Highfire's Great Big Mailventure

by KVFFour

Chapter 4: Reflection, Tasking, Violence.

Author's Note:

Hopefully my formatting isn't messed up.

Zevera, my beloved:

I wished we would grow old together, I truly did. Alas, it seems from my fate I could not be hid.

The stallion I entrust this to should be Green Highfire Lines. His name is a mouthful, true, but I trust his word and mind. And yes, he does have the appearance of a mare but that is neither here nor there.

I suppose

===

“So what about that homework?”

“Hmm?” Zedaka looked up from her letter at the pegasus before her, who’d turned around to speak, canteen in wing as he took a long draw.

He swallowed his water and glanced over. “You, uh, said you had homework. That and you’re a student and stuff…?”

The zebra carefully put the pen back into it’s case and saved her work, the charmed paper glowing gently green.

“Yes, that is true. Does something about that trouble you?” Green nodded to her, putting the canteen back.

“Did you lose all your work? If those… Things trashed your home, I mean.”

She grimaced. “Ah. That is a sobering thought. We shall have to see later what they have wrought. Usually they will stay for little, though there are some things in my home that are more than just fragile and brittle…”

‘…in other words, they might eat magical artifacts maybe? Or they might just break all her shit. Horseapples, I just gave her a failing grade and ran her ass outta her home didn’t I?’ Something on Green’s expression must’ve given him away because Zedaka hastened to reassure him.

“Worry not, worry not, it is not your doing. For a while now they have been at my door, and I should truly have moved out much before. Really, that might be what earns me a failing grade, besides my lost brewing.”

A smile twitched across his face before he sighed again. “…still doesn’t make me feel any less sorry. I don’t even have any bits so I can’t -”

Gently, Zedaka flicked his snout. “Stop moping, there’s my favor. If that’s not acceptable then I do have a type of candy whose flavor I quite do savor…”

===

Able Patrol sat a bit nervously in their ready room. While usually it was a comfortable place for them to hurry up and wait in full kit, today they were expecting brass to visit. Naturally, this meant making sure everything was immaculate and not touching anything, so as to preserve the clean and tidy nature of the room.

After all, it wouldn’t do to have some unicorn noble come across the normal ready room. Senior Route Handler Arrow Timing was most certainly a neat freak and did not leave his possessions to fill the room he occupied by some quirk of physics, for instance.

He definitely wasn’t a colt cuddler either.

And, so, for the last two hours, all the decent games, drinks, and magazines had gone into their cubbies and been replaced with nice sanitized rubbish that exactly one member of Able liked. (Silvered Sabre was weird like that.)

“Hey, officer’s comin!” With one whisper they quickly stood into formation, awaiting what would surely be some-

“At ease.” Well, a unicorn did come through the door. It certainly was no noble, though. A mare of muted blue coat and shockingly bright green mane stepped in, nodding. “Senior Handler Arrow Timing, I presume?”

“Coordinator! Yeah, uhm…”

“You get the picture. Sweep the roadapples, we’ve got an actual job.”

“…Oh Celestia’s cake fattened flank you aren’t kidding.” Arrow Timing’s ears instantly went back, as the mare nodded grimly, taking a chair and sitting down.

‘Tartarus, I really feel like we should have some kind of dramatic lighting for this…’

“Since 9:50 PM yesterday, we’ve noted an uptick in… Incidents. We believe this one is the cause.” A folder was laid on the table, opened already. Able gathered around, looking it over.

After a moment, the mare next to him spoke. “So, he’s bad luck and it’s spreading to the mail service?”

The Coordinator nodded, pointing a hoof. “Silvered Sabre, was it? Good. I like you. And yes, correct on both accounts. So that’s why I’m here. I need you to, CAREFULLY, make him quit.”

“…ma’am, all due respect, Able isn’t a combat or negotiating patrol. We’re just-”

“Delivery, yes, I know. But you’re good at it, and it appears Mr Lines is quite a ways away, through rather dangerous territory. Frankly, Arrow, you’re the best of our veterans. I have more faith in you for this than I do all others.”

The earth pony made a mutinous look, but groaned, and nodded after a moment. “Fine enough ma’am. What’s our plan?”

“All you need to do, is find him and explain the situation. Do not use force unless he becomes violent, do you understand?”

“…and if he says no?”

“I’ve already started writing letters to the Princess and sending them through several different means.” The Coordinator wanly smiled.

“The rest of your mission is in the back pocket of the folder. Go on, Senior Handler. I shall see you again in a month or less.”

===

“SWEET CELESTIA’S FUCKING SUNBURNED PLUSH WHITE FLAAAAAANK-!” Green was never the top of his class in fast level flight. Actually, he just about scraped medium in all the phy ed classes he had, as larger wings were harder to beat, compounded with his family having inherited a wing shape, that while great for gliding and climbing, was just awful for speed.

That said when a desert mole is trying to take a nibble of your hindquarters, adrenaline covereth a multitude of failings. “SUN STARS MOON AND SKYYYYY-!”

Down below, Zedaka was making her own land speed record, having dumped the sled for the sake of speed as dozens of massive train-dwarfing moles flew out of the ground like rats in a pallet of hard drugs.

‘Why can they FLY?! And why ME?! Zedaka’s right there!’

The sixth sense of pegasi poked him just in time to yank a left roll, the sharp teeth-lined rotating mouths of the mole careening by close enough to splatter it’s spit on his leg and side-

“GAH-” Sharply braking, feeling a feather snap and his muscles strain as he suddenly pulled a sharp climb, the pegasus dodged another mole which was apparently bright enough to try leading its target, and then without many other options gave another flap before shutting his wings to throw himself into a backwards curving dive.

He flipped it the high hoof as he dove, grinning. “Get bent you stupid-”

WHAM!

And then the world was spinning, pain blooming from one side, a slow ache building in the other- ‘Wait… Oh Tartarus-’

“EYES OPEN!” And then he saw the ground coming up terribly fast indeed. Wings instinctively flared, training forcing them to stay level relative to him before he slowed tried pulling out of the dive-

“Oh this is going to fucking suck isn’t it?” Impact.

Thud- CRUNCH. Green’s vision almost darkened to nothing, the edges of his sight covered in fuzziness. His throat hurt. ‘Why does it hurt?’

It took a while for him to settle into firm coherence.

He took in a shaky breath, and listened. Apart from his heartbeat pounding in his ears, he… Didn’t actually hear the sound of the moles tunneling or flying out of the ground to grab a light snack. Actually, he…

‘R-rain? No, it’s… Static electricity? Wait, there’s no clouds for thunderstorms-’ And then the sky apparently decided enough was enough of these shenanigans, because out of a clear blue sky there was a cloud that rapidly got closer.

Actually, it wasn’t getting closer, it was just getting bigger, he realized.

And then it exploded.

===

He’d seen lightning bolts before. Pegasi were by nature both insulated and conductive capable.

He hadn’t seen one as thick as a wine barrel out of the corner of his eye blow a creature that made the Velkaville train look like a toothpick to smithereens though.

“… that’s gotta be Zedaka. Or-” His coat prickled and he squeezed his eyes shut again.

THOOM! THOOMTHOOMTHOOM-

Out of an abundance of caution, he pressed himself flat to the ground and did a quick static discharge exercise.

===

Eventually, quiet hoofbeats tapped nearby. They stopped, and then he heard a gasp. “Spirits forbid! Green-”

" 'm fine. Naw so louuud…" He opened his eyes, and unflipped his ears, looking to his left warily.

Zedaka, much more battered and missing a part of her hood, looked back. Her cloak was scorched from something, its armor exposed with a dull gleam. Beyond that, she herself looked tired, drained. A grin, small but noticable, decorated her muzzle though.

“It is good to see you are well. I will admit i very nearly thought you fell.”

“Urgh…” The stallion grimaced, tried to rise, and then hissed as something burned on his other side. He looked down, and immediately wished he hadn’t. The side where that mole’s spit had hit him was a bit runny. “Ah. That’s… That’s a burn? No, it… Oh, ponyfeathers…”

He looked back to a zebra who was suddenly very close, gave an apologetic wan smile, and passed out.

Comments

[KVFFour]

potentially, slapping the go button on a story concept little.more than twink pegasus mailstallion was a poor move.