//------------------------------//
// CH28: Flight 
// Story: A Dubious Welcome 
// by Maonyman 
//------------------------------//

Twilight was in a pickle, no doubt about that.
She sat in the big comfy chair as the plane slowly rolled around, staring out the window but not really seeing. All her thoughts were turned inward, and there were any number of things on her mind.
First, there was Daren and his near suicidal plunge into her portal. Why had he done it? Were they really that desperate to make contact? She wondered where the return portal had spit him out, and hoped it was someplace where he didn't cause too much trouble. Or... find too much trouble himself. Okay yeah, he was probably already dead.
Twilight shuddered and tried not to think about it. Nothing she could have done, really.
Then there was Peter's smug satisfaction about the whole thing, as if he knew something she didn't. But how could he? At best he could assume she had powers similar to what Starlight had shown, but there was no way for him to have known about the portal... right? And what did he mean "Be seeing you"? Was he headed to the same place?
And then there was Lizzy, who seemed so nice and friendly, but was supposedly from the same organization. What was her motive? Twilight shook her head, unsure what to even think about her.
But still, that wasn't what was really bothering her. She glanced at Anon, then hastily looked away when she saw he was already watching her.
Anon...
He loved her.
There was no doubting it. The spell she had cast had revealed his emotion for her. He likely wasn't even fully aware of it himself yet, but she knew better. Problem was, what to do about it? For once she was well and truly out of her league. She had never been able to find a book that explained love! And even if she had, it would have been for somepony who was in love themselves, not somepony who was loved and needed to let the other party down gently!
She would, of course, wait until the last moment. No sense breaking his heart when they would still be together for quite some time. But then... when was the last moment? Yesterday she would have said just before walking through the portal home, but now she'd promised to bring him with her.
So... what, then? Let him down in Equestria? Hope he would be too distracted? Maybe encourage him to find somepony else? 
It wasn't like she didn't want him to be happy, after all. She just didn't think she could reciprocate. Like, come on, loving an ape? What would everypony think!?
...Of course, Fluttershy wouldn't mind, and Pinkie would just be happy for her. Rarity would probably just be excited to design some new clothes for them... Dash wouldn't care, obviously, and Spike would hardly know what to think. Starlight might tease her... and Applejack might find it a bit hard to swallow. And Celestia? Oh dear, what would Celestia think? She never knew what was going on in the Princess's head even in the best of times.
Twilight shook her head again, silently chiding herself. What was she doing, planning all this out? It wasn't as if she loved him back. He had become a good friend, yes, and she might be suffering a bit of captor's syndrome... even if he hadn't meant to become her captor. And in the car, she had been really upset to think about losing him... But just because he was a friend! Right?
The plane came to a gentle halt.
Twilight looked back to Anon again and this time he was staring out the window instead. 
There was definitely a sort of... fondness, she supposed. And this friendship certainly felt different from any others. Probably just because he was a strange species though...
Twilight resisted the urge to groan. Ponyfeathers, how does a mare know if she's in love? 
Maybe she could ask Starlight? 
She almost giggled aloud at that thought. No, Starlight wouldn't know anything about this. After all, she still hadn't made a move on Sunburst, and anypony could see they were made for each other.
Celestia, then? 
Oh no, definitely not. What if she disapproved!?
She heard a whirring noise, low at first, then steadily growing in intensity. Probably the "turbines" Anon had been explaining earlier. He really was quite good at explaining things. Maybe she would have him teach in Ponyville. He'd need something to do with his days, after all. What could he teach though? Certainly nothing magic related--
As the whirring grew to a roar, the plane abruptly lurched forward, pulling Twilight out of her rear-facing seat.
"Whaaa!"
Her magic "seatbelt" kept her secure, but the sensation had still surprised her. She looked out the window and saw they had already accelerated to an impressive speed. Then her barrel lurched as the plane tilted upward and the ground rapidly fell away below them, causing her unbound wing to partially unfurl in an instinctive response to the sight.
She heard Anon chuckle and felt her muzzle turn warm with embarrassment.
"S-Shut up! I didn't know what to expect!"
Anon shrugged his shoulders, still grinning, "I did explain about planes earlier."
"Yeah, well, you didn't say it would feel like this."
She swayed slightly as her stomach began to feel queasy.
"Whoa, hey... You alright?" Anon said, his face full of concern.
"Just... feeling a bit sick, that's all."
Without hesitation, Anon unbuckled his seatbelt and knelt by her side, despite the plane still rising.
"Look out the window, Twi. Focus on the ground, on the clouds, anything out there that's moving."
She did so, trying not to think about how close he was beside her.
"It's motion sickness," he said apologetically, " A real fun side effect some people experience when traveling in vehicles. Your inner ear is telling your brain that you're moving, but your eyes say you're stationary. The contradiction confuses your mind and makes you feel queasy."
"I never felt this in the car..."
"You could always see out a window there. Here you were only looking at the cabin. See, are you feeling better now, staring out the window?"
"Y-Yeah... I think it's fading."
Anon placed a hand on her withers and gently rubbed her neck.
"Good, I'd hate to have you puke in here."
"Uh, sir?" The flight attendant finally noticed what he was doing, "Sir, you must remain seated during take-off!"
Anon waved a hand as if to brush away a fly, "Ah, leave me alone. She was feeling sick and I'm obviously fine here."
"But sir!"
"What are you gonna do, tell the pilot to turn around so you can throw me off the plane? Get outta my hair."
The flight attendant frowned and crossed her arms, but said nothing else.
Twilight giggled, "Doctor Anon doesn't need the rules, huh?"
He waggled a finger at her, "Oh don't get me wrong, I'm all for rules and procedures. You oughta see my checklists back at the clinic. But no, right now, you're more important."
"Oh gosh, you use checklists too! I use them for everything!"
He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "Well, I mean, they're certainly handy, but I don't use them nearly as much as I should."
Twilight laid a hoof on his forearm and exclaimed, "I can help with that!"
He chuckled and said, "Maybe you can."
Through the entire ascent, he never left her side, somehow knowing that rubbing her withers was helping to suppress her queasiness. Eventually the plane leveled out again and Twilight breathed a sigh of relief as the "fasten seatbelts" sign went dim.
The flight attendant unbuckled, stood up, and said sarcastically, "You are now free to walk about the cabin."
Lizzy immediately stood and walked to the back of the plane, disappearing behind a small door. Twilight took a short breath, then turned to Anon.
"What do you plan to do once you reach Equestria?"
The question seemed to catch him off guard.
"Uh... well Twi, to tell the truth, I don't rightly know. It just feels like the right thing to do."
She bit her lip awkwardly, "And, um... are you really sure you want to go?"
He looked sharply at her, his brow deeply furrowed. After several seconds of tense silence, he finally said, "...I would like it very much, but I don't want to be a burden. If you've changed your mind, I won't push. It's your prerogative."
His words were neutral enough, but Twilight saw the concern and disappointment lurking behind his eyes. He might not push, sure, but he would be devastated. Twilight suppressed the urge to sigh.
"No, Anon, don't worry. If you want to go, I am more than happy to bring you along."
His eyes lit up again with an infectious excitement, and she couldn't resist a smile in return.
"I just wanted to make sure you really thought it through. If you go with me, you probably won't ever come back. Don't you have friends or family or something?"
Anon slowly shook his head, the joy slowly draining from his face.
"I'm friendly with a few people, sure, but not really close to anyone, and I rarely talk to what's left of my small family. I wonder if they'll even noticed I'm missing come Christmas time."
Then he beamed again, "But what an opportunity! I mean, it's not every day you get the chance to explore a whole new world!"
"Ha! Right? That's exactly why I jumped on this portal spell as soon as I found it!"
"And good thing you did, too, or we would never have met, and what a tragedy that would be!"
He grinned at her and she tried to return the smile, but her mind was racing again. She'd hoped to convince him he actually wanted to stay. With him still coming with her, she was stuck in the same predicament. 
Something must have shown on her face, because his joyous expression dimmed somewhat and he said, "You... do want me to come, right? You're not just saying yes to make me feel better?"
"No no, I do."
"Promise?"
"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!"
Anon stared blankly at her and she hastily added, "Uh, i-it's a Pinkie Promise. Better than a normal promise, you know?" 
She grinned sheepishly, silently berating herself for using such a silly expression. Then Anon barked out a short laugh.
"I like it! Better than our 'hope to die' nonsense."
Twilight suddenly remembered the previous day, "Hey yeah... you did say that, back when you ate my spaghetti. It surprised me because it was so similar to our own promise, but the rhyme ended differently." She tapped a hoof on the armrest, "It's yet another way our worlds are similar but not quite identical. Gosh, I can't wait to talk to Princess Celestia about all this."
She heard a sound behind them and Lizzy walked back up the isle to sit a few rows away, then pulled out her phone and inserted some earbuds. Anon turned back to her and lowered his voice.
"So, what's up with her, you think?"
Twilight shrugged her shoulders, dropping her own voice to match, "She seems nice enough. Not like that other jerk. He was so... so..."
"Pretentious? Arrogant? Snobby?"
"Yes. All of the above."
Anon quirked his mouth to the side, then added, "I don't trust her."
"Who, Lizzy?"
"Yeah. They're part of the same organization after all."
"Oh... yeah, I guess that's true."
They fell silent for a moment, then Anon looked up again.	
"You want to go into one of those private booths back there? Should be safe from nosy ears."
Twilight looked over her shoulder, then nodded, climbing out of her chair as Anon stood up and stretched his legs.
"Ohhhh man, I was squatting for too long."
Twilight giggled as she trotted down the aisle and examined the door to the booth.
"Um... where's the handle?"
"Oh, it's just this little notch."
He put his finger on the tiny, faint indentation on one side of the door. Twilight whinnied.
"That's it!?"
Anon chuckled as he stepped past her into the tiny room.
"That's it. Don't need much for a simple thing like this."
Twilight followed him inside and saw there were two large comfy chairs inside, even nicer than the ones they were just using.
Abruptly the flight attendant appeared at the door.
"Uh, sir," she said in a stern tone, "You're here for business class seats, not first class."
Anon rolled his eyes, "Oh come on, we're literally the only ones here!"
"That doesn't matter. You cannot simply take a seat above your class simply because it is empty."
Anon opened his mouth again but Twilight tapped his chin with a quick burst of magic to shut him up. Then she sat down and gave the lady her most pitiful face, with wide eyes, flopped down ears, and even a little twitch to the muzzle.
"B-But miss, it's scary out there! I... I'm not used to this... this thing. Plane, I think?" She tilted her head sideways a bit, letting her ears flop loosely. "I just thought... it seems so cozy in here. Please miss, we're not hurting anyone... isn't there anything you can do?"
The woman took a step back, her lips parting slightly, then, eyes glittering slightly in the light, she stammered, "I... N-No, of course. Please, go right ahead. It's just company policy, but screw them. They don't pay me enough anyways."
Twilight brightened a little, but kept her ears folded down.
"You... You mean it? It's really okay?"
"Y-Yeah, sure. Just... don't tell my boss alright?"
Twilight perked her ears and beamed up at the lady, "Oh, thank you! Thankyouthankyouthankyou! We won't be any trouble, I promise. What's your name, miss?"
She seemed surprised by the question, but quietly replied, "Um, Jayna."
"Jayna... what a pretty name! I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle. I won't forget you, Jayna."
Blushing now, she took a step back and turned away without another word, but Twilight thought she heard a sniff as she walked away down the isle. 
She turned back to Anon, her muzzle set in a smug grin. Anon suppressed a laugh, shaking his head as he slid the door shut.
"Weaponized cute. Now I've seen it all."
Twilight scrambled up onto one of the cushy chairs, still smiling with smug self-satisfaction.
"No creature can resist our wily charms!"
He plopped down in the chair opposite her and sighed, "No... No, I guess they can't."
Twilight's smile faded at the peculiar tone of his voice. She really shouldn't tease him now that she knew how he felt. Should she say something now that they were alone? ...No, she decided. She would wait until he brought it up himself.
Anon suddenly looked up at her again and said, "So! We've got a few hours to kill--how about you tell me about your friends? That way I'll already sorta know what to expect when I meet them."
Twilight nodded, glad for the change of subject.
"Okay, sure! First, I think you'll like Fluttershy the most, since she works with animals like you do..."