The Orange Dove

by TheLionBone

New Fear of Flight

The wind was cold. I opened my eyes, realizing that I was flying in tight formation with other pegasi, underneath a dark, starless night. The sensation felt so real, I almost forgot I had never flown before in my life. I tried to recall my memories. All of them were familiar, so natural in my mind, yet I couldn't connect with them to a personal level. I saw faces of ponies back at a campsite, eating stale cornmeal and cussing and drinking alcohol, acting like the night was young and all of their lives would stay young and strong. I was among them too, drinking my heart away, letting my thoughts jumble into oblivion. It felt so good and so bad. I felt so sober and so happy. I wanted to fly and at the same time remain on ground. There was nowhere else I wanted to be, except around that campfire with my good friends, all of whom I could recognize with a face and name: Crush, the killer of all simple joy; Platinum Lock, master of keys and setting opponents in “checkmate”; Fin, teller of wicked stories and giving the Enemy a satisfactory end; Light Dancer, the holder of matches and all things simple and creative. These were pegasi I had known for a very, very long time, even before we all decided to join the army together. Living up to Princess Celestia's wishes and serving Equestria was any young pony's dream, especially for stallions. I remembered that I was a stallion, and then the line of dream and reality crossed. No. That wasn't quite right.

Looking at the shadows that flew below me, recognizing them as the friends in my flashback, I realized that I knew all of them and knew none of them at the same time. My own memories floated back to me, like leaves on still water; I couldn't control their direction, but they were still there, waiting to be found. I grasped one of them. Of course, it had to be my purpose, and it was to find Her, no matter how much it took. But why? I willed myself to remember more. I grasped another. She was in the army, so I had to join the army. That's why I left, leaving everypony behind. I got into the carriage without looking back, and near the end of the miserable trip, that's where I met Chance. He became my protector. But why? He felt pity for me, but he knew my determination. He wanted me to succeed in what I was accomplishing, so he kept nudging me when I was having trials through the desert in finding the camp gates. And after that? We found the secret entrance, found the long corridor, was reminded of our death contract, and forced into separate chambers for testing. What was that Sharp said again? 'These memories are not your own'. The memory struck like cold ice on a hot burn. All of my other memories before my deciding to come into the army came rushing back, and I was myself again.

I was living in the memory of Lancing, a dead veteran from a past war between Princess Celestia and the Enemy right after Nightmare Moon was sentenced to her thousand-year exile. He was a strong and light-hearted pegasus with a reputation that spread like wildfire through the pegasi portion of the army. We were in flight with his closest friends, sent on a specific mission to find the dwellings of the Enemy, to locate their hideout. It was all going smoothly, but the weather was making it difficult to get the task done with efficiency. I watched through Lancing's eyes as mist began to roll in, covering the view of the dotted forest below. Lancing, or me, breathed a heavy sigh.

“You feeling bad, Lance?” Lock spoke into the headset device, his voice legitimately concerned. “Are you sure you recovered from that feather-flu?” I suddenly had the sensation of a clogged chest, which caused Lancing to cough back in reply.

“I insist, I'm fine. Gray even gave The Nod of Approval.”

“Come up with that yourself?” Dancer joked.

“Of course he didn't,” Crush snapped. “I started that and all of you know it.” If it were me, I would have commented on the pegasus' rudeness, yet Lancing said nothing in return. I could tell that it was a normal personality of Crush, and everypony was tired of fighting it. Even though it wasn't exactly true, since Lancing had personal proof in his mind of how things really went down, and everypony else did too, they still let Crush have it. They maintained a friendship without letting Crush kill the happiness they lived in. It was intriguing to me, how the relationships went. It felt so strange living in somepony else's head.

“Hey, you guys think the army will really ever use our recording devices?” Dancer's question broke my thought trance. My own heart twisted in sympathy, while Lancing's pounded calmly.

“They'd only keep it if we died on our mission,” Crush reminded tersely.

“You think that's possible?” Dancer persisted.

“Maybe...” Crush responded, his voice trailing off with a considerate feeling, one that was surprising for me to find in his voice, and it seemed to surprise Lancing too.

“I'd rather think on the positive side,” Lock put in before anypony else could talk. “We should focus on our task succeeding; not on the possibility of it failing.” No one spoke back, even joy-killer Crush. Lancing flew on, and I hung onto his thoughts and feelings all the while.

The mist was getting thicker.

“Now I can't see a thing,” Lock sighed in disappointment.

“Maybe it'll clear up further ahead?” Lancing suggested.

“Too risky,” Crush jumped in immediately, “If we go too far, then those vermin will notice us for sure. They know their territory far more than we do.”

“I'll have to agree on that,” Dancer said. “It'd be better if we tried to use the mist to our advantage.”

“But how?” Lancing pointed out. “We can't even see where we're going.”

“We'll have to get lower,” Lock decided. “Shall we, team? We won't go until everypony agrees.”

“Yea,” Crush said.

“Yea,” Dancer added.

“Yea,” came Lock's vote. So many thoughts jumbled through Lancing's mind, I couldn't keep track. He still felt unsure about it.

“What's it going to be, Lance?” I couldn't catch who spoke that time, I felt more detached from Lancing than I ever did from the beginning.

“Yea,” Lancing finally said. “No 'neigh-sayers' on this team.”

“Good,” Lock sighed with relief. “Down we go!”

A shadow of a pegasi dropped down, and the rest began to follow. Lancing, on the topmost level, ducked down and let his wings fold toward him so that he dropped. I could feel the wind turn from a gentle brush against my coat to a roaring sensation of wind-lash. We were gaining momentum and fast, but Lancing was skilled enough to recover from such a dangerous maneuver. His wings opened wide, and we were gliding, his shadow casted on a nearby cloud from the moonlight. Lancing glanced up, and I too noticed the outline of the Mare in the Moon. It had been such a long time ago since I had seen that sign, when I was just a little filly. I was about to think about the past when a feeling of dread washed over Lance, bringing me back to the recording. There was a dark feeling swallowing us in the air. I felt danger as much as Lancing did.

“Maybe we should gain higher ground,” Lancing advised cautiously.

“Are you chickening out, Lance?” Crush taunted.

“No, guys, I mean it.” Lancing let his voice go into a plead. “We shouldn't be down this low.”

“We all agreed,” Lock began, but was immediately cut off.

“We can't stay here!” came Lancing's wail.

The rest turned quickly into a nightmare.

Screeches sounded in the air, sending the darkness further into Lancing's fragile mind. I held my breath as well as he. Everypony remained silent, then Crush began shouting warnings into the headset, warnings that Lancing couldn't catch it was so muffled. Panting sounded into the speaker, and I could feel Lancing's heart begin to pound wildly. Everypony was surrounded in silence and disguised enemies.

The first attack came swiftly and without warning. A pegasus below was thrown to the side by a quick moving shadow, one with the outline of sharp-edged wings, furry ears, and razor sharp teeth and hoof-claws. It screeched as it grasped onto its victim, sending its fangs deep within the pegasus's neck. An agonized yowl ripped through the headset, and my blood turned cold as I clearly saw the throat of the pegasus torn out, crimson liquid flying through the air. Lancing knew who it was: Light Dancer. The kind-hearted pegasus was mercilessly torn to shreds by the claw-like devices attached as bracelets to the upper part of the creatures' hooves and the thorn-sharp teeth. Devastation and fear drowned Lancing and I was sucked into his living hell. We were both choking on heart-wrenching emotion.

Would you like to leave the recording now?

I caught the question and remembered what I was here for yet again. I would have said 'yes' in a heartbeat, to prevent myself from losing any more of my innocence, yet I thought of Her, and I remembered the promise that we made to each other. We would find each other, no matter what happened during the war. I was only a filly then when I had last seen Her, and I remembered standing on her porch, begging her not to go. She smiled that confident-full grin of hers and ruffled my mane lovingly. She hugged, she commented on the growth of my wings, and left on the same carriage I took to go and find her. Now older and wiser and having left my filly-hood behind, I was ready to see her again. She needed me and I needed her. This was the only way. I couldn't give up now. So I denied the request, and the recording continued to go.

The Enemy was swarming the air by this point, just a cloud of heinous beasts that were ready to dive and kill. The worst part was there was nowhere to run. The little team was quickly surrounded.

“Fly up! Fly up!” Lock gasped into the headset, and a slim shadow of a pegasus darted upward. He was met with another attacker, one with a giant knife on its hoof-bracelet. The “vermin”, white fangs glistening in the moonlight, cast its weapon deep into the chest of the pegasus, biting down against Lock's neck at the same time. There was no sound. No scream of agony. Lock went silently, yet when his form was released, blood trailed from his chest wound and neck and fell down with him, his corpse casted away like it was a rag doll refused to be played with again. Lancing cried into the night, and I felt every tear on his cheeks. Crush's orders were white noise in the thoughts that weighed on Lancing's mind. It was all chaos.

Crush was met with multiple creatures, most of which he was able to kill with a dagger he had hidden in his pack. However, more and more of them swarmed, and he was swallowed up in the cloud of beastly ponies. Lancing could hear the sounds of pain that resulted from Crush's new injuries, yet Crush didn't let the wounds get to him. His voice was low and clear onto the headset.

“Do not go gently, dear friend. We will be remembered—”

The rest was fuzzy noise.

“No!” Lancing shrieked. “No, no, no!” He turned to flee, but the Enemy was already onto him. They covered any entrance of escape, and there he hovered, waiting for his death to come. “Just kill me!” Lancing spat at them. “You monsters! You murderers!”

“This is war, foolish day-pony!” a creature snickered from the crowd. “More of your kind will soon suffer to die, and then our beloved mother will be brought back. We will claim the everlasting night, and victory shall be ours! This is only the beginning!”

Lancing opened his mouth to reply, but something sharp nipped at his neck: teeth.

Would you like to leave the recording now?

I wanted to. Badly. With all my heart. But the memory of Her kept me going.

Lancing was thrown to the side, the poison entering his body. His whole body jerked in reply, and his blood turned to flames. I screamed alongside him, trying to escape the prison of which I had been locked into. Pain. So much pain!

Would you like to leave the recording now?

Why would the question come so early?! I tried to find the answer, but was distracted by another source of agony: a large dagger driven deep into Lancing's side. I cried as much as the stallion, feeling every inch of it, as though I were having those injuries as well. Something moved in the corner of Lancing's vision, and we saw the Enemy flying up, chunks of pony remains clamped tightly in their mouths. One held the pegasus' head, another with the body, and the last with a torn out spine, drizzled in pony blood. Lancing barfed. The remains were that of Crush. His eyes were spilling out of his sockets, his tongue slipping from his mouth from the knife-made cut. I willed to look away, but couldn't. Lancing was in control, and the disbelief and horror and anger was so shattering that all he could do was freeze. More creatures latched onto him, driving their fangs into his hooves, his stomach, his flank. More poison entered, and I thought I would surely die alongside Lancing.

Would you like to leave the recording now?

Was there really more? I waited, dreading my decision, yet I knew it had to be over soon; Lancing was pinned at all sides, and the poison numbed out. His whole body was twitching, his muscles aching. The creatures stopped attacking; they watched with an amused look that made me and Lancing sick. A gentle hoof touched our stomach, and a single bat pony hovered in front of our face, slitted eyes glowing in the mysterious lighting of the moon. Its voice was silky and rich.

“Join us...” Lancing tried to respond, but an overwhelming sensation drew over him, and the recording faded to nothing.

---

I was drenched in sweat when I awoke from the terrible, morbid memory. My whole body was trembling, yet the pain was gone. I knew I wouldn't be able to walk for days, but there I was, sitting in that same chair within that little room. The headpiece had drawn back into its original position, yet the straps remained where they were, not letting me escape.

“Chance!” I shouted, hoping the earth pony would hear me, but my own voice echoed back at me, and I felt more alone than ever. The technology above was shifting gears. I glanced up, and my stomach dropped deep when the headpiece began sliding down again. There was another recording coming.

“No...” I whispered, remembering Lancing's experience. All of them would be about pegasi dying, and I would feel and see everything. But the real question was: How many would I have to go through before qualifying this part of the test? I shuddered, yet I dared not say anymore. Gray would kill me if I didn't pass, and if he didn't, somepony else would. I let the headpiece settle in place again, and I braced for impact, which came at the back of my neck. I let myself fall back into the darkness, the last thoughts in my head being of Her.

Author's Note:

Woohoo! This concludes Scoot's portion...for now! Thanks again to all the viewers out there. I would really appreciate comments/grammar issues/understanding issues/"I need to vent on someone" issues/anything, really.