The Engineer’s Wings

by Keeper of time RD

Chapter 15: The Cutie Mark Crusaders

Three months had passed since Scootaloo’s adventure with the Wonderbolts. Once war had been declared, she’d been sent back to Ponyville with Rainbow Dash in tow so she could borrow Scoots’ goggles as soon as she was done using them to fly her plane. With the goggles in her possession, Dash met up with Spitfire in Canterlot, and they presented their report regarding Shining Armor and the changelings to Princess Celestia. Naturally they then used the goggles to search the staff of the royal castle and the command structure of military for any changeling spies.

Once back in Ponyville, Sweetie Belle made good on her promise to get a replacement pair of enchanted goggles for Scootaloo. Apple Bloom was promptly grounded for a week for skipping town without permission. And Scootaloo set about giving her plane some proper repairs now that she was somewhere she could buy parts and materials.

Much to Scootaloo’s surprise, Rainbow Dash actually returned the Goggles of True Light the next time she came to Ponyville. And she even stayed in town for a week, offering what help she could to the filly pilot in finishing up the repairs on her jet plane.

As for the war, it had been fought to a stalemate. With Celestia convinced that changelings were the source of the attacks on both nations’ caravans, she refused to enter Crystal Empire territory. However King Sombra rejected Celestia’s explanations and led several attacks into Equestria only to be pushed back to his own borders by the larger and more resource-rich nation’s forces.

But all of that was not the concern of Scootaloo’s here and now.

Yesterday she’d made a decision. And today was the time to follow through on that decision. With her airplane in as good a condition as it was going to get, thanks to what Rarity and her mother had paid her, for the first time since she’d become an orphan, Scootaloo didn’t feel any immediate need to be out earning money. And that meant that for the first time in a long time she was free to do what a filly her age should be doing. Going to school.

Her wings buzzed softly as she rolled along the cobblestone road leading to the schoolhouse and let the cool morning air flow around her body. The bell was ringing as she rode down the path to the schoolhouse. She rolled onto school property just in time to see the last tail disappear into the schoolhouse. Setting her scooter aside, she rushed up and opened the door mere seconds after the last schoolpony had closed it.

“Oh? Oh! Hello, Scootaloo!” Cheerilee greeted the unexpected late arrival. The pink mare with the two lighter shades of pink mane then motioned to an empty seat and added, “You’re always welcome.”

“Well, well, well, the dropout finally came crawling back,” said a pink filly whose two-tone mane was faded purple and white.

Most of the class gasped at the putdown.

“Diamond Tiara!” Apple Bloom snarled.

Cheerilee put a hoof on Scootaloo’s back, stopping her from leaving the front of the room. When the filly looked back she found a devious smile growing on the teacher’s face.

“You know, I just realized that I was going to teach a math lesson today.” The teacher’s declaration drew a few disappointed groans from the class, yet she continued, "And I recall you asking me to tutor you on that so you could handle your business transactions yourself. Seeing as you already know what I was going to teach, why don’t you teach today’s lesson, Scootaloo?"

The pegasus filly looked back at the teacher in stunned silence.

Yet, Cheerilee only added, “Why don’t you start with percentages?”

The sly grin spread to Scootaloo.

* * * * * * *

The bell sounded and class let out for the day.

“Congratulations, Diamond Tiara, You just got schooled by a dropout,” Cheerilee said as the filly in question neared her desk on the way out.

With a huff she answered, “It’s not like I learned anything.”

With a bit of a grin the mare countered, “The fact that you actually got the percentage and conversion ratio questions right this week says otherwise.”

Diamond Tiara folded her ears and left with an embarrassed grumble.

After having watched that spectacle, three friends were the last young ponies to leave the schoolhouse.

“Ah thought that went well!” Apple Bloom said with a smile.

Scootaloo turned to look at her own flank. “Guess I’m not cut out to be a teacher, still no cutie mark. Although I can’t say I’m surprised. Standing up there at the front of the class all day wasn’t fun. The only time I want everypony looking at me is when they’re cheering for me because I just won a race or something.” A shiver ran down her spine. “But when they’re all just looking at me like they expect me to have all the answers or something… no thanks.”

“Yeah I can see why you might not like that. But even so, recess is a lot more fun with two friends!” Sweetie Belle chimed in cheerfully. Then she added, “So what are we going to do today?”

Apple Bloom answered, “Same thing we do every day, Sweetie.”

“Try to take over the world?”

The other two fillies, turned to look at their unicorn friend.

Then after a moment Apple Bloom said, “You say the weirdest stuff sometimes.”

“Sue me, I’ve only had three months practice at being normal!” she answered and all three laughed it off. Once they’d conquered the latest round of giggles, Sweetie Belle said, “Anyway, as far as earning our cutie marks go, I was thinking we could try bowling. Normal ponies do that, right?”

Apple Bloom nodded, but said, “Yeah, but I’m not sure. Didn’t Mr. Kingpin leave to go fight in the war? Ah haven’t seen him at market in forever! Is the bowling alley even still open?”

Scootaloo shrugged. “Can’t hurt to go check. Worst thing that can happen is finding the doors locked when we get there. But that’s going to have to wait a bit. I need to go home first. So I can check and see if I have any work waiting for me.”

“That’s perfect!” Sweetie said, with her eyes lighting up. “We need to drop off our schoolbooks anyway, so we’ll meet back up at your place, Scoots!”

At first Apple Bloom was as curious about Sweetie’s expression as Scootaloo, but then the young unicorn shot a wink at her farm friend. While this only confused Scoots all the more, Bloom suddenly smiled.

“Oh!” the yellow filly said with her eye lighting up in the same way Sweetie Belle’s had. “We’ll drop off our school stuff and catch up with ya at yer place, Scoot!”

With that Scootaloo’s friends scattered. Sweetie scampering off to the southeast, toward the gondola station that connected the southeast ridge to the town in the valley. Apple Bloom galloped off toward the southwest bridge that connected the central mesa to the mesa her family farm was on.

This left Scootaloo standing atop her scooter, pondering what she’d just witnessed. There was clearly some hidden understanding between her friends. With a smile, she chuckled at the thought of just how far Sweetie Belle had come. Three months ago, the unicorn couldn’t claim to have a friend. Now she and Apple Bloom had been going to school together long enough to have a secret together.

Then the young pegasus sighed. Those same three months that she’d spent repairing her plane and getting her courier pilot business back up and running. Sure, she’d spent slow days playing with her friends and trying to earn their cutie marks from time to time, but sometimes Applejack needed a mechanic, or she’d spend the day working on her plane or fulfilling a pilot job. And all of that had meant Sweetie had had the time to become better friends with Apple Bloom than with her. No wonder they could have secrets without her these days.

She sighed again as she started flapping her wings, getting her scooter rolling again. What choice did she have? The money she’d earned from Rarity and her mother might last a while, but it wouldn’t last forever. And it wasn’t like she could just stop being Applejack’s mechanic, or she’d need to find a more reliable one who would be available when she needed it and not just when they felt like working. And on top of that, the piloting business was still so slow that she clearly still needed to build her reputation as a contract pilot, so she couldn’t afford to turn down those jobs when they came up either.

Pointing her scooter toward the northwest bridge, she brought her wings up to speed and zoomed off toward the valley cliffs that led up to Ponyville’s airport.

* * * * * * *

Scootaloo crested the last ridge of the zig-zag road that came up the valley cliff side and let herself roll to a stop. For a moment she looked out over the valley, lingering in the sight of the town built on the mesas and cliffs above the forest within that valley. From this vantage point one would never know that half the town was missing because it’d marched off to war.

Flying had the same effect, really. It too got you far enough above everything to make the flaws of the world below too insignificant to notice. Or maybe it was just distance that did that, regardless of direction.

Shaking the idle thoughts from her mind, the orange filly brought her wings back to life and set out once again. Zooming past the large, open, hanger-like building that housed a heavy cargo lift, she zipped onward toward the airport proper.

When she arrived at her hanger, an eyebrow went up as she found the personnel door wasn’t locked. The young pegasus cautiously pushed the door open. Then a smile graced her face as it was hard to miss the small cloud that had been parked next to the suspended room she called home, or the blue pegasus sleeping on said cloud.

“Rainbow Dash!” The youthful cry roused the sleeping mare. “What are you doing here?” Scootaloo added happily once the mare looked awake enough to actually hear her. Slightly more warily she added, “Shouldn’t you be off fighting a war alongside the other Wonderbolts?”

Dash put on her signature confident smile and said, “We’ve got a new mission.”

“We?”

“Yep! Celestia thinks she’s found a way to convince King Sombra that we aren’t making up the whole changelings story, no matter how stubborn he’s being about it. We just need to find something first. And that’s why we need you!”

Dash’s little speech might have convinced the filly that she was important if not for a sudden third voice that joined the conversation.

“Actually we just need the goggles fashioned from the Staff of True Light. You’re the one who insisted on hiring a filly to be on an archeological search party,” the new speaker said as she stepped out from behind a supply crate.

The mare was a purple unicorn. Her mane was a darker shade of purple and had a lighter purple and a pink stripe through it. The mane style was straight combed, straight cut, making it very simple and very plain and practically screaming ‘librarian.’

“Who’s this?” Scootaloo asked the obvious question.

“Oh! This is Twilight Sparkle! She’s the egghead who knows what we’re looking for.”

“I’m not an egghead, I’m well read!” Twilight protested her introduction.

“Whatever you say, chief. Why don’t you tell her about the mission already?”

The unicorn rolled her eyes. But then she pulled a book from her saddlebags and levitated it out anyway. She opened it to a page that showed a picture of the staff as it had been before it was shattered, cleared her throat and began speaking.

“There are many legends about magic artifacts. The only one that speaks of the Staff of True Light says that it was created as one of a set of three artifacts. And while a year ago I personally thought this story to be false, the discovery of the staff means that the other two artifacts also likely exist. Although, for our purposes, we’re only interested in the second of the three artifacts.

“According to the legend, the second artifact is the Tranquility Stone. It also says that the Staff of True Light is the only way through the labyrinth that guards the Tranquility Stone. Needless to say, even though the staff has been destroyed, the goggles you have would likely still be powerful enough to guide somepony through that labyrinth, and the extremely powerful illusion spells likely within it.

“Finally, one of the legends states that the labyrinth that holds the Tranquility Stone is hidden in the Temple of the Earth. Of course ancient earth ponies built many shrines, and none of the known ones are said temple. But, thanks to my research, I think I might know where it is. I just need to follow up on some clues I found to be sure.”

“Temple of the Earth? You’re in luck, Ah know what that is!”

The new voice drew everypony’s attention to the doorway where Scootaloo’s friends now stood. Although Scoots couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow when she saw the Sweetie had only traded one set of saddlebags for another rather than coming unburdened like Bloom had.

“You do?” Twilight asked of the yellow filly.

Apple Bloom paused for a moment as she searched her mind. Then she blushed slightly and corrected her previous assertion, “Okay, maybe Ah don’t remember exactly where Granny Smith said it was. But Ah do remember that one of her stories was about the time she went to the Temple of the Earth.”

* * * * * * *

One thing lead to another and, before anypony was entirely sure how, they found themselves having been invited to dinner at the Apple Family’s home.

Granny Smith, an elderly, green earth pony mare with amber eyes, a gray mane going on white and the cutie mark of an apple pie, sat at the head of the dinner table. Along one side of the table sat Big Macintosh, a red earth pony stallion with a sandy blond mane, green eyes and a cutie mark of a green apple half. Next to him was Applejack and next to her was Apple Bloom. On the guest side of the table Twilight Sparkle sat nearest Granny Smith, then Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.

The table itself held a bounty of food, mostly fruits, vegetables, and a great deal of apple pastries. Unsurprisingly, apple cider and juice were the drinks of the day at the apple farm. The nearby fireplace crackled softly, filling the room with both warmth and light. The fading light of the setting sun did what it could to add some light from the windows, but as it dimmed the Apple Family’s dinning room took on the feel of a homely inn.

As dinner wound down and Granny Smith shared her story, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle pulled Scootaloo off to the side.

“What’s up?” the young pegasus asked before taking another sip of apple juice and joining her friends by the fireplace.

“Well, Apple Bloom and I were thinking that the three of us have been trying to earn our cutie marks for three months now and, well…” Sweetie tossed a glance at her still blank flank. “Since it’s looking like we might be at this awhile… we thought we could make a club of it.”

“A club?” Scootaloo asked with a curiously raised eyebrow.

“Yeah! A club, like our own secret society! One dedicated to helping ponies earn their cutie marks! Apple Bloom even thought of a name!”

“Yeah, the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” Bloom chimed in.

A smile found its way on to Scootaloo’s face. “I’m liking this idea!”

“Perfect!” Sweetie cheered. Then her horn lit up with a light green glow. “To make it official, I made capes!” she added as her magic pulled three purplish-red capes from her saddlebags. Her magic quickly guided one of the capes to herself while sending the other two to the backs of her friends.

As Sweetie’s magic tied the tops of the capes, securing them loosely around the necks of their wearers, Scootaloo noticed that the capes had blue shield crests positions on them so that the crest would rest where a cutie mark would be when the cape was resting in a neutral position. As for the shield crest, it had a yellow silhouette of a pony standing in an adventurous stance.

Looking to her friends, Scoots couldn’t help be smile. The three of them really did look like a team now.

“Say, was there a reason you decided to do this now?”

Apple Bloom blushed slightly, then answered, “We felt like we needed a way remind ya that we consider you an important part of our team, no matter how often your life may make you skip out on hanging out with us. That and Ah may have mentioned to Sweetie Belle that it looked like you felt like you were missing out a few days ago. So we wanted something to remind ya that we’re friends no matter what!”

“Thank you,” Scootaloo said as she pulled her friends in close.

While the young pegasus had only pulled her friends in close, they wasted no time finishing the gesture by wrapping their front legs around their friend in a hug.

The three fillies basked in the moment for a few seconds before their youthful curiosity drew their attention to the most interesting thing still happening in the room, the conversation back at the dinner table.

“So, Granny Smith, do you think you could take us to the cave where you found the temple?” Twilight asked.

“Wait, y’all planning on actually going to that there temple?” A nod answered the elder pony’s question. “Well, Ah reckon Ah’m getting a bit old to be walk’n around a forest where Timberwolves prowl. Although ya can see it from the edge o’ this here mesa, so Ah can point her out to ya.”

“Wait! You can see it from here?” Apple Bloom piped up.

“Well, ya would be able to see it from here if not for all them trees in the way. Ah suppose it’s easier to see the edge o’ this here mesa from the cave than see the cave from here. Being easier to see through the trees up close and all.” Granny looked to the window and the young night beyond it. Then she looked back to Twilight Sparkle and finished by saying, “Why don’t y’all come back in the morning, and Ah’ll point ya in the right direction.”

Agreements were made and conversations carried on a little longer before those who didn’t live on the Apple Family’s farm retreated to their homes. Or rather the fillies retreated to their homes. Twilight Sparkle returned to the hotel room she’d rented earlier. Rainbow Dash actually returned to Scootaloo’s hanger and whipped up a cloud tent on the opposite side of the hanger from the room Scootaloo used like a home.

* * * * * * *

With the light of the morning sun shining down on them, the Apple Family and their visitors stood along the southwest edge of the mesa, while Granny Smith walked back and forth.

“There she is!” Granny called out as she finally came to a stop and pointed a hoof out to the canyon beyond the ledge.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash quickly moved to her side and looked out to try to see where the elder pony was pointing.

“Near that stone pillar?” Twilight commented, taking notice of a natural stone column that rose out of the forest in the direction Granny Smith was pointing.

“Naw, ya silly fillies! Open yer eyes! That there pillar is just the needle that points the way through the ring!”

Twilight’s eyes widened at the mention of the ‘needle’ and ‘ring.’ Clearly that clicked with something she knew.

Looking again, those gathered around Granny Smith saw that, well beyond the pillar, near an eastward bend that took the valley out of sight was a natural arch that connected one side of the valley to another stone pillar in the canyon’s middle. The void space of the arch was a near perfect circle and, from where Granny was standing, the top of the first pillar they’d seen appeared to be dead center in that ring. Almost like an aircraft’s gun sight.

Although, that last thought only came to the two pilots present. However such a thought wasn’t needed for Twilight to get the idea anyway.

“So, somewhere in the trees, at the bend in the canyon then?”

Granny Smith nodded. “Sure is. Though Ah don’t remember thinking it was part of the far canyon wall. Ah think it was just near it, in its own outcropping or some such thing like that.”

“Hmm…” Twilight mused as she looked out at the area that had been pointed out. “At this distance that gives us a search area of about a square mile. Still that’s better than searching the whole forest. Thank you for your help, Granny Smith!”

“Don’t mention it. But Ah can’t let y’all go galloping on into that there Everfree Forest when yer only local is just a filly who ain’t even familiar with it. Applejack, could ya go with them?”

“Me?” she answered her grandma. “But what about-”

Before she could finish, Granny Smith motioned the farm mare over to her. After obeying, Granny whispered in her ear. While Scootaloo couldn’t tell what she said, whatever it was made Applejack glance at Apple Bloom.

When they were done whispering to each other, Applejack said, “All right. Ah’ll be their guide.”

With that they set out. Although they didn’t get more that a few steps past the farmhouse before Applejack asked her little sister, “Just where in tarnation do you think you’re going?”

“With you! Duh! We crusaders gotta stick together now that we’re a team!” Bloom answered, motioning to her friends.

“No. You ain’t. You heard Granny. The Everfree Forest isn’t a place fillies should be. And besides, it’s a school day! You got someplace else to be!”

“But Scootaloo’s going!”

“She ain’t got no pony left who can tell her what to do! But you do! And Ah’m telling you, go to your room and stay there until it’s time to go to school!”

“That’s not fair!”

“Life ain’t always fair, Sugarcube. In fact it’s rarely fair. Now GET!”