//------------------------------// // Subject 66: Winged Wonders // Story: Interviews With Equestrians // by Jmaster49 //------------------------------// “It’s...alright,” Guts finally responded, thankfully. It had gotten somewhat awkward in here with the palpable level of silence. “Since you were nice enough to help us out, I guess I can provide that in return.” My eyes grew wide, and I leaned forward in my seat. “Guts…you don’t have to--” But she cut me off. “Relax, bud. It’s cool. I need to get more comfortable with it anyways. Plus, maybe Tempest could benefit from it as well, since…” I knew exactly what she meant. Since the old fighter of a mare had lost her horn, and Guttersnipe lost her wings, the red pegasus felt as if she could relate to her. I didn’t try and stop her from continuing. “Since…?” Tempest tilted her head. “Well, I guess I should start from the beginning…” she sighed and dipped her muzzle into the cup to drink the rest of her tea. “Ahem…” The red pegasus filly was always the adventurous one. Never was there a dull moment when she was around her friends. In her youth, most other pegasi foals desired to be amazing fliers like the Wonderbolts or Flash Magnus. Guttersnipe on the other hoof… “Woo! Come on, guys! The mud is super fresh near the cave!” “Everypony else wanted to learn all these loops and swoops to impress the Bolts. But me? I just wanted to play around and find bugs. Oh, the scorpions were my favorite! I still remember the day I nearly caught one.” “Uh...Gutsy, is that a good idea?” “Aw, lighten up, Tsunami. It’s just a little...darn! It got away!” “But one day, I...made a really bad decision that changed me forever. One that I’ll never forget.” The red pegasus filly and her friends all laughed and played near the Everfree Forest as they routinely skilled out on their supposed flying lessons that they told their parents they had taken. But all the sudden, they ventured too far into it, and came upon a lake where they dared each other to take a dive. They all went in, and started to splash around without a care. “Wow, you were right, Gutters! This place IS way better than that stupid flying training they put us through. Right, UV-Ray?” “You said it, Tsunami. I already know how to fly! What’s the point of learning it again? Oh look out behind you, Vapor!” “Yeah right, I’m not falling for--ahh!” Dangit Guttersnipe, that wasn’t funny!” “Come on, a little water splash never hurt anypony!” “We thought it was all fun and games until…” They continued to play around in the lake until one of them was bitten by something beneath the water. “Ouch! What the--” “What’s wrong, UV?” “I felt a…--ow! Something’s biting me!” “I took a look at my friend UV, and found…” “BITE-ACUDAS!” The demonic, winged fish with fangs as long as pencils were in this lake. Nopony knew of course, which is why the fillies and colts were able to play down there with no issue. But today was much different! Guttersnipe plucked them off of her friend, and they soon latched into her instead. But she refused to let them get hurt. “OWOWOW! Guys get outta here! Tsunami! Take the girls back to safety and get help, bro!” “What?! No way! I’m not leaving--” “Just do it!” They watched as their friend’s body was preyed upon helplessly by the deadly, razor-toothed fish. Tsunami, the sole colt of the group, took both UV and Vapor and got them out of the lake. “Come on, come on! Let’s get my dad! He can help!” “...by the time they found me, I was still alive, but I had bite marks all over my body. Blood seeping through various parts. I think I even had bone exposed. It was crazy. But by the time they got back...my wings were ripped clean off.” Guttersnipe was nearly in tears when she recounted the events. Her lip quivered as she used a hoof to wipe away a bit of eye moisture. Tempest looked down. “I see...you lost part of your body in an effort to protect your friends...I…” “Yeah, but it’s cool now,” Guttersnipe shrugged it off as she bit into a muffin. “I actually still keep in touch with them outside of work. We laugh about it now, and they actually like my mechanical wings. I still remember the day I came out of the hospital...” “Wow, Gutsy! Those are so cool!” cried Tsunami--a sky blue pegasus colt with a red mane. “Yeah! Super fresh!” UV cheered--a fuschia-colored pegasus filly with a yellow mane. “Don’t pay attention to anypony at flight school. You’re still our best friend,” Vapor assured her--a white pegasus filly with a brown mane. “Thanks guys...come here, you!” They all huddled together for a tight hug. I watched as the red pegasus chuckled to hide her sniffles of sadness from days long past. “Hehe...so great…” “I see…” Tempest’s eyes darted a bit nervously. There was a burning question in her heart that she needed to ask. “Um...where did…” Now more comfortable, Guts decided to show off by flexing her metallic flappers. “These babies? Well, I can’t tell ya everything. But what I will say is that certain ponies dabble in mechanical augmentation around certain parts of the world. My parents nearly forked their life savings into these...so now I work to pay them back.” “...Inspirational. If possible, could you…?” Tempest raised her hoof as she asked a question. But something made her cease halfway through. Guttersnipe tilted her head as she finished off the muffin. “...could I what?” The ragged mare shook her head and rose from the table. “N-never mind. I need a moment. Excuse me, everypony.” With no further words, she left the room. This left my red friend confused. “What was that about?” she asked with her hooves outstretched as she looked around at the rest of us. Moondancer sighed. “She saw your mechanical wings and she was curious. When she heard your story, she wanted to know more and see if there was a way she could get her horn fixed up the same way.” Yup. I knew it. Such a touchy subject, though. But I was glad that Guttersnipe was able to engage in a more grounded sort of conversation for a change. “I see,” I spoke up after being silent for a while, “I know a little bit of information about her, but tell me, Moons. Does she still feel guilty after losing her horn and causing trouble?” When I said a shortened version of her name aloud, the yellow unicorn raised an eyebrow for a half-second. “Moons? The heck?” Her expression returned to its default, neutral disposition just as quickly. “Beats me. She doesn’t like to speak about it. If you wanna know more, I recommend not trying.” Cozy Glow, meanwhile, seemed rather optimistic. The young mare rubbed her hoof against her chin. “Hm...not trying…” I looked at her. “What’s the matter, Cozy?” “Nothing, sir. I just...have an idea or two.” I grew more interested. “Did you both exchange any particular words while you were in the kitchen together?” Sadly, the pink pegasus had to decline. “I’m...super sorry, but she begged me to not tell anyone about it. Still...I think there’s a way we could help her.” Moondancer cut us off with a raise of her hoof and a clipboard that was caught in her magical aura. “Hey now. Don’t get distracted. I’m sure you all have a lot of work to do. And if you intend on helping us deal with these stormbeasts, then you’re gonna be even busier. Don’t start trying to pursue a bunch of friendship stuff just because you think it’s convenient or anything. Got it?” Her tone. It was much more...strident. Even more so than usual. Moondancer clearly abhorred the idea of devoting too much time into building relationships, and I couldn’t blame her, given what she had been through. But maybe, just maybe. If it was possible to show her that it wasn’t pointless, she could get somewhere again. I knew it was strange when Twilight neglected to mention her. Nevertheless, I complied for the time being, and made a mental note to figure out how to assist Moondancer later. This mare was extremely hard to read. “Understood. Is there anything else that we should know before we leave?” Moondancer put the clipboard down, and put both of her hooves together upon the table. A classic ‘scheming’ sort of pose. “Two things. The first, and most important: I’ve deduced that the next magical anomaly will take place at or around Nightmare Night. So be on your guard.” “N-nightmare...Night?” Cozy responded with a nervous flick of her tail. “But...that’ll make it impossible to tell if it’s some super dangerous magic or some elaborate prank happening!” “I know,” the unicorn rolled her eyes and straightened her glasses, “But you all are smart. I know you’re capable of weeding out what’s real and what isn’t.” “Alright, alright. Seems legit,” Guttersnipe answered swiftly to get to the next point, “What’s the other thing?” “Oh yeah. The other thing,” she grit her teeth and looked off to the side. “Listen. Keep this between us. But I’d like it if you could introduce the rest of your crew to Tempest. It’ll be easier to work with everypony if she knows who they are. But try not to bog her down with a bunch of companionship, got it?” Yeesh. Her disdain for such endeavors was thick enough to bite through. Even so, I would remain unfurled by the request. “Also understood. We’ll be on our way soon.” “Good, she’ll follow you out,” Moondancer stated, “If there’s anything else, let me know.” And that was that, I suppose. The four of us left Canterlot, and went to the train station. It would be an interesting experience to deal with another pony who was seeking forgiveness. But also the meaning behind those storms. Just who or what could’ve caused it. And is it possible that we were attacked on purpose? If so, how does that factor into the other ongoing conflicts? For one thing, a pegasus pony was being utilized for this attack in order to create a powerful beast of destruction. This could very well be the work of a certain set of ponies who had been conducting experiments. But Neighsay was locked up at the moment. Gah. So many variables, and so little time to factor them into the equation. “Boss...boss?” “Hm? Wha?” My deep thought focus was broken by Guttersnipe as she tapped my head with her hoof. “Oh, my apologies. I was just thinking.” “Okay? Anyways, we need to go see my buddy Flash Drive.” Tempest leaned forward with vague interest. “Oh? Who’s that?” Guts replied with a snicker. “Heh heh heh. He’s only the smartest guy on our whole squad! He makes all of our gadgets and devices that we use. And if we’re lucky, we’ll run into his brother Neon--a batpony!” “Oh wow...that sounds exciting. I haven’t seen one before.” Those two went on a bit ahead, and Cozy stuck by me. Her face was scrunched up in deep thought somewhat like how I’d be at times. I leaned over and suddenly spoke near her ear. “Something on your mind, kid?” “Wah! Hey!” the pegasus whinnied, and huffed at me. I couldn’t help but giggle at her expense. “Save the scares for Nightmare Night.” “Heheh. Sorry. But you looked pretty flustered just now. What’s wrong?” Cozy looked at Tempest from behind. “I...see a lot of myself in her. If that makes any sense. I know she’s way olde--er--more experienced than I am. But I feel like...I can relate to her a little.” “Ah. You think it’s possible for you to find out a way to help her while also helping yourself?” “...something like that. We’re not so different. We both tried to steal alicorn magic in pursuit of something we thought we wanted. But the whole time, we never realized what we actually had until it was too late.” I tipped my hat. “Indeed. One doesn’t truly appreciate what they have until it’s stripped away from them. When we take things for granted, it makes us unable to see the forest through the trees.” I teasingly ruffled her mane with my hoof and walked ahead to the loading platform. “But you already knew that, didn’tcha, kid?” “...shush. Let’s just go see your friend already,” she reacted with a level of maturity and poise. Or at least, she did, until she used her tail to swat me. But I couldn’t help but mess with the kid. She was adorable. The train ride was rather quick since Canterlot wasn’t that far from the Crystal Empire to the North. Not much of note occurred on the train, though once we arrived, Tempest took some time to gawk at the Empire’s crystalline architecture. It took us a moment, but we finally managed to get her into the crystal pop-rock candy shop. After some time spent ogling the different candies, we ushered both Tempest and Cozy to a secure back room at the end of the store. Once there, we took an elevator down to a workshop where the jet black unicorn was busy working on something at his desk with goggles on “Here we are,” I said as I stepped forward, “This is the pinnacle of design when it comes to our special weapons and tactics. But our chief mechanical officer, Flash Drive here, is one of the best.” His teal magical aura removed his goggles, and Flash Drive rose from his seat. “Dammit, Vestige. I was this close to uncoverin’ somethin’. You’d better have good reason to bring her here before I get cheesed off, mate.” “Calm yourself, bud. Hey, Guts. Mind heading back topside and running the store while we chat?” The pegasus shrugged. “Suit yourselves. If you need anything, just holler,” she saluted, and left back up the same elevator we came down. Cozy decided to quietly observe the dark purple mare. “We have a new case,” I explained, and took a step back to allow Tempest to have the floor, “She’ll be working with us. This is--” Drive cut me off, and took a bow. “Tempest Shadow, is it? Charmed. Flash Drive at your service. My brother, Neon Isotope, is lunched out at the moment. But I’d be happy to accommodate you.” Before she said anything, the mare with the missing horn inspected Flash Drive’s body not unlike how she observed Guttersnipe’s earlier. But what could she glean from this? He had no missing or abnormal body parts, so what was her aim… “You’re...stockier and a bit taller than most pony stallions,” she commented rather matter-of-factly, “Are you perhaps a half-breed?” My pupils shrank. How could she ask such a personal question so casually?! “Heh.” Flash Drive dipped his head down, and nodded once. “Precisely, good guess. I’m actually half-zebra.” That’s when I heard Cozy Glow add her own two bits to the situation. “Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat?”