The Story of Nothing, the Story of My Life

Chapter 2: The Invention

I woke up to Celestia's sun shining in my face as it did most mornings. I stumbled out of bed without even noticing the laptop that was on top of me. As it fell to ground, my reflexes kicked in and I mustered enough sense the raise my foot up so the laptop didn't fall as far down. This strategy worked but I didn't think of the repercussions. I winced in pain as I sacrificed the feeling in my foot for the next 30 minutes in return for giving the laptop a softer landing. I tried not to scream because I knew that my new neighbors would not appreciate being woken up to the sounds of my pain. Setting the laptop on the bed again, I then gripped my foot, bit my lip and did a little hoppy dance as I tried not to swear at the top of my lungs.

After recovering enough to walk again, I walked into the main room and into the bathroom. My brown hair was up in clumps, and a fair toned, brown eyed face stared back at me. I grabbed my toothbrush and began my normal morning procedure. I pulled a towel out of my duffel bag and took a much needed hot shower.

After I had finished my shower, my stomach growled right on cue. I pulled a plastic bag out of my duffel bag that banged whenever I moved. I went to the kitchen and opened up the bag which contained cooking supplies. I pulled out a pan, opened the fridge and said

"Crap"

Of course, the fridge was empty, I had just moved in and hadn't bought groceries. Well I guess that meant I knew what I was going to do today. I pulled my phone out of its charger and walked out into the hallway. There were some more students arriving, classes started on Monday so you were allowed to arrive pretty much until Sunday and it was Friday.  I walked to the elevator and pressed the down button. The elevator immediately opened and I stepped inside and pressed 1.

The doors were closing by the time I heard a familiar voice say "Wait! Keep the doors open!" I pressed the open button and who came into my vision but none other than Ditzy Doo, the video game master.

"Ditzy!" I greeted her as she entered the elevator and the doors closed behind her, "What'cha doin'?"

She giggled, "I forgot to get groceries for my dorm."

I laughed "Don't worry, I have to as well". She giggled again.

An idea must've popped into her head and she suggested "Hey, me and some of my friends were going to play cloud wars later, you want to join?"

I smiled halfheartedly "Remember? Horn, no wings".

She giggled "Of course, sometimes I'm such a featherbrain, but we should totally hang out sometime soon."

"Definitely," I reassured her.

The elevator beeped and we stepped out into the main hall and then out into the sunlight. I still had my hands in my pockets, not forgetting what I may or may not have done last night. Despite her bubbly personality, she was one of the nicest people I had met at this school; I knew that we were going to become good friends.

An idea popped into my head as we walked together to the grocery store. What if there was a way to allow me to be up in the clouds. Leonardo da Vinci's 2nd model flying machine drawn in 1488. If I could recreate that machine, then maybe I could fly with the pegasi, heh that rhymed.

"Hey Ditzy," I began "Do you think you could help me with something later?"

"Uh, depends when."

"After the cloud wars game" I notified.

"Yeah, that'd work, what are you working on?"

I smiled mischievously, "You'll see".

The rest of the walk was pretty uneventful, Ditzy flew overhead telling me all about the classes she was taking, and turns out we had a few together. Once we finally made it to the nearest grocery store we both headed towards dairy first and then to the other items on my internal list.

All the time we were doing this I was calculating what we would need to build da Vinci's model. The paper for the wings had to be light enough to keep me airborne, but thick enough not to tear. Maybe some specialized fabric would do the trick, but they wouldn't sell it in stores.

I turned to Ditzy again who was following behind "Hey, do you know anyone that can manufacture special fabric?"

She paused and thought for a second, tilting her head as she did so. Finally, she spoke "What about Rarity? She's always making material for her dresses and a special fabric would be a breeze to her, I'm sure of it".

"Rarity, I've met her before, we talked yesterday, she's a design major, right?" I asked

"Yup that's the one!" She responded happily.

Nodding silently I went back to my calculating. I picked up not only some groceries, Ditzy did the same for her trolley, but along the way I also picked up some building supplies. As deep in my deep thought as I was, I was still conscious enough to, whenever I needed to get an item, I snatched it without lingering for a second. I was taking several precautions to make sure she didn't see the backs of my blank hands. We proceeded to checkout when we were done and they scanned our items.

Once we paid, we headed out and simultaneously, both mine and Ditzy's stomach’s growled. We both laughed and I offered "Hey, want to come over to my dorm, I'll treat you. Besides I can explain what I plan to do with these materials".

We walked back to the dorm and I sat down the materials. I brought out a pan with eggs and peppers, mushrooms and some other stuff and I prepared some omelets. While I did all this I explained my idea to Ditzy who thought it was brilliant.

"I'm assuming you've heard of Leonardo da Vinci's flying machines before, correct?" I asked. Ditzy nodded in response. "Great, well his second model, designed all the way back in 1488 may just prove to be a brilliant model. The paper that da Vinci used might not work now so we need something that will hold better, that's why I need the special fabric from Rarity. The wooden pipes are used to connect all of the pieces together with the levers and pulleys to make it turn". Ditzy listened in amazement as I explained the concept. "Now, although these wings may work in the air, taking off could be a problem sometimes. There is no mechanism to get me off the ground, so I need to jump from a large height to get started, the roof could work, but once I'm in the air, I can be up there for a while, since I can't get tired because the wings aren't actually muscles. What do you think?" I finished as I set her plate down on the counter. She stared at me and comprehended all of it.

After a few seconds and a bite of the omelet she spoke "This sounds awesome! It could really work!" She talked with a small bit of food in her mouth. We talked about what we could do with the wings, a horned and winged human. After Ditzy had finished and checked the time, she hurried to the door, not wanting to be late for her game. I wished her luck and told her to report back here when she was ready to work and she was off.

It set in that I had no idea what dorm Rarity was in besides that she was on this floor. Ditzy was off, so who else could I ask that knew Rarity. It hit me eventually, of course, Twilight Sparkle, the young lady I saw with the other 5. Now what dorm did she say? 4...L was it? No, T! It was T! I walked out into the hall and down to the last dorm of the hall, 4T. I knocked on the door and I heard scattered voices, suggesting there were several people in the room.

Twilight Sparkle opened the door however and seemed surprised I'd stop by so quickly. "Hey, Alexander do you need anything?"

"Just Alex is fine and I know this might seem like a weird question but do you know where Rarity is? I need a favor" I asked.

Twilight Sparkle explained "Actually, she's in here. Rarity! Can you come here" She called over her shoulder.

Rarity walked over and stood in the doorway next to Twilight Sparkle. "Yes, what do you need to ask?" Rarity questioned.

"Hey, Ditzy Doo sent me to you; I need some special fabric, something light but thick and especially aerodynamic." I asked "Do you have anything like that I can use for a project of mine?"

Rarity thought for a second, possibly going through a mental inventory check, or wondering whether or not she should trust me with her supplies. "Yes I do, but what is it for?" She asked.

"A little invention I'm working on, please I really need this fabric" I pleaded.

She contemplated again and said "Sure, but only if I can see it when it's done".

I smiled "Thank you Rarity, no problem. Where's the fabric?"

"In my dorm, I'll go run and get it, you two just stay here". She walked past me and out into the hallway, towards the direction of her dorm.

Twilight Sparkle still seemed interested in what I was doing however "What exactly is it that you’re building?" She asked. I mentally sighed, not wanting people to be nosy about my project. However, knowing I had no choice, I answered the question

"Basically, it's a set of mechanical wings, designed off of Leonardo da Vinci's 2nd model from 1488, I'm replacing the paper for fabric, that's why I need it".

Twilight Sparkle's eyes lit up at this "Really? That is so cool! Can I try it when it's done? I've always wanted to fly! How does it work?"

Relishing in the fact that I could talk about something I actually did find interesting I elaborated "Well, since winged humans like Ditzy's bones are lighter, they have smaller wings that can easily keep up that weight. However, horned and earth humans have denser bones so we need larger wings to be able to fly, which is why this model's wingspan is a third larger than the average wing. Another setback is that the model has no way for me to boost of the ground so I'm going to have to jump from a high point like the roof. There is a series of pulleys and levers that operate the back-feather portion so I can turn. These will probably be activated by me pushing or retracting my arms". Before I could finish my analysis of the model, Rarity came back holding a roll of black fabric.

"This should work, darling, feel free to see me if you need any more help" She waved and walked back inside the dorm.

I signaled that I had to leave and said "Tell Rarity I said thanks, it was a pleasure talking to you Twilight Sparkle."

I was walking away when she followed up with "Just Twilight is fine, bye Alex" she waved to me and went back inside her dorm although I swear I thought I heard the door delay closing.

I walked back into my dorm and glanced at the clock. 3 o'clock, I still had some time before Ditzy came back. I opened my laptop which still sat on my bed after its assault on my foot, and opened up some diagrams, photos and actual schematics of da Vinci's model. The layout was fairly simple; it was kind of like a human rib cage. One central pipe went up the back like a spine and several others branched off from it. There was some ways, I realized, to make the model compact for easier carrying, which was convenient. The insides of the tubes were hollow although I knew we were going to have to seal some opening holes up so that we wouldn't have any aerodynamic problems. Inside the pipes would be the pulleys and levers that control the tail feathers connected to the armband. What we were building was indeed da Vinci's model, just a little modernized. The clock rang 4 o'clock and I knew that Ditzy would show up any time. I laid out all the materials, gently the fabric, and set up my laptop on a diagram.

As predicted, within a few minutes, Ditzy showed up. She knocked on my door and called "Alex?"

I opened the door and gestured her towards the living area where everything was set up. "Ready to work?" I asked.

"Absolutely!" She picked up the black fabric and felt it, then quickly nodding "This is definitely going to work". I showed her the model of it and explained how the pipes acted as a backbone with the levers and pulleys as blood vessels inside. We laid out the pipes in the correct formation and spread the black fabric over in the correct areas. It was really starting to look like the genuine model. We started connecting the fabric to the frame and lifted it up.

“It’s looking good,” Ditzy said as I tested gently how the fabric would hold up.

“Very,” I agreed. This was perhaps the most fun thing I had ever done, especially with Ditzy there.

The clock banged midnight and we decided that it would probably be wise to go to bed. We waved goodbye and she went back to her dorm. I quickly changed into better sleeping clothes and collapsed onto my bed, asleep before I even touched the pillow.