//------------------------------// // Chapters 5/6: We get in a Fight/Closer to the Truth // Story: The Lost Wonderbolts // by FireFlash13231 //------------------------------// It's been three weeks that we've been down in this cave, and tempers are beginning to run short. There is no doubt in my mind that we were doomed to get into an argument from the very beginning. It all started with another mentioning of that same question that had been pestering everypony. "So, once my wing and back right leg have healed, how ARE we going to get out of here?" I asked for the millionth time. This time, Soarin finally lost his patience. Instead of replying with the usual "We'll finish digging our way out of here eventually," he let me have it. An extremely irritated Soarin stared straight at me with eyes narrowed and a snarl in his voice. "Well, if your SPINFERNO hadn't blown you across the cave and rendered you USELESS, we would have been FINISHED digging out by now!" "Careful, Soarin." Spitfire warned. "We don't want a fight, not now. And besides, it was MY idea to dig us out. Your idea of trying to fit through this hole would never have worked." "Watch it, both of you." I looked from one to the other. Soarin, glaring from me to Spitfire, murder in his eyes. Spitfire was glancing nervously between me and Soarin, hoping that things would settle. When our eyes met, I could clearly see her silently pleading with me not to escaltate the spontaneous argument. I sighed inwardly and looked back to Soarin. "Fighting will get us nowhere, and you're right. My Spinferno was a good idea, but it screwed up, and I'm sorry." I glanced quickly to Spitfire, who clearly was glad at my clearing the air, and she shot me a look full of meaning. Unfortunately, Soarin noticed, and I figured that he must have completely misinterpreted. I reached out my hoof. "Truce?" I offered Soarin my right hoof, completely unprepared for his reaction. Instead of accepting my offer of peace, he went into a rage. "YOUR SPINFERNO SCREWED UP? I'LL SAY IT SCREWED UP! YOU BLEW A CHUNK OUT OF THE ROOF, BROKE MY WING AND HOOF, AND MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOURSELF TO DO ANY SORT OF WORK! YOU...YOU..." "Stop!" Spitfire squealed. I had backed up against a wall, where I lay cringing in fear, hooves over my head. Soarin glared at me with as much hate and contempt as he could have possibly contained for three weeks. He turned around, and I lifted my hooves slightly from over my head and glanced up. Spitfire was clearly trying to keep this from escalating any further, potentially saving me from a fifth broken limb. "Our flaming tempers are going to cause this inferno of a fight to spin out of control! No pun intended." Soarin rolled his eyes, and returned his gaze to me, a murderous fire blazing in his eyes. I returned my hooves to my eyes, whimpering in fear. I knew that one wrong move, one misspoken word, even one misinterpreted glance could turn this fight into a full-scale riot. I knew that Soarin could hurt me severely if things got any more out of hoof, so I chose my words extremely carefully, slowly rising to three hooves and staring nervously back at Soarin. "We'll have to agree to disagree." I decided. "I use pure force, like supersonic speeds and my Spinferno, and when things backfire, I take the most damage from sheer reflective power. Soarin, you use a more passive force, like when you tried to force yourself through the hole in the ceiling. It won't always work, but it often has very few negative effects on a failed attempt. Spitfire, you are purely passive, soft-hearted, and gentle, and Soarin and I could both definitely stand to learn from your patience and kindness. If we had listened to you in the first place, we wouldn't be in this mess." I took a deep breath, lowered my head, and waited, ready for whatever Soarin's response would be. The dark fire slowly faded from Soarin's eyes, and he sighed. "I guess so." I raised my head and looked at him, genuinely surprised. "We should have tried it the slower, safer way instead of trying to drill out with a risky move like that. It was me who told you to try your Spinferno." We both turned to Spitfire. "We're sorry." "Don't be." She put her hoof up, and we stared at her. "I was also eager for you to try out your Spinferno, Fireflash." She gave me another meaningful look, and this time thankfully Soarin didn't notice. I grunted and gritted my teeth as a bolt of pain shot the the lightning bolt on my face, bringing me back down to the ground. I touched it gingerly, knowing fully that it would scar over. "These headaches are excrutiating, jagged bolts of pain down the left side of my face." I complained. "And they won't go away!" Spitfire and Soarin trotted over, worried looks on their faces. "Are you all right?" Soarin asked, his sudden raging outburst over, to be replace with the Soarin I knew and loved; caring and gentle, for the most part. "It will heal eventually, I'm sure..." "You don't sound very sure..." "Will you two focus? We've almost finished digging out of here, Fireflash is nearly healed, and we need to escape before the ponies that put us here accomplish whatever their goal is!" I rose once again from the floor and walked over, a determined look on my face. Spitfire looked at me. "Fireflash! Lie back down! You still need to rest, so don't walk around or you could hurt yourself!" "No." I stared from Soarin to Spitfire, my intentions clear from the determined look on my face. "I've lain there with you two taing care of me for three weeks now, and it's MY turn to do some hard work. I may only have three hooves to walk on now, but my wing has healed, and I can fly. What is my task?" I looked from one to the other, silently daring them to make me lie back down. "Quiet!" Soarin hissed unexpedctedly. "I hear somepony!" We sat in silence, and heard hoofsteps overhead. We heard an unrecognizable voice. "Do you think that they're still alive? The search has nearly been gven up." We waited in silence, but nopony answered. We heard a grinding noise at the entrance, and an angry voice, a different one. "They're not here! They must have found the escape tunnel!" "Oh no." Soarin moaned. "There's no way that we can take them." "My wing has healed, remember? I can perform a third Spinferno and hopefully scare them off without a fight. I can only display my force through flying, so a Spinferno is perfect. I'm willing to give it a go as a last-ditch effort, because you two are my friends and I care about you." "Really? Soarin was astounded. "You would risk your life to try and pull off a SPINFERNO with a broken leg to save me and Spitfire?" "Yes." In the few seconds of silence that followed, we heard rapid hoofsteps echoing from down the tunnel. "Here goes nothing." I began running on three hooves in the now familiar circle. With one leg broken, it took longer for the red ring to form, and even longer for the orange ring. I took off, now able to go the full speed required to pull off the Spinferno, and the yellow ring formed inside of the orange one. My left wing, the one I had injured, began twitching as flames began to build up. I gritted my teeth against the pain, spun my Spinferno over to a corner near the tunnel exit, and waited. Two pegasi rushed in, saw the glowing Spinferno, turnd tail, and tore back down the tunnel, Soarin and Spitfire in hot pursuit. I followed rapidly down the tunnel, flames blowing around me. As I reached the main cave, I became too tired to fly, so I decided to land. Having forgotten that landing with three hooves would be extremely difficult, I tripped and skidded facefirst into the cave wall, almost knocking over Spitfire. "My bad!" I apologized. "Are you all right?" Soarin called. "I'm okay! Did we get them?" "No, but I caught a glimpse of them before the exit was resealed." Spitfire gasped for breath. "They were both a darkish gray with blue manes. A unicorn must have been waiting outside." "Not Wonderbolts." Soarin confirmed. "Definitely not Wonderbolts..." I thought to myself. "But how in Equestria did they find me again..." "Twins, probably." Spitfire decided. "That will narrow our search significantly. Now let's dig out of here!" I called to Soarin and Spitfire, but they had already dashed back down the tunnel. I stood up, and began pacing. They can't have found me...it's been seven long years...how could they possibly have found me? I needed to get out to warn Rainbow Dash. We were in danger, but I was still trapped, and she had no idea. I suddenly realized that the fact that they had found me was not the only thing bothering me. I lashed my wings in fury, unsure what it could be. Suddenly, I stopped, mouth wide in astonishment. I remembered our recent argument, when Spitfire had given me those meaningful looks...I remembered how she had nursed me slowly back to health, a look in her eyes the entire time. Could that have been...love? I could not believe it. Is Spitfire in love with me? Author's note: I am purposely not stating who "they" are. You may have figured it out yourself by now though. And yes, Soarin is in love with Spitfire, who is in love with Fireflash, who can't decide between Rainbow Dash and Spitfire.