Mist met her boss and his second-in-command in the bridge. She had been asked to wear her Bluebird uniform, so she strolled in wearing her patchwork turtleneck and pants, her boots that muffled her steps, and her signature blue coat and work goggles. It felt good to stroll in walking on two legs, front hooves gripping her coat in an almost pompous display of confidence. Walking on only her back legs also eased the near constant pressure on her oesophagus, the dull ache that usually accompanied moving or standing almost gone, and just a flicker of discomfort.
"How long can you stay upright like that?" Reginald asked.
"Depends, frequently moving around or moving quickly will aggravate my condition, so anywhere from five to fifteen minutes," she replied. "If I focus on moving and don't stop, I can push myself to keep going for half an hour or more. At least until I can't tolerate the pain and get too tired to keep going."
Reginald nodded. "I see, and your outfit? Is that just for show?"
"No Sir, the amount of Alicorn-Level spells on this prevents the need to wear protective gear," she stated. "Magic is deflected, ballistic weaponry and projectiles bounce right off, extreme temperatures are a non issue, and while I can still be smacked around and feel pain, serious injuries are impossible to obtain while I'm in uniform. Pockets in my coat have a bag-of-holding charm on them to store anything I need."
Right spoke up, pointing at her goggles. "Those got any bells and whistles on 'em?"
"Tinted lenses, hides my eyes from view so people can't tell I'm blind in my left eye, vision enhancement and night vision charms on the right lens to counteract my vision impairment, shortsightedness and night-blindness," she rattled off. "Can also see the residual magic left behind by others, good for tracking."
Reginald looked pleased. "I have a task for you, a test of your capability as a stealth expert. Overseen by the two of us," he gestured at his Right Hand Man. "You'll head to the back of the ship for a simulated heist."
"We want to see what you can do, get to the vault an' take something back to your room without gettin' captured," Right stated. "The Boss an' I will be tryin' to stop you. Avoid goin' through the engine room though, can't interfere with repairs."
"Treat this as if you were hired to sneak aboard the ship, the crew are working on the ship or in their rooms. Since they don't have a grasp on your limitations, I've ordered them not to engage you, unlike us," Reginald explained and smirked. "Yes, if we spot you we will act accordingly, you'll lose if you get sent to the brig. Are we clear?"
Mist was excited, a heist! Granted, the fact she was going to be pitted against her boss and the Right Hand Man was a bit worrisome but it meant it would be a controlled exam that took her condition in to account.
She hoped.
Mist nodded. "Understood Sir."
"Boss... You sure she's still on the ship?" Right asked over the radio.
Reginald, waiting in the gallery hallway in the vault, had a sinking feeling as he activated his walkie-talkie, the ones owned by him and his Right Hand Man were only communications devices that still worked. "...What did she do?"
"I've been going up an' down the ship an' haven't run into her yet, could be usin' the vents but in her condition? Doubtful."
It was something she'd do though. "Head to the vault, we'll cut her off there."
Mist having the time of her life, a wide grin made her cheeks sore as she watched Right walk straight past her.
Light refraction really was one of her more fun techniques to use. Every hair and feather was covered in a microscopically thin layer of her magic that changed the way light bounced off her. She was undetectable to the naked eye as the Right Hand Man led her directly to her target. Mist followed him into the vault, taking in the various treasures, and the mountain of money.
She hadn't felt this energized in a while. She stood on her hind legs, struck a pose, and deactivated her magic.
Showtime.
Right noticed her immediately. The game was on. Mist shifted her footing, watching as her opponent walked forward, a dented, metal baseball bat in hand. She snapped open her wings, flitting to the left to avoid his swing, and stepped back.
Bluebird was back.
"You need more blue things." she quipped, slipping around him and jumping back as the bat sailed past, he missed again.
It would be easy, to just go invisible and take something, but that defeated the purpose of the mission. She was Bluebird, her appearance a performance, a message, a declaration. Look at me, your defenses mean nothing, and I will do as I please.
It was a dance between the pair of them, Right was skilled, swinging with precision and almost landing a hit on multiple occasions. Mist was quick on her feet, using the barest amount of movement to dodge the man trying to bring her down. She couldn't keep it up for long however, seconds felt like minutes as the ache in her chest grew, her lower back starting to protest her prolonged bipedal posture. With the clock ticking, she took to the air, refracting light to hide once more as she glided to land on top of the giant ruby in the middle of the vault.
"Oi! Show yourself!" Right barked, scanning the room for any sign of her.
She took the time to search for a target, her new trophy, and eyed the mannequins to her right. They wore hats of different kinds and a small, dark blue top hat with a black band around it caught her eye. Still hidden, she jumped off the ruby, landed behind the mannequin, and swiped the top hat as, upon touch, her magic rendered it invisible as well. Placing the hat on her head, she carefully walked towards the other exit. As the sound of the door alerted Right, she made herself visible, tipped her hat to him, and bolted out of the room with her coattails swishing behind her.
She stopped dead in her tracks at the gun pointed at her face, Reginald smirking as he stood before her.
"You are a hard one to catch Bluebird, but we have you-urk!"
Mist jabbed the Toppat Chief in the stomach, he doubled over, gun clattering to the floor, and Mist fled down the corridor.
Pressing herself up flat against a wall, she hid herself as Right ran past. After a few seconds, she made the trip back to her quarters, a slow one to ease the pain in her already fatigued body.
She had to stop a few times when the chest pain spiked suddenly, making her grimace and pray she wasn't discovered. By the time she made it back to her room, she was breathing heavily, very uncomfortable, and very much done with moving around for the day. Tossing the hat onto her drawers, she removed her outfit, tossing the clothes over the shelving unit by the bathroom door, put her work goggles into its protective case, and put her glasses back on.
She lumbered over to her radio and turned it on, music filling the room as she increased the volume so it could be heard out in the hall. She flopped on to her bed, wings stretched out as she lay on her back, and waited for the various aches and pains to lessen to a point she felt could tolerate for long enough to drag herself to over to see her boss.
There was a knock at her door. Too tired to move, she called out instead, sounding as winded as she felt. "Come in."
She sat up as Reginald walked in with Right trailing behind him. Her boss looked none the worse for wear, to her relief.
"Well done," Reginald said, glancing down at the hat and turning down the volume of the radio. "You put on quite a show back there, how did you turn invisible?"
"Light refraction via magic, old pegasus trick to catch the sunlight needed to make rainbows. Everything's all automated these days so the traditional weather magics aren't taught anymore."
Reginald waved her off "We can discuss that later, for now get some rest. You've earned it."
"Yes Sir," she said, however something still bothered her. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"
The Toppat Chief was taken by surprise. "...No."
Right smirked. "It'll take a lot more than a punch to the gut to take 'im down girl."
Mist breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good... I was worried I might've hurt him. I don't fight to seriously injure or kill."
"Nah, Reg's jus' a wuss." Right said and Reginald scoffed.
"Yes well, I'd like to see you get sucker punched in the stomach and see how you handle it..."
"Then maybe don' stand there yappin' next time." Right retorted.
"So... You want this back, or what?" Mist asked, pointing at the hat still sitting on her drawers.
Reginald shook his head. "Keep it, it will be your hat when we formally add you to the clan."
Mist was at a loss as it hit her, she really was going to be a part of The Toppat Clan, They wanted her to stick around. This wasn't just an unspoken agreement between her and them, she was going to be one of them, and she'd earned it.
"Uh, thank you, Sir." she said politely and stared at her new hat.
She heard Right leave the room. "Come on Boss, I'm takin' you to the infirmary."
Immediately after she heard Reginald protest as he was dragged out the door. "I am fine-Ow!"
"That's a load of bull an' you know it." was Right's blunt reply.
Right noticed a few things after that day. Mist had taken to flying around the crash site, not for more than ten minutes at a time, but it was always strange to see her lazily soar past a window as he went about his business. She left her room more often, usually dressed in her Bluebird getup, sans goggles, and making an effort to walk on her hind legs.
Amusedly, he realized she was training. Though it was more acclimation than actual training, the mare getting a feel for what her limits were, familiarizing herself to how to use her skills with her condition, and it was clear she was making progress.
She seemed more vibrant too he observed. It was in the little things, like how she'd appear at breakfast looking well rested, or generally just leaving her room more often. Right would find her either in the archives, or at the bridge.
Right still followed her to the cafeteria, if only because the two of them had meals at around the same time, so it was convenient. Mist wasn't the most sociable, polite enough but otherwise kept to herself. The crew avoided her for the time being, officially she wasn't a Toppat yet, and the Clan kept their distance until she was welcomed as per the rules. It didn't stop them from getting ideas and Right had to pull rank more than once.
LeTouche was getting nosy, Right had given the Frenchman enough warnings, and the rest of the airship division was just as curious. It proved to keep them motivated at least, the sooner the repairs were done, the sooner Mist would have her welcoming ceremony and the crew would begin the age-old tradition of hazing. He hoped they didn't get carried away, they haven't had a clan member as fragile as her before.
Not that he thought she was, but it was the truth. Objectively she was less capable in the field than even their weakest members, which was why the clan was broad in scope, everyone had a role to play, and a benefit to the clan. It was why Reginald assigned him to keep an eye on her, Right worked best in the battlefield but he wasn't just dumb muscle. He could work just as well out on the street, acting as a silent bodyguard or offer a good dose of rationale and common sense when needed, well, when his dogged determination to complete the mission didn't get the better of him.
But that was why he made a good team with Reginald, the leader of The Toppats could see the bigger picture, knew when to pull back. Right had recently asked why he was assigned as Mist's partner and Reginald had smirked as he explained.
"She's a sensitive one, she'd do best with a member of the clan that can be patient with her and adheres to the clan's values of honor and loyalty. I can't think of anyone else, other than myself, who would put their own ambitions aside for the clan's stability and prosperity."
Right thought Reginald wasn't giving the girl enough credit.
Right made his way down to the bridge, he'd checked the archives and hadn't seen hide nor hair of the pony. And yup, there she was, sitting in the pilots seat cloud gazing out the windshield. The two of them had an agreement, he didn't tell Reg she'd been in the chair (Reginald already knew, and didn't actually care since she never touched the controls), and she'd keep quiet about his late night climbs on to the roof to star gaze (Mist's last trip to Florenway had resulted in her bringing back an astronomy book that she was painstakingly translating to English just so he could read it. Reg was right, the girl was too damn nice), and nether minded the presence of the other.
"See anythin'?" he asked, casually standing by her left side. It was another thing he noticed, she preferred to have people to her left since she looked that way more often to compensate for her blind eye.
"There's a storm approaching, felt the change in the air out flying earlier." she said.
"'ang on, don' you ponies control the weather?" he asked, confused.
"Yeah, but we don't have proper weather management this far from major cities, it's every pegasus on deck when a storm rolls through," Mist said. "Wild storms are difficult to control with modern weather techniques, so much of Equestria's weather relies on machines that not many ponies know how to break up wild weather patterns. I could though."
He looked at her sternly. "You better not be gettin' any ideas girl."
"Like I said, I could, but at the way it's coming in it'll miss Florenway and the airship should be able to take it," she stopped, looking up at him. "The ship can take it, yeah?"
"We've flown through storms, blizzards, had to land due to a sandstorm once, but that was jus' because some idiot left one of the bay doors open an' got sand in the electronics," Right said with a shrug. "All the exterior repairs are done, the engine's takin' a bit longer to fix because Reg wants it reinforced. We're usin' the opportunity to renovate the floor in a few areas too."
"I saw that, having more areas of the ship match the paneling and blue carpet in the bridge," Mist mused. "It'll look nice."
Right smirked as Mist jumped out of the chair at the sound of someone entering the bridge. They turned around to see Reginald stroll up to them.
The Boss had spots of oil and grease dotting his shirt and was highly amused. Right was immediately suspicious, Reginald had a well-known mischievous streak to him and it looked like the man had finally gotten annoyed enough with the crew to take on repairing the engine himself.
Wouldn't be the first time... Right idly noted as Reginald grinned.
"I have some good news!" The Toppat Chief said, practically preening. "The engine has been repaired to the point where we can do a test flight!"
"... You went an' fixed it youself again, didn't you?" Right deadpanned.
"And I did an excellent job, if I do say so myself!"
"... You scared the crew again, didn't you?"
"Perhaps... I might've gone a bit overboard, but, we're now two weeks ahead of schedule!"
"Alright, come on Mist, back 'ere with me." Right said and took up his post further back from the pilot seat with Mist stopping beside him.
Reginald took his rightful place at the ship's controls, a confident grin on his face. "Right, let's see if the internal communications system is operational, Mist walk out of the bridge for a moment, would you?" he held down a button as a microphone extended out from his light grey hat.
Right watch the pegasus nod and exit the bridge and Reginald spoke into the microphone.
"Attention everyone, please return to your rooms for the upcoming engine test, we will be taking off in ten minutes. Mist Veil, please return the bridge."
As Reginald went through the pre-flight checklist for the ship, Right saw Mist walk back in and resume her previous position.
"That looks really complicated." she said quietly, observing their boss muttering about different settings and controls.
Right nodded and hummed in agreement.