//------------------------------//
// Inventions and Flight 
// Story: Hal 9000, Space Impact 
// by Iridescence T Wind 
//------------------------------//


"Inventing is a combination of brains and materials. The more brains you use, the less material you need."
-Charles Kettering 

|-((o)) ((o)) ((o)) ((o)) ((o))-|


Hal had to rent a wagon for how many boxes he had by the time he got back. Each store had insisted on boxing each individual part except for the few boxes of screws and nails he had acquired. Though the most notable things he had acquired came from a griffon weapon shop and a Alchemist station.  From the first he had acquired a gift for Miss Do, to be more precise a sturdy whip made of magically enchanted strips of refined metal that had been enchanted to have the flexibility of a true leather whip. The other thing he had bought in that shop had been a simple trio of spears for the good doctor to wield in his magic if he had to fight. Hal didn't know why but Dr. Ground came off as suspicious to him. But with all those intentions aside he could now work on the problem at hoof. Building this rebreather. The Alchemist had been very helpful for that particular reason. She had sold Hal a set of six small circular plants called Gill-weed after describing what he needed to the wise old Alchemist. 

Gill-weed was a magical plant that grew only in salt water sprayed with powdered serpent scales. It had the ability to produce small amounts of clean air from water and otherwise poisonous gases though it's rarity had cost Hal at least a third of his bit's. It was well worth it though when he was finished with building it, sure it looked like something a alien would use to breathe with flexible hose piping leading to a emergency air storage in case they failed, but the results were well worth the effort.  Dunking his head into the same sink he remained submerged there for the better part of an hour without any difficulties and attempts to dislodge the stubborn device by violent shaking of the head was futile without undoing the safety straps Hal had included. 

Vision also wouldn't be a problem after Daring Do and Doctor Ground dug up a trio of scuba goggles and other camping equipment. Each of the rebreathers used two of the Gill-weeds in a similar formation to a gas mask around the mouth. Between the two was a cleverly wired radio, that when on would allow them to communicate to each other via a water proof headset that was also part of the safety harness. 

With the rebeathers out of the way Hal had began to spend more time on his own type of weapon. Utilizing the blacksmith he had later found next to the Alchemist he had custom made several parts with the smith's assistance. He had noticed a definite lack of long ranged projectiles in Equestria. After asking a guard about their spears he found out that their only personal long range weapon was the same weapon they used for short range combat. Rather primitive in retrospect. Spears were a weapon since stone age for humans anyway. With the lack of electricity and explosive powder or even the ability to pull back a string and arrow by hoof, Hal did the next best thing.

With Daring's help he custom fitted a long slender tube to his side under his left and right wings, with an hole at one end and a firing mechanism at the other that was attached under him to a firing mechanism that came up just below his neckline that he could press down with his mouth to reload it and squeeze with same mouth to fire. In essence it was a saddle that was capable of allowing manual reload and firing on the go without having to stop. Daring Jokingly called it a 'battle saddle' but the name stuck after the first few uses.

Hal's precision was without error in production of the device, having found such a device risky if otherwise of malfunction. The ammunition 'belt' was a wooden arcing piece of wood also personally carved so that the device could be aimed either on all four's or in bipedal, aka flight standstill modes. Balancing had been harsh but after trial and error Hal had nailed it down to the bare millimeter. After reloading the crossbow battle saddle had then the ability to aim with the adjustment of counter weights up or down with a subtle tug right or left on the mouth grip. It was by far the most complex to build weapon that Equestria had probably seen short of the trebuchets that decorated the higher towers of Canterlot castle or one of an infamous eccentric party pony's 'party cannon' that were heard of in a town called 'Ponyville' as some of the more eccentric guards had mentioned were able to take out entire flocks of changelings (whatever those were in the equestrian equivalent) by themselves. 

Though with all weapons it took practice, the first few days after they acquired their new weaponry they practiced, of course. Hal with his invention, Daring with whips, and of course Dr. Ground with his spears. For Daring, as Hal predicted, she was a natural with the whip, before the end of the first day she had been able to rip a bottle off at maximum range from a barrel top and catch it with her hooves while wielding the whip in her mouth. The doctor however took to the spears in a much different manner than expected of the combat-experience less pony. The first sign of this was when he started calling his spears different hunting birds. The results of his combat style resorted to using the spears entire beings rather then just the standard pointed head in thrusts as Hal suspected. Instead the doctor had treated the spears similarly to quarter staffs and jabbed the dummy with both ends, and at times performed a neck locking triangle formation meant to choke the makeshift dummy they had built in front of the meager store. 

Hal however was less lucky, the saddle fitted him and aimed accurately for sure, but it took him three days before he could even hit the broadside of a barn much less a moving target.  Though that was to be expected, not everyone could learn by simply picking up a long ranged weapon he had no prior experience with and expect to be an expert. The average crossbowman, in the human world, Hal recalled, took at least two weeks of standard training to become par on accuracy to the average archer. But human crossbow's had a few disadvantages compared to archers, mostly in the fact of range and speed that the crossbow had. 

A long bow could easily out range a crossbow from afar due to the bolt's dropping at a much faster rate after the first two hundred meters. As well as the standard crossbow requiring at least thirty seconds to reload manually as the normal archer only had to reach for another arrow to fire. Hal however had solved the second problem similarly to how rifles had later on. Hal had made a set of clips to which he could manually reload between fights similarly to that of a rifle in the 'modern age' that attached to the top of the battle saddle to replenish it of ammunition.

Daring had simply watched as Hal practiced with interest, she was starting to believe that the stallion was really from space. Such a strange device capable of such range wasn't known for in Equestria, or any other nation to say the least. While she bet it would be useless in a close ranged fight, as a Pegasus he wouldn't have a problem just flying out of range while bombarding then with the lethal wooden sticks he had called 'bolts' that had left cracks and miniature craters in the walls when he missed and hit the wall instead. The summer sun was intense today and most ponies opted to stay inside but Hal was ever diligent at practicing each shot slowly growing more accurate as Hal practiced on different targets to try and instinctively learn to shoot without time crippling mathematical equations. 

Daring noted that Hal had been at it for hours without a break. Trotting inside she vanished for a while as Hal shot another clip worth of bolts at the wooden targets, this time managing to only lose four of them into the wall behind them instead of all eight. Hal sighed, the taste of the cloth on the grip was well since used to his mouth, and his head had lowered a bit from exhaustion of constant practice he was forcing his body to do. At least there was progress however, while no where near on par with the average archer of medieval times he was learning. He had also detected a slight calibration error on the aiming that he accounted for standard deviation. He would fix it later but for now, he tiredly carried himself over to the target, pulling out the empty clip and manually reloading those that didn't break or bend during the shooting back into the clip for firing again. 

Something cold brushed against his flank and he shirked away from it in surprise looking at the source of the cold feeling. It was only Daring Do holding a pair of glasses in her wing, Ice tea from the looks of it. She held one out, offering it, "Think you're done for the day, you've been at it non-stop for three hours."

Hal nodded, politely taking the glass with his own wing and then into his hooves as he sat down, "Thanks, and I might as well..." Hal looked down at the mess of broken or bent bolts that hadn't survived, "Running out of good bolts...again..." 

Daring attempted to cheer him up while nudging him with a wing, "Hey at least your getting better right? Bet you will be hitting those targets every shot in no time!"

Hal breathed deeply, cooling down and relaxing a bit after so much training in the intense sun, "How are you doing with that whip of yours anyway."

Daring took a sip of her drink before responding, "Doing fine, used a few before that one. Neat to say that I haven't used a metal one until now though. It's Dr. Ground's you should be asking for. I swear those spears are becoming more bird like by the day, I could of sworn I heard one of them chirp during practice yesterday."

Hal smiled at the joke before responding in turn, "Maybe we should leave some bird seed around, see if they eat it."

Daring rolled her eyes giving a wide grin, "Then we will know that spears are actually birds and the royal guards will flee in terror as the bird uprising leaves the majority of them defenseless."

They enjoyed the silence for a while enjoying their companionship. Though Daring was the first to break it after a few minutes of the silence when it had begun to bore her, "So, guess what I am going to do to you tomorrow."

"What?" Hal asked, wondering what the eccentric adventurer had in mind.

"Let me give you a hint, my wing's just need today to rest before they are back to normal and you have a promise to keep."

"Oh..." Hal stated quietly, "I see." 

Daring raised an eyebrow inquisitively, "Is there a problem?" 

"No." Hal stated slightly longer than usual, "None at all."

It was flying right? Just like when he was a spaceship in deep space gliding quietly humming through the air like a plane from a by gone era right? His thoughts were interrupted as Daring smiled a strange, weird smile, "Well lets get some rest then. We are going to have a fun...fun time aren't we?"

"Yes..." Hal stated, unsure and unnerved slightly at the smile as Daring began to hum to herself he watched the mare trot away. 

The rest of the day proceeded like nothing had happened, dinner was simple yet delicious all the same. Conversation was mostly about the incoming trip and the professor's wacky experiments with chemicals ongoing in his lab. Everything was just like normal, but Hal wasn't engaged. When he went to bed for the night it took him hours to relax and finally fall into a deep sleep.


|-((o)) ((o)) ((o)) ((o)) ((o))-|


Hal was first aware that something was wrong when his conscious registered a light... poofy cotton candy like substance that was... moist... under his stomach and legs instead of the usual sleeping bag which Dr. Ground had provided for them. Groggily Hal struggled awake, the bright light of the morning sun momentarily blinding him as he awoke. Wait... the sun? As Hal awoke, he had stood up, and now he took a step back instinctively from the blinding light, raising a hoof to shade his eyes. But his back hoof came upon... Nothing?!  Hal registered the fact that he had been on a cloud too late before he began to plummet with all the grace of a falling rock if a rock could scream in mortal terror as he fell backward off the cloud toward the eminent demise of the ground. 

As Hal screamed his eyes shut tight but as he fell he didn't notice a set of hooves grab him and slow him back down though as the wind pressure died down and instead he began to move upward he realized that he was being held by somepony. Hal shut his mouth, and his savior as well as new tormentor spoke, "Nice to see you finally woke up sleepy head."

Hal merely glared daggers at her, instead of combusting into flames however as he wished she just laughed at his expression, "Oh come on Hal, you're safe in my hooves, you know that. You're my friend after all." 

Daring Do put Hal down on one of the larger clouds in case he accidently walked off one again, "I did say I was going to teach you to fly today Hal."

"Did you have to... put me on a cloud in the middle of the sky?" Hal sighed, his glare calming back down but his heartbeat still racing after what could of been a deadly experience.

Daring snickered, flying around the cloud in a circle once, "I tried to wake you up a while ago, though you didn't respond. So I thought to might as well." 

Hal stumbled as a light breeze caused the cloud to shift but he managed to remain standing, albeit in the direct middle, of the house wide cloud. Watching Daring fly was albeit entertaining and looked fun, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. Hal sighed, a shuddering sigh as he attempted to calm his own heart beat, failing that he let gestured for Daring to continue, "Go ahead Miss Do. Tell me what to do." 

Daring ignored the improper use of her name, "alright, something easy then. Stretch out your wings so they are parallel with your body and try to glide down to the next cloud. I would suggest a running start."

"Alright..." Hal said slowly, backing up a few steps considering course of action and preparing himself.

"Any day now." Daring remarked after a minute.

Hal charged forward spreading his wings and jumped, Daring made a comment, "Also don't look down. It never-"

Instinctively, like so many before him after hearing that line, Hal looked down and discovered his fear of heights. The ground was hundreds of feet below him and his calm washed away to sheer panic as images of crashing spaceships came to his mind and gravity became his terror. His wings response was to suddenly shut in his brief moment of terror causing the Pegasus to once again drop screaming like a penguin if it suddenly found itself kicked out of a hot air balloon. Daring sighed before diving herself, quickly overtaking Hal once again and this time stopping him with a lower dwelling cloud made of thicker stuff than the higher clouds. Daring rolled her eyes at Hal, "I thought you used to be a spaceship shouldn't flying be like, second nature?" 

Hal curled into a fetal position or as close as a pony could get his eyes twitching and a shocked frown on his face after falling two hundred feet leaving his speech about three times faster than normal as he spewed out words, "Spaceships are in space! Lack-of-gravity-or-things-to-crash-into-in-space! Particularlythegroundearthandplanet!"

Daring moved a bit of cloud out of the way so she could get closer to Hal's eye level only for the stallion to reel back away shouting incomprehensibly in numbers. She covered the ground back up with a layer of cloud and Hal seemed to calm down, drawing an assumption she tried revealing it again only for Hal to move back further again resorting to binary in language. Daring looked at Hal incredulously, "Your afraid of Heights of all things? Seriously?"

Hal merely nodded while quaking like a leaf, Daring could compare this to the few times she had seen Unicorn nobles when they saw a rat or when a filly met a tarantula in the middle of the night that was on her face. It was phobia development stuff. Daring sighed, grabbing the cloud and separating the chunk Hal was on from it so she could bring him down, "Sorry Hal, maybe this was a bit extreme." 

Hal had no response, all that was going through his head was every recorded incident of mankind's vehicles and natures animals crashing into stuff in mid flight as his mind. The pony was nerve wracked after two death defying falls. Sure it was how Daring learned to fly, but she had lived in the clouds most her life compared to Hal who only had a week or two at most of walking on the ground in a body. She shouldn't of expected him to do such things so fast from so high up. She nuzzled him gently, to comfort him by the time they got back down his quaking had stopped, "How about we try again from only ten feet?"

The response from Hal was a slight nod, and Daring gave Hal a patient smile. It was going to be a long day. "What's wrong with Hal?" Dr.Ground's voice shot from the kitchen window unexpectedly.

"Hal's afraid of heights apparently..." Daring told Dr. Ground a bit disappointed.

Dr. Ground looked at Daring, then at Hal, then back at Daring, "You're kidding right? A Pegasus that is scared of heights? Really?" The Doctor snickered.

"Doctor!" Daring shouted aghast, "How could you?!"

"Sorry, Sorry!" Dr. Ground started to burst into full out laughter, "It's just so absurd. That's like saying a Unicorn that is afraid of magic or a Earth pony afraid of plants! Bwahahahahahaha!"

Correction, Daring thought, it was going to be a really long day.