Skyfire

After dropping Scootaloo off at her home with a quick goodbye, I flew back towards the Wonderbolts Stadium. I touched down just outside the entrance. I looked in through the doorway and saw nothing. Nopony was moving around inside. Heck,  I couldn't even see anypony! Ignoring the ominous warning running through my head, I continued inward. 'If this was Ponyville, this would have Pinkie Pie's name written all over it.' I thought solemnly.

I stopped briefly at the front desk and listened down each hallway, angling my ears to focus my hearing. I would have looked down the hallways as well if it weren't for the fact that they were dark. I closed my eyes and focused on what I was hearing. I couldn't hear anything, all was silent. I stood there listening to the silence for a few seconds before a loud crash from above my head made me suddenly alert.

I slowly made my way towards the stairwell that I knew was down one of the five hallways. My hoof bumped up against what felt like a wooden plank. 'A piece of siding from the wall must have fallen off and broken.' I thought as I picked up the plank in my jaws. I tested the swing of my board while continuing towards the stairwell. It was a nice, solid swing. It felt heavy enough to knock a fully grown stallion out cold but not so heavy that it's uncontrollable.

I walked slowly towards the stairwell, a little nervous about what I was about to come face to face with. At least I could see something because of the lights that kept lighting as I passed before darkening again as the next one flickered on. It was actually a little unnerving. The stairs were made of heavy clouds and reinforced with enchanted metal rods. My hooves made no sound while making contact with clouds, it’s a trait most pegasi are born with and moving silently is a skill that can be useful in certain situations.

Of course, the upstairs hallway was just as dark as the lower halls were. The light that seemed to follow me had split in two and followed up the railings on either side of the stairwell before reforming above my head. The closer I got to where I heard the crash, the more noises I could hear. When I reached the center of the hallway, I could hear muffled grunts and low voices from the other side of a door.

I walked over and put my eye to the keyhole and swiveled one of my ears so I was listening through the wood. What I saw and heard shocked and angered me. A big, black pegasus stallion with a dark red mane stood over Spitfire, who was tied to a wooden chair with a gag in her mouth.

“So, the high and mighty Captain of the Wonderbolts. What a pleasure to meet you.” He spoke sarcastically, taking the gag off of Spitfire and leaning in closer to whisper something I couldn’t catch into her ear. Although, judging by the look on Spitfire’s face, it couldn’t have been a compliment.

“The same to you, Blood Tail.” She replied with mock pleasure before giving him so fierce a glare that if looks could kill, he’d be dead a thousand times over.

“Ooh, that hurt. That really hurts me. Not! Ha-ha-ha! Nice try, vampony!” He said, slapping her across the face. Hard. So hard I could see her eyes watering.

“I am not a vampony you bastard! If I was a vampony, would you be alive right now?” I could almost see the flames of her anger being fanned whenever he spoke.

“What’s this? A vampony in denial of the truth? Bad vampony!” He spoke harshly, striking his hoof across her face a second time. I almost bucked the door open before my rational thinking caught up to me. ‘Whoa. Calm down. Spitfire’s best chance of survival relies on me being silent.’ I thought as I sat down once again. The conversation continued.

“Hit me one, more, time and so help me Celestia I’ll...” Spitfire began in a threatening tone.

“You’ll what? Make empty threats? Not even Celestia can help you now, vampony! You’re all alone! No one will help you! And even if they would, they can’t!”

“...I’ll scream.” Spitfire finished.

“What was that, vampony? I can’t hear you! Speak louder!” He countered, hitting her across the face again and leaning in closer so he could hear better. ‘You won’t hear at all soon.’ I thought to myself as I saw Spitfire drawing in a deep breath.

“I said, I’ll SCREAM!” She did. She let out all of her compressed fury with only a single breath. I’ll admit, I was jealous.

“AAAH! Celestia damn you, vampony!” He yelled in Spitfire’s face. “No more playing around! Now, you’ll tell us everything we want to know or we’ll force it from you.”

“Who’s ‘we’?” Spitfire quipped.

“Me, Myself, and I. Now, since I answered your question, you’ll answer mine. Just common courtesy, you know.” He said sarcastically with a wicked smirk on his face.

“Hang on a second, I have another question.” Spitfire said with a smirk that rivaled Blood Tail’s.

“Boy, you sure are nosy for a pony who’s about to be interrogated and tortured in the most despicable and maniacal ways thinkable by all of Ponykind. I guess you can have another question but that’s it.” He replied, his smirk becoming slightly less genuine.

“Why me?” Spitfire asked.

“Really? You can ask any question in the world, and you chose ‘Why me’?” His answer is skeptical. “But, I’ll answer anyway. The reason ‘why you’ is because you’re just a weak vampony who can’t do anything useful. That’s why.”

“Really? I always pictured myself as a strong vampony who killed ponies who do this sort of thing to other ponies. Weird.” Spitfire replied, her maniacal smile growing even larger every second.

“You know, I’ve had just about enough of your tongue full of trickery.” He said acidly. “So what do you say we cut that troublesome tongue out, hmm? No smart retort this time? Good. I don’t want to hear a word come out of your mouth unless I ask you a question. Clear?”

“Crystal, bitch.” She said in an equally acidic tone as her bindings suddenly snapped and she jumped forward, taking both myself and Blood Tail by surprise. The knot of fur, mane, tail, and hoof was impenetrable. I heard hoofsteps coming from the direction of the stairwell and did my best to melt into the darkness behind me. Luckily, the light had refocused it’s attention to the four or five pegasi charging up the stairwell.

I grabbed my board again and looked at how many pegasi were near the door. ‘Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, ... twenty three?! Dear Celestia, that’s a lot of guards!’ I thought as I threw my board over their heads and down the stairwell. It worked. All but three guards went to investigate, and I’m sure it was only because the three at the door hadn’t noticed.

I stalked up behind all three of them and smashed their heads together as hard as I could. It may have been a bit too hard because the pony in the center had his brains liquefied. The other two, sadly, were only unconscious. I went back to eavesdropping on the happenings on the other side of the door. I was disappointed after seeing what had happened in the fight. Spitfire was back in the chair only this time she had chains around her holding her back.

“Gonna try that again, vampony?” Blood Tail taunted. But of course, Spitfire couldn’t make a comeback because of the gag in her mouth. “Didn’t think so. Now, to get on with your interrogation.”

He reached down onto a silver tray covered in an assortment of interrogation equipment. I couldn’t just break through the door and save Spitfire yet, could I? I just needed to figure out what Blood Tail’s favored interrogation technique was. I kept watching. I winced as he hit her so hard that her head whipped off to the side.

“Not going to try anymore funny business, right you worthless vampony?” He kept walking round her while continuing to annoy her.

•              •               •

After watching the interrogations for another hour and a half, I finally figured out Blood Tail’s favored interrogation technique; taunting. He had finally removed the gag from Spitfire’s mouth and let her speak. Much to my chagrin, though, she listened this time and only spoke after being asked a question. I don’t think Blood Tail liked it either. I looked at the unconscious bodies below me and saw a pair of bolt cutters on one of their backs.

I wasted no time in scavenging all the weapons and items that could be used as weapons from their bodies. I then went back to watching the interrogations. Blood Tail was obviously getting frustrated that he wasn’t getting a straight answer for whatever question he had asked but besides that the interrogations hadn’t gotten anywhere.

Then I saw my chance. Blood Tail had his eyes closed and was facing towards the large window on the opposite side of the room. I slowly and quietly opened the door, motioning to Spitfire with my hoof to keep quiet. I had brought the bolt cutters and two long knives with me. I slid through the room and over to Spitfire’s side.

“I’ll get you out of here. Just don’t blow my cover.” I whispered half-jokingly, before becoming serious once again. She nodded to show she understood. I looked around the back of the chair and watched as Blood Tail made his way towards his usual spot in front of Spitfire.

As he walked around, I walked in the opposite direction at the same pace. He started talking again but I didn’t here what he said; I was too caught up in the task at hoof. I pulled the bolt cutters off of my back, holding one handle down with my hoof while using my mouth to move the other handle. I winced as the bolt cutters came together with a sharp clang, cutting through the chains like a hot knife through butter.

“Spitfire, catch!” I called as I stood up and tossed a knife to Spitfire. She caught it in her teeth and mumbled thanks before pointing the knife straight at Blood Tail. Spitfire motioned with her hoof to Blood Tail, implying that if he took one more step he was going to become a bunch of little pony pieces. He quickly stepped back and threw his hooves over the back of his head. “C’mon, Spitfire! Let’s go!” I mumbled around the knife in my mouth.

We ran as fast as we could through the halls of the Wonderbolts’ Stadium interior. We desperately zigzagged through dead ends and turnabouts, like a giant maze that spelled death for us if we got caught.

After a couple minutes of stumbling about in the dark I decided to take flight to get a better view. Or, I would have if I could. I was so eager to escape whatever pursuit there might possibly be that I forgot about the ceiling. I flew up into the ceiling, bending my wing out of shape so much it hurt to move it.

“Here! Get on my back!” Spitfire said to me, extending her hoof to help me up onto her back. I did what she said and we took off. I was actually starting to convince myself that we were going to escape before I heard a whooshing noise as something metal flashed past my head. ‘Oh dear Celestia, don’t tell me they have guns!’ I thought as more metallic objects clattered to the ground around me.

“Spitfire! Watch out! I think they’re shooting at us!” I warned Spitfire.

“I don’t think those are bullets they’re firing!” She said back to me over her shoulder. Closer inspection upon the metal things showed that Spitfire was right. They weren’t bullets. They were darts.

“I think these are actually more dangerous than bullets! We don’t know what might be on these dart things!” I warned her once again. We were almost at the exit. I could see light through a small window up ahead. I flexed my injured wing again. It was fine. It didn’t even hurt a little bit, but that may have been the adrenaline. I noticed that the window is only big enough for one of us to fit through. “Spitfire, we may have a problem!”

“What? What’s wrong now?” She asked worriedly. I pointed ahead with one hoof. “Oh, boy. I don’t know if we’ll even be able to fit through that window.” She continued, stopping as a dart buried itself halfway into her skin right between her shoulder blades. I could see her movements faltering. I slowed down to help her before feeling a slight prick behind my shoulder blades. The last thing I saw before I was swallowed by the darkness was Spitfire smiling and saying, “At least we tried.”