On Wings of Steel

Chapter 1

2 months later...
Swift Specter lifted the metal structures on his back only with the thought of opening them. They looked like wings, and if he wanted they acted like them too, but they were much heavier. His back was still aching from the surgery and the weight on his legs didn't feel any better, even though he exercised a lot to strengthen them. He felt almost as stiff as an earth pony now.
"Very good." said a doctor and watched a screen, "Everything looks very good. How are you feeling?"
"My back hurts ... also I haven't had anything in my stomach for almost 8 hours." replied Swift Specter, looking over his shoulder, "But the place where the connections are feels better. No burning pain like last time."
"Excellent." Twilight Sparkle was delighted, who was also in the room and looked at everything, "Then it shouldn't be a long time before we can use the MCUs and start test runs. I think at the end of this month it would be possible that you can fly again! "
Electric Swing looked at the mechanics up close and nodded: "Mechanically everything seems to be fine. So I give the OK for further tests."

After hours of testing, Swift Specter was finally released. Just as he had put on his complete uniform again, -as he was back in active service in a test brigade- Electric Swing came galloping up and shouted: "Swift wait!" she slid in front of him and said with a broad grin: "I'm going to invite you to dinner. And I don't want to hear no, Corporal."
Swift Specter raised an eyebrow, but then shrugged and replied, "All right. But I'm starving." He checked his uniform again briefly, then nodded and set off with Electric Swing towards downtown Canterlot.

The place where Swift Specter and Electric Swing went was nothing special, apart from the cider. This one was hard, but that didn't stop Swift Specter from drinking a little more.
"You shouldn't drink too much." Electric said, "If you're drunk, the test results will be wrong and it could cause unnecessary pain."
"As unnecessary as losing both wings?" Swift Specter asked and lifted his mug of hard cider to his lips, "You also invited me. I have to use that."
That elicited a slight smile from Electric Swing and she said: "Oh yes? Well, I'll give you this. But please, don't drink so much anymore. Do it for my sake, yes? If something happens to you while testing, it's my fault because I do gave my OK. "
Swift sighed, looked into his mug and said softly, "Well, that's the last one for today ... I promise."
"Thanks." Electric Swing replied with a smile, when Swift Specter was patted on the shoulder. A Pegasus and an earth pony stood behind him, were clearly drunk and laughed at him: "Take a look at that. An earth pony that has wings screwed on! That's too funny!"
Swift Specter glanced at the two of them, then decided to ignore them and turned to his last mug of cider. Just as he was about to drink, the earth pony knocked the mug out of his hoof and said: "We're talking to you, freak!"
Swift Specter looked at his mug, and was slightly angry, and turned to the two of them, speaking with anger in his voice: "What exactly is your problem, hmm? Don't you see that I'm a homecomer?" he snorted, "I lost my wings in this war!"
"Then you don't deserve them either!" said the drunken pegasus, and struck at him. His hoof landed in Swift's Specter face, who snapped his wings to block another blow against his torso. He only felt the vibration at the base of the wings, nothing else. With a twist of the heavy wings he sent the two attackers onto the boards, jumped up and squeezed the air off each of them with one wing edge when he hissed angrily: "I have lost EVERYTHING because I did my part in this war! I am ready to put even more at risk! If these wings work, I will return to the front. " he got louder, "and you call me worthless? you say i don't deserve my wings?"
Electric Swing tackled him from the side, and from the two of them: "Stop it! Stop it Swift! The two of them are not worth the trouble!" tried she appease him
"The two are not worth it? Threy insulted me with the worst that can be thrown at a Pegasus!" He snorted again and bowed his head to attack the two in a charge. both of em quickly ran away.
"I understand that ..." began Electric Swing, but she was immediately interrupted by Swift Specter: "Eight do you do that? Do you have four mechanical hooves? That makes you earth ponies, right? Your hooves, with which you do magic given to the ground to allow plants to grow better. I'm so sorry that this happened to you! " His wings came back to his flank, "I'm done here!" He threw a bag of bits on the table: "That should cover the bill and the damage."

Outside, Swift Specter was furiously walking down the street. It was now dark and with the uniform and the two mechanical wings he looked so scary that nopony spoke to him and everpony walked away from him.
That is until he heard the galloping of hooves behind him.
"Swift wait!" called Electric Swing and got to him: "What was that about? and yes, I mean everything. You're lucky if nopony reports you! If the MP gets wind of it ..."
"Let them know." snorted Swift Specter, "obviously I'm not enough for the ponies I risked my life for ..."
Now it was Electric Swing's turn to snort, and she tackled him in a side street where she pressed him firmly to the wall: "Listen to me! I'm sorry that my work can't give you your real wings again! But if tomorrow everything goes well, then you will at least be able to fly again! do you have any idea how much I envy you? I am always an earth pony who looks up into the sky and wonders what it feels like to fly freely through the air ... "She started to tremble," but I will probably never see or feel that. So please be so good and give these wings and yourself one last chance! "
Swift specter looked at her in surprise, then put his front hooves around her and hugged her gently, wrapping the wings around her too. It was supposed to be a warm gesture, but it wasn't like that with the metal. He felt how Electric Swing shuddered, and said softly: "All right. I'll comply with your wish and give both the wings and myself a chance ..."

The following day

"Pre-flight checks." said Electric Swing, walking around Swift Specter while holding a checklist in a hoof, "Flaps?"
Swift specter moved the flaps on the wings that gave extralift in unsupported flight.
"Very good. Please move the wings in all directions." Electric said and watched the wings of Swift Specter move. "Any strange noises? Are you pointing something or does something feel strange?"
"Negative." Swift Specter said, "So far everything is okay."
"Looks good from here too." Twilight Sparkle logged on and looked at everything, "Are the MCUs installed?"
"Aye." Electric Swing said, "They should be charged and ready by now."
"Well then we can start the test." Twilight said, "At first you will be wearing a safety harness."
Twilight Sparkle's magic attached a safety harness to Swift Specter. A rope went up to an overhead crane, one connected to the ground.
"I guess that's supposed to keep me from crashing through the ceiling." Swift Specter noticed and looked at the rope.
"Correct. We don't want you to damage this hangar." Twilight Sparkle said with a proud smile
"Ah... thanks for your concern for my safety..." Swift Specter said with a blank face.
Electric Swing giggled and finished her round around Swift Specter, whispering softly asked, "How's your head? Still a headache?"
Swift Specter said no with a shake of his head.
"All right. Let's start the test." announced Twilight Sparkle, and Swift specter began to flap his wings carefully. a slight mechanical whirring could be heard as the propulsion system started and provided the wing beats with the necessary magic to enable the flight.
And indeed, Swift Specter took off, first very carefully, then more and more courageously, until he was floating right in the middle of the room. The mechanical whirring was strange but otherwise it almost felt like real wings. Almost..
"That ... that's incredible!" Swift Specter said with a smile, "To be honest, I wouldn't have thought it possible!"

Twilight Sparkle was busy making notes in her notebook, not noticing a group of royal guards approaching. Swift Specter didn't notice either, but Electric Swing felt a wrench out of her hoof. There, in this hangar, at this moment, Princess Celestia stood and examined the three ponies. Only when the Royal Guards hit their spears on the ground did the other two ponies look at Celestia.
Twilight gasped and galloped over to Celestia and bowed low, as did Electric Swing.
Swift Specter needed some time to land again before he assumed a militarily correct stance and saluted.

Celestia looked closely at the three ponies in front of her, then smiled a little and said in a very pleasant tone: "I see you are making great progress, my student. To see such a badly wounded Pegasus flying again is a very uplifting feeling! "
"We're only doing what needs to be done, Your Highness." Twilight Sparkle said with pride in her voice, but still bowing to Celestia.
"You do more than just that. You give all of our Pegasus soldiers the opportunity to live a normal civil life even after such serious injuries." said Celestia with a small smile, as Swift Specter spoke with surprise in his voice: "Civil life? Your Highness, I thought if everything is all right again I can go back to the front line!" he looked up and Celestia could see his confusion.
"I cannot allow that, my little pony." Celestia said with care in her voice, "You have already sacrificed so much for ..."
"But I want! I have to! What is the value of that if I don't finish my job? I can't lie on the lazy skin and push the clouds while I know that a war is raging! What if .."
Celestia raised her hoof to silence him. She thought for a moment, and then said: "If that is really your wish, then so be it. With this you, Corporal Swift Sepcter, are promoted to sergeant. You will have your own squadron when the time is right. This skilled mechanic and My student will accompany you and take over further tests as well as the maintenance, if the two don't mind. "
She looked at the two of them.
"I'm going with sergeant Swift Specter." said Electric Swing.
Twilight hesitated a little, then asked, "What about my studies?"
"You can of course continue to do this. And as long as you are in companie with the sergeant, you have more resources at your disposal. I also grant you the special right of an assistant."

"I ... get an assistant?" Twilight asked wide-eyed. It was a very great honor in such times. one for which you had to put down a lot of bits.
"I'll do my best and triple my efforts!"

"Very good." said Celestia with a smile, then looked at sergeant Swift Specter, "sergeant, you will have an airship available to you at the end of the week to bring you to the frontline. The tests must be done by then. The airship will be set up for further tests if necessary, but I want that to be kept as minimal as possible. "
"by your command, Your Highness!" Swift Specter said, turning back to the other two and saying, "Well, you heard our princess. Carry on with the tests."

After Celestia was gone, Swift Specter leaned over to Electric Swing and asked, "Do you think we could paint our princess's banner on the inside of the wings?"
Electric Swing grinned, cocked her head and pretended to think: "oh I don't know ... can we?"
Swift Specter deadpanned when he said: "The same thing my teacher used to say ..."

More days later ...

Swift Specter flew over the practice range trying to get a feel for the new wings. Unlike real wings, he didn't feel the wind, couldn't make any slight changes and had to fly with more force. He was faster than before, but also less maneuverable.
When he landed, he made a face, wrinkled his nose, and sniffed. From the left wing came a smell like plastic getting hot.
"I think there's something wrong with the left wing ... and I'll need a new name. Swift doesn't really fit anymore." he said to Twilight Sparkle and Electric Swing.
"Well, there is nothing we can do about that." Twilight Sparkle said with a cheeky grin, while Electric Swing looked at the left wing. she opened a door and looked inside, rubbing her chin with her hoof as she looked at the problem.
Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle was making several notes on her notebook, saying, "Well, that wasn't bad. All that's missing is a combat test and a long-range test."
"We can easily do the latter on the way to the front." Suggested Electric Swing, "Swift just flies over the airship and if something happens, he can just land."
"Sounds like a good idea," confirmed Swift Specter, "then we can make the most of the time on board the airship. And the combat tests?"
The two mares looked at each other before Twilight Sparkle replied, "We haven't thought about that yet. Melee training maybe?"

The hoof-to-hoof combat training was very instructive. Even if the wings were very heavy, Swift was able to block blows with them. He fought a pegasus first, which showed him that he wasn't that fast anymore, but harder to hit if he moved the wings properly. Then came an earth pony close combat specialist. The pink mare with the pink mane bothered him badly, but in the end everything was okay with exeption of a few dents in the wings. However, he was still very susceptible to unicorn magic.
"Oh that was fun!" Swift said with a big smile and sweaty, "But now I need a shower first!"

After a shower, Swift Specter first went to rest in his quarters. He had received new orders, which he held in front of him while he was on the bed.

Marching orders:
Make your way to Hope Hollow, on the Manesota border. The lakes there are natural barriers, but reinforcement is needed at the narrowest point to keep the Crystal Empire from advancing. On site, you take over the squadron leadership over one of the squadrons there.

Further orders:
-Perform remaining tests
-Protect the airship
-The civilians on board must be protected under all circumstances, even if that means the loss of the airship

These orders were approved by Princess Celestia.
May the sun and moon be favorable on your journey

Drawn by
Captain Shining Armor

So ... those were his orders. Swift Specter couldn't wait.
only interesting was that Electric Swing and Twilight Sparkle were apparently more important than an airship. That could only be fine with him.

In this night

Swift Specter was back on the battlefield, his squadron dead, he was alone, and it was unnaturally quiet. His wings were gone, and the artificial ones weren't there either.
"Is there anypony?" he called into the silence, but it didn't seem like his voice was carried very far.
Swift was walking around, the ground felt unnatural.
Suddenly a yellow Pegasus mare with a pink mane rose.
Swift recognized her. he had protected her the day he lost his wings.
"Find us ... you have to find us ... all six of us ... harmony needs all six of us ... you have to find us all ... the sun needs help ... the moon must not fall .. . The nightmare cannot continue to exist ... Swift Specter, you have a purpose ... find harmony ..." she said in a ghostly voice. Her eyes were white and glassy.
"What ... what do you mean?" Swift Specter asked, but then the mare jumped at him and screeched like a banshee.

Swift Specter jumped up in sweat, gasped, and looked around in panic. What kind of a nightmare was that? He would have to talk to somepony about it.
Tired steps, he went into the bathroom and turned on the water to throw it in his face. He was still so tired...