MLP: FiM
Piercing the Heavens
By: Calm Wind
(This Chapter was edited by Lucky424)
Chapter 87: Lurking in the Shadows
“Twister, give Matteo his feathers back,” Dash said as she yawned and walked towards the door leaving the barracks. She passed right beside a small altercation where Matteo was holding Twister by the neck and glaring at Twister. He wore a plume of feathers on his head made from several black feathers that he plucked off Matteo when he wasn’t looking. “And Matteo, stop trying to snap Twister’s head off, we both know it’s not going to work. Come on, let’s get some breakfast.”
“Hmph…” Matteo grunted as Twister handed the plume to him while wiggling his eyebrows. Matteo dropped Twister, who landed with a loud THUD which was much louder than being dropped from his height should have made, before making a loud SPROING noise, launching from the floor, and landing in Little Star’s bed. Little Star turned and stared flatly at Twister as he began rolling in place on her bed until he was completely wrapped in her sheets like a burrito.
“Really? I just made that bed…” Star sighed. Dash was about to go yank Twister from the bed, but Squall walked by her before she could.
“Cut out the shit, I’m hungry,” Squall said grumpily as he picked up the burrito Twister, slung him over his back, and started moving back towards Dash and Star.
“Heh…” Dash smirked as Squall handled the situation. It looked like he was beginning to be more casual with them. It was nice to see, even if he still got angry at random things and scowled more than ninety percent of the time they were around. Matteo and Squall joined up with Dash and Star as they all made their way out of their barracks and into the hallway leading towards the lobby.
It felt like just another morning… only with security guards standing everywhere in the halls. Dash was walking in front with her squad following behind, small talk and little bits of silliness going on between them all. Dash was carrying a casual conversation with Matteo. Twister, still wrapped up in the sheet, was blowing quiet raspberries at Star from Squall’s back as Squall just sighed and shook his head.
“Hold it!” a low voice suddenly called out to them, causing the whole squad to freeze in place.
A large, earth stallion security guard wearing a white Wonderbolt officer uniform stepped forward and barred their path. Dash stared wide eyed at the security guard, wondering if she… or they had done something wrong.
“All Wonderbolts are required to wear their flight suits while the compound is on a full alert lockdown. Please return to you living quarters and get properly dressed,” the security guard pointed back in the direction they came from before turning and meeting up with two more of the many security guards that were posted in the barracks hallway.
“Oh…” Dash groaned before turning around and looking at the rest of her squad. “That’s right, I forgot about that, let’s go put our flight suits on…” Dash said with slight annoyance. Not that she minded wearing real, genuine Wonderbolt spandex… it just didn’t sound very fun or comfortable to wear it for a whole day.
She could tell she wasn’t the only one. The rest of her squad showed little interest in wearing their suit all day… but that’s how it was going to be. As much as the full alert lockdown sucked, Dash was well aware of why it was happening.
They returned to the barracks and all put on their flight suits, at least they did once they got Twister out of Star’s bed sheet. With another yawn, Dash was waiting by the door again, this time with her suit on and her goggles around her neck.
“Okay, are we ready for ‘let’s go to breakfast’ take two?” she asked with a monotone. She understood the severity of the situation, but who wouldn’t be grumpy if they were dealing with morning grog, were hungry, and were forced back to square one?
They stepped back out into the barracks and began walking again.
“If one of them stops us again, I swear I’m knocking them out,” Matteo grumbled as they passed by the security guards moving up and down the hallway.
“As tempting as that is…” Dash chuckled. “Please don’t do that, I think Spitfire is still miffed at us for breaking the hotel room in Cloudsdale. We don’t need ‘beat up a security guard’ on our record too.”
“Why do they even have security here?” Little Star asked as she looked around. “The recruit barracks is like… the emptiest part of the compound.”
“After what happened yesterday, I guess Spitfire isn’t taking any chances,” Dash answered as she reached to push open the doors to the lobby.
“WAIT!” Twister suddenly zipped in front and stopped Dash’s arm.
“Twister… what are you…” Dash flattened her brow at him.
“We’re on full alert, soldiers! I’ll scout ahead!” he let go of her arm and pushed the middle of the three doors open slightly and stuck his head through it.
“For Celestia’s sake!” Squall growled. “I’m hungry, dammit!” he stepped forward to go through the door to Twister’s left. As soon as he touched the door, it opened and Twister’s head poked through. “WHAT THE—?!”
“Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh…” Twister placed a hoof over Squall’s mouth. “No tears…” he pulled out an apple and gently pushed it into Squall’s mouth. “Only dreams now…”
Squall glared as Twister as he grabbed the apple and took a huge bite out of it.
“Hmph…” Squall grunted as he began wolfing down the apple.
“Enough joking around, we’re all hungry,” Matteo stated as he stepped forward and reached to pull Twister out of the door. Before he could touch him, an orange launched over Twister’s back. Matteo’s eyes widened and he caught it in his talons. He stared at the orange for a moment before sighing. “Carry on,” he said as he stepped back.
“COAST IS CLEAR!” Twister yelled before finally opening the door.
“Great, now MOVE IT!” Dash pushed Twister through the door, the rest of her squad following behind as Star tried giving Squall puppy dog eyes to share his apple, and Matteo’s orange had somehow already completely disappeared, save for the peel.
Even on full alert, Dash’s squad found ways to make her enjoy them. She was glad they weren’t all stiff, but she hoped that was because they were keeping calm and not because they weren’t taking the threat seriously. She had no way of knowing until any sort of conflict actually arose.
The barracks had security guards moving up and down everywhere, but it was nothing compared to the lobby. Squad Foxtrot stared in awe as they moved in. There were security guards everywhere. Dash was sure there was at least two posted side by side every five yards along the wall as well as many moving about in the open areas of the lobby on patrols.
There were also many Wonderbolts moving about. Spitfire had mentioned patrols both inside and around outside of the base in one of the many P.A. announcements she made after the security breach the day before. Dash could only imagine how unpleasant it must’ve been for Wonderbolts assigned to patrols before breakfast.
As they turned towards the east hall, Dash glanced towards the west, something catching her eye.
Soarin was walking past the reception desk and heading towards the stairs. Her instincts told her to wave and say good morning, but Soarin, along with the rest of the Wonderbolts moving about, looked very serious and focused. He was probably busy moving around and helping Spitfire keep everything organized. There was lots of shouting, pointing, and orders being issued all over. It was like the whole compound had changed.
Now things seemed a lot different, and Dash could tell her squad was aware of it too. They were on a full alert lock down, and it was serious business.
With the gravity of the situation becoming much clearer, they made their way into the east hallway and moved towards the mess hall for a breakfast that was probably going to be quick and silent.
“The high tier elites?” Soarin repeated back to Spitfire as the two of them and Fleetfoot walked down the stairs from the third floor, all fully dressed in their flight suits.
“That’s right,” Spitfire nodded as she glanced at a rolled up piece of paper tucked under her left wing. “We’re on lock down, but we can’t neglect watching right outside the base either.”
“We know,” Fleetfoot yawned and rubbed her eyes. “You announced it about three times yesterday,” she said, clearly still trying to wake up. “Squad one through ten on a rolling patrol schedule. I don’t mind that Spitty, I just hate our security guards.”
“They are a bit overly-paranoid,” Soarin added with a slightly grumpy tone as they moved towards a large bulletin board at the start of the east wing of the second floor. It was mounted opposite of Spitfire’s office, right where the hallway began. “When we were just on high alert, one of them didn’t believe I was Soarin until I shoved my I.D. card in his face and rubbed it around,” he threw a hoof out to his side. He didn’t sleep very well due to the magic issues he had the day before and all he wanted to do was get some food.
“It’s their job to be paranoid, Soarin,” Spitfire said sternly as she dropped the patrol schedule from her wing into her hoof and reached it towards the board. “That’s exactly why I hired them, to be paranoid. I don’t want them to let anything go unchecked. These Shadowbolts have proven to be as discreet as they come.”
“I dunno if I’d call exposing themselves in the middle of our lobby discreet,” Fleetfoot rolled her eyes.
“At that point it wouldn’t have mattered,” Spitfire shook her head as she pushed the thumbtack through the schedule and into the board. “If one can do it, we have to assume most of them can. Otherwise we’re being foolish.”
“But why would they?” Soarin asked, still curious about the whole thing. “He walked in and walked out without causing us any harm. All he did was break a window… why?”
“Hell if I know,” Spitfire shook her head. “All I know is that we are very vulnerable, and with the ease of their movement around us, I only trust the high tier elites to leave and patrol. The last thing we need is squads going missing due to surprise or silent attacks,” she explained as several other Wonderbolts in the area began gathering and looking at the schedule. “Just know when we’re supposed to be out there, we have no room to any hiccups in the schedules. Any extra time it takes for us to shift, the bigger window of opportunity it gives them to slip by,” Spitfire finished as she turned and walked towards her office, entering and closing the door behind her quickly.
“What a nice way to start a week,” Fleetfoot sighed as she and Soarin looked over the schedule with the other curious Wonderbolts.
“Full alert, ready at all times in full uniform… I feel like I’m living out one of Silver’s Griffon-Drake war stories,” Soarin said with a light chuckle.
“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself,” Fleetfoot said with a sigh.
“Believe me, I’m not,” Soarin grumbled. "Had a magic headache all last night, Spitfire cuts me off from breakfast, Shadowbolts possibly sneaking around… this has been a crappy morning.
“Do tell,” Fleetfoot snickered as Soarin groaned and rubbed his forehead. “You look like hell, have you even seen what your mane looks like?”
“Hey, I’m wearing the uniform, don’t give me any more shit,” Soarin snapped, then blinked. “Sorry…” he added with a sigh.
“Yikes, touchy there, princess…” Fleetfoot pouted.
“Wouldn’t be half as bad if I knew what was going on,” Soarin complained. “My head hurts enough from the magic.”
“I hear ya there,” Fleetfoot nodded. “There’s so much happening and so many things contradicting, I think my head is going to burst,” she paused and looked towards Soarin. “Speaking of being ready at all times…” she nudged Soarin, reached up, and shook the goggles that were dangling around her neck. “Forget something?”
“Huh?” Soarin blinked as he reached up and touched his chest before looking down. “Ah… dang it… I left my goggles in my room, I’ll be right back,” he said with an exasperated, grumpy sigh. He broke away from the group and walked back up the stairs to the third floor.
Fleetfoot went back to reading the schedule, and was relieved to see that the lead squad didn’t have a patrol until the afternoon. She perked up and looked back towards the stairs as Soarin came walking back down with his goggles on over his eyes.
“That was fast, did you drop them right outside your—” Fleetfoot stopped and blinked as Soarin completely ignored her and kept walking down the stairs towards the first floor. “Wow, what a grouch…”
Fleetfoot shook her head and looked up at the schedule again briefly before heading towards the stairs herself.
“Move it ponies, move it!” Spitfire ordered as she emerged from her office with more papers tucked under her wing. She worked her way around the ponies observing the patrol schedule and started removing old administrative schedules from the board beside it.
Soarin came down the stairs from the third floor as he stretched the goggles over his horn and let them fall down around his neck. He stopped on the second floor and looked towards the group and Spitfire. He shook his head when he noticed Fleetfoot was gone.
“Sheesh, Fleet… Talk about a short attention span…” he said to himself as he walked towards Spitfire. “What are you putting up now? Anything that’s going to make my day even worse?”
“Careful what you wish for, Soarin,” Spitfire shot back as she finished putting up the other items. “Just an altered schedule for our office workers…” she pointed to the other one. “Also, instructions on where to go for their bed and facility needs. We kind of sprung this lockdown on them last night. It was hell trying to explain to all of them they couldn’t go home and find them a place to sleep on top of it. They’re caught in this dilemma with us. I want to make sure they are as comfortable as we can make them.”
“Oh, right…” Soarin nodded as he looked over the schedule.
“Yeah, don’t give me those grumpy looks, mister. I had one hell of a night last night with all the administrative stuff,” she said sternly as Soarin held up a hoof.
“Alright Spitfire, I get it…” he groaned and put his hoof to his forehead. “I just have a headache…” Soarin froze for a moment as he mentioned his head hurting and sighed, knowing exactly what he was going to get next.
“Are you having problems with the magic again?” Spitfire asked, just as he expected.
“It was just a minor blip last night,” Soarin replied so fast that he nearly cut her off. “Don’t even try to take me off duty, I can handle it.”
“I didn’t say anything like that,” Spitfire shook her head. “I’m just looking out for you, did you see Luna?”
“I tried,” Soarin growled. “I was turned away by the guards every time.”
“What?” Spitfire blinked and furrowed her brow. “When all of this is over I hope I can have a nice long talk with her.”
“Good luck just getting in,” Soarin rolled his eyes. “With the way her guards are acting I’m almost afraid to walk in there and have a blast of divine alicorn magic blow me to pieces.”
“Yo, Captain-lady!” Air Mach’s voice came from the stairs as he reached the top step and turned towards them. He was wearing his full uniform, but still had the cape on with a pair of custom made goggles that looked just like his absurd orange sunglasses “What’s going on over…” Air Mach stopped right in his tracks and looked directly at Soarin.
“What?” Soarin blinked and tipped his head to the side. Air Mach pushed his goggles up and stared at Soarin with a quizzical expression. He eventually shrugged and put his goggled back down.
“Nah, nothing. Thought I just saw you downstairs, must have been Wave,” he said as he approached the board and tried to see over the rest of the ponies.
“Speaking of downstairs… do you need me anymore right now, Spitfire?” Soarin asked. Spitfire looked towards the board and then back at him.
“At the moment no,” she replied.
“Good, cause I’m really hungry,” Soarin complained as he quickly turned to the stairs and made his way down. He had missed his usual breakfast time and was certain he’d do something drastic if he didn’t get something in his stomach.
“OOF!” Dash grunted as she ran directly into sompony’s chest. The rest of squad Foxtrot came to a halt behind her as she bounced off and looked directly at… “Soarin?”
“Oh, hey Dash,” Soarin said greeted with a smile. “Sorry about that, haven’t had breakfast yet, a little eager,” he said with a strange look on his face that Dash could only read as ‘feed me.’
“Well, don’t let me stop you,” Dash chuckled and nudged him. “I know how you are when you’re hungry, get in there!” she stepped aside and let him by.
“Sorry about running into you. Gotta eat!” Soarin stated eagerly, but seriously and gave her a light tap on the shoulder before rushing into the mess hall.
“You run into others a lot,” Matteo immediately stated as they continued into the east hallway and moved back towards the lobby.
“Oh, shut it,” Dash blushed in embarrassment, recalling how often she had run nose-first, directly into Matteo. But that was mostly his fault for being so quiet.
She glanced back at the door to the mess hall as it shut behind them. Soarin was definitely in a different kind of mood. All the running around he was doing, plus he hadn’t had breakfast yet? That was more than enough for him to be a little off. She knew not to get between him and his diet routine. But that was the nature of everything in the compound right now. Everything was different, schedules were completely obliterated, and almost anything and everything they could do was closed down.
They all stopped as they moved no more than ten paces into the lobby before turning in and all looking at each other.
“So…” Star spoke up. “Now what? I don’t feel like sitting in the barracks all day, is there anything we can do?”
They all glanced around at each other. Indeed, with all the facilities closed they had nowhere else to go and nothing to do.
“Me neither,” Matteo agreed with Star as he sat down on the floor. “Why don’t we look around… or something?”
“Where?” Dash shrugged as she shook her head. “We’ve seen the whole compound and walking around randomly might make the security guards question what we’re doing. I’d rather not deal with them. They’re already staring at everypony with a death glare…”
Dash trailed off and began looking around as Star and Matteo continued to converse about what they should do. Twister was standing stiffly with his usual sneer, but vibrating in place. Squall was taking more interest in what was going on around them. Dash followed Squall’s example, examining the never ending commotion of security guards and Wonderbolts moving about. There were even three security ponies standing behind the mail counter with the orange pony. There was no mail being allowed in, but the pony was finding ways to keep himself busy… that is, while being glared at by the security guards.
She looked down the west hallway that she saw Soarin walking down before. The west wing was mostly classrooms and training facilities, nothing recreational. However, security seemed incredibly tight in the west wing, even more so than the lobby itself. Dash knew that Rivet’s workshop was in that direction, along with the research and development labs. There had to be a lot of information stowed away down there, so it made sense that the security detail leading towards it was incredibly high. There were at least three security guards beside every door leading down the west hall way.
“Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…”
Dash blinked and looked towards Twister. He was right beside her, staring at her face from the left.
“Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiii…” he completed the slur followed by his sinister snicker. Dash rolled her eyes and looked back at the hallway…
“Huh?” she blinked as she stared. Something… had changed as she looked away. It took her a moment to realize it, but the first three security guards posted outside the west hall classroom closest to the lobby… had vanished. “Uh…” she looked to her right and her eyes widened when she saw Squall staring towards the west hall as well. He turned and looked at her.
“Did…” he blinked. “Did anypony else just see that?” he pointed. Dash quickly turned to him as Star and Matteo turned their attention to him as well.
“What? What did you see?” Dash demanded. “I was just looking and the first group of security guards was gone when I looked back, did you see what happened?”
“They…” Squall blinked, “I don’t know! The same thing happened to me! I looked away, and then back and they were gone!”
“Foxtrot! Let’s go!” Dash suddenly stepped forward, and then looked back towards them. “Come on! We’re Wonderbolts! We can investigate too! I want to make sure I’m not going crazy!” she ordered while beckoning them to follow. They all nodded and obeyed, following Dash across the lobby until they stood at the beginning of the west hallway.
It didn’t take long for any of them to see it. The classroom door that the security guards were posted outside of was slightly ajar.
“I thought all the doors were locked…” Star said quietly as they approached. Dash picked up her pace towards the door, but Matteo reached out and stopped her.
“Dash, be careful… we should stay together,” he suggested. Dash puffed her cheeks out and exhaled.
“Right… that’s probably a good idea,” she agreed. She had to keep herself in check. She couldn’t have her desire to protect everypony from the Shadowbolts get in the way of her common sense. They had no idea what had happened or if it was even related, but they couldn’t take chances.
They all approached the door together. Dash grabbed the side of the door and slowly pulled it open.
Dash and Star gasped as Matteo, and Squall’s eyes widened. Twister popped over the top of Matteo’s head and blinked.
“Oh, that looks… bad,” Twister said as he too stared into the room.
“HEY!” Two security guards, a mare and a stallion, came running towards them. “What are you five doing?! How did you unlock that door?!” one of the earth ponies barked questions at them as they rushed towards them. “Where are the security guards that are supposed to be—,”
“Security! Quick!” Dash jumped away from the door and nearly ran directly into the two approaching guards. “Guys! We have a problem!” she yelled frantically as she pulled the mare over and pointed into the room. The security guard’s eyes widened.
Three security stallions were sprawled out on the floor in the classroom, moaning and groaning in pain. Their officer uniforms were ripped and torn and they were covered from head to toe in nasty looking bruises. They all writhed and wailed on the floor, one of them curled up into a ball with tears rolling down his face.
“We…we…” Dash stuttered and gulped. “Saw them disappear and… the door was open… and we… found them like…”
“WE’VE GOT A SITUATION OVER HERE!” the security mare wasted no time in yelling out, causing multiple Wonderbolts and security guards to turn and look towards her. “Somepony get Captain Spitfire down here! NOW!”
“What is this…?” Fleetfoot shook her head as she held a hoof to her mouth and looked over the three security guards lying on the floor in the hallway. She, Soarin, Spitfire, and Air Mach all surveyed the situation as Bliss worked. She and multiple unicorns from her medical team were crouched around the injured security guards as they carefully moved them onto the stretchers. A crowd had formed around the scene, Wonderbolts and security guards alike, all wondering what was going on and how three guards were suddenly found in such a damaged state. The members of squads one, two, and three, except for Silver Lining, were up front, getting a full view of the dilemma.
“Multiple body blows…” Bliss spoke as she examined one of the stallions. “Heavy bruising all over… not too many hits taken to the neck or head… it’s almost as if whoever attacked them just wanted to beat them senseless… and that’s more or less what they did,” she sighed and stood up, facing Spitfire, Soarin and Fleetfoot. “I didn’t feel any breakages or fractures on any of them, but I wouldn’t be surprised if one or two more hits would’ve have caused such injuries, they’ve been beaten to the point of breaking and left to feel the extreme pain. I’m not surprised they didn’t call for help, I doubt they could utter a word with how much they’ve been—”
“Okay, okay… sorry, Bliss,” Spitfire held a hoof up. “Please continue helping them. I’d just… rather not hear about how my security guards have been tortured,” Spitfire requested. Bliss sighed and nodded.
“I’ll move this one to the training room… Mahogany!” Bliss called to her yellow, dark-red maned assistant. “Help me out here,” she asked. The two used their magic to grab the ends of the stretcher, hoist it up and began moving through the crowd. “Move it! I have an injured pony here!” Bliss called out as the crowd parted for her.
“One of them has to be in the base,” Fleetfoot spoke up from between Spitfire and Soarin. “They have to be. Are they really so good that we can’t even keep them out during a full alert lock-down?”
“Something isn’t right here,” Soarin spoke up, catching both of their attention as he crouched down and looked over one of the two injured stallions. He looked him over carefully and shook his head. “Every single time we’ve encountered these Shadowbolts…” Soarin stood back up and faced the rest of his squad. “They’ve avoided us and haven’t causes us a single injury,” he looked down at the two stallions. “Then out of nowhere, they beat the tar out of three of our guards? Why?”
“I don’t think ‘why’ is a question we’ve had the luxury of being answered lately,” Spitfire shook her head. “They taunt us multiple times, get us to increase our security, and then this,” Spitfire growled. “All I see, is them once again trying to show us how much further along they are than us and I’ve had it…” She turned and looked back through the crowd. “Silver?” she called.
“Over here, Captain.” Silver called back.
“Come on,” Spitfire made a head motion to her squad. They all followed behind her as they made their way through the crowd and towards the wall of the hallway where Silver Lining stood beside squad Foxtrot. They were all sitting on the floor away from the crowd, all looking a little surprised and confused. Silver himself was standing beside Dash with his hoof on her shoulder as he turned and looked at Spitfire approaching.
“How are they doing?” Fleetfoot asked before Spitfire could speak up.
“A little shaken,” Silver stepped away from Dash. “But they’re fine.”
“Good,” Spitfire started stepping past Silver, but he reached out and caught her. “Silver?” she looked at him flatly.
“Go easy on them,” Silver said as he looked directly into her eyes. The two said nothing else for a moment before Spitfire turned to Dash and slowly approached.
“Rainbow Dash,” she said in a tone that she was forcing to be a little less stern. Dash looked up at her, her eyes filled with worry. “I want you tell me everything you saw,” she asked slowly.
Dash swallowed and looked towards Squall.
“Squall and I were looking down the west hallway from the lobby,” her voice was surprisingly not very shaken despite the slight look of shock that she wore. She, Squall, and Star all had a similar look of surprise on their face. Twister was being Twister, and Spitfire was more than certain Matteo had seen his share of brutal sights in the Griffon Kingdom. “We both looked away for all of two seconds, and when we looked back… these three security guards were gone and the door over here was slightly open, when we went to check what happened, we opened the door and found them on the floor…” she fully explained.
“Two seconds?” Fleetfoot’s eyes widened.
“AND…” Air Mach cut in. “They took out three guards without causing any noise? What manner of foe are we dealing with here?”
“CAPTAIN!” a voice suddenly yelled from the lobby.
All eyes turned to a Wonderbolt as she galloped into the west hall.
“Captain! Up on the second floor! Two security guards were found brutally beaten in the board room!”
“WHAT?!” Spitfire reacted instantly as a collective gasp sounded throughout the crowd.
Dash’s eyes widened, but the shock was quickly calmed as Soarin stepped over and placed a hoof on her shoulder.
“THAT… RGH! I’m sick of this!” Spitfire yelled out before hovering up so everypony around could see her. “EVERYPONY LISTEN UP!” she yelled. “I want all the security guards here to get back to your posts NOW and for Celestia’s sake WATCH YOUR BACKS! MOVE! ON THE DOUBLE!” she pointed. The security ponies instantly began moving. “Wonderbolts!” Spitfire continued. “Starting right now, EVERYTHING is locked down, I want every single one of you to gather up your squads and start a compound-wide search for whoever is responsible for this! Leave no stone unturned, no nook or cranny unchecked! If you find anything, report immediately, if you find a Shadowbolt, I don’t care what you do to get our attention, pull a fire alarm if you have to, just WARN US! GO! GO! GO!”
As soon as she gave her orders, the Wonderbolts dispersed, finding their squadmates and moving off in multiple different directions. Some of them lifted off and glided to cover ground faster, breaking away to check up the stairs, into the east hallway and any other place they could.
“Silver,” Soarin spoke up as he readied to start searching with the lead squad.
“Sir?” Silver saluted as Wave Chill, Blaze, and High Winds gathered behind them.
“Do me a favor and watch over Foxtrot,” Soarin pointed towards Dash and her squad. “I don’t know if I trust them being alone in the recruit barracks, not with some lunatic running around hurting our ponies.”
Silver looked towards squad Foxtrot and nodded.
“Yes, sir, I will take them along with us on our search,” he agreed.
“Thanks,” Soarin smiled as he reached down and pulled his goggled up over his eyes.
Dash watched as Soarin and the lead squad took off down the halls before turning her head towards her squad. They were all looking towards her, and as their captain, she felt inclined to guide them, but what was she supposed to say?
She actually didn’t need to say anything.
“On your hooves, Foxtrot!” Silver ordered as he stepped towards them. They all blinked and looked at him. “Don’t make me say it again! Commander Soarin has entrusted you five to me! And dammit, if that’s gonna be the case then you’re all gonna help squad two search for this asshole that thinks he can run around our compound and knock around our security guards! DO YOU READ ME LOUD AND CLEAR?! OR ARE YOUR EARS HARDER OF HEARING THAN MINE?!”
Squall, Matteo, Twister, and Star all looked towards Dash as she set her hooves on the floor firmly and rose up.
“Sir! Yes, Sir!” Dash called out. As soon as their captain was up, the rest of squad Foxtrot rose up as well.
“Sir! Yes, Sir!” they all said in unison.
“Good! Now let’s move!” Silver made a sharp head motion as he spread his wings and cracked his neck before lifting off. Wave, Blaze, and Winds all followed with squad Foxtrot close behind.
The search had begun… but would they even find anything?
“Nope!” said Surprise as she closed a door in the east hallway behind her. She went to the next door and looked in. “Nope!” she closed that one too, continuing the process as they went down the hall.
“This locker room is clean,” Lightning streak emerged from the locker room behind Fire and Misty as they surveyed the area to make sure the security teams were in place. Fire turned around and blinked, glaring at his brother.
“Did you just go into a mare’s locker room?!” Fire smacked a hoof over his face.
“Hey, the captain said to leave no stone unturned!” Lightning chuckled. Fire reached forward and grabbed him by the neck of his suit.
“GET SERIOUS, FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE!” he belted into Lightning’s face while shaking him.
“Sheesh, bro…” Lightning gritted his teeth as Misty pulled fire off of his brother.
“Just…” Fire calmed down as Misty got between them and pushed Fire away while giving him an angry pout. “Just keep searching…” Fire sighed as he turned away from Misty and looked back towards the lobby. “Oh!” Fire blinked as he saw Soarin making his way towards the lobby. “Commander Soarin!” Fire called, eager to report what they had checked so far.
“WHOA!” Surprise suddenly yelped. Fire turned around to see her shaking her hooves off near a heating vent. “I didn’t think these things got so hot!”
“I don’t think you need to check the super-hot vents, babe…” Lightning said casually from below her. Fire shook his head and looked back.
“Commander Soar…in?” he stopped and blinked. Soarin had disappeared. “Must’ve been in a hurry…”
“Captain Fire!” Storm Front’s voice suddenly caught Fire’s attention. He turned to see squad seven emerge from the mess hall.
“Storm? What is it?” he asked as squad seven caught their breath.
“Six security guards! All badly beaten! In the mess hall!” Storm frantically pointed. Fire’s ears stood up.
“Blast it! Go get Bliss, now!” he ordered.
“This is crazy…” Fleetfoot commented as she, Soarin, and Air Mach opened the doors to the second floor offices, moving in and checking around inside them. “He or she could be anywhere!” she exclaimed as she shut an office door behind her. “We don’t even know what we’re looking for!”
“We’re looking for a Shadowbolt!” Spitfire called from another office before stepping out and pulling the door shut behind her.
“Well, duh!” Fleetfoot fired back, “But for all we know, they could be long gone now! What if this was what they wanted us to do?” Fleetfoot threw her arms out. “They’ve been messing with us after all! They could be getting laughs out of us running around like this!”
“Fleetfoot, shut up, and keep looking!” Spitfire ordered before turning her back on her.
“Hey!” Fleetfoot hovered over to her before she could open another door. “Don’t start taking your anger out on us again!” she yelled. Spitfire glared at Fleetfoot and growled.
“LADIES!” Air Mach flew up and put himself between them. “This isn’t working, I’m all for rivalries, but now’s not the time!” he managed to keep the hero tone in his voice despite trying to be serious. “Cool it until we find this bastard!” he said while pointing at both of them.
“Sorry…” Spitfire said as she took a few deep breaths. “Come on,” she made a head motion to Fleetfoot. “Let’s keep look—” she opened up the office door in front of her and two bodies fell out onto her. “AH!” she yelped as Fleetfoot shrieked and clung to Air Mach.
Two security mares flopped off of Spitfire and fell to the floor, both wailing and writhing in pain.
Fleetfoot let go of Air Mach and put her hooves to her mouth. Air Mach growled and gritted his teeth.
“I swear…” he growled. “When I find out who’s doing this to my comrades…” he stomped a hoof hard on the floor. “I’m going to give them a beating equal to all the pain they’ve caused!” he exclaimed.
“Hey!” Spitfire called down the hall to another Wonderbolt squad. “Come over here and help us out!” she ordered. She looked back at Air Mach and Fleetfoot before looking down at the floor and gritted her teeth. “How many more…? Haven’t they made their point?!” she yelled out while arching her neck back and shouting in frustration towards the ceiling.
Spitfire took a few deep breaths as two Wonderbolt squads arrived on scene to help with the two new wounded security guards.
“And why…” she shook her head. “It’s only the security team… we’re all frantically running around here and…” Spitfire blinked and looked up. Soarin was walking away from them towards the stairs. “Soarin?” she tipped her head to the side. “HEY! SOARIN!” she called, but Soarin kept walking. “Where do you think you’re going?! HEY!” she called again, but Soarin turned and walked up the stairs. “What the hell is he—” Spitfire turned, ready to go pursue Soarin but,
“Nothing in here,” Soarin’s voice suddenly came from a nearby office. He stepped out and closed the door behind him. His eyes widened as he saw the two earth mares on the floor. “Dammit… more of them?!” he walked up, but stopped in his tracks when he saw Spitfire, Fleetfoot and Air Mach all looking at him strangely. “What?” he blinked as he looked between them all. Spitfire glanced between him and the stairs.
“Soarin…” Spitfire looked at him with one of the most perplexed expressions he had ever seen. “I swear I just saw you go up the stairs,” she pointed.
“Huh?” Soarin tipped his head and turned to look at the stairs. “I’ve been here with you guys the whole time.”
“Actually…” Fleetfoot spoke up. “Earlier today Soarin walked by me and ignored me when I tried talking to him,” she looked at Spitfire.
“And…” Air Mach also looked towards Spitfire. “I was sure before that I saw Soarin in the west wing downstairs… then I saw him up here… just like… now…”
All four of them stared at each other in silence… and then all at once their ears shot up, their jaws dropped, and eyes widened. Soarin, Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and Air Mach all turned and fired towards the stairs.
“Stay together and leave nothing unturned!” Silver ordered. As he, squad two and squad Foxtrot moved towards the recreation room on the third floor. “Tear apart the place if you have to. I never liked this room anyway,” he grumbled under his breath. Squad Foxtrot was staring in awe at the social area as they moved in.
“Wow…” Star blinked. “I had no idea this room even existed!”
“Sorry, elites only,” Blaze chuckled as she passed by them. Following close behind her was Wave.
“It’s open to everypony, don’t listen to her,” Wave whispered to them as Foxtrot began to move with them.
“Huh?” Dash’s ears stood up as she heard another set of hooves make its way up the stairs behind them. There were other security guards up on the third floor, but arguably the least of any floor because it was nothing but living quarters. Nevertheless, her curiosity got the better of her, and Dash found herself turning around to see who was coming up the stairs behind them. They were the only Wonderbolt squads up there so far, after all.
“Soarin?” Dash said to herself as she saw Soarin reach the top of the stairs, look back and look back and forth down the halls before turning and looking directly at Dash.
Dash stared at Soarin as his eyes widened slightly. He blinked, and quickly turned away before heading down the west side of the third floor.
“Whoa, hold on a second!” Dash called to him, but he was already around the corner. She disregarded staying with her squad and began following. Spitfire said that no Wonderbolts should be without their squad. Obviously this was for protection purposes. She wasn’t going to let Soarin go on without somepony backing him up.
She turned the corner and flinched in surprise. Soarin was already halfway down the hall, trotting incredibly fast. The security guards all nodded at him as he passed, but Soarin didn’t nod in response.
Dash didn’t like him moving by himself, so she quickly broke into a canter after him. Where was he going anyway? He had walked way past his own room. He was heading towards the low tier elite rooms now. Plus, he wasn’t stopping to check any of the rooms… so… why?
Dash stopped cold in her tracks and her eyes widened.
The moment Soarin reached the end of the hallway…
He turned…
And threw himself at the last security guard posted, punching him across the face and knocking him to the ground.
Dash gasped as the security guards in the immediate area all turned and started charging towards Soarin.
Dash watched in horror as each one tried to subdue Soarin, but every attempt was met with a brutal beating. One by one the guards fell, crying in pain and cringing, covered in bruises.
“SOARIN! STOP!” Dash yelled as she broke into a gallop. She had no idea what she was seeing, but something was incredibly wrong. Why was Soarin attacking the security guards? Was the magic going haywire under stress? Whatever it was, she had to stop it!
She leapt up and took off, pumping her wings in hopes of getting there before any more security guards could be hurt, but by the time she landed, Soarin had just knocked down the twelfth and final security guard posted in the area.
“Soarin!” she yelled his name as Soarin turned and glared at her. “Soarin what are you doing?!” she cried out, a look of utter dread on her face at all the security guards crying out painfully at his hooves. “Stop! Please st—” she gasped as Soarin pulled back and punched towards her face. She had no time to wonder why, or react.
“I DON’T THINK SO!” A voice called out from behind Dash.
Silver rushed forward, shifted in front of her, threw up his left arm, and caught Soarin’s punch. The force of the attack pushed Silver’s back into Dash and knocked her backwards, causing her to trip and fall over one of the wounded security guards. The guard yelped in pain as Dash fell on top of him. She quickly scrambled off the guard and turned over, propping herself up on her elbows and back, staring up in horror as Silver and Soarin fiercely grappled each other. They growled and snarled in each other’s faces as they struggled, tipping left and right as they tried to gain the advantage. The stepped and stumbled around, stepping on the fallen earth ponies, causing screams and wails of pain as they moved around. The whole sight was horrific… Dash didn’t know what was happening in any shape or form.
“RGGH!!!!!” Silver growled as he began forcing Soarin backwards towards the end wall of the hallway. “You!” he growled. YOU… RGH… AREN’T… SOARIN!!!!” he yelled into Soarin’s face. He pulled his head back to deliver a heavy headbutt to Soarin’s face, but Soarin ducked way down at the last moment. Silver’s head to flew over him and put him in a vulnerable position.
“NO!” Dash yelled out as Soarin began unloading multiple heavy blows to Silver’s body.
“AH! ARGH! AUGH!” Silver grunted and coughed as Soarin delivered at least twelve punches to his chest and stomach. But Silver growled, reached down, and caught both of Soarin’s arms while shivering. “Heh… Sorry kid… But I don’t… feel… PAIN!” he tried forcing Soarin’s arms back, but as soon as he applied the force, Soarin let up, causing Silver to fall forward into him. Using leverage, Soarin turned, grabbed Silver’s arm, and hurled him over his back, slamming him directly into the wall behind them. “AAAAARRRGHH!” Silver yelled as Soarin let go and Silver slid down the wall, landing head first with a cringe worthy THUMP.
Silver collapsed in a heap, but turned over and tried to stand immediately. He toppled over as soon as he managed to push himself up at all, completely dizzy.
“STOP IT!” Dash yelled. “STOP HURTING HIM!” she yelled while glaring at Soarin, still propped up on her elbows on the floor. Soarin turned away from Silver and glared at her. As soon as his eyes met hers, Dash froze.
It… didn’t look like Soarin’s eyes. She had never seen Soarin give anypony a glare like it, friend or foe. It was paralyzing, full of hatred and malice.
He turned and started walking towards her.
Dash’s pupils shrank, hear heart raced, and her breath quickened as she tried shimmying her way backwards, but she quickly ran into one of the security guards down on the floor. Soarin reached down and grabbed her by the neck.
“AH!” Dash yelped as she reached over and clamped her hooves over Soarin’s arm as he hoisted her up into the air. She kicked her legs and flapped her wings, but she couldn’t loosen Soarin’s grip. Soarin turned and slammed her against the wall. Her mouth opened to yelp, but she couldn’t. She wanted to scream, but she couldn’t. Soarin’s hoof was pressing against her neck… her vocal cords. She couldn’t make a sound and even if she tried, they were at the end of the hall way, so far from the rec room that she doubted squad two or Foxtrot could hear her. Silver was struggling to stand, disoriented from the blow to his head. He was clearly trying to save Dash. He kept getting up, taking a step, and stumbling over the multiple bodies on the floor, his equilibrium off-kilter.
Dash looked back at Soarin as she struggled to breathe. Her eyes widened as Soarin’s horn suddenly began to glow…
But…
It glowed… pink?
What was going on?
Suddenly a loud BOOM sounded out from down the hallway, the building shaking slightly.
“RRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!” A battle cry sounded out. Soarin turned to look…
A light blue hoof struck Soarin in the face so suddenly and so hard that it knocked his goggles halfway up onto his forehead. Soarin’s grip instantly loosened from Dash and he launched from his spot, flying past Silver, and slamming against the end wall.
Dash fell to the ground, reaching her hoof over to rub her neck while gasping for air. She looked up to see who her savior was.
“What…? Soarin?” she blinked as she looked up at... another Soarin floating in front of her? She looked over at the wall behind Silver. The pony on the wall… was ALSO Soarin? She looked between the two of them as the Soarin in front of her growled and glared at the other.
“Looks like we were right…” Spitfire said as she flew up besides Soarin. Fleetfoot and Air Mach flew over and helped Silver get to his hooves.
“WHO ARE YOU?!” Soarin demanded as he placed himself between Dash and the other Soarin. As the other Soarin fell off the wall and landed roughly on all four hooves, the horn on his head fell off and floated above him, surrounded in a pink light.
“Rgghh…” the other Soarin growled as he began to flicker, his appearance becoming distorted and pulsing.
“What the hell?” Fleetfoot backed away as Air Mach helped Silver move away as well. The other Soarin was making scratching and fuzzy noises as his image continued to warp, distort, and wobble. The detached horn floated above him, glowing brighter and brighter with a pink aura.
“Pink…” Soarin blinked as he watched. “I’ve seen that kind of magic aura before!”
The horn suddenly flickered intensely, and then stopped. As it remained stationary, pink light started from the tip of the horn and ran down it… as it did, it revealed…
A pink crystal.
Soarin, Dash, Spitfire, and Fleetfoot all stared at it, alarmed. None of them were as alarmed as Spitfire. She shivered at the site, remembering well what happened the last time she saw one.
“They finally pull out the crystals…” Soarin gritted his teeth. “It was only a matter of time.”
“Spitfire…” Fleetfoot leaned against her. “Spitfire, stay cool,” she tried to comfort Spitfire, who was clearly terrified of the crystal, despite trying hard not to show it.
The image of the other Soarin started flickering more, just like the crystal did, the image eventually became in credibly fuzzy… and then stopped moving all together. A pink glow appeared at the top of his head, and started moving down the other Soarin’s face and towards his body.
“I wonder which one of our friends this is…” Air Mach growled as let Silver back onto his hooves.
The light began traveling down… but…
“Huh?” Spitfire blinked.
As the pony was revealed… something was different. The colors were light orange with a bright red mane. A combination they hadn’t seen yet with the new Shadowbolts.
“What?!” Fleetfoot gasped.
The stallion was wearing a Shadowbolt flight mask… AND a pair of the tilted yellow goggles. No red goggles or matching red headband with tassels… It was the old Shadowbolt uniform.
The stallion growled and gritted his teeth.
“Dammit…” the stallion uttered as he turned and scowled at them.
Soarin’s jaw dropped and his eyes widened as he took a step backwards.
That voice...
He knew that voice!
Art by: Foxenawolf
“RAPIDFIRE?!?!?!”
---To be Continued---