//------------------------------// // Chapter 02 - Infinitely Loopy // Story: The Long Flight // by Makitk //------------------------------// It was a few hours flight, but Flying made it to the valley in one piece. His forelegs were aching from having had to carry the egg all the while, and he had to pee. Badly. The valley did indeed have some train tracks looping through it, going in- and out of tunnels and over bridges which connected the holes in the mountains with one another. He did not know where his contact's house was, but they had offered to light a blue light an hour before dawn as a beacon. Dawn would still be a little away, so he had plenty of time to do his business. Flying decided to land under one of the stone bridges with their large arches, and gently placed the egg on a heap of stones beside one. "Oof," he sighed out, biting on the skin along his forelegs to get the bloodflow going again and clopping his hooves together. If he had not wanted to get away so badly, he could have landed in one or two spots along the way. Maybe three. It would have given him the time to get his legs and wings some rest. He was feeling the muscles in them pull and flare up in agony as he made his way into a set of bushes to do his thing. Soon enough a trickle of gold made its way down the slope from the bush, steam wafting up from the warm liquid into the cool night air. "Excuse me," a small voice from somewhere above him offered, and Flying had to stick his head out of the bushes to spot a light blue Unicorn with a pale white mane standing atop the bridge overhead. Her red eyes were staring right down at him, and Flying felt his cheeks flush as he realized she was watching him do his business. "Er.. One second. I'll be right with you!" he called out, disappearing a bit deeper into the bushes and trying desperately to hide what he was doing from the mare above. "Don't bother. I was on my way down anyway," the youthful voice called out in an annoyed fashion. Flying dared to look up, but the Unicorn had disappeared from where she had been standing and there was no sign of her anywhere! Realizing that, for the moment, nopony was watching, Flying quickly finished his business and emerged from the bushes, hurrying up to where he left the egg. If he could fly off with it before the mare managed to come down, he could at least save some face by her not knowing his name. This was just too embarrassing. No sooner had he arrived at the egg or a blue glow enveloped it. Flying watched in horror as the egg moved through the air from its relative safe location, to end up floating in front of the blue Unicorn's face... Flying had to do a double take. With the egg floating close to her, it was clear that the pony before him was not a mare, or she would have to be a really small mare. No, this looked more like a filly. A filly who was scrutinizing his egg right now. "Excuse me, I believe that's mine," he tried, reaching a hoof out for the egg. The filly lowered the egg a little so she could look out over it, and snorted. "No it's not. This belongs to a family of phoenixes somewhere. Where did you steal it from?" Flying blinked heavily at the accusation. "I.. you.. what? Now wait just a minute, young lady! I came flying all the way over here from the Lunar Republic, carrying that egg with me. An egg that I purchased from a reputable merchant, I may add. I did not 'steal' this from anywhere!" The blue filly twitched an ear at that, her right eyebrow rising up. "If you didn't steal it, then what happened to your carrying bag?" "Carrying bag?" Flying repeated, reaching up with his left forehoof to rub at his forehead. "Look, kid. I'm on a personal quest to take this egg to the San Palomino Desert and back, ok? I only stopped here because I had to..." "I can see why you stopped," the filly cut in. "Do you always do your business in somepony else's backyard?" Flying looked around himself in confusion. "Backyard? There isn't a house for miles!" Another snort from the filly, and she turned her tail towards him, starting to walk over to a set of bushes not too far from where he had been hiding before. Flying looked on in amazement as the filly, glowing blue horn and egg and all, disappeared behind them and then called out from behind it. "Well? Are you gonna come in or not?" With growing confusion, Flying pushed his way through the bushes he had seen the filly disappear through, only to find a spacious cave seemingly hewn out of the rock face behind them. It was large enough to allow him to fly through it with ease, even if he might need to dodge a stalagtite or two in the process, and the air felt colder in the sheltered space than it did even in the dead of night outside. A small lake lay a bit deeper in the mountain, water dripping into it from the ceiling above, and somepone had built a sizable clay house near to it. It was to this house that the filly was walking - with his egg! "Mom! Dad! Your visitor's here!" she called out ahead, and a white-coated Unicorn mare's head poked out of one of the windows of the building, her yellow mane a total mess. "Visitor?" she wondered, then spotted Flying and quickly disappeared inside again. He heard her shout something unintelligble before she all-but galloped out to meet him halfway. "There you are! Flying, isn't it? Can I call you Flying? Or should I say sir Thunder?" the mare rambled on, her horn bobbing up and down mere inches from his face while she stared at him with freakishly tiny eyes. "Flying is fine, miss," he offered in return, backing up a little from the mare, who honestly looked like she was on some kind of drugs. "Er, I don't want to interrupt you, but your foal has stolen my egg?" Her head snapped around to face her filly and her voice echoed through the cavern as she screamed out; "Silver Shade! Did you steal this stallion's egg?!?" 'Silver Shade' ignored her mother and just disappeared into the building, the egg still tracking along with her. "I'm really, really sorry. You know how foals are," the mare apologized, quickly turning tail to run after her filly, shouting her name again in the process. Flying dared to perk his ears up again as she disappeared into the building as well, having flattened them against his head as the shouting began. "So that's why the kid was outside on the tracks..." he mused to himself. An orange hoof placed itself on the ground to his right forehoof, and a low voice agreed with him. "Yep." Flying turned his head to face the owner of the rogue hoof, and spotted a Unicorn with an orange coat, a pale white mane, and a broad white moustache. He magically lifted a pipe to his lips and took a few draws from it. "And this is why we live out here. Welcome to my humble abode." === The kid turned out to be some kind of nature freak. Always going out to make sure the local wildlife was not too damaged by the trains going by every so often. Considering her mother's loud voice and psychotic nature, it was easy to see how the filly developed this behaviour. Just an hour inside the house was enough for Flying to want to get out of there again. The clay house had a master bedroom, a bedroom for the filly, a storage room in which a makeshift bed was set up for Flying to use, a restroom, and a combination living room and kitchen. It was sparsely decorated with only the bare necessities needed to live comfortable in the grotto. He first visited Silver Shade in her room to make sure the egg would be fine, and once again had to convince her that he had not stolen it. He eventually was allowed to take it back with him when he would leave, but not before he had promised to carry it in an old leather bag he could hang from his neck. Considering the pain he was still feeling in his stiff forelegs, he reluctantly agreed. He found the mare in the kitchen, tossing food in a bowl, mixing it up, and then plucking it back apart again with her magic to put each different ingredient on its own plate. Flying did not want to know why she did that, and instead walked back out to find the stallion seated at the edge of the underground lake, smoking his pipe in thoughtful silence. Flying walked up to him and sat down beside the stallion, looking out over the pristine surface of the lake. "So, your wife..." he started, but then found he didn't know how to continue. "Yes," the stallion offered, but did not otherwise move. Flying took a deep breath, then exhumed it again. What was he to say? "You never asked why we're awake at night, Nightguard," the stallion beside him offered, blowing out a ring of smoke from his muzzle. Flying turned his head to look at the man and frowned at himself. "That's true. I haven't. I guess I've been a little preoccupied with my egg." The stallion nodded his head up and down in a slow manner. "Infinitely and I never have been much for proper sleep," he started. "What with her condition and my pondering, it's easy to forget how fast time passes." "Infinitely?" Flying inquired. "Infinitely Loopy. My mare," the stallion offered, turning his head sideways and offering a hoof. "I'm Silent Thought." Flying pushed his own hoof up against the offered one, and they both shook their limbs up and down a moment before pulling them back. "Pleased to meet you, Silent." "And then there's this cave. Not a lot of natural light makes it in here," Silent Thought continued as if there had been no interruption to his previous explanation. "We mostly go by the sound of the trains above to judge whether it's day or night. They come four times a day, but only twice each night." Flying looked up at the ceiling of the cave, realizing it was still lower than the bridge just outside of it. "I see." "They go all the way to Manehattan, turn around, and then go back to Canterlot again," Silent sighed, then drew from his pipe again. "Always going back and forth." Flying stretched a few of his muscles a bit, not really sure what to say to that. "It's better to settle where you feel at home, I think," Silent decided. "We don't have a bad life here. Plenty of rest. Get a trader around once a month for mail and other supplies, but are otherwise left to our own." Flying smirked at that. "I had wondered why there was so much time between replies." Silent shrugged. "If I'd been a bit younger, I'd delivered the mail to the Hollow Shades post office myself. But it's looking to be farther and farther away every day that passes." Flying nodded. "I am headed that way tonight, you know? If you have anything I need to take with, I do have some spare room in my backpack." Silent Thought frowned as he watched the surface of the water in front of him. "Maybe you can deliver a letter for me, Flying?" "Sure! Whom to?" Flying immediately agreed, smiling warmly to the stallion beside him. "Carrot Mash. Old friend of mine," came the reply. "Haven't seen him in a while." "If you have his address, I'll do my best," Flying offered. Silent looked sideways at the Nightguard beside him and nodded solemnly. "I'll write something up while you sleep. Thanks." Flying shrugged at that. "Don't mention it. It's the least I can do." "Dad! Breakfast's done!" Silver Shade called out from the house. "Word to the wise; don't eat the brown things. They're probably clay pellets," Silent offered, tapping out his pipe on the ground before him. Flying blinked at the warning but moved to follow behind the stallion as Silent got up to return to the house. "Good to know."