At Iccy's Garage: The Morning after

Icarus groaned, rubbing his eyes, Nearly rolling off his futon, heading down to his first floor, holding a hoof to his head. "Uuuugh.... M-My head..." He groaned, opening the Garage.

Whatever Intel was expecting from Ponyville's mechanic, it probably wasn't this. He had heard of the place only yesterday...evening or sometime like that and thus made it his priority to rush over there as soon as he possibly could, i.e. after a good night's sleep. He had expected a frantic exchange of idea between two like minded ponies about designing things no pony was meant to. A discussion with a inventor, an artist of functionality and ingenuity.

Intel looked at the mechanic that had just opened his garage.

Said mechanic looked terrible.

"Um," Intel started uncertainly. "Is this a bad time?"

Iccy winced a little, smiling weakly. "N-No, I-It's f-fine..." He smiled, grabbing a cup of coffee with magic. "S-So, u-um, W-What can I h-help with?"

Intel sighed in relief.

"Well, if you say so!" He strolled into the garage and looked around. "So, Mr...uh. My name is Intelligent Design, Mr Mechanic. Please call me Intel instead. I was just curious on what a mechanic actually does around these parts." His eyes glanced over the sketches and blueprints everywhere. They seemed to have a very common theme...

Intel smirked. "Now, that's very curious." He motioned towards a random sketch of a theoretical flying machine. "Can you please explain what you were trying to do here?"

The answer was pretty obvious, but Intel wanted to her the expanation straight form the horse's mouth.

"W-Well, t-there's w-working on T-Trains... E-Eh?" He looks around the workshop, noticing his blueprints. "T-This m-my l-life's w-work..."

"Trains..." Intel snorted, "Don't get me started on them."

Strange horse powered thingies...

He adjusted his glasses to focus on the sketch. "That's a pretty intersting goal, Mr...can I have your real name? It seems awkward calling you Mr Mechanic. And it's a pretty strange life's work, to be honest."

Intel didn't seem to notice that he was talking rather quickly, as he usually did when he was either nervous or excited. Curiousity was burning. A little thing like politeness and civility were among the first casualties.

Icarus squinted a bit as he tried to make out Intel's speil. "M-My name's I-Icarus..."

"I mean, flying? Why flying of all things, Icarus?" Intel smiled.

He was asking the same question so many others asked about his work. 'Couldn't a spell do the same thing?' 'What would be the use of this?' 'How does this thing actually work? 'How much will this cost' 'Is this, strictly speaking, safe?'

Those were the questions Intel did not ask, for they suggested restriction and uselessness. Intel could see the possible implications of Icarus's work. He just wondered what the inventor saw.

"W-Why F-Flying...?" He smiled, and took a sip of his coffee. "The w-whole r-reason is t-that... I-I w-want f-flight f-for e-everyone... T-To not r-rely on a U-Unicorn o-or P-Pegasus..."

"Yes, but why flying?" Intel asked, emphasizing the verb. "Equalizing the three races is a noble goal, but there must be some reason you decided to focus on flying."

Ah, I see the problem. This machine would've required the strength of ten stallions turning this thing at one thousand turns per minute.

"And I think you would experience some difficulties, am I correct?"

"W-Well... B-Believe it o-or not, I-it's p-part of m-my Cutie m-mark s-story... A-And you n-nailed m-my problem... N-No f-fuel s-source is v-viable t-to make it f-fly." Icarus said, smiling.

"Well, Icarus. Do you know why pegasi are able to fly? It's because-"

NO

"Argh!" Intel raised a hoof to his head in pain.

Bad idea. We do NOT want to bring up ambience.

He fell back on his haunches. "Well, that sounds like a story! How did you get your cutie mark?" Intel asked brightly, trying to act as if the little episode didn't happen.

Icarus blinked a moment, Hangover gone in a flash. "... A-Are you o-okay?" Completely ignoring the other question.

"Yes! I'm fine! Yes! Yes. No, I don't think so." Intel's smile vanished. "Just happens sometimes when I'm rambling."

No, it doesn't.

"Yes, it does." Intel took a deep breath. "I don't think I want to talk about it. Please, talk about flying."

Great, now my own mind wants to hold me back. Why? Ambience- Intel winced. -could only help this pony achieve his dreams. Why am I unable to think about it?

Icarus nodded, smiling. "W-Well... I-I, Um, J-Just s-studied F-Flying a-all my life... e-every b-book I c-could f-find o-on f-flying..."

Intel nodded along as Icarus talked about his passion for flying as he tried hard not to think about ambient magic. Which was difficult, for he kept drawing comparisons between Icarus' passion and his own. Honestly, his parents would be happier if they had Icarus for a son. Nothing wrong could be created by his machinations, unlike his... stop.

For his part, Intel remained silent as he listened to Icarus.

"... A-And t-that's a-about it. W-Whatcha t-think?" Icarus asked, smiling.

"You have studied how pegasi fly, right? And how they make up for their lack of aerodynamics?"

Intel tilted his head to one side. He didn't have to directly reference...that, but the very least he could do would be to point Icarus in the right direction.

Icarus nods, smiling. "I-It's a-also h-how they s-stay on c-clouds..." He said. "I-It h-had a term... A-Ambiance Magic, I-I think? O-Or A-Atmosphere m-magic..."

"Yes!" NO "Yes, that's it! Ambience! Have you tried applying that to your designs?"

You KNOW this can only end in tragedy.

It didn't hurt to think about ambience any more. Well, it did. A bit.

"That's actually why I came over here, because I have this little idea..."

Intel pulled a rough sketch out of his pack.

"Well, big idea really." He laid it out in front of the inventor. "Here it is; the Ambient Magic Engine."

Icarus blinks. and blinks again. And blinked a third time. "T-That's... T-That's e-exactly w-what I w-was w-working on r-recently! H-How d-do you p-power it? H-How do you a-attach it? H-How A-About...?" Icarus paused a moment, Chuckling weakly. "I-I should p-probably s-slow d-down a bit..."

"No, Icarus! Progress is like a bicycle! The faster you go, the more you stay on balance! I think, I've never ridden on one of the things."

Despite the dull throbbing in his head, Intel was positively beaming inside.

"Ambient magic is everywhere, and radiates from everything. There are even some strong theories stating that unicorn magic is simply pulling and pushing ambiance. Anyway this thing doesn't even require unicorns to power. It's like an artificial horn."

Which means that you could use it to cast any spell with the right modifications. Ooh! Never thought of that! Must put down a mental note.

"What's going to be the main problem is-" its ability to level an entire city "applying it to a flying machine. I'm going to need your help with that."

Icarus nodded, smiling. "I-I s-see..." A blank piece of paper and a quill floated over, sketching the Ambient magic Engine. "I-I'll G-Get it d-down."

"By the way, I've only heard of atmosphere magic, but I've never really looked into it. How does it differ from unicorn magic and ambiance? What causes it?"

It was true. Though atmosphere/pegasi magic was a major part of the whole field, Intel never looked into it. What he was studying was complex enough.

Icarus nods, smiling. "W-Well... I-It's a t-theory a-about how, d-despite not visibly m-manipulating m-magic, T-They C-Can carry C-Clouds a-and such... B-Basically, C-Cloud Magic."