A/N: the next chapter is up as promised.
Wings of steel: chapter 9: return to ponyville
The last thing Steele remembered seeing was the balloon crashing into one of the trees of the everfree forest, and slamming into a thick branch, then crashing to the forest ground.
When Steele finally woke, he felt a massive fit of pain coming from his head, the second thing he noticed was that his vision was blurry; he assumed it was from hitting his head. When he looked up into the tree's he noticed the balloon itself was torn to shreds from the sharp edges of the branches', pieces of the balloon and basket were scattered through the tree's and on the ground.
When his vision had fully returned and the pain in his head had subsided enough for him to concentrate, he finally realized that Twilight and her friends were nowhere in sight, "Twilight! Where are you?" he shouted trying to locate his friends, luckily his reply came from behind him, "I'm right here" he heard Twilight say from behind him, he quickly spun around and saw her walking slowly towards him.
"Where are the others?" Steele asked as he ran up to her and helped her move faster, "I don't know, there not here with you?" she asked as she looked up in his eyes. That was then they both started to panic and frantically call out their friend's name, hoping to locate them. Fortunately for them they got their responses, as their friends began to emerge from the darkness of the forest, as they all gathered in the center of the clearing, steele especially walked up to rainbow dash, "how's your leg?" he asked as he examined the bandage, which was remarkably still in place.
"Well, besides of being in agonizing pain, I feel great" Rainbow said in a completely sarcastic tone, part of Steele wanted to laugh, but the other part told him she was serious. Then he noticed that they were still missing one pony, "wait, where's fluttershy?" he asked as he looked around, this comment made them all on edge again as they called her name, hoping to locate her. Fortunately they got their answer; "uh…I'm up here" said a small voice from above them, when they looked up they saw her, dangling from a branch her hoof caught in the rope she used to pull the balloon.
"Whoa…hang on Fluttershy, I'll get you down" Steele said as he backed up, and unsheathed his knife, "are you sure this is the best way?" Twilight asked nervously, "of course, I've done this before, and nopony got hurt" he said as he aimed the knife at the rope, he then used his percision to throw the knife directly at the rope, luckily for him, two years traveling the kingdom, forcing him to defend against what ever nature through at him, made him incredibly skilled with his knife.
The knife struck the rope, and ripped clean through it, letting Fluttershy fall head first into the ground, luckily she used her wings to stop a few inches from the ground, when she realized it, she breathed a heavy sigh of relief and flipped herself around and landed smoothly on the ground, the knife itself was firmly planted into the branches of a nearby tree, which caused Steele, to fly up and yank the blade out of the thick trunk.
"Was that really necessary?" Twilight asked as she examined her friend for injuries, "no…but it sure was fun" Steele said with a small chuckle as he landed in front of them, this comment only made Twilight and her friends scowl at him. Then Twilight looked around and asked, "Where are we?" she asked as she looked at the thick trees around them. "Well…I know we aren't far from ponyville, whence we get there, we need to get the next train to canterlot" he said as he surveyed the area around him, this caught them all by surprise, "what…but why, what will going to canterlot do?" Rarity asked as they followed him in the direction of their home.
"because, while I was talking to haze, he told me he had his own private army, and there is no telling what he could do with it" Steele said as he continued walking, "so…how are we supposed to believe that?" Rainbow asked as she was carried on Applejacks back due to her inability to walk. She didn't get her answer, instead Steele suddenly pushed them all to the side, and put his hoof to his mouth signaling them to be quiet, and he then pointed his hoof at the sky.
When they all looked up, they saw a familiar balloon fly above their heads, "looks like, they are still trying to find us" Twilight said nervously, "we have to be quiet, whence we get to ponyville, we're home free" Steele said as he continued to lead them down the dirt path, that lead to ponyville. "what makes you think, that he will stop there" Twilight said skeptically, "I've known Haze for years, if he's still the same in anyway, he doesn't like to get caught, and to answer your question rainbow dash, there's one thing I learned after knowing him this long, and that is you could tell when he is joking, and the look in his eyes told me he wasn't messing around" Steele said as he turned and faced his friends.
That made Rainbow be quiet as they walked, Steele told them more about haze had said he would do. "We need to warn the Princess, there's no telling what Haze will do" he said as they finally cleared the forest and saw ponyville only a few yards away.
"We need tickets to canterlot, we also need pack up a few days of supplies, meet us at the train station in two hours" he said as they all parted ways, Steele going with Twilight to the library.
When they reached the library they both found Spike sweeping the floor, when he heard the door open he turned and saw Steele and Twilight entering the library, "Twilight, steele, what are you doing here, weren't you supposed to be back a lot earlier?" the young dragon asked, "that was the plan, but a storm came up in cloudsdale disabling our only way back, so we had no choice but to stay at my friend's house" Steele said as he said the word friend with a lot of anger. "Okay…then how did it go, did you have a good time?" Spike asked as he looked at Twilight, "well…if you describe almost being killed while you're sleeping a good time, then yes we had a blast" Twilight said with sarcasm obvious in her voice.
This only made the dragons mouth nearly drop to the floor, "what, why would he do that, from what you told me, he seemed really nice" Spike said now completely confused, he didn't get his answer, because Twilight had gone up to her room to pack up supplies for their trip, he then looked up to Steele, who had also vanished down to his room in the basement. As Steele packed up some supplies, he couldn't help but remember the first day he met Haze.
(Flashback, flight school) 7 years ago
As Steele looked at all the young Pegasus flying around with their small wings, he couldn't help but wish he could join, Steele had been a late bloomer when flying, he could hover for a mere few seconds, but he never achieved true flight, his parents had been worried for him, they began to believe that he would never fly again, Steele was forced out of his thoughts by a voice that he knew to well, "well, well, look at poor defenseless Steele, sitting alone like he always does, say why don't you join us for a flight, oh wait…I forgot you can't fly" said the bigger Pegasus, "come on guys, I'm not in the mood" said the young Steele as he got up and faced the bullies, who loved to tease him about his inability to fly.
"Well, that's to bad, if your not in the mood, why don't you make us stop" he said as he steeped forward, challenging Steele. "Hey! Three against one, isn't fair, pick on somepony your own size" said a voice from above as he landed in front of the helpless Steele, "well, look here, little Haze is defending pathetic little Steele, why don't you get out of here, this isn't your business" said the bully as he continued to advance, "if you're picking on somepony who is defenseless it is my business" said the young Haze as he stood up to the bullies and stared them directly in the eyes.
"ah…it no fun anymore, come on guys, let's leave the two losers to themselves" they said as they broke out in laughter and fly off, Haze then turned and faced Steele, "thank you, you saved me from those bullies, I owe you one" Steele said as he smiled at him.
"hey, no problem, I hate it when ponies gang up on another, it's just unfair" said Haze as he extended his hoof in a friendly fashion, "my name's Haze by the way, what's yours?" ,Steele had a feeling he could trust this Pegasus, so he gently took his hoof and shook it, "my names Steele" he said as they let go of each others hoof's. "you know, I could teach you what I know about flying, at least enough to stop them from picking on you" Haze said as he floated in the air, "I'd like that, a lot" he said as Haze landed on the side of him, he then stretched is hoof around Steele's shoulder, "ya know, I think we're going to be great friends from now on" Haze said as he walked away laughing, Steele just joined in the laughter, he knew then that he could trust this pony, maybe even with his life.
(End flashback)
Steele let a small tear fall onto the bed, his thoughts we're interrupted by Twilight and Spike coming in doorway, "Steele, we're ready, let's get to the train station" she saw the painful look in his eyes, "alright, I'm ready, let's go" he said as he grabbed his pack and followed Twilight out the door.
(Ponyville train station)
As Steele and Twilight reached the station, he saw that they were actually the last ones to get there, the others had already arrived. "Wow, you guy's are fast, alright I'll get the tickets" he said as he walked up to the ticket booth, "yes sir, can I help you?" asked the pony behind the booth in a friendly tone, "yes, I need seven tickets for the next train to canterlot" he said as he reached into his pocket for his pouch of bits. "well, you're in luck sir, the train leaves in five minutes, that will be fourteen bits, please" the pony said, Steele fished out the exact amount and placed it one the counter, "thank you, have a nice ride sir" said the cashier as he handed Steele the tickets, he then proceeded to distribute the tickets between his friends.
After about five minutes, they heard the conductor yell from across the platform, "all aboard!" he yelled through the ear piercing screech of the train horn. "Come on, the trains leaving" Steele said as they all boarded the train and headed for canterlot.
(Everfree forest)
Shade and a group of pegasi and unicorns had found the crash site; they found no trace of Steele and his friends.
"Well, what have you found shade, any sign of them?" an impatient Haze said from the other side of the headset, Shade was wearing. "Nothing here sir, all we found was the balloon and some hoof prints leading back to town" Shade answered back.
"Dam it!" Haze shouted over the headset, causing Shade, to reel his head back and adjust the sound, "very well, gather everypony up, head back to base, we have work to do, and plans to make" Haze said as he calmed down from the other side of the connection. "Alright! Rap it up, we're leaving!" Shade shouted to his group, they then proceeded to enter their balloon and head back up to cloudsdale.