The Mare of Tomorrow

by Eh

Chapters

Prologue - "The Daring Industries Theft!"
Chapter One - "Hard Landings and Cold Trails!"
Chapter Two - "The Package!"
Chapter Three - "G-Ponies and Troubleshooting!"
Chapter Three and a Half - "Getting Fitted!"
Chapter Four - "Good Grief, the Griffons!"
Chapter Five - "The Flying Circus!"

Prologue - "The Daring Industries Theft!"

Los Pegasus

Gideon peered through the doorway. No guards in the hallway, just sheer utter darkness. He turned round to his brother, Gilder. "It's all clear."

Gilder nodded. Though it wasn't like they had broken into the Canterlot Archives or anything, they didn't want to take any chances. Even if they were just in an aircraft company office with rent-a-cops for guards. The office they were in was only illuminated by the desk lamp, providing a stark yellow light on the desk. Gilder angled the desk lamp towards the pony tied into the chair. She was a unicorn, white with a pink mane and a pencil for a cutie mark. Contrasting with Gilder and Gideon's rather gruff exterior and with being griffons. "Alright, Pencil Pusher. Start talking, where is it?"

She turned her head up high, sweating bullets and obviously working hard to maintain her composure. "Where's what?"

Gilder slammed his hands on the desk, causing Pencil Pusher to flinch. "You know darn well, 'where's what?', so where is it?"

"Okay, even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you thugs where it is!"

"Listen here, chucklenuts! You're going to tell us otherwise I'll beat it out of you!" Gilder cracked his knuckles and advanced on Pencil Pusher. However, he was stopped by Gideon, which meant a sigh of relief from the bound mare.

"Wait," Gideon said. "We can't beat her up. That's evidence. We gotta make this clean."

Gilder buried his face into his hand. "Ah, fine! But you do it. I'm not good at that psycho-mumbo-jumbowhatsit anyway." He walked over to the door to stand guard. That left Gideon and Pencil Pusher alone to talk, so to speak. Gideon leaned on the desk, picking at his beak. Pencil Pusher turned away under his silent but incredibly hard gaze.

"So," Gideon started, "you are Daring Industries chief pencil pusher. Am I right?"

"I am not a pencil pusher!" Pencil Pusher shook the chair. "I'm an accountant!"

Gideon shrugged. "Same thing. The only thing most important to us however, is that you know where it is." Framed on the wall were dozens of Employee of the Month portraits of Pencil Pusher. After a moment of contemplating these portraits and on how well the office was organized, Gideon looked down on the neatly organized stacks of papers on her desk. He pointed to them and said, "I'm sorry, do you mind?" Pencil looked confused, but immediately shrieked in terror as Gideon viciously threw the papers all over her desk and then refiled them in the wrong order.

"Ah!" Pencil took a deep breath in, then relaxed. "Big deal," she said proudly. "I can just simply refile those in the correct order." Gideon slowly slid the papers towards the stapler on the desk. "No! Don't!"

"Tell us where it is."

"Never!"

Gideon slowly slid the papers into the stapler and clenched a fist. Pencil Pusher looked down at the papers, gnashing her teeth, resisting any sort of submission to the griffon. After a moment of pause, Gideon stapled the papers together. Pencil cried a blood curdling scream, sobbing as the mismatched papers were now permanently attached to each other. Even if the staple were to be removed, the papers would be horribly disfigured by two small but incredibly visible holes.

She cried out, "You monster!"

"It doesn't have to be this way," Gideon said calmly as he tossed the mismatched stapled pile to the ground. He walked over to a filing cabinet while Gilder looked at him, dumbstruck. Gideon opened the filing cabinet and started tossing papers out at random. Pencil screamed incoherently at him as he occasionally crumpled a paper or ripped a file as he pulled out it. "Oh, what do we have here?" Gideon paused, then pulled out a file labelled in big bold letters, "Balance Sheet".

"No!" Pencil shook her chair trying to break her restraints. "Not the Balance Sheet! Anything but that! Hurt me all you want just don't harm the Balance Sheet!" Gideon whistled innocently as he began folding the file in half diagonally but not enough to cause any lasting damage. Pencil gnashed her teeth together as sweat ran down her cheeks.

"Last chance." Gideon took up two fingers then slowly edged them towards the fold. Pencil knew what this meant: he was going to crease the fold. Pencil bit her lip as the fingers touched the paper with such slowness that turtles would call it slow. He pressed down on the paper, creating the horrid sound of creasing and ruffling.

"Okay!" Pencil yelled as she trembled in her chair. "It's in the South Wing behind a lock door! It's a four digit code! 1-2-1-7!" Gilder had written down what she had said on a loose piece of paper. With their information secure and nighttime burning, they began exiting the office. "Wait!" Pencil yelled, "The Balance Sheet! You said you'd let it go!"

Gideon turned around looked at Pencil. "I said no such thing." He swiftly and irreversibly creased the fold. Pencil burst into tears, screaming for the now disfigured Balance Sheet and hurling half-hearted insults at the griffons. Gideon exited and closed the door behind him, a wide grin plastered on his face. Gilder looked at Gideon however, like he was nuts.

"What...?" Gilder started, but was waved off by Gideon.

"Unlike you, Gilder. I happen to know people."

The two griffons proceeded to sneak their way towards the South Wing. The company building wasn't large, fortunately for them. The company, Daring Industries, was only in its infancy with its major breakthrough having occurred a year ago and still needing time to process. Occasionally they'd stumble on a security guard but they were either gagged and stuffed into a closet quite quickly or found fast asleep on the job. They took no chances and crept quietly. It was then that they came upon the great steel door, featureless and cold. On the wall next to it was a keypad with the numbers. Wordlessly, Gilder walked up and input the code, 1-2-1-7. With a hiss of air, the door slid to the left into the wall, revealing a hallway obscured by darkness.

Gilder looked inwards, then at Gideon. "You first."

Gideon looked in then at Gilder, raising an eyebrow. "Why me?"

"Well, you did the whole sadistic interrogation stuff. I figure you'd be brave enough to take point."

"Why not you?"

"Are you saying you're a chicken?"

"I'm not a chicken!"

"Bawk."

"Shut up!"

"You shut up, make a chicken and scoot!"

"What- no one says that!"

"'Til now, dweeb. Get in there!"

"You get in there!"

"Chicken! Chicken! Let me call your chicken companions! Gi-gi-gi-gi-deon!"

"Fine!" Gideon stomped his way into the darkness and called back to Gilder, "you little baby!" Gilder giggled as he followed Gideon in. They were shrouded in black, unable to see anything past a foot in front of them. They stopped and looked around, fruitlessly.

"It's dark in here," Gilder said.

Gideon sighed. "No, really?"

Gilder scoffed. It was just like Gideon to point out that he was stating the obvious. The two griffons immediately set about looking for a light switch or anything. Why they didn't bring a flashlight briefly crossed Gilder's mind. He nearly started on why they didn't bring one before he realized that it was his fault that they couldn't. He'd spent the last of their bits on frosted donuts. He swore under his breath then went back to searching.

"Hey, I think a brushed by a chain," said Gideon. He fumbled about before getting his grip on something hanging from something. It felt like tiny metal beads. He quickly tugged and on came the lights, briefly blinding the two griffons. The room was now brightly lit, and was a store of many blueprints, files, and other confidential items stored in marked green metal boxes. Gideon scratched the bottom of his beak thoughtfully and said, "alright, so where is it?" Gilder tripped over a large marked briefcase, which looked like it matched the measurements given by their employers and bore the marking '1903.MARK ONE'. "Oh, there it is."

"Well great!" Gilder said, pushing himself up. "Open her up. Let's see."

Gideon pushed Gilder away, much to his annoyance. Gideon pulled a feather from his wing and quietly proceeded to pick the lock. After a couple of minutes of waiting and picking tumblers, there was a distinct click. Gideon opened the box up and gazed at the contents. The washy silver coating reflected the light back onto Gideon's happy face. Gilder looked at the inside with more scrutiny however.

"Yep," he said. "That's it alright."

"It looks like a vacuum cleaner," said Gilder as he shook his head.

"Regardless, let's get this out of here." Gideon closed the box shut and locked it. He tossed it to Gilder, who reluctantly began carrying it under his arm. They began walking out of the room, and Gideon delightfully said, "home stretch, Gilder. We can get paid, we're set for a whole year."

Gilder chuckled, "maybe Gilda will be happy for once, maybe we'll get her to crack a smile."

"'Oh, my younger brothers!'" Gideon started a nasally interpretation of Gilda's voice, "'You've finally made me happy! I'll never ever ever beat the ever-loving daylights out of you or shove feathers where Celestia-don't-look ever again! Oh, I'll stop being such a broody raven! Ohoho!' Yeah, that's totally what's she going to say when we present to her the-"

The two griffons stopped as they stepped back into the hallway. They froze, staring at the now present security officer. He was a large set brown unicorn and he stared back at the griffons just as surprised. There wouldn't be much of a stand-off here were it not for the Unicorn being nearly a foot away from one of the alarm switches.

Gilder snarled and said, "don't do it." The unicorn briefly eyed the switch. "Don't even think about it," he said again. The unicorn turned his head at the alarm then back at the griffons. "Don't even think about not doing it!" After a moment pause, the unicorn did it. Gilder whacked him with the case, knocking him out cold, but the damage was done. Intensely loud sirens were now replacing the quiet. Wordlessly, the two griffons ran for it. Gilder and Gideon had already prepared an exit, which was the front entrance of the building.

As they burst through the wooden double doors, they were immediately blinded by searchlights from hovering pegasi security. On the ground were a contingent of unicorn and earth pony guards as well. They weren't armed but they didn't need to be, they had numbers on their side.

"I am not surprised at any of this." Gideon rubbed his eyes and blinked away the sunspots.

An Earth pony held up a megaphone and shouted, "throw down the case and surrender! You're surrounded! You have 30 seconds to respond or we will use force!"

Gideon backed up slightly and looked around at the small security force. They weren't Royal Police and definitely weren't Wonderbolts or Royal Guard. He considered fighting his way through with Gilder and making a fly-by for treetop level where a griffon's natural slowness would allow the speedy pegasi to simply fly over them whereupon the two griffons would make an escape in the cover of the trees. "Okay, Gilder. We're going to-" he would have finished that sentence had Gilder not already flown off without Gideon and rammed a pegasus out of his way. "Typical," he muttered. Gideon flared his wings and went after him. The surprise of it all left the ponies stunned but after a few minutes of consolidation, the security pegasi went after them.

Instead of making a fly for the White-Tail woods, the two griffons banked east for the ground portion of the city of Los Pegasus, more commonly known as Applewood. It was a veritable metropolis, rivaling Manehatten in brightness and Earth pony population. In fact, Los Pegasus and Manehatten ponies often argue which city is more culturally rich. Manehatten has foreign trade and a relatively large aristocratic population, while Los Pegasus has technology and is the home of many movie studios.

None of that was entirely important to the two griffons however. All that was important was escaping with the case.

"Gilder!" Gideon flew up next to his brother and shouted into his ear. "Draw them into the alleyways, we'll out turn these scrubs!" Gilder nodded and angled downwards, Gideon following after on his tail. The pegasi formed a flying V-formation and followed them in.

They flew down in between the multi-story buildings of Applewood. Like Gideon had planned, their slow speed allowed them to angle in and out of alleyways and turn street corners on a dime. The pegasi, whether because thieves were the most action they had in weeks or because they were untrained, were crashing into everything. By the time the griffons made it to the less stuffy hotel district, only three pegasi were following them at great distance. The rest had overturned carts, crashed into windows, and in one case collided with another pegasus.

"They're still following us!" Gilder landed, the case under his arm. Gideon landed alongside him, muttering a snide remark at Gilder's tendency to state the obvious. Gideon looked around, empty streets, a hotel themed with apples, an open top cart filled with apples, two trash cans, and immediately advancing pegasi on their tail about to turn the corner. The circumstances could not be more evident to him.

Gideon pushed Gilder forward. "Quick! Into those trashcans!" Gilder hopped into a can and tried to take the case with him, but it would not fit. Gideon, having no time for technicalities like diameters, grabbed the case and threw it into the apple cart. For safe keeping, he brushed as many apples over it as possible before heading into his trash can. They threw the lids over and proceeded to play the waiting game. There was a noticeable whooshing sound roaring past near their ears. Gideon lifted his lid slightly and whispered to Gilder, "we'll wait here for things to die down."

An hour passed. In that time, all that was heard was carts, ponies walking along, and the occasional automobile. Gideon pushed the lid off and jumped out of the can. Gilder, being less agile than his older brother, rolled out when his trash can toppled over with a loud clang.

"We made it!" Gilder brushed himself off, he was covered in apple skins and what Gideon hoped to be applesauce. Gilder paid no mind to his condition however and slapped his brother on the back. "Nice work, Gideon! Maybe I'll stop calling you a chicken from here on in!"

"Yeah, that'd be great," said Gideon with a smile on his face. They were in the clear. There were sirens, but they were out in the distance, probably in the outskirts of the city. From here, Gideon and Gilder could head towards the restaurant Gilda and her gang were boarding with the case and be home free. "Get the case, Gilder. We're bailing."

"Right. Where'd you put the case?" Gilder asked, looking around.

"In the apple cart."

"What apple cart?"

Gideon took a look directly where the apple cart was. Nothing but pavement. He looked around the completely empty street frantically. He groaned in frustration, there was no denying it. The cart was gone. The case was gone. Their money, in a manner of speaking, was gone. Gilder rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Gilda is going to murder us."

Chapter One - "Hard Landings and Cold Trails!"

The Mare of Tomorrow

Ponyville

The barn doors slid open slowly. The Cutie Mark Crusaders pushed them wide open and let the sweet sunshine into the old dusty barn. These old barns were incredibly common on the Sweet Apple Acres orchard. Though the Apple family are attentive to detail, there usually is one barn that manages to slip past their radar. This one in particular rested on a steep hill near the older apple trees back when Ponyville was founded. Applejack had scheduled this barn in particular to be demolished once she had returned from Los Pegasus.

"Alrighty now! Bring 'er out!" Apple Bloom shouted. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle ran inside. With the full, unstoppable, determined might that two school-age fillies could muster, they pushed Apple Bloom's project out. It was made from the spare wood of fallen trees, was shaped like a can with a ruler thrown through it and was painted an incredibly loud orange. Applebloom was proud of it however, for it was her first airplane. Painted on its side was the Cutie Mark Crusader Emblem and in bright white words: "Cutie Mark Crusaders Aviators!" It wasn't like most planes which were rare enough in Equestria: it was small, foal sized even, and the propeller and engine were situated at the tail with the tail fin situated on the bottom.

Given the light weight of the plane, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had little trouble pushing it out of the barn. They stopped just outside the doors and reported to Apple Bloom. The trio already had donned their flight uniforms: flying helmets, goggles, and jackets. However, only one could actually fit in the open air cockpit.

"So who gets to fly?" Scootaloo said. The trio looked back and forth between each other with varying amounts of confusion.

"I know!" Sweetie Belle quickly pulled out a coin.

"There are three of us," Apple Bloom quickly said.

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes. "Haven't you ever heard of process of elimination? Scootaloo and me first. I pick heads!" She flipped the coin into the air. It landed back on her hoof, tails side. Sweetie wiped some sweat off her brow and sighed in relief. It was down to Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, both of whom were just bouncing at the prospect of first flight. Scootaloo picked heads and up the coin went. It ended with tails.

"Woohoo!" Apple Bloom jumped for joy straight into the cockpit. The excited filly quickly began strapping herself in with belts scavenged from Rarity's trashbin. She also quickly checked the gauges also recycled from blenders, toasters, and other instruments. In a fit of brilliance, Apple Bloom had also fashioned an altimeter out of a thermometer. She brought the goggles down over her eyes. She said, "Alright, Crusaders! Take her up!"

Sweetie Belle ran down to the propeller. She prepared a start up spell with her horn. As the power gathered, she struggled and strained but after a minute of full concentration, she zapped the propeller. The engine, made out of old trashcans and gears, was primed. Scootaloo quickly ran up and span the propeller. After a full turn, it began spinning under its own power. The engine sputtered and roared like a sick lion.

Scootaloo ran up to the cockpit. "You're good to go! Remember, hit the ramp at 100 miles an hour or you'll stall! The ailerons will shake a bit, but don't fight it, just adjust accordingly!"

"Anything else?" Apple Bloom said.

"Yeah! A little luck!" Scootaloo stuck her hoof in her mouth and stuffed it into Apple Bloom's. Now in Apple Bloom's mouth was a wad of Beemane's Pepsin Gum. Apple Bloom chewed it cautiously, it tasted like honey and Scootaloo. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo ran out as the plane began taxiing out.

Under its own power, the plane rolled towards the makeshift runway: a dirt road that went down a steep drop in the hill and ended with a ramp pointed into the air. Apple Bloom kept the throttle low and inched the plane over the crest of the hill. The engine coughed as the plane angled down the hill and began picking up speed. Scootaloo and Sweetie sat watching the scene, practically biting their hooves as Apple Bloom raced down the hill towards the ramp.

"Oh! I can't watch!" Sweetie Belle covered her eyes.

"I sure can!" Scootaloo munched on some apple slices intently.

Apple Bloom was being forced back in her seat as she set the throttle to maximum speed. She briefly pondered as to why anypony would think taxiing a plane down a hill and up a ramp would be a good idea. Then she remembered it was her idea. She minced an oath under her breath. The plane continued picking up speed. The speedometer, which used to be one of Pinkie Pie's clocks, read Party Time at the 3 O'clock position. Apple Bloom had no idea what this meant so she hoped to Celestia it was 100 miles per hour. She closed the distance with the wooden ramp she had built, her only assurance that it wouldn't collapse or anything. In a brief second, the plane hit the ramp and blasted upwards.

"She's flying!" Scootaloo hovered in glee. Sweetie opened her eyes and did the same as well. They cried out at Apple Bloom flying away in joy. Apple Bloom looked down at the ground, unable to suppress her excitement. She kept the plane steady at a safe height over the trees. The cool winds blew past her and all she could hear was the whistle of the air and the purring engine. Something clicked in Apple Bloom. Sure, she was happy with her family back on good old Terra Firma on the orchard, but there was something about flying. Even though her ramshackle plane could barely get above tree top level, she felt like she could go anywhere out into the wild blue yonder. She angled the plane upwards into the sky.

***

Spike ran as fast as his stubby legs could allow. His pace however was marred by having to keep his eyes on the sky for Apple Bloom's plane and on the road ahead. He had already gotten a wagon overturned and ran into several poles on the way. It was going to be a good day for Spike however. He had only heard of the theory of heavier-than-air flight a little over a year ago. Even Twilight dismissed the theory as redundant thanks to pegasi and airships. Now, planes were becoming a common sight over the skies of Los Pegasus and Applewood. Apple Bloom's plane was that mark that planes would soon become common all over Equestria.

"Scootaloo!" Spike shouted. He found the Cutie Mark Crusaders minus Apple Bloom dashing around on Scootaloo's scooter. "Is she already up there? Is she flying?"

"Sure is! The plane's keeping steady for now, once she lands we'll know for sure if she gets that cutie mark!" Scootaloo looked up at the sky. Overhead, Apple Bloom's plane looked merely like a bird. The roar of the propeller was loud and behind the tail fin was a streaking white cloud.

Spike looked over at the Crusaders incredulously. "Wait, you guys built a plane just to get a cutie mark?" Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle nodded with smug grins on their faces.

Sweetie Belle said, "Rarity always tells me, 'never do something simply when you can do it in style.'"

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and said, "yeah, that sounds just like her." Sweetie pouted at Scootaloo's remark and turned her attention back towards the sky. Already a crowd was gathering, either amazed, confused, or terrified by this flying machine racing over the town. Scootaloo's previous smug expression changed to one of worry however as the plane was now visibly descending at a sharp angle.

Sweetie Belle tilted her head. "Uh, is she supposed to be going down like that?" Her question was immediately answered by the propeller suddenly stopping. The plane was now dropping like a pile of bricks with the nose about to hit the ground. Scootaloo quickly jumped up in the air, screaming at Apple Bloom to pull up. As if Apple Bloom really heard her, the plane pulled out of the dive in a wide arc and screamed past the crowd over their heads. Everypony who valued their lives immediately ran for it in different directions. Not the Cutie Mark Crusaders plus Spike however.

"She's headed for the Everfree Forest!" Scootaloo immediately revved her wings. She took off down the road following the plane with Sweetie and Spike in tow. The plane now was relying on sheer speed to keep it flying, but even that wouldn't last as long as the plane flew precariously over the buildings of Ponyville. What's worse, the irregular dive knocked some sense out of Apple Bloom, for she was flying upside down. Scootaloo shouted up at the plane. "Apple Bloom! What happened!? Why's the propeller stopped!?"

Apple Bloom continued looking forward. "Scoots! Can't you see I'm flying here!? How should I know!?" Up ahead, the Town Hall was standing in the way of the plane. Apple Bloom pushed downwards on the control stick and sent the plane angling upwards over it. With her brief burst of altitude, she turned the plane to the right orientation. Scootaloo meanwhile burnt rubber racing around the town hall in pursuit.

Scootaloo said to her passengers, "don't worry! As long as she maintains that altitude, she'll just hit the plains between the forest and the town!"

Sweetie Belle took a quick look around, then worriedly looked up at Scootaloo. "Um. Scootaloo. Isn't Fluttershy's house in this direction?"

"Oh. I forgot about that."

The plane was descending downwards ever so gradually and they were already hitting the outskirts of town. The occasional tree and the random shack were the only things Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were racing past. Fluttershy's home however, was in sight. Apple Bloom prepared to make a turn right but a sudden jolt and a loud tearing shook her. She worriedly looked around to see if she had hit something.

Scootaloo screamed, "the tail rudder's gone!" A tree had clipped the tail rudder situated on the bottom of the plane. Without it, the plane was now helplessly careening towards the cottage. Apple Bloom rolled the plane left, but she was far too low and too late. The left wing sheared off as it grazed the ground. The plane spun in and with a loud boom, tore right into Fluttershy's cottage. Scootaloo braked hard right in front of the little bridge over the stream. The two crusaders stepped off and gazed upon the wreckage.

The cottage had been halved by the impact. One side would be relatively fine if it weren't for the fact that it was on fire. The other side was nothing but rubble. The plane rested in several pieces, burning and smoldering inside of the cottage. Birds, squirrels, mice and all other kinds of animals were dispersing in different directions screaming in their natural tongue. Apple Bloom was nowhere to be seen.

Scootaloo nor Sweetie Belle found themselves at a loss for words. The tears were streaming down their faces. Spike shook his head as he walked up next to them. They stared at the wreckage for a minute. There simply wasn't anything to do at this point.

Sweetie Belle finally wiped the tears from her eyes and said, "Apple Bloom..."

A low groan responded from the stream. Knocked back into their senses, the Crusaders plus Spike turned to look into the stream. Lying in a heap of belts, frogs and lily pads was Apple Bloom. The Crusaders squealed in delight as they mobbed her with extreme force, catching her in a big hug. Apple Bloom was gibbering incoherently, her eyes pointing in different directions and her mane wet and frizzled.

Scootaloo tightened her grip on Apple Bloom. "Apple Bloom! Thank goodness you're okay! We thought you were dead!"

Apple Bloom violently shook her head and quickly her eyes came back to normal. She looked over at Scootaloo and said, "you thought I was dead?"

Sweetie Belle nodded. "Yeah! No one could have survived that!"

As the unicorn and the pegasus filly made sure the earth pony filly was okay, Spike was looking out towards the Everfree forest. Lots of animals such as chickens, mice, aardvarks, and even a lion were running blindly into the Everfree Forest scared for their lives. Before Spike could call her out however, Fluttershy galloped out of the Everfree brush with baskets of flowers and plants. The fillies and Spike didn't get a chance to say anything.

Fluttershy stopped as she saw her house, torn asunder and now burning intensely. "My house!" she screamed. She saw her animals running in different directions, most towards the Everfree forest. "My animals!" Then, she gasped in horror as she remembered an incredibly important occupant of her cottage. "My Angel!" Before anyone could stop her, Fluttershy charged past and rammed the door down into her burning home.

As the smoke rose into the air, sirens could be heard coming from the sky. It was the Fire Brigade. Pegasi in red helmets towing rainclouds. Fluttershy burst out of her home, carrying her unconscious soot covered pet rabbit. She gently laid Angel down on the ground and immediately started the standard CPR procedure for rabbits. The Cutie Mark Crusaders dredged themselves out of the stream and watched as the firefighters drench Fluttershy's house with rain. The fire, destructive as it was, was drowned and dissipated.

Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie Pie ran up the road and up to Fluttershy. Immediately there were cries of concern, relief, and confusion over what happened. With no time to waste however, Fluttershy and Twilight picked up Angel and ran down towards Ponyville in search of the town veterinarian with Spike following close behind. Apple Bloom pushed her goggles up and stared slack-jawed at the blackened wreckage and rubble. She couldn't imagine what Applejack had to say to her when she comes back later today.

***

Los Pegasus

"And you still haven't found it?"

The masculine voice responded through the telephone. "No, Chief. I had all the ponies I could spare looking for it. Already been a week and a half and no leads on its location. Wherever it is, it's not in Los Pegasus anymore."

"Darn. Alright, well, keep looking. I'll call you later, Tumbler." The pegasus mare hung up the phone. She had a khaki coat and mane of various shades of gray. What she wasn't however, was happy. As the CEO of Daring Industries, she had to deal with the fallout of not just a successful raid on her office, but also the loss of an important prototype. Her stocks were falling, nosy journalists were camping outside of her offices and her own house, and wild criticisms from the less braver tabloids. She had kept in touch with Royal Police who for the past ten days had searched desperately for that prototype. The only results that they had gotten were that the thieves were two griffons who raided the office ten days ago and stole the prototype then disappeared in the city streets. Essentially, they were right where they started.

"Was that the Royal Police?" An old stallion, a pegasus, sat in the CEO's office. He was also accompanied by an earth pony stallion just as old as he was.

"Yes, my good Mayor. I'll just let you know however, they didn't find it." The CEO walked behind her desk and sat down in her comfy armchair. One thing that the CEO deliberately does in her office was give herself the most comfortable chair possible, while leaving her visitors with wooden chairs deliberately designed to be uncomfortable. The furnace was also directly behind her chair, allowing her precious heat in the winter time and restricting it to her visitors and further amplifying the effect. The two stallions shifted and cringed every minute they sat. It definitely helped Daring at least instill the sense that she was in control for now.

"You realize what this means, right? Your prototype could be lost forever, at best," said the Earth pony. "For all we know, an enemy of Equestria has gotten their hands or hooves on this thing, reverse engineering it for their own nefarious purposes."

The CEO nodded slowly as she clacked her hoofs together. "I see what you mean."

"So? Are you going to continue looking for it?"

"Yes." The CEO leaned back in her chair. She opened a drawer and pulled out a file, saying, "I think I've wasted enough of your time, Mister Mayor. That prototype will be in the right hooves by tonight, I assure you." After glancing at each other wordlessly, the two stallions stood up and left. Daring sighed as she simply melted into her chair. She'll have to prepare the offices for investigators and inspectors from all over Equestria. Meanwhile, competition from other budding aircraft companies like Sokolsky Aviation or FlimFlam Futuristics or even Skyros Aviation are gonna be developing new lines and designs while Daring Industries is stuck. She looked over to the intercom, what came next wasn't going to be any easier. She tapped the intercom switch, "Secretariat."

"Yes, Chief?" Secretariat was a dedicated secretary. The CEO was going to have her replace their old accountant but patient secretaries were hard to come by.

After a moment of hesitation, the CEO said, "tell Kitty Hawk that we're discontinuing the Project."

"Yes, Chief." Secretariat groaned quite loudly. She knew exactly how disagreeable Kitty Hawk would be. She asked, "what should I tell her? She's not just gonna let her pet project just die like that, Chief."

The CEO nodded, even though Secretariat was in a different room on a different floor. She spun the chair around to the furnace. A few logs were already cooking in the fire. She looked at the file in her hooves. Inside were the blueprints to the Mark One prototype, concept sketches, classifications, specifications, everything that would anybody to build a new one. She tossed it into the furnace. As they burned, she looked over at the wall. Old plaques, rewards, and medals for good service. There was also her degree in archeology, a photo of her and Kitty Hawk together at the old orphanage, and newspaper clippings of their first airplane flight. "Tell her dreams die all the time, Secretariat. This particular dream is over. Tell her Daring Do said so."

Next time On
The Mare of Tomorrow

"Where is it!?" he shouted.

Gilda pointed her talon at that unicorn and shouted back, "you tell me what this thing is and why it's so important that some lame brain aristocrat needs it or we bail!"

***

Fluttershy asked, "is it some kind of bomb?"

"Nah, too complex looking to be a bomb." Apple Bloom ran her hoof over some kind of button.

Fluttershy stammered as she Apple Bloom with the button, "I wouldn't touch that if I were you..." The filly pressed it.

Author's Note

Believe it or not, pusher prop planes similar to Apple Bloom's do exist. A trio of examples from the World War II era include the experimental XP-54 Swoose Goose, XP-55 Ascender, and XP-56 Black Bullet (of which would probably resemble Apple Bloom's plane the most.) Looks however were about all they had. They were fraught with performance issues and a number of design flaws. The pusher configuration also meant that the ejection system had to be specialized so that the pilot could actually clear either the arc of the propeller as he bailed, or simply ejected the propeller from the plane then bailed. The most famous pusher prop plane however would be the B-36 Peacemaker, the first intercontinental strategic bomber.

Nowadays, pusher propellers still aren't that popular, but they find their uses in civilian aircraft. The Wright Flyer of course, was powered in a pusher configuration.

Chapter Two - "The Package!"

Los Pegasus

"You'll never get away with this, Ahuizotl!" Daring shouted as she was lowered down into the boiling pit of acid.

"Oh! Quite the contrary, Daring Do! Once you are liquified in this acid, I will be victorious! The secrets of the Moles shall be all mine! Ahahaha!" The vile villain Ahuizotl turned away from Daring. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a Lost City to plunder! Ahahahahaha!"

Will Daring Do save the Lost Civilization of the Moles?

Will Ahuizotl be stopped?

Have the Fortune Hunters really abandoned Daring this time?

Tune in next week for another daring adventure, starring Daring Do and her stalwart Fortune Hunters!

Loose jazz by the works of Rat Pack began playing over the automobile radio. Gilder sighed as he leant back in the front seat of the automobile and said, "I hate when they end on cliffhangers." He looked over at his brother, Gideon. "Don't you hate it when they end on cliffhangers?"

Gideon shrugged. "Of course I do. That's how they build suspense though. You wouldn't listen to these radio series if they were boring, would you?" He turned the wheel and the automobile pulled left down the neighborhood into Westerly Hills. The griffons weren't particularly comfortable in this neighborhood. Considering they live in the attic of a fancy restaurant owned by their uncle, something about watching all the nobles and aristocrats waste their money on superfluous pursuits rustled their feathers.

Gilder stuffed a donut into his beak and after chewing loudly and thoroughly he said, "I guess." He tossed the empty donut box out of the window and pulled another one from the glove compartment. "I just hate waiting for the next episode. Remember like five episodes ago, where Daring faces Kong? Daring gets real beat up and Kong lifts her up and is about to break her back on his knee?"

"Yeah? What about it?"

"It ended right as Kong is about to break her back! That darn near killed me! I spent the next week gorging myself with donuts in anticipation!" Gilder stuffed a donut, sugar glaze, into his beak and spoke as he chewed. "Fen fha nekst efisode 'rives, thurns outh one fha Forthune Hunnas nails him with a slingshoth an' Daring gets 'way no worshe for wear." He swallowed and wiped some of the bits and crumbs off his feathers.

"Well, that's how suspense works. They make you anticipate what's going to happen next and then suddenly something else happens. That's how action stuff works. Like in Wonderbolt Adventures-"

"Oh, I love Wonderbolt Adventures."

"Yeah I know, like there's lots of zooming and flying, a lot of close calls but none of the Wonderbolts ever die or anything but they sure come close. They prey on our natural curiosity and concern for these characters and how the story will continue after the fact."

"That stinks, I wish writers wouldn't do that."

"Would you rather sit there and listen about how some mare just goes about her day with all her friends while she learns about the magic of friendship with nothing bad ever happening to them because the writer doesn't want anything bad to happen to them because that would be too violent for the children then?" He looked over to see Gilder nod casually. "You're stupid."

The automobile pulled up to an incredibly lavish and decked out estate that made the rest of the neighboorhood look like a hick town. Surrounding it was a featureless white wall with the only obvious entrance being an elaborately crafted cast iron gate and a little booth with a bored looking mare in a security uniform. Gideon drove the car up next to the booth and smiled. Gilder did the same as he chewed on another donut. The mare's expression of boredom and slight regret did not change. She looked over at a paper taped to the wall listed as appointments and sure enough, "Griffon Gang" for 3:00 PM was there. She pulled a switch and the iron gate opened quiet as a whisper.

Gideon drove the automobile up the colorful cobblestone road. The grass was so green that the grass on the other side of the walls could not be greener. The bushes were either uniform rectangular or cut into sculptures of ponies in heroic poses. Even the road they rolled upon was intricately cut into even hexagons. Gideon drove the automobile up to the porch and it in park. The two griffons turned to look in the backseat.

"Right," Gilder began, "what's the plan, Gilda?"

Gilda was sitting in the backseat, her arms folded and her face scowling. "Alright, we go in, we find out what's up, we leave. Simple."

Gideon nodded, frowning. "Simple as that." Gilda opened up the backseat door and headed out. Gideon and Gilder exited the car as well, Gilder holding a box of donuts.

"Leave the donuts," Gilda ordered. Gilder was about to protest but a sharp glare was enough to make him drop the box in the seat, close and lock the doors, then fly up to the door in under a minute.

As Gideon and Gilda caught up with him, Gideon said, "so it's really gonna be that simple? I mean, we haven't bothered to look for it since we lost it. What's Mister Crownypants gonna say?"

"Just let me do the talking, Gideon." Gilda walked up to the immense and intricately crafted mahogany door and pressed the doorbell. There was several minutes of silence as the griffons waited. Then, the door creaked upon and behind it a smiling yellow earth pony mare.

"Ah! Gilda!" the mare greeted. She looked over past and immediately her smile was replaced with a look of contempt. "... and family."

Gilder confusedly looked at the mare. "You were smiling just then, you just stopped." The mare rolled her eyes and opened the door further.

"Come in," she said. The griffons immediately welcomed themselves and allowed their dirty hands and feet to track mud and grime on the floor. The mare cringed as she said further, "my master is currently in talks at the moment, so you'll have to wait a moment."

"Nuts! This place is gigantic!" Gilder looked all around at the enormous interior of the estate. White walls with fancy looking accents and all kinds of stuff that people like Gilder didn't really understand. What caught his attention however was a rather large portrait of a stallion in military dress over the fireplace. The stallion wore a grand amount of medallions upon his uniform and his face was incredibly grim. The frame was of course elaborately gilded and crafted with fine craftsponyship but was slightly leaning to the left like most paintings in anypony's home. Gilder felt the need to ask whom this heroic looking stallion was. "Who's the scrub in the clown suit?"

The mare stopped in her tracks. She turned and loudly explained, "that is General Neigh! One of the most important generals in Equestrian history, the finest cavalry leader ever to grace the Royal Guard, and the progenitor of my master's bloodline!"

Gideon sat down on an amazingly soft couch. "He looks like a total scrub," he said in agreement. "I mean, look at those rosy cheeks!"

Gilder burst into a fit of laughter. "Oh! I didn't notice those!" The griffon brothers laughed and giggled in between their less-than-polite observations of General Neigh. The mare steamed, her face flushing red, and her teeth grinding. Gilda placed her hand on the mare's back and wordlessly nodded over to the grand staircase. The mare muttered something then went up the stairs. Gilda sat down on the couch along with Gideon and Gilder, sighing.

Some time went by. Gilda's perpetual scowl was unmoved by Gilder and Gideon's insults of General Neigh and she wasn't exactly inclined to join them. Finally however, she could hear the clopping of hooves.

"... and it is absolutely marvelous to have you on board," an earth pony stallion, sky blue with a grey mane and a scrambled egg cutie mark walked by flanked by the mare and a large white blonde unicorn. "I will expect you on set this weekend, Prince Blueblood." He turned to the griffons. "Ah, who are they?" The griffons looked over, the two brothers ceasing their laughter.

Prince Blueblood smiled and said, "these are simply errand runners of mine. They do some work for me when my lovely assistant, Miss Sundance cannot."

The stallion bowed. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am JoJo. Director of Baroness of the Air!" The brothers chortled quietly, but this did not escape JoJo's notice. "Something funny?" Gideon waved him off, holding his beak together with the other hand. JoJo shrugged and made his way towards the door. "Well, remember, this weekend! Come by the studio! We'll start fitting you into your costume and we've already got stunt pilots lined up!" He exited and as soon as the door closed, the brothers exploded into a roar of laughs.

"Ahahaha! JoJo! What kind of mother names their son JoJo!?" Gideon yelled in between laughing fits.

"Oh no! I can't breathe!" Gilder leaned over the back of the couch, still laughing himself to death.

As the brothers laughed, Gilda and Blueblood stared each other down. Blueblood's exquisite smile turned sour as he walked up to the fireplace. Sundance quietly left the room for the kitchen.

"So, griffon," Blueblood started. "Where's the package, I expected it a week ago. Read the newspapers about how a pair of griffon gangsters broke into Daring Industries and stole a package." He looked over at the giggling griffons and said, "I see they're still on the loose."

Gilda shrugged. "Well, they lost it."

Blueblood turned, a look of absolute contempt on his face. "Lost it?" After a minute of watching Gilda and realizing it wasn't a joke, his look of contempt turned into one of complete disbelief. "They lost it, even after successfully raiding the building, evading security, all that stuff?"

Gilda, again, shrugged. "Very long story, involves apples."

Blueblood stomped his forehoof. "I don't care what it involves! I'm paying you to bring me this package, griffon!" Gideon and Gilder stopped their laughing and cleared their throats.

Gilda stood up, flared her wings and advanced on Blueblood, whom immediately began stepping back. "There's something fishy going on here, Princess." There was a snicker. Blueblood looked over at Gilder who was holding his beak together. He looked back to Gilda. "You're not telling me everything."

Blueblood stood his ground, getting nose to nose with Gilda. "You're on a need to know basis."

"What I need to know is why Royal Police is hunting down my brothers!" Gilda jabbed her talon into Blueblood's neck. She could clearly see Blueblood sweating and biting down hard. "We saw the wanted posters, three hundred bit rewards for each of them. Royal Police ain't some donut-munching, nightstick-twirling pigs here. These dweebs are G-Ponies, investigators from the Princess! If they catch my brothers, their new digs is gonna be Tartarus! Now you tell me what this package is and why it's so important to some noble wearing some poofy outfit or we bail!"

There was a period of silence so deafening that one could hear a pin drop. Gilda did not move nor even bring her talon away. Gilder and Gideon sat on the couch, awaiting the response. Blueblood, though backed into a wall, simply remained silent. Gilda huffed and began making her way for the door. The brothers also stood up and followed her, though a little less than eager.

"It's a rocket." That simple statement stopped Gilda dead in her tracks. The brothers continued before they realized Gilda had stopped and paused as well. They turned towards Blueblood, dusting himself off and whipping his golden mane back into shape. Blueblood smirked, giggling even under his breath. "A rocket, yes. Like in those comic books you people read."

Gideon and Gilder glanced at each nervously. Gilda remained in her place, keeping that look of utter contempt on her face. Blueblood shrugged, sauntering over to the couch and deciding to relax.

Gilda cocked her head. "So, you're having my brothers risk their skins over some giant firework?"

"Oh, it's more than just a firework, griffon," Blueblood said. Sundance walked into the room, carefully balancing a plate of glasses with fine apple cider. Blueblood levitated a glass over to himself. "You see, this firework is far more advanced, beyond your league. You can probably guess why it would be important for me, Prince Blueblood to have it."

Gilder shook his head. "Nah, firing blanks here."

"Regardless." Blueblood drank heavily from his cider. "I want that rocket. I'm paying you to find it for me, I'll double your price even, considering the Royal Police." Gilda spread her wings and floated over to him. Then she pointed her talon at her, scowling.

"You'll triple my price," she said. Blueblood nodded, his smug smirk unwavering. She hopped back over to her brothers. "We're getting out of here." The griffons made their leave and as soon as they were out of the door, Sundance closed and loudly locked the door behind them. They entered the car, Gilder and Gideon in the front and Gilda in the back.

Gideon scoffed, "what's some prissy unicorn need with a rocket anyway?" He looked back at Gilda, still scowling. "Don't worry, sis. We'll have that rocket for you in two days. Three, tops!"

Gilda said, "I want it in one."

Gideon nodded violently. "Or one day, we can definitely do that. Right, Gilder?"

Gilder smiled, nodding along with Gideon. "Yeah, totally! Those dweeby aristocratical nobleblooded ponies won't know what hit them. We'll take a couple of the boys and go shake down the local apple orchards."

"Indeed, that's our best lead. If the Royal Police hasn't shaken down the farms yet, we're bound to find it."

"Yeah, you won't have to worry." Gilder took up his box of donuts and pulled out a new one, pink frosting on top. "Still, what's he got use for a rocket? I can understand a pony like Rainbow Dash-" Gilder was violently cut off by Gilda grabbing him from the backseat. The donut box dropped down and donuts spilled out onto the floor.

"I told you never to mention her!" Gilda growled.

"Gawk!" Gilder wheezed and flailed for breath as Gilda choked the air out of him. "G-Gideon! Help!"

Gideon kept his talons on the wheel. He blankly looked at the speedometer which read 0 MPH and said, "sorry, Gilder, I'm driving here."

***

Ponyville

Applejack walked to the barn near her family home. A lantern was being carried with her mouth, allowing her to see in the night. Her strides were tired and spaced, her homecoming didn't allow much rest either. Having to marathon coming from Applewood back to Ponyville due to worms infesting one of their apple stores meant she couldn't afford to rest. When she reached the doors, she put the lantern down and opened the door up.

"Apple Bloom?" Applejack said, "you in here, sugarcube?"

"Yeah!" Apple Bloom burst up from the large cart. Inside were apples of various breeds but mostly Ambrosias. "Big Mac was having off load some of these apples." Apple Bloom pointed out Big McIntosh, sitting in the corner and watching Apple Bloom with his usual unchanging expression.

Applejack nodded. "Go on to bed, Big Mac. I'll watch her." Big McIntosh stood up, nodded to Apple Bloom and Applejack and left the barn. Applejack sidled up to the cart. "So, you're okay?"

Applebloom nodded. "Of course! How can I not be?"

"Considering you split Fluttershy's house in half?" Applejack recoiled when she saw Apple Bloom visibly sink into the cart, her face dropping. "Oh wait, Apple Bloom, Ah didn't mean anything."

Apple Bloom sighed and said, "no, you're right. How can I apologize for that!? I mean, I literally did split her house in half. Sent all 'er animals runnin' too!"

"Now, Apple Bloom," Applejack hopped up into the cart with her sister. "It wasn't yer fault," she said. Apple Bloom looked at Applejack and scowled. Applejack's refusal to meet eye contact said it all.

"Applejack, it was mah fault. I built a plane just to get a cutie mark and I end up destroying a good friend's house! I'm lucky no one got killed or anything! That'd probably kill me if that happened." Apple Bloom fell backwards into the apples, frowning. Applejack patted her head, about to say more, when she heard someone coming in. She looked over and saw Fluttershy. Her normally elegant hair was tussled and sticking out in every direction and she swayed in her every step.

"Hi, Applejack," Fluttershy said. Applejack hopped down and forced as best a smile she could. Apple Bloom sat up and looked down at Fluttershy with an incredibly guilty look.

"Hey, Fluttershy." Applejack walked up to her. "How's things going? Angel gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, the veterinarian said he'd be okay in a couple of days." Fluttershy pawed at the ground, her face hanging low. "She said she'd take care of him for me free of charge."

"Well, that's mighty nice o' her." Applejack rubbed her chin. There was a question she needed to ask, but she didn't want to hear the answer to. "So... what's the damage on the house?"

Fluttershy kept her eyes on the ground. After an awkward moment of silence, she finally and quietly said, "six-thousand bits."

Apple Bloom slapped her cheeks, her eyes bulging and her fur standing on her skin. "Six-thousand bits!?" She slammed the wood of the cart and groaned. "Oh, Fluttershy! I'm so so so so so so so so so so sorry for destroying yer house I really am! I never shoulda built that plane and I never shoulda flew it and I shoulda just-"

"Apple Bloom." Fluttershy walked up to the wagon and looked up at her. Her slight smile was making Apple Bloom cringe. "Nopony got hurt, that's what matters. I never would have forgave myself if you got hurt."

"Forgave yourself? It's your house and your bunny! Agh! Stop being so kind, you're killing me here!" Apple Bloom retreated into the recesses of the apples. Fluttershy and Applejack watched as apples shifted and moved with Apple Bloom seeking shelter away from the guilt.

Applejack looked concernedly at Fluttershy. "So, how ya gonna pay that off? Ah mean, Sweet Apple Acres doesn't even make that money in six months!"

Fluttershy quietly said, "Rarity said she'd set some aside from her pay as a costume designer for that new movie. Twilight said she could ask the Princess for a loan. Pinkie said she'd work another job with Bon Bon..." Applejack could clearly see how uncomfortable Fluttershy was becoming just saying this.

"And the animals?"

"Amethyst Star said she'd round them up for me. She's the Animal Team Captain for Winter Wrap Up after all..." Fluttershy sighed and simply looked away, unable to say anything else.

Applejack laid her forehoof around Fluttershy and gave a real genuine smile. "Fluttershy, listen. Ah know what you're thinking. But you shouldn't kick yourself over this. We wouldn't be friends if we ain't willing to sacrifice our time for you."

"I just wish I wasn't such a burden. I should be paying for this myself."

"Now, Fluttershy, you can always-"

"Ow!" Apple Bloom yelled out from the cart. Applejack and Fluttershy looked over confusedly, but hopped back when a green box burst out and landed in front of them. Apple Bloom hopped out and said, "okay, that is not an apple. What is that, Applejack?"

Applejack turned the box over and saw the markings, 1903.MARK ONE. She raised an eyebrow and tapped the lock. "Ah don't remember putting that in the cart." She tapped the lock again and the box opened.

Inside was a silver coated sleek pack. It resembled two cylinders melted together with a grilled hole in the center. Tiny rivets dotted the sides. The top of the cylinders ended in points, and the bottoms ended in black flared openings. On its sides were folded wings, large enough to fit a pegasus' own wings. Also in the case was a black booklet and a small rectangular box with a big red button on it. The three ponies gathered around it. Applejack and Fluttershy pulled the object out and set it upright.

"What in the motherhubberin' shucks is this thing?" Applejack said. She curiously felt the housing of the object and found it was incredibly cool to the touch. Fluttershy picked up the booklet and flipped through the pages, many of which were diagrams of the object on pony anatomy or calculations which made little sense to her. Applejack looked over at Fluttershy and asked, "what do ya s'pose this thing is? A bomb or something?"

As Fluttershy slowly retreated at the word "bomb", Apple Bloom curiously looked at the case and then at the button. Apple Bloom said, "nah, looks way too complicated to be a bomb." She ran a hoof gently over the button. "Wonder what this does..."

Applejack looked over at Apple Bloom. She cautiously said, "Ah wouldn't touch that if I were you!" Apple Bloom pressed the button down.

Instantly, the object shot upwards in a jet of fire. The three ponies took cover as it bounced and pinged all over the place with the roar of a dragon and the speed of lightning. It ripped through a wooden beam and shot through one of the pens. Although the distinctive roar was still sounding, Applejack ran up to the pen. She saw that the object had come to rest in a pile of salt licks, still spewing that jet of flame. She quickly yelled at Apple Bloom to press the button again. The foal quickly ran up out of pile of hay and pressed the button and immediately, the jet of fire disappeared and the roar turned into a soft whirr.

"Apple Bloom," said Applejack, "keep back." Apple Bloom stayed behind Fluttershy, whom was also keeping her distance. Applejack slowly advanced on the object and when she was within distance, she quickly tapped it. "It's still cool..." she said quietly. She looked around at the barn, none of the wood appeared to be scorched. "Fluttershy!"

Fluttershy quietly approached. Applejack picked up the object and turned it over. There were cloth straps tied together with a belt buckle. She placed the object on Fluttershy's back.

"What are you doing?" Fluttershy's eyes were wide in fear and her wings were closed up. Applejack quickly strapped the object onto her then unfolded the wings. Applejack pulled Fluttershy's wings out and found that they slotted into the artificial metal wings perfectly. Fluttershy looked confusedly at Applejack, then folded her wings up. The metal compressed perfectly. Fluttershy's expression of confusion didn't change at all so Applejack guessed she didn't feel a thing. Applejack's look of confusion turned into one of sudden realization. She didn't fully understand what this thing was, but she could understand it was most likely for. In order to understand what it was, they'd have to find someone who could make anything out of this strange object.

Next Time On
The Mare of Tomorrow

"So why did they break in? The place was ransacked but it doesn't look like they stole anything."

"Ah dunno! They said they was lookin' for somethin'! A green case, marked Mark One or something like that."

***

They had their helmets ready. The mannequin was strapped with the object.

"Alright, in 3..." Applejack hovered her hoof over the button. "2... 1..."

Author's Note

And thus, we come to the rocket.

I try to keep things as close to the show as possible but considering I'm basically adapting the Rocketeer, a pulp fiction throwback and everything that entails, I'm heading into murky waters. Magitek is basically as far as I'm going before hitting the eventual dieselpunk area.

Funnily enough, we were incredibly close to a dieselpunk world. All that had to be done was the Nazis winning World War II.. Quite some unconventional designs there, but they provide a good basis.

Pinkie will get her own aircraft, but what exactly it'll be is a surprise. You'll find it fits it her though.

Also, I see a lot of puns regarding Napoleon and Neighpoleon. While I don't expect people to know much on Napoleonic Wars history, I at least would've expected a simple Marshall Michel Ney pun. He was a cavalry commander too. Grinds my gears when jokes like that are overlooked.

Chapter Three - "G-Ponies and Troubleshooting!"

News from Aviation company CEO Sunny Rays of Skyros Aviation! Last night, she announced the date for the maiden voyage of the newest seaplane airliner, the Skyros S-34 Skycruiser! One of the largest seaplanes, or any mechanically powered plane ever built, it is truly a flying ship! This seaplane is powered by twelve engines which can produce up to 100 wingpower each. They are mounted on the wings, front to back and power the pusher and tractor configured propellers which allows this giant seaplane to fly. Don't let its size fool you! This beast can outfly any airship in the sky!

CEO of Daring Industries, Daring Do, refused to comment when reporters stated the prediction that the Skycruiser could break the world airspeed record previously set by Daring's own D-1 Racer. The Skycruiser is expected to make its maiden voyage in approximately three months. For now, it sits in the Los Pegasus Harbor, undergoing final modifications from prototype to full fledged airliner.

Tumbler quickly switched the radio off.

"Hey!" shouted his newly minted partner in the other seat. "I was listening to that!"

Tumbler kept his eyes on the road and his hooves on the steering wheel. "Mimic, we need to focus. We're about to come up to the Apple farm."

Mimic's green eyes lit up. "Finally, my first case in the Royal Police!" Mimic was a light green coated pegasus mare. Just yesterday she had been partnered with Tumbler. She was fresh faced definitely, and was quite excited to be out in the field instead of sitting behind a desk organizing papers and meticulously scanning signatures for forgery at her old job. "Corporate corruption, gangsters, the works! This is gonna be exciting!"

"It'll be exciting for five minutes then you're gonna feel like an old mare." Tumbler was a grey unicorn. He didn't show it, but he much loathed having a partner, especially one as green as Mimic. He couldn't hear himself think at times considering the bombardment of questions Mimic had for the operation of the Royal Police. He turned the wheel right onto a dirt road and the Royal Police modified automobile started jumping and shaking.

"Ah!" Mimic hit her head several times on the roof. The brown fedora sitting on her green and orange mane flattened into a heap. "Why can't we just walk there!? This is terrible!"

A violent bumped knocked Tumbler's fedora off but his own burst of magic caught it. "Because the Chief wants us to make an impression."

"An impression!?" Mimic gritted her teeth as she nursed her fedora back to an acceptable appearance. "Are we going to show up at the scene bouncing like a rabbit!?"

"If we have to." The Royal Police automobile struggled over the bumpy dirt road. Soon, apple trees were coming into view, and with it the little red house on the left by a large red barn.

This apple orchard was one of the largest and oldest in Equestria. Many of the Apple clan actually originated from what used to be called Applewoodland before setting off eastward. Sometime in the intervening years, the land part was subtracted and nopony really knows why. Still however, many apples call it their spiritual home and the best place to get strong apples for eating and cider apples for drinking.

Tumbler pulled the automobile up to the gate. Already there was a force of Los Pegasus Police on the scene. He exited along with Mimic who quickly hovered up to get a view of her surroundings. One of the uniformed officers, a sandy colored mare, spotted the fedora sporting ponies and marched on over.

She extended a hoof. "I'm Officer Sandy Swift." Before Tumbler could politely bump her hoof and introduce themselves, Mimic cut in.

"Mimic and Tumbler, Royal Police." Mimic invaded Swift's personal space to the point of nose contact. "Anything needs sweeping round here? Wait, don't tell me, I'm guessing this entire farm is a crime scene. I'll be the judge of that!"

Swift glanced around then back at Mimic. "... What?"

Tumbler pushed Mimic out of the way. "What can you tell us?"

Swift hesitated, eying Mimic very closely, then began her explanation. "Well, far as I can tell, it's a regular breaking and entering. The victim identified the perpetrators as griffons from one of the local griffon gangs." She pointed out towards the small house. It was a humble red two-story farm house. "Anyway, the victim is an apple farmer by the name of Apple Fritter. The rest of her family is out overseas selling apples to foreign markets."

Tumbler nodded. "Detectives get a statement?"

"Nah, they're not even here." Swift shrugged. "Usually breaking and entering is uniform work."

"Right, thanks for your help. We'll take a look around." Tumbler and Mimic walked past Swift and trekked up to the house. He spied the mailbox which marked the house's address as 5 Applewood Road. He took out a notepad and a pencil quickly wrote it down as he walked, to which Mimic proceeded to copy his actions in a hasty fashion. Tumbler noticed this and said to her, "Mimic, check around the farm for anything amiss."

Mimic's face lit up. "Ah! Looking for clues! I got you, Tumbler." She quickly zoomed around to the barn, nearly tackling a uniformed cop. Tumbler sighed. He missed the days when he could work alone and have his thoughts altogether with relative clarity. He stepped up to the porch and took a quick glance around. There were shallow claw marks around the completely shattered right window, Officer Swift did say griffons were the perpetrators. Judging by the amount of marks, he had to say around three or four griffons. He knocked on the door.

The Royal Police did not normally work for the corporations like Daring Industries. Generally, their role was more of matters regarding national security. As since Equestria's only armed forces consist of the incredibly small but elite Royal Guard and the numerous but currently inactive and slow to start Militias, the Royal Police's duty was an important one. Lately however, the Royal Police has been on Princess Celestia's crudlist for failing to stop or even predict the Royal Wedding disaster. Even today, Royal Police are still rooting out Changelings who escaped the explosion of love in various corners of Equestria. Even further, the Royal Police are still stretched thin from other issues such as illegal immigration, reintegration of the Crystal Ponies into the world, and attempting to capture the elusive outlaw Nacho Villa.

When Tumbler was assigned the case for the Daring Industries heist, he thought little of it, even joked about it to himself at his lonely desk back in Canterlot. Compared to everything else, it seemed like a cakewalk with milk and cookies. However, the CEO Daring Do was incredibly blunt as to how important that package was, not only to her friend, but to the rest of Equestria as a whole. It was quite the eye opener for him. He couldn't exactly say the same for his new partner, but for now they were the only Royal Police agents for miles. Equestria was counting on him and her.

Tumbler sighed in defeat.

The door opened, revealing an incredibly disheveled mare with a green mane. Apple Fritter, he guessed. Tumbler tipped his hat and said, "Tumbler, Royal Police. Would you mind answering a couple of questions?"

Apple Fritter paused, squinting at Tumbler, sizing him up for whatever reason. Just the earth pony way, always sizing everypony up, Tumbler thought. She sighed and opened the door further. "Yeah, come in."

Tumbler took off his hat as he walked in, as was proper unicorn etiquette back in Canterlot. Tumbler noted Apple Fritter's behavior, exhausted and relatively slow. The crime must have taken place earlier this morning, probably during the night. He examined the living room and found it in poor condition. The couch had been overturned, a few floorboards were ripped up, a cabinet was pushed over, old family portraits were lying on the floor in their broken frames, and even the ceiling appeared to have claw marks on it.

Apple Fritter sat down on the floor, yawning, taking the condition of her home disturbingly well. "Well, what do you want to know? Just so you know though, the rest of the house is just like this." Apple Fritter pointed out a doorway into what appeared to be a kitchen then over to the stairs leading to the second floor. "Completely ransacked."

"Well, can you give us the full story, Miss?"

"Right, well... It was about, 2 in the morning, I like getting up early ya see, lets me count the apples good. Anyway, I'm out in the barn, moving some of the apples around, counting them on account of since last week I had to help out one my cousins who had some of her stock get a worm infestation, when I hear some loud noises."

"Loud noises?"

"Yeah, just the general ruckus, banging, breaking glass, stuff like that. Turns out it was coming from my own home, so I rush in there on account of the fact that it's kinda mah property, see. So I saw that they broke in through the window there, so I open up the door, low and behold, a buncha griffons were inside tearing the place up! Before I knew it, they had me hogtied and lying on the floor. They was asking me questions on where this green package thing was, something about it saying 1903.MARK ONE, and where I had hidden it. I told them to go stuff their green package right up their hindquarters, on account of the fact that I didn't know in particular what this green package thing they was looking for, see. Anyway, they tear the place up, ripping up the floorboards, tearing down some wallpaper, knocking over cabinets, when they realize I really don't have their package thing. So they apologize, they actually left a few bits on the kitchen counter, and then they all just fly off into the night like ravens in a conspiracy. You follow me?"

Tumbler nonchalantly finished writing down the testimony to the letter in his notepad. "Yep." He flipped through a few pages then turned the pad over to Fritter. "Were these the griffons who broke into your home?" It was a sketch of two male griffons, bearing close family resemblance.

Apple Fritter squinted at the notepad and after a minute of close examination, she nodded. "Yeah, those are the varmints, they were calling each other brothers and such. Like-"

"Gilder and Gideon?"

Apple Fritter nodded. "How'd you guess?"

Tumbler withdrew the notepad. "Doesn't matter right now. Do you have a phone I can use, Miss?"

Apple Fritter broke her exhausted look into one of confusion. "A what?"

"A phone." Tumbler put his hoof to his ear to demonstrate. "You pick up it up and talk into it to speak to other people?"

"Oh, that!" Apple Fritter pointed to the kitchen. "Yeah, my sis had one of those installed a month ago, can't comprehend that newfangled technology. I mean, just a couple of years ago, I had to walk a whole hour to talk to a friend down in the city. Now, though, all I has to do is pick up that there phone and we're talking as if we're in the same room with each other!"

Tumbler headed into the kitchen. The kitchen was in no better shape than the living room was. The counter was covered in flour and sugar, the stools and chairs were overturned, and the fridge was emptied of its contents. The phone sat there on the counter, resembling a microphone with a receiver hanging on the side. Phones were a new way of communication thanks to the Crystal Empire and their utility crystals for everyday use. In this case, conventional phones often had a magic crystal that, when connected in the right spot, allowed for instantaneous communication with others on the same wavelength. Radios operated on that same principal as well. In fact, the Crystal Radio is one of the best selling items on the market.

Tumbler picked up the receiver and proceeded to dial the phone by spinning the rotary dial on certain numbers. He kept the receiver by his ear and kept his mouth close to the phone so he could be heard properly. After a minute of silence from the receiver, there was a click and the sound of rustling papers.

"Daring Industries, Secretariat speaking, how may I help you?"

"This is Tumbler from the Royal Police. I need to speak to Miss Do, please."

"Just a moment." The other end bumped and clicked before the line settled in on the new speaker, Daring Do.

Daring was straight to the point. "Have you found the rocket yet, Tumbler?"

"No, ma'am. We have new information though, courtesy of the resident apple farmer. A gang of griffons stopped by, two of them matched the description of the thieves. The farmer says they were looking for a green package, marked 1903.MARK ONE. Might not believe this, but I think those griffons might have lost that gizmo of yours."

"That's a new development then. Try and keep searching, stay in touch, Tumbler." The other end clicked. Tumbler hung up the phone. He turned around and immediately jumped backwards into the counter. Mimic had managed to sneak up behind him and apparently was waiting for him to finish his phone call quite patiently.

"I found a clue!" She held up her clue in her hoof. Tumbler examined it quickly with great scrutiny.

"That's a sprinkle," he said in the most deadpan manner possible.

"Yes, but what is a sprinkle doing on an apple farm?" Mimic raised her eyebrow in the most smug manner possible. Though Tumbler did find the notion ridiculous, he did have to wonder how sprinkles found their way onto an apple farm. His minute of hesitation however, allowed Mimic to continue. "Right, I'll continue investigating this strand of evidence then, Tumbler."

He'd have to ask Apple Fritter if one of them was eating donuts.

***

After their encounter with the object in the barn, Applejack and Fluttershy needed to visit someone who could figure out what it was. They needed to see the resident engineer of the town. A builder of many of the incomprehensible items that ran on their own power. An earth pony of grace, finesse, and cunning. The only one who could understand any sort of the advanced technology of their own design.

Pinkie Pie flipped through the booklet. She was uncharacteristically focused and attentive to every word on those pages. Even though they had woken her up at eleven at night and denied her any sort of sugar, she seemed to have the energy to read. Periodically she would nod, or grunt, or close the book then open it again and read through, or look at the object on the table. Applejack and Fluttershy sat down by a table in the dimly lit Sugarcube Corner. They were dozing off as Pinkie continued to read through the booklet.

Pinkie nodded with an affirmative grunt. Applejack snapped awake and tapped Fluttershy awake as well.

"So?" Applejack started.

Pinkie Pie happily looked at the duo and said, "I know some of these words!"

"Pinkie!" Applejack rubbed her eyes and walked over to her. "This is serious! What is this thing?"

"Well, judging from the illustrations... I'd say this is a rocket. Not one you set off and it goes BOOM like a firework, but like one you strap onto your back and you go ZOOM! Like that! According to this paragraph on the third page, it appears to run on magic, but apparently this magic is also supplanted by sugar! Can you believe that? Sugar! I love sugar!"

Applejack sighed. "We're aware."

"Anyway, the sugar in this rocket is supposed to 'insulate' the magic so it doesn't burn as quickly as it does in conventional magi-combustion engines." Pinkie turned the booklet over to Applejack and tapped a page. "This rocket can fly an estimated ten hours without pause before needing a new magic charge compared to the dual Toola Roola Red-Tail engines on a standard Daring C-3 Skytrain which can fly a full hour without the sugar supplementation."

Applejack curiously looked through the pages. "So... it's a magical sugar rocket?"

"Eeyup! Also says this baby can reach speeds of up to 300 miles per hour estimated but I could be wrong."

"Could be?"

"Well..." Pinkie's usual ear to ear grin seemed a little more cautious. "We'd have to test it."

"Whoa, whoa, Ah'm gonna stop ya right there, sugar. This thing could be dangerous! I mean, it blew a hole in mah barn and it scared the bejeezus outta me, Apple Bloom, and Fluttershy over there! There's no way we can safely test this thing! I propose we ain't testing this thing at all!"

***

"Ah can not believe ya managed to convince me to test this thing!"

In order to "safely" test the rocket, Pinkie had decided to grab a pegasus mannequin, some length of rope, and a railroad spike. They had chosen a little open field, the same one they had chosen for observing the Great Dragon Migration. Their little trench was still there and there, Applejack, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity and Twilight bunkered up.

Rarity rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "Please remind me again why I'm out here?"

"We needed one of yer mannequins for the test," said Applejack in a quick and concise fashion. Pinkie and Applejack had dragged Rarity out of her bed in order to secure her mannequin. Applejack was quite insistent on not borrowing it without her permission.

Twilight took a sip from her mug of coffee. "Why am I out here?"

"'Cuz you're good with calculations," Applejack said again. They had also dragged Twilight out of bed, making sure not to wake Spike. Twilight however, could not operate at peak efficiency when being unexpectedly woken. Thus, the trench was readily equipped with a coffee machine, an abacus, and some reading material on mechanical aviation theory.

Twilight took out a notepad and a quill, ready for taking notes. "Still, a magical sugar powered rocketpack? I know you don't lie, Applejack, but that's a little far-fetched."

Applejack shrugged. "Well, that's the gist of what Pinkie says."

"Well, can we hurry this up?" Rarity yawned loudly. Her usually gloriously curled mane was all over the place and bags were already forming under her eyes. "Sleep deprivation is not good for my complexion."

"Clearly," said Applejack.

Pinkie drove the spike into the ground just several yards from the trench. Tied to the spike was the mannequin which was now wearing the rocket. The mannequin's wings were also slotted into the rocket's own. After making sure everything was secured, Pinkie posed the mannequin into a flying posture adopted by many pegasi. Satisfied and smiling, she waved over to Applejack. Applejack nodded and pulled out the big red button.

"Alrighty now, launchin' in 10..." Applejack was knocked out of the way by an incredibly excited Pinkie.

"Fire!" Pinkie screamed. She slammed her hoof down on the button. The rocket roared to life and immediately raced forward. The mannequin stopped as the rope ran out and soon, it was only spinning around pointed towards the night sky.

"Whoa." Twilight's eyes were wide in amazement, such that she did not break her gaze while taking notes. Rarity too was rendered slack-jawed at the sight. The five ponies watched in silent awe as the rocket rotated around, roaring and spouting flames like an angry dragon.

Applejack, however, was alerted by the faint but distinct sound of a rope tightening far too hard. She looked out and saw the rope. Before she could call out or do anything, the rope snapped. The ponies ducked for cover as the mannequin soared over their heads and went out rocketing into the night sky like a shooting star. The roar of the rocket became faint and indistinct and then completely gone.

"We lost it!" Pinkie popped up from the trench and stared out into the general direction of where the rocket went. "I knew I should have tested it myself!"

Applejack sat up as well, doing the same as Pinkie. "Yeah right! You'd be halfway cross the ocean by now." She turned towards Twilight, also squinting out into the distance. "How fast would you say that was, Twi?"

Twilight shrugged. "I don't know. It's definitely fast. Faster than any pegasi, with the exception of Rainbow Dash maybe. I'd need to run a few more tests on it though. If it ever comes back."

The ponies stood out there, watching for any sign of the rocket. A few minutes passed with nothing out of the ordinary happening. Pinkie frowned, her mane losing a bit of its fluff. But then, her tail twitched. She quickly dove to cover. All the other ponies minus Twilight also dove down into the trench. Twilight turned around confusedly, then she locked her eyes onto a rocket wearing mannequin approaching sub-sonic speeds heading directly for her. She ducked, the rocket barely missing her before it hit the ground, splattering the mannequin's wooden parts all over the ground and coming to a stop in a grouping of rocks.

Applejack hit the button and the rocket shut off with its mechanical whirring. The ponies galloped over to the rocket's resting spot.

Twilight stepped and began a close examination of the mannequin. "No scorching on the mannequin," she said. She looked over at the mannequin parts splayed over the ground, a leg over there, a leg somewhere else, and an unidentifiable piece resting in the rocks. "For what's it worth."

Applejack tapped the rocket's housing. "It must be some kinda cool propulsion thingy."

"Definitely. Judging by how fast it snapped the rope, there must be an incredible amount of force being created, and if force equals mass times acceleration..." Twilight began flipping through her notepad. Her tongue stuck out as she studied her calculations on the estimated velocity, mass, and aerodynamic capability. She looked up with a bright smile and said, "I have to say, this rocket is a marvel!"

Rarity ran her hoof over the rocket with arousal. "Yes, and I do say that this silver finish certainly flatters the smooth architecture of the design. There's something very Streamline Moderne about it."

Applejack took off her hat and dusted off some dirt, frowning. "Anyway, Ah think we meddled with this thing long 'nuff. We do that again, we might break it or somethin'." She picked up the rocket and hoisted it over her back and said, "Ah say we try and find it's owner, someone's bound to come lookin' for this thing."

"Wait!" Fluttershy popped out of the back and up to Applejack, nearly barreling the earth pony over. She immediately double backed and blushed. "Um... maybe we could... just borrow it?" The other ponies all looked at her as if she had just grown a second head. Fluttershy quietly stepped backwards, frowning and trying to hide herself in her long mane.

"Borrow it? We don't even know who this belongs to. Why would we borrow it, Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy opened her mouth, then paused. After a few seconds she said, "Well... you'd pay to see a rocketpony right? With this thing, we could pay off the house and everything, and you all wouldn't have to work so hard for my sake." She smiled desperately.

Applejack shook her head, chuckling. "Oh, Fluttershy. Ah just told ya, you don't have to worry 'bout us."

"I know, but I want to try and help too." Fluttershy softly tapped her hoof on the ground. "I can't just sit and wait while you all work hard for my sake, that would devastate me."

"Fluttershy, ya don't have to-"

"Wait," said Twilight, "maybe Fluttershy has a point."

"Whatawhatisit?" Applejack turned to Twilight, bewildered. "Are you really- that's stealing, Twi'!"

Twilight nodded, scratching her chin. "But think about it, Applejack. We could make the six-thousand bits easily if we put on some kind of show, the Rocketmare or something!" Twilight pointed to Fluttershy, who shrank underneath the inevitable duty. "Fluttershy could fly the rocket, considering she's the only pegasus among us besides Rainbow Dash and it'd be safer that way. If I price it right, we could easily make the money we need in just over a week!"

Pinkie jumped for joy, bouncing in circles around the ponies. "Oh boy! Does this mean we get to play with a rocket! I always wanted a rocket!"

Applejack sighed. "Ah dunno, Twi'. That's still stealing."

"I know, Applejack." Twilight flipped her notebook shut, then looked down at the rocket. "But we can't just pass up an opportunity like this. This is a technological marvel, we're sure to able to pay off Fluttershy's house with this. If the owner comes by and claims it, we'll definitely give it back, no questions asked."

"... Well," said Applejack. "Rarity?"

Rarity considered it for a moment. She took a deep breath and then said, "Well, normally I don't condone stealing, but Fluttershy's situation is a little desperate at the moment."

She rubbed the back of her neck. She always hated it when things got grey around the edges, always made decisions harder. She kicked at the ground. "We're gonna need one heck of an excuse for why we're running round making money off their rocket then."

Pinkie picked up what was left of the mannequin. It's head had been diced into a pulpy wooden mess. She frowned and said, "I think we're gonna need a helmet."

Next Time On
The Mare of Tomorrow

"The Flim Flam Flying Circus is this weekend! Rainbow Dash is gonna be performing there alongside all kinds of stuntplanes and stuff!" Pinkie bounced with every word she said. "It'll be terrific!"

***

Fluttershy held the helmet in her hooves and examined it closely. The rest of the costume definitely helped conceal her identity. She was going to become a Rocketmare.

Author's Note

The S-34 Skycruiser is an amalgation of the Saunders-Roe Princess and the experimental (but never produced) Dornier Do 214. The Princess in my honest opinion is an incredibly beautiful seaplane, but being made in 50s when jets and ground based planes were all the rage, it was unfortunately doomed to failure. The Dornier seaplane didn't even make it off the drawing board.

Funnily enough, seaplanes were all the rage in the early days of powered aviation. Dedicated airstrips were quite rare and it was believed hitting the water was safer than hitting the land. In fact, seaplanes were known for being incredibly fast for their time and they often held airspeed records. When airstrips became more common post WWII however, the seaplane craze sort of died out.

Crystal radios actually did exist at one point as the earliest form of radio. Complete with actual crystals that could only transmit stuff when poked in the right spot, referred to as "magic spots."

Streamline Moderne is an architectural element which emphasizes curves and long lines. A lot of the stuff in the 1940s like the cars, the toasters, and my god the trains were Streamline Moderne. Art Deco has a similar concept, but I stretch my limit even thinking about art. Art Deco and Streamline Moderne of course are important elements to consider in a Dieselpunk story considering these were the major architectural fads of the day.

Chapter Three and a Half - "Getting Fitted!"

Mail. One of Pinkie's favorite times of the day. She sat alone, occasionally checking her watch which read Party Time all the time. It was nearly the moment in which the mailmare arrived. She loved greeting the mailmare everyday, usually from her room atop Sugarcube Corner. This time however, she wanted to give her what she called, "an extra special super duper extraordinary extravagant extra extra surprise" for today.

***

Ditzy Doo enjoyed her time in the Pony Express. It was good work, challenging but not too frustrating, and it paid well. Her usual route was all of Ponyville which, being a pegasus, she could cover in the whole morning. The rest of the day could be spent with her little daughter Dinky and otherwise simply relaxing. It was an amazing job.

Except for Pinkie.

For whatever reason, Pinkie Pie gets up even earlier than Ditzy does. She had mostly gotten used to getting surprised with a face full of confetti or getting showered in custard. Lately however, Pinkie had been getting a little more creative. Last week, Pinkie had made a trapdoor that Ditzy fell into just so she could be hugged in a pool of soda. The day after that, Pinkie enlisted the aid of Gummy so he could be shot out of a cannon and fired directly at Ditzy while covered in frosting. The day after that was surprisingly mundane until Pinkie shot up out of the ground covered in mustard. That last one confused the heck out of Ditzy because the way Pinkie ran away chased by aardvarks whom were also covered in mustard didn't indicate that it was intentional.

Today, Ditzy slowly approached Sugarcube Corner. She quickly examined the lot and found nothing out of the ordinary. She looked up at the windows, no Pinkie Pie in sight. Her usual battery of Party Cannons were also gone as well. She quietly approached the door and saw a note taped to the front.

Have stepped out for a few hours, Pinkie is out back with her flying machine if you need anything
- Cakes

With her non-lazy eye, Ditzy read over the note. She looked around cautiously and found no sign of Pinkie Pie anywhere, not a sprinkle or a cupcake in sight. Whatever it seemed, it meant that there shouldn't be a surprise. Ditzy smiled and let herself relax, for today would be a good day. She merrily skipped back to the mailbox, took out the letters for the Cakes and Pinkie, then opened it up.

Staring back at her from inside was Pinkie Pie. "Hi, Derpy!"

Ditzy screamed in fright and then immediately rocketed away until she was barely a dot in the sky. Pinkie giggled at another successful fright of Ponyville's favorite mailmare. She pulled herself out of the tiny mailbox and looked down at the letters Ditzy dropped. She put on her reading monocle then shifted through the letters.

"Bills, bills, bills, Bill's hat, bills..." Pinkie stuck her tongue out as she continued filing through letters. The bills were mostly the Cake's responsibility but she did incur a couple of bills from some manufacturing companies so she could build her latest flying machine. She improved upon various designs after her first one that, while successful, was destroyed after an incident involving Rainbow Dash's friend, Gilda. However, her latest design was a marked departure from her previous iterations. This is because her last design, while it worked and flew quite successfully, was a design exclusively built and patented by Sokolsky Aviation called the autogyro. Thus, she was liable to be sued, and as soon as she finished, cease and desist orders arrived in the mail. Pinkie's solution to this problem was quite simple however and the basic design was kept while method of flight and propulsion was switched up.

She gasped as she slowly held aloft a sealed envelope. She read the address, her eyes watered just a bit as she started uncontrollably bouncing. She tore the envelope open and unfolded the enclosed letter. She also took note of what appeared to be several tickets inside the envelope, but then began reading the letter.

Dear Pinkie Pie,

Hope you get this letter! Wonderbolt training is going great. I'm on track to graduate as a full-bird Wonderbolt by the end of the month! I am so so so so so sooo excited! It's gonna be awesome! But first things first, my training squadron got picked to perform in the Flim Flam Flying Circus! You probably remember those guys, the ones with the cider machine. Now they're making these flying machines, weird huh? Anyway, I get to lead up my training squadron and we're going to be doing all kinds of stunts there along with the graduated Wonderbolts! It's so awesome I can't take it! I called in a few favors and got you guys some tickets, so if it's not any trouble or anything, I want you guys to swing by and see me PUNCH HOLES IN THE FLUFFING SKY!!! Those planes and flying machines won't know what hit them! So really, just drop by, say hi, stuff like that! Hope to see you there!

Happy Trails,
Rainbow Dash

"A flying circus!" Pinkie screamed to no one. She quickly took out the tickets from the envelope. There were enough for her friends, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and Spike to attend and so she began jumping for joy, squealing in delight, but immediately stopped when she realized. "I totally have an excuse for my flying machine! Woohoo! Yes! I gotta tell Twilight and Fluttershy and Rarity and Applejack!" She quickly trotted off down the street.

***

"Alright, Fluttershy! Prepare yourself!" Rarity pushed a full length mirror up to Fluttershy, whom for the past half hour she had been dressing up for their upcoming act as the Rocketmare. Fluttershy stood stock still, although she had seen what Rarity had been placing and sewing on her, she was nervous as to how she might look. "I'm sure your ensemble will complement the sleek and streamline nature of that rocket."

Fluttershy nodded. She noted that Rarity looked absolutely exhausted. Last night obviously would have been tiring but she knew that Rarity was working costumes for some kind of movie in Los Pegasus. Around Carousel Boutique was dozens of racks of various costumes of very different shapes, sizes, colors, fashions, and all were incredibly organized. Earlier, Rarity had actually told her those were the costumes that were sent back because they weren't what the director wanted. Only a select few outfits had actually been selected, which would then be replicated over at Los Pegasus. She felt butterflies in her stomach, for Rarity was doing all of that just to see her paycheck go to pay for Fluttershy's home.

The mirror came up to Fluttershy and instantly she shrunk back. She never did like looking at herself in a mirror. She wore a tan bodysuit salvaged from the Mare-Do-Well fiasco, a light brown bomber jacket made on the spot, and brown boots that just happened to be lying around. Her head and tail were the only parts not covered by anything. Fluttershy, after a moment's hesitation, stood just a slight bit taller on checking herself out. "My goodness," she said, "It certainly looks... interesting."

Rarity nodded, scratching her chin. "Really does look daring, does it not?"

"Well..." Fluttershy frowned. Daring wasn't exactly something you'd call her obviously. Indeed, she really regretted making the suggestion of keeping the rocket instead of trying to find its rightful owner. "At least no one will know who I am."

"Yes, I figured making your identity anonymous would help your confidence just a bit, darling." Rarity turned over as she heard a knock on the door. She walked up and opened it and found Twilight. "Ah! Twilight, good to see you!"

Twilight smiled as she walked inside. "Good to see you too, Rarity," she said. She was carrying a saddlebag full of books on aviation. She had also managed to secure a very popular thesis on yaw-roll-pitch directional control by powered flight innovator Kitty Hawk. Rarity closed the door and headed into the back of the Boutique where she kept the pièce de résistance of the costume. Twilight stopped to look at Fluttershy and snickered a bit. "Wow, Fluttershy, you're looking really dashing!"

Fluttershy smiled nervously. "Thanks."

Twilight pulled out a book and began flipping through. "So, did Amethyst Star gather up all your animals?" Fluttershy glanced away then slowly nodded. "Ah, how was it then?"

Fluttershy began remembering how Amethyst recalled it.

***

Arthur the Aardvark was scared out of his mind. Sure, he'd managed to escape the fiery inferno back at Fluttershy's house but he had managed to wander into the Everfree Forest. He silently walked along the forest floor, careful not to snap any loose twigs or rustle any fallen leaves. The only light that came down was the sporadic holes in the treetop ceiling of the forest. Then he froze, he smelled something, something horrible, alien, indescribable.

Timberwolves.

A pack of Timberwolves burst out of the brush and surrounded the meek aardvark. Their glowing eyes, their animated lumber bodies, their stench, it was all enough for the aardvark to try and dig a hole to escape. One Timberwolf picked up Arthur in its jaws and threw him up in the air. Arthur knew this was it, he closed his eyes and awaited the thorny teeth.

Then he felt himself get caught by something. When he opened his eyes, he was safely up in a tree branch. He looked down below and saw a violet unicorn mare. She was incredibly worn and disheveled. There were cuts in her coat, her mane was ripped up, and there were splotches of saliva on her tail as if she just braved a Quarray Eel devouring. He recognized this mare. She had taken care of him a couple of times when Fluttershy caught the feather flu. It was Amethyst Star. The Timberwolves barked at the unicorn, beginning to circle her, but the unicorn did not back down. Instead, she lowered herself, then pawed at the ground and snarled at them.

A Timberwolf leaped at her from behind. Amethyst bucked him into tiny pieces of wood. Another Timberwolf came at her from the side, low and fast. She deftly stepped backwards, dodging it then blasted him with a burst of magic, turning him into a pile of wood. The remaining Timberwolves then threw caution to the wind and immediately mobbed her with their superior numbers. It was a veritable pile of Timberwolves feasting on a pony, at least from Arthur's perspective.

Then, Amethyst's hoof burst up, knocking a Timberwolf in the chin and throwing him to the ground. Amethyst herself came up shortly after, bruised, cut, and her mane even more ripped up. The next few moments involved her punching and bucking Timberwolf after Timberwolf who tried to climb up the pile and bite at her. Then she quickly jumped up and, with all her weight, crashed down on the pile. Wooden sticks and logs scattered all over the place as the remaining Timberwolves ran for their lives, howling and barking in defeat.

Amethyst breathed heavily, her body rising up and down with every inhalation and exhalation. Arthur quickly found himself getting floated down from the branch and onto Amethyst's back. She wiped off some sweat from her brow, then turned over to Arthur and said, "Come on, Arthur. You're the last one today. Let's get you somewhere safe." Amethyst then walked the way she came, out of the Everfree forest. Another animal successfully secured.

***

Fluttershy sighed, then simply shrugged at Twilight. "She said it was nothing."

Twilight quirked her brow. She had actually seen Amethyst earlier on her walk over here and she looked like she had been in some kind of war. "That's good. Are the animals staying any place safe?"

"Amethyst called in a favor and they're keeping the animals at the local vet until we can get the house rebuilt. She's also going to watch the larger ones." Fluttershy frowned. Although it was duty for Animal Team Captain of Winter Wrap-Up to take care of animals, it was only for that particular day. Amethyst didn't even own any pets. "Twilight, can I ask you a question?"

Twilight nodded. "Sure, Fluttershy."

"Should we have really kept the rocket? I know it was my idea, but Applejack is right. It is stealing." Fluttershy noted Twilight's expression of worry. She knew Twilight had some qualms with this.

"Well, it is stealing, yes. But we're doing it for a good cause. We're rebuilding your house after all." Twilight sat down, trying to put a smile on her face. "Even then, if the owner does come and find it, we'll give it back. Even if we haven't paid off the house."

Fluttershy nodded. She knew that answer would have to suffice for now. Even though she hated stealing, she did admit the rocket might draw a pretty penny for those who want to come and see it or even try it out. She wanted to pay off her house yes, borrowing something was a stretch for her, but she didn't want her friends to sacrifice for her sake. Her thoughts drifted over to who would even build a rocket, ponies, griffons, or aliens. Before she could consider the matter further, Rarity walked back in.

"This," began Rarity as she carried in a bowling ball bag, "is what I have been working on last night. Thanks to some of Twilight's suggestions."

Twilight beamed, pulling out a stack of paper held together by a few clips. "Yep! This thesis on yaw-roll-pitch dynamics really helped influence the design. It'll help you be just a tad more maneuverable than the other pegasi in the air." Rarity dropped the bag down and unzipped it. She pulled out the last piece of the costume, the helmet.

The helmet was a bronze colored full faced helmet. There were two darkened holes for which she could see. The helmet was streamlined intensely, with lines spurring the side of it. For the mouth section, there was a grilled oval shaped hole. The most prominent feature was a large fin stretching back from the helmet. This helmet, to Fluttershy at least, looked incredibly alien and weird.

To Rarity, however, it was another story. "I salvaged this particular helmet from that terrible failure of Rainbow Dash's dress a year ago. I certainly like the way it looks however, very futuristic."

Twilight nodded. "And it should allow you to turn more effectively with that rocket on you, Fluttershy." Before Fluttershy could say anything in response, the door burst open. It was Pinkie Pie, who zoomed all over the place spouting gibberish too fast for the three ponies to comprehend. After a minute of Pinkie bouncing off the walls and causing mayhem, Twilight simply grabbed her by the tail and stopped her in her tracks. Pinkie still however, continued to babble at relativistic speeds until Twilight bopped her on the mouth and said, "Pinkie, a little more slowly please."

"There's a flying circus in Los Pegasus! We're invited! Rainbow Dash is gonna be there! We have tickets!" Pinkie beamed gloriously as she held up the tickets. Twilight curiously looked over the tickets, then an idea came to her.

"Serendipity!" Twilight shouted aloud. "We could do the Rocketmare act at the flying circus! I'd have to ask of course, then we'd have to do other stuff, but if we get in, we could totally make a lot of money! Enough to pay off Fluttershy's house!"

The four mares immediately began speculating on their new plans. They'd have to inform Applejack, they'd have to call their absence to others, Rarity would have to call ahead that she was coming over. Once they arrive at Los Pegasus they could see the moving pictures industries, the new aviation businesses, the gargantuan S-34 Skycruiser, the Applewood sign, and they'd be able to see Rainbow Dash after her taking over eight weeks at Wonderbolt training. Then it occurred to them that they needed a quick ride there.

Pinkie Pie quickly came up with the solution. "I got just the thing!"

Author's Note

Seriously, Arthur is a freaking Aardvark. For the love of god, I didn't even know what freaking aardvarks were as a kid.

And speaking of Pinkie, I love writing Pinkie. If it weren't for the fact that Rainbow Dash was best pony, I'd be writing more about Pinkie. I might actually just do random tidbits of Pinkie dodging the Royal Police for no apparent reasons just for the slapstick potential. It really brings me back to the old cartoons I liked as a kid.

Also, contrary to popular belief, the Wright Brothers did not actually discover powered flight, they merely perfected it. In this case, they perfected the concept of Flight control and dynamics, roll-yaw-pitch. The reason I'd gather for why powered flight didn't work before this is because it's incredibly difficult to keep something in the air when it can't maneuver. The mantra that sticking wings and a big enough engine on something and it'll fly is essentially true as long as you can steer it.

Also, there's a reason this is only Chapter Three and a Half. Not a lot actually happens in this chapter, but I feel there needs to be some sort of reason for stuff. As it stands, I'm not exactly good with Slice of Life stuff. Yeah. Expect Chapter Four to advance the plot more than this did.

Also, MAN'S LIFE.

Chapter Four - "Good Grief, the Griffons!"

Magical bursts of energy whizzed and flew in every direction.

"Go!" A white unicorn with a blonde mane ran out of the hangar, wearing a bomber jacket and goggles. His name was White Star. With the intense charisma only he could muster, he waved his hoof forward. "Hurry! Get to your planes!"

Immediately his allied pilots began making a run for the planes out on the runway. Their enemy, the Lunar Empire troopers, fired bolts of magic at them. White Star jumped atop a pile of crates and deftly shot back, felling as many masked troopers as he could.

"White!" A meek looking stallion ran up to White Star. "The Empire's bringing up their airships, we need to get out of here!"

"No, Sparks!" White Star ducked down behind the crates. Sparks looked at him confusedly, nearly voiced his concern. White Star was decided to make it clear to him. "We're staying! We have to buy the Baroness time to-"

"Time to escape to safety?"

White Star and Sparks looked and saw the baroness herself. A pale blue unicorn, standing in her tarnished and mudstained regal gown.

"Baroness Twinkle!" White Star pulled into cover and shouted, "What are you doing here!?"

Twinkle scoffed. "I could not just stand by while my fellow countryponies give their lives for my sake!" She jumped atop the crates and reared up. "I am the Baroness Twinkle of the Air! I am no coward in the face of the Lunar Empire! And I-"

"Cut!" The director, JoJo, facehoofed as he sat down in his chair. The camera crew stopped rolling and the actors, extras, and all other film crew sprung back to life. "Trixie, get over here."

"Mister JoJo, is this about my acting again?" Trixie walked up to JoJo and dusted off some of the mud on her gown. A make up artist quickly correctly that and added more mud. Trixie was quite livid, as was the director. This was the thirtieth take today for a simple scene where the Baroness would declare herself a brave pony to White Star.

Jojo nodded. "Yes, it is. Could you please just be more subtle!"

"Ha!" Trixie scoffed at the idea of subtlety. "Subtlety is not Trixie's strong suit."

"Then why are you an actor?" JoJo threw up his hooves. "Celestia! Just be a little quieter!"

Blueblood trotted up to the two. "Perhaps we should take a break, Mister JoJo. We've been at this all day."

JoJo rubbed his temples and sighed loudly. "Fine, let's give the crew time to get the pyrotechnics set up again." The actors shrugged and simply scattered every which away. He melted into his chair and let his frustration fester.

JoJo had every reason to be frustrated. The production of Baroness of the Air was not going as smoothly as he'd hoped. His original musical composer named Hornblower had to bow out due to a plagiarism controversy which means he had to look for new one. A stuntpony was injured when filming one of White Star's flight scenes when the expensive rented DeeBee Racer plane inexplicably lost power and crashed into a tree. Even worse, his combined expenditures for renting FlimFlam Airfield and of other troubles with production meant his film was going incredibly overbudget. The executives at Galloping Studios made it clear that they were not exactly amused.

"JoJo!" JoJo leaned back into his chair and simply let the Flim Flam brothers approach. Not amused either were the Flim Flam brothers, whom allowed JoJo the use of their airfield as long as it got excellent screentime. Which it wasn't. "We've got a bone to pick with you."

"Yes," JoJo said, turning to the brothers. "So does the great filmmaker in the sky too."

"Listen, we're letting you rent this airfield because we were promised cash and that our airfield would get significant screentime." JoJo couldn't tell which one actually said that, he'd have to assume it was Flim, he was more talkative. "We reviewed your footage and found that the airfield only has thirty minutes of screentime in total."

JoJo sat up straight in his chair and looked them in the eye. "That's a quarter of the movie, Flim."

"Still not enough. Anyway, you best clear out all this stuff soon, we're holding the Flying Circus the day after tomorrow."

JoJo screamed. "What!?" The Flim Flam brothers flinched at his sudden volume. "We can't just pack up and leave! The pyrotechnics need to removed, we need to move the trailers, the tents, I'm already stretched thin here!"

Flim shook his head, to which Flam did the same as well. "Sorry, JoJo, business is business. The Flying Circus is gonna draw money in now rather than later."

The Flim Flam brothers walked off and left JoJo to sulk in his troubled production. In truth, they actually sympathized with him somewhat. They had been in just the same situation, their visions being troubled by other people in the pursuit of cold hard cash. In JoJo's case, his vision was of an epic movie that critics would rave about, that teenagers would write bad fanfiction of, and would receive adoration by the general public. Of course, now he was stuck getting pushed around by the more successful duo whom had turned their fortunes around with the perfection of mechanical flight and the magi-combustion engine.

The Flim Flam Flying Circus to be held in two days was planned to be a demonstration of the brothers' own little modification to the magi-combustion engine. Specifically, it was their soon to be patented magical-electrical engine, a hybrid of sorts that in theory would allow planes more endurance in the air. Their tests so far have proven quite adequate with the only real flaw being that it produces an intense noxious gas that puts ponies right to sleep, which can be easily solved with the right ventilation. So far, they had already modded several of their older FF-1 Flyers with these hybrid engines, the proper ventilation was taking some time but just in case, they were prepared to hand out gas masks.

Blueblood was just about to retire to his trailer when something clicked in him. He looked over to the brothers. They were conversing with each other, rather merrily he'd add. He slowly followed them. In the courts back at Canterlot, he knew how to follow a lady without being spotted. Always remain a respectable seven feet, walk at their speed, and occasionally glance around. That tactic helped him win a few hearts, most importantly because he could hear just about anything they said.

"Anyway, Flam, do you know from whom I received a letter recently?"

"Nope, who?"

"Remember the debacle down at Ponyville?"

"Indeed I do. The one where we were ran out of town by angry ponies for winning a competition fair and square."

"Well, one of those ponies contacted me, Twilight Sparkle was the name, saying they wanted a space in the Flying Circus! Can you believe the nerve of it? Said they had some kinda rocket or somesuch."

"Well, bully that. They coming around here?"

"Yeah, they asked if we could meet them at some diner the Wonderbolts hang out at, even gave us their address for where they're staying. Said they'd be here tomorrow at best. I figure we can just stand them up though, as if we're just going to let them profit off of our hard work."

"Indeed, Flim! The gall of it, asking us for a spot in our carefully scheduled Flying Circus. Nerve of it, admirable, but completely stupid."

"Well, what do you expect from a bunch of hicks?"

The brothers laughed loudly as they moved on. Blueblood however, stopped in his tracks. Rocket, they said. He pondered on it. It could be any kind of rocket, like the kind of rocket you shoot out on Hearth's Warming Eve and it makes a colorful explosion in the shape of a heart. However, he didn't get into his position by not taking chances. He needed a phone. "Sundance!"

Sundance immediately zipped up next to him with a phone on a plate wired to the nearest tower in her hoof. Blueblood quickly took up the receiver and began dialing. With impatience, he awaited as the toner buzzed incessantly. Then, there was a click.

With a Fancy accent, someone said, "Gaston speaking, qui est-ce?"

Blueblood said, "Get me Gilda, quickly!"

***

Fairey's Fly-n-Go was a small diner, just near the city where the paved roads became dirt and buildings were only two stories at most. Travelers often stop by on their way into the city where the more attractive festivities such as the nightclubs or the bright lights provided a bit more entertainment. It is, however, more famous for being the hangout for one of the Wonderbolt training squadrons, No. 52 Squadron. The owner, an aging pink pegasus mare named Fairey, made good food for them which was fresh made and infinitely better than the repetitive salads back at the mess hall.

Rainbow Dash checked her watch as she spun around on the stool. Her uneaten slice of banana cream pie sat on the counter in front of her, barely eaten into and smelling just as fresh as was it was ten minutes ago. She was the only pony in the diner besides Fairey, as it was only 4 O'clock in the evening with the lunch rush having past and the dinner rush not for another hour or two.

"Impatient, ain't ya?" Rainbow Dash nearly jumped out of her seat at Fairey's voice. Rainbow Dash calmed herself with Twilight's method, draw air in and then let it out. It worked in most circumstances.

"Pretty much, I haven't seen my friends in weeks!"

"Well, from what I can see-" Fairey looked over to the board in the back of the diner, filled with all kinds of papers and photographs. Partially obscured by a memo was a photo of Rainbow Dash and her five friends, "-y'all must be pretty close."

"Very, Fairey." Rainbow Dash leaned back on the counter and checked her watch again. "I just can't wait! Pinkie told me she'd be arriving in her new flying machine!" On cue, a high pitched humming sound came into earshot. Fairey and Rainbow Dash confusedly looked around, then as it got louder they quickly trotted outside. Their jaws dropped at the sight.

It was a very bright pink aircraft. It didn't have any wings, however. Instead, there were two paddle wheels spinning rapidly around the sides where wings should be, with a long tail painted like a candy cane possessing tail fins. It hovered in the air, kicking up dust and spinning loudly. It slowly descended down and landed on three wheels in a tricycle configuration. A door next to one of the paddle wheels opened and out walked Twilight Sparkle.

"I have to say, Pinkie! Very unconventional craft you've got!" Twilight was tackled down by Rainbow Dash immediately on finishing on the sentence. The two laughed as they hugged each other on the ground, and soon, Applejack exited the craft and she too joined the dogpile.

"Whoowhee! Dashie, you're real dashin' in that uniform of yours!"

Rainbow Dash knocked the hat off of Applejack and took her in a noogie. Her Wonderbolt uniform was indeed quite fitting of her, and it was only a matter of time before she got the honor to wear the emblem on her flank as full Wonderbolts did."Thanks, you're not looking so shabby yourself!"

Pinkie exploded out of the craft in a shower of confetti and custard. "Hey! I see a dogpile!" She immediately jumped on the three ponies, eliciting even more laughter. Rarity walked out, sunglasses on her face and dressed immaculately for the summer. She spied the dogpile with a frown.

Rarity began, "Oh, I'm not sure if I should..." Her four friends' laughter and fun, however, was quite convincing. "Oh, nuts to it." With a scream, she dove into the fray and tried to find some grip on Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy carefully stepped off the craft and without hesitation, simply dove right into the dogpile herself, giggling. The Cutie Mark Crusaders also stepped off and joined the dogpile. It was all one mass of happiness and laughter. The friends were together again.

After separating from the dogpile, they stepped inside the diner. Fairey declared she'd make some fresh pie, on the house just for Rainbow Dash. Immediately, the six began catching up on what Rainbow Dash missed. The Cutie Mark Crusaders also took up their own little booth with their own apple pie. The older ponies discussed why Spike stayed behind to watch the library, Apple harvesting time, and of course the latest antic of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Rainbow Dash spat out some pie. "Really!? 6000 bits to fix your house!?" She was sitting next to Fluttershy, whom was the target of some of the discarded bits of pie. She quickly wiped it off and nodded. "I don't even make that much in a year being a trainee!"

Twilight nodded, sitting on the other side of Rainbow Dash. "Yeah, but listen, and you're probably not going to believe us, and you have to keep this on the down low." She looked over at Fairey. Fairey took this as her cue to start whistling and trot into the back kitchen. "We found something, a rocket. It'll make anypony go really fast! We're planning on using to earn us some money!"

Rainbow Dash scratched her chin. "Really, sounds like my line of work."

Twilight shrugged. "Well, actually, we're having Fluttershy use it."

Rainbow Dash looked confusedly over at Fluttershy. "Really?" Fluttershy meekly nodded. "Wow, that's... I wouldn't expect that."

Rarity slipped some pie into her mouth and swallowed immediately. She pointed out, "Well, she came up with the idea."

Rainbow Dash nodded. "Didn't expect that either."

Twilight also ate up some pie. "We're hoping the Flim Flam brothers could meet us here today so we can try and discuss when we could get ourselves into their Flying Circus."

Rainbow Dash chortled. "Well, good luck. I mean, they really schedule these things beforehoof. And even then, I don't think they like us, Twilight."

"Well, it's my best plan so far. Otherwise, we could just-" Rainbow Dash stopped her and looked past her out the window. All the ponies took note where she looked as well.

Outside the diner, gathered around Pinkie's aircraft was a group of eight griffons. All musty feathered and ragged looking as if they haven't had a decent shower in weeks. One of them looked inwards to the Diner, and immediately the ponies turned back to their pies. They made themselves look as casual as possible, which meant Pinkie desperately ate up her pie, Rarity began fluffing her mane, Twilight began reading a book on the Principles of Quantum Mechanics, Rainbow Dash was admiring herself in a mirror, Applejack was playing a harmonica, and Fluttershy simply sat there.

"Who are those guys?" Twilight barely looked up from her book.

"Gangsters." Rainbow Dash whispered through a toothy grin.

The door ringed as the griffons walked in. Fairey came back from the kitchen, and upon seeing the griffons, forced as best a smile she could. "What can I get you boys?"

The largest griffon, whom could probably be up to Celestia's chin in size, answered with a most worrying statement. "We're lookin' for a Twilight Sparkle." Twilight froze in the middle of her page turning, but thankfully, she went unnoticed. "You seen 'er?"

Fairey scrunched her nose in a moment of thought, then said, "Nah, don't know anybody by that name."

The griffon walked up to the counter and leaned on it. "Ah, well, see. Me and the boys here got somethin' to negotiate for her. She happens to have somethin' we want." Fairey reaffirmed that she did not see a Twilight Sparkle. Twilight shifted her eyes. The rocket. It was in the aircraft. She briefly pondered as to why they didn't bother searching it. "There's a lotta yellow involved in it, if you catch my drift." Nobody answered him. The griffon chuckled as he sidled up next to Applejack.

"You, you look honest. You seen 'er?" he asked. Applejack played a note off-key as he looked over at the griffon. The other griffons were already settling into the booths.

Applejack drew a deep breath in, scrunched her nose, wiped some sweat off her brow, and said, "Nope."

The big griffon nodded with a chuckle. "You're a terrible liar, you know that right?"

The ponies all looked at Applejack nervously, then back at the big griffon. He walked past the ponies again. "Now, I'm asking nicely, all we want is Twilight Sparkle. Or where she is. We'll be on our way and out of your hair, or manes, whatever ya call 'em."

Fairey coughed, getting all the griffons attention. "We don't know no Twilight Sparkle. Now, if ye ain't here to order something, gonna have to ask ya to leave."

The griffon nodded, scratching the bottom of his beak. "I see, I see. Well, we'll just have somethin' then. I'm feeling a mite peckish myself, right boys?" The griffons all loudly agreed. The big griffon walked up to the counter, and saw a case with some donuts and fresh baked pastries in them. "Look at these here foodstuffs, I bet ya these are fresh made." He pushed it onto the floor, letting it crash loudly in a shower of broken glass and spilled food. The ponies all stood up, but some of the griffons, including the big one, drew switchblades.

One of the griffons, in the most innocent tone possible, said, "Don't interrupt his meal." The ponies stepped back, the Crusaders whimpered as they hid behind Fluttershy.

The big griffon nodded, "Speaking of meals, looks like you're all done with yours." He swept the plates off the counters and let them shatter on the floor.

Fairey half-heartedly shouted as she leaned over the countertop. "Stop this!"

One of the griffons relaxing in the booth responded in a mocking tone. "Or what, you gonna love and tolerate at us?" The griffon looked at the griffon across from him. "Hey, you smell something? Why don't we open a few windows here?" A window was immediately busted through with a switchblade.

The big griffon laughed, withdrawing his switchblade. "Look, we're reasonable people. All we want is this Twilight Sparkle pony and we'll be out of here." Fairey opened her mouth as if ready to talk, then cringed as she shut it again. The big griffon frowned. "Seems we're doing it the hard way then." He waved over one of the griffons. "Give her a tan, why don't ya."

The smaller griffon nodded. He flew over the counter and grappled Fairey. She struggled as the griffon dragged her over to a working oven and began hovering her face over the incredibly hot black flat of it. She screamed as she felt stray hairs of her mane burn up on the oven. The griffon kept her just a few inches short of it however, and he shouted, "Talk, Granny! Or get a facelift!"

Fairey could feel the heat singing her face. She shouted back, "I told you once, and I'll tell you again! I don't know anything!"

"Stop!" Everyone turned to Twilight Sparkle, who was now incredibly angry and whose horn was now glowing purple. "Leave her alone!" Her friends stood beside her, also looking mean. The griffons sputtered in laughter, even the one about to cook Fairey's face was laughing.

The big griffon walked up to Twilight, still suppressing some giggles. "Cute, I have to say. What are ya gonna do? There's eight of us and only six of you. If my math is correct, we win."

***

Around a minute later, the griffons burst from the diner and flew off in different directions and screaming for their mortal lives. The big one was the last to exit, his feathers seriously singed and his ribs cracked from a particularly bad bucking from the one in the hat.

"We'll get you for this! You're messing with the wrong griffons!" He shouted. He flew off in a wounded fashion, leaving the ponies to celebrate their flawless victory. Fluttershy however, stood in the back, worrying. They all knew, even she knew, that it was an empty threat. Those griffons would probably avoid that diner if the rainbow maned one frequented it. However, she couldn't help but feel responsible. She decided to keep quiet about it however, maybe until they got to Apple Fritter's house.

Author's Note

Seriously, some engineer in the 30s came up with the strange idea of the Cyclogyro. It works essentially by replacing the paddles with airfoils and in theory this generates lift. Not only does this work, but it's supposedly better than helicopters. I don't even know. I'm not even sure why more people even know about cyclogyros, this thing screams futuristic.

JG 52 was a German fighter squadron during WWII that flew exclusively Messerschmidt Bf. 109s, arguably the mook fighter of the war. Despite that, JG 52 has the honor of having on the roster the top three scoring flying aces in history. I know wikipedia is a bad source to cite, but when you look at the list of top scoring aces, the top of the list is nearly exclusively German, which is kind of hilarious.

Chapter Five - "The Flying Circus!"

"See any of 'em?"

"Nah." Twilight spied outside the window of Apple Fritter's house. "Looks like they haven't followed us."

"Good. Now, what are we gonna do? They're lookin' for you Twi!"

The ponies had all gone to Apple Fritter's house where Applejack's cousin had offered to let them stay for the weekend. Beyond the encounter with the griffons however, the absence of Apple Fritter due to the Witness Protection Program and the fact that the place was ransacked unnerved Applejack. Rarity had already fixed the damages and had even replaced the glass with good speed. With that done, the unicorn retired for the night along with Fluttershy and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. None of it wasn't enough to calm Applejack.

Rainbow Dash had explained to her and the others that the griffons were part of one of the local gangs. Los Pegasus, while home to a lot of stars and moving pictures, was quite the seedy city when the lights went out. Before she had to go back to base, she offered her words of advice: Don't go out alone, don't go out at night, and don't make eye contact. Applejack however was not taking any chances, for she and Twilight were guarding the others for tonight if the griffons had followed them home. The conspicuous lack of griffons was only putting her on edge even further.

Twlight leaned back from the window and looked over at Applejack. "Well, I do admit, it's a little strange."

"Strange nothin', they must be after that rocket." Applejack pointed to the rocket, sitting on a table in the kitchen and apparently disassembled by Pinkie Pie. Pinkie was working quite diligently on drawing up blueprints and taking notes on the inner workings of the rockets, which weirded Applejack out even further. Not once in the past couple of days did Pinkie even say the word "party". Applejack sighed. "Look, Twi, we gotta get rid of it. Turn it over to the authorities at least."

"I don't think we can do that, Applejack. At least not now."

Applejack stumbled on her words for a second, completely flabbergasted. "Not now!?" Did you see the way they almost cooked that pony!?"

"Applejack, I understand your concern." Twilight really did mull over what would have happened had she not done anything about it. She cringed just thinking about it. However, her reasoning amounted to thus. "Think about Fluttershy."

"Ah am thinking about Fluttershy, Twi. But this here rocket and those griffons an' all this somesuch, somepony's gonna get hurt! Why don't we ask Princess Celestia-" Twilight shoved her hoof into Applejack, now looking extremely terrified.

"We can't do that."

Applejack slapped Twilight's hoof out of her mouth. "Why not?"

"If we do, Princess Celestia will think I can't handle things myself! And then I'll get sent to back to magic kindergarden! And then they'll laugh at me!" Twilight was starting to get that crazed look about her. Applejack sighed, she knew what happened the last time she underestimated Princess Celestia's tolerance for failure.

"Twi, I think you're overreacting."

Twilight chewed on her hoof nervously. "Maybe." Twilight walked away from the window and sat down in the rocking chair. "Look, if Fluttershy says we can use this thing to raise money, I'm inclined to believe her. Honestly, I think it is stealing, but how else will we make that kind of money?"

"Through honest hard work? Maybe we can just ask somepony for a loan? Look, there's nothing wrong with relying on others for help."

"Yeah. I am amazed though, this rocket is..." Twilight shook her head, grinning. "It's phenomenal!"

"Look, Twi. Just promise me one thing alright, one thing. We return this thing after this flying circus business!"

Twilight nodded. As sad as it made her to give up something as revolutionary as the rocket, friendship came before progress. "I promise, Applejack."

Twilight and Applejack returned to the windows. They could smell a fresh brew of coffee from the kitchen, Pinkie must be making some for them. They might not be able to get much sleep tonight anyway, unlike Rarity, Fluttershy, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Fluttershy however, stood at the top of the stairs, unseen by the two. How long she stood there she didn't know. She'd only wanted to come down and say something but she didn't fully remember what. The conversation between Twilight and Applejack had reminded her of the gravity of the situation. That they had essentially stolen someone's property, that someone was after Twilight, that somepony almost got hurt. She swallowed hard, biting her lip. It was all her fault, she thought. Already she was regretting suggesting they use the rocket. However, somehow, she needed to make this right.

She silently slinked back to her room.

***

Afternoons in Equestria were normally incredibly calm, with only the singing of the birds and the fluttering of the leaves. Peace and quiet for the most part.

Not in Los Pegasus.

Racing planes zipped and roared overhead. For today, the FlimFlam Airfield had bleachers filled to the brim with ponies from Los Pegasus, all over the country, and even as far as the Crystal Empire as well. Foodstands and other attractions were set up around the runway to satisfy people's delights when they weren't watching the planes fly by. The donut stand was especially popular.

"Gilder, stop stuffing your face!" Gideon called out to his brother. Gilder was quite literally stuffing his face with donuts. Frosted, jelly glaze, chocolate glaze, jelly filled, plain. Of course, Gideon knew that they weren't here to just watch planes and the Wonderbolts do wild tricks and eat donuts all day. "Gilder!"

Gilder turned out, his beak overflowing with pastries. "Afashfafah."

Gideon walked up to him and jabbed his gut with a talon. "Swallow, didn't mother teach you manners?"

Gilder slapped Gideon's talon away and swallowed, then wiped his beak thoroughly. He wasn't exactly paying attention to his brother, his eyes more focused on the large storage of donuts in the stand. "Of course mother taught me manners, Gideon. I wonder if she taught you some though."

"That's not the point, we're here to look for... Gilda!"

Gilder quirked his brow and looked over. "What?" He and Gideon immediately leaned back against the stand in fright, for Gilda had suddenly appeared before them.

She was not amused. "I thought I told you two to stay home. You know you're wanted."

Gilder nudged Gideon roughly. Gideon took this as Gilder being too scared to talk and decided to do it for him. "Well, we just wanted to help our favorite big sister, right Gilder?"

Gilder nodded violently, flicking a stray sprinkle off his beak. "Yeah, yeah! We were just helping you look for that rocket."

Gilda looked up at the donut stand, saw the crumbs on Gilder's body and the sprinkles on his beak and noted he gained some weight. "Yeah, that's some help you're giving me. How did you two even get out of Uncle Gus' place?" Gilder and Gideon looked at each with a smirk and proudly pulled out a wanted poster of them. It showed them side by side with an accurate description of height, weight, and eye color. However, the griffons who were clearly Gilder and Gideon possessed curly mustaches. Gilda didn't even bring her head up from it, but simply glared at the two.

"This is the stupidest thing ever."

"But it worked! I mean, Uncle Gus might be a little disagreeable about it, but it works!" Gideon shouted. Before any sort of argument on logic ensued, three more griffons came up to the siblings out of the crowd.

Gilda shoved the poster back into Gideon's chest, then turned to greet them. "Gerry, Garry, cousin Gillespie."

Gerry nodded. "Evenin' Gilda."

"Lycurgus' feathers, Gerry." Gilder pointed to Gerry's face, bearing a black eye and a couple of bruises and scratches on his beak. "That shiner's brighter than the sun!"

Gerry shrugged and spoke in his most sarcastic tone, "Well as it turns out, the darn ponies are a lot more stubborn than we thought they'd be. They made complete asses of us." He turned to the nearby mule and shouted, "No offense!"

The mule nodded. "None taken."

Gilda snapped her talons, getting Gerry's attention again. "Well, did you find the rocket there? Anywhere?"

"Nah, me, Garry, and Gillespie searched this place from top to bottom. Gordon and Gorris are still searchin' round but you know how much help they are."

"What's wrong with those two?"

"Gordon's a mute, and Gorris speaks like he's in some foreign movie. Point is, they don't communicate properlike."

Gilda rubbed her temples. The male griffons immediately stepped back, for Gilda's rage was not something they wanted ever, especially not now in the middle of the crowd where there were children present. Thankfully, a sigh came out of her, and she relaxed. "Look, I don't care. You'll search this place again. If Prince Bloody Blues thinks the Flim Flam brothers have it, then they have it."

After a minute of pause, Gerry nodded. "Right, Gilda." He pointed to Gilder and Gideon and said, "You two are coming with us, we'll make a run through the bleachers again."

The griffons left, Gilder with a large box of donuts.

***

"Rocket! Ha!" said the Flim Flam brothers in unison. Twilight walked alongside them, for she was explaining her concept for the Rocketmare and how it could make some money. They even had the Rocket and the appropriate costume back at their cart for demonstration. Flim said the rest however. "Unlike you, Miss Sparkle, we happen to know how to make money. We do it by using actual technology and science and not some hocus pocus diesel... thing. Now scram, we have a circus to run." They left Twilight in the dust, and they laughed at the very idea of "rocketmare".

Twilight's friends caught up with her, Applejack especially. All Twilight could muster was a simple shake of the head.

"Well," Applejack started, "Like you said, Twi, we get the rocket to the authorities."

"Sure, Applejack." Twilight nodded. "But, we're not just here for some dumb rocket. We're here for Rainbow Dash too." Everyone smiled and agreed with her.

The Crusaders had also accompanied them five as well. "Applejack!" Apple Bloom and the others felt their stomachs growling. "Can we get somethin' to eat?"

Applejack nodded said, "Sure thing, sugarcube." She handed them a couple of bits, "Come meet us at the bleachers ya hear?"

The Crusaders ran off for the food stands. Apple Bloom however looked longingly at one of the planes resting. A boxy looking yellow wooden biplane. She wondered why that plane wasn't in the air when others were, and especially when the Wonderbolts were about to come on. Then she saw the brothers arguing about something, their body language betraying some sort of fear and anxiety. Someone must have been late for work. They might need a replacement pilot. They could pay that replacement pilot some decent cash.

She knew exactly who.

***

"Hey, Gideon." Gilder pulled his brother to a stop and pointed out towards the bleachers. Gideon sighed, but quirked his brow when he saw Gilder in an almost trance like state. He even dropped his donuts on the ground. "You see that unicorn over there?"

Gideon returned to a neutral expression. "Yes, Gilder, I sure can see the specific unicorn you're pointing at even though there are over a hundred unicorns in the bleachers, with varying colors and tramp stamps." Gilder took a brief glare at him then went back to staring at the bleachers. Gideon scratched his forehead, frustrated. "Which unicorn do you mean specifically?"

"The one with that straightly cut mane, that lavish lavender coat, those deep purple eyes. Those juicy and wonderful curves and those gams that stretch from here to Manehatten! She's a fine mare!" Gilder caught himself smiling like an idiot and looked at Gideon. He was a little weirded, disgusted, and confused.

"... I didn't mean that specific, Gilder."

"Regardless! I gotta know her name! I gotta ask her out! I gotta marry her! I have to father her children!" Gilder hopped in the air, giggling like a cub playing mob ball. Gilder hopped up, but was caught by the tail by his brother.

"Hold up there, Romeo. This kind of thinking gets protagonists in romances killed." Gilder tried flying off was but Gideon was as heavy and unmoving as a rock. "We're here for the rocket anyway, not to be paramours."

Gilder flapped his wings furiously, struggling against Gideon's iron grip. "At least let me get her name!" Gideon sighed as he rolled his eyes. He might as well let his brother have this one.

"Just her name, then you come back." He let go and Gilder immediately flew right into a pole. Gideon stood there, his expression not changing one bit. "I'd ask if you're okay, but I'm sure your thick skull comes in handy, Gilder." Gilder immediately picked himself up and ran into the stands.

***

"And there goes No. 52 Squadron! Led by the Sonic Rainboom master herself, Rainbow Dash!" The announcer was having as joyous a time as the rest of the crowd was calling out the Wonderbolts. "They'll be zippin' round with the FlimFlam Futuristics FF-1 Flyer! We'll be seein' who can outturn and outrun who today folks! Personally, my money's on the pegasi, but surprises happen I tell you what!"

Twilight and friends cheered at the top of their lungs as Rainbow Dash screamed past and angled up into the air. Even Fluttershy was raising her voice above normal conversation levels. Pinkie was bouncing up and down, waving a foam finger and yelling at Rainbow Dash to go even faster. Rarity was rearing up in her finest summer outing outfit.

"Hey!" Someone called out from further down the stands. Twilight looked down, confused. It was a fat looking griffon, smiling like a complete idiot. "What's your name!?"

"Twilight Sparkle!" she responded. The griffon floated in the air, laughing madly, then flew off.

"That was quite strange." Rarity commented. However, she turned to see the Crusaders coming up the stands.

Applejack greeted them, patting Sweetie Belle on the head. "Hey, girls." Applejack however noticed the lack of her own sister. "Where's Apple Bloom?"

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked at each other briefly before forcing smiles on their face. "Bathroom." Applejack narrowed her eyes and observed them for a minute. She could see the minute sweat drops going down their coat, their teeth grinding against themselves, their eyes focusing in on the distance behind Applejack.

"You two are lyin' tah me." Sweetie and Scootaloo dropped the act in favor of looking sorry. "Where is she?"

The announcer interrupted them. "Look at that!" The biplane roared past the bleachers at low altitude, low enough to knock the flags off the towers and scare the bejeezus out of everyone. The biplane's propeller engine was giving off black smoke furiously. Scootaloo nervously pointed at the plane.

"Up there." she said.

The color from Applejack's face immediately drained. She ran over past Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy and up to Twilight.

"Twi', my sister's in that plane!" Twilight bugged her eyes out. The other ponies also looked horrified. They looked over at the announcer's stand, with the Flim Flam Brothers. The five immediately ran for the stand.

"Flim! Flam!" Applejack screamed. She burst into the stand, surprising the announcers and the brothers. "Why is my sister in a plane!?"

"Well," Flim started, magically tugging on his shirt collar, "We needed an experienced pilot. Ours didn't show up today apparently. She volunteered as long as we paid her handsomely, around fifty bits."

Flam added, "If it's any consolation, she said she had flying experience."

Applejack began seeing red at this point, but her composure remained clear and steady. She simply said, "Yeah, if you can call crashing into my friend's house on her first and only time flying flight experience."

The two brothers glanced at each other. Then Flim ran over to one of the pony coordinators and screamed, "Get that biplane down!" Flam stepped over and took another look at the biplane.

This particular biplane was the FlimFlam Futuristics FF-1 Flyer. One of the brother's first designs and packing a modified magi-combustion engine that can be powered directly by both electricity and magic. It was boxy design but it was nimble and fast, everything needed for a stunt plane. Applejack walked up to Flam, her anger not entirely replaced by worry.

"She gon' be okay?" she asked.

Flam darted his eyes around, looking for the right answers as if they were on the walls and in the sky. "Well, if she can make a safe crash landing and as long as she has a gas mask on, yeah."

***

The smoke was getting into Apple Bloom's cockpit. She gritted her teeth, but there were several things going incredibly wrong. She was getting very sleepy, the smoke was blocking her view, she couldn't tell how high up she was, and she couldn't see the airfield. She heard some wings flapping, did she nearly barrel through the Wonderbolts?

She probably should have worn that gas mask.

***

Fluttershy walked up Twilight, who was observing the action with studious worry. "Rocket's in the carriage right?"

Twilight, without averting her eyes, said, "Yeah." After a couple of seconds, she realized what Fluttershy had just asked. She turned to ask why, but saw her already running down the bleachers towards the parked carriages. Twilight ran after her, leaving Rarity, Pinkie and Applejack in the stands.

"Okay folks!" Flim was talking over the loudspeaker. "You're probably wondering why the Flyer just nearly crashed into the Wonderbolts, but I'll let you in on it, it's all part of the show!"

Twilight finally caught up to Fluttershy at their carriage. She had already put on the costume minus the helmet and was busy strapping the rocket onto herself. "Fluttershy, what are you doing!?" she said.

Fluttershy looked at her, and Twilight could see the immediate fear and anxiety in her eyes. Which contrasted her answer greatly. "Saving Apple Bloom."

"What!? Wait, Fluttershy!" Twilight stepped up to her, gesturing to the rocket. "You don't know how to use that thing!" She gestured over to the Wonderbolts flying circles around the airfield. "Get the Wonderbolts to help her, get Rainbow Dash-"

"Twilight!" Fluttershy stopped Twilight's statements. "Apple Bloom is up there because of me. I have to make this right at the very least. It has to be me." Fluttershy's face bore sincerity which melted Twilight's argument. Twilight huffed and levitated the helmet over to her.

"Fine." Fluttershy took the helmet and the two began walking down the line of carriages. "Pinkie and I made some modifications. If you want to go, just open up the wings. If you want to stop, close them up. It's really simple. Got it?"

They stopped at the end. "Yeah, anything else?"

"Just be careful, and good luck." said Twilight. Fluttershy looked up the sky. She saw the plane flying high over the airfield, dipping worrying then rising. She put the helmet on and did the straps. She mentally prepared herself, pawed at the ground for a few seconds. She had to think of Applejack, Apple Bloom, they were counting on her.

She opened her wings. Immediately she blazed off and up into the air.

***

The crowd all pointed and turned towards a new arrival. She was fast, very fast. When she blazed past the bleachers, it was nothing more than a blur, a vapor trail, then the sound of roaring. Cries of what it was, where it was going, and how fast it was were everywhere. All eyes on were on that singular pony racing, darting, and simply outflying the Wonderbolts or the planes in the air.

The mare looped around before hitting the bottom of the Flyer.

***

That hurt. Even wearing a helmet, it was extremely painful. Fluttershy blinked away the stars in her eyes and looked into the hole she created. It was Apple Bloom, fast asleep at the throttle, a little drool hanging out of her mouth.

"Apple Bloom!" she screamed. Nothing out of the poor foal. Fluttershy had anticipated this scenario, and yet for her it was something she really didn't want to. She climbed out towards the right wing, barely hanging on. She felt the winds trying to blow her off, but Fluttershy held her footing. She clambered onto the cockpit and tried shaking Apple Bloom. "Apple Bloom! Wake up! Wake up!"

Suddenly, she felt the plane rolling right. Fluttershy slipped and began sliding the wing. She desperately flailed for the wing's support struts, anything for a hold. She didn't catch anything.

***

The crowd stood at the sight of the mare falling like a brick, screaming in shock and horror.

"Oh, don't worry folks!" Flim had a nervous tone to him as he announced. "It's all part of the show!"

***

Fluttershy desperately flailed as she saw the ground getting dangerously closer. Her wings refused to open back up again. She could feel herself tearing up in the eyes. She was going to end up a smear on the ground. All because she was too scared to get back out there.

No, she wasn't too scared. She gritted her teeth, and streamlined her form. Like so, her wings opened and the rocket roared to life as she curved back up into the sky. She easily caught back up to the Flyer, which had now righted itself but was now dangerously angling downwards. Fluttershy grabbed a strut near the cockpit, and after a few seconds of struggle closed her wings back up. She dropped down onto the fuselage without the force of the rocket and accidentally knocked Apple Bloom up in the face. The controls were forced back and the plane immediately angled upwards sharply.

Fluttershy again, slid off the plane after impacting the tail rudder. Again she was falling but in a shorter time she had her wings open again and was off. She caught up to the now stalled Flyer, and this time she decided to put herself in the cockpit. At least if the plane whirls unexpectedly she'll have some footing to take advantage of. All that was left now was to wake up Apple Bloom.

"Apple Bloom! Wake up!" she screamed. She desperately tried shaking Apple Bloom awake. To her credit, she could Apple Bloom's eyes starting to open, even blinking a few times. What Fluttershy saw coming however was about to make that moot. It was the ground. There was literally a few minutes left before impact. Deciding a concussion was better than a broken body, she grabbed Apple Bloom and opened her wings. The rocket tore them free of Apple Bloom's straps and up through the top wing.

***

The Flyer crashed in a fiery, fantastic, and for the Flim Flam brothers an incredibly expensive explosion.

"All part of the show!" Flim squeaked out. He dropped the mic and immediately ran off to assess the damage.

The mare with the rocket flew overhead low and slow and dropped Apple Bloom into a nearby hay truck. After losing the cargo she blazed off and become nothing but a dot in the distance, leaving nothing but a trail of vapor behind her. All around, ponies began scattering, running to their carriages so they may follow the mare or run back into the city so they could tell their friends. It was quite the chaos. Journalists most importantly were running into the newsboxes, crowding them and leaving dozens out as the lucky few who made it in contacted their superiors. They all called of a strange and fast pony who saved a pilot from certain death, of a daring rescue, of a new pack that allowed ponies to fly, but all of them had the same message.

"Yeah!" a journalist called into the phone. "You heard me! A Rocketmare!"

Author's Note

I can barely identify the plane in the Flying Circus sequence of the Rocketeer as a Curtiss JN-4, better known as the Jenny. Popular plane with barnstormers in the 20s, which would likely explain why it's such a deathtrap by the time of the movie.

This was a pretty late update, hopefully I'll get back into the groove of things though. Ironically, this chapter was probably the first thing I had in my head when I first started this fic. Strange how things go I guess.