Chapter 3 - The Flying Crusader
Taking Twilight’s ‘advice,’ Sweetie Belle went to sleep. Between the train ride back, her still recuperating body, and the surprise party she really was exhausted. The fact that she practically gave away to the whole town that she was different did not make staying at the party any easier, of course, but it wasn't the only reason by a long shot. ‘Now that everypony knows they have something to benefit from talking to me, they won’t stop,’ Sweetie Belle thought, groaning at the prospect. ‘By the principles of Utilitarianism, they will continue to do so until I find some way to make the cost of doing so greater than the benefit. The only question is how? Well, I suppose as long as I distract myself with something until school starts next week, it’s unlikely anypony will bother me.’
Her thoughts were disturbed, however, by distant voices emanating from downstairs. ‘The Boutique shouldn’t be open this early,' she reasoned, 'who could that be?’. Deciding that going downstairs to find out who it could be was preferable to her current laziness, she got out of her bed and went down into the kitchen to find out.
“Good morning, everypony,” Sweetie Belle said wearily, still not completely awake. This drowsiness must have been the case as she completely missed the fact that not only was Rarity there, sitting at the small table in the kitchen, but her parents were there as well. “Wait. What are you doing over here, Mom and Dad?”
The three unicorns at the table smiled at the filly’s entrance. Her father, Hondo Flanks, was the first to speak up, “Oh, like we need a reason to visit our lovely daughters!” The moustached unicorn quickly took another bite from his eggs before continuing, “I’ll have you know that we felt just awful that we couldn’t visit you as often as we would have liked at the hospital.”
Her mother, Cookie Crumbles, continued the conversation as soon as she was finished a piece of toast. “We’ve just been so busy, dontcha know.” She quickly took a bite out of a pancake before she spoke up again. “If it wasn’t one of your father’s hoofball tryouts in Vanhoover, it’s been me getting completely swamped with work at the restaurant. We’ve been getting more and more business at La Lune d’Everfree ever since we received our very own princess here in Ponyville. We’ve had to extend our hours just to keep up with the reservations! Why, it seems like every pony in Canterlot has been down here, and—of course—our restaurant is the only one ‘fancy’ enough to cater to their needs, you know? Even a simple pastry chef like your mom can’t catch a break!”
Rarity, sensing the incoming tension building in the room, tried to head it off. “Oh don’t you worry, Father, Mother,” Rarity responded, looking nervously at everypony in the room, “Sweetie Belle hasn’t said a word against you about that.”
“Yeah, sis is right. Everything is alright,” Sweetie Belle said with a sigh. ‘It isn’t like it would be the first time they forgot about me,’ Sweetie Belle thought. ‘Although, if it wasn’t for their negligence, I wouldn’t get to spend so much time with my sister!' she then realized, picking herself back up. 'I mean, it all makes logical sense. Dad has his Vanhoover Manticores to coach and Mom has her job as patisserie. I was a lot more frustrated about this before, but I’m old enough to make my own decisions now. If I need help, I have my friends and Rarity to give it.’
Rarity frowned at this reaction from her sister, however. Rarity might not have been able to read the filly's mind, but it was clear by the indifferent expression that her sister was far too used to their parents’ perpetual absence. Still, as her mother spoke up again, it seemed that the issue was dealt with for now.
“Well, don’t you be worrying about that no more, you hear, Sweetie Belle?” Cookie continued with a smile. “I know that I’ve been putting it off for a while, but I’ll be more than happy to get back to teaching you all that fancy cooking I promised you. I guarantee that you’ll be cooking like me and your sister in no time. This whole situation has reminded me and your Dad how special you are and that we need to spend much more time together. I promise to make it up to you.”
“Right, thanks,” Sweetie Belle mumbled as she got up to the table. Her mane was ruffled sympathetically by her father but she ignored it, instead rolling her eyes as she leaned into the chair. This maneuver wasn’t as sneaky as she thought it was, however, as—though missed by her parents—it was caught by her sister who once again gave a worried expression.
A short amount of pleasant conversation was then discussed: Hondo discussed the new hoofballers he was scouting, Cookie talked about a new lemon tart she made to entice the Canterlotans, and Rarity discussed her new innovations she was planning for her summer line. Sweetie couldn’t bring herself to listen intently to any of it, her mind easily drifting to her thoughts on thaumic lattice structure manipulation and the nuances of manifold geometry in spellcasting. Before she knew it, breakfast was over and Sweetie Belle’s parents were leaving, saying their goodbyes to them at the door.
“We’re sorry again, sport,” her father spoke, ruffling her mane again. “We’ve got to head out. Don’t you know it but your mom has work again today and your dad needs to go over his new roster and pick the best of the best! Those new hoofballers won’t hire themselves, you know? I promise though, we will be spending much more time together next week.”
With that, they left. Sweetie Belle once again rolled her eyes, going back to her unfinished pancakes.
Rarity sighed and sat back down at the table, looking back to her sister. “They are good parents, if not a bit thick-headed, darling,” Rarity sympathized, placing hoof on her sister’s withers. “They might not be around that much for you, but when I was your age, they were everything to me. Goodness, half of the reason I’m so…refined—I guess the word would be—is because I wanted to grow up and wait tables for Mother’s restaurant.”
Rarity sat back a bit, a wistful expression on her face. “When those snobs at the restaurant told me—a little filly at the time—that I wasn’t mature and cultured enough to work there, I have no doubt they just wanted me to go home and forget the whole thing. I mean, can you imagine a filly working at a fancy restaurant? Oh, but I was—and am—nothing if not determined. I went home and spent months learning how to be a proper lady. I went back, but again, they said I wasn’t ‘cultured enough’.”
Rarity giggled. “I still had it in my head that if it wasn’t my speech, then it must have been my looks. The reason I got my talent in dressmaking was because I couldn’t afford the genuine article. Class plays, dolls, friends, I practiced dressmaking everywhere I could so that I could make the perfect dress. ‘Surely that would show them I had just as much culture as the rest of them’ I thought. I enjoyed the idea of being a lady so much—of dressmaking, proper speech and etiquette—I forgot the whole reason I did it in the first place. I never went back, nor did I look back. I had found who I was.”
Sweetie Belle was still pouting, but it was also clearly evident that she was hiding a genuine curiosity at the story. Rarity decided to take this moment summarize, “The point I’m trying to make is that inspiration can come from the most unlikely of places and it would be a terrible waste if you didn’t let Father and Mother into your life. Everypony thinks I must have been adopted because of how different our parents are to me, but the reality is that they are the reason for it. If there is anything my friendship with Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash has taught me, it is that you can never have too much diversity in the company you keep.”
“What’s the point, though?” Sweetie Belle groaned. “It isn’t like I haven’t tried to get them to pay attention before. You should know how helpful I try to be…or at least tried to be. Well, at least you noticed. Dad just laughs and rustles my mane and mom just ignores it completely! I’ve thought it through, and I’m happier the way it is now, with you.”
Rarity gave her sister a stern stare. “Then you tell them, you sit them down and explain yourself. I remember a certain somepony saying ‘there are so many things I can do if I put my mind to it.’ Well, that doesn't need only apply to just your-”
Unfortunately—or luckily, depending on your point of view—this lecture was interrupted by a knock on the door.
“One moment!” Rarity yelled at the door before turning to her sister. “Now, Sweetie, we will talk about this later, but try to think about all the good everypony in Ponyville does. Neither I nor your friends are the be-all and end-all that ponies have to offer.”
Rarity then answered the door, leaving Sweetie Belle to stew in her thoughts for a moment. This didn’t last long, however, as Rarity brought back the ponies who were at the door. Two familiar fillies.
“Scootaloo! Apple Bloom!” Sweetie Belle cried, grabbing her friends into a group hug. “I’m sorry I wasted all the time we had together yesterday with that dumb lecture and-”
“Yeah, yeah,” Scootaloo cut off with a roll of her eyes and a grin. “Come on, we all know why and we don’t care. We were your friends when you were a dictionary, it shouldn’t surprise you that we’re still your friends when you’ve moved on and become an encyclical—um, encircle-something-”
“Encyclopedia,” Sweetie Belle chipped in, not missing a beat.
“-exactly. I’m just glad everything is back to normal. Whatever your normal is,” Scootaloo saying that last part with a smarmy look.
“Yeah,” Apple Bloom agreed. She gave each of them a silent gesture. “And now that we’re back together, we can finally get back to being-”
“THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!” they all yelled in unison. Luckily Rarity had smartly left the room when they got together so as to save her precious ear drums.
“Yay!” Sweetie Belle finished, giggling but with tears welling in her eyes. “Oh my gosh, girls, I missed this so much.”
Apple Bloom nodded her assent, “We all did. Without ya, it just hasn’t been the same. Not ta mention that Scoots’ parents grounded her for the whole first month ya were away. It turns out she didn’t ask permission for the money and supplies for our adventure after all.” Scootaloo gave and uncharacteristic squeak of embarrassment at that, followed quickly by an awkward cough.
“Well, we need to go right now!” Sweetie Belle voiced enthusiastically. “We only have a week before school starts and I want to get as much crusading as possible done before then!” Sweetie Belle concluded, finally giving in to her friends’ exuberance. They all jumped up and down and giggled as they turned to leave.
However, before Sweetie Belle could get out the door, she felt a sudden tug on her from behind, causing her to stop and her friends to leave her behind, well out of earshot. Turning to see what it was, she found herself held in place by her sister’s magic.
“Now, Sweetie,” Rarity began in a slightly chiding tone, “I know that you want to jump right back into your crusading again, but remember, you’re not yet fully recovered! I want you to play safe, you hear?”
“I know,” Sweetie Belle groaned. Rarity looked back with a deadpan stare at her sister’s indifference, but that softened with what came next. “No really, sis, I know,” Sweetie Belle continued waving her forehooves at nothing in particular. “How can I not? All I can do now is think! Bone marrow loss, muscular atrophy, my horn. Really, that’s just extra on top of everything. I ruined any chance I had at being normal the moment I ran away and became smart.” Sweetie Belle had surprised herself when that last word was said in disgust.
Rarity knelt down and hugged her sister. “Oh, Sweetie, you know I didn’t mean it that way. Just…be careful, alright? I let you out of my sight for a minute and just look what happened to you! If you were to—”
“No, sis, you aren’t allowed to feel bad about that,” Sweetie Belle said, pushing away from their embrace to look intently into Rarity’s eyes. Rarity was shocked at how authoritative Sweetie Belle sounded. Sweetie briefly turned back to make sure her friends were still out of earshot before continuing, “I forgave whatever it is you think you did wrong. I went in the cave, I lied to everypony and ran away. I put my friends' lives in danger.” She looked away at that, but quickly turned back around, staring at her sister in full force. “You can trust me. That isn’t a mistake I’m going to ever make again. This is just going to be nice regular fun,” she paused and teared up slightly only to wipe it all away, "just like old times."
With that, Sweetie jumped out of her sister’s forehooves and ran for her friends who—because they could not hear a word of the conversation—had looked upon the scene in confusion. Rarity—on the other hoof—looked back on what happened with surprise and concern.
‘I guess the saying is true: ‘once choice begins, innocence ends’. I just hope you haven’t started making your choices too soon, sister. I may not like it, but there is no turning back the clock on innocence.’
She looked at the happy fillies running to their clubhouse. If one hadn’t heard what just happened, you would think they were perfectly normal, innocent foals. ‘It’s just … you are too young to be ending your childhood so soon but it’s also my duty as your big sister to protect you, Rarity thought, conflicted. She sighed and turned back to the house and to the beginning of her work day.
'Oh Celestia, why does this have to be so hard.’
The three fillies sat in their clubhouse, going over what they were going to do today. All the earlier exuberance was gone and everypony but Sweetie was slumped over a table in the center of the room; one covered paper scrawled with various scribbled ideas.
“Okay,” Sweetie Belle said, trying to summarize what she just heard, “so, while I was gone, your tried water polo, letter writing, oil dredging, babysitting, crane driving, train conducting, and river relocating-”
“-but still no Cutie Mark,” Scootaloo concluded with a grumble. “It’s gotten so bad that our list of activities is starting to look more like a badly written dictionary!” She emphasized this by holding up the list, which was now over forty pages thick of failed ideas. “How can Babs Seed make it look so easy? She joined last, but got her mark first!”
“What about Silversmithing?” Apple Bloom asked, not hiding the fact that she just opened the page to a random page in the dictionary she was holding.
“Done. We got kicked out when we tried making matching CMC bracelets,” Scootaloo replied. “Not to mention that the only silversmiths in town are … Silver Spoon’s family," she finished with a shudder. "Lion Taming?”
“Did that too once,” Apple Bloom shivered. “Also, doin’ anything that has to do with the Cutie Marks Ah got when Ah had the Cutie Pox is a no-go for me. Ah draw the line at hang-gliding, but Ah still have nightmares about tap-dancin’ and speakin’ Fancy. Trying to hold back several ferocious lions is definitely on that side of the line.”
Sweetie Belle collapsed on the table like her friends. “Isn’t this exactly what we did at our last CMC meeting?” Sweetie Belle asked, reminding the three of the time when Sweetie was hiding the existence of the Tablet from the rest of them against her will. “Doing the same thing every time is going to get pretty boring soon; not to mention that we’re going to have to start doing boring things like ‘tax-returning’ or ‘flower-watering’ if we keep this up.”
“Yeah,” Apple Bloom assented sadly, “but what can we do? I mean, there’s no point doing things we’ve already done and we’ve pretty much run out of all the fun options. Still, we can’t give up, right?”
“Of course not!” Scootaloo exclaimed, sitting up. “The Cutie Mark Crusaders never quit!”
Sweetie Belle hummed while she thought, ‘Well, if none of the regular activities are doing anything, maybe we should try something nopony has done before…’ Then it hit her, the perfect idea. Something that they all could do, that played to each of their skills, that they all would enjoy and—most importantly of all—was highly likely to get them their Cutie Marks.
“There is one thing we haven’t tried yet,” Sweetie Belle said with a big grin.
“Oh, oh!” Scootaloo cried, jumping onto her hooves. “I know that look! Whatever it is, count me in!”
Apple Bloom however, was more hesitant for the same reason. Sweetie Belle was, after all, the one who typically kept the fillies thinking sense most of the time. The last time she made a suggestion with a big grin like that, they were getting a special somepony for Cheerilee.
Sweetie Belle saw her friend’s hesitance and quickly added, “Don’t worry Apple Bloom, it isn’t anything bad, I promise.”
The three fillies, now informed of the plan, made their way back to the Sweet Apple Acres to ask Applejack for the appropriate supplies.
“So what will we need from sis again?” Apple Bloom asked as the three finally made it out of the small forest separating their clubhouse from the farm proper. The farm was now in sight.
“Well,” Sweetie Belle started, going into her saddlebags to get the list she had made, “according to the plans, we’re going to need a: saw, chisel, wood bore or drill, some hinges, some screws and a screwdriver, sandpaper, carpentry glue, some plywood, and a whole lot of wooden planks and rods. Also, we’ll probably need some twine to bind the wooden pieces together as they dry from the glue.”
Apple Bloom nodded, “Sounds about right for a typical CMC project if you ask me,” she replied, thankful for the group's now extensive knowledge of construction they had acquired when developing the various catapults, fireworks, and other tools necessary for attaining their Cutie Marks. She reviewed the materials in her head. “No hammer and nails though? I would think this would need as many nails as possible, considering.”
Sweetie Belle shook her head. “No, nails are too easy to get knocked loose if you hit them the wrong way. Normally, you can just figure out what directions the forces acting on the system are and then just angle the nails appropriately, but you can’t do that with this. Forces can come from all sides!”
“Oh, that makes sense,” Scootaloo agreed in an I-think-I-understand sort of way, “I mean, considering that it is a-”
“Hey you fillies,” Applejack interrupted seeing the fillies finally come into view from her position at the house. “So yer all finished with Crusadin’ for the day? Ah was just about ta call y’all in fer lunch.”
“Nope!” Apple Bloom replied. “We’re just gettin’ started sis! Sweetie Belle made up a whole plan and everything!”
Applejack gave a knowing nod. “So then that means our supplies will be seein’ a sudden decrease, Ah take it?”
The three crusaders had the courtesy to at least look embarrassed. “Well,” Sweetie started—coughing slightly to hide her embarrassment, “it’s mostly wood and tools. I made up a list of the stuff here.” She hooved over the piece of paper she read earlier to the orange mare. “Would you be able to bring all this stuff to our Clubhouse some time later today? We need to go into town to get the rest of the supplies-” The fillies’ stomachs grumbled in unison at the thought of all the walking. “-Um, well, after we’ve had lunch of course,” she finished, squeaking.
“Well, alright,” Applejack concluded after giving a quick look at the list. “Most of this stuff could just come right outta the emergency barn repair supplies, not that we should need them any time soon. At least, Ah hope the darn thing can stay up fer a whole week.” She said that last part out of earshot of the fillies.
With their bellies full of food and their determination renewed at the progress they had already made thus far, the three fillies set out into town to acquire the remaining supplies they would need.
“Alright,” Sweetie Belle said, looking at her list, “it looks like there are a few stops to make. We need to visit my sister, Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie before heading back.”
“Let’s visit Pinkie Pie last,” Apple Bloom proffered with a grin, “that way we can get somethin’ at Sugar Cube Corner before we head back.”
“That’s a great idea,” Scootaloo agreed. “Also, why don’t we visit Rainbow Dash first!”
The two fillies rolled their eyes. “Let me guess,” Sweetie Belle observed, “because she’s ‘totally awesome’ right?”
“Well, duh,” Rainbow Dash concluded, stunning the fillies. The rainbow pegasus swooped down from her perch on a cloud above them, landing in the middle of the three.
“Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo exclaimed.
“How did you know we were looking for you?” Sweetie Belle asked. “I was actually going to save speaking to you for later since it’s almost impossible to find you in any one place.”
“Yeah, I get that a lot,” Rainbow Dash brushed off. “No one task can tie down this mare. That being said, I was just catching some z’s in napping spot #2 after morning stunt practice when I heard you fillies talking about me.”
“Napping spot #2?” Apple Bloom asked.
Rainbow Dash pointed to the cloud hovering over some of the Apple Trees. “Yeah, the Sweet Apple Acres’ cloud. I’d name it #1 if I didn’t count my bed, considering I sleep on both of them almost as much.”
“But don’t clouds dry up eventually?” Sweetie Belle countered. “It wouldn’t last as a napping spot very long.”
“Oh yeah, but I’m head weather mare so I can always keep a cloud or two in the area. Besides, there are always napping spots #9, #33 and #118 for when I can’t get a cloud in a moment's notice,” she finished with a shrug.
“You really keep track of all those?” Sweetie Belle asked. “That doesn’t seem like you at all. No offence, but the only pony I know that would make a list that long for anything are Twilight and maybe Pinkie Pie—because who knows how many hidden things she has stashed around Ponyville…”
“Look,” Rainbow Dash said with a sudden seriousness in her voice and expression. “If there is one thing I take as seriously as flying, it’s napping. I need at least 4 hours extra sleep if I’m going to perform at my best, so I make sure there are plenty of places I can go to get some nap time.”
It didn’t take long for the two CMC to giggle at Rainbow’s need for ‘nap time’. Scootaloo—the only one not to giggle—nonetheless looked on in confusion.
“Hey, it’s true! You try flying faster than sound, then come tell me you don’t need a couple extra breaks every day,” Rainbow concluded, crossing her arms in a pout. “Besides, you try getting some shuteye around Pinkie Pie without, like, a million contingency plans,” she added under her breath. Seeing that even Scootaloo was beginning to crack up, she coughed to get the their attention. “Anyway, what do the Cutie Mark Crusaders need from the one-and-only Rainbow Dash?”
Sweetie Belle—once again reminded of the reason she was here—looked down at her list. “Oh right, um, Scootaloo said that you apparently have three sets of helmets and goggles we can use.”
“Yeah,” Apple Bloom chipped in, “I remember you giving me a pair when we tried hang gliding when you were helping me get my Cutie Mark.”
Rainbow Dash thought a moment before it clicked. “Oh right! That was forever ago, but yeah, I have a few extra ones lying around. A stunt mare as awesome as me goes through one of those at least once a month. Just give me a sec and I’ll go grab you some.”
It was not quite a second, but the fillies did not have to wait long before Rainbow Dash’s eponymous contrail came flying back with the promised headgear. “Thanks, Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo said before awkwardly hoofing the ground. “Um, would you be able to come by some time later this week? We’ll probably have something to show you.”
Rainbow Dash looked at her with an eyebrow raised but ultimately shrugged. “Sure. I’m guessing you’re not telling ‘cause it’s a surprise?” She waited for Scootaloo’s assent before continuing, “Well, in that case, I’ll definately be there. Just let me know ahead of time ‘cause, you know, I have stuff I’m doing and…stuff…um, later!”
Realizing that the conversation was starting to turn in a lame direction, Rainbow Dash took the initiative and quickly flew back to her cloud for another nap.
“Okay, speaking of leaving,” Sweetie Belle remarked, attempting to segue back on topic, “so is anypony against going back to see my sis next?”
“I don’t know,” Apple Bloom criticized, “shouldn’t we go to Twilight’s first since her stop has the lighter load?”
“Well, it might be lighter, but my sister will have a cart so that should make both trips easier.”
“Can we just go already!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “Let’s go to Rarity’s, then Twilight’s, then we can go to Sugar Cube Corner.”
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes but conclusively decided her friend was right.
“Well, at least we have something to look forward to.”
“Four rolls of canvas, two rolls of silk, black and red fabric dye, sewing needles, thread, and forty meters of double-braided rope,” Rarity stated, reading back the list her sister just gave her. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had arrived at the Carousel Boutique not more than ten minutes prior and Sweetie Belle had just finished explaining to her sister what they needed.
“That’s it,” Sweetie Belle assured, giving a very convincing look of pure innocence…
…to which her sister was not immune. Rarity sighed. “Alright, well I can’t really say no to any of this. I just want to remind you again to stay out of trouble. Although—save for the rope—I don’t know what you could make with this that could put any of you in danger.”
“Oh, you’ll see-” Scootaloo remarked before Sweetie Belle could kick her quiet.
“Hehe, silly Scoots,” Sweetie laughed, “always kidding around. We won’t be in any real danger, honest!”
Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Well, I trust you,” she relented before waving them off with a hoof. “You can take what you need from the back of the boutique but be quick about it. Go! I have commissions to finish.”
“...and so,” Sweetie Belle spoke, ending her argument, “that is why I will need one of your high output thaumic crystals, a twin-foci conduit and an axle thaum-mechanical transducer, preferably within 50-60 Neighton-meters of torque at 3500 rotations per minute.”
Twilight facehooved, simply stating, “No.”
“Please?” Scootaloo entreated emphatically. “We really need this for the project. Obviously it can’t work without the crystals or folkees or transmodulators and stuff!”
Exchanging a silent message to one another, they simultaneously looked up at their purple pony princess patron with sad puppy eyes.
Twilight felt physically ill denying them anything, but as a responsible adult, she pressed forward. “No means no, Crusaders. It was bad enough that I gave you a potions book and left you unsupervised on Hearts and Hooves day when it was clear you would be performing alchemy, but this is going too far! There are too many dangers with this type of technology that you are unprepared for. I don’t even think that I could allow this even with my personal supervision.”
The three fillies all dropped their heads, moaning in disappointment—that is, until Sweetie Belle quickly looked up with a grin and whispered something to the other two Crusaders.
“Oh, well that’s too bad,” Scootaloo hinted.
“Yeah,” Apple Bloom agreed, “we had something to show you, but Ah guess it doesn’t matter now.”
Twilight wasn’t convinced, “No offense, Crusaders, but I doubt that there is anything that you could show that would change my mind.”
Sweetie Belle hummed, “Well that must clearly be the case. After all, it isn’t like we know what we’re doing, right?”
Twilight frowned, shaking her head. “No, I know you’re smart fillies, it’s just that-”
“After all,” Sweetie interrupted, “it isn’t like a certain somepony let me have all those thesis papers on lattice structure production. No, because that somepony would have to know that I would then have the ability to reverse engineer and design a method of production.”
Twilight’s eyes went wide, “You didn’t-”
“I did,” Sweetie Belle said in a sing-song voice. She grinned a surprisingly innocent smile—given the situation. She might have been doing something a little ‘underhooved’ but she was still proud of her accomplishment. She reached into her saddlebag and pulled out another piece of paper. “I discovered a method to form the lattice structures of that precursor crystal you found!” she said, showing Twilight the piece of paper.
Twilight looked over the sheet in front of her. To anypony else, it might have been just unintelligible math and even to Equestria’s top mages the algorithms would have just represented a series of unrelated processes that would no doubt result in a jumbled mess. To Twilight, however, the modulation of different processes at various frequencies, times and angles laid out a clear and elegant flow from beginning to end.
‘With the processes detailed on this piece of paper,’ Twilight thought, ‘even a completely random slurry of garbage could—with enough time, energy and practice from a skilled unicorn mage—be used to produce the high-quality precursor crystal with a 1% chance of success! That may not have been a lot, but considering the cost of production and the price such crystal would sell for, this single piece of paper is easily worth millions of bits in the right hooves.’ Twilight smiled, ‘Why, with a little experimentation and trial-and-error, I bet that even the issue of the non-deterministic breakdown of matter inherent to all magic could be minimized.’
“Sweetie…do you know what you just made?” Twilight stated, her voice quivering. She looked up to see the unicorn filly in question beaming a smile. “You know what, you can keep this paper,” she said, hoofing the paper back to the filly like it was made of poison ivy.
“Huh? Why?” Sweetie frowned, uneasily taking back her paper. “Is that not enough? I promise I could do more, Twi-”
Twilight put a hoof to Sweetie’s withers and sighed. “This is more than enough, but I can’t take this. To anypony else, that piece of paper would be their life’s work and I will not take that from you. I don’t know how I didn’t notice it before but it is clear that I have underestimated you, Sweetie Belle. Our next Twilight Time—and there will be one, I don’t care how busy I am—we will need to talk later about your future. For now, though, you should keep that.”
“So—?” Scootaloo asked conspiratorially, nugging Twilight gently in the side with her forehoof.
“Yes,” Twilight relented with a sigh, “you can have one of my spare five-thaum crystals, a tri-foci, and a 6000 RPM axle transducer. That is the only configuration I have that will supply the torque you need, assuming you correctly gear-down the system. That being said, you are not allowed to turn it on without my supervision.”
The three fillies groaned but did none of them spoke up against the terms.
“Princess Twilight?” a well-dressed mare asked in an aristocratic tone. She had—until now—been standing with a few other equally well-dressed ponies on the other side of the castle hall. “I know you said that you did not want to be disturbed while you spoke to these…delightful fillies, but the other nobles are growing rather impatient. Now that you are finished, could you please move back to the throne room. We would like to discuss how your addition to the bureaucracy would-”
“Yes, yes, thank you, Upper Crust,” Twilight exasperated. Turning to the fillies, she said, “Looks like this is all the time I have. I’m sorry but you can pick up the equipment tomorrow. I’ll make sure that Spike knows what you need—Celestia knows if I will have enough time to give it to you myself.”
With that, they all left; the Cutie Mark Crusaders dragging their fabric-laden cart to Sugar Cube Corner and Twilight back to her meeting.
‘I can’t believe how short-sighted I’ve been!’ Twilight thought. ‘That filly is going to change the world in ways I can only dream of. Whether it is their Crusades, or any research materials I can provide, I’m going to do my best to make sure she is properly supported.’
She looked on at the nobels filling the throne room, bickering amongst themselves. ‘Because otherwise,’ she grinned, ‘I doubt anypony will be ready for the progress she’ll make.’
“Thank Celestia,” Sweetie Belle gasped, collapsing onto the floor while resting her head onto their usual table. Usual, that is, because it was the very same table in which the CMC was founded.
“You’re tired already?!” Scootaloo questioned. “We’ve only been walking around for a few hours.”
“Come on Scoots,” Apple Bloom criticized, “we saw her in the hospital only two weeks ago. She needs more time to get better is all, then she will be runnin’ along with us in no time!”
“It’s okay Bloom,” Sweetie Belle remarked, sitting up, “let’s get some milkshakes, talk to Pinkie, and then get back to the project at hoof.”
“Did somepony call my name?” an energetic voice called out from back of the store. The three Crusaders barely had enough time to ask themselves who the voice could belong to as its owner came to them. “Hiya girls! Whatcha doin’?” Pinkie Pie asked, bringing a hoof to her chin. “Did any of you ponies hear somepony say my name?”
“Yeah, that was us,” Apple Bloom confirmed. “We wanted to ask you something-”
“Actually,” Sweetie Belle interrupted, “could you get us some milkshakes, the ‘usual’.”
“Okie-dokie, vanilla for Sweetie Belle, strawberry for Apple Bloom and chocolate for Scootaloo?” Pinkie Pie verified, barely waiting long enough to ensure there were no objections before zipping back under the store’s counter, grabbing the necessary implements, and making the ice-cream drinks. None of the fillies talked, nor looked away from the spectacle before them; half the fun of ordering a milkshake at Sugar Cube Corner was seeing Pinkie Pie work the ‘Pinkie Magic’. Ice cream flew, utensils and glasses were put out, bowls and whisks were operated, and the optimum blend of sugar, milk, eggs, cream, bananas, and the more specialized ingredients were mixed. All in the span of seconds. If they blinked, they would miss it.
“Alright, Crusaders, here you are!” Pinkie Pie proclaimed, hoofing them the beverages and breaking them out of their trance. “Enjoy!” She was about to leave but instead hovered awkwardly in the air in clear defiance of classical physics. “Oh, wait,” she chuckled, “that’s right. You said there was something else you needed?”
“Yeah,” Sweetie Belle confirmed, “actually, we need the propeller you use for that ‘Pinkie-copter’ thing you have.”
“Oh yeah! Actually, I just got it fixed again after it got damaged last week. I’ll tell you a secret,” Pinkie Pie brought all of them together conspiratorially. “Don’t fly into thunderstorms!” she whispered loudly.
The other fillies rolled their eyes. They may not be very old, but even they knew that much.
Once Pinkie Pie looked around briefly to ensure her secret was safe, she nodded her head and went upstairs. A few unsettling crashing sounds could be heard before she came back down with a good-as-new metal bi-propeller. “That should do it!” Pinkie Pie announced with a grin. “Also, the ground-adjustable pitch on it should be perfect for your aircraft design!”
The three crusaders looked at each other and then back at Pinkie Pie, confused. “Huh,” Scootaloo faltered, “how did you know we were making an aircraft?”
“Oh, silly,” Pinkie Pie giggled with a dismissive wave, “obviously if you want a propeller—especially one with big, long fans like this one—you have to be making an aircraft. I should know, I built one too!”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were surprised by this revelation. They had never thought that Pinkie Pie could be smart enough or patient enough to actually build something like that on her own and had just assumed it was something she bought somewhere. Sweetie Belle knew differently—or at least, Sweetie Belle knew how it was possible. Her ‘Pinkie Sense’ wasn’t something she would underestimate.
“Well thanks for that,” Scootaloo chipped in, eager to move the group along now that she was done with her milkshake. “We had better get going, right Crusaders?!” The others gave weak non-committal responses but ultimately agreed.
“Well, alrighty girls,” Pinkie Pie acknowledged with a smile, “I can’t wait to see what you make!”
It would not be until the next day however, that they would get started on their ‘project’. By the time they finished unloading all their supplies at their clubhouse, it was time for dinner and—in the case of Sweetie Belle—that meant it was also time for her early bedtime. With only six days—including that day—remaining before school started, they would need all the time they could get to complete the aircraft. Otherwise, their time would be redirected to other, more scholarly—and boring—pursuits. So the next morning, the Cutie Mark Crusaders agreed to meet together in front of their clubhouse. At the crack of dawn, they would get an early start on their most ambitious crusade yet.
Apple Bloom was the first to arrive—of course, being the closest—and had begun getting ready by pulling the remaining supplies out of the cart full of the wooden and metal equipment that her sister had left for them yesterday. It had rained the night before, so they made sure to keep everything either wrapped up in the carts or in their clubhouse to avoid being soaked.
It was in the midst of this setup that she saw Scootaloo coming up in the distance with her scooter. “Has Sweetie Belle shown up yet?” she asked, grabbing the supplies from the wagon she had attached to her cart. In their excitement, they had forgotten to grab seating, so Scootaloo took the liberty to ‘procure’ some from her family’s porch. It isn’t like they would use them anyway.
“Oh good, ya got some chairs,” Apple Bloom recognized, “Ah can’t believe you‘n Sweetie Belle made this whole complex design and didn’t even put in the most important part! To answer yer question though, nah, Sweetie hasn’t shown up yet. She had ta stop off at the castle first ta get the engine, remember?”
“Oh right,” Scootaloo admitted, awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck. “I should have volunteered to do that, considering her condition, but-”
No sooner did Scootaloo say that did Sweetie Belle make her way out of the collection of trees near their clubhouse and into the clearing. “It’s no problem, Scoots!” Sweetie Belle interrupted, clearly having heard Scootaloo’s admission. “It was better that I picked-up the equipment anyway, since Spike wasn’t completely sure he had the right stuff.”
“So, this should be everything then?” Scootaloo asked, having finished unloading the chairs into the small pile that had now accumulated at the base of their clubhouse.
Sweetie Belle reviewed the materials: a bunch of wooden rods and planks, assorted carpentry tools, a few long screws and a screwdriver, three carriage wheels, three sets of goggles and caps, two bolts of canvas, some silk, rope, a couple bottles of fabric dye, sewing needles and lots of thread, the magic crystal, a tri-foci conduit, an axle thaumio-mechanical transducer, and a metal ground-pitch-adjustable propeller.
“Yep,” Sweetie Belle confirmed, “everything is here. We have everything we need to develop a heavier-than-air fixed-surface/adjustable-control-surface aircraft.”
“Bleh,” Scootaloo gagged, emphasizing the motion with a hoof pointed to her open mouth. “That name is just awful. I mean, it’s just so…dictionary-y and boring.”
Sweetie Belle had to agree. It may have been functional and descriptive, however it was anything but elegant. “What about ‘Powered Glider’? Since it’s basically a glider with an engine.”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both scrunched their faces in disappointment. “Nah,” Apple Bloom contended, “What about just ‘Flyer’? ‘Cause, ya know, it flies?”
Scootaloo facehooved, “Oh, come on, any pegasus or blimp is a flyer. Whatever we’re going to call it, it’s got to be unique!”
“Then what about calling it an ‘Airplane’?” Sweetie Belle offered, “It flies in the air and its wings act as geometric planes creating differential air-pressure and … lift?” Even she thought that was a bad idea towards the end.
Scootaloo sat down this time, giving her an opportunity to double facehoof. “No. We are not going to name it something so lame.”
“Well,” Sweetie Belle pouted, “if all these ideas are so bad, why don’t you give one?”
Scootaloo grinned. “Oh come on. It’s obvious!”
The two other fillies looked to one another, unconvinced.
“There’s only one machine that could get us our Cutie Marks.”
“Oh?” Apple Bloom asked skeptically. “And what could that be?”
“The Flying Crusader”
The final day before school would start had finally arrived and the Crusaders were still hard at work.
The aircraft was mostly complete. The wing—a simple design with a mathematically pre-defined wooden frame covered in canvas—was already completed, as were its ailerons. Similarly, the horizontal and vertical rear-stabilizers along with their elevators and rudder were finished and attached to the wing by a simple thick wooden pole. Additionally—since Sweetie Belle wasn’t lying when she said this wouldn’t be dangerous to her sister—Sweetie Belle had finished fashioning a parachute from the silk and rope and it was now placed securely into a compartment in the wing. Now, all that remained was Apple Bloom to finish with the suspension and wheels, Scootaloo to finish with the frame, and Sweetie Belle to finish the system which controlled the ailerons, elevators and rudder and activated the parachute in an emergency.
“...hey, Scoots,” Apple Bloom gestured with a wave, “could ya get me the screwdriver? Ah need ta loosen up the screws on the axle so Ah can grease-up the wheels.”
“Sure, Bloom,” she replied before putting the screwdriver back into her mouth, “jush girv ‘e a seshind ‘ah ‘inish ahashing ah ‘rane.”
Apple Bloom—now left with nothing to do for a moment—looked over to Sweetie Belle who was underneath the frame, attaching ropes to some pedals. “Hey, Sweetie,” Apple Bloom inquired, “how are you doing?”
“Well, I’m just attaching the control surfaces to these pedals so that we can control everything from the pilot seat.”
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes, “Ah know that, Sweetie Belle, we’ve been workin’ on this fer almost a week. Ah mean, how are you feelin’? You’ve been tired all week and I was wondering if you were feeling better?”
Sweetie Belle stopped what she was doing and moved out from under the frame to grin at her friend. “Oh right. Yeah, I’m doing much better, thanks. I think I have the same energy that I used to now.” She frowned for a moment before shaking her head. “I mean, I’m still not able to carry as much as I used to and it’s hard to lift things over my head, but I think after a little more physical therapy I should be back to normal.”
Apple Bloom nodded at this. “Yeah. When mah brother hurt his back apple buckin’ a few months ago, he was out of it fer a few weeks. The last thing to get back ta normal was liftin’ and carryin’ things.”
Scootaloo interrupted this conversation by hopping down from on top of the frame. “Here’s the screwdriver,” Scootaloo indicated, hoofing it to Apple Bloom who went to work greasing the wheels.
Turning to Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo grinned a wide smile. “I also want to thank you for coming up with this, Sweetie Belle. I don’t know what it is, but working on the Crusader has been awesome! The idea that I can make something that can fly—and not boring like those slow, dumb blimps—but actually fly like a pegasus? It’s just incredible! I mean, I’m not sure I told you this, but the reason why I wanted to take things apart and put them back together during Twilight Time was because it lets me design things that I can’t do myself.”
Sweetie Belle cocked her head in confusion, “Huh? I thought you said that you did that because ‘anything that didn’t have anything to do with your scooter was boring’.”
Scootaloo chuckled awkwardly at that and rubbed her fetlocks together. “Yeah, I mean it was sorta like that at the beginning, but not really.” She sighed and sat down, looking seriously. “Okay, so here’s the story. It all started a few weeks after we started Twilight Time. I was going home on my scooter, when I went over a random rock in the road and it broke. It wasn’t anything major; just the clamp cracked, causing the handlebar to come apart from the deck. I didn’t know that at the time, though, since I never really thought about actually fixing things myself. So I just did what I normally did and went to the hardware store to ask them to fix it. The problem was that it was a holiday and the store was closed.”
Sweetie Belle smiled. “I think I get it now. There was no way you could wait until after the holidays to ride your scooter, so you fixed it yourself.”
“Hey, no interrupting!” Scootaloo objected with a fake pout. It was especially obvious that she wasn’t offended when she put back on her trademark smirk. “Anyway, you’re totally right, though. After those first couple Twilight Time sessions, I though 'hey, maybe I could actually fix this myself!' I read the instruction manual and figured out what the problem was, but I didn’t have another clamp to fix it with. So instead, I fixed the old one by taking an extra piece of metal and welding it to the break in the clamp with one of Dad’s torches.”
“What!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed in shock. “That’s really dangerous! I don’t just mean ‘ziplining’ dangerous, but one-wrong-move-and-you-could-permanently-injure-yourself dangerous!”
Scootaloo waved a dismissive hoof. “Yeah, yeah, I know that now. I mean, I paid for it when I singed my hoof on the welding torch.” She proved this by lifting up her left hoof. Just where the hoof wall met the sole, there was a patch that was darker than the rest. It was clear the injury was sustained a long time ago, however, as it was almost unnoticeable unless one was looking for it. “I was lucky I only used it for a little bit, since—at the time—I didn’t know I needed a facemask when welding. Not to mention that working on thin metal should have been the job for a MIG weld rather than an arc.” Scootaloo shook her head. “Jeez, I was so dumb back then. Anyway, a few months later, Twilight asked who fixed my scooter during Twilight Time and she forced me some read books about welding and to talk to my Dad about how to safely use the blow-torch. Don’t worry, I won’t be hurting myself like that again. I’m way too awesome at welding now.”
“Huh?” Sweetie Belle said in bewilderment. “When did that happen?”
Scootaloo facehooved. “Oh, sorry, this all happened while you were in the hospital. I mean, the ‘Twilight figuring out about me burning my hoof’ thing happened just before you left, but I learned welding while I was grounded. I was actually only supposed to be grounded for two weeks because I took the money and stuff, but after Dad found out about how I burned my hoof, he grounded me for the full month.”
Sweetie Belle internally facehooved. ‘Argh,’ she thought, ‘if I had known Scootaloo could weld, I would have made the Flying Crusader out of metal to reduce the weight and increase the durability! I need to remember to actually ask my friends how they can help and not just assume things…I’ve missed out on so much!’
“So anyway, after I fixed up my scooter, I thought for sure that I had my Cutie Mark.” She sighed. “There must have been something missing, I guess, since I obviously didn’t get it. Still, after that I couldn’t stop taking things apart and putting them together. There’s just this…good feeling in knowing every little thing about my scooter or the wagon when I use them. Knowing how to take care of them or knowing what to do to fix it just makes using them…I don’t know, it’s special in some way, like they are an extension of myself somehow.” She then gagged. “Urgh, that was sappy. Anyway, so that’s why I like doing this sorta thing. I can’t explain it without it sounding lame, though.”
Sweetie Belle smiled. To her, it did not sound lame at all. The story was pretty sappy—and she had to stop herself from giggling at her friend’s expense—but it reminded her of what she felt when she woke up the day after the Tablet had taught her while she slept. It really was like everything in the world was more special; as though every new thing she had learned made life more meaningful.
“No, I totally get it, Scoots,” she affirmed, patting her friend’s back, “and when we’re all finished, you will fly this thing and get your Cutie Mark, I know it!”
Scootaloo smiled genuinely at that and turned to press her hoof against the wooden frame behind her. “For some reason,” she mused, “I think this time you might be right.”
It was finally done…for the most part.
The frame was attached; the wheels and suspension made for a smooth ride—when it was not in the air of course—and all the controls were spring-loaded and ready for testing. All that was left was to put the seats in and embed the engine into the wing. So while Sweetie Belle prepared the engine—as it was far too heavy for any of the fillies to attach without help—and hid the aircraft under a tarp for unveiling later, Scootaloo went out to get Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie while Apple Bloom went out to get Applejack, Twilight and her sister.
An hour later—now nearly dinner time—everypony had arrived and were sitting in the clearing near the club. Sweetie Belle was off to one side with Twilight testing the engine. While that was happening, Apple Bloom made sure everypony was seated and attentive…or at least as attentive as ponies like Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash could be. Scootaloo was intent on foiling this plan by chatting up a storm with her idol.
“Thanks, everypony, for comin’,” Apple Bloom proclaimed. Everypony was curious as to what could be underneath the tarp—despite the fillies explaining to most of them what they were doing—so all the ponies in attendance quickly stopped what they were doing and gave Apple Bloom their full attention. “Alright, now that Ah have yer attention,” she said before turning to Sweetie Belle, “is the engine ready, Sweetie?”
“Yeah,” the unicorn filly nodded, “Twilight and I just finished the calibrations. We just need to put it in, although we can do that afterwards.”
“Alright,” Apple Bloom agreed. The fillies had already agreed that she would be the one to give the speech, since Scootaloo was bad at giving speeches and Sweetie Belle would just ruin it by channeling her inner Twilight and going into unnecessary detail.
After a measured cough, Apple Bloom began, “So as you ponies already know, we had talked to each of y’all about gettin’ supplies for this ‘project’. Normally we wouldn’t give a speech or nothin’ but since y’all gave us so much stuff, we figured y’all deserved some sorta ‘presentation’. What’s behind us is a ‘powered glider’, as Sweetie Belle would say-”
At that, Twilight gasped—as she had, quite foolishly in her hindsight, forgot to ask what they were building. Now that she heard it, it all clicked into place.
“-yeah, so anyway. The reason we did this was ‘cause we figured the best way any of us was goin’ ta get our Cutie Mark was to all work together and get Scoots ta fly.”
This time it was Rainbow Dash to gasp, quickly looking down at the orange filly at her legs. Said filly blushed briefly and looked away. “Wow,” Rainbow Dash stated ruffling Scootaloo’s mane, “that sounds pretty awesome.”
“So over the past week, Sweetie Belle designed the wings and controls, Ah built the frame and the suspension, and Scoots put everythin’ together.” Apple Bloom—grinning at the attention Scootaloo was getting from Rainbow Dash—decided to conclude by saying, “Really though, the pony who really deserves credit for this is Scootaloo though. Ah might’ve actually carved the wood since Ah know a lot ‘bout carpentry and Sweetie Belle used her fancy mathematics ta figure out what shape ta make the wings, but it was Scoots who brought it all together. It mighta been a lot of ‘gut instinct’, but if it wasn’t fer her gettin’ Sweetie’s head outta the clouds and telling me how ta properly link the joints and rig up the frame, we wouldn’t be shown y’all anythin’ today.”
At this point, Scootaloo was beet red and hiding behind her hooves. Apple Bloom had no doubt her friend would have her revenge for this in the coming days, but for now, she honestly felt she deserved all the credit. ‘If it means she get her Cutie Mark,’ Apple Bloom thought, ‘then it’d all be worth it.’
“Now without further ado,” Apple Bloom finished, running back and grabbing the tarp, “here is ‘The Flying Crusader’!”
At that, the tarp fell and the aircraft was unveiled to those in attendance. It had three spoked wooden wheels and a wooden frame. Three chairs were also mounted to the frame with cushions for comfort. These chairs were more like stools that the fillies laid on, however, since sitting down quickly got uncomfortable. The wings, control surfaces, and stabilizers were covered in fabric and small—but strong—rope attached the ailerons, elevators and rudder to pedals on the floor of the frame surrounding the front-most chair. Two additional ropes hung from the wing that attached to the parachute stored inside and the soon-to-be-attached engine. To make it their own, of course, the three had used the fabric dye to completely cover the canvas wings and the parachute with the Cutie Mark Crusader logo and their names. All that was left now was to fit the propeller to said engine and place it into the hole at the front of the wing.
“Wow, girls,” Twilight got out, “this is really impressive.”
“Are you kidding, Twilight?!” Rainbow Dash criticized, floating in the air in excitement. “This isn’t just impressive, it’s awesome!”
Rarity, however, wasn’t as impressed with this new development as her friends. “Um, Sweetie, dear?” Rarity asked nervously, “Could you explain to me exactly how all this is safe?” She pointed at the large wooden flying machine. “I don’t think I have to explain to you why taking to the air in that—that flimsy wooden thing is anything but safe!”
Sweetie Belle sighed, jumped to her hooves, and calmly walked to the machine and pulled a handle hanging from the wing and just overhead of the pilot’s seat. Immediately after, a compartment in the wing was forced open a thick clump of fabric shot out from the rear of the aircraft in a sudden bang from the spring-loaded system. This caused everypony but the Crusaders to jump back a bit.
“See, sis,” Sweetie Belle declared, lifting and spreading the silken fabric about the ground. “This is a parachute. If anything should happen, all we have to do is pull that lever and this will pop out, immediately stopping everything. We’d just fall to safety. Not to mention that we have Rainbow Dash just in case, right?”
The pegasus in question hovered in silence for a moment, pondering whether she would do it. Eventually, her need to see this thing—and by association Scootaloo—take to the sky made the decision easy and she nodded her assent.
Rarity was still concerned, but considering not only Rainbow Dash, but also Twilight was there with her in case anything went wrong, she did feel safe a little safer in letting her sister do this. “Alright,” she relented, “but I don’t want to hear you doing any of this flying business without somepony there to make sure you’re safe, alright?”
Sweetie Belle wanted to say something sarcastic, but knew that Rarity wouldn’t take it the right way, so all she said was “Thanks”.
Another five minutes went by, but Sweetie Belle—with the help of Twilight—attached the propeller, sunk it into the designated hole on the aircraft, and screwed it in place. Everything was finally ready to go and so the fillies strapped on their helmets and goggles, and strapped themselves into their seats. Scootaloo was at the front, being the pilot, and Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were directly behind her, to the left and right respectively. The field around them was populated by the occasional tree, but they were pointed down a clear grassy ‘runway’ which was devoid of any rocks or bumps for several hundred meters. Twilight made sure of this by flattening it out with her magic when Rarity came to her about the concern. With that out of the way—and the five supervising mares looking safely on from the sidelines—there was nothing stopping the Crusaders from having a successful liftoff.
“Alright,” Twilight said, bending down beside the aircraft with a grin. “It looks like you are ready to go.”
The fillies all nodded their heads, too nervous to say anything at this point.
“Alright,” Twilight continued, “well—as Sweetie Belle confirmed with Rarity—you have the parachute and Rainbow Dash if anything goes wrong, and I can also help guide you down safely with telekinesis if you need it.” Twilight looked again briefly at the machine. “I know that Rarity is too concerned with your safety right now to say it, and Rainbow Dash is too proud, but we’re all proud of you fillies. Really, I almost feel that calling you ‘fillies’ at this point seems pretty foalish. You might not have your Cutie Marks but you’ve all done so much that we really should be treating you as proper mares, capable of making your own choices.”
Stepping away from the machine once more, she looked at Scootaloo now. “Well, Captain Scootaloo,” she smirked, “you’re the pilot. Start the engines whenever you’re ready.”
She didn’t need to tell Scootaloo twice. With a beaming smile and a quick move from her left forehoof, she pulled a rope and powered-up the engine. What started off as an uneven clunking quickly turned into a constant loud buzz as the propeller began to maintain a constant high speed.
Now no longer within earshot of the ponies in the audience, it was up to the fillies to do everything themselves. “Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle yelled over the noise of the engine, “What does the engine say the RPM is at?”
Scootaloo looked up and read the readout. “Hold on, it’s increas—no wait it stopped! Um, it’s currently about 36!”
Sweetie Belle was about to ask if Scootaloo meant 3600 since the dial was in multiples of one hundred, but she didn’t bother. There was no other reading that would make sense. “Alright! That should be good enough! You can release the brakes and keep the elevators and ailerons pointed up! That will get us to take off! Watch out once we’re in the air though, otherwise we might end up flipping upside down!” Scootaloo started grinning but that was immediately stopped by Sweetie Belle kicking her left hind leg. “I’m serious! Once we’re off the ground you need to keep it steady or we! Will! Crash!” Scootaloo nodded solemnly at this and released the brakes.
Immediately, the machine lurched forward at a quick pace, bringing a grin right back to Scootaloo’s face. Soon, the Crusader had travelled over one hundred meters and the fillies could see the front wheel begin to unsteadily leave its earthly tether; only for the whole thing to lurch back to the ground with a thump. One or two more of these oscillations, however, and the front got high enough for the Flying Crusader to really take off. Jerking suddenly skyward, it easily left the canopy of trees around them behind. True to her word, Scootaloo began to ease off the pedals, pushing them in the other direction in order to stabilize the flight path and slow down the engine.
Just as the glider finally leveled out, Rainbow Dash flew in beside them. “Wow!” she announced. “This is, by far, the coolest thing you fillies have ever done!” She flew a little closer and—hearing the loud buzz of the engine—realized that they might not have heard her. “Hey Scootaloo! How does it feel being up here, flying alongside the one-and-only Rainbow Dash!”
Scootaloo, however, did not hear her hero. This time, though, it was not because of the engine noise. No, the reason she could not hear was because she was too busy absorbing all the things she was feeling. The vibration and sound of the engine encasing her from all directions, the wind flowing past her face, the sense of pure control; that gravity—the one thing that always held her back—was now completely at her mercy. This control was only amplified by her thorough understanding of the machine she rode. After spending a week talking with her friends, after testing and designing every piece of the machine, she could feel where everything and how everything moved. How the slightest twitch of a hoof could cause it to bank left or right; how the wind pushed against canvas and gave it lift; how the spinning of the pitched propellers gave it thrust.
These feelings coalesced, washing over her all at once. It was like a dichotomy of control and release; that—at once—she both gave herself willingly into these feelings and was also in complete control of them. Her muscles tightened on the controls as the anxiety she had washed away in a sea of pure adrenalin. It was only then that she realized her idol beside her and the ponies behind her were trying to vie for her attention … and that her goggles were beginning to mist up from the tears she was shedding. She brought her free hoof—the one that controlled the rudder—up to her face to wipe her eyes and goggles of moisture and finally perked up her ears to listen to what was going on around her.
“Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom yelled behind her, “are ya alright!”
“Yeah!” Scootaloo responded, the grin on her face bigger than ever. “This is the happiest, most awesome moment of my life!” She banked left and right, almost to confirm to herself that the moment was real.
Rainbow Dash nodded. “Well, that’s what I wanted to hear! Bet you can’t catch me!” Just as she finished, she sped off into the distance.
That did it for Scootaloo. Pulling the engine rope all the way down, the aircraft sped forward, chasing after the rainbow contrail. It was clear to Scootaloo that Rainbow Dash was not going nearly as fast as she could, but Scootaloo did not care. There could always be improvements to the design, she would catch up some day. For now though, she felt it was just her and her ‘sister’, sharing the same sky. Now, though, she wasn’t being held up. It was her ingenuity, and the ingenuity of her friends that brought her here.
For an hour they flew. On catching up with Rainbow Dash, she began to circle them, giving words of encouragement.
“You’re doing great, squirt!”
“Come on, fly over here!”
“Hey, fly through this cloud!”
Using her hero’s words for motivation, she became more and more liberal with the controls. As time went on, she moved from performing tighter and tighter turns, to going in and out of dives, to even doing loops. The ponies looked on in amazement at the show being put on, surprised at the versatility of the flimsy machine. Sweetie Belle’s math held, ensuring that the only the steepest angles of attacks would stall. Throughout her flight, Sweetie Belle coached Scootaloo in how to fit her innate pegasus instincts of flying to the controls she used.
It turned out that Scootaloo was a natural, however, and even Sweetie Belle—very far out of her element—could teach her very little. After all, Scootaloo was a pegasus and things like the aerodynamics of flight was elementary knowledge. So for the most part, both Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom just sat back and enjoyed the scene unfolding in front of them. They too were relishing in their achievement, though not nearly as enthusiastically as their friend.
All good things must come to an end, however, and Twilight joined the little airshow they were making to inform them as such. “Hey Scootaloo,” she informed, “it’s time to come down now!”
“What!” Scootaloo cried over the roar of the engine.
“I said, it’s time to land! It’s time for Sweetie to go home and for all of you to have dinner!” Twilight clarified.
“Okay!” She replied before turning to Sweetie Belle. “Um…Sweetie? So how do I land this thing?” She blushed.
“You need to find a big open space and then turn off the engine. Once it lands, friction should take over and stop it!”
“Wait, should! I’m not sure that’s a good idea!”
Twilight was able to pick up bits and pieces of the conversation. “Do you want me to help you land?” she asked.
“No!” Scootaloo retorted, “We’re fine! I got this!”
Scootaloo calmed down, focusing on the controls. It was just simple pieces of rope, connecting two pieces of wood together, but right now, it was the difference between making it unscathed and crashing into the ground. She could just forget about all this, turn off the engine and let Twilight magic them to safety. However, she was determined. She and her friends designed the Flying Crusader, she and her friends built the Flying Crusader, and now she was the Flying Crusader.
It would be she and her friends who would land it, too.
She looked at her surroundings. All around them were the trees of Sweet Apple Acres and the Everfree further in the distance. It would probably take them a minute or so to get back and land where they came from so Scootaloo decided on an alternative. The roads of Ponyville were straight, roughly flat, and most importantly wouldn’t have rocks jutting out to ruin the wheels. As such, the choice was clear. Looking out to the left in the distance, Scootaloo saw the top of Town Hall. Continuing forward, she flanked the town until she could see the front of the building. She knew that if she aimed for the front, it would bring her right over Main Street, the longest and straightest road in Ponyville.
Lined up now, Scootaloo still couldn’t see the road from beyond the trees, but it did not matter. She continued forward, only meters above the treeline when she cut power to the engine.
“Wait, what!” Sweetie Belle asked jabbing her friend with a hoof. “Why did you turn off the engine now! We’ll crash!”
“No we won’t, Sweetie,” Scootaloo said, adjusting her goggles, “trust me.”
Sweetie Belle did—not that she had much time—as they found themselves heading right for the treeline.
However, this was just what Scootaloo was waiting for as she pressed down with her rear two hooves, causing the ailerons and elevators to shoot up, and with them so did the wing. Just as she did this, a sudden gust of wind picked up, pulling them up and over the treeline and into the town. Like this, they were in the perfect position to land. Coming in with the nose up, the rear wheels gently landed on the street. Mares and Stallions—who until now had been trying to enjoy the quiet of the evening or taking their friends and family to dinner—were now running for their lives as the flying machine came barreling past.
Twilight could only groan and facehoof at not somehow preventing this mayhem from unfolding. Despite her concerns, however, she did not stop it. She had watched Scootaloo line up the flight path and coming in as low and as slow as possible. She could not know for sure, but she felt that she could trust Scootaloo to do the right thing. After her little speech telling them that they were old enough to make their own decisions, it would be hypocritical now to stop them.
Scootaloo, likewise, felt completely confident. With the rear wheels on the ground and the town hall rapidly coming into view, she turned the engine back on and put it in full reverse. At this point, she couldn’t use the parachute; if she opened it now, the sudden braking force at the high center-of-gravity would cause the Flying Crusader to split in half right over the fillies’ heads. Instead, she had to trust in her ability to gauge her deceleration and the amount of road she had left.
Road that was quickly running out.
The second Twilight realized this as well, she also realized she was way out of position. ‘Oh no! I was so worried about making a choice, I forgot to get myself into position just in case!’ she thought and immediately teleported.
It would be too late however, as right at the last moment, Scootaloo pulled up the brakes and turned sharply, causing them to skid to a stop mere meters from the Town Hall.
Unfortunately Mayor Mare had chosen just this time to finish her work and was leaving the building, only to see the large wooden glider to stop itself right in front of her. “Oh my goodness!” the Mayor cried, collapsing into a shivering mess. “What is this?”
Twilight then teleported in. “Scootaloo! Are you okay?”
Rainbow Dash also chose now to arrive on the scene. “That. Was. Awesome!” she proclaimed, grabbing Scootaloo in a sudden hug. “Oh my gosh! You coming in right over the treeline, and a gust of wind was like woosh and then all the ponies running away from your crazy landing and then rolling to a stop right at the last second? So! Cool!”
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight yelled, “Why didn’t you try to stop it?”
She shrugged. “Meh, the worst thing that could have happened at that speed is they crash and sprain something. I do that practically every other training session. They weren’t in any real danger.”
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, however, were not nearly as impressed. “Oh Celestia, Ah think…Ah’m gonna be sick,” Apple Bloom barely got out in between grunts, attempting—successfully for now—to hold the contents of her stomach in.
Sweetie Belle was not faring much better. “Urghh,” she grumbled, “I think I might be allergic to flying. I definitely have motion sickness, that's for sure.”
During all of this, Scootaloo’s smile had not lost its lustre one bit. Now that it was over and the adrenalin finally faded, she released a breath she didn’t know she was holding. Once Rainbow finally released her from her hug, Scootaloo slumped down in her seat. “Oh wow, that was the most frightening thing since Luna had to cure my nightmar—er, yeah…” She cut herself off, thinking, ‘Rainbow Dash didn’t need to know about that.’ “Still,” she continued, “it was also the most exciting, most awesome thing ever, right?” she inquired from her idol.
Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement. “Oh yeah!” she agreed before immediately shaking her head. “Er—I mean, maybe except for my Sonic Rainboom or any of the times I saved Equestria,” she finished, attempting to salvage her awesomeness.
“Oh come now, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight chastised, “that’s no way to speak to a filly that just earned her Cutie Mark.”
“Cutie Mark?!” everypony repeated, looking down at the now no-longer blank flank of Scootaloo.
“Oh my gosh, Scoots!” Apple Bloom cried out, “It’s true!”
In true Rainbow Dash fashion, Scootaloo handed this newfound revelation with reserved poise and a calm demeanor.
“Oh-my-gosh-oh-my-gosh-oh-my-gosh-oh-my-gosh-oh-my-gosh-oh-my-gosh-oh-my-gosh-” she rattled on, jittering in her seat and looking at everypony in unconstrained pride.
“What does it mean, squirt?” Rainbow Dash asked, genuinely interested at the unique image.
Scootaloo took a few deep breaths, realizing that she wasn’t acting nearly as cool as she should be in front of Rainbow Dash. “Well,” Scootaloo started, leaning back on the Flying Crusader with indifference. When her brain finally caught up with what she heard, she looked down quizzically at the design. “Huh, well it’s pretty clear that the spanner must be because I like building and fixing things so much. I figured I would probably get a Cutie Mark like that ages ago—maybe with a scooter or something—but it never came. The wings, though, I'm not sure about. Maybe the Flying Crusader somehow? Though see how the gear and the wings join up? Wait, I was talking to Sweetie Belle earlier about that, actually! Recently, I’ve had this feeling. When I use something I built or fixed—like my scooter—I would just have this connection.”
‘How could I not know she liked fixing and building things so much that she got a Cutie Mark for it!’ Rainbow Dash mentally chastised herself. ‘How could I not know such an important thing about my biggest fan!’ She frowned, partially because of this, but also because she didn’t quite understand what that meant. “So you got your Cutie Mark because you were really into flying this machine you built?” she asked.
Scootaloo groaned, shaking her head. “No, it’s not like that. Uh, how to explain. Like, knowing everything about how each little piece works together, how the pedals moved the flaps, knowing exactly how long the wings are and at what angles; it got me to the point where I almost believed this thing was a part of me. Like, after all that flying we did to get the hang of things, I felt like I could shut my eyes and sense exactly how far away the wingtips were or what position the rudder was in like they were my wings,” she emphasized that last remark by tapping a pedal which adjusted the rudder left and right. “When I was making that final approach above the trees—I don’t know how—but I swear I could feel the wings of the Crusader and I could feel this—this buildup of wind. Somehow I knew that there would be the perfect gust of wind I needed to make it over the trees.”
Rainbow Dash still looked confused but Twilight seemed to understand what she was saying and stepped in. “That actually makes sense, Scootaloo,” she said with a grin. “There is a lot of evidence that Cutie Marks can tie a pony’s magic to an object that they use. Just like how a unicorn can pick up a rock with telekinesis from a distance, any pony can extend their magic to make a connection to any object. Applejack has told me about how she can know when one of her trees is ready to be bucked just by feeling it and we all know that Fluttershy has a connection to her animals and can understand them. It isn’t limited to living things either. I’m sure Rarity could tell you about her connection to gems.”
Scootaloo’s eyes looked hopeful. “So you mean that I actually did have a connection? It wasn’t just my imagination?”
Twilight shrugged. “I don’t know,” she replied before giving the filly a big smile, “but I can imagine that there will be plenty of Twilight Time sessions to figure it out.”
“Sweetie Belle!” a voice cried out in the distance.
Sweetie Belle—now having mostly recovered from her nauseousness—was able to safely respond without risking any oral spillage. “R-Rarity! Over here!” she yelled, immediately recognizing the owner of the voice.
When her sister came into view, Rarity cried out, “Oh Sweetie Belle! You told me that this was all safe, that there was nothing to worry about! What happened!” She went over and brought her sister into a bear hug…which didn’t help her stomach-situation. The rest of the ponies were there as well, with Applejack grabbing hold of her sister similarly to what Rarity had done and Pinkie Pie just hopping in place, watching everything unfold.
“Ugh,” Sweetie choked, “please, sis, I don’t feel so great.” Her sister immediately let go, looking into Sweetie’s eyes with intense worry. “Nothing went wrong. Scoots needs a bit more practice and she could have probably picked a better place to land, but Twilight and Rainbow Dash were right with us the whole way!”
Rarity was about to retort when Mayor Mare spoke up. “Alright, this reunion is touching and all, but-” she cut herself off to stand up straight, “-if there is no emergency, could you please get take this somewhere else! Some of us want to go home!”
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I believe you mean "wipe".
Other than that, good chapter!
Outstanding
Huh, well, no reason that Apple Bloom needs the Technology Mark... and this fits...
So, Scootaloo has a Aircraft Mark?
I would have said Aircraft Pilot Mark, but that wasn't broad enough.
A few small grammar mistakes, but they don't stand out enough for me to remember their location. Also no typos that I can remember,
Glorious.
And it's not common for SCOOTS to be the "engineer" crusader in these sorts of stories - that is often left to Applebloom - so this is nice change of pace, too!
With the timber and rope, I first thought they were going for the Swallows and Amazons, or Hucleberry Finn raft with sail. Soon as they went for the powered option though, well, they couldnt do a swamp boat too good, those are high stress, so the next option is a low speed early days heavier than air fixed wing craft.
Really impressed at the single parchute in the wing, much safer overall than induvidual units, although the seat pod would probably come later, with its crumple zones, flotation and shelter abilities.
If Sweetiebelles piece of paper, shown to Twilight, is worth so much to those who understand it, I wonder how long before DT lifts it, either crumpling, with Sweetie saying it isnt worth anything, then Filthy spotting it back home, getting his connections to check it out, then trying to claim the rights to it due to first past the post patenting?
Depending on what goes on in the cities, Sweetie could very quickly come to the attention of a lot of unpleasant characters.
Whats the power output of that motor compared to Big Mac pedaling? We have seen a helicopter, but an aircraft is far more energy efficient, and this isnt even close to the most efficient rim driven thruster with vaccuum and blown bounary layer control ogive wing.
Scootaloo shall become the adorable orange baron of equestria
Incredible.
That paragraph just oozes with awesome! Hahaha. :3
*reads moar*
Really good decision on the look of Scoot's mark. It's very fitting. ;)
THIS! *points maniacally at chapter* THIS!!!
Do more of this please! *squee*
Hoofs down, the best chapter so far. I'm ridiculously happy that the story focused on Sweetie and the Crusaders, rather than several background-character side stories.
We definitely had a fun time. Thank you for letting us along for the ride.
5920382
I don't think that there are any other parts with that much sarcasm so it shouldn't be much of an issue going forward.
I have a 'thing' when I write of sounding the words out in my head as I type. My spell check typically fixes this but occasionally I do some last minute additions without the spell check that comes though. *Sigh*
)
I was worried about what people would think about that. Glad you like it. 
I'll try to do more of this whenever possible. It's tricky finding the right balance between Slice-of-Life Crusader fun and the more serious stuff I want to get across.
Corrected, thanks
5920509
5920571
Yeah, before Twilight Time I would have definitely thought that Apple Bloom would be the blue-collar grease-in-her-mane technician/engineer but now this seems to just make more sense. When you consider that Apple Bloom has been building stuff ever since The Show Stoppers so if that was her mark, she probably would have gotten it already (same reason for why Scootaloo couldn't have a scooter Cutie Mark).
5920580
Well, I do have an image showing the torque curve of the axle transducer that I used to calculate the flight capacity of the glider. I would imagine that it is about 2-3 times more powerful than Big Mac pedaling. The engine would only be about twice as powerful based purely on energy but because the gearing needed to get it up to 6000RPM, Big Mac would have massive torque to overcome so it wouldn't be as efficient.
5920771
I wanted the extreme amount of sarcasm that the one guard was speaking to come through.
5920892
5920420
Thanks
5920951
Gosh Darn it!
5921005
No worries. I don't take any of that personally, feel free to criticize (though I do appreciate when you add a compliment or two in as well
5921015
Phew!
5921056
Thanks
5921154
Sorry, I really shouldve thrwon numbers at the story when I first read it. Peak of 5kW, giving Big Macs constant output is 2.5 KW, or 3HP? approx?
i was just thinking because the design I was using needed more power, but thats only because the craft I was considering was a lot bigger, heavier, and when not running on pure non magical sources, was secured by needng an operator of given cutiemark, abillities.
I think Twilight would be able to operate it, but it would be very tiring. All up weight of 25 tons.
Nitpicks:
Is Rarity's terrible grammar an intentional choice by you? If so, that's fine. If not, either "I, and your friends, are not" or "Neither I nor your friends are"
friends'
group's
its
I (not I'm)
While not incorrect per se, "was" instead of "is" would be more in keeping with the narrative tense.
thorough
that's
Loved the update and cannot wait for more!
5920580 I doubt that Filthy Rich has access to anyone who can understand it, because it specifically said that not even top level mages could understand it, implying you have to be a Twilight-level egghead to figure out what the hell it means.
5921239
That is definitely not going to be enough for that weight.
The average ultralight like the MX-II Sprint needs an engine of over 48kW. It is possible for an aircraft to be powered by a human out of carbon-fiber and foam (less than 100 lbs) but for something like 25 tons (which is closer to a frickin' Lancaster Bomber than an ultralight) it is definitely not going to work. This is even taking into account that a human only pedals at ~100-300W or 1/15th the output of your Big Mac.
5921332
Thanks for the corrections, I appreciate it.
Jeez, Mayor Mare could just go around the Crusader. Gosh.
The crusaders have their cutie marks already? Except for Sweetie? Or it's just my head.Reread and saw Scoots got hers. Well, even if the CMC falls, they're still friends.
Double herself.
That was so awesome!!
5921751 25 tons! That sir is a B-17E and after, not a Lancaster, (besides, are tons even metric?) maybe the Lancaster-1947M(late) would weigh that much, with payload, but the British bombers topped 23.5 tons if I'm correct.
Very good chapter, even though I like the monologue (for some reason) character development in the other crusaders is very good and I like it. Now I want to see them make a jet. I may have thought that is what they were building here till I remember "wood and screws" and that jet engines need a shit ton of power and with those current materials and lack of sufficient tech or previous aircraft of simple design or standard piston engine knowledge, would be highly unlikely, unstable, have extremely low acceleration and deceleration, and have a chance of blowing up.
Its finally out :D
This was a great chapter. I had a huge grin on my face the whole way through the construction and flight of the crusader.
5922735
Fixed, thanks. 
5922950
We have metric 'tonnes' (1000kgs), they are actually very similar to imperial tons (2000lbs = ~907kgs).
Also, you'd be surprised at how heavy British bombers were (I'm Canadian, though, so I have a bit of a bias too
). The Lancaster I weighed as much as a B-17G (~36,000lb, ~16,500kg) and it had a heavier load capability and longer range than the B-17 at a sacrifice of a crew size and defensive capabilities. This made sense, since the European Theater typically had fighter cover whereas the Americans in the Pacific had less need of that in their long-range bombing. This resulted in a difference of doctrine in which American Bombers defended themselves more and fighters could then be developed instead for naval capacity as torpedo-bombers on aircraft carriers.
As for the CMC developing a jet engine... let's just say that there is certainly a possibility of that in the future and leave it at that.
After all, Scootaloo said she could weld.
When you have eaten from the Tree of Knowledge, you can never go back.
5924003 damn, you research is sound. What about the monolith (and ugly) B-19. I know it was experimental but it did fly in 1941 so it counts, maybe. Even though that is closer to 40 tons than 25
5924003
Also. WHAT! did the tablet let SweetieBelle know the science behind that?! It took us maybe 50 years to get jets. Closer to 45 for the german but NO! No. Uhg fine, but if scoots has a jet later Ranging from the tech of a ME-262, Comet, or Concord, than Dash is royally screwed in racing, but equstria in fuel
5924560
Yes, that definitely far exceeds what the British had in WWII (although a better comparison would be the B-29 Superfortress). Still, that's more of a different class of aircraft: Strategic Bombers.
5924586
Well, Sweetie Belle understood enough about Fluid Dynamics to develop the sloped wing design of the glider without testing which meant that either she thoroughly understood either the Navier-Stokes Equations or just the various wing designs. Since she applied the perfect design for a glider however (duel-sloped wing with curved wingtips), it is likely the former. Knowing those equations, it is only a matter of application to figure out that certain highly compressed states result in the explosive percussion necessary to overcome the sound barrier.
Still, there are several major hurdles to climb over before creating a successful jet aircraft, especially in finding the appropriate fuel to create adequate pressure in low-pressure environments and discovering theideal aircraft shape from the Prandtl-Glauert Transformation (which she may not know about).
5924682 the B-29! Thats the one i was looking for! And eventhough That isn't really an answer ig is good enough for me.
Wow, this chapter was amazing!
I really like how you described what she felt to be up in the sky, in complete contro and free. Scootaloo finding her cutie mark was a really nice touch. It's design looks awesome too.
And I love how Sweetie Belle is being really discreet about her new intellect.
Awesome chapter!!
5924003
Strangely, a Pulse Jet is infinitely easier and simpler than a Turbine Jet.
A Pulse Jet is actually so simple, I don't even understand how it works.
You have a straight pipe, air goes in, fuel is added in the middle and ignited, and the flame, instead of flowing out both ends, only flows out the back end. That's it. No valves, no moving parts. It's literally a straight pipe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jrIpXnMaWI
5928279
The problem isn't that the design of a jet engine isn't simple.
I never said the design of a jet engine was an obstacle, rather it is the creation of a useful fuel in creating the propulsion or the design of a supersonic was. Under normal conditions, the fuel-air mix necessary to create a pulse engine that can reach reasonable speeds is too high for regular fuels. It is potentially doable with high-pressure propane or other low-density fuel but it is certainly not intuitive.
But as I said before, the design was never an obstacle. In this world I created (although I had yet to make mention of it yet) they don't have fossil fuels or really any kind of fuel at all. With magic, all their energy needs are satisfied so there wouldn't be a reason to develop chemical energy creators. Without chemical fuel, jet propulsion isn't possible and so they would either need to find an alternative method of propulsion, develop jets with magic, or develop jet fuel; all of which is pretty difficult.
5928504
If fuel is the issue, there's tons of rocket fuel at Applejack's farm!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dumolLDfWw4
5928823
Well I did say that propane or other low-density fuels would work, but I don't think she will do it that way. My vision of Sweetie Belle is that she has the engineering mindset: "build the most efficient thing to get the job done with the least amount of work". Remember that I said there are no methane or propane production facilities in Equestria as there is simply no need for those non-renewable chemical sources of energy.
Therefore, if she wanted to develop a engine (like the methane one) she would need to:
1) develop and learn the principles of metallurgy and engineering to build the engine (which I have already shown she doesn't have with her lack of knowledge of welding)
2) design a high-pressure, low-weight containment system for both the methane and the liquid oxygen so it doesn't explode in-flight (which wouldn't have been invented yet because pressure systems, like those on Equestrian steam engines, wouldn't meet the pressure capacity nor the weight limit needed).
3) develop processes to mass produce the necessary fuels ("collecting" methane from a cow or whatever on a farm isn't going to get you nearly enough for more than a few seconds of flight)
4) test all the components together multiple times (because unlike a glider, jet/rocket science isn't something you can get by purely with math, there are numerous metallurgical and design failures to consider and even a perfect design on paper can fail if built incorrectly)
It is certainly one of her options if she wanted to develop a supersonic machine, but it isn't necessarily the best one so I don't think that decision would be the one she would choose.
5928823
. Mostly this was to argue with myself. I hope you don't take it personally... I'm an engineer and sometimes I take that a bit to far...
Also, sorry for taking this so seriously
5931472
GIMME ALL YOUR POOP!
That's fine. :) It probably would have been really awkward.
delete
________________________
5928504
Not necessarily.
After all Ion Engines (the kind used in space craft, and in fiction TIE (Twin Ion Engine)-fighters), while need they do need a gas / substance that is ionizable / can convert to plasma such things are easy to find, abundant, and with Sweetie's knowledge both the knowledge of plasma, creation of it, and turning it into a source of propulsion would be easy.
And with some modifications, and magic (being a force that's both electromagnetic, a metaphysical plamsa / force) could be used instead forming a Mana Propulsion system. Utilizing the same principles of a unicorns Telekinetic Blast / Horn Laser, in short burst / high force, to achieve safe personal flight, or longer, high yield force similar to Ion Thrusters to get more faster speeds / space reaching heights.
5931841
I changed that first part to be:
but I still think it should be left in there. Up until now, Sweetie Belle has only had positive things to say about her intellect so that sentence hints that it isn't strictly positive, even in her eyes.
As for ion engines:
True, I guess I considered that to be rocket propulsion (since there are no terrestrial applications in our reality due to the thurst-to-weight ratio and their finicky nature without a vacuum) but you're right. It still wouldn't be simple since ion engines require a lack of ionized particles (aka vacuum), and a 'healthy' quantum-level environment (which, because of how magic works in my story, the thaumic field would mess with the electromagnetic and quantum field effects necessary to stabilize the ion propulsion).
Still, I don't want to speak more on this issue. You are getting close to what I plan to do for this and I don't want to spoil future plot.
5932147
The reason that very last " mark gets deleted is because there was no beginning " mark for it. It was an additional one. Basically when speaking. "Words are wrapped in quote marks," followed by dialog. Adding an additional one such as this one." Isn't grammatically correct.
I wasn't really saying change the meaning of the sentence. But if it's a thought either wrap it in ' these ', or italicize it. If it's a spoken things wrap them in " marks (as long as there is an opening or closing one. The exception to the rule is when the same speaker speaks in multiple lines. Then they don't get a closing " mark in one line, but an opening one in the line beneath it (weird rule I know).
As for Sweets. totally get that she had only positive things to say previously. But you can call attention to said things either by writing it on paper, some form of grammatically correct highlighting of said thing, or slipping it into dialog / thought.
___________________
Drats I had a perfect bit of conversation for the above bit. But nonetheless, I'll wait. *Is excited for Future CMC.*
I'm curious, what would an aviator like Cherry Berry think of the CMC creating a flying contraption like that?
I think she'd be so ecstatic she'd be desperate to speak with Scootaloo.
Excellent job. No wonder Scootaloo hadn't gotten her cutie mark yet; her friends and she had to invent the appropriate discipline first!
Of course, now there's the possibility of reactionary backlash. The likes of Upper Crust may not appreciate this newfangled device. We'll have to see...
Gr8 story/chapter m8 I r8 8/8
Sweetie the Empress, Scootaloo the Omnissiah, and Applebloom the Protector? Headcanon accepted.
Well I guess we know now who this story's primary antagonist is going to be. Isn't that right, Scutulus of Borg?
6008584
Fixed
I regret not spending more time on that then I did since I doubt it will ever come up in the rest of the story.
This story is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can not wait for more
orig14.deviantart.net/c4b4/f/2015/110/b/1/scootaloo_cm_by_cheshiretwilight-d8qeb4s.png oh how wrong that is
its just a matter of taxiing to a better location. or it does look light enough that a couple of earth ponies could pull it