//------------------------------// // Jet Airliner // Story: The Dome Event // by Peridork //------------------------------// 1. Fleur Di Lis looked upon the scenery from two thousand feet up. She had been invited by Fancy Pants to float gently above the town of Ponyville. Small dots that were the townsponies cantered up and down Main Street. She looked to the east and was blinded by the glare that Celestia’s sun brought to light. The steeple of the one church in town rose sharply enough to hug the sky with friendship. She looked down at the stream that ran slowly through the township and she smiled as the airship ran full steam ahead in the calm breeze. “Fancy, I see a few ponies swimming in the river!” Her ringing laugh rippled through the breeze until she had got under control again. She wished she had a vacation home in this town. It seemed so peaceful- as if nothing could go wrong. That whole messy Discord affair had been fixed a few months ago and the entire nation had a party that stretched from sea to sea. Se just let the wind rush through her mane as the airship glided towards the end of the town. Fancy Pants, the pilot, spun the wheel and pushed a few buttons with his aura. “Yes, I believe that they are enjoying the beauty of nature. But let’s keep this flying machine away from the ground.” “Oops.” The noblepony blushed as she realized they had been losing altitude for almost a minute. She quickly grabbed the wheel from the stallion. “Not a problem.” Fancy held back a laugh as he looked at the beauty that was absolutely radiant. He knew she was going to cost him sooner or later. She had talked his ear off for hours about getting her own pilot’s license so she could travel around the wide world on swashbuckling adventures. She had even dressed up as a pirate. It had made him feel twenty years younger. Oh Celestia, that was why he married the mare. Fancy secretly loved days like this: lots of visibility, a gentle breeze, perfect conditions to just let the wind take you to where you wanted to go. But, he felt the airship rock ever so slightly and he corrected the mistake. “Happy thoughts, dear. Let’s speed up and take the road to that Sweet Apple Acres place that we had circled around for a while. You were staring at those rainbow apples in childlike wonder. And cut down to eight hundred feet.” Fleur did and Fancy took a sigh of relief. They passed above the Ponyville Bank, which proudly exclaimed that it was owned by the Rich family, and the town proper was behind them. They could see the rolling fields of the farms stretch onwards toward the horizon. Ponyville was surrounded on one side by the Everfree forest and the other three sides were pristine farms. It was idyllic. The fields were awash with colors that said in their own way that fall was upon the Equestrian landscape. The airship’s bloated shadow was quickly flying on the dirt road, it passed over a small winged pony that was calmly walking on the road. The pony waved; Fancy waved back, though he knew that the pony couldn’t see his response. “This is the best day of my life!” Fleur practically yelled. Fancy laughed at his wife’s glee/ Their lives had forty more seconds til impact. 2. Angel happily hopped along the road, headed towards Fluttershy’s cottage. He still had a long way to go and the day shone its rays on the stubborn rabbit. He planned to stick near the shoulder of the road and dodge all the carts that rolled towards the farmer’s market that was housed on Main. Angel had ventured farther than he expected but his master’s idea of sending him off on a fun romp through the woods involved her friend’s evil cat. That cat had chased him all the way over here until it tired and left him alone. The rabbit’s ears twitched and he squinted to fix his worsening eyesight. Master had been a young pony when she found him in the woods. That was years ago and he was now an older and wiser rabbit. His blurry vision cleared and he saw an orange pegasus stallion trudging down the road with a large sack on his back. The clanging of metal reached his ears. The stallion was a soldier. Angel hopped a little further. He knew that soldiers were weak to cute fluffy things and he was, of course, a cute fluffy thing. He would eat well tonight. Angel was old and had connections throughout the town with the animals that lurked in the night. When he was a younger and more virile rabbit, he went with his friends to raid trash cans. He knew the way to the landfill as well as he knew the pillowy softness of his master’s fur. He watched the pony walk towards town. He didn’t look familiar. The soldier stopped. Angel tried to run for cover. He noticed a little hole that was his size. He readied his legs to hide and try to scrounge tasty morsels from carts and passing ponies. Master always lectured him about such things and he just let it happen. There wasn’t much he could do when she Stared at him and- Angel got a few more seconds of euphoric joy as he relived his life with his master. He began to feel wetness. Tears? No, something much more metallic. Blood. Angel tried to whine for help as he lost the feeling in his legs. He shut his eyes and drifted off to sleep. His last thought before the white was who kept him fed and happy for years. Fluttershy? 3. The engine that supplied the lighter-than-air spell to the airship failed all at once. “What’s going on? I don’t-” Fleur Di Lis said while spinning on one leg to her husband. She couldn’t feel panic anymore. It died once she saw what Fancy had been silently staring at. Her mind didn’t even have the chance to scream out in fear. Fancy never saw the wheel or the engine failure. He just saw the balloon that held their metal coffin up hit an invisible wall. Then he felt the heat. The air spell’s extra magic had sparked the balloon on fire. He grasped his wife’s foreleg in his own and they consummated their death together the same way their did their marriage: they kissed until they hit the wall. It had only been a moment, but a moment was enough. They had no time more to say goodbye. The airship exploded over the road and fire rained down on the landscape. The peaceful times had ended. A new day dawned.