Chapter 10: Mail Call
"And that's how I single handedly alienated my family, friends and reduced my ally count to 0."
"Wow. That's… heavy…"
"Heavy eh? Yeah, I warned you. Anyway, let's not talk or think about it. What's past is past. Coffee?"
Shadow tried to keep the smile on his face. Rainbow shook her head, but still followed the dark pegasus back into Sugar Cube Corner.
"Well, I've got to go," Dash murmured, tensing up slightly.
Shadow nodded, sipping his coffee.
"I'll see you around then," he stated, still keeping his grin on.
Chuckling nervously, Rainbow returned, "Yeah… you drink too much coffee by the way."
With that, Dash bolted off. Shadow felt himself lost amidst his thoughts. Standing inside Sugar Cube Corner, he drank his coffee in silence, mulling on all the emotions that were brought back to him.
"Heyyy Shadow!"
Sighing, Storm turned and glanced at the source of the high pitched voice. A familiar pink mare bounced towards him.
"Whatcha doin'?" Pinkie asked, still bouncing on the spot.
"Thinking," Shadow answered, not masking his annoyance.
"Okay!" she shouted happily before racing off.
Slapping his hoof in his face, Storm found himself at a loss for words or even comprehension of Pinkie and her antics. After standing awkwardly in the rapidly emptying building, Shadow followed suit and left.
Heading back to his house as the sun slowly dropped behind the low lying clouds of the horizon, Shadow attempted to take his mind off of everything. He managed to dissuade his thoughts long enough to get home, and fall into a deep, restful sleep.
The next morning, he awoke to the sound of hooves on cloud tops. Hopping out of bed, Storm winced as the sun flooded his eyes. Moving outside, he saw a grey pegasus standing at his door, with her head stuffed in her saddle bag.
"Ah, hi," Shadow greeted, blinking his fatigue away.
"Oh! Hi there!" the mare returned, her head still stuck in her saddle bag, "I have mail for you, one second!"
Shadow waited for what seemed like an eternity. Whatever she was doing was slow going.
"Need a hoof?" he asked, raising an eyebrow curiously as a smirk began to spread across his face.
"No, I'm fine. Just give me another second…"
Shadow chuckled in response, as the mare finally pulled her head out of the bag with great force, causing several letters to soar into the air. Acting quickly, Storm bolted forward, scooping them up before they could go anywhere.
"Thanks, mister," the mare, stated, brushing her cream coloured mane away from her yellow eyes, "Here you go."
Extending her hoof with a two letters in it, the mailpony grinned. Shadow took it from her, and nodded at her.
"Good day ma'am," he said, heading back through his door.
"BYE!" was the rather excited response coupled with a wave.
Sitting down at his desk, Shadow pondered the implications of this. Mail? He never got mail. Nopony ever sent him something. Unless it was orders, Shadow found this whole affair oddly foreign.
Opening the first letter, Shadow chuckled. He should have guessed this would be it.
It read, "2ndLt Storm, Shadow,
Enclosed in this letter is your stipend of 102 bits.
RAF Command"
Storm shook his head, surprised by his own naïveness. Nopony would send him mail. He'd lived on a base for such a long time, he never had gotten his earnings via mail.
Opening the second, he read aloud, "2ndLt Storm, Shadow,
Your request for a transfer from
NOVEMBER BASE, APPALOOSA
Has been denied, on the grounds of,
UNECCESSARY ACTION, MORALE LOWERING CONSEQUENCES
RAF Command."
Shadow sighed, throwing his head in his hooves. They'd stonewalled him, again. The bureaucratic red tape was all over the RAF, but ever since Shadow had joined the Wonderbolts, every little request had to be sent, checked, and rechecked, only to have a 25% chance of acceptance.
Glancing at the clock, Shadow stood up, heading for the door. Weather Patrol was in thirty minutes, and it took ten for him to get to the RV point.
"Early as usual."
Shadow nodded, grinning at Rainbow as she landed beside him. She had an oddly chipper air about her.
"Indeed, I try to be early and well prepped for everything."
Dash cleared her throat, as silence slowly began building.
Acting quickly to break it, Shadow stated, "Thanks for letting me join, by the way. My wing is well on its way to healing, and this patrol gives me the perfect opportunity to re-strengthen my muscles."
"No problem Hotshot," Dash answered, smirking, "Glad to have somepony new who I can show a thing or two."
Shadow laughed, but didn't respond. He noted a few of his patrolmates walking towards them across the fields. Instead, Shadow prepped himself for takeoff, and readied himself for the day.
The patrol went off without a hitch. Dash and her wingponies kept Storm fairly busy, but with his wing now healing quite well, he was able to keep up without an issue, and was only slightly tired when he was dismissed for the night.
Everything seemed to be going great. As Shadow walked home, he glanced behind him. There Rainbow was, hurrying to catch up to him. With a laugh, he watched her take her place beside him, grinning.
"What?" she asked, nudging the colt.
"Nothing. It's just that you're… predictable," Shadow returned, still laughing.
As the two walked, a questioned popped into Storm's mind. It had been nagging at him for a while but only now had he remembered it while in her company.
"So I saw you had a bunch of books in your place a while back. You much of a reader?" Shadow asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I guess you could call me a reader. I'm mostly into action; I can't deal with boring books about romance. Soul mates and fate can wait, I want to read about flying, or fighting."
As Shadow listened, he suddenly found his senses jolted, forcing him to turn his attention elsewhere. He felt a feeling he hadn't felt for a long time. Not since his last combat mission.
It's an indescribable feeling. Some call it precognition or a sixth sense. For Shadow, it was a feeling of being watched and pure fear. Every hair along his spine stood on edge.
"So what kind of books do you read?" Rainbow asked, as the two trotted along.
"Well I don't read much as of late, but Daring Do has always been a favourite of mine. I also like any of the triple oh seven novels. They're awesome too..."
Shadow trailed off as a sudden rustle in the bushes caught his eye. He swallowed trying to ignore it, but his own mind worked against him.
'Was that? No... it can't be...' Shadow thought, anxiously glancing around.
He desperately wanted the feeling to be incorrect. The last time he felt this feeling was during his flight over Ponyville. Could it be left over emotions?
"Daring Do is by far the best heroine ever. Aside from me, of course. She's cool enough that she could... hey, Hotshot! You alright?" Rainbow blurted out.
Another, louder snap in the bushes caught both the ponies' attentions.
'Okay, I'm sure I saw-" Storm thought.
His thoughts were interrupted by a scream from behind. He whipped around to see Rainbow, struggling in the claws of three shadowy figures.
