MLP: FiM
Piercing the Heavens
By: Calm Wind
Chapter 21:
Dash’s body tingled as the warm water splashed against her head and began slowly running down her face and neck. She didn’t have the luxury of a long shower, but after feeling sleepy and getting thrown into a foggy pie battle field, it felt good to have the soft pitter patter of heated water against her body. She felt the morning stiffness ease and her startle nerves calm as she began looking for and removing all the little bits and pieces of pie from her.
They were given two whole hours before the next test. It seemed like plenty of time to shower up, grab an extra bite to eat and still have enough time for the food to settle before strenuous activity. The only problem being there were a hundred cadets and the barrack showers only held only eight at a time. There were only forty-three mares compared to the fifty-seven stallions, but it seemed a lot of the mares were more worried about making their manes and tails spotless and re-grooming them. All Dash needed was a good rinse and shake out. Rarity would fume if she saw it, but Dash just wasn’t the pretty-pretty type. She was there to make the Wonderbolts, not to wiggle her plot around like a certain bitchy headcase that slept in the bed above hers.
The shower rooms were obviously separate for stallions and mares, but they weren’t build for mass groups of ponies. They were merely small rooms, about eight by ten feet, with four show taps along the ten foot walls. There was plenty of room to Dash’s left and right to extend her wings and rinse out any bits of pie or blueberry goop.
“Damn…” a voice suddenly said next to her with an impressed tone. Dash whipped her head around to get her wet mane out of her eyes and turned her head towards the shower beside hers. A pink pegasus mare with a straight white mane was looking her up and down.
“Uh…” Dash furrowed her brow, wondering what the mare was looking at.
“Oh! Sorry,” the mare grinned sheepishly. “I didn’t mean to stare, you just have… quite an impressive body,” the mare complimented genuinely. Dash blinked and looked down at herself.
“Oh, the muscles?” Dash grinned. She wasn’t getting and strange or negative vibes from the mare, she just seemed curious.
“Yeah! I’ve seen you pull off those cool moves and stuff. Plus, your by far the buffest pegasus mare I’ve ever seen, at least,” the mare smiled as she put her head under her shower stream and rotated her head around in it. “You looked pretty awesome from far back, you look even more awesome up close!” the mare complimented again.
“Heh, thanks…” Dash grinned while shrugging. After Arctic was so negative towards her body during the strength test, it was good to run into a mare that found it interesting.
“So how exactly did you get so ripped? I trained so hard but…” the mare looked down at her body. “I’m just nice and trim because of it,” she pouted. Dash chuckled and shook her head.
“You gotta lift weights,” she said simply as she turned to get her tail wet. The mare looked surprised.
“But…” she tipped her head in confusion. “Won’t you just bulk up and slow down?”
“Heh…” Dash shook her head and smiled. “That’s not quite how it works. I did a lot of weight training, at least five times a week. Do I look over-pumped?” Dash winked. Indeed Dash had gained muscle on her body, but she hadn’t lost any speed and retained her aerodynamic form. The mare listened intently as Dash explained. “Mare bodies don’t work the same way as stallion bodies. I’d have to work probably five times as hard as a stallion if I actually wanted to ‘bulk up.’ I learned a lot about training, the importance of strength, diet, and many other things from So—” Dash froze.
Whoa.
That was a close one.
She almost spilled the beans right there. She quickly faked a wince as if water had gotten in her eyes and shook her head out.
“From a friend of mine back home,” she quickly dodged, hoping the mare didn’t suspect anything.
“Wow. That’s interesting…” the mare thought out loud as she shook her wings out beneath the running water, dropping pie bits everywhere. It was going to be fun for the maintenance staff if all the pie going down the drain caused any pipe blockage. “Well you definitely look great,” the mare gave her a warm smile.
“Hey! Hurry up in there!” a voice called from outside. Dash and the mare both jumped slightly and looked towards the entrance. There was still a line reaching out into the hall to use the showers.
“Oh shoot, I’ve been in here way to long!” the mare quickly turned off her shower and shook out. “It was nice talking to you!” the mare gave a very quick wave and trotted out of the shower room.
“Whoa, wait a sec!” Dash tried to call after the mare, but she was already shuffling past the long line waiting outside. “Huh…” Dash shrugged. She didn’t even get the mare’s name. One thing was for certain though: the small encounter gave Dash an idea of how the remaining competition was. If a pony made it this far into the tryouts they weren’t just a common pony trying out for the hell of it. There was something about them that caught the attention of the Wonderbolts. These were the ponies who trained and who tried as hard as they could. A few others made it by, most likely through chance and luck, but a majority of them were serious.
The mare Dash encountered just now was undoubtedly one of these many who cared about being their best and doing their best. She was interested in how Dash had achieved a strong and efficient body. That was the kind of mare Dash could relate to and get along with. It sucked that she was stuck with Arctic Sass as a bunkmate, but cadets like her would definitely be long gone by tomorrow. Dash felt relieved and excited; relived that only the true flyers would be left by day three and excited that the competition would be fierce. She was going to make it to tomorrow, of course. She was ranked at the top of day one and just put on a show in the first test of day two. There was no way she wouldn’t make it.
Dash turned off her shower and shook herself vigorously until most of the loose water was gone from her fur, mane, tail, and wings. She did her best to avoid being sprayed by the other showers as she walked toward the exit and grabbed her towel.
She rubbed the towel vigorously over her face and head as she shimmied past the line that extended through the bathroom and out into the bunk hallway. She had to dry off a little more before stepping out. Her body and mane were dripping water all over. She made her way over to the sinks and mirrors, flinching as she saw Arctic Blast in front of one along with two other mares. If that wasn’t bad enough, there were only four sinks and the only one open was the one between Arctic and the last bathroom stall.
Dash sighed and tried to act like she didn’t notice Arctic as she trotted up to the mirror. She didn’t really have to try though. Arctic had her face nearly pressed to the mirror and was busily running a brush through her mane endlessly.
Dash’s brain suddenly clicked and she found she had the urge to annoy Arctic. She draped her towel over the faucet, grabbed the porcelain edges of the sink and roughly shook herself from head to tail. Water sprayed everywhere, but the majority of it splashed against Arctic. When Dash stopped her mane was almost exactly how she always wore it. She flattened out the loose ends with her hooves, cracked a smile at her reflection while striking a quick flex, and nodded. She turned and began walking out, making sure to glance at Arctic as she did.
Arctic was glaring at Dash with her mouth hanging open. Her brush had stopped mid-sweep through her mane and she was covered in droplets of water from Dash’s body. Dash snickered as she draped the towel over her back and left the bathroom.
Dash made sure she was relatively dry before making it back to her bunk. She shook her wings out and ran the towel over them gently before folding it and hanging it up above her night stand.
“Hmm…” Dash sighed in frustration as she glanced at her wings. Usually she would keep her wings unfolded for a while and let them drip dry. She didn’t have the luxury of space to do so, or time to let them dry, so she had to use the towel. Normally she avoided using a towel though, because her wing feathers never seemed to agree with them. They would stick or pull, and always ended up in a mess. She still had more than enough time to grab a quick brunch and get ready for the second test of the day, so she plopped her flank down on her bed and reached her right wing around first.
Using her teeth, she gently bit down into the feathers to separate a kink right in the center of her wing. With the wings separated, she slowly moved her mouth around, guiding the feathers in to the right place with her lips before moving to the next knot.
“Ow!” Dash winced as one of her teeth scraped a little roughly against the top of her wing. She had been using her drip dry method for a long time, so she was a little out of practice at preening. If they ever got out of place just a little, a few hard flaps and shakes could usually move them into place. The towel had really twisted and knotted them here. The last couple times she had gotten Fluttershy to do it for her because she just disliked doing it that much.
Once her right wing was all straightened out, she extended and retraced the wing twice before reaching her left wing forward. The bunk suddenly jostled as she began working her mouth around the left feathers. She glanced up and saw the top bunk mattress shifting a little.
Oh, goody.
Bitch-Face McGee was back.
Dash rolled her eyes and continued preening her left wing. She blinked and glanced up as Arctic’s hooves suddenly hung down over the edge of her mattress. Dash lifted an eyebrow as the hooves began to sway back and forth followed by a dreamy sigh. Dash scoffed and looked towards the sexy poster of Soarin.
She couldn’t stand Arctic. As much as she disliked her nauseous attitude and downright barf worthy gawking of Soarin, Arctic was clearly there with an ulterior motive. Soarin was her goal, not the Wonderbolts. Yet here she was, into day two of the trials when two hundred some other ponies, who more than likely had a dream of being a Wonderbolt, were turned away in favor of her. Ponies who were serious about it, had been forced to go home while this celebrity chasing flake was still here. That pissed off Dash more than anything else.
The bunk began to creak and sway a little as Arctic’s fluffy body movements shook the bed. Dash lurched slightly and accidentally bit harder into her left wing as she just finished preening it.
“RGH! Dammit!” Dash quickly stood up from her bed and hovered up while glaring at Arctic. Arctic took no notice of Dash as her pupils remained locked on her poster of Soarin. Dash cleared her throat loudly. Arctic blinked, her face scrunched and she looked towards Dash.
“What do you want?” she asked coldly. Dash stood firm and let Arctic’s sass bounce right off of her.
“I want to ask you a serious question,” Dash folded her arms. Arctic went back to staring at the poster, but Dash continued regardless. “Are you actually here to become a Wonderbolt? Or are you just here to stalk Soarin?” Dash’s question broke Arctic out of her dreamland, but—
“Uuuuhhhhh… yes,” she replied. Having no idea what Dash actually asked. Dash flattened her brow and folded her ears so far back against her head they nearly disappeared into her mane.
“God, you’re stupid,” Dash shook her head as she landed.
“Mmhmm,” Arctic agreed by accident because she was distracted by Soarin again.
Dash felt like her intelligence was decreasing just by standing near Arctic. Brunch? Yeah, brunch sounded really good right now.
The mess hall was quickly busy with ponies who hadn’t had a full breakfast, but it wasn’t too crowded. For one, there were almost two hundred less cadets, but since showering was taking forever, they were also showing up little by little instead of all at once.
Squad three (minus Surprise due to test setup) had been assigned to chaperone the mess hall during brunch. Fire Streak was standing near the buffet tables while keeping an eye out. He wasn’t expecting to find any misconduct. Most of the bruisers and backstabbers had been flushed out of the cadet rankings by the first cut. These were his orders from Spitfire though, so he would take it seriously just as he did everything else.
He scanned back and forth diligently, but every couple of scans, he found his head getting stuck. Why? Because a certain bright yellow, light blue maned mare was patrolling up and down the center aisle within his field of view. He would lock his eyes on Misty and the brief moment of weakness where he felt her lips lightly press against his cheek pushed into his brain. Weakness? That’s how Fire’s overly serious brain was viewing it. Misty suddenly showed affection, and instead of finding it immoral against his code of duty, he liked it.
He didn’t know what to think in all honesty. Was Misty trying to give him a hint? Or was it just a way of her showing just how much she wanted to thank him? He felt the need to ask her, to clarify it, but would he be able to perform the sign language symbols while he was so flustered his arms tingled?
He went back to scanning, hoping he could somehow forget it and go back to how things were, but then his eyes landed right back on her as she stopped at one of the tables. Fire instantly recognized who she had stopped in front of. It was that cadet, the one who knew the sign language. Storm Front was his name if Fire recalled correctly. Fire had seen Storm’s manner and demeanor a few times during the tryouts. Storm was definitely a good pony alongside his consistently above average abilities.
No reason to worry. Misty probably just wanted to talk to him again.
…
…
Why did that bother him so much? Fire kept his eyes trained on Misty and Storm as they began speaking through sign language. Storm kept a warm smile on his face the whole time. He was responding incredibly fast and efficiently. Misty was making symbols faster than she ever had to Fire or the others. She also looked incredibly happy. She was nearly bouncing as she kept talking to him.
Fire found himself… put off. Why? There was absolutely NOTHING wrong about Storm speaking to Misty. There weren’t many who could speak to Misty. Storm was just being friendly. He should be happy that she made another friend, but why was he… angry?
Was he jealous?
Nonsense, jealousy was for the weak-hearted and those who can’t move on. So why did he feel that way? He was better than this, he had a sense of duty, and he knew what was important and what he should be paying attention to.
Then why the hell did he have the sudden urge to strangle Storm? That was wrong, it was improper. Storm was doing nothing to deserve it. Well, nothing except for talking to a pony Fire lo—
Oh dear…
Fire forced his head away from the conversation while taking a deep breath and holding it while shaking his head. Enough of this. He had to clear his head. He didn’t care if Storm was much better than him than talking to Misty fly. Okay, maybe he cared a little. Maybe a lot. Okay, maybe he felt like walking up and yanking her away from him.
“You look like yer gonna throw up bro,” Lightning’s voice made Fire flinch and he exhaled hard as if being punched square in the stomach. “I thought that look was reserved for me, are you actually mad at something else? That’s a first,” Lightning turned and leaned up against the buffet beside Fire. Fire grunted and looked away. Lightning was surprised again. “You broken? Doesn’t sound like the gears are turning in that head.”
“Pff, says you,” Fire suddenly spat at him before turning sharply away again and staring out into the cadet crowd. Lightning stood still for a moment and blinked as he registered what just happened… slowly. He shifted and leaned his other arm on the buffet while glancing at Fire, and then back out into the cadets. He saw Misty talking with Storm using sign language. He looked back at Fire.
Then Misty.
Then Fire.
Then Misty.
Then Fire.
Then his ears stood up when the obvious finally struck him and a smirk crossed his face.
“Bro,” he said simply as he draped a hoof over Fire’s back. Fire flinched, but kept glaring out into the mess hall. “You see that?” he pointed a hoof towards Misty and Storm. Fire’s eyes widened for a moment, but he quickly averted them.
“See what?”
“Bullshit, you were looking this way,” he grabbed the back of Fire’s head and forced it back towards Misty. “You see that?” he repeated. Fire sighed.
“Yes brother, I see Misty Fly. She’s just speaking with a cadet who knows sign language,” Fire humored Lightning and tried to look away, but Lightning’s grip was firm.
“Yeah, I see Misty, but you know what else I see? I see a smooth operator cakin’ on yo’ lady,” he felt Fire flinch hard in his grip. “You really just gonna stand here and let it happen?”
“Brother… we’ve been over this. Misty and I are NOT an item,” Fire argued.
“And I’m not an INCREDIBLY sexy stallion,” Lightning’s attempt at sarcasm was laughable, but Fire’s mind was so bent and twisted with conflicting thoughts he found neither the energy nor the will to even grace his idiotic brother with a scoff. He suddenly lurched left as Lightning forced him cheek to cheek. “Listen to me bro,” he started while smushing their cheeks together and forcing them to face Misty and Storm. “I ain’t a romantic type, but if there’s one thing that runs in common with every approach to mares… you gotta go for ‘em or else somepony else’ll be helpin’ themselves to that plot,” he gave Fire a rough pat on the back, making him grunt as Lightning pulled his cheek free of Fire’s. “It’s simple as that bro,” he glanced at the buffet table he was leaning on, reached over and grabbed a pancake, rolled it up, dunked it into the syrup vat beside it and stuffed the whole thing into his mouth. “This shit’s only good when you drench it in sugar,” he said with an extremely muffled voice due to his mouth being full.
Fire wasn’t paying attention to his brother anymore though. He was actually thinking about what Lightning had said. While it was very crude and very typical of him to put things so… idiotically, but he did have a point. If he really did like Misty as much as his brain was trying to tell him, then hesitation would lead to disaster. Misty had found another pony that made her extremely happy. It didn’t seem wrong at all. But watching another stallion make her smile the same way he did just wasn’t sitting well in his stomach.
He was not okay with it.
For the first time in his life he felt the need to thank his brother, not that he actually would. Where would he go from here? He hadn’t a clue, but one thing was for certain. He was falling for Misty Fly. As much as his brain was going to fight him on that one, it was true. Now he just had to figure out what to do next… if anything. He felt so conflicted it was like there was a war going on in his head, but both sides were causing more damage to themselves than to the enemy. He needed to get his mind off this for now. He’d think about it, but right now he was on duty.
“Hey! Shit Streaks!” Blaze’s shrill voice slammed through Fire’s head. He blinked and turned, ignoring her crass reference to their name because of how typical it was. Blaze trotted up and leaned against him much like how his brother just had prior.
“Yes Blaze?” Fire said unenthusiastically.
“Spitty-Ass-Cheeks wants to see you guys, we’ll take over here,” she explained while pointing to High Winds, who was already leaning on a nearby table. She fell asleep and her head plopped right onto a stallion’s plate. The stallion just stopped, blinked, and looked around as the other occupants of the table laughed.
“Who?” Fire tried to decode her foul speech. Blaze flattened her brow.
“My sister,” she confirmed plainly.
“Oh… alright then,” Fire nodded. He turned to his brother, but Lightning was already moseying towards the exit.
“Sheesh Windy…” Blaze shook her head and pulled Winds off the table, much to the cadets’ amusement. Fire flinched in surprise as he saw Misty suddenly approach. She glanced over at the doors, saw Lightning leave, and then turned back and tipped her head in confusion.
Fire made a few quick signs to explain that Spitfire called them. Misty simply smiled and nodded. She was clearly very happy. Fire could always tell when she was happy. She had an extra spring in her step and the tips of her wings twitched and bounced as she walked.
But it wasn’t him that had made her happy, and once again he found his brain heavily disliking that fact.
She’s a teammate.
She’s a friend.
There’s nothing there.
Fire sighed heavily as his morals fought endlessly in his head. He was glad Misty couldn’t hear him because he was grumbling at his own confusion the whole walk to the auxiliary gym.
“What the hell IS this thing?” Soarin said to himself as he sat against the wall near the entrance of the gyms. He watched as multiple members of the Wonderbolt maintenance staff wheeled in huge pieces to one of Surprise’s courses.
Soarin didn’t know much about Surprise’s personal courses designed by her and Rivet. He usually stuck to his courses and Silver Lining’s if he wanted to change it up. If the pie launcher was any indication, this was going to be something absolutely ridiculous. In fact, as Soarin watched it slowly get put together… it looked like a very large water slide.
It was one long ten-foot wide and tall tube. It started really high up and twisted and turned around the extended gyms with absolutely no rhyme or reason. It was definitely not just a tube, knowing Surprise there was a catch. Whatever was inside the tube would be the real source of the test, but Soarin wasn’t gonna find out until they started.
He already had a pair of x-ray enhanced goggles dangling around his neck that was handed to him by one of the workers. Rivet had so many fancy gadgets for them, some of which they didn’t have much use for, but were handy to have around in case a mission or unique scenario ever called for it. Spitfire was curious how they were going to keep track of cadets inside the tubes and Fleetfoot was quick to remind her of the x-ray goggles tested a few months back.
“Never thought we’d find a use for ‘em but I’m glad we have them now,” Spitfire had said. It was true, they were pretty nifty.
With nothing to do, Soarin reached into a small pouch he had clipped to his uniform and pulled out a small pebble. He started playing a small game of catch with himself to pass the time, throwing the pebble up and freezing it in the air with his magic. He had really gotten the hang of catching or moving a single object. He could call the magic through the false horn almost instantly now. Two objects was still rough, but he felt proud of improving the most basic magic so quickly. He was a pegasus after all, it had to be some kind of achievement.
He’d been so occupied with the tryouts. He wondered what else Fancy Pants had in store for him when he got back to their little magic sessions a few days from now. He tipped his head up to catch the pebble in a blue aura as he tossed it a little higher. Something else caught his attention though. He let the pebble drop into his hoof as he looked up towards Spitfire and the little yellow stallion helping her look at the course setup instructions. Soarin sighed as he saw Fleetfoot hovering sneakily towards them.
“I’m so confused… this doesn’t look right,” Spitfire eyed the blueprints while glancing at the tubes. “Did we do this backwards?” she asked while scratching her head. The little stallion hovered up to her, gently took the blueprint from her and turned it around so it was right side up. “Oh… that helps,” Spitfire said while blushing slightly in embarrassment. She blinked as the stallion suddenly ducked behind her wing. Spitfire glanced slightly to her left and saw two light blue hooves slowly extending towards the stallion.
“Fleet…” Spitfire said her name once and Fleetfoot sped off while giggling. The stallion slowly emerged and went back to looking at the blueprint with Spitfire. “Jeez, I can’t make heads or tails of this stuff. I don’t know how you do it. It’s really something.”
The little stallion shook his head as if disagreeing with the compliment.
“Oh, have a little pride,” Spitfire ruffled his mane. Fleetfoot’s right hoof suddenly reached up behind the stallion. Without looking, Spitfire extended her wing and batted Fleetfoot’s hoof down. Again, Fleetfoot sped off while giggling. “So this…” Spitfire pointed to one portion of the blueprint. The yellow stallion leaned in. “What’s this underneath here…?” Spitfire turned to look at the stallion, but he was suddenly pulled away with a squeak, followed by Fleetfoot’s laughter. “God dammit… FLEET!” Spitfire yelled as Fleetfoot sped towards the exits while clutching the blushing little stallion in her hooves.
Soarin saw them approaching and was ready to intercept, but before he could get up, Misty Fly and the Streak Twins came through the doors. Misty’s reaction time was incredible. She only saw Fleet for half a second before she stepped aside, let Fleetfoot pass just a little, braced her hooves firmly on the ground, and then clamped her mouth down on Fleetfoot’s tail.
“OW!” Fleetfoot yelped as her tail nearly got yanked off, she whiplashed back towards Misty as she fell on the floor, her grip on the stallion loosening as she flailed back. The stallion was launched from her arms, but Misty reached up a wing and caught the stallion, cradling him safely before lowering him gently to the ground.
Spitfire landed and stomped up to Fleetfoot.
“FLEET! This is your test! STOP fooling around and HELP us set up!” she barked at Fleetfoot as she lay face down on the floor. Fleetfoot rolled over while wearing a very uncomfortable look on her face.
“Yeah, sure, I’ll be up there as soon as I reattach my ass… DAMN that hurt!” she whined while patting her flank.
“Serves you right for thinking you could get past Misty,” Soarin chuckled from off to the side.
“STUFF IT, MISS EQUESTIRA!” Fleetfoot pointed and yelled without looking at him.
As Spitfire checked on the little stallion, the doors opened again and Wave Chill walked in. He was walking with his head down, clearly thinking about something over paying attention to where he was going. Right in front of Soarin, Fleetfoot, the Streak twins and Misty, Wave walked nose first directly into Spitfire’s plot.
“WHOA!” Spitfire jumped three feet into the air in surprise. Wave blinked and his eyes widened in pure, mortified horror. Spitfire turned around as she caught herself in midair and glared, but then her eyes widened too upon seeing Wave.
“Uh… um…” Wave’s brain completely broke. “SORRY… M-Ma’am!” he turned and sprinted out the doors. The rest of the Wonderbolts blinked, then looked towards Spitfire. A heavy blush had drawn over her nose as she furrowed her brow and bit her lower lip. She looked at all of them and scowled.
“What are YOU all looking at!?” she snapped before pulling the little stallion back up into the air with her. He yelped in surprise, but at least it wasn’t Fleetfoot. “Oh,” Spitfire stopped and turned back. “Squad three, I need to talk to you guys,” she beckoned them, leaving Soarin and Fleetfoot alone by the entrance.
“What’s gotten into her?” Soarin wondered out loud. Fleetfoot giggled.
“Wave’s face almost did just now,” she sat up while snickering. Soarin glanced back at the doors. That was twice now. Something was up with Wave and Spitfire. He wondered if it had anything to do with Discord’s little trick with the false sexy Spitfire.
Soarin made up his mind. He’d have to wait until later because they were just way too busy now, but it was time to have a bro talk with Wave Chill. Soarin had plenty of experience with mare problems. Hell, his first encounter with Dash was nothing but one big over emotional angst fest. He felt the need to ask for Spitfire too.
Funny.
At one point Spitfire slapped him across the face to shape up and get after Dash. Now he was going to help her, using her own techniques, on a pony that liked her. Strange how the world works sometimes.
But not till later. Soarin was curious about this… tube of Surprise’s.
--- To Be Continued ---