Over Yonder

by theNDinspector

Chapter 8: The Missing Month

Scootaloo had almost forgotten how much she hated waking up early in the morning, but the trumpet call wouldn’t hush up. Reluctantly, she got out of bed and started stretching her sore muscles. It felt really good for some reason, like stretching your legs after a long cart ride.

Despite the mishaps the previous day, Scootaloo was almost ready to move on from the whole thing. Yet when she looked near the door where Blue Yonder was standing, Scootaloo’s lip curled into a snarl. She looked away and quickly got her cadet uniform on and then walked out the door towards the mess hall.

Being breakfast time, the mess hall was jam-packed with cadets and academy staff. Amongst the bustle, Scootaloo noticed that she was behind the two doctors from the infirmary.

“That must be some awful first name if you won’t tell your best friend,” Hawkeye complained. “Why won’t you just tell me?”

The other doctor sighed. “B.J., Hunnicolt. Doctor, E.U.P. Guard.”

Hawkeye facehooved. “Okay, what if I guess it?”

Hunnicolt shrugged. “Go ahead.”

“Okay, B.J. Hmm…Belvadeer Jehoovsephat.”

` “Got it; first try.”

“Don’t you lie to me.”

Scootaloo simply shook her head as the line came to a halt. She felt completely famished due to her extremely active day yesterday. She could see the food just beyond the two doctors and hear her stomach growl over the noise they were making.

Hawkeye spoke up again. “Was your mother Spurnish?”

Hunnicolt shook his head. “Nope.”

“Well that eliminates Barreldo Juarez.”

Scootaloo had enough. “Will you two shut up and move on!? Some of us are starving here!”

Both Hawkeye and Hunnicolt turned around to see just how long the line had gotten behind them and the many scowling faces in it.

“Well it looks like the cavalry has arrived,” Hunnicolt stated.

“Yeah, we better move before the commander here yells charge!” Hawkeye then turned back towards his colleague. “Hop to it Mustachiod Wonder!”

Hunnicolt extended his hoof and bowed his head. “After you, Baby Face.”

With the way cleared, Scootaloo finally grabbed a tray and filled it up. Once it was almost overflowing, Scootaloo left the line to get as far away from those doctors as possible. Looking around, she found where the other cadets of her group were and headed in their direction.

“Hey Scootaloo,” Barrel Roll said cheerfully as Scootaloo sat down. “Where’s Blue Yonder?”

Scootaloo stabbed at her carrots. “I don’t really care.”

“You still mad at her, eh?” Aurora commented, moving a pink strand of her mane from her face.

“What, why?” Silverwings asked, completely taken aback.

Aurora shrugged. “Near as I can tell, something happened yesterday afternoon that caused Scootaloo to go to the infirmary. Beyond that, I have no idea. They were both giving me the silent treatment last night.”

Scootaloo continued to mutilate her food without actually eating it. Looking up, she could see that everypony’s eyes were on her. She grumbled a little before taking a deep breath.

“I thought I knew her,” Scootaloo began ranting. “But when I get back and she proceeds to run me into the ground! Sure, we worked hard before, but she never kept screaming at me like that! What the hay happened!?”

There was silence at the table. Aurora coughed while a few of the stallions at the far side of the table absentmindedly fiddled with their food. Even Silverwings seemed to be at a loss for words.

After a few awkward seconds, Silverwings finally spoke up. “I suppose I could answer that.”

Scootaloo looked back up as Silverwings leaned on the table and turned his head towards her.

“You see,” he began. “Blue took it pretty hard after Morning Light left. It was her second wingpony to go home in two weeks and she took that rather personally, thinking that she was somehow responsible for sending another pony home.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Scootaloo scoffed. “She knew I was coming back.”

“I know,” Silverwings agreed. “But that was her mindset. Besides, we hadn’t heard anything concerning you at all for the past month. We didn’t even know if you were actually going to be able to come back until you arrived yesterday. By then, Blue had just about given up hope and was placed with me and Hot Shot until yesterday.”

“And how was that?”

Silverwings sighed. “Well, to put it mildly, I’d have rather cleaned every single barrack and bathroom on the compound. Blue Yonder and Hot Shot were constantly at each other’s throats.”

“Ahem!” All heads turned to the end of the table where a golden yellow stallion with a red mane was sitting. “Well if she would’ve just shut up and fell in line, then it wouldn’t have been such a problem, but all she did was complain like a foal.”

Silverwings frowned at the stallion. “We talked about this Hot Shot. You shouldn’t be condescending to ponies like that and you can’t just expect everypony to continuously work to ‘perfection’ like you do.”

“Hey,” Hot Shot said pointing a hoof at his wingpony. “Only a few ponies ever become Wonderbolts, so there is no room for error here. I’m not going to tolerate a pony that chooses to complain rather than put in the work.”

“SHE DID!” Silverwings snapped. “She was with us every step of the way and managed to keep up with you despite every petty little thing you said about her!”

Hot Shot rolled his eyes. “Well that doesn’t seem to be helping her now, is it?”

“You know,” Aurora said scornfully. “I’m really beginning to see why Blue Yonder doesn’t like you very much.”

“Like I care?” Hot Shot said, shrugging his shoulders. “I didn’t come here to be liked by second-rate flyers like her. Besides, now she has her own wingpony to deal with that is just as ‘skilled’ as she is.”

Scootaloo really felt like jumping over the table and giving Hot Shot a piece of her mind…and a couple of hooves to the face. Before she could follow through with that, however, Silverwings held her back. That didn’t stop her from launching some verbal assaults though.

“She’s a better lead-pony than you’d ever be you dick!”

“Well it doesn’t seem that way.”

Hot Shot took his tray with his mouth and walked away from the table. Scootaloo continued to glare daggers in his direction; she didn’t even care about all the strange looks she was attracting from the other cadets and staff. After a moment, though, everypony went back to their own business.

Scootaloo stewed in her seat for a few minutes, continuously flaring her nostrils and making several snorting sounds. Her own anger towards Blue Yonder was now forgotten as she found a new source to put it. Then she realized just how much she had been alienating her companion. She looked around the cafeteria, but there was no sign of Blue Yonder at all.

“Where is Blue Yonder?” Scootaloo asked

Silverwings bit his lower lip. “I think I might know the answer to that too.”

***

Spitfire was always one to rise before dawn, so she was already done with breakfast before most of the cadets even had a chance to walk into the mess hall. While it did seem to distance herself from them, it did offer some peace and quiet before what was almost always sure to be a stressful day in some capacity.

In an attempt to get a head start on her workload, Spitfire headed for her office—only to find a blue, white-maned mare sitting outside of the door. Spitfire put a hoof to her forehead and sighed. ‘I swear, Blue Yonder, you’re hanging on by a thread right now.’

Regaining her composure, Spitfire approached the downcast cadet.

“Why aren’t you at the mess hall, cadet?” Spitfire asked in an annoyed tone.

“I wasn’t hungry,” Blue Yonder said simply.

Spitfire frowned, but she knew there was only one thing that would satisfy this pony. Opening the door to her office, Spitfire turned back to Blue Yonder. “Get in.”

Blue Yonder complied and took an all too familiar seat in front of the desk. Spitfire circled the cadet for a moment before taking her own seat. She eyed Blue Yonder some more, noticing that the cadet was refusing to make eye contact with her.

“I wasn’t kidding in saying that if I heard another complaint from you, then KP would be the least of your worries,” Spitfire stated.

“It’s not about that Ma’am,” Blue Yonder replied quietly.

Spitfire raised an eyebrow at this. For the past month, Blue Yonder had come into her office to complain about her companions—particularly Hot Shot. Those meetings often got very intense between the two of them. Yet here Blue Yonder was now, completely subdued and practically…guilt-ridden.

“Then what is it about?” Spitfire asked.

Blue Yonder sighed and looked up. “I caused Scootaloo to go to the infirmary yesterday…doing pretty much the exact same thing that got her injured in the first place.” She started to get a little emotional. “I don’t know what I was thinking, but I just wouldn’t stop and…and then she collapsed. I…I don’t deserve to be a lead pony.”

Blue Yonder put something on Spitfire’s desk. When Blue Yonder lifted her hoof away, Spitfire saw the gold badge that used to be on the cadet’s chest.

“I request that you give Scootaloo another companion and I’ll take my leave.” Blue Yonder closed her eyes and braced herself.

Spitfire looked at the badge, up to the cadet, and back down again—completely flabbergasted. The cadet was being completely serious about this and was waiting for her judgment. Even though Spitfire had given the threat of expulsion, she never thought that Blue Yonder would willingly resign. It reminded Spitfire of that one day when Rainbow Dash nearly quit the academy.

Spitfire composed herself and looked directly into Blue Yonder’s still closed eyes. “Denied.”

Blue Yonder opened her eyes in shock. “What?”

“I said ‘denied’ cadet,” Spitfire reiterated.

“But…I…you said that—”

“I said that if you came in again complaining that I might do something worse than give you KP,” Spitire asserted sharply. “Instead, you come to me admitting a mistake and want to leave because of it. Well I have a newsflash for you newbie, we all make mistakes. You are not that special.”

Spitfire knew she was acting a bit harsh, but she felt that she had to be firm in this case—especially considering the fact that she had been dealing with Blue Yonder in these meetings for almost a month now.

After a moment, Blue Yonder spoke back up again. “But I could’ve crippled my companion and now she won’t talk to me.”

Spitfire got up from her desk and walked in front of Blue Yonder. “Well of course she’d be mad at you; I’d be surprised if she wasn’t, but I also don’t believe that she is so shallow to completely abandon you for long. Besides, do you really want to leave? Because if you do, then you know where the door is.”

Blue Yonder was silent, but remained seated in front of the desk. Spitfire took that for her answer and smiled inwardly.

‘But how can Scootaloo ever trust me again?” Blue Yonder asked in a voice just above a whisper.

“I don’t know,” Spiftire shrugged. “She could hate your guts for the rest of her life…but I highly doubt that. I think your real problem is in trusting yourself, Blue Yonder.” Spitfire placed the gold badge back into the cadets hoof. “You made a mistake; so buck up and learn from it. You need to decide what kind of leader you want to be.”

Blue Yonder stared at the badge and clipped it back onto her uniform. Then she looked back up to Spitfire and saluted her.

“Yes Ma’am.”

Spitfire returned the salute. Then they both heard a voice coming from somewhere in the hallway outside the door.

“Blue Yonder! Are you here?”

“You’re wingpony’s looking for you,” Spitfire said. “Get out of here and eat something before you go out today.”

Blue Yonder chuckled nervously before saluting, which Spitfire returned.

“I will do that Ma’am,” Blue Yonder said and then walked out of the door.

Spitfire watched her leave and then sat back down at her desk. She flicked the flying pegasus ornament on her desk and watched it move up and down.

“Well,” she sighed. “At least we’re finally making progress.”

Comments

[Blast]

It was clear Blue Yonder didn’t really want to quit — but it was also clear that she wasn’t quite sure how to proceed next.