• Published 3rd Jun 2014
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Piercing the Heavens - Calm Wind



Sequel to Flying Sky-High. A lot has happened, but now Rainbow Dash finally has a chance to fulfill her dream and become a Wonderbolt. As the process begins, will her relationship with Soarin be a blessing? Or will it be a curse?

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Chapter 123: Weakness

MLP: FiM
Piercing the Heavens
By: Calm Wind

Chapter 123: Weakness


“Hrmmmm…” Soarin hummed as he stirred and opened his eyes. He lightly winced as he slowly moved his limbs about, a few POPS coming from his joints as he tried to loosen up. It wasn’t like his body had never been stiff or sore before, but when mixed with the pain of his injuries, it made for some unpleasant moments… like waking up after having fallen asleep on one of the less than comfortable infirmary beds for an hour or so while lying on the side of his body that hurt more than the other.

But the pain and stiffness were quickly forgotten, taking a backseat in Soarin’s thoughts as the first sight upon opening his eyes was exactly what he wanted to see.

“Hey there, sleepyhead,” Dash smiled at him, resting her chin on the mattress, her eyes level with his.

“Did I wake up in heaven?” Soarin said goofily, earning a snicker and an eye roll from Dash.

“Yeah and it’s made of cheese,” she said while sticking her tongue out at him playfully. She moved her head over and placed her chin lightly upon one of his arms as he shifted to lie on his stomach. Once in place, Soarin rested his head atop hers.

“I fell asleep again, huh?” Soarin asked while yawning. Dash lifted her head slightly to press her head into his neck, gently nuzzling him.

“It’s fine, I’m nodding off here and there too,” she assured him as she found a comfortable spot on him and attached her head to it. Soarin smiled, enjoying the feeling of her soft mane against his fur, but he knew the nature of his lady, so he had to ask.

“You don’t have to stay here if you’re bored, you know…” he offered, silently hoping she wouldn’t leave.

“You kidding me?” Dash giggled while edging herself forward and putting herself into a position where she could rest her shoulder and more of her body against his chest. “With what you put me through, I’m almost afraid to let you out of my sight now!” she said while hooking one of her hooves over his arm.

“I appreciate that,” Soarin sighed happily as he got to rest his chin on Dash’s head longer. “I just don’t want me distracting you from some of your duties. How has your squad been doing since you got back?” he asked with a little bit of snark since he knew Dash had been by his side non-stop since they returned.

“Half of my squad is already here,” she said, returning the snark as she pointed behind her. Soarin looked up briefly to see Little Star still asleep on the bed, and that Squall had returned to watch her again.

“He came back, huh?” Soarin chuckled as he looked towards Squall. Star actually did wake up briefly at one point, receiving some food from Bliss, but Squall quickly left when she started to stir. Dash was prepared to force him back over to her if he tried running away again. She needed to know he was keeping an eye on her, it would absolutely warm her heart. “What about the other two?” Soarin pressed.

“Matteo walked away from the whole thing without a bruise and Twister is Twister. The only other doofus I’m worried about is…” Dash trailed off as she shifted to get a view of Silver on the bed behind them… But Silver wasn’t there?

“OH, NO YOU DON’T!” Bliss suddenly yelled from nearby. Dash and Soarin looked over to see Bliss gallop past them and towards the infirmary entrance. They looked further down her path to see Silver hobbling and limping towards the door.

Before Silver could reach the door, Bliss’ magic surrounded his tail and tugged, bringing him to a halt.

“Rgghhhhh…” Silver grumbled as he stopped moving, but kept his hooves planted as firmly to the floor as he could manage. Bliss’ magic began pulling him back down the aisle, his hooves making loud, squeaking noises against the floor. Eventually Mahogany and Witching Hour stepped up and used their magic to assist, picking Silver up off the floor and floating him back towards the beds.

Dash was holding her breath, trying not to crack up as Silver got caught trying to escape. Soarin chuckled while glancing down at Dash.

“I guess I asked the wrong pony if they’re bored,” he joked as Bliss and her two assistants placed Silver right back on his bed.

“For the last time, Silver…” Bliss began while giving Silver a flat look. “Stay in bed and get some rest. If you try that one more time, so help me, I’m strapping you down.” Her voice was calm, nothing around the lines of angry, but she was clearly starting to get a little irritated with Silver’s unwillingness to follow her directions.

“Hmph…” Silver only grunted in response. Bliss sighed and rolled her eyes before going about her business.

“Hey,” Dash tapped Soarin’s shoulder as she scooted her body off the mattress and stood back on the floor. “I’ll be right back, don’t go anywhere,” she winked at him while pointing at Silver.

“Can’t make any promises,” Soarin joked, earning a pout in return.

“I swear, I’m gonna smack you…” Dash threatened playfully as she stepped around the bed and approached her grumpy mentor. He was staring straight forward and sulking as he had for most of the time he was being monitored already. Dash stood in his peripheral vision, and knew full well that Silver could see her, but he was ignoring her. “Hey, Silver.”

“What?” he replied quickly and flatly with a loud grumble present in the back of his throat.

“Wow…” Dash blinked and winced a little. “You’re super grumpy.”

“I’m wrapped head to hoof in bandages, can barely feel most of my body, and I’m at the mercy of a doctor that plans to dip me in vats of ice-water against my will several times for the next few days. So yeah, I’m grumpy,” Silver explained himself without looking at Dash once.

“Oh, suck it up you ninny…” Dash scoffed… and Silver was definitely looking at her now. He shot her a glare of frustration and snorted loudly.

“You know, I’ve always wanted to see if I could get a little of each color while yanking out one big chunk of your mane…” he said with a light snarl. Dash puffed her cheeks out as she held in a few chuckles, eventually letting them go as she stepped up and rested her hooves on Silver’s mattress.

“As long as you keep that sharp tongue of yours I’ll always be confident you’re just fine,” she said, giving him a smile that he did not return… but his expression softened a little.

“Hmph…” he grunted as he looked away from her. “Just give me a few days, I’ll be back on my hooves.”

“Not a fan of ice baths?” Dash asked, causing Silver to shiver subtly.

“Never have been…” Silver said with another grunt. “Yeah, I know I’m pretty much a walking, swollen bruise right now and the ice will help, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it,” he complained as he glanced down at the bandages around his face. “Okay, I’m sick of these…” Silver forced his arm up and swiped a hoof at the face bandages before the tape holding them down came loose.

“I don’t think you should take those off…” Dash chuckled.

“Blah, blah, blah…” Silver grumbled in response as he shook his nose and let the bandages slide off. Dash gave him a flat look, but chuckled as Silver let his chin plop right back down on the mattress. He was being testy, but the grumpiness was starting to be amusing.

“Heh,” Dash smirked before resting a hoof on his back. “Do as Bliss says, okay? I don’t care how much of a hardass you are. Rest. Recover,” she said while jokingly patting him on the head.

“I’ll do whatever the hell I want,” Silver grumbled, earning a chuckle from Dash as she nudged him in the shoulder.

“I’m sure you will,” she pressed her hoof a little harder against his shoulder, causing Silver to shudder slightly from the pain and then give her an annoyed look. She only smiled and winked at him in return.

“Silver Lining, the great Iron Horse…” Soarin suddenly spoke up from his bed behind Dash. “Fears no stallion, but is at the mercy of mares!” he chuckled. Dash glanced over her shoulder to see Soarin had rolled over and was looking right at them with a devilish smirk. Silver scoffed loudly.

“Oh, you’re still alive over there?” Silver quickly shot back. “I thought you were dying of cranial erectile dysfunction.”

Dash lowered herself a little, realizing she was about to get stuck in between some stallion banter.

“Trust me,” Soarin chuckled. “It stays up all night over here if you know what I mean.”

“Pfffff…” Dash found herself throwing her hooves over her mouth as Soarin talked up his… endowment. Not that she disagreed. Soarin glanced down at her as he heard her stifle a giggle.

“Just ask Dash!” Soarin added with a smirk.

“SOARIN!” Dash turned completely red and glared at him.

“Gee, thanks…” Silver shuddered. “Now I’m thinking about what it looks like when a spectrum of colors takes it hard from a damaged hood ornament.”

“Guyssssssss…” Dash groaned as she covered her head with her wings and started lowering herself to the floor.

“Only this horn is damaged,” Soarin winked. “Believe me, I’ve got a trick or two up my sleeve.”

“HA!” Silver released a single guffaw and cringed in pain right after for a moment. He glanced down at Dash shrinking down and looking up at Soarin with a pouty glare.

“Soarin… stop,” she asked.

“You kidding? I have him on the ropes!” Soarin chuckled as Dash glared at him harder. Silver shook his head, exhaling loudly.

“Take it from me, son. And believe me, you’ll learn this soon enough if you keep pipe twisting rainbows,” Silver began as Dash put her hooves over her head and pulled on her ears, her face so hot it was a wonder it wasn’t steaming. “If you want to keep your membership card to the happy hole, you’ll learn to agree with her on everything.”

“Oh?” Soarin tipped his head. “I never took you for the whipped type,” he taunted as Bliss suddenly passed by them slowly, looking down at a clip board. Silver lifted his brow and narrowed his eyes.

“Mares have all the authority because mares have all the vaginas,” Silver put bluntly. Bliss halted right in her path and glanced up at Silver while blinking. She sighed and shook her head before she continued past them. “The sooner you get used to it, the better,” Silver chuckled.

“Man, I gotta meet your wife sometime,” Soarin said with a little wonder as he blinked.

“Serenity would break your ass so fast, you’d be in a diaper and sucking on your hoof in two or three days,” Silver explained. Soarin looked down Silver’s body.

“Where’s yours?” he jeered, earning a grunt and a smirk from Silver.

“I’m not the dainty princess in the room, am I?”

“OKAY! Okay…” Dash shot up between them, her face still red. “Please stop before you guys make me explode.”

“Oh, fine…” Soarin gave in while chuckling.

“It begins,” Silver said as he casually rolled over and faced away.

“Hey!” Soarin looked to fire back, but Dash had her hooves pressed against his chest.

“Soarin…”

“What?” Soarin smiled at her. “Don’t tell me you’re not enjoying this.”

“I was until our sex life came up,” she said with a pout.

“Oh, alright, I’ll stop.”

“It continues…” Silver said as he stayed facing away. Soarin looked up at him, but Dash grabbed his face and pulled it back down to look at her. Soarin pouted back, before a devilish grin crept onto his face.

“Well, if you’re going to be that way…”

“YIKES!” Dash yelped as Soarin grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her right up onto his bed. “Hey!” she yelled as Soarin held onto her tightly and forcefully snuggled her.

Bliss walked by again, stopping as she saw Soarin gently stallion-handling Dash. She sighed and shook her head again before moving back towards the front of the infirmary.

“Soarin, stop!” Dash struggled. She was embarrassed, but she didn’t DISLIKE what he was doing.

“Hmmmm… no,” Soarin denied her as he held on. He knew full well she wouldn’t get too rough because she didn’t want to hurt him.

“YO!” a very loud voice suddenly came from the front. Soarin and Dash stopped ‘fighting’ each other and glanced over to see. Cannon Ball had just burst through the door and was glancing around. “WHERE’S THE BODY BAG?! I WANNA PUNCH THE OLD BASTARD BEFORE WE BURY HIM! ACK!” he suddenly grunted as Bliss’ magic surrounded his neck and pushed him down. She gave him a stern look as she trotted over.

“One, please quiet down, we have ponies resting in here. Two, Silver isn’t dead… and last time I checked he’s only three years older than you,” she explained calmly as she looked up and saw the rest of Silver’s old comrades enter behind, Bomber bringing up the rear as he crouched down and shimmied his massive body through the doorway.

“Really?! Damn!” Cannon said as he stood up, earning a sharper glare from Bliss. “Yikes, alright, I’ll quiet down.” He got the point quickly as Steady Wing walked up behind him, a set of bandages wrapped around his wing that was hit during the escape. He patted Cannon on the back.

“The sooner you accept that Silver will likely live to be five hundred years old, the less you’ll be disappointed.

“LIKE HELL!” Cannon raised his voice again. “I’ll kill him myself!”

Before Bliss could scold him again, Valkyrie stepped up behind him, placed a hoof on his head and drove it to the floor with a loud THUMP.

“Shut up,” she ordered flatly.

“Heh heh heh…” Bomber chuckled as he watched Cannon struggle and sputter under Valkyrie’s strength. Comet hopped up on Bomber’s back and looked about the room.

“So where is the old donkey?” he asked as he failed to find him.

“Over…” Pixie pointed.

“There…” Fairy finished while also pointing.

All of them except for Cannon looked over towards Silver, who avoided eye contact with them completely. Soarin and Dash glanced at each other as Soarin released her and let her down from the bed.

“This should be fun,” Soarin whispered to her as they watched the Renegades approach, Valkyrie dragging Cannon along the floor by the mane as they did.

“Hey!” Steady spoke up as they all gathered around Silver. Silver kept his eyes down. “You’re a real charmer, you know that?” Steady joked as he chuckled. Silver looked up to see all of his old wingmates standing around him. His eyes landed on each one of them for a moment before he looked back down and grunted.

“Typical,” Valkyrie said while rolling her eyes. “Swallow your damn pride you, stone block,” she said as she stepped up and rested a hoof on Silver’s bed. “Do you really think you have to prove anything to us?”

Silver looked back up again, catching smiles from Bomber, Steady, Pixie, and Fairy. Valkyrie was sort of smiling, Cannon was grumbling to himself, and Comet…

“Excuse me, I don’t believe we’ve met…” they all turned to see Comet casually leaning against one of the opposite beds, whipping his mane back and forth as he addressed Bliss.

Bliss stopped as she was walking by and lifted an eyebrow at Comet.

“I’m a former elite Wonderbolt, my name is Comet. And what might be the name of our lovely new doctor?” he asked with a clear flirtatious tone.

Bliss didn’t say anything, she simply flattened her brow held up her hoof that had the marriage band around it.

Comet blinked and went silent for a moment.

“Uh, well I was just wondering and—HURK!” He was cut off as Pixie and Fairy grabbed him by the neck and yanked him back over to Silver.

“We’re here…”

“For Silver.” The two spoke together.

“Not to flirt…”

“With married mares.”

“You two always make my intentions sound so shallow…” Comet sighed as he was forced back up and flashed a forced smile at Silver along with the rest.

Silver continued to look at all of them for another moment before sighing and pressing his nose down into the mattress.

“Will you all quit looking at me like that?” he said with a slightly shaky voice.

Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but put on a very wide smile as she heard the tone in Silver’s voice. She and Soarin were staying quiet as the Renegades addressed Silver… and the tone of Silver’s voice almost sounded like he was going to lose it. She remembered when they reunited after the first Shadowbolt attack. Silver was driven right to tears when he saw all the comrades he missed so dearly again. He had had little time to really sit down and catch up with them since they were all so busy.

“You guys didn’t have to come check on me, I’m fine,” Silver said while looking away from them again.

“Again, typical,” Valkyrie rolled her eyes as Bomber chuckled behind her.

“Wonderbolts look after their own,” Steady smiled as he gave Silver a very light jab on the shoulder. “Just because we’re Renegades now doesn’t mean we’re throwing out the old practices,”

“Indeed,” Comet agreed as he leaned up against Silver’s bed and waved a hoof in the air. “Worrying about you killing yourself was routine back in the day, why change routine? Oh, hello there…” he cut himself off staring at Witching Hour as she passed behind them. Steady scoffed and sighed while shaking his head.

Silver ignored Comet going about his own routine of being overly flirty, letting Pixie and Fairy scold him again as he focused on Steady, specifically his wing that was wrapped up.

“Yeah, I sure did a good job of looking after you,” Silver grunted with frustration. Steady looked back at his wing and briefly lifted it up and down.

“Oh, this?” he chuckled. “Please, Silver, this is just the line of duty, I’m not the one who looks a few bandages away from being in a straightjacket,” he bounced an eyebrow towards Silver.

“Well, THIS was in the line of duty too,” Silver said while grunting and looking at his bandages.

“Will you die already so I can say I told ya so?!” Cannon suddenly pulled himself out from underneath Valkyrie’s hoof and propped his chin on the edge of Silver’s mattress. Silver lifted an eyebrow.

“How old are you again?” Silver taunted back.

“Old enough to kick your ass!” Cannon quickly snapped. Silver switched which eyebrow he had up.

“And now you’re using my own lines,” Silver rolled his eyes. “You’re right Comet, lots of us don’t change our routine.”

“Hm?” Comet glanced briefly at Silver. “Oh, right, yes,” he said before looking back at any mare that walked by.

“I oughtta yank your ears off and eat em raw,” Cannon growled at Silver. Silver looked past Cannon and up at Bomber.

“Big Green, can you hold him still for me?” he asked. Without a word and without dropping his innocent smile, Bomber pressed a large hoof down over Cannon’s head.

“OW! WHAT THE--?!” Cannon freaked out as he suddenly couldn’t move.

“Give me a second here…” Silver grunted as he struggled to lift up and pull back a hoof. After a few more painful grunts, he thrusted his hoof forward and punched Cannon right in the face.

Steady, Pixie, and Fairy all burst out laughing as Comet turned around and blinked. Even Valkyrie let a few snickers go. Bomber just gave his usual chuckle.

“Thanks for coming to visit, Cannon. I really needed that,” Silver said sarcastically as his old friends continued to laugh at Cannon’s expense. Cannon just sat upright on the floor, crossed his arms and pouted.

“One of these days I’m gonna get ya, ya old bastard,” Cannon grumbled.

“For the last time…” Pixie bopped a hoof over Cannon’s head.

“We’re all just about as old as him,” Fairy finished while bopping her hoof over Cannon’s head as well.

Silver smiled. He dreaded being seen so vulnerable at first, but as usual, his old friends simply made him feel happy. He looked at each of them again as they continued to just be casual while visiting him.

Steady was holding onto Comet’s tail as he tried to follow Witching Hour, again. Pixie and Fairy ended up sitting on Cannon and locking him against the floor when he started being rambunctious again.

Valkyrie…

“Bomber, please stop that…” Valkyrie said without looking, sighing as Bomber started petting and stroking her long, wavy mane.

“But Bomber like pretty mane,” Bomber said innocently as he continued, earning another sigh from Valkyrie.

“How come you never punch him?!” Cannon complained to Valkyrie as he struggled beneath the twin sisters.

“Because punching him doesn’t work,” Valkyrie explained as she flattened her brow and just let it happen. Comet shifted over, placing himself in front of Cannon as he leaned near Valkyrie.

“I agree, it’s just as hard to punch an innocent face as it is to punch a handsome one, right?” he said as he inched his face towards Valkyrie’s. He instantly ducked as Valkyrie swung at him, dropping to the floor. Steady Wing grabbed Comet’s tail and pulled him away before Valkyrie could try again.

“You know,” Steady chuckled. “If you have to have an escape plan, I think the chances are low on arrival.”

“She’ll open up to me one of these days,” Comet shrugged as Valkyrie instantly shook her head.

“I’ve said no for fifteen years, I’m not suddenly going to say yes now, you jackass,” Valkyrie hissed at Comet. She flinched as she suddenly felt something stick into her mane, she blinked and glanced over her shoulder to see Bomber hunched down, sniffing it. “BOMBER!” she complained, her face turning a little red as she glared at him.

“Smells like the gym, heh, heh, heh…” Bomber chuckled as Valkyrie puffed her cheeks out and huffed in embarrassment.

Silver couldn’t hold it in. He was smiling and chuckling at everything going on around him.

“I hope you bastards never change…” he said quietly to himself as the shenanigans continued.


Soarin and Dash continued to smile and laugh a little off to the side as they watched Silver get his spirits lifted by his old friends. Soarin glanced down at Dash as she was slowly edging herself towards him, but before he could think of much his stomach growled. Not very loudly, but he definitely felt it. He was already a little hungry, but he didn’t want to control where Dash went. While he did suggest earlier that she didn’t need to bore herself by staying in the infirmary, he was aware of what she wanted. She even said it herself, aside from being by Soarin’s side, she also wanted to keep Silver company.

Seeing as how Silver now had plenty of welcome company to keep him occupied, Soarin tapped Dash on the shoulder.

“Want to go grab some food?” he asked as Dash looked up at him. “I think Silver’s gonna have his hooves full for a while,” he said with a wink. Dash looked back down at the Renegades and her mentor before returning her eyes to Soarin and nodding.

“Alright,” she agreed. “But let’s come right back, okay?” she requested. Soarin quickly nodded in agreement, knowing that Dash was just very concerned about Silver and didn’t want him to be left alone at any time… even if Silver claimed he was just fine.

As the Renegades continued to laugh and joke with Silver, Dash helped Soarin off the table and supported him as they made their way around the commotion and down the aisle. After briefly reassuring Bliss that Soarin wouldn’t be gone long, the two of them made their way out.

They were about to turn towards the battle dome, where the rations were still being kept and many ponies were still camping out, but Soarin pressed his hooves down, bringing them both to a stop.

“Wait a second,” he said, causing Dash to look up and see that he was looking in the opposite direction at the lobby. Before she could ask him what he was looking at, he pulled himself away from her and started limping towards the lobby.

“Whoa! Hey!” Dash exclaimed as she trotted up beside him and supported him again. “Careful, you don’t want to…” she trailed off as she looked into the lobby, quickly seeing what had caught Soarin’s attention. He had stopped right at the edge of the hallway and placed a hoof against the end of the wall… he was focused on a little meeting that was currently happening near the middle of the lobby.

Spitfire was talking to Blazetail and Flashwind… and while they were too far away to hear the conversation clearly, both Soarin and Dash picked up on the word ‘Rapidfire’ as Spitfire kept talking.

The two of them glanced at each other for a brief moment, both with distraught expressions and ears flopped down before looking back to watch how it ended up. Spitfire remained firm, as she should. The subject was one to be taken seriously, despite the emotional tax it might have. Blazetail and Flashwind listened, Flashwind slowly reaching a hoof up to her mouth and looking down as Spitfire spoke. Blazetail didn’t show much of a reaction at first, but as Spitfire explained, he began averting his eyes.

Blazetail’s position on Rapidfire was not unknown to them. He was open in his criticism of his son’s decisions despite being scolded for it every time by Flashwind, but did he really feel that way? Or was it a cover up? His different reaction as Spitfire explained suggested so.

As Spitfire finished, remaining poised and serious throughout, Flashwind began shaking lightly and leaned against Blazetail. Blazetail looked away from her for a moment, his face in the line of sight of Soarin and Dash. They could both see that he wore a look of confliction. He wore a similar expression to the one he had upon denouncing his son before, but he said nothing. His face also seemed to change between that and a sad look very briefly every few seconds.

Blazetail suddenly turned back to his wife and draped his wing over her before facing Spitfire and nodding, thanking her for telling them. Spitfire said nothing in response, and remained in place as Blazetail spoke to Flashwind, the two of them turning and moving towards the west hallway slowly, side by side. Soarin and Dash could hear faint sniffling from Flashwind for a moment, but the two of them were soon out of earshot, Blazetail’s wing over Flashwind’s back in a gentle, comforting manner as they disappeared down the hall.

Dash had her eyes locked on the hallway, but Soarin had shifted all of his focus to Spitfire. He kept his eyes on her, gritting his teeth as she remained perfectly still. Just as he expected, the moment Blazetail and Flashwind were out of sight, Spitfire exhaled, dipping her head down and shuddering. She reached a hoof up to her opposite shoulder, rubbing it as she shook her head. Spitfire did her duty well, no matter what the situation, but that didn’t mean it was easy for her. Over the many years of being her best friend, he knew that, more often than not, she hid how she truly felt about things.

The situation with Rapidfire was one of several mixed emotions. Mostly negative from Spitfire’s point of view, but even then, it wasn’t easy to spill the news to two ponies she heavily respected, especially when it affected them on such a personal level. It wouldn’t have been right to keep it from them though, and had Spitfire waited longer to tell them, the harder it would have eventually been.

Dash finally looked towards Spitfire, placing a hoof on Soarin’s arm as soon as she saw Spitfire’s stoic demeanor ‘break’ into a realistic image of how she felt. She looked up at Soarin to see him sigh through his nose. He made no moves to step out of the hallway to go to her and Dash knew why. Spitfire wasn’t weak, she had handled all sorts of difficult scenarios, physically and emotionally. Hell, Dash wouldn’t have been able to face Blazetail and Flashwind and break the news like she just did.

After a deep breath and tipping her head up towards the ceiling, Spitfire stood up and turned towards the front doors of the lobby. Soarin and Dash perked up and glanced to their left to see where Spitfire was heading. As she took several deep breaths to regain her composure, Spitfire approached a small gathering near the front doors. Well, it was actually only two ponies, Air Mach and Luna. They were both facing outside, looking at the Falcon sitting on the deck. While Luna was simply sitting patiently, Air Mach was pressing his face and body up against the glass doors, his breath creating fog. Every time the fog cut off his view, he shifted so he could see again… until fogging up the new spot as well.

“What has Air Mach so interested?” Dash thought out loud as she scratched her head, the difficult conversation she just witnessed taking a back seat in her head for the time being as Spitfire joined the two by the doors.

“Only one way to find out,” Soarin nodded as he stepped off the wall.

“Hey, hold it! What did I just say about being careful?” Dash scolded him as she trotted up and supported him from the side again.

“Sorry,” he chuckled as they focused on reaching the doors. As they grew closer, they were surprised to see Rivet suddenly enter the compound through the doors, wearing a winter coat and hat.


“So can I fly it?!” Air Mach immediately asked Rivet while bouncing up and down.

“No,” Rivet answered calmly, removing his coat and hat before turning to Luna, but Air Mach shifted around and got in his face.

“What do you mean ‘no’?!” he whined while gritting his teeth.

“As in ‘no you can’t’,” Rivet clarified.

“Why not?!” Air Mach pressed despite it being given crystal clear twice.

“Because it isn’t possible right now,” Rivet huffed, his ears flopping down as Air Mach more or less refused to listen.

“That’s no way to approach the situation!” Air Mach stood up on his hind legs and pounded his chest while pointing out at the Falcon. “Let me at it, I’ll force it to fly!”

“That’s not how machines work,” Rivet sighed while slapping a hoof over his face.

“I’ll be the judge of that!” Air Mach called out heroically as he pointed to the ceiling. Rivet slowly rubbed his hoof down his face before glaring at Air Mach.

“Did you already forget how you managed to fly it in the first place?!” Rivet threw his arms up, losing his patience with the idiot.

“Details, details, details!” Air Mach shook his head. “It’s all about believing in yourself and—”

“Air Mach,” Spitfire spoke up calmly as she approached. “Shut up.”

“With pleasure!” Air Mach turned and saluted her before turning back to the glass doors and pressing his face against them again. Spitfire watched Air Mach for a second before rolling her eyes and focusing on Rivet, who seemed relieved to have Air Mach off his case.

“So, what can you tell me about it?” Spitfire asked as she glanced at the Falcon outside.

“It’s an incredibly complicated device,” Rivet began as he scratched his head. “Unlike anything I’ve ever seen, really. I have no idea where or how the Shadowbolts could have gotten their hooves on technology like this. A mechanical device powered by magic? I never even considered the possibility.” As he pondered out loud, Spitfire tipped her head and blinked.

“Isn’t that how our image projectors work?” she asked. Rivet shook his head.

“Those are only activated by magic, and refract it to create the images. They are powered by batteries. This thing…” Rivet looked over his shoulder at the Falcon. “Seems to use magic as a direct power source. I only got a peek at the inner workings, but it’s clear that everything in it is connected directly to the back where the crystal was floating between the glass lenses. Based on what I was told about Air Mach commandeering it, the thing basically shut down and nearly crashed before Starry Skies dropped in and took control of the crystal.”

“Hmmm…” Spitfire hummed as she rubbed her chin. “Do you think the Shadowbolt fortress is the same?”

“I’d have to get inside and see it to know for sure,” Rivet said with a shrug before focusing on the Falcon again. “I don’t have time to really give it a full examination and break down its inner workings right now since I’m finishing up the patchwork on the compound… but assuming we survive, I’d be more than interested in taking a much closer look once we’re in the clear,” he said as he looked back at Spitfire. “I’m curious about its magic based core, its power output, efficiency, and other affected systems. If I can figure out how they all work, I may not only be able to find a way we can use the Falcon, but also a way to apply some of the technology to the compound. At this point, anything would be better than the disastrously old systems down in the engine room. Plus I might also be able to recreate some of the defensive systems.”

“We’d have to find an alternative to the crystals though,” Luna finally spoke up. “We cannot allow such dangerous power to be relied upon.”

“And that’s why I won’t make any guarantees right now,” Rivet assured her. “For all we know, the crystal could be a requirement, not just a source of power. If that’s the case, then we’re sunk and we just have a lemon sitting on our deck, but if it can be switched out with something else, then we’re in business.”

“The crystal is still within the Falcon, correct?” Luna asked while biting her lip.

“Yes,” Rivet nodded and then shook his head. “I didn’t dare touch it after seeing what’s happening to our Shadowbolt captives… that and the, you know, turning to dust thing I’ve been hearing about the defeated commanders.” Rivet looked back towards the glass, scrunching his face as Air Mach was in the way. He shifted slightly to get a better look. “The crystal is still sitting on the base of the core in the back.”

“T’would be best to just leave it be for now,” Luna suggested. “Perhaps we or Discord can remove it later for examination.”

“Hmmm…” Spitfire hummed again as she absorbed all the information. The analysis was highly technical, but nothing she couldn’t understand for the most part. Rivet sounded like he had a basic grip on what he was looking at, and that never failed Spitfire in the past. “Thanks for taking the time, Rivet. I know you’ve got a lot on your plate right now. For now we should—”

“SO CAN I FLY IT NOW?!” Air Mach suddenly blurted out as he stepped in between Spitfire and Rivet, bending way down to poke his face into Rivet’s again. After her initial flinch, Spitfire just flattened her brow and sighed as Rivet slapped his hoof against his face… again.

“Hey, Air Mach.”

Spitfire perked up, looking to her left to see Soarin approaching with Rainbow Dash beside him.

“What’s up big guy?!” Air Mach turned to Soarin, posing dramatically with his cape waving as if it was blowing in the wind… even though they were indoors.

“Fleetfoot fell down the old well,” Soarin said, clearly joking, but…

“What?! HA! An old well is no match for the great Animak! Never fear, Fleety! I’m on my way!” Air Mach suddenly broke into a sprint, stopped in the center of the lobby for a moment, and then turned and galloped down the west hallway.

Soarin, Rainbow Dash, Spitfire, Luna, and Rivet all just stared dumbly as Air Mach left the area.

“I… didn’t think that would actually work…” Soarin said with disbelief as he chuckled. He looked back towards Spitfire while smiling, but she did not look thrilled.

“Soarin, why aren’t you in the infirmary?” Spitfire asked sharply. Soarin scoffed and shook his head.

“I’m not Silver, my body is still functioning,” he said, again in a joking manner, but Spitfire had an odd reaction to it. Both Soarin and Dash saw it. The moment Soarin mentioned Silver, Spitfire’s expression changed drastically. It went from hard and serious to… shocked? Or… was it worry? It was hard to tell because it looked like she was trying to hide it. It also didn’t help that Spitfire said nothing in response.

That worried Dash. It clearly meant Spitfire had Silver on her mind… and it didn’t look like it was for a good reason.

Soarin’s attention, however, was quickly diverted when he noticed Luna looking very uncomfortable. She was staring right at Soarin, fidgeting in place and looking at the damaged horn artifact. The scene had gone from casual to awkward, Spitfire and Luna both remaining silent while keeping their thoughts to themselves while Soarin and Dash tried to figure out what both were thinking.

Then Rivet cleared his throat loudly.

“Captain?” he addressed Spitfire. “What were you saying before Air Mach interrupted?” he asked to bring things back to their discussion.

“Oh, sorry,” Spitfire squinted her eyes shut and shook her head very lightly, regaining her composure and serious air as she turned back to Rivet. “For now we should focus on the compound and reaching the Crystal Empire. Recent developments have thrown a wrench into that plan as a whole, but we’re working to adjust the strategy. Are we still on track in terms of getting this big tub up and running again?” she asked, giving Rivet a brief rundown of the situation in the process.

“Yes, we are still on schedule,” Rivet confirmed. “Might finish up a few days early actually, it will give me time to run extra stress tests and simulations on the engines. Better to be safe than sorry, we’re already going to be pushing the systems harder than they were initially built for. We had no way of getting below and fixing the main ventral propeller that was snapped off during our escape. We stayed afloat without it, the real question is if we can get it up off the ground without it.”

“Alright,” Spitfire chuckled as some of the mechanical lingo went right over her head. “I’ll leave the technical details to you. You got us out of Canterlot with some solo tinkering, now that you have a full team working with you, I’m confident you can get us to the Crystal Empire.”

“We will see,” Rivet finished with a nod and began to turn, but Dash suddenly stepped up from Soarin’s side.

“Wait, question,” she said while raising her right wing into the air. Both Rivet and Spitfire looked towards her. “Since we’re on the subject, I was thinking about this a little while ago. What about all the furniture and stuff? This place was an absolute mess after the first flight. We had to do a lot of digging around for personal belongings. Is there anything we can do to prevent that?”

“Oh,” Spitfire blinked. “I didn’t think about that, that’s a good point,” she turned to address Rivet but he was already nodding.

“I’ve actually already thought about that,” he pointed out. “I recently spoke to a lot of my staff and a few other employees who are stuck here with us. As soon as we’re done with the internal and external repairs, I won’t need everypony to run the final tests. So I’ve put together a group who will comb through the entire compound, room by room, and fix the furniture to the floor or the wall. Beds, shelves, tables, and anything else that can be secured. We have a lot of spare nuts, bolts, and metal brackets that can be used to lock everything down. I figured that it would be a reasonable change to make if we intend to use this thing more.”

“Always thinking ahead,” Spitfire smiled at Rivet. “I’ll make an announcement about securing valuables as well. I guess I won’t be keeping trophies and plaques on my shelves anymore. Hell, we may have to completely remodel the place at this rate, haha…” Spitfire chuckled, never in her life expecting to need to make such decisions as the captain of the Wonderbolts. “Let’s at least get things secured and locked down, then focus on surviving.”

“Agreed,” Rivet nodded again.

“And Rivet?” Spitfire stopped him before he could leave. “Thanks again. I promise a vacation and a raise when we get out of this mess.”

“After a long nap, sure, I’ll take it,” Rivet replied with a soft yawn as he finally managed to pull away and return to work.

Soarin watched Rivet for a brief moment before catching Luna ‘nervously staring’ at him again.

“Okay, Luna,” Soarin flattened his brow. Luna’s eyes went wide, her pupils darted back and forth and she looked away… all very conspicuously. “What is it?” Soarin asked while turning and walking towards her. Luna looked back at Soarin, her eyes still wide as he approached and stared up at her curiously. She remained quiet for a moment before gritting her teeth and narrowing her eyes. She looked away and sighed.

“It… is nothing. We’re sorry,” she stumbled over denial before looking towards Spitfire. “We apologize, but we must discuss something with Captain Spitfire in private.”

Soarin lifted an eyebrow, glancing over his shoulder for a moment at Dash before turning back to Luna and looking her over carefully.

“O…kay…” Soarin huffed. He thought he was done being left out of confidential discussions, but it was clear Luna wasn’t going to say a thing with him around. Dash walked up to him, wearing an expression of equal frustrated curiosity. Soarin wasn’t the only one who was tired of being left out of these discussions. She wasn’t of high rank, but anything having to do with Soarin also had to do with her more often than not.

“Come on…” Dash grabbed Soarin by the arm as she spoke in a less than enthusiastic tone. “Let’s go grab some food.”

“FLEETFOOT! THERE YOU ARE!” Air Mach’s voice suddenly echoed from the west hallway. Soarin and Dash both looked towards the center of the lobby to see Fleetfoot landing on the floor at the bottom of the stairs, staring towards the hallway as Rivet suddenly back-peddled into the lobby, his hooves slipping frantically as he pushed backwards. He dropped to the floor after scooting around ten yard back and covered his head as Air Mach leaped over him, slamming his hooves to the floor after clearing Rivet and skidding to a stop in front of Fleetfoot.

“What?” Fleetfoot cringed, scrunching her face and pulling her head back as Air Mach panted and wheezed, pointing towards her.

“Never fear! I’m here to save you!” he shouted triumphantly as Fleetfoot narrowed her eyes and folded her ears back.

“From what?!” she asked as she continued to inch backwards. Air Mach pointed to the ceiling and took a deep breath, but then he held it, blinking as he looked back and forth.

“I, uh… don’t remember,” he admitted, but then pointed right back down at Fleetfoot. “BUT ALAS! I WILL SUCCEED!” he yelled out as he hopped forward and tried to grab her. She immediately put up her hooves to smack his arms away.

“Hey! Son of a… DON’T TOUCH ME!” Fleetfoot snapped at him as she began shifting away from him, Air Mach giving chase.

“I shall not be denied the heroism I deserve!” Air Mach proclaimed as he chased Fleetfoot in circles.

“Oh my GOD! Stop!” Fleetfoot tried to fake him out, but ended up getting caught. Air Mach latched his hooved on her sides and hoisted her up into the air. “EEEE!” she yelped before swinging her wings down and slapping them right in Air Mach’s face, knocking his glasses off. He immediately let go of her, dropping her on the floor in favor of finding his glasses. Despite the rough landing it gave Fleetfoot the opportunity to get on her hooves and shuffle over to Rivet.

Rivet looked up from his position on the floor and his eyes went wide as he saw Fleetfoot charging at him with Air Mach right behind. Before he could make any moves, Fleetfoot scooped him up off the floor.

“Wah!” Rivet yelped as Fleetfoot turned and held him at arm’s length, facing Air Mach.

“Stay back!” Fleetfoot yelled at Air Mach. “I have a face-hugger and I’m not afraid to use it!”

“A what?! AH!” Rivet stuck all four of his hooves out as Air Mach ran directly into them and bounced off. He got right back up and pounded his chest.

“No challenge is too challenging!” he yelled as he ran at them again and tried to reach past Rivet to Fleetfoot.

“HEY! AH!” Rivet yelled as he kicked and flailed his hooves, continuously bopping Air Mach in the face as Fleetfoot fended him off with him. “PUT ME DOWN!”

“Should we help him? Er… them?” Rainbow Dash asked while trying not to laugh at the absolutely ridiculous scene. Soarin was already chuckling.

“Yeah, we probably should… I kind of brought this on them,” he agreed as the two moved to save Rivet from Fleetfoot and Fleetfoot from Air Mach and Air Mach from Rivet.

Luna kept her eyes trained on Soarin as the two left her alone with Spitfire. Spitfire’s groans of frustration pulling her focus back to her.

“Sometimes I wonder how this place doesn’t fall into complete, idiotic anarchy every few seconds,” Spitfire commented as she looked towards Luna. “Well, we’re alone now… you wanted to speak with me?”

“Y-yes…” Luna nodded as she stole one more glance at the commotion nearby as Soarin and Dash followed the triple struggle into the east hallway. “It’s something important regarding Commander Soarin.”

Spitfire blinked, and tipped her head down for a moment before throwing it back and releasing a very loud, exasperated sigh that lasted several seconds before she refocused on Luna, wearing a very flat expression.

“What now?” she asked with a tone that matched the face she was making. Luna just stared blankly for a moment. “Sorry,” Spitfire apologized while reaching a hoof up and rubbing her head. “There’s just a lot of difficult things on my mind right now… Soarin, Silver, Wave, the Shadowbolts, and a little bit of anxiety over our plans being a bit compromised. I’m thrilled that we claimed a victory and saved Wave, but one victory doesn’t win the war. We can’t get cocky and I can’t ignore duties.”

“We understand,” Luna nodded while letting her ears flop down. “However this is something we cannot overlook, and it has everything to do with the safety of everypony… and all of Equestria for that matter.”

Spitfire’s frustration vanished and her ears pointed up.

“Wait, wait… all of Equestria?” she asked while holding up a hoof. Luna nodded solemnly.

“That is correct,” she confirmed.

“What does Soarin have to do with Equestria-wide safety?” Spitfire asked, bewildered. “I thought we were already addressing that with the Shadowbolts.”

“We had a most disturbing conversation with Discord last night after he…” Luna huffed and puffed her cheeks. “Pulled us through several walls to find privacy.”

“Yeah, what was that about?” Spitfire asked curiously as she stood up and stepped towards Luna, sitting down closer to keep the tone hushed and private. “Discord wasn’t quite acting like himself yesterday, what’s going on?”

“What is bothering Discord is not something we know, nor do we believe he would ever reveal to us,” Luna said with a quiet sigh. “However… he revealed something most troubling to us about Soarin and the condition of the horn.”

“The condition?” Spitfire blinked. “NO…. nonono, he said it was just fine,” Spitfire narrowed her eyes. “I swear if he was lying through his pointy teeth…”

“He was,” Luna said while looking away and shaking her head.

“Oh, I swear…” Spitfire grumbled as she gritted her teeth. She had absolutely had it with Discord. Part of her didn’t even want to hear the rest of the explanation. “The next time I see that snake I’m gonna—”

“Be calm… Spitfire,” Luna encouraged, even though she sounded a little annoyed herself. “The lie was necessary… for Soarin’s ignorance to the danger he’s in will be the key to preventing this.” She paused and stared as Spitfire gave Luna several strange looks ranging from confused to miffed.

“Okay… okay…” Spitfire sighed as she hissed air loudly through her nostrils. “Fine, lay it on me, after everything we’ve gone through so far I doubt anything will surprise me now.”

“Up until now,” Luna began despite Spitfire’s lack of focus. She knew that would change shortly. “One key factor in Soarin’s ability to constantly keep the magic under control has been his willpower and his strong emotions. He has proven our worries wrong several times through unexpected showings of mental strength. It gave us confidence that the artifact mixed with these traits of his would keep the magic at bay for as long as possible… however a few mishaps showed us that his emotions could also have a negative effect…” she trailed off, noticing that Spitfire was waiting for her to get to the point. This was not news to Spitfire she had seen most of it, and heard about the rest already from more than one source. “The truth is,” Luna continued. “That the horn is not simply damaged on the surface. According to Discord, the horn is heavily damaged, inside and out, and now, more than ever, its physical state and integrity may rely on Soarin’s mental state.”

“Uh… what does that mean exactly?” Spitfire asked, lifting an eyebrow while trying to follow.

“Soarin’s emotions are now key in keeping the horn from breaking,” Luna explained putting on a very serious expression. “Should his confidence and morale remain high, the horn will likely stay durable. Should he become worried, scared, angered or any other weakened state of emotion or focus… the horn could shatter in a single, precise hit.”

“Oh…” Spitfire’s eyes went wide. “Oh, that’s not good…” she bit her lower lip as she looked down. “Just great, something else I have to worry about.”

“And we are sure you understand,” Luna carried on. “That Soarin is imbued with a powerful magic that—”

“Will consume him, I remember,” Spitfire clarified as she sighed.

“And likely take control of his body,” Luna added as Spitfire looked back up at her. “The threat is not to be taken lightly. We once felt we would be able to handle such a situation… but as Soarin’s power kept growing and we witnessed the magic more and more… our doubts have been growing with it.” Luna shook her head. “Now even Discord is convinced that all the power in Equestria wouldn’t be able to stop Soarin… should he fall prey to the power within. If what Discord says is true, not even our sister, were she available, would be able to stop it…”

Spitfire just stared blankly at Luna. After several moments, Luna looked back and forth awkwardly.

“We’re… sorry if this complicates things even further… but it cannot be ignored,” she tried to dispel the situation. Spitfire replied immediately.

“Complicates?” Spitfire threw her head back and groaned. “Princess… that’s putting it incredibly lightly!”

“Um… we’re…” Luna winced.

“Is this really what things have come to? You’re telling me that this possibly poses more of a danger than what we’ve already been fighting against? If this was so dangerous, then why did Celestia go through it in the first place?! I know she saved Soarin, but really? Suddenly our enemy is the least of our worries and the biggest threat is one of our own?! MMMRPH!” she was muffled as Luna used her magic to clamp Spitfire’s mouth down. Spitfire glared daggers at her, but Luna barely noticed as she frantically glanced around.

“Please… let us not get any others involved!” she pleaded. Spitfire sighed through her nose and gave Luna a flat look as her mouth was released. “Just listen to us… we cannot let Soarin know. If he is worried about his state, it will weaken the horn and make it more vulnerable.”

Spitfire’s expression remained flat. Luna could tell Spitfire was at the end of her rope with all of this.

“We’re… sorry…” Luna caved, but Spitfire quickly held up her hooves.

“No, no, stop…” Spitfire shook her head. “Don’t apologize. I’m not gonna whine to you about how frustrating this all is. It’s just going to be another hurdle that we have to jump over, but…” Spitfire folded her ears back. “Luna, please… PLEEEEEEEEEASE. Is there anything, anything at all that you can tell me about what Celestia’s motives were or about the magic she used? I feel like those details keep getting diluted or distorted,” she asked, hoping for something, anything that would help shed more light on the plight her best friend had been battling against for quite some time now. “Like I said, I’m grateful that Celestia saved Soarin, but are there things we are not being told?”

Luna looked down, not uttering a single word.

“Nothing?” Spitfire sighed. “Or are you just as starved for information as we are?”

“Truthfully, all we know is what has already been described,” Luna spoke up as she kept her eyes on the floor at her hooves. “The spell our sister used was of a forbidden art devised by Mad King Sombra. Magic meant to repair flesh and imbue the target with energy that would bring it back to life… rekindling a dead spirit, Necromancy. We were against it from the start. Not against saving Soarin, mind you, but it’s clear there have been unforeseen consequences, even with the failsafe assistance given to our sister by you and Rainbow Dash. The spell usually requires a deceased subject, but Soarin’s spirit was still intact upon performing the ritual, and the effects are clear. The magic grew from simply keeping him alive to trying to run rampant and possess him… and the burden it had on our sister has definitely been much more than she predicted.”

“At this point I’m beginning to wonder if Celestia lied to you,” Spitfire spoke up. Luna’s eyes went wide before they sharpened into a glare.

“Our sister would never—!”

“Would she?” Spitfire cut her off while lifting an eyebrow. “I seem to recall you weren’t entirely honest to us about the Renegades.”

Luna opened her mouth to retort, but she blinked and not a single sound came from her. She exhaled sharply as she looked back down at her hooves again.

“Well?” Spitfire pressed. “Face it, Princess. I think this whole situation has shown us the more vulnerable side of many things. This isn’t the time to believe anypony is beyond such things. Not even—”

“Stop,” Luna quickly said back as she shook her head. Spitfire kept looking directly at Luna, but Luna continued to avert her eyes.

The sight would have been interesting had any other pony been around. Normally the roles would be reversed, but Luna knew Spitfire was right. She didn’t want to show weakness as a goddess, but as Spitfire had said. The whole ordeal had pulled many ponies down a notch… her included.

But then it hit her.

Despite her defensive response… she was already looking away from the truth that was a lie. She already knew, thanks to Discord… that Celestia had lied to her about Soarin being key to a ‘vision’ of the future.

Soarin was supposed to be dead, and Celestia went through the magic transfer anyway. Did Celestia make it all up? Had she seen something else entirely and lied to avoid more protest? Or was she pursuing a different goal?

“With how things have gone,” Luna finally spoke again. “And how our sister’s reassurance of her quick return has proven false…” Luna paused, releasing a long sigh. “We are willing to entertain the thought that there is more than we are aware of, yes.”

Spitfire remained quiet, locking eyes with Princess Luna as the two of them once again held equal ground.

“And I’m going to readily assume that Discord has not said anything more on the magic?” Spitfire asked.

“He has been tight lipped about it,” Luna grunted with discontent. “But we know he knows something… after all, he keeps claiming that he is acting on our sister’s behalf, yet never explains why. How he annoys us so with secrecy…” Luna trailed off and blinked when she saw Spitfire lifting an eyebrow at her last statement. “Oh…” Luna looked away awkwardly, since she herself had engaged in said secrecy.

“Well… let’s get back on the here and now…” Spitfire said reluctantly as she decided to drop the further subject. “So here we are… What are we going to do about Soarin?”

“We must keep him confined and out of action… without telling him the true reason why,” Luna quickly explained to get back on track.

“That’s…” Spitfire furrowed her brow. “Not going to be easy. Trying to keep Soarin out of action is like trying to derail a train with a paper cup. He already gets himself into danger when it can be avoided on a regular basis and it’ll be even harder when his body heals up.”

“We know,” Luna agreed with a nod. “But we also know that you know him best. We thought about addressing Rainbow Dash on the matter, but we weren’t sure if her strong loyalty would prevent her from keeping it a secret from him.”

“That may have been the right choice,” Spitfire followed up, finding no argument with that.

“And Commander Fleetfoot—”

“No, that would be a definite no,” Spitfire cut her off. “You were right to come to me about it as his captain and longtime friend. I’ll figure something out. It may be just as simple as stressing we don’t want the horn to be damaged without raising the real concerns.”

Spitfire kept pondering quietly to herself, but looked up when Luna remained silent. Luna was looking down again… and that was starting to bother Spitfire. Yes, they had a small clash of words just now, but Luna had to remain strong.

“Look, Princess…”

“We’re sorry,” Luna spoke up quickly, causing Spitfire to stop and tip her head. Another apology?

“For?” Spitfire asked curiously.

“We feel as if we have not been as helpful as we should be,” Luna explained in a tone that was strange for what she was saying. It didn’t sound somber or defeated. She was speaking in a strong, serious tone as if it was a matter that had to be addressed officially. “For all we stand for, we have done nothing but fall short. Not just us, but all the gods involved. Our sister, the most powerful being in Equestria, is unable to act. Discord, a sure and true wildcard, is bound by an objective he refuses to share. And we… I… While not as powerful as our sister, should be highly capable of having a large impact. Yet it seems we have heavily missed the mark.”

Spitfire stared right up into Luna’s serious gaze and blinked.

“Luna, did you forget that you shielded the whole damn compound from certain destruction during our first run-in with the Shadowbolt fortress? Not to mention you JUST worked the dragon illusion for us in our operation to save Wave.” She explained. “I’d say you’ve been very helpful.”

“But we should be doing more,” Luna replied sharply. “For all the power we have, and everything we are capable of, we’re afraid we’ve not offered many solutions.”

“Luna, whether or not you are a goddess and no matter how much you’ve done for us, you have to realize that your presence alone has had a positive effect,” Spitfire said as she stepped up to Luna. “We’re in disarray right now, we’re confused, and not really sure if we’re going to survive. The good vibes of our victory are only going to be a temporary high. Having a familiar, ruling icon such as yourself around has been a consistent morale boost.”

“Still, we are a goddess, and a lot is to be expected of us,” Luna countered… starting to sound like a broken record.

“No,” Spitfire shook her head, causing Luna to tip her head curiously. “Stop worrying about it, please. If we were bowing at your hooves and pleading for you to save us, things would be different, but we’re not doing that. Yes, you’re a goddess, but no, we are not relying on you as the solution. If that’s really how we felt, the way you buckled beneath the power of the fortress cannon would have sucked the confidence out of all of us and left us completely broken. We’re the Wonderbolts. We’re trained to fight the unknown and unheard of. Facing something that even a goddess struggles against? That’s just another day at the office.”

Luna remained silent, her eyes widening slightly as Spitfire explained.

“It was clear to us very early on that we weren’t dealing with something ordinary. We never viewed raw power as being the answer to this. Don’t get me wrong, having divine alicorn magic on our side is a trump card I would NEVER turn down. And I’m sure there will be times going forward when your power may get us out of a bind again, but I’m not going to plan around it or expect anything from you,” she spread her wings and hovered up to get eye level with Luna. She placed a hoof on Luna’s shoulder while smiling. “Just stay strong for us, alright? Like I said, your presence alone is having a positive effect on our morale. So don’t sweat it. We’re glad you’re here and we’re glad to have you in our arsenal.”

Luna smiled, closing her eyes and sighing lightly.

“Thank you, Captain Spitfire. We deeply appreciate the vote of confidence. We shall continue to be at your disposal for as long as you need us.”

“Good to hear,” Spitfire nodded as she pulled back and lowered herself back to the floor.

No other words were said as Luna turned and made her way back towards the east hallway and the battle dome. Spitfire kept her smile on until Luna was out of sight and then looked back out the doors at the Falcon.

She stared at it for several moments as her thoughts swirled around in her head. Thoughts of things that had happened, thoughts of conversations that just happened, and thoughts about what was going to happen next…

But then one thought stopped dead, front, and center causing her ears to twitch back and forth before they flopped down to the sides of her head and her heart sank.

“I’m not Silver, my body is still functioning.”

Soarin was being lighthearted, but his words cut into her deep. She looked up as she heard the sound of hooves clip clopping across the lobby. Soarin and Rainbow Dash trotted through back to the east hallway while laughing and joking with each other.

“I’m not Silver…”

Spitfire looked down and her pupils darted back and forth as she bit her lower lip. She hugged herself tight as she began to shiver. The heat was on… it wasn’t cold, but…

She looked up again as she heard another set of hooves. Fleetfoot was trotting through, following far behind Soarin and Dash. The moment Spitfire saw her, she called out.

“Fleet!” she yelled. Fleetfoot stopped right in her tracks, turned, and tipped her head as she stared towards Spitfire. Spitfire reached up a hoof and beckoned Fleetfoot towards her. Fleetfoot glanced back down the east hallway before turning and moving towards Spitfire.

“What’s up?” Fleetfoot asked casually, clearly relieved to be free of Air Mach’s pursuit. It wasn’t until she got a little closer that she noticed Spitfire’s demeanor. Her smile faded and her mouth hung slightly ajar as she noticed how… weak Spitfire looked. “Spitty?”

“I…” Spitfire stuttered. “I need… uh…”

“Whoa… whoa!” Fleetfoot picked up her pace into a canter, stopping in front of Spitfire and reaching both of her hooves to Spitfire’s shoulders. “What’s wrong?” she asked with worry. Spitfire had been nothing but a pillar of strength and confidence for the past twenty-four hours from the moment she declared they were going to save Wave, to their victory and the day after… what was eating at her?

“I need… some help with something…” Spitfire continued to speak in broken sentences, her body still shaking a little as she looked away from Fleetfoot. She looked incredibly uncomfortable.

“What’s wrong?!” Fleetfoot asked again, looking down at her outstretched arms. “You’re shaking!”

“I know,” Spitfire replied, reaching up and grabbing one of Fleetfoot’s arms. “I can’t… I just can’t wait to do this any longer. It would be unfair to let this linger for a week. It will be unfair to him and just claw at me. I can’t avoid it anymore, I…”

“What?” Fleetfoot pressed as she clasped a hoof over Spitfire’s. “Who?”

“It was already hard telling Blazetail and Flashwind about Rapidfire… This is going to be worse,” Spitfire looked Fleetfoot in the eyes. “Please… I need support here. I don’t know if I can do this one alone…”

“Spitty,” Fleetfoot narrowed her eyes. “Stop dancing around it! What are you talking about?!”

Spitfire closed her eyes and swallowed.

“Silver.”


“It’s hilarious how good dried food tastes when you’re really hungry,” Soarin joked, popping his last almond into his mouth as he and Dash walked back into the infirmary.

“SILVER!”

They both came to an abrupt halt, looking down the aisle to see Silver hobbling towards them. He was quickly surrounded by Bliss’ magic and halted in place.

“Dammit…” Silver grumbled as his hooves skidded along the floor back towards his bed. Bliss was standing beside it as her magic drew Silver back, tapping her right hoof impatiently.

“I mean it, I’ll strap you to the bed!” she repeated her threat from before.

“Hmph…” Silver scoffed as Mahogany and Witching Hour stopped by to help hoist him up and back onto the bed again. “Until you make good on that threat, I’m gonna keep trying,” he stated defiantly.

Soarin and Dash glanced at each other and blinked before erupting into fits of giggles.

“Somepony is determined,” Soarin said as the two of them moved down the aisle towards Soarin’s assigned bed beside Silver.

“I could have told Bliss he would never listen,” Dash added with a continued chuckle as the two passed right by Silver and Bliss, Bliss glaring daggers at him as Silver simply shrugged her stern eyes off.

Bliss eventually huffed and turned away from Silver, her eyes landing on Dash as she and Soarin moved by.

“Ah, Rainbow Dash, perfect timing, I need a distraction,” Bliss said flatly as her magic came to life on her horn and aura surrounded Dash’s hoof.

“Whoa!” Dash yelped in surprise as Bliss’s magic pulled her away from Soarin and towards a stool nearby.

“Sit down so I can do some concussion checks,” Bliss ordered, her flat tone remaining constant. Dash looked past her at Soarin, who smiled at Dash and pointed at his bed to reassure her that he wasn’t going anywhere. Dash smiled back before letting Bliss do another examination.

As Dash did as she was told, following Bliss’ hoof with her eyes when asked and doing a few resistance tests against her arms, she noticed a familiar group walk in. Storm Front and Matteo walked through the door, followed close behind by Twister, who shot through the door and dove into Matteo’s feathers.

Storm flinched and stared at Matteo as Twister took part in his usual griffon shenanigans, but Matteo just shook his head and casually started walking, completely used to it by now.

“Dash, focus,” Bliss asked.

“Oh, sorry,” she winced as she looked back at the slightly miffed Bliss and continued with the test. Without breaking her focus, she saw both Storm and Matteo make their way down the aisle. Matteo stopped in front of Silver for a moment, Storm doing the same with Soarin. Matteo didn’t get a word out of Silver and kept moving, Storm following right behind him after greeting Soarin.

“Turn right,” Bliss ordered. Dash quickly complied, conveniently giving her a view down the aisle.

Storm and Matteo were clearly heading towards Squall and Little Star, which led their path past Starry Skies… who was also still resting in the infirmary. While Matteo carried on, Storm Front stopped and looked Starry over. He didn’t move for several moments… until Starry Skies suddenly twitched and shifted her position. The small movement made Storm nearly leap a yard into the air before he scurried after Matteo.

“Pffffff…” a sharp breath that sounded like a stifled laugh came from Soarin. Dash glanced back to see Soarin watching Storm and holding his breath.

“All done, better than yesterday,” Bliss patted Dash on the shoulder.

“Thank—” Dash couldn’t even finish before Bliss had turned and walked quickly back towards the front of the infirmary. “Heh…” Dash smirked. Yeah, sure, it was at Bliss’ expense, but knowing it was due to Silver’s neverending stubbornness added a humorous factor to it.

“Did you see that?” Soarin asked, still chuckling as Dash hopped down and walked up to his bed.

“What, Storm?” she clarified, Soarin quickly nodding.

“He almost went through the ceiling when Starry Skies stirred. I wonder what that was all about?” he said as he started inching off the bed.

“Let’s…” Dash trailed off as she glanced back at Silver. She wanted to go join her squad but…

“Come on,” Soarin encouraged while tapping her on the shoulder and pointing towards Bliss approaching with Witching Hour, holding several bandages and supplies towards Silver. “He has plenty of ‘company,’ we’ll come right back,” he both joked and assured her. Dash kept watching as Bliss kept a sharp stare on Silver. As she and Witching began to work on replacing his bandages, her worry faded.

“Yeah,” she snickered. “He’ll have his hooves full for a little bit,” she agreed.

The two started making their way towards the small gathering, Matteo was trying to talk to Squall, but he wasn’t paying much attention. Twister had removed himself from Matteo’s feathers and was slowly inching his face over the top of the mattress beside Squall.

But then suddenly, right before Soarin and Dash could reach the group. Little Star stirred and released a little groan. Everypony looked towards her, but no sooner than a moment after, Squall sprang up, his eyes wide as he backed up and bumped right into Matteo, falling flat to the floor.

“What the…” Matteo blinked as he looked down to see Squall frantically trying to get back on his hooves. “Squall, what are you…”

“Hgggnnn…” Little Star groaned a little louder as she shuddered and turned over.

Squall grabbed hold of Matteo’s lion fur and yanked on it to pull himself up, earning a squawk of discontent from him, but before Matteo could glare at him, Squall turned and broke into a gallop, completely flattening Twister before running smack into Storm Front and coming to another halt with Twister stuck to his back left hoof.

“Whoa! Squall?!” Storm blinked as he stumbled backward. Squall reached forward and pushed Storm out of the way before galloping down the aisle, stopping briefly to kick Twister off his leg, sending him laughing maniacally into an open cabinet that slammed shut before Squall continued on his course.

Dash realized what Squall was doing and tried to get in his way before he could escape, but she was an inch too late, just missing him as she reached a hoof out to stop him.

“Squall!” Dash yelled as he thundered down the aisle towards the entrance.

“No running please!” Bliss said sternly as Squall passed by her, but he didn’t listen.

“SQUALL! COME BACK HERE!” Dash yelled again, but it was no use, Squall was gone.

“What’s all the racket…?” Little Star groaned as her eyes fluttered open and she cringed. She reached down and grabbed her side as she shuddered. “Oooo… Ahhh… owowow…” she voiced her pain quietly.

Dash sighed as she turned back towards Star. Soarin was still looking back at the entrance as they started walking again.

“That was interesting…” Soarin commented with a chuckle as Dash groaned.

“That guy… seriously… sometimes I wanna smack him upside the head,” she grumbled as they drew near.

“Why is that?” Soarin asked with a snicker.

“He keeps running from things that would be good for him, I understand he’s afraid of some things but, rgggghhh… it would be so good for him!” she ranted as they finally made it up to Star’s bed, where Matteo and Storm were already looking her over and smiling.

“Hey guys…” Star squeaked weakly as she smiled up at Matteo and Storm. Rainbow Dash moved up beside Storm to look down at her as well with Soarin hovering behind her.

“How are you feeling?” Dash spoke up, eager to know the state of her brave little squadmate.

“A little stiff and sore…ow!” she winced again. “And a little painful, but I’m alive,” she said with another weak smile. She followed up with a very long yawn as her body shuddered. “Yikes… hurts to move. How long have I been asleep?”

“Couldn’t say,” Dash shrugged. “We’ve been in and out since you last woke up yesterday, but I’m glad you’re getting rest, you earned it.”

“Rest and recover,” Matteo spoke up. “Your selfless acts of honor and bravery have earned you that much.”

Twister suddenly stuck his head out from Matteo’s chest feathers wearing a monocle, a fake moustache, and holding a cup of tea.

“I say, chap, would a nice cup of tea get the blood flow—” he was cut off as Matteo calmly reached up and stuffed Twister back into his feathers.

“You not only saved Squall, but you motivated him to take action that may have ultimately saved us as well,” Matteo continued despite being interrupted. “On my griffon honor, I commend you.”

“Gee, thanks,” Star accepted, with a tiny bit of sarcasm since Matteo was going all ‘griffon-code’ on her. She looked back and forth at all of them. Matteo and Dash were still looking at her. Storm seemed distracted by something. Twister was sitting on Dash’s back, slowly reaching a hoof towards Soarin’s horn. Soarin had skeptical eyes locked on Twister and was slowly tipping his head away to avoid Twister’s hoof. Star barely noticed the shenanigans though, because she couldn’t find a certain stallion. “Speaking of which… where is Squall?”

Matteo and Storm glanced at each other as Dash released a long sigh, followed by giving her left wing a hard flap to smack Twister in the side of the head, forcing him off her back as he fell to the ground… very slowly, while making a loud screeching, screaming noise that slowly faded as if he was falling several thousand yards.

“He WAS here a moment ago,” Dash said with frustration. “He left right before you woke up.”

Star pouted as Dash explained, clear disappointment on her face.

“Why did he leave?” she asked, her voice sounding just as disappointed as she looked.

“Cause he’s a wuss when it comes to—”

“We cannot say,” Matteo cut off Dash while suddenly pushing the shanks of his talons down over her head. “However, he has not left your side since we returned,” he explained straightforwardly.

“Huh?” Star tried to sit up as her eyes widened a little, but her attempt quickly failed due to the pain. Dash felt a bit scrunched with Matteo pushing down on her, but instead of protesting, she listened.

“We’ve come to check on you many times,” Matteo continued. “Every time, Squall was already here, keeping an eye on you. He refused to leave, even for food, forcing us to bring it to him from the battle dome. He has not spoken to us about his devotion to watching over you, but he has been dedicated to you since our return.” Matteo finished as he gently removed his talon shanks from around Dash’s head.

“What he said,” Dash echoed, smiling while pointing at Matteo, ultimately surprised that Matteo came right out with it. Then again, the way Matteo always spoke of devotion, pride, and honor, he probably felt the need to praise Squall despite their on and off love/hate relationship as squadmates.

“Wow, really?” Star said as she slowly rested her head back down on the mattress. “And he ran off when I woke up…” She lay still for a moment before smiling and rolling her eyes. “That dope…” she said quietly with a giggle and light blush.

“I tried to stop him but—” Dash suddenly blinked and ducked as a plastic arrow with a suction tip flew over her head. It zipped towards Matteo and stuck to his beak with a quiet POP. Matteo didn’t even flinch, he just glanced at his beak and lifted an eyebrow. The arrow had a heart as the feather. Dash looked opposite of her and saw Twister wearing paper angel wings over his own with a wire attached to a halo bobbing over his head. He hovered in midair, whistling innocently while failing to hide a pink bow and additional arrow behind him.

“I tried to stop him, but he bolted like he was scared to death the moment you started waking up,” Dash repeated as Matteo tried to pull the toy arrow off his beak, but found it stuck quite firmly. “So yeah, ‘dope’ is probably the right word. He wouldn’t take his eyes off of you, barely paid attention to anything going on around him, and tried to hide from me every time I came to check on you.”

“Hehe! Oo, ow!” Star cringed as she giggled. “Well, he better be ready,” she said with a cute sigh. “Cause the next time I see him, he’s getting a big hug, whether he likes it or not.”


Soarin scooted himself slightly back as he watched Matteo continue to yank and pull on the arrow stuck to his beak. He decided to give himself a little more room as Twister hopped up on Matteo’s head and began sticking more of the toy arrows all over his beak. The building ‘situation’ could easily end with somepony being whacked by a flailing griffon arm.

Dash was still conversing and laughing with Little Star about Squall’s amusing tactics to try and hide his selfless actions, but somepony had been strangely silent throughout.

Storm Front was sitting among them, also giving himself a little bit of space away from Matteo and Twister. He hadn’t said a word to Little Star as Dash, Matteo, and Twister, in his own way, all spoke to her. He seemed to be distracted by something. Soarin was only just now picking up on it. Storm held a constant warm smile when looking at Little Star, but every few seconds he was glancing elsewhere. After watching him do it three or four times, Soarin noticed it was always in the same direction.

Soarin turned his head and looked in the same direction, but there were plenty of things to look at going back towards the entrance of the infirmary. Starry Skies was just a few beds down. Further down, Silver was being scolded by Bliss for not lying still as she and her assistants tried to change his bandages. Then at the front… Soarin perked up upon seeing Spitfire and Fleetfoot walk in, followed by Spitfire suddenly turning around and walking right back out. Fleetfoot turned around and followed her quickly.

While that little instance had him curious, he still wanted to know what had Storm so distracted. But honestly, he already had a feeling based on his little moment where a simple stir from Starry Skies nearly sent him through the ceiling.

He reached over and tapped Storm on the shoulder.

“Ah!” Storm yelped, but quickly covered his mouth as his ears flopped down and he turned to look at Soarin. Soarin held his breath and scrunched his mouth as he snickered.

“Whoa there, someone’s a little high strung,” Soarin joked as Storm exhaled and loosened up. He glanced at the others still conversing with Little Star before turning and shifting over near Soarin.

“Sorry…” he apologized meekly while scratching the back of his head.

“What’s up? You’ve been quiet the whole time,” Soarin pointed out.

“I have?” Storm blinked. “Uh…”

“Yeah, you have,” Soarin smirked.

“Well, uh… I kind of… wanted to… uh…”

“Starry Skies?” Soarin said before he could finish. Storm’s eyes widened and he blinked. “I just figured,” Soarin shrugged. "I saw you flinch like you got struck by lightning while walking by her.”

“Aw jeez, you saw that?” Storm looked town and sighed, embarrassed.

“So what’s up? Something you wanted to do regarding Starry?” Soarin pressed.

“Well, uh… yes,” Storm admitted, looking back up with an awkward expression.

“Well, what is it?” Soarin continued to chuckle at Storm’s hesitant demeanor.

“I… wanted to ask her how she’s doing,” Storm followed up.

Soarin lifted his brow and tipped his head slightly. That was it? That was all he was getting worked up about?

“I mean, you know,” Storm looked away and rubbed the back of his head again. “She’s a very good friend of my father’s and… I dunno, I guess I just felt like, it would be a nice thing to do?”

Soarin smiled. Getting to know Storm had been an interesting experience, that along with teaching him the basics of the Sonic Blast Off. But if there was one thing that always impressed Soarin, it was Storm’s respect and sympathy. Even if he didn’t know a pony well, or if the pony wasn’t necessarily nice to him, he always worried about the wellbeing of others. It was something that had been tested, and something that had initially worried Spitfire and other elites in terms of entering battle, but Storm had proven capable of setting aside personal feelings if the situation called for it. Sure, he had a few spats with Squall here and there, but from what he heard, that was more a conflict of values and personal issues.

“Okay, then go do it,” Soarin encouraged, but Storm didn’t budge, glancing towards Starry Skies as she continued to rest… and clutch her pillow. “Storm?”

“Er… I want to, but…” Storm winced.

“But?” Soarin pressed, anticipating an amusing answer.

“But, you know how she is… I’m afraid she might bite my head off…”

“PFFFFFFFFFFF…” Soarin held in the laughter as he bent forward and clutched an arm around his stomach. Storm pouted as he looked away shamefully.

“I’d like to think my worry is justified, she’s not very… friendly,” Storm admitted his unwillingness. Soarin shook his head as he managed to hold down the belly laugh.

“Oh, come on,” he chuckled. “If Fleetfoot can handle her, there’s no reason you can’t.”

“That’s hardly a comparison,” Storm twitched awkwardly. “I’d rather not employ the same… sexually driven tactics as Commander Fleetfoot.”

“HA!” Soarin failed to hold back a guffaw as he reached out and grabbed Storm by the shoulder. “I was joking,” he assured Storm. “Come on, you…” he said as he started pulling Storm along.

“Ah!” Storm yelped as he was forced to his hooves and moved behind him.

“Stallion up and face the big bad Starry Skies. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure she doesn’t cook and eat you,” Soarin joked as he felt Storm half-heartedly resist.

“Uh… alright…” Storm gave in as Soarin pulled him away from the group and the two approached Starry Skies three tables down.

She was still asleep, or at least appeared to be, and was still curled up and clutching a pillow within all four of her limbs.

They stopped in front of her, but Storm didn’t make any move. Soarin glanced down at him and rolled his eyes before opening a wing and nudging Storm forward.

Storm gritted his teeth as he looked upon Starry, biting his lower lip as he struggled to find any words. He took a deep breath and let his head hang down for a moment before looking up and swallowing.

“S…Starry Skies?” he said her name.

She gave no response.

“Well, looks like she’s still asleep!” Storm said quietly, turning around quickly with a very fake smile on his face. “Guess I’ll have to come back later or not at all!”

Soarin was about to reach forward and stop him, but he didn’t have to.

WHAT?” Starry suddenly spoke with a sharp tone, causing Storm to squeak and freeze in place for a moment. Storm slowly and shakily looked over his shoulder to see Starry glaring at him, a frightful sight that was amplified by how messy her mane had become after digging into the mattress for so long, loose strands everywhere and big chunks sticking in odd directions.

“Uh…!” Storm tried to speak, but was still not fully turned towards her.

“For the love of…” Soarin sighed, reaching forward and forcefully turning Storm so he was squared up to her.

“Er… HI!” Storm smiled as wide as he could, but couldn’t hide the nervous look in his eyes.

Starry Skies lifted an eyebrow before snorting and letting her head plop back down on the mattress.

“Buzz off,” she hissed before closing her eyes, clutching her pillow tighter, and digging her nose into it. Storm’s smile faded instantly and his ears slapped to the sides of his head.

“Wow, what a ray of sunshine,” Soarin commented, causing Starry’s eyes to snap back open and glare towards him, her face mostly hidden by the pillow.

“Got a problem, princess?” Starry asked, her voice muffled by the pillow.

“Like I haven’t heard that one a million times already,” Soarin shrugged off her words before stepping up beside Storm and nudging him forward again. “Come on Storm, just ask her.”

Storm flinched as Starry glared at him again.

“Uh…” he hesitated but despite Starry’s expected mood and tone, he still wanted to go through with it. “I just… uh…”

Soarin glanced down at Storm, sighing. He could tell Storm wanted to say it, but Starry wasn’t being very welcome… big surprise.

As Storm struggled, Starry began moving to turn over and face away, but before she could get halfway, Storm blurted it out.

“I just…! Wanted to ask… how you are feeling…?” he started strong and slowly fizzled out, just barely getting the whole question. Starry paused mid-roll, on her back with the pillow above her. She blinked before turning her head, tipping an eyebrow up before switching to the other a moment later.

“What?” she asked with a tone that was less harsh and more confused.

“I just wanted to…” Storm started repeating, pausing to swallow nervously before finishing. “Ask… how you are feeling…”

Starry kept staring for several seconds before flattening her brow and folding her ears backwards, the motion of which batted aside bits of her crazy bed-mane.

“I’m fine,” she said flatly before continuing her motion and facing away. “Now get lost, kid.”

“Alright that does it,” Soarin growled as he nudged Storm aside and roughly patted his hoof on the mattress beside Starry. “Why do you have to be like that? Are you really that unappreciative of simple kindness?”

“Leave me alone,” Starry growled as Soarin narrowed his eyes.

“No.”

“Excuse me?” Starry tipped her head, not enough to put Soarin in her view, but enough for a reaction.

“I said no. Descent walks in and expresses worry for you… and you reassure him you’re fine. You didn’t snap, or be testy with him,” Soarin described the scene he saw between them the day before.

“Descent is different,” Starry said flatly as she let her head fall back down, still facing away.

“That sounds like an excuse, are you afraid that somepony might think you’re friendly?” Soarin asked sarcastically. Starry slowly turned herself back over and glared.

“Shut the hell up and go away,” she growled. “You don’t know Descent.”

“Apparently you don’t either,” Soarin quickly retorted while stepping aside and glancing at Storm.

“What?! I…” Starry began, but she clearly did so before thinking because she stopped cold, mid-sentence. Storm glanced between Soarin and Starry, not sure what his simple desire to check on Starry had suddenly turned into. “Hrrrgnnn…” Starry groaned as she clutched her pillow and stuffed her face into it again.

“Well?” Soarin pressed. He knew she was recovering, but he wasn’t going to let her get out of this push away Storm.

“Hmph…” Starry huffed as she removed her nose from the pillow and rested her chin on top of it, looking towards Storm with narrow eyelids. “Just please go away…” she said in a much, much different tone while averting her eyes from Storm. “I really don’t want to talk to you.”

“But…” Storm spoke up, causing Soarin to glance back at him, and then step aside. Storm took a few steps towards her. “Why?” he asked simply, remaining silent for a moment. “Does something about me… bother you?”

Starry released a long, exasperated breath from her nostrils as she let her chin sink deeper into the pillow and she visibly clutched it tighter.

“Look, kid…” she began. “I have nothing against you. I really don’t… it’s just…” she trailed off. “Forget it…”

“No! Please, tell me…” Storm pleaded. Soarin could see the change in Storm’s demeanor. He stepped up beside him to listen as well as Storm pursued answers. He knew how Storm was… how he only wished the best for those around him. Starry had unknowingly opened up a new issue the moment she made Storm feel like he had some sort of negative effect on her. Seeing that Storm wasn’t going to go away, Starry sighed and gave in.

“I thought… I knew Descent,” she admitted. “He’s one of the only ponies I’ve ever trusted in my life,” Starry explained. “The other… was Nightshade. Over time, Nightshade ended up turning into something I didn’t even recognize anymore, which left Descent as the only pony I felt I could count on,” she paused as her eyes landed directly on Storm again. “Then you came into the picture. And just like that I found myself looking at Descent as if I didn’t even know him. He started acting differently, I saw him show a side of himself I didn’t know existed. The fierce, ruthless fighter I had come to trust by my side in battle… a soft, caring father?” Starry shook her head. “It broke everything. The last pony I trusted had not been completely honest with me about who he really was. He’s been completely different since you showed up. He’s been emotional, showing doubt on his actions… expressing worry for me when in the past he’s told me to suck it up and get on my hooves.” Starry released a loud sigh as she clutched her pillow very tightly. “I don’t even know who he is anymore and it’s getting to me. My life has been nothing but battle after battle, I’ve cared about nothing else. I never felt alone because I always had two ponies beside me with the exact same outlook. Now they are both gone… I feel alone.”

Storm and Soarin both blinked, neither of them expecting such a sudden… burst and expression of thoughts from the usually stone faced Starry Skies.

“There, you happy?” Starry grunted as she turned back over. “Now go away, and so help me, if you tell anyone about this I will kill you both.”

“Starry,” Soarin spoke up while sighing. “Do you really not trust Descent anymore?”

“I don’t,” she said bluntly.

“I think you do, why are you still following his orders?” Soarin pressed.

“Because I follow the strongest, that’s the Shadowbolt code.” Her tone had turned completely flat.

“It’s not because you trust him?” Soarin kept going.

“Are you even listening to me?” Starry growled quietly.

“I am, and I don’t believe you,” Soarin said as he leaned forward onto her mattress. “I think you’re making excuses.”

“Think whatever the hell you want, you don’t know me,” Starry huffed, refusing to face him.

“Maybe I don’t, but I understand how leadership works,” Soarin started reaching for her. “Your code says the strongest leads, but a leader can’t lead without trust or the confidence of those who follow. And you’ve known about Storm for a while now. If you don’t trust him, then why do you still—”

The moment his hoof touched her shoulder she threw herself around, swinging her arm out and swatting his away. Facing them now, she wore an incredibly angry expression, face scrunched up and teeth bared.

“Shut up!” she yelled, her voice very shaky. “Ah!” she put a hoof to her forehead, wincing harshly before tightening her grip on the pillow and stuffing her face into it. Her body shook as she still felt the effects of her brief crystal use.

Soarin looked around, seeing that attention had been drawn to them. Dash and Squad Foxtrot were all staring towards them, Bliss and her assistants looking towards them as well. Silver was the only one who didn’t show any interest.

Starry looked up at Soarin once her shaking ceased, her eyes were wide, devoid of strength as she panted.

“Please… just stop it… I don’t…” she hugged the pillow tightly. “I really don’t want to talk about it, please… my world and everything I believe in has been turned upside down and Descent’s deception was the last, hardest slap to the face. My trust in him was all I had left and I’m conflicted on what to believe in now.”

Soarin looked down, staring at the floor as he heard the weakness in Starry’s voice. He didn’t regret confronting her, but at the same time felt sorry for her.

Then he felt a hoof tap his shoulder.

Soarin looked to the side to see Storm walk by him and approach Starry.

“Starry…” he spoke up, causing her to just barely look up from the pillow. “You can trust my father,” he said reassuringly. “You and I are more similar than you think. After all, I didn’t know about my father’s life as a Shadowbolt.”

Starry blinked, removing her face completely from the pillow as Storm spoke.

“I was shocked… frankly, a little appalled to hear about what he really did, what he had done… how he had killed Matteo’s father and many others over the course of his life. I didn’t know what to believe either, but despite the discovery, he still showed me the side of him that I knew and the side I believed in. It’s difficult for him… I can see it every time he speaks to me. The two lives he lived are now smashed together and he’s not sure what to do. Some of his softer side is carrying over to the harder in the way he’s showing care for you and his afflicted comrades… and likewise, he sometimes shows a harder, sterner side with me that I’m not quite used to… but he’s still the father that was always there for me.”

Storm reached up and put a hoof on her shoulder, just as Soarin had, but she didn’t retaliate this time. In fact, she looked at him in a similar way she looked at Descent when he made the same gesture the day before.

“Maybe your trust for him has been damaged… Maybe he doesn’t seem like the Descent you trusted anymore… but he still trusts you and relies on you for support through this rough patch. I know he does.” Storm gave her shoulder a pat. “Please rest and get better for him. He needs you.”

Storm didn’t even wait for her to respond, as if he knew she wouldn’t. He simply turned back to Soarin and nodded.

“Come on, let’s leave her be,” he suggested. Soarin looked between him and Starry as she stared at him before his lips curled into a small grin and he followed behind Storm.

He was proud of Storm. Soarin felt like he put himself in a little bit of a corner throughout that situation, arguing with Starry on how she should feel. In reality, he didn’t want to decide that for her, but he felt she was being irrational. Soarin had a lot of respect for Descent, and that wasn’t an easy thing for Descent to earn, considering that he had a major hoof in creating Soarin’s current situation with the magic and all. It was hard for him to hear a pony very close to Descent voice such doubt about him. It got to a point where he felt he went too far, and then Storm bailed him out like a champ, channeling a bit of his father in the process.

Storm and Starry were in the same boat, but on different ends, teetering back and forth wondering who Descent really was. It may have been easier for Storm to accept due to his inherent nature being much more positive than Starry’s, but she had no reason to doubt Descent. If anything, Soarin felt this new side of Descent would be good for her and the rather negative view she carried like a badge of honor over every possible subject.

“What was that about?” Dash asked Soarin as she watched Storm walk up to Little Star with a smile on his face.

“The son reassuring her about the father,” Soarin said with a smile. Dash tipped her head and blinked, glancing between Storm and Starry Skies, who was still looking at Storm, but had her head back down on the pillow. “You know how Starry is… I think she’s afraid of ever showing any sort of compassion or anything she might feel is ‘soft,” Soarin explained as he also looked towards Starry. “But she can’t hide it,” he continued as he looked back at Dash and smiled. “I mean… did she forget most of us were there when she faltered about Nightshade after checking on our captives?” he chuckled, remembering when Starry acted like she didn’t care about the Shadowbolts that were battling the crystal affliction.

“Some have a hard time being realistic with themselves,” Dash commented as she sighed. “That’s something I’ve seen a lot of over the past few months… from myself included. If anything, it’s a reminder that none of us are perfect,” she paused, smirked, and poked Soarin in the chest. “But don’t you dare go around telling people I said that, I have an image of being awesome to keep up.”

“Fair enough,” Soarin chuckled, blinking as he saw Dash lean over and look past him, but not towards Starry. He turned and glanced over his shoulder, tracing her eyes towards Silver. Bliss and her assistants had just finished changing his bandages, leaving him right back where he started despite all his attempts to escape. The moment Bliss stepped away, Silver reached up and angrily ripped the bandages close to his nose again. “Pfff…” Soarin held in a laugh as he started turning back. “Want to go—”

He blinked as he saw Dash already moving past him towards Silver.

“I’ll take that as a yes…” Soarin chuckled as he stole one glance back at Storm, to see him now happily conversing with Star and checking up on her. With Storm back to his usual self, Soarin followed behind Dash, catching up with her as they approached Silver.

But Soarin perked up, both of them stopping as something caught their eyes, specifically Soarin.

Spitfire had returned to the infirmary, walking very slowly as Fleetfoot walked behind her with a hoof on her back. Just a little earlier, Soarin saw Spitfire walk in and right back out with Fleetfoot in tow… now she was back, and something didn’t look right.

“Wait…” Soarin said as he reached forward and stopped Dash before she could continue. Dash glanced back at him for a moment before focusing on Spitfire as well.

Spitfire turned to Fleetfoot, and started moving as if she wanted to leave again, but Fleetfoot stepped up and pressed her hooves against Spitfire’s chest to stop her. She looked at her sternly and said a few words before Spitfire looked down, and then over her shoulder… towards Silver.

Spitfire took a deep breath and exhaled for a long time. Once she regained her breath, she stood up straight, and her expression turned serious and professional. With Fleetfoot in tow, Spitfire made her way down the aisle with a strong posture and steps.

Silver turned his head to look at her as she approached, as if he could sense her commanding presence nearby.

Soarin looked down at Dash, blinking as he saw her… shivering? He stepped up and put a wing over her as he realized what had her in such a state…

But he hoped he was wrong.

The two watched anxiously as Spitfire and Fleetfoot stopped right in front of Silver, who only kept his eyes on them for a moment before he looked away.

Spitfire kept her expression firm as she stepped up to Silver.

“Silver, we need to talk,” she broke the silence, saying his name in attempt to get him to look at her, but he didn’t. She had told him they would talk eventually, but her sudden appearance now didn’t seem to spark any surprise… or reaction at all. Spitfire released a quick breath of air from her nostrils and continued despite his defiance. “I don’t think I need to tell you how disappointed I am in you.” Her tone was harsh, but it seemed to have little to no effect on Silver… again.

“Hmph…” Silver grunted in response, knowing exactly what she was talking about.

Dash reached a hoof over and grabbed Soarin’s arm as the two listened in. She was heavily conflicted, both glad and worried that Silver’s little secret had gotten out. She had respected his privacy and his desire to keep it to himself, but at the same time it made her worry for his health and safety. Overall, it was a battle to weigh two different matters of great importance. Silver’s health versus the irreplaceable motivation and influence that Silver brought to his fellow Wonderbolts.

But if Spitfire’s tone was any indication…

“Look, Silver…” Spitfire continued. “I’m going to be perfectly honest with you.” She leaned down so she could be eye level with him. “I’ve been looking the other way for a very long time. I’ve had several reasons and opportunities to enact the usual protocols, call you into my office, and discuss your retirement from active duty. I’ve had several recommendations from our veteran representatives on our financial board… I’ve had medical discharge recommendations from Bliss… And I’ve even damaged my own credibility, shooing away some complaints from former Wonderbolts about you still being in the force. I don’t agree with our rules of forced retirement, but I have never stepped out of line to defy them… except for you,” she paused as Silver’s eyes finally turned towards her. Still not much of a visible reaction beyond his grumpy expression, but she at least got him to look at her. “I have constantly defied our base rules and regulations for you because I personally felt that that keeping you in our active duty ranks was extremely beneficial to the development of younger Wonderbolts and to the family atmosphere I wanted to build. We need strong, experienced mentors and I didn’t want to lose what you offered. It was far too valuable to give up.”

As Spitfire took a step back from Silver, both Dash and Soarin blinked in surprise. They had no idea that Spitfire was personally putting up a fight against the rules to keep Silver in the ranks. They knew Silver was doing everything in his power to fight the rules, but Spitfire as well? Dash was surprised that Silver gave no visible reaction to Spitfire’s explanation. Did he… also know that Spitfire was pulling some strings for him? If so, Dash wished he had told her. It probably would have helped her rest easier on the subject.

“However…” Spitfire spoke up again, refocusing all their attention. “THIS,” Spitfire sharply pointed to the bottle of heart medication. “Has changed my mind.”

Dash felt all the air leave her lungs and tightened her grip around Soarin’s arm. Soarin’s ears flopped down and he frowned as he heard Spitfire’s words and felt Dash’s reaction. He tucked his wing tighter against her and gritted his teeth as he absorbed what was happening.

Silver, again, showed no visual response, but would that last?

“I’ve been giving you the benefit of the doubt because I believed that you were persevering against your own limits. When I saw you push yourself, I saw a pony who was ignoring the age of his body and doing his best… it was both inspiring and influential to all those around you…” Spitfire looked back at the heart medication. “But this… this is totally different,” she indicated as she looked back at Silver. “Wonderbolts risk their lives, putting themselves in danger every time they fly into battle. That is a fact. But it is still my responsibility as the lead captain to take every precaution necessary to ensure the highest chance of survival for those I lead. Even in this regard, I’ve been stretching the limits for you because I had confidence in your abilities and your drive towards our goals…” she trailed off, looking down and shaking her head. “But heart medication? Pain killers? Both hidden and not obtained or recorded through consent of our medical staff? I’m not even going to ask what you did to convince whoever provided you with these pills from filing official records with us, which is required and carried heavy consequences if violated. But that’s not the point.” She looked back up at him, her eyes narrowed into a very stern glare. “The fact that you have to go to such lengths to keep your body from destroying itself… Your own body and the amount of strain you're putting on it has clearly become hazardous to your health. With this knowledge I cannot possibly send you out into battle because what you’re doing to yourself is putting your life in just as much danger, if not more than what our enemies present.”

Spitfire looked back up at him and opened her mouth to continued, but slammed her eyes shut, swiftly turning around for a moment. Fleetfoot perked up and stepped towards her, but Spitfire held out a hoof to stop her, shaking her head lightly before turning back to face Silver, keeping her stern demeanor intact.

“I’m sorry Silver, but it can’t be avoided any longer. If we manage to make it to the Crystal Empire…” she paused and took a quiet, long breath. “I’m relieving you from service.”

Silver’s right eye twitched, but aside from that, he barely reacted. Fleetfoot, behind Spitfire, was holding herself as firm as Spitfire was, but failed to keep her ears from flopping to the sides of her head.

Soarin’s heart sank, this wasn’t the first time he witnessed Spitfire breaking news like this to a pony, but something was different about it this time. Silver wasn’t just another pony. He held in a grunt as Dash’s grip tightened so hard around his arm that it started to hurt.

Dash felt like her heart had just been ripped from her chest. She knew exactly why Silver had gone to such lengths and put himself at great risk, he had given her his full side of the story, why he put himself through all the pain, why he tried so hard to lengthen his time as something he dedicated his life to. Dash, like Spitfire here and now, was worried about Silver and the state of his body. But at the same time, it ripped and tore at Dash as she recalled how passionately Silver spoke about the Wonderbolts, what they meant to him, how he cared for each and every member like a second family, and how he lived to fly out into battle with them. It was his life dream and his drive… just like it was for her. Dash wouldn’t have to face the end for a long time… but watching it happen to somepony else?

“Look,” Spitfire spoke up again after a brief silence. “I want you to understand me here, Silver. This is a very tough decision for me to make. I don’t believe this is the end of your role in the Wonderbolts. You are far too valuable and I am more than certain you will have a role in our future going forward, but I am no longer willing to let you take part in our core function of combat. It’s not a risk I’m willing to take anymore. Your guidance and experience are likely still going to be called upon as we fight our way through this mess we’re currently in, but I am officially grounding you. No more fighting.” She kept looking into Silver’s eyes as he kept his expression hard, showing no sign of negative reaction. Spitfire released a brief sigh without faltering. “We’ll discuss this more later, but I wanted to make it very clear to you that, under my authority as captain, I’m not longer allowing you to put yourself in such danger…” she trailed off for a moment as she looked over his injuries and all the bandages strewn about his body. “Especially with how everything just played out. You could have very easily been killed and I’m not about to believe that your internal issues were not a factor in your confrontation with Sin.”

“Hmph…” Silver finally gave some sort of response, even though it was just another grunt. It was almost as if he was expecting this.

“That all being said,” Spitfire looked away from him for a moment, her expression changing from the serious look she had donned so far to one that looked more thankful. “I’m very, very glad that you are alive and I’m thankful that you kept your wits about you, ultimately allowing you to save Rainbow Dash,” she said as her eyes briefly glanced towards Soarin and Rainbow Dash nearby. She barely kept her eyes on them for more than a second as if it was hard to look at them. “You were also instrumental in engineering the maneuvers that ensured Wave’s safe return. I hope you understand that my decision to ground you for the remainder of the conflict does not mean I don’t appreciate your efforts or everything that you’ve done for the Wonderbolts. It’s because I don’t want you retiring in a casket. You deserve to leave our ranks alive and with pride, more so than any Wonderbolt I’ve ever known.”

She finished with words of praise and appreciation. To all those watching it seemed as if it was her attempt to try and cushion the blow she was, truthfully, forced to lay on Silver. Spitfire and Silver just stared at one another, everypony else remaining silent. Everything in the room had come to a halt. As the meeting had gone on, Soarin and Dash were not the only ones who had caught ear of Spitfire’s words. Squad Foxtrot and Storm had all heard as well. Bliss and her assistants were watching from near the entrance. But everypony was absolutely speechless.

Silver was old… the oldest active member of the Wonderbolts. Nopony was stupid, they all could see how hard he pushed himself, they all knew he was forcing his limits, it was no mystery that eventually… Silver wouldn’t be flying with them anymore.

But none of them were prepared for it.

Prepared for when that became a reality.

“I’m…” Spitfire suddenly struggled to speak, her voice started to sound shaky, completely clashing with how she still managed to hold up her stern demeanor. “I’m sorry… Silver.” Cracks were appearing in the armor. It was slowly becoming clear that Spitfire wasn’t as composed as she looked. She averted her eyes. “I couldn’t push it aside any longer… I’m so sorry.”

Spitfire immediately turned and started walking towards the front of the infirmary. Fleetfoot blinked and reached towards her, but hesitated, just watching for a moment as Spitfire walked. Fleetfoot stole one quick glance at Silver, who was now looking down, before she turned and followed behind Spitfire.

Soarin stumbled forward a little as Dash ripped her hoof from his arm and out from beneath his wing, cantering right up to Silver. She came to an abrupt halt in front of him with her mouth open to speak, but no words came out.

“Si… Silv…” she managed to stutter, but could barely form any words. “I… I…”

Silver released a long sigh, closing his eyes as Soarin slowly walked up behind Dash and sat down, a somber expression wrought across his face.

“Silver, I…” Dash tried again, her ears flopped against her head and her lower lip quivering. Silver opened his eyes, looking at Dash for a moment before looking back down at the mattress.

“I’m fine, Dash,” he said while shaking his head. “It was only a matter of time before… before I…”

Dash’s eyes widened as Silver’s voice began to break up and crack slightly. Her chest felt incredibly tight as she watched Silver grit his teeth and his eyes started to slowly close.

“I knew this would happen… I knew I couldn’t run forever…” Silver began to quiver as his eyes began to water. “I’m fine… I’m…”

Silver shut his eyes tight, a tear squeezing out as he sniffled and let his chin fall down against the mattress.

The sight made Dash absolutely shatter. It made her want to cry, but she refused. She held them in for Silver. She wanted to be strong.

He had always been strong for her as her mentor.

It was time for her to be strong for him as his student.

She shifted forward, leaning herself against his bed and reaching her head forward, pushing her nose underneath his chin, lifting his head slightly and pressing into his fur to give him reassurance that she was there. She could feel him quivering. She felt the wetness around his cheek as small tears continued to squeak out every second or so. It was so hard to keep herself from tearing up… but again, she held it in for him.

Soarin sat behind Dash in silence, watching as she did everything within her power to soften the devastating hit Silver had just taken. Soarin looked away from the two of them. The sight was almost too much to take.

It was inevitable, and everypony knew it.

As Soarin looked off down the aisle he saw that Spitfire had stopped at the front of the infirmary, she was turned towards the door, but hadn’t stepped towards it yet. Her ear was turned towards Silver. She was definitely hearing Silver’s reaction… his soft crying.

Bliss and Fleetfoot both approached Spitfire, but before either of them could say something to her, Spitfire suddenly rushed for the door and nearly knocked it off its hinges as she blasted through it.

Bliss took a step towards the door, but Fleetfoot shifted in front of her, holding her at arm’s length while shaking her head. Bliss sighed and nodded before Fleetfoot turned and followed Spitfire out.

Soarin kept his eyes glued on the door for a moment as it swung close behind Fleetfoot. He looked back at Dash and Silver. He knew there was nothing he could say or do to help Silver. Only Dash could offer any sort of comfort, having clearly been a part of Silver’s life on a more personal level through his struggles. So instead of just standing behind them, he gave Dash a gentle, caring pat on the back before getting up and heading towards the exit.

Because after what he just saw, somepony who was close to him was clearly not too happy about what she just had to do.

He moved past Bliss, only giving her a quick glance as she returned to her work before he angled towards the door. He stopped right in front of it for a moment, his ears picking up the sounds of sobbing. He sighed as he stepped forward and through the door.

He didn’t even have to move into the hallway, coming to an abrupt halt in the doorway as he peered through. He leaned against the doorway, frowning again.

Spitfire was hunched down, leaning heavily into Fleetfoot as tears fell from her eyes. Fleetfoot was hugging her tightly, offering support as she let it all out.

“That was… so hard…” Spitfire blubbered into Fleetfoot’s shoulder. “This isn’t the first time I’ve… I’ve…” she sniffled and shook her head. “Why? I really didn’t… I didn’t want…” she couldn’t complete her thoughts, but it was clear that as much as what she did needed to happen, that she didn’t want to do it.

Fleetfoot gently rubbed a hoof up and down Spitfire’s back as she cried into her shoulder. She looked up as she held Spitfire, seeing Soarin in the doorway. Fleetfoot and Soarin locked eyes for a moment. No words were needed to describe how it all felt. It hurt to be so powerless, but there was nothing they could do. Spitfire was carrying out a responsibility. It hurt, but she had to do it.

Sometimes the hardest things to accept are the inevitable. Silver was irreplaceable, there would never be a pony like him among the ranks again, and they all knew how much Silver cared. While it fell within the lines of the code, Spitfire’s choice was driven by more than just rules she really didn’t agree with. She made the choice, as his captain, for the sake of his health and safety. She had given the bad news to older Wonderbolts many times as the captain in the past. It was part of the job. It wasn’t without regret or pain, it hurt every time she had to do it… but this one stung especially deep. Silver was more than just a veteran to all of them. He had become like a father figure, a loved one, a cherished member of their family that had offered more than combat service, much more than any Wonderbolt in his generation.

Hearing him break down after how long he had managed, how hard he had fought and how many rules he had dodged just for the sake of extending the time he could do what he loved most with those he considered to be family…

It was just too much for Spitfire to bear.

But it had to be done. It couldn’t be avoided anymore. Fear for Silver’s life overshadowed Spitfire’s confidence that he could hold his own.

They had just achieved a major victory, the satisfaction of that would not fade any time soon, but this was going to leave a scar that would last for all time.

Silver was relieved from service… but one could never replace Silver Lining.

It was a terrible loss for the Wonderbolts.

---To Be Continued---

Author's Note:

Art in this chapter by: Foxenawolf

It was only a matter of time :ajsleepy: One of the hardest things to accept in life is when you can no longer do what you love. Cherish every moment.

As Spitfire said, Silver's role in the Wonderbolts is definitely not done, but he won't be flying out into combat anymore, and that is more than enough to tear him apart. But Spitfire's only doing what she must... whether it's easy for her to do or not.


Silver wasn't the only one feeling it this chapter though. We got a look into Starry Skies' personal feelings, as well as Luna's regret for her perceived lack of impact thus far... even the woe of Blazetail and Flashwind hearing about their son, even if only briefly.

Victory has been earned, but that doesn't mean all is well.

Now then... there is going to be a one week time jump into the next chapter, leading into the final sequence of part 3. After finishing my chapter mapping less night (Using my main outline to try and figure out what will go where and how the pacing will be) it looks like the end of part 3 will be chapter 140, at least thats how it looks right now, we all know that could easily change. :rainbowwild:

Sorry for the slightly longer wait!

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed! :eeyup:

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