Convention vendor, compulsive writer. I have a Patreon for monthly bills and a KoFi for tips.
Cherry Berry loves cherries- every pony knows it. Cherry Berry does all sorts of odd jobs around Ponyville- every pony knows that, too.
What not every pony knows is that Cherry Berry's passion is flying- quite unusual for an earth pony. She flies a balloon and a helicopter... and now she's working on something even better, with the help of other ponies and a lot of bits.
Inspired by the poem "High Flight" by John G. Magee, Jr.
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A nit-picky bit of formatting...
The lines of the poem are almost getting lost in the flow of the story, even with the italics. Perhaps center-justifying them might help them to stand out more?
6959967 Thanks for the advice; bolded them to make the pop. Also moved the poem to the top of the story so the quotes had a bit more context.
That is such a cute story! Well done you deserve a follow!
A perfect poem and story.
Especially today, when we say fair last flight to quite possibly the greatest pilot in aviation history.
Captain Eric Brown.
Per Adua, Ad Astra.
My character meanwhile, just like the last several years Ive had all the details but not the ability to write it down, watches with pride at Cherrys hard won flight. Looks like tonights run to Griffonia is going to be needing a celebration. Before the Other Special Delivery takes place. Well, better head off to Pinkies for the party. I hear she has Angel Cake.
I'm not crying, you're crying!
Oh I am so on this.
Alright this is brilliant.
I like how you worked in the toy lines, especially with the Twilight cutout (and BTW, there's now a Maude cutout; I think it comes with the swan boat).
You've got a good knowledge of flying; I'm certainly not an expert, but everything that you said about the control systems sounds right to me.
Besides just the toylines, you've mixed in a fair bit of show canon, headcanon, fanon, and memes, blending them together in a story which is both funny and serious.
Plus, you're headcanon for Cherry Berry is remarkably close to my own. Not that I play favorites, but if I did, I'd upvote on that basis alone (I'm lying; I totally play favorites).
In short: I love this. I love every minute of this.
6963750 Thanks, but I'm mortally embarrassed that I completely forgot about the existence of YOUR Cherry Berry story referencing the SAME POEM...
6964073
It's all good! It's a great poem, especially for one of the best BG ponies.
Did you open this with an in-universe explanation for Applejack's truck? Color me impressed.
It's true what they say. Regardless of the plane, century, or species, developing artificers never fail to bake the ornithopter.
I really like Dash as flight instructor. I'm downright impressed by her grasp on the theory. It does make sense, but she always struck me as the sort of person who operated on talent and instinct, unable to put what she does into words. Still, I suppose giving Twilight pointers did a lot to help her teaching methods.
In all, a wonderful tale of a dream fulfilled. The section headers were a bit disruptive, but overall, a most enjoyable read. Thank you for it.
6966407 I'm pretty sure Dashie couldn't do the actual math involved with calculating lift and drag, but as a native of Cloudsdale she would have literally soaked in a culture where the basic theory is universal knowledge... and then, with her ambitions, she'd pay closer attention both to that theory as it could be practically applied.
(It also helps that Dash's lack of precise book expertise lines up with my own; I understand the theory, but I don't even know where to begin on the math.)
Got here thanks to Admiral's blog post
without it I would miss that Twilight cutout joke :)
----
Needs fix
Maybe spilt better / move "was" before "," ?
I think that ponies could use "hooves" like humans use(d) "hands" (so 10k of them wouldn't be particulary high), for "feet" eqivalent maybe "steps" (not our steps of course)?
10,000 steps would make about 3-4 km and even Wrights' biplane ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_altitude_record#Fixed-wing_aircraft ) got to 2,6km
6969481 Thanks for the suggested edits; some may be used.
Ten thousand feet is two miles up, or somewhat pushing the absolute limits of what a human pilot could withstand without an oxygen supply. Cherry Berry would have to make it at least half that high to be higher than level with Celestia's castle in Canterlot. Anyway, it's a respectable achievement for early Equestrian powered flight.
6970681
You know the argument against metrication is that feet etc. make you more in-the-touch with distances, heights etc. as it is easier to visualize them.
And pro metrication ones argue that it is a b***sh*t.
You ain't making good "against" argument ;)
For example highest placed capital city - capital of Bolivia - La Paz is located ~3,650 m / 11,975 ft (popular TV trivia and I took values from the wiki)
No need for oxygen masks there...
Mt. Everest is 8,8km / 29k ft and
some freakspeople go there without masks.You need ~ double your values.
Very nice. Two hooves up.
(I live in Albuquerque myself at 5,000 feet and have a number of times visited the top of the nearby Sandia mountains at 10,000 with only mild shortness of breath while walking.)
6972964
6973508
Bear in mind that you either are someone or are talking about someone who has adjusted to high-altitude exertion. That adjustment takes time (usually a couple of days minimum). Someone going straight from low-altitude to high altitude, like for example in an airplane, will have some symptoms of altitude sickness. At 10,000 feet they're minor, so somebody with a healthy constitution will be okay so long as they don't overwork themselves. Above 15,000 feet just the act of breathing becomes difficult. At 20,000 feet or higher you are -going- to black out- it's just a matter of how soon.
This may not apply to Equestria, which can't seem to make up its mind if it's a Copernican or Aristotlean universe. For all I know it's nice thick air as high as you care to go.
6973835
I'm fairly sure that healthy person will not black out going to the top of Mount McKinley (20k ft / 6,2km). Nor flying airplane there on normal climb.
Flying there - fast - with helicopter could drop people with poorer health, that's true.
IMHO I think you somewhat overestimates fragility of human body. We are the coackroaches of the universe ;)
That's authors' call. If you want you can make a molehill out of the Canterlot's mountain.
The only thing it really lacked, was a struggle. Even if we did see her work hard, there was no hitch, no problem, no real challenge.
First try is already a sucess? It so rarely happen. And it just made this a pleasant read instead of a breathtaking one.
Still, it was fun. I couldn't help but smile all along.
6979079 True, there was no conflict, but there was building action and a climax of sorts. Putting the kind of conflict in that would work for this particular story would have killed the light tone I wanted to keep.
6981096 I didn't have a conflict in mind so much as mistakes and such to overcome. It doesn't need to be dramatised.
6973835 Well, that appears to be the case in the comics, where they have air on the Moon...
This story made me happy and smile. And I may or may not have a small tear in the corner of my eye
Hello there! I've reviewed this story on my blog. Thanks for the read!
This is very good. It references Mendacity and the Balloon marketed as belonging to Twilight Sparkle. It references cold air being denser than warm air.*
Titan has a mostly nitrogen atmosphere. Its pressure is about 3/2s that of the Planet of the Apes. Its temperature is less than 100 Kelvins. Is air-density is about 5x that of the Planet of the Apes. Given that the engine is magically powered, if Cherry Berry would wear a an insulated pressure-suit with an O2-canister and CO2-scrubber as part of a life-support-system with a magical heater, she could fly very well on Titan because, not only is the air 5x-denser, but the gravitational acceleration is only 1/7th as much as on the Planet of the Apes; so now, flight is about 35 times easier than on the Planet of the Apes.
I reviewed this story as part of Read It Later Reviews #43.
My review can be found here.
I couldn't help smiling while reading this. This story is relaxing and enjoyable.
Heh, I just read Admiral Biscuit's story and then yours. Love both of them.
This story really works, I was smiling all the way through... maybe even had a little moisture in the corner of my eyes there at the end.
Good stuff.
I'm glad I finally got around to reading this thing.
6970681 In a word, no. US FAA rules specify supplemental O2 is only needed at (paraphrased):
At or below 12,500 Feet, you're fine.
12,500-14,000 you're ok for less than 30 minutes. After that, the >Flight Crew< needs to be on O2.
15,000-up everybody needs O2. At a certain altitude, you need a pressurized cabin, but that's beyond the scope of this.
A happy little story. I liked it.
The bit about coating the canvas with resin was good, but it could have gone further. As the coating dries it shrinks a little, which pulls any wrinkles or floppy areas out of the fabric.
...I used to build airplane models having balsa frames and painted tissue surfaces, back when asking for "airplane dope" at a hobby shop didn't get you funny looks.
Nice having a smart Rainbow Dash. The comments really show all the references!
Nice explanation for how the cutie mark doesn't relate to what she wants to do. It's never said that a cutie mark must be useful in any way. Just that it's a important part of the pony?
Light, but good.
I followed your fics back here kinda backwards, from the Maretian to Changeling Space Program, and now this... I kinda headcannon this as a sort of prologue to CSP now. :D
I just put this on my "read it later" list. I'll get to it someday. Is it canon with CSP and The Maretian? I hope it is.
8932623 It's at least deuturocanon. It's definitely not required for reading CSP, but I had it in my mind when I began CSP.
SHE HAS AN ORNITHOPTER?
...actually that makes perfect sense, with how much energy she has. Especially if it's one powered by the pilot, and not an engine.
NEVERMIND BUT I WON'T JUDGE
This...
I liked this.
Above the planet on a wing and a prayer,
My grubby halo, a vapor trail in the empty air,
Across the clouds I see my shadow fly
Out of the corner of my watering eye
A dream unthreatened by the morning light
Could blow this soul right through the roof of the night
There's no sensation to compare with this
Suspended animation, a state of bliss
Can't keep my mind from the circling skies
Tongue-tied and twisted just an earth-bound misfit, I
Big things have small beginnings. I like that one of the best series on this site, starts with such a simple little moment of joy that eventually cascades into triumph after triumph.
It’s kind of like a reverse “For Want of a Nail”.
Shouldn't "aunt Jubilee" be capitalized? Aunt Jubilee
10072729 Only when used as a mode of address. "Hello, Aunt Jubilee," is capitalized. "I owe your aunt Jubilee some favors," is not. If you don't capitalize it without the person's given name, you don't capitalize it with the name.
10073103
Got it.
This was nice.
To complete the set on the TVTropes Haiku page, I've managed to compose:
To me, "hooves" feels awkward, but I can't think of any alternative I like better.
This makes a perfect background story for Changeling Space Program where Cherry Berry's ability to fly is key.
I really loved this. Ponies with their lives and purposes already figured out, helping an ambitious and clever mare chase her own dream. It's a comedy story, but it really carries itself with a nice and inspirational undertone to it, especially in the closing paragraphs.
That was a good story.
I was wondering where this first chapter in my new print book came from ... :-)