EASA - Friendships Forged in Fire

by Star Scraper


The Stage is Set

- - { Twilight } - -

The skyport station was bustling with all kinds of enormous crowds of ponies, a few donkeys, zebras, the occasional odd creature and even griffons, almost all carrying or pulling luggage. Enormous open windows and windowed skylights lit everypony as though there were no roof. The walls were enormous arched granite pillars, allowing the crowds, flying mailponies and fresh air to flow through the building, and making the bright blue sky almost as visible as if there were no walls. The grand clock in the center of the station rang noontime.

I sat, slouched over, next to a bulging, ill-packed suitcase and a small stack of bags, all around a numbered sign post, surrounded by six lively ponies. There was talking, excited chatting, but I could barely hear it all as my eyes drooped and my vision blurred. The sounds mixed in with the murmuring of the crowds...

It was like the sound of rain, putting me to sleep. It didn't help that I felt the warm sun from the skylight above. I was finally starting to get some rest, when I noticed Applejack galloping off into the crowd. She came back talking with a small blue pony with a black and red mane, both followed by a large gray pegasus colt.

“Twi! This here-” AJ poked the blue pony “-is Ratchet Wrench, he's an old friend of mine.”

I couldn't help but think Applejack must've had a lot of “old friends”.
“I'm Twilight Sparkle!” I said to both the new ponies.

“And I'm captain Ironfeather.” The pegasus introduced himself. He had a large gray mane with a hint of blue, completed by a small white cap with a navy insignia on it.
“I'm captain of the Sapphire Skies. This is the right gate -” he glanced at the numbered post
“And you're Twilight Sparkle, so right this way, ma'm.”

As we started walking Ratchet grabbed some of Rarity's heavier luggage “I'll take this for you, lady Rarity.” He then turned to me, “Twilight! As AJ mentioned, I'm Captain Ratchet Wrench of the Equestrian Coast Guard, and you're the famed...” I must've slouched a little at that moment. “You look a bit tired.”
“I... Yeah, heh heh, don't worry about that, I'm fine. I'm what?”
“Celestia's personal student!”
“Oh, well... All six of us are...”
“Six?”
Pinkie popped in: “Oh! Let's introduce everypony!...”
We talked as we trotted towards an armored door flanked by guards, while Ironfeather remained aloof. A simple nod from him was all it took, and the guards stepped aside, while the doors seemed to open on their own.

We stepped outside onto fenced wooden piers, hanging off the side of Canterlot. A cool breeze hit us, and I felt a little dizzy at the extreme height and sheer cliff. The air felt cool, fresh and crisp, and the sun unusually warm. It was like being on a mountaintop.

All around us were small sprucewood ships attached to enormous linen and paper balloons, all tethered to the piers, with a few of the airships flying by far overhead. There was a metalic gleam at the opposite end of the Air Navy's piers, only just visible around the other Air Navy ships. I shot upright and awake. Could it be?...
“The Sapphire Skies... What type of ship is it?”

I was surprised that instead of Ratchet, Ironfeather turned back and answered;
“A very fine military ship. Made of aluminum-copper alloy. Metal. It's a ship-of-the-line, the first of it's class which has been named after it, the Sapphire-class airships. Two lightweight boilers drive four pivoted thirty-foot wide fans for speeds above twenty knots, armed with two 4-inch magazine-fed guns or more than one hundred fifty pegasi soldiers. She's a jewel of the aerial fleet, to be sure.”

I grinned wolfishly. It was enormous, absolutely dwarfing the others around it, looking centuries ahead of it's time, and it was. I grinned at it's enormous, powerful steam-powered ultra thin linen-paper propeller fans at each side of the Gondola, underneath the six-hundred foot long, one-hundred twenty foot wide aluminum helium balloon with fins on the back. It was a true, modern airship.

The enormous balloon blocked out the sun as they approached the gangway set out towards an open door in the gondola. As we approached the temporary bridge, from inside the Gondola we heard off-key singing from a small feminine voice;

“The winds have welcomed us with softness.
The sun has blessed us with its warm hands.
We have flown so high and so well -”

Pinkie Pie darted inside and joined in;

“- that God has set us gently back into
the loving arms of mother Terra.”

We approached the bridge, and looked inside to see Pinkie singing with a small, dark-green pegasus, almost black, but with a thick, knotty cream-colored mane and a black cap. Her green eyes were bright with life as she cheerfully greeted us with a light Irish brogue: “Hey! 'tis a true pleasure to meet you! So you're the bearers of the Elements of Harmony? The select of Celestia! I'm your navigat'r, Trade Wind! Your rooms are...” she stopped as Ironfeather beamed at her.

“Oh, right. I told'em he would get to guide yall on-board. So I better... Eh... Go calibr'te some instruments'.” She flew out the door towards us, then disappeared over the top of the balloon, leaving Pinkie alone inside without a dance partner.

“Your rooms are inside and to the right.” the captain said.
The last thing I remembered was trotting across the gangway, into the dark, cozy metal gondola, and into a tiny sleeping compartment.

- - { Twilight } - -

I heard a lot of ponies talking a few rooms over. I yawned as I woke up, groggily checked a small mirror to make sure I looked alright, then walked down the tiny hall into the Gondola's foyer where it seemed everypony onboard was gathered, making a good deal of noise with their conversations. Outside the windows, I could see the late afternoon landscape and clouds slowly drifting by far below. I shivered as I felt the cold draft.

“Look who's finally awake.” Rainbow Dash remarked.
“You're the one that wanted me to stay up so late writing that letter last night.” I replied.
“You didn't have to deal with getting Screwball to go to sleep! She makes such a mess, and everypony had to help clean up!” Dash replied.
A burst of laughter came from the corner of the room from Pinkie and Screwball. They seem to get along pretty well I thought, with a little bit of worry. Then I comforted myself with the fact: There's probably not a pony in Equestria that Pinkie can't get along with.

“The altitude makes us non-pegasi tired. Less oxygen this high up. It's a proven fact.” I replied to Dash.

Trade Wind came in carrying a tray full of metal cups full of warm, dark liquid.
“Hot choc'late!” she said. “Because I know, non-peg'si get pretty cold, up this high.”
“Oooh. Hot chocolate.” Fluttershy grinned.
Rainbow turned and started talking to her.

I glanced out one of the many open windows, the ground was a good few thousand feet below.
Ironfeather looked at Trade Wind handing out hot chocolate. He sighed. “And Trade Winds is obviously not an Air Navy navigator.” I couldn't help but giggle a little. “There's no reason not to be nice, is there?” I pulled a cup over with magic and took a sip. Is this hot water? I looked at it. It had the color of hot chocolate, but tasted more like slightly bitter hot water with a little chocolate mixed in...

“How d'ya like it? I tried putting a little tidbit less mix innit, and less sugar in th' cocoa. Last time they said I put way too much in and n'pony liked it, though they tried to be p'lite and hide that they dinnit like it, but I could still tell.”

“Uhm... It's great.” I answered, and took another sip. It was kinda bitter, but I was just glad to drink something warm, and I prefer richer, dark chocolate anyways.
The tray now empty, and everypony served, the navigator set down the empty tray against the wall and joined in the conversation.

“And thats' why I didn't join th' Air Navy.” she said.
“What?” Ironfeather said in a flat tone.
“Oh, ya can't be yerself at all! That's why. You thought it was red'culous that I made everypone hot cocoa. That's just mean. I love it. And I think theh' love it, too.”
At that moment, Rainbow Dash's voice shot through a gap in the noise of conversation, loud and clear; “What is this, hot, bitter water?
Trade Wind blushed.

“It's really nice to have a warm drink. You're right, Trade Wind, it is cold up here... At least for us non-pegasi.” I said, and made sure my glare in Rainbow's direction was very clear.
Trade seemed to recover a bit of confidence.
“Thank you greatly, Rarity.”

“You're welcome... But I'm Twilight Sparkle. Rarity is over there.”
“Oh... Heheh. Well, you're both unicorns, and from what I read...”
Trade was obviously embarrassed again.

“Don't worry about it, I hadn't introduced myself yet... I'm Twilight Sparkle.” I said and smiled at her. “So how come Trade Wind is the navigator on an Air Navy ship if she's not in the Navy?” I asked both of them.
“She has a special assignment from Celestia. She's filling the role of navigator just for this trip.”
Ironfeather continued; “No matter, Equestria needs the finest at a time like this, Trade Winds, and Wesland certainly does, too. You are one of the finest navigators there are. It's very rare to get a letter hoof-written from Celestia herself, and even more rare for a civilian to be assigned to a navy airship. You should...”
His voice kept going, but I stopped listening when I noticed Rarity was by herself looking out a window. She didn't look alright.

“...E'cuestria needs trade, doesn't it?” the civilian navigator said to her captain.
“Of course, but if Celestia assigned you to a navy airship, don't you think she was trying to get a point across?”
“I s'ppose... Hey Twilight, why don't you ask the pr'ncess? You write to her all theh time, don'tya? She just said this trip whas spec'al. I fig'red it was cause you an' the other bear'rs are on-board, but maybe she does wan me to join theh Air Navy.”
“I... guess I could. It was nice meeting you, captain.”
He tipped his hat in approval and continued talking to his civilian navigator as I walked over to Rarity.

“Rarity, what's wrong?”
“Oh, uhm nothing. Nothing at all, darling.”
Rarity... Hiding her feelings? She had been acting a little unusual these last few weeks...

“Uhm... How's the Boutique?”
“Good... But I'm worried about it, Twilight. What if something happens while we're gone? And the business - Sky High will be so disappointed! I haven't even finished that new line he wanted – this could ruin the reputation of the boutique!...” She stopped. “Oh, but this is such a marvelous view... I can't possibly wallow in front of this!”

Outside the windowsill she was leaning on, thousands of feet below, were dark lush green hills, an orange sky without a sun, soft orange light coloring the worlds of hills, forests and rivers. They were decorated with occasional lit towns and wagons which could be seen by their yellow lanterns shining like luminescent gold on the dark, distant paths far below that were Equestria's roads, and above it all the sky was almost a rainbow of an orange horizon, almost green as it mixed with a bright blue sky near the orange, which dimmed away into a dark blue sky.

We just paused for a second and admired the view to the rhythm of the airship's windmill-like propellers.

“I'll write a letter to princess Luna and see if there's anything she can do.”
“Oh, really? Thank you so dearly, Twilight!... But, do say – why Luna?”
“Celestia's kind of busy with bigger things right now, like the fate of Equestria and Discord...”
“Oh, I do suppose a letter to Luna would be much more fitting, then. Oh, thank you again, Twilight!”
“You're welcome.”
Thank Celestia for letters!

- [ Applejack ] -

I sipped on the watery hot chocolate and watched Pinkie Pie and Screwball play a game. How in Equestria does that game even work? I wondered. Screwball said something random, Pinkie Pie said something random that either rhymed or sounded funny with Screwball's word. Occasionally they started repeating a word a lot, it got chaotic, then they'd burst into laughter. Silly, silly... I thought with a small smile.

Then I noticed Rainbow Dash hadn't said anything in awhile. I looked to see her silently looking out one of the windows, and so was Rarity. Oh dear I thought. They both seemed to be brooding about something or other. Twilight walked up to Rarity, seeming to not even notice Rainbow, and they started talking. I felt guiltily relieved at not having to deal with the drama queen. I approached the athlete-egghead, instead.

“What's wrong, Rainbow?.. You're not still upset about the Wonderbolts, are ya?”
I gently put my hoof on her shoulder. She had been sad, angry, and even made new friends in Cloudsdale when that happened, and stopped spending so much time in Ponyville.

“They even admitted that I was one of the best flyers alive, I even did a sonic rainboom – three times now! And still they haven't let me in! But I'm the best flyer there is!” She shrugged my hoof off.
What she didn't mention was that they'd told her she didn't work well with a team, and she didn't have enough discipline...
“I'm just tryin' to help, sugercube.”
“I didn't ask for help...” she said under her breath.

I put my hoof back on her shoulder.
“Rainbow Dash, I learned a long time ago - why, it was just after we'd met Twilight - that you should never be afraid to ask for help. I got all prideful and thought I was a strong pony, I told myself I wouldn't bother anyone by askin' for help, but I just made a fool of myself. Everypony needs help sometimes... Why, that's what teamwork's all about, helpin' eachother, and even the best work in a team. Ya never have to fight your battles alone, that's what friends are for, to be by your side when you need it, and when you don't, and when you need it but don't want it. And darn' tootin I'm always here for ya, Rainbow.”
Woah. Did I just say all that?
It all just sorta came out as I talked.

“I know, I know, it's not the first time you've told me that...”
“RD. I know you'll get into the Wonderbolts one day... Just think of it like, one day you'll prove to them you can work as a team – why, if you've been wondering how to do it – this whole Mars business is probably just the way to prove you can work well on a team.”
“They said it was about discipline...”
“All the better! Why, I bet after this -”
I took my hoof off her shoulder and bumped her side with it friendly-like: “they'll come beggin' for ya to join.”
“Thanks AJ... But that's not really what I was upset about.”

“Uh - It wasn't?”
That took me by surprise.
Ohwell, seemed she could use the talkin' to, anyways.

“What is it then, RD?”
“It's all this stuff about the war with the griffons.”
“There's not gonna be a war with the griffons if we just do what Celestia asked.”
“No, not that. It's just... The griffons...”
She sighed deeply, and rested her head on the windowsill, slouching down.

“Do you ever wonder what happened to Gilda?” She asked.
“Meanest critter to ever set foot in Ponyville!”
“No, Applejack! She wasn't always like that...” her voice started to crack “I didn't become best pals with a griffon who was a jerk. Sometimes I wonder why she was such a jerk when she was in Ponyville, and where she went after she left...”

I made sure I continued much more gently;
“If that griffon wanted to be a good friend, she wouldn't be in Avia. She would've come back long ago... She quit you Rainbow, but we're still here for you, and always will be. Gilda... I don't know what happened to her, but if she was still a good friend, she'd be back in Ponyville with you.”

“Maybe...” Dash said.

“'...and when you need it but don't want it'...” she mumbled.
“What, RD?”
“Nothing...”

- / [ Gilda ] / -

The cold, moist night air blew against my face and over my wings as I flew. I flew directly behind Tura, just a few meters away. I was surrounded in a v-shaped formation of escorts, not that they were necessary, but where we were going, no griffon was allowed without escorts.

The stars and slender crescent moon provided little light compared to the bright yellow glow of the citadel underneath, covered by only scraps of cloud cover passing not far beneath us. Filled with electric lighting, berthing dock to Avia's mightiest airships, and my main concern; Avia's cutting-edge weapons' technology, Maelstrom Citadel was the military stronghold of Avia, but it all seemed to bow to the might of the elite aerial warrior in front of me. We flew lower, and without a single word, in a few minutes we were standing outside a large hanger.

I was shocked at what I saw when we landed. A team of seven griffons, general Tusk and a pony, though they all seemed equally surprised to see Tura. The pony and five of the griffons were wearing the red and gray-striped vests of the engineers, decorated with Avia's insignia of the eagle, but unlike all other eagle insignias, their eagles held platinum bolts in their clutches.

These were a few of the Platinum Bolts, the very best Avian engineers alive. I could see it in their faces, they all had a look of genius and an indominable spirit of engineering daredevils that believed nothing was impossible, and if it could be imagined, it could be created. The dream and envy of every aspiring griffon who valued their craft or machines, they had risen to their place through a long career of extreme excellence.

“Tura.” the general acknowledged his fighter with a nod.
“What you are about to see,” general Tusk started, “Is one of Avia's most vital secrets. If you spill as much as a word of what you see, then much more than words will be spilled. I believe you know our policy on traitors. For Krugen!” “For Krugen!” we all shouted.

As we walked towards the hanger, it's enormous doors began to open. Inside, I saw a strangely shaped gondola, entirely missing the balloon on top. It looked as though the gondola wouldn't even attach to a balloon. As the doors opened further, I saw something even more strange; enormous flat aluminum fins on either side, with boxes built in to their front, and out of the front of the boxes were thin-bladed propellers. There obviously wasn't a steam engine on it, it looked far too small and light for that.

I just looked in awe. I knew better than to ask questions.
“Adaevice. Explain.” the general told one of the engineers.
“This will lead Avia to victory. Gilda, and you have been chosen as it's test pilot.”
I'd heard of tug boat pilots, but never an aircraft pilot. There were captains of airships, not pilots, and this certainly wasn't an airship.

“That thing flies?” I asked.
“Yes. The same way you fly, through some cutting-edge, but classified, technology. But I can tell you the basics you need to know: the propellers you see push it forward. The wings on the sides, they generate lift, and it flies.”
They're not fins... They're wings. I like that. More like a griffon than a fish.

“And why am I flying it?”
“Beats me. You were just sent here.” The engineer shrugged.
I knew it was a dangerous question. But I didn't care that much about danger anymore. I wanted to see Avia admit that it wanted me dead, instead of playing these games of secrets, and Tura never told me when she put me on an assignment, or when some griffon higher up did it, there was no point in asking her.

As the entire group moved towards it, Tura paced up to me and spoke quietly to just me.
“Because you're a great flyer, and Avia knows it, but they'll keep trying to kill you until you prove you have it all for Avia, and that you have strength.”
I almost stopped with surprise. She just outright admitted it!
But I'd had time to prepare a response:
“Since when has refusing to murder been a weakness?”
She knew better than to respond. There were too many griffons around.
But I wished she had.

Trying to kill me? Is flying in this thing a death sentence?
And what do you mean 'they'?

Adaevice continued; “Now, Gilda, if you come inside with me, I'll show you some of the controls.” He said. “We're not flying them yet, but we will be very soon, and Avia wants you familiarized with it now.”

Without a word, the general left, followed by the escorts I had been flying with. Tura looked slightly confused, paced over to me, and said: “We all deserve second chances, Gilda.” And she shot off. I clenched my claws and huffed at her self-righteousness.

I entered the strange gondola and walked towards the window-covered front. There were strange levers and a whole mess of gauges and switches. I didn't really understand how it worked, but after a long time of explaining and reciting the engineer did teach me how to control the machine. When we were done, the engineer opened a window. “Should we, uh, go for the 'throttle test'?” He asked. One of the engineers outside nodded. Adaevice turned back to me; “Now, show me you learned how to start an engine. Just the left one.”

“Alright.”
I flipped the switches I remembered, opening fuel lines and something about electricity, gave a talon-up through the window as one of the engineers pushed the propeller, and I hit the ignition switch. It roared to life and started spinning on it's own, making a tremendous roar, louder and deeper than a battalion of roaring griffons. The entire gondola shook madly with it's power. I grinned. I loved it. I could barely hear the engineer next to me yelling over the noise; “I'll be right back! Gotta check some things!”

The Platinum Bolts gathered around the engine from behind, opened up a panel, and started talking to eachother, glancing around with serious faces as they talked. What was odd, is they didn't actually seem to do anything to the engine... The general returned. They glanced at him and stopped talking, and began looking at the engine.

One of the engineers gave me the cut-off signal, and I switched the engine off.
As thrilling as it was, I could feel how close this thing was to ripping itself apart, and I was relieved when the engine finally came off.

Me and Tura were going to have to have another talk about this. I'm not going to let them kill me in Maelstrom. I'm sure I can squeeze in one more mission into Equestria before I have to fly this death-trap...