Aero's Conspiracy [PiE]

>Saturday.
>Be Anon.
>There ain't much going on today.
>And the last you've seen of Aero was yesterday afternoon.
>She's spent the whole night locked in her room; presumably working on some crazy new scheme.
>It makes you even more suspicious that the last time she made a flying attempt was three weeks ago.
>And not one week ago she was testing how high bottles of cola will propel themselves when combined with Mentos.
>It's driving you mad wondering when the next possibly deadly or destructive act will occur.
>Almost to the brink of total insanity.
>Something is going on and you aim to find out what.

>Knocking on her bedroom door, she calls out in response.
>"It's open!"
>Twisting the knob you see that it is indeed unlocked.
"Yo Aero," you say.  "I'm headed to the store.  You need anything?"
>Aero, who was sitting at her computer in the dark, turned to look at you.
>Raising a hoof to her chin, she thought about it for a moment.
>"Not at the moment, no," she answered.  "I guess some cola would be cool.  I kinda wasted the last of mine."
>You know.
"Sure thing."
>As you go to close the door, you stop and reach over to flip on the lightswitch.
>Aero yelps as the light blinds her.
"You're gonna wreck your eyes like that," you tell her.
>"Right.  Thanks," she replies.
>Closing the door, you head on out of the house.

>The whole time you're driving to the convenience store, you can't shake this nagging feeling in the back of your mind that something horrible is about to happen.
>Grabbing up Aero's soda along with some bread and milk, you go to check out.
>As the cashier is bagging your goods, your phone rings.
>Caller ID say's it's Aero.
"Hello?" you answer.
>"Anon!" cries Aero.  "You gotta come home quick and see this!"
>Panic fills you.
"Alright!  Don't do anything!  I'm on my way back!"
>You quickly scoop up the bags and race back to the car, speeding all the way home.
>'She's probably about to leap from the chimney with a jetpack made of jumbo super bottle rockets!', you think to yourself.
>Drifting into the driveway and parking on the grass, you don't see her anywhere outside.
>Throwing your shoulder into the door, you run inside to go out back.
>As you race through the house, a voice catches your name.
>"Anon!  In here!" calls Aero from her room.
>You stop in your tracks as you're already halfway out the back door.
>A sigh of relief comes when you realize she's not actively attempting anything.
>Maybe.

>Walking back inside, you poke your head into her room.
"Yeah?" you ask.
>"Check this out," she says, waving you over.
>Walking up to her computer, you simply stare at it.
"What am I supposed to be looking at?" you ask.
>Aero points to an icon on the screen.
>An achievement for the game she's playing.
>Train Simulator.
>"I made one thousand straight successful trips without any incidents!" she proclaims proudly.
>Your eye twitches as you come to terms that you just ran three red lights, almost hit a cyclist, and tore up your front lawn just to be shown a video game achievement.
"Thats...  That's great, Aero," you tell her.
>"Right?  That took forever to get!"
>She closes her game and hops off her seat.
>"I gotta use the little mare's room," she says as she trots off.

>When she's finally gone, you open up her internet browser and open up her history.
"I know you're planning something," you say to yourself.
>Some video game articles and a bunch of Youtube videos with no suspicious titles.
>'Learning to Fly' by Tom Petty is in her recently watched list.
>Some obscure website catches your eye and you open it up.
>'Flying High With Birds Of Prey' reads the page title.
>Last visited a few hours ago.
"Aha!" you exclaim.
>Opening it up brings up a video of a pony trotting along before getting swooped up by a gryphon.
>One thing leads to another and you quickly realize that this is an interacial porno and they're fucking on a cloud.
"What..." you utter.
>"What are you doing?" asked Aero from behind, causing you to jump and close out the browser faster than a black man hearing the results of a pregnancy test.
"Nothing!" you shout suspiciously loud.
>Aero raises and eyebrow and trots over to look at the screen.
>In your haste, you didn't close the pop-up ad of another porn site that was now displaying on the screen.
>"Uhm, Anon?  You know you have your own laptop to be watching porn on, right?" asked Aero.
"Yes.  Yes I do," you answer.
>You still sat there and Aero was looking between you and the computer screen.
>"Can I have my computer back?" she asked.
"Oh.  Yeah, sure."
>Getting off the seat, Aero hopped up and closed out the pop-up.
>She got back on Youtube to watch the latest Vine compilations.

>You just sat behind her.
>Watching.
>Listening.
>Waiting.
>You heard her fits of laughter and it brought you no solace.
>Ten minutes passed.
>Thirty.
>An hour.
>The seething paranoia that was boiling up inside was moments from bursting.
>And finally, it did.
>You quickly stand and shout.
"I can't take this anymore!"
>Aero jumps at the sudden shouting and looks at you.
>"If you didn't want to watch it anymore, you could have just said something," she said as she closed the video out.
"Not that," you say.  "You!"
>"Me?" she asked confused.
"I know you're planning something!" you accuse with a finger.  "And I will find out!"
>"I have no idea what you're talking about," responds Aero.
"Your antics!  Your schemes!  Tom Petty!  Cola!"
>Aero just sits and cocks her head as you rave.
>"Anon, you're not making any sense," she says.
"You can't fool me!"
>You pick her up and hold her eye-level to you.
"Tell me your secrets, little pony," you demand.

>After a minute of staring at each other, Aero finally sighs.
>"Fine.  You caught me," she says.
"I knew it!" you exclaim victoriously.
>"Now please put me down if you wanna know."
>Obliging her request, you place her back on the chair.
>She then hops down and walks over to her nightstand and opens the drawer.
>Taking some paper in her teeth she places them on the bed beside you.
>Looking them over, you find a card marked 'Happy Birthday'.
>Inside you find a brochure for a hot air balloon ride and two tickets.
>The note scribbled inside the card reads, 'Happy Birthday, Anon.  Thanks for being the best friend a mare could ask for.'
>You had completely forgotten your birthday was in a couple days.
>Your heart sinks.
>This is not what you had in mind when she was planning a top secret flying scheme.
>"I wanted to surprise you," Aero spoke up.  "But I guess you're just too impatient and selfish."
>She turned and walked out of the room.
>Double whammy to the heart.
>Not only did you just royally fuck up a surprise birthday gift, your best friend just basically called you a giant prick.
>After standing in her room alone and staring at the card for several minutes, you place them back on the bed and follow her out.

>You find Aero in the kitchen making some Nesquik at the table.
"Aero?" you pipe up.
>She doesn't even look at you and simply replies with a grunt.
"Aero...  Aero, I'm sorry.  I didn't know that was a surprise birthday gift."
>"So what did you think it was?" she asked, finally looking at you.  "Because I worked awfully hard to keep that a secret and you ruined it."
"I know.  I'm an asshole.  It's just-"
>"Yeah you are..." interjected Aero.
"Right," you continue.  "It's just I thought you were hiding some crazy convoluted flight scheme."
>"Why would I do that?" asked Aero in between stirring her milk mix up.
"I don't know.  I just got paranoid is all."
>"If I had a secret, you think you'd know about it?  You are my best friend, after all."
"Yeah...  Anyways, again, I'm sorry.  Can you forgive me?"
>Aero sat in silence for a moment as she sipped on her Nesquik.
>"Perhaps," she answered as she leaned back in her seat.  "But what can you do for me on this, the day of Satur."
"How about we cash in those tickets and go for a balloon ride?" you suggest.  "Er, tomorrow I mean."
>"Hm..." contemplated Aero.  "These conditions are satisfactory."
>She took another sip of her Nesquik.
>"But I would like my cola, please.  This stuff's kinda gross."
"Well, yeah.  It's been sitting in that cabinet for over a year."
>"That explains it."
>Aero hurled the plastic cup she was drinking out of over to the sink.
>The resulting splash totally missed the drain and instead went all over the wall behind the sink.
>"Whoops."

>The next day, you find yourselves drifting along in the hot air balloon you requisitioned for the evening.
>The sun was starting to go down as the two of you just relax and talk about nothing.
"Hey Aero," you start.
>"Hm?" she asked with a cock of her head.
"... Thanks.  I really appreciate the gift.  It's kinda nice."
>"No problem, Anon.  It's the least I could do.  And besides, it's a gift for myself as well."
>Aero stepped away from the edge of the basket and went rummaging through a bag.
"For floating high in the air like this?" you ask.
>As you look back at her, you spot a helmet going on her head and a pack going on her back.
"Oh hell no!" you shout.
>Before you can lunge at her, she leaps up and over the edge of the basket.
>"Extreme hot air ballooning!" she hollars as she free falls to the ground below.
"God damn it!  I fucking knew it!" you shout after her.  "Base jumping isn't part of the trip!"
>You watch as the parachute blooms beneath you and she gently floats to the ground below.
>A grin comes over your face and you shake your head.
"You silly little pony," you say with a chuckle.