Flying in a Blue Dream
Chapter Two - Sky Full of Dreams
Time seemed to slow to a crawl around Spitfire as she stood in the long line of ponies waiting to file onto the stage. Today was the day her class was graduating from flight school, and it was taking place in the very same arena that had been witness to her idol’s career-ending crash.
While the headlines had told of the Wonderbolts’ lead flier having a successful recovery, she had also stepped down as captain and retired from the flight team shortly after. Spitfire knew that Jetsteam loved her job dearly and wouldn’t have given up easily, so the injury must have been worse than the reports made it out to be.
As Spitfire made her way up the steps to the stage, she scanned the crowd, eyes bouncing from pony to pony. After some time, she spotted a mare who waved to her. The young flier waved back to her mom as best as she could. The outfits that all the graduates were required to wear didn’t allow much in the way of free movement.
The sky blue cap and gown uniforms were the traditional regalia of Spitfire’s school. She actually quite liked the colour, as it complimented her yellow-orange fur nicely; she just wished that the clothes weren’t as silly looking or as uncomfortable. The gown even covered her wings so that she had to keep them tucked into her sides at all times. She couldn’t wait for the ceremony to be over so she could take the garments off.
Eventually, the line of bodies shifted forward, and then once more. The advance was slow going and Spitfire grew antsy. She began prancing in place, flapping and flexing her wings, grinding her teeth, anything to keep her busy. She wasn’t one to stand still very long, but she knew that if she broke rank she would be in trouble for it, so she stayed put as best she could. She didn’t find much relief when she finally reached the top of the stairs.
“Summer Rains” the announcer said. The pony in front of Spitfire stepped forward onto the stage to accept his diploma. Spitfire filled in his spot in line. While normally confident, she was shaking vigorously from head to hoof.
Easy, Spitfire. She told herself, trying to calm her nerves. The announcer will read your name, you’ll trot across the stage, and take the award. Then you’ll head down the otherside and be done with it. Simple as th—
“Spitfire,” The pony announcing the names said into the microphone. His voice was void of any emotion as he droned on through the list.
The young pegasi graduate stumbled out of her own thoughts and onto the stage. She hadn’t been able to fully gather herself, but she still managed to trot forward with her head held high. It was far from a dignified gait, and she nearly fell over her own hooves once or twice, but her hooves did safely carry her to the spot she intended.
“Congratulations,” said the pony before her with a smile as he presented the diploma to her.
“T-thanks,” Spitfire said, taking the certificate in her mouth. The two ponies then turned to pose for the cameramare. A brilliant flash dazzled the graduate’s eyes, temporarily blinding her, but only for a moment. As the white light cleared away and her vision returned, she spun around and made her way off the stage.
Nearly tripping on her way down the stairs, she let out a long sigh through the diploma she held proudly between her teeth. It was over; all that was left was to ride out the rest of the ceremony.
It tried Spitfire’s patience waiting for the remainder of her class to finish receiving their certificates. She struggled to keep herself in her seat instead of tearing off the restricting clothes in order to burn some energy flying. Eventually, the wait took its toll on the young pegasi, and she simply sat there, nodding off to sleep.
“All the diplomas have been handed out,” the announcer said, rousing Spitfire from her drowsy state. “Now, as is the tradition to symbolize their advancement from one step in life to the next, will the graduates please move their tassels from the right side of their caps to the left.”
Everypony in the crowd who was graduating did just that. A sea of yellow tassels shifted from one side to the other.
“The commencement ceremony is now over, but I would like to say just one last thing to you all: Congratulations, graduates, and good luck!”
A cheer erupted first from the audience, and then from the graduates themselves. A flurry of blue caps was tossed up, high into the air, before raining back down into the crowd of young pegasi. It was all over; Spitfire was free to move on in life.
“I’ll give you one guess when I’m going, mom,” Spitfire said as she made her way out the door to the pegasi family’s house.
“But dear, you still have guests over,” her mother protested. “You can’t even wait until your party’s over?”
“I wanna stay and hang out with everypony, but the center closes at eight o’clock tonight. It’s already seven-thirty, and even at my speed it’ll take almost fifteen minutes to get there. That doesn’t leave me much time,” I argued.
“The recruitment center’s been there for years, and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon, ya know?”
“Tonight’s the deadline for the summer session though. If I miss it, I’ll have to wait until Autumn...” Spitfire’s lip curled and her eyes grew large. Her mother knew her pouty face well, but it always worked; she couldn’t bear to see her daughter disappointed.
“Fine, but be quick about it. I’ll keep everypony busy. They won’t even know that you’re gone.”
“Thanks, mom!”
The yellow-orange pegasus gave her mom a hug and then dashed out the door in the a streak that matched her coat.
After the graduation, Spitfire’s family and close friends had come over to party and celebrate the big day. The young flier had other plans, however. Today, as she had stated, was the last day for new recruits to sign up for the Summer session of the Wonderbolts academy, and she wasn’t going to miss it for the world.
With extreme speed, the pony tore through the cloud city like the bolt of flaming lighting that was her cutie mark. As she flew, a memory washed over her of the day she got the symbol on her rump.
It had been an unusual day for the young pegasus. It was her first day of flight school, and she was feeling quite nervous, not at all sure what to expect. The day was made worse when she got bullied into racing the school’s self-proclaimed “princess,” Silver Rush.
The race was technically against school rules, and even though she was forced into it, Spitfire couldn't resist a challenge. The school was built on its own little cloud and the two flyers' objective was to make four laps around it before coming to a stop, back where they began.
The two positioned themselves at the starting line Silver had dug into the white, fluffy ground. On the count of three, both of them took off with tremendous speed.
Spitfire loved the wind blowing through her mane. She love the adrenaline rush that came over her body. But most of all, she love the thrill of pushing herself to her limits; and this race did just that.
Silver Rush was two years ahead of Spitfire, and was by far the fastest flier in the flight school. That was, at least, until a little yellow-orange filly freshmare arrived. Within the first week of classes, the two had become heated rivals in just about everything, especially when it came to racing.
This race started off like any other feud between the two. Everything went the same as always: A good, clean first lap, with Spitfire in the lead. Then, as per the norm, Silver got underhooved with her tactics. Forget every dirty little trick in the book; Silver Rush seemed to be its author. This time, however, something backfired on her.
When she tried to collide with Spitfire in order to knock her out of the race, the fiery-maned pegasus was ready. Spitfire pulled up and rolled her body overtop of Silver.
Instead of making contact with her opponent, Silver Rush found herself crashing face-first into the cloud foundation of the school. For a panicking pegasus trying to stop herself, this was like slamming into a cement wall at high-speed.
The collision was not pretty, and Spitfire broke hard in her flight. Her rival had been knocked unconscious by the crash, her face badly mangled, and her limp body now tumbled downward toward the ground. For a moment, Spitfire contemplated letting her fall to her doom, but she remembered what had happened to her idol the year before. She wasn't about to let another soul suffer the same fate; not while she had the power to prevent it.
Spitfire turned over mid-flight, and angled herself straight down. The pegasus mare picked up speed at an exponential rate and the rush that came over her reached insane levels. She couldn’t see it, but as she raced to her competitor’s aid, something magical happened. Upon the pony’s flanks, a bolt of lightning set ablaze had been drawn upon her fur – her cutie mark.
Only yards before crashing into the ground, a streak of orange caught up to the falling diva, scooping her up before making an impossible turn back upward. Spitfire settled upon the clouds and rested her rival against the nearest wall. The whole student body, as well as the faculty, had witnessed the daring rescue and were now gathering in awe around the two mares.
Letting out a sigh, the yellow-orange pegasus turned to see the new mark on her hind-quarters. A new sensation overtook her, as she realized what exactly it meant. She had just rescued somepony, and in the process had broken nearly every school speed record. She knew now what her destiny was, to fly fast and daring. Her gaze drifted up to the skies above and Jetstream’s words recited themselves in her mind: “Never, ever give up on your dreams, no matter what. They’ll always guide you in the right direction.”
Spitfire already knew her dream – to be a Wonderbolt. Now, she knew her path. She would push herself to her limits to prove that she was the best, and she would never give up doing so until her dream became reality.
Unfortunately for her, those limits weren’t supposed to include real, physical walls. Lost in the memory, Spitfire had neglected to watch where she was flying as she made her way through a back-alley. Realizing she was about to crash, she pulled her wings back and up to catch air under them. The braking maneuver wasn’t enough to keep her from going headlong into the cloud-wall, but it did prevent the collision from seriously injuring her.
Crash!
As the pegasus mare opened her eyes again, a throbbing agony ran through her head.
“Ugh...” she moaned. “I really need to not daydream and fly at the same time.”
Attempting to stand, she immediately let out a frightful cry of pain and dropped back to the ground. At first, Spitfire thought her leg had been broken, but after testing it gingerly, she concluded it wasn’t. The meeting with the wall had merely dislocated her elbow.
That would prevent her from walking, but what pegasus needs to walk when they have wings? Feathers flared out above Spitfire’s body, and she flapped once.
“Gaaahah!!!” She let out another whinny of torture and her right wing went into a violent paroxysm. One of the muscles began to burn immensely, and the mare could only assume that the inflamed tissue had torn.
“Well, sh—”
“H-hey... y-you need any help there?”
Spitfire lifted her head to see who had interrupted her choice words, but it took a moment for her mind to register the sky-blue visage that was muzzle-to-muzzle with her. She simply blinked stupidly for a moment before the realization hit her.
“Waaaah!” She tried to push herself backwards in surprise, favouring her injured leg, but she didn’t get far. She felt her rump make contact with a pile of boxes behind her and she stopped. The strange pony blushed a little and laughed.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said. “I was... passing by when I heard your shouts, and it sounded like you could use some help.” The stallion stepped forward, his dark blue mane drifting through the wind. Spitfire’s jaw dropped a little at how handsome he was.
“I-I uh...” Spitfire was flustered from both the sudden kindness of this stranger and her own embarrassment at the situation. Her tongue was tied, and she simply flushed red in the cheeks.
The stallion gently slipped his head under Spitfire’s bad leg. She cringed a little from the pain, but she was happy just to have somepony helping her. The stranger slowly lifted her to her hooves, allowing her to keep her weight on him. He turned to look at her, and their gazes met.
His brilliant green eyes seemed to stare tenderly into her own. Spitfire smiled awkwardly, and the stallion returned the expression with his own maladroit grin. The two stood there for what seemed to them to be an eternity before the unnamed pony broke their transfixion.
“I’m Soarin’, by the way,” he said.
“Soaring where?” Spitfire asked, the stupor still in her voice.
“No, no. Soarin’ is my name.”
“Oh, sorry...” Spitfire’s cheeks gave an encore of pink hues. “M-my name’s Spitfire.”
“Haha, no worries, Spitfire. You wouldn’t be the first to get that wrong. So, where ya headed?”
“Well, I was on my way to the Wonderbolts recruitment center, until this wall came out of nowh—”
“Woah, hold up! Did you say the Wonderbolts recruitment center?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Awesome sauce! That just happens to be where I was heading too! Come on, let’s go!” Before Spitfire could respond again, Soarin’ gently and effortlessly lifted her fully onto his back and spread his wings. Despite the extra weight, the two of them lifted off the ground and made their way out of the alley and onward toward their destination.
“No can do kiddos. We’re about to close, you’ll have to come back tomorrow.” The recruiter raised a hoof to the door.
“B-but, that’s not fair!” Spitfire protested.
“True story for you: Life’s not fair,” the officer retorted.
“Come on man. You might be about to close, but you aren’t actually closed yet.” Soarin pointed out. “Just let her sign up, I can come back tomorrow.”
“A lovely sentiment, boy, but too little too late. Now come back tomor—” The recruiter trailed off as the bell over the door rang out to announce a new arrival.
“Easy there, Stormchaser.”
Spitfire and Soarin’ spun around to see who it was, though they both already had a good idea just from her voice. Both pony’s eyes opened wide with the surprise, however. Soarin’s jaw also hung open in awe of seeing the former Wonderbolt in the fur, stripped of her blue and yellow jumpsuit. Her wings were held close to her side, and Spitfire noticed the irregular curve in one of the bones.
Jetstream strode between the two hopeful recruits and up to the officer at the desk. She looked at each of the two ponies as she passed them, and winked at each in turn. Soarin’s cheeks turned ever so slightly pink at the gesture.
“I think you can take a little extra time to sign them up, right Storm?” The mare gave the officer a look that most stallions would have gone nuts for, but Storm knew how she worked though.
“No can do, Jet. We close in 2 minutes, and rules are rules. You’re no longer in charge, so I can’t make any exceptions.”
“Oh, really, Storm?” Another voice filled the room as a light green stallion emerged from a stairwell behind the counter. “What if I asked you to do so?”
“M-mist Flash. I-I...” Stormchaser stammered to find a logic rebuttal, but eventually just hung his head in defeat. “Yes, sir...”
“Hey, you know what?” Mist Flash said. “If you stay later tonight to sign these two up, I’ll let you have the whole day off tomorrow. I’ll tell Cloud Dancer to cover your shift.”
Storm looked up, a little more enthusiastic now. “Sure thing, boss. Come on kids, let’s get you through the paperwork.”
Spitfire and Soarin’ followed Stormchaser into a backroom as Mist Flash made his way over to his wife. He stopped to gaze into her eyes before giving her a kiss on the cheek.
“You missed,” she said. Before the stallion could respond, her legs threw themselves around him, and her lips met his. The two locked in each other’s embrace for as long as they could until the need to breathe finally broke them apart.
“You sure you’re okay to fly, today?” Mist asked, pulling away from his loved one gently.
“Of course. My wing’s been fully healed for a long time now, silly.”
“I know... I-I just want to be sure.”
“It’s fine, dear. I might not be able to keep up with you guys anymore, but tonight’s not about speed. In fact, it’s far from it. One does not simply take a moonlit flight and fly fast at the same time. We’ll be taking it slow.”
“Haha, you got it, darling.”
The two entwined each other in another, shorter kiss. When they parted, they trotted out of the center, spread their wings, and made for the sky. The affectionate scene did not avoid prying eyes, however.
“If we’re gonna do this, you two better get in here,” the officer yelled at the two ponies who had been peeking around the open door. Spitfire closed the door behind them as they disappeared behind it. Tomorrow, they would be Wonderbolts.