The air rippled from a miniature clap of thunder.
Down below, Captain Typhoon looked up... and rolled his eyes.
Up above...
"Woooo!" Soarin' came out of his windbursting dive with a dramatic twirl. He coasted to a stop just along the port edge of the dirigible, then pivoted to face his awestruck pupil. "And that is what we call the Corkscrew Clap!"
"Jeez Louise..." Flash wheezed, his ears still ringing from the noise that the acrobatic maneuver created. "You, a name like that would have a different meaning in Las Vegas."
"Huh?"
Flash shook his head. "Never mind. So... uhhhhhhh..."
"Heheheheh..." Soarin' grinned, is horse teeth glinting. "Wanna try it?"
"Exactly how advanced is that sort of airshittery?"
"Now I'm afraid to tell you," Soarin' said, folding his forelimbs with a smirk. "Suffice to say, an illustrated manual would take twelve pages to explain it."
"Uhhhhhhhhh..."
"But give it a whirl anyway!" Soarin' winked, then gestured. "You've been doing a great job following my lead so far!"
"Like Hell I have." Flash coughed. "I nearly lost my feathers the last two times I mimicked you."
"Nonsense." Soarin' chuckled good-naturedly. "You're adapting way faster than most first-year cadets!" His eyes narrowed. "Who'd you say your instructor was again?"
"Uhhhh..." Flash cleared his throat. "Derpy. Derpy Hooves."
"Hmmmmm..." Soarin' tapped his chin from where he hovered alongside the Midnight Oil. "Derpy Hooves. Derpy Hooves." His ears twitched. "For some reason, all that comes to mind is the obituaries."
"So then," Flash elevated himself. "How did you prepare for yourself again...?"
"Chest up! Wings out! Legs curled! And... just roll with gravity for the first four inversions!"
"'First four,' he says..." And Flash held his breath. Flash barreled. Flash plummeted.
There was a burst of air alright—but it was in multiple wayward directions. Before the horizon could even flip once, Flash was sprawling about in a zig-zag fashion, bellowing to the clouds.
Just before he could slam into the hull of the Midnight Oil—
"Whoah there!" Soarin' calmly caught him with one forelimb hooked out. "You hooked one of your legs out!"
"Guhhhhhhh..." Flash's eyes rolled in their sockets. "It... did that on... its own..."
"Rookie mistake." Soarin' smirked. "If I was Spitfire, I would have bit your ear off and made you fly twenty laps."
"Good thing you're not Spitfire."
"More like a good thing I hate the taste of ear."
"Heheheh..."
"Haha!"
From down below, the two could hear Canterloy heckling: "Nice aerial maneuvers, pegasus peasant! Mayhaps you could trade the gray matter inside your cranium with a pair of homing doves!"
"I don't suppose..." Flash tongued the inside of his muzzle. "...it would be improper etiquette to poop on the little booger's head?"
Soarin's reaction to that was akin to a belch. "Brad!"
Flash smirked. "I mean, we're pegasi, right? You heard the brat. We might as well be part bird anyways!"
"Shhhhhh..." Soarin' struggled to keep from laughing. Keeping a careful eye on the monarch and his uncle, he leaned in: "Every pegasus knows we're cloud trained at the age of three."
Flash blinked. "We are?"
"Hahahaha... you're a real goofball, Brad."
"I'm out of the loop, is what." Stretching his muscles, Flash flapped his wings with renewed vigor. "So let me try that again! I think I can control my third leg this time!" His eyes crossed, and he giggled helplessly. "Listen to me! Hooo boy! I sound like I'm back in middle school!"
"I... think you could use a breather."
"Dude! I almost got this!"
"You said that three failed barrel-rolls ago. You've got talent, Brad, but I think you're starting to push it."
"Awwwwwwww... well, if you say so, big guy."
"Here." Soarin' pointed towards the prow of the Midnight Oil. "Let's perch."
"Uhhhh... sure thing!"
With a flap of feathers, the two stallions descended onto the frontmost portion of the airship. They positioned themselves with grace and poise that surprised even Flash.
"Whoah! Look it!" He grinned wide. "We are perching!"
Soarin' giggled. "You're easily amused."
"Well, why shouldn't I be?" Flash winked. "We're horses with wings! What could be more awesome than that?"
"Hey... I didn't say I was not counting my blessings," Soarin' said with a smile.
"And you're a Wonderbolt!" Flash exclaimed, nudging him. "You're the wingiest, horsiest of them all."
"Mmmmmmmmm..." Soarin' looked off towards the western horizon. "Don't I know it."
Flash leaned back where he perched. "So... you gonna think it over?"
"... ... ...hmm?" Soarin's eyes darted his way. "Think what over?"
"Pursuing—y'know—a career in teaching. Flight teaching."
"The Wonderbolts need me, Brad. I'm not about to retire anytime soon." Soarin' took a deep breath. "Although... I could take over the local outreach program. We've got a Summer Flight Camp for youngsters in the work. Spitfire's got one of our lower administrators heading it, but..." He smiled warmly. "I'm thinking that maybe I could try running the program myself."
"There ya go!" Flash nodded enthusiastically. "It's a start, don't you think?"
"Mmmmmm..." Soarin' gazed off. He slicked his mane back and said, "Y'know... it's funny..."
"What is?"
"My whole career as a Wonderbolt." Soarin' inhaled. "It started on a dare."
"How Chris Pine of you."
"Well..." Soarin' continued thinking aloud. "Not so much a 'dare', but..." He rolled his eyes.
"What? It can't be that embarrassing."
Soarin' glared with dull eyes. "I joined to impress a mare."
"Ohhhhhhhh..." Flash nodded. "You poor bastard."
"Hahahaha... phweee..." Soarin' tucked his wings close to his sides. "We were both in Advanced Flight School. I was still on the fence about my own career. I was seriously considering a job in Cloudsdalian Weather Flying. Then one day, we attended the local Wonderbolts Airshow... and she was positively melting at the sight of them. Well... I was a teenage idiot, and my heart ached with jealousy. I went to apply for the tryouts to enter Wonderbolt Academy... only because I wanted to steal some of that thunder. Lo and behold, little did I know that I was actually friggin' good at high speed aerial mastery. They practically begged me to go through cadet training. I did... aaaaaaaand... heheheh..." Soarin' covered his face.
Flash craned his neck. "Yeah...?"
"Mrffhmm..." One of Soarin's eyes peeked out from under his fetlock. "...being at the Academy is what ended up drawing us apart. Turns out she had her heart set on another stallion the other time."
"Strung you like a kite, huh?"
"And I was too dumb to realize it. She dumped me in a letter right before I graduated." Soarin' gulped. "Looking back... I try to tell myself that—had I not joined the Wonderbolts—I would have been absolutely miserable with a controlling, dishonest mare like her. And yet..." He sighed. "It doesn't change the fact that—for years—I felt guilty and remorseful for the whole thing... as if it was somehow all my fault. And yet... I did land myself one of the coolest jobs in all of Equestria. Not to mention celebrity status."
"Eh..." Flash waved a hoof. "She probably went on to marry a fat albatross."
"Hahahaha—heck if I know. I don't care. Not really."
"Yeah. Bet you wish your heart could tell you that."
Soarin' sighed melodically. "Yeah..."
"Kinda lame," Flash muttered, pawing the wooden finish of the hull beneath him. "That is... how guys like us can let a sweet girl make us feel miserable over nothing... especially when she didn't mean it."
"Oh, I'm pretty sure she meant it," Soarin' muttered, chuckling bitterly. "I had a good long talk with some of her friends after the matter and—" He stopped in mid-sentence, giving Flash a blank look. "Oh. Shoot. You were talking about yourself, dude. My bad."
"Huh? Oh... no, don't mind me. Just rambling."
"Nah, go on." Soarin' smiled gently. "Lemme guess... you had an fine airship sail through your skies long before this one, huh?"
Flash took a deep breath. "You said you started your whole career over this one mare?"
Soarin' rubbed the back of his neck. "Kinda... heh... yeah. I know it's not very flattering... but it's more or less the truth."
"I... think I... I just made a big leap too," Flash murmured, his ears drooping. "At least... it sorta feels like a leap. I haven't... really stopped to think about it... or just haven't stopped at all... and..." His lip quivered. He stared numbly at the clouds, mountains, and confusion shifting all around him beneath a bright noonday sun. He was a bird horse perched on a flying airship en route to negotiate with sapiant dog creatures over crystalline crystals for crystal ponies. "...I'm afraid to stop it before it gets anywhere. Call me a coward... but I don't want this change to end. I just... feel too alive... almost as if it's the first time I've ever dreamt of anything... and I don't like what I might have to wake up to."
Silence.
"Brad?" Soarin' looked at him warmly. He placed a hoof on his shoulder. "This place you're from... this place that's far, far away..." He arched an eyebrow. "Are there ponies there who would be worried about you?"
Flash bit his lip.
But just as he began to shiver...
...a voice shouted from the deck of the Midnight Oil.
"Airship sighted!"
"Forty-five degrees from Port!"
"Due south!"
Flash and Soarin' turned to look.
An airship was flying towards them. It was considerably smaller than the Midnight Oil, and it was accompanied by several winged figures clad in blue.
"Ah! The rendezvous!" Soarin' said, stretching his wings. "Fancy Pants' business partner is here."
"Heh..." Flash nodded. "Better get your tail moving before Spitfire bites it off."
"Don't need to remind me twice." Soarin' smirked briefly... before patting Flash's shoulder. "Let's chat later, okay?"
Flash gulped as the stallion flew off. "'Kay..."