Chapter 3
Night quickly fell over Equestria as the highly-wanted group travelled through the forest to try and reach the railway unnoticed. The only reason as to why the group were travelling through the forest at all was because of the shear danger forests in Equestria posed to everyone. Most forests were packed full of dangerous beasts from the smallest fire spiders to huge Manticore. There were only a handful of forests that weren’t deadly anyone but unfortunately the forests surrounding the Canterlot mountains weren’t one of them.
“Songbird!”
“On it!”
Ember dropped Ace to the ground, running straight at the Manticore, ducking to the ground to slide under one of the giant clawed paws and under the stomach as Astral whipped out a black with purple edged automatic pistol, firing a barrage at the Manticore causing it to reel back in pain.
As Astral and Ember dealt with the beast, Aurora was left with the task of dragging Ace behind a bush or a big rock to keep him from sustaining any further injuries, if he could that was. She wasn’t quite sure that he was even still alive but she had been assured by Ember that she’d know if he wasn’t. Whatever that meant. She sat next to Ace, making sure all of his limbs were behind the huge oak tree she’d found in an attempt to hide from the huge beast.
“Attack it from the left! I got the right!” Ember shouted more commands to Astral who simply nodded as a big smile was plastered on her face. She enjoyed taking on huge beasts as they gave her a challenge unlike the Royal Guard.
Ember forced his wings out and down as he flipped over the Manticore to do as he had commanded just a few seconds ago. Once over the beast, he took a few steps back to catch his breath and regain his lost strength from the past few hours that had been filled with fighting beasts just like this. It had been a tedious and physically demanding task to say the least.
From the backpack he was carrying, he pulled out a pair of daggers before charging at the beast which was currently focused on attacking Astral instead of him, giving him the upper hand. He smirked when he saw Astral switching out her pistol for something larger and deadlier. As soon as he saw an opening on the Manticore, he jumped up and down one of the arms of the beast, dragging his daggers down the bristly, coarse fur before flipping off the beast as it tried to swing at him when it realised what he was doing. He immediately ducked under another swing from a huge paw, catching a glimpse of the damage he’d done to it. He’d left two very long and deep cuts down most of the things’ arm that was now covered in a dark red liquid.
“Ember take cover! Imma kill this thing!” Astral commanded this time with no complaint from the fiery haired Skyborn. He hid behind the tree next to Aurora and Aces’ as he heard several loud shots ring through out the forest then a loud thump and a high pitched laugh.
He slowly looked around the tree to see Astral standing on the Manticore with her famed black, pink and purple duel shotguns in both hands. One shotgun was completely black with parts like the ball fences and the trigger painted pink whilst the other was the exact same, only the parts painted a different colour were purple.
“What took ya so long?” He asked mockingly, crossing his arms as he walked out into the small clearing the Manticore had created in its’ destructive path toward them.
“You were hiding behind a tree whilst I had to take this beast on all by myself!” Astral snapped back, looking and sounding offended by the flame heads’ question.
“Ah knock it off songbird.” Ember laughed as he tapped the beasts’ head to make sure it was dead or at least knocked out. “Ya told me ta hide.”
“Because you were gonna kill this with a pair of daggers and a bad temper.” She laughed back as she hopped off the Manticore, her shotguns already gone from her hands.
“I could’ve.” He huffed, watching Aurora drag Ace’s body from behind the tree with great difficulty.
“And she can carry Ace with her pinkie finger.” She pointed his thumb over to the aforementioned woman.
Their argument went back and forth as Ember walked over to Aurora, taking Ace from her and hoisting him back on to his back much to his screaming muscles annoyance.
“It’s getting dark.” Said Aurora as she looked up at the quickly darkening skies through the thin canopy of trees.
“Great observation skills greyscale.” Ember rolled his eyes as the group started walking toward the train station one more.
“We need to stop somewhere. The forests only get more dangerous at night.” She tried to reason with him.
“And what would ya know about the forests around ‘ere? Yer nothing more than a poor city Earth Dweller. I bet ya never even seen one of those things before today.” He snorted, walking faster than before.
“I know that the amount of those ‘things’ you’ve been killing for the past few hours will only double as soon as the sun goes down.” She desperately wanted to correct him about his bold statement about her race but decided against it.
“She’s right.” Astral added, chiming into the conversation. “We either run to the train station or camp in that cave over there for the night.” She pointed to a cave a little to the left of them.
“How did you manage to see that? It’s barely visible out here now.” Aurora questioned the smaller Skyborn in slight disbelief.
“I noticed that it was the Manticore’s home just before it attacked us.” She shrugged.
“What if there are more of ‘em? What happens then Songbird?” Ember rebutted.
“They would’ve attacked by now.” She replied with little to no emotion behind her voice.
“I’m pretty sure the Manticore are very territorial.” Aurora added much to the Flame heads’ annoyance.
Both Astral and Aurora fist bumped as they saw Ember visibly sigh in annoyance and nod slightly.
“Fine. We’ll camp in it then.” He turned to face the cave sharply. “But we leave at dawn. Any later, we’ll get caught.”
Aurora and Astral both happily followed Ember into the cave, sitting down in the largest part as Ember dumped Ace next to them before disappearing outside to get wood for a fire. The two settled their bags down next to Ace and set about doing their own things; Aurora getting her book out of her bag, Astral checking Ace to make sure he was still alive.
The cave they were in was fairly small, just big enough for two or three manticores with jagged rocks dotted around the uneven, dusty floor from years of being trampled on by giant creatures and beasts alike. The ceiling had a few baby stalactites dotted around near the entrance where the rain from many storms had dared to enter. Where Astral and Aurora were sitting was the most open part of the small cave toward the back where several large scratches adorned the walls along with couple of large stones jutting out next to them, giving them some cover from the entrance to the cave if they were spotted.
“Whatcha reading?” The smaller Skyborn asked, peering over as she checked Aces’ head for injuries.
“Wing repairs and replacements.” Aurora stated, showing her the cover.
“But you’re an Earth Dweller, why are you reading something for my race?” She asked further, moving down to his neck.
Aurora said nothing but simply looked away, closing her book as she’d started to feel very uncomfortable in the cave which’d started to feel a lot smaller than she’d originally thought it was.
“Wait! You’re a-“ Astral started but was cut off by a simple nod from her.
“She’s a what?” Ember asked, walking over to them with a pile of logs and sticks in his arms.
“Nothing!” The smaller Shadowbolt sang, moving to Aces’ torso.
“Suuuuuure.” He rolled his eyes, dumping the pile of logs just in front of the women, moving various pieces around to make a better campfire.
“It’s true.” Aurora nodded. “I’m nothing more than an Earth Dweller reading another races’ book.” She lied, hoping he’d believe it.
"Why bother readin' it when ya could use it for a fire starter." He flashed her an evil grin, shifting closer to her which made her hug the book to her chest in defence.
“Don’t you dare.” She glared back at him, shuffling back to the wall of the cave.
“Oh I do.” He stood up, taking a step toward her.
“Ember!” Astral shouted, chucking a pebble at his head. “Don’t scare… umm…” She trailed off, not knowing Aurora’s name.
“Aurora.”
“Yeah! Don’t scare Aurora!”
“I wouldn’t dream of it Songbird.” Ember turned his head to the small Shadowbolt, flashing her a less threatening smile than the one he’d given to Aurora.
A moment later, Ember sat back down in front of the pile of sticks resembling a campfire, going about starting it. He grabbed a small device from his backpack then clicked what looked like two pieces of metal together. Sparks started to go flying a few moments after he’d started with the metal pieces, which he aimed toward the kindling at the bottom of the campfire in an attempt to start the fire that would keep them warm through the night.
______________________________________several hours later______________________________________
Almost everyone in the cave was asleep, trying to get as much rest as possible for the next leg of the journey to the Everfree Forest. Ember had refused to go to sleep, claiming he didn’t need it and had promptly left the group alone to keep watch at the entrance of the cave for any creatures or the Royal Guard. Astral, on the other hand, had promptly fallen asleep next to Ace once Ember was gone, leaving Aurora to her thoughts.
Aurora grabbed her bag with the intent of using it as a pillow. She placed it down at the wall of the cave before resting her head on it, trying to get comfortable even with the objects in the said bag. Once she had found a remotely comfortable position to fall asleep in, she closed her eyes, trying to get as much sleep as possible.
She concentrated on the noises around her, the dripping coming from the entrance every few seconds, the very quiet and vague roar of one of the beasts in the distance, the very light snore the smaller Skyborn made a few feet away from her. All of the sounds slowly added up to a very peaceful evening even though most likely half of the Royal Guard was out searching for them and she still didn’t know as to why they were after them in the first place. Sure, Ace had defaced public property by smashing a fountain in the uppermost plaza which, in itself was a crime punishable by imprisonment as it was the upper, elite plaza but she didn’t know what Ember had done to piss off the Royal Guards so badly and she would never likely get the answer either.
She turned over, repositioning herself into a more relaxed position which was near impossible on the uneven, freezing stone floor. She glanced over to Astral who was literally asleep on Ace, sprawled out over his torso which was easily two thirds of her height. She had to wonder how she managed to just fall asleep so quickly and in such a weird position in a freezing cave and on another person at that. The fire was next to them but she couldn’t feel the warmth coming from the embers at all so the small Skyborn must be at least a bit cold.
“Greyscale, go ta sleep.” Ember grunted in her direction from the entrance of the cave, sounding mildly annoyed.
“Easy for you to say…” She muttered, turning onto her back, looking up at the stalactites looming over her.
“Well it ain’t my fault if ya can’t get ta sleep.” The flamehead shrugged.
“Yeah it kinda is.” She sighed, sitting up, giving up in attempting to sleep.
“How is it my fault?” He asked, turning to face her from several feet away.
“Oh, I don’t know, how about what went down with The Wonderbolts only a few hours ago?” She offered an answer, rolling her eyes in his general direction as she brushed her long, wavy fringe behind her ear.
“I don’t see how that’s my fault.” He flashed her a smirk, glancing behind him to make sure nothing was coming.
“If you had just helped me with that little girl instead of being an ignorant ass, I wouldn’t have been caught up in your mess.” She glared at him, clenching her fists in annoyance.
“What were ya even doin’ there anyway? Ya couldn’t’ve been there just for a stupid book.” He asked, wondering what she was doing there.
“I was just there for a book.” She affirmed.
“Must’ve been a pretty bloody special book then.” He rolled his eyes back at her.
“You could say that.” She muttered once more, looking away.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Whatever.”
The cave turned back to silence, well as silent as it could get with Astral snoring next to Aurora.
She sat back against the wall of the cave, moving her bag next to her as her gaze wandered to the entrance, watching the nightlife of the forest as she saw no point in going to sleep anymore as they would only be up and moving in an hour or so. She occasionally glanced toward Ember who was hunched over, looking out into the forest, moving his head slightly as his eyes presumably darted around, scanning the area for any signs of anything, his large, dark grey wings twitching every so often as if he wanted to jump up and start flying around.
She mainly focused on the forest just as he was by listening to the sounds all around them. The beasts from earlier had seemed to calm down to the point where they could no longer hear them roaring at all. There was the faintest sound of someone shouting something but it sounded far off in the distance so that wasn’t really anything to worry about. Nothing seemed to be happening which was good news for the two of them as they didn’t have to start spontaneously running or flying with the giant on one of their backs.
“Hey Ember?” She found herself asking out of sheer boredom.
“What?” He asked back, not even turning to look at her this time.
“Where are you from?” She furthered up her questioning as she’d been slightly intrigued by his accent since she’d first heard it.
“Sydneigh. Why?” He replied flatly.
“Just wondering.” She shrugged, going back to silence.
“It’s my accent, isn’t it?” Now it was his turn to ask the questions.
“Yeah.” She nodded. “I haven’t heard anyone with your accent before.”
“I wouldn’t expect ya to.” He let out a sad smirk. “People where I come from don’t generally come over ‘ere. The distance is too far.”
“Makes sense.” She nodded once more. “But you didn’t just live in Sydneigh right?”
“No, I lived in the lower part of Cloudsdale for a long while.” He shook his head. “Where are ya from? Ya definitely don’t come from Equestria either.”
“I’m from a smallish town near Luna Bay up north. Well it’s in the Crystal Empire but on the outer edge, kinda.” She tried to explain, almost tumbling over her words.
“I know the area.” He nodded, turning back around to face her once more, resting his forearms on his knees in the process. “They have those huge trees with all them sharp needle thingies, right?”
“That’s the place.” She nodded, holding back a laugh as he didn’t know what a pine tree was called. “They’re called pine trees.” She added, making his wings twitch in annoyance.
“I knew that.” He grunted, looking away from her. “I just forgot.”
“I’m sure.” She challenged, a small smirk making its way onto her lips.
“You wanna go greyscale?” He asked loudly, rising dramatically to his feet, flaring his wings out just enough to scare her.
“Did you hear something?”
She rose to her feet, making her way toward the mouth of the cave, completely ignoring the now pissed off Skyborn, moving one of his giant wings to the side to get through.
“Oi! Don’t ignore me greyscale!” He almost shouted after the Earth Dweller, turning around once more to face her as he retracted his wings back behind his back.
“Ember, shut up.” She commanded, trying to listen out for the noise again.
“I think it came from over there!”
“Don’t tell me to shu-“
“We have to go.” She cut him off, rushing back over to her bag.
“No. We don’t.” He stated, crossing his arms firmly over his chest.
“The Royal Guard are coming. They found us.” She retorted, unzipping her bag, checking everything was still in there then zipped it up once more before swinging it over her shoulders and chest.
“No they ain’t.” He shook his head, thinking she was just hearing voices in her head.
“then listen!” She hissed, pointing back to the mouth of the cave.
“Fine.” He threw his hands in the air, stomping over to the entrance.
“Tell the commander we found them!”
“Shit.” He breathed, abruptly turning to Astral and Ace upon hearing the voices Aurora was talking about. “Songbird, rise and shine, we’re goin’.” He ordered to the sleeping Shadowbolt.
Astral abruptly opened her eyes, jumping to her feet as if she’d been awake the entire time. “What’s up?” She asked, straightening out her baggy pants before going about lifting Ace up.
“Royal Guard found us. We gotta go. Now.” He replied, quickly walking over to the smaller Skyborn, taking Ace from her by hoisting him up onto his back, immediately bending forward slightly from the sudden extra amount of weight dumped on him.
“Are you certain?” She asked as she started kicking any dirt she could onto the small fire, extinguishing the only light source in the room.
“Yeah.” He nodded, almost running over to the entrance where Aurora was waiting for the two, keeping a look out for any Guards flying or walking by.
“Alright.” She nodded, fluttering over to the two, debating whether or not to pull out a weapon and which one she would use.
“We clear?” Ember asked, pulling Ace further over his shoulders to keep him from falling.
“Wait…” Aurora held her hand out in front of the two Shadowbolts, listening out for any murmur or shout or anything she could associate with the Guard. Hearing nothing, she lowered her hand then nodded, “Go.”
And with that, the group sprinted out of the cave with Ember in front carrying Ace over his shoulders, Aurora behind him making sure that if Ace fell she would pick him up and Astral at the back, ready to strike back against the Guard if they tried to attack them. Ember was already panting by the they reached the first few trees surrounding the small clearing around the cave. Ace was heavy enough to carry as it was but his muscles were already screaming for him to stop as he was already shaking but he simply pushed through the pain knowing that it was either stop and get arrested or endure the pain and get to the train station.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
“Captain?” Charger asked, walking up to Nightshade who had her back to him as she looked out of the large and foggy windows positioned behind her desk in her large office. He noticed her spindle blue wings twitching every few seconds meaning she was deep in thought over some issue that was plaguing her mind.
“What is it Charger?” The tall Skyborn asked, raising a thin eyebrow as she slowly turned to the taller, older Shadowbolt who had a single paper file in his gloved hands.
“The report on the Canterlot incident.” He stated, handing over the file before turning to leave the room to leave the Captain to her thoughts once more.
“Wait.” She stopped him, opening the thin file. “What is the status of Team Chrome?” She asked, flipping through the few boring pages making up the report.
“As far as we know, the team has entered the Canterlot Forest. Chrome was last seen carrying Ace, who has been presumed unconscious or dead. Song was identified with them.” He informed, running a hand through his rough, Jagged Ice coloured fauxhawk.
“Anything else?”
“Yes. A female Earth Dweller was spotted to be travelling and co-operating with them. We don’t know who she is but she was seen to be getting involved in the Canterlot Plaza incident.”
“A possible recruit?” She asked, the possibility of a new recruit peeking her interest.
“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “She did defy the Wonderbolts by, well… kicking Soarin Skies in the balls and she is now wanted as well but I personally don’t think so.”
“Fine.” She sighed, closing the file before standing at her full height, “Find out Team Chromes’ location. Find Stratus and send him to retrieve the team. I want them back here as soon as possible, I want to know what exactly happened and why they failed such a simple task.” She ordered. “Oh, and prepare a coffin if Ace is, in fact dead.”
“Yes Captain.” Charger saluted then turned around sharply before quickly walking out of the large office, closing the door quietly behind him.
He let out a sigh of relief as he turned to the left, walking down the quiet hallway. Even though Nightshade was his team leader, it didn’t make it any easier to give her reports on situations as she was prone to changing moods in the blink of an eye. His team would always play different games to decide who would deliver the reports and this time he’d drawn the short straw thanks to Blueballs’ antics.
As he neared the end of the hallway, he spotted Arctic Edge and Impact walking past him, quietly discussing something he couldn’t quite hear. “Edge, Impact!” He called out to the two ‘Bolts, making both of them jump, their wings flaring out by accident.
“Sweet Luna.” Impact breathed, tucking his wings behind his back when he realised it was Charger who’d scared them.
“Watch your language.” He glared at the smaller Skyborn.
“Sorry Sir.” Both ‘Bolts stood at attention, saluting him.
“At ease.” He breathed. “Now, have either one of you seen Stratus recently?” He asked, watching in slight amusement as the two men slowly lowered their arms, relaxing slightly as they were still scared of their superior.
“I t-think he was in the Mess Hall last S-Sir.” Edge answered shakily.
“Of course he is…” Charger muttered. “Go and find him and tell him to come to the Operations Centre immediately, it’s urgent.” He commanded just as Nightshade did.
“Yes Sir.” The two nodded, saluting once more.
“Good. Dismissed.” He nodded to the two, letting them rush off in the direction they’d come from before heading in the opposite direction to the O.C, hoping to find Team Arrow and Team Shade still working there. He didn’t know why Nightshade wanted them back ASAP but he wasn’t about to question her orders, he would leave that to Stratus when he found the Second in Command. He flared out his wings, bent his knees slightly then forced his wings down as he launched himself forward, making him shoot off toward the O.C as a loud ‘whoooomf’ echoed throughout the corridors thanks to his powerful, regent grey wings propelling him forward.
“Let’s do this.” He smirked, landing outside the O.C a moment later.