Training Interrupted
Chapter 12: Training Interrupted
Rainbow Dash slumped down to the packed clouds of the staging area, gasping for breath. Her wings ached from the constant strain of battling the intense winds. The hairs of her coat stood on end after so many near misses from lightning strikes. Her ears were still sore from the sound of thunder, which, all too often, felt as though it were going off right next to her head. From the tip of her snout to the ends of her tail, Rainbow's body felt like a single giant mass of pain.
"Ow..." she groaned. Dang. The Academy training didn't even come close to this.
"That was good work," said a stallion standing somewhere off to Rainbow's right, just outside of her peripheral vision, "It takes most recruits a half-dozen tries to get that right."
With a grunt, Rainbow forced herself up onto her hooves. With a grimace, she turned her eyes up at the dark, almost pitch-black mass of storm clouds that hovered above her. That had been her training area for the past three hours. While they looked like a solid mass from the outside, inside the clouds was an empty space with constantly shifting obstacles, sudden crosswinds, and devastating lightning strikes...with real lightning, not the simulated lightning strikes she'd had to deal with in the Academy. The interior was nearly lightless. What little sunlight seeped in was barely enough to provide a clear view of a couple of meters in front of her nose. The lightning strikes occasionally threw everything into stark relief, but they were too irregular in their timing for Rainbow to depend on them to see her surroundings.
Within that storm, she'd been given different objectives to fulfill, depending on the exercise. When she'd started, the interior had been arranged into an obstacle course and she'd been forced to fly as many circles as she could around it while the winds constantly shifted speed and direction, occasionally blowing hard enough to toss her about like a leaf before she managed to regain control, to seeking and catching targets. Said targets ran the gamut from heavy iron balls that she had to catch and then haul out to a safe zone in a particular time, to light willow rings, which she had to chase down and snag as they danced about. It was hard, grueling work. The required times got shorter and shorter with each session and the artificial storms inside were pumped into greater, more chaotic, intensity.
"So...what's next?" asked Rainbow, slowly turning her head, so as not to strain the fatigued muscles in her neck, to look at her current instructor.
Lightning Streak grinned at her. He had a light-blue coat, a shade similar to that of Soarin's. However, his mane and tail were alternating streaks of orange, yellow, then orange again. His eyes were a warm, surprisingly earthy shade of brown. He was always cheerful, always smiling. Even when Rainbow was in the midst of another training session, Lightning Streak's smile never dropped. He never swore or used an angry tone. Instead, he seemed to prefer humorous taunts, which, in their own way, were even better in motivating Rainbow than the most heavy-hoofed, profanity laden, drill sergeant diatribe.
"You're finished," said Lightning with a chuckle, "I'm impressed. Most newbies are still working on getting past their first hour in there by this point. The usual session runs for an hour and a half."
"What?" gasped Rainbow, her gaze jumping from Lightning to the practice zone and back down to him again.
"Don't get cocky though," said Lightning, "This is just the beginning. The final exam is gonna have you in there for a minimum of six hours."
Rainbow's jaw dropped. "Six..." Six hours in that little airborne slice of Tartarus... Just the thought of it was making her muscles numb all over again.
"That's right," replied Lightning, "Of course, that's assuming you survive Surprise's training regimen." His grin adopted a menacing quality. "Trust me, one session with her and you'll wish you could spend twelve hours in my little playground."
"What does Surprise do?" asked Rainbow.
"Surprise's version simulates flying in volcanic ash. Don't worry!" Lightning spoke sharply upon seeing the dismayed look on Rainbow's face. "That's a ways down the road. You have some advanced magic and weather techniques to learn before you try flying Surprise's course. Fortunately, she doesn't use real ash. That would be kinda hard to bring up here and we aren't about to go looking for an active volcano just for your training."
"Then what does she use?" asked Rainbow, canting her head.
Lightning's grin got a little wider. "Chili powder."
"What?"
"Chili powder," repeated Lightning, "I don't know how she does it, but she infuses her clouds with chili powder and lets the stuff loose in the interior. If your magic isn't up to snuff, you're gonna be in for a world of pain."
Rainbow's jaw snapped shut and she swallowed hard.
Lightning Streak patted her back consolingly. "Hey, it's not that bad. You'll be learning how to use your magic to deal with environments like that before you actually go in."
That's nice, I guess, thought Rainbow ruefully. She had enough on her plate without having to worry about being stuck in a hot-pepper-cloud. Granted, it was probably a lot better, not to mention a lot safer, than working with actual volcanic ash. But that didn't change the fact that any mistakes on her part were going to be painful ones. I guess I'll have to make sure that I don't make mistakes...or learn from them pretty damn quick.
"That's it for the day," said Lightning, consulting a clipboard he held in the curl of one fetlock, "You're dismissed."
With a relieved sigh, Rainbow let her posture sag and slowly trudged in the direction of her quarters to get the things she needed for her shower. In her current state, she couldn't even think about flying anywhere. Her wings ached fiercely now, but after the shower they'd feel like two pieces of limp rubber had been glued to her side.
The upside to training with the actual Wonderbolts was that there weren't a lot of restrictions and regulations to worry about. Even though she was a newbie trainee, Rainbow didn't have to worry about being punished if she didn't report to the mess hall at a specific time, or worry about Spitfire or somepony else coming to inspect her quarters. Compared to the heavily regimented setting of the Wonderbolt's Academy, this place was paradise. The Wonderbolts were a laid-back bunch most of the time. They didn't care one wit about protocol. She wasn't required to address anypony, not even her trainers, as "Sir" or "Ma'am." During her free time, Rainbow was even free to come and go as she saw fit. If she wanted to, she could have made the flight to Ponyville for a visit and come back at any time in the past week. She could wander around Cloudsdale, visit any of its shops and stores, even eat at a local restaurant if she didn't feel like the chow in the mess hall. Life as a Wonderbolt, on the surface at least, was pretty easygoing.
The training more than made up for it though. Whether it was reporting to the storm simulator to practice severe-weather flight skills with Lightning Streak or to the training hall where Misty Fly would toss her around like a parade baton in close-combat training, simply getting through her scheduled rounds for the day completely drained Rainbow of all the energy that she had. Sure, she could go out and enjoy a night out on the town. But right now, she didn't feel like she could manage more than a hot shower and a warm meal before collapsing into bed so that she could get up early enough to enjoy a hearty breakfast before doing it all over again.
What made things worse was the academic aspect of the training. Rainbow had never been much for studying. Granted, part of it was because she'd internalized the insults her old Flight School teachers had always taunted her with, insinuating that she was stupid or slow in the head. However, the other part of it was that Rainbow was a physical pony. Moving, using her body, exerting herself were the things that she did. Reading was something that she usually did for fun, and even that was a relatively new development on her part. Textbooks and written exams were not her thing...even on her best days.
Making matters worse was how the academics had been worked into her schedule. A full half of her training in a given day was devoted to the classroom, while the other half was devoted to the physical. Her schedule alternated on a daily basis so that, on one day, she'd spend the morning trying to pay attention to somepony's lecture and take attentive notes before going to get the tar beaten out of her in the afternoon. Then, on the next day, she'd spend the morning feeling like she'd been thrown in a grinder and spat back out before going to spend the second half of the day trying to stay awake for class while she felt like a wrung-out towel.
So either she got to take classes in the morning, when she was still trying to wake up from...waking up...or she got to take classes in the afternoon, when she was too worn out from spending the morning getting pounded to stay focused. Wonderful...
Rainbow had been forced to put every ounce of her energy into just keeping up. At this rate, it was hard to see if she could make it to the end of the three-month training period. But Rainbow planned on doing it. She planned on sticking it out and she planned on succeeding. It was clear what the Wonderbolts were trying to do here. Spitfire's team was composed of the very best of the best, the select few ponies who could be trusted to accompany a Knight of the Celestial Order into the field and hold their own. Even catching Spitfire's eye and getting invited into the Wonderbolts wasn't enough. Only the most determined and focused ponies would make it through to the end to actually join the team. A pony couldn't handle this kind of abuse if they didn't really want it...
And Rainbow wanted it. She wanted it more than she'd ever wanted anything in her entire life. All of her work, her endless hours spent training herself to be a better flyer, all the work put into managing Ponyville's weather, all of it had been for this. I'm not gonna drop out, she snarled to herself as she finally made it to the hall her room was on. She didn't even pause as she stepped into her room, grabbing her towel and soap before heading right back out. As she approached the showers, Rainbow's eyes narrowed in determination. She needed a shower now, then a solid meal before bed. I've got another day ahead of me after all.
"Alright then," said Spitfire as she paced in front a few select members of her team, "Let me hear it. How's she doing?"
Standing behind Spitfire, Soarin' gulped nervously as he awaited the responses from Rainbow's instructors. Their words here could decide Rainbow's fate. He was already chiding himself that Rainbow wouldn't let them down. But he couldn't help but worry, especially since Rainbow's accelerated training regimen was so new and uncertain.
"Well...she's been struggling a fair bit with the books," commented High Winds, the eldest member of the team and their chief scholar, insomuch as they needed a specialized scholar, "She has difficulty remaining focused in the classroom. I can see why her Flight School academics were so poor. In a typical classroom scenario, it would be difficult to keep her attention and minister to the needs of other students at the same time...to say nothing of the Cloudsdale school's way of doing things back then."
Spitfire nodded. "I figured as much. What do you suggest?"
"I'm going to integrate more practical work into her curriculum," answered High Winds, "Holding classes outside will probably be better for her and demonstrating the effects of the weather systems she needs to learn about directly will probably be the best course of action. When we begin her medical training, I'll have her start working with the dummies right off the bat. By my assessment, she's primarily a kinesthetic learner with some tendencies towards visual learning. Textbooks and lectures are going to be of little help here."
"Good," said Spitfire, smiling slightly. It was good to know that the ponies who worked under her were a better class of teacher than those found at Cloudsdale's so-called "elite" Flight School.
"I'll second that motion," said Lightning Streak with a grin, "That girl's been killing the stormnaseum exercises."
"That so?" asked Spitfire, giving Lightning a sidelong glance.
Lightning grinned back at her. "Oh yeah. It's been pretty clear the lectures haven't been sinking in. When she first set hoof in the cloud bank, she wasn't even trying to remember what ole Windsy here covered in the classroom. She got tossed around like a juggling ball and nearly ate a couple of lightning bolts."
"That doesn't sound good," mused Spitfire, her smile drooping.
"That's 'cause it was just her first try," said Lightning, his grin not faltering for a second, "It gets better 'cause it only took her a couple more tries to get a feel for it. It helps that she doesn't back down or give up. Pretty soon, she was plowing through those exercises. Even if they pay attention in class, it usually takes the new blood a couple of weeks to do what that girl is doing. She's definitely a 'learn by doing' type."
"I take it she's doing well in your training," commented Spitfire.
"You can say that again," said Lightning with a laugh, "Today, she was in the stormnaseum for a full three hours and was still making time on all her exercises when we finished."
Even Spitfire couldn't stop herself from letting out an impressed whistle.
"I sure as hay thought she was gonna keel over and pass out on the spot when I dismissed her," continued Lightning, "But she still got through it. Captain, you can't let this one go."
"You're telling me," whispered Spitfire, smiling to herself. She turned to the last member of the present group of trainers. "Well, Misty Fly...how's she handling your training?"
In spite of himself, Soarin' pouted a little as the mare who had supplanted him as Rainbow's close-combat instructor stepped forward to speak.
"She has a pretty good grounding in basic combat," said Misty, her expression calmly neutral, "What's more, she tends to learn quickly. Even just sparring with her does a lot, since she learns from each session. I don't foresee any problems on my end."
"Good to know," said Spitfire, "Do you think she can meet our expectations within the projected timeframe?"
Rainbow's current group of instructors shared glances before nodding in unison. Behind Spitfire, Soarin's face split in a happy grin. He wasn't all that surprised that Rainbow was doing so well, but it was a particularly satisfying feeling to hear it for himself. It was also good to know that Rainbow wasn't buckling under the intense pressure of the accelerated curriculum, though she didn't know that it was accelerated yet.
"Alright. You're dismissed," declared Spitfire. The three instructors split and Spitfire turned her attention to Soarin'. "And now for you."
"Um...What about me?" asked Soarin' nervously.
Spitfire's eyes narrowed. "I just had a brilliant idea. I'm assigning you to be Rainbow's morale officer. That means you're in charge of keeping her spirits up and helping her cope with the extra pressure. If we aren't careful about that, Rainbow will snap sooner or later and we'll be out the most promising Wonderbolt I've seen since I took over this outfit." Her expression relaxed and she grinned. "Besides, as her coltfriend, that's what you're supposed to be doing anyway. I'm even doing you two a favor by giving you more time together. You're lucky to have such a generous mare for a Captain. I really hope you don't let me down."
"Right..." said Soarin', gulping. Geez...No pressure...
Rainbow Dash chewed slowly, grinding down the mound of fresh-grilled trout with lemon butter in her mouth. Part of her was really debating whether or not she wanted to take the next bite, or the one after that. She wasn't certain that she could clean her plate at this rate.
It wasn't that she didn't like the food. It wasn't bad. It wasn't even bland. In fact, it was pretty good. The chefs of the Wonderbolts' mess hall clearly knew their stuff. The real nice thing was that there always seemed to be fresh fish on the menu, something Rainbow genuinely appreciated. Fish was a good source of protein and healthy oils after all, just the sort of thing a mare who'd been putting her body through one hay of a workout might need to continue building muscle and keep up her energy.
Of course, it was the energy part that was the problem. It was all Rainbow could do to keep from face-planting into her plate. Right now, the only thing she wanted to do was head back to her room, crawl into her bed and get as much sleep as she possibly could before the next morning's sessions started again.
However, the more rational part of her mind, along with her stomach, were insisting that she eat first. All the sleep in the world wouldn't do her body a single bit of good if she couldn't keep it nourished. The other thing that the Wonderbolts' chefs were good at was making sure that the nutritional value of the meals they made reflected the needs of the ponies that ate them. The spread currently in front of Rainbow included all the vitamins and minerals she needed.
"I know that you like salmon better, but the trout's really good."
Rainbow looked up, smiling tiredly at Soarin' as he slid into the seat next to her and set down his own tray. "And here I was thinking I wouldn't see you for a while."
Her stallion chuckled and prodded a small pile of peas on his plate before lifting a up a forkful and transferring them to his mouth. After chewing and swallowing, he laid the fork down. "Spitfire basically assigned me to be your morale officer. My job is to keep your spirits up."
"Is it working?" asked Rainbow.
"You tell me," said Soarin', raising an eyebrow.
That got a laugh out of her. Rainbow looked back down at her plate and took another bite. "I feel wrung out," she admitted, "It's taking everything I've got just to get through the day. I'm not sure if I can keep this up for three months."
Soarin' pursed his lips, fighting desperately to keep from telling her the truth. He hoped, he prayed, that he and Spitfire were doing the right thing. "I know you can do it," he said, "Spitfire just had a talk with your current instructors and they're pretty impressed with your progress."
"Really?" asked Rainbow, staring at him with wide eyes, "Even High Winds?"
"Even him," said Soarin', "He just needs to fix his teaching style to best accommodate the way you learn. Once he does, you should find your academic sessions a lot easier."
"That's great," said Rainbow, heaving a sigh.
Soarin' grinned and gently elbowed her in the side. "Come on. Finish your food and we'll do something fun."
Rainbow sighed. "I'm not sure I'm up for much of anything."
"I said fun, not strenuous," replied Soarin', "You need to finish eating. Trust me, I've been where you are now. Fun's something you need too. I figure we can pay a visit to the library after you finish and we can find a couple books. I'll even read to you if you like."
"You'd do that?" asked Rainbow.
"Sure," said Soarin', "I know your eyes are tired. I'll just read until you're asleep and that'll be that. It'll help you sleep better too."
"Thanks," said Rainbow, turning back to her food.
"You're welcome...You like Daring Do, right?"
"Eh, I've read them all," said Rainbow in between bites of her dinner, "Besides, after meeting the real pony, I don't feel up to a retread. I'll let you choose."
"Okay," said Soarin', "I know a few good ones."
His wing slowly extended to wrap around her and Rainbow relaxed up against him. The two of them finished their dinner and Soarin' led Rainbow to the library to select a book for her. A few minutes later, Rainbow relaxed on her bed, Soarin' laid out next to her, his wing over her back. Soarin' started reading the story, his voice low and soothing. Rainbow did her best to follow along with him, but quickly found her eyes drooping as the low drone of Soarin's voice lulled her into a peaceful doze. Finally, she dropped off entirely.
Seeing that his audience was now fast asleep, Soarin' marked his place and closed the book, setting it aside on Rainbow's desk. Taking the cumulus blanket, he gently tucked her in before planting a light kiss on Rainbow's cheek.
"Sleep tight, Dashie," he said before turning off the light and taking his leave, "I believe in you."
The next few days were just as grueling and demanding as the past ones. However, Rainbow found them more bearable. High Winds had indeed made changes to his teaching style in order to better accommodate Rainbow, which made it much easier for her to keep up with the academic requirements. One day might find him demonstrating how the interaction of tropical currents could result in a hurricane over the seas. The next, he would have her practicing various rescue procedures on a dummy rigged up to resemble a pony's body. Actually getting to put her hooves to work helped Rainbow stay focused, no matter how tired she was.
She was also working to refine her magic as well. Like all Wonderbolts, Rainbow needed to learn how to create her own personal cold front and maintain it while flying. The technique was good for creating a pocket of clean, breathable air around her by filtering out unwanted particles. She'd also been told that further refinement would be able to keep out various poisonous chemicals she might encounter in the air, such as the fumes put out by a volcanic eruption.
However, its primary purpose was to stabilize the temperature around her so that she, like the rest of the team, could fight alongside Spitfire when the Captain was going all-out. When Spitfire merged with Ouranos, her phoenix companion, she generated an intense heat that slowly raised the temperature of the air around her via convection. Without the ability to create her own pocket of temperate air around herself, Rainbow would be knocked out by heat exhaustion a few minutes into any fight that Spitfire was taking part in.
There were other magics to master as well. She needed to learn how to read air currents with her body in order to better understand the best way to manipulate various weather patterns, if not disperse them entirely. She realized that this was akin to, if not simply a variation of the same skill that Dawn and Scootaloo had talked about continuously. Rainbow wasn't sure she could ever master it to such an extent that she'd have perfect awareness of her surroundings, but she did feel that it would allow her to get a better hang of reading weather patterns in her vicinity, as well as how to affect them more easily. If she ever gave up being a Wonderbolt and went back to being Ponyville's Weather Manager, she'd be able to do the same job with only a little more than half of the effort she'd originally needed.
It was a lot to take in, especially all at once. Fortunately, Rainbow had Soarin'. Though he wasn't able to make her training any easier, just having him around, eating dinner together, hanging out with him until she drifted off to sleep, enabled her to cope with the strain better and gave her something to look forward to once her training was finished.
By the time her second week had passed, Rainbow had become so absorbed in the routine of her training that her first day off took her completely by surprise.
"Really? Tomorrow?" gasped Rainbow, staring at Soarin' over her plate.
Nodding, Soarin' swallowed his current mouthful of food and grinned at her. "That's right."
"Is it really okay?" asked Rainbow, "There's so much to still cover."
"It's fine," said Soarin', "Rest, real rest, can be just as important as the training itself. You're eating well and sleeping well at night, which is one reason you've been able to push yourself this far. You need at least one full day every once and a while to pull yourself all the way back together. Not only does it let you recover, it also allows your body and mind to rebound so you'll be able to push yourself even harder for the next round of training." What Soarin' neglected to mention was that new recruits usually had a free day every week, instead of every other week the way Rainbow did. However, in the interest of ensuring that she could make the most of the three-month training course, Spitfire had opted to push Rainbow's free days as far apart as she dared before it would start having an adverse effect on Rainbow's health.
"So it'll really be okay?" asked Rainbow, "I'm not sure I'd feel right lazing around all day."
"You don't have to," said Soarin', "In fact, it's recommended that you do something. Some light exercise is a good way to keep your body active so that you're in top form when training resumes the day after tomorrow. Fortunately, I have just the thing for that."
"What?" asked Rainbow, a slight blush rising to her cheeks as her traitorous imagination turned to her ideas of what kind of light exercise she might like to pursue with Soarin'.
If Soarin' noticed Rainbow's turn of thoughts, he gave no indicator. Instead, he chuckled. "We actually have a show scheduled over at the Cloudeseum tomorrow. It's in the afternoon, so you'd have time to sleep in and get a proper rest. Then you can join us for the performance."
Rainbow's eyes widened. "A performance!" She'd gotten so wrapped up in the Wonderbolts' training and all the things that said training was supposed to prepare her for that she'd almost forgotten that the Wonderbolts did performances too...which was ironic, considering said performances were what had drawn her to the Wonderbolts in the first place.
"Yep," said Soarin', "After what you've been through, flying with the rest of us for a show counts as light exercise. As long as you don't push yourself too hard during the individual sections, you'll be fine. But Spitfire's told me to tell you...No Sonic Rainbooms."
"Right," said Rainbow with a grimace. Even though she'd gotten the process down, the Sonic Rainboom wasn't an easy trick for her to perform. On its own, it required a harder exertion on her part than even the most strenuous exercises she'd done with Lightning Streak. Granted, said exertion took place over a much shorter period, so it wasn't as taxing to her stamina as the longer training exercises were. But such strain wouldn't be a good idea for her body, considering she was supposed to be resting.
"So..." said Soarin', "You up for a performance?"
Rainbow blinked. "I can choose?" she asked, feeling a bit confused. Though she was still in training, she was officially a Wonderbolt, so Spitfire or Soarin' could have simply told her to take part...not that she didn't want to.
"Of course," said Soarin', "Even though you're a Wonderbolt, your designated free time is your own. Only a national emergency would cause Spitfire to cancel any time off you might have. We'd planned things out this way because she figured you might have fun doing another performance."
"It sounds like fun," said Rainbow, her excitement building, managing to overshadow even her fatigue from the day's work, "I'm in!"
"Great!" said Soarin' before giving her a slightly warmer smile, "I figured, after the show, I could take you on another date. It's been a while."
Rainbow's blush returned. "That sounds good," she said, "But I don't think I should stay out too late tomorrow, even if it is my day off."
"Of course not, Miss Dash," said Soarin' with a laugh, "I promise to have you back before curfew."
Rainbow's eyes narrowed in a playful glare. "Wise guy," she muttered, even though she was still smiling.
Rainbow Dash ended up not waking up much later than usual the next morning. In fact, she was only a few minutes behind her usual time, the past weeks having gotten her into the habit of getting up early enough to get a shower and meal before she had to head off to her first training session of the day. On this day, however, Rainbow was able to take her time, not being faced with the grueling schedule of her usual daily training. She took a leisurely shower before heading to the mess hall for a hearty breakfast, which she now had the opportunity to enjoy to the fullest, not being too tired or too rushed to really appreciate the skills of the chefs.
The show wasn't going to start until two in the afternoon, so Rainbow had the remainder of the morning to herself. Soarin', Spitfire, and most of the other Wonderbolts had already headed off to the Cloudeseum to get things ready. Rainbow felt a bit guilty that she wasn't there with them, but Soarin' had already told her that there wouldn't be anything for her to do over there and she was supposed to be getting some rest on her day off.
Fortunately, she wasn't alone at Headquarters. Instead Rainbow spent her time getting to know some of her new teammates better. At one point, she walked in on Blaze, who was chilling in one of the lounges that were scattered throughout the different sections of the building, to find the older mare engrossed in a comic book that Rainbow could have sworn she'd seen Spike reading once. Blaze wasn't even the slightest bit ashamed of her hobby and happily spent the next hour chewing Rainbow's ears off about quirky characters and twisting plot-lines that Rainbow could scarcely follow. Once she finally managed to get away from Blaze, Rainbow resolved to put the other mare in touch with Spike and see if their shared enthusiasm couldn't be the start of a beautiful friendship.
After getting away from Blaze, Rainbow accidentally stumbled into Wave Chill's room, which was down at the end of the same hallway her room was located on. Rainbow was surprised to find that Wave's room was much larger than her own, or any other Wonderbolt's that she knew of for that matter. It probably wasn't all that special in and of itself, given how easily cloud buildings could be modified. Wave had probably just requested the extra space and gotten some ponies to shift and manipulate the clouds that made up his room and extended them, if he hadn't done the job himself. However, what was truly amazing was the reason Wave needed all that extra space.
When Rainbow stumbled into the room, her eyes widened when she found herself staring up at a wall of clarified stratus, which served as glass in cloud buildings. On the other side of the glass was a massive tank at least the size of an Equestria Games standard swimming pool, possibly larger. The walls and floor of the tank were contained by solid-state clouds, which supported a layer of sand and rocks, forming artificial reefs, through which swam schools of fish in a riot of colors, even including a few moderately-sized sharks. She was even more shocked to see the swift form of a pegasus swimming amongst the fish with such ease and grace that he was practically flying through the water.
The stallion caught sight of Rainbow as she gaped up at him from the room of the floor. Rainbow recognized Wave Chill, of course. His mane was a deep cobalt-blue color, with a coat that was a slightly lighter shade. His sea-green eyes, slightly obscured by the goggles he was wearing, fixed on hers and he smiled at her through the glass before sweeping his wings downward and shooting to the surface of the tank with enough force that he actually launched himself into the air. Sweeping his wings outward, Wave shook the water out of his feathers with a single motion before turning his breach into a glide and drifting down to join Rainbow.
"Whoa!" gasped Rainbow...before remembering that she'd essentially barged into her teammate's room without permission, "Ack! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to come in here like this! I lost track of where I was!"
"Hey hey," said Wave, raising his hooves in a placating gesture, "It's okay. Take it easy." He was still smiling at her. "It's not a problem. Trust me, there are worse times you could walk in. When I don't want company, I lock the door."
"Oh..." said Rainbow, blushing slightly, "Thanks." She stared up at the tank. "Is this yours?"
"Yep," said Wave, "Pretty sweet, isn't it?"
"It's incredible," said Rainbow, her eyes following the glittering scales of a fish as it darted amongst the rocks. As it went past an opening, her eyes caught a flash of bright green and she saw the sinuous shape of an eel winding amongst the crags of the artificial reef. "Did you make this yourself?"
"I had a little help," said Wave, straightening up and puffing out his chest a little, "Silver Lining's the one who took care of most of the cloud engineering that made this beauty possible. Of course, I designed the interior and I'm the one who stocked it."
"So you know what all these fish are?" asked Rainbow, her eyes darting from one to the next.
"Yep," answered Wave, looking prouder by the second, "Let me tell ya, getting these guys to Cloudsdale was no easy feat.”
“Especially the sharks, I bet,” Rainbow noted, her eyes practically gluing themselves to one of the graceful predators as it cruised in slow circles near the tank’s perimeter.
“Well, they were a lot smaller when I put them in,” said Wave, chuckling as one of the sharks, the size of a full-grown pony, came drifting past the glass, “But they sorta grew on me…literally.”
Rainbow couldn’t contain the snort that burst out of her nose. “It’s amazing. How do you look after them all?”
“Believe it or not, they do a lot of their own looking after,” replied Wave, “I have a couple of buddies at the Polyneighsian College of Marine Sciences who helped me set this beast up. They thought I was crazy when I told them I wanted to make a cloud aquarium.”
Rainbow could understand that. Here she was looking at the thing and she still thought it was impossibly crazy. She found herself wondering just how Wave kept those sharks fed. Did he simply let them chow down on the other fish?
"It's a miniature, self-contained ecosystem," explained Wave, "All the fish look after themselves and the larger fish eat the smaller fish and the smaller fish feed off the plankton and algae in the tank. Most of my work involves just keeping the solid-state clouds charged."
Rainbow was amazed to think that something like that was even possible. "What were you doing in there then?"
"Just swimming about," replied Wave with a laugh, "The whole reason I went through the trouble of setting this sucker up was so that I'd have a small slice of home here in Cloudsdale."
"That's..." Rainbow took another look at the tank, a marvel of engineering that would have had Twilight Sparkle frothing at the mouth and would have probably been the envy of nearly any public aquarium in Equestria, "...kinda crazy."
"Too true," agreed Wave without missing a beat.
"You swim with sharks!" exclaimed Rainbow.
"Oh yeah," said Wave, "These girls are just small fry compared to some of the sharks we get down in Polyneighsia, let me tell you. They're not all that dangerous...so long as you don't smell like food to them."
"I'll...take your word for it," said Rainbow.
"Naw, it's pretty simple," said Wave, grabbing her hoof and leading her up into the air above the open water of the tank, "Let me tell you about these girls..."
Wave Chill, it seemed, sure knew his sharks. And though Rainbow knew she wouldn't be taking a dip in his aquarium anytime soon, she had to admit she didn't feel that he was quite as suicidal as she'd first thought. As it turned out, Wave was the Wonderbolts' resident marine weather expert, brought in for his knowledge and skill in handling hurricanes, typhoons, and all other manner of seaborne weather. She had to admit, listening to him describe the habits and nature of pony-sized sharks, while said shark was cruising lazily beneath them, was more interesting than listening to Blaze chat about comics.
In turn, Wave introduced Rainbow to the pony who'd helped him design the cloudborne aquarium tank, Silver Lining. The gray stallion with the curly silver and white mane was an expert in cloud construction and had been the principal architect of the Wonderbolts' Headquarters. Silver's room was also larger than Rainbow's, in which he'd installed a full studio for designing some of his cloud creations. It also served as a showroom of sorts for his art projects, as he also dabbled in cloud sculpting.
Rainbow wished she had the time to get to know more of the Wonderbolts personally. Before she'd actually joined the team, she'd never really given them all that much thought as individuals, aside from Spitfire and Soarin'. As far as the rest of the team went, Rainbow had never really thought about separating them from the uniformly dressed pegasi flying in formation during their shows.
Silver and Wave accompanied Rainbow to lunch where, following their advice to her, she ate lightly in order to avoid making herself sick during the show while still keeping up the energy she needed to perform. After lunch, she and the other Wonderbolts remaining at Headquarters suited up and made their way over to the Cloudeseum. There was still a little while until the show began, which she spent in the company of the other Wonderbolts. Rainbow appreciated how willing they were to make her feel like a part of the team, even though she was still in training. Even her current instructors: Lightning Streak, High Winds, and Misty Fly, didn't treat her any differently than they did their other teammates.
In all honesty, Rainbow was quite grateful for how willing the other members of the team were to accept her. She'd been worried that she'd be nothing more than Soarin's fillyfriend to them. But, as she mingled with the other members backstage while they waited for the opening of the flight show, they saw her as one of them. It was a great comfort to her as the minutes ticked away until Rainbow's first flight show since she joined the team for their performance during the Autumn Festival in Ponyville.
"ALRIGHT CLOUDSDALE! ARE YOU READY?!"
A bevy of cheers accompanied the announcer's words, swelling into a roar that broke over Rainbow's ears in a crashing wave.
"THEN, WITHOUT FURTHER ADO! ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE THE GREATEST AERIAL TEAM IN EQUESTRIAN HISTORY...THE WONDERBOLTS!!!"
Rainbow and the others sprang into motion, their wings snapping out in perfect unison as they took to the air and swooped out into the open space of the Cloudeseum, wheeling around in a single line in a brilliant display of precision. Rainbow knew all the classic formations by heart and went through them without missing a beat. Up here, she truly felt as though she belonged with the Wonderolts, flawlessly moving from one formation to the next.
As they lined up for a sweeping flight along the Cloudeseum's perimeter, Rainbow's ear twitched as she heard a sound...which made no sense when she thought about it. The air was filled with all kinds of sounds, from the rushing wind to the roar of the crowd to the synchronized beat of pegasus wings. But this sound was distinct from all the others and it seemed to lodge itself into her ear like the buzz of an annoying fly that just wouldn't go away. In fact, the noise was a buzz. And it was getting louder.
Rainbow tried to push it to the side and stay focused on the performance, but as the volume of the noise grew, it began to make her ears ache. Finally, unable to take any more, Rainbow broke from formation, casting her eyes about for the source of the noise.
It only took a heartbeat for the other Wonderbolts to realize that she had broken from formation. Without waiting for any kind of signal from Spitfire, they split apart and dispersed, arcing gracefully through the air to distance themselves from one another in order to avoid accidental collisions. Spitfire and Soarin' were already closing in on Rainbow.
"What's wrong?" asked Spitfire as she and Soarin' came near Rainbow, who was rubbing her hooves vigorously against her ears.
"Can't you hear it?" asked Rainbow, "That damn buzzing is driving me crazy."
"Buzzing...?" Spitfire and Soarin' shared a confused look. Their ears stood upright as they strained to hear what Rainbow was listening to.
"Yeah," said Soarin' after a second, "I hear it too."
"Me too," agreed Spitfire, now looking around herself, "But where's it coming from?"
Frowning in concentration Rainbow closed her eyes and began to sweep her ears around, trying to identify the noise's source. Finally, she managed to get a fix on its direction. It was coming from the open sky beyond the Cloudeseum wall, out past Cloudsdale's city limits. Turning in the general direction of the noise, Rainbow's eyes swept the skyline.
She was able to pick out the source, though she nearly missed it at first. The approaching object was a strange off-white color that nearly made Rainbow dismiss it as a tiny cloud fragment amongst the blue of the sky. There was a faint shimmer in the air around it that betrayed the fact that it wasn't actually a cloud...that and the fact that it was approaching them at a substantial speed.
All the while, that infernal buzzing was getting louder and louder. Now Rainbow wasn't the only pony in pain. The murmurs of the crowd, whose cheering had died down upon the unexpected cessation of the Wonderbolts' performance, had switched from confusion, to discontent, and then to worry as the buzzing noise began to get louder. Now, here and there, the murmurs were punctuated by yelps of pain and the wails of foals, whose sensitive ears were more vulnerable than those of their parents or the other adults.
"Gah!" cried Rainbow, clamping her hooves down over her ears in a desperate effort to cut off the noise. Her efforts were only moderately successful, as the buzzing was muted somewhat, but the vibrations still made her skull hum. All around her, the other Wonderbolts were reacting in a similar manner.
Spitfire flared her wings out and Rainbow felt a breeze wash over her body and the pain began to reside. Cautiously taking her hooves away from her ears, Rainbow noticed she couldn't hear the buzzing sound anymore. She could sense a faint displacement in the air around her that reminded her of the technique she and the other Wonderbolts were required to learn in order to keep the air around them at a stable temperature when Spitfire was fighting.
"What was that?' asked Rainbow, looking back at the approaching object.
"A sonic attack of some kind, I guess," said Spitfire, casting a concerned glance down at the crowds in the stadium below them. Though she couldn't hear them anymore, she could still see ponies writhing in agony as the sound continued to wash over them. "This is bad. We need to put a stop to that thing."
"Yeah...about that..." said Soarin', the only pony flying near enough to be inside of Spitfire's little protective bubble as well, "That thing is almost here."
Rainbow and Spitfire whirled to face the incoming object. As she saw it, Rainbow's eyes widened in shock. At first, she thought it was a changeling. However, she remembered that Celestia had reported that the changelings had been wiped out by a Guard task force, preferring death to surrender. Besides...this creature didn't look anything like the changelings Rainbow had seen in the past.
It had the form of a pony, but its body was encased in a bone-white carapace, with streaks of bright red showing out from between the joints. There were no holes or cavities on its legs like there had been on the changelings. In fact, Rainbow thought it looked like a pony covered in some kind of special armored suit. The obvious difference was in the wings. Instead of the feathered wings of a pegasus or an alicorn, a pair of translucent, insectile wings blurred rapidly. As the light of the sun hit those wings, it refracted into a spectrum of colors that were at once familiar to Rainbow and yet alien enough to churn her stomach. There was no horn projecting from its head, just a smooth dome running over the top, covering the area where the ears of a pony would be, before running down its neck in segments. In fact, its entire head looked like a single piece, with no sign of a mouth, nose, or any other orifice. It regarded them with pale-blue, glassy eyes. Finally, its tail was a segmented, blade-like object that terminated in something that vaguely resembled a scorpion's stinger.
Rainbow's eyes noticed a faint shift in the nature of the light refracting off its buzzing wings. At first, she wondered if it was about to attack, but the creature instead came to a complete halt, the motion abrupt and sudden. As it did so, Spitfire dispersed the bubble of air protecting them from the vile buzzing noise.
"Wait-!" Rainbow protested before realizing that the buzzing was no longer invading her skull in agonizing waves. Instead, it now resembled something more like the typical drone of insect wings.
"Alright," said Spitfire, glaring at the new arrival, "Who or what are you and what do you want?"
Rainbow felt the strange creature's intensity. If were a pony, she was sure its eyes would be narrowing in a hostile glare. However, there was nothing resembling an expression on that featureless face...yet.
Slowly, a black seam opened up along the end of the creature's muzzle, slowly widening and dividing, until a pair of strips peeled back away like the mandibles of those creepy jungle ants Rainbow had seen pictures of in one of Twilight's books. As the mandibles pulled away, Rainbow could make out the lips, mouth, and teeth of an actual pony in the space the mandibles left behind. The sight sickened her. It looked wrong...unnatural...hideous.
Those lips pulled back in a sneer. "You know...I'd always wondered what it would be like to meet the Wonderbolts in pony..." Its voice had an alien quality that made Rainbow cringe. At the same time, she heard something vaguely familiar, a familiarity that stirred up further feelings of revulsion in her stomach.
That was when it hit her. This thing actually was a pony! Not only that, it was a pony she'd met before. Now if only she could remember just who it was.
Spitfire merely raised an eyebrow, bidding the unknown stallion to continue. Through the gap in the pony's helmet, his sneer widened. "I used to admire you. Now I know that you're nothing. You're supposed to be something that all pegasi aspire to. But now I've found something better."
"Good for you," said Spitfire in a deadpan tone, "Now that you've made it clear you don't like us, why don't you get lost?"
"Not just yet," said the insectile stallion, "I'm not just here to show you Wonderbolts what a bunch of losers you are. I wanted to pay a visit to a very special pony."
The head turned and those soulless eyes focused themselves specifically on Rainbow Dash. Before she could react, the intruder zipped in close, his armored hoof coming to rest against the mithril mail over her cheek. The touch was gentle, but it made Rainbow's skin crawl, as there was something she recognized in the gesture.
"Just you wait," said the stallion, his voice almost a whisper, "Some day, I'm gonna come to taste that rainbow of yours."
It finally clicked in Rainbow's head. She knew that tone, the tone of a stallion who'd once gotten way too pushy with her, who'd thought she'd just submit and let him have his way with her. It had been a few years ago, but she'd put him down and nearly pulled his wings off. Then, at one point last year, he'd tried something similar with Fluttershy, only to have both his wings broken by Dawn Lightwing. Said stallion had been arrested and ultimately exiled from Ponyville. Now, here he was, hovering in front of her with wings that were not his own.
"Flash Spark," she hissed.
"That's right," replied the stallion, his hideous grin looking all the more disgusting when it seemed to be hidden behind a pair of insect mandibles, "I'm back and, one of these days, I'm gonna make you mine."
"I'd like to see you try," said Rainbow, her eyes narrowing. Her hoof blurred in a punch straight for Flash Spark's face. It was swift, putting into practice all she'd learned in the course of her sessions with Misty Fly, along with all her previous training in the martial arts. However, as her hoof reached Flash's head, he wasn't there anymore.
Moving with a speed and abruptness that nearly matched Dawn's moves, Flash zipped upwards and sideways at a diagonal, his body blurring so that her hoof instead crossed through empty air. Flash had barely come to a stop before another blue bolt of a pony flashed at him and he zipped straight backwards to avoid a strike from Soarin', who came to a stop hovering protectively between Flash and Rainbow. Spitfire joined Soarin', the two of them forming a screen between the armored stallion and Rainbow Dash, with the rest of the Wonderbolts swooping in to join them.
However, Flash Spark showed no sign that he was frightened of the Wonderbolts' threat. "I think I'll leave for now," he said.
"After you threatened one of ours, you think we'll let you?" asked Spitfire.
"I think you're gonna have better things to do in a second," replied Flash.
His wings stopped buzzing. It was for less than a second, but the pair of insectile wings froze, becoming completely still in the air by his side. In that instant, it was clear that they truly did resemble insect wings, with faint, almost invisible veins running up and down their length, running in unnatural straight lines and splitting at sharp angles. The instant that his wings froze, those veins seemed to shift, angles changing and lines realigning, causing a faint, but recognizable change in the way that the sunlight was refracted through them. Then, before Flash's body could even begin to feel the effects of gravity, the wings resumed their buzzing motion. The insectile droning noise had changed again, this time with a high, keening buzz that made Rainbow's teeth rattle.
At first, she was afraid that Flash was about to use that ear-splitting buzz that he'd been using during his approach. However, this sound was clearly different. At the same time, Rainbow was able to see a shimmering ripple forming in the air around Flash's wings. The ripples seemed to converge into a single location on either side of the stallion's armored body, forming a point that began to glow with a strange, unearthly light.
At once, the buzz elevated into a shriek and the light blazed into a pair of brilliant yellow lances that stabbed down and away from Flash's body, driving straight into the walls of the Cloudeseum. Then, with another flash, the screaming lances of yellow light swept in arcs across the entire circular wall of the stadium. Less than a second later, they vanished, the noise having been cut off as Flash's wings froze again, with another split-second shift.
"Later!" In an instant, Flash Spark was a white blur vanishing in the distance.
Rainbow's first impulse was to give chase. Though Flash Spark's acceleration was insane, there was no way he could possibly match her top speed. However, all thoughts of pursuit evaporated from her mind when she looked down to see what Flash had wrought.
The Cloudeseum was disintegrating.
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Flash Spark reminds me of one the Awakened Beings in the Claymore manga
vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/claymore/images/e/e8/Awakened_Beings.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20111222151557
And then they get the bug spray and kill Flash Spark in a suitably anticlimatic way.
omg. MORE!
Gag.
Ok, interesting.
What the hell did Morning do? Did he just pull a Big MT. treatment on Spark cause damn. Well, looks like Morning got the distraction he needed because nothing, other than Terra, can be more distracting than a freaky pony with wings that can cause an entire area to disintegrate! Granted, said area was clouds, points still there! Christ, if he did that to Spark, what the hell is he planning on doing with his pyramids?
5820135 now that you mention it he really does
oh shit. that...that is one UGLY mother fucker. great chapter though.
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static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tonyp-crop.jpg
Flash Spark: Highly interesting as a villain, still as punchable a bag of knobs as always personality-wise.
Also, Aquarium with sharks in your room? Awesome
5820436
I think Flash Spark's enough of a distraction from his sheer levels of, uh, "character". The magic insect armor's just a bonus.
Wow. Enter new sub-villain. I can't wait to see how that bug gets what's coming to him. I have an idea: KILL IT WITH FIRE! (preferably phoenix fire)
However, there are a few errors in the chapter.
The word you are looking for is "ensuring".
That sentence is weirdly worded. Consider "not sleeping in at all" or "not sleeping in that late".
remainder of the morning to herself
Did you mean "cloudborne", by any chance? It's not headed towards the clouds; it's being held up by clouds.
I suggest that you replace the colon with a comma or set off the list with em dashes. That is, either
Even her current instructors, Lightning Streak, High Winds, and Misty Fly, didn't treat her
or
Even her current instructors—Lightning Streak, High Winds, and Misty Fly—didn't treat her
Both a misspelling and homophone error.
The misspelling: the word you used is spelled "adieu."
The homophone error: the word you want is "ado." "Adieu" means "goodbye."
The period should be a question mark.
There are some commas missing. It should read like this: cessation of the Wonderbolts' performance, had switched from confusion to discontent, and then to worry
huge roles to play
That aside, though, keep up the good work, and I'll be looking forward to tomorrow's chapter.
I wish I had a shark tank in my room now. Anyway It was a good chapter, and an Interesting introduction to Flash Spark. KILL IT WITH FIRE!
OC i made named Burning Wings(nicknamed god of fire): I WILL BURN U ASHES FLASH SPARK *lights mane, wings and tail-end on fire*
Flash Spark is a monster, now in mind and body, no doubt about it now.
Yeah no kidding. Let's just temporarily forget about the toxic fumes, because that's the easy part. Volcanic ash contains fragile, jagged micro-threads of glass, and can blow it for miles. People who study active volcanoes have to wear almost complete protective gear because otherwise they risk serious eye infections just for being near the damn thing.
they better revise the jail system after this disaster.
5821166 Don't forget about that pesky pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. Probably my favorite word, when I can remember how to spell it.
I loved this chapter! Just seeing Dash go through training and meeting the other bolts was way more fun than I ever expected. I love that they are experts and I've never seen them given such fun, quirky personalites before. I would have been very happy had Flash not even shown up at all, and everything had gone right.
...yet another pony who was left alive long after they should have been stomped to dust.
5821350 The WHAT?!
rainbow is going to get a super hard training that is risking braking her and now the Wonderbolts have to deal with Flash Spark.
Harts Fire
I really want to comment on how badass that aquarium is, but it doesn't compare to what just hit the fan.
5823968 The proper term for lung damage resulting from exposure to volcanic ash, or a garauntee that the local improve troupe will curse your name for the remainder of their natural lives. Depends on how you use it, really.
When I saw Flint's new body, I automatically thought Hollow + Powered Armor ... And his array of powers so far are quite interesting. I wonder if he'll be the fall guy for the use of the War Heads. After all he's a known Tribalist, and what he has is something that a bunch of "Zealot Earth Ponies" couldn't accomplish.
5823959 i have a few ideas that might work but the tricky part would be to keep him from dying of shock before i'm done with him
I have to give you apropos for how you've handled the Wonderbolts in this series; it is far, far better than in canon.
As much as I love Spitfire, neither she nor the 'Bolts canon-wise are really worth the effort. In point of fact, they're really a waste, and only serve as a vehicle for plot development as far as Rainbow Dash is concerned.
And not a very good one.
Again, I must reiterate; I love the 'Bolts. Which is why I think the way the show handles them is a shame.
They can do so much better.
Ah well; at least fim fics can help to pick up the slack :twilightsmile;
8493021
Yeah, honestly if it weren't for fimfics I'd have ended up hating the Bolts. Dash is pretty awesome, and with how much she builds them up, I was always expecting something great.
Instead we get episode, after episode of the most horrible wastes of equine ever. And then you have Fleetfoot who goes and collects peoples faces, and wears them to scare fillies and colts.
But yeah, it's a shame that they have so much potential, but the show treats them so poorly. Especially Spitfire, who not only learns 0 lessons, but from the looks of it, tries to out awful herself everytime she pops up.
You're earning a ton of points this chapter Soarin
9270435
Ooh a fellow fan of Daddy DWK's huh?
5823959
7682834
Or give him to my OC he really knows how slowly break someone and in Flash Spark's case he'll enjoy. every. single. moment of it .
Flash Spark returns (Enter Perfect Cell theme)
Me. You the bug. I'm the windshield.