Chapter XIV
Taking Flight
Many years ago.
It was raining. Seemed appropriate for a funeral. Crow stood beside the other students as they lowered six coffins into the ground. The raven haired sixteen year old paid the crowd no mind to the whispers that had been circulating upon his return. He was on loan to another squad to gather important intel on a nearby bandit group that had been growing in strength over the course of a few months and he was put in charge. He succeeded in gathering the intel, but at the cost of his teammates. He was the only one that made it out alive.
He dropped a single black rose on each coffin and walked away from the funeral. Rose, Orion and Silver were drying themselves off when they saw the man walk past them. Orion could see his notorious thousand yard stare and paid them no mind as he walked down the hallway.
“I heard that he was the only one that made it.” Orion stated.
“And it was his call that got them killed.” A swift hit on the head got both boys’ attention and Rose was glaring at them.
“Knock it off guys.” She said in a stern tone. “Imagine how he’s feeling. He just lost his entire squad.” The two boys rolled their eyes at the words as they went down the corridor and joined the feast that was being held for the families. Rose and the others had recently taken the Ranger Trial, but only Crow and herself succeeded in passing. Crow sat alone at a table and quietly ate his food. Rose and the other two sat down across from the Ranger.
“Need something?” He asked in a stagnant tone.
“We just wanted to make sure you were okay.” Rose stated.
“Speak for yourself.” Orion and Silver said under their breath. That comment earned them each a dead leg from the girl.
“I’m fine.” He said in a flat tone. “I’m alive aren’t I?” Crow’s eyes still had that cold gleam to them that sent shivers down the trio’s spines.
“Look, accidents happen and-”
“Accident?” Crow stated. “What accident?” Rose looked at him in shock.
“The mission?”
“That was no accident, it went as I predicted it would happen.” The three mages looked at him with narrowed eyes. “I had a choice to make. The intel or the squad. I chose the intel.” Orion grabbed Crow by the collar and glared daggers through him with his sharp red eyes.
“You heartless bastard!” He yelled. Orion stopped as he felt all eyes on him and decided that this was the worst place for a fight. Crow stood up and went out into the hallway. The fuming trio followed him and Crow leaned against the wall after closing the door to the main hall. “I can’t believe what I’m hearing!” Orion yelled.
“That intel was invaluable in tracking down the bandit trade routes they use to smuggle slaves and drugs.”
“You sacrificed six lives!” Silver bellowed.
“To save hundreds, maybe thousands.” Crow stated as he started to walk away. He felt a firm hand grab him and force him up against the wall. Rosario stared at him with her dark green eyes and was clenching her teeth so hard that she thought they might crack.
“How can you just belittle their lives like that?”
“Don’t you get it yet?” He said in a stagnant tone. “This isn’t a game we’re playing here. We’re soldiers. Pawns. Weapons to be used to attain victory.” The man said as he broke free from the hold and adjusted his glasses. “Seeing your comrades die is part of what it means to be a warrior and if you can’t accept that then you don’t belong here.” The three mages stood frozen as the raven haired teenager continued his way down the hallway.
“Okay, now I definitely hate him.” Orion growled.
“Everything passes right through him I guess.” Silver said as he let out a sigh to calm his nerves.
“Guess that’s why his codename is Phantom.” Rose said as she and the other two rejoined the feast.
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Present.
It had been two weeks since Twilight’s parents had visited the small town of Ponyville and things had started to regulate around the small town. Cobalt was sitting in the park watching Scootaloo attempting to fly. The blue haired flyer was becoming a bit impatient with the girl’s progress. He’d spent close to two months training her and she’s shown little progress. She has the stamina and the form down, but it felt like something was missing. The girl fell on the ground and passed out from exhaustion. Again.
“What am I gonna do with you?” Cobalt said to no one in particular as he walked over to Scootaloo. As he looked down at her he could see the bruises from the training he had put her through and sighed. The blue haired flyer then heard footsteps and saw his sister walking up to him.
“Hey bro.” She smiled.
“Meh.” He face palmed.
“What’s eating you?” The water mage asked. Cobalt nodded towards the girl
“I’ve been training her for two months and there’s little to no progress!” He complained. “I’ve taught her every basic trick I know and still nothing.” Cobalt sighed. “It’s like there’s something missing. I don’t know what it is yet, but I’ll figure it out.” Azure put her finger to her chin and bit her lip as an idea came to her.
“Do you remember what dad did when you were learning how to fly?” Cobalt thought hard as he sifted through his memories. His eyes shot open and he huffed.
“Guess there’s no other choice.” He saw that the sun was starting to set and he motioned towards the still sleeping flyer. Azure waved her hand and a sphere of water the size of a basket ball appeared before them. The woman dropped the ball on Scootaloo and the girl shot up.
“Ninjas!” She yelled out in surprise. She looked down at her wet clothes and glared at the adults. “Hey what’s the big idea?” She yelled.
“Time to head home Scootaloo.” Cobalt stated. “Come back here tomorrow at around nine’o clock and bring your swimsuit.”
“Why?”
“Cause you’re gonna need it. Now get going before you miss the bus back to Cloudsdale.” He stated. Scootaloo huffed and got on her scooter before zipping off to the bus station. The siblings then made their way back towards the guild and kept quiet. Cobalt went up to his room to see Rouge sitting on their bed with her book in hand.
“Hey hun. How’d training go?” She asked as she closed the book.
“Okay I guess.” He sighed as he rubbed his chin. “You doing anything tomorrow?”
“Not really, why?”
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Scootaloo yawned as she made her way off the bus from Cloudsdale and went back to the field. She arrived a it earlier than usual and took the opportunity to stretch out. Soon she saw the blue haired flyer arrive with a smile on his face.
“Sleep well?”
“Yeah, I guess.” She said as she cracked her back.
“Good, you’ll need it.” He said as he cracked his back. “Quick question, since the start of the training have you been going to a masseuse?”
“A what?” Scootaloo asked.
“Have been going to Aloe and Lotus’s spa?” The girl looked at him in confusion and made a foul face.
“No way! That stuff is for frilly girls and is totally uncool.”
“Well, that changes today.” Cobalt stated. “You brought your swimsuit right?”
“No way!” Scootaloo yelled. “That stuff is for sissies!” Cobalt glared at her.
“It’s a part of your training.” Cobalt said as he started to walk down the path. “Trust me it’s an important element to help you fly.”
“How?” The girl whined.
“You’ll have to come to find out.” Scootaloo weighed her option and mumbled under her breath. The orange winged trainee continued to grumble as they approached the sweet smelling shop. Cobalt grinned as he saw Rouge, Rarity and Fluttershy. “Hey girls.” He said with a wave.
“Hello Cobalt.” Rarity said with a smile. “What brings you here?”
“Scoot needs to relax her muscles a bit and I figured that this would be the best place to go.” He ignored the girl mumbling to herself.
“Great idea. I could use a bit of R&R.” Rouge said as the group went inside. The group was greeted by the same pair of twins that they’d seen before. Cobalt and the girls got changed and met up at the hot tubs. Rouge joined her boyfriend while the other three took their individual ones.
“Oh man this feels good.” Cobalt stated.
“Divine as always.” Rarity chimed. Scootaloo kept the top half of her head above the water and grumbled. “Oh calm down dear, it’s not so bad.”
“If anyone catches me in here then my daredevil license will be revoked.” Scoot blurted out.
“Who told you that?”
“Rainbow Dash.” Cobalt rolled his eyes at the words. Over the course of their training Scootaloo had said countless things like ‘Rainbow Dash said this and Rainbow said that.’ The man let it slide and tipped his head back before speaking.
“It’s important to relax your muscles or else you could permanently damage them.” The flyer stated. “Everyone loves relaxing after a hard day’s work, even Rainbow Dash.”
“He right on that note.” Rouge said. “Cobalt here may be dumb, but when it comes to flying there’s no one better.” Scootaloo let out a mumble. Cobalt managed to make out something regarding to the rainbow haired flyer. Soon the two flyer got out and re clothed themselves. Cobalt paid the spa sisters and heard a rumble from the young girl’s tummy.
“You did eat breakfast this morning right?”
“Um, I forgot.” Cobalt face palmed at the words.
“C’mon, you’re gonna need your strength today.” Cobalt and Scootaloo made their way towards Sugar Cube Corner and saw the other two crusaders. The two girls walked up to Scootaloo with smiles on their faces.
“Howdy Scoot.” The apple farmer said with a grin.
“Hey guys.” Sweetie Belle sniffed the air and looked at her friend.
“Um Scootaloo,” Sweetie said as a small smile crept across her face. “why do you smell like Rarity after one of her spa visits?” Scootaloo’s face went bright red and gulped. Apple Bloom was biting her lip as she saw sweat forming on the orange flyer’s brow.
“He made me go!” Scootaloo pointed to the blue haired flyer.
“She went so her muscles could relax.” Cobalt said as the three entered the establishment. “I’m sure you two love a nice hot bath after a hard day of crusading.” Both of the girls tried to find a reason to combat the hard logic, but found no argument. The group found a booth and sat down while Pinkie gave them a stack of menus. “Eat up guys. My treat.”
“Really?” Scootaloo said with a smile.
“Course. You need your strength after all.” Cobalt smiled as Pinkie brought him a cup of coffee. Scootaloo ordered a large serving of pancakes with extra bacon. Sweetie and Apple Bloom each ordered a muffin.
“You sure it’s okay?” Scoot asked.
“Don’t worry about it.” Cobalt said as he waved the question off. “Go ahead eat like it’s your last meal.”
“Huh?” Scoot said as she shoveled another forkful of the fluffy pancakes into her mouth.
“Nothing. Just a saying we Academy folk use.” He chuckled. Scootaloo shrugged and went back to eating her breakfast. Fifteen minutes later the flyer was stuffed and let out a happy sigh. Cobalt paid the bill and the group walked out of the establishment. Scootaloo noticed that Cobalt was deep in thought.
“Head’s up yawl.” Apple Bloom said as she tugged on Scootaloo’s shirt. “Trouble ahead.” Scoot followed her friend’s gaze and saw the last two people she wanted to see. A girl about the same age as the trio wearing a tiara decorated with diamond studs that sat atop her light purple striped hair. The other had silver hair that was in a braid and a pair of pink glasses sat on her nose.
“Well, well, well, look what we have here Silver Spoon. A couple of no talent hacks.” The pink one said with a chuckle. “Shouldn’t you losers be off doing whatever it it that you do?”
“Just beat it Diamond Tiara.” The farmer stated as she rolled her eyes.
“Losers like you don’t get to boss us around.” Scootaloo was about to tackle the two but was stopped when she felt a hard hand on her shoulder.
“There a problem here?” Cobalt said as he looked at the two girls. His eyes were hardened and focused on the two girls. Silver and Tiara had seen the swordsman around Ponyville but never up close. “Is there any particular reason you’re picking on my student and her friends?”
“Th-they don’t have a special talent.” Silver said trying to hold her ground.
“Doesn’t mean they’ll never have one.” He said as he looked down at the trio. “They can do and become anything they want. Where your limits are already set and locked in place.” Tiara was grinding her teeth in anger.
“Well, at least I’m not dating an overgrown cockroach or training a talentless flyer.” The girl immediately regretted the words. The girls heard thunder and dark clouds appeared over their heads. The girls also saw arcs of lightning radiating off Cobalt’s body.
“It isn’t wise to insult a man’s girlfriend or student.” He said as he calmed down and the storm vanished from the sky. “I suggest you two beat it before you make me angry again.” The two bullies wisely and quickly ran away from the man who had a smug grin across his face. The trio looked at the man in surprise.
“That was awesome!” Scootaloo said with a wide grin.
“I had to deal with a lot of jerks like that when I was younger, course if you had beef with someone you could just break their legs and be done with it.” He chuckled. “Now before we get started I have a serious question to ask Scoot.”
“What?” Cobalt crouched down so that the two were eye level. Scootaloo gulped as she saw the seriousness in his eyes.
“Do you have a crush on anyone?” Scootaloo felt her face go red at the question and shook her head.
“What!?” She said in a higher pitched tone. Both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle giggled at their friend’s reaction.
“I’m asking you if you have feelings for someone.” He said with a grin. “You know someone you have close to you.” Nope. She hadn’t heard wrong.
“N-No I-”
“His name’s Pipsqueak.” Sweetie interrupted. Scootaloo slowly turned her head towards the young mage. Her eyes were like two daggers ready to cut into the girl.
“He’s the kid with the accent and the pirate hat right?” Cobalt asked as he scratched his chin.
“Eeyup.” The farmer said with a smile.
“I don’t like him!” She yelled.
“Oh come on.” Sweetie butted in. “You were just talking about how cool he was for standing up to Tiara the other day.”
“He’s cool. So what?” The girl then glared at the blue flyer. “If you tell anyone I’ll-”
“Calm down Scoot. I’m not gonna make fun or tell anyone. Everyone had a crush at your age. Even me.” He said as he stood back up. “Like I said, this is part of your training.”
“How?”
“You’re gonna ask him to hang out with you.” Scootaloo’s face went bright red.
“Say what!?” The girl said as her face turned red as a tomato. “What does that have to do with flying?”
“Simple, you’re scared of doing it aren’t you?”
“No!” Cobalt raised an eyebrow and his blue eyes cut down the feeble words like a warm knife through butter. “Okay maybe a little.” The flyer said as she hung her head in shame.
“Part of flying is facing your fears, else they’ll tie you down to the ground and you’ll never be able to move forward.” Scootaloo still kept her head low and grumbled. “Believe me, it’s vital. Scootaloo was having an internal battle. On one hand she wanted to fly, but on the other she was worried about Pip’s reaction. Cobalt looked at the other two crusaders and frowned. “This is also something you need to do alone, without any distractions.” He eyed the other two girls.
“But we wanna-”
“No.” He said in a firm tone. “You two run along, I think Rarity said she was looking for ya Sweetie Belle.” The two girls let out a huff. “And don’t tell anyone about what’s going on either.”
“Fine.” Sweetie grumbled.
“Pinkie Promise it!” Scoot yelled. The two girls went through the motions before wandering off to Celestia knows where. The orange winged flyer groaned and looked at the fighter. “Do I have to get dressed up?”
“Do you want to?”
“No!”
“Then no. So where is Pip anyway?”
“Probably at his ship.” Cobalt had a confused look on his face. “That ship play set in the park.”
“Okay, then let’s head out.” The two then made their way towards the park. Scootaloo had her head hung low and was mumbling things to herself. Soon the two arrived at the park and sure enough, the pirate hat wearing twelve year old was on top of the wooden ship with fake saber in hand and yelling orders to a coal haired flyer and two other boys in pirate outfits. The ship itself was large, wooden and had a slide running off the stern of the ship and pole that dropped down into a small boat that was off to the side.
Cobalt gave Scootaloo a nudge and the orange winged girl let out an audible gulp as her face went bright red. The man grinned and put a hand next to the mouth. “Hey Pip!” The captain of the boat turned his head. “Come here for a sec would ya?” Scootaloo became stiff as the boy hopped off the top of the play set and grabbed the pole that lead down to the ground. The small child sauntered his way over and looked at the flyers with his unpatched eye.
“Avast ye scurvy dogs.” He said in a poor pirate accent. “Are ye here to join my crew? If yes, then ye be joining the right one. We go adventuring and pillaging all kinds of booty.”
“Sorry, but I already have a captain to follow and all the booty I need.” The flyer said as the purple haired Changeling came to mind. The captain then set his sights on the purple haired flyer who had a bright blush on her face. When she looked back towards Cobalt’s direction she only saw a few feathers floating to the ground. Scootaloo’s face was now bright red and her mind was going haywire. She clenched her fist and gathered what little resolve she had and sighed.
“Hey Pip I was um.” The girl was messing with the dirt with her shoes. “I-I was just wondering if y-you wanted to hang out...with...me sometime?” Scootaloo looked at the pirate hat wearing boy who now had a blush on his face.
“Um...s-sure.” He said as he dropped the pirate accent. “I mean, I’d like to have ye as an ally. The seas can be a dangerous place for pirates like us lass.” He said as he tipped his hat. “We must stand together if we are to defeat the pink kraken and the silver squid that plague these waves.”
“You mean Tiara and Spoon?” Scootaloo added a hint of malice at the names.
“The very same!” He said as he held up his fist. “I’d like to go over strategies with ye.” His face was becoming more red. “Alas, my crew and I are repairing our ship and will take the rest of the day.” Scootaloo felt her wings droop. “Tomorrow after the pillaging of knowledge is when we'll meet.”
“You mean after school?”
“Correct. Sharp as a sword ye are. That is when negotiations of our alliance will take place on my ship.” Scootaloo took a moment to process what she was hearing.
“So meet you here tomorrow after school?”
“Yes!” He then heard a loud bang come from the ship and looked over to see the other two boys tangled in the rope bridge while the blue winged child was trying to get them untangled. Pip face palmed at the display. “Sorry lass, but my crew needs me. They’re hopeless without there captain.” He then gave her a bow and tipped his hat. “I shall see ye when the sun reaches the middle of the sky.” Scootaloo stood frozen as she watched the boy run back to his crew mates.
“Nice work.” The voice made Scoot jump out of her skin. She turned around to see the blue haired flyer grinning at her.
“What did that have to do with flying?” She yelled as her embarrassment was replaced by rage. “I seriously doubt that had Anything to do with flying!” She pointed an accusing finger at the man.
“Look Scoot-”
“No! All you’ve done is order me around and have me do stuff I don’t even need to do. So when are you gonna teach me how to soar through the skies like Rainbow Dash?” Cobalt crossed his arms and frowned at the child.
“Look kid.” His voice was firm and serious. “Everything I’ve done is for your benefit and I never said I was going to teach you how to fly like Rainbow. No one can except for Rainbow Dash.”
“But-” He held up a hand and Scoot closed her mouth.
“I’m not done. I get that Rainbow is your hero and it’s good to have a role model, but don’t you compare me to her.”
“But she’s the best flyer ever!” The girl argued. “Better than anyone I know and way better than you.” Cobalt bit his lip and cracked his neck.
“Then why isn’t she teaching you?” Scootaloo opened her mouth to answer but thought. Every time she’d asked Rainbow to hangout or teach her a trick she always said she had something better to do. The girl lowered her head and gulped. Cobalt let out a sigh. “Look I’m not trying to ruin your image of her, but I’m your teacher and I will get you to fly. I can only do that if you trust me and let me teach you to fly, which if all goes well should be by the end of today.”
Scootaloo’s heart soared and she gave a happy flap of her wings. “Course that’s only if you want me to teach you.” Scootaloo lowered her head and weighed her options. Either quit and go back to hoping Rainbow would teach her to fly or stay with the man that’s been taking time out of his personal and professional life to teach her.
“By the end of today?” Cobalt gave a nod. “I’m sorry. I just want to fly so badly and I thought that the only way to do that was to do what Rainbow Dash does.”
“You need to find your own way to fly.” He bent down so they were eye level. “Tell me, would you rather be you or just an imitation of someone else?” The girl looked at him in surprise. “No one can talk like you, move like you or be you. Everyone has their own path to follow in life and no one can walk it for you, understand?” Scoot gave a nod at the man. “Good. Now before I teach you there’s one last thing I want you to do?”
“What now? You want me to run down the middle of town wearing a chicken suit?” Cobalt chuckled at the thought.
“No, just stretch out. Don’t wanna pull something.” Scootaloo happily obliged to the words and started doing her normal stretches. As she stretched both her hands up she felt a something hard hit her in the gut. Before she passed out she saw the man’s clenched fist connecting with her stomach.
Cobalt caught the girl and sighed. “Sorry about this kid, but you’ve left me no choice.” The man flared his wings and took to the sky with the girl in his arms.
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Scootaloo groaned as she shook her head. The girl felt a dull pain in her gut and felt something across her eyes. “Don’t take that off yet.” The voice of the blue flyer rang in the girl’s head. As the girl stood up she felt wind rushing against her skin and wings.
“Where are we?”
“Don’t worry about that right now.” He said as he helped her up. “Before we start I wanna know how badly you wanna fly. Are you willing to give it your all?”
“Of course!”
“Are you willing to die trying?” Scootaloo let out a gulp at the words.
“W-why?”
“Consider this a test. If you pass then I will open up a whole new world for you and you will become the best flyer you can be.” Scootaloo smiled at the words. “Fail and you are no longer my student.”
“What?” She yelled.
“You lack one vital thing. The one thing that’s been holding you back since day one.”
“What? What is it?”
“Instinct.”
“What’s instinct?” Cobalt face palmed at the question.
“You know when someone goes to hit you, you flinch?” Scootaloo dropped her head.
“Y-yeah.” She said in a sad tone.
“Your natural instinct is to protect yourself. You don’t mean for it to happen your body just does it on it’s own accord. Every person has it, for some it takes a little bit extra for it to kick in.”
“So how do I use it?”
“You need to use the most basic human emotion.” Cobalt turned the girl around so her back was to him and untied the blindfold. The light poured into the girl’s sight and she rubbed her eyes as they adjusted. She blinked several times before they shrank to the size of pin tips. The two flyers were on a cloud so high that she could barely make out the house roofs in the small town. “Fear.” The girl gulped as she felt the man give her a hard push and she fell right off the cloud towards the ground.
Scootaloo started screaming and tears formed in her eyes as the clouds zoomed past her. “Remember the steps!” She heard the flyer yell from the cloud. Scootaloo closed her eyes and thought back to her sessions with the blue haired man.
“The worst thing you can do while flying is panic. That will affect your judgement and make you crash. If you’re ever in a bad situation then just breathe in, count to four and breath out.” The girl could feel her heart beating a million miles a minute. Scootaloo took in several long breaths and her heart calmed down.
“The next thing is to stabilize yourself in the air. You need to keep your back straight and your muscles tight.” The flyer corrected her posture and regained control of her body in the air. "Next, slowly extend your wings. You can’t do it too quickly or the updraft could break them." Scootaloo knew that she was fast approaching the ground and slowly extended her orange wings.
She could feel the pressure being put on them from the fall, but kept going. The air flow changed and she soon felt her body rising and a an odd sensation flowed through her body. Scootaloo felt herself going up and she started to slow down. She opened her eyes and her jaw dropped. The sun was just starting to go down over Ponyville and the sky was filled in orange light.
The girl’s eyes were filled with beauty and she looked down towards the town below. She smirked and felt herself falling back down. She went headfirst and brought her wigs up again and felt the same tugging sensation, but she didn’t care. As she started loosing altitude she gave a hard flap and regained her senses.Scootaloo yelled out a victory cry and soared over Ponyville. Cobalt smiled in pride as he saw the girl soar through the skies. He saw his two comrades on the ground and rushed down to meet them.
“Told you she wouldn’t need the net.” Rouge said as she held out her hand towards the red haired man. Crimson sighed and tossed her a bit bag holding twenty bits. Cobalt landed next to his girlfriend and smiled.
“Nice work.” The man looked and saw a large spiderweb net in between the two buildings overhead.
“Who’d thought you’d be a good teacher?” Crimson said with a grin.
“Shut up. I did just fine.” The three then saw the orange flyer zoom over head. Crimson rubbed his chin and bit his lip.
“Hey Cobalt.”
“Yeah?”
“You did teach Scootaloo how to land, right?” Cobalt opened his mouth, but no words came out. The man’s eyes shrank at the realization that Scoot had no idea how to land except for crashing. “Right?”
“I’ll be right back.” The man flapped his wings and took off in the direction of the orange blur as the other two mages face palmed.
“Idiot.” Crimson said before walking away.
“Where are you going?”
“I gotta go to the train station. I’m expecting a visitor.” The Changeling shrugged and made her way back to the guild.
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Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell had opted to go to Sweet Apple Acres in hopes of getting their apple sauce making cutie marks. Applejack was on a tall ladder picking the apples while Sweetie and Apple Bloom were each holding a bucket. AJ thought she heard yelling, but shrugged it off.
“Holy cow!” Applebloom yelled as she dropped her bucket of apples.
“What?” Sweetie asked as she and AJ looked at her. Apple Bloom pointed to the sky and the two followed her finger. Both girls’ jaws dropped as they saw an orange blur rocketing through the sky.
“What in the name of Ponyville is that?” The stetson wearing farmer said as she squinted. The blur continued to fly through the sky and was getting closer to the ground. Apple Bloom squinted and managed to make out the flyer’s purple hair and orange wings.
“It’s Scootaloo!”
“What!?” The other two said as they looked closer at the object and saw that it was in fact the small girl. If the three had smiled any harder than it would have broken skin. Their smiles soon faded as they saw the girl losing control and descending quickly. The girls heard what sounded like a thunder clap and a blue blur catching up to the flyer.
Cobalt was closing in on Scootaloo and grabbed her under her arms. Unfortunately he didn’t have time to pull up and the two crashed in Applejack’s barn. The three apple pickers high tailed it to the barn. The three saw splintered wood and scattered dirt on the floor. Applejack went in first and saw a shining object where the dirt trail ended.
“Okay. Ow.” She heard a familiar voice say. The farmer then saw the blue haired flyer’s skin was shiny and covered in metal.
“What in tarnation is going on here?” Cobalt stood up and was holding a dizzy Scootaloo in his arms. Cobalt brought her out and his skin shifted back to normal. Cobalt sat her down on the porch and she shook her head. “Are you all right hun?” Applejack asked.
“That. Was. Awesome!” The girl yelled as she stood up. “I’m more than all right! I flew! I bucking flew!”
“Told ya you could do it.” Cobalt said with a smile.
“That was amazing!” Apple Bloom said with a wide smile. The three girls continued to squeal and congratulate the flyer. Scootaloo then ran inside the farm house and ran into the bathroom.
“Ah gotta tell ya Cobalt ah’m impressed.” She smiled. “Just how did you get her to fly?”
“Hard work, determination and hard work.”
“You said that last one twice.”
“That’s because it’s takes twice as much work as determination.” AJ frowned at the man. “That and I gave her a little push.”
“A push?”
“Off a cloud!” He heard the girl yell. The farmer turned her head towards the man and frowned. Cobalt put a finger to his lips and had a nervous grin.
“Now before you bite my head off, Rouge and Crimson were nearby and she wasn’t in any deadly danger.” The farmer huffed and was about to go on a rant.
“YOU’VE GOT TO BE BUCKING KIDDING ME!” The group heard a familiar irate voice yell from upstairs. The two heard stomping noises and saw the angered orange winged flyer with her two friends trailing behind her.
“What’s wrong?” Cobalt asked.
“I still don’t have a cutie mark!” She huffed. “I thought for sure that I’d get it when I learned to fly.” The girl was about to go on another rant but slumped to the ground.
“You okay hun?” AJ asked.
“Yeah, I’m just tired.” She said with a yawn.
“No surprise. You had a big day.” Cobalt chuckled. Cobalt, Sweetie and Scootaloo said goodbye to the farmers and made their way back into town. “We’ll have to work on take off’s and landings next time.”
“So I passed?”
“With flying colors.” The group then saw a woman with bright red wings and light purple hair fly up to them.
“Scootaloo, where have you been,” Gale asked as she looked at her daughter who was covered in dirt from the crash. “and what in the name of Celestia happened to you?”
“Mom you’ll never guess what? I flew today!” Gale’s eyes widened.
“Really?” Scoot gave a sharp nod.
“But I gotta work on my landings.” She chuckled.
“Sorry if I kept her out too long ma’am.” The blue flyer stated. His eyes narrowed onto an odd bruise on her right wing. “Are you okay Gale?” She followed his gaze to her wing.
“Oh that, I accidentally hit a tree branch on my way into work this morning.” She said with a nervous smile. “Anyway, let’s go sweetie. I’m sure your father will be excited to hear about your first flight.”
“That’ll be the day.” Scoot said as she rolled her eyes. Her mother took her hand in hers and she took off. Sweetie looked up at Cobalt and saw the seriousness in his eyes.
“You okay Cobalt?”
“Yeah, run along home Sweetie. Don’t want Rarity to worry.” Sweetie nodded and hurried off towards the boutique. Cobalt started to walk back towards the guild when he spotted a familiar green haired flyer coming from the train station. Ivy hurried up to him and smiled. “Hey Ivy. How’d the job go?”
“Trader escort. Piece of cake.” She smiled. “So what’d I miss?” Cobalt then went into detail about his training session from Scootaloo and Ivory’s payback. He, Crimson, and Bandit would have bruises for weeks. “Ha ha. Serves you right.”
“Oh shut up.” He said as he let out a visible breath. Cobalt blew again and saw his breath as they approached the guild. “Hey is sit just me or is it colder?” Ivy blew a bit and saw her own breath and rubbed her hands together.
“Hey what gives? It’s like the middle of Summer. Is Dash drunk or something?” The two then noticed that there was frost on the ground and a familiar purple haired Changeling was wearing one of Cobalt’s sweatshirts and grumbling to herself outside the guild.
“Hey Rouge.” Cobalt said as he gave her a quick kiss. “You have any idea why it’s cold?”
“See for yourself.” She opened the guild doors and the two flyers froze in place. The dark corners of the room had frost on the floor and the other guild member all had worried looks on their faces. Standing in front of Ivory and Crimson was a girl in her late teens wearing a white cloak.
The figure turned around to reveal her bright blue eyes and snow white hair. At her left side was a long Estoc sword with a pointed end and a six inch dagger was on her right side. The girl was also donning white leather boots and a skirt that ended at her knees. Her chest was covered by white chain mail armor that showed off her natural physique.
“Oh great. The gangs all here.” Angel said with a groan.
“What is she doing here!?” Ivy asked as she let out a fire filled huff. Crimson quickly stepped between the two and sighed.
“Guys, Angel got transferred from the Crystal Empire branch to here. So she’s going to be living here at the guild.” Ivy;s right eyelid twitched at the words and walked up to the red haired man.
“Conference. Now.” Crimson sighed and showed Angel to her room before meeting up with Ivory and the rest of his squad in the conference room. “Crimson, have you gone completely insane!?” The dragon slayer yelled. “Why in the name of the creator did you bring Angel here?”
“I have to agree with Ivy on this one.” Rouge stated. “Angel is crazy and you know that she doesn’t like any of us. So why bring her here?”
“You guys just don't know her like I do.” Crimson said as he crossed his arms.
“Nah, I’m pretty sure we do man. She’s crazy and not the good kind of crazy either.” Cobalt said with a sigh.
“I know. That’s why I brought her here.” The three looked at the scythe wielder in surprise. “Angel has been acting more aggressive as of late and almost no one can handle her.” The three nodded at the memory of when Ivy fought her in the trials. “It’s better that I keep her on a tight leash so she doesn’t do anything stupid.” The three still looked unconvinced.
Crimson shot Ivory a glance who nodded. The man reached into his pocket and threw the silver ring he had taken from the Bandit King’s hand on the table. Cobalt picked the ring up and saw a silver sword etched on the front. “That’s the other reason why she’s here.”
“Those nut jobs again?” Ivy groaned.
“That was on the late Bandit King’s finger.” Cobalt’s eyes shrank. “I asked Azure about it and she doesn’t know anything about them.”
“Crimson, if they’re back and looking for you then-” The man shot a hand up.
“Which is why Angel is here. She’s never faced these guys before and if she does run into them then Ivory and I can back her up.” The silver haired woman nodded. The three sighed in defeat and set the ring back on the table. “Besides, Angel’s social skill could use a little work.”
“A little?” Ivy said.
“I mean it Ivy.” He said as he pointed to the green flyer. “I’ll try to keep her under control, so don’t do anything to antagonize her.” The dragon slayer rolled her eyes and grumbled. The group then made their way out of the conference room and Crimson grabbed the ring before going into his room and laying down to rest.
