//------------------------------//
// Icarus 
// Story: Love and Tolerance 
// by Final_Draft 
//------------------------------//

Love and Tolerance
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic © Hasbro & Lauren Faust
By: TOO S0BER


--***::: Chapter 15 :::***--


Icarus


I sighed.

I stood outside the bedroom door that led to the lair of the beast; Dan’s bedroom. Just inside I could hear the loud and spine-chittering beats of rock music blaring. With a shake of my head I knocked on the door.

“Hey,” I rose my voice a little bit. “Dan, can we talk?”

After a short wait it became clear that there is no way he heard me over the obnoxious noise from his boom-box. I mean honestly, how can anyone listen to music that loud and still have their sanity!? Seriously!?

My muzzle curled in a frown and I rolled my eyes. I rose a hoof and knocked a good bit harder, just a few clicks shy of full-on banging on his door. “Dan, come on! We need to talk! I know you can hear me!” I nearly shouted at the door.

I waited, now with one of my hind-hooves clicking impatiently on the tile floo. No response came as I had been waiting there for nearly three minutes.

My eye twitched and I contemplated turning around and bucking the door open, then smashing his God-damned boom-box into shards of plastic rubble and shattered electronics! His attitude is just… just… unacceptable! I could nearly feel the vein throbbing in my head as I glared at the closed door.

Ugh, I closed my eyes. Stay cool, Sam, he just can’t hear you, that’s all. He’s not purposefully ignoring you.

Even as I thought that my brain’s sarcasm kicked in with a ‘Nope, he’s ignoring your orange flank’. I sighed again and wondered if I should just try the handle. For the moment I could not remember how I garnered his attention in the past when I needed it.

“Pfft…” I muttered with a roll of my eyes. “Probably because it is an orange flank.” I finished with a flat stare at the door. “Oh, fuck it…”

I reached a hoof up and used the lever of the door. It gave to my touch, and I was only halfway glad it was unlocked, and swung open to my push.

Dan’s room was a stark contrast to the clean, neat and orderly rest of the house in that it was anything but clean, neat and orderly. It almost looked like a tornado had come in and ripped away everything that was not nailed down. Stacks of random books and papers, some of which I saw were music sheets, along with Red Bull and Monster cans galore; there was even a small pyramid of the silver and black cans on his computer desk. Dirty clothes littered the floor, so much so that it became difficult to tell at a glance if his room was tiled like the rest of the house -- which it was -- or still had carpet. Dan’s things were strewn about in a chaotic and unorganized manner. His bed had no frame, just two mattresses with the sheets crumpled and wadded up like a used tissue. It was not due to financial neglect on our parents’ parts, it was how he liked his bed… for whatever reason.

My God…My eyes took in the human-made disaster of teenager living. How can he live like this? The exception of piled-to-the-ceiling junk aside, this was the kind of room that you would call the Hoarder specialists on.

Again, even as I thought that, I couldn’t help but smirk slightly. While my own room had never gotten this bad, it was far from clean. Now I remember why I never really jumped on him for it, because I was much the same way. With that in mind I weaved my way in a couple feet, trying not to step on anything that was his.

Dan sat in his computer chair, a guitar resting on his leg as the boom-box still boomed, forcing my ears back. I looked at him with a quirked eyebrow as he tuned the strings, wondering how the hell he could make any kind of attunement adjustments with all this racket in the background. Eventually he noticed me in the room and reached a hand up, turning the music down until it was barely a thrum in the room.

“What do you want?” he asked, his arms crossed and resting on the body of the wooden guitar. He stared at me flatly, probably irritated that I had come into his room myself. Whatever though, I have done so before.

I chuckled a little. “Well, I’m so sorry to disturb King Rock…” I gave an amused snort.

He rolled his eyes and resumed tuning the guitar, testing and adjusting each string semi-absently.

I paused for a little bit, remembering why I initially came here. “Dan, look,” I started off as kindly as I could muster. “About the other day-”

“What about it, freak,” Dan interrupted without looking away from his ‘important’ task.

This is gonna be like pulling teeth, ain’t it…

I sighed and fought the urge to roll my eyes. “Well, this ‘freak’ would like to apologize.” I stared flatly at him as what was supposed to be a simple apology got that much harder. “I shouldn’t have kicked you.” I got it out quickly, but hopefully not too quickly. After all, I wanted it to be at least halfway genuine for my own sake. I meant every word, but apologizing to someone like Dan was like trying to excuse Hitler of the Holocaust by saying he was ‘misunderstood’.

Dan scoffed at the very idea. “And what the hell makes you think that I fucking care?” Again he did not bother to look up, like looking at his older brother - sister, I had to remind myself - was too tall of an order.

The urge to growl grew in my throat. “Because, asshole, I could have hurt you.” Without my knowledge, my wings had unfurled high on my back and my ears folded. Though I felt anything but timid right now. 

Now that I called him an actual name, Dan finally looked at me. That typical scowl of his turned into a sarcastic-as-hell grin, and he finally took his attention off of his guitar, crossing them over the instrument’s main wooden body.

“Oh, so now you care,” he said, voice dripped with condescension. That grin turned back into a scowl. “You can stop trying to act like Dad, Sam.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not trying to act like Dad, but someone has to keep you in line while he’s busy.” I made my point with a light stomp of my forehoof.

We had had this argument before. Dan did not like that I got on his case for the way he acted, and often thought that I was trying fill Dad’s shoes. Did not help that he was rarely around. I, at least, understood why; his job kept him occupied elsewhere in the country. Shelby understood too, even if to a lesser extent. She was the opposite of Dan, though, as she was just saddened by the situation.

“So what is it that you think you can do now, huh?” Dan was challenging me now, as he usually did. Problem was that I was now at a pretty extreme tactical disadvantage, and trying to intimidate him back down was impossible.

I stayed silent for the moment, considering my options.

Dan answered for me. “Not much, that’s what.” He jabbed a finger in my direction and my eyes narrowed. “You got lucky, and don’t forget it. I’m done being pushed around by you, and you’d best get used to it, missy. Now fuck off.”


-----------------------------------------


“Rotten little… Arrugh!”

I stomped the concrete for not the first or last time just outside the front yard. The ‘apology’ had gone about as well as I had expected, with me completely pissed-off and more than a little red-faced. My wings had mirrored my mood again as they stayed high, and not even a couple more sweet-tasting tulip heads from Mother’s garden could soothe my ire.

I looked at my forehooves and frowned. I was still shaking, ever since I had left Dan’s room and the house. I took more deep breaths and closed my eyes in an attempt to calm myself. The truth that I did not want to admit to myself was that I was not just angry. No, my smaller stature made me a little bit afraid, now. Dan’s words were a thinly-veiled threat, one that I had little doubt that he would act on if he felt it was appropriate… and there was a lot that Dan thought was ‘appropriate’.

I shuddered involuntarily, and summarily chastised myself for it. I hated that I felt this was about my own family, deserving asshole or not.

I growled as my damned eyes started to water. “God-damnit, body! Stop it!” I rubbed furiously at my face. These damned mare hormones are getting on my nerves. Why am I constantly fighting the need to cry now? It was like a bad freaking stereotype or something!

I sighed and just sat there, watching the traffic roll by on this mostly cloudy day.

“Well,” I started to myself. “Look on the bright side, Sam. You’re hated by him no matter what you do…” I sighed bitterly, ears pasted on my head, and said head lowered to the ground. Grappling with this bad mood was getting me nowhere as problems kept nesting themselves on my shoulders. It even felt like I had made no progress at all with this weird-ass transformation and everything.

Right then I wished that Marcus would pull up and whisk me away to have some kind of fun or something. Hell, I would take one of his dumb jokes or pranks - even the shock collar -- to get out of this funk. Ashley and Mom were still folding clothes - or were done, most likely, and were now chatting about more designs and projects. Even so I did not want to bother them. If I brought my problems to them, it would just sour the mood. Mom could handle it, but Ashley was another story and did not need any more negative news. I had to protect her the best I could, even at my own expense.

I sighed and just let my front half droop onto the ground. I groaned aloud and just wanted things to go away. Is this that typical ‘I-want-to-just-disappear’ feeling that I hear so much about?

Damnit!

“All right!” I growled, forcing myself back to my hooves and back into my sitting position. “I need to do something, or I’m gonna drive myself crazy!” I yelled the last word, and that seemed to help a little bit as I looked around for something to occupy me..

… and came up with nothing.

Shit… Just what am I supposed to do? Marcus is off God-knows-where, I don’t want to disturb Ashley and ruin her mood, and Shelby is off with her friend.

I did not revel in the irony of a loner not wanting to be alone. There had to be something! Anything! I looked around at the cars, the other houses, and the very occasional stranger that would pass by on foot.

… and then I looked up.

I glanced back to my wings, then back to the sky as it clicked.

‘... I have not yet given these puppies a real flight yet.’

My dour frown instantly became a daredevil grin. “Oh, hell yes!” Just like Ashley had been practicing with her horn, I so needed to get on my flying! I nearly forgot I was a pegasus, as hard as that sounded.

I set my sights high and stretched my wings wide. The exhilaration was already coursing my veins and I had not even left the ground yet. The mere thought of flying was… incredible.

Drawing on my limited experience, I repeated the same steps that I did at the mall. This would be one-hundred-percent different because I was outdoors with that big blue sky, my only worry would be the clouds. 

I flapped, putting more strength in those initial bursts to get my hooves off the ground, and within no time I left the concrete behind. I nearly wobbled, still not completely used to this whole flying business. I imagined that that would simply come with time like everything else that I would have to get used to.

Before too long I was several feet above the ground, rising a few feet at a time every several flaps. I grinned despite myself, my heartbeat rising and the adrenaline seeping its way into my system.

My God, I’m flying! I squee’d, taking safety in the fact that no one could possibly hear the embarrassing noise even this high up.

Enough of the kid stuff, Sam! I thought to myself and turned my gaze up higher. I drew upon what I watched from My Little Pony and decided it was my best option right now. I flapped harder and tilted myself forward, pushing my forehooves and hind-hooves apart for stability.

Higher and higher I went, the world below becoming smaller and smaller. I had been on planes before, watching as the country became like small toys. But to see it happening before my eyes and by my own power, it was another sensation entirely. By now I was hundreds of feet above the ground, the streets, houses, cars and other stuff far below me seemed so small now. My excitement overpowered any sense of fear or acrophobia. 

“Woohooo!” I cheered, attempting a dive and letting the wind whip at my face and blow my mane back, before angling back up.

My height gave me the safety barrier I needed to not have to worry about smashing into the ground. It was a good thing, too, as I lost my stability every now and again, falling for a few dozen yards before I could right myself. It was panic inducing and I may have screamed… once or twice… but it was worth it! I have never felt so alive in all of my life!

It was definitely a learning curve and I would have to take my time and practice, but it was doable for sure. One thing I thought would be a problem, as I flew higher and higher up almost to the point of the cloud level, was the thinness of the air. As it stood now I was closer to the clouds that dotted the sky than I was to the ground, and I thought it would get harder to breathe, but to me it seemed like it was not even an issue. My lungs fought for breath and my body ached, sure, but that was chalked up to exertion rather than lack of oxygen.

Eventually the white puffs of clouds were almost level with me. They were closer to me now than the ground was. At that moment it seemed like a good idea to rest, my muzzle open and panting as my wings ached uncomfortably. Pushing myself a little further, I went for the nearest cloud.

I always knew that clouds were like icebergs, in that they were supposed to be larger than one would think. This certainly held true as the cloud was as large as a multi-story complex, rather than a puffy fluff of white.

I hummed softly as I was now above part of the cloud. It swirled gently beneath me, like fog but only slower. “Time to see if this works,” I said to myself.

My flaps slowed and I descended gently onto the white body. A better idea seemed to glide down, so I let my wings stiffen and straighten out at my sides. At least if I was wrong, I could recover well before there would be any danger of falling.

My hooves touched down, then sunk for maybe an inch before there was resistance. Actual resistance, like I was walking on snow.

I blinked, surprised that it actually worked. My grin grew wide and idiotic. “Oh my gosh I’m walking on a freaking cloud!” I poked at it with one hoof after another, excited beyond measure that it was really true!

Clouds were made of water vapor, but strangely it did not feel wet. Perhaps it was because the cloud was largely white and did not have a lot of precipitated water in it. Whatever the reason, it meant I could sit down without worrying about getting wet. So I sat down pony style and relaxed, peering over the edge at the world far, far down below.

It was beautiful in a strange kind of way. Interesting to see the ground from so far away, but not be moving at hundreds of miles per hour. There was very little wind, but I was not the least bit cold way up here. I even felt an odd sense of peace, like this was meant to be and I was right where I should have been. Even the restless feeling I had this morning subsided.

This is what I needed. To be in the open air.

I sighed and laid my head down at the edge, watching the very vague details far down below. I did peek, albeit lazily, to see if anyone else had been flying since I could not be the only human that was turned into a pegasus. I already knew I was not, as the memory of the store cashier came to mind. What was her name…? Amanda, I think. Perhaps I need to talk to her a bit more. Like me with Chloe, she could probably use a friend during these weird times.

Mmmm, later… too comfy right now.

This cloud even surpassed the comfort of the pet bed that we bought earlier this week. All I needed was a blanket and I would be, dare I say, on cloud nine. My eyes grew heavy with the desire to sleep, and my wings laxed out to either side as I relaxed.

The world melted away. What little sound there was went with it. The slight chill was of no consequence, chalked up to my fur coat keeping me warm, helped along by my mother’s mended clothing. The vague thought of how impossible this was, the fact that the cloud was supporting my full weight without problem, casually crossed my mind. Nothing about this was right. It should not have been possible. It seemed like it could only be a dream. But there was one distinct difference about this train of thought.

I did not care.

I sighed aloud, taking in the fresh, cool air. Air that likely has not been breathed by others for quite some time, it was so fresh. I could stay up here for hours.

Too bad I can’t just stay here…

I sighed again, this time with a little bit of depression as that inconvenient fact washed over me.

A little bit longer, I told myself in that familiar way, whenever the alarm clock signaled that it was time to get up. The view alone was too good to give up.

My ear twitched and I paid it no mind the first time, lost in my thoughts over Ashley and Marcus, the events of the previous week casually playing through my mind.

Though, when my ears twitched a second time, and then stayed perk did I pay attention. There was a dull rumbling noise, and it was steadily growing louder. By granules over the next several seconds. Curious, I brought my head up and looked around.

As expected I saw nothing. Not a soul was up here with me.

Then what am I hearing? The noise was growing as I looked around again, trying to see what could not be there. It seemed that as time went by the noise got louder and louder. My anxiousness grew, something made my heart beat faster as I stood up, some instinct telling me something was off.

With both ears I tried for a direction, eventually drawn to the thick, white puff cloud next to me. My brow furrowed and I continued to watch.

My ears folded as the noise became a steady roar. Eyes narrowed as they tried to pick out the source. I saw lights. Three in a horizontal pattern.

That almost sounds like…

The coldest chill ran down my spine as the Boeing 747 passenger jet burst from the cloud wall, dispersing the vapor in only seconds. It couldn’t have been more than a hundred yards away.

And it was heading straight for me!

I was frozen where I stood, fear gripped me like a vice. I had never seen a Boeing from the outside before, only once on the inside when the family moved to Italy for a few years. All I could hear was the roar of the engines, and my impending death.

I am not even sure if I was screaming; my jaw was open, my throat hurt, but I could not hear myself. The last moments came and my eyes squinted shut, the last image I could see was he vague silhouettes of the pilots in the cockpit.

This is how it ends…