//------------------------------// // Reprieve // Story: Love and Tolerance // by Final_Draft //------------------------------// Love and Tolerance My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic © Hasbro & Lauren Faust By: TOO S0BER --***::: Chapter 15 :::***-- Reprieve Dead! I am so dead! I knew I had to move, but I couldn’t! I was a deer in headlights and that was almost very literal! The roar of the plane bore down on me, blocking out everything else like a megaphone directly next to my ear. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t breathe. Either I had stopped screaming when my throat gave out, or did so when I curled into a ball on instinct, a futile attempt to protect myself from the inevitable. This is how it ends… I’m sorry, Ashley, Mom, Shelby… everyone… Something slammed into me, and then a deafening whoosh tore at my body from above. Something else compressed me, and I felt as though I was falling. No, wait, I was accelerating? Faster than I would have been if I was falling. Huh? I blinked my eyes open and was met by half my vision obstructed by fur. Steel-blue fur. I blinked again and now noticed I was hugged close to another pegasus equine’s barrel, and looked up to the pony’s muzzle. A short-cut, emerald green mane whipped around in the accelerated wind with dark, daring eyes and an equally confident smile. The plane soared above me as it continued on, unaware that it was spared from having a red splat-stain named Sam on its nose. He glanced down at me, the angular muzzle giving away his gender as well as his voice. “That wasn’t too smart, girlie,” he joked. My cheeks flared and I grumbled at being called ‘girlie’. God-damnit… “Okay,” I spoke up tersely. “You can set me down now.” My mystery savior nodded and moments later he plopped me down on another nearby cloud. This one much smaller but with enough room for the two of us, yet small enough that we would easily see anything else coming, provided it wasn’t directly below. I sat up and dusted myself off as he landed next to me. He chuckled, amused as he tilted his head. “Should keep a better eye out when flying less than a mile from the airport, girlie. Planes tend to not be very gentle.” I frowned and stared at him. “Yeah, I noticed. Can you not call me ‘girlie’?” “Why not? You’re a mare, aren’t you?” He chuckled again and sat down near my side… perhaps a little too close. I had to bear it for now, though, because if I tried to scoot away I would fall off the cloud. And with my body still quite shaky, that was not a good idea. I must have had a gallon of terror-induced adrenaline running through my veins. I rolled my eyes at the semi-obvious statement. “Yes…” I growled softly. He merely took this in stride and chuckled. “Why so uptight…?” He leaned over and bumped his side into mine. I smiled a little bit, despite myself. I hummed and glanced down. We were high up, sure, but not so high that we were at cruising altitude. He saw me looking and must have guessed. “The plane was in takeoff. I was watching it go until I saw it about to hit you.” I nodded. “Makes sense.” I then looked over at him and smiled gratefully. “Thank you, by the way.” He smiled back while looking directly into my eyes. “You’re welcome.” I smiled the same, then blinked. “Wait, in takeoff? But we’re on a cloud. Shouldn’t we have been much higher than that?” He hummed at that, then nodded. “You’re right, but…” He lifted his hoof and pointed upwards. I followed his hoof and looked. Above us was another cloud layer higher up, and various other clouds at different levels. I always thought that clouds stayed at relatively the same altitude. Was I wrong? Somehow the prospect seemed unsettling, like the very idea was all kinds of wrong. “Oh well,” he continued as he lay down on his forelegs. I wanted to do the same but I just could not do it. “It’s a nice view, huh?” he then asked. I looked out over downtown Tucson. It was no New York or Las Vegas, but it was still a sight to behold; especially so far up and not in the confines of a (deadly battering ram) airplane. “Yeah, it is.” I relaxed some as everything seemed to brighten in the face of such a simple pleasure as enjoying a breathtaking view. Warm memories of our family trip to the Grand Canyon came to mind. Shelby ohing and awing at the rock striations and the sheer size of the famous hole in the ground. Dad had managed to snag a vacation and Mom set up the whole trip, and back when everything was perfect. It seemed like that was the last time that we were all happy with each other. Something soft came to a rest on my back. I blinked and glanced behind me to see a steel-blue wing stretched over my back. Aaaaand suddenly the peaceful serenity was replaced by all kinds of red flags and warning sirens. “Gyah!!” I jumped and scrambled to the side, then nearly fell off the cloud. With a grunt I caught myself on the cloud’s ledge and stared back at him. He stared back, surprised at my reaction until he came to his senses and offered to help me up. I politely declined as my face burned, then used my own wings to hover back up and settle on the cloud, this time a little farther away. Once my heart had calmed down again, “Please don't do that.” He quirked an eyebrow at me and his ears folded back. “Sorry, I was just…” I cut him off as lightly as I could, “No, no… It’s okay, I just…” I trailed off to reconsider. Should I even tell him? “I’m…” He waited patiently for my response and I reflexively bit my lower lip. “I-I just…. Uh…” Now I could not find my damn words! It was as if a cat had jumped up here, purred ‘mine!’, snatched my tongue and then ran off. What do I say? Oh, I’m a transgendered pegasus mare that used to be a human male and I don’t swing that way. Yet, what if I am stuck like this, which may very well be the case? With this in mind, does that even matter now? I sighed deeply and stared down at the far away ground in bemusement. “It’s complicated,” I finally answered with a whisper. I do not believe he got the point -- at least not fully. “Well, must be bad news for a girl to tell me that,” he lightly joked, though there was still an ere respect. I huffed only a little bit. For a time we sat in silence, admiring the view and watching the daily activities of the ‘ants’ far below; because that is what they looked like from way up here. After a while I noticed something. “Say…” “Hm?” He asked softly. “How long have you been flying? I don’t see any other pegasi up this high yet.” “Oh.” He perked up and then sat up. I followed. “I started the very first day, when --” “You woke up like this?” I softly interjected with a knowing smile and he nodded in turn. “Yup.” He spread his steel-blue wings high and wide, and I noticed mine were smaller by comparison -- but not by much. “Ditched everything because I wanted to get up here. I feel a sense of freedom that I have never had before now.” I nodded and could not help but agree, though something stood out that seemed amiss. “Wait. You ‘ditched everything’?” He nodded again as he folded his wings back down. I waited for him to elaborate. “Parents passed on when I was young and I went to foster care. No other siblings, and plenty of friends that weren’t really friends.” He paused with a small sigh. Oh… My ears bent back at this news, even though he seemed at peace with his decision. “So you’re not going to go back? What if…” I paused. “What if you could change back? Would you?” My thoughts went to Ashley as I asked and the possibility of having her again. I still was not sure what I would do if that possibility became a reality or not. He shook his head readily. “No, I don’t think I would if given the choice. Mine was a mundane and boring life, and I’d rather have something more.” He looked back to me and smiled softly, one that I returned after a little bit. The soft roar of another jet in take off -- this one a blessed distance away -- drew our attention. “We probably shouldn’t stay up here for too long,” he said as he stood up on his hooves. “The thinner air we could probably get used to, but not right off the bat, girlie.” He gave another smile. I gave a nod, knowing that he was right about that. I also made a mental note to get myself used to said thinner air. The last thing I would want is to lose consciousness mid-flight. “That’s true,” I answered in kind and was about to leap off, when I paused. “What’s your name?” He opened his muzzle, then closed it as he was left to his thoughts. He glanced back to his spread wings and smiled. “A new life needs a new name. Mind calling me Steelfeather?” I chuckled. “Might want to give the name a little more work, but sure, Steelfeather.” He smiled in turn and I offered my hoof. “Mine is Sam.” I could have used ‘Samantha’, but I just was not ready yet. Steelfeather ‘shook’ my hoof with his own and we laughed at the awkwardness. For once I did not mind the lack of fingers, as it ended with something light-hearted and fun. “Well, I’ll see ya around, Sammy.” Steelfeather gave a short wave, then lept off of the cloud and dived back down to Tucson below. “Bye!” I shouted after him, only slightly miffed about being called ‘Sammy’. Seems I am just going to have to get used to the female connotations of my name… That got a sigh out of me before I took my own leave of the cloud. I’m sure Mom and Ash are wondering where I went.