//------------------------------// // Part 5 // Story: Out of the Sky // by ThatGirl2147 //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle paced the floor to her library worriedly. In the room with the purple unicorn were a white unicorn with a gorgeous, violet mane, two Earth Ponies, one of whom was orange, and the other pink, and Twilight’s baby dragon, Spike. All four of them shared the same worried look that adorned the face of Twilight. “Come on, where are they?” asked she to the air. “It’s been six hours.” She looked to the window, which revealed the deep blue night sky, and tapped her hoof on the wooden library floor nervously. “Just calm down a bit, Sug.” The orange mare finally spoke with a noticeable drawl. “We’re all worried ‘bout Rainbow and Fluttershy, but we sent them there to check on Tech, ‘member?” the orange pony put her hoof around Twilight in an attempt to calm her. She then added, “maybe she needed a hoof with some things. Who better to help a friend in need than Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash?” Twilight Sparkle sighed, and then replied, “yeah. You’re probably right, Applejack. If there were a problem, they wouldn’t leave Tech by herself.” “Excuse me, ladies,” requested the white mare. “I’m just as worried about Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy as you are, but somepony needs her beauty sleep if we’re going to a show tomorrow.” She looked at Twilight and, with a pitiful look on her face, said to her, “you wouldn’t want me to look bad for such an occasion, do you, Twilight?” Spike gazed at the white unicorn and, almost drooling, remarked, “I don’t think you CAN look bad, Rarity.” “Oh, you’re too kind, Spike,” thanked the mare, apparently named Rarity. She blushed at the dragon’s compliment. Applejack looked with concern at Twilight, and then at the two other ponies. “Well, I guess you and Pinkie Pie can go home and get some shuteye, Rarity,” said she, “but be here and ready to go first thing in the mornin’.” Rarity and Pinkie Pie nodded at Applejack and trotted out the front door, one at a time, each saying their goodbyes to Twilight, Applejack, and Spike as they left. Applejack then looked to the purple unicorn and told her, “I’ll stick ‘round here and keep an eye on you, Twilight.” “Thanks, Applejack,” said Twilight sincerely to her friend. She then turned her attention to the purple dragon, who let out a large yawn. She lifted him up on her back and told the orange mare, “we should probably take your advice and get some sleep.” The two ponies then ascended the staircase to the library’s second floor where a trio of beds lay. Twilight placed Spike in the smallest bed, a basket much like Blades had in Fillydelphia, and then climbed into her own bed. Applejack did as Twilight did and lay down on the third bed. The two ponies and baby dragon exchanged “goodnight’s” and were soon asleep. After the hours of night died, to be replaced by sunlight, Twilight Sparkle arose from her sleep. Twilight sat up on her bed and stretched, yawning loudly. She then smiled brightly and hopped onto her hooves, approaching Spike’s bed. She tapped it with her hoof, lightly saying to the sleeping dragon, “time to wake up, Spike. Today’s the big day.” The tone of the purple mare sounded much more optimistic today than it did the previous night. As the baby dragon slowly opened his eyes, he murmured a few illegible words, and then asked clearly enough, “which big day?” “The show in Fillydelphia with Tech Specs,” replied Twilight lightly. She trotted over to the third bed, where the orange Earth Pony known as Applejack lay, still fast asleep. The unicorn tapped her hoof on the hardwood frame of the bed, making a loud clacking noise at each strike. The fourth strike awoke the orange pony, who sat up and immediately donned her signature headgear, her brown Stetson. “Huh, what?” rambled she at the sudden awakening, moving her head rapidly toward various things about the room. She then straightened her Stetson and asked her friend, “what’d I miss?" Twilight giggled at her friend’s rather sketchy awakening, with Spike joining in the laughter. “Yeah, yeah. Yuck it up,” said Applejack in a sarcastic tone. Her tone regained seriousness as she looked to Twilight and asked, “are Rarity and Pinkie Pie here yet?” Applejack slid off of the bed, and joined Twilight and Spike in standing in the centre of the bedroom. “No, not yet, Applejack,” replied Twilight, whose horn began to glow purple. As the glow grew, the blanket, sheets, and pillow of one of the beds became surrounded by the same glow and began floating in the air. Twilight moved her head a bit, and the bed things moved into perfect position on the bed and the blanket and sheets tucked under the mattress, thus revealing a perfectly made bed. The mare’s horn ceased to glow, and she looked to the other bed, where her horn glowed again, repeating the same process as she did on the previous bed. Spike observed Twilight’s doings and complimented, “you’re getting way better at that, Twi. Nothing at all like the last time you tried.” “I told you, Spike, I was distracted.” The unicorn tried to dismiss the memory of accidently putting her sheets and blanket on the underside of her bed. “Whatever you say,” slyly remarked the dragon, trying to hold back laughter. “Any idea on when Rarity and Pinkie Pie are supposed to show up?” After a few seconds, everypony heard a knock on the library door. “Well, speak of Celestia!” announced the orange mare cheerfully. The two ponies and Spike descended to the ground floor, where Twilight opened the door, revealing one of the two ponies they were expecting: Pinkie Pie. “Heya, Twilight!” beamed the pink mare, an ear-to-ear smile decorating her face. “I’m here; are we ready to go yet?” She hopped up and down from excitement. “Not so fast, Pinkie,” interrupted Applejack, putting her hoof on Pinkie Pie’s shoulder in an effort to calm her down. “Rarity ain’t showed up yet. Do you know where she is?” The pink Earth Pony nodded, her large, fluffy mane bouncing with every movement. “Mhmm, she said to pick her up at her house. Something about ‘getting her outfit dirty’ or something like that.” “Ugh, typical Rarity,” complained Twilight. “Oh well. Let’s go get her. Spike?” “Already on it,” said the dragon as he sprinted out the library’s front door to ready Twilight’s balloon. As the three ponies waited on Spike, Applejack finally spoke. “So, why you so excited about the show, Pink?” “Are you kidding me?” replied the pink mare. “Have you ever seen a music show that DIDN’T include a great party afterwards?” She began bouncing giddily again as she finished, “I’m excited just for that, and if the music’s good, that’ll make it even better!” Everypony laughed joyously at the thought of what the show was going to hold for them. while they laughed, Spike veered his head into a window leading to the back yard of the library. “Balloon’s ready, Twilight,” said he loudly enough for the three mares to hear. Twilight and the others nodded and trotted out the front door, still chuckling lightly. Outside stood the hot air balloon in all its glory. Its intricate design and meticulous decorations brightened the near vicinity. As the three ponies entered the basket, Spike operated the controls, lifting the massive balloon off the ground. He then steered it toward’s Carousel Boutique, where Rarity was surely waiting. “So, what are you looking forward to, Applejack?” asked Twilight. “Not too sure, Twi,” replied the orange pony, scratching her mane with her hoof. She thought for a few seconds before answering, “I guess the best thing’ll be havin’ a good time and enjoyin’ the music.” She then looked at the purple unicorn and asked her, “what about you, Twilight?” “Yeah,” agreed Pinkie Pie, “what are you excited about?” She and Applejack gazed at Twilight Sparkle, smiling in anticipation for her answer. “Hmmm,” thought the unicorn, “I’m really thrilled at the thought of hanging out and having a good time with my friends, both new and old. And the music? Well, that’s just a bonus.” The trio conversed further for a short time until they arrived at Carousel Boutique. As Spike landed the vessel, the white unicorn emerged from the front doors of the boutique. She was dressed from horn to hoof in lavish garb. Her dress was a platinum-white colour, with deep lavender embroidery. She wore a gold band on each hoof, and a gorgeous gold and silver necklace hung gracefully from her neck. Spike almost fell out of the balloon from leaning over the edge. “Greetings, Girls,” announced Rarity. She trotted to the balloon where Applejack and Twilight Sparkle helped her into the basket. “Thank you, Darlings. Shall we be off then?” said she. As Spike snapped out of staring at the white mare, he started the balloon flying again, this time heading Southeast to Fillydelphia. The air was calm on the way from Ponyville to Fillydelphia, and the scenery was as beautiful as ever, the trees and all foliage sharing a perfect shade of emerald green, and all of the flowers in perfect bloom, giving one more spark of brilliance before hiding away for Fall and eventually being hidden by the Winter snow, which was immanent. Whitetail Wood was especially magnificent, as it usually is before Fall comes, but enhanced by the gleam of dew which covered the leaves and grass, shimmering as the ponies took in the scenery. Eventually though, the nature and foliage was replaced by concrete and buildings: the city of Fillydelphia. As the balloon floated about the outskirts of the city, Twilight Sparkle carefully scanned the area. “Let’s see; if I remember correctly,” said she to herself. She then pointed her hoof towards the Downtown area of the city, telling Spike, “Tech’s shop should be that way.” As she said this, the baby dragon saluted and steered the massive vessel in the direction to which Twilight pointed. The purple mare kept her eyes fixated on the cityscape, searching for the empty lot where they had landed before. She clapped her hooves together and then pointed down to a block which contained said empty lot, and said, “there it is,” to her dragon assistant. Spike then manoeuvred the balloon to land between the two large apartment buildings where the lot was, and successfully did so with careful navigation. Three of the four ponies and Spike quickly hopped out of the basket, but Rarity hesitated, avoiding the dirt patches and trying only to touch the grass. Eventually, Applejack grew impatient and pushed the white mare through the lot and onto the sidewalk. “Fine, I’ll do it your way,” huffed Rarity at the orange mare, but she simply shook it off and went to cross the street with her friends. The street was rather busy, but the ponies found enough space to cross safely. “Yep, this is the place,” remarked Twilight Sparkle, observing the storefront, which bore Tech Specs’ Cutie Mark, three interlocked gears, and the name of the shop, “Tech Specs’ Machines.” The group entered the shop, ringing the bell as they opened the door. Inside, the ponies gazed at the devices, gadgets, and contraptions that adorned the shelves on either wall of the shop. After a few seconds, the steel door on the back wall resonated the sound of a gong as it opened, revealing Tech Specs, who was wearing a cooking apron. Her left hind leg was encased in the new cast she and her friends built. The new cast was much more intricately designed and less sketchy-looking than her previous, but was still painted blue to match her coat and bore a cut-out revealing her Cutie Mark. “Welcome to Tech Specs’ Machines!” beamed she, who then opened her eyes to see Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Spike, and Rarity standing at the entrance to her shop. “Oh, hello there!” She hit her hoof against her forehead as she remarked, “I was expecting you lot; why didn’t I remember that? Oh well. You’re here now, and that’s all that matters.” “My word!” exclaimed Rarity, galloping toward the blue unicorn. “What have you done to your mane? It’s ghastly!” said she, running her hoof through Tech’s short mane. “Oi! It’s not that bad,” retorted Tech Specs. “I kind of like it; doesn’t get in the way that much, you know?” “Yes, I understand that,” replied the white mare, “but you didn’t have to go about it like this. It is a crime against fabulosity!” Tech gave Rarity a confused look as she said “fabulosity.” She then commented, “I’m afraid I didn’t have much choice. I’m Tech Specs, by the way. Rarity, I presume?” Rarity nodded, confirming Tech’s presumption. “I see you’ve heard of me, then?” The white mare smiled in hopes that word of her work had reached so far as Fillydelphia. “Well, kind of,” replied Tech Specs. “Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash told me all about you.” She then looked to the steel door and added, “speaking of which, what say you lot that we move to the workshop. There’s plenty of room there and this place is getting a bit too crowded.” Everypony nodded at her and followed her through the doorway into her workshop. As Twilight and the others entered the massive room, the smell of cinnamon pastries filled their nostrils. They looked to see their pegasus friends, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, sitting at a large metal table enjoying pastries and conversing amongst themselves. “Oh, hi girls,” greeted Rainbow Dash, swallowing a bit of her breakfast. She flew over to the group and hugged them, saying, “oh my gosh; Tech has some of the funniest stories I’ve ever heard. And, she makes a delicious breakfast.” “Oh, right, yes,” began Tech as she remembered, “would you like some strudel and a cup of hot tea? You lot must be hungry after that long trip here.” After Twilight and her friends shrugged and accepted Tech’s offer, she darted towards the staircase in the back of the room. “I say, she is a rather odd character,” remarked Rarity to her friends, looking about the workshop. “And what’s with that silly-looking apparatus on her leg?” Rainbow Dash flew into the white unicorn’s view and answered, “it’s the whole reason Twilight sent us here. She broke her leg, and that thing gives her the ability to walk while her leg heals.” As Rarity nodded and spoke to the pegasus, the door flew open again, yielding Tech Specs and her orange dragon, Blades. Tech had a tray which held a plate of pastries and six cups of tea on her back. “Look who woke up just in time,” said she, motioning to Blades, who yawned and nodded. Tech strolled to an empty table and slid the plate from her back onto it. In response, everypony else in the room gathered round the table. Everypony took in the smell of the pastries and tea. The pastries smelled strongly of cinnamon and the tea of citrus fruits. Applejack remarked, “smells awful good, Tech, but what is it?” “Cinnamon Apple strudel and Lady Grey tea,” informed Tech. “A fine Germane recipe an old friend taught me.” The blue unicorn looked to the portrait on the far wall as she mentioned an old friend. One by one, the four ponies and two dragons each took a piece of strudel and a cup of tea. Twilight Sparkle took a bite of the strudel and a sip of tea, then complimented, “wow, that’s delicious, Tech. who’s that old friend of yours? He must be an excellent chef.” “Yeah,” agreed Pinkie Pie. As Rarity and Applejack agreed with Pinkie Pie, she added, smiling, “tell us about him, Tech.” Tech Specs looked away from her friends for a second, a look of sorrow covering her face. The unicorn ran a hoof through her short mane, and managed to regain her cheerful composure. “His name is Uhrwerk,” answered she, “he taught me everything I know about everything: cooking, metalworking, watchmaking, you name it.” “Wow, that’s a wide range of skills,” remarked Twilight Sparkle. “Aye, he was a real Renaissance Colt.” Tech Specs looked away again, then she lifted her goggles and cleaned a tear from her eye with her hoof as she finished speaking. “‘Was?’ I’m terribly sorry, Darling,” said Rarity tenderly to the blue unicorn, who she then embraced. Soon, everypony else in the room joined in hugging Tech Specs. “Thank you,” said Tech, “I mean it. I sincerely thank all of you.” As the group stopped hugging her, she looked to the clock on the table, then told them, “well, the show starts in half an hour. If we walked, we’d get there in about that time.” “This early?” questioned Applejack, “what kind’a show starts at this time in the morning?” Tech Specs was about to answer, but was cut off by Rainbow Dash. “It’s an all-day festival,” informed she, “and it only happens once a year. Tech said about seven or eight bands are going to perform in Fillydelphia Central Park.” The blue pegasus did a flip in the air and remarked, “it’s gonna be so awesome!” Pinkie Pie beamed a bright smile as she heard Rainbow Dash talk, and said, “all day? A whole day of music and partying? It IS going to be awesome!” At this, she began to dance with joy with her pegasus friend. “Well, if everypony’s finished with their food,” announced Blades among the conversations, “I’ll take your cups out of here and we can be off.” Everypony politely thanked the small dragon as he collected their tea cups and placed them on the large plate that Tech Specs had brought in with the tea. Fluttershy was especially kind and gave the dragon a hug as he took her cup. “Th..thanks,” said he, blushing as the yellow pegasus hugged him. Everypony was looking at notes, inventions, and everything else about Tech Specs’ Workshop. As Rarity looked at each of Tech’s scrap metal crates, she looked to the blue unicorn, smiling, and asked, “so, I see you work with all kinds of metals. But what about gold?” “I don’t like gold,” replied Tech, much to the dismay of Rarity, who gasped as Tech answered. Tech Specs approached a work table and scrap crate labeled “Lead.” She then produced a small piece of the soft metal and manipulated it in her hooves, remarking, “gold’s kind of like lead. It’s malleable and very easily manipulated, but it’s too soft to be used for much more than weight. Lead’s much cheaper and more readily available, so I don’t bother with gold.” “But Darling,” retorted the white unicorn, “gold’s not known for its strength; it’s known for its beauty.” she then thought for a second and looked to her gold necklace. Her horn then started to glow light blue, as did her necklace. her necklace gleamed as it moved off of her neck and came to rest on a work table. “Also,” continued she, “most jewelry isn’t pure gold, rather gold mixed with silver to add strength and shine.” Tech Specs observed the necklace for a few seconds, and then smacked her hoof against her forehead, remarking, “of course! Auro-Agnious alloy. Why didn’t I think of that?” As she finished the statement, Blades had re-emerged from the door at the back of the room. “Well, we should be off then, eh?” said she to everypony, who agreed. Rarity replaced her necklace as the seven ponies and two dragons began to exit the workshop. Tech Specs looked to Rarity as they trotted out of the front door of Tech’s shop and said, “thank you for telling me about that alloy. I’ll have to do some work with it and see what happens.” “No trouble at all, Darling,” replied the white unicorn. “Just give me a sample when you’re done.” She and Tech giggled at the remark. As everypony exited the shop, Rainbow Dash got airborne and began flying slowly to the East, with her friends following. As they followed, Pinkie Pie bounced ahead of everypony else, joyously stating, “this is gonna be the best party ever! I can feel it!”