//------------------------------// // Pt. 7 - Rescue Run // Story: Touch the Sky // by Witching Hour //------------------------------// “I can’t believe I lost them!” Midnight sighs, putting her head against the wall and slowly hitting it. Behind her, Tide paces back and forth with a frown, her hooves beating out a steady tempo against the floor. “The winds were just too strong! Tide, I’ve never seen winds that strong!” “It wasn’t natural,” Dancer says from where he has been sitting beside the window, staring out into it. “I don’t know how to explain it, but it felt… wrong.” “Well, wrong or not,” Sky whines, dancing from hoof to hoof near the door. “My sister is out there! WE NEED TO FIND HER!” “I’m sorry, Sky,” Midnight sighs, ears back against her head. “I tried to stay with them, I really did!” She turns around, opening her mouth to stay more, but Tide holds up a hoof. “If anypony is at fault, Midnight,” Tide states flatly, “then it is me. I am the Captain in charge of the returning recruits, and Apple Squad is my responsibility.” She turns towards the window, growling her next words. “I shouldn’t have split us all up. I should have made us go out in a group and face the storm head on!” “Your plan was sound, Tide,” Midnight says softly, a warm, and perhaps even loving, smile on her face. “I am the one who failed.” “Who failed is of no consequence right now,” Dancer interjects, turning from the window to look at the rest of his squad. “Right now, all that matters is finding them. I am sure Captain Riptide agrees?” Sighing, Tide stops her pacing and nods. “I do,” she states simply before looking to Dancer. “Commander, take Sky with you, and go searching. The storm has had time to calm, and should be safe now.” She looks to Midnight as she opens her mouth. “Midnight, you’re staying here with me. You were injured when the storm blew you down, and I’d like to keep a close eye on you to make sure you’re alright, and I’ll need help keeping the other recruits under control.” Blushing, Midnight nods, “Yes, ma’am.” She walks over towards Tide, a slight limp in her step. Chuckling, Dancer heads to the door with Sky, winking at Midnight as he passes. “We’ll be back shortly, if all goes well.” He then heads out and into the hallway beyond. He leads Sky down the hall and through the few recruits that are currently speaking to the elites administering the camp, many of them having escaped with minor scrapes and bruises. From there it is a quick trot through the lobby and into the rain. Without a word, the two Elites take to the sky, heading towards where Midnight had last seen Squad Apple heading; the area the eye of the storm had sat over. Truthfully, it wasn’t a lot to go on, and Dancer is not particularly optimistic, but having seen, and been in the center of storms worse than this one before, he knew that time was not their ally at the moment, and any clue would be helpful. Beside him, Sky is silent, his face fixed in a look of determination, eyes staring forward beneath his goggles. “Don’t worry, Sky,” Dancer calls over to his fellow Wonderbolt. “We’ll find them, safe and secure in some cave or something! They’re a resourceful bunch!” “I know,” Sky replies, his voice tight. “But I can’t help it, Dancer. You said it yourself, this storm was unusually strong… and my sister is so small…” He shakes his head, growling slightly and grimacing into the rain as they fly. “She might be strong enough to be a Recruit, but going into that storm, without an elite, was insane! They should have turned back when they lost Midnight!” “What’s done is done, Sky.” Dancer comforts his friend, flying close but but not too close. “We’ll find them, and I’m sure your sister will be just as perky and giggly as usual.” Dancer then nods with his head towards an area of clouds still lazily floating in a circle. Once they reach the area the eyes of the storm had rested over, they start a sweeping search, attempting to locate any possible landing spots, and shelters they can. Their search takes a few hours, and right as Dancer starts to truly feel the cold bite of the rain, Sky flags him over to an area. “Looks like something landed here, hard,” the younger Wonderbolt says as Dancer comes over. “And it looks like a couple of ponies were dragged off in that direction,” he points away from the landing sight. “I think I saw a cave that way, but I can’t be sure in this rain.” Nodding, and wiping some of the rain from his goggles with the back of an arm, Dancer smiles. “Well, it’s the best lead we have yet. Shall we go see if your sister is off that way?” Sky starts off even before Dancer is finished talking, forcing Dancer to quickly join up with his younger companion. With a little luck they’ll find Apple Squad and be able to get back to Midnight and Tide without further incident. As they walk, Dancer continues to smile, hiding his worry from Sky. Judging by the dark stain leading from the crash site, Dancer fears such an incident has already occurred. Monkey feels a dull ache in the back of her skull, like she made the mistake of back-talking to Captain Riptide three days in a row. She opens her eyes to find a world of darkness and faint gleams of light. The lights shift and shape themselves into a matrix of cogs and gears and all manner of mechanical forms beneath her hooves. Steel and glass rest below her, while a magnificent cloud obstacle course forms above her head. Clockwork birds circle above iron trees with stained glass apples, singing pipe organ melodies above her head. Monkey soon realizes, perhaps a bit thickly, that she’s not in the waking world, but within the world of her subconsciousness. A mechanical butterfly lands on Monkey’s nose for a brief instant before flying away with all haste. Monkey moves to follow it, but suddenly finds herself pulled straight back down to the ground. When she looks, she has to stifle a scream as she watches snake-like glowing pink chains lace themselves up her legs, around her torso, and around her wings, pulling her down toward the ground. Monkey looks around in horror as larger chains spring up like toxic vines, seizing the clockwork birds and uprooting the wrought iron trees. Pink chains bring cogs and gears grinding to a halt. Monkey closes her eyes, which barely hold back tears. Monkey feels the chains glow warm as a flash of blue light brightens up the sky. Monkey opens her eyes and looks around. Pink chains recoil as pale azure beams strike them, almost as though burned by the light. The cobalt magic heals the landscape around it, restoring it to the original pristine sanctuary of glass and iron it once was. Gears begin to turn again. Monkey looks around to find her savior, but her jaw drops at what she finds. A glowing form of Witching Hour, complete with wings of pure blue light, glides by and strafes another group of chains with more blue beams. There’s no sign of recognition in her eyes, or any sign of any emotion besides cold, hard determination. The last of the pink chains fall away from Monkey, allowing her to take flight above the scene. The Witching Hour avatar fights valiantly, but there are just too many chains for her to defeat outright. With every lance of blue magic, a new chain rises. With every chain, a beam of icy azure strikes it down. It is a pure deadlock of force. Monkey moves to help Witching, but a blast of blue knocks her on her flank as the avatar shakes its head. Clearly, it thinks that this is not a fight for Monkey to be involved in. Still, it doesn’t look like the avatar can keep up with destroying the chains much longer. Finally, the avatar falls to the ground on one knee, and the chains all spring toward her, large and small, in an attempt to bind her. They never make it, being stopped by countless whip-like beams of glacial cerulean, which tie the pink chains to the ground. The chains writhe within their new prison, but it is useless. Monkey moves to approach the avatar, but a voice sounds in her head. “-up, Monkey!” it cries, the voice taking on a younger mare’s timbre and echoing slightly in her mindscape. “You gotta wake up!” And suddenly, Monkey feels herself floating again. “Dammit, Monks, my sister’s gonna kill me if you got those wings damaged while she’s out of the country!” Leaf’s voice pierces the fog enveloping Monkey’s brain like a lance, followed swiftly by waves of fiery pain radiating from her wings and chest. The groan that forces its way out of her mouth feels like raw glass in her throat. Starry squeals in a piercing pitch, and before Monkey can flinch at the noise, the younger mare has her arms around Monkey and squeezing her tightly. A ragged cry of agony escapes Monkey, and mercifully, Starry lets go as she squeaks, “Ohmigosh, I’m sorry Monkey!” “Ow…” Monkey groans as she slowly folds her wings with multiple cracks and pops of the joints. “Good to see you’re not gonna be permanently in glide form…” Leaf comments drily. “Shaddap, Leaf… Not helping…” Monkey retorts weakly. “The crystal…?” “Starry smashed it while Leaf and I dove after you,” Stormy chimes in softly, “but our landing was pretty rough because we had to deal with your wings at full spread. What the hell was that thing? The storm slacked off as soon as it was gone.” “Dunno… Witch never let me near the one she’s been studying… Said it let pegasi use magic,” Monkey replies, shifting as she tries to find a more comfortable position to lie in. Unfortunately for her, her stomach was the most comfortable… Or rather the least uncomfortable, as her wings and back protested any pressure on them. “All I know is that the crystals freak her out, and they generally shouldn’t exist…” “Guess we should be glad you recognized it then, yeah?” Starry suggests, garnering a slight nod from the yellow mare. “Pretty much… Ugh… How long was I out?” Monkey asks, groaning again as her wings twitch involuntarily. “About two hours…” Stormy replies. “I was going to send Starry back to the Academy Compound so we could be found once the storm died off but…” “But I’m not leaving you three alone when you’ve all proven you don’t know how to take care of yourselves,” Starry cuts in sharply, scowling at Stormy who merely shrugs and points at her with a hoof while looking at Monkey as if to say, “see what I’ve been dealing with?” “Starry… It’s unlikely we’ll be found without somepony going back for help. You’re the only one that can really fly right now…” Monkey explains, sighing heavily as she turns to regard the dappled mare. Starry scrunches up her face, the logic clearly ringing true to her and leaving a sour taste in her mouth. “That’s what I said…” Stormy adds, obviously trying not to laugh. “At least be somewhere you can be seen from above, Starry… Do what you can to get yourself noticed… Maybe make a flag out of your flight jacket,” Monkey temporizes, an edge of pleading coloring her suggestion. “I’m sure they’re out looking for us.” “She has a point, Starry,” Leaf says, a smirk tugging at one corner of his mouth. Starry puffs out her cheeks and glowers at him before whipping around, her tail lashing out and catching Leaf across his face. “Fine… Fine, fine, fine,” she grumbles, almost stomping her way out of their small cave and right into the chest of a pony walking into the cave, bowling him over and landing on top of him. “Again?” A voice comes from beyond the tangled pile of ponies, quickly followed by a very familiar stallion wearing a Wonderbolts’ uniform. “Sky, how in the name of Celestia does your sister keep bowling you over? Do we need Silver to teach you awareness again?” “It’s not my fault she catches me off balance every time,” Sky grumbles from beneath his sister. “Especially after I’ve been so worried about her!” “Well, she looks fine to me,” Dancer chuckles as he lifts Starry off of Sky, then offers a hoof to his friend. “Now, let’s get inside and make sure the others are just as alright.” “For the record, Commander, we’re not,” Stormy grunts from inside the cave. “And what are your injuries, Captain,” Dancer asks in a dead serious tone, even as Sky’s jaw drops at the state of the two stallion cadets. “Anything serious or life threatening?” “Nothing life threatening, sir,” Stormy starts, groaning as he levers himself up with his left arm. “However, I’ve broken my right wing and dislocated my right shoulder, and Leaf and I got scraped up pretty badly from a rough landing.” “That was you two? And you’re still walking?” Sky says in amazement, his eyes wide. “They landed on me, actually…” Leaf interjects with a sigh. “Oh, never mind, that explains it,” Sky chuckles and waves a hoof dismissively. “Uhm… Anyway, there is one more thing to report, but I’m not too sure if it’s serious or not, Commander,” Stormy continues, his brow furrowed. When Dancer motions for him to continue he clears his throat and looks to Monkey. “There was something controlling that storm and it hit Monkey, sir, a crystal of some sort… pink and glowing. Monkey saw it and-” The sound of somepony tripping causes him to look back over at the two elites in time to see Sky stumbling back up after missing a step, and Dancer’s face fall into an emotionless mask. “Cadet Captain,” Dancer’s voice is neutral and commanding, “I think we need to get you all back to base as soon as possible.” He turns to Sky, who shrinks back a little at his friend’s gaze. “Lieutenant, I need you fly back and get Tide and Silver. Pull them out of whatever meetings they’re in, and tell them to meet us in the infirmary.” “And if they object?” Sky ventures hesitantly. “Then tell them the shadows are moving, they’ll know what it means.” Dancer growls, causing Sky to salute and zip off without further questions as Dancer looks back to the squad. “Captain, I’ll carry you, but the rest of you are going to need to fly with me. We don’t have a moment to lose.” “What’s going on Commander?” Stormy asks, voicing the question the rest of his squad is certainly thinking. “Something very bad,” Dancer whispers as he goes over to help Stormy onto his back. “Something that could endanger everypony at the Academy.” Dancer waits for them all to stand, then spreads his wings, grunting under the extra weight on his back, and takes to the air. The rest of Apple follows suit, though both Leaf and Monkey are shaky and slow due to their battered state, but soon they’re all on their way back to the safety of the academy. “Can we be sure it was them?” Fire asks slowly from his seat in front of Silver’s desk. “The storm was pretty thick; the recruits could have been mistaken.” “I don’t think they were,” Tide sighs, tapping her hoof against the desk. “Sir, we weren’t able to recover any of the crystal shards, but I believe my recruits. Their captain isn’t one to lie, and while Leaf Wind has a tendency to exaggerate he would never lie about something this big.” “And the other two?” Silver asks as he reads the report in front of him. “Starry Sky and Monkey Wrench?” “Cadets Sky and Wrench don’t seen to be the type to stretch the truth,” Tide replies, gesturing to the report. “In fact, Monkey Wrench was apparently attacked by the crystal they saw. None of them know what caused it, however she claims to have knowledge about the crystals through her friend, Chief Petty Officer Witching Hour.” “Chief Hour?” Fire asks, looking at Tide with a raised eyebrow. “Indeed, Captain Streak,” Silver replies, tapping one of the personnel reports on his desk beside the report. “Chief Hour was the one to fix her wings, if her record is any indication. I will have to speak with both of them most likely. We don’t know a whole lot about these crystals, let alone why the Shadowbolts are using them, and if Chief Hour has any more information, then she should be sharing it with us.” “Perhaps I should talk to her, Second Captain,” Tide offers slowly. “After all, one of my squad is friends with her, it would be a simple batter to-” “No,” Silver states flatly, cutting her off. “Captain Riptide, I know you and Midnight are close, but-” “I have no idea what you’re talking about…” Tide starts, sitting straight up and attempting to hide a small blush, but the glare from Silver silences her as effectively as a slap to the face. “But you cannot shield her friend in this,” Silver continues, putting the report down and leveling a stern gaze at Tide to keep her silent. “If she has information regarding these crystals, and the Shadowbolts who wield them, then it is her duty as a Wonderbolt, Auxiliary or not, to disclose that information.” Tide stays silent, her gaze focused on the desk in front of her. “Am I clear, Captain?” “Crystal clear, sir,” Tide says softly, ears pinned against her head. “Now then, what is the status of the recruit squads?” Silver asks both Fire and Tide. Clearing his throat, Fire taps a folder in front of him on the desk, a small smile on his face. “All the recruits under my watch made it out of the storm unharmed, though a little shaken up by the storm.” “With the obvious exception of Apple…” Tide starts with a sigh, looking up at Silver. “My recruits made it out relatively unscathed. Some ruffled feathers and minor injuries amongst them from battling the storm, but nothing as serious as Cadets Wrench or Storm.” Silver glances down at the open medical report on the desk, harumphing softly while thinking. “The returning cadets have another four days left. Any less and I’d say just send them both home…” “But-” Tide starts to protest, but Silver continues on as though she hadn’t at all. “Medical seems to think Cadet Wrench will be fine after some rest, as for Cadet Storm…” Silver trails off, his eyes scanning further down the page. “Hmmm… He’s going to be out of any physical training with that wing of his.” “Sir, we can’t send him home now!” Tide objects, standing from her seat in her vehemence. “Did I say to send him home, Riptide?” Silver retorts sharply, looking up at her with a blank expression on his face. “No, sir, you didn’t,” Tide says slowly, sitting back down in her chair. “But… the guidelines state that if a recruit is injured and unable to meet the physical requirements for the camp, they’re to be sent home.” She then frowns deeply and looks over at Silver with a determined look. “However, Cadet Storm performed admirably in his role as Captain of Squad Apple, and I’ll be damned if I allowed somepony of his talent and dedication to be sent home now!” A small smirk flickers across Silver’s face before he replies, "Then congratulations on your new Captain's assistant, Riptide. I hope you both have fun filing all the paperwork you'll have with Apple Squad's injuries. Dismissed." On instinct borne from years of protocol and training, both Fire and Riptide stand and file silently out of the office. Only when the door latch catches does Riptide turn and look back, a dumbfounded expression on her face. “Did he just…” she starts, almost muttering. Having stopped a few steps further down the hall from her, Fire Streak resists the urge to smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Allow me to assist in breaking in your new assistant, Captain Riptide,” he offers, though it’s made more of a statement by his efforts to keep his voice from betraying his inner mirth.