The Rebirth of Flight

by Lee

Questions and Answers

February,23

1918

3:17 AM

-8 degrees ferinheight

When Méditer began to awake, two things popped into her mind.'Where am I? And. 'Y IS IT SO DAMN COLD!!??' After picking to get an answer for question number one first. The changeling slowly begin to open her eyes and groggily get to her hooves. *BUMP* "Ow....got to admint I'd pick having chitin over skin any day." After rubbing the spot where she bumped her head she comes to a realization. "Where in the world am I at?" Wiping the last bit of sleep out of her eye. Méditer looks around to she that she's in a box or chest like container made of wood. That instead of having a lid, it's covered by what appears to be a small blanket which is nailed or tied down to stop the most of the snow and the vicious wind from getting in.

"Y is a chair built into a chest?" Looking around Méditer starts to doubt she's even in a chest. Observing around she can see she's nearly wrapped around a metal pipe or stick poking out of the chest...or whatever she's in. Other then that she spots cables and thick wires on the side and even under her that connects the metal stick, various other parts and what appears to be a strange piece of wood that has indensions where someone would put there hoove or paw. Pushing on the left side of this strange stick making it move away from her, the right side comes towards her as some of the thick wires below her begin to pull with each motion she makes on the wooden stick. Her mouth agape she does the same to the metal stick but finds it can circle around as if she was mixing pancake batter, to her amazement, cables and wires all around her begin to pull, strain and loosen to her will.

Moving from her spot to crawl into the chair and forming into a ball, which left no room as her front left leg was left to dangle over the side of the chair, clearly it wasn't met to fit the pony or changeling body. Glancing up, her mouth fell agape once more as she saw five to seven gauges with numbers and markers of all kinds from one saying fuel in bold letters to others that she couldn't even describe. Atleast it was nice to know that humans used modern equestrian language and numbers, even if she had no idea what they meant. Méditer looked over from some of the gauges to see other brass colored instruments that she couldn't even discribe, infact she wasn't sure if even train engineers could identify them. Looking back down under the gauges but above the floor she spotted two big dirty gold colored circles held in place by black braces. Before she could even wonder what they where one VERY important question popped into her head. 'WHERE IS REGINALD!?'

Once learning that the blanket was tied down by to two loose rivets over a strang looking window and two loose rivets that where on the outsideof the pit she was in.The chanegling the proceeded to until the blanket, careful not to rip it. Méditer then began to neatly fold the small blanket before placing it on the seat. "Atleast the wind and snow stopped. And I thought Equestria had annoying wheather." Jumping onto the very top of the strange flying contraption, next to a weird metal thing which, to Méditer's surprise, it had a dirty gold colored circle thing stuck to it that was just like the ones inside the wooden pit. "REGINALD WHERE ARE YOU!!" Méditer yelled but got no response. "Well he'll come back when he wants to I gues-" Méditer was cut off by the sound of something impacting the snow with a. *THUMP*

Sniffing at the air wildly trying to locate any emotion or scent coming from a creature or predator dumb enough to mistake her as prey, she barely catches the scent of a certain black skinned human along with irritation. Looking down towards the source of the noise. The changeling spots a tan colored panel in the snow followed by Reg climbing out of the front of his strange machine. If Méditer had skin her nose would have wrinkled at the strange new scent that adorned her new friend. The human has slightly covered with a black fluid on his right arm that somehow oh most covered his entire scent.

"Mornin." Said the ace in a lazy tone, clearly she had awoken him. "Sorry for the smell but it was either sleep on the wings and freeze to death or behind the panel next to a warm albeit leaking oil engine...or atleast it was warm when I could finally go to sleep." Reg then proceeded to pick up the panel that had fallin of the plane walk back to the hole he slept in and tighten it back on with a screwdriver he had takin out of his sleeping hole.

"It's fine, sorry for waking you up so early." Méditer said with an apologetic smile

"Pffft, you thank this is early. Try wakin up at around 2:30 every single day when it's even colder than it is now." While tossing his screwdriver back into the machines pit, turning to face Méditer. "And to top that flying at over 150km/h, while also possibly gettin into a dogfight with some hot shot german."

"Dogfight?" She asked

"The new term for air-to-air combat. It's also the only form of combat that has any chivalry or honor left in it." He says while messing with the bottom of the chair, only to hear a *CLICK* before pushing the seat up to the control stick.

"Ummmm... what are you doing?" Asked Méditer as she leaned over from her spot on the 'wing' as Reginald put it

"Me and mah pal Harry, or Rachet has most of us call him made alot of modifications to mah girl here." He said proudly with a smile to match, patty the machine on it's back. "And one of mah favorites is the storage compartment behind the seat which has cables that hold down a few boxes. The box im getting right now has some drinks and food inside, want some?" He asked pulling a box out off the pit before opeing it and setting it on the machines back.

"Judgin by the size of those fangs you got inside ya mouth I assume you don't eat apples tho?" He said, taking a bite of said fruit, taking a seat on the back of the snow covered machine while raising a brow.

"Well I can, but I perfer bananas if im going to eat a fruit."

"If your going to? So you do eat meat." He said while reaching for a bottle of-

"BOOOOZE!!!" Yelled the changeling as she dived on the bottle like a hungry lion would its prey, snatching it out of the humans grip.

The ace could only stare at his hand where a certain bottle USE to be. After staring for about 2 minutes he turns over to see a content changeling relaxing against the tailfin of his plane, with hind legs crossed holding the bottle sky high with both hooves gobbling down the alcohol like she hasn't had a drink in three days.

"Damn....." Deadpanned the ace as Méditer continued to drain the bottle like a thirsty vampire would to its victim.

"So about you eating meat?" Still no response.

"Yo, earth to Méditer you there?"

*GULP* *GULP* GULP* *GULP* *GULP* *GULP* GULP* *GULP* *GULP* *GULP* GULP* *GULP*

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhh." the changeling finally through with her vicious murder of the bottle, lazily tosses it aside and into the snow. Resting and crosses for forehooves on her stomach. "That..........was........amazing. BUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRP!!!"

"Excuse me." She said giggling

After giving a light hearted laugh the ace once again repeats his question. "So what kind a meat do you like?" Méditer pondered to herself if she should tell the pilot that changelings eat emotions but decided that was for another day.

"Birds." She said calmly. "preferably eagles, hawks, vultures and crows but I have yet to eat a breed of bird I havn't liked yet."

"Ah, i've had crow before back home but I perfer shell fish over anythang." There was a small pause in the air but before Méditer could kill it the ace beat her to it. "Hey can I ask you somethin, its sorta been buggin me sense last night." pointing at her with apple in hand.

"I don't see why you can't, ask away" She was more the ready to answer any questions but she still had alot of her own, but as before her friends come first.

"Only me, my parents, Charlie and my docter know I have cracks in mah skull, so if the rest of the guys of the 103rd dont know, you sure as shit shouldn't." He said, not in an angry or distrust tone but a curious one as he lowered both his brows, as in trying to figure out an algebra equation.

'CRAP' she thought. "Ummm...well...remember when I told you it took me a while to fix all of those cracks?" She asked sounding guilty, to which the pilot took note.

"Yes and I ain't mad acha just curious. And I also woke up with no pain on the right side of my lower jaw, which hasn't happened sense 1898."

"Well my mother taught me healing magic when I was fifthteen and I sorta perfected it as much as I could, especially when I met Rash when I was eighteen." She paused letting loose a sigh 'I don't see why I shouldn't trust him and even if he does try something I can take him.' "He loved stunt flying and often got himself hurt which is where I came in." She finished her sentence to see the ace slowly nodding, taking in the fact that magic wasn't some cheap trick or a make believe tale. Throwing away his apple remains into the snow, he turned to Méditer for her to continue. "Anything else you would like to know?" Now she could smell not only gratitude but respect and happiness, which she gladly help herself to.

"Anythang you're comfortable with i'd love to know." He said with very little excitement. But he couldn't full the changeling, he was practically leaking of excitement to the point he might have burst if it were possible. After holding down a giggle, which took much more effort then you may think. Méditer begain explaining all the basics.

"Well you already know I can do healing magic, but my mother taught me how to fight like a changeling which is mainly illusions and trick. Our bodies are built to protect us from danger, so we can take alot of physical damage, but were not to good at dishing it out. A smart changeling will trick and let an opponent weaken his or herself before we go in with weapons, be it a sword, spear, axe, magic or even our own hooves. A changeling thats a soldier either a illusionist or morph class always learn to polymorph their forelegs into weapons, the most common and easy being a big blade." Which she then demonstrated, much to the aces amusement before reverting her hoof back to normal. To a human it was be like a pitch black small calvary sword as if it was built for a child, but that doesn't make it nonlethal.

"I'm gona assume the morph class get higher training in that profession?"

"Yes, they get about five or six years and are much better at it. Your a soldier to?' She ask, changing the subject.

"Aviator, to be more specific i'm a fighter pilot. What we're sitting on is a fighter plane or a french SPAD 7.C1 to be more specific." He says with pride, rubbing the back of the plane, knocking off the annoying snow.

"I've been meaning to ask you some questions sense yesterday, do you mind?" She ask trying to do the puppy eye trick, which was in vain do to no pupils.

"I guess but." Holding up his left arm sliding back his coat to reveal a watch. "We'll have to do it quick, sun's bouta come up and I still need to get back to base before the right me down as KIA."

"How much magic does this........ fighter plane use?" She ask, excited that she can get some answers on this strange technology.

"Don't use magic." He said flattly. "Human tech runs mainly on combustion, cars, ships, subs, and planes all run on fuel and other fluids." To the ace's surprise, the changeling had a slight look of disbelief but then quickly disgarded it and begin to ask away.

"What other modifications did you and your friend make?"

"Rivets to tie a small blanket over the cockpit so rain or snow can't harm the cockpit, which is where you slept if shes gota stay outside, an extra gun on the top wing for extra firepower, the compartment I told you about, adjustments to the tail and wings to enhance maneuverability and made it WAAAAAY faster then a stock model." Wiping the oil off his side with a rag he pulled from his jacket. Reg begain to walk over to the compartment to take inventory on spare parts as he put away the box he had takin, as Méditer spoke back up

"Wow." She said dumbfounded. "You must really love flying your plane to spend all that time and effort." She said with a small smile.

"Never did care for flying that much. I just wanted to get away from all the bigots, and I love having this much power at my disposal, and to boot even that I can serve and protect my country while doin it, whats not to like."

"You could die."

"Only a fool would sign for the air core and be scared of death. Besides i'm gona meet the bastard some day, no point in bein scared of him." He said, matching her smile while pointing a wrench at her. "Comon instead of walkin i'm just gona fix the brokin hoses. Oh and take this last bottl-" The ace was cut of but a black flash passing through his vision. Turning to see the changeling laying down, her back agianst the wing while murdering her second liquid filled victum. "You'd make irish proud." Chuckling to himself while bringing over the spare parts needed to repare the plane.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the late update been busy with the same junk plus christmas.

Going to go on the web and research all the English and grammer leasons that have been ponded outa my head sense freakin algabra came along and butt raped my mind

And of course MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Comments

[1st Lieutenant Dave]

nice little story

[Wasko736]

4114421
Agreed. It's picked up my interest.