//------------------------------//
// Chapter 51: Everything's Back to Normal? 
// Story: Piercing the Heavens 
// by Calm Wind 
//------------------------------//

MLP: FiM
Piercing the Heavens
By: Calm Wind
Chapter 51:





With Dash’s first cycle of recruit training complete… and Soarin’s new magical developments subdued for the time being…

Life resumed at the Wonderbolt compound. 

If you asked any of the Wonderbolts, it was the quietest week and a half they had had in a long time. 

Dash went through three more training cycles, which became redundant due to repetition of the basics. All the recruits were excited though. During the fifth cycle, according to Silver, they would finally break from the basics and see how the recruits handled more difficult challenges. Dash was definitely ready, especially for the combat. Her skills had been sharpened by her sessions with Silver… but she had yet to gain any ground on him. Every time she felt like she was finally catching up to him, he’d just hold back less. While it was a little frustrating, why would she complain? It was a privilege to train with such a master. Finally, for the first time in her life, she was in a position where she could see Soarin consistently. Nothing was better than that.

Soarin was able to continue his daily routine with his first show in a while right on the horizon. He felt good and his body hadn’t lost its edge throughout the troubles.  There was one lingering mystery though. He had seen Fancy Pants twice in the past few days… and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t conjure the yellow magic. Every attempt, only the blue would react. Both Luna and Discord were addressed on this matter, but neither could give an answer. It seemed the yellow magic was merely dormant. Perhaps it would return little by little later, at least Soarin hoped. He needed a chance to learn about it. On the flip side, he got to see Dash every day. It had been a goal of his for a while and he had complete confidence in her ability to become a full time recruit. She would be there to stay, he knew it.

So all was well… Soarin and Rainbow Dash felt good… the magic was contained… and life continued at a comfortable pace…

But would it last?





“ARROW!” Silver yelled as flew alongside. “X!” he yelled again. “ARROW! DELTA! X! PLUS! X! ARROW! PLUS! DELTA!” he kept yelling out formations.

Beside him, Dash flew with four other ponies. She was in the spot to the left of the lead. As Silver yelled out the formations they had to shift and continue to fly synchronized through moving rings as they made their way around one of the many indoor flight tracks.

Dash was doing alright. She had studied up on her formations and was executing each in tandem with the pony in the lead position, but others were struggling. However, the pony to her left was faltering terribly.

“DAMMIT!” Silver flew up, reached for the pony beside Dash and yanked him out of the formation. “FREAKY! GET YOUR ASS UP HERE!” Silver yelled. The formation continued to fly as Twister took the pony’s place beside Dash.

“X! DELTA! PLUS! PLUS! PLUS! PLUS! PLUS! PLUS!” Silver started yelling out the same formation over and over again. As the group of five including Dash and Twister made their way around the turn and into another weaving pattern between rings. “PLUS! PLUS! PLUS! PLUS! PLUS! PLUS! PLUS! MINUS!” Silver suddenly yelled a formation that didn’t exist. The pony in the lead and the pony to their right flinched and faltered. “GET OUT OF MY FORMATION!” Silver yelled as he flew backwards in front of them and pointed at the two ponies that messed up. 

The two of them dropped, leaving a gap between Twister, Dash, and the last pony on the far right. 

“SHIFT LEAD!” Silver yelled. Dash’s ears perked up and she quickly moved into the lead spot. Whenever the lead pony was removed from the picture, the pony closest to the lead spot was required to shift and become the lead. “BLUNDER! WIDE LOAD!  FILL IN! ARROW!” Silver yelled down.

Dash kept pace with Silver and another mare beside her. Seconds later, Thunderlane filled in the empty spot beside Twister, and Matteo rose up into the spot beside the mare. 

“X! ARROW! PLUS! PLUS! ARROW! X! DELTA!” Silver yelled out the formations, Dash’s fellow recruits shifted around her as they banked into the back curve of the track. “ARROW! DELTA! CIRCLE! FORK! SPLEEN! HOOF! CONDOM! TACOS! TRAIN! CELESTIA! HUGE! PLOT! DONKEY! PUNCH!” he started saying very random things. Dash kept her ears perked and waiting to hear a real formation name. “HEARTS! STARS! HORSESHOES! CLOVERS! BLUE MOONS! POTS! GOLD! RAINBOWS! RED BALLOONS! MAGICALLY DELTA!”

Twister, Thunderlane, and Matteo all shifted into the delta formation, but the other mare didn’t budge.

“OUT!” Silver yelled as he flew through their formation and yanked the mare down. “SHORT STACK! GET UP HERE! RESET ARROW!” Silver called down. Dash remained in place as Twister, Matteo, and Thunderlane all moved back into the arrow formation. Matteo shifted in one spot and Little Star quickly zipped up to fill in the empty slot beside him.

“PLUS! DELTA! PLUS! X! PLUS! ARROW! PLUS!” Silver began firing formations again. Dash smirked as she remained still in the lead spot and directed them. She knew they’d all remain together. With the slight exception of Thunderlane, Dash knew that Matteo, Twister, and Star wouldn’t be fooled. Thunderlane was holding his place well. He didn’t fall for the fake outs either.

Down below, the doors to the track opened and Soarin stepped through. His eyes were instantly drawn up to the five recruits flying overhead with his love in the center lead position. His ears caught Silver’s strict orders as the instructor continued to bark out formations and try to trick the recruits… but they were holding strong. 

“Huh…” Soarin said to himself as he watched the group of five remain vigilant through Silver’s drilling. It was pretty impressive. From the looks of things down below, Soarin could tell more than one pony had been pulled from the formation, due to some of the fatigued faces on the ponies sitting down on the ground.

Soarin looked back towards the flying recruits with pride. Dash was leading them well through the obstacles. She wasn’t flying too fast and she was keeping her motions easy to follow. Being the center of a formation wasn’t as easy as it sounded. One had to be controlled and steady as the others shifted. The smallest inconsistency in the movement of a lead in the formation and the whole arrangement could fall apart.

“Alright! I ain’t fooling you guys! Go in for a landing!” Silver ordered.

Soarin watched as Dash led the four other recruits around and they came in for a smooth, easy landing in front of the other fifteen recruits. Silver trotted up to all of them and nodded.

“That’s it for formation training,” he nodded at them all. “Get some lunch and meet in the weight room in two hours!” Silver ordered. He glanced around at them and smiled. “At ease!” he said before turning and walking towards the doors where Soarin stood. It seemed like the recruits and Silver had both gotten used to each other. The amount of yelling and insulting had decreased (but was still there from time to time). If anything, Silver was happy the recruits were wizening up to his rules and improving as a whole.

Soarin gave Silver a simple wave as he passed.

“Couldn’t fool those five, huh?” he smirked as Silver stopped beside them. Silver scoffed and shook his head.

“The little shits have a long way to go still… but… they show some promise,” he nodded and walked out as Soarin chuckled. ‘Some’ promise. Silver was never one to blow thing out of proportion, but he also usually kept his admiration hidden. Soarin remembered his formation training clearly. He along with Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and Rapidfire were pulled down often for screwing up. Seeing a few recruits hold perfectly… was quite a sight. Silver probably left quickly to avoid anypony catching him smiling. 

Soarin stood off to the side as the recruits began piling out of the indoor flight track. He waited patiently, simply smiling back as some of the recruits looked towards him.

Little Star stopped and glanced back at Dash as she “subtly” veered off to go speak with Soarin. 

“Awwwww…” she cooed as Dash flinched. She turned and pouted at Star, who in turn, giggled as she scurried out after the last recruits. Dash approached Soarin with a smile, glancing at the door once to make sure nopony else was there before leaning up to him and sharing a brief, sweet kiss. 

“Hey handsome,” she winked at him after they broke apart.

“That looked like fun…” Soarin smiled at her as the two turned to the door and walked out, making sure to keep a good distance behind the rest of the recruits.

“HA!” Dash pounded her chest. “That was too easy, Silver couldn’t fool me!” she stated with pride.

“Oh, trust me, I noticed,” Soarin nudged her back.

“So what’s up?” she asked, getting straight to the point. It was rare for Soarin to give her a visit in the middle of the day. Most of the times they met up was either after training hours on her free days, or on a rare occasion they could grab a meal together without Fleetfoot butting in.

“I just wanted to come see you,” he smiled down at her as they walked side by side. “I’m heading out for the Manehatten show literally right now, so I thought I’d come get a good luck kiss?” he said sappily while leaning his cheek towards her head. Dash blinked.

“Oh! That’s right! You have the show tomorrow, I completely forgot,” Dash said to herself before finally looking at Soarin. She saw that he had his head about two inches from hers and he was lightly tapping his hoof against his cheek. Dash snickered at him and rolled her eyes. “You’re such a goofball, never change you dope…” Dash leaned over and planted a light kiss on his cheek. “There, happy?”

“I now have the power to ignite a thousand suns!” Soarin said while holding a hoof in the air. Dash burst out laughing and pushed him along. 

“Get out of here!” She yelled while laughing hysterically.

“Yes, ma’am!” Soarin began strutting down the hall. Dash watched him advance in front of her, thought for a moment, and then quickly rushed up to him.

“Wait…” She grabbed him by the shoulder. Soarin stopped and turned to her. He looked into her eyes as she smiled up at him. She stole a quick glance around, and luckily, nopony was nearby. She grabbed him around the neck and slowly drew him, pulling his face directly to hers, for a soft, prolonged kiss. Soarin let her have complete control, taking in the pleasure of his marefriend’s lips that she allowed him to experience. “Good luck…” she said with a warm smile. Soarin smiled much wider than he should have, but whatever, he had a great marefriend that was worth an overzealous smile. 

“Thanks Dash,” he smiled back at her.

“Now get going!” Dash pointed towards the lobby and ordered with a smirk. Soarin reached forward again and gave her one more, quick hug before turning to leave.

“I’ll be back in two days… don’t steal all my thunder while I’m gone,” he said as he winked at her and walked away.

“Can’t make any promises!” she yelled after him as he trotted towards the main entrance to the compound. 

Dash smirked as she watched Soarin leave through the front doors. Things had really been smooth over the past week and a half. Dash felt like so much had happened through the first training cycle… and when it was suddenly resolved, if only temporarily, she was able to focus on her training and weeks started to pass by. She was confident she was doing well, and seeing Soarin in high spirits only made her feel even better. 

“You two are so cute, I might just crap a puppy.”

Dash yelped and jumped in surprise as Fleetfoot walked past her giggling. Dash blushed, and opened her mouth to protest… but why would she? She just smirked and watched as Fleetfoot followed after Soarin. 

There was something really special about feeling casual at the compound. While Dash felt like she was still under the knife in terms of Silver and the expectations she had to meet, going from one day to the next without some sort of crazy random magical problem happening to Soarin was a boon. Everything suddenly went smoothly and day by day.

Dash enjoyed it, and she hoped it would continue… at least for as long as it could.





“Alrighty, alrighty, alrighty…” Soarin said to himself as he adjusted his duffle bag from one shoulder to the other and entered the main hall of Canterlot Central Station. He got several glances as he casually trotted in. Most of them were because Soarin of the Wonderbolt lead squad just strolled by, but as usual, he was getting a few looks because of the horn.

He had gotten used to the horn. It was very awkward for a while, publicly and personally. He could barely go anywhere without somepony either asking him or getting stared at. He was a pegasus wearing a false horn after all… at first glance most would probably wonder why Soarin was acting like a princess with the silly headpiece. Even alone it caused him problems for a bit. It was hard to sleep in certain positions because of how sensitive the horn could be to the touch. His flight goggles were harder to get over his head, and his uniform for a while had a defective mask, due to making a hole for the horn. 

Since then, he had adjusted and gotten all of his apparel adjusted as well. He simply now understood what everyday life was like for a unicorn. 

He spotted Spitfire near the ticketing area. Soarin made his way through the main hall, smiling and waving at fans who called out his name and politely letting a mare and stallion take their picture with him before he finally made it to Spitfire.

“There you are,” Spitfire immediately flashed a ticket towards him. “Both you and Fleet are cutting it very close here. The rest are already here,” she said referring to squad seven, twelve, and eighteen who were all coming along with them. Soarin glanced behind him at the large clock in the hall as he received his ticket from Spitfire.

“Cutting it close? Train doesn’t even leave for thirty minutes…” Soarin chuckled.

“I’d prefer you are all here—”

“An hour beforehand, I know Spitfire,” Soarin nodded. “But it’s not like you have to pep talk us,” he shrugged. 

“Sorry buddy, gotta run!” Fleetfoot walked up to them while waving and batting her eyelashes at a poor stallion who either just got turned down, or Fleetfoot had led him on for shits and giggles. Either was possible. Spitfire rolled her eyes.

“Fleetfoot, you’re the last one here. What do you have to say for yourself?” Spitfire berated her while handing her a ticket. 

“I’m feeling a cinnamon bagel!” she replied cheerfully as she took the ticket, stuffed it into her backpack, and immediately turned to a coffee shop beside the ticketing area. Spitfire opened her mouth to reply, but this was Fleetfoot. Battle was lost before it began. She just shook her head, picked up her duffle bag from the floor beside her and made a head motion towards Soarin for him to follow. They began walking towards the prime platform.

“So…” Spitfire broke the silence as they walked. “How has everything been going lately? You’ve been quiet about it,” Spitfire asked. Soarin thought for a moment. 

“That’s actually just it,” Soarin shrugged. “Nothing’s been happening at all. Discord’s little ‘help’ has pretty much put everything back on track.”

“Why didn’t they do that in the first place?” Spitfire said with a huff. Soarin shook his head.

“Something about me having to eventually know how to control it regardless… don’t look at me, I still don’t understand it. Everything’s been fine though. It’s nice to be back on my normal routine, even if it’s only for the time being,” Soarin said with a content nod. 

“What about the yellow magic?” Spitfire pressed as they turned a corner and proceeded down a long ramp towards the platforms, clearly concerned for her friend. Soarin appreciated it. 

“Still nothing,” he shook his head. “Apparently it’s in there…” he tapped his forehead. “But since the ‘barrier’ was put up, it’s been completely docile. 

“Back to being a dark magician then?” Spitfire said with an exasperated sigh. Soarin smiled at her.

“Hey, it’s under control, and I’ve been getting better with it…” Soarin glanced at a bit somepony had dropped on the ground. He focused on it and smoothly called forth the magic. The blue aura surrounded his horn and the bit, floating it up and over in front of Spitfire. “See?”

Spitfire held her hoof up and Soarin let the bit fall into it. She lifted her brow, looking sarcastically impressed.

“Do you do birthday parties?” she smarmily replied. Soarin snorted and chuckled.

Spitfire placed the bit in her duffle bag and then looked back at Soarin as they walked. She found herself looking longer. And longer. And across his body and—

“So how are—”

“I’M FINE!” Spitfire flinched, completely cutting off Soarin and looking forward with a slight glow in her cheeks. Soarin flattened his ears and brow, stopping in place. Spitfire took two more steps before halting as well and turning to look at him. “What?!” 

“Spitfire…” Soarin looked at her sternly. “You STILL haven’t talked to Wave?” By the way Spitfire reacted, Soarin could almost hear a nail being hit on the head. “Really?” Soarin added to drive the nail to the board. 

“I—” she blushed harder, unfolding her right wing and covering her face with it. 

“Spitfire, I can’t believe you two are still going on about this! You need to go to him,” Soarin demanded. Spitfire shook her head vigorously behind her wing feathers.

“No I don’t,” she replied adamantly.

“YES. YOU DO,” said Soarin sternly. “I’ve told BOTH of you probably a hundred times now. The sooner you guys come back together and let each other know everything is fine, the less embarrassing it will be. You guys got pranked… it’s not like something tragic happened, you got messed with and it’s thrown you two apart?! You were both going steady before it happened—” 

“STEADY?!” Spitfire removed her wing from her face and stepped up. “Soarin, we were FRIENDS! GOOD FRIENDS! There was nothing like that between Wave and I, just like how there’s been none between me and you, it’s no different!” she pouted while still blushing and looked directly at Soarin. Soarin’s flat look remained. Spitfire eventually puffed her cheeks out and waivered, looking away from Soarin. “Okay fine… that’s a lie,” she admitted. 

“Seriously Spitfire,” Soarin sighed and leaned in towards her while keeping one eyebrow up. “You two have been PAINFUL to watch… it’s like having somepony slowly let the air out of a balloon into my face… you know, a slow, steady pthhhbthbthbthbthbthbthbthbthbth…” Soarin comically emulated the sound. “I swear, if you two don’t stop this incredibly dumb avoiding act, I’m going to force your heads together and run a whole roll of duct tape around them!”

“You wouldn’t…” Spitfire knew he was joking about the duct tape, but Soarin stepping in?

“Give me a reason not to, and I won’t,” Soarin encouraged. 

Spitfire grunted and turned away from him. Before he could say anything else, she began walking again at a quickened pace, leaving him in the dust quickly. Soarin sighed as Fleetfoot approached from behind and walked up beside him with a large cinnamon raisin bagel stuffed in her mouth.

“Shr strll brnrn rp?” Fleetfoot’s voice was completely muffled by the bagel. Soarin gave her an amused look.

“La prego di ripetere che nel Equestrian?” Soarin asked her to speak in Equestrian using old Griffonese. Fleetfoot rolled her eyes, took a bite out of the bagel and let it fall into her hoof.

“She still burning up?” Fleetfoot repeated while pointing at Spitfire, still slightly distorted due to chewing, but Soarin could understand her.

“More than ever…” Soarin said with an eye roll. Fleetfoot watched Spitfire as she quickly turned the corner at the bottom of the ramp. She swallowed the piece of bagel and lifted an eyebrow.

“We better do something quick… or else she’s gonna start humping doorknobs…” 

“Wow!” Soarin blinked and his ear folded back. “Thanks for that image!” he scrunched his face and squinted. Fleetfoot giggled.

“Oh please!” She whipped Soarin’s flank with her tail. “I’m sure you’d be drooling if it were Dashie,” she winked at Soarin before breaking into a quick trot, giggling all the way. Soarin’s eyes snapped open briefly before glaring towards her.

“HEY!” Soarin took a step but stopped as something caught his eye in his peripheral vision. He quickly turned around, but saw nothing. He stared behind him towards the main hall for a moment. He was almost certain he saw something moving very fast, but it could have just been a fly or something going past him as well. He blinked and shrugged before following after Fleetfoot.

He emerged on the prime platform where all the Wonderbolts were gathered. They were leaving from platform thirty-two, which was right in the center so they didn’t have to walk very far. Soarin casually strolled towards them all, taking note of all the Wonderbolts present. The members of squad seven, twelve, and eighteen were all present. Spitfire was talking to Air Mach near platform thirty-two, but the rest were all spread around. Fleetfoot was ducking behind the other squads as she moved to avoid eye contact with Air Mach. 

Soarin kept walking until something grabbed his attention. 

Off to the side, Storm Front was sitting on a bench away from the others, reading a piece of paper. Soarin looked between Storm and the rest of the Wonderbolts before turning and walking towards Storm. As he approached it looked like Storm was smiling, but Soarin could also see some light shivering.

“Hey kid,” Soarin spoke up as he dropped his bag and sat down. Storm flinched and quickly closed his hooves over the paper. Soarin looked at him in confusion as Storm shuddered and shook his head out.

“Oh! Uh… Commander Soarin! Sorry, I’m…” he fumbled to respond. Soarin quickly placed a hoof gently on Storm’s shoulder.

“Whoa there Storm… relax, you don’t have to be all formal with me, remember?” Soarin reassured him with a chuckle. Soarin was quickly concerned. He could feel Storm’s body shivering. “You alright?” Soarin asked. Storm looked down at the ground and took a deep breath.

“I’m… nervous…” he admitted sheepishly. Soarin removed his hoof from Storm’s shoulder immediately. Of course, how had Soarin not put that together? Storm slowly swayed his head from side to side. “If you told me I was going to be performing in front of a MANEHATTEN crowd with ELITE HIGH TIER Wonderbolts less than a month after trying out… I’d have called you crazy…” he turned his shoulders inward while he continued to shake slightly and breathe quickly but steadily. “We aren’t even on the train yet, and I already feel like I’m gonna have a heart attack.”

“Ah, jeez… that should’ve been obvious, sorry…” Soarin sighed as he leaned back on the bench and scratched his head. “This has been pretty sudden for you. I don’t blame you, I wasn’t expecting Spitfire to put you in a high tier squad… and it’s luck of the draw that you’re performing today,” Soarin glanced at Storm.

“I swear I’ve been shaking since Spitfire announced it last week. I barely slept the past two nights…” he trailed off while taking another deep breath and exhaling. Soarin glanced over at the other members of squad seven briefly. 

“Have you talked at all to your wingmates?” Soarin asked while looking out towards the Squad seven.

“Can… can I be frank…?” Storm spoke up, re-catching Soarin’s attention. “My squad is great… I’m not gonna knock their skills because they are great… but…” Storm looked towards Squad Seven. Point Dex was reading a physics book and Macho Savage was walking around with a wingful of coffee creamers he stole from the coffee shop out front, placing them in the other Wonderbolts’ bags and trying to balance them on their heads. “Besides Autumn Rain… Dex and Savage are… not the most welcoming ponies…” Storm said with a slight hint of shame in his voice. He clearly did not like talking down anypony, but Soarin could tell he was being honest here. “They kind of… do their own thing.”

“That’s an understatement…” Soarin chuckled as he watched the two ponies in question go about their rather silly routines… if one could even call Savage’s way of doing things a routine. “Well, I can tell you this right now Storm…” Soarin suddenly spoke up again. He looked towards Storm and smiled. “You can trust Autumn. I honestly don’t know how she put up with Point Dex, Macho Savage, and Air Mach all at once before the split recently… but you can bet she loves having you on the squad, so you can trust her,” Soarin relayed his opinion. 

“Heh, you don’t have to tell me that. She’s the only one I’ve felt comfortable talking to,” Storm admitted. “Dex talks in terms that are too technical to follow, and Savage never makes sense. Autumn is the only pony I’ve been able to fully understand. I’ve tried reconnecting with some of my friends from the tryouts but we are still separated by rank…” Storm sighed as his voice slowly faded. “It hasn’t been too easy for me, Commander… and here I am preparing for a show… it’s a bit much,” Storm looked up to the ceiling of the station.

Soarin felt bad for Storm. He really was thrust into a world he knew little about on very short notice. As much as Storm had earned the right to be an elite Wonderbolt, he was still yellow in the confidence department. He had never performed in front of a crowd before and now they were asking him to deliver in front of a Manehatten audience? It seemed like a lot to ask of him, but that’s where his current position was. 

Soarin glanced down at Storm’s hooves, fixing his eyes on the piece of paper that Storm hid quickly when Soarin approached. It looked like a note, or a letter. He would be lying if he wasn’t curious.

“So…” Soarin hesitated. He was worried he might be prying, but his curiosity got the better of him. “What were you looking at there?” Soarin pointed to Storm’s hooves and the piece of paper.

“Huh?” Storm looked down to the paper in his hooves. “Oh…”

Soarin was expecting Storm to play it off as nothing and try to sway the topic… but to Soarin’s surprise, a smile formed on Storm’s lips. 

“The only thing keeping me from going insane right now…” he slowly opened it. “It’s a letter from my dad… and… well it’s a long story,” Storm looked away, not sure if he had time to really brief Soarin on how his life had gone.

“Actually, Dash has told me about it,” Soarin spoke up as he leaned back forward. “Mother and father separated, father still does all he can for you… she gave me the rundown on all the recruits,” Soarin nodded.

“I see…” Storm sighed. “Yeah, I was sort of an accident… my mother despises my father, never lets him in the house, etc… I can’t believe how much my father has done for me despite all of it. He used to visit me all the time in secret, he’d leave bits, for both me and my mother… until recently, I hadn’t heard much from him, but about a week or so ago, I got this letter forwarded from home,” he held the letter over to Soarin. Soarin took it and looked it over.

Dear Storm,

I’m sorry it’s been so long since you’ve seen or heard anything from me. Times have been rough, but I’m managing. Hopefully I’ll be able to piece together some more bits for you soon.

Don’t you start worrying about me now, I’m doing just fine. I’m taking things day by day and I’ll continue to do everything I can to support you and your mother. 

You’re a grown stallion now. We haven’t touched base in ages, but I’m sure whatever you end up doing, you’ll make a smart choice. I’m proud of you, my son.

Love, 
Dad

Soarin smiled as he read the letter over and handed it back to Storm.

“Your father sounds like quite a guy,” Soarin patted Storm on the back lightly. “Chased away constantly from his own family, but still makes the time for his son… and from what I’ve seen, he’s raised you well.”

“Yeah…” Storm took another deep breath. “Knowing he’ll always have my back no matter how brutal it is for him… it’s just so touching to know I have someone like that in my life. It puts me at ease,” Storm looked over the letter. “I wish there was a way I could let him know what I’ve achieved. I don’t know where he lives, or what he does… there’s no way for me to contact him. I’m sure he would be filled with pride if he knew I had become an elite Wonderbolt.

“I’m sure he would,” Soarin nodded in agreement. He watched as Storm continued to look the letter over.

“What about you, Commander?” Storm suddenly asked. “What’s your dad like?”

The question caught Soarin by surprise. His dad? It had been a while since he thought about his own family. Of course he hadn’t forgotten about them… but he’d barely talked to them besides a few letters over the past year. 

In fact he had yet to tell his family about the whole… dying and being revived by dark magic thing. 

However in terms of fathers…

“Heh, you’re putting me on the spot here Storm… that’s quite an incredible father story you have there and mine… well, my dad is pretty normal. In fact my family is pretty normal,” he explained with a chuckle.

“How so?” Storm was curious. Soarin looked Storm over carefully. The conversation seemed to be calming him down a bit, so Soarin obliged.

“Well, unlike Spitfire’s family, there’s nothing very exciting about mine. We’ve been normal pegasi since as far back as I know. Weather workers, cloudscapers, rainbow producers… we’ve never really been known for our flight skills. My dad is part of a weather team. Probably still is. He never really cared for the Wonderbolts, but always tells me he’s proud of my achievements nonetheless,” Soarin explained. “I was kind of a black sheep. If not for us knowing Spitfire’s family, I’d never be in this position. Spitfire is the one that kicked my ass over and over until I was good enough.”

“The captain’s family?” Storm thought out loud. Soarin nodded. 

“Is full of freaks of nature,” Soarin chuckled. “Her family has been full of fantastic flyers for generations. More than half of her family line has been Wonderbolts at some point.”

“Wow…”

“There’s a reason she’s up there,” Soarin nodded. “But yeah, sorry, got side tracked. My dad is nothing special, but he did raise me, sent me to school, and taught me how to fly… all the good stuff. So you can bet I love and appreciate him. Being a good father makes a normal stallion a hero regardless,” Soarin looked up as he spoke, memories flowing due to the nature of the conversation. How he and Spitfire met, how he became what he was today, and how his family supported him despite not being too sure of Soarin’s career choice. It was a gamble, but if not for their support alongside Spitfire’s drilling, Soarin doubted he’d be in his position.

He suddenly felt bad about keeping his troubles a secret from his mom and dad… and his two little brothers. He made a mental note to possibly make a visit in the future… maybe he could take Dash along. That sounded very nice…

“Alright everypony! Let’s load up!” Spitfire yelled from near the train. Soarin perked up and looked towards the other Wonderbolts as they began to pile into the train. 

“Time to go!” Soarin stood up and turned back to Storm, he quickly put a hoof on his shoulder to catch Storm’s attention. “You’ll do fine kid, it’s alright to be nervous, but…” Soarin pointed to the letter. “Go out there and perform as if your father is in the crowd watching… and who knows?” Soarin smirked. “You don’t know where he is or what he’s doing… wouldn’t it be something if he’s at the show and suddenly his son is flying with the Wonderbolts?” Soarin felt a warm glow in his chest as he saw Storm’s eyes brighten. He smiled and ruffled Storm’s mane. “C’mon, we’ve got a train to catch,” he said as he picked up his duffle bag, and the two began moving towards the rest.

“MACH!” Spitfire’s voice caught Soarin’s attention as he and Storm proceeded down the platform. Spitfire was yelling up at Air Mach, who was standing in an inspiring pose atop of the train cars. “IN the train car, please!” she demanded. Air Mach scoffed and pointed towards the front of the train.

“Real stallions ride on TOP of the train!” he announced with lots of gusto.

“I don’t give a damn Mach, get down here right—” Spitfire was cut off as Fleetfoot suddenly yanked her aside.

“Spitfire, if he’s out here… it means he WON’T be in the train with us!” she explained. Spitfire blinked, staring into Fleetfoot’s eyes and realizing she was dead serious. She thought about it, and eventually nodded.

“Fair enough…” she shrugged and the two entered. 

Soarin chuckled as he glanced up at Air Mach and followed close behind Storm. Right before he stepped on, Soarin quickly turned his head to the right towards the end of the platform. The edge of a tail. He saw a tail, the last bit of somepony rushing onto the train. For a moment, he remembered what he saw earlier. The way it entered and left his peripheral vision was just like before he reached the prime platform. This time though, he was sure he just saw the end of a tail. 

“ALL ABOARD!” the conductor called. Soarin stepped on the train and began making his way into the car reserved for the Wonderbolts. 

Maybe he was over thinking it. They only reserved one car, not the whole train. It could have easily been somepony rushing to get on, the conductor did just call for departure. No need to worry, he had a show to focus on… and it felt good to be back on his regular schedule.






“C’mon Thunderlane!” Dash yelled as she spotted him. Thunderlane struggled and grunted, but the barbell didn’t budge. He was stuck halfway.

“Help!” he grunted as the weight began to fall. Dash sighed and grabbed the bar, helping him push it the rest of the way up before racking the weight and letting his arms flop down beside him. “Dammit…” he muttered as he exhaled.

“Seriously Thunderlane? I can lift twenty pounds more than this!” Dash exclaimed while leaning over the bar.

“Thanks for reminding me…” Thunderlane glared up at her as he rolled upright. “I haven’t been pulling apple carts and lifting weights in my personal home gym you know…” he grumbled. 

The two glanced to their right. Matteo was on the bench beside them. The bar was loaded up with at least four hundred pounds. Blaze and High Winds were also sitting on the weights on each side as Matteo easily pumped the weight up and down continuously.

“Hey Windy, I think this guy’s pretty strong!” Blaze joked. Winds shrugged. 

“I suppose…” she said sleepily as they continued to move up and down with his barbell.

“Yow…” Dash commented as Thunderlane sighed again and fell back onto the bench.

“I’m such a weakling…” he moaned. Dash scoffed and lightly bopped him on the head with a hoof. 

“Have you seen Little Star try to bench press?” Dash snickered. It didn’t seem to help Thunderlane’s mood.

“Oh, that’s great Dash, I can lift more weight than a thirty year old filly…”

“BLUNDERLANE!” Silver’s voice made Thunderlane yelp and nearly hit his head on the barbell above him. “THIS AIN’T A LOUNGE! SIT UP!” Silver yelled as he walked by. Thunderlane was up instantly.

Dash watched as Silver walked by another recruit who had just finished bench pressing.

“Sir, how much can you lift, sir?” The recruit asked.

“More than you!” Silver quickly replied before starting another round around the gym to check on the recruits. 

As she watched Silver, Dash’s attention was caught by something else.

Three ponies over by the stretching mat. The three mystery ponies to be precise: The incredibly dark blue pony with the gold eyes, the large, light brown pony with the black wing tips and nose scars, and the incredibly large, muscular light blue pony.

The light blue giant was wearing what looked like a weighted vest, and he was doing one armed push-ups. He was doing them continuously, a look of concentration on his face as he occasionally switched arms every eight or so push-ups. 

Beside him, the dark blue pony was… trying to do one armed push-ups. He wasn’t wearing a weight vest, but he was struggling more because he didn’t quite have the balance figured out. He did a shaky, single pushup for every twelve his bigger friend did.

Then a mare walked by.

“ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-SEVEN! UGH!” the dark blue stallion suddenly yelled out to make it seem he was struggling due to how many he had done. The mare didn’t even look at him, but he called out, “ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-EIGHT!” before falling flat on his face. 

Dash looked to the right a little more. The light brown pony was wearing a weight vest similar to the large light blue pony, only instead of doing push-ups, the pony was using his large wings to do single wing-ups. He did ten on one wing before switching to the other. 

Dash couldn’t help but wonder as she watched the three… well… the two workout and one fail to hit on passing mares.

She had been seeing them a lot lately… but she still couldn’t figure them out. They HAD to be Wonderbolts because they were always around and always using the facilities. They definitely weren’t instructors because they were never training or training with other Wonderbolts. She always saw them working individually or together.

However, she NEVER saw them in uniform, which was strange. How often the flight suit was worn differed from Wonderbolt to Wonderbolt, but they always had it on at some point. These guys NEVER wore it.

At first she didn’t pay too much attention to them, but they had been appearing more and more lately. She was beginning to wonder who they were and why they seemed to be just… there. They didn’t seem like Wonderbolts, and she knew the compound was not a public facility.

They had to be Wonderbolts… but… if they were, where was their fourth? She constantly saw these three stallions together. The only other pony she ever saw with them was Rivet. But Rivet was the chief engineer, he wasn’t a stunt flyer, and the little guy was definitely not a warrior. 

It was starting to bother her… who the hell were these guys?

“Rainbow Dash.”

“Ah!” Dash flinched as she turned to Matteo standing right beside her. Again the big guy somehow managed to be silent while moving… the advantage of paws and talons over loud hooves. “Dammit big guy, wear a bell or something!” she commented, but Matteo took no notice, he had his eyes fixed on something else. “Matteo?” she called his name, but he kept looking away.

“Squall,” he suddenly said.

“Huh?” Dash blinked. Matteo pointed across the gym. Dash followed his talon and saw Squall working out alone. Every other pony had somepony helping them or tagging along, but Squall was all alone. “What about Squall…?” Dash thought out loud.

“He’s been avoiding everypony else this whole week,” Matteo mentioned. Dash took a longer look at Squall. She was actually well aware that Squall had been avoiding them lately, but she honestly didn’t give a damn. As much as she was curious about Squall’s sudden attempt at an apology about a week back, it didn’t overwrite how much of an ass he had been in general.

“I’ve noticed, what about it?” Dash asked. Matteo looked down to her.

“We should fix that,” he said straightforwardly. Dash cocked her head to the side in confusion.

“Fix?” Dash blinked, not sure what Matteo was getting at.

“There’s clearly more to him than we know. We should figure it out,” Matteo continued to lay down a plan without giving Dash a full explanation. Dash glanced back at Squall. Yeah he was alone… and, he did look a little dejected. But…

“Wait, hold on…” Dash held a hoof to Matteo’s leg as she looked out towards Squall. “Why? What’s to learn? He’s an ass!” Dash exclaimed. She flinched as Matteo suddenly glared down at her.

“He has the heart of a warrior… but a misguided one. He is troubled, and it’s leading him to be cowardly. I’ve been seeing it since our training began,” Matteo turned to Dash. “We need to open up to him.”

“To him!?” Dash looked at Matteo in disbelief. “Matty, I get where you’re coming from, but I think you’re a bit in over your head feathers! Squall’s a little far gone if you ask me…”

“Think what you wish… I see more in him,” Matteo sighed. “Unfortunately, I’m not too... good at making friends…” he suddenly admitted. 

Then Dash realized it. She realized why Matteo suddenly dropped this one her. She had made a friend in him… something which she still wondered how she pulled off. Matteo felt Squall could be brought around… so he came to her. 

Squall was a loner. That much was certain. However he had this odd air around him at all times, an air of loneliness. His lack of friends was his own fault, but… that didn’t mean he didn’t want them. Matteo had exposed his façade more than once in training. The first, and most prominent being when he called him out for being a coward in the cafeteria.

Maybe it was high time Dash put her hoof down and figured Squall out.

Dash looked up at Matteo and nodded.

“You want my help?” she asked. Matteo hesitated… but nodded.

“Yes, if you don’t mind…” he admitted. Dash smirked.

“Well… I guess I can give it a shot. I don’t know how he’ll take it, but if you think Squall is worth it, I’ll try…” Dash shrugged.

“Please do,” Matteo said before returning to do another bench press set.

Squall, huh?

Dash hadn’t even considered the possibility from the beginning. She frankly did not know what Matteo’s sudden interest was in him, but Matteo wasn’t an idiot, he had made that crystal clear. There was definitely a reason. She’d humor him… at least as long as Squall didn’t piss her off. 

“LESS DO NOTHING, MORE HEAVY LIFTY!” Silver suddenly appeared in front of Dash and yelled at the top of his lungs. Dash yelped and quickly got back into the gym mood. She had nearly forgotten they were in the middle of a gym session.

She looked over to where Squall had been. He had moved on.

She looked towards the stretching mat, the three mystery ponies were gone. 

Things were back to normal for her and Soarin… but Dash suddenly found herself with a few new mysteries to solve…

---To Be Continued---