Feather Steel

by Cold Spike

Chapter Thirteen

Feather groaned and glanced around, trying to dispel the weariness from his body. He shifted slowly, and craned his neck around, hearing a rather satisfying crack. Outside, he could hear the birds chirping and making their music.

It felt surreal to him. He had stepped into a parallel universe where mornings weren't filled with urgency and worries, and the feeling was new, hard to grasp. There was even warm, welcoming sunlight that bathed their room in a tranquil way that felt calming.

The old habits were still there, the fleeting thought that he had to hurry and get out of there, but then his memories caught up with him. Nopony was home, he had nowhere to be and he had no reason to leave. The initial anxiety spike that would normally come after sleep, and his usual morning routine, was no longer a spike, but an easily ignored bump. For once, he felt calm. How odd.

Next to him, he heard a very quiet yawn. Scootaloo started mumbling to herself and smacking her lips as she slowly woke up, more peacefully than even Feather had. Feather let himself smile, though he quickly hid it away when he saw Scootaloo roll over and lock eyes with him.

Scootaloo tilted her head. “What?”

“I dunno,” he admitted. “I, uh, feel weird I guess.”

She cracked her neck like he had and slowly stood up to stretch. “Good weird or bad weird?”

He blinked and shrugged. “Is there a difference?”

“Duh. Just ask Pinkie, usually, with her, it’s a good weird.”

He nodded and almost felt silly for agreeing since he seemed to know what she meant. “I guess it's a ‘good’ kind of weird? A lazy kind of weird?”

“Lazy? Dude, whatever,” she waved her hoof, brushing off the comment. “I want breakfast. We can hunt some down, and-- wait! What time is it?!”

The spike of adrenaline and anxiety rushed back. “We’re gonna be late for school! Let’s-! Oh…” He straightened up, taking a breath to calm himself again, bringing a hoof to his chest. “Wait, why do I even care if I’m late? It’s not like-”

She interrupted him by slapping his hoof back to the ground. “I care and if you get in trouble then adults will notice, stupid. Now,” she paused and quickly donned her helmet,” let’s get going!”

Rolling his eyes, he started searching for his bag. “I guess it’s not a breakfast day?”

She sighed and righted her scooter. “Do you have a watch?”

“Yes.” He found his bag and started rummaging around inside it. “Though I’m not one hundred percent sure if the thing is set right.”

He glanced behind him and saw Scootaloo glance out at the rising sun. “Well, we can always guess. If you’re lucky, we’ll have time to grab some grub from a food stand or something.”

“Please be on time…” he mumbled and kept rummaging. Finally, his hoof felt a cold metallic piece that dangled off of a bronze chain. He fumbled with it a few times and quickly got the watch open. “I think we have time, it’s still seven-thirty, if this is set right.”

“Fine, we’ll grab food quickly and get to school.” She waited for him as he carefully placed his bag back on. “If you’re wrong and we’re late, I’m blaming you,” she stated.

“Food first, blame later,” he mumbled, hunger growing with his annoyance. He could feel the insides of his stomach going mad.

He hopped onto the back of her scooter and stood behind her while hanging onto her torso and she scooted away from the strange mansion. Out of curiosity, Feather glanced back, wondering if anypony was really watching them, but he sensed nothing. The further they went, the better off he felt about the whole situation. He almost wished he could feel that good all the time. No looking over my shoulder, no worries. It feels so… nice. He wanted to smile but grimaced instead. But he knew, deep down, that it just wasn’t possible.

Still, he glanced back at Scootaloo, it was something to admire, that she didn’t have much more going for her than he did, but she always seemed to stay happy. He wished he could stay in Ponyville, but it would never work out, not in a million years. I’ll have to hit the road eventually. It’s already getting really weird with Twilight and she’s basically onto me.

The scooter came to an abrupt stop at what seemed to be a food stand in an outdoor market. Blinking, he saw a new pony that he didn’t recognize, a mare with an orange coat and a dark red mane, and several delicious looking pies. He could smell the pies too, all warm and fresh. “How early did you get up to make all these?”

“Got anything for breakfast?” Scootaloo interrupted, surprised that Feather would just ask a casual question while they were in a rush. “We’re in a hurry.”

“Warm turnovers! Pastries with filling, just perfect for breakfast.” came the cheerful rehearsed line. “One per bit for a bite! Or, well, for a whole pastry… One bit per turnover, I don’t charge per bite, that would be- I’m still workshopping it. They’re one bit each!”

The two foals stared for a moment, and the mare withered under what she felt was the judgemental gaze of two ponies who could do better in their sleep. Instead, the confusion of two young children led her to the brash reaction of shouting, “Oh, get out of here, I’m working on it!” and throwing the nearest item, the pastries in question.

Feather and Scootaloo barely had time to catch them, but they did, and quickly retreated from the stand, shouting in unison, “Works for us!”

Leaving the scooter leaning against a tree in the market, they continued their journey on hoof, walking as fast as they could while eating their dubiously procured breakfast.

“That’s not technically stealing, right?” Scootaloo asked, sniffing at her turnover.

“Haven’t we both done actual stealing?” Feather reminded her before taking a bite of his. Apple, not surprising, it seemed to be in everything around here. “What flavor did you get?”

Scootaloo took a bite. “Strawberry,” she answered with her mouth full.

“Lucky.”

They finished their breakfast well before making it to the schoolhouse. But they started seeing the other foals, many with their guardians, headed the same direction at a relaxed pace, and happily kept the same. At some point, Scootaloo caught sight of her friends and met Sweetie Belle’s eyes. The unicorn filly waved then met eyes with Feather and shook her head. Sighing, Scootaloo shoved past Feather and joined her friend, and the pompous looking white unicorn mare accompanying her.

Feather continued the walk on his own, finding it odd that he eventually caught up to somepony else walking alone, Diamond Tiara. Without hesitation, he walked over, smiling, though he didn’t realize it. “So, you’re walking alone too?”

“Sup?” She asked, ignoring his question.

“Uh, not much.” Feather may not have noticed when he started to smile, but he noticed as it went away. “Scootallo and I just got breakfast.””

“I can see that, half of it’s still on your face.”

He wiped his face, dislodging crumbs and flakes of pastry. “It was good though, this pie stall mare threw some turnovers at us, maybe you should try them, come with us tomorrow?”

“Pfft! Pie for breakfast? Sounds like a good way to get fat.”

Feather stood there in shock. Was she annoyed with him? And, who in Celestia’s name would refuse something as important as food? “Uhhh, what?”

“C’mon, fat feathers, school’s a-waitin’.”

“What did I do?” He grumbled quietly, then spoke up. “I thought we were done with the nicknames.”

She glanced back with a frown and sighed. “...Sorry,” she mumbled and cantered up ahead without looking back.

He rushed up alongside, but kept his mouth shut. It didn’t seem like she was upset with him, but he still didn’t like it. He felt a little weird that he even cared, he certainly wouldn’t have cared before, but maybe he could try and cheer her up? He wanted to cheer her up. He looked over, offering a small smile as they walked.

Diamond saw, and shook her head. “Weirdo.”

School seemed rather uneventful for once, it had barely been a week and Feather could already feel that it was routine. A vague memory of what it once felt like to regularly attend class resurfaced and he recalled enjoying it, but not always having a great time. Still, it wasn’t the worst thing in the world, he figured. That was until recess hit.

As the foals started scrambling out of their seats for the freedom of the great outdoors, he was stopped by the teacher. “Feather, wait a moment,” Miss Cheerilee called.

The colt froze in his tracks, glancing towards the door, watching everypony else escaping into the sunlight, and calculating his chances of making it out if he ran. He caught the eye of one of the other colts, who silently mouthed, “it was nice knowing you,” before ducking out with the other foals.

Feather couldn’t remember ever interacting with him before, but before he could contemplate it long, Miss Cheerilee was standing over him.

“Twilight stopped by early this morning and dropped this off for you.” The teacher dropped a small, neatly rolled parchment on his desk. “Now, you have a fun recess, your friends are waiting.”

“My friends?” Feather looked over, Scootaloo, Diamond Tiara, and the colt from a moment ago were peeking back through the door, at least, until Scootalo shoved the colt away, then it was just her and Diamond Tiara. But, even they ducked back outside when they saw Cheerilee look over. “Ah.”

Feather got up, chuckling nervously. “Better not keep them waiting then?” He headed for the door, only to stop, head back and grab his saddlebags, head for the door, then repeat the process for the note, and hurry out again. Once he was out the door, before he could even blink away the harsh change in light, he felt himself being grabbed and carried away.

“I’m sorry!” He panic-screamed, as he was dumped to the ground at the base of the playground tree. “I didn’t mean to steal the pastry!”

Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara — his apparent captors — exchanged glances, and Scootaloo put her hooves up. “We didn’t steal anything, she threw them at us of her own free will.”

“Whatever,” Diamond crossed her hooves, “Just, spill, what’s in the letter?”

He glanced down at the parchment scroll he had clutched to his chest, realizing he was flat out in the dirt. “You do realize that I haven’t even read this yet, right?”

Diamond swiped the note, ignoring his shouts and scrambling to get up as she unrolled it.

“That’s stealing,” Scootaloo pointed out.

“That’s rich, coming from you,” Diamond pointed out.

Scootaloo shrugged, and looked over at Feather. “She’s got us there.”

Feather snorted angrily as he tried to dust himself off, getting especially annoyed at a dead leaf that just kept sticking. “I don’t care, that’s mine, give it back.”

“Fine, Mr. Cereal Thief, here you go,” She rolled the parchment back up and hoofed it over. “It was nice knowing you.”

“What are you talking about…” Feather trailed off as he unrolled the letter.

Feather,

I hope this letter finds you well. I wanted to invite you over for a very special lesson this evening after your job is done. If you can, I’d love for you to bring your father over, if he’s not too busy. A very special guest will be joining us as well. A royal guest.

Twilight Sparkle

“Dude, that’s a trap,” Scootaloo said, reading over his shoulder. She snatched it up, reading it again to see if she had missed anything, even flipping it over to check the back before offering it back to Feather. “It was nice knowing you.”

“Everypony stop staying that!” Feather rolled the letter up tightly, working it in his hooves and grumbling. “What are we going to do about this?”

“I could tell her you died,” Diamond suggested, “she’s pretty trusting, I bet she’d believe me.”

“Yeah, but, then what? I just keep avoiding her or something. Forever?” I need her to help me with my machine!

“So, not dead, but maybe hurt?” Scootaloo suggested, “In the hospital and can’t make it tonight?”

“Are you crazy? she would go to the hospital and check!” Feather crossed his hooves, leaving all three of them sitting under the tree, hooves crossed, and thinking way too hard about lying to the local librarian. “It needs to be something she can’t check.”

“Or something she can check,” Diamond offered.

“Like getting hurt for real,” Scootaloo mused.

“No.” Feather groaned. “Why is it so much work to think up a good excuse?”

“That’s it!” Scotaloo shouted, making the other two jump. “Just say you had tons of extra work at your job.”

Feather chewed the inside of his lip and thought about it. “That could work. But what about that part about the guest? You don’t think she means P- Princess Celestia, do you?”

Scootaloo and Diamond both burst out laughing. Feather shot them a rather dirty look and waited for their giggle fit to die down.

“Dude, Princess Cadance is still in town. She probably meant her. Why in the heck would Princess Celestia want to visit some bookworm like Twilight? Get real.”

“One princess already knows her,” he pointed out.

“Yeah, but she used to be her foalsitter I think… plus, I mean, she’s not really a princess. Last I checked, she doesn’t raise the sun or moon.”

He sighed and nodded. “This is probably a trap--”

“Yep!” Scootaloo interrupted.

“I really shouldn’t go,” he mumbled mainly to himself.

“That’s the plan,” Diamond reminded.

Feather groaned and glanced back to his saddlebag. “But I have to.”

“Well, if you think-- Come again?”

Ignoring her raised eyebrow, Feather pulled his bag close to him, rubbing some dirt off of it. “Twilight may have a way to help me fix this thing and she’s making me a special part. I can’t just ignore her until I get those things. To me, it’s worth the risk.”

Scootaloo smacked her hoof into her face and slowly brought it down. “It’s your funeral, just leave me out of it, please.”

“I will. Erm, she’s the one that married that Gleaming Armor guy, right?”

“It’s Shining Armor, but yes. Why?”

“With the changeling invasion?”

Scootaloo slowly nodded and quirked a brow at him. “Yeahh….”

“Everypony knows that,” Diamond pointed out, “right?”

Feather smacked one hoof down into the other as it clicked. “Then, I have a plan. This should be easy.” He got up and pulled his saddlebag on with renewed determination. “See ya!”

Scootaloo slowly shook her head as he trotted off. “Weirdo.”

Diamond shook her head along. “Where is he even going? This is just recess, we still have class after this.”

---

Feather had been halfway to the bakery before realizing he left way too early, and had to rush back to school. Luckily, Miss Cheerilee seemed more amused than upset by the circumstances. Still, the stunt had earned him some extra homework.

Even more luckily, it was easy work, and Feather quietly finished it at school before class let out for real. And, now that he was at the bakery, work was going just as easily. He had quite nearly finished his work and gave a slight smile as he mopped the last of the floor tiles to a shine. He felt a tad silly, but seeing Mrs. Cake’s bakery looking spotless from top to bottom instilled in him a sense of pride. He couldn’t do much to help with whatever was keeping the bakers busier than usual in the kitchen. But he’d done most of the cleaning work with zero help because of that, and felt that it was a great deal of effort.

Then he glanced over to his saddlebag, sitting in the corner, with his device safely within. He looked back to the bakery’s cleaning supplies and frowned and shook his head.

“Dearie?”

Feather whirled around at the voice, forgetting the wet floor he slipped, but Mrs. Cake caught the colt easily. “Oh, careful, dear. Didn't mean to make you jump, but I was just gonna say you’re finished for the day. We got so busy, we kind of forgot you were still out here mopping away! Thank you so much for helping out.” she hoofed him some bits for his trouble.

Feather beamed and pocketed them in his bag. “Sure. Thanks for the bits!”

“Of course. I even left you a few extra for making sure the place was extra spotless.” She winked at him.

Feather blushed and thanked her again. It felt strangely pleasant to do a good job. He donned his device bag, as he liked to call it, and darted out to go see Twilight.

He considered just bailing and waiting for the princess to leave town, but then sighed and shook his head. “She’ll just think it’s even more suspicious, besides, I’ve got a plan.” He nodded, trying to reassure himself. “I’ve got this. Better get it over with, now.”

He glanced toward Twilight’s library and tapped his hoof on the ground over and over. Looking up through one of the library’s windows he spotted Twilight’s shadow seated across from a familiar-looking alicorn mare. He stepped inside and put on his best smile.

“Feather! Come in, come in! We were both just talking about you,” Twilight exclaimed and motioned for him to take a seat on a nearby cushion.

He nodded and quietly took a seat in between them.

Princess Cadance smiled down at him and he smiled back with his mouth hanging open and his eyes wide.

Before either could say anything, Feather spoke. “You’re so tall!”

Cadance broke out giggling. “Is that why you were staring in class? Of course I’m tall, it comes with the territory of being royalty,” she exclaimed while using a free hoof to fluff her bangs.

Feather leaned back in his cushion and smirked. “And being an Alicorn?”

Princess Cadance blinked and nodded. “That’s what I said.”

“Riiiight.” Twilight coughed to garner their attention. “Anyway, we were just discussing your progress in--”

Feather leaned down toward Cadance's hooves and, without warning, rubbed her shiny looking hoof regalia. Their golden shine reflected his face back at him. “Do they ever get annoying to wear? They look heavy.”

She examined them on her hooves and nodded with a slight smirk. “Oh, they do. Trust me, nothing feels better than ending the day, tossing these off, and taking a long shower.”

Twilight sighed. “As I was saying, we wanted to discuss your home life and your progress in school. Princess Cadance was interested in you as she takes pride in seeing foals of Equestria excel in their studies.”

Feather glanced between the two and slowly nodded. “So, she wants to know about me? About my personal life?”

Twilight cleared her throat. “Well… I didn’t--”

Princess Candance, without thinking, nodded. “Yes, that’s exactly what she meant. We wanted to question you not just on your studies, but about your home life--”

For perhaps the fifth time, somepony was interrupted. “Did your horn grow larger when you became an Alicorn?”

The princess blanched.

“Wait, were you born one? Was your horn always that big? Like, did Baby Princess Candance pop out of her mother’s womb with that gargantuan horn? What about your husband? He’s got a normal-sized horn. Do you ever think it’s too small?”

“Feather! That is not--” Twilight tried to interrupt.

“What’s he like, anyway, Shining Armor? Are you glad you married him?”

Princess Cadance moved her mouth as if to say something, but in that moment she couldn’t really think of anything coherent.

“I mean, you don’t have foals yet so I was wondering, is all.”

Twilight stood up and stamped her hoof on the wood floor, hard. “Enough! Feather, those are very personal things to ask…”

Feather nodded and shrugged. “I bet. They sure sounded personal.” He finished with his head resting on one of his hooves while smiling at Twilight.

Twilight stood frozen while Princess Cadance chuckled, bringing a hoof to her mouth to hide a grin. “I like this one. But, how about we just discuss classes and schoolwork for now. Is that okay?”

Feather smiled and gently put down his saddlebags before digging out one of his history books. “Sure!”

The remainder of the evening was spent going over boring homework and some extracurricular activities which Twilight was more than eager to bring up. A few involved social studies and lessons on friendship which caused him to roll his eyes several times. But one of the topics was on engineering.

Twilight smiled and nodded while hoofing over a canvas bound book with a golden etched title.

“The Principles of Reciprocating Engines?”

“Yes, it’s a brand new book that has recently been submitted to the Canterlot Publishing House. It’s not even in circulation yet and I was provided an advanced copy. It’s very advanced stuff and I thought you might find it intriguing.”

Feather flipped through the book and saw intricate drawings of advanced machinery that he’d never seen before. Some detailing pistons for what seemed to be steam engines only smaller. “You want me to have it?” he asked, his mouth hanging down while his eyes widened in amazement.

“Yes. Not to keep, mind you, but I trust you, Feather, and I’ll let you borrow it.” Twilight leaned in. “Just be sure not to show anypony else but us for the time being as it's still under review from the Royal Unicorn Society, and this copy may need to go back with some notes before it gets a full printing.”

Feather slowly nodded and felt a warm feeling envelop his core. He smiled back at Twilight and then beamed down at the book.

Princess Cadance stood up and yawned. “Goodness. I should probably get back to Shining before he worries. Twilight, it’s been fun and same to you, Feather.” The princess walked to the door, stepped outside and stretched. “Until next time.”

Feather waved as the princess took flight, and couldn’t help but feel amazed at how quickly, how effortlessly, she took to the skies. It really wasn’t fair. How easy it looked, shouldn’t he be able to do that much? He glanced down to his missing wing and scowled.

Why was he the only one that was broken?

“Right, well, it is getting late and I’m sure your father would want-” Twilight stopped after looking down at Feather. The colt was frozen in place, staring at where the princess had taken off. “He’d want you home at a decent hour, right?”

Twilight moved a little closer, and repeated herself, “Right?

Feather snapped out of it, and looked up. “Huh?”

Twilight froze for a moment. “Hey,” she said softly, “it’s ok.” Not knowing what else to do, she gently wiped away the tear running down the colt’s face. “You did good today, Feather.”

Feather jerked back from the touch, bringing his own hoof up to rub at his face.

Am I crying?! He sniffed loudly, cleared his throat, and blinked several times, surprised by the sting it caused. “Oh, right. Erm, thanks.” Feather gathered up his things in a hurry, and quickly packed everything into his saddlebags, making extra sure to include his newly acquired book.

Twilight took a step towards him to help, but he stepped away just as quickly, nearly tripping over himself, and bumping into an end-table. She would have asked if he was alright, but by the time she thought of it, he was halfway to the door at a full sprint. “Have a nice night,” she said as he opened the door. She jumped as he slammed it shut. “Feather.”

“Thanks, you too!” Came the overly cheerful, not convincing reply from the other side of the door, followed by hoofbeats as the colt ran off.

“What just happened?” Twilight asked herself. She couldn’t think of anything she might have said to upset the colt, but something was clearly wrong. Why did he suddenly run off?

Twilight checked to see if the colt left anything behind that would give her an excuse to check back in with Cheerilee, or maybe even drop by Feather’s home to return it. She quickly found a book, over by the end table, likely fallen out of the colt’s saddlebags when he bumped into it.

Picking it up, she realized that it wasn’t a schoolbook. It took her a moment to realize it was leather bound. She narrowed her magic, using as little as possible to hold it. She had seen leather bound books before, she was a librarian, after all. But, still, ew. And why would Feather have something like this?

She stared at it for a moment, and in that moment, her concern and curiosity wrestled with her queasiness and respect for Feather’s privacy. But, the image of the young colt crying flashed in her mind and her concern won out. She opened it to the first page, to find writing instead of print. “Is this… a journal?

Meanwhile, Feather, unaware of what he had left behind, had managed to pull himself together. It wasn’t like him to get upset like that. He needed to keep it together, keep it cool. And to not be suspicious.

He was headed for the clubhouse, eager to dive into the engineering text Twilight had given him, when he noticed a tall mare with gray streaks in her ivy-green mane standing on the path he needed to take. An Earth Pony mare who was staring right at him. She seemed kind of familiar, but he was having trouble remembering exactly.

None of that mattered right now. The only thing down this path was the clubhouse, what was this mare doing here?

She waved. Feather’s eyes widened and he awkwardly waved back, then backed up a tad before hastily making a retreat.

The clubhouse was compromised.

Now what?

Author's Note:

I would like to give special thanks to theRedBrony for helping to edit this chapter (and for finally motivating me to finish it), and to Metal Pony Fan for changing the chapter to have more showing and concise wording.

Comments

[More Dakka]

A wild chapter appears!

[Cold Spike]

11746534
Hopefully more to come sooner.

[King Kenya]

What is with the story necromancer who seems to have set up their lair on this site as of late? Chapters of works I thought were dead years ago are popping up all over this month.

Anyway, interesting stuff. Deflection and mechanics.

[Spamotron]

This story is long enough and last posted far enough back in time that details escape me. Does anybody remember if Feather's journal only outs himself or if there's an entry about Scootaloo in there too?

[Lysander Shadowheart]

Holy moly, just got side swiped a by wild chapter!

I can't read this right now but you better believe I'm going to.
Awesome to see this story updated.

[Cold Spike]

11746625
Because ponies will never die. But on a more serious note, I think it might be largely because the main alternative source of entertainment that bronies would partake of (video games, films, even regular books) have grown stale in recent years due to... various political reasons which have largely to do with censorship. That is my best guess anyway. For me it has a lot to do with that; I got bored (more bored than usual) which motivated me to finally write again.

[Cold Spike]

11746630
The journal mostly contains only notes about his past travels and on his machine.

[Cold Spike]

11746646
I know the feeling. I've seen quite a few old stories just spring back to life.

[asdtroi8895]

Haven't seen this in a while. Had to skim through some chapters before fully remembering the story, but I'm glad it got continued. I hope well be seeing it through to the end.

[Cold Spike]

11749157
You will be.

[Airy Words]

I liked Feather’s solution to get out of answering personal questions.

As my Pokemon game would say, “It’s super effective!”

[Cold Spike]

11755805
Thank you. It took me a while to write that scene. But then I figured out my mistake, I was thinking how an adult would get out of it which is dumb cause he's a colt.

[KMCA]

11746625
Every time the story necromancer conducts his dark arts I have a few fics that I hope will be the next phoenix to rise from the ashes... but alas I don't think it'll happen, most of the ones I REALLY want have quit the fandom entirely.

[Cold Spike]

11765863
I'd say never give up hope, though maybe for some do if they really want nothing to do with ponies anymore.

[KMCA]

11766108
To be fair a lot of them left in 2015 which seems like when a lot of people left the fandom. The ones that haven't logged in since then are unlikely to come back after 8 years. Which is a real shame, it's weird how you can grow to miss people you've barely interacted with outside of comment sections.

[Cold Spike]

11766604
Yeah, what could have been and all that.

[Glowerworm]

Please never stop releasing chapters for this.

[Cold Spike]

11792266
Until the story is finished, I don't plan to stop.

I, erm, may have gotten recently very distracted by a new story I'm working on which is a crossover with a popular Anime. But Feather Steel will always have a place in my heart.

[Dimension Tripper]

Yay it’s alive

[Cold Spike]

11880679
Always.