MLP: FiM
Piercing The Heavens
Past Mistakes
Written by: Thunder Bolt
“This had BETTER work.”
“Relax, it will.”
“Don’t you dare tell me to relax. I’m taking a huge risk, and-”
“And the risk will be well worth the reward.”
“If you interrupt me one more time, you’ll have something much worse than the failure of this mission to worry about.”
“...Yes, sir...”
Rapidfire sat alone in the cold, stone staircase in a corner of the Shadowbolts flying fortress.A pack of cigarettes and a lighter sat next to him on the stone floor. His mouth held a single cigarette jutting out to the right of his face. He puffed out a stream of smoke from a small opening in his lips. The smoke spewed out silently, swirling into a cloud that grew thinner and thinner until completely disappearing.
Rapidfire blew another stream of fumes, this time through his nostrils. He wasn’t in a good mood. He had just gotten done with a hell of a time convincing Blade that his plan of sneaking into the Wonderbolt HQ, capturing Wave Chill, and taking his place, would work. Blade had eventually caved, but not before putting forth dire consequences if the mission wasn’t a success. Consequences that Rapidfire really didn’t want to think about.
Why did the commanders have to be so damn STUBBORN. He was only trying to win this conflict against the Wonderbolts, just as much as any other Shadowbolt. He hated them. He didn’t really care for any of the other Shadowbolts. Though, he had taken a liking to Lightning Dust. Of course, that was before that idiot decided to betray her family. He still hadn’t a clue why she would do something like that. Or for that matter, why ANY of the so called ‘Renegade’ Shadowbolts would defect to fight with the Wonderbolts.
The Wonderbolts were idiotic. He knew that first hand. He had NEVER been taken seriously with them. Nobody cared about him in the Wonderbolts. Rapidfire remembered vividly of how nobody ever wanted to talk to him, never wanted to sit with him in the cafeteria, never wanted to train with him.
And most of all, Soarin. That jackass, he was the worst. He acted like he was so damn PERFECT. Like nobody could touch him. Soarin had always acted like he was one of the regal sisters. He never seemed to have a mean bone in his body. Rapidfire loved egging on Soarin, so that he would show his true colors. So he would show how much of a buffoon he really was.
They were all idiots. They didn’t know what they had until it was gone. Not that he cared. He had it a lot better here in the Shadowbolts. He had plenty of friends here.
…
Well, maybe more like friendly acquaintances, but it was a much better deal than what he had in the Wonderbolts.
CA-CHUNK
Rapidfire’s head turned to the right to see a rather tired looking pegasus enter the staircase with him. The pegasus had a light blue coat, similar in shade to Fleetfoot. His mane was frost white and and was combed forward. His tail was colored the same way. His eyes were blue and half-lidded. He wore black overalls, a wrench and a screwdriver sticking out of the right pocket. And there was grease all OVER him. It stained his coat, mane, tail, and clothes. He was a complete mess.
Rapidfire deduced that this pegasus was probably an engineer from the engine room of the fortress.
The pegasus looked down at Rapidfire. Then at the box of cigarettes and the lighter.
“Uh…” The pegasus looked like he was processing something in his head. “Mind if I sit here?” He asked, pointing a blacked hoof at the floor beside Rapidfire’s smoking supplies.
Rapidfire raised an eyebrow. “I don’t care.” He put simply, turning away from the engineer. The stallion sat down. He let out a long breath, like he had been holding it in for a while. Rapidfire eyed him curiously before looking away, and taking in another breath of his cigarette.
The pegasus looked down at the cigars and lighter sitting between him and Rapidfire. He looked back up. “Could I have one?” He asked.
Rapidfire glanced at the stallion. “Knock yourself out.”
The stallion immediately took a cigarette in his hoof, sticking it in his mouth. He then took the lighter and brought it up to the cig. He pressed down on the small button, lighting the flame. The orange glow shone off his blue muzzle. Covering the opposite side of the flame with a hoof he brought it to the cigarette, lighting the end of it. He sucked in a breath, took the cig out of his mouth, and blew a wave of smoke.
The two stallions sat there for a good five minutes. Neither spoke.
Until the pegasus engineer glanced at Rapidfire, looked away, and glanced back again.
“Aren’t you Rapidfire?” He questioned.
Rapidfire lifted an eyebrow at him. “Yeah, why do you care?” He snapped. He really wasn’t in the mood to have a conversation with this stranger. He was in the process of getting into the fighting mindset, before he set out to find and infiltrate the Wonderbolts headquarters. Talking to a lowly engineer definitely wasn’t part of that process.
“I was just wondering.” The engineer replied. “Just making sure that your the same guy who defected from the Wonderbolts.”
This guy was starting to get on Rapidfire’s nerves. He wasn’t very comfortable with this stallion knowing about his past, even though most knew about him. He grabbed the cigar from his mouth, and angrily turned his whole body to face the stallion. “Yeah. I am. Why the hell do you care?”
The stallion turned his head away for a moment. It looked like he didn’t have anything else to say, and Rapidfire relaxed. But the pegasus turned his head back him.
“I’m just curious as to why you do that.”
It was sudden. Very sudden. Completely out of the blue. Rapidfire froze, not sure what to say. He had never been asked that before. He blinked several times, before forcing a scowl.
“Why the hell would I tell you?” He flattened his brow. The pegasus calmly replied.
“Because… I actually tried for the spot as head engineer.” He said.
Rapidfire blinked, unsure of what to say. He still had an annoyed scowl on his face, but he had been caught off guard.
“I mean, I’m just saying. Seems like a better deal to stay there than join the Shadowbolts.” The stallion continued.
“Yeah… well it isn’t! You’d hate it there.” Rapidfire let out grunt, and sharply leaned against the cold, stone wall. He sucked in an angry breath, and exhaled the smoke of his cigarette.
“Oh.” The stallion replied, also letting out a breath of cigar fumes.
The two stallions sat there for another two minutes, before the stallion slowly turned to Rapidfire and spoke again.
“Why wouldn’t I like it there?” He asked, a curious look on his face.
“You’re really fucking annoying, you know that?” Rapidfire shot a glare at the engineer.
“Oh… I was just wondering, sorry.” The pegasus retreated a moment, looking down. He looked up, but he hesitated. Rapidfire, his scowl still plastered on his face, stared at the stallion in annoyance. So, he really wanted to know what the Wonderbolts were like? Looks like he was going to have to give this guy a bit of an education.
“So you wanna know what the Wonderbolts are like?” Rapidfire confirmed. The stallion looked back at him and nodded. Rapidfire smirked. He leaned back against the wall, propping his head up with an arm. “Alright, first you gotta tell me why you wanted the job.”
“Well, it just seemed like a good way to advance my career.” He answered. Rapidfire smiled.
“Well, be glad you didn’t get that job. Because the whole ‘team’ thing is a lie.” Rapidfire said.
“Seriously?” The stallion lifted an eyebrow. “I find that a little hard to believe.”
“Uh-uh dude. Be glad that you’re in the Shadowbolts. The Wonderbolts only care about themselves.” He continued. “Take it from me. They never understood me.”
“They didn’t understand you?” The pegasus asked, looking a little skeptical.
“Damn right, they didn’t understand what kind of talent I had.” Rapidfire ranted. “They were so closed minded that they never figured out my potential.” He smirked. “Those idiots.”
“I see…” The stallion continued to listen.
“I knew this one guy, his name was Soarin-”
“The Power Flyer?” The pegasus interrupted. Rapidfire slowly turned his head towards the stallion, his eyelids were squinting out of pure irritation.
“Yes… the power flyer.” He said through gritted teeth. “THAT guy. Thing is, he’s an asshole.”
“Really?” The stallion asked.
“Absolutely.” Rapidfire made a swiping motion with his hoof to emphasize his point. “All he ever did was act like he was the king of the world.”
“Huh…” The stallion scratched his chin, blowing another puff of smoke through his nostrils.
“Believe me, you have it a lot better in the Shadowbolts.” Rapidfire finished. He blew a stream of cigar smoke.
“Uh huh.” The stallion sat back thinking over everything that his fellow Shadowbolt had just said. Rapidfire glanced at him.
“Why would you want to leave anyway?” He asked. The stallion looked back at him.
“Who says I wanted to leave?” The pegasus raised his eyebrow. Rapidfire chuckled.
“You were asking me all of these questions about the Wonderbolts. It was pretty easy to pick up on.” He explained. The stallion sighed.
“Mmm... yeah, I should've figured that.” He said. Rapidfire had a smug, all-knowing look on his face. Again the stallion sighed and rested his head against the stone wall.
“You wanna know why I’d want to leave?” He asked.
“Sure.” Rapidfire replied, giving the stallion his attention.
“Well, honestly, I fucking hate it here.”
Rapidfire raised his eyebrows in surprise. He had expected this guy to say something that indicated he wanted to leave, but nothing THAT drastic.
“Nobody gives a damn about me. Nobody ever fucking talks to me. It’s just me, and that Celestia-forsaken machinery down in that engine room. You know how many fatal accidents we’ve had down there in the past year?”
“Uh, no…” Rapidfire answered.
“Fourteen dude, fourteen.”
“Uh…”
“But does Nightshade ever change a damn thing? No. Because all she ever gives a crap about is those stupid crystals.” He said calmly. But it was the sort of calm that let you know that something was terribly wrong, and Rapidfire picked up on his mannerisms.
He just stared at this engineer, unsure of what to say.
The stallion sighed, letting out another puff of fumes. “I took the job here to earn enough money for my wife to be able to live by herself when I’m gone. That's the real reason I needed that job with the Wonderbolts.” He admitted, and let out a long breath. “It was a huge mistake to work here. This place treats us engineers like shit.”
The two stallions sat in silence, before the pegasus turned his head.
“Listen Rapidfire, you seem like a nice guy. Maybe not outwardly, but inwardly I think you’re a good pony.” The engineer said.
Rapidfire looked at him surprised. He had NEVER heard somepony refer to him as a ‘nice guy’. The engineer continued.
“The only ponies I know of who are truly evil are Nightshade and Ruin. You though? You still got a lot to live for. Take me, I’m in my late thirties. Way past my prime.” He pointed a hoof at himself. “But you, you still got a lot of talent. You can do a lot of good for the world.” He said as-a-matter-of-factly. Rapidfire tilted his head in curiosity as to where this pony was going.
“But I can tell that you’re hurting, you want to fit in. You wanna know what I think of you?” The stallion stood up, pointing a hoof at him. “I think you’re just somepony who’s still trying to find his place in the world.”
“What!?” Rapidfire lept to his hooves and got up in the engineer’s face. “You just stop right there! Don’t even pretend to act like you know anything about me!” He pointed a hoof at himself.
“Trust me I’ve heard enough from you to know that what REALLY happened is that you got rejected. I’ve heard it before.” The stallion said, calmly.
Rapidfire gritted his teeth. “You asked! You wanted to know what it was like!”
“Okay, if they really are just a bunch of assholes, why was that YOU were the one that defected?” The stallion fired.
“Because they didn’t deserve to have me in their ranks!” Rapidfire shot back.
“Okay, how about we look at it from a different perspective.” The pegasus suggested. “Let’s say, that some random Shadowbolt was rejected from the social circles of the Shadowbolts because he acted like he was better than everyone else.”
“Then he’s just another asshole.” Rapidfire answered.
“Okay. Now let’s take a look at you. From what I’ve seen, you’ve so far said that you had a higher level of skill than everyone else right?”
“Yeah, that’s because I WAS better than… them…” Rapidfire paused, and thought back to the example the engineer gave. “Oh…”
“You wanna know what I think happened?” The stallion walked up to Rapidfire, and looked directly into his eyes.
“I think you were just overconfident in your abilities. And when everyone saw how overconfident you were, they started thinking of you as a cocky idiot. When that happened, nobody cared for you. Nobody wanted to talk to you, is that right?” He asked.
The stallion could see the painful memories in Rapidfire’s eyes.
“Rapidfire, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but everything that happened back there started with you. Maybe the others shouldn’t have judged you so quickly, but it started with you.” The engineer finished his point with the cherry on top.
Rapidfires mind raced. Though the issue wasn't really that he was OVERCONFIDENT, the issue lay in that he wasn't good enough. And then this guy just decides to come to him and says he knows what happened? How dare he? Rapidfire didn't care about the stallions poor little sob story. He couldn't believe that he had the audacity to try and give him some sort of personal counseling or some bullshit like that.
“I…” Rapidfire stuttered. “You…” He pointed a shaky hoof at the stallion. “You… don’t… know… ANYTHING!!!” He shoved the engineer with both hooves. The stallion collapsed hard with a loud ‘oof’. Rapidfire walked up to him, grabbed him by his engineer overalls and pinned him against the wall. He butted his forehead against the other and glared into the stallions soul.
“If you EVER try to tell me that you know me, I'll break your jaw. Then I'll watch you choke on you teeth.” Rapidfire growled. He pinned a hoof on the stallion’s chest and pressed, squeezing the breath out of the poor engineer. His eyes grew and his pupils shrank as he tried and failed to suck in any amount of air. The stallion struggled against Rapidfires hold, but he proved no match to the physically superior Shadowbolt. His face started to turn even more blue from the lack of oxygen.
“DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?!” Rapidfire shouted. When the engineer barely managed a nod, Rapidfire dropped him. The tools slipped out of his overalls pocket and clattered to the floor. He fell with a thud, and gasped for air. As he began sucking in large amounts of oxygen, Rapidifre looked at the clock mounted on the wall.
It was time to report to Blade to begin the mission.
He took one final look at the stallion on the floor, still breathing heavily, and turned away from him. Rapidfire quickly trotted up the stairs, leaving the stallion on his own.
The stallion looked just in time to see Rapidfires tail disappear as he went up the next flight of steps. Feeling terrible in his chest, he crawled up to the stone wall, and propped himself up against it.
He thought over everything that had just happened. Especially Rapidfires outburst. That event alone confirmed that his hypothesis was correct. Rapidfire was a young stallion still trying to find his hoofing in the world. He was still trying to find his place.
He didn’t know EXACTLY what happened between Rapidfire between and rest of the Wonderbolts. It appeared though that he had felt left out of the rest of the ‘Bolts, and had defected out of spite for them.
He understood him if that were the case. He had once been young too, trying to find his way in the Equestria. He found that he loved building things and machinery. So he became an engineer, and he was proud of holding such an occupation. Until, of course, his former employer laid him off and he had to take this job in the Shadowbolt fortress.
He felt for Rapidfire. He saw the type of pain that he was going through. Neglect. Rapidfire didn’t have anybody to care about.
“Poor guy.” The stallion muttered to himself.
Author's Note
I hoped you enjoyed this. It's a lot more serious than say, Negan Kills A Wonerbolt or The Unintentional Roast of Rivet. I really wanted to write something about Rapidfire since I love his character. And yes, we did get an explanation of his motivations in 113. But I wanted to do it in a different way.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed. Thunder out.
