Bermuda Beginnings

by ScarFox9700

Chapter 23: Coming to Terms, Long Term Options, and the Last Night

Once Taylor had finished getting over his severe shock at just becoming the first human in history to ever get a cutie-mark, he pulled his pants back up, and crawled back out from underneath the wing. Once he was standing up again, he looked at the others who were still present.

"So, what do we do now?"

Redheart and Starlight looked at each other.

"Well", Redheart said at last, "I guess we head back to Canterlot to spend our last night before returning to work at the hospital again."

Taylor looked down at the grass. He knew that this day was coming, but now that it was upon him, he felt very sad.

"Well", he said slowly, "I guess this is going to mean that I'll have to find a house of my own to live in. That'll definitely take some doing."

Redheart put her hoof on his shoulder. "Not if you come and live with Starlight and I."

Taylor looked at them. "Are, are you both being serious right now?"

They both nodded. "Yes. We have a spare guest room that you can stay in."

Taylor nodded. "Yes, that should do very nicely. Plus, my being a human with technical skills should make finding me a job somewhat easy. Maybe this could work out."

The two nurses began making arrangements for this, and Taylor turned back to Stinkin' Rich. "Well Mr. Rich, I guess now would be as good of a time as any to buy a few jars of you zap apple jam now. Unfortunately, all I have on me is $3.75 in American currency. Now, I'm not a money expert, but I'm going to guess that American currency doesn't have any value here."

Stinkin' Rich nodded. "Yes, I'm afraid that you have gotten that right Mr. Taylor."

"Well then, what do you guys use for currency? Maybe we could figure out the exchange rate."

Stinkin' Rich reached into a pocket on his overalls. "We use Bits. It's a gold coin."

Taylor looked at it, as did Celestia. After a whole lot of calculating, which got officials from the Ponyville Bank involved, it was eventually determined that one Bit roughly equaled $1.33 in American currency.

"And how much is a jar of jam Mr. Rich?"

"Um, it's 2 bits per jar."

Taylor did the math in his head. "Well then, with these rates, I'll by one jar of zap apple jam, and it'll cost me $2.66, which'll leave me with $1.09, which I'll keep as keepsakes, since that'll be the last American currency that I have."

As the exchange was being done by the bank tellers, Stinkin' Rich asked, "Um, if you don't mind my askin' what is American currency called?"

"Oh, well we use both pocket change, and paper money, with the paper money being back up by the Federal Government's gold reserves. The smallest coin we use is called a penny, and it's worth one cent. It also takes 100 cents to make a dollar, which is the smallest paper bill in circulation. After pennies, you have nickles, which are worth five cents, then dimes at 10 cents, and quarters, which are worth 25 cents. There are also silver dollars, which are worth one dollar in paper money. Then for bills, there are 1$ bills, 2$ bills, 5$ bills, $10 bills, $20 bills, $50 bills, $100 bills, and even $500, and $1,000 bills."

Taylor then looked back at Stinkin' Rich. "Um, does any of this make any sense to you at all?"

To Taylor's surprise, he nodded. "Yes, actually it does. I am a business pony, money is my job."

After Taylor had been given his Bits, he gave them to Stinkin' Rich, who in turn gave him a jar of zap apple jam.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you Mr. Taylor. We'll have to do this again some time!" He tipped his hat to Taylor.

Taylor nodded. "Yes, we just might. Anyway, thank you again for the jam, and I guess that I'll see you around Mr. Rich."

"Yes, I hope that you will. Goodbye Mr. Taylor."

"Goodbye Mr. Rich."

He then left to return to his business, and Taylor and Celestia returned to retrieve the plane. To their surprise, when they returned, Iron Company had already pushed it back to the train station, and were waiting with it alongside the Airplane 8. Taylor then folded the wings back up, and they all waited for the train to Canterlot.

As they were waiting, Taylor walked with Ensign James back to the hospital.

"That was an amazing flight Mr. Taylor. Oh, and congrats on your butt-picture, or whatever it's called."

Taylor groaned. "It's called a 'Cutie-mark' James, not a 'butt-picture'. And thanks, I guess."

"Yeah, now I kinda wish that I went with you. Maybe I would have gotten a Cutie-mark too."

Taylor shrugged. "It's possible, I suppose. However, I do know that one day, you'll probably get yours too. What it'll look like, God only knows, but I feel fairly confident that you'll get yours."

James sighed. "Yeah, maybe. I just wish that I was out of this hospital. I almost feel well enough to walk, but the staff won't let me yet."

"Well, you had three cracked ribs, large and deep cuts, plus a concussion. Those are all considered rather serious James. A few more days of recovery should be in order first."

"Yeah, I guess that you're right Taylor."

Once they reached James's room, Taylor said goodnight. "Goodnight James, I'll be back to see you in the morning."

"I guess so. Let's just hope that I don't have another dream like I did last night."

Taylor looked at him curiously. "What do you mean James?"

"I mean that last night, I had the strangest dream of my life. It began with us in Blue 1, only this time, Cole was with us as well. We were flying along, when all of a sudden, we were attacked by these black, bug-like creatures....." James then explained his whole dream to Taylor. "....And that's how it ended. I don't know what any of it means."

Taylor looked at him with a worried expression on his face. "I don't know what to think now either James, because, truth be told, I had almost the exact same dream!"

"What? Are you for real?"

Taylor nodded. "Yes, except, that my dream had a different ending. I saw the pink Alicorn, as well as the figure standing next to her, but in my dream, standing on his other side, was a yellow-furred mare with orange eyes, and a mane and tail that were flame colored! Standing just behind them I saw a she-wolf that stood on two legs, a girl with reddish hair, and green eyes, and a unicorn stallion with white fur, blue eyes, and a blue mane and tail. To me, they all seemed like a big, happy family, however, that was the catch."

"What do you mean Taylor?"

"I mean that I think that they were all in some kind of polygamous union, or something."

"What?! Why do you say that?!"

Taylor shrugged. "Call it a hunch, but I'm pretty sure that because of what I was seeing, they were in a polygamous relationship."

"What could all of this mean Taylor?"

Taylor shrugged again. "Sadly, I don't know James. These could just be dreams, but two people, having almost the exact same dream? That makes me kinda suspicious."

Now it was James's turn to look confused. "Suspicious of what Taylor?"

"Suspicious that God may be showing us what's to come."

James shook his head. "Oh goodness! If that's what's to come, sign me out!"

"Yeah, I know what you mean James. I guess that we'll just have to keep our eyes open, and see what happens."

James nodded, and after saying goodbye, Taylor left once again, and headed back to the train station.

---

While Taylor was waiting for the train with the others, somepony walked up to him.

"Um, excuse me, but um, are you Mr. Taylor?"

Taylor turned to see who had spoken to him. He saw a young stallion with blue fur, a grey mane and tail, golden eyes, a leather jacket with a white scarf, and a cutie-mark of a pilot's helmet with goggles.

"Yes, I'm Mr. Taylor. Who might you be?"

"Um, my name is Wind Rider. I live up in Cloudsdale, but I heard that you were coming to Ponyville to test your flying machine, so I decided to come watch you fly."

"Oh, and did you enjoy the show?"

Wind Rider nodded. "Oh, yes sir. I enjoyed it very much. So much in fact, that it got me thinking. Up in Cloudsdale, there's a great team of aerial stunt flyers called the Wonderbolts. They're the greatest flyers in all of Equestria, and my dream is to one day be able to join them. I'm a great flyer, but I don't know if I have what it takes to be the best. As you can see though, I can dress for the part, just like you!" He gestured to his jacket and scarf. "However, I would like your advice. From one flyer to another, do you think that I have what it takes to be a Wonderbolt?"

Taylor looked down at the young stallion who reminded him so much of himself. "Well, young Wind Rider, I can't tell you what to do, or not to do, but I can tell you this. Don't ever give up on your dreams. Also, don't listen to your critics. Just because somepony tells you that you can't do something, doesn't mean that you really can't do it. Being the best means proving yourself, showing what your're really made up. And never, ever, no matter what give up without trying. You want my advice? Go for it. If you think that you have what it takes to be a Wonderbolt, go and prove it to them that you do. Even if you fail, you'll know that you tried."

Wind Rider looked up at Taylor, and saluted. "Sir, yes sir! I'll look into trying to enlist right away!"

Taylor nodded, smiling. "Yes, and I can tell, young Wind Rider, that you may be destined for great things one day."

Just before Wind Rider left, Taylor also gave him a copy of a picture that was taken earlier that day of him in front of his TBF Avenger. He signed it, and also wrote on the back, "Never, ever give up on your dreams. If you think that you can, never stop trying until you succeed. Charles Taylor, 1945."

Wind Rider would take that picture, frame it, and keep it close to him for the rest of his life. Even though his reputation was later ruined, he would always think back to what Taylor had told him.

"I really did it, Mr. Taylor. You were right to believe in me. I just wish that I didn't disappoint you."

---

Once they were all back in Canterlot, Taylor helped the Airplane 8 move the plane back down to the workshop, so that it could be worked on again. The 8 engineers sensed that something was making Taylor sad.

"What's wrong Mr. Taylor?"

Taylor looked at them. "Well guys, as hard as it is for me to say this, I think that our time together may be coming to an end."

"What? What do you mean?"

Taylor sighed. "I mean that now that the plane is completely restored, and we have a way to make fuel for it, and I'm heading back to Ponyville tomorrow, this time to stay, I really don't see how you can continue being the 'Airplane 8'."

They all saw the dejected look on Taylor's face.

"That might be the case Mr. Taylor, if it wasn't for what Princess Celestia told us on the way back from Ponyville."

Taylor looked at them curiously. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it seems that a little birdie told us that somepony was very interested in having airships and zeppelins that could move under their own power."

"Wait, so are you saying that....."

"I'm saying that in a few months time, a workshop will be opening in Ponyville. The purpose of this workshop will to be to build and test new powered engine designs for these airships and zeppelins. The workshop headquarters will still be in Canterlot, but Princess Celestia told us that we're going to be the ones staffing the new workshop in Ponyville!"

Taylor was so choked up, he didn't know what to say. Metal Work said it for him. "Princess Celestia also told us that we were going to need a leader. Somepony who would have very good knowledge of how these engines worked, and could work with us to build and test them."

"Are you saying that.....?"

"I'm saying that if you and Ensign James are in need of jobs, then the workshop's hiring!"

"Yahoo! Sign me up! Oh, this is going to be so great! I'll have a job helping to build the future of Equestria! How could I ever say thank you?"

The Airplane 8 looked at him, and smiled. "Your face is more than doing that Mr. Taylor. But I guess that a group hug would work fine too."

Taylor smiled, and without much more adieu, they all hugged.

"Wow", Taylor remarked when they broke the hug, "You guys are quite the bunch of incredible coworkers. It was my genuine pleasure to help you restore my aircraft, and it will be my pleasure again to be able to work with you in Ponyville on the new engines."

"Just as it was our pleasure to help you with that restoration Mr. Taylor. And we too look forwards to being able to work with you in Ponyville as well."

A few minutes later, after securing the workshop once again, they all closed it up for the night, and went their separate ways, all vowing to return the next day, and hopefully fix the aileron before Taylor had to leave with Starlight and Redheart for Ponyville.

---

Once Taylor had made it back upstairs, he was met by Redheart.

"Hey Taylor?"

"Yes Miss Redheart?"

"Um, I was wondering if you, um, well...." She was blushing. "Wondering if you would like to um.....take a walk with me, maybe?"

Taylor looked at her. "Sure, if that's what you want Miss Redheart."

A little while later, the two of them were walking through the streets of Canterlot, just taking in the sights, and to do their best to remember everything about it, as that night, marked their first date. This first date would lead to others, which would eventually lead to......

The author looks up from his writing. "No, I don't think that I should spoil this part yet. It's still a bit too early for that. Plus, I still have to tell the story of the couple of days or so."

The author then gets back to work.

Author's Note:

Yep, here it is, Chapter 23. I'm sorry for it being a day or so late, I had personal commitments to take care of. I also apologize if this chapter, as well as some of the ones that come after, seem rather weak. Truth be told, I had the full story written, but from the end of Taylor's flight, all the way up to his helping to defeat Nightmare Moon, remained little more than storyboard concepts. Why did I do this? Well, truth be told, I never really saw this story going anywhere, that is, up until I finally decided to post it on Fimfiction. I've begun improvising, and it seems to be working ok so far, so maybe it'll reach it's destination without much incident.

However, I also want to point out now that the next couple of chapters will also cover events from the rest of the 1940's, through the 1950's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, and early 2000's leading up to 2006, where the central action reaches it's climax. So if things seem a little wonky, I'm just going to say now that I, as your author, am trying to squeeze a lot of events over a period of almost 60 years into one coherent story.

(Also, one more thing to note, who is "The Author"? He's writing Taylor's biography, and has been mentioned several times throughout this story, but who is he? And why does he seem to bear an eerie resemblance to the human-like figure in Taylor and James's dreams? Well, I'll tell you. "The author", is me! Who am I though? Well, now is not yet the time for my story to be told. It's still Taylor's time to shine. Do not fret though, my time will come soon enough!)

Meanwhile, as always, comments, feedback, and of course sharing my story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all again in Chapter 24!

ScarFox out for now!

Comments

[Starscribe]

8535509
Well, as fun as stories are, don't forget that the chief purpose of something like this is to entertain. I may not know what fictional people want or don't want, but I can tell you what makes for a good story and what will bog it down.

For my part, I'm trying to give the advice I wish I'd been given when I started writing. Those lessons that were so hard for me need not be so for you.

[ScarFox9700]

8535523
Well, thank you for the encouragement Starscribe. However, you just made a massive jump from Chapter 9, all the way to Chapter 23! That simply cannot be done! You'd better get back to Chapter 9, or Chapter 10 if you prefer, and keep reading and commenting on my story from there. If you don't, then I just might have to send Princess Luna to come get you in your dreams! 😏😝

[Starscribe]

8535573
" Also, a dick-waving contest? "
Yes, that's the term for a contest like that. Basically when two people who are on the same side have a contest of masculinity for no reason. It doesn't literally mean genitals are involved, though it's named after the behavior of some animals who literally do just measure penises.

[ScarFox9700]

8536504
Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Although, I did call part of this chapter, "Masculine Stupidity", so it kinda speaks for itself.

[Starscribe]

8539329
I'm happy to have helped. And I'm glad you see what I mean. It's not that Christianity is a bad thing, just make it serve the story in the future. You can have Christian characters, just don't have a Christian narrator or a Christian plot. If that makes any sense.

[ScarFox9700]

8539378
Hello Starscribe,

Well, now that I've gotten over bashing myself over this, I think that I've finally come to terms with all of this. I know that it'll help my writing in the future. Anyway thank you again, and I hope that you enjoy the rest of my story! I really enjoy reading your comments, fixing things, as well as explaining things further/coming up with explanations for things. Hang on though, things are about to get interesting in Chapter 16 onward. I hope that you enjoy.

[Starscribe]

The beginning of this chapter is OCD to the max. No dollar amounts, please. Give us abstractions! All you have to do is say that he traded some american currency for bits and leave it at that. An exchange rate is an absurd concept--those are set between governments typically, and have to do with market forces that just don't exist. His currency has no value except as an alien keepsake--which is a high value, really.

Yikes, this section just keeps on going. It's extremely boring to your readers. We know the values of currency, we don't need to read about it. "Taylor explained how american money worked." is enough for us.

Also, the encounter makes no sense. Princess Celestia has probably spent thousands of bits funding this. Renting out whole cars to transport this thing, paying a team of eight of the best engineers and more of the best chemists. Buying replacement parts, which probably had to be custom made.

Princess Celestia spends thousands of bits to fund this, but for some reason she just looks away and whistles innocently when she could've paid pocket change and rented out a testing site. #inconsistancy.

"I mean that last night, I had the strangest dream of my life. It began with us in Blue 1, only this time, Cole was with us as well. We were flying along, when all of a sudden, we were attacked by these black, bug-like creatures....." James then explained his whole dream to Taylor. "....And that's how it ended. I don't know what any of it means."

More wasting the readers' time. We already read about this dream, so we don't need to hear about it again. Just say "James explained his dream." and get right back into the action.

Taylor shrugged. "Call it a hunch, but I'm pretty sure that because of what I was seeing, they were in a polygamous relationship."

That isn't even a concept that existed in his time period, at least not so far as the people who lived in the US were concerned. I feel like this whole section is the narrator feeling compelled to tell us more story that hasn't happened yet, and has nothing to do with what we're reading about right now.

"However, I would like your advice. From one flyer to another, do you think that I have what it takes to be a Wonderbolt?"

I don't think this question makes much sense at this stage. This is how you'd talk to someone famous you trust. One flight that failed almost immidately is not enough fame for this. MORE TO THE POINT, he hasn't seen him fly. How the heck is he supposed to know if he's got what it takes?

Wind Rider would take that picture, frame it, and keep it close to him for the rest of his life. Even though his reputation was later ruined, he would always think back to what Taylor had told him.
"I really did it, Mr. Taylor. You were right to believe in me. I just wish that I didn't disappoint you."
(Wind Rider would always regret the decisions that he would make later in life that ruined him, but one day, he would be given a chance to redeem himself.)

NOPE NOPE NOPE! You had such a sweet moment and the narrator ruined it again. Really, take that sign about never telling the future and glue it to the wall right next to the computer. Any time you feel tempted to do this, EXTERMINATE, EXTERMINATE, EXTERMINATE right out of your book.

The Airplane 8 looked at him, and smiled. "Your face is more than doing that Mr. Taylor. But I guess that a group hug would work fine too."

And for once, you're actually giving us too LITTLE detail instead of too much. In this scene, if I didn't know better, I could've thought that Airplane Eight was the name of a single pony who for some reason liked "they" pronouns. They speak as a collective constantly, which is really weird.

And again on the last section. If you really had to include it, you could've done...

A little while later, the two of them were walking through the streets of Canterlot, just taking in the sights, and to do their best to remember everything about it, as that night, marked their first date. This first date would lead to others, which would eventually lead to......
The author looks up from his writing. "No, I don't think that I should spoil this part yet. It's still a bit too early for that.

The scene should've cut right there. That's where the part that matters to our story ends. The rest of it was the author not able to keep some future story in his pants. Save the future story for the future and write THIS story now.

[ScarFox9700]

8545861
Hello Starscribe.

*Sees a wall of text* Here we go again! Brace for impact!

First of all, yeah, maybe I kinda overdid it with the American currency. At times, i start an idea, and can get carried away with it. I'll try and do better in the future.

Yeah, a lot of money was spent on the plane. However, the train that transported it was the regular Express. The gondola car was used for freight that was used in the express, and it was seen in the show, under a section called "Deleted Scenes". (Yes, this was a joke. I'm just trying to say that a gondola car isn't so far fetched, and that the train was running it's regular route, with the plane, Taylor, and everypony else with them.)

However, Taylor believes in doing things for himself. He oversaw the plane from day 1, and he made the deal with Stinkin Rich, so he knew that he was going to have to pay for the jam himself. Thus, enter the scene with the exchange rates.

Yeah, and i tried to keep this a brief as possible. Obviously, I didn't keep it brief enough.

Would it make you feel any better if I told you that i wrote this scene while I was 3/4 asleep, and with an empty head?

He asked for advice, and Taylor gave it. However, maybe Taylor should have rethought his answer.

DELETE, DELETE, DELETE!!!! (I fixed this, you're welcome!)

This was a serious problem that I ran into while writing this story. I needed a group of engineers, but yet, they were not central characters, and would slowly be phased out as the story went on. As such, I created the Airplane 8. I eventually gave them names and roles, but left most other details blank. They are important, at least for now, but by later on, they will just be a footnote. I've tried to find a balance, and can't quite seem to pull it off.

*sighs, takes a pair of scissors, and cuts that section of story off to save it for later.* *raises right paw* I, ScarFox9700, do solemnly swear to never make this mistake again. The Author maybe will make a few more cameo appearances, but only for one sentence at a time. *Lowers right paw*