//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Wings // Story: Queen of the Predacons. // by Gyvon //------------------------------// Chapter 4 Wings The next morning found John headed for the Autobot hangar. Humanity still had no idea how to properly house their Cybertronian allies, but they never complained about lackluster accommodation. John suspected that most of them were far to polite to even suggest anything. However, John wasn't here to see an Autobot, rather a normal human, the chief technician on duty specifically. He soon found the man, a middle-aged balding Master Sergeant who was working next to a parked F-35. The Sergeant stopped fiddling with his tool chest when he saw John approaching and snapped to attention. "What can I do for you, Prime?" he asked. Unlike the rest of the soldiers, the techs referred to him by his Autobot title. "At ease." replied John, setting a duffel bag down. "Wing's a little stiff this morning. Mind taking a look?" "Sure thing, boss." replied the tech. With that, John transformed into his combat mode. His skin folded in upon itself to be replaced by grey armor with red highlights. Long, wire-like hair extended from his scalp. His feet contorted into fire-red hooves, each one doubling as a thruster. From his upper back sprouted six thin, blade-like wings. They flared out as they grew, but folded down when the transformation was finished, though one was more sluggish than the rest. "I never get tired of seeing that." muttered the tech. "Alright, bottom-left?" "Bottom-left." replied John. For the most part, Autobots and other Cybertronians had the ability to self repair. Even missing limbs could be re-attached within moments, so long as said limb was intact. Grievous wounds required a lot of time to be repaired, so the Autobots enlisted the human technicians to aid in their recovery, mainly patching the larger holes they acquired. However, every now and then, a minor ache would crop up that the auto-repair subroutines would just ignore. The tech inspected the wing's joint, and clicked his tongue. "Bah, nothing major. Just needs a little grease. Wait one moment." The tech walked over to a nearby shelf table, opened a drawer, retrieved a tube of grease and made his way back. "So..." began the Tech, applying some grease to John's wing joint, "word on the street says you're on vacation." "Yup. Colonel's orders." replied John. When the tech had finished, he flexed the treated wing. "Feels much better, doc." He proceeded to flare his wings outwards and folded them several times, giving them a good shake down "Glad to help." replied the Tech. "Want me to sharpen those while I'm here?" The soldiers on base had nicknamed John's wings "Shoulder Blades" for a reason. They could easily cut through an inch of ceramic armor. Combined with his arm-blades, John could slice any foolish enemy to ribbons. "Nah, I'm good." "Suit yourself." said the Tech. "Going anywhere special?" "Not really." said John. "Just down to Ponyville. Maybe pop over to Manehattan for a bit. Silverbolt's in charge while I'm gone. If he gives you trouble, call me." He reached up and pounded twice on the F-35. "Same goes for you, 'Bolt." The Aerialbot flapped it's ailerons in acknowledgement. He didn't talk much. "Well, I got a train to catch." "Not flying, boss?" asked the Tech. John transformed back to his human mode and shrugged. "Wanna keep things discreet." Twilight took deep breaths as she woke from her nightmare, clutching her blanket close. She scanned the room in a panic, eventually resting her eyes on the golden disc in the corner of the room. Did that thing cause my nightmare? she mused, but quickly shook that notion out of her head. She barely even remembered the details. She looked around the room again, and noticed that Spike's bed was empty. "Spike!" she called out. "Are you downstairs?" "Yeah, Twilight." came Spike's shouted reply. "Just cleaning up the mess you made last night. You left books everywhere." Twilight chuckled to herself. Her trademark all-nighters were known to leave a big mess. She then looked at the clock next to her bed, and saw that it was half past ten. "Wow, I really slept in today." she muttered as she crawled out of bed and headed for the upstairs bathroom. After availing herself to the facilities, Twilight found her brush in it's usual place, and began her daily ritual. She was not as fastidious with her appearances as Rarity, but she did like to keep her mane under control, and a daily brushing was exactly what she needed. Today, however, her mane was giving her trouble, indicating she had been tossing and turning in the night. She took a closer look at herself in the mirror and sighed. "That must have been a bad dream. Even my wings are ruffled." It took her a few seconds before realizing what she said. "Wait... my WHAT!?" As John hopped off the train, he couldn't help but admire the scenery. Due to it's proximity to Canterlot Airbase, Ponyville has become a destination for off-duty servicemen, second only to the Canterlot nightlife. As such, it has become a bit of a boom town. Ponyville still had its classic, old-world charm, but several businesses catering to Humans had cropped up. Theatres, boutiques, even restaurants; though with the exception of a seafood joint run by an enterprising Griffon, none of them served meat. He didn't have time to take in the sights fully, as his cell phone began ringing. Caller ID told him that it was Twilight calling. He answered the call and was immediately bombarded by a shouting dragon. "Spike! You don't have to yell into the phone! What's the problem?" he asked. "Sorry, but Twilight's freaking out about something and locked herself into her room. I sent a letter to the Princess, but I figured I should call you too." No sooner than Spike finished his statement, John's phone began buzzing. No doubt it's the Princess. "I'll be there soon." he told Spike before switching to the other line. "Yes, I know, Tia. Spike just called me." "How soon can you get to her?" she asked. "I'm at the train station now, actually." he said. "Either you or Luna gonna show up?" "I'm too busy at the moment to go myself, and Luna is asleep." she replied. "I'll try to make it later, though it'll be covertly. Don't want everypony making a big deal out of it." "Want me to keep Twilight's 'condition' quiet?" "No." Celestia replied curtly. "It will have have to come out eventually, might as well get it over with. Although, don't tell her how we know about it. Not yet at least. Act surprised." "Roger that." John said. "See you later." With that, he hung up and made for the Library. He set a quick pace, but not too quick. He knew that some of the servicemen in town would assume the worst if they saw him running full steam. It only took a few minutes to reach the Library, and when he entered he saw Spike pounding on Twilight's bedroom door. "I heard something heavy scraping across the floor." Spike said once he noticed John. "I think she's barricaded the door." "Oh for the love of..." muttered John as he climbed the stairs. When he reached the top, John started pounding on the door along with Spike. "Open the door, Twilight." "NO!" came the shouted reply. "Please let me in, Twilight." said John. "NO!" John sighed. Why does she have to be so stubborn? "Let me rephrase that, Twilight." said John as his right arm transformed into a fusion cannon. "I'm coming in. Wether you have a door or not afterwards is entirely up to you." He charged the double-barrelled weapon, hoping the sound would reach Twilight. A minute later, John heard something heavy being dragged away from the door and an audible click from the lock. "Thank you." said John as he opened the door and ducked into the room... ...Only to get hit in the face by a thrown book. Groaning in annoyance, John surveyed Twilight's bedroom. It was a complete mess. Books were laying everywhere. Some were even airborne as Twilight flung them around haphazardly. She was clinging to a ladder, examining book after book before flinging them away. "What are you doing, Twilight?" asked John. "Research." she replied, not even bothering turning to face John. "That's why I blocked the door. I didn't want to be disturbed. Do you have any idea how little information there is on Alicorns?" "Noooo..." said John with a sheepish grin. "Why the sudden interest? New research project?" Twilight stopped what she was doing, turned, and glared angrily at John. Even though he knew exactly why Twilight wanted to research Alicorns, she still surprised him when she jumped off the ladder, flared her wings, and glided down to land in front of him. "Wow." he breathed. "Yea, wow." sighed Twilight. An awkward silence filled the room as the two stared at each other, one in amazement, the other in annoyance. Finally, Spike managed to break the silence. "So... does this make you a Princess?" "Oh heavens no." Twilight snorted. "That's the one piece of solid information I've found. I have to be related to Princess Celestia." "Spike, please go downstairs for a minute. I'd like to talk to her alone." said John. After Spike gave a quick salute and left the room, Twilight and John resumed their staring match. It continued another minute until John spoke up. "So, you weren't hiding up here?" Twilight sighed and looked away. "Actually, I kinda was." she admitted. "I don't know how THIS..." she gestured to her wings, "happened, or how my friends will react." John barked out a laugh. "Seriously? That's all?" he asked, earning a confused look from Twilight. "Let's not worry about how it happened right now. We'll figure it out later." He wanted to tell her what Celestia told him, but he planned to follow whatever the Princess was planning. "As for your friends, why are you so worried? Fluttershy will say that your wings are 'very nice', Rainbow Dash will want to see how fast you are, Pinkie's gonna throw a 'Twilight has grown wings' party, and Rarity will have several new designs for a dress within five minutes of seeing you." "What about Applejack?" asked Twilight. "She'll be suspicious about how you suddenly grew wings, but she'll be behind you one hundred percent. I guarantee it." he replied. "I guess you're right. I'm just a little stressed out right now." she said. John smiled. 'Well, luckily for you, I know a sure-fire cure for stress." "Oh?" asked Twilight. "Yeah, junk food, and lots of it." he replied, causing Twilight to giggle. "Let's go grab some lunch. I'm buying." "Alright." she said, turning towards a wardrobe. "Just let me slip something on over these wings and..." Before she could take a step, however, she felt John grab her tail and she let out a yelp. "Oh no you don't!" he said as he dragged Twilight out of the room. "Everyone's gonna find out sooner or later. Might as well make it sooner." Twilight sighed as John pulled her down the stairs, she couldn't argue with that logic. "What would I do without you?" "Have a repeat of the 'Smarty Pants' incident, most likely." replied John with a smirk, to which Twilight buried her face in her hooves. "Nopony's gonna let me live that down, are they?" she muttered. "Nope." replied John. "Personally though, I wish I was there. It sounded like a laugh riot." "Keyword being 'riot'." she grumbled. She asked Spike to stay behind to clean up her mess, promising she would bring him a ruby to silence his complaints. As Twilight stepped out the front door, she paused, and made sure her wings were folded tightly against her body. She looked around nervously, seeing how the townsponies would react. Surprisingly, nopony seemed to pay her any mind, though one human did a quick double-take. She cautiously took a few more steps and, seeing that nopony was staring, began to walk more confidently towards the town center with John close behind. The pair barely made it to the end of the street when John got tackled from behind. Face down in the road, four hooves planted firmly on his back, John didn't even need to guess who it was. "Rainbow Dash!" "Heya, big guy!" she said excitedly. "What's this I hear about you being on vacation?" "Exactly that, the Colonel ordered me to take a break." he said. "Now, could you please get off me? The road doesn't taste very pleasant." Chuckling, Rainbow Dash climbed off John's back and allowed him to stand. He was used to Dash's traditional welcome by now, but still found it a little annoying. Still, John couldn't help but smile. He managed to make it to the Library before she pounced. "So, anything new with you, Dash?" he asked. "Nah, not really." she replied. "What about you?" "Just dealing with one of Twilight's freak-outs." he said, causing Rainbow Dash to burst out in laughter. "Oh yeah, those are always fun." she said. "What's she going crazy over this..." before Rainbow Dash could finish her question, she caught sight of Twilight's new wings. Her eyes suddenly grew wider than John had ever seen them, almost as wide as Pinkie Pie's when she's excited. "Oh... my... GOSH!" Rainbow Dash yelled, followed by tackling Twilight in a bear hug. "That is so awesome!" "Rainbow Dash! Get off me!" exclaimed Twilight as she pried herself way from the excited mare, while her wings flared in agitation.. "You're gonna blow my cover!" "Too late now." said John. Sure enough, Rainbow Dash's antics had drawn a crowd; both Pony and Human; most of whom gawked at Twilight's new appendages. Twilight tried in vain to appear smaller than she was, an endeavour not helped by her wings. Finally, John whistled loudly and gained everyone's attention. "Alright, show's over people. Move along, nothing to see here." Begrudgingly, and much to Twilight and John's relief, the crowd did disperse, though a few stragglers remained. "Well, that could've gone better." "Could've been a lot worse, too." Twilight retorted as she turned to face the over-excited cyan Pegasus. "Thanks for that." "He he, sorry." Dash apologized. "So, do you know how to fly yet?" "No, not yet." replied Twilight. "Although, I can glide fairly well." "Pfft. Gliding's not flying." said Rainbow. "That's more like... falling with style. Why don't you let me teach you? It'll be awesome!" Twilight cocked an eyebrow up. "I don't know, Rainbow Dash. I mean, you're a good flier, but that doesn't mean you can teach." "I'll have you know I've been giving Scootaloo weekly lessons." replied Dash. "I'm still not convinced with your résumé" John interjected, only to have Rainbow Dash fly up in his face and glare at him. "The only reason Scoots can't fly is because her wings are under-developed. Give her another year, and she'll be soarin!" "Woah, calm down, Dash!" said John, raising his hands defensively. "Yeah, Rainbow." interjected Twilight. "I'd love it if you taught me how to fly." "Really?" she asked, grinning ear to year. "Yes, really." replied Twilight, only to be interrupted by her stomach growling. "Let's do it after lunch, though."