Winter wasn’t sure if she liked the veil of silence hanging over her squad. On the one hoof, she was thankful to avoid yet another scuffle with Phantom at the epicentre. But on the other, the Solar Pegusi keeping their backs turned to her didn’t alleviate much of the discomfort they caused.
Regardless, she maintained a neutral expression. Wasting emotional energy on ponies who didn’t care to listen was pointless. Better to save it for the Changelings they would all inevitably encounter. There was, however, one important thing she needed to say to her sisters.
“Vampire Fruit bats,” she whispered as she exited the armoury, receiving a nod of acknowledgement from Phantom and Dusk. The password was set. With saddle bags containing explosives, they were ready for the mission to begin.
Lieutenant Fire Storm awaited them at the foot of the runway. “Good. Looks like everypony learned to show up on time,” he said with a disgruntled sneer. Winter wondered if he had any other manner of speaking.
She spared a look at her sisters, both of whom stood straight, taking the full brunt of the lieutenant’s insult. Pushing down the unpleasant churning in her gut—a feeling which had been brewing since they were assigned this mission—Winter followed suit, wings partially unfolded in preparation for the flight ahead.
“Listen up and listen good, everypony,” the lieutenant continued. “We are all to fly in a standard ‘V’ formation. I will be the spearhead, and you all mirror my manoeuvres. To my left, the order will be Mist Match, Starry Sky and Dusk Flight. To my right, Dawn Sky, Winter Flight and Phantom Flight. Sunny Shower, you will be in the middle, directly behind me, carrying the largest payload. Follow my instructions to the letter, and we will be back before the moon rises. Are we clear?”
“Sir, yes, sir!” Winter and her squad shouted together. Her heart was thumping so hard, she could hear every beat. Her limbs wanted to shake, but she held them firm, instead using the energy to flap her wings gently, warming up her flight muscles as she trotted into formation.
“On my mark, we take flight,” Fire Storm announced. “Three…”
With a flick, Winter’s wings unfurled to their maximum span.
“Two…”
She bent her legs, storing potential energy.
“One…”
Her gem’s magic fired into life, solidifying her wing guards.
“Fly!”
Winter’s muscles released like a coiled spring, wings flapping down in a broad arc as she launched into the air. With each stroke, she ascended higher, matching her sisters beat-for-beat. From the frequency of their wing rotation, Winter could tell the Wonderbolts were pushing themselves to go faster.
She wondered why they thought this was necessary. Winter could already feel her body sliding into the natural air currents as she left the runway behind. With the elevation of the Wonderbolts Academy, it took only minutes to reach the jet stream, rocketing them south.
What a waste of energy, Winter thought, timing the rhythm of her wing beats to keep up with minimal effort. She supposed it was just a long-standing tradition of theirs. The Wonderbolts did spend a substantial portion of their career stunt flying, after all.
After the first hour of what felt like a foal’s race day at school, only Dawn Flight and Sunny Shower continued flapping hard, panting heavily until their tired wing muscles forced them to either settle back or risk stalling.
Winter let a small grin slip from the edges of her lips. They thought she caredabout their fragile egos, and instead made themselves look foolish. It was just as Luna had said: ‘Those whom insist on outside validation are always the most insecure inside.’ A fact reinforced by the resentful glare they threw at her in retaliation, as if it was her fault they couldn’t fly fast for long distances.
She declined to validate their annoyance with words. Instead, she did what she always did and kept her emotions in check – focusing on maintaining formation.
Beyond that, the flight itself was uneventful. Occasional bumps of turbulence, but nothing they couldn’t handle. For hours on end, they flew, keeping an eye out for any intercepting forces.
“Everypony, eyes front!” Fire Storm called, breaking the silence. “Prepare to descend. We’re crossing the Badlands border and should be reaching the hive within the next ten minutes, if my intel is correct.”
"And if it isn't?" Dusk asked before clapping her hooves over her mouth. She'd forgotten about Fire Storm's hatred of excessive questioning.
“Then we keep flying until we find it!” the lieutenant snapped. “What, do you think we’d go home and sleep all day instead?”
“Hey, if it’s good for Thestrals, it’s good for us!” Sunny snarked, though if he expected the sisters to rise to the occasion, he would be sorely disappointed.
However, there was still one question which Dusk could not hold in. “Sir, I have to ask,” she said, flying closer to Fire Storm, gesturing around her as she did. “How can we prevent being spotted without cloud cover? It’s a factor you didn’t cover in the briefing. I don’t mean to insult you, I just want to be careful.”
“Have you not been paying attention?!” Fire Storm bellowed in Dusk’s face. “How many times do I have to spell it out for you? If in doubt, we fly higher and faster! No creature in Equestria is faster than the Wonderbolts.”
With each word the lieutenant spoke, Dusk’s face scrunched up harder. Winter knew that look. Her sister had been holding back a barrage of ‘What ifs?’ from the moment she left the briefing room. And with each dismissal, the questions just kept piling up, ready to burst from her mouth in a tirade of tactical tautologies.
Yet, somehow, Dusk still managed to restrain herself, slowly unclenching her jaw to pursue the most vital line of reasoning. “And I respect that, sir. However, even an experienced veteran such as you cannot cover for every statistical eventuality. We must have at least one backup plan should the worst-case scenario come to-!”
By now, Winter wished her sister was afraid of the lieutenant – a single twitch of the red stallion’s eye being the sole warning of the hoof slamming into her cheek, ending her ramble.
“Argh!” Crying in a combination of pain and surprise, Dusk frantically flapped her wings, only keeping herself aloft with the help of her sisters.
“Maybe that will teach you to stop undermining my authority!” Fire Storm yelled through clenched teeth, getting hasty approving nods from Dawn and Sunny.
“H-hold on a minute, sir!” Mist blurted out. “The Thestral wasn’t insulting you, she was praising you! Surely that doesn’t call for a physical reprimand?”
Winter cringed at the T-word, despite it being spoken with positive intent.
“She got what was coming to her,” Dawn said, shrugging his shoulders. “Besides, why do you care, Mist? Don’t tell me you have a thing for vamps, you old horn dog!”
“We are not bucking Vampires!” Phantom growled through gritted teeth. It had been a long time since Winter last saw somepony test her patience like this. “And if I hear one more racial slur from that mouth of yours, I’m gonna prop it open with a bomb and blast your bucking teeth out!”
“Was that a threat I heard?” Sunny sneered sarcastically. “Oh dear, oh dear. I’m certain Princess Luna won’t be pleased to hear about that!”
“You wanna try me?!” Phantom snapped back, her face contorting with rage.
“Um… Phantom, was it?” a miniscule voice squeaked from behind Winter.
“What do you want?!” Phantom flipped around, screaming in Starry Sky’s face, too blinded with rage to notice how he cringed at her vocal volume. “You want a piece of me as well?!”
“Phantom, stop-” Winter began, but a much louder voice over-ruled her, combining with a bright flash of burning red to end the confrontation.
“Everypony shut the buck up!!!” Fire Storm bellowed, his voice echoing as silence fell. “I have had it up to here with your frivolous questions and petty bickering! We are here for pest extermination, not some pissing contest about who’s superior to whom. This is your final bucking warning: unless you want to be kicked out of the Wonderbolts and court-martialled before Celestia, I suggest you cut the horse shit and, for once in your lives, do what you’re told! Have I made myself clear?”
“Sir, yes, sir!” was the response from the Solar Pegusi. Winter and her sisters, however, remained silent.
“You got a problem, Thestrals?” Fire Storm said, voice dropping to a sharp growl. “It’d be easy to complete the mission without you.”
“No, sir,” Winter said after a deep breath, somehow maintaining her calm exterior a growing desire to kick the lieutenant’s racist ass all the way to Canterlot and back.
“And the rest of you?”
“No problems, sir,” Phantom and Dusk both said.
“Good. Now, everypony, get back into formation. If I hear one more word from any of you for the rest of this mission, you will be demoted, at the very least. Now, let’s get a move on. The Changeling hive won’t blow up itself!”