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The bar room at the hotel across the street from O’Mare International was uncrowded this time of night; the only occupants were a hoofull of ponies looking for a quick drink or greasy meal between red eye flights. Sweetie Belle’s voice serenaded the scene from a little radio behind the bar, the low volume stealing away the meaning of the words but not the sweet tone they carried.
Only a single stool was occupied at the bar and the occupant’s hind legs swung slowly as his golden eyes scrolled listlessly over a menu. A dark gray wing tilted a bottle of buckweiser back against his lips as he took another swig.
“Be with you in a minute,” the barkeep spoke up as a pegasus mare passed through the doors. She flashed him a polite smile as he went back to sweeping, then surveyed the room briefly before trotting over to a table near the back.
One of her pale blue wings dipped into her purse, the edge of a polaroid peeking past the opening. Her rosy eyes darted from the picture to the ponies in the room, settling on the lone buck at the bar. The mare closed up her purse, looking suddenly surprised as she approached him.
“Thunderlane?” Thunderlane gave a quick jolt at the mare’s familiar voice, turning quickly in his seat with widening eyes.
“Cloudchaser?” Thunderlane was equally surprised, a happy grin spreading across his lips, “What are the odds?!”
“Good enough, it would seem,” Cloudchaser smiled back as she took the stool next to him, “How long has it been now since we last met?”
“Far too long by any standard,” Thunderlane grinned, turning slightly atop his stool to face her, “How have you been?”
“I’ve been doing well,” Cloudchaser replied, giving her mane a quick flick, “Plenty of work to do back home, I’ve been keeping busy.”
“And how is Ponyville doing these days?” Thunderlane asked with an edge of curiosity, “I keep meaning to stop by there but with the war on, I…” he trailed off for a moment, but started back up with a glimmer in his eye, “I heard Stable-Tec’s building a Stable at Sweet Apple Acres.”
Cloudchaser nodded with a small frown, “Construction’s caused a lot of noise complaints, folks will be happy when it’s finally over and done with.”
“Any talk of resident discounts?” Cloudchaser raised a brow and Thunderlane added, “For tickets into the stable.”
“Haven’t really looked into it,” Cloudchaser gave a shrug, “Would you really want to spend the rest of your life stuck underground? Breathing the same stale air and unable to see the sky?”
“If it means the survival of future generations, yeah.” Thunderlane frowned at her somewhat flippant tone on the matter, “I’ve got tickets for ninety-eight for me, Rumble, and our parents. Stable-Tec’s building it specifically for pegasi, supposed to have more vertical space than the standard designs. You should seriously look into it.”
“You don’t think it’ll really get that bad with the Zebras, do you?” Cloudchaser didn’t seem convinced.
“I certainly hope not,” Thunderlane shook his head, “I like to think of those tickets as insurance. Hopefully I’ll never need to use them, but if things really do get as bad as they say…” He took another swig from his beer.
“So what have you been up to lately?” Cloudchaser brushed at her mane with a hoof.
Thunderlane brightened at the change of subject, his chest puffing out in a sudden display of pride.
“I’m practically running the fifthteenth sky engineering regiment now,” Thunderlane beamed, “Colonel Rider’s well past retirement age and I suspect he’ll be retiring soon. He’s already passed most of the workload onto Commander Glider and me, and there’s yet to be talk of a replacement. What that probably means is a promotion in my near future,” he smiled, “If I play my cards right, I’ll be 2IC to Colonel Glider.”
“2IC?” Cloudchaser gave him another raised brow.
“Sorry, military lingo. Second in command,” Thunderlane explained, “I’m currently the Major in charge of the fifteenth, third in command. Commander Night Glider is the current 2IC, but if she’s made a Colonel that means I’ll probably be made Commander to cover her old spot.”
“Wow, well I hope that works out for you,” Cloudchaser’s tone lightened with another small smile, “You’ve come a long way from those humble roots in Ponyville.”
“Haven’t we all. And thanks,” Thunderlane took another swig.
“So what brings you to O’Mare?” Cloudchaser inquired, “Coming home for the holidays? Will I be seeing more of you in Ponyville?”
“Secret mission,” he grinned back, his tone earning a giggle from Cloudchaser, “Kidding, of course. You’ll like this, though: Rainbow Dash, the Ministry Mare herself, invited me out to her hub in Cloudsdale. She said she had a job for me, if I was interested.”
“Wow,” both of Cloudchaser’s brows rose at that, “Any idea what it is?”
“Not a clue,” Thunderlane admitted, he grabbed his drink again, but didn’t bring it to his lips this time. Cloudchaser remained quiet as Thunderlane hesitated a moment before speaking, “I’m probably going to turn it down, though.”
“What, without even hearing her out?”
“I mean...shoot, I remember her from back before all this when she was just Ponyville’s weather team leader, but now?” Thunderlane frowned at his bottle, swirling the contents slowly in front of him, “Some of...some of the things I hear about her Ministry?” He turned to Cloudchaser as he continued, “I’ll hear her out, I owe her that at the very least...but I think I’d rather stick with the sky engineers. Help win this war my own way.”
“Well there’s something to toast to!” Cloudchaser decided after a thoughtful moment, her face brightening again.
“What’s that?” now it was Thunderlane who raised a querious brow.
“Barkeep! Get me a drink: whiskey, neat,” Cloudchaser ordered, the pair of pegasi watching as the barkeep poured her drink. Cloudchaser lifted her short glass, “To winning this war our own ways.”
“Cheers.”
Their glasses clinked softly as they drank to the toast.
“So what are you up to right now?” Cloudchaser gave her whiskey another quick sip, “Got a flight later tonight to get you to Cloudsdale?”
“No,” Thunderlane grumbled, a sudden scowl wrinkling his snout, “I was supposed to be on the flight to Cloudsdale that left at twenty-two...or, sorry, Ten o’clock,” he added at her raised brow, earning a nod.
“Miss your flight?” Cloudchaser posed the question.
“No, apparently somepony tossed my bags on the wrong cart. They got sent all the way down to fucking Los Pegasus, can you believe that!?” Thunderlane grumbled, glaring into his drink, “I’d be fine, except my uniform and tickets were in there, so now I’m stuck here until the early morning when the courier they sent gets my luggage back here to O’Mare.” He took another somewhat angry swig, “Ponies here were kind enough to apologize and fully reimburse me for my lost flight, plus give me a free night’s stay here,” he gestured to the hotel, “so I suppose I can’t really complain all that much.”
“Well some good came of it,” Cloudchaser spoke up, earning Thunderlane’s inquiring gaze, “If you hadn’t missed your flight we’d never have been able to catch up.”
“You’ve got me there.” Thunderlane admitted, finishing off his buckweiser with a final gulp. He waved the barkeep over, giving his empty bottle a little wiggle.
“Another one?” The barkeep’s horn lit as he trotted over.
“Why don’t you let me treat you to something,” Cloudchaser cut in as she watched the empty bottle float behind the bar’s counter.
“Oh, I couldn’t...” Thunderlane began.
“Oh, c’mon, when are we gonna get to do something like this again?” Cloudchaser was already eyeing the bottles behind the bar, her eyes lighting up as she spotted her prize.
“Barkeep, get me a couple shots of Applejack whiskey,” she smiled as she started counting out bits, “Leave the bottle.”
* * * * *
“So then...so then he said: ‘Mustard!? That’s s’pposed to go on pancakes!’”
Cloudchaser burst out laughing, a wing slamming on the bar and rattling their glasses much to the barkeep’s silent displeasure.
“And before you ask, no,” Thunderlane punctuated the word with a lateral wing swipe, “Mustard does not go good on pancakes.”
Cloudchaser was still snorting quietly beside him as he took another shot, letting out a hiss as it burned down his throat. He reached out with a wing to pour himself another, but found Cloudchaser’s wing already gripping the bottle.
“Sorry, go ahead,” Thunderlane pulled his wing back, watching as the mare poured them both another shot.
“No reason to apologize,” Cloudchaser fixed him with a suddenly sultry look, “We’ve done far more than touch wings if memory serves.”
“I’d forgotten about that,” Thunderlane said with a nostalgic smile, though it faded as he caught the pointed look Cloudchaser was fixing him with, “Er...I mean...aw, hell.”
“Oh?” Cloudchaser pressed, though her tone was mostly good-natured, “You’d ‘forgotten about that’ had you?”
“Well I remember now,” Thunderlane looked away in an effort to hide a blush, “That was decades ago! We were hardly more than kids! Not my...best performance if I recall.”
Cloudchaser eyed her freshened shot glass for a moment, “I remember it fondly enough.”
“You do?” Thunderlane turned back to her.
“Well, maybe it’s just the nostalgia talking,” Cloudchaser shrugged, then pointed to her shot glass, “Maybe the liquor,” she knocked back another shot, “But yes, I do.”
“I miss the way the world used to be,” Thunderlane watched as she quietly poured him another shot, “Thanks.”
“We could always...try to go back for a little bit,” Cloudchaser offered, a wing reaching out to caress Thunderlane’s withers, “Pretend we were kids again...you said your next flight didn’t leave until the morning, didn’t you…”
“But aren’t you...I thought…” Thunderlane tried to think through the haze of alcohol fogging his system.
“Not obligated,” Cloudchaser shook her head, her wing dropping lower down his back.
“Oh…” Thunderlane grinned, “Well in that case...yes.”
* * * * *
Thunderlane wore an excited little look on his face as they made their way to the elevator. He leaned up against the inside of the car after the doors slid open, holding out a wing to keep them from closing as Cloudchaser stopped outside.
“Coming?” he asked, earning a sultry grin from the mare. Thunderlane let out a snort, “You know what I mean.”
“Sorry, one sec,” she apologized, peering through her purse.
“You, um...you aren’t in heat, are you?” Thunderlane asked, lifting his head to try to peer into her purse, “I don’t have any—”
“No, you’re fine, already over and done with till next year,” Cloudchaser assured him, snapping her purse closed as she trotted in next to him. The doors closed with a bump and Thunderlane hit the button for his floor.
“Are we...really doing this?” Thunderlane spoke up, looking at her, “I’m not dreaming, am I?”
“You tell me…” Cloudchaser fluttered her eyes as she pressed him into the corner, her lips finding his own and her feathers brushing low. Her straightforwardness startled him, his wings shooting up in a mixture of alarm and arousal, but he recovered quickly enough, reciprocating as he let his eyes fall closed.
Neither of the ponies seemed to feel when the elevator came to a stop and the doors rolled open.
“Ope!” A startled buck exclaimed, eliciting a startled whinny from Thunderlane, “I’ll, uh, I’ll take the next one,” Thunderlane quickly shot out a wing to the button that closed the door, his cheeks flushing as they began to ascend again.
“Anypony ever tell you you’re cute when you blush?” Cloudchaser asked, the words just heating his face even more.
* * * * *
Thunderlane had to stab his room’s key into the lock a few times before he got it to go in.
“I hope that’s not a sign of things to come,” Cloudchaser snarked as Thunderlane opened the door and led the way inside. It wasn’t anything special; a bed, some cheap furniture, a bathroom, and a mini fridge. Cloudchaser eyed the room from the open doorway before shutting it with a wing.
“Shall I...freshen up a bit before we—mph!” Cloudchaser silenced him with her lips, eliciting another startled jolt from his wings as she pressed him back into the bed. They made out on it for some time, then made love for even longer.
* * * * *
“That was…” Thunderlane took a moment to catch his breath as he stared up at the ceiling, “Wow, I needed that.”
“Mmm,” Cloudchaser hummed as she nuzzled into his neck, cuddled up against him with a wing laid out across his dark chest, “Military life stressful?”
“Like you wouldn’t believe,” Thunderlane admitted, looking suddenly dour, “Are you still in touch with Cerulean Skies at all?”
“Hmm?” Cloudchaser ceased her nuzzling.
“Cerulean Skies,” Thunderlane turned to her, getting a questioning look, “Blue coat, yellow mane, he had eyes kinda like mine?”
“Booze must be making me forget his face, but the name sounds familiar,” Cloudchaser settled back down, her eyes falling shut again, “Why?”
“He was with the eighty second air cavalry,” Thunderlane leaned back again, a small grimace playing across his features, “His squad was shot down by griffin mercs, it was bad. We found him wrapped up in some stray clouds, and he was…” Thunderlane winced, looking away for a moment, “Docs said he had Wartime Stress Disorder, pretty bad case of it, too. He got a section eight and was sent home to Ponyville. I told him I’d write, but I don’t think he even heard me and...I never did.”
“Want me to ask around when I get back?”
“Please?”
“Sure,” she stretched and stood on the bed, earning a small grin from Thunderlane as she straddled him, “If you’re ready let’s do this.”
“It might take me a minute to get—” Thunderlane started, peering down his belly.
But her words had been for me.
Even before he had started speaking I tapped the golden bands of my forehooves together. The soft clink that they made was followed by a softer glow as the thin wire of the garrote gleamed between them.
Quick as a snake my forehooves shot out across the bed, snapping the garrote around his neck and pulling tight. His eyes shot wide and his forehooves reached up towards the choking obstruction, but Cloudchaser pinned him down with force. Tears began to streak down his face as she leaned in with a cruel grin.
‘Why?’ his lips formed the question he was unable to ask as he struggled against her, lurching and thrashing as he tried to get out from under her hooves.
Green flames burned away the mare’s coat, terror flashing across Thunderlane’s darkening face as he stared up into the mirror image of himself.
“Death to Equestria!” Thunderlane’s doppelganger hissed as his eyelids fluttered shut and his struggling ceased.
I kept up the stranglehold for another few moments before tapping my hooves together again. The garrote faded away and I undid the clasp of my cloak, finally appearing in the room. The changeling fancied me with a grin as it stood over its prize.
“Well was that a perfect execution or what? I even got my little ‘Death to Equestria!’ thing in there at the end. I’d been practising saying that!”
“The pony is not yet dead,” the words came slowly from my mouth, the taste of them still unfamiliar on my tongue. Equestrian was easy to understand, but harder to speak. The changeling frowned down at Thunderlane’s breast, noting with surprise his shallow breathing had resumed, “Hold him still while I take his head.”
Hopping up onto the bed, I took the pony’s head in my forehooves as the changeling held him down. The right amount of force applied in the wrong direction and I felt more than heard as his neck snapped. Pressing a hoof under his jaw I felt no heartbeat and his chest rose no more.
“There, now, he shall fight no more,” I wrapped my hooves around his broken neck again and pulled him off the bed. His body thumped to the carpeted floor and I jerked my head behind me as I began to drag him, “Now kindly get the bathroom door.”
“Why didn’t you just strangle him to death?” the changeling asked as it did as commanded.
“Ending life in such a manner takes too long,” I shook my head as I dragged Thunderlane’s body into the bathroom. The changeling helped me dump him into the bathtub, “And his suffering I did not want to prolong.”
“He’s a pony,” the changeling scowled down at Thunderlane’s limp form, “Serves them right to suffer after what they did to our hive. I say let them all choke and scream, die voiding themselves in terror, pain, and fear.”
“On this we do not agree,” I shook my head, reaching into my saddlebags to procure a small, red talisman on a necklace. “Would you wish such a thing on me?”
“What’s that?” the changeling ignored my question, jabbing a hoof at the necklace.
“Did you think we would flush him down the drain?” I spoke as I wrapped the necklace gingerly around the dead pony’s neck, clasping it and pulling my hooves away quickly as the talisman lit up, “This will be rid of him without a bloodstain.” With a flash of heat the pony’s body disintegrated into fine, pink ash. Moving with care, I fished out the necklace and undid the clasp before storing it in my bags. From there it was a simple task of washing away the cremated remains.
“You zebras sure are nifty with all your magical doo-das,” the changeling commented as I shut off the water, “So are we done now? I get to wait until morning and go infiltrate the Ministry of Awesome as Thunderlane and you...” it hesitated, “Well, do whatever it is zebras do in their free time?”
“That is the plan as it has been decreed,” I nodded, giving the room a final once-over to ensure nothing was amiss, “Have you any questions or may I proceed?”
“Are you going to be the one collecting the dead drops?”
“No,” I shook my head.
The changeling frowned at that, “What, no rhyme for that one?”
“Zebras do not rhyme all the time,” I frowned at him.
“But you just…” the changeling frowned again, “Nevermind, no more questions. May peace last forever between the caesar and the queen.”
“Indeed,” I nodded, then pulled my cloak up over my head and was again unseen.