Cobrajet awoke to the sounds of water from the bathroom. He rolled over on the bed, only to find an empty space where Gold Comet should have been and an alarm clock telling him it was 5 in the morning.
“Always the early riser” Cobra thought as he rolled out of bed and on to the cold hardwood floor that graced the master bedroom. Cobra walked to the master bathroom door and with a small push, opened it and joined Gold in the shower.
A nuzzle on his side broke Gold out of his thoughts, and with a turn and a smile greeted his new partner.
“Good morning hun” he said as he kissed Cobra softly.
“Good Morning to you as well” Cobra replied back after the kiss was done. They both stood in the shower, soaking in the warmth as well as the contact they had, and they continued what they had started the night before, this time in place that could be cleaned up quicker than the bed they shared.
After they had finished, they both walked out, dressed and Comet moved downstairs to the kitchen to cook breakfast for them all. Cobra followed about a half hour later and was greeted with the smell of eggs and hay bacon. StoveBolt arrived down an hour later and they talked of the day’s plans. Stove had asked for his new friends to come over that day and with some convincing CobraJet allowed them over under the condition they leave at a good time that night, as it was a school night.
With a triumphant grin, StoveBolt rushed up the stairs to his room, saying before he left that he was going to picking it up. Cobra gave a small chuckle to that statement but soon returned to the conversation he was having with Comet.
Comet continued his talk on to their future, where the wedding would be, did they need a princess to officiate it and who would they invite. They continued on for a little while, until the topic of telling StoveBolt began.
“He’s going to have to know sometime, we can’t stay engaged for the rest of our lives” Comet said as he placed two cups of coffee down on the table, “Might as well tell him now, before you lose your nerve again”
“Thanks for the concern, and wouldn’t it be easier if we were engaged forever, we’d save money on the wedding and all” Cobra answered with a shaky laugh, one he knew wouldn’t impress his partner. And much to his chagrin, he turned his head to see the frown on Comet’s face.
“Why is this so hard for you, why don’t you want to do this” Comet asked as he frowned at the coffee in front of him.
“I do want to tell him, I really do” Cobra spoke as he looked at his coffee, “I just don’t want to lose another family member to this.”
“You fear he will reject you because you’re a gay” Comet asked, expecting a nod in return.
“No” Cobra answered as he looked up, “I’m afraid that he would be mad I kept this from him, and that you may have forced this on me.”
“You know I would never do something like that” Comet replied, extending a hoof and covering Cobra’s, “Maybe we should tell him together, explain what has been happening, and what the future holds for us and him.”
“I think I can do that” Cobra answered, leaning over and giving Comet a quick kiss on the cheek.
“Cobra, can we go get them now” Stovebolt yelled from the stairs, his hoofsteps drawing closer.
“Yeah, and we’ll stop after for some lunch at that cafe we visited on Friday” he answered as he turned to Comet.
“We’ll talk to him later on tonight” he said as he got up and walked to the front hall.
“Cobra” Comet said as he watched him began to turn the corner.
CobraJet turned his head towards him, “Yes dear” he answered.
“Get me a salad at the café” Comet said with a smile.
“Of course” Cobra answered back before turning his head and walking to the door.
StoveBolt and Cobra set off from the house in high spirits, StoveBolt apparently forgetting of the previous day’s events, and making their way around the town to pick up his friends. They started at Sweet Apple Acres for AppleBloom, meeting AppleJack and Big Mac as well, and ending their walk at Rarity’s for Sweetie Belle. An apology to Rarity, and a quick laugh to share, and they all set off for the Café near the shop.
The kids shared in their experiences at the table, talking about a newspaper and some filly named Diamond Tiara as well as the names of the fellow ponies around the town. They ate their food quickly, the young ones apparently wanting to get back to the house so they could explore it some more. The walk back took little time, especially with the Scootaloo and her wagon as the large clouds of dust were anything to judge enthusiasm on. They arrived and with a soft push on the door the chaos that was the Cutie Mark Crusaders began.
StoveBolt only took a few steps into the house before Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and AppleBloom were on him with questions. They talked of houses with secret passages, hidden treasures and spirits of the long dead guarding them. And while StoveBolt told them he knew the house hadn’t had any of those installed to his knowledge, it didn’t deter the young Fillies in their quest.
Excited at the prospects of discovery, the Cutie Mark Crusaders formed a circle and with a hoof extended yelled loudly, “Cutie Mark Crusader Detectives!”
CobraJet gave a small laugh at their antics and with a sigh, made his way to the kitchen for something to drink. As he entered he came face to face with Gold Comet, literally.
A loud crash came from the kitchen, alerting the kids and StoveBolt as they were searching the house. Rushing in they discovered Comet and Cobra rubbing their heads and a large glass pitcher of lemonade was smashed, its contents spilled across the floor of the kitchen.
“Cobra, Comet are you both ok” Stovebolt questioned as he ran to them.
“Stove, stop, there’s broken glass all over the floor” Cobra said as he turned towards them.
Stovebolt looked at the floor, and noticing his right hoof, he saw that the warning had come too late. A small pool of crimson lay under his hoof and it seemed to only be growing as he stood. Tears began to form in his eyes and before long; he began to cry over the pain in his hoof.
Comet reacted in a second, rushing to his side and lifting him up on his back.
“Hun, get me the first aid kit and the number for Nurse RedHeart” Comet said as he placed Stove on a nearby chair and began to see the extent of the damage. CobraJet quickly, but carefully, ran to the bedroom and grabbed the supplies. As he returned to the kitchen he noticed Comet was holding a dish cloth over the cut, quietly singing to StoveBolt.
“Comet, I found the first aid kit, where is the nurse’s number?” Cobra asked as his eyes were unable to look away from the situation.
“I don’t think we’ll need it, it’s just a small cut” he said as he took the dish cloth off to look. The cut was small, the blood mostly stopped but what was worrying Comet the most was if the glass was still in the wound.
“StoveBolt, I need you to hold still for me” Comet said as he inspected the wound, prodding it with a hoof. Stove let out a small whimper, his eyes welling still with tears. “I know it hurts but it will be over soon” Comet said as he cleaned the wound. And as Comet looked and found no glass shards, he wrapped Stove’s hoof in gauze and binding tape.
“There you go, now run along and play but do take it easy on the running part of that for a while” Comet said with a smile as he placed Stove on the ground.
Stovebolt looked back and forth between his hoof and Comet before giving him a tight hug. He quickly turned around and with little communication the four of them ran off to explore the house more.
“Wow that was…” Cobra began before Comet put a hoof over his muzzle.
“I know I’m awesome” Comet said, eliciting a small grin from Cobra.
“That you are” Cobra answered as he walked to the closet and returned with a mop and a broom, “now be even more awesome and help me clean this up.”
The day progressed with small talk between Cobra and Comet continuing as well as the occasional kiss to be shared. StoveBolt’s day consisted of following his new guests around showing them the sights of the house they just moved in. Laughter filtered through the house as the young ones reveled in the size and upkeep on the house.
Time flew by as they played to their hearts content. There even was a game of hide and seek to be played between the young ones and Cobra, and involved Cobra getting lost in his own home. They continued until a chime came from the front of the house.
“Just a moment” Comet yelled as he made his way to the door. The door opened to reveal a tall red stallion standing awkwardly on the stoop.
“Can I help you” Comet questioned as he looked him over.
“Eyup, Ah’ was hopin’ mah sister Applebloom was here, this is the Block house, correct” Big Mac questioned as he looked behind him at the street.
“That she is, come on in and I’ll help you find her” Comet said as he opened the door fully and allowed him into the foyer.
“Cobrajet” Comet yelled up the stairs, in an attempt to find him.
“What is it” He yelled back as he made his way to the stairs.
“Applebloom’s brother is here, can you go get her” Comet yelled back with a smile.
“What is mah’ brother doin’ here” Appleblooms voice came from the room at the end of the hall and was shortly followed by hoofsteps.
Applebloom and the rest of the young ones made their way to the stairs as well as Cobra too. They made their way down the steps and came to a stop in front of the red stallion.
“What’s up, Big Mac” Scootaloo said as she looked at him.
“Ah’m here to tell y’all that school is canceled for tomorrow, seems like Miss Cheerilee came down with Hay Fever and she don’t feel like spreading it” Big mac said as he looked them all over.
The children let out a large yelp of happiness as they quickly ran back upstairs to continue their adventures.
“Well that’s unfortunate, I hope she feels better” Cobra said softly and with a nod from the two others they showed Big Mac out and with a wave closed the door and returned to their follies of the day.
As the end of the day approached, the phone in the hall began to ring loudly. CobraJet made his way to it and without hesitation picked it up.
“Hello, Block residence, Cobrajet speaking” he said as he listened to the other voice in the receiver. A brief message was relayed to Cobra as he sat and listened.
“No, it’s no trouble at all; in fact I would be more than willing to help you out. I just need a name and the next available night they can come in” he said as he grabbed a pad of paper and a quill.
“Tonight will work for me, It will have to be late in the night thou” he answered the voice on the line.
“I’m sure that will be no problem, I’ll just need to do a few things before you arrive.” He relayed to the voice.
“Yes sir, I’ll meet you and your escort at the train station at 10 PM.” He answered to the question posed by the voice.
“No it’s really no trouble I always like to help those in our armed forces.” He said, a smile pulling across his face.
”Ok, thanks for the call before hoof. I’ll be ready when you arrive.” He said as the conversation drew to a close.
“Ok, goodbye general” Cobra said into the receiver as he wrote down what it was for him to do, before he hung up.
Cobra made his way to the large dining room where the rest of the family and their guests has sat down for dinner. They were all talking; the eating of the soup Comet had made was almost an afterthought to the conversations themselves. All was calm in the household until Stovebolt looked up from the table and asked a simple question.
“Brother is it ok for my friends to sleep over tonight, we wouldn’t have school and we promise we will go to bed at a decent time anyways?” Stovebolt asked as he swirled the soup in front of him.
Cobra took a slight pause to this question, the soup in his mouth being savored, but remembering what he had to do tonight he frowned.
“I’m sorry Stove, but I have work to do tonight as well as I’m sure their parents had expected them home tonight for whatever they have to do tomorrow.” he answered as he swallowed his soup.
“But Cobra, we promise to be good and not do anything that could harm ourselves or any pony else,” Stove replied.
“Really Stove, it’s not a good day for this. My work needs me to stay late and arrange somethings. Perhaps next week?” Cobra answered back, not wanting to crush Stovebolt’s hope fully.
“What if we promise to stay in my room all night and never leave that room, could we then?” Stovebolt answered back.
Cobra was about to give his last denial, when Gold Comet spoke first.
“Cobrajet, I’m sure it will be fine for them to have this one night. They’re only kids, what harm could become of them if they are restricted to a single room?”
Cobrajet’s gaze cast itself on Comet and with mild chagrin agreed under the condition they stay in his room all night.
Stovebolt jumped up and hugged his brother and Comet in one go. He swiftly ran off to tell his friends and left the two older stallions to share a slightly romantic dinner before work had to be done.
_____________________________________________________________________________
The night air hit Cobrajet’s fur with biting cold. He had arrived at the station a few minutes early, his jitteriness evident. It wasn’t a rare occurrence for him to be called by the general, but it wasn’t something he did very often. His eyes glanced down the tracks, waiting to see the tell-tale lights of an approaching train.
The train arrived 3 minutes late, and seeing the looks on the faces of those on it, not a moment too soon. The general was the first of the army ponies to appear the 4 bright gold stars gleamed softly in the moonlight. He was followed by 4 enlisted stallions as well as the pony of the hour. Cobrajet greeted the colonel with a salute, and as he received one in return they quickly got down to business.
“What’s the situation Colonel,” Cobra asked as he cast his gaze at the group.
“Accident in training,” the Colonel replied, his voice stone cold.
“What sort of accident?”
“An Accident.”
Cobrajet looked up at the impressive pony and slowly shook his head. He knew the military jargon and the word accidents meaning in this matter. He turned his back to the escorts and quickly rushed them back to the house.
Stovebolt and the rest of his friend sat in his room, playing their third game of life. The bored expressions told them all that this was as boring as it seemed. They spun the wheel to the game and Scootaloo couldn’t stand it anymore.
“Why do we have to stay here, it’s so boring?”
“Cobra said I could have you all stay over if we stayed up here, he said he had work tonight. That means he has somepony coming over for something from the lab downstairs. I promised him we’d stay up here and that’s what we’ll do.”
Scootaloo took her seat, her features clearly agitated. She swung her tail furiously and again she burst in anger.
“What’s he doing down there that we can’t see it? We should go down there and prove we can be there to see it.”
“No we aren’t I promised we would stay here. And besides we can’t go down there, Cobra already told me not to,” Stovebolt answered, his mind breaking under the pressure of Scootaloo’s insistence.
Scootaloo stood up fully and made her way to the door of Stovebolt’s room.
“Where are you going,” Stovebolt quickly questioned the orange filly.
“To the bathroom,” she answered.
The rest of the cutie mark crusaders followed quickly behind, knowing what was going to happen. Stovebolt gave a small whimper, and soon followed his new friends down the stairs to the lab door.
They stood again in front of the iron door, the lock suspended in between. Scootaloo placed her hoof on the lock again and it rejected the sample again.
“Ok, we tried, let’s go back upstairs,” Stovebolt hastily said as he turned back towards the stairs.
Scootaloo studied the lock and seeing the needle’s tip, thought of an idea.
“Hey Stovebolt, I’ll make you a deal. If we try your hoof and it opens we go down, if it doesn’t we go back upstairs. What do you say?”
Stovebolt gave her a scared expression, but he knew how careful Cobrajet was and he was fairly certain it wouldn’t open. He took a step forward and placed his hoof to the lock.
The Computerized lock on the door chimed, and with a sharp snapping noice, the lock released and the door swung open. StoveBolt and the Cutie Mark Crusaders leaned over the edge of the steps and looked at what laid at the bottom. The concrete floor was stained a reddish hue, and sounds of electricity could be heard.
“Guys, I don’t think this is such a good idea” Sweetie Belle said as she backed up into the hallway.
“Yeah guys, Cobra told me never to go down there, he’ll get angry at me” StoveBolt said, following Sweetie lead.
“Come on, you bunch of fraidy ponies,” Scootaloo said as she took a step towards the basements floor.
The group of ponies followed apprehensively behind, not wanting to be down there in the first place but Scootaloo had a point. They slowly inched their way down the steps and as soon as they hit the concrete floor, the room suddenly went dark. The Ponies stifled their screams as what light was left from the equipment glowed and pulsed.
Drills of all shapes and sizes lined the walls. Knives and scalpels sat in trays covered in plastic. Toolboxes lay open displaying the hammers and screwdrivers needed for whatever it was that Cobrajet did for a living. Finally, they noticed other types of medical equipment lay sprawled out in all directions. But that wasn’t what frightened them the most…it was what hung from the ceiling.
Hooves and wings hung from hooks in the ceiling, dripping with what appeared in the darkness to be blood. As a drop hit Sweetie Belle, her need to scream couldn’t be controlled anymore.
“GET ME OUT OF HERE!” Sweetie Belle screamed as she ran up the stairs as fast as her hooves could carry her. Sweetie Belle reached the top of the steps, and after running through the doorway, she saw, to her relief, a bathroom. She ran towards the bathroom, hoping she wouldn’t puke before she reached it, and reached for the door knob. Suddenly, the door to the room swung open and she found herself face to face with a pony.
“Watch where you’re going.” the pony said to her as he looked down.
Sweetie Belle let out a blood curdling scream as she saw the stallion’s eyes, or eye in his case and collapsed in front of him.
“Who’s screaming?” a male voice called out from the front of the house, and with the sound of rapid hoof steps CobraJet appeared next to the stallion.
“I didn’t touch her; she just looked at me and collapsed.” The stallion said as he walked over to the basement door. Cobrajet followed closely behind after placing Sweetie Belle on his back.
As he turned the corner, Cobrajet noticed the door to his lab was open and after placing two and two together, yelled down the steps, “What are you kids doing down there? Stovebolt, I specifically said no one is allowed.”
StoveBolt, Scootaloo, and AppleBloom stood still, as the sounds of hoof steps made their way down the steps. As soon as Cobrajet appeared at the bottom of the steps, StoveBolt sped up to him and began to hug his legs.
“Please Brother, I’m sorry. Please don’t kill us for our body parts, we will be good and never tell a soul” He screamed as he hugged his brother’s legs tighter.
Cobrajet’s expression turned to one of confusion, why had he been asked… Oh. Cobrajet gave a small smile as he hugged his brother back.
“Kill you” CobraJet answered calmly, “Oh dear brother, I’m not going to kill you.”
An audible sigh came from the room, But Cobra wasn’t finished.
“No brother, what I have planned is much worse” He said with a slight chuckle, and with a single raise of his hoof, StoveBolt learned what his brother did all those days he was down in the basement.