Chapter 55: Oh... THAT'S who they are...
MLP: FiM
Piercing the Heavens
By: Calm Wind
Chapter 55:
“Squad… zero?” Dash blinked, confused. “Uh… what?” she gave Soarin a quizzical look. Soarin nodded.
“Yep! Squad zero,” he smiled. Dash stared at him, waiting to continue.
“I’m so confused…” Dash shook her head as Soarin chuckled.
“As you should be… they are quite a bit different. They are technically part of the Wonderbolt ranks and—”
“They are NOT Wonderbolts,” Silver suddenly cut Soarin off. Soarin halted mid speech with his mouth still open. “They’re a bunch of blowhards.”
“Yikes, Silver…” Soarin lifted an eyebrow. “That’s being a little harsh,” he commented, letting his ears flop down. Dash looked between Soarin and Silver with interest. She still had little to no idea who squad zero was… but by the looks of things, their presence was a disputed one.
“Nothing harsh about it, son…” Silver grunted as he leaned against a trainer table to let Matteo and Squall pass towards the trainers. “‘Wonderbolt’ is a title that’s earned… not one that’s pinned to you,” he narrowed his eyes. “As far as I’m concerned, Spitfire dragged them in here and handed it to them,” Silver explained sternly. Soarin looked at Silver carefully.
“Are you gonna say that to Blazetail and Flashwind too? They are just as responsible for them, you know,” Soarin pointed out.
“I’m well aware,” Silver huffed. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it…”
“Dash too?!” Bliss suddenly stepped around Silver and walked up to Dash. Silver kept his eyes on Soarin, but Soarin turned to Bliss and Dash. “What the hell happened? I thought today was a free training day for them!” Bliss exclaimed as she took note of Dash’s slightly swollen shoulder and began feeling around it with her hooves. Silver scoffed.
“That would be your husband and his fellow idiots,” Silver commented. Bliss stopped everything when Silver mentioned her husband. She sighed and turned around, pouting at Silver.
“Look Commander, I know Bitz can be a dope, but… the others aren’t so bad!” she said with a completely straight face. Soarin instantly burst out laughing. “What?” Bliss looked at him confused. Soarin shook his head while snickering.
“Did you hear what you said?” Soarin pointed out as Bliss went looked over to Silver, who was almost cracking a grin. Bliss flattened her ears.
“Did I mess that up? Whatever, Silver knows what I mean. We have this argument all the time. They aren’t bad… just a little wild…” Bliss said with a slightly miffed mumble as she turned back to Dash to examine her shoulder more.
“But who are—”
“Looks like you just need some ice… just a bad bruise,” Bliss cut her off. “Go sit down,” she pointed towards Squall, Matteo, and Twister.
“But—” Dash glanced back at Soarin and Silver.
“I get what you mean Silver, but it’s not like all they do is freeload… I mean they help Rivet with equipment testing and research.” Soarin shrugged.
“Letting a bunch of random dolts into the Wonderbolt compound, housing them and giving them free run of the place sounds like they’re bumming to me…” Silver retorted. Soarin shook his head.
“Man, you do NOT like them do you?” Soarin couldn’t help but chuckle a bit.
“How long did it take to put that one together?” Silver said back sarcastically. Dash couldn’t see that discussion ending any time soon.
“Alright…” Dash agreed as Bliss nudged her over to the trainer tables.
Dash walked carefully as a little bit of stiffness and pain began to settle into her shoulder. Nothing was hurt or broken, but having a bruise on a spot that moves so often was just super uncomfortable. She was perfectly fine, she was more worried about Squall, Matteo, and… okay maybe she was a little worried about Twister too.
Squall was sitting the closest. Dash was assuming he’d be pissed off… or maybe smiling since he seemed to smile at weird things. However, once she got close enough to see him… she got something completely different.
He looked… incredibly sad. In fact, he was almost curled up on the trainer table, looking away and looked like he was almost on the verge of tears.
“Squall?” Dash said his name with concern in her voice. His ears perked up and his eyes widened as he looked at her. “Are you alright?” she pressed. Squall simply stared at her for a few moments without saying anything. Eventually, his ears drooped back down, he pushed himself up slightly, and shuffled until his body turned and faced away from Dash before getting comfortable on the table again.
Dash didn’t know what else to say. Squall seemed completely broken. She decided it would be best to let it be. Pressing him further wouldn’t help. She wanted him to learn to trust her, not find her annoying or pushy.
She moved onto Matteo… who was sitting upright, clenching his talons and grumbling to himself.
“Uh…” Dash thought about what to say to him, but based on his current appearance and mood… he didn’t look like he wanted to talk. She could, however, pick out a few words amid his grumbling. The words ‘dishonored’ and ‘disgraced’ were repeated fairly often. Dash just rolled her eyes and moved on to Twister.
“Twister are you—”
“PUMPKIN?!" Twister held a pumpkin twice the size of Dash’s head out to her.
“You’re perfectly fine,” Dash quickly stated before sliding onto the table beside Twister’s.
“Here you go,” Bliss was already walking towards her with an ice bag by the time Dash got settled. “Just keep that on there for a little bit.
“Thanks…” Dash nodded as she balanced the ice bag on her shoulder and looked back out towards Soarin and Silver.
She was still looking for a clear answer. From what she had heard so far… squad zero sounded like something that was just thrown together… but it had to be more than that. She was kind of miffed that Silver butted in because Soarin was about to tell her more.
“What the hell happened in here?!” Little Star’s voice suddenly came from the entrance. Dash looked past Bliss examining Matteo to see Little Star and Thunderlane. Little Star was already fluttering towards them, the faint buzz of her wings getting louder as she drew near. She hovered by each of them looking them all over. She yelped when she turned to Twister because the pumpkin was suddenly a very highly detailed jack-o-lantern depicting his face and he was wearing it on his head.
Art by: CowgirlVK
Little Star instantly growled, grabbed the pumpkin and turned it around on his head so it was backwards before turning to Matteo.
“Seriously! What happened?” she pressed.
“Dishonor, disgrace, and humiliation… that’s what…” Matteo grunted in disgust. Star stared blankly at him as her wings kept humming, keeping her afloat.
“We got beat up cause of these two…” Dash answered for him, pointing her wing towards Matteo and Squall, extending two wing feathers towards them. “Picked fights… Twister and I tried to assist.” Dash gave her the short version.
“I was challenged!” Matteo turned roughly towards Dash, reaching out and pushing Twister aside with his talons. Twister, still blinded by the pumpkin over his head, tumbled off the side of the table and crashed on the ground while releasing muffled maniacal laughter from inside the pumpkin. Matteo gave Dash a heavy glare. “Griffons do not ‘pick fights!’” he hissed at her. Dash glared right back at him.
“You didn’t have to accept the challenge!” Dash fired back.
“He invoked a formal griffon rite of—”
“He’s a PONY!” Dash threw her hooves out. “And this ISN’T the Griffon Kingdom! No one would have thought less of you! It was stupid!” she berated him. Dash blinked and looked beyond Matteo for a moment. She saw Silver glancing over at them, but Matteo instantly got back in her face.
“Watch your tongue, pegasus! Lest I rip it out with my beak the next time you insult my—”
“SHUT UP!!!!!!!” Little Star put herself between them, her wings buzzing furiously. Dash pulled back in surprise, but Matteo didn’t waiver.
“I will not let a pony—” before he could go any further, Star turned, grabbed his face by his cheek feathers, and yanked him towards her, putting her face into his so hard she nearly headbutted him.
“LISTEN UP, TUBBY!” Little Star snarled, their foreheads literally pressed together. “I DON’T CARE WHAT THE HELL YOU ARE OR WHERE YOU’RE FROM! YOU GOT INTO A FIGHT! YOU LOST! IT AIN’T THAT HARD TO ACCEPT! GET OVER YOUR OVERSIZED SELF!!!!!” she raged at point blank.
Matteo went completely silent. He didn’t look scared or intimidated, but Little Star had completely stolen the argument. He scoffed, pulled himself away from the tiny mare and went back to brooding.
Then Star turned to Squall… who was still facing away and was still curled up in a defeated manner. Star blinked, not really expecting such a display from him.
“What’s up with you?” Star asked as she floated over to him. Squall flinched and looked up at her very briefly. He quickly put his head back down and sighed.
“Nothing… Leave me alone…” he said in a very dejected tone of voice. Star looked upon him with disbelief. Squall had yet to talk to her without yelling in her face and he just tried to avoid her?
While Dash decided to leave him be, Star seemed to have a different plan. She hovered around Squall, confused and interested. She realized that to get Squall in such a mood had to be quite a challenge, he had always challenged her and yelled in her face, but here he backed off and shied away?
“You sure about that?” she asked him as she landed beside the arm he was using to hide his face.
“Leave me alone…” he repeated. Star just stared. She really didn’t know how to react to it.
“Whatever you say…” she said while landing beside him. She didn’t do anything else. She just sat beside him.
Art by: CowgirlVK
From off to the side, Dash watched curiously.
Little Star was always so quick to blow up at Squall… but at the same time she was also very motherly. Despite her obvious disapproval of Squall’s usual behavior, as soon as she saw him in distress, she changed to comfort mode. Dash had to remember often that Star was thirty years old. Even though she had a bad habit of becoming enraged at the first sign of dissent among her wingmates… she also had a strong sense of care and looking out for those around her. It was a common ‘older sibling’ complex and Star couldn’t radiate it more. In fact, it was almost on a parent level with her.
Dash let the situation be. She and Matteo were working towards getting him to open up. Without even telling her, Little Star was helping. Squall was clearly in a defeated state of mind. Little Star could see it, and just went along with it. As much as Dash and Matteo disliked the scenario they just experienced… it may have helped them in their quest to understand Squall.
Thunderlane eventually made his way over to Dash after talking to Bliss.
“So, uh…” Thunderlane began as he approached. “What actually happened?” he asked. Dash shook her head slowly.
“I’ve yet to really figure that out…” she answered. Thunderlane looked her up and down.
“You telling me you guys are all bruised because you fell down the stairs or something?” he asked sarcastically. Dash rolled her eyes and glared at him.
“No dumbass, we got beat up. I’m still trying to figure out who they are because I can’t seem to get a straight answer…” she trailed off. She heard the training room door open again, but she didn’t look towards it.
“For Celestia’s sake, it isn’t even peak hours yet!” Bliss grumbled as she walked past the recruits.
“Oh! No I’m not here to get treated…”
Dash’s ears perked up. That was Storm Front’s voice. She leaned out to look towards the door.
“Commander Soarin,” Storm stepped up to Soarin and saluted.
“Who?” Soarin looked over his shoulder. Storm paused and blinked.
“Um… Sir?” he tipped his head. Soarin chuckled.
“Storm… we’ve been over this, just call me Soarin,” Soarin reached forward and ruffled Storm’s mane.
“Er, uh… yes… Soarin,” he sheepishly corrected himself. Silver cleared his throat, drawing Storm’s attention.
“Just make sure you keep calling me CAPTAIN Silver, thank you very much…” Silver stated as Soarin snickered. Storm just nodded, ready to give a formal response, but Soarin cut him off.
“Alright, what is it, Storm?” Soarin refocused Storm. Storm nodded to him quickly.
“Captain Spitfire wants you and Rainbow Dash to report to her office immediately,” he explained while looking towards Dash. Soarin’s ears stood up as he looked towards Dash as well.
“Oh… probably because…” Soarin nodded. Dash blinked as she saw Soarin turn to Silver for a moment.
Spitfire wanted to see her? What for?
“Dash!” Soarin called from the entrance, “Let’s go!” he beckoned her. Dash took the ice bag off her shoulder and stepped back to the floor. She took one step before Bliss cleared her throat loudly. Dash froze and turned her head to see the ice bag floating back up to her.
“Keep that on for another ten minutes please,” she ordered as Dash let the bag balance on her should. She nodded sheepishly before walking over to Soarin, leaving her confused fellow recruits behind. She passed by Storm, the two giving each other a smile and a nod as he made his way over to Matteo and Thunderlane.
Dash glanced once back at Storm, he looked happy. She wondered how his first show went. She’d have to get the details from him later and get a full rundown on what it was like to perform for the first time.
“C’mon, we shouldn’t keep Spitfire waiting,” Soarin’s voice brought Dash back to what was going on. She nodded as Soarin stood in the door, holding it open for her.
Silver kept his eyes on Dash as she left. He looked back over towards Matteo, then back at Dash again, or rather the door as it closed behind her. He scratched his chin while pondering… specifically the exchange between Dash and Matteo.
“So now can you tell me about squad zero?” Dash asked as she walked side by side with Soarin, admittedly close enough to nearly lean against him.
“Actually… if she’s calling you for what I think she is… she can explain it. It’s her project anyway,” Soarin explained as they started up the stairs from the lobby. Dash blinked and tipped her head towards him.
“What… do you think she’s calling me in for?” Dash asked as they made it the top of the stairs, Spitfire’s office within view.
“We had an interesting situation in Manehatten this morning,” Soarin sighed heavily. “One that I believe, and I’m sure Spitfire believes is definitely something you should be aware of,” he explained with a very serious tone.
“Which would be?” Dash asked as they neared Spitfire’s office.
“A Shadowbolt,” Soarin revealed as he reached for the doorknob. Dash’s ears stood up and her eyes widened.
“WAIT, WHA—”
“PAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!”
Both Soarin and Dash flinched as the sound of Fleetfoot’s uncontrollable laughter blared from inside.
“HHOOOOO HOHAAHAHAHAHAA!!!! OH MY GOD YESSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!” she continued. Soarin blinked and looked at the door.
“And what the hell does she find so funny?” Soarin wondered out loud.
Dash was still in shock from what Soarin said. They had a run in with a Shadowbolt? She remembered seeing them disperse after their flying fortress went down, literally in all directions. Had they built back up? If so, what was their goal? What about Descent, Starry Skies, and Lightning Dust?
She shook her head out roughly and took a deep breath. She was jumping to conclusions. Soarin said they encountered a ShadowBOLT. Singular. They were mercenaries after all, could one of them been on a job?
She needed some answers. Squad zero, Shadowbolts… she needed to know something before anything else unexpected occurred.
“HAHAAAAAAHAHAHAHEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!”
And what the hell was Fleetfoot laughing at?
Soarin reluctantly opened the door to Spitfire’s office and the two walked in. The first thing they saw was Fleetfoot on her back, rolling back and forth on the floor, laughing her plot off while kicking her hooves up in the air.
Dash glanced over to the couch to see Air Mach sitting on the couch, but he had his sunglasses removed, hoof over his eyes and chuckling to himself. Soarin looked towards Spitfire, who had her head down on her desk, with her hooves over her head, and clearly trying to suppress laughter due to the amount of shaking she was experiencing.
“What’s… so… funny?” Soarin asked carefully as he braced for an answer. There were few things that got Fleetfoot to guffaw so loudly. Spitfire slowly removed a hoof from her head while letting a few quiet giggles go, reached for a newspaper sitting on her desk, and pushed it towards Soarin. Soarin and Dash approached her desk, Soarin stepping over Fleetfoot as they approached.
Dash shoved a hoof over her mouth and her cheeks puffed out the moment she saw the front page. Soarin’s eyes widened and his ears folded back.
“You have got to be kidding me!” Soarin groaned as he read the front page.
In the dead center of the front page was a photo taken when they were being bombarded by reporters post show the day before… the photo was zoomed in on him… and the headline read: PRINCESS SOARIN?!
Dash lost it. She dropped right to the ground, clutching her sides as she tried… and failed to hold back the laughter.
“How the hell does news travel so fast?” Soarin sighed as he waited for the mares to calm down. Air Mach had already had his laughs and put his pointy glasses back on.
“Hey Commander! At least you got on the front page! I envy your public presence! You’re a worthy rival!” he yelled passionately.
“We’re on the same squad, but whatever…” Soarin didn’t feel like arguing with Air Mach. It was pointless anyway.
Soarin stood still, tapping his hoof as Dash and Spitfire eventually calmed down and regained themselves, but it took a light kick to the side to get Fleetfoot to stop and get up.
“Best thing I’ve seen all week… scratch that… all year!” Fleetfoot kept giggling to herself as she finally got up.
“So… I brought her with me, Spitfire.” Soarin nodded to Spitfire while placing a hoof on Dash’s shoulder.
“Thank you Soarin,” Spitfire nodded back before focusing on Dash. She blinked and looked Dash up and down. She took note that Dash looked a bit bruised… not to mention Dash was rebalancing an ice pack on her shoulder that fell off during her fit of laughter. She was about to ask, but Dash took the initiative.
“So… What’s this all about?” Dash asked. Spitfire narrowed her eyes for only a moment. Which was all Dash needed to remember. She quickly stiffened and stood up straight, the ice bag shifting and falling off again. “Er! I mean, why have I been called, ma’am?!” Dash quickly fixed.
“Pfffff!!” Fleetfoot held in a chuckle as Spitfire shot her a glare as well.
“At ease Rainbow Dash,” Spitfire nodded to her. “And nice catch… I’d rather you remain disciplined than follow certain examples…” she shot another quick glare towards Fleetfoot.
“Heat buns…” Fleetfoot muttered while rolling her eyes.
“So…” Spitfire refocused on Dash. “Has Soarin filled you in on our interesting morning?” she glanced at Soarin. Soarin shook his head.
“Besides the Shadowbolt, I gave little detail,” he confirmed. Spitfire nodded and looked back to Dash. Dash had been given the ‘at ease’ order… but Shadowbolts? There was no ease on her mind at all. This was certainly a shock already and she didn’t want one detail to go unheard. She paid close attention as Spitfire began to speak.
“Yes… a Shadowbolt…” Spitfire sighed. “But… there were a lot of confusing factors to this confrontation,” she leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms. “For starters… we were being watched. Stalked. Observed. The Shadowbolt made no attempt to come after us. In fact, when Soarin finally went after him, the Shadowbolt made no effort to retaliate. He ran.” Spitfire took a deep breath and exhaled. “He didn’t even cause any damage around Manehatten. The only damage caused during the chase was a little magical mishap…” she glanced towards Soarin. Dash blinked and looked towards him as well.
“Hey, it worked the first time…” Soarin looked away, embarrassed.
“Second time blew a whole chunk off a building twenty stories up,” Fleetfoot relayed to Dash with a smirk. “Luckily, I was there to clean up her majesty’s mess!” she pressed her hoof to her chest proudly. Soarin lifted an eyebrow at her.
“Really? I doubt you would’ve come had Spitfire not dragged you. Too busy mourning your spilt coffee, I heard,” he jeered with a sneer. Fleetfoot turned her head sharply to Spitfire.
“Spitty! You had to tell him that one?!” she whined.
“Alright, alright! Let’s focus! This is serious!” Spitfire tapped her hooves against her desk, followed by Air Mach zipping up beside her and pounding his hooves against the desk.
“That’s right! We have to get to the part about the great Animak saving the day!” he shouted proudly while pointing up towards the corner of the ceiling.
“Mach. Sit down,” Spitfire said once in a harsh tone.
“Yes Ma’am!” he yelled while plopping down on the floor beside her, still behind her desk.
“On the couch!” Spitfire shouted while reaching and pushing him back towards the couch. Dash subtly leaned towards Soarin.
“Do all your meetings go like this?” she whispered to him. Soarin looked up just in time to see Air Mach try to sit on Fleetfoot’s lap on the couch, but without a single bit of hesitation she launched her leg upward, blasting him RIGHT in the crotch. Air Mach yelped and flapped his wings down, the combined motion of Fleetfoot’s kick and his wing pump sending him up, head smashing against the ceiling before falling back down and landing roughly on top of Fleetfoot anyway.
“GET OFF!” She barked at him while trying to push him off.
“THE GREAT… ANIMAK… FEELS… NO… PAIN!!!!” Mach’s voice was squeaky and at least one octave higher.
Soarin looked back at Dash and nodded slowly.
“Welcome to a normal day in my life…” he said sarcastically as they looked back to Spitfire. She had her nose down on her desk and was rubbing her temples with her hooves.
“Mach… Fleet… I will cancel tomorrow morning’s meeting if you two sit down… and shut up,” she said quietly. There was a lot of sudden shuffling. Soarin, Dash and Spitfire all glanced at the couch. Fleetfoot and Air Mach were sitting upright and perfectly still. Fleetfoot was smiling brightly. Air Mach was smiling, but he was holding his breath and his eyes were still watering from the crushing blow to the giggleberries.
Dash found herself snickering and holding back laughter again. She couldn’t believe how easily the offer got them to quiet down.
“ANYWAY!” Spitfire said loudly. “Now that all the seriousness of the moment has been LOST…” she shot a glare at the two on the couch. “Let’s see if we can pick up a few scraps and remember that we’re talking about the SHADOWBOLTS HERE!” she kept directing her rage towards the two on the couch, but both Dash and Soarin did their best to regain their composure. This was indeed a serious topic… and Dash was desperately seeking answers. As soon as this whole Shadowbolt thing was explained in full, she was asking about squad zero. Spitfire cleared throat and turned back to Soarin and Dash.
“Now then…” she began again. “As I said before, we chased this Shadowbolt down… but even with all four of us chasing him, he managed to get away. We even had him cornered at one point and he still slipped free. That kind of skill is dangerous, especially in the hooves of a Shadowbolt,” she explained. Dash’s ears perked up.
“Was he using one of their crystals?” Dash asked, clearly remembering the addictive false magic from her previous encounter with Nightshade. Spitfire shook her head.
“That was one of many things that were odd…” Spitfire reached into a drawer on her desk. “Thanks to a well timed punch by Air Mach,” she paused and looked up, expecting him to interrupt, but Mach was still sitting still in hopes of getting the next morning off. “We recovered these,” Spitfire pulled out the pair or round, red-tinted flight goggles, the strap still snapped off one end.
Dash blinked and stared down at the goggles. She tipped her from side to side as she examined them, but wasn’t quite sure what she was looking at. She looked back to Spitfire.
“He was wearing these?” Dash asked in confusion. Spitfire nodded. Dash glanced back down. “But… the Shadowbolts wore…” she trailed off.
“Angled, yellow flight goggles,” Spitfire finished for her. “However, as I said, there were other differences. He wore the Shadowbolt flight suit, but only the body portion, no mask. There was also no sign of the magic crystals…” Spitfire listed off everything. “He also made a comment about the Wonderbolt ranking code…” she started pacing back and forth. “We have a lot of mysteries to solve here,” she stopped and sharply turned to Dash, her hooves squeaking on the floor as she did. “Dash, you had a run in with the Shadowbolts before the tornado stunt they pulled a year ago… correct?”
“Yeah…” Dash nodded. Spitfire pointed to the goggles.
“By your confusion, I’m assuming even back then they still had the yellow goggles?” Spitfire questioned her. Dash nodded again. “Damn…”
“He was older…” Soarin chimed in. “Maybe he branched off from them a while back. They are mercenaries after all,” Soarin glanced between Dash and Spitfire. “Also, he wasn’t wearing the full uniform. I honestly think there’s a good chance he could be detached.”
“While true…” Spitfire pondered. “I still can’t quite place it, but I swear recognized his voice…” Spitfire sat back down in her chair and sighed. “Sorry Dash, we really don’t have much to say or go by right now… but as far as I can see, anything Shadowbolt related greatly involves you,” she said while looking up at Dash. “I didn’t want there to be any surprises. This single Shadowbolt was watching us from afar, I want you to keep an eye out for anything suspicious around the compound and report anything to me just in case.”
Dash gulped and nodded. Keep an eye out? Anything suspicious? She had been at the compound on and off in the recent days, totaling to about a month’s time. If they were being watched… and she too was being watched… just how long had it been going on for and why?
“Yes, ma’am!” Dash stated dutifully.
“And Dash…” Spitfire’s voice suddenly became concerned. “I thought the recruits had a free day today… how did you get all beat up?” the instant Spitfire asked, Soarin snorted, his shoulders bouncing up and down as he snickered to himself. Spitfire cocked an eyebrow towards him. “I suppose this means you already know?” she asked sarcastically. Dash’s ears flopped down as she pouted at Soarin. He looked up at her and let a few chuckles go before turning to Spitfire.
“She and some of her fellow recruits… picked a fight with squad zero,” Soarin explained.
Spitfire’s ears stood up upon hearing the brief explanation. She instantly groaned and leaned back in her chair, letting her head hang back while slumping down.
Dash watched her reaction curiously. After Soarin had called it her “experiment” and how much Silver seemed to be against the whole thing, Dash expected Spitfire to seem a little more excited and eager about them.
“Whyyyyyyyyy?” Spitfire quietly wailed before sitting up and groaning again. “Why must they be so difficult…?” she pounded her hooves against her desk.
Dash was done being confused.
“Spitfire…” Dash reached up and placed a hoof firmly on Spitfire’s desk. “What is squad zero? Who are they?” she asked.
Spitfire looked Dash square in the eyes. They were certainly no secret, at least to the rest of the Wonderbolts. They had also just beat up a group of their most promising recruits in their history.
“They are…” Spitfire placed her elbows on her desk, clasped her hooves together and leaned her chin against them. “An anti-Shadowbolt project… a combat-oriented special force.”
“Anti-Shadowbolt?” Dash was not expecting that. Aside from what she had heard just now, she had seen nor heard of anything Shadowbolt related since her first visit to the compound almost half a year ago. Spitfire nodded to her.
“Dash…” Spitfire sighed heavily and closed her eyes. “Our last encounter with the Shadowbolts was a very eye opening experience. We were unprepared… and outmatched. To top it off, they effectively incapacitated me before I could do anything to counter the situation, ruling me out of both combat and coordination,” she opened her eyes. “We’re lucky we came out of that conflict on top.”
“Wait…” Dash blinked. “But during the battle above their flying fortress… it looked like we had the upper hoof!” Dash recalled the whole thing well. The Wonderbolts arrived just in time and a massive dogfight broke out above as she and Soarin took on Nightshade.
“Nope…” Fleetfoot spoke up, drawing their attention. “I’m going to be honest with you Dash… we were extremely lucky,” she shook her head. “After the element of surprise wore off… they started taking us down pretty hard. Thankfully, Soarin and Nightshade becoming all super glowey and explodey got everypony’s attention before any of us got killed. We got away with only a few severe injuries.”
“One of them broke my wing,” Air Mach spoke up, extending his left wing and pushing aside some fur to reveal a scar from recently removed stitches.
“But that’s not all, right Fleet?” Soarin pressed her. Fleetfoot nodded.
“Yep… we also outnumbered them… we had about seventy-five elite Wonderbolts with us, that’s just shy of the entire elite force… they had MAYBE fifty.”
“They were also missing two of their commanding officers,” Soarin cut in. “Descent and Starry Skies both freed us and abandoned Nightshade before the battle… they took Lightning Dust with them, maybe they convinced a few more to follow.”
“Despite the advantages we had…” Spitfire took over again. “Due to their skills mixed with the power of the false magic crystals… they could have eventually taken us all down… which brings me all the way back…” Spitfire stood up. “To squad zero…”
Dash listened eagerly as Spitfire paced back and forth while gathering her thoughts.
“The Shadowbolts clearly know us… they know who we are, how we think, and how we fight… I say ‘know’ and not ‘knew’ because we are unsure, now more than ever, of their disbanding. The fact remains that they could still be out there… and if they are we need an answer. I boosted all of our workouts and training regimes. I’m confident that we are all better, faster, and stronger than we used to be… but I wasn’t satisfied. We needed more. We need something they can’t anticipate… something unexpected… a hidden trump card. So I sat down with Blazetail, Flashwind, and the current top three elite squads… and proposed the Zero Project.”
“I still think Zeroes to Heroes is catchier and less cliché…” Fleetfoot commented from off to the side while reclining on her portion of the couch.
“Fleet, do you want tomorrow morning off or not?” Spitfire hissed at her.
“Oh! Right!” Fleetfoot quickly sat back up and put on an incredibly fake, innocent smile.
“The Zero Project…” Spitfire repeated to Dash. “Basically breaks more than half of the rules in the Wonderbolt code… and breaks them hard. Many were opposed to it… but Blazetail and Flashwind both agreed with our need for a Shadowbolt response, and they helped me convince most of the others to approve. So we went to work…”
Spitfire started pacing back and forth.
“We wanted something the Shadowbolts would never see coming… so… we searched,” she nodded towards Soarin. Dash glanced at Soarin.
“A month after we finished picking up all the pieces…” Soarin glanced at Fleetfoot, “Spitfire, Fleetfoot, Silver and I hoofpicked a small group of Wonderbolts to accompany us each… and we spread out to the corners of Equestria. Our mission… was to find undiscovered ability. Pegasi… it didn’t matter who… we just had to find any pegasus out there who stood out in some unique way. Observe, examine, evaluate, and bring back one pony each,” he explained looking back to Spitfire.
“I found PlayBitz…the stallion with the nose scars and black wing tips,” Spitfire nodded. "A member of an advanced storm control team based in St. Filly. We watched from a distance as he and his team fought a severe storm. There was an accident, one of the members lost control of flight… and I watched Bitz free fall through a storm to catch her and ultimately save her life. Now…” Spitfire lifted an eyebrow. “It wasn’t so much that he saved the mare that impressed me… it was his freefalling. Freefalling is not often considered a skill… in fact, it’s usually neglected as not being one, but if only you could’ve seen it Dash… he kept control of his trajectory amidst the intense wind of the storm and smoothly maneuvered his body between debris being kicked up from the ground as he neared. The landing was ugly… but I already saw what I needed. This stallion had turned a simple joy practice into a heavily refined ability. Movement, agility, and acceleration of great degree all within a freefall? I had never seen that before,” she finished and looked towards Soarin.
“I found Swift Justice… well… barely found him. He’s the super dark blue pony. Half pegasus, half bat-pony,” Soarin chuckled. "He was at a university in Manehatten practicing defense law… We were just passing through during the day when I saw him from above. Spitfire told us to look for anything, so I took a chance and waited the day out. As I thought, at night he literally disappeared. He was walking down the street beneath the street lights and became invisible between each one. While it was interesting… it wasn’t much to go by. We were about to move on when I saw him get jumped by four thugs in the street. We were about to assist… but we didn’t need to. He defended himself effortlessly. Ducking, weaving, and dodging like the thugs weren’t even there. It got to a point where the thugs GAVE UP AND LEFT. That sold me. His stealth potential mixed with his natural quickness and self-defense… he had me convinced,” Soarin nodded and glanced at Fleetfoot.
“I…” she pounded her chest with pride. “Tracked down Calm Wind! That oversized lunk of a pegasus you’ve most certainly seen walking around the compound, hitting his head on doorways and running into ponies who cannot ignore his girth!” Fleetfoot joked. “I was staying away from the big towns and cities. I came across a small village called Stream Hills. It’s out in the middle of nowhere between Fillydelphia and Whinneyapolis… so like I said, LITERALLY in the middle of nowhere. We were flying overhead and I saw this HUGE ASS PEGASUS walk out of a shop and hit his head on the sign. There was no way I was letting him go unnoticed. We landed and watched him for a bit, never seen such a buff nor LARGE pegasus before in my life… but all he did was stay at home while writing or lifting weights. So I asked around and found out he was a former Equestria games athlete… a sprinter. Yeah, a pegasus that sprinted, never heard of that before in my life, but he did. So we confronted him, found out he’s the only pony in his family that isn’t an earth pony… and convinced him to come here! Then he instantly fell for Autumn…” Fleetfoot pouted. At the end. Soarin snickered.
“Oh, so THAT’S why you brought him back?” Soarin laughed and shook his head. "I can just imagine the starry look in your eyes when you first talked to him… just like Big Macintosh back in Ponyville…”
“Hey, I like em big and strong!” Fleetfoot scrunched her face at Soarin. Soarin cocked an eyebrow.
“And you chase around our head engineer… treating the poor little guy like your personal plushie…” Soarin flattened his ears.
“But he’s cuuuuuute!” Fleetfoot whined while crossing her arms and turning away.
“And you traumatize him…” Soarin sighed.
“AND THEN…” Spitfire spoke up, re-catching everypony’s attention.
Dash realized that the only pony left who went looking… was Silver. But… Silver had shown disapproval of them and the plan… and the only pony left among them was the young mare.
“Silver found Shine Struck,” Spitfire explained for him. Dash blinked as the name registered. Shine Struck… the lone, small mare among the two big stallions and the stealth flirt. The pony who blushed at Dash’s stallion…
Dash scrunched her face slightly and let one ear flop down. She understood that Soarin was one big hunk of a sexy stallion… but seriously, was she going to have to fight another mare off of him? Dash listened carefully as Spitfire continued.
“Believe me, I was surprised that Silver brought back anypony at all… even more surprised when he returned with such a small mare, barely an adult. Silver always had an eye for talent though. He found Shine in the Crystal Empire. She was working for the local weather team, but is an artist by hobby and was looking to possibly make a career out of it. Silver’s report detailed how he not only watched her skill and precision in art, but also followed her to another hobby of hers… a Taekwondo practice. Her keen eye for precise movement grants her a VERY rare ability… one that may sound familiar…” she said while winking at Dash. Dash’s face unscrunched, her flopped ear stood back up and she blinked several times as Spitfire smirked at her. “She can copy the abilities of other pegasi.”
“Huh?” Dash glanced at Soarin, then back to Spitfire.
“Mmhmm…” Spitfire nodded. Dash tipped her head from side to side.
“Wait… then—”
“Why didn’t we come to you? Even though we saw you copy Soarin’s Sonic Blast-off and mimic the Streak twins’ synchronized fighting?” Spitfire spoke for her. Her smirk disappeared and she sighed. “Because… and I’m not going to sugar coat this… Project Zero is a risk. It has the potential to crash and burn hard…” she looked up towards Dash. “I had thought about it Dash, your abilities would have been a perfect addition to Project Zero, however… Silver pushed for you not to be included. After thought and consideration… we agreed with him. We didn’t want to put you at risk. You were too valuable.”
Dash’s eyes widened slightly. Silver? But… how long did Spitfire say it was since the decision went through? Had Silver been keeping track of her since… the Shadowbolt conflict?
“From the beginning Silver was against the project,” Soarin spoke up from beside Dash. “But there’s another reason he wanted to leave you out… because we knew you were going to come to us. In the Wonderbolts’ long history, every member has come to us. We don’t scout or try to sway ponies to join us. We have made appearances and suggested coming to try out… like how Blazetail and Flashwind did with Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and I, but we ultimately let them decide. In short: He didn’t like the idea of just randomly observing and bringing in ponies with unique skills. We were taking a more pleading/demanding approach with these four… telling them we had need of new, different Wonderbolts. That we were impressed by them, and formally requested they report to the compound. As soon as they all showed up, we slapped high paying contracts down on the table for them. None of them said no,” Soarin shrugged.
A writer, a storm chaser, a law student, and an artist… talk about a motley crew. Dash was still trying to put it all together.
“As if we didn’t already have enough opposition from Silver…” Spitfire took over, “He spoke out against giving them contracts, as well everything that followed. I’m sure you’ve quickly realized that they aren’t very well behaved. Shine Struck can control herself a little, but the three stallions are a hoofful…” she exhaled heavily through her nose. “While they have signed contracts to be admitted into the Wonderbolt organization… they are treated as an entirely separate entity. They’ve been giving free use of all facilities and benefits within the compound as long as they don’t interfere with the other squads and their training schedules. They each have a highly advanced training regime that they are expected to keep up daily save for one day each week for rest. Two of those six days they train per week, they report for special training… under Blazetail and Flashwind.”
“Whoa!” Dash perked up. Trained by Blazetail and Flashwind? That explained their skill over such a short period of time… that alongside their supposed training regime. It seemed though that while they were incredible fighters, they weren’t quite on the level of the elite squads, at least not the kind of skill of Misty, Silver, or the lead squad.
Dash was beginning to wonder… this was an awful lot of explaining about something that only loosely involved her. She began to wonder if there was another purpose for her in the meeting, but for the time being she just kept listening.
“The two former Wonderbolt captains have been training them in basic and advanced combat… as well as anti-magic techniques that haven’t been practiced since two generations of Wonderbolts before us… back during a long running conflict with Changelings over a century ago. Obviously, this is to counter the false magic. We decided to limit such training to them because we are unsure if the techniques will work against the “fake” magic of the crystals.”
“But wait a sec… I’m trying to figure this out…” Dash interrupted with a certain part of this explanation on her mind. “Why let them do whatever?” She could see why Silver disliked them now. Silver was adamant at teaching and upholding the code of authority among the Wonderbolts. Squad zero didn’t have to obey it? “It’s no wonder they’re causing problems and beating up recruits… that seems dumb if you ask me,” Dash put bluntly, earning a snicker from Fleetfoot as Spitfire rolled her eyes.
“It’s part of the experiment. I want them to be warriors, not soldiers… yet another reason Silver won’t let me hear the end of it.” Spitfire said sarcastically. “Soarin gave me a very detailed report on how the Shadowbolts operated within their flying fortress…” she eyed Soarin. Soarin nodded and took over.
“You remember when we were there right?” Soarin asked Dash.
“Vaguely…” Dash cringed and rubbed a back hoof above her opposite leg. “I was kind of more focused on hoping Nightshade would stop violating me,” she shivered as she recalled some of the disturbing moments they experienced in the Shadowbolts flying fortress.
“They were very unorganized. They pretty much were doing whatever they pleased from what I could see. Starry Skies even stopped escorting us once to break up a fight in the middle of the hallway.”
“Wild,” Spitfire quickly took over. “And untamed. Loose cannons with short fuses. Part of my experiment is giving them free will like the Shadowbolts. Why? We train our whole careers to be disciplined and assess situations before acting… the Shadowbolts aren’t. If we are caught by surprise, I want them to strike first, buying us time to gather ourselves and counter. I was skeptical we would even need them for a while, and was considering disbanding the whole thing… but then Manehatten happened, and now I think we may need them more than ever. However…!” Spitfire’s voice suddenly became very stern and she glared specifically at Dash. “There is one MAJOR drawback here that cannot be ignored… which also brings me to the main reason I wanted you here for this meeting…”
Dash quickly stood up straight and turned her ears forward. Spitfire was about to answer her biggest question for her.
“Squad Zero’s free will protocol has a potential catastrophic flaw that we must be ready for should the worst case scenario occur… the temptation of the crystals,” she stated. Dash blinked and looked around as the rest of the lead squad nodded. “Without the usual training and discipline… it leaves them wide open to such a threat. Like squad zero in general, the Shadowbolts don’t know that, and the chances of them finding out are slim… but if they do, and the members of squad zero give in… then the project is over and we’ll have to take them down,” Spitfire explained adamantly, showing how strict she was about going through with the project despite the risks. “And that… is what we need you for. That is, assuming you are one of the five recruits selected.” Spitfire suddenly said on top of it all. “And if you aren’t, I don’t know what the hell you are doing…” she quietly added right after.
“Wait… ME?!” Dash pointed to herself. “Uh… Spitfire, I just got my ass kicked by one of them, how would I fight one of them enhanced?
“Which one of them were you fighting?” Spitfire quickly asked. Dash blinked and recalled his name.
“Uh… Swift Justice?” she said. Spitfire shook her head.
“Silver and Fleetfoot are assigned to him.”
“Assigned?” Dash was so confused. Luckily Spitfire was already explaining.
“I have hoof-picked eight Wonderbolts… and assigned two to each squad zero member. Their assignment is to take their designated zero member down and knock them out should they be consumed by the power of the crystals. I decided to include you because you fought and survived against NIGHTSHADE. I’m looking for a mix of experience against the magic, and skill of the high tier elites. Soarin and I are assigned to Calm Wind, the Streak twins are assigned to Playbitz, and you and Misty are assigned to Shine Struck. This is all for precaution… because without it, squad zero could either give us an edge… or be our ultimate downfall, and I refuse to let my own project turn against us without a plan. After how easily they took control of my body with some simple negative emotions, I can’t rule out the possibility.”
“O-okay…” Dash nodded with a hint of uncertainty. Something about being assigned to beat up a pony she barely knew should something bad happen to them… it was a bit sudden and a little harsh, but if Spitfire trusted her, she wasn’t going to falter. She was trying to prove to them she was Wonderbolt material. “I’ll do it.”
“Just what I wanted to hear…” Spitfire sat back in her chair. “I’m sorry if that was a lot of information for you to take in all at once Dash. I planned on letting you in on it all over time, but after this morning I had to get you into the loop. The Shadowbolts could still be out there… and as somepony who has fought them on more than one occasion, I need you to be ready to help,” she gave a quick nod. “That’ll be all.”
“Yes, ma’am!” Dash nodded back before turning towards the door. Soarin blinked and glanced after her, turning to follow.
“Hold it Soarin, we have more to discuss without her,” Spitfire called to him. Soarin stopped for a moment, but started walking again while looking back at Spitfire.
“Just give me a minute, I’ll be right back in,” he clarified before following Dash out. “Hey…” he said to Dash as he closed the door behind him. Dash stopped in place, having only moved a few steps from the door. She turned to face him, a mixed look on her face. She looked like she was trying to smile at him, but it was half-hearted as if her mind was preoccupied. He didn’t blame her, she just got force-fed a month’s worth of information she was supposed to learn as things went on.
“What’s up?” she tried to sound cheerful, but the tone was clearly not all happy.
“That’s my line…” Soarin said while looking directly at her. Dash tipped her head slightly, her expression not changing in the slightest. “Don’t give me that Dash, what’s wrong?” Soarin stepped towards her and reached a hoof up to gently stroke her left shoulder and neck. He was surprised when she instantly pressed herself against his hoof to double the feeling of his touch and released a heavy sigh.
“It’s nothing… bad,” she huffed as she stepped towards Soarin and end gently rested her forehead against his chest. “I guess I’m just a little frustrated,” she grumbled as she rubbed her head against him back and forth. Soarin reach his arm all the way around her, pulling her towards him, crossing their necks and resting them against each other.
“The Shadowbolts?” Soarin easily deduced. He felt Dash’s mane rub up and down against the side of his neck as she nodded.
“I was kind of hoping to have a Wonderbolt related experience without them ruining it… seriously, this is the third time…” she continued to grumble. Soarin felt her grind her hoof against his side. “That and I just got all this new stuff dumped on me about some special force squad full of anti-Shadowbolts that could become anti-Wonderbolts if we’re not careful and how I’ll suddenly have to help Misty Fly take one of them down and UGH!” she grunted as her head tried to process all the information and accidentally pressed her hoof harder against Soarin’s side.
“Dash… hoof… ow…” he said in a painful, hushed tone.
“Oh! Sorry…” She removed her hoof and stepped back from him slowly. Soarin could see it in her eyes. She was just as frustrated as she sounded, maybe even more. She puffed her cheeks out and exhaled. “I want to focus on my training and concentrate on becoming a full Wonderbolt. I didn’t need this… this is bullshit. It’s like you guys can’t go a few months without something weird happening,” she complained. Soarin sighed and shrugged before putting a hoof on her shoulder again.
“Dash, before the tornado in Ponyville… absolutely nothing like this happened in my career as a Wonderbolt. The same goes for Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and most of the other current elites as well, save for Misty and Silver. So if you think about it, all of this is just as new and frustrating to us as it is to you,” he lowered his head, turned it slightly to avoid poking her with the horn, and lightly bumped foreheads with her. “We’re all in the same boat here… and we’ll get through it together, alright?” he said while sliding his cheek down hers and giving her a nuzzle. When he pulled back Dash was lightly blushing but also looking at him with a very wide smirk. He grinned back, confused, but curious as to what was going on in that head of hers.
“Look at you knowing exactly what to say like some kind of badass,” she said while bouncing her eyebrows at him. Soarin was caught off guard for a moment, but quickly played along, rolling his eyes very slowly.
“Well… I am pretty good at just about everything…” he joked along with her, but was cut off as Dash grabbed his head and yanked him down to her eye level.
“I know,” she said before kissing him. It was brief, They were on the upper floors where only elite Wonderbolts traversed… and they all knew they were a thing. But still, Dash didn’t want to be caught making out in the hallway. “That includes you being a pain in the ass, but I’ll let that one slide,” she said with a wink as they parted.
“Take me now,” Soarin playfully demanded while flopping down over her shoulders. Dash was about to giggle, but Soarin accidentally put most of her weight on her bruised shoulder.
“OW! OW! OW!” she yelped, Soarin instinctively pushed himself back up, but Dash pushing him at the same time caused their arms to get intertwined and the two fell over on their sides. Luckily, Dash landed on Soarin, sparing her shoulder from more pain.
“I guess this also makes us both idiots?” Soarin said as they chuckled and slowly stood up.
“Alright… you should back in there before they get any ideas…” Dash joked. Soarin nodded.
“Yeah, I—” Soarin glanced back at the door just in time to see Fleetfoot peeking out at them before she quickly disappeared and the door slammed shut. “Dammit…” Soarin sighed.
“Was that Fl—?”
“Yes,” Soarin answered before Dash could get even a quarter of a way through the name.
“Go ahead,” she flashed him a smile. “I should get back down and figure out what’s going on,” she leaned back up and gave him a quick peck on his cheek. “Slam Fleetfoot’s face into a wall for me, okay?” she added with a wink. Soarin snorted and winked back.
“Gladly…” he said before the two turned their separate ways. Soarin stepped back into Spitfire’s office and narrowed his eyes as he looked around… admittedly with a hint of a smile curling on his lips. Spitfire was looking away from him and blushing. Air Mach had fallen sleep sitting up perfectly straight. Fleetfoot however, was squishing her cheeks together and a high pitched squeal was becoming louder and louder from her as Soarin walked in.
Soarin walked directly up to her and butted heads with her as she continued to squeal.
“You’re terrible,” he said flatly to her.
“AND YOU TWO… ARE SO ADORABLE!” Fleetfoot said with a very girly, squeaky voice.
“Oh… shut up…” Soarin shook his head with a hint of red in his cheeks.
Feeling a little better thanks to Soarin, Dash made her way down the stairs towards the lobby. Shadowbolts… squad zero… it was all a lot to take in at once, but Dash started thinking about it on a broader scale. Sure, it was a lot of sudden information, but based on what had been told, there had still yet to be any proof that the Shadowbolts were back together and planning something. It was just one, he apparently wasn’t even wearing the full uniform, and they are mercenaries at heart, so who knows who was paying him and why he was following Soarin?
The whole thing was making her think back to Descent, Starry Skies, and Lightning Dust. Dash wondered where they had gone. They deserted Nightshade and left her at the mercy of the magic crystals… and whoever Kayn Ost was. She hoped the three were okay.
The Kayn Ost thing had yet to be solved too. Dash had all but forgotten about it. Whoever they were, they had to be a frightening individual. Kayn Ost had crafted an addictive power that was able to control Nightshade… who was already a frightening and powerful pony, ultimately destroying her with the very power she desired.
At least… Dash hoped Nightshade was gone. They never did confirm her demise. Her body looked like it literally exploded… but if there was one thing Nightshade proved to have over their encounters… it was resilience and toughness. SO MUCH… that Dash didn’t feel ruling out the possibility that even an explosion from inside her own body would be enough to stop Nightshade.
Dash was getting ahead of herself. This was all stuff she didn’t need to worry about for the time being. The presence of a Shadowbolt was bringing all this back to her, but it was only one, and for all they know he could’ve just been doing a job.
“So then I grabbed him by the neck and punched him in the face until his eyes were crossed!” Blaze’s voice came from lobby as Dash stepped off the stairs and walked in. She saw High Winds asleep on the first couch near the stairs. Over by the mail counter, Blaze was behind the counter with the orange mail pony, laughing uncontrollably and pounding her hooves on the counter as the orange pony went about his business.
“That’s great Blaze…” he said, clearly unamused and trying to be efficient.
“No, no, no! It gets better!” Blaze sat back up and grabbed him around the shoulder. “Then I told him… if his dumb ass tried hitting on me again, I’d guarantee he never has foals!” Blaze was talking unnecessarily loud to the point where she could probably be heard down the length of both east and west wings of the compound. She burst out laughing again at her own story, falling off the mail pony and landing with a heavy THUD behind the mail counter. The mail pony just stared at her on the floor, sighed, and shook his head as he went into the back room to check some packages.
Dash walked in slowly as she heard Blaze find herself hilarious. She jumped slightly in surprise when High Winds released a loud SNORT beside her.
“Huh…?” Winds opened her eyes, blinked, yawned, and did a full-body stretch before sitting up and scratching her plot. “Oh…” she glanced at Dash for a moment before standing up and looking towards the mail counter. “Blazey! Dash is here!” she yelled.
“Hooooho hahahaaaaaa heeeeeee gimme a second Windy I’m cracking myself up!” Blaze yelled back with only her hoof visible and waving over the inside edge of the mail counter. Dash lifted an eyebrow as Blaze continued to guffaw and then turned to Winds.
“You were looking for me?” Dash asked as Winds casually turned towards the east wing.
“Yep, the captain wants you in our gym…” Winds explained as she started walking. Dash glanced at Blaze, still keeled over and laughing, before quickly trotting to catch up to Winds. “She’ll catch up…” Winds said with a yawn as Dash followed close behind.
“Oh, that was a good laugh… thank you, me…” Blaze said as she glided up behind and landed besides Winds. Dash didn’t say a thing, still not quite sure how to handle the two mares of squad two. The only real interaction she had had with them outside of training was when they harassed her while helping her put the training armor on. She simply walked behind and hoped nothing would happen.
But it was inevitable.
As they walked Blaze suddenly shifted over, nearly pressing herself up against Winds. The two were whispering back and forth and Dash didn’t like that in the slightest. The two suddenly glanced back at her for a second before looking back forward and snickering.
Bad sign.
“So… Dash…” Blaze began. Dash braced herself for the imminent awkwardness as Blaze and High Winds slowly spaced themselves out just enough for another pony to fit between them… and slowed down just enough to let Dash step up in the middle. Dash kept her eyes forward as the two felt like they were purposely giving Dash as little personal space as possible. “Tell me…” Dash flinched as she felt Blaze poke her in the arm. "Just how much time did you spend in the gym before trying out? I couldn’t get this buff if I tried…” she said with a sassy tone in her voice. Dash blushed in embarrassment and squinted in discomfort. She almost squeaked when High Winds suddenly bumped into her other side.
“Yeah girl,” Winds spoke up. Dash could feel Winds’ curly mane brush against her. “I know how to work my wings, but damn you know how to work your bod,” Winds gave her a nudge in the side.
“Uh… thanks?” Dash said before one of Blaze’s wings draped over and pulled her against Blaze.
“Hey! I asked you a question!” Blaze pouted, their cheeks pressing together.
“Oh, uh…” Dash was having a hard time concentrating because the two were making it incredibly awkward for her once again, but judging by their snickering right before, this was definitely their intention. “I… pulled apple carts on a farm… and then followed a strength routine Soarin gave me… with home gym equipment Soarin also gave me,” she explained sheepishly.
These two literally broke her. They were both so forward and touchy feely. It put Dash in a position of vulnerability, something she wasn’t in very often in a casual setting. Her confidence got stuck at the door and she found herself wishing they’d reach the gym faster.
“Two-thirds Soarin, huh?” Winds spoke up with a devilish smirk appearing on her sleepy face. “Note to self Blazey, if we want sexy bods, we gotta ask Soarin,” she joked. Dash tried to pick up the pace a little, but the two stuck to her like glue.
“Looks like it!” Blaze chuckled while poking Dash in the chest. Dash actually squeaked this time and blushed while puffing her cheeks out and holding her breath. She wished they would STOP TOUCHING HER. “Say, I bet your nights together are pretty wild!” Blaze added. Dash’s eyes snapped open and glared forward. “Soarin’s pretty buff himself! I bet you get quite a thrott—”
“ALRIGHT!!!!!!” Dash yelled while flaring her wings out. However, she didn’t hit either of them. They both jumped clear right before her outburst.
“Whoa! That didn’t take as long as I thought!” Blaze chuckled as they came back in towards Dash.
“One hell of a wing reflex you’ve got there…” Winds commented as Dash panted, red in the face and breathing through her nose. “Relax girl, we were just messing with you… we do it to all the recruits,” Winds explained as the gym drew near.
Dash looked between the two of them, heavily embarrassed. What a couple of trolls. Blaze and High Winds sure knew how to embarrass a pony… at least they were just doing it for fun and not really to humiliate her. Didn’t mean she enjoyed it though.
“Hey, if anything, I can respect Soarin for at least going for his mare…” Blaze suddenly spoke up again while rolling her eyes. “Now if only Wave would suck it up and give it to my sister already. If he waits any longer they’re both gonna explode,” Blaze shook her head. It took Dash a second to put it together, but when she did she stopped in place.
“Wait… I’m assuming you’re talking about Spitfire… right? So you two are sisters?” Dash asked. She had been curious, but never actually knew for sure. Blaze and High Winds both stopped and turned to face her.
“Half-sister,” Blaze clarified. “Same mom, different dads. Long story.”
“And…” Dash put something else together. She remembered seeing Wave and Spitfire come together right before her first visit to the compound ended… and… “Spitfire and Wave Chill aren’t together?!” she looked between them. Blaze and Winds both nodded. “But… I swear I saw them like that six months ago…” Dash pondered out loud.
“THAT… would be Wave Chill being an uptight dumbass…” Blaze sighed. “Same goes for my sister, but Wave needs stallion up and come onto her already!” she fumed as they closed in on the gym door. Winds shook her head.
“I wouldn’t bet on him doing that anytime soon Blazey. Wave’s libido is locked away so tight… if he fell into a barrel of tits, he’d come out sucking on his hoof.
Dash and High winds both stopped in place as Blaze burst out laughing instantly. She clutched her stomach without balancing herself out, falling forwards and doing a somersault on the ground before landing on her back as she guffawed. Dash admittedly thought it was pretty funny too, but Blaze was rolling back and forth across the width of the hallway. She and Winds watched as Blaze passed in front of them four times while holding her sides and laughing like she had just heard the funniest thing ever.
“Blazey… it wasn’t THAT funny…” Winds tried to get her to stop. It didn’t work at all. “Oh well, she’ll catch up,” Winds yawned and gave a head motion to Dash to follow. Dash kept her eyes on Blaze as they walked past and finally made it to the gym door. Dash immediately spotted Wave Chill and Silver on opposite ends of the gym. Wave was working with the water hose again, and Silver was standing against the wall as if waiting for somepony.
As soon as Silver spotted Dash, he stood up straight off the wall and made a hoof motion towards him.
“Skittles! Get over here!” he yelled. Dash took a step, but yelped as High Winds spanked her plot.
“Get that PERSONAL training in!” she joked. Dash just stared at her for a moment as the sound of hysterical laughter neared the slowly closing door of the gym. Dash glanced back to see Blaze for only a moment before the door closed and a loud THUMP followed by a swear was heard on the other side. The door was kicked open and Blaze stumbled in, still laughing like crazy.
“Hahahahahaha! Hohoahahaheeeeeeeee hahahahahahaha!” She lifted off, flew right up to Wave Chill, landed firmly in front of him, and pointed right into his face. “HA!!!!! YOU’RE A BITCH!” she barked before keeling over laughing again.
“Uh… What?” Wave looked up and at Dash and Winds.
“SKITTLES! WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST SAY?!” Silver’s voice boomed, drowning out Blaze’s laughter. Dash yelped and quickly flew over to Silver on the opposite side of the gym. She set down before him and saluted. “At ease…” he instantly said in a less angry tone. Dash blinked and relaxed as Silver walked towards her and stood directly in front of her. He looked her up and down carefully as she stood and let him do so, not daring to question him. “So… what did Spitfire tell you?” he suddenly asked, catching Dash slightly off guard.
“Huh? Oh…” she looked up at him for a moment to meet his harsh gaze and instantly looked down. “She told me about Project Zero… and—”
“How pitiful it is?” Silver cut her off. Dash’s eyes widened and she looked straight up, meeting the exact same glare again.
“Pitiful?” Dash thought out-loud as Silver grunted and walked past her right side. Dash turned and watched him as he stopped and looked out towards Blaze, High Winds, and Wave Chill. He watched them for a moment before shaking his head.
“The Wonderbolts are soft these days…” he began. Dash opened her mouth to speak, but stopped herself as he continued. “Their strength and character have faded. A mere shadow of what it once was,” he turned around and looked directly into Dash’s eyes. “The Wonderbolts have been crippled by tradition. Replacing the experienced with the fast and skilled… did they ever stop and think of what else that could erase over time?” he walked up to Dash and stood directly in front of her. He tapped his head. “The mind of a veteran…” he brought his hoof down and tapped his chest. “And the heart of a soldier,” he nodded. “We didn’t struggle against the Shadowbolts in our last encounter because they were better than us. We struggled because we are barely half the force we used to be. Easing of rules, elites who are lax or complain…” he shook his head. “Not when I was a young blood… we have maybe five Wonderbolts now that can compare to the strength of all eighty that once flew under our name.”
Dash listened closely as Silver spoke. His long pause suggested that she could speak now, but she held herself back. Silver walked to Dash’s side and turned so they were both facing the rest of squad two before he continued.
“What will Squad Zero accomplish? If they get lucky, they may last one battle. Spitfire, Blazetail, and Flashwind are failing to see what’s right in front of them,” Silver glared forward, causing Dash to recline slightly in his pure presence. “They can give those four all the training they want… they can make them as strong and fast as imaginable… but they are all civilians. They will have their “fun”… but there’s something that will destroy them inside out,” he stopped, but kept staring forward.
As much as Dash wanted to question him on a lot of what he just said, Silver had her full attention.
“What will?” she asked instinctively. Silver glanced down at her, and then back up at his squad.
“Fear.”
Dash’s ears stood up as Silver cleared his throat.
“BLAZE! WAVE CHILL! I NEED A THUNDERCLOUD OVER HERE!” he ordered. Dash felt her fur tingle as she watched Blaze and Wave Chill quickly throw together a thundercloud using a mix of moisture and heat. “When I say fear…” Silver began. Dash’s eyes slowly widened as the thundercloud floated over to him. “I mean something entirely different from our first lesson about not being afraid of an opponent,” he paused, glanced at the cloud fizzing with electricity beside him. He roughly jammed his arm all the way into the cloud.
Dash yelped and took a step back. Silver grunted as the cloud completely dispersed, but all the electrical energy stored within gathered around his arm and began to jump and flare about his upper body.
“I’m talking about the kind of fear that builds up in your chest. Fears that make us cower at the first sight of something,” his voice was slightly labored as he remained stiff to control the lightning crackling and popping about him. He turned and took a step towards Dash. Dash squeaked, her face going a paler shade of blue as she shuffled backwards. “The kind of fear that turns bravery into cowardice…” Silver kept stepping towards Dash. Dash began to sweat and her breathing quickened. She started getting flashbacks of when she was electrocuted by the powerful clouds. The more she looked at Silver and the energy flowing around him, the more it made her recall the traumatic shocks and unbearable pain. Dash’s plot bumped against the wall, and as soon as she had no more room, she instantly sat down and tucked her head between her legs, shivering as the memories came back. “The kind… that cripples you.”
Silver crouched down and pushed himself up hard, throwing his hooves into the air. All the electricity flew from his body towards the ceiling. Sparking and cracking, but expanding and losing its charge as it moved upward, ultimately dissipating above them.
Silver exhaled and let his hooves back down to the ground gently. He looked down at Dash as she shook against the wall, curled up in a ball. Silver huffed moved beside her, turning around and sitting down next to her against the wall. He reached a wing out and gently draped it over her head.
“Squad zero is comprised of regular ponies thrust into a soldier’s world. At the first sign of things going wrong… they will not stand strong, they will not hold steady, and they will not fight to their last breath,” Silver explained as Dash calmed down at both the sound of Silver’s voice and the touch of his wing. Like the way a father comforts a child. Her ears picked up and listened closely to every word. “They will run… because a pony who is not trained to be a soldier, fears death. It is a common fear that we all conquer…” he lifted the wing from Dash’s head and looked down at her as she began to slowly unroll and sit up. Silver watched her, giving her time to regain herself before he continued.
“Fears come from within. They aren’t something you are afraid of before you,” he looked back forward as the two remained against the wall. “I’m not going to ask how or why you are afraid of it… but tell me Rainbow Dash. If, say, Soarin and more of your friends were down and wounded… and you were the only one that could save them. Would you be able to stand strong should the enemy approach with electricity?”
“Ye—” Dash was ready to answer before he even finished, but when it came time for her to claim she’d never let her friends down and especially not Soarin, she found herself thinking. Would she be able to? Her newfound fear of lightning was a reaction from within… not something that intimidated her from without. Silver watched her as she contemplated and walked in front of her.
“Uncertain?” he asked simply. Dash bit her lip and looked down. Silver was right. She didn’t know. Her reactions to it were very severe. All her life she had preached not being afraid of anything. Sure, she caved a little against Nightshade, but she had Misty Fly and Soarin to help her remain strong. The lightning made her panic. It made breathing hard. The amount of pain and pressure her body took all at once from the thunderclouds half a year ago had left hidden trauma.
What a terrible time to find it. How was she supposed to impress the Wonderbolts if she was afraid of lightning?
“Look at me,” Silver suddenly ordered. Dash’s ears twitched and she quickly looked up at him. “Why do you think I decided to train you personally? Or should I say… do you now UNDERSTAND why I decided to?” he looked at her for a few moments, but looked as though he didn’t expect her to answer. “Because I don’t want you to end up like squad zero.”
“What?” Dash said quietly as her eyes widened. Silver nodded to her.
“They may become strong… they may get special treatment. But despite my warnings, Spitfire went forward with her plan,” he put a hoof on her shoulder. “You have the potential to be one of the best Wonderbolts this organization has ever seen… but I also want you to help prove I’m right,” he nodded to her. Dash didn’t know what to say. Silver wanted her to help him prove to Spitfire that squad zero was a flop? Or was it more to it? Didn’t he personally bring in Shine Struck? “I want to show Spitfire, Blazetail, Flashwind, AND the rest what it takes to be a true Wonderbolt. The ponies of squad zero are all formidable… but without proper training, they will fall. Will you help me show them the way?” Silver asked while offering Dash a hoof.
Dash looked at it for a moment as his words swirled around in her head. It was a day of information… and lots of it. She was getting so many mixed signals about the Zero Project… but while Dash respected Spitfire, it seemed like Silver had the more reasonable outlook on the whole thing.
She took a deep breath, reached up, and accepted his hoof, standing up and looking him adamantly in the eyes.
“Yes, sir,” she replied with a strong nod.
“Good,” Silver smiled a little. Which was a lot more than usual. “The very first thing we have to do then…” he turned and whistled sharply. His squad mates looked over to him, he made a simple hoof motion, and before long a smaller thundercloud floated towards him. “…is destroy your fear.”
Dash gulped as she eyed the cloud. She shivered and felt short of breath again.
Nopony said it was going to be easy…
--- To Be Continued ---
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Chapter is up
And we finally got that one done! *phew* I'm kinda tired now
I'll sleep easy on my no Fleetfoot harassment for tonight 
For some reason, whenever Silver talks, I can hear a mix of The Soldier and Solid Snake.
Wow. That was intense. I think you did a great job. Man that squad zero is a big gamble, but it could have big pay offs. I can't wait to see the big show down between Shine and Dash. That is going to happen eventually I hope. Thanks for an awesome chapter.
Glad I stayed up late. Anyways great chapter! I also liked how you described Squad Zero, it was cool. They remind me of the top five assassins of the League of Assassins (my fault if you don't get this reference).
This should be Spitfire.
Also, it's not a bad idea per say. At least they admit that it's a high risk plan with the Zero Project. But hey, you can never truly win without taking some risks. And Silver is starting to come off as an extremist, but he has a good point. Trouble is, Equestria hasn't had a need for a strong military force for centuries. So while he might have a point, he could very well be in the wrong country.
10:15pm started the chapter, 12:36am finished the chapter....I'm glad I don't have work tomorrow (technically today)c
Wow! this was a awesome chapter! the part where Air Mach gets kicked in the giggleberries (
never heard that one before) and tries to keep a straight face to avoid a monday morning meeting. 
That was the second funniest thing that happened to me today 
Now then, I need to get back to my art project for the streak twins.
Calling it now, either Silver is the Shadowbolt...
Or the Shadowbolt is some former wonderbolt who just has the same ideals as Silver.
Ladies and gentle colts back by popular demand, I give you plot points!!!!
Welp that answered my questions about you guys. Now all i need is our little "FireFly" pairing to make another appearence.
fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/092/f/9/son_i_am_disappoint_by_songoharotto-d4uq9e4.png
Dash let the bag balance on her shoulder.
Spitfire shouted while reaching and pushing him back towards the couch
Spitfire nodded. "A member of an
Soarin chuckled. "He was at a university
img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130405221911/mlp/images/e/e1/FANMADE_Luna_I_see_what_you_did_there.jpg
shook his head. "I can just
It's Soarin speaking here, so I think that needs to be changed to Spitfire
This pony here? Zero fucks given.
poke her in the arm. "Just how much
You know, I want Squad Zero to prove him wrong. Somepony go agitate the griffons or something!
Also...
Quotation marks, from hence forth you will be known as 'Calm Wind-Bane'!
5265119 I didn't know M Night Shalamadingdong was reading this!
Nice. And did I see a Hercules reference? I'm sure I saw it.
So Soarin found Swift Justice huh? Makes sense, it takes talent to know talent.
So our mindset against the Shadowbolts is some form of "Know thy enemy"? Wow, and crazy stuff too like using crystals? I'll probably read FSH soon, looks like I'll definitely need it.
So it was Silver Lining that found Shine.. Huh.. I would never have guessed. It'll be interesting to see how Shine is going to mingle with Dash and Misty (which are the two best mares here by the way, best Squad Zero member gets best mares, fits perfectly. But..... If only she could have gotten Soarin instead, no offence, just Soarin..... I want. -3-)
5265315
Just read FSH already! You'll understand much shit and references.
Slowpoke.
Meanwhile I still have to read TWoR.... I'll get to that eventually.
5265401 Having to mingle with the ponies who's job it is to kick your ass, that's fun.
You got Misty and Rainbow! Meanwhile Swift got the one stallion who was most likley to break every bone in his body should he screw up. Better hope it never gets to that point.
Great chapter, worth the wait.
.
A lot of information, and explanations in that information. A good read
On a slightly unrelated topic, I had a theory come to mind as I fell asleep a few nights ago...
I remember some saying that the Shadowbolt reminded them of silver, and spitfire remembers the voice of this pony...
So, maybe the Shadowbolt is silvers brother, probably younger, thirstier for power that he didn't get when they were young. Both he and silver made the wonderbolts, and he is known to the recruits, one group containing spitfire, Soarin and fleetfoot. But he was kicked out for under performing or being reckless and power hungry, replaced with the future squad 1. This drove him to join the shadowbolts. After the collapse, he went of on his own, altering the uniform to suit himself, to stand out. When he heard the lead squad was out and about again, he decided to see wha they were made of, get a measure on them. This leads him to make the remarks he did when he is not impressed.
That seems to explain everything in my head, but it might not be completely accurate... And might be plain wrong... But I try
Keep up the good work, my studies are over for the year, so I'm free to get tangled in reading properly again.
GREAT CHAPTER... now as I tell my sister... you stopped.... I want more...*Sulk face*
And personally I want to see Sqad zero go above and beyond the expectations of Silver but still fall flat to Everyone else. If you can do that.
There is one place that became a bit confusing though It could just be me. But when Soarin is talking to Dash after the meeting I had a bit of trouble following. But with sever dyslexia that is a common thing with me.
GREAT CHAPTER SIR WIND!!! WE WANT MORE!!!! Never own a fan-a-sor
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Contrary to what you insist on believing there's more to Rivet than Fleetfoot cuddles
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That's pretty close to how i like to hear him. I tend to hear Silver like Lee Ermey (drill instructor from Full Metal Jacket) But less raspy, more defined and maybe a tad deeper... which would basically describe the soldier and snake
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There's gonna be more with Squall
he's one of many loose end side plots i have to tie up as we near the end of part 2! 
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Thanks! Yep, with squad zero suddenly thrown on the table... a whole lot of potential conflict has sprung up
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Thanks! I am unfamiliar with League of Assassins i'm afraid
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I don't think Fleetfoot will appreciate his flirting. 
Yeah, I wish him good luck with Silver.
Dash and Misty are cool with Shine (I assume), too bad Swift didn't get two mares.
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Silver is only in favor of being prepared
I mentioned a conflict with the changelings a century or so ago... And Silver feels like the Wonderbolts have become soft in times of peace, at least in the pony community.
Silver can recall when he was young and new to the Wonderbolts, they still had their former glory about them, but then he watched them become lax overtime.
The Shadowbolts proved to him the Wonderbolts had lost their touch... a mercenary force pushing a military force to the brink of defeat... and squad zero is the "last straw" for him. And "easy way out" gimmick instead of focusing on what really needed to happen.
So in a way... yes, Silver is a bit extreme. In fact, this will be addressed more going forward because it seems like many Wonderbolts have different opinions on the situation. Dash has been exposed to two, Spitfire's and Silver's, more heavily Silver's due to being his student... so i wonder what other views we are going to get?
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Haha yeah, i tried to think of the most random word for vulnerable man parts i could think of and Giggleberries came to mind
I enjoy having Spitfire and Soarin deal with Fleet and Mach like they are a couple of rambunctious kids 
And oooo streak twins art? i'm excited
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Wouldn't that be interesting
I guess we'll find out
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I've got lots of loose end side plot's to wrap up as we near the halfway point in this story... and FireFly is on that list so you can expect it in the near future
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Oy... lots of Quotation mark errors, i have a bad habit of those going wrong in larger paragraphs, thanks a ton bro!
Oh hath thine seen what i had committed, eh?
And yes, Blaze redefined workplace harassment, but you gave no fucks
Well we've seen two views of squad zero... Spitfire's uncertainty... and Silver's disapproval. I wonder what Soarin, Fleetfoot, and some of the other's think?
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Eh? Where? If i did it by accident please point it out, that's kinda awesome
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Yeah dude the whole concept of the crystals is the first of many plot points screaming towards you right now that require having read both Head in the Clouds and FSH to understand... you better get on those soon or else you're gonna be incredibly confused
5265788 I've got two study halls, I'll read it then.
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If any, Shine is going to be getting a little more attention than the rest because of inevitable direct interaction with Dash so i hope you're psyched for that
5265416
Fleetfoot to distract you with her shameless flirting while Silver beats you senseless
Swift has a way of making any situation hilarious
5265644
Congrats on being finished with work!
And... very interesting theory
Of course i know if it's right or wrong, but i don't want to spoil the anticipation for you 
Thanks for reading!
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Thank you!
If you take a look at the chapter... we only really got two full opinions on squad zero, Spitfire's worried opinion, and Silver's purist/extreme opinion (of which Dash and the readers got more heavily exposed to) I have yet to go into detail with how certain other Wonderbolts view them.
My intention is to have squad zero be a debated topic amongst the characters. There will never be a clear or right prediction for how they will turn out until they are actually put on the spot an d expected to perform.
There were lots of references to older fics in the scene between Soarin and Dash, as well as some awkward movements with them being goofy and falling voer by accident so i can see how it may have been a little confusing
Interesting.
Amazing.
Nerving.
Scareh.
Too much info.
Trying to put my comment into words.
I love dis.
Too hard.
More wavespit.
More firefly.
More rainbow-in-training.
5265784 When Fleetfoot said Zer to Hero. That's a line from a song in Disneys Hercules.
5265791 "them"
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they may not have their designated "neutralizers" hang out with them, it's more who was assigned to them in case they are controlled
Dash is going to interact with Shine though... for some obvious reasons
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SoarinDashIsBestCouple.exe has crashed... rebooting
(I have to wrap up loose ends before moving into the third part of the story... so you can believe WaveFire and FireFly are incoming
)
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OH! Haha, that's actually a very old expression, but i do remember that being a song in Disney's Hercules, which i loved btw. The animation was SO GOOFY
media.tumblr.com/b0b2a3130705156cbbb44931bde5359b/tumblr_n6x7hwFEE81qhry52o1_250.jpg
and of course i always found this adorable:
a.dilcdn.com/bl/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2013/07/Pegasus-4.gif
5265915 Deep down, Pegasus was a pony. And deep down, Hercules was a brony. And thus the first pony and brony relationship in existence began...
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After MLP i found that whole scene about a million times more adorable
5265707 Now, if he can transform into Painis Cupcake while riding Metal Gear Rex.
5265748 yeah the streaks weren't getting enough love with fan art. All I need to do on it is put in the small details, darkin the lines and color.
Damn, Silver is AWESOME
First I really didn't like this whole stereotypical drill sergeant thing about him but this chapter really made me like him
Woah! This chapter was definitely worth the wait! So, was the shadowy form thingie that was following Soarin the shadowbolt? Or is that another mystery to be solved?
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static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/590/5903146/2501888-3351201123-lJHcJ.gif
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The thing i was going for with Silver was he "get's into character" for when he has to be an intimidating drill instructor, but when he's not training the recruits, he has a much more "old wise veteran" air about him.
in short: He's the stiff ass instructor only when he needs to be
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*see's what chapter you're on* Oh you have NO idea