Chapter 4: Spot Me
Shadow and I would normally get our month leave in a couple of weeks, but we were in the middle of a war now. The Enclave was attacking Hatsevoir Mountain for resources. The reason it is a war was due to the not-so-friendly flock of griffins that lived on the mountain. It wasn't so much of a war as it was shoot-the-near-defenseless-griffin-for-their-gems. It was wrong. As far as I knew, we hadn't even tried diplomacy. Despite my thoughts on it, orders were orders. Shadow and I would snipe from a cloud 700 meters out.
We arrived at our location 45 minutes early, as per norm. It was about 4 in the morning based on the sun, but after Celestia passed, it was always hard to tell. Our power armor that had been provided was stiff from the chill of the early morning. Our mission today was to stop bomb carts from reaching friendly positions 500 meters south of our location. The hostiles were assumed to approach around 0700, 1500, and 2100 hours. Shadow and I set up adjacent to each other. I set up my spotter scope. It was a 21x zoom, built in with a wind gauge and S.A.T.S. (Stable Assisted Targeting System). It was a dull job, sniping, but we (more so, I than Shadow) needed to stay focused so we didn't miss anything.
It was around 0630 when the first cart showed up into view. I peered dow the sight.
"647 meters out, 50 degrees left, wind of 5 kph to the south. S.A.T.S. says 43% chance to hit torso."
"Horsespples." Shadow squeezed off a round. The bullet hit it's mark. The griffin went limp and the bomb cart fell beneath the cloud cover. The next few hours were well spent. I spotted sparrows as they flew around 300 meters out and Shadow shit them with his silencer attached to the barrel. We stopped at 1300 to prep for the next cart. It wasn't as much of a cart as it was a giant metal machine of death. In stature, it looked to be around 40 meters high, and 70 meters long. It also had 3 smaller ones chugging along on its sides and back. The shape reminded me of blimps from the pre-war times and currently of our Thunderhead Battle Platforms. I peered back down my sight. "1200 meters out. To hell with what direction it is, and wind speed of 7 kph east. S.A.T.S. Isn't even picking it up."
I was pissed at whoever had collected out intel. There was no way that we were taking that down short of a miracle.
"Watch this." Shadow lined up, then shot. A few seconds later, the war blimp fell from the sky in a spiraling fashion, also knocking the smaller blimps out of the sky. It took me a few moments, but then... "Holy. Fucking. Fuck. You shot the pilot out of the fucking blimp! How the hell did you do that?!"
"The sparrows warmed me up." I knew there was something more behind it. I didn't press though, considering it probably concerned his past. That was something neither of us wanted to ask about really, regardless to how much we wanted to know about each other.
After the war-blimp, the day felt boring. We sucessfully shot down the third cart at the time it was supposed to come. I guess the intel pony wasn't completely worthless. When we arrived back at base, there was General Spectrum. He always had a knack for finding out where I was. And when he was looking for me, he wanted something. As the general drew near, Shadow and I stood at attention next to each other and saluted with our left wing. "Sir!"
"At ease gentlemen. Major Sparkle, you and Officer Shot have a new mission. In 72 hours, you are to be the diplomats for the Enclave and negotiate the terms of surrender in the Griffin's military base atop Hatsevoir Mountain. You will be going in without armor or weapons. We will have armed guard escort you to the objective point. Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir!" we said in sync.
Spectrum cantered off.
"Well...we have 2 days on base with nothing to do." Shadow looked bored already.
"C'mon! I guess you didn't notice that there is a weight room. We are going to have plenty of fun. The only thing I ask, is that you spot me when we lift, because that's happening." I glanced in the rough direction of the weight room.
Shadow lowered his voice. "Is that a challenge?"
"It is if you are accepting. Yes." I smirked back at him. "Unless you're simply a little filly..." I held his gaze. Shadow poked my chest with his hoof. "You're on." "Bitch." he added. This was going to be good. We decided that the looser of the lift-off was paying for three rounds of shots. Then we would play pool. The winner was determined by whoever squatted the most weight. You did five reps for a set, then the next pony either matches, or increases. If the previous pony matched, you had to increase.
Shadow showed up around 15 minutes late, which was strange and unlike him. No matter. It had given me more time to stretch and psych up. When he did show up, he seemed short of breath. Perhaps it was a warmup prep I hadn't thought of before. "You ready to pump iron?" Shadow asked. I beamed. This was going to be exciting.
"Hell yes. Where were you? I said that we would start in five minutes from now and to show up 15 early."
"I thought I would just make it. Guess I'm faster than I thought." I think he was missing the point. Or avoiding his reasoning. It didn't change the fact that he was here now. The weights were an interesting mechanism. They are designed to hold clouds, then condense them to water to make them heavy when lifting and easy to transport when switching or not lifting. For some odd reason, we had built up quite the crowd with just the 2 warmup sets. I guess it was a good thing too. All the specialists offered to switch weight for us. I decided to set a moderate standard. "Set me up with 195." The soldiers set up the weights and I went to work on ripping out the five reps. It was easy. Joining the Enclave had significantly strengthened me. Shadow decided that was child's play. "Give me 250." Shadow said blatantly. He destroyed the reps like an obese pony to cake. I raised him 50. He increased by 25, then I by 15. We kept going until 475. The two of us were gassed. I barely managed to march him. He only increased by five the next set. I looked over the crowd, dazed from exhaustion, and thought I noticed a specific blond mane... No, we were on a military base. Civilians weren't allowed. I decided it was time to go big or go buy the shots now. "Let's do 500."
"You sure about that Halcyon? You struggled with the last set." Shadow sounded like he was mocking me. I got under the bar and lifted it to my back. It was really heavy. I barely managed to rack the weight after dusting out five reps. I was determined. I knew that Shadow had seen the new fire in my eyes. He smiled slightly, got under the bar, did two reps, then collapsed to the ground on the 3rd. The catch bars only barely managed to stop all of the weight from cascading down upon him. He dropped on purpose. He was clever in how he did it, other than he didn't actually have the struggle written in his eyes. He had meant to drop. Everypony cheered for my victory. I guess I was the only one to catch the flop. I'd had pressed the matters later, but the soldiers that hadn't already cleared, parted into a path, leading straight from me, to Summerfly. But, how did she get in? More importantly, how did she learn about the lift off? "Ummm...Hey, how are you Summer?" I decided to let that question work it's way in.
"Oh, just fine. Yourself?" Summerfly seemed uncomfortable in front of the other soldiers.
"I'm great. Let's go elsewhere to talk. Follow me. I know a great place," I turned and addressed the soldiers in the room. "and I'm not speaking to any of you." they laughed. "Dismissed." the ponies started to file out of the room. When it was empty, save Summer and me, I opened the back window. "The roof is always quiet and empty. Let's go there." I jumped out and hovered while waiting for Summer. She jumped out after me and I led her to the roof. It was about three stories above the cloud level of the base and had a platform large enough to land a couple of raptors. We landed on the roof and didn't speak for a few minutes. I just stared into those magnificent eyes of hers with a small smile on my face. I was surprised when she spoke first. "Your friend Shadow Shot found me and told me to come at once. I assumed the worst, but it was simply a lot of testosterone in one place..." she looked down as to impose a cuter appearance about her.
"That's why he was late." I chuckled a bit. "Figures. I talk about you so often you were probably a breeze to find."
"I was at home. I'm guessing that he read my address from one of your letters. He didn't read any did he?" she sounded slightly worried.
"The letters are censored both ways sending and receiving by the mail ponies. I thought you knew that." Summerfly blushed a deep red. "I'm just playing. No need for them to be censored at the time being. I don't know anything key to our success, so they will not censor my mail. Especially after one pony rushed to my desk after reading one. He looked so embarrassed. After that, I had all the mail delivered directly to my box and paid a few extra caps to have the mail ponies deliver my replies straight to you." She flushed again. I saw that I was in control of the conversation now. It would be awkward for her to speak. I decided that my agenda didn't consist of talking until we were a little farther from the base. I lifted her chin with my wing so that she was looking into my eyes. I held her gaze for a moment, then brushed some stray mane back behind her ear with my wing. I looked for another half second, then moved my head slowly towards hers, closed my eyes and kissed her. It only lasted a second, but it felt... different kissing her... like it was meant to be, however cheesy that sounds. As the kiss ended, she followed my lips, wishing for it to continue. "I-I'm sorry, we should wait. I don't have your fathers, or mothers consent to be dating you, and this is a military base and civilians aren't allowed. I am, however, inclined to escort you home." I felt bad for ending the moment. I wanted more of it. It felt almost wrong to stop. But it was the right thing to do. Summerfly looked slightly disappointed, but held and understanding look. She nodded and walked to the edge of the roof. "You must be mistaken. I am walking you all the way out and home. Walking." I had another trick up my sleeve still.
"And why would that be, soldier buck?" she questioned playfully. I guessed it was around 0400 hours now.
"Because New Haven is to the east if here and the sun raises in about an hour and a half from now. We would be walking into the sunrise." It sounded real cliché, but she fell all over it. Summer practically welded herself to my side. I put my wing around her body and walked her outside the base. The whole way, her head nuzzled softly on my chest.
The next hour went by quickly. But as I had promised, we were soon walking into the sunrise. It was so beautiful, the sun. The way all that clouds seemed to dance around in vibrant pinks, purples, and blues was astonishing. I was compelled by it's beauty to kiss Summerfly again. Accept, longer because we weren't in danger of anypony mocking us on the base. I didn't want the moment to end this time. I let it go until she stopped for air. "Halcyon, there is something I have been meaning to ask you." she sounded worried. I hoped that she hadn't put the pieces of my past together, for her sake, yet.
"You can ask me anything and get an honest answer from me." I tried to keep my face in the same cool fashion it was, trying not to spoil my worry for the question.
"Please, for me, don't go anywhere near the battle. I know its not your decision ultimately, but if you are given the choice to, please, don't say yes."
"Hey, I could never dream of doing that to you. You, Shadow and Cloud are all I have left and..." I had let on to more than I had meant to. Shit. I looked away. It pained me to think of this again. The horror of the secret behind the death of my parents. "Oh my goddesses. I'm so sorry. I really had no clue." Summerfly was spouting now. I quieted her fretting and kissed her cheek. "There is no way you could have known. In fact, I think the only ponies that do know are the police. Let's get you home so you can sleep. I don't want your parents worrying." I wrapped my wing around her again, only, hers was under mine. Our wings crossed between us and enveloped into a hug of their own. When I walked her up the steps, an orange pony stepped out. He had a brown mane and the same hazel eyes as Summerfly. "Sorry for being out so late, dad." She put on a weak smile. However, the pony kept his gaze locked on me. So, I stood up at attention. I was thankful I had put on my standard uniform before taking Summer home. "And who the hell might you be, young soldier?" He was rather defensive of his daughter. This was standard though. Dad was playing tough to intimidate me. I guessed it would be best to play nice, but formal. "I am Major Halcyon Sparkle, sir. It's an honor to meet you."
"Major, huh? Say, you're pretty young for that title, aren't you?" I see. Dad was a clever one. I could play that game too. "Yessir, I turned 19 not too long ago." Dad was still not impressed. If he was, which I'm assuming he was, he had some practice hiding his true emotion.
"Well, how can I believe you?" Dad wasn't believing me. Time to change that.
"Sir, if you wish to see my uniform as proof, be my guest. If you still don't believe me, I would be inclined to contact General Spectrum to see that you are sent a copy of my commendation."
"Well, now that I know who you are, I suppose you should know who I am." The orange pony loosened his appearance and relaxed. I had been accepted. "I am Summerfly's father, Westwind. And if you would be so inclined to come inside, I would like you to meet my wife."
"I would love to, sir." I stepped forward.
"No, please, call me Mr. Wind."
"If you insist, Mr. Wind." He smiled, and we stepped into the house. I was instantly overwhelmed by the aroma of breakfast being cooked. By the smell if it, it was coffee cake. A personal favorite of mine. Mr. Wind spoke into the kitchen. "Honey, we have guests." A completely white mare with blue eyes stepped into the living room. "Halcyon, this is my wife, Winter Rush." I nodded my head in her direction. "Ma'am."
"Ah, you're just as charming as Summer said you were. I've heard so much of you. Oh, where are my manners, please sit down and join us for breakfast. We are having coffee cake!"
I took another sniff at the air. There was a strong presence of peaches in it too. Damn. I was going to regret this. "I would love to join you in eating the lovely peach coffee cake you are making, but I should really get back to base. I am going to receive hell from the officers and sergeants for being out so ling as is. I'm not on my leave for another month or so."
"I never said anything about it being peach coffee cake, did I?" Mrs. Rush looked worried. I knew it was because she feared that I hated peaches.
"No, I could smell it. It smells so good, but I really should go, as much ad it pains me. Take care. It was nice to meet the both if you." I walked out the door after waving goodbye. Summerfly trotted back up to me before I got to far, "One for the road?" she asked. I accepted the departure kiss in front of her parents, returned the gift, then flew off to the base.
When I returned, word had spread of my 'undying love' for the sexiest mare anypony had ever seen. In reality, all jokes were made out of jealousy. The way everypony teased made it quite obvious. They were just trying to get a laugh in. I spent 15 hours sleeping because I lacked rest from my excitement between the sniping mission and Summerfly. I woke up at around 2100 hours and ate a late supper before deciding to try to sleep again. I woke up at about 0300 to a strange sensation. The room was pitch dark but I felt something was in the room with me. As subtly as possible, I turned my head to face the rest of the room. The air tasted foul, and there was no noise except for the ringing in my ears from the silence and the sound of my heart beat. The room looked completely normal, other than a transparent silhouette in the shape of a pony near my bed, slowly drawing nearer now that I wasn't moving. The breaths were nearly quiet, but erratic, as if he were nervous. The scuffing of its hooves ever so quiet because of the stealth field created by the stealthbuck. I stayed still until whatever it was was right over top of me. I played the worst case scenario in my head. It was an assassin trying to kill me. Best case scenario, it was a soldier pulling a prank. Better act for worst. I slid off of my bed and swept the legs out from underneath the attacker then drove both fore-hooves to the rough location of the attacker's chest, but only lightly enough to knock out their wind, not crush the trachea. I felt a satisfying release of pressure and heard a slight gasp for air. I got off of the attacker. "Reveal yourself!" I challenged. There was a flush of color at my feat and a pony lay, gasping for air. Best case. "I expect a full report explaining your actions tonight after you recover in the infirmary." I called the medical ponies to my room, but ad I turned around, I notices the pony pointing at something. (Either that or he just fell that way). I looked at my bed and noticed a knife sticking out from the floor just beside it. Worst scenario. Even worse, the attacker was still in the building. Fuck, they were going to attack Shadow next. I raced to his room just in time to see that he was gagged and had his wings bound. Shadow was promptly thrown our the window and was caught by another unseen force that slowly pulled him up higher and higher. I followed as fast as my wings would carry me until there was almost no air left to breathe. Shadow stopped ascending, then a griffin tore a mask from it's face. It was the strongest looking griffin I had ever seen and it was at least twice as tall as I was. "Drop him. Now!" I couldn't think straight. This griffin had what little left that I considered family in his claws.
The griffin glowered. "Poor word choice." he lifted Shadow over his head, and threw him down. "NO!" I bolted after Shadow. I didn't think it was possible to move so fast. But Shadow had an unfortunate lead on me by a good 50 meters. I needed to go faster. I closed my eyes. I couldn't let him die. I wouldn't. He was one of only three that gave me strength to continue living with myself. I couldn't let him go. I won't. I opened my eyes. And pushed faster. I felt an energy pulse around me as I continued gathering speed. I ignored it. Shadow dropped through the cloud cover with me only trailing by a few meters now. I broke through the clouds and saw that Shadow had been struck by lightning. His limp body plummeted down towards the depths of the ocean below. Rage pumped in my veins. I couldn't take it anymore. The energy buildup had started to hurt and burn my hooves. I let out a yell of pain, both physical and mental. What followed next, I can only describe as a sound that nearly blew out my eardrums, and me moving fast enough that after hearing it, I had rainbows spewing from my flank and I got to hear the sound of a sonic rainboom, my sonic rainboom, twice. I shot back up through the cloud cover and angled myself on a crash collision course with the griffin that had thrown Shadow. With Shadow in hoof, I smashed into the left wing if the griffin, knocking me unconscious, and tearing the griffin's wing into 800 little different pieces of gore. The last thing I remembered of that night was being caught and saved. I was too tired and hurt to care any further.