//------------------------------// // Rainbows and Fighter Jets // Story: A Chaotic Adjustment // by OverThoughtBrony //------------------------------// -Chapter Two- ..Rainbows and Fighter Jets.. Joseph threw the book in a small fire place. He looked around the dusty room, which was missing a large portion of wall next to the door. A small bed was pushed headfirst into a corner, the length of the bed placed alongside the longest section of wall… or what was left of it. Pieces of shale, brick and dust that littered the floor crunched as Joseph stepped out into the cool, Canadian where two other brick cabins (or at least a few remnants of what was; walls and trashed beds) were stationed on either side of his, forming a straight line that spread across the top of a tall hill. Joseph looked out to see snow covered Canadian forests layed out onto large, rolling hills. He went back into the room, grabbed a large green duffel bag, slung it over his shoulder and left the journal to burn in that cold dusty building. Joseph didn’t remember why he was stationed in Canada, of all places; he always thought Canada was more neutral and harmless. He started to trudge down the hill as the snow crunched beneath his feet and he suddenly lost his footing, sliding down the hill. He ran his leg into a fir tree and dropped his bag. When he recovered, Joseph noticed something; a note written on the duffel bag done in black marker. It read, “Jet, John and I had to leave; don’t worry, we are going to Toronto. Don’t follow us and get out of the country. They will be after you. -Your Wingmen, Hype and Streaks” Joseph put the duffle bag on the ground as he sat back on the side of the hill. John and Fred left me here with no clues of what was going on except for the word “they”. Who is they and why would they be after me? Oh well… Joseph stood up and kept moving as the cold, crisp air bit at his flesh and seeped through his clothes. Joseph knew where to go. It was where he had wanted to go all his life but could never find an excuse… this seemed like a good excuse. Joseph searched his bag and found a compass. He put the compass away as soon as he got the feel of the directions, turned on his heel and headed west. I’m going to Australia. One year later (present day). January 18, 2017. 1609hrs. Sydney, Australia; Warehouse 265 Joseph was currently 20 years of age and was also used to the “7” dream by now… it has been happening once a day. Joseph Harris, wearing a white lab coat with jeans and a black shirt beneath, stood in the middle of the large, dimly lit warehouse with a bed in one corner, a white rectangular table which was parallel to the wall, and an odd suit in the middle which was on a special stand. He was staring at the suit which had no legs, but a metal board with what looked like foot holes. It had two large shining black wings, shining arm sleeves and an odd thick-necked head, but no head. It was a suit used to fly without hollow bones, therefore not having to suck any marrow out (which was a much less painful alternative). The neck’s thickness was due to a G-depressing device which would mean being able to accomplish aerial maneuvers without dying from a red-out which is like a black-out but caused by too much blood to the brain instead of not enough. Joseph walked over to a table behind him which sat between the machine and the wall; it held a large jar of rainbow colored glowing liquid and a complex but small machine. The liquid shifted colors in constant waves. He had figured out how to do the sonic rain-boom; it can be done with a highly radioactive material that is lightly rubbed on the machine, but never on the skin. He doesn’t know what it would do, but he didn’t want to find out. Joseph never really did the sonic rainboom though, for it was only a theory. He had to construct the material his self with a machine that can re-arrange the molecular structures of different substances. It reacts to the air under the pressure that occurs during a sonic boom… or at least that’s what Joseph believed. An odd feeling washed over Joseph so he ran to the machine as a large hole was blown through the wall behind the table and a four-man squad ran in, pointing rifles at Joseph’s head. Pieces of debris and large chunks of brick flew across the room. They were too slow, Joseph was already in his suit. He grabbed the wings’ handles and used the wings as armor as he ran through the men to the hole in the wall. Joseph jumped on the table but slipped, splashing the radioactive material on his legs where he felt a burning sensation. The liquid sprayed across the suit as he recovered and jumped off, spreading his wings and flying over the baffled men’s heads. Joseph spiraled upwards to gain air and flew off. He climbed higher and higher until He felt the altitude getting to me. Joseph pressed a button on the left wing’s handle that activated the oxygen tank and continued to climb until he felt tingling on the back of his neck. Joseph dived just in time for a missile to miss him. He noticed it was a heat guided missile after it had turned around in mid-air. He continued into a nose dive, the air whipping his clothes. Joseph pressed another button on the handle to activate the G-depressing neck device as he plummeted down towards the earth, the missile following close behind. Joseph’s vision started to blur as he blinked tears out of his eyes. A tingling sensation pulsated over his skin as a cone formed around him, bending the air and light, caused by massive amounts of static and speed. Joseph doubled in speed and heard the distinct sound of a sonic boom as he ripped through the sound barrier. shudders traveled through his suit and he heard a disturbing static sound coming from the g-depressor on his neck. The metallic black feathers shrieked in the wind as a few flew off, spiraling through the air. Joseph looked up over his shoulder to see the bright ring of fiery rainbow colors spread across the sky in a massive shockwave, causing the missile to detonate which shot hot shrapnel that whizzed past Joseph’s ear. Car alarms sounded below and the Sydney people by the water started watching, amazed by the brilliant colors and explosion. Other passerby’s screamed, however, while windows shattered and the water below began to ripple and churn. Joseph pulled off an unnatural 90-degree turn just in time to avoid plunging into the water, and continued forward, a faint rainbow following him. The feeling was exhilarating. Joseph looked over his shoulder again to see a jet following him above the water. He rose quickly into the air above the clouds to prepare for another rainboom, hoping that his gear wouldn't malfunction again. Joseph then darted back downwards by pulling back his wings and plummeted toward the water. Soon, he had the same feeling he had before. The cone formed around him for a second time, the electric tendrils playing around his face and wings. Joseph felt the cone condense and narrow right before he hit the water where he continued to speed up. The cone exploded but the rainboom’s colors only danced around him like fire and started to pulsate in a ball that surrounded him as the colors brightened and heated up, causing the water to churn. There was a few moments of silence, except for the light hum of the fighter jet hovering above the water. The water started to churn and bubble, as if boiling, when the surface burst, sending Joseph flying out of the water and creating a small mushroom cloud explosion of rainbow colors and mist. Many of the citizens screamed and ran off when the colors burst through the sky and rammed into buildings by the water. The shockwave knocked a few people down, but others continued watching intently. Any windows that were left unharmed were now shattered. Water splashed up onto the road, drenching people. The Jet lunged to the side and flew out of control towards the squad of men who were now paralyzed by both fear and astonishment. Joseph turned around in the air, and sped to the squad of men, pushing them out of the way. The men flew like rag dolls as the jet crashed into his warehouse, causing half of the large stone building to cave in. The men were out cold so Joseph took the suit which was making more odd noises and sought out to find the jet plane in the wreckage that used to be his warehouse. Earlier in Ponyville (January 17, 2012. 11:14am) Rainbow Dash yawned and stretched her wings and legs as she walked out of her cloud home to check her mail, even though she never got much mail. She still checked, you know… just in case the Wonderbolts mail her about joining their team. Excitement washed over Rainbow Dash as she saw something in the dark box. She pulled it out only to find an old book. She hung her head in disappointment and turned it to look at the cover. Her heart skipped a beat and her stomach did a flip as she saw what was on the cover. Not even rushing inside to get her saddlebag, Rainbow Dash flew off of her cloud in the direction of Twilight’s library, holding the book in her mouth. Alright. Gotta keep your cool, Dash, Thought Rainbow Dash as she knocked at the library’s door, careful not to seem too anticipating. Spike opened the door, rubbing his eyes tiredly. “Oh, hey, Rainbow Dash. You here to see Twilight?” asked the small dragon, suddenly less lethargic. “Yeah, Spike. Can you get her for me?” Rainbow accidentally dropped the book out of her mouth onto the dirt as she said this. “Here, come on in. I’ll get her.” Rainbow Dash picked the book back up and followed Spike into the library. He walked upstairs to get Twilight. Apparently she was still asleep. That’s odd, Thought Rainbow Dash. She’s usually awake earlier than this… She heard Spike tell Twilight that Rainbow Dash was waiting for her downstairs, followed by incomprehensible but irritated mumbling. Soon after, Spike walked down the stairs, followed by a weary-eyed Twilight. “Hey, Rainbow,” said Twilight with a weary face. “What do you need?” Rainbow Dash dropped a book in front of Twilight, face down. “I found this book in my mail but I don’t feel like reading it. It seems too boring,” replied the cyan pegasus. Secretly, she was afraid to read it. She really did not know what was inside, the dreams were bad enough. Regardless of these feelings, she did not want Twilight or Spike to know of the dreams. Actually, she didn’t want anyone to know the dreams she has been having nearly every night… she didn’t want them to think she was actually afraid of a stupid dream… even though she was. Twilight picked up the book and set it on a table by the wall. “Okay Rainbow, I’ll read it later,” said Twilight, slightly irritated by her friend’s arrogance towards books. “Kay, thanks Twi. I’ll see you later,” and with that, Rainbow Dash dashed out of the room, leaving a rainbow in her wake. “What was that about,” asked Spike, raising an eyebrow as the rainbow faded. “I don’t know, Spike,” said Twilight, yawning, “she’s unpredictable…” replied Twilight, walking to the kitchen to get breakfast. Back on Earth… The jet plane hadn’t been buried completely by the rubble of the warehouse; Joseph found it going through the back wall by the alley. The wall was collapsed and only the nose was exposed. He ran over to it to discover that it was only a drone. Irritated, Joseph went back outside to take the men’s weapons and throw them into the waters. When he was sure they had no more weapons, he started walking back into the alley to further inspect the drone. On the way there, something in the rubble caught his eye. He turned his head to see a small jar of the rainbow-tinted liquid. His legs burned as he remembered his accident inside. He picked it up and placed it in his lab coat. When he approached the drone, he noticed the symbol for the Air Force Special Operations Control on the nose. It was the same unit he was in. “That’s odd…” said Joseph, rubbing the insignia with his hand. He shook his head in dismay. “Oh well.” Joseph, with the jar still in his pocket, walked out of the alley towards the men who were still unconscious, looked over them to find that they weren’t waking up any time soon, and went to strap on the suit. Before he put it on, however, he noticed a red liquid shining off of the black metal near the arm socket joint. A sick feeling washed over him as he stared at the fresh blood. After mustering up the courage, he looked at the back of his right arm to find a gash. He noticed something dull gray in the wound. Oh God, thought Joseph. I’m going to gave to dig that out, aren’t I… Joseph pulled out a pair of larger tweezers from a large pocked on the front of his white coat and carefully positioned it over the wound. Suddenly he lurched into the wound with his left hand, pulled the foreign object out, and threw it on the ground, along with the tweezers. Regardless of the accuracy of which he did the procedure, it still sent a few jolts of pain through his arm, shoulder, and side. After a bit of cursing, he bent over and picked up the gray object. It looked like a piece of shrapnel from the missile earlier. “Damn shrapnel…” Joseph thought out loud. As he picked up the metal and placed it in his pocket. Might as well keep a souvenir from his first (and second) sonic rainboom… and his first missile injury. Joseph tore a piece of the white lab coat off and wrapped it around his wound. That should hold… Joseph put on the mechanical suit, cringing in pain as he slipped his arm through the small metal sleeve, and turned it on by pressing a button which was hidden in a panel on the side of his neck. Thankfully, the machine had stopped making the odd noises. Joseph knew where he was to go, now that they had found him. He made sure the jar and the piece of metal was safe inside his pockets before running, flapping his metallic wings and taking off. He was going to Italy. END OF CHAPTER TWO