500
The sun shone off of the pearlescent structures of Cloudsdale, making the floating city look almost heavenly to any onlookers. Flocks of birds flittered around the city, taking flight with their winged equine counterparts. It was just another perfect day.
“Daddy, watch me fly!” A filly, her coat yellow and her mane looking as if a wildfire was starting it’s way down her back attempted to lift off from the city. She flapped her little wings as hard as she could, but only raised less than a foot before landing back down on the cloud with a solid thud. “Ow…”
“That was good.” A red stallion picked the filly off of the ground and rested her back on her hooves. “You’re definitely getting better, Spitfire” He gave the filly a smile and a pat on the head for reassurance. In his eyes there was a glimmer of pride that radiated throughout his entire body.
“But not good enough!” The filly stomped her little hoof, a tiny scowl on her face. “I’ll never make it into the Wonderbolts!” The filly’s countenance only worsened with the words, now tears were forming at the corners of her big amber eyes.
“The Wonderbolts?” The stallion sat on his haunches and picked up his daughter, using a nimble wing to wipe the tears away. “You’re still little, Spitty. Why are you thinking about the Wonderbolts?” A gentle, understanding voice, which only wanted to know why this particular thing was distressing his daughter so.
“B-because I want to be a Wonderbolt!” Now the tears were flowing freely from the filly’s eyes. “A-and everypony at school says I’ll never be a Wonderbolt because I can’t fly!” The stallion hugged his filly as tightly as he could, trying to calm her down.
“You can’t fly yet, Spitty. It’s alright. Everypony starts out like that, alright? Me, you, your mother, even Princess Celestia herself couldn’t fly at some point. It just takes time, alright? Give it time and I know you’ll be the best Wonderbolt Equestria has ever seen.” The filly smiled up at her father. The stallion returned the smile with gusto. “That’s your destiny, I can feel it.”
----
Glorious fanfare rang out across the cloud city. Confetti rained down from airships circling the Cloudiseum and onto a massive crowd below. The crowd itself was absolutely astonishing. Thousands of ponies, all clad in Wonderbolt swag, moved towards the entrance of the Cloudiseum.
Each and every pony clutched a golden ticket close to their heart. One pony in particular had stars in her eyes and could not contain herself any longer. She let out laugh that bordered between euphoric excitement and nervous breakdown.
“Ohmygosh! Can you believe it, Twilight? We’re here! We’re finally here!” The rainbow maned hype machine flew above the mass of ponies and spun in midair, taking the crowd in. The blue and yellow merchandise seemed to go on forever, and that pleased Rainbow Dash to no end.
“Yeah, finally.” Below the pegasus, a very frustrated Princess pushed her way through the crowd. Her personal contingent of guards were trying to do their best to provide her with a lane, but against the sea of Wonderbolts fans, there wasn’t much they could do. “Celestia and Luna never have to deal with crowds like these…” The alicorn mumbled below her breath as yet another pony nearly knocked her off balance. “At least I get to try out cloudwalking without a spell, that’s a plus to all of this.”
“Yeah, uh-huh. Good for you.” Rainbow Dash waved off her friend’s comment, slowly making her way towards the entrance of the giant cloud stadium that loomed in front of them. “But can you believe we get to watch Spitfire’s 500th show?!” The pegasus’ voice went higher pitched the more she talked as her excitement rose. “That’s like...500 moments of awesome all in one show!”
Twilight blinked and looked around herself and her guards.”Where’s Fluttershy?” The yellow pony had been right beside her not too long ago, she could’ve sworn it. “Did you see where she went, Flash?” Twilight turned to one of her guards, the only non-white coated guard in her group, Flash Sentry.
“Hmm? Oh...Uhh..No?” The orange pegasus blushed as if he had been caught doing something he shouldn’t have. “S-sorry Twilight, I guess she just got lost in the crowd.” Twilight groaned at the stallion and rolled her eyes. He responded by lowering his head ashamedly.
“The whole reason you came is because you’re like the only guard she’ll actually talk to.” Twilight looked around the crowd, hoping to see her shy friend somewhere, but she couldn’t see anything through the tangled mass of fans.
“I thought you brought me along so we could have a nice first d-” Before he could finish his sentence, he found a hoof over his mouth.
“Not in front of all of these ponies, Flash…” Twilight laughed nervously, her eyes darting back and forth in case anypony had heard that. “Please keep that to yourself…” The orange pegasus nodded slowly. Twilight then removed her hoof from his mouth.
“Right, sorry Princess…”
“C’mon slowpokes! It’s about to begin and I don’t want to miss a single minute of it! If I do, it’s your fault!” Rainbow Dash flew towards the gates now, leaving Twilight and her guards to fend for themselves and push towards the gate.
“Go look for Fluttershy, please. Make sure she’s safe.” Twilight told one of the other guards, causing them to fly off as soon as the order was delivered. “She’s from here. She ought to know her way around, right? She can’t get lost in her hometown.” The Princess sighed, a new pit forming in her stomach for her friend’s safety.
The entourage pushed their way through the crowd one hoof at a time until they were at the gate. As soon as she flashed her ticket, they were whisked off to a passage that was devoid of all other traffic. From there it lead straight to the royal skybox, where Rainbow Dash was lounging in one of the cloud thrones.
“Wow, these are really good seats.” She had never been in the royal skybox before, and was quite impressed with the view. They were at just the right height where they didn’t have to crane their necks to see any high altitude tricks, and the box sloped just enough to allow a full view of the bottom of the Cloudiseum.
“Good seats?! These are the best seats! Can you even imagine all of the-” A crackling speaker cut off Rainbow Dash, causing her to put a hoof up to Twilight. “Shh! It’s starting!” Twilight sat down in the seat next to Rainbow Dash and got comfortable. This was going to be a treat for them both.
“GoooOOOOOOood morning fillies, gentlecolts, and Princesses alike!” The high-energy announcer came over the PA, addressing the crowd. “How are y’all doing today?!” A cheer spread through the crowd like an excited wave. “Alright! That’s good to hear! Now as all of you diehard Wonderbolts fans know, this is no ordinary show-oh no- this is the five-hundredth show of our very own CAPTAIN SPITFIRE!” Another cheer, this one even louder than the last, made the stadium come alive in an instant.
Just below the seats of the stadium, the fiery-maned pegasus mentioned by the announcer stood in the opening leading to the open-air cloudiseum. She stared at the crowd wistfully through amber eyes, taking in each and every face she could see. They were all here to see her perform, to cheer her on.during her five-hundredth show.
“I still can’t believe it’s already been ten years.” Captain Spitfire spoke to herself in hushed tones. “It’s gone by so fast. Like, I remember dreaming about being here when I was little...and it feels just like yesterday.” Surreal was the word for it, she believed. The whole situation was just so surreal. Only five of the years had she been captain of the Wonderbolts at this point, and even that still felt like a fantasy on some days.
“Nervous?” Spitfire was drawn out of her introspection by her co-captain, Soarin, coming up beside her. He wore his jumpsuit partially unzipped, letting the fur on his chest breathe and letting the air circulate in the suit before it would be confined for the rest of the show.
“Me, nervous? No, I was just thinking.” Spitfire gave Soarin a smile and then turned back to look at the crowd. Soarin had been with Spitfire since the very beginning, since she had just been a cadet at the Wonderbolt’s training camp. Even before then, really. Since she was a filly the loyal navy blue pegasus had stood by her side through thick and thin. Frankly, she hoped he would never leave it either.
“Yeah, you seem to be doin’ that a lot lately.” Well he wasn’t wrong. As of late, with her tenth anniversary of being a permanent Wonderbolt coming up, she had been thinking a lot about her life. “You doin’ alright?” A firm hoof was placed on her shoulder, one that she gladly leaned her cheek on.
“You’re cute when you worry.” Spitfire said, a chuckle punctuating her statement. “I’m fine, I promise.” She hesitated, thinking that statement over in her head. Over her period of thinking on her life, she had come to a startling conclusion, one that no amount of surreal moments could quell. “I mean...have you ever felt empty, Soarin?”
It was a heavy question, she knew that, but she felt like she had to ask somepony. For weeks she had been mulling over that surprising feeling of emptiness that grew with every show. Sure, she had fans who adored her and good friends who would never leave her side, and a career that most ponies only dreamed about. There just felt like there was something missing, though. Something that not even the thrill of performing could replace, that not even her friends or fans could fix, and she couldn’t even place what it was.
“Only when I’m hungry.” The stallion answered sarcastically. Spitfire rolled her eyes and gave a little half-smile and her friend’s intentional buffoonery
“Very funny.” Spitfire lifted her head, letting Soarin remove his hoof from it’s place on her shoulder. “I’m being serious, though. Have you ever felt like…” Spitfire struggled to find the words that she needed to express an existential depression. “...like you’re missing something? Something that not even all of this can replace?” She spoke earnestly, causing her companion to sober up as well. Soarin got rid of the smirk that he usually had plastered to his mug, and it was replaced with a very thoughtful gaze.
“Y’know what I think you need?” Spitfire raised an eyebrow, prepared for a silly remark. “I think you need a vacation, Spitty.” There it was, such a ridiculous thing to say! Spitfire guffawed at the statement and waved it away with a hoof. “I’m being serious, a little downtime wouldn’t kill you.”
“A vacation, though?” Spitfire was still skeptical about the idea. THe last time she had a formal vacation that wasn’t just a weekend furlough was years ago. She was always too busy touring, training, or being at the academy to actually take time off. Not that it was a bad thing, she loved her work!
“Yeah a vacation is one of those things normal ponies take to get away from the world for a bit, y’know. It would be good to let your batteries recharge and have some fun! Like, last time I was on vacation I took a trip down to Mexicolt with some of the guys.” Soarin smiled and let out a barely contained laugh. “Man, I do not regret that.”
“I mean, I’ve always wanted to visit Las Pegasus while not on tour…” Spitfire was warming up to the idea more each passing second. A week or two, just her a poker table and a hot tub did not sound like a bad idea. No flying, no training, no Captaining, just Spitfire time. “Yeah...that does sound like a good idea.”
“That’s the spirit!” Soarin gave Spitfire a friendly light punch to her side. “You gotta believe to achieve, Spitty!” Spitfire had to concede that Soarin’s energy and optimism, while sometimes frustrating, was infectious and welcome most times.
“Have you been going to those Iron Will seminars again, Soarin?” The words made the stallion sheepishly retreat away from the yellow mare. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously and gave a wry smile.
“I mean...maybe?” Before Spitfire could respond, she was cut off by something unusual. The announcer, Hype Train, was cut off. His usual high energy ramblings and cheers were cut short by what sounded like a crash.
“You’re not supposed to be in here! Hey, what are you-” Another thud, this one sounded like a skull against a rather solid surface. Before she could even think about calling her squad, they were already by her side and listening intently. Something was very wrong and they all knew it.
“Is this thing on?” A new voice was now speaking over the PA. One that was quite foreign in every sense of the word. The new pony’s voice sounded almost musical, or at least his accent did. Neighrish if Spitfire had to take a guess. “Ah, hello fillies, gentlecolts and Princesses alike!” The new pony said in a downright cocky manner, seemingly pleased with parroting Hype’s opening line. “I’m afraid your regular festivities have been postponed for the moment, as you all are now my very own hostages!”
Before anypony could react, even the now panicking crowd, a translucent barrier erupted around the arena. Spitfire looked down to make doubly sure of the situation, and yes, the Cloudiseum was now fully encased in a magic bubble. Hundreds of ponies, all not grasping the situation at hoof, took off from their seats and started pounding on the bubble.
“What, trying to leave the party before it even starts? Do you have any manners?” His question went painfully unanswered. “Well that doesn’t matter, because that bubble will keep you in here until our business is done. Speaking of, I reckon if you all calm down and just listen to me we can prevent anypony from coming to any harm. After all, we do have a princess in the audience and I would hate for something to happen to her.” The malice filled words caused even the most raucous of the panicking ponies to still themselves. Equestrians were devoted to their rulers, and cared deeply about their wellbeing and safety. Nopony in the entirety of the arena would ever do something to bring a Princess to harm, not even a new Princess like Twilight Sparkle.
“Who does this guy think he is? He can’t just threaten the Princess like that!” The sky-blue pegasus with the swept back white mane growled out angrily. Fleetfoot would be the one to be confrontational about it, but Spitfire wasn’t going to allow anypony to do anything dumb.
“Fleetfoot, I need to calm down.” Spitfire spoke softly, which garnered her glares from the team. Seemed like all of them felt like doing something, so she was going to have to explain herself. “They put up this bubble, which means they have either a lot of unicorns or one powerful unicorn, plus Celestia knows how many of them there actually are. We could fly right into an ambush right now.” Spitfire wasn’t quite sure how she thought of things like that so quick, it just came naturally for her. She could usually analyze a situation and react before most ponies could get over their own instincts.
“Hey!” Every head in the stadium turned to face the new voice. It came from a cyan mare with a rainbow mane flying right towards the announcer booth. “Who do you think you are? You think you can just come in here and threaten Twilight like that?!” Celestia bless Rainbow Dash, no matter how bullheaded that move was. Her flying up there without resistance either meant that this hostage-taker was either lacking in ponies to stop her, or he was waiting for something. Spitfire wasn’t sure which was the good one in that situation. “Pretty big talk for a pony hiding behind a microphone!”
“Oh look who it is!” The stallion exclaimed, feigning joy. “I was wonderin’ how long it was going to take for you to pipe up, Rainbow. I was beginning to think you’d gone soft on me. Guess I can put that worry to rest, huh?” Rainbow visibly puffed out her chest in defiance. “Oh, don’t get too cocky on me, Rainy. That big head might bring you down.”
“Rainy?” Spitfire barely heard Rainbow speak. “Wait a minute! Rainy? That voice? Spectrum Strider, is that you?!” Spitfire felt out of the loop, but if Dash knew who this stallion was it meant that they could track him down if he got away after this. “It is, isn’t it?”
“Oh look, the hero remembers me! How flattering.” Spectrum Strider deadpanned. “Now listen here, Rainy-” A distasteful amount of venom laced the pony’s words now. “-just cooperate with me and nothing bad will happen to you, your friend, or anypony else in this stadium. If you resist, well I’m afraid something very bad might happen to all three parties.”
“Yeah right! I wouldn’t cooperate with you even if it meant I could be Captain of the Wonderbolts!” Spitfire would usually congratulate Dash on her candor and loyal spirit, but now was not the time for heroics! She could get ponies hurt or worse by acting like this!
“Rainy, you either cooperate or I swear I’ll-”
“-What? Get flung out of a hurricaine and break your wings again, you big coward?!” Spitfire immediately decided that Rainbow was now most certainly a risk rather than an asset. Agitating someone who they didn’t know whether they had the upper hoof or not was a very dangerous move.
“THAT’S IT!” Spectrum Strider screamed into the mic, causing the speakers to crack and pop. “Get her! Knock her out of the bleeding skies and make sure she never gets back up again! Get the Princess too, and bring her to me!”
Spitfire lost count of how many ponies lept from the stands and started beelining their way towards either Rainbow Dash or Twilight. It had to be close to fifty, but she wasn’t sure. Anyway they sliced it, they were outnumbered though. Even the best fliers in Equestria couldn’t overpower a sheer numbers disadvantage.
As Spitfire was calculating a plan, there was an audible pop that came from the bubble that encased the stadium. It dissipated in a magic haze, causing a momentary stillness from everypony in the crowd. Then all hell broke loose.
Every pony that could fly, did so. They saw their chance at freedom and took it, swarming out of the stadium like bees evacuating a burning hive. It was good to get the civilians out of the way, but made it much harder to locate both the threats and Rainbow Dash.
“Split up!” Spitfire yelled to her squad as she donned her flight goggles. “Soarin, take Rapidfire and Misty Fly and protect the Princess!” Without another word, the three ponies sped off in perfect formation. “Blaze, Fleetfoot, we’re going to go help Dash!” Again, without another utterance, her squadmates followed her into the air and through the throngs of panicking ponies fleeing the stadium.
Flying through raging storms was easier than trying to navigate through a crowd of frightened civilians. Each foot that the Wonderbolt’s gained they were seemingly shoved back twice as much by the crowds. Reaching Rainbow at this pace would be impossible, not to mention that it was difficult to tell possible assailants apart from regular ponies.
“Where is she?” Spitfire said to no one i particular. Even through all of this, she couldn’t spot hide nor hair of the rainbow maned pegasus. Well, that was until a battered pony flew past them, a few teeth missing from his mouth. “Well I guess they’re that way, then.” Spitfire once again said to herself, doubling her efforts to push through the masses.
It took a good minute, but progress was made and the panicking masses were thinning out, leaving almost everyone with a clear view of Rainbow Dash. Currently she was surrounded on all sides by stallions and mares all wishing to see her knocked out of the skies.
Already it was clear they were well on their way to accomplishing their goal. Rainbow was still flying, but she had a black eye and a bloody nose. Her wings now beat asymmetrically, leaving the pegasus to almost drift around in circles while watching the ponies surrounding her. Even beaten, Rainbow would not give up. Her very stature still issued a challenge to anypony that would dare confront her.
Without wasting a second, Spitfire sped into the ranks of the enemy. The three Wonderbolts barreling into the sphere and three ponies that it was made of, certainly caught the attention of the rest of the ponies in attendance. Spitfire wouldn’t give them time to react, oh no. She kept her momentum going, grabbing Rainbow in the middle of the group and blasted through the other side.
“Are you okay?” Spitfire yelled over the wind in her ears to the pony she was now holding with her forelegs. “Can you fly?” That was the most pertinent question right now. If Rainbow was incapable of flying, this was going to make the whole ordeal a lot harder.
“I-I think so!” Rainbow answered after a few seconds, clearly starstruck that her hero was rescuing her. Spitfire couldn’t really blame the young flier, if Spitfire herself had been rescued by her own hero it would probably go the same way.
Spitfire glanced behind her, only to see twenty-some ponies hot on her trail, along with two of her fellow Wonderbolts. How in Celestia’s name were they supposed to get rid of a group that big? They couldn’t turn and fight, that was certain.
“Dash.” The idea struck her after thinking back to the Best Young Flier’s competition. “think you might be able to pull of a sonic rainboom?” It was a longshot, probably the longest shot they had, but Spitifre knew from experience that the long-fabled move produced quite a shockwave. It might be just enough to clear the stadium, or at least it would buy them time.
“I don’t think so.” Disappointment coated the words of the younger mare, taking the wind out of Spitfire’s metaphorical sails. “I mean, I might be able to climb that high but there’s no way I can keep my wings closed long enough to get the kinda speed-”
“What if we helped?” Fleetfoot, who was now flanking Spitfire, said. “If us three dive in formation you could draft behind us, Dash. That should get you enough speed so when we break, you could do the rainboom!” It might work, it really all depended if Rainbow thought she could do it. All three Wonderbolts looked to Dash to see if she would take it or not.
“Alright, let’s do it!” The cyan mare caught her second wind, pulling herself from Spitfire’s grasp and flying of her own volition now. Up and up they climbed, following Dash and keeping any of the riff raff off of her tail. They were allowing Dash to guide them to the correct altitude to begin the descent, she was the expert here not them. “Now!”
The Wonderbolt’s turned on a dime, all grouping together and flattening their wings to their sides. Then they started to freefall. It was something they did often in shows to facilitate high speed stunts, but this wasn’t just a show anymore. This had stakes beyond applause and fame this time.
The group fell through the air, building up ludicrous amounts of speed as they went. Spitfire was keenly aware of the group of pegasi chasing them, but unable to catch up. That was unimportant, though. For now, Spitfire was just listening for Rainbow’s go ahead to split and give her room to unleash the rainboom.
“I’m ready!” Spitfire nodded to her compatriots, each of them splitting into different directions. Spitfire was the last to move out of Dash’s way. She trusted Rainbow, but she wanted to make absolutely certain that the polychromatic pegasus had enough speed to pull it off. The mach cone forming around Spitfire’s own body made her aware that it was now or never, it was time.
Spitfire split off, turning into a spiral to burn off the excess speed she had accumulated. All the while she tried to keep an eye on Rainbow, who still had the group of ponies behind her. The pegasus’ mach cone shattered in a pulse of prismatic brilliance, causing the ponies around her get blown away by the resulting shock wave. Even Spitfire herself was buffeted, but not moved by the rainboom.
“Spitfire! We’re clear!” The Captain turned to Soarin’s voice and saw Twilight capturing the last of their group of assailants in an aura of purple magic. “Wait! Where’s that Spectrum Strider guy?” Spitfire had almost forgotten about the ringleader of the group of ponies, she had assumed he had stayed in the booth while watching his henchponies do the dirty work.
“Is that him?” Blaze shouted, pointing towards the other side of the Cloudiseum. There was a pony on the other side of the arena coming out of the disused locker room usually reserved for visiting teams. It was a stallion with muted purple fur and a tri-color orange, white, and green mane. He was holding something in his mouth, at this distance Spitfire couldn’t exactly tell what it was.
“That’s him, I recognize him.” Princess Twilight Sparkle stood and fired up her horn. Spitfire held out her hoof towards the monarch, staying her magic.
“I need you to stay here, Princess. Soarin and I will deal with him.” The Captain motioned for her second-in-command, who gladly took his place at her side. “The rest of you help the Princess restrain all of these ponies. I don’t want any of them escaping!” Her squad gave a salute and went to work, That left Soarin and Spitfire to go after Spectrum Strider.
As they approached, Spitfire saw what was in the pony’s mouth. It looked to be a stone tablet nearly the size of his head. Maybe Spitfire hadn’t been in the visitor’s locker room in a while, but she had never seen that stone tablet anywhere before. Where had he gotten that?
“Stop right there, buster!” Soarin yelled at the thieving horse. Spitfire gave her friend a curious look at his turn of phrase, but she largely ignored it. “Drop whatever you’re holding and turn yourself in!”
“‘Buster’? Is that really the best you got, flyboy?” The comically-accented pegasus had moved the tablet from his mouth to under his front hooves. “What about you, matchstick? You got anything better?” Whatever game that stallion was playing, Spitfire was not going to fall into a battle of witticisms.
“Turn yourself over and we promise we can put in a good word with the Princess. It’ll make everything so much easier.” Spitfire was trying to be diplomatic, maybe not her strongest suit but after tonight, she didn’t want this to end in a fight. “You gotta trust me, Spectrum. We can help.”
“Really?” Spectrum flattened his ears and looked at Spitfire with genuine worry. “I-I mean, I was just doing what I was told...I-I had to do it, or else…” The stallion trailed off, his head dropping. It was Soarin who reached out and put a hoof on Spectrum’s shoulder. The co-captain was about to say something, but he was cut off by a swift kick to the nose. “HA! I can’t believe you fell for that!” WIthout another moment of hesitation, the crook sped off. Spitfire gave chase without even considering otherwise.
It was obvious that she was the much faster flier, as the experienced Wonderbolt caught up the the now encumbered pony with ease. Spitfire used one of her hooves push Spectrum’s wing down, sending the pegasus into a slight spiral.
“Watch it, Wildfire! This thing is priceless!” Spectrum fired at Spitfire. “You break it, you buy it!” Okay, so if he wanted this thing in one piece, then it truly was important. She had to get the tablet and see what was so important about it. That meant she couldn’t just knock him out of the sky and pick up what was left.
“I don’t think I can afford it, so how about I just take it instead.” Both ponies looked down to see Rainbow Dash directly underneath the stallion. The mare snatched the tablet from Spectrum’s hooves and sped off with it. “Thanks!”
“So now how about I beat the snot out of you?” Spitfire asked, smirking at the would-be thief. The stallion gave a weak chuckle and seemingly shrunk down.
“Or, and this is just an idea, we think this through. I mean-” The stallion gasped. “What in the world is that?!” He pointed towards something behind Spitfire, but she was not going to fall for that. Oh no, that had just landed Soarin with a bloody muzzle.
“Nice try, but I’m not…” She trailed off as a shadow spilled over the stadium that was still in front of her. There wasn’t supposed to be a cloud in the sky today, and last Spitfire checked it was only mid-morning. There wasn’t supposed to be anything blocking the sun’s light, not yet anyways. Spitfire slowly turned around to see an airship hovering just over the lip of the stadium. “What the…”
“Sorry Firestarter, I gotta catch my ride!” Before she could react, Spectrum Strider flew above her and towards the airship. Spitfire silently cursed for falling for that and took off after the stallion. “No, I don’t have it...gee, I dunno. Maybe it had something to do with the Princess of Friendship and an entire team of Wonderbolts bein’ here.” Spectrum tilted his head and started talking to himself as he flew just out of Spitfire’s reach. “I’ll get it, alright! What? I’m not leaving here without-fine, but don’t blame me when you don’t get what you want!” Spitfire had no clue who he was talking to, as there was nopony else even remotely near them. Whoever it was, it sounded like it was Spectrum’s boss or superior. The pony who had ordered this attack.
“Spectrum, just give up! I’ll chase you onto that ship if I have to!” She wasn’t going to relent. Nopony ruined one of her shows and threatened innocent ponies without paying for it. She would chase him to the ends of Equestria if she had to.
“You won’t even get near it, hot stuff!” Spectrum called back as he banked suddenly. That left Spitfire staring down a now open gun port on the side of the airship. The telltale hum of a magical weapon heating up caused her reflexes to kick and her to pull up. One second later and she would’ve been dust, as a blinding discharge came from the cannon and singed the air she had been mere moments ago.
That weapon firing caused the rest of the ponies in the stadium to freeze in fear. Weapons weren’t allowed on airships, they were illegal under several different codes. Now one was in Cloudsdale and firing.
“Later!” Spectrum called as he landed on deck. Spitfire circled back around to watch and try to listen to what exactly the stallion was saying. “Level this place, it’s always been an eyesore.” Her eyes widened as more gun ports opened on the side of the vessel and the world was filled with high pitched hums.
“Run!” Was all Spitfire could get out before a dozen shots rang out at once. Each one hit the cloud structure of the cloudiseum and caused the magic inherently tied to the clouds to nullify. Pillars disappeared and evaporated, whole stands where ponies were sitting not minutes ago ceased to exist. Spitfire flew as fast as she could from the nullifying beams, but it wasn’t enough. An errant beam grazed her wing and sent her spiraling into the abyss below.
----
Star Shine hated boardrooms. They were stuffy and pompous, filled with ponies who thought they were more important than the rest. They thought they held power and substance, when all they really had was money and time on their side.
Regardless of his feelings about the room, he was in it now. The long gilded table in front of him sat a dozen or so ponies, all rotund from extravagant overindulgence in Canterlot’s cuisine. Each one bore the same mane cut, short and combed over. Each one wore the same suit that strained to cover their pot bellies. Each one served to only make Star Shine more than mad.
“We’re glad you could join us, Star Shine.” The stallion at the far end of the table started. It was Money Grubber, the member who gave him the most trouble. Despite being only twenty years below the sentagenarian, Star Shine felt he was afforded no respect by the cookie cutter board member. At every turn Grubber was always on his tail, always badgering him or belittling him. It was not something Star Shine particularly needed or wanted today. “Please, sit. We do have much to discuss.” The portly stallion motioned to a chair beside Star Shine.
“No, I believe I will stand, Grubber. I do not think this will take long at all.” He straightened his posture and ran his magic through the thick white mane atop his head, a bit of a habit when he was getting frustrated. He raised one navy blue hoof and placed it on the elongated table in front of him. “Go on, say what you will.”
“Yes, well…” Grubber cleared his throat uncomfortably. “...we have questions about how you’ve been spending the company’s money. More specifically, the funds you’ve diverted out into the Outlands. There is nothing there of value an-”
“I’m sorry.” Star Shine tapped his ear, just in case his hearing wasn’t working right. “The company’s money, is my money. It’s my company, is it not?” He was not going to take any chuff from the stallions gathered around him, not anymore. He was on the precipice of something great and some bureaucratic red tape wasn’t going to stop him.
“We have set your salary, Star Shine. Quite a generous one, if I’m to be frank. The money you’re wasting out in the middle of nowhere, they’re the company’s funds and we’re afraid of you suffocating profits.”” Grubber produced several folders and slid them down the table with his magic. Star Shine picked them up and saw figures in red ink, numbers that really meant nothing to him. He pushed the folders away and stared down the portly stallion at the other end of the table.
There you go again.” Star Shine cracked a rare bemused smile. “You’re acting as if the company is some beast that requires to be fed excess money in order to survive. It’s not. It’s an idea, made reality by me. It’s mine. The company’s will is my own.” Star Shine couldn’t help but lose his composure just a bit. He was tired of being bound to such idiotic pageantry. Why should he be beholden to these ponies and not only himself? His temper flared and his voice raised itself. “Just as it is my will that can have you all fired and replaced by this evening if I so choose it!” Star Shine closed his eyes and took a deep breath. For good measure he tilted his head and cracked his neck, which calmed him down considerably. “Remember that, Mr. Grubber. You’re only here because Equestrian law dictates that I need you. If not for that, you would be a bitless beggar on the streets of Manehattan.” He was done listening to these ponies, there was nothing they could say or do to properly reign him in. Not after today. With confidence and a spring in his step that had been absent for many years, Star Shine began to leave the boardroom.
“You need to explain these charges!” Grubber called after him. “Extra security, excavation crews, magic research! We’re an armor manufacturer, not an expedition crew!” Star Shine blocked out the stallion’s protests and continued to leave. Once he was on the other side of the door, he slammed it and began the short walk back to his office.
After he had entered the safety of his spacious office, he took up residence behind the solid oak desk that served as the focal point of the room and fired up his horn. He felt the magical pathway between himself and his subordinate open up and began addressing the pony he knew was on the other side.
“Strider, do you have it?” Star Shine busied himself while waiting for a reply by adjusting the knick knacks on the desk, shifting little samples of steel and photos from long ago. Now his work was truly beginning.
“No, I don’t have it!” The heavily accented voice rang throughout his head. If there was one pony in the entire world he didn’t want in his head at any given moment, it was Spectrum Strider. But it was a necessary evil for the time being.
“Why not? I sent you there with an entire army, with an airship even. Why do you not have it yet?” The stallion had proven himself useful in the past, but failure was not something Star Shine liked to indulge.
“Gee, I dunno. Maybe it had something to do with the Princess of Friendship and an entire team of Wonderbolts bein’ here!” The unicorn clenched his jaw and began grinding his teeth. Twilight Sparkle had not been part of the plan, none of the royal family were even supposed to be at the event. It would’ve been announced far before it happened. It wasn’t a good sign, not at all. “I’ll get it, alright?!” Star Shine admired the tenacity of the pegasus on the other end, but sometimes you had to know when to retreat.
“No.” He ordered. Now the only chance they had of getting away from this was to cause a bigger distraction than just attempting to hold a stadium hostage. Now they needed to upstage themselves.
“What?” Strider called from the other side. “I’m not leaving here without-”Star Shine cut off the annoying voice.
“Board the airship and open fire on the stadium. Level it, cause a scene.” If there was one thing Star Shine knew that Strider could do with ease, it was cause a scene. A colorful pegasus with a unique accent sowing chaos in Cloudsdale was the very pinnacle of a scene.
“Fine, but don’t blame me when you don’t get what you want!” With that, Star Shine closed the link between him and the pony he had designated his field commander for the time being. It was hard not to blame Strider for not being able to handle challenges thrown his way. Star Shine couldn’t plan for everything! He couldn’t walk Strider through every single obstacle thrown his way like an over-attentive nanny.
“Fool.” Star Shine spat bitterly. He shook his head and thought of the only thing that would calm him now. From the depths of his desk he pulled out a piece of parchment much older than himself. Much older than the building he was sitting in and even the city where he was situated. It was a map of Equestria and the Griffon Kingdom with markings in ancient Equish spattered all over it. This was the map to his destiny. It was the one thing that had kept him going for all of these years. “We’ll see each other soon enough, Epoch. Just you wait.”
----
Spitfire’s eyes opened to a world in disarray. Emergency services ponies hurried to and fro, talking at a quick pace with each other. She was in the Wonderbolts locker room, which had been transformed into some sort of makeshift triage center.
“Thank Celestia, you’re okay!” Spitfire turned her head to see Soarin, Princess Twilight and Rainbow Dash standing just a few feet away. It had been Soarin to speak hurt. “When that shot hit you I was sure you were...well not dead, but I at least thought it’d take you out of commission for a day or two.” Spitfire groaned at her co-captain’s faith in her ability to take a hit. It felt like she should be dead right about now, that was for sure.
“Those cannons were charged with some sort of magic-nullifying spell.” Princess Twilight picked up, stepping lose to Spitfire and lighting her horn up. “It caused the clouds to dissipate and sapped almost every ounce of innate magic from your body.”
“You totally fell like a rock!” Rainbow finished the trio’s talk with a statement that made Spitfire wish the prismatic speedster had a little more tact. “But luckily I was there to save you, y’know, again.” Yeah, some more tact would be better.
“Is everypony okay?” Spitfire forced herself to her hooves and off of the stiff cot she had been put on. She needed to know if anypony else had been caught in any of the blasts. It was bad enough her second-home was now partially destroyed, but if a pony had been hurt or killed as well, she didn’t know what she would do.
“Nopony was hurt.” Twilight spoke calmly. “We evacuated the stadium entirely before the ship opened fire, and I even kept all of those ponies working with Spectrum Strider in check. They’re currently in custody.” Well that was a weight off of her shoulders.
“But why attack the stadium? Why today?” Soarin asked, moving to Spitfire’s side to give her a little more support. “It couldn’t have been just for that dumb rock, right?” Right, the stone tablet thing that Spectrum had been after.
“Where is that thing?” Spitfire asked, glancing around. “If they did attack just for that thing, I want to know what it is and what it was doing in my stadium.” Spitfire was going full boss-mode now. She needed answers.
“I was busy helping with cleanup so I haven’t had a chance to examine it yet.” The princess lit her horn once more and retrieved the rectangular piece of stone from atop of a nearby locker. “I don’t know, there’s something wrong about it.” Twilight cocked her head to the side. “Like, I know it shouldn’t be here even though I’ve never seen it before.” Spitfire watched as the alicorn took her hoof and wiped a thin film of dust from the tablet. “It has something written on it, let’s see…”
“I hear them…” Spitfire’s heart stopped as Twilight began to read. The world around started to go dim in response to the words being uttered, but Spitfire could not stop it. She couldn’t even move. Ponies who had once been in a hurried panic froze in place and turned to look at the alicorn, whose voice was not her own. Deep, pulsing vibrations underlied Twilight’s usual voices, they were primal and known by everypony here. Feared, respected, even though she was sure nopony had heard it before. “I hear them through the cracks in the universe, whispering, plotting against me. Each passing moment in each passing universe in each passing possibility, they are trying to stop me. I see the faces of the would-be heroes, I see so many failing and falling. But there is always one, there is always one who makes it through all of the treachery and makes it to me. No more! NO MORE! I will not be caged one millenia longer! I will not be routed once again! I will not fall! The voice of time will not falter again! Epoch shall rise and wipe away the sands of mortality that bind this world, and only then will there be true understanding.”
Color rushed back to the world all at once as everypony in the nearby vicinity gasped sharply to make up for the breaths they had not been taking. Spitfire looked to the Princess, true fear in her eyes. Twilight did not look any better, she looked exhausted and beat down.
“Wh-what was that…?” Soarin had his wings flared out in order to keep his balance. “Seriously, what in the name of Celestia was that?” Similar questions were running through Spitfire’s head as well, and why did the words alone make her hurt on such a spiritual level?
“Powerful...very powerful magic.” Twilight put the stone tablet down on Spitfire’s cot and took a step back from it. There was genuine panic and fear in her eyes, and that unsettled Spitfire even more.
“It’s a rock! How does a rock have magic?” To Rainbow’s credit, she seemed to be able to shake off that experience quite easily. It was admirable, but also baffling. The magic in that stone had affected everypony in the room on a very deep level, except Rainbow Dash it seemed.
“There is more to magic than just spells, Rainbow.” Twilight started lecturing her friend. “Words can have magic as well, if inscribed properly and with the right intentions. These inscriptions on this rock, they were put here by somepony far more powerful than me.” That was worrying, very worrying. What was more powerful than an alicorn in her prime? “Princess Celestia needs to see this immediately.”
“We can’t just go to Canterlot!” Rainbow Dash protested. “What if those bad guys come back? We can’t just leave Cloudsdale defenseless against that giant ship thing!” Rainbow’s heart was in the right place, but there were other ponies here now other than them.
“Dash, the guard is already here.” Soarin fired back at the wannabe-Wonderbolt. “If Princess Twilight says that Princess Celestia needs to see this, then I believe her. I’m not letting her go alone, either.” Spitfire nodded with each of Soarin’s words. She agreed completely, there was no point in staying here if they needed to alert Celestia to a supremely powerful magical being.
“I would appreciate the escort, Soarin.” Twilight gave a polite smile. “Rainbow, I need you to stay here, though. Flash is already out looking for Fluttershy and I think you should help. She’s probably scared out of her mind right now and she needs you.”
“Yeah, okay.” Rainbow lowered her head after being obviously beaten by more the more logical ponies. “But as soon as I find Fluttershy we’re staying here. I’m going to make sure none of those guys show up again!”
“I’ll tag along with you, Princess.” Spitfire looked to Twilight. “I heard Spectrum Strider talking to somepony, and I think it could be helpful.” Spitfire was going to get to the bottom of this, she had to. This was the most exciting thing to happen to her in years.
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Hey, this is shaping up to be interesting. I know its only one chapter in, but I like the characterizations so far and the plot hook is solid. I'll be waiting for the next chapter.
If you don't mind some minor grammar corrections and constructive criticism, I would like to point out what I noticed as I was reading. These are just what stood out to me; I wasn't exactly going over it with a fine-toothed comb.
Don't need that period.
A dialogue tag is separated from its dialogue by a comma, generally.
he had fans who adored her, good friends who would never leave her side, and a career that most ponies only dreamed about
at her friend's intentional buffoonery
The
Yeah, a vacation is one of those things
Don't need the extra closing quotations.
I also noticed a lot of Lavender Unicorn syndrome: lots of "orange pegasus" and "cyan mare" and "blue pegasus." Its okay to describe a character when they are first introduced or when its relevant, but it becomes tedious after a while to keep doing so instead of just using the character's name or a pronoun.
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So about all of the mistakes: I actually didn't have an editor for the first chapter, and I really should have. I have one now so future chapters will be better.
Addressing the other point: The first three-quarters of this was written a while ago during the development of A Scratch On Shining Armor. I had the same problem at the beginning of that story, but I quickly got away from it. Expect less of that.
Well, I'm definitely ready to see some adventure with unusual protagonists.
I wonder if Fluttershy's non-presence is significant. Seems like it was just thrown in but... it's the same with Rainbow shrugging off the tablet's magic.
Twilight and Flash's maybe date seems a bit less likely to apply to the story, but who knows. Although until Flash almost said it, I assumed we were going in the direction that Flash is reviled and incompetent.
The antagonists are infuriating already! Especially the unicorn pulling the strings.
The tablet's prophecy also has an eldritch vibe to it.
Soarin and Spitfire... well I don't have a strong opinion on them, yet. We'll see how they get more involved with this antagonist.
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I'm going to say that Strider and Star Shine are my favorite thing ever to write. They have really good chemistry when they're together, I can't wait to put out the next chapter
8021158
8021256
Sorry, I'm taking a break from editing for a while to focus on my own writing. Hopefully his new editor will whip him into shape.