The snow howled outside the broken window beside my bunk area. It was a mess with all the furniture to one side of the room but not the area I was working in. I worked to uncover a chest I had hidden not long after I entered the lower squads. Lucky for me the compound taking flight and subsequent crash in the mountains dislodged the concrete slab I had above it. Finally after 15 minutes I unearthed the chest from what was under my bed. It had been some years since I've seen this item. I giggle remembering the work and bribes I had done to hide it in the first place. It's an ironwood chest easily shown by it's distinct onyx shade. On it's lid was the image of a white grinning fanged horse skull with bat-wings flaring out to its sides; my symbol from a long time ago.
I look at the chest then I take a moment to look at the reflection in what remains of the window glass to remind myself who I am. My name now is Swimming Skies again; age 25. I'm a larger then normal cobalt blue pegasus with a dark indigo mane and tail with dark orange eyes. My cutie mark is a pair of white pegasus wings with the left one upright and fanned with the right upside down but also fanned. At times I like to think of it as a sideways S with straightened ends. Brings a smirk to my face every time I think of that. this is the cutie mark of a stunt flyer, something I've only been fulfilling the past three and three quarter years during my time in the Wonderbolts.
I'm working on the lock of the trunk when I sense him behind me. “It's been too long Sir” I say to him.
The large and scarred pegasus stallion enters almost without noise. “Agreed but should you really be calling me that?” he asks me.
I unlock the lock and remove it “ You will always be that to me Descent, regardless of what standard I fly under” I open the lid to my trunk and see that everything is in order.
“You know I wasn't sure it was you at first until I asked Spitfire your name. Although I told her you were someone I thought I knew I doubt she bought it so you likely should visit her” He tells me.
“ I'm rather ok with that, we both know secrets are heavy to carry....I had seen him here and there around here Sir, another set of those eyes I never wanted to disappoint, seeing them on him was...vexing but our stations were rather apart and I couldn't talk with him so it wasn't until your scene together that my suspicions were confirmed. Is he everything you ever wanted Sir?” I nearly break down but I managed to hold myself together.
“He's my son, ever since his eyes looked into mine he was always perfect” Descent flatly states.
“ My apologizes Sir” I sniffle this time. I feel his hoof on my shoulder.
“ Death Drop, I know you hold me to you what I held Dante to me, that hasn't changed. If it makes you feel any better he was in my life before you” He tells me.
“ Thank you sir, and I did figure that sir, and it does” I then pull a framed photo of 13 Shadowbolts, myself included and on the bottom of the frame on a brass label is etched “ The Lost Colts, suicide squad of the Shadowbolts”. “ What became of them after I left?” I ask Descent.
He hangs his head “ They had a mission a week after you left into Zebrica to steal a scroll. They failed and all but Brimstone died, she returned half dead and didn't continue the unit. She also isn't with the renegades Death Drop”.
“ Knowing her she may of died when the fortress fell, the poor thing” I put the photo down and dig around the chest as Descent peers over my shoulder.
" So you still have those bracers and chains?” He asks me.
" Technically no, with the generally better and steady pay I've been getting here I've changed out my old set for these. They're both lighter and stronger. They should come in handy once I get back into practice with them” I smile.
" Didn't I kick your ass over the use of weapons a few times?” he asks me rhetorically.
" I hold the count at 52, and also the argument of “learn your hooves first” from you, which I did and I've been able to keep up that practice here. These though not so much. The using your own bodily talents for shows really crosses over into the combat area, not unlike... well you know” I tell him. I find the thing I'm looking for “ there we go, come to daddy” I pull out a long cloth wrapped object.
“ Now that I'm not surprised you still have” Descent tells me.
" The greatest memento from our hardest fight together though you killed its wielder. The Empire would track me down if I hocked it even after they would have recovered it, griffin honor is deep” I tell him.
" I do remember you disarming him then lightly wounding him with that so according to griffon tradition it's more yours then mine and why are you bringing that out anyway?” He asks me.
" I'm interested in seeing if I can loan it to someone on specific conditions” I tell him as I put the item on top of the things in the trunk. “ And I'm certain you didn't come here just to say hi, I can tell from the bump in your wing you are holding something” I tell him.
Descent shifts his left wing to reveal two items, a set of renegade head gear, red tinted goggles and a red headband. “ I figured once you came clean with everyone here you'd likely both want and need these” He tells me. I just smile at him and take the items and put them in the trunk which I the close and move onto my back.
“ Well into one hell I go” I tell him. He grunts amicably.
I'm now inside Spitfires office with a few of the other high ranking elites, Fleetfoot, Animak( I always found him interesting so I address him as such) Silver Lining and etc. I take the chest off my back and sit on my haunches before them. “ I understand you have some questions, and I'm here to answer them” I tell her.
“ This is true Swimming Skies, now tell me, what is your relationship to Descent” she asks bluntly.
" He's my mentor and in a number of ways a surrogate father” I say effortlessly. The silence is booming and the only one aside from me not visibly gasping is Silver. “ I was nearly 14, as is in my file you have I was born and raised in the rough part of Baltimare. It was just my mom and I, my father died with honor in the guard assisting evacuees during the Great Earthquake when I was 7.
Shady bankers swindled my mom from my dads pension and she worked hard and was getting hit by a series of increasingly horrid colt-friends even harder. I was back home from school one day when I saw him with a broken bottle at my moms throat. The next is somewhat of a blur but next thing I know I'm high above the ocean and under me my moms latest boyfriend is screaming and falling, he was an earth pony, and then he splashed hard into the water, died upon impact. I raced back home and hid in my room. Next I hear my mom at my door “Sweetie someone's here to see you” then she opens the door and when I look I see it isn't a police pony” I then exhale.
“It was Descent in his Shadowbolt outfit with his head wear down at his neck. It seems he had saw me drop my moms boyfriend into the ocean and then followed me home. He told me about the Shadowbolts and that he saw something in my and that was what they needed. I agreed near instantly to his proposal. The next two years I lived in the fortress and when he wasn't on a mission or his own time he trained me. At 16 I entered the Shadowbolts as a full member taking the name Death Drop. In a number of ways I prefer that name to the one I returned to after I left the Shadowbolts. The next 5 years were among the best of my life, a raising star in the organization, I had formed a volunteer unit, a suicide squad for missions often high risk with uncertain reward “ The Lost Colts” though we often had mares in the unit. Everything was peachy, mission here, train there, visit my mom living in her new cottage in Southern Baltimare, semi-retired on my bit. Then...” I trail off.
“Then what?” Spitfire asks me. All eyes are on fix on me.
" I became involved with Nightshade”. The room becomes fairly colder. " She had taken an interest in me and well even with her in-organization reputation it wasn't an opportunity to turn down lightly” my cheeks redden a bit. " As you can imagine it was mostly physical, we both trained and...danced together, some of the stuff we had done would give a number of ponies existential crisis, from either the pleasure or pain.” I chuckle a bit while Fleetfoot dry heaves a bit." This was before she rose to the top among the Shadowbolts" They brief acknowledge this " Then one night she pulls me aside into her room, and she showed me something, something she got as pay for a side job she did. A small bag of crystals, pink crystals” All eyes aside from Silvers widen to dinner plates. " She tossed one of the crystals to me and when I held it....it was intoxicating. Power flowed through me, I could lift things with my mind like a unicorn. I felt unstoppable. Then she said if I did her a favor I could keep the crystal, I agreed before knowing what it was.. biggest mistake of my life” tears slide down my face.
" She gave me this picture of an earth pony mare and asked me to drop her like I did to those I found heinous” they stare at me for a moment. " I'd often do assassination jobs and when the target was someone the public knew as ill-refute, white collar thieves, acquitted murders and the like, I'd abduct them and drop them 3-4 thousand feet from the air onto the ground. Unicorns I would break their horn first, and with pegasi I'd dislocate one of their wings." A few feel their wings and groan at this. " On the back of the picture was details on how to find her. What I found was a cottage in Ponyville with just her and her children, a filly and colt. They had just finished putting dinner away. She was a single parent but I didn't care as I was high on crystal. I got a bag to carry her in ready as I knocked on the door. When she answered I grabbed and sacked her and darted into the sky, kicking the door shut while taking off, the children didn't notice. I flew over the Everfree then soared 4 thousand feet up before I opened the bag and let her fall. I couldn't hear her scream as the crystals pulse was in my ear but we briefly made eye contact before the distance between us was to great. I still see those eyes in my nightmares from time to time.” I rub my face with my hooves for a moment. " The guilt started to leech in on the flight back to the fortress with the crystal all the while on a string around my neck. Nightshade was so pleased at my news she flicked her tail up as an invitation for some fun and what happened next is a bit of a blur with my next clear moment of us in her bed together a few hours later. Then I asked why she wanted that favor and this is word for word what she said “ humph, the stuck up bitch refused my offers of fun, telling me she didn't swing that way, and not two minutes later I see her getting fresh with this blue unicorn mare. Fucking bitch” I nearly threw up there but just excused myself from her room. Then I raced to a bathroom and did throw up. I woke up later still hugging the toilet to Descent hovering over me and all I could say was “ I'm sorry sir but I did something bad”, I told him everything and he just cradled my head for a while. Later I handed my resignation letter to Dante, he was still the head honcho then, and took all my stuff and went to my moms place” I take a breath.
“In all the time I worked for the Shadowbolts she never asked questions or stopped loving me even when I was becoming more evil then her former boyfriends. I then bribed a lawyer to forge documents saying that the children's mom who I killed had a few insurance policies and a will that stipulated that in her untimely death that money was to go into a trust for them and their aunt her sister was the protector of that trust. I poured most of the money I earned and saved as a Shadowbolt into that, then set aside 10 grand for myself and gave the rest to my mom” I tell them.
“And how much is that exactly?” Fleetfoot asks. Everyone else stares at her in annoyance “What I want to know” she tells them.
I smile at this " Prior to leaving I had the living record of largest bank account in the Shadowbolts so fees and bribes aside for the lawyer and others I poured 55,550,000 bits into that trust and gave my mom 1,240,000” even silvers eyebrows are raised at this statement. “again suicide squad, high risk and uncertain reward” I state to them.
“After that business I could feel myself getting...addicted to the crystal, I still hadn't gotten rid of it yet, so I checked myself into rehab and when in my room I smashed the crystal, the next 2 weeks are a blur of pain” I tell them.
" And all this from how much time with the crystal” Spitfire asks.
" four days plus a bit extra” I tell them flatly. They stare again at me at this. " Afterwards I figured I'd try for weather patrol but I heard news of a Wonderbolt recruit drive and it was all too tempting. And after tryouts and basic I had been in the ranks since then Captain” I tell her.
“ Why didn't you tell us this stuff after the tornado in Ponyville?” Spitfire asks me.
" Pretty much reasons too numerous or asinine I think. That along with the prospect of losing another family again was too much to bare and these reasons repeat and such till yesterday, when Descent recognized me once more and I couldn't hide as well as the decreased likelihood of immediate death from pink crystals, and now Captain I have something I want to ask you” I say.
She narrows her eyes a bit “Yes”.
" What are you going to do with my story?” I ask her.
She leans back a bit and thinks " That's a tough one, your record in our organization is spotless; we aren't in the position to be firing staff let alone Wonderbolts and even if I did I think you'd stick around with the Renegades and fight. There is still the matter of your admitted criminal record though” Spitfire says.
The office door then opens revealing Luna " I think we can aid that matter Captain” she says as everyone but spitfire bows, she gives a a curtly nod. " In the royal courts a confession to a crime regardless of vague details isn't enough for imprisonment, typically when someone confess to a crime an officer is sent to find evidence supporting the confession. That said our situation as it is with the Renegades aiding the Wonderbolts, most of whom have are in a category of " crimes committed by person or persons unknown” I would suggest that like them upon the end of this nightmare like with the Shadowbolts for Honorable services to Equestria that he and the other renegades be granted for deeds done during their tenure of that organization, is this amiable Captain” Luna asks her looking her in the eye.
" Honestly it is but the future is still uncertain, I'll be keeping an eye on you Swimming Skies” She says to me before I lift my hoof up.
” Please, I'm going to go by Death Drop again, and stop living in lies, in truth that me died with the first kill, and one thing Captain” I say to her.
“ Yes..Death Drop?” she says though it doesn't roll off quite right.
" I want to know where Matteo is, I have something I want to loan to him and I think you'll want to witness” I tell her.
In the Courtyards remains Matteo is with a number of the other larger ponies clearing rubble out of the way when everyone from Spitfires office is walking towards them. Bomber tells the others that they are coming towards them. They stop what they are doing and walk towards them. Most of the renegades and Wonderbolts are outside so they catch the scene unfolding near immediately. “Everyone come in close” Spitfire loudly says and they walk forward to the group
" Yes Captain?” he asks confused.
All eyes are on the group " Swi..ugh Death Drop here ugh, has something that he wants to say to everyone and also he wants to loan something to you Matteo” She says. I walk forward a bit and take the chest off my back and onto the ground.
All eyes and ears are on me, and I spot Descent in the distance by a propeller base, I swear I can see him almost nodding at me. I take a deep breath " I know most of you are confused as to why Spitfire called me by a different name then to what you know me as. The reason for that is I've been living something of a lie.” I can hear the murmurs over the winds of snow. " The truth is, is that before becoming a Wonderbolt, I was a Shadowbolt by the name of Death Drop” the murmurs change growing louder. " With the events as they have been and my old mentor recognizing me once more I've been pushed into releasing this burden." I pause to breath and let that information sink in. " I joined the Shadowbolts when I was 16 and left some time after my 21st birthday. I partook in many missions for them as I have for the Wonderbolts with a few of them involving the deaths of one or more ponies or creatures of this realm. The reason I left was because of the most horrible thing I've ever done in my life. I senselessly drop an earth pony single mother of a filly and colt at 4000 feet to her death” The gasps roar over the winds.
" I did this deed as a favor, a favor for a magical object from a pony known as Nightshade, a pink crystal." The murmur is silently roaring now. " She wanted this mare dead because she refused her sexual advances” their yells of various content continue to muffle the wind.
" Quiet” Spitfire yells and then only the wind is heard “I want every pony to know that Death Drop did this deed while the crystal had a hold of him and that he learned of the reason for this “favor” afterward. I tell all of you this to not condone Death Drops actions but to further show what we are facing up against.” Spitfire then loudly says to everyone. I turn to her and she gives me a curt nod. The silence is now louder then the wind.
“Though I've taken actions to ensure her children's future isn't filled with gloom the guilt from her death at my hands will haunt me till the end of my life. I just want everyone here to know my whole self and I don't except much from any of y'all” I then collapse onto my rump in tears.
Then I'm roughly grabbed by the collar by the large green Stallion known as Bomber “ You were a Shadowbolt?” he asks.
" Yes, but after that deed I formally retired” I answer.
“ So you're not a spy?” he drills into me.
" No, never have been, I'm more of a fighter” I answer. He seems satisfied with my responses.
" If you betray us I'll kill you” He tells me.
I give a weak but genuine laugh " Get in line then, it goes Descent, Spitfire and some others, besides I wouldn't betray my family, not when most of them from either organization are right here” I tell him. Bomber then drops me to the ground A few shadows fly over head and a group of pegasi I recognize land nearby.
“ Good, now do what you also came here to do” He nudges toward Matteo. “ Yes Boss” I reply.
I open my trunk up then face Matteo “ Tell me Son of Massimo, what is a griffon without his spear?” I rhetorically ask him.
" One without his secondary weapon” he answer automatically.
" Sky wings trained you to the core huh? Heh heh anyhow, for a couple reason I have a weapon I wish to loan to you, but I need you to agree to a condition on its use before I show you what it is, one that is a Griffin Oath” I tell him.
He snorts a bit “And why would I do so” he asks me.
" Because I'm certain you'll find it easier to keep to your word if you give before you know what I'm loaning you” I tell him.
He rolls his eyes “ That old trick, heh fine, give me the stipulation then before I decide” He tells me.
" You can not use this weapon to fight or kill my mentor Descent” I tell him.
His bulge a bit “ He was your mentor, in the Shadowbolts?” he asks incredulously.
I nod “Yes, he's like a second father to me, and this weapon, this war prize is a great memento of our hardest battle together.” I tell him.
He visibly struggles with this decision but after 30 seconds “ Ah fine” he relents.
He gets into the proper stance, chest held high, his wings fully out, standing fully tall, right claw in a fist over his heart and his head prominently bowed “ I swear upon the soil of my kingdom which has sustained me, the womb of my mother which hath birthed me, and the blood of my father that flows in me that I will not use your weapon, your war prize which ye hath earned to fight or kill your mentor the pony named Descent, whom I know as the killer of my father” He recites. When he finishes it looks like he feels dirty.
“ Now then” I pick up the wrapped item with my wings and present it to Matteo. “ Matteo, Son of Massimo, I hereby grant you the use, as you see fit except the stipulation, of my war prize, a mighty spear, until such time as I request it back. Matteo I loan you the spear, Grazons Feather” I use my left hoof to remove the cloth from the spear head, a 15 inch silver spear head with shadings of feather barbs on the edge, with the fuller as a rachis cal all going to a vicious tip. All in all it looked like a silver feather with an enlarge calamus where the spear shaft could fit into. Gasps are heard all around as they heard the spears name. Matteo holds the spear head in his right claw looking at it as I dig in my trunk for the pieces of the shaft.
“But this is. But this is” Matteo near babbles.
“Grazons feather, the spear of Grazon, brother to King Grover and the first Master of the Sky. The spear handed down through every Master of the Sky, the fourth regal item of the Griffon Crown, The Great Piercer. A weapon that is legend where ever Celestia's sunlight touches? Yup bud it is, and this” I assemble the shaft together it is a long shaft made of a light sliver metal where the piece can click and screw together “ is a much better shaft then wood” I tell him.
He takes it and a fixes the spear head to it. It fits perfectly and firmly. “ But I thought” I interrupt him.
“ That it was lost during the fight your father was killed it, that's half right. He did lose it during the fight but it wasn't lost” I tell him and all eyes are on me.
“ You see I was there that day, I was part of the squad on that mission, and one of only two survivors of the first squad sent, Descent and I. Early in the fight your father was wasting our forces away with that so Descent rushed him to distract him only to get the first of many scars, then I was able to swoop in and catch his spear shaft in my elbow and neck. Then with my left hoof I shattered the shaft and took it from him. After that was when the long fight between your father and my mentor began.” I relay the story to him.
“ But you said war prize, that's a Griffon” I interrupt him again.
“ Kingdom idea I know, well after taking it from him I managed to take a few swings at him and gave him a few cuts and got his blood on the spear, more then enough for the tradition to apply.” I tell him.
“ Is your having the spear also why when they recovered the remains of my fathers squad that many had missing parts to whole wings cut off?”
I can feel the heat of many eyes on me, mostly from Wonderbolts “ It's a legitimate strategy, besides they charged me” I retort to them. “So basically yeah. And honestly Matteo, I can't think of another more worthy to wield this spear, certainly not the current Master of the Sky” I tell him.
He lightly nods “There was talk when we was given that honor on being the best available candidate and how my father had rejected his application for membership in his squad a year earlier” Matteo says plainly.
“ Yeah and again, remember your oath” I tell Matteo. He then takes a look at the spear and then at Descent.
He then sighs greatly “ That won't be a problem, because when the time comes for us to fight, I want to rip him apart with my bare talons.”
The collective cringing is palatable “ ok then” I say a bit creeped out.
I'm about to close my trunk when Silver comes to me. “ You know many Wonderbolts trust in you is shattered.” He plainly states.
“ I know” I reply.
“ But if you were to restart that Lost Colt Unit suicide squad thing” my ears flicker at this “ Mine would be on the path to being renewed.” He again plainly says.
“ Ok, I'll draw up a sign up sheet, and I'm thinking of changing the name a bit, to the Lost Bolts” I tell him.
An eye brow is raised “ Oh?” he asks. “ The Lost Colts drew from the ranks of the Shadowbolts, I'm thinking the Lost Bolts can be drawn from both Wonderbolts and the Renegades”. I say.
“ Good, and when you put that sign up sheet together, add my name” Silver tells me. Spitfires eye bulge from this.
“ Um ok, I'll do that before I put it up in the lobby” I tell him.
Spitfire is yelling at Silver for that remark as I am closing my trunk and putting it on my back. Then I'm swarmed with many of my old buddies from the Shadowbolts asking questions a mile a minute as well as Wonderbolts whom are a mix of yelling and asking questions. I try to answer the best I can while walking a back inside. I catch Matteo doing spear practice before entering the lobby
Later that night I'm back in my bunk working on putting my trunk back, I've taken out my chain weapons and gear when I again see the red goggles and headband. I move the concrete slab back in place, my trunk hidden again mostly empty and take the renegade regalia into the near by bath room. I take a candle in with me as I walk toward a mirror. There I put my Wonderbolt goggles on the side of the sink and zip up my face wear. Then I tie the headband on giving it a few looks. Then lastly I put the red goggles on and look at myself overall. ' Feels just right' I think to myself.