//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Night Crew // by NFire //------------------------------// Hangfire awoke in her soft bed, stretching languorously as she kept her eyes closed. Every muscle delightfully sore, twisting and turning under the covers, she lifted her forelegs and gave a groan of delight. It wasn’t a soreness from work, but one of those glows you get from having fun all night long, like the club.. Oh Stars! The Club! Her eyes flew open in a panic, looking at the ceiling as she tried to think about the club and what happened, her inner clock chiming.. Sweet Celestia, it’s TWO DAYS later? Oh no, she was dead, she missed work, she missed a whole shift, oh no, this is the worst thing.. but.. oh moon and stars..the club.. She closed her eyes and let the warm glow flow right through her, pictures, words, things done and said, it had been the most wonderful night of her life in forever. So much to drink though, urgh.. But that dancing, the cuddling, everything. Skies above it had been so very nice. She hugged herself with a little giggle, smiling and sighing happily. “Hey ‘Fire, finally up?” She heard a soft voice whisper in her right ear. Her eyes shot open, staring at the ceiling for a second before slowly turning to look to her right, where she met Chryse’s smiling orange eyes. “I uh..um..” A muzzle from her left side nuzzled the back of her neck, deep blue fore legs wrapped around her chest, as a form snuggled up tight behind her, Cornflower? Chryse was still looking at her, giving her a mischievous grin, when a knock came at the door. The snowy white mare yelled, “Come on in!” Blue and Hazy appeared, with trays of food on their backs as they excitedly chattered away, “Oh my heavens did you see the kitchen? We brought food! This place is SO nice!” Hangfire just stared at Chryse, “I..uhm..oh..” Oh ponyfeathers...... ---------------------------------------------------------- “Oh cripes, you shoulda seen your face ‘Fire, that was the funniest thing I have EVER seen!” Chryse was laughing so hard she couldn’t breath. Hangfire lowered her eyes, blushing intensely now as they sat on the bed, munching on the food Blue and Hazy brought. “But..I uh..” Cornflower leaned over and hugged her round the shoulders, whispering in her ear, “I..i..it’s al..al..al..alright..” Blue and Hazy just sat and laughed, rolling on the floor when Chryse had told them what happened. “But I mean, we..I didn’t..did we?” Chryse laughed again, “Nonono, you said we could all crash here, and there wasn’t enough beds, so you said we could sleep here. Blue and Hazy took the downstairs.” She gave ‘Fire an overly dramatic salacious wink, wriggling her eyebrows with an evil laugh, “But it COULD have happened!” Hangfire covered her face with her hooves, “Oh come on!” The room rocked with laughter again, Cornflower gave her another sweet hug as Chryse explained, seriously this time, nothing had happened, they promised. Besides, they were all so drunk the other night they all doubted anyone did anything but sleep. Her tummy rumbled a bit, and she grabbed for the clover omelet on her plate, munching mightily as she lost her blush, licking the plate clean, “So what happened at the cl...” And then it all came back, sound and fury, light and laughter. Her shocked face must have told it all, the other four rolling off the bed with laughter as she rummaged through the memories like a slide show. “Was that...was..Princess Luna?” She received four nods, “Oh stars..oh wow..” So they passed most of the afternoon stuffing themselves full, lying around and generally being lazy for a while. Chryse piped up, “So 'Fire, where’d you get the money for this place?” “My dad helped me buy it, he’s a manager in Cloudcroft, and I love him to death, he figured if I was going to make it on my own, I’d at least have a nice place to live.” Blue nodded emphatically, “You should see the kitchen! Huge freezer, tons of food, and the guest room was wow!” Hazy added his thoughts, “And ...thank you...for letting...us...stay..” Hangfire hugged the bulky stallion, “You’re welcome Hazy, it was my pleasure!” And it was, she thought, for the first time in a long time it was. She liked these ponies, immensely. Where others saw faults, she saw kindness and love of life, it makes a difference. As Bons always told her, it’s friends that help make the pony. She was right, friends help, a lot. “Annnnnnnd!” Chryse held up a hoof, “we’re safe, the princesses declared a One Time Holiday so we can just show up tonight and no problems, though I’m sure Manager Jerk will grumble.” Hangfire felt a sigh of relief coming from her, slumping back into the pillows with a thud, she’d thought for sure she’d messed up again and lost her job. Chryse did point a hoof at Blue and Hazy though, “And just what were you ponies thinking, starting everything with that dancing, Celestia we can’t take you anywhere!” ‘Fire laughed, seeing her shaking a hoof at both the stallions and getting a mock serious tone in her voice, her face reminded her of her mother, always shaking a hoof at her. A giggle broke free and turned into a full fledged belly laugh, rocking on the mattress as she related why she was laughing so much. As with all good things, it must end, everyone broke for their own homes to get their gear, promising to meet up in the shack later, it was going to be a cold, rainy night on the line. ----------------------------------------------------------- Hangifre swept out of the low lying clouds, landing quickly on the platform and hustling inside. Stars was it cold! She slammed the door behind her with a back hoof, shaking the water free in the entryway before stepping out into the common area. She waved to her friends, seeing Fast Lane and his wife talking to the Manager, some kind of vicious conversation was going on, a lot of hoof pointing and minor shouting, she didn’t want to get involved, so headed back to the locker area. Chryse, ‘Flower and the rest wandered in, changing into cold weather gear as they got ready to release the storm tonight, it was going to be a long night, they had to dump snow in certain areas to get the right amount of melt in the daytime, making sure things got watered evenly. Turning to Chryse as she belted her suit on, “What’s going on out there?” Chryse shrugged, getting a disgusted look on her face, “Something about them not wanting to work tonight. I can’t figure it, they get all the days off they want, but when we ask, we’re told no. We get our normal days, but other than that, we’re held to a tight schedule.” She got a thoughtful look on her face, “You know, something else. There’s been a few couples or singles like that the past months, they come in, work when they want, get paid and then they go away, to be replaced by more. It’s odd, because I sure don’t remember alot of them EVER being on the weather crews.” “And when someone like us, a bit of a misfit, gets sent down here, we’re stuck. It doesn’t add up.” Hangfire nodded and finished gearing up, slapping her goggles on as they walked out to the platform for launch, she gave everyone a hoofbump for luck, “Be careful you goofy ponies, see you in the line shack.” They waved and took off, she was pairing again with Chryse and her sister tonight, it appeared to be a permanent posting, she didn’t mind, they got the work done, and maybe it would prove to be a quick night. It turned out to be, the storm wasn’t acting up, they got alot of what they needed to accomplished. Warming in the line shack, they joked and talked about how to spend their next day off, although giving Hazy and Blue a hard time to behave. It really wasn’t their fault for the club, but the rest couldn’t resist, and seeing Hazy blush was funny, a big muscle bound stallion going beet red made it all the more funny. It was a good night, swooping and diving among the clouds, shaking the snow off for another pass, it was almost as if she were alone up in the sky. She slipped and dove, doing a few more loops and rolls than she had to, but stretching herself out, spreading her wings wide, she caught the air and lifted free of any cares and worries. She spotted Chryse and Cornflower off to the east, giving them a wave before diving in again. She was heading towards where Hazy and Blue were working the line, seeing them, giving them a wave as well. As she stopped and dove, she could swear she saw another figure out in the clouds, but that kind of thing got spotted all the time, it was night, lots of storm to handle. A cry got her attention as thunder cracked along the line, suddenly the front was bursting with electricity out of control. She hovered then flapping hard, pulling out of the line, checking to see if ‘Flower and Chryse were clear, she spotted them along the front, clear and done. Turning again, she spotted Hazy yelling at someone before a huge thunderboomer went crackling along the cloudfront, making her squint, holding her forelegs up against the light. As her vision cleared, she could see Hazy diving in a reckless maneuver, stooping his wings tight and making a beeline towards a falling figure. It was Blue.