Part 1: The Mission
Slamming his stamp down onto yet another form, Lieutenant Fire Storm swept it aside and pulled another one from the pile. He’d long since lost count of how many of these bloody forms he’d filled out today, not that it mattered. Despite this being the fifth day in a row on paperwork duty, his desk was still covered in an avalanche of forms, orders, permits, and an assortment of other bureaucratic nonsense.
“What the buck did I do to deserve this?” Fire Storm groaned, begrudgingly scribbling out the necessary details before authorizing a command with a seal. “I swear, it’ll be a chilly day in Tartarus by the time I’m done with this shit.”
He paid a vacant stare at the alarm clock. Fire Storm took a moment to wonder what the rest of his Wonderbolts squad were doing while he was stuck here. Probably chasing their own tails, he thought. Without my leadership, those idiots can’t tell their flanks from their elbows.
Gazing into a small desk mirror to his right, Fire Storm admired himself. He gave special attention to the collection of medals pinned across his standard-issue officer shirt. Each one glimmered in the morning sun, his obsessive polishing keeping them in pristine condition. These were but a few of the medals he had earned during his two-plus decades of service; awards for everything under Celestia’s sun, from dramatic air shows to life-or-death combat scenarios.
And yet, here he was. Turning his head from side to side, he closely gave inspection to his deep red coat and striking yellow mane. His eyes narrowed at a few stray locks, streaks of dull grey breaking through like a stain.
“Damn that Spitfire,” Fire Storm cursed. “I bet she’s behind all this. Buck her and her over-privileged ass.”
A loud bang abruptly brought his daydreaming to a dramatic end. Just like that, old reflexes fired into action: and before he knew it, the lieutenant was up on the desk, wings flared, teeth bared, knocking over everything in the way of his hooves.
Muscles tensed, he stood poised for the incoming threat…
…which, after a moment’s waiting, never came. In its place, a series of unintelligible ravings screamed out from behind his office door.
The lieutenant momentarily relaxed, only for another loud crackle to send him diving under his desk, face buried in his hooves.
“Lieutenant Fire Storm, sir,” the monotone voice of his unicorn secretary, Miss Silver Swirl, said over the crackling PA. “Your new recruits are here for their appointment.”
Climbing back onto his chair, Fire Storm buzzed back; “Appointment? What appointment?”
“The appointment that was supposed to start sixteen minutes ago, sir.” Silver replied with an incredulous sigh.
“Hey!” a boisterous voice snapped from outside the room. “I told you already, stupid mare! You never told us the meeting time changed!”
“You’re still late, regardless of the fact,” Silver replied.
“What the buck is going on out here?!” Fire storm kicked the door open to see a trio of thestrals, one of whom propped herself up on his secretary’s desk, snarling like a beast defending its prey.
None of this phased Silver Swirl. She just sat back in her chair, dipping her reading glasses to look down her nose at her aggressor. “I believe these new recruits require discipline,” she said, emotionless as ever.
“I’ll show you discipline!”
“Phantom, stop!” the smallest of the bat pony trio put her hoof over the hot-head’s shoulder, her wispy voice cracking ever so slightly.
“Stand back, Winter! I’ve had it up to here with this mare’s horse manure.”
“Phantom, we can deal with this later,” the third thestral said with a steady voice, matching her straight posture. “Remember what we promised Luna.”
“Yes, I’m quite sure the Princess of the Night would love to hear how her servants have been behaving around respectable ponies-”
“That'll be quite enough!” Fire Storm snapped, his booming voice silencing everypony. “Send them in,” he said, making a cursory effort to hide the sneer as he spoke.
Without another word, Silver Swirl nodded, pushed up her glasses and went back to her work,] giving no response to the stuck-out tongue of the aggressive thestral.
Once back at his desk, the lieutenant scanned his eyes over the Lunar Guard trio. He looked over the hot-head first – the one named Phantom, if he was not mistaken. She had a short-clipped mane, grey with midnight blue streaks. She was quite lanky in stature, her facial features more masculine in comparison to her bat pony compatriots.
The pony in the middle—the smallest of the group, named Winter— was of a stockier build, with lighter grey fur and a white mane ending in small curls.
Examining the third one, Fire Storm noted numerous physical similarities to the other two; particularly her coat being dark blue colour, contrasted by a black, spikey mane, rounding out her companions’ colour pallet. Her most notable feature was her cutie mark; depicting a pair of bat wings over a faded, crescent moon.
From the cutie marks of the other two—a full moon for the smallest and a blood moon for the largest—Fire Storm suspected they were related.
“So,” Fire Storm stated, pushing the loose papers across his desk into a rough pile. “You wanted to see me, is that correct?”
“Yes sir,” the hot-tongued mare said, still gritting her teeth. “My name is Phantom Flight, and these are my sisters: Winter Flight and Dusk Flight.”
“I see,” stated Fire Storm, pulling out a cigar from a drawer under his desk. “Well, I can’t say I expected thestrals to be part the Wonderbolts, if indeed you are with us.”
“Yes, sir,” Dusk said, smiling slightly. “By special order of Princess Luna. She expressly stated she wants to end Lunar Pegusi exclusion from the Wonderbolts.”
“I’m sure she would,” he replied, lighting the cigar with a match and taking a long, deep puff. “But nopony joins the Wonderbolts without a dream to fulfil. So, tell me, what exactly do you want from us?”
The three mares briefly looked at each other. “I’m... not sure what you mean, sir,” Winter Flight said, sharing the confused expression of her sisters. “We simply want to serve Princess Luna in the best way possible-”
“Don’t give me that load of horse crap!” Fire Storm snapped, staring down the thestral sisters as he slammed his hoof on the table. “If I had a bit for every time a pony gave an excuse like that, then I would be the richest stallion in Equestria. Now, how about the three of you cut to the chase and tell me how you really feel.”
By the way the Phantom met his stare, the lieutenant expected her to start throwing punches. But instead, she bit her tongue, eye twitching. One of her sisters spoke up in her place, and not a moment too soon.
“The simplest way we can put it, sir,” Dusk said, her voice calm and collected despite the pressure, “is that we want to expand our horizons. We hope to be the new face of the Night Guards, breaking down stereotypes that permeate our culture and expanding the operational reach of the Wonderbolts.”
Fire Storm huffed, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his forehead. How eloquent, he thought to himself. “Look, Luna’s political mandate may have allowed you to enter our ranks, but if you want to play with the big ponies? You’ve gotta prove your worth. That means following every order I give to the letter; no ifs, no buts, just like any creature else. Have I made myself clear?”
By the contortion on Phantom’s face, Fire Storm expected her ears to be steaming with rage. And yet, it was evident his presence alone kept her in line. He would be keeping an eye on that one, for sure. Through clenched jaws, Phantom replied in unison with her sisters. “Sir, yes, sir.”
“Good.” Rummaging through the select piles of paperwork that weren't in a scattered jumble, Fire Storm scanned each order, looking for something, anything, he could use to get the bat ponies off his back. As he continued, one specific sheet caught his eye.
The title was partially obscured by a stamp reading ‘top secret’, a fact which made Fire Storm’s face grow into a long grin. Given everything he’d been signing in the past week, how this got mixed up among his lot was a mystery.
Not that he cared.
Finally, he thought to himself. When I pull this off, Spitfire will be begging me to take her place as Wonderbolts Captain.
Spitting out his cigar, Fire Storm reached for his stamp, slamming it on the bottom of the page with a heavy thud and throwing it at the Thestral trio. “There. We start at oh-six-hundred hours tomorrow morning. You’ll get the extended mission briefing on the day. You are all dismissed.”
Picking up the page, Dusk held it up for her sisters to see. The summery they read made their jaws drop. “But sir, this is-”
“I said, you. Are. Dismissed!” Fire Storm snarled, spittle flying in the Thestrals’ faces. “Now, get out of my office, or your Wonderbolts days will be over faster than you can say ‘Sonic Rainboom’!”
“Why, you sneaky bucking-”
“Phantom, please!” With a shake of her head, Winter, calmed her sister down.
“Fine.” Turning her back on the lieutenant, she stormed out of the room with her sisters in tow, slamming the door behind her.
Lighting up a fresh cigar, Fire Storm leaned back in his chair and put his rear hooves on the table. “The Wonderbolts destroying a changeling hive?”He mused. “I’ll be an Equestria renowned hero by the end of the week!”
“I knew it! They were against us all along!” Phantom screamed, her voice echoing through the empty barracks. “When Princess Luna finds out, oh, is she gonna be mad!”
“If only it was that easy,” Dusk replied with an exasperated sigh, flumping face first onto her bed. Between shifting her sleeping patterns to daylight hours and Phantom’s rage, she’d had enough drama for one day. “We can’t just complain to Luna because we got a difficult mission.”
“It’s not the fact that the mission is hard, Dusk! It’s suicide! We can’t just waltz up to a changeling hive without cover and expect to get away unscathed. We’ll be eaten alive, or worse!”
“I know that, Phantom,” Dusk said, rolling onto her back. “But we’re not doing this alone. The mission statement explicitly says we must be accompanied by one high ranking officer, minimum. The lieutenant must have something special planned, otherwise he’d never have given it.”
“And you honestly trust that guy?!” Phantom bucked the wall in frustration, the plaster cracking on impact.
“Phantom, do you have to scream so much?” Winter groaned, covering her ears with her hooves. “Right now, there’s nothing we can do. So, please, just get some rest before the rest of today’s routine duties.”
Phantom took a deep breath, gently flexing her wings in time, calming her nerves. “I just can’t sit idly and let us be pushed around. Does Lieutenant Fire Storm know nothing about the Lunar Guards?”
“Whether or not he does is irrelevant,” Dusk said flatly. “We were chosen to represent Luna’s special forces, so we must adapt to how the Wonderbolts work. No doubt they’ll require us for night missions at some point.”
“Not if we’re killed on our first mission, we won’t.” Phantom muttered, her face softening. “I guess you’re right. Nothing we can do ‘till the time comes…” Drifting into a series of low, incoherent grumbles, she trotted back to her bed, laying down next to her sisters.
With plenty of time before their afternoon duties, Phantom closed her eyes. Yet as the minutes ticked by, no matter how much she tossed and turned, she just couldn’t switch off. With a heavy sigh, she sat up and stretched her limbs.
Maybe a short flight will clear my head. Rising to her hooves, Phantom pulled out her armour from a trunk under the bed, momentarily admiring the shining red gem upon the centre of her chest plate; an item unique to the Lunar Guard which formed the centrepiece of its design. Within it, she reflected on the contrast between her own bat-like appearance, and those of the Solar Pegusi enshrined in countless photographs across the wall.
Princess Luna hadn’t warned them of the adverse reactions Phantom and her sisters would face. She never needed to. It came part and parcel with being a creature of the night. Heck, if it wasn’t for bigotry against Lunar Pegusi, the Princess would’ve never needed to push for their inclusion.
So, upon the night they arrived at the Wonderbolts Academy, they of course drew the eyes of every solar Pegasus in the base. It didn’t help matters that some bright spark decided to schedule a thunderstorm to herald their arrival; though whether this was intentional, Phantom couldn’t say.
Before receiving a warm welcome from Spitfire and Rainbow Dash, there had been much chatter among the crowd – many hushed whispers of the word ‘Thestral’, among other, less common racial slurs.
Even with those that never spoke a word to them, their deep, penetrating glares betrayed their tolerant façade. Yet Phantom had stood resolute, chest puffed out in proud display of her Lunar emblem. How easy it would be to set her eyes aglow and hiss at the bigots with bared fangs.
The temptation to revert to the old ways was always present in the back of her mind. A feral instinct lying dormant, waiting to be unleashed on any who provoked it. However, Phantom knew she could never let herself succumb to such desires. If she was to become a Wonderbolt, as Luna wished, she needed to rise above the monster average ponies thought her to be.
Although, Phantom thought. Surely nopony would think a sparring match as return to savagery. It’s just training, after all…
“Can’t sleep again, sis?”
The soft sound of Winter’s voice brought Phantom back to the present. Though she didn’t flinch, she did realize how much she’d been grinning from her violent daydream.
“Yup, you caught me, Winter,” Phantom replied with a light chuckle.
“Something on your mind?” Winter smiled lightly, casually leaning over the side of the bed, chin resting in her hooves.
“Nothin’ you don’t already know about,” Phantom sighed, sliding on her breastplate. “I just need to clear my head, is all.”
“Mind if I join you? It’d be nice to stretch our wings for a bit.”
“Of course. No need to suit up, though. That’s just my thing.”
“Well, I suppose if you’re going to make an official statement, we should do it together.”
Both Winter and Phantom turned to Dusk, her eyes scanning over their lengthy list of chores. “While I’m never going to dissuade anypony from showing pride in their heritage, I don’t want our display to interrupt our time to perform listed duties. I don’t need to tell you how sour we’ve made Lieutenant Fire Storm already…”
“Except you just did,” Winter deadpanned, cutting off her sister’s ramble.
“Oh,” Dusk blushed, grinning awkwardly. “Sorry. I got carried away again, didn’t I?”
“Sure did.” Though Winter was initially able to keep a straight face, Phantom’s vain attempts to hide her snickering soon had all three of them in hysterics.
“Don’t worry about it, Dusk,” Phantom said, wiping a tear from her eye between a couple of deep, calming breaths. “This ain’t gonna be a long flight. Just a couple laps around the base and back, maybe a quick dash through the obstacle course, if we feel like it. We’ll have plenty of time for a proper snooze before Fire Storm can get on our backs!”
“Alright, alright, I believe you,” Dusk replied, waving her hoof dismissively as she tossed the list aside. “Just let my get my gear on. I swear, if you try to justify yourself anymore, soon you’re going to turn into me!”
“And that would just be confusing,” Winter added, letting only the faintest slither of sarcasm pass through her lips.
“Understatement of the century there, sis.” Sliding on her helmet, Phantom clasped her breastplate in place, her gem’s magic shimmering to life to envelop her bat-wings in a deep blue aura.
Now infused with Luna’s magic—her gift to all Night Guards—Phantom felt her heart begin to race. She couldn’t wait any longer. Exploding into a gallop, she threw open the barrack’s doors, taking a deep breath of the cool air rushing over her.
“Wait up, Phantom!” Dusk called, still fiddling to get on her helmet as she stumbled after her.
But Phantom was already airborne, wings spread to catch the warm updrafts up and away from the barracks. Her sisters weren’t far behind, flapping their wings hard to catch up and position themselves on either side.
Their dark blue armour glistened amongst the cloudless sky, a stark contrast to the bright blue of the Wonderbolts uniforms. Settling on their flight path, the trio levelled off somewhere between the scouting guards above and the trainees below. Taking a deep breath, Phantom closed her eyes for a moment, focusing on the rhythmic beating of her heart. Soaring along the gentle air currents around the academy’s perimeter, she turned her gaze downwards, taking in every little detail of her new home.
As the minutes ticked on, Phantom relaxed into the cycle of flight, letting her worries float away in the breeze. From the light smiles on her sisters’ faces, she could tell they felt the same way. Perhaps it was best to have faith in their collective skills. After all, they had been fighting together in the Lunar Guard since its reinstatement – the same day Princess Luna was freed from the nightmare.
They’d fought changelings during the invasion of Canterlot; freeing captive brides maids from their bonds under the direct leadership of Princess Luna. Why would this mission be any different?
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Can I please get a link to that song?
8939637
https://youtu.be/C7NSUFDHFgg
Pretty good so far. Keep it up. Btw huge Sabaton fan here so you got a permanent reader.
*raises eyebrow* Well now, glad to see somebody has such good taste in music. I just bought the Last Stand album, myself. It was, of course, not a dissappointment. (I doubt Sabaton could ever be a dissappointment) I will take a look at this.
8940629
Yeah, same reason I'm here. I, myself got Last Stand like 2 weeks before it's release and had to wait before I could download it.
Took me a while to find the time to sit down and read. Not bad so far. The initial Night Witches were all between the ages of 15-25 (roughly). Their first bombing foray was a failure so they adjusted their tactics. They flew up high and glided down on the enemy, delivered their payload, and cut their engines back on and were gone before the Lufwafa could respond. They HAD to use such tactics, because the top speed of their planes was slower than the stall-out speed of the Vesherschmidt (I'm sure I butchered that spelling) fighter planes the Germans had.
8941681
Messerschmitt. I assume you've never seen the word written down?
Also, did you butcher "Luftwaffe" on purpose?