Author's Note

To set the mood for the first half of this chapter, this. The Weight

The Weight

Hannah sighed gently, rain came down hard over the city of Palmer, Alaska. It had been a few months that Jared had been gone, but she only got the news a week ago. She sat in the small coffee shop of Vagabond Blues, drinking her tea. She held the cup close to her as she watched the rain form puddles and drip from the rooftop. She closed her eyes, trying not to cry. Every time she’d open them, she’d expect to see Jared sitting across from her with that stupid grin. His hair would be a little messy, his white tee shirt smothered in grease stains.

His worn black jacket would fit him like a tent, but it was all part of what made him, him. She felt selfish, she’d usually ignored him, or put him second when it came to conversing with friends. She never realized how much he really cared until he was gone. With a shuddering breath, she opened her eyes, and saw someone in the rain, across the street. He had slicked back hair and a black jacket, 751 patches on it. The collar was turned up to the cold rain. Her heart raced, and she leapt up, running out of the dim cafe. She dashed across the street, drew near, and shouted “Jared!”

The man turned around, it was Clay. She’d met him a few times, and instantly she broke into tears. Clay slowly walked up, took off his jacket, and wrapped it around her. He walked her back to the door of the cafe and hugged her tightly.

“I know, Hannah... I know...” He said softly, followed by a large sigh. She sobbed into his shoulder as he held her. They stayed that way for several moments, he gently rocked back and forth. “That jacket used to be his... He gave it to me years ago, when he formed his group...”

She looked up and wiped her tears. “It was..?”

He nodded. “Keep it.” He gave a soft smile. “See you around..” Clay brushed her cheek with his thumb in a semi-rough, playful way. She smiled and gave a light chuckle. He walked backwards away from her, before turning and bolting through the rain to his black chevy parked down the street.

She slowly returned to her drink, and pulled at the edges of the zipper, holding the coat around her tighter, like a blanket. She could smell, very faintly, an all too familiar aftershave, almost engrained in the leather. It wasn’t Clay’s. Hannah closed her eyes. And cried.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jared opened the door, unamused to see a small rainbow pegasus.

“Not interested.” He slammed the door. A heavier knock came, he opened it again, Twilight was beside her. “Ah, Ms. Sparkle, come in!”

Twi walked into the hangar, Rainbow was about to follow, when he slammed the door again. “Hey!”

“How can I help you?” He asked, arms crossed.

“Celestia is assigning Rainbow to 50 hours community service, assisting your project.” She said. Jared walked back to the door and opened it, Rainbow was poised to knock.

“Ever do sheet metal work?”

“No?”

“Ever work on machinery or internal combustion engines?”

“Internal what now?”

“Any aviation experience or understanding of aerodynamics?” He asked.

“Well GUH!” She flapped her wings. He shut the door again, then after a moment, opened it.

“Get in here, jackass.” He sighed. She slowly walked in. Luna said nothing, Twilight looked beside herself.

“I assume there’s tools in the toolbox, vice is over there, air compressor is in the corner, start by taking the interior out of the plane, and take the inspection panels off.” He said. She slowly walked around and looked at the wreckage.

“This thing flew?”

“Yes, for 65 years.” He said. All the ponies looked surprised.

“Jeez, it was flying before I was born..” She gaped.

“Yeah, me too. It will be long after you and I are gone.” He said, walking to the toolbox and rolling it to the nose of the airplane. The prop was bent on all three blades, the motor had stopped hard. He opened a few drawers, determining where the tools were, and opened the drawer with the open end wrenches. He found strange markings stamped on them, but they looked to be Imperial. He tried what he guessed would be a 9/16ths on a prop hub bolt, and it fit.

“Halle-fuckin-lujah.” He grinned and began work taking the prop off.

“Uhm, excuse me?” Rainbow asked, sheepishly. “How do I.. Do what you said?”

He walked to the door, and pointed at the seat. “The feet of those are held on the rails by pins on either end of the rail, they slide off where the grooves are. The carpet just snaps in, let me know when you get that far.” He left her to it, and returned to the motor. She struggled for about ten minuets, Twilight examining the wreckage and nose art, Luna sitting in the office, on Jared’s sleeping bag like a possessive cat.

Eventually, Dash yelled “HOOVES!”. At which point Jared came and removed the seat stops, allowing her to remove the seats. When she finished removing the seats, he already had the prop on a table, the oil drained, and the damaged cylinder off the engine. Which wasn’t hard, he just pulled really good, and it slid off the bent piston rod. The cylinder itself looked to be in good condition, with a couple of cooling fins chipped, and the block bolt holes wallowed out a bit. The bolts holding it on had torn their threads off, he could fix that. He hoped. Machining a new connecting rod would be a pain in the ass, but it was feasible. What worried him was the cost, so he’d focus on disassembly at the moment.

“I’m done.” She said, he sat the cylinder on the bench and walked over, carrying a flathead screwdriver. He popped up the snaps on one panel, then put the screwdriver down, taking the panel off.

“Pull all of those.” He stated, returning to his work on the motor. After about an hour, a good portion of the interior was out, and the cylinders were off the motor, as well as the pistons, laid out in order on the floor. His stomach growled loudly. He gently held his stomach, and walked to the office to raid his supplies.

Rainbow Dash was feeling pretty proud of herself. She’d done a lot of work with her hooves in meticulous things she didnt know possible in the last 20 minutes. She liked the challenge, and was almost disappointed when the creature walked away.

“Where are you goin?”

“Food.” Jared shrugged, walking into the office to see the princess sleeping ungracefully on his bag. He grabbed a can of peaches, a P38, and walked back into the shop. He sat on one of the Beaver’s seats that was on the floor, and opened the can. He ate his peaches, chucked his tin can into the nearby trashcan, and picked up his shirt, pulling it on over his wounds.

“What do you want me to do next?” Dash asked. He handed her a marker and a flashlight. “Climb into the tail, and inspect every single rib, every inch, front and back. Mark each crack or what you even suspect to be a crack. Every bend and pinch too. Keep count of how many there are in each rib, and total.” He handed her a notepad. It was mainly busywork, but would give him an idea of how much work there was to do to the fuselage. The wings were the worst part of the aircraft in looks, the fuselage didn’t look all that bad. Jared’s eyes felt heavy. “Now wait.” She paused, on the way into the door jam.

“Go home, I’ll see you tomorrow.” He said, it was only about 6 o’clock, she didn’t need to be told twice. She zipped out of the shop in an instant. Jared inspected the ribs himself, before walking to the office and sitting in the lone swivel chair at the desk. He sketched out the fuselage and ribs on the notepad, marking which were destroyed beyond repair. He needed to make 5 brand new, and straighten the others if possible. All new skin on the upper and sides of the plane was in order. New float attachment points, too. Twilight had apparently left a while ago, Luna had fallen asleep waiting for them. Atop his flannel sleeping bag. Why she didn't just leave, he didn't know.

He sighed and put down the notebook, setting his head on the desk. Luna awoke in an instant. “What’s wrong, Jared?”

“Nothin.” He said, sitting up again, and looking at the paper. “It’s 6, do you have somewhere you need to be?”

“Not until sunset, even then, I can do them pretty much anywhere.” She shrugged.

“I get the feeling you were much more formal at one point.”

“Quite right, Sometimes we find ourselves using the olde equish.” She said fluently, without sarcasm.

Jared shook his head and laughed. “Fuck me, man. This is bullshit.” He looked at the stats again, then into the hangar at his wreckage. Luna looked confused, then nodded with eyes closed.

"Indeed, do you think you can repair it?"

"Theoretically yeah, in reality, it's probably done for... If I don't use it to distract myself, I might as well give up... But I probably ought get a job and work on paying you folks back for helping me.

"Nonsense, it was a gift, consider it an act of diplomacy between our two species." She smiled at him.

"Thank you princess.."

"Please, call me Luna." She replied, sitting across from him.

"Well, tell me about yourself?" He crossed his hands, putting them together behind his injured head.

"Not much to say... I'm a princess.. I like to read, I like meeting new ponies.." She replied sheepishly.

"When's your birthday? What do you like to read?" He asked.

"The 14th of Harvest." She grinned. "I like to read historical texts, and.. Well.. Romance novels."

She added the last portion with a blush and he grinned, nodding.

"Can't blame you." He laughed. "Learning from the past as not to repeat it, wishing for a romance you yourself don't have, that's practically my tagline."

The two chuckled for a minute, then she looked to meet his hazel eyes, their gaze held for a moment, they didn't speak. She slowly stood. "I suppose you're right, my sister will wonder where I've been.."

"Well thank you for staying, I enjoy speaking with you." He stood as well. She bit her lip for a moment, then took a breath and hesitated. She finally mustered her thought. "Inter-species relationships are fairly commonplace today."

"Yeah I uh.. I don't uh... Not really comfortable with that." He replied, turning bright crimson. He was doing everything in his power to keep from cringing immensely, the situation was painfully awkward.

"Well have a good evening, Jared." She smiled, slowly walking towards the office door. She walked again with sway, as before in the hospital.

"Don't do that to me, ponies. Please never do that to me again.." He held his face in his hands, tilting his head back.

Perhaps the charming approach was a bad idea.

This was going to be harder than he thought.