//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Questions and Answers // Story: A Solo Winged Pixy In Equestria // by Chris94677 //------------------------------// I met him above this very sky. I can still hear the sounds of the missile alerts from that day... - Altman Squad Leader The sun started to peak it's head over the horizon as Pixy's eyes began to open. He was used to waking up at the crack of dawn, a little habit he hasn't been able to drop from boot camp. He took a gander at the wall clock and saw it read 7:00 AM. 0700, man if old Sergeant Sigel saw me waking up this late, I'd be scrubbing the toilets for weeks..., Pixy thought to himself as he picked himself up the bed. He cracked his neck only to be met with a loud audible POP. He looked around his room for a moment and saw it was empty, he couldn't even hear the sounds of footsteps in the hall. Must be a small hospital, no way a city hospital wouldn't have the staff wandering this early., Pixy mused to himself before looking out the window. "Damn... That's a sunrise if I ever seen one.", Pixy sounded astonished as he looked out to the horizon. The sun was just rising, and the sky was a brilliant shade of purple and orange. He couldn't help but remember a morning he had that was similar with his sister, it felt like a life time ago for Pixy. He shook his head to clear the thoughts before picking himself up. He stretched his back a bit before yanking out the IV that was in his arm. He cringed just a tad, Pixy hated needles since he was a child. He thought back to the other day, Right, the alternate dimension with horses being a sentient species... I seriously need a drink. He walked to a book case that was on the wall across the room from his bed. He quickly looked over what was on the book case, nothing he'd really want to read, mainly just educational books like an Encyclopedia. Then again, who knows when those things that were talking to me will be back, might not be bad idea to brush up on some History, Captain always said know your enemy. While Pixy did't recognize the talking horses as threats, you can't ever be too careful. After all if an alien landed back on Strangeworld it'd be dissected and studied. "Might as well start at A.", Pixy sighed to himself as he walked back to his bed and plopped down and began to read... ~~~~~~~~~~ Pixy's eyes actually began to hurt from the amount of reading that was the encyclopedia set. He skimmed most of it, and really only read the ones with pictures, still, at least he knew a little bit about the world in which he know found himself. That way he won't look like a complete moron when talking to the purple horse who should be arriving any minute. He was flipping through the pages on the E section when he saw a passage that caught his eye. Elements of Harmony? The hell? He started to read the passage and as he kept reading his eyes just kept getting wider. This is like some type of super weapon? A rainbow blast that eliminated two of the most powerful beings on this world? On that note, what kind of names are Discord and Nightmare Moon? Christ, its like Ana came up with these names.. Then he found something that really caught his attention. Wait a second, these elements are represented by people, er horses, or ponies, whatever. He thought shaking his head, before continuing, and looking at a photo of the seven element bearers, "Holy hell those are the horses I saw yesterday!", Pixy accidentally said out loud. "Ponies, and yes, yes they were.", Twilight said leaning on the door frame. "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't see you there" Pixy said before sitting up in his bed. "No, its alright, I of all ponies know what it's like to get caught up in a good read. Even if that read is an Encyclopedia. A bit dry, even for my tastes." Twilight said trotting over to Pixy. "Yea, well I figured I might as well get a little bit of information about this world considering I may be staying here for a while.", Pixy said putting the book on the night stand next to his bed. "I'd probably do the same if I were you. Can't be easy, waking up in a different dimension that is." Twilight said sympathetically. "Could be worse I guess. Area around here is beautiful, air is clean, people are nice. Seems like a paradise compared to mine at least.", Pixy said as he stood up and went to the window. "What was your world like Larry?", Twilight said using his real name. "Christ, where do I begin...?", Pixy said trailing off. "How about where you're from?", Twilight said encouraging him. "That question has a longer answer than you're guessing I bet." Larry said with a chuckle before sitting down on his bed, then continuing, "Well I'm from a planet we called Strangereal. I was from a country known as Belka. Though I don't really classify myself as Belkan or show any sort of nationalistic pride I guess." "Why's that?", Twilight inquired as she turned back towards Pixy who was sitting on his bed flipping through the encyclopedia. "Belka doesn't exactly have the best reputation. They... We're known for being warmongers. You know the story, tiny country swelling with nationalistic pride gets into a war with the rest of the Continent. Country gets beaten, they get punished severely. Then radical nationalistic leaders start scapegoating people. Country industrializes heavily, builds a huge military. Country attempts to get back at those who "stole" their land. They have huge success at first, using fast and brutally efficient fast attacks. Then suddenly the fast attacks don't work anymore. Suddenly their enemies started to band together to fight back, then said country, get beaten back by an allied coalition... That's Belka... More or less.", Pixy said exasperated, Probably a good idea to leave out how we dropped nukes on our own land to curve the allied advances. "Well, I can't say I do know that story all to well", Twilight said. "Did you fight on those wars?" Twilight asked. "Not the first one, I was a bit too young, but yea, I did fight in the second one, which was called the Belkan War back where I'm from", Pixy stated cautious of how the conversation might go. "Must have been hard, fighting a war for a losing side.", Twilight said with sympathy. "We didn't lose." Pixy stated blankly. "But you said Belka lost the war?", Twilight said clearly confused. "You're right I did, but I didn't fight for Belka during the Belkan War.", Pixy said looking away from her. "Wait, you're saying you fought against your homeland in that war?!", Twilight said shocked. "It isn't what it sounds like, trust me, I got quite a few looks too back then." Pixy sighed before finishing his thought, "I had... I had a difficult childhood. My parents, we got into a really, really bad fight. Screaming and throwing things bad. I told them I would never become the man they wanted me to be. So I left Belka, I packed my bags went to Osea, a neighboring country. I learned how to fly, and became a mercenary pilot. When the war broke out, I was hired by the Utsio government, which was a small country that Belka was invading. Me and my wingman both signed on and I did my job, and I got paid.", Pixy said not daring to finish the story of how that war went. "That's... That's quite the origin story Pixy."Twilight said shaking her head in mild disbelief. "One thing I've learned in my life Twilight, everyone has a story. Some with a good ending, others not so much." Pixy said wisely to which Twilight could only agree to. "Still though, you were so ready to fight against your family?" Twilight asked, before realizing how rude that question came across and how offensive it could be taken. "Larry, I'm so sorry I didn't mean it like that." she said blushing. "No, it's okay Twilight you're just asking questions" Pixy said before getting really quiet. He looked away at the window finding a tree out in the field really interesting in that moment before sighing and turning back to Twilight. "One day, I'll tell you about what happened between me and my family. When that day comes, I'm going to need some drinks." Larry quipped with a small smirk to which Twilight giggled at glad he wasn't too upset at her question. She looked down at her notes and looked back up with a question that was bugging her since the beginning of their conversations. "You keep saying Air Forces, and pilots, and aces. You don't have any wings despite your moniker. How do you fly?", Twilight asked writing on a yellow legal pad. "Well we don't have wings like your blue and yellow friends. We do however have very creative scientists and engineers who find ways to fly. We invented mach, maines using technology, not magic, to fly for us. I, as a pilot, would fly these machines. They could be used for a variety of reasons, transporting people, supplies, recon. Or in my case, to fight other aircraft or ground forces." Pixy explained to her. "What exactly did they machines look like Pixy?" "Here let me see that pencil and paper real fast.", Pixy said as he was handed the supplies from Twilight. "Now I'm no artist, but I do know one plane's design as if it was the back of my hand. The one I'm drawing was the one I flew, called the F-15C Fighter Jet. "Wow! That's amazing. It's brilliant! The curvature of the metal, the sloped wings, the domed glass! Larry your species must be geniuses!" Twilight said gazing at Larry's drawing. "Ya we were pretty damn good at making planes. Funny enough, that jet right there, is outdated back on my world. Even newer ones have been created that are 10x more advanced." Pixy said looking at his drawing along with Twilight. "But how does it fly? I mean, that much steel, and alloys much weigh tons?!", Twilight as she looked over the drawing. "Well, like I said I'm not exactly the most qualified person to explain this. Basically, see those little things in the back over there." Pixy said pointing towards the engines. "Those are called jet engines, now they use combustion using oil, to create thrust. They create so much thrust, almost 1875 miles per hour, or Mach 2.5 that it propels it into the air. Those wings on the side have little flippers that move up and down to move the air around it to make it go up or down. The wings over here stabilize it so it moves straight. You have to keep it moving at a certain speed though. Again, I didn't exactly ace physics, but they meet air resistance and other factors refereed to as Drag. If your thrust is meeting or exceeding the drag then your jet stalls. Which means it's not moving fast enough to sustain flight. It then falls to the ground, and if you're not a very good pilot, it could crash. Possibly killing you.", Pixy said happy to talk about his passion with someone who loved hearing about it. "Pixy, in five minutes you just thew our aviation knowledge forward hundreds of years. This! This can do so much good! Imagine the practical aspects of it! Pegasi can only carry so much cargo, but with these! We can carry tons upon tons of supplies and trade goods across Equestria! Did you say it could fly at speeds of 1875 miles per hour?", Twilight said getting more and more excited. "Yea, the F-15C can reach super sonic speeds up to 1875 miles per hour, or Mach 2.5" Pixy said reciting his old textbook. "Pixy the average pegasus can barely go 200 miles per hour." Twilight said before stopping in complete shock. "Like I said, we were good at making planes, how's fast is your fastest pegasus? "In terms of pure speed? Rainbow Dash, without a shadow of the doubt" Twilight said firmly. "And...?", Pixy asked wondering how fast that blue horse could actually go. "Larry, Rainbow Dash can go 7,710 miles per hour, Mach 10 at her complete peak. "Twilight said with a small smirk on her face. "Bullshit... No way.", Pixy said shaking his head in utter disbelief. "Way!" Twilight said still with a huge smile on her face. She may be bullish and arrogant sometimes, but damn it made me proud that she was by far and away the fastest being in the world. "You're telling me that little blue pony can fly at MACH 10?!?!" Pixy shouted. "That is insane! Our fastest, and I mean fastest, jet can go only at about Mach 6.7! Mach 10! That's hypersonic! We couldn't dream of going that fast!", Pixy shouted as he paced across the room. "Dash is brash and cocky, but she has a basis for it.", Twilight said simply "I guess so, damn, I don't think a human can go that fast without their body literally melting from the vibrations." Pixy said still shaking his head. "She is an anomaly though. Most Pegasi can't even break the sound barrier. So don't worry you humans most likely have the advantage to us.", Twilight said as she looked over her notes from Pixy's explanation of basic aerodynamics. "Twilight would you mind if I asked you a couple of questions?", Pixy said looking at her. "Sure, I've been picking your brain all morning, it'd only be fair if you knew a little bit about ponies.", Twilight said putting aside her paper, "What would you like to know?" "I don't know how exactly to phrase it, but you seemed kind of, I don't know, shocked maybe? When I said we have near constant warfare back on my planet. Has your country ever been to war?", Pixy said slowly. "We have... Not many people know about this, the princesses try to keep any violence under wraps, but Equestria has been in quite a few wars. Not many recently, in the past hundred years or so we've at peace. Though recent political complications with the Griffin Imperium has made the Parliament nervous. A few months back a race known as the Changelings kidnapped the empress of the Crystal Empire. Replaced her, and attempted to assassinate Princess Celestia and Luna, then take over the capital Canterlot, then most likely over run Equestria." Twilight said to Pixy. "I wish I could say our world was like that. Even if you still have wars, at least it isn't the constant fighting like back home... You know Twilight, I gotta say. If what you're telling me about Equestria is true, it looks like I found the perfect place to retire.", Pixy said stretching his neck. "Are you saying you'd stay here even if we could find you a way home?", Twilight inquired. "I don't know about that, but I guess what I'm saying is a clean, green, and peaceful country is a damn good way to ride off into the sunset." Pixy said. Plus no one here knows about what Solo Wing Pixy nearly did... "Well Ponyville is a nice place to stay. It's small, rural, and friendly. Ponies might be a bit shy of a total stranger, and for all intents and purposes alien walking around town. They'll cope especially when they see you being friendly with the Elements of Harmony. Plus, I'm sure Princess Celestia and Luna will have no problem giving you citizenship." Twilight beamed at Pixy. "You know speaking of that, what exactly are the Elements of Harmony? I was reading about it in that book, and I know that you and your friends represent them, but I still not sure exactly what it means.", Pixy asked. "Well basically the Elements of Harmony are traits that represent Harmony. I represent the element of Magic, Applejack represents Honesty, Pinkie Pie; Laughter, Rarity; Generosity, Fluttershy; Kindness, and Rainbow Dash; Loyalty." Twilight explained, and didn't quite catch how Pixy subtly cringed at the word loyalty. "Together can harness and incredible power to defend harmony, and de facto Equestira." "How powerful exactly is it?", Pixy asked. "Honestly? I'm not quite sure the extent to the power of the Elements. So far they've managed to protect Equestria from Nightmare Moon and the god of chaos; Discord. So at least as powerful as the Princesses if not more.", Twilight explained. "Huh.", Pixy said satisfied at the answer. "Mhm, now then it's almost one 'o clock. I imagine you'd like to get out of here?" Twilight asked "Oh yeah, I'm 100% ready to go.", Pixy said picking his jacket off of the chair. "Right let's head out, I can sign you out of the hospital at the main lobby. Pixy threw on his jacket and walked behind Twilight following her outside his room. Pixy enjoyed using his legs once more. That hospital bed was a bit too small for someone his height, and giving them a nice stretch did wonders for his muscles. They walked down the hospital steps to the main desk and Pixy saw Nurse Redheart working the desk. "Good afternoon Ms. Redheart.", Pixy said to the nurse who patched him up. "Good afternoon Mr. Pixy, how are you feeling" Redheart inquired. "Much better, still have a bit of a headache but I'm sure it's nothing", Pixy said rubbing his scalp. "That's good to hear, I don't expect that headache to go away for a couple of days, you did take quite a fall. Still, there was no significant brain damage so you should be fine." Redheart said to Pixy before looking at Twilight, "All ready to sign him out then Twilight?" "Mhm, we're ready to go, and get Larry something to eat." Twilight said to Nurse Redheart as she signed the papers she was given. Thank Christ I'm starving., Pixy thought to himself. "Alright looks good Twilight, you're all ready to go. Don't comeback anytime soon Pixy, I'd hate to see you banged up again." Redheart said to Pixy. "I'll try not to Doc, and thanks again." Pixy said holding the door open for Twilight. "Good to hear, bye you guys!" Redheart said waving to the two. "Bye Doc!" "Bye Nurse Red Heart!" "Now then Twilight you said something about food?", Pixy said hopefully to Twilight.