Birds of a Feather Fall Together
Author's Note
This story is contained in my book "Dash Tries to Win Your Heart and Other Short Pony Stories"
If you have interest in purchasing this non-profit book, check out my online store at this link: http://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?contributorId=1662371
Birds of a Feather Fall Together
If a pony asks "What's a pegasus without their wings?" it sounds like the lead-in to some bad joke. Last week, something changed. Now it's the question hanging on everypony's lips.
It only takes one event to change a world.
"What we know about the virus is that it's an airborne pathogen that affects only pegasus ponies," the news reporter said over the television screen that lit the dark room. "The infection began in Canterlot, with the first known case occurring three days ago."
"Could you please turn that off, dear?" Windy Whistles asked her husband. She sat on the sofa, her face buried in her hooves.
Bow Hothoof's eyes never left the television screen, unresponsive to his wife. His wife drew in a shallow breath, and let it out raggedly. She hated depressing news. He knew that. But this was serious. This was life or death. His hooves gripped onto the couch tightly, protesting his trembling nerves.
"The disease spread all throughout Equestria and quickly reached Cloudsdale, the pegasus capital of Equestria. The sickness has only one main symptom: the shedding of feathers. If the condition of the patient grows too serious, then it has been established that flight is impossible. Ongoing research is being conducted to discern if this affects the ability for pegasi to stand on clouds. Princess Celestia has urged that magic artificers and medical personnel across Equestria are hard at work on a possible cure. Until then, all citizens are urged not to stand directly on clouds. The city of Cloudsdale has entered a state of Emergency and--"
Bow reached for the television remote and shut the television off, leaving the setting sunlight that streamed through the windows as the only source of light in the room.
“Of course we can’t walk on clouds now,” Bow muttered. “Any pegasus could tell you that.”
He extended a wing, examining the patchy, uneven, grey surface. He brushed his wing gently and several feathers pulled away with his hoof. He felt a small part of himself leave his body, floating down to the ground thousands of feet below him. What is a pegasus without their wings?
A gentle sob came from Windy, who was doing her best to hold herself together.
"Do you think Dashie is..."
"Dash is fine, sweetie," Hot said, keeping his voice tender yet firm. "She's a big girl. A smart girl. And a Wonderbolt. Plus, she lives with all of her friends in Ponyville. She's probably grounded right now. Don’t even think about it."
Windy sniffed as Hot moved his hoof over their cloud floor and let his vivid purple feathers fall. They drifted through the air, slowly, delicately, dancing. They passed through the cloud floor and out of sight.
"They said help is on the way," he said. "Unicorns with a cloud-walking spell are going home to home and helping ponies evacuate. Until then, all we can do is sit."
A silence fell over the room as Hot reached over and turned on a lamp. He drew a deep breath and looked over his rugless floor.
"Do you remember when Dashie was young," Windy said, chuckling to herself. "And she pretended that the floor was lava?"
It felt as if a knife had slit his throat. Was she safe?
"Yeah," he said, sighing to himself. "I was always awful at that game."
The thought permeated his mind like a sick, twisted joke. If he stepped on the floor, that was it. He would be just like his neighbor. One scream that started loudly, then gradually faded away. Then... gone.
He only hoped that his family was able to get on top of furniture before...
He dared not to think about the pegasi that fell from the sky. They were showing it on the news. Ponies were encouraged to put their mattresses outside to help as many ponies as possible have a graceful crash.
Hot turned to look at his wife, who was shrunken into herself.
"I should get the scrapbook," she said. "I should have gotten it."
"It'll be here when we come back."
"You don't know that," she snapped. She extended her wing, now only a raw, fleshy extension of her back, with only tattered remnants of feathers. "You know they won't grow back until next year. If they even will at all. We..."
She paused, then closed her eyes. He moved down the couch and wrapped his hooves around his wife.
"I know," he said gently. "But it will be okay. Even if we can't fly. And I still think you're beautiful."
The weather outside darkened. A glow of rainbow colored energy surrounded the clouds, containing the unscheduled thunderstorm, but not eliminating it.
The silence was deafening.
"I should have gotten the scrapbook," he said. "I still have most of my feathers."
He paused, an offer on his lips. That small book meant the world to them, the thought of never having Dashie's baby book again left a bitter taste on his tongue. But he would have to walk upstairs, grab the book, and come back.
"I could try-"
"No," she interrupted. "It's... it's not worth falling over."
Another silence fell over the room as he kissed the top of his wife's head.
"Dash is alive, Windy," he whispered. "She's going to be okay."
Hot measured his breathing evenly. A acidic burn raged deep within his chest. It wasn't the risks that infuriated him. Pegasus furniture was enchanted. If they sat tight, they would be evacuated. It was the helplessness. It was seeing his wife cry, and not having a tangible foe to direct his fury that was the worst part.
Just then, a knock on their front door startled the both of them.
"Mr. and Mrs. Dash?" a feminine voice called from the other side. "This is Princess Twilight Sparkle, I'm coming in."
Hot breathed a sigh of relief as a purple aura surrounded the door knob and lock. He remembered Rainbow talking about Princess Twilight from before she was coronated. If she was here, she must know something about their daughter.
The door swung open and the alicorn stepped inside. His wings moved directly from her concerned face to her wings. Her feathers were nearly non-existent. Small trickles of blood dripped down onto the floor. She must have plucked a blood feather and tried to heal the wound.
Windy sat up straight, tears in her eyes. Her whole body shook in a mixture of relief and and excitement.
"Rainbow sent me to get you two. I'm evacuating you personally. Just hold still for one second and I'll do the cloud-walking enchantment."
"Oh, thank you," Windy said, her voice cracking. "Thank you so much, Twilight. Er, Princess."
"Twilight is fine, Mrs. Dash," she replied. "I haven't been feeling very... well. Princess like." Twilight flexed her wings unconsciously as her horn lit in a gentle purple glow.
Windy and Hot felt their bodies grow warm, and then the feeling passed.
"There," Twilight continued. "Step lightly, just in case. But you should be safe."
Hot reached out a hoof and carefully stood on top of the floor of his home. He exhaled and felt a sense of security overwhelm him. He reached out a hoof for his wife, who shrunk away instinctively. Shyly, she took his hoof and carefully reached a hoof to the floor. When it connected, she pulled it away, as if touching a hot stove, but carefully set her hoof onto solid cloud. She set herself upright, then turned to Twilight.
"Is my Dashie, okay?" she asked Twilight.
The princess bit her lip and pondered her words.
"Yes, she's fine. She was in Ponyville when the news was released. But," Twilight paused. Her mouth opened and closed as if she were choking on words she wanted to say or wasn't sure she could say. "She hasn't been taking this very well. As far as she knows, the Wonderbolts are on indefinite hiatus."
Twilight opened her mouth, as if wanting to say something else, then turned to the door.
“Come on, we should get to the hot air balloon. We’ll get you two to Ponyville. You can stay in my castle until everything settles down.”
Windy nodded and followed after the alicorn. Bow remained still.
“Will we ever be able to come back?” Bow asked.
Twilight remained still. Windy turned to her husband.
“Dear, that isn’t important right now.”
“Will we ever be able to come back to our home, Princess? It’s a simple question.”
Twilight sighed.
“We don’t know yet.”
Silence.
“I see,” Bow said. “One moment.”
Bow ascended the stairs, moved to a room, then another, then stepped inside their daughter’s trophy room. He pulled a baby book from a shelf, opened it and glanced carefully through the pages, to be sure nothing was missing.
“Dear, we need to go!”
“I’m coming!” he called, closing the book and retracing his steps back downstairs.
Windy glanced at the book her husband carried, her ears turned down, as if a terrible thought had popped into her mind, and then looked back to the Princess.
“Let’s go.”
Panic is subjective. When a victim is running for their life, they scream. Plead for help. They make loud hoof-falls and try to impede their pursuer. However, panic can also be quiet. It can be holding their breath in a closet, hiding. Praying that whatever ails them will pass.
Cloudsdale was silent, with exception of the growl of the high-altitude winds. The only other sound that echoed through the neighborhood was the brisk trot of the three ponies. Bow’s vision moved from window to window of the homes around them. Some pegasi were sitting on couches, the television lighting up their fearful expressions and reflecting from the tears on their eyes. Other homes were empty. Completely still.
Hopefully they were confined to their beds and simply out of sight, as opposed to the alternative. A vision popped into his head of an irritated child, who was tired of sitting on the couch and wanted to play.
As it came into their vision, the large purple hot air balloon provided a comfort that Hot didn’t know he could feel again. His hooves were still sore from the lack of space allowed to him from the living room couch. However, the balloon pushed him further.
“Hey! HEY YOU!”
Twilight, Windy, and Hot’s attention turned, and there, sitting on a park bench, was a mare. She was watching them carefully.
“You’re walking! Wait. Is that Princess Twilight?!”
No. We have to go. It isn’t safe here.
“We need to go,” Hot said to the two mares.
“Is that balloon yours?” the mare called out, rising to her hooves. She was tan with a long pink mane. Her feathers fell to the cloudy ground, then through it. “Can you take me with you?! Please!”
“We should help her, Hot. She’ll die if we leave her here”
“She’s right. I have room for at least one more in my hot air balloon,” Twilight said. “We’re going to save her. It’s the right thing to do.”
“Wait!” Hot said, stepping in front of the two mares. “How do we know we can trust her? What if she wants to help more ponies? Helping one pony means having to help everypony.”
Twilight remained silent, glaring at Hot. The scenarios played out in his mind like a motion picture. What if the mare stole the hot air balloon, stranding the three? Sure, Twilight’s magic could keep them on the clouds, but for how long? Or what if helping this mare means then saving a filly? Then two more ponies. Then the hot-air balloon is too full. When a simple ‘no’ can be a death sentence, not many ponies will accept it without a fight.
The bodies that fell from the sky, without the breath of life inside them, were the worst part.
Twilight pushed past Hot, refusing to answer him.
“Yes, I am. Here,” she said, lighting her horn. “This will let you walk.”
A light violet hue enveloped the mare. The stranger’s face grew bright and a smile formed on her face. Hot grit his teeth. This could be how they are undone.
“Thank you! Thank you!” she gasped, stepping off the park bench.
“Now listen. I only have room for one. I can take you to the ground, but I can’t help anypony else.”
“Thank you,” she said, her voice panicked. “But I just want to see my family again.”
She turned then trotted in the opposite direction of the trio.
“Wait, what if your family was already evacuated! It’s not safe!”
She paused, turning back one last time.
“The extraction teams are moving too slowly. Do you know how long it takes to get from Cloudsdale to the ground?” she said. “Honestly? I don’t know if they’re safe or not. But I’d rather die than not know. I’d rather be with my family and risk death. So, thank you Princess Twilight… but I have to do this.”
And then, the mare darted away, down the empty community street and out of sight.
As they stepped onto a solid foundation, the hangover of adrenaline began to wrack their system. The pegasi felt weak and woozy. Twilight lit her horn and the burner roared to life. The balloon lifted into the air and soon the ground beneath them was clear and visible. Hot looked to the city of Cloudsdale, slowly growing smaller behind them.
One. Two. Three falling.
He looked away and embraced his wife. He knew it could have been them. How long could a pony realistically be stuck on a chair? A couch? No food? No water? Stranded in your own home. Or in public? Or worse… alone.
“What does this mean now?” Hot asked Twilight. “Who will control the weather? Who will control the clouds?”
“For now, some of Equestria’s finest unicorns are working with pegasus weather teams to find ways of working with the weather. We might be able to find temporary housing. Jobs will be created to make that housing.”
He hummed in affirmation.
“How long do they think it will take to evacuate all of Cloudsdale?”
Twilight remained silent.
“Too long. We’ve already lost too many. All we can do is try to minimize… what we can.”
Twilight sat on the bottom of the hot-air balloon. Her body began to tremble. Her voice cracked.
“I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner,” she said.
“Sweetheart,” Windy said. “You saved our lives. Why would you need to apologize for that?”
Twilight remained still.
“You two were my second stop. My first was for Fluttershy’s parents.”
Twilight looked up to the massive city in the sky, her posture breaking, her breathing growing ragged, as another pony fell from the sky.
“There was just… nopony home.”
