Head in the Clouds(PM to join)

[DarkStar]

Kurt Hectic never wanted to be a hero. He was content with his life- WAIT! Wrong story!

~~~

The air slows and the sky tints orange-pink with the imminent dusk that would soon sweep the small town of Ponyville. Shops and cafes ease in their business rates as the day grows tired and slower; at the same time introducing a sense of pure serenity that comes from the reminiscence of yet another beautiful day that progressed smoothly like any day in Equestria should be. During the said day, a recent arrival of the province goes about in a more excited manner than normal, as a bit of research in these past few weeks maybe just about to pay off!

Unlike most packs seen on ponies that travel with multiple items, i.e. saddlebags, this black stallion bears a pack that is directly on his back. A rather thin pack that spans from the bottom of the back of his neck, to just before his mid-waist. The bag contents remaining unknown to those around him, and a rather strange detail of two strings dangling slightly from it down either side of him. Going about excitedly, he suddenly stops to think for a moment... Just where could he test this new design? Though just the idea of testing his new invention is enough to make him jittery again! All he needs is a high point, but not too high... though the mountainous peaks surrounding Ponyville are very tempting, he decides to use one of the local buildings that are reasonably tall. It'll only be a moment of his time, after all. It's not like he'd be loitering or hurting anyone. Then his target peak strikes his gaze in an instant, as he eyes the reasonably tall and very possibly climbable Sugarcube Corner. It should provide all the grab-holds and height he needs for this one test... Using what he's learned during his travels, he uses his momentum and darts toward a wall of the building whose part of the roof is lowest. His hooves spring him upward and he scales the wall to grab hold of the ledge of the roof. With great effort, and a grunt of power, he brings himself upward toward his objective height...

[River]

Today, to put it simply, is perfectly marvellous. Crystal Dawn thought, rolling over on the cloud. "It's scheduled for blue skies and fluffy white clouds, so I'd say it's an ideal time for a short fly!" Talking to herself was not a rare occurrence, and those that knew her soon grew accustomed to her little oddities. She was bored, and had been since her fiancée left town for a little business two days ago. He was due home in another three days, but that short period of time seemed way too long without her fun loving partner. She lay back, hooves behind her head as she revelled in the comfort the cloud gave her. I'm going to stay here all afternoon, she thought fiercely, and prove to Kindle I can be normal for once. A normal pony would have taken advantage of this day to laze around outside, but her fiancée had joked in one of his letters that she wouldn't be able to stay on one cloud for more than five minutes in his absence.

Blast it all, he was right. She grumbled in good humour as she felt her wings cramping with the need to spread them and fly. Obliging with a sigh, Crystal dived headfirst off her former perch, laughing happily at the rush falling gave her, at the last minute before she faceplanted into her ground, her wings shot open. The momentum and sudden updraft against her wings propelled her in a wide arc heading for the sky. She came to a stop just at cloud layer, giggles escaping her at sporadic intervals as she surveyed the town, remnants of the adrenalin and joy that flowed through her veins. For a few moments, everything seemed normal, then she spotted something rather odd near Sugercube Corner. And by Celestia! It was a pony cantering towards the building itself! Was he mad? If he didn't stop in time, he was going to become a pony pancake against the wall.

Crystal immediately shot forward, both curiosity and horror mixing as the stallion drew closer to it. Then to her surprise, he climbed the wall as if it was nothing at all! Astonished by this sight, she glanced off a cloud by accident and found herself hurtling towards the roof at a steeper angle than she could have imagined. Crystal flapped her wings madly and managed to slow her descent until her landing was nothing but a short bounce and stop.

"Well," The pegasus eyed the other stallion, "what brings you to the roof on this fine day?"

[DarkStar]

Though it is quite an embarrassing thought as to who might be watching him in his little antic; all for this one little experiment that may very well be the moment of truth for his potential patent. His cheeks would turn red, but only slightly. At the same time, a slight laugh emits from the truly strange pony from the thrill of the all-too-short event about to occur. A thrill that will last him all the while as he continues his dash across the rooftop, planning to carefully leap his way up to that one giant cupcake at the top of the building to maximize his granted height for this one small test that will land him either in safety, or within the care of the nurse of Ponyville's local hospital. All the while during the tumbling pegasus's sharp descent.

The very abrupt sequence on her part has caused a thud in her landing that startles the young stallion to the point of losing all concentration, as he was nearly complete in his scale of the enormous cupcake shape on the building with his continued momentum to where he found himself not even an inch before his objective height on the curved top of the structure just under the candles, as his hooves slip on the smooth surface of the giant model, and in an instant is lost in balance and is sent tumbling down the front side, and the way he bumped the structure was enough to send him at an angle that would land him just before the stairs of Sugarcube Corner's main entrance.

He yells out briefly as his natural fear of injury sweeps him, and the dose of secreted epinephrine can be felt flowing through his system. In remembrance of what he came here to do, this emergency situation is perfect for this one test. In a short reaction before he meets his possible doom, his forelimbs reach for the dangling strings fluttering about as he falls, as everything around him seems to slow down only for this single moment as he acts before even thinking... His hooves reach through the loops of the strings successfully, but as moves his forelimbs in such a way to tug on them, he winds up arranging them in a sort of X across his chest instead of spreading them out to give a proper tug... With this one failure in action, the contents of his backpack fail to deploy with the insufficient tug. As such, the stallion continues his plummet toward the ground that will end in mere seconds with a large thud.

[River]

Crystal uttered a small cry of fright as the stallion went over the front of the giant cupcake, his hind legs quickly disappearing from view. She mentally chided herself for not thinking that he might have- in fact, been concentrating on something before she came. Her distraction, whilst unintended, could be fatal. The stallion's death, or injury would be all her fault. Granted, a fall from the top of a shop couldn't kill you, but it could break a good few bones. How would she live with the guilt of knowing that she had caused it?

Then what are you doing sitting around? Go catch him! She squeaked and launched herself towards the edge of the roof, right where the stallion himself had just disappeared not a few moments. Crystal broke into a furious canter to give herself enough momentum and at just a mere centimetre away from the edge, pushed off with her legs and angled her body in a straight line to the ground You can do this, you did it in Flight Camp, remember? Yeah, but the poor pegasus that had been her trust fall partner broke through several layers of clouds before Crystal could catch her. The mare winced at the memory and sincerely hoped that she had improved since then. She tucked her legs and arms firmly against her side and narrowed her eyes against the wind.

Up ahead, the stallion was doing something rather odd. Instead of panicking and flailing his legs in a pathetic attempt to fly, he seemed to be fumbling around with something attached to his backpack. Crystal didn't have time to ponder about it for the ground was rapidly approaching. Faster! Her hoof lashed out in and attempt to catch him, but it merely grazed his backpack. She gritted her teeth in frustration and worry before attempting again. This time she lunged forward, catching the edge of his backpack with her teeth. Crystal couldn't stop them in time, but as her wings shot open, the abrupt updraft against them managed to slow their descent. Landing with a soft thud against the pavement, Crystal let go of him and trotted forward so she could face him.

"What in Celestia's name were you doing?" She demanded, fixing him with a stern glare that she knew wouldn't last. Already her anger at his... his... idiocy was fading, replaced by the stark relief that he was okay. "Running off the edge of a shop?" She chuckled softly, "I think you're as crazy as I am."