//------------------------------// // Before the Storm // Story: At Your Wing // by WyngsTriumphant //------------------------------// They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but the anxious beating of Sky’s seemed to disagree. … “Trail! Got an urgent message here for you!” Vapor was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of Spitfire’s voice. She and Sky had just entered the Academy’s main building, returning from their day out with Surprise and Angel. Ever since the diner, Sky had been acting rather strange. He didn’t say much, which was the problem. Sky was almost NEVER this quiet. Surprise and Angel had talked with Vapor on the flight back, but Sky had been totally silent, slightly trailing behind the group as they flew. Not enough to stand out, but enough that Vapor could notice it. Was something wrong? Had she said something to him after they came back? Why did he seem so… off? “Vapor Trail!” At least she could take her mind off it for a bit. She looked up to see the Wonderbolt’s captain signaling to her as her yellow hooves perused through some of the mail she received. The fact that the letter was marked as urgent, as well as being delivered to her directly, meant that something was up. “What’s the matter?” Vapor asked, though her mind was still distracted by Sky. “Not my business, girl. But it looks like an urgent letter… from your parents,” Spitfire noted as she looked at the front of the envelope, handing it over to Vapor with a raised eyebrow. The timid mare snapped out of her thoughts upon hearing those last words, her heart skipping a beat and her head straightening in interest. “Let me see it!” she quickly said, snatching the letter from Spitfire, though to her credit, Spitfire didn’t mind the lack of manners, noting the nervous look on Vapor’s muzzle. “What’s wrong?” Sky spoke up for the first time since the diner, his mind and troubles briefly disrupted by the look of concern in Vapor’s eyes. She didn’t take long in finding out the answer, ripping the letter open and looking over the paper’s handwritten text. Her eyes grew wider and her breath hitched as she read on, until she finally looked up, blinking rapidly. “Speak up, rookie, what’s wrong?” Spitfire pushed her. “M-m-my grandfather! He’s sick! Very sick! My mom says he’s been bedridden ever since yesterday, can’t even seem to get up!” Vapor said, the tension rising in her voice. “What?!” Sky was taken back by the turn of events, his sour mood suddenly diminished. “Yes! My mom says that the family doctor is attending to him, but they’re all worried!” Vapor’s eyes turned to Spitfire. “Spitfire! I mean, Captain! I know we were supposed to train these next few days, but I really-!“ “Save it, kid,” Spitfire raised her hoof to silence her. Vapor’s eyes grew wider in panic. “Spitfire!” Vapor begged, no longer caring about her tone or words. “You can’t do this! I need to-!“ “Hey, hey, relax! Let me finish, girl!” Spitfire raised her voice, temporarily hushing the worried recruit. “I didn’t say no!” “You mean…?” “Yes, yes, you can take leave. I’m not going to keep you from your family,” Spitfire said, somewhat offended to think that they believed her capable of that. “You can catch up on your training later, we’ll make it up somehow. What matters is that you get to Stratusburg.” “Thank you, thank you!” Vapor sighed, throwing her arms around Spitfire’s hoof. “For Faust’s sake, get up rookie! Quit lollygagging!” Spitfire said, a hint of irritation in her voice. Vapor quickly did so, re-composing herself. “Now, do you need any kind of help going, or…?” “No, I think I’ll be fine,” Vapor replied, shaking her head. She turned to Sky, causing his heart to drop. Should he go with her? She might need some support… but her words still gnawed at him… and what if- “I’m sorry to leave you here, but I need to go see my family. Take care, okay?” He mentally sighed in relief. Always the one to put others before her, thank Celestia. “Y-yeah. I will. Good luck, I hope your grandpa gets well,” he simply told her, nodding. “Thanks,” she simply said, flapping herself to a hover. Then she wrapped her hooves around him. It only lasted a moment, but Sky felt a wave of emotions wash over him. He had gone from being upset with her, to feeling worried for her. He had gone from being hurt by her words to being warmed by her embrace. He went from thinking about only himself to thinking about her and her troubles. He wasn’t sure what else to say. Thankfully, he didn’t need to. “I’m going to pack up real quick,” she said, flying over to the door and waving one last goodbye before shooting off. Done with the situation, and needing to file the paperwork for her leave, Spitfire gave her a nod, before walking off in the opposite direction, towards her office, leaving Sky alone in the hallway. … That had been six days ago. Sky lay in his dorm at the academy, staring up at the ceiling as the sun finished setting and darkness consumed the room he was in. Exhausted from another day of increasingly difficult training, the recruits had been all too happy to retire to their dorms for the night. While Sky would normally have followed suit in getting some much-needed shut-eye, tomorrow would be different from most other days, creating a deep worry within him that kept him from resting. Tomorrow Vapor was expected to return, at least according to the letter that had arrived for Spitfire yesterday morning. Her grandfather was finally recovering, thank Celestia, and after some re-assurances from her family, Vapor claimed to feel ready enough to make her return to the Academy. While such news seemed to be good, Sky’s mind nevertheless found itself worrying for a rather simple reason: he was trapped. No more dodging the subject of her hard words at the diner. Tomorrow, she would return, and the two would be expected to fly as wingponies once more. With such a responsibility at hand, Sky knew that avoiding her and simply not talking would very quickly attract both Vapor’s inquiries and Spitfire’s scolding. The last week without Vapor had given him some time to distract himself from the pain of her biting comments behind his back at the diner, but with her back, he would have to face the music. What would he say? What kind of excuse could he make up? Or would he have to confront her about her words? If what she said that day had been true, the damage it could cause their relationship, not only as wingponies, but as friends, could be disastrous… I thought what happened when we arrived here was a one-time thing. That she really did mean to help when she… boosted me. Maybe… not? Or maybe… maybe it’s not so much her… maybe it’s… me… He couldn’t bear the thought. Sky simply lay still, staring at the ceiling and listening to the ticking of the clock as the countdown to their inevitable encounter ran on… … “WAKE UP ROOKIES!!!” Sky’s eyes burst open. “W-w-woah!” he gave a small cry as the loud voice tore him from the fragile sleep he had finally managed to achieve. His mind racing as his training kicked in, he immediately realized what was going on. He quickly scrambled off the ground and burst through the door from his dorm to the hallway, locking himself into an upright salute and ignoring the dizzying spin in his head. All the other male recruits were also out in the hallway, looking as disorientated as he, but still saluting nonetheless. Everyone gave a somewhat shaky response to the wake-up call. “YeS MA’Am, CaPtIaN!” “Eyes up, boys, naptime’s over. We’ve got a special day planned for you today,” Spitfire addressed them, standing at the farther end of the hallway of the male dorms’ wing. “Meet Fleetfoot and Wave Chill at the southern end of the runway within 10 minutes, got it?” “Yes, ma’am!” They all echoed the answer. “Good. Now GET MOVING!” she punctuated, turning a corner and flying off. As soon as she was gone, the recruits, some quite literally, crumpled from their upright salute, drowsy and disorientated. A soft chorus of groans echoed through the hall. Once Sky was relatively sure he wasn’t seeing double, he took a breath and started to trudge towards the end of the hall, heading off for a quick shower. “What on Equus do you think she’s up to?” a voice came from beside him. Sky turned to see his makeshift wingpony and newest friend, Cumulus, sleepily trotting behind him. The young cadet had a yellow coat with a puffy white mane, bearing the cutie mark of a white cloud with a downpour of blue rain. A young flier from Seaddle, he was one of the many other pegasi in Sky and Vapor’s class of reserves. Sky had of course seen him practicing alongside them, but with Vapor and Angel at his side, he hardly paid much attention to the others. With Vapor’s absence however, Sky needed a temporary wingpony, a position that Spitfire had given to Cumulus. In their short time together, Sky had grown to enjoy the yellow colt’s company. He was very thoughtful and observational, though he was a bit more of an introvert, and didn’t have much of a desire to get to know others. Still, with the two in an inevitably close position, Cumulus didn’t hesitate to make an effort to get to know Sky, something the cerulean pegasus was grateful for. What with his troubles with Vapor, he was glad to have someone else at his side, apart from Angel. They had even grown close enough that Sky had invited him to become his roommate at the apartment he rented in Cloudsdale for whenever the recruits weren’t required to sleep at the academy, though of course, with their current schedule, that arrangement had yet to take place. “No clue,” Sky answered, shaking his head to try to shoo away his drowsiness. “But I’m pretty sure it’s not going to be an all-expenses paid trip to Alpacapulco.” “I know that, but what the hay is she planning? We’re already dying by all these physical drills, I doubt that she’s just going to give more. It must be something else…” Cumulus pondered as they wandered through the halls. “Look I don’t care what that crazy mare is planning at this hour. You get the chance, you can get the answers straight from the horse’s mouth,” Sky grumbled, turning one final corner into the main building and suddenly bumping into something yellow that sent him down to the ground. It was Spitfire herself, looming as she stood above him. She glared at the recruit. “What was that, Stinger?” She growled at him, glaring daggers. “Uh… I mean, I just…” Sky fumbled his words, caught off guard. “You can count yourself lucky that I’m too busy for this crap right now. Just need to mention something real quick before you all go off,” she mentioned, still staring him down, freezing the usually cocky pegasus to the spot. “Vapor Trail came back just a while ago, but I had to send her off early to where you all are going. For what we’re doing today though, I want you and Cumulus to stick together on this one. Vapor will be joining Angel’s duo on this one, they’ll help her through this.” “Pardon, ma’am, but ah, what is ‘this’?” Cumulus tried to ask, but Spitfire brushed off the question. “Can it, rookie. You’ll all see once you get there. All you need to know is that Wave and Fleetfoot are waiting for you, so don’t keep them waiting. And Stinger…” she turned back to face Sky, still holding a steely gaze, “one more complaint from you, and I’ll personally tie your wings together and throw you off the Academy cliffs. See if that’ll wake you up.” “Y-yes, ma’am,” Sky finally managed, recomposing himself. Spitfire simply huffed and flew off, leaving the two pegasus confused at both what had just happened and whatever was about to happen. … Vapor shivered a bit as a cold gust of wind assaulted her coat. Her nerves cringed as she felt goosebumps crawling on her skin. She shuffled her feathers as she held them firmly against her side, attempting to trap and conserve as much of her body heat as possible. The reserves all stood at the edge of a small, barren cliff near the edge of the White Tail woods, which sprawled out before them in the valley below. Though the weather on the Equestrian West Coast was usually calm and beautiful, this region was a different case today. The sky had grown cloudier over the last few hours, and a biting, cold wind had stirred up. Ominous rumbling could be faintly heard nearby, a noise that had scared away all the local fauna and given the usually gorgeous forest an unfamiliar sense of emptiness and solitude. None of the reserves had any kind of protective clothing or suits, as per Spitfire’s orders, so they were all cold in some way, as their shivering and teeth chattering no doubt gave away. All part of the training, or so Spitfire said. The Captain stood a short distance away from them, ignoring their discomfort and rigidness as they all nervously stood at attention. Rainbow Dash had arrived just a few moments ago, swooping down from the dark, clouded skies to report her analysis back to the Captain. Being the closest to the two, Vapor could faintly make out some of their conversation over the whistling wind. “…so, what do you make of it, Crash?” Spitfire asked expectantly. Dash swiftly landed down in front of her and snapped a salute. “It’s a level two, ma’am, as expected. Nothing too serious or dangerous, though it is a bit bigger than expected. The low pressure and flow is causing some cold weather, though the temperatures are a bit more balanced up in the higher layers. Soarin and the Patrol have got most of it covered pretty well, though they both say the winds in the main currents are growing stronger,” Rainbow informed her. Spitfire nodded, content with the report, before managing a small smirk. “Didn’t take you or such an egghead, Crash. Good to have somebody with recent experience here, though. Looks like the Ponyville weather service did you good, huh?” “Yeah, I am pretty awe-” Rainbow had begun to grin, flicking her mane aside, before Spitfire’s words registered in her head. “Egghead?! I am NOT an egghead!” Rainbow remarked, horrified by the concept. Naturally, Spitfire paid little heed to her words, already turning to address the recruits, prompting Dash to simply sigh in frustration as she took off back into the clouds to rejoin her other teammates. With just her and the recruits present, Spitfire once more assumed her authoritarian tone as she turned to face them, Vapor’s observations cutting off as she and the others quickly stood to attention, trying to ignore the biting cold on their bodies. “Alright, newbies, heads up! Time for your first live-weather control exercise. Now, for those of you who didn’t bother to do the reading or already forgot, I’m going to give you ONE round of directions, so PAY ATTENTION!” “Now, as you know, one of the Wonderbolt’s many side duties include serving as a reserve weather control team. As much as the eggheads and the workers at the factories try to keep things running smoothly, weather production is tricky, and sometimes they hit a few snags in the process. A faulty or clumsy combination of ingredients can sometimes cause a particular piece of weather to turn out different, bigger, or worse than expected. As any of you who did weather duty before may know, we call ‘em ‘bandit storms’, or just ‘Bandits’. They’re unexpected, they’re surprisingly tough, and they’re nothing but trouble. It’s each city’s weather team or local factory’s job to stop these things, but sometimes, when they’re either too busy or outgunned, it’s the Wonderbolts’ duty to swoop in and put those suckers down.” “What we have here is one such bandit, courtesy of San Franciscolt. The local weather ponies tried to reign it in, but they couldn’t handle it, and all the other teams in the city were busy trying to manage the recent bout of rainstorms they’re having. So, they had to let it go. The Equestrian Weather Patrol were called, and the chief messaged me, knowing that I had been looking for a good chance to get your hooves dirty, so here we are!” The Captain began to pace back and forth in front of them, talking as she looked ahead into the valley below them and sized up the weather storm that rumbled in the distance. “Our goal today is simple, bring this sucker down. Dash, Soarin, and two of the E.W.P ops are up in the sky above the storm, keeping an eye on things and establishing a perimeter to stop it from growing too big or getting away. Meanwhile, you all are going to go in there and hit it from the center. Throw the storm out of balance, alter the currents, and do anything necessary to weaken it. Once that’s done, one last, good hit should cause it to fall apart. As for strength or what you’re up against, it’s a mixed bag. Dash and Soarin report some oddities in the storm, but nothing too bad. It’s a level two storm, not the most violent, and usually only dangerous for the stupid or reckless.” She stopped in front of Sky, raising an eyebrow. “You all are probably a bit of both though, so it’ll be an interesting challenge” Really? Was that necessary?  Sky thought, but kept his mouth shut, remembering her earlier threats to him. “This is your first weather control and quarantine exercise, so be careful. You may think you’re good, but Bandits are known for their unpredictability more than their actual strength. You never know when a sudden gust of wind blast you, or a particular cloud may not be as soft as it should be. Lightning and other such reactions aren’t too uncommon either. Keep your heads on a swivel!” “Are we sure this is safe?” Cumulus tried to discreetly ask Sky. “It’s about as safe as I can give, rookie,” Spitfire snapped at him. “Count yourself lucky; I wanted to take you up to a low-level hurricane, but Soarin nagged me out of it. If it was up to me, you’d all be drenched in rain above the Carriagebean Sea,” Spitfire commented, glaring at the yellow pegasus, with a malicious grin in her eyes. “One last warning, for the thick-skulled; we’re going live here. We’re trying to keep things as safe for you as possible, but don’t count on help being so easy if you run into trouble, especially due to how hard it is to see or hear into Bandits. This isn’t just a test of your weather abilities, it’s a test of your teamwork.” “Now everypony, line up! I’m flying you into the outer currents, it’s up to you to find your way inside and stop this thing.” The recruits all did as they were told, prepping themselves into their launch positions. Finally, Vapor turned her head to Sky once more, who stood next to Cumulus, a few spots to her right. She had been trying to get close to him when he and the others had arrived, but Spitfire had insisted that she stay with Angel Wings, so that she could brief her on what she had missed during her absence and the basics of hazardous weather control. Therefore, she was reduced to watching him from a distance as he warmed up, ate their MRE field meals (Spitfire had decided to forgo an actual breakfast, claiming there was “not enough time”), and talked to Cumulus and the other recruits. I know Spitfire kept me from going over to him, but… why isn’t he at least talking to me? Not even a “hello”? She still remembered how odd he had been acting a week ago, after the diner. She had been busy with her now-healed grandfather and family, but she did still have a nagging feeling about his strange behavior. She had hoped that maybe it was just a small thing, something temporary, and maybe once she came back, he would be back to his normal, confident self. Evidently not. Maybe I can at least ask him if everything’s okay… “Time to fly, rookies!” Or not.