MLP: FiM
Piercing the Heavens
By: Calm Wind
Chapter 35:
Nothing… Nothing worked.
Soarin didn’t want to focus on Dash, but no matter what he did, something would end up reminding him of Dash. Telling stories about Silver ended with him running right into Dash. He tried to get lunch earlier, only to catch a glimpse of Autumn Rain and her special Wonderbolt stallion. Frustration slowly building, he decided to hit the weights, but when he was in the locker room, a few stallions were talking about mares.
It was a good thing lifting weights gave Soarin stress relief, because he really needed to vent some pent up aggression. He avoided the combat dome. He was sure one of the new combat specialists wouldn’t mind going a few rounds with him, but in his current mood Soarin didn’t want go overboard. There was only one pony Soarin was certain he wouldn’t actually injure should he lose control… and that stallion was currently occupied with Autumn Rain.
Soarin wasn’t going to take that chance. He was responsible for his actions. He was one of the strongest Wonderbolts, so he had to be careful during combat training. This was the one thing he missed Rapidfire for. He felt NO reason to hold back against that douche. Spitfire always broke them up, but it was the only time Soarin didn’t hold back… well, not including the rare chances he had to spar with Spitfire. If he held back against Spitfire… she’d have him on the ground begging for mercy in much less time than she usually did.
“Oh, come on…” Soarin grumbled as he neared the back door of the locker room heading into the weight room. Spitfire made him think of Wave Chill, Wave made him think of Wave and Spitfire trying to find even ground in their relationship, and relationship made him think of Dash.
He couldn’t even form a complete thought without Dash finding a way in!
Soarin grumbled as he roughly pushed the doors open and trudged out into the gym with a water bottle tucked beneath his right wing and a towel over his shoulders.
How much longer was this going to go on? He needed a moment. Just one moment of time to find Dash and put a stop to this. He wanted to apologize… but he also wanted an apology from her. He was afraid of it not being an even deal. They were both at fault… both said hurtful things. Soarin wanted to be sure she was sorry, before he extended his apology. That felt… dickish to him, but would Dash learn her lesson… the REAL lesson she was supposed to learn from the whole thing if he apologized first and she just went with it? Why couldn’t it be easier?
“Rgh!” Soarin grunted and shook his head.
No. No more thinking about Dash right now. He’d just have to wait for the right time. He had no other choice. It would either be random, or something else would allow it. He didn’t have the luxury right now and neither did she.
It just… really sucked.
He forced his brain to drop the subject. Why was he in the gym? To lift weights. Chest press? Hell yes. Get a good pump and a good sweat, don’t worry about anything else.
Soarin focused on the weight machine he was approaching, dropped his water bottle, and slung the towel over the padded seat. Before sitting down in it, he dropped to the floor and did push-ups.
One…
Two…
Three…
Four…
Whatever, these are super easy…
Just keep going, going, going, okay that was… what… twenty? Good enough.
Soarin stood up sharply and plopped down in the seat. He set the weight pin down to a hundred pounds. He proceeded with an easy warm-up set, forcing the weight up using the handles that started at chest level, pushing forward. Ten easy repetitions.
He let the weight fall back down and removed his hooves from the hoof holds. He let out a casual sigh and looked around the gym. Not too many were there right now. None from the top three squads at least. He recognized a few faces from squad five, and eight. The members had switched around a little lately, he barely every got a chance to get all the names down. It was relatively quiet too.
“MAKE WAY! THE MADNESS IS IN THE HOUSE!”
At least it was quiet until Macho Savage walked in.
“I AM TEN THOUSAND YEARS THE HEAVY WEIGHT CHAMP OF THIS GYM! DIG IT!” Soarin watched and chuckled as Macho Savage made his way from one end of the gym, past him, and to the other while going on his usual rambles. “ALL WHO OPPOSE WILL EAT MY REAR ROCKETS AND LIKE IT! OHHHHH YEEEEEAAAHHH!!!!!” He made his way over to the stretching mat and leapt towards a stallion who was in the middle of a set of crunches. “SUPER SLAM!!!!!!” Macho yelled as he fell towards the stallion with his elbow extended.
“AHHH!!!!” The stallion yelled and shielded himself. Macho’s elbow struck the mat right next to the stallion’s face, and Macho rolled away quickly.
“CHANGED MY MIND!” he yelled out and strutted towards the dumbbells as the poor stallion recovered and caught his breath.
Soarin chuckled at the scene before leaning back into the seat again. He reached down, removed the weight pin, and placed it at two hundred pounds. It was time to turn up the power and give his muscles a challenge.
“HRGH!” Soarin grunted as he thrust the handles forward. He pushed the weight as far as the machine allowed, exhaling as he reached the end of the movement. The first was always the toughest. Time to kill it. Soarin let up and the handles returned to him, only to force them back forward as his hooves reached his chest. He pumped the weight back and forth eight times, breathing in rhythm as he made full, complete motions to get the most out of the exercise. He let out one final exhale on the eighth push before slowly letting the weight all the way back down. The weight touched down quietly and Soarin removed his hooves from the holds once again.
He stood up and rotated his arms to keep his chest muscles loose.
This was nice. A good pump always helped put his mind at ease. Nothing else to worry about. Push some heavy weight, get a good sweat, work the muscles nice and tight… While using his magic helped fatigue him before bed, a tired body made it easier as well. It didn’t matter if Autumn Rain suddenly walked in with her stallion and the two of them looked like they were having a great time together in the gym like they always did…
Wait…
Soarin blinked. He was staring directly at Autumn Rain… who had just walked in with her stallion, and the two were getting a workout in together. They were known for this. In fact it was funny, because he was a MASSIVE light blue stallion. Even bigger than Soarin, and she was the strongest mare… the running joke was to take cover if they ever spent the night in the same room… because the compound would probably come down. They were quite the power couple. The big blue lug and the big green sweetheart…
Love…
“Urghhhh…” Soarin groaned as he sat back down in the seat. Just when he had gotten his mind off of Dash… Seeing Autumn with her special somepony pushed the dagger right back into Soarin’s heart.
He quickly looked away and did his best to refocus. He reached down and tacked twenty more pounds onto the machine. He usually didn’t do this much weight… but he’d have to focus harder, and that’s exactly what he wanted.
He forced the machine into motion, pumping the weight up and down, venting his frustration to the point where he went way past how many reps he wanted to do and didn’t even realize it until his arms nearly gave out. Soarin did his best to let the weights fall gently, but they landed with a loud CLANG. He winced and looked up to see the other gym occupants look in his direction. He put his head back down and sighed, standing up and yanking the towel angrily off the padded seat.
Less thought, more heavy lifting.
Soarin did his best to keep his mind off of Dash. Autumn and her stallion were in one corner of the gym, so Soarin would go to the other. What he wanted to use next was over there anyway. He approached a stand-up cable machine that was already set up for chest flies. It faced away from the gym couple too. Perfect. Soarin set the weight for both cables, whipped his towel from his shoulder to over the top of the machine, and turned his back to the machine. The only thing in front of him was another cable machine and then the large stretching mat.
Soarin fluttered his wing lightly to lift his arms from the ground and stand up on his hind legs. He reached to his left and right, hooking his hooves into the straps before off-setting his back hooves. He kept his back locked straight and began pulling the cables in from the sides until his arms were straight, directly in front of him. He exhaled and let his arms reach back out with the cables.
Forget everything else. Focus on this. Breath in, pull, breath out, squeeze the muscles at the top of the motion, slowly let the weight back down. Repeat. Don’t think about any problems. You are moving heavy weight, focus on that.
“MOVE IT! LET’S GO!” Silver’s voice completely broke Soarin’s concentration.
Soarin blinked as his arms swung back to his sides, but this time he regained control before impact and let the weights touch softly. But… if Silver was there… that meant…
“Dammit, if you slapdicks don’t pick up the pace, I’ll give you a reason to not sleep on your stomach at night!” The recruits began pouring in, two by two at a quickened pace. Silver still seemed unsatisfied. “I don’t think I was clear… All’s fair in love and war, but I make love LIKE it’s war! SO DON’T TEMPT ME! PICK UP THE DAMN PACE!”
That definitely did the trick. The recruits moved in even faster.
Soarin slammed his eyes shut. He knew who would be there and he just DIDN’T want to see her right now. It was bad enough he had to keep his distance professionally. He knew he could do nothing to help their relationship right now, but she just refused to leave his head.
His effort didn’t last long. He opened his eyes and immediately spotted Rainbow Dash. She was trotting beside Matteo, which made her light blue coat and rainbow mane stand out even more against his black feathers. Thankfully she wasn’t looking at him. Soarin held completely still as they moved to the stretching mat. He was somewhat blocked from their view by the other weight machine in front of him, so he was certain she didn’t see him.
Good, he didn’t want to distract her either. He was sure he had done so considerably when he ran into her before lunch.
Silver immediately began grilling them about not dragging their hooves… or asses about the compound. He didn’t hear it all, but Silver said something about saving ass wiping for after the only thing he found more satisfying than sex… that was two indirect sex references Silver had made after entering. Soarin could see a trend going. Silver wasn’t just random, sometimes he’d stick with a theme.
Dash had disappeared from Soarin’s sight. Good, he could concentrate again. The logical choice would have been to leave right there… but Soarin always finished a workout. ALWAYS. He wasn’t going to let some stupid emotions stop that.
Soarin hooked his hooves into the cable handles again and pumped out another set. It was getting harder. Good. That meant it would be easier to get tired later. He managed eight repetitions, the eighth taking him a while to bring his arms all the way forward.
“Hrgh!” He grunted quietly as he pulled the cables together and flexed his chest muscles, holding the weight in place.
Focus. Focus. Focus. Focus.
He exhaled and slowly let the weight back down.
“Alright! Everypony! We are doing push-wing-ups! Half push-ups, half wing-ups!” Silver’s voice reached Soarin’s ears again.
Ooo… the gauntlet. On the first day? Silver was being brutal. Out of interest, and making sure not to look towards Dash, Soarin glanced around the side of the machine.
“Watch carefully! If you do it wrong… god damn, I hope you burn in hell!” Silver barked as he got down in a push-up position. “It’s easy! First a push-up!” Silver lowered his body down, and then pushed back up. “And then a wing-up!” he spread his wings and put them to the floor. He picked up his arms and put them straight out at his sides. Using his wings, he lowered himself to the floor, and then pushed back up. “THAT’S ONE!” he yelled. He stood back up and flattened his brow. “It’s easy! I’m not asking you to eat a bushel of apples and shit me a fruit salad! SO DO THEM RIGHT! NOW GET DOWN!” he snarled. All the recruits instantly dropped to the mat in the push-up ready position.
Soarin chuckled as they began the ‘push-wing-ups.’ It felt like just yesterday when he was in the exact same position. Silver’s training had been… slightly tweaked by Spitfire, but Soarin could see that he was still given freedom to hammer discipline and commitment into their brains. If the slight drop in recent Wonderbolt quality was any indication… letting Silver return was going to turn this already great class of recruits into some of the best they’ve ever seen. Soarin would be lying if he said he wasn’t looking forward to it.
Having effectively kept his focus, Soarin went for his last set on the cable machine. The recruits were going to be at it for a while…
“If I hear one peep from you little shits, we’re doing more!” Silver’s voice reached to the corners of the gym.
Scratch that, Soarin knew what Silver was doing. He was going to make them laugh and they were going to do more push-wing-ups because of it.
Soarin took a deep breath and looked straight at the ground. Keep focus. Keep focus.
He reached out, hooking his hooves in the cable handles one more time. He kept his mind on the heavy weights. He pulled forward, held, exhaled, let back, rinse and repeat. He got to the seventh repetition, and found his strength failing him earlier than before. He held strong and slowly closed his arms together one last time before letting the weight fall back down.
“Are you smiling at me again Skittles?” Silver’s voice caught Soarin’s ears once again. Skittles? Silver was known for giving nicknames. Soarin grabbed his towel and slung it over his shoulder as he leaned around the machine. He flinched and cursed as he saw Dash.
Wait… how had he not put that together? Skittles… Rainbow Dash… dammit. Well, it was too late. Dash was now on his mind again. However, the scene was quite comical. Dash was performing the push-wing-ups just like everypony else, but she was trying and failing to suppress a grin. Silver was lying on the ground right in front of her, reclined on his side, his head turned towards her, and his chin resting on his hoof. He had clearly targeted her. Silver was very good at figuring out who was the easiest to mess with. Silver stared directly at her as Dash’s cheeks began to puff out.
“Did you know…?” Silver began while keeping a completely straight face. “I’ve been scientifically proven to be cheaper and more effective at preventing premature aging than Equestria’s leading beauty products?” Dash shut her eyes tight, as her composure began crumbling fast as Silver continued. “For just twenty bits I will agree to show up unannounced at your house at some point before your twenty-first birthday and kill you.”
“PFFFHAHAHAHAHA!!!!” Dash fell flat to the mat while cracking up.
“WHAT THE HELL IS SO FUNNY, SKITTLES?!” Silver instantly stood up. “Everypony! Fifty more!” He yelled out. He listened carefully, but there were no groans. He nodded in satisfaction.
“Sir!” A brave recruit suddenly spoke up. “How many push-wing-ups can you do, sir?”
“ALL OF THEM!” Silver yelled out without missing a beat.
“Heh…” Soarin shook his head as he turned and walked back down the aisle between the weight machines. As he walked, he heard more laughter, and more barking from Silver. These recruits were going to have a long afternoon.
Soarin stopped in his tracks briefly. He blinked as his thoughts circled around the image of Dash laughing. The tone and pitch of her laugh played over and over again in his ears. He frowned and his ears drooped.
He couldn’t stand it. He couldn’t stand the current spot he and Dash were stuck in. No chance to mend the wrongs… convinced she had to apologize before he could… he felt like he was stuck between a rock and a hard place that was stuck between another rock and a hard place.
NO! This was NOT the time! He was here to work out!
Soarin shook his head out, his ears whipping around with his mane before standing back up straight. This was only a brief session, he just had to get one more exercise in and then he could be out of there.
Soarin approached a frame designed for both pull-ups and dips. There was a bent bar high up on the frame for pull ups, and further down there were two small flat surfaces about two feet apart for dips. Soarin dropped his towel on the ground and quickly hopped up before his brain could look for more distractions.
He hovered above the two flat bars, placing his hooves firmly on the surfaces before folding his wings and tensing his arms to lock them straight. He held this position, elevated with his legs tucked up towards his body. He slowly allowed his arms to bend, lowering himself as far as his elbows let him, before pushing all the way back up. He exhaled at the top, took a deep breath and did another. Dips were rough… especially because he wasn’t the lightest pegasus. He was big, and muscular, so the extra weight made anything like dips or pull-ups a little harder for him.
Despite the slight extra challenge, the dips still did plenty for him. He could feel the strain in his chest and shoulders as he moved up and down. It was rough on the chest due to having done two other chest motions with the other two exercises, but Soarin had been lifting heavy weights for years. His body had adjusted to the strain so much that he had to go a little overboard just to give his body a good workout. This of course had also become harder recently due to the dark magic apparently making him almost completely resistant to fatigue. It was something he was now certain he’d have to live with the rest of his life.
He hopped down from the bar and made sure to put most of the pressure of his landing on his back hooves. He spread his wings out and fluttered them lightly to allow his front hooves down slowly. He shook out both arms after landing and leaned against the metal frame.
He suddenly felt a little parched. He glanced down by his towel and blinked, realizing he had left his water bottle by the chest press machine where he started. His arms felt a little wobbly still. So he hovered an inch off the ground and glided back over. He found his water bottle tipped over on the floor and behind the machine, having rolled a few inches after whenever he knocking it on its side. As he crouched down and reached for it, he got blindsided by a straight on view of Autumn’s stallion walking down the aisle with Autumn tucked beneath one of his wings... He was probably the only stallion who could do it to her. Despite how big she was, he was kind of a giant, so he was able to get her up off the ground. Hell, he was only about a head shorter than Matteo. Autumn was scolding him and telling him to put her down before he hurt himself, but he didn’t listen and kept walking.
Soarin’s ears drooped again. He did that to Dash very often… or at least he used to…
“Gah!” Soarin shook his head out furiously as he stood back up with his water bottle. Used to? USED TO?! Soarin actually felt ashamed for even letting words like that go through his thoughts. There was nothing past tense about him and Dash!
He was losing focus fast. He had to concentrate on his work out. He took a deep breath and looked up, only to look DIRECTLY in the direction of Dash.
“FFFFFFFF-dammit!” Soarin quietly exclaimed as he turned around. He took a very fast swig of his water as he turned back to the dip bars.
Just workout. Worry about this stuff LATER!
Soarin hopped up and started moving up and down again.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Dash.
Seven... wait.
“Screw it!” Soarin yelled out, but it was mostly inaudible. It sounded more like a grunt than words. He hopped down, grabbed his towel and water, and stormed towards the locker rooms.
Fleetfoot and Misty emerged from the mare’s locker room as he approached. Soarin ran directly into Fleetfoot, knocking her over.
“Oof!” she grunted as she fell on her side and looked angrily up at Soarin. “Watch it, princess!” she snapped at him, confused, and a little peeved.
“Shut up!” Soarin spat back in a manner that was quite uncharacteristic of him. Fleetfoot’s eyes widened as he stormed past her and made the turn into the stallion locker room.
“What the hell crawled up his ass and laid half a dozen eggs?” Fleetfoot commented as she stood up and brushed herself off.
Misty kept her eyes glued to Soarin until he was completely out of sight. She narrowed them in discontent. Soarin wasn’t acting like himself and she knew exactly why. She glanced over towards where Silver was drilling the recruits. She found Dash and took a good, long look at her.
This was wrong. It couldn’t go on like this.
Not on her watch.
“Oh god…” Dash gulped. “That… looks so unpleasant…” Dash gritted her teeth as she stared at the large silver tub filled up with cold water and ice cubes.
She and the other recruits were all loosely spread around the training room. They had all mostly survived the first day of Silver’s intense workouts. Siren Bliss was running around checking to make sure they were all taken care of. It wasn’t often twenty or so ponies all poured in at once.
Dash’s body felt absolutely spent. It didn’t feel too bad, but she knew if she didn’t get some treatment, her muscles would refuse to work the next morning. The only problem was that there was no specific area that was tired. It was straight up her whole body. When she asked Bliss for a solution, she instantly suggested an ice bath.
Dash’s initial reaction was one of confidence and ‘yeah, I can totally do that.’ However, that confidence ducked for cover as she watched the tub fill up, watched Bliss pour the ice in, and watched the thermometer attached to the tub slowly fall to around fifty degrees.
Bliss walked by behind Dash as she stared at the tub.
“Sweetie, the longer you stare at it, the harder it’ll be to get in,” Bliss said casually as she moved on to help out some of the trainers struggling with Matteo’s large wings.
Dash looked back to the tub and slowly reached a hoof up. She dipped it in the water and quickly pulled it back while shivering. Was she way in over her head?
“Ice bath! Now! Please!” A familiar voice suddenly came from the door. Dash quickly turned to see Storm Front trip and fall over himself as he stepped through the door. He quickly stood up before the trainers could help him. “Nonono, I’m alright, I just need an ice bath!” he played it off as he hobbled over to an empty tub.
Dash watched as the trainers quickly filled the tub with cold water and ice… and Storm Front hopped right in without a single thought. Submerging his body in the cold water, shivering for a moment, and then relaxing.
Oh, hell no.
Dash’s brain worked in weird ways sometimes. Something about seeing the guy who beat her out of the elite spot accomplish something she was struggling to do… made her get all competitive for the silliest reasons.
Dash glared at the cold water, grabbed the sides of the tub, and hoisted herself up, plunging into the cold water.
“HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYIIIIIIIIIPE!!!!!” she shrieked as her body instantly felt chilled to the bone. She sat her plot down on the bottom of the tub, the water reaching all the way up past her wings and up to her chest. “Hoooo! Haaaaaa! AAAYYYEEEEEE!” she continued to yelp as she hooked her hooves onto the edges of the tub, squeezing them as hard as she could.
Quite a few others had stopped what they were doing and glanced in her direction, but as soon as they saw her in the ice bath they all went back to what they were doing.
As for Dash, this was one of the most unpleasant experiences of her life. How the hell did Storm do this so casually? She felt like she was being stabbed by icicles. BUT SHE WOULD ENDURE.
Storm watched the whole scene from the tub beside her. If he didn’t feel so wrecked, he would be dying with laughter. He simply coped with the cold and waited patiently for his body to go mostly numb to the point where it actually felt good.
Storm perked up as Point Dex walked into the training room. Storm watched his captain write his name on the sign-in sheet, walk over to a cooler on the floor and grab a single ice bag. He took it to Bliss and she wrapped it up to hold it against his left wing joint below his shoulder. He thanked her and began walking out, but stopped when he eyed Storm and walked over to him, pushing his glasses up on his nose as he approached.
“How are you feeling?” Dex asked as he stood beside the tub and looked up at Storm. He was pretty small, his eyes could barely see over the edge of the tub. Storm sighed as the cold water swirled around him.
“I’ll live,” he said with a chuckle. "How are you Captain?” he asked out of courtesy. Dex looked back at his wing with the ice bag wrapped to the joint.
“Besides this wing being a tad stiff I’m fine,” he said with a nod. Storm’s jaw dropped. Dex’s body was small and a tad frail compared to Storm’s. How in the world was Dex perfectly fine after what they had done today?
“A tad?! My body feels ready to fall apart!” Storm said while rolling his eyes. Dex pushed his glasses up again.
“You are new. In time your body will adjust and physical activity such as that which we partake in daily will not affect you as much. I have been a Wonderbolt for exactly four hundred and twenty seven days. I have had more than enough time to adjust to our training,” he explained in many more words than were necessary.
“I’ll take that as it will get better over time,” Storm simplified for himself.
“Exactly,” Dex nodded in agreement. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go find Autumn before Calm kidnaps her for the night again,” he said with slight annoyance as he turned to leave.
“Hooooookay… Hoooooooooooooooookay…” Dash was still being over dramatic beside him. She had finally reached a point where she was getting used to the cold. Storm glanced at her and began snickering. Dash looked towards him sharply while pouting. “Oh, look at you Mr. Badass… balls feeling extra blue?” she jeered. Storm broke into a chuckle and shook his head.
“You should’ve seen your face when you got in. You looked like you were being electrified,” he fired back as she snickered and shrugged. “By the way, HELLO! How’ve you been?” Storm suddenly said. Dash blinked in realization. He was right! She hadn’t seen Storm since they parted ways after the tryouts, him being in an elite squad now.
“Whaddya know… you’re right,” Dash smiled. It was funny to her… a week back she felt like Storm had stolen something from her. Thanks to a punch to the face, she was right back to seeing and knowing what a nice guy he was. “So what’s it like being an elite member? I take it that was your captain?” she asked while making a head motion towards the door. Storm nodded.
“I’ve never been more tired in my life… and it’s only been one day,” he sighed heavily and leaned back further into the water. “And yeah, that was Point Dex. He’s the new captain of squad seven.”
“SEVEN?!” Dash blinked. “Whoa! They put you in a high tier squad? Lucky ass!” Dash exclaimed incredulously.
“Well I’m definitely feeling it now,” Storm said alluding to how broken he felt. “Anyway, yeah. Point Dex is the new captain. Their old captain was brought up to fill the spot in the lead squad for the time being until they have time to test for a true lead squad member. Air Mach is his name… and he’s kinda nuts. I’m glad Dex is in charge to be honest.”
“I know a thing or two about crazy Wonderbolts,” Dash commented with a smile. “What about the other members?”
“Well first there’s Macho Savage…” Storm said with slight discomfort. “He’s… weird. There’s really no good way to put it. He’s really over the top and says things that make no sense. He’s a good guy though. I just wish he’d stop putting me in headlocks,” Storm chuckled while rubbing his neck. “The other is a big mare name Autumn Rain. I’m not kidding around she’s the biggest mare I’ve ever seen and she’s really damn strong. Very quiet and gentle though.”
Dash perked up as Storm described Autumn.
“Is she green? With a poofy mane?” Dash asked.
“Yeah, have you seen her?” Storm nodded.
“Dude, how could I not?” Dash’s eyes widened. “She was in the gym earlier when Silver had us in there. She’s not just huge... she’s buff as hell…”
“Yeah, like I said, she’s really strong. Almost killed me with a hoofshake.” Storm chuckled as he shook out his arm. Dash had no doubt she was strong. She was also in awe because she saw the really big light blue stallion with her too. The same stallion she saw help Rivet get away from Fleetfoot the day before.
Storm looked away from her and around the training room. He spotted the other recruits all getting treatment.
“So, how are the rest holding up?” He asked. Dash followed his eyes towards the tables.
“Well…” Dash began. “Matteo hasn’t really changed. He even withstands Silver’s yelling without flinching…” she trailed off as she watched Bliss and three other ponies work together to stretch out Matteo’s huge wings. Storm looked over to Twister, who was sitting completely still with a blank look on his face, a single icepack wrapped to one of his shoulders.
“What the hell happened to Twister?” Storm asked. Dash looked over and had to hold in laughter. She turned back to Storm while smiling and shaking her head.
“Silver broke him. I wish you could have seen it…” Dash smirked.
“He didn’t seriously try anything… did he?” Storm asked in disbelief.
“Oh, he did,” Dash nodded. “And boy, did Silver make him regret it,” Dash winked.
“It was only a matter of time,” Storm snickered while shaking his head. “I knew he’d be struck down sooner or later!”
“Oh!” Dash perked up as she saw Squall and Little Star being helped at tables beside one another. “Those two,” Dash pointed. “Remember them?”
“Huh?” Storm looked up. “Oh yeah… they were ranked really high in the tryouts, what are they like?”
“Squall’s a jerk. That’s all I can say…” Dash rolled her eyes, but then smiled. “Get this though… Little Star is thirty years old!”
“Wha!?” Storm’s plot suddenly slipped on the bottom of the tub and he went completely belly up into the tub. He frantically grabbed the sides of the tub and pulled himself back up. “GAH! OH MAN THAT’S COLD ON THE FACE!” he yelled as Dash burst out laughing. “She’s… thirty?! Sheesh, we’ve got quite an interesting crew here, don’t we?”
Dash was about to reply, but she stopped as she saw Bliss walk up to Thunderlane.
“I think I’m dying…” Thunderlane whined. He was on his back on the trainer table with his hooves up in the air. Bliss sighed.
“This again? Honey, are you going to say that every time you come here?” She shook her head.
“And Thunderlane,” Dash rolled her eyes. “Is still Thunderlane.”
“I can see that.” Storm chuckled as he turned back to Dash. “How are the other two? How’s Derpy and… Bulk? Was that his name?”
“Yeah,” Dash nodded. “They’re good. Back to everyday life, but they had fun while they were here.”
“I sent a letter to Derpy before returning,” Storm smiled. “I really hope I get a chance to see her again soon, I already miss that bubbly mare,” he said with a content sigh.
Dash watched as Storm thought about Derpy. She could actually picture it. She could see Derpy opening the letter, squealing, and spinning in circles as she clutched Storm’s letter to her chest. Derpy was adorable like that.
Dash suddenly felt her chest tighten.
Soarin.
Watching Storm think about Derpy, and thinking about Derpy reacting to Storm… INSTANTLY made her think of Soarin again. She leaned back in the tub and frowned. Barely a day had gone by and the whole subject of her and Soarin’s current status was tearing her apart. She saw him in the gym. But the situation in the gym was a perfect example of how things were for them right now. She was busy being drilled as a recruit, and he was busy keeping a workout schedule as an elite Wonderbolt. Neither had enough time to even catch each other’s eyes.
She wanted to apologize. She wanted to go to him. She also wanted to hear an apology from him. She felt like she owed one first, but what if he didn’t accept it? She felt like they were back to square one, but with different implications. Back when he first visited Ponyville, the uncertainty was just about getting together. Here the uncertainty was about fixing a hole that they had both dug… but just like before their relationship began, Dash felt like they were going nowhere fast.
What was she supposed to do?
She stole one more glance at Storm. He had completely lost himself in his thoughts about Derpy. Dash just sighed and enjoyed the now comfortable ice bath. All she could do now was focus on becoming a Wonderbolt.
Misty Fly walked by outside the training room. She stopped, backed up, and glanced in. She caught a glimpse of the back of Dash’s head as Dash slumped into the ice bath.
Misty pouted and flattened her brow before continuing down the hall.
Fire Streak was walking a few feet behind her. He stopped and looked into the training room as well when he saw her do the double take. He spotted Dash, blinked, and then looked back towards Misty as she rounded the corner.
He took a deep breath and exhaled as he shook his head.
Just what was Misty up to?
--- To Be Continued ---