The hospital was the first thing Pilot Sky could remember.
He opened his eyes, groaning. His head was hurting, and his view was unclear. He was unable to focus on anything, and even trying would just make it hurt more. "Where… Where am i?"
He heard the sound of hooves. He wasn't able to recognize it. All he could understand at that point was that it was a nurse. She had a calm voice. "Relax. You are probably having the effects of a concussion. It usually causes minor loss of memories."
"Memories?" Pilot asked, unsure. "All I remember is waking up here…"
He could hear the nurse sigh. "Nothing at all?"
"Nothing…" Pilot sighed. His sight was still a blur.
He could hear the nurse sigh too. "You must have hit your head pretty hard then."
Pilot just closed his eyes. "It feels like I was just placed out there."
The nurse left the room without saying anything else.
A week later was he signed out from the hospital. He didn't know anything about the world he was in. Only that it was weird. He had been briefed at the hospital before leaving, so he knew what was meeting him. He had gotten special glasses that magically focused his sight, as it was clear that he couldn't do it himself. He had also seen how he looked like in a mirror.
He was a dark grey bat pony with rather large wings and a bit larger build. His glasses were square and his cutiemark was an airship. He was told that it probably meant that his specialty had something to do with airships.
But to work on airships did he need an area with space, so he spent a week, looking for somewhere to stay. It didn't take long before he found the place too. The house was located in Tealside Forest, which was located a few miles out of Ponyville, where he had been found.
The cottage was small, but it had space for what he needed. Bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom and a workstation. The backyard was large too, and he had a storage room for stuff. This was where he started experimenting.
"Good day." The landowner dropped by, like he sometimes did. He was an earth pony with expensive clothes, and silver mane and he was grey besides that.
Pilot looked up from the final work on the small airship prototype he was working on. "Oh hello, sir Landlord."
Sir Landlord had dropped by this time to see the launch of the first real airship in Equestria. "So when is it ready?"
Pilot chuckled. "She just needs some minor tweaks and then she'll be off." He worked on it as he spoke.
Landlord studied the engine. It was far too advanced for him. "I'll let you finish."
Pilot looked up. "And done." He filled a tube with some crystals he had ordered from the castle mages at Canterlot, all filled with magic. He then got onboard.
"Good luck." Landlord stepped back and nodded.
"Thanks." Pilot powered up the ship. The control panels, gauges and other units woke up. The ship then started gaining altitude. Everything was going good so far, and no error messages came.
Pilot grinned and activated the thrusters. The thrusters spewed out a rain of sparks and the whole dashboard went red. The whole ship started shaking from the thrusters as they started breaking apart. Pilot tried to shut them down, but something had happened and they had started an internal reaction, which kept them going, no matter how hard he hit the engine brakes. He looked at the Thruster Energy Gauge, and it was off the scale, and kept spinning too. The thrusters weren't going to hold up for much longer. Then they exploded, and the explosion could be seen all the way to Canterlot, and heard too.
Pilot woke up a week later, back in the hospital bed. The nurse was there again, as usual.
"What happened…" he sighed.
The nurse looked at him. "You don't remember?"
"I do." Pilot looked at his right hoof, discovering that it wasn't there. "How could they just explode? I had made sure that they would run properly." He looked at the nurse. "I need to get home, now."
"You're not going anywhere." The nurse gave him a stare.
Pilot growled. "Yes I am. I need to get something done, and that as soon as possible."
"What if something happens?" the nurse sighed.
"Then I'll be the one responsible."
The nurse looked at him. "Fine. Just be careful."
The flight home wasn't the easiest thing, as he was missing a hoof. He had to try several times to find the balance, and also to maintain it. As soon as he reached the cottage did he enter and gave the bookshelf a shove. It opened into a secret room, filled with black boxes with blinking lights, holographic screens and a set of mechanical stuff, including a set of hooves.
"Looks like this secret project will come in handy after all." He sighed and took up a metal plate from the right mechanical hoof. He uncovered the nerve connections, closed his eyes and drove the end into the stump that once had been his own hoof.
The pain was beyond when anypony could imagine.it was like every nerve was screaming, and it spread throughout his body, forcing him to collapse. His eyes were full of tears and he was biting his lip to not scream as the metal connection plate was securing itself into the bone and connecting the blood veins so blood could flow through the mechanical arm and keep it at body temperature.
It lasted for several minutes, but soon it calmed down. Pilot was almost crying, but he got up and connected the hoof to the plate, testing it. It was a success. He tried to walk, but stumbled around like he had been having too much cider. He kept trying, stumbling around, but he was getting used to the hoof now. The simple touch sensitivity system he had built into it was also waking up, giving him the basic senses, like pressure and temperature. Pilot smiled. "Yup. That's good. Now I can work again."
He trotted out and closed the shelf before heading outside. He also knew what had happened, and he intended to fix it.
Sir Landlord was waiting outside when Pilot exited the cabin. "Ah. Pilot. Good to see that you're up walking again."
Pilot nodded. "Yeah. Can't stay down for ever you know."
Landlord nodded in agreement, and then he noticed Pilot's hoof. "Now that's something I don't see every day. Looks like you got your hoof replaced."
Pilot grinned. "Yeah. It was a secret project before now."
"Looks like it's working well." Landlord nodded and studied it. "But you know what went wrong?"
"Well…" Pilot started thinking. "I think I was missing a magic flow limiter so I could prevent the magic flow from becoming too large, so what happened was that there was made a self sustained ball of energy in the thrusters, tearing them apart. The explosion came when the thrusters lost all energy in the containment field."
Landlord looked confused. "Energy containment field?"
Pilot chuckled. "It makes sure the energy doesn't touch the thruster's inner walls."
"Aaaah." Landlord nodded. "But I guess you are eager to get back to work. I got you the materials you need, and I hope it goes better this time."
Pilot grinned. "I won't let you down, Sir. The next ship will be a success."
And so another few years went by, working on a newer and greater ship. The magic flow limiter was installed so the thrusters wouldn't end up with a self-sustained orb inside, and a lot of new systems were made to prevent other things from failing.
Pilot was pleased at the day of launch. He had been running several ground tests of the critical systems, and they all worked. He turned as Sir Landlord came.
Sir Landlord was a lot older now. He was in a wheel chair, accompanied by two maids. He smiled. "Looks like you are ready."
Pilot nodded. "Yeah. And as soon as I'm done is the ship yours."
Landlord chuckled. "I have to disappoint you there." He grinned weakly. "I've grown old, and Death spoke to me last night. I begged to be allowed to see the ship's maiden voyage, but when it's done will he come to take me away. I want you to keep the ship, and the cabin too."
Pilot hesitated. "What?"
Landlord smiled. "So shall we get moving?"
Pilot nodded. "Sure. I just wonder. What would you say to be onboard this trip?"
"Sounds like a great idea." Landlord sighed. Flying had been a dream for him his while life. "But you should bring him too." He nodded at the large hooded pony who had appeared.
"Somepony you know?" Pilot tilted his head.
"Yeah." Landlord sounded sure.
Pilot opened the side hatch. "Alright. All onboard."
The others went onboard, but the hooded figure was the last one. It stopped for a moment and looked at Pilot, with red glowing eyes before it continued onboard. Pilot shuddered, as he almost knew what was under the hood.
The side hatch closed and Pilot started powering up the ship. The ship started lifting off the ground, going straight up. He then activated the thrusters. "Here goes." The airship accelerated, and was soon gaining altitude and speed, controlled. It didn't take long before they were over the clouds, stabilizing at a decent height.
Landlord looked happier than ever before. He was now living a dream he had been having since he had seen the first pegasus fly. The maids were also looking round in joy, but the hooded pony was just standing there.
Several pegasuses flew by, interested in the bypassing airship. They had never seen such a creation before, and were eager to take a closer look. This included several close-up flights by the Wonderbolts, who also landed and talked with Landlord as he was the one who had been paying for the project.
Then the evening came. Landlord smiled. "It have been a great experience, Pilot, but now my time has come."
The hooded figure started moving again. It had been standing like a statue the whole flight.
Pilot looked at him. "None of this would have happened without your help, Sir Landlord."
"You had an ambition I liked." Landlord chuckled. "And it became real."
The hooded figure stepped in behind him and took the cloak off. It was an alicorn, black as the night with a black mane and tail filled with white stars. His wings were huge and tattered, like they had been taking a lot of damage throughout the years, and his cutiemark was a skull and a scythe. He had glowing red eyes.
"Very well…" Landlord closed his eyes. "Thank you, Pilot Sky. It has been a pleasure knowing you." He then sank together in the wheelchair.
Pilot looked up at the alicorn. "You must be Death, right?"
The alicorn nodded.
"Good." He nodded. "So you can see everything about a pony, right?"
The alicorn nodded again.
"So who am I?" Pilot was determined now.
"That I cannot say." Death looked at him. "But the truth will be uncovered in time, when space fractures and the past catches up to you again."
Pilot looked at him. "But when!"
Death closed his eyes. "That is another tale." He vanished.
Landlord's funeral was big, and the airship was there too, where Pilot saluted him. Without Sir Landlord had the project never been a success, but now it was a running project, and he was able to estimate how much it would cost to make a ship, so he could start selling them.
Landlord did not have a family. He was an only child, and he had been to busy with other things to be able to focus on getting a family, so most of what he owned was donated to charity, except Pilot's part of the property, extra materials for airships and also money for his maids, so they could retire without loss.
Pilot also hosted the party on his airship where ponies could celebrate and remember what kind of pony Landlord had been. He had been known for being generous and kind, and he had always made other smile. His business had been made to benefit other ponies, and the money he didn't need were donated to the ponies who needed it the most.
After the party was he heading back home. It was about time to start working on airships, so more unicorns and earth ponies could get the feeling of flying. It was his special ability, and he was going to put it into good use.