Event Horizon

Spitfire was not having the best of days. At least, that was her team’s general idea.

The young, twenty four year old Captain of The Wonderbolts had just walked across the cafeteria in their headquarters on the Wonderbolt Academy before kicking two chairs -- one of them containing her childhood friend Soarin -- before stomping upstairs to her office. She slammed the door so hard that the former Captain of the Wonderbolts’ portrait fell off the wall and shattered onto the floor below.

Fleetfoot turned her eyes away from the coffee she had been sipping idly from, and stared at the staircase where Spitfire had just stomped up. Her cloud white hair suffering from a rather bad case of bedhead.

“Uh...What's up with her?” She asked out loud, looking around to see looks of confusion on her teammates faces, or in Soarin’s case, a look of pain as he picked himself off the floor, before tripping over a chair. Spitfire had very rarely been mad before. Sure, she joked around a lot, but that was normal. But her actually being mad?

She only ever got that way when she was around one person...

“My expert opinion, is that she may be slightly mad.” Lightning Streak added smugly, earning several snickers from several of his teammates, his blonde hair was perched on his head in a ‘I don’t really care’ fashion.

“Good job there, Sherlock. Want a cookie for your hard work?” Fleetfoot answered back in the most sarcastic tone she could -- which was quite sarcastic -- before grabbing her mug of coffee and sitting down on a couch.

“Uh... Maybe one of us should go see what's wrong?” Blaze responded, her voice filled with actual concern over her Captain’s sudden burst of rage.

“Do you really think that is such a smart idea?” Fire Streak said as he put down the magazine he had been browsing.

“On second thought, you do have a point there.” Blaze confirmed as she took an enormous bite out of her bagel.

“Oh, for the love of Celestia, I’ll be the big man here and go talk to her.” Soarin said as he flew towards the staircase.

“Never had a girl say that to you I guess Soarin?” Surprise yelled out, her blonde hair bouncing up and down as she laughed. Soarin’s cheeks took on color akin to a  tomato, which triggered the rest of the team to burst out laughing at Soarin’s expense.

Sorain mumbled something incomprehensible to himself, before flying up to the entrance to Spitfire’s office. He looked down at the broken glass and gulped, having nearly stepped in it with no shoes on. He was about to open the door, before stopping when he heard the sound of something being thrown against a wall quite hard, and a scream of anger that sounded a lot like Spitfire.

“THOSE SONS OF BITCHES! HOW COULD THEY DO THAT?!” Spitfire yelled at the top of her lungs, shaking the walls.

“Oh yeah, this was totally a good idea,” Soarin muttered to himself as he knocked on the door, mentally making sure his funeral preparations and will were both in good order.

“Hey, Spits. You alright? I heard some yelling and I wanted to make sure-” He was cut off by the door opening, and a hand reaching out and grabbing him. Before he could blink, it was yanking him inside the office before slamming the door shut.

“Uh... Nice to see you too, Spits?” Soarin asked nervously as he sat down in the chair opposite Spitfire’s desk. Spitfire herself was currently staring outside through a window. She gave no response at first, electing instead to just continuing to stare out the window.

Which only made Soarin’s fear, and nervousness rise very quickly.

“Soarin, can you tell me what this is?” Spitfire asked in a monotone voice, finally turning around to face Soarin while holding a piece of parchment. Her hair was in its usual blazing style, accented by her bright-red cheeks and folded wings against her back. She looked like she was getting ready to go and gut someone. Or multiple someones...

She tossed Soarin the paper; an official looking letter; one that he had seen dozens of times. The official seal of the Cloudsdale Aerodrome on top of the letter shone brightly in the daylight streaming into the room. The Aerodrome was The Wonderbolts most popular and most visited venue. Soarin quirked an eyebrow at his superior. “We get one of these about once a month. There should really be no reason for Spitfire to be mad,” he thought to himself as looked at the letter.

“Spits, I don’t see why this could make you do...” Soarin paused, before gesturing at the trashed office around him with a motion of his hand “...well, this.” He suddenly pointed towards one of her shelves in dismay. “You even broke the nick-nack I bought for you last Hearth’s Warming!”

“Soarin, take that thing in your head called a brain and actually use it for once.” She retorted as stared at the letter in repressed aggression, before going back to blankly examining Equestria outside the window. Soarin mentally shrugged, before beginning to read the letter aloud.

Thank you for submitting your request for having a show at the Cloudsdale Aerodrome two weeks from now. You have performed here many times before, and we thank you for so.

However, we are sorry to... inform you that your request to perform has been denied, due to that week already being excluded for another team that has requested to perform on that week as well. After a deliberation between the Board of the National Equestrian Flight Association, we have chosen to use them over you. We understand that your team is of top-notch flight level, and we hope to have you back soon! The team that is preforming has graciously donated an entire box suite for you, so I hope you can enjoy the performance by...”

“The Shadowbolts?!” Soarin stood up in disbelief, his voice showing the emotion quite clear. “They booked the Shadowbolts, over US?! ARE THEY INSANE?” Spitfire didn’t even bother turning around.

Her team, the greatest flying team in Equestria, had been basically kicked out of their home.

“We have to go talk to them about this. The Wonderbolts have been performing there for decades, way before we were even born. Why are they changing it suddenly, now of all times?” Soarin asked her. Spitfire could only sigh, and once again turned around to face Soarin. For Soarin, he knew he had to say something further. He cleared his voice and began hesitantly.

“...Is this what all this was about? All the raging, the slamming, and throwing of large objects was about? Spits, did you go and ask them why they did this?”

“I don’t fucking know, Soarin. Maybe they thought it would be good for business to go and book someone else, but...Gah, the team is going to have a riot when they hear about this. Guess I’ll go and tell them. Feel free to stay here and mope, Soarin,” Spitfire said in a joking tone, electing a small laugh and grin from Soarin.

“Me, moping? Never! Now... shall we go and get this over with?”

“Sure, Soarin.” A light pause cut her off, before she continued with a devious smile. “But first; clean up the mess in the hallway. We don’t want anyone to step in it, now do we?”

“... I really do hate you sometimes...”

“THEY DID WHAT?” As soon as Spitfire told her team what had happened, it was like opening of a very angry and confused flood gate. Half of the team had jumped up in anger, and the rest got angry in their chairs, not wanting to spill their assorted breakfast food.

“Spitfire, they can’t do this! That has been our home for generations!” Fleetfoot whined, earning several ‘I agree with you’ and ‘As always, she’s right’.

“Are they fucking drunk? Why the in the name of Celestia would they book our well known rivals to our own home stadium? Are they fucking with us?” Lighting Streak added, the rage in his voice pretty clear.

“I agree with Lightning, this is fucking nuts. Spitfire, are you sure you got the right letter?” Fire Streak added, earning himself a glare from Spitfire.

“Yes, I am quite sure what I read was for us. Even Soarin read it and told me the same thing. You want to know the real smack in the face? They gave all of us tickets for a box suite at the performance!” Spitfire added, venom pouring from her last words like a cobra.

The entire team was speechless, and for good reason. Now, to the average pegasus person, this would have been a very nice thing to do, getting an awesome ticket to a show. Now to a flying team, it was a completely different thing. It originated a long time ago, shortly before Nightmare Moon's attack. The legend goes on to say that after a particularly nasty encounter  between the first Wonderbolts and the Black Suns, the Wonderbolts bought the Black Suns tickets to their next game, to show them how a real team performed.

 Ever since that day, whenever an opposing flying team wished to disgrace their rival team or teams, they would buy them a ticket to their next performance. And the better the seat, the more of an insult was intended. So, you can imagine the insult that was being made. The Wonderbolts most heated rival in hundreds of years had booked their home stadium the same week that they were supposed to perform, bought them the best seats in the entire house, and had them delivered in the official message back to them.

“They did...what?” Fleetfoot whispered out, not believing a word of what she just heard. The entire team was silent, that was before the Streak brothers got up and began walking toward the the lobby.

“Uh guys, where are you going?” Fleetfoot asked, but no response was given, and the entire team watched as they walked out the door and took flight, heading off into the sunrise.

“Leave them be, they are probably going to go take a flight to go calm down.” Spitfire reassured Fleetfoot as she headed towards the coffee maker to get a cup of coffee to try to calm herself down.

“So uh...Are we going to go?” A small voice squeaked out among the quiet Wonderbolts. Everyone turned around to look at Misty Fly, now blushing so hard she could act as a second sun.

“What? They are free seats, and besides...Who says we can’t have a little bit of fun while we are there?” She said sheepishly with a grin. Everyone on the team, save Spitfire joined her with a grin.

“So Cap, what do you think? Should we have a little bit of fun with our dear friends The Shadowbolts?” Fleetfoot grinned as she asked. The rest of the team, still grinning, began to put on puppy dog face.

Spitfire just sighed, not really knowing what to do. As much as she wanted to go and pull a epic prank on the Shadowbolts, the consequences for the teams actions would be far worse than the moment of happiness of whatever prank would happen. There team could be heavily fined for it, and even worse, could be suspended if the Flying Board thought so.

“I’m sorry, but I really don’t think that it would be smart for us to try and pull a prank in the middle of a show. And besides, that would be stooping down to their level, which would not be a bad thing, but I think the consequences would be a bitch. ” Spitfire proclaimed, feeling rather like a buzzkill as most of her teammates grins suddenly went down the drain at the realization of what could happen. She loved having fun with her team, pranking each other, trolling fans, and just well...living her life to the fullest.

“So that’s a no on the pranking then?” Misty asked innocently.

“Yeah, no on the pranking, but I have a better idea. Someone go get Lightning and Fire, I have a small idea...” Spitfire teased as the group moved in closer to her, ready to hear her plan. The door the lobby ringed as Soarin went outside to find the Streak brothers.

“Now, this is not technically pranking more as-”

On the completely other side of Cloudsdale, a completely other spectacle was unfolding from The Wonderbolts surprising morning. The sun was rising of the Dark mansion that was not unlike something you would see in a old horror movie, but it was the Headquarters for Princesses Lunas flying team, and the direct rival to The Wonderbolts, The Shadowbolts.

The youngest flying team currently performing right now, they were less than three years old. They were formed when Luna had returned to her royal duties, had visited a Wonderbolts performance and was amazed with them, and had requested a her own team to be formed. Needless to say, the request was granted and soon, a new team had entered the playing field. But, like all things in every universe, there had to be a problem.

The one that Princess Luna faced, along with her advisers, was who to ask or to hire to join the team. Now, you may think that this would be an easy feat, which is what Luna thought, but it turned out to be an adventure on its own right, and a rather interesting one at that. So, by this time, nearly all the expert flyers were either on their own team, like The Wonderbolts, Black Arrows, Screaming Eagles and so on.

And the recruitment problem was not getting any help from the legends of Nightmare moon, even though they had been proven wrong, most people still feared Princess Luna. The only good flyers left were very, and I mean very hesitant to accept an invitation for the team.

And the rumors, Dear Celestia the rumors. Cloudsdale is a very social place, and between the rumors that had formed in Canterlot about Luna met the rumors from Cloudsdale about the team, it combined to form something that if it would have had a physical form, it would have looked demonic it could have had Cerberus cowering in fear like a scared pup from a thunderstorm.

The rumors told stories of how anyone that joined the team would be cursed to all eternity, and how they would all turn into vampires and other really untrue things. But, Cloudsdale, its people, and most of Equestria went for it hook, line, sinker and even the boat.

Nearly five months after the bill to have the team formed had passed, not a single application had been received, and it was beginning to take its toll on Luna. She had been so excited to have her very own team, but that dream was quickly not becoming a reality, Celestia had tried to cheer up her sister, but to no use. It was beginning to look like the team would never become a reality, until a fateful tuesday afternoon.

Three years ago...

Starry Night was in the middle of another boring day at the ‘Shadowbolts’ HQ, if you could even call it that. From the rumors that had been going around, there is probably not going to be a Shadowbolts HQ anymore, which means she might be in the job market once again.

She became lost in her thoughts, before the sound of a the door to the lobby opening up. She quickly tried to look busy, or rather that she tried to make it look like she had been doing something all day, instead of playing solitare for an hour and a half, before going and doodling on random application sheets.

She expected some inspector, or an advisor of Luna, or even a lost pizza delivery flyer, but the Pegasus person that walked in was like nothing she had ever seen. The Pegasus person at the door was quite unique looking. Her hair was a navy blue, and her wings from what she could see, were the same color. Navy blue was quite a rare color to see in a persons hair, and even more rare in their wings. She stood at around five foot six inches, and looked to be in very good shape. She wore a simple plain black t-shirt, with a pair of torn black jeans on her legs. Her shoes looked a lot like something you would see on a soldier. Her eyes were a dark green, a sharp contrast to her dark clothing.

“Hello, how may I help you on this...fine day?” Starry asked, trying to keep a straight face. The woman in front of her was quite intimidating.

“Is this the Shadowbolts recruitment place?” She asked, looking around the room. Her voice was surprisingly clear, but it had a hidden layer of malice in it.

“Why yes, it is! May I help you with something?” Starry responded, being slightly confused. She had never had someone come into this place actually looking for it.

“Can I have one of those...applications for the team?” The woman asked in a somewhat demanding tone.

“Uh...You want what miss?” Starry stuttered out, not believing her ears. Someone was asking for a recruitment application? Was she under a magic spell? Did she hit her head?

“Did I stutter ma’am? I want a recruitment application for The Shadowbolts, Princess Lunas new flight team, so that I can join said team, Please. Oh, and my name is Nightshade by the way.” The woman, or rather Nightshade asked, with some emphasis on the please part at the end. Starry, wordlessly, handed a quite dusty  clipboard to her with the form on it. Nightshade thanked her, before sitting down on one of the Cloud couches and began to fill it out.

Starry could not believe her eyes, the someone was really signing up for The Shadowbolts. And that is when lightning struck twice in the same spot, the door to the lobby opened, and four Pegasus people walked in, they were quite literally, the oddest collection of people she had ever seen. Nightshade looked up from her form, before clearing her voice.

“Oh, I brought some more people to come and sign up, hope that is alright.” She said before going back to filling out her form. Starry gave a forced smile, before looking back to the group that just walked in. They all sat down next to, or around Nightshade, and began whispering to her. One of them could not keep still, and kept looking around the room, a strange grin on her face. She watched the scene for about five minutes, before one them walked toward her. It was a man, standing at around six foot two, and had a scar going across his right eye. He had icy white hair with streaks of light blue. His wings could not been seen, due to them being folded up against his back. He was built like a royal guard, and had the attitude to meet it.

“Excuse me Miss, we need some more of these application sheets, do you have any more? We all want to sign up for the team.” He spoke in a rough, but controlled voice. Starry nodded before taking out the sheets and handing the lot to him. He thanked her before walking away towards his friends. The one that had the grin began to laugh randomly, sending chills down Starrys back.

“Blitz, please at least try to act non crazy.” Someone said from within the circle. The person laughing simply snickered, before going back to ‘filling’ out the form. Starry looked at the people that were signing up for the team, then realising that they were probably going to be the only ones on the team for a long, long time.

“Well, at least I’m keeping my job... On second thought, not sure if that is a good thing or not.”

Three years later

As the sun rose over the Shadowbolts headquarters, Captain Nightshade slowly woke up from her bed, before falling ungracefully off the bed onto the floor.

“Urgh...Well, that is one way to wake up in the morning...” She groaned out before attempting to get up, before falling back down to the floor. Nightshade was not known for being the happiest person in the morning, and that was saying a lot compared to her team.

“Yo Cap, you alive up there? Or do I need to call the cops?” A voice yelled down from the floor below her. She recognized the voice as Stratus, her second in command to the team.

“Calm your tits Stratus, I’m fine. Just took a bit of a tumble.” She yelled back down, angry that she had been disturbed. Knowing that she would not be able to go back to sleep, she slowly got up, before nearly tripping over her blanket. She cursed under her breath, before standing back up and going into the shower to try and wake up. She took of her t-shirt and pants before stepping into the shower.

Now, she began a species old tradition of thinking about whatever was on her mind, or contemplating life and the universe. She choose the first option, and then broke out in a grin when she remembered what she had sent and done to her dear friends the Wonderbolts. She imagined the look on the bitch Spitfires face as she read over that letter, realising that she had been beat again by Nightshade.

She allowed herself a bit of a fantasy of Spitfire screaming and breaking into a mad rage, screaming at everyone she saw. The ‘best’, most pompous flying team in the world, had been ripped from their home field and tossed aside like the garbage they were, by a team that had only been here for a couple of years, unlike the millennium old Wonderbolts.

When the team found out that they had gotten  the gig, oh boy.The party that was achieved would have made Vinyl Scratch jealous, along with setting the new world record for worst hangover of all time, but it was worth it. Soon, the Wonderbolts would be out of the running, and the Shadowbolts will be the new best flying team in the world. This made Nightshade happier than anything else in the world, even more than making Spitfire feel horrible, not that she did not deserve it.

Nightshade smiled once more, before stepping out of the shower to dry off, being extra careful to get her wings nice and perfect. Satisfied with her work, she put on her official Shadowbolts robe and walked out of her room, before running back in to get some shoes on. With the performance of her life coming up in two weeks, she was not going to be kicked out of it due to some stupid thing getting in her foot.

As soon as she made sure no random stuff was going to go in her foot, she walked out of her room and shut the door, before walking down the staircase towards the team's unofficial meeting place, the small kitchen.

She turned the corner, and was greeted by two of her team members sitting down, eating some breakfast. Starry Skies was devouring an apple, her azure hair in a bed head fashion, with her identical colored wings tucked against her back. Sitting next to her was Charger, one of her oldest friends. She had met the Silver haired guy in a bar, and the two of them had hit it off. She told asked him if he was a good flyer, which he responded to “Best in the world.” Never the less, she took him up on the challenge, and kicked his ass. Needless to say, they shortly became very good friends.

“What is up you dirty lot?” She joked as she took some cereal out of the cabinet, humming to herself quite happily.

“Hello Cap, you seem to be in good mood.” Charger grumbled out as he began eating some hot cereal.

“Yeah, what made you so happy Night? Last time I remember, you were planning a double murder...Wait, that was last night.” Starry asked as she continued to eat from her fruit bowl, reading a newspaper as well. Nightshade conunited to hum to herself, pouring her cereal into a bowl and taking a seat across from the two.

“Oh, nothing much. Just remembering what we did to the Wonderbolts...” She smiled as she ate her cereal, drawing a giggle from Starry and a chuckle from Charger, both of them remembering the little thing they had done to their rivals.

“Oh that, well, we all know there is more to come, am I right?” Starry asked the group sitting around her, in which they all responded by simply nodding. They sat in silence for a minute, before Nightshade remembered something.

“Uh, have any of you seen Blitz? She is usually up by now, correction, she is always up by now.” Nightshade asked, drawing glancing looks from both Starry and Charger.

“Sorry Cap, have not seen her all morning.” Charger responded, getting up to put his plate in the dishwasher.

“Same Night, see might be asleep...Oh who am I kidding, the chances of that are so low they could be in tartarus. Hell, she may be outside flying around, which may be a problem.” Starry got out of her chair as well,  putting her bowl in the dishwasher. She looked out the window to see if she could see Blitz, but no such luck.

Suddenly, a face appeared on the opposite side of the window, causing Starry to scream and fall down onto the kitchen floor, scaring Nightshade and waking up anyone in the surrounding five miles.

“The fuck are you yelling about Starry!?” Nightshade yelled as she tried to catch her breath from the sudden scream of terror. She walked over to where Starry was still laying down on the kitchen floor, her wings fully spread out, before looking out the window and realising what had freaked her out.

“Blitz, what the hell are you doing?” Nightshade yelled from inside the kitchen, directing it towards the person currently rolling on a cloud below the window with laughter.

“STARRY, YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN THE LOOK ON YOUR FACE!” Blitz cried out as she continued to laugh her ass off. Starry turned as red as a tomato, causing Charger to start laughing with Blitz. Nightshade slowly turned a smile, before joining them in laughter, and shortly after, everyone was laughing at Starrys sake.

“SHUT THE HELL UP, ALL OF YOU!” Starry yelled embarrassed, but it only fed the fire as the laughter only increased, causing Starry to think about where she could hide three bodies. Nightshade, still laughing, came up and patted her on the back, making Starry whip around to face her.

“Relax Stars, it was just a harmless prank, which you fell for epicly. Boy, I have not laughed like that for awhile.” Starry hit Nightshades hand away before flying outside to go get Blitz, or murder Blitz, one or the other would be acceptable.

“I wonder if our new recruit is awake yet.” Charger asked Nightshade after she had finally stopped laughing.

“I guess not...We should probably go give her the ‘special’ Shadowbolt wake up.” Nightshade smiled devilishly with a teasing tone in her voice. This was going to be fun.

“And that, Ladies and Gentleman, is our plan. It is simple, clean, surprisingly elegant and one hundred percent legal. What do you think?” Spitfire asked the group of people circled around her.

“It’s beautiful. I’ve seen some plans like this before, but this takes the cake.” Fleetfoot remarked as she admired the plan Spitfire had told them.

“I have to agree with her for once, this is a thing of beauty.” Blaze joked, earning a her a glare from Fleet.

“Remember, this does not leave this circle. Got it?” Spitfire told the group. They all responded with varying forms of yes.

In two weeks, the Shadowbolts were going to be the laughing stock of Cloudsdale, and the Wonderbolts would have their place back.

In two weeks, all her problems will be solved...

Nightshade and Charger quickly ran out of the recruits room, laughing as they hid in a closet.

“Ok, that has to be one of the funniest, yet evil thing I have ever done!” Nightshade exclaimed as she tried to hold in her laughter.

“Have to agree with ya there Captain. This whole Wonderbolt thing must have put you in one hell of a good mood.”

“Oh? I’m not usually in a loving, caring mood all the time?” She said with dead seriousness, making Charger sweat slightly.

“Uh...You see- What I really meant was-” He was cut off by Night slugging him in the arm, a smile on her face.

“Relax buddy, I ain’t gonna hurt you. Besides, the last thing we need is you to be hurt before our big day hotshot.” She joked and Charger laughed with her, before they heard the sound of a door slamming open and someone screaming their name.

Nightshade and Charger looked at each other, before bolting out of the closet and flying towards the front door.

Nightshade could credit one thing right now to her good mood.

In two weeks, all her problems will be solved...

But, little did the know, in two weeks, their problems would not be solved one bit. For two weeks, on the day of the show, the entire planet would be changed. For better or for worse is for you to decide. But, nevertheless, in two weeks...

Something came from beyond the Event Horizon...