MLP 40K: Trial by Fire

The cargo bay was not large by the standards of the Equestrian Navy, but it was more than adequate for Able's needs. At fifty stand mare lengths to a side, she only had to gallop around the bay twenty times to make a full kilomare. It was also surprisingly empty of cargo, with only a few dozen crates of supplies in attendance.

She had just finished her seventh kilomare and was just starting to work a nice burn into her muscles. Her cinnamon coat had gained a nice sheen from her sweat. Whenever she had the chance to run she felt like smiling or laughing. Able never felt more alive than when she was able to physically exert herself.

She glanced over at the wheezing form of Free Fall. The cyan mare had managed five herself before she had started to falter. Six had been the magic number that had caused her to pull aside for a breather. Considering how she had told Able that she didn't have her own training regimen, Able was quite impressed with Free Fall's endurance. She figured that it had something to do with all the hovering and flying the pegasus enjoyed so much.

Eight kilomares, Able noted mentally as she made another pass. Two more and she could start her combat exercises. She was hoping Free Fall would be fully recovered by then so the two of them could go at it. She had tried snagging Tracks for the practice but she had barely gotten him to reserve the cargo bay for their personal use and he seemed less than enthusiastic about training. She had briefly considered asking Devoid but, after quickly coming to her senses, realized he would probably try to make the session as unbearable as possible.

Nine. She saw that Free Fall was looking a lot better now. Able grinned as she picked up speed. She always put extra effort into the last kilomare. She did this when she didn't have the time to just gallop until her legs gave out. Last time she had tried that she made it over sixty kilomares, though she had completely collapsed afterwards. Since ruining her legs right before a mission was not a particularly smart idea, she had worked out the ten kilomare regimen.

Aaaaaaaand ten. Able slowed herself down to a canter and angled herself towards Free Fall. By the time she arrived at the now recovered pegasus Able had managed to get her breathing under control. May need to do a full gallop for the last two kilomares next time. She thought. She was always striving to push herself to the limit, a pony could never be too in shape, after all.

"You have your wind back yet Free?" Able asked eagerly. She had been waiting for a training partner for almost a week now and the excitement was starting to get the better of her. She was also excited to train with a pegasus, she had never had the opportunity before. The Equestrian Guard was composed primarily of earth ponies, just as the Equestrian Navy was mostly pegasi.

"Sure, sure," Free Fall said. As the two of them squared off to prepare to spar, Free Fall spoke again. "Y'know, we haven't known each other that long." She paused for a moment before continuing. "I haven't really seen you without your armor on before."

Able cocked her head to the side. "Is this how you plan to start all of our sparring matches?"

Free Fall waved her hoof back and forth. "No, no, no. I'm just curious," she began. "How in Equestria did you get that cutie mark?"

Able looked back to her exposed flank, which bore the universal symbol of las technology, a thick red line impacting a circle with thinner lines going out in all directions

"You want my cutie mark story?" Able asked. Her mind reached back. She hadn't shared that story in a long time. "I..."

*          *          *

Able had grown up on one of the many agricultural worlds in Equestria. Her family was one of many that worked tirelessly to provide food for the planets in Equestria that were unable to grow their own. She had a multitude of siblings, both younger and older than herself who helped her spend most of her time cleaning farming equipment and learning how things worked around the massive farm.

It was her older brothers who had first introduced her to the family lasgun. Rusty and Combine... She could never remember which one had first hoofed their parents' old weapon to her. While she hadn't seen which one had forced the gun on her, the rest of her memory of that event was cemented in her mind for all time.

It was early in the year, one of the days waiting for the spring harvest. No planting to be done, no real serious pests attacking the crops yet. Just waiting and more waiting. The barn was one on the edge of the family property. Time and the regular exposure to pegasus weather had stripped the paint from the once red structure and had bleached the underlying wood to a dull gray. The older brothers liked to go out there and shoot random garbage for fun. Rusty, Combine, and some of her other brothers had snuck the lasgun and a few spare battery packs out for a round of killing cans. Able had wanted to go, she felt she was missing out. Most of the brothers complained that she would "filly up" their "colt time." Rusty, who was the eldest and colored the same as his name, had told them all to stuff it.

Rusty always had some form of plant stalk hanging out of his mouth, usually wheat. He moved the stalk from one side of his mouth to the other in satisfaction. He had just finished off an energy pack and had done quite well, hitting all ten of the cans he had lined up within the thirty shots the clip had provided. He kept a smug grin on his muzzle as he passed the weapon to the next oldest colt.

It was Combine's turn to murder some tin. He set up his ten cans, slammed the battery home and took careful aim. After thirty shots the only thing he had managed to hit was, well, the broad side of the inside of the barn. At first skeptical, then surprised, and then finally hysterical, Rusty had fallen into an uncontrolled fit of laughter as Combine's pathetic attempts at marksmanship continued.

Combine's normally tan cheeks had developed quite the embarrassed shade of red by the time he had finished. In a poor effort to save face, he had said that his mane had gotten too long and had been getting in his eyes. Rusty retorted, in classic brotherly fashion, by saying that even their little long-haired sister could out-shoot him.

The next thing Able knew, the carbine had been dropped in her hooves and her two eldest brothers were looking on expectantly. Rusty's golden eyes beamed encouragingly at her as he chewed on his wheat stalk. Combine had looked on with what she assumed was confidence. He probably thought it was an excuse to get the attention off of himself and to give her a chance to find out how much she disliked guns.

She remembered her first impressions of the weapon. She felt the weight, the balance, the unfamiliarity of the cold steel in her hooves as she held the lasgun for the first time. She also remembered, it had felt so... right.

Rusty had showed her the proper rituals for operating the lasgun. Within a few short minutes she had it shouldered and sighted properly. Rusty was about to tell her to hoof the trigger when she surprised him by blasting the first can to smithereens. All the gathered siblings had a good laugh at Combine's expense over Able's bout of "beginner's luck." This quickly changed, however, as she had continued to hit all of the remaining cans without missing once. Ten shots. Ten cans. When she had looked around, everypony's mouths were hanging open. Even her oldest brother, the ever-present wheat stalk had fallen clean out of Rusty's gaping muzzle.

Rusty had taken quite a liking to her after that, and had invited her on all of the future rifle practices. After a few years, she had become quite adept with the family lasgun. While her parents hadn't originally approved of it, she started following Rusty when he went on pest control runs.

Wild animals would often try to eat their crops or attack their livestock. They were a constant nuisance to both their family's as well as other farms. Smaller animals needed to be shot, rabbits and groundhogs could devastate a crop by eating roots and leaves and burrowing everywhere. Larger herbivores could also cause quite a bit of damage, but they were easy enough to scare away. A single shot from the lasgun would send most running far away, even if their inherent stupidity brought them back time and time again.

Predators... Predators were a different story entirely. They would rarely just walk in to attack the livestock. Often they would sneak in and make off with one or more small animals. Predators were difficult to deal with, but were still manageable... Until one day.

Able was trotting past the livestock area with Rusty, the same route they took  they noticed a large ferocious creature attacking the chicken enclosure. Neither one knew what kind of horror this was. It was enormous canine monstrosity, black of fur and red of tooth and eye. The two froze as they watched the beast tear apart the fence as if it were made of tissue paper.

Rusty had shakily lifted the lasgun, and fired...

*          *          *

"I..." Able paused, the words catching in her throat. She looked up at Free Fall. "I don't really want to talk about it," she managed. "How about we just start sparring?"

"Fine," the cyan pegasus said. She seemed to do a little warmup run in place. Able found herself quite confused at the display. Confusion was replaced by adrenaline fueled clarity as the winged mare spontaneously launched herself though the air towards Able.

Able jumped backwards to avoid the cyan blur that was now attacking her. She found herself successfully parrying everything thrown her way despite Free Fall's blinding speed. The pegasus had obviously earned the rainbow lightning pins that she wore on her flight suit. Able realized that despite the extreme speed advantage that Free Fall had, she had almost no technique to her attacks. If it weren't for the speed at which Free Fall was moving, Able would have been able to easily block and counterattack everything. A little bit of training would make Free Fall one dangerous pegasus, but for now...

Free Fall hit the deck with a resounding thud.

As the pegasus groaned in pain, Able offered her a hoof.

"How," the cinnamon mare shook her head while she asked, "have you managed to work for Sophic for so long," she paused with exertion as she helped Free Fall to her hooves, "and yet you don't know any basic combat maneuvers?"

"Well," Free Fall said, "I think it might have something to do with the fact that I'm the pilot."

"You can't tell me that you've never had a chance to get any practice in," Able scoffed. "What about Tracks?"

"Oh, yeah, Tracks," she said in a sarcastic tone, "because getting him to do anything physical isn't a feat in and of itself." Free Fall looked at Able again. "I mean, don't get me wrong, he is really good at what he does... He just... doesn't do physical."

"Yeah," Able said thoughtfully, "I noticed that when I was trying to get this cargo hold reserved... And when I tried to get him to train with me..."

"Well," Free Fall said while dropping back into a semi-passable combat stance, "let's get back to it."

Able grinned and moved into an offensive stance. She was going to see Just how fast the pegasus could move.

They continued with the back and forth for many minutes. The sparring session was blurs of movement punctuated by Free Fall slamming into the deck plating or a pile of cargo containers. Able used the pauses to try and convey some of her knowledge of forms and technique to the speedy pegasus, but Free Fall just didn't seem to have the attention span or the proper instincts to actually pick anything up.

Able had just about given up on teaching the pegasus anything worthwhile when suddenly...

Free Fall kicked her right in the muzzle. Able staggered to the side, more than mildly surprised.

Free Fall let out a whoop of excitement for the hit as she bounced in place. "I think I'm getting better at this!" She said eagerly.

Able couldn't deny it, Free Fall had somehow started picking up on her motions. There was something else nagging at Able as well. While she was starting to slow down due to mild fatigue, Free Fall was not slowing down at all. If anything, she seemed to be getting faster. It was almost like she was on some kind of combat drug or something.

Able hadn't quite believed everything she had heard about Free Fall and her supposedly endless energy supply, especially after she had seen the pegasus winded after a mere six kilomare run. But that doesn't make any sense! Her mind screamed. How did she get winded by a short run yet have the stamina to keep doing this?

Able frowned. She felt her cheek twitch as the other mare continued to bounce. "How do you have so much energy?"

Free Fall shrugged and, with a small thrust from her wings, went into a hover a few hoof lengths from the ground.

It's suddenly hit Able, a little harder than Free Fall's hoof had. "You've been using your wings to move this whole time, haven't you?" Able felt stupid as she asked the question, and Free Fall's response confirmed it. Able had to control the urge to face-hoof at such an obvious oversight.

"Of course I have, I'm a pegasus," Free Fall replied.

*          *          *

Maybe she'd hit Able in the head harder than she'd thought. The earth pony mare seemed to have forgotten Free Fall had wings. And now she was holding her hoof to her head and shaking it back and forth...

"I didn't brain you too hard, did I?" Free Fall asked with genuine concern.

"No," Able began, "I just didn't figure your wings in. I should have. You use those practically all the time you aren't flying the Equila, right?"

"Well, yeah." Free Fall wasn't sure what Able was getting at.

"Think about it," Able said in the lecture voice she'd been using this whole session, "your wings are just starting to get warmed up. But I'm  starting to get tired."

Free Fall was puzzled. "You're tired already? But we just started!"

Able's head trauma was apparently acting up again, her hoof had gone right back to between her eyes. "No, I'm not, I'm just..." She paused for a moment. "I want to tie you up."

Free Fall felt her eyebrows rise. "Say what?"

"Specifically your wings." Able gave her a look that said she was about to go into lecture mode again. "You're not picking the moves up because you're moving too fast. If you slow down a bit for the training here, I bet you'll start to pick it up... faster."

Free Fall cocked her head to the side in confusion. That didn't make any sense to her. How could going slow possibly help her learn faster? "I'll try it," she said skeptically, "but I really don't see how this is going to help me learn this stuff faster."

Able gave her a confident smile. "Trust me, once your muscles have memorized the motions, you'll be able to do them slow or fast. But we have to slow you down first. I can't teach a blur."

Free Fall let Able secure her utility belt around her wings. Free Fall gave a few experimental stretches to make sure it would keep her wings to her sides without making it so they would become cramped. She hadn't felt so clumsy since her foalhood. Without her wings for balance and little boosts to her speed she felt... "I'm like a voidcraft in an atmosphere," she said.

Able gave her a vacant look.

"No wings?" Free Fall said. Able continued to give her the blank expression. "Y'know what?," Free Fall said, "never mind. Let's get to this."

Free Fall went through the motions Able was showing her. She almost couldn't tolerate how slowly she was moving. It was like she was underwater, all of her movements felt sluggish, slow. She didn't know how other ponies could stand moving so slowly. Even pushing the rest of herself to her limits, she couldn't even come close to the speed she was accustomed to.

Free Fall realized that Able wasn't taking advantage of her slow speed as they sparred. If anything, she had slowed herself down to better let Free Fall pick up the moves easier. And, despite her original skepticism, Free Fall had to admit that she was starting to pick some of them up.

A shrill buzzer sounded through the cargo hold, causing both mares to stop mid grapple and stare at one of the vox speakers that was blaring out the noise. They disentangled from each other and waited for whatever announcement was going to be made.

"Attention all hooves, Everfree translation will occur in T minus ten minutes," a tinny voice announced  over the vox speakers, "repeat, Everfree Translation will occur in T minus ten minutes."

"Finally," Free Fall found herself saying, "I thought we'd never translate."

Able frowned. "Yeah, now we get to look forward to two to six weeks of horrific nightmares," she added with a strong hint of sarcasm. She looked like she was in thought for a moment before she spoke again. "I'm surprised," she said, "I thought you would be more upset being cut off from Princess Luna. I know I get scared every time I get cut off from the Princess."

It was a well known fact that the Princess of the Night patrolled the dreams of all Equestrian citizens. Her presence there was all that prevented the Everfree from exerting its corrupting influence within the imaginations of ponies all over the galaxy.

It was also a well known fact that Luna's influence over pony dreams did not extend into the Everfree itself. Anypony in a vessel that had translated into the Everfree, even one protected by the strongest of Gallop fields, would be subjected to surreal and horrifying nightmares every time they closed their eyes.

Free Fall waved a hoof dismissively at Able's comment. "Nothing scares me."

Free Fall could feel the skepticism radiating off of Able. "Uh huh," Able said with a smirk and a roll of the eyes that said exactly what she thought about the statement.

Free Fall scowled at Able with what she hoped was a suitably intense stare. Her hopes were dashed as Able's smirk grew into a full mirthful grin.

"You," Free Fall stated, "are worse than Devoid."

Able continued to smile at her. It wasn't like Devoid's vicious mocking grin, there was camaraderie and a true joviality in it. Despite her best attempts, Free Fall found herself returning the expression. "Fine!" She exclaimed, throwing a hoof up in an overly dramatic fashion, "you got me! I'm scared of ducksays!"

"What's a ducksay?" The clueless cinnamon mare asked.

Free Fall smiled wide. "They say Quack!" She exclaimed, throwing both front hooves into the air for the big reveal.

She saw Able facehoof. Hard.

After Free Fall landed back on her front hooves, she pumped one in victory.

"T minus one minute to Everfree translation," said the tinny vox speaker.

Able shuddered. "I hate this part."

Free Fall gave her an encouraging pat on the withers. "It'll be fine," she said with as much reassurance as she could muster into her voice, "I've done this countless times, and you will too, working with Tracks."

"I've done this plenty of times," she said bitterly as the ten second countdown began, "it never gets better."

"Five," the voice said as Free Fall began to feel the queer sensation that accompanied the process of leaving the physical universe.

"Four." everything she saw became distorted, like through a constantly changing lens.

"Thhhhhhrrrrrreeeeeee." Sounds became distorted.

"Two." An intense pressure began to build in her head, like the worst sinus head cold she'd ever had.

"One." As the number was counted off, Free Fall felt the customary lurching sensation as the Accord completed the translation...

But something was wrong. She didn't hear the sound of the speakers announcing the successful translation to the Everfree.

She couldn't see, she couldn't hear, she couldn't feel...

No... That was wrong.

She saw, she heard, she felt, she smelled, she tasted...

Everything... Ever.

Somewhere in the infinity of sensation she was experiencing, some small part of her brain was not suffering from complete sensory overload. That part of her vaguely realized that Able had run over to where they had piled their gear and was screaming for a medic into her helmet's comm set. It also noticed the cyan mare's body that was thrashing around in a puddle of its own vomit and blood.

Huh, her mind thought, as it floated above her convulsing form, that looks painful.