//------------------------------// // Airport Security (OC; Comedy) // Story: Anthology of Graybles // by Str8aura //------------------------------// Panam rubbed his nose and sighed as the alarm on the baggage check began blaring. It was going to be a long day. Airport Security wasn't a very hard job normally; Terror attacks were incredibly rare, and even the occasional wacko or aggressive lady who insisted on bringing her every earthly possession with her and saw demanding to see the manager as a formal greeting often weren't more than a minor annoyance. As such, he admitted that he occasionally slacked off or zoned out. He never thought him to be too bad, but seeing as he apparently missed the cyborg pony, he was beginning to re-think this. The pony in question was currently sitting on his rump, cocking his head at Panam with a chipper but curious smile. He didn't appear to have a mane of any kind, and instead wore a visored pilot helmet with ears sticking straight up through holes on the sides. Upon closer inspection, the helmet appeared to be the top half of his head, rather than sitting on top of it, with a small dip behind the visor for his eyes to sit. The pair of wings suggested he was a Pegasus, but they were made entirely of metal, with several plates folded over each other against his furred barrel to give the appearance of individual feathers. A smaller, similarly folded set of wings sat in the place of cutie marks on his haunches, and a metallic fin adorned his rump. If it weren't for the metal and flesh blending into each other at midpoints along the bases of his wings, Panam would've assumed he had come cosplaying an aeroplane. The plane-thing had certainly noticed Panam's hesitation, and began nervously shifting his metal feathers. "Sir? Is everything alright? I didn't mean to trip the sensor, but I don't think I can take these off-" "Let's start one thing at a time. What's your name? "Aileron. Like these feathers!" "How old are you?" "Three." "So you're a teenager who came to the airport on his own?" "Well, yes, but I had a good reason!" "What's that?" "I've never flown in an official airspace before, and I wanted to try!" Panam sighed again. He really had nothing to go off for this kid. On one hand, it was an unattended minor in a building where nonsense was strictly prohibited, but on the other hand it was a plane in the airport. One thing at a time. "With all due respect, son, What are you exactly?" His leg began nervously twitching and he averted his eyes to the ground, stammering. "well, um, that's not a bad question. I'm preeetty sure I'm a Pegasus Pony, just with metal parts, but... I also miiiight be an AI built for flying of some sort? I honestly don't know. I always kind of have some nagging instincts when I'm in the air, and I'm like, yeah, I CAN store cargo in me, but I don't think I really SHOULD? Is that weird?" "Were you made in a factory or something?" "Actually, my mom kinda built me. Not really sure why, maybe she just thought plane-ponies were cool. She isn't my biological mother, obviously, but she lets me call her mom. She's pretty cool. B-but she also used brain patterns from actual pegasi, so I could still be a Pegasus..?" "Where is she?" "She doesn't really care what I do too much, she can always fix what get's broken. So she tends to let me go wherever I want, and I decided to come here!" Panam curiously ran his hoof along the Aileron's wings, feeling the cold metal shift into warm fur as he ran down it. Aileron shifted uncomfortably, and he quickly realized what he was doing and retracted. "Hey, like, we could talk about philosophical questions and whether I'm a real boy and whatnot all day, but I really just came for one thing. I've been kind of down lately, and I thought, maybe if I could make an actual delivery or something I could feel better! You work here, right? Can't you just give me a package or something and-" "It's not illegal for pegasi to fly with packages. Just don't go into plane traffic." "But to fly in an official airspace, using the radio frequencies to schedule takeoffs, that's everything I've ever dreamed of! Pleeease?" He gave Panam his best puppy eyes, vaguely obscured by the wavy lights reflected off the visor. Panam was never weak to cuteness, but he had began to formulate a kind of plan. "Look, kid, I work security here. I can't just let you fly in government regulated airspaces, that's far too dangerous." "I've been destroyed before!" "But! I have a Christmas present I was going to mail later today, so if you want this this badly, I'll give it to you, and then when I get off work we can schedule a mock takeoff over walkie-talkies or something-" "I've got my own, built in! I can tell you my radio frequency!" "That'd be great. I'll give you the address, and you can-" "Thank you! Thank you so much, that'd be perfect!" Aileron jumped on him, wrapping his wings around him gratefully. Panam awkwardly pet him on the head, and then realized he wasn't letting go. "Cold metal is driving into my chest. Please get off." "Sorry sir."