//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 - Everfree Forest is the best pony [after proofreading... kind of] // Story: Time Outcasts - Is it more psychic to flirt with a spiteful cat or move boxes with your mind? // by Unknown7x7 //------------------------------// A monarch can work in two ways. They can either have a boring day of filing paperwork or suffer a really... hectic time. And nothing in between. Sometimes it makes you wonder which case is worse, as bad as it sounds. Princess Celestia did ponder about this. Right now it was clear that bureaucracy was much better than action. Recent events had put in motion a set of dangerous factors. Nopony could foresee the circumstances, but there was no doubt it would end badly. Such things happen when Prince Blueblood, aka. Royal Pain, actually tries to do something in politics for a change and accidentally insults the ambassador of Saddle Arabia by telling a bad joke about the saddles in general. As a result, Princess Celestia had to write a very, very good apology letter. It wasn't hard. She explained it was caused by cultural differences, that the saddles in Equestria have some bad history tied to Queen Platinum, that it was a reminder of enslavement of earth ponies by unicorns in pre-equestrian era... It was a good letter, really. Unfortunately, Princess made one serious mistake in its content - at one point she tried to belittle the entire problem. If the Saddle Arabians were resentful before, now they were completely enraged. Celestia had forgotten the importance of saddles in this old fashioned country... which was very embarrassing, since they put this word even in their country’s name. Now she wasn't only dealing with an international scandal, but with an international controversial debate about disrespect towards the culture of developing countries. Celestia sighed. It seemed she could no longer dispel the tension, since now the Saddle Arabians actually wanted this quarrel. After a few more minutes of flicking through a big pile of letters she decided to take a short break. She put all correspondence aside and raised a cup of tea in her magical grasp. Suddenly the door to the throne room burst open. What? You aren't surprised? You expected some action exactly in this moment since this is how every fanfic works? Wow, guys... Just wow. I need to came up with something surprising in the nearest future... Let's get back to the plot. "Your majesty!" shouted the Royal Guard, who galloped inside. Princess Celestia sighed once again and looked at the messenger. Duties first, enjoyment second. "Yes, my guard? What is it?" The guardspony took off his helmet and looked at his hooves in shame and slight fear. "Your highness, there was... there was a prison break half an hour ago in the Canterlot Citadel. The main prisoners have escaped." The teacup shattered on the floor in a million pieces. "Your highness?" inquired the uneasy guard. Celestia finally blinked. "The Duo?" "Yes, your majesty." Celestia looked down on the pile of letters, now covered in the tea. Suddenly the entire commotion with the saddles sounded like a very small and easy to fix problem. "Thank you for this news, my little pony, despite how grim it is. Dismissed." The guard put on his helmet with a noticeable relief and left the throne room. Celestia stood up and did the same, stopping for a second when passing guardsponies on the sides of the door. "Please, find captain Shining Armor and inform him he needs to immediately convoke a council of war. I will be waiting with my sister in the war room." with these words she disappeared from their sight. The stallions looked at each other with astonishment and anxiety. They had never received an order like this one before. Before they went into action Celestia reappeared for a second. "Also, tell the maids that's where they will serve afternoon tea." The guardsponies relaxed a bit. That was a much more familiar request. The city of Canterlot was a very easy place to escape from. Yes, it was. Especially when you possess an ability to fly or somehow slow down a deadly fall (so no cookies for you, earth ponies... again). This place wasn't created as a fortress. It had a lot of weak points. It was hanging. Have you ever wondered what would happen if something happened to... whatever is supporting this place? I did, and I think it would be a very sad day for all of Equestria. Especially for Ponyville. Which would take the impact. And that's not all. The city was built on terraces. You could just jump from the higher one to a lower level. It made navigating very easy, since I no longer had to rely on Silver in order to find the shortest way to the edge of the city. Also, now I could run on rooftops, as if I wasn't already feeling incredibly powerful. Silver was flying close by, keeping up with me without any problems since I wasn't in any hurry. I couldn't accelarate too much with how often I had to jump over the street below, but it was already too late for the Princesses to stop us - if we wanted to escape from any situation, nothing at this side of the Void could keep up with us. Simple as that. It took us a minute to get to the edge of the last terrace, which gives Canterlot a pretty small size (but, once again, we weren't in a hurry; I could cross that distance on a flat field in fifteen seconds max). There happened to be two unicorn officers (after all, only officers actually use swords). We used on them the most basic technique in the entire history of Sonic games - we just crashed into them. Yep. That's it. I'm pretty sure we are in some bad fanfic (I've read enough about Displaced to know that), so in case you don't get how we could survive such a collision, let me explain. First, I defy laws of physics, so I can get up after a collision with a brick wall at four hundred miles per hour. Second, if you are going fast enough, you actually barely feel any backlash upon impact with something. No, I'm telling the truth. That's why you need to hit very fast in karate in order to break anything except your bones. The universe needs some time to realize you delivered the blow before the third law of Newton kicks in and messes you up. If you are fast enough, you can retreat or smash through things before they make you sorry. In other words, it protected us, but definitely not the guards. Someone was going to the hospital pretty soon. "Nice. I collected twenty rings, I'm safe for now," declared Silver, leaning against the barrier of the terrace. I smiled and prepared a big fireball. "Wait. What are you... argh!" I burst out laughing when Silver got hit in the face and landed on his ass. Right after that all twenty rings... shot out of his body all around him. No other way to put it. He scowled and stood up quickly in order to gather his rings after receiving damage which would kill a normal person. What? Don't look at me like that. It's not like he felt all of it - we feel real pain only if we are struck while having no rings. Otherwise it's just a stinging sensation similiar to being hit with the full force in the face by a sea wave. Ironically, that was Silver’s own description of it, as I recall. "Very funny," stated Silver with a frown. There was no bruise after my attack; rings were a wonderful protection. Thanks to this it was very hard to really anger him... or maybe it was just Silver being Silver. He usually was happy again after finding some new toy or getting an opportunity for a stupid joke. Surprise, surprise, it was the case once more! Silver picked up two rapiers from the fallen guards. He smiled broadly. "No." Silver did his best to recreate the famous disarming move of Puss in Boots. It wasn't enough - hedgehogs aren't good at being cute and fluffy. "Just no. And don't you even dare to make a joke about Sir Percival." Silver snorted. "Fine. But it doesn't mean I can't wield a sword! This world better be prepared, for Sir Galahad shall strike swiftly!" Right after that Silver once again lost his rings. At long last I decided I had enough of this pointless banter and jumped over the edge of the platform, leaving everything in the hands of gravity. Shining Armor was very uneasy this afternoon. Okay... that was a big understatement. In the course of his career, he had been ordered to prepare a military council only once, right after Discord's escape. It... ended badly. Discord decided to leave the Elements of Harmony to themselves for a few minutes, and in this short time he completely crushed the meeting. Shining still had nightmares about a flying spaghetti monster. Now the circumstances seemed a bit milder (laws of physics were working without difficulties), but this time almost nopony knew much about the threat. So far Shining was only aware of some prison break, but he had yet to learn of the details. The Princesses had obviously decided to wait with explanations until all the military commanders arrived. Finally the door to the war room opened, admitting the Princess of the Sun.. There was a short moment of silence, in which Shining assumed that Celestia was pondering how to announce the news. Not a good sign. The assembled officers were casting troubled glances at each other. "Thank you for your quick arrival, everypony. Your devotion to our country is appreciated," started Celestia. "I'm sorry I had to summon you all here so suddenly, but the matter is urgent. Two dangerous prisoners escaped from Canterlot Citadel this morning." Some of the military commanders relaxed. "If it’s just a criminal from the Citadel, then why was this meeting arranged? It doesn't look like a danger to the entirety of Equestria," remarked general Blunt Edge. "Because they weren't standard prisoners, general," said Princess Luna, up until then grimly looking at the table. "They were imprisoned for almost eleven centuries and for a good reason. It's... Dawwkward Duo." Silence has fallen once more, but this time a lot of members of council had to stop themselves from snickering. Celestia looked a bit embarrassed. "...as an afterthought, we shouldn't call them such a ridiculous name, sister," commented Luna. "Your highness, you can’t possibly be serious," stated Shining Armor. "The Duo is a tale, a little scary story that makes foals behave." "Not all stories about them are real, captain," Celestia continued her explanation. "Blaze definitely wasn't born in Tartarus, she isn't using a burning whip as a weapon, Silver can't read minds and they are both only slightly bigger than the average pony. But everything else is at least partially true." The atmosphere was once again grievous - it was clear the Princesses weren't joking. "Then... who are they, really?" asked one of the generals. Celestia winced. "The most persistent, mad, deceitful and annoying terrorists in Equestrian history. I guess we should start at the beginning, from their first attack..." "So." Blaze looked up from little campfire she just started. "So?" "What should we do now?" I specified, sitting down across the flames, first making sure there wasn't anything nasty in the grass. It become a custom of mine ever since I accidentally took a seat on a splinter while having no rings. Learn from my mistake and never sit down without some pants on... I should find some pants. It won't be easy, it's ponyland after all, but a man can't run around naked, even if nothing indecent is on the view (thank God it was because of the sheath... fans were making so many jokes about that). "Didn't you ask me about this at the prison?" "No, I asked about our overall plan. Now I'm asking about this specific moment." She shook her head in pity. "You truly can’t think for yourself, do you? You always need someone's orders?" "Eeyup. But don't worry, I've just received an order from my stomach. There’s gotta be a chilli dog stand somewhere around here, and I’m gonna find it.” Blaze looked at me blankly. “We’re in ponyland, remember? Nothing but fruit salad here. And I’m already stuck with one.” “I’ll think of something!” I called back, already heading deeper into the forest. Ah, Everfree... it is indeed a perfect place for a camp, as long as you weren't an order-loving pony. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against ponies... not much, anyway. They are just so... timid. When they can't control and understand everything, everypony runs in circles and screams. This place might be full of wild animals, but that sort of thing never stopped human explorers, right? A timberwolf here, a cragadile there... nothing my telekinesis or Blaze's flames couldn't handle. It was so nice of the Princesses to leave such a place intact in the heart of Equestria. No need to search too far for a hideout. Such a perfect place for every villain. After a few minutes of walking I stumbled upon a river. Good, problem of supply solved. I raised my hands and just levitated a fish out of the water. Hah! You jealous, fishermen? I gently put my future meal next to me and repeated the action several times. When I was done, I took one of them and with some difficulties put it in my hidden pocket. What pocket, you might ask? True, I don't wear any clothing outside of my gloves and boots, so I don't have any normal pockets. I'll answer this with another question. Have you ever wondered how Silver and many other video game characters are able to carry bulky remote controls, emeralds bigger than their heads, and radar scanners without any visible way to do so? I usually called it "pulling things out of my ass", because that's how it looked in Sonic games - our good ol’ blue hedehog is always just reaching behind his back and pulling Chaos Emeralds out of nowhere. After many awkward episodes in the first days of our banishment, me and Blaze found out that we have small pockets leading to miniature parallel dimensions; sort of like Bags of Holding for you D&D nuts. We wasted a lot of time on removing all the junk we accidentally put in there... Anyway, as long as an item fits in my hand, it can be stored there. And I have HUGE hands, so a few fishes throwing themselves in all directions are nothing. If you think that's strange, you wouldn't find a word to describe what happened next. It involved a random rain of various books, crystals and sharp objects, most of them landing on my head. No, mom, I swear I wasn't drinking with friends at the party... "Wait, your highness. I need to check to see that I understand everything correctly." Shining Armor rubbed his temple. "So... these two came to Equestria and released a powerful monster in the middle of a village. Said monster got out of their control and wreaked havoc across the land. In the meantime, Silver and Blaze decided to side with Discord once he appeared in Equestria in order to gather fourteen powerful artifacts they claimed were theirs. Shortly before the fall of their master, they found one of them and attempted to restore control over the monster with its help." Celestia nodded. "That is correct, captain. And since she was the one performing the ritual, Blaze couldn't fight and had to rely on Silver the Hedgehog on keeping us occupied. Fortunately, me and my sister managed to overpower him and imprison both in ice. Afterwards we banished the beast to the depths of Tartarus, where it has been imprisoned ever since." "Speaking of which," cut in general Blunt Edge with a frown on his face. "Why were these terrorists sentenced to Canterlot Citadel and not Tartarus? Even better, why weren't they just imprisoned in stone?" "It is because we deemed it unwise to keep them too far from Canterlot," explained Luna. "In order to restrain them, we had to use enchanted, temperature-absorbing limiters and make sure Silver remains ever unconscious. In the scorching heat of Tartarus, there is no way to easily maintain a freezing spell. As for the imprisonment in stone, at the time we weren't sure how long the Elements' effects would last. We used it on Discord only because there was no other option. Ice was a much more foolproof way; there was no chance of failure since we completely understand how this kind of magic works." In Shining's opinion it indeed sounded like a good enough solution. He decided to move this discussion forward. "Now we know the origin of the prisoners, but before we start to search for them, we need to figure out what they are after." "We do know what they are after." Celestia rose from her seat and a gem appeared in the middle of the table. "The Chaos Emeralds." The Emerald, despite its name, was yellow. It was cut in a brilliant shape and was of impressive size. However, the most fascinating trait was its glow - the gem was a source of light in itself. Shining Armor looked at the Princesses curiously. "What makes them so valuable?" Celestia grabbed the Emerald with her hoof and brought it closer to her. "They possess incredible power, power we still don't fully comprehend. For a long time we thought they were created by Discord as a weapon against the Elements of Harmony, but experiments conducted over a hundred years ago with advanced equipment revealed they are much older than Discord himself. The only other explanation comes from Silver, who stated, and I quote: "The Emeralds were brought to this world along with us, their owners, as a way to make shit happen."” One of the generals, who happened to be drinking tea at the time, choked. "I'm sorry, but that's exactly how he put it. Afterwards he added: "The servers are the Seven Chaos... Chaos is power, enriched by the heart... The controller exists to unify the chaos." It is still unclear what he meant by that, but we suspect Silver is this controller of Chaos Emeralds, while Blaze affects the Sol Emeralds in the same way." "Sol Emeralds are similiar to Chaos Emeralds." Luna decided her sister needed some break in explanations. "It is said they have similiar power stored in them, but for some reason, ever since they appeared in Equestria, they weren't glowing, which makes them useless for anypony." Shining looked at the Chaos Emerald. He sensed no magic coming from it; that, however, was absurd, since only magic stored in gems could make them glow. "What kind of power are we talking about, here?" Luna shook her head. "It is, once again, a mystery. This energy was called 'chaos' by Silver and Blaze, but it is clear it's not only not Discord's magic, it also isn't magic at all. It... it is a hole in the laws of physics. With a lot of concentration it can be used, though it is very dangerous. The only information about the Emeralds' power comes, again, from Dawwkward Duo. They can be used to transform a thought into power, and if the entire set is in the same place... a miracle happens. No, we do not know what kind of miracle. In short, we know very little about them, while our enemy seems to know quite a lot." "But we know we cannot let the Dawwkward Duo find them," Celestia declared. "Even one Emerald gives them frightening power, to say nothing of all seven. All the Chaos Emeralds were long ago hidden in safe places, while some Sol Emeralds went missing. We have to focus on Silver and Blaze. If we give them enough time, they will retrieve the Emeralds and it will be too late to stop them from whatever they aim to do to our world." Shining smiled. "Where do we start?" "You need to learn of their abilites first and inform your guards, Captain Shining Armor." With a glow coming from Luna's horn an illusion of a strange creature appeared in the middle of the table. "We will start with Silver the Hedgehog." "He doesn't look like a hedgehog," stated one of the generals. "That's how he identified himself. Let's start with powers." Luna looked down on a list she prepared. "His main ability is a very weird kind of telekinesis - it is not a spell in his case. We tried to defeat him by placing a magic limiter on him once, and he didn't even seem to notice. He also possesses no visible aura, but both Silver and Blaze claim he actually does and it is azure in color. He perfected this skill to a point when he can create and throw a giant ball made up from all kinds of things pressed together. He can also levitate a group of items and throw them with deadly precision and speed. It is extremely dangerous to get close to him even when he has nothing to attack with - he can immobilize anypony with his telekinesis and then throw them like anything else. Among his abilities is also a short distance teleportation and attacking with small waves of pure telekinetic energy. He usually travels by levitating himself at high speed, mostly at almost eighty miles per hour. He can reach twice as much if given a good reason, but it burns out his telekinesis very quickly*." The silence was so dense you could cut it with a knife. "Those are all his psychic abilites. Without them he can still move fast, but it is still a much less insane pace. He has a great physical and magical endurance. A lot of spells have no effect on him, and most of the rest is weaker against him. He has two strange reactions to blows that should be fatal - most of the time he starts to flicker, disappearing and reappearing for exactly three seconds. In other cases he just completly vanishes for ten seconds. There is also one more attribute to him - as long as he holds something, either by hand or telekinesis, it cannot be affected by magic in any form." Finally, general Blunt Edge had enough. "How are we supposed to stop somepony so absurdly strong?!" Luna smiled. "Silver has a weakness. If he is abusing telekinetic abilities, he quickly gains a terrible headache, which is so strong it keeps him from using his powers for several seconds. Sometimes it can even immobilize him. It's all about surviving until his skill fails him. Now, let's talk about his behavior, personality and other characteristic features. "Silver is very courageous, sometimes even to the point of foolishness. He seems very childish most of the time, but do not let him fool you, he is a very sly criminal. He isn't afraid to use your greatest weaknesses against you." 1089 years earlier... *knock, knock* "Hellooooo! Did somebo... somepony order pizza? I have pizza! Tasty and still hot!" The door opened. "A pizza, you say? Eeyup, we ordered it, I'm definitely not trying to cheat you into givi... Hold on. What are you?! You aren't the delivery colt!" "Wow, seriously?! I can't believe it really worked! Oh, whatever. Here, Mr. Guard, here is your delivery... WITH EXTRA KNUCKLES!" "Silver is an excellent shot, and has no mercy for his enemies. What makes him the most dangerous, however, is his ignorance when it comes to diplomacy and all rights connected to it. It's no use to try to talk to him, he'll just attack you anyway unless he is powerless at the time. In this case he will play for time until he is ready to fight." Again 1089 years earlier... "We art sending a messenger to thou, Princess Blaze!" announced Royal Canterlot Voice. "Do not dare to charm him!" Blaze rolled her eyes. "There is nothing they could give us in exchange for their own castle," she said to Silver. "Let's just wait until Discord is back from the Badlands. He’ll redecorate the fortress and we’ll be on our merry way. It's not like they’ll bombard their own home. Silver, scare off this little horse." "Okay!" *CRASH!* "Silver..." "I'm sorry! I was aiming at the ground in front of him!" "Thou dare to throw a piano at my messenger?! How dare thou?! Commander, bring the catapults!" "Do not expect Silver to act logically. He is mad without any doubt and you need to be prepared for anything when fighting him. Especially distracting exclamations." Once again 1089 years earlier... "Come at me, bro! When I’m done with you, you will see stars brighter than the one this planet revolves around!" "...but the sun revolves around the planet, not the other way around." "...not only weird, but also stupid as well? Damn, you are a hard case, that’s for sure. What’s next, is that brand on your ass is some kind of a prophecy?" "Well, actually..." "And one more weakness you can exploit: he protects Blaze by all means. There is nothing he won't do to save his boss. There is no doubt he holds much respect for her, and despite her terrible behavior towards him he sees her not only as a great leader, but also the most powerful warrior there is. His faith in her is fanatical." You know the drill... "Dost thou still disrespect us?! Dost thou not see our strength?! We art Celestia, the Princess of Flames!" "Nah." "What dost thou mean by 'nah'?!" "There are two women in this room who control fire... and I have no doubt that Blaze’s flames are much hotter than yours, if you know what I mean." In the next second Silver was hit by two fireballs at once. "I think that's all you should know about Silver," finished Princess Luna. "Now let's get to Blaze the Cat." The illusion of a hedgehog disappeared, replaced shortly by that of his companion. "She doesn't look like a c—" "Yes, we get it, general, they don't remind us of the animals they claim they are. We suspect they are either from a distant land or a result of Discord's magic." "Back to the topic." Celestia decided to return to discussion. "Blaze, as her name implies, is a pyrokinetic. She has the power to set on fire a part or the entirety of her body. Thanks to this, she possesses a unique set of attacks and abilities. Her physical attacks are strengthened by flames, so even one hit from her might end tragically. She often turns herself into a burning projectile and causes disarray on the battlefield, and almost at all times she is protected by a cloak of flames. Sometimes she summons large columns of fire, which rise from the ground. Pyrokinesis also enhances her mobility - she can propel herself high above the ground or soar through the air. There is also one extremely important detail - her control over flames is not restricted to the ones created by her. There is no noticable time limit to her ability. Blaze's secondary skill is how fast she can run. We don't know her maximum accomplishments in this regard, since we had no opportunity to precisely check it a thousand years ago, but we assume her favourite pace is somewhere around one hundred miles per hour, however she can easily increase that speed up to one hundred and seventy when the need arises. Both abilities have no connection to magic." Celestia checked on her list if she said everything about Blaze's powers there was to say. "That would be all when it comes to her exceptionally dangerous traits. Blaze also possesses many of the main physical features of her subordinate: endurance, magic resistance, strange reaction to blows that should have been fatal. The only difference is her much better tolerance to high temperatures. She has no known weak points. That's all." Luna flipped through her own notes about their enemy. "Blaze has a much more interesting background and personality than Silver. Without any orders from his boss he seemed almost friendly to ponies, but she was annoyed at best and furious at worst in all meetings with civilians. She harbors unexplained hatred towards ponykind. Additionally, if our intelligence is right, she is or at least was a ruler in some distant, unknown country. Thanks to this and her attitude we can assume she had probably lost her crown in her homeland and decided to conquer Equestria." "SILVER! I told you to just keep throwing stuff at this crazy horse, not waste all your ammo on Meteor Smash... which missed!" "Well, excuuuuuuse me, Princess!" "Blaze has even less mercy on her enemies than Silver. She’s committed crimes against laws so fundamental and innate that there wasn't even any rule stating how severe the punishment should be! And all of that just to get a cheap shot at the beginning of our fight." Princess Celestia was looking straight at the building covered in flames. She couldn't move; the fear paralyzed her. How... how could she? How could she burn this place with a knowledge of its purpose?! Celestia fell to her knees, dropped her magical shield she was keeping up for three days, raised her muzzle to the night sky and took a deep breath. ... ... ... ... "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! WHY THE ROYAL BAKERY?!!!" "Finally! I was waiting here for ten minutes!" *WHOOOOSH* And that was when a heel hit Celestia's nose at the speed of one hundred and seventy four miles per hour. "During the chase, remember to be always watchful - Blaze is a great strategist and her wisdom is obscured only by her hatred. She greatly enjoys bringing pain to innocents and making even the toughest stallions scream for mercy. It is the main reason why ponies still call her 'a Princess of Tartarus' and describe her as a burning demon whose only desire is to immolate the entire world, which is allegedly why we are at this distance still feeling the warmth of her so-called prison, the sun. Be always alert." "Halt, evildoer! You are under arrest!" exclaimed the captain of the Royal Guard, dashing towards his enemy along with his fellow guardsponies. Blaze was calmly sitting on a rock at the other side of the river. A group of twelve panting unicorns finaly finished their so-called 'chase' and hesitated for a second. "Into the river, soldiers!" came the order, and nopony had any doubts anymore. Technicolor horses jumped into the water and started to swim across, not aware what was going to happen in a matter of a few seconds. "I think you shouldn't swim in the cold water after your little warm-up. You could get thermal shock," Blaze pointed out. "Here, let me help you." In her hands appeared two fireballs. Ever since that day those particular guardsponies were taking only cold showers. "I guess that's all you need to know about your enemies," stated Princess Celestia, and then looked up to Shining Armor. "Captain Armor, this enemy can't be defeated just by brutal strength. We will need an advanced strategy." An advanced strategy? No problem for me. "Since they're pursuing Chaos Emeralds, we could use that against them... Where are the Emeralds?" The Royal Sisters looked sheepishly at each other. "...ah, you see, that's the problem..." * I was thinking a lot on how to solve a little dilemma about characters' speed. If we were to estimate Sonic's speed only by games, it is clear he simply can't reach the speed of sound - obviously nobody could play at such speed. Because of that (and because Silver and Blaze are already powerful enough) I decided to ignore what SEGA said about their mascot outside of gameplay. We know Blaze is considered either an All-Around or Speed Type - she isn't as fast as Sonic, but she can still run at incredible speed. Silver is a bit slower than Sonic when using his telekinesis to fly (I ignore Sonic Rivals - he would be just OP with all these powers combined). In the end I said 'F*ck it, I'll do whatever I want' and decided to give characters an ability to easily reach and surpass the speed of sound, which however is very dangerous for everything and everyone nearby, so they simply won’t run/fly at such speed under normal conditions.