The Parasprite Project

by GJT_Productions

A Wonderful Mess

Wonderbolts Spitfire and Soarin' had been imprisoned in a cell for around 48 hours, and at least one of them - Spitfire - had already had more than enough of the boredom and confinement. Putting any pony in a cell was bad fate, but for pegasi used to free skies and open flight it was doubly agonizing.

Spitfire had had plenty of time - probably too much time - to think about the Wonderbolts and her place in them. There were historical figures, such as General Firefly and Commander Easyglider, that all Wonderbolt leaders were measured by. There were retired legends like Wind Rider who Spitfire dreaded earning the ire of by demeaning the organization. Even her own mother, Stormy Flare, a retired Wonderbolt herself who helped and supported Spitfire as she rose through the ranks of the Wonderbolts, would not be pleased by what had happened at that Canterlot show.

Then, of course, she thought of "the next generation". It was always a struggle to get recruits that were both qualified and cooperative enough into Academy - Spitfire seriously hoped that whatever bump in interest had come from Rainbow Dash becoming an Element Bearer would not now be squandered by this miserable twist of fate. And there was also the thought of losing Rainbow Dash herself as a Wonderbolt - a fear which became strangely embedded in her mind despite all reasonable attempts to get rid of it.

Eventually Spitfire figured out the why of the persistence - the parasprite swarm in Ponyville was almost certainly somehow linked to her current dilemma, and of course it did the Wonderbolts' public image no favors that an earth pony had been the one to solve the problem. The bigger thing eating at her, though, was Twilight Sparkle's misguided spell making the infestation worse.

Princess Celestia was fairly obviously intent on letting her former student mostly off the hook for any responsibility for the parasprites, and that brought up a quiet prejudice that was shared among many pegasi - that Equestrian society was secretly rigged to favor unicorns. After all, why did Celestia have a school for "gifted unicorns", but not "gifted pegasi" or "gifted earth ponies"? Never mind that the Wonderbolts themselves were usually seen as the "gifted pegasi" school or that the earth ponies didn't want a special school for them - the whole thing just reeked of favoritism!

Normally, Spitfire would've suppressed those quiet suggestions inside of prejudice and injustice, but here and now she was willing to listen to them, shoving down her screaming conscience with the argument a unicorn was at least partly responsible for her current situation and was seeming to be protected from suffering a proper punishment for it. It was thus dangerous and destructive seeds were planted, to eventually bloom into a very great tragedy indeed...

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"I want pie..." Spitfire hears Soarin' moan behind her in the same holding cell, for what seemed to be the millionth time since the two Wonderbolts had been locked together in the same cell.

"WILL YOU SHUT UP ABOUT YOUR BUCKIN' PIE?!?" Spitfire turns in snapping out to Soarin', finally losing her temper.

Soarin' immediately shrinks back, and the tears forming in his eyes makes it all too obvious to Spitfire that she'd went too far.

The nominal Wonderbolt Captain lets out a loud, frustrated sigh and gives what sounds like a drawn-out, awkward apology: "I'm sorry, Soarin', I didn't mean it personally, it's just... all this. I don't even know how we got in here, how those things got in our bags..."

The hurt look on Soarin's face indicates that her apology might've been accepted, but still wasn't enough to make him feel better. An awkward silence passes for a minute or two, then the two Wonderbolts hear the hoofsteps of the patrolling guard - one of a member of an auxiliary branch of the E.U.P. Guard tasked specifically with guarding high-profile prisoners. Who is with the guard, though, is quite surprising to both Spitfire and Soarin'.

"Captain Gibraltar, what...?" Spitfire begins to ask the armored unicorn stallion with the guard, but a hoof to the mouth motion by the stallion silences her.

"Shush, it's hard enough considering the predatory gossip rag columnists just outside the prison. I'm trying to get you two out of here as discretely as I can." Gibraltar replies to Spitfire as the prison guard with him unlocks the cell door.

"Get us out?" Spitfire asks as Soarin's ears perk up in hope.

"Yes, Princess Celestia's dropped the charges against you both. You're free to go, for now." Gibraltar begins to explain. "There's a double agent embedded in our enemies that confirmed where your menacing parasprites came from. Basically, you were framed for what happened."

"Framed? How? And who would do it?" Spitfire asks in eager curiousity as the cell door swings open.

"I've been ordered to escort you back to the Canterlot Wonderbolt offices, I'll explain on the way there." Gibraltar answers.

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A LITTLE LATER...

Captain Spitfire slinks down out of view of the barred windows of the armored van she was travelling in. It was bad enough that she had to deal with a mob of gossip rag columnists as she was escorted out, but Soarin' insisting on stopping at a Rich's Barnyard Bargains on the way to get an apple pie was absolutely exasperating!

She couldn't really blame Soarin' for having a pie obsession, though. His grandmother was a pony with a special talent for baking, and she would always spoil her grandfoals with pie whenever they came to visit. She died when Soarin' was in Wonderbolts Academy, and the pie obsession seemed to have developed as a coping mechanism for dealing with the stress and grief that resulted from her death.

Spitfire is relieved when she sees Captain Gibraltar bundle Soarin', pie and all back into the armored van. Shortly afterward, the van's pullers start off again, and Soarin' starts into his apple pie, Spitfire giving a cynical look at her fellow Wonderbolt.

"Real sorry about that, he sure knows how to get his way though..." Captain Gibraltar says to Spitfire sheepishly.

"Can we start with the explanation story now?" Spitfire asks with flat impatience.

"Yes, sorry, we'll get to that now that Soarin' isn't being so pesky." Gibraltar answers quietly, clearing his throat before continuing on. "You are familiar with the concept of 'chain of custody'?"

"Sure, it's something related to criminal evidence, right?" Spitfire asks.

"Yes, but in the E.U.P. Guard we also use that term in the handling of paperwork and sensitive material. When this 'chain' breaks, Captain, bad things can happen, and because of such a break bad things have happened to you." Gibraltar explains.

"What?! What were parasprites even doing in Canterlot in the first place?" Spitfire exclaims in sheer disbelief at what she was hearing.

"Princess Celestia wanted live specimens for the board of inquiry regarding the swarm in Ponyville. And trust me when I say, Captain, I considered it as dangerous as you do. But the Princess insisted, so I gave the order for the recovery team to bring live parasprites from the Everfree Forest."

"So what happened for them to get in my show?"

"That's where the break in the chain of custody comes in. After the live specimens arrived in Canterlot, care was assigned to two Guard Upper Class subordinates of Lieutenant Captain Aten, one pegasus and one unicorn. They had joint custody when I showed the live specimens to Princess Cadance, before the board of inquiry."

"What happened after you showed the parasprites to the princess?"

"The day before the board of inquiry, I got a notice from Aten that the pegasus had transferred his share of the joint custody to the unicorn, and that the unicorn was placed on reserve to make sure that the parasprites were secure until the board of inquiry could convene to see them."

"Sounds like everything was fine to me."

"So did I, but when I went to get the unicorn in question he wasn't anywhere to be found on the castle grounds! His squadmates, as well as the Lieutenant in charge of his squad, had no idea where he was. Aten insisted the Guard was there during the morning checks and showed the signoff sheet to verify this, but there was no shift change verification sheet provided." Gibraltar explains.

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Spitfire gives Gibraltar a skeptical look when he pauses. One part of her thinks this was the result of Aten being incompetent or covering up treacherous activity, but another part thinks Aten isn't really at fault and the unicorn Captain of the Guard is covering a fellow "horned one" at the expense of a fellow pegasus. She decides to let Gibraltar finish before making her final judgement.

"... So did you consider him AWOL at that point?" Spitfire asks, when she realizes Gibraltar is waiting for her to continue the "interview".

"Yes, at that point I considered him AWOL and the parasprites missing, because him going AWOL broke the chain of custody - no way to track them, you understand." Gibraltar answers in a tone that seems to indicate nerves creeping in, fueling the anti-unicorn prejudice growing in Spitfire's mind.

"Of course. Did you find the unicorn that had the parasprites last?" Spitfire asks again.

"Yes, but only because a maintenance worker found him in the maintenance access tunnels two days later. He was dead and his horn had been cut off after he died. I guess whoever had the parasprites took them directly to whoever caused the sabotage in your show, if the two ponies are not one and the same."

"Mm-hmm... Captain, I hope you realize that the story you've been telling me sounds like a load of donkey dung?" Spitfire bluntly replies.

In response to this statement, Gibraltar recoils back - probably feeling personally offended - and Soarin', who had been happily munching away at his pie over the course of the whole conversation, looks over at Spitfire while paused in mid-chew, bits of filling and pie crust smeared over his muzzle. An awkward silence passes over the van for a minute, nopony daring to break the silence at first.

Finally, Gibraltar collects himself enough to respond in a professional manner: "Captain, I'm going to be perfectly honest with you that I don't care what you think of my story, it is the whole truth and nothing but the truth. And furthermore, that statement you just made exudes either a lack of appropriate professionalism or ingratitude at the mercies just extended to you by Princess Celestia. Either way, you're trodding on very thin ice, Captain. I suggest you not make it worse, at least not until your position is more secure."

The irritated Spitfire folds forelegs over chest in a pout, refusing to respond in any other way. Gibraltar represses a sigh and rolls a sigh, and the awkward silence descends over the van again. Soarin' waits a minute, then assumes it's safe to continue eating the pie. He starts chewing away at the apple treat again.

It's not long before Spitfire has had enough of Soarin's chewing, and in an impulsive jerk yanks the pie tin - along with the uneaten part of the pie - off of Soarin's hooves and tosses it at the barred window of the armored van, apparently forgetting the pie was too big to go completely out of the window. Spatters do escape through the bars, but the tin and the half-eaten pie clatter to the floor of the van, smearing apple filling all over the wall and floor.

Spitfire resumes her pouting posture, and Soarin' looks over at Gibraltar with a shocked and betrayed expression. Gibraltar immediately realizes the problems seem to be running deeper than he realized, and that some kind of disaster is imminent, or at least inevitable. The stunned silence continues for the rest of the trip toward the Wonderbolt HQ in Canterlot, and a very dark turn of events...

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Both Captain Spitfire and Lead Wingpony Soarin' were greatly relieved to arrive at the Wonderbolt HQ in Canterlot, in the pegasi "colony" of clouds located above the main city. Although the actual main base was located at the Wonderbolt Academy in Cloudsdale, this "HQ" was where most of the bureaucratic business was conducted, taking advantage of the proximity to the center of Equestrian government and E.U.P. Guard.

The rest of the Wonderbolts were waiting, saluting at attention in two rows arranged in order of most to least senior. After Gibraltar formally released Spitfire and Soarin' from custody, the two Wonderbolts pass between the rows of their comrades and picked up the Captain's and Lead Wingpony badges from Misty Fly, restoring their previous positions in the Wonderbolts.

Although back in authority, Soarin' could tell Spitfire was still unhappy and nervous about what she would face once back in her office. Misty Fly, as Acting Captain, certainly had enough time to make a big mess of things if she really wanted to. Soarin's expression showed he shared Spitfire's nerves, but could do little to influence whatever was waiting for the Captain in her office. He gives her a sympathetic glance of concern as she disappears into her office.

As soon as Spitfire settles down to the expected mountain of paperwork, her heart sinks to her hooves at what she finds. Most of the papers are the Celestia-commanded bills to repay the damaged citizen as a result of the parasprite release - quick calculating shows the damages to be in the thousands of bits, a bad enough blow for the Wonderbolts to bear. But it's what else Spitfire finds that is what finally breaks her.

Spitfire sees, as Acting Captain, Misty Fly had signed off on "full rides" for dozens of cadets, many of which she knew had previously been expelled or flunked out of Academy before. Even if not all of the offers were accepted, this easily represented a commitment of hundreds of thousands of bits! It would've been the vast majority of the yearly budget of the Wonderbolts, money that the organization simply did not have at that time and would not have any time soon!

The Wonderbolt Captain buries her face in the paperwork, trying to fight back tears as she feels her world crumbling around her. Her enemies had won - the Wonderbolts still had to finish out their performance season, including the upcoming Best Young Flyer competition, but after that there was no avoiding the demands of Celestia and the perversely twisted spending which seemed to be deliberately designed to push the Wonderbolts into bankruptcy. She couldn't even suspend Misty Fly or demand a court-martial because that would cause an immediate "civil war" and backlash that would force her into resignation!

Spitfire hadn't even really wanted to be a Captain of the Wonderbolts when it came down to it, and now it looked like her days were numbered to a disgraceful resignation, the end of her dream and maybe the end of the Wonderbolts entirely. It was in the moment of crisis that the event the Agents of Chaos were counting on finally happened; just like Luna had given into the jealously and resentment to become "Nightmare Moon", Spitfire gave into the secret prejudices and contempt pegasi held for unicorns.

She started to hate, to utterly loathe and despise "the horned ones", blaming them internally for all her problems. And she knew which unicorn would be the first target of her wrath. Spitfire would start sowing the wind that would reap Operation Whirlwind...