• Published 3rd Jun 2014
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Piercing the Heavens - Calm Wind



Sequel to Flying Sky-High. A lot has happened, but now Rainbow Dash finally has a chance to fulfill her dream and become a Wonderbolt. As the process begins, will her relationship with Soarin be a blessing? Or will it be a curse?

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Chapter 24: Who Killed Who What Huh?

MLP: FiM
Piercing the Heavens
By: Calm Wind

Chapter 24:


“Heheeee! This is gonna be perfect!” Fleetfoot giggled snidely as she watched the members of squad two push rain clouds through the battle dome.

She was looking up at a large cubic structure that was being set up in the center of the dome’s infield. It was about fifty by fifty meters and nearly extended to the ceiling. The top was uncovered and squad two was busily pushing dark clouds into it.

Soarin and Spitfire rose up from inside the cube and flew down towards Fleetfoot. Their uniforms had small droplets of water running off the shiny surface of the spandex. Spitfire landed first and looked at Fleetfoot sternly.

“Fleet…” she said with a harsh tone as Soarin landed beside her. “On the report you gave me, you said the third course was going to be Surprise’s Silly Rings course,” she pointed a hoof towards the cube as Fleetfoot scrunched her mouth and looked back and forth. “That—” Spitfire flattened her brow. “Is NOT the Silly Rings course.”

“I don’t even know what the hell that’s supposed to be in there…” Soarin added as he glanced back at the cube himself. “Did Rivet make this?”

“Ehhh…” Fleetfoot’s eyes did a full cycle of looking in every direction, except right at Spitfire. “I made some last minute changes." Spitfire groaned and shook her head.

FLEET, you can’t just do whatever here! These tryouts are important! We’re looking for an ELITE SQUAD replacement while we’re at it too!” Spitfire barked at her. Soarin backed off slightly, knowing full well not to get in Spitfire’s way. Spitfire turned and held out both of her hooves towards the cube. “What the hell is this supposed to test anyway!?”

“Hey!” Fleetfoot huffed as she floated up and around. Soarin stepped back as she came around. “My tests are all about the unexpected! The Silly Rings were just goofy, so I changed it. Trust me! I know what I’m looking for here. I have a scoring system laid out and I’m not gonna give a good score to any dumbasses or idiots… or idiodumbasses…”

Soarin backed away from them casually as Fleetfoot started making up more words for less than satisfactory cadets.

“Okay, I get it Fleet…” Spitfire sighed and rolled her eyes. “If you claim you know what you’re doing…”

“I’m getting a vibe you don’t like this,” Fleetfoot pouted.

“I don’t, but I trust you to do your job, so if you think this will help, I’ll play along,” Spitfire finished before lifting off and going to check in with squad two.

“Sheesh…” Fleetfoot sighed as Soarin continued to edge towards the doors. Fleetfoot looked to her right. “Yo! Threezies!” she yelled while waving. Squad three flew down, all landing before her. “You guys all set?” she asked.

Fire turned to Lightning and Surprise. They both nodded. Fire looked to Misty. He unfolded his wings, stuck out two wing feathers on each, held them to the right, and then swiped them left. The motion for: ready? Misty nodded. Fire turned back to Fleetfoot and smiled.

“We’re all set. Just give the order.”

“Go right ahead, they’ll be here soon,” Fleetfoot winked at them. Fire turned and twirled his hoof once in the air. Surprise bounced giddily before shooting upward, the rest of squad three followed right behind. Fleetfoot rubbed her hooves together in satisfaction. Content with how things were going, she hovered up into the air and glanced around. After a moment she frowned. “Hey! Where’s my little helper?!”

Soarin finally shuffled all the way over to the doors. He looked up to make sure Fleet was occupied, and then unfolded his left wing to reveal the little yellow stallion clinging to his side.

“All clear buddy, go,” he chuckled. The yellow stallion nodded sheepishly and quickly scurried out the door.


The cadets all shuffled into the battle dome quickly and without a single quarrel or mishap. It seemed that Silver Lining’s methods of persuasion had sunk in. He merely stood right inside the doorway with his eyes glaring aimlessly into the crowd and the cadets moved fast and efficiently.

Dash got separated from Matteo and Storm as they all bunched together through the doors, but instead of being left alone she heard a familiar painful grunt.

“Watch where you’re walking Dash… ow…” Thunderlane showed up beside her. He had actually saved Dash the trouble of finding him. She had been curious about how he was doing. He was the first run in the pipe course. He looked like he had been cornered and curb stomped when he emerged. He wore a few bandages and was probably a little bruised (she couldn’t tell because of his black fur), but he was up, walking, and willingly moving towards the final test of the day.

“Nice to see you too, Thunderlane,” She chuckled as they shimmied through the doors with the crowd. “How are you holding up? You look like you flew through a forest fire,” she joked while poking his side. He yelped, moved his wing to block the spot, and glared at her. “Oh, sorry. Bruise?” she grimaced. Thunderlane sighed.

“I think my whole body is a bruise… seriously, I’m pretty sure I hit every freaking obstacle in that pipe. I bet that looked good to the Wonderbolts,” he grunted in frustration. "Oh, I guess I’m fine… to answer your question.”

“At least you didn’t get stuck…” Dash snickered. “Matteo got wedged between two of the trees. The Wonderbolts had to go in and dislodge him.”

“That sounds unpleasant…” Thunderlane shuddered at the thought. “Hopefully this test won’t be quite so bad,” he wondered out loud as the group was stopped by High Winds. Dash and Thunderlane looked up at the massive cubic structure before them.

“Great… more hidden stuff…” Dash leaned her head back and sighed so hard that the motion went down her spine and made her tail flip up once behind her.

“As long as it isn’t painful…” Thunderlane gulped.

“Welcome, welcome, welcome one more glorious time my little cadettas!” Fleetfoot descended from above. “So what we have here…” Fleetfoot motioned behind her. “Is a box!” She didn’t say anything else for a whole minute while just hovering in place, smiling insanely wide, and staring at the cadets with very wide starry eyes.

“What’s in the—” Dash tried to ask, but stopped as Fleetfoot zipped down to her, narrowed her eyes into a very sharp glare. She slowly inched her face towards Dash’s while turning her head slightly to the left and opening her right eye very wide as she stopped less than an inch from Dash’s face.

“Don’t worry about it,” she whispered quietly before slowly backing away and hovering back into the air while keeping the same face and expression the whole way and her eye on Dash. Dash just blinked and decided it would be best not to fight it. Especially since, by now, it was clear NOTHING would be clear as long as Fleetfoot was in charge.

Fleetfoot kept her eye trained on Dash for another few seconds before completely reverting to a goofy smile and wide eyes.

“SO THERE’S THIS BOX!” she giggled again. The cadets were becoming uneasy. Not only was this something else they wouldn’t be able to see before it began… but Fleetfoot was clearly overly excited for it. “You have twenty minutes to solve it!” she said nothing more and just smiled at them.

“Solve what?! Sweet Celestia I’m sick of this!” Thunderlane blurted out, startling Dash as he held his hooves against his head and groaned.

“Hey…” Fleetfoot flattened her ears, brow, and eyelids while locking her eyes on Thunderlane. “Hey…” she closed the distance between them by half. “Hey…” she moved halfway again. “Hey…” and another half. “Hey…” and another half. “Hey…” and another. “Hey… and another. She was now directly in front of Thunderlane’s face. “Hey…” Fleetfoot moved forward again, making Thunderlane recline. “Hey…” she kept moving. Thunderlane was forced to sit. “Hey…” he was forced to lean back so far that he tipped over and landed on his back. Dash just stepped away slightly as she hovered over Thunderlane and got her face as close to him as possible. “Hey… how about… you untie that knot around your nuts… before I feel the need to yank it so tight that everypony will have a different reason to call you ‘Blue Balls?’” she softly landed and stood on top of his stomach while still staring down at him. “Well? You gonna unwind or am I gonna have to choke your two pals?” she threatened. Thunderlane gulped and his face paled, making him appear light grayish. He quickly nodded vigorously. “I’m getting mixed messages here…” Fleetfoot smirked while lifting one of her back hooves up.

“I’LL LOOSEN UP! I’LL LOOSEN UP!!!!!” Thunderlane yelled out. He kept flinching as Fleetfoot made a few fake leg twitches to make it look like she was about to stomp. While Dash found Thunderlane’s unfortunate position to be obscenely amusing, her attention was completely drawn to behind Fleetfoot.

“Mmmm? You sure?” Fleetfoot jeered. “Just to make sure, I might have to—EEP!” she squeaked as she felt hooves press against her sides and lift her off of Thunderlane.

“Too far Fleet,” Soarin’s voice came from behind her. She turned her head around, flopped her ears down and pouted at him.

“But mooooooooooooooooooommmmmmm…” she said while failing to hold back a subtle grin. Soarin rolled his eyes.

“Let’s just get this crazy day finished alright?” he said while suddenly letting go of her. Fleetfoot yelped, but quickly caught the air with her wings.

“Fine… you and Spitfire, seriously,” she huffed.

Dash was glad she was in front and facing away from the rest of the cadets. She couldn’t stop it. Her face was heating up and her smile kept growing wider. Soarin was too sexy. Even with the princess horn, he made it work. Whenever he took command of a situation, it sent chills through her. Whenever they were alone and thing got heated, it always ended with one of them pinning the other down. He could overpower her… but she couldn’t overpower him. Over time she found that she kinda liked it when he held her down and there was nothing she could do about it. She was a pretty strong pony, but he was just that much stronger. It was sinfully delightful.

“Eeeeeeee…” a barely audible, high pitched noise suddenly came from close by. Dash blinked and glanced around until her eyes narrowed on instinct. The noise was coming from two ponies over. The source? Slappy McBitchathon. Dash growled as she saw Arctic Blast swooning out of her own face as Soarin flew back up with the other Wonderbolt squads.

How much longer? How much longer could Dash hold it all back? Arctic was driving her insane. She had to do something soon. Something to get her to back off… or something, she didn’t care. Hopefully, this test was the last of Arctic’s tryout career. Maybe she could reveal it while Arctic was packing up to leave… an extra dose of hoof to the face to go along with failing to become a recruit. The idea sounded dreadfully delightful to Dash. She just had to wait till the time was right. Well, the time better hurry the hell up because she was losing restraint and she was losing it FAST.

“So as I said… we have a big box!” Fleetfoot continued while hovering above. “And you have twenty minutes to solve… WHATEVER IS IN THE BOX!” she turned over and hovered while reclining. “Oh yeah, and you’re going five at a time,” she added.

“Five?” Dash said to herself as she perked up. Was this another test to see if they worked together? Didn’t they already do that?

“Will you work together or will you fight to solve it yourself? I wonder which one we want you to do? Hehehe! I’m such a bitch!” Fleetfoot giggled while doing a forward roll in the air. “Anyway… I have my special semi-intelligent helper right here… Blaze?” Fleetfoot turned around and saw Blaze hovering up and talking to High Winds. Fleetfoot gave a sharp whistle towards her. “BLAZE!”

Blaze stopped talking and turned to look at Fleetfoot.

“You lost the bet remember! Get down here my little servant!” Fleetfoot said with a sinister smile on her face. Blaze uttered multiple incoherent words that were most likely swears as she floated down beside Fleetfoot.

“Reporting,” she said with an eye roll.

“Was I supposed to feel the love there? Come on, like you mean it!” Fleetfoot leaned towards her and smirked.

“I oughtta rip your damn eyes out…” Blaze grumbled quietly.

“What was that?” Fleet pressed while moving closer.

“I said YES MA’AM!” Blaze gave a salute while puffing her cheeks out in anger.

“Good!” Fleetfoot turned back to the cadets. “This time, my little assistant is going to group you together in teams that LIKE each other as opposed to hate each other…” she paused. “What I mean by that is, she’s gonna choose you completely at random again and claim she knows what she’s doing!” Fleetfoot giggled while backing up and placing a hoof on Blaze’s back. “GO, MY NOBLE STEED!” she gave Blaze a firm push forward, sending Blaze into a tumble, tuck, and roll. She stood right back up like she meant to do it and cleared her throat.

“Alright! Everypony DON”T MOVE DAMMIT!” Blaze leapt up and scanned the cadets while hovering in place and holding her hooves on her waist. Her eyes landed on Dash and then moved them about at the others. “Ah, I can sense the love already! You!” she pointed at Dash.

Good, Dash didn’t have to wait this time.

“You!” Blaze pointed at Thunderlane beside her. “You!” Blaze pointed behind Dash. Dash turned to see Blaze was pointing to Derpy beside Storm Front.

Well, so far, so good. Maybe Blaze had a better sense for who got along as opposed to who hated each other.

“You!” Blaze looked towards Thunderlane and pointed again. Thunderlane looked at her while tipping his head in confusion. Dash sighed, nudged Thunderlane in the side, and pointed down beneath his body. Twister was laying down on the ground, intertwined in Thunderlane’s legs.

“GAH!” Thunderlane leapt up and floated away.

Okay, so nopony is perfect. Blaze was three for four at least.

“And... YOU!” Blaze pointed off to Dash’s left. Dash’s nerves fired and she felt all tingly in a foreboding way. She gulped and slowly turned. Her eyes followed Blaze’s hoof, and landed on Arctic Blast.

Damn—

It.

Zero out of a million, Blaze failed forever.

Matched with ponies they get along with? Blaze couldn’t have gotten further from that fact.

“Well, come on then! Get going! If we’re late to dinner later I’m gonna fucking choke some bitches!” Blaze swiped her hooves towards the cube to get them moving.

“Right over here!” Soarin called from the middle of the cube at its base. Arctic was up and gliding as soon as Soarin beckoned them.

Hell. No.

Dash lifted off and glided close behind her. Derpy, Thunderlane, and Twister followed suit.

“Oh gosh! Soarin!” Arctic landed right in front of him instead of going through the door he had opened for them. She was effectively blocking their way into the cube.

“Er… hi?” Soarin cringed and leaned away.

“I’m sure you remember me?! Arctic Blast, right? Remember? Uh huh! Well, I was wondering, if after the tests today you’d like to—” she talked a mile a minute, but—

“OKAY! Let’s just keep going!” Dash gave her a hard shove from the side. Arctic yelped and tumbled through the doors.

“I hope this one is fun too!” Derpy hopped giddily and she walked in beside Thunderlane. Thunderlane sighed.

“I’m sure looking forward to more bruises…” He flinched as Twister squeezed through the doorway while rubbing up against him.

“Ooo, I like bruises, can I have some?” he asked Thunderlane before continuing in while leaning his head back farther than usually possible. Thunderlane just blinked and held a hoof out.

“What the hell am I supposed to say to that?!” he shook his head and entered. Dash, who had stood aside to let the others in, gave a quick glance to Soarin.

“So what’s in here?” she whispered with a smirk. Soarin cracked a grin and shrugged.

“I only got one look… and to be honest, I have no clue what’s going on in there,” he chuckled.

“Lovely…” Dash sighed while giving him a quick smile.

“Good luck Dashie,” he winked at her.

Her pet name and the wink sent a fun shiver through her body that made her blush ever so slightly. Hold it in Dash, hold it in.

She winked back and moved in. As the door closed behind her, she ran right into Arctic Blast, who was glaring at her. Dash sighed through her nose and tipped her head.

“What?” she asked in annoyance. Arctic scrunched her face further.

“I saw you talking to my stallion! Back off, will you!?” she pressed her hoof against Dash’s chest, but Dash didn’t even budge. If Arctic had any strength in her frail, skinny body, that probably was supposed to be a shove. Dash held it in, but… why not build it up? Arctic was so flakey and out there, she’d never put two and two together.

“What make you think he’s your stallion?” Dash put on a snide smile and turned her head slightly while keeping her eyes trained on Arctic.

“Duh! It was meant to be… Wait, why do you ask?” she blinked and kept glaring. Dash rolled her eyes comically and chuckled.

“Oh… no reason at all.”

“Hey, you two,” Thunderlane interrupted them. “How about we have the cat fight later… have either of you noticed where we are?” he asked. Dash and Arctic withdrew their focus on one another and looked around. Dash groaned.

“Not again…” she sighed. They were in a twelve by twelve foot blank room, just like the start of the second test.

“So what are we gonna do? Don’t we only have fifty minutes?” Derpy pondered while tapping a hoof against her mouth.

“Twenty, silly pony,” Twister appeared in front of Derpy’s face. She yelped in surprise and dove behind Thunderlane. “Heeeehehehe, I can hardly wait for this one…” Twister laughed creepily as he sat down, tucked his legs in, wrapped his arms around them and began bouncing on his plot around them in a wide circle. Dash growled and pushed her way past Arctic.

“Hey, if you’re gonna be all creepy and shit, please direct it at any of us except for Derpy, okay?” Dash requested in defense of Derpy. Twister laughed out loud again while bouncing in place on his plot and making a full 360 turn.

“Oh, relax ‘Dashie’,” he jeered, having apparently heard Soarin. “I’m just having fun until the penguin goes by!” he tipped back and began rolling backwards in uneven intervals like an egg rolling on its vertical faces.

“The penguin? Oh!” Dash blinked in realization. Leave it to somepony wacky to bring her attention to something wacky.

As if on cue, a small door opened up off to the side and a penguin walked out. They all turned and looked at it as it began to casually waddle towards and past them.

These “courses,” if one could even call them that, were designed by Surprise. Things were random, but it didn’t mean there weren’t trends. Dash recalled in both of the earlier trials, the test started right after a penguin inexplicably appeared and walked by. Dash turned away from the penguin, spread her wings and locked her hooves in place. Whatever this was, she’d be ready this time! After all she had seen today, nothing was going to catch her off guard. Thunderlane caught on as he saw Twister do the same. He reached back and gently pulled Derpy forward while motioning for her to get ready. Arctic blinked, glanced at the penguin, and then hopped beside Twister, reading for takeoff as well.

“Ahem…”

Dash flinched. She loosened up her body and glanced at Thunderlane beside her. Thunderlane was looking at her. They both looked at Twister, who in fact, was looking at them in confusion. All three of them looked at Arctic and Derpy… but they were looking back.

“Good evening, fillies and colts.”

The penguin had stopped… faced them… and was now talking to them in a very stern, refined voice. They all looked at each other and turned to it… none of them, not even Twister, sure what to do or say if anything. The penguin cupped his flippers together and gave them each a nod before continuing.

“Tonight, through the medium of a silly pony’s imagination, we present a murder mystery condensed from authentic criminal record. It is my sincere purpose in exposing the brutal killer involved in this horrible case… to prove to YOU beyond the shadow of a doubt… that crime does not pay,” The penguin paused and took a breath. “Our story begins on a dark and stormy night…”

The five ponies yelped as the floor suddenly lurched. The wall behind them, opposite of the entrance, fell backwards revealing… an open area that looked like it was outside. Thunder boomed and lightning cracked as rain fell from above. The ground was hilly and muddy, thick and sticky from the rain, a sign that read “Gruesome Stables” pointed away from their spot and a single stone path winded around the elevations towards a spooky mansion in the distance.

All they could do was stand and stare.

Scratch that.

Dash was caught completely off guard and had no idea what she was looking at.

“What the flying f—” Dash turned back towards the penguin but it was gone. In its place was a small scrap of paper. They all turned and looked at it, still bewildered beyond comprehension. Dash gulped, stepped forward and picked up the piece of paper. She turned it over to see a small message, and read it aloud.

“Solve the murder mystery to find the way out.” – Fleetfoot & Surprise

Dash blinked, then growled and crumpled the piece of paper up.

“You know what?! No. Forget it, I’m not asking any questions!” Dash tossed it aside and huffed. Another piece of paper floated down and landed on her nose. She reached up, and turned it over.

“P.S. twenty minutes. Get moving.” – Fleetfoot

“Dammit…” Dash turned to the rest. “Well, come on. There’s no use trying to figure this out. Let’s just go.”

“Where?” Thunderlane shrugged while looking out into the storm. Twister started chuckling beside him.

“Where?! Why… there’s only one place to go!” he pointed at the mansion. “They even have ME surprised! I wonder what’s in store!” Twister leapt out into the rain and flew towards the mansion. Dash looked to the rest.

“Well, it’s not like we have a choice. Let’s go,” she motioned for them to fly. Derpy and Thunderlane took off after Twister, but Arctic stayed put. “Well?” Dash looked towards her sternly.

“But… I’ll get my mane all wet!” Arctic whined while backing away from the new opening in the wall. Dash blinked and sighed before growling as she stomped towards Arctic.

“DEAL WITH IT!” Dash yelled into Arctic’s ear as she got behind her and pushed her towards the rain.

“No! No! No! No!” Arctic flailed and wailed as Dash effortlessly pushed Arctic’s lack of weight along. “AAAAIIIEEEEE!!!!!!!!” She screeched as Dash just grabbed her and began flying through the rain.

She really wanted to just leave Arctic there to stew and get nothing out of the trial, but Fleetfoot had purposely made it unclear whether or not this was a competition or a team oriented exercise. Dash didn’t want to take the chance, so she forced Arctic along with her.

The spooky mansion grew closer and closer as the rain pelted against them, the lightning flashed above them, and the thunder boomed around them.

Just… what the hell was this test for?


Rainbow Dash, Thunderlane, Derpy, Twister, and Arctic all flew quickly through the dark thunderstorm and landed at the front door the spooky mansion. The mansion was fancily constructed with a large center building with visible balconies sticking out from upper floors on both sides. The front entrance had long pillars reaching the full height of the building and the entryway led up to a large wooden door.

The entryway provided slight protection from the rain, but the wind was blowing little droplets at them from the side. Taking command of the situation, and letting Thunderlane deal with Arctic’s complaining, Dash reached up and gave the door a few heavy knocks.

After turning and yelling at Arctic to shut the hell up a few times, they all flinched as the door opened.

“My, what have we here?” An old looking stallion stuck his head out from inside. They all looked up at him in confusion. The pony was white, with a white, scraggily, long mane. He balanced a pair of circular rimmed glasses on the end of his nose and had a big white bushy moustache that only covered his upper lip. He wore a robe that was mostly bright red, but had about two inches of black fabric on the cuffs, collar, and bottom end of the robe each. “What are a bunch of fine young ponies doing out in this terrible storm? Please, come in quickly,” the stallion opened the door fully and bid they enter.

“Uh…” Dash looked at the rest, who were all frozen in utter confusion. “Okay?” Dash shrugged and walked in. She stopped halfway through the doorway and turned back to the rest. They were all still just standing still. “Well, come on guys! Let’s get out of the rain!” she beckoned them. Twister blinked and stepped in first. It was interesting to see Twister so confused. He seemed able to control reality around him to an extent, much like Pinkie Pie and Surprise, but more than once now, Dash had seen him easily defeated or confused at something. Perhaps he was an amateur just as Fleetfoot had said.

With Twister’s entrance, the other three swallowed their confusion and did the same.

“Yes, please do come in, it’s dreadful outside,” the stallion nodded and closed the door behind him.

They all stood in the doorway, instinctively letting the old stallion walk ahead of them before moving any further. The house was very dimly lit, the only source of light coming from around the corner in the hallway. Right beside the entrance were two large suits of pony armor both holding halberds.

They followed the stallion down the dark hallway to the right of the entrance. The carpet below their hooves felt solid, almost worn down as if it hadn’t been replaced in years. The walls were covered in dusty old paintings, most of which had faded so much that one could barely tell what it was supposed to be. The corners of the ceilings and the spaces between statues and sculptures were littered with spider webs.

Arctic had forced herself between Twister and Thunderlane and was whimpering the whole time. Dash rolled her eyes as they walked. She doubted Arctic was actually scared. She was probably more worried about getting dust in her mane than anything.

As they followed the stallion, they all froze and looked at a large painting in the center of the hallway. The canvas was entirely black and the words “Spooky, Isn’t it?” was written in large white letters on it. They all glanced between each other, shrugged it off, and kept following. None of them had any idea what was going on, but there was clearly some joke going on here.

They followed the old stallion around a corner and into a large, wide open room. The walls of the room were actually bookshelves that extended from the floor all the way up to the ceiling. Each section had a rolling ladder attached to it. There was large window, as tall as the wall itself between the two bookshelves on the right. Its long white curtains were closed, but the lightning shone through, slightly illuminating the room with each flash. In the center of the room was a large tapestry of a pony dressed for war. It looked to be centuries old. Below the tapestry was a large fireplace that provided the only light that had shown around the corners upon entering. A single, large, comfy looking chair sat facing the fireplace and beside it was a table with an empty glass.

“Please make yourselves comfortable… you can wait out the storm here, and be on your way,” the stallion smiled at them before taking a seat in the chair. Dash and the others slowly entered the large room, still trying to figure out what the hell was going on. The piece of paper said, ‘solve the murder mystery.’ Did that mean something was about to—

Dash quickly turned her head towards the back of the chair the stallion sat in. The words, “the victim” were flashing on the back of the chair. Dash blinked and looked to her fellow cadets, but they were all equally confused.

Suddenly a knife flew in from nowhere, if hurled past all the cadets and stuck to the wall right beside the fireplace. It had come nowhere near the cadets, but it sure had startled them. The old stallion jumped as well, quickly standing up from the chair.

“I say! What the devil is that!?” he stood up and shuffled towards the knife sticking in the wall. There was a note attached to it. It read:

“YOU WILL DIE TOMORROW!”

“Goodness!” The stallion flinched as Dash and the others slowly approached. “I can’t die tomorrow!” the stallion exclaimed. Dash and the others yelped again as a second knife, about three times smaller than the first, flew in and stuck to the wall beside the first. It also had a note dangling from it. This one read:

“OKAY, FINE. YOU CAN DIE NOW, SHEESH…”

“Oh my…” the stallion gulped. He quickly turned to the five cadets. “This is terrible! We mustAAAARRRGGGHH!!!!!!!!!” the stallion suddenly reared back and cried out in pain. He fell forward and began stumbling around. Dash quickly backed off, Derpy yelped and hid behind Thunderlane. Twister jumped back and ran into Arctic. Arctic got pushed slightly up, and spread her wings to catch herself in the air. She looked down at the stumbling stallion and shrieked.

There was a knife sticking out of his back. Dash gasped, she and the rest noticed it too as the stallion turned sharply to their right and stumbled towards the window. He grunted and groaned in pain as he fell towards the curtains. He clutched them with his hooves as he fell, yanking them off their rail above, and pulled the curtain down. He fell to the ground below the window and tried to crawl along the floor. He managed to turn himself around and face them, giving off one last breath before dropping lifelessly. The five all stood in shock as the curtain slowly floated down and landed on top of him, covering him up. The fire in the fire place blew out, leaving them in the dark.

Dash couldn’t breathe.

What.

The.

Hell.

Was going on?

If this was a prank, it was a damn realistic one.

Suddenly, lights came on, a door swung open on the other side of the room, and a white mare burst through the door. She wore a blue suit with a light blue vest and white undershirt. The entirety of her mane was stuffed into a bowler hat. She had incredibly thick black eyebrows and a massive cigar sticking out of the corner of her mouth.

“WHO DID IT?!?!?!” she yelled in a voice rather gruff for a mare while opening the jacket to show an overly large gold star badge.

“EVERYPONY STAY WHERE YOU ARE!!!!” she ordered while glaring at the five of them.

“DON’T NOPONY MOVE!"

“…”

“…”

*POW*

“THAT GOES FOR YOU TOO, BUB!”

The mare heavily adjusted her suit before walking towards the cadets with a very heavy stride. She gave each of them a long, hard look before approaching the curtain. She shook her head and pulled out a camera. She aimed it at the curtain covering the body, but right before she took the picture, the old stallion suddenly sat up straight, held a top hat beside his chest, turned his head to the side and smiled. Right after the camera flashed, the stallion laid back down, dead.

The mare flinched and stared at the covered body in confusion and, of course, the five cadets saw it too. Dash blinked and realized she was worried for nothing. This was obviously a set up… but she had to wonder, who were these ponies?

“YOU FIVE!” The mare turned to them. Dash and Twister remained calm, but Thunderlane, Derpy, and Arctic all flinched. “What took you so long!? I called for backup hours ago!” she barked in their faces, moving between each of them and pressing her nose to theirs. Dash shook her head out after getting her personal space violated.

“Uh…” Dash tried to put up a hoof, but the mare appeared in front of her and forced it back down.

“NO TIME! I’m gonna check around the outside of the house! You look for clues in here!” she ordered. Before they could say anything, the mare was heading back out the door. It slammed behind her.

They all looked around, at each other, around, and at each other again.

“Well, I ain’t falling for this,” Dash shrugged. “Let’s just play along and…” Dash blinked and stared towards the curtain. The body was gone. “SEE!? We’re being played! Come on everypony… yes, even you Arctic,” Dash glared specifically at her. She huffed and crossed her hooves.

“So what do we do?” Thunderlane scratched his head while looking around. Twister suddenly started chuckling to himself again.

“Heheheh…” he grinned. “They had me going for a second… but this is fun! Time to outsmart them!” he snickered while flying up and looking around the room.

“What he’s doing,” Dash said to Thunderlane while pointing at Twister. “The instructions are: solve the murder mystery. So, let’s solve it. I dunno what the hell this has to do with the Wonderbolts, but we’re in here, we might as well play along,” Dash shrugged before walking around the room herself.

The ponies all dispersed, save for Derpy, who sat in the middle of the room, confused. She blinked, her eyes switching positions before she caught a glimpse of something on the table beside the chair facing the fire place. She didn’t want to get in anypony’s way, but it looked like nopony else had noticed it.

She stood up and trotted towards the table. Something new was on its surface. There was a button on it, with a label above it that read: “Ring bell for suspects.” Derpy tipped her head back and forth while eyeing the button curiously. She glanced around at the others one more time before slowly reaching a hoof towards it.

She pressed it and a loud ringing noise sounded throughout the room. She flinched in surprise and removed her hoof from it. At the same time three ponies suddenly popped up from behind the table. One was white and bald stallion, dressed like a butler. The second was a white mare with a black, bowl shaped mane, dressed like a maid. The third was light blue and dressed like a chauffeur with his mane hidden beneath a cap. Derpy yelped and hopped back in surprise.

The three ponies were all hunched over with their hooves up in a scheming manner. They all wore identical scowls and their eyes looked back and forth in synch. Dash and the others quickly noticed the scene Derpy caused and rushed down beside her. Dash blinked and saw the button on the table, then looked towards Derpy, who looked a little spooked. Her fur was puffed out and her wing feathers were all frizzy. Dash patted Derpy on the shoulder and smiled.

“Nice find Derpy,” she complimented. Dash made a move to confront the “suspects” but before she could, Twister slipped in front of her and slammed his hooves down on the table.

“OKAY…” he pointed at them. “WHICH ONE OF YOU MUGS BUMPED OFF THE OLD COLT?!?!” he demanded. “WHO DID IT!” he slammed his hooves on the table again.

All three of the ponies suddenly put huge smiles on and put their hooves behind their backs as they leaned forward.

“OOOOOHHHHHHH, NOW WOULDN’T YOU LIKE TO KNOW?!” they all said in unison while leaning so far forward that they knocked Twister over. They instantly pulled back and retook their sinister poses. Dash sighed and stepped forward, pointing at them.

“One of you bums is guilty of killing this guy!” she glanced between them all.

Dash hadn’t read many mystery novels… in fact she hadn’t read many novels besides Daring Do, but Daring Do sometimes solved mysteries. What could she do to get some evidence? Then she had a thought. She smirked and looked back at the three ponies.

“I’m gonna turn out the lights!” she barked at them. “And when I turn ‘em back on, I wanna see the knives, RIGHT ON THIS TABLE!” she pounded her hooves on the table. She made a motion to Thunderlane. Thunderlane looked around and saw a light switch by the entrance of the room. He trotted over and looked back towards Dash. She gave him a nod, and he turned out the lights.

With the room pitch black, the sound of something hitting the table echoed throughout the room.

“Hit it, Thunderlane,” Dash called through the darkness. Thunderlane flipped the lights back on. They all yelped in surprise. Dash looked back at the table. Her eyes widened as she saw some knives, but then there were so many knives stacked on the table that the stack reached all the way up to the ceiling. Dash squeaked and jumped back slightly, eyeing the massive stack of knives up and down. She glared at the ponies across the table, who were still stuck in their sinister poses. “ALRIGHT! Cut out the funny stuff!” she looked back towards Thunderlane. “Let’s try it again!” she nodded.

Thunderlane flipped the switch and the room was dark once again. There was no noise this time.

“What the… Thunderlane! Back on!” Dash yelled. Thunderlane threw on the lights.

EVERYTHING IN THE ROOM WAS GONE.

The three ponies had vanished, along with everything else in the room. The table, the chair, the curtains, the tapestry and even every single book was gone from the tall shelves.

“What…?” Dash blinked as she looked around.

“This is stupid…” Thunderlane sighed and sat down. “How much longer do we have? Ten minutes?” he complained. Dash turned to him and flattened her brow.

“Come on Thunderlane, I don’t think they’d like that mindset,” Dash shook her head. “If they wanna prank us, I’m beating the prank!”

Dash began examining the room. Twister hopped up to get a better look at the shelves. Thunderlane grumbled and started looking around himself with Derpy following behind. Arctic just stood still and scoffed, not particularly interested in helping. She was standing beside the door the police mare initially came through. It was slightly ajar, but then suddenly closed with a light click. Arctic blinked and looked at the door. She glanced at the others, but none of them seemed to notice. She looked at the door again and her curiosity got the better of her. She faced the door, and slowly cracked it open, peering inside. There was no light in the room. She couldn’t see a thing, but then suddenly, the sharp noise of somepony hocking up saliva followed by a sharp spit. A loogie came flying out of the dark and hit Arctic right in the eye.

“AH! EW! EW! EW! EW! EW! EW! EW!!!!!!!!!!!!” She slammed the door shut and frantically backed away from the door while rubbing her hooves against her eyes. The others all looked towards her. Dash was quick to roll her eyes before gliding over.

“What are you wailing about now?” she asked, unamused. Arctic pointed towards the door with one hoof while continuously rubbing her face with the other.

“Somepony is in there! They spat on me!” she whined before crying out in anguish again. Dash looked towards the door, but once again Twister was already on it. He placed himself in front of the door and cleared his throat.

“I’ll give ya to the count of three to get out here!” Twister yelled in a voice deeper than his usual voice. “One! Two!” the door swung open and a large, ghostly image of a pony stepped out, looming over him. “Threefourfivesixseveneightnineten…” Twister turned pale and his voice got higher as the ghostly image grew larger before him. Derpy shrieked and was instantly running out of the room. Thunderlane called after her and followed. “eleventwelvethirteenfourteenfifteen…” Twister’s voice cracked as he backed away. The image glared at him and began to bend down. Twister ran into Dash, who ran into Arctic. “sixteenseventeeneighteennineteentwenty!!!!!” Twister squeaked.

The ghastly image began falling towards them. Dash quickly grabbed Arctic and Twister around their necks she hoisted them up and kicked off the ground, firing them towards the entryway of the large reading room. They tumbled to the ground outside the room as the ghost flopped to the ground the image burst into little puffs of cloud.

“OH MY GAWD!” Arctic pushed herself up out of Dash’s grip. “WHAT THE HELL IS ALL THIS?!?!?!” Dash quickly got up and shoved Arctic against the wall of the hallway.

“OKAY, LOOK DINGBAT! They are obviously playing a prank on us to see how we handle the situation! I’m NOT gonna let you drag us down, GOT IT?! Now quit moaning and groaning and HELP us figure this out!” she said sternly. Arctic yelped and nodded quickly. Dash turned to Twister. “Twister, we need—” Dash blinked and looked around. Twister was gone. “Son of a…” Dash groaned.

Great. Not only were they separated from Thunderlane and Derpy, but now Twister had disappeared on her too. Now she was stuck with Arctic.

“Rgh…” Dash growled to herself as she released Arctic from the wall. “Listen, I hate your guts, but right now, I need help figuring this out, and if you want to get a good score on this…”test”… then you better start helping!” she glared right into Arctic’s eyes. Arctic pouted.

“Hmph! Fine.”

“Now let’s go. We need to either find more clues, or find our friends,” Dash explained as they began walking through the halls. They turned the corner through the main hall and past the front door, taking a path down a different hallway they at first avoided upon entering. Arctic stopped as they moved, eyeing a closed door on the right wall.

“Look!” she pointed while approaching the door. Dash stopped and turned back. Arctic found a door, good at least she was doing something. Dash felt better having Arctic opening mysterious doors, who knew what was behind them?

Arctic opened the door… and shrieked. Dash backed off and moved around to see what she was looking at. It was only a broom closet… but there was the body of a white mare with no mane in the door, standing up on its hind legs. Its arms were flat against its body, tied up with ropes. Its mouth was covered by a cloth tied around its head. It fell forward and on top of Arctic, knocking her to the ground and exploding into little clouds upon hitting her. Arctic looked up and shrieked again, seeing another tied up, maneless, white mare was behind the first. That one fell on her too and also exploded into clouds. Then there was another behind that, and another behind that, and another behind that. Fake mare bodies began falling endlessly out of the closet and slamming against Arctic as she screamed. Each one bursting into little clouds as they fell.

Then suddenly, they stopped. Arctic peeked up at the door, but one of the bodies had stopped right in front of her. It opened its eyes, forced one of its tied hooves up and pulled the cloth off its mouth while smiling.

“OH YES! QUITE A BUNCH OF US, ISN’T IT!?” the mare said in a comical tone before it slammed against Arctic and the fake mares endlessly fell on her again.

Dash freaked out when the first one fell but as they started falling and as she realized they were fake… she just rolled her eyes. This was definitely the kind of silliness Fleetfoot or Surprise would partake in.

The false bodies finally stopped falling, leaving Arctic in a shivering mess on the floor. Dash sighed, reached down, and pulled her up.

“Arctic… they aren’t real, none of this is,” Dash smacked her on the back of the head. Arctic blinked and took a deep breath before groaning uncomfortably. Dash looked back into the empty closet. Her eyes widened as she saw the back of the closet open like a door and a large bucket being held by a pair of hooves appeared. Dash quickly backed away.

A splash of red liquid came flying out of the closet and floored Arctic in the face.

“AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!” she screamed as she looked herself all over. “IT’S BLOOD?!?!?!?!?!” she keeled over and fainted.

Dash, again, stared wide eyed for only a moment before she sniffed the air. She looked at Arctic, puzzled. She approached Arctic, bent her neck down, and sniffed the liquid dripping off of her.

Cranberry juice.

Oh, Dash could only imagine how much of a kick Fleetfoot was getting out of this right now. They were probably all outside the cube with their x-ray goggles, laughing their plots off.

Dash looked back to Arctic and shook her head. Forget it. Arctic was NOT helping. Dash looked around, but found nothing she could comfortably leave Arctic on. Then she realized… she didn’t give a damn about Arctic, so Dash grabbed her by one of her back hooves and dragged her along the ground, and slid her roughly up against the opposite wall. She didn’t need Arctic slowing her down.

Dash continued on through the hallway and turned another corner into another large room, a cylindrical living room to be precise. It was very wide open and even had a staircase that led up to the second floor wrapping around the back wall as it moved up. Dash perked up as she saw a small trap door close on the floor in the middle of the room.

“Ah ha!” she dove towards it, gliding across the room quickly, and running head first into another pony who had apparently spotted it. “Ow!” Dash yelped and stumbled backward. She shook her head out and looked up to see Twister standing before her, also shaking his head out. “Twister?!” Where the hell did you go? He smirked and shrugged.

“That little ghost trick was sick! I had to see if I could catch the ones doing it, but alas… no luck. I followed them here, and saw the trapdoor…” he crouched down and hissed at Dash. “It’s MINE!”

Dash reclined and blinked, and then realized something.

“Fine, go ahead and open it,” she shrugged. If she learned anything from Arctic, it was not a good idea to open random doors in this mansion.

Without hesitation, Twister grabbed the small ring handle and yanked the trap door open. There was nothing but a circular hole in the floor beneath it. Dash floated around to get a look herself as Twister eyed it quizzically. It appeared to be deep, but it that was only because there was no light coming up from below. She was curious about how far down it went, but she wasn’t going to take any chances.

Before she could say anything, Twister got up and glided over to a wall. He grabbed a glass vase off a table, poured the water and the dead flowers out of it, and glided back over to the hole. He held it up over his head and threw it down into the hole. Dash shrugged and held her ear up to listen for a crash. Twister looked down into the hole… but no crash came.

“Hm…” he tipped his head as he kept staring down the hole, “This is peculi—“ the vase came flying down from above and shattered against the back of his head. He tipped forward and began leaning into the hole. Dash quickly jumped around, grabbed his back hooves and pulled him out of the hole. The two tumbled backwards and landed in a pile. Twister rolled off while rubbing the back of his head. “Oh… they’re good… they’re good alright…”

“They’re toying with us!” Dash growled while smacking her hooves against the floor. She got up and looked around. “They’re drawing our attention to things and using them to play tricks on us!”

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t impresssssed,” Twister chuckled while rolling back and forth on the ground.

“Get up you crazy bastard,” Dash ordered as she walked towards the one of the curved walls in the room. “We gotta stop playing into their hooves… we gotta look for our own clues, not follow their trail of crumbs…” she glanced at a painting on the wall. “For instance… we’ve gotta check things… places they might be hiding stuff…” she trotted up to the painting, grabbed it, and unhooked it from the wall. She looked behind it, but all she saw was an outline of the painting frame that was free from the rest of the dust, and within the less faded spot of wall was written:

“Well~ What did you expect to see back here?!” in thick permanent marker. Dash blinked, then scrunched her face and growled.

Then a door closed across the room. Dash looked back and saw Twister already going for the door.

“Twister wait!” Did he even listen to her just now?!

Twister opened the door, but instead of a prank, he came face to face with a pony wearing a full body black robe and a matching black executioner’s mask. Dash froze in her path and Twister took steps back. The pony was holding a knife and slowly moving it towards Twister.

Twister instinctively turned and took off, flying up the stairs against the wall towards the upper floors. Dash looked down and saw the pony go right back into the door.

“Twister, wait!!!!!” she called as she rose up to the small balcony that overlooked the living room. She got to the top just in time to see Twister run directly into the black clothed pony again. Dash looked down, and then back up. How did the pony get up there so fast?! Twister yelped and did a full reverse, gliding back down the stairs. Dash moved in to intercept and the two roughly collided. “OOF!” Dash grunted as she stopped him with her body. “TWISTER! COOL IT!”

Twister blinked, shook his head out and looked around. A moment later his smirk returned.

“Heh..heheheheeehoohaaa… they startled me pretty good there…” he suddenly scrunched his face. “But now it just feels like I’m being messed with… and I can only take so much before—” he looked over Dash’s shoulder. Dash turned around and saw the door at the base of the staircase. It was just a plain door last time she saw it, but now it had a wreath hanging on it with a sign in the center that read:

“Do not open until Hearths Warming.”

Dash rolled her eyes. Did they really think she was going to fall for that one?

“Oh, that does it!” Twister pushed Dash aside. Dash groaned and backed off. Apparently they knew somepony was going to fall for it.

Twister grabbed the door knob and began pulling. The door didn’t budge. He growled and began yanking at the door harder. It swung open and he made a charge for it before anything could pop out and surprise him… but he ran directly into the face of another pony. The pony didn’t budge as their face’s collided, but Twister bounced off and stumbled back a step.

The pony was much larger than Twister in both height and girth. He was light blue, wore a bright red and white fluffy coat, a red and white winter hat with a white pompom at the end, and a big black belt around his waist. He had a white bushy mustache and a very large and bushy white beard. He looked just like Santa Hooves… and Santa looked PISSED OFF. He leaned down and glared into Twister’s confused face.

“Listen, Doc…” he snarled. “Can’t you READ?!” Santa slapped Twister across the face, forcing him to turn around, and then gave him a swift kick in the plot, sending Twister tumbling away from the door.

Dash yelped and ducked as Twister bounced over her and landed on the trap door in the center of the room. He blinked and sat upright as Santa slammed the door. The sign that said “Do not open until Hearths Warming” now had the word “DAMMIT” written at the end, circled and underlined.

Dash heard a yelp from Twister. She looked back just in time to see the trapdoor had opened beneath him and he fell into the hole.

“Twister!” Dash yelled as she jumped over and looked into the dark pit. She cringed as she heard multiple painful crashing noises. It sounded like somepony was falling through multiple shelves filled with china plates. However after a couple of seconds, the crashing noises kept coming. Dash tipped her head, wondering if just how much one could crash into. Then suddenly she looked up and saw Twister tumbling down the steps coming from upstairs. Dash’s expression went completely blank as he bounced off the last step and landed in a heap on the floor in front of her. Twister lifted his head up and looked around.

“I’m so confused… I don’t think I’ve ever been confused before…” he said as his ears flopped down. Dash looked up and saw the pony dressed in black at the top of the stairs. She had had enough.

“YOU!” She yelled as she lifted off and fired towards the second floor. Dash’s eyes widened slightly in surprise as the pony turned and a pair of yellow wings extended from the black robe. It was a pegasus. The pony took flight down the winding corridors of the mansion. Dash pitched and turned through the cramped hallways. Whoever this pegasus was, they were really good.

Twister skidded to a halt in an approaching hallway, cutting off the pony. The pegasus took a sharp right down another hall. Dash and Twister gave chase, flying side by side. Dash pointed towards the pony. Twister glanced at her and nodded. Dash broke off down a different hallway as Twister chased the pony around and back down the stairs. Twister chased the pony into the main hall and towards where Arctic was still out cold. Dash turned the corner from inside the reading room, down the hall leading to the front door, and slammed her hooves down, sliding to a stop and effectively baring the pony’s path between her and twister. There was only one avenue of escape, the stairs beside the front door. There was just enough space to squeeze between the banister and the ceiling. The pony leapt for it, but—

“GOTCHA!!!!!” Thunderlane’s voice came from the stairs. He and Derpy dove out over the banister and tackled the pony back to the ground, holding them down firmly. Twister came up and helped them as the pony squirmed beneath them.

“Huh? WHA?!” Arctic suddenly awoke and saw the other four all piled on top of a disguised pony. She freaked out when she saw the cranberry juice stains all over her, but Dash just ignored her as she focused on the hooded pony.

“Now we’ll see who did it!” she reached forward and yanked. The hood off the pony.

They all froze. Derpy, Thunderlane, and Twister all instantly let go. Dash blinked.

“Misty Fly?!” Dash exclaimed.

Misty sat on the floor, still donning the black robe. She smiled at Dash and waved.

The sound of clapping hooves came from the hall heading towards the reading room. Around the corner stepped the butler, the maid, and Santa hooves.

“You know, I never thought anypony was actually going to catch us! You are quite something Miss Dash.”

That voice… and the “Miss Dash…” it was unmistakable. The pony reached up and pulled off a bald cap. A bright red and orange mane poofed out from beneath it. It was Fire Streak.

“Fire?! What… wait…” Dash looked at the other two. The maid began giggling uncontrollably. She removed her headpiece and a bright yellow mane sprang out along with the sound of party horns. “Surprise?” Dash blinked. “That means…” she looked at Santa. Santa belched, and before he could remove anything— “Lightning Streak…” Dash placed it. The belch was all she needed.

“So this was all an act?” Thunderlane asked. Surprise burst out laughing.

“OF COURSE IT WAS! Silly!” she giggled. “We do lots of comedy routines you know! We’re pretty good actors!” she smacked Fire Streak hard on the back. “He’s pretty good at dying wouldn’t you say?” she pointed at Fire. Fire shrugged.

“I also played the old stallion,” he explained.

“I was the chaffer…” Lightning waved. Fire rolled his eyes.

“That’s… CHAUFFEUR, dear brother.” Fire corrected.

“I also did the gruff cop, the big ghost, and the fake bodies!” Surprise bounced up and down. “And doesn’t Misty make an awesome silent killer?”

“Uh…” Dash glanced at Misty, who was still giving a cheerful smile.

“WHICH ONE OF YOU SPIT ON ME?!” Arctic demanded as she stepped over to the rest of the cadets. Squad three looked about each other and began averting their eyes. Surprise zipped up and got in arctic’s face.

“Don’t ruin our fun,” she said in a dead serious voice before slowly lowering to the floor and crawling over to Twister. “By the way… you’re gullible as hell!” she giggled before bouncing back over to the Streak twins. Misty stood up from her spot and joined them as well. Fire smiled at the cadets.

“Well… you just barely did it in time. Nineteen minutes! Good work… now please don’t ruin the surprise for anypony else,” he suddenly slammed his hoof against the floor twice. “TRAPDOOR NUMBER SEVEN!” he yelled into the floor.

“Huh? WHOA!” Dash yelped as the floor opened beneath all of them. They fell into a small tube slide and began careening down dark pipes.


“WHOOAAAAA!!! OOF!” Dash flew out of the slide and landed flat on something soft. She quickly looked up to see she was no longer inside the cube, rather now on the other side of it. She had landed on a very soft, large mat. Before she could get up—

“EEEEEEE!!!!!” Arctic came flying out of the slide and landed right on top of Dash. “Huh?!” Arctic looked up and frantically glanced around. Dash cringed, feeling the stickiness of Arctic’s fur from the cranberry juice spilled on her.

“Get offa me!” Dash yelled while pushing her wings up to knock Arctic off her back and tried to stand.

“YIIIKES!!!!” Thunderlane fell out next and slammed into Dash’s back, pushing her back down. Unlike Arctic, Thunderlane actually had some meat on his bones, so Dash was forced down roughly and her face smushed into the mat. Thunderlane realized how and who he landed on and quickly tried to push himself up, but—

“WOOOO!!!!!” Twister flew out of the slide backwards, running plot first into the back of Thunderlane’s head. Thunderlane was forced back down, squishing Dash further into the mat, but Twister bounced and flung back into the air. He halted himself after flying up a few feet and turned over so he was hovering in the air above them while upside down.

“Wheeee!!!!” Derpy’s voice echoed through the slide. She slide out slowly and landed extra softly on Thunderlane’s back, sitting up straight and smiling. “So much fun again!” she lightly bounced up and down.

“MMMMRRRRGGGGPHHH!!!!!!!” Dash yelled into the mat as she flailed her arms and legs about. Thunderlane quickly stood up with Derpy perched on his back. “GAAAAHHH!!!!” Dash pulled her head free from the mat.

“Hey! That was pretty good!” Fleetfoot’s voice came from above them. Dash looked up to see her, Soarin, and Spitfire descend towards them while removing their special goggles that they had also used on the previous test. Soarin looked up towards the ceiling and waved. Silver Lining saluted from above and flew back over to the start.

Fleetfoot landed in front of the five of them and smiled.

“You know, I honestly wasn’t expecting anypony to actually figure it out… I bet you surprised squad three too! Now let’s WHOA!!!” Fleetfoot reclined as Dash reached forward and grabbed Fleetfoot’s shoulders while glaring angrily.

“WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THAT?!?!” Dash barked while shaking Fleetfoot.

“Whoa there…” Soarin flew over and pulled Dash off of Fleetfoot. “Fleet, I told you it was gonna just piss them off.” Soarin chuckled as he held Dash back. Dash grunted in disapproval and pouted while crossing her hooves. Soarin, however, kept his hooves on her. She didn’t know if it was intentional or not, but Dash seized the opportunity. She glanced over and Arctic… who was, of course, glaring at Dash because Soarin was touching her. Dash couldn’t do much, and she wanted to honor Soarin’s choice of keeping knowledge of their relationship low, but she had some options.

Dash subtly leaned into his muscular arm and rested her side against it while keeping her eyes on Arctic. Soarin didn’t notice, but Arctic’s eyes widened. Dash snickered and subtly rubbed her side up and down Soarin’s arm. Arctic noticed the motion. Dash had never seen a pair of eyes go so wide while also glaring so hard at the same time. It almost looked unnatural. Arctic looked like she was about to explode into a fit of frail fury, but Fleetfoot recaptured their attention.

“What was the point of it?” Fleetfoot began as Soarin let Dash back down (much to her dismay). “Simple really! The Wonderbolts do more than stunt shows… and to be completely honest with you, there may be times when you are put in a situation where things won’t make sense, or you don’t have the right expertise to handle the situation,” she paused and landed before them. “The point of this test was to see who buckled down and tried to solve the problem regardless. It’s easy to give up and pass the job on to somepony who’s more qualified… but you may not always have that luxury! Sometimes you’ll have no choice but to go with it!” she smiled.

“But… a murder mystery?” Thunderlane rolled his eyes and looked towards Spitfire. Spitfire shook her head.

“Don’t look at me cadet, I didn’t approve it,” she explained. Fleetfoot zipped up to Thunderlane and got in his face.

“Do I sense more sack choking over here?” she gave him an overdramatic, angry pout. Thunderlane stepped backward so suddenly that Derpy tipped off his back and landed with a quiet “oof!” on the mat.

“Shoulda been more blood… REAL BLOOD,” Twister hovered beside Fleetfoot’s ear while still flying upside-down. Fleetfoot swung her head left to hit his face, but he disappeared. Fleetfoot quickly released her hooves from the mat, letting her body drop. “URF!” a grunt came from directly below her. She had slammed her body right down on top of Twister as he tried to slink beneath through her legs. She was lying completely on top of his stomach and she looked into his eyes seductively and creepily.

“What did I tell you would happen if you pulled this crap on me again?” she taunted while wiggling her body side to side. Twister’s ears completely drooped and his pupils shrank. Dash could have sworn his face turned three lighter shades of green. “You’re lucky I’m busy,” Fleetfoot winked and removed herself from him.

She looked towards Dash, and then moved her eyes about the rest of them.

“As I said, that was not bad at all. Now please stay over here. We don’t want to ruin the surprise for anypony else,” she pointed to the floor before lifting off and heading back up. Spitfire followed close behind her. Soarin gave Dash a subtle nudge and a wink as he passed before following as well. Dash smirked at him, then sat down and released a heavy sigh of relief.

Finally, she was done with the crazy day. She felt like she performed well throughout. She was part of the group who beat the first “test.” She stumbled a bit on the second test, but it didn’t go too bad. And then… whatever this was… went alright, at least Fleetfoot said so. Dash was confident she’d be in the lineup for the third day. Now she wondered about the rest. It was sad to see Bulk go the day before, would she have to say goodbye to another friend? Speaking of—

“So that was a hell of a thing…” Thunderlane sighed and plopped down beside Dash. “At least it this one didn’t kick my ass.”

“Heh,” Dash chuckled as Derpy landed on her other side. She observed Derpy and the goofy smile still plastered to her face. “You look like you’re having a good time,” Dash smiled at her. Derpy bounced a little in place while smiling.

“The first one was scary, yeah!” she beamed. “This one was weird… and a little scary too, but there was a slide at the end!” Derpy giggled innocently. Dash could never stop smiling whenever Derpy was happy. The pony was just downright adorable.

“HEY YOU!”

This pony on the other hand…

Arctic pushed past Derpy and got in Dash’s face.

“What do you want now?”

“I saw you rubbing on Soarin! How many times do I have to tell you?! He’s MINE! MINE, MINE, MINE!” she yelled in Dash’s face. Dash didn’t even budge. She smirked.

“Sure he is,” she shrugged. “Whatever you say,” Dash laid down and reclined on her back as they began waiting. Arctic was giving her looks mixed with anger and confusion.

She was so damn dense… Dash was going to LOVE breaking the news to her eventually. A mare like her could use a reality check.

For now though… it was one hell of a day. She just wanted to lie down and relax.

--- To Be Continued ---

Author's Note:

If anyone can name what that whole thing was a parody of... you win the internet! xD

And Noble, you were the lucky winner of "I'm gonna scroll down my comments and take the first user that comments often to put in a gag" xD

SO WEIRD HUH WEIRD!!!!!!!!

but... weird time is over.

Next chapter will be about anticipation of the results...... AND TURBO FLUFF!

if i buckle down tomorrow morning i could have it out in a day ^_____^

but for now... i'm gonna play games... this was not easy to do xD

I hope you all enjoyed the craziness!

Thanks for reading!

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