//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: Heroics and Revelations 
// Story: On a Wing and a Prayer 
// by White Comet 
//------------------------------//

The weather had taken a turn for the worse this afternoon. Heavy cloud cover and light rain plagued the Changeling lands. No doubt the work of pegasi in an attempt to hinder the Changelings' ground forces. Unfortunately, it didn’t play too well into the hooves of Seventh Bomber Squadron. They weren’t even sure if they managed to find their target, let alone hit it.

To make matters worse, they were picking up intense fire from both flak and enemy air cover. They were still too far out of range for friendly fighters to come and assist them, so they had to make do. Spark jumped at the sudden explosion off their port side. Initially relieved that it wasn’t their plane, he gritted his teeth at the sight of a bomber slowly losing altitude with one of its engines on fire.

“Where the hell do all these yellow-nosed bastards keep coming from?!” Snapshot shouted over the radio, continually firing in what felt like every direction in a desperate attempt to try and hit something.

“No doubt the Bugs know our game now, they’ve probably diverted more fighters to protect their fuel reserves,” Astute deduced.

“Don’t worry, we’ll hold together…” Sparky encouraged, but he was gripping the flight yoke tight. His eyes darting everywhere, wondering which of the yellow dashes across the sky would be the end of the line for them. “How we looking, Kobalt?”

“Minor fuel leak, but we’ll make it,” Kobalt answered back.

Sparky kept his head on a swivel, trying to perfect his spacing between the planes around him in the formation. His theory being that if they could concentrate their firepower, it might make the Bugs think twice before they tried attacking.

His attention turned when he heard a few bullets ricochet from the back of the plane. “AHH!” He heard over the radio.

“Bro!” Snapshot called, dropping down from her position in the turret to look down the back of the plane. “Are you alright?!” She tried to find out for herself, but it was difficult to see through the tiny window on the back of the hatch that led to the rear gunner position.

“I’m okay, just a scratch,” He eventually replied.

Snapshot breathed a sigh of relief before pulling herself back into her turret position.

Sparky glanced down at his instrument panel, seeing the RPM dropping on engine four. “Looks like engine four took a hit, Kobalt.”

“Yeah, looks like some kind of vacuum leak,” Kobalt replied, twisting in his seat to look out the window. It wasn’t on fire, but the smoke coming out of the exhaust was pretty thick and black. “I’ll see if I can compensate by adjusting the fuel mixture.”

“Barber, how much further?” Spark redirected his attention.

“Another twenty minutes or so at this speed,” Barber answered, looking over at the map to reconfirm their position.

Spark gulped. The Bugs were picking them out of the sky. He couldn’t lie, he was beginning to doubt they were going to be making it back home...but he couldn’t tell that to the crew. He had to stay strong...he had to be a leader.

His thoughts were once again broken by the sound of bullets tearing through the fuselage. He covered his face as the loud bangs and pings rattled all around him. In a matter of seconds, the carnage stopped. But the damage was audible. The wind was whistling through the cabin from the holes in the glass and fuselage. But more urgently needing attention was the engines. Engine three was now losing power on his instrument cluster. “Kobalt, can we get three back?”

“I’m trying!” Kobalt yelled back, frantically moving his hooves all over the controls to try and get something. He glanced to his right at the third engine on the wing. There were a few bullet holes around the cowling, and the propeller was beginning to slow down. “Must be a belt...or something…”

“Can you do anything?” Spark pleaded, looking at the airspeed indicator on his instruments slowly decreasing. “If we can’t stay with the formation then we’ll be sitting ducks!”

“Maybe…” Kobalt sighed, “Let me try…”

Kobalt glared out at the starboard wing again, formulating a plan in his mind. He used his magic to extract tools and spare parts from the various storage compartments around him. Confirming he had everything he needed, he began to concentrate. He knew what he was about to do something crazy...but if he didn’t try, they were dead anyway.

He pulled his oxygen mask off, only leaving his flying helmet and goggles on his head. He took several timed breaths to calm himself and focus, then closed his eyes, imagining his position...then the wings position...he had never tried teleporting from one moving surface to another moving surface before. He wasn’t even sure he could do it. But if he didn’t try, they were dead meat anyway…

His horn began to glow as he pictured the sequence of events in his mind. A very specific sequence of spells would have to be cast in rapid succession. He took a deep breath…

The light blue aura glowing against the green metal interior of the plane caught Sparky’s attention, causing him to twist his body in his seat to lean over and look at the position behind him. He only caught the last glimpse of Kobalt’s horn lighting up before he disappeared…

...And reappeared on the starboard wing between the two engines…

The rush of wind immediately greeted Kobalt, which was his trigger for firing his next spell. A shield sharing the light blue aura of his magic erected itself, encompassing the starboard engines and giving Kobalt barely enough space to work around them.

Sparky yanked the stick as the sudden additional air resistance on the starboard wing messed with the aircraft’s aerodynamics. “KOBALT WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!” He screamed, trying to direct it through one of the bullet holes in the glass.

Kobalt opened his eyes, seeing that he was still firmly planted on the plane. Although looking behind him at where he was standing on the edge of the wing, only just...he looked forward and pulled himself up, his shield blocking out the wind, making it easier for him to walk along the wing in flight...as long as he could keep the shield up. He didn’t want to breathe a sigh of relief in case it made him let his guard down…

Getting to work, he picked up the tools that he held in his magic and took the cowling off the third engine, examining the damage...and it looked like the supercharger pulley had been shot off.

Sparky watched the little blue bubble on the starboard wing with Kobalt inside it. He could tell that he was fixing the engine and shook his head, “Kobalt you insane son of a bitch…” He muttered to himself over the radio.

“Is he...fixing the engine? Mid-flight?” Snapshot asked.

“He sure is,” Astute answered, “So keep your eyes peeled, we can’t let him get shot!”

Thanks to his magic, Kobalt’s bodge job was soon complete, and he moved on to engine four. He left the cowling off as he had limited time since he had to hold the shield up as well as doing anything else...and the air was pretty thin up there without his oxygen mask…

He did away with the tools, and tore the cowling off with his magic, gritting his teeth as he tried to maintain his shield while also having to operate tools with his magic. As he suspected, a vacuum line had been pierced by a bullet. They were quite lucky to get away with such superficial damage, but at the same time not so lucky that it stalled the engines.

A quick fix, he used his magic to route a new line and sealed it up...that was it. He was done. All he had to do now was teleport back…

He took a deep breath and dropped the shield and everything else he had a hold on. The tools were replaceable, he wasn’t worried about them. The wind at that speed was like running straight into a brick wall. But he managed to get his spell out just in time, landing on his back inside the cabin of the plane.

Gasping for air, he rolled himself up onto his hooves and trotted the flew steps over to his station, picking his mask up and getting himself a breath of that oh so sweet oxygen. “Restarting...engines…” he said through huffs of breath, getting to work on restarting them.

“Kobalt, what the hell was that?! Have you got a deathwish?!” Melody called to him over the radio.

“Hey, if he fixed the engines, I won’t complain,” Astute chimed in.

“Kobalt, you’re absolutely insane, but we owe ya one if this works,” Sparky added.

Kobalt mostly ignored the idle radio chatter and simply focused on the task at hand. Slowly but surely, the engines started picking up speed again. He looked over and saw the propellers spooling up.

Sparky looked down at his instrument cluster and saw the engine RPM’s starting to increase. “You did it...you actually did it…” he said in disbelief.

“Yeah, now how about you get us home?” Kobalt called back over the radio.

“R-right,” Sparky answered, pushing the throttles forward to compensate for the speed they just lost, moving the plane along in the formation.

As the flight continued, a mixture of flak from the ground and enemy fighters continued to pester them every step of the way. It was clear to everypony that their flights were spending more time behind enemy lines than ever before. The Changelings weren’t hanging about, no matter how much they starved their tanks of precious fuel.

While Sparky kept the Mystic Mare in the sky, other planes weren’t so lucky. One by one, they fell out of the sky. Some bailing out, others not so fortunate...Sparky was sure that he and his crew just felt lucky enough to get back alive. They were mercifully relieved by friendly fighters that managed to drive off the Changelings once they made it back over the frontline. 

They made it back to base where the planes with major fuel leaks got priority on the landing. When it was their turn, Sparky set the plane down with no problem. He was getting good at this. As usual, he simply went wherever he was directed by the ground crew and parked it up, killing the engines. He pulled his oxygen mask and goggles off simultaneously with his wings and wiped the sweat off his face, releasing a long sigh.

He twisted himself out of the pilot's seat and onto his hooves, looking over at Kobalt. “Kobalt...you’re probably the only reason we’re all still here…”

“Just doing my job,” Kobalt answered, pulling his mask and goggles off. The area surrounding his muzzle and eyes still showed off his navy blue fur that hadn’t been smudged by the black ash, dust and soot.

“Quit being modest,” Astute appeared beside him, patting him on the back. “I’ve never seen anypony in Equestria even attempt to pull something like that off. You could’ve taken a twenty mil straight through the chest!” Astute half-punched him in the chest to drive home his point.

Kobalt chuffed, “Just lucky I guess,” he stood up to make his way down the aircraft towards the hatch.

As they walked down, Slingshot was pulling himself out of the rear gunner's seat, a small bloodstain dripping down from his cheek that ran onto his jacket. Being the closest, he opened up the hatch for everypony.

“Damn bro, you almost catch a bullet?” Snapshot asked, looking at her brother.

“Nah, shard of glass when it smashed,” Slingshot replied, gently rubbing the scratch. It didn’t show up too much against his grey coat anyway. “Be good as new in a few days.”

When they got out of the plane, Kobalt had his usual conversation with the mechanics. Sparky was getting used to it, and to be honest, he found it interesting what they had to say to each other. There was always a bit of an argument over what Kobalt wanted and what they were ordered to do. He found it interesting on the parts Kobalt compromised on.

While they were having the discussion, Sparky noticed various ponies from the crews of the other bombers walking over to them. They had their eyes on...Kobalt?

Finally agreeing with their works, Kobalt let the mechanics loose on the Mystic Mare. But when he turned to walk away, he was taken off guard by a crowd of ponies who all seemed to want to talk to him.

“Dude, you’re absolutely crazy. I love it!” A stallion commented.

“Where did you learn magic like that?” A unicorn mare asked.

“Did you study at Celestia's school?” Another pony asked.

Kobalt’s head darted left to right at all these ponies that wanted to find out about his little stunt. He found himself backing up back to his crew, where he looked over at Sparky, seemingly wanting some help with the situation.

Sparky couldn’t help but laugh, “Told you it was impressive,” he chimed.

Kobalt only sighed and put on a smile for the ponies wanting to speak to him, answering a couple of questions and shaking plenty of hooves. Sparky and the rest of his crew stayed by his side to help him with the unexpected attention. Although Sparky couldn’t help but see the smile that over time slowly crept onto Kobalt’s face. He was happy. For the first time since he met him, he seemed happy. Finally, progress…

“Excuse me, coming through, pardon me…” A stallion equipped with a camera barged through the crowd of a few dozen ponies, making a small space for himself at the front. Judging by the smart clothes he was wearing, he could have possibly worked for a newspaper… “Mind if I get a picture?” He asked while setting the cameras tripod up at the same time.

“Uhhh--”

“Abso-fucking-lutely!” Snapshot butted in before Kobalt even got a chance to react, wrapping herself around Kobalt’s shoulders with her foreleg. “C’mon, everypony in!” She called, waving her hoof over at the rest of her crew to join the photo.

The crew of the Mystic Mare clambered together awkwardly, trying to get themselves all in shot in various poses.

“Pilot in the middle, please,” The photographer directed.

Sparky took the limelight in between the rest of his crew, but not before dragging Kobalt into the shot next to him. He and Kobalt sat side-by-side, both putting on their best smile. On Sparky’s right was Melody, placing herself at an angle to get a decent shot over her shoulder. On Kobalt’s left sat Astute, sitting straight and doing a simple salute to the camera. On his left sat Slingshot, with his smaller sister sitting against him, using him as a backrest and trying to ‘look cool’. Barber managed to shuffle in between them and astute and simply posed for the photo.

The camera pony made a few adjustments to the camera before snapping a photo with a flash. “Thanks, folks, I’ll get you some copies once they’re developed!” He announced before beginning to disassemble the camera.

“If we’ve got no sorties left today, wanna go celebrate down the bar?” Snapshot suggested. “I think it’s only fair Sparky rewards Kobalt by buying a round.”

“Only because you don’t want to,” Sparky shot back. “I’ll come for one, but not too many.”

“Good enough for me,” Snapshot replied, beginning to walk. “Don’t leave me hanging. Especially you,” She grabbed Kobalt around the shoulders again. “You’re the stallion of the hour after all!”

Sparky chuckled at the sight of Kobalt getting dragged away by Snapshot, with the rest of his crew in tow. He told them to keep trying with Kobalt, and after all this time, it finally seemed to be working. Kobalt was smiling. Genuinely smiling. Maybe this was the start of him finally coming out of his shell…







The afternoon came and went quickly. Not being assigned any more sorties, Kobalt decided to join his comrades for a drink...well, he didn’t exactly have a choice. Snapshot was determined to drag him along whether he wanted to or not. 

The pub they went to was an old fashioned pub called The Blackbird Inn. It was full of service ponies from the air force and army. But mostly the air force, given its walking distance to Yonderhill airbase. It was very cosy inside, the heat produced by several bodies making it warm enough for condensation to form outside the window as the sun just finished setting.

“So I’m leading the target and fired a couple shots. Then I see another coming the opposite direction. My gun lined up perfectly and boom!” Snapshot slammed her hoof down on the bar, “Straight through the engine,” She finished retelling the story and picked up her pint of cider. “I still think that should be two kills…” She chimed before bringing the mug to her lips.

“Only counts if somepony can confirm it though,” Astute answered back with a wink.

Snapshot downed the remaining cider in her mug and tapped it back down. “I’m sure somepony did.” She looked over at Barber, “You saw, right, Gramps?”

“Sorry kid, these old eyes aren’t what they used to be,” He answered sarcastically, deliberately crossing his eyes.

“Fuck you,” Snapshot answered back before taking another glug of cider.

“I’m still amazed by Kobalt’s magic,” Astute commented. “He managed to keep a head level enough to not only concentrate on keeping that magic up but also fix both engines.”

“Is magic that hard?” Slingshot asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Depends on the complexity. For example, I can lift small things,” Astute demonstrated by levitating his mug of cider with his green magic aura. “I can lift lots of small things,” he proceeded to take all their ciders in his magic. “But levitation isn’t very complex. More advanced magic I can’t really manage,” he explained, returning everypony’s cider.

“Didn’t one of you say Wittenland is known for strong unicorns? Maybe that shits just normal where he’s from?” Snapshot suggested.

“Well, I would ask him, but…” Astute glanced over to the other side of the pub, “Mister Party Killer over there doesn’t want to know.”

His words drew everypony’s attention over to Kobalt, who took a table alone by the window, sipping a mug of cider while writing something on a piece of paper. 

“Looks like he’s writing a letter, he probably just wanted a bit of privacy,” Sparky suggested, finishing off the little bit of cider that was left in his glass.

Snapshot pouted, “Can’t even be happy at his own celebration…” she crossed her hooves.

“I’m sure we’ll get something out of him…” Melody stood off her barstool, “...One day…” she trotted through the bar towards the bathrooms.

Spark pushed his cider glass further onto the bar and dropped a few bits alongside it. “That should help cover it.”

“You’re leaving?” Snapshot cried, “It’s early!”

Spark sighed, “The burdens of command, I’ve got stuff to do. And remember, some of our mares and stallions didn’t make it home today. That thought alone puts me off celebrating.”

“Hey, they’re probably cursing about what’s taking us so long to hit the Bugs back twice as hard,” Snapshot answered before quickly grabbing one of the bartender's attention to order another round.

Sparky chuffed, “I hope you’re right…” he turned around, “See you tomorrow,”

“Goodnight, Sparky!” Astute called.

“Oh!” Sparky stopped in his tracks. “Astute!” He twisted to line up parallel with the Astute and the barstool he was sitting on and wrapped his left wing around his shoulders. “Here,” with the other wing, he slid a few bits into the pocket of Astute’s flight jacket. “Buy the mare a drink. No excuses now,” he said with a wink. Saying nothing more, he quickly left.

Astute bought the bits out of his pocket with his magic and raised an eyebrow. “...The mare?”

Snapshot cringed and looked over at Barber. Barber only had a smug look on his face, which slowly turned into a chuckle. “Told ya he wouldn’t get it.”

“Ugh,” Snapshot rolled her eyes and pulled some bits out of the pocket of her jacket. “Ten bits, as agreed.”

“Thank you kindly,” Barber smugly answered. Not that they were going to last very long, he was about to get himself two pints of cider...

“Get it? Get what?” Astute’s eyes darted across all his comrades, trying to work out what was going on.

“Did you guys already get another round in?” Melody reappeared, taking a seat on a barstool.

“Oh, there’s it!” Snapshot joked, passing a glass of cider over to Melody. “This round was mine, hun.”

Melody raised an eyebrow, “...It?” She took a sip of the cider.

“Nothing,” Snapshot replied, batting a hoof.

“Well well well,” Barber drew their attention, sliding two pints of cider into the centre-view of their little huddle around the bar. “When the cats are away, the mice will play.” He rubbed his hooves together.

“What are you up to, Barb?” Astute asked with a suspicious pout.

“Just buying the stallion of the hour a drink,” he said innocently while bringing a small vile out of his jacket pocket. “With a little hint of...something…”

“Something?” Melody raised an eyebrow, “Are you drugging Kobalt?”

“Oh god no,” Barber shook his head, “Just a little something to...well, how do I put it...enhance the effect of alcohol,” he said cryptically with a wink, pulling the cork off the top of the vile. He gently tipped the clear liquid inside into one of the pints.

“The hell you get something like that?” Snapshot asked.

“When you’re as old as I am, you make contacts,” Barber replied, looking at Snapshot. “Being successful is fifty-fifty what you know and who you know, darlin’,” He explained with a wink.

“So you’re gonna get Kobalt wasted. Think that’ll work?” Slingshot asked.

“If he’s anything like you, yes,” Barber answered confidently, earning a few laughs from his comrades.

“You do get pretty loud I gotta be honest, big bro,” Snapshot agreed.

“Anyway, catch you kids later,” Astute slid a tray over from across the bar and placed the pints on them to carry them in his mouth. He took hold of them then turned around to walk towards Kobalt.

“Don’t get them mixed up,” Astute joked.

Obviously, Barber couldn’t reply because he had his mouth full with the tray, but he did smile as he walked over to Kobalt.

Kobalt only noticed him when he was standing right next to the table, looking up and seeing Barber with the two pints in his mouth. Barber placed the tray down on the table. “On me, Kiddo,” He greeted with a smile.

Kobalt dropped his pen and looked at Barber with a raised eyebrow.

“What?” Barber chuckled, taking a seat opposite him. “Can’t I at least by a pint of cider for the stallion that probably saved the lives of his entire crew?” He picked up one of the glasses and presented it to Kobalt.

Kobalt looked at the cider...then back at Barber...He really wanted to be left alone, but given that Barber had already bought the cider, he didn’t particularly want him to waste his bits...he reluctantly took the glass in his magic.

“Cheers!” Barber presented his own glass out.

Kobalt gently tapped the glass against Barbers then bought the drink to his lips, taking a generous sip in unison with Barber before placing the glass down.

Barber let out a sigh and looked down at the paper Kobalt was writing on. “Who you writing to?”

Kobalt glanced down and quickly took it in his magic. “No one,” he folded the paper several times before sliding it into one of his jackets inner pockets.

“Alright,” Barber shrugged, “Be warned though, I’m pretty good at guessing this stuff son…”

“If you say so…” Kobalt glanced away, taking another sip of cider.

Barbers lips slowly curled into a smile. “Got a special somepony back home?” He wiggled his eyebrows.

Kobalt shook his head, “Nope.”

Barber shrugged, “Well the world's your oyster then Kobalt, plenty of mares here would have you in a heartbeat y'know," he replied with a click of his tongue and a wink.

Kobalt chuffed, “Is that what you’ve come to help me with?”

Barber shrugged again, “Only if that’s what you want. Captain’s already tried that with Astute,” he chuckled, twisting in his seat to look over at the group of Astute, Melody, Snapshot and Slingshot all sitting around the bar on barstools.

“Astute?” Kobalt titled his head to look in that direction and raised an eyebrow.

“Mmhmm,” Barber nodded, looking back at Kobalt. “You might not have noticed since you’re new here, but Astute’s had a crush on Melody for a while now. Not that he’d tell anypony mind you, but it’s been getting more and more obvious…”

Kobalt smiled, “Well, she is very pretty…” he commented, taking a sip of cider.

“She sure is,” Barber agreed, a smug grin quickly forming on his face. “Wouldn’t it be nice to tell your parents you met a girl in that letter of yours?”

Kobalt’s went wide, and he almost choked on the cider he was drinking. “H-how did you--”

Barber laughed, “That was a complete shot in the dark, kiddo. Seems it made you spill the beans though,” he said and laughed again.

Kobalt pouted and stared daggers into Barber. Who only stared back. “Told you I’m good at this, Son,” He replied smugly with an eyebrow wiggle.

Kobalt sighed and looked away. Despite Barbers mind tricks...he did seem genuine… “Fine, you win.” Kobalt looked back at Barber. “I am writing to my family, but not to post off anytime soon…”

“Hmmm…” Barber rubbed his chin, his brow furrowing as he thought. “You don’t want somepony to find out where you are, do you?”

Kobalt gritted his teeth and glanced away, trying to suppress a growl from his throat, but a little escaped.

Barber smiled a little at his reaction. “Or you’re assumed dead. You strike me as a stallion smart enough to pull that off,” he leaned into the table. “You must have a pretty price on your head back in Wittenland…”

Kobalt chuffed, resting back in his seat. Barber was almost reading him like a book...but in a way, it felt good to get these things off his chest. No doubt the alcohol was a contributor. He didn’t know why he was feeling tipsy, this was only his second one... “Maybe...I didn’t hang around to find out…”

“Understandable,” Barber chuckled. A short silence fell between them. Time to go for the elephant in the room. “So...what did you do?”

Kobalt glanced away again, releasing a sigh as he stared out the window.

Barber raised an eyebrow. “Did you...kill somepony?”

“...No…” Kobalt answered quietly, a groan in his voice.

“You didn’t sound confident about that,” Barber answered, “I ain’t a SMILE agent Kobalt, I swear. I ain’t gonna turn you in or nothin’ ” he joked.

Kobalt folded his forelegs and gently sipped his cider, seemingly deep in thought.

“If ya don’t tell me, I’ll start guessing,” Barber teased, but he got no reaction. He waited a few more seconds...nothing. “Alright,” Barber took a swig of cider before continuing. “You’re a smart kid, but ya ain’t that good with ponies I gotta be honest. Ya clearly worried about somepony finding out you’re here...or even simpler than that, finding out you’re alive. From what you said that day we first met, it sounded like you didn’t have many bits to your name…” Barber rubbed his chin and raised an eyebrow. “I reckon ya turned to crime to earn some extra bits, mixed with the wrong crowd and got framed for something...either that or you ended up killing somepony doing business along those lines…”

Kobalt gritted his teeth, feeling his body tense up. He squinted his eyes shut and released a long sigh. Barber managed to figure out...most of it. Of course, he could always deny it. But something told him that Barber would keep pestering him about it if he did. Although the more Kobalt thought about it, the more he thought about trusting him. All his crewmates seemed like trustworthy ponies. And he would no doubt feel much better.

“Oh, now I get it!” Barber suddenly blurted out, “You’re seeking redemption to try and earn a pardon, aren’t you?”

...Welp, he just hit the nail on the head…

Kobalt leaned forward, glancing over his shoulders. Nopony else in the pub was nearby, and those who were were too engrossed in their own conversations to be paying attention to them. “Alright…” he began, “Guess you win,” he glanced all around him again just to make sure that they were definitely safe before looking back at Kobalt. “You’ve been to Wittenland, right?”

Barber chuffed, “A long LONG time ago, you probably weren’t even born...”

“Well, what do you know about our neighbours? Namely the Barrad Magocracy.”

Barber raised an eyebrow. “I know they separated from Wittenland because of dark magic...that’s all I know.”

“That’s good enough,” Kobalt replied. “Well, they were always after certain things from Wittenland. Crystals, spellbooks, artefacts, things like that…”

Barber nodded, following Kobalt’s story.

“And me and my family were always struggling for bits...so I met a group of ponies that needed my expertise for an… ‘exchange’ with them…”

“And it went south?” Barber worked out.

Kobalt nodded, “I think somepony must have had a tip-off on what was going on because, at the border, we were ambushed by several soldiers. We were outnumbered, so we gave up. I was getting ready to spend the rest of my life behind bars in Wittenburgh...but then the ponies from Barrad we were meant to meet showed up and chose to fight. I managed to escape in the chaos…”

As he retold the story, Barber noticed a slight tremble in Kobalt. He was clearly nervous about telling this story. All he could do was offer a helping hoof. “Did you...kill somepony during the standoff?”

“...Maybe…” Kobalt glanced away, “It was crazy, magic and bullets flying everywhere. I saw an opportunity to escape, and I took it...I fired back a few times with my own magic while escaping...I downed a couple of ponies, but...I don’t know if...I…” He looked back at Barber in the eyes. “I didn’t mean to kill anypony...I was just trying to escape.”

“I believe you,” Barber nodded. “If I panicked with that kind of power in my forehead, I probably would’ve done the same thing.”

Kobalt cringed at the memory before releasing another sigh.

“So you obviously escaped?” Barber picked up.

“Yeah,” Kobalt nodded. “I planned to lay low, but when I was in New Mareland, I heard of the suspected war between Equestria and the Changelings. I thought if I earned enough influence during the war, Equestria might grant me asylum. I’ve always loved planes and flying, so naturally, I picked the ERAF. I was hoping to get selected for fighters, but I was sent to serve on bombers instead.”

“Makes sense that you had no problem getting through, Equestria’s desperate for ponies…” Barber sighed, “Not that it matters much at the moment. The Bugs seem to be driving us further back every day…”

Kobalt leant back in his seat, resting his head against the back and...smiled? Kobalt seemed unusually happy about his little confession. He had a slight blush forming across his nose, he was probably feeling a little tipsy.

“You look happy,” Barber joked with a smile.

Kobalt chuckled, “Just feels good to get that off my chest…it’s nice being able to talk to somepony…” his face slowly returned to a stern look, and he leaned back into the table. “But please keep it a secret. I don’t want the others to know...at least not yet…”

“My lips are sealed,” Barber answered with a smile, “But feel free to tell the others. I don’t know what vibe you think we’re giving off, but we all like you and consider you a friend. I know you’re new and trying to impress, but ya gotta stop trying so hard, or you’ll drop dead from exhaustion before a Changeling even gets a chance to point a gun at ya.”

Kobalt laughed, “I’ll try and remember,” he answered sarcastically, tipping his glass all the way up and downing the remainder of the cider in it, finishing with a gasp. “This cider is growing on me, ya know. It doesn’t compare with Wittenland wine of course, but I’m starting to like it…”

“Yep, Sweet Apple Acres sure does make some fine cider,” Barber agreed, finishing his glass off. “I’m gonna go back and watch Snapshot tease ol’ loverboy over there, wanna come?”

“I’ll be there in a sec,” Kobalt replied, pulling his pen and letter back out from his pocket using his magic.

Barber nodded and rose from his seat, turning to head back to the bar.

Kobalt laid the letter back down on the table and resumed where he let off. Although a relieved smile just wouldn’t leave his face. Perhaps their friendship wasn’t as conditional as he first thought…