Oh she seriously did not like the look of the new manager. Pegasi usually took good care of themselves, flying, working hard if they’re in weather control, or whatever it took to stay sleek and in flying trim.. Well.. Snowflake was okay, though he was a bit muscly, but he sure was polite.
Hangfire nodded, heading to the ready room, passing by the group of ponies already there. One by one they followed her as well, time to gear up and get that storm front stabilized for the night, it was going to start getting bitter at night.
She found a locker, claimed it and dumped her bags inside, looking out of the corner of her eyes at the other ponies with her. Her mind wandered a bit, wondering why they were here as well, “Wonder who they teed off?”
A couple of mares next to her introduced themselves quietly, which made Hangfire perk an ear, noticing no one was talking, no chatter, no fun, nothing, like a graveyard.
“Hi, I’m Chryse, this is Cornflower my sister, you’re new right?” Her voice was low and soft, her coat a snowy white, mane and tail red with blue highlights, she had the softest orange shaded eyes Hangfire had ever seen. Her sister Cornflower matched her namesake, an intense deep blue, light green mane and tale, with yellow eyes that shied away when Hangfire looked, she didn’t say anything, just waved hello.
“I am yes," she replied while waving to Cornflower. “Pardon me asking, you sure don’t look anything like sisters.”
Chryse laughed, “Roll of the dice I guess, mom and dad were pretty different shades too, so I guess we got the best of both.”
“And your name? Chryse?”
“Short for Chrysanthemum, too long to keep repeating, so, Chryse.” She gave a winning smile, and a shoulder bump to Hangfire, “How about you?”
“I’m Hangfire, it’s nice to meet you.”
“Wait..” Chryse narrowed her eyes and thought for a moment, “Aren’t you the one ..”
Hangifre sighed and nodded, “Yes, the Royal Barracks, Canterlot Tower..yes...that’s...me.” She looked at the ground, rubbing one leg along the other, searching for something to look at, anything but the two sisters.
Chryse laughed lightly, “Don’t worry about it, we’re all here for something. You don’t get sentenced to the Night Crew for being the best.”
She perked up at that, “Sentenced?”
“Well that’s what it is, they pay alot of bits for this shift, but no one wants it, so they send folks down they think can’t cut it on the regular day shifts.”
“Well, how about you? What did you do?”
“My sister has a bad stutter, and I wasn’t going to let her go anywhere alone without me. So here I am.”
“They sent her here for stuttering? Tell me you’re joking, seriously?”
Chryse and shy Cornflower both nodded, looking deadly serious. “Didn’t anyone tell you?”
“No one told me anything! I just got told to report and here I am, no one wanted to talk about it.”
“I’m sorry, we thought you knew, do something too wrong, or you don’t 'fit in’ like the higher ups want you too, you get sent here. Until you get a reprieve, or just quit,” Chryse looked around for a moment and leaned in to whisper to Hangfire, “Or you get hurt or killed.”
Her eyes widened, staring at Chryse for a few moments, “KILLED?”
The snowy mare waved a hoof, hushing her quickly, “Some ponies have been seriously injured on the Night Crew, they don’t talk about it alot, they just pay them off and fire them.”
“That doesn’t sound right, it really doesn’t.”
“It’s what they do, just be careful out there alright?”
Hangfire nodded, “I will.” She took a look around, “So, who’s everyone else?”
Chryse smiled as they both geared up, pointing with a hoof at different folks, “The big orange stallion, that’s Hazy, he’s nice, he talks slow, but he’s really good to know.” She pointed off to the right, “And that red stallion, he’s Blue Winds, he’s nice too, but he’s got a problem with flying, he’s not real good about it so we all watch out for him. Something with the way his wings grew out.” She leaned close as she pointed out what was obviously a husband and wife team, “That’s Fast Lane, and Crystal Ring, we’re not sure why in the skies they’re here. It’s got to be for the extra money..”
Hangfire gave the two a good look, half listening to Chryse as she saw they were immaculately dressed, hooficures and all, and it was puzzling. He was brutally handsome really, she was terminally pretty you could say, and why they were on the Night Crew was anyponies guess.
She nodded absently to Chryse, finally gearing up herself, and making sure her goggles were on tight. Going to be extra cold handling the storm-front out there, so she wrapped her scarf tight.
“You can hang with us, we’ll do the line work and get you used to the night flying part, that sound okay?” Cornflower peeked out from behind Chryse and smiled expectantly at her.
“I can do that, it’s sure going to be different.”
The other two nodded, Chryse gave Hangfire another friendly shoulder bump as the whole group walked out to the launch area, doing a last check on suits, goggles and cold weather gear.
The heavyset manager gave them all a once over...was that a sneer? Hangfire banished the thought, trying to remain positive.
“Awright, here’s you’re assignments.” He posted the roster on the board, the group gathered around, taking a look before leaping off the pad into the darkness.
Hangfire was going to be working “the line” with Chryse and Cornflower just like they offered, that was a relief. She didn’t want to be stuck with on the job training in the middle of the night handling a cold front. Turning around, she caught Chryse growling in a low tone of voice to the manager, stepping in between him and Cornflower; who was shyly hiding behind her sister.
“I told you, stay away from her you jerk”
“Or what? Nothing. Just trying to make a bit of conversation, or are you two fillyfoolers er sumthin’ eh?” He gave them both a leer, which Chryse returned with a disgusted snort. “So what? Not like you two are going out with Shaky and Slowpoke, Celestia forbid!” He laughed, turning to Hangfire, “Luscious, you hang out with Slap and Tickle here, they’ll show you the ropes.” He gave her a wink that sent a shiver down her spine, walking away.
“Shaky and Slowpoke?”
Chryse sighed, looking at the ground, “He gives everyone nicknames, he means Blue Winds and Hazy. I’d like to slap and tickle him with the back of my hoof one day if we didn’t need the money...jerk.”
“And the Slap and Tickle thing?”
Another deep sigh, Chryse motioned to her sister as they walked to the launchpad, “He’s always commenting about how he’d like to try a little fun with both of us, you know, slap and tickle?”
Hangfire closed her eyes for a moment, slapping her goggles down over her eyes before they launched into the sky, the night winds catching the three as they lifted towards the heavy clouds.
Oh no, she didn’t like the look of that manager at all...