//------------------------------// // The Flight, My Moon, and The Landing // Story: What a Wonderful Life // by Dustchu //------------------------------// Countless hours had passed since Fluttershy boarded the plane and left her home of Equestria, and the poor mare was somewhat terrified. She clutched her hooves onto her seat, her eyes staring out of the window above the clouds. Fluttershy heard from the pilot that they were flying at a comfortable thirty thousand feet... she hadn't expected the aircraft to fly so high up. She's flown to high altitudes before, but never this high up before. It was terrifying, and doing a number on her poor fragile heart. And the turbulence, don't get her started on the turbulence! Every now and then the plane would shake ever so slightly, and a small whine would escape her. She wanted out of this thing, and back on the ground, where it was safe and not prone to apparent mid-air explosions. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't understand how Samuel was so calm about this flight! Any second now, this plane could explode! She whimpered, waiting for the inevitable explosion that would swallow her up and turn her into a cooked pegasus... Only it never came, Sammy assured her of that. "Plane crashes are rare, unless someone sabotages the engines, kills the pilot, or shoots at us with Anti-Air ordinance, we'll be fine!" He smiled brightly like a foal at Hearth's Warming Eve. His optimism and explanation didn't help her any in regards to calming down. If anything, it made it worse. Please don't crash, please don't crash, please don't crash! The pegasus pleaded as the plane trembled, the sound of the steel creaking her lightheaded and she feared she'd pass out. Fluttershy, in hopes of passing the time and hopefully forgetting she was over thirty thousand feet in the air, decided to think about the United States. The country that she was going to be living in for the duration of the project, she really wished her friends had come with, but they had to stay in Equestria. Samuel had only filled her in on a little of where she was going to be living, a small town called Springvale which was located near a city known as Washington D.C. She was told it was a modestly sized community with a very small population, and was said to be a friendly sort. Sammy informed the mare that she already had a house set up for her when she asked where she was staying, and the town was informed of the project before hand. He said nothing more then that, saying he wanted most of it to be a surprise. Springvale, what little of it Sammy explained to her of it, was a nice community that was pretty accepting of the Project. She hoped that the people she was going to be living near were friendly, ponies were very easy to get along with at times, and so far the humans' she's met were very nice to her. One of them being Samuel, and another being a doctor that checked her at the airport in Appaloosa to make sure she wasn't going to be bringing any sort of disease over. She was a teensy bit miffed, but understood why that was an issue. She didn't want to be the cause of someone getting hurt or sick, that would be bad. I do hope nothing bad happens. She turned to look out of the window, seeing the clouds filling the skies. Fluttershy sighed to herself, relaxing her grip on the seat. Samuel was sitting in an aisle seat next to her, and was reading from a small magazine that had a picture of a symbol followed by the words Vault-Tec Corporation on the front. Vault-Tec? She wondered, as the plane shook once more, making the pegasus grip the seat again. I hope this ends soon... "Estimated Time of Arrival to the Columbia Commonwealth is just a little over five hours, we're sorry for the inconvenience." Fluttershy's eyes widened as she sunk into her seat... a tiny whimper escaping the mare. -ooo000=+=000ooo- Back in Equestria - Twilight Sparkle Twilight had left Appaloosa a few minutes after the aircraft left the small airfield, the princess of friendship was sitting in her castle in Ponyville, looking out a window and into the sky. She saw another one of those planes flying over the town, it was high up in the sky well above pegasi flying range. The princess sighed, turning back to her desk, several books were lying across it in alphabetical order, all of them gifts from the Vault-Tec President on behalf of the Friendship Project. Most of the books were about Vault-Tec's history, the United States history, a Big Book of Science - something she was fascinated by - and various pamphlets about Vaults. She didn't know what Vaults were, but apparently they were being built across the United States due to the rising threats of nuclear war. Twilight couldn't understand why there was such a threat, but from what Princess Celestia told her, the entire human infrastructure and economy was run off of a precious resource... Oil. Oil was something humans used to power their vehicles, cities and towns, and their war machines, without it, they were about as powerful as Griffonia. For years, there were wars in the other human countries, specifically the European Commonwealth, where it had dissolved into squabbling nation states that started fighting over what little resources remained. It was terrifying what had happened, she wasn't aware there were were any wars going on until she overheard a few classmates of hers talking about it. Europe and the Middle-East had become nothing more then a barren wasteland filled with people fighting over precious few resources. It was sad to hear such a thing was going on, and now there was another war going on, one between two of the biggest human superpowers in the world. China and the United States, biological weapons, armed conflict and so on. Alaska was in the midst of a war, two of the superpowers fighting over the Oil fields beneath the snow. It was chaos over there, and she was glad Fluttershy wasn't anywhere near the fighting. Sighing, she chanced a look at the Vault Pamphlet, a picture of a strange cartoonish human was on the front. Behind him was a large door with the numbers 101 on the front of it. She held it up in her magic, looking it over before flipping open the page, coming across a index. "I have nothing better to do." Twilight told herself, settling down and reading the pamphlet. -ooo000=+=000ooo- Equestria - With Princess Luna "Luna, sister?" Princess Celestia questioned her sister, who's angry face had worried her somewhat. The princess of the moon was staring down at the street in Canterlot, eyeing the United States Relations Building with a disdainful gaze. "Lulu?" Luna snorted, turning to face her sister. "Yes, dear sister?" She asked, a tired look replacing her look of anger. "Are you well?" The princess of the sun questioned, she had never seen her sister so angry before. She wasn't as angry as she was centuries ago, but she was still a good amount of angry. Like, don't touch my cookie jar, angry. "I am fine, sister." Luna informed the mare beside her, turning back to glare at the building. Sitting down beside Luna, Celestia tilted her head. "You don't look well, you're angry... why?" "I am not angry." Luna protested weakly, brushing off what her sister was saying. "Are you sure?" Celestia nudged her sister gently, "because you look like you're about to attack something..." Lowering her voice, she draped a wing around her younger sister and pulled her close. "What is the matter?" Sighing heavily, Luna turned to face Celestia. "Those humans, and their violation of the moon during my absence! My moon!" She growled, the memory of what the humans accomplished still fresh in her mind. Several months after her return, she was updated on what had happened during her banishment, and one thing, out of all of the things that happened, stood out above them all... it was possibly one of the worse things she could ever imagine... The humans, landed on her moon and stuck a flag on its surface. She demanded the humans be exterminated for the atrocious desecration of her moon... Celestia managed to talk her out of it, but it was still something that peeved Luna to no end. Celestia snorted softly, "I understand that, what they did is more or less an insult to you, but there was little I could do to stop them." Celestia explained, there truly was little she could do on the matter. The humans had gone to the moon several times, and if what she heard was true, they had several stations built in space, for what purpose, she was unsure. "I did not know they had the technology, let alone the capability to send humans into space, let alone land on the moon." A scoff, followed by a hoof stomp. "The moon is mine, Celestia, and they planted a flag on it like they were claiming it for their own!" Luna scowled, the moon was hers, she claimed power over it, and the humans had the audacity to land on it several times. She knew because the moon had felt strange, she could feel the moon calling to its matron, informing her of what was happening. And now... Her moon was silent... "They did something, Celestia, they did something to it!" Luna cursed, shaking in anger. Ever since her moon stopped calling to her at night, she had grown worried, and now she knew why it had stopped... the humans that landed on it years ago did something to it. She knows they did! She just lacked any viable evidence to present. "I'm sure its nothing," Celestia assured her little sister, rubbing her back. She knew what that was like however, she had her own connection to the sun, and spoke with it on occasion, sometimes it didn't speak. Crazy crazy magic. "It can't be nothing!" Luna scowled further, teeth grinding against one another. "Why must we deal with these humans anyway?" She changed the subject, ever since the humans came to Equestria, they had been everywhere, building facilities and such on their ground and she wanted to know why. "Why have you allowed them to construct military facilities on our land?" A closed mouthed sigh, She was bound to ask at some point. She thought before saying, "Trust," She looked out into the city of Canterlot, where her and Luna's little ponies lived and flourished. "And protection. The PLA have threatened Equestria in the past over our alliance with the United States, threats with nuclear weapons," She closed her eyes, thinking back to that day. She was having a nice lunch with one of the American Diplomats, a man by the name of Richardson, when the first threat had come, in the form of a messenger. The man was allowed into the castle and brought before the princess because he was said to be an ambassador from China sent to Equestria to negotiate a trade deal. However, the only thing the man said was that Equestria was now an enemy of China for siding with the treacherous American scum, and will pay dearly for it. The next thing that followed was the man pulling a knife and tried to attack both the Diplomat and Celestia, he underestimated Celestia however. She managed to stop him with a simple spell, pulling the knife from the assassin's hands and disabling him with another spell. He was locked up and apologies were given by both parties. The following week, Celestia heard the man had died in his cell, foaming at the mouth and writhing on the floor. An autopsy showed he was poisoned, and further investigation showed one of his teeth was cracked open, hollow on the inside containing remnants of a small capsule. Suicide. She sighed, she hadn't expected that in the slightest. "The US decided to help us, while we remain a neutral party in this war, they have agreed to protect us. Hence the bases and fortifications built along the northern borders." She explained, recalling the many forms asking for certain building rights in locations across Equestria, most of which were in the north. So far, seven bases had been constructed, one of which housed some of the United States Navy forces. "While our own forces are fully capable of repelling many threats, the PLA are far more advanced then we are, and so we need the Americans help." The princess of the night huffed, turning to look out into the city. It was true, she read the reports. Equestria's technology paled in comparison to the most primitive Chinese homeowner. Equestria still utilized spears, shields and swords, their griffon neighbors were more advanced then they were, having cannons and airships capable of war. Pathetic. She grumbled, back in her day, if she had been in control of the military R&D department centuries ago... ... Hmm... Luna hummed in thought, an idea forming in her head. -ooo000=+=000ooo- With Poor Fearful Fluttershy "Now approaching Adams Air Force Base, we hope you enjoyed the flight." The pilot announced over the PA system. Fluttershy nearly fainted from relief, this horrible flight is almost over with! She cheered mentally. Samuel wasn't as excited as she was, after all, he enjoyed flying in planes. Fluttershy called him crazy for that remark. But now, now the flight was almost over! And she could finally rest, after all, gripping onto the arm rest for five hours straight really took it out of her. She was going to enjoy staying at her new home, specifically the bed part, she desperately needed a nap, post haste! She could see the plane was descending, several large buildings coming into view on the far left side of the massive airfield. She saw even more planes sitting about, smaller ones then the one she was inside of. Massive buildings holding more of those aircraft were nearby, it was an entire base filled wit hangers, tall towers with strange dish like objects on the top of them. She could also make out several smaller aircraft flying around the base, she didn't know what those were. Eventually the plane landed on the runway, bouncing slightly before steadying itself. Once the breaks were hit, Fluttershy was glad for the straps, they kept her from getting launched from her seat and into the one in front of her. The engines roared still on the outside, but eventually the sound was dying out, until the engines cut and the plane came to a stop screeching against the concrete of the runway. The pegasus stayed in her seat until it was safe to get up, and passed the time by looking out the window. Fluttershy also spotted some small vehicles driving along the runway,, and one of them drove up to the plane. The mare wondered if that was going to take her to her home, she didn't know. Samuel unbuckled himself form his seat and stood up, moving over to Fluttershy who waited as Samuel undid her straps. "Okay, now that we've landed, I should tell you-" He undid one of the straps, "-that we're not at your home yet, we're going to be taking a jeep to the front where a bus will be waiting, that will take us to Springvale." He explained to the mare, finishing so she could get up. Fluttershy took the time to stretch out her wings and joints, her legs and back felt stiff from sitting for so long. She would have gotten up, but walking around the aircraft while it was flying, didn't sound like a good idea at the time. Shaking her head, she looked up to see Samuel grabbing her bag form the overhead compartment, "thank you for putting that away for me." She told him as he placed the bag on her back. "I don't think I would have been able to." "Your wings are more then for show aren't they?" Samuel asked as he turned around to pick up his helmet from the seat he left it in. Putting it on, he added, "you can fly right?" "Um... yes..." "You could have flown in here, I guess to get up there... but eh, you're welcome." He smiled as he turned around to face her, with a nod from her he walked over to the door and began to open it. Fluttershy trotted over to Samuel, watching as the door was slowly opened up. I'm here... She thought to herself as she was thrust out into a whole new world.