In the skies over Equestria, where the pegasi call home, lies the rural town of Skysian where life was boring and slow: then the world below challenged it. While most ponies here didn’t mind the slow, yet repetitive, routine, yet there were those who wanted to take flight and see where the world took them. These fliers performed aerial acrobatics through homemade cloud courses, allowing their hearts to soar beyond their mundane and the boring lives. These competitions, while not as flashy as those in Cloudsdale, were the biggest source of entertainment in towns like these and attracted many would-be free fliers. Unable to muster the courage to compete, one mare watched on the sidelines as her friends competed for glory that didn’t exist. A smile curled over her face and wonder filled her eyes as she watched their bodies dance in the sky until she heard a voice yell out:
“Nimbus Storm! What do you think you’re doing here? You have chores to do, young mare!”
Her muzzle scrunched and her ears folded back as the form of her father, Lightning Strike, came closer. Knowing that her father would give her the talk of how her future relied on working in the new factory in Cloudsdale, or the weather mines of the Western Equestrian skies, she ran. With her father closing in on her, she weighed her options and took off to the world below. She spread her wings and fell into a freefall, until she caught a gust of wind and glided. She felt the breeze on her face, every sound was drowned out by the whistle of the wind, and she closed her eyes in bliss. She opened her eyes and weaved between the clouds, looped through holes in clouds and attempted to replicate every trick she just witnessed in the competition. Here she was at peace, but that peace would be disrupted by a strange puttering below her. Her curiosity peaked and she went to investigate, only to see the dark form of a monster on the ground. Her eyes widened in terror as she saw this form glide over the ground and take off into the sky.
Nimbus froze in fear at first but, as the form got closer, she pushed off her paralysis long enough to fly home. She flew faster than she ever had and collapsed in a wheezing pile when she entered her home, questioning what she just saw.
“Home so soon Nimbus?” A voice rang out from the living room.
When she looked through the doorway, she saw her parents on the sofa. She saw the disgruntled form of her father peering at her from over a newspaper and, sitting beside him, was her mother, Coldfront Blizzard. Her mother was currently repairing a quilt but had a much calmer demeanor than Lightning did. A lump formed in her throat and she froze in her tracks, shifting her gaze away in embarrassment. He folded his newspaper over and spoke.
“Well? Why so soon? Normally you’re gone for the whole day when you run off.”
As he spoke, his wife gave him a dirty look and said,
“What your father meant to say…” putting bite into her words, ”... is that we’re happy you’re home safe. How was it?”
Lighting rolled his eyes and muttered about Coldfront coddling her before going back to his paper. Nimbus began to speak:
“It was fine. There was a monster though. It was coming off the ground…”
“Monsters? Hah!” Her father teased: “There hasn’t been a monster in the skies since the olden days.”
“Lightning, that’s enough!” Coldfront snapped at him.
She looked at her husband, then at Nimbus. “Nimbus dear, would you excuse us for a moment? Your father and I need to have a chat…”
At that, she knew a fight was coming and quickly ascended the stairs, closing the bedroom door behind her. Through the floor she could hear yelling and, even though she couldn’t make out the words, it broke her heart hearing them argue.
A thought occurred to her while hearing them argue below: if the townsfolk saw the monster, then maybe her father would listen to reason. She wanted to track down this monster, but looking out her window she saw that the sun was set and night was dangerous for a little pony by herself. She paced, planned and prepared for the next day’s adventure for she knew that to prove herself to her father she had to catch this beast.
The following day came and when she left her home, that strange sound, that awful puttering made itself known. She peaked over the side of her family’s cloud yard and saw the black beast flying ascending closer than it was yesterday. It leveled out and, while she couldn’t see exactly what it was, she saw strange markings on it including stripes and circles within circles. The meaning of these markings was lost to Nimbus. So, she ran inside to get her parents. When she finally got her father outside, it was gone, much to his annoyance.
“You’re jumping at things that don’t exist, Nimbus. It’s time to grow up and get a job like the rest of us. Weather doesn’t create itself!”
Adjusting his suspenders, he turned and went back into their home leaving her alone with her mother. Nimbus stared in disbelief that the monster was gone without a trace, but Coldfront believed in her daughter. Putting a hoof on her shoulder she said:
“If you see the monster again, come find me Nimbus, okay?” Before giving a smile and going back inside, leaving her alone with her thoughts.
Nimbus started down the road to the cloud courses, kicking a tuft of cloud along the way. She huffed and thought to herself: Maybe Pa is right. Maybe I should just give up and find honest work. There’s no sense in chasing after something I can’t even prove.
While walking to the courses, she kept weighing her options of letting her heart soar or being chained to the mundane life to which Skysian was accustomed. When she arrived at the courses, they were empty much to her surprise. She looked around and spread her wings, stretched her back, then took flight. She felt the rush of the wind in her mane and attempted tricks that she saw other ponies doing the day before. Unfortunately for her, she ended up getting stuck in a cloud while attempting a looping maneuver. She sighed and thought:
Now you’re really done it, Nimbus. You’ve gone and got yourself stuck… Wait, what’s that noise?
Upon realizing what she was hearing, her eyes widened in fear. It was that puttering sound again getting closer to her as the seconds ticked by. She struggled to free herself, panicking as the sound drew near, eventually letting her slip free. Then the monster appeared.
It tore its way through the cloud ground, much to the horror of Nimbus and the ponies going through their daily routine. Heads snapped and eyes stared as this creature swam through the air, buzzing past houses and causing a stir. When she got a glimpse of this creature, she realized it was not a living creature at all. The creature was made of wood, its wings were made of canvas, and sitting inside it was a…pony? The pony in the contraption noticed the attention he was getting, and began to showboat. He performed tricks including nosedives, jackknifes through clouds and spinning to name a few. Nimbus recognized these tricks as staples of the pegasi competitions throughout the land. The contraption made its way to the world below, prompting the townsfolk to follow him to ask about what they witnessed.
The pony exited the contraption and noticed the curious eyes staring at him, not that he minded the attention. He removed his goggles and flashed the townsfolk a smile.
“Good afternoon, everypony!” He spoke with a silver tongue. “I see you all took a liking to my contraption here. I built it myself, after all.”
The townsponies murmured to themselves before one piped up: “How did you do that? How can you fly?”
The strange pony’s smile widened and he began, “Well it’s quite obvious, actually. You see, traditionally pegasi are the only creatures with the magic to fly and live in the sky. But why should they have all the fun? We take a little bit of magic, put it through an engine, let the propeller spin and eureka! Flight!”
The townsponies murmured to themselves again before another voice spoke. “Well the sky is ours so you can stay out of it!” The other ponies began to murmur but in an agreeing tone.
The stranger’s smile dropped and a more sinister tone and expression overtook him. “I wouldn't be too closed minded, friend. All across Equestria, earth ponies are fascinated with the idea of inventing these flying contraptions, planes as they are called, and taking to the skies.” His smile began to curl into a smile again at this. “Your magic is limited, pegasi. Soon enough you’ll be outdated and every pony will be able to fly like you can. And all that pegasi pride will be for naught.” He saw the pegasi getting hostile at his words, some expressions going straight to anger, others of confusion, and some wings shot open as if they were ready to strike. He assessed the situation and began, “Now now friends! I may seem like the bearer of bad news but I am a fair pony after all. Tell you what, I’ve watched some of those races you have up there while tinkering with this beauty and I think I have a proposition. One race, my plane against one of you with bonus points for style. If I win I get rights to your airspace. If you win then I admit that your magic is better than my creation. Do I have any takers?”
A singular navy blue hoof rose from the crowd and a voice called out “You’re on, monster!”