The Wonderbolt Colonel strode to the front of the hall. Spring Jade Hall had been build just for these things. The bulk of it was the auditorium, with another six small lecture halls. The second floor had 12 meeting rooms.

The hall was named for Nova’s second in command, and wife, who had died on their last mission below. He was quiet about her, so it was a fight to get it named after her. All of the new buildings had been named after those who had died below. The names had been drawn by lottery. There was talk about giving each Unit Building a name as well.

Nova walked over to the Wonderbolt Colonel.

“Are you ready? You seem distracted.”

“I am,” The Wonderbolt Colonel said surveying everypony.

The place was half full. The only ones in the room were the ones leading the Officer School and the ones helping lead the Combat Formations Practicums. Although, no one knew about the combat formations segment. The Units called to the combat formations segment were being informed as they were meeting.

For Squad 12, that meant that only Marble Falls, Cardinal Spitfire and Raspberry Lemonade were supposed to be there. The others were going to be in the Officer School.

But Cardinal Spitfire was missing. And it was time to start. Everypony else was early.

“Welcome,” The Wonderbolt Colonel said, starting things.

The door at the back banged open. Cardinal Spitfire stood halfway in gasping for breath. She was in her Wonderbolt Jacket, but that was as close to being ready as she could be. Her mane was a mess. Her face was ragged and showed signs of heavy exhaustion and sleep deprivation. She didn’t even take the time to put her bags in her room.

“You’re late,” The Wonderbolt Colonel sternly stated. “We already started.”

Cardinal Spitfire took a deep breath in, gathering herself into a strong stance. “So be it.”

“Why are you late? Was the time frame not clear?”

“I got unexpectedly held up,” Cardinal Spitfire shot back. She began to make her way down to the front, where the open seat was obviously for her.

“What held you up?”

“Does it matter?”

“Since you are late, yes.”

Cardinal Spitfire ignored it and sat down.

“What could possibly be so important that you miss a deadline to be back?” The Wonderbolt Colonel pushed. “Discipline is key. And you gave full agreement to allotted time.”

Cardinal Spitfire grinned and leaned onto the flip out note desktop. “I don’t even know exactly what I have. Until I get to see it all, I can’t even say for certain.”

“That’s where that camera is!” Marble Falls exclaimed. “They have been looking for it. Deke was getting blamed for it.”

Cardinal Spitfire shrugged in innocence. “I didn’t know they were looking for one. I just used the opportunity to practice my skills. I was going to return it within the next week.”

“Captain Marble Falls,” The Wonderbolt Colonel said sternly. “Grab it!”

Raspberry Lemonade grabbed Cardinal Spitfire in a tight lock and Marble Falls tore her saddlebags off of her. Cardinal Spitfire was too tired to put up a proper fight. The camera was passed to the Colonel. Cardinal Spitfire was fuming, but kept her mouth shut.

“Captain, get this developed immediately,” The Wonderbolt Colonel ordered.

Cardinal Spitfire’s spirit was obviously broken over the order.

“She disappeared for over four days, missed her time she promised to be in, and worse, I couldn't get a tracking on her general location. Along with stealing the camera, I want to make sure she didn’t do something stupid that would cause her security to be compromised.”

Marble Falls took the camera without looking at Cardinal Spitfire.

“Oh, and have them developed under strict security guidelines. This is for the Wonderbolts.”

Marble Falls just headed out, without a response. It was her way of resisting the position she was put in. Both of them knew why she had been chosen. Captain Marble Falls was the most prepared to be a teacher in the Officer School. She had done it several months before. The rest would need this orientation. Also, it was a way to keep it inside Pony Patrol.

“Now, Cardinal Spitfire,” The Wonderbolt Colonel said. “I needed you back on time because this is a two part operation. We are not just running an Officer School here. We also have Unit 0 training medical shit, and even worse, we will be having recruits using their flight decks, which really restricts us.”

“But you are not apart of any of those operations. You are in charge of the Combat Formations Practicums. You will be taking all available Units and personnel and making sure they can run combat formations properly. We saw with Unit 0’s training that we are not as ready as we should be.”

“Nova has your list. Lieutenant Raspberry Lemonade will be with you as well, but Captain Marble Falls is needed as an Officer School instructor. You do get Lieutenant Arrow and Lieutenant Flags. Along with several others we tested out.”

Cardinal Spitfire was given a list of her instructor and a list of everypony she would be running through the practicums.

“That’s it?” Cardinal Spitfire asked, annoyed. “I had a hard and fast deadline for this?”

“Yes,” Nova said. “Not for the sake of a deadline, but to give you the time you needed to prepare before starting the next day.”

Cardinal Spitfire did a quick flip through. “Easy. Randomize them into teams of seven for the practicums. Two days in classroom going over the formations and philosophy of each, one or two on the ground running speed drills, and then its into the sky for real drills and then mock combat.”

“Keep them in their units,” Nova ordered. “If they are entering as a full unit.”

“That’s a big mistake,” Cardinal Spitfire warned. “They have to learn to work with a seventh member. It is better to totally mix them up so that they can handle any formation and reading more pegasi. We don’t want them comfortable, we want them challenged. And with this time frame, I should be able to change groups up at least once more, three times if they pick it up quickly. They better since they are in the ACUs.”

Nova thought for a moment. “Alright, assign them as you see fit.”

Cardinal Spitfire stood up.

“Sit down!” The Wonderbolt Colonel ordered.

“I can’t shuffle everypony up and organize things from this chair. And all you are going to do is cover more on the Officer School. I know the timing of the Officer School and can work around it. My instructors on this list can be given their final run downs as we teach them in classroom. Most of them will need to be in them anyway to pick up on my approach. I don’t have time to give them the crash course before this starts. I would need a good week.”

“By dinner, on my desk,” Nova stated. “That isn’t a negotiable time. You can not be late.”

“Right,” Cardinal Spitfire yawned as she headed out of the auditorium.

Raspberry Lemonade was right behind her, to help her sort things out. It only took them an hour to have the teams set up. And another hour later their course was set down on paper and everything was on Nova desk. The others were not out of their Officer School orientation. It required a whole different level of professionalism as an officer than most performed at. They had to be the ultimate example.

Cardinal Spitfire set up an afternoon flying session with her instructors so that they could run through it all together, as their own orientation. It wouldn’t take long. Cardinal Spitfire crashed, while waiting for lunch. Raspberry Lemonade was going to make sure she was awake for lunch. Nopony could know she needed sleep. Cardinal Spitfire was late, they didn’t need to tag it on as another weakness for her.

Cardinal Spitfire's cover was blown right after she fell asleep. The Wonderbolt Colonel had to do more than just shake her. Water was splashed onto Cardinal Spitfire’s face. That woke her up.

“We have to talk,” The Wonderbolt Colonel growled.

Cardinal Spitfire stumbled after her in a fog. They didn’t go to an office. They went to one of the war rooms in the Wonderbolt Barracks. Inside was every picture Cardinal Spitfire had taken, many blown up to large poster sizes for better viewing. Marble Falls and Nova were inside, looking at the pictures and the stuff Cardinal Spitfire brought back.

“Where is this?” The Wonderbolt Colonel asked, setting a cup of coffee in front of Cardinal Spitfire. “I am assuming its north, which is why my attempt to track you failed. And based on the fact that its stone. But that could be anywhere.”

Cardinal Spitfire pushed the coffee away. “I’m swore not to tell. I swore to protect it’s location. It holds no value to the Enclave.”

“I’m not talking about fucking value!” The Wonderbolt Colonel erupted. “I’m talking about Shadow Flare! That is obvious communication with him! Time stamped! And unless you went below, that means he popped his head above! I want him back almost as badly as you do. All of us do!”

“No,” Cardinal Spitfire resisted. “I swore an oath, on my word, that it would not be divulged. And I left a response.”

The Wonderbolt Colonel got face to face with Cardinal Spitfire and growled. “We can do this two ways. One, you tell me and we can get to work, or two, I rip the north apart and force this information out of the very farmers you are trying to protect. And I will be going straight to Shadow Flare’s family first. And It won’t be a nice conversation because I will have to go straight into forcing it out of them.”

Nova shook his head, disappointed.

“Well?” The Wonderbolt Colonel growled.

“No,” Cardinal Spitfire spit. “My word will hold.”

“ARRGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” The Wonderbolt Colonel raged. “Why won’t you let me help you? I want to get Shadow Flare and the Inquisitors back! Is it that hard?”

Cardinal Spitfire narrowed her eyes at the Colonel. “This goes deeper than that. I want him back too, but that place needs to be protected.”

“Cardinal,” Marble Falls said. “We need to visit the sight. We need to verify it is Filly Fooler. So we can get him and the team home. You did a good job, but there is more we need to do. Filly Fooler did his job. He knew you would go there. He set it up so that you, and we, could fix this problem and get him home. He is reaching out. He knows the risk that he took placing that message on that wall. He trusts us all, not just you.”

Cardinal Spitfire looked at them. Nova was hurting. He was feeling the same pain he felt for every soldier who died below on his watch. Marble Falls was frustrated. Her anger was nearly boiling over. She was ready to kill to get the Inquisitors home. Even more, she was ready to go to the nightmare of below to get him back. The Colonel was fuming that Cardinal Spitfire wasn’t giving in, but Cardinal Spitfire couldn't read anything else. It was most likely striking the Colonel deeply because it was still run out of the Colonel’s fort, Fort Griffin’s Gate.

“Fine,” Cardinal Spitfire sighed. “I won’t draw you a map, but I will take you there.”

“Perfect,” The Wonderbolt Colonel smiled. “Go back to sleep. We will leave soon. I am sure Lieutenant Raspberry Lemonade can stand in for you.”

“She can,” Cardinal Spitfire replied. “When do we leave?”

“I have to do something to cover for us leaving during the start of Officer School. Give us a few hours. You obviously got no sleep and we have little time for rest.”

Cardinal Spitfire stood up. “The cave soaks up more time than you would expect.”

“We won’t have much time to sleep,” The Wonderbolt Colonel stated. “So you are going to have to push it. You will be maxed out.”

“I pushed it getting there and got little sleep,” Cardinal Spitfire shot back. “I can handle some more.”

Cardinal Spitfire headed out. She almost collided with General Shielded Vengeance at the corner. She didn’t know he was still here. She thought he left since the other generals and admirals were gone. He no longer had to screen them and protect his units.

It took Cardinal Spitfire no time at all to fall asleep. When they woke her up a few hours later, they had everything she needed in her bags. Mostly food.

“You will take the lead,” The Wonderbolt Colonel said. “Give it your best sustainable speed. We will be tight on you to run a lower profile. We have the real bits for the overnight stays.”

Cardinal Spitfire nodded and launched. They were right on her side in a very tight formation. They couldn’t even draft with their positions. At least Cardinal Spitfire knew her exact heading and wouldn’t spend extra time finding it.

Marble Falls forced them to land after dinner. It wasn’t just for Cardinal Spitfire. If they were going to be spending the night, they needed to be courteous to the farmers and their earlier bedtimes.

They didn’t need to pay for food. They were carrying plenty of K rations. They just needed refills on their water.

They pushed hard all day. As hard as they pushed, it didn’t matter, they were a few hours shy of Cinnamon Tulip’s farm. The late start on the first day threw that off.

Cardinal Spitfire groaned in pain in the morning. She had a headache and her whole body was sore. She was running on empty and still had a solid two days to go. The Wonderbolt Colonel and Marble Falls were well rested heading in. They took the time to actually eat a cooked breakfast with the family.

“How long?” The Wonderbolt Colonel asked.

“Two, hours to the farm,” Cardinal Spitfire replied. “I think its close to an hour from there.”

“We better get going,” Marble Falls said. “We will spend a lot more time than planned in the cave.”

They took off properly from the road and Cardinal Spitfire immediately turned them to the north. Cardinal Spitfire could rest on the flight back when she didn’t have to navigate. She put them into a very fast push. They flew right over the house and continued up into the mountains.

“We are no longer in the Enclave,” The Wonderbolt Colonel stated a little later. “Or Equestria proper. Damn, this is cold.”

“I know,” Cardinal Spitfire chuckled. “You could feel where the weather teams lost full control over the weather. And there was really no control over it this far out. But that was on their lazy asses, nothing more.”

Cardinal Spitfire dropped them until they were skimming along the ground at blazing speeds. They were almost there, and she didn’t want to miss it because they were too high. Cardinal Spitfire's wings flipped out to break. Marble Falls broke at the same time, reading the nonverbal cues. The Wonderbolt Colonel zipped past, breaking a second later.

“Fuck you two and your perfect symmetry,” The Wonderbolt Colonel spat.

They all laughed and came into a walking stop at the mouth of the cave.

“Inside,” Cardinal Spitfire said, unsure what else to say.

“Easy to miss,” Marble Falls stated. “Very easy to miss tucked in here like this.”

Cardinal Spitfire was in first. They heard the lights pop on as the got in deeper and the screams from fillies and colts. As they came into the first chamber, they were met by a very pissed off Daytime Shower. Cinnamon Tulip was guarding the kids, a bit deeper in. They had just arrived as well.

“You gave your word!” Daytime Shower growled.

“Yeah, yeah,” Marble Falls said gently pushing him aside. “And its not broken. We have to verify this on our own. Quick in and out, nothing more. There were no maps or coordinates involved.”

“Damn,” The Wonderbolt Colonel swore as she marveled over it all. “I never dreamed of walking in the very halls of…”

“The lights are on because of our radios,” Cardinal Spitfire explained.

“Shit!” The Wonderbolt Colonel swore, pulling it out.

The Colonel began to run through a long list of codes, seeking to pick up any chatter on the other end. It proved to be online, but a dead end. There was nopony to work it.

The Wonderbolt Colonel had stepped off the path and stopped at the paintings of the Zebras. The Colonel’s hoof came up carefully pet the painted wall. The Colonel’s eyes lit up at closer inspection of the dart in the wall.

“They are not bullets! They are not even crossbow darts! They’re flechettes! That makes so much more sense! If only we could get a hold of their actual foreleg launcher they wore!”

The Colonel spotted several on the ground and picked them up, holding one up for a revered, close inspection. The foals watched in awe as Wonderbolts reverently inspected various things. Marble Falls held up a piece of red metal, a blown out corner of a small box.

“What is this?” Marble Falls asked.

The Wonderbolt Colonel’s eyes widened even more. Pure, foal joy. Like seeing snow for the first time.

“That’s, there is only one red metal thing they had. Their hot line phone! I’m not surprised it was in that front area, but they certainly blasted the whole front area to pieces. Not much left. Pocket it. That’s a museum piece, and its not taking away anything from here. Not with this debris field. And nopegasus should be leaving the path, for safety reasons.”

The Wonderbolt Colonel pocketed some flechettes.

“Now, where is this hidden room?”

Cardinal Spitfire pushed on the wall she was leaning against to open the door. The Colonel stepped in.

“Well I’ll be,” The Colonel marveled. “Prewar Wonderbolt posters. And in near perfect condition. I have to have these and preserve them.”

“They are stuck in a room that only we can unlock,” Cardinal Spitfire grinned. “But the orbs are also in there, in the filing cabinets.”

“Yeah, we will take the rest to preserve them. But we don’t have a necklace or device. Not even in storage. Not that we know of. I’ll be hitting the archives when we get back to see, but its a long shot. I know those archives pretty well. I might even get to add in a chapter in our history books from these finds.”

“You’ve got to see back there,” Marble Falls yelled from the back. “Its incredible to see. Its amazing to think of how they brought this down. It had to take hours to set it up, and it was so well calculated.”

“They may of had it ready to blow,” The Wonderbolt Colonel said while carefully rolling the posters up. The Colonel had brought protective tubes to slide the posters in. The Colonel had seen them in the photos and was planning on taking them back. “They rigged most everything, and then worked around the hidden and secured charges. Do what you have to do in wartime, especially one full of spies.”

Marble Falls used the time to let the fillies and colts get a better view into the back. It was an opportunity few others would every have. They had already been instructed by Cinnamon Tulip to keep the visit secret, or face consequences none of them wanted to think about.

After that, the three of them looked at the wall. The fillies and colts had left, but Daytime Shower was there to oversee the changes and prepare to come up with a story about it.

“I was hoping being here would help make the heart make sense,” Marble Falls stated.

Cardinal Spitfire was so tired she giggled instead of chuckled. “We have necklaces, to seal our union. Cheap things, flat so they don’t get in the way of our gear. Together, they make that heart. And we had them engraved. So you can’t replicate them.”

“That makes sense,” Marble Falls sighed. “So it’s definitely Filly Fooler.”

“Oh yeah,” Cardinal Spitfire said. “And it must have been some laser cutter, because my knife is destroyed from the little I did.”

“You only knew so much,” The Wonderbolt Colonel stated. “I can leave a better message.”

The Wonderbolt Colonel pulled out a can of spray paint. Wonderbolt Yellow.

“Inquisition recalled by order of General Shielded Vengeance. Report immediately to the General or Nova. Enter by any means necessary. All gates notified of your sign, names and ranks. It’s safe to come home.”

The date was put at the bottom and the Wonderbolt’s symbol was painted on either side. The Colonel used stencils for the symbol. Marble Falls grabbed the spray can for a better signature. “Card Falls” was painted just above Cardinal Spitfire’s original message. They wanted the original to be seen, to give more weight to the validity of the message. Shadow Flare would be looking for validity and familiarity in every way possible.

They took a few more minutes to carefully poke their heads into everything, gather any last little pieces to take back for historical keepsakes, and departed, leaving the places the fillies and colts visited almost the same way they had always known it. Even the flechettes were still in the wall. The Colonel had only kept three of the five on the floor.

It was later than planned. Lunch had come and gone. Daytime Shower invited them back to the farmhouse. The Colonel took up the invitation, deciding that Cardinal Spitfire could use the break. Cardinal Spitfire had done better than good. And Cardinal Spitfire would go right back to working as hard as possible, leading the practicums.

Cardinal Spitfire made one request. That they hear the tale of Rainbow Dash’s final tale, the Legend of Kifopiga. Daytime Shower was more than happy to oblige. The Colonel and Marble Falls were in for a big surprise.

Next Chapter: Chapter 85 - Message Below Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 21 Minutes