Chapter 28 – Mark Two

"We've got a problem." Writch said as soon as she got into the building.

"I saw." Blade said as he approached her.

"It's worse than you think, we need the Rainbow Trail Mk.2 done by the end of the day." The Treeopon admitted.

"WHAT?" Pinkie asked from behind them.

"It's fine!" Applejack said with confidence, "I seen them workin on it since we got this new yard, there ain't nothing wrong."

"Except we were hoping to put the current engine into the Mk.2." Writch explained.

"Wait, all you need is an engine?" Pilit asked, and then smiled, "Why not use my engine, the one I built some time ago. It counts!"

Writch rubbed the back of her neck, "We did." she said and watched the smaller Treeopon's face fall, "I was hoping that seeing your engine perform in a racer I built would help me think more clearly, and by Egas did it perform." Writch said, pride in her voice, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you Pilit."

"Wait, so you used my engine, in the Rainbow Trail Mk.1?" Pilit asked, and then placed her hands to her cheeks, "We don't have an engine, that was one of the best engines I'd ever built, and now it's gone!"

"I'm sorry Pilit." Writch said.

"Sorry, not sorry! That racer was excellent, and you used my engine to power it." Pilit had a huge smile on her face as she said this, pride beaming as she panicked, "But now we don't have an engine, what will we do without an engine?"

"We find one!" Twilight shouted out, "I just found the manifest, and Applejack was right, they built three of them."

"Huh?" Tusks asked.

"They built three of the B336 MPE, if we can find the last one, we might just have a chance." the purple alicorn said, "But I can't figure out these notes about the three engines."

"Notes?" Pilit asked as she leaned in, her panic now replaced with curiosity.

"Yeah, just letters. But I'm still having trouble translating pony from Treeopon." Twilight explained.

"Let me see." Pilit asked, and Twilight turned the tablet to her, "SPD. Probably for speed. I'd say that was the prototype for the racer." she deduced, then found the second one, "PWR means power and SWKS most likely means showcase because of trying to sound it out."

"Wait, if they were going to showcase one…" Blade started.

"Then it's probably the one in the crate." Pinkie added in.

"Then that leaves the one to demonstrate the power." Writch said and thought, "How would you showcase power?"

"You make it power one of the biggest most heavy-duty things you can find. Like a construction machine." Blade said.

"Or maybe a carrier ship?" Applejack asked. The group turned to her, "What?"

"Why would you put a carrier ship in a carrier ship?" Writch asked. Applejack got disappointed at the comment until Blade let his eyes go wide.

"No, that's genius." he said, "What if the carrier transporting everything to the demo, also had the prototype in it? You not only could showcase power, but have one of the biggest reveals in the history of vehicular transportation. Imagine telling everyone who just saw the engine win a race that not only can it go faster than any other engine, but you used it to transport; the team, the racer, an extra engine for showcasing, the crew, and a fifty-thousand-ton space carrier with no issues during lift-off." As he made the list, he used the feathers on his wing to count off everything he listed, and with each item added, Writch's eyes opened wider.

"You're not thinking…" she said and was interrupted by Twiggs.

"Applejack, you sly pony." he said, and the two of them raced off to the downed ship.

"I haven't cleared you yet!" Fluttershy shouted after her friend.

"I hate to contradict you Fluttershy, but we don't have time for this, I'll keep an eye on her, I promise." Blade said and placed a hoof to the pegasus' shoulder before running off.

Fluttershy lowered her head in defeat, as Twilight place her hoof to her shoulder as well, "It's ok Fluttershy. We'll just have to hope for the best." This earned a smile from the yellow pegasus, right before she squeaked to the sound of a door opening from behind her.

Blade descended carefully, Applejack in his front hooves and Twiggs gripping his back legs. "Uh…" the orange earth pony said as she scanned the area. "There!" she said as she pointed a hoof to a large machine in the middle of the room she had once before found herself trapped in.

The group landed, Twiggs touching down first before letting go, and running up to the boiler-looking device. He placed his ear to the machine, and knocked, "Sounds partly hollow, but there's definitely something {snort} in there, not water."

"Out of the way." Blade said, and used his hooves to grab the top of the boiler before ripping the front cover off, "You were right, it had hinges, they were going to reveal…" he began and looked to what he had revealed with wide eyes of surprise. There in the middle of cables and a large suspension rig, was the B336 Magnus Particle Engine. A funny shaped device that reminded Blade of a midsized missile, or a torpedo, or some kind of explosive. The front end was in the cone shape of a warhead but made of what looked like spiraling vents along with it, the long slits in the front curved with the cone, making it look as if it were spinning. The long slender body of the device probably couldn't have been more than two ponies long, a perfect size for the Rainbow Trail Mk.2. Inside the slits Blade could see what looked more like clear pipes than cables, a cyan blue glowing liquid being pushed through to the end where a large copper cable was plugged in. At the back, a set of large cables trailed from all over the wall and plugged seamlessly into the engine, and the hum it made almost seemed ethereal.

"Wow." Applejack said as she glanced at it.

"And that's all you'll see of it." they all heard, and looked up to the entrance of the ship, "You are stealing from our side of the yard line." There was a group of Suniks descending using ropes into the bay.

"That ain't true." Applejack argued, "Yeah it tilted but we're still on our side of the line!"

"Can you prove that?" the lead Sunik asked, he was short, grey scaled with white scales on his belly and dark green eyes.

"Ah don't see y'all provin' we're on yer side!" Applejack argued, "Just git outa our way, we're takin' this engine whether you like it er not."

"Oh, that sounds like a challenge." the Sunik said, and the other lizardmen started chanting the word over and over, the beat speeding up as they got more excited. The Sunik in question, pulled his jacket off, revealing a toned chest underneath, and lifted his claws as if he were going to defend himself. He opened his mouth wide and hissed at her.

"There will be no challenge today Sunik." they all heard, and they all turned up to see one of the officials, a female Hylop, float down on a large disk-shaped pad. Next to her was a very stern-looking Twilight Sparkle.

"Lady Kiane came by to tell us the verdict on Boar since our team was one of those affected by his cheating, then Fluttershy saw you lot coming in after our friends, so I asked what could be done if one team tries to call theft." the purple alicorn explained.

"But…" the Sunik tried to argue and was quickly silenced when the official lifted her hand.

"We will settle this once and for all, the lines will be drawn!" With a wave of her hand, a holographic console appeared, and with a flick of her claw, the post on the wall between the two yards lit up, a green light zipped through the yard, burning a line straight through the ship, and barely clipping the engine, cutting only the cable at the front of it, the one connected to the rest of the ship. This caused the power for the entire ship to fail. "There." she said, "The line has been drawn." The Suniks were stunned, they were clearly on the ponies' side of the line, and so was the engine. "Any questions?" she angrily asked. The Suniks all gulped, and scrambled up their ropes, "That's what I thought." she said, and turned to Twilight, "Thank you for bringing this to my attention," she said, and shook the hoof of the alicorn, "I hope you will continue to do your part to keep the spirit of the race pure."

Twilight smiled with pride, "I will Lady Kiane." she said, and jumped off of the platform before the official could leave.

"Why Twilight, I do believe you just {snort} made a new friend!" Twiggs said with a smile.

Twilight turned to him and smiled back, "It's what I do." She admitted, and the four of them turned to start retrieving the last of the B336 engines.