My Little Pony: Of Misadventures and Fantastic Machines

Chapter 2: New Lunar Year Celebration

“Honestly my first option was to go with some flame decals but lightning bolt just did it for me. Now that I look at it though I’m just not feeling it.” Arty said as he examined the wings of his contraption.

“I honestly couldn’t care two-bits about any sticker. I’m not gettin’ anywhere near that thing ‘cause it is just plain not going to work.” Bear growled while he tilted his head in every angle to look at the machine. His first thought was that this was a glider of some kind but Arty had made it different with a strange backpack with an exhaust pipe sticking out the top of it. From the backpack a pair of rubber tubes ran along the rigging wire that formed the front frame of the glider. On top of that were the wings themselves, it looked as though they could be folded up due to the joints in the leading edge tube and the folds in the soft thick textile that made up the wing. It was rather small as well for any glider Bear had ever seen, only about two pony lengths across and a quarter as wide. The crazy thing looked like it couldn’t get off the ground let alone hold up a large colt like Bear up.

Arty spoke as a took the lightning bolt sticker off the right wing off, “oh come on, I worked hard on this thing and even did the math. Math, Bear! You know how numbers make my head hurt! And I crunched a lot of numbers to get this design right.”

“Well what is it anyway besides just another glider, not much of an innovation to me.”

Arty spat out the lightning bolt sticker and looked shocked at his friend, “Just another glider? You sir do not see fine craftsmanship when you see it! This is no ordinary glider as you can tell. I call it- The Collapsible Aerodynamic Steam-Assisted Flyer! Or CASAF for short… that’s what I get for trying to make a word out of a jumble of fancy sounding terms for a portable glider.”

“Anyway let me explain, see the backpack holds two small compressed steam tanks that go up through the front binding tube into the leading edge tube to give the wings more stability and strength while at the same time flow the waste air underneath the wings to give it more lift thanks to the rising warm watery air. The wings were tough but I finally found the right material, made from heavy woven cotton and linen- same kind they use to keep those Zeppelins afloat! That was hard to get. Then I also had to make sure the tanks didn’t weigh the flier down too much- after a few experiments I managed to find out that tanks of compressed air do not actually float unless they are in water… and even then that’s a maybe.”

By now Bear had conquered his first apprehension and had approached the machine, examining it and the harness. Despite his good judgment he chanced a glance to look down over the ledge to the plaza below. He felt very sickly and insecure of how safe this all was. “Didn’t I say no high places, Arty?”

“Well I felt it best to try this out at the best height and even if you did crash you would at least get to the roof of the building on the edge of the plaza.”

“How am I supposed to get down from one of those roofs then?”

“You won’t need to worry about that because you sir are going to fly down like a bat stalking his prey.”

“Arty I don’t think that’s what bats do.”

“And that isn’t my fault- now go ahead and get in the harness while I check the wind speed!”

Bear groaned as he looked over the ledge again, “I’m seriously having second thoughts over this.” Still he swatted down his common sense and took to his courage. Pulling the glider down he strapped into the harnesses snuggly. Bear did have to admit though his friend’s design was pretty impressive. It felt heavy but not uncomfortably so and even now the wind caught upon the wings so easily that it felt like Bear only needed to jump to get flying- obviously he wasn’t about to try and end up falling backwards down the clock tower though.  Arty meanwhile was consulting a notebook and a rotating windmill on the floor of the clock tower balcony.  Looking up the Pegasus flexed his own wings to test the air, satisfied he nodded, “alright we are good to go. All settled in there mate?”

“Uh I guess so, so you sure about this right Arty?”

“Positive, besides I swear I’ll catch you if you fall, props of natural flying after all. Now then, get on the ledge and get ready to jump.”

“Seriously I’m starting to get second thoughts about all of this.”

“Hrmmm, butterflies in your stomache, eh? Alright how about this. Stand ready and I’ll give a countdown for you to jump. I’ll start at five and you jump at one.”

“Alright sounds good.”

“Okay then. Five…. Four…. Three-now”

“Wait wha- AH!”

Arty gave Bear a solid kick, sending the screaming pony off solid ground and into the air. Looking down at his imminent death he fell fast but slowly realized that his descent had slowed down. He glanced up around the sky and found that he was moving forward rather than plummeting to his doom.

“No way…. I’m actually flying! It actually worked!” Bear cheered loudly as he soared over the plaza and the many perplexed ponies that looked up to see what the commotion was. A leisurely floating Arty flew next to him, the smaller Pegasus laughed and spoke happily, “What’d I tell you! I told you it would work! Oh I forgot to mention it gets better, hit that switch on your right there!”

Bear glanced down on the harness at the metal box with the switch Arty had gestured to. Pressing it he suddenly felt himself be lifted even higher as the hiss of steam caused the wings to actually move. Clearing the first set of buildings that made up the ledge of the plaza he and Arty went street by street. It was an amazing experience to the earthbound pony but a thought occurred to him, “You thought of everything, Arty… but uh how do I get down?”

Arty frowned, “oh… uh… well, I never really got that far in the design. Funny story about that actually! I got distracted when this mime fell down-“

“What!?” Bear cried as his movement became more frantic and the glider shook violently. He calmed down when he saw Arty laughing himself to death, “this isn’t funny, Arty!”

“Oh calm down Bear, I’m messing with ya- pull the string on the left to deploy a parachute to slow you down. Might as well do it now while we’re over a clear street.” Pulling the string Bear felt the sudden shock of being stopped as the parachute deployed. Seconds after the parachute deployed the glider collapsed against the backpack. Safely the Earth Pony hit the walkway, the parachute billowing upon the ground behind him. Still grinning widely at the experience of flying he couldn’t begin to think about anything except the excitement of flight. Arty landed softly next to Bear, grinning as well, “Well that parachute is a pain to fit back into the backpack but all things considered everything went great! I admit I was slightly worried when you pressed that switch- I wasn’t entirely positive what it did. I mean I know what it was supposed to do but what it actually does can be so much different.”

“Arty I can’t believe you made this thing, I mean it’s amazing!”

“Heh, didn’t believe me now did you?”

“Yeah, I’d say I’m sorry but honestly your plans don’t always go so well.”

“Actually my plans always go well! Just not always in the way I intended. Alright well I best get this thing back to my workshop and fine tune it. I’m sure now you want to keep it but some kinks still need to be worked out.”

“Alright then, I’m gonna see about getting some food now that I know I’m not dead. Nice work again Arty, you definitely got something goin’ for ya with this machine! Just in time for the New Lunar celebration too eh?”

“Ugh, don’t remind me about that. I like the celebration and all but its so called parties are far too boring for me.”

The two parted ways and said their goodbyes, Arty was left to try to stuff the parachute back into the metal backpack as Bear took his own way back to the plaza. He was still reeling over the fact that he actually flew, Earth Ponies don’t fly and yet he just did! Arty really did outdo himself this time.

In Bear’s upbeat mood he had mistakenly wandered too close to where the people of the Steamworks wandered. Taking a shortcut by an alleyway Bear slowed down when he heard a commotion of noise up ahead. Immediately he became alert of danger. As a young colt he had had his own encounters with the crime in the Steamworks, even on occasion was involved in street fights or attempted muggings. Bear relaxed though when he saw it was just a young colt struggling to get a tin door open. The young pony didn’t notice Bear’s approach and instead was grumbling to himself as he tried to fiddle with the padlock on the door.

“Uhh hey there,” Bear said. The other pony jumped at the voice and turned to see who it belonged too. He seemed to shrink away at the much larger Bear but still he spoke, “Geez mate, gotta scare on ole’ colt such as meself like that? Done near gave me a heart’ttack from the shock!” Bear frowned at the strange pony, “umm, I’m sorry, didn’t mean to startle you like that…. What exactly are you doing here?”

The strange pony scoffed, “Well obviously I’m trying to get this ‘ere door open but the lock’s all rusty.” To add emphasis on his words he kicked at the tin door again causing it to shake violently but not give way.” Bear frowned, a small inkling in the back of his mind telling him something was wrong here. Yet, this pony gave him no reason yet to think he mean Bear any harm, as odd as he might have been. Walking around the smaller pony he responded, “uh yeah. Sorry to bother you then.”

The strange pony though stepped in front of Bear, “hold yer horses there bucko, me bucko. You’re uhh… Bear right? Yeah! That Helpful Stallion an’ all, how’s about giving me a hoof with this here door? I could badly need the help an’ all.”

Bear frowned, the bad feeling in his mind appeared again, “well… I don’t know… are you even supposed to be messin’ with that door?” The pony waved a hoof, “ah course, ah course! My boss needs… the stuff from in the warehouse to be moved out ‘ere. Help me out will ya?”

The large colt was torn between his want to help and the bad feeling this small pony gave him. Still despite his better judgment this was someone in need of help. What was the harm? “Well… alright, I’ll help you with the lock I guess.” The strange pony smirked and pointed a hoof at the lock. Look at the lock Bear had to admit that it was pretty old and rusty, even a key probably would have trouble opening it. “Aye mate, just go ahead and break it!” the strange pony said.

Bear shrugged off his apprehension and turned around. He delivered a swift kick, shattering the lock’s body and sending the parts onto the ground. The strange pony wasted no time in opening the tin door and jumping into the dark warehouse. He quickly started by hefting a crate and tossing it out into the alleyway. “How’s about giving a fella a little more help, eh Bear? Don’t want to get meself fired by bein’ too slow.” Bear frowned but slowly stepped into the warehouse to help out.

Six crates in all were stacked up in the alleyway by the time the strange pony was satisfied. Bear made a move to leave, “Well if you don’t need anything else then I’m just gonna go now.” The other pony waved him off, “yeah yeah whatever. Oh wait! No really thanks a bunch mate! Don’t know how much you've gone an' really helped me. Now off with ya, you got places to be, people to see.” The strange pony gave Bear a wink before pushing the crates down the other way of the alleyway. Bear merely shook his head and went on his way, thinking nothing more of it. He didn’t really expect this to haunt him.

The rest of the day was rather uneventful for the pony. Into the evening he did his usual routine at his second job. It was only the next day did he hear about something unusual. The paperfilly was heralding that morning’s newspaper. One of the headlines read ‘Break In At Platinum Reserve Warehouse- Suspect Ponies Still At Large.’ It couldn’t be he thought, it must have just been a coincidence, nothing more.

That morning his conscious plagued him as he worked the lumber mill. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he did something wrong. He didn’t get to have his usual time to think while he worked though as Mr. Dawn let all the workers have the rest of the day off. Later that day the Doge of Bronze Galloptry would be hosting the New Lunar Year celebration in the plaza today. It wasn’t New Lunar Year night when Princess Luna herself would visit the city but Galloptry always hosted week long celebrations in preparation for the actual day, the sheer amount of profit that the holiday gave was just too enticing to the enterprising conglomerates of business to let pass on only one day and the Doge, the Magistrate of Galloptry, was glad to help along the flow of currency for the city. For most of the other workers the thought of a day off was great but for Bear it was just leisure time spent lost in his troubled mind. He thought about seeing if Arty was around but no doubt he would busy attending the Doge’s speech, no doubt the Pegasus was ripping his own mane out from the sheer boredom of the experience.

So Bear wandered the streets as decorations were being put up and lanterns were being lit for the first day of celebrations. Bear though could not enjoy himself as guilt tinged at the edges of his mind as he thought back to yesterday. In the past he had gotten into trouble a lot, on at least three occasions his head was laid upon the infamous granite block upon the platform in the Second Clock Tower’s plaza. The first two times were as a warning, as he was still a young colt, for what lay ahead for him should he continue his criminal ways. The third time would have been for real had he not been absolved with the help of Arty pulling a few strings. He never wanted to be in that position again and had since stayed away from such deceitful actions. Yet somehow he had unknowingly been at it again and he had no idea what to do.

It was late evening by the time he knew exactly what to do. He’d go ahead and turn himself in to the guard. Most likely it was nothing and if it was he could easily explain what had happened. Perhaps they’d be lenient. Walking the streets towards the guard station Bear took a look around the lanterns that lit up Luna’s early night. He could hear music and fireworks in the distance, not surprising as the Doge was probably making a speech right about now. Bear didn’t really care much for the Doge so felt he wasn’t exactly missing much, a corrupt magistrate like any other pony of power.

Strange though as Bear approached the plaza something interrupted the music and a rather loud set of fireworks exploded in the distance. Soon enough he was forced to dodge ponies either running or gawking at something. Some people seemed worried and others just ran away, Bear felt something wasn’t right. Still walking in the direction of the plaza he began to pass by a carriage just as a young mare jumped into the back.

“Oh you who!”

Bear stopped at the sound of the sultry voice. Turning he saw the pretty mare lean out the window and wink at him. “Would you be so kind to help a woman in distress? It seems the carriage wheel there is hanging loose.  Would be so kind handsome and fix it real quick?”

I suppose one more good deed before I spend a night in a dungeon couldn’t do any harm. Here’s hoping karma existed. “Sure thing, miss,” Bear said. He took a moment to inspect the wheel. It seemed the wheel had just hopped off the lock axel. Lifting the cart Bear replaced the wheel back to its right place, ignoring the ponies rushing away from the plaza where the commotion was coming from. Stepping back from the carriage he looked in the direction that everypony was running from, it seemed the guards would have to wait while he saw what it was that was causing such a panic.

“Can’t thank you enough handsome,” the mare gave the blushing Bear a wink as the Carriage rolled off, pulled by a pair of strong pegasi, it quickly disappeared into the sky soon after it had started to move. “Such a strange night,” Bear muttered. Turning back around he found himself staring down a pair of both startled and angry guards. Both were dressed in the Doge’s royal colors. They breathed heavy as if they had just been sprinting.

The look on their faces scared Bear but before he could speak one of the guards spoke for him, “Do you have any idea what you just did?”

Bear was shocked at the question, “What? I-“

The second guard spoke ominously, “You just helped the Doge’s murderer get away.”