Thunderbolt looks over to you and then asks, "We're not going to end up taking care of Lilya are we?"
"We shouldn't. Morgan should be able to figure it out."
"I hope you're right Rex, I'd say when have I ever steered you wrong, but you've got examples. So how about just have a little faith. I know she can do it." You say as Thunder gives you a questioning look, while Falken is staring at the left over's of Morgan's burrito.
"Do you think she'll eat that?"
"I don't think so."
"Could you pass it to me please?"
"Sure." You say as you pass the half eaten burrito to Falken who then proceeds to eat the rest of it, and you can't help but to laugh at him.
"What did I do?"
"You don't eat regular food you said."
"What?"
"You don't eat like a regular pony you said."
"So?"
"What are you doing?"
"Not wasting foo.... Oh You're pointing out the hypocrisy in this situation aren't you?"
"Perhaps, or I'm just giving you crap for not doing what you said you were. Mr. I just need jet fuel." You say with a laugh as Falken looks a little irritated though mostly indifferent that you pointed this out.
"Well, may I continue or are you going to stop me?"
"No, by all means continue." You say letting Falken resume eating the left over's in his usual manner of face first into the plate.
"Now don't break mah plates Falken, otha wise yer payin fer the replacement."
"I understand that KC, please I do not need a reminder of the fact that I have broken a few plates."
"Well, ya should 'ave told tha one Ah charged fer the plates." KC said as you think a little bit and then remember a slight oddity on a bill you got a couple of weeks ago.
"Oh so that's what that weird charge was. Eh, small potatoes."
"What?"
"They're just plates, and they're not expensive, I remember helping you decide on those plates, They were fairly cheap and durable, I'm surprised that Falken managed to break them."
"Heh, Ah don't think Ah could have pulled the shades over yer eyes Rex." KC said with a laugh.
"Yea, though I didn't think you were charging me for broken plates, but whatever it's paid for."
"Heh, it was Sadie's idea ta charge ya Rex instead of havin Falken pay fer the plates."
"Well, that's very ingenious of her, though I'm sure if he needed the money Twilight could front it for him." You say getting a good laugh out of KC.
 
1345 Hrs. Your Hangar.
Morgan put Lilya on the couch while she goes and looks for something to soothe Lilya's stomach.
"Let me see, oh here's something that might help, milk."
"Ugh, really?"
"You want an upset tummy or not?"
"No, I want it to go away."
"Then just drink a little bit of milk." Morgan said as she held a smaller glass out for Lilya to drink from.
After Lilya drank the milk, she did improve in mood a little.
"Well Lilya? Did that help at all?"
"A little, can I have some more?"
"Sure." Morgan said as she filled Lilya's glass up a little more, upon returning the glass to Lilya, it was emptied in a matter of seconds.
"I feel much better now."
"Well, since your mom and dad are going on a little vacation whaddya want to do? I've got board games here, or we can go play outside."
"Let's go play!"
"Okay." Morgan said with a slight giggle in her voice as the two of them went outside to play in the snow.
The two of them spend several hours in the snow as you and Thunderbolt come home to see them building snow ponies, which makes the two of you smile as you both head inside to cuddle, as Thunderbolt needed a bit of warming up. Though later on in the day you begin to build the new radial engines for Glennis' carrier, which in return could get a whole bunch of X-ponies in to the skies again, but that's provided you build these alternative engines. Which besides the fact that you've got to source the parts yourself and it's much cheaper to make them than to buy the parts, you've set your CNC machine to begin making them, or casting what needs to be cast, which you do yourself. But the casting process is time consuming.
Though today you don't have the time to begin the casting process for the 112 cylinders for the four engines is going to take a while. Though the crank cases and the internal workings won't take as long on the CNC which is what you're currently doing for the next few hours until you close up shop and head home. You do plan on getting this done, but it's a side project and all those who come in for regular maintenance you've got to take care of first, which is fine, because after all the internal parts are made, you're waiting on the cylinder heads to be cast. Though that is going to take quite a while.
 
2100 hrs. Your home.
"Lilya, it's time for bed."
"Aww do I have to?"
"Yes, you need to go to bed Lilya."
"But I'm not tired."
"Well, what if I was in the room with you?"
"I'm not tired though."
"How can you not be tired? We made three snow ponies that were twice your size." Morgan said in a minor amazement as she scooted Lilya towards her room which they'd be sharing.
"Wow, looks like Morgan can take care of Lilya." Thunderbolt said as there was a very light knocking at your door.
"I'll get it." You say as you get up, knowing that Thunderbolt won't get the door because well there's snow outside, and you're rather surprised at who you see outside, Luna.
"Luna? What brings you here?"
"My sister hath sent me."
"Of course she did, come in, there's no point in you being cold." You say letting Luna inside instead of having her stand in the doorway.
"Has Ark lost an F-5 in the area?"
"If he has I haven't heard about it."
"Rex, what do you actually know about it? I do not care as to where it actually is."
"Well, I wasn't lying when I said I didn't know he crashed it, I thought he took it to Sand Island. Did he crash it somewhere?"
"Nay, that is what he hath told my sister."
"Oh, then it's out in Sand Island."
"Tis what I thought. What is on the black box?"
"A massive joke, it should play provided Ark didn't tamper with the thing corrupting the shit out of the data." You say
"When he gave it to Celestia, it was highly damaged."
"Damn, I guess someone tried to make it look like he really did bail out. So what do you think of this?"
"I think my sister shall not be pleased by this."
"Of course she won't. Can you at least find a little bit of humor in this?"
"If you are behind what is on that box, then yes, there is humor in it."
"Yea, Ark's just the delivery boy, and ya know what? I don't have the F-5, just the original black box, I just didn't want her to have it as well."
"That is intriguing as she did not want you to have it either."
"I just wanted the black box. It only confirmed that me bailing out was the only option for me to survive." You say completely uncensored to Luna.
"Well my sister shall not hear a word of this."
"That was given Luna, since you find as much joy in my torment of her as I do."
"She can't banish you anywhere but your own kingdom, there is not much she could do to thou."
"Yea, makes it easy for me to get away with insulting her. Oh, if she does ask what I said, officially I said I may cooperate, though you still ether need to chill out or eat a dick Sunbutt."
"I shan't be passing that message along."
"Oh come on."
"I shall not. Tis far too vulgar for me to say." Luna said as you give her a blank stare, you've heard her swear, primarily things that Morgan taught her.
"And what my daughter taught you is not?"
"I thought I hath asked thy not to bring it up?"
"You did, but not willing to tell your sister that I say go eat a dick?"
"Yes, because it is I who must calm her anxiety." Luna said as you start to laugh which gets her to laugh too, you knew saying that to her flusters the hell out of Celestia, but you didn't know it gave her anxiety attacks, which means you've got to say this far more often, and perhaps excessively to Celestia. Your number one goal, other than maintaining a peace was to bother Celestia, just as long as you manage to keep the peace as well
So after inviting Luna in you two talk while Morgan's put Lilya to bed and then comes out for a second.
"Hey Luna, what are you doing here?"
"I am here on request of my sister."
"Of course you are."
"Yes, you two know her quite well."
"Unfortunately well." Morgan said rolling her eyes as she was standing in the hallway as you both are looking down towards Luna.
"Care to stay the night?"
"I cannot, I only came bearing a message. I truly wish I could."
"Shame. Lilya's staying with us for a couple of days, I'm sure Morgan will walk you out." You say as you walk back to Thunderbolt who's snoring lightly.
"I kind of wish you could stay."
"I know, tis very kind of your family to offer me lodgings here in your home."
"Oh, it's no biggie to us, I mean you're smaller than us, so there's really not much to worry about except stepping on you, which normally doesn't happen." Morgan said as they talked in the hallway.
"I shall be going before thy sister thinks you hath captured me."
"Alright, well I won't keep you anymore. I'll come visit you after Lilya goes back to her parents okay?"
"Yes, that shall be fine." Luna said as she now departed from your home.
 
"Wow, Lilya has a lot of energy, nowhere near as much as me, but, she's kind of making me tired."
"She's a foal, of course she's full of energy. Whatddya expect a nice complacent foal like Falken?"
"I don't know what I was expecting." Morgan said with a little laugh. You laugh too as you also didn't know what to expect from Lilya, except for cuteness, questions you shouldn't answer, and giving her things that her parents don't.
"Well, she's still young Morgan, so I'd expect anything, and I'm sure we're going to end up giving her things we're not supposed to."
"Yea, I think that's happening, though it seems like she wants whatever I've got though."
"Looks like someone's got someone who looks up to her." You say as you wipe away some of the dribble from Thunder's face.
"Really? You think Lilya looks up to me?"
"Yea, I think so Morgan." You say getting an excited giggle out of Morgan.
"Oh, that's Ahhh! She's adorable!" Morgan said as she worked herself up over such a young admirer.
"Yea, ain't that something, just don't work yourself up into trying to show off for her, just be normal, be yourself."
"Uhh thanks dad, heh heh, may have gotten a little carried away." Morgan said as you just shake your head and smile.
"A little is one way to put it"
"Daaad!"
"Just teasing ya Morgan"
"Well don't okay?"
"Yea, your mom's out, I'll probably fall asleep out here again anyways. You should get to sleep, who knows what Lilya's going to want to do tomorrow" You say as Thunderbolt shifts and halfway pushes you down onto the couch with a mumbling of warm
"Well, looks like mom wants to cuddle, so I'll leave you two alone."
"Yea, see ya in the morning Morgan. Please try to get me up somewhat early, I have a whole bunch of engines to make, and I do mean make. Guess who decided to scratch build R-4360s?"
"You did. Why the Pratt & Whitney?"
"Because they don't use magnesium in the crank case." You say as you yourself are starting to get tired
"Oh so they don't start on fire like the Curtiss-Wright radials?"
"Yup, the exact reason." You say as Morgan smiles then disappears into her room. Falken hasn't left his so there's not much to worry about. so you pass out
 
0700 Hrs. Your hangar
Morgan wakes you up, as asked, and you get up and make breakfast for everyone. Waffles, and when Lilya comes running into the kitchen after Morgan told her there was food, she just stares at the food with a confused look on her face
"What is this?"
"They're waffles."
"What are waffles?"
"Pancakes made in a different way."
"So they're really weird blintzes?"
"Uh, no a blintz is different Lilya. This is more like uh a potato pancake without the potato."
"Oh, so do I have to eat it?" Lilya asked as she poked at the waffles stacked on a plate while Morgan was just eating them.
"No, I can make something else if you'd like."
"Yes please. Mommy usually makes blintzes."
"Oh, that's gonna be a stretch, but let's see if I can do it, they probably won't be as good as your momma's, they're gonna take a while."
"I can wait." Lilya said as for now the next thirty minutes you attempt to make blintzes and you fail miserably. You're now partially covered in flour and batter, and there's a stack of burnt blintzes and maybe one or two decent ones, which Lilya eats, though she does make a face as she does.
"Yea, I'm sorry, they're not that great."
"It's okay, you tried."
"Yea, I'll leave you in Morgan's capable hooves, I've got to work." You say as you wipe off all the flour and batter before heading out.
That leave the girls to eat their breakfast and decide on what they're going to do today.
"So whatddya want to do today?"
"I dunno, but your dad's terrible at making these."
"He makes what he knows, he at least tried Lilya."
"Yea, uh, do you mind if I have one of the waffles?"
"Go ahead." Morgan said with a smile as Lilya tentatively takes one of the waffles and takes a nibble of it, then proceeds to eat the waffle she took.
"They're good."
"Yea, it's one of the few things dad can make somewhat decently, since he usually relies on Mom for this type of thing." Morgan said as Lilya takes more waffles,
"Don't give yourself a stomach ache."
"I won't I'm kind of full anyways." Lilya said as she put down a half eaten waffle.
 
0730 Hrs. Your shop.
You've made 28 of the casting molds for the cylinders, but that's only for one engine. But those who come in for regular maintenance keep you from working on the project.
Today's first pony who decides to interrupt your side project is Bear, and he wants his engines re balanced.
"Bear, why the hell did you take up half the damned day's slots."
"Little man, I needings turbines balanced."
"Alright, want your gearboxes rebuilt since I'm in there?"
"Nyet, gearboxes fine."
"They're attached to the turbines Bear, I'm going to have to rebuild them anyways." You say as you prepare to do a lot of hard labor today. You sigh as you take off the panels to his turbines and begin to work on them one by one. Though the nice thing of having this robot, you don't have to use the overhead crane as much. It also means that you can work a little faster and with more precision than before, which makes rebuilding turbines go that much faster.
 
1237hrs Your shop.
You're halfway through rebuilding Bear's turbines when you have to stop for lunch.
"Okay Bear, it's lunch, go get something to eat and then come back."
"Da. Back in thirty."
"Yea, have fun Bear." You say as you go and get back to work on some of the castings molds. though you only manage to make another and make one or two full castings of the cylinders for the radials before Bear comes back for you to finish your work, which you have to do.
"We continuings yes?"
"Yea, we're continuing Bear, gimme a minute."
"What you doings?"
"Well, I was trying to make the cylinders for four radials I'm building from scratch, but it's whatever, it's a side project more than anything else." You say as you being to work on his other two engines.
"For what comrade?"
"Bear, it's a side project to get a B-29 who's job is to carry ponies up into the sky back into the air on Pratt & Whitney engines rather than her standard Curtiss-Wrights."
"Upgradings pony da?"
"Yes, upgrading her. In a sense, they're actually the other radials meant for her."
"You not charging for them?"
"Bear, I struck a deal with somepony, one that puts a hell of a lot of ponies back into the air. So, that's my payment." You say with a bit of excitement in your voice as you manage to finish up at 1600 hrs.
"Spasiba comrade."
"Yea, you owe me Bear."
"Da, monies comings soon."
"Don't jew me Bear."
"What is jewing?"
"Never mind, just remember that you've got to pay me, or I'll take a turbine from you." You say getting a laugh out him for the completely idle threat. The Tupolev family always pays up, albeit a little late. Though the American families are much worse, some manage to pay you that day, and others, well they're about 60 thousand bits in debt. One that never ceased to impress you for being on time with payments was the Messerschmitt, Junkers, and Heinkel families. At least the German ponies paid on time, or at least figured out a way to pay you over time. without incurring to much debt.
 
2055 Hrs. Your shop.
It's now an hour past closing time for you, and you're still working on making molds and casting the cylinders. Though you've only managed to make 14, half of one complete engine, and not to mention you've still got the crank cases to cast and those are four large things to do.
When 2100 rolls around Morgan comes to drag you home.
"Dad come home."
"Busy working Morgan, come back later."
"Dad, mom wants you home now."
"So," You say as you turn to her.
"I suppose you're here to drag me off in a magical carriage."
"Dad stop playing around come home, mom wants you."
"You're gonna have to drag me Morgan"
"Fine" Morgan said and gave you a light hit to the face, which stunned you momentarily but long enough for her to have pushed you out
"I got you out, now come on dad, Mom wants you."
"Yea, she's probably cold."
"She set the thermostat to 98. The snow is melting off of our roof and creating a huge ice patch around our home."
"Fuck, well, that's not good. How's Lilya doing?"
"She's doing great. Does everything I ask her to do. Even eating things she normally doesn't just because I eat them. Isn't that a little odd?"
"Aww she really does look up to you Morgan." You say as your face stings a tiny bit from where Morgan hit you, but it's negligible damage and pain. Morgan only made sounds of cuteness and being overwhelmed by the fact that Lilya looks up to her.
"I know isn't it great?"
"For you yes it is my dear, remember to be yourself."
"Yea, though mom was a bit worried when she sent me for you."
"Wonder why. Not like I ever leave Avalon's Shadow, even if I do, where am I gonna go? I'd go and visit Luna and maybe egg a statue of Celestia." You say with a laugh from both you and Morgan.
"Yea, that's definitely something we'd do."
"Yea, and something we shouldn't teach Lilya." You say as you open the door to your hangar and let Morgan in first, and when you walk in you're rather surprised to see Luna again, so soon after her last message.
"Rex, I hath a vital task for thy."
"Okaaay, so why are all of you lookin at me like that?"
"There hath been an incident in Garuda."
"So?" You ask as your mind is not focused on what they're asking you so you're not putting things together at a rapid pace as usual.
"Rex, have you not listened to the news at all?"
"Been busy dear. What's up?"
"There was a crash out at the Garuda air port. Wasn't a plane pony."
"Fuck one of the smiths went down didn't they?"
"Rex, it was the GLEX."
"What the fuck..... what the absolute fuck? How in the god damned world did that thing go down?" You say in a quiet but very angry tone.
"My sister hath investigated the crash, and she hath found that it was pilot error due to poor maintenance." Luna said getting your attention
"That's...... that's impossible. I was the last one to touch that plane, it was immaculate, everything was up to date with the AD's, life limited parts were good for another two years, no, that's not right, that plane was in near brand new condition. No, it's maintenance was not a damned problem. Ark.. he couldn't have crashed it could he?" You say in a bit of confusion as this was a challenge to your skills yet again.
"I have the black box for thee to review."
"Let's crack that bitch open. I want to see why that bird went down." You say as Luna produces the black box and you find the equipment to read it from storage in your home.
 
Twenty minutes later your entire family plus Luna have reviewed the preliminary data from the black box, there's still much more in it, but with a data processor like Falken, that's only going to take a matter of minutes.
 
"Dad, I have data showing what appears to be a total engine failure."
"Go ahead Falken."
"What I am seeing in this data is a complete failure of the oiling system, both turbines seized without warning, there was normal pressure, but apparently no flow."
"What the hell? Hydraulics don't make any sense either. There was adequate flow until about here, in the flight, five minutes before landing, then poof, it's gone. No pressure." You say as you're looking at the projections on the wall.
"Dad, the main gear of the plane didn't deploy."
"Morgan, what witnesses were there said only the nose wheel hath deployed." Luna said as you cringe at that thought.
"Rex, these don't make any sense at all, how can something like this happen?"
"I dunno, but just the nose, the damned thing snapped in half, which explains the loss of data here, here and here. Engine, hydraulic and control sensors all gone, this is when the poor bird finally died. Was there..." You say trailing off a little
"Nopony was onboard Rex except for Ark."
"Son of a bitch." You say under your breath as Luna told you who was aboard the plane.
"His condition?"
"Critical, stable, and sedated. Though he is unresponsive."
"This is no incident, someone tampered with the aircraft. There shouldn't be these failures so close to each other. Jesus H Christ, Ark got fucked up in the crash." You say as reality sets in on what happened most likely today while you were a shut in.
"And what of Belle?"
"She's in shock, very conflicted on what to do.She is very distraught as she hath not left his side since."
"My god, who would go through the lengths of tampering with his aircraft like that? And to make sure that I don't find it. I'm guessing you weren't given that black box were you Luna?"
"You are correct, I hath smuggled it to thee."
"Then if your sister said something completely wrong, something's not right here. Luna, you'll need to investigate if I do, it's gonna be a red flag to your sister." You say as you're now immeasurably angry. All of this over one little useless plane. A plane you did not want her to have and she did not want you to even remember
"Rex, I shall investigate what my sister hath done, if you think the damage done to Ark's craft to be caused by tampering, then there is a reason to investigate. I thought I should hath thee review thy data recorder for an accurate picture, since thy ponies do not understand these crafts."
"Glad to be of assistance Luna...... I need some time to think." You say as you now walk outside to think for a little bit. Your mind turns to Belle and how she talked so highly of Ark, defending him while you ripped into him for no reason and how much he meant to her. You had to see what you could do for her. If anything at all. Your own projects can wait. This takes priority one, and whoever did this, you're going to make them pay. Not only for your own reputation but for the only commercial pony you've managed to hold a conversation with.