The whistle’s ear-piercing shriek woke Dusk Flight with a start. Bolting upright, she opened her eyes to see Lieutenant Fire Storm bellowing in her face.
“Rise and shine, lazy-ass Thestrals!” the officer boomed. “Mission briefing started five minutes ago!”
“Wait, what?!” Phantom yelled, grabbing her alarm clock. “Ten-past six? What the buck happened to our alarm?!”
“Sir, I’m dreadfully sorry,” Winter half-whispered, bowing before the lieutenant as she stepped out of bed, ears flat. “I’m certain I set our alarms correctly last night.”
“Sure, and I’m the Princess of Yak Yakistan,” Fire Storm sneered, Winter flinching under his glare. “Does it look like I give a shit about such juvenile excuses?”
“No, sir,” Winter replied dejectedly.
“Well, it looks like one of you can listen, at least. Now, get your armour on and get your butts in gear, fast. I haven’t got all day.”
Now well awake, Dusk rolled out of bed and picked up her alarm clock, examining it. This alarm clock was brand new and had been working without issue all week. Why would it malfunctionon the day of her first Wonderbolts mission?
“Aha!” She exclaimed, all but shoving the clock in the lieutenant’s face. “Take a look at this, sir. Our alarms have been tampered with! You can see here how the alarm settings have been moved an hour forward from their original-”
“What the buck did I just say?!”
Recoiling in surprise, the clock slipped from Dusk’s grasp, shattering into several pieces at the lieutenant’s hooves.
“How many times do I have to tell you Thestrals that I don’t give a shit? Shut your bucking mouth and suit up, before I have you all court martialled for insubordination!”
Without another word, Dusk yanked the trunk from under her bed, hastily throwing on her armour before Fire Storm could yell at her again. Now I understand how Phantom felt before…
Speaking of whom, her hot-blooded sister was already fully dressed, standing rigid and glaring daggers at Fire Storm; something which the lieutenant picked up on.
“Is there a problem, Thestral?” he sneered, returning the stare with equal intensity.
“No, sir!” Phantom stated, as professional as she would to Princess Luna or a Night Guard commander.
“Not planning to cause any trouble with those claws of yours, are you?” Fire Storm gestured to the sharp, purple-coloured metal claws attached to the gauntlets on Phantom’s hooves.
“No, sir!” Phantom stated, her expression unchanging. “Just demonstrating my readiness, sir!”
“Good. That’s what I like to hear. Now, unless you intend to keep dawdling, let’s get this mission brief over with.”
Trotting a short way behind her sisters, Dusk glanced between Phantom and the lieutenant. When it came to her sister, she knew that look. The expression of stone-faced facade of confidence, working as a defence for her emotions as much as her physical armour did for her body. She’d seen it a thousand times before – just one of Phantom’s many methods of keeping cool under pressure.
The lieutenant’s expression was a stark contrast. He wore a small smile, an unmistakable self-congratulatory smirk. He was getting what he wanted: straight, unquestioning obedience.
But Dusk could also tell there was a little more to it than that. In a way, he almost looked… impressed? Dusk supposed this is what military types called ‘having a spine’. If to have a spine meant showing no emotion what-so-ever when somepony yelled at you, anyway.
Regardless, if Phantom’s intent was to get the lieutenant off her back, she succeeded for now.
As they walked across the court yard, Dusk made a point to examine the expressions of other Wonderbolts, stopping briefly at the runway, allowing for others to land. She could hear the coded babbles of flight patterns and technical reports rattling off from the pegusi’s lips, understanding none of it.
Though by the side-eyed glances some of the Wonderbolts gave her, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to know. While she ignored most of them, Winter, by contrast, shot back with equally dark looks, reflecting such judgemental attitudes.
That was one of many things she loved about her younger sister. Despite her small stature, she was no less well versed in the arts of intimidating glares. Naturally, the moment the lieutenant glanced back, her expression softened, her visage that of an innocent filly many viewed her as.
The briefing centre itself was a small building. The bland, yet functional interior consisted of only one room, big enough to fit no more than a couple dozen ponies within its beige-painted walls.
It seemed to Dusk that, everywhere she went, the Wonderbolts’ flashy uniform design didn’t carry over to bland, by-the-book academy architecture – nothing like the wide array of towering columns and grand arches of somewhere like Cloudsdale.
“Alright,” Fire Storm stated, a quartet of Wonderbolts standing up to salute him. “Now that we’re all present, there will be no more delays. Everypony, take a seat and I’ll cut to the chase.”
Approaching the desks, Dusk kept her eyes front and centre, refusing to look at any other solar pegusi. Igniting conflict with the squad members—who may havealready resented her, regardless—was the last thing she needed. Thankfully, they remained silent and acted disinterested, although she thought she heard the faint sound of a hoof-bump under the table.
“Okay, everypony, listen up,” Fire Storm announced, pulling down a projection canvas, shutting off the lights and powering up the idling projector. “This is the changeling hive we are tasked with destroying, deep in the heart of the Badlands. Though the whereabouts of Queen Chrysalis is still unknown, these hives are the last vestiges of her former Changeling Empire.
“I needn’t remind you of that whole reformation bullshit about Changelings being good now. Just be aware that, despite this hive being a minority in their unwillingness to bow to Thorax’s rule, they’re still master shape-shifters, on multiple occasions morphing to look more like their green-skin counterparts.”
Dusk nodded, silently making a few mental notes for later.
“This is why it’s our top priority to have them exterminated ASAP. The sooner we’re rid of the anti-reformists, the sooner we can track down Queen Chrysalis herself. You will each carry the maximum payload allowance for this mission, blowing these insects out of their holes for a full extermination. We dive in high, drop the bombs, fly back out again, classic hit and run, rinse and repeat. They’ll never see us coming!
“So, to recap: follow my lead, keep up the pace, and try not to die. That concludes our full mission briefing,” the lieutenant said, switching off the projector. “Any questions?”
Dusk had several questions, not least of which pertained to the simplistic nature of this plan. She just needed to decide which query would cause the least confrontation. Yet just as she was raising her hoof, the lieutenant stepped down from his podium.
“No questions, good. Now, you have exactly fifteen minutes to-”
“Sir!” Winter exclaimed, her voice loud enough to echo and draw all eyes to her as she leapt to her hooves. “Aren’t you missing a vital defensive measure against changelings?”
“What are you implying, Thestral?” one of the solar pegusi spoke up, a defensive growl reverberating in his voice. He was a tall stallion, standing two-heads higher than Fire Storm, with a cobalt blue coat and wavy, purple swept-back mane. A black raven in flight represented as his cutie mark, a strong indication of his personality before a single word left his lips.
He narrowed his eyes at Winter, straightening his back and flaring his wings to size her up – completely missing the bat pony’s eye roll. “That our lieutenant doesn’t know how to fight changelings?”
“Cool it, Dawn Sky,” the solar Pegasus on the row behind said, placing his hoof over his compatriot’s shoulder. He had similarly-styled mane to Dawn Sky, its grey colouration only a few shades different from his icy white coat. Though his speech was calm, there was a subtle force behind it which made Dusk squirm in her seat. The fog-covered sunrise depicted through his cutie mark not helping matters. “Nopony said the lieutenant is stupid.”
“Hey, stupid or not, my sister’s right,” Phantom interjected, puffing out her chest to mirror the antagonistic stallion’s posture. “If we’re fighting changelings, we need a password between us.”
“Oh, joy, a secret password,” Dawn sneered, snapping his gaze to Phantom. “What’s next? An invitation to your special club house? Scary stories ‘round the campfire? Give me a break.”
“Do you want changeling spies?” Dusk spoke up, keeping her tone as calm and matter-of-fact as she could. “Because, with ignorance like this? That’s how you get changeling spies. With a password, we can tell who’s an imposter and who isn’t.”
“You have to admit, Dawn,” the white stallion said. “She has a point. Always better to be over-prepared than under.”
“Ugh, Mist Match, why are you entertaining such nonsense?” the voice of a third solar Pegasus, sitting directly opposite of Dawn, drew everypony’s attention. This one was a mare, the only one among Wonderbolts present, rolling her eyes as she leaned back into her seat. Her long, ochre mane was tied back into a pony tail, and the light fluff of her green coat—adding to her rain cloud cutie mark—made her look a fair bit more approachable to Dusk’s eyes.
Dry sarcasm in her voice notwithstanding.
“What, are you suddenly an expert on changelings or something, Sunny Shower?” Mist retorted with an equally insincere smile. “Just like you were knowing so much about Thestrals this morning?”
“Don’t have to know what’s paranoid bullshit…” Dawn grumbled under his breath.
“See, Mist?” Sunny replied, waving her hoof in dismissal. “Dawn gets it. We’re Wonderbolts, for Celestia’s sake! We’ll be gone before they even realize we’re coming. Why over-complicate stuff?”
“Overconfidence is the leading cause of pony deaths,” Winter deadpanned, looking at Sunny Shower. “I’m with Mist. I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
“Then make your own stupid password and keep it to yourself!” Dawn yelled, looking like he was just one step away from biting her sister’s face off. “Stop trying to lecture us about shit we already know! Bloody Thestrals, making everypony so bucking paranoid.”
“Will you stop calling us that?!” Phantom yelled back, baring her fangs as she slammed her front hooves on the desk. “We’re Pegusi, just like you, so quit treating us like some Luna-forsaken monsters!”
“Enough!” Fire Storm bellowed in command, spreading his wings between the two bickering ponies. “Pegusi or not, you’re still causing trouble. If you want a question answered, be quicker about it next time, and stop provoking my troops! Got it?!”
“We’re the trouble makers?!” Phantom yelled back, wings stiffening as she shook with rage. “But they’re the ones who-”
“Shut your bucking mouth, or I’ll send you back to Princess Luna in chains! You got that, Thestral?”
For the next few moments, Phantom and Lieutenant Storm stared each other down, an awkward silence falling across the room. Dusk was about to get involved, but thankfully, Phantom stepped down of her own accord.
“Yes, sir,” she said through gritted teeth.
“Good. Now, as I was saying before, get your butts to the armoury, get your gear, and be with me at the foot of the runway in ten minutes, or you’re swabbing floors all day.”
With that, Fire Storm trotted to the door and threw it open, the other Wonderbolts following in tow. Phantom avoided eye contact with Dawn, resisting the temptation to smack him in his chronically-smug face. Likewise, Sunny didn’t care to give the Lunar Guards any further attention, shrugging her shoulders and walking away like nothing had happened.
Only Mist Match chose to respond, ears lowered as he gave a courteous bow. “I’m sorry about my team mates. We come from strict backgrounds, as you can probably tell. No time for anything perceived as childish, you see. Nothing personal.”
“It’s fine,” Winter replied, her signature soft smile visibly easing the tension between Mist and herself. “Nothing we can’t handle. See you at the runway.”
“Of course,” Mist replied, acknowledging the response with a light nod. “See you there.”
“Well, I guess at least one of them isn’t a complete asshole,” Phantom said under her breath. “Makes a pleasant change.”
“Why the whisper, Phantom?” Dusk asked, having failed to notice that there was one solar Pegasus left in the room. He was a young pony, likely in the twilight years of foalhood, with a short, jet-black mane that stuck up into a quiff at the front. With a midnight blue coat and a constellation for a cutie mark, one could be forgiven for mistaking him for Lunar Pegasus.
Silently, he stepped away from his desk and plodded past the Lunar Guard sisters, eyes never leaving his hooves.
“Starry Sky!” Dawn yelled, head poking through the doorway. “Quit dawdling and get your butt over here, for Celestia’s sake!”
Starry looked up only for the briefest of moments. Though his mane partially obscured his face, Dusk could tell from his posture that he wasn’t exactly in the grandest of moods. Still silent, he galloped out of the room, leaving the door wide open behind him.
“What’s his problem?” Dusk wondered aloud, though it came out with greater spite than intended.
“Not a clue,” Winter replied. “But we’d best follow on. Can’t risk getting left behind.”
Dusk and Phantom nodded, exiting the building with a light canter to catch up. Yet Dusk still couldn’t shake her unease about Starry Sky. Perhaps it was how being the quiet one made him the odd ball of the group. Or maybe just fact somepony so meek became a Wonderbolt in the first place. Either way, Dusk didn’t like it. Yet, without anything but vague feelings to evidence suspicion, she decided it best to withhold any objections for now.
Then again, Fire Storm wouldn’t care if a Changeling came up and bit him on the flank.