Once A Shadow - From the other side

Chapters

Chapter 2 - People and their secrets
Chapter 3 - All work and no play
Chapter 4 - Leave nopony behind
Chapter 5 - A wrench for someone's plan
Chapter 6 - A dad's Shadow
Chapter 7 - Better than a medal
Chapter 8 - I'll be there in a heartbeat
Chapter 9 - Arrival of the Greenhorns
Chapter 10 - Lest history repeat itself
Chapter 11 - Viva Las Pegas
Chapter 12 - Brains vs Brawn(y Hooves)
Chapter 13 - Debrief
Chapter 15 - Trial by (Spit) fire
Chapter 16 - An interview with death
Chapter 17 - You better watch out...
Chapter 18 - Never Grow up, Never Grow old
Chapter 19 - Semper Filly
Chapter 20 - Old world blues
Chapter 21 - Semper Filly, Part 2
Chapter 22 - Old soldiers never die
Chapter 23 - KinderGarten Colt
Chapter 24 - My Academic Career
Chapter 25 - Meet The Medics
Chapter 26 - It's a Trap!
Chapter 27 - Till death do they part
Chapter 28 - Here's to the future
Chapter 29 - Vigilante's Veil
Chapter 30 - The nicest colt in town
Chapter 31 - Another day at the office, almost
Chapter 1 - A Hornet's Shadow
Chapter 14 - Does insurance cover espionage?

Chapter 2 - People and their secrets

I woke up with my mind full of questions.why were there two of them? and how did they know each other? And how many others will show up? Gaagh, too many thoughts. I need to just focus and do my job. I hauled myself out of bed and headed out. if I’m right, today should a good day to have a chat with mr Flash. I was about to see if he was working today when I saw him walking out of the bar. a few seconds later he accidentally bumped into Applebloom.

_"I'm sorry mister, I didn't see ya there."

"Don't worry about it, it was my fault for not paying attention."

Her eyes darted towards my flank, and her eyes went wide. "How come you don't have a cutie mark?"

"That's just because I never found my talent."

"You should come with me! I was just on ma way to a CMC meetin'!"

"CMC? What's that?" I asked, playing dumb.

"It means Cutie Mark Crusaders! There's only three of us so far, but if you came with me, you could be our newest member!" Oh boy...well, I don't have anything better to do.

"Why not?" I said with a smile. This should be good. Besides, how could I resist this epic level of cuteness?

"Alright! Right this way mister!" she said as she trotted in the direction of what I assumed was the CMC clubhouse._ -chapter 5-

As I watched the two walk away, I knew he didn’t know what he was getting himself into. I thought about helping him out of the situation, but then I thought it would be funnier if I just watched. An hour later, I saw Shadow bolt out the door and fly away towards the library. by the time I reached the library, he was gone. I went up to Spike and asked him if he knew where he went.

“I think I saw him head over to Rainbow’s place, why?”

“I wanted to talk to him about something.” I replied sternly.

“Oh, ok. Well, see you!”

“See ya around Spike.” Well, so much for that, I missed him again.Oh well, he’s not going anywhere, might as well have a little patience. I decided I would head over to Rainbow’s place, and have chat with him there. I wasn’t in a hurry, so it took me about half an hour to get there, and when I got there, the place was silent. I knocked on the door and after a minute, Shadow opened it with a lazy look on his face.

“It’s very late, and I’m tired. What do you want?” he said with an upset tone.

I replied with a serious face “I need to talk to you.”

“Wait a minute, I know you, I saw you at the bar yesterday. If this is about that fight take it up with someone else.”

“This isn’t about that, this is about you and your friend, Barry.”

“What about him and me?”

“I overheard your conversation and I know who your are, Landon.”

Just then, Shadow’s face went from lazy to alert in an instant.

“You know who we are?”

“Eeyup, and I’m happy to tell you that I’m one of you.”

He let out a sigh of relief and relaxed himself.

Shadow then asked the most obvious question; “Who are you?”

“My name is Cpt. Daniel Walters of the United States Air Force, A.K.A Hornet.”

“Really, where are you from?”

“Born and raised in Las Vegas, learned a few tricks from my folks who worked at one of the casinos. Ended up dying during a flying accident in Nevada. I was testing out the experimental F-18 Super Hornet at the time, which is how I got the nickname cus I was rather good at flying it. But I’m guessing it was years ago. Anyway, I woke up in the penthouse in one of the casinos in Las Pegas, With a slight hangover; indicating that I was probably drunk beforehand, With a safe with about 20,000 Bits in it with a note saying ‘These are your winnings from the night’s hot streak, nice going at the tables!’ About a week later, I enlisted in the Equestrian Guard, just to keep that army side of me. A little while later, the Wonderbolts showed up, looking for some fresh talent, and they signed me up.”

“Wait a minute, wait a minute, you’re a Wonderbolt?” Shadow said in disbelief.

“Yea, but I’m only a reserve member. I’m also the handyman, but sometimes it feels more like being a babysitter.”

“Hey, me and Rainbow Dash are planning on entering the young flyers competition in a day or two to try and get into the Wonderbolts, think you could put in a good word for us?”

It depends on whether you’re good enough for a recommendation, but who knows? Maybe if you’re good enough I might put in a good word...”

“Gee, thanks.” He said with a flattered voice.

“Anytime.”

Shadow stifled a yawn and said “Look, it’s late, how about we talk about this some other time?”

“Okay, see ya around. Oh, and if you make it into the Wonderbolts, the first round’s on me!” I said as I walked off into the distance. What he had failed to notice was a syringe in my hoof that I had injected him with as he turned around, of which had a serum that gave of a sort of amnesia affect, so he won't remember anything that he shouldn't. Looking at the syringe, I noticed how much I had actually pumped into him. "shit, little too much there." I said to myself. Well that went well, I better get some rest, I’ll need it. I have to report for the Young Flyers Competition for preparations. As I headed back to the Wonderbolts HQ, I felt strangely at ease, probably because I didn’t have to hide my true identity to another pony, at least a few of them anyway. I get to the HQ and Spitfire’s there to meet me, as if she knew I was coming.

She got straight to business. “Your report?”

I replied grimly “Yes sir, the situation has, how do you say, escalated.”

“Don’t tell me, it was a changeling.”

I chuckled. “Nope, it wasn’t.”

“Then what was it?” She sounded like she was running out of patience.

“Either the reports were off, or something happened because there’s TWO of them, not one.”

“Two? Well, that complicates things, but no matter. You did your job, and I’m glad nothing bad happened. Now that’s out of the way, I want you to help out with the preparations for the Young Flyers Competition. Oh and Hornet?”

“Yes?” I said cautiously.

“Good job.” She said and then passionately kissed me on the mouth. “Pass the initiation, and you’ll get more than just than that. But I never said I would make it easy..." She then walked away and let off a slight giggle.

I just stood there, with my mouth gaping wide open, thinking what the fuck just happened? As I walked into the HQ,
Soarin came up to me and said:

"What the matter with you? You look like you just saw a ghost or something."

I finally snapped out of my trance and replied smugly "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Being who he is, he replied with a cocky grin "Really? Try me."

"Spitfire kissed me."

His Jaw dropped. "Seriously?"

"Yea, on the mouth too."

"You are one lucky son of a gun, you know that?"

"Don't I. Listen, I have to stay here for the night and then help with setting up for the Flyers Competition, and I'm ashamed to say I left my room key at home. You don't mind if I bunk with you?"

"Not at all Hornet, not at all. Right now, you're the luckiest guy alive."

Chapter 3 - All work and no play

This time when I woke up, I felt the strange feeling of someone close by, then I remembered that I was bunking with Soarin, I turned myself around to find him right in my face, hugging me.

"GAAGH! FUCK! What the hell?!" I screamed as I almost literally jumped out of the bed (and out of my skin). At the same time, Soarin responded by screaming and falling out the other end of the bed.

I then finally said "Please tell me we did NOT just..."

"I hope not, but I think we were just drunk, thank goodness."

I raised an eyebrow."How can you tell?"

"Well for one, you smell of alcohol, and two, My liquor cabinet is open."

"Whew, that was close. For a moment there I though we actually..."

"Let's just drop the subject, ok?"

"Ok, shutting up about it. I've gotta go help set up for the Flyer's Competition anyway, Bye."

Well that was, disturbing to say the least. Oh well, no use dwindling on the past. As I headed over to the Cloudisuem, I kept thinking of that kiss Spitfire gave me. Did she really mean it? Was she just playing me on so I would work harder? Or was she just teasing me? That's a first, Spitfire with a sense of humor, Although it might just be me. Ow, brain pain, too much thinking. I reached the Cloudisuem, and the chief of Operations (or the boss, in more simple terms) walks up to me with a grin.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? Someone with some actual backbone I hope? Name's, well that's not important right now. Just call me the boss, do your job and we'll get along fine."

"Alright Boss, what do you need me to do??

"To start off with, I want you to set up some barricades, we don't want just anybody walking in. Second, I want you to go over the list of competitors, and then hand copies over to the security guards, so they know who to direct and where. After that, you should be done.You're probably thinking why we're doing these things today, instead of later. Well, I like to make sure we get things over and done with, and make adjustments later on, rather than scrambling to get everything done at the last minute. Understanding me so far?"

"Yes."

"Right, well I have other things to attend to, so just do what you need to do and- HEY! YOU, YEAH YOU! WHAT ARE YOU DOING JUST STANDING AROUND?! YOU HAVE A JOB TO DO, SO GO DO IT! Ahem, sorry about that. Off you go."

As I went over the list for competitors, I saw Shadow's name. "Hmmph, he'll do well, I know it." I mumbled to myself.As I went further down the list, I couldn't find Rainbow's name anywhere. I doubled checked it and couldn't find it anywhere. That's very much unlike her, she usually always enters, so I thought I'd pay a visit, and see what's going on. I knew she wouldn't be home, because Twilight and that had mentioned about having a chat with everyone about something. When I got there, it looked like everyone else had gotten here already. as I got to the library and moved over to the door, I could hear their conversation:

_"Thank you for showing up everypony, as you all know, the Grand Galloping Gala is only five days from now. I also just received tickets from the Princess herself."

That made everypony get excited, even me and Barry.

"As I was saying, there are two extra tickets this year, one for the date of Rainbow Dash, Shadow Flash, and the other for my date, Mint Barry." She said, levitating the tickets over to me and Barry. Our faces lit up, and we gave each other a (manly) hug. "Also this year is going to have a costume theme, so be sure to bring a costume."

"Sweet! You can actually come with us to Canterlot for the Gala! I'm pretty sure you've already been there before though, because you said you used to travel a lot, right?" Rainbow said

"Uhh, that's right, although I've never actually been to the Gala before."

Someday I'll tell her, but now isn't the best time.

"This is going to be so awesome!" Rainbow exclaimed

"Right, now that that business is concluded, Rainbow, you said you had something to announce?"

"That's right, I almost forgot! This year, actually, three days from now, or two days before the Gala, is the Young Flier Competition, and I've been asked to be a judge this year along with the Wonderbolts Spifire and Soarin!"_ -chapter 6-

So that's why her name wasn't on the list. As I walked in everybody stopped and looked at me. "Did I interrupt something?" I said playing somewhat innocent.

Twilight broke the silence and said "No, no, Rainbow Dash, please continue."

"as I was saying, yes Shadow, I'm going to be a judge for the Competition."

_"That's incredible Rainbow!" I yelled as I picked her up in a hug.

"Easy there Shadow. Also, I wanted you to enter this year's competition. If you won, it would give you big points for the Wonderbolts. And before you ask, I can't give you a perfect score just because we're going out."

"Well there goes my cheating idea." I said, rolling my eyes "Nah, I prefer to win a competition fairly."

"Well that's good then. We leave in two days for Cloudsdale, so be sure to tell your boss."

"Got it, I will." I trotted over to Rarity "Excuse me, Rarity? I was wondering if you could make me a costume for the Gala." I said with a smile on my face.

"Of course, darling, run by my store tomorrow, and I'll do some measurements, and bring a sketch if you want something specifically."_

"What about you Hornet, Any Ideas for a costume for the Gala?" Rarity asked inquisitively.

"Me? I don't need one, I'm going with the Wonderbolts."

Rainbow squealed "Eeeee! You're with the Wonderbolts? How come you never told me?"

"You never asked, put simply."

She stood there with a dumb look on her face."Oh. I guess I never did. Well, we better go."

"Okay, See you around."

As they walked out, I turned to Twilight. "Do you have those books I wanted Twilight?"

She replied by bringing the book out. "Yes, right here. 'Equestrian Journal to Internal Medicine', 'A History to Healing' and 'How to perform healing without magic'. Why did you want these anyway?"

"I'm planning on studying medicine, so maybe I'll beome the Wonderbolts 'medic' per se. Then, who knows? If I get kicked from the Wondebolts, although I'm not sure how,I might become a doctor."

"Oh, okay. Well if that's what you're planning, why don't you take this one as well. It might not be as helpful as the others, but it will help none the less."

"Thanks Twilight. And if I might ask, how are you and Mint doing?"

She started to blush." I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh come on, It's not that hard to see that you two are bonding, and I must say I approve. Just don't do anything crazy too early, if you get what I mean. Take care Twilight." As I flew off with books in hand (hoof), I could see Rainbow and Shadow having a muck about on their way home. Hah, those two seem to get along so well, and they've only known each other for about a week. After about ten minutes of flying, I reached my home, The Hornets Nest (kinda fitting, dont ya think?). It was a small, decently built shack, at least that's what it looks like on ground level. as I went inside, I headed over to a secret doorway, with an electronic panel. I activated it, and gave it a retinal scan. Like I said, I picked up a few tricks from my parents, namely building, taking apart and repairing things. I aslo studied in mechanics and electronics back when I was human, that helped me become a pilot/mechanic for the USAF. I walked downstairs, and as I did, motion sensors activated lights in the room. "Welcome to the workshop." I said to myself. As I walked over to the main workbench in the room, I picked up a few bits and pieces, and sat down to work, for th rest of the day, I spent tinkering with small weapons, devices and designs.Plus reading. A large amount of reading. The workshop, my sanctuary away from it all.

Chapter 4 - Leave nopony behind

Today I felt really tired. I suppose it's my own fault staying up reading and tinkering, but what the hell. I got up, sluggishly, and made myself breakfast, consisting of two slices of toast, an apple and some water. After breakfast, I headed out to the Silver Thunder for my usual round of alcohol. As I headed out, I heard something I really did not want to hear.

_"...I'm from a different world. After I died, I requested to be sent to the same world as my son, I should have known he picked this one. And my son's name is Landon Flash."

No...nonononononononononono FUCK NO! "DAD?"

"Junior? Is that really you?"

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"That's no way to greet your father boy."

"WHAT. THE. HELL. ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

"Looking for you, of course. I thought you would have been happy to see me after all of these years."

"First off, it's only been a few days for me. Second I came here because it was the place I thought you would never come to. Third, you never once cared about me! All you ever did was keep me in your shadow!"_ -chapter 7-

Not good, not good at all. How many of these people need to come here? No time to worry about this now, things are about to get out of hand FAST.

_"Shadow, are you okay?" Rainbow Dash said as she flew towards me.

Oh no, not now. Please not now...

"And who is this Landon?" my dad said

"Who is Landon? This is Shadow." she replied

"Wait, gimmie a-" I started to say

"I'm pretty sure I remember my own son's name, thank you."

"This is your dad Shadow? And why is he calling you Landon?"

"I am his father, and that's because that's his name of course." my dad answered

"Wait, you're dad doesn't have a cutie mark either...and neither does Mint, and you act like you've known Mint for a long time...who are you?"

"Rainbow, let me explain, I-" I said, extending my hoof

"Get away from me!" she yelled and swatted my hoof away. She spread her wings and flew away to Twilight's.

"She acts like she loves you or something. But something like that could never happen. Let's go Junior."

"Don't. Fucking. Touch me."

He recoiled in shock

"Do you have any idea what you just fucking did? You just single-handedly ruined my life for a second time! Because of you, you just chased away the only mare I love! No, I'm not letting you win this time! I'm going after her whether you like it or fucking not!" I shouted as I flew off towards Rainbow._

Shit, too late. I better have a word with Shadow/Landon's (I'm not sure who to say) dad.

"Hey, you! I think we need to have a talk, especially about what you just did."

Landon's dad gave me a confused look."I'm sorry, but who are you?"

"I'm the person(pony) who's about to tell you what you just did, and I've gotta say you screwed up big time. Listen, I know he's your son, and I can understand that, but you should've thought about what you did. I mean, you arrived in a completely different world to ours, and you expect everyone to understand about your situation. Did it ever occur to you that he might've had start a new life, completely different from the one he's been living in for years? No, of course not. Look, I know that may be him hating you right now, but Landon Flash is DEAD. he died years ago. And if you're smart, you'll realize that. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to try and help Shadow salvage what you just ruined."

"But, but, bu-" he said with a mix of shock and confusion.

"Look, if you want to talk to me, find me here tomorrow morning. Just don't tell anyone who you really are, or what just happened. These ponies don't know about us, and we would like to keep it that way." I said as I flew off. Boy, that escalated quickly. I gotta go see if I can help salvage this damn mess. I headed over to the library, and I could hear Rainbow, Twilight and Shadow arguing. I went in, and acted innocent. "What the hay happened out there? I heard a commotion and then Rainbow flew off."

_A moment later, Barry trotted in. He looked like he knew what was happening. He sat on the couch next to me, while Rainbow got up and walked next to Twilight.

"Start talking. Now." Twilight said

Me and Barry looked at each other, and I nodded.

"What we say may sound absurd, but it's the absolute truth. Me, and who you know as Mint, aren't from this world. We are originally from a different world called Earth. There, my name was Landon Flash, and his was Barry Johnson. And, well- we died."

I got the expected reaction from the two, which was disbelief mixed with shock. I continued.

"I was involved in an accident where I was crushed, and Barry here got murdered in a shooting. After dying, I received the chance to start a new life in this world. I jumped at the opportunity. Two days later, or ten years later in my world, Barry was murdered and he too received the chance to come here. As soon as we arrived, we instantly fell in love with you two. But about an hour ago, my dad came here and ruined everything...we would have told you eventually, but it didn't see like the right time, and for that we are truly sorry. I know it's too late for apologies, but you should still know, we are. Come on Barry, let's go." Barry nodded and followed me.

We left the library without a word of goodbye, because we knew we didn't deserve it from them. We walked to the Silver Thunder Bar and trotted in. We headed to the bar and took a seat. Silver walked over to us.

"You guys look like hell, what happened to you two?"

I started to explain what happened, and when I got to the part about being dead, and he called Thunder over. After he showed up, I restarted my story for him. When I finished he looked at me with a calm expression.

"Either you boys are on the strongest drug ever found, or you're telling the truth. Because you two aren't the type to do drugs or lie about something like that. I can help you out, but you're gonna have to come in an hour early for the next two weeks, excluding your vacations to Cloudsdale and the Gala."

Our ears perked up. "How could we possibly get them back after what we did?" Barry asked

"It's going to take some creativeness, but I think we can pull it off. I'm still calling you Shadow by the way, but Shadow, can you sing well?"

"I took choir for a while in high school."

"Good enough. Silver, can you still drum?"

"Sure can."

"Where are you going with this Thunder?" I asked

"Nothing says sorry like playing a song right? And you must have all kinds of music that say that where you come from."

"Thunder, that's- that's brilliant (obviously)! But wait, how could we get the girls here, and how would Silver know how to play a song he's never heard?"

"While I get the girls here, you show Mint and Silver the song you're talking about and rehearse it a couple of times."

"Got it."

"And Shadow?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't screw up your life again." Thunder said as he walked out the door._

I finally got to talk to Barry and Shadow (or rather, just Barry), and the first thing Barry asks me is why I'm here. "I'm here for the same reason you guys are."

Barry asked stupidly."To win Rainbow and Twilight back?"

"No, idiot. I'm here cause I used to be human, like you. Oh by the way, I sorted out Shadow's dad for him. I'll have a quick chat with him tomorrow morning on how he fucked up."

Barry was a bit slow on the uptake. "Thanks for doing that for him. Wait, you're human?"

I corrected him. "Was human. Name's Daniel Walters, United States Air Force. Now if you don't mind, you need to get ready." A while later, Silver appeared.

_"Okay, the girls are on their way, I told them that you two morons were drowning in booze and they had to come pick you up."

"You couldn't have made up a better story than that?" I yelled.

"You can't have expected this plan to be perfect." he replied

About ten minutes later, Rainbow and Twilight walked in. Thunder closed the door behind them, and stood in the way.

"What do you think you're doing? Let us out!" Twilight yelled

"Not until you listen." he replied

"Listen to what?"

Tonight we drink to youth
And holding fast to truth
(I don't want to lose what I had as a boy.)
My heart still has a beat
But love is now a feat.

Sometimes when I'm alone, I wonder
Is there a spell I'm under
Keeping me from seeing the real thing?

Love hurts...
But sometimes it's a good hurt
And it feels like I'm alive
Love sings,
When it transcends the bad things,
Have a heart and try with me,
'cause without love I won't survive.

I'm fettered and abused,
I stand naked and accused
(Should I surface this one buck submarine?)
I only want the truth
So tonight we drink to youth!
(I'll never lose what I had as a boy.)
Sometimes when I'm alone I wonder,
Is there a spell that I'm under
Keeping me from seeing the real thing?

Love hurts...
But sometimes it's a good hurt
And it feels like I'm alive.
Love sings,
When it transcends the bad things,
Have a heart and try with me,
'cause without love I won't survive.

We finished the song, and Rainbow and Twilight were stunned. Me and Barry walked off of the stage and up to them.

"We know we did you girls wrong, but we want to make it up to you. If you give us another chance we will never betray you again."

They looked at each other, then gave us a hug. We hugged for about a minute before Thunder cleared his throat.

"Right, lets go back home. Twilight and Barry, I'll see you tomorrow."

They nodded as me and Rainbow flew back home._

"That was just beautiful. I just love a happy ending, although it's probably far from an ending." I said, holding back a tear. "Hey, Barry, pick your poison, this rounds on me!" I said boldly, before downing an entire can of ColtLite.

Chapter 5 - A wrench for someone's plan

Today I had a certain spring in my step, though I couldn't remember why. Oh, that's right! I'm heading off to Cloudsdale with the others for the Young Flyer's Competition. But then I remembered that I also had to talk to Shadow's dad. Oh, joy. I packed my things, remembered to pick up my HQ room key and headed off. As I reached the meeting point, I could definitely see that everyone was getting excited for the competition tomorrow. I sat down and waited a few minutes, and sure enough, Shadow's dad arrived. "Over here!" I shouted.

"Well, you wanted to talk to me about something?" He asked.

"Yes. While it is apparent that what you did yesterday was a huge mistake in terms of ruining your son's life, I believe that you might be able to get him to trust you. It won't be easy, and it will take a while, but in the end you should have your son loving or at the very least tolerating you. I think you should start off with maybe a few things to start earning his trust. "

"Any ideas?" He said enthusiastically.

"I've got one right now, you could enter with him as a pair in the Young Flyer's Competition, see if that helps. If not, then there's not much you can do. He'll hate you and that's that, but it never hurts to try.

After we chatted for an hour or two, I finally realized it was time for me to go. "Listen, I have to go. I'll see you around, but if your son asks about my idea, we never had this conversation. It was nice talking to you."

"Likewise Daniel, likewise." He said.

I gave him a sharp look.

"Sorry, Hornet. Goodbye."

I flew away, wondering what he did to make Shadow hate him so much. Before I headed off to Cloudsdale, I decided to visit the Thunder Silver, to see if Shadow had already left. "Hey Silver! how ya doing?"

Silver looked surprised to see me. "Hey Shadow,I'm doing fine. What do you need? I thought you'd be heading over to Cloudsdale for the Young Flyer's Competition."

"I just wanted to have a little talk with Thunder"

"He should be in his office, just go on in."

I knocked on Thunder's office door. He mustn't have been expecting anybody because I could hear some clammering inside. "Come on in." He said and as I entered the room I got greeted with a wrench to the face.

"Ow! What the fuck?! Is that how you greet everyone who comes into your office?"

Thunder gasped and clambered to help me up. "Sorry about that, Thought you were Shadow. What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering how things were going, especially with Shadow."

"Oh, you heard then, didn't you? Well, he's doing fine right now. I've started him up on some fighting training and he seems to be handling it well, but he does get cocky at times, but I usually just beat it out of him."

I chuckled. "Say, feel like going a round?"

"If you can survive, sure."

After a few sparring sessions, I finally headed off. As I headed into Cloudsdale, I could see that the place was rather busy, with a decent amount of non pegasi here as well. Looks like this year is going to be a much bigger turn out than last year. The booking centers for seats at the Cloudiseum had queues that stretched for meters at the very least, and the main square was brimming with activity and gossip. However, the area around the Wonderbolts HQ was less populated than I had expected. I walked into the HQ to find everyone preparing for the competition. "Hey everybody! You lot miss me?"

Soarin turned around to see me."Hey Hornet, where've you been?"

Around, just sorting things out. What 'bout you guys? What've you been up to?"

Blaze spoke up. "WE have been picking up YOUR slack, that's what."

"Yeah, sorry I wasn't here earlier, but I had some things to attend to. So how's it looking for tomorrow?"

Soarin cut back in. "If all goes well, we should have some new candidates by the afternoon, and then we can hit the booze for a little relaxation."

"Alright, well I'm just going to unpack, then I'll be back to help."

Sorry for the short chapter, but my creativity is kinda dull at times, and I couldn't think of much to write.

Chapter 6 - A dad's Shadow

Today's the big day, the Young Flyers Competition. While I'm not participating in the competition, If Shadow and/or Rainbow get a good place (or win), they'll get some good points towards becoming wonderbolts and finally, I might have some new guys to pick on. Just joking bout that bit, but it'll still be nice to have someone new around. I got up, no time for breakfast, walked out and found that everyone else had left already. Jerks. I flew out to the Cloudiseum, and when I got there surprisingly, there weren't that many entries. The spectators line however, was longer than a pinkie party conga line. Oh boy, this should take a while. But then I remembered that I was a wonderbolt, and gave myself a facehoof. I was about to head on in when I saw some familiar faces.

_ "Hey guys. Shadow, are you heading to the sign-up area?"

"Yeah, I'm just about to."

"Rainbow, besides you, who are the judges for this year?" Twilight asked

"Besides me, the judges are going to be Spitfire and Blaze."

"I'll see you guys after the show, I need to go sign up." I said as I flew off.

"Alright, good luck Shadow! We're rooting for you!" Rarity said.

I nodded, and flew up to the sign up area. There were only about twenty other ponies here. There were two booths, one for single entries, and another for pairs. Huh, I didn't know this thing could use pairs. Oh well. I trotted up to the single entry booth, before a certain unwanted pony called my name.

"Landon! Over here boy!" My dad called

"Dad, how many times do I have to tell you? Go away!"

"Okay now look, I'm sorry about that drama with your...mare friend. I have come to terms with that. I'm sorry I never paid you as much attention as I should have on our world. I want to make it up to you, so I signed us up for a pair team!" He finished with a smile.

"You, you WHAT?"

"I thought this would help make us become closer."

"...I hate you."

"You say that now Landon. Come now, you might have fun with your old man! I even took time to learn how to fly."

"Wait, how did you even know about this place?"

"When you saw that one episode of your show on the television, you couldn't stop talking about it. When I died, I asked to be in the world you went to, so I ended up here. I asked around, and I found out about this competition, and that it had a pair entry. So I took it upon myself to learn how to fly. When the time came, I signed us up."

I collapsed on the ground. I was about to enjoy myself! Now this guy is going to drag me down, and prevent me from winning! And the worst part is, I can't do shit about it!

"Oh get up Landon. The competition is starting. Let's head over to the starting area and watch the other contestants."

I groaned and got up to follow him. We were the last ones on the list. That bothered me because it meant I had to spend more time with this jackass.

"So, what's her name boy?"

"What?"

"Your mare friend, what's her name?"

"What do you care?"

"Well, I was wondering when I get to formally meet my son's love."

"It's Rainbow Dash, happy?"

"No need to be so hostile."

"Are you kidding me? You never once tried to act like a dad, now you expect me to just act like you didn't ignore me for eighteen years, and suddenly accept you? Go to hell."

"I know I never tried before Landon, but I'm trying now. I didn't realize how important you were to me until you were taken away in that car accident."

"Funny how it took my death to see that."

He didn't respond. We just sat there in silence as it got closer to our turn. Eventually, the pegasus in front of us was called. We were after her.

"When we go out there, stay out of my way. I can do this on my own."

"We are a pair for a reason. We are going to have to work together if we want to win."

"Number twenty!" The mare with a clipboard called.

That was us.

"Lets go boy."_ -Chapter 9-

Well what do you know? He actually took my advice, maybe I should give advice more often. I walked up to the security guard and showed my I.D card. He nodded and let me past. Just before the competition started, I found the rest of the wonderbolts, making last minute checks.

"There you guys are. Thanks for leaving me behind." I said with a disgruntled voice.

Soarin replied. "It's your fault for sleeping in, so don't blame us."

"Oh, fuck. Never mind then. You all set here or is there something almost pointless you want me to do?"

"Yea, sit down and watch. With any luck, We'll have a new recruit or two."

I complied and sat down to watch.

_ We arrived to the starting area. I looked around at all of the pegasi, I saw my friends in the distance. I looked around some more, and I saw Rainbow and the other two judges. I also saw Princess Celestia.

"Begin!"

We flew out. My dad tried to chase me. I was managing to stay away from him. Looking back, I was flying so fast, I was leaving a trail of black outlined with crimson. When my dad flew threw, it turned the streak into a black, crimson, and white stripe. I guess it was cool, because the crowd was cheering. I was flying in all kinds of directions, but the old bastard was still following me! How the hell was he this fast?

Time to lose him for good. I stopped in mid-air and started flying straight at him. He barreled away at the last moment, and he got right back to following me.

"Go away!" I yelled, audible only to him over the screaming crowd.

Over to Barry, Twilight, and Friends.

"What are they doing?" Applejack asked.

"Is this part of the performance?" Twilight added

"I don't think so, it looks like he's trying to keep away from him. The crowd doesn't seem to know that though. I honestly don't think Landon planned on being in the competition with his father." Barry said._

What the fuck are those two doing? It looked impressive but I didn't think it was part of their routine. If anything, it looks like Shadow's trying to get as far away as possible from his dad, unsuccessfully. It seemed that Shadow was trying to lose him in high altitudes, when suddenly he does an unexpected drop, hurtling at high velocity when BOOM! An explosion of black and crimson starts spreading through the skies. I think he just did a sonic rainboom!

"Hey, Soarin, ever seen anything likethat before?" I asked.

"No, never in my life have I seen something like this." He replied.

"Bet ya 5 bits he calls it a shadow-something." I joke.

"You're on. We'll probably have to have a word with him after this, maybe at the Gala."

"I reckon so, Spitfire! aren't you going to go congrateulate the two of them?" I said, braking her out of a daze from watching that finale.

She stammered "Huh? Oh, right, right."

_"SHADOW!"

I look up to see a rainbow blur flying at me. It tackled me to the ground.

"That was incredible Shadow! You did a sonic rainboom!" Rainbow said

"I wouldn't call it a sonic rainboom, since it wasn't a rainbow."

"What would you say it was then? You get to name it since you did it."

"How about a shadow pulse?"_

"Told ya, pay up." I whispered to Soarin.

_"That's an awesome name, I love it!"

Just then, Spitfire, Blaze, and Princess Celestia trotted over.

"Congratulations to you and your father Shadow, I name the both of you this year's champions!" the Princess said.

I bowed. "Thank you Princess Celestia." I said as she placed the trophy on my head.

"You're welcome. I must go now, but I look forward to seeing you all at the Gala in two days. Congratulations again." Then she flew away escorted by two of her royal guards.

Spitfire trotted up to me. "Congratulations Shadow Flash."

I blushed and looked away. There is a difference between royalty, and a star. Royalty demands to be looked at. A star makes you stammer like a moron looking for the right words. "Uhh, thanks. I appreciate it."

She turned to Rainbow. "I see you two are together. I'll tell you what. Since both of you are now among the fastest fliers in Equestria, I'll give you two V.I.P. Passes for the Gala. That way, we have more time to hang out."

Rainbow fainted, and I just stood there.

Spitfire laughed. "Right, I'll take that as an 'I accept'. I'll see you two at the Gala!" She finished as she flew away._

"Right, I don't know about you guys, but watching that spectacle has made me thirsty. Let's hit the local bar for a drink, so everybody can get rehydrated from all that drooling you were doing." I said with a smirk. I was replied with a hit on the head.

"Okay, lets go everybody. First round's on me!" I spent the rest of the day drinking and trying not to get a hangover, with mild success.

Chapter 7 - Better than a medal

The Grand Galloping Gala. One of the greatest events in Equestrian history, happens annualy at the Royal Palace in Canterlot. Ponies from all over Equestria come to enjoy themselves, swap stories, meet the royalty, and hope that the night never ends. Listen to me, I sound like a fucking history book. I'm usually not one for these sort of celebrations, but sometimes you just have go with your gut feeling, even if it feels like it's half filled with alcohol. I got dressed in my Wonderbolts uniform (I don't usually wear it, considering I'm only a reserve member), stayed away from the alcohol, and headed out to the main room, where everyone was getting excited.

"Hey everybody, Everyone excited for the big night?"

Spitfire looked at me, with a sincere look about her. "Sorry to say this Hornet, but you're not coming."

I was shocked. "W-w-w-w what? What do you mean I'm n-"

"Gotcha!" she blurted out, with the most riduculous smile on her face. I just stood there, with an expression more blank than slenderman's face. Yes, slenderman. "Come on, like I wouldn't let a fellow Wonderbolt such as yourself miss out on one of the biggest events of the year. Here's your VIP Pass, put it on and lets go!"

After a few hours, we finally arrived at Canterlot Palace. It was truly a sight to behold. If the palace didn't look great enough during the day, then during the night it was truly something else. Bright lights and fireworks lit up the night ike nothing I've ever seen. Hundreds of ponies were inside and lined up outside the palace. After a little while of enjoying the festivities (and the whiskey), Shadow and Rainbow Dash arrived.

_"How's it going Spitfire?" I said, holding up my beer.

"It's going pretty well. How about you Rainbow Dash? Nice costume by the way. Maybe in time, you can have a real one."

"You really mean it?" Rainbow said, having a fangasm on the spot.

"Of course, along with us and Shadow here, you're one of the fastest fliers in Equestria."

"Don't faint again Rainbow." I teased

She responded by slugging me on the head.

"Ow, easy on the head!"

Spitfire chuckled. "Follow me, you can meet Soarin and Blaze."

"Alright, cool."

Rainbow could only nod and follow.

We arrived and found Soarin and Blaze just chatting. Soarin turned to me.

"Hey, nice costume." He said.

"Thanks, I appreciate it." We gave a quick bump of hooves.

Blaze trotted up to me. She looked pretty similar to Spitfire, except she didn't have lighter orange streaks in her hair. She also looked much younger from what I could tell.

"What's up?" she said

"Nothing much with me. You look pretty young for a Wonderbolt you know."

She smiled. "That's because I'm fourteen. I'm the youngest Wonderbolt ya know."

"Impressive. You must be quite the flier to make it for your age."

"That's right. So you're trying to get into the Wonderbolts too, eh?"

"That's right. Both me and Rainbow Dash here."

"You don't look like much, but looks can be deceiving. I of all ponies know that, not to mention I saw that little shadow pulse of yours, and her sonic rainboom."

"So you think we could become Wonderbolts."

"I wouldn't be surprised if you did, but you'll have your work cut out for you. Who knows, you might even get to be one of the few."

"One of the few?"

Spitfire popped Blaze on the back of the head.

"Ow, what was that for?" Blaze shouted

"Nothing. And what she means is one of the few ponies who are the best of the best fliers in Equestria."

"Oh, okay." I decided not to press.

Soarin whispered something in Spitfire's ear, and she turned to me. "I agree. I think it's about time we added some new members."

"Wait, do you mean-?" I started

"That's right, for both you and Rainbow. Any objections Soarin or Blaze?"

"None here." Soarin said.

"Let's give 'em a shot." Blaze said.

"Alright then. It's settled. You two will receive a tryout in ten days."

"Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmy-"

"Easy there Rainbow." Soarin said

"Right, sorry. It's just that I can't believe it, I'm finally getting my chance!"

"It's not a guarantee you know. I don't want you to get your hopes up for nothing." Spitfire said

"I can't help it. I've been waiting for this opportunity for years!"

"I understand, I just don't want you to get hurt."

"She'll make it, and I will too. You guys won't regret this." I said.

"That's the spirit!" Blaze said.

"In ten days, come to our building in Cloudsdale. We'll be there."

"Alright, sweet." I responded.

"Well it was great talking to you guys. I'm going to hang out with the others now. See you guys later, and thanks for the tryout!" Rainbow said

"Take it easy Rainbow." Spitfire said

Rainbow trotted away after giving me a quick kiss.

"Hey you three, would you mind doing me a favor?"

"That depends, what did you have in mind Shadow?" Soarin asked

I leaned in and told them._ -chapter 11-

"Oh, you tease. What do you think guys?" I chuckled.

_"Nice. We'll do it, but you'll owe us." Blaze said

"Alright, thanks. Just wait until we go outside."

"Sure thing. See you then." Spitfire said_

"This will be something they'll never forget." Said Soarin

"Especially after I'm done with them." I murmured. I was then responded by a noogey to the head. "Just kidding! like I would do that to a fellow Wonderbolt like him." Spitfire smiled and then gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"Come on everybody, let's get ready."

I was partially stunned for a second, until Soarin waved his hoof in front of me. "Did everyone see that, or was it just me?" They chuckled, and went to get into position.

_I trotted back to the bar and requested another Colt Lite. I sat at the bar for a little while longer until Rainbow trotted over.

"Hey." She said

"Hey yourself." I responded

"How's it going?"

"Pretty well. I think we should go outside for a bit."

"Okay, that sounds cool."

We headed outside, and I nodded to Spitfire, Soarin, and Blaze. They nodded back and went through a different exit. I also nodded to Rarity, who gathered the rest of our friends to go outside as well.

Me and Rainbow arrived outside. "So what's up?" she asked

"Rainbow, do you love me?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course. I also remember asking the same question myself, but you were asleep."

Our friends arrived next to us then.

"What's everypony doing here?" Rainbow asked

"Look up." I said

She looked up, along with everypony else. Just then, Spitfire, Soarin, and Blaze flew overhead in a specific pattern. They left a trail of electric smoke behind them. When they finished, the words Will You Marry Me Rainbow? were floating. Rainbow looked back at me in shock. I activated a hidden button on my armor. My chestpiece opened up, revealing a bracelet. It was made of gold, with some gems on it. Rainbow was stunned.

"I- I don't know what to say."

"You could say yes." I said with a smirk.

She jumped over to me and gave me a long passionate kiss.

"Yes, I will!" She exclaimed._

"Now that," I said shedding a tear "Is beautiful. Just beautiful. Congrats you two!"

_"Rainbow, I'm so happy for you!" Fluttershy said.

"We all are Rainbow. Congratulations to the both of ya." Applejack added.

"Yes, congratulations, to the both of you." Princess Celestia said as she walked out.

We gave a quick bow before she continued. "As a present, how about I let you two hold your wedding here in the castle?"

"That-that's great! Thank you Princess Celestia!" I exclaimed.

"You're quite welcome Mr. Flash. When would you two like to hold your wedding?"

"If it's okay with you Rainbow, I was thinking somewhere around a month or so."

"Anytime is fine with me." Rainbow said, putting her two front hooves around me.

"It will be in exactly thirty days from now, if that is fine." Princess Celestia said

"Yes Princess, thank you." I said

Spitfire trotted over to us next. "Way to go you two."

"Thanks. I appreciate the favor."

"You're welcome. Just remember, you owe the three of us a favor."

"As long as it isn't insanely outlandish, I'm happy to oblige. You guys did just get me engaged, and probably laid tonight."

She laughed. "Well we're about to head out. Congratulations again." She said as she flew away with Blaze and Soarin._

"Good luck Shadow, and well done. We'll make a Wonderbolt out of you yet." I said as I turned around and followed Spitfire and the gang, lucky bastard. For me, something like that would have been better than a medal.

Chapter 8 - I'll be there in a heartbeat

When I got word from Soarin that Shadow needed my help, I was thinking something small scale like lending a hand. Instead, I find him nearly dead, lying in a hospital bed. "Ho-ly-shit, what the fuck happened to you?"

Soarin walked up to me and said "He was attacked."

"Attacked? That's putting it mildy, it looks like he was fucking mauled, and then some!"

Spitfire interrupted. "Look, we brought you here to help him. You have the most medical experience out of all of us, and the hospital's surgeon checked out fifteen minutes ago."

"How convenient." I muttered "Look, I know I have the most medical experience out of us, but even so I've never done this sort of thing before. What if I kill him? Rainbow would never forgive me, and god knows what his dad will do to me! Are you sure there's no other way?"

"Yes, I'm sure. But look at it this way, you've been training in medicine right? Well it just so happens that we have an opening for team medic, and if you pull this off...Well, I'm sure you can figure out the rest."

Shit, is she serious? If I pull this off, I'll become the team medic. And I don't bout you, but that sounds a hell of a lot better than handyman. After a minute to think, I made my descision. "I'll do it. Now get me a set of operating tools, a vital sign monitor, an oxygen supply and an operating room ready. NOW MOVE IT, MOVE IT, MOVE IT!" Damn, it feels good being in charge, though I probably shouldn't get used to it. The operation was long and delicate. Ruptured organs, internal bleeding, and an open wound the size of a large knife! It took me hours to stitch up all the damage done, but I did it. I even stitched a smiley face on him somewhere, but I'm not saying where ;)

Rainbow Dash poked her head through the door. "How's Shadow doing? Is he gonna be okay?"

"He'll be fine" I said cleaning my hooves. "I've just finished so you can tell someone to take him to a room, although he'll be unconscious for a while. About a week or so. Nothing to worry about though, I'm guessing he'll be be wanting to leave as soon as he wakes up."

She giggled. "Okay, thank you. Take care."

Some time later.

_I opened my eyes to a very bright room.

"He's waking up! Get the doctor!" somepony yelled.

"Ugghhh, I swear to God if I died again." I groaned as I rose

"You didn't die asshole, but you came pretty close to it." Barry said

"Please tell me Rainbow is okay."

"She's fine. She just went to go get something to drink right now. She'll be back in a bit."

"Does anypony know what happened?"

"Rainbow said you were attacked in an alley. You told her to run away, and she went to go find help." Barry started to say.

"The first ponies I ran into were three of the Wonderbolts. I told them what happened, then they took off in your direction. When I finally caught up, there was some weird goo on the ground, and you were on Soarin's back and unconscious." Rainbow finished as she trotted in.

"Okay, and where are they now?"

"After they brought you here, they said they had to go check on something, and flew away."

"Well well Mr. Shadow, you're pretty lucky it seems." An earth pony with a white lab coat said as he trotted in.

"I just got stabbed and I'm lucky?"

"No, you're lucky because you should be dead. When you arrived here, you had several lacerations over your body, a punctured lung, and if that wasn't enough, you had lost blood far passed the point any normal pony would have bled out at."

"You forgot the part where I made a perfect recovery, and can leave anytime I want."

He rolled his eyes. "Do you have any idea how long you were out?"

"I'm guessing a few hours?"

"You were out for seven days Mr. Shadow."

I sat back. "Well damn, I was only off by a little."

"He almost dies and he's sitting here cracking some damn jokes." Barry said.

"I joked about it last time, why wouldn't I do it again?" I said with a smile.

"By the way, can I leave now?" I asked.

"Even if I said no, you would probably leave anyways, from what your friends tell me." The doctor said

"And they're right." I said with a grin

He sighed. "Just try not to lose almost all of your blood again."

"Why make a promise when I'm not sure I can keep it?" I said as I rose out of bed._ -Chapter 12-

Well, nothing's changed with him, that's good. As I started to walk away, Barry came after me. "Hey, I think I've seen you before. Hornet, Right?"

I turned around. "Yeah, that's me."

"So, how did you die? I got murdered in a dark alley, ha." he joked.

"I died near Nellis AFB in Nevada. I was shot down during a training exercise. And before you ask, no, I wasn't shot by anyone I knew. They came out of nowhere, shot down some of my friends, and then they got me. But I'd rather not talk too much about it."

"I understand. It isn't easy. I won't press any further." And just as he finished that sentence, Shadow shot out of the doorway and down the hall. "What the, was that Shadow?"

"Should we go after him?" I asked.

"No, there's no way I'd be able to catch him, and besides, what would we when we catch up to him?"

"Good point."

So, what do you wanna do? I was thinking we head down to the local pub and talk about each other. I've always wanted to know what it's like to be a pilot."

"Alright, let's go. I'll pay, since I'm assuming you don't have a well enough paying job for the amount of whiskey I can drink." I joked.

Chapter 9 - Arrival of the Greenhorns

These events are starting to line up pretty quickly. about a week or so ago, The Grand Galloping Gala came and went, with a proposal to Rainbow Dash from Shadow. Before that, Shadow won the Young Flyers Competition with his Shadow Pulse. And all this happened within a time frame of a few short weeks. Now It's Shadow's Tryout for the Wonderbolts and the Fugiens Mones. Things just keep getting more interesting by the day. "This will be interesting, seeing Shadow joining us." I said.

"If he manages to pass the initiation." Spitfire reminded me. "Which also brings me to YOUR initiation, which should be a week or so after his. I have a special treat in mind for you when the time comes, so remember to be ready for your initation."

"Right." What did she mean by that? Is it what I think she means, or is she talking about something else? I guess I'll find out when the time comes. I went through the secret entrance into the hideout, and saw Shadow and the others over at the arena. This should be good.

_"Now you take your trial."

"Which is?"

"Last five minutes in the arena with me." Blaze spoke up.

"Really? I'm not so sure about this. I'm not really comfortable with hitting kids, or ladies for that matter."

"Oh don't worry about me. It's you who you should be worrying about."

"Go ahead and get in the arena." Spitfire said.

We went into the arena, which was a round structure with a closed dome roof. It was probably thirty feet tall, and a hundred yards wide, probably to allow easy flight maneuvers. There was a gate that closed behind us.

Soarin's voice called out. "All you have to do is last five minutes without giving up, and you're one of us. BEGIN!"

I turned to Blaze. "Look, I don't wanna hurt you, so why don't we jus-" Was all I got off before Blaze delivered a hell of an uppercut, sending me flying back.

"I told you not to worry about me." she said.

"It's on now." I said before I charged her.

She smiled. "That's more like it."

I readied my hoof for a strike, but she ducked down and delivered an applebuck to my gut, knocking the wind out of me, and a little blood. I rose back up. She flew at me, and swung a hoof. I ducked at the last second, only to have her do a backflip and knock the hell out of my jaw that was already abused by a wrench earlier today.

"Easy on the jaw! I've already been hit with a wrench today by a crazy old bastard!"

She responded by flying up to me and giving me a hook right on the jaw.

"Ah, dafuq?! I said easy on the jaw!"

"You shouldn't tell an opponent any of your weaknesses."

"And you need to not be so serious!" I said as I rose.

I flew at her and went for a straight jab. She reacted quickly and caught my hoof, bringing me in close. I was ready for this, and delivered my special hard-headed headbutt. She staggered back and I took advantage by giving her an applebuck to the chest, making her fly back.

"Don't underestimate me." I said with a smirk.

"I won't from now on." Blaze said as she rose.

She flew at me we delivered a punch at the same time, cancelling each other out. We jumped back to catch a quick breath. I flew at her once more. She readied herself for an attack, but instead of striking her, I grabbed her and picked her up to slam her into the ground. Before I could, she flapped her wings furiously, lifting us into the air. I tightened my grip and flew straight for the ground. Right before we hit it, she did the unthinkable; she kneed me in my gems! I let go and fell to the ground, holding my precious parts. "That was seriously uncalled for!"

She shrugged. "Oh well, you do what you do to win."

"Thats enough! The match is over!" Soarin yelled as he and Spitfire flew down._ -chapter 15-

Ouch! that's going to leave a mark. I hope they don't do that to me. I know that it's wrong, but I couldn't help but laugh at what just happened. Now according to prcedure, he has to drink some kind of potion and sure enough, I was right.

_"I'll be back with the potion in a bit." Spitfire finished as she flew away.

"So what's this stuff tastes like anyways?" I asked Blaze.

"Truthfully, it tastes like ass."

"Wonderful." I said as I rolled my eyes.

"Seriously, you won't taste anything worse in your immortal bucking life."

"How'd it taste for you, Soarin?" I asked

"I couldn't tell you Shadow. It's been over a thousand years."

"The way Blaze makes it out to be, you should remember something that nasty."

Spitfire flew back down with a bottle with some kind of black liquid in her mouth. She motioned for me and I held out my hoof. She let it go and I caught it.

"Drink that, and forever join our ranks."

"Come on Spitfire, there's no need for theatrics, I recommend you down it as fast as possible by the way." Blaze said.

"Well, here goes nothin'." I said as I popped the cork.

I took a small sip...and it tasted great! I immediately downed the rest and dropped the bottle.

I belched. "Immortality tastes pretty good."

Blaze was awestruck. "He's...he's not real. There's no way he liked that crap!"

Soarin laughed and patted me on the back. "Welcome to the Mones, Shadow."

"Thanks." I said as I noticed Blaze take a curious sniff of the bottle before her eyes shot wide and flew away to go barf._

Hahaha! I wonder what that stuff tastes like? Guess I'll find out later. I was about to leave when Soarin caught up to me. "Hey, wait up a minute!"

I turned around. "Hey, Soarin."

"So, Shadow made it through, how about that?"

"I reckon he'll be fine, so long as noone tries to hit him in the balls again."

We both laughed. "Anyway, I was wanting to ask you something Hornet."

"Look, if this is about the missing whiskey, I swear I didn't take it." I joked

"Ha ha, no, it's not about that. I've always wondered, what was it like being human?"

I paused to think. "Being human wasn't that bad really, I had a decent life, good friends, opposeable thumbs; The best part of my life was when I got to fly."

Soarin questioned me. "What, with wings?"

"No, humans don't have wings, in fact, back on earth, the only things that had wings were birds. We did have ponies, but they're nothing like you. They can't talk and seem to be unintelligent, sorry to say. As for unicorns and pegasi, unfortunately they're only the stuff of myth and legend."

"But, how did you manage to fly without wings?"

"We had things called planes and helicopters. I flew in what's called a fighter jet. To me, flying was one of the greatest things you could do, and to be honest, most people would've agreed with me. You see, not that many people can fly. It takes years of education and training, but once you get up in the air, you never forget that moment when you're above the clouds, flying at speeds of over a hundred miles an hour, seeing the ground beneath you, in a way that you would've never thought of before, it's just mindblowing."

Soarin was impressed." But if you died to get here, how did you die?"

I sighed, I never really liked talking about it to anyone."I was flying one day with some of my friends, seeing how our new fighter jet was. Suddenly we were attacked and some of us went down, me included. If you don't mind, I'd rather stop talking about it."

"Oh, ok. Well, I'm going to help Blaze stop vomiting, you get some rest. I'll see you later."

I stifled a yawn. "I guess I could go for a nap, see ya." I walked up to my room, grabbed a bottle of whiskey, and went to bed. I always sleep better with whiskey.

Chapter 10 - Lest history repeat itself

Mission Dossier: F/A-18 Hornet Fighter Jet

29th November, ****[details missing] 0855 hours GST

******[details missing] Airforce Base, Nevada, United States of America

Test flight of the new F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet in a combat simulation against F-16 Vipers.

Test will be operated by members of the 64th Aggressor Squadron, Group Designation: Bravo Romeo Oscar November India Echo Sierra.

F-18 pilots for this assignment are as follows:

Daniel "Hornet" Walters - Hotel 1
Rank: Captain (US Army)
Age: 24
DOB: 12/10/1986
Affiliation: 64th Aggressor Squadron, USAF
Previous Affiiations: 12th Airforce Division, USAF
Operation History: Operation Treasure Hunt, Operation Final Justice

Jimmy "Wedgetail" Larson - Hotel 2
Rank: Corporal (US Army)
DOB: 13/12/1991
Affiliation: 64th Aggressors Squadron
Previous Affiliations: 12th Airforce Division
Operation History: None

Ben "Vulture" Everett - Hotel 3
Rank: Staff Sergeant (US Paratroopers)
DOB: 09/11/1993
Affiliation: 64th Aggressors Squadron
Previous Affiliations: 9th Airborne Division
Operation History: Operation Final Justice

F-16 pilots are as follows:

Henry "Viper" King - Victor 1
Rank: Chief Master Sergeant
DOB: 02/06/1949
Affiliation: 64th Aggressors Squadron
Previous Affiliations: 2nd Airforce Division
Operation History: Vietnam War

A1C John "Falcon" Hornsby, - Victor 2
Rank: Airman 1st Class
DOB: 11/10/1984
Affiliation: 64th Aggressors Squadron
Previous Affiliations: 3rd Airforce Division
Operation History: None

Tom "Hawx" Clancy - Victor 3
Rank: Master Sergeant (US Paratroopers)
DOB: 14/12/1988
Affiliation: 64th Aggressors Squadron
Previous Affiliations: 9th Airborne Division
Operation History: Operation Final Justice, Operation Guardian Angel

This exercise will be monitored by:

Ronald "Texan" Fitzgerald
Rank: Major (US Army)
DOB: 25/12/1945
Affiliation: US Airforce Command
Previous Affiliations: US Marines: 1st Battalion US Army: 5th Group, 1st Battalion, Delta Company
Operation History: Vietnam War, Operation Last Call, Operation Black Gold, Operation Treasure Hunt, Operation Final Justice, Operation Silent Dawn, Operation Guardian Angel, Operation Desperate Union, Operation Blue Eagle

Pilots are to engage in a dogfight to see combat capabilities of F-18. As this is a training exercise, there will be NO live ammo used. The 2 teams will consist of the pilots mentioned above, with 3 F-18 pilots and 3 F-16 pilots. The dogfight will last 20 minutes, or when all of one team are eiminated.

The major cleared his throat. "Alright, you've all been briefed on this, but just in case some you lazy assholes didn't pay any attention, I'm only going to go through this ONCE. Team 1, Hornet, Vulture and Wedgetail, you're flying in the new F-18's. You'll be engaging in a dogfight against Viper, Falcon and Hawx in team 2 in F-16's."

Falcon interuppted and said "Aww yea, I'm gonna kick your asses!"

I retorted "In that old thing? ha, maybe if you had half a brain and a shitload of duct tape."

Everybody laughed. "Alright you two, settle down. Okay, wheels up in 5, so get off your asses and get going!" the Major continued." Oh, and Hawx, Vulture, if I find out you guys have loaded ANY live ammo, your tags are mine."

I rushed over to Jimmy, who was putting a cigar in his flightsuit. "Hey, Jimmy, you know you're gonna kill yourself smokin' those one day."

He chuckled. "Don't really care. so long as I come back alive from a flight, I have a reason to celebrate."

"Can't argue with ya there."

He pointed towards my jet." You customised yours already? they haven't even been approved for full scale use."

"Like you said, don't really care, besides, I ALWAYS put my favourite pony on my vehicles, car or other." Anyone could have recognised my jet in an instant. on either wing it has my favourite pony, Spitfire and the USAF 64th Aggressor Squadron emblem. I was quite happy with my customisation, and noone really seemed to mind. We all got into our jets, made sure everyone was ready, and took off. "Control this is Hotel-1, all units are in the air and ready to roll."

"Roger that Hotel-1, waiting for conformation from Victor-1, how copy?"

"Solid copy, wait out." A few minutes of being bored later, the call came in.

"Hotel-1, this is Control, Victor-1 has confirmed that they are in the air and ready to roll. Your are cleared to engage, happy hunting."

"Roger that Control. You heard the man, lets go give 'em a taste of our boots up their ass, Hooah!" But before any of us could arm our weapons, another call came in.

"Hotel-1 this is control, we're picking up multiple unknown bogies in your sector, closing fast. Please stand by."

"Think it's the other team?" Vulture asked.

"Don't think so, they wouldn't have radioed it in otherwise." Suddenly I saw them, coming over the horizon. "There they are!"

"Think it's our guys?" Jimmy asked. His question was answered when one of the fired a missile.

"Missile! Evasive maneuvers!" Vulture screamed. I was about to evade it when the missle past my right wing, missing it by less than a meter. I turned around, and saw it hit one of the Vipers. The jet exploded into a fireball. "Shit!" Vulture shouted "What the hell just happened?!"

Suddenly the radio burst on."Attention Hotel squad, switch to emergency frequency immediately, I repeat, switch to emergency frequency immediately."

"Control this is Hotel-1, what the fuck just happened?" I asked impatiently.

"This is control, Victor-1 is down, I repeat Victor-1 is down! Victor team is under fire and taking evasive maneuvers. Advise falling back to base, over."

"Negative, Control. We are also taking fire and will not make it to base, requesting reinforcements, how copy?"

"Solid copy Hotel-1, reinforcements are being scrambled to your position, hold tight."

Jimmy spoke up. "So what, we're just gonna sit here twiddling our thumbs?"

"Not if I can help it!" Vulture said as he barrel rolled behind one of the enemy jets and opened fire. Within seconds the enemy plane was shredded by Vulture's 20mm cannon.

"Vulture! I thought the major said no live ammo? I asked stupidly.

"Come on, you know I never listen to that crap! besides, this means I can have some fun now!" he said as he started chasing after one of the other jets. just then Jimmy pulled up to me.

"Hey Hornet, how you doing? stuck your head between your legs yet?"

"Haha! Not yet, but you might wanna hold out on insul- LOOK OUT!" I said as a missle flew right between us and clipped one of his wings. "Shit! you ok Jimmy?"

"Aaagh, I'm okay. My right wing's gone, I'm going down!"

"Nononononononononononono, SHIT JIMMY!" I screamed seconds before he exploded and hit the ground. "NOOOO!"

Vulture was very worried. "Hornet, what just happened?!"

I calmed myself to speak. "Hotel-2 is down, I repeat Hotel-2 is down." Dammit Jimmy! Why? Why did you have to die? after a few seconds I had decided to stop being sad and instead use this to fuel my anger. "If Jimmy's gone, then I'm going with him, and I'm taking one those motherfuckers with me!" I said furiously as I charged towards one of the enemy fighters.

"Hotel-1 this is Major Fitzgerald, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING? DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT ENGAGE! DANIEL YOU LISTEN TO ME, DAMMIT!"

"Sorry sir, but my mind's made up. Say goodbye to the 12th for me!" I said as I crashed into the other jet, taking his left wing off completely, but at the same time taking mine as well. As I plummeted towards the ground, I could here a faint but familiar voice calling my name.

"Hornet, Hornet! Hornet wake up dammit!" I woke up in cold sweat, with Spitfire standing next to me. "Are you okay Hornet?" she asked.

I looked around, seeing that I was in my room. "I'm... I'm fine Spitz, just a bad dream."

She looked unsatisfied with that answer."Are you sure? you don't look okay to me."

"Look, I appreciate the concern, but really I'm fi-" I said as Spitfire climbed into my bed. "Spitz, what are you doing?"

She smiled. "After your unpleasant sleep, I though some company might help. You don't mind do you?"

I blushed. "Of course not, just don't try anything silly please, I still want sleep."

"Oh you'll get sleep," She said kissing me "afterwards." I smirked. And I thought She'd never catch on.

Chapter 11 - Viva Las Pegas

After what could have been described as the worst and best night of my new life, I felt rather good. I woke up, with Spitfire snuggling up next to me. What I didn't notice until a few seconds later was Soarin standing in the doorway with his jaw dropped halfway to the floor. "Umm," I said "this isn't what it looks like?" He just laughed and said

"Don't worry, I won't tell anypony. You are one lucky guy, you know that?"

I chuckled "Yep, don't I know it. And it doesn't stop there, I'm planning on taking Barry over to Las Pegas."

"Huh, really? Well good luck with that. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to leave before Spitfire catches me here. I'm supposed to be training with Blaze." He then bolted down the hallway as he heard Spitfire yawn.

"Morning sunshine, and how are you today?" I said jokingly.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking. And how are you? you seem pretty perky this morning."

"I'm good. do we have anything important happening today? Cus' I was planning on taking a trip to Las Pegas with Shadow's friend."

"I don't think we do, so I guess so. Have fun, and try not to get too drunk."

I laughed. "I'll try, but I can't promise anything." As I headed over to the Silver Thunder, I noticed the fine weather. Birds were chirping, the sun was shining, and there was barely a cloud in the sky. A perfect day to visit Las Pegas. I headed through the front door, and saw Barry and Silver at the bar. "Hey guys, What's up?"

Silver looked up at me. "Hey Hornet, the usual I presume? Or are you here for another reason?"

"A bit of both Silver, I'm here to talk to Barry about something, but since I'm here I may as well have a cold one."

Barry looked at me nervously. "Is this about Shadow? Cause if it is, I want nothing to do with it."

"Relax, I actually wanted to talk about you, you feel like taking a trip up to Las Pegas?"

His expression turned into a mix of excitement and uneasyness. " Las Pegas? What's that, Vegas or something?" I nodded.
"I don't know, I don't exactly have the money for that kinda stuff."

"You don't, but I do. So what do you say, care to come with me to make (or lose) a fortune?" I said reassuringly.

It took him a few seconds to make up his mind. "Aww, alright, let's go. I just gotta talk to Thunder about it first." After a few minutes, he emerged from Thunder's office, thankfully unharmed. "I've been given the all clear, let's go make some trouble!"

I smiled. "Now you're talking! See ya Silver!" I said as me and Barry ran out the door. After a few hours of a boring train ride (and a shitolad of extra boring games of I spy), we had arrived.

Las Pegas. A city that never sleeps, where fortunes can be won and lost in the blink of an eye. It's the Ponies equivalent of Las Vegas, and to me it felt more like home than anywhere in Equestria. The towering neon lit buildings, the noise of all the ponies having a good time, ahh, home sweet home. "Barry, Welcome to The Strip, where you'll find money, mares and good times a plenty!"

"I've never seen anything like it." Barry said, gobsmacked.

"Of course you haven't, Vegas was always one of a kind, so is Las Pegas. Now, where shall we start our escapade? Oh, I know! There's this one place, where I ended up in Equestria, It's called the Tops: Hotel and Casino. It's a great place, believe me, you will love it."

Barry, being not that interested, pointed towards something a little more his style. "What about that place? I reckon we could have a good time there."

I shook my head. "Look, you've been here only a few minutes, so I'll forgive you. Let me give you the rundown of the best of this place: That one you just pointed to, the Gommareh? It may look pretty on the outside, and the mares there are nice, but trust someone who knows the layout better than you. That place is shady, they've always got something going on behind closed doors, and I'm not just talking about the sex. My advice: stay away from there unless you've got some business with them, and even then be careful. Now that that's out of the way, let's get cracking!" (Cue montage of me and Barry getting drunk, getting rich, and getting in trouble.)

"So you're telling me, that he told your girlfriend that you had an STD, just so he could get a packet of chips? Wow, what an asshole!" I laughed.

Barry was pretty much as drunk as he could be, and was barely able to stand upright. "Yeah, I mean, what the hell? He could have just asked for 'em you know." He took a swig from a bottle he was carrying. "You really *hic* know how to have a good time, I should hang out with you more often. You're WAY more fun to hang out with than Shadow."

I was drunk too, but not near as much as Barry was. I mean I had promised to Spitfire that I wouldn't get too drunk, and I was planning on keeping the promise. Besides, she was probably planning on getting me drunk anyways. "Hahahaha! you are wasted mate, absolutely wasted. you either need to go home or have a rest."

Barry scoffed. "Not fucking likely! besides, I'm fine! Absolutely fine. I don't...need to...have a rest...I feel.. peachy..." Just then he fell to the ground.

"Barry, Barry, Barry. What am I going to do with you? Oh wait, I know!" I said with an evil tone.

Don't worry, I took him back to Ponyville, safe and sound. The only thing I did to him was draw a moustache and some scars on him. (evil smirk).

I walked up to the Ponyville Library, with Barry on my back. I knocked on the door, and a few seconds later Twilight answered the door. "Oh my goodness! What happened to him?" She mildly shreiked.

I tried to reassure her."Don't worry, he's fine. He's just a little intoxicated. He'll wake up in a while. Long story short, we went to Las Pegas and went a little crazy. Don't worry, nothing bad happened, and he'll have completely forgotten about it by the time he wakes up."

She breathed out a sigh of relief. "Well, so long as nothing bad happened, I'm okay with that. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get ready for his inevitable hangover."

As she closed the door, I flew off and left. That was fun, I should do it again sometime. Maybe I'll take Shadow, but then again he has a lot on his plate already, and I don't think he'll have time for it. After flying through Cloudsdale and reaching the Wonderbolts HQ, I went into my room, and found a pleasant surprise waiting for me. Spitfire was waiting for me, with a bottle of whiskey in hoof. I smiled and closed the door behind me. (I'm pretty sure you know what happened next) ;D

Chapter 12 - Brains vs Brawn(y Hooves)

After being laid two nights in a row by the sexiest mare alive, I felt rather good about myself. However, when I woke up, what I didn't expect was that Spitfire wasn't lying next to me. Instead, I found a note saying:

Dear Hornet, sorry I couldn't be there when you woke up, but I had business to attend to today. Me, Shadow and the others are heading off to Phillydelphia for a performance there. In the mean time, I want you to head over to Brawny Hooves' Smithy, to help him get some current work out of the way so he can work on Shadow's armor. While you're there you can make yourself some armor, since you haven't seemed to gotten any yet.Yours, Spitifre.

Ha, I almost forgot about that. Well to be honest, I wasn't performing anyway, and I really do need some armor, so I may as well go there anyway. After grabbing an apple to go and some materials for my soon to be armor, I headed off.

Brawny's Smithy wasn't as big as would have expected it to be, it was just as big as a normal house, the only difference was the parts for the smithy that were added in. As I walked in, Brawny was just coming out into the workshop. "So, you must be Hornet. Nice to meet you." He said extending his hoof.

I went up and shook his hoof."Likewise, Brawny, likewise. Now, was there something you needed done by today, or am I here for no reason?"

It took a second for his brain to snap into gear. "Oh, yes! I need you to help me make some armor for the Equestrian Guard. don't worry, it's not anything fancy like those ones in Canterlot, these one's will be stock standard. Tell you what, how about a little competition? We need to make a hundred of them, so let's see who can make the most of them. If you win, I'll help you make some armor and weapons for yourself, with some 'special' materials. If I win, you have to clean out the furnace. And just so you know, it hasn't been cleaned for a while. Deal?"

I smiled confidently. "Deal."

It was a long, sweaty ordeal, making armor set, after armor set, after armor set, but Brawny seemed to be doing it no problem, probably because he's had more experience. After what seemed like hours, we finally finished. "...44, 45, 46, 47! Darn, I thought I made more than that." Said Brawny, covered in sweat.

I chuckled. "Well, to be honest I did take one or two while you weren't looking. But I only took 2, you would have noticed other wise."

"You're a crafty one, you know that? Ah well, you beat me anyway, even though you cheated. I'll help you make your armor and weapons. Now, be a sport will you, and fetch some more metal from out the back? We'll need it for later." I nodded and made my way through the workshop and into the back rooms. Just then, I heard the front door open, and some familiar voices.

_We trotted inside, and up front was a large olive green earth pony, with olive green mane and tail. His cutie mark was a hammer and anvil. He turned to us. "Oh, hey Spitfire, is this the new member?"

"Yep, this is him."She said.

He trotted over to me and held out a hoof. "Pleasure to meet ya! I'm Brawny Hooves!"

I took his hoof and shook it. "Shadow Flash."

"So what can I do you two for?"

"I have a 'special request'." Spitfire said.

"Oh? And what would that be?"

She pulled out the box containing my costume from my saddle bag and opened it. "This."

He let out a whistle of appreciation. "Now what have we here?"

"Well, it's currently just a costume, but I would like you to modify it into real armor and weapons for Shadow here."

"These designs and weapon capabilities are extraordinary! Where did you come up with such a thing?"

I shrugged. "Just some sources."

"Those are some impressive sources then. Oh, I'm going to enjoy this one. Come back in about a week, and I should be done."

Spitfire nodded. "Alright. Thanks Brawny."

"Oh no, I'm thanking you on this one. Nice meeting you by the way Shadow."

"You too."_ -chapter 19-

I came back in to the workshop with metal in-hoof. "Who was that?" I said.

"Spitfire, and a new friend of hers, Shadow. They wanted me to have a crack at making these a little more real." He said holding up a box with Shadow's gala costume.

"Impressive. Tell you what, I'll work on the bracer and the chest plate, while you see about making the blades a little more potent."

"Right, you probably have more experience than lil ol' me with advanced mechanics anyway." After taking it apart and about an hour of tinkering with the parts, I put the whole thing back together. Just then Brawny entered the room. "How's it going? you finished with it or are you still figuring out how the thing works?" he joked.

"Ha, very funny. And yes, I have finished with it. I've modified the mechanisms with a more lighter and stronger material. I also played about with the gears in it and I've made it much quieter and faster when it's drawn and retracted. I also modified the chest plate and it's storage, allowing it to hold something like a dagger, just in case."

Brawny looked satisfied with my work. "Nice, well I've given the rest of the outfit a basic do-over, but it's going to take a few days for the more special stuff for the armor to arrive. I also made the blades much more stronger, and REALLY sharp. Although it's still unhygienic to try and cut bread with it."

I chuckled. "Cool, now you said something earlier about helping me with my armor and weapons?"

"Yes, and even though you cheated, I'm still going to help you make your weapons and armor. Did you have something specific in mind or did you want just a plain set of gear?"

"Actually," I said pulling out a piece of paper "I did. How about this?" Showing him a detailed sketch.

He whistled. "Well, it's not gonna be easy, but it's definitely doable. Let's give it a shot."

After a few hours, I finally had my armor. It was a specially designed vest, usually made for human Spec Ops. Thanks to Brawny, the vest was coated with a special material, similar with what Shadow's outfit was going to be coated with. My weapon was also based on human weaponry. It was a modernized KA-BAR combat knife, which is what United States Marines use. It was also coated in a material that made it more sharp, allowing it to cut through most basic surfaces. (ie. wood, thin metal, plaster) The vest also had a nice sheath on the back, so I could put my knife there whenever I wasn't using it.

"I gotta say," said Brawny partially gob smacked "that that is a nice set of gear. Where did you think of it?"

"Like Shadow said, 'I have my sources'. Besides, mine isn't as near as awesome as Shadow's is."

"Well, you're welcome. It's about time to shut up shop anyway, so I'll be seeing ya. It's been a pleasure working with you Hornet."

"Likewise friend, likewise." I said as I flew away into the night. Today was pretty good, so considering the strings of good luck I've been getting lately, something bad was probably going to happen. And sure enough, it did. As I was heading back, I caught a glimpse of something overhead, which I almost immediately dismissed for a bird. That was a BIG mistake, as a few seconds later it swooped down and took a swipe at me, knocking me down to the ground. I bounced off the dirt below me and reached for my new knife, expecting it to attack again. that was my second mistake, as it was only doing a hit and run. My eyes darted around for a few seconds until I saw it again in the sky, a silhouette of what looked like a griffin. My third mistake was trying to fly after it, as I had not paid attention to my wings, which were now incapacitated by some kind of sedative, probably from its claws. By the time I could fly again, it was gone, so I decided to just head back home. Fucking griffins. As I headed back into the Wonderbolts HQ, Shadow, Ni, Soarin and Blaze were standing in the main room. Oh shit, I hope this isn't about me.

_Ni spoke up. "They were regenerans bestia. Three of them. It looked like they were fortifying the old ruins there."

"And you're sure about this?"

"Of course. I wouldn't have told you if I weren't sure." Ni responded

"Alright then. Soarin, Blaze, Shadow, lets go. Captain Night Wing, you too."

"Wait, why me?" Ni asked.

"Because, if somepony gets injured, we're going to need you to fly them out of there."

"Right, got it."

"Okay, move out!"

We turned and started to move.

"Shadow, wait!" Spitfire called out

I turned. "Yeah, what's up?"

"Catch." She said as she threw a couple of daggers at me.

"Oh shit!" I yelled as I dodged them.

"You were supposed to catch them."

"Yeah, I'm not doing that."

I looked down, there were three daggers. She must have accidentally thrown me an extra. Oh well, I picked them up and put them in my bag.

"Alright Shadow, lets go." -chapter 14-

They started to move out when I trotted over to Spitifre. "Hey, Spitz! What's going on?"

Spitifre turned towards me. "Hey, Hornet. We're moving out to some ruins just outside of Ponyville, Shadow and Ni said they saw some regenerans bestia there."

"Need me to do anything?" I asked.

"Yes, I need to you to come with us in case anyone gets injured, because-"

"Because I have the most medical experince, yes I know." I interuptted.

"Right, I want you to stick with Ni, He'll take anyone that gets wounded to a safe distance, and then you can help stitch them up as best as you can. We'll handle the fighting, but don't worry, you'll get to see some action soon enough. Now lets get moving!"

We headed out over Ponyville towards the ruins, and all was quiet in the small town. Nobody or nopony was going to walk into hat was about to happen, and what was about to happen wasn't going to be pretty. We all got into position, and it was dead silent. It was, until Shadow let off a whistle. One of the bestia, who was outside at the time, was distracted by the whistle. Blaze then came out of nowhere and stabbed it in the back. "Well, this should be a piece of cake." I said confidently. However, karma decided to screw me over as a second later the bestia let out an ear shattering shriek as it melted.

Ni look at me with a stupid look. "You were saying?"

"Oh, shut up." I said with an angry look on my face. Our attention was then turned back to the ruins, as the other two bestia came out. What REALLY caught our attention was Shadow charging at them, yelling. "What the fuck is he doing? Cause what ever it is, It seems to be working!" I said as the two other bestia went down. Spitfire and Soarin went up to him a few seconds later, probably congratulating him. But just as Shadow was about to start moving away, he collapsed.

"Oh, boy." Ni said with a worried look.

"And that's our cue." I said running over to them. "Ok, what's he done THIS time?"

Spitfire turned to me. "I'm not sure, he said he wanted to see a doctor for some reason then he collapsed."

"Well, we better take him to one, just in case. Put him on Ni's back and I'll have a look at him on the way there." She nodded and pointed Ni towards Shadow, signalling him to pick him up. "Hmm, judging by his complexion, I'd say he's lost a decent bit of blood. Apart from that, there's nothing really wrong with him as far as I can see. He'll almost definitely need some blood, and we should get the doctors to give him a scan, just in case." I spent the rest of the night wondering what was going to happen to that cocky son of a bitch.

Chapter 13 - Debrief

I haven't seen Shadow since we had the attack on the Bestia's hideout, but I'm pretty sure he's fine, he always is. I should probably worry more about myself right now, as my initiation is tommorrow. And Spitifire said she had some kind of 'surprise' waiting for me. Boy, can't wait to find out what that could be (major sarcasm). But right now I'm sitting with the rest of the team, listening to a debrief from Princess Luna. She was part way through her debrief when Shadow trotted in, and he looked relatively unharmed.

_Princess Luna turned to me. "Ah, hello there young Shadow. Give us just a moment, we are discussing some important matters."

I gave a bow. "Yes your majesty, I'll wait upstairs if you prefer." Something I learned growing up, always show respect to a superior, or get your ass handed to you.

"That's quite alright. You are a member now. Please, take a seat so we may continue."

I nodded and found an empty seat between Ni and Blaze. Luna sat at the head of the table, with Spitfire and Soarin sitting at her sides.

Ni leaned in and whispered to me. "I thought this was against your 'guy code.'"

"Not now smartass." I whispered back.

Princess Luna cleared her throat before proceeding. "Yes, as we were saying, your next mission is coming close. Your objective is to end the griffin's rebellion as soon as possible while minimizing casualties on both sides. I do not want there to be bloodshed if at all possible. Captain Night Wing?"

"Yes your highness?" he answered

"You and your team will be departing a week before the assassins, the medics, and the archers so you can scout ahead for them."

"Yes Princess Luna."

I leaned in and whispered to Ni. "I thought you said there were only three groups of the Mones?"

"Did I? Huh, must have slipped my mind. There are actually four, my bad."

"No big deal I guess."

I sat back in my chair to continue listening to the princess. "I will now allow Spitfire to explain her squad's objective."

Spitfire rose. "Thank you, your majesty. Now for my squad, a week after Captain Night Wing's squad departs, we will make our way to the land of griffins as well. Once there, we will report to an envoy personally assigned to us by the head general of the griffin's loyalists. After he gives us our briefing, we will depart for our objective. If needed, we will have support from the archery squad. Any questions?"

We shook our heads. "Good. Captain Night Wing, you have the floor." Spitfire said as she took her seat.

Ni rose up and looked at a few of the ponies in the room. "My squad, our objective for this mission is to give recon for the area before any other teams proceed. We will attempt to gather what information we can on the rebels, and look for any weak points in their defenses. In order to do that, myself, and the captain of the medic squad will be posing as mercenaries in the rebel army. Once we have the information we need, we will report to the loyalist envoy, and give him whatever information we have. While me and the captain of the medics are behind enemy lines, I want the rest of you to blend in with the local populace and gather what information you can on the enemy. How about it, can I count on you squad?"_ -chapter 22-

"Yes sir!" I shouted. Wait a minute, I didn't think there was a captain of the medic squad, at least since our old officer died a month ago.

_Ni sat down and the princess rose up once more. "Our business here is concluded everypony. You may take your leave now!"_

I stood up, and Spitifire signalled me to follow her. "Umm, Spitz? I know this may be a bit of a stupid question, but isn't the medic squad captain dead?"

She turned her head towards me. "Oh yes, I forgot to mention, we're getting a new CO for the medic squad in a day or two. Sorry for not mentioning it in the debrief but I forgot about it."

"It's alright, but can you at least tell me who the new captain is going to be? I'd prefer that I knew who to buy a drink for, because as you know, I buy drinks for the new guys on the teams."

She smiled. "You'll find out tommorrow, I can guarantee that. But until then, I want to show you something." She pointed me towards a room labelled 'Lab', and opened the door. "This is your new workspace, I know you're a bit of a tinkerer, so we put in some tool kits for that. Over here is the main lab, where you'll work on any intel or interesting finds during our missions. In case you get tired, you've got a bed built into the wall. There's also a small kitchen in case you get peckish or decide to experiment with poisons. Well, what do you think?"

I was gobsmacked. "This is... this is... this is great, thanks Spitz!" I cried hugging her.

"I'm glad you like it Hornet. Now, I heard you got your new armor not too long ago. Do you mind if you showed it to me?" She asked ever so nicely.

"I don't see why you can't, wait one moment." I dashed out of the room, round the corner into the main hallway, over to my room, and over to a case on top of a cabinet. I opened the case, took out the vest and knife and put them on. I then trotted back to the lab and walked through the door. "Well," I asked "what do you think?"

"Not bad," she smirked "although you could have gone for a full set of armor rather than just a vest. But in my general opinion, it looks rather good on you. Now I suggest you get some extra rest or practise, cause I'm not going to make your intiation any easier, even though I'm your marefriend. Now go on, get outta here. I've still got to let the paint dry in the main lab." She then started ushering me out the door.

She's probably right though, I should get some sleep. I headed over to my room and settled down into my soft, comfortable bed. Seconds later I realised I still had my vest on, but I decided to just fuck it, and go to sleep.

Chapter 15 - Trial by (Spit) fire

Today's the day. Today I get the chance to become a fully fledged member of the Fugien Mones. How do I feel? Happy, worried, sarcastic, and generally in a no bullshit kinda mood. I woke up, full of energy and ready to kick some ass. I trotted out of my room and into the main hall, and found that nearly noone was there. Only Blaze and Spitfire were standing in the middle of the room talking. "Hey Blaze, where is everybody?" I asked.

They turned to faced me. "Oh, hey Hornet! Soarin left with Ni and Shadow a few minutes ago. They didn't say where they were going."

Spitfire spoke up."Boys, so secretive. Anyway, are you ready for your initiation today?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." I said somewhat nervously

"Well you shouldn't have to worry, the worst that'll probably happen to you is you get a few bruises. Now come on, let's get going." I nodded and followed her and Blaze through to the arena. The sun was high in the sky, and there was barely a cloud in the sky (Although it was everywhere else). As we stepped into the arena, Blaze took a seat above.

Something then clicked in my mind. "Hang on, if the initiation is to fight the newest member, then why isn't Rainbow or Shadow here?"

Spitfire smiled. "And there's the surprise. Instead of fighting one of those two, you'll be fighting ME instead. Don't worry, I'll go easy on you."

I was somewhat gobsmacked. "That's not fair! is there at least a handicap or an increased reward? Cause if there isn't I'm not fighting you."

"Now that you mentioned it, there is. You remember about me saying that you'd get to meet the new medic captain? Well, I decided that it's going to be you. I know you're only a newer member of the recon squad, but right now we don't have anypony else to take the spot. And as you heard in the briefing yesterday we'll need a medic captain to go undercover with Night Wing. We don't have a lot of time with this, so we may have to cut corners with some things, but I believe that you are the best we have to fill this roll."

I just stood there, jaw dropped. After a few seconds of summing up what she just said, I finally snapped into gear. "You really mean it?" I asked

"Hey, I'm being as serious as anypony else would be. Now stop yapping, and get your flank in gear. You've got a fight to win" She said as she smiled "Begin!"

Immediately after saying that, she charged straight at me, forehooves extended. I rolled to the side easily dodging her attack. But that was what she planned I was going to do, and quickly snapped around and flew right back at me, knocking me off my footing. I quickly scrambled back up, and did something that she did not expect. I stood up on my backlegs, put my forelegs into a karate stance, and signaled a 'come at me bro'. She then proceeded to do a flying kick, which I then countered by grabbing it and swung her around and threw her at the nearby wall. She used her wings so stop herself before she hit the wall, and then shot at me like a barrel from a gun, whacking me in the groin. I clutched the affected area, and dropped to the ground. Spitfire then trotted up to me and let out a sigh of disappointment. I then let out a somewhat menacing laugh, and as she turned around, I did a sweep kick and knocked her to the ground. Using this to my advantage, i got back up and back into a karate stance. Spitfire looked at me, wondering how I recovered so easily from a hit like that. "I learned a trick or two from watching that match with Blaze and Shadow. I put some light steel plating in between me and my privates, cause I knew you'd try something like that. Girls, so predictable." She laughed.

"Not bad, Hornet, not bad at all." She said before attempting to attack me again. After trying to kick me, we somehow developed a constant flow of counter hits from one another, creating something that looked like it came out of an action movie. However, this moment was not to last, as Spitfire stopped trying to counter me, stepped back, and tackled me. Seeing this, I used the momentum of the tackle and kicked her outwards with my back legs, causing her to fly forward. using the same momentum, I pushed myself in the same direction, flipping over her and landing right in front of her. I then pulled out a knife I had hidden in my Wonderbolt suit (Which I still rarely wear) and put it to her throat. "You cheated." She said panting from exhaustion.

"Don't expect the enemy to follow the rules, as they will almost definitely break them." I said. She smiled at me, and then pulled my head towards hers for a long and romantic kiss.

"You did well Hornet, and for that you have earned your place in the Mones." She said pulling out a vial from Blaze's bag. "Which is why I am giving you this. You've already completed stage three training, so you can take the second one as well. Although that may be risky, like I said earlier we don't have much time." She handed me the vial. "This is mixed with both the first an second potion, I know that it's risky but I believe that your will to live can rival anypony's in Equestria. Are you ready?"

I look at the vial, holding it with care. "For you, I'll do anything." I said popping the cork off and swigging the lot. Shit, Shadow was right, this stuff DOES taste good. That feeling however faded seconds later as I started coughing up blood, and fell to the ground unconscious. A few bruises she said, yeah right.

I woke up hours later in my bed, with Spitfire and Blaze standing next to me. I sat up, and once I decided I was well enough, I decided to speak. "I have never drunken anything that strong in either of my lives."

Spitfire giggled at me. "At least your sense of humor is still intact. You feeling okay?"

I rolled my head. "A little sore, but otherwise in top condition. What happened to me?"

"You drank the mixed potion, spat out some blood, and went unconscious. We were worried about you."

"Well you don't have to worry about little old me, I'll be fine. So am I really a fully fledged member of the Mones now?"

"Yes you are. And to celebrate, I got you a little something." She pulled out a box and gave it to me. I opened it, and found a shoulder badge of the United States Air Force. "This is from when you first arrived in Las Pegas. Blaze, if you don't mind, I'd like to have a moment alone with him." Blaze nodded and left the room. "look, I want to say something important to you." She paused for a few seconds to collect herself. "I was the one who took you in when you first arrived. I had just finished a round at the tables and was heading outside to grab a bit of fresh air when you fell from the sky. You landed in an alley behind the casino, so luckily noone else saw you go down. I went up to you, and for some reason I instantly fell in love with you. It sounds cheesy I know, but it's true. The only things you had with you was that badge, and a picture of me. I took them both figuring somepony might link you to me, and took you up to my suite. I left my winnings and a false note in the safe there, and left. I had you watched anonymously by Fleetfoot, and when I learned you had joined the equestrian Guard, I thought I could take you in. After a few weeks of scheduling I organised a 'surprise recruitment', and picked you. The rest is history. I'm sorry I never told you earlier but I felt that you would fall in love with me if I didn't tell you, and well obviously it worked. I'm truly sorry if I seemed selfish for doing it, but I couldn't help it. I love you, and nothing will change that."

I sat there, taking in every bit of information she just said. After about a minute of silence, I spoke up. "It's okay Spitz, I forgive you. Knowing what you did for me, it really lets me feel like I can truly trust you. And to be honest, I think that what you did benefited all of us, not just you. And Spitfire..." She looked at me hopefully. "I love you." I said and pulled her in for a passionate kiss. She then climbed into my bed and well, I'm sure you can figure out the rest.

Chapter 16 - An interview with death

Perspective of Canter, agent of the Canterlot Intelligence Agency (CIA)
My job today is supposed to be simple, but of course, nothing is ever so simple. I'm supposed to interrogate a supposed changeling by the name of Hornet. Sounds easy right? Wrong. It's not easy because this supposed changeling is a member of the glorious Wonderbolts, and if they found out about what I was about to do...Gah, need to focus. Gotta keep my nerves in check, or I'll blow my cover. I trotted up nervously to the front door of the Wonderbolts HQ. I was suprised how big the place was up close. I went through the front door, and trotted up to the receptionist at the front desk. "Hello," she said with a gentle voice "and welcome to the Wonderbolts. Do you have an appointment?"

I put on a realistic fake smile. "Yes, I have a scheduled appointment with the Wonderbolts. I'm Clark Colt, by the way."

She glanced at the schedule book. "Ah yes, one of your associates at Equestria Daily came by a few days ago. I'll send one of the Wonderbolts here right now if you'd like to get started."

I smiled again, this time it was real. "Yes, I'd appreciate that thank you."

"Okay, I will be back in a minute, take a seat while you wait." I sat down as requested, waiting for her to return with hopefully the Wonderbolt I was looking for. And surely enough, luck was on my side. "Here is Hornet, sorry I couldn't get Spitfire or Soarin, but they were busy with other things."

"I understand," I said, standing up "Pleasure to meet you Hornet, I'm Clark Colt, I'm with Equestria daily." He came over to me and shook my hoof firmly.

"Likewise. Is there somewhere in mind you'd like to take this or do you want to just stay here?" He asked.

"I think we should find somewhere a bit more private, how about your room?"

"I think that'll do nicely, follow me."

As I followed him down the hallway towards his room, I could see all the prestigous awards given to the Wonderbolts. Year after year, until finally my gazing was interuppted by a gesture from Hornet to go in. We then both took a seat and I pulled out a pencil and a pad of paper. (the real one)

"So Hornet, I'll start off with something simple. What's it like being a Wonderbolt?" I asked.

"It's great, there's nothing like it. You wouldn't find a better job for me, even if it involved flying, which I love."

"How would you describe your teammates?"

"My team is an okay bunch, even though I'm not a bigshot like them, they still treat me like I'm a full member of the team. They do tend to be annoying at times, but you get used to it."

"What were you doing before you managed to land this once in a lifetime job?"

"I was in the Equestrian Guard, that's how I got picked. The Wonderbolts came through one day looking for new recruits, and they chose me."

"Have you ever done something you probably shouldn't have in your Wonderbolts career?"

"Well, there was this one time where I took a friend of mine to Las Pegas, we did a few things that I probably shouldn't mention, so I won't."

"Fair enough, how would you describe your daily routine?"

"My daily routine is fairly boring. Get up, have breakfast, do some training, cool off, then spend the rest of the day doing whatever I feel like."

"And what exactly do you do in your spare time, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Oh, I usually spend my free time tinkering with things. I'm a bit of a repairman, although not many things in this place need repairing though."

"I see. Well, I think that's enough for now. If you don't mind I'm just going to proofread this, and then I'll come back to you." I said before standing up. I trotted up behind him and then proceeded to stab him with the truth serum.

Switching perspectives back to Hornet

"I see. Well, I think that's enough for now. If you don't mind I'm just going to proofread this, and then I'll come back to you." He said before standing up. He trotted up behind me and then out of nowhere attempted to stab me. Reacting quickly, I almost literally jumped out of my chair before turning around and facing him. He then sloppily lunged at me, and I used this to my advantage. I stepped to the side, grabbed his foreleg and wrenched the pencil out of his hoof. I then shoved him into a wall, dazing him. I picked up his 'pencil', which had partially faded from the struggle. I noticed that there was some mechanical parts in it, and realizing this I ripped off the fake wood coating and found a syringe, with writing marked truth serum. Figuring that I could use this to get some answers from him, I trotted up to him and stabbed it into his neck. The serum injected itself into his bloodstream, causing him to go into some kind of daze.

"Now," I said crouching down to his eye level "I want some answers. First, who are you?"

"My name is Light Hoof, but my codename is Canter." He said in a trance

"Okay, Second. Who are you working for?"

"I am working for the Canterlot Intelligence Agency under orders from J. Edgar Hoofer."

"Good, now why is the CIA after me?"

"We were following leads on anomalies that are 'not of this world'. We tracked you down after getting a match of your description from an incident not too long ago."

"What incident might that be?"

"We found a body of a dead changeling spy, there were two witnesses who gave a vague description of you."

"Alright, last question, what were you planning to do to me?"

"If I got any information out of you that confirmed our suspicions, I was ordered to call in an extraction team. To order the extraction team, you- AGGH! STOP ORDERING ME AROUND!" Shit, it seemed as if the truth serum finally wore off. He threw himself at me, knocking over a false noted pad with a knife inside. I quickly dived and picked up the knife, then slammed it into his back. He screamed out in pain as it pierced his flesh and drove itself into the back of his lungs. He went down onto the ground hard, his body spasming from pain. I bent down to him and whispered in his ear.

"Silent enim finis interitus est. Requiescat in pace." (Be silent, for death is not the end. Rest in peace.) I then shut his eyes and trotted out of the room with a slight sneer. As I came out of my room, Spitfire cam round the corner and saw my face covered in Light Hoof's blood.

"Oh my goodness Hornet, what happened?" she asked with worry.

"The Canterlot Intelligence Agency sent someone after me, they're trying to find out what I am, or used to be. His body's in my room, I had no other choice but to kill him. I need you to help me clean this all up. Can you do that?" I replied.

She gave me a serious look. "Okay, I've done this before, so I'll help you. First we'll need to dispose of his body, secondly we'll need to create a false report to give them. I'll handle the report, you can handle the body. Just put it in the magical disposal unit in the hideout. After that I'll help you clean up the blood. Got it?"

"Got it, now let's get to work." I went to my room and picked up Light Hoof's body by the back legs, and dragged him into the hideout. "Fuck, why does he have to be so heavy?" I grumbled and complained about how heavy he was until I finally reached the disposal unit. Now normally this thing is used to dispose of garbage and to be destroyed reports, so I was unsure on how it would cope with a body. As it turned out, it handled just fine. The body was disposed of forever. I then went back up to my room and started cleaning up the blood. About half an hour later, Spitfire joined me. "What the fuck took you so long?" I asked jokingly.

"Hey, YOU try writing a forged letter to the director of a secret intelligence agency. Besides, I said I'd help you, so I will." she retorted.

"Okay, okay, I believe you. Just out of curiosity, what did you write?"

"I said that the operation was unsuccessful, that he found nothing suspicious, and that he was going off grid until otherwise informed."

"Cool, now do you mind if you help me with this now?"

"Okay, let's get this done so I can shower. I've had a rough day."

"Ha! Says you. Ah well, I've got to take a shower too so yeah, let's get this done." After cleaning up the last of the blood and having my shower (to clean off the blood on me), I climbed into bed with Spitfire and looked at her lovingly. "I never asked you, what did you do with the picture of you I had?"

She smiled. "I'm putting it onto a special pair of dog-tags I'm giving to you soon. You can use them for the assignment in Griffin territory." She then kissed me as we fell asleep in each others embrace of trust and love.

Meanwhile in the office of J. Edgar Hoofer, a note was being handed to him by Quick Fix. It read:
Director Hoofer, I have found no information regarding the anomalies, subject Hornet was a dead end. I am going off grid, as the other Wonderbolts became suspicious of what I did. I will not be returning to work until the next message arrives on your desk. From Canter

Hoofer slammed his hoof on the desk. "Damn! I was hoping we would get something out of this one." He pulled out a photo from his desk of him standing next to a grey coloured pegasus in front of the royal palace in Canterlot. "Don't worry old friend, I'll find whoever killed you and bring them to justice, I promise you." He then put the photo back in his desk and trotted out of the room, leaving the note in the middle of the desk, never to be read again. What Hoofer did not know however, was that the other pony in the picture was in fact that changeling spy that I had killed, and that the real pony that the changeling had replaced had been dead weeks before that photo was taken. Hoofer would eventually find out about this, but not before him and I had a little chat with each other; and eventually develop an acquaintanceship, but that's a later story.

Chapter 17 - You better watch out...

I woke up with Spitfire by my side, smiling at me radiantally. I still can't fully grasp the concept that she's now my marefriend, but I'm sure that'll pass. Figuring it would be best not to disturb her, I slowly creeped out of bed and made myself breakfast. Just as I was about to sit down and have breakfast, when she woke up, and gave me a cheery look.

"What?" I said stupidly.

"Oh, nothing. It's just that I got a message last night about some necromancers hiding out in the Haysead Swamps, and that we're going to have to deal with them today. And yet here you are, eating breakfast like a complete idiot." She Chuckled

"Well, excuse me for not knowing about that. Is there anything else you forgot to mention to me or can I finish my breakfast?"

"Oh yes, there was something else I forgot to mention. Brawny came by earlier this morning while you were asleep and dropped off a box for you but he didn't say what it was, he said it would 'ruin the surprise'. Anyway, I'm going to go downstairs and assemble the team. You can take a look at the box, I left it on the table in the kitchen." She then grabbed her suit and trotted out of the room. I looked over at the table and saw the plain packaged box on the table. I went over to it and proceeded to open it like a kid with a christmas present. Inside was a wrapped object and a note, I took the note out and read it. It said:

Dear Hornet, thanks for helping me at the Smithy, I really appreciate it. To say thanks, I made you a little something. It's an enchanted crossbow, with a nice oak finish. The enchantment is to help with loading the device, it pulls back the mechanism automatically, so all you have to do is load the bolt and fire. I also had a bit of a crack at advanced mechanics, and made an adjustable scope to go with it. Unfortunately, I couldn't make you any special bolts, so you'll have to put up with ordinary ones. I hope you use it well and don't kill yourself with it.
Yours, Brawny Hooves.

I put down the note and unwrapped the crossbow, revealing the cutsom oak finish on the handle and the body. on the side was a small metal plate with an engraving saying 'The Hornet's Sting'. I held it against the light, marvelling inthe magnificent craftsmanship. Well, well, well Brawny, you really know how to make somepony happy. Remembering about what Spitfire said earlier, I grabbed my vest and put it on, putting the crossbow on my back. The crossbow clipped onto the knife sheath perfectly, allowing for a quick draw of either. On the way through the hideout I grabbed a quiver from a shelf and headed out to the main room. Spitfire, Soarin, Blaze and Shadow were all just about to leave. Spitfire heard me coming and turned around.

She smiled at me. "Well, nice to see your sporting some new equipment. You'll get time to practice with it when we get to the Haysead Swamps, and then you'll be using it for real. Time to go Everypony!"

We flew over the countryside until we finally arrived at the Swamps, then Spitfire turned to us.

_"Okay, their base is hidden about a mile in. As soon as we enter, there should be four paths. I'll go down one by myself. Soarin and Blaze go down the next, Captain Night Wing go down the third, and Shadow you take the fourth. Am I clear?"

We nodded. "Good, then lets go!"_ -chapter 25-

"Wait!" I called out "Where do I go?"

Sptifire turned to me. "You? I have a special job for you, you're staying here, guarding the entrance."

"Guarding the entrance, why do I have to guard the entrance?" I complained.

"Because, you have a crossbow, and you can pick off anypony who trys to leave before we do. Besides, I thought you wanted to test out that crossbow of yours."

I sighed with annoyance. "Fine, but if I die of boredom, I'm haunting you."

She giggled "I'm sure you'll do just fine." She then went off and I lost sight of them.

Well that's just great. Stuck with guarding the entrance. It just had to be me, it just had to be. After silently complaining for a few minutes I set up on a ridge not too far away from the entrance. After a few minutes of waiting, a hooded figure stepped out. I lined up my crosshairs with his hidden face and fired. Within less than a second, the bolt pierced his skull and he dropped to the ground dead. That wasn't too bad of a first shot, if I do say so myself. But before I could celebrate, three more came out. I fired at one, killing him. Unfortunately the other two spotted me and charged. Grabbing a bolt from my quiver, I went to put it into the crossbow. I then realised that I wouldn't be able to kill both of them quick enough if I fired two bolts, so instead I thrusted the bolt into the chest of the closest one, ramming it into his heart. I then loaded the crossbow with the bolt and fired it into the third one's face, point blank. After cleaning the blood off my new best friend, I searched and then dragged the bodies out of sight, sat back down and waited. After almost falling asleep, A hooded figure, slightly larger than the others I faced, stepped out. I lined up the crosshairs and pulled the trigger. Within a split second the figure turned and caught the bolt, at the same time making his hood off and revealing his face. He was a grey unicorn, with an elderly complexion about him. He smiled at me and laughed, and then spoke.

"You better watch out with where you fire that, you never know where it might go..." The necromancer then levitated the bolt and it flew right back at me. It missed by millimeters, creating a whistling sound as it went by my ear. "You shouldn't have come here, now I'm regrettably going to have to kill you."

"Ha!" I said pulling out my knife "This is going to be fun."

"Unfortunately for you, it will also be painful." He then whipped out a knife and 'teleported' towards me, taking a slash at me at the same time. I jumped back, but it just clipped me, carving a menacing scar over my right eye. My vision was now partially impaired, I could only see out of one eye. Realising this, he went for a second strike, hitting my vest. The vest easily held up against the attack and using the shorter distance between us to my advantage, I rammed him, sending him backwards. "Not bad stranger, you show resilience and courage, sadly that will not save you." He then 'teleported' towards me again and took a successful swipe at my throat. I coughed up blood as I clutched my neck, gasping for air.

"Fuck...you...you...son of a bitch!" I spluttered

"Goodbye, stranger. I hope that our paths never cross again, for your sake." He then trotted away as my vision faded into blackness.

I woke up in the middle of nowhere, with a robed figure standing in front of me. Seeing him, I instantly went for my knife, finding it wasn't there. "I'm sorry about what he did, but he had no choice. I also took your knife, I'll give it back if you promise not to kill me." As it turned out, the 'he' was actually a 'she'. As I stood up, I felt my neck, finding that it was fully healed. "oh, you noticed that. I healed your wounds, but the scar on your eye will stay there permanently I'm afraid." I looked at the robed figure. She was a white unicorn, with gold mane and tail. She seemed kind of young for a necromancer, but I wasn't about to take chances. She held up my knife. "Like I said before, I'll give your knife back if you promise not to kill me."

"Okay, I promise I won't kill you, on two conditions. One, what's your name and two, why did you help me?" I asked

"My name is Crystal Tears, my father is the one who attacked you. I helped you because I'm not one of them, well at least I don't want to be."

"Wait, what do you mean by that?"

"I was born into the cult, I didn't have a say in the matter. My father knew this, so instead of training me to be like the other necromancers, he gave me special lessons. I was taught to heal and other things, but none of them could be used to hurt another pony. He's been getting scrutiny from the other members, but he ignores it. They say he's 'becoming soft', as you found out when he said he regrettably had to try and kill you."

"Then why don't you run away? Start a new life, leave the necromancy behind?"

"Because of my dad. He's one of the high ranking members of the cult, and if we tried to leave, they'd kill us. That's why-"

"That's why we need your help." Said a voice coming from around a corner. It was Crystal Tear's father, holding my crossbow. "I'm Crystal Shards, you already know my daughter. We want you to destroy the Black Hoof and it's leader, Sorrow Curse. Oh, and sorry for attacking you like that, when you showed yourself I though you were just a bandit or something."

"Don't worry about it." I replied.

"Alright, now that we have that out of the way, do you think you could help us?"

"Look, I'd love to help you, but if my team finds out that I've been talking to you, We'll probably all end up dead."

"I understand. We'll contact you again sometime, but for now we must go into hiding. Tears, say your goodbyes to mister...?"

"Hornet."

"Right. Say your goodbyes then we shall go, here's your crossbow back." He said as he tossed my crossbow back to me.

"goodbye Hornet; and please, I hope you'll help us." she said

"Don't worry, I will."

"Thank you, thank you so much." she said, before kissing me on the lips. "I hope we'll see you again." As they flew away, I felt something touch my back, to find it was my knife with a chained locket hooked around the blade , with a photo of Crystal Tears inside. I smiled, and flew away back to the Wonderbolts HQ. As I walked in, Spitfire and Soarin were standing in the lobby looking nervous. Spitfire then looked up and saw me, brining a large smile to her face.

"Hornet! Thank Celestia you're okay. We thought you were dead, I'm glad we were wrong."

"Nice to see you too. If you don't mind, I'd like to get some rest."

"Of course, by the way what happened to your eye?" She asked curiously

"I was attacked by some necromancers trying to leave early, and one of them got me in the eye."

"Well, I'm sure you'll be fine. If you don't mind me saying, that actually make you look more tough."

"What, you're saying I'm not tough?"

"Ha, considering you got hit in the eye in the first place." She joked "Come one, lets go get some sleep."

"Can't argue with you there." I said as I followed her into her room and got into bed with her. After getting comfortable we both fell asleep, assured that everything will be fine. Well at least one of us was.

Chapter 18 - Never Grow up, Never Grow old

Assassins, Necromancers, sabotage, romance and uncertainty. All these things are what has happened to me over the past few days, and to be honest I'm not quite sure what to make of it. I know one thing is for certain, it's only gonna get a lot more hectic. I woke up, and to my surprise noone was in the room. Real big shocker there. I looked at the clock on my bedside table and realised that I had slept in, probably too much. I trotted into the main room to find Ni cleaning up god knows what, and Spitfire trying to sleep in a chair (unsuccessfully).

"Okay, I'll bite. What the fuck happened in here?"

Spitfire turned her head towards me "Oh, hey. Not much, except Shadow barfing all over Ni."

"Hahahahahahaha! Sucked in! No offense Ni, but sucked in! Just out of curiosity, why did Shadow barf over Ni?"

"Because I tricked him into drinking sewage, put simply."

"Hahahahahaha, that is just evil. You really are sucked in Ni."

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. But when I'm done..." he said

"You'll what, wipe my face with the mop? Come on Ni, if you're going to threaten me make it a proper one."

Spitfire got out of her chair. "Alright, break it up you two. If you're going to fight anypony Hornet, it's going to be me. Now come on, I've got some training for you to do. Time to make you a fourth level fighter."

Now I'm pretty good at fighting, but I'm sure this will not end well.

One training session (and a whole lot of pain) later

Yep, I was right, that did not end well. I layed there, completely immobilised when Spitfire came up to me and helped me up.

"Ow, that really hurt. That'll teach me to try and be cocky around you." I said

"Yes, that will teach you. But don't let that get the better of you, because you've got something to drink. Be back in a minute." She then turned around and headed off. A minute later she came back with a vial in hoof. "Here you go, one fourth level potion for you. Only one more to go and you'll become a captain. You feelin' lucky?"

I opened the vial and had a sniff. "I'm feelin' lucky." I then jugged down the lot, realising that there was something different about it. "Hmm, this stuff tastes different than the last lot." I said curiously

"That's because it's got a little extra something in it, and if you're wondering what it is I'll tell you." She then leaned up to my ear and whispered it.

"Really? Well, I thought it tasted simlilar. You really are an evil pegasus, you know that?"

She laughed as she trotted away. "Only on the inside Hornet, only on the inside."

As I headed back to my room for a well deserved nap, I found a note on my bed. I opened it and it said:

Hornet, meet me outside the Cloudiseum ASAP. I have information for you about the BH. From Shards

I was about to head out when Blaze stopped me. "Hey, Hornet! Where you going?"

I turned to face her "Just out for a stroll, have a little stretch after having my ass handed to me."

"Ha, well since you're going somewhere do you mind posting this for me? It's not really important when it gets posted but I'd prefer today. Do you mind?"

She handed me the letter "No problem, be back later."

I walked out of the HQ and down the street towards the Cloudiseum. On the way, I past a postbox and placed the letter inside. After making that quick detour, I arrived at the cloudiseum. The place was rather empty, apart from a few ponies walking about. After glancing about, I saw an elderly pony gesturing me to come over to him. As I got closer, I could see it was Shards, but without the menacing cloak, he just looked like any other pony.

"Good, you made it. I was starting to think that you wouldn't arrive." he said cautiously

"You said you have some information for me?"

"Yes. The leader of the Black Hoof, Sorrow Curse is hiding out in his fortress on the outskirts of the San Palomino desert. Tell your team about this tomorrow, as I will be going back there today to get some things from there. Hopefully the Black Hoof doen't realise our treachery, but if they do I'm sure you'll have them dealt with before anything bad happens. My daughter and I are counting on you, so please be careful. I will contact you again once everything is safe. My daughter was looking forward to seeing you again, so I brought her with me." He then trotted around a corner and came back with Crystal."I'll be waiting in our hotel room, don't be too long darling." As he trotted away, Crystal came up to me and hugged me, before kissing me on the cheek.

"Hey Hornet, I was really hoping to see you again. How's things?"

"I'm fine. How are you?"

"Great. Hey, I was hoping to be able to get to know you a little better, so do you mind if I ask you some questions?"

"Sure," I said somewhat uncomfortably "ask away."

"First of all, I can tell you don't belong here. Where did you come from?"

"Well Crystal, that's not a question I'd like to answer out in public. But if you insist, I'll answer. I'm...I'm from another world."

She started to laugh, but abruptedly stopped after she saw my serious face. "Wait, you're serious?"

"Yes, I'm serious. I used to be a human, from a place called Earth. It's similar to Equestria, but still different. Don't looked so shocked, you're a necromancer. You should be used to hearing weird things, considering what you guys do."

"Okay...so I'll ask you another question. What do you do here?"

"That one's much easier to answer. I work with the wonderbolts, I'm assuming you've heard of them."

"Of course I have, I'm not an idiot. Okay, I want to ask you a more personal question. Do you like me?"

I took a few seconds to try and compile an answer. "Of course I like you, I really like you, but I don't think that we could be 'together'. You see, I already have a marefriend. And before you ask, it's Spitfire the Wonderbolt."

Her smile started to fade. "Oh, okay...I understand. But if anything happens, know that I'll be there for you. And even though you already have a marefriend, I still love you."

"Don't worry, I'll be there for you too. Now run along, I have somethings to do. We'll meet up soon, I promise." As I watched her walk away, something came at me from the corner of my eye. It spear tackled me and pinned me to the ground.

5 minutes earlier, in the perspective of Spitfire

I trotted out to the front door, to get some fresh air. Everything was nice and peaceful. I was about to head back inside when I spotted Hornet trotting down the street towards the Cloudiseum. Natural instinct and curiosity took over as I decided to follow him from a distance. As I caught up to him, he stood out in the courtyard, and a white unicorn came up to him and kissed him. That cheating scumbag! I got closer, trying to hear their converstation.

"...I still love you."

"Don't worry, I'll be there for you too. Now run along, I have somethings to do. We'll meet up soon, I promise."

That's it, I've heard enough. As she left, I ran up to him and speartackled him.

Switching perspective back to Hornet

Holy shit, It's Spitfire! Oh god damn it I'm in deep shit now. As she pinned me to the ground, her face filled with hate and uncertainty. "You cheating bastard!" she shouted

"Look, if you give me a minute, I can explain." I blurted

She released her grip on my neck. "Okay, explain."

"Her name is Crystal Tears, she's a necromancer from the Haysea-"

"A NECROMANCER?" she interrupted. "Why were you going out with a necromancer?!"

"Let me finish. She's not like the other necromancers, her father could see that. That's why they asked me to help them destory the Black Hoof. She also has a crush on me, and I can see that. I also like her, but I also told her that you are already my marefriend, she understands that too. I would have told you, but I didn't know how you would have reacted. All I'm saying is I'm sorry. My question is; will you forgive me?"

She sighed. "Look, I chose you to be the captain of the medic squad because you were honest and courageous. After what you have done, and from what you just said, I still think you are worthy enough. I forgive you." She then hugged me and put an evil grin on her face. "But you know You'll have to make it up to me for this."

"Why do I have the feeling this isn't going to be a romantic dinner at sunset?" I joked.

"Oh, there will be that, but there will be something after that that I'm sure that you'll feel more comfortable with. Maybe your new 'friend' might like to join us?"

"You really are an evil pegasus, aren't you?"

"Hey, I'm immortal, I never grow old, and I never grow up. Now come on, I want ot have a chat to Crystal."

After that we went on a romantic dinner (at sunset) with Crystal at one of the most beautiful resorts in Equestria, followed by something that could only be described as "paradise".

PS: I'm looking for ideas on future chapters, after the assault on the fortress. please let me know if you have any good ones, I'll be sure to credit you for it.

Chapter 19 - Semper Filly

Well, I think that turned out better than expected. I now have an immortal and a necromancer as a marefriend. Maybe fate decided not to fuck me over this time. Ha, I bet it's just waiting for the right moment, waiting for me to be at my happiest, and then make things go very bad very quickly. Aggh, better not think about it. Last thing I need is for things to go wrong on a day like this. I sheepishly got out of bed, making sure not to wake the white unicorn that was there. Spitfire had apparently left, and from what happened last night, I assumed she was still in a good mood. I trotted downstairs to find everybody, including Shadow standing there. Well, now is a good time as any to deliver that all important news (of which I almost forgot about). I trotted up to Spitfire and began to whisper in her ear.

"I just got some intel about the Black Hoof. They're hiding out in a fortress on the outskirts of the San Palomino desert. I'm going back upstairs to grab my gear, and to clean up that mess you made with my whiskey."

She giggled. As I turned to head back upstairs, I looked at Shadow. It doesn't seem like he remembers my face, at least well enough to remember who I am. I don't even think he knows I'm a member of the Mones yet either. Ah well, one thing at a time, I'm sure he'll find out eventually. I went up to my room and found Crystal up and about, already cleaning up the whiskey spillage.

"Oh, hey. Morning Hornet, how was your sleep?" She asked with a sweet and caring voice.

"Just fine, thank you. I'm going out on a mission with the others. Could you be so kind as to finish cleaning up for me?"

"No problem, just be sure to come back in one piece could you? Also, I haven't heard from my father. I'm afraid that he may have been caught, so if you could keep an eye out for him that would be great."

I grabbed my gear and headed back downstairs, finding everybody already gone. What the fuck. Oh well, I already know the location, so I might as well go there. If I'm lucky (which I probably won't be) I'll beat them there and take down half the place before they get there! Ha, yeah right. I flew for about an hour till I found what I was looking for, a fortress in the middle of the fucking desert. To be honest it wasn't that hard to find, which seemed to be true for the rest of them as they were already there. I flew over to them and landed right beside Blaze.

_we came across what looked like an old European style fort. Like something you would see in a movie, complete with drawbridge and moat. Oh wait, the moat is filled with blood, so nevermind.

I took a look at the moat. "Well that's cute."

"Yeah, it doesn't look like he'll get a good resale value for that." Soarin said.

"Alright, that's enough jokes. We came here for a reason, so focus." Spitfire said.

We cut the chatter and flew over the fort, but we were blocked by a magical barrier.

"Now what? I don't think we can get through this thing, it seems pretty solid." I said.

"Ah, here are my guests. How are you doing everypony?" A voice said from inside the barrier. Just then, a pony in a black robe trotted out on top of one of the towers on the corner.

"Is that-" I started to say.

"Sorrow Curse." Spitfire said.

"Don't act so sour Spitfire. I thought you would be happy to see me."

"Come out of that barrier and I'll show you just how happy I am."

He laughed. "Violent as ever I see." He shifted his gaze towards me. I couldn't see his face, but I could see the red eyes
glowing in the darkness created by his hood. "You must be Shadow Flash. A pleasure to finally meet you."

"Oh, the pleasure's all mine."

"I see you finally decided to recruit somepony with manners Spitfire. It's about time, I was wondering if you were planning on always being rude."

"Enough of this! Soarin, break the barrier down!" Spitfire yelled.

Soarin flew up to the barrier, and readied himself to punch it.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Sorrow said.

"And why is that?" Soarin asked.

"Because I have a hostage. A sweet mare, this one. It would be a shame if her blood was on your hands."
Soarin looked at Spitfire.

"If you want a shot at beating me without killing the hostage, you have to play by my rules."

"And how do we know you aren't lying about the hostage?" Spitfire said.

"Of course, how silly of me. How can I expect you to play along if I don't have any proof of the hostage? One moment please." He said before lowering his head. I saw his horn glow under his hood, and just then, an earth pony mare appeared. She had a tan coat with silver hair. She was tied up and had tears in her eyes.

"You sick bastard..." I said.

He smiled. "I appreciate the compliment. I found this one wandering too far from Appaloosa and figured I could put her to good use. So now that you see I have a hostage," He said before teleporting her away. "you should play my game if you value her life in the slightest."

We looked at Spitfire for an answer. "...We'll play your game."

"Excellent! Let me lower the drawbridge so you may enter." He said before disappearing.

We flew down in front of the drawbridge as it opened._ -chapter 27-

"Well, so glad I didn't miss the party." I said

Spitfire turned around to see me. "Hornet! Sorry we took off without you, but we were in a bit of a hurry."

"Ahh, don't sweat it. Now, are we gonna kick this guys ass or what?"

"Right, We are going to go in there and see if we can't rescue that hostage. However, I want you to see if you can find a back door or secret entrance somewhere. If you can, get in there, grab any intel you can find, possibly rescue the hostage, and get out. Preferably undetected. Good luck."

"From what it looks like, you're the one who looks like they need the luck. See you on the far side."

As they headed over the drawbridge, I trotted over to the moat, which aforementioned by Shadow, was filled with blood. "Charming, although I don't think I'll be swimming in that any time soon." I said to myself. I kept walking around the edge of the fortress trying to find a way in, and sure enough, I found it. it was a small tower at the back of the fortress, with noone there to stop me. Only one problem remained; the barrier. I paced up and down, trying to think of away to get past it, when a necromancer came out of the tower, probably to get some fresh air. This guy was obviously not the sharpest tool in the shed, as he leaned quite close to the barrier, almost about to fall off. This somewhat deactivated the barrier in his area, and seizing this opportunity, I flew straight at him. He barely managed to turn halfway around when I grabbed him from behind and got him in a choke hold. Trying to fight back, he lashed out with his teeth, not realizing he could have used this moment to call for help, and possibly save his life. As he struggled even more, I realized that I had no other choice but to snap his neck. It let out a sickening crack as I twisted it, leaving his head half backwards. Now this is where my knowledge of stealth games comes in handy, as I took off his necromancers robe and put it on me. I then threw his body off the rail and into the moat, where it became devoured by some ungodly creatures seconds later. So glad I didn't decide to swim. I put the robe's hood over my head, creating a menacing look where they would only be able to see my blood red eyes and my scar. I headed into and down the tower, into a corridor with doors on either side. One by one I cautiously opened each door, checking to see if there was anyone or anything in there. Finally I managed to find a semi open door with a necromancer cleaning his hooves, standing next to a dead pony with their stomach cut wide open. As I snuck through the doorway, I slowly pulled out my knife. When I finally got close enough, I grabbed the necromancer and put my balde to his throat.

"What the, who are you?" he blurted.

"Landlord, rent's overdue." I joked

"Very funny, now what do you want with me?"

"Information. What were you doing down here?"

"I was cleaning up a failed test subject when you arrived."

"Where's all the others?"

"They're headed elsewhere to deal with the other intruders, I'm pretty much alone down here."

"Okay, last question. Where's all the notes and data on what you're doing here?"

"My notes are on the desk over there, the rest are in the archives, but that area's restricted. Shouldn't be a problem for you though."

"Obviously not."

"Oh please don't kill me, I only got the blood off my robe from the last beating I got."

"You're kinda gutless, aren't you?."

"Hey, you're the one with the knife."

"Good point." I said as I slid the knife across his throat. I then grabbed the body, picked it up and put it in a cool storage container full of body parts. After cleaning off my knife, I picked up the notes and put them in a bag I grabbed in the corner. I peeked through the doorway, and walked through the corridor, trying to find the archives. Surprisingly, they weren't that hard to find. Signs were placed on walls, easily pointing out the way to the archives (they're probably for the more mentally challenged of the lot). As I turned the corner, I found myself in a large room, with a solitary necromancer standing there silently. Then somehow, as if he knew I was there he spoke up.

"Come on now, don't be shy. Come in, you must be our new initiate. I am Necro Fillyiac, Sorrow Curses' second in command. Your name is Blood Raven, correct?" I silently nodded in compliance. "Well come on, we don't have all day. Get over here, I want you to watch something. He pointed to a portal like object on one of the wall, before activating it with his magic. "We have intruders in our midst, and you get the opportunity to watch them all DIE." As the portal flared to life, I tried not to imagine what horrible things he had planned for the team, more importantly not trying to blow my cover. "These intruders are pathetic, they have no hope of surviving, just watch." Just then the portal split into separate screens, each of them showing a member of the team. Soarin was fighting some kind of abomination, with Blaze doing reasonably the same. Spitfire was apparently nowhere to be seen, much to the annoyance of the necromancer next to me. Shadow was facing against some kind of dragon, although knowing that it was created by necromancers there was probably something else mixed in with it. "You see," he spoke up "nopony could dare to even hope to defeat us, especiall with our creations. what do you think of them by the way?"

"They're interesting, to say the least."

"Well, I'm glad you think so. Now, shall we finish watching these pieces of trash die?"

"Actually," I piped up "I'd rather watch YOU die." Before he could respond with anything, I pulled out my knife and rammed it into his chest, doing so several times to finish the job.

"But...why? You traitor!" he blurted.

"Tsk tsk tsk, you actually though that I was one of you? Shame on you." I said as I pulled my robe off "Surprise motherfucker, hope I didn't scare you." As I walked away, I turned around to say a few final words "If you're the second in command, then I should have no trouble taking down Sorrow Curse."

Suddenly he started laughing maniacally. "Don't be too sure" he said pointing at my back. I looked around, and found there was a knife sticking out of the back of my neck.

"Son of a bi-" I said before falling to the ground. My vision started to fade, and as it did, he trotted up to me. "I would enjoy making you suffer, but it looks like you're going to die now." As my sight finally faded completely, I could hear his menacing laugh drift away. Well fuck you fate, I'm gonna kick your ass next time I see you.

Chapter 20 - Old world blues

Aggh, I feel like shit. Not surprising, considering I got stabbed in the back of the neck. As I slowly opened my eyes,I found myself somewhere completely different then where I last was. Even so, this place still seemed familiar. I finally fully opened my eyes to find myself in a hospital room, with noone there. Suddenly I heard a voice from the hallway.

"He's awake, someone get a doctor!"

I looked around the room, trying to make out where I was. I held out my hands, and- Wait a fucking minute, HANDS? I reached for a mirror on a bedside table and pointed it to my face. I was human again! My face became a mix of joy and shock as A doctor came into the room.

"Oh good, you're awake. You're quite lucky is what you are. A few more minutes and we would have lost you." he said cheerily.

"Wait, what the fuck happened to me?" I said nervously.

"Your jet crahsed into the desert, and you were rushed to the infirmary. How are you feeling?"

"To be honest? I feel like complete shit."

He laughed. "Well, I'm sure you're well enough to get out of bed. Your uniform is on the table there, I'll give you a minute to get dressed and clear your thoughts, and then you're going to see the Major for your debrief."

I got up and got dressed in less than a minute, and then walked over to the window to clear my head. What happened to me? Is this even real? Was my whole life in Equestria just a dream? Oh god please don't let it come to that, I've been through far too much in that world for it to be fake. And yet, everything seems so real. The sky, the sun, the trees outside, all of it seems real. As I walked out into the hallway, the doctor came back.

"Ah, I see you're as fit as a fiddle. Well, a scratched and non strung fiddle anyway. Just follow me, I'll show you to the Major's office."

After walking through the somewhat familiar hallways of the infirmary, we reached Major Fitzgerald's office. Sure enough, the major was as lively as ever (at least for someone his age).

"Daniel, thank god you're okay. How are you feeling?" he asked concerningly.

"Truthfully? I feel like crap, some sleep will probably fix that though."

He laughed. "Good to see you're still in one piece, but unfortunately sleep will have to wait."

"I have a question," I said "what the fuck happened?"

"Yes, I was about to get to that. Doctor Halls, you're dismissed." The doctor left the room and Fitzgerald sat down at his desk. "Officially it was a mishap during a training exercise, the affected families will get the usual compensation package along with a letter of condolence from their superiors."

"And unofficially, sir?" I said asking the obvious question.

He sighed. "It was the Russians, trying to cripple our F-18 development project. Even after the Cold War they still have the fucking balls to try and be better than us. Wedgetail, Falcon and Viper died in combat. Vulture and Hawx survived the attack because they DIDN'T listen to orders and had live ammo with them. I'm sorry, but there wasn't anything else we could do. We scrambled reinforcements to the area, but by the time they got there most of you had gone down. I'd take you to Wedgetail's grave but we have bigger problems right now."

"How so sir?"

"After the initial attack, the Russians sent in an infiltration team to sabotage the rest of the project. Knowing how thorough the Ruskies can be, they'll be sending in a clean up crew to eliminate any remaining members of the project, which means they'll be coming after you and me. Right now this base is on high alert, but I don't think that'll stop them too much. I'll get you a vest and a gun for later, but right now I'm guessing you'll be hungry. I assume you remember where the Cafeteria is?"

"I have a vague memory, but I'm sure I'll manage." As I left the room, I was about to turn the corner when I swear I saw what looked to be a dark robed figure. I tried to get a better looked at the figure but he walked out of my sight for a split second and was gone. Figuring it was just my mind playing tricks on me I kept walking all the way to the cafeteria. Only a few people were there, including Hawx and Vulture.

"Hey Daniel, over here!" Vulture cried out. I walked over to them and took a seat, while Hawx slid a tray with some food over to me. "Well, well, well. Didn't think you'd make it. How you coping?"

"It's not easy, but I'm coping well enough. How are you?"

"We're fine. Man that was some major shit you pulled on Fitzgerald, crashing into that other jet. You went down pretty hard, I'm still amazed you weren't killed."

"Yeah well, you know us pilots have the luck of the devil."

"Ha, ain't that the truth. Come on, eat up, I'll take you to where you'll be sleeping. Luckily for you you'll be bunking with us, so we'll have your back."

I sheepishly finished my meal and got up to follow Vulture. The room we were staying in was pretty standard, a few beds, clutter lying on the floor, posters on the walls and a mini discoball on the ceiling that lit up when you turned the light off. How quaint. "Here we are, home sweet home. Your bed's in the corner over there. If there's anything you need, just ask us. Me and Hawx are heading over to the firing range, so you'll have some time to make yourself comfortable. We'll pick you up later tonight for a party in the main hall, so make sure you're presentable. See ya 'round Dan'."

As I sat down on my bed, I kept thinking back to the good times I supposedly had in Equestria. God, I still can't believe that it wasn't real. My relationship with Spitfire and the Wonderbolts, my fights and near death experiences, the entire few month life there, all of it was fake. I reached out and grabbed a bottle of whiskey. At least my love of whiskey is still real, thank god for that. I spent the next few hours reminiscing about the good times of the life I never had, until my thoughts were interuppted by the sound of something crashing in the hallway. Another crash was followed by a scream, which I then realised something was terribly wrong. I cautiously peeked through the doorway into the hall to find Doctor Halls and a soldier dead, both with a bullet in their heads. I examined the bodies, none of them had a clue as to what had happened. I grabbed a pistol on the soldier's body and quietly approached the corner before hugging the wall. I popped part of my head around to find myself right behind a group of Russian soldiers, completely unaware of my presence. I couldn't understand what they were saying but it seemed like they were giving out orders, as all but one of the group headed off in another direction. After they had turned the corner I fixed my attention to the remaining soldier right next to me who was still unaware of me. I grabbed him, put my gun to his head and dragged him around the corner, covering his mouth to make sure he did not say a word.

"Do you speak English?" I asked. He didn't reply. I pulled back the hammer of the pistol and asked again. "English motherfucker, do you speak it?"

He nodded. "Yes, I speak english, please don't hurt me."

"I won't, at least if answer my questions. Where are they going?"

"To the main hall, there's a party going on there, and they were hoping to catch them unawares."

"Okay, that seems good enough. Sweet dreams asshole." I said as I suffocated him, knocking him out. I grabbed his rifle and searched his unconscious body for ammo. The gun was an AK-74U with a silencer and red dot sight, and even though I'd never used one before, as the saying goes: 'there's a first time for everything'. I went through corridor after body filled corridor, following the Russians until we had reached Major Fitzgerald's office. Suddenly, shots rang out, followed by one of the russians sprawling onto the ground. Just then Fitzgerald cried out, taunting them.

"You yellow bellied ruskies! Come get some ya commie punks!" I never thought he could be so violent, although you probably don't get to become Major by sitting there doing nothing. I checked my rifle to make sure it was loaded, peered round the corner and let rip. Within seconds the Russian squad was down and out, and Fitzgerald stepped out of his office.

"Well, shit! I owe you one Daniel, no doubt about it. Now that we have those guys out of the way, we need to put the base on full alert. I was about to do that, but then those godamn ruskies showed up. Care to do the honors?" he said pointing to a big red button on a wall.

"With pleasure." I said, smashing my hand onto the button. Alarms filled the airways as red light started up all over the base. At the same time, Fitzgerald walked over to a microphone on his desk.

"Attention all units, this base is under attack and being put under lockdown. All men head to your lockdown stations, and all non-military persons head to your designated evacuation areas. The ruskies are here boys, time to flush 'em out!" He switched off the microphone and grabbed an M16 from under his desk. "Come on boy, time to show you how a texan fights!" I nodded and followed him as he charged out of his office and down the hallways to the armoury.

When we got to the armoury, we found some troops at their posts, including Hawx. "Hey Daniel, Texan, so glad you could make it!" he called out.

"Good to see you too soldier." the Major said. "We're here to help secure the armoury from the Russians, as the F-18 backup blueprints are archived here. Gear up boys, cause I can hear 'em coming!" And sure enough, about a minute later, they arrived. Chaos ensued. Wall were covered with bullet holes, the floor was covered with bodies. How the fuck did the Russians manage to sneak so many people in undetected? Did they dig a fucking tunnel all the way from Moscow? As the fighting continued, more and more of us went down. Now there was just me, Texan and Hawx. Just then, Vulture cam around the corner with an M240, and mowed the fuck out of the rest of the Russians. However, after waving at us with a smug look on his face, a bullet went straight through his head.

"FUCK! Man down! I'm coming Hawx!" I yelled as I charged down the hallway and round the corner to his body. Not thinking ahead, I blindly came round the corner at break neck speed, and got clotheslined by a Russian. He then climbed on top of me, pulled out a knife, and took off his mask. The Russian turned out to be Necro Fillyiac, the necromancer from my supposedly fake life in Equestria. Suddenly everytthing around me faded, until there was nothing left but a neverending white plain, with noone but me and him.

"You're persistent, I'll give you that. Myabe I should have just killed you instead of giving you that hallucinogen."

"Wait, You're alive?" I said with confusion. "How?"

He scoffed. "It takes more than that to kill me, your knife barely went into my skin."

"Well, next time I'll be sure to stab you in the eye." I said as I kicked him off. Now I may not have been able to beat you as a pony, but I'm human now, and I can kick your ass much harder than I could before. Prepare yourself, I'm about to open up a can o' whup-ass."

I charged in with my left fist, landing an uber-solid blow to his jaw. I then showed no mercy as I continued to beat him punch after punch and kick after kick. Good thing I learned kickboxing in high school. He foolishly attempted to stab me with the knife he had, which I easily disarmed him of. Turning the knife on him, I started slashing him. Finally he opened himself, tending to a wound on his face, and I stabbed the knife right into his eye. As he fell to the ground, the white world started to fade. as did I. Here we go again. Why is it that every time I face these fuckers, I get knocked out?

Chapter 21 - Semper Filly, Part 2

I slowly opened my eyes, awaking to the real world I was supposed to be in. Getting up, I saw Necro Fillyiac on the ground having what looked to be a seizure. That'll teach you to mess with my head you sick fuck. I quickly checked around for my knife, which surprisingly was still in him, apparently he didn't have tim to bleed (ba dum tss). I yanked it out of his spasming body, put it back in my sheath, and headed for the archives. And who should I find there? Crystal Shards, stuffing documents into the bag I had. He heard my steps, and quickly turned around to see me.

"Hornet, there you are! I was wondering when you'd get here, give me a hand grabbing these documents would you?" he asked.

"Sure, no problem. Why are you still here anyway?" I replied with concern.

"Ahh, about that. I was caught by our dying 'friend' over there, taking some things that didn't belong to me. When he found out what I was doing, he went nuts. He attacked me, and left some permanent souvenirs for me." he pointed to some heavy scars on his ribs. "But don't worry about that, I'll live. How's my daughter doing?"

I smiled. "She's doing fine. She's a little clumsy on some accounts but apart from that, she's completely fine."

"Have you done anything with her? Come on, you can tell me, I won't complain if she hasn't."

I chuckled at him. "well, now that you mention it..."

He laughed. "You lucky colt. Normally she doesn't let anypony do that kind of thing to her, you must definitely be special to her." he said as we shoved the last of the documents into the bag. "Follow me, I know a quick and quiet way out of here."

I nodded as I followed him through the narrow and winding tunnels, almost crashing into each and every corner. As we turned the final corner, we found something we really didn't want to find. It was an entire group of necromancers, just waiting for us with their mix of sharp weapons and dark magic. One of them stepped up and gave a menacing smile.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? Crystal Shards and an intruder, with a bag full of OUR documents. Why don't you surrender now, and we'll make your death quick and painless."

"Ha, nice one. How about this? You get out of our way, an I'll make sure your body is intact enough to be identified."

"You really think that you'll be able to defeat us? Very well, you shall die now." He said as he charged me. He obviously wasn't thinking when he attacked, as I quickly got out my knife and brought it down on his head. I then pulled out my crossbow and shot one in the face, all this before any of the others could react. Finally the other necromancers snapped into gear, and attacked me with magic bolts. Easily dodging to the side, I rushed up to the group and stabbed one in the lower jaw, pulled the knife out and slashed another's neck, stabbed another in the chest multiple times, and threw the knife into the last one's head. They all fell down within a second of each other. I went up to pick my knife, when I heard a struggling noise behind me. One of the necromancers had flanked me and grabbed Shards, using him as a shield.

"Drop you weapon or he dies, intruder." He demanded.

"Don't listen to him Hornet, get out of here while you can! Don't worry about me, I'll be okay." Shards said.

"Not happening Shards, I promised Crystal that I'd get you home safe, and that's what I'm going to do."

The necromancer was getting impatient fast. "Drop your weapon NOW! I won't say it again."

I sighed. I whipped out my crossbow and aimed at the necromancers face, before firing with almost pinpoint accuracy. At the same time, the necromancer decided to cut Shard's throat. My bolt connected with his head, but not before the necromancer managed to slice some of Shard's neck. I charged over to Shards, who was now lying on the ground coughing up blood.

"Oh shit, don't worry Shards, I'll get you outta here in no time." I said as I tried to tend to his neck wound. He quickly shoved my hooves aside, bringing my head closer.

"Like I said, don't *cough* *cough*, don't worry about me. You need to get back and make sure Crystal is safe. Give her this necklace, she'll understand. I want you to take care of her, make sure she's kept away from all this necromancy. I don't want her to have the same life as I did. And by the way,*cough* you have my permission to go out with my daughter." He chuckled before he finally died.

I held back tears as I closed his eyes. "Silent enim finis interitus est. Requiescat in pace." (Be silent, for death is not the end. Rest in peace.)

I grabbed the necklace from his hoof and the bag from his shoulder before bolting out of the exit, and almost landing in the moat. Thankfully at the last minute I remembered I could fly, and glided centimetres from the blood red water. Not this time, sorry mates. I ended up on the battlements where I started, where I could see Shadow screaming his lungs off and the hostage next to him dead. I looked to where he was shouting at, and I could see Sorrow Curse leaving. Not this time motherfucker, the hostage is gone, so you're fair game now. I lined up my crossbow sights with his skull, and fired. The crossbow bolt flied through the air at break neck speeds towards the sick fuckers head. It landed with a satisfying thud, right into his skull. What I didn't expect was that he just pulled it out, looked at me, and smiled. He then noticed a note that I had placed on the bolt beforehand, and read it. It said:

Dear Sorrow Curse, if you're reading this, then I didn't kill you. If I didn't kill you, I didn't want to leave you with empty hooves, so I thought I'd leave you something to remember me by. If you go to the archives you'll find your friend Necro Fillyiac dead and your entire archives missing. Happy days, you sick fucker.

From the Fugiens Mones

He tore the note up, his face covered in rage. I gave a quick wave as I flew away, smiling about the reaction I'd get from him when he found the missing archives. I flew down to Spitfire and the others, who had a filly with them.

"Hey Spitz, I've got a shitload of intel, let's go back to the HQ so I can- Wait, who's the kid?"

"This, Hornet, is Solemn justice. Ni found her in the Fortress. I'm assuming your mission went well?"

"Well, yes and no. I got the intel and took out one of Sorrow Curse's best men, hell I even managed to take a potshot at the sick fucker himself. Unfortunately, my informant Crystal Shards, died."

"Well, I guess you gotta take the good with the bad. Come on, lets go. You've got somthing to say to Crystal, I'm guessing."

We flew back over to the Wonderbolts HQ, and inside Crystal was waiting inside expectantly. As soon as she saw me, she ran up to me and hugged me. "Hornet, thank goodness you're okay. I was so worr- Hang on, where's dad?" she asked worryingly.

"I'm, I'm sorry Crystal. There wasn't anything I could do. He, he's dead. I'm truly sorry." She started crying in my arms (forelegs). "Before he died, he wanted me to give you this, he said you'd understand." I said, holding the necklace. She took it, and put it around her neck.

"I, I think I need to be left alone for a while. I'm sure you understand. I'll be hiding out in Manehattan if you need me, but until then... please just give me some time to myself." She said before trotting out.

"Poor kid," soarin said "Nopony should have to live without parents, especially somepony like her. At least this kid will have somwhere to live. Welcome to the crew, kid." Solemn turned to Soarin and gave a smile that, had I not experienced any grief or pain, would have undoubtedly given me a heart attack.

Chapter 22 - Old soldiers never die

Yesterday was a bit of good and bad. We took down a base of necromancers and saved a little filly, got a new (unofficial as of yet) member to the group, and I finally got to see a bit of combat. Unfortunately our target got away, and two civillians died in the process. But it's as Spitfire said; you gotta take the good with the bad. I woke up and trotted into the sanctuary, and to my surprise everyone was there, even Princess Luna. However, it seemed as if the party had just finished, as Luna teleported away.

"Hey, what did I miss?" I asked.

"Oh, hey Hornet. Princess Luna came by for the mission debrief, and she'll be back later for something special." Spitfire said to me.

"Really? What's so special? Wait, don't tell me. It's-"

"A secret, at least for now. Don't worry, you'll find out later. You've still got time until she gets back, so you should go finish up on some things. I believe you still have to return those books you borrowed from the Ponyville library?"

I gave myself a facehoof. "Oh shit, almost forgot about that. I'll go do that now, I'll be back later." I rushed up to my room and grabbed the books. Just then, I felt a sharp twinge in my wings. Figuring I just clipped the doorway I just kept going. As I arrived in Ponyville, It was decently warm, with a nice cool breeze to go with it. I flew down to the library and knocked on the door, a few seconds later Twilight opened the door. Her mane was slightly ruffled and she had a dazed look about her.

"Oh, hey. What brings you here?" She asked.

I pulled out my books. "Just came by to drop these off."

"Oh, okay. I'll take those." She said as she levitated the books inside. "By the way, a friend of yours came by yesterday. He was wondering if he could find a place to stay for a bit, so I pointed him towards Sweet Apple Acres."

"Did he say what he wanted?"

"He said he wanted to talk to you about something. If you find him tell him I said hi."

"Sure, I'll do that. Oh, and sorry about interuppting whatever you and Barry were doing." I joked. As I turned around and left I thought great, who is it this time? Is it another agency grunt? A vengeance fueled necromancer? Or could it actually be one of my old friends? Guess I'll just have to find out. After a short flight, I arrived at Sweet Apple Acres. I trotted over to the barn to find Applejack and Big Mac stacking some barrels.

"Well hi sugar-cube, what brings y'all the way out here?" The hat wearing pony asked.

"Uhh, I'm looking for a friend of mine. Twilight said he'd be out here."

She put her hoof to her chin. "Oh, that's right! I'll get him for ya. HEY, BUCK SHOT! YER FRIEND'S HERE!"

Buck Shot, how original.

A few seconds later, he appeared. He was a decently built pegasus, who almost looked like Big Mac, except this guy had wings. "Hornet, is that you?" he said in a gruff texan accent.

"Shit, is that you, sir?"

"Well hot damn, it's really good to see ya son! Come over 'ere, we need to talk." We walked outside of the barn and out to a small field.

"So it's really you Tex, isn't it?"

"Yup, flesh and bones. I gotta say, I feel much younger."

"Well technically you are." I said.

He laughed. "Well you know what they say, old soldiers never die."

"Speaking of which, how DID you die?"

He paused for a few seconds. "After you died, I was put in charge of a group sent on a counter-offensive against the Russians, which apparently were behind the attack."

"Really? I never would have guessed." I said sarcastically.

"I guess I should be hating AND thanking you, because spending that time in Russia got me bored. REALLY bored. So bored in fact, that I decided to start watching My Little Pony. And you know what? I actually liked it, believe it or not. The dumb thing was that my boredom got the better of me. I went into a bar one night and being as bored as I was, decided to join in on a game of Russian Roulette. You can guess what happened next."

"Ha ha, now THAT I never would have guessed. So you basically shot yourself because you were bored? That's rich."

"Yup, just about. I'm staying here for the moment, Applejack reckons I can be rather useful round here. But honestly? I think she has a crush on me."

"Ha, keep dreamin' buddy."

"Speaking of unlikely things, have you managed to accomplish anything during your time here, or have you been sitting on your ass the whole time?" He joked.

"As a matter of fact, yes I have. I'm a part of Equestria's best flying team, The Wonderbolts, earning more than I probably ever would have in my old life. YOU on the other hand are working on an apple farm, most likely earning no pay whatsoever. Notice the difference?" I said.

"Yes, you're a cocky bastard and I'm not. Notice the difference?" He said mockingly.

"yeah yeah, very funny. So what happened after I died?"

He sighed. "After you went down, against my orders no less, reinforcements arrived. They took out the rest of the jets, and as it turns out the pilot of the jet you crashed survived. He confessed he was working with the Russians to temporarily cripple our new project, apparently they had a little project of their own they wanted to test. Unfortunately the F-18's could easily overshadow their project, so they sent out that little party to stall our project so they could modify theirs. As I mentioned before, afterwards I was sent to Russia to take down their project. The rest you know." Just then he turned around and saw Applejack waving at him. "Well, looks like I have to go back to work. I'll see you sometime later Hornet."

"You too Sir. And by the way, that's a REALLY original name you've got there, Buck Shot." I joked. I flew back to the Wonderbolts HQ, where upon arrival I was greeted by a smiling Spitfire and Princess Luna.

"There you are," Spitfire said "I was about to start looking for you. Are you ready for your promotion?"

"I most certainly am. I'm assuming this is why Princess Luna is here?" I asked.

"yes. The promotion to Captain requires the audience of at least two other Captains and the princess, with the Archer squad Captain on business elsewhere we will make do with me and Night Wing."

"Also," the princess said "That the special potion for the Captain rank is kept in safe storage in the royal palace, under our protection."

"Which is why the Princess left earlier." Spifire continued. "But now that we're all here, we can get things underway. So if you could all follow me, we'll be underway." I nodded and followed them into the sanctuary to find Night Wing waiting for us. "Oh good, you're here. Now, let's get this going. Are you nervous Hornet? 'Cause you don't have to do this if you don't want to."

I turned to her confidently. "Spitfire, I gave my life to serve my country, my home. I was given a second chance at life, and I plan to send this life serving my new home, regardless if I die or not, this is what I will do. If I die now, I will die knowing that I served us all proudly. So yes, while I am nervous, and I have every right to be, I will do this, because I feel this is what I was born to do, what I was brought into this world to do. Now quit stalling and give me that vial, I've got a promotion to recieve."

She stood to attention, gave me a salute, and handed me the potion. "Don't die on me, you hear?" she said.

"No," I replied " I won't. It's as a friend of mine said: Old soldiers never die, and being immortal I don't plan on dying anytime soon." I took the vial, gave it a quick sniff and jugged it. After a few seconds waiting to find I was still alive, I turned to the others. "So, what happens now?" I asked.

"Now," Spitfire said "you get a medical examination. We need to make sure you're in top condition for the long road ahead. Come on, I'll take you to the hospital."

"What, you can't afford to have a doctor here?" I asked.

"Not so much that, as we wouldn't be able to find a doctor that would be able to keep our secret, that and we would need a whole team of doctors to treat the injuries that we sometimes get. Doing that would be expensive and almost pointless, considering we have the medic squad. But since you're the medic Captain, we have to take a different approach. Don't worry, this sort of thing has been done before, you'll be in good hooves (hands)."

We arrived at the Cloudsdale hostpital and walked inot the reception, where a unicorn in a doctor's coat greeted us. "Ah, hello Spitfire, a pleasure as usual." He said before looking to me. "Let me guess, he needs a patchup?"

She chuckled. "Thankfully not this time doc, I just need a medical checkup for him, make sure he's in tip-top shape for our next performance."

"Right, this way. I'll have to ask you to remain here Spitfire, doctor/patient confidentiality, I'm sure you understand."

"Of course. I'll be waiting here for you when you're finished."

The doctor turned to me again. "Follow me to my office if you will." I nodded and followed him unitl we reached his office.

One medical exam later...

"Okay, all done." The doctor said. "I have good news and I have bad news." Oh great, The situation you hope never happens is here. Yipee-fucking-kayay. "I'll start with the good news. Apart from one thing you are in perfect shape."

"And the bad news?"

He sighed. "Your wings are that one thing. It appears you are suffering from some kind of calcium deficiency, causing the bones in your wings to deteriorate."

"So what, just drink a bit more milk every day and I'll be fine?" I joked.

"I'm afraid it's a bit more complex than that. Normally what you just said would do the trick, but unfortunately that's not the case. The calcium in your wings are diminishing faster than it can be replenished, which is causing the deterioration. I did some tests, and the cause seems to be some sort of hallucinogen, I won't ask how it got into your system, but that is apparently what started it. I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do."

I just sat there, completely gobsmacked. This is not happening, this is not happening, this is not happening, this is not happening! I really don't want to have to tell this to Spitfire, she'll have a fit, and then some!

"However," the doctor continued "There is something than can help. It's completely illegal, but I'm guessing you're the kind of pony who would take that risk."

I perked my head up. "what is it?"

He checked to make sure that no-one else could hear. "Necromancy."

"Necromancy?"

"yes. I don't know anypony personally who can do it, but I'm guessing somepony with your connections would be able to find somepony."

I stood up. "Say no more, doc. I'll be going if that's all." I trotted out of the office and back to the main entrance, where Spitfire was waiting for me. "sorry Spitz, can't talk. I have to go talk to Crystal, meet you back at the HQ." I whizzed by her and took off. I flew for what seemed hours, and with each passing minute my wings felt harder and harder to control. I swear I heard a crack at one point. Finally my wings gave out with a sickening crack, and I plummeted to the ground. I hit the ground and bounced twice (ow), before sliding forward and digging through the ground to create a small crater. Not wanting to give up, I started dragging myself and continued forward, only to stop a few meters away to stop my wings from being damaged any further. Well this is rather ironic, I just got promoted to the Captain of the Medic squad and yet here I am, lying helplessly next to a ditch. With every second passed my vision faded, and with one final effort I tried to lift myself up with my wings, with no sucess. Looks like karma finally found it's opportunity, to which I say fuck you.

So what do you think is going to happen next? I you have any ideas or requests I'll be happy to listen to them.
See you all after the apocalypse! :)

Chapter 23 - KinderGarten Colt

Aggh, that was fucking dumb. Why am I such an idiot sometimes? I probably should've just walked. I opened my eyes to find myself in a small but cozy shack, with someone just in the corner of my eye. The pony realized I was awake, and imediately rushed to my side. Wouldn't ya know it, it was Crystal. Thank fucking god I'm okay. I tried to get up, and to my surprise my wings actually felt rather good.

"Hornet, thank goodness. I was beginning to think that it didn't work." she said.

"What didn't work?" I aked.

Her face went from happy to guilty faster than you could say surprise. "i'm really sorry. I didn't want to do it but, I-I, I killed you."

"Okay then, for a minute there I though it was- wait, what?"

"I had no choice! I could see why you were here, and the only way to have treated what you had was with necromancy."

"That still doesn't explain why you 'killed' me." I said disgruntledly.

"Look, I would have something else if I had a choice, but there wasn't. I, had to turn you into an abomination."

"WHAT?!"

"It wasn't anything serious, you're still technically yourself. On the outside, it will look like nothing has happened, you won't even notice the difference."

I still wasn't convinced."What DID you change then?"

"Well, for starters I replaced your wings with griffon wings. They're much more sturdier (and a lot less broken) than your old ones. Your teeth got smashed when you crashed, so I replaced them with sharper dragon's teeth. To be honest they make you look a whole lot sexier *giggle*. "

"Anything else?"

"Oh yes, your cutie mark. I didn't change it myself, but I can assure you that you'll like it."

I looked down to my cutie mark to see that it had changed from the Equestrian Guard shield into something different entirely. It was the USAF emblem with two knives crossed behind it. I calmed down, smiled and looked back to Crystal. "Thank you for what you did. Even though you did kill me, I won't hold it against you."

"Thank you Hornet. So, what are you going to do now?" She asked.

"I think I'll head back to Cloudsdale. Spitfire will probably be wondering where I am."

"Okay, you do that. Maybe next time you drop by we can just talk, and hopefully you won't be near dead again."

I chuckled. "I'll try. Good to see you again Crystal." I said before flying off. Hmm, new wings huh? They feel alright, I think I'll take 'em for a test flight. I decided to try and fly as fast as I could back to Cloudsdale, while doing some acrobatic tricks at the same time. To be honest, it went rather well, considering I ALMOST crashed into the ground. After finsihing my joy flight, I arrived at the Wonderbolts HQ. I went in to find Spitfire pacing up and down, most likely waiting for me. She heard the door open and looked up at me.

"Hornet!" she said as she went up and hugged me, nearly choking me to death. "I was worried when you didn't come back last night, what happened?"

"Well long story short, I crashed. Crystal found me and took me in. Sorry I din't tell you why I was going there."

"It's okay. The doctor told me about your wing condition, and when I found out I was shocked. You really got lucky there, if Crystal hadn't found you, you probably would have died."

"Well I didn't, thankfully. Now is there anything you need me to do, or can I get some well deserved rest?" I asked.

She paused to think for a moment. " I have a job for you. It should be rather relaxing, but I hope you have good children handling skills."

My eyes widened. "Wait, you don't mean..."

She nodded. "Yes, foalsitting."

"Really, I mean really? you want me to look after Solemn, after everything I just went through? Shouldn't that be Shadow's job?"

"Well, yes. But he's gone out with Soarin and Ni on a bachelor party."

"Huh, never wouldv'e picked it. So how long do you want me to look after the kid?"

"Just until I get things ready for her training. Shouldn't take more than an hour or two. I don't have to get her right now, but you will have to look after her eventually."

"No, it's fine. you can get ther now. Just don't expect me to do anything I don't want to."

I waited for a few minutes until Spitfire came back with Solemn.

"Okay, here she is. Solemn, I want you to go with Hornet. He'll look after you while I get things ready for your training."

"Alright, I'll go. But if he does anything boring, I'm leaving." The little filly said. Spitfire smiled and then left.

"So," I said to Solemn " how do you feel about going to Ponyville?"

"I guess we could. But I wanna got to sugarcube Corner first!"

I laughed. "Alright, deal. Grab what you need, and we'll get going." After flying to Ponyville, we arrived at Sugarcube Corner. "Ah, here we are! Sugarcube Corner, the best candy in all Equestria!"

As we went in, something in my mind clicked. Sugarcube corner, isn't that where...oh crap. I opened the door and Pinkie Pie came out of nowhere, scaring me half to death and causing me to fall back.

"Oh,hiya! Howyoudoing? Hey,Iknowyou! IsawyouatTwilight'slibrarynottoolongago! Who'sthefillywithyou?Doesshelikecandy? OhboyohboyIhopeshelikescandy!"

U'mm, hi. My friend Solemn and I thought we'd rop by and maybe get some sugar in our systems."

"Oh,I know you, You're Rainbow's daughter aren't you?" she said, finally slowing down her speech. "come on in! There's plenty of things to choose from! What would you like?"

15 minutes (and a lot of pinkie pie talking non-stop) later...

"Bye, Cya! Hope you come back again!" Pinkie shouted at us as we left. with a bag of assorted goodies each.

"Okay, kiddo. What do you want to do next?" I asked.

"Hmm, rainbow let me read one of the Daring Do novels, and I really like them. Do you think we could go to the library and get a few of them?"

"Sure, I don't see why not. Let's go."

As we walked over to the Ponyville library, Solemn turned to me. "So, are you like my dad? Are you from another world too?"

I paused. "Yes I am, Why do you ask?"

"I always wondered if there was another world, how did you get here?"

"Funny thing that, I got here the same way I left my old world. Put simply, I crashed."

"What did you used to do?"

"Me? I used to fly, not with these wings though. Back where I came from we didn't have wings, at least not organic ones. We built ours from metal, and put them on large engines so they could lift us."

"So you couldn't naturally fly? That would suck."

"Hah, don't you know it. I was happier when I was flying than any other time in my life."

"Did you ever know my dad before you came here?"

"Full of questions, aren't you? No, I didn't know your dad before this. Tell you what, since you're so filled with questions about me and Shadow, maybe we can sit down and have a chat about it some time. Deal?"

"Deal. You know, you remind me of my dad a lot."

"Is that so?" I asked.

"Yeah. If I could, I'd probably make you my uncle."

I chukled. "Tempting, but I think one Shadow is enough for you and Rainbow. Alright then, enough stalling, let's go get your books."

We walked over to the Ponyville library to find Spike watering some plants outside and Twilight on the balcony upstairs. Spike turned to see us. "Oh, hey there. If you're looking for Shadow, he just left with Barry and some others. Said they were having a bachelor party or something, but I didn't hear much about it."

"Actually, I'm here to pick out some books for Solemn here. Rainbow got her to read one of the Daring Do novels, I'm assuming you know which ones we're looking for."

"Yeah sure, of course. one sec, Twilight! where are the Daring Do books?" he shouted.

Twilight came down the stairs, levitating some books. "They're right here. Hello, didn't expect to see you back so soon. Did you find your friend?"

"yes I did, we had a nice chat together. Now if you don't mind, my little friend Solemn here would like to check out some books."

"Ah yes, I see now. One second....Done, here they are. Bring them back when you're done please, a little while ago Rainbow checked out some books and 'forgot' to return them."

"don't worry, I will." Solemn said.

As we left the library, we sat down and Solemn opened up one of the books. "Do you mind if I read one of them here? You can read along if you want."

I smiled. "Sure, why not. We still have some time until we have to go back anyway." She opened the book and began to read aloud.

One very good book later

"...The end."

"Well, that certainly passed the time well. Better get you back to Cloudsdale, let's roll."

We flew back to Cloudsdale and arrived at the HQ. We went down into the sanctum and found Spitfire touching up on some hoof to hoof combat with Blaze.

"We're back, and we come bearing candy!" I shouted. They looked up at us, and Spitfire used this to her advantage and made a surprise attack on Blaze.

"No fair, I wan't looking!" She complained.

I laughed. "Don't expect the enemy to fight fair Blaze, remember that."

She smiled. "I will."

Spitfire came over to me. "Well, since I've got everything ready for training, I guess I'll take her off your hooves. I'll see you later, I'll also take you to meet the rest of your squad tommorrow."

"Right, see you all later." I turned around and trotted off, munching on a block of chocolate as I went. As I walked through the streets, I came across none other than Shadow's dad. "Hey, what are you doing here?"

He turned to me. "Oh, hello Danie-ahem- Hornet. I was on my way here to see my son, do you know where he is?"

"Sorry, he left this morining. Apparently he's having a bachelor party with some of his friends."

"Oh, ok. I was actually going to ask him about that, but I'm guessing it doesn't really matter now. So how are you doing Hornet?"

"Oh I'm fine. Want to have a chat?" I asked.

"I don't really see why not. What did you want to talk about?"

"Well actually I was hoping we could have a chat about you and your career, I was a big fan of your's back when I was a kid. Had a poster of you in my bedroom and everything."

"Look, I know you're interested in this, and I can understand why, but I'd rather not talk about it. I'm sure you understand."

"Of course. Forget I said anything about it, although I did have one question I was hoping you would answer: Why did you quit?"

He sighed. "Family. You see, When Landon was just born, I was at the top of my career as a NASCAR driver. His mother wanted us to be able to raise a family without the hassles of being a celebrity, and loving her as much as I did I agreed to it. I quit shortly after that, but unfortunately the family did not go too well after that."

"What happened?"

He looked down at the groud with a saddened face. "Not long after I quit, when Landon was only two years old, his mother died. Unfortunately, without her loving care and guidance towards parenting, the family quickly tore itself apart. Landon later took up NASCAR to try and show me up, the rest I'm assuming you know."

"Jeez, that sounds horrible. Sorry I asked about it." I said.

"It's alright. You helped me try and make my son love me again, and for that matter I feel comfortable talking about this to you. I'd actually like to talk about you for a bit, if you dont mind."

"No, I don't mind one bit. What did you want to know?"

"Well for starters, your family. What was your family like growing up?"

I smiled. "Hah, let's just say it was 'challenging" to say the least. I grew up in Vegas with two older brothers, Jake and Rielly, my mother and father along with one of my cousins. My brothers were pretty cool, they were good athletes, decent education, etc. They joined the army together and made it into the Marines. That's right, the USMC. They were pretty protective of me, and treated me like any good brother should. My cousin was never really around when I was home, always working so I never really got to know him better. My mother was the most caring person you would have met, my dad on the other hand was another story entirely. He grew up in a rough neighbourhood, and because of that he was kinda harsh on us. My brothers and mom always stood up for each other, especially me when we got into trouble with him. I think it was because I was the most 'fragile' in the family, but then again my dad had been through quite a bit in his life. Anyway my brothers made it into the marines and they suggested that I join the army as well. Not being as tough as them I declined, but they were damn persistent. They took me through the induction courses and I did decently well, but not well enough to cut the mustard. Not wanting to let them down I went and tried to join the air force, with much more success. I died in-flight while testing out a new jet prototype."

"Your family really loved you didn't they?"

"Yeah they did. If I could I would bring them here, especially my brothers."

"By the way, what happened to your family?" He asked.

"Well, my cousin moved out when I was about 9, apparently he got a job working somewhere in the Pacific. One of my brothers got injured during combat when I was 11, and they both got pulled out to stay with the rest of the family. My mother...she died when I was 14, her and dad got into an arguement one night and he hit her; a little too hard. I moved out when I was 16, and settled down close to an airforce base. That's really all I can remember about it."

"What about now? In this world? Are you close with anyone? Family, friends things like that?" He asked.

"Well I wouldn't call them 'family' per se, but the Wonderbolts seem to be pretty close to it. I found one of my old friends from earth yesterday, so that's a plus. As far as being 'close' to someone, I actually have two."

"Really? That sounds risky."

"It was, but it got sorted out not too long ago. Here's the catch. One's a Wonderbolt, Spitfire, and the other is a necromancer by the name of Crystal Tears."

"A necromancer? I didn't think those existed, even here."

"Well you better start believing." We sat at the HQ stairs and continued to chat until dark. Shadow's dad had quite a few things to say about him and his past, not all of it was pretty. "Well, I better go. Good to see you again, see you around."

"Like wise. Goodbye."

I trotted into the HQ to find Blaze asleep with Solemn on a couch, with books lying next to them. Cute. I walked upstairs to my room to find Spitfire laying in it, waiting for me with a rather seductive look.

"What took you so long?" She asked.

I laughed and climbed in with her. She pulled me over and hugged me tight. "You really like being in charge, don't you?"

"Yes I do, and I'm guessing you would know about that from your time in the academy."

The academy, how could I forget?

Just to be clear, this is the USAF emblem I've been referring to. PS: Biggest chapter so far! God I really need to step up my game in terms of chapter length.

Chapter 24 - My Academic Career

Flashback time!

Wonderbolts Academy, Equestria

1 month from present day, Day 1/7 of academy training

I stood in line with the other initiates, watching and waiting as the flame haired pegasus known as Spitfire trotted towards us. Her stern and unforgiving stares sent panic and fear into the hearts of those she looked at.

"Alright you fillies, day one of your training starts now!" She shouted. "I'm going to be straight forward with you. This will NOT be easy for you. Most of you will not complete training, some of you may even die. Before we get started, I have one question," She walked over to me. "do you have what it takes?! Well, do you?!"

I straightened up. "Not yet ma'am!"

"And why is that?!" She asked.

"Because I have not completed training, ma'am!"

"Exactly! Everypony follow his example. Until you have completed training, IF you have completed training, only then will you have what it takes to be a Wonderbolt. Am I understood?!"

"Yes ma'am!" We all said.

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you!"

"YES MA'AM!"

She blew a whistle. "Alright, Everypony do 500 laps NOW!"

We nodded and flew off.

After I finished the last lap, Spitfire walked up to me. "This was a TIMED event, not a casual flight! Shape up, or ship out!" She then looked around to see the others completely exhausted, while I stood there at attention. "Hmm, it seems you have some endurance in you. But don't think just because I said that means you're 'special' or 'talented'. Endurance isn't everything, you also need speed and manouverability." She turned to everybody else. "Alright everypony, break time! Head to the mess hall and get fuelled up, then report back here in 15 minutes!"

We all walked over to the mess hall, grabbed some chow and sat down. They all sat in groups, most likely discussing about what will happen next. Strangely though, they all seemed to avoid me. Whenever I walked close to them, they would either stop and chat to someone or walk faster to get away from me. They never sat near me during lunch breaks, they never talked to me, sometimes they even just turn their heads at me. I never got why they did that, but then again it might be because of my appearance. I mean, red eyes and a red and black mane aren't exactly the most attractive mix around. It doesn't really matter I suppose, I'm used to being a 'lone wolf' anyways. After lunch, we walked back out to the training area.

"Alright, no wasting time, we're getting right into it. I'm assuming you all looked at the notice board to see who's with who?" Oh shit, I didn't see who I was with. Just stay calm, keep relaxed and wait. Maybe someone else will mention who my partner is. "If you didn't, and I'm not sure why you wouldn't, I have the list here. Alrighty, first is Triple Trick as lead pony and Sea Sparrow as wing pony. Next is Flitter as lead pony with Hornet as wing pony." Thank goodness, I was worried there for a second. Flitter, huh? Well it's unexpected to say the least. I walked over to Flitter and got handed my wing pony badge.

"Hi, Flitter. Nervous?"

She turned her head and blushed. "I'm kinda nervous, w-what about you?"

"Not too nervous, we've just go to work together okay?"

She perked her head up. "Okay."

"Don't worry, I''ll be right behind you all the way." We stood to attention as the last of the group got handed their badges.

"Alright, Listen up! You'll be doing laps of the obstacle course. You need to stay close to each other and follow your head pony's commands. If either of you get separated, you're out. You keep doing laps until one team remains. Any questions? Good. Get going!"

Flitter and I breezed through the obstacle course, the only problem we had was the other teams. Especially Triple Trick and Sea Sparrow. Those two really don't like me and the others. As we went through the third lap, Triple Trick and Sea sparrow went past us, taking a swipe at us on the way through. It knocked Flitter off course, causing her to fall. Seeing this, I quickly grabbed her hoof, yanking her up. She then proceded to do a barrel roll (do a barrel roll!) over me, putting her back to her original position.

"Th-thanks." She stuttered.

"No problem, just looking out for my team-mate. Now, what do you say we get some payback?" I said. She smiled and nodded, before taking off after Triple Trick and Sea Sparrow, with me right behind her. We snuck up behind the two, and when Flitter gave me a signal we rushed right past them, knocking them off course. They didn't take it too well, as they quickly corrected themselves and came straight for us. I braced myself for an impact, but strangely it never came. I looked around to see they were attacking Flitter. "You bastards, that does it" I thought. I steeled myself to get ready. I then slammed on the brakes, crashing into Triple Trick, before barrel rolling above Sea Sparrow and spearing him from above. After admiring my handywork, I quickly rejoined Flitter. "Are you okay Flitter?" I asked.

"Yes, I'm okay. Thank you for saving me."

"Don't worry about it. It's like I said, I'm just looking out for my teammate." Just then, Spitfire blew her whistle to signal us to stop. We flew over to her, and she had a nasty look on her face.

"My office, now." She said. We started to walk away when she stopped us. "Not you, just Hornet." Flitter nodded and walked back to the rest of the group. I followed Spitfire to her office and sat down. "I don't know what you were thinking back there, but that was a very risky thing you did. Why did you do it? Why did you do that to Triple Trick and Sea Sparrow?"

"Because they were endangering my teammate. Had I done nothing, Flitter would most likely have been injured, and also would put both her and me out of the competition, Ma'am."

She took off her sunglasses. "I'll be honest, this isn't the first time I've seen somepony do something like this, helping their teammate like that. But for some reason, you manage to pull it off in spades. You have endurance, but doing what you did also shows me that you have speed and manouverability. However, most importantly, you've shown me something that almost nopony here has; teamwork skills. You have the ability to work well with others, no matter who it may be. I admit, you did good. You can take the rest of the day off Hornet. I'll also send Flitter to the infirmary, just to be safe. Don't think I'm going soft on you though, you'll still be doing the full training course."

I saluted to her. "Yes Ma'am!"

"Good, Dismissed." I started to open the door on my way out when she spoke again. "By the way, where did you learn those moves?" She asked.

"I was in the Equestrian Guard for a few weeks, but mostly I learned from watching the best; you." I said as I left. Had I stayed there for a few seconds longer, I would have seen the great and mighty Spitfire blush. Now that would have been something to remember.

As I was heading over to my quarters, I noticed some of the other ponies looking at me strangely. I quickly dismissed it for their usual behaviour. Boy was I wrong. I walked into my quarters, who should I find but Triple trick and Sea Sparrow, both with angry looks on their faces.

"What's the matter you two, are you that sore losers that you wanted payback for something that was your own fault? " I said.

"Shut up!" Triple Trick snapped. "You made us look bad, in front of everypony. Now we just want to return the favor. Don't worry, we'll go easy on you, that way you can spend some time with your marefriend Flitter in the infirmary." They both laughed.

"So that's the way it's going to be? Bring it on then, if you've got the balls." I said, taunting them.

What I expected them to do was blindly attack in rage, which is what they did. What I did not expect however was Triple Tricks quick reaction time. Within two seconds his smile had turned into an angry face, and he was already going in for an uppercut to the gut. It landed with a solid thud, and using me being temproarily stunned to their advantage, Sea Sparrow came up from behind and got me into a lock. Triple trick then started to barrage me with punch after punch, until I was batterd and bruised all over. After several painful minutes, he stopped. "Come on Sparrow, we're done here." Triple trick said. sea Sparrow released me and they started to walk out fo the room. I then rushed up behind them and smacked their heads together. I then punched Triple Trick in the jaw, and before either could react, I applebucked Sea Sparrow.

"Where do you think you're going?" I said. "I just want to return the favor." I then punched both of them multiple times before they finally scrambled out of the doorway. "And stay out!" I shouted at them as they cantered down the hallway.

I sat down on my bed, panting and examining my wounds. Multiple bruises along the gut and face, along with a black eye to liven up my complexion. Oh well, what's something like this without a few memories? Painful memories they may be, but memories nonetheless. I layed down in my bed and pulled over the covers. What a day it's been, and it's only day one.

Chapter 25 - Meet The Medics

Mmm, god that felt good. I keep forgetting how powerful Spitfire is, even if she is the captain of a secret group of assassins. I woke up with a stifiling yawn, got up out of bed and made breakfast. Now I know that Shadow is a hay bacon fan but I just prefer to stick with healthy fruits. After eating breakfast, I checked the time (late out of bed again) and went down into the sanctum. Soarin and Spitfire were there, chatting about something. Soarin looked up and waved at me.

"Hey Hornet, sleep well?" He asked.

"Pretty well. How was the bachelor party, you guys get wasted or what?" I replied.

"Yea...about that..."

"Alright Soarin, spit it out already."

"Well long story short, we saved somepony's brother but ended up killing about thirty others."

"Uh huh, that sounds...intruiging. Get any good booze? You know I have a weakness for a good whiskey."

"Well there was this one place, The Motherland up in Applewood, that had some REALLY strong stuff. You should check it out some time."

"Maybe I will check it out. Thanks for the heads up Soarin."

Spitfire stood up. "Hornet, I have some things to talk to you about. It involves the medic squad. I'll take you to them and we'll talk on the way."

I nodded and followed her out of the HQ. "So where are we going?" I asked.

"Canterlot." We took in the general dircetion of Canterlot. "Alright here's the thing. Shadow's requested some protection from the Mones for the wedding. Ni and three of his squad will be at the wedding, as well as you and three of your squad."

"So I'm going to the wedding? Cool. I'm not sure about going black tie though, I could just wear my armor but that would be suspicious."

She laughed. "Just wear you armor under your wonderbolts uniform, it shouldn't look too bulky underneath. Also, a day or two ago one of the medic squad, Heartbeat, died while on duty with the Archer squad in the badlands. You'll need to find a suitable replacement at somepoint."

I put my hoof to my chin to think."I might know just the person. He's an old friend of mine from earth, and I think he was a medic at somepoint."

"Okay, we'll bring him here after we're done with introductions. Look, We're almost there." She said, pointing to a building.

"The Canterlot Royal Hospital, why am I not surprised?" I said jokingly.

"Yes, the best of medical knowledge and skill practise here. But also, it houses the base for the medic squad."

"Well then, let's go meet the medics." We flew down to the Hospital and walked inside. I follwed her down a hallway to a room that said: EQUESTRIAN QUARD, MEDICAL DIVISION with words underneath it saying: Restricted Area, Guard Only. "Let me guess, there's no ACTUAL medical division for the Equestrian Guard. Don't lie to me, I was part of the guard you know."

She smiled. "You're right, there isn't. This door will take us underground, to the medic sanctuary where you'll meet the squad."

"Before we go in, I have a question: Why are all the hideouts we visit underground?" I joked. She laughed as she opened the door. We went down the stairs into the sanctuary, and to be honest the place looked a lot cleaner than I expected. Then again I expected the place to be looking like a chop shop, with blood everywhere. The sanctuary was smaller than I would have expected, but then again I've never been here before. Everbody there was working.

Spitfire spoke up. "Stand to attention, Captains on deck!" They all looked up and clammered over to us, and then gave us a salute. "At ease. I want you all to meet your new captain, Hornet. He's been busy helping the assassin squad for the past week or so, and he will also be finding a replacement for Heartbeat later today. I'll leave you guys to introduce yourselves, in the mean time I have to make some arrangements." She turned around and left.

The first one extended his hoof to me. "Nice to meet you sir, I'm Sawbones. I deal with surgical practises and in-house duties. I prefer to stay out of the field though, if that's okay with you."

"Noted. You are..." I said.

"Oh, sorry. I'm bandages, I'm the specialize in field treatment and somewhat in combat. Anything that's too serious I leave to Sawbones."

"And last but not least is me, Bloodbank. I deal primarily in combat, but I do know a little bit about what these guys specialize in. There usually should be about ten of us here instead of three, but with the tensions between the Griffons our team has been spread out. Welcome to our humble abode, and I hope you find yourself comfortable Captain."

"Okay, first things first. I want to establish some ground rules. Number one is that while off-assignment you can be informal as you like, but try to keep it as civil. No swearing your head off every few seconds. While on assignment, refer to me as captain or sir. Apart from that, you can do what you like. Dismissed, I'll be back with our new member soon." I turned around and left for Sweet Apple Acres. I arrived to find Fitzgerald (Buck Shot) and Big Mac helping Applejack move some apple baskets.

"Hey Buck Shot, Ah do believe yer friend is here to see yeh. We'll finish up here, ya'll go on ahead." Applejack said, giving him a peck on the cheek.

I flew over to him, and gave him a brohoof. (Fuck yeah!) "Good to see ya son, what brings you here?" he asked.

"I wanted to ask you something important, but first I need to know that you can keep a secret." I replied.

"What, are you secretly gay? Wait, don't tell me, you're actually an alien!" He joked.

"Mate, I'm serious. You were a medic back on earth, weren't you?"

'Son, I was a field medic in 'nam when I was less than your age. I saw hundreds of injuries, both small and large in my time. So yes, I'm pretty sure that I was a fucking medic at some point."

"Jeez, no need to get so hostile. Look, I want you to help me with something. I work for a group called the Fugien Mones. right now my squad is one man down and I'd like you to take his place. You don't have to if you don't want to but I'd really prefer it if you did."

He put his hoof to his chin to think for a few seconds. "Aww alright, I'll do it. Just tell me, who are these Fugien Mones?" He asked.

"I'll explain on the way." I said.

"The way where?"

"Ugh, just follow me okay?" We flew back over to the CRH and after explaining about the Mones and everything that has happened recently, we went into the sanctuary.

"Well, well, well, I didn't see this in the brochure. Who are your friends?"

"This is Sawbones, he's a surgeon; This is Bandages, he's a field medic; And this is Bloodbank, he's a combat specialist."

Sawbones walked up to me. "So, this is the new guy captain?"

"Wait a minute, wait a minute. You're a captain?" He said.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention that. You'll be taking orders from me from now on."

"Well, THAT I didn't see coming. What now?"

"You should get to know the others better, right now I have to go back to Cloudsdale. Oh and also, Buck Shot, you, me, Bandages and Bloodbank will be going to a wedding in a few days. Orders from Spitfire. Ciao amigos." I said as I left.

I arrived back in Cloudsdale and went into the HQ, where Spitfire was waiting for me. "So, how did things go?" She asked.

"It's all good. I took my friend over there and explained everything to him. He was a bit confused about it at first but a couple of slaps to the back of the head did the trick." I joked.

"she giggled. Good to see you got things sorted out. I reckon you should get some sleep, I'll be there later."

I nodded and went to my room. I walked over to my bed to find a note on it. It read:

Dear Hornet, I wish to see you tomorrow. Meet me at your safehouse 'the Hornet's nest'.

Hmm, I wonder who it could be from? Ahh well, just going to have to wait until tomorrow. I climbed into bed and slowly dozed off, staring at the mysterious letter.

I'll be taking a bit of a break after this, I'm waiting for the finale of the main story. I just hope I don't have to wait too long, I'm running out of time frame here. Also, Gabe Newell, 'Notch' (Creator of minecraft) and Weird Al Yankovic are all apparently bronies. Don't believe me? Look it up! Gabe and notch have had interviews (Gabe's is on youtube, I have it here), Stephen Colbert even gave a shoutout on national TV (although apparently he's not actually a brony, as far as others have said) and Weird al I do believe has a video on youtube about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzY1hZWq7Pk

Chapter 26 - It's a Trap!

Thank god for decent beds, I slept all through the night this time. God I needed that. So tomorrow's going to be the 'Wedding of the century', as I like to call it. Hopefully nothing goes wrong, but knowing that Shadow and I both have the luck of the devil, that's probably not going to happen. I got up, finding Spitfire making breakfast. She turned to see me getting up and smiled.

"Morning, sleep well?" She asked.

"Like a log. So what's for breakfast?" I replied.

"Oh, the usual. You can help yourself if you want to, but that look on your face says you've got something else on your mind. Care to tell me what?"

"Hmm? Oh, I got a letter last night from someone, said they wanted to meet me today."

"Did it say who it was?"

"Sadly no, so there's only really one way to find out. I'll take my knife just in case, but hopefully I won't need it. I'll see you later, be sure to stay alive till I get back okay?" I joked.

She smiled. "Same to you." I gave her a 'quick' kiss, and then left, grabbing my knife on the way out. Before I left, I noticed Soarin with a black eye, being laughed at by Ni.

"Okay, I'll bite. What happened? Did he insult your dreaming again Ni?" I asked jokingly.

"It's worse than that I'm afraid, and before you ask no I didn't do this." Ni replied.Soarin then mumbled something quietly.

"Sorry, what was that?" He mumbled again. "Speak differently Soarin, you know I can't understand idiot."

He laughed. "Alright, I give up. It was Spitfire, she did it."

"And just why would she do that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I...I asked her out. I know, I know, it was dumb."

"I'll say. But I do admire your guts for asking, even though what you did was beyond dumb. You know, even though Spitfire's out of the picture, there are still availabilities out there, and they're closer than you think."

He snapped backwards. "Woah woah woah, there is NO way I am going out wih Ni. And even if I wanted to, does he?"

I did a facehoof. "Dumbass. I didn't mean him, I meant Blaze. I mean really, when would I ever give you advice on being gay?" He slumped his face downward in stupidity. "Anyway, I'll be going now. I've got something to do outta town, I'll be back later." And with that, I flew off. It had been a while since I had been there, but I'm pretty sure nothing changed. I arrived and flew down to the front door, to my surprise it was unlocked. I walked in and looked at a note left in front of me. It read:

Ah, nice to see you've finally arrived. I'm waiting downstairs, in the workshop. I've got somepony special of yours, so don't keep me waiting.

Wait, he doesn't mean... I drew my knife and rushed downstairs, only to find nothing there. Suddenly a distorted voice echoed throughout the room. "Wow, you ACTUALLY thought she was going to be here. You are as foolhardy as you are courageous, and I respect that." The voice became more clear, turns out it was Sorrow Curse (What a big surprise).

"What have you done with her?!" I yelled.

"Now now, temper temper. She's fine, completely unharmed...for now. I don't intend for you to leave with nothing however, so here's a little something from me." I looked around as gas was slowly seeping into the room. "Don't worry, it's not lethal. You may feel a slight tingling sensation, but that's probably just a side effect. Enjoy!" He said before his maniacal laugh drifted away. Trying not to inhale any of the gas, I looked around for escape options. Unfortunately, I had designed it so noone would be able to get in, I also forgot to put in any ways to get out, other than the main door, which was now magically locked. As the seconds passed, I could feel the gas starting to enter my system. After about a minute, I couldn't hold out any longer, and collapsed.

I woke up, tied to a chair still in the workshop. There was a light brown pony with a red shirt and a Mohawk standing in front of me, playing around with my knife. "Well look who's awake, morning sleeping beauty." He said. He walked over to me and smiled, before continuing to study my knife. "You know,, I really like this knife, it's a fucking good knife, it looks very expensive, and that's good, because you know I like expensive things. Hey, did I ever tell you the definition of, insanity? It's when you do something over and over and over again, expecting it to change. You know when the first pony said that to me, I thought the HE was crazy, so I killed him. Turns out he was right, I started to see everypony doing the exact same thing over and over and over again." I tried to shake myself free, which quickly caught his attention.

"ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME? HEY! LOOK ME IN THE EYE WHEN I AM TALKING TO YOU! look at me, look at me. I SAID FUCKING LOOK AT ME! You're my bitch. I'm in charge here now. What, you think you're so high and mighty, flying high in the sky, without a care i the world? Maybe there, but not here. Down here hermano, you crash. Now, you're probably wondering if I work for Sorrow Curse, and the answer to that is yes." he started to pace around the room. "You know, I'm going to enjoy making your marefriend suffer. And it's too bad, cause you won't be there to see it. Don't worry though, I'll tell her all about how I listened to every scream of agony and pain you let out as you slowly died." I tried to lash out at him, causing myself to fall over.

"I'm gonna kill you you son of a bitch!" I yelled out.

He laughed and stabbed my knife down on a nearby table. "I'm going to leave now, and I'm gonna go chill. But you..." He then grabbed my knfe and stabbed into my arm, before leaning down to my face. "Hey, did I ever tell you the definition of, insanity?" He laughed as he left, flicking a match onto the ground, which apparently during my naptime, had been covered in oil. (they usually use it for torches or lamps. Usually). I tried to break myself free, rather unsuccessfully. This seems really pathetic, doesn't it? I mean, I'm a captain of a secret group charged with the protection of Equestria, and yet I can't even get out of a fucking chair. Really starting to wish I took that strength enchantment for my armor. As a minute passed, the fire was spreading all over the place, inching towards me. Feeling the heat rising, my heart rate started to increase. I started to black out, and remembered a familiar situation that I had been in, years ago.

4 Years ago, before entering Equestria
Al Hanad, Yemen, Middle East
Operation Treasure Hunt
Confirmed Tier 1 Terrorist Personnel hiding in city, 75th Ranger regiment and 64th Aggressors squadron sent to secure tier 1 personnel. All other targets are secondaries and are expendable.

I did a flyover of what had previously been a hijacked Russian style APC, which was now nothing but smouldering ruins. "...Tombstone Actual this is Mojo 1, confirm target has been destroyed, over." I said.

"Copy Mojo 1, enemy armor has been neutralized. Advancing through to next sector, over." Tombstone said back.

"Roger that, heading back to base to re-fuel and re-arm. Will be back on station in 10, over." I turned my jet around to head back to base, but before I could get up to speed, a hidden terrorist fired an RPG at me. It hit my rear left wing, and less than two seconds after he had fired the rocket, Tombstone had already gunned him down. "I'm hit, I'm hit! Mojo 1 is going down, ejecting!" I ejected out of my jet and softly landed on the ground, only to be greeted by a dozen or so angry looking terrorists with AK's. They knocked me out and put me on the pack of a pickup truck, before driving away. I woke up later tied to a chair, with half a dozen or so standing around me. One of them walked up to me and said something, possibly in arabic before punching in the face. he then spoke again, this time in a harsher tone. I simply smiled and spat in his face, to be responded with another hit in the face. Another punch followed, followed by another, and another. All the while I just simply tried my best to keep a smile, and keep the rest of my mouth shut. After about twenty punches he gave up, pulled out a knife before shoving it into my shoulder. They continued to torture me for what seemed like hours, until I was assured that they just wanted to just use me as a punching bag, rather than try to get any information that I might have had on me. Eventually I was rescued by 'the frogmen' (Navy SEALs), who told me I had been held captive for days, not hours. Had the operation not been under wraps I would have made national news, but sadly that was not to be.

Present Day, Equestria

Suddenly I woke up, and realizing my situation I also got a massive rush of adrenaline, which also kicked my fading vital systems into gear. Thank god! Now I can try to get out of here and kick that motherfucker's ass.

I ripped out of the chair, grabbed my knife from the nearby table and went for the door. I went for a solid punch. It landed with a decent impact, unfortunately all I ended up doing was hurting my hoof. (FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUU) I tried again, this time using my shoulder. The door easily gave way, and I burst through. I ran up the stairs and outside, looked around and found out that he had disappeared. After about a minute of hopeless searching I gave up and took off, looking behind to see the place burn and crumble. I kept going and flew non-stop back to the HQ, and by the time I arrived it was nightfall. I went down into the sanctuary to find that everyone except Spitfire had gone to bed, and Spitfire herself was calmly reading a book. She heard me storming into the room and looked up.

"Spitfire, They've taken Crystal!" I exclaimed.

"Who, who's taken Crystal?" She asked.

I stopped for a second to catch my breath. "It was, it was Sorrow Curse. He's taken her, and I don't know where. Fuck I feel so useless right now!" I said, kicking a chair.

She came over to me and tried to calm me down. "Look, you didn't know that he was going to take her. There was nothing you could do about that, so don't feel sorry for something that wasn't your fault. We'll try and get her back, and we'll make Sorrow Curse pay for what he's done, but I need you to be calm and level headed to do it. Can you do that?" I nodded. "Good. Now it looks like you've been through hell and back, so go take a shower. You've got a job to do tomorrow, and I want you looking your best. It is a wedding after all." She smiled, and I walked off.

As I had my shower, I kept thinking of what might have happened to Crystal. Trying to get it out of my head, I punched a wall in frustration. Fuck, how could I let this happen? I am gonna gut those motherfuckers until you can't tell the difference between them and a squirrel in a wood-chipper. I punched the wall again. Fuck, what am I thinking? I'm not a crazed murderer, I can't do something like that, even if they are heartless necromancers. I sighed. I guess I having two marefriends was more trouble than I imagined. Maybe after all this Crystal can move back here, and then I won't have to worry so much. I finished my shower and climbed into bed, hoping that tomorrow will bring some answers.

I hope you enjoyed the story so far, as I wait eagerly for the finale. I will be writing my version of it (although it will probably be only a fraction of the other one in size) once I've read the other one. And can you guess who that mystery pony was a reference to? If not, I'll put the picture in the comments.

Chapter 27 - Till death do they part

"...and if there's one thing I know, it's that the good guys always win. That's the way it has been, that's the way it will be, and I don't see how this should be any different." I said.

He laughed. "But here's the question: how do you decide who the good guys are and who the bad guys are? From where you're standing, I may seem like a pretty bad guy, but then again I've done some good before I became what I am now. So tell me, how do you decide who is a bad guy and who is a good guy?"

I stood there and thought, before smiling. "A good guy is someone who is willing to defend their people, their families and their countries till their last breath, regardless of the situation or circumstance. I know this because that's what I was, that's what I am, and what I always will be."

He chuckled. "Very good, then you know not to become someone like me, a slave of someone else's will. One last question for you hermano," I raised an eyebrow. "did I ever tell you the definition of, insanity?" I smiled again and chuckled a little as I tightened my grip on the trigger, looked away and fired.

Hours beforehand, at the start of the day

I stifled a yawn as I woke up, ready for the long day that was ahead of me and everybody else that I knew. I got up, made breakfast, spent a few minutes tinkering with my knife, before putting on my vest and Wonderbolts suit over it. I headed downstairs and found Spitfire, my team, Ni's team, Soarin and Blaze in the sanctuary. I went and joined them before someone came down. It was Crystal! I raced up to her and hugged her.

"Whoa, if I'd known you'd miss me this much..." She said.

"Sorrow Curse said he'd taken you!" I replied.

"Well, obviously he lied, to keep you occupied." Spitfire said, trotting up to me.

"Right, that means he could be going to do something very soon, most likely at the wedding today." I concluded "The question is, what is he planning?" Unfortunately that question would not be answered, as the most stubborn pegasus (A.K.A Shadow) in all of Equestria entered the room.

_Spitfire trotted up to me. “I'll take Solemn off your hooves Shadow. In the meantime, I'd like to introduce you to a few ponies. Medic squad, say hi to the fastest pony to climb the ranks since myself a millenia ago.” She said as I gave her Solemn.

One of the ponies trotted over to me. His muscular features and steel colored coat along with his dark blue mane and tail made me think of this guy as the pony you didn't want to fuck with in a bar brawl. He held out a hoof. “Nice to meet you, name's Bloodbank. I've got advanced first aid training, but nothing much more than that in terms of being a medic. I can fight though, so I guess it makes me more like the group's 'bodyguard'.”

I shook his hoof. “Shadow Flash. Good to meet you.”

Bloodbank rejoined his group, while another pony trotted up to me. His white coat and red mane led me to believe he's more the medic type than Bloodbank. He shook my hoof. “Bandages. I've got more training than Bloodbank when it comes to being a medic, but that doesn't mean I'm helpless in a fight. If you get hurt in the midst of combat, I'm the one who's got your back.”

I nodded. “Good to hear. I look forward to working with you in the future.”

Bandages trotted back to his team, and an average sized pony came up to me. The guy had marks all under his eyes on his face, like somebody had carved up tally-marks through his dark green coat, and straight to the skin. He shook his black and green mane out of his eyes to see me better. “Sawbones. I'm the squad's lead surgeon. I've got over three hundred years of experience, so you won't find a better doctor in all of Equestria. It sounds like boasting, but I'm just stating the simple truth. That being said, I'm not much of a fighter. If possible, I stay out of the combat.”

I nodded. “If you don't mind me asking, why does it look like somepony carved up tally-marks on your face?”

“These? I put them there.”

“Why would you do that?! There are like forty!”

“Forty-six to be precise. Although I'm the best doctor in Equestria, that doesn't mean I can heal any wound. There are some beyond my capabilities, and each of these marks is a pony I've failed. They remind me to get better, and be able to heal any injury.”

Talk about hardcore. “Uh, right. I look forward to serving with you.”

Sawbones nodded and went back to his group, and another pony trotted up to me and sized me up. This guy seems different than the last three. More hardass-ish looking with his Big Mac build, brown mane, and red coat. But hey, looks can be deceiving. When he finished, he smiled and held out a hoof. “So you're the one Hornet told me about, huh? Call me Buckshot. You look like you can handle yourself in a fight pretty nicely, so that makes you alright in my book. Honestly, I'm pretty new to this whole Fugiens Mones thing, but I'm no stranger to a fight. I've also got more than twenty years' experience as a combat medic, so I guess this squad suits me more than your spec ops team, or assassins, or whatever your squad is called.”

I smiled and shook his hoof. “You don't look like you're bad in a fight either. There's something different about you, but I can't quite figure it out...”

He grinned. “You're also sharper than you look. I'll let my 'captain' tell you.” He said captain with a hint of reluctance. I wonder why....wait, did he say captain?

Buckshot trotted back to his group, and the last one, this one with a brown coat, approached me with a smile on his face. One of his red eyes was covered up by his half black and half red mane. Wait...whoa, what the fuck happened to this guy? He's got griffon wings instead of normal ones, and some sharp ass teeth. Are those from a dragon?
When he got up to me, I was still staring at his wings. He cleared his throat to get my attention, and I jumped. “Uh, sorry about that.”

“No problem. To be honest, this feel is still new to me. It was a pretty recent incident that made me have to get a few 'changes' made to my body.”

“Wait a sec...I've seen something similar to this before.....necromancy!” I jumped back and activated my hidden blades. “You're an abomination!”

His group got ready to move, but he held up a hoof for them to stop. “Yes, I'm an abomination now. Believe me, I didn't see myself becoming an abomination three days ago, but here I am. I'm not an average abomination though. I've still got my mind, and I know where my loyalties lie. If you calm down, I'll explain.”

I retracted my hidden blades and slowly nodded.

“Thank you. I know my appearance is pretty unsettling to say the least, and I realize that. An accident happened a few days ago, causing me to nearly die. Before I did, however, a known rouge necromancer saved me the only way she could; she killed me and turned me into an abomination.” His eyes lowered. “I know it may sound far-fetched, but this is the truth. I owe my life to that necromancer, because she was kind enough to save it.”

I relaxed a little bit, but still remained cautious. “A rouge necromancer? I'm not sure if I believe you.”

He gave me an apologetic smile. “Yes. I knew it would be a little too much to try and believe given your history with them, so I'll let her speak for herself.” He said before a robed unicorn mare with a white coat and golden mane trotted from behind the medic group.

It took every ounce of control in me not to slash her throat right there. That aside, it was obvious that I was very agitated.
“It's okay Shadow. This is Crystal Tears. She's the necromancer that saved me.” The captain said.

She trotted closer to me, and I kept my eyes on her, just daring her to make a move.
“I understand what you must feel right now, but believe me when I say this; I'm not with them.”

I raised an eyebrow. “And how am I supposed to believe that? What if you just fixed up the captain here so you could get close to our base?”

“That's enough, Shadow.” Spitfire said as she trotted over.

“You believe her, Spitfire?”

She nodded. “I do.”

I sighed. “....Alright.” I turned to Crystal Tears. “But just so we're clear, I'm watching you.”

She nodded. “I understand.”

Just then, the captain let out a breath he was apparently holding in. “Well now that we've got the fact that I'm an abomination out of the way,” He held out a hoof. “I'm the recently promoted captain of the medics, Hornet.”_ -chapter 34-

It took him a minute to make up his mind before he decided to shake my hoof.

_“If Spitfire vouches for you two, you can't be that bad. Wait, have I seen you before, or is it my imagination?”

“You've seen me before, although it was before I had this happen to me.” He said, gesturing towards his teeth and wings.

“Really? When?”

“It was only briefly, and we didn't speak. I was the one who delivered the information to Spitfire about the necromancers' hideout in the desert while you were present.”

I thought for a moment. “Oh yeah, I think I remember now. You know, I gotta say those griffin wings are barely noticeable, which helps explain why I didn't recognize you.” I said with a bit of sarcasm.

“Thanks, and your big head doesn't make you look like any less of an ass.”

“Now you two-” Spitfire started to say, but was cut off by the Hornet and I bursting into laughter.

We bumped hooves and laughed for a moment longer. “I think we're gonna have a good friendship going Hornet.”

“Heh, I couldn't agree more. Oh, and before we continue on with our conversation, there's one more thing you need to know about me. Well, me and Buckshot.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What is it? It can't be more surprising than you being an abomination.”

“Well, me and Buckshot here are uh, how do I put this so you don't freak out? Well, there's no way to do that, so I'll just say it.”

Oh God he better not be coming out.

“We're human.”

“....Come again? It sounded like you just said you and Buckshot over there were human.”

“Because I did.”

I rubbed my temple with my forehooves. “Ugh, why couldn't it have been something as simple as coming out of the closet?”

“No you ass, I'm not gay. I'm going out with Spitfire.”

My eye twitched. Yep, surprise overload. I think I'm gonna faint now.....aaannyy second....ah, now._

Shadow collapsed, and landed with a thud.

"Is he going to be alright?" Blaze asked.

"He's fine, he's just being melodramatic." Spitfire replied.

"I don't know, Ni and Soarin fainted too." I said.

"See? He's fine." Spitfire said.

_“Ughh...too many surprises...”

Spitfire rolled her eyes. “Yep, definitely fine.”

I sat up and looked at Hornet. “...So you used to be human, eh?”

He nodded. “I won't go into much detail, but I'll tell you the basics. I'm former military, and I was flying a jet fighter before being attacked and killed. I got the chance to come here, so I took it. Soon after, I'm in the Mones. As time passed, Spitfire and I got closer to each other.”

I got back up on all fours. “I never thought Spitfire was going out with someone, because I definitely wouldn't have told Soarin to ask her out if I did.”

“So you're the one who told him to ask me out, huh?” Spitfire said, getting closer to me.

I frantically backed up. “Uhh, what I meant to say was that I-ow!” I was cut off by Spitfire pounding my head

I rubbed my head. “Owww, what was that for?”

“It wouldn't be fair if I hit Soarin, but not you.”

I sighed. “You're not nice, ya know that?”

She shrugged. “I never said I was.”

“Heh, I guess you're right.” I turned to Hornet. “So meeting you means that there's only one more captain for me to meet. Given each of you captains had your own little surprise about you, I'm guessing the archery captain is no exception?”

Spitfire smiled. “Depends on what your definition of the word 'surprising' is.”

“I'll take that as a yes. Oh well, it can't be any more surprising than a former human, now part pony, griffon, and dragon.”

“You say that now.” Spitfire said, grinning.

“Okay, now I've gotta know. What does the archery captain look like?”

“You'll get to see him soon enough.”

I hung my head. “Man, this is gonna drive me crazy trying to figure out what's up with the last captain.”

“You'll get over it. Now, you were out for a couple of hours, so I recommend that you rush back to Ponyville ASAP.”
I looked at a conveniently placed clock on the wall next to me. It's two' o clock, so that gives me....shit.
I jumped up and ran for the exit. “Oh, when Soarin and Ni wake up, tell them they're my groomsmen! Also Spitfire, I need you to take Solemn to the wedding when she finishes training!” I shouted before Spitfire could protest, and left the sanctuary._

After a few minutes of waiting for Ni and Soarin to wake up, I trotted up to them. "Hey, you awake?" I asked them.

"Yeah..." They replied groggily as they got up.

"Shadow says you're going to be his groomsmen for the wedding, just letting you know." I said bluntly. They fainted again, slumping against each other. I chuckled as Spitfire gave me a bit of a scolding look. "What, I couldn't help it. Besides, they had to find out at some point anyway." She just smiled, rolled her eyes and walked off. We spent the next half and hour or so getting ready to go to the wedding, we made sure Ni and Soarin were up to the task of being the groomsmen (as I'm sure neither of them had experience in that sector of life) and we we put on some formal attire. I stuck to my Wonderbolts uniform, clean and simple. Spitfire went for an elegant dress which I'll put in the comments, which most likely could be taken off and stored at a moments notice. Blaze went for her Wonderbolts uniform too, probably because she didn't have anything better to wear. Ni and Soarin went for armor hidden under tuxedos, and surprisingly the armor didn't stick out.

After a while we finally headed out to Canterlot, everybody in a mixed state of excitement and nervousness. And I mean, why wouldn't you be? If a group of bloodthirsty necromancers were coming to crash your wedding, you'd be pretty freaked out too. We arrived at the gates of the castle and stopped for the guards, and they simply nodded and let us through. Looks like the VIP stuff has its perks after all.

We all stopped in front of the castle before Spitfire got our attention. "Alright, we need to scout out the city before the wedding, just in case there's something hidden. Ni, I need you and your team to scout the east side to the city, while Hornet and his team scout the west. soarin, Blaze, you're coming with me to the castle to meet the princess. Report back here before the wedding starts, then fall in with the rest of the crowd. Got that?" We all nodded and spread out.

Like Shadow brony, I'm not very good when it comes to passing the time with this sort of thing, so I'll time skip ahead to just before the wedding starts.

I kept stepping my forehoof up and down in impatience, as I waited for my squad to return. They arrived one by one, each arrive slightly later than the last. "You guys are almost late." I said.

"Sorry about that, Sawbones got lost in some alleyway." Bandages joked.

I rolled my eyes. "Never mind about that, find anything?

"Nothing, at least nothing visible."

"Okay then, I'll take it as an all clear. The wedding's about to start. Let's go." We all merged into the crowd as everybody went inside the castle. The inside of the castle was utterly stunning. Tapestries accompanied with red and gold streamers, banners along every column through the room created a beautiful sight to behold. We all took our places and waited for the ceremony to start. Shadow and Ni entered after a few minutes of waiting, walked down the aisle and stood next to Princess Celestia. Rainbow followed suit and did the same.

_Rainbow and I turned to Princess Celestia, and she began. “Mares and gentlecolts, we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of Rainbow Dash and Shadow Flash. Before I continue further, does anypony have an objection?”

So help me God...gah! Motherfucker!

I groaned and rubbed the side of my head, trying to soothe the pain of a wrench thrown by Thunder. I then promptly caught a dagger thrown by Nesral and threw it back at him, purposely hitting him in the face with the hilt, and sending him into sweet unconsciousness.

Princess Celestia coughed. “Well...now that we have those 'objections' out of the way, I'll continue.”

Jesus Christ, that wrench hurts like a bitch.

“Their commitment is clear, and their love, undeniable. Would the two care to state their vows?”

I nodded to Rainbow, and she began to speak. “Shadow, I-”

“Princess...Celestia! The...city is under....attack!” A bloody guardpony said as he barged in, interrupting Rainbow, and the wedding entirely for that matter._

I turned to look at the bloodied guard for a split-second, before zipping out with Spitfire, Blaze and the rest of my squad. "Sawbones, Bandages, go back there and take care of that guard and any others that wind up there. Buckshot, you stay there as well and keep them safe. The rest of you, on me." I said, taking off my uniform superman style before shoving it into one of my vest pouches and drawing my knife. They nodded and turned around to head back. We got outside the castle, only to find the city was overrun by what appeared to be an army of skeletons.

"Mother of Celestia..." Blaze gasped.

“Clear these skeletons out! We need to make sure that none of them get inside!” Spitfire shouted. She snapped back into action and charged some of the skeletons. I went in for a strike, along with Spitfire and the others. while the skeletons were very numerous, they were also very weak, allowing us to chain up large combos.

“Alright, good job everypony, we've secured the castle courtyard. We need to move out and deal with the rest of these things. Hornet, your squad is with me. Blaze, you think you can handle yourself?” Spitfire said.

Blaze nodded. “Of course. I'll be a bit lonely, but not much thanks to my new companion.” She responded, gesturing towards her scimitar.

Spitire chuckled. “Right, how could I forget? I did introduce you two, after all.”

“That's right. After I felt so useless that time you saved me from that demon, I wanted to learn how to use a weapon. Thanks for teaching me.”

Spitfire waved a hoof. “Just looking after family. Now, we need to get a move on. Good luck, kid.” She said before flying off.

We continued to fight and after taking down about fifteen I stopped, seeing a giant blue explosion on the other side of the city. In the distance, I could see Ni and Soarin heading towards the explosion site. As we continued to fight, I could see some ponies trying to escape through the gate. One of them, a pegasus with a snow white coat, blonde mane and tail and a blue shield/gold heart cutie mark, was holding off some skeletons. He got knocked down by one of the skeletons, of which was now going to behead him. I threw my knife into an attacking skeleton and whipped out my crossbow, lined up the sights and fired. less than a second later, the bolt impacted and shattered its skull. Realizing that he wasn't being attacked anymore, the pegasus got up, looked over at me and waved, before fleeing with the rest of the ponies.

I smiled, grabbed my knife from the remains of the skeleton I just killed and kept on fighting. We cleared the area, when Bloodbank suddenly clutched his head, screaming in pain. He then stopped, and stood there blankly, wide eyed and expressionless. "Hey Bloodbank, you okay?"

Bloodbank simply punched me in the chin, sending me backwards. "Hmmph, weak willed fools" He said.

"Bloodbank, what the hay did you do that for?" Spitfire asked in confusion.

"The mind is quicker than the eye. Had you been using your mind rather than you eyes you would have figured it out." Another voice said.

Just then a pony came out of the shadows. He had a light brown coat, a similar tail, a goatee and no mane. He wore a necromancer's robe with the hood down, but from what I could tell he was no necromancer. In place of the mane, was some kind of device, most likely one of Sorrow Curse's contraptions. "Who the fuck are you?" i asked.

"You fight a pointless war against us, trying to protect your unjust and corrupt form of society. Only complete faith in me and my comrades can protect you. Only total compliance will save the lives of you and your family. Empty your mind, and submit to my will. I am Yuri. Obey me." Both he and Bloodbank said in unison. This 'Yuri' had a russian accent about him, and a stare as cold as ice giving him an eerie presence.

"So, Yuri is it? What is it exactly that you do?"

"The brain is a Pandora's box of electrical charges we can only begin to understand. Most brains are but receivers; however, some are advanced, sending and receiving charges as they choose. I am one of those chosen, and I use my 'gift' to manipulate the weak willed minds of others, like your friend over here."

"So, you can control minds huh? Then why didn't you take control of someone more powerful, like me or Spitfire?"

"Hey, don't give him ideas!" Spitfire said.

"You are smarter than you look. While I CAN control the minds of others, I can only control them if their will is weak enough to submit to my will. You and your friend here are too powerful for me to control, however I still have many that I can control. Take my servant Vaas, for instance." Suddenly Bloodbank collapsed, and another figure stepped out from the shadows. "I am not controlling him directly, however I do not need to. My 'experiments' on him have given his loyalty to me.

"Good to see you again hermano, I trust your marefriend is okay?"

"You see, I have a device installed in his brain. He has what's left of his partially insane mind, but he choses to fight for me, because if he does not, he will die."

I smiled before charging Vaas. "I wouldn't do that if I were you hermano." Suddenly I was blasted by some kind of wave, knocking me backwards.

"The mind is the greatest weapon that has ever been created. It can conquer the minds of the weak, it can adapt and survive, it can be used for so many things. In this case, my mind can be literally used as a weapon. Now submit to my will, and join our great cause of creating the perfect society, or choose to fight for your corrupt society, and die."

"How about this: you can do this the easy way and give up nicely, or you can choose the hard way and die painfully. Please say the hard way, it's been a while since I've had a good fight, and I'm not counting all your skeleton goons."

"Very well then. You wish for a fiight, then a fight you shall get. Yuri then proceeded to send out some kind of psychic wave. We clutched our heads in pain. "Come comrades, I am in need of your assistance. All obey yuri." Suddenly ponies wearing necromancer robes came from all directions, staggering like zombies towards us chanting "All obey Yuri".

"We- we need to find some kind of way to block his power!" spitfire shouted to me.

"Agreed, but how?" I said back to her.

"No idea, but I'm pretty sure we don't want to take too long, I don't want my brain to become a fried egg."

I managed to break out a smile, despite my head feeling like it was being pounded in with a hammer. "Well, we still need to deal with these uninvited guests, just try not to die okay?" She smiled before getting up and starting to fight. I got up as well, and lunged at the mindless slaves. Normally they would have been downed within a minute, but it's a little harder when you're brain feels like they're slowly getting crushed. After a long and painful fight, we collapsed to the ground, my head feeling like it was about to explode.

"You show very strong wills, and while I can't control your minds, I can still access them." Yuri said. "Cpt. Daniel Walters, USAF. A.K.A Hornet. Hmm, you used to be a human, that's unexpected. But no matter, Your friend Vaas here has given me a good idea of what you weak willed humans are capable of."

"Wait, you're human too?" Vaas said. Yuri then stopped his psychic attack.

"Apparently so. Look, just try not to die, I'll see if I can do something to help you later." I said.

"Hmm, it appears I have chosen my servant well. I now have an unfair advantage over you." Yuri said, smiling.

"And what might that be?"

"Reading your thoughts, I know you won't hurt him voluntarily being the good peacekeeping soldier you are, and I know you won't risk killing me in case you end up killing him too. So now, I bid you farewell, as I have much to do, but do not fret. I will leave you in the capable hands of your friend, and I'm sure you are both VERY eager for a rematch." Spitfire zipped in front of him, putting a dagger to Yuri's throat.

"Why leave? we were just getting started." She said, smiling.

"That was unwise, just because I focus on mental attacks, doesn't mean I'm helpless at close range." He said, swatting her away.

She fell to the ground, and wiped a bit of blood from her mouth. "Oh that does it, Hornet! You know what to do." I nodded and pulled out my crossbow, aiming at his head. Seeing this, Yuri sent Vaas to disrupt my shot. Vaas tackled me, but not before I had my hoof on the trigger. I fired, but instead of hitting his shiny dome, it hit the device on top. He put his hooves up to his head, catching the shattered bits and pieces.

"You fool! Do you realize what you've done!?" Yuri cried out.

"Umm, I've stopped your evil plans once and for all?" I asked jokingly.

"You've destroyed the device! The built up psychic energy has has now become extremely unstable,and with an advanced brain such as mine, it could cause a large scale blowout!"

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, stop. In english."

"Meaning that it will cause the entire city will go insane from the psychic energy stored in my brain!"

"Over here!" Vaas interrupted. I ran over to him. "I need you to do something for me, but I'm sure that you won't want to do it."

"What is it?" I asked. He whispered in my ear. "No, I won't do it! You know I won't do it Vaas, you know I won't kill you. I want no preventable casualties here, you included."

"Come on man, you barely even know me. Besides, there are some things that I did that I need to make up for, both as a human and here."

"Look, I know you've done some bad things. But I know you're still a good guy,and if there's one thing I know, it's that the good guys always win. That's the way it has been, that's the way it will be, and I don't see how this should be any different." I said.

He laughed. "But here's the question: how do you decide who the good guys are and who the bad guys are? From where you're standing, I may have seemed like a pretty bad guy, but then again I've done some good before I became what I am now. So tell me, how do you decide who is a bad guy and who is a good guy?"

"Very good, then you know not to become someone like me, a slave of someone else's evil will. One last question for you hermano," I raised an eyebrow. "did I ever tell you the definition of, insanity?" I smiled again and chuckled a little as I tightened my grip on the trigger, looked away and fired. I knelt down next to Vaas, and closed his eyes.

"Silent enim finis interitus est. Requiescat in pace." (Be silent, for death is not the end. Rest in peace.)" I turned my attention to Yuri, who was fiddling hopelessly at the remains of his device. "Now, where were we?" I said, before I started to attack him. I layed on punch after punch, reaching a combo of forty hits, before I grabbed and threw him across the courtyard. "That's for Bloodbank!" I shouted as I continued to pummel him. "That's for Spitfire! And THIS is for Vaas!" I gave him a powerful uppercut to the jaw, sending him up in the air.

He got to his feet, and wiped some blood from his face. "You do realize this is pointless right? In just a few moments, my mind will destroy itself, unleashing a wave of psychic energy. All in the blast radius will become permanently insane, and there is NOTHING you can do about it." Yuri said.

"I beg to differ." I retorted.

"Hmm?"

"If you had the power to do something like that, then you would have done it already. While you may seem self preservative, I can tell that you would sacrifice your life, because you are loyal to your goal, no matter what may happen to you."

He laughed. "You are right, I was bluffing. I was not lying about dying though, so you may want to stand back."

"What happened to the evil, methodical Yuri that was here about a minute ago?"

Yuri smiled. "Just because I am evil and methodical, does not mean I am without respect."

I simply nodded and stepped back. "I thank you, you are the first to defeat me in battle, and to earn my respect. Goodbye, comrade." He said calmly, moments before his head exploded. After standing next to his body for a few seconds, I turned around to go help Spitfire.

"I'm fine, go see how Bloodbank's doing." She said standing up. I ran up to Bloodbank and gave a quick look over.

"He should be fine, he'll wake up shortly. You should take him back to Bandages and Sawbones, I'm going to see how the others are doing." I said. She nodded and flew off with Bloodbank on her back. As I walked through the courtyards, I found that things had calmed down in most areas. I kept walking until I found a body slumped up to a tree. I went up and examined the body. Well you're definitely no necromancer, that's for sure I thought to myself. What are you, a servant or something? Just then, Crystal came running at me. "Crystal! What are you doing out here?"

She came up and hugged me. "Spitfire told me what had happened, and I thought I could help in some way."

"Actually, there is something you could help me with. Do you think you could resurrect this guy?" I asked.

"I guess I could, but it would only be temporary, I never really learned much when it came to resurrection." She started to recite a spell, before her horn began to glow. The body coughed up some blood and sprang back to life, to which I flinched backwards.

"what happened to you?" I asked.

"Hah, I was taken down by some mare called Blaze, good fighter she was."

I smiled. "By the looks of things you're no necromancer. Let me guess, merc?"

He smiled back. "Yup, name's Providence, nice to meet you."

"Likewise.Now tell me, what's someone like you working for someone like Sorrow Curse?"

"Now something like that should be self explanatory. Listen, I know about your little mission to the Griffin territory, and-"

"Wait, how do you know about that?" I asked.

"Three words: Yuri, psychic connection. He usually is assigned to relaying info to one another, just in case one of us gets taken down by somepony and that same one comes after the rest of us. Look, I won't bore you with the details, so lets just cut to the chase. Yes, I know about your little mission happening in the near future and as my goodwill being a merc, I might be able to help you. For a price of course." he said.

"(of course)...I'm listening."

"I run or well used to, run a group of mercs. They should be able to help you with your little adventure, provided they're given the correct motivation. Take this," he held up a set of dog-tags "show 'em the one on the left, they'll understand. You can keep the other one, I'm sure you'll find a better use than me."

"Thanks. Now even though you've been very helpful, you're supposed to be dead. So I think we'll leave you now, goodbye."

"Right, before you go I have one request. If you see that Blaze character, tell her I'll buy her a drink." He said before exhaling his last breath.

"Yeah, I'll do that." I said, smiling. "Come on, we've got to find everyone else, make sure they're okay." She nodded and followed. We were heading in the direction of what sounded like a large battle when Spitfire and the rest of the squad came around a corner and caught up to us. "Hey, just in time. You feeling better Bloodbank?"

He rubbed his head. "I've got a bit of a headache but otherwise I'm fine."

"Great, now let's get going." We continued to where we had heard a fight going on until we found Shadow, Rainbow Dash, Ni, Blaze, Thunder Gunner, Twilight, shining Armor, Princess Luna and some weird kinda ninja guy.

_Shadow looked over at Rainbow and smiled. “So...we getting married or what?”

Rainbow giggled, a few tears still rolling down her face. “You idiot...of course we are.” She said before putting her lips against Shadow's.

Everypony that had been defeated by Sorrow gathered around the couple. Ni was the first to speak. “I think we should get these two some medical treatment.”

“Say no more.” A voice behind the group said.

Everypony turned to see Hornet and his squad, along with Spitfire.

“Don't worry, we've got 'em.” Hornet said as Bloodbank and Bandages trotted passed him to look at Rainbow Dash and Shadow.

Spitfire looked around. “Where's Soarin at?”

“After giving him a second black eye for a reason I'd rather not think about at the moment, we agreed to split up. I was to come here, and he was to go back to the castle and make sure it was secure.” Ni replied.

Spitfire nodded. “Good.”

“Where were you though? You weren't here to help us fight Sorrow Curse! Everypony here was nearly killed, and Shadow lost a leg!”

“Speaking of that missing leg, Sawbones, I think you should get Shadow to surgery ASAP. I don't know how, but he's still alive after taking some pretty serious punishment.” Bandages called out.

“On it.” Sawbones said as he rushed over to Shadow.

Spitfire looked at Ni. “Hornet's squad and I had our own fair share of trouble. Besides, I had faith you could do it.”

“If you say so...”

“C'mon, we need to see everypony here to some medical treatment. Let's get out of here.”

Ni nodded. “No arguments here.”_

The next few days were harsh, especially for the people of Canterlot. Word spread around fast of the incident, and within 12 hours of the invasion having ceased, relief was pouring in from all over Equestria.It was amazing how the people of Canterlot were recovering from the disaster in terms of reconstruction, however I don't think the same could have been said about recovering from their losses. Rumors started to spread about our group, however the princesses were quick to hush it up, calling us "a quick thinking force of civillians and equestrian guard". They did have make sure there was no mention of Spitfire or the other well known Wonderbolts though, that would have caused some controversy. Things quieted down, and a few weeks afer the invasion a service was held to commemorate those who lost their lives in the attack. Many a tear was shed, and even though some of them may have been trained soldiers, nothing can prepare you for losing something you hold dear.

Three days after the service

_“...I now pronounce you mare and colt.” Princess Celestia concluded.

The crutch-supported and bandaged Shadow Flash leaned over to meet Rainbow in a passionate kiss before turning to the cheering crowd.

“IT'S TIME TO PARTY EVERYPONY!” The pink ball of energy yelled.

How lucky can one guy be,
I kissed her and she kissed me,
Like the fella once said,
Ain't that a kick in the head

“Never leave me again, Shadow.” Rainbow said.

Shadow laughed. “I don't plan on it.”

The room was completely black,
I hugger her and she hugged back,
Like the sailor said, quote "ain't that a hole in the boat",
My head keeps spinning,
I go to sleep and keep grinning,
If this is just the beginning, my life's gonna be beautiful

So Hornet, does this give you any ideas?” Spitfire asked.

“Yes, does it?” Crystal Tears added in, both mares eyeing him seductively.

“Uhh, look over there!” Hornet yelled, making the two mares turn their heads before dashing off._

After realizing what had just happened, Spitfire and Crystal race after me. I stopped outside on a balcony and the two mares caught up seconds after.

I've got sunshine enough to spread,
It's like the fella said,
Tell me quick ain't love like a kick in the head,
Like the fella once said,
Ain't love like a kick in the head

"You still haven't answered our question, Hornet." Spitfire said.

"To be honest, it doesn't give me any thoughts on the matter, at least not in terms of getting married." I said.

"Why not?"

"Well, just think about it. If I do end up getting married to one of you, the other would most likely end up neglected. Secondly, think of the media uproar. if something like that were to go public, the media would be swarming us like flies, which intern could jeopardize the secrecy of the Mones. Besides, we wouldn't want to upstage Rainbow and Shadow's wedding now would we?"

They both laughed. "Good point."

"And anyway, I think things are much better the way they are right now, wouldn't you agree?" we all smiled and headed back into the party.

"By the way Hornet, where's Buckshot and the rest of the squad?"

She's telling me we'll be wed,
She's picked out a kink size bed,
I couldn't fell any better or I'd be sick,
Tell me quick, oh ain't love a kick,
Tell me quick, ain't love a kick in the head!

"I think Buckshot went off to try and hit on Applejack, and the rest of them are chatting up some random mares. But never mind that, shall we dance?" They simply smiled and kissed me on either side of the cheek. "I'll take that as a yes then!" They laughed as we headed onto the dancefloor.

And so there you have it! The ending to the other side of the story, I hope you enjoyed it. First of all, major kudos for Shadow Brony for giving me the idea of a side story, I really appreciate it. Sorry if you think my chapters are smaller compared to his, it's just I'm not a good a writer as he is. Anyway, thank you for reading this story, and if any of you have questions please don't hesitate to ask. The song I replaced was 'Ain't that a kick in the head' by Dean Martin.

OC's:

Hornet, Medic Squad: Me

shadow Flash, etc: Shadow Brony

Ni:Dragon'z Wrath

Nesral-SupahBrony301

Pureheart-Llink148

Everybody else worth mentioning should be in Shadow Brony's list. Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoy any further installment by me or Shadow Brony.
Dasvidaniya Comrades!

Chapter 28 - Here's to the future

Act II - S.S.D.D

Oh god, where do I start. Well first things first, it's about fifty or so years after the attack on Canterlot, and a lot has changed since then. First the good news. Shadow's friend Barry married a now allicorn princess Twilight, which makes him a prince (at least I can call him a royal bastard now, he HATES it). Shadow got himself a prosthetic leg, which represents a step forward in what's called 'magi-technology'. Shining armor retired and was replaced by some guy called Pureheart, who Shadow apparently trained personally. Solemn became an official (unofficial) member of the Mones, and apparently Soarin and Blaze fell for each other. Not like I didn't really see that coming. Ni and Derpy got married though, and that was something I didn't see coming. I also met up with with Providence's old merc group, and they agreed to help us with our mission into Griffon territory. They weren't much help though, as within a few days of Shadow and co. arriving the rebels surrendered completely, making me feel like a complete waste of time and effort. My old time friend Buck Shot moved in with the Apple family a few weeks after the big ordeal, and he's been decently happy.

Now the bad news. First off, Applejack and rarity died, which rather upset Buck Shot. Thunder and Silver also died, to which they left the bar to Shadow. About twenty five years ago Soarin, Shadow, Spitz and Ni went underground, to draw attention away from the fact that they were immortal assassins, not just Wonderbolts. Rainbow got promoted to Captain of the Wonderbolts and happily retired ten years ago, so I guess things weren't all bad but still, I just can't get to terms with the fact that everything's changed so much.

I sighed. I was standing with Crystal next to her father's grave, out near the Apple family's ranch. "Sometimes I wonder if Immortality is really worth the price you pay." I said to myself, playing around with the dogtags Spitfire fashioned for me about 40 years ago.

"So do I boy, so do I." Buck Shot said as he walked up behind me. Buck Shot was one of the few who stayed with me over the years, watching as the world around us slowly changed; while we still remained the same. "Spitfire's been wonderin' where you've been lately, care to enlighten me?"

"No, not really." I replied "To be honest I've really just been wandering around the streets of a night, wondering what'll happen next in our 'unique' lives."

"Really? Well okay then, good to see you haven't lost sight on the big picture of things."

"So, how's things over at the ranch?" I asked.

"Not as well as hoped, Big Mac's never been the same since Applejack and Granny Smith died, and Applebloom's growing up; just not in the way the family had planned."

"What do you mean?"

"Ever since Applejack died, Applebloom became depressed. She barely talks to anyone at the ranch except when she needs something, and I swear sometimes I can hear crying from her room. The relatives that moved in here to take care of the ranch haven't really helped the situation, but I'm hoping that her mood will pass over time."

"Jeez, sounds bad. I never thought things would go like this, but now that they have, I just can't seem to get over it." I turned to Crystal. "At least things aren't all bad, aren't they?"

She nodded."Princess Luna has agreed to tutor me in advanced magic, which not many get the privelege of. Dad would've been proud, I know it."

Buck Shot nodded. "Well, nice to see that things aren't all bad. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go back and get some work done." I simply smiled as he turned and left.

"So Crystal, how have things been? I know I haven't talked to you too much, but I've been busy doing other things. I'm sure you understand." I said.

"Of course I do, just make sure that you have time for lil' old me every once in a while okay?" she replied with a smile.

"You know I will. Now if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere to be. Catch ya later." I took off towards Cloudsdale. After a nice and peaceful flight I arrived at the HQ and headed down into the Sanctuary, finding Solemn, Ni and Soarin lounging about. "That boring huh?" I said, turning their attention to me.

"Oh, hey. Yeah, it's that boring. Shadow was here earlier today, but that's about as lively as it got. So, what's up with you?" Soarin asked.

"Nothing really, just contemplating." I replied.

"Well, don't go wandering too far, Spitfire's been wondering where you've been going of a night. Care to tell?"

"Nowhere really, just walking the streets, thinking of what's gonna happen next."

"Really?" Soarin said questioningly. "Well I've been reading the papers lately and there seems to be a drop in crime around here. Care to tell me what that's about?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I said with a horrible poker face.

"Riight. I'm watching you, just so we're clear. I'll find out what you're doing, eventually."

"Uh huh, you do that. I'll let you know when that actually means something. Wait a minute, you actually read?" I said mockingly.

"Yeah, very funny. Go bother somepony else will you? I'm tired, and the last thing I need is you having a go at me." He replied. I gave a smirk as I turned to go upstairs to my room. He's going to find out eventually, but then again what is he going to do when he finds out? I walked upstairs to find Spitfire reading a book, one of the Forelock Holmes series I think it was. I walked up to her and she looked up, marked her book and put it down.

"Hey Hornet. I'm guessing Buck Shot found you?" She asked.

"Yep. And before you ask, yes I've been going out of a night. Nothing to be concerned about, trust me." I replied.

"Okay then, I believe you. If you say it's not important, then it's not."

"By the way, have you seen Blaze? I didn't see her with Soarin downstairs." I said, changing subject.

"Come to think of it, no I haven't. I'm sure she'll turn up, she always does. You look a bit beat, are you ok?"

"I'm fine, just need a nap I guess. In fact, I'll have one right now. Wake me If anything interesting happens." I joked. I went to my room before crashing on the bed, sighing in relief. Same Shit, Different Day.

Chapter 29 - Vigilante's Veil

I woke up early, very early in fact. I had planned this of course, but noone else knew about it. I got out of bed, and opened a rusty trunk at the foot of the bed. Inside was some clothing, A leather cap, a trench coat and a dark grey shemagh to cover up my face, all of which I donned before leaving my room. I snuck downstairs over to the main room, to find Spitfire reading and Soarin snoozing in a chair opposite. To avoid being seen, I dashed across the doorway. I did so a little too fast, nearly knocking over a vase full of flowers on a nearby table. This noise caught Spitfire's attention, but only temporarily as she went back to her book seconds later. With a sigh of relief I continued though the Wonderbolts HQ and outside, careful not to disturb anyone that might still be awake.

Once I was outside, I flew up, looking for something or anything out of place. The sky was a nice dark black, with only street lamps to light the way to anyone that would be up at this time of night. Eventually I found what I was looking for, what seemed to be a group of 5 young colts surrounding a lone mare. They started beating up the mare, before I started swooping down towards them, completely unaware of the fate that was in store for them.

"Please, leave me alone!" The mare cried out, tears in her eyes.

"Aw, don't be like that, all want is a few bits, then we'll leave you alone. You can do that, can't you?" One of the attackers said with a menacing tone.

"But I don't have any money with me! I just got back from working at the Cloudiseum, I'm just a cleaner for Celestia's sake!"

"Well then, that's too bad. We're just gonna have to-" He said before turning towards me, having landed right in front of the rest of his crew.

"Leave her alone, or you answer to me." I said in a gruff voice.

"Well well, what do we have here? A wannabe hero coming to save the damsel in distress? I don't think so, take him down!"

I simply turned my head to the side a little before lunging at the first one, flipping him over and planting my right forehoof into his stomach. I then dashed over to the seond one and simply punched him straight in the chin, sending him backwards. The third one managed to throw a punch, to which I easily avoided before kicking him into a nearby wall. The fourth one went for a broken bottle on the ground, but befoer he could get it off the ground I had already crushed it and was standing on his hoof, before headbutting him. The last one started to back up, realising he wasn't about to win the fight. he turned around at started to bolt, but forgot that he was in a dead end alley and ended up planting himself on a wall.

The mare looked up, hearing that the fight was over, only to find 5 unconscious thugs and a note left in front of her, reading Try to sick to the main road, also call the guards over to lock them up. Yours sincerely, Armour Piercing. She clutched the note tight smiling before running out of the alley and finding the nearest guard. Above in the clouds, I took of the shemagh and smiled, before putting it back on and flying off to look for more trouble. Unfortunately before I could find some, I was tackled out of the sky by a yellow blur. This should be good. We landed on another cloud before I found out who it was, Sptifire (of course, only she could be so devious).

"Oh crud." I simply said.

She pulled the shemagh off my face. "What the hay are you doing, putting your identity at risk like this?" She said angrily.

I smiled nervously. "Helping ponies?"

She sighed. "Look, I don't mind that you're helping ponies, but this isn't the way to do it. If somepony finds out who you are, it could jeopardize us all. If that happens, then our whole organization could fall apart, and I won't let that happen just because somepony thinks he can make a difference by beating up a few street punks."

"Says the pony who's not supposed to be out here in the first place, little miss non-existant."

She smiled back. "Touche. Look, you can keep doing this if you want, but if something goes wrong, I don't want you dragging the rest of us down with you, got it?"

"Thanks.You've become much more agreeable these days, I swear you're going soft on me."

"Oh really? We'll see about that. Come one, let's go back and I'll show you."

"I'd like to see that." I said smiling, before taking off with her. "You know Soarin's starting to suspect me of being involved with the recent crime drop."

"Really? I wonder who it could be?" She said sarcastically as we flew back to the HQ. We arrived with a few hours of the night left, and entered the main hall. "Well, I'll go back to reading, you should get some sleep. Good night, Mr. crime fighter."

"Good night, Ms. non existant." With that, I headed back upstairs. I entered my room and was about was to get back into bed when I was tackled onto it. It was Crystal, with a rather aggresive look on her face.

"You said that you'd have some time for little old me, so here I am." I simply smiled and climbed into bed.

Chapter 30 - The nicest colt in town

Damn, who knew Crystal could be so aggressive? I sluggishly dragged myself out of bed, finding no one in the room. Typical, they skip off in the early morning only to be found later somewhere else entirely. Ah well, I shouldn't worry about it. I made myself the usual before heading downstairs, to find Soarin still snoozing in his chair. I thought for a few seconds before coming up with an evil plan. I went back upstairs, grabbed a glass bowl and filled it with water. I then went back downstairs and quietely snuck up to him, before placing the bowl on the table next to him. Very carefully, I shifted his hoof over to the bowl and put it in. Just then, Blaze trotted in. I simply put my hoof to my lips and she nodded, before moving on. I stepped back before letting things settle in. About half a minute later, Soarin woke up, realizing something was wrong. He looked over to his hoof which was in the bowl, then looked down.

"What the hay man? Why would you do something like that?" He yelled.

"Sorry, but it was too irresistible. In all fairness you probably shouldn't have slept there all night." I replied smiling.

He sighed. "I guess you're right, but I'm getting you back for this, understand?"

"I'll be waiting then."

"Great. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get myself cleaned up." And with that, he bolted off for the nearest bathroom. After I had finished laughing my head off, I headed outside and found Spitfire.

"Hey."

"Hey Hornet, what's up?"

"I've been wondering...how long has it been since you've been on a date?"

She blushed before coming up with an answer. "I'd say it's been about fifty years, why? Wait, you're not thinking of..."

"Yes, yes I am. I even know the perfect place."

"Alright, where?" She asked, sounding enthusiastic.

"Baltimare, I heard they're shooting a movie there right now, so I thought why not go there and have a look?"

She thought for a minute. "Okay, you've got me. Let's go!" Once we arrived in Baltimare, the first thing we did was grab a bite to eat. After all, you can't go sightseeing on an empty stomach. After filling up, we went searching for the supposed movie being filmed. After about an hour of searching, we gave up. "It's no good, I can't find anything."

"Hold on, look over there." I said, pointing to a studio. Above the doorway, a sign was hanging saying: 'Manespray recording in progress, do not disturb.' "Bingo."

"Are you sure they're just going to let us in?" She asked.

I smiled. "Don't worry, I've got a good feeling about this." We walked up to the door with a guard in front of it. The guard walked in front of us.

"You there, I was wondering when you'd show up, you're scene's being recorded in 5. I see you've found somepony else to help out as well, good." He stepped out of the way and we headed inside.

"How did you-?"

"Manage it? I signed up for being an extra on one of the scenes, but I needed someone else as well."

"So you brought me along. You planned this whole thing, didn't you?"

"Of course. Now come on, we're needed." After heading into the stage area, A colt walked up to everyone and called out.

"All right, places everypony! we're recording in 5, 4, 3..."

"Wait, what do I do?" Spitfire asked worriedly.

"Just follow my lead, ok?" I said smiling.

"Hey there teenage Baltimare!
Don't change that channel!
'Cause it's time for the Colty
Collins Show! Brought to you by
Ultra Clutch Manespray!

Ev'ry afternoon
When the clock strikes four
(bop-bee-ba, ba-ba-ba-ba, bee-ba)

A crazy bunch of colts
Crash through that door yeah
(bop-bee-ba, ba-ba-ba-ba, bee-ba)

Well they throw off their coats
And leave the squares behind
And then they shake it, shake it, shake it
Like they're losing their mind
You'll never see them frown
'Cause they're the nicest colt in town

So every afternoon
You turn your T.V. on
(na, na, na, na, na, na-na-na-na)

And we know you turn the sound up
When your parents are gone, yeah
(na, na, na, na, na, na-na-na-na)

And then you twist and shout
For your favorite star
And when you've practiced every step
That's in your repertoire
You better come on down
And meet the nicest colts in town

Nice bright colts
Who like to lead the way
And once a month
We have our "Griffon day!"
And I'm the pony who keeps it spinnin' round
Mr. Colty Collins
With the latest, greatest Baltimare sound!!

So every afternoon
Drop everything woo!
(bop-bee-ba, ba-ba-ba-ba, bee-ba)

Who needs to read and write
When you can dance and sing?
(bop-bee-ba, ba-ba-ba-ba, bee-ba)

Forget about your algebra
And calculus
You can always do your homework
On the morning rush
Can't tell a verb from a noun
They're the nicest colts in town

Roll Call!!

I'm Amber!
Brad!
Tammy!
Fender!
Brenda!
Sketch!
Shelley!
I.Q!
Lou Ann! (Spitfire)
Joey! (Hornet)
Mikey, Vicki, Becky, Bix, Jessie, Darla, Paulie!
Noreen!
Doreen!
And I'm...LINK!

So, if every night you're shaking
As you lie in bed
(pony-pony, ooh, pony-pony)
Shake it baby!

And the bass and drums
Are pounding in your head
(pony-pony, ooh, pony-pony)
Who cares about sleep
When you can snooze in
School?

They'll never get to college
But they sure look cool
Don't need a cap and a gown
When you’re the nicest
colts in town

Nicest colts in...
colts in town!
Woo!"

"Not bad Spitz, didn't know you could dance so well."

"I didn't know you could either. Come on, lets get back before somepony realizes who I am." We quickly left the studio and took off back to Cloudsdale. When we got back, Soarin and Balze were nowhere to be found. Shrugging it off, I decided to go get some sleep. Heading upstairs I found Crystal, trying to get into my room.

"Something wrong?" I asked.

"The door's locked, I can't get in."

"That's why I always carry a key, here take a spare." I unlocked the door and opened it, to find Soarin and Blaze making out on my bed! "Motherfucker... WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?!"

"Oh, hey there. Just call it revenge, now if you'll excuse me..." He said before shutting the door in my face.

I'm so going to get that motherfucker back. Crystal and I headed back downstairs and over to Sptifire's room and opened the door. "Ah, I can tell by the look on your face what the problem is. Come on in you two, you can share my bed. I won't mind, I'm pretty sure you two won't mind either."

"You're not wrong there, now if you'll excuse me..." I said before collapsing on the bed and falling asleep.

What do you think so far? Is it too boring or are being patient for some action? Either way it's only going to get better!
The movie was an adaptation of Harispray, and the song was "The Nicest Kids in Town".

Chapter 31 - Another day at the office, almost

Now, I thought to myself about 40 odd years ago that if Shadow, Fitzgerald and I managed to get here, why couldn't others? To that end, I started searching. 40 odd years later, there is now a decently large group of former humans now living in Equestrian society, all centrally located in the now renovated fortress in the San Palomino desert. All of them came from many corners of the globe and Equestria, ranging from Sydney Australia to the Russian/Chechnya border and from Canterlot to Stalliongrad to Seaddle. This group, officially known as H.I.V.E ( Headquarters for Inter-species Violation Enforcers, or Humans In disguise being Vigilant for Equestria as we like to call it) is tasked with handling all inter-species (ie pony/griffon etc) dilemmas, both big and small. Nearly all of the people here were bronies, in all shapes and forms, from cooks, office workers, army navy and air force, and one or two even from parliament and congress! Each one had their own special story to tell, and I've heard every single one of them. I flew over to the front gate and nodded at the pony guarding it. He gave me a smile and let me through, before picking up an apple and snacking on it. Inside ponies, griffons and changelings were all busy doing what each of them did best, doing paperwork, cleaning, cooking, you name it. I walked up to one of the ponies sitting at a desk and gave a wave. "Hey Flash Drive, what's been happening this week?" I asked with a smile.

"Oh, hey Hornet. Not too much, we've gotten two cases of assault, one of domestic dispute and not much else. Biggest thing this week was a request from the Griffons to increase trade to the Crystal Empire. That's about it." He replied.

"Thanks, keep me posted." I said before walking away. I headed upstairs to the offices and knocked on one of the doors.

"Come in." A voice from behind the door said. I opened and walked in, before putting a smile on my face. "Well, Hornet! Nice to see you again. How's things? Care for a drink?." Buck Shot asked, pouring a glass of Whiskey for me.

"Sure, thanks." I replied, downing the drink in one swig. "Just came by to check on things, the usual."

"I see, I see. Well, not much is happening, so just make sure to keep yourself outta trouble okay?" he smiled as I started to walk out. "Armour Piercing, why didn't I think of that name?" He mumbled to himself as he looked at the newspaper on his desk. I was about to leave the fort when Princess Luna teleported in front of me.

"Ah, Captain hornet, We wish to speak to you." She said.

"How the heck did you find me?" I asked.

"We are the Princess that controls the moon, finding a pony like thou was easy."

"Hah, right, forgot about that. What did you want to talk about?"

"We have a situation that requires the attention of all squads of the Fugien Mones. The briefing will be in three days when the Archer Squad arrives. Shadow is rather excited about meeting them." She said with a bit of a giggle.

"Obviously. Well if that's all, I'll say farewell your highness."

"Indeed. Goodbye Hornet. We shall meet again soon." And with that, she teleported away. I was about to take off when a dark brown unicorn with a beard by the name of Half Life (with the logo of Half Life as a cutie mark) appeared in front of me. (with a crowbar in hoof).

"Sorry to take up your time, but we've just gotten a report of a changeling that appeared in Dodge Junction, going by the name of John Smith. he's being held by the local sheriff until we get there. Care to come along?"

"Sure, why not, ain't got anything better to do for a day or two." With that, he teleported us to Dodge Junction. The changeling in question had been crying out his innocence of being a changeling spy for nearly the entire time after being taken into custody. We arrived with him still pleading his innocence with a yell that could be heard from the other side of the street. We walked in and the sheriff greeted us with a warm handshake/hoofshake.

"Thank Celestia you're here, he's been like that ever since we put him in here. You're with H.I.V.E right?" He asked.

Half Life flashed a badge. "That's right, we'll take him off your hooves. Your can sleep tonight." We followed the sheriff to where he was being held, and the sheriff unlocked the door for us.

"You're here to release me, right?" the changeling asked.

"Not quite, you're coming with us." I replied. "Don't worry, we're not going to hurt you, I just want you to come with us."

"O-Okay." He said nervously before walking out of the cell and following us. As we walked out, I shifted over to John.

"So, John Smith huh? couldn't think of something more original?"

"What do you mean?"

"Cut the act Mr Homo Sapien, just tell us your real name."

"You, you know that I was human?"

"Uh, yeah, we both do. That's why we were sent here, to get you before anyone else did."

"Wait, what are you going to do to me?" He asked, stepping away from us.

I smiled. "We're going to feast on your entrails and devour your flesh." I said sarcastically. "Not really, we're going to take you to some more of us, give you a place to stay, a place to work, etc."

"R-really?"

"Really. Just remember this: You must NEVER tell anyone that you were a human. Humans don't technically exist here, and we wanna keep it that way, got it?"

"Okay, I got it."

"So, details. Who were you and what did you do?"

"Well, my name is-"

"Was." I corrected.

"Right. My name WAS Adam Jensen, and I was a security chief at a cybernetic company. I died when terrorists broke in and stole some DoD tech and to be honest, I never asked for this."

"Right, well, hold tight." I said as we were teleported to the fort. "Right, your new name is going to be Duty Shift, and you'll be working on the security detail for us here at H.I.V.E. Hopefully it works out better than your last job. Half Life, can you take care of the rest? I have other places to be."

"Gotcha, right this way Mr Shift." he said as the two went inside. I took off and flew back towards Cloudsdale, grabbed a warm drink and sat down on a bench overlooking the countryside below.

"Just another day at the office, as always." I said to myself before taking a sip of my drink. Just then, Crystal popped out in front of me, making me jump a little. "Oh, hey Crystal."

"Hey. Umm, I wanted to ask you something." She said nervously.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Well, would you mind if I went out with somepony else? It's not that I don't like you anymore, it's just that somepony has said that they are interested in me."

"That would depend on who it is."

"...Princess Luna."

I spat out some of my drink that I was about to swallow. "S-seriously?" She nodded. "Well, I can't say no to the princess can I? Tell me, why is she interested in you?"

"Well, she says I'm rather talented with magic, and my knowledge of necromancy somehow intrigues her. She also said I was kind of cute." she said blushing a little.

"Well, it's fine by me, I hope it works out. Before you go, one thing from you."

"what is it?"

"This." I said before giving her a kiss "There you go."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that. now go on now, before I change my mind." She smiled before heading off.

Just another day at the office, almost.

Chapter 1 - A Hornet's Shadow

Act I: The Only Easy Day Was Yesteryday

I woke up, half asleep, with half a mind not to do anything today. but unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen. I had to go report to Spitfire, Captain of the wonderbolts, and my superior. I headed off to the Wonderbolts HQ, wondering what would happen if I was late. Last person who was late to one the Fugiens Mones’ meetings was forced to do two hundred pushups, with a BOULDER on top of them. Don’t know bout you, but that would probably hurt. A lot. Anyway, I get there and take the secret entrance to the hideout. Looks like I was just in time.

Spitfire called me over”Hey, over here! we’re starting in five minutes!”

“Okay”

No less than a minute after the meeting, spitfire called me over to talk to her privately.

“You wanted to talk to me Spitz?” I asked her unnervingly.

She replied with a stern look. “One, yes, two, I told to stop calling me spitz!”

“Sorry, sir.”

“That’s better. Now, I have a situation I would like you to handle. You’re in the Recon Squad, so this should be relatively easy. We’ve received word from Night Wing that another one of your kind has arrived in Equestria.”

“where?” I replied inquisitively.

“Ponyville, to be precise, he crashed into the library from a height of about sixty thousand feet.”

“ouch.”

“I want you to keep an eye on him for a while, see if he can be worthy of joining us. If he is, I want you to report this to Night Wing, If he isn’t, then leave him be and go about your normal duties. Any questions?”

“Yea, should I try to find out anything about him?”

“Hmm, I’ll leave that to your discretion, just do your job, and get it right. I don’t want a repeat incident of what happened last time this happened.”

“ but that was an accident, I didn’t know that changeling was listening! Besides, I took care of it.”

Which nearly cost you your life, AND our secret.”

“I understand,” I replied grimly “I’ll try and be discreet.”

“very good, dismissed.”

Jeez, that went well, that’ll teach me to be anything but professional, especially with her. That reminds me, my official initiation begins in about a week or two. I wonder what that potion tastes like? Ah never mind. I’ve gotta focus.

I flew off in the direction of Ponyville, and it didn’t take me long to get there. when I arrived the town was about as cheery as it should be (which in my opinion is a little too cheery; it almost borders on creepy). since I was known in the town it didn’t take me long to find out about the new pony (guy) in town. His name was Shadow Flash, although that isn’t his real one. he shouldn’t be too hard to spot, considering he has no cutie mark. Luckily for me I found mine, training with the Equestrian Guard. After about ten minutes of searching I found him, working in a bar called The Silver Thunder. I sat down, ordered a drink and noticed that something bad was about to happen. About thirty seconds later, it happened. A local roughneck decided to be a tough guy and slapped a mare across the face. I was just about to get up and beat the guy when suddenly one of the ponies there, a unicorn, stood up and said:

_"Yeah, that's not happening, know why? Because-" and just like that, he gave the huge buck a sucker punch! -Chapter 4 -_

After a minute I heard a slight conversation between the two.

_"So, what's you're name?" I asked
"Mint Barry." He said, after thinking for a moment.
"HAHAHAHAHA! That's fucking hilarious!" I yelled while rolling on the ground
"Oh shut up, I bet your name isn't any better." he said
"It's a hell of a lot cooler than your's bro, it's Shadow Flash."
"Wow, you have a jet black mane, and you're a pegasus, who would have thought. I only knew one other person with the last name Flash, and he was probably just as stupid as you."
"Wait, did you just say person?" I said, the gears in my head started shaking off the cobwebs and turning.
"Uh, you must be mistaken, I said pony." he stammered
"No, you said person, and how is it you spell your last name?"
"B-A-R-R-Y. Why?"
Ho-ly shit.
"Wait, Barry? Barry Johnson?"
His eyes widened. "How do you know that name, who are you?"
"Dude it's me! Landon!"
"Landon?" he paused for a moment, then hit me as hard as he could. "You dumb son of a bitch! You fucking just HAD to not listen to me! And look where it fucking got you! You died you dumb ass!"_

Suddenly I realised things were becoming more serious by the minute. not only was there one, but now there was a confirmed second one! And what was it they said about them dying?

“This just made things a lot more complicated, and delicate.” I mumbled to myself. If I’m going to get things to go smoothly, I need to act soon, and whatever I do, I mustn’t mention who I work for, at least not yet. I decided not to talk to him and tell him my true identity, although I will eventually. I was planning on heading home to my hideout The Hornet’s Nest, but that was about half an hour away, and I needed to keep an eye on the two. So I decided to head over to the local hotel and rent a room, and since I was a member of the wonderbolts, paying wasn’t going to be a problem. I walk into the hotel, which was more busy than I would have expected, and no one really seemed to notice me. I let out a slight sigh of relief. No one went after for my signature, because even though I was a Wonderbolt, I’m only a reserve and handyman; unlike the bigtime Spitfire and Soarin. I walked up to the receptionist and said:

“Excuse me, do you have a room available?”

She replied “Let me check...yes, we have a room available. How long are you planning to stay?”

“A while, how about I just keep renting the room until I don’t need it anymore?”

“You could, but that would be a bit expensive.”

“I can manage the price.”

“Okay, your room is no. 47, on the third floor, here is the key.”

“Thank you. have a nice night.”

As I walked up to and into my room, I kept thinking about the two I saw earlier. Are they really like me? And why are there two of them? I tried to shake the thoughts out of my head as I went to sleep.

As this is my first fic, please excuse me if the first few chapters aren't that great. It gets better and better in quality as the story progresses, so if you have a bit of patience the story will most likely become much better.
PS: I will not be editing these chapters, as they are to remind me of what NOT to write like.

Chapter 14 - Does insurance cover espionage?

This chapter changes perspectives from my OC Hornet, to an anonymous member of the Canterlot Intelligence Agency. (Because if I told you his name, I'd have to kill you ;D) His codename is Canter, and the rest of him is on a need to know basis. it's time for one of those 'Meanwhile in (wherever)' moments.

As the morning sun rose higher and higher, I trotted into the Canterlot Insurance Agency, one of the best insurance companies in all of Equestria. The building was just your average office block, made cheery with the addition of flowers on the windowsills. On the outside, it's just a normal office building. Nothing special about it whatsoever. But of course, that's what it was designed to look like. On the inside, down below the building itself is the headquarters of the Canterlot Intelligence Agency, Equestria's best of spies, black ops and intelligence officers. I'm a mix of a spy and an intelligence officer, although the details are all strictly confidential. I trotted through a secret door and into the main hallway of the the Headquarters. The hallways are bland colors of white and grey, with only the odd notice board sticking out. To my left and right fellow agents were already at their desks, working and sorting through files and files of possible intel. Normally I would have gone to my desk and done the same as the others, but not today. Today I get my first field assignment from the chief, J. Edgar Hoofer. Hoofer was a strong built, grey colored earth pony, with the symbol of the Intelligence Agency as his cutie mark. He was the longest standing operative in the agency, and everypony admired and respected him. As I walked into his office, he was filing some papers into a folder.

He looked up at me and smiled. "Oh, hey! come in, come in. You're Canter right?"

"That's me." I said. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, the time has come for your first field assignment. I'm sure you're very excited about this, but trust me, this will be no walk in the park. Sit down, and I'll give you a quick debrief. Over the years, we've gathered reports of ponies that have appeared out of nowhere, sometimes literally. What makes it even more weird is that most of these ponies have no cutie marks. At first we suspected that they were changelings, so we sent a special ops team deep into changeling territory to find information. They found some notes on the subject, but they were pretty much what we had as well. Some other evidence on the matter seems to prove that these individuals aren't associated with the changelings. A month or so ago, we caught a vague description of one of these anomalies killing a changeling. We went over the body and found out it was a changeling spy, apparently one of their best. We don't have too much information, but we have managed to put together a detailed enough description to get a match. the match is a pegasus called Hornet. He was associated with the Equestrian Guards, and is currently a member of the Wonderbolts. His full history is unknown, making the link between him and the mysterious ponies even stronger. We don't know what they're here for, and we don't know where they came from, but that's your job to try and find out. Your mission is to find this pony, find out what he knows, and why he's here. We've already provided a cover for you. You're going to be Clark Colt, a reporter for Equestria Daily. You'll be heading to the Wonderbolts HQ in Cloudsdale for an interview we've arranged. You'll interview each of the Wonderbolts until you get to Hornet, then you can interrogate him by whatever means necessary. if you get any answers from him that confirm our suspicions, we'll send in an extraction team to get you and 'him' out. Also, I don't want any of the other Wonderbolts finding out what's happened, so be sure to be quiet when you decide to interrogate. If anyone hears about what happened, it'll be all over the press, and you'll most likely be out of a job. Here's the file on Hornet, you can look it over when you get to Cloudsdale.This is your first assignment, so be careful. I can't overstate how delicate this assignment is. This pony has managed to kill the changelings best spy, I don't want to find out what he can do to you. Good luck, and serve Equestria well."

I stood up confidently "Don't worry sir, I will." As I trotted out of his office with folder in hoof, I kept wondering possibilities of who this mysterious pony might be. but suddenly my thoughts were interrupted as a voice called out to me.

"Hey, Canter! Over here!" I turned and saw my friend from the R and D department, Quick Fix, waving at me. I trotted over to him as he pulled out a watch. "I'm supposed to give you this for your assignment."

I smiled. "Gee, thanks. I didn't get you anything, sorry."

"That's okay. I'll give you a run through of what you'll get for the assignment. For starters, this watch. When you turn the dial anti-clockwise, you'll be able to pull the adjuster out. Doing so will activate a magical pulse signal, which will be linked to the extraction team. They get the signal, they get you out. Be sure to use it only if you need to. You'll also be getting a disguised interrogation kit, which has been made to look like a briefcase. inside you have some pencils, marked Soft Tip and Trusty Tracer. The Soft Tip contains sedative, which I'm sure you know what it does. The Tracer pencil contains potent truth serum, which you can use during the interrogation. To inject either, just stab them into the 'victim'. There is also two notepads, one small one and a larger one. the smaller one is real, the other is hollow and has a combat knife in it, just in case you get into a fight. I'd have also given you some cyanide pills, but that's just too cliche' for you isn't it?"

I chuckled "Thanks for the stuff, but I've gotta get going. You know, save the world, find a hot mare along the way..."

"Ha, yeah, you do that. Just come back in one piece, so I can hear about how you got rejected by every mare you found." Quick Fix joked.

As I flew out towards Cloudsdale, the weather was brightening up into a beautiful cloudless day. Good to see somepony was doing their job today. The flight to Cloudsdale was rather boring, but the great scenery and good weather more than made up for it. As I flew into Cloudsdale, I decided to pick up a cup of coffee before I went to my hotel room. After getting my cup of coffee to go, I trotted up to my hotel and was greeted by a warm and cheery cream colored unicorn. "Hello sir, and welcome to the Cloudsale Condo. Do you have a reservation?" She asked with a sweet voice.

"Yes, I have a reservation. It should be under Clark Colt."

She opened up the reservation book and scanned through the list. "Colt...Colt...Ah! Clark Colt, your room is number 32. Here is your key and have a nice day."

"Thank you, and same to you." I said as I moved over to the stairway. I walked into my room, sat down my briefcase and made a quick inspection of the room. I then went over to my briefcase, pulled out the folder mentioned earlier and sat down with my coffee in one hand and the folder in the other. After taking a sip of my coffee, I put the cup down and opened the folder.

Subject name: Hornet
Gender: Male
Age:Unknown
Date of Birth: Unknown
Hometown/Birthplace: Unknown, possibly Las Pegas
Blood type: Unknown
Affiliation: Wonderbolts, unknown force
Previous affiliations: Equestrian Guard
Appearance: Middle aged, red eyes, brown coat, red and black mane and tail. For more detail see photo (Disclosed with file)

Full history (collected data): First seen in Las Pegas, described by witnesses as 'a rebellious looking colt' .Signed up for Equestrian Guard one week later. Became associated with Wonderbolts weeks (month) later, after being picked out for distinguished flying trainng maneuvereres while training in the guard. Currently working for the Wonderbolts as reserve member and maintenance staff. Subject's personality is described as Courageous, witty and Tactical. Advise extreme caution for engagement. I flipped through his file multiple times, memorizing each detail in clarity. There were also files on the other Wonderbolts, but I wasn't concerned with them. My target was Hornet, and nopony was going to stop me from getting to him. After taking inventory of my equipment in the briefcase, I felt rather tired. I trotted up to my bed, got in, and dreamed about what being a spy would be like.