Ice and Fire

Chapters

Ch-1 Chilling Discovery
Ch-2 Out Cold
Ch-3 Cold Shoulder
Ch-4 Stoking the Fire
Ch-5 Ice Breaker
Ch-6 Cold meals and Hot drinks
Ch-7 Chilling Out

Ch-1 Chilling Discovery

Author's Note

Important! Before you read!

Hello and welcome potential readers! I would like to give you all a nice warm intro to my novel 'Ice and Fire'! I would like to start off by thanking you -the reader- for taking your time to read this novel. This book wouldn't be possible if it weren't for the loving people that read Fimfiction.

Secondly I would like to say that yes, I myself am a pilot. That being said some words and phrases I say in this book might be confusing. I do try my best to explain some situations. I also to urge you to continue reading after the first chapter (even if it puts you off). I have come to learn that many book's are not what they first set themselves up to be.

Lastly I would like to give a shout out to all of my comenter that helped me write what is written so far and what has yet to come! Safhell,APumaUnchained, Sycamore, jdhog77, busterbrothers, MadPony1460, FalloutFilly, animatex, Dark Slayer, Norm De Plume, miraak, Alex_, Frost Wolf, WorldWalker128, Plymouth Superbird, Spc jacko, kevonpercell, Playing Card, Steel Heart, Trent Roogna, Nightmare, b300mussolini, SuperMattor, The Lunar Brony, Silentwoodfire, PattonsArmy, Blade tormentor, Panzer Commander Street, Davidirving, 121hunter02, ShadowThePony, Maverik, Xzaves, Gigatonic, Trollestia the Pilot, vampire48, Knightofstories, Superbowl, jmlop0, TheMyth, CommanderWolffe, DustTraveller.

If you like this story give it a thumbs up! Also if you like this story and haven't heard of Falling For a Star, you should check it out as its made by me as well. Without further ado, I hope you enjoy 'Ice and Fire'!

Ch-1 Chilling Discovery

Arc I - Defrosted

Date: November 23ed,1943
Location: Over the Atlantic Ocean
Operation: Cold Steel
Time: 10:00

Nothing sounds better than the sound of a Roll-Royce engine, specifically the new Merlin 45 model. As if that wasn't enough this baby is a supercharged V12 capable of producing 1'470 horse power. Now that's what I call a ride!

Looking over your shoulder to the right you lay eyes on your squad leader. Berstin is his name, a good fellow always looking for a fight. Some people speculate that he ejected from his spitfire in battle when his guns jammed, just to kill a German Messerschmitt bf 109. People all over camp claimed that his unoccupied spitfire hit its target. Nevertheless he earned his nick name that day, Buster, Buster Berstin.

Beside him is your friend Isan, now you don't want to mess with him. He earned your respect when he took on a full squad with his cannons jammed. Some people say that he's crazy and jumps to attack to early, but he's your friend and you're dame lucky he's on your side.

Flying with Isan is Rob. You know when they say that not everyone is military material, well that's Rob for you. Robs a nice dude in all but he can't aim for shit, not only that he's the most disobedient person to have roamed the earth. You tell him to go right he goes down, what happens in his mind is a mystery that no one wants to solve.

To your left is Jackson. Now Jackson is like a wild card, he can either be really good in a fight or he can be absolute shit. It's quite weird when you think about it, the only time you'll know if he's going to be amazing or not is during the first two minutes of battle.

Turning your attention forward you're greeted by the snowy coast of Greenland. "You know what I never got about geography guys?" You ask over the radio.

"What?" Berstin replies sounding slightly annoyed. Berstin was never the one for small talk, but at least he made an effort to give a fuck.

"Why do they call Greenland, Greenland and Iceland, Iceland. You know because Iceland has like no snow while Greenland has shit tones of the stuff?" You can hear sighs from all ends of the radio.

"I have no idea Anon. Even if I did I wouldn't care enough to answer." Berstin answers truthfully, a feat that you'll always admire him for. "We're coming up to enemy airspace, stay on your toes." Berstin states as we fly over the coast of Greenland. It is quite the beautiful sight to see as the ice glistened in the daylight. Now that you think about it the word 'beautiful' would be an understatement, it was down right gorgeous you've never seen anything quite so invigorating in your life.

You've flown in Great Britain last year in 1942, but you think that Greenland is a much nicer place. Something about it just made your mind at ease, you assume it's because the landscape seems to be untouched by war. Sadly you're taken away from your sightseeing when your flight leader speaks up.

"OK we're only a couple meters out from our destination. You all remember the briefing right?" Berstin asks gaining some altitude. Who could forget briefing. You commented to yourself. Two days of planing on chalkboards and another two prepping your planes, making sure everything is in tip-top shape. Nonetheless you and the rest of the flight follow Berstin without any arguments, you all know that gaining the height advantage is a large advantage. When you have gravity on your side the damage you can do in the first run is absolutely outstanding. Not to mention the speed you'll have after the run, one of which you can use freely.

We all repeat our "OK's" over the radio to tell Berstin that we're ready for the fight.

Once again you're taken by the landscape. A couple of seconds ago it was all snowy white plains, now it's all grey mountains. As for the weather it couldn't be any better clear skies is all you can see.

"Got a contact to north-east." Isan states over the radio. Sure enough when you turn your head slightly to the right you can see the squad of bf 109's. "Three contacts." Isan continues to relay the information as he continues to look at the squad heading straight into your path.

"Looks like they don't know we're here." You say into the microphone. The opportunity to attack them and have the advantage is present, however you get the slight feeling that this is to easy. Paranoia always gets the best of you, so you do what you always do and shake it off.

"This should be an easy kill." Berstin states. "Anon and Jackson you go for the one on the right. Isan and Rob you go for the guy on the left. I however will go for the one in the middle." Beratin commands in a confident tone.

"Roger!" You and the rest of the flight reply in unison.

You bank to the left with Jackson while Isan and Rob bank to the right. Coming from both sides you should have the advantage. "Jackson switch to cannons I want to kill these fuckers quickly." You state switching to cannons yourself.

"Roger that Anon switching to cannons." Jackson states as you close onto your target.

As you move closer and closer to your target you can hear the wind whistling as it grazes the canopy of your spitfire. You can start to see the glass freezing up on the edges, but it shouldn't be a problem as you don't plan to stay here much longer.

It seems like such a crime to destroy this peaceful and pure place with gun fire and plane debris, but what has to be done, has to be done. It's quite ironic now that you think of it, a spitfire fighting in the arctic. I guess opposites do attract.

"Anon are we going to fire yet?" You hear Jackson's voice over the radio snapping you out of your thoughts. You look forward to see the bf 109's a few hundred meters out. Oh fuck. You say to yourself as you line up for the first shot.

"ENGAGE!" You yell as you press the trigger and watch as your red hot 20mm wiz by the enemy planes. This is way too easy and you know it Anon. A voice comes from within you. You know the voice is right but there can always be a possibility that these pilots are retarded.

Looking around above and beside, you can't see any other fighters that could be used as an ambush. Why would these planes just let us engage them. Continuing to fire you finally land a shot tearing the wing off of your target. "Target down. Moving in to help Berstin." You say over the radio.

With Berstin's approval you bank right and times seems to slow down. You turn your head to the right looking at the ground. With the luck of the wind you see a white tarp get pulled off to reveal AA guns.

"WE GOT FLAK INCOMING!" You yell into the microphone as you start to see bullets rise from the ground attempting to shoot you and Jackson down. Leveling off you WEP(War Emergency Power) your engine and bolt it towards Berstin. The bullets from the AA turrets burst into flames around you leaving only black soot in their wake. Each time one went off your plane shook violently.

"How the hell did we miss those guys?" Berstin questions as the AA guns bellow spray sporadically in the general direction of your squad. Berstin lets out a small burst of 20mm straight onto his target earning him the kill. "Target down, how're you doing on your target Isan? We are getting pummeled by AA out here!"

"We're on his six shouldn't be long." Isan replies. "If you guys want to help that would be most welcomed." You don't have to ask me twice. You state in your mind as you bank towards Isan's direction.

As you finish aligning to Isan's target you put your finger on the trigger, however a burst of flack catches you off guard. Keeping your current heading you fly straight through the black cloud, emerging from the other side seconds later. The heat from the explosion melted the ice forming on the canopy as well as spraying some soot into it. This caused your vision to be momentarily hindered as the wind blew the water away. Regaining your lost vision you come to see the target right in front of you Easy kill I'm already on his six. You say mentally as you put the cross hairs on spot. "Where're you Isan I thought you said you were on his six?" you say into the microphone when you realize that you don't see Isan anywhere.

"I am on his six Anon." Isan replies. His words starting to inject worry into you a bit.

"Isan gain two meters in altitude." You state as you watch the bf 109 in front of you.

"Roger." Isan replies and follows your orders.

To your surprise Isan raises from behind the bf 109. Wait behind?! Glancing back down towards the target you're greeted by a spray of 20 and 13 millimeter rounds. Oh fuck man here we go! Pressing your own trigger you both accelerate towards each other in a aerial game of chicken.

You can hear multiple shots hit your plane and also shatter parts of your cockpit, but on the other hand you can also see multiple bullets of your own hit your target in front of you. With a satisfying explosion the bf 109 goes down first. What was left of the plane was sent spiraling downwards. Letting out a sigh of relief that you're still a live you take a look over your plane. What you find is that your right wing is shot to shits.

"Berstin I'm hit, my right wing has a hole in it!" You yell out over the radio, not lying as the hole in your wing is quite huge. "I have no idea how long it's gonna ho-" You're cut off as your right wing gives in and snaps off putting you into a downwards spiral.

"MAYDAY! MAYDAY! MAYDAY!" You yell into the microphone as the white ground beneath you comes closer and closer. The fear in your mind increases exponentially and your grip on the joystick tightens. Your mind is yelling at you with all its might to pull up while another part of you yells that this is the end. With little you can do you follow the voice inside your head, however pulling the stick back you do little to raise the nose of your spitfire.

"Anon decrease throttle and pull flaps, the most you can do at the moment is slow your inevitable crash down." With those wise words from Berstin you decrease your throttle and pull your flaps. Incredibly the plane's nose starts to tilt up seconds before you hit the ground and your plane skids along the arctic ice.

As the plane skids you look around for any sign of hostile ground forces. Seeing none you turn your attention back forwards. What you see next is a rather large pile of ice then seconds later black.

Ice and Fire

Four million years later...

"What do you mean we have to go! This isn't even our problem!" You yell at Shining Armor. "If these ponies say they've found something interesting why do they need our help."

Shining Armor sighs. "You're part of the military right?" You nod in agreement. "Well this is a military operation that Celestia herself is running. Now if you want to stay in the military and keep getting funds to pay for your Wonderbolt team. Then I would suggest you follow through on this endeavor."

You're taken back at Shining Armor's tone, but nevertheless you respect him for taking command when it is needed. "Why is Celestia so interested in the Frozen North anyways?" You retort back as you don't like following through on missions that have no meaning.

"To tell you the truth Spitfire I don't even know." Shining Armor states as he turns to leave your office. "But trust in the princess! If she wants something done you better believe it's something important."

"Why send in the Wonderbolts though? What can possibly be up there that needs the Wonderbolts?" You ask in confusion. Shining Armor stops and turns around looking you dead in the eye. This was a new thing, Shining Armor was never this serious about any of the past missions he has sent your team on.

"The Wonderbolts are needed because the excavating team feels that what they've found might not be friendly." Shining Armor replies heading out off your office and slamming the door shut with his magic.

Worry starts to set in as you remember the last time Shining Armor has given you a message like this. It was two years ago when Spike a baby dragon grew into a full blown one overnight. You made it out alive thankfully to Rarity, but if she wasn't there you and the rest of your team would of perished.

As you sit in your office thinking about the mission at hand you hear a slight knocking at your door. "Who is it!" You ask in a tone that states you don't want to be bothered at this very moment. The knocking stops and you assume whoever was knocking is gone now, funny that you have that effect on ponies.

However being the captain of the Wonderbolts is a lonely job, but someponies got to do it. Getting up and out of your office chair you walk around the room looking at records from the past. The good old days. You think as you look at pictures of you when you were a filly.

You were always filled with excitement and ambition. Your parents always said that you were trying to impress them with a new trick. You pick up one of your pictures off of the shelf, the picture showed your parents. They were both hugging each other while you stood on their backs. Feeling some liquid form at the bottom of your eyes you place the picture back down. Better get ready for the journey. You say in your head heading over to the office doors. Who knows maybe they did find something interesting. You open the door and are greeted with silence. The hallway is simply empty like it always is after hours.

Sighing you walk down the hallways that you grew up seeing. You're not that old as many ponies may thing you are. You are actually quite young only 23 still a young adult. That being said a captain at such a young age makes you feel like you're 50.

Arriving at your room you open your closet. A smile comes across your face when you look upon your flight suit. Shining Armor never said when he wants you to leave to the Frozen North. With that thought in mind you take your flight suit and begin to suit up. Wonder if the rest of the team wants to go for a night stroll before the mission. You ponder placing your hooves into the correct holes in the suit.

With your flight suit now on you exit your room and head over to Soarin's house. Soarin's always up no doubt he would want fly with me. Landing meters in front of the front door you knock. "Spitfire what the hay are you doing here this late?" Soarin answers the door.

Sighing you tell him what Shining Armor has told you. "We're being deployed to the Frozen North. He wants us to assist the excavation team in recovering an artifact that Celestia herself wants to see." Soarin's eyes where wide since you said Frozen North.

"The Frozen North!... Wow... Whats out there that Celestia wants?" Soarin asks looking into his house then back at you.

"I have no idea, neither does Shining Armor. That's what I'm most scared about, the captain of the royal guard doesn't even know what the ponies in the north are digging up." You reply. "So I was wondering..." You trail off pulling out the best puppy dog eyes you can muster, "if you would like to join me and the rest of the team for a late night flight?" You ask as a night flight will do miracles to everypony.

"Sorry Spits, but if we are heading for the Frozen North I need all of the sleep I can get." You're right eye twitches at the mention of your nickname before you roll your eyes. Of course. Soarin will look for a excuse to be lazy in any situation. "Plus I have this amazing apple pie I got from Applejack. I ordered it and everything!"

"Well I hope you enjoy your apple pie." You state turning to fly to the next team members house. "Be ready to leave first thing tomorrow morning." And with a gust of wind you're off and soaring in the skies looking around the magnificent city of Canterlot.

Looks like Rapidfire is next. You state in your mind as you arrive at the next house. Once again you knock on the door of the house and await the response of the owner. "HEY! Spits! Whats up!" Rapidfire asks as he opens the door accompanied by Fleetfoot. If I get called by that nickname one more time I'm going to lose it! You comment to yourself as you put on a fake smile.

"Oh hey Rapidfire and Fleetfoot. I'm not interrupting anything am I?" You ask as the situation gets progressively more awkward. "I just came by to tell you guys that we got a new mission from Shining Armor." The moment you mention Shining Armor Fleetfoots eyes go wide.

"Not again! Last time he called on us we almost died from Spike." Rapidfire whines looking over to Fleetfoot.

"As if! Give me a couple more minutes to regain my bearings and I would of had that green and purple bugger." Rapidfire states in a confident tone obviously trying to impress Fleetfoot.

"Well that's all I came here for." You lie as you don't really want to fly this late at night with these loves birds. "Just make sure to arrive at the academy at first light." You state turning around, getting ready to take off. "So that means no drinking of the cider." You can hear the groans of both Fleetfoot and Rapidfire as you take off back into the night sky.

Well some alone time will surely be good. You say to yourself as you take off towards the academy. Thoughts fill your mind, thoughts of what could the ponies up north find that is so important Celestia herself needs to see. You shake the thoughts out of your mind and focus on your flight path.

The chilling wind grazes your flight suit as you keep increasing your speed. You pull off some little maneuvers then gracefully glide down to the academy runway. The runway always made you happy when you saw it, the only use it was for was chariots and other transports, but something about it made you happy. Maybe it's the smooth feeling of the tarmac on your hooves or the vast open area, either way it looked amazing at this time of day.

Looking around the empty academy you head towards the main building that your room is in. Call it overkill but living at your work has its perks. You're never late because you're always there, your friends come over and not the other way around. Entering the building you unzip your coveralls and place them back in the closet in which you found them.

Closing the closet door you turn around to see your bed. Sighing you jump in and pull over the covers. With the mission being the only thing left to do this week you shut off the lights and succumb to the darkness that soon follows. Better get the most sleep I can. I got a long day ahead of me tomorrow. you state as you lose consciousness.

9 hours later...

You awaken to the sound of your alarm clock. How you dreaded its very existence, however it was the only thing keeping you on time. You may live this time alarm clock, but be wary the day I will not fall for your wretched dinging. You state in your mind proudly as that statement came out quite nice.

Shuffling under the covers you make your way to the edge of the empty bed. As per usual you wipe the sleep crud from your eyes and head off to the bathroom to get ready for the day ahead of you. The morning routine for you was fairly easy, brush, shower, and get your flight suit on.

The tasks gets repetitive once you have been doing it for so long, but it is a necessary routine that when followed made you feel like a brand new mare. Once you have completed all of the necessary tasks for the morning you head out into the hallway and down to your kitchen. What cereal this time? I could eat Celesti-o's or I could eat Luna puff's. Ehh buck it.

Grabbing the nearest box which happens to be Luna puffs you pour yourself a bowl. With your still ruffled mane you grab the milk from your fridge and pour it onto the Luna puff's. Buckin' mornings. You say to yourself as you finish off the last off the Luna puff's in the bowl. Never liked them never will.

Putting the dishes away you go back upstairs to do your hair in the normal spiked style that you have grown fond of. Without it you don't think that you would be the same mare. Once your all done up and clean you head outside and onto the cool cloud ground. As per usual ponies were out and about doing their normal practice routine.

"Hey Spits!" You hear a voice come from behind you. Its a different day Spitfire don't lose your cool this early. You tell yourself as you turn around to see Soarin, Fleetfoot, and Rapidfire all in their flight suits. "We going or are we just going to watch the recruits train." Soarin states with a smug expression.

You roll your eyes at the team. "Yes we're leaving. You all got your what you need for a day or two in the Frozen North?" You ask looking over the members seeing a lack of clothing.

"All I need is me and my flight suit." Rapidfire states shooting up into the air. "And if I do get cold I will just do some training to warm me up. It can't be that bad up there now can it. I'm pretty sure its the same temperature there as a couple hundred feet up from here."

"We'll see about that." You state as you walk back to the academy. "Just hold on guys I will be one sec I forgot something." Heading back into your house you grab your white scarf. never know when you might need it. Heading back out you're greeted with some chuckles. "When I'm the one not freezing my flank off will see who laughs then."

"Oh I think I'll be fine. I got Rapidfire here to warm me up." Fleetfoot states as you roll your eyes.

"That is if he's warm." You state taking off the ground in a hover. "Alright guys come on I don't want to make Shining Armor anymore pissed. I think he wanted us there yesterday."

Without any arguing the rest of the Wonderbolts took off and you headed off North. "Hey Spits what do you think the ponies found up there?" Soarin asks flying next to you. "Because if it's anything like spike when hes pissed then we're in way over our heads."

"Like I said before Soarin I have no idea what we're going to find there." You state speeding up so you're now in front of Soarin.

"I said what do you think it is, not what is it." Soarin retorts in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Well if I have to guess I would say something ancient and magical. That's the only thing that I would see Celestia wanting." You say speeding up as you don't want to be stuck flying for too long. "If it's as dangerous as they say it is, then we all better watch our backs."

6 hours later...

Your wings are starting to get tired as they normally do when you go on long flights like this. What can you say you're a acrobatic pony not a long distance pony. Looking around all you can see is white and grey, the grey being the mountains and the white being the snow that lays above them and below them.

"Holy hayseed this place is far." you can hear Fleetfoot whine in the background. "Did Shining Armor tell you where this place was. All I see is white!"

You keep on flying despite the groans and whines of your team members. It actually surprises you that this long of a flight would have that kind of effect on your team, remember to add long flights to the next training schedule. Once again you look to the ground in hopes of finding this camp that Shining Armor has told you about.

His description was not very detailed, but he did say you'll know when you see it. Passing a mountain you lay eyes on what has to be the camp. Hundreds of tents were set up around a rather large hole that looks to be a quarry. "I think I found the camp." You say back to the rest of the team.

Celebrations were heard as you and the rest of the Wonderbolts make it down to ground level. "Greetings Spitfire." A voice comes from one of the tents. A dark brown coat stallion walks out with a short light brown mane. "It's a pleasure to meet you all. I am Ace Mineral and I'm here on a research project for Celestia, but I'm sure you all knew that last part right." He introduced giving a little bow.

"Great!" You reply a bit awkwardly, you never really had anypony bow to you before. "Do you know where we will be staying." You ask Ace, however you continue before he can answer. "Also do you know what it is that brought us here?" You ask as your curiosity is killing you.

"You and your entourage will be staying in separate tents over there." Ace points over to a couple of tents off in the distance. "As for what brings you here, all I can say is it's a relic of some sort. Ponies around here say that it's millions of years old. I for one don't believe all this talk, for if that were true then that would mean it dates back to the hu-."

"Then why are we here?" You bud in not really caring for any of his 'history' hayseeds. "This relic doesn't seem to be dangerous, so why do you need the Wonderbolts." Ace looks at you with a serious expression.

"We have yet to see the relic. We have only gotten glimpses of it through the ice by magic, you know like general shapes and large details such as color and what not. The relic itself seems to be buried pretty deep and our miners are working the hardest they can. If this relic is as powerful as Celestia claimed it to be then by all means you're necessary for the recovery of this ancient relic." Ace states in a dramatic tone waving his hooves around as if acting out his words.

"So you want us to retrieve this relic and bring it up to you?" You ask not liking this idea one bit.

"Yes as soon as we reach it we'll let you deal with it. From the looks of it, the relic is in a underground pocket. Us unicorns and ground ponies can't get down there without falling to our deaths. Having the Wonderbolts here will make recovery of the relic much easier, not to mention much more cost efficient as well." Ace states "So I suggest you get your team ready, because from the looks of it our miners are approaching their destination at an unprecedented rate." After his little information sessions Ace had a smile plastered to his face.

"One last question, after we retrieve this relic our team is free to leave?" You ask not wanting to be in the Frozen North any longer then you have to. "I would hate for Rapidfire here to get a cold." You comment jokingly.

"HAY! I heard that!" Rapidfire quips back from his tent.

Ace chuckles at Rapidfires response. "As far as I know, yes you're free to leave when we have the relic within our hooves." Ace gives his goodbyes and heads back into his tent. With nothing to do in the mean time you walk over to your tent in hopes to catch some rest before the expedition begins.

Arriving at your tent you're amazed to see that its much larger then you thought it would be, well for a tent it was huge. Sighing in relief that the flight's over you lay down on your bed and listen to the sound of the drilling. It wasn't the best sound in the world but at least it's better then the utter silence that you got back in the academy.

As if to piss you off the drilling stops and shouts are heard echoing from the direction of the quarry. "WE MADE IT!" You hear a pony yell. "WE BUCKING MADE IT!" After large amounts of "HURRAYS!" You can hear a hoof steps outside of your tent. "May I come in Spitfire?" You hear the voice of Ace speak out.

Sighing you get up and out of your bed. You really hate how they're giving you no time to rest, however this will get it over with fast; just like getting a needle. "Yes Ace?" You ask "It's about the relic isn't it, you have reached it." You say in a tired tone.

Ace looks at you sheepishly, you caught him red hoofed. "Yes we have finally made it to the level that the cavern begins. Its quite fascinating that over all these years it still seem's t-" You shove a hoof in his face to make him stop talking about his science stuff. This pony really needs to know when to shut-up You comment in your mind.

"You want us to leave now?" You ask Ace with your hoof in his mouth. Ace nods in agreement, "That's all you had to say." You state stepping out of the confinements of your warm tent and into the freezing cold which is the North. "I will meet you down there when I get the rest of my team ready." You say looking towards the other members tents.

"Yes, Miss Spitfire of course, take your time." Ace says as he gallops off towards the quarry. He seems to be an OK stallion, but a bit to up tight on his work. Says me I know. You laugh at your own hypocriticism. Without wasting any more time you walk over to Fleetfoots tent.

"You in there Fleetfoot?" You ask to the tent not wanting to enter just in case Rapidfire is in there.

"Yeah, what you want Spits?" Fleetfoot replies. That's twice today...

"I want you to get ready and tell the rest to meet me at the bottom of the quarry. We're starting the extraction right now." You can here multiple hoof steps inside the tent. Good thing I didn't jump in there You think to yourself.

"You got it Spitfire we-I will be out in no time." You here Fleetfoot say.

With the crew now getting ready you head on over to the edge of the quarry. To your amazement the quarry went pretty deep, you could fit the whole city of Canterlot down there and have room to spare. Shaking it off you fly down to the bottom unlike all the workers that were climbing the sloped paths.

Reaching the bottom you are greeted by Ace once again. "So where is this cave you ponies reached?" You ask wanting to see what you gotten yourself into.

"Its right over here." Ace says walking over to a hole in the ground, looking at it you find that it's about the same size as you. "We have yet to see how far down it goes, would you like to do the honors?" Ace states passing you a torch.

"Sure why not." You say taking the stick in your mouth and tossing it down the hole. You watch as the stick keeps falling until you can't see it anymore. With a rather large gulp of air you realize that this might not be such an easy retrieval. Looking over at Ace you can see that he's just as surprised at the depth as you are.

After a moment Ace seems to regain his composure. "So how long do you think it will take to get the relic?" Ace states getting back to business.

"Well if the relic is at the bottom of there it should only take a couple of minutes, however if its not right down there it could take hours." You respond truthfully as you see the rest of the Wonderbolts arrive at the bottom of the snowy quarry. "You guys ready?" You state looking at them then to the hole in the floor.

"Hell yeah!" Soarin states walking over the hole. "How far does it go?" Soarin asks.

"Pretty deep, deep enough to take the full brightness of a torch away." Soarin gulps as you state what happened to the torch when you tossed it down the hole. "And don't worry it's not this narrow all the way down. After a meter or two we enter the main cave. From what I have seen it should give us a lot of space to fly."

You look over to Ace "That reminds me. While we're down there I want you to widen this hole. Who knows how big this relic is." Ace nods and trots off to some earth ponies that looked to be miners. With no time to lose you walk up to the hole and jump in. You chuckle as you hear gasps from above. You had more than enough room to fly down here. The cave was massive the only light you could see was the light from the hole above. After a couple of second the rest of the Wonderbolts joined you in the cave.

"So what now?" Rapidfire asks.

"We go down." You state lowering yourself into the deep dark abyss. "That's if you're not scared." You smile and speed up your descent.

After a couple of minutes you can start to see the faint flicker of the torch you have thrown down here. "We're nearing the bottom stay on your hooves." You state as you scan the pure blackness for something, anything. Once you touch down on the cold rocky bottom of the cave you pick up the torch and start waving it around to find any sign of the relic.

"Do any of you see it?" You ask your team as they to arrive at the bottom of the cave.

"What are we even looking for?" Fleetfoot asks as she tosses a few rocks around. "Is it big or small?"

"It's supposed to be big." You state walking in a random direction with your torch. With the other Wonderbolts having no light they follow in tow. Now that you think about it, it's pretty stupid that you came down here with only one torch. "I have a feeling that we'll know it when we see it." You reply to Fleetfoot.

Seconds turn into minutes and minutes turn into hours as you and the rest of the Wonderbolt team searches for the lost relic. With a hint of luck your eye catches a shine from a piece of metal. "I think I found it!" You yell as you get closer and closer to the metal structure. "What do you think it is?" You ask.

"Looks like a large metal bird to me." Rapidfire states as he examines the rest of the structure. "Looks like it lost its wing." With that statement sparking curiosity in you, you move over next to Rapidfire to see that what he said was true. On the other side of this metal bird it had its wing fully extended here it looks like it's been torn off.

"Well what are we waiting for let's get this thing to the surface!" Fleetfoot announces "It can't be that heavy can it."

You roll your eyes at Fleetfoot, but nevertheless organize the rest of the team to get ready to lift. Might as well try, who knows maybe this thing is lighter than it looks. With every pony in place you count down from three. "Three,Two,One LIFT!" You yell as all four of you attempt to lift the large metal structure.

To your disliking the metal bird is way too heavy for even all four of the Wonderbolts to carry. "There's no use." You say to the team. "We'll just have to go back up and tell Ace that we need ropes and a lot of stallions to pull it up." With respecting nods from everyone on your team you take off to the only light other than your torch.

Arriving at the surface you're greeted by a larger whole and Ace. "Sorry Ace but the relic down there is way too heavy for us to carry." Ace's expression falls at the sound of the immobile relic. "Don't get your hopes crushed Ace we can bring it up we just need some ropes and all the workers on your site."

Ace's expression lightens up and he immediately runs off to get the workers and equipment. Really looks like Ace is bent on seeing this relic tonight. You say to yourself as you look back towards your team. "Well I guess we wait here till they come." You state walking over to the wall of the quarry and sit down.

With time passing by ever so slowly you watch as the miners and scientists move ropes and pulleys around creating a make shift crane. The sun sets and the contraption seems to be in working order. Getting up you head over to Ace that looks ecstatic. "You done with the crane?" You ask.

"Yes I was just going to get you." Ace says cheerfully walking over the hole in the ground. "We'll give you tree ropes to attach to the structure and when you tug on the rope three times we will pull it up." Ace says with his grin getting larger and larger.

Nodding to the plan you get your team geared up this time every pony has a torch. "Ready?" You ask your team as Ace hoofs you the three ropes.

"As ready as I will ever be." Soarin states.

"Then let's get this done with and be back in Canterlot for breakfast." You state as you jump down the hole knowing the approximate depth. You can hear the sighs of the rest of the team as they follow you down one by one.

Reaching the bottom of the cave you wait for the others to join you. Rapidfire was the first to reach the ground then the other two came rather slowly. "OK here's the plan Soarin you hook up this rope to the tail of the bird." You state tossing Soarin the rope. "Rapidfire you tie up the beak." You toss Rapidfire a rope. "And Fleetfoot can you provide the light?" You ask and Fleetfoot agrees.

"OK now that we got that settled let's get this bird in the air." You state trotting over the the downed bird. Being as careful as you can you tie up the wing of the bird that was not broken. The metal was cold to the touch and it seemed like such a shame that this bird had to die down here.

"Done!" You yell out when you finish the last loop and hooked it up. Looking over to Soarin you can see that he is done and same with Rapidfire. "OK so when I tug on the rope three times they're going to start to lift. I want us to follow it all the way up no complications." You state getting a nod from all of them. "Good." You say tugging the rope three times.

Within seconds you can see the rope tighten and the metal bird start to raise from its resting place. "Remember follow it I don't want to damage something that we spent a whole day on." You say flying next to the front of the bird.

While the metal bird was rising you notice that there seemed to be some sort of glass on the top off it. Hovering closer you wipe frost and snow off the window. Peaking inside you can see nothing but darkness. You're sure that when it's in the daylight you will be able to see inside, given of course that Ace lets you.

The accent was pretty uneventful as you're just watching a metal bird rise into the sky. That being said when you finally reached the surface you immediately land and stretch. Celestia be my witness flying in one spot for a long time can be tiring! You say to yourself as you see Ace coordinate the bird down onto the quarry floor.

"So what do you plan on doing with this relic Ace." You state watching some unicorns gather in a circle around the bird.

"What Celestia told me to do when I find it." Ace states. "You're going to want to watch this." With Ace's comment striking your curiosity you walk over to the glass part once again and try to look in. Once again the inside is to dark to see due to this snow on it.

"OK BOYS DEFROST HER!" Ace states and the unicorn horns light up. Without any warning the unicorns shoot the bird with their magical beams and watch as the snow and ice melt off the giant metal bird.

After the spell wears off the bird sits there like nothing happened just with less snow and ice. "Well that sure was a cool spell, but I don't think it did anything." You state as you tug on a latch attached to the glass part. With less force then you thought the glass hatch opens.

"DIE! JERRY!" Is all you hear before a creature tackles you to the ground and holds a knife to your throat. With literally all the wind knocked out of you, you black out.

“Nothing burns like the cold.” ― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

Ch-2 Out Cold

Date: November 23ed,1943
Location: Greenland.
Operation: Out Cold.
Time: 13:00

A few seconds earlier...

Ahh fuck did that crash landing ever hurt! You say to yourself as you regain consciousness and look around the cockpit of your beloved spitfire. Darkness... darkness is all that you're greeted with. "Well that sure was a cool spell, but I don't think it did anything." You freeze in your spot as you hear voices coming from outside.

Thinking fast you feel around your pilot coveralls for any form of weapon you can use to kill these Germans. Wait... Did that one just speak English? Did she just say spell? You think to yourself as you grab a hold of your combat knife. I am so fucked right now.

Listening closely you can hear faint footsteps in the snow outside. It's now or never Anon. You state as you get ready to jump out at the first German you see. Thoughts go through your mind as you hear the steps get closer and closer. What are they going to do to me? Torture? Interrogate? Kill? or all of them!? You're taken from your thoughts when you hear someone fiddling with the latch. Taking in a deep breath you position yourself in the best way to jump out at them.

*Swoosh*

The canopy door opens and you waste no time jumping out of the cockpit. "DIE! JERRY!" You yell as you land right on top of your first victim. You place the knife up against the persons neck. Your vision starts to come to you and you notice that you're not on top of a German but instead a horse. What the fuck? You think as you look around to see multiple horses standing there in shock.

Before you can even take in the situation the horses start to run around and scream, toppling everything over that stands in their paths. You never knew horses could scream but you guess there is a first time for everything. Turning your attention back to the horse... These animals are way to small to be horses. You think to yourself. I think calling them ponies is a much better comparison. Shaking your head you stop digressing and focus on the problem at hand.

The mare bellow you seems to be knocked out, and the only ponies that stay behind are the ones that have the same outfit as this one. Why ponies are wearing blue and yellow outfits confuses you to no end. Having no coral with these ponies, you retract your knife to its respected place. That is until you get shoved to the ground by one of the ponies that stayed behind.

"Back off our captain you monster!" The pony shouts as it tackles you to the ground. Did that pony just talk? You say to yourself as you grab the pony on top of you and toss it away. To your surprise these ponies are way lighter than you would of first thought.

The pony goes flying off in a random direction as you get up and regain your bearings. "Oh sure I'm the monster. You're the talking pony!" You state as you look at the rest of the suited ponies. They seem to be quite angry with you but at the same time awe struck, at your ability to communicate with them. You would have the same expression if you weren't in survival mode at the moment.

"I-IT CAN TALK!" The pony with the midnight blue mane and tail speaks up. "BY CELESTIA THAT'S NOT WHAT I THINK IT IS!" Another pony speaks out, this one is not wearing any clothing making it easier for you to make out his details. He has a brown coat and a short dark brown mane.

The pony with the midnight blue mane looks over to the other pony. "You know what that creature is!" He yells out pointing at you. Well you for one would actually like to have some answers. "Is he dangerous! Because I can take him on if you need me to". You chuckle a bit, you would like to see him try.

The brown stallion gulps down a breath of air and begins to talk. "That right there is a human. They lived on this planet millions of years ago. No pony knows where they went, but we dig up artifacts here and there on their civilization. You want to know where our language came from?" The stallion asks in a tone that obviously states that he's going to tell you all anyway.

Wait, wait, wait one second here. Did that pony just say that your race lived here on earth millions of years ago! You start to feel dizzy at the thought, but you stand strong nevertheless. Listen Anon this is just a dream you're going to wake up any second now and it will all be over. You really want to believe the voice inside you but this whole experience feels so real.

You can feel the cold wind whip by your face as the very snow you're standing on seeps into your boots from the top and makes its way down slowly to your soul. The sun's rays casting over the edge of the rather large hole you are in looks heavenly like it does in real life. Everything seems to be real, but this cant be real, there are talking ponies in front of you!

The more and more you think about your predicament, the more and more you start to feel the walls of reality closing in. The more you look, the more you smell, the more you feel, all leads to the conclusion that you're not dreaming and this is real life. You have heard about vivid dreams that feel like real life and you had a couple before, however none were on a scale like this before.

Soon you are taken from your thoughts as the brown coated stallion speaks up. "When the ponies arose on this planet they found books with their language on it. The reason we understand what this human is saying is because we learned it from his race." You're getting most of what this stallion is saying but do you believe any of it, no. For all you know this might be a hallucination from a drug the Germans have given you to make you talk.

Seeing as these ponies are quite civilized, you start to slowly walk towards them. Without so much as a word nor warning you are lifted into the air and every muscle in your body starts to tense up immobilizing you. You want to yell out for your life but even your mouth seems to be frozen solid, the only thing that you're able to move is your eyes. Face it Anon, even if you were able to scream who will come to save you. Your friends are probably long gone and heading back to base. That is if this pony is lying about being frozen for millions of years.

Struggling in this seemingly invisible force you look around for the source. With the realization that your head is immobilized, you give up the search and do nothing as that is all you can do. "PUT HIM DOWN!" The brown coated pony shouts at another pony that you can't see at the time.

You're both thankful and annoyed that whoever was holding you put you down. Thankfully he/she did put you down, and annoyed that he/she did it in a rather forceful way. Shaking your head you look over to the brown coated pony, one thing that sticks out about his figure is that he has a symbol upon his flank. The symbol was quite hard to see at this distance but if you where to guess it would be a bone and a magnifying glass.

Getting up and out of the snow you continue your heading towards the ponies. You have to admit seeing their faces as you approach them is quite hilarious. The midnight blue maned stallion eyes are wider then you thought could be physically possible, then again you were never good in physics so you don't question it.

On the other side of things the brown coated stallion seems to be having a field day as he is beaming a smile ear to ear. To be honest it freaks you out a bit, but its nice to know that not every pony here is scared of you. You feel that if this is the real thing, it will be nice to have at least one pony to talk to.

Arriving in front of the group of ponies you can finally take in how small these ponies really are. You're about twice their size, however you think if these ponies were to get on their hind hooves they would be the same height as you. Dusting off the renaming snow that lay stuck to your clothes you break the silence. "So what you're saying..." You trail off hoping that the stallion will present his name.

"Ace, Ace Mineral." The brown pony responds, still holding onto his smile.

"So what you're saying Ace Mineral, is that I'm the only human left on Earth?" You state hoping that the next words out of Aces mouth are 'no'. Being the only human on the planet could have its perks, but you assume that you will start to lose your sanity if all you see is ponies day in and day out.

"As far as we ponies here know, yes you are the only human on Earth." Ace replies. "The only way to know for sure is for us to bring you to Celestia, and trust me we already have a mode of transportation ready."

"Wait what about that pony I just knocked out?" You state pointing to the mare that is face down in the snow. "Wont I be charged with attempted murder or something?" You ask as you walk over to the pony that is face down in the snow. Holy shit this one has wings! You yell mentally as you race over to investigate.

"Well you have been frozen for four million years. I think Celestia will understand." Ace states walking behind you.

"This pony has wings! Do a lot of ponies have wings? Who's Celestia? FOUR MILLION YEARS!" You yell as the more information this stallion presents to you gets progressively more confusing. You really want answers, but at the same time you don't think you can handle them.

"Whoa slow down there Mr....." Ace trails off just like you did.

"Anonymous but you can call me Anon." You reply as you look around the rather large hole you're in. Man maybe they aren't kidding. Maybe I was frozen for four million years.

"One question at a time Anon." Ace states then continues to answer your question. "That there is a Pegasus pony." Ace states pointing to the downed mare. "And yes a lot of ponies are Pegasi, I would say about one third are." Ace states then moves onto your next question. "Celestia is our ruler, she has the ability to raise and lower the sun. Celestia is a kind ruler and she looks after all the different kinds of ponies."

Well if you were confused before, you're completely brain dead now. "Ability to raise the sun! What!" You yell as you know that's not how the old earth worked. You don't have to be a science nerd to know that. "Never mind." You say as you rather see it firsthand then this turn out to be a tale that ponies tell.

"So you have any other questions Anon?" Ace asks.

"Yeah, two more." You state looking at the downed Pegasus. "First, is will I be able to bring my Spitfire with me?" You ask as you have high hopes that you can repair the damaged wing. As for the rest of the plane you hope its intact. "Second, will this pony be OK she looks kinda beat up."

Ace looks at you with a confused look upon his face. "Wait, what do you mean by your Spitfire?" Ace asks looking at the downed Pegasus pony in the snow. "You have never met her before how can she be yours?"

You are taken back by his question. "What do you mean this spitfire is not mine! She was given to me! Well technically the air forces owns her, but since it doesn't exist anymore I like to think she's mine." You say in a rather annoyed tone.

"What do you mean the air force owns her. She's a living, breathing being! You can just own a living being." Ace replies.

Does this pony really think my spitfire is a living being? You ask yourself in your head. "I would like for her to be a living being, but to tell you the truth this here is nothing but metal and plastic." you say tapping the tail of your spitfire.

Something in Aces mind seems to click as he changes his expression from disgust to happy. "Oh you were talking about your metal bird thing you arrived in. I thought you were talking about this pony right here." Ace states as he points to the downed Pegasus pony.

"How could you mistaken that for a Spitfire?" You ask Ace.

"I mistakened the two, because that ponies name is Spitfire." Ace States shocking you a bit more then you realized.

"Well that makes so much more sense!" You state finally realizing why the pony got so defensive. Man that must of sounded so wrong to the pony. I hope he doesn't think of me as a human that enslaved others. You state in your mind as Ace speaks up to answer your questions from earlier.

"Yes that makes much more sense." Ace states moving onto your questions. "Don't worry YOUR spitfire will be moved to Canterlot with you. As for this Spitfire I'm sure she's fine, she's the leader of the Wonderbolts."

Once again your mind comes up with more questions that you would love to know the answers to. "What is Canterlot is that some sort of town or city? And what is the Wonderbolts, I assume its a team of some sort?" You ask facing towards Ace.

Ace sighs "Canterlot is the capital city of our country. As for the Wonderbolts, yes they are a team. They mainly focuses on acrobatics and stunts a real sight to see. They put up quite the fight too when its needed, that's why they are here." Ace replies heading towards the slanted slope that leads out of this snowy quarry.

Staying put you speak up towards Ace. "Where are you going?" You ask.

Ace turns around to look at you. With a sheepish smile upon his face he replies. "Oh sorry, my apologies. I get a bit excited when one of my expeditions goes to plan. I am going to head out and tell the ponies up top that you are safe. Also that we need to load the train up with your spitfire. If you want you can head to the train, its much warmer in there." Ace states and once again turns around to leave the quarry.

Once Ace is out of view, you turn around to see spitfire still face down in the snow. You can't just leave her here. You think to yourself as you walk closer. I guess I can take her to a medical tent or something. It's the least I can do after I knocked her out. You think mentally as you bend over to pick her up.

"HEY! What do you think you're doing!" You hear a voice come from behind you. Instinctively you turn around way faster than you normally do. Standing behind you is a another Pegasus pony that has a bright, light blue mane with a white outline. In truth it kind of makes your eyes hurt. After getting over her mane and tail you can see that she is also wearing the same suit Spitfire is wearing. By know you have figured out that these suits their wearing are their team uniforms.

"Well I was going to take this mare to the medical tent if there even is one here. Its kind of my fault that she's face down in the snow." You confess gesturing towards Spitfire.

"How do I know you won't try to kill her? Or eat her?" The blue and white maned Pegasus asks, clearly knowing nothing about humans.

"I guess the only way for you to find out for sure, is to come with me." You say turning back around to picking up the Pegasus pony named Spitfire. What a coincidence, the first pony to see a spitfire in this time is a pony named Spitfire. Once you have Spitfire in your grasp you start to make your way to the slope. "You coming?" You ask the light blue maned mare.

"Buck yeah I'm coming!" The Pegasus states trotting up to you. "You aren't leaving my sight as long as your holding my captain."

You nod to the Pegasus's request and continue out of the quarry. They really must of wanted you if they dug this far down. You think to yourself as you walk. What could Celestia want with you? Shrugging off your mental questions you break the silence between you and the walking eye sore. "So what's your name?"

The Pegasus hesitates before replying to your question. "I'm Fleetfoot, part of the Wonderbolts. You can say that I'm pretty famous." Fleetfoot states.

All you do in return is roll your eyes. Great not only is she hurting your eyes but she's a bragger. "Nice to meet you Fleetfoot" You reply sighing as you reach the top of the quarry and look upon a rather large group of ponies gathered around Ace. Well you have to give Ace some credit he is trying to make you fit in around here.

"The 'monster' as you ponies call him, is not a 'monster'. In fact he's probably smarter then any of us. You have all taken history class right...? Then you should know about the humans." Ace states and the ponies among the group nod in agreement. Well it looks like it wont be that hard to fit in as you thought it would be. You think as you come up to the group.

To your surprise the ponies in the group don't go off running in random directions like they did the last time. Looks like they really trust this Ace pony. You state in your head as more and more questions come into your head. Why are these ponies so accepting of you? If this were earth you would be either dead or locked up by now, yet these ponies let you roam free with no restrictions.

Shrugging off the mental questions for another time you focus your attention back on the group of ponies in front of you. You are about to break the silence with a greeting, but it seems that Ace isn't finished his little speech. "See he's perfectly safe. If he were dangerous he would of killed somepony by now." Well if they somewhat as resembled a human being, it might of been a different story.

The ponies seem to take Ace's advice and disperse to do their normal routine. You're somewhat shocked that some ponies even come up to you and ask you various questions. "Is it true that your race has ways of killing ponies hundreds of feet away without magic!" One of the ponies asks.

Wait did this one just say magic! Whats next? You state as you answer the ponies question. "Yes, we use these things called guns." You state patting your leg making sure you still had your Colt 1911A1 .45. With the satisfying feeling of the cold metal you re-focus on the ponies in front of you.

"Guns?" The pony states looking confused.

"Yeah. I really don't feel like explaining it right now as I have to get this mare to the medical tent. You ponies wouldn't by chance know where the medical tent is?" You ask with high hopes.

"Oh that's OK. The medical tent is just a little ways down that way." The pony states pointing down the rows of tents. focusing your vision on the path, you can see the faint color of red on top of one of the tents. That must be it. You state looking back at the pony.

"Thanks Mr..." You trail off just like you did with Ace.

"Dug." The pony responds with a warm expression upon his face.

"Thanks Mr Dug. It was a pleasure to meet you." You state giving the pony a warm expression of your own.

"No problem." Dug says as he and his partner walk off towards the quarry.

Looking next to you, you lay eyes on Fleetfoot. "I guess you can say I'm famous around here to." You state with a smile. All you get in response is Fleetfoot rolling her eyes and walking off towards the rows of tents. She had it coming with her gloating from before.

As you walk through the rows of tents you can start to feel the chilly arctic air creeping its way passed your coveralls. Fuck is it cold here. You say to yourself as the tent with the red cross comes into a clear view. Please have heating, please have heating. You beg to yourself.

Entering the tent you're greeted by warm air. Its not at the temperature that you would of liked it to be at but it will have to do for now. Taking another few steps in a white mare with a red cross on her flank greets you. "Ah so you are the human everypony have been talking about. I'm nurse Redheart, what brings you here..." Redheart starts to trail off when she sees you holding Spitfire unconscious.

"When I was defrosted this was the first pony I saw. As for what happened after you can see for yourself." You state holding out the fiery red and orange maned Pegasus. "I hope I didn't hurt her to bad." You state as Redheart leads you to a bed that you place Spitfire on.

As soon as you place Spitfire down nurse Redheart gets to work. She does multiple tests that seem like basic first aid. She makes sure all her airways are working and she also looks to make sure she doesn't have a concussion. Hell even I could do a more thorough examination then this pony is doing.

Nevertheless you are to lazy too do anything so you sit down in the chair next to the bed. Nurse Redheart soon after steps away from Spitfire and looks towards you with a smile. "She is fine. She just passed out from lack of energy." You can hear a sigh of relief come from Fleetfoot when nurse Redheart leaves the room.

"You're lucky Anon, if she had any injury then you would of been a puddle on the floor by now." Fleetfoot states getting up to leave the tent. "You seem like an OK guy Anon, I trust that you will take care of her." Fleetfoot states leaving the tent, leaving no time for you to argue.

How can ponies be so trusting! You arrived what like a couple of minutes ago and she already leaves you with her knocked out captain. You sigh when you realize that now you are bound to this mare. You didn't promise to stay with her but if you left now you would feel like complete shit. Fuck you Fleetfoot she's your captain you should be watching her not me. You state in your mind as another pony enters the tent.

"There you are Anon I have been looking all over for you!" Ace states walking up to you, his gaze turning to Spitfire upon the bed. "Is she OK?" He asks.

"Yeah she's fine, I just knocked the wind out of her that's all." You say looking at Spitfire then to Ace. "So why were you looking for me Ace? Time to leave already?" You state knowing the obvious answer 'no'.

"Yeah actually. We got YOUR spitfire loaded onto the train and ready to go. We're waiting on you now." Ace states surprising you that they managed to lift a 5,065 pound Spitfire out of a quarry and onto a train in a matter of minutes. How the fuck did they do that! That's some witch craft there.

"How did you ponies get it out of that quarry so fast!? That thing is extremely heavy!" You ask Ace still siting down next to Spitfire. "You must of had like 100 ponies helping you out. Even with that amount of ponies the speed you managed to do it in is outstanding."

Ace looks upon you with another confused look. "Well all we really needed was a couple of unicorns to levitate it out of there. It was pretty easy if you ask me." Once again the questions return to your mind. Unicorn, levitate? You shake it off as you really don't want to think about more things at the moment, after all you have just started to accept that there are talking ponies let alone ones that can fly.

"If you don't mind Anon, the ponies really want to get out of here. The only way they can do that is when Celestia sees that the mission was a success." Ace states turning around to exit the tent.

"You mind if I just look around for Fleetfoot. I need to tell her that she has to look after Spitfire." You state getting up to leave the tent only to be stopped by Ace.

"I saw Fleetfoot and the rest of the team leave for Canterlot when I was walking over here." Ace states giving you a confused look.

You look back to Spitfire. You sure know how to pick your team members. You state in your mind as you turn back to Ace. "You mind if I take this Spitfire with us?" You ask Ace. "I don't really want to leave her here especially if there is nothing wrong with her."

Ace nods. "We got plenty of room on the train. In fact the only ponies riding back is me and you, we basically got the whole train to our self's." Ace states walking out of the tent.

This Ace fellow gets excited to often, it's going to be his down fall for sure. You think to yourself as you walk back over to Spitfire in her bed. "Nurse!" You yell out, as you want to make sure that you're allowed to take this Pegasus from the medical tent.

Nurse Redheart runs into the room and looks around frantically. I guess yelling nurse wasn't a bright idea. You think to yourself as Redheart trots over to you. "Whats the mater Anon?" Redheart asks looking to you then to Spitfire.

"I just wanted to know if I can take this mare to Canterlot?" You ask with a sheepish smile. "Sorry, I forgot that when you yell nurse in a medical facility ponies think that somepony is dying." Man did saying somepony and ponies ever sound weird.

Nurse Redheart looks at you with a cold stair. "Yes you can take this mare to Canterlot. It actually helps me out by lightning my work load." Nurse Redheart then walks away to tend to another pony that by all means deserves the attention more then you.

Well that was easy. You state to yourself as you know back on earth you would of been forced to do paper work along with questioning. Walking up to Spitfire, you once again bend down and pick her up holding her in your arms. If this doesn't get me even with Spitfire I don't know what will. You state walking out of the medical tent.

Once again when you exit the tent you're greeted with the chilling sensation which is the arctic wind. The feeling reminds you of your first flight in a open cockpit bi-plane, those were the days where you could fly without a care in the world. You can feel a smile creep onto your face as you walk back past the rows of tents.

Oh fuck, Ace never told me were the train was. You state in your mind as you do a 360 to take in the surroundings. With no sign of train or train station around, you do what anyone would do and ask for help. Laying eyes on the nearest tent you walk up to it and call out. "Hello, anypony in?"

Within seconds a yellow coated pony comes out. It doesn't take long before the pony answering lays eyes on you. At first it looked like the pony was going faint but you are proven wrong when the pony rushes back into the tent. Sighing you realize that not all ponies are going to be accepting of you.

"All I want to know is where is the train station?" You ask.

"Just turn right and keep going you cant miss it. Now can you leave!" The pony states.

"OK, OK I'm going jeez." You say with annoyance present in your tone. Following the ponies directions, you turn right and start to head off. You really hope that this pony is right when he said you will know when you see it.

1 hour later...

The longer you walk the more and more you start the get the suspicion that the pony told you a lie. How long have you been walking like 40 minutes? You think to yourself. Sighing you succumb to your suspicions and turn around. Man that pony is going to be in for it when I get back their. You state to yourself as you continue the journey back to camp.

As you walk through the chilling wind and the knee high snow you cant help but think to yourself. Is this the right way? I'm pretty sure it was a bit more to the right. You state to yourself. You were following your tracks, but where you're now the tracks have been covered by the snow.

"Great! Just fucking great!" You yell to yourself as you kick some snow around in anger. That little pony is going to be the death of me. I'm fucking lost! You state in your mind. "HEEEEEEELP! ANYPONY HEEEEEEELP!" You yell out to the cloudy sky that is now starting to look like a storm.

Having no sense in direction at the moment you clear a small area in the snow to lay down in with Spitfire. "I'm sorry Spitfire. I have failed to protect you." You state as you lay Spitfire down. With Spitfire now out of your hands you get to work in building a make-shift igloo, just in case you and Spitfire are here for a while.

If worst comes to worst you will have to travel south in search for food or civilization. You really hope it doesn't come to that but as a military soldier you're forced to look at all possible outcomes of a situation and act accordingly. Right now you are playing the waiting game, you hope that somepony heard you and is sending help.

While you think to yourself you continue to build the somewhat circular base of the igloo. You have no idea what you're doing but at least its something productive and if it's a success it should be a nice little place to rest. You always liked to look on the positive sides of things no matter how dark it may look at the moment.

With time passing rather slowly you finally finish the base of the igloo. It looks OK not the best but it will have to do. It is moments like this where you are glad that you wear your silk scarf and your gloves. Heaven forbid what would of happened by now without them. To be honest with yourself you guess that you would be dead.

Shrugging off the dark thought you grab another handful of snow and add to the base. The more you build the more you become sensitive to the elements. The slightly annoying pellets of snow being kicked up by the wind have now turned into what feels like micro daggers digging into your skin every time one hits you.

This is definitely not a dream. You state to yourself as you finish the mid-layer of the igloo. It's starting to take shape and you think that by sun set you will be completely finished. That is if you could even see the sun through these clouds.

Looking up to the sky you are greeted with the hellish look of the black clouds. This can't be good. You state to yourself as you look inside the igloo to see Spitfire covered in snow. OH SHIT, I FORGOT SHE WAS HERE! You say mentally as you rush to her side and pick her up hoping that your body heat will warm her back up.

After brushing the rest of the snow off of her yellow coat and her temperature back up to what you deem to be adequate, you go back to building the igloo. Got to pick up the pace, if I want Spitfire to stay warm. With that in mind you race out of the half finished igloo and start to get to work.

30 minutes later...

"Finally! Done!" You yell out as you place the last bit of snow onto the igloo. Stepping back you take in your handy work that has taken you a good two hours. It looked decent for your first igloo, nevertheless it still has a lot of places where you could improve on.

Sighing you enter the igloo and spot Spitfire still knocked out cold on the white snowy floor. No pony deserves what you have brought to this poor pony. What is done is done, might as well move on. You state to yourself as you take Spitfires temperature with your hand and check her air ways. Still alive. You state in your mind.

With nothing left to do, you sit up against the wall of the igloo and think about what Ace said about the humans. Four million years that's a long time. I wonder what I missed out on. You state to yourself as you look over to the entrance of the igloo. Might as well stay outside just in case anypony is looking for us. You say to yourself as you know that looking for a igloo in the arctic is like looking for a needle in a hay stack.

Arriving outside you're once again greeted by the chilly wind. You wont lie to yourself you're tired as hell and starting to get hungry. You know you have two soldier fuel bars in your lower pant pocket, however you want to save that till you're in dire need of it.

Sighing once again you stand out in the desolate arctic plains on look out for any brightly colored ponies. At least that's one pro about these ponies colors, they are bright so they are easy to spot. "ANYPONY HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!" You yell out once again just to make sure if anypony were around they would know where you are.

You're surprised when you hear some hoof steps in the snow. Being curious you stand still and try to find out where the noise is coming from. The more you pinpoint the direction the source, the more you get confused. Its coming from behind me? Turning around you are greeted with Spitfires hoof to the face then darkness.

“You will always be a monster - there is no turning back from it. But what kind of monster you become is entirely up to you.” ― Julie Kagawa, The Eternity Cure

Author's Note

I know it took a long time for me to get this chapter out. I cannot make any promises about the time of the next chapter as I need to make a chapter for FFS as well. If any of you guys want to proofread any of my stories feel free to PM me that you want to and I will send you a link. Keep in mind that the proofreaders version of the story is not set in stone and still has the potential to change. As always thanks everyone for the support! If you have any questions, comments, corrections and ideas for this story leave them in the comment section bellow. If you are to shy you can always PM me.

Ch-3 Cold Shoulder

Three hours later...

Well to say the least you kinda had that one coming. The way you acted during the ponies short time of consciousness was not your finest. Now that you think of it you didn't have that one coming, it was bound to happen.

If you were in Spitfires place you would of acted the same if not more violently. After all you were trained in the RCAF. Heh I never thought I would be using 'spitfire' to identify a creature. Then again I didn't expect to be defrosted by multiple technicolor horses.

Nevertheless you lay there in the freezing arctic snow, faced down, and ruminating on these subjects. The temperature you cannot feel, as you assume that the long exposure to these types of elements would do that to a person. Not to mention you can barely see out of the snow that is now covering your body like a thick blanket.

Having close to no energy left in your body, you slowly get up to face the full force of the arctic wind. Like before the little snow pellets feel like knives when they contact your skin, making you wince every time one touches your face.

As you pull yourself up you watch as the snow on top of you slowly cascades down, while the deeper layers stick to you like glue. Wasting no time you look around the desolate snowy plains for any signs of life. Much to your dismay your view is limited and from what you can see its all white.

Sighing at the thought that you might die here, you travel back into your little igloo. It takes some time to get in, seeing as you can't really stand up that well due to your lack of energy. So in turn you drag yourself into the snowy home.

Inside is much more welcoming as it keeps the wind out and sustains a moderate temperature, and by moderate you mean warm enough to bring feeling back to your hands. It doesn't take much time till you crawl your way to the nearest wall and lean up against it.

With the hard part of the journey now done you take a little breather. You're so tired you almost pass out again right then and there, but you stay awake because you know that sleep is only an allusion at this time, covering up the real culprit of deaths cold hand. With that thought in your mind you get a jolt of energy, causing your eyelids to shoot open.

I really need to watch myself here. You state to yourself as you lean a bit to the right to get more comfortable. As you move into the new position you notice a slight bump in your pant pocket. With all the brain power you have keeping you alive, you've forgotten that you had two soldier fuel bars left, courtesy of the RCAF.

Reaching down towards your pant pocket you start to fumble around with the zipper. With your fingers being frost bitten you have some difficulty opening the pocket. As time passes on rather slowly you manage to open up the pocket. Smiling in relief you stick your hand into the pocket and pull out the bar.

It takes no time for you to rip off the cover as you just tear it off with your teeth and spit the remains onto the ground. Taking the rest of the wrapper off you shove the entire bar into your mouth.

The moment the bar touches your tongue it explodes with flavor causing you to take your first bight, snapping the bar into two pieces. You lay back as you enjoy the welcoming feeling of nutrience. If these are the last moments of your life, you don't really mind. After all you have seen worse ways to die, like some people falling out of their planes, while others are trapped inside engulfed by flames.

While their deaths were from battle and respected in the eye of the military, you hope to never be in their position. As the last of the soldier fuel bar is eaten you close the zipper to your pant pocket holding the second bar just in case you live long enough to eat it.

The more you stay awake the more sleep lingers around your body. Its temptatious ways working its way past your seemingly impenetrable mental barrier. As the walls are breached you have nothing left to do but once again fall to the ground and let sleep take you.

November 24th

Much to of what you would of thought, you wake up staring at a ceiling made out of what you assume to be marble. Your body no longer is numb and you feel no pain. The only reasonable explanation to this is that you have been sent to heaven. Why they would want a person like you in heaven is confusing.

As you're not one to argue you sit up and take a look around the room. It appears that you're in a bed, not only that but the room you're in looks luxurious. The walls are made out of the same material the roof is made out of, however it's colored slightly purple. The floor has a checkered pattern to it oscillating between a darker purple then the walls and a pure white like the roof. Other then the roof, walls, and floor, the room is decorated elegantly, with a dresser on one end and a small desk with a rather small stool opposite if it.

Laying back down on the bed you realize how soft the bed actually is. This bed molds to your shape like a sponge, not only that but the material is so soft. It feels a lot like that new material they were making in England during the war. What was it called again... polyester I think it was. However the price of the material was so high that only well off people were able to afford it.

Relishing the fact that you now lay in a bed with polyester sheets you tuck yourself in. Sweet baby Jesus this amazing! You say to yourself as you let out a groan of satisfaction. You know that you aren't tiered but these sheets are too good to give up.

To be honest you look a lot like a dog when he gets onto a bed, moving around and feeling the fabric on your skin. However your fun is ended when the doors to your room glow a bright yellow and swing open revealing a white horse. what? You say to yourself as you stop rolling in the polyester and sit up.

"I see that you're feeling much better." The horse talks in a royal yet motherly tone. A tone that makes you feel even more relaxed then you were on the bed. However you push the details away for later as you start to remember where you were before you died. Ah right, I was in a land of colorful talking ponies. You lecture yourself.

Thinking this more through you come to a realization that you're not dead. How someone or should you say somepony found you is mind blowing. "Well considering that I was on the verge of death last time I was conscious, I would assume anything but a limp body is much better." You comment to the white horse.

The horse lets out a little chuckle before stepping further into the room. "Well all that matters now is that you're safe and feeling better." The mare claims.

You take a moment to get up and out of bed, realizing that the clothes you have on haven't changed, yet they look much cleaner. "So I'm not dead?" You ask the horse that stands at about the same height as you do, however her horn shoots way above you.

"Of course not!" The mare reply's. "My sister Luna, went out to find you the moment we heard you were in danger." This gets you to think. No one knew you were in danger other then Spitfire. Heh there it is again. It's quite weird saying the name Spitfire without mentally picturing the plane. I don't think I will ever get used to it.

"How did you know I was in danger?" You ask curiously. "The only per... pony that knew I was in danger was Spitfire." There's another thing, saying pony instead of person. Sighing at the thought you lean up against a nearby wall.

"That's right, Spitfire and the rest of the Wonderbolts showed up after their mission to give me the details. While I was thoroughly displeased with her actions, I let her off with a warning." The white horse comments.

"You shouldn't be mad at her. If I was in the same situation I would of done the same thing." You claim although you leave out the part that you have a weapon and you would probably of used it. You have a very big consciousness and letting this yellow mare be punished does not sit well with it.

"Who said I was mad with her?" The white horse states, somewhat taken back from your words.

"Well I assumed you were, because you said you were 'thoroughly displeased'." You reply. You're starting to get a bit annoyed that you don't know her name. You would of thought that introductions would be the first thing to happen. Then again she did enter the room while you were rolling around in polyester.

The mare just raises and eyebrow to that response. "Anyway who are you?" You ask still slightly shocked that they were able to heal you completely.

"Oh my apologies, I am Princess Celestia." Celestia states not in a regal tone that you would of expected royalty to speak in, but in a normal calm tone. "And what is your name?" She asks.

"I'm Anonymous, you can just call me Anon though." You claim as your stomach grumbles. Heh that's right I haven't eaten since take off. You state to yourself as you look towards your stomach then to the princess.

This action gets Celestia to chuckle then nod. "Would you care to join me in a meal Anon?" Celestia asks. It's quite weird that a Princess is asking you to accompany her, however who are you to argue with a free meal.

Nodding in response to her question you walk with her to the door. Once again the door glows bright yellow and they swing open, allowing the early sun's rays to assault your eyes. Lifting a hand up to block the sun's rays you take sight upon a bustling city.

The view is so amazing that your jaw hangs slack. From where you are you can see multiple buildings lining the cobblestone streets bellow. The material that the buildings are made out of are the same pure white, while the roofs very between dark purple and gold, sometimes even both. That's not only it, the castle seems to be built into the side of a mountain making the architecture of the buildings within the walls complex.

"Welcome to Canterlot Anon." Celestia states with a smile.

"Holy shit this place is amazing." You state looking around. The golden roofs are glimmering in the sun's rays as the white wall accent them. Since your eyes are much more focused now you can spot plenty of ponies down bellow doing their normal morning routine.

"It is isn't it." Celestia states walking down the stairs that lead up to the room you stayed in.

Following Celestia you both make your way into another building, this one much larger than the one before. When you enter the building you notice that it's much more swanky, as the walls had little details on them, along with the chandeliers that hung from the ceiling. It is practically impossible not to stop and look at how amazing it is.

"So where we headed to?" You ask the Princess.

"Well to the castle kitchen of course!" The Princess states sounding like it was blatantly obvious. However you never been in a real life castle before so this came to a surprise to you. You never really looked into medieval stuff back in your time.

"Sounds nice." You say in response as you take your attention off the interior design and back to Celestia. It is now that you realize that the ponies walking the same hallway bow when Celestia passes them, and when we pass them you notice that they stare at you.

Felling quite uncomfortable with all of the eyes watching you, you both finally arrive in what you assume is the dining room. Well you're not really assuming, as multiple tables are set up and ponies are eating their meal. "Aren't castle dining rooms meant only for royalty?" You state upon seeing the ponies eating their meals.

"Usually yes, but here in Canterlot we open our dining room for ponies that wish to eat what royalty eats." Celestia states. Huh seems like this Princess is rather laid back compared to the ones we had four million years ago.

Once again as you pass by ponies to get to your seat they bow then glance at you. Its rather unsettling to say the least, but you feel safe with Celestia by your side, she is after all their leader. "That's very kind of you to do." You reply to Celestia as you reach your seats. "What kind of stuff do they sell here?" You ask.

Celestia smiles at your comment then sits down onto a pillow. It looks weird to sit on a pillow but then again they are ponies not humans. Joining her at the table you sit down crossed legged on the pillow opposite to her. "Well Anon we sell a lot of food here." Celestia states the obvious. "From hay to flowers and all the way to meat." This catches your attention.

"Aren't ponies vegetarian?" You ask Celestia. Just as Celestia is about to answer your question the server comes and lays out two menus. He then glances at you with a wry expression on his face then bows.

"My name is Silver Hoof, I will be your server for this morning. What may I get the princess to drink?" He states taking another bow.

"I will just take a water, Silver." Celestia states as she looks away from the server and onto her menu.

"And what may I get you." Silver states rather professionally. You will hand it to him, if the Canadian Prime Minister came to you with a alien you would of tackled the fucker or at the very least question its presence. Well technically I'm not a alien I'm more of a artifact.

"I will have the same." You state with a smile letting the pony know that you mean him no harm. However this only seems to worry the pony more as he nods and haste-fully walks back over to the kitchen. "Did I do something wrong?" You ask the princess.

"I think he got scared when you showed him your teeth." The princess states still looking into her menu. "Ponies aren't used to having omnivores in their presence." Celestia comments putting her menu down.

"Looks like it's going to take a while to fit in around here." You state as you pick up your own menu and look at the meals they have. The first thing that you notice is that half of the items here you can't even eat. For example they serve a sandwich but when you look at the description it states that it has flowers in it.

Nevertheless you flip through the pages to take sight upon the meat section. The selection is rather small but there are something's that actually look quite good, like the stake which makes your mouth water. "So back to my question. I thought ponies were vegetarian?" You state.

"We are, however the castle needs to be stalked with meat just in case we get guests from out of the country, like the griffins." Once again you're taken by surprise when Celestia claims that griffins live on this planet as well.

Having your meal all picked out (which is some motherfucking bacon and pancakes) you and Celestia talk more about the differences from your time and this time.

Breakfast goes informative as you learn that a lot has changed in the past four million years. Apparently the continents have shifted back into one giant continent like Pangaea. You also hear what you already know, like how the humans vanished mysteriously with no sign of mass extinction anywhere.

The conversation was rather interesting, but as time goes on Celestia informs you that she must attend the more urgent matters. "But what am I supposed to do now?" You state just before Celestia is about to turn around.

"Well you can always check out Canterlot, maybe meet some new ponies." Celestia states with a smile upon her face. "I will meet you back here at night fall so we can further assess your situation here in Equestria." Celestia states as she hovers over a small brown bag.

"Sure that sounds like a plan." You state as you take the bag from the air. "What's this for?" You ask untying the string that holds the bag closed.

"That's our currency here in Equestria, now don't go spending it all." Celestia states with a smile and a chuckle. As you open the bag you're surprised to see multiple gold coins inside. Holy shit this is like a million dollars back in my time. You state mentally however when you look up you realize that Celestia is already gone from view.

Tying back up the little brown bag with the rope you pluck it down into one of your pant pockets. Zipping the pocket closed you look up to find yourself completely lost. Every direction you look is a different hallway with guards lining the walls.

They look quite cool standing at attention with their golden armor and their spears by their sides. Nevertheless you do the most logical thing and walk up to one of them for directions. "Hey, you know the way out of here?" You ask the first guard.

You can see that he's trying his hardest to stay serious around you. After a couple minutes and hand waving you sigh and continue down one of the halls. The guards reminding you a lot of the ones in England, you know the ones that wear the red suite and black hat.

continuing down the hall you come across a 'T' intersection. Looking to the right you notice nothing that stands out, however when you look to the left you take sight upon another pony. This one taller than the average pony but smaller then Celestia.

Taking the chance to get some directions you walk up to the dark blue pony. "Hey, you know how to get out of here?" You state arriving behind the blue pony. Being caught off guard the blue pony turns to face you, her expression none too pleased.

"Thou shall call me--!" She states almost yelling before she realizes who she's talking to. "Ah my apologies. We did not know thy human has awoken." She claims as her expression rises from angry to happy.

Taking a look at her you realize that she also has wings and a horn. "So you must be Luna the one that Celestia has told me about." You state raising your hand for a handshake. Nevertheless the pony looks at your hand with confusion before taking it and shaking.

Luna nods in agreement before commenting on the handshake. "It has been a while since I have used that greeting."

"Well I'm four million years old so I guess that was bound to happen." You state with a smile. "Thanks for saving me by the way. Celestia said that you immediately got up and left once you heard of my situation."

"Tis was nothing. Prey tell why thou is wondering thy halls?" Luna asks and you have to admit her words sound pretty cool. You always liked it when people talked like that.

"Well I was with your sister but she said she had to attend to some more important matters." You reply. "She kinda left me in one of the halls and now I'm lost." You state with a sheepish smile that gets Luna to chuckle.

"My sister has a tendency to do that." Luna says no longer using her royal voice. "If you would follow me I will show you the way out." Nodding in response you follow Luna through the maze of hallways. You really wonder how long it will take to memories all of this.

It doesn't take long before you and Luna come across two rather large golden doors. "Here we are." Luna states gesturing to the door with one of her front hooves. "We hope you have a wondrous time in Canterlot." Luna states getting a glance from the guards.

"Thanks." You state as Luna leaves you to your exploring of Canterlot.

Walking up to the golden doors the two guards open it with their magic, however what lays on the other side freezes you in spot. Hundreds of ponies stand there talking amongst themselves until they notice you exiting the castle.

It takes literally ten seconds for all the ponies to stop what they're doing and rush up to you. You're still frozen in place as the multiple ponies surround you. Some are holding up microphones and some are taking pictures, but what they all have in common is that they're all asking you questions.

"SIR, HOW DOES IT FEEL TO AWAKEN FOUR MILLION YEARS INTO THE FUTURE?" A stallion states with a fedora on top his head with the note 'press' sticking out.

"SIR, HOW DOES IT FEEL THAT YOUR THE LAST OF YOUR KIND?" A mare states shoving a microphone in your face. However that question stings you a little, to tell the truth.

"DO YOU THINK YOU WILL EVER FORGIVE SPITFIRE?" Another mare states letting you know that they know about the situation you were in.

"WHO'S JERY?!" A stallion states taking a picture of you making you temporarily blind.

"DO YOU LIKE VANILLA OR STRAWBERRY!?" A random mare in the crowd states making you question how serious these ponies really are.

With the press harassing you with their never-ending torrent of questions, you do what all celebrities in your time do and try to ignore them. As you push through the plenty of preppy ponies you comment to them stating you don't want to be disturbed right now.

Someponies look to you in disappointment as they leave but that's the minority. The majority seems to be giving you the same treatment you gave them at first and ignore your pleads for privacy. Its times like these where you wish your leather cap could cancel out noise.

Rolling your eyes at the determined press ponies you push passed and make your way into the city. If they follow me then so be it, I just want a look around the place. You state to yourself as you reach the end of the steps.

As expected no matter how far you walk the ponies still follow you in toe. Their hopes for getting any information out of you still remain at an all time high. Arriving at the first store you want to check out, you finally snap. "OK! OK! I WILL ANSWER THREE QUESTIONS! AFTER THAT I DON'T WANT TO SEE ANY MORE OF YOU PESTERING PRESS PONIES TODAY!"

The ponies take a step back from your sudden outburst. They then look at one and another with questioning looks. Much to your surprise the ponies band together into a small circle. You can hear them chatting amongst themselves with various questions in mind.

It takes no time for them to finish up and send one pony up. The pony has a grey coat and a green mane. "How do you feel about being the last of your kind?" The pony asks.

You have to think about this one for a while before you finally answer. "Right now, I'm still having a hard time believing this is happening. To be honest I think this is all just one big dream." You state making the press ponies pick up a pencil and take out their notepads. You chuckle when you see them all frantically write down your response word for word with their pencils in their mouths.

"Okay what's your next question." You state looking at the one pony that steeped out from the group again. The pony looks at you then back to the group of ponies, all the ponies nod and then the green maned stallion once again states a question.

"Will you press charges against Spitfire?" The stallion states pulling out his own notepad and pencil. This question seems rather obvious, then again you don't know what kind of rumors these ponies have heard.

"No, Spitfire did what she was trained to do." You state getting "ohhh's" and "awe's" from the crowd of ponies. "Okay what's your last question?" You ask looking back at the green maned pony.

"Is it true that Luna herself rescued you from the Frozen North?" The stallion states making you ponder this question. You have no idea if Luna wants this kind of information spilled, sighing you let the answer out anyways. If it gets these ponies from swarming me for the rest of the day then why not.

"From what Celestia told me, yes, Luna did save me from the chilling temperatures in the Frozen North." You claim turning back around and entering the store. Much to your liking the ponies outside the store disperse in different directions chatting amongst themselves.

At least it won't be hard fitting in around here, I'm like a celebrity. You state to yourself. I hope the press will die down the longer I stay here in Canterlot. You say mentally as you take a look around the shop.

The reason you picked this store and not the others was the sign hanging out. The sign showed a picture of a gear and a screwdriver telling you that this is probably a tool shop. Your suspicions are cemented in place when you take a look at the interior of the shop. Multiple tools adorn the walls while parts for various machines lay scattered around on top of tables.

Walking further in you take sight of a scruffy pony at the counter. "Welcome to the toolbox. Let me know if you need anything." He states is a voice that fits his looks. Stern and strong, a voice you would expect to hear from a tool shop owner.

With that being said you step up to the counter. "Hey you're the first pony other than a waiter that has not freaked out at me." You state giving the stallion a warm smile.

"Trust me lad, I have seen much weirder things pass through that door then you, no offence." He states levitating a wrench he's been polishing towards the wall. "So what you're looking for?" He asks striking your attention.

"I'm curious if you have some tools I'm looking for in stock. Do you happen to have a welder or a sander." You ask curiously as the tools on display seem to be only for tightening nuts and bolts.

"Ahh looking to fix something made from steel I see." The stallion states. Well it's more of duralumin but you doubt he knows the material. Nodding in response the pony walks into the back room, you can hear him shuffling multiple tools around before coming back out with what looks like the head of a welder.

He then places the welder head on the table. "This will do the job better than any welder out there." He states pointing to the welder. "Just make sure you don't blind yourself with it." He states pointing to some welding masks upon the wall.

"Where's the rest of it, like the hose and gas." You state pointing to the welder.

"Ah you're used to the old ones I see. This welder is powered by magic instead of gas." He states passing you a welding mask. Sliding the welding mask on you watch as the stallion brings out two pieces of metal from behind the counter. He then proceeds to put on his own welding mask.

With his horn glowing he turns on the welder and starts to get to work with the two pieces of metal. Sparks fly every which direction and as time passes you watch him carefully fuse the two pieces of metal together. When he powers down the welder you both take your helmets off and place them onto the table.

"See." He states passing you the piece of metal. Much to your surprise when you grab it, it feels cold instead of hot. Nevertheless that's not the thing that puts an awe expression on your face. What gets you is that the metal seems like it was never welded, there was no seem.

"This is amazing! I wish I had one of these back in my time." You state remembering the repairs you used to do. "How much is this?" You ask pointing to the welder.

"50 bits." He states making you fish out your bag. Plopping the bag onto the counter you count out your coins. Surprisingly when you count out your money you realize that you have just enough for it with some bits left over. "You know with the leftover money you have there you can get the basic mask as well." The pony states pointing to the wall.

"I think I might do that." Smiling at the pony you pass him your bag of bits. The pony haply takes the bag and tosses you the welder and the helmet. "Thanks." You state picking up the welding mask and the welder off the table.

"Pleasures all mine." He states with a smile upon his face. "I never caught your name?" He asks as he puts the money into a safe behind him.

"My names Anonymous but you can call me Anon." You claim getting ready to leave. After all you have tons of things to see. You might not have any money left but you will be darned if you don't get to sight-see.

"Well nice to meet you Anon. May I ask why you bought this welder?" He states.

"I'm planning on repairing my plane." You state getting a confused expression from the stallion at the desk. However before he can say anything you open the door and exit the shop. Alright time to see what else Canterlot has in store for me.

With that thought in mind you step out into the crowded Canterlot streets. Ponies everywhere are looking at you bringing back the same uncomfortable feeling. This time however the feeling sticks as you don't really have anyone to protect you if they were to suddenly all gang up on you.

Shaking your head, you head down the street looking at different types of buildings. It's cool to see how much has changed since your time. You would of thought that humans would still be here with spaceships and mega city's but you can see why it's this way. The ponies had to start all over again and you happened to drop by somewhere in-between there middle ages and the information era.

Time passes by as you look at the various shops and sights. One of the coolest things you laid eyes on, was the edge of the city where it out looked the rest of the world. Seeing as the city was built on the side of a mountain and all.

Sighing you tear your gaze from the beautiful view and roam Canterlot once more. You will admit that as mundane as the walking is, the reward is far greater. Looking up into the sky you take sight of the sun. It seems to be at its peak which means that it's safe to assume that its sometime in the afternoon.

Looking back down towards the streets of Canterlot you take sight upon a familiar fiery mare wandering the streets. With this being the only pony you know in sight you walk up to her in hopes to set things right.

"Hey! Spitfire wait up!" You yell towards the mare. This seems to have gotten her attention as she turns her head towards you. Upon seeing you, the mares expression drops from neutral to anger. Oh shit she's not happy to see me. You state to yourself as you walk towards the now angry mare.

"What do you want?!" Spitfire state with a tone that can make a puppy cry. "Thanks to you I have been expelled from the Wonderbolts!" She lectures coming closer and closer to you. "YOU KNOW HOW LONG IT TOOK ME TO GET INTO THE WONDERBOLTS!" She snaps at you nearly inches away from your face.

Being completely frozen from shock all you can do is stand there and take it. "If I were you I would be considering myself lucky that I'm not a pile of mush right now!" Spitfire once again yells. "That was my dream! And you took it away from me!" Is that a tear you see streaming down her face. Oh shit you done did it now Anon!

You're completely confused right now. You have no idea what this "Wonderbolt's" thing is and you have no idea how you caused this. Celestia herself only said she let Spitfire off with a warning. "You know what! I don't even want to know what you were going to say!" And with that she takes off into the sky leaving you in her dust.

Well that just happened. You state to yourself as you look around the crowded streets. Apparently the argument (If you can call it one) you had with Spitfire brought a little crowd. The ponies upon the streets now look at you with disappointment in their eyes. It seems that Spitfire was quite the influential pony.

With that being said the ponies upon the street disperse giving you hurtful glances. You really want to let them all know that you didn't mean any of this to happen, but you are still frozen from the shock. By the time it fades and you start to move again, all the ponies are gone leaving you to feel the full guilt in the middle of the empty cobblestone street.

"Nothing is more wretched than the mind of a man conscious of guilt." ~ Plautus

Author's Note

Sorry everyone for not updating this story in two months. However now that Falling For a Star is finished I can focus on this story. Expect more updates to come out much more frequently. As per usual, I would like to know what you guys think about this chapter. You can either comment it or P.M me. Have any Ideas that you want to see in the story comment that as well.

Ch-4 Stoking the Fire

Spitfire's POV:
Four hours ago...

Descending towards Canterlot you feel relieved, not from the warm temperatures but from your successes. You managed to escape the creature that knocked you out without any injury, and you got the relic that Ace yearned for. A feat that not much ponies can handle. Overall you're feeling pretty good about yourself.

With a tired smile upon your face, you land gracefully upon the snow covered ground. The sight is quite beautiful as it looked like a thin white blanket has fallen upon Canterlot. The lights in the cobblestone streets flickered due to the flame within them, illuminating the darkens that is dawn.

You had many thoughts and questions about the past events, but one thing occupied your mind the most, and that is sleep. It has taken you almost twenty four hours to do the mission Shining Armor gave you, and throughout that time you have yet to eat nor sleep.

As you ponder these thoughts a low grumbling can be heard from your stomach, clarifying that you need to eat before you sleep. With this thought in mind you walk down the desolate streets towards a diner that you have grown fond of.

The diner is a small corner building on the edge of Canterlot. You didn't mind the size of the diner as it's open all day and all night, posing it to be one of the best places to eat. Seeing as your schedule can change quite quickly.

The exterior of the building is like any other, having a white finish on the walls with a golden trim. A combination that you have grown to admire about Canterlot. Nevertheless as the outside looks no different the inside has a rather rustic feeling to it.

Old pictures adorn the walls accompanied by some hoof painted landscapes. The floor, unlike most Canterlot places was made out of cedar wood that was polished to a fine shine. The lighting was no different than out on the streets as the candles flickered inside of their glass casings. One of each was placed on top of each wooden table.

As the nostalgic thoughts passed through your mind, you find yourself walking into the very building. Glancing around the diner you can see that it is just as you remembered it.

Per usual as you walk into the diner a pony greets you warmly. "Welcome back Spitfire! You want your usual table?" Cherry Lime asks.

Giving Cherry a warm smile in return, you nod in agreement. Cherry Lime was born in the Crystal Empire a while back, she was one of the unlucky few who was under the rule of Sombra. Cherry always gets you in a positive mood, because when you look at her you realized how much pain she went through, but here she is smiling at every pony that trots through those doors.

Cherry guides you over to your usual spot, which is in the back corner of the building. On your way over to your table you take note that not many ponies are present. Which is to be expected at this hour. "Here you are Spitfire. Would you like me to order your usual meal or do you want to brows the menu?" Cherry asks with her smile never fading.

"I think I will look at the menu this morning." You respond taking a seat on one of their comfortable pillows. As you take your seat Cherry drops the a menu in front of you.

"I will leave you to your pursuing." Cherry states, her voice dripping with happiness. One thing you will never get is how ponies can be happy all the time, especially Cherry. You can't even imagine how she could of felt during Sombra's rule.

Once Cherry is out of sight you open up your menu and look at the multiple entrees that are available. Since it's early in the morning the menu is catered more towards breakfast then dinner or lunch. The dishes that appealed the most to you is the pancakes and the waffles. It takes you a while before settling with the waffles, as they are the same price as the pancakes and come with a fresh serving of fruit on the side.

Already knowing your drink you close the menu and place it down onto the wooden table. Since the rest of the diner is practically empty Cherry arrives back at your table within no time at all. "All ready to order Miss. Spitfire?" Cherry asks.

"Yes," You state with your own positive tone. "I would like to have the waffles, and for my drink could I have one of your amazing Cherry smoothies?" You ask knowing that she can't really deny you the beverage in less they ran out of materials.

"Excellent choice!" Cherry beams her happiness, she then proceeds to pick up the menu with her mouth and walk away. As Cherry enters the kitchen you're left in the diner by yourself. With nothing really left to do you sit back and lean against the cold wall and ruminate on the past.

Was it really necessary to knock the guy out? Did I really have to commit to such violence? I mean, I could of just flew away the moment he saw me. He didn't have any weapon that I noticed. I guess I did kinda over react, but I was just being cautious for my own life.

You go on like this for another couple of minutes. You're so deep in thought that Cherry has to snap you out of it. "Miss. Spitfire? Spitfire?" Cherry states waving her light pink hoof in front of your face.

"Huh, what.." You comment stumbling forwards. It's not till you regain your senses that you realize that Cherry has brought you your meal. "Oh sorry about that," You apologies. "thanks Cherry."

"No problem." Cherry replies with her smile still present. "Is something bothering you Miss. Spitfire?" Cherry asks, giving you a calming expression. You will admit that the expression is doing wonders to your mood.

Sighing you nod. Cherry looks around the diner for a second then sits down across from you. "What's the matter?" Cherry states giving you a sympathetic look even though she doesn't know what's bothering you.

"You really want to hear it all?" You ask with a confused look. Having someone's else's opinion would be welcoming at this time, but you really don't want to bother Cherry seeing as she is the only server out.

"Lay it on me." Cherry replies. Nodding you start the story of how Shining Armor gave you a task from Celestia herself. Seconds passed then minutes as you lay out the story in as much detail as you can remember. Through it all Cherry remained silent and attentive nodding at certain spots to support you.

"So now what's bugging me is that I don't know if I should of done what I did in the Frozen North. I mean it was the first thing that came to my head and I acted upon it." You state putting your face into your hoofs.

"You're the captain of the Wonderbolts right?" Cherry states making you lift your head in surprise. You have never seen her this serious before, so in return you just nod. "Then if one of your team members were out there what would you of expected them to do?" Cherry asks.

Your eyes go wide as you suddenly realize that you would of expected them to do the exact same thing. "Wow Cherry, thanks." You say as you start to eat your now cold waffles. You really didn't expect Cherry to be this good at problem solving.

"No problem!" Cherry states standing up. "It's what I'm here for." Cherry claims as she looks around the diner. "Now I have to get back to work soon or that stallion over there is not going to tip me." Chuckling at Cherry's response you nod and get back to eating.

After your meal is done you place the bits on the table along with a hefty tip. If anypony deserves the money its Cherry. You say to yourself. Just as your about to get up off the cushion the doors to the diner snap open.

"Miss. Spitfire you're requested at the castle immediately!" A voice booms out from the door. Turning your attention towards the door you spot two stallions dressed in golden armor and caring spears. Standing up you walk over to the two stallions.

"Princess Celestia wants the debriefing I assume?" You ask the two stallions. The two look at one and another then back to you, with a confirming nod you follow them out of the diner in hopes to get this over with as fast as possible. You can feel the tempting hand of sleep reach out to you, but you force yourself to stay awake.

Exiting the diner you're greeted by a chilling breeze along with some snow. The sky is now starting to turn brighter as the sun starts to make an appearances over the horizon. The sight was calming and from Canterlot the view was breathtaking.

However your sightseeing is ended abruptly as the two royal guards push you on wards. Tearing your attention away from the sky you follow the two stallions through the streets. The streets at this time look completely different, as ponies can be found everywhere trotting about.

It doesn't take much time before you come upon the Castle gates. You rarely visit the Castle, the only time you've entered it is to give a debriefing to Celestia. And even that was rare seeing as you can always just send her a report.

That aside you and the two guards walk under the golden archway that leads into the castle. The three of you make your way through the maze of hallways, all the while glancing at the interior design. You remember your first time stepping in these halls, it was back when you were just a little filly.

Your mom and dad took you here for the castle restaurant, they said that the food they served here was the same that the princesses ate. You remember jumping up and down from the joy that followed. Your family wasn't rich so going out to eat like this was a one in a lifetime chance.

Just as you expected when the server hoofed you the menu you were overcome by the sheer number of choices available. The menu seemed to have every possible meal you could think of. It didn't matter what time of day it was they served breakfast, lunch and dinner all the time. It was at that time and that time alone where you let out a high pitched squeal.

Now everypony in Canterlot knows that you rarely show any form of extreme emotions. When you get mad you don't blow your top, when you get sad you don't stoop into depression, and lastly when you get excited you don't squeal like everypony else. But at that time you couldn't help yourself, you were literally a foal in a candy shop.

Snapping back to reality you turn your attention forward. The two guards that were leading you have now stopped in front of a set of wooden doors. "The rest of the Wonderbolts are awaiting your arrival inside Miss. Spitfire." The guard on the left states with a sturdy voice as he and his partner stand on guard on either side of the door.

Nodding your compliance the stallion on the right, lights up his horn and the doors open reviling the castle waiting room. Inside the room sat the rest of the Wonderbolts, Soarin lay sprawled across one of the plush pillows and Fleetfoot and Rapidfire sat across from him.

"Ah there you are Spits!" Rapidfire states with a smile plastered upon his face. You visibly wince when he calls you by your nickname. "Fleetfoot here has been telling me about that human that was taking care of you. Looks like he did a good job seeing as you're in one piece."

Rapidfire's statement catches your attention as you glance over to Fleetfoot for an explanation. "What exactly did you tell him?" You question Fleetfoot hoping that she could shed some light on the subject. The only thing you remember was being knocked out cold and then waking up in an Igloo.

"Didn't Anon tell you?" Fleetfoot asks tilting her head to one side. You adorn a confused expression as you don't know who she's talking about. You have never heard of anypony named Anon before.

As you stand there in the middle of the waiting room with a confused expression upon your face Fleetfoot speaks up once again. "Anon you know the human that took you to the medical tent after he knocked you out?" Fleetfoot comments but continues once she realizes that you're still trying to piece the event together.

"Anon was the creature that came out of that metal winged bird thing. After he knocked you out cold Ace told us that he's from four million years in the past. It's funny because when I first saw Anon I thought he was a mindless animal but it turns out he can speak!" Fleetfoot claims making you get a guilty feeling about what you did to him, you also get a feeling that this debriefing is not going to end well for you.

Before you have any chance to reply to Fleetfoot the doors at the other end of the room swing open, reviling the interior of the throne room. Exiting the room was the same brown coated stallion Ace. "Ah Spitfire am I glad to see you!" Ace proclaims with a sigh of relief, he looks like he has been up ever since you met him.

"Why? Did something go wrong?" You ask all the while running through the possible reason's Ace would act this relived.

"Yes as a matter of fact!" Ace bellows out with a serious expression on his face. "After leaving Anon in the medical tent with you I have yet to see him, and he was supposed to hitch a ride with me to Canterlot! I suppose it was my fault for not telling him were the train station was, but now that your here all my worries have vanished. So where is he?" Ace states bringing back that sinking feeling in your chest.

"Ace leave Spitfire be. Retrieving Anon was your job and since you're done with the excavation you may retire to your normal duties." Celestia states from within the throne room. However Ace looks like a kid that just gotten his candy taken away from him.

"But... I want to be able to research his -" Ace states back but cuts himself of when he sees the expression upon Celestia's face. "Very well, but I do wish to spend some more time with my findings." Ace comments as he leaves the throne room and exits the waiting room.

As Ace leaves the castle you and the rest of the Wonderbolts enter the throne room where not only Celestia sat but Luna as well. Walking to the center of the room the two doors behind you close sealing you in the room. Sweat starts to drip from your face as you play the possible punishments for leaving Anon out in the Frozen North. You just hope that the Princess is willing to hear you out.

"Spitfire I assume you have good news to tell us about the little expedition I sent you on." Celestia states with a warm smile, an expression you really hate changing. The room grows silent for a couple of seconds as you prod the marble floor with your hoof.

Being the leader you are, you get it over with and relay the entire story to Celestia and Luna along with your team. The further you get into the story the more Celestia's expressions drops, from her once calm and collective look to a disappointed and worried look. By the end of the story Celestia has her head dipped down while Luna looks like she's about to burst.

"Thou hath committed speciocide!" Luna shouts out in her royal Canterlot voice, her eyes turning white with rage. A quick glance back at your team shows that they too are in shock with the story you have just told.

Luna glances towards Celestia and with a knowing expression Celestia nods making your body completely freeze. However much to your liking instead of incinerating you, Luna vanishes with a bright light leaving just you the rest of the Wonderbolts and Celesta in the throne room.

"I will admit Spitfire I am very disappointed in you." Celestia states her tone cutting into you like a knife. "Luna has gone out to search for Anon while I come up with the appropriate punishment for your actions. While I can see the reasoning behind your methods of dealing with the situation I must punish you in some way or another."

You start to shake in your spot as the list of punishments scroll through your mind. This is not fare I did what I thought was right! Why should I be punished for this! You yell mentally, you dare not say it out loud for fear of making the situation worse than it already is.

"So as of now I will leave you to your duties. When I come up with the appropriate punishment I will let one of my guards inform you. For now take this as a warning." Celestia states with her horn glowing back up. The doors behind you glow the same color and shoot open. "You may now leave." Celestia claims.

You take a bow and then exit the throne room with the rest of the Wonderbolts in toe. Surprisingly when the doors to the throne room close you don't feel guilty nor sad you feel angry. You feel angry at Anon in specific, it's like a fire has been started in your chest and the only way to douse it is by blaming the human.

"Spitfire I think we need to talk." Soarin states with a calm tone. Turning around you are greeted by the rest of the Wonderbolts, each wearing disappointed expressions. "I know now's not the best time to bring this up but we rather you leave the Wonderbolts."

Soarin's statement freezes you as it seemed to come out of nowhere. You thought that the Wonderbolts loved you and that's why you were there leader, well that and you got things done when they needed to be. "Why..." Is all you can get out, you start to feel light headed and dizzy.

"Well after that meeting with Celestia we saw what you thought was 'right' and we all disagreed with it." Fleetfoot states her expression turning to a somber one. "Anon was a nice guy and you just left him there in the Frozen North to die like he was nothing. You should know that any form of life is worth saving no matter how they treat you."

"We just don't want a captain that thinks like that." Rapidfire comments, his words hurting more than Celestia's. You're on the verge of tears when he speaks up again. "Sorry but it's just how we feel as a team."

"I-if that's how you feel..." You reply trying to keep your composure. You still can't believe that they would turn on you after one mistake even though it was a big mistake. Your sorrow slowly turns into fuel for the fire in your chest as you rip of the leader badge on your uniform and hoof it towards Soarin.

As the badge leaves your hoofs Fleetfoot speaks up. "I'm sorry Spitfire." She states bringing up her hoof to comfort you. "We will still be friends though." Fleetfoot comments walking past you with the rest of the team. You watch motionlessly as they turn the next corner and leave you behind.

How could this happen to me! You state to yourself as you walk slowly out of the waiting room and towards the castle entrance. This all just a mistake... Yeah I'm sure this is all just a prank... a cruel, cruel prank... You tell yourself.

Exiting the castle you are greeted by the chilling November air. Its breeze grazing your fur and sending shivers up your spine. At times like this you realize who your true friends are, and it seems like I have none. You say to yourself as you walk into the city streets. I wish I had one right about now. You state looking down the cobblestone street.

"Hey! Spitfire wait up!" A voice yells out to you. Not only that but the voice itself makes the fire in your stomach burn. It's like everything you hate in this world just said hello to you. Turning around you take sight of Anon and your expression drops immediately.

"What do you want?!" You state bitterly as you really don't feel like talking to him right at this moment. You know what, I'm not going to let him get away with this! I'm going to tell him right here right now what HE caused! You yell to yourself as the fire burns so hot that it feels like its physically affecting you.

"Thanks to you I have been expelled from the Wonderbolts! YOU KNOW HOW LONG IT TOOK ME TO GET INTO THE WONDERBOLTS!" You snap alerting the ponies around you, but you don't care. Oh no you wanted to tell this human exactly what you were thinking the minute Soarin told you off.

"If I were you I would be considering myself lucky that I'm not a pile of mush right now!" You yell once again, the only things that come out of your mouth right now are your pure feelings. Something that you have not done in a long time. "That was my dream! And you took it away from me!" You claim as you feel water stream down your face. It really hurts when some else says it but when you say it, it just tears you apart.

You look Anon right in the eyes making sure he knows what exactly he's done. His face showing all sorts of emotions from confusion to pain and sympathy. I don't need your sympathy! You yell to yourself. "You know what?! I don't even want to know what you were going to say!" You finally say ending the conversation right then and there.

With nothing left to say you give your wings one good pump and your of in the air soaring away from that dream wrecker. The fire in your stomach dies down but it still states its presents as you soar through the sky. You can help but let out some more tears as you near the academy.

To your surprise Fleetfoot stood outside of the doors with a grim expression upon her face. Oh great what could it be now! You say to yourself as you land in front of her with a rather pissed off expression. Fleetfoot jumps back in surprise, she didn't expect you to have such a entrance.

"What is it now, you come to take away my home to!" You state staring at her, your eyes like daggers drilling their way into Fleetfoot's mind.

Fleetfoot then looks down at the floor with a depressed looking expression. "Actually that is why I am here. After we left you at the castle a few hours ago we realized that you live in the academy." Fleetfoot states. Hours? I guess I must of been roaming the streets for a while without noticing.

"According to the Wonderbolt rules, you're not allowed to live here anymore." She states her expression not changing from the one she had before. "I'm sorry but I just thought I would tell you. You know because if you don't leave I think the guards might come."

You stand there nonplussed, you hit the hammer right on the nail and to tell the truth you were half expecting this to happen, now that you're not a part of the Wonderbolts anymore. With a large sigh you push your way passed Fleetfoot and enter the academy.

The halls were empty because everypony else is either training on the runway or at home. Fleetfoot leaves you to your goodbyes and takes off into the sky heading off to her own home. Where am I going to go from here? I have the bits to stay at a hotel but I can't live there forever. Not to mention I'm out of a job.

With those thoughts in your mind you walk up to your office and start to pack everything up. If it wasn't for that dam human everything would be fine! You state in your head as you toss your belongings into a box.

Most of the items in the academy are not really yours. In fact the only thing that you had was the books, pictures, clothing and office supplies. Everything else was bought by Celestia for the team and not for one pony alone, so you end up leaving with only one box of stuff.

Exiting the academy you look back through the doorway as it closes. This may not be the last time you see this place, but it might be the last time you worked there. With a sniffle the door closes and you lock it shut, making sure to shove the key under the door afterwards.

The walk after was the hardest as it pained you inside to take each step away from your job, home, and life. Everything you once loved and cherished was tossed out of the window like a worthless lump of coal on Christmas day.

As the pain increased so did the fire in your stomach. It was as if something else was living inside of you, changing your mood and thoughts to its own will. Not that you didn't like it, it was the only other thing that knew how you felt. It only stated one thing and one thing only which was nothing more than the word revenge.

You did not know how you were going to get Anon back for ruining your life, but you would be dammed if you weren't thinking about it. Countless ideas and thoughts flowed through your mind with little effort, coming up with things that would make you and Anon even. However the more you thought about it the more you questioned your own actions.

Is this what I have become? You state to yourself. A pony bent on ruining someone else's life just to get even? You ask yourself as you start to realize that you're changing into a pony that you don't want to change into. No I have to be better than him. You state with a confident tone but the fire burns deeper.

Mustering all the strength you have left within you, you douse the fire and clear your mind. Life is not about revenge and getting even, it's about getting back up when you fall. You claim with a determined expression upon your face. All I need to do now is get a place for the night and start job hunting tomorrow

With a new plan in mind you pick up the pace and walk through the cobblestone streets in search for a place to spend the night. Much to your liking the first hotel that comes into view is a relatively nice one. It may be expensive but after a day like today you couldn't really care, all you wanted to do was rent the best room they had and chill for the rest of the night and why not you had the bits!

That in mind you head over to the entrance and pull open the door with one hoof. Stepping inside you're greeted by the luxurious interior design that almost all buildings in Canterlot possess. The ground was a pure white marble with the walls colored a relaxing beige. On the ceiling hang a crystal chandelier that illuminated most of the lobby other then the corners where modern lamps sat.

Without any time wasted you trot up to the mare at the counter. "Hello Spitfire welcome to the Horseshoe Hotel looking to stay the night?" The mare states with a warm smile.

"Yes, I would like to take one of your suites." You state bringing up a bag of bits from your little box of stuff. The mare behind the counter does not look surprised, there has been multiple times where you came here instead of sleeping at the academy.

"Of course, would you like your normal room?" The mare asks turning around and grabbing a key of the wall. Once she turns back around you place the bits on the counter and nod. The mare takes the bits and places them bellow the counter and hoofs you the keys. "May you have a wonderful night Miss. Spitfire. Would you like me to call a bellhop to carry your items?" The mare asks.

"I will and don't worry I got this." You state with a smile and grab the key with your mouth and head towards the stairs. You really wish that they would have another way of going to other levels without using the stairs. We have magic, why can't somepony think of a way to get me up a couple of levels without effort.

Sighing at the thought you open up the door and start to make your way up the stairs. One thing you will admit though is that walking up these stairs is a great work out, expressly with the amount of stuff you're holding.

Arriving at one of the top floors you open the door and enter the hallway. Just as you last saw it the hallways have a red carpet with little golden decorations on it. The walls have the same beige colors as the lobby and the ceiling instead of having a chandelier has little pot lights.

Walking down the hallway you come upon your room. Wasting no time you plug in the key and twist it rewarding you with a satisfying click that states the door is now unlocked. Turning the doorknob you enter the darkened room and flick on the light switch.

As per usual the room is clean and organized. The bed was made nicely and the carpet was scrubbed clean. Placing your box upon the bed you move over to the window of the room, sliding open the curtains you take sight upon Canterlot and all its glory.

The streets were still filled with busy ponies doing their job. Looking down at them you can only wish that you were in their place, a pony with a job and a home. Stepping away from the curtains you grab the room keys and head out into the hall closing the door behind you.

Right now time to relax! You state in your mind as you trot over to the stairs and descend to the main lobby again. However instead of leaving the hotel you walk across the lobby and into another room. As you open the door you can smell the fresh smell of chlorinated water and the sound of ponies splashing about.

Entering the pool area you walk on over to the empty hot tub. I haven't had a break from work in ages! You tell yourself as you slowly place one hoof into the hot water. I am going to relish every second of it! You state placing your other hoof in.

Finally you submerge half of your body in the water and sit down properly. Laying your head back you close your eyes and let the relaxing sensation of the water jets message your sore body. "Oh sweet Celestia this is just what I needed." You say out loud as you succumb to the darkness.

"Spitfire... SPITFIRE!" A voice yells out and you jerk your head up and look around the pool room frantically. After surveying the area and focusing your eyes you come to see one of the hotel staff members. "Spitfire you have been in there for four hours! The pool room is closing for the night." The stallion states with an expression that tells you he can't start his job till you leave the room.

Four hours? You think to yourself as you get up and out of the hot tub. As you do so you realize that your hooves have gotten all wrinkled from extended exposure to water. Heh looks like he was right. You state to yourself as you grab a nearby towel and dry yourself off.

"So what do you do here at the hotel?" You ask making small talk while you dry yourself off. You could really care less what he says but it's nice to at least act like you do.

"I clean the pools and showers." The stallion states in deadpan tone. You can tell just by the way he's standing there that he rather be doing something else. You notice that his cutie mark is one of a hotel so it looks like he's on his way up the corporate ladder. Who know maybe one day he will be the one running this place.

"Seems very interesting..." You trail off knocking some of the hot tub water out of your ear. You're not sure how it got in there but it did some time when you dozed off. "So what's your name?" You ask almost done drying your mane off.

"Midnight Feathers." He states starting to clean the pool. "My father Spring Feathers owns the Horseshoe Hotel, I'm just following in his steps." Midnight states cementing your thoughts from before. "I just wish I didn't have to go through all these stages to become the co-ceo."

"Well everyponies got to do it at some point in their lives. Just promise me that when you get up there to never let go." You state remembering the events of today. Midnight stops and turns to meet your gaze, he then nods with a smile and continues with his work.

With the pool now closed and you now dried up you place the towel around your neck and walk up to your hotel room. The stairs again were exhausting but at the top of them you could finally rest. With the thought of a nice comfy bed and a whole night to sleep thorough you open your door and jump onto your bed.

What you didn't expect was for there to be a note place upon the bed as well. Being the curious pony you are you sit up and take the letter in your hoof. One look and one look alone makes your body freeze in place.

There on the letter was the wax seal that adorn the symbol of the sun. Oh here it is the punishment for almost kill Anon. You state to yourself. You thought that the princess said she would send you a guard but it looks like she's too busy to talk in pony.

Opening the letter you crack the wax seal and read it out loud. "Dear Spitfire: I would like to inform you that Anon was retrieved from the Frozen North this morning after the debriefing. He has seemed to have made a full recovery. On the other hand I would like to share my sorrow for what the Wonderbolts have decided, however I cannot decides who joins or who get fired. I hope you know that Anon and I had no intentions of having this happen to you. Lastly I would like to inform you that your punishment for leaving Anon will arrive shortly."

"Wait?! My punishment will arrive shortly? What's that supposed to mean?!" You say out loud as the door to your hotel bursts open and standing in its place is the very man you almost killed. "Hello roomie!" Anon states with a wide smile.

Your expression drops almost immediately. "Celestia you sly motherbucker."

"The most powerful weapon is the human soul on fire."- Ferdinand Froch

Author's Note

I don't know about you guys but I really want to get in a hot tub right now after writing about one. Nevertheless as per norm, like, comment, or just chill in the comment section below! Let me know what you guy's or girls think is going to happen! Lastly I know speciocide is not a real word but I couldn't think of any other word that means to kill an entire species.

Ch-5 Ice Breaker

Anon's POV:
A couple seconds ago...

"Celestia you sly motherbucker." Spitfire states sitting on her hotel bed staring straight at you. The look she's giving is very confusing. You don't know if she's really happy to see you or really pissed off. Using deduction from past experiences and present examination you assume with 99% probability that this pony is in fact pissed off.

I guess I should of knocked first. You state to yourself as Spitfire -the pony not the plane- reaches for a nearby lamp. "Hey, what you doing with that lam-?!" is all you're allowed to say before said object smashes against the wall to the right of you. "I pulled your limp body out of the snow, and this is what I get!" You snap back at her, getting ready to doge another object that she might find.

"That's only because you put it there!" Spitfire yells out grabbing the other lamp from the other night stand. "Do you realize what you did to my life!" She yells getting ready to toss the other lamp, this time she looks like she's aiming to hit.

"Yeah I do! You explained it to me in length during our last conversation." You claim hiding behind a nearby chair. "I'm just as surprised as you are!" You state ducking behind the chair as the lamp that was once in Spitfire's hoof is now shattered into a million pieces and fly all over the room.

Jesus this mare's violent! You state mentally. "What do you mean you're just as surprised as I am?" Spitfire asks, her ammo seems to be depleted for the time being. "You came to me, how're you just as surprised as I?"

"Well to be honest Celestia only told me to come here. She didn't mention that my new 'roomie' would be you. The only time I knew I was stuck with you was when I opened that door." You comment behind the chair. "Now can I come out?" You ask the mare.

"Yeah I guess... for now..." Spitfire states in a dangerously calm tone. Trusting her you step out from the chairs cover only to have an alarm clock thrown at your manly regions. Your eyes grow wide as the clock makes impact, the only thing missing from this is the buzzer going off.

"Sweet babe Jesus!" You yell out loud as you cover up the injured area with both hands and fall to the floor. "Why did it have to hit there!" You state on your knees. Out off all the places to land a hit, it just had to be there.

Spitfire looks at you with a satisfied expression. "Well maybe that's just karma. There's a lot more where that came from." After a couple of seconds you regain your composure and stand up straight once again. "And what do you mean by 'stuck' with?" Spitfire asks bitterly.

"Well then, I assume you didn't read the full letter." You state brushing off the glass from the chair and sitting down upon it. "She gave me the exact same one, you see." You state holding up the letter you got from princess Celestia.

Spitfire looks at the letter your holding up then looks back down towards her own. She then proceeds to read the rest of it out loud. "... will arrive shortly. Your duty upon Anon's arrival is to help him integrate into our society, also to show him the wonderful world we live on. I have made arrangements for you two to stay at your current location for the next month. After that you're free from your punishment and can send him back to me if you so choose. Your ruler ~ Princess Celestia."

"I really don't like the part where she states that you can send me back after the month passes. It makes me feel like a tool." You comment after Spitfire finishes reading the letter. "But for now, how about we get reacquainted." You state with a smile. "After all we'll be living with each other for the next month."

Spitfire looks like she's about to burst, her face is getting red from anger. You're still confused, is she angry solely at you or is she angry at Celestia's punishment as well. Either way she's still pretty pissed off at you. "One month! Only one month! Let's make this very clear! I don't want to have anything to do with you ok?!"

"But Celestia said that you have to show me around this wonderful world." You state with a smile plastered upon your face. All you want to do is calm this mare down so you can talk with her and settle your differences. "Plus I'm sure we can find a way to forget the past and move on."

"Move on! You destroyed my dream!" Spitfire yells at you, her voice getting progressively louder. "Do you know how much it hurts to lose your dream!" Spitfire yells once more. It's at that very moment that something inside you just snaps like a twig, and the nice guy Anon is no more.

"DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH IT HURTS TO LOSE YOUR FAMILY!" You snap back instinctively yelling at Spitfire causing her to flinch back. "To lose everything you cared about and have somepony yell in your face because all you tried to do was help her?! You... you have it easy! A dream can be re-fulfilled you can get back what you lost! Me, I can't! I can't just go back in time! Sure I would love to, but sorry the laws of physics are against me and I can't! I just can't!" You continue.

Spitfire sits on her bed motionless, a silence filling the air so thick you can almost feel it. Your little rant no doubt embedding itself into her mind. You can't help yourself as you come to the realization of what you've just said. Since arriving in this pony infested world you've been avoiding the truth.

You slump back in the chair and cover your face with your right hand. The walls of reality are closing in and you can feel them, their pushing up against you. All you want is for them to vanish but you know that can't happen. Tears start to make their way down your face as you remember your family and friends. The feeling is so strong you just want to get up and leave, but you know you can't do that. If you leave the only other place you can go to sleep is in the cold dark streets.

During your descent into darkness Spitfire just sits there in silence. Her face showing no emotion what so ever, it's like no one ever shouted back at her before. Pulling yourself together you stand up and walk to the end of the bed. "I'm going to sleep." You state in a monotone voice and laying your body upon the cold but soft ground. You don't bother asking Spitfire to use the bed because you already know the answer.

Closing your eyes you let everything go and your mind run free. Before succumbing to the lingering slumber you let out one simple phrase. "Goodnight Spitfire."

You awaken in the morning feeling the sunlight upon your cheek. Opening your eyes you sit up and wipe away the sleep. Looking around the room you notice that it's in mint condition. The floor is all swept up, the bed made military style and the curtains wide open where the sunlight lazily drifts down towards the ground.

However it's not the nicely made room that catches your attention, it's the lack of a certain Pegasus pony. Spitfire. Getting up your eyes start to fully focus and you look around the hotel room. As you predicted the entire area is devoid of said pony.

Entering the bathroom for the first time you take it in. The floor was made out of the same marble the lobby room had and the walls were a nice soothing green. Along the far wall were two mirrors that stood above a single marble counter that adorn two separate and spacious sinks.

To the right of the counter was the shower. It had a nice glass wall separating it from the rest of the room. Well there goes any privacy. You state as you realize that if somepony walked in you would have nothing to hide behind.

Letting out a large sigh you drag yourself over to the first sink. In between the two sinks lay a plastic vacuumed packed bag. Within the bag lay the necessary tools you need to get ready in the morning; soap, toothpaste, and a weird elastic band thingy with a brush attached. Assuming the elastic thing is the pony version of a toothbrush you take it out along with the toothpaste.

Turning on the tap you wet the bristles and place the toothpaste down on top. Ok I got this far, now how the hell does it work? You ponder as you try and brush your teeth with it, only for it to simply slip away every time you brush.

As time passes by you eventually get the hang of it and manage to brush your teeth. What was cool about the brush was that it also doubled as dental floss, however you doubt that these things last very long seeing as when you used it once it was already dirty.

Tossing the elastic toothbrush aside, you close the door and lock it. With the sense of privacy you strip down and grab the soap from the packet. Entering the shower with the soap in hand you glance over the temperature gauges.

Instead of the normal knobs you were used to back on earth, they use three sets of strings that dangle from the ceiling. Each rope had a little handle that was colored for the different temperatures. For instance the one on the right was colored red for warm water and the one on the left was colored blue for cold. What was interesting was that the one in the middle was colored white.

Being the curious person you are, you pull the rope in the middle and water instantly starts pouring out of the rather modern looking shower head. To your enjoyment the water that came out of the shower was perfect temperature. Holy shit this is amazing! You say to yourself as you start to instantly scrub all of the grime off.

During your shower you notice a second thing, the soaps they gave you for your hair are specifically meant for ponies. In fact they don't have any form of body wash and your forced to use a bar of soap. Once again living in the moment you pour some of the pony shampoo in your hands and wash your hair with it.

The first thing you noticed when you started to wash your hair was that it started to tingle. Nevertheless you keep on washing till you're convinced you cleaned it all. Which in turn is a long time, you always had this feeling when your showering that you were never truly clean.

Truth of the matter was that's right, you can never truly get every spot up top your head. Sure you could stay in there for a good hour trying to get every nook and cranny but who has the time. With a satisfying smile upon your face you exit the shower feeling like a new man.

Walking to the center of the bathroom you take the neatly placed towel off the rack and start to dry yourself off. The towel that you grabbed was pony sized so you had to make due and use two towels instead of one.

Once you're fully dried off you grab your clothes from the floor and suit up. You really hate wearing the same thing after a nice shower, but you really have no choice in the matter now. Sighing at the thought that you just got dirty again you leave the bathroom feeling your hair.

To your surprise the pony shampoo seems to have done wonders to your hair, as it's now silky smooth. Since no pony is around to see you, you ruffle your hair around. Man my hair is like silk! You state with a smile, one for it working and two for it not making you go bald.

With nothing left to do you exit the hotel room in hopes to check up on Celestia. Well you're not really only going there to check up on her, you really just want to check up on your spitfire. I hope she kept it and didn't scrap it. You state to yourself letting out another chuckle.

Imagine if somepony heard me saying that 'Celestia scraping spitfire.' They would take it one of two ways. Either their hoof fighting, or she literally tossed her into the trash. When in all honesty I was talking about the plane and not the mare. You think to yourself as you make your way down the stairs and into the large lobby.

Entering the lobby you take note of the mare behind the counter. "Good morning!" You state with a smile to the pony, however when she looks at you her eyes grow wide and she looks away in what you assume to be fear.

That's one thing I'll never get used to. Someponies don't care that I'm human, others are way too excited that I'm human -like the press ponies- or afraid for their own lives like this one here. Sighing you turn your attention back to the entrance of the hotel.

What you didn't expect was for there to be another group of ponies standing outside. Speaking of press ponies... You state in your mind as you do a complete 180 and walk back to the mare at the counter.

"Does this hotel have a back door?" You ask the pony gesturing to the other ponies that are crowding the door. "Last time they wouldn't leave me alone till I answered their questions." You lecture glancing back at the preppy press ponies.

The pony at the counter shakes with fear but nevertheless slowly nods. "It's just over there." She states pointing over to the stairwell. You follow her hoof and then glance back towards her.

"Thanks!" You state with a warm smile. "You have no idea how much trouble you saved me." You claim walking away from the counter and back into the stairwell. Sure enough when you enter the room you see that behind the stairs is an emergency exit.

Thank the heavens! You tell yourself as you wait a good ten minutes before opening the door and stepping outside. The chilling winter wind whips by your face making you shiver instinctively. It may not be as cold as the Frozen North, but dam is it close. You think to yourself.

Thankful that the press ponies aren't following you, you make your way into the streets and towards the castle. The only reason you know your way there is from the sheer size of it as it towers above all the other buildings.

Arriving at the castle you step through the golden archways and down the main hallway. You looked upon the soldiers lining the walls as you continued your way down. The castle gave off a feeling of security, which is fitting seeing as there're literally two guards at every door.

Just as before you take note of the marvelous craftsmen ship. You wonder how long it took to make all of this, not to mention the amount of money that Celestia had to cough up. Speaking of which you really need to ask her about the roomers you heard.

Engulfed in your own thoughts you've failed to notice the pony in front of you. In turn you trip over the pony and you both go tumbling towards the ground with a yelp from you both. Getting back up you look down to see the unlucky pony that broke your fall.

Reaching out your hand you help up the pony that you knocked down. "Watch where you're going!" The gray mare states with an annoyed expression. She then turns back forwards where multiple other ponies stood. Looking around the mare you take note of the rather large lineup that lead into the castle waiting room.

Ah shit, I'm going to be here forever! You state to yourself as you tap the back of the grey pony that you tripped on. "Yes?" the mare states in a deadpanned tone. To be honest you're quite surprised that she doesn't stare at you, seeing as you're the only human on the planet.

"How long do you think it will take us to reach the front?" You ask, hoping that the ponies here don't take as long as the humans do when their in court. "Because I just got a simple question and if it's going to take all day then I don't see the point in waiting." You claim.

The mares expression does not change. "We're all here to ask 'simple' questions, but Seeing as how the line is moving I would say about four hours." The mare replies then without waiting for any response turns back around to face the front.

Well that settles it. Looks like I'm going to have to ask around and see if anypony here knows where their keeping my beloved spitfire. With that thought in mind you leave the large line and continue down a random hallway in hopes to find somepony that will show you the way.

Turning the first corner you notice that it's fairly familiar. There was only one door guarded by two dark blue stallions, each of which wore black armor. What makes this door require different guards? You ask yourself as you walk up to the door.

As expected when you stand in front of the door the two stallions stand at attention motionless. You would try to talk to them, but you remember that the other guards remained silent. So being the curious person you are you step forwards only to be halted by two crossing spears.

"No pony is allowed to enter this room without proper permission from the princess Luna." One of the guards lectures with a strong and sturdy voice. "We suggest that you move along." The other guard claims looking at you with a stern expression.

"But what does the rules say about a human?" You state backing away from the two crossing spears. "Surly if the princess wanted me to stay out she would of updated the rules upon my arrival." You counter with a smug expression.

I got them now. You say to yourself as the two stallions look upon one and another with questioning expressions. "I think it's clear that when she said pony she meant any and all sentient beings." The guard on the right responds, the one on the left just nods in agreement.

"Either way you stallions cant harm me without knowing." You state with a smile. Stepping forwards you're greeted once again by the two spears crossing. "What's so important about this room any ways?" You state giving the door a good three knocks.

Upon your knocks the two stallions start to get worried expressions. When the knocking yields no response you knock again, however before you can knock a third time your arm is pulled back with magic and the door flinging open.

Instantly the spears retract and standing in their place is a rather tired looking princess Luna. "So that's why there were different guards!" You states as you backup a bit to give Luna her space. "So is this your room?" You ask Luna who is now rubbing her forehead.

"Anon? What brings you to my chambers at this time?" Luna asks her voice raspy. "And how did thou get passed my guards?" She states giving a glance to both ponies that guard the door. You can see by just her asking that the two guards are nervous.

"I found a loop hole in your orders to them." You claim. "And to be honest I was just wondering what this room was. I'm sorry if I awakened you from your sleep." You state apologetically. "But now that your here can you tell me where you and Celestia stored my machine?" You ask making sure to say machine instead of spitfire, you already awoken a princess you don't want to confuse her as well.

A smile starts to appear on Luna's face. "You know you're the only one other then Celestia that talks to me like this." She says with her raspy voice returning to normal. "Celestia and I stored your 'machine' at the Wonderbolts academy seeing as we have little room here to store it."

"Little room? This place is humongous!" You state earning another chuckle from Luna. "I bet my machine can fit in your room." You say looking around the hallway. "Anyways where is this Wonderbolts academy? I heard Spitfire talking about the Wonderbolts but not about their academy."

"The Wonderbolt academy is for skilled fliers, they have a runway for chariot landings and for fleet landings." Luna lectures telling you everything but the one thing you actually need to know. "As for where it is its in Cloudsdale."

"Can you tell me how to get there from here?" You ask as you have no idea where this Cloudsdale is. If the names are just as literal as the frozen north then you would assume that this place is in the clouds or really high up.

"I can't give you directions to Cloudsdale because your physically not able to stay there." Say what? You say to yourself. How can this be a place when I can't physically be there? "Cloudsdale is a cloud city, only pegasi can stand on clouds." Luna answers your question.

"Then how can my machine be there?" You claim wondering how they got your one winged plane to sit on a cloud. The idea sounded awesome but the reality is that would never happen. If physics exists in this world then your plane should fall right through a cloud like it always does when you're flying.

Luna sighs, you can see that she's really tired but this is your plane were talking about. "The Wonderbolt academy lays at the peak of a plateau so any pony can go and visit." Luna claims. "So while you're not able to visit the city your able to visit the Academy. To get there is a simple task of buying a train ticket, or you could always have me or Celestia teleport you there."

You smile at Luna's offer. "Thanks but it looks like you need your sleep and Celestia is currently occupied. I will see if I can get spitfire to take me there." You say to Luna. "By the way did the northern expedition find the missing wing?" You ask.

"Wing?" Luna states looking at you with a confused expression. "Your machine fly's?" Luna asks getting more intrigued the more information you spill out.

"Yes, my machine is known as a plane. It's what my race used to fly." You lecture Luna for once. "The only reason I was down there was because I crashed. During a fight against the German's I got my wing torn off." You claim making Luna wince.

"German's?" Luna states again with confusion.

Right she knows nothing about human history other then we once existed. "Yeah the German's were humans like me except they came from another part of the world in a country called Germany. It wasn't Germany that we were at war with, more like Nazi Germany. Dam Jerry wouldn't stop coming." You recall the dogfights you had.

Luna nods starting to understand what you're saying, she seems to be picking this stuff up rather fast. "So back to my original question. Did you find the missing wing?" You ask hoping that they did.

Sadly Luna shakes her head. "Sorry Anon, your plane was the only thing we found so far up there." Luna states. "With the freezing temperatures it's hard to conduct a proper search." You nod as you remember the chilling temperatures.

"Do you think I can be sent back up there to scout out the rest of the cavern you found me in?" You ask with a pleading look. If you don't find the missing wing you doubt you will be able to repair the plane, even with the welder.

"I can ask Celestia when I get the chance. As for now I must return to my slumber, I have a long night ahead and I don't want to be dozing off." Luna claims as she once again gives you a warm smile. "It was nice seeing you again Anon. I will make sure that Celestia talks to you about your possessions and expedition."

"Thanks." Is all you say in response as the princess walks back into her room and closes the door behind her. As soon as the door is shut the two guards look at you dumbfound. "What? Never talked to your own princess before?" You state to them as you too walk away into the never-ending hallways.

It's about noon when you once again reach the lobby of the hotel. You made sure to once again use the back door as the press ponies might still be camping out at the front of the hotel, at least you can call them persistent.

Climbing up the hundred or so steps you think back on your actions last night. For sure Spitfire is going to be mad, but at least she knows what you have been through and maybe if you're lucky she will see that you both aren't that different. Not to mention you have to somehow get her to take you to the academy in Cloudsdale.

If worst comes to worst you can try and sneak onto the train. You don't have the much experience with stealth, but there's a first time for everything. As for now though it wouldn't hurt to give it a shot. The worst that could happen is that she throws another lamp or alarm clock at you, if she's even back at hotel yet.

Opening the door to the eleventh floor you walk down the well decorated hallway. You will hand it to Spitfire, she did pick a good place to stay. You heard that this hotel has a pool as well, who knows maybe you will check it out today.

Sadly that idea is tossed out once you reach the door. Right this isn't like back on earth. I can't just go out and buy myself some swim trunks and I don't really think that the ponies would enjoy me skinny dipping into their public pool. Then again aren't all ponies naked? You ask yourself as you go to turn the door knob.

However when you go to turn the handle it sticks in place. Fuck It's locked! You state mentally as you try again and again to open the door. Giving up on the third try you move to plan B and knock three time on the wooden door like you did with Luna's room.

Thankfully after a couple of seconds you hear shuffling inside the room. Your patience wears thin as seconds soon turn into minutes and you knock again three time. I wonder if Spitfire is the type of pony that holds onto her grudges for years? You ponder.

The door soon swings open and standing inside is Spitfire, however instead of pissed off she looks really depressed. I guess that's what happens when you have someone tells you that they had it worse then you. Without any words being spoken you walk inside of the room.

As the door closes you can already feel the awkwardness settle as the room goes silent. "So... what did you do today?" You ask Spitfire, trying to break the ice between you two. Spitfire just jumps onto her bed and stares at you.

Finally as if waiting for the right moment Spitfire speaks up. "I got rejected from four jobs." She states in her normal tone. "Where did you go?" She asks albeit awkwardly. Looks like I'm not the only one feeling shitty from the argument yesterday. You claim to yourself.

"Well I went to the castle to make sure my spitfire is still mine. Sadly Celestia is up to her horn in problems, so I walked around till I stumbled into Luna's room. After a quick chat I came back here, funny that only felt like it was minutes ago yet it's already noon." You say truthfully.

To your surprise Spitfires eyes grow wide. "You don't own me!" She states with a disgusted look upon her face. Oh right she doesn't know that my plane has the same name as her, I should really start say type-300 instead. You say to yourself.

"My plane has the same name as you. Sorry for the confusion, you would be surprised how many ponies get mixed up." You say remembering Ace's reaction to you calling the plane yours.

Spitfires expression changes from a disgusted look to a confused look. "What the hay is a 'plane'?" She asks. Well at least she's talking to me normally for once. Maybe there is some hope for us yet. You state to yourself as you explain what a plane is to Spitfire.

"So what your telling me is that you can fly in this 'plane'?" Spitfire asks only for you to nod in response. "How does that work? Last time I saw it, it had stiff wings that didn't move up and down. How is it suppose to create lift?"

"That's what the propeller at the front of the plane does, it generates enough forward momentum to create lift. The wings are made so that there will be more pressure pushing up then down. This is all achieved by the internal combustion engine." You lecture getting an even more confused look from Spitfire.

"I have no idea what this 'Combustion engine' is let alone what the 'propeller' is. Are you making this up?" Spitfire questions looking at you in the eyes. However when she realizes that you're not lying she sits there nonplussed.

"Don't worry you will be the first pony to ride in it when I get it working." You state with a smile. You're really not doing this for her sake as much as your own. Reason one is that if the plane blows up during start up your taking this little bugger with you. Second there will be a Spitfire flying a spitfire, That alone is worth her flying in it.

"And until that day comes I'm going to consider it a lie." Spitfire claims her expression now is as neutral as Sweden during the war. "So why did they call your 'plane' spitfire?" Spitfire Asks.

"Well it's just a nickname that we give planes. If you really want to know I guess I can tell you." You state trying to remember how the Spitfire got its name. "Back then when the plane was in experimental phase they called the plane Type-300, you can still call it that but it's more popularly known as the spitfire. The name was suggested by Sir Robert MacLean, who at the time called his little daughter Ann, 'a little spitfire.' The word itself dates back to the Elizabethan times where it refers to a particularly fiery, ferocious type of person, usually a women." You claim ending your little lecture.

"That and during start up you can make the plane literally spit fire from its exhaust pipes. I can see why your parents named you Spitfire." You say with a smug expression plastered upon your face.

"I'm not fiery!" Spitfire yells out countering her own argument.

You point at Spitfire "Point proven. Not only does your attitude match the name your color scheme does as well. The way you do your hair looks like you're on fire." You claim pointing to said part on the pony.

Spitfire looks up at her hair then back at you. "You do have a point there." She states tapping her hair with a hoof. "I do have 'hot' looks." She states with a sultry smile that only makes you want to vomit.

No offence to any of the ponies but you don't find any of them attractive, let alone would you even consider dating one. Their just so different from humans it would be like committing bestiality. "Whatever you say." You state sitting down on the chair you hid behind yesterday night.

With nothing really left to say Spitfire falls backwards and onto the cozy bed. It's not till then that two things hit you. One you have yet to eat and two, you need to ask Spitfire if she wouldn't mind taking you to the Academy. Both seem very unlikely but now that she's in a somewhat normal mood it seems like as good as a chance as any.

"While I was talking with Luna she stated that my plane was at the Wonderbolts academy." This gets Spitfires attention as she rolls over so she's facing you. The entire movement looked so adorable but you refrain from letting her know. "I was wondering if you could take me there? Seeing as you used to work there."

"Even if I could take you there why would I do it?" She claims bringing up a good point. Going back to the academy would be like opening an old wound to her. "I don't see how that trip would do nothing but hurt me." She states cementing your ideas.

Thinking for a couple of seconds you come up with two very good reasons she should come. "For one I could try and persuade the Wonderbolts to let you back in. Second you get to see the plane I have been talking about."

"I already seen your plane. I was the one that lugged it out of the cavern." Spitfire states pointing out a good point. "But I do like the first reason, maybe if they see you saying it they will let me back in." Spitfire ponders, you swear you can see a spark in her eyes.

"Don't get your hopes up. I'm sure that if the Wonderbolts kicked you out I was not the only reason. They must of been planning it for a long time and this event just enabled them to do it." You say as you don't want to raise this mares hopes only for them to be crushed upon arrival. "As my father always said hope for the best, but expect the worst."

Spitfires expression settles back down to neutral. "Good point." Spitfire says as she rolls back over to stare at the ceiling. "Fine, I will take you. Only because I get another shot at staying in the Wonderbolts, and it looks like I'm showing you this 'wonderful world'." Spitfire states, she practically spat out the words 'wonderful world'.

"You should really appreciate the time you live in compared to mine." You state remembering back to your time. If you weren't in the air force you were in the navy or worst of all the infantry. You're heart went out for the men fighting on the ground, they were the ones that got it the worst.

"Why should I, when it just took away everything from me?" She replies once again bitterly. "I bet back in your time you were living the dream. What with all those technological advancements I have heard about your race."

"Maybe you won't now but later on I'm sure you will realize just how lucky you are." You claim as your stomach grumbles. The noise was loud enough so that Spitfire could hear it. "And while we're talking would you mind if we grabbed something to eat? I don't really have any bits to my name yet, but I swear that I will pay you back."

"I guess I can't let you starve." Spitfire huffs. "You're like a foal you know that? Have to be fed and looked after." She states hopping of her bed and making her way to the hotel room door.

"Yeah, well at least I don't whine like you do." You state back at her.

"Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice." ~ Robert Frost

Author's Note

As per usual like the story, make correction, or just chill in the comments! I hope you all had a wonderful new year! I know I was stuck at work delivering packages while everyone else was partying there butts off. Anyway thanks for all your support in the comments they really help me push through these writers blocks, had to restart this story twice because of them. :twilightsheepish:

Ch-6 Cold meals and Hot drinks

30 days left...
Anon's POV:

Following Spitfire in tow, you both exit the hotel room in silence. To say that the silence was awkward was an understatement that you're pretty sure everyone has had in their life at least once. The talkative pony that you just came to know in the last couple of minutes has changed into a pile of boring and ordinary rocks.

To be honest it's actually quite fascinating that she could just shut-up like this. Normally a person with her attitude wouldn't stop talking. Now you’re not saying that you’d prefer a personality like that. In fact, you honestly love the way this pony knows when to speak and when to shut it.

Reaching the end of the hallway Spitfire and you enter the stairwell. It's at this time that you think it would be an appropriate time to tell her about the press ponies that guard this place like a hawk. "Hey Spits'?" You ask coming up with a clever little short form for her name. Well actually it’s not really that clever she's probably been called that like a hundred times by now seeing how easy it was to make up, but there’s no harm in trying right?

"Please don't call me Spits'" She retorts turning her head to face you. She didn't need to say anything else. Her look told it all, the 'please' in her statement wasn't really a suggestion more of a command. A command that you learned to not disobey in your short time in the RCAF. You chuckle at the times that you went against their words. The punishments you got were swift and severe, however at the end of it all you'd say that it was worth it. You know Bursten and the others got a good laugh out of it that's for sure. Nonetheless in the end she still said please and it’s the thought that counts.

"I fail to see how that's funny?" Spitfire comments as you both reach the bottom of the stairs.

"It's not, I just remembered a funny memory from back in the day." You reply, continuing what you were going to tell her in the first place. "Anyway, I suggest that we use the exit here under the stairwell." You state pointing to the exit behind the staircase.

"Why? Leaving out from the front would be much more efficient, seeing as the place we're going to is literally across the street." Spitfire questioned, a confused look upon her face. At least it's better than the expression you got before which was dread, hatred and fueled with anger.

"Last time I came here the 'press' followed me, so now their guarding the entrance. I get that their interested in my species and all, but this is a bit extreme." You state leaning up against a nearby wall.

"How do you know their still out there?" She asks halting in her current place and orienting her whole body to face you.

"Oh I don't know, maybe because I just came from outside." You retort quite rudely as you lift yourself away from the wall. Just to prove that you're right, you open the stairwell door to the lobby and lean out to glance at the entrance. Sure enough when you do you come to see all of the press ponies still there talking to each other while waiting for you to exit the building. Following your lead Spitfire poked her head out as well.

"That's nothing." Spitfire proclaims pointing towards the rather large group of ponies. "You should have seen how many press ponies were after me once they found out that I got kicked out of the Wonderbolts. It took me the entire morning to convince them to stop following me."

"You keep saying it like that." You comment as you pull back into the stairwell.

"Saying what like how?" She replies.

"You keep saying that this 'Wonderbolts' team is a huge deal." You explain, "from the way you say it, it sounds like it's the only thing ponies care about here in 'Equestria'." I don't think I'll ever get used to saying those words. You say to yourself as you lean back against the same wall as before.

"Maybe that's because it is a big deal." Spitfire answers all the while rolling her apricot colored eyes at you.

"Watch the attitude miss or you're going to hate living with me." You state with a smirk upon your face.

"Like I'm going to follow any of your orders. If anyone should be following orders it should be you. Seeing as I'm the one paying for todays meal." Spitfire finishes.

She got me there, not much I can say now. You state mentally.

"Which leads me to say this. We going or are we just going to keep standing here?" Spitfire claims pointing a hoof at the exit bellow the stairs. Your only reaction is to nod and follow her out the exit leading you back into the beautiful but cold city.

Starting the walk around the entire hotel -to avoid the press ponies- Spitfire speaks up. "Okay, I get that you didn't know what the Wonderbolts were seeing as you were literally defrosted a day ago. But now that you know, how could you just say it isn't a big deal?"

"For starters, all you guys do is fly up in the sky doing tricks and shit. It's not like you’re actually fighting anyone or in any real danger. To me the only thing that should warrant an applause is great shows or well fought battles." You comment. You’ve seen people back in your time do crazy stunts, but they never got more than ten people to watch. It's like 'Cool you can do stunts, now how about you go help your comrades overseas instead of flying loops here, ya cowered.'

"Exactly, that's why! Don't you get it? We put on 'great shows'." Spitfire responds, "We perform over fifty stunts per showing not many Pegasus can even hover that long."

"I just don't see how watching a pony do circles in the air is entertaining." Well that's actually a lie, back in your time if you saw a pony flying that would be quite entertaining. Nonetheless the entertaining part would be that it was a pony flying to begin with. "I mean why the hell watch when you can do it yourself."

Spitfire sighs at your response "I would like to see you do some of the stunts that I perform... Oh wait you don't have any wings!" She points out.

"You're a real asshole you know that." You quip back, however it's better that she's a complete dick then the alternative of just ignoring you. It looks like you’ve somehow managed to loosen her up a bit… just a bit.

"I learn from the best." She claims walking up to a building that looked to be a rather run down diner. Maybe it's supposed to look like this? You question yourself as you enter the diner with Spitfire.

"Back so soon Miss. Spitfire!" A pony called out as soon as you both entered the establishment. "And I see you even brought a friend along! Oh is this the 'human' everyponies been talking about." She claims walking up to you. Her face adorned one of the brightest smiles you have ever seen, how she managed to do it without external help baffles you.

Other then the outer worldly smile her tail and mane looked to be shining, almost like it was polished marble. Her coat was a nice shade of pink; it wasn't to light nor was it too dark. Her mane was a darker pink it almost looked like a type of purple.

"Well it seems you know me already..." You claim cheerfully, after all she didn't run away or tackle you with questions - at least not yet anyway, "...so who’re you?" You ask the silky smooth mare.

"I'm Cherry Lime, but you can just call me Cherry." The pony states before looking back over to Spitfire. "So I'm assuming you want the usual table Miss. Spitfire?" Cherry comments before she heads back over to the podium to take out some menus with her mouth.

As you watch the mare grab the menu in her maw you can't help but think, that looks pretty uncomfortable having a menu in your mouth. How is she supposed to talk like that? You continue to ponder the question as Spitfire responds.

"Yes that would be nice Cherry." She states.

Without further ado you, Cherry and Spitfire all make your way to the back of the building. While walking you take notice of the interior design of the diner. It wasn't really that different from the diners you had back then, however this one seemed to be specialising in races, more specifically Wonderbolt races.

I can see why Spitfire takes a liking to this place so much. You state rolling your eyes.

"Here you go Spitfire and..." Cherry trails off.

"Anonymous, you can just call me Anon." Cherry nods in agreement and places the two menus down on the table.

"OK Mr. Anon and Miss. Spitfire, I'll leave you two to check out what's on the menus today and I'll be right back!" She comments beaming her now signature smile before leaving you and Spitfire alone with the menus.

"She seems like a nice mare, I find that her positive attitude to be fairly contagious." You state as you pull up the menu and start to read it. From what you can see most of the items on here you can't eat, for example the flowers or hay.

Once again following your lead Spitfire picks up her menu as well. How does she do that? You question trying to look around her hooves for where she grabs onto it.

"Yeah Cherry is really the only reason why I like this place so much." She states "Without her here I don't think I would even consider coming here." Huh... I just thought it was the overwhelming amount of pictures they have posted up of you. You mentally retort.

Spitfire's POV:

Placing down your menu you look over to see the local human. To be more specific Anon staring directly at your hooves, "What’re you doing?" You ask.

"How the hell do you pickup items like that? I mean you don't have fingers like I do, so how’re you able to grip onto it?" He asks as he continues to stare at your hooves.

That's.... that's actually a really good question. You say to yourself. You've never really thought about it, it just kind of happens. "I don't know it just comes naturally." You state truthfully, why you were even talking to this hunk of meat was beyond your comprehension. After all he did cost you your job.

You could confidently say that ever since he jumped out of that big metal box of his you hated him. Maybe you’re holding this grudge on him a bit to harshly, but as of right now when the event literally took place a day ago, you could care less.

"Can I?" Anon asks holding out his hand towards you.

Rolling your eyes you let out a nice long sigh. "Sure knock yourself out, you claim reaching out your hoof towards him." Stallions they never change do they. They see one thing that baffles them and they have to figure it out. So you might as well humor the poor guy while he’s here.

Taking your hoof in his hands he starts to feel around it, no doubt searching for the answer. Nevertheless, you can't help but realize how soft his hands were. Unlike hooves he just had skin, no fur what so ever. So instead of getting the ice cold and rough feeling you expected to get, you were greeted by a nice warm and soft touch. What caught you off guard was when Anon flipped your hoof over and started to examine the soul of your hoof. Now most ponies wouldn't mind because they walk on their hoofs all the time, but you spend about a good 80% of your time flying. The big downfall to this is that it makes your hooves pretty -.

"senssssssiiiiiiittttttiiiivvvee!" you yelp out as Anon proceeded to press the soul of your hoof.

Out of reflex you pull your hoof away from the now grinning human. With your mind settling back down, you start to realize that you yelled out the last part of your thought.

"I swear to Celestia Anon, if you tell anypony about this you're dead." Surprisingly Anon did nothing to retaliate, instead he just continued to smile and pickup his menu. "You hear me, nopony." You claim brining down his menu.

"I'm not the one you have to worry about." Anon claimed pointing towards the end of the table. Following his lingering finger, you come to see Cherry stifling a laugh of hers.

"Don't worry Miss. Spitfire your secrets safe with me." Cherry comments chuckling to herself as she looks over the two of you. "So what can I get you guys to drink?" Cherry is quick to change the subject, something that you're eternally grateful for.

"I'll have a coffee." You and Anon say in unison. Looking over you can see him simply shrugging.

"Alright... two coffees, would you like some sugar?" Cherry states writing down the order and looking between you both again. Looking over to Anon you gesture him to answer first, however when he looks at you with the same expression you decide that you might as well take the initiative.

"Yes please." You both say once again in unison.

"That's just creepy." Cherry finally comments as she writes down your drinks, "You guys plan this or something?" She asks only for Anon to break the illusion.

"Nope, I guess were both just coffee lovers here." He states with a small chuckle. "Heaven knows we both need it after a day like today."

"All right then, two coffee's coming right up!" Cherry happily clarifies before trotting over to the kitchen. Once she’s out of sight you turn over to Anon to see that he's quietly laughing to himself.

"What're you laughing about now?" You state looking down towards the menu. I think I'll just go with the hay burger and the hay fries. You think to yourself as you position the menu towards the front of the table so it's easy for Cherry to pick up.

Anon recomposes himself as he as well looks towards the menu "Just how we both said the same thing at the same time even though we urged the other one to go first. Cherry was right that was pretty creepy."

"Just a coincidence, that's all." You retort.

"Never said anything against it." Anon claimed before mumbling to himself. "Why do they have so many inedible meals..."

Pushing his own problems away, you look around the diner. Today it looked like Cherry had it easy, there was not too many other ponies eating at this time. You’ll have to remember to ask her why that is, usually at this time the diner’s filled to the brim.

Glancing back, it seems Anon has figured out what he wanted, as he places down his menu on-top of yours. "So how did you find this place, in a city like Canterlot I would assume that there must be a hundred of places like this? Was it just a lucky draw?" He asks leaning back in his seat.

"Me and the Wonderbolts were celebrating after out latest show." You place your head upon your hooves as you remember the good old times. "I remember when I first entered these doors..."

Two years ago...

"Did you see the look on their faces when I preformed the thundering trot. They were all like 'he's going to run right into the wall' I don't think I’ll ever forget their expressions!" Soarin clams as he puts a little skip in his step. You do don't think you'll forget it as well; it was pretty hilarious not to mention cool to look at.

"That was nothing compared to when I made it rain rainbows! I bet most of the pegasi there didn't even know you could do that with rain." You roll your eyes at Fleetfoots boasting. While it was a spectacle to see, there is no need to stroke your own ego over it. Isn't being in the Wonderbolts enough?

You were all walking down one of the many streets of Canterlot. The ponies that you passed all asked for autographs and pictures, ones of which you politely declined. Today was not really a day to do those kind of things. All you yearned for was to sit down and have a nice meal before you hit the hay. It was then that you noticed a little diner at the corner of the street.

"Hay, that place looks pretty cool." You comment pointing towards said diner. It looked a bit run down with the sign being crooked and some of the windows boarded up, but nothing too bad as to not warrant your visit. However, just form the site of it you could tell that not many ponies liked the place. Then again you always prided yourself with trying new things out.

"I bet they serve the best hay fries there!" Rapidfire stated.

"And how do you know that?" Soarin replied to Rapidfires statement.

"Because it's always the sketchiest places that serve the best fries." Rapidfire claims with a smile upon his face.

"These places are also the best places to get your stomach pumped." Fleetfoot adds in her two bits to the conversation. As they continue to bicker about the quality of the diner you continue towards the establishment.

"Well let's just give it a try. If it turns out to be bad, then we'll just leave." You compromise. After all this place does look like it could use the bits. Who knows maybe one visit from the Wonderbolts is all this place needs to take off.

Arriving at the diner you push open the heavy spruce door. Right as you stepped in you figured that you picked well. "Welcome to The Golden Spoon diner!" The server quickly introduced, "My name’s Cherry Lime and I'll be your server for today. Table for four?" She asks not even flinching that the Wonderbolts are eating at her diner, I'm starting to like this more and more the longer I stay. You say to yourself as you nod towards the server.

"All right! If you would just follow me then I'll show you four to your table." Brining you all into another room you're surprised to see the place is almost packed. Maybe the run down look is supposed to be like this. You ponder to yourself as Cherry seats you all.

"So what can I start you all with today?" Cherry beams a wonderful smile towards you, one that you return with your own warm smile.

"Just some water for me." Fleetfoot orders.

"I'll have some apple cider." Rapidfire and Soarin both order.

"And I'll have a coffee." You state your desire.

"Sounds good to me. One water, two apple ciders, and one coffee." With that Cherry places the menus upon the table and takes her leave.

Two years later...

"After that we basically ordered a large tray of nachos to share. I will say however, that those were the best nachos I have ever tasted." You end the little tale of how you came to visit this fine establishment.

The whole time Anon was listening intently, "What about Rapidfire did he get his French fries?" Your puzzled look seemed to have caught his attention as he proceeded to explain what he meant. "You know French Fires, sliced up potato's? The ones you claimed he wanted." He questions, "there like little sticks." You just give him another confused look. "They could also be wedges." Once again you don't answer him, "How could you not know what French Fries are!" He claims.

"Do you mean hay fries?" You reply.

"What the hell are hay fries?" Anon asks becoming just as confused as you are. It looks like if you both continued down this road eventually you’d both be completely lost. So in order to keep the direction you just answer his question, assuming he meant hay fries instead of these 'French' fries.

"Never mind about that." You claim shaking you head, "To answer your question, yes Rapidfire did get his fries. He said that they were pretty good here. Although he did mention that he had tasted better. Some place in Cloudsdale took first place."

"Pretty cool first time story." Anon clamed as he looked off towards the kitchen. Following his glance, you come to see that Cherry was on her way out with both your coffee's in hoof.

Cherry places the two cups onto the table and takes away the two menus. "So what can I get you two to eat today?" She recites her normal question that she must say at least a thousand times a day.

"I'll take the hay burger and the hay fries please." You order.

"Alright and you Mr. Anon? What would you like to have today?" Cherry jots down your order and turns to Anon.

"I'll take the tuna fish sandwich, it looks delicious! It also says here it comes with fresh fruit on the side!" He claims a small smile making its way onto his face.

You on the other hand look at him with yet another confused expression. "Tuna for lunch?" You ask.

"Yeah, as I like to say it's never too early for a tuna sandwich. Well that and everything else on this menu I can't eat." Anon comments. His smile changing from a natural one to a sheepish one.

Cherry seems to deflate at this statement, but Anon seems to have caught the change. "Don't beat yourself up over it Cherry, I'm the only one of my kind here. It was bound to happen." With that being said Cherry picks herself back up and scribbles down the meal.

Having both the menus and her notes she walks back over to the kitchen. "I'm surprised that you ponies have tuna and fish on the menu. I thought that ponies are herbivores."

"We are, however some ponies like to have some fish once and in a while. That being said we don't go overboard and eat full on cows and pigs." Your face scrunches up as you think about somepony eating a cow or a pig.

"In my eyes killing a fish for food is the exact same as killing a cow or pig for the same purpose." Anon state truthfully.

"Yeah, but cows and pigs are sentient unlike fish." You argue back.

"Are you high? Pigs and cows are not sentient." Anon snaps back.

"High? What does my altitude have to do about this?" You question, starting to feel the confusion settle back in. Nonetheless it seems you have said something funny as Anon is now attempting to hold back his laughter. "Now what is it!?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it." Anon claims.

Anon's POV:

"Don't try and steer this conversation elsewhere! What's so funny that you have to cover your mouth to hold it in? Is it because I like to fly high?" Spitfire states. You however are still attempting to not let the giggles escape. Sadly, enough this statement only serves to push you over the edge. A pony getting high while flying, this is just too much! What would that even look like?!

With nothing even the gods could do you let the gates of laughter open. "Bwahahahah stop, please, you're going to kill me." You claim wiping a tear away from your face. If this laughing lasts any longer, it's going to start to hurt.

"Stop what! How do you expect me to stop, when I don't even know what you’re laughing about!" Spitfire yells out, it seems that you have crossed the line a bit here.

Attempting your best to get back to reality you cut the laughing down as much as you can. As much as it pains you to hold in all this laughter, you think that it would be for the best if you took this time to calm down. "Sorry..." you say out of breath, "just the way you worded it sounded like something completely different." With a couple more breaths you finally calm yourself back down. You don't really know why you laughed so hard at that when in hindsight it wasn't really that funny. Nonetheless you digress from the topic at hand.

"Care to explain? Now that you've somewhat calmed down." Spitfire states with an expression that could literally wound.

"Yeah, yeah... just give me a moment" You reply taking in some more mouthfuls of air. "Alright I’m good. At first I started to laugh because you thought that I meant altitude when I said you were high. Your response after that was the main reason I broke out into laughter." You comment truthfully as you bring you hot cup of Joe and take a nice long sip of it.

"What?! Does 'high' mean something else back where you came from?" Spitfire asks with a bitter and venomous tone. It's almost as if she spat the words out, Jesus this mare really needs to calm down. Maybe she has some anger management issues? Now that you think of it that would explain a lot.

"As a matter of fact it does. Back in my day if you said someone was high it meant that they were on drugs. You know like painkillers, weed, bath salts." You state in a matter-of-fact tone. Personally you didn't like giving lectures, but you think that this one was necessary.

Spitfire tosses that thought around her head for a while, however the confused and angry expression does not falter. "How in Equestria does the word 'high' have anything to do with drugs?" She questions. "Further more why would you even make that assumption!"

"It's just like calling someone crazy. Most of the time you don't literally mean it, it's just a figure of speech." You continue, "As for the little nickname it developed in my time, that's because most people when they took drugs felt like they were soaring or something like that. I myself never touched the stuff, couldn't even go near it with my military record."

After telling the mare about your point of view she seems to understand. Nevertheless, her understanding doesn't mean that she's any less pissed off then she was before. "Fine, I guess I can see where you're coming from, however it's still rude to accuse somepony like that and to laugh at it as well." She claims.

"Alright mom." You mutter under your breath as you go back to drinking your coffee.

"I heard that." Spitfire growled in response. Fucking ponies and their supper natural hearing. You say to yourself as you continue to down the last of your coffee.

Minutes pass by in what seems like hours, the conversation levels between you and Spitfire has reached an all time low. That being said you both seem to be contempt with just sitting there waiting on your meals to come. After all what else could you do? Every time you spoke up or said anything to Spitfire it always ended up with her yelling.

Either way you both are forced out of your thoughts when Cherry arrives at your table once again. This time however she carried two plates, one with your delicious looking tuna sandwich on it and the other with Spitfires burger with fries. What surprises you was she even had an extra cup of coffee with her, her skills in waitressing were already out matching the ones you saw back in your day.

As Cherry came closer giving you a better look at the food you noticed that the burger she was brining had hay instead of meat. Huh... I guess that's why she called it a 'hay' burger. I didn't think they would literally put hay in it! You comment mentally.

With that thought pushed aside for now, you watch as Cherry very skillfully balances the two plates down to the table before sliding your new cup of coffee in front of you. "And here we are! One tuna sandwich and one hay burger with hay fries!" Cherry beams. "Can I get you two anything else?" She asks taking glances in-between you two.

"No, we're good." You and Spitfire both say in unison once again.

At this time, you and Spitfire both turn to each other with determined expressions. "Could you please stop doing that?!" you both once again say in unison. All right... this is really starting to get weird. You admit to yourself as you glace back over to Cherry, one of whom is stifling a laugh.

"You two are like two peas in a pod!" Cherry claims as she steps back from the table, "well I'll leave you two to eat. Call me over if you have anything to ask!" She once again cheerfully states. With that over and done with she trots over to another table.

"You still think it's just a coincidence?" You ask, taking your attention away from Cherry and back to Spitfire.

"What else could it be?" Spitfire retorted.

"I don't know, maybe it's like some kind of weird magic phenomenon?" You admit taking a bite out of your sandwich. "Oh man is this good!" You moan as the taste of the pristine fish hits your taste buds.

"What like we were destined to bump into each other?" Spitfire claims rolling her eyes once again.

"I don't know I'm just think out loud here, trying to make some sense of it." You answer truthfully.

"Either way when this month’s over I'm kicking you onto the streets." Spitfire comments as she takes a large bite out of her hay burger. "In case you haven't realized I like to make my own path through life."

"Never said you didn't." You reply. Wow she really doesn't want to talk right now, you say as you take another bite out of your tuna sandwich. Then again if she acts like this all the time then I really don't want to stay chained to her for more than a mouth as well.

As expect once you and Spitfire had your meals in front of yourselves the conversations between the two of you vanishes. The food in your opinion was good, but it wasn't so good to stop you from conversing with the people -or ponies- around you. Nevertheless, time still ticked on and when the minute hand had made its way around the clock one half rotation you were starting to lean back in your chair with a satisfied smile upon your face.

Spitfire on the other hand was still going at it. Her hay fries and hay burger proving to be a much tougher opponent then your meager tuna sandwich. This however did not deter her from trying her fastest to gobble down the delectable entrée. It took nought but five more minutes before Spitfire was following your actions.

What surprised you though was that Cherry seemed to be on her game today. Within seconds of Spitfire finishing her meal Cherry was at the end of our table, the same heart warming smile etched onto her face. I wonder if she was born like this? You ponder to yourself aimlessly as Cherry proceeds to take the plates in her hoof.

“You two just want the bill now or are you thinking about having dessert?” Cherry states as she takes the two empty coffee mugs as well. The balancing she is currently doing could only be brought on by many hours of practice and many shattered failures.

“Yes please.” Spitfire responds, her voice coming back to its original tone.

“Alright I’ll be right back with the bill then.” Cherry comments as she leaves the two of you alone to chat about who knows what. Certainly not you because you look towards Spitfire expecting her to say something, but all you get in return is the same look mirrored back. Not wanting this to turn out anymore awkward then it already is you speak up first.

“You know if it weren’t for you being a completely different species; I could easily be persuaded into thinking we’re related solely on how similarly we act.” You comment finally coming to this conclusion after two partial days of observing. “And if I had to take a gander that’s why we hate each other so much.” You continue.

“And whys that?” Spitfire replies placing her head onto her right hoof. At this moment it looked like she would rather be anywhere but here next to you.

“Because the things people seem to hate the most is the things they seem to do the most.” You state rather whimsically. “And seeing as we seem to have the same response to everything, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the reason we hate each other from the get go.”

“You want to know what I think?” A third cheerful voice spoke out between the two of you. Turning your heads towards the end of the table you both come to see Cherry. A piece of paper laid out in front of her, no doubt being the bill for todays lunch.

“Sure shoot away Cherry.” Spitfire states taking the bill into her own hoofs before looking at it. “It’s not like anything you say will really change our current out look on one and another.” Spitfire continues.

“Why so negative today Miss. Spitfire?” Cherry asks, putting her own opinion on hold for now. To you it came to a surprise that Cherry even asked that question to begin with. Not too many waiters back in your time would ask questions like that to their customers. Maybe in this time ponies are much more open not mentioning they can talk and think.

“It’s just one of those days. I went job hunting in the morning since I got kicked out of the Wonderbolts. Sadly, being skilled in avionics doesn’t really go well with another job other than flying.” Spitfire states.

“You got kicked out? What happened?” Cherry questions the orange mare.

“Remember back to the last time I came here?” Spitfire states as she pulls out a little brown bag.

“Yeah, you were worried if what you did to the hu…” As soon as she was about to finish the word Cherry get the knowing expression on her face. You on the other hand were just sitting back and enjoying the show.

“Yeah… well the Wonderbolts didn’t really take it as easy as you said they would. Next thing you know I’m called to meet with princess Celestia and receive a punishment.” Spitfire continues to explain. “What a punishment it was to; I now have to take care of this.” Spitfire finishes dropping the required amount of coins onto the table before pointing towards you.

“For your information Spitfire I have a name.” You claim crossing your arms.

Spitfire’s only response is to roll her eyes at you as she pushes the paper and coins towards Cherry. “Well it can’t be that bad Miss.” Cherry claims as she takes the paper and bits from the table. Just from her saying that Cherry is instantly on your good list.

“Yeah, it’s not like I throw alarm clocks at people’s sensitive areas.” You add in your two bits. Sadly, your statement went unheard by the two as Spitfire wrapped things up by thanking Cherry for her services.

“No problem Miss. Spitfire. It’s always a pleasure having you here.” Cherry then turns to face you. “It was nice meeting you as well Anonymous, I hope to see you again.” She states happily.

“With sandwiches like that you can expect me to drop by when I have cash.” You reply with an equally happy smile etched onto your face. With that statement said and gone you and Spitfire get up from your seats and head out of the diner and into the glorious city of Canterlot. Cherry’s statement from earlier never getting the chance to be spoken.

Ch-7 Chilling Out

Anon's POV:

Outside is just as cold as it was before. As if to visually prove itself to you, your breath froze right in front of you in the frigid winter temperatures. While you always liked that fact about this time of year, you could always do without the cold.

Like all humans do, you soon found yourself bickering mentally at the all the little things. Yet to your surprise, the moment you exit the Golden Spoon Diner Spitfire speaks up. Thus -thankfully- breaking your inner ranting.

“Well, you got your meal. So I’m going to go take a trip to the Canterlot Castle to see if Celestia or Luna is able to give me some funds to take you to Cloudsdale. Since, after all it is their punishment they’re so graciously bestowing on me.” Spitfire claims.

“Can I com-” is all you can say before Spitfire jumps up into the air and bolts off towards the castle. This just leaves you standing comically in the middle of the cold cobblestone streets with your pointer finger slowly curling itself downwards.

“-e with you...” You trail off with a long and deep sigh.

Continuing your walk in a random direction, you start to think about what your standings are with the orange pegasus pony.

You really wanted to get to know the fiery mare some more, and maybe fix the predicament you gotten the two of you into. But with her avoiding you like the black plague it really makes it difficult to progress.

At this moment in your walk, you contemplate if it’s even worth the effort. If she isn’t going to try and make things work out, then why should you? Hell, you don’t deserve to be treated like this! Like you're some kind of baby that needs to be pampered and looked after. Stopping your walk, you think deeper into the subject.

You, Anon, are a man not a child, and in this life do you really want to be known as someone like that?

No! You say to yourself as you grow more determined.

This however, just brought another problem to the table. Which is how, exactly are you going to even start to fix this. Yes, you had plans of restoring your plane, but until then what could you do for money? It was then that you started your walk again. The cobblestone streets took you deeper into the city as you start to take in your surroundings.

Festive banners flapped silently in the early winter air. The streets seemed to be somewhat deserted from what you can only assume to be your presents. While the press and scientists seemed to love you, everypony else made an effort to avoid you.

Which in all honesty here isn’t that bad at all. In fact, it just made looking at this beautiful city that much more enjoyable. Nopony was around to bump into you, no pony was yelling over the crowd to be heard and most importantly nothing was blocking your view of the many shops and houses lining the streets.

Having such a clear view walking down the streets, you start to look at what each shop entails.

“Needle and thread sign, no doubt some kind of tailors.” You mumble your thoughts out loud as you continue down the street. Your mindset on bringing something to the table tonight other than disappointment and forced responsibility settles itself in as you continue to look at the signs.

“Anvil and hammer, don’t even know how to cut metal. Wings and a package, can’t even fly, so why even bother looking in there. Book and quill, hmm maybe I could sort some of them for a bit or two.” You claim, finally finding something that might actually work out well. As things were starting to look up, you even spot a help wanted sign posted against the glass window.

Having nothing preventing you from waltzing right in, you enter the establishment. Bringing with it a nice little bell chime when you open the door. It was the little things like that, which made getting through the tough day that much more enjoyable. What the occupants of the building bring however, is fearful looks and disapproving scoffs. It was almost like a sailor walking into a room full of pilots.

Seeing the reactions of the ponies inside you mentally facepalm. Right... this is kind of a social job. Why would anypony want to buy something from an alien like myself. You comment to yourself as your expectations on being hired fall out of the sky. If anything, you would have a better chance getting the job at the blacksmiths.

Nevertheless, since you entered anyways you mosey on over to the counter. A stern looking mare sits up front, an expression of discussed on her face as she eyes you walking over to her.

You’re not going to get the job Anon just turn around now and walk out. You say to yourself. However, you being well… you, decide to give it a shot anyways.

“Hay, I saw that help wanted sign out front and came in to apply for the position.” You introduce, as you smile down at the white coated mare.

“Sure, you're hired.” the mare replies.

“Really? You serious?” You question back.

“No,” the mare blatantly rebukes, “Your presents here would only hinder my profits. Now get out of here before I call the guards on you for disrupting my business.”

Well that escalated quickly, I’m getting the strangest feeling like a lot of ponies need anger management classes. Hmm maybe I could start my own, get money that way. You mentally claim to yourself.

“Guards!” The white coated pony yells out.

Right, I’m not wanted here! You say quickly to yourself before you make it your top priority to get the hell out of there. Which in turn only lasts about two seconds before you’re back out on the streets doing what you were doing before.

“I really wish ponies were more accepting of other species...” You say to no one in particular. Letting out a sigh for the umpth time you once again turn your attention to the signs rocking in the wind.

“Typewriter and scroll, man who would even make writing a job let alone a hobby. Microphone and notes, another social job that would cause me hinder their income...” You trail off once again speaking to the empty space beside you.

“Can’t there be any job out here that I can do? Anything, even manual labor would be a blessing.” It’s now starting to become apparent to you, that being avoided is causing you to slowly lose your sanity. You almost feel tempted to just turn back and chat with the press ponies and scientists…

That's when it dawned on you, scientists. You were pretty sure that they would love to examine you and put you through many tests. In fact, you're willing to bet they would pay you quite a bit for some of them.

With that thought in mind you change your course and head towards the castle. The one place that you could be certain to get directions and answers. Spitfire would likely be long gone seeing as your little detour took you more than a couple of hours.

It’s wired how time flies when you have a clear goal in mind. You went to what, one shop out of the hundreds that you passed.

Just like you had stated. You soon find yourself before the two large golden doors. The line wasn’t that bad this late in the evening, so you didn’t mind waiting your turn to see the sun goddess.

As if on cue the two doors open and you walk in as two other ponies bickering at each other exit. Celestia herself keeps up her regal appearance as the doors close behind you. Which makes you start to wonder if she’s ever been in a relaxed state while tending to the court. Either way you were going to ‘spice’ things up a bit this session. Maybe make her laugh a little to ease the day's tasks.

“Ah Anon, what brings you to my court today?” Celestia asks. “I made arrangements with Spitfire to take you to Cloudsdale earlier, you have some questions?” She continues to assume.

Making Celestia’s court a bit more ‘interesting’ as you said before, you didn’t stop in the 'normal' spot all the other ponies did, but instead walked right up to her. “No, i actually came here to just ask you if you would be willing to pay me if I willingly let your scientists performed tests on me.”

By this time, you’re right in front of her, Celestia looks at you with confusion for a moment before answering your question. “I know of some scientists that would love to have your time, but why do you wish for payment? I already gave you a hefty amount to get you back on your feet.”

“Yeah, well I kind of spent it on a tool I would need for my plane.” You state sitting down cross legged in front of her. “So how about it? You give me some bits, and I let your scientists prod me with sticks?”

Celestia’s stoic expression starts to falter, but nevertheless stays strong. You have one more thing that might push her over the edge.

“I supposed I could, how much where you thinking about. Seeing as you got a good taste of how much one bit is worth, from your earlier purchases.” The princess states.

As she talks you lay yourself down sideways, resting your head on your right hand as your left arm lays on your hip. You can see now that Celestia is having trouble keeping in her ‘judge’ state. All you want right now is to get her to at least chuckle.

“I would want at least one hundred bits per experiment. Prices vary on how dangerous the tests are.” you state.

Celestia nods in response. “So shall it be; I’ll have the corresponding forms for you to fill out sent, to you after you come back from Cloudsdale. I’m sure my prized student will be thrilled that you’re willing to take on some testing.” Celestia lectured before continuing. “Now is there anything else you came here to discuss?”

“Yeah, just one more thing.” You say as you spin around on your back and hop onto your feet. You can see that she’s so close to breaking her composure, sadly you ran out of time and poses to display.

“And what may that be?” Celestia states her stoic expression coming back to her.

“Luna told me she would talk to you about starting another expedition to the north. I of course would lead the team to the place where another artifact of mine could be found.” You respond getting just a serious as her.

“Ah the ‘wing’ of your plane.” Celestia recalls. “We will have to speak of this more in depth when you come back from Cloudsdale as well. I will make sure to set off some time for me and Luna both to discuss this further. As of now I can’t do anything about it. Ace and the other excavators are still packing up and heading back home for their brake. We will have to make sure he attends the meeting as well.”

You let a small smile escape your lips. “Thanks a lot, I can only imagine how hard it is to run a country. For you to do this for me is more than I could ever ask for.” You reply. Kissing some flank never really hurt anyone anyways.

“The pleasures all mine Mr. Anon.” Celestia states a warm smile spreading on her lips. It wasn’t much but you’ll take it. With nothing left to discuss at the current moment, and other ponies waiting their turn outside, you both say your farewells.

You have to say though, every talk you have with Celestia seems to brighten your day up significantly. You can always go to her in your time of need and she’ll manage to fix you right up and send you on your way.

I can see now, why she is the leader of this fair country. You state mentally as you once again walk out the castle doors and onto the cobblestone streets. The cold air only got colder as the day progressed, as of now it was almost night. You could already see some stars as well as the moon peeking its head over the horizon.

It seemed that days here in Equus were much more vibrant in every aspect. Just the walk back to the apartment was a pleasure to have as you got to see all the wonderful colors twilight brought to bare. It almost looked as if the sky was on fire. Which now that you looked at it reminded you of who you were now going to see.

No longer did you feel the desire to see this mare, in fact if felt as if this was a two-way punishment. Whatever Celestia had in store for the two of you was a mystery that only she knew the answer to.

Either way, like before you walked to the back of the hotel to use the back stairwell access. Sadly, when you turned the corner expecting it to be barren, you spot about five press ponies. Awh shit, here we go. You mentally state as you see the five ponies ears perk up and swivel towards you. Their huge heads no doubt filled with huge questions, that usually took more than a simple yes or no to answer.

Knowing your fate all too well, you continue your walk to the door. If anything, you would just play this off like a real celebrity would do back in your time. In fact, that’s what you're going to do to get these press ponies to just leave you alone.

“Is it true that you and Spitfire were at the Golden Spoon having lunch?” One of the ponies stated as you continued to walk on. Like you expected his first questions came within seconds of spotting you.

Having heard many celebrities and politicians say it before you follow their lead and state, “No comment.”

The press pony’s only reaction was to look at the others with a confused expression. I guess they never really been blatantly turned down in such a formal and non-aggressive way.

It seemed like the other ponies would not give up so easily as the second one trotted up to you asking, “We heard that Perfect Press one of the local book shop owner called the guards on you just for being human! What is you take on racism in Canterlot compared to your time?”

Wow what a loaded question that one was. You mentally state as you just repeat what you said to the pony beforehand.

“No comment.”

The second stallion just looks at the first and shrugs, but not before the third and fourth one came running up. “Rumor has it that you and Celestia are planning some form of expedition in the frozen north again. Is this true?” The first stallion asked.

Before I could repeat the phrase again the fourth pony asked his question as well. “If true, what is this expedition about?”

Sadly, for them not you; you once again repeat that lovely phrase. “No comment.”

Right as you open the door one final question was yelled out by the fifth press pony. “What is your stand on ponies thinking you of a freeloader? Dragging down one of our famous stars to rock bottom as you do so?”

The door stopped dead in its tracks. That question punched you in the gut so hard you couldn’t move. Yet that wasn’t the hardest thing that hit you, no, what was worse was that you had no reply for that question. It was like reality kept sneaking up on you and bitch slapping you whenever it got close enough.

Every time it did, you couldn't help but feel pity for the orange mare. Sure you started this day harping on her, but when time comes to compare the two of you it’s like apples to apples. You both have your good things and you both have your bad things. Such an obvious statement, but one that seems to spin your mind right around.

“N-no comment.” Was your final answer as you moved passed the door and walked up the stairs in silence. The ponies outside once again looked at each other in confusion as you made your way back to your hotel room.

Each step and each second seemed to drag on for an eternity as you made your way to your room. Even that little thought of saying ‘your room’ sunk the pain deeper and deeper into your body. This wasn’t your room; it was Spitfires room. She’s the one that was paying for it, and even now that Celestia’s funding the stay, she still fed you.

She really did have a reason to hate you, and you really were dragging down a famous pony to the pits of poverty. How could one live with themselves after doing what you just did. You never meant it to happen yet here you are in the position, whether you liked it or not.

Your thoughts went back to the yesterday, when you finally snapped. Once again you thought about the questions you asked that day. Why was it me brought here? Why did fate call upon you when many others would be better suited?

Questions that you would never see the answer to drifted passed the recesses of your mind as you opened the door to Spitfires room. There just as you expected was Spitfire laying on the bed staring at the ceiling fan spin endlessly. The moment the door opened however, her gaze wandered towards you.

Without wasting any time, you step through the door and say what has been on your mind the whole trip up. “I know that sorry is only a five letter word, but trust me when I say: ‘I see the errors in my ways.’ I’ll make sure that you’re repaid in full and that every letter of the word is clearly stated.”

It was cliché you know, but how else where you supposed to convey what you felt and how you're going to act upon it.

Spitfire’s only response is to raise a lone eyebrow before replying, “And how do I know this is not just another empty promise?”

The fire in your body started to grow. She had no right to state that you were liar, you have not once lied to this mare since you have met her. But as fast as the fire grew it vanished, doused by what you had done to this poor pony. If circumstances were different you would of just got up and left, but that was just a ‘what if’.

“You don’t, you can either take this or you can stomp on it. Your choice.” You claim. You felt dirty and defeated, and this was the only way to cleanse you of your wrongs.

Wow that sounded really religious. You commented in your mind. I guess it's a good thing my humor is still intact.

Waiting on her response you look towards her with nullified eyes. Spitfire on the other hand mulled over these thoughts in her head as she rolled back onto her back. She stayed like that for a while until she rolled back over and looked right into your eyes.

“Every letter?” She questioned.

“Every letter.” You responded.

After that she continued to ponder on the subject a bit more before finally stating, “One chance is all you get. Wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t give you at least one chance to right your wrongs.” Spitfire stated as she rolled onto her belly and gave you another questioning glance.

“Still thinking things through in your head?” You ask back seeing her expression.

“No, just wondering when you became such a pushover?” was her response.

Now this got you to raise an eyebrow. “I’m not a pushover, trust me. It’s just that the press ponies finally got to me with their constant questions.” You state.

“Excuses, excuses, that’s all I hear. Wouldn’t want to ruin your apology with one now would we.” Spitfire claimed with a sly smile working its way onto her face.

You roll your eyes in response, “I can see that this is just another system that you’re going to abuse. Well at least the more you abuse it, the faster it’ll all blow over.” You comment moving over to where you slept last time.

Laying down reveals that not one thing has changed during your escapades. The carpeted ground was still just as stiff, as it should be for a floor. You didn’t care about that though, what you cared about was the chill of cold air that ran from the unfastened window.

Sadly, sleep wasn’t going to be that easy to get as Spitfire once again spoke out as she moved to the other side of the bed nearest to you. “So what did you do while I was out talking to Celestia? Weren’t here that's for sure.” It seemed that the fiery mare couldn’t get a hoof on sleep as well.

“Went job hunting like you.” You stated, a little bit of pride seeping into your voice. At least you had something productive to tell the mare.

“You got any of them?” She replied taking every ounce of pride and chucking it out the window.

“No, but I did find a way of getting money. Once I got tired of walking from store to store I went to the castle myself. I got a decent source of income if I agree to certain tests. About a hundred bits a pop. Plus, the meet with Celestia was hitting two birds with one stone as I got to talk about the northern expedition I was planning to do to retrieve the wing for my plane.” You rambled on.

Spitfire seemed to smile at your initiative. “Well at least you’re not a freeloader anymore. When the tests start?”

“Celestia said that she would send the corresponding paperwork after the trip to Cloudsdale. Not only that but she also said that she would tell me the day that she her sister and Ace would be available to meet. Which reminds me, you went to see Celestia today. What did she say about the funds to get us to Cloudsdale?” You pondered.

“She’ll pay for the ride there and the ride back as expected, but nothing more or less. Looks like I’ll have to buy us lunch again.” Spitfire claimed rolling back onto her back. “Trips in two days’ time. Already got the tickets and everything.”

You had to admit seeing spitfire in this position looked so freaking adorable. That being said you would never tell her that, if anything you would just get a hoof to the face. Which was not something you really wanted at eleven pm.

“So what's so special about this plane anyways. I know that you said it can make a human fly but what else does it do that would warrant this much attention?” Spitfire asked.

“What’s with all the questions? You're not a reporter in disguise now are you?” You stated giving Spitfire a stern look as if you were trying to see passed her nonexistent disguise.

At that Spitfire just swats her hoof into the air “I’m bored Anon! What else is there to do in this hotel other than talk!” She whines. It really wasn’t like her to whine and it didn’t fit her personality at all. That being said she was a pony, and a pony whining is pretty goddamned adorable. One more roll over is all it would take for you to contract diabetes.

“Well you could always just take a dip in the pool. Although I’m pretty sure that it might be closed this time at night.” You lecture attempting to think of anything else this hotel has. “Who knows maybe there's a leisure room of some kind. I know back in my time lots of hotels had little rooms with, Foosball or Pool tables. Then again they're all probably closed this late at night.”

“Does it really matter if their closed?” Spitfire questioned back.

“Are you suggesting that you're going to go down there -by yourself- and break into the hotels recreation room.” You comment back what you heard.

“Of course not...” She stated making you relax a bit. “...You’re coming with me.”

“Yeah how about no, like I said I’m no pushover. Plus, having breaking and entering on my record wouldn’t look nice on my race at all.” You reply back.

“You’re coming one way or another.” Spitfire stated with a playful smile as she hopped of the bed and positioned herself at your feet.

Looking at her with a confused expression you once again repeat your answer. “No Spitfire, I’m not going to break the law just to have a little fun...”

“...I can’t believe I’m breaking the law to have a little fun.” You state as you attempt to pick the recreation rooms lock. It wasn’t one of those heft locks you had to pick back at camp, so something like this should be easy. Yet, with all the stress of being caught and ruining your reputation seemed to brake a lot of your bobby pins. Well actually they weren't your bobby pins more of Spitfires bobby pins. Either way you digress.

“Oh hush you and pick the lock, I think I hear somepony coming.” Spitfire stated as she peaked around the corner.

You let out a groan as you break another bobby pin “That isn’t really helping me pick this lock any faster.” You state pulling the broken piece out and replacing it with another. At the rate this is going at, you’ll never get in.

“Hurry, I can see them!” Spitfire yells in a hushed tone.

“I would like to see you try and pick this lock with your hooves. It would be probably next to impossible!” You claim as you once again broke another bobby pin. "Goddamed it!" Frustration soon concurs you as you stand up and slap the handle, only for it to slide all the way down and open the door.

“You have got to be kidding me...” You say in a deadpan tone.

Looking over to Spitfire, you come to see that she’s holding back her laughter with her hoof. After a couple of seconds, the sound of hooves reasserts themselves. Hearing this Spitfire’s eyes go wide as she pushes you into the rec room. This in turn causes the door to shut closed behind you both as she lays on top of you.

No word was spoken as a flashlight scans the room from the doors window. Having been right under the window the light never touches either of you. What alarms you both is that you hear another click before the hooves fade away.

Not the ones to wait around, both of you bolt right up and head towards the door. What you come to realize though slaps you across the face. The door’s locked.

“Who the hell makes a door that locks both ways?” You state out loud as you shake the door knob vigorously.

Spitfire doesn't respond to your statement as she looks around the room you're both stuck in. After about ten minutes of searching the room and you failing again to lock pick the door knob on the other side you both give up and rest up against one of the rec room walls.

“We’ll at least we got in.” Spitfire states with a defeated tone.

“Yeah, at least we can say that.” You sympathies with her. The rec room that you both had gotten yourselves locked into had a decent sized pool, hot tub and a separate place for all the run-of-mill toys such as the Pool and Foosball table.

Getting up from her spot Spitfire walks over to the side of the pool. “At least it’s a room meant for entertainment we got ourselves locked into. Better than being stuck in the hotel room that's for sure.” She states as she looks at her own reflection in the still water.

You know you want to do it. A voice pops up into your head. She even has her back turned towards you! It’s the perfect opportunity. The voice once again states as your body slowly starts to get up.

But what about the sorry thing we just got done telling her? You state back to the voice.

We will go through with our words, but this… this is just some harmless fun! The voice retorts as you stop right behind her. She hasn't turned away; in fact, she’s still looking at herself in the waters reflection.

Fine! But just this once am I listening to you. You say to yourself as you bring both hands up and… fall face first into the water? what? was your last thought before the cool and somewhat refreshing water hits your skin and you sink to the bottom of the pool. Having survival instincts kick in you immediately swim up to the top and gather a deep breath. Once you're sure that you’re no longer in danger you come to see Spitfire hovering above you, a sly smile on her face.

“Have to do better than that Anon.” Spitfire states with a small chuckle. “You could say your plan jumped into the deep end.”

As if the puns in this world had weren’t enough! You yell to yourself as you dive back under water so that your feet touched the bottom. Well see who gets the last laugh. You say to yourself as you push off with all your might towards the orange blur hovering above.

Within seconds of breaching the water, Spitfires facial expression goes from triumph to confusion then worry. Yet even though she knew it was coming she had no time to run as your hand took a hold of one of her dangling hoofs.

A quick yank later you felt the cool sensation of water once again. This time however, you were not alone. In fact, you can see the pissed off little pony right now a couple feet away from you underwater. This is countered with your own little sly smile she had when she pushed you into the pool.

Breaching the surface of the water once again, you’re the first one to speak up.

“So what was that about me needing to be better?” You ask.

“Oh shut it you. You’re luck I don’t come over there and let you have it.” Spitfire replies as she hops out of the water. Once out she proceeds to shake like a dog, successfully drying herself in the process. The only thing left now that shows she’s been in the water is her hair as it droops down and drips over the floor.

“Getting out so soon? Looks like Spitfire and water don’t really get along well.” You state leisurely swimming up to the edge of the pool where Spitfire is. “Why not stay and join in the fun.” You claim as you rocket yourself off the ledge and float all the way over to the other side.

“Because I prefer the hot tub.” Spitfire responds as she hops into said device.

“I see; you have to maintain your image.” You claim swimming back over to the edge. You never really swam with clothing on, and just from this dip alone you could see why people hated it.

Spitfire turns to look at you as you swim around in the pool. “And what image may that be?” She retorts.

“You know, Spitfire, in a hot tub? Kinda makes sense.” You claim as you float around idly in the pool. “With that thought in mind, why did you come out to the frozen north that day? You seem like the type of pony that really hates the cold.”

“Shining Armor, Captain of the royal guard ordered us to go there. As you probably know, Ace and the other excavators wanted to be safer than sorry. So they called us in to retrieve your ‘plane’, little did we know that you were still in it.” Spitfire responds as she crosses her hooves and rests her head on them.

“So why were you in that machine?” Spitfire continues the conversation, which in turn surprises you. Never once did she show the slightest of hints of wanting to get to know you. Nevertheless, you didn’t want to let her down and not answer. After all you were going to go through with this ‘sorry’ thing.

Taking in a deep breath you respond, “I was fighting some Germans over Greenland which you ponies now call the frozen north. One thing leads to another and I got shot down. Next thing I know I’m in a pitch black room hearing voices all around me. You could see why I was a bit paranoid when you flung the hatch open on me.”

“A bit paranoid?” Spitfire responds with a small smile. “You put a knife against my throat!”

“Yes, well for all I know you could've been a kraut. The last thing I wanted is be torchered.” I claimed as I continued to float across the now rippled water.

Spitfire grows a confused look. “Kraut? And why would they torture you?”

“Krauts just a nickname we gave the enemy.” You simply state, you forgot that you’re talking to ponies now not just other people. “Why wouldn’t they torture us? We got valuable information that they don't have. Hell that's if we got lucky, if not they would just straight up shoot us right then and there. War truly is hell.”

Spitfire looks on with wondering eyes. “Equestria never had a war, the closest thing we had was the changeling invasion a couple of years ago.” She responds. “Is that really what war is like?”

“I’m not going to lie to you here Spitfire, war is much worse than that and I couldn’t even begin to explain what it's like.” You claim.

“What was it like back in your time? Other than the war that is.” Spitfire once again surprises you with another question about your old life.

Putting on a small smile you respond. “You’re talking to me like I’m an old man.” Your smile turns into a little chuckle.

“Well you are! You’re older than Princess Celestia and Luna combine!” She lectures the knowledge you already know. Yet to hear it from someone else really puts things into perspective.

“I was 24 before I was frozen and I'm 24 now. If you start calling me four-million-twenty-four years old I’m going to keep calling to spits.” You comment.

“Can you at least come up with a more original name other than spits. You know how many times I’ve been called that.” Spitfire retorts.

You smile at her response. “Maybe, maybe not, really depends if I can find a better one or not.”

“Oh god I’m just going to have to get used to that name aren't I?” She responds with a large sigh.

“You saying that I don’t have a vivid creativity?” You ask somewhat offended.

“Take it how you want to take it.” Spitfire respond as she turns back around and sinks into her seat in the hot tub. The warm water and mild jets probably doing her wonders right now. After a day like today even you would prefer that over the pool. Sadly, you’re lazy and are pretty contempt with just floating here looking at the glass ceiling.

“Twenty-four...” Spitfire states out loud. “They let you into the military at twenty-four?” Spitfire responds.

“Well, yeah why wouldn’t they. I saw people in my squad that were seventeen. Not even old enough to buy a beer.” You respond. “When they run out of people they just draft more.” You continue as you take in the night sky beyond the glass window.

Spitfire sits there a moment taking it all in. “I just hope war never comes to Equestria. I would hate to see ponies having to die for their nation.”

“Yeah, war, war is hell.” You claim as the door to the rec room opens up. A rather pissed off mare looking at the both of you. Your immediate instinct is to jump out of the pool, while Spitfires is to bolt it out of there as fast as she can. This only leaves you and mad mare behind. If looks could kill you would be vaporized on the spot.