Canterlot Castle Dining Room, Following Morning
Cloud Runner

Of all the things I could’ve done over the last week, I had to ditch my coffee. Coffee, the lifeblood of my sleepless nights before midterms, and I just up and left it.

Yup, really smart... But my parents obviously have had something else on their minds as they just stared at me from across the table. “Alright, spill. What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Your wings.” Dad said. “They’re back.”

“I know, we established that yesterday.” I retorted. “That’s not all, is it?”

“You’re taking it rather… Well.” Mom pointed out.

“What, I’m supposed to groan and moan over it?” I sat back in my chair and finished off my mug of that dark ether before I put it down on the table. “I got my wings back, and I got my memories back. What’s there to complain about?”

“I still got to teach you how to use them again.” Sky pointed out as she grabbed the open chair on my right.

“Another thing, are you sure that you two aren’t dating?” Mom asked.

I nodded. “Pretty sure. I mean that’s subject to change.”

Sky shrugged. “What he said.”

And I can see Mom’s head spinning at that last comment. Score one for the new dynamic duo! I just nudged Sky. “I think we broke her.”

“You probably did.” Dad noted. “I’ll tell you what Ms. Sky. You’re something else.”

“I do try.”

“Anyway, I’d assume that you two are planning on going back out to that island?”

I nodded. “Someone’s got to do it Dad.”

“And I’m not disagreeing.” He pointed out. “Just take each other out there. I don’t want to lose another child.”

“Don’t you worry. I’ll keep him in line.” Sky assured. “Alright Cloud, let’s get rollin’.”

Dad waved at us before we got two far from the table. “For the record, you two do seem like a good fit.”

“We’ll just see where it goes Dad.” Sky didn’t say a word as we walked off down the hall, keeping pace with me during the short walk to the courtyard.

“Your parents seem nice.” She said, breaking the silence.

“They are… I might be a bit biased though.”

Sky grabbed my shoulder and abruptly brought the two of us to a halt. “You think he might be on to something?” She whispered.

“Maybe.” I said. “But that’s something that’ll-” I felt my heart skip a beat when I felt a pair of arms wrap around my neck before a warm pair of lips mashed up against my muzzle. Awe fuck it, go for broke damnit!

I leaned into the kiss before Sky broke away panting. “You feel that?”

“Like someone knocked the wind out of me?”

“And like your heart just skipped a beat?”

I nodded. “Maybe we should worry about dealing with this later?”

“Agreed.” Sky kept walking and eventually led me to the current edge of the city. “Now I’ll be honest, I’m more of the hands-on type of teacher.”

“And what do you mean by hands on?” I asked as I looked down over the edge of the cliff.

“Simple. You can’t stop to look before you leap.” With a snap of her wings Sky dove off the side of the cliff, hollering as she skimmed the face of the mountain.

“No one said I was a genius...” I dove off the cliff after Sky, partly unfolding my wings just enough to maneuver away from the rocks. Sky managed to maintain a decent lead on me even as I picked up speed through each passing second of the dive. “Will you slow down?!?” I screamed over the wind.

“Sure, why not?” Sky yelled back.

She immediately struck her wings out to full span and tilting back just enough where they acted as an airbrake, and I managed to shoot past. “Damnit!” I spread my own wings out and tried to pull up, except that I didn't gain much movement.

Stopping for a moment, there's this thing called compression. Basically stated, any pegasus that goes into a dive has a certain speed that he or she can't exceed before it becomes difficult to maneuver as you approach the speed of sound.

...Something tells me that this might hurt. With the ground slowly getting nearer and my own realization that I'm likely to become a Cloudcake, I wrenched my back enough where I finally felt my orientation start to level out before smacking into the ground, just as a faintly visible cone of air grew sharp directly ahead of me. “Well that's new.” A quick flap of my wings and I felt some acceleration forward, that cone growing far more defined and sharp... But why do I feel like I'm going slow? You know what, time to stop this ride.

I managed to slow down enough where the cone disappeared and everything seemed to speed back up before managing a simple hover just over the Canterlot River at the mouth of the valley. Damn, how fast was I going?

It was maybe another five minutes before Sky finally caught up, shit-eating grin and all. “Cloud, that was amazing!”

“I wasn't going that fast.” At least I don't think... “This is where I get told I'm wrong, isn't it?”

Sky nodded. “Cloud, you passed mach two!” She yelled, wrapping me in a half-hug, half-hover type deal. “And you maintained it. You just made history!”

“Mach two?” I mumbled. “That can't be right. Nothing seemed to speed up until I dumped it out.”

“Well it happened, and you got the attention of the entire castle.” Sky retorted.

She wasn't lying about getting everyone's attention. The moment we landed back in the garden a small mob ran outside and started pelting me with questions. I didn't even have time to listen to half of them before some Solar Guards grabbed me and led me into the throne room. “Uh... Am I in trouble?” I asked no one in particular as those heavy wood doors slammed shut behind me and Sky.

“Far from it.” Princess Celestia said as she walked down from her throne, flanked by some rainbow-maned mare. “Only one pegasus has ever moved that fast before, and he was dead before I was born.”

“Do I even want to wager a guess?” I asked.

“If you're guessing on Commander Hurricane, then you'd be correct.”

“Ah, so the greatest player in the history of Equestria.” I droned.

“I wouldn't be so quick to knock the good Commander.” The Princess said, holding out a blue and yellow feather that looked rather familiar. “One of these fell off your wing yesterday.”

“And?”

“Very few pegasi have a feather pattern like this.”

I shrugged. “Doesn't mean jack. It's a feather.”

“A feather off the new record-holder for fastest flyer in Equestria.” She chided. “A feather from one of the few known direct descendants of Commander Hurricane himself.”

“Direct descendant my ass. Mine are straight-” I shut my mouth as I spread my wings out, finally seeing the golden glint on the tips of the outermost feathers. “Huh... Will you look at that?”

“Oh we're well aware, we can see the proof for ourselves.”

“But how did you do it?” The mare off to the side asked. “I have trouble maintaining my speed after a sonic rainboom, but look at you. You haven't even broken a sweat!”

“Cloud, this is Rainbow Dash, one of the Elements of Harmony.” The Princess stepped off to the side and motioned for Dash to take over.

I just shrugged. “I guess I'm just that good.”

“If you're that good why didn't Spitfire recruit you?” She questioned.

“Let's just say that up until recently I haven't been that big of a flier.” I retorted.

“And you went two times the speed of sound?”

“He did.” Sky said. “I did happen to be there.”

“And if you're such an expert why did it feel like everything was slowing down?” I asked.

“What?”

“You heard me.” I said. “Before I slowed down it felt like everything was moving... Well, slower than it logically should have.”

“Please, no one can focus like that.” Dash insisted.

“So… You think it’s a focus thing?”

“I’d imagine it is.” Said Dash.

“If I may.” The Princess interjected. “I’d imagine that you’re simply taking in the world around you so rapidly that everything seems to slow down.”

“Like a high speed camera…” I muttered. “It’s a logical explanation.”

“But no pegasi in history ever experienced traits like what you’re describing.” Sky pointed out.

I just looked around at everyone in the room and realized that Sky’s one comment had stumped everyone. “What about my augmentations?” I asked.

“What augmentations?” Dash asked.

“That's classified Rainbow.” The Princess said.

“What she said." I added. "Now where's Halsey?"

“Halsey is on the Paris…” The Princess mumbled. “I think we might have some experts we can ask.”

“Who?”

The Princess motioned to the guards to go do… Something. “Just relax, the guards will be escorting the two of them up shortly.” She just walked back up to the throne and sat down, drumming her fingers on the armrest as a scowl grew across her face. She stayed like that for almost half an hour while the rest of us stood around waiting before three loud knocks were heard against the throne room door. “Enter!”

The doors slowly creaked open as a trio of guards escorted two bound human females into the throne room. One of them had a sizable bandage on the side of her head, while the other wore the undersuit from a set of power armor.

“Admiral Osman. You look well.” The Princess noted, maintaining that scowl. “Before we continue, I’d like to inform you that your friend West Wind has unfortunately passed.”

“Oh cut the shit!” The bandaged woman yelled. “What do you want?”

“Well two of my friends here have some questions. You cooperate, your stay here becomes far more comfortable. The same goes for your compatriots.” The Princess almost looked like she was starting to smile at that last part.

“And what does he want to know?” Osman asked before she muttered something under her breath.

“The Spartan augmentations.” I said, watching her eyebrows perk up at the very mention of the procedure. “The four of us are going to go have some coffee and chat about them.”

“You want me to just hand out classified information?”

I nodded as I walked up to her. “You will.” I finally was face to face with Osman. If the eyes are a window to the soul, then her’s look like they were broken. “Because I want to know what they’re doing to me.”

***

I was lucky enough that the Princess loaned an office for this little interview. Sky was off to the side preparing some drinks while I read over the files on the two people in front of me. Lucky for me the Princess got the files that weren’t coated in black ink. Just skimming over the important facts, anyone with a brain could tell these two went through Halsey’s original program. I wonder if I’ll get a crack at her files?

“So are just going to sit there or are you going to ask us something?” Osman questioned.

“Oh I’m planning on it…” Sky finally joined us, bringing some cider along for the ride. “Apple cider?” I asked as I picked up one of the mugs. “Come on, it’s harmless.”

“Any reason you’re being so nice?” Osman asked as she picked up one of the mugs.

“I don’t have a problem with you.” I said. “First question… When I was flying earlier everything seemed to slow down-”

“Spartan time.” Naomi muttered as she put down her mug. “At least that’s what Kelly called it. Spartans have superior reaction time and processing abilities. You’re going through every detail so fast it only appears that the world around you is slowing down while you’re going at the same pace... Except in reality you’re moving far faster than those around you.”

“Sounds like the high speed camera analogy works…” Sky whispered to me.

“If anything the majority, if not all, of your senses were heightened by the augmentations.” Osman added.

“Sounds like fun…” I muttered. “Are there any other changes that the augmentations can cause?”

“Let’s see...” Osman mumbled. “There are some potential psychological changes, but they’re rare.”

“What do you mean by psychological changes?” Sky asked.

“Increased aggression primarily.” Naomi said. “It might have been an issue with the Spartan Two, maybe even the Spartan Three program. But you need to remember that everyone who was part of those programs had some sort of psychological issues. For most of us Twos we ripped from our families at a young age.”

“And the Threes lost their families to the Covenant.” Osman added. “The Fours are the first real voluntary recruits out of all three modern Spartan programs. For the most part they all have lives outside of the armor so any issues became far more noticeable.”

I slowly nodded before starting right into the Admiral’s eyes. “Be honest with me. Could a prior traumatic experience feed into the increased aggression?”

“It’s possible.” She admitted. “But I just don’t know for sure. For the last few years we’ve had psychologists looking into it, but there’s nothing concrete yet.”

I felt some hairs stick up on the back of my neck, almost like when you get hit by a random cool breeze, but I refused to flitch at their rise. “Now you said something about enhanced senses?”

“Yes…”

I nodded. “So you think whoever just snuck into the room is going to get anywhere?”

“Huh?” Osman said with a look of confusion growing across her face.

“You don’t-” I stopped when I felt a thin line of cold metal press lightly against my throat. “-know anything about this?” Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sky was in a similar predicament.

Three other armored humans swept the room with their rifles. “Clear”. One of them growled though his helmet. “You alright Oz?”

“I’m fine Mal.” She groaned. “Now what the hell is going on?”

“BB signaled.” He said. “He’s got a prowler waiting further down the valley.”

“You do realize you need to get out of the castle first?” I pointed out.

“We might have a solution.” He said. “You’re up Dev.”

“What the hell?” Sky grunted as she was hauled to her feet.

“Alright, we got our ticket out. Let’s move!”

I felt the knife disappear from my throat followed by a cacophony of near-silent footsteps as the group of six made for the door. I managed to get to my feet in time to see this ‘Dev’ character standing in the door with Sky staring at me. “You’ll get her back once we leave. You have my word.”

“Your word mean jack.” I growled. “Now let her go.”

“Sorry.” She whispered. “But I can’t do that.” The last thing I saw before the soldier shut the door was Sky squirming against the blade at her throat, a look of pure panic in her eyes.

***

Castle Throne Room, Five Minutes Later

I bucked the door open to the throne room, successfully knocking the two guards on the other side onto their asses as I barged in. “We got a problem!” I yelled.

“Osman escaped.” The Princess groaned from her seat. “Cloud, I’m sorry. I should’ve seen this coming.”

“It would be nice if Osman did too.” I retorted. “I got the impression that she didn’t know what the hell was happening when I started to bring up her people sneaking into the room.”

“They snuck in?” Captain Sentry asked from his spot at the foot of the throne. “How do you know that?”

“There was a bit of a draft that stirred up when they opened the door.” I said. “Heightened senses, good thing to have. Now how are we getting Sky back?”

“I don’t know.” The Captain sighed. “We don’t even know what they’re up to.”

“One of them said that someone they call BB had a prowler waiting for them farther down the valley.” I said. “They’re trying to leave.”

“Shit…”

“Captain, scramble all available Wonderbolts. It’ll take time to get down the valley, so I want that prowler found and secured before Osman’s people can reach it.” The Princess ordered.

“Thanks for the information Cloud.” The Captain said as he walked over to me. “We’ll find Kilo Five and bring Sky back.”

“Uh, what?”

“We’re going to rescue her?” The Captain tried to point out.

“How about no.” Both the Princess and Captain exchanged glances of concern. “I’ll rescue her. I just need the gear and I need to know where Osman and her friends went.”

“So you, a colt with no military training, wants to go after highly trained special operators?” The Captain asked. “Are you nuts?”

“Partially, yes.” I retorted. “Now can you get me some gear or not?”

The Princess looked over at the Captain and waved to the two guards at the door. “Bring him to Twilight’s lab. She’ll have what Cloud needs.”

“Yes ma’am.” I turned and followed the pair down the hall into one of the older wings of the palace. Hell, there wasn’t much to see during the brief walk, most of the decorations having been covered with white linins to protect them from dust. Finally one of the guards stopped at a old and worn wooden door and swung it open. “She’s in here.”

“Who’s in here?” The Princess called out as I entered the lab (assuming you could even call it that).

“Well… You?” I pointed out. “Princess Celestia said I should see you. She said you had some equipment I might be able to use.”

“Equipment?” She muttered. “Oh, like armor?”

“I’d assume so.”

I watched as the mare strolled over to a large white sheet and pulled it away to reveal two sleek pairs of black armor. “I’ve had these since Commander Tremble raided an Enclave airship a few years back. I did make some changes to the heads-up display since I got my hands on them but not much else.”

I ran my fingers over the cool plastic-like material that made up one of the shoulder pads. “It’ll do.” I muttered. “I do have one question though.”

“And what’s that?” Twilight asked.

“Does it come in blue?”

***

While my choice in cosmetic appearance for this ‘borrowed’ set of armor might seem a bit selfish, I’ve got good reason to ask for blue.

For example, not getting shot at with flak guns. That’s a plus. And did I mention that this stuff is silent? The type of silence that makes you think you’re being watched?

I don't care if this is some government secret, I’m keeping it!

I managed to land with nary a sound in some brush just off an old trail, just in time for a small group to march into the adjacent clearing as they continued their southward march.

“Can we just stop?” Osman snipped.

“I like that idea.” Sky said as one of the soldiers dragged her along. “Maybe you could let me go at the same time?”

Osman shook her head. “For right now you stick with us. And another thing, who told you guys to bust out?”

“Uh…” The three soldiers exchanged looks, most likely having awkward expressions plastered across their faces under their helmets. “We were let out. Some Guard came in and said that the old lady sent him.”

“Old lady…” As Osman mulled it over a look of horror grew across her face. “Oh god, it’s Parangosky.”

“Who’s Parangosky?” Sky asked.

“She was the last Chief of Naval Intelligence... And she was my mentor.”

Sky nodded. “So, you think you let her down by helping with the Enclave's bad attempt at a genocide?”

“It's not like that!” Osman yelled. “Trust me when I say there's a lot more at work here than-” Osman was cut off suddenly as a group of pegasi clad in electric blue flight suits landed around the clearing. “Awe shit.”

“Admiral Osman.” The fire-haired leader said as she stepped inside the perimeter that her peons had established. “You're coming back to Canterlot with us.”

“You heard her!” Yelled a pegasi guard captain as he smacked to the ground. “Now surrender!”

Now I'm no legal expert, but I know other ponies' facial expressions. And judging by the one on Osman's face she's scared, maybe even mortified.

“I'm gonna regret this.” I muttered as I walked out of the bushes. “Captain, how about you calm the hell down.?”

“And who the hell are you?” He asked.

“Tempest.” I said almost on instinct. “This is a Northern Guard operation and you're interfering.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“They're taking us to their ship.” Sky said as she took a place next to me. “They have intelligence on board that will aid us with the Carniola campaign.”

“Bullshit!” One of the younger Wonderbolts yelled.

“And?” I asked. “We need to check it out. If it's a wash, oh well. These guys go back in their cage.”

“Really?” The Captain asked as he stared me right in the eyes with that piercing gaze that someone like him had years to perfect.

“Really.” I said as I stepped forward, a soft crackling sound in my wake that I didn't recognize.

But I did recognize the look of concern that broke through his gaze. “Return to Canterlot.” He ordered. “You know that this isn't over.”

“Well aware.” I retorted as the Captain and his cronies flew away. “Sky?” I muttered.

“Ya?”

“What the hell did we just do?”

“Helped protect fugitive accused war criminals because we're both interested in who broke them out and what these guys have to do with war with the Enclave?”

“That about sums it up. Good acting by the way.”

"Thanks."

I whipped around to face the shocked group of humans and smirked under my helmet. “Alright, you six and anyone else in this canyon probably smelled the shit we fed that Captain from a mile away. So in the interest of not rotting in prison can we get the hell outta here?”

“Fine by me... Dev, lead the-” Osman looked over at the three troopers who were now standing at the base of a dimly lit ramp that led up into a shimmering cloud. “That works.”

“CLOUD RUNNER!!!” Screamed Captain Sentry as he rocketed down the valley towards us.

I shoved Osman and Sky towards the ship before turning to face the oncoming orange and purple blur. “I'll keep him busy.”

“Doing what?” Sky asked as she was half-dragged up the ramp by Naomi.

“Who can go mach two and doesn't give a fuck?” I asked before jarring my thumbs at myself. “This colt!”

Mere moments later I noticed one of the great things about this armor; the built-in booster. I don't know how it works, but I don't have to do a damn thing. I remembered that as I slammed into Captain Sentry in mid-air almost immediately after I was airborne and went tumbling towards the trees along the banks of the Canterlot River below. It kicked on with a flick of my wrist, and as I bent backwards I felt gravity pull against me as I finally was rocketing straight up out of the canyon.

“Can we just talk this out?” I yelled as a blur slammed into me from above and drove me down into the ground.

“What's there to talk about?” Captain Sentry spat as he hovered just above me. “You just helped war criminals escape.”

“War criminals that could give me information!” I yelled back as I got back to my feet. “Did you notice that they were willing to talk to me? Better yet did you figure out which Guards were paid off to let Osman’s friends out?”

“No one paid off my staff!” He yelled as he dove in and cocked the side of my helmeted face.

As the Captain’s second fist past in front of my face it appeared that he had slowed down.

This is going to be fun.

I grabbed the Captain’s arm with my left hand and swung up into his elbow with my closed right fist. I felt his arm shudder as the joint failed. Shifting my grip to his upper arm I heaved him over my shoulder and planted Sentry face first into the dusty ground. “Well Caliper shows how bad of a character judge you are.” I stepped back as the wounded Captain took a swing at me with his good arm. I grabbed it when he tried to land another blow and twisted it backwards with a resounding crack. “Now here’s what’s going to happen.” I said as I hauled the bruised Captain up by the collar of his armor. “You’re going to go back to Canterlot and tell the Princess that I’ve got Osman under control. We clear?”

“Clear.” He grunted.

“Good.” I dropped the Captain and walked over to the ramp. “Let’s get the hell out of here.” I said to Osman.

“I think I-”

“Owe me more answers to complicated and sensitive questions?” I interjected. “In that case put the coffee on.”

Author's Note

With Cloud now having a rough idea of what he's dealing with as far as the augmentations go, it's just a matter of learning to use the benefits that come with them to the best of his ability. Serin Osman, in my mind, can serve as a good teacher. Assuming that anyone has read Broken Mirror Part One, you'd know that the head of ONI and her associates were imprisoned for aiding the Enclave. She finally realized the massive mistake in supporting the Enclave. But what else fed into that? Like Osman said, it's far more complicated than that. The next chapter, 'Failure', will help fill in those blanks.

And Cloud's brutality in dealing with Captain Sentry? That's the anger issues boiling over once again.

Anyone got questions? Like what you're seeing so far? Hell, maybe have some gripes? There's a comment section, and I want to hear from you fellow denizens of the interwebs. Until next time!
-Striker