Those Distant Sisters CH35

Ch35:

Evanescence flew silently at the far left of a triangle formation, destined for her homeland. She watched the stars as they peeked past the slew of orange and red that bled from the last moments of sunshine, made ever so slightly longer by their flying directly into it. According to the position of the Centaur’s tail, they were nearly at Hearth. She began scanning the horizon, quietly telling the Equestrian who formerly piloted the craft what to look for. After a moment, the light glow of Hearth’s typical electronics graced the horizon – joined by the eerie red of a distant fire and the cool black of the night sky.

“This is Equestria Four, we’ve spotted land. Bearing three degrees to port and approximately five minutes out.” The mare squinted toward the horizon. “You sure? I still don’t see it.” The darted her head back and forth, trying to divine some extra sight on the horizon. Evanescence chuckled. It’s amazing what you can do with a few years practice…

A colt’s voice came over the intercom.

“This is Equestria One, Equestria Four take point. Find us a nice place to land.” Evanescence geared up the engines until the former pilot cringed from the noise – then back down a notch. Need to put a muzzle on this thing. Doubt I’ll have to the time when we’re on the ground though. Telling the other pilots to stay back, Evanescence began to fly in a wide high circle around the campfires adding spots to the great thin spot’s constant glow. A year ago the fires would barely be visible from this high, but the nation’s little secret was out now, and there was no need to keep up appearances.

“I’m not sure what sort of positioning you use, so I can’t tell you where exactly to land. We do want all the birds on the ground at once though.” Evanescence began telling her cowering co-pilot what to say over the radio. The fire sympathizers, her sister included she assumed, had placed themselves at the center of a large patch of roughly flat ground. Evanescence didn’t trust the other pilots to all land at once, so she marked out six sections of the easiest land to tackle, and told the other planes to land first so she could monitor them. “What’s your name, by the way?” The question caught the other mare off guard.

“Me? Um… I’m a pear. Adept Pear. I’m the mechanic at my family’s farm.” The mare seemed to calm a bit, but tensed up again when she was called on the radio. Shoulda tried this hours ago, might have been a nicer flight. Oh well, too late now.

“Alright, Adept. Stay with the plane when we land. I’ll help pull a hold full of refugees in, but… There’s one mare I’m looking for. My sister, Resonance. If she gets in this plane, I don’t care if I’m not with her. Get her safe.” The other mare nodded silently as the last plane began its descent to the waiting mass of ponies below. The first three had already begun boarding, but a thin line of ponies stayed on the edges of the camp. Evanescence had been watching them, they were the guards and probably had a tie into the Hearth’s Core radio signals to know if anything was coming.

Something was.

All at once, the right side of the guard began running across the field, pushing through the thinning mass of ponies as the left began casting an array of spells and fire toward the sky. The Night Hawks had arrived.

The plane shook violently as a Hearth’s Core jet flew below them, tearing the air and causing the plane to dip towards the ground. Evanescence had been through worse, and desperately tried to ignore the fight below and above as she dove towards the ground. It would be uncomfortable, but she would land well enough to take off again. Adept was screaming.

As the tires touched the ground, a plume of smoke erupted from the soft earth. It mixed quietly with the similar clouds made by bombs and fire dropped from above, losing its relatively peaceful roots altogether. Evanescence cut the engines just enough to stop the plane from rolling, but left them on to aid Adept in taking off quickly.

“Stay here, I’ll be back if I can. Remember what I told you.” Evanescence stared seriously at the other mare until she nodded in agreement and took the pilot’s seat. Then, she left the plane.

The outside world was filled. Filled with the sights of smoke and dust, filled with the sounds of engines and screams, filled with the smells of fire and death. Evanescence paused at the top of the plane’s ramp, scanning the crowds for the azure coat and ragged steel gray mane that complimented her own. She picked out a blue mare, but she had a black mane. She saw a gray mane, but that mare had an orange coat. She seemed frozen in place trying to pick an ant out of a crowd, but eventually she succeeded. Azure coat, steel gray mane. Evanescence ran through the crowd to a small pile of wood near the center, apparently being used as a stage. As she got closer, she saw her sister standing beside another mare. Both were covered in layers of cuts and blood and soot and dirt. Both were alive.

Resonance turned away, barking orders in the other direction as Evanescence stormed the stage. She screamed as Evanescence spun her around and wrapped her hooves around her in a big bear hug.

“What in the… Evvy?” Resonance blurted out, not really believing what she saw. “Evvy! What are… how?” Seeing that her sister was unable to put a solid thought together, Evanescence began.

“I’m sneaky. Did you really think you could call for help, from anywhere on this Earth, and I wouldn’t come running? I…” As Evanescence began to gesture towards to the plane she had landed in, a huge plume of smoke blocked the view. All three mares were thrown from the makeshift stage, leaving Evanescence lying on her back. There was a strong ringing in her ears as she tried to get up. She couldn’t at first, but rolled her head to one side to see her sister. Resonance had landed on her side, and wasn’t moving. The other mare was nowhere to be seen. Evanescence could make out faint yelling on her other side, and managed to roll her head over just in time to see a colt fire a bolt of magic at a passing jet. The plane fizzled and turned yellow as it slowly fell from the sky. A moment later, the pilot ejected. These ponies don’t know how to fight. I don’t even know what that spell was for, but it certainly wasn’t made to take down planes by turning them yellow.

Evanescence struggled to her hooves, and limply made her way toward her sister. She charged out four steps, each more sturdy and confident than the last. By the time she reached her sister lying in the dirt, adrenaline had taken the soreness out of her legs and back, and the ringing in her ears was almost gone. She knelt down, placing an ear next to Resonance’s mouth. A very faint sound accompanied by tiny puffs of warm air brushed against her ear drum. Resonance was alive.

A dark cloud swept over her as Evanescence stood back up. She followed the cloud as it shrank and shrank, becoming a perfect circle next to her. The ground under she shadow moved slightly as a set of heavy hooves touched down onto them, leaving the parachute to fall gently to the side and cover the shadow forever. The colt stumbled slightly as he unsnapped the parachute with magic. His cream colored coat was stained with blood dripping slowly from a gash on the side of his head, barely covered by soft light brown hair. His eyes burned with hatred as they wandered slowly between the two mares.

“My dear sister in law… I thought you had left for good.”