Author's Note

Finally been able to become active on this site again. To let all of you know, I've been very inactive in writing horse words due to the amount of college work I went through this year. With me having recently graduated, I'm able to at least publish something for everyone to read on here.

Hope everyone's enjoying the holidays where ever you all are!

The Calling

In the sky above Cloudsdale, Spitfire gracefully drifted through the sky after departing from the Wonderbolt academy an hour ago. A slight grin came over her. To be free in the open sky was always an enthralling experience, like a bird taking in the view from below her.

It was breathtaking to say the least. In all her years of flying, she never felt more alive when reaching into the heavens to embrace the beauty of what Faust had offered for her to see. Spitfire started to fly upside down on her back, with her eyes looking up at the stars.

The stars were out in full force. Princess Luna had been working elegantly, wanting to make a beautiful night bathe Equestria and its inhabitants. From afar, she could see what looked like the galaxies and shooting stars passing by.

To her, it was a luxury to have been born with wings. She couldn't imagine missing out on these moments while gleefully making her way to her home in the city.

Before leaving for home, she had seen much progress in the newbies. She acknowledged their growth in their training to become new Wonderbolts. Especially in the ones from the Shadowbolts. The week hadn’t been very stressful as things were starting to look up for her and her counterpart Nightshade, who was the captain of the Shadowbolts.

The past few weeks were plagued with brutal weather that led to some needed modifications to ensure the training program led to nopony in skipping any lessons or failing to achieve their goals. She wasn’t going to let that happen again! Not on her watch that is.

While she continued to think about what next week would bring, she finally landed in front of her house. With no delays, Spitfire walked over to the door, unlocking it with her keys from her satchel. The color of the bag was blue with the Wonderbolt symbol embroidered into the center on both sides. Spitfire felt relief come over her as she turned the keys in the door’s knob. To know that she was finally home made her feel delighted and less stressed. Home was something that felt important to her as she got older.

She had become less interested in going out anymore. Back when she was young, she would go on tourist trips and visit parts of her family in the country. But now, with how much time has come and gone, home was what always ran through her head. Nothing else, nothing more.

“Home sweet home.” Spitfire thought as she unlocked the door.

As she had the key in her hands, the door creaked open, allowing her to walk into the comfort of her house. After putting the bag on the living room table, Spitfire went upstairs to her bedroom. On both sides of the starwell, pictures hung with some of the places where Spitfire went to. Places like Canterlot, Saddle Arabia, and other places were depicted in them, with some having herself in too. The room had fairly standard decor, nothing fancy or overly luxurious.

The walls were painted light blue, with a poster stuck to the ceiling that portrayed three Wonderbolt flyers flying in a row, with the words lagging behind them like a stream of yellow smoke that said ‘Join the Elite Flyers of Equestria!’.

The sun majestically rose over the mountains and clouds in the background, conveying a sense of honor in the Wonderbolt’s unstoppable vigilance when their service is needed.

The front wall held the Equestrian flag. Its colors slightly faded, showing small tears on the right edge and a little in the center. Spitfire recalled how that flag had once belonged to her grandfather who served in the Royal Guard.

She kept that flag as a reminder of how she had a few family members that served in the armed forces, with the torch being passed down to her for her to continue the family legacy.

A cherrywood desk on her left displayed a few Wonderbolt memorabilia. Atop of the desk had a stand that held a silver plated pony made of iron donning in its Wonderbolt suit.

A bunch of books were shelved on a bookshelf above the desk. Some had titles that revolved around adventure and mystery that spoke of treasures and prophecies. Others appeared to have titles of history and politics, though on the second shelf to avoid disorganization of genres.

There were at least a few manilla folders carefully stacked on the desk, with different color tabs that marked them as either future briefings or assignments to do for next week.

A bed on her right resembled the bunk beds from the Academy. However, instead of the comforter being dark green, it was dyed red, with black patterns all over it and a phoenix that had its wings spread out, spewing out flames in fury. Spitfire always had a soft spot for birds, especially ones from the pages of myth and legend.

She remembered reading a few books and articles on how the phoenix represents rebirth. When somepony dies, they are reincarnated into a new form.

Spitfire then spotted her reflection in a mirror on the wall, slightly next to her bed. She took off her face mask and laid it down on the desk behind her.

In her reflection, her spiky mane had stayed in a good shape and it had not tangled up or looked like she had gone through a tornado. She recalled moments in running the Academy where her mane would get messed up and she had to take her time to get it back to its original state.

A smile came to her when she thought about some of the fun moments with Soarin, Fleetfoot, and Nightshade. To her, she saw them as one of the best groups of ponies she had met in her twenties. She was fifty-eight this year.

Spitfire felt sad thinking about how time has flown by. She remembered how she was always excited about going on missions, staying ahead of the newbies, and had always an overall positive attitude. With time always comes a price: age and the loss of youth.

She slowly unzipped her suit down to her abdomen. Her breasts were slightly exposed, but still remained covered by the Wonderbolt outfit. She then used her hands to pull thespandexsuit off her body. And after carefully removing the suit from wings and tail, Spitfire let it fall to the floor under her.

Her body had not aged greatly as she had thought would happen. Having a slender build, Spitfire’s body seemed to have been spared from looking old and shot.

There were some sags on her arms and legs, but none were noticeable unless somepony inspected her without her clothing. Her face showed some slight aging where it looked like her golden fur had dimmed. Still gold, just not as rich in color like it used to be, back in her prime.

As for her B cup breasts, they appeared to still be perky, but started to lose their enthusiasm in remaining in tip-top shape.

She sometimes thought if perhaps plastic surgery would be a good investment to make her face feel youthful, but she didn’t want to have poison via botox be injected into her body.

Spitfire knew deep down that wouldn’t end well and that would kick a few years off of her life. Her flank that bore her cutie mark was still attractive. It was still quite round and firm, and admittedly attractive for a stallion to view.

But strangely… something just didn’t look right in her eyes.

“Hmmm.” Spitfire hummed while crossing her arms.

“I know that I’m getting old, but why do I still look so young?” Spitfire had had this question go through her head plenty of times. “Even with me in my fifties, my body looks like it’s trying to slowly stop itself from getting any older. Kind of feels like I’m in my early thirties, but I know I’m not”.

Being in the fifties age bracket, Spitfire figured she would have decayed into an old fart by now. She’s seen how the rest of her friends have aged. Compared to them, ponies could mistake them as her parents.

Though, she didn't want to rule out Nightshade and Rainbow Dash since both of them appeared to have fared better than the rest of their generation. Whatever was keeping them this young was watching over them, too.

But Rainbow Dash, being one of the Elements of Harmony, may have had the upper-hand in aging less and staying youthful than everypony else, yet the other ponies in that group had all aged equally, minus Twilight Sparkle who had ascended into royalty.

Spitfire shook the thought away and inspected her mane and tail in the mirror. They looked healthy. Her wings were also well taken care of as they didn’t shake or anything that would’ve had her concerned. Spitfire always kept a healthy diet, exercised and didn’t do anything too dangerous that could’ve led her to being out of commission for a month or two.

She didn’t feel fragile at all like she could fall and break her hip when going upstairs or downstairs. Nothing. She was a pony with a clean bill of health.

Even with having a healthy lifestyle, it still didn’t feel right to her. Maybe she gave too much thought into this. Rambling about how she wished for her youth to come back and be given another chance in life. Maybe even think about getting married and starting a family like she hoped decades ago.

But unfortunately...

“You only had one chance to grow up, Spitfire.” She told herself while she pressed her forehead on the mirror looking down at the floor, with one hand on the wall.

“I regret not asking Soarin to marry me when we were both young.” Spitfire let out a sigh. “I guess it wasn’t my destiny to marry or have children for us to raise.

What I would kill to have Faust turn the clock back for me to start all over again, but even I know She wants me to come home when I part from this world. Maybe when I go to Paradise, I can finally have that youthful body back, and see every one of my family members again.”

Spitfire had regrets. Things she wished that she had done things differently. She dwelled on the decisions she made back then. Maybe she made the right choice in not getting married, but only Faust could tell her if she had done everything right in her life. She served her nation with honor. With dignity. And with respect for all those that she was willing to protect from certain death.

“The one thing I know that will signify I had a life are the dates when I was born and when I die. The dash in between those two years will contain what ponies from today and in the future will know of what I did for Equestria and for the Wonderbolts.”

While she continued to think about her life, Spitfire felt her hands shake slightly. She raised both of them up in front of her as she tilted back to examine them. They were shaking, but they weren’t shaking uncontrollably.

She worried that perhaps she was experiencing Parkinson's disease where her body would begin to shake severely as she aged, despite that disease never running in her mother’s or father’s side of the family.

Maybe she should call the doctor tomorrow and get some treatment for it. That would’ve been the best option.

Yet, she remembered how her hands had always done this. Through her fillyhood, teenhood, and marehood. Her parents nor the doctors could figure out if it was a neurological issue or something else.

“I don’t know what’s with my hands,” Spitfire remained shocked at having this issue come over her. “Maybe this is one of those things that I know I have to live with for the rest of my life ‘till the day I die. If only I knew what caused it I could get rid of it… I’ll have to give them a call to see if maybe there’s something they can do.”

Not wanting to waste more time, she picked up her suit and folded it like she was taught in the Academy long ago. She placed it on the desk in an orderly fashion neatly. She may be old, but at least she still kept to her principles that her drill instructor taught her and to not look like a slob when being in the military.

“Inspection here. Inspection there. Yes, drill sergeant. Oh, crap. Ugh.” Spitfire facepalmed for talking to herself again. “I really need to stop talking out loud. I wasn’t like this when I was young. Back in my young days I- ack!” She put her hands on her cheeks in utter defeat.

She really sounded too old at this point. She chuckled afterwards, but it didn’t feel like acting this way was normal. Guess this was something she remembered about how her parents acted when they were old. They always told her about what it was like when they were young, and now she was acting how they would’ve acted toward her in a conversation.

“Guess this is all part of growing old…”

Spitfire looked behind her to see the moon shining bright. It’s elegant rays pierced the window as it bathed the room in Spitfire’s presence. She always enjoyed having both the sun and moon present when waking up or going to sleep. Both the moon and the sun felt like they gave her energy to prevail every day, especially the latter. Nothing like having Celestia and Luna, the goddesses of both celestial bodies, cheer her up every single day!

“Yawn…” Spitfire tried to cover her mouth. Her eyes got heavier by the minute. Her body was finally calling it quits for tonight. The clock on her desk showed it was 1:30 AM in the morning. She needed to get as much sleep as possible now. Wouldn’t be good to wake up cranky when the sun came up.

Spitfire thought about wanting to at least get some clothes on her, but then decided that the effort wasn't worth it. It wasn’t like it was freezing or anything. She quickly pulled the covers, getting them back on as she let her head fall onto one of the pillows to get comfortable.

Her body relaxed into the warmth of the bed, and her eyes gradually closed.

Two hours later….

“Mmmmmmmmmmm….” Spitfire rolled around her bed. She tried to fall asleep, but something didn’t feel right. Her body felt like it wasn’t laying in bed or her head rested on the pillow so she could enjoy her slumber. Instead, there was this feeling of hardness and a lack of comfort which felt like sleeping on rocky, yet semi-smooth terrain.

At first she thought that maybe it wasn’t anything to really worry about since this wasn’t new to her with the amount of times she went hiking into mountains where the terrain could get difficult to lay on to sleep during the night. But it got to her this time. The inability to relax rattled her brain as it was begging for her to get on her feet. Feeling annoyed, her eyes opened. And what welcomed her was not her room.

Instead, she could see trees all around her with the sun’s rays penetrating through the small openings between them.

“What the fuck…???” Spitfire erected herself to her feet. She scanned her surroundings and immediately realized she wasn’t even in Cloudsdale anymore.

This place didn’t give the vibes of the Everfree Forest, which should be miles from her home. It was like being in some amazonian jungle she would read Daring Do venturing through. Daring would go through jungles like this to find ancient artifacts that belonged to ancient civilizations… And at least, Daring would have to defend her life against threatening foes, like Ahuizotl, or other ponies seeking to use said artifacts for profit or for their own personal agenda.

Although some of Daring Do’s adventures were nice to read, Spitfire knew it wasn’t the best time to think about stories. Spitfire was still trying to process how in Equestria she had even gotten to this place. She didn’t remember leaving Cloudsdale or doing anything out of the ordinary tonight. The only thing she remembered was getting in bed and falling asleep.

But then it hit her.

“Did somepony try to ponynap me?” Something like that would’ve been off the richter scale for her. But how could she even be here to begin with? She tended to be a light sleeper and would’ve felt the footsteps from somepony coming into her room.

Unless that pony had put a spell on her, nothing should have caught her off guard. But even that would be somewhat of a stretch.

Spitfire then noticed she was still without any clothes, though she felt no shame in being nude.

Spitfire would sometimes go into the Everfree Forest to meditate while naked. She believed it helped ease her stress levels from a hard day training new recruits. She wanted to let Mother Nature heal her, and it felt important to be connected to the elements.

She did worry about getting attacked by timber wolves or by manticores, but they weren’t a serious threat. There was always a way to hide from them, usually finding sanctuary in the ruined castle that Celestia and Luna once called their home over a thousand years ago.

Knowing her thoughts were getting her nowhere, Spitfire wandered into the jungle. Her feet pressed into muddy puddles on the ground, her fur getting muddy and dirty. She shrugged off the icky feeling, knowing that getting dirty wasn’t a problem as it has happened plenty of times.

If she had been placed in an area where it was sandy, it would’ve annoyed her since sand was coarse, and rough, and irritating. Especially how it would get everywhere on her body.

Diverse sounds of animals echoed into the heart of the jungle. Birds, insects, and other creatures lived in this mysterious place. Every sound the animals made were that of animals she heard in Equestria. It felt real to her, or was it? It made Spitfire feel uneasy and had thoughts of having developed schizophrenia. She was trying to theorize as to how she got into a jungle even without hearing anypony carrying her to this place. But was her mental state gradually deteriorating to a point of going on a rocket to insanity?

Minutes passed rapidly. The morning sun slowly started to fall due to how dense the jungle was as the sky became dimmer and dimmer with every step Spitfire took. Worried about a possible confrontation, she started to double-time it by jogging in the jungle, not looking behind her as she pressed forward to see if she could make it to civilization.

The time the exercise seemed to make her feel a lot calmer. She felt so alive and free with her clothes discarded. She gave a relaxed and calm sigh as it felt like good exercise. Spitfire remembered how she went to the Kirin village in the Peaks of Peril a few years ago and came across Autumn Blaze and her ruler Rain Shine who was the leader of the place.

Their culture was completely different from that of ponies in other parts of the Equestria, especially on the basis of meditation and exercising the body. A memory came back to Spitfire as she recalled how Blaze and the rest of her tribe would exercise with no clothes on to ensure that they could move freely and not be constrained to anything that may have gotten in the way. It felt odd, but she didn’t judge them on how their culture and traditions were made.

Yet, she ended up adopting that part of Kirin culture into her exercise, minus in not doing it out in public, but in the Everfree Forest when it's either late in the afternoon or at night.

“Maybe it wasn’t so bad to get ponynapped.”

The jungle felt endless. It felt like an eternity being in it. A jungle that could not be outrunned nor escaped. She suddenly had this feeling that something was watching her. She ran and ran like a rabbit wanting to escape from certain death.

Her heart raced in her chest; her breathing increased with how intense she was running, not stopping, but only getting faster.

It was at that moment she could see something on the horizon from where she was running. At first she thought that maybe it was a building that indicated that she was close to civilization.

But she realized as she got closer that what saw was not a building.ng

It was a statue, a phoenix statue.

Spitfire’s eyes went wide in disbelief. Why was there a statue of a phoenix in a jungle? She found it quite puzzling, which made her curious. As the night had fallen, the jungle was dark, with the eerie silence the animals. Her ears perked up as she could hear voices of wolves from afar, howling at the moon as she looked at the bronze statue of the phoenix.

The phoenix displayed a stoic expression, it’s wings extended outwards to show a more intimidating stance. Its mouth was wide open like it was either about to go in for the kill or going to caw. The pedestal under the statue was made out of marble.

There was something about the statue that drew Spitfire closer. Even though it was almost frightening, she was pulled in. It felt… hypnotic to be able to view a bird that she had always been fascinated with.

She could almost hear a sound coming from it, yet no voice could be heard. Was it just her mind playing tricks on her, or was she going nuts? Either way, Spitfire could feel something from the statue that made her feel safe.

It was passion. A sense of pride and legacy. The feeling of persevering, coming through this statue. It made her feel like she was prevailing in her life. Or was it giving out a different message? The phoenix was a symbol of rebirth, of the chance of becoming something else. It made her think of a circle. There is no beginning nor end, only the cycle that continues from life and death and then repeats.

After a while of observing the statue, Spitfire noticed that there was a plaque placed under the statue. She got closer, to see what it said. The night’s darkness obscured the words, so she had to fall on her knees to view them.

The chains upon you are like a prison

Your soul is young and yet your body ages

I am the one who ignites the fire in you

I will preserve you for the ages to come

Your chains shall break with a new life upon you

In the blink of an eye, Spitfire suddenly appeared somewhere else. She realized she was in a massive temple. She jumped up on her feet, shocked beyond belief with having just closed her eyes in a split second to only appear in such a place.

“What in Luna’s name???” Spitfire said as she looked around to see what it was that had brought her to this place. “How the hell did I even get here? I was just outside… and now I’m…” She tried to complete her sentence but her thoughts were firing all over the place. She was too confused to even get her act together. She felt uneasy and extremely paranoid, and she began to look all around her.

Her eyes frantically searched left and right, with her head turning as she glanced to see if there was anything suspicious. She assumed that somepony may have been watching her this whole time.

She tried to calm herself by taking deep breaths. It worked, but she was still on the alert for any possible confrontations. She wondered if there was an exit, trying to see if there was a way out of this temple.

The place looked to be made out of limestone from the floor, to the walls, and even the ceiling. Even pillars also appeared to be made out of the same material.

There were torches lined up in rows, each in its own holder. It still felt like this place was inhabited by something, but Spitfire still couldn’t verify if anypony lived here or if this place may actually have been a place of worship she had been brought to.

There were paintings of ponies on the walls, all in white robes and looking like they were kneeling down and bowing, with their hands stretched out with food and other offerings. At first Spitfire felt puzzled, as she approached one of the walls close to her. She inspected it to see if there were any leads or something to show what the ponies were doing in these paintings.

Sadly, the paints appeared to have been withered with time, and it was fruitless to try and figure what they were doing. Maybe the ponies were worshipping a god or something. The center of the painting had apparently had a figure that she couldn’t make out anymore. It could’ve been a pony or something, but it was no good, what with the paint having been chipped away with time.

“Am I in Saddle Arabia?” She asked while continuing to figure out what the paintings were about. “I don’t even understand who or what got me here.” She tried to find anything that could tell her more about this place. Something, anything. Maybe a clue as to what continued to move her from one place to the next.

Spitfire only knew that she went to sleep, woke up in a jungle, and now appeared in a temple. She speculated that maybe somepony is trying to show her something that was important. But that was doubtful, even if she tried to think positive.

She did recall that there was a painting in the ceiling. Not wanting to waste anymore time, Spitfire raised her head up to take a look. “Maybe that painting will give me my answers-”

The shock and disbelief could not be more visible in her eyes.

She saw herself in the ceiling.

The fresco was extraordinarily detailed, as it had multiple pegasi, both mares and stallions alike, that flew up into the heavens, all wearing the same robes that other ponies were wearing in the walls. The skies were painted dark and light blue, with the stars glittering on it like if they were real. Clouds were depicted in a circle around Spitfire’s image like she was ascending into the heavens.

But something didn’t look right. Despite the astoundingly accurate painting, her image looked... slightly different from how she sees herself. Her wings appeared to have multiple shades of orange and red. They were blazing in a fiery inferno of great power. The eyes were bright and her coat was a lot brighter than it really was.

She even looked younger and more magnificent, as she was stretching one arm out while holding onto a sword in glory. Spitfire felt somewhat astonished and yet impressed in seeing such an image made in her likeness.

Although feeling appreciated, there was one thing that still didn’t add up.

“Who even made this for me?” Spitfire asked. “Was this a place where ponies worshipped me like a god?”

Not even a moment sooner Spitfire tensed up when she heard a weak voice that came from somewhere.

“Spitfire….” Spitfire heard a voice.

“Huh?!” Spitfire checked around her like a hawk. There was nopony in sight, only the sound of that voice. It sounded like it could’ve been a stallion, but she wasn’t sure.

“Who’s there?” She commanded while getting into a defensive position. “Whatever you are, I ain't going to be manhandled by you or by anypony.” Her choice sounded like that of a venomous snake.

“Oh, no need to worry, Spitfire.”

“How’d you know my name?” She didn’t budge even if this voice knew her name, which sounded more masculine compared to a few moments ago.

A chuckle came from it. “I know many things about you, Spitfire. However, I think it would be best for you to come to this place after you wake up.”

Spitfire raised an eyebrow at that statement. “Waking up? But wasn’t I already a-” Things started to go blurry for her as she tried to speak. She could feel her mind slowly getting darker and darker as the seconds went by. It was like the energy from inside her was being drained.

Her body began to fall as she felt herself plummeting into the darkness with no feeling of hitting the floor.

“Wake up, Spitfire.”

“Ugh…” Spitfire groaned as she raised herself up from her bed. “Oh Faust....” She rubbed her hand over her face. “What in Celestia’s name? What was that dream all about?” Spitfire carefully got out of her bed, stretching her body out and ruffling her wings to wake them up.

“What the hay was that voice? And who was it?” Spitfire noticed that it was still night time. The sun wasn’t going to appear for another few hours. “It couldn’t have been Princess Luna. She would’ve revealed herself to me in my dreams like for anypony she came across in the dream realm…”

After taking a while stretching, Spitfire finally stood feeling, surprisingly, refreshed.

“Come to the Forbidden Jungle, Spitfire…"

She tensed up again with hearing that voice whispered in her ear. She turned around to see if the pony or thing was behind her, but nothing was there. Only the flag of Equestria. Nothing had been disturbed or altered in any way.

“Only there you will have your desires fulfilled. Bring no one. It can only be you, and you alone that comes to this place that I’ve shown you in your dreams.” With that the voice could no longer be heard. The room felt lighter as if the mysterious presence of the voice had been the source of the reason for the darkness in the room.

Spitfire looked in the palms of her hands, only to see that there were black markings that had appeared in them. That made her take a step back from where she stood. In surprise, the markings were swirling circles, with birds flying away from them.

Even while looking at her own palms, Spitfire’s eyes glowed, and she saw the temple and the coordinates in her mind. The Forbidden Jungle appeared in the southern part of Equestria, in between where the Badlands and the Old Mansion was. There, a temple known as Tlateloco which had been hidden from ponies, the voice insisted Spitfire to search on her own.

“Ok.” Spitfire took a deep breath in and out.

Spitfire put her Wonderbolt flight suit on while taking her satchel with some basic item supplies and food. She left a note on the door in case Soarin, Fleetfoot or anypony wanted to know where she was, but didn’t tell where she was going exactly.

With that she flew out into the night, not looking back as she headed for the Forbidden Jungle where the voice was waiting for her.