The Brothers Don't

"Nineball!" cried the bleary pilot. His eyes were red and unfocused, his mane unkempt and sweaty. "Nineball, no! Please, we have to do something!"

"He's been dead for over an hour now, Cone," Spitfire said in a raw voice. "Just come sit by the fire and stay warm. We'll tend to him when the storm passes."

"No, no, no!" Waffle Cone began sobbing, dropping to his belly near his bloodied friend. "Please, please, we have to... we have to do something..."

Spitfire opened her mouth to yell, but Macintosh grabbed her by the foreleg and shook his head.

"Let him be," Macintosh said. "It's tough. You remember."

Spitfire closed her mouth and stared into the flames rising from one of the cots Macintosh had hauled up and ignited.

Cone's sobs grew quieter and less frequent as the minutes passed. When Spitfire next glanced at him, he looked as though he had fallen asleep, lying still on his stomach and breathing slowly with his hooves covering his eyes.

"This is insane," Flash Sentry mumbled, staring into the fire. "How could this have happened?"

"We were too eager," Spitfire said. "We should have checked the ship."

"We should have had a smaller ship with just one floor," Flash said angrily.

"And those Flippity-Flap Brothers should have warned us about the ramp," Spitfire added. "Seriously, was that some kind of malfunction or is it designed to fly open like that? Don't ponies understand how dangerous poorly designed machinery can be?"

"The Flim Flam Brothers don't," Macintosh droned.

Spitfire's face screwed up and she crossed her forelegs over her chest. "That's the last time we commission them for anything military grade."

"Do you think the Captain's all right?" asked Flash, inching closer to the fire to fight his chills.

"He knows his shield magic backwards and forwards," Spitfire said. "If he survived the fall, he'll survive the storm."

"We're gonna go look for him, right?" Flash asked. "Once the storm passes?"

Thunder shook the aircraft, and the living pilot sat bolt upright. "Nineball!" he screamed.

Spitfire closed her eyes. "Affirmative, Soldier," she said.