Until Fairer Skies Beckon

by totallynotabrony

Chapter 23

Rainbow didn’t sleep well on the concrete underneath her jet. She was seriously considering sleeping in the threadbare Soviet ejection seat instead.

She finally decided that she couldn’t stand it anymore when the first light of dawn crept under the door. Rousing herself and sitting up, Rainbow’s hand brushed something. She reached out again, groping gingerly. Her fingers touched something that she realized was some sort of plant. It seemed to be growing out of the crack in the floor.

Curious and excited to see what it was, she continued feeling around and located another. Rainbow got up, disregarding the others that might still be sleeping, and stumbled her way over to the wall where the lightswitch was located. Along the way, her legs brushed against more of the plants.

The hangar lights flickered on. Every crack in the floor was lined with leafy green plants. There might have been a hundred of them. Small pods hung from their stems.

Pantera was nearby and groaned at the light, rolling over. She ended up on top of one of the plants and got up in a hurry. “What in the world!?”

“It’s like the watermelons,” said Rainbow. “I don’t know where they came from.”

Pantera bent over. “These are chickpeas.”

“We can eat them?”

“They aren’t the best raw, but yes, you can eat them. They’re high in protein.”

Rainbow grabbed the nearest plant and yanked it. Looking closer, the pods seemed to have the peas inside them. Sure enough, they weren’t very tasty or tender, but food was better than no food.

Soarin’ walked over wearing a troubled look. “Not that I’m complaining, but…”

Rainbow knew what he meant. Plants that, overnight, grew to full size. Inside a dark building.

They pulled Pug and the mechanics into the effort. It wouldn’t do if the UTA found the plants, so they picked them all, stripping the chickpeas as they went. Everyone got a couple of handfuls. They stuffed the stems into jet exhausts. They would burn out on startup.

After that, though, there was not much else to do but wait. Such was the theme of being locked in a hangar.

---

They were let out later in the day. The breakfast of hard chickpeas had been better than nothing, but Rainbow was grateful to get out of the hangar to eat the meager food provided at midday. It was also the first time she’d seen the other pilots that day. Lightning, Kiel, and Striker had been kept with their planes in the other hangar.

Walking to get in line, Rainbow brushed elbows with Pug. He looked at her her black eye, his lips tightened, and he looked away. He got in line behind her.

Standing in line, Rainbow found herself behind Lightning, who glanced back. Out of the corner of her mouth, Lightning said, “The weirdest thing happened last night.”

“Something growing?” Rainbow guessed.

“You might say that. You guys too?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know what’s going on around here,” said Lightning. “I saw what those watermelons did. And this…”

“I get the feeling we haven’t seen anything yet,” said Rainbow. Part of her wondered if that was true. All of her hoped it was. She amended, “But I hope we get out of here soon.”

“You aren’t planning anything.”

Lightning’s tone was strange. It wasn’t really a statement. It was barely a question. Was she implying that Rainbow would tell her if she was planning anything, and since Rainbow hadn’t told her, then she must not be planning anything?

Rainbow figured she was overthinking it. Also, if she was going to extend an olive branch like she’d done with Pug, now was the time.

“I’m working on it,” she said.

Lightning glanced at her again. “I’m all ears.”

“Whatever we do, we have to do it together.”

“That makes it harder.”

“I can’t leave anyone behind.”

“What’s so important?” said Lightning. “It would be a lot easier to get out in small groups.”

Rainbow hesitated. She could explain her element. She could explain magic, and friendship. Not here, though. “I just can’t leave anyone behind.”

“Why is it a big deal? You didn’t have any problem killing Vapor.”

“That’s different!” Rainbow barely curtailed her voice. “It’s not like I wanted to. It was her or me. You were there.”

“I’m not saying it wasn’t a lose-lose scenario.” Lightning’s voice was remarkably calm. “But how can I trust you, knowing you aren’t afraid to shoot someone in the back? Make that two someones, actually.”

Rainbow grabbed Lightning’s shoulder and spun her around. She took a step forward, ducking her head to the left as she stepped into Lightning, their flight suits touching. Her right hand ended up on the side of Lightning’s neck and her mouth was right at Lightning’s ear.

“When I was tied up and being whipped,” Rainbow hissed, “Lion Heart himself told me you were the one who sold me out.”

Lightning opened her mouth, but Rainbow applied a little more pressure to her neck to get her to listen. “I don’t care if it’s true or not. The point is, I gave you the benefit of the doubt. How about a little mutual respect?”

She let go of Lightning and stepped back just as the guards noticed and started walking over to break up any commotion. Rainbow backed off, but shot Lightning a look to emphasize their private conversation.

Lightning turned around slowly, her shoulders stiff. She didn’t speak to Rainbow again through lunch.

---

Rainbow knew that getting the others on her side was one thing. A difficult thing, to be sure, but still just one component of her goal. Actually putting together an escape was another. Should she wait for the next magical incident? Would it be enough of a distraction to get everyone free?

Another opportunity came that afternoon. Rainbow was once again lying around the hangar when she heard the unmistakable trumpet of an elephant.

Had she time to reflect on it, she would have considered the strangeness of hearing, but not seeing, an elephant.

As it turned out, maybe it was better that way. There were some shouts and then something heavy hit the wall of the hangar. Not elephant-heavy, more like person-heavy. That’s when the shooting started.

Based on the angry elephant noises, AK-47’s apparently didn’t do very much.

Pug grinned. “They should aim for the big hose coming out of his face.”

“A Simpsons reference? I knew you weren’t Russian,” Rainbow laughed.

In some perverse way, it was easy to be merry when locked inside a building and secure from a rogue elephant attack. Rainbow wondered how many UTA soldiers would be killed this time.

Louder, much slower gunfire suddenly began outside the building.

“That sounds like an anti-tank gun,” commented Soarin’.

It seemed to work pretty well on elephants, too. That was the last noises they heard for a while.

Rainbow chanced a peek out the door, opening it just a crack. The huge bulk of a dead elephant was nearby, almost on the runway. Clash stood there, holding what appeared to be an anti-tank rifle. The other soldiers stood around. They appeared to want to skin the elephant or something, but weren’t quite sure how to go about it.

Rainbow closed the door. At least she’d seen a couple of dead UTA people. They still held a large numbers advantage, but they were getting jumpier. If only Rainbow had a plan to exploit that.

It was hard to judge the time inside the building, but when the shadows sliding under the door grew long, they all tried to sleep. There was nothing better to do.

Rainbow settled in beneath her jet again. She idly wondered what might be for breakfast.

Comments

[Bronycommander]

If those plants also grow like the watermelons, I wonder how how it will until they're be recolated again

[Neece]

8344566
I don't think there'll be another relocation. If that is their backup base they hardly have anything to fall back to. And there magic will have an easier time getting them out.

[Bronycommander]

8344795
Yes.