A/N. This chapter contains traces of awesomeness. Pinkie Pie now and do I have some ideas for this one so it may become one incredibly long chapter or 2 chapters -12 and 13- but I have no idea, I'll see what feels best at the time. Sorry about the text on the last chapter, the formatting sort of failed and it now looks like a massive dense bit of text but it is actually 20 reports on injuries from the war, it's quite interesting really.

Chapter 12

Hello! I'm Pinkie Pie and I have a pretty awesome story to tell you! It's a shame that it doesn't have any pranks in it though… anyway, here is my story and it is about the best part of the war.

I was stationed in Los Pegasus, just outside the Sam Palomino desert, a group of other ponies and I had been messaged to come and meet up with some scientists in a location that we were to disclose no information about but before we could the city was attacked, just hours before the meeting so we all assumed that it was either cancelled or postponed. I took my position by the auto cannons, ready to maintain/defend them. We also were charged with loading and firing the cannons that emptied shells onto the enemy without relent. Seeing as Los Pegasus was a Pegasus city, none of us earth ponies or unicorns could stand up there; it was up to the pegusi to defend it. We were only ground support to an aerial battle. It was a long and hard clash, the casualties were countless on both sides and many of my comrades were killed that day but I forged on, hoping for a better tomorrow. Little did I know that mine would come for me in a few days. The battle was lost, due to a lack of support for the warring pegusi and an error on their part. Their over-confidence.

We left dejected our hearts and minds wanting for something better and when my group was stopped and I was given a message that the meeting was on tomorrow I was delighted. I went to the place in the desert to find that the scientist was Twilight Sparkle and the group of ponies weren't too unfamiliar. We were in a courtyard with a hanger on one side and a building on the other that looked like a control room. Present were Lyra Heartstrings, Sweetie Drops, Jim Beam and some others she didn't know. Twilight began to speak. "You are all here today to be part of an experiment, one that could revolutionise the battlefield. If this experiment goes as I predict it will then the field test will be an attempt to retake Los Pegasus." That statement created a ripple of whispers around the 5 ponies assembled. "I cannot however, guarantee your safety during this experiment. If any of you wish to pull out do so know. Once we get going you can't go back. Follow me and I will show you what might be your final resting place." With the unnerving speech over we were taken on a tour of the site.

What we would be testing was classified and we had to sign a form saying that if "anything went wrong and you survive, you are to keep this a secret" and we would be "assassinated if we told anypony." With this done our tour continued. Twilight would be in the safe building, and we would be in the unsafe courtyard. Soon after we were shown what was inside the hangar. With the push of a button, Twilight opened the roof of the hangar to show a strange contraption. "Hey, that looks a little bit like the thing I made with the bicycle." I said to the confused faces of my group. "So it does Pinkie, and it was that machine that inspired this one. Let me show you." Twilight led them over to the machine; the main body was like a blunt cone with a flat bottom on wheels and a tail sticking out of the top of the back end. The top of the cone was dominated by a set of rotors, four to be exact, and a smaller version on the end of the tail, angled sideways. The whole thing was about 10 meters long and had a hole in the middle going all the way through, only blocked by a pair of seats with a mounted swivel M1919 Browning machine guns in front of them. In the nose of the craft was a pair of controls with seats behind them and a glass windscreen. Twilight told us where we were positioned. Lyra and Sweetie were in the front two seats, the mare called Raven was positioned on the seat in the middle of the craft towards the back. The chair swivelled 360 degrees but was in a fixed position, allowing easy access to the ammo hold. Jim and I were on the guns. The sitting was the hardest part to get used to as it wasn't natural, Lyra had no problem with it but others did. Our backs had to be arched and our front hooves were to remain free. Our back hooves had to stop us from falling. We were told to put on headsets that would allow us to communicate over the engine that was powering us. The machine didn't feel at all safe. Twilight trotted out of the hanger and galloped to the command building. We soon heard her voice over the radio. "Switch to-static-2 to-static-better sou-static," the headsets crackled. We all switched to channel 2 and the voice that was broadcasted was loud and clear. "Right, this is Test 1 for Helicopter." Twilight said before giving instructions to Lyra and Sweetie. "We are going to attempt to hover at an altitude of 5 meters," Instructed Twilight over the radio. "Lyra, put your back hooves on the two pedals at the bottom of the seat, right at the back of the hole. You need to put both free hooves on the stick in front of you and you need to use your magic to hold the lever on your left. Flick the red switch above your head to start the engine." Lyra flicked the switch.

(Cue song: Lux Aeturna, Link to YouTube watch?v=SLJllk-0o6c from 0:20)

The rotors started to spin, slowly at first but soon creating a downdraft. The heli jumped marginally. The rotors were spinning slightly faster all the time and soon it jumped again but for longer. The next jump would end in 30 minutes time. They were flying. The wind was minimal in the hangar so the adjustment of the flight plane was not as necessary as it would be in the next tests. This was the first time anything powered with an engine heavier than air had ever flown and with earth ponies and unicorns piloting it. Lyra increased the throttle and the helicopter rose. It was slow but safe. If Lyra made a mistake the heli would crash into the walls of the hangar and all its occupants would die in the flames and explosions. It rose slowly to the top of the hangar and Sweetie confirmed the altitude of 5 meters. "Bring her out of the hangar Lyra, but watch out for the south-easterly wind. Angle your nose into it with the pedals and keep correcting. 20 meters is our target. Test 2 commencing. Over and out," Said Twilight over the radio. Lyra put up the throttle and we were hit full on by the wind. She fought hard against the roll and as we spun to put our nose into the wind the throttle was hit again and we lifted higher into the skies. The roll only worked to increase my anxiety for these tests. When we reached 20 meters we received test 3. Our job was to fly around the perimeter of the test site taking as long as we needed. The angles changed and Lyra fought hard to keep the helicopter under control as she flew us around the site. Test 4 was to test the mounted guns and we were told the controls. The pedal at the base of the gun was the trigger and the two handles were to aim it. Targets had been set up in the courtyard and Lyra, Jim and I had to work together the shoot them all. I pushed the pedal and pointed the barrel down. The resulting noise was incredible and each target was destroyed, ripped to pieces by the rounds loaded into the guns. Lyra did as we instructed spinning and moving at our command and soon the targets were nothing but splinters.

(End song: Lux Aeturna)

The radio crackled and Sweeties voice could be heard across it. "We're low on fuel, where should we land, over?" The answer was simple. "Hover just off the ground to unload all personnel, and then land back in the hangar. Don't scratch anything and don't crash. Over and out," Twilight's voice came across the radio. Lyra skilfully piloted the heli until it was almost landed and everypony could jump out onto the courtyard. When they were all clear, Lyra flew the helicopter over to the hanger and set it down in there without a problem. When we were all reunited we got the test results back. All systems worked perfectly and Lyra was an exceptional pilot (As far as they could tell seeing as they had only one pilot to take data from). Twilight came over to us. "You have just tested the latest invention that will help us win this war and you will be instrumental in the teaching of many other pilots. In two weeks' time we will be attacking Los Pegasus. We will soon rule the skies."

To Be Continued…

A/N. Pinkie's story will continue in the next chapter with the battle for Los Pegasus. This chapter was huge though and it took me less than one day. That was some pretty quick writing if I may say so myself. Anyway, please review and tell me your thoughts.