Red vs Blue: Haycovery One

South Dakota and North Dakota. The Twins as they were called on most logs. The two of them were the best fliers in Equestria... When Equestria wasn't a smouldering pit of ash. They were once part of a group called the Wonderbolts before she recruited them into the Marecenaries. No one would say that they were the best, or even close. But, anyone would say that they were hard to top when they were together. And, seeing as they were always together, they were on the board for some time. South and North, or Spitfire and Soarin'; it was pretty funny. They were called the twins, they were always together, and they were almost like mirror opposites of one another. Ponies found it strange that with all of that to them, they weren't even related.

Pipsqueak hadn't seen Soarin' for some time. He hadn't seen Spitfire either, but he could live with that. Soarin' was always a pretty kind soul, never one to be quick to anger. That was something to be admired when your partner is a time bomb of rage. But, the young pony wished he hadn't seen Soarin' now. The arrival to the remains of Appleloosa already didn't bode much good will to him. With the town's beaten appearance, fallen clock tower, and steady stream of muddy water going through the center of the town; this was a town that -like most of Equestria these days- has been a lot better. Even so, what chilled Pipsqueak to the core of his armor was the site he came upon. Two bodies. One stunned in wide eyed fear, and the other dangling his spiked blue hair off of a ledge; motionless.

Recovery One was only sent for retrieval of Marecenaries so their equipment didn't fall into the wrong handlers. If a Changeling got their hooves on any of this gear? Chaos... And not the chocolate rain kind. Pip understood his duty all too well... But that didn't make seeing an old friend under these cases any easier. A lot inside of Pip just told him not to say anything with her standing there. Not only is that rude, but... But Spitfire was like family to Soarin'. It seemed to be in bad taste. Pip had to take a moment and just look at the two one last time before he did his... job.

Spitfire, Agent South, still looked as sharp as ever. Even with her stunned, disbelieving expression, anypony could have seen her pride laying low under it all. Her rifle, like all pegasi in the Marecenaries, was strapped against her light purple armor at a range that her wing could slip in to flip it and start firing. Pegasi caught all the breaks after the unicorns...

Soarin'... Couldn't even bare to look at him. Unlike Shining Armor, the way Soarin' was laying made it look like there wasn't much of a fight. Maybe, at the very least, he was taken from behind and didn't feel much. That... sort of made Pip feel a little better. He sighed a little and slid a hoof against his own mane before looking at Spitfire. Here comes the hard part. "I... I don' get it... 'Is motion trackers were set. Nopony could a' got by 'im without 'im known..." Pip scowled a bit with a sickness as he looked at the blood against Soarin's dark armor back. "Maybe ya' got somet'in' in your logs, Sou'?" Pip was answered with a silence, prompting him to look up. "Sou'? Spitfi'ah!"

Spitfire tossed her head up listlessly and looked the questioner dead in the eyes, dry and empty. "W-What?" she choked out at barely a dust of a cough.

"Gotta' ask ya' to stay focused, Sou'. A'right?" These kind of situations weren't really Pip's forte. "I get that 'e was... 'e was somet'in' to ya'," Pip could see Spitfire's face drop a bit at that notion, so he hurried on, "T-T'e soon'ah I get some piece toget'e'ah, soon'ah we can... Do... stuff..."

This didn't really seem to do much in helping Spitfire. But, she looked back at her partner and shook her head dreadfully. "I get it. Sorry..."

"Fret not... You got a log on anyt'in' that might--"

"Nothing," Spitfire cut in with a sharp tone before twisting back and looking away from Soarin' and Pip as her wings curled against her, "I've got nothing. All I have is a shaking body, ears blown out by a scream, and an old friend on the ground dead..." her words were very harsh, but sincere.

She wasn't lying... At least Pip couldn't tell if she was. But, that didn't clean up the story enough. This call was the same as Shining's; which meant one thing. "T'e call for me ta' get 'ere was a good few hours ago, Spit..."

"Yeah..." Spitfire's tone wasn't as shaken as before when she replied.

"You... Wanna tell me somet'in'?" Pip inquired more, making him feel even worse about this.

When Spitfire looked back around, her golden eyes narrowed a bit with some sort of shame. "...He had Meena..."

Philomeena... AI Theta... "I onced over Soarin's body, Spit..." Pip didn't want to say it... "Did--"

"Did I take it?" Spitfire stepped closer to Pip, her wing clipping to her rifle soundly. "Did I rob my partner's corpse? Is that what you're asking me?" Before she could draw her gun, Pip shook his head and moved his helmet up that he had between his legs to shield himself from her; causing her to put her wing down and scoff at the colt. "Good... Because I wouldn't cheat a good stallion like that."

With Spitfire slowly retreating away from him, Pip put his helmet onto his head and clicked it on. "Still a ray a' sunshine..." he mumbled from the relative safety of his helmet, "...Ya' might wanna step away for some time... I gotta do, it, to 'im now..."

"So that's it, huh?" Spitfire seemed to laugh bitterly at that.

Taking a good friend away forever from someone? Why did this job have to be this way? "I-I'll give you a few--"

"Just one minute..." Spitfire cut in again. She took a knee down and propped Soarin' off of the edge and rested his blank face onto the stone. "...Just give me a minute with him..." there was that soft tone of hers that convinced some level of honesty.

Pip left her to do what she wanted as he went down one of the broken planks. His hoof clicked against his helmet, starting up a call to his base. The radio crackled a bit before that dry, uncaring tone came over the speakers in his helmet. "Wash, I'm picking up your secure. Report."

"I found 'em..."

"How're they looking?"

"Soar--Agent North is... is dead... Agent South is a little mixed up, but alive..."

"North's AI?"

A friend just died, and all you care about is...? "...It wasn' 'ere..." Pip's voice gritted with a tone of bitterness as he said those words.

"Bad luck I guess. Give me a second..." the line cut for a moment, leaving Pip's head to go silent if only for a moment. When it cut back, Pip staggered at the sudden voice. "You know the drill from here, Recovery. Clean up, check out, and call us back after."

"Got it..." Pip was ready to cut the line before he heard another tone.

"Also, the mission is now upped to level zero."

His heart fell to ice... "W-What?"

"Leave nothing, Recovery. Those are the orders."

"Y-you gotta be kiddin'?"

"I don't kid, do your duty..." the line cut out and left Pip stunned cold.

Level Zero... Of all the things to do today. First Shining Armor, then Soarin', and now...? Pip took his helmet off and looked up into the sky, remarking at how cloudy yet vacant in looked. He didn't look at it long before deciding to head back to Spitfire, seeing that she was still stroking Soarin's hair. "Spit... Time--"

"It's funny..." Spitfire ignored Pip for the third time in their short meeting, deciding to speak her mind to someone that could hear her. "When you decide to hook yourself up with your best friend in your first year of camp, you feel like nothing can keep you apart. Soon, everypony else starts thinking that too. You're not your own mare any more, you're just a package deal. I kind of hated that. I was the leader between the two of us, but he was always praised as the more skilled. I dreamed sometimes of days I wouldn't have him to hold me in one place..." her hateful tone suddenly became soft and very... strange, "Now, with him laying here, I wonder how I can go on without him?"

"Y... Ya got other things ta' worry 'bout..." Pip's armor creaked slightly as his pistol unlatched and stretched to connect to his outstretched hoof. As he jerked his hoof back, the gun fired at South dully. "...Sorry..."