Equestria Earth: Night Air's Troubles
Chapter 1: My Wing!
"Report Private."
"Sir, a fire has been reported and all your team has been called."
"Alright. Where's the fire?"
"Donut Joe's, Sir."
"WHAT!?! You should have said that first!" Night Air was screaming. Donut Joe's was his favorite place to get food. "Go find my platoon, they should be in the mess hall. Tell them Donut Joe's is on fire. They'll know what to do."
And with that, Night Air made a dash to the nearest window, spread his wings, and took to the sunlit sky. He flew from Canterlot Castle toward Donut Joe's. After a about a minute of flying, he looked over his shoulder to see the rest of his emergency response team flying from the castle. A platoon of Royal Pegasi Guards flying in formation towards him. The Royal Emergency Response Team.His team.
Night Air sped up as he saw his platoon already knew their orders. Squad one was to get rain clouds and bring them to the fire, squad two was to evacuate the area of civilians, squad three was to be a backup team until somepony needed to be evacuated.
Night Air reached Donut Joe's and was shocked at what he saw. Practically the entire building was on fire. He called in to see if anypony was inside."Is Anypony in there!?" The fire had been raging for a while now, and his platoon of pegasi weren't going to be there for a few more minutes. He called out again. "Hello? Is anypony in there!?"
"I think Donut Joe was in there. I saw him go in a few minutes before I smelled smoke." A yellow pony with orange hair said. She was leaning out of a second floor window of an aparment building across the street and two building down. Night Air flew up to her.
"You sure?"
"I'm pretty sure. Yeah."
"Horseapples... if you ever have foals, never tell them what I'm about to do."
"Wha-"
Night Air flew back to the bakery. He was surprised how far ahead of his team he had been. He was starting to have second thoughts as he stared at the door of the pastry shop. He muttered something to himself as he ran to the door, pivoted on his front hooves, and bucked the door in.
The sudden opening of new air sucked him into the shop. It was a mess. The walls and celing were on fire, parts of the ceiling had collapsed. He could see second floor rooms through the smoke, but there was no way he was going to fly half blind through a burning building. He called out again.
"Donut Joe! You in here!?" He only heard a very weak response.
"He...help..." It sounded like it came from the second floor, the same room that the hole led to.
"Hang on Joe, I'm coming!" Night Air cupped a wing over his mouth as he made his way behind the counter to the stairs in the back of the building that led to Joe's apartment on the second level. Night Air had been up to Donut Joe's apartment before. He had been good friends with him until they had gotten into an arguement over a mare. They arguement led to their friendship collasping and they both lost the mare. Now, they only had a buyer-seller relationship.
Night Air made his way up the stairs, the smoke getting darker, the air becoming harder to breathe. he started coughing. If this is how he, a pefectly heathy pegasus reacted to just a few seconds in the overwhelming smoke, he could only imagine what a unicorn was going through after tens of minutes of this. He needed to find Donut Joe and fast.
Night Air found the room he was looking for. It was Donut Joe's room. He dropped to the floor to escape the smoke just a little. He found Donut joe. He was crawling on the floor next to his desk, trying to get away from it.
Come 'ere *ACK-HAC* I'll get you out."
The two ponies crwaled on the ground toward each other, until Night Air was able to lift Joe onto his back. The building had gotten worse. The roof was starting to cave in, they could hear the wooden beams cracking. Then Night Air heard one of the worst things possible. Sizziling water. His team had arrived. If they poured water on the roof, then the weight could make the entire building cave in. They weren't stupid... Right?
*SSssssssssszzzzzz*
"O Sweet Celestia..."
There was no chance getting down the stairs now, They only had a few seconds before the rainwater would cave the roof in. Then Night Air noticed the hole in the floor. Only choice he now had was to fly blind through a building on fire... with a unicorn on his back.
"Buck my life..."
Night Air dove down through the hole in the floor in an attempt to glide toward the door. He felt a pain in his right wing, he nicked it on a wooden beam coming from the hole. He was flipped to his back with Joe under him.
"AGH!...You okay?"
"...mmmgh..."
"Close enough."
Night Air got off of Joe and lifted him onto his back again. He started walking towards the door until he heard a noise.
-Crrrrcck-
"You gotta be..." He never finished his sentence as Night Air galloped toward the doorway. He could see squads one and three rushing around outside making sure no pony was hurt. -Crrraaackk- Night Air looked up, the ceiling was going to collapse. outta time, outta luck. He thought as he threw Joe off his back through the doorway.
Now free of his passenger, Night Air could now gallop out the pastry shop. -Crraacckkaaaack- The last thing Night Air remembered was diving for the doorway and feeling a sharp pain in his right side. The building finally came down.
Beep...
Beep...
Beep...
Beep...
Beep...
Beep
Beep...
Beep...
"Doctor! Doctor! He's alive!"
What the... Where am I?
Beep...
Am I dead?
Beep...
"Great Scott! Its ALIVE!"
Beep...
Who the feather is yelling?
"Night Air? Can you hear me? If you can wake up please." A gruff voice said. Night Air couldn't place it. It almost sounded like one of the pegasi in his platoon.
Beep...
Night Air opened his eyes only to be met with a dazzling white glow.
"Ahhh! Buck!"
"He is alive, I'll go tell the guys!"
"...the hay?"
Night Air slowly opened his eyes again. The room he was in wasn't as bright as it was before so he could actually look around. He was in a white room that smelled of chemical sanitizer. He instantly recognized the smell, Canterlot General Hospital. Night Air had made trips here to check up an any pony in his platoon who had gotten sick. Now he was here with one of his pegasi checking up on him. Night Air couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of the irony, but it only cmae out as a cough.
"Night Air? Night Air, look at me. How many hooves am I holdong up?" Night Air looked over to see a unicorn holding his hoof up. He looked familiar, like he had taken care of Night's pegasi before.
"One?"
"Vision is normal... He can obviously hear us... Tell me can you feel this?" The doctor poked Night Air in his right side.
"YEEEEEAAAARRRRGGHHH!"
"Still has feeling in injured wing" Night Air remembered who this was now, this was Doctor Stable. He remebers it because Stable always did the sense checks when patients woke up from a coma.
"What do you smell?"
"That hurt doc... Cleaning chemicals."
"Smell... check... and taste we'll find out in a minute."
"D-doc... How long was I out?"
"Two days."
"Buuuuuuuuuuuuck."
"Its almost noon, you want breakfast?"
"Do I have any visitors? I'd rather let them know I'm okay first." Night Air already knew the answer, but he wanted to be sure.
"I think so... Nurse?" A nurse poked her head through the door.
"Yes?"
"Could you see if Mr. Air has any visitors?"
"Oh, he has vistors, a lot of them too." The nurse stated.
"How do you know?"
"A white pegasus came in with a buch of his friends and asked where Night Air was. I was just about to come in to ask if he wanted to see them." Doctor Stable and the nurse looked at Night Air.
The room was quiet.
Night Air broke the silence. "What?"
"Do you want me to send your friends in or what?" The nurse asked irritably. She apparently didn't like to be kept waiting.
"Of course! Send 'em in! Send 'em in!" The nusre walked out. A chorus of whoops, hollars, and hooves stampeding could be heard down the hall. Doctor Stable looked worried. As he was about to say something the noise the commotion stopped.
"They're lining up out side the door," Night Air explained, "they'll be in here in three... two... one-" Pegasi started filing in through the door just as Night Air finished 'one.' Most wore looks of sheer joy, others showed expressions of worry and sadness.
"Enjoy the nap, Lieutenant?"
"Thank Celestia, you're alive!"
"Welcome back to the land of the living! How was the devil?"
"You are bucking crazy, you know that right?"
These and other expressions were said, welcoming and congratulating Night Air. As the commotion quieted down, Night Air looked at all the faces that were there. He noticed there was a pony in the bed next to his. He appeared to have woken up from his nap when Night Air's friends came barreling down the hall to organize themselves at the door. It looked like-
"Donut Joe?"
Donut Joe looked up and smiled. "Glad to see your hide wasn't tanned back there, Airhead."
"I'm glad to see you hadn't... fried your last doughnut, Joe."
The two ponies looked at each other. The room was quiet. Everypony in the room was looking at Night Air and Donut Joe.
"Thanks for saving my flank, I would have been a gonner if you hadn't found me. So... Thanks."
"Don't worry about it, its what friends do right? Plus... Its kinda my job to do things like this." It wasn't technically Night Air's job to be the one going into burning buildings to rescue ponies, that usually fell to squad three. His job was usually supervisng and making sure everthing went according to plan. But, if anypony was absent or slacking, he would fill in and immediately pick up the slack.
"You still consider me a friend? Even after-"
"Of course! Why the hay not? One mare shouldn't have broken up our friendship like it did... Even if you did steal her from me."
"For the love of- I didn't steal her! Okay? She came to me one night and wanted to-"
"I'm joking. Okay?" Night Air cut him off. the last thing he needed was a fight to break out in the middle of the hospital.
"hmmrgh... fine."
"Good."
"Soooooooo...... Doc when's he getting outta this place?" One of the pegasi asked. Night Air thought it was Hospital Wing.
"If he can walk, he can go, but he cannot return to duty for at least a month." Doctor Stable replied.
"A Month!" Every pegasi in the room chorussed.
"Yes, a month. Did you ponies even see the condition he was in when he came in here?"
Night Air got worried. "Doc, what was wrong with me?"
Doctor Stable became very uneased when Night Air asked, so he asked again.
"Whats wrong with me?"
"...Your wing...It was..."
"Come on spit it out!"
"... Its gone."
Night Air was stunned. No, shocked. He couldn't believe it, he didn't believe it.
"No way, not in Tartarus would I have had my wing taken off!"
"Look for yourself."
Night Air sat up. His right side hurt. he looked over his shoulder and-
"Its gone..."
Every pegasus in the room looked in awe. Pony Joe sat up, mouth unhinged.
"Its... Its really gone."
Only two ponies in the room didn't look at Night Air, Doctor Stable and Hospital Wing. Everypony was silent, they all knew that a pegasus without a wing, is hardly a pegasus at all. Night Air would be looked at with pity for the rest of his life. A pegasus that would never take to the sky again. He cried out.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"
Night Air continued to cry, he had just lost his life in the sky. Now, he was forever bound to the ground.
"I'm so sorry... I'll notify the princess you have awaken." Hospital Wing turned and trotted out. He couldn't see his boss and friend like this, so weak and helpless...
Night Air suddenly snapped from his deep self-pity to extreme hate.
"Who was in charge of draining the rainclouds?" Night Air was barely heard, but extreme anger and hate was in his voice.
"Me, sir." A mare stepped forward.
"Cherry Berry." Night Air glared at the mare. "Its because of you that the building caved in, its because of you that I didn't make it out in time, its beCAUSE OF YOU I LOST MY WING!" Night Air glared at her more, it looked to every pony in the room like he was trying to shoot lasers through his eyes into Cherry's head.
"YOU ARE SO BUCKING FIRED! YOU KNOW THAT? GET THE BUCK OUT OF HERE, I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOUR FACE AGAIN! YOU'RE DEAD TO ME! IF I EVER FIND YOU IN AN ALLY AT NIGHT, I'LL MURDER YOU!"
Night Air was beyond angry, beyond hatred, he was at the point of he wanted nothing more than blood for his lost wing. Cherry turned and ran as soon as Night Air finished. "YOU BETTER BUCKING RUN!" He turned toward the other pegasi in the room. "get out... Get out... Get Out. GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT! I NEVER WANT TO SEE ANY OF YOU PONIES AGAIN!" The only thing the off duty guards could compare Night Air's screaming to was Luna's 'Royal canterlot Voice.' They all turned and slowly walked out. One turned and it looked like she would say something, but Night Air only glared at her. Didn't want to hear any of it. Doctor Stable followed the group of pegasi out, he figured it was best to let the Lieutenant work out the anger himself. Donut Joe pulled a curtain between him and Night Air, he didn't want to be verbally assaulted by his friend.
Night Air was alone now, still seething with anger. He suddenly realized that he had just driven away every pony that cared about him. His parents had passed a year ago when they both became ill.
"Faust, what have I done." He quietly said to himself. Everypony that wanted to see him well again, he had just driven off. "Oh Faust..." He put his head in his hooves and cried. He cried because he was flightless, he cried because he had just driven off every pony close to him, he cried because he was alone.
Donut joe heard the crying but decided it better he not say anything. He didn't want to say something and possibly make the situation worse. He cried too, only for his friend though.
