A/N: Okay, second chapter took longer than expected. Blame the University. By the way, I'm still looking for a beta reader, and I made some changes to the first chapter as well.
Oh, and I own nothing in this fic.
Chapter II: Acceptance
The captain's voice boomed across the courtyard with such force that the assembled pegasi had to plant their hooves firmly in the stonework and fan out their wings so they wouldn't be blown away. Seeming satisfied with what he saw, the captain continued his assault on their ears, bodies and spirits:
-All right you bunch of cloud pushers! The good princess might think you have what it takes to be Shadowbolts, BUT I DON'T! I THINK YOU ALL ARE UNDESERVING OF THIS HONOR! AND I WILL PROVE IT TO ALL YOU LAZY FLANKS!
Nightshade had to close her eyes before the power of his voice blew them out. Fortunately, he decided to pipe down just a bit before continuing:
-Now, direct your little eyes to the doors behind you, if you will.
There was an unspoken threat in that phrase that made the pale blue pegasus and all the others assembled turn around slowly. They could hear the sound of metal grinding against metal and it wasn't long before they realized it was the ancient mechanisms of the fortress opening the massive doors.
There was an empty sound as the doors opened. They should have creaked and protested, yet all that could be heard was the grinding of the machinery. Even the wolves and other animals in the forest below stood silent for a moment as several silhouettes where revealed behind the doors. Then they took a step forward, and, for a split second, the world stopped.
They where six pegasi, four mares and two stallions, and they wore purple jumpsuits with black facemasks. Their eyes where hidden by very expressive yellow goggles, lightning bolts adorned their necks and ankles, and on their flanks, where their cutie marks should be, there where winged skulls, their grim badges of office. They were Shadowbolts.
Nightshade spent all her willpower to keep her wings down, as showing such emotion right now would be embarrassing. However, she wished she could scream like a rabid fangirl right now. "Focus, Nightshade, focus!" She told herself "Before the night ends you will be flying with these guys"
Behind the six Shadowbolts, a larger figured lumbered. As the Wonderbolt's darker reflections trotted forward, the figure revealed itself to be a muscular adolescent dragon. He, Nightshade was pretty sure it was a he, walked forward lazily, as if unimpressed by whomever where in the fortress tonight. His scales where jet black, with blood red spines adorning his back, tail and elbows, one clawed paw covered his mouth as he yawned and the other clutched a clipboard and quill.
Behind her, Nightshade could barely hear the captain chuckle, but she could hear his voice all right. By now she was sure her ears would be ringing the whole night and day with his yelling:
" Fillies and gentlecolts, meet Shadowbolt flights Alpha and Beta, with Captains Moongazer and Stratus, Lieutants Grim and Crash and Sergeants Dizzy and Big Bee." The captain didn't care to point who was who, so, for a moment, they all seemed the same. "They will be gauging your performance tonight and will help us decide who gets to join, and who gets to try again next year. The big, lazy lizard behind them is Blaze, our good doctor's assistant."
As if on cue, the unicorn mare who had stood silent before took a step forward and spoke. While the captain's voice was brass and loud, hers was soft, almost silky, yet it was still as sharp as the captain's, only a different kind of sharp.
"As the princess said, we have watched you. All of you have files we will now cross check with the way you have behaved until this point. Call it a character summary, if you will, but it's just a formality. Once we are done checking if you are you, then the real testing will begin."
The dragon walked right through the middle of the pegasi crowd, forcing them to make way for his large frame. Nightshade noticed how everything seemed cold and distant in that fortress. So different from Canterlot Castle after all.
As the dragon reached the platform where the doctor and the captain stood, the Shadowbolts lined up opposite to them, in a disciplined, synchronized form that was very similar to the way the Wonderbolts moved. All the six purple-clad pegasi had these large grins on their faces that felt so deliciously evil that Nightshade thought they would ask her to join the dark side for some horrible, mustache-twirling villainy.
She would have accepted right then.
"ALL RIGHT, YOU BUNCH OF BUTTERFLIES! LINE UP!"
The Captain's voice brought her crashing down from her dreams and she tried to scramble into a coherent line with the rest of the pegasi. She bumped into a mare here, a stallion there, then somepony stepped on her hoof, and she ate some other pony's wing. Spitting a dark blue feather, Nightshade just decided to stand before one of the Wonderbolts and let the other pegasi sort it out.
She stood face to face with a massive mare. Really, she was as large as a really large earth stallion, which was unusual for both a mare and a pegasus, but was nowhere near as weird as her bright poofy bubblegum pink mane. It was so unruly and messy, so funny looking it begged to be laughed at so much Nightshade had to focus on her own hooves so she wouldn't burst out in a long and loud laugh.
They ended up forming six lines, one in front of each of the Shadowbolts. Nightshade didn't see it, but behind them, both the captain and the doctor shared a disapproving look. The pale blue pegasus could hear their hooves as they got down from the platform, though, and then they started walking among the assembled shadowbolt aspirants, with the dragon following close behind.
The captain would randomly stop in front of some pony, look him or her as if sizing him (or her) down, then check something in the clipboard the dragon was holding, maybe exchange a few words with the doctor, then move along with a curt nod.
The tension was so high one could bite it and chew. The Shadowbolts stood completely immobile, with their eyes and emotions hidden cleverly behind their goggles. The quick inspection didn't last more than a minute, yet it seemed like all night had passed and the sun was about to rise. Yet, just as it became almost unbearable, the trio stopped in front of a light grey mare with a silver mane:
"You, Silver Lining, you've won four running of the leaves in Fillydelphia, and distinguished yourself when princess Celestia had to contain the local parasprite infestation. Very good." The words of the captain made the mare beam and smile proudly, then that smile quickly turned upside down. "You are useless to us. Leave. Now"
She whimpered something as everypony else winced at the captain's last words. Still whimpering, the silver maned pegasus took to the night sky in a slow, sad flight. The captain gave a half-hearted chuckle, but everypony else's expressions where completely unreadable.
Then the bat-winged pegasus turned to another pony, a big, brown coated stallion with a military crew-cut and said:
"Shield Wall, Sixth aerial cavalry, Equestria's finest. Hurrah!"
"Hurrah." The stallion's voice resonated deep and strong, with just a hint of pride.
"You ashamed the colors of the cavalry, and now you want to shame to colors of the Shadowbolts. GET OUT, YOU SPINELESS WIMP!"
The stallion didn't say a word, he just lowered his ears, his eyes, and his head, and flew away as if he had nothing more to do. The captain didn't chuckle this time, instead he gave a deep sigh as he pivoted on the spot and found another victim:
"Sunbeam... What kind of name is that?"
She was a mare with a light yellow coat, and a bright orange mane. She stood out like a sore wing in the middle of the other, mostly dark colored pegasi. Everypony not in uniform in the courtyard winced when the captain asked his question, everypony but Sunbeam.
"You should be a day flyer, not a night one. Buck me, with records like yours you should be on the Wonderbolts. Why are you not there, sunny? Too afraid? Too lazy? You didn't even apply for them! GET OUT, LAZYBONES!"
She stood her ground, unfazed by the captain's powerful voice. Then she actually stared him down and said:
"No."
"ARE YOU QUESTIONING MY ORDERS, YOU LAZY CLOUD PUSHER? I SAID GET OUT, NOW GET THE BUCK OUT!"
She didn't flinch like the two ponies right beside her in the line. As she stood her ground against the captain's assault, Nightshade could make up her cutie mark: a shield with a sun emblazoned in it. More than that, the filly's courage was contagious. Every single pony felt a little bit sure, a little bit more courageous, as Sunbeam firmed her hooves on the stonework and flared her wings out. She was going to stand up to this captain, even if it meant she was going down harder than the two others before her:
"I said 'no'. I was invited here by the princess, and she said herself you would put us to test. As of now, I see no testing. Unless the princess herself comes down here and tells me to leave, I'm staying. Now test me, and take your time to test everypony else here too. I'm sure some of them are good enough for whatever it is that passes for standards you have."
There was a moment of silence. The Shadowbolt's grins seemed to grow a little, and the otherwise stern doctor appeared to smile too, even the dragon now looked wide eyed at the yellow pegasus response. Then the captain roared a laugh, loud and boisterous:
"AHAHAHAHAHA! THAT'S THE SPIRIT! Now listen up, kids, like Sunny here said, you have been invited here by Luna herself, which means all of you have the potential to qualify. Every single one of you! SO YOU BETTER EARN IT! IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE YOU CAN DO THIS, THEN JUST LEAVE ALREADY. IF ALL IT TAKES FOR YOU TO LEAVE IS SOME DUMB BULLY TO YELL SOME BAD WORDS AT YOU, THEN LEAVE ALREADY! THIS WORLD IS NOT MADE OF EVERYTHING NICE AND SOMETIMES BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PONIES."
The captain let his words sink in before continuing in a much more calm and stern tone:
" It is our duty to be ready to face these situations and fight them as hard as we would fight a rampaging hydra. AND IF YOU ARE NOT READY TO DO THAT, THEN JUST BUCKIN' LEAVE ALREADY!"
Nightshade left out a worried sigh she didn't even knew she was holding. She kept asking herself if she would have stood up to the captain like Sunbeam did. Well, now she definitely would. Between the yellow pegasus' words and the captain's no one else was leaving now before the real testing began.
"Good" The Captain continued. His voice was still loud but it didn't ring with hostility anymore. There was a hard kindness in his voice now, the same way as the walls of a castle could be cold and hard, yet still offer protection. "Lieutenant Crash, step forward"
One of the Shadowbolts took a step forward just as the others took a step back. She had an electrical blue mane, with streaks of white running confusedly through it. By her muzzle color one could conclude she had a very light blue coat too. She moved uneasily, with a little shake on every step, her wings where not held close to her body, instead they hung loose, moving constantly and fidgeting with every move the lithe mare made.
"This is Lieutenant Crash, our fastest and best flier. She's also the craziest flier I've ever seen." With these words, the Lieutenant let out a girly giggle. The captain ignored her and continued "She will take a small tour into the Timber Woods, right below the Fortress, and you butterflies will follow her."
Crash started to gingerly trot to the end of the balcony. She moved happily, as if launching herself into one of the most dangerous forests of equestria was no big deal. She stopped just an inch before the chasm at the end of the courtyard and crouched, getting herself ready to fly.
"Pay attention, this is NOT A RACE. You won't beat the Lt, well, at least we don't expect you to, but you can try. The only rules are: if you fly over the treetops, you are disqualified, if you intentionally injure any other ponies, you are disqualified, and you may quit anytime you want, but then you're disqualified too. Follow the Lt through her course, then back here, and you're through the first test. Oh, and try not to hurt yourselves too much, or we'll be forced to disqualify you so you can take care of your wounds."
Nightshade was trying to ready her body and mind to the task ahead, but the howls from the timberwolves where not helping. That, and the lieutenant looking like an electrical battery ready to discharge. The pale pegasus snorted and firmed her hooves. She would earn this.
"Okay, fillies and gentlecolts. Get ready, set and... GO!"
Crash exploded into a corkscrewing ascent, leaving behind a trail of electrical smoke. Some pegasus tried to imitate her crazed movement, but most ended up getting too carried away by it to notice when she took an abrupt turn down and dived into the black forest below.
Nightshade wouldn't be caught doing a reckless trick like that. She simply dived down to the forest, locked the Shadowbolt into her sights and focused on not losing her of view.
It was both an easy and a damn hard task. On the one hoof, the Shadowbolt lieutenant left behind a conspicuous trail of electricity that was easy to follow, on the other hoof, she insisted on flying too close to the trees and taking very tight turns, sometimes even bouncing off one branch to the next.
Nightshade watched as one of the aspirants tried to take a tight turn and ended up crashing her flank into a tree branch. Then another one got too close to the Shadowbolt and got caught in the aftershock as she bounced into a loose branch. A third one got entangled into the thick vines that covered one of the largest trees they passed under.
The forest was already dangerous enough without flying around like a bouncing ball. Nightshade tried her best to avoid the tree trunks and branches, but even though she was flying carefully, she was still picking up bruises and scratches from the reckless path she was being led into.
When they broke through the thick foliage out to the lake in the middle of the forest, things only got worse. Crash dived too close to the water, with her front hooves touching the face of the lake and sending huge waves around her as she moved fast and picked up even more speed on open sky. To make matters worse, her disturbing of the water caused all kind of crocodiles and serpents to wake up and take attention of the ponies flying so close to their hunting grounds.
Nightshade watched in horror as one pony got caught by the biggest crocodile she had ever seen, not that she had seen so many of them. But just as the unlucky pony was about to be eaten alive, a big stallion barreled into the reptile's side, hitting the beast so hard it spat out its meal to be. The stallion then bucked the crocodile in the nose, just to make sure, and resumed his flight.
His cutie mark was an ice meteor. What was his name again? Dasher? Puncher? Charger! As she caught up with him, he turned to her and said, with a confident smile:
"Let's fly in formation. One of us is prey, several of us are a challenge."
Nightshade nodded and fell behind him, signaling with her wings so that others behind her would do the same. Across the lake, she noticed other ponies forming up too, and then noticed one who wouldn't join a formation get caught by a giant snake. This time a Shadowbolt dived from the sky and bucked it hard, making it let go of the straggled pegasus. By then, the formations had almost crossed the lake, and the ones who fell behind for a reason or another all flew away.
It was into the canopy again. This time closer to the ground. They had to break formation or they would crash into the trees.
"Keep your eyes on Crash's trail!" Nightshade saw herself yelling to no one in particular. "Don't try to do the same stunts she does, just focus on flying! We can get through this!"
"Yes, we can"
She didn't register who answered her, but indeed the other pegasi where a lot less reckless now. Maybe it was her advice, or maybe it was just that the crazier ones all had left by now. Anyway, Crash's antics weren't fooling anypony now. She would make a barrel roll into a cluster of thorns and come unscathed on the other side, then every other pegasi would just fly around it. She gingerly flew very close to a beehive, while everypony else avoided it by a good margin. When she bounced across several trees, making their branches wave around so others would have trouble repeating the stunt, only to the stronger stallions and mares to power through and open space to the physically weaker ones behind them, Crash decided it was enough. She turned around, and put her tongue out, blowing a raspberry.
Then she made a ninety degrees turn and blasted up, out of the forest's green maze. Nightshade smiled, a smile that quickly turned into a laugh as she too blasted up, following and followed by the remaining aspirants, all of them battered and bruised, but all of them triumphant.
There were about fifteen of them still in the air, and two or three would have to go back home to treat their injuries. Nightshade flew down to help one of them reach the Fortress. She was a dark grey mare with a light red mane, and by her build and haircut, was either military or very close to it. She had been one of the pegasi who powered through several obstacles to give a chance to the others, now she had to leave or risk permanent injury. It didn't seem right:
"Easy there, it's over now..."
"Yes, it definitely is."
"Don't fret over it, without you half the pagasi wouldn't have made it" Nightshade wished it was a lie, but it wasn't. The military pegasi had both saved several of them and allowed even more to finish by wrecking some obstacles.
"Might be true, yeah. But now I'm out, that's true too."
"I'm Nightshade, what's your name?"
"Rose Thorn. Frontline Cavalry, sixth company."
Nightshade saw herself smiling as she helped a military mare land on the main balcony. A military mare who had way more cuts and bruises than a pony should be allowed to have. A military mare who had to limp so her front hoof, now a fleshy mess, wouldn't touch the ground. A military mare who had destroyed several years worth of prejudice with the same ease she had taken down a river serpent.
"Let's do this then, Thorn. You promise me to come back next year, and I promise you I'll make the cut. So when you show up again I'll be wearing purple and then I'll make sure you make the cut too. Anypony who lays her life down the way you did back there deserves a second chance."
The military mare chuckled heavily. Then leaned forward to share a farewell nuzzle with the weather mare who had helped her fly all the way back. A weather mare that had a sense of coordination way better than several flight leaders she had served under. A weather mare who could pull tight turns and twists with uncomfortable ease. A weather mare who, Rose was sure, would make the cut into the Shadowbolts because it just felt right she did:
"Okay, Shade, I'll make my part. Now go make yours, and kick that captain's flank if you get the chance"
Nightshade giggled as the dark grey pegasus was taken away by the lunar guard to the medical wing of the Silver Fortress. Then she remembered one last thing:
"Hey! I live in Canterlot, Orion Street, at Winter Breeze's. Come by sometime, I want to see you fly when nopony needs saving!"
Rose Thorn smiled and nodded her head. Nightshade wanted to go all the way to the medical wing and make sure she would be all right, but the captain's booming voice remembered her the night was still young:
"ALLRIGHT, BUTTERFLIES! FORM A CIRCLE, A LARGE ONE TOO! I want spread wings, and only the furthermost feathers touching!"
They scrambled to obey the order. On a quick pass, Nightshade counted thirteen pegasi, among them Charger and Sunbeam. Captain Nightshroud, Doctor Sparkle and the dragon where in the middle of the circle, pacing the aspirants and checking if nopony was hiding an injury.
Luckily, no one was. Unluckily, that meant the next text could begin. The captain, the doctor and the dragon exited the circle and climbed up the raised platform that had been moved closer in the meantime. Now they overlooked the circle of ponies, with the dragon casting a particularly menacing shadow over the assembled aspirants.
"Now, fillies and gentlecolts, please make way for lieutenant Grim."
The temperature suddenly got colder, as a northern breeze passed by, messing Nightshade's mane. When she managed to set it straight again, there was this taut, wiry pegasus standing right beside her.
Suppressing a yelp, Nightshade let the shadowbolt veteran pass by her into the circle. He was tall and lean, but didn't have the musculature most tall ponies had. Instead he had a wiry look, and moved with a gait that reminisced of a zombie in a horror movie. His mane was short and unruly, and of a grey so clear it was almost white, his coat, by the muzzle poking out of the facemask, was actually white, or maybe pale green.
If there was a grim reaper, he dressed purple and flew for the Shadowbolts.
"OKAY, CLOUD PUSHERS! Lieutenant Grim is your next challenge."
