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XCOM: Ranger

by Wanderer D

Chapter 217: Chapter 215: Loops

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Ranger

Chapter 215: Loops

By Wanderer D

"Princess!" The guard saluted Twilight, who stopped to briefly salute back. Twilight smiled and lowered her hoof. "At ease. I am looking for Princess Luna, and any of my guests."

Rainbow Dash stopped next to Twilight, and silently observed how all the Royal Guard stood straighter and prouder. She had to admit, Twilight being a warrior—even if she was a rookie by the other world's standards—had changed the whole way the Royal Guard looked at their newest princess.

Where they had always been fond of the egghead, Rainbow Dash clearly remembered that there was a slight sense of amusement, no matter how many times they saved Equestria. That was gone now. For better or worse, they had recognized Twilight as someone trained and professional, and that had changed a lot of their interactions.

Dash briefly wondered if it would be the same when she finally joined the Wonderbolts.

"Princess Luna was reportedly conducting some sort of flying drills with the griffons: Galejandra, Galahad, Gilda, and Gabby, ma'am," the guard said, "they requested the south wing of the pegasus corps training grounds be assigned for their exclusive use."

"Wait, Gilda's here?" Rainbow Dash asked, eyes wide, all previous thoughts forgotten. "Why?"

The guard shook his head. "I do not know her reason for being here, ma'am, she came back with the other griffons. She seemed to be part of Sir Galahad's training entourage for Galejandra."

"Alejandra," Twilight corrected gently. "The G is silent."

"Right! Sorry ma'am."

Twilight shook her head with a smile. "It's okay. Thank you for the information."

The trio turned and headed towards the training grounds, walking slowly, while Rainbow Dash's mind flew at two times the speed of rainbow. Why had Twilight been so insistent she come with her? Was this whole thing some sort of friendship mission? Was she the mission? "So… are you ready to tell me what this is all about?" She finally asked, trying to keep her mind from going into even crazier theories. "I have like… so many questions right now. Why me? Is it related to our Elements? Why so quiet?"

Twilight smiled. "It's a surprise. But I'd like Alejandra and Galahad to come with us… maybe even Lae—Luna, if she feels like it."

Rainbow Dash sighed, and shook her head, quenching the questions. She had done this before with Twilight. No matter how much she cajoled, begged, insisted or whined, Twilight never told her anything if it was 'a surprise'. "Fine, I'll wait. But I still don't know why Gilda is here. Did you know about her?"

"No." Twilight shook her head, "And I don't know who this Gabby griffon is either. But since we're going on a mission, I'd like to take some of my team with me, and Tala is down in Ponyville right now. Since we're not going that way, I might as well take the others."

Rainbow Dash was quiet for a moment, pondering. "What about the others?" she asked, eyeing Twilight.

Sighing, Twilight shook her head and looked away. "This… is not for them, Dash. They're all back home right now, in Ponyville. They're tending to crops, helping little animals, selling clothes, or organizing parties." She started walking a little bit faster, and Rainbow Dash simply followed suit.

"I still don't get why we can't send them a message."

Twilight grimaced. "This mission is really urgent, and unlike the others, having an official crown-mission would help your chances with the Wonderbolts as well." She glanced over her shoulder and smirked. "Besides. I couldn't go there and not bring you. I don't think you'd forgive me."

"Why wouldn't I forgive you?" Rainbow Dash asked, her mind already following Twilight's logic about how that would help with the Wonderbolts and liking that too much to really complain. "Okay, now I'm really curious."

"You'll find out in a moment," Twilight said as they took off, flapping their wings.

It wasn't a long flight before they could see the training grounds, or the squad that flew up to meet them. After confirming their identities, the group of pegasi saluted and flew away to continue their patrol. It was very clear that Luna had not wanted anyone else to be there.

Rainbow Dash caught sight of a couple of other patrols, but none of them bothered them as they finally saw their objective.

The training ground was very similar to the ones used by the Wonderbolts themselves, being on a pretty high mountain, above the cloud level. Usually, the whole area would have platoons of pegasi training and performing drills… something Rainbow Dash had witnessed herself a couple of times, but this time, there was nopony around other than the patrols they had left behind.

"It's kinda weird seeing this place so empty," Rainbow Dash said, glancing around. "I guess the Princess really wanted this all for herself, huh? Maybe she's practicing some crazy spells?"

Twilight's laugh was so awkward that Rainbow Dash could not ignore it. "Alright. Fezz up, Twilight."

Twilight cringed, glancing at her and taking a deep breath. "I guess you would be finding out soon enough… but you have to promise not to tell anybody about this."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Cross m—"

"No! Don't summon her. Just promise, normally."

"Summon her?" Rainbow Dash muttered under her breath. "Alright, alright, I promise."

Twilight gulped. "Well, you see… the thing is that that's not actually Luna…"

Laetitia laughed.

She could feel the feathers, each one, ruffling in the wind. She could sense the updraft. She could sense the changes in pressure, humidity, speed. It was instinctual and beautiful. She had never felt this free.

She took on speed, spiraling up and up past clouds until there was only darkness and stars above her and she let go, falling down on her back, her eyes wide and smiling so hard her cheeks hurt as the tiniest moment of vertigo hit her and then a rush of air and adrenaline.

She fell several thousand feet, then turned and looped, whooping and laughing again.

Below her, in the amphitheater that was used for mock battles, Alejandra flew, tracing the edges of the structure really close, feeling her stalker behind her. She risked a glance, immediately noticing Gilda, who had a big, predatory grin on her face.

"Don't think you can outrun me, G!" Gilda roared. "I'm the fastest griffon you'll ever meet!"

And she was right.

Alejandra knew she couldn't outfly her, but she didn't plan to. They had done several loops there since the morning after picking up Luna, and she had been studying the structure. Up ahead there was a balcony, and that's where she would take her chance.

The moment she flew under the balcony, she twisted and opened her wings wide, arresting her acceleration enough to grab onto the ledge of the balcony. The momentum swung her upwards, and she quickly tucked her legs behind and pushed against the stone structure, flying down just as a very surprised Gilda should have flown under.

But she wasn't there.

An eagle-like cry from above made Alejandra flap hard to her left, throwing her weight in that direction desperately, and she barely managed to avoid Gilda's dive, who sprinted on the floor and took off after her with cat-like grace.

All her instincts ordered her to take out her guns and shoot… except her guns were with Galahad, and they were only allowed to fight without intent to kill.

"You can do it!" Gabby shouted from the side, and Alejandra narrowed her eyes. She slammed her claw down on the dirt, flapping her wings to pivot her out of the way just in time to let Gilda flash right past her.

Alejandra brought down her claw, but Gilda's tail slapped her in the eyes and broke her concentration, it took only that moment in their high-speed battle for Alejandra to loose control completely and crash, rolling away without much control, her wings and tail slapping the ground painfully until she came to a dusty stop.

"Haha!" Gilda crowed. "And one more point for me!" She approached Alejandra, offering a claw to help her up. "That wasn't bad, G," she added, grunting as she helped the former human up. "You almost had me there."

"How?!" Alejandra groaned. "How did you know?"

Gilda cackled. "You think I didn't notice you eying that balcony every time?" She shook her head, smirking smugly. "When I saw you aim for it, I flew straight up. I could see the fancy tumbling you did, but I was already going down for the kill."

"And the tail attack?" Alejandra asked.

"Instinct," Gilda replied, shrugging. "I've gotten into my share of fights and using my tail to distract has worked in desperate situations."

Alejandra shook her head in amusement.

"I think it's time for a break."

"Gah!" both griffons shouted, jumping back and glaring at Galahad, who simply smiled.

"Don't do that!" Gilda wheezed.

"We have guests," Galahad said, turning to the stands. "Gabby? Be a dear and get Laetitia, would you?"

"Yes, sir!"

Alejandra sat down, taking the time she could to gather her breath. "So… who's coming?"

Galahad motioned with his head, and Alejandra looked past him, squinting her eagle eyes. "Is that… Twilight?"

"...and Rainbow Dash." Gilda stood straighter, eyes narrowing. "I should go."

"No," Galahad said, glancing at the approaching pair. "They wouldn't bother us unless it was important."

"Yeah but—oof!"

Before Gilda could say anything else, she was tackled by Rainbow Dash and they both rolled in the dust, creating a veritable cloud, just as Twilight gently spiraled down to join them.

"Um… should we help them?" Alejandra asked.

Twilight shook her head. "Let's let them catch up first." She smiled using a wing to dust off Alejandra, who looked down with a small smile. "You look much better, I'm glad you're up and fighting again."

"Thanks."

Before she could say anything else, Laetitia landed, flanked by Gabby, who gaped at yet another princess.

"Twilight?" Laetitia asked. "What brings you here?"

Twilight smirked. "Hope."

o.0.o End Chapter 215 o.0.o

Next Chapter: Chapter 216: Intimate Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 32 Minutes
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