"Cool. How much would it cost?" I ask happily.

"About ten bits. Or..." he responds excitedly. "I could replace the glass lenses with crystal ones. That would cost about fifty bits, but they wouldn't scratch, they would be clearer, and they're better protection. That would take about the same amount of time." I look over at Aero, who begins to speak.

"That would be great, actually."

"Could you replace mine too?" I ask.

"Sure." He says merrily. I drop my goggles on the counter along with Aero's, and he takes them through a door behind the counter. Taking a look around the shop, I see that all of the shelves are stocked full of colorful, beautiful, crystal and glass statues. I see sculptures of ponies, dogs, pegasi, unicorns, alicorns, hydras, and even some of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor.

I summon Aero over to me. "Aero, take a look at these." She comes over and looks at the figurines.

"These are cool." she says, looking all over the shelf at them.

"Yeah, they are!"

"So, Wing Nut." she asks me, with a sudden burst of nervous happiness.

"Yeah?" I respond.

"Are you nervous?"

"About the show?" I ask. "Should I not be?"

"Not about the show."

"About what then?"

She pauses for a moment, almost stifling a smile. The light reflecting off of the glass and crystals is shining in patches everywhere, projecting a pretty pallet of blues, greens, and reds all over her white coat.

"About everything."

"Everything?" I ask. "Meaning life as a whole?"

"Yes."

"Not really. I'm having a lot of fun with life, and with you."

She laughs nervously and looks back at the figurines. "Well. That's good. That's, uh..."

I have an idea of what she might be trying to ask me, but I can't be sure just yet.

"Is there something you want to ask me?" I ask innocently as I look at her.

"I..." she stutters. "I love you."

"Is that all?" I laugh. "We've been in love for years!"

"No, it's not all." she says, grinning ridiculously hard and looking up at the ceiling. I'm almost sure I know what's happening. Outside, a pink alicorn approaches the shop's window and looks in at us, but I don't give it any more thought than that. I have something bigger on my mind.

"Do you want to marry me?" I ask, looking into her eyes.

I can instantly tell that I guessed right. She looks at me excitedly and approaches without a word. She presses (more like jams) her snout against mine, closes her eyes, and begins to laugh.

"Yes!" She says. "You know me so well..." More laughing. "You can even tell when I'm going to ask something as crazy as that!" More laughing.

"I guess I do. So that means I was right?" I ask happily.

"Yes! I was about to ask that." Her laughs die down slowly. "So, what do you say? Would you like to marry the mare you've been friends with since elementary school?"

I stop and pretend to think hard. "Well, on one hoof..." I say, barely managing to keep my smile hidden. "I would be agreeing to commit entirely to you, but you're also the only mare I love, so that wouldn't really matter." Her smile is slowly fading. My joke is working. "I also would be living with you, meaning I would have to actually do my part for a change." She looks nervous. "We'd have to tell everypony, which is difficult and awkward..." She thinks I'm going to say no. "So... yes." She lights back up again. "We shall be wedded in the near future!" I announce to the tiny world around us.

"Congratulations!" a voice says from behind me. I turn around to see the shopkeeper leaning on the counter.

"Oh!" I exclaim. "How long have you been here?"

"Long enough." I told you the upgrades would only take a few minutes. The crystals were already cut."

"Yeah, I guess you did." Aero says.

"So, will you be paying in bits?" He asks.

"Yes." I say. I drop 100 bits on the counter and pull the two pairs of goggles in to my saddlebag. "Here you go."

"Thank you. Is there anything else I can help you with?" he politely adresses me.

"No, I think that's it." Aero responds. "Thank you." We head towards the door slowly.

"Good luck, you two." he calls to us as we leave.

"Thank you!"

The door closes behind us. Aero, who is standing next to me, leans her head over and presses it against my neck.

"You can't even wait 'till we get back to the hotel to try to seduce me?" I laugh.

"Nope." she responds.

Aero and I are lying in the bed watching some TV program on Appleloosa's history. I'm eating my turkey sub. Vertigo is lying on the other bed, her eyes have been switching between us and the TV every five seconds. She finally says something.

"With how close you two have been acting recently, I'd think you were getting married." she makes fun of us. "When's the wedding? I'll wear my pink dress." she laughs.

"We haven't decided yet. Also, if you wear that horrible dress I'll kill you." I say back to her, turning the joke around. She stops laughing instantly.

"Wait, you two are actually getting married?"

"Yup." Aero tells Vertigo.

"Since when?!"

"Fifteen-hundred hours."

"Congratulations, then..."

"Thank you." I say as I turn back to the TV, leaving Vertigo open-mouthed and speechless. Aero's eyes never left the screen.

"Maybe we should go to sleep. The fair is tomorrow." I break the momentary silence.

"He's right." Vertigo says. "We probably should."

"Well then, to sleep we go!" Aero says, flicking off the TV uncaringly with the remote in her hooves. She leans back and jams her snout up against my neck as Vertigo shuts off the lights. A period of silence ensues. I feel Aerodrome wrap one of her front legs around me and pull herself in close.

"I'm going to wear that dress." Vertigo says quietly from the other bed.

"Shut up, Vertigo." I respond. I feel and hear Aerodrome laughing slowly, and I think about what happened today. I lean my head in close to Aero and whisper in her ear.

"Saying yes to you was the best decision I ever made."

She smiles and rubs her nose gently on the bottom of my jaw.

Friday Afternoon

Friday

The Wonderbolts finally got less cheering than us. Cheap Treat meets us at the stadium exit.

"That was buckin' amazing! Nice job, pegasi." he says to us as we approach him.

"Thanks, Treat." I say. "That went a lot better than expected."

"It was the best I've ever seen." He enthuses to us. I need to get a stand and sell food at your shows."

Aero joins the conversation. "That sounds like a good idea. Hey, we're heading over to the jousting tournament, do you want to come?"

"Jousting? I didn't know you cared about that kind of thing."

"Oh, no." Aero answers. "He's competing. Some idiot decided that winning a joust against Wing Nut would win my affections."

"Was it the waiter from the other day?"

"Yes." I laugh.

We begin a short walk from the stadium to the jousting lists. I purchase a sky blue crystal flugelhorn as a souvenir on the way. As we approach the stands, I see Swift Quill among others already in armor standing at the other side talking. A black crystal pony with a white mane is standing next to the entrance.

"I'm here from the airshow to compete." I tell the black pony.

"I believe you. Come on in." he says back.

"Really?" I ask. "That's it?"

"Yup. Go right in. The equipment tent is on the left." He answers again. I wave to Aero and Cheap Treat as I enter the list boundaries, and head through the middle towards the tent. On one side of the tournament boundaries are stands and booths. The opposite side is only a small wall, where anypony at the fair can walk up and watch.

"It's you." Swift greets me as I approach the tent.

"Yup. It's me. One of the most loved ponies in the empire at the moment." I say smugly.

"We'll see who gets the love after I destroy you today." he responds, trying to sound mean. Some of the nearby stallions snigger at him as I turn and walk into the equipment tent. I see probably 15 stands with sets of armor, and a rack with lances lined up against the tent walls. I approach one of the stands and try on some golden yellow crystal armor. After a few minutes of fighting with some keystitches, I manage to get the armor fastened down correctly. I feed my mane through the hole in the top of the helmet and place it on my head, just to make sure it fits. It does. Suddenly, the tent door flaps open, and Spitfire, one of the Wonderbolts enters the tent.

"Oh." She says. "Hey. You're that pony from the airshow..."

"Yup."

"Great show."

"You as well."

"So, uh. You jousting?"

"Yup."

"I guess I'll see you out there then."

"See you out there." The painfully awkward conversation comes to a close as I exit the tent and remove my helmet. I walk over to the nearest staff member, who is an emerald green crystal pony with an even greener mane.

"Do you need training?" She asks in a friendly tone.

"No, I used to joust in school." I respond, equally nicely. "I was just wondering how this tournament was going to work."

"Oh." she says. "Well, this particular tournament is a joust a plaisance."

"So it's an elimination tournament?" I ask.

"Yes." she responds. "Very good. So this will last up to the end of the festival at midnight, and if a winner is not determined by then, the remaining ponies still in the match will recieve a final ranking in the tournament based on points."

"Sounds simple enough. By the way, what time is it?"

"It's 1:45." she says. "Which reminds me... ALL PONIES PARTICIPATING IN THIS TOURNAMENT MUST COME TO ME AND GET PUT ON THIS ROSTER!" She yells to everypony in the vicinity, holding up a clipboard.

"I'm wing Nut." I tell her. She writes it down with a pen in her mouth.

"Okay. Best of luck to you." She motions me away as a line of contestants form a line in front of her.

The stands have filled up almost momentarily, with even more ponies leaning on the lists on the other side. Aerodrome, Vertigo, and Cheap Treat are sitting in the bottom left corner of the stands, cheering and waving me over. I approach the wall and speak to them.

"Hey guys."

"Hey!" they all respond in unison.

"This is exciting. I haven't jousted in years."

"I just wanted to wish you the best of luck." Vertigo says.

"I hope you win." Treat adds.

"Yeah, go win my affections!" Aero finishes, laughing.

"Welcome to this year's Crystal Festival jousting tournament!" The announcer mare begins. "We've got a lot of great ponies competing here today, including two very special pegasi, whom you may recognize if you went to the airshow this morning. We have Spitfire, of the Wonderbolts. Cheering. And Wing Nut, of the Flying Sky Ninjas. Screaming and stomping.

"I guess some of these ponies were at the show." I mutter happily to myself.

"I'm tired of waiting, you're tired of waiting. Let's just jump in and get this tournament started!" she yells. "Our first up today are Motion Blur and Side Charge!" The cheering begins as the two ponies slowly take positions on opposite sides of the field. A horn sounds signaling the two of them to charge past each other. Both lances break on contact, and neither is stopped or knocked down, dictating a draw. They run against each other three more times before Motion Blur finally knocks Side Charge down. Cheering, then the next two ponies.

After somewhere around 12 rounds, I finally hear my name called. And I'm dueling Spitfire, because I guess somepony thought that was an interesting idea. I hook a lance into the holder on my armor, put my helmet on, and walk over to the far side of the tilt, with the stands on my right, and Spitfire on my left. The hornist rasies her instrument.

"STOP!" a voice yells from the staging area, causing the ponies in the stands to stop cheering. Swift Quill pushes through Spitfire, and takes her position from her.

"I'm dueling Spitfire!"

"I'm Wing Nut you idiot!" I yell in response. The audience giggles for a moment, stops, and then returns to their usual noisemaking.

"Ok then." the announcer says. "We have a challenge! Swift Quill will be jousting Wing Nut." I prepare myself to charge and aim the lance over the tilt towards where he should be running. The horn sounds and I canter towards him, keeping my lance aimed right in front of his chest. But his lance seems a little high. Maybe it's just me. I make hard contact with his breastplate for an instant, before feeling his lance smash straight into my face, knocking my helmet off.

I flip on to my back, feeling nothing but the smashing pain in my forehead as the audience cheers, realises where he hit, and begins anxiously trying to see if I'm okay from the stands.

"That was an illegal hit if I've ever seen one." the announcer says. "A point will be deducted from Swift Quill's score, placing him in last place, with a score of -1 points." I stumble to my feet as the dizziness slowly fades from my head, making the crowd cheer me on. "Wing Nut may wish to challenge Swift Quill to a fair joust once more. If Wing Nut does challenge him, because of his previous actions he will be obligated to play." the announcer says. "If Swift Quill performs another illegal move, he will have to answer to the authorities." Swift is looking at me nervously now. He knows what's going to happen.

"REMAAAAAATCH!" I yell, making the crowd go crazy. You can see Swift's smug spirit shatter in his eyes.

Placing my helmet back on my head, I find that the strap is broken. Without the strap, it will fall into my face and flap around as it pleases. I drop it onto the ground as I take up my position back on my side of the tilt. The crowd stirs as I leave it there and prepare to joust anyway.

"Wing Nut is taking a huge risk without a helmet!" the announcer yells. "This could be his last day alive if he's hit."

"Just go!" I yell. All I want to do right now is knock Swift back to where he came from, wherever it may be. I know I'm better at this than him.

The horn sounds and I charge towards Swift, propelling myself forward with my wings. I see him pointing his lance up again, and thinking back to when I used to joust in school, I slap my lance down on top of his, pressing it down and lining me up with his lower neck. I simultaneously feel his lance graze off my armor and mine contacting his. It shatters, and the impact sends him tumbling back to his starting position as the audience cheers even more enthusiastically than at the airshow.

"Four points go to Wing Nut!" the announcer yells. "One for returning after an illegal hit, and three for scoring against an illegal hit, following an illegal hit! And as for Swift Quill, he'll be answering to Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadence." Six royal guards materialize from the crowd on the festival side and drag him off towards the palace. I just smile at him. At the stallion that tried to kill me. He knows what he did.

1615.

"Fourth place!" Aero screams happily at me. "You got fourth place!"

"I did, didn't I?" I rejoice as I run over and hug her.

"Great show, Wing Nut!" The announcer interrupts us. "Spitfire, Grayscale, and Night Shade will be competing to win the tournament next."

"Let's get out of here once I take this armor off." I say to Aero. "Somewhere quieter where we can all talk."

"Or think even." She responds. I head back to the armor tent to return the armor.

"Wait." The black pony from before stops me. I look at him silently. "Keep the armor."

"What?" I ask confusedly. "You're not going to reuse it?"

"Crystal Empire traditions dictate that those skilled enough to take fifth place or higher in a tournament earn their armor."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Do I get both helmets?"

"Sure."

I prance away from the lists happily and approach Aero, Vertigo, and Treat, who are standing together waiting for me.

"You're keeping the armor?" Vertigo questions me.

"Apparently I've earned it." I answer.

"Oh."

We walk (or rattle and clank in my case) towards the center of the festival grounds.

"What else is going to happen today?" I ask anypony willing to answer.

"The dinner at the palace..." Aero replies.

"What?" Vertigo and Treat ask in unison.

"Oh, Princess Cadence saw us agreeing to marry through a shop window and invited us to the palace for dinner." I answer.

"Marry?" Treat exclaims. Aero and I both pretend to be looking up at the crystal palace in an attempt to avoid the question.

"We'll explain on the train." Aero tells him reluctantly.

Aero and I arrive at the palace. Her wearing my busted helmet, me wearing the non-busted helmet and armor, and both of us still have dyed feathers and coats. Vertigo took our bags back to the hotel. We get through the guards and confidently march up the stairs and towards the dining room, led by an escort of course. Entering the much-less-grand-than-expected room, we see that the prince and princess are waiting for us at the table already. We bow and approach the table, expecting a much more formal greeting than what we get.

"Hey, you came. Welcome to the Crystal Palace." Shining Armor says.

"Hello, you two." Cadence greets us. "I'm glad you decided to come today. We needed something to break the monotony. Please, take a seat." She smiles warmly and waits for us to speak, though she clearly wants to keep talking.

"Hello." Aero says.

"Hi." I join in as we settle into our seats.

"That airshow was fantastic." Cadence tells us. "Everyone that I overheard talking about it was blown away."

"Thank you." I say, Aero and I both smiling at her compliment.

"So, did you hear about the joust today?" Shining Armor begins a conversation. "Some crazy stallion tried to kill their opponent by lancing them in the head. Despite this, the..." He trails off as he realises that the helmet Aero is wearing is busted. "Oh... Was that you?" he asks me. I smile and nod at him.

"Yeah. The helmet was ruined, that's why I left it on the ground. The head injury actually wasn't that bad. The helmet took the brunt of the hit." I answer. "I got a new one right after." I tap my hoof on my helmet twice. "By the way, who won?"

"A retired military hoof guard named Grayscale won the tournament, right?" Shining asks Cadence.

"Yes, he's very skilled. I've met him before." she answers.

"But, that was you?" Shining asks again.

"Yes, it was."

"You should receive a medal for that." he says. "I need to present you with some kind of honor."

"For beating a cheater?"

"For sticking up for yourself in the face of pain and a murderous coward."

"Well, when you put it that way..." I laugh.

"We'll decide on what to present you with later." Cadence tells me.

"Thank you." I reply.

"So what kind of food do you like?" Shining asks the two of us. Aero and I look at each other.

"Uh" is all I can come up with.

"Do you have any of that traditional crystal soup?" Aero responds.

"Yeah. We've got crystal soup." Cadence laughs. "In fact, this is the only place you can get it. They don't make this stuff back in Equestria."

"Can I try some too?" I ask nicely.

"Sure. I'll tell the chefs to make you ponies some." she answers.

"Cool." I say, finally removing my helmet and placing it on the table next to me. Shining Armor summons the chefs, orders a bunch of foods to be made, and sends them off.

"So, do you know why we really brought you here?" Shining Armor inquires out of nowhere, looking at us.

"...What?" I ask, sitting up in my chair, suddenly wishing I had kept the helmet on.

"Oh, Shining." Cadence says. "You've scared them." she looks at me apologetically. "I'm sorry. It's nothing bad. We wanted to ask you about what makes you two love each other, how you fell in love, what you do together, things like that. We want to use the information to advance our knowledge on love."

"Oh." I say, slowly sitting back down into my seat. The princess continues explaning.

"As you may or may not know, my special ability is sensing and spreading love everywhere I go." She pauses and smiles kindly. "I was walking around down in the city, and I sensed a powerful love nearby. I tracked down the source to a small glass and crystalware shop. There I saw you two." Aero takes my helmet off and holds it in her hooves. "You two pegasi have an unusually powerful love for each other."

"We do?" Aero asks the princess.

"Oh, yeah." Cadence replies. "I don't think I've ever seen affection so powerful from two normal pegasi."

"We're hoping you can tell us about your love, so we may improve other's." Shining joins in.

"Ok." I agree. Aero nods.

"So could you tell us your history together?" Cadence asks.

"Well..." Aero begins. "We were both from Manehattan, opposite sides of the city, and when we were young, our parents had us sent to flight school, like every pegasus. We met in the cafeteria one day. I was sitting alone at a table looking at my food, and Wing Nut came along and sat down next to me. What was the first thing you said to me?" she teases.

"Ummm... You have a... pretty mane." I mutter embarrassedly. Cadence and Shining giggle at me.

"So he complimented my mane, sat down with me and started eating. We became friends over the course of flight school, and when it came time to return home, we made a plan. Almost every day we would meet up in the park and go out for coffee, or a donut, or pizza." I look down at the floor, preparing myself for what's coming. "But one day, when Wing Nut was around 8, his parents went out for a drink and never returned. He found out by newspaper four days later, that they had been murdered by a some random thug on the sidewalk in broad daylight." An awkward silence ensues as I press my face against my helmet and rest it there.

"Over the bits in their purses..." I mumble.

Silence.

"But, anyway, he moved in with me and my family temporarily, I was there for him when he needed it, and he was there for me." Aero continues, trying to shake off the melancholy mood. "The two of us moved to a house in Cloudsdale, where Wing Nut joined Equestria's Imperial Army as a flyer for 2 years. While he was doing that, I was taking advanced flight courses at the Wonderbolt Academy."

"When I came back home one afternoon," I take over. "I realised how much I had missed my only surviving friend, and I left the army immediately. We fell in love quickly as we grew up. We turned our advanced training and love for flying and each other into an airshow team, which led us here. ...So how did you two meet?" I ask the royalty.

"Cadence was my little sister's foalsitter." Shining Armor answers simply.

"Ah." I reply.

2125.

"Well, We should probably be going now. Aero tells the prince and princess.

"All right. Thank you for coming and sharing with us." Cadence says kindly. "I hope to improve my love spell with what information you've given us."

"Any time you want us to come over to the palace and eat your food, just let us know." I laugh.

"Okay. I will." Shining Armor responds jokingly. We grab our stuff, get out of the chairs, and leave happily. They wave goodbye to us as we exit the room.

"That was fun." I say to Aero as we leave through one of the palace's main stairways.

"Yeah, I hope we get to see them again." she says back.

"Are you ready go back to the hotel and get some sleep?"

"Not quite. Let's go for a fly."

"But I'm tired."

"It won't take long."

Friday Night (Clop)

Friday night

Aero and I take off into the night. The city below is dotted with colorful lights. Looking down at them, I think about the poem I wrote on Monday.

"This city is even prettier than Manehattan." Aero says, drifting closer to me.

"Yeah. It's beautiful." I reply, not looking away from the ground.

"So how does it feel to get to take a slow flight with your new soon-to-be wife?" she asks.

"A little boring." I respond playfully, forgetting my tiredness. "How about... last one to get to the tower, orbit once, and touch down at the stadium is on bottom."

"Hmmm..." A huge smile spreads over her face. "You're on." We both immediately launch ourselves toward the tower, flapping as quickly as we can. This armor is weighing me down and making me fall pretty far behind, but that's ok. I actually like being on bottom.

We bank around the tower at high speed right around the middle, level out, and flap straight for the field. Aero beats me by several seconds, landing right in the middle of the stadium.

"Hah." she prances in circles around me. "You're on bottom."

"You know," I say with false contemplation. "This was actually a pretty dumb idea. I've changed my mind." I fly low, following the stairs and leaving Aero alone in the center of the field. As I reach the top and prepare to fly out, Aero appears out of nowhere from behind and drags me down against the stadium's back wall.

"You're not going anywhere."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes." she dictates, lying on top of my back and forcing me to the floor. My broken helmet that she was wearing slides off of her head and bounces off of mine.

"Ow." I say loudly.

"Sorry." Aero responds.

"I'm glad I'm wearing a helmet." I laugh at her. She just lies unmovingly on top of me.

Then suddenly, I feel her front hooves curving around my thighs and sliding down into my crotch where there is no armor. She grasps my penis and begins to fiddle with it.

"You having fun there?" I ask, still trapped underneath her.

"Maybe I am." She replies, not stopping. She transitions from random touches to rubbing both hooves up and down simultaneously. Then out of nowhere, she gets off of me and throws me against the wall.

"You should wear armor more. So I can beat you up." She tells me as she does so.

"I still feel everything, it just distributes the pain." I respond, getting into a more comfortable sitting position.

"Oh, you poor thing." she fake cries as she lies down facing me between my legs and on my chest. She is pressing her abdomen against my part, which feels pleasant. We lie together for a minute.

"On a more serious note," She begins, breaking the silence. "I sincerely appreciate and admire what you did at the joust today." She brings her head up to look at me.

"You mean beating Swift for your affections?"

"Yeah. You risked your life in a duel for me. I appreciate that I mean that much to you."

"Not that I would have given you up to that annoying bastard anyway, but you do." I tell her. She slides her body up mine and sits with her crotch against my own.

"Now you have to honor the bet you made." she says, smiling and looking into my eyes.

"I guess I do. It was my idea after all."

She mounts me as I sit up against the wall, fitting my erection into her hole.

"Twice in a week." I grunt, enjoying the feeling of being inside her again.

"If you're going to marry me, you'd better get used to it all the time! Even if they're only quickies like this." she laughs, extending one hoof over my head and bracing herself against the wall. "Oh, Celestia!" I hear her whisper. The world around us seems to fade away as I relax my muscles and listen to Aero breathing. I love how whenever we do this, it seems to be about the pleasure of one of us at a time, not us both trying to achieve orgasm at once. It's usually more enjoyable that way. She breathes heavily, rythmically moving up and down on top of me. I look down at our groins and watch the humping for a second before leaning my head back again and closing my eyes.

The hot, slimy, massage continues, leaving me silent and open-mouthed against the wall. Aero is panting onto my forehead. A gentle breeze blows through the stadium, weaving between the two of us and reminding me that we're doing this outside.

"Do... you... love... me... ?" Aero says between thrusts.

"Yeah... I've never... loved... anypony... but you!" I answer. Feeling her weight on top of me, her body heat, her breathing, and her humps combined are too much for me to handle, and I release a large load up into her, some of which drips back out and onto me. She feels it happen, stops thrusting, pulls her crotch away, and stands in front of me.

"Nice. Now lap it up." She orders, turning herself around and sticking her vagina in my face.

"But it was meant for you." I say, in an attempt to get out of doing it. She moves in closer.

I stick my tongue out and push off of the wall, knowing that she'll get what she wants eventually anyway. I put my mouth against the her lips and begin pleasuring her as opposed to licking my product out of her. I go around in little circles, making her quiver, up and down the lips, making her remain completely still, and I poke her clitoris with my nose a few times for good measure. She crawls over to my right side perpendicular to me, collapses, and lays her head across my abdomen. I close my eyes and take my helmet off, dropping it on the ground next to me. After about five minutes of silence and peace, I feel something wet and warm poke the tip of my penis. Opening my eyes, I see that Aero has leaned her head down toward my groin, and that the wet thing was her tongue. I just smile and let it happen.

The tongue swirls around the top and sides for a bit. Each orbit leaving the area it touched tingling. Then, the mouth decides to join in. The familiar warm, wet, cavern forms around my shaft, with the tongue still going strong. She brings her right hoof up underneath my ballsack and tenderly lets it sit there, tickling me from tail to tip. In, out, in, out, in, pause..., out. The pressure builds up in my crotch again. I let out another wave into her mouth, which she makes sure I see her swallow.

"That's so hot." I say to her jokingly, closing my eyes, putting my head back, and beginning to fall asleep.

Saturday

Saturday

I finally get to wake up on my own time again. No alarm clocks, no Vertigo yelling, and no having anything to do in the morning. I feel Aerodrome sleeping up against my armor, her lungs steadily expanding and shrinking as she breathes. Up in the sky some puffy, white cumulus clouds are drifting past slowly. I look around and remember that the two of us fell asleep against the back wall in the top row of the stadium. I relax my head and close my eyes.

"HEY!" an angry voice obliterates the silence, startling Aero awake and making me jump. A security pony is stumbling up the stairs towards us.

"Aero, let's get out of here!" I whisper to her.

"Stop!" the pony yells as we grab our helmets and launch out of the stadium and into the sky.

We land on a cloud somewhere on the other side of the tower, now fully awake.

"There goes the relaxing morning." Aero sighs, looking down over the edge at the city below.

"And the mood." I add. We sit for a minute on the cloud and wait for the security to leave us alone. I hope Aero's morning isn't too ruined by that wake up. Once we're confident that he's forgotten about us, we fly back to the hotel. When we reach the room, we find that Vertigo is waiting in the doorway for us.

"Where were you two last night?" she asks us poisoningly, blocking the entrance and instantly putting us both in a bad mood.

"Good morning, fellow adult." I respond sarcastically, pushing past her and entering the room.

"Why does it matter where we were?" Aero asks.

"Because I care about you." Vertigo answers, closing the door. "By the way, these fell out of your bag. You need to stop what you're doing with Wing Nut." Vertigo holds up a tray of contraceptive pills, making Aero flush.

"Why do you care what I've been doing?!" she yells at Vertigo. "Put those back! Are you my mother or something now?" she grabs the tray and tosses it in her bag swiftly, leaving Vertigo looking regretfully at us.

"We're both the same age as you." I tell Vertigo in defense of Aerodrome. "You can't be telling us what to do. Even if you could, we're getting married. Who cares what we do together?" Aero sits down on our bed and I wrap my wing around her.

"I'm sorry." Vertigo says sadly. "I'm tired and angry."

"Clearly." I say sternly.

Aero pushes her nose into my wing as Vertigo silently flies away via the balcony.

"Well this morning sucks." I say to Aero.

"Yeah." she sighs.

"Do you want to go find breakfast and make it not suck?"

"Yeah."

I finally open up the straps up on my armor. I let it roll off of the bed and fall to the floor, groaning as I stretch my muscles. Aero and I walk out of the hotel and out into the city, looking for a place to eat.

"Poll's Chocolates?"

"No."

"Yakyakistani Food Mart?"

"No."

"Hawt Wingz?"

"Definitely not."

"Oh!" I say. "Basil's Breakfast?"

"Ok."

We enter the breakfast diner, sit at a table, and wait for the waiter pony. The place is filled with crystal ponies of all colors.

"I already know what I want." Aero says hungrily to me.

"So do I." I agree. "French toast with bacon and eggs on the side."

"Pancakes with syrup and bacon."

"Nice."

Suddenly, a green earth pony approaches us swiftly.

"Hey!" She yells excitedly. "I saw you two in the airshow yesterday! You were the best! I've never seen an airshow that great before in my life!"

"Well, thank you for supporting us." Aero says.

"I'm Basil Leaf, I own this restaurant." The mare squeals. "Would you let me take a picture with you so I can hang it on the wall?"

"Uh..." I stutter. I'm still in shock from the sudden fangirl attack.

"Yeah, sure...." Aero answers, making Basil run off immediately.

"Oh no." I groan after a minute, looking at Aero. "Could this be the next Sandy Beaches?"

"The one that followed us home, found a way into your loft and decided to invade our formal hearth's warming dinner party?"

"Yes."

"Didn't she demand a present too?"

"Yeah. I got her a restraining order."

"I don't know. We haven't known her long enough to determine if she's that bad."

"She'd better not be."

Basil reappears suddenly with a camera tripod, throws it down into a position facing us, and runs over to us.

"Smile for the camera!" She says. She squeezes the remote in her hoof and the camera goes off with an obnoxiously loud click. She goes around the camera and looks down at the screen. "OH MY GOD! IT TURNED OUT GREAT!" She bellows. The entire restaraunt is now angrily staring at us.

"I know you're excited..." Aero tells Basil quietly. "But could you be a little quieter?"

"Oh." she responds, noticing that everypony in a 50 meter radius is staring at her. "I'm sorry. I just got excited. Can I sit with you pegasi?" Aero and I look at each other, silently confirming that we don't mind.

"Yeah. Sit down." I tell Basil. "Just be calm, please."

"I'm sorry. I've always wished I was a pegasus. Any time I see some pegasi flying or a great aerial performance, I always get so excited. I can barely control myself."

"It's okay." Aero says. "Would you mind taking our orders? You can still sit with us."

"Oh, uh... Sure." Basil responds.

Both Vertigo and Cheap Treat were in the hotel waiting for us, making it easy to find them. It only took a few minutes to pack up our saddlebags and get to the train station.

"Well, I guess the rumors of the Crystal Empire's hospitality are true." Aero observes as we approach the building. "I don't think I've ever been treated this well before."

"Neither have I." I agree. "When we agreed to perform in this airshow, I never would have guessed that I would be eating dinner in the palace, recieving a beautiful set of armor for being good at something, or getting free breakfast."

"I'm sorry about this morning." Vertigo blurts out suddenly. We all walk in silence for a moment.

"It's okay. It can be hard to watch others fall in love without having someone yourself." Aero tells her, transitioning from a conversational to a serious tone of voice. Vertigo looks down at the shiny floor resentfully.

"It's fine." I say. "But if anything ever falls of her bag again, please just put it back and pretend it didn't."

"Ok." Vertigo agrees.

We board the train and find benches in a car near the front. This train is more advanced and modern than the Friendship Express, so our return trip should only take until the evening. As we place our bags under our seats, I look out the window and think about recent events.

"Hey, Aero?" I ask.

"Yeah?"

"When are we going to start thinking about the wedding?" I say as she looks at me happily.

"You're thinking about it right now." she laughs.

"I mean plan it."

"I heard 'plan'!" Vertigo interrupts excitedly, turning to us. "Are you planning the wedding? I can do it."

"No, thank you Vertigo. We've got it." Aerodrome answers.

"That's right..." Cheap Treat joins in as he takes his seat. "You still have yet to explain the whole getting married thing. You said you would tell me on the train."

"I guess I did." Aero acknowledges. "How long is this train ride?"

"All day." I answer. Aero stares at me and thinks.

"Well," she begins. "The two of us have been best friends since we first met in our flight school's cafeteria when we were very young."

"And then you just decided to marry?" Treat asks.

"Well, I moved in with her, and then went out to war in Equestria's Imperial Army for two years. She attended the Wonderbolt Academy for half that time." Aero looks at me happily and I pause. "I returned as soon as I could, and Aero was my only friend left alive as far as I know. But we realized that we had been through so much together, and we fell in love."

"Now, five years later, we fly together as performers. And we're getting married too." Aero finishes.

"That makes sense." Treat says. The train begins moving, signaling the beginning of our exciting return trip.

"Do you ponies want to play a game?" I ask a few minutes into the ride. Everypony looks at me.

"Like what?" Aero asks.

"20 questions?" Treat suggests.

"Why not?"

"Sure."

"Yeah."

Sunday

Sunday

The sun is shining in through my window, projecting a bright yet gentle light onto everything in my bedroom. Aero is sleeping peacefully behind me, breathing steadily and quietly. When we got off the train yesterday evening, we were too tired to do anything but eat dinner and go to sleep. Cheap Treat arrived at my loft sometime later last night. I agreed to let him sleep here until he found a place to live. I roll myself over to face Aero and begin to stroke her wing with my hoof. I notice that the dye in our feathers is finally fading out, bringing us back to having our normal white coats. Aero seems to relax as I stroke her soft wing. I'm glad she can finally get a good night's rest, there was alot of being woken up early this week. Even yesterday when we were supposed to be able to sleep in, we were woken up by the security guard. Stroking her feathers one last time, I roll out of bed and quietly walk over to my window. Outside, a few cumulus clouds are scattered throughout the sky and hidden behind the skyscrapers.

I walk down to my kitchen and go into my fridge. Bread. Butter. Water. I see nothing else and I close the door, waking Treat up on the couch behind me.

"Hi." I greet him quietly.

"Hi." he says back tiredly. He has a distressed looking mane and a dumb look on his face.

"Did you have a good time in Manehattan last night?"

"Sure." he answers embarrassedly.

"What's wrong?"

"You know Vertigo?"

"Yeah."

"We went out drinking."

"Ok, and?"

"And then we... Uh..."

"Oh... I see." I react as I turn around and go back to facing the kitchen counter.

"We bucked." he finishes awkwardly loudly, apparently thinking it was necessary to tell me.

"Who did?" Aero yells from the top of the stairs, apparently awake now.

"Vertigo!" I yell back. Aero laughs loudly and Treat lies back down and covers his head.

"It's okay, Treat. We don't care." I tell him.

"Was it Vertigo's idea?!" Aero yells, still laughing. Cheap Treat remains silent.

"Well... I guess Aerodrome cares a little."

Lunch just arrived. We have pizza and soda.

"The food is here!" I announce as I place it on my coffee table, in front of Aero. Cheap Treat left to go look at the shop that I told him was up for sale. He was afraid it would be gone before he could get to it. Aero grabs a slice and goes back to watching TV as I sit down next to her.

"The mighty griffon. These powerful creatures are often to blame for anything bad that happens around them, simply because of their stereotypical meanness" the narrator says. "But do they have a reason to be rude and glum?" photos of some angry looking griffons are shown on screen. "This is 'The History Of The Griffons'."

"This isn't racist at all..." I say to Aero. She nods.

"So, how do you think the trip turned out as a whole?" she asks me.

"I think that was one of the best trips of my life. Our routine went down with the audience better than I ever could have hoped, and I get to marry you now. I don't think it could have gone any better."

"Except for the almost getting killed." she says, unfurling her left wing and wrapping it around me caringly.

"But it led to something good. I earned free jousting armor."

"But you almost died."

"It's not any worse than what those changelings were trying to do to me when I was in the army. Or what they did do to some..." I drift off and think about my experience in the war. Aero watches me sadly for a moment.

"Please don't do stupid things like that in the future. You've already survived the most difficult part of your life, don't die because you want to beat some stupid cheater who wants to own me." Aero tells me.

"No promises." I laugh as I scoot closer to her and wrap my hooves around her. "You're so warm."

I release her and return to my spot on the couch, her wing still around me.

"So what did you think of the trip?" I ask her.

"It was pretty awesome. That airshow had the biggest crowd I've ever seen."

"Yeah, That's the most ponies we've ever performed for."

"Based on their reactions, I think we may have our best flight plan yet. If we're going to be winning awards, it'll be during this season."

"Yeah. I'm excited about this year." I finish. we sit in silence for a while, watching the anti-Griffon program on Griffons.

Aero looks at me restlessly.

"Do you want to do something today?" she asks.

"What did you have in mind?"

"Maybe we could go fly. We could do some cloud surfing."

"Sounds fun."

We leave my loft, take off into the air, and race upwards towards the clouds, which almost seem to be waiting for us.

Monday

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."

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.

Friday Morning

Friday

The alarm clock wakes all three of us at once with its terrible noise.

"0600!" Vertigo yells.

"Eehhhhhh!" I yell back. Aerodrome remains silent.

"We have to be at the stadium in an hour and a half!" She continues to yell.

"Leave it to you to be thinking numbers and yelling things the second you wake up." I say to her. Aero groans loudly, clearly annoyed at how noisy we are being. I lie still for a minute, before gently brushing Aero's hoof off of me and climbing out of the bed. Vertigo is already up and packing her saddlebags full of papers, and also our feather and coat paint. She's clearly just as excited as me about today.

The three of us walk down to the lobby and we take a seat at an open table. The breakfast area seems to be filled with ponies who are getting up early to be the first at the fair. Vertigo is practicaly vibrating in her chair with excitement. Aero and I are eating more premeasured bowls of cereal, wearing our goggles on our heads, and listening to the same TV as yesterday.

"...Crystal Fair being set up now. There are carts rolling in, stands and tents going up, and stores all over either decorating or closing."

"This day is going to be great." Aero says.

"Every day is going to be great." I add. "Soon you'll be my wife." Vertigo sighs impatiently and Aero looks at me lovingly.

"Let's go!" Vertigo yells at us, making everypony in the room look at her. "We have to be at the stadium in an hour and ten minutes."

"Yeah, Yeah." I say as I take another bite of my cereal.

"Why aren't you eating?" Aero asks Vertigo.

"Eating is for the weak." is all she says.

We've just arrived in the green room. There are multiple other teams already here, some of them I recognize. Then I see a pony in a light blue and yellow jumpsuit.

"Wonderbolts..." I growl.

"Well, if this show is a competition, we've already lost." Aero declares sadly. "They're the fan favorite, whether they're the best or not."

"Maybe we'll beat them this time." Vertigo says hopefully.

"Maybe." I say, not really believing myself.

Vertigo unpacks the black and yellow paints and places them on the floor in a quiet area of the room. Aero and I head over to them, dip the tips of our front hooves in, and begin to apply the larger, less important splashes and lines. Five minutes later, our white coats are left untouched for the most part, but under our eyes we have a black and a yellow stripe, our feathers are now black with a yellow stripe, the base of our wings are a yellow fire-esque pattern, and we have black painted lower legs with a yellow stripe through them.

"I love this paint." She says to me. "It looks fantastic on me."

"What about me?" I ask.

"Nah. It doesn't go with your mane." she tells me jokingly.

"That sucks. I guess I'm going to look bad until the dye fades out in a few days."

Shining Armor walks into the room suddenly, and everyone bows.

"I told you guys to look at me as a manager." he says dissapointedly. Everypony bowing rises and gathers around him attentively. "I just wanted to let you know that the show will start at 9:00. The spectators will be seated starting at eight, so please be back in here by then." The entire room seems to nod simultaneously. "That is all." The room begins to buzz with excitement again, as the group disperses and Shining Armor approaches Aero and I.

"Is there a problem?" I ask nervously as he stops in front of us.

"No. Quite the opposite actually." he says, smirking.

"My wife, Princess Cadence, has a special ability to sense and spread love." he begins to explain. "When she was walking around downtown yesterday, she saw you two through a shop window shop deciding to get married. She recognized you from the roster of flyers at the festival today."

"I think I may have seen her too." I respond.

"Huh?" Aero asks.

"She was behind you. Outside the shop."

"Oh." Aero says.

"Anyway, she thought you two were adorable together and wanted to invite you over to the palace for dinner tonight."

"The palace?" I stand in disbelief. "As in, the palace at the center of the entire empire?"

"Yeah." Shining Armor answers. Aero doesn't say anything.

"I... I'll accept." I stutter. "But, we don't have any nice clothes on us at this time. They're all back in Manehattan."

"That's okay." He says to us. "I don't expect you two to have planned on being invited to the palace for dinner."

"We weren't." Aero replies, smiling hugely. Aero and I look at each other, silently confirming that we both want to go.

"We'll come." she answers. "That would be great."

"Great!" he exclaims. "The dinner is at ten o'clock. Cadence will be so happy that you said yes! ...I have to go now. I'll probably see you before then." he happily declares as he trots off towards the room's exit.

"There's nothing that could make today any better." I excitedly say to Aero.

"I can think of one thing." She responds, with a seductive smile.

"I thought the male was supposed to be the pervert in a relationship." I laugh. She stares at me and continues to smile.

Change of plans. We are now going to walk out on to the field, every team together, and line up along the edge of the stands. And so we are doing it. As we enter the tunnel to the field in bunches, I hear the ponies in the stands cheering and stomping for us. There are a lot of spectators at this show, based on the volume of the crowd. As we walk out of the tunnel and out on to the field, I see the crowd. There are tens of thousands of ponies sitting in the stands. Over half the massive stadium is filled.

"Oh, my Celestia!" I yell, seeing the crowd as we begin to line up, behind the Wonderbolts and in front of some red and gold team.

"Welcome to the first ever CRYSTAL FESTIVAL AIRSHOW!" the announcer yells over the speakers, causing the crowd to go mental. "Based on the statistics from the ticket counter, we have found out that almost half of the Crystal Empire's entire population is here at this stadium right now!" The voice yells.

"The more you know!" Another, deeper voice sounds over the speakers.

"Anyway... that's incredible!" The first voice yells again. "Over sixteen THOUSAND ponies, crystal, earth, unicorn, and pegasi, are here today for this airshow. I think we've probably got some alicorns in there too."

"This is the largest crowd we've ever performed for!" Aero yells at me.

"I know! WOOOOOOOHHHH!" I scream, rearing up onto my hind legs. the Wonderbolts looking over at me like I'm crazy. I don't care. I'm over them right now.

"We've got ten teams performing here today, and five solo flyers." The announcer with the lower voice begins again. The crowd begins to quiet down a bit. "These flyers and teams have been hoof-picked from the farthest reaches of Equestria to come here and fly for you. They will be flying in order of best, to best of the best."

"Lets hear one more cheer for our flyers today!" The other announcer calls. The audience as well as several of the flyers cheer, scream, and stomp in response.

"If we're doing this from worst to best, and we're right next to the Wonderbolts..." I turn to Aero. "Does that mean we're considered the second best team on the continent?" Aero stares at me excitedly.

"I think it does..." she trails off. Both of us stare straight ahead at the stands in front of us.

"We're not going to wait another moment! Let's get this started. The first team flying today will be the 'Airdancers' team from Vanhoover." A group of 8 ponies wearing flashy ballroom themed outfits begin to walk out towards the center of the field. They stand in a square shaped formation, grab a partner, and wait to begin.

"This team has won 16 medals for precision in the air, and performed in every city in Equestria at least twice. This is their second time in the Crystal Empire." one announcer says.

"Let's begin!" The higher voiced announcer yells. A waltz begins to play over the speakers, and the pegasi in the middle begin to dance along to it.

At the first crescendo in the waltz, the stallions throw the mares into the air, and instead of doing a small jump and coming back down, they launch straight up and fly in huge arches towards the center of the formation. Then they land back down in front of different partners and continue to waltz, still in time with the music. They continue this pattern for several minutes, changing up the jumps with flips, momentary formations, swirling patterns, and multiple times where everypony on the team takes off and flies around for a period. They always come back down, maneuver, and take off in time with the music. When they land for the final time as the music ends, the crowd begins screaming and cheering crazily.

"I can see why they won precision awards." I say to Aero.

"Every maneuver was right on point." she replies, "You know. Time wise?"

"Yup." I laugh at her strange agreement.

"The next team in the lineup today is 'Fly On', a big time team from small time 'Hollow Shades', just West of Manehattan." the announcer says. "Their skill is reflected in how they became noticed, coming out of such a small and obscure forest village." the other announcer says.

A team of 4 in green and white flight suits trot over to the center of the field and stand in a single file line. They launch into the air simultaneously and are already in a formation. They fly in snakelike patterns, one behind the other for most of the show, zigzagging around, performing scissors, and flying loops all together. They break it up in the middle with an aerial game of leap frog, swapping positions and changing the point flyer out. They end the show with a vertical spiral and land back in the same points they started. The crowd cheers throughout the 20 minute performance.

As they return to the lineup, the crowd dies down and the announcers begin to speak again.

"That was a great performance!" The high voice cheers.

"I agree, you know that reminds me of an airshow I saw when I was a colt." the lower voice says. I still recall seeing the pegasi fly through the air, doing all kinds of crazy flips and stunts."

"I love going to airshows!" The high voice responds. "Next in line we have the 'Baltimare Bluecoats'!"

The crowd cheers happily as a group of 5 pegasi with navy blue flight suits and red manes and tails march towards the center of the field, stopping in a column shape. I can't help but notice that the flight suits have a red vest design on the front and tailcoat style tails on the back

"This group from, well, Baltimare" The lower voice begins. "Was founded as an air defense force for Baltimare after Luna's banishment. They have kept their traditions, yet retired from military service after the peace treaty was signed."

"And here they are!" The other announcer yells.

The five of them launch in to the air, one at a time. Each pony that takes off flies in a circle over the line, and when they pass over, the next landed pony in line takes off and joins up behind them. Once all of the ponies are in the air, they bank over the heads of the audience and alter their formation from a staggered column to a vee. Their performance consists mostly of formation flying into difficult maneuvers. They do loops, formation rolls, inverted flying, a delta break, then they do it all over again in a tight diamond formation. When they land after half an hour of crazily difficult flying, the crowd is going insane again.

"Nice performance guys!" one announcer yells.

"Yeah!" the other one joins in. "I especially liked that part where you did the thing in the close-knit formation!" At this, one of the team members looks at the announcer's box and shrugs confusedly, to the amusement of the crowds.

"Hey, Mare!" A voice sounds from the stands behind us. Everypony that heard the voice turns to at least glance at the source.

"Oh, god." I mumble to Aerodrome.

"The waiter again..." she mumbles back as we turn to face the issue.

"I saw you in the paper!" he yells proudly to her. "Aerodrome is such a beautiful name!"

"Thank you!" she yells back unenthusiastically.

"So, I'm excited to see you perform!" he says as if they knew each other well. "It will be good to finally see you in action!"

"Next up, we have the 'Windriders'." The announcer says. Aero and I shush the stallion behind us and turn to watch the show. "They perform only gliding maneuvers. They flap to get up into the air, then they lean forward and glide the entire show!"

"Their performance today may earn them a sponsorship and some shiny new uniforms! Good luck!" The other announcer comes in.

A team of 4 flyers in sky blue suits with cloud patterns walk out and begin to flap straight upward. They hover for a moment at around 30 meters up, some classical music starts over the speaker system, and they begin moving. they all glide gracefully into loops, flips, banks, and the occasional speed boosting downward spiral.

"Are you excited about the show?" Swift Quill interrupts again. Aero and I slowly turn around to look at him.

"Do you want something?" I ask him.

"Shut the buck up!" he responds angrily. "Nopony cares about what you have to say." Aero is now looking at him with astonishment and saying nothing. "Oh... Aerodrome? you're in love with this loser?" he asks her.

"1V1 me skrublord!" I yell back at him in response, barely stifling a laugh.

"I think I will." he says, giving me a threatening look. "How about you joust me in the tournament today at two? The winner gets the beautiful Aerodrome's hoof." Aero bursts into laughter at this.

"Do it." she laughs to me.

"You're on. I'll battle you for my fiancèe's affection... sure." I say as I bust out laughing too. At the word 'fiancèe', he loses some of his confidence and stomps towards the stadium exit resentfully.

"Wow" I laugh, turning back to look at the performers. The wonderbolts quickly look away and pretend that they weren't watching me.

After somehow ten minutes of gliding, the pegasi land gracefully, and they charismatically wave to the audience.

"The 'Windriders!'" an announcer yells excitedly. The crowd replies with stomping and yet more cheering.

"I could probably glide that long. That's easy." I jokingly boast.

"Well, you have huge wings." Aero retorts. "They don't."

"I was joking."

"I know."

The announcers talk for around ten minutes, saying nothing really important except that the next team is 'Down Low' from Las Pegasus. A team of 3 wearing absolutely nothing, making them look like just a bunch of mismatched pegasi, walk out into the field. They launch without letting the announcers talk any longer. They only get around three meters off the ground after take off, and they remain almost that low for the entire show. They have a very Wonderbolt-esque routine, perfoming a lot of maneuver tricks, only they remain under a strict ceiling of ten meters, and they remain at a high speed.

"I'll bet they crash a lot." I say to Aero, getting tired of standing still.

"Probably, if they stay that low at that speed during every single practice."

"Do you remember when we were young, and we were at flight school in Cloudsdale, I was doing that landing excercise, and I crashed into the instructor and sent him flying off of the cloud?" I laugh, suddenly being reminded of it by the performance.

"Yes." Aero looks at me and smirks. "You crash too much."

"No, I don't."

"You've always crashed into everything. All your life.

"Shut up."

We are the next team up. So far we've had the 'Airdancers' from Vanhoover, 'Fly On' from hollow shades, 'The Baltimare Bluecoats' from Baltimare, the 'Windriders', 'Down Low' from Las Pegasus, one unnamed griffon team from the Griffon Homeland, and the 'Cloudbouncers' and 'Red Team' from Cloudsdale.

The announcer begins. "And now, second from the top on our list of teams..." I put on my headset for the speaking section. "We have 'The Sky Ninjas', also known as the 'Flying Sky Ninjas'. A much less serious, more laid back attitude kind of team from Manehattan. They have over seventy awards for entertainment value in airshows, and believe it or not, they've only been performing for five years." The crowd goes crazy over this announcement, or maybe they're still excited about the last team. I don't know. Aero and I prance out to the center of the field, turn to face the announcer's box, and stand side by side, ready to begin.

"This is a great team, you kn-" one announcer says.

"Thank you." I interrupt dumbly over the same speakers as them, momentarily flicking on my headset. "Ok, this thing works... Hi." I say as the entire stadium laughs. "...Can we go now?" I ask, Aero laughing next to me.

"THE FLYING SKY NINJAS!" the other announcer laughs into the microphone, signaling us to go.

Aero and I run for a while, then lift up into the air together. We instantly begin a loop, going up, over, and back around. We level out just a few inches above the fake grass at twice the speed as we started at. We lean upward, and gain a little altitude before delta breaking and splitting in to opposite directions. As I bank around starboard to face Aero, the audience begins to cheer again, apparently we looked good on the break. I roll as I pass underneath Aero at high speed, then we both lean upward into hammerheads. We stall towards each other, tuck in our wings, and hug until we are too low for comfort. The crowd loves it. We level out just barely above the ground, and fly off in opposite directions, heading back in the same directions that we broke off into before.

The crowd is doing a constant cheer as we go into immelmanns to face each other again. We turn away from the announcer's box and fly out and over the perimeter of the stadium walls, quickly racing around to the opposite side from where we left the stadium, staying out of sight as we do. Aero Buzzes the announcer's heads from behind, startling them, and begins her solo. I watch Aero fly a series of very difficult flips and spins, going up and down and up again as I orbit the field slowly. She dashes towards me, and in turn, I dash back towards her.

I pass under her at lightning speed, doing 5 yaw rolls as I go, finally leveling out and leaning upward into an up and over. And up and over it was. I feel the momentum push me up, all forces release me, then gravity takes over and pulls me back down. I fly inverted right in front the faces of the announcers and also one side of the crowd, as I bank around, I remember to look straight ahead the whole time. At the end of the bank, I turn and dive towards the middle of the stadium, perform an upward corkscrew, and hover for a moment with my hoof above my head. Aero flies almost right into me, bumps my hoof with hers, and I turn around and launch myself forward after her.

We fly around for a minute, allowing me to get back into a line formation, and turn back towards the center of the stadium. We both begin flying in barrel rolls, using the empty space between us as the pivot point. Five rotations later, we level out and I land carefully on Aerodrome's back. The crowd cheers and laughs contentedly as she swings back and forth with me riding on her.

"She didn't want to do this!" I say over the speakers, generating more laughter from the crowd.

I jump off of her back, fly straight and halt. She dives downward, stops, looks up at me with obviously fake yet comical confusion, and yells at me over the speakers.

"I thought we were taking the dive next!" she yells.

"This performance's quality just took a dive!" I respond. Even more laughter. "...Thank you, we'll be here 'till Sunday!" I say.

Awkward pause.

The two of us dash upward into the sky, causing the crowd to transition from laughter to stomping and more cheering. We fly up, belly to belly, then lean back and break off in opposite directions again. We fly in outward arches and back towards the ground. We reverse the arches, fly back upwards, level out, and pass each other. Following the pass, we both bank around, away from the announcers again, and we join up in formation. After a moment of gaining altitude, Aerodrome leans back and flies upwards over my head in a slow, small loop. I count to two and begin a much faster, larger loop. This brings me up and around right into Aero's flight path. As I pass her from behind, we grab each other's front hooves, open our wings to slow ourselves down, and fall bellies down towards the fake grass. Three quarters of the way through the fall, we lean our flanks downward, line up our back hooves, flap forcefully up, release each other, and level out right above the ground with arches. I slow down quickly and perform a backflip right before I stop, finally landing. Turning around, I see Aero also complete her landing. The crowd goes mental.

"Wooooooooh!" Aero yells into her mic. The crowd quiets down slightly to hear us. "I was the best!"

"What about me?" I ask, trotting past Aero and back towards the team lineup.

"You were a'ight." she responds, turning off her headset. The crowd cheers and stomps boisterously.

"That was the best show of the day right there, ponies!" One announcer cheers. "Lets hear it again for the 'Flying Sky Ninjas!'" The audience gets louder than ever before. The Wonderbolts look slightly nervous as we return to the line.

"Beat THAT!" I say to them as they prepare to go up.