//------------------------------// // Dashpoint; Ch 3: Wings // Story: Dashpoint // by blackhooves14 //------------------------------// Dash needed to get her speed back, and if she was going to get her speed back she needed her wings. Those three ponies, Marecel, Potts, and Palmer were talking about something big, something that could give pegasi their wings back. The Icarus Project, who Icarus was, she had no idea, probably somepony of significance in this world, but it didn’t matter, those ponies had lunch in the mess hall so their laboratory must be on location. They said they were going to turn in early, so she decided to wait until everypony was asleep. 2:00 A.M. That looked like a good time to sneak out, dash grabbed a small flashlight in her locker and went on her way. Although she had no wings Dash was still quick on her feet, she stepped outside of her room and into the darkness of the barracks hall, where she made for the base map, but no laboratory or science building was labeled on the map. How could this be? Where was she going to find those three now? Suddenly light seemed to be coming from her right, Dash could hear hoofsteps approaching around the corner, drat! She forget there might be guards patrolling, this is a military base after all! Unsure of what to do, the guard finally turned and Dash taken aback by her unpreparedness froze when the guard caught her in his flashlight. “Oh, Rainbow Dash is that you?” said the guard pony. Dash surprised by her lack of chastisement cautiously said, “Um, yeah?” “Doing some late night cleaning? Probably punishment from the Captain huh?” “Um, yeah sure!” said Dash going along with the pegasi’s story. From what she could make out he wasn’t a Wonderbolt, but he was still an Air Force soldier. He had a black coat and from his helmet she could see a little bit of a greenish-grey mane, she couldn’t make out his cutie mark in the darkness, but he seemed somewhat familiar. Looking at his suit it was fairly similar to the royal guard pegasi in her Equestria, but the armor was more streamline and in a dark shade of indigo rather than gold. “Hey Dash.” said the Pegasi “Um, yeah?” unsure of what the guard wanted. “I want to say that was an awesome thing you did earlier in the cafeteria, everypony’s talking about it!” “Really?” asked Dash amused by such a compliment. “Yeah, those three are a group of flankhole’s anyway. It was really cool to see somepony like you stand up to them! Heh, if you had a pair of wings, I bet you would have made it into the Wonderbolt’s no problem!” Dash, fond of such praised basked in the glow of it, she smiled proudly, but speaking of wings...”Hey uh, do you mind telling me what building those scientist are bunking at?” asked Dash. “Huh? Scientist?” asked the guard perplexed. “You know, a unicorn, a pegasi, and an earth pony?” pushed Dash hoping to get an answer. “I’ve got a major mess to clean up there.” “Oh those three! Yeah I know who you’re talking about, they’re stationed in a building just north of the main office.” “Okay, thanks a lot!” said Dash excited as she made her way out. “Hey Dash!”, said the guard. Dash stopped again, getting a little bit irritated. “Yeah?” said Dash as she turned around once more. “We should get a cider sometime, names Thunderlane by the way.” said the guard Thunderlane? Really? Wow...that was unexpected... “Um, sure thing Thunderlane! Say hi to Rumble for me!” and Dash ran out of the hall. Thunderlane sighed, satisfied by their conversation, he always thought Dash was kinda cute, wings or no wing-wait, how did she know the name of his little brother? He shrugged it off, maybe he can figure it out tomorrow, for now, back to patrol. Dash quickly trotted to the main building and went north from there to the only building standing in the area, she found a large hanger and for a second questioned if she was in the right place; pressed for time she decided to look in anyway to see what was inside. Once inside the hanger was very spacious, there was a jumble of large machines and wires emitting a light from the center of the room and a small curtained area where the sound of snoring could be heard. Good, they were asleep now she just had to check out what they were working on. As she made her way through the jumble of large machines fortressing the workspace and floodlights Dash found what she was hoping for. A pair of mechanical wings suspended by wires and cables, just as she thought, these ponies were working on artificial prosthetic wings for disabled pegasi. Wow, where did she learn all those words? Probably from hanging around Twilight and books for so long. Dash admired the metal wings, they were very beautiful, but kind of flimsy, but they were all she had for now. Dash examined the wings for another minute and realized, how was she going to put them on? They didn’t exactly have a harness or anything, they were literally just a pair of wings. Dash saw a pile of papers and a computer on one of the desk of the scientist, she had some time, it wouldn’t hurt to quickly flip through a few pages. The pile looked smaller from where Dash was standing, but up close it was towering. Dash took a deep breath, “Let’s do this.” she started grabbing papers hoping to find out what she could from them, but all of it seemed useless, she then found a notebook, on the cover it was scribbled “Marecel’s Journal”, this would have to do for now. She opened it up and skimmed through it. “Day 01, Marcel’s Journal We’ve been given the O.K. to start our work on the Air Force base, Potts and Palmer are of big help here, together our knowledge-” Boring! Dash skimmed faster. “-a lightweight metal found in the mines of Canterlot, ideal for flight.” That’s all well and good, but how do you use it? “-a combination of, Pegasi physiology, Unicorn magic and Earth Pony engineering.” Skipping a few pages ahead... “-we have decided on how to connect the wings to the pegasus body-” Bingo! Jackpot, Dash read carefully. “-to attach the wings to the pegasi, Palmer and Potts have developed a mechanism that connects the mechanical wings to the nervous system in the pegasi body, the nerves connect to a series of needles (developed by Potts) imbued with a spell (cast by Palmer) that seep into the spirit of the pegasi (or so says Palmer) that allow the wings to merge with the pegasi in mind, body, and soul.” Ew, needles...not something Dash particularly enjoyed, but how else was she going to get things done? She read on to find out how to attach the wings to her body. “Palmer claims you need to have a unicorn present for the surgery to succeed, but a considerable lack of unicorns in Cloudsdale has forced us to attempt to create a system that cuts out the unicorn in the bonding process. Palmer developed a ring that is attached to the humerus of the prosthetic wing so that when it comes in contact with a pegasi the needles work themselves to find the proper nerve endings and attach themselves, we just finished it a few days ago and finally attached it to a prototype, there are still a few kinks to work out, but we may be able to find a suitable test subject next week.” So all she had to do was walk up and jam those suckers in, seemed easy enough. She went up to the platform the wings were suspended above, she got underneath the wings and tried to lead her nubs into the sockets. As she approached the opening of the sockets they began to glow and immediately attached themselves to Dash’s nubs. “AGH-” Dash cried, but she quickly covered her mouth as she didn’t want to wake the scientist. As the ring began to tighten and coil around Dash her eyes began to tear up, although the bonding lasted for a few seconds the pain was excruciating; dozens of tiny needles were prodding and stirring her flesh; attaching themselves to her body, but that moment when the needles finally found their mark was like a burning pinch as they connected to her nerves. She began to feel something warm flowing from the wings that she could feel all throughout her body, this must have been the magic, and little by little she started to ‘feel’ the wings. She began to move the mechanical joints slightly, but sudden stings in her nervous system made her jolt and rapidly jerk the wings tearing them away from the wires they were suspended from, the wires attached to other mechanical stands and arms fell to the floor with a crash. She was still getting used to the wings, but they felt so right, a little longer and heavier than her old ones, but they were there. Dash's moment of nostalgia was cut short as she heard moans coming from the tented room. “What in blazes...?” said Potts as he groggily stepped out of the room, rubbing his eyes. They shot open when he saw Dash in their lab wearing the wings. “Wait...what are you...?” Dash quickly jumped off the platform knocking down various equipment in the process and made for the hanger door. “HEY! YOU! STOP! YOU CAN’T TAKE THAT!” cried Potts as the other two began to rise from their slumber to see what the commotion was about. Dash grabbed a hanging switch and pressed it, the large hanger doors slowly began to open making a rusty screech as they did. Marecel while in deafening pain made an attempt to fly towards Rainbow Dash who was trying to beat her mechanical wings in panic. “Come on, come on, come oooonnnnnn...” muttered Dash, she made little hops, skips, and jumps trying to catch air, but to no avail, she could see Marecel hot on her hooves and with another jump and one more push of her wings she caught flight and made a dash towards the hanger doors which finally opened all the way. Beating her mechanical wings she out raced Marecel who watched in awe as Dash flawlessly flew upwards with her new wings into a group of black clouds. Potts and Palmer came out of the hanger, it was raining outside and they saw Marecel hovering in the air. He looked down to see his two compatriots. “Did you see that?” he asked astonished. “No time Marecel! We have to alert the guard!” cried Potts as he and Palmer rushed back inside the hanger. Marecel took one last look in the direction the rainbow haired mare went in and followed Potts and Palmer back inside. As she was flying through the rain Dash was amazed, these wings were like her own wings, they twisted and turned to her body naturally like they were made for her, but celebrations could be made later. Now for the next part of her plan, it was time to get her cutie mark. Unfortunately it was getting harder for her to remember how she got it, but why? Were these new memories overlapping her old ones? Dash thought hard and remembered her training with Fluttershy for the Best Young Fliers Competition, how she made a nosed-dive chasing after Rarity. After flying through the black cloud she found herself on the other side of it, and on the other side was a flight course. In the darkness it wasn’t too hard to see, but it seemed rather difficult, but hey she’s Rainbow Dash, complete with wings, nothing was going to stop her. Suddenly Dash heard an alarm coming from the base. If the track didn’t stop her, maybe they might. She had no time to lose, she flapped her wings and they propelled her forward, she quickly started dashing towards the rings passing through each one with ease. The floodlights suddenly came on in the flight course, leaving Dash exposed, she started to see soldiers make their way toward the course, but Dash continued to follow the rings and she soon found herself at a peak that quickly descended downwards. With both hooves extended she dipped aiming towards the ring at the bottom which seemed like miles away. The black clouds soon began shooting off lightning, Dash ignored them focusing on the task at hand, but from the corner of her eye she could see the soldiers making that same dip but at a sooner point in the course. They weren’t going to catch her, soon she would make a sonic rainboom in no time, or was she? This didn’t feel the same as she remembered, she felt she was going too slow, was there not enough momentum from that point she came down on? She kept her body as streamline as possible, but as the ring kept getting closer and closer she didn’t feel any faster. “Come onnnn...come onnnnnnn...COME ON!” the lightning began to get more extreme as the other pegasi began to fly back, but it didn’t help Dash at all for she was still going too slow. “COME ON!” with that a lightning bolt struck Dash, she felt an electrical current go throughout her entire body and as she struck the ring she ricocheted off of it making a rainbow colored explosion and she shot upwards into the sky leaving a rainbow trail behind. The clouds disintegrated from the shockwave the rainboom created and it sent an earth-shaking rumble all throughout Equestria. Dash still flying into the air, looked at her achievement, a rainbow trail was being created behind her as she flew higher and higher into the air. Dash smiled proudly, but her joy was soon cut short as she heard a metallic ripping sound from behind her. She took another look at her wings and saw that they were charred and were starting to fall apart. They quickly began to tear away and vanish into the air and in no time at all she lost everything but the coils around her nibs. The rainbow trail soon disappeared and Dash began to lose altitude and started to go into a free fall. As she flipped and flopped in the night sky a pink and yellow blur passed by her, Dash confused and disoriented didn’t know what to do, as she saw Equestria getting closer she closed her eyes, and saw images of her friends and the Equestria she knew. Knowing the end was near, Dash quietly whispered to herself, “I’m sorry everyone...” and prepared to accept her fate, suddenly she felt like she was tackled by something, she opened her eyes and found herself to be in the hooves of the pink and yellow blur by the name of Fluttershy. “Fluttershy...” whispered Dash as she and her slowly glided towards the air force base. “Th-thank you...” said Dash quietly. Fluttershy was silent, as they got closer to the light, Dash could see she had a very serious scowl on her face. Their flight felt unusually long despite the short distance, finally Fluttershy broke the silence. “This is the second time I’ve saved your flank from becoming a splatter on the face of Equestria, don’t make me regret it this time.” her voice was cold and harsh. Dash disheartened looked down at Equestria, it was lush and green even in the pale light of the moon. It was quiet again; and once again Fluttershy broke the silence. “Dashie?” she said in a somewhat kinder tone. “Yeah?” Dash said quietly. “I’m proud of you...” said Fluttershy rather unexpectedly. Dash was taken aback, “What? W-why?” “Because you finally got your cutie mark.” said Fluttershy kindly, but still somewhat stoic. Dash looked at her flank and there it was, the white cloud with a red, blue, and yellow lightning bolt coming from it. Dash smiled and sighed with relief as her eyes began to well up, “Great...that’s just great...” still smiling she passed out from exhaustion with tears of joy going down her face. Fluttershy broke her serious demeanor and panicked a little quickening her pace towards the runway, she cried for a stretcher as she hovered above a group of pegasi and the three scientist. When a stretcher came Dash was placed on it and taken to an infirmary, but after getting the necessary treatment she was quickly moved to another room. Dash woke up again in another tiny and cramped room, she tried to move, but found her front hooves bound together with cuffs and chains as well as her rear hooves. Still groggy from her escapade she looked around the room, it was very solid, with no clouds making up it’s structure, and there was a mirror like glass on one of the walls. The only things in the room was a lamp hanging above a table and two chairs, one of them she was sitting in. Suddenly the door clicked open and in walked Fluttershy. “Fluttershy? What’s going on?” asked Dash still sore and tired. “Um...Rainbow Dash, we’re in an interrogation room on the air force base, you’re being...um...well...interrogated.” said Fluttershy rather nervously. “What? Why?” asked Dash as she began to feel more anxious. “Listen!” Fluttershy whispered quietly, but sternly. “You stole a government-funded project, and you created a sonic rainboom which the royal government thinks is a new weapon made by the Solar Army!” “But that’s crazy!” said Dash in the same hushed tone. “Listen, we can try to convince them that you aren’t a Solar Spy, the worse they can do is put you in a military prison or detainment center, but if you tell them about your lightning or alternate reality stuff, Princess Luna might put you in an experimental facility!” “Wait, Princess Luna?” asked Dash. Suddenly the door opened and in walked in an orange earth pony with a blonde mane tied into a pony tail with a charred red ribbon, she had on a worn out old brown stetson riddled with holes and tears and she was clad in golden body armor with a red apple-shaped chest plate. On her face was one scar across her eye and one on her nose. “No way...Applejack?” whispered Dash, bewildered by her familiar friend. Then in walked in a tall alicorn with a dark sapphire blue coat, she was wearing a silver breastplate and boots, her mane was like a flowing cosmic nebula of the deepest reaches of space, and adorned on her head was a silver crown signifying her royalty. Applejack stood by the door attentively guarding it and the alicorn sat down at the table in front of Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash remembered what her new memories showed her, the ruler of this world was Princess Luna, was this her? It must have been, but she looked so much older...she looked like she could almost be Celestia's age...Celestia...why hasn’t anypony heard of Celestia? “Now then, let’s get down to business.” said Luna quietly. But would that mean? No...it couldn’t could it? “Who are you and where did you get that weapon?” asked Luna sternly. Dash wasn’t listening, she was too busy piecing together this world’s history. Luna, offended by the rainbow pegasus’ lack of attention repeated her question, “I’ll ask again, who are you and where did you get that weapon?” Dash’s eyes shot open in epiphany and she stood up immediately. Applejack got into a stance to attack in case Dash tried anything funny and Fluttershy was in the corner trying to hide her anxiety. Luna perplexed by the mare’s sudden action looked at her cautiously, but the worrying look on her face made her seem less threatening. Rainbow Dash looked Princess Luna dead in the eye and spoke, trembling at her own words. “Princess Celestia’s the Solar Empress isn’t she?” Luna’s eye’s widened and her mouth fell slightly agape at words she never expected to hear. Applejack and Fluttershy looked at each other confused by the sudden exchange. After what felt like minutes, Dash finally sat back down in her chair. Luna still confounded by Dash’s words regained her composure and looked Dash in the eye again and asked a different question, but in a much graver tone. “Where...did you learn that name?”