Chapter 5
I awoke to the sound of a rooster making that same call that they all seem to make as soon as they can see the sun. The annoying cock-a-doodle-do. that seems to always make me jump.
I got off the couch and made my way to the window. I could see the blasted creature on top of the barn. What I would do just to throw something at it, but I knew I would get in trouble if I did.
'Wait a minute... Why was I asleep on the couch?' I asked myself before last nights event came back to me.
I remembered that Dash got hurt and I gave her my bed that Applejack gave me to sleep in. After, I came down stairs a explained to everypony the events of what had happened and why Dash was unconscious.
"Oh yeah." I said to myself quietly.
I walked out the front door and breathed in some fresh air. I wasn't really a morning pony, but I still think that his is nice every now and then. I began to think about what I was going to do today, but that was soon disrupted by a noise behind me.
I heard the sound of a small set of hooves coming up behind me. I turned and saw Applebloom coming up to me.
"Howdy mister. How are ya this mornin'?" she asked as she got to me.
"I fine Applebloom. Just thinking about today." I said as I began to stretch my legs, wings, back and neck. I knew that Applejack gave me the weekend off, but I just knew that Rainbow Dash would be in my face about training her the moment she woke up.
I would have planned her training routine by now, but I needed to find out what she was capable of first, so that is what I would be doing again.
But thinking of Dash's training made me think of something else.
'Why did she try to help me last night against those unicorns?' I asked in my head. 'After all of the bad attitude I kept showing to her, she still tried to help me as if I was her friend.'
I shook those thoughts from my head as I sat down, I would find out the answers to those questions in time.
I sat there for a few minutes. Applebloom had left to go and do something, leaving me to my thoughts again in the process.
'Why did Dash try and help?' I asked myself again. I couldn't help but think that there must have been a reason for it besides her still trying to get on my good side, I could just feel it.
I was interrupted from my thoughts as I felt a hoof on my shoulder, making me jump. I turned around and saw that the hoof belonged to Braeburn.
"You ok pardner?" he asked as he dropped his hoof back off my shoulder and back to the ground.
I let out a sigh. "I'm just thinking to myself." I said before looking back out into the fields.
"About?" he pressed.
"Nothing. Just some stupid thoughts." I said with shallow laugh, brushing him off.
"O...K... Anyway, Ma cousins and I are gonna have some food, you want some?" Braeburn asked, gesturing back into the house with his forehoof.
"Yeah sure." I said as I turned and walked back inside. Braeburn followed me in and made for the kitchen. Applejack and Granny Smith were both in there cutting up apples.
"Wind Slash, How are ya this morning?" Applejack asked.
"I'm fine. How about you?" I asked her.
"Ah'm alright. Ma friend Rarity talked me inta goin' to the spa with her, so ah should be able ta get tome of this tension out of ma shoulders." she said. "But enough about that. Can I get ya ta go up and wake up Rainbow Dash?"
I nodded my head before turning and beginning to make my way back to the room. I walked up the stair and stopped outside of the door to the room. I pushed the door open and spotted Dash, still asleep on the bed I placed her on.
She was lying on her back, wings splayed out, her head hanging off the side of the bed and she was snoring.
I chuckled a bit before making my way into the room and beside the bed.
"Hey Dash." I said as I gave her a poke in the chest with my forehoof. She stirred a bit, but failed to wake up. Rolling my eyes I tried again, but with a little more force behind the poke.
"Hu, what?" she mumble as she opened her eyes, but her eyes widened before shrinking again and her face turning slightly red.
"Up, now." I said as I took a few steps back before turning to exit the room, but I stopped in the door as Dash began to speak.
"What the hay. Its only 6:00 A.M." Dash groaned before rolling onto her stomach and covering herself with the bed sheets.
"Yeah well, if you want to be a Wonderbolt, you're going to have to get up early. Last I checked, they get up at 5 every morning and got bed at midnight most nights." I explained. "But anyway, Applejack told me to wake you up. So, get up already."
"Hey Wind, about training me..." she began, but I rolled me eyes and just left the room before she could continue. Even if she did try to help me against the two unicorns last night, she still blackmailed me, and I was not just going to forgive her for that so easily.
I made my way down stairs and back outside. As I stood on the front porch, I looked up into the sky to get an idea of what the weather was going to be like for the day and if I could guess, I would say that it was going to be a clear day.
"Wind Slash, where ya going?" I heard Applejack call out from inside.
"I'm just going for a short flight, to stretch my wings and wake up a bit more." I said before opening my wings.
"Alright, just don't be too long. Breakfast is gonna be ready soon." she said before I began to fly low back to my hidden spot that I found in the orchid. When I arrived there, I landed and sat down.
'Alright then. If Dash wants me to train her, I am going to have to find out what she is capable of first. I plan to push her to be her best, but I can't start her too difficult or she will end up hurting herself.' I thought to myself as I remembered back when I used to train myself before I was a Wonderbolt. I shuddered at that thought.
I stood back up after a few more minutes of thought and opened my wings. I lifted up off of the ground and just began to fly around the skys above the opening in the apple orchid. I was not interested in trying to fly fast, I was just flying around casually in an attempt to get my stamina back up before I try to do anything else.
I was amazed at how much progress I was making already. I had just started yesterday, and I was already capable of staying up for more than triple the time length than I could when I started.
If anything, it was kind of confusing. I understand that my wings were once one of the best pair anypony could have ever asked for, but they had diminished to a extremely poor state. What I didn't understand was how they were recovering at such an accelerated rate.
The book I brought with me did say that wing recovery is faster than working to that strength level the first time, but the rate my wings were recovering was astounding.
I continued to fly around about 17 minutes before I had to land again. I landed lightly back onto the grass that adorned the ground in the open space and sat down, breathing more laboured than usual.
I smiled to myself at this achievement, but that smile soon faded when I heard a flapping noise near by.
"Wind!? Where are you!?" I heard Dash call out as she searched the fields for me. I rolled my eyes and just continued to sit where I was as I tried to catch my breath.
I heard a *poof* noise behind me. I turned and saw that Dash had landed and was walking up to me.
"What do you want now Dash?" I asked with a sigh.
"Applejack asked me to come and find you. She says that breakfast is ready." Dash said as she sat beside me. I turned my head the other way. "Why are you all the way out here?"
"Am I not allowed to be?" I asked sarcastically with a hint of anger in my voice.
"*Sigh* Look, I sorry Wind. If you hate me so much, I don't want you to train me." she said, causing me look to her with a raised eyebrow.
"What? Just going to give up? To call it quits?" I accused.
"Its not that. I just wanted your help, and I thought that it also might be a cool way to get to know you. But if you are just going to hate me, I will just train myself. What I am trying to say is: Can you please just stop being angry at me all the time. I want us to be friends like we were going to be before I found out your secret. But even if you still want nothing to do with me... " Dash explained.
"No Dash, you're right. Its just that I had to put up with a lot of blackmail back when I was on the team, and it always made me angry. I was only angry with the fact that you did just that, I was not angry at you, just your choice. And for that, I feel as if I must also say that I am sorry." I said, with my head low.
"Wait, just like that? I know I would not have forgiven whoever blackmailed me. What makes you think differently?" she asked in confusion.
"I did think badly of you before, but after you tried to stick up for me last night, something told me that you wanted more that to just use me for what I know." I explained truthfully before looking at her with a glare. "But I am still angry that you did blackmail me."
Dash smiled weakly to me. "I'm sorry too. So how about we try again? Friend's?" she asked while sticking her hoof out. I grasped it with my own and shook it.
"Friends."
I let her hoof go and set mine back to the ground.
"So, I guess we should head back to AJ's." Dash said as she got up and began to walk back in the direction of Applejack's house. But I had to ask something.
"Hold on a second Dash." I said, causing her to stop and turn to face me. "I want you to fly up and show me what you can do with those wings of yours." I said with a determined look on my face.
"Why would... Wait, are you still going to train me?" she asked as she began to grow a smile on her face.
"Do friends help each other out?" I countered with a smirk.
Her grin only seemed to widen before she shot off the ground and began to pull stunts and tricks in the sky.
As she soared around, I had already spotted why she was having so much trouble at getting into the Wonderbolt's. The same reason at why anypony had trouble at getting onto the team.
Suddenly, Dash shot up further into the sky. She kept going up further and further until I could only just see her. My eyes widened in shock as she then began to fly down as fast as she could.
"Dash! Stop!" I shouted out, but my shout fell on deaf ears as she continued to shoot downwards. My fear of her killing herself soon turned to confusion as I saw a cone form around her
'Is she...' I began to think to myself, but was cut off from my thoughts as she exploded through the sound barrier, sending a rainbow shock wave outwards from where she breached the barrier. She then continued to fly down, although she left a shining rainbow trail in her wake.
She curved up from the ground and formed a rainbow outline of her cutie mark overhead before slowing right down and landing gracefully beside me with a grin on her face.
"T-that was-s..." I stuttered, unble to finish my sentence.
... Aweme, I know." she said with a cocky attitude. I shook my head and recovered from my shock.
"While you are very skilled Dash..." I began, causing her to loose her composure and look at me with sadness. "... I have already spotted why you never made it onto the Wonderbolt's. If I had to guess, I would say that you could stand a chance at making it in currently, BUT only if you go about it the right way." I said.
Dash did a double take. "What do you mean the right way?" she asked in confusion.
"Again Dash, I think that you could make it if you trained a little more. But the reason most pegasi don't make the team is because of the way they show off what they are capable of. You see, the Wonderbolt trainers don't look for stunts like you just performed. If you want to be a Wonderbolt, the best advice I can give is for you to show off the three factors of master flying. From what I saw, you have speed, that is a given. But you failed to show off any agility and endurance." I explained.
"Wait, so they don't care about stunts?" Dash asked.
"Not really, no. They look for the three factors which are Speed, Agility AND Endurance. A pony that wishes to try out must show these to successfully make it. And by what you just showed me, I only saw speed." I said.
"So that is why I never made it?" Dash asked herself.
"What is your Agility and Endurance like?" I asked. She just looked to me. "Ok, try this. Try and fly through those trees as fast as you can without hitting a single one. Fly through and grab Braeburn's hat before returning to me here. I will be hovering so I know that you wont cheat." I said as I opened my wings and began to fly up. "When you are ready Dash!" I called down to her.
She turned around and bent her front legs and raised her rear before shooting into the tree line as quick as she could.
But almost as soon as she made it in, I heard her shout out in pain as she flew into a tree, causing me to facehoof.
"Are you alright Dash!?!" I called down. But I got no response As I heard her try and get back up before trying again.
I hovered for about 14 minutes before she finally returned back to the opening. But to my confusion, she did not even have the item I requested of her.
"Alright fine, I am not as good at agility as I am at speed." she said dejectedly. I dropped down beside her and began to pull all of the sticks and leaves out of her mane and chuckle to myself as she just sat there and sulked angrily.
"Ok Dash, lets just forget agility for now and come back to it later. What is your endurance like?" I asked as I pulled the last stick free of her mane.
"I don't know. I had never really thought about it." she said as she put a hoof to her chin in thought.
"Ok then. For your next test, and this will be difficult by the way, I want you to fly to Canterlot and get me a newspaper." Her jaw dropped in shock as I said that. "Unless you cant do it."
"N-No, I can do it in like 10 second flat." Dash said with false determination.
"Thats good, because the Wonderbolt's can do it in about a minute flat. But remember Dash, its not a race. I am going to give you half an hour to do it."I said before turning and making my way for Applejack's house. "cya later Dash."
I walked away and made my way back. When I got there, I was greeted by Applebloom.
"Hiya Wind Slash. Applejack was beginning ta think that Rainbow Dash and yerself had gone and gotten lost. But... Wait, where is Rainbow?" she asked as she trotted up beside me.
"She went to go and get something, so she will be gone for a while and be back later." I said knowing that Dash most likely would not be able to complete the task I gave her.
I admit, it was pretty harsh, but I could not think of another way of testing endurance at the time.
"Well come on then, breakfast's ready." Appplebloom said before sprinting off inside the house. I followed her and found everpony already at the table eating. I sat down and began to eat as well.
And now all I had to do was wait for Dash to return.
----------
I looked to the clock that sat upon the wall. I have been sitting in the one spot for about 1 hour, and Dash still had not come back.
And I was actually beginning to worry a bit.
"Hey, Braeburn!" I called out.
"What is it pardner?" he asked as he entered the room.
"Do you want to come for a walk with me?" I asked and he looked to me in confusion. " I sent Dash on a test and she has not yet come back. I am starting to thing something has happened." I said.
"What kind of test?" he asked as he came up beside me.
"It was an endurance test. I sent her to Canterlot and back, but she is taking a long time to do it." I explained. Braeburn just shook his head and sighed.
I got up and made for the door, only for it to be thrown open by a very tired and rather angry looking Rainbow Dash.
"Uh... Never mind Braeburn." I said before walking up to Dash and helping her back inside.
I led Dash to the couch and sat her down before flying off into the kitchen and bringing her a glass of water. She would sure as heck need it. I offered her the glass and she snatched it from my hoof and greedily began to drink the water it possesed within it. As she was drinking, she used her other hoof to pass me a...
"Seriously? You made it all the way to Canterlot and got me a newspaper?" I asked.
"Isn't that what you wanted me to do?" she asked.
"Well, I honestly didn't think that you would make it." I said truthfully. "But you have proved me wrong, thats for sure."
"I had to stop for breaks. now I know why you said it was not a race." she said dejectedly.
"*Sigh* Let me guess, you tried to do it as fast as you could, right?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. She just nodded. "Well, at least you have determination. That will come in handy."
Dash laughed dryly, as if she was beginning to have doubts in her own abilities, which told me that she was having second thoughts.
"Hey, Dash. Don't worry about it. I admit that I should not have given you such a difficult challenge to start with. All we need to do is work on it and you should be fine... No, better than fine. The best." I said as I placed a hoof on her shoulder.
"I don't know Wind. Am I really cut out for being a Wonderbolt?" she asked.
"Dash, listen to me very carefully. I have seen what you can do, and I have to say that your chances of getting in are more than probable. To tell you the truth, you are already so much better than I was when I got onto the team. With my help, you can touch up that little bit that you need and I am sure that you will be better than the best." I said as encouragingly as I could.
"You really think so?" she asked as she looked up to me, a flick of her lip that threatened to turn into a smile at any moment.
I closed my eyes and nodded. What happened next made me freeze in shock.
I opened my eyes and found Dash latching onto me with her forehooves in a tight, warm, fuzzy... 'Stop that Wind Slash! Its just a damn hug!' I shouted at myself.
"Uh... D-Dash?" I asked in confusion.
"That you Wind. Many ponies keep telling me that I would never make it onto the Wonderbolt's, that I shouldn't even try." Dash sobbed into my shoulder.
I looked around and found that we were alone in the room. 'Good thing too. Dash here has a strong personality, and she probably would not like to be seen like this.' I thought to myself.
"Its ok Dash. With Celestia as my witness, I promise that you WILL make it, and then you can show those losers who's boss." I said as I began to return the embrace. She snuggled her head into my chest and let out a sigh.
'Remember Wind Slash, this is a friend help friend situation, nothing more.' I told myself as feeling I had not felt in a long time began to re-surface.
But with those feelings came bad memories.
"Are you aright Wind?" I came back to reality to see Dash was looking at me with a concerned look.
"Yeah sure. Why?" I asked.
"You have tears in your eyes." she said, causing me to let go of her and pull away before rubbing my eyes with a forehoof.
"I'm fine." I tried to counter, but I could see she was not so easily fooled.
"Don't do this Wind. You helped me, so let me help you." she said as she tried to come close to me again, but I just backed away further.
"Thanks Dash, but I just need some time to figure out my thoughts." I said as I looked away and got up. "I will continue to train you later today." I said as I began to walk away.I needed some time to think, and to do that, I needed to be alone.
I walked around the farm aimlessly, just walking as I tried to clear my head from thoughts that I barely understood.
I considered Dash to be my friend, but sometimes friendships could grow to further heights. My head told me that, it time, and if I worked on it, Dash and I could become more. But every time I thought about the possibility of it, my heart wrenched in agony as my mind flooded of that night I was cheated on by my ex.
'I can't do it. If Dash and I are friends, we cannot go any further than that. I have to friend zone Dash, even if she will end up wanting to be more.' I told myself sadly. I was not going to take a risk of having past experiences repeat themselves. I didn't think I could go through that pain again.
'And besides, maybe I wont have to go through the trouble. Maybe she won't want our friendship to go any further than just friends.' I told myself. I felt a bit relieved as I did.
With that thought, in my head, I made my way back to the opening where I keep going to train. 'Maybe training myself will help me think about something else.'
I made it to the opening and instantly began to stretch my wings. I forgot to do this earlier, but it doesn't really matter now.
I stretched my wings as much as I could before lifting off the ground and hovering. I was rushing myself, but thats because my mind was plagued by memories of my past.
Memories of, happiness, of greatness, romance, passion... And pain. So much pain and hurt. If I was to say something about myself, it would be that I am damaged emotionally.
'What did I do wrong?' I asked myself. 'There must have been a reason why she felt that I was not good enough. That my own brother was a suitable replacement.'
I began to fly faster, not even aware of myself doing so.
'How would he have even told me? "Hey Wind Slash, guess what? Your marefriend thinks your pathetic and now I'm banging her. HAHAHA." I should have seen it coming I guess. Everypony always said that he was faster, more skilled, smarter and even better looking! Even my marefriend that I had been with for 6 years!' I shouted in my head as I continued my mental struggle.
My wings were burning as I flew faster and faster, but that did not stop me. I could feel anger flooding my veins and making me see red.
"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH YOU PIECE OF SHIT SOARIN!!!" I shouted as loud as I could before blasting through the sound barrier myself much like Dash had earlier.
But it did not last.
Almost straight after I broke through the sound barrier, my wings cramped so hard that the felt like they simultaneously combusted into rageing infernos. I then began to plummet back to the ground, my eyesight going darker as I did.
The last thing I saw was a rainbow blur shooting straight at me. My vision went black and I passed out, not expecting to survive.
'I'm sorry.'