In all of Jake Weston's natural life, he had never felt the way he did now. He watched hopelessly as his prized aircraft, and himself, toppled over the edge towards their inevitable end. Why had he grabbed the plane? Impulse? Bad choice? An attempt to save the one thing that reminded him of home?
All these thoughts clouded his mind, as tears blurred his eyes from the wind as he sped up in a free-fall. His hooves were clasping the end of the cargo ramp, desperately trying to hang on to the last inch of metal.
The plane was a mere fifteen seconds from impact, and gaining speed as it fell. He thought this was the end. Well, at least he died doing what he loved. Did he? Was this considered actually flying? Whatever it was, it was the last thing he was going to be doing. At least, that's what he thought until the nose of the C-130 started to pull back up.
The g-force was incredible. The pilot could barely hang on. One hoof started slipping back, ready to fall off, but Jake quickly pulled up and regained his grip, panting for air as he used all his strength to hold on. Right at around two hundred feet, the plane leveled off, barely missing the dense trees at the bottom of the valley. How this was happening, Jake didn't know. He used all his remaining energy to pull himself forward, flopping over on his side at the end of the ramp to catch his breath. The ground raced past him below, motivating him to get up and shut the ramp. When it was secure, he staggered up the hold and stopped at the cockpit door in thought. What had pulled the nose up? Who the hell was in the cockpit?
He slowly opened the door to find both chairs empty, and the autopilot light on, keeping the aircraft in steady flight. He slowly approached his captains chair, and looked down. What he saw confused and shocked him. For there, sitting on the center of the chair cushion, was a small, rectangular, blueslate stone.
It took Jake a second to comprehend the situation, but finally, he decided to wait until after he landed, and moved the stone and jumped into the seat, taking hold of the yoke.
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"Are you out of your mind?! This'll never work!"
Fleetfoot yelled over to Starfyre, who was unlocking the wheel brakes on one of the carts. It was a long, white carriage with four large rubber wheels on it. The top of it was a long inward-rounded holder that was perfect to house a rocket....or let a plane land on and use for makeshift landing gear.
The technician prepared the cart and looked back over to the stubborn Wonderbolt.
"You got any better ideas, Fleetfoot?"
The stunt-pegasi snorted and shook his head.
"No! But this definitely has to be one of the most dangerous ones possible."
"Well you're a Wonderbolt! I'm sure you've done much more dangerous things than this!"
He walked over to the waiting stunt team and belted out his directions.
"Ok, since Rainbow Dash, Soarin, and Spitfire are the fastest, no offense to anypony else, I want them behind this thing pushing it down the runway on my go. The key is to match the speed of the plane and let the broken wheel land right in the center of the cart."
He pointed over to Fleetfoot and Hotshot.
"You two are gonna be in front of it, steering by using your wings as rudders to make sure Jake touches down in the center."
Hotshot spun around and looked out at the incoming aircraft.
"Roger that! Lets go, he's coming around!"
Starfyre leaped up and pointed to the rest of the team.
"You guys are gonna make sure everything goes as planned. Keep watch and tell them how close Jake is to touching down."
With one understanding nod from all of them, they broke off and got into position. Rainbow Dash and the two captains got behind the cart and pumped their wings, sending it off in a slow roll. Fleetfoot and Hotshot jumped in front and grabbed ahold of the sides.
A mile back, Jake lowered the flaps and slowed the throttles to idle. He wanted to make sure he touched down as slow as possible to lower the chance of any more damage to the landing gear. He looked out at the runway, squinting to try and make out what was going on down there. Then, he saw the white cart being pushed down the runway on the right side, and immediately knew what was going on.
"...You gotta be fucking kidding me."
The three pegasi flapped as hard as they could, and quickly got the cart up to speed. They looked back just as the massive aircraft flew over them, engines roaring even though they were idling. The prop-wash shook the convoy around a little bit, but Hotshot quickly righted it with a flap of his wings.
The C-130 leveled off a little bit ahead of them, prompting the three to speed up even more. Fleetfoot arced his wings to the left, causing the cart to drift in the according direction. It was placed right behind the broken wheel. All they needed to do was have Jake slow down.
Rapidfire flew up to the cockpit window and gestured for Jake to do so. The pilot took a long breath and grasped the speed brake.
"Here goes nothing."
With that, he yanked the lever all the way back, sending the spoilers up and slowing the plane down drastically. In three seconds, it stalled, and Jake shut his eyes and braced for impact as it fell. However, all that was heard was a loud thump, and the rolling of the landing gear.
Outside, the team broke off and began cheering as the belly of the C-130 came down right on the cart, the broken wheel nesting comfortably in the center. It seemed to take the planes weight just fine as it slowed up.
The aircraft finally came to a stop a minute later, and Jake lowered the ramp. However, he looked puzzled, rather than thankful, which is what the rest of the team expected. Soarin landed next to him and laughed.
"You won't see anything like that again in your lifetime, I bet!...Jake?"
Soarin's smile faded as he saw the look on the pilot's face.
He held up the blue stone just as everyone else was landing, prompting them to fall silent.
"I was going to die."
Rainbow Dash cocked her head and smirked.
"That's why we were here, silly! We helped you land!"
"No, I meant when you all turned around and headed down the runway, the plane tipped off the edge, and I grabbed ahold of the ramp and went down with it."
Spitfire looked confused.
"Sooo...you made it though. Why are you upset?"
He thrust the stone out to emphasize it's point.
"I was seconds from impact, and the plane suddenly leveled off. I climbed back up and ran to the cockpit. When I got there, nopony was flying the plane. All I saw was this stone sitting on the chair."
"It's Blueslate, lad."
Everyone turned to face Fleetfoot as he spoke.
"I've heard of him. He's a Being that intervenes when one is in a bind or in danger. If its important, and you deserve it, he'll come down and help you. Many moons ago, before Ponyville was even on the map, the slate stone was a symbol of power and hard work. The slate miners in the Canterlot cliffs told tales of a blue stallion that would come around every once in a while and simply wander up and down the tunnels as they mined. Some say he was lookin' for cracks and wear in the support beams, and would magically fix them to prevent the hard working miners from falling victim to cave-ins. After the word got around, ponies began to see signs of other Beings that would help out in different situations over the years. But I think it's just Blueslate, and all the other Beings were simply fantasies made up by ponies wanting their fifteen minutes of fame. However, I've never heard of a Blueslate helping this directly. I mean, he saved your life! Normally he would simply give little tips and advice to help the pony through their troubles."
If it wasn't for the stone as proof, Jake wouldn't have believed his explanation. So instead of denying it, he simply smiled, and tossed the stone into the cargo hold.
"Well then, thank you, Blueslate."
He turned and sighed when he saw the busted wheel sitting on the white rocket cart.
"I gotta hand it to you, Starfyre. That worked perfectly. I've only seen shit like that done in movies. Now, we need to fix this thing up and get it ready for the show. I'm assuming that there's a unicorn SOMEWHERE in Canterlot that knows restoration spells. I'd ask the Princess, but she's done enough already."
He smiled when he saw the fixed Ferrari, still sitting at the end of the runway where the Sun Goddess left it.
Rainbow Dash pointed towards the city.
"Well, we better get a move on and fly over there to find somepony capable of fixing it."
Fleetfoot nodded.
"She's right. Lets go."
They all rose up and took off towards the Capitol City, leaving Jake alone on the tarmac.
"Uh...hello!?"
Soarin looked back and facehooved as he yelled out to Jake.
"Sorry! Forgot you couldn't fly!"
He turned back to his team.
"Fleetfoot, Starfyre, Rainbow Dash, and Spitfire, you guys come with me. Everypony else, stay back with Jake."
When everything was settled, the five pegasi flew away, bound for Canterlot, leaving Jake back with ten other Wonderbolt team members.
"Well, this'll give us time to get to know each other."
Hotshot nodded and smiled.
"I guess it does. So uh, are you married?"
The pilot looked back with a blank face and sarcastically sighed. The Wonderbolt cringed when it left his lips, and immediately regretted asking that.
"Sorry."