RDI Canterlot: Code Blue

“Find Sky Sailor, Fire! It shouldn’t be that hard!” The orange pegasus grumbled to himself, running a hoof through his fiery mane. “Damn those Wonderbolts, he’s probably halfway to Cloudsdale already.” The elevator doors dinged open, and the pegasus darted out. As he passed the squad room he muttered under his breath. “He’s not in the evidence garage, not in the canteen, might be in the Director’s Office, but no way in hell I’m checking that…”

“...So I’ve got the three C-24’s sitting on the runway, and I’ve got another A-10 landing. I’m going around trying to sort all of that, then out of nowhere, I get a pony whining on the radio. She goes, “Hell, what’s taking so long? At this rate, it’d be faster if we used our damned wings instead of these things.” Assistant Special Agent in Charge Fire Fight’s ear twitched, and the pegasus doubled back, eyes wide.

“Then my boss says, ‘This line is for official contact only. Would the pilot that just spoke please identify themselves.’ The only answer is ‘Aw hell, I’m impatient, not stupid.” Sky Sailor rolled his eyes as the green earth pony he was talking to chuckled.

“And those pilots wonder why we never thought much of them,” the pony said. “Oh, hey Fire.”

Fire Fight nodded at the pony. “Lock Pick. Mr. Sailor, I was looking for you. Thought you would have flown away already.” Sky Sailor’s eyes fell.

“Erm… I can’t exactly fly anymore.” He gestured to his left wing. Fire Fight’s eyes widened when he saw that the wing was wrapped in bandages.

“Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-” Sky waved his hoof in the air dismissively.

“Ah, it’s fine. Old war injury. Can I help you?”

Fire Fight cleared his throat. “You’re a Wonderbolts engineer, right?” Sky Sailor stood up, shaking his head.

“Former ‘Bolt, really. What can I do for you?”

“We’ve got another wreck for you to look at.” Sky frowned.

“Oh. Well, I’ll be around.” Fire Fight nodded, then turned to Lock Pick.

“Keep an eye on him, Lock.”

“Will do, Fire.”

“YOU THOUGHT HE WAS DEAD?!” Cover Story winced as Dr. Graves’s voice carried over the carriages. A paramedic (a new one, judging from the way he was cowering behind the firewagon) was stammering nervously, attempting to explain how a pony that was declared dead on the scene suddenly woke up.

“Yeesh. Don’t feel bad for that fellow.” Wire Tap rolled his eyes, flipping open his notebook.

“Anything?” asked Dead Drop.

“Not much. The plane started smoking, a pedestrian noticed and called the LEO’s, the plane hit the ground, and that was that,” reported Wire Tap as he flipped the notebook closed again. “I’d better go reel in Doc before he kills that pony.”

Dead Drop chuckled, shaking his head. “Thoughts?”

Bon Bon shook her head, removing her sunglasses. “Well, one’s sabotage, two’s a conspiracy.”

“Sure looks that way. Alright, let’s get this wreck back home.”

“Boss! Ah got somethin’!” Called Braeburn from the plane wreck.

As Dead Drop drew closer, Braeburn held up a white feather in a gloved hoof. “Doesn’t belong to the pilot, he’s an earth pony,” he noted. Dead Drop nodded.

“Bag it.” Cover Story scoffed.

“Great. A white feather. Do you know how many pegasi in Equestria have white feathers?”

“Too many,” replied Dead Drop. “But right now I’m only worried about two.”

“Trop Sphere has yellow feathers, and she’s been in our custody since last night,” Bon Bon mused.

“And you know who else has white feathers?” Said Cover Story.

“The Lt.’s good friend, Sky Sailor,” finished Dead Drop. “Where is the Lt anyways?”

“Right here,” answered Soarin as he landed. “Had to make some calls. This plane is a Griffin C-6 Fighter. Nothing special, it’s been used in the Air Force for some time now. Pilot’s name is Spare Clip, been flying for a while.” Dead Drop nodded.

“Lt. I need you to tell me everything you know about Sky Sailor.”

“What are you doing?” Cover Story groaned as he slammed his desk in frustration.

“Pressing the damn buttons he told me to!” Lock Heed sighed and rolled his eyes. “Well, you’re clearly not, because I don’t see the files up on that screen.” Cover Story typed something into his keyboard, only to have the monitor in front of him flash red with an error message.

“Okay, first of all, you won’t see much since this is an audio recording. Second of all, I think I’m going to kill Wire Tap.”

“Not my fault you’re technologically incompetent,” answered the pegasus as he tossed a brown back onto his desk. “Dig in.” Cover Story reached for the bag, but Lock Heed swatted at his hoof.

“You figure out the monitor before the boss gets here. Then you eat.” Cover Story hung his head and went back to slamming at the keyboard.

Lock Heed reached into the bag and pulled out a sandwich, wrapped in a napkin. “Heads up!” he called as he tossed the food over to Bon Bon, who caught it with one hoof. “Where’s Cowpony?” asked Lock Heed as he tossed a sandwich in his hooves.

“Evidence Garage, hopefully getting answers,” replied Dead Drop as he trotted into the squad room. “Speaking of answers, I hope you found some before you decided to break for lunch.”

Wire Tap sighed and shoved Cover Story aside, typing at the keyboard. The computer beeped and chirped, and the screen went black. “Alright, boss. We got the radio records from the control tower and the doomed plane.” Wire Tap pressed another button, and the recording began to play.

After a burst of static, the recording began.

“- checks out, not quite sure what happened there.” Wire Tap spoke up.

“That’s most likely the pilot speaking.”

“Roger that, Red-4. I’m calling it anyway.” Cover Story reached for a file folder and flipped it open.

“Uh, that’s the squadron leader, boss. Looks like our victim reported engine trouble, and the squad leader decided to scrub the mission.”

The squad leader’s voice came on the recording again. “Tower, this is Red-1. Red-4’s got engine problems, we’re gonna land it.”

“Roger that, Red-1, you can take the main.”

“We really scrubbing, sir?”

“10-4, Red-3. Don’t want to risk anything after Eagle-1.” Dead Drop narrowed his eyes.

“Hmph. Word gets around quickly.” Cover Story turned a page and identified the speakers.

“Red-3 is another fighter, and the other voice is the control tower.”

The recording continued in silence until it was interrupted by a loud noise. “What the hell was that?”

“Red-4! You’re smoking!”

“Crap! Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! This is Red-4, lost my engine! I’m going down, fast!” Wire Tap stood up.

“This is the accident part.” The transmissions were garbled for a second, as the pilot’s voices overlapped.

“- his tail’s on fire, sir!”

“He’s not making it.”

“Everyone shut up!”

“Copy that, Red-4,” the tower replied, the pony speaking frantically. “Uh, turn left two eight oh, the runway’s a mile out.”

“Unable! I’m too low, losing main power!” A beeping could be heard as the plane’s warning systems kicked in. “Come on, come on… aux power’s not coming on!”

“Red-2, Red-5, pull back. Red-4 is on fire, I repeat, Red-4 is on fire.”

“Copy, uh, Red-4 do you want to-”

“Warning! Warning!” the warning system chimed. “Terrain! Pull up!”

“Can’t! Too low! Sir, I’m going to - “

The message was abruptly cut short. “Shit! He’s down, repeat, Red-4 is down.”

Dead Drop nodded to Wire Tap, who turned the recording off. “Well. That was… something. Can’t say it tells us much, though.” After a moment of silence, the agent continued.

“Alright. Identify everypony who was on the radio, and get them in here.” Cover Story blinked, then nodded, grabbing a sandwich and settling into his chair. Wire Tap nodded as well, returning to his desk. Dead Drop turned his eyes to Bon Bon, who had remained silent throughout the recording. “Bon? You alright?”

Bon Bon blinked, pulled from her thoughts. “What? Uh, yeah. It’s just… I can’t imagine that, listening to a pony right before they die.” Dead Drop and Lock Heed exchanged glances.

“Yeah, must be terrible. By the way, boss, they tracked down Barrel Roll, he’s coming in,” Lock Heed said. The stallion nodded, trotting towards the elevators.

“Hey, trust me, Bon, it’s tough. But don’t let it get to you,” Lock Heed said, resting a hoof on her shoulder.

“Yeah… Thanks, Lock.” Bon Bon smiled at the stallion before returning to her desk. Lock Heed watched, then sighed as a memory of his past flashed through his mind. Shaking it off, Lock Heed trotted after his boss.

“Oh, hey boss,” Braeburn said as Dead Drop entered the evidence garage. “Plane looks the same as the other wreck. Few wires cut, cooling system went out.”

Dead Drop nodded, grabbing an evidence bag. “What about the feather?”

“Test Tube’s got it, but Ah don’t think there’s much she can tell us about it, other than it belongs to a pegasus with white feathers,” replied the stallion

Lock Heed spoke up. “Spoke with the hospital earlier, boss. The pilot’s fine, but he’s been put in a medically induced coma. I don’t think he knows much anyways.”

Dead Drop tossed the bag back onto the desk. “Sky Sailor. Find him and get him to interrogation.” Lock Heed nodded and trotted to the elevators. “Is there anything you want to say, Cowpony?”

Braeburn narrowed his eyes. “Sir… is there another case going on that we should be aware of?”

Dead Drop matched his gaze. “What makes you think that?”

“This mornin’, sir. ‘Ah was surprised to see that none of the senior team was there.” Dead Drop gave a wry chuckle.

“You are experienced ponies. We don’t need to be present at all of your cases.”

“Then why did you drop in right after we got started?”

Dead Drop was silent for a moment. “What exactly are you implying, Cowpony?”

“Nothing, sir. Ah just don’t like starting somethin’ if it just gets yanked out of mah hooves.” Dead Drop’s face betrayed nothing, his eyes observing the stallion. Underneath the stare, Braeburn didn’t falter. “Sir, is there anythin’ goin on that we should know about?”

“No.” With that, the Special Agent in Charged turned and walked to the elevators. It wasn’t a convincing lie, but it wasn’t meant to be. Braeburn could spot a liar from a mile away regardless.