//------------------------------//
// Chapter 21: Final Test, Great Success, and Celebrations 
// Story: Bermuda Beginnings 
// by ScarFox9700 
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Finally, after nearly 3 additional hours of work, on top of the exhausting day that all of them had had in that workshop, by 4:45pm, they finally had enough fuel to put into the plane. 

"Where does this fuel go in the plane anyway Mr. Taylor?" 

Taylor walked over to the plane, and opened the engine compartment. "It's right here." He pointed to the fuel intake. "We just pour it down this tube here as gently as we can, so as to avoid spilling, which could lead to an engine fire later on." 

The others nodded. "Yeah, after what happened earlier with the machines, we definitely don't need another fire!" 

With the aide of ladders, they grabbed the first couple cans of fuel, and after hoisting them up the ladder, using a special funnel, the fuel was poured into the fuel tank. This was repeated with the next round of cans, followed by a third. By the fourth round, everypony was wondering how much more fuel it was going to take. 

"How much fuel can these things hold Mr. Taylor?" 

"Oh, about 325 gallons."

"325 GALLONS?!" 

Taylor nodded. "Yep, 145 in the fuselage tank, which is what we're filling now, and each wing has a 90 gallon tank as well. However, for the sake of this being our first test, as well as our currently limited supplies, we'll just stick with the fuselage tank for now, and even then, we probably won't fill it up all the way." 

Everypony breathed a sigh of relief. "Whew! You really had us worried for a bit there Mr. Taylor. For a minute there, I thought that we were going to have to come up with 325 gallons of gasoline!" 

Taylor nodded. "Yeah, only about 145 gallons for now. If everything goes well, then maybe some day we'll fill all of the tanks all of the way, but that day is not today." 

Everypony nodded, and the refueling continued. 





About a half hour later, the last of the fuel supply had been loaded into the plane's fuselage fuel tank. 

"We've finished loading up all of the fuel Mr. Taylor. We don't have any more on hoof right now." 

Taylor began to look over his old pre-flight checklist. "Ok, that should be good for now. Let's just close everything back up tight." 

With Taylor's oversight, the filling funnel was removed, and the fuel cap was securely screwed back into place. Then Taylor closed back up the engine compartment, and after climbing back down the ladder, it and the two other ladders were folded up and removed, and for the first time, Taylor's TBF Avenger, FT-28, also known as Blue 01, was fully restored, fully filled with oil, and fully fueled. She was as pristine as the day she was made, and Taylor was very proud of everypony. 

"I know that I've said this before, but i'm going to say it again. Nice job everypony. This was truly a team effort, and without all of you all's hard work, none of this would even be possible. So once again, I offer you my greatest thanks." 

All of the engineer's smiled. "You're welcome Mr. Taylor. Now the question remains, when are you going to actually fire up the engine, and see if whether or not all of our hard work is going to pay off?" 

"I was actually just about to do that right now." 

Once the plane's wheels were securely held in place by wheel chocks, Taylor climbed up onto the wing, and back up to the cockpit. Once he was there, he slid the brand new glass canopy back, and climbed back inside. 

"Feels so weird to see everything like this", he thought to himself, "I'm just so used to seeing everything a bit on the worn out side. Heck, I don't even know if the Navy even knows what the words 'brand new' even mean!" 

Once he was ready, Taylor set the plane's brakes, and made ready to restart the engine. 

"Um, how much fuel is in the tank Mr. Taylor?" 

"Hold on, let me check." Taylor tapped on the fuel gauge a few times, just to be sure that everything was ok, and it was holding steady. "Ok, it shows that we have about 3/4 of a tank. That should be more than plenty for a test run, and maybe even enough for an actual flight!" 

"But would that even be possible, Mr. Taylor?" 

Taylor shrugged. "Sadly, I don't know. That's why we just have to take this one step at a time." 

"Are you ready to restart the engine though?" 

Taylor nodded. "Affirmative. However, I am going to ask everypony to please stand the customary 50 feet away from the plane as it's engine is starting up, as I don't want anypony to get hurt. Plus, I honestly have no idea what's going to happen when I try and restart the engine. It could fail to start, it could run like it's supposed to, it could just cough smoke, or it could even explode!" 

"EXPLODE?!?!?!" 

Taylor nodded gravely. "Yeah, sadly that is a very real possibility, however, I've never actually seen that happen, even during testing, except on engines that were in really poor condition. However, our engine is in pristine condition, so we shouldn't have anything to worry about. I hope."

The others all looked at each other nervously, but none of them said anything. Taylor then began to run through his pre-flight checklist. 

"Ok, let's see, pre-flight examinations, complete. Cockpit inspections" , he looked over all of his instruments, just to make sure that they were working. "Complete. Fuel transfer switch, on. Throttle closed, turbos off, wing-flaps, down." he pulled a lever. "Oil pressure, stable. Fuel check, 3/4 of a tank, holding steady. De-icers, off...." The checklist went on for a good few minutes. 

The engineers were starting to grow impatient. "What's taking so long up there?" 

"I'm just trying to complete my pre-flight checklist." 

"Well, you're taking far too long!" 

Taylor looked out of the cockpit, and shot them all a glare. "I'm trying to complete all of the instrument and safety checks to ensure that everything is ok to proceed. Or would you rather that I just wing it now, and if anything goes wrong, all of our hard work goes up in flames, or somepony dies. It's your choice." 

"Ok, yeah, we see what you're saying Taylor. You're the pilot here, plus, you're technically the one in charge. You're just trying to ensure our safety. We can respect that." 

Taylor nodded. "Sure thing. And I am almost done with my checks, and then we can get this show on the road." 

Finally, a few minutes later, he was finally ready. "Ok everypony, this is it. All of our hard work over the past couple of days has come down to this moment. In just a few more seconds, I'm going to pull the starter switch. When I do, that will determine if our efforts were in vain or not. Is everypony clear?" 

"Affirmative Mr. Taylor, we're all clear! And we're recording all of this for future use." 

Taylor was surprised. "What, you're recording all of this? How?" Taylor then spotted the film cameras that both Metal Work, and Dr. Beaker were holding. 

"Yep, the cameras are rolling, and we only have a limited supply of film, so try and keep this brief please Mr. Taylor." 

Taylor nodded. "Sure thing. Ok Everypony, engine starting up!" 

With that, Taylor pulled back the starting switch. At first, nothing seemed to be happening. When Taylor pushed the knob back in, and pulled it out again, the engine began to sputter, and cough smoke. 

"Come on, c'mon old girl", Taylor pleaded, don't quit on me now!" 

The engine kept sputtering, and the propeller began to spin slowly. "Come on!" Taylor then added a little bit more gas, as well as some extra spark. Then suddenly, after he pushed the knob back in, and pulled it back out once more, the engine finally caught, and the propeller whirled again as the engine roared to life once more.

"YAHOO! WE DID IT EVERYPONY!!!!!" Taylor yelled over the roar of the engine.

After a few more tests, one of which involving throttling the engine up to take-off speed, Taylor shut the engine down again, and climbed back out of the cockpit. As he was doing so, the engineers were still celebrating. 

"Wowee! We really did it!" The Airplane 8 cried, "We made the plane run again! We really are the best in our field!" 

"Just as myself and my team are the best chemical engineers in our field, as we made the fuel for the plane." 

Once Taylor was back on the ground again, he then turned to the rest of the engineers. "Ok then everypony, now that we've tested everything as well as it can be tested, now we just need to conduct the final test; the test to see if the plane really can fly." 

Metal work looked at his watch. "Yes, but sadly, the time is now close to 7:00pm. It's going to be dark soon, so maybe we should schedule this test for another time?" 

Taylor nodded sadly. "Alas, this is going to have to be the case, but don't worry everypony!" He added when he saw their dejected looks. "Tomorrow morning should be as good a time as any. Plus, I'm going to need a bit more time to talk with Princess Celestia about this, and make final arrangements for a suitable testing site to be secured for this final test." 

"Ok then, I guess that we'll meet back here tomorrow morning. I guess that now we should clean everything up again for the day." 

And that's precicely what they all did. Just like the previous times, they put away all of their tools, swept the floors, cleaned up any spills, and covered everything with tarps. Unlike the previous times though, this time, they also had to secure the fuel making machines, as well as the chemicals, oils, and moonshine involved with making it. Once this was all complete, the plane was encased in a magic shield, and after the lights were turned off, the doors to the workshop were once again closed, and locked securely. 

"Well, I guess that this is it for now, goodnight everypony." 

"Goodnight Mr. Taylor." 

And with that, they all went their separate ways for the night. Sure enough, at dinner that night, Taylor told Celestia, Redheart, and Starlight that the final tests had been completed, and that the plane really did work. 

"What?! The plane works?!" Redheart looked like she was trying to be happy for Taylor, but in reality, she was terrified for his safety. 

Taylor nodded. "Yep, we just completed the final checks this evening. Now all that's left to do is find a large, flat field to see if I can get the plane up to takeoff speed, to see if it really can fly for real." 

"The only fields around here that would most likely suit your needs Mr. Taylor, would be back in Ponyville. Would one of those work for you?" 

Taylor nodded. "Yes, I remember that Ponyville has a number of fields outside of town limits. I'm sure that one of them would work just fine for the test." 

After dinner, all of them went to bed, just wondering what the next day would bring.





Back in his hospital room, as he slept that night, Ensign James had the strangest dream. In his dream, he was back with Taylor in the plane, and the gunner, Sergeant Cole, was there as well. They were completing a mission, when all of a sudden, the plane came under attack. Weird, black, bug-like creatures with blue eyes were attacking the plane! 

Taylor began to fly in evasive patterns, while Cole fired the primary turret at the creatures, and he fired the lower tail gun. Taylor also fired the forward guns located in the wings, but whatever those things were, they kept coming. 

"Taylor, there's too many of them, what do we do?!" 

"We keep fighting! We have to make it back to Canterlot!" 

Then, things began to get really weird. As suddenly as the attack began, it was all over, and the plane was landed by Taylor inside of Canterlot. Once the plane came to a stop, and Taylor had shut off the engine, they were all greeted by Princess  Celestia. 

"Well done, Earth Creatures, you have saved us all. I offer you my greatest thanks. In fact, we ALL offer you our greatest thanks!" 

With that, Celestia stepped to the side, and from behind her, another alicorn appeared. She seemed to be a lot younger than Celestia, and she had pink fur, purple eyes, and a pink, purple, and yellow mane and tail. Her mane was tied into a ponytail, and she had a blue ribbon in her tail as well. 

"Who is she?" James thought, "I've never seen her before." 

Before James could think on this any further, he suddenly noticed the creature standing next to the pink Alicorn. He looked like a human, although he wore green coveralls, and black boots. On his head he had what appeared to be a British helmet from WW2, but that's not what had caught James's attention. The male figure had wings! They were cyan blue, his hair was rainbow colored, and he had a rainbow colored tail as well. He had his arm wrapped around the pink Alicorn, and it was pretty clear that they were either dating, engaged, or married, James couldn't tell which. 

Suddenly, from behind the two lovers, another figure appeared. This one was short, and wearing a long, black, hooded cloak. The figure appeared to be human, although James couldn't tell, or the creature's gender for that matter, although he believed it be female. All he could see of the figure was it's pale hands, and some reddish hair. 

Then, without warning, the figure pulled a knife, and made the move to lunge at the male figure with wings!

"Oh no, look out Human, LOOK OUT!" 

Suddenly, James woke up. He was covered in sweat, and breathing heavily. It took him a moment to realize where he was. He was still in his bed, and what he had just witnessed was nothing more than a dream. 

"Oh wow. What a bizarre dream!" He lay back down, and tried to go to sleep again. "What could that dream mean?" He thought. "I've never had a dream like that before. It was almost like.....like.....I was seeing a vision of the future, or something!" 

As he continued to lay there, James had so many questions. What were those black, bug like creatures? Who was the pink-furred Alicorn? Who was her human-ish lover? Who had tried to kill him, and why? These questions continued to play heavily on James's mind as he fell into an uneasy sleep.