Connor
The flapping of wings and the whistle of wind filled Connor’s ears as he flew to Rainbow’s house, but his mind was filled with other thoughts. He was thinking about meeting up with Rainbow Dash this morning and about this Wonderbolts show that he was about to see. Rainbow Dash had spoken very highly about them and Twilight had explained some facts about them. From what he could gather from Rainbow’s fan spewing and Twilight’s history lessons, the Wonderbolts were some kind of famous stunt team. Connor sort of glazed over the other facts Rainbow Dash talked about because he didn’t know who they were nor did he care that much.
Twilight had mentioned about the schedule for the trip and how they needed to leave by 9:00 that morning, so Connor was more focused on staying on time rather than pondering about the Wonderbolts team. He was excited to finally leave Ponyville and explore the world a little bit more than he was excited to see the show. He was starting to enjoy his time in Ponyville, but he was becoming curious about the world beyond its limits. Connor knew there was more and he wanted to see them without looking through an angry red filter.
He reached back and readjusted the single saddle bag currently strapped to his left hip. Earlier that morning, Connor had stopped by Applejack’s farm and asked to borrow a small bag to carry some money for the trip. With a little searching, Applejack found a small brown leather bag for him to use for the day. It looked weathered and tired, but still sturdy and strong. It wasn’t a large bag; just big enough to fit a couple essentials in it. But for Connor’s uses, it was perfect. Applejack had been holding on to his bits that he had saved during his work on the farm and the two filled the small bag with them before helping Connor saddle the bag to his side. It felt a little weird having a bag weighing him down to one side during flight, but if he kept the bag snug to his body it didn’t give too many problems.
The coins jingled and bounced to the flap of his wings as Connor flew to Rainbow Dash’s house. The two of them were going to meet Twilight at a hot air balloon on the far side of town for departure to Cloudsdale. He got the feeling that Rainbow Dash was prepping something in the works for this trip, but he wasn’t sure what it was. As Dash’s home came into view, he spotted Rainbow already out at the front door waiting for him. She was fidgeting and bouncing more than a squirrel on caffeine as Connor made his landing approached.
“There you are! Are you finally ready?” Rainbow snapped.
Connor was taken aback by Rainbow’s forwardness but retorted, “What do you mean, ‘finally ready’? Usually, you’re the one who is always late and we have to wait for you!”
“I’m never late. When you’re as awesome as me, you always arrive fashionably on time,” she brushed the comment off with her hoof.
Connor rolled his eyes, “Do you have everything for the trip? I’ve got my stuff,” he lifted his left wing to show the small satchel strapped to his side.
“Yep, I think I have everything. Let’s see: hat, flag, posters for signing… Wait a minute! I still need something for the Wonderbolts to sign with! I’ll be right back; let me go get some quills and ink. Maybe I should get some other things for them to sign too. Oo! Maybe they’ll sign-”
Rainbow Dash disappeared into her home again muttering to herself about what to bring and what not to bring on the trip. Connor stood there for several moments waiting for the enthusiastic fan to return from her abode. He instinctively looked down at his left hoof for the time, but realized that he no longer wore a watch. A pang of sadness hit him as he reminisced about his favorite watch and wondered if he would ever get it back when he crossed back over to his world, or if it was gone forever. He shook his head in disapproval. He had moved past that point of depression from homesickness and he was not going to go back down that path again. He needed to look forward.
Eventually, Rainbow Dash opened her front door again now ready to leave. Her saddle bags were a little more full than before she disappeared, but Connor didn’t want to waste any more time asking exactly what she packed.
“Are you good?” Connor asked.
“Yep, let’s go!”
The two pegasi took off into the sky to meet up with the rest of the group. They had a ways to go so Connor decided to use the time to get some more information out of Dash about the trip’s schedule.
“So we are leaving Ponyville by 9:00, right?”
“Yep! We still have some time before everypony leaves so there’s no rush.”
Connor frowned to himself. He preferred to show up to meetings a little early to give himself some wiggle room with time restraints in case any kind of unpredicted hiccups occurred.
“And how is everyone leaving Ponyville?” Connor continued.
“They will be leaving by hot air balloon, but we won’t be leaving with them.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well,” Rainbow Dash put a hoof to her chin while flying, “I figured this would a perfect opportunity to test your skills with flying all the way from here to Cloudsdale!” She threw her arms in the air like saying ‘Surprise!’.
Connor frowned even more, “Are you sure about this? Does Twilight know about this?”
“No, not yet. But I think she will be cool with it.”
Connor silently threw his arms and eyes to the sky in exasperation. This was going to warrant a fight with Twilight. But he kept quiet about his opinion and continued their flight path to the balloon. The floral print, lavender balloon was not hard to spot as it stood out amongst the shingled and hay roofs. The balloon was still anchored to the ground and near the carriage was a small group of ponies standing around. Connor recognized Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity standing there. As they came within ear shot of everyone, Rainbow Dash and Connor could hear Rarity say, “Well if they don't show up soon, then we are leaving without them.”
“Here we are!” Rainbow Dash shouted to get everpony’s attention. The pegasi landed silently a couple of meters away as Twilight walked up to them.
“There you are! Where were you? It's almost time to leave. If we hurry and board the balloon now we might be able to make it to the stadium in time to find some good seats.” Twilight turned with the assumption of leading them back to balloon but Rainbow stood her ground while Connor waited for her to give the news.
“Actually Twilight, we won't be riding with you.”
Twilight froze in midstep before whipping around to question her statement, “What do you mean 'You won't be riding with us'?”
Connor glanced at Rainbow waiting for her response. He was not going to step in and help Rainbow Dash if Twilight said no to her idea of having the two of them fly all the way to Cloudsdale. He waited patiently and watched as Rainbow prepared her explanation.
“Weelllll, Connor and I will be flying to Cloudsdale for the show. We'll be taking the major airways there.” Connor mentally face hoofed at Dash’s blatant excuse with no explanation. If he ever went against predetermined plans, he would have thought up of several reasons why they should deviate from the plan. He could see the gears turning in Twilight’s brain as she processed what she just heard and how it conflicted with her schedule.
But Twilight jolted herself out of her daze, “Alright then, fine. Let’s hurry and leave before we're too late.”
Connor’s eyes widened slightly in surprise while Rainbow whooped with joy, “Yes! Alright then, we'll see you at the show!”
Rainbow Dash blasted off again leaving a rainbow trail behind her and everypony else standing there. Connor stood there processing Twilight’s acceptance of Rainbow’s idea. But it was already too late to change plans now. He glanced up at Rainbow Dash flying off into the sky before looking back over everypony else and raised a hoof to the side of his head to salute a farewell. He wordlessly turned around and looked to the sky before spreading his wings and pushing off the ground for take off. He flapped a few times before gaining some air under his wings and steadily gained altitude.
Rainbow was waiting above for him to catch up. When Connor joined Rainbow, the two continued to climb higher in the sky. The steady beat of wings and a dull roar of cold air passing by filled Connor’s ears. Even though the seasons were supposedly entering summer time, the air was still chilly as they moved higher in the atmosphere. The familiar sensation of cold air entering his lungs began to burn. His muscles softly burned and told his mind their craving for more oxygen, but he pushed on. Rainbow Dash looked completely fine and unfazed by the changing conditions. In fact, she smiled excitedly as they rose past the clouds and were approaching another layer of white in the blue sky.
Connor looked up at the next cloud layer and could spot specks moving back and forth through the air, but the movement was not random. No, they were organized and followed a particular path as they moved. Connor looked back down at Ponyville trying to create a reference point and figure out where they were. From the direction they took off and where Ponyville sat, this was a new part of the sky Rainbow was leading him to.
Rainbow looked over her left shoulder to shout, “Okay, are you ready? After we pass through this cloud we’re going to hover for a little bit while I explain a few things.”
Connor’s eyes darted curiously between the cloud they were about to fly through and Rainbow Dash herself. What was going to happen when they passed through this cloud that Rainbow needed to pause to explain things to him? He focused his eyes forward again and let the white abyss surround him as Connor entered the cloud. His vision reduced to less than a meter in front of him, but his equilibrium told him he was still heading up and his ears said that Rainbow Dash was still close by. He remained in this white out condition for a couple of seconds before bursting through on the other side.
Several things bombarded his senses when Connor passed through the cloud. He quickly spotted Rainbow Dash hovering a few feet away from him but movement overhead attracted his attention. About thirty meters above them was a sea of multicolored pegasi flying back and forth. Most of the pegasi were carrying nothing on them; many of them had their own pair of saddle bags strapped to their sides; a couple of larger ponies were hauling trailers behind them and Connor even spotted a team of ponies pulling a crate as large as a semi-truck through the air off in the distance.
The second thing he noticed was the air he was breathing. Somehow, Connor felt like he was breathing normally as if he was on the ground; like the oxygen levels had reset itself and defaulted back to ground levels of saturation. The air no longer burned at his lungs like a smoldering fire. On top of that, the air felt warmer above the cloud. But Connor came to the logical conclusion of the sun being unblocked by clouds so the air was under the full blast of the sun’s heat.
But then his ears finally picked up the sudden shock of noise coming from overhead. It was like standing next to a small pile of generators all running at the same time. It wasn’t loud enough to do serious damage to hearing, but loud enough that if you wanted to have a conversation you had to shout over the noise. It surprised Connor so many ponies could make so much noise despite flying being a near silent task.
“What is this?” Connor shouted over the noise.
“This is called a major airway. They’re sort of like roads in the sky pegasi can fly on to travel long distances. Thanks to pegasi engineering, we’ve been able to develop these airways to speed up travel across Equestria. Instead of taking a few days to move from one end of the kingdom to the other, it only takes a day or two at most; that includes a few stops here and there for breaks,” Rainbow spread an arm across the sky displaying the airway in its full glory before continuing.
“Because pegasi would be traveling across huge distances, they needed to develop magic spells that altered the air around major airways allowing pegasi to survive traveling it without passing out from exhaustion.” Connor stared at the major airway above with the hundreds and hundreds of ponies using it. These atmospheric altering spells could be the reason why he felt like he was breathing normally on the ground even though he was several thousand feet in the air. More questions arose from his mind and he blurted out the first one that came, “So do these airways move around at all or are they fixed roads like on the ground?”
“Kind of,” Rainbow struggled with choosing her next words to best explain her answer, “They sort of move around a little bit when Cloudsdale moves to different cities. But generally speaking, they stay in place.”
“Okay, are these airways labeled or do you fly by cardinal direction?” Connor asked the next question on his list.
“Uum, I’m not sure what card-in-all direction is, but all airways are labeled with a letter and numbers. This one right here is I-668. The ‘I’ stands for ‘Intercity’ meaning this airway is used for traveling between cities in Equestria. There are others like C-86; the ‘C’ stands for ‘Cross-Continental’, but you don’t have to worry about those yet.”
“Oh, so they’re like freeways; okay I get it now,” Connor cast his eyes to the airway again and watched as the pegasi flew by. Rainbow gave Connor a strange look but shrugged her shoulders and let him be. If Connor could understand airways in his own terms, then she didn’t want to change it.
“Come on, we need to get moving if we want to get to the Wonderbolts show on time. And we don’t want to be late with Twilight’s schedule; she can get really mean when things don’t go according to plan.” Rainbow pushed hard out of her hover inviting him to follow after her.
Connor followed suit and fell in behind Rainbow again. They flew a ways higher until they were right underneath the airway. Rainbow banked right and adjusted here trajectory to match that of the flow of traffic. Connor followed after her adjusting his own flight path like her. She sped up and matched the speeds of traffic while Connor nervously sped up after her. Dash looked back over her left shoulder to make sure he was still there and motioned him to hurry up.
This was the first time Connor flew with so many pegasi at once so it was a little intimidating. In addition, he now had to worry about three dimensional traffic instead of a moving two dimensional grid of cars to maneuver around. But he gulped down his fear and focused on how Rainbow flew in the middle of the swarm and tried to mimic it. After a couple of minutes Connor became comfortable enough to relax a little from his focused state and look around.
Dozens of ponies of every color were flying all around him. Burly brown and gray stallions tugged at heavy loads being towed behind them. Families were cheerfully playing in the passing clouds as parents consulted each other with planning their next rest stop. Buddies and friends waved to each other as they passed on opposite sides of airway traveling in different directions. A few ponies they passed were stopped on the clouds nearby taking breaks and watching the traffic pass by them. When he was done ogling the traffic around him, he started looking at the structure of traffic.
The airways were very similar to their counterparts from Connor’s world. There were two directions for traffic to follow with ‘exits’ sprinkled evenly down either side on the edges of the airways. Connor could make out ‘lanes’ as well. Connor and Rainbow Dash were currently flying in the middle lane and there were about two other lanes on either side of them. The slower flying ponies like those towing containers or families flying at a slower rate to keep the kids from screaming, “Too fast!” flew more towards the right hand side of airway. Other ponies who were in more of a hurry or felt like the flow of traffic was moving too slow for them flew more towards the left hand side of the airway.
After looking to his left and right, Connor looked up and down to see the lanes were tripled with duplicates stacked above and below the center layer of traffic. There was less traffic on these different layers, but the rules still applied in the same way as it did on the center layer. Connor noticed at this point that ponies flew on the right hand side of airways like cars drove on the right hand side of roads; minus having to worry about what was above and below them at all times.
“Well, what do you think?” Rainbow slowed down enough to fly alongside Connor and speak with him.
“It’s a little nerve racking having to worry about what is above and below when I’m flying, but it’s pretty cool,” Connor let a small goofy grin cross his lips as he looked over at Rainbow Dash.
“Great! All we have to do is follow this airway all the way to Cloudsdale and we’ll be there in no time flat!” Rainbow did a quick flip expressing her excitement.
Connor smiled and turned back to the road ahead of him. The pair fell silent as they flew towards Cloudsdale. They occasionally switched lanes to get around slower traffic and even moved up and down to the different layers of traffic. Connor was content with flying silently as they made their way towards Cloudsdale, but Rainbow Dash was becoming bored with the mundane tasks of flying in traffic. She would groan loudly when they got stuck behind slow moving traffic or would switch lanes or layers more aggressively. Connor was picking up on Dash’s boredom and was hoping that she would simmer down and simply accept flying quietly. He should have known better than to hope for that.
“Hey Connor!” Rainbow shouted over him, “Want to play a game?”
Connor made a shoulder check over his right before switching lanes to Rainbow, “What kind of game?” he gave his signature slightly disapproving and cautious frown wary of what Rainbow was about to request.
“Oh don’t give me that look; you can trust me. It’s nothing bad or anything, I promise,” Rainbow criticized but Connor still gave a wary look.
“What kind of game?” he repeated.
“Well instead of just flying around in this boring way, how about we make things more exciting by seeing who is the better flier in traffic by chasing each other?” Rainbow put on her best salespony face while Connor considered her offer.
“See who is the better flier in traffic?” he thought to himself, “Chasing each othe- oh, I see what kind of game she wants to play.”
“So you want to play a game of ‘Cat and Mouse’ in a tripled layered, five lane, major freeway; is that it?” Connor explained to see if he was understanding Dash correctly.
“A game of ‘Cat and Mouse’? Yeah, I guess that would be a good name for it. Yeah! I want to play a game of ‘Cat and Mouse’! That way, this trip won’t be so boring!” Joy played across Rainbow’s face.
Connor paused in his response. His first answer was to shoot the idea down as quickly as possible before one of them got hurt; particularly him. This was his first time dealing with three dimensional traffic and he didn’t want to take any risks. However, it would be hypocritical of him if he said ‘No’ because he had played in traffic plenty of times before on his sports bike in his world. Connor had bobbed, weaved, and split lanes by himself and with other riders as they played on the highway at the risk of serious injury and property damage.
He looked back at the traffic in front of him and sat on the idea of weaving in and out of ponies like a motorcycle. His racing eyes started mapping out openings, obstacles, and shortcuts in an attempt to find the fastest and most efficient route possible through the traffic.
“As long as I keep the mindset of a motorcyclist on the road and keep switching traffic layers to a minimal, I should be fine,” Connor looked back at Rainbow, “Okay, I’m game,” he reluctantly answered.
“Yes! Are you ready?”
Connor reached back and tightened the strap on his bag making sure it was safely secured, “This is going to be a baaad idea,” he remarked in his head, “Yeah, let’s go.”
[you know what this calls for? another song! let's hit it!]
Rainbow sped up to overtaking speeds followed by Connor speeding up as well. Connor’s eyes progressively scanned ahead of him looking for the easiest route. His flight path through traffic no longer moved like on a grid. It flowed and curved and bent around the traffic. He slipped through a gap between a crate and a pony as he switched lanes to get around them. The move had presented him with the reward of an open road which he gladly took. He flapped harder gaining more speed as things blurred passed him.
Rainbow had found her own little stretch of open road to fly down and it had turned into a drag race between Connor and Rainbow Dash. Connor’s competitive side took over and he grinned at the chance to go head-to-head with her again. This was definitely a more exciting way of traveling down the road. But their drag race was running out of road and they would be forced to slow down. Rainbow was the first to throw on the brakes and switched to the upper layer of traffic hoping to find better luck.
Connor spotted a mare and stallion flying side by side sharing the lane in front of him. He looked to the left and right of the couple hoping to spot a larger opening for him to fly down and avoid a collision with them. But the only space he could see was a narrow gap between the two. As a motorcyclist, he had split cars at highway speeds before with little room to maneuver. But this gap was too small for a motorcycle to fit through; but maybe his wings could slip through the gap. It would be a tight squeeze, but if he timed it right he could fly knife edge between the two ponies and keep flying forward. He would have to be fast; so fast that the couple wouldn’t have time to react and force him to over-correct for their panic.
He increased his elevation just slightly so his body would be above the two mares. Connor flapped harder and tucked his arms flat against his sides to reduce drag. The couple was only a few car lengths ahead and it would take too long to throw out the anchors now and stop from crashing. He snapped to flying knife edge and used his tail like a rudder to adjust drops in elevation.
~~~
The mare smiled kindly at the stallion flying next to her, but inside she was groaning. This pony had been hitting on her for the last three minutes and was no longer impressed by him. He had been bragging about his Wonderbolts tryout and how he was hand picked by the Wonderbolts for their tryouts. It was funny at first because she had seen the way he flew when he approached her and thought his bragging was him joking around and goofing off. But after a minute and a half she realized that he was being serious in trying to woo her with his lies of trying out for the Wonderbolts and being an amazing flier. Suddenly, a roar of wind blasted between them and a faded blue and blonde yellow streak rocketed passed and blocked her view from the pony she was looking at and hoping would go away. She yelped in fright and fluttered around in terror trying to avoid the missile that almost hit her. She traced the streak in front of her to find the cause of it and spotted a blue Pegasus in a full tucked position speeding down the major airway with a rainbow colored streak over head following its path. She searched for the bragging pony earlier to confirm what she just saw, but couldn’t find him. She looked behind her and spotted him still floundering in the air like a fish out of water before crashing softly in a white fluffy cloud. She frowned disapprovingly at the pathetic poser that just crashed landed, “So much for being a Wonderbolt candidate.”
~~~
Connor only had inches to spare as he passed between the two ponies. He could only focus on them for so long before he had to look forward again and search for the next obstacle. Since he didn’t feel any impacts along his wing, he assumed he made it through the gap with no contact and no injuries. But traffic was becoming awful ahead and he needed to switch traffic layers. A rainbow streak overhead caught his attention and recognized it as Rainbow Dash. He pulled back and rolled over going inverted as he rose the top layer of traffic before rolling back over and chasing after Rainbow Dash.
The traffic on the top layer was less than the middle layer and the ponies were evenly spaced out amongst the five lanes. This made flying in and out of traffic lanes easier and more fun as Connor chased after the rainbow mane of his instructor. Rainbow threw a glance over her left shoulder to spot Connor and flashed a grin before joining in on weaving in and out of traffic. this game of ‘Cat and Mouse’ went on for several minutes as they threaded their way in, out, and between the fifteen lanes of traffic. They sped past dozens of shocked, surprised, startled, and angry ponies. Some tried to cut them off in an attempt to stop their risky game, but Rainbow Dash was too fast to get in front of her and Connor was too quick to block him.
Near the end of the game Rainbow had taken to just flying as fast as possible down the long straight-a-ways to stay in front. Rainbow wasn’t as maneuverable as Connor was so she couldn’t keep up with him by dodging traffic like he could. Connor actually got to enjoy being in the lead for a while as Rainbow fell farther and farther behind, but once a lane cleared up Rainbow took full advantage to power past him. Connor couldn’t keep up with her pace while filtering between ponies, so he was forced to follow her and hope that he could catch a draft behind her and not fall too far behind.
It became apparent that Rainbow was the victor yet again in this game of speed when Connor could no longer stay with her and slowed down to match traffic speeds. Connor panted and gasped for air from the bout he had against Rainbow Dash. Both had their moments of glory throughout the chase, but Connor still had a long way to go before he could beat Rainbow Dash.
When Dash finally noticed that Connor was no longer behind her, she whooped with joy and slowed down to wait for him to catch up. She fell in line on Connor’s left side panting and smiling at the fun they made. Rainbow opened her mouth like she was about to say something, but Connor noticed her eyes flick behind them. Her eyes filled with fear and before she said anything, Rainbow Dash rolled over and went into an inverted dive leaving Connor hanging and confused at the sudden bail.
Connor craned his neck over his left to have a look at what spooked Rainbow Dash. Behind him were a pair of gray ponies wearing similar dark blue outfits and hats. Both ponies had black utility belts on and one of the hats had a red light flashing on top.
“PULL OVER!” one of the ponies shouted.
“LAND ON THE NEAREST CLOUD NOW!!” the other one added.
Confused with the demands, Connor followed the orders wanting to know what was wrong. He looked around and found a nice small cloud to land on. He exited the airway and glided over to the cloud and landed with a soft touch down. He turned around to face the two ponies with confusion written across his face, but in his mind a sense of dread was slowly washing over.
When the two gray ponies landed, Connor could get a good look at both of them. Both ponies were male, somewhere around middle aged if Connor guessed right. They had gray coats and matching blue uniforms. One had golden blonde hair and tail while the other one had black hair and tail. Connor could also make out two names on both uniforms: Officer Star Sky and Officer Clutch Kick.
“Officer?” Connor thought to himself. He didn’t want to make any conclusions about who these ponies were just yet, but this new information did raise his sense of doom building inside him.
The black haired pony stepped forward, “Son, do you know how fast you were goin’?” he spoke with a New Yorker accent as his voice lowered to a dark tone.
“How fast I was going? No.”
“You were going 120 flaps per hour, kid,” the blonde haired stallion spoke with a more intellectual manner and had stepped forward to join his partner.
“Oh, uh, I’m sorry sir, I didn’- wait, what?” Connor was about to try and talk himself out of this mess, but the pony had said something that confused him greatly.
“You were traveling 120 flaps in a 60 flaps per hour zone!” the black pony shouted.
“Huh?”
The blonde pony pointed out into the blue sky for Connor to look. Way off in the distance, Connor picked out a cluster of red balloons in the air with something dangling underneath it. He squinted and saw what was actually hanging in midair was a sign slowly rotating in the wind. The sign rotated around and had ‘60 FPH’ inscribed on it. The gears slowly churned inside Connor’s head as he tried to figure out what he was seeing. They moved one tick at a time before it finally clicked in his head.
“Wait a minute! Are you tell me, that this world, that you guys, actually have speeding laws?!” Connor was grinning widely, excited for the answer the ponies were about to give him and hoping it would be a good answer.
“Of course, all-” the blonde pony started before was cut off by Connor laughing whole heartedly at his answer. It wasn’t that Connor was laughing at him, he was just laughing at the ridiculous chances that this pony world would have something like speeding laws.
The black haired pony was not taking kindly to Connor’s laughing and pushed forward, “Alright kid, I wanna to see you’re flier’s license and proof of insurance.”
“Wait, this world also has departments of licensing and insurance companies, too?!” Connor threw his head back in another fit of laughter and was clutching his side in pain from laughing so hard.
The two ponies were taken aback from Connor’s response. Usually when Officer Clutch Kick started putting on the pressure, their suspects would start to crack under his demands. He glanced at his partner, Officer Star Sky, for some help but he was just as confused.
Connor could barely contain himself from falling over with laughter. This was too perfect. The possibility of this world having something like insurance was hysterical to him. But his mind didn’t stop there. What if other similarities crossed over from his world to this one? He needed to find out now.
“Wait, wait, wait, let me guess. Do-do you also sometimes hand out DUI’s too? Oh wait, that’s driving under the influence. So flying… Do you hand out FUI’s? Flying under the influence?!” he finally got out through his giggles.
The ponies stared at him weirdly before the blonde one finally answered, “On occasion, yes.”
Connor almost lost it completely there. He was bent forward on his knees holding his stomach as he hollered.
The black haired cop was getting fed up with being made a laughing stock and he took a step forward, “Alright! That’s enough! Get up, you. You’re comin’ with us!”
“Wait hang on!” Connor pleaded, “I got a few more questions!”
He searched his mind as quickly as he could through his laughter looking for something else to ask. He looked for any other similar things that he could possibly ask the cops that were frowning and grumbling above him.
He eventually settled on one item, “Wait, hang on. Okay, here’s my question. Is there a city called…” he frantically searched around his head for a famous city he could ask about, “Uuh, is there a city called Manhattan?”
“Are you talking about Manehattan?” the blonde pony cop asked.
“No, Manhattan.”
“Yeah, Manehattan.”
Connor paused with analyzing what he was hearing before grinning even more (if that was even possible) and asked about another city.
“What about Las Vegas?”
“You mean Las Pegasus, the gambling city, right?”
“And Philadelphia?”
“It’s pronounced ‘Fillidelphia’.”
“How about California?”
“Coltifornia?”
Connor was rolling around on the cloud laughing in hysteria by this point. He even came close to falling off the little cloud a couple of times as he rolled back and forth. Both the cops were now disgruntled and unhappy with being laughed at, including the courteous blonde haired one. The blacked haired cop was now fed up and was pulling out his hoof cuffs to slap on Connor.
“That’s it! You’re comin’ with us!” officer Clutch Kick shouted.
“Wait! I’ve got one last question! How about ‘The United States of America’?”
“Are you stupid or what?!” the black haired cop asked, “Didn’t you learn anything in school or did you just sleep your way through it? And besides, it’s called ‘The United Stallions of A-mare-cia’.”
Connor was on his back kicking his hind legs in laughter at the cop’s answer when the cuffs were finally slapped on his forelegs.
“Oh come on,” he pleaded again, “We were having so much fun!”
“You’re under arrest for flying without a license, flying without insurance, excessive speeding, reckless flying, endangerment of other ponies and property, evading law enforcement, and I bet you’re probably under the influence of somethin’ once we test you!” officer Star Sky bellowed over Connor’s complaint. A second pair of hoof cuffs were used to chain the first pair of hoof cuffs on Connor to officer Star Sky’s foreleg to make sure Connor didn’t try to run off again.
“Come on! Get up, you!” he shouted again and Connor complied, giggling all the way as he climbed back up to his hooves. Connor knew this situation sucked and that he was in big trouble if these two ponies were cops, but the knowledge of remnants of his world also existed in this world and were ponified versions of them was too funny to him.
The two cops turned and were preparing to take off and haul Connor back the precinct when a fourth voice yelled out, “Officers! Wait!”
Officer Star Sky, officer Clutch Kick, and Connor looked up to see the lavender princess of friendship approaching the scene. She landed as gracefully as possible while the two officers quickly took a knee and bowed at the presence of Twilight. Connor stared in confusion at Twilight being there, but he was thankful for the help nonetheless.
The blonde cop, officer Clutch Kick, spoke up to greet her, “Your highness! Uh, how are you this fine day?”
“I’m fine, thank you.” Twilight politely nodded to the officer before looking over the scenario displayed in front of her. Connor watched her eyes move between looking at the cops bowing before her, him, and the hoof cuffs connecting him to the police. Officer Star Sky glanced out of the corner of his eye and spotted Connor not showing proper respect to the princess and snapped.
“What d’you think you’re doin’, kid!? Show some proper respect for the princess!” he got up and was about to make out a strike which did not cause Connor to flinch like he intended for. Instead, Connor narrowed his gaze and dropped his chin in preparation to defend himself while darting back and forth looking at the officer and Twilight.
“Uh, officer! It’s okay. You don’t need to do that,” Twilight raised a hoof in worried protest hoping not to make matters worse.
“But princess!” the officer objected, “This pony didn’t acknowledge your authority and is treatin’ you like he’s your equal! I can’t stand for that!” Officer Star Sky’s accent was coming out in full force through his speech as he tried to justify disciplining Connor.
“Officer! It’s okay,” she repeated, “You don’t need to worry about that. I would like to know what is going on here.”
“Ah! I would be happy to explain, princess!” officer Star Sky said with pride, “We caught this ‘ere hooligan breaking the law!”
“What my partner means to say, princess,” officer Clutch Kick corrected, “Is that we apprehended this pony for excessive speeding, reckless and dangerous flying, and flying without the proper credentials.”
“That, and we think he might be under the influence of somethin’. He’s been cackling like a grass hyena the entire time we’ve had him detained,” the black haired cop added.
“Oh, uhh, mmm,” Twilight muttered to herself and scrunching her face up trying to come up with the right words to say next, “Uuhhhmmmm, officers, you wouldn’t mind letting him go for me, would you?”
Twilight’s request stunned the officers. Obviously they have never been asked to release a felony pony on the spot after slapping hoof cuffs on them. Usually, the pair were congratulated on another successful arrest and for upholding the law. The cops glanced at each other with dismay. A silent conversation happened between the two cops before turning back to Twilight.
“Um, your highness,” officer Clutch Kick started, “Please forgive me for being rude, but this pony has broken the law and needs to be judged and punished for breaking such rules.”
“I-I understand. And what I am asking is that you let him go and pardon his crimes, just this once. I will personally make sure that he is punished rightfully so and all who may be involved.”
The cops glanced at each other again, “Are you sure about this, your highness?” officer Star Sky asked.
“Yes, I am positive.”
The officers threw strained looks at each other before setting to work on undoing the binds. This was the first time they had been overruled by a princess and they did not take kindly to letting a valid criminal walk free without even a fine. There was a soft click and the shackles fell off Connor’s legs. He looked down at the metal bands and shook his legs free of the feeling of being imprisoned. He looked up at the cops who were glaring at him.
“You’re lucky you have a princess to bail you out. Otherwise, I would have locked you up and thrown away the key,” the black haired cop growled under his breath.
“Thanks, I’ll be seeing you around too,” Connor smirked.
He walked over to Twilight who was putting on a fake smile and trying to hide her frustration for Connor.
“Well, good day to you princess,” the blonde haired cop bowed respectfully before both officers took off from the cloud to resume their patrol, leaving Twilight and Connor on the small cloud. They watched the blue uniformed ponies go while Twilight maintained her false smile. They waited until the ponies were out of earshot of them before she rounded on Connor with frustration and worry and yelled, “What did you do?!”
Connor jumped back in alarm from the outburst. He wasn’t sure exactly how to answer the question because he was still coming to grasps with the situation himself. But Twilight had yet to do him wrong so he figured what harm would there be if he told the true?
“I-I don’t know!” he yelled back with surprise and worry in his voice, “Rainbow and I were flying around down this airway when she just bailed on me! I didn’t figure out why she took off until I was already detained by those pony cops. But I have to admit, I found it quite funny that this world has speeding laws and D.O.L.’s like in my world,” he chuckled.
“Do you know what kind of trouble you could have been in if the pony police took you away?! If I hadn’t stepped in asked them to let you go, you could have-,” she paused as her brain hooked onto another bit of information Connor had given, “Wait, you said Rainbow left you?”
“Yeah. We were flying around having fun and playing in traffic when she was about to say something, but when she glanced over her shoulder she freaked and disappeared before I could ask what was wrong.” It didn’t hit Connor until Twilight face hoofed that Rainbow Dash had ditched him and left him to deal with the cops while she got off scot free.
“Oh, Rainbow Dash! When I get my hooves on you…!” Twilight shouted to nopony in particular. She huffed and looked at Connor again, “Alright, you and I are heading back to Cloudsdale and we can talk about this later. This time, we are doing the speed limit!” she put extra emphasis on the words ‘Speed Limit’ and Connor understood the message loud and clear.
~~~
The flight to Cloudsdale continued for Connor, but this time he was accompanied by Twilight. Twilight set the pace for flying down major airway I-668 and Connor silently followed. Twilight was still fuming about the situation so Connor kept silent for the rest of the trip.
When they finally arrived at the city, Connor was impressed. And just like every new tourist, he couldn’t stop looking at everything. As they entered the city limits, the buildings were spread out and the roads through the air were less structured. Ponies still flew on the right hand side, but lanes were more open to interpretation. Small homes slowly drifted by and Connor could spot glimpses of families going about their daily business.
As they approached the heart of the city, buildings became more compacted with multistory buildings. Streets formed into a clear grid pattern and traffic laws were more apparent with pegasi stopping at intersections to let others go and the occasional shout of being cut off or blocking somepony or another. Twilight led Connor deeper into the city until they came upon a giant white colosseum. Hundreds of ponies were bustling around trying to get in or needing to get in line to buy tickets. The line at the front gate was massive and must have wrapped around the colosseum. Connor’s hopes fell slightly at the sight of the line thinking that they needed to wait in it before they could get in. but Twilight glided down the front gates where the rest of the group was standing. He was confused as to how everypony who wasn’t a Pegasus was able to walk on clouds without falling through.
As soon as they touched down Connor was swarmed by everypony and bombarded with questions.
“There you are, dear! What took so long?” Rarity asked first.
“We had a few hiccups along the way,” Twilight answered for him.
“What kind of hiccups, Twilight?” Applejack asked.
“Somepony thought it would be okay to leave Connor alone to deal with the pony police!” Twilight shot daggers over the group at Rainbow Dash who was hanging back behind everypony.
“Wowee zowee! Already?” Pinkie Pie bounced on the cloud road behind Applejack.
“Oh my,” Fluttershy added with wide eyes.
Everypony slowly turned around to face their rainbow haired friend in the middle of kicking at the ground.
“Heh heh, I wonder who that could have been, heh, heh,” Rainbow rubbed behind her head trying to look anywhere and ignore the hot glares she was getting from everypony, “Uh, ahem, I uhh... Okay look; every time I try to practice a new trick, routine, or the sonic rainboom I am constantly hounded and stopped by the pony police in the middle of practice for noise complaints, asking if I have a permit to practice somewhere, or safety concerns for other ponies around me. You have no idea how many times I’ve been stopped and talked to even when I am practicing in the middle of an empty field nowhere near anypony. It drives me nuts and I didn’t want to deal with them today; especially when there is a Wonderbolts show going on.”
“You and Connor were flying dangerously through traffic and could have gotten somepony hurt! The police had every right to stop you two, but you used Connor as a scape goat to escape while he had to deal with them!” Twilight accused.
Rarity gasped in shock, “Rainbow Dash! How could you! I thought you never abandoned friends when they are in need.”
“What do you have to say for yourself,” Applejack said sternly.
“Yeah! What Applejack said!” Pinkie yelled in between bounces; Pinkie was now bouncing about three meters in the air and was still going higher.
“I’m sorry?” Rainbow Dash half apologized.
“Do you have anything to say, Connor?” Twilight glanced over to ask.
Connor took a few steps forward so that he was level with Applejack and Rarity at the front, “I’m more upset that you ditched me without even telling there were cops behind us, but it’s not the first time I’ve had to deal with them. In my world, cops don’t like motorcyclists having too much fun on the road. So I’ve had my share of encounters with cops on the road,” he took a few more steps forward and leaned in so he could whisper in her ear, “but come on Rainbow; give me some more credit. I think we could have lost those cops together without leaving one as bait,” he stepped back and gave a smirk at Rainbow’s wide eyed expression before returning with her own knowing smirk.
She laughed and put a hoof around Connor, “Ha hah! You know what Connor? You’re an alright pony! You’re right, I think we could have done it together!” The tension in the air loosened like a knot being undone and everypony relaxed. Twilight sighed and shook her head exasperatedly while everyone else sighed in relief thankful that the problem was resolved.
“Um, what’s a motorcyclist?” Rainbow asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” Connor dismissed with a roll of his eyes. The party let the subject drop and made their way to the front gates. Twilight passed out the tickets Rainbow Dash gave to her for safe keeping to everypony before they went through the ticket booth. Connor waited in line behind Rainbow Dash and in front of Fluttershy as they were ushered through one by one. When it was Connor’s turn to step up to the booth and bored looking Pegasus looked back at him.
“Ticket please,” she said.
Connor lifted his right wing where he was holding his ticket and picked it out with his teeth before setting it down on the counter. The mare took the ticket and tore it in half before giving it back to him.
“Enjoy the show,” she robotically said.
Once he stepped through to the other side, he stopped and looked about the interior. Every single structure surface was made of clouds. It was a blanket of whiteness the blurred together and made it a little difficult to see ledges or stairs. In fact, he would have not noticed that there were stairs leading up to another landing if other ponies weren’t already walking up or down them. He could hear stands filled with excited spectators pouring in from the landing above, all antsy for the demonstration to begin.
The group gathered around Twilight at the foot of the stairs to discuss plans while at the stadium.
“Alright, is everypony here?” Twilight scanned the group to make a quick head count.
“Yes, Twilight. Everypony is here. Can we hurry up and get to our seats now? I don’t want to miss a single second of it!” Rainbow buzzed overhead unable to hold back her enthusiasm.
“Hang on, Rainbow. Does everypony know where our seats are?”
Connor raised his hoof, “I don’t,” he said matter-of-factly.
Rainbow Dash let out a groan while Twilight gave a gentle smile, “Our seats are on the level above us on the east side of the stadium. We are all sitting together, so it won’t be too hard to spot us.”
“Okay, is it alright if I grab some food before we sit down?” he threw a hoof to his side gesturing to some invisible food stands that he wanted to shop at.
“Sure, we’ll go ahead and find our seats while you buy some food. Just remember that the show starts in about thirty minutes, so don’t be late or I think Rainbow Dash will have a problem.” Twilight glanced up at her friend doing the happy dance in the air ready to get moving.
“Alright, see you then,” Connor gave a small wave before climbing the stairs and turning right down the corridor while everypony else walked outside to search for their seats. Connor looked over his should and made a mental note of where he left everyone and where they were headed that way it would be easier to retrace his steps and find everyone again. After walking a ways down the cloud corridor, he turned right again, then left where it opened up on an open aired landing with food stands of every kind lined up down the entire length with periodic hallways that lead back into the stadium and stands and bathrooms.
He slowly perused the food stands looking at anything and everything the ponies were selling. As he walked the line of stands, his mind was drawing up flashbacks to the stadiums he had visited before in his world. The design was quite similar with it being a round stadium with food and concession stands tucked underneath the seats. Connor eventually stopped at one stand and decided to hop in line for food. He stared at the menu that hung overhead depicting what they sold and at what price.
“Carrot dogs, hay burgers, mushroom burgers, onion horse fries, cheesy corn chips, soft drinks… cherry changas?” he read the menu quietly to himself looking for anything that sound good to eat. The few items that he read to himself were only a hand full of items that seemed remotely close to what he might find in his world. Everything else he was not familiar with and didn’t want to take the risk of buying something and finding out that he didn’t like it. So, Connor went with the most basic thing that was on the menu that he thought he could stomach.
“Hello! How may I take your order?” the turquoise and green cashier mare asked with a cheery voice. Connor didn’t realize that the line had been moving forward while he was standing in line and it was now his turn to order.
“Uuh, I’ll take… two carrot dogs,” he blurted out the first item on his list of possibly edible items on the menu.
“Certainly! That will be fourteen bits, please,” the cashier smiled again while scribbling down a few notes on a pad of paper.
“Fourteen bits?! That’s 7 bits for one dog! Geode, the stadium food here is as expensive as it is back home.” He silently lifted the flap to his satchel bag and dug out fourteen bits for the food and dropped them on the counter. The cashier grinned again and took the bits to store in a safe box while she disappeared in the back to place the order. A few minutes later, the food was finally ready. Two hot dog like objects wrapped in aluminum foil were placed on the counter in front of him.
“Thank you, and have a nice day!” she said.
Connor grunted a thanks and scooped the food in his right hoof to hold. He remembered that behind him was a table full of toppings to put on the food and figured he might as well try dressing up his dogs. He took a step backwards and turned to his left to prep his food, but Connor smacked into another pony that was standing behind him.
“Oof!” the pony grunted in pain and a soft splat was heard on the ground. Connor snapped to the food he was carrying and relaxed when he counted two dogs in his arm. He then looked down at the food the fell on the floor. It was a small cardboard tray that was overturned during its decent to the floor. The contents were hidden underneath it, but it was easy to assume that the food was probably ruined. He heard a loud, sad groan and Connor looked up to see the pony that he ran into.
His fur was a very, very pale blue. It was almost white, but with a blue tinge to it. His hair and tail were a dark navy blue like heavy rain clouds on a stormy day. His eyes were an emerald green saddened with seeing his food a mess on the ground. He had a mark on his hip that looked like lightning piercing through stormy night as dark clouds swirled around the lightning.
“Aw maaan! My food!” The pony spoke with a bit of a surfer’s drawl, like those guys on the beach who use the word ‘Dude’ and ‘Narly’ as part of their daily vocabulary.
“This is awful. I’m so hungry right now and the show is about to start,” He continued to look at the mess on the ground while Connor stared at him and the mess.
“Ah shirt, Sorry man. Hey, look, how about you have some of my food to make up for the mess,” Connor offered one of his carrot dogs to the pony hoping it would make things a little better.
“Really? You would do that, for me?” the stallion was watering up with the kindness Connor was showing him.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m not that hungry anyways,” Connor tossed a carrot dog to him.
“Thanks!” He ripped the foil off and devoured the dog right there. He slurped and snarfed the food down as Connor flinched from the nearly horrid display of table manners. Connor knew slobs existed in the world and some had terrible manners, but to see it in person was a little disgusting.
The pony finished the dog and wiped his mouth on his hoof before speaking again, “Thanks, man! You’re a life saver!”
“No problem…” Connor put on a fake smile to hide his disgust.
“Well, I’ll see you later at the show. Bye! And thanks again!” The Pegasus flew off down the corridor and disappeared around the bend.
“Good gravy, that was disgusting,” he thought. But his own hunger growled loudly and reminded him that he needed to put garnishes on his carrot dog. But when he looked around again, he noticed that everypony around him was staring at him like he was completely oblivious to what just happened to him. Some had their mouths open while others were glared at him with jealousy.
He stared back at them unsure of how to respond. He decided it would be best to simply leave the area and forget about putting condiments on his dog and eat it plain. After all, his main goal right now was to blend in with the rest of the ponies before going out and looking for attention. He hurriedly walked back the way he came feeling the stares on his back as he passed by the onlookers. It was time to take shelter with the group he came in on and hide from the prying eyes; besides, he could hear noises outside that the show was about to start anyways.