Chapter 7
A Lost Friend
Chapter 7
Viridian Night woke up the next morning, early as usual. He strapped on his ever present dagger then exited his room which was still bare, like the rest of his house, except for his bed and the boxes Pinkie and the movers organized and placed around his new house for him. He walked through the hall and down the stairs to the perfectly clean main room. Evidently, in addition to the pink mare’s astonishing abilities of breaking and entering, organization, and throwing a pretty good party, she was also really good at cleaning up the aftermath.
The pegasus walked over to the bags that he left by the front door last night. He opened one of the bags and pulled one of his grey hooded sweat shirts out and put it on, threading his fore-legs through the sleeves and his wings through the holes in the sides. He then slipped out the front door, stretched out his legs and wings, and headed towards town with a brisk jog.
He ran around aimlessly for a while just getting the layout of the town. He passed by several small shops, including one that sells sofas and quills, the local library that was built into a tree, and the town square which held a large fountain. When he reached town square he saw that a few ponies were starting to set up several small shops around the square like a bazaar.
“Hey there Viridian, what’re you up to this early in the mornin’?”
Viridian Night looked around for the pony calling him and spotted Applejack and Applebloom setting up their own cart and headed their direction. “Hey, I’m just out doing my morning exercise and thought I’d check out the town some more. You settin’ up shop today?”
“Sure are! Anything I can get for ya?” The farm pony replied happily.
“C’mon Sis I helped you set up the stand. Can I go now?” Applebloom pleaded to her big sister. “Me, Scoots, and Sweetie Bell wan’ a do some Crusading before the show today.”
“Sorry, give me one sec Sugarcube.” Applejack apologized to Viridian then turned to her sister. “Alright, alright be patient.” She said as she took her hat off, pulled out a small bag of bits out and hoofed it to her sister. “Now that’s all you get. It should be enough for your ticket, and a couple of snacks. Behave yerself and don’t get inta any trouble y’hear?”
Applebloom took the bag and stuffed it in her bow and hugged her sister. “Thanks Sis I will! See ya later, nice seein ya again Viridian!” She gave Viridian Night a mock salute then she zipped off.
“Sorry bout that, now is there anything I can do for ya?” Applejack turned back to Viridian Night.
“Naw, I’m alright. Thanks anyway though.” The green pegasus replied. “I actually should get going, catch you later Applejack.” He said then he turned and started to trot off.
His run was interrupted again when he felt something hit the top of his head. He stopped and caught it on reflex as the object bounced and continued falling. He looked at it and saw it was a bright red apple. He turned back to the orange farm pony. She was still standing behind her stand, but her muzzle scrunched up and her eyes moving side to side.
“I know you threw this at me,” Viridian deadpanned to her.
Applejack gave up her façade and said. “Eh, y’all are new in town and ya look mighty hungry, it’s on the house.”
Viridian Night walked back over to her and held out the proffered apple. “I appreciate it but I don’t have any money on me and I don’t like taking charity.”
In response Applejack extended her hoof, but when Viridian met her hoof with his apple filled one she immediately shoved the apple back and into his mouth. The green pegasus was stunned by the orange cow pony’s abrupt thrust. “There, now I can’t sell it to anypony else so you’ll just have to keep it.” Applejack said with a smug grin.
Viridian dropped the apple back into his hoof with a slightly irritated look on his face. “I’ll pay you back for this later”
“You can try.” Applejack replied still with that smug look still covering her face.
Viridian Night resigned himself to his defeat and sighed. “Thanks Applejack, but I should get going. Catch you later.”
“Yer welcome, see ya later Sugarcube.” She said and waved as he left.
The green pegasus wolfed down the apple and continued his morning workout. He ran down a couple more streets until his legs were burning from the exertion. He then stopped under a random tree and did a few sets of wing push-ups. Once he was done he took to the air and flew hard and fast circuits around the town. After he felt the same burning sensation in his wings as he did in his legs he headed back to his house.
Viridian Night entered his house and pulled off his sweatshirt, which now had sweat stains on the underarms, around the wing holes, and on the chest, and hung it up on the coat stand next to the door. He went upstairs and peeked inside the guest room that Rainbow Dash slept in last night. Seeing that she was still asleep he slipped back out and went into his bathroom. When he saw the box labeled “bathroom stuff” was already there he just shook his head and opened it up. He pulled out a bottle of shampoo, soap, and a towel. He took a quick shower, dried off then pulled his toothbrush and toothpaste out of the box and brushed his teeth. He then headed back downstairs. “Well, might as well make breakfast,” he said to himself and made his way into the kitchen to see what he could find.
*****
Rainbow Dash woke up to the smell of pancakes. She wanted to stay in bed but her stomach moaned at her, insisting she get up now. She groaned as she rolled out of bed. She stretched as much as she could against the restraints of her brace and bandages and headed to the bathroom. After she freshened up a bit she went downstairs following the alluring scent of food. When she was halfway across the main room Viridian Night walked through the door to the kitchen with two empty plates stacked on top of each other and a third plate stacked high with pancakes on his back. Resting on top of his outstretched wings he held silverware and a large bottle of maple syrup.
“Ah, good timing, have a seat.” He said and brought everything to the corner of the bar that was closest to the mare. He placed the stuff in front of her and asked, “Go ahead and dig in. You want coffee?”
“Sure, thanks.” Rainbow Dash replied as she piled pancakes on her plate then proceeded to drown them in syrup.
“So, did you just get up?” She asked Viridian trying to make small talk when he poured her and himself each a cup of coffee from the pot that was set up on the bar.
The stallion took the seat on the side adjacent from her and grabbed a couple pancakes for himself as he replied. “Naw I got up about an hour ago and went out for a morning workout.” He took a couple bites of pancake and continued, “I ran into Applejack and Applebloom in town square. Applebloom was excited about going to see some show or something today with her friends, then Applejack tossed me an apple and refuses to let me pay for it.”
He continued enjoying his breakfast, but Rainbow Dash had frozen in place with her fork halfway to her mouth. Viridian Night took a couple more bites before he realized she wasn’t eating anymore. “You alright?” he asked.
Rainbow Dash blinked when Viridian Night spoke. “Did you say show?” she asked still staring into the middle distance.
“Uh, yeah, Applebloom said something about a show… why?” Viridian responded now getting slightly concerned for the cyan mare.
“What time is it?!” She suddenly exclaimed.
“Uh, a little after 10…” Viridian Night replied taken aback.
“We’ve only got an hour! We gotta go, now!” She cried. Rainbow Dash then grabbed Viridian Night by the hoof and dragged him out the door. On the way out he at least remembered to snag his money pouch thinking they might run into Applejack so he could try to pay her back.
“Wait where are we going?” The green stallion asked, caught completely off guard by the rainbow mare’s sudden exuberance.
“The Wonderbolts’ show of course!” Rainbow Dash replied. “It’s the only time they’ve ever set up a show this close to Ponyville; only a mile outside of town!”
“The W-Wonderbolts?” Viridian Night stuttered.
“Yeah I know, it’s gonna be so awesome!” Her voice cracked.
“Awesome, that’s… that’s a word.” He said, his hesitation completely lost on the sky blue pegasus.
She dragged him all the way out of town without stopping or slowing down in even the slightest. Try as he might he couldn’t get out of her grip or even slow her down himself. Where did she get all this strength and energy all of a sudden? He thought to himself. The rainbow maned pegasus finally stopped when they got to the ticket booth.
“Hey Viridian, hey Rainbow, how’s it going guys?” The two pegasai turned and saw Spike waving at them. The Cutie Mark Crusaders where standing behind the purple dragon wearing their trademark capes.
“Hey Spike, hey girls, you all here to see the show too?” Rainbow asked.
“Yeah we wouldn’t miss it for the world!” Replied Scootaloo.
“We should all get tickets together.” Said Sweetie Bell.
“Yeah then we could all watch the show together.” Cried Applebloom.
“Sounds like a great idea, come on.” Rainbow Dash said and led the way to the ticket booth.
“Well I hope you all have fun I’ll see you later.” Viridian Night said as he waved to them.
Rainbow Dash turned back and gave him a confused look. “Aren’t you coming?” She asked.
“Well I’ve got all my stuff to unpack and some work to do and…” Viridian Night replied trying to shake off the invitation, but Rainbow Dash wasn’t buying it.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes as she said, “come on you can put it off for one more day.”
“I don’t know, I mean the Wonderbolts… Eh I’ve seen them a couple times when I was a kid and I think they’re a little overrated.” This was absolutely the wrong thing to say.
“WHAT?! Okay that settles it we’re ALL gonna see them right now!” She summoned her crazy strength again and dragged him up with everyone else to the booth.
“Wha, bu, uh,” his protests fell on deaf ears.
“Hello, six tickets for the show please.” Rainbow Dash asked the pony behind the ticket booth.
“Sorry, we’re completely sold out of tickets.” The beige unicorn mare behind the counter said.
Rainbow Dash’s expression fell instantly. “Are you sure?” She asked softly.
“Yeah I’m sure, sorry Hun maybe next time.” The ticket mare responded.
“Oh, okay then. Come on everyone.” The rainbow mare replied. She then hung her head and walked away. Spike and the CMC, letting out their own groans of disappointment, followed after her with Viridian Night trailing behind them.
As they walked away Viridian Night couldn’t help but feel relieved. Whew that was a close one. It would’ve been really awkward to see that pony again after two years. He thought to himself. He then looked at Rainbow Dash. He saw how much the fact that they were going to miss the show disappointed her. Her face was completely crestfallen with her head down; the wing that wasn’t bound in a sling was slack and dragging along the ground. “Come on Rainbow, we can always catch another show some other time.” He said trying to cheer her up.
“Yeah, I guess so,” she sighed without looking up.
The green stallion looked between the depressed mare and the ticket booth a couple times and he sighed with resignation. “You guys wait here one second, I’ll be right back.” He then walked back over to the ticket booth to talk to the unicorn.
Spike looked at Rainbow Dash and asked. “What do you think he’s doing? She said she didn’t have any more tickets.”
“I don’t know.” replied Rainbow Dash now watching Viridian Night with a curious expression.
They all watched the green pegasus as he talked to the beige unicorn. After a couple of seconds they saw her horn light up and she teleported out of the booth. Viridian however, stayed in front of the booth and about a minute later the unicorn flashed back and said something to him as she pulled out six objects that looked like cards with string attached to them and passed them to him. Viridian tucked them under his wing then nodded to her and he walked back to the group that was waiting for him.
“What was that about Mr. Viridian?” Sweetie Bell asked.
“Well I talked to the ticket salespony and it turned out she had some extra,” he pulled out the six lanyards, “VIP tickets.”
“Wow thanks Viridian!” Spike said as he grabbed five of the six tickets, kept one for himself and passed out the rest. “These must’ve been really expensive though, how’d you get these?”
“Don’t worry about it. You guys will find out soon enough anyway.” Viridian Night said with a small look of resignation that he covered with a smile so fast nobody even noticed that it was there. “Come on, let’s go.”
They made it to the VIP box a few minutes later. It had several seats right at the edge next to the opening in the box for everypony to have a great view of the show. There was also a table along the side of the box that was fully stocked with snacks and drinks.
“Oh my gosh this is so awesome!” Rainbow Dash squeed as she looked around the box.
“This is gonna be the best show ever!” Cried Scootaloo.
“C’mon everyone let’s go hit the buffet table. I’ve hardly eaten a thing today.” Said Rainbow Dash. She and the Cutie Mark Crusaders then went over to raid the table while Spike went over to talk to Viridian Night.
“So, not to pry or anything, but I noticed you were kinda reluctant to come to the show today. Any particular reason?” The baby dragon asked.
“Same reason I was able to get the tickets. Like I said you’ll find out after the show.” The stallion replied and he went over to grab a couple muffins from the table. Spike, deciding not to push the issue, went over to partake from the table as well. However, the three fillies lacking any tact started jibing the stallion.
“Hey Mr. Viridian, so how come you always carry that knife on ya?” Asked Applebloom.
“Yeah are you afraid of being attacked?” Asked Scootaloo.
“Oh is there somepony after you Mr. Viridian? We could protect you!” Sweetie Bell quipped in.
“Yeah, Cutie Mark Crusader body guards!” Yelled Scootaloo.
“Yayyyyy!” The three fillies hollered in unison.
Viridian Night face-hoofed so hard it almost sounded like it hurt. “No girls,” he sighed, “Nopony is after me, I just wear it all the time out of habit.”
“Why’s that Mr. Viridian?” Asked Sweetie Bell.
“It was given to me by my father.” Viridian Night replied.
“Oh is he in the military too?” Scootaloo asked.
“What does he do? Does he do astronomy stuff like you too?” Applebloom asked.
“No he-” Viridian Night started but Spike came to his rescue.
“Hey come on girls let’s take our seats, the show is about to start!” The baby dragon said.
“Oh yeah your right.” Replied Applebloom.
“Thanks Spike, we don’t wanna miss a second of it.” Said Scootaloo.
As Spike led the Cutie Mark Crusaders to the seats he looked back and winked at Viridian Night. He returned the dragon’s wink with a grateful nod. Rainbow Dash then walked up to her fellow pegasus and said. “Hey come on, we don’t wanna miss the show either.” She then led him over to the seats where the dragon and fillies were. The stallion took the seat next to Spike and Rainbow Dash took the seat on the other side of the green pegasus.
They were just in time too, because a few seconds later the Wonderbolts exploded from the left side of the stadium. They were in a very tight six-pony delta formation with their captain, Spitfire, at the head of the group. They performed a large loop-da-loop halfway across the field then continued to the opposite end. Once there they banked wide left until they were center and perpendicular to the field. After they reached the dead center of the field they stopped, hovering in mid-air, and a megaphone was magicked up to Spitfire.
She grasped the megaphone in her fore-hooves and spoke through it. “Thanks everypony for coming out today, hope you enjoy the show!” She then dropped the megaphone and she led her team up into the air.
*****
Everybody had a great time during the show. Even Viridian Night eventually was pulled into the excitement of the crowd and the ponies and dragon he shared the box with. After an hour of endless tricks and death-defying feats, with a play-by-play of it all by Rainbow Dash, the show ended with the six Wonderbolts converging on the center of the field at break-neck speed. At the last second they pulled up, just inches away from each other, shot straight up into the air then diverged at the top in an explosion of their various flight trails.
“That was the best show EVER!” cheered Rainbow Dash.
“That was awesome how Spitfire and Soarin flew right at each other and rolled at the last moment to avoid crashing!” followed Scootaloo.
“An’ how they was all able to spin and stay in that triangle formation.” Said Applebloom.
From there it degraded into the three fillies and mare gushing about all the amazing feats and tricks that they just witnessed. A few moments later there was a knock on the door. Viridian Night walked over and answered it, on the other side stood the unicorn from the ticket booth.
“Hello sir, did you and your guests enjoy the show?” she asked.
“Yes we had a great time, thank you.” He replied. He could tell behind him everyone was looking at the two with curiosity, but he didn’t look back at them.
“My pleasure sir, I am here to inform you that you and your guests are invited to the Wonderbolts’ trailer, if you would follow me please.” The unicorn mare said and she turned and gave them a motion to follow her.
“Wait you mean we get to hang out with the Wonderbolts?! This really is the best! Day! Ever!” cried the rainbow pegasus as she ran up next to Viridian Night.
“Yeah… Great.” The stallion replied but Rainbow Dash was too excited to notice his reluctance.
It was a short walk to the trailer and when they got there the unicorn thanked them again for coming to the show and took her leave.
“Well go on Viridian, you’re the one who got us the tickets. Hurry up and knock!” Rainbow Dash urged.
“Alright, alright.” He sighed and walked up to the door and rapped it three times.
The door was immediately opened by Spitfire, still wearing her uniform, sans the mask and goggles. Upon seeing Viridian Night her face flashed a whole range of emotions from surprise, sadness, overjoyed, then settled on a mixture of relief and happy. “Good to see you, it’s been a long time. How have you been sir?” The yellow pegasus said, and on the word ‘sir’ she snapped to attention, saluted and her face shifted into a blank serious expression.
Viridian Night just rolled his eyes as he replied. “We’re the same rank now; you don’t have to call me sir. Besides we’re friends.”
“We both know you should be higher in rank by now sir.” Spitfire retorted, now with a small frown peeking through her blank demeanor.
Viridian Night sighed, but with a smile on his face, as he returned the salute and said. “As you were,” Spitfire returned to her original stance and expression and Viridian Night continued, “It’s good to see you too.”
When her salute was returned she walked down the steps of the trailer and embraced the green pegasus in a one-hoofed hug which he returned. Only then did the yellow pegasus notice the group behind Viridian Night, in particular the rainbow maned mare.
“Hey if it isn’t, Rainbow Dash right? I didn’t know you two knew each other.” She said.
Rainbow Dash, who was stunned by the realization that her old friend was on personal terms with a member of the Wonderbolts, was shocked back to reality when she was addressed directly by her idol. “Uh, yes, yeah that’s me; it’s so cool to see you again. Yeah Viridian and I knew each other when we were kids. You’re show today was totally awesome! It was the best one yet!” The cyan pegasus replied with an excited, ear-to-ear grin on her face.
“We try,” Spitfire said. She then noticed all the bandages covering Rainbow Dash and frowned in concern, “Hey you alright?”
“Huh? Oh yeah I just had an accident a few days ago but I’m fine. I’ll be good as new and back to practicing my moves in no time.” Rainbow Dash said waving off Spitfire’s concern lest she give the Wonderbolt the impression that she wouldn’t be able to join them one day.
“Well that’s good to hear.” The yellow pegasus said. She was then virtually assaulted by the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
“Wow it’s actually Spitfire, it’s so cool to meet you! I’m Scootaloo.” Gushed the orange pegasus filly.
“Name’s Applebloom, pleasure ta meet cha Ms. Spitfire.” Greeted the yellow earth pony.
“I’m Sweetie Bell. That was a great show today.” Said the white unicorn.
“Well it’s nice to meet you too, I’m glad you enjoyed the show.” Smiled the Wonderbolt.
She was then bombarded by the three fillies with question after question; to the point where she couldn’t keep up with what they were saying. Her face slowly shifted to a look of distress as the fillies continued to verbally assail her. Eventually, it was Spike who came to her rescue.
“Alright girls give her some space huh?” The purple baby dragon said as he moved in front of the Crusaders, cutting them off to the famous pegasus. “I’m Spike by the way, nice to meet ya.” He said, holding out his claw to shake.
Spitfire giggled as she extended her hoof to Spike. “Nice to meet you too,” she turned back towards the trailer and looked over her shoulder at the group, “well no use standing outside. Come on in everypony.” She walked up the steps, through the door and held it open for them. They all followed her up, Viridian Night in the lead.
As the green stallion walked through the door he glanced to the right where the “living room” was, which looked like it actually had plenty of room for all of them even with the other five Wonderbolts already spaced about. When they saw him they all immediately began to rise, but before they fully got up he said. “No, it’s fine, as you were.” At that the five stunt flyers paused mid-rise then sank back down in their seats.
He then walked over to a chair next to the couch Soarin was lounging on. It looked like the pale blue stallion was about to strike up a conversation with him, until the three fillies that followed Viridian Night through the door, squealed with delight as they rushed into the room to introduce themselves to the other Wonderbolts. They were followed by the only slightly more conserved Rainbow Dash who kept repeating “omygoshohmygoshohmygosh!” as she made her way over the rest of the group. She looked around and sat down on another couch by Rapidfire.
Spitfire moved over to the couch Soarin was on and had him move over so she could sit closer to Viridian Night. While Rainbow Dash, Applebloom, Sweetie Bell, Scootaloo, and Spike were conversing with the other team members, Spitfire leaned over and asked. “So, what’ve you been up to these past two years Viridian?”
“Well I’ve been reassigned to Princess Luna’s new Astronomical Research Division.” He started.
“Wait, research? But you’re one of the best commanders in the Air Force. What are you doing stuck behind a desk pushing pencils for? I’ve heard on the grapevine that Celestia keeps offering some young captain a high up position in her and Luna’s personal guard. I know it’s you. Why haven’t you taken the position?” The fire maned pegasus replied shocked.
“You know why,” Viridian Night replied simply, “and I refuse to have this conversation.” He unconsciously glanced in the direction of Rainbow Dash and the kids. Thankfully they were all too enraptured in their own conversations with the other Wonderbolts to notice them.
Spitfire caught his line of sight and replied. “No you need to hear this, we can talk about it outside, or right here in front of everypony. It makes no difference to me.”
Viridian Night glared at her for several seconds not moving a muscle. Eventually Spitfire grew impatient and took a large breath of air and poised herself to start talking again, but loud enough so that everypony could hear her. Right as she opened her mouth, however, Viridian Night hissed at her. “Alright fine, you win. Let’s go outside.”
The two of them got up to leave but were stopped by Soarin. “Hey where’re you two going?” He asked his voice filled with simple curiosity.
“I just wanted to walk around and stretch my legs a little while Viridian and I reminisce about when we served together.” Spitfire replied.
“Ah, okay, just don’t be gone too long. You know how jealous I can get when another stallion is with my Fire-Pie.” Soarin winked as his face and tone filled with humor. Spitfire rolled her eyes and blushed slightly at the pet name. She then turned and led Viridian Night back out of the trailer and the two pegasai started walking towards the field.
Viridian Night, wanting to delay the inevitable, started the conversation on the subject of Soarin. “Nice guy, you two…?”
“Yes,” Spitfire replied knowing who Viridian Night was referring to. “We’ve been dating for several months now. Nopony’s made me feel happier.” She said with a slight whimsical look on her face.
“Good for you. I’m glad you were able to find somepony.” He said, genuinely happy for his friend.
“What about you? I’ve met Rainbow Dash a few times. She’s a good mare, talented flyer, sense of humor, huge goals, albeit a little arrogant. And she said you two knew each other as kids huh?” Spitfire said.
“We’re just acquaintances. I haven’t seen her since before she even got her cutie mark. We just happened to bump into each other a few days ago.” He replied emotionlessly.
“Oh. Have you seen anypony else from the Wings?”
“You’re the first.”
“Met anypony else? Anypony special?” The yellow pegasus asked with a hopeful smile.
“Nope, just been keeping to myself.”
At that Spitfire just stopped. Viridian Night took a couple more steps before he realized she wasn’t next to him anymore, and he turned around and faced her. She was just standing there, her head down, slightly shaking left to right. “Why do you do this to yourself? You did nothing wrong, you shouldn’t force yourself to carry that burden.” The Wonderbolt said with a small voice.
“I said I don’t want to have this conver-” The green pegasus started but was cut off.
“No, you’re gonna listen dammit!” Spitfire yelled as she lifted her head back up and looked him in the eye. “You did nothing wrong, and since you can’t seem to remember, you did do a lot of things right, including saving my hide, and a lot of other ponies’!”
Viridian’s brow furrowed. “Only because it was my mess to begin with in the first place, if I hadn’t been stupid enough to inspect that cave closer none of that would’ve happened!” He bellowed.
“You couldn’t have known that was going to happen. We were scouts; it was our job to inspect those things.” Spitfire rounded back at him. Her face then relaxed, falling into a saddened expression and her voice softened. “You have to let go Viridian. It wasn’t your fault.”
“I can’t lose anyone that close to me ever again.” Viridian Night said his voice barley a whisper.
“You can’t just hide from the world.” She said extending a hoof to Viridian’s shoulder.
He smacked the hoof away, the anger in his eyes returned. “Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do. You only have the vaguest idea of what I went through that night.” He snarled at her.
“I’m just trying to help you.” She said, hurt in her voice.
“Well I don’t need your help. I’m doing just fine.” He snapped and turned around.
“Please Viridian.” Spitfire whispered in a small voice. It was enough to give him pause. Maybe she’s right. Maybe I don’t have to… No if I push everyone away then I can’t be hurt if they are. I can’t take any more pain and loss like that. He shook his head and spread his wings. I’m sorry old friend. I hope you can forgive me. He then took off as fast as he could without so much as a second glance.
Spitfire knew she could’ve caught up and stopped him. But she knew it would accomplish little more than to anger him more. “I always hate it when you do this sir,” she muttered out loud to herself. “You were always too critical of yourself. But now it’s just self-destructive.” She started back to the trailer. The least she could do was escort everypony else back to their homes. She knew small towns like Ponyville were fairly safe even at night, but maybe she could talk to Rainbow Dash about him. He seemed concerned that she would overhear what Viridian Night and Spitfire had just been talking about. Maybe she could get an idea of how he was doing by talking to the Rainbow maned pegasus.
When she walked back through the door to the trailer, everypony turned and watched her close the door behind her and walk over to them. Rainbow Dash was the first to speak. “Where’s Viridian Night?” She asked.
“Ah, he uh, left early because… he said he had some work he needed to take care of. Something about a comet shower.” Spitfire responded coming up with the story on the spot.
“Oh, okay then.” Rainbow Dash replied. “Hey Scootaloo, Scootaloo?” She turned to the orange pegasus and saw her snoozing along with the other Crusaders and Spike on one of the couches. “Well I guess it’s time to get these kids home. It is getting pretty late for them.” She said disappointed.
“Hey why don’t I walk all of you back?” Offered Spitfire.
“Really? Aw that’d be so cool!” Gushed Rainbow Dash.
“Well let’s get them roused and we can be on our way.” The Wonderbolts captain said. Rainbow Dash and the Wonderbolts nearest the kids woke them up and told them it was time to go. Surprisingly the three normally rowdy fillies didn’t even give a fuss. Rainbow Dash figured that it must be because they were so tired. All they did was repeatedly thank the Wonderbolts for a great time and for letting them hang out with them for the evening; as well as for all the free signed merchandise they were given. “Before we leave just gimmie one sec.” Spitfire said and she went down the short hallway into one of the trailer’s rooms. A few minutes later she came back out with her goggles in her mouth. She walked up to Rainbow Dash and placed them on her head. “Signed and everything,” she told the cyan mare with a smile.
“Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” Rainbow Dash gasped.
*****
Spitfire and Rainbow Dash were going to go to each of the fillies’ and Spike’s houses and drop them off, but Spike informed them that Rarity was generous enough to let them all have a sleep-over at her house after the show. Once they dropped the four of them off Spitfire asked. “Do you mind if I follow you to your house as well? There’s something I want to talk to you about.”
Rainbow Dash gasped. “ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! Yeah anything Spitfire, or should I be calling you captain?” She asked with a huge hopeful grin.
Spitfire gave a comforting smile. “No it’s not about that I’m afraid.” She watched as Rainbow Dash’s spirits plummet at the realization that Spitfire wasn’t talking to her about joining the Wonderbolts. “Hey it’s nothing personal, if it were up to me I’d’ve asked you for a tryout after you led the Ponyville pegasai in creating that tornado to collect the water for Cloudsdale, but regulations say you have to wait a few more years before you can tryout. Unless you were military. I actually want to talk to you about Viridian.”
Rainbow Dash perked up considerably at that. “So I still have a chance? And not just that but a really good chance?”
“Yeah absolutely.” Spitfire smiled.
“Awesome thank you, I’ll train even harder now so I don’t let you down.” Rainbow Dash cheered.
Spitfire giggled. “Well don’t push yourself too far. Don’t want you to get hurt any more than you already have.”
Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her head. “eheheheh well you don’t have to worry about that. I’ll train harder but I’ll be more careful.”
“Good to hear. Keep it up and I’m sure you’ll be a shoo-in. Now which way is it to your place?” Spitfire asked.
“Well it’s the cloud house on the edge of town, but Nurse Redheart says I won’t be able to fly for another week, so I’m staying with Viridian. He lives this way.” She then led the Wonderbolt down the road to his house.
“This is working out better than I thought it would.” Spitfire muttered under her breath.
“What was that?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Hmm? Oh, nothing, lead the way.” Spitfire replied and the two pegasai started down the road.
“So what can I tell you about Viridian that you don’t already know? It sounded like you two knew each other. You guys served together?” Asked Rainbow Dash her spirits much higher after the praise she received from the Wonderbolts captain.
“Well, we haven’t even seen each other in two years and he had to run off before we could catch up, so I want to hear about how he’s been from somepony who knows him before the team leaves early tomorrow morning.” Spitfire explained.
“Well I wouldn’t say we’re close really. We’ve only just ran into each other again a few days ago.” The blue pegasus began. “He’s pretty similar to how he was when we were kids. He’s still really nice and cool, but he’s also… distant now.” She said with a frown.
“How did you two run into each other?” Spitfire asked.
“Well I was practicing a new trick and it kinda, exploded in my face.” The rainbow maned pegasus said sheepishly. “Anyway, it launched me through the air to the next town over and into the nearby lake. Viridian pulled me out and took me to the town’s clinic. Once the doc patched me up she had me stay with Viridian who brought me back when he moved here.”
“Hmm, interesting. Wait, what was that about your trick exploding in your face?” Spitfire asked with a look of shock.
“Oh I was uh trying to mix my sonic rainboom with a lightning cloud. I call it the Rainbow Bolt!” Rainbow Dash said proudly. “It uh just has a few kinks to work out.” She said rubbing the back of her head again.
“Well you’ll have to show me when it’s finished.” Spitfire said with a smile.
“Ab-absolutely!” Rainbow Dash stuttered.
By that time they’d reached Viridian Night’s house. Rainbow Dash reached out with a hoof and opened the door for them. As they walked in they could see a light shining under the crack of the door on the opposite side of the main room before Rainbow Dash flicked on the main lights.
“Would you like anything to drink?” Asked Rainbow Dash as she walked over to the bar.
“Sure what’ve you got?” Replied Spitfire following the rainbow maned pegasus. The blue pegasus led the yellow one over to the bar to let her see the stock. “Ah I’m not surprised to see this here.” Spitfire said and pulled down one of the bottles of whiskey, Viridian’s favorite, which was sealed with red wax and had a tan label on it that read Equine’s Etch. “You know, I used to hate whiskey with a passion until a certain fresh, green, 2nd lieutenant squad leader bought his sergeant a glass in the hopes it would get her to lighten up.” She chuckled at the memory. She then pulled out a glass tumbler, broke the seal on the bottle and poured herself a couple hoofs of the bourbon.
“Wow, I knew you two served in the Air Force together by what you said earlier, but you and Viridian were in the same squad?” Rainbow Dash asked as she pulled out a beer from the mini fridge.
Spitfire took a sip of her drink and replied. “Yep, he was the leader of our flight’s fourth scouting squad, and I was his second in command, not as impressive as it sounds, a squad only holds four or five ponies. Though, it was his first assignment and I’d already had a good amount of experience so our leadership was more or less even in our squad for the first few months, until he got some experience of his own. Those were good times.” She swished the drink around in her glass while she reminisced then took another swig.
“I’d love to hear some awesome stories about your military career!” The cyan pegasus said with enthusiasm.
“Sure, hey, why don’t you see if Viridian is done with what he’s doing, and can join us?” Spitfire suggested.
“Okay, cool, be right back.” Rainbow Dash said and she went over to the door they saw the light coming from earlier.
Spitfire knew that he probably wouldn’t want to talk to anypony, especially not her right now, but it was meant more of a distraction so she could place the object she hid under her wing when they left the trailer. She was going to give it to Rainbow Dash originally for her to give to him later, but now she was going to hide it somewhere the green pegasus would find it later without anypony else knowing. She quickly pulled out a small white box with a small scroll tied to the top of it and placed it on the shelf, then returned the whiskey bottle to its original spot in front of the package.
A minute later Rainbow Dash came back with a frown on her face and said. “He said he’s too busy and to leave him alone. He didn’t even open the door.”
“Aw well, can’t be helped, but I’d still be happy to tell you a few stories.” Spitfire said and waved a hoof.
After several stories, most of them about her career before she met Viridian Night, and a couple while they served together, Spitfire decided it was about time she got going. “Well it’s gettin’ pretty late and we gotta leave early in the morning to get to our next show. It was great talking with you though, not many ponies care about my career before the Wonderbolts. It’s nice to talk with somepony about something other than the team all the time.”
“Seriously!? Those were some of the best stories I’ve ever heard! Are you sure you can’t stay just a little longer?” Rainbow Dash asked with a small look of disappointment in her eye.
Spitfire chuckled a little and replied. “Sorry but Wonderbolts gotta sleep too. Tell ya what though, I really appreciate you listen to me ramble on about my soldiering life so next show you can make it to tickets are free.”
“Really?! That is so awesome, thank you so much!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed nearly falling off her stool in excitement.
“Don’t mention it.” Spitfire smiled as she walked back to the door. She opened it and was about halfway through it before she turned and said with a sad, almost forlorn expression. “Hey, do me a favor and look out for Viridian. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but he carries a guilt that isn’t his; blames himself for something that he couldn’t control.”
“What happened?” Inquired the cyan pegasus.
“It’s not my place to say, just keep an eye on him for me would ya? He needs somepony, and it looks like you’re the only one who’s managed to get close to him in the past two years.” The yellow pegasus said.
“You can count on me!” Rainbow Dash replied, but still confused by Spitfire’s request.
Spitfire smiled and nodded. “Thanks Rainbow Dash, I appreciate it. I’ll see you around.” And with that she left, closing the door behind her.
Immediately after Spitfire left, Rainbow Dash got up and walked over to the door Viridian was behind and knocked. After a minute with no response she knocked again and tried opening the door. She found that it was locked, and, after a few more seconds of waiting for a response she decided to give up. I guess he was serious when he said he didn’t want to be disturbed while he was working. I’ll just have to talk to him in the morning, she thought to herself then retreated upstairs to the room she was staying in and promptly went to sleep.
A while later, Viridian Night slowly cracked open the door to see if anypony was still in the room. Seeing that the coast was clear he passed through the door, locking it as he closed it. Knowing that he wasn’t going to get any sleep tonight, with what he and Spitfire talked about still fresh in his mind, he walked over to the bar. He pulled down a clean glass and the whiskey bottle Spitfire had opened earlier. He gave a snort of mixed annoyance and humor at the bottle’s broken seal, knowing who most likely opened it, and then he poured some whiskey into the glass. As he leaned back his head to drink he noticed a box with a note attached to it in the space behind where the bottle was.
He reached up and pulled it off the shelf and placed it on the counter in front of him. He placed his glass to the side, momentarily forgotten. He detached the note from the box and unrolled it. Inside it was a hastily written note.
Viridian,
It was really great to see you again, you know I, all of us, have been worried about you. Nopony from the old Flight has heard any word of you since that day. We all hoped you were doing well but now I see that you’re still beating yourself up over what happened. IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT; you’ve got to stop blaming yourself for what happened. There was nothing you could’ve done to prevent it from happening. Remember that you did stop it when nopony else even knew it was possible. You’ve got to remember what you did do to finish it, and stop dwelling on how it started. It kills me to see you destroy yourself like this. If you don’t forgive yourself then I’m going to take up my old duties as your sergeant and knock some sense into that thick skull of yours. Please Viridian, it wasn’t your fault, forgive yourself. Inside the box is something that me, and the rest of the flight that I could get a hold of, thought that you should have. I’ve been holding on to it in the hopes I’d be the one who found you first, and as luck would have it I was. Again, please take care of yourself; I can’t stand to see you like this.
Your Friend,
Spitfire
P.S. When you find this it’ll probably be your birthday, I hope you remember it as that.
Viridian Night set the note down and picked up the box in his fore-hooves. He pulled the top off then upended the contents on top of the note. A large, heavy coin about an inch and a half in diameter and an eighth of an inch thick fell out. It was made of bronze and had a highly stylized crossed pegasus wings with blades attached to them emblazed on the face. He picked up the coin and flipped it over. On the back was some writing engraved upon the surface that read.
To the best officer we could have asked for in a crisis, and a true testament to the Razor Wings fighting spirit. Thank you Viridian Night.
He stared at the coin for a few moments until he flung it across the room, not paying attention where he was aiming. He then took the note Spitfire wrote and crumpled it up and threw it into a nearby trash can. He glanced up at the clock built into the bar and saw it was a few minutes past midnight. He then took the glass in one of his hooves and muttered. “Happy birthday to me.” And he slugged the drink back in one gulp.
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YES
AND UPDATE :D
oh hoh hoh this is going to get goood
IT UPDATED!
Updates! But it clearly hasn't been proof read!
Aftermath is one word.
Can needs a capital. Sis doesn't.
Pretty sure sugarcube is usually one word when used in that context, I could be wrong. It shouldn't be capitalised.
Needs to be capitalised.
Eh should be capitalised.
Y'all is an abbreviation of 'you all', but AJ is only addressing a single pony.
Needs a full stop after later.
There should be a comma after her.
There were many more similar errors afterwards, but I stopped keeping track. Get yourself a proof reader, man!
Whoops sorry about this everyone, I have two proof-readers but I keep all the drafts from my work and I must have accidentally uploaded one of the older ones by mistake
BTW "Sis" capitalized is correct in this context because it's being used like proper name, also you are correct that y'all is grammatically you and all combined but in actual speech it is often times used to refer to a singular person as well.
Again I apologize for uploading the wrong draft the first time, I'll be sure to double check next time