//------------------------------// // Soaring the Heavens // Story: A New Purpose in Life // by Tx Avenger 218 //------------------------------// My life went from something I don’t remember, to being chased by the police for years, meeting a race of species known as ponies, nearly getting killed, twice, and finally ending up with a badass new ride, new equipment, and a new home. It would take a stingy bastard to not love what’s happened to his life so far if he had mine. My eyes slowly open to be greeted by the white walls that my friends made for me not a couple days ago. I turn over on my back slowly. I look at my watch to see that it’s noon. “Holy hell.” I say to myself groggily. I’m still half asleep but I’m awake enough to know that’s the latest I’ve ever stayed asleep, from what I can remember at least. Sitting up in bed, I outstretch my arms and legs, letting my bones pop. I twist my neck as well, feeling my spine give many audible pops. It’s been awhile since I did that but now it’s the time to relax. I slowly get out of bed and head over to my bag to grab some extra clothes. When I open it, I notice that I only have one set of clothes in it. “What the hell? Where are the rest of my clothes?” I say to myself, a little worried that they might have gotten misplaced. If so, then I’ll only be wearing two sets of clothes for the rest of my time here. Right now I’m too sleepy to properly process what I’m gonna do, so instead, I grab my clothes and head straight for the restroom. It’s been made to be like the ones back from where I came from. I guess out of everything they worked on, they were able to replicate a human’s restroom. After gathering the soaps and shampoos I’m going to use, I disrobe and step in. The shower turns hot in a minute and stress begins flow right off just like the water. It’s been way too long since I had a nice shower and I practically feel myself melting away under the shower head above me. I grab the soap and begin lathering myself, noting the smell. “Mmmmm, Lavender.” I spent around ten minutes or more, I think, in the shower. In truth, I lost count of time since the only type of water I’ve had contact with my body is the cold freezing rain. After cleaning my body and massaging my scalp, letting all the soap run right off me, I turn off the shower and dry myself off with a towel. “God damn I needed that.” After I’m thoroughly dry enough, I change and walk over to the mirror. I grab a brush and begin combing my hair to the style I’m used to, straight down with the front slightly parted to the side. I walk over to the living area I plan to make my house into. If I had a TV, I’d crash on the couch, lay back, grab the remote and watch whatever the hell I feel like. But now I can’t, because they don’t have TV, or electricity, I think. “Well, things are going to be much interesting from here on out,” I head over to the front door and open it, letting the fresh air and sun, ”But first I should go get truck before anypony begins to freak out and do something drastic.” I close the door and make my way down the hill to Ponyville. Hearing the babbling stream and running water as I walk over the bridge is a welcomed sound. No cars blasting left and right, police sirens, the gurgling sewers, retched alleyways for someone to get mugged, and not to mention hobo’s and god knows what else. True, something’s I’ll surely miss but if the Princess is unable to close the portal, those things I like might just come on by. Ponies fill the streets, some shopping, some hanging with friends, stands are up and offering a wide variety of assorted goods. Some of the ponies notice me and give me a warm smile and a wave. I return their gestures and continue walking, trying to get my bearings as to where I left it. It still doesn’t help that I was blind folded when they took me away. But I’m sure that all I have to do is find the big black square shaped truck that’ll probably be in the middle of the road. “Now where oh where are you?” I mutter to myself. I still can’t find it. Strange, it felt like I walked a lot less yesterday. Must’ve been my imagination. Just then, I walk around a corner and there it is in all its glory. Some ponies still continue to stare at it but I focus on the four on top of it. Sitting on top of the Hummer, I see four ponies, one a mare and the rest filly’s. How I know this is because I’ve already met them. “Enjoying the view!” I shout up to them. The filly’s are startled but soon calmed down. Turning all their heads to me reveals the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Applejack. “We sure are!” Apple bloom replies happily. I chuckle at that. Such happiness for such a small thing. “Yeah well, enjoy the next few seconds! I got get this thing back to my house and unload what’s inside.” I say and walk over to the driver side door. “Can we ride along?” Sweetie Bell pops out right in front of me upside down. “Gah!” I recoil, startled by her sudden appearance in front of my face. “Uhhhhhh… alright, I guess. Get down and I’ll help you inside.” “Nooooo, we want to ride up here!” Scootaloo explains. Riding on top? Of this damn thing? “Uh, no.” “Awwww, why not?” Sweetie Bell replies sadly. I give her a disapproving look. “There are no supports on top and if this thing hits a massive bump or I take a sharp turn, and off you go. And I’ll never forgive myself if any of you get hurt because of that.” I sternly said. I used to think it would be cool riding on top of a truck like that, and it was, until I fell and dislocated my shoulder. After too damn long of maneuvering my shoulder back into place, I vowed never to do that again, unless my life depended on it. “C’mon, down you go.” I grab Sweetie Bell. She’s surprisingly light and her coat is soft to the touch. “Awww, please?” she pleads but my answer still stands. “No.” “Pleeeaaasse?” “No.” “Plleeeeeaaaaassssee?” Now her eyes are starting to turn into those sad puppy dog eyes. “N… no.” I stutter. “Pllleeeeeeaaaaaassssssseee?” All three of the filly’s say at the same time. If Sweetie Bell kept up those sad wide eyes, I might have cracked. All three… I look around trying to find something to break this. “Applejack. A little input here?” Maybe she can help change their minds. She remembers how bumpy this thing was back in the forest and how fast in can go, I’m sure she’ll persuade them not to! “Sorry, Swift. Ah’m curious to see how it looks from up here too.” God damnit!! “Uhhhhhhhh, Damnit. Fine you can ride up top!” Sweetie Bell gets one of the biggest grins I have ever seen in my life. Either she’s really happy to ride along like this, or maybe she thinks highly of herself for being able to persuade a badass like me. Either way, I don’t like it… but I just can’t resist those eyes. I hand her back up to the others and sigh. “Alright, no leaning off the sides, no standing up, stay in the middle and keep close to each other. I’m gonna go close so nothing bad will happen.” I explain the rules. I open the door and head into the driver seat and slam the door close. “Slow? C’mon you can go fast! We can take it!” Scootaloo says poking her head down in front of the windshield. Now I’m starting to get angry. “Look, you’re lucky I’m even letting you ride on it. But you don’t go telling ME what to do in my truck,” even though it really ain’t mine, but they don’t know that. “Now sit back down!” I sternly yell and turn the keys. The truck springs to life instantly, emitting a loud roaring sound and making Scootaloo jump back to her friends. “Ahhhhh! Yes sir!” the three filly’s reply. “Hehehehe.” Applejack chuckles. She’s already used to this thing but not the crusaders. I feel kinda bad for scaring them like that but they don’t fully know the dangers this thing can be. I’m still glad to see that Twilight’s ‘come to life’ spell is still in effect. I guess she tailored it to work with the ignition key. I shift the truck into reverse and slowly back up. The mirrors are aligned so I can look back and see if I’m gonna hit someone. Thankfully I don’t. Heading forward, I turn and retrace my steps back up the path I traveled earlier. I go 5 miles an hour, getting some distance down without flinging the ponies off up top. I use one hand to steer while waving to the ponies around. Since it’s the middle of the day, more ponies are awake to see my catch of the day, unlike yesterday when it was night. I move the mirror on the driver side up to see if I can see my friends up top. They’re still low against the hood but I see an occasional hoof wave here and there. “If anything, this would probably be considered a parade with how slow I’m going.” I mutter to myself. It take a while but we make it to the bridge. I give it a little more gas and up and over the bridge we go, slowing down at the end so I don’t hit the ground as hard. I slowly go up the hill until I come to a slow halt right next to my house. I turn it off and slowly step out. “Enjoy the ride?” I say to my passengers without looking up to them. Now I look up to see the three filly’s give me a weak smile but Applejack is cool with it. “We sure did.” Applejack sounds like she liked it but the crusaders look like they didn’t enjoy it as much, but still some. “Alright cool. C’mon I’ll help you down.” I start with Apple Bloom, then Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo. Applejack didn’t need any help. While I was getting the crusaders down, she climbed down over the hood of the engine and onto the ground. “Alright, well since your all here, think you can help me unload this stuff?” I ask while opening the back door. “Sure, we’d love to help.” Apple Bloom says with a smile. “And maybe we’ll get our cutie marks for helping!” Scootaloo adds. “Yeah!” All three fillies shouted and high hoof each other. I shake my head and chuckle. “Are they always this excited with finding out their cutie marks?” I ask Applejack. She gives a smile at the question and the crusaders joy. “They sure are.” I smirk and begin pilling all the ammo, guns, bow, around 30 arrows and supplies into the center that are here since the ride from yesterday really did a number on how everything was, now their scattered all over the place, manly the shells. “Alright, I’ll hand you guys something and you go and put them down in a pile somewhere.” I nod and grab the most filled up box of shotgun shells and hand it to Apple Bloom, who balances it on her back and walks into my house. Then it’s Scootaloo with some slugs, Sweetie Bell with another box and Applejack with the Med-kit. They move back and forth, acting like some sort of conveyer belt as the pile in my truck begins to lessen. Once the majority is gone and done with, Applejack helps me with the bag while I take the shotgun, compound bow and grapple pistol in both my hands and Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell take the last of the ammo. The all the things inside the truck are placed in a pile in the corner of my living room area. Taking into account of what I got, my shotgun, grapple pistol, compound bow, 30 arrows and since they can be recovered they’ll last me for quite a while, med-kit, duffel bag filled with tons of rope and climbing equipment, and plenty of shotgun shells and slug rounds to last me for quite awhile. I was also able to find a sling for the shotgun so I should be able to carry it no problem from now on. “Thanks for your help, everyone.” “Happy to help, Swift.” Applejack replies. With that out of the way, I’m not really sure what else I’m gonna do today. Maybe I can go buy some food and maybe some furniture for my home? “Whatcha’ gonna do now?” Apple Bloom asks. I look up to remember something. “Yesterday, I left Pinkie my bag before we left for the forest. I just looked in it this morning and found almost every other one of my sets of clothes gone. Save for one set. Do you know what happened to them?” Applejack places her hoof under her chin, thinking. The crusaders just exchange looks from Applejack’s direction, then to mine and so forth. “I think Rarity has them, I saw her making some more of clothing that looks like what you’re wearing.” Sweetie Bell interjects. I look at myself. It would make sense. Since Rarity is cleanness obsessed most of the time, and I haven’t been seen cleaning my clothes since I first met them, so maybe she’s doing another kindness for me. “Huh, that is a possibility. I haven’t washed my clothes in god knows how long, and the ones in my bag were the only sets of clothes I had so I would have to being washing them a lot. I think I’ll go stop by and see this for myself.” I attach the sling to the shotgun and swing it over my shoulder. My knife and pistol are still equipped to my belt. “Sounds like a plan, pardner. We’ll get out a’ your hair.” They all leave my house and I follow suit, closing the door behind me. I’m about to lock it but I don’t have the keys. “Here.” I turn around with my hand in the air to catch something. Looking at my hand, it’s some keys. I look at Applejack who gives me a smile. “Sorry, me and the others forgot to give these to ya’ll yesterday but you looked out of it.” She explains. I smile and find the right key to the door and lock it. With that done, I turn around and head for my truck. “You girls need a ride?” I asked. If they need to go into town, the least I can do is given them a ride. Inside! They shake their heads. “Thanks Swift but no. We were about to head over to Fluttershy’s to see if she needed any help with her animals…” Scootaloo says what she and her friends were going to do, “And ah’ll be there to make sure they don’t mess anything up.” Applejack finishes up while ruffling up her sister’s mane. “Hehe, stop that!” Apple Bloom tries to stop her sister but her mane is pretty ruffed up. I chuckle at that, two sisters joking around and having fun. I don’t if I’ve ever felt that feeling before. “Are you alright?” Sweetie Bell caught on to me. I must have had a sad look on my face for her to notice. I put on a smile to reassure her and the others. “Yeah, I’m fine! I just gonna head over to Rarity’s and see if you’re right, maybe I’ll do some furniture shopping as well.” I don’t have as much money on me at the moment, just the amount that Applejack paid me those few days ago for the harvester and help I made. “Alright, well have a nice day then!” Applejack wishes me. I turn on the truck and wave to them. “You too!” And off I go. Without the extra company, I can go a bit faster that I did before. Not enough to peel dirt off the ground, but pretty fast with enough time for pony’s in front of me to get out of the way. As I drive down the main widest street Ponyville has to offer, I begin to think that I should be sure as hell damn grateful for what’s happened, I think. I mean, I got hurt and almost torn apart by wolves, but then they fixed me up and gave me a place to stay, hell they even threw a party for me! Then I almost got crushed by a falling clock tower while saving the most shyest and nicest pony I’ve ever met, got interrogated by their Princess, got killed, then revived, and now I own a badass ride, new guns, and they made me a house. So with the crappy near death experiences, and death experience, I’ve had this week, the rewards are well worth it, to me at least; others, not so much. Rarity’s boutique comes into view soon. I ease down on the break slowly stop at the side of her place. Don’t want to block her business in the front. Just to be on the safe side, I don’t want anypony getting scared of the giant black metal monster blocking the front. I walk inside to see mannequins all over her work area, outfitted with clothes, suits and dresses of designs I’ve never seen in my life. Over the past few days, I was mostly tired and didn’t really pay much attention to her place other than what was important, and there was only one empty mannequin at the time of the party. The dresses are what catch my eyes. The separate swirls that hang off some of them, the red magenta color highlighted with specks of gold stars, a blue one with puffy curved yellow fabric at the ends, and even some big hats, one being yellow adorned with pink flowers and blue feathers. I don’t pay much to the clothing back in my world because sometimes they just seem to… normal and bland sometimes, but these? They have something to them that makes me like them. Maybe it’s the colors, the way they’re made, how they look, their design? I can’t really tell, just that they look awesome as hell. And the feel? Just as good as how it looks. Looking closely at them, I can’t even find the stitching lines. That can be pretty hard to do. Looking from one dress to the next I can’t find them. “Amazing.” I voice my astonishment. I’m surprised at what I just said. Normally I wouldn’t care about clothing, just as long as I have some to cover me, nothing to fancy or anything like that, but now I just can’t help myself. “They are!” I look back to see an amused Rarity standing right behind me in the doorway to the living area she has that I crashed in before. “Oh hey, Rarity! Don’t mind me I was just uhh…” “Don’t fret, deary. I know why you’re here.” I raise an eyebrow. “You do?” “Yes I do. You’re here about your missing attire am I correct?” Wow, she’s quick on the ball. “Um, yes that’s right. Sweetie Bell said you were making something from my clothes?” She begins walking to her closet. “Yes, you see. I noticed how dirty and filthy your clothes were, so I took them, washed them, and used them as examples in making some more.” she opens the closet and begins shifting stuff around. “Oh well, thank you Rarity. That’s very generous of you.” She could definitely be considered a type of essence for generosity with what she’s done for me so far. “It’s no trouble dear. Now where did I leave that- Ahhh here it is!” she happily pulls out a regular box from the closet with her magic and places it in front of me. I kneel down and open the box to reveal to stacks, one of my jeans, the other shirts. I nod and take out the first sets of clothes, the ones I remember because I carried them in my bag, free of blood, oil, gunshot residue, mud and whatever else I came in contact with. As I get to the middle, my mood changes, the shirt is the same size as the others but the design is out of this world. One is onyx black with Princess Luna on the front, laying against the moon, another is white with Princess Celestia and her sun, brown with a detailed picture of sketch of Ponyville, another with bright stars, moons, apples, my gun and knife, my truck, some pony’s in armor, wait. Going back a couple, I notice the front has my M9 Berretta looking with the barrel at a Northwest angle, and my combat knife crossing it with the blade pointed in a Northeast angle. On the back of it is a rough sketch of my truck. I look at here. “I hope you like them. The designs on your clothing were really something. I just didn’t know what to put on there so I used whatever it was that came to my mind.” I have to admit, she did a pretty damn good job. I don’t how she was able to stitch these designs in but I pay it no mind. Switching it over to my pants, my jeans are first and then I notice the rest of them are as good as the shirts were. The pants don’t have the same type of hardened material as my jeans have but they are soft yet slightly rough to the touch. It stretches a bit when I try to pull it. With these, they allow free range movement for me. They aren’t sweat pants I know that for sure, but I’m not sure what to call them. Slacks? Then again, slacks don’t have a large beam of light curving down the leg, or a ray of moon, spears, a dragon, etc. Words don’t leave my mouth, only a wide smile on my face voices how much I really like these. After a short while of looking do words finally leave. “I do, Miss Rarity. I very much like these. They are perfect.” I grab one of the shirts and place it against my chest, seeing if it looks as big as me or more, it’s slightly bigger. “You brought so much life to these. I can’t find the stitching lines, the material is divine, the designs are beautiful, you truly are a master at this.” I comment on her work. It’ll take some time to get used to how these clothes are, but hey! I got some new clothes and these clothes look badass and can definitely help me when I’m in a bind or in battle. “Why thank you! I do my very best when it comes to my friends.” “I’m sure. I’m really sure.” I fold the clothes back up and place them back into box and head for the door. “Let me get that for you.” She says and uses her magic to open the door to her boutique to the outside. “Thanks, can get my trucks door too?” I asked. I wouldn’t like that considering the hard work she must have put into these clothes in such a short time, but my hands are still full. “Sure!” she opens the driver’s side door, allowing me to climb in and place the box down on the passenger seat. “Thanks again, Rarity! If you need any help with anything, feel free to stop on by ask.” I tell her. She made me clothes, and stylish ones at that. “You’re welcome, dear. Have a nice day.” She wishes me. I turn on the truck and back up out into the street. “You too!” I give her an added wave and drive away. Now that that is over, I think I should go look around for any furniture I could use. I may not have enough money on me right, but I should at least see what they have to offer. Best to see now so I can prepare for the future. Looking around, I immediately hit the brakes, sliding the truck against the truck and sending me moving forward from the momentum. Thank god I had my seat belt on. To my left, ‘Quills’ and Sofas’. I remember that place when the others were showing me around. I guess I can buy some quills for now, and some ink and whatever else he has to offer. I park my truck between the store and a residential house next door. After I climb out, I head through the door of the store. The place has a fresh smell to it, the smell of when you walk into an isle in a store that’s filled with nothing but sheets and beds, that type of smell. “Can I help you?” I look to my left to a counter and see a slightly aged pony with light brown coat, and a mane of slightly darker brown. He gives me a welcoming smile. “Um, yes you can. I just got a new house and I need some things to make it… livelier. I don’t have much money on me right now but I was just hoping to see what you had right now that I can buy in the future.” I explain my reason. He gives smiles again and chuckles. “Oh it’s quite alright. Let me show you around.” He goes from behind counter and shows me around. Some sofas are small, some are very large. Some of them are just too big to fit into my house through the doorway, and some just seem too small for a place like mine. Nothing really pops out for me. I soon get a disapproving look on my face, disappointed that nothing peaks my interest. I turn to leave but something catches my eye. This sofa is wide enough to fit around like 5 humans on it if they all sat down. And as an added bonus, it’s nice and thin enough for me to fit it into the door, and I can put the seats down in my truck, I can carry it in the back. “This one! This one right here will do.” I say, pointing to it and walking over to it with a smile on my face. The owner smiles at my choice of furniture. “Ah, you have a good eye.” Taking a closer look at it, the feel of it reminds of somewhere else. Rarity’s! This couch is similar to the one at Rarity’s! I lay down on it and it’s pretty comfortable. At least now, if anyone needs a place to crash, we can improvise with the couch, and I ain’t complaining. I get up but the smile on my face disappears at the thought of how much this costs. “How much?” “It’s free.” “Alright well, I’ll save up and-!” What did he just say? “Wait what!?” I shouted surprised. Did I hear him right?! It’s free!!? “You heard me. It’s free, for you at least.” It’s free for me? What does he mean? Why am I getting it for free? This thing must cost a lot. “Why? Why is it free for me?!” I ask surprised as hell. He gives me a smile and sits down on the couch. “The Elements of Harmony were here earlier and they all chipped in to buy this for you.” I don’t know what he means, Elements of Harmony? “Um, the Elements of Harmony? Who or what are they?” I’ve never met these Elements of Harmony, or heard of them. Actually, come to think of it, I could have sworn I caught a glimpse of something mentioning that from the History of Equestria book I read before. “I figured you might have no information on that subject, you not being from here and all.” He points out the obvious. I chuckle and rub the back of my head. I really should have studied the history a bit more. Maybe Twilight will let me borrow some of her books later on. The store owner points to the other end of the couch. “Come. Sit down and I’ll tell it to you.” I do as he says and sit down. “You see, for us ponies, we are the most adept at using, harnessing and controlling magic. Before Princess Celestia and Luna, there are six elements that represent harmony for all: Laughter, Generosity, Honesty, Kindness, Loyalty, and the final but the most elusive element of all, Magic.” Laughter, Generosity, Honesty, Kindness, Loyalty, Magic? That seems the proper ingredients for harmony. I lean in closer so I can listen better. “The elements aren’t just are everywhere, they need somepony or other type or creature to represent them. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna used to be the bearers of the elements but as time passed, the elements chose a new set of creatures to represent them. Don’t get me wrong though! The princesses are still very powerful, even without the elements at their direct control.” Huh. That’s seems pretty cool. An invisible force that lives for thousands of years and chooses who is best suited for them. But who are the current ones? “Woooooww! But who are they, right now?” I asked, wanting to know how it is already. “Your first friends that helped you in your time here are the bearers. Our happy go-lucky party pony, Pinkie Pie represents Laughter. Our esteemed fashionista, Rarity is Generosity. Applejack our farm pony is Honesty. The shy quiet pony known as Fluttershy is Kindness. Our weather and daredevil pony, Rainbow dash is Loyalty. And our neighborhood bookworm and Celestia’s student, Twilight Sparkle is Magic.” My friends, my best friends that I have ever known, have the power of Harmony at their disposal. I thought Princess Celestia was powerful; Twilight was good as well what with the how she was able to bring my truck to life. But an essence of the Elements of Harmony is inside them. That actually seems pretty bad ass. “That’s pretty cool. I never knew anything like that could happen, or for me to actually be friends with them.” “Yes, we, the inhabitants of Ponyville are proud and consider it an honor for them to be here, but they’ve given explicit instructions that we are to not treat them as royalty, but to treat them as regular hard working ponies like everypony else.” He explains. I guess I can understand that. I had hoped that before I would be able live amongst my own kind without them treating me as a fugitive criminal, but I didn’t have that much of a luxury. At least they can. “Amazing.” I rub the couch a bit and think. “You think I can take this now?” “Of course. Need some help?” he asks me. I smile and sit up. “Sure! Move it as much as you can, I’ll pull up what I’m gonna take it on.” He nods. I walk out the door and get into my truck. After turning it on, I pull it up in front of the store and unlock the back. I crawl through the back and put down all the seats except for the driver and passenger seats. Once the back of the truck is unlocked, I go back inside to see the owner has pushed the couch almost completely to the door, however it would be really hard to get it through the door without help. I grab one side of the couch and hoist it up. The owner shifts the other side of the couch onto his back and hoists it up as well. “Ready?” “Ready.” I gently pull the couch as he helps carry it. After some twisting and turning through the doorway, we managed to edge it out. I pull it to the truck, half of it goes in easily but the owner and I push whatever else we can in. 3/4ths of it manages to fit in but the rest hangs out. “Uh, Damnit.” I groan. I can’t just carry it like this all the way up to my house, especially since there are some small hills that I’ll need to traverse. The girls must have spent a lot to get this for me, more so for the house, I’ll be damned if I’m gonna take a risk and get this couch damaged. “Do you have any rope of something?” I asked the store owner. If he has some, I can tie the back of the couch down to the inside so it won’t slip out as easily. “I may have some in the back, wait here.” He begins to walk off back into his store. “Wait!” he turns back to me just before he goes through the door. “Can you get me some quills and ink wells? 2 ink wells and 2 quills.” “Sure thing, it’ll be 7 bits. Be right back.” He heads in. Bits? I hope he means the coins. I reach into my pocket to find the bits. I pull out a handful of them, take 7 and put the rest back into my pocket. I lie back against the tail light of my truck and wait patiently for the owner to come back. I let my mind wonder as I wait, wondering of the types of things that I can find later on. The truck and its contents were clearly a jackpot, the watch was a nice touch too, but I wonder of the other things, refrigerators, motorcycles, pots and pans, food, guns, knives, computers, so many possibilities, I just have to remember to check the forest regularly in hopes of finding these. “Here you are!” the owner of ‘Quills & Sofas’ returns and snaps me out of my stupor. I shake my head and look at him to find a sack in his mouth. “Oh thanks.” I take the sack and look inside to find what I needed. Lots of rope, a few quills with an equal number of ink wells. I hand him the bits and he looks at them in his hoof, counting. “Thank you for your business. Do you need anything else?” He thanks and asks me. I think for a second to see if I do need anything, but considering what his place offers, I think I’m good. “No that’s about it.” “Great! Good luck in getting this back to your home.” He says and walks back into his store. “Yeah, thanks.” I reply and I get to work. Its takes awhile but I was able to find some suitable spots inside to tie up the rope against and stretch it against the exposed part of the couch. Once the couch is secured, I close the door as much as I can against it, and pray. I get in the seat and start the truck. I breathe gently and drive forward towards my house. Going at a moderate speed at first, I make sure to slow down at any steep slopes. After making it over the bridge and going up the hill to my house, I notice something standing on the porch of my house. Something purple. “Twilight?” I shout out the passenger window. She sees me and smiles. I shut off the truck and jump out. Going around, I meet up with Twilight on the porch. “Ah Swift! I was just looking for you!” she happily says. I chuckle at her enthusiasm. “Well, you managed to find me. What’d you need?” She looks a bit anxious at what she has to tell me. “Zecora came by earlier to buy some things in the market and she told me that she found something!” she excitedly tells me. Zecora did help find my truck before; I guess I should expect her to report anything out of the ordinary, to her standards at least, to me or somepony in town. “Something? Something for me right?” I stated the obvious. “Right! She found something that’s even bigger than your… hummer was it? In the Everfree forest!” She excitedly tells me. Something bigger than my truck? I turn around to look at my truck, trying to picture whatever it is that could be bigger. A tank? Plane? Big rig? “Bigger?” “Only slightly.” Well that rules out the tank and big rig. Damn, I was hoping for a tank. Imagine the ferocity I could bring with that thing. Plus it’s a freakin’ tank. “Alright, I’ll grab some ammo for my shotgun and we’ll head out deep into the forest.” I nonchalantly say. I swing my shotgun around in my hands and sling it over my shoulder. I begin walking up the stairs to head into the living room. I cock the gun and looking inside the barrel, I realize that it’s not loaded at all. Good thing I’m going to get ammo, otherwise I’d be screwed. “No need, it’s on the edge of the Everfree forest.” I stop dead in my tracks and turn my entire body in the unicorns direction. “Really? “Of course! In fact,” she steps off the porch and puts a hoof over the top of her eyes to counter the sun and looks over at the forest. “I can see it from right here.” I step down the porch and look in direction she’s looking in. At first, all I see is just the black of the darkness, the green of the leaves above and the vines below, the brown of the tree trunks, and a gray tan blob. Wait, that’s not right. “Huh.” “You see it?” Twilight asks me. The gray thing is past the first row of trees and just sits there. I know the colors of the forest well enough from what’s happened, and I know that naturally, there is no gray tan thing in there. “I think so. That right there?” I say while kneeling and pointing in the direction I think she’s talking about. “Yes that’s it! Shall we?” she asks, gesturing with her hoof. I smile and nod. “Let’s.” I put my Mossberg down against the porch and begin walking with my pony friend in tow. It only takes us a couple minutes to get to it, what with the short distance and the tangling trees. I’m just glad that I don’t have to worry about something jumping at me from behind. Looking at my new prize, it’s in another clearing, the top still open but looking around, there is nothing to bring it out from the ground. The front is taller than the back, it’s on three wheels, and really wide. “What is it?” “I don’t know, let me see.” I go under the tarp to see what it is. My face turns into a wide grin at what I just found. I back out and I let out a slight laugh with it. “Oh my god in all of Celestia! I can’t believe this is here!” I lightly shout while rubbing the side of it. I have never ever driven one of these, never at all, but at least now, I can show them another awesome ingenuity of my species. “What is it?!” Twilight asks me. She’s definitely excited about the new discoveries that I have to offer. “It’s…! Well, I think I’d rather show you and the others all at the same time.” I still smile at my discovery. Twilight however is disappointed. “Aww, fine.” She pouts. I give her a smile and pat her shoulder. “Don’t worry, all in good time. Now,” I turn around and look at the size of it. This is gonna take a bit elbow grease. “We’re gonna need Pegasi, earth ponies, and unicorns… a lot of them.” “Really?” she asks me. I give her a look. “And rope, lots of rope too.” I add to the list. “Why?” She asks. I look in the direction of Ponyville and point. “The trees around us are too thick for us to maneuver it through, and it would take too long for us to cut them down.” I look up through the clear hole in the tree line above. “No. We need to airlift this thing.” “Are you sure?” she asks me cautiously. Now I’m starting to get a bit annoyed. “Yes, I’m absolutely sure. Is there a long stretch of open, clear, flat ground somewhere near Ponyville?” I ask Twilight. If I’m going to get this thing working, I need just that. She rubs the bottom of her chin with her hoof for a second, thinking of if she remembers anything like that in the area. “Hmmmmm. Ahh! Yes I remember, there’s a track behind the hospital and a long clear patch of land that leads off the cliff right next to it!” she voices her idea. Yes, that will work. “Good, good. Now find as much ponies around town that are willing to help, including our friends, because I know they have some special talents that can really help us out.” With Twilight and my other five pony friends, them being Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack, I think we can get this to work. “Alright then. Anypony who wants to help…” she starts and wants me to finish. “Send them to my place.” She nods and takes off to find anyone willing to help. I take off back to my house. I still have the climbing rope from my bag, and there’s also the ropes tying the couch down to my truck. I don’t need to take it anywhere anymore so that’s good. “This is gonna be awesome.” I mutter to myself once I’m through the tree line… After gathering the rope I had at my house, I waited near the forest for all the ponies willing to help. I was kinda surprised at how many. Including my friends, there are a dozen Pegasi, ten earth ponies and six unicorns. “Is this everyone you can muster up?” I ask my friends. All the ponies are standing in front of the Everfree forest, some look a little wary at being so close to this place but some are comforted by their friends. “This is everypony we can find that’s willing to help.” Rainbow dash says, standing next to Fluttershy and gesturing with her hoof to the Pegasi hovering over us all. “This is all ah can find.” Applejack, with Pinkie standing next to her, says about the group of Earth ponies sitting around in a small group. “These are also some of the most powerful magic unicorns that me and Rarity could find.” Twilight explains. I nod and look at Twilight more closely. “And the rope?” Twilight and the rest of my friends all pull out a bunch of rounded up pieces of rope from their saddle bags. “Rifff herrr.” Applejack says in a muffled voice. I give a big smile at the amount of ponies here’s. The Earth ponies all look like they work for a living so they won’t tire out, the amount of Pegasi here will definitely make up the bulk of my supposed crane, and if what Twilight just said is true then everything will definitely come together perfectly. I rub my hands together in preparation for when I get to drive this thing. “Alright, listen up…” I jump up onto a nearby by boulder and shout to get everypony’s attention. “Here’s how things are gonna go!” I point over to the group of Earth ponies, “We’ll tie some ropes to my new vehicle and you all will tie yourselves to the other end! You’re the direction and steering for where we have to go.” The ponies all nod or salute and begin tying the ropes to themselves. Next is the Pegasi, “You all will lift! I need you all to keep it level, balanced and no tipping or slipping. Please.” I order and add the last part so I don’t sound so bossy. In truth, I will be really really really really fucking pissed if the ropes snap, something breaks off, or it just plain crashes. I don’t think I’ll ever find a treasure like this ever again. They salute and each one grabs an individual length of rope. Unicorns, “You all will help keep it afloat with your levitation abilities, and tie the earth ponies ropes to it once it’s airborne. You’re the last line of defense in case the Pegasi can’t keep up.” They all nod. “What’s that supposed to mean?!” Rainbow dash comes right up to me and says right in my face. I think I might have insulted them. “What do you mean?” “Are you saying the Pegasi aren’t strong enough to help you?!” The other Pegasi start to gather around. Looks like my saying and Rainbow’s outburst must have ignited something, but at this point, I’m not in the mood for that. I move my face forward until both our foreheads are touching. “No! I’m saying I prefer to be cautious!” I push her away and jump off the rock. “If you all think the same as her, then make sure not to drop it!” They all have a look of determination of their faces. Hopefully this will make them that much more willing to push themselves into making sure not to screw up. “Now everbody get into position!” Rainbow still looks a little irked but I’m already inside the forest before she can say anything. I guess another thing of Rainbow is that she doesn’t like to be considered the underdog of a lot of things. But today’s one of those times that I don’t need that. Rainbow and her team fly above and I begin tying their rope to it. I cut holes in the top of the tarp so I can tie the pieces to it. I would take off the tarp but I don’t need the ponies getting scared at this, or panic ensuing in town as we carry this thing above. So for now, the tarp stays on and I’ll reveal it when we get to where we are. After tying all the pieces together, I breathe a sigh of relief and look up. “Ready up there?!” Rainbow, Fluttershy and the others nod before taking a firm grip of their rope. I pull on each rope to make sure that they are all secured properly. Once I’m sure, it’s time. “Alright then, ready… get set… lift!!” I shout and they all do just that. They all strain a bit at first, my heart dropping at the thought of one of the ropes slipping through their hooves and it comes crashing down. To my relief, it begins to work. Slowly it gets lifted off the ground and before I know it, it’s over the tree line. Rainbow looks down at me, “Where to Swift?!” I smile and point to the others, “Hover it over the others! Once we get everything else in place, you just worry about keeping it in the air!” I shout up to them. Although I sort of hope nothing comes busting out of the forest and attacks my friends but all I hear is the quietness of the forest and the constant flapping noises of the Pegasi above. I make my way out of the forest and to the others. Everyone else is amazed and astonished at the ‘beast’ that has risen from this dangerous forest. However, there is more sightseeing when I’m driving this thing. I clap my hand together loudly to get their attention. “Alright alright, that’s enough! Unicorns, start tying the earth ponies ropes to it at the bottom. Be careful and try to tie them onto something sturdy and strong.” I order. They nod and Twilight, Rarity and the rest of the unicorns begin taking the non-tied up ends of the ropes that are tied to Applejack, Pinkie and the other earth ponies and tie them up to their target. Once that’s done, the unicorns look at me and I nod. They return it and soon me new covered up vehicle is surrounded by multi-color spectrum of bright vibrant colors. The strain on the Pegasi is lifted slightly as the Unicorns use their magic to help levitate it. Stepping back a bit to look at the work, it’s come along nicely. The Pegasi are in the air and prepared to carry the heavy load, the Unicorns are doing their part as well, and lastly the earth ponies are ready to be the engine that drives it forward. “Alright then, we head for the back of the hospital, to the track. Move!” I ordered. Applejack and the other earth ponies give a smile and begin walking forward. The Pegasi lean forward a bit and keep the same speed as the earth ponies so neither side is countering the other. The unicorns stay behind so they can keep an eye out incase anything comes out of place. I just stand there and watch as this well-oiled machine moves without a hitch. I wipe a tear from my eye and run to the front of everyone else. After passing over the bridge, we are in town and I make sure that it doesn’t crash into the buildings, so I make sure that it’s lifted well above the rooftops of the homes and establishments of Ponyville, along with making sure that nothing gets tangled up in any of the ropes, or that no pony does anything to disrupt this. Everything goes smoothly just as I hope it would. The residents of Ponyville watch as we make our way through town without a hitch, some even offering to lend a hand, or hoof. I see no harm in it and we begin to move faster. Some more are even following us at a safe distance so they don’t get in the way. As we pass the hospital, patients and staff alike can’t help but poke their heads out the nearest window to see the thing that’s blocking some of the sun from the windows. “Alright, that’s it! Now set her down slowly and gently!” I shout. We made just past the track field. The Pegasi and Unicorns begin to slowly set it down. “Gently.” I said. “Careful.” Twilight says as well. “Almost there.” Rainbow dash says. It’s set down ever so slowly, the high distance in the high soon goes down to mere feet, inches until… “We did it!” I yell. Placed safely on the flat ground, my new ride is ready for it to be driven and for its final unveiling. All the ponies plop onto the ground, clearly exhausted from the whole experience. I even hear some cheering from the residents of the nearby hospital even. I give a smile and begin untying the rope. “Now can you tell show us what this thing this?” Twilight says in a tired voice. I guess even using magic can make someone or somepony just as tired as actually doing something like physical work. “Yeah, we busted our flanks getting this thing here… and we don’t even know what it is!” Rainbow dash shouts in an annoyed tone. I only need a couple more ropes to untie. “Yeah, ‘specially how long it took.” Applejack voices her opinion as well. I give a loud chuckle to all my friends as I take off the last rope. “My friends one and all…” I shout while standing in front of it. All everypony looks right at me. “I give you, a plane from my world!” I tear off the sheet, revealing a World War 2 allied fighter plane, still carrying some bullets and a quite a few bombs and rockets. All my friends and ponies look at it with both confusion and annoyance. “What exactly is this… plane?” Rarity asks. I smile and begin: “Long before, my people went to war with each other. The ground was the battlefield that they all knew all too well, but the sky was untapped territory. Do you all have something to allow all the non-Pegasi ponies to fly in?” If they have ponies that can fly with their wings, hopefully they have something that can help them fly. “Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Pick me! Pick me!” a familiar pink bubbly and happy pony yells while jumping into the air behind a crowd of ponies with her hoof raised in the air. I chuckle at her enthusiasm and decide to give her a shot. “Yes, Pinkie.” She jumps happily over the others and lands on Applejacks back. The orange mare doesn’t seem to mind though. I guess another thing you have to get used to coming from Pinkie Pie. “We have a hot air balloon!” A hot air balloon? Not as fast but still useable. “Is it fast?” I asked. Pinkie takes a deep breath, saying she’s going to talk my ear off, but she stops and gets a neutral look. “Well, no.” That’s all I was expecting to hear. “Well, this thing here, my plane, is something that my species use to soar the skies at speeds beyond even our own comprehension. This particular plane is used by my people to fight in the sky, to dominate each other and get an edge over the ground. The motto that has stuck with my people for so long is this, ‘If you win the in the sky, you win the battle.’ It’s something that has always rung true for my people.” I don’t really know the model of this plane, but I can clearly tell from it that it’s from WWII, however it looks like it’s been upgraded, and modified. Twilight moves close to it and touches it with the tip of her hoof. “So… with this, your people can fly?” she asks, looking at me. I give her a smile and nod. “Yes, yes we can.” It truly was an amazing achievement when my people first soared the skies. Hopefully, in time, I get to know that feeling all too well. “So when can we see you drive it?” Rainbow says, hovering right in front of me, with the rest of my friends following suit. I give a sigh and turn my attention back to the plane. “Well,” I climb up it and make my way to the cockpit. “Let’s see what we have here.” I plop myself into the driver seat, taking note that it’s a three seater in total. All the controls are intact, the needles and buttons look to be in order. So far so good. As I’m rooting though every section of the plane, my hand brushes against something under the seat. I reach a little further and I grab hold of whatever it is. Pulling it out, it’s a manual, a manual for this plane to be exact. It’s got instructions on how to keep it maintained, the different parts it uses, the payload and firepower it has, and how to fly, how to keep it balanced, and proper take off and land procedures. The plane is a variant of the WWII P-51 Mustang and it’s main characteristics is that it’s a three seater, armed with 4 .50 M2 Browning machine guns, Two 1000 Ibs of bombs to drop on stationary and slow moving targets, along with 6 H.V.A.R. rockets. H.V.A.R stands for High Velocity Aircraft Rockets, good for performing bombing runs on unfortunate targets. With all this, I can definitely keep a watchful eye and keep Ponyville safe. “What’s that?” I hear a soft voice. I look up to see Fluttershy hovering right above me. I smile and stand up so I’m eye-level with her. “This is a manual on everything someone needs to know on how to take care of this thing, what’s it made out of, what kind of weapons it carries, and how to drive it.” I say with a smile. I’m thankful that I found this book, otherwise it would be hell for me to be able to properly pilot this thing. “So when can we see it in action? I wanna see if this thing can take on the fastest flier in all of Equestria.” Rainbow dash boasts with a smile. She definitely seems psyched of this new entity that has come into mine and apparently everypony’s lives. I’m psyched too, but I prefer to be cautious that dead. “Uhhh…” I blow a breath of air and flip through on how many pages I’ll need to read in order to pilot this bucket. “Give me a few hours to look this over and I’ll be in business.” Her expression turns to annoyance and flops down onto the ground. “If you all want to see me pilot this thing, your gonna have to wait.” I yelled to everyone. All the ponies groan and begin walking away but my friends don’t look as mad, well except for Rainbow. “What are we gonna do for a few hours?” she asks to no pony in particular. Twilight rubs the bottom of her chin for a second. “Hmmmm… we can have a picnic here?” Twilight proposes. We all look at here. “I think that can work.” I say. It’s not a stupid idea at that. “Ah like it.” Applejack agrees and so does the others. “I’ll go get the blanket.” Rarity says in her usual elegant way. “Me and Pinkie’ll round some food.” Applejack says while standing next to the pink pony. “I’ll go get Spike and some books in case we get bored.” Twilight happily says. “I’m going to go make sure all my animals have food while I’m here.” Fluttershy quietly says as she hovers in the air. I look over at Rainbow dash, wondering what her answer will be, although I am kinda surprised to see her suddenly laying on a cloud that’s really low to the ground. How did she do that? “And I’ll just lay here and hold our spot.” How I figured she would say something like that. Everypony, except Rainbow dash, looks at me. “And what’ll you be doing, darling?” Rarity asks. My expression doesn’t change, instead I slowly hold the manual up with the cover facing everyone. “Oh.” Rarity blushes, a little embarrassed considering I just voiced what I was gonna do a little while ago. “Well, no time to waste! Let’s go!” Twilight says and everypony takes off to go do what is that they said they’d do. Once they are all gone, I look over at Rainbow who is still laying down on the cloud. “Okay, how did you do that?” I ask sternly. Her eyes open and she rolls onto her stomach to look at me. “Do what?” she asks clueless to my question. I cross my arms. “That. The whole cloud thing you got goin’ on there. How were you able to get a cloud down here this low to the ground, and how your able to lay on it like that?” I asked. I know there are still something’s about this world that I’ll never truly comprehend, but I still would like to now, from their perspective, on how it’s done. She smiles and hovers off the cloud. “Oh this! We Pegasi have the power to control the weather. Clouds, rain, snow, we got it all. See.” She flies behind the cloud and it moves. It moves past me and I see Rainbow Dash pushing the cloud. I just watch as she pushes the cloud back and forth in front of me a few times. Then she pushes it over a clear patch of grass away from the plane and jumps on top of it. I give her a confused look and she starts jumping on top of it. The white cloud turns to gray and a heavy flow of rain starts hammering down onto the ground below the cloud. My look of confusion turns to amazement at her power. A creature that is able to turn the way the weather is in only a few movements. Looking back, I remember reading and hearing about that in the History of Equestria book when I was with Twilight. At first, I didn’t think much of it but actually seeing it happen, it’s amazing. “Wow.” “Yeah, it is pretty awesome. I don’t think I told you before, but I’m weather manager for Ponyville. Anything that involves the weather for Ponyville, they come talk to me first.” She says confidently and gestures to herself. She also gets off the cloud, goes to its side, rears up her back legs and kicks the cloud. The cloud blows up and disappears in a puff. I smile at what she just did and sit back down in the driver seat. I pear open the book and I begin reading the pages that teach me on how to properly fly this thing. As the words flow through my eyes and imbed themselves into my mind, I can’t help but look up to see the rainbow mane Pegasus staring right at me through the front clear window of the cockpit. “What?” I asked, wondering what’s got her so intrigued at me all of a sudden. “Do you really have to study all that just to fly this?” she asks while tapping the hood of the plane with her hoof. I chuckle and close the book with my finger still where I left off. “My people don’t have the special characteristics that your kind has. We don’t have wings on our backs that we can control with our own instant mind and muscle movement. No, we need to take precautions, be smart and branch out of our own physical body and coil into what we drive. Cars and trucks, like the one I have back at my house, are somewhat easy because they can only go from what they ride and drive on. With these planes,” I start to explain and rub the inside of the cockpit. “We have to in-tuned with them. Because if we don’t feel how it moves, or when the plane tips, the wind hitting it, or if something goes out of place, then we crash and burn, along with the lives that are with us on this plane.” I look at the controls in an almost mesmerizing way. “We don’t have the luxury of flight like you do, Rainbow. But that doesn’t stop my people from achieving that which we thought was impossible to us.” I finish saying while looking straight into her eyes. It’s true that when man was first able to feel the high winds of the air, sky and clouds hit us, we proved that we were able to accomplish something almost impossible to us. With just a little more push and conviction, anything can be made possible. She just stares at me for what feels like forever before she gets a wide smile, and then starts laughing. Okay that hurt. “What is so funny?” I asked sternly. She looks up at me and continues to smile. “Hehe… you sound like Twilight.” My mind goes blank for a second. Twilight is one of the smartest people, pony, you know what! Fuck it! She’s the smartest whatever I’ve ever had the pleasure or knowing. I had wits to keep myself alive and free all these years, but no one has ever said anything like that to me. My lips slowly curl up and I can’t but chuckle. We both share a laugh for awhile until I breathe in deep so I can breathe and calm myself. “Hehe, oh man, Rainbow. No one has ever said anything like that to me. Thanks. I haven’t laughed much lately. I really needed that.” “No problem Swift.” She flies off the plane and lies down on the grass, where she leans back and closes her eyes. “I’m gonna catch a few z’s. Wake me when it’s time for you to fly.” “Sure. Good night.” I said, but she’s already asleep so she didn’t hear me. I go back into the book and continue to read… In just about half an hour later, the others came back with everything they were supposed get. Rainbow was still asleep but was woken up by Pinkie’s quirky but loud self. I shared a meal with the girls as well, listening on their gossip as I dine on some of the best deserts and food I’ve ever tasted. Between around three and four hours, I’m finally done with the book. I know exactly on how to properly drive this thing since all of the information is fresh in my mind. “Alright! It’s time!” I shout, slamming the book shut and standing up from the lying down on the blanket. “Uh, finally!” Rainbow voices her annoyance of how long it took. “You and me both.” I look over at Twilight. “Hey, Twi! Give me some juice will ya’.” I asked, pointing to the plane. She smiles and stands up. “I’m on it!” She happily says. Her horn begins to glow slowly and steadily at first as she closes her eyes. She cranes her head down and points her horn at my plane. A large stream of purple energy flows from her horn to the plane, enveloping it in a purple aura. The long stream of energy reminds me of what happened with Celestia before. My wound aches at the memory of the horrible mind-shattering pain that happened on that day. My whole body shivers for a second. “You alright, Sugarcube?” I look slightly down and to my left to see Applejack standing there. She must have seen me tense up just now. “Yeah, uh, I’m fine. Just remember… what happened… before.” I say, trying to coming up with the words. I grab my stomach where the hole used to be. “The accident?” Fluttershy says from my right. I kneel on one knee to steady myself. Twilight’s still trying to bring my plane to life. I guess the slightly larger size and more moving parts requires more energy. “Yeah.” I say emotionless. I wish I could just forget that painful feeling and memory, but I can’t. I hate it. “Don’t worry…” Fluttershy says softly and wraps her hooves around me from the side. I’m surprised at first but I smile and place a hand on her hoof. “Your alright now.” “Thanks, Fluttershy.” I sincerely say. I’m glad you’re not in my world. You wouldn’t deserve to be there and the dangers and horrors it has. I think to myself. “Alright, that should it! So how will…?” she finishes casting the magic on my plane. She turned around and stopped midsentence at seeing the position I’m in. I slowly and lightly release myself from Fluttershy’s embrace and stand. “Perfect! Thanks Twilight! Time to show you all how my people fly!” I happily shout and climb up into the cockpit. I hit the ignition and the plane springs to life. The blades on the front of the plane begin to spin, thankfully with no pony near them. The blades spin at their allotted speed and all I hear is the constant humming sound of the planes blades spinning. “Hahaaa! It’s working!” I yell over the sound the plane is making. All my friends cheer and I start flipping switches. “You be careful now!” Twilight yells. I give her a nod and thumbs up. I grab the cover of the cockpit behind me and slide it overhead until it looks in place. All the lights are green, the pedals are working, so is the steering, it’s ready. I slowly move it forward and begin moving across the ground towards the cliff. I breathe, trying to calm my nerves, and go. The plane moves forward slowly but I make sure to go as fast as I can so I can clear the cliff. As the speed of the plane increases, the rumbling loud noises of the plane under and around me, my heart begins to beat faster. I never thought I’d fly a plane, but thankfully that manual was very descriptive and wordy, it even had some pictures to get and even more accurate look. The cliff comes closer and closer, and I don’t think the tails up yet! I start to get really really worried. Maybe I should have done it from a longer distance?! Just to be safe! It’s too late now. As the wheels pass over the cliff, my heart sinks. I fall forward down the cliff, watching the ground already begin get uncomfortably closer and closer with each second. “Son of a-!!” __________________________________________________________________________________ The Elements of Harmony’s hearts all drop as they see their friend in his mysterious new contraption suddenly disappear; even Pinkie Pie’s has deflated at the thought of losing him. “Twiiiii?” Rainbow asks her friend in a worried tone, hoping she has an answer. Twilight has an uneasy look on her face. Her horn glows for a second before she disappears. She reappears a distance away from the edge. She slowly steps forward, expecting to see a plume of smoke emerge over the cliff’s edge. As she gets close, she hears a particular buzzing sound. She smiles and walks a little faster, but her smile fades when a cicada flies in front of her face. She stops at the edge, gulps, and looks over. “Ah!” she yelps and lands on her flank as something flies right in front of her. She looks around to find what it was but doesn’t see, until she looks up. Spiraling into the sky before leveling off and going into the sunset, her friend did it. He’s flying. He’s Flying! “He did it!! He did it!!! Yes yes yes yes yes yes yeeeeessss!!!!” Twilight hops around in an excited manner. Looking at her friends in the distance, she sees them all cheering and hopping around as well. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy take flight and head off, hoping to catch up to him. “He must really feel proud of himself right now.” Twilight says to herself. ___________________________________________________________________________________ “Yeeeeeesss!!!! Ha ha haaaa!!!!!” I yell at the top of my lungs and pumping my fist into what space I can find in the things. I did it. I fucking did it! I’m piloting a World War 2 modified plane. I feel so happy and awesome right now. I admit, it was hard at first, that sharp decline almost made me soil myself in both ways but I was able to pull back in time before I hit the trees below. Although, I pulled back too much and almost collided into the face of the cliff but I was able to go straight up, do spiraling trick in the same process, and now I’m high above the clouds, staring into the sunset that the powerful and godly Princess Celestia has rose up from it’s slumber. Looking over the sides, I can’t see below, only the clouds. I smile forms across my face yet again, baring my teeth in the process. I flip the auto-pilot switch and slowly let go of the controls. No sudden movements, no jerking around, just smooth and balanced. Grabbing the cockpit window above, I breathe in and open, expecting a gust of wind it hit, but I don’t, just a cool breeze. I slowly stand up and let the cool but slightly powerful breeze hit my face and mess up my hair a bit. The sun is absolutely beautiful, how it slightly peers over the clouds and hits my face, “Beautiful.” “It sure is.” I almost jump out of my seat at the new voice. I quickly turn to my right to see Rainbow Dash sitting there. I calm down and resume how I was standing before. “You scared me.” I calmly said. “Sorry.” She apologizes. I smile and lean back and cross my arms, careful to not fall off. “Is this what you see every day?” I wave my once in front of the both of us, sort of highlighting the view. “This beautiful majestic view?” “It is. I always love flying up her, feeling the wind flow through my mane, the hard barrier of the wind that tries to stop me from reaching my maximum speed. It’s a feeling I love to feel every day when I wake up. To feel all this against my fur and skin, plus the view is a nice touch to add.” She says. We just stare into the sunset for a bit, letting the rays of the slowly lowering sun hit us and make us feel good. “Um, did I miss anything?” I hear and a shy quiet voice to my left. I look to see its Fluttershy. I give her a welcoming smile. “Nope not much. Just enjoying the view.” I resume my view to the horizon. “Ohhh.” Never in my life had I ever seen anything like this, not from the ground, not from the tallest building, and TV is nothing compared to this. It’s way better to actually see it with your own two eyes, plus the suns heat, it’s the best a person can consider a domain for heaven. But all things must come to an end sooner or later. “Well, we better get back, I’m sure we’re a hell of a distance away from Ponyville right now. Don’t wanna go too far.” I say. As much as how all this looks and feels, my place is back home with my friends, on the ground. “Yeah your probably right.” Rainbow stands up from her sitting position and both her and Fluttershy are about to take off. “Wait!” They stop before they can open their wings. “How about you two come on it? It can seat too more and I don’t want to accidentally hit you while we’re flying.” The two look at each other for a bit, then back to me. “That sounds pretty cool.” “Yeah, plus I’m a little tired from trying to catch up to you.” With that agreed, I push window covering the back seats open more so they can get in. They drop themselves in and so do I. With all of us in, and the cockpit covered, it’s to head back home. “Strap in, this gonna be a bumpy ride.” They nod and hold on. I turn to the bottom left. I’m now turned around, headed straight in the opposite direction I was going. Now I can see the ground. All the trees, a large forest below, and Ponyville from far away are all in sight. It takes the same amount of time as when I left Ponyville to get back. Pushing the nose of the plane down a bit, I come into the proper angle needed to land this thing. “You sure you got this?” Rainbow asks me from over the seat. I give her a reassuring smile. “Nope!” She looks back at Fluttershy who now looks more worried than ever. “But it’s not like we have choice!” Pushing a bit further down to gain more speed, we come in with all our friends still there. I gently pull up as we come close to the ground. I breathe as calmly as I can while setting the wheels down on the ground. The planes shakes as I glide across the ground, the rapidly approaching picnic area that we were all at before coming ever closer. All my friends run away from the beast barreling right at them, except for one. Pinkie Pie. “C’mon Pinkie! Move!” I lightly yell to myself. She just has a smile on my face as I come closer, the blades still moving. I hit the brakes and pull back as hard as I can, trying to do something so I don’t obliterate the pink pony. I strain as I pull back, until finally, it stops. I let out a breath of fresh air and turn off the ignition. I look up front, to my horror to see red. My heart freezes cold as I undo the buckles and try to open the cockpit. I didn’t happen, it couldn’t have happened. Not Pinkie, she’s too… unique to be dead! “No no no no no nooooo.” I quickly say to myself, hoping I’m wrong with my thoughts, “Pinkie, are you-!!” my surprise of horror turns to surprise of confusion, as I see the not so pink anymore pony sitting there, with ¾ of a red velvet cake with red frosting splattered all over her front and on my plane. Her face turns to me and I see two eyes poke out from the cake on her face. “Awwwwww, Swwwiiiffftt!! You ruined my cake! It was supposed to be your reward for learning to fly!” She whines. All my other friends walk and fly up to the both of us, confused about what happened. I walk up to her, take one finger, swipe some of the cake from her nose, and taste it. It’s good, really good, then again, I’ve never had red velvet before but any and everything I’ve tasted in this world so far is just divine. “I like it.” We all share a laugh at this. I’m still a bit worried at that very close encounter that my very pink friend almost had right now. Still she looks no worse for wear. “Sooooo what now, darlings?” Rarity asks us all. We all look at each other, not really sure what to make of this now. I look back to see the sun again, over half of it gone. “Enjoy the rest of the sunset?” I asked, not taking my eyes off the view. “That sounds nice.” Fluttershy agrees with a smile. Everyone else agrees too. We all walk up and me and Spike both sit-down next to each other with him on my right, Twilight on his right, then Rarity. On my left, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. We all just stare, taking in this moment. “We don’t do this often do we girls?” Applejack asks. They all nod and I smile. “I’m glad to share this moment with you all then.” “It’s our pleasure, Swift.” Twilight says. “That’s starting to get old.” Rainbow points something out. We all look at her, not sure of what she means by that. “What do you mean?” Spike asks. “He just has a first name! If he’s going to be living in town, he needs a last at least.” Now that she points it out, I don’t have a last name, just Swift. I don’t know my real name since its etched out from my dogtags. “So what do you have in mind?” I ask her. She gets a stumped look on her face. “I don’t know. I just pointed that out.” “Swift?” Twilight asks while looking at me. A last name. What kind of name would work with Swift? “Hmmmm.” I hum, trying to think of something. What can work, what can work? “Oh my, this wind on my mane always feels good.” Fluttershy mentions as her mane flows against the air, somewhat like Celestia’s. That’s it! “Wind.” “What?” “Swift… Wind.” I slowly say me full name. They all look at me. “That sounds…” Twilight starts with an unsure look, but turns to a brilliant one. “Perfect! That’ll fit perfectly for you!” She happily says “Why?” Rarity asks, not really sure if it’ll stick as well as we all think. “Look at what he’s done! You’ve seen how he moves and fought! Plus with his special power, I think it’ll work.” Twilight shortly explains. She does have a point. How my people are supposed to fly these planes, it fits; how I run and how fast I can go, plus with that special ability I found out I have, that works too; plus the name has a nice ring to it. Reminds me a bit of native name. “It’s decided then,” I stand up and walk over in front of everyone I outstretch my arms. “I am Swift Wind, Inhabitant, Guardian, to the town of Ponyville. Native, to Equestria!” I shout. With everything that’s happened, can I go back? No. Do I want to go back? No. This is my life now, and I love it. I turn back to my friends to see them all standing right behind me. I kneel down right in front of them. “Welcome to Equestria, Swift Wind.” Twilight extends her hoof. I shake it, and hug her. She’s surprised at first, but relaxes and returns it. We share that hug for a moment before I decide to break it. Staring back at her eyes, I know I should be grateful as hell to have friends like this, who accept me, regardless of my past… well, what I can remember at least. “Thanks Twilight, thank you all.” I return the gesture to everyone else, except for Spike and Rainbow, they figured it would be too awkward, so we decided on a hoof/fist bump. “Well,” I stand up and look at the almost completely gone sun. “It’s getting late, why don’t we all head home. Tomorrows a new day, and new mystery’s await.” I say in a tantalizing way. They all chuckle at me, making me smile as well. “You’re right.” Applejack says. “What about your plane?” Pinkie asks. “It’s not like anyponies gone take this thing for a joyride. We’ll just leave it like this.” I was right though. As much as the ponies were interested in this, I don’t think they’ll take the risk since it belongs to me. Besides, I’m sure some animals or bug wills come-by and probably clean the cake off, but tomorrow I’ll still wash it. “You sure?” Twilight asks worriedly. I give her a reassuring smile. “I’m sure.” “Alright then.” She still seems unsure about it but it’s mine so I get to decide what to do with it. “By the way, did you get your couch settled down in your house?” I just remembered that in all the excitement, I completely forgot to get it down. I give a defeated groan. “I guess that’s a no.” “Don’t worry, we’ll help you get it down!” Pinkie Pie says in her usual bubbly tone. My groan turns to a smile at hers and my other friends offer. “Thanks, I could use it. Let’s go before it gets too dark.” With that said by me, we all head straight for my house. It didn’t take as long as I thought to move it inside my house. Once it’s there, its nestled perfectly against the wall. “Whew, thanks everyone, saved me a lot of work.” “No problem, pardner.” I sit down with a smile, happy that this is the first step to a slow but fruitful décor for my home. “We better go. We all have things to do tomorrow.” Twilight said. Everyone nods to show she’s right. “See ya tomorrow, everyone.” I wave them off as they all one by one leave my house through the front door, with Spike on Twilight’s back. Before I can relax, I remember something. I make a dash for the door. “Twilight!” she turns back to me. “Send a message to Celestia about my plane! I don’t want her to get too freaked out at the UFO flying around.” I said to her. It was a good idea. Celestia may have been alive for so long, but if anything, she might confuse my plane for an eagle or something from far away, but still, better to be safe than sorry. “I’m on it!” she replies. She and Spike wave back to me and I do the same to them. I close the door, sigh, and head back to my room. I slide back into bed and lay there for a bit. With all that’s happened, I can’t wait for what happens in the future. What other mysteries will the Everfree forest reveal to me in the coming days? What other surprises does Equestria have to offer me? I don’t know, but I’ll find out soon enough. I close my eyes and before I know it, I’m drifted off to sleep.