Emerald was working in her shop when the Crusaders arrived.
"Hey Emerald!" The trio called out.
"Hey girls! Ready to see history in the making?" Emerald asked with a smile.
She had been asked to keep an eye on the trio by their sisters (and surrogate sister in the case of Scootaloo) while they went to the newly reappeared Crystal Empire the day before. She had spent the day explaining what she was doing and drilled them in the safety aspects of launching and recovering an aircraft, as well as how to handle radio traffic.
"You know it!" Scootaloo said a smile on her face as her undersized wings buzzed.
Emerald smiled as the other two gave their own affirmatives. Scootaloo was a driving force to completing the Thunderbolt and her other designs.
It turned out her parents were both Earth Ponies that had some Pegasi blood from generations past that had never expressed itself for generations. Scootaloo's wings were the result, meaning the filly would be ground bound for the rest of her life. When Emerald was told this, she promised Scootaloo that she would teach her how to fly a plane so she could get into the sky her heart yearned for.
After going over the plan for the day, Emerald grabbed her helmet and lead the way to the ramp where the Thunderbolt was parked.
The plane had minimal paint on it, much like the aircraft at the end of the Second World War. The cowling was painted a dark blue as was the tail which also had her cutie mark emblazoned on it. The nose had vaguely familiar unicorn mare painted on it in a pinup style and the name 'Twilight Typhoon' painted below it in a flowing script.
Emerald smirked at the memory of Twilight seeing the nose art. She had explained that pilots of the fighters of the day would sometime name their aircraft for their loves. This lead to another heated session that left the soaked in sweat and other fluids while being deliciously sore.
Performing her walk around, she instructed the Crusaders in the importance of checking everything on the aircraft visually before flying.
Completing her walk around, Emerald climbed into the cockpit. Sweetie Belle assisted with making sure that her straps were secure and handing Emerald her helmet.
Emerald smiled as the unicorn filly hopped down and moved to one side of the aircraft where she donned her headset and stood at parade rest. Looking to the other side of the aircraft, she saw Scootaloo standing at parade rest, headset in place. Looking through the taxiing periscope, she saw Applebloom a distance in front of the aircraft, headset on, marshalling paddles in hand.
Turning on the batteries, Emerald smiled as the gauges responded. Hand on the starter switch, she called out over the radio that was linked to the headsets the fillies wore.
"Contact!" She said as she turned the starter.
The Double Wasp engine chugged to life, letting out a roar as it reached the correct RPM. Reducing the throttle to idle, she tested her controls, using the three strategically placed mirrors to ensure that the flight control surfaces were responding correctly.
This done, she looked at both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo before putting her fists together, thumbs facing out, before jerking them apart.
The two sprang into action and hustled under the aircraft and removed the chocks from the main gear as Emerald applied the brakes. They returned to their original positions, raising a thumbs up with their right hands.
Applebloom then raised the marshalling paddles above her head and began slowly walking backwards, waving for Emerald to begin taxiing.
Emerald throttled up the engine and released the brakes, causing the plane to start rolling slowly. As she approached the turn to the taxiway, Applebloom signaled the turn and stepped clear of the aircraft.
As Emerald passed Applebloom, the filly put both paddles in her left hand, snapped to attention, and saluted Emerald as she went past.
Emerald chuckled as she returned the salute before closing the canopy and taxing to the runway.
"Good work girls. That was a good amount of hustle for the first time out. Some more practice and learning some more things, you will be able to help me out on a demonstration tour to show this bird off." Emerald said over her intercom as she taxied onto the runway and turned into the wind.
Securing her oxygen mask, Emerald keyed her main radio.
"Ponyville Control, this is Thunderbolt One. Requesting clearance for takeoff." She said.
"Thunderbolt One, Ponyville Control. Takeoff clearance granted. Stay to the south and west of the Everfree. Weather Teams are working on the North and East side." The controller responded.
"Roger Ponyville Control, Thunderbolt One copies. Cleared for takeoff and stay to the south and west side of the Everfree." Emerald replied as she pushed the throttle to full power and set her flaps to takeoff position.
Once the engine settled at full power, Emerald released the brakes and the Thunderbolt started rolling down the runway.
As the plane gathered speed, the tail lifted off the ground, and Emerald gently pulled back on the yoke, causing the main gear to leave the ground moments later.
Hitting the switch to raise the gear, she was rewarded with the solid thunks of the gear locking into their closed position.
Pulling the stick back into her stomach, the Thunderbolt clawed its way into the sky with a throaty roar.
Reaching an altitude of six thousand feet, she leveled the plane off and eased back on the throttle, settling into a cruise.
"Everything is feeling good up here. She is purring like a kitten up here." Emerald called out on the intercom.
"Everything looked good down here." Applebloom responded.
"That was amazing to watch. What else can it do?" Scootaloo asked, excitement lacing her voice.
Emerald smiled. "Plenty, watch this." She said as she turned back towards the airfield.
Swinging the plane west of the airfield, she went into a Split-S maneuver, diving down as she increased the throttle. She heard gasps over the intercom as she dove, and a strangled scream as she leveled off less than a hundred feet off the ground, passing over the airfield, banking her wings so the cockpit faced the buildings and giving a wave to the three before leveling off and climbing into an Immelmann.
Diving down again further south of the airfield, she firewalled the throttle and made a low pass, less than twenty feet off the deck before throwing the aircraft into a steep climbing turn.
Once at altitude, she executed a barrel roll turn, winging the plane over as she reversed direction. As she passed over Ponyville, she saw the townsfolk standing outside and pointing. She smiled, before waggling her wings and made for the canyon that looped around the mountain west of the airfield.
Keeping the throttle at full, she entered the canyon, low and fast.
Looping around the mountain, she came screaming out of the valley and climbed into the skies.
Keeping a nose up attitude of about twenty five degrees, she pushed the Thunderbolt as high as it would go, turning on the de-icing heaters on the prop and wings.
Once she hit forty three thousand feet, the aircraft began to struggle. Nodding to herself, Emerald reduced power and pulled back on the yoke, flipping the nose over to point towards the ground.
After diving at a shallow angle to twenty thousand feet, she leveled off.
Smiling she did an aileron roll before leveling off. Looking outside the cockpit, she admired the view.
Even after being able to fly under her own power, whether with her twin tails or her wings in this new form, Emerald loved flying planes. Especially older ones that didn't use advanced computers and electronics to help control the aircraft.
The thing she loved about flying the older aircraft that were produced before the advent of fly by wire technology took over was the feeling of the aircraft as you worked the controls. The resistance of the wind as the control surfaces tried to return to their centered position, the feeling of the aircraft as it was pushed to its limits feeding back into the controls.
Sighing contentedly, Emerald pulled power and headed to the airfield making ready to land.
Guiding the warbird in for a landing, she rolled out and taxied back to her parking spot, the Crusaders already in position to recover the aircraft.
Easing into the parking spot, she throttled back and set the parking brakes while the chocks were placed before shutting the engine down.
Sliding the canopy open and removing her helmet, Emerald ran a gloved hand through her mane.
Sweetie Belle clambered onto the wing and took the helmet before helping Emerald with the harness.
"That was amazing! When do you think I can start learning to fly a plane?" Scootaloo asked as Emerald climbed out of the plane and dropped to the ground.
Emerald chuckled. "As soon as I finish the trainer I am building. In the meantime, let me get you some books to study. Flying planes is different than what they teach you in flight school." She replied.
"What is the trainer?" Scootaloo asked.
Emerald motioned for the girls to follow her as she walked into the production hanger.
"This is the T-6 Texan II. It is a good all around turboprop for learning in." Emerald said, gesturing to the partially built aircraft.
"So the 'T' stands for trainer?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Yup." Emerald nodded.
"So what does the 'P' in the Thunderbolt's designation stand for?" Applebloom asked.
"It stands for Pursuit. The P-47 was a fighter and ground attack aircraft. Due to its design, it could take a beating and come back to base full of holes." Emerald said as she grabbed a glass of water and sat down, stretching her arms and legs.
After the wedding, Emerald sat down and revealed her past with everyone and revealed the origin of her designs. Though they lacked the guns and hard points of the originals, the ability to add them was there, just in case.
"So how good of a plane was it in combat?" Scootaloo asked, the filly enraptured by Emerald's stories of the aerial dogfights of the past.
"As a fighter, it was mediocre at best compared to the aircraft that it faced. Most everything was faster and could out maneuver it in a dogfight. The pilots called it 'The Jug' for a reason. But as a ground attack platform, it excelled. It could carry rockets and small bombs under the wings and the six machine guns in the wings could tear through enemy infantry. The fact it could take a hit was an added bonus that helped it survive flying at low levels like it did providing close air support." Emerald said, taking a drink. "Its legacy of that survivability and ability to support the guys on the ground is what drove the Air Force to name the A-10 the Thunderbolt II." She said, conjuring a small A-10 that flew around the group.
"Kinda ugly, ain't it?" Applebloom asked.
Emerald laughed. "Yeah, she is ugly. Hence why we called her the Warthog. She is also the only plane that was designed after the primary weapon was." She said as she manipulated the image, causing the cannon to separate from the aircraft.
"This is the General Electric GAU-8 Avenger 30MM Rotary Cannon. It fires a 30MM depleted uranium round that can pierce most tank armor. As you can see the cannon takes up most of the length of the aircraft. In addition to the massive amount of ordnance that can be attached to the sixteen stations under the wings and fuselage, the cockpit is contained in what is known as the titanium bathtub. It is two inches of titanium plating that protects the pilot. In addition to this, there were cases of the plane returning from a mission missing a wing, a vertical and horizontal stabilizer and two-thirds of one wing." Emerald said. "But enough about that. I want to show you three my latest project. Twilight hasn't even seen it." She said excitedly as she summoned the drawings from across the room.
Spreading the drawings out on the table, she said.
"This is the Mercury-Redstone. It is going to be the start of a manned space program for Equestria."Emerald said.
"Yer gonna send ponies in ta space?!?" Applebloom exclaimed.
"And return them safely to the planet. This one is for suborbital missions. It goes up in a ballistic trajectory and comes back down." Emerald explained. "After a couple of missions where we gather medical and scientific data, we switch to this." She said before moving the top drawing aside.
"This is the Mercury-Atlas. This one is for orbital missions. Here we would go for longevity, increasing the amount of the orbits and the tasks that the astronauts will have to accomplish." Emerald said. "Of course the endgame of this requires multiple astronauts, so then we move to this." She said pulling out another drawing. "This is the Gemini-Titan. This will send two astronauts up into space and will help with practicing things like spacewalks and other extra-vehicular activities. Again, each mission will increase in length and complexity. Things like rendezvous and docking."
"What do you need those for?" Sweetie Belle asked.
Emerald's smile widened. "I want to send ponies to the moon and have them bring back samples." She said revealing the final drawing in the stack.
"This is the Saturn V. It is one of the largest vertical lift rockets of the era. It's sole purpose is to send missions to the moon. Fortunately I know exactly what caused the two accidents with the program, and will design accordingly." Emerald said.
"What happened?" Scootaloo asked.
Emerald sobered as she sat back. "Apollo I was doing what was known as a plugs out test as they approached launch day. The vehicle was on the pad and the capsule was pressurized to something like sixteen psi with pure oxygen. Due to quality control issues with the Block I Command Module there was an electrical short. The resulting fire killed all three astronauts in less than a minute. NASA, the space administration, took a step back, found the issue, tore the contractor a new one, and had them redesign the capsule. Less than two years later, they returned to flight with the Block II Command Module and Apollo VII was the first manned mission. After that, there were three other flights before the actual moon landing on Apollo XI." Emerald explained.
"And the second accident?" Applebloom asked, shaken by the thought of what happened to the crew of Apollo I.
"That one has a happier ending. On the way to the moon, there was an explosion in the Service Module of Apollo XIII. This ruptured two of their three fuel cells and was venting oxygen. Through ingenuity and grit, the crew was able to return to Earth after using the lunar lander as a lifeboat. The crew returned to the surface safely to the relief of everyone involved." Emerald explained.
"Was that the last accident?" Sweetie Belle asked.
Emerald shook her head. "Unfortunately no. About twenty years or so later, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded just over a minute after lift off. The cause was faulty o-rings on the solid rocket boosters caused a leak of hot exhaust gases that melted the coupler at the bottom of the booster, causing it to break loose and puncture the external fuel tank. All seven aboard were killed when the crew cabin slammed into the ocean. Then, almost twenty years later, the shuttle Columbia broke up on reentry due to a compromised heat shield. The leading edge of the left wing was hit by falling insulation from the external tank during launch. It was caught but there were no alarms, and more damning, no contingency plans for if something like this happened. After nearly two years, they returned to flight with processes in place to prevent another tragedy.." Emerald explained.
"What did they do to prevent it?" Scootaloo asked.
"After that launch, every shuttle mission had to rendezvous with the International Space Station and did what is basically a backflip as the crew aboard the station filmed the Orbiter and then the footage was reviewed by teams on the ground. From then until the fleet was retired just a few years later, there was never another loss of life or ship during the shuttle program." Emerald replied.
The rest of the time that the Bearers were gone, Emerald and the Crusaders made a couple more test flights and worked on the other aircraft that Emerald was building.
All three fillies absorbed the information like a sponge, making Emerald smile. The destinies of the three weren't set in stone, but she could see good things in the future for all three.
A week later, the Bearers returned. Hugs were had all around when Emerald and the Crusaders met the group at the train station. Walking Twilight and Spike back to the library, Emerald listened to Spike recount the tale of his heroism.
"Sounds like you two did a good job out there." She said, clapping Spike on the back gently, while wrapping an arm around Twilight's shoulders and squeezing.
Later that evening, after dinner, Emerald was getting ready to head home when Twilight caught her hand.
"Emerald, could, could you stay with me tonight?" Twilight asked.
Emerald looked at Twilight and saw a haunted expression in her eyes.
"Of course." Emerald said softly.
Later that night, Emerald lay in bed with Twilight wrapped in her arms and wings. Silencing wards applied to the room kept Spike from hearing the unicorn's sobs.
Emerald merely held the other mare while she stroked her back.
Finally the sobs stopped.
"I was just so scared. I felt weak and helpless when I was trapped by Sombra." Twilight said, barely above a whisper.
"It happens to the best of us. Even me." Emerald said, still rubbing the mare's back as her other hand began running through Twilight's mane.
"Really?" Twilight asked.
Emerald nodded. "There were a couple of missions I went on where I got captured. One was due to inexperience and the other was from over confidence. The second was the worst one. Ba'al was sadistic when he tortured his prisoners. Took me almost a month to recover mentally after I was rescued. Jack, who had been captured by the same bastard, helped a lot. I learned how to deal with it in a safe way." She said.
"Does it always feel like this?" Twilight asked.
Emerald thought for a moment. "The feelings of weakness? Yes. But you survived and that means that you can get stronger and learn how to keep yourself out of the same position, or to handle it without freezing up." Emerald said gently, never stopping her ministrations.
"I want to be strong like you." Twilight whispered.
"That will take time and experience, love." Emerald replied.
"I meant physically. I know that mentally it will take time, but physically I want to, no I need, to be stronger." Twilight said, hands gripping Emerald's shirt tightly.
Emerald looked at Twilight for a moment. "You do realize what you are asking right?" She asked. "There is a good chance that the process could kill you, even with magic. Holly and I both were lucky to survive. You will spend every day of the rest of your life having to consciously watch how much strength you are putting into your actions, otherwise you could hurt yourself or others by accident." She said soberly.
Twilight pushed herself up and looked Emerald in the eye.
"I trust you. I know you won't let anything happen to me." She said firmly.
Emerald sighed. "Alright. Give me a week to get everything ready and to prep the time dilation field. You will need time to adjust once the augmentations are finished and you have recovered. In the meantime, think about this seriously. If you want to back out of it, I won't think less of you." She said.
Twilight nodded, and set her head back down on Emerald's shoulder, falling asleep quickly.
