A Song of Transformation

by Honey Lavender

Reset and Restart

Question: does anyone really believe I actually honored that request to stay at Ponyville General for the full three days? Because you better believe I didn't.

First chance I got, I made a break for it, only for the nurses to catch me in the act. Well, more like Twilight caught me sneaking out and promptly gave me away, but same difference. Thing is, they just unknowingly issued me a challenge: "try and get out without us noticing, we dare you." And I don't quit when I'm issued a challenge. Really is one of my fatal flaws, now that I think of it. But in the heat of the moment, I only had one objective: get out, and get to work on that damn airliner.

You're probably wondering at this point why the borderline obsession, and I'm gonna share a little secret with you (okay, maybe a big one; same difference): I'm stir crazy. Nothing but the urge to get up there again, to the open sky. To soar among the clouds free as a bird. See, there's this little speed bump that everyone seems to forget about: those whose hearts belong to the sky will always return to the sky.

I will find a way back up there, even if it's the end of me.

I guarantee it.

---

"God damn it all!" I scream out of frustration, yet another attempt to leave having been thwarted. "I told y'all once, I told y'all a thousand times! I need to be DOING something, not just sitting around with my thumb up my ass!" It's worth noting that I'd also be kicking rather than just screaming, if I hadn't been hit with some kind of paralytic on my way out the last set of doors between me and freedom. Whatever they decided to deploy against me, it works FAST; dropped me in four seconds flat.

"Yes, because the other forty-seven attempts to escape weren't evidence enough that you should be right here, resting like the Princess suggested for you," my doctor grumbles sarcastically. "No offense, but I liked the hotheaded pegasus that you were when you were assigned to my case load better."

"And I don't?" I snap, beyond out of patience for the mud-colored stallion. "Damn it, doc! I'm an operator, not an administrator! Wanna know the best therapy for me? It's to be working the problem, not talking about it."

"You know," he responds, "you remind me of me. Quick to act, refusing to stop and think. Here's my advice, kid: figure out how to change that - rapidly." I open my mouth to protest, to no avail. "And if you can give us one decent night of not trying to sneak out, then maybe - just MAYBE - I might consider authorizing a little field trip for you to start trying to 'work the problem' as you put it. As I seem to understand from the most recent briefing, that airplane of yours currently has its engines off, so there's no way in Tartarus that you can possibly screw anything up. Dig?"

Oh, that's a carrot from the good doctor, all right. A big, fat carrot that screams "we're desperate, just make it stop" to my face. And I'd be an idiot to waste such a monumental concession, so maybe I can stay here for a little longer after all.

"Dug."

---

I have to admire Twilight's blueprints; they really are a stroke of genius. We can't design new engines from scratch; that would require time, materials and experience we don't have. Instead, she's devised a way to replace the combustor with something more akin to a magnetic levitation device; best I can tell, the engine will draw mana from the battery, and then use some kind of electromagnetism to drive the innards - all of which is beyond the scope of my knowledge, so I must commend Twilight for figuring it out.

That said, the transition has created something of a nightmare for the electrical and hydraulic systems; previously, they would be tied to engines in some way or another. You would start the APU almost straight away because you don't have much 'juice' in the batteries to begin with, at which point it essentially becomes a generator - and once you had your engines started, they would assume that task in lieu of the APU, which would then be powered down. This is still true, mind you; once the engines are running, everything should work the exact same - in theory (something that Twilight is all too happy to keep reminding me of). The only problems are getting the engines running in the first place, and having enough power to complete the appropriate checklists before you can even CONSIDER starting your engines.

Now, believe it or not, the aviation industry has encountered these issues at least once before, and we have tools to deal with it. Without a properly working APU, you encounter issues where you don't have power for your instruments OR air pressure for engine start. We've seen it with older aircraft that might not have had APUs installed, and we can encounter it at any point with modern airliners if the APU should suffer a malfunction. For this reason, airports keep some useful ground service equipment laying around. The first is essentially a generator, called the "Ground Power Unit" or GPU. From my understanding, this isn't exactly feasible in Equestria, so it will likely be replaced with some kind of device that converts mana into electricity. The second device is essentially a glorified air compressor, called a huffer. Its sole job is to move massive amounts of air through a flexible hose, and directly into an aircraft's bleed air ducts. Funny enough, the ponies already have something like this that they use for training to fly in extreme weather - the only challenge is finding a large enough hose to hook that bad boy up to my ride. That's a challenge for another time, though.

As I oversee the remounting of the number one engine, I can't help but think about the hole in my memory. In the short time I've known Celestia, she never struck me as one to mess with one's memories. Has she done some fucked up things in her time on the throne? Yeah, obviously. You can't banish your own sister for a millennium and still claim to be a saint, even if it was done under duress. If magic is an extension of your willpower, then there has to be at least SOME iota of intent behind such a heinous act. But she does have limits, and from what I can tell memory wiping would be beyond them.

So, once enough bolts are re-threaded to prevent the engine from dropping to the ground, I address the issue.

"Twilight," I say without looking away from the port wing. "Celestia wiped my memories." A solid 30 seconds elapses before Twilight's response.

"The princess wouldn't," Twilight says slowly. "That's not her style."

"I know," I reply. "I think she's being framed."

"Framed?!" Twilight exclaims. "By who? And how do you know?" I pass Twilight the letter.

"That, my friend, is the million dollar question, and the quarter million dollar chaser." I state matter-of-factly. Twilight's brow furrows as she reads the correspondence. "Does that read like something she'd say? Does it look like her writing? Because it passes zero of two tests in my opinion."

"Discord, maybe?" She suggests.

"I doubt it," I sigh. "He's been too damn helpful to turn around and pull something like this."

"Well, I'm glad SOMEONE finally appreciates what I do around here," the aforementioned draconnequess snarks over my shoulder, making me jump a foot and a half in the air in shock. "It's a nice change of pace from everyone besmirching my good name."

"God fucking damn it, Discord... you really need to stop doing that, y'know? Gonna stop a person's heart that way someday," I accost him between shaking breaths, my heart still going a million miles an hour.

"Bah, no fun." He pouts. "Seriously, though, you're right. I had nothing to do with this, and ol' Sunbutt certainly doesn't have it in her."

Twilight turns to me, a bewildered expression on her face.

"Well, if it's not Celestia or Discord, who could it be?"

"I'm not sure," I reply grimly. "But I have a few ideas."

The mood soured, we finish mounting the engine and call it a day. Each of us vows to get a good night's sleep, because tomorrow's going to be a very busy day.

Author's Note:

This has GOT to be the single worst entr'acte in the history of writing. I blame... IDK what I blame. I blame something other than myself, whilst also blaming myself for being an un-creative fuck. Doesn't make sense? Yeah, not for me, either. But that's what we're rolling with.

Fun fact, that comment about hydraulic systems being tied to the engines is why the Airbus A320 family exhibits a "barking" sound on startup - that would be the Hydraulic system's PTU (Power Transfer Unit) coming online. As I understand it, only the 'Blue' line operates independently of the engines, while the 'Green' and 'Yellow' lines are reliant on engines 1&2 respectively. The 'B' line is backed up by the RAT (Ram Air Turbine; another story altogether), while the 'G' and 'Y' lines are backed up to each other (and therefore the opposite engines) by the PTU, which actively works to stabilize pressure between the two lines.

Coincidentally, the complete lack of power is why the rudder on a parked A320 is always oriented either hard to starboard or hard to port; when the engines are shut down, the hydraulic system slowly depressurizes and the rudder will be free to move with the wind.

(NOTE: we really don't talk about 'B' much; it's more of a backup line than anything, and only comes online when the RAT is deployed)

Mind you, this is an extremely crude explanation that is intended to be comedic in nature; if you want to know how this stuff ACTUALLY works, maybe ask an ACTUAL aircraft mechanic. I'm just a pilot wannabe that's writing a story - accuracy is quite literally above my pay grade. At this point, I'm talking out my ass and calling it art; not sorry if that offends you.

Blah blah blah, took me long enough, surprise motherbuckers story's not dead, etc etc.

Steve Axios will return.

Comments

[Honey Lavender]

10412051
Fret not... it lives

[sinewystatue382]

10423178
oh do continue it lol

[Blaster M]

Tracking beacon activated. I rarely do this to HiE stories, so there's that.

[KittyrinnAiko]

10569303
Oh I got it, and your right, no one is going to reprimand him. Nor was I pointing it as as your flub, I was pointing it out as his flub. They might teas him later on.

The way I was taught is that when calling any number of individuals to attention, outside of a formation, no modifiers are used. Maybe things have changed? Slightly larger than a platoon is still a platoon unless it's Air Force where Flight would be the designation. Above that we have such terms as Company and Squadron. They are basically the same thing, as is Brigade and Group. Brigade is still used by the Army, and Group is typically an Air Force thing but not always as things such as Brigade group or Battle group may exist on a temporary basis.

But then again, does it really matter?