Chapter 76 – A Lucky Break
"Ho man." Krisskkil said as he sat next to Breeze, "I didn't know it was this bad."
"How did you know about the attack anyway?" Rainbow asked.
Pinkie then smiled, but in a more suspicious way, "I…may have mentioned something to our new social media promoter."
Everyone looked at Pinkie Pie with narrow eyes, "What social media promoter?" Writch asked.
"Well…" she started and inhaled deeply, "Uzaaskediftherewasanythingshecoulddotohelp,soItoldherthatitwouldbeniceifshewrotearticlesormadevideosaboutourteamsincewe'vegot a lot of skeptics. She'dbeendoingthisforafewracesnowandthenCya-O-UrattackedRainbowDash. HerandBreezewerestillhurtsoItoldUza EVERYTHING!" She spoke so fast that it all ran together, and then took a deep breath in afterward to help stabilize her emotions, then with the same smile, she squeed. "Was I not supposed to do that?"
"When were you going to tell us that Uza was writing articles about us?" Twilight asked.
"YOU UNDERSTOOD THAT?" Hulon asked in shock.
"She does that once in a while." Rarity explained.
Applejack followed with her own words, "You learn to keep up." she said.
"Well, she has painted us in a pretty good light, so far." Pinkie said in her defense.
"Did you tell her about the spear of light?" Twilight asked her with hope.
"That doesn't matter." Blade said, and calmed quickly, "Besides, the Council forbade you from any kind of seeking that glory, because you didn't alert them after you found it, instead you used it, remember?"
"I remember." the alicorn said only slightly upset.
"Sorry, Twilight." Pinkie said as she let her ears fall, "I left that part out." Twilight just groaned in defeat at this news. Pilit placed a hand on Twilight's shoulder, and the two silently shed tears over their lost fame.
"Either way, it looks like a predicament. The race is in a few days and you don't have a gunner." Krisskkil said, "I've heard of it being done but it's extremely difficult since everyone will be able to take down your shield with their fire and you can't retaliate."
"Too bad you're Sselekk's gunner." Rainbow Dash said.
"Oh, not anymore." he said quickly, "After that challenge, I quit. I just can't be a part of something like that anymore. Besides, with Syls' team taking care of the children, I have far fewer worries than I thought possible."
"You quit?" Tusks asked, "But, I thought that {snort} Sselekk was your friend?"
"Oh, we're still friends." Krisskkil said, "But he now knows my stance on the issue. Also, Mirikka was watching so now she sees me as a defector. She'll try and kill me if I return."
"I see." Tusks said.
"But, if I can be your backup gunner, I think I can stick it to her in the races. I promise I won't let you down." he announced just as quickly, "I was going to suggest me being a backup anyway, but now you absolutely need one!"
"Ok." Tusks said and placed his hooved fingers to his chin, "Let's see what {snort} you can do."
Krisskkil was swiftly led to the training simulator, a space made specifically for Breeze to train his eye and aim. It stood a good several feet tall, the room lined just like his gunner seat with the Shimmer panels to display the outside of the ship and a pedestal in the middle with the controls coming off of them. The lizard man whistled at how impressive the machine was, "I've never seen such an impressive simulator." he said. Blade rubbed the outside of his hoof on the lapel of his uniform.
"We had a lot of good parts for it." Writch said with pride.
"May have to make a few tweaks to accommodate your clawed hands instead of hooves, but I think we got some ideas." the darker licorice-colored pegasus said showing the same pride without the smile.
"Rotating seat?" Writch asked as she looked at Blade.
"Rotating seat." he acknowledged.
It didn't even take them an hour, the two mechanics and Pilit worked side-by-side to create the control replacements for the Sunik and replaced them in the simulator. Krisskkil quickly took his place, gripped the controls, and tested them, moving his arms side to side in the gauntlets, "OK, to rotate the chair, use your feet." Blade said as he explained, "Obviously left foot rotates you to the left, and the right foot rotates you to the right." The pony then pointed to the gauntlets, "Squeeze your first two fingers to pull the trigger. We added a lock-on function as well, once you get a target in your sights, click the pinkie to lock onto a target, and then squeeze the trigger to fire at the locked-on target. Click the pinkie again to turn the lock off."
"That's great, but we've got fifteen targets, it might be better if I don't use lock-on." Krisskkil said.
"It'll come in handy if you find that one particular ship is gunning for you." the pegasus said, "Till then just use your own judgment."
"Ok." the Sunik said and then turned to the pony as he made his way out of the simulator. The moment he closed the door, the room lit up and he focused himself, waiting to see what kind of simulation he was in for.
A few moments later, the door opened, and the simulation was over. "How'd I do?" Krisskkil asked.
"Superb." Rarity said, "Why I think you're in the same league as Breeze."
"You definitely got the closest to his score." Twilight said, "You even beat Tris' score, congratulations!"
Rainbow walked up to him, a smile on her face, "You're good, kid!" she said, and bumped her hoof to his arm, "Welcome to the team."
"And the Lock-on feature worked perfectly." Blade said.
"You were right." Krisskkil said, "It did help."
"Thank Pilit." he said, "She's to one who programmed it." To this, Krisskkil simply nodded and walked towards Pinkie Pie as she filled the table with food.
"It's a LOT harder to make this much food all by myself, so ALL of you better EAT UP!" she yelled in mock anger.
"Why not just ask Phis to help?" Twilight asked. Pinkie stopped, turned, and shrugged her shoulders, only to walk away with a smile and a song.
"She's…always like this?" Krisskkil asked.
"Pinkie is Pinkie!" the alicorn said, "And that's the best way I can describe it."
The next day, Blade and Writch were found by Rainbow Dash in the morning, both working hard to replace the controls in the gunner seat of the Rainbow Trail Mk.2. The top had been pulled off, suspended by cables that attached to a crane machine that was mounted to the ceiling by rails that stretched from one end of the garage to the other. It looked like the panels of the gunner room disconnected near the bottom, separating in what could only be described as a brick pattern of sorts. Blade was holding the seat in place as Writch fastened it to the ground. "It's been a while since we've had to make a simple adjustment like this hasn't it?" he asked as she twisted her wrench and tightened the last of the bolts.
"You got that right." the Treeopon responded.
"I've noticed that we've been pretty lucky lately as well." he said.
"Hm?" she asked, "How so?"
"Well, first with the B336, then with Rainbow Dash and her magical boost. Then the fact she still hasn't crashed while using it. Now with Krisskkil and him being a gunner." he said as he listed off his thoughts.
"I see what you mean, but to be honest, I think our luck turned when you ponies arrived." she said, "You helped Pilit to climb out of her shell, I saw the problems my bias was creating thanks to all of you, and we've made so many friends now thanks to the importance you ponies put on the concept. I don't think we'd have gotten past the starting line if it weren't for you and your friends."
"Hm…" he hummed and started to go into deep thought.
"Maybe us ponies are just good luck charms!" Rainbow chimed in.
The two mechanics turned to her in surprise, then to each other, and laughed at her words, "Maybe you are." Writch said with a smile.
"We've got two days till the race." Blade suddenly said, "You and Krisskkil are going to have to work extra hard to get to a point where you two are comfortable with each other." Rainbow Dash smiled, he was getting serious and that meant he had something important to say, "Think you two can get along?"
"With Krisskkil?" she asked, "No problem! We're gonna dominate out there!"
"Good, we can't afford any more surprises like that." He told her, "As soon as we're done, I want you two to go practice. We've got plenty of space for the two of you to get the hang of working together, so use it any way you think is necessary."
"Relax!" she told the male pegasus, "We got this, "It'll be a cakewalk."
"Don't get cocky!" Writch said.
"I know." she admitted, "But still, with my piloting and his gunner skills, I'm not worried. We'll be in the winner's circle before you know it!"
"I hope so. Win it for Breeze." Blade said solemnly, "Make sure you can brag about it when he wakes up."
"You got it!" she agreed.
