Steel Wings

by jazomcspazo

2 Wings of Steel

Author's Note:

I am so sorry for taking so long to post a new chapter. I have been so busy with life that I had forgotten that I had been posting this story on here. I think I'll post this on DeviantArt soon and also on the Equestria Amino soon.

0545.

Fog rolled onto the main flightline and covered the landing strip like a thick pea soup. In the south western direction came a welcoming light cool breeze that hopefully would end the two week long heat wave that the Wonderbolts base had been enduring. Black flag conditions during the day prohibited flight training, but in the morning training was cleared. For most pegasi and bat ponies they would refuse to fly in such poor visibility conditions. Yet, standing proudly on the fog encompassed flightline were what appeared to be a small group of Wonderbolts.

The military branch patches displayed on the left shoulder pocket of the Wonderbolts flight uniforms that the ponies were currently wearing displayed several different ones from the Crystal Republic Army, all the way to the Equestrian Royal Marines. Their unit patches displayed on their right shoulders revealed an even more diverse cast. These were not typical Wonderbolts.

Up in the flight tower sitting in her normal observation spot was no pony other than Moonlight Breeze, a communications expert, who was originally a part of the Equestrian Royal Guard. The purple unicorn was preparing her work area for the morning training exercise while sipping on a warm freshly brewed cup of coffee. She had become quite accustomed to being one of the few unicorns on base and was used to the barrage of questions from others on why a unicorn would be stationed on a Wonderbolt base of all places. Moonlight was so used to wearing her cloud walking bracelet, that it literally felt like a part of her. Normally pegasi along with bat ponies were just some of the few species that are able to naturally dwell in and on clouds.

“Split Bolt,” Moonlight spoke into her mic, “Does everypony have their Comm gear ready for checks?”

Down on the flightline a bulky red stallion responded to Moonlight’s question, “Everything is good to go for checks down here whenever you’re ready.”

Moonlight smiled, “Excellent, this should only take a second so you can do your pre flight inspection.”

It was at that point Moonlight Breeze went down the roster of flyers to ensure the radios were ready for the morning’s exercise. Just like usual everything checked out with no problems and the purple unicorn sat confidently in her chair while enjoying her cup of joe. She focused down below where the pre-flight inspection was about to take place at.

“You all know the drill,” Moonlight announced, “You have five minutes before I give you the flight commands. Sergeant Split Bolt will inform me if the inspection is complete already, or if you need more time. Good luck and be vigilant of your surroundings.”

Split Bolt gave a groggy nod, “Thank you, Moonlight.”

All of the flyers stood on the flightline then moved into a straight line as the veteran flyer inspected each one; ensuring their uniforms as well as gear were to his standards. Split Bolt remembered being inspected all the time back at his old unit when he was with the Equestrian Royal Marines. There was much dislike to the practice until he was brought over to his current job where he viewed inspections with much more respect. He finally had reached the last flyer, Corporal Sapphire Bolt, who was also his flight partner. She proudly stepped forward, with a goofy half-awake smile on her face. Back in the day, she had stepped hoof into his Marine communications maintenance shop and had been assigned to work for him. Over time the mare had proven her worth and had also gained Split Bolt’s trust.

Split inspected his partner closer than all the others; hoping one day she would take his torch and become a great leader. Yet, over time another reason had surfaced. He didn’t mind the pressure of being in charge of an elite group of flyers, but he had noticed that somehow the way he viewed Sapphire Bolt had become more of a romantic one. It felt like a spark going off, or even like a swarm of butterflies had invaded his tummy when interacting with the blue-violet colored mare. Split had finished the inspection and gave his normal nod of approval to his flight partner.

“Ready?” He whispered to her.

She whispered softly back, “You bet I am, Sergeant!”

Split grinned as he took his place in the front of the line before communicating with Moonlight, “Pre-flight inspections have been completed. What was the time?”

“Well,” Moonlight smiled from her spot, “Today it was only three minutes and forty seconds.”

“Excellent,” Split replied as he readied the group, “Flyers and flight partners, assume take-off positions! Comm will give the go ahead to take off when ready.”

Sapphire Bolt, along with the other flight partners trotted up beside their lead flyer and put their flight goggles on. The lead would put on their goggles then, before both lead and partner flyers would take the proper take off position; a modified sprint pose. For Split Bolt the adrenaline began to pump through his blood vessels as the seconds ticked by slowly. The stallion could feel the wind begin to pick up speed.

“Flight team Alpha,” Moonlight announced over the radio as Split and Sapphire’s wings sprang open, “Take off!”

The duo charged down the flightline then until their wings were able to lift them off from the ground and into the morning sky. They kept close to each other due to the low amount of visibility from the fog, but were vigilant as they adapted to the conditions. Moonlight had ordered the next flight team to take off and things were running smoothly.

“Hey Sapphire Bolt,” Split radioed over, “Did you have questions about this morning’s exercise?”

Sapphire nodded, “Actually Sergeant, I do have a couple of questions for you before all of the teams are off the ground, if you don’t mind.”

“Go ahead and fire away, Sapphire.” Split replied as they duo gained altitude.

The mare looked over, but had difficulty seeing her partner’s face, “I understand this is meant to be a test to see how well our stealth and communication is by tagging the other teams out before they tag us, but what kind of strategy do you have up your hooves this time? I think this is the first time we’ve done an exercise out in weather conditions like this.”

“I’m glad you asked, Sapphire,” Split Bolt blushed slightly from Sapphire’s quirky pun, “As you know the first team that is tagged out will be responsible for clearing the skies with the recruit Wonderbolts for the next week. I know that’s something I don’t want to wake up early for. So, I want you to focus on your surroundings right now. What do you notice?”

“Well,” Sapphire took the time to look around and listen, “The fog makes visibility basically zero. Yet, I can still pick up on a good amount of sound, even with the fog muffling some of it.”

The stallion smiled, “That’s exactly what all the others are dealing with. In this type of situation we are going to need to keep the volume to a bare minimum. Even our wing movements need to be at a lower frequency.”

Moonlight Breeze announced over the radio that the last flight team had taken off and the exercise was now starting.

“Keep silent. Stay vigilant,” Sapphire responded to Split’s last statement, “and stay close to your partner unless otherwise told so. I think I got it, Sergeant.”

“Good, I’ll let you know if things need to change. For now let’s keep the same altitude and speed. If you angle your wings into the wind it’ll cut back on the noise a little bit more.”

Sapphire nodded over to Split as she angled her wings and listened closely; adjusting slightly so they would create the least amount of sound. For Split he could faintly hear his partner’s heartbeat and her breathing, which had been altered into an almost meditated like pattern. The metal casing on her wings made a low whistling noise that was almost calming. Hopefully the others would be unable to notice the noise like he did. Seconds ticked by and turned into minutes it seemed.

“Sapphire,” Split Bolt’s hushed voice made the mare almost jump from fright, “How well can you maneuver?”

“Pretty good,” Sapphire whispered back, “Why?”

He pointed upwards and the second Sapphire looked up she could see two pairs of front hooves diving downwards onto them. Without another sound she dove downwards; allowing her wings to close up partially to gain speed. Faintly she could hear a clicking noise and recognized that one of the ponies were using echolocation. It had to be a bat pony using it.

“Bat pony can hear us breathing from a mile away.” Sapphire uttered through her receiver as she tried to gauge where exactly she was at.

“Angle your wings slightly, so I can pick up your location real quick.” Split ordered.

Sapphire took in a breath of air to calm herself before opening her wings up and positioning them correctly. She knew both bat ponies that were in the air could pick up the sound they made quite easily, but was unsure how well Split was able to. The mare felt like a sitting duck without her partner nearby.

“I’m on your tail,” Split responded, “Go ahead and angle your wings again so you’re not too audible.”

A moment later Split Bolt was flying beside his flight partner again; bringing relief to Sapphire Bolt as she relaxed. Not too long afterwards she could pick up on some din coming from up above the duo. She signaled Split and pointed up in the direction of the noise and the stallion nodded. They flew upwards, but kept a good distance from the noise source. With the incoming sunlight the fog was fading away at a moderate rate.

“It’s Sonic Twister and Lunar Blitz.” Split Bolt quietly informed Sapphire.

As Split and Sapphire edged closer she could pick up on the two conversing. Tech Sergeant Sonic Twister had transferred over from the Equestrian Army Reserves, while 1st Non Commissioned Officer of the Guard; Lunar Blitz had come from the Lunar Republic Guard. Twister was a demolition expert and Lunar was a stealth expert.

Yet, to both Split’s and Sapphire’s amusement; the two after chasing away the duo had decided to converse about recent ponies they had supposedly clopped. Sapphire suppressed her laughter as Split Bolt raised and made a ‘diving’ motion with his right front hoof; signaling that it was time to attack.

“Twister,” Lunar Blitz gasped as Sapphire dive bombed towards the green stallion, “Look out!”

Sonic Twister yelped in surprise, but in panic flew into Lunar Blitz as he tried to dodge Sapphire’s hooves, only for both of them to be tagged out by Split Bolt. Split looked rather annoyed as the losing team gathered themselves and took notice of their leader’s expression.

“We’re going to have a long talk after this, you two.” Split Bolt explained as Lunar and Twister both apologized deeply for their lazy dispositions.

Lunar Blitz grumbled angrily as Sonic Twister accepted the loss and they flew in the direction towards the main flightline. Sapphire Bolt felt proud while Split Bolt radioed in the results to Moonlight Breeze. He finished and glanced about; taking in the current weather conditions. Most of the fog was cleared and the sunrise looked beautiful.

“We better go,” He explained, “We need to find the other teams. Sapphire, stay focused and vigilant.

Sapphire Bolt nodded as she followed her partner while looking for the other teams.

“Steel Wings,” Moonlight Breeze announced over the radio, “The second team has been tagged out; leaving only two left. May the best one win.”

Split Bolt smiled, “Give this everything you got, Sapphire, and we’ll have this win in the basket.”

“I’m not going to lie, Sergeant, “Sapphire explained, “that was way too easy.”

Split Bolt nodded, “Those two are about to get one hell of an ass chewing when this exercise is concluded. I’m proud of you, Sapphire Bolt for taking this seriously.”

“Thank you Sergeant.” Sapphire replied as she regained her professional composure.

Split Bolt glanced over at his partner with pride. She knew when to be serious and did her best to not push his buttons. The arguments they would occasionally have were short and over the years both had gained complete trust and respect for each other. He was proud to pin Sapphire Bolt Corporal and was looking forward to one day pinning her Sergeant. The butterflies had returned to his tummy from thinking about the mare, but he quickly regained his composure when he saw Sapphire looking over at him. His greyish-blue-green eyes scanned the skies, but there was nothing in sight. Or, the stallion thought so until he took a closer look.

“They’re on our tail.” Sapphire murmured. She noticed before Split did.

Split nodded in response and looked down, “Let’s actually test those maneuvering skills you have, Sapphire.”

“I’m already on it.” Sapphire smirked as she allowed the incoming front hooves of Thunder Cloud to almost touch her. She closed her wings up and rolled to the side, diving downwards in a spiral; barely avoiding the tag out.

Split Bolt chuckled as he dove upwards, hearing Burning Cyclone cussing him out as Thunder Cloud took the lead and flew after him. Cyclone dove down and went after Sapphire Bolt, feeling a rush of adrenaline hit as she quickly closed the distance between her and Sapphire. Sapphire knew that Burning Cyclone was an expert flyer, but also knew the mare was not as experienced in some things like Sapphire was. High speed maneuvering was the one thing she knew she could outdo Cyclone on and was about to test her skills out.

“Catch me if you can, Cyclone.” Sapphire teased as the mare opened her wings up and took off, the whistling noise of the wind catching on her metal wing braces caused Cyclone to become slightly agitated.

For Burning Cyclone, joining the Steel Wings was a dream come true. She was a part of the Crystal Empire Guard when Starry Skies, her higher up, invited the mare to try out. She landed a spot and worked tediously since then. Recently though, she had become increasingly annoyed at the relationship that Sapphire Bolt and Split Bolt had. They seemed way too close and perfect to be just flight partners. It began to bug her even more when she tried to have a similar relationship her flight partner, Thunder Cloud, but to no avail. Now she was playing a stupid game of cat and mouse with Sapphire who was better at avoiding her attacks. The mare even seemed to be enjoying the chase at some points.

“Just let me catch you already, Sapphire!” Cyclone cried out in frustration.

Sapphire avoided another attempted tag out and replied, “That’s not the goal of this exercise, Cyclone. I can’t just let you tag me out; you have to catch up to me and earn it. I have to do the same thing with my opponents. I know you can catch me, but you need to focus.”

Burning Cyclone cussed Sapphire Bolt out as she tried a couple of more times to catch the mare. She was unable to get close enough and was getting close to giving up.

“Sapphire,” Split Bolt radioed in his partner while still trying to avoid Thunder Cloud, “I don’t know how much longer I can keep dodging Thunder Cloud’s attacks. Do you think you can bring yourself over here so we can finish this?”

Sapphire gave it a second to think out her plan and smiled, “Sure thing, Split. Be ready for one hell of a drop. I’m coming your way!”

She dodged Burning Cyclone once more and decided it was time to move. Her wings opened up fully and Sapphire began to ascend quickly. Cyclone laughed, knowing she would be able to catch up and tag Sapphire out easily because the metal braces on her wings slowed the mare down from upward movements. Split Bolt could see briefly what was happening and feared the worst as he dove at Thunder Cloud.

“Please don’t push yourself too hard, Sapphire,” Spilt begged, “I don’t need you passing out on me.”

Sapphire replied as she pushed ahead, “I got this, Sergeant. Don’t worry about me.”

She focused on the task ahead and continued up; knowing her plan would work out only if she pushed herself to her limits. Not too far behind was Cyclone; chuckling to herself as she got closer and closer to Sapphire. The fog and clouds soon cleared out and both ponies could see a perfect view of the sun rising from the east; its rays hitting and absorbing into the clouds below. This was exactly how Burning Cyclone wanted to win, by tagging out her fellow Steel Wing high in the sky for all the world to see. As her hoof dove up for the tag, Sapphire dove to the side and pointed herself downwards; closing her wings up and free falling down like a guided missile.

“Sapphire!” Cyclone cried out in anger as she tried to catch up with the mare.

Sapphire giggled as she radioed Split Bolt, “I’m coming in hot. Be ready for the tag out!”

Split Bolt was surprised by this and tried to gather his thoughts, “Ready for the double kill!”

The whistling noise Sapphire’s wings made was audible from the tower where Moonlight Breeze was. She spat out her coffee and sprang onto her hooves in shock while looking over at the mare’s vitals, but saw they were normal. Moonlight smiled then and took a seat, enjoying the scene as it unfolded. Recruits and their flight instructors woke up to the sounds and hurried out from their sleeping quarters. Even Spitfire rushed out to see what was going on.

Sapphire Bolt could see both Thunder Cloud and Split Bolt in sight finally and began to open her wings up; decreasing her speed bit by bit. Split Bolt could see his flight partner in view and quickly got himself in position while still going after Thunder Cloud. Thunder Cloud was too focused on his opponent to take notice on what was occuring. When the mare’s wings had fully opened up she was able swoop down and over Split and Thunder Cloud; tagging Cloud out while Split dove up and tagged Cyclone a second later.

“Holy shit,” Thunder Cloud gasped, “They beat us.”

Sapphire slowed successfully and flew over to her partner Split Bolt, who had a huge smile on his face. Even Thunder Cloud was impressed and gave the mare a high-five.

“That was simply incredible.” Moonlight radioed as she got up and prepared to shut all of the gear down.

“Thank you.” Sapphire replied sweetly as she caught her breath.

As Moonlight Breeze read off the final results of the morning’s exercise, Burning Cyclone couldn’t handle her anger any longer. She flew back to where the trio were and slammed into Sapphire Bolt at full force; knocking the mare out. Cyclone immediately regretted her choice, but couldn’t catch the falling mare.

Moonlight noticed the sudden changes in Sapphire Bolt’s vitals and gasped, “Split, I don’t have vitals on Sapphire, What happened to her?”

Both Split and Thunder Cloud looked around and were unable to spot the mare, but when they saw Burning Cyclone hovering in place, crying; Split Bolt’s heart sank in fear. She pointed down and shook her head and the senior Steel Wing dove down to rescue his flight partner.

“Cyclone slammed into Sapphire post exercise,” Split explained to Moonlight as he struggled to reach top speed, “I’m going to save her!”

Moonlight kept her eyes glued to the vitals screen and prayed, “I hope you make it in time, Split. If you don’t Sapphire is going to end up as a jelly splat on the ground.”

“I got this.” Split replied as he focused.

It wasn’t too long before he spotted his flight partner; tumbling down to the ground limply. He could feel his entire body screaming in pain as he desperately dove down. Split was exerting so much force that his brain was starting to become oxygen deprived and the stallion was beginning to black in and out of consciousness. Moonlight looked on in horror, fearing that she would lose vitals on another Steel Wing.

“Split,” She radioed in, “You need to breathe! Your oxygen levels are too low and you’re going to pass out if you don’t. Both of you are going to be dead. Split!”

He gulped in air as if he was chugging down a hard cider as he reached out with his front hooves. He wasn’t going to let her die on his watch. Losing her would not just impact him, but the other Steel Wings as well.

“I won’t let you die like this!” Split Bolt cried out as his hooves grabbed onto Sapphire Bolt’s hooves.

Split’s wings spread out like a parachute as the stallion growled in pain. He lifted Sapphire up into his hooves as his wings slowed them down. It took a second for him to regain his breath, but when he looked over to see how Sapphire was doing she was peacefully asleep. The actual ground was not that far below them he noticed as he slowed them down and slowly began to fly back up to the main flightline.

“I got her, Moonlight!” Split Bolt replied as he calmed himself down.

Moonlight sighed in relief, “Thank Celestia you’re both okay! I’ll meet you both on the flightline with Wild Heart so we can get Sapphire to medical.”

“Roger that,” Split continued to calm himself down, “Where’s Burning Cyclone’s current position?”

Thunder Cloud radioed in, “She’s on the flightline with the rest of us.”

“Good,” Split replied, “She’s going to be receiving some disciplinary action once we get Sapphire Bolt stabilized. She slammed into Sapphire; post exercise.”

Thunder Cloud’s voice sounded rather surprised, “I had no idea what exactly happened, but it makes sense now looking back at it. We’ll be here on the flightline waiting for your return.”

“Damn right you will.” Split sighed in frustration. He momentarily glanced down at his partner to see that she was still passed out.

“Don’t scare me again like this again? Alright Sapphire?” Split said as he relaxed.

The whole Steel Wings team were on the flightline when Split Bolt reached it. Most of them looked confused, but when they saw Sapphire Bolt’s passed out body in Split Bolt’s arms they all became concerned. He was careful to land, ensuring that he would not fall over from not having his two front hooves available to stand on. Moonlight Breeze, Wild Heart, and Thunder Cloud raced over to him.

“Her condition appears to be stable,” Wild Heart explained as Split helped rest Sapphire onto the ground, “Her breathing and heart rate are both normal. We’ll see what the doc says when we get there.”

Split Bolt nodded, “I want Thunder Cloud to go with you to medical, Wild Heart. I’ll stay here with Moonlight Breeze and make sure nothing crazy from up the chain happens while she writes up the incident report.”

Wild Heart nodded as she placed Sapphire Bolt onto Thunder Cloud’s back, “You can count on me, Split!”

Thunder Cloud looked over to Split with a concerned look, “What are you going to do with Burning Cyclone?”

“I’ll have Moonlight Breeze help me decide what is best for her. I want to NJP her, but maybe there’s something going on with the mare that she needs help with. I promise I won’t dig into her too much, Thunder Cloud.” Split Bolt replied.

Thunder nodded, “Good to go, then. Hopefully Sapphire will be alright. We’ll be back soon.”

Split Bolt and Moonlight Breeze both stepped back as the trio took off to the hospital. They trotted over to the others then to debrief them and dismiss them for proper showers and chow. Split felt uneasy; the stallion had a sense that the reason Cyclone slammed into Sapphire was because of him, but he was hoping that she was the only one in the team who had those feelings. Moonlight was more concerned about how this whole thing might look like in the eyes of their chain of command. The relationship Sapphire and Split held was close, but she feared that to the higher ups that it was too close.