Equilibrium, Book 1: The First Human.

November 3, 1000, C.E.
11:15 A.M.

John stood at the edge of his cloud and looked down.

"Oh god shouldn't have done that." He said as he backed away from the edge and bumped into his instructor. Hot Shot let out a snicker as he slapped john's back with a wing.

"Don't worry bro. I got you." John shot him a withering glare as Hot Shot just laughed and leaned over the edge. He let out a whistle.

"That's a long way down." He smirked as John just stood stock still whole he slowly muttered a prayer under his breath.

"Dear lord please let me see the next day preferably intact and whole." Hot Shot trotted over and gave John a hug. It rattled him enough to get his mind off of his impending doom and got a laugh out of Hot Shot.

"Better?" He asked as John just took a deep breath. He gave Hot Shot a nod.

"Surprisingly yes." He said as he took a step towards the edge. He steeled his nerves as he took another step. Then another. Finally he made it to the edge and sighed. Hot Shot took up his position by his side.

"I thought you weren't afraid of heights?" He asked as John continued to stare straight down. He glanced over and smiled.

"I'm not. just afraid of falling." He said once again focusing on the earth below. Hot Shot let out a laugh.

"You know I could get my ass woops for saying this but Dash was afraid of heights to when she was a filly." John gave him a quizzical look.

"Bull." He stated as he edged ever closer. Hot Shot just shook his head snickering.

"You should have seen her. She was shaking like a leaf." John made it to the edge and took another deep breath. He looked over to Hot Shot who gave him a nod.

"I got your back." John took one last look at the horizon.

"Here goes nothing." He smiled as he stepped back a few pace's and took off into a dead sprint.

"GERONIMO!" He screamed as he leapt off the cloud and through his arms wide open. Hot Shot watched as his smile soon turned into a shout for joy as John flew through the air. To say he was excited was a huge understatement. His blood was n fire with the amount of adrenaline surging through his body. The wind flying past did little to deter him from enjoying this moment.

"This must be what Dash feel's when ever she lets loose." He smiled underneath his helmet as he sailed through the air for a few more seconds. Hot Shot was on his tail with the cloud just to be safe.

"Whoo! Yeah! Go buddy!" Hot Shot shouted as John banked around. Hot Shot took that as the signal he needed and grabbed ahold of his cloud landing pad. He taxied it over to where John was set to land and had the biggest grin on his face as John did so body first. He rushed over to see if he was ok and found John with the biggest shit eating grin on his face.

"That was awesome!" John shouted as he removed his helmet and rolled over breathing heavily.

"Oh man this is going to blow Dash away!" He mused as he thought of the upcoming birthday. Then he frowned.

"At least I hope it will." He scrambled to his feet and took off his backpack. He shrugged off his suit and put it away as Hot Shot taxied him to the ground. Hot Shot gave him a soft smile.

"Hey it'll be fine." He gave John a pat on the back.

"She's going to love it." Joh just chuckled weakly.

"I hope so. We haven't exactly been seeing all that much of one another." He frowned but soon smiled as he thought about her current situation.

"At least she found someone to make her happy." He hopped to the ground as Hot Shot through the cloud aside.

"So that's it?" He said trotting up next to John who sighed.

"Well what can I do?" He looked over to Dash's cloud house on the outskirts of town. He shrugged his shoulders.

"It seems to me she made her choice already." He got to his feet and started to walk off towards Ponyville. Hot Shot caught up with him and gave him a clap on the shoulder.

"Hey come on don't count yourself out just yet." He smiled.

"I don't know how things are done were your from but here mares will usually court more than one stallion in order to see who's the best fit for them." He gave John an encouraging smile. John just shook his head.

"Well I may not be possessed anymore but I still don't know what she could even begin to see in me." Hot Shot just shook his head with a smirk on his face.

"Come on let's go get some lunch so we can get back out here and practice some more." John nodded and the two made there way sugar cube corner.

11:15 A.M.
Rainbow's house.

Dash awoke feeling like a million bit's. She stretched out her back and wings and felt a satisfying pop as her spine readjusted itself.

"Man what a dream." She blushed a little bit as she rolled off her bed.

"Never thought I'd ever have a dream like that," She felt her bed and cringed when she pulled a wet hoof away.

"Especially about Soarin of all the stallions." She shook her head and made her way to her bathroom.

"I just need to take a cold shower and get something to eat." She trotted over to her shower and turned it on. A little while later she stepped out feeling cold but like her old self again. She rubbed herself down with a towel and even felt good enough to tie her mane up. She smiled as she looked at herself in the mirror.

"Let's go with a ponytail today." She smirked as she got to work on styling her mane.

"I wonder what everyone else is up to today?" She smiled even more when her thoughts began to wonder.

"It feels like i haven't seen John in a while." She thought about it. "I gotta check up on him as well." A thud from downstair's ripped her from her thought's. She poked her head out of her bathroom and looked around.

"Hello?" She called out as she stopped her sink and slowly trotted out into her room her ear's cocked listening for anything out of the ordinary. Looking around she grabbed a hoofball bat from beside her bed and peeked out of her bedroom door. Looking around she saw no pony and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Whoo thank faust-"

"Dash!" Her instincts kicking in Dash swiftly lashed out at the voice swinging her bat around and clocking the intruder in the head.

"Who the fuck are you!?" She asked as her eye's looked down upon the fallen form of none other than Soarin.

"Oh damn!" she looked around and then back to Soarin as only one question was on her mind.

"What are you doing in my house?" She asked as she lent him a hoof. Soarin gave out a groan as he head his head in his hooves.

"Damn Dash you've got a mean swing." As soon as Soarin's eye's met Dash's He let out a high pitched scream and flew off down the stairs. The sound of her front door opening and then slamming shut brought Dash back to the present.

"What the fuck just happened?" She asked herself as she sat there.

11:32 A.M.

John and Hot Shot sat at sugar cube corner, both of them full and tired. John looked over at Fluttershy who'd found the duo and decided to join them on their lunch break.

"So I've been moping around for the past week or so and not really doing much of anything?" Fluttershy nodded as she sat next to him rubbing a wing across his back. He just shook his head.

"I hate magic sometimes." He took a swig of his drink and then got up from the table with a stretch. Fluttershy and Hot Shot did the same but as the group aid for their food and left they were stopped as a polychromatic pegasus came to a screeching halt in front of them.

"Hey guys!" she said as she stopped to catch her breath. The group had mixed reactions. Fluttershy went and gave her friend a hug.

"Rainbow listen there's something you need to know." She said as she sat down at one of the outdoor table's. John meanwhile stood there feeling like the odd man out. Dash held up a hoof.

"Hold on there Flutters." She turned around and smiled at John and Hot Shot.

"Hey long time no see you two." She nervously giggled as she motioned for them to come and sit down. John was hesitant to do so at first but Hot Shot just shook his head.

Sorry Dash but me and John here have to go and do some work on the farm." He shot John a wink. John just nodded going along with the ruse. He gave Dash an apologetic smile as he tightened his hold on his bag.

"Yeah sorry Dash. Rain check?" He asked causing Dash to smile as she nodded.

"Ok I'm going to hold you to it big guy." She waved them off and once they were out of ear shot she turned back to Fluttershy with a look of guilt overcoming her normally stoic demeanor.

"Ok Fluttershy please tell me you know what's been happening the past few days because I'm drawing a serious blank." She wailed as her head slammed into the table. Fluttershy took a deep breath and then released it.

"Well Rainbow it's has been a weird couple of days." She admitted while giving her friend a look of shame.

"It hasn't been very pretty." Dash just held her head in her hooves.

"How bad was it?" She asked. Fluttershy looked a little nervous.

"Um well let's start with the Nightmare Night party." She said as Dash gave her a nod.

"How much of that do you remember?" Dash thought about it.

"I remember the stunt JOhn pulled off." She said as a smile reached her face.

"Oh man that was priceless!" She said laughing at all of the theatrics involved. Then her smiled fell off as she began to remember the rest of the night.

"Oh no." Her head once again found purchase on the table.

"I am such an idiot!" Her yell although muffled by the table still drew the gaze of a few onlookers. Fluttershy set them straight and they quickly trotted on past the distraught pegasus.

11:47 A.M.

"All right let's go over this again!" Hot Shot shouted as he drilled John on the finer points of flying and aerodynamics. John was perched on top of a cloud a few feet above the apple family barn.

"Keep your body straight as you take off or you'll overcompensate and just dive right into the ground." He smiled as John gave him a fearful smile.

"That would do nobody any good." He muttered as he stepped up to the edge.

"Now for this lesson you'll be learning how to fly while under fire." Hot Shot smirked as he looked down. John did the same and his face paled.

"What are all of you doing down there?" He asked as his family all stood underneath the cloud each one having a barrel full of apple's next to them. They all waved up to him while Applejack pulled a microphone out of nowhere.

"Cant have y'all making a fool out of yourself in front of your mare now can we?" She laughed as John just scowled.

"Don't you think this is a little extreme?" He shouted down to the group. They all gave a shake of their heads. He just rolled his eyes.

"Of course you don't." He muttered as he stepped up to the edge of the cloud.

"Ready when you are teach." He nodded to Hot Shot who pulled out a flare gun loaded with a blank fire work.

"On your mark." He looked down at the family and gave them a wing wave.

"Get set." John tensed up as he looked at the horizon.

"GO!" The shout was accompanied by a loud pop and flash but john was halfway down the makeshift runway as Hot Shot looked on, a smile coming over his muzzle. John lept from the cloud and soured over the tree top's of sweet apple acres. Hot Shot looked down and smiled.

"Apple Family are you ready?" He asked receiving a chorus of happy shout's.

"Then Fire!" He shouted. Soon the air was full of apples and scream's as John frantically tried to keep himself aloft while dodging any that came to close.