"Your Highness, it's almost 5 o'clock," A male voice spoke, causing Celestia to turn around.

At the entrance of her personal office stood Admiral Cloud Drop's rigid figure.

"Already time to leave? Give me a moment to organize my effects, Admiral." Returned the Alicorn as her horn came to life, every object on her large, bright white desk being taken by her aurora and returned to their respective places.

With her desk put back to a state of order, Celestia put on her thick, white, puffy winter coat, the article rendering her wings completely useless. Now dressed; her black luggage bag was taken up by a spell, and she and Cloud Drop disembarked from her private quarters as they began making their way down the corridors to the Eastern Wing of the castle. The Aerodrome, as it was called, was located next to the North Wing, and had been the most recent addition to the castle, as well as the most expensive; plenty of bits had been poured into making the Canterlot Aerodrome into something as grand as the castle it stood near. When the duo reached the North Wing of the castle the two ran into Princess Luna, who looked out of breath.

"Ah! There... you are. I have... been looking for you, sister!" The young Alicorn exclaimed breathlessly.

"Didn't you think to check my room before darting around the castle?" Celestia responded playfully.

"I was on my way there now, but it seems that my attempt to make it there was fruitless. You are preparing to leave now, yes?"

"Yep. The Admiral and I are on the way to the Aerodrome as we speak."

"Good! I can accompany you on the way there!" Luna responded as she joined Celestia and Cloud Drop on their trip.

After reaching the check-in room of the Aerodrome Celestia was filled in on the flight path and arrival time. The trio walked from the check-in room to the tarmac of the Aerodrome, on one of the landing pads was a light-grey helicopter, the ground crews still preparing it for take-off. The helicopter was the latest aircraft available, despite being primitive in its existence. It had a large, rounded nose that housed the radial engine, the cockpit located above and behind it.

The cabin of the machine was a good size for most ponies, but Celestia, being nearly two times taller than those around her, found the cabin to be cramped. Adorning the exterior of the aircraft were two sets of markings; on the tail-boom were the words "Royal Air Guard" and on the back behind the cabin was a white outline of a shield, the center of the shape filled in with a white sun mimicking Celestia's cutie mark. One of the several ponies standing beside the aircraft made his way to greet the three as they approached, his figure bulked by an Olive Drab flight suit and a white helmet.

"We're nearly ready for take-off, your Highness, the guys are doing the last refueling and pre-flight checks now. You can put your luggage in now if you like," Spoke the pilot, his breath visible in the cold air.

Celestia, followed by the Pilot, Cloud Drop, and Luna, walked to the helicopter. She opened the sliding door of the cabin, setting her bag inside and positioning it behind one of the foldable seats inside using her magic.

"We're done fueling 'er up, you're good to go!" One of the ground crew yelled as a second pony pulled the refueling cart away, the smell of fuel still hanging in the air.

"Roger that, time to fly." The Pilot responded as he climbed past Celestia into the cabin, stepping up the firewall and into the cockpit. A second pilot, who had been sitting in the seat next to him, turned around in his chair. None of the three had noticed him before that point.

"Standard procedure, your Highness; headsets' hanging right there next to the door." He informed Celestia as she fit herself into the tight cabin, her front hooves between her haunches as she sat herself in one of the fold-down cloth and aluminum frame chairs.

Celestia took the headset with her magic, putting it on and adjusting the mic so that it was in front of her mouth. There was a loud boom followed by the sound of the piston engine turning, the engine slowly being brought to idle throttle.

"Love you 'tia! I wish you a most enjoyable flight!" Luna shouted as she and Cloud Drop stepped away from the helicopter as it's rotors began to turn.

"I wish the same! I love you, too! See you in about a week!" Celestia returned as she closed the sliding door of the cabin.

The rotors of the machine slowly began to speed up, the sound of the blades ripping through the air beginning to overpower the sound of the piston engine. Once the rotors were at full speed, the helicopter slowly lifted off the ground, a mist of white powder kicking up as the beast lifted away from the landing pad. After hovering for a moment, the helicopter made a 90-degree turn, slowly flying towards the runway. Once it was over the runway, the nose of the helicopter dropped as it began to fly away, the blaring sound of the rotors fading as it flew.

"In all my years of life, I had never thought that we would fly without wings," Said Luna with a smile on her face.

Cloud Drop didn't offer a response.

Celestia watched out the rectangular window of the helicopter as the castle got further and further away. After getting to a sufficient altitude, the helicopter banked to the left, the sounds of the rotors changing as it turned. After completing an 180-degree turn, the helicopter continued over the castle and towards Canterlot City.

"Sunshine 1, you are clear of the grid, full stop. Stay on current channel until advised," A static-laden female voice said over Celestia's headset.

"Copy that, tower," One of the pilots returned.

Celestia shifted in her chair, trying to get more comfortable in the small cabin. In order to keep her horn from poking a hole in the cloth liner of the ceiling, her head had to be kept in a slightly craned position. Normally, by time the helicopter had reached cruising altitude, Celestia would sit on the floor of the aircraft atop a blanket held in her luggage as opposed to the chair. If not, her neck would be absolutely shot after the long flight.

"How much longer are we going to be in the air?" Celestia asked.

She saw one of the pilots pick up a clipboard off the floor with his magic.

"Uhh, next stop we make is in three hours, your Majesty, but that depends on the weather," Said the pilot on the left.

Celestia let out an annoyed groan that the pilots heard other their headsets.

"Don't like flying?" One of them asked.

"No, the smell of the fuel gives me a headache, and I get dizzy if I look out the window too long." Celestia whined, causing both of the pilots to laugh.

"There's barf-bags tucked under the seat to your left," The pilot on the right joked.

She looked over at one of the chairs, seeing a small stack of pale blue wax bags tucked under the chair cushion. She was sort of glad they were there.

"So, an Alicorn who's lived for a thousand years and who has defeated numerous enemies can't handle a 4-hour helicopter flight. Don't worry, once you spend about 50 hours in these things you get used to the smell and the motion sickness," The pilot on the left said.

His comment initially struck Celestia as strange. She had never had any of her Guards joke around as much as the two pilots did. It seemed like the pilots were an entirely different breed of pony.

"Well, I've got a lot more flights ahead because of this whole thing with Stalliongrad, so I might just get those 50 hours quicker than I otherwise would," She said, looking back out the window, watching the snow covered trees pass below.

It was interesting to be completely stationary but have to world move below you. Celestia had gotten used to flying in carriages, but they were slower, quieter and open-cabbed. The one thing that amused her was that looking out the window never got old. Celestia lay her head back, closing her eyes. The world blurred into nothing but sound as she relaxed, the whir of the rotor blades and the engine fading as she mentally tuned them out, only being able to hear the chat between the two pilots.

~~

Celestia was brought from her slumber by the loud *ca-chunk* of the helicopter door sliding opened, her eyes searching the dimly lit cabin, as the only source of light was a small, yellow light above the helicopter's door. With what little light there was, Celestia had been able to see one of the Pilots climb from the cabin and out into the cold darkness beyond the still running aircraft, she assumed they had stopped at one of the fuel-port in order to refuel.

"Where are we?" Celestia asked groggily over the helicopter's internal intercom.

"We're just past the city of Manehattan," The remaining Pilot spoke, sounding a little tired himself.

A few red lights outside the helicopter flickered on, providing enough light for Celestia to see outside; the Pilot that had disembarked was found stood near a control panel mounted to a large fuel storage tank.

"So, we've only been flying for three hours, right?" Celestia asked.

"Yeah, we still got a lot of ground to cover."

Celestia groaned, rubbing her face with her hooves as she tried to wake herself up. Over the noise of the helicopter she had been able to hear the Pilot connect the refueling hose, she looked back out the door to see him walk away from the helicopter and back towards the control panel.

After a while's waiting, the Pilot finally pulled a lever on the control panel and walked back towards the helicopter, moments later a similar click came from the side of the helicopter as the fuel hose was disconnected, and the Pilot stepped back inside the cabin, shutting and locking the door behind himself, the yellow light above the door shutting off the second he closed the door, the very dim red glow of the instrument panel now being the only light source. The Pilot gave Celestia a friendly smile as he passed on his way to the cockpit.

"Sorry to have woken you with the door, your Majesty," The Pilot who had refueled the aircraft spoke once he got himself back seated in the cockpit with his helmet back on.

"It's alright, I'm not going to get much sleep on this flight, anyway."

Celestia watched as the two Pilots did some final checks, their hooves tapping each gauge as they checked all of the helicopter's systems.

"Alright, we're all good."

With those words, the engine began revving back up as the rotors spun faster, the helicopter slowly lifting from the ground as it gradually gained forward speed.

"You know, I still don't know either of your names," Celestia said.

"2nd Lieutenant Night Flight, at your service, your Majesty." Informed the right Pilot.

"Captain Silver Wing, at your service." Added the co-Pilot.

"Its a pleasure to finally know your names, and my name is Princess Celestia." She spoke jokingly, both Pilots chuckling lightly from her humor.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Celestia. What do you do for a living?" Night Flight joked in return.

"I'm the Ruler of Equestria, it's a pretty boring job."

"Sounds like it." Silver Wing added.

The three had a laugh, the conversation coming to an end for the most part.

"I'm going to try going back to sleep... if you two don't mind."

"We'll be fine, Night and I were going to play tic-tac-toe anyway," Silver Wing responded.

"What? How are you two going to play tic-tac-toe?"

Moments after Celestia spoke, Night Flight held up a small, rectangular whiteboard and marker in his magic. Celestia couldn't help but to laugh at the two Pilots.

"Well, enjoy yourselves!"

The pattern of flying, landing, refueling, and taking back off repeated three more times, each time had woken Celestia from her sleep. By now, she was wide awake; peering from her window at the early dawn landscape as it traveled past. The helicopter had been flying for around 16 hours, but the flight had still not crossed the Stalliongradian border, meaning there was still quite a ways to go. With being awake, Celestia was able to hear the small talk between the two pilots, their conversations bringing quite a lot of enjoyment to Celestia.

"I think we should bring chess next time, tic-tac-toe gets old," Night Flight spoke.

"How would we manage chess? The pieces would go everywhere," Silver Wing noted.

"Yeah... I suppose you're right. Ah, wait! What if we built our own, airborne chess board! The board could have metal in it, and we could put magnates in the base of each piece!" Night rebutted excitedly.

"That could work. Oh... huh, what is that down there?" Silver asked, sitting up in his seat to see over the nose of the aircraft.

"I think there's a pony down there in that clearing, it looks like there's a--"

---

"You hear that?" Asked a Stallion, his ears perking up at the sound of a certain helicopter.

"Sounds like our prize is approaching, right on time too." A second stallion said.

Star Yield exited from the back of a camouflaged wagon, he was wearing a thick green coat and a fuzzy hat.

"They're going to fly right over the top of us, get into position!" He shouted, one of the stallions running over to a small clearing near the wagon.

Star Yield had planned it perfectly. The helicopter would fly right overhead, giving the unicorn in the clearing a perfect shot at it. The plan was to have the unicorn, Golden Leaf, (whose coat was a golden color, naturally) shoot the pilot out of the helicopter using a powerful and accurate spell that both he and Star Yield perfected.

After the helicopter was damaged by the shot, and the first pilot killed, then it would make a crash landing in a field close by. Once it had landed, Star Yield and his force of around twenty Brothers and Sisters would come in and "retrieve" Celestia. The helicopter was now visible, the red, green, and white 'navigation lights', as they were called, showing the aircraft's position in the sky.

"Alright, concentrate, you've only got one shot at this." Star Yield said to Golden Leaf.

"Thanks, I didn't have enough pressure on me." He replied.

Right as the helicopter was at a 45-degree angle from Golden Leaf, his horn quickly lit up, lightning arcing from his horn to the ground. A split second later, a short bolt of pure white energy shot from his horn, flying towards the helicopter. The bolt passed through the top right part of the engine cowling, piercing through the cockpit glass, and proceeding on through the roof and the main rotor shaft. After being hit, the helicopter wobbled in the sky, the sound of the rotor changing as well.

---

"That could work. Oh, huh, what is that down there?" Silver asked, sitting up in his chair to see over the nose of the aircraft.

"I think there's a pony down there in that clearing, it looks like there's a--"

Celestia saw a flash of light, a red mist becoming airborne right after the flash. The helicopter shook and vibrated, the sounds of the engine and rotors changing completely. She noticed a thick, red liquid flowing down the side of Night Flight's chair, she looked up and saw the large hole in the back of his helmet, blood dripping from it.

"What in the name of Equestria!? I think that pony down there shot us! Check our oil pressure and make a mayday call, I don-" Silver Wing's sentence was cut short as he looked over at the limp body of his friend, Night Flight's front legs dangling loosely at his side.

"I'm gonna have to land in that field, okay? We can't keep flying with this kind of damage," Silver said over the intercom, his voice noticeably shaky.

Fear shot through Celestia, along with thousands of thoughts that her mind struggled to compute what she was experiencing. The engine's damaged rumble suddenly died off completely, the chop of the rotors being the only sound to behold.

"Hold on to something, the engine's failed!" The pilot yelled.

Celestia pushed her hooves to the floor and ceiling, a few seconds later the helicopter hit the ground violently, the impact causing the rotor blades to flex downward and strike the tail boom, the loud crack of the impact shaking the helicopter. As the aircraft dug into the snowy earth it began leaning to the right, the rotor blades slamming into the ground and ripping apart as the helicopter fell on its side, Celestia falling from her seat to the right wall of the cabin.

The rotors ground themselves down to nothing as the engine slowly died down, it's whine followed with the clanking of broken metal. There was a loud explosion, and the smell of burning oil and fuel began to fill the cabin along with the loud beeping coming from the control panel. Celestia quickly tried to stand upright, but her front hoof slipped out from under her on a puddle of some sort. After leaning against the floor of the cabin, she saw the puddle was a pool of red liquid that was dripping from the back of the right pilot's head. She quickly turned her head around, tears starting to flow down her cheeks and her breath caught in her chest as it dawned on her just what had happened.

"Are you okay?!" Silver Wing yelled to Celestia as he began shutting off various systems of the aircraft, including the Master Warn which was causing the loud beeping.

"Y...Yes, I'm okay, I'm okay!" Celestia lied, her legs and chest were in pain and she was still shaken from both the impact and the sight of the first pilot's body.

"Mayday, mayday, this is Sunshine 1, we have been shot down near the Stalliongrad border!" The pilot yelled into his headset.

The only response was static.

"Your highness, you need to get out of here, that fire will reach the fuel tanks any second."

Without hesitating, Celestia climbed up to the door on the left side of the helicopter and pulled a large red lever marked "Emergency", the lever causing several small explosive bolts to blow the door free of the helicopter. After climbing out she looked at the wreckage of the aircraft, the tail-boom was nearly snapped in half, and the main rotor was completely gone and the flames coming from under the engine cowling had started to make their way beneath the aircraft and towards the fuel tank.

She noticed a large group of ponies running out of the tree-line only around 40 meters from the crash. Celestia felt her breath catch in her chest as she realized they weren't coming to help. After pulling herself out of the wreckage completely, Celestia jumped down to the snowy ground and broke into a full gallop, running the opposite direction of the group running towards her.

It occurred to her that she wouldn't be able to escape the ponies that shot her down on her hooves, so she began to take off her white coat, tripping and falling as she struggled to get the coat off and free her wings. Celestia looked over at the helicopter just in time to see the pilot that survived climb out of the left side cabin door, just as he was about to jump down off the wreckage the flames reached the fuel tank. A huge explosion ripped through the aircraft, sending a volley of broken metal shrapnel into the sky. A thick plume of smoke and fire began rising into the dusky sky.

Celestia screamed as she watched in horror, her heart sinking in her chest.

After fully removing her coat Celestia leaped into the sky, giving strong wing strokes to gain altitude. Celestia turned herself around to observe the group of ponies below her, she saw as one of them stopped running. There was a flash of light and a sudden excruciating, burning pain in her left wing.

Celestia let out a scream as she tumbled from the sky, seconds later her body impacted the cold ground. The impact knocked the wind out of her, leaving her to lay motionless and breathless in the snow. Celestia's vision was soon filled with Star Yield's face, his eyes held the same pale blue glow and slit iris appearance as Nightmare Moon. Celestia wanted to speak, but the lack of air in her lungs only allowed her to make a small wheezing sound. Star Yield brought up his hoof, hitting Celestia right between the eyes, the brute force of the impact knocking her unconscious.

Author's Notes:

I've spent more time than I'd like to admit trying to fix any grammar and spelling errors in this long story... but I know there still are some. If you spot one, please notify me