The helicopter soared across the twilight sky, its presence made known to the world only by a crisp silhouette against the last remnants of the crimson sunset pouring over the ocean's horizon.

As they approached the island nation, a small tingle raced down Twilight's spine. She clicked on the Black Comanche’s intercom.

"Did you feel that?"

"Feel what?" Michael spotted a zeppelin stationary in the distant sky, high above the water, "Hey, I think the barrier is up ahead."

Twilight gasped, "That must be it! I sensed the magic from the barrier! My magic! I still have my magic!"

"That's fantastic!"

As they drew ever closer, Michael saw a gap open in the barrier for the airship to pass through. Two pegasi with blue manes and gold armor hovered at either side of the gate. A unicorn on the other side of the barrier stood in a hot air balloon, manipulating the gate. They were closing in.

"Hang on!" He shouted as he pushed the control stick forward, sending the helicopter screaming towards the barrier at full tilt.

They streaked across the sky, but-

"SHIT!"

- there wasn't enough time. Michael pulled the stick as far back as he could, flipping into a complete reverse tilt. As the air pressure from the rotors slammed against the now solid barrier, they stopped sharply and leveled off, hovering mere feet from the magical shield.

The armored pegasi approached the helicopter, but did not cross under its spinning rotors; either unable or unwilling to deal with the massive downforce of the stealth craft. Michael rotated the aircraft, pointing it at the guards now hovering on one side of the gate.

"Michael, those are Celestia's guards. Is there any way I can talk to them?"

"Turn the knob marked 'COMM' to 'Out'."

Twilight turned the knob and clicked on her mike, "I am Twilight Sparkle. We're on a mission for the princess. It is imperative that you allow us through immediately."

The two colts grimaced and shook their heads.

"Please, it is of the utmost importance that we are allowed through! Lives are at stake!"

Again, the colts shook their heads.

Twilight clicked the comms back to intercom mode, "I don't understand; why aren't they listening to me?"

"They don't believe you. You're human now, remember?"

Twilight became acutely aware of the hands she was so fond of only hours ago.

"Alright," Michael said sternly, "My turn."

He primed the Gatling gun at the front of the helicopter, its high speed spin emitting a pitched metallic whine. While it was, ostensibly, a stealth helicopter, the Black Comanche’s heritage was a long line of attack helicopters.

He turned the comms dial, "Alright, Listen up! The lives of every pony in Equestria are at stake here! You are going to let us through or I am going to unleash every single bit of hell this chopper has got at that gate until it goes down. And it will go down!"

Still, the guards remained steadfast and shook their heads.

"You asked for it!" Michael swiveled the chopper around and pointed the nose directly at the gate. The gatling gun at the front screamed as round after round erupted from it, hammering away at the gate, sending percussion waves through the magical door. The horn of the unicorn on the other side glowed furiously as it tried to sustain the gate.

Twilight tried to sense the strength of the gate, "You've almost got it!"

"Well let's finish it!"

Pulling away from the barrier, Michael flipped up a plexiglass cover on the control panel, and armed the missiles. Locking onto the gate, he pressed the red button near the hat of the control stick.

In an instant, four dozen stinger missiles erupted from the sides of the helicopter and streaked across the sky, leaving trails of smoke behind them. Immediately understanding the magnitude of the incoming attack, the guards flew away from the target as fast as they could, but as the missiles hit, they were caught by the blast and sent tumbling across the sky.

As the smoke from the barrage of explosions began to clear, it quickly became apparent that they had done their job. The gate was gone and the unicorn who had been producing it from behind the barrier was unconscious, slumped over the edge of the hot air balloon basket.

Michael hollered in excitement, "Oh man! Did you see that?! I mean I've seen some big explosions before but wow!"

Twilight clapped behind him, "That was amazing!"

Seeing the two pegasi ascending, their wings and manes singed from the explosion, Michael smiled and gave them a mock salute as he tipped the nose of the helicopter down and raced through the opening.

But something was wrong.

Shortly after they crossed the threshold of the barrier, the helicopter lurched to the left and began diving.

"Michael! What's going on?!"

There was no answer.

Twilight screamed, "Michael!"

It was no use, he was out cold.

"ALTITUDE ALTITUDE: SIX THOUSAND FEET, FIVE THOUSAND FEET, FOUR THOUSAND FEET..."  The voice of the helicopter's computer squawked through her headset.

Soon, the forest was visible through the cockpit windows as the helicopter spun wildly at odd angles.

"If I don't do something, we're both going to die!" Twilight thought, "My magic!"

Visualizing the helicopter, Twilight began to focus on it.

"Concentrate..."

Her hands began to glow as the helicopter slowly stabilized and it’s decent halted.

Twilight opened her eyes, "I did it!" she screamed.

A groan came over the intercom, "What the hell just happened?"

Twilight sighed in relief, "Oh, Michael, you're okay! Thank goodness! You passed out as we crossed into Equestria."

Michael looked around and realized he wasn't holding the control stick. Quickly grabbing it, he checked the gauges on the board.

"We're still airborne!"

"Yeah, it was rough, but I managed to keep the helicopter steady with my magic."

Michael laughed, relieved, "Twilight, You are amazing! I could kiss you!"

Blushing, she cleared her throat, "Yes, well, we need to hurry. We haven't much time. We still need to get to Canterlot and then find the nano-machine capsules."

"Alright," Michael yelled, "Allonsi!"

With Twilight's navigation, the helicopter screamed across the sky until the Royal castle in Canterlot came into view.

As Michael circled around the castle, looking for a place to land, more of the royal guard appeared, tailing the helicopter.

"Ugh, not again," he scoffed, "It doesn't matter; they can't keep us from landing." Michael brought the craft to a hover above the stone bridge leading to the castle entrance.

Suddenly, all of the pegasi flew out of view.

Michael looked around the canopy of the cockpit, "What the- Where did they go?"

"ALTITUDE ALTITUDE: TEN FEET, EIGHT FEET, ELEVEN FEET..."

Michael pounded his instrument panel, "What do you mean 'Altitude'? We're hovering!"

Twilight looked around her control panel and saw a screen with a dial under it labeled "front", "back", "left", "right", "below". She turned it to "below".

"They're under us!"

"Oh, C'mon!" he yelled , annoyed, as he pitched the chopper forward and sped off, trying to lose his new found escorts.

Weaving between the castles towers, he couldn't shake them. As he approached the next set of towers, a white blur flew up in front of them and out of view. Trying not to run into whatever almost hit them, Michael, again, put the helicopter into what he was beginning to call "the stomach press" and brought it to a halt.

As the nose bobbed back down, the white object floated into view.

"It's the Princess!" Twilight cried, overjoyed to see a familiar face.

Michael watched as the guards surrounded them once again. He turned on the loudspeaker, "Princess, it's me, Michael. Can you tell these guys to give us some room so we can land?"

Celestia motioned for the guards to back away and Michael went back to the bridge, landing.

As the rotors slowed to a stop, the canopy of the cockpit swung up and open. Ripping off the stuffy helmet and air mask, Michael and Twilight climbed out of the helicopter and ran to the Princess who was standing nearby.

Michael was the first to speak, "Princess! We need to move quickly, there isn't much time. The HLF, they've-"

He immediately understood that the princess hadn't heard a word he had said. She slowly approached Twilight, sadness filling her eyes.

"Twilight?"

Twilight bowed her head, her purple hair falling from over her shoulders, "Yes, Princess."

Celestia immediately put her head over Twilight's shoulder as her prized pupil wrapped her arms around her mentor’s neck.

The princess began to cry, "Oh, my dear sweet Twilight... What has happened to you?"

Tears began to flow from Twilight as well, "It's a long story, Princess..." Next Chapter: Chapter 17 Estimated time remaining: 56 Minutes