//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: Agility Test // Story: Piercing the Heavens // by Calm Wind //------------------------------// MLP: FiM Piercing the Heavens By: Calm Wind Chapter 13: “Get those lanes set up! We’ve got ten minutes before Silver brings them in!” Spitfire yelled out as the Wonderbolts rolled multiple padded poles into place. They were setting up two lanes within the first hundred yards of the gym. One lane had twenty zigzag staggered poles set up and ready. The other was still being worked on by squad three, High Winds, and Wave Chill. Soarin waited by the doors as Wonderbolt staff members rolled the poles in on dollies. “Thanks,” Soarin nodded as a pole was rolled up by the same small, yellow pegasus stallion that had given Spitfire the megaphone. Before the stallion could leave, Fleetfoot flew in and scooped him up off the floor. “Aw, you came back! I knew you liked me!” she teased the poor stallion while squeezing him until he squeaked and flailed in her grip. His yellow face turned bright red as he struggled to get free. “Fleet, put him down, he’s busy,” Soarin chuckled as he flew up towards them. “MINE!” Fleetfoot held the stallion away from Soarin while sticking her tongue out at him. Soarin shrugged. “If you want Spitfire breathing down your neck, be my guest,” Soarin pointed into the gym where Spitfire was barking orders vigorously. “Oh, fine. You get off easy,” she let the little stallion go and he quickly scurried away. “You’re the queen of harassment, you know that?” Soarin chuckled as he began pushing the dolly. “Said the princess of drama,” Fleet fired back instantly as she trotted up beside him. “Instigator,” Soarin shot back. “Horny.” “Chili wrestler.” “Hey, YOU liked it!” she elbowed him in the side. “Did not,” he retorted. “I saw all three of you! I was surprised there was no popcorn or inflatable chairs by the time we were done!” “We…” Soarin’s ears flopped back and he scrunched his face. “You DID like it! Hahaha, I’m telling Dash!” Fleetfoot bounced away while giggling. “Hey!” she was out of range before Soarin could respond. He sighed and shook his head. Lightning Streak pulled up beside Soarin, pushing another dolly. “I’ve often thought of becoming a bowl of chili.” “Oh, shut up,” Soarin pushed him away. “Everypony in! Let’s go, let’s go! If I catch you dragging your hooves, I don’t care if you’re a mare or a stallion, I’ll give you a limp the HARD way!” Silver Lining yelled in his raspy, gruff voice as the cadets filed into the gym. Dash pushed her way in quickly to avoid being caught in a funneling backup of ponies. She didn’t want to be first in line again, but she didn’t want to get caught in the back again either. Third time’s the charm. “Dash!” A familiar voice called to her. Dash turned to see Thunderlane trot up to her. Dash’s eyes lit up upon seeing him. She had been very distracted and had kinda lost track of him. She had an idea of how Bulk and Derpy were doing, but she hadn’t seen Thunderlane since the first test. Something was odd though. His wings weren’t fully folded. “There you are,” Dash smirked. “Haven’t seen much of you, I thought you ran away or something,” she joked. Thunderlane scoffed and shook his head. “After the shit I’ve put up with? I’m seeing this through,” he stated as a line started forming in the gym for the next test. They could both see the multiple poles set up, but had no idea what they were for. Spitfire was waiting for all the ponies to enter before giving the explanation. “What’s up with your wings?” Dash asked as she eyed his wings. They were slightly unfolded and twitched every few seconds. “I’m trying to loosen them up a little… they’re already stiff as hell,” he explained as he looked back and opened and closed his wings a few times. Dash lifted an eyebrow. “Already? Thunderlane we’ve done two things!” she failed to hold back a chuckle. “Hey, I haven’t been doing super pony training like you, cut me some slack,” he said while fully stretching his wings out. “EVERYPONY SHUT THE HELL UP! I JUST GOT DONE WRESTLING IN CHILI SO I’M NOT IN THE DAMN MOOD FORWHHOAAA!” Dash and Thunderlane looked up just in time to Spitfire yank Blaze down from overhead. A few incoherent scuffles were heard before Spitfire hovered up and Soarin tossed the megaphone up to her. “Please ignore my annoying look-a-like! Our third test today will be agility! We have two lanes set up here with twenty padded poles in a zigzag! We want to see how fast you can change direction while maintaining as much speed as possible! After the last pole, turn and fly as fast as you can fifty yards through our marked finish line! Since we have three tests to do before dinner, you are only getting two shots at this! Again, MAKE THEM COUNT!” Spitfire finished and hovered back down. “Wrestling in chili?” Thunderlane blinked as he pondered what Blaze said. Dash shrugged as two lines formed. “Weird stuff happens here, trust me, I’ve seen it,” Dash chuckled as they found a place in the line on the right. “So what did you mean by ‘shit you’ve put up with?’” she asked as the first trials began. “Twister,” Thunderlane said plainly. “You know, I don’t know why I asked. How do you sleep with…?” Dash froze. Twister had suddenly appeared right between them. “Sleep with whAHHH!!!” Thunderlane freaked out as he saw Twister. “I hear my name…” he tipped his head towards Thunderlane and began slowly tipping it back towards Dash. “Don’t mind me… I’m just a fly on the wall… pleeeeeease keep talking about me,” he kept tipping his head until it was upside down and facing Dash. “Uh…” Dash fought for a response but he reached a wing out and yanked her towards him so they were cheek to cheek. “Oooooohhh! You’re the one who copied my Spiral Turn!” his voice was slightly distorted due to having his face pressed into Dash’s. “I admit… it made me shiver with delight.” He dropped down, slid underneath Dash’s legs and popped up on the other side of her, pressing his other cheek to her face. “I’m keeping a close eye on you…” his words slithered in and out of her ears. Dash’s eyes just remained stuck wide open and her pupils followed him as he hovered over her back, placing himself between her and Thunderlane again. “Oh, don’t worry…” he lightly bonked his head against hers. “I promise I won’t be a creep about it,” he swiftly turned and bopped his head against Thunderlane’s. “Hi bunkmate!” then he slipped away so quickly that neither of them saw where he went. Thunderlane and Dash just stared at each other in silence. “What… just happened?” Dash blinked, not sure if she was disturbed, annoyed, or terrified. Twister gave off such a strange air. Nothing he did seemed dangerous… just… WEIRD. Dash wondered what he had gone through in life to make him so… strange. “I don’t even try…” Thunderlane shook his head as the two looked back forward. Dash hovered up slightly to see the trials running. Her attention was caught by a familiar white and ice blue bitch stepping up to the line. Dash had completely missed her speed turn testing, but now she got to scout the agility. Fire Streak gave Arctic Blast the go ahead. Arctic leapt from her spot into a fast, but controlled pace. She made clean turns around each pole, but had to regain her speed each time. Dash scoffed as she watched. Looks like ol’ SassaBlast was fast, but she couldn’t quite keep it going under non-straight circumstances. That’s what she gets for being a beanpole. Dash was surprised Arctic’s body didn’t snap beneath the pressure of wind resistance. She broke past the last pole quickly and sped towards the finish line, but her time had already been butchered by poor turning. After indirectly cheering for Arctic’s failure, Dash hovered back to the ground. She turned her head and caught a glimpse of Storm Front and Derpy together in the other line. “Oh, I met Derpy’s little crush,” Dash spoke up to Thunderlane. “Storm Front?” he turned and looked in the direction Dash was staring. “Is he as great as she says?” “Actually, he kinda is,” Dash nodded. “I talked to him a little, no signs of hidden assholery. He’s genuinely a pretty nice guy. I’ve seen him fly a bit too. He’s not really anything special, but he’s super smooth. I don’t think he’s made a single error yet,” Dash explained as they saw Storm Front step up to the other lane. Lightning Streak gave him a nod and he propelled through the course. His turns were clean and he only lost a little bit of speed each one. He hit the last pole and fired through the finish, not quite as fast as Arctic’s finish sprint, but the first half of his run was spotless. “Looks like he’s still keeping it clean. He’s got some great consistency.” “Oh hey, check it out!” Thunderlane pointed forward. The two of them were only five ponies from the front of the line now, but a certain, non-pony in front of them was about to go. Matteo stepped up to the line. “I tried talking to him too,” Dash mentioned as she hovered up to take a look. “Get anything out of him?” Thunderlane chuckled. “Nope!” Dash laughed along with him. Fire Streak stepped back a little to give extra room for Matteo’s wingspan before giving the large griffon a nod. As with his previous tests, Matteo started very slowly, but as he neared the first turn, he pulled an interesting technique out of his feathers. As he neared the first turn, instead of pitching hard while gliding, he twisted so his back was completely parallel to the pole, and flapped his large wings down hard. The motion propelled him in the correct direction towards the next pole while blowing a powerful gust of wind that almost knocked over Wave Chill and High Winds standing nearby. “Whoa!” Dash floated further up to watch. Not only did the motion allow Matteo to change direction at almost a perfect ninety degree angle, it also sped him up! He repeated the technique around the second pole, then the third, then the fourth, and continuously as he moved through the course. He picked up more speed each turn and was soon spending less than a second between each pole. As he reached the last pole, he angled a little less and thrust his wings down before beating them vigorously and propelling him towards the finish. He nearly blew over Fleetfoot as he crossed the finish and effectively clocked the fastest time. Dash had no words to describe it. The largest and heaviest cadet just clocked the fasted time so far in the agility test. Not only that, but he reversed the downside of the test. Instead aiming to not lose speed on each turn, Matteo gained speed on each turn. Dash had never seen anything like it. She didn’t have long to think on it though. Before she knew it, it was her turn. “Good luck,” Thunderlane smiled as she stepped forward. Dash set up on the line and waited for the go-ahead from Fire Streak. This was her first run. Better play it safe and see how the course goes. She may not have been good at turning under high speed, but she knew she could handle sharp turns at a more controlled pace. “On your go, Miss Dash,” Fire nodded to her. Dash nodded back and took a deep breath. She dug her hooves into the ground and leapt towards the first pole. She approached with a good amount of speed and pitched hard left. She made sure to get a good feeling for the angle and pressure of the turn. She only lost a little bit of speed, but tried her best to regain it. As she rounded each turn, she was able to build up her speed a little each time before the next. Her eyes locked on the final pole as she passed it. Could she… She had never done it sideways… but it was possible, she had seen Soarin do it in the past… She pumped her wings hard and sped through the finish line. She pulled up and slowed down, getting a nod and wink from Misty Fly as she glided around and back towards the line. It was a good clean run. Nothing bad, but nothing stellar. How could she make the second one better? Dash watched Thunderlane go through as she glided. He did pretty well despite having stiff wings, but one of his back hooves caught two poles in the process. That wouldn’t go unnoticed. She set down and began moving up in line again. There had to be a way to improve her time. She just had a decently fast run, so she didn’t have to worry about giving them a perfectly clean run, but she didn’t want to mess up either. Was it worth the risk? Dash looked up just in time to see Twister step up to the line and go the instant Fire gave him an uncomfortable nod. Twister, as he had done previously, used his “Spiral Turn” maneuver to navigate the turns with very little arc. However, it seemed his speed didn’t remain constant. So the Spiral Turn wasn’t perfect, by spinning so much, it caused more wind resistance. Twister’s time was still good because of the quick turns, but he definitely lost some valuable seconds with the slowdowns. So Matteo was able to use his powerful wings to propel himself faster after each turn, and with his clearly super strong body, he could turn enough to make the angle each time despite the building pressure of wind. The Spiral Turn negated the pressure of a turn, but slowed one down… Dash blinked as she saw the line had moved a lot. It was close to being her turn again, she was barely paying attention. She wondered if she could… use a little of the two moves she had seen. Then she remembered passing the final pole. The turn was less sharp and the padding on the pole was pretty thick. It was a long shot, but she needed to stand out. Her turn came up again. She stepped towards the starting line and set her hooves. She was going to try it. If it didn’t work the first time, she’d just recover and do it normally. “On your go,” Fire nodded and stepped back. Wow them Dash. Show them all who’s worthy of being elite! Dash fired from her spot towards the first turn. This was it. Do it now or never. Instead of pitching left, Dash folded her wings and did a half, fast spin so her back was flat facing the pole, she quickly spread her wings and thrust them down. She almost wasn’t ready for how fast it propelled her towards the second pole. Without missing a beat, she mimicked Twister’s Spiral Turn again only halfway before copying Matteo’s powerful downward thrust. She went faster still towards the third pole. From above Spitfire tipped her goggles up and her mouth hung open slightly as Dash proceeded to go faster and faster and faster from pole to pole. Dash was now copying two moves at the same time. Dash picked up so much speed that she had barely half a second in between each pole. She began overshooting the last few poles a little because it took more time for her to twist and push than it did for her to get between the turns. The last pole came into view. Dash had less than a second to think on it. So she didn’t. She did a full twist while reaching her hooves towards the thick padding of the pole. Front hooves… Back hooves… Front jump… Back jump… And force wings! She was pumped so full of adrenaline that her body executed the moves… sideways… against the pole… without a single fault. Dash shot off the pole, a loud BANG of a sonic boom echoing throughout the gym. She covered the distance between the last pole and the finish line, all fifty yards, in barely over a second. She tried to pull up after speeding past Fleetfoot, but she lost control and ended up flailing upwards with her momentum. She had lost all control. Then another loud BANG sounded out from nearby. Shortly after, she ran into something. “Oof!” She grunted as she was brought to a complete stop. She felt two arms holding onto her. She shook her head up and looked down to see two light blue, muscular arms cradling her. “I gotcha,” the voice made her head snap upward instantly. Oh, what a perfect sight. “Almost wiped out hard there,” Soarin chuckled as he lowered them towards the ground. “By the way, stop it, you’re gonna make me look bad,” he whispered and winked. Dash finally snapped out of her daydream while lost in Soarin’s eyes and smirked. “Dream on, I’m the best flyer in history,” she whispered back. Soarin chuckled at her gusto as he touched down and set her back on her hooves. “But thanks, if we weren’t ‘being professional’ I’d forcefully make out with you for that,” she bounced her eyebrows. Soarin pointed. “I’m down for later if we can sneak you out,” he bounced his eyebrows right back. “But get going before anypony gets suspicious.” “Right… later, hot stuff,” she gave him a smile before taking off back towards the line, knowing full well she’d get mobbed again about the moves. Soarin watched her go, sighing as he lifted up and glided back over to his spot. He received a wink and a sly giggle from Fleetfoot as he flew by, which he ignored, but Spitfire set down nearby as he landed. “Please tell me, this isn’t about catching her,” Soarin rolled his eyes as Spitfire approached. “It won’t be as long as you do it for all the ponies who lose control,” Spitfire chuckled. Soarin took a deep breath. Good, he really didn’t want to fight Spitfire right now. They had plenty to worry about already. Mainly, making sure nopony killed themselves. “But did you see that?!” Spitfire suddenly asked with a hint of giddiness in her voice. SPITFIRE. GIDDY. The ffffffffffffffff— “Yeah, those were some pretty awesome moves… plus the Sonic Blast-off again…” Soarin droned on. “Those moves were used by two other cadets separately before her second trial,” Spitfire cut him off. “She mimicked them on the fly.” “What?” Soarin blinked. He actually hadn’t been paying much attention to the techniques being used. Dash had copied his Sonic Blast-off in the past… and now she was doing it with other moves? He always wondered what her specialty would be. Mimicking other moves? While it risked her being labeled a jack of all trades, but a master of none… it was still pretty damn impressive and no Wonderbolt had ever done that before. Soarin shook his head. Hold it, she isn’t a Wonderbolt yet. She still has to earn that title, but it didn’t mean it wasn’t impressive. Soarin watched Spitfire as she rose back up above. She seemed to be impressed by Dash. She already was before, but now it seemed even more so. However, knowing Spitfire, just being impressed wasn’t going to be enough to choose somepony for the elite position. Skill and ability were great, but it took more than that to be an elite Wonderbolt. “Yoooooouuuuuuu…” Soarin cracked his neck and readied to keep watch for the remaining cadets. “Shooooould’vvvvvvvveeeee…” Soarin rolled his eyes. “Fuuuuuuuuucccckkkkeeeddddd…” “Go to hell Blaze,” Soarin said flatly. He caught a glimpse of a cadet moving in a wobbly pattern through the course in the opposite lane. It was a grey mare with a blonde mane… who looked to be wall-eyed. She was definitely having a hard time flying around the turns. Soarin stepped up in case he needed to do a fast rescue again. As Spitfire said, after saving Dash so “gallantly” he would have to do the same for anypony else to avoid suspicion. “WhoooOOAAAAaa!!!” the mare yelled out as she lost control, floated up, and bounced off the top of the final pole, flailing like crazy as she lost control and fell head first towards the floor. Even though Wave Chill was much closer than Soarin, the little pep talk from Spitfire made Soarin too nervous to not go for it. He didn’t have to cover quite as far as a distance, so he didn’t use the Sonic Blast-off. He sped towards the grey mare, Wave Chill pulling up as he saw Soarin approach. Soarin reached his arms out to catch her and she landed gently in his arms. However, her hooves were flailing. One of them swung up and struck Soarin’s fake horn REALLY hard. So much so that it shifted slightly on his head. Soarin’s pupils shrank as an excruciatingly painful pulse fired through every inch of his body. “AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!” Soarin cried out as he dropped the mare and she landed softly on the ground below him. The surrounding Wonderbolts all stopped what they were doing and looked quickly towards Soarin. “AAAH! ARGH!!!!” Soarin bent down and held his hooves firmly over his head. Small, blue crackles and pops began to sputter from the horn. Spitfire was speeding towards him the moment she saw Soarin get hit. She landed beside him and quickly put her hooves on his shoulders. “Soarin?! Soarin?!” she called his name as his body winced and flinched heavily. “What… what did I do?” the grey mare looked at Soarin, mortified as he continued to grunt and wail. Fleetfoot landed beside her and quickly shook her head. “You did nothing, this is a different problem… come on,” she quickly led the mare back towards the cadets, who were all silent and staring towards the Wonderbolts gathering around Soarin. Dash spotted Fleetfoot leading Derpy towards them. She quickly jumped up. “What’s going on over there?!” she questioned, seeing clearly it was Soarin who was down. Fleetfoot pointed sternly at her. “Nothing! Stay put!” she ordered. Dash froze in place. If Fleetfoot was being serious, then she wouldn’t question anything. She was told to stay put, so she would, but… what happened to Soarin? “Rgh… Ow…” Soarin twitched as the blue magic continued to crackle around his horn. It had been knocked slightly off where it was before. “We gotta get him to Luna, there’s nopony else who knows anything about the horn,” Spitfire ordered. “It’s been skewed?” Blaze lifted an eyebrow as she eyed it. “Can’t we just…” she reached for it. “Blaze!” Spitfire tried to stop her. As Blaze’s hoof came near the horn, a ribbon of dark blue energy lashed out and struck it. “YEEEOW!” Blaze cried out as the force blew her backward and into High Winds. Soarin cried out in pain again as the energy dissipated and flew back into the horn. “NOPONY TOUCH THE HORN!” Spitfire growled at the other Wonderbolts as they all took a slight step back. “I need two volunteers to take him to Luna. I can’t leave the tryouts.” Before anypony else could speak up, Misty Fly stepped forward and patted a hoof against her chest. Spitfire nodded. “Who el—” “I’ll go too!” Fire streak quickly volunteered as well. Misty smiled when she saw him step forward. Spitfire nodded at him as well. “Wave Chill, take over Fire’s spot as the starter for line one. Fire, move him SLOWLY, okay? Take the side exit to avoid the cadets, it’s faster to the tunnel anyway,” she explained before turning to Misty and making a few signs to repeat the order to her. She nodded in response. “Come on, let’s get back on track,” Spitfire waved her hoof in a circle. Fire Streak and Misty Fly carefully grabbed Soarin’s arms and hoisted him up on their shoulders. “ARGH!” he grunted in pain, a few sparks shooting off from the horn. Fire and Misty both ducked down a little until the sparks stopped before Fire spoke quietly to Soarin. “Commander Soarin, we’re taking you to Luna… can you walk with us?” he asked. Soarin grit his teeth and nodded his head slightly. “Okay… one step at a time, let’s go,” he gave a nod to Misty and the two slowly led Soarin out of the gym through a side door while the cadets all watched in confusion. One specific rainbow maned cadet watched with much worry added onto the confusion. --- To Be Continued ---