//------------------------------// // Ch3: Go // Story: Hell Week // by Squeejee //------------------------------// Hell Week An MLP:FiM Fanfiction by Squeejee Chapter 3: Go “...and when you don't work as a team, you lose!” Flight four had stayed after the end of practice for an hour of extra workouts, to punish them for being the only flight not to score a point.  The threat to disband an entire flight for this failure was rendered moot by the physical dropouts throughout the day – so they were lucky.  The captain had stayed behind to personally admonish them while they worked. “Flight leader, set 'em up for the next one!” Rainbow Dash looked at her checklist – only one to go, so she called it in, and while her flight did a set of sit ups to close out the afternoon, she got to stand at the front and watch.  After all, Spitfire said, if she was good enough to try and take on a Wonderbolt solo, then these exercises were certainly out of her league. She wouldn't have ever considered the possibility that she could hate a Wonderbolt, but here it was, channeled straight from the frustrated looks her flight was giving their leader into the entire outfit's captain.  Dash glared daggers at the yellow pegasus from across the parade cloud they were being worked on, and only felt her frustration with everything grow as she sat on it. Meanwhile, the orange-maned pegasus captain raised a hoof to her mouth to stifle a yawn.  Running Hell Week always took it out of her, and this one had gotten off to a pretty rocky start.  The worst part was that, even though she was about to send the trainees to their bunks for the evening, her day had at least two more hours to go. She tried not to think about the stack of paperwork waiting for her in her office as she dismissed the flight – Soarin can take care of them.  As for her, Spitfire took off at a leisurely pace, enjoying the soft evening wind as she floated in the general direction of the admin building. Below her, the Cloudsdale night life was just starting to take over.  Young pegasi in everything but the training harnesses and sweatbands of the past day (okay, there were a few hipsters with sweatbands) lined up for shows that were about to start and clubs that were about to open. Spitfire mentally rolled her eyes (it's hard to actually do when you're flying) and flew in a bit closer, wondering what kind of scrubs would be hitting the club scene this early, and got her answer in the form of a bunch of obvious tourists.  I guess if you're not a regular or on the VIP list, it's pretty hard to get in. A few of the tourists pointed up at Spitfire, recognizing her from something or other, so she kicked up the speed and drew lightning behind her in a flashy Cuban Eight.  She didn't stop to get their reaction (she could hear it), but climbed to a higher altitude and slowed back down. Back in the quiet high altitudes, where out-of-shape pegasi couldn't follow for lack of oxygen, she had nothing but her thoughts to keep her distracted from the work she was procrastinating.  Thoughts that inevitably found their way back to work, and to her close encounter with defeat earlier that day. She ran through the dogfight in her head as she flew aimlessly into the evening.  Dash was faster, she took tighter turns, and her reflexes could damn near be described as precognitive – it made the older pegasi practically turn green. And so full of herself!  It was a good thing, Spitfire thought, that she had won the duel – Dash learning that she was a more talented flier than the Captain of the Wonderbolts would have expanded her ego to immeasurable proportions. But she didn't have the experience to take on the captain just yet, the golden pegasus noted with a cocky grin of her own.  As long as she played her game purely on instinct, a solid plan of attack would beat her out every time. Spitfire smiled the rest of her way to admin, knowing it would be ten years before she lost. Flight four collapsed into their rec room as one, Soarin leaving them for some duties he had to take care of elsewhere.  Throughout the week, they were told that time in between training would be theirs to spend as they wanted – they had to be at practice on time or they were out, but their sleep and off time schedule was up to them to manage. The room was pretty basic, featuring a few couches, a half dozen floor cushions, and three pool tables where half of the flight was now engaged.  The cue balls were scuffed, the sticks bent and the felt scratched and faded – but they managed to play eight ball all the same. The anger the flight had directed at its leader settled to a dull ache after she left to fly out her own frustrations.  There wasn't much in the way of conversation besides the crack of the resin balls against each other – this didn't sit well with one member. Derpy Hooves felt betrayed, and with good reason: she had been.  If Rainbow Dash had stuck with her, she knew one of them would have nailed Soarin – but she took the bait instead, going off for her own glory instead of thinking about the team. Some “Element of Loyalty,” Derpy thought.  But the notion of stewing on that feeling for the rest of the night – or worse, letting everypony sit on that feeling the rest of the night – made her stomach turn.  She knew she had to do something about it, but what? With no definite goal in mind, she stood up from where she had been sitting – twiddling her hooves, like a few others were doing – and walked around the room.  Somepony coughed, a shot was called for the side pocket – it was so oppressive, it made her want to scream! But she apparently settled for making a soft noise and grabbing a pool stick, putting herself next in line for a game.  Two of the flight members – she remembered their names being Leeroy and Gigawatt – were about to finish, with the latter sinking the eight by accident in a very anticlimactic end. “Ugh!”  He stormed off, not even helping re-rack with the somewhat off-put Wingkins – what a jerk!  Still, Derpy helped get everything together, then took her place to break.  She was still wondering how to break the ice as she placed her left hoof on the table, wrapping her right carefully around the stick as she drew it back, closing one eye so she could focus on the cue... ...and hit it way too hard.  Lee yelped and ducked as the heavy projectile soared through the space his head had occupied a moment before – it kept going to the cloud wall, and the enchantments placed upon it to prevent it from falling through the floor caused it to bounce. Up towards the ceiling, where it struck the light fixture (a glowing yellow cloud hovering above the tables) and launched towards the middle of the room.  There was a commotion as everypony rushed to get out of the way of what was surely death incarnate – a small, white ball much harder than the skull of whoever it struck. But it struck the couch first, dislodging the springs within and sending the slightly less aware pony sitting on it towards the ceiling himself.  When he panicked and flapped his wings to regain control, he found himself colliding with another pony – and she with a third. The pile of bodies fleeing the chaos pushed towards the pool tables, where a bump against the slightly irregular balance of the table Derpy was leaning against caused the balls to scatter in every direction.  Silence overtook the room as everything settled down, the eight ball slowly rolling into the corner pocket. And then there was laughter – lots and lots of laughter, and Derpy's bubbly smile finally returned. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was pissed. It wasn't enough that she got showed up earlier, oh no – Spitfire had to go out of her way to make Rainbow's flight hate her.  Her feelings were so strong that she was numb to the weariness in her entire body from the day's work. Her flight carried her over Cloudsdale's scene, where all she could see were lines leading into clubs she couldn't get into this late.  Not that she would want to, with an early morning coming up – but flying over Cloudsdale residents and seeing what she couldn't have certainly wasn't improving her mood. So she sped up, increased altitude, and narrowed her focus on nothing in particular.  Up here she had to struggle for air if she exerted herself – but that was good.  Thinking flight cadence kept her mind on breathing and off her defeat, and as long as she kept her mind off that, she could calm down. Calm down from the defeat that was stolen from her earlier that day.  She had flown faster, took her turns tighter, and reacted quicker at every part of that dogfight, so how did she lose?  Was it because Spitfire had worn her out over the course of the day, and her game wasn't as “on” as she thought it was? If Derpy had been there, it would have been no contest.  Fuck.  Dash settled lightly on one of the sparse clouds up here – it was mostly ice, but still good for sitting if you were already numb.  She played the event in her head despite herself, reaching for breath in the thin air. Whoever won didn't matter – even chilled out as she was by this point, Rainbow Dash had a bone to pick with the Captain of the Wonderbolts.  Yeah, she had messed up real bad – but singling her out like that?  Turning her into a scapegoat for the whole flight?  That was bull. Looking to her left, she saw the Wonderbolts Squadron HQ below her – Spitfire was probably inside.  Dash steeled herself and took off after the structure, feeling the sudden increase of circulation after sitting on an icy cloud hit her like a storm of needles. Rainbow Dash pushed her way into the Admin building carefully, feeling the rush of controlled air greet her.  This structure wasn't open-air columns like most of Cloudsdale's buildings, but fully contained and built from ground-side materials. And it had to be – the Wonderbolts HQ was adapted from one of Cloudsdale's old military bunkers, and it showed.  Everything was sparse, but durable, with the only decorations on the walls being lame PSA posters and pictures of old Wonderbolts captains.  There was one especially big one with Celestia and Luna's portraits on it, and underneath them a few of Cloudsdale's government officials, but that was the only one that stuck out in Rainbow Dash's mind. As she passed a colorful poster titled “Sexual Harassment: A Serious Issue,” Dash noted another sign pointing down the hall to her left: “Offices.”  That's probably where she's at – Rainbow walked down the line, her hoofsteps echoing in the silence, until she found the office marked “Cpt. Spitfire, Wonderbolts Team 1.”  She knocked, seeing a light coming from inside. “Come in.”  Spitfire tried to sound energetic despite her exhaustion. “Spitfire?  It's me.”  The Cyan mare pushed in, feeling some of that residual anger return with the feeling in her legs. “Oh, hey Rainbow Dash!  I was afraid you'd bailed on me.”  As she pushed into the room, Dash noticed that Soarin was also there, and that the two were up to their ears in paperwork.  Curiosity took over. “Whaddaya workin' on?”  She trotted over to see what was up – the papers were all identical, and they all had a heading that read- “Medical crap.  We got like ten pages to do for each trainee.”  Spitfire sighed and dropped the one she was working on, standing up and stretching out a crick in her back.  “What'cha need, flight leader?” Rainbow looked over at Soarin, who picked up on the hint pretty quickly for a stallion and excused himself.  “I need to talk about today.” 'Fire was all smiles.  “What about today?”  She wasn't going to make this easy. “Well, what the heck do ya think you were doing, singling me out like that?”  Dash cringed a little internally at her captain's surprised reaction – maybe she had come on a little strong, but there was no way she would back down now. But surprised or not, Spitfire had a response.  “First you tell me, what the heck do ya think you were doing, singling yourself out like that?”   The younger mare didn't like that response.  “Trying to win, obviously – but you-” “But, nothing!”  Rainbow had started to yell, and that's where the Wonderbolts Captain drew the line.  “You took a stupid risk, and you lost.  Hard.  And you're lucky we were down so many trainees already, or I would have made good on my promise and iced your whole flight.” That was a bold faced lie, but only the not-smiling-anymore Spitfire knew it.  Rainbow was still reeling when the yellow-and-orange leader continued.  “And you know what you did wrong, don't you?” Rainbow struggled for an answer, and in her haste settled on “I didn't do anything wrong.” Another bold faced lie, but this time they both knew it.  “Bullshit you didn't.  You think I didn't see your wingmate that you left behind?  You said you'd cover her back, that you'd both work together – and then you abandoned her first chance you got.  Some friend you are.” That was a low blow, and the Captain knew it.  It certainly rendered it's recipient speechless – Rainbow Dash stood there, looking for a response that didn't come, unlike the tears.  Spitfire softened a bit when she saw that, and after a pause, kept going. “But you know what?  You're both still in this thing, and that means you can apologize.”  The younger mare just looked at her hooves, so Spitfire added: “So what are you still doing here?  Soarin didn't make you flight leader for nothing, get moving!” Rainbow Dash had more to say, and it was certainly trying to beat it's way out of her skull, but she turned around and walked out of the office, lest she get even more truth thrown in her face.  The door closing behind her, she took a steady calming breath – not wanting anypony to see how much that short talk had affected her. Soarin had heard the whole thing anyway – or at least the tail end of it.  Rainbow Dash had started to raise her voice, and the Captain responded in kind, cutting straight to the heart of exactly why the trainee had failed.  It was weird though, most trainees responded to the captain with more yelling of their own – but not this one. It wasn't hard to guess why, though.  The door to her office closed, and it was followed by a sniffle and a hitching breath.  Mares crying always made Soarin uncomfortable, so he waited out-of-sight for her to gather herself enough to be on her way out – it didn't take long. Rainbow rounded the corner towards the exit slowly, but to her credit not looking at her hooves and pulling off a fairly convincing poker face.  She almost walked right past her flight's trainer, surprising herself when she looked left and way him standing there. “Hey, Rainbow Dash.”  Soarin noticed she was avoiding eye contact. “Hey.”  Also, while her poker face was fine, her poker voice was not very convincing. “Look, Dash, I-” “Save it.  I just need to think this through.”  Combative – but Soarin had expected as much. “Maybe so, but as your flight's trainer, it's up to me to give you advice, so listen up.”  She huffed at him, but silently indicated that she was listening. “First rule of being in the Wonderbolts – eat everything they serve you.  Everything.”  She blinked.  “Second rule of being in the Wonderbolts – never, ever try to shrug your wings while flying.”  She smirked.  “Third rule, no stairway.”  She chuckled.  Progress! “And the most important rule of being a Wonderbolt: don't let your mistakes get you down.”  Her face fell a little, but she nodded, finally participating in the conversation. “I don't suppose there's a rule about kicking the captain's butt?”  Dash was still sore, but Soarin couldn't have that. “Only when you have the opportunity to check her.”  They shared a smile at that, but he continued, “Ease off the cap though, she's not as hard-lined as she acts.  You'll get to know her better if you make it.” Dash grinned.  “You meant to say 'when.'”  All confidence, and Soarin could tell that some of that was real, and replacing whatever had been there before. “You said it.  Anyway, there's another rule about getting plenty of sleep – so you'd better head out.  I understand you've got a few things to say before bed, right?”  He looked at her expectantly. Dash withered a little under his gaze.  “Right.  I'd better go.”  She headed out while Soarin said something encouraging after her – she didn't hear it, she was busy trying to think of what to say to Derpy.  But before that, what would she say to the entire rest of her flight? The rec room Rainbow Dash arrived at was very different from the one she left – it was almost like she had entered the wrong building.  Ponies laughed around pool tables while others played cards on the floor, and even though there were only a dozen of them if sounded like a large cafeteria in here. Nopony even noticed really when the flew in, despite the fact that she'd tried to make her presence obvious.  From what she could overhear, everypony was swapping their story about how they had been eliminated from the competition – even the ones who had paired off before entering the play field found themselves unable to out-fly a similar pair of full-on Wonderbolts. Dash picked up a few “Hey”s and “Howsit”s as she walked towards the end of the room, by the stairs leading up to the beds where Derpy was talking with a yellow stallion with a lightning bolt cutie mark.  She had steeled herself for this conversation the entire way over, and dove in full throttle. Derpy noticed her walking up, and waved.  “Hey, Rainbow Dash!  Have a good flight?” “Yeah, got all the knots out.  Hey, Derpy, can we talk for a bit?”  Dash looked from her friend to the Stallion who's name escaped her expectantly. “Sure thing – see ya, Gigawatt.”  Derpy lead the two upstairs, into the shared living space.  It was ten bunk beds arranged evenly throughout a large, open floor, with two trunk attached to each bed.  Yup, basic. Dash found herself struggling for the first word.  “So..  Derpy, I wanted to say, er, that is I meant to ask for your, uh...”  This was so much easier in my head! But the grey mare had already figured out exactly where this conversation was headed, and placed a hoof on Dash's withers.  “It's cool Dash, I'm over it.  We're all over it by now!” “Speaking of, how the hay did everypony relax?  When I left here I thought I was going to get jumped when I came back!”  Not entirely true, but not a total lie either. Derpy smiled, and put on her best silly face: “I just don't know what went wrong!” They shared a laugh at that – Derpy's penchant for wreaking havoc but eliciting laughs in the end was well known to the blue mare.  But what hadn't been known to her was everything she had been figuring out over the course of the day about the enigmatic gray pegasi. “You know, Derpster, I think you may be exactly what I need.” “What do you mean?” “Well,” now, these words rolled right off of Rainbow's tongue – much to her own surprise, “I'm flight leader, so I guess that means I'm in charge when Soarin 'aint here.  And that means I'll need a second-in-command.” Author's Notes Didn't take me quite as long to get around to this as the last chapter did – but considering the length of these, I'm a little self-disappointed.  Ah well, that's just incentive to get chapter 4 out here a bit faster! Joss is Boss.  Wait... Once again, I have a twitter, a deviantart, and a tumblr, which I will shamelessly whore out every time I post one of these chapters because I figure if you like my prose work you may turn out to like my other stuff.