> They've Been Among Us
>  by Echo Derp
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> A Boring Day Off
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


A Boring Day Off
 

Soarin' sighed as he laid on the couch during this afternoon time. He twisted and turned to place himself in a comfortable position. It was his day off from being a Wonderbolt he was, which he very much enjoyed since his career required extensive hours of training and performance, then left him exhausted at the end. 

But there's one thing he didn't like on his day offs. One thing that made him stay on the couch: Boredom. Soarin' didn't have a bad side for boredom, or he didn't have a bad side for almost anything, really. He sighed again and let his head hang off the couch arm, then stared at the ceiling. 

Seconds felt like minutes, minutes felt like hours. But then he let out a muffled chuckle as he noticed who he was acting like: Rainbow Dash. Rainbow really disliked the sense of being bored. Soarin' picked his head up and slowly rolled his eyes to the right, to see if an idea would come to his mind. But unfortunately nothing ever arrived to his head. He then glanced to the left, and warmly smiled at a photo he had placed on the living room stool, next to the couch. 

The photo displayed the picture of his family. It showed both him and Rainbow in their uniforms, but Soarin' had his captain uniform and Rainbow wore her casual uniform. Which was a sky blue collar shirt with a black tie, and two gold bars on the shoulder sleeves. Aurora was also in the photo, right in between both them smiling. Aurora was a light greyish blue colored Pegasus but she was more on the blue side. She had Soarin's eyes, and navy blue mane and tail, with some baby blue streaks added into it. And she didn't have her cutie mark.

Soarin' gently picked up the photo and studied it closely. His daughter and her mother, which was his wife, was the most he absolutely cared about. Losing them would be a devastating result for him; a nightmare unleashed upon him. But his daughter's smile would bring him from the gloomiest mood to the most brightest and cheerful. Rainbow always kept Soarin' busy either at work or home. This wasn't because she was cruel or evil, she always made sure everypony was doing their best at everything. And that was the way Soarin' loved her, even if she became lazy once in awhile. Especially when Rainbow had the day off from work. 

Soarin' placed the photo back in place, then continued back to observing the living room. He stretched his forlegs out and got off the couch. Soarin' slowly trotted toward the window, and stared off into Equestria below. The land was a green endless wave toward the horizon, valleys cut through the green figures like scissors. Nothing appeared to disturb the peaceful nature. But then he frowned when he felt the same ominous feeling come over him. 

"Ugh, why isn't there anything to do today?" Soarin' groaned. 

But then he made a suspicious look at something he saw below: A forest. Sure it sounded simple, since Equestria's forests were mostly concentrated in the center and on the outer edges of the country. But this one was something he never noticed, even if it was clearly visible from his cloud home in Cloudsdale. It was between the wide open Unicorn Ranges, which was on the outskirts of Cloudsdale, and the small town of Ponyville. He's heard of the infamous Everfree Forest and the others around it, but not this one. 

But then he smirked as he thought of an idea, which then turned into a wide smile. Hmm... I've never been to that area down below. But... You know what? I'm gonna go see what's down there. It beats staying in here doing nothing! Soarin' thought to himself. He stared at the forest for a few more minutes, but then raised an eyebrow when he saw something at the edge of the forest standing, then run into it. Something tall. 

"Hmm... It looked like a construction pony. Those guys are big and strong. But it didn't look like one at the same time."

Soarin' smiled as he saw a chance for adventure. He trotted away from the window and headed up the stairs. As he sailed down the hallway upstairs, it still concerned him what that thing was down there. Even though he felt joy that he freed himself from doing absolutely nothing. Soarin' then made a quick glide over to a doorway that was down on the left side of the hallway. He quietly peeked his head around the doorway, and smiled as he saw Aurora staring outside window in her room. 

'She's just like me'. Soarin' frowned as he saw his daughter left fore hoof against her cheek, meaning she was also bored. 

"Aurie?" 

Aurora made a small shriek as she was caught off guard by her father's voice. "Dad! Do you have to sneak up on me like that?" his daughter said bluntly.

"Heh, sorry... But are you all right? You look sad." 

"I'm not sad. It's just a boring day. But when is mom going to come back?" 

"Is your mom the only thing you care about? What about your dad?" Soarin' casted a sad puppy face. 

"Oh, no, no, no! It's just that... Uhhmm."  Soarin's trick had worked. Aurora had fallen into her dad's innocent look. "...Usually mom has an idea to go do this or that." 

"You don't think I'm fun?" Soarin' asked rhetorically. 

"Well, of course I do! But you're kind of busy all the time, since you're a high ranked Wonderbolt. So you're usually not around and mom is." 

Soarin' sighed and frowned in discontent. He understood that his career kept him away from home. Rainbow was also a Wonderbolt but she was a few ranks below him, so that meant she didn't have much work to do like him. Soarin' made a reassuring smile and flew over to his daughter, landing next to her and wrapping a foreleg her. "I understand what you mean. I know how your mom is always getting you into her crazy adventures and stunts..." 

"Which I don't really like sometimes, but they're fun." Aurie didn't really adopt Rainbow's enthusiastic and adventurous demeanor. But she was enthusiastic but not that much like her mother, and she had fragments of adventure somewhere in her. The filly mostly inherited Soarin's calm behavior, but not his goofiness or crazed love for pie. Which she found funny most of the time. 

"But what if I took you on one that will be surely awesome?" 

Aurora stared at her dad with a confused and interested look. "What do you mean?" 

"Well, let's just say there's a forest between Unicorn Ranges and Ponyville." 

"Dad, there's forests everywhere." Aurora had an unimpressed stare. "Look around Cloudsdale or the other towns." 

"Oh, this isn't just an ordinary forest." Soarin' smirked. "What if I told you there's things that look nothing like ponies or anything from Equestria? 

Aurora now had a shocked look on her face. "Things that aren't from Equestria? So you're saying that..." 

"They're something else than ponies, griffons, or dragons." 

"That sounds cool! But I'd rather stay here. Because... We don't have any idea on what they are or anypony else." Aurora made a slight nervous smile. This time Soarin' gathered an unamused stare, he was hoping his daughter would be easily persuaded into going on a simple trip to a forest nearby. Just for fun. But she was a little timid at times, which was also a small trait of Soarin'. 

Soarin' stared at the ceiling and shook his head. 'Man, what am I gonna do if she doesn't tag along. I'm going to lose it if this continues on, doing nothing for the whole day. Wait... Maybe I can...' 

Soarin' slyly smirked and made his way out of the room "Well, I'm going to explore that forest with those strange things. You can stay here if you want. I really wish you can come with me. But if you don't... The 'Sky Demons' might get you." 

Aurora scoffed. "Pffftt... Yeah right! You only told me that just to scare me! That's just an old mares tail." She crossed her forelegs and looked away annoyed. 

"They're real, all right. They're absolutely real. They'll get any fillies or colts who don't listen to their parents. Later!" 

Soarin' was gone in a second. Aurora still had an annoyed look. But then it slowly shrunk to one full of nervousness and doubt. She remembered when her dad told her about the story of the "Sky Demons". Demons that originated from another world, and came to this one to haunt pegasi children if they didn't obey their parents. Aurora bit her lips as she felt the fear creep upon her, the way they were described sent a chill down her spine: shockingly tall in height, were almost like skeletons but had a thin, transparent outline of flesh, and wore camouflage pants. They had wings, but they were also said to be made out of bones from pegasi. 

"Darn it." Aurora grunted under her breath. "It's all fake. Just a story to scare me. Dad is just playing a joke, so I can go with him to some forest he thinks is all special..." 

"AURORA..." A ghostly growl called her name. 

"WAIT FOR ME!" she yelled.

Aurora bolted out of her room in a the blink of an eye. Her heart raced as she felt the paranormal figures creeping behind her. A demonic wail and shriek echoed in her ears.  She carefully curved to the right and down the stairs, heading straight for the front door that was open, with Soarin' on the outside waiting. Soarin' hummed a small tune as he waited for his daughter to tag along. The story he made up about the Sky Demons was fake, he only did it just to scare his daughter whenever she disobeyed him or Rainbow, which was rare, and just for fun.

Soarin' continued to hum the tune, until he heard a small a soft thud sound next to him. He still had that sly smirk, and closed his eyes, shaking his head in content. "Did the 'Sky Demons' get you? Or were you just 'too' afraid to stay by yourself? He asked, trying to counter a laugh. 

Aurora had her face planted against the cloud floor, but then she immediately picked her head back up by her father's sarcastic voice. "No! No, I wasn't afraid!" She snapped. "There's no such things as 'Sky Demons'!" 

"Uh Huh, yeah. Then why are you out of breath?" 

"Because... Uhmmm... 'Cause." Aurora frowned, she was about to admit defeat but then she coldly narrowed her eyes at him. "Why do you always have to give me a hard time!" 

"Because that's my job as your dad." Soarin' wrapped his wing around her, and brought her closer toward him. "And it's alright if you're afraid. Don't be like your mom who can't admit that she's afraid or frightened." He then have a quick nuzzle to her. Aurora giggled, but then shoved him away and crossed her forelegs annoyed. "Hmpf..." 

Soarin' smiled and rolled his eyes. "Come on, let's go." And with a single swift leap, he was off. Aurora soon followed him and flew next to his side. The day still had some time to last before night fell. There was mild wind currents, and not much pegasi air activity in the direction they were heading. Aurora smiled as nopony came close to them, because if Soarin' had worn his performance uniform, there would have been fans swarming them by now since he would be easily recognizable. 

But strangely no. Not a single fan came close for an autograph or photo. Aurora observed the land below with curiosity, she had been down there before, but not that much as her mom or dad. But she didn't understand why her dad just randomly chose a forest to got to. There was a bountiful of these natural features everywhere. 

'Why did my dad choose a forest? We could've gone to Canterlot to see a sports game or something like that. But nah... A little too expensive. But why a forest? Meh, beats staying out home.' Aurora mentally shrugged, she looked down again but caught something moving through out the ground. She squinted her eyes to get a better look at the figure, but by that time it was gone

"Aurie?" Soarin' asked her. 

"What is it?" 

"Have you ever heard of the story 'Dead Men'?" 

"No." Aurora had a confused look. 

"Well its quite interesting actually." Soarin' had a hidden evil look. "It's about these creatures that once roamed these lands when Princess Celestia and Luna were children." 

Aurora had an unimpressed stare inwardly. She suspected her dad was making up another story just to scare her. "Does it involve dead ponies coming back from the dead and they came from a group called 'Men'." 

"No. Far worse than that! They weren't ponies at all." 

"Is this another 'Sky Demon' story?" She asked bluntly. 

"No. These creatures lived on the ground, they were advanced in almost of every way." 

"So they used to live here in Equestria and advanced in everything?" Aurora asked again, a hint curiosity. 

"Well, the story goes is that nopony knows where they came from. But all they knew was they were some type of powerful force. The used to stalk the lands if anyone came close to them." Aurora's expression came from unimpressed to shock and amazement. "The Everfree was nothing compared to them." Soarin' continued. "They easily swarmed anything that dared to attack them!" 

"Woah." The filly was almost caught in the story. 

"But the worst thing they did was... Until..." 

"What!? What happened!?" Aurora hastily asked, now fully excited and interested in the story. Soarin' smiled and said the rest. "But something went wrong, they changed dramatical-" 

"How!? How!" Aurora interrupted. 

"I'm getting there... One of the creatures was contaminated with this strange energy. No one knew what this magic or energy was. Eventually it spreaded and they.. disappeared. Some of them actually remained, but they weren't so lucky. The creatures changed from the unknown energy, stronger... Deadlier. Some say they're dead but they are very much alive." Soarin' shot an intimidating stare at his daughter. "They say they still exist and roam these lands, but if seen or disturbed... They'll come after you." 

Soarin' finished the story, but tried to hold his laughter as he saw Aurora staring at him with a wide gawking stare. But Aurora suddenly shook her head and shot a glare. 

"You just made that up, didn't you? You probably watched some dumb science-fic movie at the theaters or at home, then made your own story up, so you can scare me again!" 

"Here we go again... I'm telling you it's real." 

"No it's not! 'Sky Demons' isn't real either!" Aurie retorted. 

"Whatever you say, but look. We're here!" 

Soarin' saw the forest and began to drop altitude, with his daughter in unison. The two landed in a clearing, waves of dirt particles burst from the sides of their hooves when they touched the ground. The area was quiet, not a single critter in sight, only the distance sound of a single bird chirping appeared to be the only sound of life. Soarin' smiled as he a spotted path leading more in to the forest. 

He began to trot down the grass-covered road calmly, but Aurora didn't notice her dad leaving for she was curiously observing her surroundings. Since she wasn't on the ground that often. The forest was almost a dark place but also full of wonder at the same time for her. 

'My dad was right, it beats staying at home being bored to death.' She thought. 

Aurora was about to talk to her dad, but instead made a stunned stare when she realized he was gone. "D-Dad? Dad?" She frantically began to dart her head in every direction. "Dad? Dad!" A fear began to come over; the same fear she had about the Sky Demons. She grunted under her breath as the story managed to frighten her more. "Ugghh... They're not real. Why am I getting so scared about them? Man, why does he tell those stories!" 

Aurora shook her head to set her mind straight, but then a ghostly wail of despair echoed throughout the forest. "Later!" The filly let out a small shriek, then bolted down the same path Soarin' took. She hopped and dodged low tree branches and overgrown vegetation.

"Oof!" Aurora bumped into the side of her father. She rubbed her head while she was against the ground. Soarin' was looking at an object on the floor infront of him. But when he felt something collide with him, he picked his head up with a confused expression.

"Huh? Aurorie, why'd you run into me like that? Did a 'Dead Man' scare you?" He began to laugh uncontrollably. 

Aurora growled under her breath. "No! I just saw a...uhmm... A Bear!" She blurted out. "Yup. A large bear that looked unfriendly." Aurora felt an innocent smile creep up on her. However, Soarin' was not easily fooled. He knew his story intimated the filly he cared for. 

"Oook. But look at this." Soarin' pointed a hoof at the object in front of them. Aurora got back up and approached the object, but she felt her heart stop for a second when she what it was. 

"Sky Demons..." She whispered to herself.. 

The object was a small metal object or shard, that had a symbol of a bizarre skull with its lower jaws extended and twisting in the direction it was suppose to bend to, and it had wings on it. It exactly matched a Sky Demon's appearance... Or almost did. Soarin' picked up the metal part and brought it close to his face for better study. "Hmm... Don't know what this logo or symbol is, but it probably belongs to the Royal Guard. 

Aurora began to whisper words to herself, the paranormal figures she feared by the story her father told was true. 'They're real... They're real... Why didn't I listen to dad! Why!?' She screamed in her mind. 

"I wonder what guard thought of this to put it on his or her- Hey! Aurie!" 

Aurora snatched the metal object with her mouth from her father's grip and flung it at a nearby bush. "Can't you see it belongs to the Sky Demons! They'll get mad if you grab what belongs to them!" 

Soarin' frowned as he saw his filly beginning to panic and mumble words to herself. Her body was shaking by all the dread she felt. He felt remorse, realizing how Aurora was greatly petrified by his ghost story. 

"Aurorie...?" 

"They're real... They actually exist." The filly frantically mumbled to herself. 

"Aurie?" 

"They're going to get me.... They are!" 

"Aurora!" 

"Huh?" Aurora snapped put of her trance and glanced up at Soarin'. 

"Aurie, I'm gonna admit it... Sky Demons aren't real." Soarin' said, he sighed and approached her. 

"They're not?" Aurora asked tentatively. 

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. It was all made up." Soarin' looked away, ashamed to put his daughter into a state of fear. Aurora meekly smiled, she knew her dad was punishing himself inwardly for scaring her. "Dad?" Soarin' slowly turned his head to face his daughter. "Yes?" 

"It's alright, don't get mad at yourself because you scared me really badly. I actually enjoy the ghost stories you tell me, but they do get to me. But hey... Your my dad and that's what you do." Aurora warmly smiled at him, which was returned. 

"Thanks, Aurie... And..." 

"And what?" Aurora asked, confused. 

"And... Tag! You're it!" Soarin' tapped her head, then bolted away leaving a dark trail of clouds with electrical currents. Aurora grinned and shook her head. "My dad and his crazy sense of humor." She chased after her father at top speed. Aurora steadily made progress as she caught up with the professional Wonderbolt. Aurora noticed her father didn't have a clue that she was nearly above him, she made an evil grin as she thought of an idea. 

"Look above you!" 

"Huh?! Oof!" 

Soarin' felt a strong force collide on his backside. He immediately crashed against the grass floor, and made a broad dirt trial behind. Soarin' grunted and raised his head out of the ground, he rolled over onto his back. "Ugghhh... What happened?" he rubbed his head from the pain. Aurora came gently down and softly landed on his belly like a feather. 

"That just happened." She replied firmly. Soarin' had a bewildered stare; his daughter had enough strength to knock him down?

"How did you even do that!?" 

"Simple. I got you off guard." 

"What!? That's impossible! You can't- or have enough force to push me down like that!" Soarin' was utterly confused. His daughter successfully managed to tackle him. She didn't even have the strength of a Wonderbolt or of an adult like him. "Are you using some form of dark magic?" He twisted a suspicious look. 

"Pffftt...'Dark Magic'. Yeah right! I am Aurora! The one and only!" Aurora boasted and made a proud pose. 

Soarin' rolled his eyes, but then formed a playful, evil smile. "If you think your 'so' tough... Then how about stopping this!" Soarin' tackled her back with a full brunt of tickles. Aurora was completely faltered by her dad's surprise tickle ambush. 

"Haha! Dad- stop! Haha- No stop! Hahaha! I'm sorry! Hahaha!" Soarin' continued the tickles despite his daughter's laughing pleads to stop. "Stop! Dad- I give up! I give up! Hahaha!" Aurora managed to crack open an eye, she widely grinned at him, but then made a confused look when she saw a flight of eight objects in the sky. The tickling sensation stopped, her eyes and mind were concentrated on those things flying up high. "Dad, look!" 

"What?" Soarin' noticed Aurora pointing a hoof at something above. He glanced upward and saw the strange objects flying. They were quiet and looked quite small in size but this was due by their altitude. The objects then split into two groups of four, and departed toward different directions. They vanished out of eyesight as these things were difficult to spot by their speed. 

"What were those things?" Soarin asked, surprised by these bizarre objects. 

"I don't know. But did you see how fast they went!" Aurora had an awed look. 

"Yeah, but what were they? They don't look like Wonderbolts or pegasi, look at their altitude. If any Pegasus was up there, they would've been freezing or suffocating up there." Soarin' continued to gaze at the location where the objects disappeared. 

The father and daughter continued to stare. Aurora was still dumbstruck on what those things were, but something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. She looked to the left and saw a figure vanish into the brush. "Hey!" Aurora shouted. Soarin' immediately looked at Aurora by the volume of her voice. "What's wrong?" he asked. 

"I saw something over there!" She pointed a fore hoof at the brush. "Come on!" 

"Hey, wait!" Soarin said as his daughter tugged him by the right foreleg. "We'll go see what it is, but just stay behind me, okay?" 

"Fine..." 

Soarin' cautiously approached the area where Aurora saw the figure. Aurora sternly stared at the brush where she saw the anomaly. Soarin' took a few small steps until he was just a few feet from the brush, he extended a fore hoof and pushed the vegetation to the side. 

"Huh? Aurie, are you sure you didn't just imagine something was there?" Soarin' glanced back at his daughter with a slight glare.

"No! I didn't!" Aurora shouted. "I swear I saw something!" 

The area where the figure appeared was empty, just more of the forest in sight. The Wonderbolt shook his head and turned it back to face in front of him. But then he also caught a glimpse of something moving through the bushes and tress. 

"What the?" Soarin' began to approach the anomaly.

Aurora smiled as her dad also saw what she saw a minute ago. She closely stuck behind his hind legs for protection, incase whatever it is was dangerous. Soarin' quietly pressed on through forest, any sound would possibly mean trouble. Aurora peeked around her dad's legs, but then both of them winced when the sound of a twig snapped. Soarin' quietly grunted and looked down at his fore hooves. He was the one that accidentally stepped on it. 

"Dad!" Aurora hissed and glared at him. 

Soarin' looked back at her, and sheepishly smiled. "Hehe... Sorry." 

The two proceeded again, this time making sure not to step upon another small object. Soarin' suddenly stopped when his ears caught faint voices up ahead. Aurora also detected the small sounds, the voices came from behind a large wall of brush. The Wonderbolt carefully approached the direction where the sounds came from. He slowly pushed the vegetation aside like he did before, and saw a large clearing ahead. 

Soarin' knew they would be easily spotted where they were, he grabbed Aurora and hid in a large bush. 

"Dad, what is it? Why are we hiding here?" she whispered.

"Sshhh... I saw something." 

Soarin' observed the clearing from their natural camouflage hiding spot. He made a suspicious like when he saw three figures standing in the open area. "Huh? Who are those guys?" Soarin' was able to notice two ponies and a tall creature. But there something different about the two ponies. One was a unicorn and the other an earth pony, but they wore black suits and dark sunglasses. 

"Who are those two ponies?" Aurora asked her dad. 

"I don't know. But let's see what they're doing. But what in the hay is the tall one?" 

The tall figure was completely bizarre. Shockingly tall in height, the two ponies were at least up to its waist. It wore a breathing mask with tinted goggles, and also a digital grey helmet. Possibly to conceal its eyes or to shield them from the sunlight. The clothing it had appeared to be a grey and woodland hard plated suit that resembled its muscular system. The end of its arms we're gloved, and it also wore boots combined with its suit. Not a single trace of skin, scales, feathers, or anything imaginable was visible. The thing was completely covered. But it raised both of its arms slightly in the air like if it was surrendering. 

Aurora noticed the two suited ponies were talking by their mouths moving. She was eager to know what they were conversing about. Soarin' carefully watched what was happening, but then his jaw slightly dropped when more of the ponies in black suits appeared from the other side of the clearing. They eventually surrounded the tall creature, and none of them looked happy at all. Soarin' was shocked to see what was going, his mind constantly debated whether they were going to arrest the thing, or do something else to it. 

But the creature suddenly glanced in their direction, Soarin' eyes grew wide and his heart raced as he felt this thing knew their exact spot. All of the ponies in black suits also stared where he and Aurora were hiding. "Dad, they're looking at us!" Aurora hastily whispered to him. 

"I know! I know! Let's get out of here!" 

The Wonderbolt crept out of the bush, and retreated away from the area without trying to be spotted. Aurora kept her head low to also not be seen, and stood close to her father for protection. They followed the same path where they came from, the night was quickly approaching, the sunlight was barely shining above the treetops. Soarin' and Aurora eventually made it to the area where they landed earlier ago. Both of them immediately took off to escape the unknown creature and mysterious ponies in black suits. 

"Dad! What was that thing?" Aurora asked as they both reached a safe altitude

"I don't know! But I swear it did not look like a pony or anything else. But who were those ponies in dark suits and sunglasses?" 

"You think they're part of the Royal Guard or the military?" 

"I don't have the answer, Aurie. But possibly." 

After a few minutes of flying, the two pegasi reached the front door of their cloud home. The night had now completely fallen, the cold air swiftly moved across the sky and all over of Equestria. Aurora's teeth chattered and she shivered when the ghostly air touched her. "D-Dad, open the door! It's cold out here!" 

Cloudsdale was very warm during the day, but when the night came after the sun had set, it almost becomes a freezer by how high up it was in the sky. But some pegasi weren't bothered by the cold temperatures, but the majority of them do get troubled. The door made a quiet creek as Soarin' opened it. The two stepped in, and Aurora flipped a light switch on to brighten the living room. 

"Well, at least we made it back home without trouble," she said. "But mom isn't home yet." 

"Yeah, she said she might be back by tomorrow morning. She's with your aunt Spitfire in Manehatten, remember?" Soarin' replied. 

"Oh, yeah... Why is she there again?" 

"Wonderbolt business. But you know what time it is?" Soarin asked with a smirk. 

"What?" 

"Bedtime!" 

"What!? No way! I am not going to go to bed!" Aurora retorted. "I want to stay up late like you-" 

"AURORA..."

Aurora felt a chill crawl down her spine when she heard the same ghostly wail call her name. "Yes, sir! Bedtime sounds great at this time!" she nervously smiled and saluted him. 

"Uhhmm... Okay... Well great." Soarin' garnered a confused look as Aurora just suddenly obeyed him like if a switch controlled her. He was able to notice something was wrong about her, she appeared frightened by something. "Well, I'll see you in the morning then." 

"Goodnight." Aurora said to Soarin' while she flew up the stairs. She entered her room, and laid on her bed, pulling the sheets over her. 'T-They can't be real. Dad said he made it up! But I heard them... I really heard their voices! Maybe it's just my imagination.' Aurora reassured her mind. She came out of the sheets and turned herself to the left, and stared at the crescent moon up in the starry sky surrounded by majestic and star-filled clouds. Aurora slowly closed her eyes and fell asleep for the night. 

Soarin' stayed a few minutes in the living room after Aurora left, then turned off all the lighting in the house and headed for his room. He yawned and rested himself on the bed, pulling the covers over him. He also stared at the moon outside, but raised an eyebrow as he saw a formation of six lights moving across the sky. He tiredly watched the lights that looked like stars. 

'Meh, must be some weird shooting stars. Man, I'm tired, but damn... Tomorrow I have to go back to work. But who were those ponies and that thing? Must be something from the Everfree, and those guys must be there to contain it.' He thought to himself, then quietly yawned. 

Soarin' closed his eyes and faded away into a deep sleep.


********


"Soarin'." 

Soarin' mumbled a few words while a voice called his name. "I'll be... there."

"Soarin'."  

"Don't worry... I'm... Mmm... Pie," he mumbled and smiled, licking his lips. 

"Soarin'!"

"Huh?! What!" He immediately shot up from the bed by a loud familiar voice. Which he knew was a bad sign by its volume. "What's... Dash?" 

"About time... Soar'." Rainbow Dash playfully punched him in the shoulder. Soarin' rubbed his eyes and widely grinned to see the mare he loved, standing next to him by the bed. "You're back, I missed you while you were gone." Soarin' felt his lips connect with hers. That sensation he purely enjoyed enflamed him on the inside. 

"I missed you too." Rainbow replied back, resting her head on the same pillow. Then picking it back up when Soarin' threw the bed sheets of off him and getting out of bed. "So, what happened while you were in Manehatten?" he asked.

"I'll explain later, but let me see if somepony else is better at waking up than their dad." Rainbow smugly smirked at him. Soarin' yawned and rolled his eyes, mumbling, "Whatever." The couple approached their daughter's room, and both of them gently smiled as they saw Aurora peacefully sleeping. Rainbow and Soarin' carefully approached her.

"Aurie... Aurora." Rainbow whispered into her small ear. 

Aurora's small ear twitched at the sound, she mumbled and turned toward her mother. "Aurora." Dash continued to whisper in her other ear. The filly slowly cracked open an eye by the familiar voice she recognized. Her vision was hazy but quickly adjusted to the light, but then her eyes grew wide when she realized who it was. "M-mom?" 

"The one and only." 

"Mom!" Aurora sprung from her bed and hugged her mother. "I missed you."

Rainbow gently rubbed Aurora's mane. "Me, too... Me, too." 

"While you guys get reacquainted, I'm going to get ready for work. I at least say," Soarin' stared at a clock on the wall in Aurora's room. The time marked 7:00 A.M. "I have an hour." He trotted out the room and headed for the kitchen downstairs. The Wonderbolt hummed a tune while he prepared coffee, then poured it into a mug that had the Wonderbolt logo proudly stamped on it. He smelled the sweet scent, and filled his nostrils with delight. "Good coffee." Soarin' said to himself. 

He was about to take a sip of his drink, until... 

Knock-Knock

...There was a knock on the door. 

Soarin' put his coffee mug back on the kitchen table. "Coming," he said as he glided over to the door. He opened it, but felt his heart stop and a chill down his spine when he saw two pegasi ponies, that exactly wore black suits and sunglasses like the strange ponies the day before, standing on the doorstep. The one on the left had a dark grey coat color and a red mane. He had a stern stare behind those shades. And the one on the right had a navy blue coat and a khaki-colored mane. But he appeared expressionless. 

"Uhhmm... Can I help you two?" Soarin' asked, trying to keep a firm look. 

"Are you Captain Soarin' of the Wonderbolts?" the grey suited pegasus asked. 

"Yes... I am Captain Soarin'. Is there something wrong?" Soarin' asked back. 

"We need to talk about a few things." 

"Can we postpone this later, because I'm kind of busy getting ready for work and..." 

"NOW." the grey pegasus shouted. 

"Okay..."  
	
	
> A Day at Work
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        "NOW." 

"Okay..." 

Soarin' stepped out of his house, then closed the front door. He didn't want Rainbow Dash or Aurora to be frightened by what was going on outside if they came down the stairs. "So, Uhh... What's wrong?" 

"Mr. Soarin', we'll be the one asking the questions. Not you," the grey Pegasus said. 

"Captain Soarin', have you seen anything lately? Anything... Weird?" the navy blue pegasus asked. 

Soarin' gulped, then cleared his throat to speak. "Uhmmm... No. I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary." He formed a nervous smile as he belived these ponies in black suits recognized him from yesterday. Even though he also thought he snook away without being spotted. 

The grey pegasus in the suit twisted a suspicious look. "Soarin', were you near any public locations? Like a town, creek... ot a forest?" he asked. 

Soarin' could feel the fear in him grow. "I-I was at a forest yesterd-" 

"Which forest?" the navy blue pegasus interrupted. 

"The one between the Unicorn Ranges and the small town of Ponyville," Soarin' replied.

"Hmm... Mr. Soarin', we're going to have to ask you to please stay away from that area." 

"Wait... Why? It's a forest, not private property!" Soarin' shouted, but then he put both fore hooves in his mouth as he realized how he replied to the Pegasus in the black suit. 'Stupid! Stupid! I'm so dead! I'm so dead! I AM SO DEAD!' he screamed in his mind. 

"Captain Soarin', please watch your tone," the grey pegasus calmly said. "We don't wan't to cause a disturbance." 

"Hehe, Sorry... Just lost it their for a second." Soarin' sheepishly smiled.

"Yes, well that's all we ask of you. Just stay away from that area. Trust me... It'll be for the good of all." Both suited pegasi made a stern stare at him, "Farewell." The two mysteries ponies turned around and took off. 

Soarin' continued to gaze at the two until they were completely gone for sure. He sighed and entered his home once they vanished into the blue sky. "What was that all about?" Soarin asked himself. 

"About what?" a voice asked him back. 

Soarin' looked up and saw Rainbow standing in front of him. He didn't know what to do, he feared that she heard the whole conservation with those mysterious ponies in black suits. Soarin's mind raced to come up with a convincing excuse. "Uhhh... Nothing. I just heard a strange noise outside, and decided to check it out, yeah." He tried his best to facilitate a smile. 

Rainbow shot a suspicious stare and raised an eyebrow. "Well, okay." She trotted away from him, still staring. 

Soarin' continued to smile until she sat on the couch, and turned her attention toward the Tv. He took a deep breath, and headed back into the kitchen. Soarin' grabbed his coffee mug and took a sip of the coffee, and smiled. "Man, I wanted to drink this. But..." He looked at the clock on top of the kitchen counter. "I have thirty minutes. Better put on my uniform" 

Soarin' exited the kitchen, and headed up the stairs into his and Rainbow Dash's room. Soarin' grabbed his captain uniform from the closet, which was an exact copy Spitfire wears when she trains the cadets. He smiled and hummed a tune while he got himself ready. But then frowned as he remembered the tall creature from yesterday and the ponies in black suits with sunglasses. 

'Who are they? Did they see me and Aurie in that forest yesterday? But what was that tall thing? It didn't even look like a griffon. I hope it's just a some animal from the Everfree or from someplace else.'

Soarin' finished putting on his uniform, and strapped on his saddlebags. Then he looked himself in the mirror next to the closet, just to see if he had to make any slight adjustments. He, however, saw his tie was loose and straightened it. 

"Well, time to go," Soarin' said to himself. He flew out of his room and back down stairs. Soarin' was about to enter the kitchen again to grab his coffee mug, until, "Dad, look!" Aurora called him from the living room. 

Soarin' turned around and came into the living room. "What is it?" he asked. 

"Look what's going on." Aurie pointed a fore hoof at the television. 

Soarin' glanced at the TV, and made a gawking stare. "What in the...?" 

They had the channel on the news. The anchormare stated all the information on what was showing. "This just in: Ponies from around Equestria have been reporting to hear strange noises, and tall creatures near their homes. They have said that the sounds are completely out of the ordinary, and come from both the ground and sky. But witnesses have also said the tall creatures appear at the exact same time with the noises."

"This is really surprising, but I have to get to work," Soarin' said, he began to make his way to the front door. 

"Aww, I wish you can stay!" Aurora came up to her dad and hugged him. Soarin' smiled and tightly hugged her back. "Ack! Not so tight!" Aurie croaked. 

"Sorry." Soarin' took a step outside and was about to take off, until he felt a powerful turn him back around. "Woah! Oh, hehe... Hi," he smiled at the mare directly in his face.

"Where's my hug?" Rainbow had bedroom eyes and a sly smile. "Well, I'm waiting." 

"Uhhmm..." Soarin' blushed. "It's-" 

He felt his lips connect with hers. Both of them deeply blushed and closed their eyes to enjoy the moment. "Mmm..." 

"Eww! Gross!" Aurora groaned in disgust, she put a hoof in her mouth as she felt her stomach's inner contents rising up her esophagus. "I'll be in my room- bleh!" she let out a gag while she trotted away. 

The couple shortly separated after their daughter left. 

"...Well," Dash said. 

"Well, what?" 

"Well, it's my turn to rest for the day, since Spitfire gave me the permission after that long trip to Manehattan. And you better get going."  

"Oh, yeah right!" 

Soarin' stepped outside again, and flew away from his cloud home. 

"Bye!" Rainbow shouted and waved as he got further away.  

Soarin' grinned as he flew though the air. The day almost appeared perfect, even if it was rough at the beginning with those ponies in black suits. He constantly observed his surroundings, not a single sign of trouble or annoying fans. 

"Hi, Soarin'!" a voice happily shouted at him. 

The Wonderbolt winced as he believed it was going to be a fan to stop him. "Not now. I'm going to be late," he glanced to the source of the voice, but smiled as it turned out to be a filly on a cloud with her father. "Hi!" Soarin' waved back at the child.

The filly giggled and her father waved back at him. "Well, that turned out nice." Soarin' said to himself. 

After a few more minutes of flying, he finally arrived at the Wonderbolt HQ. Soarin' pushed open the doors of the tall, proud floating structure. The place was unusually empty, since usually many other Wonderbolts or the crew travelled up and down the corridors like a busy day at a popular restaurant. Soarin' stopped at a hallway intersection, he looked up at a sign hanging from the ceiling. There were three arrows that pointed in different directions; one pointed to the left saying 'Offices', then another to the right saying 'Mess Hall'. 

The last one pointed up ahead toward the gym. Soarin' made his way to the left, and looked for his office. He located his workplace that had his name marked with bold letter words on the door window. "Let's see what I have to do today," he said while he got the keys from his saddlebag. 

Soarin' put the key in the door knob and turned it to the right to unlock it. His office space was quite large in size, the floor was in a dark blue and grey design. A carpet mat sat in the middle of the room with the Wonderbolt logo on it. He had two broad wooden shelves on both sides of the room. The right shelf contained photos of him in during his performances, some of him with the team, and his family. There were also small golden models of a Wonderbolt flyer. The left shelf contained all the hand guides of training and regulations around the HQ. On the other side of the room where Soarin' stood was a wooden oak desk that he kept clean at all times. 

"Let's see what we have here." Soarin' came around his desk, and sat in his office chair. "Paper work... Great," he said sarcastically as paper work was one of the things he disliked. Soarin' unstrapped his saddlebags and placed them to the side, he rested the coffee mug on top of the desk, and grabbed the first sheet of paper from the right drawer from the desk. 

"Oh damn... Not good." Soarin' had to fill out a paper that was directed to a cadet being dropped from the training program. He sighed and grabbed a pen, then began to fill the form. "They come and go..." 

Soarin' finished the form, and placed in a tray of filled out papers. Seeing a cadet being dropped was painful to any Wonderbolt. He grabbed the next paper and carefully studied it before he started writing. "New cadets, new players, possible future Wonderbolts." The Wonderbolt began to write on the paper that stated the new arrival of pegasi to the Wonderbolts. He finished signing and placed it in the tray	. 

"What's next?" he grabbed the next sheet and placed it in front of him. "Okay... This is one is about... Hmm?" 

Soarin' garnered a confused look at the paper before him. "Sighting of unknown object in sky? Unknown thing also spotted near the academy and near the town of Ponyville? It was just like the news was saying... Civilians were hearing strange noises and that tall thing walking around." Soarin' continued to read the paper in full attention, it got more surprising the farther he read into it. "Woah... More security has been added to the HQ and academy. Sign your signature if you understand the changes." Soarin' read the last part out loud. "I do understand the changes," he signed his signature and placed the paper in the finish tray. 

The Wonderbolt looked back into the open drawer to grab the next the sheet, but surprisingly there was only a single unfilled file left. Soarin' leaned to grab it, but stopped when he heard noises from outside of the office. He looked back up and saw the hallway outside was alive with activity. 

'When did everypony show up?' Soarin thought in his mind as other Wonderbolts and crew members flew or trotted outside in the hall. Soarin' stared at the window on the door for a few more seconds, then back at the paper in the drawer. "This one is just simple. Cadet graduation not that far from this day. Needs everypony to be there... I'm in." 

Soarin' sighed in relief as he finished the last of his paperwork, he shut the drawer closed and leaned back against the chair. He stared at his desk but noticed the small picture frame on the left upper corner of it. Soarin' smiled and leaned forward to grab the image. 'There she is... My sweet little daughter.' The photo displayed the image of him flying with Aurora on top of his head laughing. Soarin' could feel his heart melt as the smile of his daughter brightened him up. 

"Enjoying the photo?" a voice asked. 

"Huh?" 

Soarin' took his eyes away from the image and looked ahead. "I guess knocking no longer works anymore?" he asked. 

"Nope." 

Spitfire stood in front of his desk with a grin. She was also wearing her captain uniform. "So, how is my little niece doing?" she asked. Even though Aurora wasn't technically her niece, but she loved her as one. Since Spitfire and Soarin' were like brother and sister to each other. "And you better not be scaring her!" Spitfire glared. 

"She's doing great! But, yeah... I scared her just a teeny, tiny bit." Soarin' formed a sheepish smile. 

"Soarin', you know I don't like when she gets scared." Even if Spitfire wasn't a mother herself, the motherly instincts in her kicked in as she also loved and cared for the filly with all her heart. Spitfire approached the desk and came face to face with Soarin', with a intimidating stare. "I swear I will demote you if you keep on frightening her. Got it?" she growled. 

Soarin' gulped and began to sweat; the fear in him began to rise tremendously. Even if Spitfire was his best friend in the Wonderbolts, she was still scary if you got her on her bad side. 

"Y-Yes, M-Ma'am," he stuttered. 

Spitfire pressed on the stare, the cold look in her eyes was going to make Soarin' faint. But then she happily grinned widely. 

"Just kidding! You should've seen yourself!" Spitfire began to laugh and point a fore hoof at him. Soarin' sighed in relief and shook his head. "Phew... I thought you were actually being serious! 

"Oh, come on! You're my close friend, Soarin'! You think I would do that to you?" 

"No, you're just able to put lon an evil look to scare anypony. But changing the subject, why is their an increase in security?" 

"Ah, the military bases and cities just anxious over the sighting of objects and lights in the sky. I think they're just mistaking us Wonderbolts, other pegasi, and stars. They act like if the situation is critical." 

Soarin' stared at the ceiling and shook his head, annoyed. "Wow, is that the reason for the security concerns?" 

"Well, we also got that tall creature walking around the academy and the town of Ponyville," Spitfire replied. 

"But even if it's near Wonderbolt property, how could it possibly reach us? The academy is on a tall plateau, that is nearly impossible to climb, and the HQ is floating up high in the air." 

"Don't worry. But did you finish some of your work?" Spitfire asked. 

"Surprisingly, yeah." Soarin' looked back into the empty drawer. "But I can't believe graduation is right around the corner." 

"I know! The newbies are all excited for their graduation! I'm actually gonna miss teaching them," Spitfire sighed and meekly smiled. "But then again some of them might actually stay with the team for a long time." 

Soarin' chuckled and looked back at the photo he had in his right fore hoof. He couldn't stop staring at the image he loved so much. "I wonder if I should take Aurie to the graduation day?" he asked Spitfire. 

The fiery Pegasus' face lit up with excitement. "You should! She would love it!" 

"Alright, but I hope she doesn't too excited if she's round any other Wonderbolts besides us." 

"Haha, the kid is sometimes like her mom. But I have to go, see you around!" Spitfire turned around and trotted toward the office door. She smiled and waved back at him before she stepped outside. 

Soarin' returned the gesture, and rotated the office chair at the window behind. He could see the cadets flying around the academy, even though they appeared like tiny specks by how far they were. 'It's just a small matter of time before they become actual Wonderbolts' Soarin' thought to himself, and smirked. He got off of his chair and proceed toward the door. "Some breakfast sounds right now." 

Soarin' felt his stomach grumble, he grunted as his hunger rised. Since he only had coffee in the morning, and not an actual meal. He opened the office door open and scanned both sides of the hallway. The rush of pegasi from earlier subsided, now it was like a calm wave washing over the Headquarters. Soarin' took a right and headed for the Mess hall, his stomach growled more as he got closer. 'Damn... My stomach won't leave me alone today!' 

Soarin' pushed open the Mess Hall doors open, the room was filled with Wonderbolts and members of the crew. He passed a few tables that were empty, then reached the front counter.

"Hi!" the mare pegasus that operated at the counter greeted.

"Let's see... Hmm..." Soarin' stared at the menu that hanged from the ceiling above the counter. "I think I'll have an Apple Pie for today." 

"Sure!" the pegasus trotted away from, then came back a few second later with the pie. She placed it in front of him and smiled, which was returned. "Here you go, Captain Soarin'. Have a nice day!" 

"Hey, thanks." 

Soarin' trotted to an empty table and sat down. He started to water in his mouth as the sweet scent of the pie went into his nostrils. 'Oh, this smells so good!' The Wonderbolt took the first bite out of the delicious meal, and grinned widely. "Mmm... Pie never gets old." He began to take more bites out of it at a faster pace. 

"Hey, did you hear about what happened in Appleloosa?" a voice asked. 

"No, what is it something bad?" another voice asked back. 

"Nah, it's way out of the ordinary!" 

Soarin' overheard the conversation and turned toward the source of the voices. It turned out to be two security guards on their break.

"So, what happened then?" the first guard asked the other.

"Well, a farmer in Appleloosa came out if his home, and saw a bunch of metal objects scattered all over his front yard. He said there was a trail of the parts, so he followed it and turned out to be a crash site of a large machine!" 

"Pffftt... This is a joke, right? You're just making this up!" 

'Woah... Weird. This is exactly what happened between me and Aurie!' Soarin' was surprised to see the exact situation happen between these two security guards like it happened to him and Aurora in the past, with the ghost story nonsense. Soarin' paid more close attention to the guards while he ate. 

"No! This actually happened! My uncle told me because he lives nearby the place, and everything was completely carted away." 

"Who carted it away? The Royal Guard?" the first security guard asked again. 

"It's kind of weird actually. He said that nopony was allowed to get near the place. These ponies in black suits showed up with these guards in grey armor than the golden type guards, the ones you see around Canterlot," the second guard replied. 

"Yeah, those guys are Celestia's guards in the golden armor. They're the largest force to protect her and all of Equestria. But Luna's guards are rarely seen, and probably the smallest sector of the Military." 

"But I'm telling you... There's something weird going around." 

Soarin' was now shocked to hear the ponies in black suits, like the ones who had visited him, were now in Appleloosa involved in some mysterious crash site of a machine. Soarin' finished his pie and threw the rest away in a trash can, he was still marred by the story of the ponies in black suits. He went down the hallway again and back into his office, the room was bright at first by the sunlight washing over the room through the window. 

Soarin' squinted his eyes, but then they adjusted to the light. He sat back in the office chair, and looked at the photo he loved. Soarin' grabbed it again, staring at it with a warm smile. "This is never going to leave me, but- Hmm?" Soarin' noticed something in the background of the photos in the top left corner. He studied it closer and raised an eyebrow, he noticed three stars in the sky. Soarin' was confused on how three stars were visible in the blue sky, the time when the photo was taken was around midday. "What are stars doing there?" 

The stars were in a horizontal formation, not in random locations that most are seen. They almost appeared to form an object of some sort, quite large in size. Soarin' shrugged and put the photo back in place. "Must be some wierd distortion or effect of the camera. But what time is it?" Soarin' looked at the clock on the right shelf, and saw he had some hours to go before he could leave. "Damn... I still have a long time before I'm free. This is going to be a long day. I think..." Soarin' opened another drawer of the desk, and saw more papers waiting to be filled out. 

"...Wow."
----------- 

Soarin' strapped on his saddlebags and placed the empty coffee mug in his bags. The day was rapidly approaching dusk, the sky was turning to a violet color, and the rest behind was a dark blue, starry sky. Soarin' shut the blinds of the office windows, and pushed the office chair into the desk. He then made sure everything was in place and secure for the night. 

"I think that's it. Well, time to head on home now," Soarin' said to himself, with a smile. 

He trotted toward the front door of the office, then locked it once he was on the outside. Soarin' proceeded down the hallway at a normal pace, most other offices had the lights off by the members that had left earlier in the day. But Soarin' noticed other Wonderbolts doing paperwork due to their hours covering most of the day and night. 

'I am so glad that I'm not one of them.' he thought to himself. 

He pushed open the front doors, and gazed at the horizon. The sun's light was barely glowing to give the day a speck of light. Soarin' felt the cold night air touch him, he slightly shivered and took off before the air got colder. The sun shortly disappeared beneath the world, the moon was slowly rising to greet the night sky. 

"Another day finished," Soarin' said to himself. 

The Wonderbolt could see the houses he had passed by earlier in the morning. Most pegasi were already in their homes, but few were still outside. Soarin' saw his cloud home come into view, the majority of lights were still on, meaning his family was still awake. "They're still awake? Aurie better be asleep, she has school tommorow," Soarin made a small frown of concern. The Wonderbolt landed on the front door, and knocked.

"Coming!" Rainbow's voice responded. 

While Soarin' waited for the door to be opened, he looked up at the moon. It was a full moon, the time when more amounts of light brightened the night. A shooting star suddenly zoomed past the floating white orb, then disappeared out of sight. "Are we ever going to go beyond this planet? I hope we'll do that so- Huh?" Soarin' noticed five other stars moving across the night sky. They had some distance from each other, but formed a large V-shape. The lights suddenly disappeared like the shooting star. 

"Are you going to stay right there? Or are you going to come inside, because it's cold out here." Rainbow's voice said from behind. 

"Huh?" Soarin' glanced at the mare. "Oh, Uhh... No." 

The stallion entered the cozy warmth of his home. The Tv was on, meaning Dash was watching it. Soarin' unstrapped the saddlebags off of him, and placed them next to the couch. He went up to Rainbow and placed a kiss on her cheek. "I'll be back. I'm just going to get my uniform off of me," Soarin announced. 

"I'll be waiting for you," Rainbow replied, heading toward the couch. "Also don't wake up Aurie. She's asleep." 

The stallion flew up the stairs and into his room. He looked at himself in the mirror to take off his uniform and tie, but then yawned as the exhaustion of a days end came over him. 'Ugh, I'm started to feel tired already. Well at least I'm home.' he thought in his mind. 

"Hey, there," a voice said. 

Soarin' immediately turned his head at the doorway. "R-Rainbow? I thought you were going to wait for me downstairs?" 

"Got bored... Am I interrupting something?" 

"Uhmm... No. But how did you get bored so quick?"

Rainbow Dash approached the stallion, both of them looked at themselves in the mirror. The made rested her head on Soarin's left shoulder. "Soarin', you've known me for a long time, you know how I am. But how was your day?" she asked. 

"It was great, but it was just as everyday working as a Wonderbolt. Except Spitfire almost scared the living daylights out of me ." 

"Really?" Rainbow let out a quiet laugh to not wake up their daughter. "What did she do?" 

"Well, she threatened to demote if I continued to scare Aurie with the stories I tell her. But then she ended up laughing and it was a joke because the look I had on my face." 

"You and the stories you tell her. You deserved that from Spitfire." 

Soarin' also let out a quiet laugh, and rested his head on top of Dash's. "Fine. I won't tell her anymore scary stories from now on." 

Both blue pegasi were slowly starting to fall sleep, the young couple stared at each in the mirror with tired eyes, smiling. Rainbow closed her eyes and yawned. Soarin' was also about to close his eyes, but he remembered some of the lights and appliances were still on. 

"I'm going to to turn off the Tv and the lights downstairs," Soarin' announced. 

"No, I got it," Rainbow replied back, slowly opening her eyes. 

"No, it's okay. You can go to sleep. I'll be back up here quick." 

Soarin' trotted out of the room, and headed back downstairs. He grabbed the remote of the Tv to turn it off, but instead he viewed what was on. The channel was on sports but the commercials were on instead, saying, "Tommorow on Equestria's Mysteries channel... Were our ancestors visited by celestial beings from above and beyond our world?" the narrator announced. Images and cave drawings of beings next to ponies were displayed. Are we somehow connected to these-"

"Weird things showing on Tv nowadays," Soarin said, shutting off the television with a single press of a button. 

He turned away and began to turn off all the lighting in the house. Soarin' finished and made his toward the bedroom, but instead headed for Aurora's. He quietly peeked his head around the doorway, and saw Aurora still awake, staring out the window. "Aurora, you're still up?" he asked. 

"Huh?" Aurie turned her head at him, surprised to see her dad. "Oh, I'm sorry," she frowned. 

Soarin' noticed something was wrong with his daughter. "Aurie, are you okay? Is there something you need to talk about?" he began to approach her. 

"No, it's just," Aurora turned her head away. "I... Uhh..." 

Soarin' sat on her bed. "Aurie? Tell me what's wrong," he asked in a concerned voice. 

"D-dad," Aurora slowly turned around to face him. Her lips quivered and the corner of her eyes were brimming with tears. "I-I..."

Soarin' was shocked to see his daughter deeply troubled. He hugged the filly and softly rubbed her mane. "What's wrong, Aurie?" he asked in a gentle voice. 

"Dad, I'm still scared by Sky Demons." 

Soarin' closed his eyes and shook his head. 'Dammit! I'm so stupid! Ugghhh... Why did I have to tell her that stupid story!?' he punished himself inwardly. "Aurie, they're not real. I made that up, remember?" 

"I know, but... I hear them. Dad, I'm not crazy, I don't want you to think I'm crazy. I actually hear them."

"Aurie, I don't think you're crazy, but I think it's your imagination playing you. But..." 

"But what?" 

"Do you want to sleep with us tonight?" Soarin' asked with a reassuring smiled. 

"Yay!" Aurora cheered, hugging her dad with a tighter grip. 

"Alright, let's go." Soarin' got off the bed, Aurora happily hopped off and followed her father. Both of them entered the other bedroom. Rainbow was already asleep, Soarin' made his way toward his side of the bed, and layed down. Come on," he whispered. Aurora hovered above the bed and softly landed between her parents. 

"Thanks, dad." Aurora smiled and snuggled closer to her dad'. 

Soarin' pulled the sheets over to cover themselves, he also wrapped a wing around her for more comfort. "Always here for you..." 

The Wonderbolt family peacefully fell asleep. 

"Safe," a ghostly voice whispered. "Safe for now... Tomorrow is another day."
	

> Wandering Figures
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Dad! Dad! Daddy, get up!" 

"I-l'll be up... Just give me a min...yeah," Soarin' mumbled, half asleep. 

"Mom! Mommy! Get up, get up!" 

"I'll also be awake in... J-just give a few more minutes too." Rainbow was also half asleep like Soarin'. 

Aurora frowned and made an unimpressed stare. Both of her parents weren't fully responding to her. Aurora jumped off the bed without disturbing her sleeping parents, and proceeded out and into the hallway. 'You've got to be kidding me! They're like zombies. And they call themselves Wonderbolts! They're not even getting up! If only Aunt Spitfire was here to wake them up,' the filly thought herself. "Wait a minute," she suddenly came up an idea," if mom and dad can't get up... Then maybe I'll just 'help them'." 

Aurora impishly smiled and headed into the kitchen. 

But back in her parents room, Rainbow was slowly starting to wake up, yawning and scooting closer to Soarin'. "You awake?" she asked. 

"I'm awake," Soarin' replied with a small smile. "But was Aurie trying to wake us up? I could've sworn I heard her voice from somewhere."

"She was... You know how she gets all excited for school." 

"Yeah, I think I- WHAT THE!?" Both Wonderbolts instantly sprung up from the bed and covered their ears as they heard a loud whistle blow. The two of them looked down at their daughter, who had a whistle in her mouth. 

"Time to get up," she said with an innocent smile. Soarin' rubbed his tired eyes, Rainbow grunted and fell back on the bed putting a pillow over her head. "Is that my whistle?" Soarin' noticed Aurora had the whistle he uses when he trains the cadets. 

"Yup!" Aurora replied. 

"How did you even get it or even find it?" 

"Daddy, you always leave the whistle on top of the kitchen table." 

"Oh yeah, right... Dang it." Soarin' groaned. 

"Well, anyways... We're going to be late if you guys dont get up!" Aurora left her parents and headed for her room. 

"Soarin', what time do you have to enter the HQ today?" Rainbow asked him in a muffled voice from the pillow covering her. 

"Around nine, why?" 

"Spitfire expects me there to be at eight. So, I can't take Aurie to school today, sorry." 

Soarin' got off the bed and went around toward the mare. "Well you better get up." He removed the pillow from her head. "You don't wonna be late, now do you?" Soarin' slowly leaned closer to Rainbow's face. 

"You know how Spitfire would be if I was-" Rainbow also got closer to Soarin', with a smirk. Both of them felt their lips connect with each other, then separated. "...late." 

"I know how she doesn't like everypony being late... Well time to start the day." 

Soarin' made his way out of the room. Rainbow Dash got up and stretched her forelegs in the air. 'Another day, Rainbow... Another Day,' she thought in her mind. The mare trotted to her closet and opened its door all the way, she pushed clothing and other items aside to find her uniform. "Where is it? Where is... Ha! Found it." 

Rainbow managed to locate her Wonderbolt formal uniform. She went to the mirror to put on on the clean and well-designed collar shirt. Rainbow grabbed the black tie that went along with it, and began to tie it. 

"I think that's it, wait... Where's the golden bars I had?" 

The rainbow-maned mare suspiciously searched the room for the two golden bars that were pinned to the shoulder sleeves. Dash searched all the drawers in her room, but unfortunately never found them. "Where are they? Did Aurora or Soarin' take them?" she asked herself. "I think I left them... Wait."

Rainbow went back to her closet, and checked her other casual uniform's pockets. 

"Ah-ha! Here they are." The two golden bars were misplaced in the wrong uniform. Dash sighed in relief and pinned them."Man, I thought I lost-" Rainbow suddenly heard quiet breathing from behind. She turned around with a smirk as she thought Soarin' was playing a trick. "Soarin', you know you can't... Scare me...?" 

Nothing. Not a single sign of the stallion, or the filly behind her. Rainbow raised both eyebrows surprised, it was completely bizarre that nothing behind her was responsible for the sound.

"...Whatever," she shrugged and rolled her eyes, continuing to prepare herself for the day. Until the sound of a pillow dropping on the floor was heard. 

"Huh? WHAT IN THE!?" Rainbow saw one of the pillows and the sheets of the bed floating against the ceiling while looking in the mirror. She immediately turned her head around, but was stunned to see everything back on the bed like if nothing had happened. Rainbow slowly took steps out of her room, utterly bewildered.

"I think I'm just going to go now..." 

Downstairs in the living room, Soarin' sat on the couch and watched Tv while Aurora ate waffles for breakfast. He was watching the news, but was growing quite bored as it showed some repeated events. 

"Same stuff, same news," Soarin' said while he took a sip of coffee in the mug he had. "But something different might come." Soarin' took another sip, but glanced to the left as he saw Rainbow coming down the stairs with an odd look. "Hey, you alright?" he asked. 

Rainbow stared at Soarin' for a few seconds, then shook her head. "Yup! I'm fine! Feeling fine!" She replied with a nervous smile. 

Soarin' knew the mare had a smile that was deceiving him. "Rainbow?" He narrowed his eyes on her. "What's wrong? I know you're lying." 

"No, I'm not!" She replied. 

"Rainbow, I know you're lying. You look like if you seen a ghost." 

"Nope. I am completely fine. Nothing wrong going on." 

"Okaay." Soarin' went back to watching the television. Rainbow slowly went backwards towards the kitchen, she still had the uneasy look, but relaxed when she saw her daughter eating her breakfast at the table. 

"Hey, squirt," Rainbow said to the filly. 

Aurora looked back at her with a grin. "Hi, mom! But it's weird that you called me 'squirt'." 

"I know, right. I usually call Scootaloo that, but perhaps that might be a little nickname I might call you for now on." 

"Oh, you better not," Aurora said. "Then dad will start calling me it, too." 

"Sure thing... Squirt." The mare mischievously smiled. The filly rolled her eyes at her mother's demeanor. "Oh come on, you know I'm just playing with you." Rainbow wrapped her fore hooves around her daughter. Aurora giggled at the loving hug of her mother.

"Mom, are you going to take me to school today?" 

"I'm sorry, but no. I have to get to work by eight, or you know how your Aunt Spitfire will get." 

"Oh, okay." The filly frowned, wanting the mare to escort her to school. 

"Aw, cheer up, Aurorie. Your dad will take you today. I promise I'll take you some other time." Dash made a reassuring smile, but suddenly glanced at the clock to see the time. "Uh oh... I gotta go! I'll see you after school!" Rainbow immediately left for work. 

"Bye!" Soarin' voice was heard from the living room. Then he appeared at the kitchen entrance. "You almost done, kiddo?" 

"Yup, I'm done." Aurora grabbed her plate and placed it in the dish washer. She then flew into the living room and strapped on her saddlebags. "Well lets go! We don't wonna be late!" 

Soarin' approached the front door as his daughter was eager to go. "All right, let's get to it." The two blue pegasi stepped out into the bright morning sun. The day was calm, few pegasi were flying at this time, a calm breeze coming form the west. Aurora's school was right in the heart of Cloudsdale, the area where it was alive at anytime of day. Both family members took off and headed for their destination. It wasn't long until the sky started becoming filled with pegasi activity. 

"Hey, Dad?" Aurora asked. 

"What is it?" Soarin' responded. 

"Who's going to pick me up today?" 

"Hmm..." Soarin' out a hoof against his chin as he wondered who was going to meet Aurora later on. "Uh, I'll see who will. But probably your mom will be there for you." 

"Yay!" Aurora cheered, making a wide grin. 

"Or do you want your Aunt Spitfire to be there instead?" 

"Woah..." the filly had an awed look. "That will blow all my classmates minds!" 

The school came into view, multiple pegasi parents were saying goodbye to their children. Soarin' and Aurora landed softly on the school cloud. 

"You ready for school?" Soarin' asked his daughter. 

"Yeah!" The filly replied happily. 

"Well, you better hurry before you're late." 

"Bye, dad." Aurora gave her Wonderbolt father a quick hug, then headed off toward the large building. 

"Bye!" Soarin' said back. 

"Farewell, Thunder," a voice said. "We'll be back later." 

"See you later, mom!" Another voice said. 

Soarin' saw a colt heading for the school. He looked to the right and saw both parents of the colt waving goodbye to their child. But the Wonderbolt raised an eyebrow as the mother of the child suddenly winced in pain. 

"Honey, are you all right?" The stallion next to her asked in a concerned voice. 

"Yeah, I'm fine, just..." the mare rubbed her head. "Some headaches." 

"Are you sure? The doctor said you should rest after you fell unconscious when you were on that trip in Ponyville," the stallion reminded her. 

"I know... But after I saw that light in the sky, I passed out. I don't know if it was because of that or I was dehydrated. But you're right... I need to rest. Let's go." Both ponies flew away and headed for their residents. 

Soarin', however, was growing suspicious as 'flying light' sounded very familiar. 'Okay... Things are just starting to get weird now. Really wierd...' The stallion turned around and headed for home to ready himself for work. Soarin' was in deep thought on what the mare said about the light, and his own previous sightings of unknown lights, too. But suddenly a strange trumpet wail-like sound interrupted Soarin's thinking. The stallion looked around for the source, but another memory came to him about the sounds. 

"Strange sounds...? Why does that ring a bell-" Soarin' eyes grew wide as he remembered the tall, walking anomaly appearing with the strange noises like the news had announced. "That thing is nearby! Where could it be?" 

The noise was echoing and humming and sounded like it was in a spacious environment. It appeared distant and slightly quiet. Soarin' hastily searched for any possible sighting of any strange figures. 

"Damn, I need to know- huh?" On top of Soarin's vision, four objects were flying at speeds that appeared to go beyond the speed of any pegasus. He stared at the anamolies with full attention. They were high up and difficult to spot, any Pegasus would have great difficulty to reach or catch these things. The objects then disappeared along the blue sky. 

"What... Were... Those... Things?" Soarin' asked himself, not able to process the strange sighting. He shook his head and continued on home. "I just gotta get out of here before anything else happens." 

---------- 

"Hey, Spitfire! How's it going?" 

"Nothing much, just making sure everything and pony is in order." 

Rainbow greeted her boss as she entered her office. Spitfire had her shades on while she finished the last of her paperwork. "So, how was morning?" The fiery Pegasus asked. 

"I think my daughter is becoming more like you!" Rainbow rolled her eyes at the ceiling with a slight smile. 

"How?" Spitfire let out a laugh. "How is my niece becoming like me?" 

"She woke us up by blowing a whistle!" 

Spitfire sighed in content and grinned. "You and Soarin' are lazy..." 

"Hey!" Rainbow snapped, but then admitted Spitfire was right. "Okay, that is kind of true. But I never thought she would do something like that." 

"Well... There's a few things that made her do this." 

"Like what?" Rainbow Dash inquired. 

"You and Soarin' are sometimes lazy, but you guys hard-working. The two of you could sleep for the whole day, and both of you are Wonderbolts, so she expects you guys to be sharp at anything." 

"Wow... Didn't see that coming." 

"There's nothing wrong with you or Soarin'. Both of you are great parents, and that's how Aurora loves you. Even if you both of act wierd and crazy once in awhile." Spitfire took off her shades and smiled. 

"Woah! We are not wierd or crazy... Okay, I'm gonna admit it again... We are kind of strange in some ways as parents," Rainbow replied. 

"Well anyway, do you know who's going to be pick up your daughter after school?" Spitfire asked. 

Dash made a shocked look, she nor Soarin' never thought of that. "Uh oh..." 

"Busy morning, I see. Well do you want me to go get her for you guys?" Spitfire suggested.  

"Wait, what?" The rainbow-maned mare made was completely surprised. Spitfire suggested herself would go to the school to retrieve Aurora. "You can't do that! You're in charge of this place.That would be crazy!" 

Spitfire made a reassuring smile and shook her head. "Rainbow, just because I leave this place doesn't mean it'll collapse all of a sudden. I'll put Fleetfloot or Soarin' in charge." 

"Oh yeah... I forgot about that." Dash sheepishly smiled. Well I gotta go back to my post. I'll see ya round." Rainbow left her boss' office. 

"Bye." Spitfire turned the office chair she sat on around. She clasped her fore hooves together, and gazed out the windows in front of her. It was like any other day outside the Wonderbolt Headquarters; busy, professional Wonderbolts training cadets, security guards patrolling the structure. Those sharp eyes of hers reflecting anything that trespassed her vision.


"Captian Spitfire, this is patrol Two-one,"  a voice crackled from the radio Spitfire kept hidden in her chest pocket. 

"What is it?" Spitfire replied by turning the knob it had. The radio was a rare and secret device in Equestria, it was assigned to only certain and high-value personnel. Not even Soarin' or Rainbow Dash knew of its existence. Spitfire, however, was one of the lucky ones to obtain such advantage. 

"We found, or actually, we don't know what it is," the security guard informed. 

"What do you mean?" 

"We were patrolling the academy and we spotted a figure on the ground. We moved to intercept, but the thing was gone. All we found was dead or dying plants and grass."

"So, how's that a security concern? Dead plants or grass doesn't sound suspicious to me." Spirfire glared. 

No, it's just weird that it suddenly disappeared. We'll get back on- what?" 

Spitfire raised a suspicious eyebrow as she heard the voices of the other security guards in the background. "What's going on over there?" 

"Nothing, Captain. One of our guys thought he saw something, but... Huh? Captain Spitfire we'll contact you shortly! I think we've spotted that thing! Hey!" the guard shouted, the radio fell silent. 

Spitfire's eyes went wide as the tall creature that has been wandering near the academy and Ponyville might have been spotted. She patiently waited for her security guards to check back. But minutes passed by, the personnel she was responsible for never made a call back. The mare began to grow worried as more time passed. "Two-one, are you there?" 

"... I'm here!" a female voice replied, the mare on the otherside of the radio appeared to be out of breath and panting heavily. 

"What's wrong?" Spitfire asked. 

"Ma'am, I don't what happened, but everypony in the team is gone." 

"How is that EVEN possible?" Spitfire was utterly confused. "There's five of you on that team. How did all of you just disappear?"

"Ma'am, I cant explain exactly. We chased a suspicious unicorn in a black suit, but..."

"But what?" Spitfire interrupted. 

"There's something else out here besides me," the guard replied in a whispering, shaky and whimpering voice. "I need help. I need back up. I REALLY NEED HELP."

"Hang on, Two-one, what's your location?" 

"I... I don't know exactly. I'm in the forest that connects the Unicorn Ranges and Ponyville. Please hurry, I... What was that? Oh Celestia, its near me," the mare whimpered. "I think it's after-"

The radio roared with static, Spitfire's heart raced as the line went dead. She immediately got off her chair and exited her office. The mare made her way toward the security guard station, where most guards can be found. Spitfire entered the station, and saw her two personal and best security guards: Manerick and Whiplash, the white and dark grey pegasi that assisted her when training cadets. 

"You two are coming with me!" Spitfire ordered in her commanding voice. "I'll need at least three more of you!" Manerick and Whiplash stood before her, then three more security guards fell close behind her. Spitfire placed her shades back on. "All right! We got one security team missing out there, and one of them is in deep trouble! Let's go get them back!" She shouted. 

All of them gave a quick salute and followed her out the station. Spitfire quickly trotted down the corridors, everypony stepping aside by her intimidating look. Two security by the front entrance opened the doors for her. But to her surprise Soarin' was directly behind those doors, and was also about to open them, until it was already done for him. 

"What's going on, Spitfire?" Soarin' happily greeted. 

Spitfire was surprised to see her close friend right in front at the wrong time. "Uhh... Hi, Soarin'! I'm just kind of busy right now," Spitfire made a fake smile. "I'll see you in a bit!" 

Soarin' stared at her as she passed by in a hurry. But was concerned by a team of security guards following her. 'I wonder why she has security following her? Meh, must be something with a cadet crashing.' Soarin' thought to himself and shrugged, entering the HQ. 

Spitfire beated against the air as time was probably running out for the security mare. Her guards managed to keep up with her fast pace, but we're also confused on how a security team of trained pegasi went missing. The forest was fastly approaching, not a single sign of the missing team from above. The captain and her guards dove toward the broad, wooden figures. 

"Captain, we're not familiar with this area. Should we call in another team?" a guard suggested. 

"There's no longer enough time for that. We need to find those missing ponies!" Spitfire replied.

"Captain, I think they went this way!"

Spitfire turned toward one of her guards who was pointing at a path that was created out of wrecked and torn vegetation. The Wonderbolt captain immediately followed the way as it only stuck more fear into her by its ominous appearance. "Come on!" She shouted. 

All of them galloped down the ravaged road, markings began appear on the trees, and small stains of blood marred some bushes and the dirt. Spitfire suddenly stopped when she heard a low sound infiltrate her ear. The ponies behind her came to a screeching halt. 

"Ma'am? Is something wrong?" A guard asked 

"Quiet! I hear something..." Spitfire closed her eyes to listen closely, the sound was almost like a voice. The Wonderbolt opened her eyes when she discovered the direction it originated from. "This way! Let's go!" 

The group galloped again, the voice-like sound became a tad louder. All of them came to another halt and gasped loudly as they found their missing comrade against a tree, weaken and battered. The rescue team immediately came to the mare's side to aid her. "H...help," the mare grunted in pain, her uniform ripped and blood stained. 

"We're here! It's alright, you're safe now," Spitfire said.  

"Captain, she's going to need immediate medical attention. These wounds look grave and she's lost some blood," a guard informed. 

"Dang it... All right! On the count of three we're going to carry her out of here!" All of the vigil guards placed their fore hooves in place to lift the wrecked mare. "One... Two... Thr-" 

"Stop!" The mare yelped. "It's watching us..." 

"What's watching us?" Spitfire asked, all of her team making dumbfounded stares. 

The mare slowly turned her head at the grass next to some brush. There it was... The tall creature lying in wait as these ponies rescued one of their own. The pony could see the thing, it's body almost camouflaged with nature. She could see it slowly turning away to escape the scene, it was almost transparent. "Get us out of here..." She hastily whispered. 

The team stared at where the mare was facing. Nothing. Not a single thing moving, or alive. Spitfire looked back at the weak security guard, confused. "I think you're delirious. Come on, let's get out of here." Spitfire commenced the countdown to lift her. When the number got to three, the whole team lifted their comrade up, and slowly floated upward into the air. They carefully stabilized her while in flight. 

"We're going to take her to Ponyville Hospital!" Spitfire announced. 

"Yes, Ma'am!" All the guards replied, except the mare. 

Spitfire frowned, and saw the security guard's name on a blood-stained patch. "Your name is Lily Cloud?" 

The mare quietly nodded as a response. 

"I see... But, Lily? What exactly did happened?" Spitfire urgently needed to know what happened. 

"I-I don't know..." Lily croaked. "This thing... Attacked us, it all happened so fast. There was this unicorn in a black suit that was wandering near the academy, we took chase after him. But he disappeared into nowhere, then Dust saw some movement--" the mare coughed a bit, then took a deep breath to continue. "We tracked it, but we saw that thing... It was confronted by that unicorn, and I guess something went wrong betweeen them, so it..." 

Spirfire could see the terror in Lily's eyes, she stopped her before she could say more. "That's enough about that, Lily. But we really need to know what happened to the rest of your team." 

"They... They... Were dragged away by that thing. It knocked at least me and Shine out, but it... Killed Dust and Swift." Lily began to form tears in the corner of her eyes. Despite the pain, she continued on the story. "It then got the others and took them away, I tried to hide, but... It eventually found me and tried to end me." 

Spitfire closed her eyes and shook her head in discontent, this was already tragic enough for her too. 'How am I going to do this? How am I going to explain to their families about this? How am I going ever going to prevent this from ever happening again?'  Spitfire deeply thought to herself. The horror of reporting the death of the guards would be unbearable. 

The team arrived at Ponyville hospital, they rushed they're critically injured friend into the structure. Spitfire looked back at Lily to to make sure she was hanging on; the security guard's eyes were slowly starting close on her. A nurse immediately confronted the frantic pegasi. 

"What's happened to her?" The nurse hastily asked. 

"We don't know, but she's badly wounded! She won't last that long!" Spitfire shouted.  

Doctors and nurses came to take charge of the dying mare. They carried toward the emergency room, and prepared her for treatmentc Spitfire and her security hastily followed them, but were prevented from entering by a doctor. "Captain Spitfire, we'll take it from here. We'll do everything we can," he announced, closing the door on them.

"Fine..." Spitfire grumbled under her breath. "Come on, team. We'll wait over here." 

The captain led her guards toward the lobby, all of them took their seats. Spitfire pretended not to notice the other ponies staring at them. The adults appeared surprised by her sudden appearance and also by the stern expression she had. The children were excited by the famous Pegasus before them and wanted to confront her, but were to be stopped by their parents. 

"Whiplash," Spitfire looked at her personal security gaurd on the left. "Go to the HQ and tell Soarin' he's in charge for today. I'm going to stay to make sure everything is fine." 

Whiplash saluted and immediately exited out the hospital doors. Spitfire sighed and made sure nopony was looking to turn off the radio she had, which was meant to be kept secret at all times. She pressed a button and the device shutted down, the made slightly eased up. But suddenly three doctors came rushing down a hallway, with a battered unicorn in a torn black suit, toward the emergency room. 

Spitfire raised her eyebrows in suspicion as a unicorn in black suit sounded very familiar. The doctors and the patient disappeared behind the emergency doors, Spitfire shot daggers at the mysterious unicorn. 'If I found out that guy in the suit is responsible for all of this... I am going to end him!' She thought in her mind. 

Half an hour minutes passed by, a doctor approached the Wonderbolt Captain with a worried look, and announced, "Miss Spitfire, there is somepony that needs to talk to you, and I need to show you something." Spitfire got off the chair she sat on and followed the doctor, with a confused look, but didn't say anything. 

The doctor pony led her into a room; Lily was on the bed asleep with the medical devices hooked on to her. The doctor sighed and looked back at Spitfire. "She barely made it. Anymore later she would've never been here with us. But before I go get that pony that needs to speak with you..." He approached the unconcious mare and pointed at a wound on her right foreleg. "That does not look like a normal wound I've ever seen." 

Spitfire was shocked to see a bizarre and red marking on Lily. She leaned closer for better study, but quietly gasped when she realized what it was. "Doctor, that's a bite mark..." 

"So that's what it is. But what creature leaves a bite like that?" The unicorn doctor put on his glasses to inspect the marking. The bite appeared to come from a carnivorious creature but also from a herbivore at the same time, it was also wide in size. The unicorn took off his glasses and proceeded out the room. "Well, I'm going to go get that pony," he announced. 

"Alright." Spitfire gazed at the bite, it almost seemed to be deep. She also noticed a smaller bite above the large one, but wasn't that threatening as the other. "Did that thing do this to you or..." 

"Captain Spitfire?" a voice said from behind. 

Spitfire turned around and saw an earth pony in a black suit and sunglasses, accompanied with an unicorn also suited. "Yes?" She replied. 

"We are aware of the little incident you had with your security team," the unicorn said. 

"So? Why does it matter if you're aware of what happened? What can you do to replace the lost?" Spitfire asked bluntly. 

"Captain Spitfire, we're part of the Equestrian Military, and we're sorry if we couldn't save your guards. But all we ask of you is to keep yourself and any other Wonderbolt-related members away from that forest, where your security team..." 

"That's enough. I don't need to hear the rest..." Spitfire closed her eyes and looked away, haunted by the loss of those pegasi. "Since you're part of the Guard, I trust you. I'll make sure nopony gets near that place." 

"Well, that's good, but please stay away from that area. You can face charges if you're spotted, or any other Wonderbolt-related crew, if inside of there. Trust me... It'll keep you safe." Both ponies began to leave the room. 

Spitfire watched them leave, but was growing suspicious about those two. Even if they declared they worked for the Royal Guard it still raised some eyebrows at their appearance. The Wonderbolt captain glanced back at the sleeping mare with a slight smirk. 'Don't worry, Lily. You'll be fine.' 

The fiery Pegasus trotted toward the lobby, where her security team was waiting. She took her seat next to Manerick, and asked, "Manerick, what time is it?" 

The security guard looked at a watch he had strapped on to his left fore hoof. He showed the captain the time, which marked 10:00 A.M. Spitfire acknowledged this and made a single nod. 'I still have some time before I have to go pick up Aurora.' She thought to herself. "Alright, get comfy because we're going to be here for awhile," she announced. 

The security guards that had the orders to stay nodded their heads in compliance.

---------- 

"And that's how the Griffon and Equestrian kingdom came together." 

The mare that taught the Cloudsdale school ended their lesson. She smiled even if half the class was already asleep or barely awake. Aurora fought against her own self from falling asleep, her eyes slowly giving up on her and wanting to rest. The day had gone by slowly, the lesson wasn't as interesting than the others. History was the least favorite subject the filly liked. 

"Alright, class, the bell is going to ring soon. Feel free to talk at this point," the mare announced. 

Part of the class that was alseep came back to reality, the rest who were awake were know fully vigil. Aurora decided  to quickly skim through the history book she had in front of her on the desk, just to speed up time. The filly rolled her eyes as most of the chapters in the book were boring. "This book has nothing exciting, why can't there be something... Huh?" 

Aurora noticed a picture of a griffon, that was cringingin fear, in front of three tall shadowy figures. The image immediately caught her attention. 'Captain Steel Beak's Strange Encounter?' Aurora read the information in her mind. 'Captain Steal Beak was a famous griffon captain for his valid efforts in combat and in strategy. One day he got separated from his soldiers, and ended up lost in the badlands. He was suddenly attacked by renegade griffon soldiers, but managed to thwart them off.' 

Aurora made a smile as the story became more interesting. 

'He was heavily wounded, but seeked refuge in a nearby cavern. He then heard strange noises, and three tall figures appeared before him. They approached him and spoke in a strange language, but they suddenly started to speak in Equestrian shortly. Steel Beak was utterly shocked and frightened by these things, he tried to approach them, but everything went bright. The captain woke up in his home after the bright light, and surprisingly his wounds were healed. But one of his wounds was in the shape of claw-like marking. Even till today no one knows what were those things or how did the griffon ended up in his residents.' 

Aurora studied the image that had the marking; it almost appeared like one but was more smoother in appearance. The filly was surprised to hear about this story, it somehow reminded her of the story her dad told her about, 'Dead Men'. The bell rung, all of the school fillies and colts exited out of the class room. "Bye, class. See you tommorow," the mare said. 

Aurora strapped her saddlebags on and made her way towards the exit. She went along the crowd of her classmates and other students, she could see the afternoon was shining down the main hallway. But despite all the noises of the chatter, Aurora noticed the others around her appeared to be surprised by something. She pushed up on ahead and saw a crowd of her schoolmates surrounding something. 

"What's going on?" She asked herself.  

She continued on, but made a gawking stare considering her aunt, who was famous and captain of the Wonderbolts, standing right in the center of the crowd. "Aunt Spitfire!" Aurora came rushing at the Wonderbolt, Spitfire widely grinned and extended both fore hooves to greet her niece. "Hey, kiddo." Spitfire caught the filly and embraced the hug. 

"I'm so glad to see you here?" Aurora squealed in joy. 

"Me, too, Aurora. Me, too." 

"Aurora, you're so lucky!" A colt said. "Your aunt's a Wonderbolt!" 

"Lucky!" A filly added. 

"Showoff!" The colt called Thunder playfully said. 

"Whatever, Thunder," Aurora said with a smile and an eye roll. Spitfire released her niece and stared at the rest of the children. "Sorry, kids. I have to get back to work, I'll see you guys later. Come on, Aurora." Spitfire took off with Aurora following close to her side. All the fillies and colts waves goodbye and followed their parents back to their residents. 

"Auntie Spitfire, I didn't expect you to be here!" Aurora said. 

"Both of your parents were busy, so I decided to stop by and say hello to my favorite niece." Spitfire playfully rubbed the filly's mane. "Anyway, we're going back to the HQ. You could either stay with me, your dad, or your mom." 

"Cool!" 

The two pegasi flew across the Equestrian sky. The sun was near the horizon, the night sky was starting to takes its place, a small wind blew from ahead. Other pegasi were entering thier homes as the day was almost at its end. Aurora's eyes widens when she saw the large Wonderbolt HQ; it was like a dream for her, the HQ was like a special place for her. She rarely visited the structure like the ground. 

Two security guards were standing vigil by the front entrance. Spitfire approached the doors, and they were opened for her by the guards. "And who is this one?" A guard asked with a smile as he noticed the filly next to the captain. "This is my little niece. Say hi, Aurora." Spitfire glanced at her. 

"Hi!" Aurora greeted with a grin. 

"Hello, Aurora. Please step in!" The guard politely said. Aurora followed closley behind her aunt. The security guard called the door behind them. "Isn't she adorable, Wind?" The guard asked his fellow companion. "Wind? Wind!" 

"Huh? What?" Wind said, waking up from a small sleep. "Did you say something?"

"You gotta be kidding me! You're so lucky Captain Spitfire didn't notice you asleep!" 

Inside the HQ, Aurora was completely amazed as she stood in the massive lobby. Multiple Wonderbolts and crew members were everywhere, from delivering important documents to each other to planning out the next special events. Aurora was lost in a trance. "Come on, Aurie. We don't want to stand here forever," Spitfire said while guided her niece toward the offices. 

The filly looked at everything with full interest. The posters and photos on the walls that displayed a variety of Wonderbolts throughout time, the trophies and small statues that were made in their honor. It was all to spectacular for Aurora. Spitfire turned towards the hall on the right and knocked on a certain door. "Come in," a feminine voice said. 

Spitfire opened the door, Aurora eyes widened when she saw her mom working on some papers. "Mom!" She shouted. 

Rainbow immediately picked her head up when she heard her daughter's voice. "Aurie? Aurie!" She got off her chair and went around the desk to hug the filly. Spitfire warmly smiled as she saw a mother and daughter happily together. "I'll leave you two alone. I gotta get back to my office and put myself back in charge." Spitfire departed from them. 

"Mom, this place is awesome!" Aurora said. 

"It sure is, isn't it? I still have some work to do, so we'll be leaving in about an hour," Rainbow announced. 

"What about dad? Is he leaving with us at the same time?" 

"You're goofball dad? Sorry... He's going to have to stay for a while longer." 

"Hehe, 'goofball'. But, aww... I kind of wish dad didn't have to work that much." Aurora frowned. 

Rainbow felt sympathy for her child. "I too wish he was more around. But it'll be okay." She reassuringly smiled at her. "But I'll be right back, Aurie. I have to go give these files to Fleetfloot. Sit on the chair while you wait." The mare exited the room, Aurora sat on the office chair behind the large desk. She imagined herself in a Wonderbolt uniform like her mom and dad wore. 

"Hehe, Aunt Spitfire was totally pranked by mom," Aurora said while she observed a photo, that was postioned in the top left corner on the desk, of Spitfire caught in the prank of Rainbow Dash. The image showed Spitfire with pie all over face, and Rainbow laughing in the back with Soarin' looking completely frightened by Spitfire's intimidating look. "I wish I saw that when this happ- huh?" 

In the reflection of the glass that covered the photo, Aurora saw a large silhouette figure staring at her from the windows behind. She immediately spun the chair around to confront what it was, but... Nothing was there. The filly rubbed her eyes to clear her vision. "Must be my imagin-" 

"You..." a ghostly voice quietly said. 

Aurora cringed when she suddenly started hearing echoing, incoherent voices around her. The light attached to the ceiling began to flicker menacingly. Three books from the shelves fell off without anypony responsible for it. Pens and pencils rolled off the desk and landed on the floor. The light suddenly shut off, and Aurora was left in darkness. But it flickered for a mere second, it revealed a tall figure in front of her, then disappeared when the light came back on. 

"M-Mom...?" 
	 
> Not Leaving You Alone?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        "M-Mom...?" 

Aurora was utterly frightened by the sudden and strange activity around her. The voices went silent, objects from the office stopped moving, the light was no longer flickering. The filly cringed in the seat she sat on on, not wanting to move a muscle. She didn't even want to look at the window behind by the fear of that figure staring at her. But she had to do something, she had to be strong and face her fears.

'I need to get out of here and find mom, dad, or auntie Spitfire,' Aurora thought to herself. 

She slowly lowered a hind leg toward the floor, then another when it seemed safe. Aurora went on all four, and checked around the large desk for any abnormal activity. The room was oddly quiet, not a single object moved out of place, or for the ones that were misplaced remained still. Aurora took a few steps forward, her heart raced as she felt the fear gradually building in her. The exit made her want to rush when she got a step closer to it but she remained calm. 

Aurora was just a few meters away from the door. She inwardly grinned, but that instantly faded away when she heard an object move behind her. She cringed and turned her head around to see what had moved; it turned out be the photo of both her parents and aunt. The photo was placed on the floor, staring in her direction. The faces of the ones she loved decieved her in the image, despite how funny it was.  

"I need to get out of here and find somepony," Aurora said under her breath, thinking if she spoke in loud a voice the thing that was causing this would return. She took another step forward, and was very close to the open doorway. Her instincts telling her to bolt out of the room. "I'm almost ther-" 

"Where go? Why leave?" Another ghostly voice asked.

With the voice talking to her, she immediately dashed out of the room and into the hallway. Aurora frantically searched for either her parents or Spitfire. Windows that were on the left side of the hallway casted the night sky's faint light. The moon was not up for it was a new moon. There wasn't enough light to shine through the night, darkness was its only companion. Aurora stopped at a hallway intersection, the hallway on the left and ahead were dark. No Wonderbolt or crew members were occupying it. 

The only lit path remained was to the right, but suddenly the hallway she stood in had its lights flicker. Aurora noticed the clocks and other electrical equipment began to strangely malfunction. 

"Oh come on!" A voice shouted in a irritated tone, from the dark hallway on the left. Aurora winced when she heard the voice, thinking it was the one that followed her. But she sighed in relief when she recognized who it was: the security guard from the main entrance. "I just spilled my drink!" 

"Ha! Loser!" A second voice said. 

"Shutup, Wind!" 

"No, you." 

Aurora giggled at the two guard's behaviors. But the light above suddenly went out, she was left in darkness again. The filly immediately proceeded down to the right where the light shined brightly.

"Ahhh, I can't see a darn thing!" The security guard grunted, his voice echoing down the hall. 

"I told you should've brought your flashlight, feather brain!" Wind shouted. 

"No, you didn't! You said 'we should leave it because it'll get annoying to carry'," the guard mocked his companion's voice. 

"Whatever..." 

Aurora rolled her eyes with a smile as these two security guards were acting like morons. It managed to calm her down, but she still remained vigil. She was glad to see everything in the direction she headed in was brightened with properly functioning lights. She could see the mess hall all the way far down at the end of the hall, and other offices open along the way. Aurora looked closely at the office door windows to recognize if it was either the ones she was looking for. 

"Don't know who that is. That belongs to... And that says Captain Razor Wing," Aurora mentioned all the names she saw on each window. "That's Fire Streak's office, and that's my... Dad's!" She spotted her father's work space, the filly galloped toward the room. She saw the stallion filling out some paperwork. "Daddy!" She squealed. 

Soarin' lifted his head up when he heard the filly's voice. "Aurora is that you? It is!" Soarin's daughter flew up to him, and have him a hug. "I'm so glad to see you hear!" he said, embracing the hug. He was surprised to see his daughter here, since she rarely made an appearance at the HQ. "Who were you with? Your mom or your aunt?" 

"I stayed with my mom, but she went to go give some papers to Fleetfloot," Aurora said, while her dad released her and placed her to the side. "So, I just decided to find you." 

"Oh, so you do think I'm fun," Soarin' formed a sly smile, narrowing his eyes on her. "That's why you came over there." 

"Pffftt... You're just saying that because you're a goofball," Aurora responded. 

"Great," Soarin' said sarcastically with an eye roll. "Did Rainbow tell you that?" 

"Yup!" 

"Man, she likes to torture me." 

"No, she doesn't," Aurora said bluntly. 

"Oh, yes she does," Soarin' replied with a smirk, leaning closer to Aurora. 

"No, she does not," Aurora got closer to Soarin'. 

"Yes she does." 

"No, she does not!" 

Aurora and Soarin' were face to face. The filly had a glare, the stallion still had that smirk. "Your mom likes to be mean to me," Soarin' continued. Aurora only pressed on the stare. "And no she does not." 

Soarin' was laughing inwardly as he thought it was adorable his daughter was defending her mother. 

"I guess you also like to be mean to me now, don't you?" 

"Now, who likes to be mean?" a voice asked. 

Both Soarin' and Aurora looked at the doorway where the voice originated from. Rainbow Dash was standing at the door. 

"Hey, Rainbow," Soarin' said, with Aurora hovering next to him. 

"I get here and I see you guys are arguing about who's mean. So, who is it?" Rainbow asked. 

"Dad thinks you torture him and being mean!" Aurora shouted, pointing a fore hoof at him accusingly. 

Soarin' gasped out loud and glared at her. "Why you little... I never said that!" 

"Yes, you did!" 

"No, I didn't!" 

Rainbow rolled her eyes as both her husband and daughter were arguing again. She approached them without being detected by neither of them. "Yes, you-" Aurora's eyes grew wide when she saw her mom standing next to her dad. "Dad... I think you might want to look to your left." 

"No, I did- who?" Soarin' turned his chair to the left. He felt doomed. "Oh, hehe... Hi... Rainbow," he nervously smiled at her. 

Rainbow stared at him plainly, she thought it was ridiculous that the stallion was arguing with their daughter over some nonsense. "So, Soarin'... You think I'm a mean pony and also torture you?" She asked, getting closer to him.

"Uhmm... Uhhh..." Soarin's was unable to find words. 

"Yes!" Aurora answered for him with an innocent smile. 

"Uhhh... No...?" Soarin' cringed in his chair. 

"Aurora, step outside... Me and your goofball dad need to talk. And get you saddlebags, too, because we're leaving soon." Rainbow grabbed Soarin' by the tie on his uniform, she had the most menacing stare.

Soarin' turned his eyes at the filly. "...Help me," he whispered, terror was in his eyes. 

"Nuh uh, she ain't helping you!" Rainbow tugged Soarin' by the tie, leaning him closer toward her. 

"See ya, dad! Have fun!" Aurora stepped outside of his office. The door suddenly closer behind, she looked back and saw that both of her parents were far, or too 'busy', to close it. "Weird," she said, turning around, but felt her heart stop when a figure was in front of her. The filly was about to scream, but sighed in relief that it was the security guard from before. 

"Whoa, did I scare you?" The guard asked. 

"Oh, man, I thought you were some creature in front of me!" 

"Sorry, but... Whoa," the guard looked at the door as heard loud commotion from the inside. "What's going on in there?" 

"My mom and dad are getting pretty.. Uhh..." Aurora did not know how to describe what her parents were doing inside the office. 

"Yeah... I think I know what you're talking about," the guard made an unpleasant look. "Anyway, what are you doing out here?" He looked back at the filly. 

"I have to go get my saddlebags from my mom's office." 

"Well, let me take you there. This place is getting too dark for some reason... Even if it's nighttime." 

Both pegasi trotted down the direction where Aurora had come from. Aurora took a good look at the guard, he had a coffee fur color, his eyes were blue, and his mane and tail were trimmed like the rest of the security guards but the color was black. His eyes almost camouflaged with the blue shades he wore. "What's your name, sir?" Aurora asked. 

"Razor Wing, my name is Captain Razor Wing of the security teams." 

"Oh, okay. I think I saw your office somewhere." 

Both of them stopped when they reached the hallway intersection that Aurora encounter from before. All the hallways in front of them were dark. "Good think I went back to grab my flashlight," Razor announced as he got the flashlight from his uniform. Aurora was growing frightened as they approached the dark corridors. Her mind played her with the imagining of creatures concealing themselves in the dark. "Stay close," Razor said. 

Aurora glued herself to the guard, not wanting to separate from him. The hallway was nearly pitch dark, the flashlight didn't cast enough light to brighten their surroundings. Razor constantly aimed the light in different directions to make sure nothing was in the way. 

"Damn... Why is it so dark?" he asked. 

"I don't know, but... Huh?" 

The sound of an object falling came from behind. Razor shined the flashlight in the direction it came from, and it turned out to be a photo had fallen off the wall. "That is just creepy," he said, then turning back around,"but I see Rainbow Dash's workspace." 

Rainbow's office was open, and it was the only room that had the light shining from the doorway. All the other areas around her office was dark. Aurora gulped as she remembered the indescribable activity in there, and it was probably still lingering. Razor entered the room, but stopped when he noticed Aurora was not next to him. "Hey, you alright?" He noticed the filly was frightened. 

Aurora shook her head. "Yup! I'm fine, just lost it their for a sec." She hesitated to enter but she did. 

"Okay, but grab your bag. I have to get back on my patrol soon. But this room looks like a hurricane went through it!" Razor noticed the room had some objects on the floor and out of place. "I wonder what happened in here?"

Aurora approached her saddlebags and strapped them on. "Alright, I'm read-" Her tongue went lame considering a tall, shadow figure by the doorway. 

"I'm ready when you're ready," Razor announced, smiling at her. Aurora looked back and forth between the figure and the guard, who had his back turned against it. Not noticing the thing behind him. "Captain... Look behind you," she said. 

Razor turned around, but made a confused look at the order. "Uhmm... Is this a test or...?" He asked, glancing back at Aurora. 

Aurora grunted under her breath, the figure glided away from the door before the security guard turned all the way around. "Uhmm... Nevermind... I thought I saw something," she said with a nervouse smile. 

"Whatever you say, but let's get a move on." Razor made his way out the office, he also turned off the light inside. The filly rushed toward him, to not be left behind. Razor shined the flashlight again. The hallway was still too dark. The security guard aimed the light in front of them, but a gust of wind flew past him. "Whoa... Did you feel that?" He asked Aurora. 

"No," Aurora replied. 

Razor shrugged and continued on. But another gust came in contact with him. 

"Seriously, are you not feeling that?" 

"No, what are you feeling?" 

"I feel that a wind is touching me... Oh dang," Razor heard what he said. 'Great... A 'wind' is touching me. I hope it better not be Wind himself doing this. That lazy feather brain,' he thought himself. 

"Well, I don't feel anything," Aurora said. 

The two of them trotted along, and made it back to Soarin's office without any other odd disturbance along the way. The door was open, Aurora was eager to see the result. Both of them entered, but made surprised looks. Soarin' had his head against the desk, looking exhausted and slightly beaten, with Rainbow sitting in his chair, inspecting a fore hoof. 

"Mom...?" Aurora started, still trying to process the scene. 

"Hi, Aurorie," Rainbow said. "Glad to see you're back." 

"Is dad alright? Because he doesn't look like it." 

"He's fine, just acting like the goofball he is," Rainbow gazed at the stallion. "Come on, Soarin'... You're scaring our daughter." She gave a playful punch to him.

Soarin' grunted as he lifted his head up. "Hi, Aurorie," he meekly smiled, then rested his head. "Just hanging around on the desk." 

"Well, it's time to go, Aurora. Say goodbye to your dad." Rainbow hopped off the chair and approached the doorway. Aurora flew to her father and landed next to him. "Bye, dad. Love you, I hope I see you seen," she planted a kiss on his cheek, but frowned inwardly as she knew she was not probably going to see him in awhile. 

Soarin' made a quiet laugh. "You are in so much trouble when I get back home," he whispered. 

"And then you'll have to face mom again," Aurora responded. 

Soarin' eyes shrunk as the fear of facing Rainbow again rose. He slowly got back up, and sat in his chair. 

"Aurie, go wait by the mess hall. I still need to say a few more things to your dad," Rainbow said. "Hey, can you close my office for me, will ya?" She asked the security guard next. 

"Kind of wish I knew that earlier but sure." Razor went back again toward the dark hallways, and disappeared. 

Dash made her way to Soarin' when she saw the filly trotting towards the mess hall. Soarin' cringed when he saw is wife approaching him. "So... Soarin'," Rainbow said, making a menacing smile. The stallion gulped when he heard his name. Dash got closer to him, coming face to face.

Soarin' prepared for the worst. 

"Love you!" 

He saw Rainbow Dash smile and kiss him on the lips. Both of them closed their eyes to enjoy the moment. "So..." the mare said after they separated. 

"So...?" Soarin' asked tentatively. 

"So, remember... Not a word what happened in here." 

Soarin' blushed and nervously smiled. "You have my promise." 

"I'll see you at home." Rainbow mischieviously rubbed her tail against Soarin' face, then left him alone in his office. Soarin' sighed and turned his chair around, gazing at the academy that was illuminated with its display of wonderful lights in the distance. "I seriously need to keep my mouth shut."

Aurora stood by the mess hall, she hummed a tune while she waited for her mother. But then a curious thought came to her. 'Hmm... Is the mess hall open?' Aurora thought to herself, seeing the mess hall doors closed. She gave a push to the doors, but they didn't open. "Darn... Kind of wished they were open." She went back to humming. "Huh?" 

Aurora heard something open. She looked back at the doors, and saw... They were open. The filly backed away from the anamolies, completely scared.

"Over here... Over here," a strange voice said to her, from the doors. 

Auror felt her heart race as the voice told her to enter the mess hall. She backed away more, but felt her backside touch something. The filly screamed, but something wrapped an object wrap around her mouth. She looked down at what kept her quiet, and recognized a cyan-colored fore hoof. 

"Aurora," Rainbow said in a concerned voice, "are you alright?" 

The filly hastily nodded her head while she still had a hoof to her mouth. "Mmm hmm," she replied in a muffled voice. Dash let her go, but could see her daughter was frightened by something. "Aurie? Is everything okay with you?" 

"No!" She shouted. "Those doors just opened by themselves, and they were locked, too!" Aurora pointed a fore hoof at the mess hall's doors. 

Rainbow approached the mess hall, and flicked a light switch on when she entered. The mess hall was instantly brightened, Dash suspiciously scanned the room for anypony that could have been responsible. "Aurie... There's nothing in here," she looked back at the filly confused. 

"I swear something had to be in there! The doors were locked!" 

"Okaay, but I'll just let security lock the doors when they pass by here." Rainbow turned off the lights, knowing the security teams will eventually run a quick patrol in their area. "Come on, Aurie. Let's go home." 

Aurie was still scared, but followed the mare. They made into the lobby where the lights were dim, few Wonderbolts were trotting around, or conversing with each other. Aurora grinned when she saw Spitfire looking at a photo on the wall. "Aunt Spitfire!" She galloped for the Wonderbolt captain. 

"Aurora, wait! That's not... Darn." Rainbow grunted when she saw Aurora hug the mare. The filly hugged her tight and nuzzled her. "I'm so glad to see you here!" 

"Uhhmm... Sorry, kiddo. I think you're mistaking me for your aunt," the mare said. 

Aurora looked up with a confused look. She blushed with embarrassment when she noticed the mare was wearing a formal uniform, and not a captain suit. It turned out to be the Wondebolt Blaze, who was nearly identical to Spitfire. But she didn't have yellow highlights on her mane or tail, and her tail and fur color were darker than Spitfire's, with her eyes, too. 

"Oh... Uhh... Sorry." The filly sheepishly smiled at her and slowly backed away, awkwardly. 

"Hey, that's okay," Blaze reassuringly smiled. "It happens a lot." 

"I see you've run into my evil twin," a voice said. All of them looked to the left and saw the true Spitfire. She approached Blaze with a stern stare. "How dare you fool my niece into thinking I'm you!" 

"I would dare to misguide the child!" Blaze made a villainous voice and look. "She's mine! Mine!" 

Both mares continued to stare at each other with icy glares, but their mouths wiggled into smiles, and both of them ended up laughing. Rainbow rolled her eyes with a grin, but Aurora was still confused. "Auntie Spitfire? Are you and Blaze twins?" She asked. 

Both lookalike mares stared at each other. "Nope!" They said in unison and smiled ear to ear. "We just look related, but we're not," Spitfire said, placing a fore hoof on Blaze's right shoulder. 

"Yeah. All though that would be pretty cool if we were." Blaze smirked at the Wonderbolt captain. 

"Great... Now I would have two bosses if you guys were related," Rainbow Dash added. 

"That would probably be true." Spitfire put a hoof to her chin in thought. "But anyway, are you guys heading home?" She specifically looked at Rainbow and Aurora. 

"Yeah, we're heading home. This little one here has to get to bed." Rainbow Dash looked down at Aurora. The filly crossed her fore hooves, and huffed, "I am not little!" 

"Of course you are," both Spitfire and Blaze said together. 

Aurora made a bewildered at her aunt and her lookalike. "Uhhmm... How did you guys say... Can we go home?" She looked at her mom with a disturbed expression. Rainbow chuckled and sighed, "Alright, alright. We'll get going now. See ya guys!" The rainbow-maned mare waved a fore hoof as they passed by the two yellow pegasi. 

"See ya!" Spitfire and Blaze said unison, and also waving. Both of them trotted away in the same direction, toward the meeting room upstairs. "How long do you think we can keep this up?" Blaze asked. 

"With the whole 'you guys looked related thing'? Hmm... A long time!" 

Both mares laughed as they went up the stairs. 

Outside of the HQ, Rainbow and Aurora were already in the air, flying straight for home. Aurora shivered as she felt the cold wind touch her. Rainbow noticed this and placed the filly on her back. "You'll be warmer right here," she said. Aurora hugged her mom's mane and body, feeling the warmth of Rainbow. "Thanks, mom," Aurora cooed. 

The filly slowly closed her eyes as she felt the softness of her mother's mane, providing her a place of comfort. Rainbow felt the filly's breathing becoming light, knowing she was falling asleep. Aurora quietly yawned and nuzzled Dash's mane. The mare looked back and saw Aurora was asleep. She warmly smiled and slowed down her speed when she saw their cloud home. 

"Aurora... Aurora..." Rainbow softly nudged the filly to wake her up, when she landed. "Aurora, we're home." 

Aurora slowly opened her eyes and yawned, she got off her mom's back and landed next to her, half-asleep. Rainbow unlocked the door with the key she contained in one of the pockets in her uniform. Both of them entered together, the mare flicked a switch to brighten the dark living room. "Aurora, time for bed. You have school tomorrow, and its late," Rainbow Dash announced. 

"Yes, Ma'am," Aurora mumbled and gave a half salute at her. She slowly made her way up the stairs. Aurora's eyes constantly closed on her by how tired she was, but she managed to keep them open for a few seconds straight. She entered the bathroom, and grabbed her toothbrush and paste, and began to brush. Aurora took about three minutes in there, then exited out. But she stopped when she saw something down the hall, next to her room's doorway. 

She squinted her eyes to get a better look of what it was, but her eyes only displayed a mixed blurry and clear image by how tired they were. The anomaly entered her room, Aurora yawned and proceeded towards her room. Even if she didn't know if it was her mother or something else. She entered and turned on the switch, and... Nothing. Not a single soul in the room. Only the dark blue walls, and the pale blue floor. 

Her room also had posters of Wonderbolts and Royal Guard pegasi, the bed had blanket sheets marked with the Wonderbolt logo and colors, combined with a rainbow pattern. She had bookshelves occupied with family photos or school books. Aurora shrugged and turned off the light when she acknowledged she saw nothing. She flew to her bed and landed on it, pulling the sheets over her and resting her head on the pillow. Aurora turned to the right and stared out the window, that also had a telescope placed by it.

It was a crescent moon out in the majestic starry night sky, its light faintly casting into the bedroom. Five shooting stars streaked by the moon, then disappeared with the rest of the stars.  The filly glanced at a photo she had on the night stand, next to the bed. There in the photo displayed the image of her and Spitfire, both of them asleep. Aurora was curled up next to her, and Spitfire had her tail wrapped around the filly. 

In the bottom right corner of the photo was cursive writing that said, 'Always here for you.'

The writing was Spifire's, her signature also below it. Aurora smiled and felt her eyes closing on her at the warmth of her aunt's words.

---------------

"Mmmm... Grrmmm..." 

Aurora mumbled as she stirred in her sleep. She cracked open an eye, and looked at the clock on the wall to check the time. 

"Two o' clock in the morning," she whispered to herself, even though she wanted to shout it out loud, but remembered there was also another pony sleeping in the other room. "I have to get back to sleep." Aurora twisted and turned to get in a comfortable position, but only to end up still awake. She sighed and stared at the ceiling in discontent. "I have to get some shut eye before school starts in a few hours." 

The light from the moon was no longer casting bright enough to illuminate her surroundings. Darkness was the only matter surrounding her. But suddenly a noise came from outside the room. Aurora stared at the doorway of her room, determining if it was her imagination or actually real. The noise returned, it came from the hallway outside. Aurora got out of her bed and proceeded towards the anomaly.

"Go, child. Go," a voice whispered to her. 

Aurora froze in place. The voices were retuning to her, she retreated away from the door and went on her bed again. But the sound returned, a tad louder than before. 

"Go. Quickly!" the voice said. 

Aurora grew frightened by both anomalies, but she actually decided to listen to the ghostly voice. She made her way out the door, and into the hall. Everything was quiet, darkness concealed almost everything. Aurora gulped and took in a deep breath to continue on. She slowly took steps down the way, she could hear the strange sound coming from downstairs, and a quiet breathing sound, too. 

The filly reached her parents her room, she looked in and saw her mother lightly snoring on the bed. But Soarin' wasn't there as he was still working at the HQ. Aurora felt a chill up her spine when the noise returned, this time much closer. She looked at her mother, and thought of the idea to wake her up, but decided she could handle this on her own. 

Come on, Aurora... You're big enough to see what's making these sounds," she thought to herself. 

Aurora left the room, and quietly glided down the stairs. The living room was dark, not a single trace of what could have created the sounds. Aurora landed like a feather, to not create noise herself. She scanned left and right for any signs of a figure, pony or anything else. She shrugged after five minutes continuously searching the area with no signs of strange activity. 

"Heh, must be nothing." 

She turned around to head back to bed. But her eyes went wide, her body froze on her, her heart raced at a high rate as she stared at a large, dark figure on the ceiling. Aurora stayed in place, thinking it wasn't going to see her. But it dropped and remained in a prone position. Aurora backed away from this thing, but it rose up from the floor with the sounds of bones cracking and flesh twisting. It was taller than anything she had ever seen in Equestria.

It took a step forward, Aurora screamed, and it pounced at her. 

Everything went darker than before, Aurora fell quiet. 

-------- 

"Mmmm.... Grrmmm...." 

Aurora stirred in her sleep. She shot open her eyes and picked herself up from the bed, breathing very quickly. The sun was shining through the windows, clear white clouds floated among the Equestrian sky, the sounds of distant birds singing. The morning had settled in. Aurora slowly calmed herself down and looked at the doorway. 

"What happened last night?" She asked herself, having difficulty remembering the recent events. "What or... What was that dream I had?" She rubbed her head as she felt some pain to the side. 

"Aurora," a voice said. 

The filly shrieked when she heard her name, thinking it was those voices, but she stopped when it turned out to be Rainbow at the door. "Hey, are you alright?" Rainbow asked in a concerned voice. 

"Huh? Oh yeah, I am fine," Aurora replied with a meek smile. 

"Okay, but hurry up and get ready. We're going to leave soon for school," Rainbow said while she trotted away from Aurora's room, and into her own. 

Aurora got off of her bed, and stared out the window. She approached it, but noticed a marking on the wall below it. "What is this? It looks like... The marking from Captain Steel Beak's Encounter." She backed away as the print that was nearly identical to the story's; almost like a claw, but different in so many ways. And the telescope next to it appeared to be moved out of place, too. 

"What did happen to me last night?"
	
	
	
	
	 
	
	
	
	
	
> Too Close
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"What did happen to me last night?" 

Aurora was completely confused. She could not remember what happened last night. The marking was on the wall, a faint outline that it was. Aurora approached it and carefully studied it. It was bigger than all four of her hooves, it was kind of like a claw, but it appeared not keen at all. She pressed her hoof slowly against it, and it was nothing to its size. 

"What made this?" Aurora asked herself. 

But she noticed another faint outline above the marking. It was nearly faded and difficult to see, but it seemed whatever made them went out the window. Aurora looked outside the window and gazed down at the land below. It was utterly bizarre and confusing; if something had the capability of flight it would only be a griffon or a pegasus, and a dragon, but they came from lands far away and were rare in Equestria. But there was nothing that had prints like these, griffons may have similar prints but they were very different to this one. 

"Aurora! Come get your breakfast!" Rainbow Dash shouted from downstairs. 

"Coming!" 

Aurora left her room and proceeded into the bathroom. She grabbed her toothbrush and paste and began to brush. The filly stared at herself in the mirror while she brushed. But she dropped her toothbrush as she heard a humming sound and echoing whispers infiltrate her ear. Her vision suddenly went red, and two tall, dark figures appeared behind her as she looked in the mirror. A loud moan of despair cried along with the whispering. 

"What's going on?!" Aurora shrieked and closed her eyes. She shook her head, and everything strangely stopped. It was like if nothing had happened. Aurora looked down and saw a crimson red aura glowing around her toothbrush on the floor. She rubbed her eyes, and it was gone too. The filly hesitated to retrieve it, but she did and rinsed it, then continued to clean her teeth. 

Aurora exited the bathroom, still petrified over what just happened, but a sweet smell entered her nose. It was the perfect breakfast smell. Aurora forgot about everything and closed her eyes, and hovered down the stairs. Relying on her nose to guide the way. 

The rich sounds of food baking and sizzling made her stomach rumble. Aurora opened her eyes when she sensed she was close to the source. She grinned widely when she saw pancakes stacked on a plate and muffins on the other. 

"About time you're here," Rainbow noticed her daughter entering the kitchen. "Eat up! We gotta leave in thirty minutes." 

Aurora took her seat at the table and began to hastily munch down on a plate of five pancakes stacked. Rainbow watched the filly easily consume her breakfast, and shook her head with a smile. "You're just like your dad. He could eat anything!" She said. 

Aurora giggled and wiped her mouth with a napkin. "Dad can eat anything. But when it comes to pie, he'll destroy the whole thing." 

The filly wolfed down the last of the pancakes, and took a big drink out of the glass of orange juice to the side. "Thanks, mom!" She hopped of her chair and hugged Rainbow Dash, feeling the softness of her uniform and fur. "I didn't know you could make such a good breakfast!" 

"Well, thank your dad for that. He may be a goofball, but he sure knows how to make food and teach it, too. And grab your bags because we're leaving soon!" 

Aurora immediately went back to her room and strapped on her saddlebags. But she went up to the mirror on top of a drawer, and began to brush her mane. Even if her mane was like Rainbow Dash's when she was younger. Rainbow's mane had grown in size over the years, and became curlier right at the end of it behind her head. 

Aurora hummed a tune while she carefully brushed her mane. But the sound of the telescope creaking caught her attention. She turned her head at the object, and saw it was pointing at her. The lens reflecting an image of her. Aurora stopped humming and began to take small steps to the doorway of the room. 

"I think I'm just gonna go... Yeah," the filly bolted out of the room. She galloped down the hallway and back down the stairs. A combined screech and wail following her. Aurora looked back at the source, and saw a shadow on the floor approaching her. "Why won't you just leave me alo- Oofh!" 

"Huh? Hey, are you alright?" 

Aurora bumped into Rainbow without notice, the filly fell to the floor rubbing her head. "Yeah, mom. I'm alright," she replied. The mare only raised a suspicious eyebrow at her. "Are you sure? You just came running like if a monster was after you." 

"Mom, I just in a hurry, and I didn't notice you. There's no such thing as monsters up in the clouds." Aurora got back up, and place a fake smile on her face. 

Rainbow narrowed her eyes at her, and said, "...Sky Demon." 

Aurora screamed and instantly glued herself to Dash's forelegs. The petrified filly hastily checked to the right and left for the flying demons. But then she realized they didn't exist, like Soarin' had said, and her mother had fooled her. "M-Mom! Why you'd do that to me!" Aurora shouted at her mom. 

"Because I knew you weren't telling the truth." 

"Maybe dad was right. You are mean!" 

"What?" Rainbow looked down at the filly with a menacing stare. "You think I'm a mean pony?" She asked coldy. 

Aurora detached herself from Rainbow and saw her mom approaching. She knew she had angered her like back at the Wonderbolt HQ like Soarin' 'had' done. "Uhmm... Uhh..." Aurora could not find words to calm the mare down. "I'm just kidding! I think you're the most awesome mom ever! Love you!" She nervously smiled at her. But her words had no effect on Rainbow Dash. 

Rainbow and Aurora were merely separated by a single meter. The filly looked into her eyes and could see the rage and fire in them. Her uniform becoming a darker shade like a tyrant. "Aurora..." Rainbow grumbled. "Why did you say about me?" 

Aurora cringed and lowered her head down. "You're a... Mean pony," she mumbled. 

"Exactly... Raah!" 

"Huh? No! Mom, wait!" 

Rainbow Dash pounced Aurora, and raised a hoof in the air and... began to tickle her. 

"Who's a mean pony now?" 

"Mom! Hahha! Stop! I surrender!" The filly happily squealed. 

"Wonderbolts don't surrender. So the attack isn't going to stop!" Dash had a wide grin. 

"No, please! I give u- Pffftt! Hahaha!" 

Rainbow Dash finally stopped the tickle attack. Aurora got back up wiping a tear from her eye from the laughter. "Mom, I thought you were mad at me?" She asked. The mare wrapped her fore hooves around her and brought the filly in for a hug. "Why would I be mad at you? The only pony that I would possibly be mad at is probably your dad. But only if he's acting like a moron." 

"Heh, dad.. but we should go! We're going to be late!" Aurora reminded. 

"Darn, you're right! Come on." 

Both pegasi exited out their cloud home. They flew at top speed to the Cloudsdale school. The common morning rush had already begun, Pegasi were scrambling all over the place to either get to work or drop their kids off at school. Rainbow and Aurora slowed their speed down when they neared the school building. There was just a few minutes left before the bell rung. 

Aurora gave a quick hug to Rainbow before she departed. "Bye, mom!" 

"Bye, Aurie." 

The filly ran off to the school building, Rainbow Dash watched her all the way, until she disappeared inside the structure. The mare acknowledged she entered safely, and took off before she was also late. Rainbow swiftly curved and passed other pegasi in the way. Doing a few aerial tricks along the way to give a show to the others. She smirked when she caught the attention of nearby spectators. All of them making awed and gawking stares. 

"Mom look!" A filly pointed a fore hoof at the rainbow-maned mare. "It's a Wonderbolt!" 

"Woah. I haven't seen one of those guys in a while, or in that uniform," the mother of the filly said. 

"Wow. Whoa." A crowd of pegasi watching her in amazement. 

Rainbow Dash stopped her small performance and concentrated getting to the HQ. The giant structure shortly came into view, Wonderbolts and crew members flying near or away from the Headquarters. The mare landed at the front steps, and the doors were opened by a security guard in front.

"Hello, First Lieutenant Rainbow Dash," the guard saluted her. 

Rainbow Dash meekly smiled and shook her head. "Please just call me Rainbow Dash. No need for the proper military calling of my name." 

"Very well, 'Rainbow Dash'." 

The mare entered, the door closed behind her. She saw a group of her fellow Wonderbolts gathering around the bulletin in the center of the lobby. Rainbow approached them, and saw what was going on. There was a paper with bold letters that stated there was meeting in the next three hours. 

"I wonder what the meeting is about?" Misty Fly asked. 

"I don't know. But it's probably about our next performance," Fire Streak replied.

Dash scooted in closer to get a better look of the details. "It probably is about the next perfomance," she said. "How much do you guys wanna bet it's in Manehattan." 

"Probably is but I'm not sure. Hey, Rainbow Dash? Where's your little colt friend at?" Blaze mischievously smirked at Rainbow. 

"My 'colt friend'? Well, technically my... husband is, Uhh..." Dash blushed with much embarrassment. "Probably in his office," she nervously grinned at the lookalike Spitfire. 

"Heh, okay." 

Blaze and the rest of the Wonderbolts went their separate ways into the HQ. Rainbow Dash remained in the lobby, still embarrassed on what she just said. 'My 'husband'? I think I should listen to Blaze and call Soarin' my colt friend instead,' she thought to herself. Calling Soarin' her husband was still a little embarrassing to her inupublic, even if they promised their vows sometime ago. "Well, time to get to my offi-" Rainbow froze in her place as she stared directly into an officer uniform. 

She slowly looked up, and saw a familiar baby blue fur coat color. Rainbow Dash only blushed even more. "Oh, h-hi Soarin'." 

Soarin' had a serious stare and a raised eyebrow. "Hello, Miss Rainbow Dash," he replied coldly. 

Rainbow sighed and frowned. "You heard what Blaze said." 

The stallion nodded his head. 

"That was pretty funny, right? 'Coltfriend'?" The mare made a nervous smile and chuckle. "Because they think you're my coltfriend, but you're actually my..." 

"Husband. Embarrassed to call me your husband. Even if we've been married for a few years ." 

"...Maybe." Rainbow Dash could see Soarin' was bothered by something in the look of his eyes. "It's just that..." 

"Well, I'm proud to call you my wife." Soarin' wrapped his forehooves around her. Both of them made those bedroom eyes and closed the distance between their lips for a passionate kiss.

"You guys can go cuddle together when I'm not here, or in the lobby," Spitfire interrupted, facilitating a flat stare while she trotted by. "Soarin', control your romantic levels with Rainbow. I don't want another niece, or nephew right now, or in a few months to be exact." 

Soarin's face flushed with embarrassment. Rainbow Dash sheepishly smiled and rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah..." Both of them said unison, making random excuses together. "Well, Uhh... We... You know... Bye!"

The young couple departed from each other, before another possible award situation occurred. 

Spitfire smirked and shook her head at the scene she just saw, while she made her way to her office. 'Those two are going to be in for it one day. Can't wait to see another member get added into their family,' she sarcastically thought in her mind. The fiery mare entered her office, and shut the door behind her. Only to be opened again by itself. "Huh?" Spitfire closed the door again. "That should keep it closed." 

The door opened again, Spitfire turned back at it. "What in the?" She approached it and took off her shades to closely inspect it. The office door appeared to be fine. Nothing missing or chipped off of it. The mare slowly closed it, and locked it. "Now you won't move." Spitfire made a triumphant smile. 

She made her way back to her desk, but... To be interrupted by the sound of a certain door opening. "How in the!?" She yelped. Spitfire flew over to the mischievous door instead of trotting. She raised both eyebrows as she saw the lock was still on. "Now what is wrong with this door?" The mare grabbed the knob and pushed the door all the way until it was fully shut. "You are not opening anymore!" She shouted at the non-living object, even if wasn't going to hear or understand her. 

Spitfire flew back to her desk, and made a quick glance at the door. It didn't open. "Hehe, I won you this time." 

She was about to take a seat on the chair, until... 

...The sound of the door creaking open came to her ears.

"Nnnnghh!" Spitfire growled like a mad beast. Her mane literally transformed into fire, and lashed into the air. The Wonderbolt captain charged at full speed at the door, her body almost turning into a huge fireball. "YOU ARE GOING TO STAY SHU-- Woah!" 

"Hi, Spitfire. WHAT THE!?" 

Spitfire immediately hit the air brakes as Rainbow Dash walked right into her office. The flames were instantly extinguished, without her mane being burnt by the fire. But it was too late, Spitfire collided with Rainbow Dash. Both of them went flying out of the office, and crashing against the wall in the hallway. Both of the mares were dazed and their eyes rolling. 

"Spitfire...?" Rainbow grunted.

"Yeah?" Spitfire also grunted. 

"I know we're close friends, but get off of me!" 

"What do you mean? Oh... Hehe." Spitfire sheepishly smiled as she noticed she layed on top of Rainbow Dash. She got off her fellow Wonderbolt immediately. "Sorry." She said apologetically.

"That's okay, but... Have you gone mad!?" 

The Wonderbolt Captain blushed in embarrassment as a response. "Well, you see it's... Uhhmm..." 

Dash could only glare at her. "Go on, tell me why you've gone berserk." 

Spitfire sighed in defeat and admitted the truth. "It's because of that door," she pointed a hoof at the deranged door of her office. Rainbow made a bewildered stare. "Really!? A door? A door!?" 

"Let me show you! Come here." 

Spitfire led Rainbow into her office and stopped in front of the desk, then turned back at the door. Nothing happened or moved out of place. "Uhhmm... Spitfire? There's nothing wrong with that door," Rainbow said, getting even more confused than before.

"Just watch," Spitfire grumbled. 

Seconds passed by, eventually turning into minutes. The door remained opened and lifeless. Rainbow Dash glanced at a clock above a shelf that contained medals, rewards and trophies dedicated to Spitfire. 

"Yeah, this is just crazy. Spitfire... I don't know what grudge or hate you have against it, but I think you're stressed out and seeing things." Dash made her way out the office. 

"No, no! Wait, ahhh, forget it," Spitfire groaned. 

The captain sat in her chair, and sighed in defeat. She just stared at the open doorway, with humiliation and anger in her. 'A door won me over? A door made me look insane to one of my close friends?' A STUPID door!?," she shouted out loud furiously. 

The door instantly slammed shut at her words. Spitfire came out of her anger, and was shocked. Echoing whispers went into her ears and a wind-like humming sound, too. The mare looked behind her chair to see if anypony was doing this, but no. She frantically searched to the left and right for the source of these voices, and there was also nothing. The documents she was working on before flew off her desk. 

Spitfire remained voiceless at the unexplainable activity. Some of the trophies on the shelves fell off and rolled on the ground. Her rewards also dropped to the floor, and her medals too. But her eyes grew extremely wide when she saw all of her medals were gone, and a very special one remained untouched. 

This one was honored to her for the brave efforts in her Equestrian military career; it had a golden Pegasus with the rays of the sun beaming behind it. 

"No... No no no. No!" Spitfire pleaded, as the medal began to tilt for the ground. The valuable object dropped. "...No." She said under her breath. 

The medal suddenly floated just a few centimeters off the ground. Spitfire was utterly bewildered and frightened by this. The medal floated up to her and landed on the desk. Spitfire slowly moved a fore hoof forward to retrieve it, but a ghostly voiced whispered to her, "You're no hero..."

Spitfire gasped out loud as she saw a shadow on the floor approaching her, from the closed door. All the trophies and rewards were pushed to the side by an invisible force. The shadow eventually formed into a figure and rose from the floor. The blinds on the windows behind the mare immediately shut closed. The entire room was surrounded in darkness. 

Bizzare symbols of creatures constantly glowed red on the walls for a second, with a distorted female shriek when they lit up. 

The window on the door was her only source of light. But the figure obscured any light to see. 

The Wonderbolt captain remained glued in her seat, her body felt like it was frozen, the fear manifesting in her. She could hear it breathing, sounding vicious and angry.

"W-What do y-you want?" Spitfire cringed in seat. 

The blinds suddenly opened, and the office was quickly brightened. Nothing was in front of the mare. 

Sptifire slowly took deep breaths to calm herself down, as she was slightly hyperventilating. "W-what was that all about?" 

"Stressed out, Captain?" A ghostly voice asked. 

"Ahhh- Ugghhh..." Spitfire screamed for a mere second, then fainted. Letting her head collapse against the wooden surface of her desk. 

The lock on the door switched to unlock. 

"Captain Sptifire?" The office door was slowly opened by a security guard, which turned out to be Captain Razor Wing. "Are you alright? We heard you... Holy!" Razor saw the captain was unconscious. 

"What is it?" Wind asked behind him. 

"Get her to a medic!" 

"Why would we need a med- Oh damn!" Wind entered and saw Spitfire.  

"Come on, let's get her to a medic!" Both guards approached her and carefully lifted her from the seat. 

The guards carried Spitfire out of her office, and went to the left towards the HQ's medical bay. They shouted at any ponies that got in their way. Other Wonderbolts and the crew were stunned to see their leader unconscious. 

"What happened to her?" A Wonderbolt asked in a concerned voice. 

"We don't know! We found her like this!" Razor responded. 

"Get out of the way!" Wind shouted. 

A crowed of deeply concerned Wonderbolts followed behind the security guards. The guards reached the medical bay, and were approached by three medics. They wore white lab coats, and they had a red cross combined with the Wonderbolt logo. The crowd entered shortly, but were to be stopped by a nurse. 

"Follow me!" A medic announced. 

The two guards nodded and followed him. They entered a room and rested Spitfire on a bed. The medic checked her pulse and noticed it was fine. "She'll be alright, but what happened to her?" 

"We don't know! We head her scream just for a sec, so we checked to make sure she was alright, and we found her like this," Razor explained to the medic. 

"Her office was a complete mess!" Wind added. "Trophies, medals, papers were all over the place!" 

"Hmm..." The medic glanced at the mare. "I'm think it might be them..." 

Both guards made shocked looks. "Y-you can't be serious, right? 'They' couldn't have done this." Razor looked at Wind concerned. 

"Is she alright?" A voice asked from behind. 

The two security guards looked behind, and saw Soarin' and Rainbow Dash. "Ah, Captain Soarin and Lieutenant Rainbow Dash!" Razor and Wind saluted him. "She's fine just unconcious," Wind continued. 

"That's great, but what happened to her?" Soarin' asked sternly. 

"W-we just found her like this in her office." 

"These two speak the truth. She was like this when they found her," the medic said, but made a glare. "But we're starting to think those bums are responsible for this." 

"Those guys?" Rainbow had a confused look. "Are you talking about..." 

"Shadowbolts," Soarin' shook his head in discontent. 

The room remained silent for a few minutes. All of the pegasi trying to process if it was them. "Captain Razor Wing, send a team of security guards to investigate Captain Spitfire's office," the medic broke the silence. "Make sure nothing else happens around here." 

Razor and Wind immediately left the medical bay to alert the HQ. The medic shortly trotted out of the room after the two guards left. "I'm going to tell the others she's fine. I'll be back." 

"Alright." Soarin' stared at Spitfire with a concerned stare. Rainbow also had a pained look. "Soarin', do you actually think Shadowbolts did this to her?" She asked. 

"I-I don't know if they did. But..." Soarin' thought for a few seconds. "Weren't Shadowbolts just an illusion Nightmare Moon created when she tried to convince you to join them?" 

"Yeah, but remember how those cadets that were kicked off the training formed their own league, and called themselves 'Shadowbolts?'

"I remember that. But it wasn't only cadets that formed the group; it was also dropouts from schools, criminals, and other horrible pegasi. But they couldn't have done this. The HQ is too secured and well defended from them." 

While Rainbow Dash and Soarin' conversed about Shadowbolts, Spitfire slowly cracked open an eye. But she shut it closed when the bright light striked against her. She tried again and her eyes adjusted to her surroundings, yet her vision was hazy and obscured. 

The mare also realized she was in the medical bay. She noticed Soarin' and Rainbow next to her, but they didn't have a clue she was awake. 

But a tall silhouette figure stood behind her two close friends, it was also staring at her. Spitfire immediately  begun to wake everything up in her to alert her friends. She quietly grunted and opened her eyes even more. 

"Soarin', she's waking up!" Rainbow announced with a weak smile. 

"Spitfire. Spitfire?" Soarin' called her name to make sure she would respond. "Hey, you there?" 

"Grmmm... Yeah," she grunted. "I... Can hear you." She rubbed her head at the headache she felt.

"Easy there." Rainbow helped her get up from the bed. "Something probably hit you real nasty." Soarin' also aided his close friend up. "Spitfire? What happened to you?" He asked, concerned. 

"I-I don't know... Huh?" Spitfire realized the figure that stared at her was gone. Even if it was directly next to her. 

"You need something?" Rainbow noticed she seemed confused. 

"I'm fine, just a bit dazed that's all." 

The medic returned with a nurse this time. "Captain Spitfire, I'm glad to see you're awake," he smiled at her. 

"Likewise," Spitfire responded. 

"You just fainted in your office and the security guard captain and his companion found you." 

"Damn..." Spitfire grumbled under breath. 

"We highly recommend you rest here for a littlewhile," the nurse announced. "Stress is probably the reason you fainted." 

Spitfire sighed and rested her head back on the bed. "I guess you're right. Soarin', you're in charge for today, and you're going to have take over the meeting in a few hours. Everything you need to explain is in the meeting room ." 

"Alright, I'm on it. I guess we'll be seeing you in awhile." 

All the ponies left her in the room alone. Spitfire stared at the ceiling as she struggled to remember how she exactly fell unconcious. Her memories appeared vagrant and faint. It's like if they were removed by force. 'What happened to me? How did I pass out in my...' She suddenly remembered what happened to her. 'That's it! That thing... That creature... Or whatever it was got me.'

Spitfire frowned in discontent and turned to the side for a comfortable position. The white wall was the only thing her eyes reflceted. She looked down at a chest pocket in her uniform, and reached to grab something from the inside. A photo was revealed, Spitfire warmly smiled at the image. It showed her hugging Aurora, both of them smiling. And Soarin' was also in included in the group hug, but appeared to be suffocating by Spitfire's hug, playfully though. 

"They... are the ones..." a distorted voice said. 

Spitfire immediately turned back at the source of the voice. But saw nothing. "H-hello?" She asked. 

Silence was her only response. Nothing moved out of place. Until, "...You don't... deserve... to be a hero."

"What? Are you some-" 

Spitfire instantly passed out when she felt a strange sensation collide with her. 


*****
 

"Aurora, who established the first embassy in the Griffon kingdom?" 

"Uhmm... Voyager?" 

"Correct! Voyager was an ambassador that served Princess Celestia after a surprise attack by renegade ponies and griffons, on a Royal Guard and Griffon outpost in Saddle Arabia. Which meant the alliance of the Griffon Kingdom and Equestria to fight off these enemies. Which later an embassy was established to keep the alliance strong," the teacher announced. 

The subject that was being taught was history. The class remained vigil throughout the whole lesson, instead of being half, or fully asleep. Aurora was quite actually enjoying history, even thought it was her least favorite. Her teacher had white a fur color, a light purple tail and mane color, and her eyes were blue. The mare randomnely chose students to see if they were paying attention to the lesson. 

Aurora opened her history textbook as she acknowledged she was safe from the teacher's questioning. She skimmed through the pages to find anything interesting. She passed the page of Captain Steel Beek's Strange Encounter. But she stopped when she found a section that regarded to famous and important ponies to Equestria. 

"Whoa, who's this guy?" Aurora noticed an elder earth pony who had a white lab coat on with a mustache and monocle, meaning he was likely a scientist, in a black and white photo. "Man, what he's saying is wierd." 

Below the image it showed a quote from the pony. Aurora quietly read it to herself, 'Throughtout my life I wondered what were the origins of this planet. But I was saddened that I was the few that thought about this, because everypony appeared to think more about the two princesses, their lives and to others. Most ponies wondered about Celestia's and Luna's origins, and what lies around them. But I thought of something else. Something completely different.' 

'You and I have a few things in common, buddy,' Aurora thought to herself. 

'If Celestia and Luna weren't the controllers of the sun and moon. If their parents weren't the brightest and most powerful beings ever to live. I couldn't follow the reign of the Royal sisters or their family, I just couldn't for my mind kept on telling me they were little and nothing compared to something else. And that 'something else' was... The Universe and its mysteries. I know something is out there in the depths of space. Waiting and growing as the others did, but to levels beyond us...'

"Wow..." Aurora was very intrigued and amazed by the scientist's belief. "This guy seems crazy, but also right in some ways."  

The filly continued to scan through the book. She came across many quotes and other important things, but she specifically searched for anything that related to the scientist pony. Unfortunately, things just went in random directions and chapters. Everything just concentrated on Equestria's history, the Griffons, or any conflicts. 

Aurora sighed quietly and continued to flip through the pages, with a bored expression. "When is history going to end?" 

She gazed at the clock in front of the class room, and saw they at least had a few more minutes of history. 

"This is going to take awhile... Huh?" 

The filly saw a passage from a another famous pony, but coincidentally it turned out to be the ambassador, Voyager. There wasn't an image of him, but that was not necessary, for his words described who he was. 

'Hmm... he sounds close to the scientist pony, but he's kind of different,' Aurora thought to herself. "He says that: 'My position as an ambassador that accompanies princess Celestia is very surprising. I go everywhere, and see wonderful and exotic things. But sometimes we've been in situations where peace is difficult to settle. Yet we manage to establish it through reason and thought. I smile at this, but I frown when the one great fear I have comes to mind...What happens if we can't create peace with another race. What happens if we can't establish harmony. I fear, however, that a day like this might come.'


Aurora made a shocked look, the passage described a horror if peace cannot come to sense with other creatures. Most races on the planet accepted it, but the idea of some other nation, or race, rejecting harmony was distant and faint. The Griffon kingdom did have a troubled past but managed to regain its peaceful status over time, eventually allying themselves with Equestria. Equestria had managed to prevent any wars within its land, but crime lingers about in the dark corners of it. 

"Class, please take out your math textbooks and a sheet of paper, and turn to page 73," the teacher announced. 

All the fillies and colts complied and did what the mare had said. Aurora placed the history book under the desk, and grabbed the math book. She turned to the designated page, and stared at all the questions and numbers. Most of the problems were easy for her, since she did excel a bit in math. 

"Okay, class. This is review, please work through number 5 all the way to 15." 

Aurora begun her work. She quickly answered numbers between 5 and 10. "Okay, so it's asking me to multiply the numbers... Then divide... Sounds easy," she said under her breath. Aurora carefully worked her way through the problem, and answered it correctly. 

"Hey," a voice quietly said to her. 

The filly turned her around and saw the colt, Thunder, working on the questions. "Hey, did you say something to me?" She whispered to him. 

Thunder lifted up his and shook his head, with a confused look. "...I didn't say anything." 

Aurora turned around and shrugged, continuing her work. "Must be my imagination..." 

"Outside..." a strange voice spoke again. 

Aurora listened to the voice, and glanced to the left at the windows. She raised an eyebrow as she saw a pegasus pony in a black suit and glasses staring at her. 'Why is there some guy dressed wierd and staring at the classroom?' Aurora asked her self mentally. The Pegasus simply stood there watching them like a hunter watches its prey. He stared for a few more seconds, then took off by diving off the cloud. 

The filly shortly went back to the math problems she had to work on after the strange pony left. She put her pencil down when she finished, and checked around her to see if anypony else was done. The teacher smiled and stood in front of the class. "Pass up your papers, I'll be grading them, then I'll return them back to you by tomorrow," she said. 

Aurora handed her paper to the filly infront of her, then grabbed the one that belonged to Thunder behind. The mare collected all her work and placed it on her desk. "Well now students, you guys sure worked quickly through the problems. Since we still have about a few minutes left of class, I would like to remind you of the field trip that is tommorow." 

All the students cheered at the exciting news. Aurora grinned widely at the announcement. 

"We will be visiting Canterlot's Natural History Musuem, and the new Space exhibit!" 

"Yay!" All the children shouted in joy. 

The bell suddenly rung, all the students grabbed their saddlebags and exited the classroom. The teacher waved goodbye as she sat on the chair behind her desk. Aurora followed the large crowd of students exiting out of the different classrooms. The afternoon sun shined brilliantly down the main hallway like always. It almost felt like home was calling her name. 

She stepped out of the entrance, and stood at the top of the stairs. Everypony rushed past her like rapids of water, she closely scanned to see if any of her family had arrived to pick her up. But the crowds of parents and kids made it difficult for her to see. "

"Hmm... is mom or auntie Spitfire here?" She quietly asked herself. 

But in midst of all the ponies a conspicuous rainbow mane stood out. Aurora rushed to meet the mare she believed it was her mother. She swiftly maneuvered past anypony that got in her way, then right when her mother was close, she glued jumped and glued herself to her forelegs. "Mom! I'm so glad to see you here!"

"Mom?" A masculine voice asked, confused.

Aurora felt a chill up her spine when she heard a special voice. A voice of a very certain pony. A voice that she loved so much and was rarely heard. She slowly looked up and saw a light purple fur color, and a identical rainbow mane like her mother's. She was lost in the golden eyes of the tall stallion. 

"G-G... Grandpa?" 

"Hi, Sweetie."

Aurora squealed and nuzzled into her grandfather's forelegs. She was picked up by the stallion and hugged tightly, the filly closed her eyes and warmly embraced the loving hug of a grandparent.

"Grandpa? What are you doing here?" She cooed. 

"A surprise visit, that's what we're doing here," a feminine voice answered. 

Aurora shot open her eyes and stared at a mare who had a rose pink fur color, and an ocean blue mane and tail. "G-Grandma?" 

"The one and only..." The mare came in and hugged the filly. "Long time no see." 

"This is so awesome!" Aurora cheered, hugging both of her grandparents. 

"Come on, lets get you home," Rainbow Blitz announced. 

"Does it always have to be your way, Blitz?" Firefly huffed, playfully glaring at him. Blitz only smirked and rolled his eyes. "Do you always have to be like this?" He asked back to Firefly.

"What do you mean I always have to be like this?" She sternly stared at the stallion.

Aurora noticed the ridiculous tension rising between her grandparents. "Yeah, let's just get home, shall we?" She smiled meekly. 'I could see where mom gets her habits and behaviors from,' she thought to herself, noticing how her grandmother acted similar like Rainbow Dash.

The pegasi family took off toward their in-laws' home. The sun was slowly starting to drop from the sky, the moon and its starry companions faintly began to emerge from their hidden havens in the heavens. Aurora flew close to her grandfather, as he was rarely seen for some reason. The stallion may be a grandfather, but neither him or his wife had an elder appearance. They still looked young and energetic, but they still had the age in them. 

The trio slowed down their speed and softly landed at the front door of Soarin' and Rainbow Dash's home. Aurora frowned when she remembered a key was required to enter the large house. "Uhmm... You do know we need a key to enter, right?"

"Oh please...." Firefly smirked with an eye roll, and reached above the top of the doorway. "Simple." She had a hidden key in her left fore hoof. 

"H-how did you know about that!?" Aurora was shocked to see her grandmother discover the discreet location of an extra key to the house. Even if her parents didn't tell her of its existence. "Mom and dad didn't tell me about a secret key!"

"Dashie can't hide anything from her mommy!" Firefly laughed while she unlocked the front door. 

Aurora gazed at Rainbow Blitz, still shocked. "Uhmm... Grandpa?" She whispered to him. "Why did you marry grandma if she's crazy in some way?" 

Blitz only sighed in content as an answer. "Long story, Aurie. Long story..." 

All of them entered warm the coziness of their home. Aurora took off her saddlebags and placed them by the front door. Firefly flew at top speed towards the couch and landed softly on it. Almost making it look like she was going to slam on it. Blitz casually trotted over to her and sat on the couch. 

"So, when is my Dashie and my son-in-law going to show up?" Firefly asked. 

"Well, their schedule is pretty random, so I don't know," Aurora replied. "Anyway, I'll be right back." The filly made her way toward her room.

"Bummer. I was hoping Dashie would be here." 

Rainbow Blitz turned on the Tv with the remote, and turned it to a random channel. Firefly relaxed her head on Blitz's right shoulder, and he rested his on her head. "Remember when Dashie was like Aurora's age?" She asked with a warm smile. 

"I remember." Blitz slowly nodded his head. "I remember when she was just a child." He sighed as he remembered the early days of his family. 

Aurora came down the stairs, and approached her grandparents. Firefly motioned a forehoof at her so she could sit down with them. The filly smiled and took her place between the two. "Whoa!" She was suddenly dragged toward Blitz, and could feel his right fore hoof around her. The filly nuzzled him, then stared at the Tv. 

The channel that Blitz put on by random was the Equestria's Mysteries channel. It showed a scientist, who was a unicorn with a tie, explain multiple thoughts about Equestria's past. It showed image of the early paintings and carvings of ancient Equestrians at the time as he spoke. Rainbow Blitz rolled his eyes in discontent as he thought some of the things they said was nonsense. "Let's see what else is on than crazy history stuff." 

"I'm with you on that, Blitzy." Firefly added. 

The stallion tuned in to the sports channel, which made him and Firefly smile. Sports was one of the things they enjoyed to watch, since both of them were athletes back in the day. They watched three teams go against each other at the race of the Ultimate Flyers. One team was from Manehattan, the second from Las Pegasus, and the other from Fillydelphia. Two athletes from each team took off at stunning top speeds when the whistle blew. 

"Come on, Las Pegasus!" Firefly shouted sternly.

"Manehatten is going to win," Blitz said calmly. 

"Come on, Las- Shutup!" Firefly glanced at Blitz for a mere second, then went back to shouting. "Las Pegasus!" 

Aurora shook her head as chaos was invisibly growing around her. 'My grandma and grandpa are sometimes crazy, and that's how I love 'em,' she thought to herself. 

----- 

Three hours had passed since the family had gotten home. The games continued on, with Firefly still madly supporting the team she liked, and the time was getting late. The moon had arisen with its starry companions to claim the sky as their own. Rainbow Blitz yawned and looked at his wife. "Honey, aren't you getting tired?" He asked. 

"Nope. You know me," the mare replied happily. 

Blitz shook his head with a small smile. But remembered a certain child that was right next to him. He looked down and saw Aurora sleeping against him, hearing her light breathing. "Honey, look," he whispered. Firefly looked at him, and noticed the filly was asleep. "Aww... She looks so peaceful like this," she whispered back to him. 

"I'll got put her to bed." Blitz got up from the couch and gently lifted Aurora to not awaken her. She stirred a bit, but went quiet again. Blitz glided up the stairs, and went down the hallway to enter Aurora's room. He softly placed the filly in bed, then pulled the sheets over her. "Goodnight, Aurie," he placed a kiss on her cheeck. "Sweet Dreams." 

Rainbow Blitz closed the door of her room when he exited. He quietly trotted down the hallway with a warm smile. 

"Leave..." a voice quietly grumbled him. 

"Huh?" Blitz checked around him to see who spoke to him. But nothing appeared responsible. "Must be nothing." He continued to trot, but felt the air, the floor, everything go cold around him. "Brrrr!" He rubbed his shoulders for warmth. "I know how it gets cold in Cloudsdale, but what's wrong with Soarin's home!" 

"Leave now..." an echoing voice growled at him. 

"H-Hello?" 

Rainbow Blitz stood there for a few minutes to see if anything would appear that spoke to him. But time passed, and nothing revealed itself. He continued to trot, until the bathroom door from the left flung open. "Gah!" Blitz yelped, as he felt something tight wrap around his neck. Out of the darkness of the bathroom, emerged an arm with a thin, transparent outline of flesh, with the bones and veins visible. And a claw-like body part at the end of the arm grasping him.

LEAVE NOW..."
	
	
	
> Without sound
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Blitz struggled to free himself from the thing's grasp. He squirmed to loosen himself, but only made the thing tighten its grasp around his neck. The oxygen in him was rapidly depleting, his vision was slowly becoming hazy. The thing slowly revealed itself from its dark hiding spot. Even though Blitz's vision was being impaired, he could not belive what stood before him. 

A towering tall creature, its body just a skeleton with a thin, transparent outine of flesh. It wore nothing on its torso, but it wear military camouflage pants and boots. Blitz was utterly terrified, and confused, by this thing. It was a skeleton, so how did it maintain, or even have the support to wear clothing and strength to hold it? And it also shaped a creature or organism he had never seen before. 

But the one thing that caught the stallion's attention was the wings made out of bone in the back of it. Seeing they were tiny, but forming large wings. 

"Ack! How... Urgghh!" Blitz grunted in pain, as the walking skeletion strangled him more. "Let go of me!" 

The demon walked down the hall, towards Aurora's room. Blitz noticed where they were going and began to thrash around to free himself. He kicked, punched and squirmed to set himself free, but nothing worked against the demon. 

But then he suddenly thought of an idea; an idea that was probably insane to do if you're being held by a monstrous, walking winged-skeleton.

Blitz opened his mouth and... bit into the wrist of the skeleton. 

He was stunned to feel that the creature actually had a solid surface, like if it actually had real skin and flesh in it. The demon stopped and menacingly gazed at him with those eyeless sockets it had. It placed a free left hand on his muzzle to silence him, then opened its wide jaws with rows of carnivorous teeth in front. 

It slammed its jaws into Blitz's right shoulders, and bit down tight. 

The stallion screamed in excruciating pain, but his screams could not be heard by his mouth being covered. 

The sounds of bone and flesh being crushed under the demons jaws quietly cracked. Blitz rolled his eyes up in agony when the thing released its bite, and continued towards the Aurora's room. Blitz's shoulder was bleeding heavily and the bone was crushed. Blitz hyperventilated at the grave wound in him and the massive pain he felt. 

The walking demon placed its skeletal hand on the door knob and quietly turned it. Blitz was shocked to see a monstrosity know how to open a door, or at least any other device. The door silently opened, the demon stepped inside without sound. Blitz eyes turned into wide plates when he saw his granddaughter peacefully sleeping, not knowing the dangerous threat. 

It stopped next to the bed and leaned its skull close to Aurora. Coming face-to-face with the child. The thing opened up its jaws wide, Blitz suddenly reacted and kicked it in the ribs. The creature did back away, but only irritated.

The demon raised a skeletal fist, Blitz knew what it was going to do. 

"Blitz? Blitzy?" Firefly's voice suddenly interrupted from the hallway. "Blitz are you there?" She called out to him. 

The creature lowered its fist when it heard her voice. It made an annoyed grunt and lowered Blitz down. Then placed a hand on the stallion's wound. Blitz was about to scream in pain, but the pain suddenly went away, an icy blue aura waved around like water currents on the demon's skeletal hand; his shoulder was fully healed. 

Blitz was shocked to see his shoulder miraculously healed, since he would've need immediate medical attention, but no. He was relieved to see it back to normal, but even though his shoulder was fine, he was still terrified by the abomination in front of him. 

Uhmm..." Blitz's mouth was wordless. "Uhmmm... Than-" 

He received a solid fist to the head. The transparent figure grabbed the unconcious body of the stallion and placed him next to the child on the bed. It proceeded towards the wide open window and faded away from sight. 

"Blitz, are you in here?" Firefly peeked her head around the doorway. "Hello, Bli-" She saw her husband and granddaughter sleeping together. The mare warmly smiled and hovered over to them, resting herself next to the filly. Snuggling close to her and yawning. "Goodnight, Aurora..." 

Although Firefly had fallen asleep in tranquility, she was unaware of the terror that ravaged her husband, and also close to her granddaughter. 


********


"I'm so tired." Rainbow Dash let out a yawn and flying a bit hunched over. "Ughh... My wings are killing me." 

"I'm tired too, but we're almost home," Soarin' also yawned as he flew closely next to the mare. "That meeting took a long time to get through." 

The time was three in the morning, Rainbow and Soarin' barely got off of work after a extended hours of meetings and office work. Both pegasi were completely exhausted and ready to call it a night. Soarin's eyes were slowly closing on him from the exhaustion but he managed to keep them open. 

But unfortunately for Rainbow she was already staring to fall asleep. Soarin' noticed her having difficulty flying, he carefully flew under her and picked her up with his back. 

"Don't give up yet, Rainbow." 

"I'm not," Rainbow mumbled, making her self comfortable on the stallion back. She softly nuzzled his mane and smiled with a sigh.

Soarin' slightly smiled by how tired he was. He could feel the heavy iron weight of a long day pressing down on his wings. The soothing cold night air gently relaxed his tired wings, helping him cope with weight of Rainbow on his back and his exhausted body. 

Their house came into view, all the lights were dark in the inside, they landed without much sound. Soarin' nudged Rainbow to wake up. Soarin' got the house key from a pocket in his uniform. He inserted the key and the door was unlocked. 

Both of them quietly entered, and went directly towards their room. The thought of staying up more was utterly insane to them at this time. 

Soarin' was the first to reach their bedroom, he plumped himself against the softness of their bed. Dash shortly entered and let herself collapse on the stallion. 

"Soarin'?" Rainbow said drowsily. "Who picked up Aurora today?" 

Soarin's felt a nerve shock him when he remembered who exactly was suppost to pick up their daughter. "Uhmmm... I told Spitfire if she could stay at her place, since she left early. We'll go get her tomorrow." 

"Alright. I guess that'll do." 

But both of them got back, remembering they still had their uniforms on. They promptly undressed themselves, then again  rested on their bed. Soarin' yawned and closed his eyes, but opened them again when he felt something wrap around him. He glanced back and saw Rainbow hugging him, seeing her chest slowly go up and down as she softly slept. 

"Sweet dreams, Dashie..." 


*********


"Grmm...Mmm... Huh!?" 

Rainbow Blitz shot up from the bed as he had a terrible nightmare. He panted as he slowly calmed himself down, but the images were vivid in his head. In his dream he dreamt about things or creatures were following him, easily concealing themselves themselves in their surroundings when Blitz turned around to check who it was. 

The stallion glanced to the left and saw his granddaughter and wife sleeping, he smiled at seeing both of them, but then he frowned for a confusing certain reason... How did he end up in Aurora's bed? Blitz got off the bed and proceeded out of Aurora's room. 

His mind struggled to puzzle the pieces of how he was in Aurora's room, and not downstairs on the couch. It was like his memory had been wiped out. 

'Urgh, what happened to me- Ow!" Blitz came out of his thoughts when he felt a sudden pain on his right shoulder. He looked at it, and saw an outline of something. The marking was wide in size, but barely visible unless if someone got close. He studied it closely and saw the faint marking of a bite mark. 

'Where in the heck did this come from?' Blitz thought to himself. 'Did Firefly do this to me? No, that can't be true. Since when did she grow carnivorous teeth?' He suddenly heard a strange noise from the other room. Which was Rainbow and Soarin's room. 

Blitz quietly trotted over and peeked his head around the doorway. 

"Dashie..." He softly smiled as he saw his daughter sleeping on the bed, with Soarin' right next to her. "Wow, Dash... You always denied anything that made you adorable, and here you are doing something adorable." 

Blitz noticed Rainbow hugging Soarin', but everytime Soarin' would move away, Rainbow would scoot right next to him. Not leaving him at all. Blitz laughed inwardly, seeing his daughter chasing the Wonderbolt was already funny for him. Even when she was just child she would always want to be near her idols at their performances. Blitztrotted down the stairs and into the living room below. 

Blitz rested on the couch and turned on the TV. He changed the channel and tuned into the sports channel like yesterday. 

'Saved from them...' A voice whispered into his ears. 

With that sudden notice, Blitz remembered everything. The transparent demon that bit him, the voices, everything. It felt like it was lurking around him, waiting for another bite, or possibly to hurt the others. Blitz jumped off the couch, and frantically searched in every direction to check if the creature wasn't nearby. 

He felt a chill up his spine when he felt something breathe on his back. Blitz slowly turned around with his heart racing to see what it was, and it turned out to be nothing. But suddenly, he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. He gazed at the source, and saw a shadow looming on the wall. The shadow transformed into the body appearance of the demon. 

Blitz stared at it eyes wide, he could it hear growling and hissing. The stallion prepared for the worst. 

"Bring it on, you abomination!" He grunted sternly under his breath. "I'm not afraid to take you on to protect my family!" The figure emerged from the staircase, Blitz tackled the creature. "Bring it on!"

"Whoa, wait! Blitz, it's me!" The thing shouted. 

Blitz was about to punch the demon, but he quietly gasped when he realized it was Soarin', and not one of those things.  

"Oh, heh... sorry Soarin." Blitz sheepishly smiled. "I thought you were one of them."

"That's fine," Soarin' got back up with the help of his father-in-law. "But what do you mean 'them'?"

Blitz gave Soarin' a frightened look. "Soarin', there is something in your house. I don't even know how to describe it!" 

Soarin' had a perplexed look. "What do you mean something is in my house? Our family? They're the only ones here." 

"No, you don't get what I'm saying. There is a thing, a creature! It attacked me for crying out loud!" 

"Mr. Blitz, what are you talking about?" 

Blitz pointed a hoof at the outline of the bite mark on his shoulder. "This is what I'm talking about. It bit me!" Soarin' put his face next to the marking, and squinted his eyes for a better image of it. 

"Mr.Blitz, I don't even know if your playing a joke... Whoa." Soarin' noticed the bite mark was large and came from carnivourous teeth. 

"This what I'm talking about! You have a monster in your home! Soarin', if you don't get help..." 

Blitz vison suddenly went crimson red. Everything was in red: walls, floors, even Soarin'. A raging sound of wind blasted into his ears. But two tall figures behind him weren't covered in red. Blitz was mesmerized by the sudden infiltration of his vision, he felt frozen to the floor when voices whispered to him. 

"Silence...." 

He nodded his head in total compliance, and everything went back to normal. Soarin' cocked a suspicious eyebrow as he noticed Rainbow's dad was acting strange. 

"Are you alright, sir?" He asked in a concerned voice. "Blitz? Are you okay?" 

"Uhmm..." Rainbows's father shook his head to snap out of his trance. "Yeah. I'm fine, just... tired. I was just joking with you about the creature biting me and in your home." He flashed a nervous smile. 

"I knew it!" Soarin' grinned and playfully nudged him in the ribs. "You were just playing with me." 

"Don't do that again," Blitz shot a deathly stare at him while he got nudged. 

Soarin' sheepishly smiled and backed away to the kitchen, before he could possibly get into any trouble. "Hehe... I'll be in the kitchen. I have to get ready for work. I hope you surprise Rainbow when she wakes up." Soarin' said before he disappeared into the kitchen. 

Blitz laughed inwardly as he struck fear into Soarin', he was so easy to intimidate at times. Blitz made his way up the stairs and passed by Rainbow and Soarin's room. He entered Aurora's to check on his wife and granddaughter. Both of them were still sleeping. 

"Lazy," Blitz quietly said to himself, seeing Firefly lightly snoring. "But time to get up." He came up to her side and began to nudge her, softly. "Honey, time to wake up." 

Firefly grunted and turned away from him. "Give me a few minutes, dad. It's Saturday." 

"I'm not your dad. But you still have to get up, and it's not Saturday. Sorry." 

The mare yawned and slowly cracked open an eye. She saw her granddaughter in front of her, but felt the presence of something else behind her. She turned around and saw her husband staring at her with a smile. 

"It would be you," Firefly shot a playful annoyed look. "Let me sleep because I need it." 

"You're only bothering our child." Blitz said. "Leave her alone." 

Firefly hugged the filly and went back to sleeping. "Nope... She's all mine to keep." 

Blitz formed an unimpressed stare, but his mind suddenly thought of an idea to get her out of bed. "Soarin' s awake and downstairs in the kitchen," he announced with a smirk. 

Firefly instantly got out of bed, and trotted out the room. "Well, what are you waiting for? We can't leave the boy by himself, you know?" She said. 

Blitz rolled his eyes and followed her, but stopped and looked back at Aurora, seeing her fiddle a bit at their nonsense. 

"Sorry..." 

The two of them went downstairs and entered the kitchen. Soarin' was sipping a cup of coffee as he was about to exit. 

"Well, hello there," Firefly announced in a sly tone. 

Soarin' choked a bit at the surprising voice of Rainbow's mother. 

"Oh, hi there Ms. Firefly." 

"Getting ready for work I see." 

"Yeah, gotta leave soon or else I'm in trouble at the HQ," Soarin replied.

"Better hurry! And go wake up our Dashie! She's had enough sleep." Firefly mischievously smiled. 

"So, if you don't sleep, Dash doesn't sleep either?" Blitz asked. 

"Yup," Firefly happily replied. 

"Your an evil mother," Blitz said. 

"You could say that too." 

Soarin' chuckled and went up the stairs into his room. He opened up his closet and grabbed his captain uniform, buttoning himself quickly. Soarin' grabbed the tie next and tied it, then adjusted everything else on his uniform. 'Alright, everything looks good to go,' he thought to himself. 'Can't wait for Dashie to see her parents.'

Soarin' trotted to the doorway, he had planned out the surprise visit from Rainbow Dash's parents. It had been such a long time since her parents had seen or visited them, and Aurora always asked why they never see each other that much. But today, Soarin' would make sure that their families would reunite.

"Soarin'," Rainbow suddenly called him out.. 

Soarin' stopped at the voice of the mare. "Dash? You're awake?" 

"Yeah, why else would I be talking with you. Anyway, who were you talking to downstairs?" 

"I wasn't talking to anyone, you were probably dreaming," Soarin' lied, trying to hide the truth.

"Yeah you were. I heard you talking to someone," Rainbow suspiciously stared at him. 

"No, I wasn't talking to anybody dow-" Soarin' was cutoff by a familiar voice. 

"He was very much talking to somepony downstairs." A familiar voice entered the room. 

Firefly had entered the room undetected. Rainbow's eyes turned large when she heard the warm voice of somepony, somepony she hadn't see in a long time. "Mom?" She raised her head up in disbelief. 

"Yes, Dashie, it is me... Your one and only mother." Firefly said softly. 

She hugged Rainbow and gently gave her a squeeze. Dash was completely shocked to see her mom at this time. She closed her eyes, enjoying the warm hug of her mom. 

"Mom, it's been such a long time I've seen you." 

"It has, Dashie. It has..." 

"How did you even get inside the house, or actually what are you doing here?" Rainbow perked her head up with a confused stare. 

Firefly turned her head at Soarin'. "You could thank your little coltfriend for that." She playfully smirked at him. 

Soarin' rolled his eyes with a smile. "Yup, you could thank me for all of this, Rainbow. Since I am your 'coltfriend'." 

"You always have to surprise me, Soar. But anyway..." Dash made a deeply concerned look. "Is... Dad here?"

"Of course I'm here!" Blitz entered with a wide grin. "Why else would w- Oofh!" 

Blitz was cutoff when a rainbow blur tackled him. He saw Rainbow glued against him. 

"Daddy..." 

"Hi, sweety," Rainbow's dad softly giggled. "It's been awhile, hasn't it?" 

"Forever," she mumbled. 

Rainbow Blitz hugged her back, not wanting to let go of his only daughter. But then both of them felt a pair of hooves wrap around their necks; Firefly joined in on the family hug. 

Soarin' warmly smiled at Dash's family. He saw how comfortable and happy they were together. He trotted passed them and went straight toward his daughter's room. Soarin' entered quietly, and saw Aurora asleep on her bed. 

He came up to her and planted a soft kiss on her forehead. "I'll see you later, Aurie." He whispered, forming a frown as he knew he wasn't probably going to see her the whole day or tommorow. "Don't get into any trouble, okay?" Soarin' left her room with his head slightly drooping down. 

He couldn't get his daughter off of his mind, it always appeared to be forever every time he saw her. The long work hours of both night and day at the HQ only upset him by keeping him away from his family. But he knew he had to cope with it in order to support his small family. It was the best job he could ever have, but with a few sacrifices having to be made. 

"Soar, you're leaving already?" 

Soarin' picked his head up when he heard Rainbow's voice ask him. 

"Yup," he sighed sadly. "Gotta get going, Spitfire wants me to train some of the cadets today." 

"Oh, alright. Well I'll see you in a few hours." 

Soarin' planted a kiss on her cheek, then trotted passed her and went downstairs. Rainbow had a concerned look on why Soarin' seemed a bit upset, she was about to go after him to make sure he was fine, until the sound of the door shutting broke her approach. 

"I wonder what's up with Soarin'?" She asked herself. 

The mare went back to her parents, she entered her bedroom and saw they had taken over her bed. 

"Mom, Dad! What are you doing sleeping in my bed!?" Rainbow gave them a bewildered stare. 

"It's so comfy," her mother said with a yawn. "Care to join us?" 

"No!" 

"Alright, but we'll probably be awake in a few hours." Blitz snuggled closer to his wife. 

"Come on, Dad! You're joking right?" Rainbow asked with an uneasy smile, knowing her father wasn't that lazy. 

"Nope." 

Rainbow left her room mumbling a few words. Her parents were just so random and odd at times, but thats how she loved them. She went down to the kitchen and started to prepare herself a cup of coffee. 

She stared out the window and saw the morning light slowly rising from the horizon. 

"I hope Soarin' is alright..." 


********


"Alright! Today you'll be going through the basic obstacles courses today!" Soarin' shouted at the cadets. 

The morning had passed and it was now mid day. Soarin' kept a keen eye on all of the new Wonderbolt trainees. Each one of them had a vigil stance and a serious stare. 

"Cadets! Get with your partner and prepare for the course!" 

"Yes, Sir!" All of the cadets replied, standing next to their designated partner. 

"Alright, I will tell when to go!" Soarin' got out a stopwatch, and pressed the timer to start. "Nightwind, Blue Star, go!" 

The two cadets immediately took off, and proceeded toward the floating training course. Soarin' waitied for about ten seconds to let the next group go. 

"Iron Storm, Daisy Rain, go!" He shouted. 

Soarin' observed the two cadets go, then looked back at the watch. Ten seconds had already passed. 

"Next group, go!" 

"Yes, Sir!" 

The last group of cadets took off, now Soarin' would only have to observe their performance. He built a few unimpressed stares at them as he saw some of them having difficulty going through areas of high winds and heavy rain. Yet, they managed to push on through. The next set was floating cloud rings positioned at random altitudes, to add some difficulty.  

"Not bad," Soarin' said to himself, "they're actually doing pretty good." The cadets showed steady progress and swiftness in the training course. They were knocked back a few time by some of the hazards but the managed to recover quickly. Soarin' glanced at the stop watch in his forehoof, and saw at least five minutes had passed by. 

"Wow, they're doing much better than the other newbies I've trained." He smirked at the watch. 

Soarin' moved his attention bavk to the cadets to continue observation, he patiently waited for their return, but something caught the blue pegasus' attention; in the corner of his eye. 

He turned his head to the left, and something standing at the edge of the airstrip. Just where one of the rivers of the plateau ran off the edge. Soarin' squinted his eyes to get better look of it, but he was a bit too far for full detail. He continued to gaze at it, it just standed there. 

"What in the name of Celetsia is th-" 

"Sir, we're back!" A cadet suddenly interrupted. 

Soarin' snapped out of his trance and looked back at the waiting pegasi. "Oh, well done, newbies! You're free to hit the Mess Hall!" 

The cadets casually trotted over to the large cloud structure. Soarin' watched each one of them leave until he was left alone. He dismmised them early on purpose, but the time of the traning session was near the end. Soarin' wasn't likely going to be in trouble for dismissing the recruits early since he was the second in command. He went back to watching the anomaly, but it was gone.

"Where did it go?" He asked himself. 

"Looking for something?" A voice suddenly interrupted. 

Soarin' looked back and saw it was Misty Fly and Fleetfloot, both wearing thier casual uniforms. "Who? Oh! It's you two! Nope, I wasn't looking for anything!" He smiled at them. 

"Okay," Fleetfloot smiled back at him, "but how did the session go?" 

"It was actually pretty good. The newbies didn't mess up that bad." 

"Wow," Misty Fly had a surprised look, "that's wierd, they usually get into accidents." 

"At least my newbies aren't terrible." Soarin' proud fully pouted a hoof again his chest. 

Fleetfloot rolled her eyes, and said," Whatever! You're just trying to be a showoff!" 

Soarin' began to laugh, then Misty also joined along the laughter. Fleetfloot just trotted away to the Mess Hall, with a glare. Misty slowly began to calm down and chase after her. "Someone's mad. Well, I'll see you later, Soarin! Fleetfloot wait up!" 

Soarin' waved goodbye at her as she caught up to the mare. But he immediately went back to finding that thing. His eyes slowly widened when his sight caught on to it, but the figure disappearing into thin air.

Soarin' took off and flew straight for it. 

"Now where did it go?" He asked himself again. Soarin' landed where he saw the figure vanished, not a single sign of it. It was just so random to him; how could something just vanish instantly without leaving any trails or any details of it behind? But suddenly, he heard a sound from below. Soarin' approached the edge of the plateau, and looked down. 

He went agape when he saw a strange creature standing by a log. It was very tall in height, Soarin' noticed that it wore similiar clothing like the creature in that forest he saw days ago. But it was more of a light grey than woodland colored. 

It just stood there, staring off into the Equestria below and beyond. The Wonderbolt could not interpret or believe what he was seeing, this thing just looked so smiliar to the creature he saw before. The creature turned back, and gazed up at Soarin' with a masked face. Soarin' felt his heart stop and legs tremble; feeling its concealed face piercing his soul. 

The creature instantly vanished from sight by turning transparent. Soarin' heart was no longer frozen and began to beat against his chest. He frantically checked left and right for the thing, but not a single trace of where it went remained. A few minutes passed by, and everything remained quiet. 

Soarin' assumed that it was long gone by now. 

"What. The. Hell. Did. I. Just. Witness?" 


********


A class of children stood at the steps of a massive and ominous structure. It was the proud and famous Canterlot Museum. The teacher motioned her students to go up the stairs, and wait for her at the top. Since the class was made up of all pegasi, they easily flew up the stairs instead of actually trotting up them. 

Aurora landed above the flight of stairs, and patiently waited for the teacher. She stared in awe at the museum's design; the towering pure white columns at the front, different flags from around the world hanging off each column. A gigantic gold symbol of an alicorn staring at the sky placed above the main entrance. 

"Woah..." Aurora couldn't take her eyes off the symbol. 

"Come on, class." The teacher said. 

Aurora followed the class into the museum, they stopped at the entrance, and the wide doors were opened by two Royal Guard earth ponies. The class entered, the guards smiled at the school children at seeing their awed and amazed looks. 

"Whoa!" The class said unison, seeing two gigantic skeletal Manticore models in the center of the lobby. Posing as like if they battling each other. To the walls were giant silver statues of Guard unicorns, each one of them sporting a spear in their forehooves. 

"Hello there!" A voice suddenly said. The class turned at the source and saw it was one of the staff that worked there. She wore a white collar shirt and black tie with a photo I.d. of her.. "I'll be your tour guide today." 

"Oh, hello there!" The teacher came up to the guide and shook her hoof. "I'm Miss Aria Streak." 

"Welcome, Miss Aria Streak, to the the Canterlot Museum! I am Brisk Finder ,"the guide said kindly. "You are the teacher of this class, I believe?" 

"Yes I am." Aria responded. 

"Well, then, let's get started." 

The guide led the class to to a broad corridor on the left. This area contained artifacts and statues of ancient civilizations. The students were amazed to see the ominous statues of ancient warrior ponies, they looked so powerful and tall in their designs. Sporting weapon of the past and present. 

"Here you see stone warriors from Saddle Arabia, they go back about 500 years," the guide announced. 

"Wow, that's a long time," Aurora said to herself. 

The class curiously observed glass containers that facilitated helmets, armor and weapons. They all appeared to be made out of gold. The students were led to the next area, which displayed stone slabs that had ancient writing carved into them. Aurora trotted up a container to get a better look of the writing. 

"Hmm..." She had a perplexed look at the unknown letters. "What does this say?" 

"Oh," the guide came up to her, "it says: 'They will arrive within time. They will watch with keen eyesight over our kingdom, and shall come down when they choose to. The heavens is their home, their endless land.' Brisk grinned happily at the filly. 

"Woah! How did you know what it said?" Aurora was shocked to see the guide understood the writing perfectly. 

"I took a class that taught about languages around the world, and ancient ones too." 

"Miss Brisk," the teacher called out, "I'm sorry, but what does this tablet say?" She sheepishly smiled at the guide. Curiosity crept in her mind. 

"This one says: 'The Master came up to me. He declared they will leave soon. I am saddened to hear about this, the heavenly figures we loved were going to leave us? He said they will return, but when will they? Are the tall ones speaking the truth?'

"Wow! You're really excellent at translating the Saddle Arabian writing!" Aria was surprised to see the guide's vast knowledge of the language. 

"Why thank you!" The guide giggled and gave a small bow. 

"But... Who do the Saddle Arabians refer to as 'them' or the 'Master'?" A colt asked from the group. 

"The Saddle Arabians recorded that they were visited by figures from the heavens. Creating an alliance between them, but that is now... bleak. Different races from around who had heard about these things believe they were gods. The others who didn't believe this thought that it was nonsense or actually... aliens!" 

"Is there any picture about the aliens?" A filly asked. 

"Follow me." The guide motioned the class to another area of the museum. They came across a tall rock plate, surrounded by a glass container. Aurora was surprised to see what was marked on the rock. There was the figure of a pony caved on it, staring at another tall figure in front of it. The tall figure gazed down at the pony, with the image of a light behind it. 

"The figure on the right is the 'god' or the 'aliens', that had supposedly visited the Saddle Arabians centuries ago," the guide said. "They were presumed as tall and mysterious creatures." 

Aurora raised an eyebrow at the mystery of the carvings on the rock. But something in the back of her mind was bothering her about something. Something with the image of that 'god' or 'alien'. The nerves on her head tingled, seeing that it was resembling something very familiar. 

'Why does the carving remind of me something?' She thought to herself. 'It looks like that...' Aurora realized what the figure resembled. It looks like that thing me and my dad saw in that forest!'

She was shocked that the creature was identical to the carving. Tall, mysterious to the world, somehow interfering with ponies. It was close to making sense. Aurora took a step closer, but became impeded when something whispered into her ear. 

"You see the past, now you shall see the future..." 

The filly glanced to the left and right to see if one of her classmates were playing a trick on her, but they were all too busy staring at the rock and its images. The voices that followed her were at the museum too. Aurora slowly backed away from the class, but unfortunately the class moved when the guide led them to a new area. 

She followed with an uneasy smile; knowing that the anomalies were probably at her side. The next room had more artifacts behind glass barriers, standing on pedestals though. Four unicorn Guard ponies stood vigil on near each of these valuable items. 

Brisk made her way to an artifact, unlocking it from its container and reaching for it. She had a piece of metal in her left forehoof. It had a marking of a dark blue vortex on it. 

"This here is a metallic object that was discovered in a temple in the Griffon Kingdom. No one has a clue what the symbol represents, and the metal is actually said to be... not from this planet all."

She handed the piece to a colt, so the students could pass it around and see it up close. 

"Hey, this doesn't look like the metal that's in the armor that guards use," acolt said. 

"It kind of does... In some way," a filly tilted her head in curiosity at the metal object. 

While the class carefully studied the mysterious metal piece, Aurora strayed a bit off and saw a single object planted on a pedestal. She made her way to it, and stopped when she was directly in front of it. 'I wonder what this is?' She curiously stared at the dome shaped object. 

"Is there something you need, child?" a guard asked coyly, noticing the filly's intriguing gaze at the object. 

"Uhmm... No, not at all. But... What is this thing?" She could see her reflection on the object's glass areas. 

"This is actually a helmet of some sort," the guard explained. 

Aurora started to notice it was a helmet. "It is, but... It looks too big for one." 

The helmet was indeed a tad over larged. Its visor was like a dome but curved slightly forward and covered some of the top. The rest of it was covered in a plastic and metal-like material. The visor was like a mirror and the metal and plastic were in a greyish woodland scheme. 

The filly closely eyed at the artifact, seeing how strange and complex the structure it had. Aurora felt her vision drawing in closer to the helmet, it also felt like it was stretching to the sides. A beaming light shined from behind the artifact, Aurora felt herself being left with awe and wonder in its presence. 

Her heart pounded against her small chest and her adrenaline raced when images of a tall figure wearing the helmet flashed before her eyes. Then, another image appeared; this one displaying just the head of the figure wearing the helmet, when suddenly another image flashed. Aurora saw tall figures standing in front of a bright source of light. 

"This belongs to them..." She mumbled, her eye pupils shrinking. 

"Did you say something?" the guard asked. 

"Huh?" the filly shook her head to escape her overwhelming trance. "Oh, I'm fine! Yeah, just carefully studying the helmet." She flashed a nervous smile at the stallion. 

The guard shrugged and went back to observing his surroundings. But hidden in the shadows, watching every move of all who visited the musuem, a Pegasus in a black suit and sunglasses scanned everypony with his keen eyesight. But he had certain eyes on a filly that belonged to two famous Wonderbolts. 

He raised a suspicious eyebrow when he noticed the child started appearing to be in some trance, or just acting strange when she stared at the artifact. But a small surge of electricity slither toward the back of the artifact made both his eyebrows raise upward in shock. 

He knew something was wrong.


**********
 

"Yes?" A unicorn with a black military beret answered the radio. 

He listened closely to the speaker on the otherside of the line. The speaker that is the pegasus in the black suit. The unicorn with the beret made a confused and suspicious look at the words he heard. 

"What do you mean you're detecting strange energy readings?" He asked sternly. "Oh, so now you're saying radiation than energy signals? Look, if that things is coming back to life, then make sure no one is near it!" 

"Sir, I don't know if it's reactivating!" The pegsus replied. 

"If it is, then evacuate anyone near it! Yes I know it's at the museum, but make it look like if there's an emergency, like a fire or an accident. I know, I know, you're by yourself!" The unicorn acknowledged the pegasus was by himself. "I'll send help, but do it right now if that artifact is coming to life!" 

"Sir, I'm starting to see some of the other artifacts acting strange!" The pegasus said in a frightened tone. 

"Well, evacuate everyone from there!" The unicorn yelled at him. "Do you have any idea if one of those artifacts reactivate or send an energy signal across the globe! Then, get to it!" 

The unicorn disconnected the communication between him and the pegasus in the black suit. He adjusted his beret and trotted over to the window in his office. He stared up at a murky, cloudy sky with open patches of light beaming down from above. He greatly feared the consequences if the artifacts were either used or activated. 

"You were here once, you left us for centuries... Now you're starting to appear once again on our world. But perhaps you're too dangerous and powerful to be exposed to the eyes of millions this time. May Celestia help us all if you return... Because I know your mad... Tall Ones." 

The unicorn could hear a demonic laugh mock him in his mind... They were mocking him. 
	
	
> Trouble Stirs
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The unicorn with the black beret nervously paced back and forth as he waited for a response from the Pegasus in the black suit. Seconds, then minutes were consumed by time, and still no response from the pony. 

"He better be doing something by now. That agent better not be slacking off to create a distraction to get everyone away from those artifacts," he grumbled. 

The odd activaty that surrounded the artifacts at the museum deeply troubled him. If one, just one, artifact manages to simply do something strange... The whole world could not be possibly prepared for the unforeseen consequences. 

The unicorn grabbed the radio strapped on his chest and contacted the Pegasus. "Are you done yet!?" he asked sternly. A few seconds passed by, until the radio crackled. 

"I'm almost done. Just give me a few more minutes." The Pegasus responded. 

"Hurry up! I do not want to encounter them anytime soon or later!" The unicorn cut off the communication between him and the agent. He trotted clockwise around the desk in his office, and sat down in the chair behind the desk. He could feel his lips quiver, he could feel the cold sweat forming around his forelegs by the fear, his right eye began to slightly twitch. 

"We are so damned if They return..." he whimpered. 


*********


"They are so..." Aurora was caught once again in a trance, in the presence of the helmet. "...So powe-" 

"Hey, are you alright?" the colt Thunder asked, noticing his fellow classmate acting strange. 

Aurora snapped out of her trance, and lookedback at Thunder. "Yup! I'm fine! Nothing wrong." she flashed a fake smile. 

"Okay, but this thing looks cool!" the colt made a gesture towards the helmet. "It almost looks like from a movie or a video game!" 

"It kind of does." Aurora commented. "I wonder if this one was special with the story of the 'Tall ones' or possibly 'gods'." 

"Class, we're moving along the tour," the teacher announced. 

The colt and filly promptly followed the crowd of students to the next area of the museum. The teacher merrily chatted with the guide, until a guard ran up to the guide with a troubled look on his face. 

"Ma'am, we got get a problem." He said. 

"What is it?" the guide asked. 

"There's smoke coming out of the air vents, there might be a possible fire!" the guard explained. Aria and Brisk had perplexed looks before putting shocked stares in their face. That's not good! Brisk said. "Miss Aria gather your students! We're going to evacuate everyone!" 

"Agreed. Class, please follow me! There's an emergency!" the teacher waved a hoof in the air to signal the students to follow her. The fillies and colts hastily followed their teacher and the guide to the nearest exit. The smell of smoke entered thier nostrils, causing some of them to cough. Eventually, smoke did come seeping through air vents attached along the ceiling above them. 

"What's going on?" a colt asked. 

"I don't- ack!" a filly coughed from the smoke.

"Hurry! We're almost there!" the teacher said. 

The class rushed past the lobby and entered the bright light of the outside through the main entrance. The class quickly went down the flight of stairs, then stopped to make sure everypony was fine. 

"I think we're safe here," the guide said, panting from the exhaustion of galloping. 

"I think so." Aria looked at her class to make sure all her students were together. "Is everypony alright?" She asked. 

All the children responded saying, "Yeah" or "Yes." Aria sighed in relief as she acknowledged none of them were injured in the escape. 

"Come on! Let's go!" a voice shouted. 

The class looked at the source of the voice, and saw multiple firefighters rushing up the steps. Plumes of smoke rose like giants from the museum, a small flame flickered from the rooftop. Many tourists and other ponies poured out of the building to escape the fire. 

"This is not good at all." the guide frowned as the fire was beginning to spread. "How did this all start?" 

More firefighters arrived at the scene to battle the fires, Royal Guard troops also arrived to set up a perimeter around the burning building, to prevent anyone from entering. 

"Field trip fail..." Aurora mumbled. 


********
 

Soarin' sat in his office reading a book about a famous Pegasus who was originally part of the Wonderbolts and a soldier of the Equestrian military, but now is retired. His eyes travelled left to right as he read every word steadily, and every paragraph. Soarin' was lost in the book of the life of the special Pegasus, until the loud ringing of the phone interrupted him. 

"Hello." Soarin' picked up the phone. "May I help you?" 

He nodded as he listened to the speaker, he recognized the other pony at the end as one of the personnel who worked at the Cloudsdale school, but his eyes slowly widened as the pony started to mention his daughter and a large fire. 

"What! Where?...Canterlot? I'll be there shortly." 

Soarin' immediately hung up and proceeded out of his office. He was about to make a turn for the HQ's exit, but realized it would be important to inform Rainbow Dash about this. The stallion rushed to the mare's office, but when he got there he saw that she wasn't occupying the room.

"Ah! Where is she?" Soarin' formed an irritate look.   

"You looking for someone, Soarin'?" a voice asked. 

Soarin' looked behind him, and saw it was Lightning Streak. "Yeah, where's Rainbow Dash?" He asked. 

"She's in the mess hall," Lightning Streak said. "Something wrong? You look troubled." 

"It's just a small situation I have." Soarin' promptly left to the mess hall, leaving Lightning Streak alone. The stallion shrugged and casually trotted away to wherever he was going.

Soarin' entered the bustling and loud mess hall, he scanned left and right for the mare, but the crowds of both Wonderbolts, cadets, and other members obscuring his sight did not help. He groaned as he couldn't spot Rainbow anywhere. 

"Where is she?" Soarin' sighed. "Why does do these types of situations occur at the wrong... Huh?" A rainbow mane caught his attention in the crowd. He immediately approached the suspected Rainbow Dash, and it turned out it was her sitting at a table, chatting merrily with Fleetfloot and Misty Fly. 

"Rainbow!" he called her named over the loud noise. 

"So you know, my dau- huh?" She was cutoff, and looked back at who called her name. "Oh, what's up Soar'?" 

"Hey, Soarin', whatcha doing here?" Misty Fly asked with a smile. 

Soarin' ignored Misty and concentrated his attention at Dash. "Rainbow, we have a situation on ours hooves," he said, with an uneasy look on his face. 

"What do you mean we have a situation?" Rainbow had a perplexed look. 

"Aurora's school just called and they're stuck in Canterlot because there was a huge fire at the museum!" The stallion nearly yelled.

"What!?" Rainbow yelped, her motherly instincts stung her as her only child was in possible danger. "How did this happen?" 

"Which is why we need to get over there this instant!" Soarin' turned around to leave. Rainbow got out of her seat, and quickly caught up to the stallion. "I'll see you guys later!" She shouted back at Fleetfloot and Misty Fly. 

The two mares waved goodbye at her. "I hope everything is alright!" Fleetfloot shouted back. When the couple disappeared behind the double-doors, Fleetfloot turned her head at Misty Fly with an impish, playful smile. "So, Misty Fly, you didn't answer my question." 

"What question?" Misty made a puzzled look at her statement. 

"Don't play games with me. You know what I mean." Fleetfloot nudged the mare a few times, raising her eyebrows at her. 

"I seriously don't know what you're talking about!" 

"Why have you been staring at Fire Streak lately? Do you have yo wittle heart on him?" Fleetfloot said in a baby voice, battering her eyelashes at her too. 

"I haven't been staring at Fire Streak! And I don't have a crush on him!" Misty retorted, feeling her cheeks burn and the blood rush to her head. 

Fleetfloot simply rolled her eyes and smirked at the denying mare. "It's alright... We'll talk about this later, Misty." She got up and left the table. Misty Fly glared menacingly at the troublesome mare, her frustration mounting as the Fleetfloot's words echoed in her head. 

But when she disappeared, Misty Fly sighed and stared at Fire Streak, who was sitting a few tables ahead and talking with some cadets. 

"I do have a crush on him," she mumbled. 


********
 

The two Wonderbolt parents rushed rapidly to Canterlot, their wings battered fiercely against the air, thier eyes watering as the winds dried them out. But this did not effect them at all, their determination to make sure thier child was safe from an ominous threat kept them going. 

"Did they tell how the fire started?" Rainbow shouted at Soarin' over the loud sounds of gushing winds. 

"No. They only told me that they're stuck there, and the school is asking for the parents to retrieve their kids. Or else they'll assign a Royal Guard troop to escort them back to Cloudsdale," Soarin' explained. 

Rainbow nodded as she acknowledged his statement. The spiring towers of Canterlot revealed themselves from behind a wall of clouds ahead of the two ponies, but a large plume of smoke also rose from the distance. Soarin' and Rainbow surpassed the clouds, and witnessed the full view of the royal and beautiful view of Canterlot. But the trail of smoke eradicated all glamorous and elegant levels of it. 

The two pegasi lowered their altitude and slowed their airspeed. They landed at the front, broad gates of the city and immediately entered, passing by the citizens and Solar Guards of Celestia that kept a watchful eye on anyone who entered the city. 

Soarin' looked up and used the trail of smoke as a guide marker to where the museum was. 

"There," he pointed a hoof at the smoke, "that's where the museum is. Come on!" 

Soarin' and Rainbow galloped down the smooth rock road that led to the museum. As they rushed to their child, Rainbow started to notice other ponies around them, seeing they were concerned or frightened about something. Rainbow assumed that they were probably the parents of the other schoolchildren. 

The museum was up ahead, crowds of ponies surrounded the large structure. Soarin' and Rainbow pushed passed the groups of ponies who were shocked to see the famous structure burning up. Soarin' pushed a pony to the side, with Rainbow directly behind him, and saw his daughter's class in front. Both of them smiled when they saw their daughter. 

"Aurora!" they shouted. 

The filly turned her head at the familiar voice of her parents. "Mom? Dad?" She ran up to them, and was embraced with a hug by both parents. "What are you guys doing?" She formed a surprised look at their arrival. 

"We're here to get you out of this mess." Soarin' said.

"Yeah, do you know how scare- concerned!" Rainbow suddenly yelped, catching herself on time before revealing an embarrassing feeling. At least for her...

Aurora simply shook her head at her mother. "Mom, you were scared," she said flatly. 

"No, I wasn't!" Rainbow huffed. 

"Yes you were." Aurora said back.

"No, I wasn't!"

Soarin' rolled his eyes, and stopped the ridiculous argument. "Rainbow, it doesn't matter if you were scared or not." He put himself in front of her. "The only that is important right now is that Aurie is safe." 

Rainbow had to admit that he was right, she sighed. "You're right, Soar... all that matters is that our little filly is safe." She smiled at her daughter. Aurora giggled as she felt Rainbow nuzzle her, but then a few words were whispered into her ears. 

"I'm so going to get you back." Rainbow whispered. 

"You were so scared. You can't hide from it, mom." Aurora whispered with a smug look. 

"Whatever..." 

Rainbow walked away from her and back to Soarin. Soarin' had his eyes on the burning museum, seeing the fires were nearly controlled by the firefighters, but still burning with power. He couldn't believe what was happening, this famous and old structure containing countless of items and objects from around the world was being slowly destroyed.  

"I wonder how this happened?" He asked Rainbow, who had a awed look on her face. 

"I don't know, but this is going to cost A LOT to rebuild what is lost," she replied. 

"Ah, hello there Mr. Soarin' and Ms. Rainbow Dash," a voice merrily said to them. "I'm glad to see you here." 

The two Wonderbolts turned back at the source and saw it was Aurora's school teacher. The teacher extended a hoof out to greet them, and was gladly accepted by both parents. 

"I don't what happened, but at least you and your class are safe," Soarin said. 

"Yes I'm very glad that we're all safe. But we're dismissing class right here, you are allowed to take your little student home." Aria smiled at both of them. "But I'm surprised to see both of you here. I thought they were going to send some worker or assistant to retrieve your daughter for you guys, since I assumed you were going to be unavailable." She formed a puzzled look on her face. 

"Nope, we're not that busy." Rainbow placed a hoof on Soarin's shoulder. "We're always here for Aurora." 

Soarin smiled at Aria, saying, "Yeah we're always heeere... For her." Soarin' felt his smile fade away as he realized something. Something that tormented him. He was never really there, or near, Aurora. He was away from his daughter most of the time.

"Soar'? Are you alright?" Rainbow asked in a concerned tone, noticing that he suddenly went unusually quiet. 

"Huh? Oh, yeah! I'm fine!" Soarin' reassuringly smiled at her. 

"Okay, but I guess we need to go now. Don't want to stay here for too long. The popparazi might arrive soon." Rainbow hated the fact that being famous meant you weren't going to be left alone in public. "Aurora, come on! We're going home!" Aurora came to her father's with a wide smile. She was very much excited to see and be with her dad again. Soarin' extended his left wing out and brought her in closer to him. 

"All right, I guess we're off, Ms. Aria. I hope you everything will be fine for the rest of the day, and hopefully most parents of your students arrive." Rainbow bid her farewell and took off with Soarin' and their daughter. Noticing the parents of the other school children arriving. 

"Dad, I can't believe you and mom came to pick me up!" Aurora exclaimed. 

"Sweety, we'll always pick you up." Soarin' placed the filly on his back to let her rest. "We're not going to leave you." 

"We're are always here for you, Aurie. No matter how busy or stubborn we are." Dash planted a kiss on the filly's cheek, the filly happily giggled. "Well, anyway, we're going to bring you to work." 

"I thought you guys were done?" Aurora questioned.

"Nope, since this whole accident happened with your field trip," Soarin' responded. 

"Oh, okay. But cool!" 

The pegasi family flew above the luxurious buildings of the city. The smoke still rose from the burning museum, but the fire was almost contained. Ponies down below or flying above continued on with their daily lives, even if their was an accident at a famous site. 

Soarin' kept his eyes ahead of them as they flew back to their Wonderbolt facilities, but then an idea came to him. An idea his child would surely love. 

"Hey, Aurie, how would like to go with me to the Academy than going to the boring HQ with your lame and boring mom?" He  stuck his tongue out at the mare. 

"Hey! The HQ is not boring and NEITHER am I!" Rainbow Dash retored. 

Aurora laughed at her mother's statement, and at her father's way to make her mom mad. "Mom, you're not boring. You're awesome!" 

"Of course I'm awesome!" Rainbow said proudly. "But it's this guy who thinks he's funny!" She 'accidentally' bumped into Soarin'. Soarin' laughed with an eye roll, then bumped her back playfully. 

"Boring. Rainbow Dash the lame Pegasus!" Aurora also rolled her tongue out at her mom. 

Rainbow shot a menacing stare at the filly, "Don't you dare say that to me, Miss Aurora Storm Dash!" 

Yup. That's her full name; "Aurora Storm Dash." Even though she preferred to be called "Aurora" than her full name. The filly gasped as her mother called her by her full name. "Mom, such language!" 

"Language?" Soarin' chimed in, chuckling. "Yeah, Rainbow Dash! Why the harsh language? That's very rude of you." 

Rainbow mumbled out a few words before falling silent. Soarin' and Aurora laughed as they earned a victory over the mare. A few minutes later they arrived at the Academy. Aurora got off her dad and kept close to his side. But saw both her parents had eager stares. . 

"So, Aurie, do you want to stay with me or your mom?" Soarin' asked her. 

"She'll obviously stay with her awesome and brilliant mom!" Rainbow made a prideful pose with a confident grin.

"Dad." the filly said flatly. 

"Ha! I told you she would pic- What!?" the mare stood dumbstruck at her daughter's desicion. 

"Well, it looks like I win." Soarin' smugly stared at her. 

"Oh, come on Aurie! Your joking, right?" Dash came up to the filly with an uneasy smile. "Your just playing a trick on me?" 

"Nope. I want to stay with dad today." Aurora replied. 

Rainbow had the most shocked and offended stare she could put on. Her own daughter chose Soarin' than her. This was something she never expected. Rainbow boasted loudly. "This is betrayal! Mutiny! Out of all the thing-" 

"Go back to the HQ, Dashie..." Soarin' said with an unimpressed stare, 

"I'n just playing with you guys," she rolled her eyes. "I love you two!" Rainbow planted a kiss a her daughter's cheek. Then gave her stallion a peck on the lips. "Especially you," she seductively whispered into his ear. 

"Love you, Dashie." Soarin' placed a hoof around her and brought her in for a passionate kiss. 

"Eww!" Aurora groaned in disgust. "Remember, that I'm still here!" 

Both of her parents continued, despite the pleads of their child to stop. "Come on, guys! Really!? Eww!" Aurora coughed and gagged. Soarin' and Rainbow placed mischievous smiles as they locked the kiss. Both the mare and stallion gasped for air when they seperated.

"Wasn't that nice, Dashie?" Soarin'  whispered. 

"It sure was, Soar'."  Rainbow purred. 

The two Wonderbolts checked backed on their daughter, and surprisingly saw her covering her eyes from the disturbing view. "I-Is it over?" she asked desperately. 

"Yes Aurora, it is over," Dash said. "Well, gotta go! Love you!"   

Soarin' and Aurora watched her take to the sky until she dissapeared from sight. Once she was gone, Soarin' looked back at his daughter with a wide smile. "You ready for an awesome time?" 

"Yeah!" the filly bounced in joy. 

"Let's do this!" 

Soarin' led the way to the main structure, Aurora kept closely behind him; feeling a bit shy, since she was going to meet other Wonderbolts and the trainees. Everything was just an eye opener for her. The strong and proud Academy building of the Wonderbolts, the marvelous and well-crafted statues of pegasi. The glimmering cloud structures that housed the cadets and other members of the Equestrian Military. 

"Keep close, kiddo. I don't want you to get lost here," Soarin said. 

Aurora nodded and got a tad closer to the stallion. She constantly observed all the things that belonged to the famous Pegasus team. She could see the trainees at their assigned cloud quarters, that floated just a few meters away from the plateau, leaving or arriving promptly	. 

But then two objects emerged into view from behind the cloud structures. Very far away, though. They streaked across the sky at stunning speeds, leaving contrails behind as they flew. Both vanished in the blink of an eye. 

'I wonder what those things are?' Aurora asked in her thoughts. Still gazing at the last area the anomalies disappeared to. 

"Aurora, come on." Soarin' called her, since she stopped behind for a second. 

"Coming!" she quickly caught up to her father. 

"Captain!" a voice called Soarin'.

Both ponies look at the source and saw the security guard captain, Razor Wing, land in front of them, saluting to Soarin'. "Do you need anything, Razor?" Soarin' asked. 

"Sir, we just got reports that we have possible intruders in our area. The security teams state that it's that creature or whatever it is, but we have sightings of more things. We're bringing everyone in just for safety," Razor informed. 

"Hostile?" Soarin' inquired. 

"Unknown..." 

Soarin' acknowledged the situation. He knew what to do when these types of situations occurred after some years in the military. "All right, thanks Razor. I hope you find out whatever it is." 

"Yes, Sir. I'll keep you posted on anything we find." Razor saluted him before taking off, Soarin' saluted back and looked at his daughter. "Aurie, I need you to stay really close to me, now." 

"Why? Is something wrong?" the filly had a puzzled look. 

"We just got some weird disturbance around the area. Nothing big." Soarin' calmly said, trying not to frighten the filly over what was going on. "Come on, let's get to the mess hall." 

Soarin' led his filly to the cloud structure, opening the doors, then closing them when the child entered. The mess hall was crowded with the cadets, and the Wonderbolts who trained them. Two security guards placed themselves by the door after Soarin' and Aurora left. Soarin' approached his class, who were sitting at a table with confused and concerned stares. 

"Sir, what's going on?" the cadet called Iron Storm asked. 

"Yeah, why did they bring everypony in here?" the other cadet called Daisy Rain asked next. 

Soarin' shrugged and took his seat at the table. "We just got reports of a possible threat to the Academy. It's probably nothing." 

"Well, as long we're not in here for a long time I'm fine," Blue Star added, crossing her forehooves to show some signs of agitation. Soarin' tapped a hoof against the table's surface as the lockdown was still in effect. He pondered over what was the security concern. Until he felt something poke him in the back. 

"Huh?" he turned around to see who it was. 

"Uh, dad... Can you make some room for me?" The filly gave an innocent stare at him. 

Soarin' winced when he forget about his daughter for a moment. "Oops, sorry! Come here." he swiped her up and placed her to his right side, in between him and Daisy Rain. 

"And who are you, little one?" Daisy Rain asked with smile. 

"Cadets, this my daughter, Aurora." Soarin' announced with a smile ear to ear.

"...Hi." Aurora shied away a bit, blushing. 

"Sir, why didn't you tell us about her?" Iron Storm was surprised to see his flight lead have a daughter. Soarin' sighed with a smirked as a response. "There's somethings in life you're going to have to figure out on your own, Storm." 

"Welcome to Wonderbolt training 101, Aurora," Blue Star greeted with a smug look. 

"So, where's her mommy, captain?" Daisy Rain brought the filly in for a hug. Aurora giggled as the mare's soft fur tickled her. 

"She's at the HQ," Soarin' replied," and give her back to me!" Daisy Rain handed Aurora back to her father, sighing, "No fair." 

Aurora felt comfortable as her father's trainees happily welcomed her to the place. Especially with Daisy Rain hugging her and all. The filly rested her head against her dad's side while he talked with his cadets. She quietly observed the room they were in. The long rows of tables, the sky blue and golden lightning streaks uniforms the cadets wear, the tall windows that went from the floor to the ceiling. Poster and banners that represented the Equestrian militrary and the Wonderbolts. 

Everything was just so close the way she imagined how the Academy would be before she arrived. She grew excited at the amazing scenery, but then something caught her attention at the windows. Aurora squinted as she saw a figure by the windows. 

'What in the heck is that?' she asked mentally, noticing that the anomaly differed greatly from the rest of the ponies in the area. She raised a suspicious eyebrow when she started to slowly depict the whole thing; very tall, almost like a silhouette or ghost, and it was outside standing on the cloud... without wings. 

Aurora was shocked, bewildered to see the thing stand on the cloud without wings. It defied the physics of the world. No creature can tread on any cloud without a pair of wings... Or can they? Was it using a spell? 

No. It didn't even look pony.  

"Dad...?" Aurora nudged her father to get his attention. 

"So, that's what you need to do, Storm. You need to control- yes, Aurie?" he looked at his daughter, who had a frightened stare. "Aurora, what's wrong?" he asked in a concerned tone. 

"There's something by the window over there. Outside." the filly specifically pointed at the window in the middle of two others. 

Soarin' glanced over to the certain window, but saw nothing. But he grew suspicious as the facilty was in lock down, and there was sightings of strange things going on. "Blue Star, go over there and see what's wrong?" 

"Sir, yes sir...?" the mare replied in a confused tone, but she still followed the order. She left the table and made her way to the window. Blue Star scanned to the left and right outside the window, then flew back to the table when she was done searching. "Umm... Sir, there's nothing weird or anything at all over there." 

Soarin' glanced at his daughter with a confused look. "Aurora, you said you saw something over there, so what is it?" 

"I-It looked like something else! It didn't even look pony!" 

The captain only grew more suspicious as her statement. He tapped a hoof against the table as he thought what possibly his daughter could have saw. If it did not look like a pony, then what is it?

"Cadets, I'll be back." The captain got out of his seat. "Daisy Rain, take care of Aurie, will you? Don't crush her or else..." he grimly said as he promptly left to the exit of the mess hall with a stern stare. 

"Yay! She's mine!" the mare swiped the filly into her grasp. Squeezing her a little tight. 

"You're going to get in trouble by the cap if you her hurt," Iron Storm reminded the bliss mare of the possible consequence. 

"Don't worry. I won't hurt her! Isn't that right, Aurie?" Daisy shot a grin to the filly. 

Aurora huffed to the mare. "Hey, only my dad can call me 'Aurie'!" 

Daisy Rain shook her head with the same expression. Aurora made a glare at the energetic cadet, but then she formed a troubled look at her father. Soarin proceeded to the exit doors of the large room. His idea that he came up with was to investigate whatever his filly saw by himself. But when he reached the exit, two security guards halted him from leaving. 

"Sir, we're still in a lockdown. You can't leave," the first guard said. 

"I know, but I think I saw something strange out there," Soarin' replied. 

"Sir, you still can't go out there. If you want to leave, then you'll have to be escort-" 

Three other security guards crashed through the doors, looking bruised and battered everywhere. Their uniforms ripped, their blue shades missing or cracked. Blood staining fur and clothing. Everypony shifted their attention to the sudden scene. Soarin' and the two vigil guards rushed to aid their beaten friends. 

"What happened!?" Soarin' asked as he stabilized one of the ponies. 

"W-w-w... We enc-countered a thing around t-the," the guard struggled to talk properly due to the pain he felt, "b-base of the platuea." he coughed loudly, few drops of blood came flying out. 

"You should've seen the thing!" the other wounded guard grunted. "It was just..." his eyes trembled with fear. "... So..." Words could not describe what he witnessed. 

Back at the table where Soarin's class sat, Aurora struggled to get a look at what was going on by the exit. "Aww, come on! They're blocking the view!" she grumbled. Until she made a smug look, and floated upward above the crowed. 

But to be brought down by the quick hooves of Daisy Rain. She knew what was going on exactly. 

"Hey! Let me see!" the filly shouted.

"This is something that's not meant for you. Sorry." the mare smiled uneasily at her. 

More guards arrived to move their wounded comrades to a safer location in the Academy. Soarin' was now really on high alert after what he just saw. "All right, that's it! We're going out there, now!" he stormed out of the mess hall doors. 

The two security guards immediately followed the captain, as it was their duty to protect anypony that was vital. The captain stepped down the small set of stairs, and placed a firm hoof on the grass. He carefully scanned both sides of himself with his keen eyesight. 

Nothing was in sight. It was clear and quiet, except for a bird chirping in a nearby tree and a gust of wind that came from the west. The two security guards arrived behind him, and awaited any order for him. 

"I sense we're not alone out here," Soarin' grimly said. 

"What do you mean, captain?" a guard asked. 

The wind grew a tad stronger after his question. Soarin' looked back at the two ponies, and looked at their I.D.'s. "Radiant Spear and Dusk Leaf, that'll due. I want a five meter spread! If you see anything shout it out! Understand?" Soarin' ordered. 

"Yes, Sir!" The two security guards saluted. 

"All right, stick close."

The three ponies began their search to the West wing of the Academy. Soarin' still kept a grim look on his face, except for the two guards who had frightened looks on their face. They approached the edge of the airstrip, Soarin' peered down to make sure nothing was there, like what happened the other day. 

"There's nothing around this area," Soarin' stated. 

"Sir, want us to split up to cover the area faster?" Dusk suggested. 

"No. I don't want any surprises. Stay together." the Wonderbolt ordered. 

After at least a good twenty minutes constantly searching the area, Soarin' and his two security guards did not locate any strange or suspicious activity. The Wonderbolt captain sighed as he made the order to call off the search. 

"Come on. Let's get back inside." 

The three pegasi returned to the mess hall. The two guard entered, but Soarin' stopped in front of the entrance and looked back for one final check. The wind howled, the airstrip was empty, nothing moved from place. Soarin' entered the mess hall as he acknowledged it was clear.   

"So close, captain." a voice whispered along with wind. "So close..." 


********
 

"Where is it!?"

"Damn it! I lost sight of it!" 

Three Shadowbolts ran for their lives through the Galloping Gorge in the northwestern area of Equestria. They jumped and ducked every natural object in the way. The large roots of the trees that breahced the surface of the dirt made the escape more difficult, the overgrown vegetation obscured their view of what was ahead. 

"Don't stop! We'll end up like the rest of the squad next!" the Shadowbolt Twister Cloud shouted. 

"What the hell is trying to kill us!?" the other Shadowbolt Violet Sword yelped. 

A bizzare ghostly howl roared across the quiet forest, causing every large animal and tiny critter to flee into hiding. Rabbits huddled into nearby bushes, squirrels hid inside tress, even some bears tried to hide in any cover that was large to enough to conceal them. 

"How are we going to explain the commander about this!" the third Shadowbolt Dark Rain whimpered. 

"Doesnt matter until we get back to the HQ- Wah!" Twsiter was suddenly grabbed by an unknown force into some thick brush. 

"T-Twister Cloud!" Violet Sword cried out, her voice hoarse.

"GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! GGAAAHHH!" The stallion made a distrubing, gut-wrenching scream. A monstrous roar and squeal came from brush, too.

"We got to save him!" Violet Sword yelled. 

"Forget him! We end up like him if w-" Dark Rain strangely went quiet. Violet Sword turned around to see what was wrong, and saw... she was gone. 

"R-R... Rain...?" The remaing Shadowbolt whimpered. Her lips quivered, her legs wobbled. Tears welled in her eyes. The mare's heart pounded against her ribcage. 

"Commander Shadow Blaze are you there?!" She yelped into the radio that was strapped on to the right side of her chest. The Shadowbolts had somehow managed to obtain the radio. No pony knows for sure, but maybe to inner connections within the Equestrian Military? 

"What is it Dark Star 3?" The mare, commander of the Shadowbolts, asked sternly. 

"I-I need b-backup!" Violet Sword voice trembled. "This instant!" 

"Dark Star 3, we're sending help. But what happened to your squad? Your on patrol." 

"Hehehe..." an impish, playfull distorted giggle that sounded like a child's voice came from the brush where Twister vanished into. The Shadowbolt backed away from the vegetation. She glanced to the left and right to see where it came from, but she could only see trees, plants, and other natural featrues, and a figure disappearing behind a tree. 

"What was that?" The mare asked under her breath. 	

"Tehehe..." the giggle that sounded like a child came from behind. 

"Huh?" Violet Sword turned around. "Waah-" 

The last thing the Shadowbolt saw was a dark figure slam its carnivorous jaws into her face. The radio crackled and gave static as the figure damaged it, too. 

"Dark Star 3, are you there? Dark Star 3? Dark Star 3, respond! Dammit Dark Star! Respond!" 

The Shadowbolt did not respond to the loud and concerned demands of the commander. A shadow loomed over the lifeless body of the mare, eventually disappearing into the forest. But a photo sat next to the dead mare. A very certain photo of a certain pony.

A slight blood-covered photo of Soarin' the Wonderbolt with a wide smile spread across his face. His proud signature accompanying the image as well. 

"Dammit! They're not responding! Get a rescue team out there now! I want a SITREP when you arrive there!"










> False Attacker
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Dark 3, respond!" Dark 3! Dark 3! Get a rescue team out there!" 

None of the Shadowbolts responded to the loud commands of the Shadowbolt commander. They were all dead... Just dead. All three of them lifeless on the floor, or actually one since two of them were dragged into the brush and nowhere to be found. 

The photo of Soarin' remained huddled next to the deceased Shadowbolt. The right upper tip of the image flickered as a small gust of wind calmly passed through the forest, echoing in the distance as it continued its journey. A drop of blood on the photo slithered down the smooth cold surface and travelled onto Violet Sword's Shadowbolt uniform. 

A few minutes later a recue team arrived. Consisting of an actual Shadowbolt, and two security guards who wore a black collar shirt, a grey colored hat, and aviator shades that were tinted a light yellow; a mere opposite of a Wonderbolt security guard. 

"What the hell happened here...?" the Shadowbolt, Ascender Blade, asked in concern.

He could see a single dead body of a Shadowbolt, with slash marks and a nasty bite to the head. The team approached the corpse, all disturbed by the wounds of the unfortunate pegasus. Ascender lowered his head to get a closer look of the bite on Violet Sword. 

"What in the name of Equestria bit you?" He asked, bewildered. The bite looked like nothing he had ever seen. It didn't resemble any carnivorous creature that he knew who wondered the area. It was somewhere ranging between a medium and a large bite size. 

"Well, I guess we can confirm that something nasty got 'em," Ascender announced to the two security guards. The Shadowbolt went to back to investigating, but in the bottom right corner of his eye he saw something. Ascender noticed a photo next to the neck of Violet Sword. 

"Huh? What's this?" he grabbed the photo and closely inspected it. "Who the heck is this? Is this a..." his eyes dilated with shock, then drastically shrank into a menacing size.

"Sir, are you alright?" a guard noticed he was strangely quiet, plus the random photo in his hoof. 

Ascender slowly twisted his neck around with an infuriated stare. "A damn Wonderbolt did this!" he yelled, slamming the photo into the ground. He heavily flared his nostrils in anger, the sharp hot air puffing in and out.

"W-What?" the two guards yelped. 

"Contact the commander!" Ascender shouted. "We need her to know about this!" 

"Right." a security guard radioed in on the Shadowbolt commander.

A few minutes the Shadowbolt Commander spoke through the walkie talkie device.

"What is it Ascender? Did you find Dark 3 and the rest?" 

"We did Commander," he replied grimly. "They're all dead." 

"Damn..." Commander Shadow Blaze sighed. "Did you find the reason why they're all dead?"

Ascender rubbed his head nervously, he knew the Commander was not going to like the response. 

"Uhhmm... we found only Violet Sword. She has some weird wounds, but the other two are gone. We cant find them. But besides that we found a photo of a Wonderbolt. I think his name is Soarin'?"  

The Commander did not respond immediately. Ascender and the two guards looked at each other with fear and concern. Every Shadowbolt knew the Commander was a pony not to mess with. Especially if they had to report something she wasn't going to like, because if they did, you might as well call it the end of that pony. 

Ascender backed his head away from the radio device, expecting a deafening yell from the Commander. But the radio crackled, and the voice of the mare came through. "Ascender, get back to the HQ immediately. Bring back your fallen Shadowbolt. I think it's time to pay the Wonderbolts a visit," she said calmly. 

The Shadowbolt was surprised to see Shadow Blaze not roar at him. "Ma'am, you want us to return to the HQ? And what do you mean 'pay the Wonderbolts a visit'?" he asked. 

"Ascender, I've been longing to attack the Wonderbolts. Do you know what day it is tomorrow?" Shadow Blaze randomly asked. 

"It's Thursday, isn't it?" The Shadowbolt glanced up to see if there was anything of importance the day tomorrow . "Why? Is something going to happen?"

"Tomorrow is the day the Wonderbolts have their cannon fodder recruits graduate from training."

"So, you're planning to attack them? Commander that has never worked! Especially on a day that means everything to the Equestrian Military!" Ascender reminded. He knew that every time Shadowbolts attacked a military facility, it would always end up in failure. They would either come back battered and bruised or captured. Their defenses were just to strong.

"Shadowbolt, we are in numbers now! We can overwhelm them! Now I want you to return to the HQ!" 

"Yes Ma'am..."

The Shadowbolt carefully cradled Violet Sword in his hoofs. 

"Alright let's go." he said to the two security guards. 

They took off immediately. Ascender glanced down to Violet Sword, feeling the pain of seeing a dead Shadowbolt. His mind, however, was bothering him about something. 

He felt his anger toward the Wonderbolts ease up, a frown slowly curved down on his face. Something did not feel right about the death of Violet Sword. Ascender felt something tell him that it wasn't a Wonderbolt responsible for all this. The bite wound... how could a pony do this? It didn't even look near a bite print of a pony's jaws. So why would he blame Soarin' for this.

"Whoever killed you," Ascender said to himself quietly, "probably wasn't a Wonderbolt or a soldier from the Equestrian military. I get the feeling something else did..." 


---*****---



"All right, everything is going to resume. Cadets, get in formation outside." 

Soarin' ordered to his cadets. The lock down had subsided, every class returned to their original positions before the lock down. Soarin's class made their way out of the mess hall, and into the airstrip. When they got outside, some of the cadets looked around with unsure and frightened looks on their faces. 

"Get in formation!" Soarin' shouted. "Come on, we don't have time to waste! Don't ruin everything you've worked for before your final day tomorrow!" 

The cadets lined up, Soarin' placed himself in front of him with a firm stare. "Listen up, since nothing was found, and the facility is secured, we're going to continue the obstacle courses. Get with your lead and wingpony now!" 

The cadets got in to their assigned group. Soarin' took out his stopwatch from a pocket in his uniform. He lifted his hoof in the air to give the signal to go. 

"On my mark... Nightwind, Blue Star, go!"

The first group took off immediately, reaching the obstacle course in a few seconds. Iron Storm and Daisy Rain stepped up next to Soarin'. The captain made sure the first group had gained enough distance to let the second group. 

"Ready to do this, Iron?" Daisy Rain whispered to her wingpony. 

"Yeah. I just hope we don't mess up," Iron Storm whispered back to her. 

"Goodluck," a voice whispered to them. 

The two cadets looked down next to Soarin', and saw it was the captain's daughter. "Make him proud. You guys are awesome, you'll do fine," she whispered with an assuring smile.

"Thanks, kid," Iron Storm whispered back with a smile. 

"Aww, thanks kiddo." Daisy Rain replied.. 

"Iron Storm, Daisy Rain, go!" Soarin' announced. 

The cadets took off in the blink of an eye. Aurora watched them go to their objective. She could feel some sort of proudness for them, all the training they had to go through, all the sacrifices they had to make. It was all worth it at the end. 

"I can't believe they actually made it through all of this," she declared. 

"Yeah, they came here for a reason and they fulfilled it." Soarin' responded. 

The cadets returned from the obstacle course, landing firmly before their flight instructor. They immediately lined up, and awaited for further orders. Soarin' stared at them ahead on, a determined frown lingered on his lips, then it turned into a smirk. 

"Cadets, you've come a long way. It may have been rough and brutal when you arrived, especially with Captain Spitfire yelling into your ear..." 

"Yup, Uh hum, yeah," the cadets agreed with Soarin', some nodding their heads. 

"But that doesn't matter anymore, or actually it still does," the Wonderbolt continued. "Newbies, I want to congratulate all of you for making through the training." 

He could see some of the trainees growing a smile on their faces. "Now you came here for a reason and you finished it. This session is over. I want all of you to report back to the barracks. Sergeant Steel Stone will lead you from there and prepare for tomorrow... " Soarin' made a grin at the ponies before turning around to leave them. "...Wonderbolts." 

The cadets cheered, taking off into the air or casually trotting back to the barracks in great excitement. 

After all of the cadets disappeared from sight, Soarin' looked back at his daughter with a wide smile. "So what do you wonna do now, Aurory?" 

"But you're still working," Aurora said with a bemused expression. "How can we do anything?" 

"Oh, don't worry," Soarin' waved a hoof into the air. "Sergeant Stone Steel  is now in charge of my class to prepare them for tomorrow." 

"So what does that mean...?" 

Soarin' smirked with an smug look capturing his face. 

"This..." 

"Wait, what are y... Waaahh!!" 

The filly shrieked as Soarin' bolted at her in lightning speed, picking her up and placing her on his back as he travelled sky high. Aurora eyes lit up as they continued upward toward the wide open sky. The sky was turning dark blue as they increased altitude. Soarin's wings beat against the cold air furiously to keep him going, his breathing kept a steady flow of oxygen to his strong lungs, but he started to feel the dizzy effect of being at a high altitude. He managed to keep strong, though.

Aurora shut her eyes and clung tightly to her father. She could feel the cold winds sting against the slightest opening in her eyes. But suddenly she felt everything stop. She cracked open an eye, and saw they were on of a puffy white cloud high above Equestria. 

The filly glanced down and saw her dad just casually laying on the soft surface of the cloud. He had a smile of relief and his eyes shut like if he was going to fall asleep. Calm, relax, like if he was enjoying a vacation.

"Dad, what are we d-doing up h-h-ere?" Aurora stuttered as she peered down from the side of the clown, noticing that they were way beyond the limit any pegasus would fly up to, or that they would not have the idea of flying up to. 

"Just relaxing. It's calm and nice up here," Soarin' said, before a short sigh. 

Aurora suddenly felt a hoof around her and she was pulled next to her dad. Soarin' planted a small kiss on her head before gazing upwards at a near dark blue and black sky. She hugged him in return with a giggle before she also looked upward. The sky was clear, nothing obscuring its full nature. 

"Woah, dad...  I didn't know you could see it from up here." Aurora mouth was agape as her emerald eyes reflected a giant figure in the sky. 

"I know, from here you can see it," Soarin' said. 

"It" was a galaxy floating lazily in the dark blue sky. It was nearly transparent but some of it was visible, the large puffy white clouds at the distant horizon appeared connected to it and as its base by their appearances. Soarin' could see a few stars glow warmly, the hazy galaxy-like clouds figures also glowing vibrantly. 

Aurora was mesmerized as she continued to stare at the fragment of the galaxy. The small winds brimmed through her mane, the clouds passed by them without delay. The universal figure appeared to slightly move along with currents but it did not actually move. 

"Dad?" Aurora started. 

"Yeah kiddo?" 

"Have you ever wondered if something is out there?" 

Soarin' raised an eyebrow at the unexpected question. He scratched his chin as the question was nearly familiar to him, and it was very curious for him to answer it. It sounded so close like if it was asked to him before. Soarin' kept his concentration to the celestial object as he thought back to where he had heard it from. 

'Now where have I heard that question from? I know somepony asked me that before.'

Soarin' scrunched his eyebrows as it was getting difficult to decipher where the question originated from. It was from somewhere he had been. He was about to give up and turn to his daughter to give her a response, but his eyes widened when he remembered where the question came from. 

--------------
Distant in the past...

"Whoa, Dad...  I didn't know you could see them from up here." Soarin', who was just a mere colt, said to his father as they were perched on a cloud high above Equestria. 

I know, champ. You can see everything from up here.

Soarin' was mesmerized as he stared at the full image of the galaxy. All of its stars glittering and twinkling brighter than anything he had seen. The image made his mouth go agape, his father placed a hoof around his neck with a warm smile. Soarin's father was also a baby blue Pegasus but a shade more darker, his mane black in color. 

"There's millions of them. All scattered across the galaxy," he said.

"Millions?" Soarin' asked in awe.

His father nodded. "Yup. Possibly more, you never know. Each star could have planets surrounding them, and they could be homes to anything."

"So there's other ponies living out there?" The colt asked.

"Who knows, Soarin', who knows... Perhaps there is, and possibly ponies that live on another world or maybe they're not even ponies at all."

Soarin's grew amazed as the thought of life somewhere out there in the dark, cold vacuums of space existed. 

"Will we ever meet or see any of them?"

"One day we might... One day."

--------------

"Dad?" 

"Who knows," Soarin' mumbled to himself. "Who knows..." 

"Dad." Aurora called her father again, but got nothing but a mumble of words from him. All he did was just stare at the sky with a confused and awed expression. 

"Dad!" 

"Huh?" 

Soarin' snapped out of his trance and noticed his foal was staring at him. "Dad, are you alright?" she asked. "You were just mumbling words to yourself all weirdly." 

"Oh, uhmm, sorry," he sheepishly smiled. "I was just remembering something." 

"Okay, but you didn't answer my question." 

Soarin' remembered the question his daughter asked, he rubbed the side of his head as he tried to think of something to say. As he thought, his father's words continued to sound off in his head. It was a little mixed up for him, his thoughts on what was out there beyond their world, the thought of life elsewhere than just being alone in the universe. 

"I think," Soarin' started, "there might be. What made you ask that?" He looked back to Aurora. 

"Oh, I don't know. Just a curious question." 

Both pegasi glanced upward once more to see the transparent galaxy again. 

"They're out there..."

Soarin' lifted his head up when a faint voice whisper from behind. He turned his head around, and saw nothing. He shrugged it off and went back to gazing, which should have not been taken lightly.


---*****---
 


The area was an extreme bright white. There was nothing to provide a barrier or an impassable route in it, no walls, no sound. Nothing. Just an endless white environment that had no end. 

But one thing did stand in the bright area, one small figure: a pegasus. 

He simply wore a light grey tactical vest, which was pretty the only clothing he had on him. His fur coat was a silver-like grey, his eyes a turquoise color, his mane dark brown. The cutie mark on his flank was a rook symbol with a pair of wings spread widely behind it and two stars hovering by its sides. He just calmly stood there in the bright environment and waited for anything. 

"Growing bored yet?" a voice asked, its tone very calm. A light brown unicorn with a black beret and the ranking symbol of major on his black vest appeared by his side. " I hope you didn't." 

"Corporal," the unicorn continued, which was the rank of the pegasus, "you know what you're here for, right?" 

The pegasus nodded as a response. 

"Good. Well then, lets get started," the unicorn said. "Being a security guard can be nothing. But a security guard of highly advanced and classified facility can be something, right?" He placed himself in front of the pegasus and stared at him straight with his deep blue eyes. 

The Major circled around him and disappeared from behind.  

A wall raised 10 meters in front of the pegasus in silence. Dark grey shadings covered the upper edges but it was just as bright like the environment near the middle and bottom. It was kind of difficult to tell it was there if it wasn't for the dark shadings at the top. Either it was designed this way to confuse the person and camouflage it or it was just simply the way it was made. Then other walls formed around to him form a room.  

There was no ceiling but the white sky (or any sky). Three more wall pieces formed behind the one that stood in front of the pegasus, two on the left and right and one in the very back, each forming an equal 12 meter spread from on another, forming an empty area in the middle of them. 

"Corporal," the unicorn with the black beret announced. The pegasus turned around when he heard his voice, but there was no one there. His voice sounded like if he was right next to him, just clear. The Corporal glanced around to locate the Major, but the unicorn relieved him, "Hey I know this is weird but just play along. So there's a wall in front of you. You what to do?" he asked randomly.

The Corporal approached the wall ahead cautiously. This was all so random to him. Walls appearing out of nowhere, the Major's voice talking to him even though he wasn't next to him, himself somewhere unknown and empty. But to get it over with he simply complied with the higher official's orders. 

He reached the wall and placed himself by its right side, he slowly peeked his head around the corner to check what lay beyond. There was nothing there but only a small, standing photo frame placed above a metal coffee table. The pegasus arched an eyebrow in a perplexed look. He trotted around the wall and approached the two random objects. When he got there he only grew more confused of what the photo displayed to him. 

The photo was black and white, and slightly distorted to confuse the viewer. The image was a forest but with a silhouette figure exposing half its body behind a tree in the center of the photo. 

"Corporal, you ever wonder about the mysteries of this world?" the Major asked out of nowhere. "Like the Gem Pegasi, the ancient civilization that disappeared out of nowhere. The 75th Crystal Empire Platoon that disappeared in the Crystal Mountains a little bit up north of the Crystal Empire on an expedition to explore the Frozen North, about half a decade ago, believed to have vanished by unknown creatures." The pegasus shook his head as he continued to observed the image. The Major continued, "Well that's alright, we don't think a lot about certain things. But the photo you're staring at is a wonder of the world.  Tell me, Corporal... Have you ever heard about Tall Ones? Most likely the ones held responsible for the fate of the 75th Platoon." 

The pegasus tilted his to the side. He did recall hearing that name somewhere but it was faint in his memory. The pegasus shook and nodded his head in somewhat agreement. 

"The figure you see behind the tree is believed to be a Tall One. The photo is all distorted and fazed out because the pony that captured the image reported that he was actually being stalked and observed by it, so he ran in a hurry went he left fear control his actions. But the next test will  be very interesting. Prepare." 

The Corporal took his eyes off the image and awaited for the next obstacle to overcome.  A few minutes passed by and nothing occurred, just the brightness and silence of the environment hovered around him. He was beginning to think it was a test of patience which seemed likely at the moment. He glanced to the left and right, and still nothing came to view. 

The pegasus gave a light kick to the white floor with his left foreleg, his patience was about to run dry on him. 

"Hmm?" the Corporal noticed a tall, looming shadow casting over him. He turned around to check what stood behind him, and could not believe what he saw. His body locked in position, his breathing slowed and became distant between each breath, his turquoise eyes shrunk to the size of pebbles. 

"So, Corporal... If you want to work here with us you need to know how to handle any type of threats," the Major announced. "Starting off with this one. This is a Tall One... What do you do?"