"NOW."
"Okay..."
Soarin' stepped out of his house, then closed the front door. He didn't want Rainbow Dash or Aurora to be frightened by what was going on outside if they came down the stairs. "So, Uhh... What's wrong?"
"Mr. Soarin', we'll be the one asking the questions. Not you," the grey Pegasus said.
"Captain Soarin', have you seen anything lately? Anything... Weird?" the navy blue pegasus asked.
Soarin' gulped, then cleared his throat to speak. "Uhmmm... No. I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary." He formed a nervous smile as he belived these ponies in black suits recognized him from yesterday. Even though he also thought he snook away without being spotted.
The grey pegasus in the suit twisted a suspicious look. "Soarin', were you near any public locations? Like a town, creek... ot a forest?" he asked.
Soarin' could feel the fear in him grow. "I-I was at a forest yesterd-"
"Which forest?" the navy blue pegasus interrupted.
"The one between the Unicorn Ranges and the small town of Ponyville," Soarin' replied.
"Hmm... Mr. Soarin', we're going to have to ask you to please stay away from that area."
"Wait... Why? It's a forest, not private property!" Soarin' shouted, but then he put both fore hooves in his mouth as he realized how he replied to the Pegasus in the black suit. 'Stupid! Stupid! I'm so dead! I'm so dead! I AM SO DEAD!' he screamed in his mind.
"Captain Soarin', please watch your tone," the grey pegasus calmly said. "We don't wan't to cause a disturbance."
"Hehe, Sorry... Just lost it their for a second." Soarin' sheepishly smiled.
"Yes, well that's all we ask of you. Just stay away from that area. Trust me... It'll be for the good of all." Both suited pegasi made a stern stare at him, "Farewell." The two mysteries ponies turned around and took off.
Soarin' continued to gaze at the two until they were completely gone for sure. He sighed and entered his home once they vanished into the blue sky. "What was that all about?" Soarin asked himself.
"About what?" a voice asked him back.
Soarin' looked up and saw Rainbow standing in front of him. He didn't know what to do, he feared that she heard the whole conservation with those mysterious ponies in black suits. Soarin's mind raced to come up with a convincing excuse. "Uhhh... Nothing. I just heard a strange noise outside, and decided to check it out, yeah." He tried his best to facilitate a smile.
Rainbow shot a suspicious stare and raised an eyebrow. "Well, okay." She trotted away from him, still staring.
Soarin' continued to smile until she sat on the couch, and turned her attention toward the Tv. He took a deep breath, and headed back into the kitchen. Soarin' grabbed his coffee mug and took a sip of the coffee, and smiled. "Man, I wanted to drink this. But..." He looked at the clock on top of the kitchen counter. "I have thirty minutes. Better put on my uniform"
Soarin' exited the kitchen, and headed up the stairs into his and Rainbow Dash's room. Soarin' grabbed his captain uniform from the closet, which was an exact copy Spitfire wears when she trains the cadets. He smiled and hummed a tune while he got himself ready. But then frowned as he remembered the tall creature from yesterday and the ponies in black suits with sunglasses.
'Who are they? Did they see me and Aurie in that forest yesterday? But what was that tall thing? It didn't even look like a griffon. I hope it's just a some animal from the Everfree or from someplace else.'
Soarin' finished putting on his uniform, and strapped on his saddlebags. Then he looked himself in the mirror next to the closet, just to see if he had to make any slight adjustments. He, however, saw his tie was loose and straightened it.
"Well, time to go," Soarin' said to himself. He flew out of his room and back down stairs. Soarin' was about to enter the kitchen again to grab his coffee mug, until, "Dad, look!" Aurora called him from the living room.
Soarin' turned around and came into the living room. "What is it?" he asked.
"Look what's going on." Aurie pointed a fore hoof at the television.
Soarin' glanced at the TV, and made a gawking stare. "What in the...?"
They had the channel on the news. The anchormare stated all the information on what was showing. "This just in: Ponies from around Equestria have been reporting to hear strange noises, and tall creatures near their homes. They have said that the sounds are completely out of the ordinary, and come from both the ground and sky. But witnesses have also said the tall creatures appear at the exact same time with the noises."
"This is really surprising, but I have to get to work," Soarin' said, he began to make his way to the front door.
"Aww, I wish you can stay!" Aurora came up to her dad and hugged him. Soarin' smiled and tightly hugged her back. "Ack! Not so tight!" Aurie croaked.
"Sorry." Soarin' took a step outside and was about to take off, until he felt a powerful turn him back around. "Woah! Oh, hehe... Hi," he smiled at the mare directly in his face.
"Where's my hug?" Rainbow had bedroom eyes and a sly smile. "Well, I'm waiting."
"Uhhmm..." Soarin' blushed. "It's-"
He felt his lips connect with hers. Both of them deeply blushed and closed their eyes to enjoy the moment. "Mmm..."
"Eww! Gross!" Aurora groaned in disgust, she put a hoof in her mouth as she felt her stomach's inner contents rising up her esophagus. "I'll be in my room- bleh!" she let out a gag while she trotted away.
The couple shortly separated after their daughter left.
"...Well," Dash said.
"Well, what?"
"Well, it's my turn to rest for the day, since Spitfire gave me the permission after that long trip to Manehattan. And you better get going."
"Oh, yeah right!"
Soarin' stepped outside again, and flew away from his cloud home.
"Bye!" Rainbow shouted and waved as he got further away.
Soarin' grinned as he flew though the air. The day almost appeared perfect, even if it was rough at the beginning with those ponies in black suits. He constantly observed his surroundings, not a single sign of trouble or annoying fans.
"Hi, Soarin'!" a voice happily shouted at him.
The Wonderbolt winced as he believed it was going to be a fan to stop him. "Not now. I'm going to be late," he glanced to the source of the voice, but smiled as it turned out to be a filly on a cloud with her father. "Hi!" Soarin' waved back at the child.
The filly giggled and her father waved back at him. "Well, that turned out nice." Soarin' said to himself.
After a few more minutes of flying, he finally arrived at the Wonderbolt HQ. Soarin' pushed open the doors of the tall, proud floating structure. The place was unusually empty, since usually many other Wonderbolts or the crew travelled up and down the corridors like a busy day at a popular restaurant. Soarin' stopped at a hallway intersection, he looked up at a sign hanging from the ceiling. There were three arrows that pointed in different directions; one pointed to the left saying 'Offices', then another to the right saying 'Mess Hall'.
The last one pointed up ahead toward the gym. Soarin' made his way to the left, and looked for his office. He located his workplace that had his name marked with bold letter words on the door window. "Let's see what I have to do today," he said while he got the keys from his saddlebag.
Soarin' put the key in the door knob and turned it to the right to unlock it. His office space was quite large in size, the floor was in a dark blue and grey design. A carpet mat sat in the middle of the room with the Wonderbolt logo on it. He had two broad wooden shelves on both sides of the room. The right shelf contained photos of him in during his performances, some of him with the team, and his family. There were also small golden models of a Wonderbolt flyer. The left shelf contained all the hand guides of training and regulations around the HQ. On the other side of the room where Soarin' stood was a wooden oak desk that he kept clean at all times.
"Let's see what we have here." Soarin' came around his desk, and sat in his office chair. "Paper work... Great," he said sarcastically as paper work was one of the things he disliked. Soarin' unstrapped his saddlebags and placed them to the side, he rested the coffee mug on top of the desk, and grabbed the first sheet of paper from the right drawer from the desk.
"Oh damn... Not good." Soarin' had to fill out a paper that was directed to a cadet being dropped from the training program. He sighed and grabbed a pen, then began to fill the form. "They come and go..."
Soarin' finished the form, and placed in a tray of filled out papers. Seeing a cadet being dropped was painful to any Wonderbolt. He grabbed the next paper and carefully studied it before he started writing. "New cadets, new players, possible future Wonderbolts." The Wonderbolt began to write on the paper that stated the new arrival of pegasi to the Wonderbolts. He finished signing and placed it in the tray .
"What's next?" he grabbed the next sheet and placed it in front of him. "Okay... This is one is about... Hmm?"
Soarin' garnered a confused look at the paper before him. "Sighting of unknown object in sky? Unknown thing also spotted near the academy and near the town of Ponyville? It was just like the news was saying... Civilians were hearing strange noises and that tall thing walking around." Soarin' continued to read the paper in full attention, it got more surprising the farther he read into it. "Woah... More security has been added to the HQ and academy. Sign your signature if you understand the changes." Soarin' read the last part out loud. "I do understand the changes," he signed his signature and placed the paper in the finish tray.
The Wonderbolt looked back into the open drawer to grab the next the sheet, but surprisingly there was only a single unfilled file left. Soarin' leaned to grab it, but stopped when he heard noises from outside of the office. He looked back up and saw the hallway outside was alive with activity.
'When did everypony show up?' Soarin thought in his mind as other Wonderbolts and crew members flew or trotted outside in the hall. Soarin' stared at the window on the door for a few more seconds, then back at the paper in the drawer. "This one is just simple. Cadet graduation not that far from this day. Needs everypony to be there... I'm in."
Soarin' sighed in relief as he finished the last of his paperwork, he shut the drawer closed and leaned back against the chair. He stared at his desk but noticed the small picture frame on the left upper corner of it. Soarin' smiled and leaned forward to grab the image. 'There she is... My sweet little daughter.' The photo displayed the image of him flying with Aurora on top of his head laughing. Soarin' could feel his heart melt as the smile of his daughter brightened him up.
"Enjoying the photo?" a voice asked.
"Huh?"
Soarin' took his eyes away from the image and looked ahead. "I guess knocking no longer works anymore?" he asked.
"Nope."
Spitfire stood in front of his desk with a grin. She was also wearing her captain uniform. "So, how is my little niece doing?" she asked. Even though Aurora wasn't technically her niece, but she loved her as one. Since Spitfire and Soarin' were like brother and sister to each other. "And you better not be scaring her!" Spitfire glared.
"She's doing great! But, yeah... I scared her just a teeny, tiny bit." Soarin' formed a sheepish smile.
"Soarin', you know I don't like when she gets scared." Even if Spitfire wasn't a mother herself, the motherly instincts in her kicked in as she also loved and cared for the filly with all her heart. Spitfire approached the desk and came face to face with Soarin', with a intimidating stare. "I swear I will demote you if you keep on frightening her. Got it?" she growled.
Soarin' gulped and began to sweat; the fear in him began to rise tremendously. Even if Spitfire was his best friend in the Wonderbolts, she was still scary if you got her on her bad side.
"Y-Yes, M-Ma'am," he stuttered.
Spitfire pressed on the stare, the cold look in her eyes was going to make Soarin' faint. But then she happily grinned widely.
"Just kidding! You should've seen yourself!" Spitfire began to laugh and point a fore hoof at him. Soarin' sighed in relief and shook his head. "Phew... I thought you were actually being serious!
"Oh, come on! You're my close friend, Soarin'! You think I would do that to you?"
"No, you're just able to put lon an evil look to scare anypony. But changing the subject, why is their an increase in security?"
"Ah, the military bases and cities just anxious over the sighting of objects and lights in the sky. I think they're just mistaking us Wonderbolts, other pegasi, and stars. They act like if the situation is critical."
Soarin' stared at the ceiling and shook his head, annoyed. "Wow, is that the reason for the security concerns?"
"Well, we also got that tall creature walking around the academy and the town of Ponyville," Spitfire replied.
"But even if it's near Wonderbolt property, how could it possibly reach us? The academy is on a tall plateau, that is nearly impossible to climb, and the HQ is floating up high in the air."
"Don't worry. But did you finish some of your work?" Spitfire asked.
"Surprisingly, yeah." Soarin' looked back into the empty drawer. "But I can't believe graduation is right around the corner."
"I know! The newbies are all excited for their graduation! I'm actually gonna miss teaching them," Spitfire sighed and meekly smiled. "But then again some of them might actually stay with the team for a long time."
Soarin' chuckled and looked back at the photo he had in his right fore hoof. He couldn't stop staring at the image he loved so much. "I wonder if I should take Aurie to the graduation day?" he asked Spitfire.
The fiery Pegasus' face lit up with excitement. "You should! She would love it!"
"Alright, but I hope she doesn't too excited if she's round any other Wonderbolts besides us."
"Haha, the kid is sometimes like her mom. But I have to go, see you around!" Spitfire turned around and trotted toward the office door. She smiled and waved back at him before she stepped outside.
Soarin' returned the gesture, and rotated the office chair at the window behind. He could see the cadets flying around the academy, even though they appeared like tiny specks by how far they were. 'It's just a small matter of time before they become actual Wonderbolts' Soarin' thought to himself, and smirked. He got off of his chair and proceed toward the door. "Some breakfast sounds right now."
Soarin' felt his stomach grumble, he grunted as his hunger rised. Since he only had coffee in the morning, and not an actual meal. He opened the office door open and scanned both sides of the hallway. The rush of pegasi from earlier subsided, now it was like a calm wave washing over the Headquarters. Soarin' took a right and headed for the Mess hall, his stomach growled more as he got closer. 'Damn... My stomach won't leave me alone today!'
Soarin' pushed open the Mess Hall doors open, the room was filled with Wonderbolts and members of the crew. He passed a few tables that were empty, then reached the front counter.
"Hi!" the mare pegasus that operated at the counter greeted.
"Let's see... Hmm..." Soarin' stared at the menu that hanged from the ceiling above the counter. "I think I'll have an Apple Pie for today."
"Sure!" the pegasus trotted away from, then came back a few second later with the pie. She placed it in front of him and smiled, which was returned. "Here you go, Captain Soarin'. Have a nice day!"
"Hey, thanks."
Soarin' trotted to an empty table and sat down. He started to water in his mouth as the sweet scent of the pie went into his nostrils. 'Oh, this smells so good!' The Wonderbolt took the first bite out of the delicious meal, and grinned widely. "Mmm... Pie never gets old." He began to take more bites out of it at a faster pace.
"Hey, did you hear about what happened in Appleloosa?" a voice asked.
"No, what is it something bad?" another voice asked back.
"Nah, it's way out of the ordinary!"
Soarin' overheard the conversation and turned toward the source of the voices. It turned out to be two security guards on their break.
"So, what happened then?" the first guard asked the other.
"Well, a farmer in Appleloosa came out if his home, and saw a bunch of metal objects scattered all over his front yard. He said there was a trail of the parts, so he followed it and turned out to be a crash site of a large machine!"
"Pffftt... This is a joke, right? You're just making this up!"
'Woah... Weird. This is exactly what happened between me and Aurie!' Soarin' was surprised to see the exact situation happen between these two security guards like it happened to him and Aurora in the past, with the ghost story nonsense. Soarin' paid more close attention to the guards while he ate.
"No! This actually happened! My uncle told me because he lives nearby the place, and everything was completely carted away."
"Who carted it away? The Royal Guard?" the first security guard asked again.
"It's kind of weird actually. He said that nopony was allowed to get near the place. These ponies in black suits showed up with these guards in grey armor than the golden type guards, the ones you see around Canterlot," the second guard replied.
"Yeah, those guys are Celestia's guards in the golden armor. They're the largest force to protect her and all of Equestria. But Luna's guards are rarely seen, and probably the smallest sector of the Military."
"But I'm telling you... There's something weird going around."
Soarin' was now shocked to hear the ponies in black suits, like the ones who had visited him, were now in Appleloosa involved in some mysterious crash site of a machine. Soarin' finished his pie and threw the rest away in a trash can, he was still marred by the story of the ponies in black suits. He went down the hallway again and back into his office, the room was bright at first by the sunlight washing over the room through the window.
Soarin' squinted his eyes, but then they adjusted to the light. He sat back in the office chair, and looked at the photo he loved. Soarin' grabbed it again, staring at it with a warm smile. "This is never going to leave me, but- Hmm?" Soarin' noticed something in the background of the photos in the top left corner. He studied it closer and raised an eyebrow, he noticed three stars in the sky. Soarin' was confused on how three stars were visible in the blue sky, the time when the photo was taken was around midday. "What are stars doing there?"
The stars were in a horizontal formation, not in random locations that most are seen. They almost appeared to form an object of some sort, quite large in size. Soarin' shrugged and put the photo back in place. "Must be some wierd distortion or effect of the camera. But what time is it?" Soarin' looked at the clock on the right shelf, and saw he had some hours to go before he could leave. "Damn... I still have a long time before I'm free. This is going to be a long day. I think..." Soarin' opened another drawer of the desk, and saw more papers waiting to be filled out.
"...Wow."
-----------
Soarin' strapped on his saddlebags and placed the empty coffee mug in his bags. The day was rapidly approaching dusk, the sky was turning to a violet color, and the rest behind was a dark blue, starry sky. Soarin' shut the blinds of the office windows, and pushed the office chair into the desk. He then made sure everything was in place and secure for the night.
"I think that's it. Well, time to head on home now," Soarin' said to himself, with a smile.
He trotted toward the front door of the office, then locked it once he was on the outside. Soarin' proceeded down the hallway at a normal pace, most other offices had the lights off by the members that had left earlier in the day. But Soarin' noticed other Wonderbolts doing paperwork due to their hours covering most of the day and night.
'I am so glad that I'm not one of them.' he thought to himself.
He pushed open the front doors, and gazed at the horizon. The sun's light was barely glowing to give the day a speck of light. Soarin' felt the cold night air touch him, he slightly shivered and took off before the air got colder. The sun shortly disappeared beneath the world, the moon was slowly rising to greet the night sky.
"Another day finished," Soarin' said to himself.
The Wonderbolt could see the houses he had passed by earlier in the morning. Most pegasi were already in their homes, but few were still outside. Soarin' saw his cloud home come into view, the majority of lights were still on, meaning his family was still awake. "They're still awake? Aurie better be asleep, she has school tommorow," Soarin made a small frown of concern. The Wonderbolt landed on the front door, and knocked.
"Coming!" Rainbow's voice responded.
While Soarin' waited for the door to be opened, he looked up at the moon. It was a full moon, the time when more amounts of light brightened the night. A shooting star suddenly zoomed past the floating white orb, then disappeared out of sight. "Are we ever going to go beyond this planet? I hope we'll do that so- Huh?" Soarin' noticed five other stars moving across the night sky. They had some distance from each other, but formed a large V-shape. The lights suddenly disappeared like the shooting star.
"Are you going to stay right there? Or are you going to come inside, because it's cold out here." Rainbow's voice said from behind.
"Huh?" Soarin' glanced at the mare. "Oh, Uhh... No."
The stallion entered the cozy warmth of his home. The Tv was on, meaning Dash was watching it. Soarin' unstrapped the saddlebags off of him, and placed them next to the couch. He went up to Rainbow and placed a kiss on her cheek. "I'll be back. I'm just going to get my uniform off of me," Soarin announced.
"I'll be waiting for you," Rainbow replied, heading toward the couch. "Also don't wake up Aurie. She's asleep."
The stallion flew up the stairs and into his room. He looked at himself in the mirror to take off his uniform and tie, but then yawned as the exhaustion of a days end came over him. 'Ugh, I'm started to feel tired already. Well at least I'm home.' he thought in his mind.
"Hey, there," a voice said.
Soarin' immediately turned his head at the doorway. "R-Rainbow? I thought you were going to wait for me downstairs?"
"Got bored... Am I interrupting something?"
"Uhmm... No. But how did you get bored so quick?"
Rainbow Dash approached the stallion, both of them looked at themselves in the mirror. The made rested her head on Soarin's left shoulder. "Soarin', you've known me for a long time, you know how I am. But how was your day?" she asked.
"It was great, but it was just as everyday working as a Wonderbolt. Except Spitfire almost scared the living daylights out of me ."
"Really?" Rainbow let out a quiet laugh to not wake up their daughter. "What did she do?"
"Well, she threatened to demote if I continued to scare Aurie with the stories I tell her. But then she ended up laughing and it was a joke because the look I had on my face."
"You and the stories you tell her. You deserved that from Spitfire."
Soarin' also let out a quiet laugh, and rested his head on top of Dash's. "Fine. I won't tell her anymore scary stories from now on."
Both blue pegasi were slowly starting to fall sleep, the young couple stared at each in the mirror with tired eyes, smiling. Rainbow closed her eyes and yawned. Soarin' was also about to close his eyes, but he remembered some of the lights and appliances were still on.
"I'm going to to turn off the Tv and the lights downstairs," Soarin' announced.
"No, I got it," Rainbow replied back, slowly opening her eyes.
"No, it's okay. You can go to sleep. I'll be back up here quick."
Soarin' trotted out of the room, and headed back downstairs. He grabbed the remote of the Tv to turn it off, but instead he viewed what was on. The channel was on sports but the commercials were on instead, saying, "Tommorow on Equestria's Mysteries channel... Were our ancestors visited by celestial beings from above and beyond our world?" the narrator announced. Images and cave drawings of beings next to ponies were displayed. Are we somehow connected to these-"
"Weird things showing on Tv nowadays," Soarin said, shutting off the television with a single press of a button.
He turned away and began to turn off all the lighting in the house. Soarin' finished and made his toward the bedroom, but instead headed for Aurora's. He quietly peeked his head around the doorway, and saw Aurora still awake, staring out the window. "Aurora, you're still up?" he asked.
"Huh?" Aurie turned her head at him, surprised to see her dad. "Oh, I'm sorry," she frowned.
Soarin' noticed something was wrong with his daughter. "Aurie, are you okay? Is there something you need to talk about?" he began to approach her.
"No, it's just," Aurora turned her head away. "I... Uhh..."
Soarin' sat on her bed. "Aurie? Tell me what's wrong," he asked in a concerned voice.
"D-dad," Aurora slowly turned around to face him. Her lips quivered and the corner of her eyes were brimming with tears. "I-I..."
Soarin' was shocked to see his daughter deeply troubled. He hugged the filly and softly rubbed her mane. "What's wrong, Aurie?" he asked in a gentle voice.
"Dad, I'm still scared by Sky Demons."
Soarin' closed his eyes and shook his head. 'Dammit! I'm so stupid! Ugghhh... Why did I have to tell her that stupid story!?' he punished himself inwardly. "Aurie, they're not real. I made that up, remember?"
"I know, but... I hear them. Dad, I'm not crazy, I don't want you to think I'm crazy. I actually hear them."
"Aurie, I don't think you're crazy, but I think it's your imagination playing you. But..."
"But what?"
"Do you want to sleep with us tonight?" Soarin' asked with a reassuring smiled.
"Yay!" Aurora cheered, hugging her dad with a tighter grip.
"Alright, let's go." Soarin' got off the bed, Aurora happily hopped off and followed her father. Both of them entered the other bedroom. Rainbow was already asleep, Soarin' made his way toward his side of the bed, and layed down. Come on," he whispered. Aurora hovered above the bed and softly landed between her parents.
"Thanks, dad." Aurora smiled and snuggled closer to her dad'.
Soarin' pulled the sheets over to cover themselves, he also wrapped a wing around her for more comfort. "Always here for you..."
The Wonderbolt family peacefully fell asleep.
"Safe," a ghostly voice whispered. "Safe for now... Tomorrow is another day."