The Last Cutie Mark Crusader

by Jatheus

30 - Symbiosis, Part 9 of 10

Sparklefly watched, not sure at what point she should intervene as tensions between Scootaloo and Pacer escalated. They had returned to Cloudsdale and were going over new reports to find their next mission, still aboard their mobile cloud. The disagreement had only begun minutes ago, but it had quickly become heated.

"Look, she's a fine colonel; I'm just saying that she's not here to increase our effectiveness as an intelligence asset,” Pacer said.

“And I’m just saying, shut your ignorant mouth before I shut it for you!” Scootaloo shot back.

Flittergear sat across from them, quietly eating some oats; her eyes were widening as the argument developed.

"Tough talk," Pacer sneered, "Why don't we take it outside?"

Scootaloo started toward him, "Why wait?"

Sparklefly leapt between them when she saw the wild look in her friend's eyes, "That's enough!" She caught each of them and held them at length.

"Looks like your friend saved you again," Pacer declared triumphantly.

Slapping across his face with her wing and pushing him back, Sparklefly snorted, "Actually, I'm worried she'll ruin your face."

He snorted, “Oh? Is that what happened to your eye?"

Sparklefly suddenly knew the rage that Scootaloo had been battling for several months, and had the door not opened when it did, she might have leapt onto Pacer herself and given him the beating he was asking for. Fortunately, the distraction was sufficient for Sparklefly's senses to maintain thought above anger. She heard her mother's voice inside her head, 'Anger is like a stick of dynamite, harsh words make it explode, but a calm answer can diffuse it.' Mamma Mare would always have a wise proverb or metaphor for any situation.

"No," Sparklefly said softly as Charging Lance and Rainbow Dash entered the room. "That happened in combat; I'll have to tell you about it sometime." She could actually feel the tensions begin to abate.

"We can share war stories later," the colonel interrupted. "You'll want to see this."

Rainbow Dash threw down a report, and they all gathered around it. The truth of it was unsettling, but also exciting. An entire squad of scouts had gone missing near Dodge Junction. The area had been well-scouted since the war broke out.

"It's not normal for scouts to go missing in that area," Charging Lance said what Sparklefly was thinking.

"Nope," Rainbow Dash confirmed, "This is the first, and it was an entire squad."

"We should go," Flittergear's soft voice whispered.

Sparklefly could feel the room shifting; the cloud was turning.

"We're already in motion," Scootaloo observed.

"Right again," Rainbow Dash said.

The argument forgotten, Sparklefly felt excited. This could be the actual trail of Queen Chrysalis. It seemed weeks since they'd had any promising information. Charging Lance and several of the others had told her that this was often the case.

"We're going to be pushing this old baby to maximum speed. All personnel will be on combat alert round the clock, and everypony needs a parachute until further notice," Rainbow Dash continued.

Masher entered the conference room, “Major Skyflame reports full speed for Dodge Junction at combat ready."

Rainbow Dash nodded, "If anypony needs some air, go ahead; then we'll get back to the rest of these reports and make sure we're not missing anything else that's going on."

Sparklefly and Scootaloo made a quick exit as Pacer began bragging about how he could take out the queen by himself if they got close. It was more than either of them could bear to listen to. Sparklefly was a little surprised when they got out on the deck to discover that they were already away from Cloudsdale and moving rapidly south. A breeze caught her mane, signaling that they had a tailwind.

"I can't believe that loud mouth!" Scootaloo fumed.

"I know," Sparklefly said gently, and certainly with understanding. "It's a little stallion that boasts big things, as my mom would say."

Scootaloo snorted a laugh, "Thank you for stepping in earlier. My temper was about to get the better of me again."

Sparklefly smiled at her friend, "Believe me, I was well aware of it."

"For a second there, I thought I was going to have to hold you back."

Nodding, Sparklefly answered, "For a second there it was almost necessary."

"How'd you calm down so fast?" Scootaloo cocked her head to one side in curiosity.

"I just remembered something my mom used to say," Sparklefly began feeling warm and nostalgic. "It's funny how those lessons come back to you when you need them."

"You'll have to teach me some of those, but until I master them, I know you'll keep me from smacking him in the face," Scootaloo replied with a grin.

"It's the least I can do," Sparklefly returned the smile.

They grew quiet, and the wind shifted to coming from ahead instead of behind. Sparklefly correctly assumed that this was due to their acceleration. There would be nothing covert about this movement. The sun was getting low on the horizon as Scootaloo and Sparklefly returned to the conference room. They passed a scout team that was heading out.

"...is set," Rainbow Dash was saying as they entered. "We'll arrive by the end of the day tomorrow at the earliest, the following morning if the wind doesn't hold. In either case, we'll have reinforcements meet us before we get there."

"Welcome back," Charging Lance said to the pair.

Scootaloo nodded at him. Many of the reports had been piled on the floor to make room for them to see the map on the table. It was larger than their conference room in Cloudsdale, but the dampness of the cloud tended to soak their pages if they weren’t careful. Sparklefly's heart began racing when she saw that the reinforcements were coming from Ponyville.

Rainbow Dash continued, "General Brax will be leading his force under orders to assist us as needed. I will have the command."

"How many is he bringing?" Sparklefly asked.

Masher answered, ”Given the farming situation, he has to leave a significant force to defend, but he'll bring two divisions.”

Sparklefly craned to read the paper, upside-down to her, but she saw the name she was looking for. One of the division belonged to Commander Rain Chaser. It was worth noting as his division contained Brax’s original battalion.

"Ten-thousand," Scootaloo said.

"Yes," Rainbow Dash replied, "not counting our own regiment.” She suddenly became somehow even more serious, "Make no mistake, this could be a pivotal battle. If we catch the changeling queen, we might be closing on the end of the war. We are committed to this at any cost."

"At any cost," Sparklefly heard herself say. She believed that the strategy was correct, but she couldn't help but think of her brother and her medic friend. Trying to choke down the worry, she asked, "Has it been considered whether we're walking into a trap?"

"We have already discussed this at length with Shining Armor," Charging Lance answered. Gesturing at Rainbow Dash and Masher, he added, "We four were in agreement that it is worth the risk.“

Rainbow Dash added, “We’ll have Flittergear look over everything as usual, just to be safe.”

Flittergear whispered in the silence that followed, "I would make a trap look more enticing."

That seemed correct to Sparklefly. All they had was a missing scout squad. This sort of thing happened frequently enough, but it was rare for one to go missing in that area. Still, her thoughts returned to Duster and the medic she knew only as R. Trap or not, they would all be flying into harm’s way soon.

Comments

[Blaster M]

Here we go. This is it. Avengers Assemble and all that.

[Jatheus]

8393618
Yeah... I thought we had enough friendship building. It was time to get back to the plot!

[Emperor]

Well, if you're following the official map at all, then then ponies are on point. Badlands hive and all.

[Jatheus]

8407037
I do have the map, and I am ashamed to not have known that the Changelings were actually from the Badlands... I'm a bit of a doof sometimes, but I think I've gone too far to change how it is going to play out now... For the sake of this story, and I should probably have explained it somewhere, but it just had never come up... The Changeling Hive in the badlands is abandoned. Essentially, Chrysalis moved them to a new secret location.

Actually, now that you mention it... That would have been an interesting chapter all on its own how as soon as the changeling involvement was discovered, the ponies sent an army down to attack the hive, scattering what was left of the changelings who were living there. Hmm... I may have to go back and do that at some point...

[OmalleyCaboose5]

"You'll have to teach me some of those, but until I master them, I know you'll keep me from smacking him in the face," Scootaloo replied with a grin.

I didn't have a mom to teach me anything

[OmalleyCaboose5]

8407206
You could make a one-shot or spinoff

[Jatheus]

8745216
1) Haha! Yeah, Scootaloo's parents are oddly absent from this story... as are Cloud Blazers... They don't have the same parents. But... maybe they are off together somewhere?

2) A one-shot or spinoff about the badlands hive? Yeah... I'll have to think on it. Maybe maybe.