The Engineer’s Wings

by Keeper of time RD

Chapter 18: …Yet Plans are Useless

Things started out smoothly. Equestria’s forces punched through the border defenses, deploying mostly tranquilizer darts and sleep spells. Above, the special module on Rainbow Dash’s plane was basically a laser pointer that she used to point out any changelings she spotted with the crystal-lensed goggles. As expected, revealing the black, shapeshifting, bug-ponies for what they were indeed created confusion among the regular crystal-pony troops.

Within twenty minutes the ground force entered the capital city of the Crystal Empire with the four cloud ships parked just out of range of anti-air cannons throughout the city. The ground forces had secured about a city block… And that’s where things stalled.

Not far from Celestia, the three young crusaders stood up with their front hooves on the window to help them see out. While it was difficult to figure out what was happening on the ground, the air battle before them was easy to watch from the bridge of the C.S. Cloudsdale. The Crystal Empire planes were a purple color, which set them apart from the gray E.U.P. and blue and yellow Wonderbolt planes of Equestria.

Although the Empire’s planes were badly outnumbered, with the help of the AA cannons, it was a fairer fight than anypony on the Cloudsdale would have liked.

Amidst all of that, the three young observers did their best to stay as quiet and thus ‘out of the way’ as they could. But youth being what it is, they couldn’t help but offer each other a low cheer or hoof bump whenever they saw a Crystal Empire plane go down or a gasp whenever they saw an Equestrian plane go down.

As they watched, the radios calls from all of Equestria’s forces could be heard coming from the workstations around the bridge. Spitfire was also doing her best to send out orders to match up Wonderbolts with air support strike requests from the friendly ground forces.

For her part Scootaloo did her best to ignore the half dozen or so radios constantly blaring to life with one pony or another trying to relay information in the middle of a battle. But then one conversation did catch her ear, mostly because it contained voices she’d heard before today.

“I’m hit! I’m-” the male voice started only to get cut off.

“Rapidfire! What are you waiting for? Bail out!”

Scootaloo’s heart froze. It wasn’t hard to spot the only Wonderbolt plane spiraling toward the ground at the moment. She felt an ache in her heart, and while she didn’t know Rapidfire all that well, she did remember that he was one of the ones who’d been quick to accept her after she’d filled in for Dash’s wingpony.

The pain in Scootaloo’s heart spiked the moment the blue and yellow jet crashed into the streets of the crystal city with still no sign that anypony had bailed out. In the back of her mind she saw his face flash in her memories.

“RAPIDFIRE!” The cry over the radio confirmed that those with a closer viewpoint hadn’t seen him escape the doomed plane before impact either.

Then Rainbow Dash’s voice came over one of the radios. “Dang it, ground team! What’s the hold up on taking out those AA cannons? We’re getting torn apart up here!”

“We’re working as fast as we can!” some mare’s voice responded. “But if you think you can do a better job of clearing machine gun nets with nothing but tranquilizer darts and sleeping gas, feel free to get your flank down here and show us!”

Although the words that followed from Dash seemed calm on the surface, those who knew her could tell she was trying to keep the anger out of her voice. “Command. Requesting permission to fire missiles.”

That got Spitfire to look up from the radio station. She turned her gaze to Princess Celestia with a questioning look. When the Princess failed to say anything in the first second, Spitfire said, “We’ve lost twenty planes. Five no bail outs. The Empire’s border forces seem to have called our bluff and are moving in. The ground forces have maybe twenty minutes before they’re surrounded. Isn’t it time?”

Celestia retained the impassive composure she’d been holding ever since the fighting had begun as she finally pulled her gaze away from the windows and answered, “No. Those missiles are too powerful to be used in civilian areas. The Crystal Empire is almost out of airplanes. Tell the air forces to focus on finishing the air sweep, then they can fall back, out of the AA cannons’ range. It won’t matter if our air support withdraws if the enemy doesn’t have it either. And tell the ground forces they have ten minutes to secure the castle plaza.”

Spitfire scowled but jumped back on the radio and relayed the orders as given.

Meanwhile Scootaloo’s eyes were steadily growing wider in fear as she was coming to a rather childish revelation. Rainbow Dash wasn’t safe. The fact that she’d thought the ace Wonderbolt would be safe in a war zone was proof enough of her childishness. But the fact that she'd just heard a Wonderbolt die over the radio drove home the idea that if one Wonderbolt can die, so can the one Wonderbolt who meant the most to her.

The young pilot’s eyes came back into focus and started darting around the battlefield beyond the window. “Come on Rainbow Dash, why can’t you see it? You have the goggles, why can’t you see it?” she muttered to herself. Then she turned her head around, letting her gaze fall on the Tranquility Stone still sitting on the table behind her.

‘Of course she can’t see it! She’s not looking for the same thing!’ Scootaloo thought to herself.

Turning to the purple unicorn at Celestia’s side, the filly asked, “Twilight?”

“Yes, Scootaloo?”

“Can anypony use the Tranquility Stone?”

“Uh? Of course! According to the legends it was made to be used by earth ponies. From my testing all you need to do is put a little magic into it to set it off. For a pegasus I figure you’d just need to squeeze it with your hooves and pretend it’s a cloud that you’re trying to interact with to impart some of your magic into it. Why do you ask?”

Rather than answering Twilight directly Scootaloo turned to the Princess and said, “Celestia, all we need to do is set off the Tranquility Stone in the throne room right?”

“Yes, I sense he is commanding his forces from there.”

“And the throne room is right behind that window?” Scootaloo asked, pointing a hoof at the stain-glass window just above the crystal castle’s southeast balcony.

“Yes, I’ve been there a few times in the past. That is indeed the one that frames the throne. But how did you know that?”

“It’s always had two more guards on it then the other one we can see,” the orange filly answered dismissively. “But that’s not important,” she continued in a more focused tone of voice. “Let me take the Tranquility Stone! I can get it in there!”

Celestia’s impassive mask was broken by an eyebrow raised in curiosity, yet her response was, “While I’m sure they would hesitate to fire on a filly with no uniform, I seriously doubt they’d just let you enter the castle in the middle of a fight either. Let alone let you run all the way to the throne room.”

“Please, Princess! I can do it!”

Celestia shook her head. “Young, innocent ponies like you and your friends are exactly the kind of subjects I’m trying to protect from war. I can not in good conscience ask a child to enter a battlefield, no matter the reason.”

With that the princess took Twilight Sparkle aside and started a whispered conversation with her prized pupil.

Scootaloo looked at the Tranquility Stone and blinked. It was alone on the table… and now the two powerful magic users, that might have been able to stop her with a thought, were distracted and had their backs turned…

In the blink of an eye Scootaloo jumped over the table, took the stone in her mouth and blitzed out the door.

“Oh no you don’t!” Spitfire shouted and she jumped up from her station and bolted out after the filly.

To her credit, Scootaloo managed to make it down the stairs and halfway to the landing bays by the time Spitfire tackled her. As the two came tumbling to a stop the elder pegasus put out a hoof to ensure that the rolling stopped with herself on top and the filly pinned down.

“Are you trying to get yourself killed?!” Spitfire shouted.

“Please! Let me go! I can do it!” Scootaloo said as she squirmed in vain, trying to get free.

“No! I have to protect you!”

“Why me?! Why am I more important to you then Rainbow Dash or Rapidfire?!”

“Because I didn’t get their father killed!”

Spitfire’s eyes became pinpricks as she realized what she’d just said. Scootaloo finally stopped struggling and silence filled the hallway for a moment.

When the filly finally broke free of her confusion enough to respond she said, “Wha-huh? What are you talking about? The letter said dad died in a training accident… Nopony can blame you for an accident…”

Bowing her head slightly the Wonderbolt captain answered, “That was a cover story. Rainbow Dash was supposed to fly that patrol alone… I knew I was sending her into a trap. But that information was classified. So when she asked your dad to go with her I couldn’t say ‘no‘ without sharing information they weren’t cleared to know…”

By now Spitfire’s legs had moved into a more proper standing position, so she was no longer pinning the younger pegasus underneath her. Despite that, Scootaloo continued to lie on the floor staring into the elder pegasus’ eyes.

“You sent Rainbow Dash into a trap?” she muttered.

With a sigh Spitfire continued her explanation. “I figured Rainbow Dash was the only flyer skilled enough to survive getting surprised like that if the information was correct… Turned out I was right…”

“You sent Rainbow Dash into a trap… And you let dad go with her… Without telling them what you thought they were up against?…” Scootaloo’s voice trailed off as her mind tried to process this new revelation.

“They weren’t cleared to know! I had no choice! My orders from Celestia were clear! I couldn’t tell them!”

At that moment, Scootaloo turned her eyes away from Spitfire, and her gaze happened to fall on the Tranquility Stone that she’d dropped when she’d been tackled.

Scootaloo was too stunned to cry, even with the return of the memories of the day that fateful letter had arrived. Her heart ached as the old wound, once as closed as it was going to get, reopened. With her heart and mind screaming very different thoughts, the filly knew she didn’t know what to think. But looking at the magic stone lying on the floor beside her, she did know two things.

That was in the past. She could figure out what she thought about that later. That, and today needed her attention right now.

Closing her eyes, Scootaloo spoke with her head still turned to the side. “So you followed orders and my dad died. Now Rainbow Dash and a bunch of other ponies are out there, dying by the minute, and you’re still just going to blindly follow Celestia’s orders? Help me end this fighting! Right here, right now!”

* * * * * * *

On the bridge concerned glances were starting to be passed around between the fillies still there.

“It’s been a few minutes. Ah thought they’d be back by now,” Apple Bloom whispered.

“I don’t know. I figured she’s throwing Scoot in the brig by now,” Sweetie Belle countered.

Suddenly Spitfire’s voice came over the radio. “Open launch bays one and three! Wing one, fall back and form up! Courier Seven is going in and we’re defending her with everything we got!”

“Everything?” Rainbow Dash’s voice asked from the same radio.

“Everything! All weapons hot! If anything even thinks of pointing a gun at her, obliterate it!”

The officers on the bridge all stared at Princess Celestia in wide-eyed disbelief, knowing that those orders weren’t from the princess. Not to mention that they were the opposite of what the princess had just said minutes ago.

“Princess? Aren’t you going to cancel those orders?” one of them finally managed to say.

The white alicorn only shook her head. “No. I’ve been around long enough to notice the patterns of fate. That child has become far too intertwined in the threads of destiny, and I am not foolish enough to try to defy destiny itself. Whatever that child has in mind, I suspect it will work. I only pray that she survives the attempt.”

* * * * * * *

Two jets burst into the sky from the launch bays. The Lightning Bolt Mark 2 with the Wonderbolt paint job took the lead. Within seconds five more Wonderbolt planes formed up in a V formation using Spitfire’s plane as the point of the V, and leaving the silver Mark 1 in the space between the V’s lines.

“So, what’s the plan?” Rainbow Dash’s voice called over the radio.

“I have no clue,” Spitfire answered. “Care to enlighten us?”

Scootaloo chuckled to herself. Something about the fact that the caption of the Wonderbolts was asking her for orders was just too funny to the filly. As soon as she’d brought her giggles under control she hit her radio button and said, “We’re going in low and fast! And although I know you can’t follow me exactly, Rainbow Dash, can you try to stay close? I’m probably going to need your help at the end of this.”

Many of the Wonderbolts in the formation raised an eyebrow, thinking to themselves, ‘Does this kid really think she’s a better pilot than us?’

Only Rainbow Dash gave a silent smile and thought, ‘I knew you were a smart one, squirt.’

Yet the time for thoughts was over. With her piece said, Scootaloo pushed her throttle to max and put her plane in a dive, swerving to line up with her intended path through the crystal city. The Wonderbolt jets scrambled to follow suit. Of course the newer Mark 2’s only needed 70% throttle to keep up with the smaller, older Mark 1, so they quickly reformed their formation slightly above and behind the silver jet they were watching over.

When the silver jet pulled out of its dive and banked hard to point itself at the crystal castle, the intent of its pilot became clear.

The flack cannons watching over the city were positioned to have a clean line of fire over the tops of most of the buildings and the wide open streets and roads. But there was one narrow alleyway that had no cannon pointing down it. Although it had been left that way for a reason.

“Uh, kid! That’s too narrow!” Spitfire called out as soon as she figured out where the filly’s path was taking her.

“You’re right,” Scootaloo’s voice answered over the radio. “It is too narrow. For a Mark 2.”

The Wonderbolt planes all jerked up above the rooftops. But the smaller Mark 1 shot down the alleyway between the rows of two-story crystal houses. On any other day, Scootaloo would have cringed at the screeching sounds that came every time one of her plane’s wingtips brushed one of the buildings, but right now she was too focused on keeping those sounds limited to just scrapes.

“Punch a hole!” Spitfire commanded as all hell broke loose above the rooftops.

With that, the Wonderbolt planes above wavered from their formation and fired missiles at every anti-air cannon that turned their way. With one exception: Rainbow Dash held her path just above the alleyway, wavering only to dodge when a cannon shot came at her from between the chimneys.

Scootaloo’s jet roared down the alley mere feet above the ground. At one point, crystal pony and Equestrian soldiers alike dropped to the ground as the jet raced by just overhead, leaving both sides gawking as they watched it fly on down the alleyway. At least until the Empire soldiers fell over with tranquilizer darts in the back of their necks and the Equestrian ones thanked the winds for the unexpectedly convenient distraction.

Back on the bridge of the Cloudsdale, Celestia closed her eyes and tightened her mouth into a frown for a moment with every anti-air cannon destroyed. Between the missiles and the munitions stored at the cannons, they exploded with enough force to demolish any building immediately adjacent to them. Aost of those seemed to be regular homes.

As the bold fighter wing made it halfway to the heart of the city, Spitfire’s voice came over the radio.

“As clever as this route is, we don’t have any napalm! So how exactly are we going to take control of the castle plaza with just a few fighter jets?”

Those familiar with the Crystal Empire understood that the Crystal Castle wasn’t really a castle as much as it was a tower. And a tower built on top of four massive pillars that created a massive plaza directly underneath the actual castle part of the tower. At the moment, that plaza had a small battalion of troops manning dozens of machine gun nests, not to mention the unicorn units and the gunners manning the balconies that overlooked said plaza, making it a difficult place for a hostile force to take. And certainly impossible for a few enemy fighters to land and storm the gates of the castle.

“We aren’t.”

Spitfire’s eyes became specks as she put the pieces together in her mind.

“Dang it kid! You could’ve told me that was your plan! I would’ve happily flown your plane for you!”

Scootaloo blushed. In hindsight it would have been smarter to let one of the highly trained Wonderbolts deliver the Tranquility Stone instead. Her plane was the only thing needed to make the plan work. Who piloted it was optional.

“You’re probably right! But it’s too late to turn back now!”

“Wait! What’s going on?” Rainbow Dash interrupted.

“Rainbow Dash! When I eject, please follow me in!” Scoots answered.

“Eject?! Why would you? Oh, pony feathers!” Dash swore as she realized what was about to happen.

That was the moment the alleyway came to an end. The silver Mark 1 burst forth into the plaza area. Scootaloo pulled up and veered hard to the right, then leveled out and turned back to the left, pointing her plane right at the stained glass window of the Crystal Castle’s throne room. In the next heartbeat, the filly slammed one hoof on the eject button and the other on her harness’s release mechanism. Then she wrapped all four legs around the Tranquility Stone as the canopy slid open above her and her chair shot free of the plane.

When the parachute opened the chair was yanked back. But without her harness, Scootaloo kept going. Opening her wings, she slipped into a glide behind her plane.

Rainbow Dash had followed the silver jet into its upward hard right turn, but when the filly’s plane veered toward the castle she kept turning right and punished one of her bail out buttons. Technically the Mark 2 had two buttons meant for bailing out. The traditional ‘eject’ one like the one in the Mark 1, and a second ‘bail out’ one more tailored to the Wonderbolts. Dash used the second one. This caused her canopy to slide open and the controls to lock the plane into flying straight and level.

She slammed a hoof on her own harness release. Then she stood up and opened her wings, which caused her to get sucked out of the cockpit and slide along the top of her plane. As soon as she slid off the back of her plane she started flapping her wings for all they were worth and shot off toward the orange filly.

* * * * * * *

Inside the throne room of the castle made of blue crystal, King Sombra sat on his throne. He was resting, recovering from his recent use of magic to aid the city’s defenders from afar. Not far from him was a pink alicorn mare with a tri-color mane of purple, pink and yellow. And not far from her was none other than Shining Armor. A hoofful of other advisers were gathered around a table with a map of the city talking amongst themselves.

The expected commotion of a command room was interrupted when a door leading to the balcony behind the throne swung open and a soldier in crystal armor jumped in. Not even trying to catch himself, he yelled “INCOMING!” and hitting the floor, covered his head with his forelegs as if expecting a bomb to go off.

The unicorn king with black fur’s first thought was, ‘I thought most of the enemy was still at the edge of town? How did they get enough pegasus ponies here to overwhelm the balcony so suddenly?’

He didn’t have time for a second thought.

Time seemed to slow down as a thunderous boom filled the room. Over the king’s head, shattered glass, protective magic and the twisted metal shards that had once been a jet aircraft all flew across the room, peppering the far side with their remains.

On instinct alone Sombra managed to raise a shield of magic around himself and his daughter.

In the wake of the destruction an orange pegasus filly shot into the room through the gaping hole the plane had just made. The instant her eyes found the black unicorn with a king’s crown, she squeezed a small stone grasped close to her chest.

The stone let off an immense wave of white light. As the light washed over the room, another pegasus entered through the shattered window, this one a blue mare with a rainbow mane, and a Wonderbolt uniform on.

The mare’s speed was incredible. She managed to catch up to the filly by the time she was two-thirds of the way across the room. Snatching the filly out of the air, the elder pegasus pulled to the side in a clear attempt to avoid either of them being impaled on the wreckage now imbedded in the wall opposite the shattered window.

With that, time seemed to return to its normal pace. In the wake of the wave of light, Sombra felt his magic wash away with the light wave, and his shield shattered. Half the crystal ponies in the room flashed with green fire, becoming black bug ponies of some kind, including the one that had been Princess Cadence. The two pegasi hit the floor tumbling and slid all the way into one of the still smooth walls. Finally a flash of teleportation magic brought Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, and a dozen unicorns of Equestria’s Royal Guard into the room.

Heated words were exchanged, hostile gestures were made, especially toward the now revealed changeling queen that had been masquerading as Sombra’s daughter. And Twilight ran over to her brother, who had been knocked out by the Tranquility Stone’s magic.

But right now, all Scootaloo could hear was every clang of metal shrapnel falling to the floor. All she could see was the hopelessly mangled metal plastered across the wall. All she could feel was Rainbow Dash’s embrace holding her tightly as the weight of her sacrifice, the price of her plan, finally registered in her mind.

Scootaloo buried her face in Rainbow Dash’s chest with only one thought repeating in her mind, ‘I hope this was worth it.’