GREEN   471   0
   1729 10.05 KB    164

For Soarin's Sake (ONESHOT)

By Lurkernon
Created: 2020-12-19 23:34:41
Expiry: Never
sadspitfiresoarin

  1. 1.
    Originally published August 2014
  2. 2.
     
  3. 3.
    Side story to SgtAnon.
  4. 4.
     
  5. 5.
    > You are Spitfire.
  6. 6.
    > Currently facedown in mud, warmed by the early fall sun into a tepid stew.
  7. 7.
    > It clings to your coat and clumps in your mane, an affront you would have never tolerated a few months ago.
  8. 8.
    > You do not care.
  9. 9.
    > Above you, the sky burns. The enemy's rapid-fire guns are sending angry orange-red steams of fire skyward, scything through the remaining pegasi in the air.
  10. 10.
    > The air shudders with the roar and rumble of guns, the pop-popping of distant explosions, and the sharper crack-rumbles of pegasus-driven lightning strikes.
  11. 11.
    > You do not care.
  12. 12.
    > You finally heave your muzzle out of the mud only when your lungs scream for oxygen, a burning need that overrides all other thoughts.
  13. 13.
    > Immediately collapsing back down to the ground, you stare upwards dully, watching a few armored chariots vainly attempting to break though the anti-air fire and allow the unicorns inside to wield their magic against the enemies.
  14. 14.
    > Even as you watch, a burning light streaks skyward on a column of smoke, homing in with unnatural accuracy on a chariot.
  15. 15.
    > The unicorn jumps free to late, and chariot, pegasus, and unicorn alike are all consumed in a flash and puff of smoke.
  16. 16.
    > You do not care.
  17. 17.
    > Your mind is elsewhere
  18. 18.
    > Eyes may view the carnage around you, but it is not what you see.
  19. 19.
    > Your vision is locked to a scene not a few minutes prior.
  20. 20.
    > They are all there beside you.
  21. 21.
    > The finest of your Wonderbolts.
  22. 22.
    > Misty Fly on your left, Rapidfire behind her.
  23. 23.
    > Fleetfoot covering your back, with Blaze on her wing.
  24. 24.
    > To your right is the only pegasus you would ever trust to be your wing.
  25. 25.
    > Your glance over and nod to Soarin'; he gives a quick nod back.
  26. 26.
    > There's no chance to hide the trepidation in his appearance.
  27. 27.
    > None of you are at peak performance, after all.
  28. 28.
    > Not after enduring the weeks of siege in Cloudsdale on cut rations.
  29. 29.
    > But there was no way to avoid this now.
  30. 30.
    > Supplies, not only of food but of medicine and other basic necessities, had begun to run low.
  31. 31.
    > You had to open a path for the sky-carts if more was to come.
  32. 32.
    > Yet even as Soarin' betrays his apprehension, there is an steel-will determination there to succeed at all costs.
  33. 33.
    > You've seen it before, at the start of every race.
  34. 34.
    > The only difference is, this time you are racing for more than a medal.
  35. 35.
    > More than your lives, even.
  36. 36.
    > This time, you race for victory.
  37. 37.
    "Break! Break! Go! Go! Go!"
  38. 38.
    > Your Wonderbolts react perfectly, launching from a cloud as soon as you give the signal.
  39. 39.
    > Banking over another passing cloud, you dive low.
  40. 40.
    > Hopefully too low for the enemy's anti-air guns to track with their freakishly unerring accuracy.
  41. 41.
    > Dodging and weaving back and forth, you make for the nearest battery of long-range weapons.
  42. 42.
    > If you can break these, the siege will be broken. Supplies can get through to Cloudsdale again.
  43. 43.
    > You will hit them.
  44. 44.
    > You have to hit them.
  45. 45.
    > You cannot bear to have to return back to the once-legendary city of the pegasi, only to see more wretchedly thin bodies and dilapidated cloud-structures.
  46. 46.
    > Angling towards a patch of trees, you dodge through them barely above the ground.
  47. 47.
    > Branches and leaves whip around you, but it is nothing you haven't experienced before on a race.
  48. 48.
    > Indeed, you feel the old rush pumping in your blood even though there will be no cheering fans, no basking in success today.
  49. 49.
    > The most you can hope for today, is to stave them off the city a while longer.
  50. 50.
    > You break through a treeline, the enemy anti-air position in the clear before you.
  51. 51.
    > A eight of their ugly, twisted-looking metal vehicles, surrounded by revetments and soldiers dug in.
  52. 52.
    > You come in so low over the ground that you can see their shocked faces as you clear the first trenches.
  53. 53.
    > Misty's warning cry comes to late.
  54. 54.
    > Two of the enemy's vehicles have seen you with their unblinking eyes, the turreted tops swiveling down to track your 'bolts.
  55. 55.
    > No!
  56. 56.
    > You're so close!
  57. 57.
    > Just another couple seco-
  58. 58.
    > The vehicles' guns fire with a throaty growl, jets of flame and smoke pouring from their muzzles.
  59. 59.
    > An agonized screech wrenches your attention to the side.
  60. 60.
    > Just in time to see Rapidfire, surrounded by a cloud of bursting enemy shells, plow into the ground.
  61. 61.
    > You don't wait to watch the dust cloud clear.
  62. 62.
    > Even if the enemy's guns hadn't gotten him, no pegasus could survive an impact with the ground like that.
  63. 63.
    > Not even a Wonderbolt.
  64. 64.
    > In the two seconds you have been given, you pass over the cluster of enemy soldiers.
  65. 65.
    > Without a thought you pull the handle on the side of your suit.
  66. 66.
    > The saddlebag strapped to your side slips open, disgorging a mist of liquid rainbow across their position.
  67. 67.
    > You don't hear their cries of shock and surprise, but you know the spicy concoction will have left the alien creatures blinded and distracted - or worse.
  68. 68.
    > Four seconds.
  69. 69.
    > The vehicles' turrets are moving again, tracking your remaining 'bolts - but it is to late for them to fire again.
  70. 70.
    > A quick twist back allows you a perfect four-point sideways landing - slamming into the side of the vehicle evenly on all hooves.
  71. 71.
    > A ready-made thundercloud is pulled from its special pouch on the opposite saddlebag.
  72. 72.
    > Bucking it against the vehicles' hull, you let the lightning flow through the metal skin.
  73. 73.
    > You don't understand how the aliens' machine-weapons work, but you do know that Princess Twilight said a sufficient electrical current can damage or destroy them.
  74. 74.
    > So current you give them.
  75. 75.
    > Bursting skyward from the disabled vehicle, you see your remaining four 'bolts taking off from their assigned vehicles as well.
  76. 76.
    > Up, up, up - you need to gather stormclouds for a proper lightning strike, to finish off the vehicles.
  77. 77.
    > Soarin' pulls in beside you. "Easy as pie, eh, Spits?"
  78. 78.
    "When I can have one again, I'll tell you!" you rebut, grabbing a dark-looking nearby cloud and preparing it for a proper thunder.
  79. 79.
    > "Hah! I'm looking forward to one myself; I'll have a piece in Rapidfire's me-"
  80. 80.
    > A sharp pop followed by a growing roar drags your attention downwards.
  81. 81.
    > What you see drops an icy ball into your stomach.
  82. 82.
    > A spear is rising on flame and smoke from one of the vehicles, right up towards you.
  83. 83.
    > They were supposed to be disabled!
  84. 84.
    > Did you screw up?
  85. 85.
    > Had the aliens found a way around that?
  86. 86.
    > Was the princess simply wrong?
  87. 87.
    > No, you're overthinking it. Got to-
  88. 88.
    "SCATTER, DOWN NOW!"
  89. 89.
    > Your shout comes to late.
  90. 90.
    > Even as you all break downwards, you can tell you waited to long.
  91. 91.
    > The spear is fixated on Fleetfoot.
  92. 92.
    > Even with her flight goggles hiding her eyes, you can see the terror on her face.
  93. 93.
    "Come on, Fleet."
  94. 94.
    > Your voice is soft as you maneuver.
  95. 95.
    "Don't lock up. Don't lock up, we've trained on this!"
  96. 96.
    > To late Fleetfoot tries to bank off to the side of the missile's flight.
  97. 97.
    > It passes her close by and erupts in a blinding flash and deafening thunderclap.
  98. 98.
    > There is no Flootfoot moments later.
  99. 99.
    > Another growling cough from the guns below, and your attention is again dragged away to see-
  100. 100.
    "No."
  101. 101.
    > Soarin' is trailing out of a cloud of shell bursts, spinning wildly.
  102. 102.
    > Why is stomach-churningly obvious.
  103. 103.
    > Where once a wide, strong wing had emerged from his back, is now just a red gash.
  104. 104.
    "NO!"
  105. 105.
    > Misty Fly crosses your vision, trying to outmaneuver one of the enemy's rising missiles.
  106. 106.
    > That is enough to snap you out of it.
  107. 107.
    > There is nothing you can do for Soarin'.
  108. 108.
    > He's never going to get back to Cloudsdale on one wing.
  109. 109.
    > Let alone land safely.
  110. 110.
    > You tear your eyes away, unable to bear seeing him hit the ground.
  111. 111.
    > Just in time to see an enemy missile fill your vision, colliding with your head seconds later.
  112. 112.
     
  113. 113.
    ---
  114. 114.
     
  115. 115.
    > Something snaps you out of your memories.
  116. 116.
    > Looking around, you blink slightly.
  117. 117.
    > What had done that?
  118. 118.
    > What had-
  119. 119.
    "Spitfire! Captain!"
  120. 120.
    > Misty drops in beside you, looking rattled.
  121. 121.
    > Her flight suit is torn in several places, blood leaking from some. Shrapnel.
  122. 122.
    > "Captain, are you wounded?"
  123. 123.
    > You look dumbly at your forelegs, giving all four of the limbs a few experimental steps.
  124. 124.
    > They still function, and your wings flap without pain as well.
  125. 125.
    > The missile.
  126. 126.
    > Why hadn't the missile...?
  127. 127.
    > No, no time to ponder that.
  128. 128.
    > Just accept the luck Celestia has granted you.
  129. 129.
    > You shake your head, pulling off your shattered flight goggles.
  130. 130.
    > Thankfully the glass had stayed in its frame, or you would be blind right now.
  131. 131.
    "Where.... where's Blaze? Where's your wingpony, Misty?"
  132. 132.
    > She shakes her head.
  133. 133.
    > "I don't know, Captain. I lost sight of him and can't find him anywhere."
  134. 134.
    > Another pause, her voice shakier.
  135. 135.
    > "Captain, I saw, Soarin'..."
  136. 136.
    > You interrupt her.
  137. 137.
    "I saw as well. Come on. This... this failed. We need to get out of here. This..."
  138. 138.
    > You look around the battlefield.
  139. 139.
    > The sky is still full of pegasi - weaving, dancing, forming thunderclouds.
  140. 140.
    > Some play elegant, deadly duels with the enemies' larger metal aircraft.
  141. 141.
    > But it is also still full of streams of fire and rising pillars of smoke.
  142. 142.
    > There will be no breaking the siege on Cloudsdale today.
  143. 143.
    "This is a disaster. We have to go, Misty."
  144. 144.
    > "And leave Clo-"
  145. 145.
    "I know!"
  146. 146.
    > Your voice cracks.
  147. 147.
    "I know. I don't want to either, but if we go back there... it's surrender or starve. I can't do either. I have to keep going; I have to keep racing."
  148. 148.
    > You pause.
  149. 149.
    "For Soarin's sake."
  150. 150.
    > Misty stares, then nods.
  151. 151.
    > You take off together, sticking low and close to obstacles to fool their anti-air weapons.
  152. 152.
    > For once, you let Misty lead.
  153. 153.
    > You aren't fully paying attention anyhow.
  154. 154.
    > Other images fill your mind.
  155. 155.
    > A light-blue coat and darker mane.
  156. 156.
    > His laughter, calm and happy as he devoured his way through another pie.
  157. 157.
    > Green eyes, half-closed in contentment and bliss.
  158. 158.
    > Rejoicing together after another successful race.
  159. 159.
    > Limbs curled together on a cloudbed, your muzzle nestled into his wing.
  160. 160.
    > You shake yourself free of the memories, narrowing your eyes and pushing your aching wings harder.
  161. 161.
    > In that moment, you would unashamedly admit that the tears in your eyes are not just because of the wind gusting over them.
  162. 162.
    > You will fight on, though.
  163. 163.
    > You will see this alien army cast out of Equestria.
  164. 164.
    > For Soarin's sake.

Sgt. Anon (COMPLETE)

by Lurkernon

SgtAnon, Part 2:

by Lurkernon

Breaking Gilda

by Lurkernon

Anon the Royal Snuggler (ONESHOT)

by Lurkernon

For Soarin's Sake (ONESHOT)

by Lurkernon