//------------------------------// // 8: Flight // Story: Pony of the Gears // by TheFoxern //------------------------------// The first thing he heard was loud, though far off. They were familiar. Engines, he guessed. That and the sound of rushing wind. He forced his eyes open; his head hurt and around him was the deck of a ship. He recognized it. This was the deck of God. “Ah, I see you are finally awake... So good of you to join the land of the conscious...” To his slight surprise, Lady Evale walked around from the side. “I must admit I am quite impressed with this.” In her claws was the Flyer Mark V. “Completely useless to me.” She tossed it to the side and something went twank, which made Copper flinch. “But impressive nonetheless.” He tried to move, but he was chained to something. The bastards had chained him up, like that would stop him. But a thought popped into his head. “You killed Horsh.” “Ah, it speaks,” she said, smirking at him. “Why, yes. I did.” She waved a clawed hand flippantly. “Not personally, of course. But I suppose I am the reason he is dead. Or I should say, that you are.” She tisked at him. “Too many questions, Copper. Too many.” Copper cursed himself inside. It was the cog. Not the plans. “The plans...” “Oh, they were put to good use.” She turned on the spot, splaying her arms. “All of this is thanks to you Copper. You and that wonderful brain of yours.” Her claws closed around large rolls of paper. “If only you were more cooperative...” She put up a hand. “No no. I already know that you would refuse any offer merely on principle.” Damn it, she had a point. He would refuse her just to be difficult. “So you used my designs...” “To improve God.” Her laugh was so annoying, it grated upon everything that Copper had left. “Oh yes. The God you knew was nothing compared to this beauty of a machine.” She sighed, in Copper’s opinion, overly dramatically. “But just imagine it Copper... Imagine it with The Gem Cog.” Copper glared at her. “How...” “Oh do you honestly think that I don't know?” He knew how she knew of it, but how did she know he did? “I have known of it longer than you dear Copper. Much longer. I, and my associates have been seeking it for a very long time. Unfortunately we have met...resistance along the way. Al Khamsa and his brother Sirrah Al-Faras...” The sight of the late King's bodies planted themselves firmly in his head. “Lers...” Now the crumpled body of Lers, laying in a burning building. “The seaponies and their high council...and many others, my dear Copper... All of whom you have dealt with beautifully.” She clapped in an almost painfully mocking way. “Well done.” His thoughts were racing now. “So you and Celestia...and...others...” he added, when seeing her face at the mention of Celestia. “Others who used me... Used me to shape everything...” “Oh very good Copper... I did warn Celestia you were too smart for your own good. But it does you well in a pinch.” She walked past him, but he could still hear her behind him somewhere. “And here you are now... On the deck of God, about to watch us sweep away what little resistance there is left...” The smirk in her voice was quite apparent. “Starting with Ponyville and the retrieval of The Gem Cog. Oh Copper it will be glorious. We reach Ponyville in five hours.” He heard her walking away. “Sics, if he tries any attempt to escape...kill him.” “Yes, Lady Evale.” Oh that was a speech he recognized. A Diamond Dog. Just great, those were tough. Tougher than griffons and definitely tougher than ponies. Sics walked into view, moving a ways away from Copper. He’s not dumb, but he is a sickly yellow color, Copper thought. “Lady Evale says if you try and escape, Imma kill you.” Than again, instinct is different from intelligence. “Yes, I heard,” he snapped, trying to think. Chains were hard. Not impossible, but he'd much prefer rope. Rope was easy compared to chains. “So, Sics is an interesting name...” Copper said; small talk would be a good distraction; buy himself time. “I have five brothers,” Sics said, his eyes narrowing. “Don't try and trick me.” “Trick you? Why ever would I do that? Goodness these chains are uncomfortable.” He shifted a bit, ah, yes. There was a padlock on the back. No chance of picking it. “So five brothers and your named Six.” “Not six. Sics.” The large body sat down. “Lotsa ponies make that mistake. But not Diamond Dogs.” “Ah, yes. I've worked with a few of them in the past.” He shrugged a shoulder, one of the chains slid slightly. That was the thing about chain, people instinctively didn't do it too tight. You could either do it too tight and crush whatever you were using it for, or have it a bit loose. “I know,” Sics said, glaring at him. That caused Copper to stop and look at him closely. “Have I...worked with you?” Sics shook his head slowly, still glaring at him. “No. You hit me in the back with that shocky thing of yours.” “Ah...” He wiggled slightly. “Sorry about that... Know why exactly I did it?” He stood up. “Stop moving.” Copper froze. “All right. Jeez, just trying to get comfortable... Chains may be all the rage where you come from, but they don't suit me.” His head was starting to not hurt as much and his thoughts were coming together. “Are you making fun of me?” Sics’s hands clenched and unclenched. “Me? Oh no of course not,” Copper said, leaning back against what he was chained to. There we go, he thought, now I can get out whenever I need to. “So why exactly are you working for Lady Evale and Celestia? I shocked you while following their orders...” “Don't matter. All I know is they're gonna give me a lot of gems.” He grinned at Copper and he couldn't help but grimace in response; it was not attractive at all. “And I get to kill you, after we blast that little spec of a town off the map.” That was it. Copper couldn't hold himself. “You idiot. Do you honestly think that they're going to give you anything but a swift kick off the ship? You'll be lucky to get off this ship with what you call that pathetic life of yours.” “That's it.” Fists clenched, he approached. But Copper was ready for him and Sics wasn't expecting him to simply drop out of the chains and buck him in the stomach. It was a kick that would've made Applejack proud if she had seen it. He had helped her a bit gathering apples and found that bucking apples could be quite useful. And as Sics crumpled, he knew that was a good kick. “Now then.” He ran towards the Flyer and quickly started putting it on. No time to make sure everything was perfect, a quick glance showed it would fly, or at least glide. He spun around as he heard Sics get to his feet. “Stupid...little...pony...” One of his hands was holding his stomach and blood was coming out from his mouth. That had been a hard kick. Perhaps he had collapsed a lung? He charged at him, screaming some nondescript words. It didn't matter. Copper waited and then dropped onto his back. Hooves planted firmly on Sics chest, a slight roll back and push. The scream turned to one of panic as Sics plummeted. Copper got back to his feet. “Right then.” He rolled his shoulders a bit, adjusting to the Flyer's weight. “No more mister nice pony.” He went into the first door that he found and ran. He needed to get somewhere. Where was he going? This was not God. He knew the layout of God enough to find his way around, but this was nothing like it. Not on the inside. ~ “What is it, Horsh?” Copper said, staring up at the largest airship in the world. Or so he'd been told. “This. Is God,” Horsh said, walking a few steps ahead of Copper. “It's where we do pretty much all the work on airships. It has hangers so big that freight ships can fit inside them.” ~ He shook his head. Right, hangers. He needed to get to the hangers. That's where the ships would be. God was large and very slow. Copper could steal one of the ships, beat God to Ponyville and get everypony out. Then get to the cog. He stopped for a moment and blinked. Where had that thought come from? It made sense. They were after the cog, so of course he needed to get to it before them as well. It was unimaginable something this big, being assisted by that. A pony could rule the world with this ship. He stopped again as he opened a door and saw a huge cloth wing moving onto a downward stroke. He looked left and right. It was a walkway around the side of the ship. “Hangers will be in the back...” he muttered, as he tore off down the right side. The wings interested him quite a lot. That was how they made sure it was airborne. Usually ships used hot air to keep themselves up, but something this big needed extra help. Small things needed the help too. “Damn it.” They had taken his idea for a small ship, which used wings and propellers to keep itself airborne, rather than rely entirely on hot air. Suddenly doors farther down swung inward and several Diamond Dogs rushed out. One pointed at him and shouted. Of course they would hire Diamond Dogs. They were easy to train and would do any job if you give them enough gems. There were too many to fight. He turned in time to see several Diamond Dogs running towards him. Pay more attention, Copper. He leaped over the railing. It was as he feared, the Flyer couldn't do more than glide. But at least he could steer it and the updraft from the wings of the ship helped him gain some height. There had been quite a few painful lessons about air currents over the last few months. He watched as the dogs met, glared at him a moment and then most of them dispersed, back into the ship. But a few followed him on the edge. ~ “God is truly an engineering marvel Copper... No ship has ever come close to it...” Horsh said as he walked across a beam to one of the upper areas. Copper followed after him. “But...surely something this big can't possibly fly... It would take far too much air.” “Ah, well, that's the thing Copper. It doesn't fly. Not anymore.” Horsh gave him a smile, but Copper frowned at him. “It doesn't fly, because it's broken. And no one alive knows how to fix it. We don't know how it flew, because it's thousands of years old and many of the outer parts have worn away.” “What?” Copper looked down suddenly, the wood did not seem that old. “How is that possible?” “Magic, of course. At least, the wood is magic. All the inner parts are not and they’re all rusted over, or completely disintegrated with time. Nothing salvageable at all and no way to even begin to figure out how to get it running.” ~ Copper shook his head and collided with the ship. “Gah!” He scrambled up onto the railing and panted for breath. That could have been bad. The ship had changed course when he wasn't paying attention. He looked back to see the dogs far behind. The Flyer had to be folded back manually, which required gently pressing it against the ship. But once that was done, he took off running. He went in the first door he found and immediately headed down. Down and down and further down. He shoved open a door and ran straight into a railing. The pain from hitting the railing was manageable, he had hardly slowed down to open the door. But as he looked down into the massive room, he saw something more painful than any of his cuts or bruises. He saw dozens of his ships. His ships. Ships he had designed. Every bolt, every nail, every gear and cog, every hoof of cloth. All his fault. He sagged against the railing of the catwalk, staring at the ships. There were hundreds of them. Maybe thousands. He slipped off the rail onto the floor. “What have I done... This is not what I wanted...” He took deep breaths and then heard a crash from the way he had came. “Right.” He stood and ran. “No time to feel sorry for myself right now... I've got a town to save.” He leaped over the edge and landed on the cloth wing of one of the ships, which buckled and snapped under his weight. It took a moment to untangle himself from the debris, but then he ran to the next airship. It was empty. He looked around a moment, his mind racing. “Right, trap door underneath, lever to the side, which probably opens the trap door. The ship is suspended by ropes over the trap door and the rope can probably be lowered to allow retrieval of the ship...” He pushed the lever and the sudden snap of the trap door opening and the rush of air underneath almost made him lose his footing. Almost. He hopped aboard the ship and glanced around. “Right. Basic three man control scheme... One steering, one shifting gears and speed, one lookout or gunner.” He took a deep breath. Above he heard someone scream. “He's taking an airship! Pilots! To your ships!” That wasn't good, but he'd come this far already. Couldn't stop now. He stood on his hind hooves and there it was, the locking mechanism to the rope. “Here goes everything.” He hooked a leg around the joystick and punched the release. Weightlessness hit him and he floated up gently. He quickly kicked the lever to open the wings and hit the floor hard. “Owch.” He looked at the controls of speed and put it in full blast, before moving to the joystick. His eyes went wide as he realized he was pointed at the ground. “Why do these damn things always point down!” he screamed as he pulled back hard, only brushing a few trees. The pilot of God probably didn’t want to risk taking it too high this early. “I mean honestly. The joystick just starts pointing down on its own...” he muttered. He couldn’t see Ponyville from this distance, so God wouldn’t be able to either; that was good. He was also going far faster than God, which was even better. It was easy to pilot one of these by yourself if you just needed to get from one place to another. But precision flying such as combat maneuvers and weather dodging would require at least one other pony. He looked back behind him and the dozen or so black dots in the distance made him wish he had anypony with him now. He held the lever in place with his back hoof as he reached and fiddled with controls. “C'mon...more speed...gotta get more... Oops.” There was a thunk and something fell. He looked over the side of the ship in time to see a rather large explosion on the ground. “Uh. Oops.” But that gave him an idea. He pulled that lever again, ignoring the explosions below. Eventually, they stopped and he moved back to the joystick. He was moving a lot faster now. Yet when he looked to the side, through the blurring speed of the wings he saw there was another ship, three Diamond Dogs on it, glaring at him. He immediately pulled back on the joystick and shot upwards. They followed. It took a few close shaves before he realized that they were trying to ram him. Idiots, that would kill them all. But he was sure they didn't know that. They were just following orders for gems. Then he saw Sweet Apple Acres, or at least the groves of apple trees that made up most of it. Some of the other ships had collided with each other trying to get him and had gone up in a rather large explosion. All those bombs going off at once was quite the sight. Copper wondered if they looked a little bit like fireworks... Then he got clipped. His airship began tumbling, spinning and turning. And time seemed to slow down as he saw it. The tall structure of the clock tower suddenly loomed ahead of him. Instinct told him to jump. So he did. He tumbled and spiraled through the air. The Flyer was useless now and he didn't dare try to extend it. At 1, the face of the clock tower shattered. ~ Copper forced his eyes open, he hurt and he could see a lot of blood on the floor. He slowly sat up, trying to ignore the burning feeling of glass. His eyes turned to the right, the Flyer was mangled. But he wasn't looking at it. He was looking past it. At the cog, which shined. Words echoed through his head. “Don't use it. It's dangerous.” “No choice,” he said and limped slowly towards it. What was driving him now was the need to stop the ship. He had to stop it, at any cost. The cog was cold and the light inside went out immediately when Copper pulled it from the clock. He pulled a cog from the Flyer and pushed The Gem Cog into its place. The glow returned and the Flyer outstretched, snapping back together, cloth becoming whole again. He looked up at one of the non shattered faces, it was stopped at half past 1. “No time left.” He shot out of the hole, pounding his wings to gain speed. There was a distant speck above the horizon and that's what he was aiming at. Then the million bit question popped into his head. How do I stop it? ~ Glass shattered as Copper came in through the window. There was a large griffon, behind a wheel. And behind him, Lady Evale. “Ah, Copper... I was wondering when-” she stopped, staring at him. “You didn't...” “Oh yeah,” Copper said, a smirk on his face. “And I have to say, it works flawlessly.” “Give it to me!” she screamed and lunged at him. But she was inexperienced at any kind of fighting, and Copper wasn't afraid to hit a lady. It only took one blow to put her down, but Copper gave her a second kick after that that sent her skidding across the floor. “Run,” Copper said to the griffon, who hesitated for a split second before fleeing. He moved over to the controls. It was just like God. In almost every way. Perfect. ~ “So what exactly brought God down?” Copper said, staring at the controls. Something didn't seem right about them. “Pilot error I'm afraid. You see, even back when it was still in operation, they weren't aware of how it worked. I'm sure they assumed magic, but there's not an ounce of magic in the engines, just the wood holding it together.” Horsh said, moving beside him, looking at the controls. “You see how everything is now?” “Yeah...” Copper said, he had been staring at it for five minutes. “I can see why it stopped working...” “Overworked the engines, trying to gain height too fast...” He gestured to a panel of levers and switches. “See how all the engines are on full power? The system couldn't take that.” Horsh sighed, shaking his head. “If only I could have been alive to see it fly. I imagine that it was a sight to behold... A floating city...” Copper was still frowning slightly. “How could something this big land? I don't see anything that would help it and I didn't see anything outside.” “It didn't land.” Copper looked at him, raising an eyebrow. “It was completely independent. It sent down smaller ships to sell, trade and for general transport as far as we can gather. That's why it has so many engines. If one fails, the others can easily pick up the slack while it was being repaired.” His claws moved over the controls, which were all stuck in place with age. “A pilot is the master of the ship. A captain may give him orders... But the pilot can always decide to sink the ship.” ~ Copper pulled back on the wheel and pushed every slider to full max. “What...are you doing...” Lady Evale was trying to get up, but struggling to. She had never been struck before. “Sinking the ship,” he said calmly, as explosions started to rock the ship. “You... How dare you.” She finally managed to get to her feet. “It's taken decades to bring this as far as it came...and only weeks with your help...we will be able to do it again...” Copper turned and looked at her. “Do you really think that?” There was hesitation. “Yes...with Celestia's backing and-” “You think so highly of her, do you?” Copper said, smirking. “When she's nothing but a powerful Alicorn. That's all.” He moved away from the controls, as there was another explosion and the ship tilted slightly. “There are powers stronger then her. So she raises the sun... Before her, unicorns did that. It's nothing special. You are a fool.” He paused a moment. “I was a fool. A fool for thinking she actually acted in everypony’s best interest.” Staring ahead, he could see Ponyville. “You...ignorant little pest...” She coughed heavily, falling over again. “You...are nothing...compared to her.” “Perhaps not.” He was staring at Ponyville. The feeling was growing inside him again. Something was wrong. “I took an oath, not to serve Celestia. But to serve Equestria. And she is bad for it. So I have to do my best to change that.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “The job never ends...” Then it dawned on him. “We're going to hit Ponyville.” He ran back to the controls. “Just noticed that, did you?” She had leaned herself up against the wall, looking out ahead. “I honestly don't see what you like about it. It's just like any nowhere town...” “Wrong. It's where I belong.” It was something that he had been feeling, but it sounded silly now that he said it aloud. She laughed, which Copper expected. “Belong? You really are a fool,” she said, with her annoying giggle that Copper had come to hate. “How could you belong there? You're a killer, Copper. You've killed ponies, griffons, diamond dogs and only Celestia knows what else.” “That doesn't mean-” Copper began, but she cut him off. “Ponies like you don't get happy endings, Copper. They die.” Her look was one of triumph, in her opinion, she had won and there was nothing he could say to change it. Copper stared blankly at Ponyville. It was so far away, yet so close. He couldn't veer off course now, there wasn't enough power left in the engines. Then her words finally sunk in and a mad grin spread across his face. “You're right.” He pushed the steering wheel forward, until it snapped off. The entire ship began tilting forward. “We do die. But I think I'll die a hero. A martyr. Down with Celestia,” he said and laughed. No, not laughed. He cackled. Lady Evale backed away from him; this was more terrifying than anything she had ever seen. “You...you plan to...” “Crash the ship,” he said, laughing. “Oh yes. Run it right into the ground.” The room was tilting more now and soon it would be pointing straight down, if the ground was not there. “Down with Celestia and her tyranny!” he cackled again, using the control stand to keep himself up. “You've gone completely insane!” Lady Evale said, before she fled out the shattered window. There was a few moments of silence and then sobs. “Yes. I have,” he said, tears running down his face. “Mad. Completely and utterly mad for thinking I could just stop.” He reached back and pulled The Gem Cog out of the Flyer and looked at it as he felt the Flyer crumble. The thought of escape ran through his mind, but what would be the point? Honestly, what chance did he stand against Celestia? “I may be done with my job, but the job isn't done with me... Never done. There's always another job to do...” He slumped over the console, pressing his head against the cog. The ground was getting close. “There's always another job...” He looked up, staring ahead at the ground. “Always another job...” Realization dawned and his face turned into a cracked grin. “Well...” He felt an odd tingling in his hoof, before stomping it down as hard as he could. The Gem Cog shattered as he bellowed, “I quit!” ~ The fall of the ship, later to be called The False God, was seen by many ponies. Everypony in Ponyville and several hundred more who had gone there escaping Canterlot. The first thing they saw were explosions in the sky and then some said something hit the clock tower. Then they saw the ship, slowly coming towards them. A few saw something suddenly fly from the tower at great speed, towards the ship. They all saw as the ship suddenly began rising into the air at enormous speed, explosions rang out and fires erupted all over the ship. Then it seemed to stop and begin a slow, gentle glide towards Ponyville. Panic filled everypony in the entire town and ponies began running. But as it all looked at its worse, the ship suddenly seemed to fall forward and slam into the ground, which rocked all of Ponyville, before the whole thing went up in a series of explosions. It took weeks to explore the wreckage. There were no survivors found. Mostly diamond dogs and a few griffons, one of which was female. No bodies of ponies were found. ~ “Are you sure we need him? I mean honestly... Look at him, he's done. Fairly dead.” “I'm not going to simply let him stay here and burn. Not after all he's done for us. Now come on, use your power and at least try. We may need him. He may even get up...eventually. He's strong like that...” “All right. But my magic isn't designed for this sort of stuff...”