Fleetfire

by Melody Song

Rainbow's Friends

Rainbow, Spitfire, and Fleetfoot met up with the other Wonderbolts and headed towards the Friendship Castle again. Surprise's muzzle was coated in frosting, clearly she'd had more than one cupcake.

"Why are we going back to the castle?" Fire Streak asked

"Twi told the others to go there so you could meet them." Rainbow explained

Rainbow led them into the castle.

"Wow, it's so big!" Surprise exclaimed.

"Yeah, stick close to me, don't want you guys getting lost." Rainbow said

Rainbow led them to a room behind double doors. It had a singular round table surrounded by six thrones. A smaller one positioned beside one made it seven, but it was unoccupied. The others were taken by the Princess of Friendship and Rainbow's other friends. Each large throne had a cutie mark on it. One had Rainbow's.

"Woah." High Winds was looking up at the ceiling rather than the thrones.

Spitfire glanced up and her own eyes widened. Hanging from the high ceiling of the room were the sprawling roots of a tree. From each one hung strands containing gemstones threaded onto them. It blended perfectly with the crystal structure of the castle.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Princess Twilight spoke, and Spitfire turned to look at her. "My friends made it for me when they realized I wasn't adjusting to the castle. It's made from the roots of my old home, the Golden Oak Library."

"It's very beautiful Princess." Spitfire told her

"I already told you Spitfire, call me Twilight." She stood up and trotted around to them. "We wanted to give you a nice welcome to Ponyville."

"I wanted to throw you guys a party because there's no greater welcome than a patented Pinkie Pie Welcome to Ponyville Party!" the pink Earth Pony mare said, bouncing in her seat.

"You can throw 'em a party later Pinkie." Applejack told her, seated in her own throne.

"Guys, these are all my friends. You know Rarity." Rainbow gestured to the white Unicorn, who was checking her reflection in a mirror. "And you saw AJ earlier. That's Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie."

"Uh-um, h-hi." Fluttershy murmured, hiding behind her mane.

"Hiya! Welcome to Ponyville! Any friend of Rainbow Dash is a friend of mine!" Pinkie cried

"That's cool! I saw you in Sugarcube Corner earlier!" Surprise leapt forward, taking off and hovering in front of Pinkie.

"Yes-yeppie-yeppers! I help out there all the time in exchange for a room above it! I live with the owners, the Cakes, and their twins!"

"You live above a bakery?! That's Wonder-riffic!"

"I know! Totally roof-tastic!"

The Wonderbolts and Rainbow's friends just stood-sat in some cases-and watched the two commune in what seemed to be their own language.

"Well, this explains how Rainbow adjusted so well to Surprise's logic. It took the rest of us about a year but she already learned to just go with it." Blaze shrugged

"That's what we say." Rarity remarked, standing with a flip of her mane.

"Yep. As we like to say: It's Pinkie Pie, don't question it." Applejack agreed

"We say: Surprise will be Surprise." Wave Chill countered

"Interesting that both of Rainbow's friend groups have a pony that seems to defy logic." Twilight sighed

"They're probably gonna be at this for a while, Surprise is a big talker and Pinkie is...Pinkie." Rainbow said

"True, come on, I can show you the school, if you want." Twilight suggested

"Alright then." Spitfire said

Twilight trotted to the door and opened it, only for them to hear a clattering sound. A stream of something sticky and brown fell onto her head, followed by a bucket. Twilight pulled off the bucket and wiped her eyes.

"Wh-what is it?" Fluttershy asked

"Pudding." Twilight replied, glaring up at Rainbow.

"It wasn't me!" Rainbow defended

"Oh, hey, you found my pudding!" Pinkie bounced over, apparently not needing wings to stay suspended in midair as she moved. "I was hoping Spike would find it but oh well!"

"Pinkie. What did we say about pranks in the castle?" Rarity asked

"Whaaaattt? It was funny!"

"Nevermind." Twilight's horn glowed and the pudding disappeared. "Let's just continue. This way."

Twilight led them out of the castle and over the bridge to the school. They saw pony students milling around in the entry hall. They gave a quick tour, Rainbow's friends staying in their own classrooms to prepare or grade papers. Then Rainbow took over, Twilight dropping back to follow from behind.

"Come on, I'll show you guys my classroom!" Rainbow called.

She led them down a hall and into a classroom. It honestly looked more like a gym, with elements that reminded Spitfire of Wonderbolt Headquarters. Clearly Rainbow had drawn inspiration from it in the form of the hoops, the high ceilings with open windows, and the cloud designs on the walls. There was sports equipment leaned against the walls, a teacher's desk in the far back of the room, and a wide open floor.

Spitfire noticed Smolder hovering in midair with Gallus and Ocellus. Gallus was flying through one of the rings while Smolder and Ocellus passed a ball back and forth. She also saw Sandbar standing below them, and when Ocellus dropped the ball, he ran and kicked it back into the air.

"This is pretty sweet." Rapidfire said, taking off.

"It's so tall!" High Winds took off and flew up to admire the gaps in the ceiling where there were a few clouds. She settled on one, testing it.

"Hey Professor." Smolder waved, before reaching and catching the ball in the tips of her claws. "Hah, nice try Celly!"

Ocellus laughed and they looked up in time to see Gallus preform a loop as he flew through a ring, laughing.

"Hey, Gallus!" Sandbar called out. "Can I get a lift?"

"What exactly is he talking about?" Fire Streak asked

"Watch, the students have come up with a way to help their wingless friends." Rainbow said, gesturing.

Gallus swooped down, hooked his claws under Sandbar's forelegs, and rose up again. Smolder and Ocellus joined them as Sandbar clambered onto Gallus' back, smiling.

"You should see them pick up Yona-and she's a yak." Rainbow said, making Rapid's jaw drop.

"They can lift up a yak?"

"Yeah, with Silverstream's help." Rainbow said

"Someone say my name?!" a pink Hippogriff appeared behind them

"Hey Silver!" Smolder waved, tossing the ball to the Hippogriff. Silverstream took off, caught the ball, then tossed it back.

"Hey Smolder!"

"I don't believe you." Rapidfire told Rainbow.

"Is that...thunder?" Soarin asked, pricking his ears.

Spitfire pricked her own ears, also hearing the low rumble.

"It sounds like...hoofsteps..."

"Not quite." Rainbow said "That's-"

"Hello friends!"

The Wonderbolts all leapt to the side and into the air as a young yak barreled into the classroom, bounding up to them. High Winds flew back down to join them as Ocellus waved.

"Hi Yona!" Sandbar waved from Gallus' back, and Yona stomped on the ground.

"Yona want fly with friends!" she called out.

"Sure." Smolder shrugged

Smolder, Silverstream, and Ocellus flew down to Yona. Smolder grabbed Yona's horns, Silverstream latched her claws around Yona's middle, and Ocellus grabbed onto Yona's front hooves, helping them get her into the air.

"Wha-huh?" Rapidfire gaped.

"Told ya." Rainbow grinned

"Woah! How weird is a flying yak?!" Surprise exclaimed

"Ocellus can be weirder!" Silverstream called down, and they all looked to the young changeling.

"Oh, uh-"

"Let's not have any transformations in classrooms, kids." Twilight called, stepping forward.

"Okay Headmare Twilight." Ocellus said, looking relieved.

"And this is the best classroom of them all! Rainbow Dash's!"

They turned to see Scootaloo, followed by two more foals, then came Rumble and Sparkfire.

"Wow!" Sparkfire cried, looking around. "Oh, hey Spitfire, everypony!"

"Hey Spark." Spitfire said, as Spark ran over for a quick hug.

"She looks just like you." Twilight commented

"She should, I'm her sister." Spitfire replied

"I want to go back ta ma' sis's classroom." the Earth Pony filly muttered

"AJ's classroom is just a big barn, Apple Bloom!" Scootaloo objected, wings fluttering.

"Hey bro." Thunderlane said to Rumble, who nodded.

"Hey Thunderlane." Rumble looked up at the students. They had set Yona down on one of the window's balconies and were playing with the ball again. "Lucky. Miss Cheerilee never lets us play ball in class."

"Yeah, we've tried." Scootaloo agreed

"Well, I'm sorry to say you three-you too Rumble-already know about friendship. You don't need any extra classes." Twilight said

"We know." the Unicorn sighed "It just seems like so much fun here!"

"I know the school is a bit different than others and yes, the classes are more interesting than your usual curriculum, but you need Cheerilee's classes, not mine."

"At least we get to be official friendship tutors." Scootaloo sighed "That's something."

"Come on, let's head back to the clubhouse. We can stop by Sugarcube Corner on the way." the Unicorn said

"Sorry, but I think it's time the 'Bolts headed back, we still need to get a bit of exercise in for the day." Spitfire said, glancing around at them.

"Alright then. It was nice to meet you, and I hope you realize you're all welcome in Ponyville anytime." Twilight smiled "Besides, Pinkie's going to be looking forward to that party."

"Great! We can't wait!" Surprise cheered as they all headed out of the Friendship School.

The group of flyers all took off and headed home. Fleetfoot flew closer to Spitfire as Sparkfire dropped back to talk with Rainbow Dash about Scootaloo.

"Tho, did you have fun?" Fleetfoot asked

"Yeah." Spitfire smiled at her, then flew closer. "I did. I'd like to see the others in that support group again. And Sparkfire definitely had fun."

"So I guess that means we can come down more often...?" Lightning Streak asked from behind them, only catching the tail end of her sentence, about her sister having fun.

"I guess it does." Spitfire smiled.

Author's Note:

And so ends the Ponyville arc for this story. Not to worry, they will continue to visit in the future, and have some adventures to boot. But the next chapter may take some time, like this one did. Bye for now then!

~Melody Song

Comments

[Alex_isawierdo]

The amount of times I’ve re read this is unreal 😂

[Melody Song]

10406456
Heh, well, I'm glad you're enjoying it