Raindrop panted heavily, her head held low and ears splayed backwards, her wings half-extended, the leading edges limp and unresponsive. She had been flying for at least two hours, and every flight surface hurt. Her head was pounding, and her throat was insanely dry.
The trainees had all been ordered to line up at the base of the arena, and the Wonderbolts themselves were all wandering back and forth, selecting and moving about the pegasi they had been impressed with.
To Raindrop’s utter confusion, she had been put in the group of ‘prospective candidates’.
A water bottle was passed around to them, and they were urged to take but a sip. If they tried to take any more, the water bottle was taken away.
After the water bottle made its way around the trainees three times in a row, the group of pegasi who hadn’t been chosen were told ‘thank you for coming’ and implored to train harder.
And then it was just a handful of prospective candidates left in the arena, with the three members of the Wonderbolts.
“Well, rookies. Looks like you made the next step of the trials. Return here tomorrow and we’ll see if you have the wherewithal to remain with us,” Firebrand said with a grin that could easily be construed as ‘evil’.
Raindrop groaned faintly.
“Is something the matter, rookie?” Firebrand asked sharply, stalking over in front of Raindrop, almost nose-to-nose.
“No, ma’am,” Raindrop said immediately, straightening up and blinking once.
“You think this is a game rookie?!” Firebrand asked, eyes narrowing slowly.
Raindrop blinked once, and then worked her mouth slowly to try and get some of the dryness out of it, her tongue thick and heavy. “No, ma’am”
Firebrand scowled, and leaned in close, until their noses touched, lightning seeming to flash in her eyes. “Don’t you lie to me rookie!”
“You know, I can’t tell me new coltfriend I love him because I’m afraid of what it’ll mean, what do you think I should do?” Raindrop asked suddenly.
The wonderbolt captain blinked at that, her expression twisting into one of confusion. “First off, I don’t know you, and I hardly care for your personal life. Why the hell would you even ask something like that?!”
Raindrop gave a single nod at that. “Well, you see...
“In the past month, I’ve discovered that I have changeling blood in me. Mainly because my grandmother was the queen of the changelings, Chrysalis. She’s dead now. Turns out she used the Elements of Harmony to get herself fixed. Whatever they did wore off recently, and caused me to begin sucking the love from my coltfriend. ‘Course, I wanted to fix myself. I went and got the elements, and then I found out they were fake. About this time, we found out discord escaped.”
A collective gasp rose from the pegasi on the field, but Raindrop ignored it, focusing on Firebrand entirely.
“Anyhow, Sentinel, an asshole of a royal guard, went with me to the grave site to wait for Spike to leave flowers there, because he might have some clue as to where the real elements went. While waiting, Sentinel, who I should mention hates changelings, and can sense the changeling in my blood, drove me away with spiteful anger. He was then kidnapped and dragged away. I was curious, so I followed after the kidnappers. After entering tunnels swarming with Diamond Dogs, I managed to rescue Sentinel. You know, after I left him for dead once.
“Since then, I have fought off an assassin who buried a dagger four inches into my shoulder and chest, faced down a hydra, travelled to Transavian in search of a bearer for the Element of Laughter, found the power source for an airship, and travelled on it back here to Equestria. Of course, we were hunted down by a pack of griffons, and we had to irreparably damage the airship itself to get away. We flew it into a mountain, causing what was probably the single biggest act of destruction for a generation.
“I’ve done all this, because, without the Elements of Harmony, I’m going to slowly kill anyone who loves me. Well, I won’t actually kill them, per se. More I’ll just suck the life out of them until they get so depressed that they commit suicide. Oh, and that asshole guard who hates me? He’s now in love with me. I’m not even sure if I like him because of who he is or because he’s my only choice in this nightmare of a life I’m having. Not to mention that yesterday, I came face-to-face with Discord, who revealed to me that the entire time, it wasn’t the god of chaos pulling the strings. No, Discord is still imprisoned in stone. It was Queen Chitin the entire time, the new Queen of the Changelings, and she wants me dead. Probably even more so now that I managed to escape her clutches.Oh, and my coltfriend, whom I’ve been trying to fix myself for, broke up with me. And now, I’ve been flying in a circle for two hours trying to figure out which of you is the new bearer for the Element of Honesty. So yeah, Firebrand. This is a game for me. This is a quiet diversion from the trainwreck that is my life.”
Firebrand stared at her for several long moment. Nopony said a single word. The entire arena was hushed.
“You’re... Not lying,” Firebrand said softly, staring at Raindrop with wide, awed eyes.
Raindrop shrugged and tossed her mane. “You wanted me not to lie. So I just laid it all out.”
“And one of us is the bearer for the Element of Honesty?” Firebrand asked, staring.
“Actually, I rather think that it’s you,” Raindrop said, pointing at Firebrand with a hoof.
“W-what? Why me?”
Raindrop snorted, rolling her eyes. “You just railed at me for telling a lie, and you have to ask that question?”
Firebrand blinked at that, recoiling slightly, and then looked back at the other two Wonderbolts. “I... I need to talk to her in private.”
Velocity and Windsheer nodded mutely, and the pegasi all watched in awed silence as Raindrop and Firebrand walked off towards the locker rooms for a private talk.
“You know when I’m lying?” Raindrop asked, as she calmly stepped into the showers and flicked the cold water on, without even taking off her uniform. A cooling cascade of water began to flow down her form.
“Most of the time,” Firebrand replied emotionlessly, seemingly stunned.
“Kind of a lot to take in all at once, huh?” Raindrop asked with a giggle.
“Just a bit,” Firebrand replied with a single blink.
Raindrop carefully lowered herself to the floor of the shower, spreading her wings to catch the water, pulling the goggles off and throwing them aside. “You know, a few months ago, I would have killed to be in the shower with the Captain of the Wonderbolts.”
“And now?” Firebrand asked, slipping over to the shower beside Raindrop’s, flicking the water on as she began to remove her uniform.
“I couldn’t really care less. There are so many more important things to think about,” Raindrop said with a shake of her head.
“It seems like it,” Firebrand admitted, laying her head on her forehooves. “The changelings are really back?”
“Almost got executed by three of them,” Raindrop said flippantly.
“And you’re looking for the bearers of the Elements of Harmony?”
“Eeyup. Found one, so far. A griffon, over in Transavian.”
“And you think I’m the bearer for honesty?”
“You’re the one with a massive problem with lying,” Raindrop said with a shrug.
“I... Guess that is correct. But... That’s a lot to take in all at once,” Firebrand said in a quiet murmur.
“Well you’d best hurry up. I still have to find four other bearers,” Raindrop stated.
Firebrand was silent for several long moment, “I... What do you need me to do?”
“Report to Princess Celestia. Just tell the guards that I sent you,” Raindrop said calmly.
“I’ll go there first thing after this is over,” Firebrand replied.
“Oh, and tell me something. Why did you choose me when half the other candidates outflew me?” Raindrop asked simply.
There was another pause, and then Firebrand admitted, “I kinda got the feeling that you were here for something more than just try-outs.”
“Good intuition,” Raindrop said, and then gave a soft, sad laugh. “I think you’ll have need of it again before all of this is over.”
Firebrand arrived at the castle long before Raindrop did. She told the guards that she had been sent by Raindrop, and after a short pause, she was allowed inside.
A guard escorted her up to the Hall of Elements, and she was presented to Celestia.
Immediately, Firebrand bowed. She felt naked without her flight suit. Especially in front of the Princess, of all ponies!
“Ah, Firebrand, I believe?” Celestia said warmly.
“Y-yeah,” Firebrand replied, wide-eyed. “You know who I am?”
“Everyone knows the Captain of the Wonderbolts,” Celestia said, smiling warmly.
“Raindrop sent me here,” Firebrand said immediately, her tone nervous.
“Indeed?” Celestia walked around the table, picking up the stony Element of Honesty, and handing it to Firebrand. “You know what this is?”
Firebrand stared down at the element, and nodded mutely. “Y-you think that I’m the bearer?”
“I trust Raindrop’s intuition,” Celestia said calmly.
“Shouldn’t it like, glow or something...?” Firebrand asked hesitantly.
Celestia nodded once more, “Once you accept its power, it will make itself known.”
“A-accept its power?” Firebrand asked uncertainly.
“Tell me, Firebrand... Why do you appreciate honesty?” Celestia asked, leaning down to be more on Firebrand’s level, peering into her eyes.
“Appreciate honesty?” Firebrand asked blankly.
Celestia nodded gently, “Indeed. Or, perhaps, why you abhor lies?”
“Lies are evil,” Firebrand said with a sniff. “They are a scourge and the world would be better off without them.”
“Please, explain why this is so,” Celestia urged, watching the young pegasus intently.
“Well... I had two brothers,” Firebrand said with a shake of her head.
“Had?” Celestia asked, a note of worry creeping into her tone.
“Had.” Firebrand shook her head for a moment, sighing. “A younger brother, and an older brother. My older brother lied to our parents. He told them that he was going to play with his friends, when really, he was sneaking into the rainbow factory alone, to try and gather enough rainbow juice to paint a prank across the sky. He slipped in, though. The pegasus who found him tried to say that it would have been quick and painless... But I heard them speaking amongst themselves later on. They were telling eachother that it would have taken hours, because of the consistency of the rainbow juice. Said that he would have been struggling and calling for help for hours after the sun went down. So while my parents were out questioning all of his friends, he was slowly drowning in the Rainbow Factory, alone.”
Celestia gently lifted a hoof to stroke soothingly through Firebrand’s mane.
“And my younger brother... He was so young and naive,” Firebrand sighed, her head lowering, looking down at the Element of Honesty, a single teardrop spilling onto its surface. “The bullies thought it would be amusing to set up a race course in the clouds. They set one of the rings really low though, so that when you came out of the cloudbank, you’d hit a mountain...”
“That was very disingenuous of them,” Celestia said with a deep frown.
“Yeah, especially since when he came out of the cloud bank, he hit the mountain, shattered his wings, and then tumbled down the mountainside for a good three minutes before coming to a stop. He suffered for four hours before dying of blood loss.” Firebrand’s hooves tightened on the Element of Honesty, and she growled in the back of her throat. “I have never come across a lie that helped anyone, ever. Lies are a coward’s way of protecting themselves and harming others, nothing more. And I will not suffer the designs of a coward, or a fool.”
Celestia nodded gently, and then wiped a teardrop from Firebrand’s cheek, making a soothing sound. The element between Firebrand’s hooves began to glow and shift.
“Some consolation prize,” Firebrand said bitterly, placing the glowing element back on the table.
Celestia nodded gently. “I’m sorry I had to make you bring all of that up.”
“No, no. It’s fine,” Firebrand said with a shake of her head. “I came to terms with it all a long time ago.”
Nodding gently once more, Celestia looked at the three remaining Elements without bearers, and the sixth empty position for the Element of Magic. She already knew who the bearer for the Element of Magic was. But the element itself was out of play. The best unicorn minds hadn’t been able to divine its location.
“Please, Firebrand, remain in the castle. You are a target now,” Celestia urged.
“I know, Princess Celestia,” Firebrand replied simply, and then stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her.