Two weeks had passed; Sapphire had taken over control of the mission and had just gotten used to the new role. Icarus was active now, the plan was in effect, but what plan? That was the crux of her situation, they had no intelligence about the current workings of the Solar Empire aside from what they had gleaned from being part of the army, and Sapphire had to make it up as she went along. So the former Lieutenant did what she was taught to do; plan, organise and resist.
Fortunately they had some direction; Jade had been 'thinking out loud' near some of the stall vendors in Ponyville and some of the weather workers in Cloudsdale, with some work Jade was convinced that some would join a resistance, in fact the pegasi of Cloudsdale seemed quite open to the idea that Celestia was not all she seemed. They had to be careful who they invited but for the first time in, well ever, Sapphire thought they had a chance to pull this thing off.
Jade had gone to Cloudsdale to head the movement there while Nova stayed back in Ponyville, keeping an eye on the Avatars. With any luck they would have a few trustworthy ponies to expand the network into Manehattan and Los Pegasis.
Sapphire's horn glowed as she created a magical sphere in front of her face. She looked around one last time, making sure that no one else was in the bathroom with her before finishing the spell.
“Starr?” Nova's voice came though the orb as his face appeared “Anything wrong?”
“Just checking in NK, what's happening.” She said warmly
“Nothing new is up LT, Jade set off yesterday, she made some friends in Cloudsdale that are already putting her up, and a few more here have offered their support here, but aside from that we're condition yellow, same as yesterday.” Nova said, the tone of somepony disliking being micromanaged was evident in his voice
“Thanks for the update Kilo.” Sapphire said a little crestfallen
Nova's eyes widened a little “Ok, How are you doing?” He asked with concern
“Its quite here without Night.” She said distantly
“I know what that can be like, letting Jade go...”
“What do you mean 'letting Jade go'” Sapphire said with warm shock
“... I thought you knew, we're an item, have been for a while. Anyway I know what it's like to see somepony you care about put duty first.”
“But we're not... what gave you the impression that there was a 'we'!?!” Sapphire exclaimed, half amused and half denying
“Oh, come on Starr, its not like you listened to those dusty old regs on fraternisation.” Nova said incredulously “Regs that are 1003 years out of date I might add”
“A relationship would just complicate the situation.” Sapphire retorted dismissively
“OK Starr.” Nova said with a disbelieving smirk
“It would!” She said defensively
“Hey, I'm not disagreeing, we just thought you'd make a cute couple.” Nova teased
“Well you can stop”
“Aye ma'am” His tone had a mocking inflection to it
“And what did you mean by putting duty first?” She followed up
“The easiest way of thinking about it is... the reason I'm with her is because of everything about her, She is a soldier first. It rips my heart out every time I see her go, but I wouldn't have her any other way.” Nova said with a nostalgic sigh
“How long?” Sapphire's eyes widened
“About a year now”
“Wow, how serious?”
“I... I think I love her Starr.”
“Must be... nice... to have somepony like that.”
***
“So I had this idea...” Spitfire said over the sound of Jazz
They were in this little basement down one of the narrow alleyways in Manehattan. It was cramped, there was about one hundred ponies in this little room, with a tiny stage where five musicians played wild beats. Icarus recognised one of them as some Illustrious cello player, who had traded in her cello for a double bass and her normally upper class performances for this pit. The walls were covered in memorabilia, old cigarette advertisements and bits and pieces that held no meaning to him, but looked like they were sentimental to somepony. It was dirty, crowded and loud, there were plenty of other places that preformed that were a lot cleaner and less crowded, but that wasn't Jazz. Jazz, Icarus believed, wasn't about cover fees or forced ambiance, it was about the love of music, peace and freedom.
He wasn't sure the team agreed. When he told them he had found this place the day after they had arrived they were open to the idea, but most of the others had headed on back to their accommodations after a few hours and as midnight rolled around only he and Spitfire remained, along with the crowd that had whittled down from one hundred to about ten.
“Huh?” Icarus said drunkenly, he on about his thirteenth Stine of Sweet Apple Acres Cider
“I said I had this idea.” Spitfire repeated, matching his slur, her being on about sixteen “This crazy, stupid, awesome idea.”
“The best ones always are.” Icarus said with a drunken smile “Do you see that Mare over there?”
“Which one?” Spitfire said, sitting up and squinting
“That one, right there, up there.” He said pointing a hoof at the stage
“Yeah.” Spitfire said nodding “The famous Octavia, why?”
“Yeah, now she, she is a true musician. She is that good she has made it into the royal orchestra right?”
“Yeah, what's your point?”
“Just that she's got all of the glitz and glamour, but she still comes here to play Jazz in a dingie basement. You know, she's made it, you know, but she's stayed real.” Icarus mused thoughtfully
“I'm still not seeing your point.” Spitfire cocked her head confused
“I'm not sure I had one.” Icarus said distantly “Anyway, you were saying something about a 'crupsome' idea?”
“'Crupsome'?” She quirked an eyebrow
“Crazy, Stupid, Awesome. Just came up with it”
Spitfire laughed “Sound better in your head right?”
“Eh?” Icarus shrugged with a sheepish smile “Anyway, idea?”
'Right” Spitfire said refocusing “What happens if you combine a Solstice Trail Blaze with an Eclipse?”
“About a ninety nine percent chance of a certain pony getting sucked into a singularity” Icarus said drily
“Oh really, that high?” She said incredulously
“Any other pony it would be one hundred percent, you I'd give a snow pony's chance in hell.” Icarus joked thoughtfully
Spitfire giggled “Ok, so hypothetically, then, if we pulled it off?”
“If we pulled it off... I dunno, the flames would be pulled into the singularity, but what would happen after that I don't know.”
“Don't you think it would be awesome though?” She asked with a distant sigh
“Have you ever broken the sound barrier Spitfire?”
“A few times, why?”
“Have you noticed that no pony has ever done it in synch?”
“Sure they have.”
“Not in perfect synch, that's what we'd have to do. If you get too far ahead I'll catch on fire, if you fall behind you'll get sucked into the singularity.”
“So it will be difficult...”
“Next to impossible”
“But we're Wonderbolts! We take impossible and do... something to it.”
“Something?”
“Yeah, something”
“Alright, I do think it would be awesome”
***
His head throbbed, hangover. He brought a hoof across his face, brushing his mane out of his face. He sat up and looked out the window of his hotel suite. About mid afternoon by his reckoning. He then jumpped up with startled relisation.
“Ponyfeathers, the performance!” he said tossing his crumpled blanket off his body
As he came placed a hoof down on the floor it came into contact with soft and breathing.
“Ahh!” Spitfire's scream came from underneath him, causing Icarus to slide and fall, smacking his head on the banister.
“Buck!” he yelled out in pain as Spitfire clutched her stomach, writhing in pain
“What the hell!?!” She said getting up with a confused expression
“We have a performance in half an hour” he said pointing to the clock with one hoof and clutching his forehead with the other (while balancing upright on his back legs)
“Oh buck.” She said scolding her self “I feel like someone dropped a anvil on my head.”
“Yeah, me to -” Icarus's eyes widened “Why are you in my suite?”
“Ugh, not now Night. Implications of that magnitude can be dealt with later”
“Alright, alright, where's my costume?”
So they spent the next quarter of an hour putting on their costumes, it took longer than they thought because they had gotten them mixed up. Icarus copped another blow to the head after his flank ripped a hole in Spitfire's, fortunately they had a unicorn seamstress on staff so it was a quick fix. Finally they bolted out of the door and headed off to the Manehattan stadium, arriving just as Soarin' was finishing talking to the reporter preamble.
“... As I said she's off preparing for this new thing, It will be like nothing you've seen before.”
Both Icarus's and Spitfire's eyes widened and they turned to each other in shock. They both rushed to Soarin' as he stepped down off the podium.
“Uh, Soarin'” Spitfire said with feign diplomacy “What did you just tell the reporters?”
“About that thing you came and woke me up about at seven in the morning, not appreciated by the way” He said narrowing his eyes with annoyance
“Ok, what exactly did I say?” She said, fury building in her voice
“'Soarin', Soarin', Soarin' shshshshs'” he said faking a slurred tone “I have this plan, this show is going to be awesome.' and then I said 'huh? What do you want Spitfire?' and you said 'ssssshhhhhhh, we're gonna break the sound barrier Soarin', me and Night, at the same time, its going to be amazing.'”
Icarus could see it was taking all of Spitfire's effort to keep a lid on her frustration
“and then I asked where you were going and you said 'I'm going to see if Night is still awake' while you gi-”
“Ok, that last part can be dealt with at a later time.” Icarus interrupted as Spitfire's face flushed with embarrassment that in no way undermined her anger “You think that maybe Spitfire was, I dunno, drunk?”
“Hm,” Soarin' mused “I guess that would make the way she was talking make more sense, but dude, it was like seven in the morning... seven!”
'Just get the Buck outta here Soarin'!” Spitfire yelled finally
Soarin' gave them a confused look before trotting off
“OK boss, what do we do?” Icarus asked warmly
“I guess we go tell them that Soarin' was miss informed... And then we explain that we were on the turps last night and how this miss understanding occurred.” She said with resignation in her voice
“Or we do it.” The words seemed to just come out of Icarus's mouth
“Night, we haven't practised it, and its really dangerous. If one of us bucks it up...”
“We won't.” His resolution came from somewhere he didn't recognise, but it was real, it felt real at least, and he honestly believed what he was saying
“How do you know that? You were the one who was down on it last night.” she relied, doubt shaking her voice
“I know it because we're Wonderbolts, not only that we're Icarus and Spitfire.”
She smiled warmly “Ok, we'll give it a shot. The others can do the normal manoeuvres, I'll do the Trail Blaze, you'll do the eclipse and then we'll do the combination”
“Alright, I'll go talk to Soarin' about the change in plans.” Icarus said, trotting off as Spitfire sighed heavily
“Its Spitfire and Icarus, by the way.” she said calling out to him.
***
They both sat in the pavilion. Spitfire was worrying but Icarus sat their in silent contemplation. This was no different then practice, aside from the thousands of ponies looking on. But even during practice the mortality was still there. This explanation calmed Spitfire somewhat but she was still worried.
Soarin' had led the other manoeuvres, quite well too. Their wings beat in perfect harmony and didn't strike each other as they flew past. They split up and headed in five different directions and then flew back along the same path at near Mach one, heading for a collision. They missed each other narrowly, their storm trail creating a perfect pentagon where they nearly missed.
Finally after a few booms and impressive manoeuvres they came in.
“When ever you're ready guys” Soarin' said as he sat down at the pavilion
Spitfire looked down with concentration before turning to the stadium with determination in her eyes
She took off, gracefully gliding around the stadium. She had only taken a few beats of her wings while she climbed, after that it was up and down, loops and corners with nothing but that inertia and outstretched wings. After about a minute of that she flew into the centre of the stadium and flew upwards. She aligned her self so that she was in-between the crowd and the sun, its light absorbing her body. She then reappeared, only now her mane looked like it was on fire, the warm flames licking the air behind her as she rapidly yet gracefully sped towards the ground. The flames continued to engulf her; her tail set alight, her feathers on her legs and finally her wings glowed with dangerous light. A trail started to form behind her, as if the air was now igniting. As she got closer to the ground she pulled up into a tight loop. She followed the loop again almost perfectly, and then did one with the same diameter but in a different direction, like she was orbiting a planet. The trail and loops began to merge until it looked like a perfect sphere, like she had taken the power of the sun and brought it down into the centre of this stadium. Finally she slowed and came to a halt in front of her ball of light and rose her wings up and looked to the sky. The fact that she was panting took nothing away from the awesomeness of the vista as the sun orb softly faded into nothingness.
She trotted in, with a cocky smile “You're turn now Icarus.” She said with a heavy breath
He rolled his eyes with a competitive smirk and trotted out onto the field. He started much the same way as he did at his audition, starting slowly to build anticipation and act like he was nervous. Taking off slowly then hitting about three hundred kilometres an hour in about three seconds. Gliding around the obsticals, though not nearly as gracefully as Spitfire. Then he began his assent. All these questions began circulating in his mind; Has she ever been this high? Does she know she'll get light headed when she gets too high? Why am I doubting her now? Finally he reached the apex of his climb as he was about to lose conciousness. He came down, beating a few powerful strokes with his wings to get his speed up. The boom hit, the black light formed and ripped a trench in the stadium, the crowd seemed to love that part. There was no waterfall this time but he could see some low lying clouds, beating his wings again to keep up speed he made for them. As he passed through the centre of one he looked back to see it slowly pulled into his trail, its oblivion celebrated by a beautiful but alien green light as the trail dissipated. After a lazy bank and a few more clouds he came back to the stadium and slowly glided past.
Spitfire was waiting. She took flight and joined him
“Ok, three circuits then we meet in the middle and make our assent.”
Icarus nodded, he was breathing to heavily to reply. They glided around the stadium in perfect synchronisation. On the third revolution Icarus looked at Spitfire for a signal. When it came they both kicked off the air at the same time and pulled up just before they collided and began to ascend. Icarus, having the bigger wingspan, was worried about going to fast, but it turned out Spitfire's respite made her more than his equal, but as they got higher and higher she was starting to feel the strain. He could see it when he glanced at her, the lack of oxygen was clouding her. He wanted to give her encouragement, but if he did then he would be in the same situation; Icarus simply had to have faith that she could make it on her own. He began the long exhale as the air was too thin to do anything, Spitfire mimicked him while continuing to force her body upwards with wings that did less and less. The reached a height he was happy with, he tapped Spitfire softly with his hoof. She looked at him and nodded. At the same time they spread their wings and fore legs and fell away from each other. This time he had to use his wings like air brakes to slow him for Spitfire's decent. He felt the heat as she ignited. They were getting closer and closer to Mach speeds, each pulling in front of the other, then falling back. They were at the threshold, and they were at it for some time, the ground's detail gaining more and more resolution as the compression wave in front of them got stronger and stronger. Icarus had to literally punch the sky to break through. The boom was going to be loud, but it shouldn't have been that loud, and it shouldn't have thrust them both forward. As the Manoeuvre continued they went faster and faster, going at a speed nopony had gone before. The ground was getting really big now, they both started to pull up. Icarus felt his hoof tap the ground. They headed up again, giving Icarus a chance to look back on their combined trail; The fire of the Solstice Trail Blaze had merged with the singularity of the Eclipse, but rather than being obliterated, it detonated... whatever the singularity was made out of. The fire cycled through the all the colours of the spectrum.
They then batted their wings in together, flying away from each other and headed back to the Stadium. Spitfire was still alight as they both stopped next to each other, he then noticed he himself had a glowing black aura. He noticed in the pavilion two unicorns with glowing horns. The ringing in his ears from the boom subsided somewhat and he could here the tapping of hooves and deafening cheering. They both looked at each other, panting, but with proud smiles. They extended their wings and bowed.
***
“Please tell me that's the only time we're going to try that.” Spitfire said with an ironic tone
The evening had been a battle through the crowds and reporters when they were just simply exhausted and wanted to head home. Their costumes were drenched in sweat but with all the attention they hadn't the time to go get changed. Spitfire was tight lipped as always about how she manages to set her self on fire, though Icarus suspected it had something to do with those unicorns. He rolled his eyes at the one thousandth joke about how he was flying to close to the sun. After seemingly hours of that one of the unicorns from earlier saw their wearied state and teleported them back to the hotel.
“That's the only time we're going to have to do that.” Icarus replied with a monotone voice as they walked the hallway to their rooms
“OK, now tell me honestly.” She said with a sight
“You know Cloudsdale will want to see that.” Icarus said with smirk
“Well it was kind of awesome” Spitfire said distantly
“It was the definition of awesome, the spectators were literally in awe.” Icarus said with proud resignation as he stopped at his door
“That they were” Spitfire said, turning to face him
Their eye's locked for a second, Spitfire looked at him with animal lust. Icarus was so tired, but that sight kind of perked him up. Even the organic smell she reeked of seemed to work with her, like it was right.
“OK, well, I'm going to sleep off this hangover and tinnitus.” He said finally, deciding that he was far too fatigued to make the first move
“Mind if I join you?” Spitfire said in a low voice, obviously she was not.
“I thought we were dealing with the implications later.” Icarus said matching her pitch, but adding a jocular inflection
“Now is later” She said lowering her eyes in a seductive manner “And I think I'm done Implying”.