Engineering an Alicorn

by Alicorn_Avionics

Grounded

“Twilight... you got... a delivery,” grunted Spike as he staggered into the library, overladen with a large, craft-paper wrapped package. Twilight looked up from her desk as a late evening breeze dragged a few dead leaves over the threshold.

“Who's it from, Spike?”

Spike dropped the heavy burden from his shoulders and onto the floor at Twilight's hooves before pulling a deep blue envelope from underneath the tightly-bound twine. Owlowiscious quietly ruffled his feathers in response to having his sleep disturbed by the loud thud of the package hitting the floor. On the center of the envelope's face in simple calligraphy was the instruction of: Please deliver to Miss Twilight Sparkle. Four white stars, one large and three smaller, set in a pyramid occupied the top-left corner.

“It's, uhh, from... an astronomer?” he guessed, motioning the envelope in Twilight's direction.

“Hmm... this can't be from any of the princesses or Shining,” she mused, noting the lack of any official Canterlot seal.

Twilight opened the envelope to find a letter written in the same simple script:

Dear Miss Sparkle,

I am deeply sorry your recent appeal to the Counsel of

Cloudsdale to acquire literature pertaining to the dynamics of pegasus

flight has unfortunately fallen on deaf ears. As one of the premier

knowledges on flight, I wish to share my condolences. It is a shame the

Counsel denied your request, but I will not stand for it. I wish to spread

my knowledge so others may benefit, not have it stifled in a city that does

not appreciate the value of shared learning.

On that note, I am delighted to say that I am willing to send you a

copy of every book you requested. Enclosed here is a copy of my most

detailed textbook, encompassing all aspects of pegasus flight, and within

the next week, I shall personally deliver the remaining books to your home

in Ponyville.

I eagerly await making your full acquaintance.

Sincerely,

Corsair Udvar-Freis Vought IV

Twilight drew in a sharp, excited breath. Tatters of the wrapping began flying everywhere as Twilight eagerly tore into the package. Piece by piece, the title came into view, embossed in gold underneath a pegasus in full flight.

“'Corsair U.F. Vought IV's Complete Guide to Pegasus and Alicorn Flight: From Buzzing to Bolting?'” Spike read from over Twilight's shoulder, “Why do you need that? You gonna sprout wings, or something?” He chuckled at the thought.

“No Spike, this is for Rainbow. She's been practicing for the Wonderbolts' open tryouts next month, and Applejack and I agreed to help her get ready.”

“So, you've been waiting for this to be returned?”

“No, we don't have a copy of this in the library, or at least we didn't until now.”

“Why not?”

“Because all texts on flight can only be found in Cloudsdale. Not even the Canterlot Royal Library has flight texts, aside from those Celestia and Luna own themselves. For anyone outside of Cloudsdale, they have to petition the Counsel to allow them to borrow a copy of a text.”

“Oh yeah, I remember you had me write that, what, like two weeks ago?”

“Yes, but I got their denial the next day. I wanted to ask Princess Celestia if she could persuade the Counsel to let me borrow the books I needed, but I feel as though that would have been an abuse of my personal relationship with her.”

Spike rolled his eyes.

Typical Twilight, he thought.

“Wait, if the Counsel denied your request two weeks ago, then why did we get this?” he asked, motioning to the cinderblock of a textbook.

“Somepony named 'Corsair Vought IV' sent it. I guess he's the librarian of Cloudsdale, or some 'professor of flight' from the Academy.”

The textbook began to glow as Twilight's magic took a hold of it. She gritted her teeth in concentration as she struggled to lift its weight. After straining for what felt like hours, Twilight released the book upon her desk, which promptly uttered a disconcerting CRACK as the supporting beam of the desktop split almost completely in two.

“Geeze, you gonna read that whole thing tonight? It's already eight.” Spike asked, glancing up at the clock in the corner.

“No, just the first five chapters Spike, they shouldn't be too long. It is just a textbook, after all.”

* * *

Owlowiscious pulled open the curtains to the window above the weakened desk. A disheveled Twilight groaned as she shielded her eyes from the harsh brightness of the late-morning sun. Her mane was a frizzy mess, not helped by any means by the parchment affixed to her cheek from where she had slept. Candle wax from what remained of the stumps of candlesticks had filled the crack in the center of the desk, which had miraculously held up to Twilight's head crashing down as she gave into the demands of sleep the night before.

She lifted her head from the desk, uttering a groan as she attempted to straighten her back. Her back felt unaligned with her neck, which was twisted awkwardly after having been slumped over her now partially broken desk. Disorganized stacks of parchment, each covered front and back in notes and technical sketches, littered the floor around the fractured desk. The textbook, which had avoided being stained with ink from an upset ink pot, remained open where Twilight had dozed off.

I never thought a textbook would have chapters over 100 pages in length... She thought as she peeled the parchment stuck to her face away. She noticed the smear where her face had made contact, and frowned when she realized there would be a similar smudge on her muzzle. Twilight glanced at the clock, her frown deepened into a scowl.

Nearly ten-thirty... and I promised Rainbow I'd critique her flying at one! I must get these notes finished, I can't let anything else distract me. They'll be a real asset.

Twilight gathered another fresh ream of unused parchment, as well as another new pot of ink and settled in behind the splintering desk and began to read from the top of the next page:

Section I: Pegasus and Alicorn Anatomy
Chapter 4-8: The Pain Response

As discussed earlier, pegasi and alicorns differ greatly from
earth ponies and unicorns. These differences can be found
within the nervous system as well, even in the pain response.

When compared to earth ponies and unicorns, fully developed pegasi and alicorns have twice the pain threshold than their flightless counterparts (See Table 4.21). This trait allows for a fully developed pegasus
to land safely after a mid-air collision or after straining the pectoralis muscle in high altitude flight. Unfortunately, this also means an injured pegasus requires twice the painkilling medication of a unicorn suffering from the same ailment. See Appendix 4.8 for a list of known painkillers formulated for pegasi and alicorns.

Important note: While a pegasus or alicorn may use standard painkillers by doubling the dosage with no lasting physical effects, it is not recommended that a unicorn or earth pony use painkillers formulated for pegasi and/or alicorns, as an extreme overdose will occur. Symptoms of an overdose include-

Twilight's second study session was interrupted violently by a familiar cerulean pegasus crashing through the large window, bifurcating the wooden desk, and colliding with Twilight, sending the pair sprawling out into the middle of the library's foyer. Whatever organization Twilight's notes had prior to the crash was lost as they scattered in every direction, mixing with shards of broken glass and splintered wood fragments.

Now fully awake, Twilight slowly scraped herself off of the floor, her sore back the farthest thing from her thoughts.

Nice shot, Applejack... she grumbled sarcastically under her breath, it's not like you could launch Dash in any OTHER direction, right? No, that would be too-

Twilight stopped her personal tirade short as a soft cry caught her attention. She looked back towards Rainbow, only just able to prop herself up on her hooves. Her right wing dangled uselessly at her side, although occasionally twitched as Rainbow tried unsuccessfully to fold it back into place.

“What happened, Rainbow? Another bad launch?” Twilight asked as she carefully trotted to her friend's side, avoiding the minefield of glass shards.

“No, well yeah, but I-I think I broke something,” Dash eked out through gritted teeth, “I heard something pop- then I c-couldn't use my wing... oh, don't touch it!”

Twilight drew back her extended hoof. “Dash, let me see it, I'll be careful.” Gingerly, Twilight took hold of the limp wing. “It doesn't appear to be broken anywhere. You prob- oh, dear Celestia...”

Twilight stared at the heavy bruise running down Dash's side, from the junction of the wing to her chest. An obvious dimple filled the space, with a lump of muscle bunched into a tight ball under the skin just above her sternum. The area around the bruise had already begun to swell.

“Oh, this is bad, this is bad, this is bad! Spike! Spike?!” Shoot, that's right, he's helping Rarity today! “Wait here, Dash!” Twilight sprinted off to her medicine cabinet and grabbed a bottle of Ursa, her aspirin of choice. Once back at Rainbow's side, she took out a single dose before remembering her earlier reading and popped a second dosage into her hoof before extending it towards Rainbow.

“Here, take these. We need to get you to the hospital now. I'll leave a note for Spike for when he gets back, and then we'll go.”

“I-I can't take all these...” Dash started, pushing away Twilight's aspirin offering. Tears had begun to well up in her eyes from the pain.

“No. Dash, you need all of them. These aren't formulated for you. One dose isn't going to take the pain away.”

Rainbow reluctantly swallowed the pills as Twilight furiously scribbled a note describing the current situation for Spike.

“Alright, let's go before that gets any worse.” The two set out for the hospital, with Twilight holding Dash's injured wing to keep it from dragging through the dirt.

* * *

Twilight glanced at the clock in the waiting room. Dash had immediately been moved in for surgery, although it had already been three hours since Twilight saw her friend last. The whole staff seemed to explode into a frenzy of activity when Dash explained the popping noise.

“So, ya think she's gonna fly again?” Applejack finally spoke. She had arrived a few minutes after Dash had been taken in for surgery, breathless from her sprint from the fields. Both she and Twilight had sat in silence since. Twilight turned to reply, but was interrupted.

“Twilight, Applejack,” Nurse Redheart called, “Come with me, you may see Dash now, but try not to excite her. She's still working off the anesthetic.”

They followed her to Dash's room. Rainbow was sleeping in her bed, her right wing bandaged so as to prevent if from flaring out. Twilight stared at the linear bald patch that stretched along the area of the bruise she had noted earlier, the result of the recent surgery.

“How bad was it, nurse?” Twilight asked, still fixated on the line of fresh stitches.

“She suffered a Class III strain to her right pectoralis muscle.” Nurse Redheart noticed Applejack's look of confusion. “The muscle which powers her wing's down stroke snapped into two pieces, hence that 'popping' noise she said she heard. We had to surgically re-connect the muscle fibers. It's not too common we see an injury of such magnitude. It's a good thing you got here as soon as you did, we were almost able to save the whole muscle.” With no further questions coming from Twilight or Applejack, she left soon after, citing the need to tend to her other patients.

“Ah knew ah shouldn't a let Big Macintosh launch her...” Applejack mused angrily to herself.

Twilight was just about to fire back a response about responsible launching when a deep, jubilant voice sounded from the door, startling Rainbow from her sleep.

“Ah, Miss Twilight Sparkle! How good to finally see you!” The three mares turned to see an older pegasus standing in the doorway, a look of excitement spread wide across his face. His wing tips, a deep blue like the rest of his body, touched the edges of the doorway. A goatee accentuated his mane, which was dark blond and windswept. He had obviously been flying from far away, because his bright blue eyes looked tired, yet sparkled with excitement at finally meeting the pony who so eagerly wished to learn more about how his kind flew.

“Your little assistant said I'd be able to find you here. Shame he hasn't gotten his wings yet, he'll be one heck of an asset once he does, I'll tell you that!” As the mystery stallion trotted in, Twilight took note of his mark. It was the same four white stars she had seen accentuating the envelope she had received with the book, although from the larger star sprouted a pair of wings, curving upwards to surround the other three.

“Ack! M-mr. Vought?!” Dash, who had been too dazed before to see who had woken her, turned pale at her sudden realization. “I, uh, can't make it back to the Academy, sir. Bad wing a-and all. Well, nice catching up, you should go now. NURSE!”

“Wait, wait, wait. Ms. Sparkle, I thought you would be eager to speak with me.” Corsair responded.

“'Miss Sparkle?'” Twilight mused with a confused expression upon her face. Applejack covered her mouth with her hat to keep her snickering from being heard across the room, but it wasn't enough.

“Is Ms. Sparkle's reaction amusing to you?” Corsair asked flatly. This only made Appljack laugh harder.

“No, but you mistakin' a pegasus fer a unicorn sure is!”

Corsair did a double-take between Dash and Twilight. As he put two and two together, his face sank into a frown.

“You're Ms. Sparkle?” he asked, this time addressing the real Twilight. His voice remained flat.

“Yes, and I'm assuming you're the Corsair Vought that sent me the book?”

Corsair let out a defeated sigh. “Yes, unfortunately I am the Corsair Udvar-Freis Vought IV that sent you the book. I was hoping somepony who could actually use my information would be receiving it though, not some unicorn who doesn't know the first thing about flight looking to expand her personal book collection.”

“What? No, I wanted your books so I could help my friend improve her flying for the Wonderbolts' open tryouts next month.” She said, motioning towards Dash, who was now trying to get as far from Corsair as she could without leaving the hospital bed.

Corsair looked over Rainbow before letting out a chuckle. “Well, it's obviously a wasted effort. Was this injury a result of your 'training?' Even if she'll fly again, it won't be for several months! And just look at her pinions!” Dash cringed as he reached out and plucked a feather from her left wingtip.

“They appear to be roughly 20% shorter than what they should be, making any advanced maneuvers extremely difficult, if not outright impossible until she completes the next, I'd say, three to four molts.” He turned to Dash directly and asked in an endearing tone, “My dear, one pegasus to another, when was your last molt?”

“T-two months ago, sir...”

“Ah, yes, well, they've come in splendidly. You've been preening them very well, I might add. Now,” He turned his attention back to Twilight and Applejack, returning his voice to its flat tone, “I'd say that size discrepancy is due to lack of a proper diet. You, earth pony,” He commanded, singling out Applejack, “You grow the food around here, what do you provide the pegasi with?”

“Excuse me? Jus' because Ah'm an earth pony means Ah'm responsible fer everpony's food? Ah may be a farmer, but Ah'm not responsible fer anypony's meals but mah own! It's their responsibility to git their own food!”

“Ah, but we pegasi control the weather! You earth ponies owe it to us to provide our diets as we see fit!”

Applejack took a menacing step closer to Corsair. “Boy, yer gonna be on a liquid diet when Ah'm done with you!”

“Stop it, both of you!” Twilight intervened, stepping between the two. “This is no way to act!”

“Hmm... you're right, Ms. Sparkle. I could injure a wing like your friend here and be stuck down here with you lesser ponies.” he stated motioning towards Twilight and Applejack. “Unless you've been holding back on your friend here, Ms. Sparkle.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“I'd expect as much from a unicorn. You have all of those books on magic, and not a single spell to heal her. Your 'magic' is not practical in the least!” He cast a snide look over his shoulder, “I, and all pegasi have a truly practical gift: wings!” He flared his triumphantly to emphasize his point.

“I do know of a spell for-”

“Morning-Dew wings? Please. Some other moronic unicorn tried that already at the last Best Young Flyer's competition. Nearly fell to her death when the magic failed. Pity she didn't. It took a pegasus, one of my old students, to save her, you know. Anyway, as I was saying before you interrupted me, natural wings provide the best mode of locomotion, nonpareil! No machine can match the speed, maneuverability and elegance of a skilled pegasus!” He made another snide gesture towards Twilight as he turned to leave. “So unless you find a spell in one of your useless magic books to make you sprout feathered wings and become an alicorn overnight Ms. Sparkle, you'll never be at a level to speak to me. Good day.”

He paused at the door, and without looking over his shoulder said, “Oh, and one more thing: you may keep the books, Ms. Sparkle. I wouldn't want them back in my library, anyway.” With that, he departed.

Twilight's eye began to twitch as her train of thought thundered through her mind at a breakneck pace. Its firebox, stoked into a raging inferno by Corsair's blunt insults, kept the boiler fit to burst. Twilight continued to seethe quietly, glaring at the open door as if Corsair would return at any moment, ready to launch another volley of insults against her species.

“C-can we get a nurse?” Dash reluctantly broke the silence, “I think I popped a stitch.”

Comments

[Snowstreak]

"...unless you...become an alicorn overnight..."
Oh, you just watch her.
I just hope it's a good idea...
img.ponibooru.org/_images/a1c5eccba24c6555a5cc65a05c94ef3c/11803%20-%20Alicorn%20pegacorn%20pegasus%20rainbow_dash%20twilight_sparkle%20unipeg.png

[Sunchaser]

Wow. Somepony has been too shut into his office and missed all the Hearth's Warming memos over the past few centuries! Just about pitch perfect foil to set off Twi's unstoppable side. Looking forward to more of this =D

[Gwenio]

Pinkie Pie needs to be set on this guy, he seriously needs a party!

This looks like it will end well.

[Firefinder]

'Corsair U.F. Vought IV' I see what you did there change some words around and you get the Vought F4U Corsair a great World War 2 naval fighter. It was one of the fastest prop plane of the war. And one of the toughest both to fly and to shot down.

[PinkPearl]

AWSOME!! update soon? *sniffle* ah ain't one fer patience but ah love a good story an' this one got me hooked

[Alicorn_Avionics]

930008 I'll update as soon as I can, although it might take awhile. Glad to see you love it!

902205 I was wondering if anyone would catch that. Keep a lookout for more aeronautical references later on, some will be more hidden than others!

To everyone else: Wow! I had no idea it would so well-received, it being my first piece and all! Thank you all for the faves!

[Scarlet Key]

OK, that guy is a total flankhole. In fact, he is so bad, I'm almost ready to change my OC. Almost.
And that must have hurt, Dash.