The Eternal Wonderbolt Candidates
Chap. 1, Ambush on the horizon
Stratus Cloud banked down, rolling over twice in the air, bringing himself into a tight spiral, small wings fully spread and stiff at his sides.
“Break formation! Break AWAY!!” He ordering out in a screech, managing to grab Nova Front around the chest just as the larger pegasus was about to raise an objection.
The red scaled dragon broke straight though the peeling formation of four pegasi, his claws extended out, to the sides, in an attempt to catch the slowest pony. It's yellow eyes glared viciously as it threw out a widening column of flame.
Derpy and Feather simply dove downwards, wings pulled in tight to their sides, their manes whipping about in the turbulence as they accelerated towards the ground.
“Snap out of it Nova! He's gonna burn us down!!” Stratus barked, his hooves full of the larger captain, his eyes following the three other shapes plummeting earthwards. “We can't pull up; he came from dang blast-it nowhere!” Stratus continued, his soft brown eyes scanning from side to side as he slowed their twisting descent in the air.
“Get it off, get it off!” Came the light, echoing screech of Feather, off in the distance. The white pegasus swerved away from Derpy and darted back and forth, looking over each shoulder in turn, eyes growing wide as the dragon's yellow ones alighted upon her. Another cone of flame descended, the clouds of black smoke around it masking the trajectory of fire-breather's attack.
“Straight for him!” Stratus ordered his superior, dumping him unceremoniously into the air, and taking off without a second thought. Flaring his wings, his edge feathers curling and bending, the colt broke into a aerial dash, his smaller wings reaching and grabbing at the air, his hooves treading nothing. Gaining speed, he lowered his head, his ears flapping against his scalp as he dove downwards, slowly extending his hooves forwards and backwards.
“I'm the Captain, you moron, i have this!” Nova yelled forward, the faster pony trying in vain to catch up. Nova's wings sliced into the air before flapping, subsequently bringing them back into position at his sides with a tornado-like gust as he joined the chase.
“I lost sight of Derpy, i don't know if she pulled up!” Stratus yelled back, banking hard as the dragon locked it's sights on Feather's darting form. 'He's too close.' Stratus mouthed in frustration, before taking up position near the dragon's rear, both their speeds matched. Adrenaline pumped through him as he tried to keep up with the dragon, who was trying to catch the elusive Feather. She dipped down, her wings tucked tight, her lithe, compact form dropping quickly as the dragon's claw buffeted the air above her. “He's too huge!” Feather shrieked, pulling down into a dive again, trying to get under the dragon.
“She'll be fine! She's quick!” Nova shouted out over the swirling, heavy air around him.
“She can't dodge a claw that big!” Stratus answered back. “She had to dive! We're losing altitude! I'll distract him, you try to smash him!” Stratus ordered, plunging forward, managing to pull past Nova, despite the two of them being near topspeed.
“Don't use it, shit-shit-shit!” Nova exclaimed, his hooves shaking, his wings beating out of unison, causing him to drift from side to side. “I can't c-c-catch h-him.” Nova stuttered, coming to a stop as the dragon let out a sudden jet of flame toward a reeling Feather Hoofsteps. “Stratus!!!” He yelled, as the sand coloured pegasus darted into the black smoke at the edge of the dragon's natural flamethrower.
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Wind, smoke, and more smoke. The flames licked at his hooves. Stratus flew blind, drifting slowly through the haze, his eyes clenching tightly shut as he felt the burn of the superheated air around him. 'Here.' He mouthed, grimacing while feeling the tips of the flames dancing over the ends of his hooves; blackening them. He extended his wings into position, and made the muscles in them, lock him into a glide. The tips of his hairs sparked into embers, shortening his mane bit by bit as the flames made their way to his cracking, sunburnt skin. He grazed the edge of the molten column with his hooves, gathering the electrical energy into himself with his pegasus magic; the heat difference between the superheated flames, and his body, generating a localized energy event by exploiting the plasmic properties of the dragon's fire.
He broke through the billowing black clouds, his eyes flashing open as he passed just out of hoof-reach of the Dragon's right eye. They peered at each other, the focus of the dragon's fiery attack still aimed at Feather.
The dragon swung. Stratus arched his back, his form accelerating closer to the beast's bulky mass, and under the swipe. The pegasus reached out, his eyes taking in the deep blue sky, the gusting wind, and the shiny, red scales that were the sizes of whole ponies. He kicked out with each hoof in succession, connecting each one with a singular wing flap on that side of his body. The pegasus's wings crackled with yellow energy as he tried to push the current out of him, and through the scales with each hoof strike, hitting the dragon's chest and stomach as the pegasus plummetted head-first, and upsidedown.
The dragon's muscles locked up as the jolts travelled through him, causing his head to flop down as he blew out a few more spouts of flame around his tumbling form.
Nova, slowing a little and catching his breath, let his eyes scan over the forest canopy below. “Feather! Feather!! Sweet Celestia, damnit!” He yelled out in horror, before tearing himself away, and starting the long vertical dive towards Stratus and the recovering dragon.
Stratus shook himself, his own electrical residuals tampering with his muscle's signaling. The red-scaled dragon over him managed a flap of it's wings, and a slow, powerful swipe of it's arm. The beige pegasus tilted his wings in opposite directions, and caught the air, beginning a tight spin. The dragon's swiping claw started to catch on his flight feathers, before the spinning unhooked it. The pegasus switched both wings's tilts, suddenly, the G-forces causing his vision to swim as the spin came to an abrupt stop.
“Eyeeahh!” The pegasus yelled out, blindly jamming both hooves into the dragon's swiping right arm, the bits of added electricity from his fast rotational movement mixing with what was left inside him as he tried to stun the mystic beast again. The dragon's swipe started to drop, before the limb fell limp at his side.
Nova pulled his goggles down and extended his hooves, the wild flappings of his wings sending him downward like a rock. The tips of his feathers shook, every twitch from them shifting his course. The air cone around him started to shape, appearing at first as a curved, wavey outline of compressed air. He cleared his mind of the fight, and used the subtle movements of his back hooves and tail to bring him into a more linear flight path.
For the first time in his young life, Nova trusted Stratus, and it sickenned him. Some plan! Derpy was M.I.A., and there was no telling if Feather had lasted until Stratus's attack; the same attack that had trailed the thinest line of roasting the beige pony alive, and still did. But, at least, Nova knew one thing now.
Stratus wasn't going to disengage. That pony really would follow his own word. He was actually still waiting for Nova. “Why me, damnit!” Nova swore. His body shuddered in the air, the currents starting to press in on him as he approached critical mach-cone velocity. The pegasus let up, just a little, trying to control the shape of the sonic horizon. The forward edge of the compressed air created a buffer and sinkhole infront of him as his flight stabilized, putting him at the traditional, maximum pegasus speed. He started spreading booth sets of hooves out, slowing himself to get some cornering ability.
The dragon, having regained partial control of it's body, with the exclusion of his right arm, tilted himself into a powerful dive, his wings batting slowly as he positioned himself over his prey's falling form.
Stratus took deep, panting breaths, his back pointed downwards, his position letting him face the dragon, while testing his twisted-up wings for maneuvering ability. There was none. One wing would hold for a glide, althought that wouldn't even get him to the fast-approaching ground.
The pegasus sharted shaking, his head slowly turning towards the earth. He grit his teeth and stuck booth hooves out to the left side, catching the wind with them as much as he could, using them as a substitute. He started to turn, before he slowly unfurled his almost, good, right wing. His eyes darted across the sky behind the dragon until he finally spotted the twinkle of Nova's mach-cone buffer. Stratus tried to glide on the air, bringing his rear hoof to his left side as well, making him slowly drift horizontally towards a more direct, downwards path for Nova.
The Dragon hauled back, and breathed in, his giant maw opening as Nova approached. Stratus turned back for a moment, his eyes widening in horror as he appraised, and reappraised the distance between Nova and the dragon following him. He gulped and grabbed his useless wing, unfurling it, and pulling it away from his body with both hooves, his body in freefall.
The dragon threw itself forward, belting out a narrow stream of orange and yellow fire that rapidly crossed the distance between him, and the prone pegasus. Stratus moved his twisted wing up, manually, while his good wing pressed downwards with it's limited strength. He swerved away, awkwardly, as the forefront of the flame attack passed him by. Flinching from the scalding of the near-miss, he spun out of control, the sky and earth swirling around him like a slideshow.
'I... can't get both.' Nova coldly stated to himself. 'They're too far apart... i... no, i can't, no way, it's too far!' Nova took a few shaky breaths as he tried to calm the air around himself again. 'Almost there.' He mouthed as the dragon started to grow in his field of vision. “Fuck it, i gotta choose!” Nova shouted, angling himself more and more sharply off his course, towards his falling teammate. The air around him started to quake, and soon, he did too. 'Almost...' he strained as the mach cone started to shrink.
He darted past the dragon as if it were motionless, with barely more than an accompanying whistle. 'The ground's this close!?' Nova clenched his teeth as Stratus's tumbling body appeared, off in the distance infront of him, a column of flame trying to catch up with the careening pony.
Harnessing the electrical current around him to protect him from the superheated air of his dive, Nova pulled his mach cone tight, forming his body into an arrow-like shape. He sped forward, the faint dot of Stratus's body against the horizon growing, in increments, telling the Captain that he was less than a second away.
Nova turned, in quick reaction, when he suddenly noticed the beige pegasus passing at his side. With only a split second to spare, he twisted and flapped mightily, breaking out of the pressurized pocket with a crackle, and massive typhoon of air. He strained his hooves out and grabbed Stratus, bearing his weight as he tried to ride the wave of his own mach-cone's collapse. Holding tight with the rest of his hooves, he reached one back and let out a little jolt of electricity. The spark arced along the path that he'd come, following the trail of supercharged particles that had come in contact with his body, at his top-speed.
He would miss the dragon, physically. But it would work, 'it has to work!' Nova thought to himself as a yellow lightning bolt crashed down from the sky, passing near the dragon's head.
THUMP!! It felt like an earthquake of the sky, as if the air was trying to throw them up and away, to someplace else. Then, the explosion from the end of Nova's path, came. TUGH-THUMP!!
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“How long do i have to do this, ma'am?” Lightning Dust whined, her head smacking the desk.
“But you're doing such a good job.” Spitfire replied sweetly, leaning over her own desk in the spacious office.
“I can fix that.” Dust replied in a deadpan.
“No dice.” The Captain answered, sorting some papers. "Keep at it." She added, before Dust interrupted her again.
“This a sick joke that you pulled on Nova, Spits.” Lightning Dust brought up, with a frown, as she went over the personnel files. “You gave that idiot a team with... oh sweet Celestia,” the teal pegasus paused as she ruffled through the disorganized mess on her desk, “they all have insubordination on their records.” Dust brought the document closer to her face. “The heck, his leuitenant... is... more qualified... wait... why is Feather here?” Lightning Dust rubbed her hoof over her face, while shaking her head. “You know that she'll back-up anypony who gives Nova trouble, right? This is insane.”
“Pfft, i did it on purpose. Do you want anypony following Nova's orders?” Spitfire remarked, completely disinterested in the subject at hand.
“Who's this borin' lookin' Stratus guy? Seems like he should be delivering mail with the grey one that squeezed through the candidate qualifiers.” Lightning Dust suggested, throwing her head back and laughing at her own joke.
“He's just a tight-ass. Been around forever. Has a few decent moves.” Spitfire mumbled in a bored tone. Lightning Dust shrugged and turned the page, her eyes drifting from her paperwork, to a potted plant, before returning.
“Most improved at the... woah, this is old.” Spitfire grunted at Dust's comments, and started looking around in her drawer for another pen. “Sixth in speed at one of the qualifiers. I like!” Lightning Dust turned back the page, and took at look at the beige pony's file photo.
“It was bound to happen, eventually.” Spitfire added in, her tone filled with distaste.
“Oh, a lightning type-”
“You want him assigned to your team, or what?!” Spitfire snapped, both her hooves pounding down on the desk. Lightning Dust held both of hers up in surrender.
“Oh, no way. My team rocks.” Dust snickered nervously, turning to put the folder away. “Hey, what's this?” She remarked, seeing something fall to the carpet. Spitfire's ears perked up as the other pegasus bent down, and retrieved it off the floor. “A silver star?” Dust asked, her curiousity peaking. “What's this one for again?” One hoof came up to scratch her head. “Ugh, geez, it's been a while, is this a participation medal from-”
“No.” The Captain sighed. “It's a Silver Firefly, Second Class.” She mumbled.
“Another joke?” Dust asked, looking up at the stone-faced captain. “No? Really? Damn, let me check his file again... hmmm, you're right, he does have a few little tricks.” Lightning Dust stopped, leaning closer as she reread the section, her brow coming together. Spitfire leaned back in her chair, rubbing a temples. She sighed and retrieved a stamp from her desk. Smacking a nearby document, she deposited it into the bin.
“Are you still reading that? I'd think that you'd be more interested in Nova's file. He's a lot like you. Zero to mach in fourteen. Decent looking too.”
“Nova's a dolt. I hope he smacks into a tree.” Dust mumbled. “But seriously, i'm looking at this file Spitfire-”
“You want him on your team or not!” She snapped, standing up suddenly, her coffee mug thumping down onto the carpet. Dust frowned and looked back down at the file.
“This guy could replace you.” Dust counterred. “I mean, if he had to.” She continued, after seeing the captain's eyes flare.
“It's a friggin' file, how about you meet the damned pony first!” Spitfire yelled. Dust smiled slowly and leaned back.
“If you 'met him', it would explain why the medal is in the folder.” Dust snickered, winking at the Wonderbolt Captain.
“Me and Stratus. Where do you get these ideas?” Spitfire groaned, slumping back down in her chair. “He can't replace me,” the captain pouted, “and neither can you.”
“I'd take him on my team, but he should probably have his own.” Dust commented as she peered closer at the file, hoping it would reveal more. “Well, maybe not.” Dust mulled, flipping back and forth over the loosely stapled pages.
“And now you understand.” Spitfire proclaimed. “Finally.”
“Hey, i still want this colt on my team. I don't care if you dated him.” Dust teased, closing the folder.
“You're serious?” Spitfire groaned, while lazily spinning around once in her office chair. “And that never happened.”
“Take a joke.” Dust shot back, moving the folder to a special pile.
“Pfft.” Spitfire snorted. “Just look at his stats and measurements before you go putting that there.” She advised, pointing at the special pile that Dust had placed the file in.
“Memorized his measuements, did you?” Dust teased, with another wink.
“Shut-up.” Came the automatic reply.
“It's just a jumbled bunch of stupid numbers.” Dust grunted, while grudgingly turning back to the first page of the file. Her eyes slowly moved down the paper, her frown growing. “Yuck! My mistake.”
“Can we break for lunch?” Spitfire asked, feeling weary. Dust sighed and got up, putting the folder back where she'd found it.
“I guess. I'm just trying to remember why i was looking at his file in the first place. Something about one of the squads forgetting to check in, and file a report.” Dust tapped her chin as she tried to recollect.
“So you think that tight-ass forgot to do his paperwork?” Spitfire asked, getting up and retrieving her now empty mug.
“Isn't that Nova's job?” Dust asked. Both pony's turned to look at each other, before breaking into laughter.
“Do you like my joke yet?” Spitfire inquired while wiping a tear.
“Nova's gonna get his ass kicked.” Dust cracked, sending both pegasi into another fit of laughter.
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The yellow light flared, and the air crackled. The wind blew hot and dry. The trees nearby split and crashed as the earth drew the lightning towards it, as though it was sucking it up. A thunder clap boomed and mixed with it's echoes, drowning the area in a ear-piercing white noise.
Nova balked as he was blinded, sending himself flying wildly, with Stratus barely clinging on, and slowly sliding off.
“Find, down!” Stratus thought he heard himself yell. Nova tried to right himself, but overcompensated, almost throwing the smaller pony overboard.
“The ground! How far is it!?” Nova yelled, the high pitch of his voice sounding like a whisper over the roar. Stratus gulped as he felt something brush his side. “We're close!” Nova shouted, before Stratus found himself being tossed forward. He tried to open both his wings, but only one of them so much as twitched. The injured pegasus tumbled end over end as he crashed through the trees; branches and twigs whipping at him as he curled up, and guarded his face.
Stratus's back hoof caught on the packed earth, bouncing it up, sending him into a rolling somersault along the ground. His hooves swiped at where he thought down was, but finding no grip, he ended up crashing into the underbrush, on his side. He groaned as he skidded along the uneven ground, feeling every bump against his tensed shoulder. He soon came to a stop, with a thud, his head snapping back and cracking on an exposed root.
He couldn't tell if he was blind, deaf, mute, crippled, or just half knocked-out. Without thinking, he stumbled to his hooves. However, the ground seemed overly forgiving, as if it were made of air.
“Son of Celestia.” He mumbled, his vision clearing up enough to notice that he was in fact, still, on his side, staring at his own waving hooves as they kicked up the dead leaves around his crash site. “Ugh.” He slumped down and just lay there. “Made it to tree cover.” He remarked, sprawling out on his back.
“Stratus! Stratus, don't you die on me!!” Nova yelled, coming down through the trees, hovering beneath their branches.
“I see that you're still blind.” Stratus coughed out. He propped himself up, and waited for his head to stop swimming. The blue pegasus above him flapped his wings once, and extended them, allowing him to land gracefully at Stratus's side. “And that's about it.” The injured pony remarked dryly. “You're fine, aren't you?”
“Yeah, yeah, i'm great, have you seen Feather?” The blue pony asked, walking around in a slow circle, hoof raised to block out the sunlight that was seeping in through the canopy, as he peered around at the bushes.
“I think i saw her.” Stratus answered slowly.
“None of your games! Where is she!!” Nova yelled, turning and pushing a hoof against Stratus's chest.
“Hold your oxen, i think i saw her going for the trees when i was in freefall.” He replied, awkwardly pushing Nova's extended hoof away. “Why did you think i was still anywhere near that monsterous thing?” He continued rhetorically. Nova nodded before his eyes flew open.
“Get down!” He yelled, hitting the ground in a bellyflop. Stratus tensed up, and stiffenned, flattenning himself down like a table, his back hooves together. His face scrunched up after a moment, when he heard nothing.
“Didn't you hit him with it?” Stratus whispered, glancing around and creeping towards his teammate.
“I had to catch your ass before you faceplanted like a boss. That dragon could anywhere by now.” Nova snapped in a whisper.
“Hey guys, are you okay?” Both ponies looked up as Derpy dropped down through a hole in the foliage.
“Do you see a dragon?!” Nova yelled in a shrill whisper, jumping up, his wings blowing a gust of sand right into Stratus's eyes.
“Yup.” Derpy pointed up high, and a little to her right. “He's running away.” Derpy rubbed her hoof on her head for a moment. “He's flying away.” She squirmed and looked down to see if anyone had noticed her mistake.
“Good, now Nova can calm down.” A surly Stratus suggested, while rubbing his eyes.
“Shut the hell up, Stratus.” Came Nova's quick comeback. “I'm the Captain, i can't relax until-”
“-Hey!” Feather chirped, popping in behind Derpy. She hovered for a moment as she looked down at the two ponies sprawled out on the forest floor. “I see Stratus did all the hard work again.” She grumbled, gliding down.
“Don't say that, Feather.” Derpy implored, her hooves poking at the other mare as she followed along.
“I got tired of thinking it.” The white pegasus drawled, rolling her eyes as she landed. “Anything broken?”
“Nova's self-esteem.” Stratus quiped.
“Your puny-ass wing.” An irritated Nova replied, his head snapping in Stratus's direction.
“This team.” Feather added quitely, her hoof poking at Stratus's wing.
“My team is NOT broken.” Nova corrected.
“I don't mean that, i mean, THIS.” Feather pointed down at Stratus's wing.
“If one of us is injured, we're all injured.” Derpy added in an odd tone, with a dramatic hoof wave. Nova and Stratus looked up blankly.
“Spitfire impression.” Feather clarified. Status grunted and shook his head. Nova's face simply went red as he prepared to launch into a tirade.
“Oh great. Let's ignore the Team Captain, and take another Captain's advice to rub it in.” Nova began, both hooves waving angrily. “I smoked that dragon-”
“You grazed it.” Feather corrected, stepping forward, eyes hardening.
“-Any closer and i'd have cooked him!” Nova finished with a grand sweep of his hoof. Feather's eyes slowly shifted down to Stratus as she managed to ignore the boasting.
The beige pony coughed. “If Nova can carry me, it might be a good idea to follow that dragon.”
“Already carrying the team.” Nova sulked in a low whisper.
“Why would we follow one of them?” Derpy asked, her eyes taking on a look of terror.
“He might hurt somepony else.” Stratus stated, simply.
“We're... not near, anything.” Feather remarked, frowning and peering more closely at the injured pony.
“Well, dragons fly fast-”
“Hey guys!” Derpy shouted from the treetops, having disappeared during the argument. “It's okay! The dragon is just going to see his friends.” Feather frowned and turned back towards Stratus. Nova simply shrugged.
“Crying home to the mommy dragon.” Nova said smugly. Stratus frowned and looked up.
'Just might be a whole gaggle.' The injured pegasus mumbled under his breath. “Hey, Derpy.” He asked the grey mare as she looked back and down. “How many?”
Nova rolled his eyes and flew up to where Derpy was. “Just show me where the damn thing went to and, oooooohhhh. Oh. No. No-no-no.”
“How many!!” Stratus screeched. Nova looked down for a moment, and then peered away. He hovered lower and landed on a branch, slumping against it.
“Oh, alot.” Nova answered matter-of-factly, taking slow deep breaths.
“We have to follow them!” Stratus barked, trying to flap his wings. “Nova, get down here and-”
“Noooo wwaaay.” Nova cut in. “There's gotta be a hundred. Even if there's not.... ugh, damnit Stratus, stop trying to get yourself killed. We ain't goin' within a league of that nightmare.” He finished with a laugh.
“Oh yes we are.” Stratus replied, his volume rising.
“You're not going anywhere.” Feather observed, eyebrow raised.
“None of you understand! They could be headed for Equestria! We already know they don't have a problem with attacking ponies.” Stratus argued. “This is WHY we're here.” Stratus pleaded. “We kindof need to head back home, anyway.” The beige pony realized.
Feather cringed and looked up. “You hate this idea, right Nova?” She asked sweetly. Nova and Derpy glided down in a slow spiral as Nova took a deep breath.
“Stratus has a point-” Nova began.
“-You have to be kidding.” Feather interrupted. “Dragon's have dragon eyesight. We'll die. Stratus will die, Derpy will die-”
“I don't wanna die!” Derpy exclaimed, looking around wildly for something that might do her in.
“Nopony's dying.” Nova snapped. “We'll just keep our distance, and dip under the trees if they catch wind of us.” He finished happily.
“Let's take a vote?” Feather offered slowly.
“Does nopony remember who the Captain is?” Nova asked angrily, looking at each of them in turn.
“So...” Derpy began, “it's not Stratus??”
“It doesn't matter!!” Nova roared. “Tight-ass is with me on this. Isn't that right?” Nova asked, with a grin.
“Try not to talk too much while you're carrying me.” A tired looking Stratus replied.
“See?” Nova gloated, head held high, the corners of his mouth upturned.
“We need to go, now. If that group is anywhere near as fast as the red one that ambushed us...” Stratus left the thought hanging as he dragged himself up off the ground.
“We won't have any problems.” Nova finished. Feather shot him an annoyed frown. “No problems, not a single one.” Nova continued, ignoring her completely.
“Won't they wonder where we went?” Derpy asked, in reference to Spitfire, and the other bolts.
“Well, i didn't file the last weekly report,” Nova began, waving his hoof dismissively, “i was meaning to get on it, but i just forgot.” Nova shrugged helplessly. “They're probably already looking for us, cause of that, actually.”