The Brothers Don't

Spitfire and Flash Sentry stared in silence for a few long seconds.

"Is she supposed to be here?" Flash asked her in a whisper.

Spitfire shook her head. "I don't think so. I don't even know who she is. Do you?"

Flash crept closer on wobbly knees. The turquoise pony, fast asleep on one of the craft's many cots, snorted loudly and flipped over.

"Oh Luna, it's a dude!" Flash hissed back at Spitfire with a nervous expression.

"What? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, come look at his face! He's got some serious stubble going on."

Spitfire inched forward, careful not to kick the Equestrian armor strewn around the occupied bed. "Whoa, it is a dude. Why is his mane done up like that?"

Flash shrugged. "I don't know, I think it's kinda cool, actually."

"Should we wake him up?" Spitfire asked.

Grimacing, Flash waved a hoof toward the snoring stallion. "Don't ask me, you make the decisions around here."

Spitfire sighed and reached out to poke the stallion. "Uh... excuse me?" she said at a normal volume.

"Fluttershy!" the stallion screamed, bolting upright.

Flash and Spitfire yelped and jumped backward.

The stallion looked all around him, shivering. "Fluttershy! Where'd she go? Is she okay!?"

"Hey, calm down, buddy," Spitfire said, holding out a hoof and approaching him slowly. "You were having a bad dream. What's your name, Soldier?"

His eyes were bulging, his breath erratic and noisy. Suddenly he sucked in an enormous amount of air, closed his eyes, and let it out slowly through puckered lips. He crossed his hind legs in front of him and held his hooves out to his sides.

Spitfire and Flash glanced at each other, but said nothing.

After several deep breaths, the stallion half-opened his eyes with a calm smile and slid off the bed. "Ahhhh... sorry about that, pony pops. Got some baaaad juju in the thinky-spot, you know what I mean? I try to live a stress free life, but sometimes it just piles up in places you don't expect and manifests itself in the most atrocious commotions, okay? Okay." His smile widened and he bowed. "Name's Zephyr Breeze, if you please, and doesn't change if you don't. Ha!"

Spitfire's eyes widened. "Zephyr... Breeze?" she asked. "Uhhh... aren't you supposed to be with the new recruits Shining Armor brought to the Crystal Empire?"

"Yes indeed, Orange Slice, and may I say I love what you're doing with your mane? But yeah, it's true, I do have the honor to be the gem of the new recruits. And don't try to deny it, because you're the one that knew my name." He winked.

"Orange Slice?" Flash Sentry asked.

Zephyr wiggled a hoof at Spitfire's mane. "Yeah, I don't know, something about it reminds me of an orange peel. Can't say it's my best work, but a just-woke-up-style nickname can't be held to the same standards."

"Do you know where you are?" Spitfire asked, peering in bewilderment at Zephyr's nonchalant expression.

Zephyr's violet eyes bounced around the room. "Uhh... some kind of experimental flying majigger, right? Sorry, I climbed up that ramp over there when it was open—" He pointed to the back of the plane. "—and figured it wouldn't be a big deal if I caught a few beauty Z's in just one of these many-many beds. If I'm wrong, I do apologize, and I'll just be on my way back to the barracks."

Spitfire's mouth almost smiled, but the possible repercussions were too serious.

"This craft has been airborne for an hour, Soldier. We're more than five hundred miles north of the Crystal Empire."

Zephyr's features fell into a look of real panic. "Excusez-moi?" he squeaked.