The Engineer’s Wings

by Keeper of time RD

Chapter 19: Looming Nightmare

Shortly after the events in King Sombra’s throne room, the Crystal Empire surrendered, ending the war. In exchanged for giving up the locations of the ponies replaced by the changelings, Queen Chrysalis was allowed to take her changelings and leave the pony lands forever. Although rumors that the shapeshifters didn’t abide by the terms of their banishment as fully as they put on abounded, those in the know were fairly confident that the changelings had at least retreated into the shadows enough to not get spotted by either of the known means of revealing them.

As for Twilight’s brother, it turned out that he hadn’t been a changeling at all but had been under the influence of a mind control spell. It had been dispelled when the Tranquility Stone had been set off and he woke up hours later with the mother of all headaches. And though he didn’t really remember what he’d done when everything was a haze, he apologized for his actions anyway.

The day after the peace treaty with the Crystal Empire was signed, Celestia organized a memorial service for the ponies who had died in the war, personally reading the names of every single one.

Shortly after that, Scootaloo and the Wonderbolts who had defied the Princess’s orders and brought a swift end to the battle of the Crystal Empire were given a hero’s welcome with a grand celebration at Canterlot Castle. Much to the filly’s surprise, even Commander Spring Rain joyfully praised Scootaloo as a national hero. Although that might have had something to do with the fact that the filly’s Mark 1 had been totaled smashing into the crystal castle.

When the day of celebration in Canterlot was over, even Ponyville welcomed her back as a hometown hero. The mayor and town council even went so far as to give her a house in town. While it wasn’t the same one she’d lived in when her father was still alive, it was nice to have walls that retained heat again. Not to mention having an actual bed again instead of the hammock she’d been using while she lived in the aircraft hanger.

Thinking of her hanger, Scootaloo wasn’t entirely sure why she was still paying the rent on it. It wasn't like she had an airplane anymore. Although when Celestia realized that the young pilot had sacrificed her livelihood for Equestria, the princess had awarded her a large sum of bits. So she could technically afford to buy any civilian aircraft she wanted.

And that was the problem.

In the past, ponies had hired her because she could offer them something no other civilian could. But now what could she offer? She didn’t have the fastest plane a civilian could offer. And after the first week, most of the ponies trying to hire her stopped asking especially once she’d told them she hadn’t replaced her plane yet, and even if she did, she couldn’t get another Mark 1 Lightning Bolt.

Although a few super wealthy ponies still insisted on hiring her, even supplying an aircraft for the flight. But Scootaloo quickly realized that these ponies were only doing it so they could brag at their high society parties that they’d hired a national hero as their charter pilot, not because they actually wanted her: only her fame. So she stopped accepting even those offers after a few weeks.

The one exception to that being her hometown Mr. Rich, who’d actually hired her more than once. And more importantly had always been open and honest about how employing her was basically an advertising campaign for his stores. Somehow the way he treated her really made it feel like she was being hired for the right reasons instead of feeling like she was being used.

Clink…

But those flights were few and far between.

Click…

And flying somepony else’s plane from time to time didn’t change the fact that her own hanger was empty. Or more importantly how underwhelming flying airplanes without rainbow fueled jet engines felt.

Clink…

The slow, soft tapping of metal on metal greeted Applejack’s ears as she entered the Apple Family’s hanger. Of course, being the Apple Family, they kept more than just a crop duster in the hanger. In fact the orange filly and favorite mechanic of the Apple Family was currently sitting on top of a tractor, slowly tapping her wrench on the hood while she stared off into space with unfocused eyes.

Clink…

“Ah take it you’re done?”

Clang!

“Wha-huh?” Scootaloo said with a start as she scrabbled to pin down the wrench she’d just dropped. “Oh! Yeah! I finished awhile ago. It shouldn’t be giving you any trouble any time soon.”

“Ya know, Ah’m real grateful you’re still willing to do this. Ah was afraid Ah might have to find a new mechanic after ya became a big hero an all.”

The filly gave a melancholy laugh. “It’s not like I have anything better to do.”

“How ya holding up?” the farm mare asked with concern in her voice.

Scootaloo sighed then answered, “I don’t know. I guess I’ve always known I was nothing special. But ponies treated me that way because my plane was special. Now I don’t even have a plane and ponies treat me like I’m special for me… And to be honest, I think I liked it better when ponies thought I was special because of my plane. At least then I felt like I could DO something for them.”

“Well, Ah know at least one pony who thinks ya still can do something. In fact a little birdie told me she’s looking for ya,” Applejack said with a hint of a grin.

The filly’s purple eyes shimmered with new excitement. “Rainbow Dash? She’s in town again?”

AJ just chuckled. “She’s at the house. Ya might want to go save her from another of Granny Smith’s stories.”

The mare with the cowboy hat could only smile as she watched the young pegasus practically fly out the door, even getting a good twenty yards from it before her hooves touched the ground. The poor filly seemed to have lost her way in life without her airplane, but at least this proved there was still something in the world that could bring the kid joy.

* * * * * * *

Scootaloo found her favorite Wonderbolt at the farm’s main house, just as promised. Rainbow Dash was doing her best to be polite and pretend to be listening to the elder earth pony but quickly excused herself at the first opportunity once Scootaloo had joined them.

Placing the filly on her back, Rainbow Dash flew Scooraloo away from the apple farm.

Once they had the privacy of the sky, Scootaloo happily asked, “So what brings you to town this time?”

“I have some good news. I just wish I had better news. The Wonderbolts have managed to cobble together enough money, but we can’t get the commander to sign off on ordering a Mark 1 for ya. At this rate, Spitfire and I have taken up pushing the R&D guys to hurry up with the Mark 3 so we can ‘misplace’ a Mark 2 when they’re decommissioned.”

“It’s okay,” Scootaloo said, adding a sigh that was lost to the wind.

“No! It’s not! You’re an awesome pilot, and it’s just wrong to let you pay the price for saving the day like that!”

For a while they flew on in silence. Scootaloo spread her wings, careful not to get in the way of the wings actually supporting the both of them. The feeling of the wind rushing past her wings had always comforted her, calmed her. Perhaps that’s why she’d always enjoyed riding her scooter. Even if her wings couldn’t give her flight, they could give her speed. But up here, far above the ground, riding on Dash’s back, the feeling was that much stronger.

And even without words, she could feel it did the same for Rainbow Dash. She could feel the muscles in the shoulders her front legs were wrapped around easing as time went on. Soon the mare started to weave a path through the sky, using small clouds as pylons in some imaginary course.

After a few minutes, Scootaloo tightened her grip on Rainbow Dash, pulling herself forward slightly and said, “You know, you still haven’t told me what the good news is.”

“Huh? Oh yeah!” the mare with the rainbow mane said. “The whole reason I wanted to talk to you! I’m moving to Ponyville!”

“Really!?”

“Really! Between you and Fluttershy, the ponies I care most about live here. But I was hoping I could crash at your place while I wait for the town council to approve the plans I have for my house.”

Scootaloo blinked in confusion. “You need the town council’s approval? I thought ponies just had to buy the property.”

“Yeah, but in case you didn’t notice, there aren’t any cloud houses around here. So it turned out the patch of airspace I was hoping to park the one I want to build isn’t technically a property. So the mayor said she didn’t know if I was allowed to build there or not and she’d have to bring it up with the town council in a few days. So what do ya say? Can I crash at your place while they sort that out?”

“Of course you can! You’re always welcome with me!”

With Scootaloo’s cheerful approval, Rainbow Dash headed the two of them toward the filly’s house. Although they didn’t quite make it as along the way they spotted Twilight Sparkle, and their curiosity led them into landing and talking to her instead.

“Hey, Twilight! What brings you to town?” Rainbow Dash called out.

“Princess Celestia asked me to oversee the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. But, Rainbow Dash, if you could help me out, I think we may have bigger problems than making sure a party goes off without a hitch.”

“Oh? What’s up?”

Rather than Twilight, a small, scaly, reptilian, purple fellow who stood about as tall as Scootaloo answered in the unicorn’s stead. “Um… Twi? Isn’t talking about that what made Celestia tell you to stop worrying and do this instead?”

“I know, Spike, but what if I’m right? What if we do need to worry about this?”

“Worry about what?” both pegasi asked in unison.

“While I was researching, I ran across an old prophecy that says ‘on the longest day of the thousandth year, Nightmare Moon would return and bring eternal night.’ The thing is, tomorrow is the one thousandth Summer Sun Celebration!”

“Nightmare Moon? I thought that was an old mare’s tale they told to scare little fillies,” Rainbow Dash asked skeptically.

“And I thought the Staff of True Light and Tranquility Stone were just old mare’s tales,” Twilight countered.

“Fair enough. But even if it is true, what can we do about it?”

“Well, before Celestia ordered me to come waste my time preparing the celebration, the legend I found mentioned that Nightmare Moon was defeated by a set of magic artifacts called the Elements of Harmony. While it’s no doubt nothing compared to the Canterlot Archives, maybe you could search the library here for anything on these Elements of Harmony. Preferably something that mentions where they were last seen.”

“Not exactly my idea of a fun day,” Rainbow Dash responded with a frown. “But I suppose the worst case is we waste a day digging through books and nothing happens tomorrow. Pretty small price to pay if it turns out we really are about to be attacked by a crazy mare trying to bring eternal night.”

“Maybe we could even get Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle to help!” Scootaloo suggested.

“Why not? The more the marier,” Twilight Sparkle said as she put a hoof to her forehead. “Now if you’ll excuse me I need to find some baker named… Spike, who was left on the list?”

“The baker is somepony named Pinkie Pie! After that, we still needed to see a Fluttershy about a songbird choir, and somepony named Rarity is supposed to be handling the decorations at town hall.”

“Ah yes, Fluttershy is the innkeeper with the trained animals, right?” Twilight said as she and the young dragon walked off.

* * * * * * *

Several hours later the sun had set. Scootaloo looked out the window of her living room. Sitting on the coffee table was the lone book she and Rainbow Dash had checked out of the town library. Yet the orange filly’s eyes looked only to the moon beyond the window.

“It really does look like a mare’s face on the moon. Do you think somepony really got banished to the moon?” she asked with a yawn.

“Do I look like I’m an expert on banishing spells?” the older, blue pegasus responded.

“Heh, I guess that would be a better question for a unicorn, huh?” Another yawn prompted Scootaloo to add, “I’m going to bed. Wake me when it’s time to go to town hall for the raising of the sun.”

“Sure thing, Squirt!” Dash said.

With that, she watched the youngest homeowner she knew of head up the stairs to her bedroom. Then her gaze found its way back to the book. It hadn’t said much, but if this whole thing turned out to be true, it just seemed uncanny that according to it the elements resided at a ruin just southeast of Ponyville. If there really was something to it, it couldn’t possibly be a coincidence that Celestia had chosen the town closest to that ruin as the site for the one thousandth Summer Sun Celebration. Could it?