//------------------------------//
// Sidestep 
// Story: Flash in the Pan 
// by Gladi Writes 
//------------------------------//

Flash Sentry decided, simply, to take the latter half of the day off. Striding out of the school with a thin jacket over himself, the snow danced at his hooves as he left into what turned out to be a bitterly cold winter storm. The snow flowed from the sky so thick that he could barely see a few feet infront of him. The air was surprisingly warm though, and this made the flakes of snow quite large- visibly so infact. 

It's a beauty that Flash was well aware of as he saluted the gate guard and strode into Vanhoover proper. For a city on edge- as it should be, considering politics- there was a festive atmosphere as the snow coated the ground. Fillies and colts were out with shovels, and he snorted upon seeing a unicorn move snow with her magic, before being berated by her father to not use magic as a crutch.

It felt good to get out, honestly, and the lack of company was a surprising relief. Flash was always a solitary stallion, and the respectful looks his Wodnerbot themed coat got him were always nice.

With the ocean to his right, and Equestria proper to his left, Flash found himself looking through the window of a shop shortly after starting his walk. Inside he recognized a few students enjoying hot chocolate and, in the case of some older ones, egg nog. With a smile on his face he decided to enter, and was rather surprised when almost the entire room stood at attention.

He got the feeling this was a favourite spot for ponies to play hookey. He shook his head, and strode up to the bar.

"A round of hot chocolate and egg nog, as you please- for all the busily studing students in here."

The relief was palpable- literally, as a relaxed sigh was amplified by thirty or so ponies. Flash took his place beside the bar, ordered himself a glass of hot cider, and began to relax, just listening to the hum of activity and watching the snow fall outside.

Soon, however, he was joined by a familiar figure settling into the spot beside him. Shayle, easily recognized by her stripes and always at attention pose. She seemed to ignore him for now, ordering herself something and then producing a notepad from her jacket pocket. She placed it on the counter, and sipped on her drink before speaking.

"I didn't expect to see you here, Colonel Sentry. I don't suppose you're skipping too?"

Shayle giggled, and then suddenly spoke again, "I uh- I'm not. I have a break this period."

Flash rolled his eyes and patted her adorable head. "Shayle, I'm not here to get anyone in trouble. Besides, I used to skip plenty. Once convinced my English teacher I read a story by bullshitting- I never did read it, but I recited someones own comments with a spin and convinced her I did.

Flash sighed wistfully. "I got an A in that class."

"Knowing you, I'd say it was the only one."

Flash coughed, nearly spilling his drink on the counter. "C'mon now fatass, warn me before you start commiting war crimes," he retorted.

"Fatass? Please, you can't reply to an insult of your intelligence with a positive atribute. Check..."

Shayle pushed the notepad to Flash, and slipped off her chair. "...Mate."

She left in an odd hurry, or so Flash thought anyway. He took his time on his own drink, expecting her note to be something trivial. When he did look, he tilted a brow. An address, a time, and a phrase- Mutton Delight.

Well, that was certainly odd, and Flash was definitely intrigued. Leaving the bar quickly- as the time was only a half hour from when he actually bothered to read the note- he frantically darted up and down a good dozen streets trying to figure out where that address was- he hadn't been in the city long, after all, and was rather out of his depth finding anything.

He did, however, figure it out. The address was to a warehosue on the docks. Rather rundown looking, but not exactly terrufying or out of place. It was right on a major thoroughfare.When he arrived it was recieving a truckload of cargo, large boxes being wheeled inside and placed, he assumed, on the boat that was poking out of the seaward exit.

Flash came up to the entrance right on time, and was greeted by a surprisingly numble, thuggish looking, stallion at least twice his size. The grey goated pony wasn't wearing a coat- and Flash doubted he needed one.

"This is private property, soldier. Unless you've got a good damn reason to be here, I'm going to have to ask you to leave- wonderbolt or not."

The stallion squinted at Flash, and snorted. "I doubt you are, Wonderbolts wouldn't take someone as weak as you."

Flash, in return, tilted a brow. This was too public for the thug to do any violence, so his edge was muted. "You'd be surprised how desperate the war makes people- but I think I have a good reason."

The stallion stood on his hind legs and crossed his fore-arms. "And?"

Flash took a deep breathe, glanced to the side to be sure he could run, and then spoke. "Mutton Delight, of course."

The thug blinked, and then fell back on all four. "We just got our shipment today," he returned, almost robotically, and turned towards the door. Flash followed, wondering just what he was getting into.

Once inside, he was not prepared for the fact the stallion leading him immediately bucked back, throwing Flash agaisnt the wall and then spinning around to hold him there. "You /idiot/" he hissed, "Drawing attention to yourself with a damn Wonderbolt outfit? Do you have any idea how mad they get about stolen valor? Last thing we need is someone getting arrested for something so... stupid, and blowing this whole thing open!"

Flash swallowed. "It's, uh, my fathers."

The stallion squinted at him. "You sure you got the right uh... chapter?"

Flash shrugged, "I just follow orders- just like you."

The thug shrugged, and released Flash. "Fine, whatever- not my problem anyway- I'm leaving on the boat," he said, and gestured at the gently floating barge still being loaded by similarly large stallions. 

"Luck you," Flash ventured, and the stallion laughed. "Yeah, sell a few blueprints and I get to live like a king in Saddle Arabia... I might even get my own harem."

Flash shuddered at the thought, which the stallion noticed. "Cold? You damn pegasus ponies are so weak. There's hot chocolate in the office," he said, and gestured to a small windowed structure in the far corner, looking out to see. "Go nuts, but I expect you in working condition. Got a lot of boxes..."

The stallion sighed, and shook his head. "I dunno why they sent /you/, I guess you're right about war making ponies desperate."

With that, he strode off, leaving Flash to himself. After a moment to collect himself he set off for that office, careful not to get in the way of anybody as he did. He got the feeling, however, that this wasn't the most professional setup- whatever kind of setup it is.

Once inside the office he closed the door behind him and looked around. A substantial amount of paperwork was strewn across a few desks, and- as promised- a machine for making hot chocolate. 

Rather on edge at this point, Flash ignored it and instead started quickly scanning papers. The vast majority of it was useless fluff, nothing other than shipping receipts and accounting information that was utterly alien and useless to him. Still, a pattern started to develop- all the inbound addresses were from states in the occupied south, and all the outbound ones were seemingly- although he couldn't be sure- Saddle Arabian.

Shipping to the enemy wasn't in itself illegal, yet, but that was certainly concerning. Flash pocketed a few for posterity and continued looking before he heard someone try and open the door- angrily bashing at it only moments after finding out it was locked.

"These goddamn doors keep jamming. Hell with this!" 

Flash quickly fell to the floor and rolled onder a desk against the wall, thankful for the poor lighting as the door was kicked off it's hinges inside. The same thuggish stallion from before entered, glancing around. "I guess that rookie already took his pay and fucked off, clever little bastard- knows I won't be around to rip out his throat."

This did not do well for Flash's nerves, and he dearly regretted his choice to not bring a sidearm. 

The stallion came to stand right before Flash, rummaging through papers above him. He smelled like sweat and lack of hygeine from down there, and Flash had to be careful not to cough as the stallion looking for whatever it was he was there for.

"I gotta sort this shit out better, what if I had lost these..." 

Talking to himself, and then sighing with relief, the stallion apparently found what he needed- and one of them fell to the floor. It was a blueprint, specifically of the engineering deck of the Magnificent flying ship that Spitfire helmed for the war effort.

That, he knew, was not something that could get into enemy hands. Thinking quickly, Flash stood himself up under the desk, jamming his hack up against it and lifting it into the air. the stallion staggered back in surprise, and Flash used the momentum to toss the desk at him.

His plan only lasted for a few seconds before the muscled stallion shattered the desk with a solid chop. "A spy! Well you fucked up bad coming here."

The stallion lunged, but Flash was able to dodge, diving at the ground and sliding against the floor.Quickly, using his wings to push himself into the air- and while he hit the ceiling and had the breath knocked out of him, he dodged the second lunge the stallion made at him.

"Wings or not, you're dead boy!"

This commotion had been audible outside, and glancing out of the window Flash could see a good dozen workers approaching fast. Without much time, Flash did the only thing he could- he darted forward and slapped at the lantern lighting the room, sending it to the floor with a shattering noise and immediatley spreading flaming oil- some of it spreading onto the thugs hooves and burning them.

This sent the thug into a panic as he realized his blueprints were at risk. "God damnit, I don't know who you are- but I am not getting exiled again!"

With that, the pony... flashed, a bright blue light blasting off of them, and shifted into the classic green insect-like form of a Changeling. 

As did the rest of the dockworkers.

Which was mdoerately confusing. "Hey, I thought we were on the same side!"

The changeling snorted, his voice becoming rather higher in pitch- almost a hiss- now that his form had dropped. "We're not all the same, idiot. Some of us have /ambition/ and see this alliance as useless dead end."

Using his changeling wings to fight the fire, he stared with deep blue eyes directly at Flash. "Now, you can let me go, o-"

Flash didn't let him finish, charging forward through the air and tackling him. "Or what? I can kick your ass?"

The changeling was no slouch however, and as the flames started to engulf the papers- thankfully keeping the others back for now- he kicked back, throwing Flash agaisnt the wall. "Or you can die."

The changeling charged with his horn bared forward like a stabbing weapon, and Flash almost gained a new hole. Using his wings as he rolled ot the side he swept a series of flaming papers into the changelings face, and he responded with a painful hiss. 

Deciding, apparently, to foregoe murder for the moment, the changeling swept up the blueprint from the ground and reached for the table- slamming it in anger when it turned out the other blueprints were on fire, and already too damaged to be useful.

"Well, good work, now I have to find a way to lose half of my hive at sea to still come out on top." he said, and his wings buzzed as he lifted off the ground.

Flash, however, wasn't done. He darted forward, not able to catch the changeling... not quite, but was able to headbutt him in the rear and send him against the ground with a painful grunt. Taking advantage of the changelings momentary stun, he found the closest blunt implement at hand and swung it. Ironically, this would turn out to be a fire extinguisher.

It collided with the changelings head with a satisfying clunk, and his wings ceased to buzz. Acting quickly- the wood itself was catching fire after all- Flash snatched the blueprints from the changelings hoof and crumbed it up before tossing it aside into a flaming pile of papers. Grabbing the changelings hooves to attempt to pull him out then, Flash opened his wings and then yelled in pain- they had been crushed by his impact with the wall.

Flying out was no longer an option, and the other changelings had abandoned their cause- they saw the writing on the wall. Or, rather, the flames. Flash tried his best to pull the changeling out, but the fire was spreading too quickly and he was already coughing in fits thanks to the level of smoke in the air. Forced to abandon the traitorous shapeshifter, Flash bolted out the office door and immediately leapt into the water Wood beams fell into it and he dived down, dodging the huge debris as it fell into the water and slowly sunk to the deep.

The water was, as one might assume, incredibly cold. It did sooth the burns Flash had recieved, but this was little solace when his arms and legs began to sieze up from freezing. He knew he had barely a few minuted to get himself to shore, and he would have to be spotted by a medic pretty quick to have a good chance of surviving this.

So he sam like his life depended on it- because it did- and burst through the water near the shore. His body slapped against the snow covered shoreline and he hacked and gasped, trying to get air into his frozen body as well as he could, before ultimately passing out. At the very least, he thought as darkness overtook him- he'd foiled a conspiracy.

So, all in all- a pretty good day.