The Brothers Don't

Macintosh's eyes fluttered open. Smelling blood, he twisted his sore neck and examined his own body. Nothing seemed too irregular, aside from a pounding in his head and a general stiffness in his muscles. After struggling to his hooves, Macintosh took in his surroundings and quickly found the source of the bloody smell.

He was still inside the battered aircraft, standing between the two pilot seats. One of the pilots was lying unconscious nearby. The other had smashed through the large windshield of the cockpit. His upper half, along with the nose of the craft, was buried in a huge pile of snow, somewhat dyed red with the stallion's blood. Shards of glass poked into his skin from every angle. Macintosh stumbled forward and felt for a pulse, with no luck. The pilot was dead.

Macintosh's face screwed up in anger. He closed his eyes and let out a long sigh.

"Macintosh!" he heard somepony yell through the metal ceiling. "Macintosh, where are you?"

"Here!" he shouted back. Turning around, he found the aircraft's body mostly crumpled and bent.

"Oh, thank Celestia." Spitfire's voice was muffled. "Are you all right? Are the pilots with you?"

"One of 'em is," Macintosh drawled. "Other's dead."

"Dead!?" Spitfire screamed, and Macintosh heard her pound on the outside of the metal. "Damn that Zephyr! Mindless oaf!"

"Can you get out of there, Mac?" asked the voice of Flash Sentry. "This thing's mostly buried in snow. We can't even get to the windows."

"I'll figure something out," Macintosh shouted. "Where's Zephyr?"

"Flash thinks he and Shining fell out of the craft back there," Spitfire said. "I didn't see, honestly. Can you get down to the bottom level?"

"Eeyup." Macintosh went around bulge in the wall and waded through some melting snow that had poured through one of the broken circular windows.

"Come back up here as soon as you can!" Spitfire yelled.

The belly of the aircraft was mostly filled with snow, thanks to the open hatch. It looked as though the ramp had snapped off completely during the crash, and the open hole it left behind had gobbled enough snow to fill half the chamber. The cots were in disarray, but though Macintosh searched for several minutes through the mess and the snow, there was no sign of Shining Armor or Zephyr Breeze.

He said as much when he returned to where Spitfire could hear him. She sighed and rubbed a hoof against her forehead. "I guess we should go find them before they freeze to death."

"And what about us freezing to death, huh?" Flash asked, shivering. "Besides, there's a storm rolling up the mountain. See? We can't fly through that!"

Black clouds thickened, approaching the crash sight from the east. Spitfire swore, then shouted through the metal below her to Macintosh. "What's the status on the other pilot?"

"Unconscious, seems like," Macintosh responded.

"See if you can't wake him up. Instead of getting you out, I think we're going to need to come in."