Far Away

CHAPTER XXXI

One day of your life wasted is one day you will never be able to get back. Live life to the fullest, live your dreams, achieve something, cherish it. Be remembered for the rest of eternity and you know that you have impacted the world; achieved something great…

Iron felt his wounded wing ache with small electrifying pulses of pain. He turned onto his right side, to get a better look of his surroundings, but not daring to turn to his left as he did not want to experience the amounts of pain that he would have to endure to lay on his wounded wing.

“Iron?” came a voice from behind him.

“Huh?” he asked into the darkness, “Who’s there?”

“Don’t you remember?” said the voice, “It’s me.”

Iron felt a gentle hoof touch his back. “Oh, Spitfire?”

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

Iron rolled back onto his belly and touched his wounded wing gently and then stretched it gingerly. “Alright, I guess,” he replied.

“I’m just happy you’re alright, Iron,” said Spitfire, still sitting on the chair next to his bed, motionlessly staring into Iron’s eyes.

“Hey, when did you start acting so soft?” Iron chuckled, “I thought you were the captain of the Wonderbolts.”

“Well, I can’t act like that all the time,” she said defensively, “It’s refreshing to have a normal conversation from time to time.”

“I guess so,” Iron agreed and laid his head back down onto the pillow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Do you know where Spitfire is?” asked Fleetfoot who was laying on the couch.

“Yeah, where has she disappeared to this time?” agreed Soarin, “I’m going to search for her and if I don’t find her, I’m going back to Portsmouth and keeping Dash a company. Seriously, I not supposed to be the damned commander around here.”

“I don’t hope you find her, I really don’t,” moaned Fleetfoot, “I just want to go home.”

“Yeah… no. Fleetfoot please act more professional in this environment,” complained Soarin, “As you may have noticed, there has been a war raging out there a few dozen blocks away. You might want to rethink your career choices if you don’t like this.”

“Ha ha, you are so funny,” retorted Fleetfoot sarcastically.

“Well, I’ll get going Fleetfoot,” reported Soarin from the doorway, “I’ll meet you ponies later.”

“See if you can find Iron Skies as well,” called Fire Streak from beside Fleetfoot on the couch.

“Will do,” agreed Soarin from down the short hallway.

He walked up the narrow flight of stairs to the infirmary. It was dark inside in the hallway where all the windows were covered by curtains and many rooms jutted off to the sides. There was one particular room where a soft light shone from the window that was separating the room with the hallway. Soarin walked up to it and peered inside.

“Spitfire?” whispered Soarin as he saw her sitting next to Iron Skies’ bed. Soarin walked up to the door and opened it slowly.

“Spitfire? You are supposed to be leading the Wonderbolts right now. What are you doing?” asked Soarin from the small opening at the door.

“Oh… Hello Soarin… Fancy seeing you here,” replied Spitfire.

“I told you Spitfire. You can leave me here and go lead the Wonderbolts. We have a war on our hooves,” said Iron Skies, “I’ll be fine, go.”

“Ok, fine,” huffed Spitfire, her decision forced by her co-captain watching her and Iron urging her on.

After Spitfire entered the hall with Soarin and closed the door behind her. “So… What’s up with you and Iron, eh? Is something up?” asked Soarin with a wink, dropping all formalities in a blink of an eye.

“Uhh… Nothing,” mumbled Spitfire, blushing slightly.

“Oh, I know something’s up with good ol’ Spits. I’ve known you for over a decade now so I know you like no other pony does,” claimed Soarin, “And I know something’s up with you right now.”

“Come on Soarin, let’s just get down to business. Take groups one and three to patrol, we do not need so many squads anymore as we are not on high alert. Keep squads three to five here at the hub,” said Spitfire.

“Yes, I can do that but at least come and address your squads for a moment. They’ve been asking about you,” replied Soarin.

“Fine,” she deadpanned as jumped down the narrow stairwell into the main hall leading to the reception (which wasn’t in use of course).

“Right around here,” said Soarin as he leads Spitfire into the room where all the elites were.

Spitfire walked in awkwardly, not knowing what to do or how to do it. Everypony’s eyes were glued on her as she entered.

“Where have you been?” shouted Fleetfoot from the couch, “We’ve missed you!”

“Alright Wonderbolts, listen up!” commanded Soarin from the door, “Spitfire wants to address you right now about something concerning most of you.”

“Ok Soarin thanks,” said Spitfire, “Squads one and three attention!”

“Yes ma’am,” they shouted from around the room.

“You guys are on patrol duty, make fifty loops of the front lines,” Spitfire commanded, “Squads one to five stay on alert and be ready to be called up.”

“Aww come on!” lamented Misty Fly, “We just met today and you ruin my day. I think that’s a new record.”

“Well, what are you doing standing around like a bunch of idiots? You heard your captain,” came a voice at the door. At the entrance was Iron Skies, leaning on the doorframe. “Don’t worry Spitfire, I told the other squads to go back to Portsmouth.”

“Oh. Thanks Iron,” said Spitfire, “And how are you going to lead your squad? You can’t fly.”

“Don’t worry, Artemis has it all under control...” said Iron, glancing at his squad members. “FIRE STREAK! For god’s sake don’t even touch the god damned safety on that rifle!” he shouted and rushed over to him, yanking the rifle from his arms.

“Keep a lookout for this kid, alright?” asked Iron with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

He was answered by a few nods from his squad.

“Alright then, squads one and three. Attention!” commanded Spitfire from the door, “Prepare for launch.”

“Yes ma’am!” came the answer as members from the respective squads put their flight suit on and walked outside ready to launch.

“Well, I’ll see you later Iron,” said Spitfire from the doorway, “And Jack, you can do whatever you want but just don’t get yourself killed. I’m not going to do all that paperwork.”

Jack looked up from his book in acknowledgement. “Ok Spitfire.”

Jack grabbed his rifle from beside him, dropping his book onto the chair beside the couch. “Ready for some action?” asked Jack as he stood up, strapping his rifle around his neck.

“Are you really going to… Look, I’m not going to question you but this is stupid,” huffed Daring as they walked out of the glass front doors.

“Hey Jack, where are you going?” came a voice from behind them.

“Oh, fancy seeing you here Fire Streak. I was just going to take a look at the situation in the city,” answered Jack, “You’re welcome to come.”

“I’m bored already so yeah, I will come,” replied Fire Streak, “Just wait a sec, I’m getting my rifle.”

After Fire Streak had retrieved his weapon from the makeshift armoury in the back room of the hub, the three ponies took a short stroll through the abandoned city streets, hearing the occasional rumble of artillery or the high pitched whine of a bullet ricocheting off the ground.

“Get down!” whispered Jack harshly as he spotted a break in friendly lines. An enemy patrol was looking around in that sector of blocks. “There’s a stray patrol there.”

Jack could see the Drakes close up this time. When other ponies said they looked like lizards they weren’t lying. Large scaly beasts holding rifles in their claws, probably also armed with dragon fire, a very hot plasma that could burn almost anything (yes, fire is a plasma which means ionically charged particles or something).

“They’re coming straight at us,” mumbled Fire Streak through gritted teeth, “Should we engage?”

“No, don’t engage. Wait,” said Jack vaguely.

The patrol of scaly beasts approached the small outcrop of rubble, where the three ponies were hiding. Daring pulled out her revolver, causing a small sound which the lizard’s ears picked up keenly.

“Shit,” whispered Daring, now dragging their attention even more. She could hear them approaching, fast.

The scaly beasts looked behind the uneven outcrop quickly, spotting three ponies hiding. Jack could hear their shouts of surprise as he jumped out of cover and blasted one of the drakes to pieces with his rifle, sliding through the centre of the street, behind the cover of old sandbags placed on the other side of the street.

The drakes attacked ferociously as they ducked around the cover and fired ruthlessly. There were only four of them now but they still put up a good fight. Bullets ripped through the air in contradicting directions. Jack shot again with a loud bang, but this time, he lost grip on his rifle due to the uncomfortable shooting position. The rifle flew out of his hooves and tugged heavily on his neck. Jack felt his head being dragged down onto the concrete and a very painful bash. Then, nothing registered.

“Steady, Daring,” commanded Fire Streak as he fired his magazine into two of the drakes, who were now towering over them. His whole body felt very heavy, like it was made of lead as he struggled to aim his shots precisely, causing them to wound, not kill. Daring was ready to rush to Jack’s aid, but stopped herself, as the life of two is more important. She resisted every thought, every neuron in her brain that screamed to her to run over to Jack’s side, and ask him if he was okay.

She was against killing things. Daring did not think herself to be a pacifist as she still does harm to other ponies, sometimes for a living but taking another living soul’s consciousness away. It is something so much more and it is so easy, just squeezing a trigger. ‘Come on Daring,’ she said to herself, ‘you can do this.’ Her hooves holding the revolver shook as she lined up the killing shots on the patrol. Yes, they would win as they are more experienced but they would not get away without wounds.

Smoke smothered the area as gun barrels sang the music of gunpowder, blood splattering rhythmically onto the ground. Daring pulled the trigger one last time as the last drake in the patrol perished. Now, she was free to rush over to the other side of the road, where Jackson lay unconscious, bleeding from multiple places. A pool of crimson blood had settled around his body on the brick pavement.

“J-Jack? Jackson!” yelled Daring as she shook his limp body wildly, not being able to perceive properly, ears blocking all communication and eyes full of tears. “Come on, you can’t be dead, not like this!” she said sorrowfully.

Fire Streak could just stand and watch, not being able to talk sense into Daring as she wept into Jackson’s unconscious body.

A few moments have passed. The weeping had turned into light sobs but it still hurt the same.

“Come on Daring, let’s bring him back to the infirmary. I told you that he might just be unconscious so many times now,” said Fire Streak, now a little annoyed but he understood why it was normal to act like this in this situation.

With a little help from Daring, they could haul Jack’s unconscious body back to the Wonderbolts hub. Were limp bodies really heavier? It always seemed like that was the case. They carried him up the stairs to the infirmary where a nurse quickly rushed over and performed checks on an unresponsive body.

Daring and Fire Streak were told to leave and stay in the waiting room. The nurse came out a few minutes later. “Well, good news or bad news first?” she asked, “And by the way, Nurse Ambrosia at your service.”

“Good news,” answered Daring, looking up hopefully.

“Well, he’s alive, heartrate normal, breathing, everything is normal, he might wake up in a few moments,” rambled the nurse, “but he has blood poisoning and a few broken bones and bruises. It is very mild blood poisoning but it is still there. I would guess that he only has two more weeks to live. There is a cure but it is very scarce.”

“Yes?” asked Daring hopefully.

“Well, it’s called a fire flower and it is only found on Sol Mountain next to Stalliongrad,” answered the nurse.

“It is?” asked Daring as her eyes lit up, “I was planning to go to Stalliongrad so I might as well go now, I only have two weeks? Shouldn’t be too hard I guess.”

“This is a very rare herb you are looking for, it will be hard to find so don’t expect to summit Sol Mountain and find them growing abundantly on the mountainside,” said the nurse, “I don’t think they are blooming at this time of year. You might have a very slight chance to find some late blooming buds but don’t count on it.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll get the fire flower no matter what stands in my way,” announced Daring, “but can I see him first?”

“Sure!” replied the nurse as she led Daring to his room. Jack was lying in bed with bandages strewn across his body. As she entered, Jack’s eyes fluttered open, although not focusing on anything in particular.

“Where am I and what happened,” he managed to croak before wincing in pain as he clutched his chest, “It hurts everywhere…”