//------------------------------// // The Academy // Story: Upon the Wings of Lies // by CadmanSW //------------------------------// The Tarnished metal work of H.M.S Moonlight reflected the moons glow down upon the fields and homesteads of Equestria. They had made good time since they had left the docking spire at Bridle-down, covering nearly half the distance to Canterlot. Upon her deck Blueprints lent against the railing watching the ground slowly move below him. He couldn’t sleep; his mind was still going over the exhibition from earlier that day. He looked up at the balloon suspended above his head as the wind whistled through the heavy cables tying it to the ship. Blueprints closed his eye’s enjoying the feeling a great sense of calm come over him. He belonged in the sky; he had always felt it in his heart. He sighed; it was times like this when he hated his birth defect. He laughed, before resting his head against the railing. Being the only wingless pony in a Pegasus family had been… ‘Interesting’. He face became crest fallen, to be a Pegasus without wings, what a joke. By anypony assumption he should be an earth pony, no magic and no power of flight. He of course was the one in a million exception to the rule. Blueprints had gained all the Pegasus powers, control of the weather and the ability to walk on clouds but no wings. Thinking back it had been the very fact that he couldn’t fly that led to him finding his talent and thus gaining his cutie mark. Blueprints stared out at the moon as he remembered the events that seemed like a life time ago. Flash Back Bright Flash escorted her eldest child through the bright, cloud buildings of Cloudsdale. The sun was still low in the sky, only just peaking over town’s skyline. Though she had pressing duties, she had promised her son that she would escort him to his first day of school. Though this was meant to be a happy day, Bright found herself worrying for her son. She looked down at the light grey colt walking beside her, his excitement coming off him in waves. Her Blueprints ‘uniqueness’ was the cause of her worry, as usual. This particular day in her son’s life had been worrying her since she’d held him in her arms for the first time. Apart from the school curriculum focusing on flight for the first two years, it was weather the other foals would accept him. She knew only time would tell if her fears were founded. The school building stood out amongst the repetitive cloud homes of Cloudsdale. It was built in the same style as the rest of Cloudsdale, classical with a noticeable gothic twist. In front of its grand pillared entrance was a large open square, in the centre of which stood statue of Commander Hurricane in mid-flight. Under his shadow was a large group of families mingling and talking amongst themselves. This was the sight that met Bright Flash and Blueprints upon entering the square. Blueprints only ever mingled with the foals of close family friends, due to his mothers worrying. This was why he was currently standing in the shadows at the edge of the square. His mother had taken a few steps in to the square before she noticed that Blueprints was no longer beside her. She turned and trotted back to her foal. “What’s the matter sweet heart?” She asked, bending down to Blueprints’ eye level. “I’m just nervous, is all.” He replied his eye’s falling to the ground. Bright Flash smiled, before giving his cheek a gentle nuzzle, she knew exactly how to remove his self-doubt. She quirked an eye brow before saying, “Don’t tell me that my little soldier is scared?” This had the desired effect on the young colt he quickly took a defiant stance before stating, “Never!” Bright gave a small giggle. She had brought up Blueprints and her other foal in the Barracks of the celestial Palace. It wasn’t the best environment to bring up a child, but it was the best Bright Flash could manage. The Royal guard had become a surrogate family for the young colt; he saw them as older siblings and role models. It wasn’t long till he started playing ‘Guard’ along side them. She suppressed a giggle of the memory of her son marching up and down the corridors of the palace and fighting off imaginary enemies. Returning to the present Bright rustled her foals mane with her hoof. “Then you shall hold your head high and face this challenge head on.” Blueprints gave her a large grin, before stepping out into the warm rays of the morning sun. Bright trotted besides him smiling at her son’s antics. As they entered the gathered crowd of new students and the respective parents, Blueprints felt their eye’s boring into him. He chose to ignore them. His mom had told him that morning that this was probably going to happen, due to how ‘unique’ he was. She had told him that he was the first none winged pony to ever attend the academy. He looked up at his mom who was currently chatting to a group of parents. He knew the conversation was about him, but he didn’t care. He wondered through the crowd to the statue he’d seen upon entering the square. Looked up at the statue that towered above him, his eyes bright with wonder. It was at this point when something shoved him hard in the back, making him fall head over hooves into the solid base of the statue. Blueprints picked himself up off the ground to the Corus of chuckling behind him. He turned to face his attackers, even though he knew who it was going to be. Standing amongst his cronies a Blue coloured Colt by the name of Swift Bolt. They had first crossed paths at the local park over a year previously. It was the first time anypony had mocked him for being different. Since that day, though confrontations were rare, Swift had taken every opportunity make himself look big in front of ‘friends’. Blueprints should have known better than to think that upon entering the academy things would be different. “Did the Earth pony hurt himself?” chuckled swift accompanied by his cronies. “I’m not an earth pony, otherwise I wouldn’t be joining the academy.” Blueprints angrily replied with a scowl. “Really? I guess then that other than us,” Swift gestured to himself and his followers “The intake this year is so bad that they need a flightless feather brain to make them look good.” Blueprints gritted his teeth, at the other colts statement, he stared defiantly at the other colt. Inside though Blueprints felt his resolve crack and worst of all he knew that Swift knew that his comment had hit a nerve. But before the other colt could press the issue a pony climbed to a podium in front of the academy entrance. Blueprints used the distraction to slip into the crowd and back to his mom. -Time Skip (6 months)- Blueprints sat on a small cloud overlooking the academy training arena, longingly watching the other foals learn the basic skills for flight. The faculty didn’t know what to do with him and neither did he. A case such as blueprints had never been considered as a possibility. As such they didn’t know what to do with him during flight training. So he was mostly left to his own devices. He turned so that he was staring up at the blue sky as an Airship lazily glided overhead. Watching the lumbering passenger airship Blueprints wondered, for the first time how such a machine worked. That was when the small cloud he’d been lying on had suddenly disappeared, sending the young colt into free fall. Luckily for Blue he was able to correct his fall with the aid of a cloudbank. Even so he landed in a heap on the main cloud. He looked up to see the Swift and a small group of other ponies hovering above him, laughing. “Haven’t I told you time and time again, that only Pegasus are aloud this high.” Swift gestured to the level where Blue’s cloud had been only moments before. “Why can’t you just leave me alone?” Blue demanded while trying to get up. Swift stopped laughing and swooped down, landing in front of his target. “Because, as I keep telling you, you don’t belong here. You don’t even belong on the ground.” He smirked before roughly shoving Blue back to the cloud, “You should just stop trying to fit in and leave.” Blue stayed on the cloud this time he knew that it was a fight he couldn’t win. He didn’t even have any friends to come to his aid; Swift had made sure to scare any potential friends away. So he just sat the holding his bruised arm, trying to not to give into the feelings of hopelessness trying to take over his heart. Though he tried so hard to prevent Swift seeing any chink in his armour, a solitary tear ran down Blue’s face. “Aw, look.” Swift pointed “The filly’s crying, maybe we should…” he didn’t get any further, as a pair of hooves connected with his chest. Swift sailed through the air before he was court by his members of his group. Blue looked up in shock at the pony that was currently standing between him and Swift’s gang. “What’s the big idea?” Shouted Swift, brushing off his friends who were trying to help him regain his footing. He glared at the newcomer, but his cocky smirk returned to his face upon seeing whom it was. “So, the cross eyed freak comes to the aid of the wingless idiot.” The Grey filly just glared at swift not moving an inch. “Back off.” He laughed and was soon joined by the rest of his group. “Or what? Your just as much of a freak as he is. We’ve seen you around, you can barely walk in a straight line let alone fly in a straight line.” Again the filly just stood there unmoving, her good eye never leaving Swifts. Swift chuckled before turning and started to walk off stating, “I won’t waste any more time on those fools.” However his was stopped by an angry shout from behind him. He looked over his shoulder at the two ponies, seeing that the idiot grey filly was propping up Blue. Blue trotted forward, limping slightly on his bruised leg. “I am so sick of you Swift.” He shakily raised a hoof till he was pointing it at the Blue colt, “I challenge you.” There was a dead silence. Swift recovered first breaking into hysterical laughter, “You must be kidding me. You, challenge me? In what?” Blue stoically stood his ground waiting for the laughter to die down. “I Challenge you to a race round the academy circuit.” This was met by a louder chorus of laughter from Swifts group. “I think you might have knocked your head when you fell out of your cloud. You can’t even fly!” “I’ll make do.” Blue said, “But if I win you leave me alone indefinably.” “And what if I win?” “You can continue to stoke your ego at my expense.” Swift briefly scowled but he soon started chuckling, “All right then. As we both know you’re going to lose anyhow, you can choose the time and date of your humiliation.” “Tomorrow, during lunch break.” “Fine. I look forward to it” Swift continued to chuckle as he walked off accompanied by his cronies. Blue watched them leave, until his injured leg gave out from under him. He fell side ways, but was caught by grey mare from before. “Thank you.” Blue sighed looking up at the filly. She was definitely older than him, probably by a year or so. “You’re welcome; you looked like you need some help.” She said as Blue steadied himself with her aid. “I’m sorry, but I don’t even know your name.” He smiled. “It’s Ditzy, Ditzy Doo.” “I’m Blueprints. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Blue tentatively put some weight on his injured leg, feeling that he could support himself he stopped leaning on Ditzy. Ditzy looked over at the Swift group in the distance and asked “How are you going to do it Blue?” “Do what?” “Fly?” “I’ve been preparing to challenge him for weeks, I’ve got a plan.” He nervously pawed the cloud with his hoof before asking, “Would you like to see it?” Ditzy smiled, he slightly melancholy demeanor instantly replaced with excitement. She nodded. It was Blue’s turn to let a smile grace his lips, followed by a light chuckle. “After class today I’ll meet you by the statue of commander hurricane in front of the academy.” Again she nodded, “I look forward to it.” She turned and quickly took off into the air, calling back, “I need to get back to class before they miss me.” Blue watched her leave with a smile. He had a friend and because of this felt his resolve strengthen. He’d met someone like him, someone who was different due to no fault of their own. -Time Skip (The following day)- Blueprints stood nervously near the starting posts of the academy flight circuit. He was trying to disguise his nerves as he warmed up. He shifted the pack on his back, adjusting the canvas straps that secured it to his back. All his plans hinged on his calculations being right. If not he had a good couple of minutes to figure out why as he plummeted to the ground. He checked his equipment again, before tapping the goggles on his forehead to check that they were still there. He looked around for Ditzy as he started to pace back and forth, his nervousness getting the better of him. He remembered how ecstatic she’d been the previous afternoon when he’d shown her his invention. Her confidence in him gave him confidence in himself. Apart from that, it was great to have a friend who was open willing to be seen with him. He knew it what made them individually different was what was drawing them together. Granted her eye’s was definitely more noticeable then him being wingless. At least when he went down to the ground he fit in somewhat, Ditzy stood out no matter where she was. Blue’s personal opinion about her right eye was that of a mild curiosity. But he had to admit that he found her cute above all. His face sat turned a deep shade of red as he realised what he was think of. He shook his head violently to remove the thought. That was the moment when Swift made his appearance, accompanied as always by his entourage. He walked straight through the crowded students to where Blue was pacing. “Well looks like you’re not as weak willed as I took you for.” He said with his cocky smirk. Blue just ignored him as he scanned the crowd for Ditzy. However Swift didn’t notice and continued to try and make himself look ‘big’ in front of his followers. “So what that ugly thing on your back?” He pointed out the pack on Blue’s back to his group; “I hope it’s a parachute, Wingless, because you wont even get of this cloud.” Blue still wasn’t listening as he spotted Ditzy resting on a cloud with the rest of the older students who had taken an interest in the race. She smiled giving him a wave. He returned her smile before giving her a nod in acknowledgment “Hey I’m talking to you, you inbred freak.” Swift snorted seeing that he was being ignored. Blue turned, a smile firmly placed on his lips. “I hope you enjoy your last couple of minutes, because after I beat you, you wont have another chance to.” His statement ruffled Swifts feathers and he knew it. Swift made to make a retort but was interrupted by the academy’s clock tower as it signalled half past the hour. “We better start, unless that is you want to pull out?” Blue stated, feeling more confident than ever before. “Sorry, but I’m not going to miss an opportunity to put you in your place once and for all.” Swift cockily snorted back, as he made his way to the starting line. Blue followed readying himself for what was to come. On the sidelines, shouts of encouragement for Swift echoed round the clouds. Support for Blue was rare, but he knew that this was down to Swifts cronies spread amongst the crowd. He saw that on of the older student had taken the role of marshal for the race. He stood with the chequered flag in one hoof looking at the two competitors. Once he saw that both of them were ready he raised the flag. “I want a clean race, if I see any cheating you forfeit the race. You are to do a single lap of the course, flying through all the cloud rings. Do I make my self clear?” The older colt asked. He question was met by nods. “Right then,” The Colt paused before shouting, “GO!” Both Swift and Blue bolted off the line galloping towards the edge of the cloud. The cheers echoed round the Academy arena as they neared the edge. Swift took flight, his young wings straining to get him up to top speed. Blue on the other hand, Blue kept galloping as fast as he could towards the cloud edge. There were shouts of confusion starting to be mixed in with the shouts of encouragement. Blue leaped into the air as he reached the cloud edge. He hung in mid air for a short time until he inevitably started to fall. There were cries of confusion and shock as the young colt disappeared out of sight of the crowd. Ditzy lent forward on her cloud trying to listen out for a tell-tail sound that Blue had described to her the precious night. She waited with baited breath not wanting to think of the consequences of what would happen if Blue’s contraption didn’t work. There! Just over the sound of sound of the crowd she heard it. In response she shouted louder then she thought possible giving blue her pull support. Blue was incredibly excited, though if you looked at him wouldn’t notice due to the face only showing a look of extreme concentration. He’d done it. After weeks of planning and building, it had worked. He risked a gaze back at the two canvas and brass wings that currently bore him aloft. He circled skywards upon the up draft of a thermal trying to gain the height he needed. After a short moment he regained the cover of the clouds and appeared above the edge of the main cloud that held the academy. He was greeted by a hush silence as the student took in a sight that, if it weren’t in front of them, they would dismiss as part of their imagination. It started with just the senior students at first, but soon the entire crowd went crazy. Their shouts and cheers, Blue bet could have been heard throughout Cloudsdale. Blue gained altitude as fast as the thermal would let him. His wings however had a fundamental flaw in that they weren’t powered. So everything hinged on him gaining the necessary height so that he could gain the speed he needed in dive. Swift however was currently leisurely flying from ring to ring, his cocky smirk pasturing his face. He had presumed that Blueprints was indeed wearing a parachute, and was currently trying to hope from cloud to cloud. Blue circled high above the course taking in his surroundings. Swift had reached the half way mark, but this wasn’t a problem for Blue. Blue made some minor adjustments before pulling his goggles over his eyes. He gritted his teeth before saying out loud. “Now for the dangerous bit.” Again he hung in the air for the briefest of moments before going into free fall. Swift was insight of the finish line now and he could see members of his entourage waving at him. He took this as encouragement and decided to show off by doing a barrel role. However, once he came levelled out again he saw the looks of worry etched on his follows faces as they looked past him. Curiously Swift looked behind him. As he did, some thing rocketed past him and for the briefest of moments Swifts eyes met those of Blue’s. Swift went into shock unable to comprehend the event unfolding in front of him. Blue rocketed past Swift making minor adjustment to his flight by shifting his body weight. He had to finish the race as soon as possible, the longer her took the more likely the race wasn’t going to end well. Though the wings design were near perfect the materials were far from it. Blue could already feel the components of the wings starting to come apart. He new he was coming in to fast but it was to late to make any adjustments. He took a deep breath and barely 10 meters away from the Finish line he started his emergency break procedure. But the inevitable happened; Blue’s wings tore themselves apart with the sudden force of breaking. Though his wings had slowed him down, there was still enough kinetic energy to send him bouncing across the line. Blue landed in a heap thanking Celestia, under his breath that he’d landed on clouds and not the ground. He felt a shadow fall across his body, which was soon replaced by two arms gathering him into a hug. He looked up at his only friend smiling like a complete idiot. “Did you see that? It worked… apart from the landing. But given time and better materials I could over come that problem in less than a month. Ditzy let out giggle at Blues antics. Before releasing him from her hug to allow him to get up. However his relative freedom was short lived as Ditzy excitedly grabbed him in another hug. “YOU GOT IT!” she simply stated not giving any suggestion to exactly what he’d got. “What have I got?” Blue asked craning his neck within Ditzy’s grasp trying to see what she was talking about. Finally, he spotted what she was talking about. He returned Ditzy’s hug in his excitement, nearly hopping up and down. His was the first Foal in his year group to gain his cutie mark. His talent had enabled him to confront his problems head on and in return he’d gained the support of his classmates and gained a very close friend. End Flashback With a sighed in contentment he got off the railing, turning round he saw the Pegasus from earlier coming towards him. “What are you doing out here, I thought you’d be asleep?” She asked as she neared him. Blueprints shrugged “I seem to have found the Bridle-down Exhibition way to stimulating to be compatible with good night’s rest.” He chucked “But what about you, what are you doing up?” “I’m on first watch tonight, at least one of us needs to make sure that we’re still on the right course.” The stallion nodded in understanding. Storm decided to change the subject and asked “So I presume that you’re an engineer then.” “You read me like an open book don’t you?” Blueprints chuckled nervously. “Well,” She continued, smiling to herself “I wouldn’t say that. But a pony that goes to an exhibition, displaying all the latest inventions from around Equestria, and also has a cutie mark of blueprints.” She left her sentence open ended looking at the stallion with a grin. “I guess my occupation is quite obvious when you put it like that.” Blueprints chuckled. “So, why were you in Bridle-down? It can’t be just because of me.” “We are transporting the exhibits belong to Engineers who are currently working directly for Princes Celestia. I presume you’ve heard of them, the team headed by Master Engineer Blue Aether?” Blueprints felt A bit giddy at Storms statement. Of course he’d heard of Blue Aether, everyone had. He had produced some of the most technologically advanced inventions Equestria had ever seen. He was the Engineer every engineer dreamed to be like. Of course this had meant that his display had been the centre peace of the Bridle-down Exhibition. Once he had collected his emotions about his idol, he nodded his head. “His example is what every engineer hopes to live up to.” Blueprints lent against the wooden railing to steady himself, his face filled with a child like excitement. Storm giggled at the stallion’s antics as she walked over, her hooves barley making a sound against the wooden deck. She lent against railing facing Blueprints. “Did you see what he unveiled then?” she asked. “Actually no I was so busy I didn’t have the time.” Blue sheepishly replied. “Would you like to?” Storm asked. Blue was slightly taken aback by her question. He was however able to give the mare a nod.