Birds of Prey

by Beta-17

Rating: teen
Tags: Gore, Princess Celestia, Main 6, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Comedy, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Adventure, Wonderbolts
Length: 19814

Warhawk Curtis, one of the founders of the Shadow bolts has lost his cause, his squad, and his closest friend. What is a misfit Pegasus to do when not even the life he knew remembers who he is.

Warhawk Curtis, formerly known as Tomahawk is a Shadow bolt in the Lunar Republic, who finds himself in the wring place at the wrong time doing what he thinks is right. His actions lead to a long string of events that makes one thing clear, his reality and the one he lives in are nearly two different worlds. If a rouge princess consumed by jealousy can be redeemed by a hope and a sister's love. What is to become of a soldier who has nobody left in the world to turn to. With the Shadow bolts reduced to a simple uncoordinated and undisciplined street gang, does this Veteran dare side with the Wonder bolts? One thing is for sure, Spitfire hates his guts!

Published 2014-10-09 22:10:05 UTC
Last updated 2014-11-23 05:46:02 UTC

Stake out (Chapter-1)

Author's Note

I apologize if the swearing offends you but let's face it their soldiers. I promise the language cleans up as the story progresses, most of the foul mouthing is quarantined to scenes where Hawk is actually on the battlefield.

Stake out (Chapter-1)

I crouch low to the ground behind a fallen pillar. To my right is my wingman and second in command. Iron-Clad, very fitting name, thought he was green he had a very thick build. As thick as a Pegasus could be and still be flightworthy that is, he was a miner before the war. On my left was my third in command, she went by the strange name of Buzz-Cut. I suppose the name came from being a hair stylist but in our army the term “A little off the top” to her, meant she would cut your whole bucking head off. On Iron’s right was one of the newer members of the squad, Lumber Jack, guess what he did before the war. The last member of the squad was to Buzz’s left. Smoke Stack, she was a blacksmith on her down time, and a damned good one at that. Our current orders, sit behind this fallen pillar and wait for the self-proclaimed leader of the Solar Empire to take the bait, another squad had laid out a few days before. The wait seemed endless, and quite frankly I got bored. We had arrived at the ambush point early and began to take shifts. Half of the team would take a nap, and the other would keep watch, then we would switch. My shift was over and my mind began to wonder.

I thought back to my life before the war and all the bloodshed. My family’s farm was always a quiet place, very calm yet at the same time important. I remember back to when I was a kid, too young for any jobs that didn’t include feeding animals. I never minded having chores, but I always enjoyed having my share of free time. Me and my sister Kitty Hawk would spend hours in the fields playing hide and seek in the tall wheat or whatever crop was in season. Back then I went by the name Tomahawk, My mom liked the idea of some form of bird being in both our names. My mother, sister, and myself where all Pegasi of the new generation of ponyfolk. I was the older sibling but my sister was always one step ahead of me at all times. She was the brains and I was the brawn, the world made sense back then. My sister had gotten a mark on her flank one day that is widely known as a “cutie mark” I thought the idea of it was cool but the name was beyond lame. In school I began to notice more fillies and colts receiving these marks yet I did not. Curious to this phenomenon I consulted my father; he himself did not have a mark. He told me how none of his family had one, nor was it possible for his side of the family to get one at all. He was part of an older generation of pony who’s numbers where rapidly diminishing. He explained it like this; If you have an iron plow that did its job for a long time and began to become less efficient, you would trade in for a new, stronger, sharper, steel plow. His generation was outdated, and I was what could be considered a hybrid. Half Pegasus, and half previous generation Earth pony. As such I would not get a “Cutie mark” and my wings would not be able to lift my weight, my bones where too dense due to my Earth pony side.

I snap out of my memories and back into reality. I need to be ready, the sun was almost down, the attack would begin soon. I give a quick peak over the pillar to make sure that it’s clear before I stand up and stretch. Lying on the ground for that long can’t be good for anypony. I hear the shoulder joints of my wings pop and dear sweet Luna does it feel good. The metallic clinking of my armor wakes up the rest of the squad.

“Heads up Alpha Squad, it’s almost party time!” I decided to make sure we got up early so our work wouldn’t appear sloppy. The last thing I need is my CO riding my ass over how much of a disappointment I am to the Lunar Republic, or how the Shadow bolts are a joke.

“Damn, I was looking forward to a nap.” Smoke stack complained

I pulled my flight goggles down over my eyes, the time read nineteen hundred hours. Seven o’clock, I removed the goggles from my face to get a clear view of the sky. Sure enough the sun was descending and the moon took its place in the twilight hours. Huh, twilight, Twilight, that almost sounds like it could be a name; I kind of like it, it’s very mysterious and elegant. Wow, I just had one of those “what the buck am I doing” moments. I once again brought my train of thought back down to earth to the situation at hoof. The sound of hoofsteps began to grow louder from one end of the ravaged hallway. General Nightmare Moon, was standing expectantly. Her sister would be along shortly.

I signaled my squad to be ready, we once again crouched ready to strike, out of sight yet keeping a visual on the General. I slid my goggles over my eyes again, to prevent from being blinded again by the Solar Imperials’ favorite trick. We spend a lot of time in the dark, as such our eyes are adjusted to the low light. These little bastards flick on a light that I swear rivals the brightness of the sun that leaves you blinded. Then they charge up while you can’t see, and slit your throat, or plunge a blade into your chest. Fortunately for us Shadow bolts, our goggles where equipped to handle changes in light levels, they were of my own design but I had a large bit of help from a dear friend of mine. I watched as the Solar Empress landed before General Moon. My wing twitched, there was no way she was here alone. Nightmare Moon at least had a few guards behind her to draw the attention away from any potential hidden soldiers. Celestia made a fatal error, she ratted out her own soldiers.

I waved my right hoof to signal the squad to run a quick perimeter check. We split off into teams, keeping low to the ground and searched. Celestia must be getting desperate, sacrificing soldiers to distract General Moon’s soldiers so she can fight unopposed. She seemed to forget one thing though, Shadow bolts don’t get distracted. The first Solar Imperial was an easy spot, gold armor isn’t exactly a stealthy color, he swung first but with a duck and a swipe I quietly put a hole in his chest with my wing blades, quick, quiet, and clean. I claimed one of the deceased soldier’s tags, leaving one for the body crew to claim and identify the corpse. The one I held will count toward my thirty plus confirmed ground kills. With a quick sweep completed the squad formed up behind the pillar again, I count five including myself. No casualties, just as always. From the other side of the pillar the Solar Empress began to speak.

“Luna, I do not want to do this. But you leave me no choice” Celestia was actually trying to talk the only one who cared about folks like us into surendering. Hah! She made me want to turn myself in. Like hell, she has no idea what it means to be on the bottom, to live life in somepony else’s’ shadow. A shadow only made heavier under light of day. But the night was our time.

Lost in a Familiar Place (Chapter-2)

I watched as the ’Princess’ of the sun began to levitate what we all projected to be the fake Elements of harmony. If everything had gone according to plan, Theta Squadron would be carting the real elements back to base. Seeing the fake elements being raised to the General made me want to laugh. Celestia truly thought she could outsmart us; I however kept my urge to laugh suppressed. Making a noise now would blow our cover and ultimately lead the mission to failure. Nonetheless I suddenly got the peculiar feeling that something was wrong. I checked the two possible flanking routes behind my squad mates, but there was nopony there, except for the corpse of the Solar Imperial, and I’m pretty sure he wasn’t going anywhere. Every one of my team mates where in their designated positions, ready to pounce when given the command to execute the final phase of the plan. Everything was working perfectly. But I just couldn’t shake the feeling something had gone wrong.

I brought my attention back to the scene playing out before me. The Elements being wielded by Celestia began to run through their firing cycle. That’s when the realization hit me like a runaway train; Theta Squad had failed their mission. They failed to capture the real Elements, and the rocks held by Celestia where the actual Elements of Harmony. If they were the fakes nothing would be happening. But they began to spin around the Solar Princess. General Nightmare Moon was frozen in place, dead center in the crosshairs. She had figured it out as well as I had, she was in trouble, and she knew it.

“Shit!” I shouted, stealth meant nothing anymore the plan was already compromised and if something wasn’t done immediately we could lose the General. Thinking on my hooves I reached back to the corpse of the Solar Imperial and took the shield from his lifeless hooves. My crouched position made catapulting myself over the fallen pillar effortless.

“Hawk wait stop! What the buck are you doing!?” The voice was unmistakable Iron Clad was doing what he does best, calling me out on my noble but utterly shitty ideas. I flew through the air placing myself directly in the line of fire. This gives a whole new meaning to taking one for the team. If I survive this I better get a bucking metal. In an attempt to prevent taking the brunt of the impact from the Elements I held the shield up to defend myself as well as the General. The last thing I remember seeing was the faces of my squad as they watched in horror, I was as good as dead. I expected it to hurt like hell, but I didn’t feel anything. Now that I think about it, I can’t feel anything. It came to my attention that my wings weren’t even moving. But in the same respect, my hooves weren’t on the ground. Everything was white; there was an immense expanse of absolute nothingness. I held my hooves in front of my face wondering if this was an environment, lack thereof. Or if I was just blind, how ironic is that? The ‘Eye opening power of the Elements of Harmony’ literally made me go blind. No, once again I was unsurprisingly wrong, however this time it was welcome falsehood. My hooves where clearly visible, steel shoes and all. I took a moment to inspect my forelegs. A few red specks where scattered on the metal that covered my front legs, blood from that Imperial no doubt. I looked around to see if anything had changed, it all remained the same. I made a click noise with my tongue to see if I could hear. Sure enough there was sound. If this is what death is like, this sucks; I mean, I don’t even have a banjo to pass the time.

I looked down at the shield, the words ‘Raise the Sun’ where carved into the wood. Heh, must have been a rookie. I let go of the shield and it, like myself began to float lazily about. This is when I was reminded of my amazingly short attention span. I tapped the edge of the shield and it began to spin. Amused, I repeatedly hit the shield to set it to spin faster and faster. I misdirected my hoof on one of the swings and sent the shield flying forward. What transpired next shocked me, all pun intended. The wooden apparatus was consumed by the whiteness with a powerful electric shock that rivaled the raw power of a lightning bolt. I don’t know what the hell I did but whatever it was made the entirety of the whiteness begin to buckle. The blinding white began to fade away, and the interior of a building became clear. The electric charge that had just consumed the wooden shield began to draw closer to me. It became clear that I was going to be hit by the electric storm surrounding the white sphere that I found myself in.

“Well shit, this is going to hurt. A lot…” I grumbled to myself. I swear I heard screaming for a moment, and the sound of a large wooden door slamming shut before the orb’s lightning finally hit me. The pain that the electric fire inflicted upon me cannot be explained in words, so allow me to use attempt to explain through metaphor. My eyes felt as if they were eggs in a frying pan burning so hot that the metal of the pan began to melt. While at the same time they felt as if they were being squished by a C clamp. The muscles in my legs expanded and contracted with such rapid succession that the friction made it feel as though there was flaming sand paper between every individual muscle. I had a headache that made it feel like my head feel as if it were an egg with a bird trying to escape the confines of my skull. When the pain finally subsided I found myself out of breath on the ground, smoke rolling off of my body. The smell of electric heat stung my nostrils, penetrating my already burning lungs. I was surprised that the feathers on my wings weren’t burnt off, or that I wasn’t a smoldering pile of ashes. My eyes lazily scanned the room.

I was still in the throne room of the Royal Sisters, but the place seemed completely and utterly abandoned. The surrounding forest had seemed to seep into the walls of the once grand structure. The place looked ancient, but how can that be? I was just here; the place wasn’t like this before. I found my hooves and struggled to keep from collapsing again. I took one shaky step forward and stopped when the sound of metal to metal contact stabbed my ears. I looked down to see an old shield. The wood was petrified and the golden ring around it was weathered but not rusty, you know because gold doesn’t rust. Was this the shield I was holding a few seconds ago? No, that’s impossible; this shield looks as if it had been sitting there for at least three hundred years. Sure enough the shield had the words ‘Raise the sun’ carved into the back. I wondered over to the fallen pillar I was crouched behind, a few yards away lay a skeleton. It sported a set of worn down golden armor. I checked the dog tags. The name was hard to make out through the heavy rust on the steel tag. Private Rain Chaser, Born: SY 85 (Solar Year 85) I checked the tag I had taken from the body earlier, Private Rain Chaser, Born: SY 85

“Right where I left you, but not how I left you. What the hell is going on here?”

Author's Note

I said that I was getting a beta reader for my stories, and while this is true. I decided to give this chapter a twice over myself. Chapter 3 will most likely be viewed by the beta before going public.

Cut Down to Size (Chapter-3)

My attention was drawn to the sound of birds outside of the stone building. I began to wonder what time it was. I slid my goggles over my eyes to check the clock on the heads up display. When I looked through the lenses there was no clock or any HUD at all for that matter. The only thing that was vaguely visible was red text that flashed across the center of my vision that read, Incapacitated. So, my head gear seems to have run out of power. Which means the last live feed that linked my squad’s HUDs marked me as dead. Hell, if it weren’t for the terrible pain from that electric orb I would have thought that I was. I began to head toward the door of the throne room. The leather under armor made a satisfying squeak as I trotted. The metal parts of the outer armor lightly clinked and tinkled when some part of the metal hit another metal part. I had gotten my strength back but that didn’t mean all of the pain had gone.

Outside of the building it was clearly day, but very foggy. I must admit the moist air was quite soothing to my recently deep fried lungs. I almost think they were literally cooked a little; every time I exhaled I got a strange taste in my mouth. It was delicious. Who knew lungs tasted like fresh cooked fries? Oh, wait that was lunch from earlier. Anyway, it was strange to see the area around the old castle not in a siege. It was actually really quiet, clam, relaxing almost. After taking in the pleasantly quiet atmosphere, I located an old wooden bridge. Okay, wait, what? This was a site of major importance. I don’t mean like some crappy tourist trap, I’m talking about the Royal Sisters’ castle. A place where one would expect to find a grand stone canyon crossing bridge; why the hell is the only way across the canyon to the castle a shitty rickety wood plank bridge? Who the hell approved this? What corners do you have to cut to end up with this crap? Needless to say, I decided not to use the rotten bridge and just flew across the open trench. I once again touched down on the other end of the abyss, and I do not remember there being a forest here. If I didn’t have an objective before I had one now. Find out what the hell happened and get a fresh charge in my flight goggles. But for now I’ll just stick with finding out what happened.

For most of my time wondering through the woods, I thought to myself that perhaps the apocalypse had unfolded. Maybe the Elements caused a catastrophic series of disasters killing both royal sisters and in turn ending all of pony life. Good theory but it was dark out before I got shot by six magic rocks, and it was day now. Meaning someone was still keeping up with the day and night cycles, thus debunking my theory. I stopped suddenly upon catching a glimpse of a blue plant sitting low to the ground. Normally when confronted with a strange plant of interest I would consult the HUD in my flight goggles, but while these plants where indeed strange, I knew them well. Poison Joke, no laughing matter, this stuff would screw you over by the next day. While I was stopped I asked myself a question. I was walking along a dirt trail, but where the hell was I actually going. I had been walking for a good hour with no definitive destination. So I resolved to flying up, a higher vantage point would undoubtedly reveal a town. I could also put my new theory of time travel to the test, perhaps con an unsuspecting unicorn into charging my goggles and grab a bite to eat. I flew a few hundred meters into the air, and sure enough there was a windmill clear in the distance. I decided I did not want to get turned around in the woods and flew the rest of the way to the town. I admit I was showboating a little bit. Nobody was watching but it had been a while since I had gone full speed, so I pulled my goggles over my eyes to do the only thing they could do at this point; shield my eyes from the rushing wind.

I climbed to a higher altitude to have the gravitational speed assist. I didn’t know for sure because my altimeter was busted, but if I were to guess, I would say I was hovering around one thousand meters. I snapped my wings shut to gain speed, I plummeted head first straight down to earth. I could hear the wind rushing past my ears, whistling through the narrow gaps between the metal of my armor. A smile crept over my face, I love this part. My wings burst open, whipping me up to a steady altitude. The blades that ran along the outsides of my wings screamed as they sliced through the air, leaving a wind slip trail in their wake. The leaves of the trees below me whipped violently in my back draft as I passed, a few of the trees sat high enough for my wings to slice through one or two of the treetops. I laughed as I gained speed; it had been forever since I was able to fly like this without being hunted. I caught sight of a river up ahead and suddenly flipped my wings up to turn my forward momentum into a gravity slowed deceleration. As much as I loved flying fast, I was parched and where better to get a drink than a calm little creek in the woods.

I slowed my decent to the ground and landed with a subtle flutter of the wings. A few animals nearby ran off into the woods, startled by my sudden appearance. Heh, not the first time I scared the crap out of something by jumping out from nowhere. I had the thought that the water might not be fit to drink, but I just saw another five animals here at minimum, why not? I took all of my head gear off and went in, literally went into the water, like neck deep. Head completely submerged. The cool water felt amazing; I pulled my head up taking a deep breath so I could continue on my way. I cleared my throat and was about to get on my way again, when a peculiar rustling sound emanated from a bush only a few meters away. I figured it was just a rabbit, or a squirrel but I humored my superstitious side.

“Hello? Anybody there, perhaps a big scary monster wanting to nibble my giblets? Or just a cute little bunny bun bun? I was half mocking myself and at the same time legitimately asking a question.

I heard something that sounded like an inward sigh then what ever was hiding in the bushes ran off in another direction. I still don’t know what it was but by the sound it made while fleeing it must have been the size of a large dog. And that right there is when I realized I was not the thing it ran from. Behind me was one of the many heads of a hydra. Well, shit. I gave a quick backwards buck with both mind legs to get it off of my tail, giving me enough time to grab my goggles and take to the hydra free skies. What I wasn’t expecting was it to be smart enough to swipe the air with its tail. The blunt scaled appendage broadsided me, sending me straight into a tree trunk.

“GAH, shit! That hurt” I managed to spit through grunts of pain. I wasn’t sure but I think my wing may be broken. I can’t feel it, and can barely move it. I rolled out of the way before the hydra could take another swing at me. I gritted my teeth as I pulled the strap on my wing tighter so the metal outer layer could act as a splint. It was definitely stiffer. By then the hydra had figured out where I had ran off to and once again began to attack. My adrenalin was pumping and i summoned strength I didn’t know I had and took to the air again. I might not be able to kill this thing, but I could sure as hell scare it off. And no way was I going to let this thing beat me. The pain coming from my broken wing was numbed by the adrenalin in my veins. Most of the strain that would have been on my wings was instead placed on the metal braces that ran the length of my wings but I knew I couldn’t stay airborne for too long. I flapped my wings in an irregular pattern, doing my best to not hurt the wing more than it already was. But the beast took another swipe at me. I was lucky to escape a second blow. I was finally able to get to a decent altitude when I ran my dive bomb maneuver. My right wing was lined up with the neck of the middle head, hydras where notorious for the nasty habit of growing new heads from a decapitation but I was trying to scare it off, not kill it. My left wing began to hurt more and more as I sped up. Finally the blade on my right wing made contact. The razor sharp edge cut a clean gash through the beast’s thick neck, I was expecting the head to come off but this would do. The two heads that could screamed in pain and the hydra turned tail and ran.

“YEAH! Take that you overgrown gecko!” I shouted punching the air in victory before falling to the ground with a thud that knocked the wind out of me. My wing went from feeling like I had a bruise to feeling like the bone was splintered and twisted in such a way it was cutting muscle. I lie on the ground for a few minutes gasping for air, listening to the sound of my own wheezing, my heart beating in my ears, and the sounds of the fading thuds of the hydra running away. I began to get tunnel vision I was blacking out again for the second time in the same damn day or however the hell long it’s been and I was not okay with it. I took a series of sharp shallow breaths forcing air into my lungs to feed my deprived brain. In my haze I swear I heard the sound a shriek, like somepony just witnessed what happened.

With the air painfully finding its way back where I needed it I clambered back to my hooves and once again resumed my trek toward the town. Luckily I had already closed most of the distance a few minutes before. I was actually relived to see that the river ran straight up alongside the town itself. I found myself at the foot of a bridge that would lead me straight to my destination, but I couldn’t take the step forward. I looked down into the water and saw why. I was wearing Shadow bolt armor, not the normal kind either. I was dressed in Shadow bolt field general armor, which was coated in both blood from a Solar Imperial and a hydra. By the looks of the town it was a province under the ruler ship of the Solar Empire, and here I stand. A Shadow bolt of the Lunar Republic dressed head to hoof in armor and blood; I look like a bucking maniac. The way I see it I have only one option, remove the armor, and stash it; wash myself clean of the gore that covered me and walk in like nopony knows my face. Which is true to a point but I would be pushing it. But I have no choice, not with this broken wing and no medic.

Author's Note

I was going to say this a while ago. While Warhawk is my OC, I am not him. He is just an idea i got a long time ago and decided to run with it.

ludicrous Stories (Chapter-4)

I am so glad that the Shadow bolt armor was designed to be modular. I removed everything except the metal plate I was using as a splint. All other pieces of my suit where stashed under the arch of a bridge that crossed the river; leaving me with nothing more than my tags, goggles, and the makeshift splint. Between charging my flight goggles and tending to my broken wing, I decided a broken bone was more important. I shot a glance at the sky, mid to late day if I had to guess, around two thirty. My assumptions where confirmed when I heard the ringing of a school bell, then the hurried hoofbeats of fillies and colts heading anywhere but back to the red building. I watched as a large majority of the kids ran in the direction of the town, leaving five children slowly dragging their hooves. Three of these kids carried their heads low, obviously being teased by the other two. This reminded me of my past, and of my severe hatred for bullies. I decided to ‘confront’ the problem. I got within earshot before I spoke up.

“Well, blankflanks, it’s been fun but I can see you gotta fly!” The pink one was making stabs at the Pegasus. I put two and two together, she couldn’t fly. The three fillies didn’t even try to defend themselves.

“Hey! Do you two have a problem? Or are you just looking for one?” I shouted in my best drill instructor’s voice. I swear I made the two pricks jump five feet into the air, then they turned tail and ran away. The other three didn’t run, but I sure as hell made them jump too. The little white unicorn talked in a squeaky sad voice.

“Thanks, but you didn’t need to do that.”

“I can’t stand that kind of behavior, what where they picking on you for anyway?” I guessed they didn’t want to talk about it but I couldn’t help but ask.

“They pick on us ‘cause we’re the only ones our age with no cutie marks.” The little yellow earth pony explained. She had bright red hair, with a bow to compliment her style, and accent.

“So that’s the name they decided to go with huh? Still a silly name and it seems a bit petty; insulting somepony for not having a picture on their ass.” My lips imploded and my eyes widened when I realized I just cussed in front of school kids. “Ehh, sorry about that, it’s, it’s been a long day. Don’t repeat that.” My remark about the mark must have peaked their curiosity, because they started questioning me on the lack of having a mark of my own. By this point my wing began to throb with pain, and I could feel the circulation being cut off by the swelling.

“Can I ask you three something?” I had decided to put this conversation on a hiatus and get down to the point before my wing died from lack of blood flow.

“Yeah. What?” The little Earth filly responded.

“I need to find two things as soon as possible. A doctor, and a magically inclined unicorn. Preferably in that order.”

“Well, the hospital is just down the road, and Twilight is pretty good with magic. She lives n’ the library, close to the hall.” The earth filly gave visual directions. So it wasn’t just the folks in my town who gave directions like that. ‘Just go down that dirt road till’ you see a red barn, then turn left. If you hit the windmill you’ve gone too far.’ Those kinds of directions, make me feel at home.

“Yeah it’s a big tree, you can’t miss it.” The little pegasus clarified.

“Thank you girls, as much as I’d love to stay and chat; I got a broken wing to get checked out. I guess I’ll get to see if I get to keep it or Luna forbid I gotta’ get it amputated.” I mumbled that last part to myself.

“Will we see you at Twilight’s?” The little unicorn asked.

“Quite possibly.” I then turned, waved and headed toward the hospital. On my trip there I had two profound realizations. The first; holy shit, am I a physic? Just the other day I was thinking about how cool of a name Twilight would have been only to find out that there was actually somepony with that name. The second; what exactly is this doctor going to be able to do for me anyway? Put a cast on it? I already had something holding the bone in a position to reset. The only thing he, or she could really do for me would be to tell me if it was a crack, fracture, clean snap, or a spiral fracture. But oh how I hoped it was just a sprain. I was merrily making my way down the road to the infirmary when my stomach reminded me of how I hadn’t eaten in about a day. Then the heavenly aroma of baked goods stunted the pain in my wing, and amplified the hollow feeling in my gut. I followed the smell over to a bakery. “Sugar Cube Corner”. Cute, let’s hope the food is any good. I entered the building taking note that it was actually quite empty. Then again what should I expect it’s officially an hour and a half past lunch time. Before I could even read the menu a pink mare was bouncing excitedly behind the counter rapid-firing questions. Some of these questions didn’t make much sense but for whatever reason I answered them anyway.

“Ohmygosh hi! I’m pinkie I haven’t seen you here before are you new in town? Are you from around here? What’s your name? How’d you hear about Sugar Cube Corner? You wanna be friends? What’s your favorite color? Why are you wearing that metal thing on your wing? Are you from Cloudsdale? Are you here for the Summer Sun Celebration? Cool goggles, are you really fast? Do you like pets? Why don’t you have a cutie-mark? Do you want to come to Gummy’s birthday party, he’s my pet alligator!” She spat questions like a train at high speeds spat hot steam from its pistons. My eyes dashed left to right rapidly as if I was in the sleep stage of REM before they stopped and I replied.

“Yes, but just passing through, Just call me Hatchet, smelled it, maybe, plaid, broken wing, don’t know what that is, yes, yes, long story, maybe alligators are cool.” I responded, each of my answers corresponding to each of her questions in chronological order. ADHD I know her type, hyper very friendly, high tendency to be obnoxious if you aren’t tolerant. Then she looked at me with dead serious expression that took me by surprise and addressed me with a cold voice.

“There is still one thing I need to ask you.” She was eyeing me down as if she where my mother catching me playing with matches.

“What can I get’cha?” the pink mare’s hyper-sunny disposition returned with a sudden high pitched squeak.

“A loaf of bread or a muffin, one of the two; whatever I can get for this.” I casually placed a few coins on the counter. They tacked on the glass of the pastry showcase and skid across to the pink mare. That’s when I noticed another pony enter the room from behind the counter. A stallion, yellowish with an under bite, he had an apron and a hat that lead me to believe he was the owner of the shop.

“Okie dokie, wait. Mr. Cake? How much is this? I’ve never seen these coins before.” Pinkie turned to consult with the stallion behind her. Not certain on exactly the value of the coins. Mr. Cake looked at the coins on the counter in bewilderment.

“Where did these come from?” He was confused. So was I why the hell is money something you need to get the manager in the room for? I’m here to buy a loaf of bread; this isn’t a black market deal.

“What? It’s money.” I or my stomach rather, was getting impatient.

“Well, yeah but these are stamped like old school coins. And I’ve never seen any silver coins, let alone with a moon stamped into the metal.” The stallion turned around taking a magnet off of a refrigerator and placed it on top of the coin. He then attempted to pick up the coin with the magnet. The coin didn’t move.

“Oh my. This is pure silver.” He seemed astonished.

“Yeah, what else would it be?” I was trying to ignore the feeling in my stomach, but it was growing ever restless.

“On second thought give me both a loaf of bread and a bag of muffins.” My stomach spoke for me. The stallion took one coin out of the five on the counter, placed it in the register and pulled a metric shit ton of cash from the register and handed it to me; then preceded to hand me my order.

“Thank you, come again!” Mr. Cake announced as I turned to walk out of the bakery. Then I began to put the pieces together. Apparently the Lunar Republic was stacked and rolling in cash. One of our coins was worth a sack of cash in Sun Dollars. I once again confused myself in my own mind. How is it that I can answer a barrage of questions like I had a few moments ago, no problem? But it takes me two minutes to put two and two together about currency values. By the time I finished racking my mind I found that the muffin bag was now empty. I tossed the bag into a nearby bin and continued my march toward the hospital now moving on to consuming the bread. As I trekked on I got another disturbing thought. Was I a deserter? Or does this make me A-wall or a traitor? I mean I just bought something from a business from the rival Empire, is that not technically aiding the enemy? No, I was using a false identity. If they don’t know who I really am I should be fine.

I entered the front lobby of the hospital and was met by a receptionist wearing a nurse’s hat. She was a white earth pony and from what I could guess, she was reading a book behind her desk instead of doing her job, but I would probably be doing the same thing. The mare looked up and greeted me through her reading glasses.

“Hello, do you have an appointment?” The mare at the reception desk asked.

“Negative, I hadn’t planned on breaking any limbs earlier. Next time I’ll be sure to let you know a day in advance when I decide to break a wing.” I gestured to the wing locked in the metal wing brace. She smirked and showed me to an empty exam room. She said the doctor would be in shortly. Awesome, I get to spend the next hour messing with all of the nifty doctor’s supplies in the drawers before the doctor actually shows up! As soon as the door closed I wasted no time jumping into the rolling chair. I outstretched my good wing using it to gain speed as I spun around and around gaining more speed as I went. A smile was staining my face and in that moment I was happy. My squad thinks I’m dead, I don’t know where I am, I broke my wing, almost got eaten by a hydra, and was slightly cooked all in one day, and I don’t give a buck I am having way too much fun in this moment to care! I started to laugh, but was cut short when the chair became unbalanced. I was thrown across the room landing upside down, back to the wall, facing the door. The spinning chair was also knocked over. That’s when the door opened and the doctor walked in, she was actually on time. She looked at me with a look of ‘what the hell did you do?’ written all over her face. All I could do was smile while still upside down and against the wall.

“You must be Hatchet. I’m doctor Rosebud.” The doctor began.

“Affirmative.” I responded with a salute, I still hadn’t moved since I got flung into the wall. So here is exactly what this scene looked like. A full grown, but very immature grey pegasus stallion with a broken wing is propped up, upside down against the wall of a hospital room, with an absolutely ludicrous look of seriousness on his face and saluting. Anyway, I got back to my hooves as the doctor picked up her stool.

“So what happened?” She began.

“Well, the nurse said you’d be in in about two minutes which usually means one hour, so I started playing with that spinning chair to pass the time. I fell off the chair, and then you came in and asked me my name, then what I was doing. And here we sit.” I spoke with a strange pep in my voice for what I had endured the last few days; but I was happy and I’d be damned if I was going to let anything ruin my day.

“No I mean the wing.” Rose replied flatly

“Oh that, broke it.”

“How long ago?” Rose pulled up a clipboard to take notes.

“Well, if it’s four now. I’d say about five hours ago?” I was giving a rough guess.

“Why did you wait so long to get here?” The doc seemed confused as to why anypony would wait so long to treat a broken bone.

“Well, I had to help out these kids who were being picked on. Then I was hungry. I knew I broke it; I didn’t need anyone to tell me that. I don’t need a cast either, I already have a splint. I just want to know how bad it is, so I know about when I can use it again.”

“Well, let’s look into just how bad it is then shall we?” She had paused for a moment to take in why I had delayed my visit before answering. After her comment she reached into a cabinet for a black sheet and a book. I caught a glimpse at a few words on the page of the book. Then once again two and two added up to fish and I realized another bizarre fact that I had to ask about to be sure of.

“Hey, is that a skeletal imaging spell?”

“Yes, how could you guess?” Rose asked without looking up from the medical book.

“It depends, who wrote the thesis for the spell?” I needed to be absolutely sure I was right before answering this clearly.

“It’s an old school spell written by Star Swirled the Bearded. Why?” Rose replied, still reading the passage in the book.

“You’ll think I’m crazy, but Star didn’t write that. That there’s my doing, Star just published it.”

“Heh you’re right, I do think you’re nuts. How could you have written it?”

“I was there, here’s how it happened.” I cleared my throat.

“I flew over to Star’s lab per-usual. He told me he had been tasked with finding a quick way to identify problems with a pony’s wellbeing. I had thought about it for a few minutes before I noticed something through a window across the way. I called Star over to see it. He didn’t see what I saw. He looked and delivered a punch to my side with a disapproving glare, accompanied with a ‘Have some decency man!’ he saw the silhouette of a pony in a shower and thought I was being a perv. Then I began to elaborate. ‘No look you can see the denser objects through the thinner curtain of the shower. Think about it. If you could generate the right kind of light, you could in theory see the denser bone through the thinner skin. And if you used the right kind of film you could burn the image into the film and find out if a bone was broken and even what kind of break it is.’ He then proceeded to refine my ideas looking for pitfalls and bridging the gaps until the spell would work.” She had a look on her face that could only be described with a voice speaking the words ‘Yall’ serious?’ in a way that tells me the thinks I belong in the psycho ward. And I probably do but not for the reasons you’d expect. None the less she continued to look at me as if I had two heads.

“Never mind, just do the thing with the thing.” I finally broke her stare. Rose took the image and told me I had a spiral fracture.

“I’m afraid to ask, how’d you manage to break it this bad?”

“You want the believable story, or the real story?”

“Both, I’ll pick which I believe by the end.”

“Story A: I was fighting a hydra on my way from a top secret location doing a mission that would be considered high treason if I told you what about. Story B: I fell off a roof”

“Yeah, I’m going with story B.” The doctor completely ignored the true story.

“Fine, but answer me this, why would I have broken a bone from a fall if I can fly?” I tried to debunk her choice with logic that she continued to ignore.

“You’ll have to keep off the wing for at least eight weeks, and if I where you I’d keep off the cider, like forever.” She joked.

“Ouch, I am wounded. How could you say such a thing?” I replied in a sarcastic tone. Then I put the brace back on my wing and left the hospital, so I could head over to the library. I only had children’s directions to follow, but I was fairly confident I could find the place.

Restless night (Chapter-5)

If I wasn’t sure before it was painfully obvious that this place was under the jurisdiction of the Solar Empire, and it was highly likely that the architecture of the houses was drawn up by mares. No stallion I know would put this much pink and hearts all over the buildings. Actually no I take that back this looks exactly like something Bagel would do. None the less I carried on searching for a large tree in a town. The layout seemed to follow a radial design, placing the town hall at the center. I figure the best way to find what I was looking for would be to go there and look down all the streets at once and try to locate this ‘librartree’. And yes I did mentally kick myself for that pun. Looking down the streets as I walked around the town hall I caught a glimpse of a rainbow trail being left in the wake of a speeding Pegasus preforming several different stunts as she flew. I had to admit she was good but a bit of a showoff. I continued my search only to realize that this stunt pony was flying directly over where I needed to be; thank you random civilian. I trotted down the street catching the eyes of a few passersby; the looks are probably warranted for me mumbling a song to myself. More specifically a song all of the soldiers from the Lunar Republic should know.

“Cold winter fast approaches, as we fearfully wait. The simplest of simple creatures, bound by the laws of fate. As we shivered in the gutters, far away from home. We lost the last vestige of hope, freezing and alone. A shadow came to us in our dreams, with tales of better times.
The royal Princess of the Night forgave us for our crimes. And as the Solar Sister overlooked us, nocturnal we became. We wore a darker armor, and we carried a different flame. You now belong to a greater good, and you answer to a higher call! You are part of the best and greatest, and there is no room for failure! You will leave behind all weakness! You are no longer a mortal! You are an indestructible Soldier of the Night!” I would have continued but I realized my voice was getting louder and the trip didn’t take as long as I thought it would. I had been standing on the doorstep for the past few moments quietly singing to myself, though perhaps the door was listening. Is it weird to personify a door, thinking it’s listening only to hit it repeatedly? Regardless I ended up giving the door a quick staccato of taps to let whoever was inside that I was out here. Standing at the door, waiting I noticed a bug floating around my head. I began to watch it my eyes tracking its motions, when it flew too far my eyes my head followed it. I heard a click and snapped my attention back to the door. Upon the door swinging open I found myself looking into blank space before I realized that the one who answered the door was just shorter than I expected. On top of that the one who answered the door was a species I wasn’t expecting ether; it was a dragon, a baby one, well more of a child than a baby but still a dragon. I only realized we had been staring at each other for almost a minute when he spoke up.

“Can I help you?”

“Oh right, I was told there was a unicorn here by the name of Twilight? Is this pony available?” I asked to see the one I was sent here for.

“Yeah, come on in. I’ll go get her.” The little dragon lead me into the reception area and started toward the stair case, before calling up for the pony in question.

“Twilight there’s a stallion here who wants to know if you’re available!” He looked back at me with a smirk. He knows what he just did…

“Wow, you completely twisted my words you little shit.” I chuckled and smiled harmless comment for a harmless joke.

“Hey, those where your words exactly; besides you set up that domino, I just knocked them down.” He continued to smirk at me.

“Cleaver little bugger aint’ ya? I like you kid. Names Wa…” I faked a sneeze to save myself. “I’m Hatchet.” I almost said my real name… After saving myself I extended a hoof for a hoof… claw… shake… There has got to be a better term for that.

“Spike, it’s a pleasure.” The little dragon responded simplistically. He gestured for me to take a seat on the couch while I waited. It didn’t take long before I heard hoofstepps descending the stairs, hoofs that in fact belonged to the lavender unicorn Twilight whom Spike had previously summoned. Her face had a slight blush to it, undoubtedly from the thought of a stallion having an interest in her. I however was not here for romance and nor did I have the time for it, I have a mission to see through damn it! She looks at me and her blush becomes enhanced. Well, shit I honestly should have seen this coming I mean it’s my fault that I don’t pay enough attention to what I say to keep from landing in these situations. But I can’t just shut someone down like that. Okay brother, calm down it’s a misunderstanding that can be easily fixed with brutal honesty. Just don’t be an ass about it and it’ll be okay.

“Oh, hello my name is Twilight Sparkle, you wanted to see me?” She began sheepishly as she took a seat on the sofa opposite of me. I spoke, trying my damnedest to keep a professional tone. But in my mind only one word repeated itself like a broken record ‘Shit shit shit shit shit’.

“Hatchet, I was wondering if I could get your assistance with something. See recently an antique item of some unique nature has fallen into my possession.” Holy crap I actually spoke intelligibly. So that’s how politicians do it! Putting my thoughts aside I removed my flight goggles with a hoof and placed them down on the coffee table. I could tell by her facial expression that she was confused.

“So you aren’t here for me?” She wanted answers, and you bet your bottom bit I was gonna give em’ to her.

“I’m afraid not. Look, you’re a very nice mare, pretty too but it would seem that my words where lost in translation, or the nature of my request as it were. But I’m a reasonable stallion; if it’s any consolation to you I am willing to make up for the confusion upon your request.” I tried to be as sincere as anyone could be while shooting down a shot at romance. Twilight shot a scowl at Spike for his deceiving her, he just grinned to himself for the same reason I did, it was a pretty good prank.

“Well, let’s have a look at these then shall we? Strange, these aren’t like any flight goggles I’ve ever seen. Why would they have a square lens? And what is this symbol? Where did you say you got these?” She questioned pointing out as many questionable aspects of the goggles as she could. I didn’t know what she was talking about. As far as I knew all aviators had the choice between round and square flight goggles, and it was all a matter of preference. Think damn it think! Come up with a believable backstory quick!

“I got them in an auction. A storage locker went up for bid and I found those in there. If you look on the inside, you need to look good and hard, because it’s difficult to see. But they seem to require some kind of power, I’ve already tried electric and the only other power I know of is magic. After I asked around for a magically inclined unicorn I got directed here.” It was the first thing that came to mind and I think it actually worked. Twilight levitated the flight instrument in an aura of magic briefly before she dropped it out of shock.

“Whoa! Am I crazy or did that thing just draw in the magic from my levitation spell?”

“So I was right?” I asked purely to make it seem as if I had no idea it would do that.

“I guess so, that’s both fascinating and creepy at the same time…” She picked the goggles up once again and lifted them up to her eyes. They must have been running through their emergency power cycling program properly because she didn’t have to strain her eyes nearly as bad as I had to see what they were displaying.

“Incapacitated? Maybe if I give them a proper charge they’ll be fixed.” She placed the goggles down on the table and charged a spell in her horn to force a reboot onto the goggles. She then closed her eyes to cast the spell. While she did this I grabbed hold of my dog-tags and held them up so I could read what was engraved into them some of the magic from Twilight’s spell wisped off into the air, collecting in a small stream that made a B-line straight to my tags. I watched as the raw magic caused the engravings to glow green. By the time Twilight had reopened her eyes there was no more magic drifting through the air. She again lifted the goggles and looked through them.

“Well it looks like that did it; it’s not automatically drawing in power anymore and now there are a lot more icons.” She handed the goggles back over to me. I placed them over my eyes to ensure they were working properly. Sure enough the heads up display read; Altitude: 0 Speed: 0 Medical Status: Fractured Ulna Squad Location: Unknown Objective: Abort mission.

“Thank you, this is, this is just amazing.” I continued to fake my surprise in order to keep my story straight. “Hey, you don’t happen to know of any hotels in the area do you? I’d try for home but I don’t think I’d get too far with this.” I lifted my broken wing.

“Whoa how did that happen?” Twilight asked.

“Do you want the truth or the believable story?” She took my broken wing in her hooves and light up a spell to allow her to see the nature of the injury. I began to explain as she looked.

“Option A; I was making my way through the woods when I suddenly get ambushed by a hydra. I saw it coming in for a tail whip so I try to fly away and instead got flung into a large and very hard tree, leaving me with a decommissioned wing. Option B; I fell off of a roof. You may pick whichever you believe.”

“I’ve never seen anything like this before. This bone is way denser than any normal Pegasus bone.” Twilight inspected my wing but in my mind I heard Iron Clad disguising a ‘That’s what she said’ under a poorly faked cough.

“I mean this looks like it belongs in an Earth pony. It would take some serious force to cause it to fracture like this.” She had stopped examining my wing and just looked at me bewildered.

“Well I’ve always been a bit of an odd ball. So which story do you believe?” I was almost sarcastic thinking I knew what she was going to say.

“Honestly based on what I’ve seen the first one; getting slammed into a tree by a hydra’s tail sounds about like the right amount of force to break a bone like that. Besides why would you have fallen off of a roof when you can fly?”

“That’s exactly what I said. Anyway, what about local hotels?”

“Well there is one on the other side of town but I got a guest room if you’d rather not deal with a hotel.” Twilight offered.

“Really? Even after what just happened? You’re sure you’re okay with me staying here?”

“Yeah, I figure Spike’s joke kind of hit both of us. He used my reaction to put you in a strange situation. So I suppose we both kind of owe each other in a way.”

“Wouldn’t that mean that neither one of us owes the other anything… you know what, never mind…” All attention was brought to the door of the library when three fillies came marching in; each with her own idea of how to earn their ‘cutie-mark’, still a silly name. They took a few steps before looking up to see me and Twilight.

“Oh hey girls. Thanks for the directions to the doc’s office.” I was the first to address the kids.

“Hey, you’re here!” the little white unicorn exclaimed.

“You know I don’t think you ever told us your name.” The little orange Pegasus said.

“This is true, and you never told me yours. Let’s fix that. I’m Hatchet.”

“Scootaloo, that’s Sweetie Belle, and mah name is Applebloom.” My attention turned back to Twilight when she next spoke.

“I see you know the crusaders.”

“Not on a personal level, just learned their names. I do know they live through a code pest at school. Saw to it that that was solved at least for today personally.” I remembered how bad I scared those two brats earlier that day, and it made me smirk.

“So, are you going to tell us why you don’t have a cutie-mark?” Apple bloom seemed eager to hear the tale. Intrigued that somepony who was at least four times her elder was barren of the mark she and her two friends so desperately wanted. Twilight then took notice herself that I was in fact without a mark.

“Wow, you are just full of surprises aren’t you?” Twilight assumed before I could begin my story.

“Oh you have no idea. Now then. My situation is one of extreme rarity, as in the probability of any other pony living under the same circumstances is extravagantly minimal. I would say like one in fifteen million chance.” Scootaloo leaned over to Sweetie belle and whispered.

“What did he say?”

“It’s impossible for anypony else to be in his situation.”

“Oh, I thought he was talking about your sister.” I paused momentarily to allow them to sort out their confusion. Perhaps I should keep the vocab restricted to smaller words.

“Anyway. My father was of an older evolution of pony. His kind had little to no magical inclination therefore it was impossible for him to get a mark. My mother was a Pegasus of the newer evolution of pony-kind with a higher MQ (magic quota) she unlike my father, did have a mark and could fly. When I was born I had inherited my mother’s wings, but at the same time my father’s genes also stuck around leaving me with a below average MQ for my generation but his Earth Pony roots left me with bones that matched the density of that race. Again while this was helpful it meant I would be too heavy to fly but that’s a story for another time. Basically the reason I don’t have a mark is because my MQ is too low to actually get one, and unlike IQ there is no way to raise it.” I finished my story and scanned faces for reactions. Twilight seemed to be reviewing information in her head, and then Apple bloom spoke up.

“So what you’re saying is you don’t have one because it’s impossible for you to now or ever in your lifetime have one.”

“Hit the nail right on the head there kid.” I replied.

“Wait, that doesn’t make sense. The last of the previous species of pony died off a thousand years ago right around the time Luna was first banished. If I remember correctly the last one died when the Castle of the Sisters collapsed.” Twilight seemed to have found the information she was searching her memory for. I shrugged and got an idea. Actually I just remembered an alchemy spell that could help me with my wing.

“Hey Twilight, you don’t happen to have a chemical lab do you?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I just remembered something that may or may not help me with my wing issue.”

“It’s in the basement.”

I guess the Crusaders got what they came for because they got up and left once I started asking about a lab. A few hours after everything I was ready to crash on an actual bed; Spike had showed me to my room and while I wouldn’t have chosen the wall paper I could make do with it if it meant I could sleep on something that wasn’t a stone floor or even a cot in the barracks back at base. I ever so gracefully landed face first into the pillow and rolled around until I was comfortable. One leg out of the covers face pointed out the window to admire the night sky and the rest of me perched precariously halfway off the bed. Before the sucker punch of a much needed sleep hit me, I remember congratulating Luna on the beautiful night.

Marching slowly through the mud of a brad leafed forest, in the dark of the night, I decided to check up on a few of the lower ranking ground assault team members. I always wondered how they could move as quickly as they did in armor as bulky as theirs was. I mean mine was thick but it was fairly light weight and it didn’t get in the way too much. I made my way up to a private I addressed him and he lifted the visor of his metal helmet.

“Evening Private.”

“It is sir!”

“Stow the formalities private this ain’t boot camp. Out here we’re all the same thing; soldiers for the same cause, now don’t let that make you think you shouldn’t have respect. Just remember when the Sunnies charge you aren’t fighting for Luna or the Republic, you’re fighting to keep your buddy on your right alive. See my squad, they’re only as good as the pony next to em’ so we have to fight for each other not a government or any one ruler. That’s why the hell were out here right?” Why’d you sign on to be a Lunar Soldier?”

“No respect under the Empire. They walk all over us and expect us to take it and they ignore the fact that they need us. I joined to give them a reality check.”

“Sounds about right. What’s your name private?”

“Winter Knight.”

“Knight that’s a bit convenient and a tinge ironic.” I patted the shoulder plate on his armor “Warhawk Curtis, hawk for short.” I introduced myself trying to lighten the conversation. We would be coming up on the target town shortly and the last thing I want is for the new guys to get so wrapped up in if they might die that they actually get themselves killed.

“Company halt!” A mare leading the line of metal clad soldiers ordered.

“Hawk, I got several archers in my sights.” My second in command Iron Clad informed me.

“Are they facing the right way?” Knight, Iron and myself chuckled as we prepared for a fight. Iron and I slid out goggles over our eyes and prepared to take to the skies. Knight flicked his visor back down so his face would be protected.

“Good luck buddy you got this!” I called down to the foot soldier in a last attempt to boost the kid’s confidence. Strangely I felt as if someone where watching me. Not the feeling when you’re alone or when you’re taking a test next to the kid that likes to cheat but like a creepy third person viewer. The presence was both unsettling and at the same time familiar. I paused for a moment and glanced over to a cloud and saw the silhouette of a tall dark pony. Before I could get a clear view Iron called my attention back to the attack at hand. My squad and I flew up to a high elevation before diving. We came down hard at the wall that held up the archers dressed in the standard golden armor of the Solar Empire.

“Hey Smoke, bet I can get more kills than you can!”

“Not a chance in hell Buzzcut!”

“Don’t get so wrapped up in counting that you forget to cover me!” Iron interrupted the argument. In my visor I saw enemy archers in my targeting sights and my altimeter and speedometer rolling in opposite directions. Something was wrong, my speedometer was showing I was going faster than I felt I was, and my altimeter stopped. The world slowed down I must have missed something because the next thing I knew I was on the ground. I was on my back and I couldn’t move the room had no distinguishable features the only light in the room was shining on me leaving the walls bathed in shadows. That’s when I noticed I wasn’t wearing my armor. That’s when the smell hit, the aroma of copper was potent but somehow I knew what I was smelled wasn’t metal. Then a droplet of a cold liquid struck my snout. I looked and the drop was a scarlet red. Where the hell am I? I tried to speak but found myself mute and unable of vocalizing. I then heard a whisper sweep past my ear, nothing it said at first had any semblance of articulated words. My eyes moved to where I heard the whisper rush to and I saw the silhouette of a pony. From the size of it I’m pretty sure it was a stallion, but when it spoke I knew not only did I know what but I knew who this was. I tried to call out but I still couldn’t speak.

“It failed. You lead them to their deaths. They’re all dead and it’s your fault!” the silhouette of Private Winter Knight spoke in a low voice. I didn’t understand what he was talking about. Then another figure, this one was a mare and sounded like it too. Smoke Stack began to slowly walk toward me chanting the same words Knight spoke.

“It failed. You lead them to their deaths. They’re all dead and it’s your fault!” Yet another shadow, this one was unmistakable Iron Clad marched toward me chanting still.

“It failed. You lead them to their deaths. They’re all dead and it’s your fault!” By this time my whole squad was closing in on me from all directions. As they drew closer the smell of copper grew stronger. When their faces where illuminated by the light it was clear why. Iron Clad’s head was barren of any fur or skin his skull seemed to be made out of bronze like some crude black smith’s impression of a statue, his eye sockets stared into me with the most accusing look. Several of his exposed bones where too made of bronze and his lower mandible oozed black oil. Winter Knight looked as if he was dragged through a barbed wire fence and the handle of a knife protruded from the side of his head. Smoke Stack looked as if she had been left to die in a burning building. In the light she was so badly burned that the black charcoal of her skin made her retain the illusion of being a shadow. Lumber Jack had an axe wedged in his shoulder. And the rest of my squad all seemed to have suffered terrible fates. None of which would be as bad as that of what I knew they would ensure unto me. A tear came to my eye, and it rolled down to the floor.

“It failed. You lead us to our deaths. We’re all dead and it’s your fault! YOU ABBANDONED US!” They were right above me and I knew one of them was going to do something. I steeled myself the best I could but nothing happened, I heard the sound of a large bell chime then all of the corpses that hovered over me accusing me of their deaths suddenly liquefied into a pool of thick red liquid that mixed with the black oil that dripped from Iron’s mouth. I closed my eyes tight trying not to watch as the ones I cared for, called friend, the ones I loved accused me of their deaths and then turned to puddles in front of me. No, no they aren’t real. None of this is real!

I shot up quickly finding myself as I was when I had fallen asleep. I was in the library of Twilight Sparkle, I was still okay, and my wing still braced. I took a moment to let my heart slow down to a reasonable pace, knowing I wouldn’t be able to return to sleep for at least five minutes I did something un characteristic of me and helped myself to a glass of water. Down stairs in the kitchen I opened a cupboard and pulled out a glass. I turned the tap on low to make as little noise as possible. As the glass filled I looked out the window and right away I knew something was amiss. There were no buildings only trees, in one of the tree stumps an axe was wedged with its handle sticking up. I couldn’t be sure because of how dark it was outside but it seemed as if something was splattered on the axe head. My attention was brought back inside when water from the over flowing cup ran out onto me hoof. I poured a little of the water out and began to drink, once I was satisfied I placed the glass down and became aware of a strange after taste. I looked back at the glass and saw that the liquid in the cup was not clear but was black, a thick syrupy black. I closed my eyes and shook my head and the fluid was once again clear. I’m going out of my bucking mind. I reached the foot of the stairs to return to bed when terror gripped my very being. The top of the stairs was light up and the smell of smoke was rapidly building. The library was on fire. I ran upstairs to get Twilight and Spike out as quickly as I could. I pushed through the flames dodging fireballs, in an attempt to reach the room of the library’s permanent occupant. I kicked in the door and was viciously attacked by flames. I fought through the fire and in the center of the room stood a charred Pegasus. She walked a few steps toward me before exploding into a cloud of ashes. And just like that the fire was gone. I was alone in Twilight’s dark bedroom, but stranger still, she wasn’t here. What the buck! I didn’t know what else to do so I stared t head back to my room. I swung open the door and standing directly on the other side was the same Iron Clad I saw in my dream his neck squeaked as he cocked his head to the side. Every joint in his body did the same as he backed me down the hallway. I wasn’t about to reason with a monster who was clearly not a friend. I turned and ran outside. But was again taken for a loop when I saw that the night sky wasn’t the normal black, navy blue or even a dark purple I sometimes knew it to be. The stars seemed to be suspended in a blood red sky. The monster that may have once been Iron Clad burst through the door after me and began to charge. But before he could hit me I saw the same tall figure that stood on the cloud from earlier still staring at me.

I practically jumped out of my skin. I looked outside; it was morning what the hell just happened? I checked the middle of my room and was relieved to see that Iron Clad was not standing there. I looked at my pillow and saw in was wet where my eyes where, I rubbed my eyes with my hooves and found that they were in fact wet from tears. With the smell of copper gone and the feeling of being watched past I knew this was not a dream. What ever happened is now in the past and I can focus on what’s important, getting back to the mission and maybe saving my squad from the horrible fates depicted in that, nightmare. I suppose if my night was going to be terrible, my day could start off on a good note with some breakfast. Hell, I’ll even cook for Twilight and Spike, as a thank you for letting me stay the night, kind of thing.

Reclaiming the Sky

I checked outside the front door and found a newspaper neatly rolled with a rubber band. I seized it and brought it into the kitchen. I had already finished my breakfast and had decided to see who was winning the war before I took any large strides to return to where I belong; fighting alongside my fellow Shadow Bolts to end oppression for the average working pony. I slid the rubber band off the paper and unrolled it. It didn’t take all of six seconds for my jaw to hit the floor, I hadn’t even read the headline when I saw what at first I swore was an error in dating. The date read, Solar Year 1085. That can’t be right. I put the paper down and found a basket of older newspapers sitting neatly folded in a wicker basket on the counter next to a window. Yesterday’s paper read Solar Year 1085. Okay so this isn’t a misprint, then who won the war? That’s when the thought ran through my head ‘hey dumbass you’re in a library’. Taking advantage of my surroundings I started to search through the books by letter until I found a history book. I turned to the index but found nothing about the Solar Lunar War. So because it was a book issued by the Solar Empire and just for the hell of it I figured I should check the beginning of the Wonder Bolts, considering they were formed to combat us during that time it seemed as if it would offer the most insight. Page 249, I flipped to the page and was horrified to see my photo in the book staring back at me. No, I remember taking that bucking picture a month ago. I began to read the passage.

Captain Tomahawk Curtis, or Warhawk as he was commonly known was one of the first documented pegasi to fly for the Solar Empire after the founding of the Wonder Bolts. The leader of his squad, Hawk lead his wingponies with courage and valor until he one day was reported MIA while defending a major stronghold against the invading forces of…

I couldn’t read anymore. Wonder Bolt?! Who the hell told them I was a Blunder Colt?! Then a theory exploded in my head as all of the dots seemed to connect and form a picture. The Elements, that’s it! When Celestia used the Elements of Harmony I jumped in the way in an attempt to save General Moon. Based on everything I’ve seen so far my sacrifice was in vane because we still lost the war. Celestia must have wanted to keep any ideas of a civil war here in Equestria and against her as far from knowledge as possible to keep her name clean. And my being hit by the Elements must have displaced me in time, leaving me to wonder what happened. But if anything was for sure, I was going to bring hell to the doorstep of whoever was responsible for this bullshit history skewing. I stood up quickly, marked the page of the book, closed it and placed it off to the side. I opened the door of the library, stepped outside and extended my wings, I was fixing to fly straight up to town hall and demand directions to Celestia’s castle and do what I should have done a thousand years ago. But the pain that emanated from my fractured wing bone threw a wrench in those plans. And that’s when I had an epiphany. Wait, Star Swirled’s alchemy spell, I can fix this damned bone right now! All I need is, is. Damn it I forgot what it needs. And of course my notebook is on the other side of town stashed under a bridge with my armor, which that too was at risk. Well, I think my armor has spent enough time under a that stone bridge, the river water can’t be good for my notebook and if I was going to fix any of my problems I would need to get this wing fixed, and that’s just the skin of the issue. The war may have ended as everypony else knows it, but for me it still raged on.

I turned in the direction I had first come into town and began to trot; overhead I saw that rainbow maned’ Pegasus clearing clouds. She seemed to pause for a moment and ponder me, but I had no time to converse I had a record to set straight. I didn’t even waste time walking; I ran half way across town and jogged the rest of the way. Somewhere between the library and the bridge I ran across an exceedingly reserved yellow coated, pink maned’ Pegasus, who I swear I had seen before. Not wanting to waste time by stopping to talk, I carried on and jogged down the street. The stone bridge was now in sight, but rather than crossing it I stepped off the dirt path and detoured around to the side of the bridge. There just under the arch was my armor, funny even crumpled up under a bridge like a homeless pony its colors still gave the look of authority. Piece by piece I pulled it out from its hiding place, just in time too, the river’s water level had begun to creep up the banks. I scanned the area around me trying to find another hiding place but found none. I could bring it back to Twilight’s with me, but carrying this through town would be too cumbersome so I decided to wear it. It sounded like a dumb idea but hell these ponies where told that I was a, as much as it pains me to say it. They think I’m a Wonder Bolt. Therefor I wouldn’t be seen as a threat unless the princess herself saw me, and even then she’s been weaving a web of lies for so long she probably believes them. I slipped on and synched up my suit, and it felt damn good to be in my suit again, it gave me a sense of power, and freedom, such feeling would only be amplified once I got back in the air. Speaking of which, I searched my pockets for the note book and sure enough I found it. I sat down and flipped through the pages until I found the alchemical formula. Reading through the components made it sound like the start of a bad joke, a silk worm, a queen ant, and a can of milk; these where the first of a laundry list of ingredients that would go into the liquid that would in theory repair my wing.

Half of the required components where conveniently found in the forest just outside of town, but now I have to go back through town. I get to walk through town wearing the armor of a forgotten enemy that has been confused as an ally. Before I made my way back into town I caught a whiff of a copper like smell, I looked in the direction it was coming from and saw a lumber axe sticking, handle up out of a tree stump. The sight and smell sent a chill down my spine. I had a sudden and quick flash-back to my nightmare where I saw Lumber’s face, but quickly shook myself back to reality. I don’t know what’s gotten into me recently but this is becoming unacceptable, the sooner I begin brewing, the sooner I fix my wing and I don’t care if I fix it in the next three seconds, it wouldn’t be soon enough. In retrospect the decision to war my armor was a very stupid idea. Because if the year on the newspaper is in fact wrong, I am painting an enormous target on my back and the likely hood of arousing an angry mob would be incredibly high. However if the paper was right I would be just fine, just a shadow lost in a shady era in history. Now I had a few minutes to cool off but I was still pissed off over being called a Blunder Colt. So instead of laying low I strode down the street head held high practically flipping off the Solar Empire as I knew it by wearing the other team’s colors, colors most ponies won’t recognize. Given that it was still relatively early in the morning, there weren’t too many ponies out; I suspect they were most likely just now getting breakfast. However the outdoor market opens early, and here is where I find myself catching a few strange looks and raised eyebrows from shop owners setting up for the day. I had most of what I needed for the potion; the only thing I lacked was the syringe to inject the healing fluid into the inflicted area. If this town has a pharmacy I hadn’t found it yet, but I knew where the hospital was and I knew for a fact they would have one. I was once again making my way toward the hospital to see if I could somehow obtain a preferably clean needle. I made it halfway across the market plaza before I heard a familiar voice.

“Hey! Hatchet, is that you?” I turned to see Applebloom, still wearing her red bow. But she now had on an apron, telling me she was running a stand.

“Hey kid! How’s it goin’?” I replied with a smile.

“What are you wearing?” The rage I had felt before melted away, and in its place grew a fear of not having an excuse. Finally it fell on me to just tell the truth, isn’t brutal honesty better than lying? Before I could get a word out the older pony that was chaperoning the filly came up to me and started to solicit what she was selling.

“Howdy partner, that’s a mighty odd getup you got there. Care for an apple? Picked fresh this mornin’ from the ol’ orchard!” the orange mare leaned on her cart simultaneously picking up a cherry red apple and flipping up her wide brimmed hat.

“Ah, so you’re a farmer?” The mare took on another layer of pride before she began to speak.

“Yes sir! Little family farm just outside of town by the name of Sweet Apple Acers. We grow the best apples, this side of Canterlot!” The mare announced proudly.

“Really? I’m a farmer myself.”

“Oh, what do you grow?”

“Eh, whatever is in season; last time I was home it was harvest season for wheat but I wasn’t able to help my pa with the harvest.”

“What did you say your name was?” the Orange mare asked. I suppose she figured if we were going to share stories, we ought to know each other’s names.

“Where are my manners? I don’t believe I said. I’m Warhawk Curtis, folks just call me Hawk.”

“I’m Applejack, and this here is Applebloom.”

“Now her I’ve met before. How’s the crusading going?” I turned the attention back to the filly.

“Wait, you told me your name was Hatchet. And you still didn’t answer me about the strange costume.” Applebloom wasn’t about to let this slip by and I don’t hold it against her.

“Okay I’m going to be as straight as a sword with you, so pay attention because it’s a lot to take in.” I cleared my throat but before I could say what I needed to say the wooden cart that held the apples exploded into a pile of splinters. And laying down face up in the pile of smashed fruit was a cyan, rainbow haired Pegasus.

“Holy hell” the words tumbled off my tongue as I stumbled back. I froze, everything went dark, the only light came from a flaming rock sitting in the spoon of a catapult. I heard somepony order the catapults to fire, but before the artillery could release its payload it was smashed by incoming fire. I couldn’t do anything but watch as the great wooden structure splintered and collapsed, crushing and killing its operators. I looked into the faces of those ponies as the blood pooled around their bodies and leaked from their mouths. I could finally look away and was met by a bronze skull directly in my face. It was only partially covered in skin and had a single eye, its breath smelled like tar. I noticed it wore the same western hat that the farm pony I was talking to had on. Its mouth opened and it spoke.

“Sir?” I jumped, snapping out of a flashback and began to get paranoid. The bronze face was gone; in my dazed state my mind had pasted that metallic atrocity’s face on the apple farmer in front of me.

“Eh, you alright there partner?” Applejack and Applebloom stood next to each other with the cyan Pegasus now upright and no longer covered in fruit, all three of them had worried looks on their faces. But I could do nothing but stutter.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. Sorry I gotta go.” I turned and unfurled my wings to take off. I gave one strong thrust getting about five feet off the ground before my broken wing caused me to fall to one side. I landed back down hard and stumbled gritting my teeth, and trying not to swear out loud. What the hell just happened? I have never frozen up like that in my life. Not on the battlefield, not in the air, never. Am I losing it? And what the hell was with that skull, why was it following me? I tried to clear my mind, just make it to the doc’s office, get the syringe, get to the library, brew the potion, and fix the wing. I stepped into the hospital lobby for the second time in two days. The receptionist looked up from her book again and was taken aback by my attire.

“Uhh, good morning Hatchet? Can I help you?”

“Yes ma’am I actually swung by here to see of you happened to have any spare syringes.”

“We might, are you okay? You seem a bit off. And I don’t mean like slightly a skew I mean like screw loose type, might need therapy off…”

“It’s quite possible, but it’s going to have to wait until another day.” Behind me, the hospital’s lobby doors swung open, I turned to see who it was. Doctor Rose, the very same doctor who examined my wing was coming in to work. She swallowed a bit of breakfast burrito slowly upon seeing me, and then levitated it into a bag as she shifted her eyes back and forth between me and the receptionist.

“Good morning Rose, do we have any spare syringes?” the receptionist asked

“Mornin’ Doc.” I greeted the doctor. Rose looked at me confused before she spoke.

“I think so. Just pull one from the new shipment.” She said cueing the receptionist to start rummaging through a drawer for a syringe. Rose still looked at me, eyeing me over as if she wasn’t entirely sure if it was safe to approach me.

“What?” I said with a raised eyebrow.

“Sorry, I’m just a bit concerned over the fact that yesterday you claimed to be the lab partner of Star Swirl, who by the way died over nine hundred years ago. Then you tell me about some crazy story about a hydra. And now you show up here in some kind of soldier’s getup asking for a syringe.” There was a silence that fell over the room that was only interrupted by the sound of rummaging through a drawer. The receptionist broke the awkward silence by pulling the item I was looking for out of a drawer and placing it on the counter.

“Thank you kindly ma’am.” I placed what I figured the syringe to be worth on the counter and was off again, back to the library. They probably weren’t expecting to get any money for the medical tool but I figured it was the right thing to do. I stepped outside and took a deep breath. Ice, I’m going to need ice. If what was tested was anything to go on this stuff was going to burn like hell once it’s injected, plus it may become inflamed. But that can wait until the mixture is actually complete. Otherwise I would have water instead of ice by the time the mixture was finished. I was passing Mane Street, what a damn horrible pun. When I noticed an unusual amount of festive banners of a different kind of setup being arranged; a banner was being raised that read “Welcome Princess Celestia” and talk about something called a summer sun celebration was everywhere. These ponies were actually throwing a parade for that power abusing, lime light hogging, money snatching, fat cat, entitled brat of a princess. Who by the way cheated in the war by using a wonder weapon that she shouldn’t have had access to. Then, she insults me by writing me into history as one of her drone headed Blunder Colts. And now she rubs the wound with lemon by showboating and throwing around the power that didn’t rightfully belong to her. I caught myself gritting my teeth again. Apparently my pissed off attitude didn’t disguise well because I had gotten more than my fair share of strange looks from ponies on the street. I finally entered the library and it was all I could do to keep from slamming the door behind me. Just because I’m unreasonably pissed doesn’t mean I should be a poor guest, Twilight has been nice to me so far, I shouldn’t take my anger out on anypony who didn’t deserve it.

Nobody was home except for Spike who was too busily tiding up to notice my being there. I acknowledged him with a hello which was responded to by an over the shoulder wave. Now if I remember correctly Twilight told me that the chemistry lab was in the basement. I searched for the door for a little bit until I found it in between the library wing of the tree and the kitchen. The door swung open and I flicked on the light. I must admit, Twilight’s lab was nothing to sneeze at. Where does that saying come from anyway? Anyway, I started to unload all of the ingredients that I had collected earlier and opened my note book again; placing it neatly on a book stand I flipped to the page of the correct formula. Reading the instructions carefully, I poured a pot of water and began to boil it so that I could distill it, this way I could be sure there would be no unaccounted variables in this mixture. Once that was done I prepared the other components, some needing to be burnt first others only required specific aspects of the larger part. The silk would provide the bone a pattern to mimic, the hive mind of the ant would reprogram the reconstructive cells so they would work faster, strictly on the target area, so on and so forth. Finally the only things left to do was positively charge the alchemical formula with magic, and let it cool down to body or room temperature, then administer. In since Twilight was both not here and wouldn’t know how much charge to use anyway, I took it upon myself. I pulled up a nearby stool, sat down and leaned over the pot taking my dog-tags in hoof. I began to focus on what I wanted them to do and on command they sparked and held a green flame. Just as Star Swirl designed, these tags would technically be illegal given the fact they were carved from the horn of a dead changeling. It was kind of like how ivory from elephant tusks was banned in most all first world countries. The tags around my neck only existed because Star needed a prototype to other amulets to be made later on, like the Alicorn amulet he was attempting to make. I thought it was a cool but at the same time unethical idea, but I would keep my mouth shut if it meant I got to keep the tags my dear friend gave me. Plus the carried over abilities of being able to change my appearance into anypony of my choosing and levitating items I would otherwise have to touch with my hooves or mouth was kind of cool. The fire from the tags fell into the pot and the liquid changed into the desired color. And just like that it was done, but it needed to cool. Now would be a good time to fetch that ice. I exited the basement and entered the surface floor. Spike looked at me, no longer doing whatever miscellaneous task he had tended to before. And he too gave me a strange look.

“Oh, hey… what are you wearing?” I lost track of how many times I had been asked that today.

“Shadow Bolt Commando issue armor, and I’m sorry but I lied about my name. I actually go by Warhawk Curtis. And do you know where I find a bucket’s worth of ice?” I replied with a little urgency.

“We have some in the freezer. I’m sorry did you say Shadow Bolt?” the little dragon gestured toward the kitchen.

“Yes I did. Thanks.” I went into the kitchen and pulled the ice box out of the freezer and made my way back down into the basement. Spike followed me most likely curious about, well everything. I heard the front door of the Library as we disappeared into the basement again. I placed the ice box down on the counter next to the notebook, then I took the syringe in hoof and put the needle into the liquid in the pot. It had in fact cooled to body temperature and was now ready to administer. Spike just looked at me as I drew the mixture into the syringe. I then heard voices and hoofsteps coming down the stairs. The owners of those voices came into view just as I placed a strip of leather from my suit in my mouth.

“So, Twi what you’re telling me is this guy shows up out of nowhere, stayed the night, then made you breakfast. And you honestly expect me to believe that nothing happened?”

“Yes Dash, Nothing happened.”

“Uh, girls?” The same cyan Pegasus that crashed the fruit stand earlier seemed to be accusing Twilight of something, the two were followed by a pink maned’ yellow Pegasus, who was trying to get a word in. I only got a glimpse before I went back to my business. I unlatched my wing brace to expose the broken appendage, and then raised the syringe to the spot where I knew the break in the bone was.

“Hatchet?” Twilight started to say something to me but before she could finish her thought I plunged the needle into the skin, bit down harder on the leather strap. A sharp instrument piercing irritated skin that had already undergone the trauma of a bone breaking felt like an enormous bruise being cut with a knife. Not to mention that the injection needed to be between the two halves of the broken bone. I felt the little metallic tip touch one bone, I missed the mark by a few centimeters, but instead of pulling the needle back out for a second attempt I held the needle in the skin while I fished around for the separation of bone. My teeth would have been cracking at this point if it weren’t for the leather strap. The pain was clear on my face, my forehead wrinkled, my eyes where tightly closed as a few tears of agony, escaped. Finally after what seemed like an hour of prodding I finished the injection and quickly pulled the medical instrument out of my tormented wing. I was expecting to see blood dripping from the penetration site but no blood came forth, most likely from the inflammation. I put the needle down on the table and braced for the burning that I knew was coming. My wing began to make strange popping noises and I felt the two halves of the bone shifting under the skin, reconnect and begin to fuse. Now for the painful part; Spike and the other three ponies in the room looked at me with in shock. Nobody moved though. And here comes the heat. Low and tolerable at first, but as the seconds ticked by it rapidly grew hotter; all the while a voice in my head screamed for me to plunge my burning appendage into the crucible of ice. But I had to hold out for at least ten seconds or I would be in serious trouble. At the five second mark my breathing became heavy and I began to drool slightly on the strip of leather. It felt like the bone was forcibly ripped out and a piece of super-heated rebar had taken its place and was being heated ever hotter.

“Nine, Ten!” I grunted through the leather strap pounding my hoof against the table top, causing the tableware to shudder from the force of my blows. I lunged forth and submerged my wing into the cold of the ice. A few ice cubes popped out of the bucket and skittered across the table and onto the floor. The ice in the bucket actually popped and cracked, melting from the heat of my wing.

“Dear sweet Luna that burns!” I think I may have shouted that, but I’m not one hundred percent sure.

“Hatchet! What the hay are you doing?!” Twilight shouted as she jogged over to me.

“Warhawk, my actual name is Warhawk. I’m sorry I lied. And I just fixed my wing. Spike, hit this spot, as hard as you can.” I spit out the leather strap, wiped my mouth and spoke in a hoarse voice, damn these stupid puns. I pulled my wing from the ice box and held it low so Spike could have a go at it. He socked it, I felt the blow but nothing shifted.

“What is this stuff?” Spike picked up the syringe trying to examine it.

“It’s an alchemical formula Star Swirl as I put together. It’s very dangerous be careful. And DON’T prick your finger on that needle.”

“Wait, you said Star Swirled?” Twilight obviously wanted answers.

“Yeah, that book right there has his writing does it not.” I gestured to the little notebook. Twilight picked up the book with her magic and examined the signature.

“Why is it dangerous?” Spike pondered out loud while examining the syringe.

“It’s designed to speed up the healing process of broken bone.” I began.

“But that sounds like a medical miracle! Why isn’t this spell used in hospitals across Equestria?” Twilight ventured still holding the book.

“It speeds it up by re-programing cells and turning them into bone matter, but it’s only a single cell and doesn’t know when to stop. Use too much and it starts to turn muscle to bone until eventually it reaches something important like your heart and you die. The only way to stop it before it reaches that point is amputation. Use too little and it hurts like hell, doses virtually nothing and burns so bad you literally think you’re on fire.” I explained.

“Why does it burn like that?” Spike asked, placing the syringe down.

“It’s a fail-safe, or an attempt at one. The heat targets the re-programed cells and burns them out in an effort to prevent bone-overgrowth.” I concluded my explanation, pulling my wing from the ice bucket. Twilight was still staring slack jawed at the notebook.

“This signature is authentic. But this entry only looks a few weeks old.”

“It is.” I flicked the last few drops of water and flecks of ice off my wing and started to place my brace back on. After I wiped off the leather strap I was biting down on, I stood up and cleaned up my mess.

“But how?” Twilight began while she turned the book back over to me.

“I have a theory but it’s a bit outlandish and the probability of me being right is very slim” I gestured with my hoof after having placed the notebook back in my vest pocket. The yellow Pegasus began to speak in a hushed voice that quivered as if she were afraid.

“He’s the stallion I was telling you about, the one that almost killed that hydra.” I could barely hear her but the others seemed to hear her clearly. They seemed to clench up a bit almost defensively. Did they think I was going to attack them?

“Relax, that hydra ain’t dead. You can’t kill one like that anyhow, cutting off one head only gives it two more. I only hurt it so it would leave me alone. And besides it broke my wing, I think it got what it deserved…” I defended my violent actions toward the beast.

“Wait, so does that mean you are the Wonder Bolt in the text book we found earlier!?” Twilight exclaimed thinking she finally put together the puzzle of the century. I stopped short now being reminded of the things that drove my blood pressure through the roof just a short time ago, but instead of getting angry I managed to keep my temper low, and spoke clearly with words sharp as a sword’s edge to cut away the misinformation.

“I am no Blunder Colt nor do I have any desire to be, the day I join their sad little band is the day the Lunar Republic falls, and my family sells their farm.” My words left everyone in the room slack jawed save for the rainbow haired Pegasus who only seemed to grow furious at my remarks.

“Hey! You can’t talk about the Wonder Bolts like that! They’re the best flyers in all of Equestria!” She shouted at me and held a threatening stance.

“Yeah, no wonder we were winning the war. That is, before that high and mighty princess cheated. Look sister, my quarrel isn’t with you just as my loyalties don’t reside with the Solar Empire. Twilight, I thank you for your hospitality but for right now, I need to go set the record straight.” With that I strode past the three mares at the bottom of the basement stairs. The mares in the room stood there for a moment before following me up. On the ground floor I waltzed over to the window looking over the street, I peeked through the curtains waiting to see who the guest of honor was going to be for this parade.

“Wait so if you aren’t the Wonder Bolt from the book, you can’t be Warhawk.” Twilight’s forehead was wrinkled in confusion.

“Warhawk Curtis was a Shadow Bolt Commando, whom flew for the Lunar Republic. I am a Shadow Bolt, I am a Commando, I fly for the Republic, and my name is Warhawk Curtis. Therefore I am Warhawk Curtis.” I spoke without leaving the window. I caught the parade just as it was starting; I turned toward the back door, take them by the surprise and they won’t know what hit them.

“You aren’t making any sense. Besides, you don’t even look like one of the mythical Shadow Bolts. You don’t have the eyes, teeth, or wings.” Twilight protested as I made my way over to the door.

“Simple parlor tricks my unicorn friend. Not to worry, it’ll all make sense in due time.” I reached out and grabbed the handle of the door.

“Where are you going?” The cyan mare demanded.

“To rain on Celetia’s parade.” All three mares, and Spike protested as I closed the door behind me catching a glimpse of them as I did so. I think the rainbow haired one was following me but I wasn’t sure. Creeping around behind houses, I positioned myself in a shady alley way and waited. Sliding my goggles down over my eyes and ready to pounce, judging by the path laid out by the decorations the parade would loop around the town hall and proceed toward a local restaurant for lunch. I would be able to tackle the lead soldier and disappear before they could see me take out the one in the back. Turning my head toward a pile of trash, I saw my refection in a broken mirror sitting next to a dumpster. You know what? Twilight was right, I don’t look the part. How are they going to take me seriously if I don’t look authentic? That’s when I decided to refer to the little trick I learned back in an officer’s club a few years ago. My tags light up once again with the soft green glow of changeling magic the tips of my ears pointed and my wings shifted images to seem as if they were part bat. I closed my eyes for a second, and when I opened them again they looked like cat’s eyes and my teeth looked sharp enough to pierce metal. Like I said it’s just a trick I none of us ever really looked like this except when we wanted to scare folks. I looked forward just in time to see the first solar guard. Okay, don’t kill them just show they’re weak and let them run.

I tensed up, ready to jump. Issuing a battle cry I burst forward from the darkness of the alley and tackled the first guard to the ground. The dust kicked up from my attack created a temporary smokescreen keeping us out of sight. He lay in the dirt dazed wildly searching for his attacker, being me. I stood over him trying to see through the dust, it had settled enough for me to see the expressions plastered on the faces of the bystanders. Through my goggles, my eyes locked with the Solar Guard, he was terrified. The only thing he saw staring back at him where lifeless glass eyewear. With a quick kick, he was unconscious. Turning my attention I caught sight of Twilight and her friends, they too were dumbfounded. I flared my wings, thrust them back again and once more disappeared between two buildings; again I was hidden by the shade between the buildings. Behind me I could hear the crowd panicking and I felt a guilty empowerment, I could annihilate this whole security team. Running around to the back of the house to my left, I swooped into a second story window and ran over to the window with a view of the street. Overlooking the halted parade, I planned my next move, the security team had formed what I think was their attempt at a perimeter around the princess. Then the idea burst into my head like a firecracker. I backed away fom the window and I ran down the steps of the house into the kitchen where I located a knife. I then found a piece of paper and wrote the words check mate cheater with a nearby fountain pen. The black ink splattered as I wrote leading to an unexpected but welcome dramatic effect. After I finished the note I ran back to the top of the stairs and from there to the window. I watched and waited, letting the air become deathly quiet. Even the crowd was silent in suspense. Now is the best time. I allowed my back legs to propel me through the widow, but was careful not to break the glass on my way out. I burst through the open window from the darkness of the indoors into the sunlight, tackling another guard to the ground in another explosion of dust, I stabbed the chariot embedding the blade of the knife into the wood so that the note was firmly placed and clearly visible. I chuckled to myself, still within earshot of Celestia’s royal guard.

“Alright, enough point made.” I mused

But I was quickly reminded that I was in face still visible when one of the golden armored guards shouted something along the lines of get him. I leaped into the air, kicking off of one of the guards helmets, causing him to stumble, then flew once more in-between a pair of buildings. Standing in the darkness of another alley way I updated the objective tracker in my goggles to scout out General Moon’s location. I followed the moon icon and found it to be showing her location at a large castle sitting on a mountainside; it looked to be a day’s flight for even the fastest Pegasai.

So, with no more intent to attack I shed my demon like appearance for my normal look, it was kind of like crossing your eyes it’s easy at first but it eventually gets painful. I crouched and leaped from one wall in the alley to the other until I was on a roof top. From there I became airborne and started to make my way toward the mountain side castle which actually looked more like a city. My eye caught sight of something blue in the angled regions of my flight goggles, parts of which I had taken to using as rear view mirrors, a habit that has saved my ass on numerous occasions. I rolled over while flying so my back was to the ground, I looked down to see I was in face being chased by the cyan mare. I must admit I gotta admire her persistence. I rolled back over and looked down. Below me there where hundreds of trees and I had the advantage of a path finding guide that would plot a clear course through the trees allowing me to escape. No it’s too risky, just out run her for now. I beat my wings harder to gain speed the wind whistled through my armor and whipped my relatively short mane furiously as I gained speed. I checked behind me and she was still catching up, damn she’s fast. But let’s see how she moves. I glanced around in search of clouds, but the only ones I could find where stray atmospheric clouds. The kind a Pegasus couldn’t reach without oxygen gear or you’d pass-out and wind up splattered all over the ground. Can’t out run her and I can’t give her the slip; let’s see how high she can fly. It was dangerous to attempt to fly that high, but a few years with the Shadow Bolts and they train you to hold together for at least sixty seconds. I suddenly pointed my flight feathers down, the opposing wind resistance sent me soaring upward climbing higher and higher. The altimeter was going nuts and my wings began to burn from carrying all of my weight straight up. After a few seconds my goggles fogged a bit due to change in temperature and began to warn me of thin atmosphere but I pressed on. I inhaled deeply trying to hold on to as much air as I could for as long as I could. To my surprise I made it to a cloud that drifted lower than the rest and landed. Looking down I waited to see how long my pursuer would last at high altitudes. That’s when I saw her begin to shrink. She had passed out, the extra stamina it took to catch up must have been enough to push her past her limit, without the proper training it was bound to happen. By this point, I too was becoming light headed. I leaped off the cloud and returned to a safer altitude and shot a glance down at her. I could not in clear conscious let her fall to her death. She was good at heart and my quarrel wasn’t with her. Without a second thought I snapped my wings closed and dove, straight down for her. She was falling fast. We were losing altitude too rapidly, I wouldn’t be able to catch her in time. For some odd reason I thought the bronze skull of Iron Clad was chasing me as I fell, and that my own face might resemble that metallic atrocity. The thought of that monster behind me drove me to employ my wings to speed up my fall. The color red began to cloud my vision, then everything was black and white. Before me was a Pegasus, a Wonder Bolt judging by the uniform. As if on instinct I out stretched my wings, the blade along the outside of the outermost feathers would offer a clean cut, straight through the target. I was gaining speed and the target was drawing nearer, then that damned skull flashed across my vision. My world was then flooded with color once more, and mere inches away was the rainbow haired mare from Twilight’s basement. I caught the cyan mare well before we got uncomfortably close to the ground. But my pace hadn’t slowed down. Looking ahead, still traveling with tremendous velocity I started thinking about Dash, I can’t just leave her out here, not with a clear mind. She could be killed. And what the hell is with these flashbacks? I have to go back.

At the town limit I had slowed down to a reasonable glide but maintained a reasonable altitude. The Imperial guard tensed up as they saw me flying overhead but I could care less about them, so far the only pony that had come anywhere close to actually catching me, was a civilian with, as far as I knew, no actual training. She was pretty damned fast I had to give her that, but she wasn’t too bright. I scanned for a good place to stop; the only place that wasn’t crowded and had an easy escape route was the balcony of the library, so o flew over to it. I fluttered my wings back, trying to land as softly as possible, and then slowly rolled Dash off of my back, placing her gently on the floor. I removed my goggles from my eyes, and lowered my ear to make sure she was still breathing. Sure enough she was still ticking and I was relieved for it.

“Damn it, Dash that was a very stupid thing to do.” I mumbled to the unconscious Pegasus. I heard a shout, someone was giving an order. Glancing over the railing I watched a few golden armored Solar Imperials making their way to me, but I was already gone by the time they got to where I was. But I knew they would think I attacked her even though I saved her but no one would believe that, then again, none of that would matter. I was once again bound to my mission to locate General Nightmare Moon.

Author's Note

Sorry this chapter took so long, it needed extra work once I finished writing it.