Iccy's Flying Machine, Mk 10, Test 1

Lori smiled to each of them. She immediately connected the names from the appointment she had with Iccy.

"Pleasure to meet you you Mr Design. And you too Miss Woods. I have heard a little about you two." She smiled and looked to Intel before turning to Shala.

Shala blinked at the new arrival. She peered at Lori from across the table, inspecting her carefully. Lori blushed a bit under her careful gaze, finding it to be rather intense.

"....Huh...You got some girth to you. I bet you could handle your drinks better than these lightweights. Maybe..." She thought to herself, looking to the ceiling.

"Uh...girth?" Lori blushed very red and looked to Indigo.

"Are you sure this won't just be a toy for the rich? Most ponies aren't that interested in flying, or hang gliding would be more popular. And it'd be a magical feat to enchant an object to duplicate the pegasi magic, the kind that lets carts, trucks, and chariots hover along with them without dragging them to the ground. If you could tackle that, then you could market to moving and construction companies... probably warehouses too."

In his excitement to introduce Lori to Shala he forgot about both Lori's weight and Shala's bluntness.

"Hm.. how could I have forgotten? Shala has a spare liver where her sense of tact should be."

Iccy nodded. "E-Even if t-the personal model b-becomes a personal p-plaything, T-The things we use h-here C-could be u-used in other f-fields. I-Imagine, Instead of just h-having two Pegasus With one c-chariot, A Huge t-thing that can carry TONS o-of ponies w-with Minimal power." He said, nodding again.

He smiled softly. Brilliant.

Intel smiled as Icarus went through the possibilities of his craft. His perception of the possibilities was the part he liked most about the shy inventor. As Icarus stuttered his way through the potential, a memory came unbidden in his mind...

"What will be the use of it?"

"Well, you might as well ask what's the use of a newborn foal-"

"No, that's not the type of question I'd ask. It's a highly suspicious question as well."

"Uh- no- look, the point is that everything in life requires energy. What if there was a way to tap into an unlimited...."

He blinked, and was back in reality.

"Uh....Indigo, we can be assured that Icarus would be represented properly and accurately in the media, right? And in a way that hopefully won't result in ponies trying to break down his front door?"

Lori would have loved to join in on the other conversation, but she had an already pre-established interest in getting to know Shala and potentially Intel as well. Already, she gathered Intel to be a deep thinking with having ignored their introduction in favor of his current running train of thought.

Bringing her attention to the only pony not committed to a conversation, she smiled to Shala, ignoring her earlier blunt comment. "So Miss Woods, I hear-"

"Shala. I don't do that fancy title stuff."

"...Alright. Shala, I hear you work at the tavern. Can't say i have been there yet."

Shala had nearly dismissed Lori, instead favoring to play with the cork on a small empty glass bottle that no other pony could be sure as to where it came from. She kept pulling it out with a pop before corking it over and over. "Yeah. I work there. Ponies go in, pretend to drink real drinks, then go out. Some few actually drink. You don't seem the type though." She sighed.

Indigo swiftly countered. "Well we already have that. You can't get any less power... eh, you can't use any less power than a hot airship. And Intel, if somepony tries to batter down the door that'll make my day at the office a lot more easier."

Iccy nodded. "I-I'd l-like, i-if nothing else, T-to see this g-get some U-Use." He admitted, sighing. "I-It'd kinda s-stink to s-see my l-life's work's useless."

"Airships..." Intel muttered, rubbing his eyes, "Now there's a toy for the rich if ever I saw one. Gigantic things, with more balloon than holding space. Actually, I was thinking about a smaller scale."

He smiled as he turned over a small craft replica in front of him. "Now, I haven't really thought much of the applications of a personal aircraft, but I was thinking about foal pegasi. You know, the ones unable to fly just yet. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but some obviously get the hang of flying much easier than others, and there isn't really much of mechanical aid in the education of flight. There was a point to this. Uh...training wheels. Wings. Training wings."

Shrugging, he placed the replica down. "Simulating the feeling of flight so that foals can grasp actually flying easier. Or something. It'll be a damn lot better than just jumping off a cloud unaided."

"Well I am not much a drinker. Unless its coffee. I love coffee. Keeps me awake durring the days following sleepless nights." Lori said, slowly moving the conversation along.

"Coffee? They make some interesting alcoholic coffee drinks."

"Sorry, but I'm not interested in alcoholic drinks."

Shala's brain process stopped. She peered at Lori carefully once again. This time Lori was ready for it, giving Shala an considerate expression.

"....What is it you do again?" Shala asked. Something was rubbing her wrong about this pony.

Indigo put his hoof to his chin and slowly rubbed it, chuckling lightly as he thinks of the proposed ideas. "Training wheels would certainly be good... and a big ship without a giant balloon that could move more goods... Cloudsdale would definitely experience a population boom, more goods shipped at once supplementing the already existing dozens of aerial carts, food would get a lot cheaper."

Iccy nodded. "T-There's more t-than just f-flight w-with this. T-There's more t-to d-do." He said, taking a swig of soda. "A-And this is w-what's just b-being thought of n-now. Who k-knows what e-else will be b-built b-because of t-this?"

Intel nodded silently, turning his attention to the mares in the building. What he saw was quite curious. The two mares were sizing each other up, examining each other...

"Yes, Miss...uh, Miss...um," Intel stumbled, "I apologise, you know my full name, but I don't seem to know yours...?"

"Lorenza Counsel!" Said Lori, quickly turning to Intel, happy to break from the conversation. "But you can call me Lori. I gather you go by Intel preferably?" Her smile was somewhat forced, but relaxed into something more natural soon enough. She hated having bad first impressions, and Intel seemed to be a pony she should know.

Shala flinched as Lori jumped out of the conversation. She continued to peer at her, upset her question was dodged. She was suspicious, but let it go for now.

"You can call him by his even more preferred name, Smarty Pants McFly. I think Mister McFly would work nicely. Has a natural roll off the tongue to it." Despite her humor, her words seemed a bit vicious and defensive toward the other mare speaking to 'her' stallion.

Indigo cleared his voice audibly and laughed a bit nervously. There's bound to be hurdles in the short term... "Hey, uh Icey, how about a soda for Lori and I? Shala, do you want another?"

Iccy nodded, getting a feel for how tense it was. "S-Sodas, R-Right! I-Indy, L-Lori, what kind w-would you like?" He said, Heading toward the fridge. "W-We've got Root-beer, S-Sarsparilla, P-Pony-cola, and D-Dew of the m-mountain." he listed, Levitating a kind of each bottle from the fridge.

Intel grimaced at Shala's nickname, and said rather loudly, "Yes, what do you do for a living, Ms Counsel? Do you work for the newspapers, like Indigo?"

"Ill take whatever has a decent amount of caffeine." Lori replied. She doubted they had coffee on hand, but any of those sodas might be good enough filler.

Lori took a moment to take a breath and relax, preparing for a nice conversation, especially if it was going to start with her career. "What I do for a living? Well, I'm a psychologist in both talent and career. Just graduated last year and moved to Ponyville."

Shala's eyes widened for a moment before leaning back and looking away in disgust. "Oh...your'e a SHRINK." She said rather loudly with little care for using a pleasant tone.

"So a sarsaparilla for me and a Dew of the Mountain, Icey." When Shala voice her rather obvious displeasure Indigo was quick to come to her aid. "Now Shala, Lori's been helping me out of, what's it called? Unfulfilled Talent Disorder? And Icey as well, but I don't know anything about his problems and won't pry."

Iccy blushed when it was revealed that he went to see Lori. "M-My problem w-wasn't a-anything s-special..." he mumbled, Floating some bottles over. He already rubbed his temple, feeling a headache coming on from the adrenaline crash. "C-Could w-we talk a-about s-something e-else? L-Like... I d-dunno, A B-Book or s-something."

"Ah..." Intel said quietly, before adopting an overly cheerful tone, "Well, you certainly will get many ponies that would benefit from your services here. You have certainly chosen your location wisely."

He shook his head and forced out a laugh. "Iccy's right, though. Throwing out problematic circumstances in casual conversation is not treating the subject with the respect it deserves. Mea culpa."

Lori put on a smile for them all, but with how Shala was looking at her occasionally, it was more a smile to try and diffuse the situation.

"Everypony has something to talk about. Whether they are problems is completely subjective. Its not for everyone. I just like to help ponies. Specifically, I study and even wrote some rather interesting theories on cutie marks and how they have a lot more to do with our mental state than we think. Why just even-"

"Blah blah blah. Fancy talk. You all can't really be buying into her can you? Only flipping basket cases and crazy ponies are for those. Heck I bet with enough talking she can make you just that. Ponies who think they have 'problems'." She took her flask and drank a fair amount. Shala was not caring much at all for their new guests comfort.

Indigo chuckled at Intel's first statement as he took his offered soda. "That's exactly what I told her when I met her fresh off the train!" He then pried the cap off and took a drink, missing Intel's second.

Knowing full well he was about to walk into a war zone, he saw and took his chance to come to Lori's aid. "It's not 'fancy talk', fancy talk is what those do-nothing Canterlot snobs talk in when trying to suck up to each others' favor without really saying anything. Though she has the accent she's not trying to kiss anypony's hoof. I've studied some of psychology myself, Shala and there's a difference between a pony that counsels and what you're thinking of, those ponies work in hospitals and asylums and hand out medicine. Lori just talks."

Iccy sighed softly. "I-I'll be u-upstairs." And upstairs he went, shutting the door behind him. The silent scratching of Quill on paper could be heard from the other side of the door.

Intel couldn't help but wince a bit when Indigo mentioned 'do-nothing Canterlot snobs'. When Iccy ascended into his room, his wince became more of a sigh.

"Well, I believe we've overstayed our welcome," Intel said tiredly, "I got stuff to do, like research some things in the library. And other stuff. Thingy. Scientific term, that..."

He got up and yawned excessively. "Thanks for coming here to congratulate Iccy and not making it all about us and our issues. I think he really appreciates it." He gave a pointed stare to each of the other three. "More than I could've done, at any rate. Nice meeting you, Dr Counsel, Indigo, Shala..."

Intel trotted out the door.

Lori was a bit alarmed at how fast everypony was leaving the scene. She couldn't help but feel a little responsible. "Well....I guess this party is simmering down..."

Shala was not finished though. "Just talks? Yeah. talks you into the cuckoos nest when she's done. Never had anything good come from....Hey, Intel. Get back here!" She saw him leave. Suddenly the special moment with Iccy and his flying was not so special to her anymore. The moment was dead.

"...Don't you start sweet talking to my friends." She said, glaring at Lori.