//------------------------------// // New Chances // Story: Treason // by Trevosta //------------------------------// New Chances Rainbow Dash had just finished up her weather duties when she saw a commotion in town. She had no idea what it was, so she went to check it out. Her search was definitely warranted, because she saw Soarin, the Wonderbolt, doing... Wing-ups? Yes he was definitely doing wing-ups on stage, flanked by Geronimo? Rainbow was confused, and she was going to find out what was going on. She attempted to approach the stage from the sky, but was blocked by some bodyguards, so she had to approach from the ground. She landed at the edge of the crowd, and slowly pushed her way through the ponies. As she arrived at the stage she noticed that Geronimo had left, but she could see Soarin. She called to him and he looked in her direction. "Hey! I remember you, you saved my life, did a Sonic Rainboom, and then at the Gala, you saved my pie! You thinkin' about joining the 'Bolts, Miss Dash? 'Cause we could use a pony like you on the team." Rainbow couldn't believe it, Soarin knew her name. This. Was. Great! "Hehe, uh, yeah. I am thinking about it. So what do I need to do?" He handed her a paper, "Fill this out, send it in, and show up on the date and time that is on there." he said, pointing out each thing. "I have a good feeling about you, but you will have tough competition." he told her, then with a smile, "I hope to see you then." "O-ok, see you then Soarin!" She then took off toward the Inn where T.C. was staying, she needed to tell her boyfriend about everything that had just happened. She loved calling him that. ----------------------------------- Geronimo was returning to the farm, after delivering the pies, when he saw Rainbow Dash fly overhead, he called out to her and she looped around and landed beside him. "Hey what's up?" she said slowing to a trot beside her teacher. "Soarin was in town today, giving out information about the next Wonderbolt tryouts. So I picked one up for you." he said, holding the sheet of paper. She laughed and held her own up. "Ah, you talked to him too." "Yeah I did, and I saw you talking to him, so how do you know him?" she asked. Geronimo smiled, memories coming back, "He was in the Air Force while I was a trainer. I trained him and Spitfire." Rainbow Dash's mouth was agape. "He was always flirting with her, while she was always trying to pay attention. They were both fantastic, but not quite 51st material." he said, appearing deep in thought. She had the biggest smile ever plastering her face. "And you think that I am?" He looked at her with raised eyebrows, and said, "Did you really just ask that? If I didn't think that, I wouldn't have taken you under my wing." She looked at his back and the stumps where his wings should be. "Well, so to speak." They arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, where Geronimo checked in with Applejack, before they headed out for training, preparing a routine for her tryouts. ----------------------------------- Soarin flew as fast as he could, back to the Wonderbolts' training hall. He hauled the sack of pies with him, desperately trying to get back so he could dig in to one. He burst in to the hall and saw that all of the other 'Bolts had returned. "Great news everypony!" Then he lifted the sack of pies, "And I have pie!" and he started passing out the pies. "What's the news?" Spitfire asked, biting into a slice of pie. "You will never guess who I found in Ponyville today!" he said, finishing off a pie. "Rainbow Dash lives there, right?" Fleetfoot brought up. "Yes, and I did see her there, but that isn't who I was talking about." he said, while licking the pie pan clean. "Then who did you see?" Spitfire asked. "Sergeant Geronimo." The ponies who had been in the Air Force let out a collective gasp, while the ponies who hadn't been trained by him, had still heard of him, and everypony started talking at once. Rapidfire shouted, "Wait, Wait, Wait!" everypony quieted down. "What is the 'good news about meeting him there?" Soarin puffed out his chest, "He picked up a pamphlet." Spitfire looked at him with raised eyebrows, "You know he doesn't have wings, right?" "He picked it up for his private student." a few of the team were appalled at the thought, a few didn't quite get it. Spitfire's mouth dropped open, "Who. Is. It?" she demanded. "He was always complaining about, how bad we were compared to the 51st, this student of his is going to be fantastic." she said with her eyes lighting up. "I don't know, he never told me who she was." Fleetfoot spoke up, "Wait the student is a she? What if Rainbow Dash is his student?" The room went silent for a moment. Then Soarin said, "No, she came and picked one up, just after he left." "What if she didn't know he picked one up for her?" More silence. Spitfire broke the silence with, "Then I think we all know who the next Wonderbolt is." Later the excitement had died down, and everypony had finished their pies, except for Soarin, who had packed an extra one for himself. Spitfire was still curious about Soarin's trip to the countryside, so she decided to learn more. "Hey, Soarin!" she called out. "You never told us how you found the Sarge', so how did it happen?" he looked up from the refrigerator, where he was stashing his extra pie, to see Spitfire coming towards him. "Huh? Oh, yeah. I didn't find him, he found me." he said, looking rather embarrassed. "before I saw him, he yelled at me for flirting, and made me do wing-ups." he said, rubbing his neck with his hooves. Spitfire was getting angry, "You were flirting with another mare?" she growled defensively. "What? No! I was just signing a poster! Honest! He just always yelled at me for that in training, so he knew it would get me." he said, defending himself, "I promise, you are the only one for me." he said with a suave smile. Spitfire softened, "Aw, why do you have to be so cute? I always tried to pay attention, and you always made it so hard to do." she accused playfully. "Ya know," he said, walking off in another direction, "He brought you up too." "Really! What did he say?" she asked, following him. The two then talked late into the night, reminiscing about their days at training with Sergeant Geronimo. ------------------------------------- Rainbow Dash had just finished her first run-through of the routine that she and Geronimo had planned for her tryouts. She felt great. She was struggling to keep her composure when performing the stunts. She lost control and fell out of the routine several times, but now she had just finished the first complete run-through, with no big slip-ups, just minor instability issues. She was so confident that this routine would get her into the Wonderbolts. Rainbow landed just a little bit away from her trainer and walked over to him. "So what do you think? Can I get in?" "If you practice that, polish it, and make it your own, they will give you their uniform, immediately." He said confidently. "In fact, if they do not let you in, I will cut off my own ear, and eat it." she laughed, "No, I am serious, I don't think you believe me." he said with a straight face. She took a small step away from him after that, "Sooo... Anyway. Thanks for training me. I can't wait until tryouts! Do you have any other tips for me?" she asked hopefully. By this time, they had arrived at the farm house, where Applejack was coming out to meet them. Geronimo thought about the question, and responded with, "Quit your job at the weather team." Both of the mares who were there yelled in unison, "WHAT!?!?" "Listen, you need to give your employer at least two weeks notice of your resignation. The Wonderbolts will want to start your official training immediately. You have three weeks until tryouts. If you resign now, you will have one entire week to polish up your routine." he reasoned, "That is my advice." Applejack pulled her coltfriend aside. "Are ya nuts?!? What if she doesn't make it? She is yer sister, and ya should be tellin' her ta have a back-up plan." "I am also her coach, and as her coach, I am telling you that she is the best flier in the world at the moment." he was completely serious. "if they do not beg her to join, they are dooming themselves to failure, and deserve to be made fun of." "But what if she doesn't make it?" "If she doesn't make it," He announced, so Rainbow could hear from where she was. "I have already promised to remove, and eat, my own ear." he said proudly, while Rainbow nodded. "I have trained more than half of the Wonderbolts, and Rainbow is better than all of them together." Rainbow Dash couldn't believe what she was hearing, her private trainer had trained more than half of the Wonderbolts, and said that she was better than all of them. She could already hear crowds chanting her name, "Rainbow! Rainbow! Rainbow..." "Rainbow!" Applejack called, snapping her friend out of her trance. "Go 'n get T.C, 'n the girls, we're gonna have a bit of a dinner party." Applejack said, gathering some supplies for soup. "Oh, ok." Rainbow Dash said, before taking off to gather the guests. ----------------------------------- The three weeks leading up to the tryout dates were rather uneventful. Rainbow Dash used any extra time she had to practice her routine. Geronimo worked with her, suggesting things to do, to add flair and pizzazz. With the extra help that Geronimo had brought in, the Apple family was bringing in plenty of extra money. Everypony was having a pretty good life. Twilight decided to plan a sleepover, with only her five best friends. As ponies started arriving the party began to unfold. Pinkie was the first to arrive, with her party cannon of course, and went to work decorating. Fluttershy arrived next, and helped Twilight and Pinkie wherever they needed it. Rarity followed, with homemade sleeping bags personalized for each of the six ponies. Applejack then arrived with a trailer loaded with snacks, and the last of the season's apple cider. Lastly, Rainbow came bursting through the door. "Sorry, girls, I was practicing my routine. I only have one week left, and I need it to be perfect." she said, with fire in her eyes. Rarity rolled her eyes. "Yes, darling, we all know. When you aren't practicing, or hanging out with T.C., you are talking about practicing, or hanging out with T.C.." "I don't know," Fluttershy spoke up. "It's nice to see one of us with a special somepo-, er, someone of their own." she said kicking lightly at the floor. Pinkie Pie poked her head out of the popcorn bowl, "Two of us!" she said, with a wink at Applejack, who blushed and hid behind her hat. Late into the night, after some games, and snacks, the six settled down for a game of Truth or Dare. Several turns into the game, it came to be Twilight's turn. "Ugh, that was disgusting, I will never eat that again! Now, let's see... Applejack! Truth or Dare?" "Uuh... Truth?" she said, unsure of the coming question. "Have you and Geronimo kissed yet?" she asked with a sultry smile. Applejack smiled nervously and rubbed her neck, "Well, uh, no." Rainbow Dash laughed, "You have been dating longer than me and you haven't kissed yet?" she was rolling with laughter. "Well have you kissed T.C. yet?" "Yes I have." she said proudly, then she said, confused, "and it was weird." "What was weird about it, darling?" Rarity asked. "He has a beak, that just doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel bad though." she added, quietly. Her friends all laughed as they continued into the night. ---------------------------------- Gilda flew towards Ponyville and her old friend, once again. This time, however, she had cargo. And this cargo was disgusting. As a griffon, she was a carnivore, but she didn't like the idea of the death of something that can understand the concept of death. And her cargo was a dead part of a dead thing, that could understand death, if it were alive still. Just the thought of that, made her shiver. She needed to get this to Ponyville as soon as she could. She just hoped that Rainbow Dash would listen to her.