Camouflage

by RoflLuxRay

Chapter 2

Camouflage by: RoflLuxRay

Chapter 2

“Just who the hell do you think you are?!” asked Ampy furiously when Rainbow Dash released him on the clouds of what seemed to be the front entrance to a palace.

“We just saved your ass, you should be grateful, kid,” answered Flare Charge with indignation, taking off the thick goggles.

“Thankful?” the young Pegasus took the Wonderbolt from her suit and stared at her eyes with fury, “you let my friend die in that factory, and she worshiped you liked gods.”

“We’re sorry about your friend,” said Spitfire landing next to them and breaking them up before taking off her mask, “but we needed to get you out of there.”

“Why does everypony need me?” said Ampy with desperation, even laughing a little.

“Because of what you can do,” the Wonderbolts’ leader approached him cautiously, “you’re one unique pony, y’know?”

“Don’t tell me you’re gonna ask me to join too…” he said with irony, rolling his eyes.

“Oh, we’re not going to,” Spitfire walked to the enormous double doors made entirely of clouds and opened them, revealing a huge golden hall with pink flags hanging from the ceiling. A red carpet ran through the floor all the way to a golden throne where Princess Celestia gracefully sat gazing at the entrance, “the princess will.”

The three Wonderbolts around him led the young Pegasus to the center of the hall, right in front of two tough-looking Pegasus guards protecting the staircase that led to her majesty’s throne.

“Wonderbolts reporting, your majesty,” said Spitfire giving the majestic Alicorn a salute, gesture quickly mimicked by the rest of her squad.

“Welcome, Wonderbolts,” replied the Princess with a calm voice, “is this Pegasus the one Soarin’ was telling me about?”

“That’s right, Princess,” said Spitfire pointing a hoof at Ampy, “this is Sapphire Bolt.”

“It’s an honor, your majesty,” said Ampy with a bow, he had never seen an Alicorn, nor spoken to one before.

“I recognize the Wonderbolts’ course of action was not the correct one, but I’ve been informed that Blueball Roycewicz was found alive and is being transferred to a hospital down in Ponyville.”

“Can I go see her?” he asked with a grateful smile.

“Of course, but before you do…” with a movement of her hoof, she signaled her guards to abandon the room. With a slow strut, the golden armored Pegasi left the room through a door on to the right. When the clouds closed, Celestia cleared her throat and continued, “There are some things you should know about. As you may have noticed, the Wonderbolts do much more than just stunts.”

“Oh really?” asked Ampy faking surprise, so well that even the Princess bought his skepticism.

“The Wonderbolts are a select group of Pegasi whose mission is to ensure the safety of Equestria, an elite squad chosen amongst thousand to serve under my command. The Wonderbolts shown to the public are nothing more than a cover, apart from the group I command. I'll be straight with you, Sapphire Bolt, you were born with an unique ability, whose addition to the team is of crucial importance.”

“I’m flattered by the offer, but I have to decline it,” replied the young Pegasus firmly, “fighting for my country is not my dream.”

“Then, what is it?” asked Celestia with a mystic sense in her words.

“What I dream of is to hone my soul, my wings and my skills, to beat all the time limits and to impose unbeatable records, immortalize my name for my talent.”

“How would you like to be immortalized for your actions?” Celestia’s words caused him to open his eyes widely, “dreams are something that we carry throughout our lives, giving us a reason and motive to carry on. What some ponies don’t know is that sometimes our actions are not the adequates to accomplish our dreams, which is why many ponies are not content with the cutie mark they bear.”

“I know that daily training will assist me in making the dream come true,” replied Ampy trying to debate the Princess’s words.

“I do not doubt it,” Celestia looked down with a happy grin on her face, for she knew the right words to say, “but if your true desire is to write your name in golden letters, why do it in something that can be beaten, that can distort throughout time?”

“Explain yourself.”

“If you accept my offer, not only I assure you that your name will persist through history, but you will also be a role model for future generations. Equestria is on the brink of chaos, and I ask you to help us prevent it. You shall be remembered by all if we were to succeed,” Celestia was well known for her persuasive skills, giving her both good and bad reputation among her subjects.

“I’m no good at fighting; I don’t even know what I would do,” Ampy’s will was slowly bending under the intense stare of the ruler.

“Their mission is not to exterminate,” straightened Celestia quickly, “their mission is to ensure the peace, they are both first and last line of defense. If you were to accept, you would be trained for duty.”

“Can I fly as fast as I can, without any limits?”

“Every Wonderbolt is fast and special, if they are here is because they fly as fast as their hearts desire.”

“This isn’t looking like a bad idea”, though Ampy passing a hoof on his chin, “but how can I know what they’re up to?”

“Have you made up your mind?” asked Celestia with authority.

“I will join if you answer one question,” Ampy stepped forward, facing the heavy stare from Celestia’s lavender eyes, “why do the Shadowbolts exist?”

“Ah… them…” muttered Celestia taken aback by the question, “they’re Pegasi who lost their way, traitors. They show up every now and then to ruin some event, claiming they will release Equestria from my millenary reign of tyranny.”

Ampy kept silence for a moment, satisfied with Celestia’s eloquent answer. Even though forgiving the Wonderbolts’ actions seemed difficult, Blueball’s survival made the idea of joining them not so bad after all. He never thought of devoting his life to stuff other than flying distances as fast as he could, but he always toyed with the idea of using his speed, his obsession with time limit, to swing the fair arm of justice, but somepony else’s.

“Very well, Celestia,” he said with a dim smile on his lips, “I will join you.”

“Excellent decision, Sapphire Bolt,” said Celestia with a nod.

“Please, call me Ampy, it’s for the mane,” added immediately the young Pegasus.

“Alright then, Ampy. Spitfire!” the leader straightened her pose instantly, “take him and give him a good training. I need him ready by Friday.”

“Right away, Princess,” Spitfire took his shoulder and began walking to the door from which they came from. Upon closing the thick double doors, the Wonderbolts gathered around him and stared at him expectantly.

“So… what’s up?” said Ampy trying to not feel overwhelmed by the six eyes he had on him.

“Well, we have to do some tests first: One of speed, one of skill and one of combat,” answered Spitfire walking to the group.

“Why don’t you introduce yourselves?” suggested Ampy with a nervous chuckle, “I mean, you already know me but I don’t know your names.”

“I like this kid’s attitude,” said Soarin’ with enthusiasm, passing a hoof through his long dark blue mane, “why don’t you start, Spitfire?”

“Alright then” said the leader with a warm smile, “I’m Spitfire and I run the show here. If you follow orders and don’t do anything stupid you’ll fit in just fine.”

“I’m Soarin’,” the light blue-coated Pegasus walked towards Ampy and offered him a hoof, “I’m second in command and the one who delivers the bad news and witty one-liners.”

“The name’s Flare Charge,” the orange-coated mare removed her mask off her face, waving her short straight red mane through the air, “I’m in charge of tactics and recon.”

“And I’m Rainbow Dash,” she followed the example of Flare and removed her mask and glasses. Her colorful mane slid through her neck all the way to her back, “and looks like I’m no longer the rookie, oh, and I’m in charge of some of the intelligence and planning too.”

“You know us all now, why don’t you introduce yourself officially?” said Spitfire with a grin that spread through the group.

“I’m Sapphire Bolt, but you can call me Ampy, for the mane,” he replied passing a hoof through his mane.

“I’m sure having you among us will come in handy, but before you can start flying with us on missions and stuff, you’re gonna need an uniform,” said Spitfire gently floating to the edge of the cloud where the building was, preparing for flight.

“Will it be the usual blue and yellow?” asked Ampy with fake disappointment.

“It’s our camouflage, you’ll get used to it,” the rest of the Wonderbolts followed their leader to the edge of the cloud.

“Camouflage?” the young Pegasus lifted an eyebrow in amazement.

“If you come you’ll see why, and I’ll use this chance to see how fast you can fly,” said Spitfire with a sly grin.

“How much ‘til we get where we going?” asked Ampy with anxiety, floating towards a side of Rainbow Dash with an arrogant mug.

“Two minutes or so,” replied Rainbow Dash placing her goggles back on.

“I’ll get there in one fifty,” Ampy leaned his body forward into the abyss in front of him, his body filling with nervousness and excitement at once.

“Just try to keep up with us, I’d like you to get there in once piece,” warned Spitfire as she took her goggles off, tossing them to the young Pegasus, “oh yeah, I forgot, use these and try not to get lost.”

“Alright,” with no intention to obey her at all, Ampy placed the goggles on his eyes and spread his wings widely, even enjoying the moment before the takeoff.

“Wonderbolts…!” everypony present assumed a takeoff position leaning their body forward, “go!”

The five Pegasi took off at an amazing speed, keeping a prudent distance between them as taught in flight school. After a few dozen meters, Ampy seemed to fall behind from the rest of the pack, which incited him to double his efforts to only catch up to them.

“Wonderbolts, left!” shouted Spitfire, signaling the turn with a hoof. Everypony spun their bodies and turned west, towards a distant cloud cluster.

“Sprint to the finish!” commanded the leader and the Wonderbolts sped up even more, condensing air around their flanks. Ampy now fell far behind than before, forcing him to push his body to the limit.

“Hooves to the front and focus on one point…” he thought to himself closing his eyes before focusing. By placing his hooves in front, he cut the air easily like the other Wonderbolts. And every time he focused on a single point in the distance, this seemed to come closer to him, even distorting his surroundings. Without even noticing them, he slowly passed the Wonderbolts at an amazing speed, leaving some of them speechless.

“I don’t see a sonic cone around him, how is he doing it?” asked Soarin’ with his eyes wide open with surprise.

“That’s what he does,” answered Spitfire instantly, “he’s not flying fast, he’s slowing time.”

“Cheating filly…” muttered Flare with a snicker.

“Well, can we catch up to him?” asked Rainbow Dash turning to face the others.

“I don’t think so; he’ll probably keep slowing time down if we try to.”

“So we just let him crash against the cloud?” asked Soarin’ with a cocky giggle.

“That’ll teach him to follow my orders.”

Ignoring the dialog behind him, Ampy continued his race towards the cloud cluster which was now pretty close to him. Thinking the destination was behind the clouds, he accelerated to bust through it and save the bother to turn around it.

But for his surprise, when trying to fly through them, he crashed violently against them.

“What the…” he though with little consciousness, sliding down the clouds before separating his face from them with a flap of his wings.

“That’s why we follow orders,” said Spitfire with her bossy tone, tapping her hoof against a solid part of the cloud. It opened slowly, revealing something similar to a metallic hangar inside.

The Wonderbolts landed on the dark marble floor, turning the roof lights upon contact. The hangar extended for dozens of meters and had only one door to the right.

Everypony removed their outfits and placed them on mannequins inside air-locked capsules on the wall, and after tapping a red button next to them, a thick glass slid to protect their valuable outfits.

“Welcome to the stable, home of the Wonderbolts,” said Spitfire now exhibiting her yellow coat and flaming lightning cutie mark, walking to the distant door with the rest of her squad behind.

“So this is where you live eh?” asked Ampy surprised by the facilities, trying not to drool.

“This is where we gather, we have a life after all,” straightened Flare turning to him, flashing the flaming arrow on her flank.

“You can stroll around later, for now we’ll just show you the basics, the mission room, the lab and the dorms,” added Spitfire as she walked through the small blackened hallway, only lit by lights to the sides of the floor.

The Wonderbolts led the young Pegasus to a huge circular room with a huge screen on the wall. A large black metallic pentagonal table appeared in the center down a small staircase, with a yellow chair on each arista.

“I though you guys only did silly stunts…” said Ampy overwhelmed by the architecture.

“Oh, we don’t do that,” said Spitfire strutting to the center of the room, “this is the mission room, where we discuss missions and get our orders.”

“Do I get my own seat?”

“We seat where we want to, there’s no order,” replied Rainbow Dash as their leader approached to a sliding door across the room, guiding them to another hallway into another white door labeled with ‘lab’ on the frame.

“This is the doctor’s lab,” Spitfire opened the door showing a large white room with several microscopes and glass equipment neatly aligned on a large metallic table. Watching something on the microscope, a brown earth pony with a browner mane spun his head wryly to receive everypony with a smile.

“Back already?” he said with hurry, “I thought you might take longer with the whole ‘Shadowbolt attack’ issue on the best flier competition, I had just found out.”

“This is the doc,” Spitfire pointed at the stallion with a hoof, “Doc, this is the new one.”

“Interesting subject, Spitfire,” the doc approached Ampy sliding his white lab coat on his back, analyzing him with a quick sweep of his eyes, “I wasn’t expecting this coloring, nor that twin-colored mane, or that defiant attitude visible on his body language or that energetic vibe when entering.”

“Don’t fret, he’s a little weird but he’s the smartest pony in all of Equestria,” said Spitfire to cease the strange look in Ampy’s eyes.

“Just… the doc?” asked Ampy with the queer gaze on his eyes.

“Ponies ask me if I’m doctor what, when, where but never who. Taking that and using a little pony cleverness, I call myself Doctor Whooves, a pleasure to meet you, young…” the strange doctor paused to allow Ampy to introduce himself.

“Sapphire Bolt, but call me Ampy, for the mane,” he replied with a nervous grin.

“Such original combo, given by the mixture of colors in your mane. Ampy… Ampy from Ampere, the recognized units for measuring electricity, diminutive to give it a young, fresh touch, correct?”

“Get off him, Whooves,” said Flare gently pushing the eccentric earth pony away from Ampy, “you can study him later.”

“Of course, I presume this was only a formality,” the doctor strutted back to his microscope with a snicker, “make sure I have access to the data of his tests to analyze him, if you may.”

“Of course doc,” said Spitfire with a jolly giggle, “c’mon kid.”

“So long, boy!” said Whooves waving one of his hooves to the air before the door shut. Spitfire led them to another hallway with several polarized glass doors to the sides.

“These are the dorms,” said Spitfire as she stopped in front of a door not labeled like the others, “and this one here is yours.”

“Can I take a look?” said Ampy seemingly anxious.

“Of course,” Spitfire agreed with a nod, opening the glass door with a button to her side so that Ampy could enter the spacious room painted entirely in white. In a far corner, a comfy bed with blue sheets and a small white shelf laid, with a work table right next to it. Of all the places in all of Equestria, this was probably one of the best equipped when it came to technology.

“So what’s next?” asked Ampy.

“We do the tests, and once you’re done with them, you may enjoy the place and look around some more,” replied Spitfire waving a hoof.

“Well what the hay are we waiting for?” the anxiety in him kept growing as Spitfire led him back to the hangar.

“So, we’ll begin with the first test, Soarin’, open the door,” said the leader and her partner rapidly rushed to press a green button next to the giant door, slowly activating the opening mechanism, “this test is a speed test, you’ll race Rainbow Dash on a sprint to marker ten kilometers from here and back.”

“Sounds reasonable,” he said with an arrogant smirk, walking towards the edge of the hangar. A gust of air blew into the hangar, waving everypony’s manes with force.

“It won’t be easy,” Rainbow Dash flew to his side with a similar gesture in her face, “I’m the fastest one of us all.”

“Is there a record?”

“Fifty seven seconds flat,” answered the mare boastfully.

“Twenty kilometers in less than a minute?!” Ampy thought to himself biting a lip, “that’s gonna be pretty tough to beat...”

“Chill out kid,” said Spitfire looking around for a whistle.

The young Pegasus began flooding with nervousness, for the Wonderbolts had easily passed him before with little effort.

“Relax… clear your mind and… fly…” he kept repeating in his head to calm his nervousness. The rest of the Wonderbolts only stared expectantly; it was always interesting to see the performance on a new recruit.

“Get ready…!” shouted Spitfire, followed by an suspenseful silence, “set…” both Pegasi opened their wings to ready the takeoff.

“Go!” with Spitfire’s loud shout, both ponies bolted into the emptiness ahead, rapidly gaining an incredible speed. Naturally, Ampy fell behind because of Rainbow’s flight skills and acceleration.

“The rookie is mine,” thought Rainbow Dash with a confident smirk when noticing Ampy’s absence on the edge of her sight. Feeling she had another race on her bag, she accelerated even more just to ensure her apparent victory. In the distance, a small cloud with a large yellow post started to look like what it was and not like a vertical line in the distance.

“Okay… hooves to the front and focus on one point,” Ampy recited to himself, making exactly what his mind told him to do. Doing this, the space around him began to distort with the pole in the distance as the center of the distortion.

Before she could notice, Ampy flew past Rainbow at twice her speed.

“Oh no, you won’t,” said Rainbow Dash with anger, accelerating even more by flapping her wings and taking a similar pose to his rival. To the level of her flank, the air began condensing, forming a ring colored like a rainbow. In front of her, the air bent and formed a supersonic cone; the effort could be seen on her face along with the pain she felt for flying at such speed.

Before she reached the marker, she passed Ampy and broke the sound barrier right on the pole.

By doing it, the sonic boom created what ponies know as ‘Sonic Rainboom’, a large rainbow that spread through the air like a shockwave, launching Rainbow Dash and multiplying her already incredible speed three times.

Being protected by his peculiar ability, Ampy saw the explosion in slow motion and distorted, as the space around him was bent. This however, did not stopped him from seeing Rainbow Dash flying away from him at an impressive speed, even for him.

“Damn she’s fast…” he thought to himself amazed by his opponent’s speed, “Alright, that’s enough. Stare at one point… see how it comes closer to you…”

Forcing his ability to the max, the space bent even more, duplicating his speed.

Back at the hangar, the three Pegasi noticed how they approached at an unbelievable speed.

“They’re pretty fast eh?” said Soarin’ slowly steeping back from the edge of the hangar with a hint of fear in his voice.

“You’re a Wonderbolt, and you’re scared of two Pegasi flying towards a pretty large hangar at high speed with low chances of crashing against you?"

“These kids are gonna slam against the wall, now that you’re near there, would you mind activating the emergency mattresses on the door?” ordered Spitfire calmly, seeing how the rookies approached at full speed. The light blue-coated Pegasus then pressed a button next to the giant door and several clear-white mattresses appeared from the wall to save the two Pegasi from a certain death, or at least from a fracture.

Both ponies did not give up until the finish line, expecting to win by a photo finish. Brutally, they crashed against the mattresses, even shaking the whole cloud with the force of the impact.

Behind Rainbow Dash, the rainbow colored trail behind her slowly vanished into thin air, and after that, they could see how the space behind Ampy twisted back to normal.

“Try to be more careful next time, you won’t all ways have something to crash on,” warned Spitfire gently shaking her head with her eyes closed.

“Who won?” asked Rainbow Dash separating her face from the mattress to see the Wonderbolts below.

“You by a couple of seconds,” answered Flare glancing at a chronometer on the wall.

“Yes!” shouted the rainbow-colored pony as she danced on the air, “I won, I won…”

“Gimme time,” said Ampy floating away from the mattresses with a worried look on his face.

“I smashed my record! For twenty seconds, this is so awesome!” Rainbow’s dance continued at the side of her partners after landing next to them.

“Really?” asked Ampy with a huge skeptical frown, “I felt like I flew for a minute out there.”

“That’s what you do-”

Loud hoofsteps coming from the hallway interrupted Spitfire as the doc appeared with a paper on is mouth, tossing it to the air and catching with both hooves.

“Boys, you have got to see this, it’s the result from the flight test, they’re amazing!” shouted the Doctor with excitement.

“Alright then, tell us,” said Soarin’ with an amusement smirk, seeing the doctor always made him laugh.

“Okay…” the doctor inhaled deeply before continuing, “Sapphire Bolt’s flight causes a well-known phenomenon named temporal dilation. There’s actually nothing rare in it, everypony dilates time to some degree when flying, but the interesting thing in here is that he’s actually quite slow; he can’t fly faster than Soarin’s record of Mach .83. But even though he’s not that fast, he can somehow dilate time, at least enough to keep up with Rainbow Dash’s incredible supersonic speed.”

“Great, now say that in English…” remarked Ampy with an eyebrow up.

“I mean, it’s that when you fly, you dilate time, and while at it, you distort space,” trying to explain his ideas better, the eccentric doctor took the piece of paper in his hooves, “let’s say you want to travel from point A to point B. The easiest way to do this is to draw a straight line that connects both points, but what you do, is to bend the time-space tissue, literally attracting point B to you; assuming you are point A of course. When applying your ability, it seems that you fly at high speed, but you’re not that fast according to my data.”

“So you’re saying I’m slow?” asked the young Pegasus slightly offended.

“In theory, yes, you are slow. But using you strange and peculiar ability, you might be able to keep up with the rest of the Wonderbolts,” said the doctor folding its paper and placing it back in its lab coat.

“What do you think, doc?” said Spitfire turning her head to face the doctor with a satisfied smirk, “did he pass the test?”

“Well…” the brown earth pony scoffed while scratching his head, “he did lose the race against Rainbow Dash, but, massacred the previous time record like Rainbow, managed to keep up with her boosted by the Sonic Rainboom and we are not seeing his full potential. I’d give him a six-pack and a medal.”

“And with that the ability test is covered too, since you’re already in-flight,” said Spitfire signaling the two Pegasi to gather around her, “Now remains the combat test… but don’t worry, I won’t make you wrestle with Soarin’. The test consists as follows…”

She stopped suddenly, as if she had ran out of words to describe the test. Glancing rapidly at his companions, Ampy recognized the sly grins on their faces, the way they stared at him intensely and expectantly.

“Okay… what’s going on?” asked Ampy with a nervous giggle, taking a few steps back from the other Pegasi.

“Look at that!” added Soarin’ with a brief laugh, “he’s got no idea.”

“The test is about us trying to kick your flank,” teased Flare glancing at Spitfire with her sly grin.

“Hey, you spoiled the surprise!” remarked Soarin’ punching her shoulder.

“Oh, hell no,” said Ampy lifting his body off the floor with a few flaps from his wings, “I didn’t came here for this, I’m outta here.”

“Well, you better start flying now!” threatened Rainbow diving towards him, a movement swiftly evaded by the young Pegasus. As the colorful mane Pony crashed on the floor, Ampy bolted out the hangar door without caring whether the Wonderbolts were serious or not.

“Should we catch up to him?” asked Flare as she prepared to chase the young Pegasus.

“Nah,” retorted the leader flicking her hair away from her face, “just put him under pressure and an eye on him, you know what this is really about.”

“So we just chase him around and see what he does?” asked Soarin’ with sarcasm, “I’m sure he’ll use his ability if we put pressure on him.”

“I don’t think so,” added the doctor instantly, almost interrupting the sub-leader of the Wonderbolts, “it seems that he can only use his ability on straight runs, but if you can make him take a curve, mathematically, he should-”

“Okay doc,” interrupted Spitfire pushing the earth Pony away with a hoof to prevent him from taking more of their time, “thanks for the advice. Okay guys, you know your orders, go get him!”

Flare and Soarin’ obeyed the leader’s call and flew off the hangar’s door at full speed towards the small blue dot on the distance.

“You wait here, Dash,” said Spitfire placing a hoof in front of her companion to stop her from flying, “you’ve flown enough for today.”

“But I…” the rookie lowered her head and nodded in resignation, “okay boss, as you say.”

“Don’t worry, Spit, I can keep her busy,” said the doctor with a subtle nod of approval.

“You better do,” the yellow Pegasus ran off to the edge and prepared to fly, “we’ll be right back.”

“Go get ‘em boss!” shouted Rainbow as her leader threw herself towards the emptiness ahead.

Ampy had gained some advantage on them, but he was flying on unknown territory, he couldn’t recognize the lands, or the small town below or even see Cloudsdale somewhere nearby.

“Where the hay am I?” he muttered inspecting the surroundings, still not recognizing the town below. When he recognized small figures with the shape of ponies walking on the colorful streets below, he flew rapidly to hide somewhere in that town.

“Look, he’s flying towards Ponyville,” signaled Flare with a hoof.

“Well, it’s a relief we’re not dressed for the occasion!” said Soarin’ with a sarcastic mug.

“Still, we should not fly too fast or we’ll draw some attention,” said Flare turning to him with a cold glare, “and try to keep it serious.”

“Sit rep!” shouted Spitfire from a distance, quickly catching up to them at incredible speed.

“He’s flying to Ponyville, and fast,” answered Soarin’ with serious voice.

“Wow, you can listen after all!” remarked Flare with a snicker, “anyway, I’m sure he’s gonna try to hide. It’s better if we split for a higher chance of success.”

“Alright, that’s how we’ll do it. You two go to the ground and enter the town strutting from two different places and sweep the place cautiously. I’ll chase him,” said Spitfire with authority and her subordinates quickly obeyed, descending quickly in two directions while she kept her flight to intercept the young Pegasus.

The ponies of Ponyville were in the middle of a hard-work’s day, like any other Wednesday afternoon. Many used the remaining sunlight to eat lunch at a humble restaurant or gather with some friends.

“Where…?” Ampy scanned the town with his eyes, looking for a good place to hide. Amid the curious structures, a tree in the center of the town presented itself as the best option.

Turning his flight angle a few degrees, he fixed his route to that peculiar tree.

“Fool,” thought Spitfire with a confidence smirk, turning her head to locate her companions.

Hastily, Ampy stopped just in time to avoid crashing on the spacious wooden balcony and managed to land somewhat gently. After analyzing his surroundings, he opened the glass double doors to enter a completely darkened room. It seemed abandoned, there was absolutely no light inside due to the thick curtains covering all the windows around; he was barely able to see his own silhouette in the dark.

He advanced carefully, constantly tapping the walls with a hoof to find a light switch or anything that could grant him illumination. And while doing it, he suddenly tapped on something fluffy and it returned the gesture instantly.

“Silly, you’re late and through the balcony as usual,” said a high pitched feminine voice as Ampy backed into the room flabbergasted.

“Eh? Who goes there?” he asked with a hint of fear in his voice, trying to locate the thing hiding in the shadows.

Suddenly, a small candle lit, lightening the face of a pink-coated pony with puffy wild mane, with her eyes well fixed on him.

“Oh, you’re not… I haven’t seen you before here in Ponyville!” shouted the Pony with excitement, only confusing the young Pegasus furthermore.

“Could you please be quiet?” asked Ampy rushing to cover her mouth with both hooves, “I’m hiding.”

“Oh, oh,” with a swift movement of her head, she removed the hooves from her mouth and stared back at him, “are we playing hide and seek, because if we are I would totally like to play because-”

“Look, I don’t know who you are or what the hell you’re doing in this place, but I just need to hide here for a while, got it?” Interrupted Ampy hastily, hushing the pink Pony with the tip of his left hoof.

“Hey, why don’t you stay for the party?!” the Pink mare’s request caught him completely off guard, making him fall back towards the wall staggered. And just when he touched the wall with a hoof, the lights came back on in the exact moment a door was opened in the opposite side of the room, revealing lots of shelves filled with all sorts of books.

With a look of shock, a purple unicorn with her mane dyed in an heaver purple and a fuchsia stripe, entered the room under the loud shout of “surprise!” straight from the throats of at least thirty ponies previously hidden in the shadows.

“Pinkie Pie?” she asked and the Pink Pony happily skipped about to greet her with a huge smile.

“Twilight!” she exclaimed with much joy, “I thought you would never make it!”

“I got a little delayed by some incident back at Cloudsdale, but I’m here,” the unicorn greeted Pinkie Pie with a warm hug as the other guests approached to greet her as well.

“If I get outta here, I’m sure they’ll find me… I guess it’s better if I stick around and hide in this party, they say that there’s no better place to hide a tree than a forest,” thought Ampy as he straightened his pose to blend with the crowd, even approaching to greet this Twilight.

Carefully, he snuck around the ponies to greet the purple unicorn, giving her a well faked smile as he stretched out his hoof.

“Congrats,” the hostess stretched out a hoof with a queer look on her face.

“Do I know you?” asked Twilight with much doubt.

“He just got here and I don’t know him either, but everypony is welcome to a party from Pinkie Pie!” shouted Pinkie jumping around happily.

“I’m sorry I snuck into your party without an invitation, but I needed a place to hide,” the tone in Ampy’s voice made the face in Twilight’s face change.

“Why? What’s going on?” she asked concerned.

“I can’t say much, but I’m being followed and I really, really need to hide,” he replied sweeping the room with his eyes, trying to see somepony hiding between the large tables with decorations, balloons and candy all around

“I don’t think they’ll find you here with the ponies all crammed up, you know what they say, there’s no better camouflage than the most obvious one,” said Pinkie without any trace of seriousness in her, “what’s your name?”

“Sapphire Bolt, but they call me Ampy, for the mane; and if you excuse me, I have to go and hide,” after introducing himself, Ampy turned around and walked towards one of the various tables around.

“Wait a second!” said Twilight with loud voice, stopping Ampy’s calm walk, “that name… are you that Pegasus from the best young flier competition?”

“Don’t you go around saying that,” the blue Pegasus froze and spun his head wryly to give her a cold look.

The unicorn then dashed to him and dragged him from a hoof into a corner of the library.

“Are you being followed by the Shadowbolts?” asked Twilight with fear as she shook him from the shoulders.

“No,” the blunt response instantly calmed Twilight’s soul, making her sigh in relief, “but still, I need to hide.”

“From who?” after the unicorn’s inquiry, Spitfire walked through the entrance, glancing at her surroundings with a serious look on her face.

“From her,” answered Ampy pointing at the yellow-coated Pegasus standing at the entrance.

“Don’t you worry, I can keep her busy!” said Pinkie pie with a chuckle, carelessly strutting towards Spitfire.

Ampy then used the moment to hide in the opposite side of the party, always covering his face from Spitfire’s vision using the body from some random guest in the party, followed closely by Twilight.

“Hey you!” shouted Pinkie in a volume impossible to ignore, calling the serious sight of the Wonderbolt.

“Yes?” she asked raising an eyebrow.

“Let’s dance!” without any warning, Pinkie Pie grabbed her from a hoof and began dancing to the rhythm of some techno music coming from somewhere in the room. The pony with the pink mane shook her body to the beats joyfully, but her dancing partner didn’t seem that amused.

“And what are we celebrating?” asked Ampy tapping a hoof along with the beat on the floor.

“I… really don’t know,” said Twilight with an indifferent shrug, “the pink pony over there is the organizer, her name is Pinkie Pie; oh yeah, that’s right, I’m Twilight Sparkle, with this whole situation there was barely room for formalities.”

“It’s cool,” said Ampy with a nod and a genuine smile.

“And why is it that you’re hiding from a Wonderbolt?” asked the unicorn and Ampy turned to stare at her arrogant smirk in awe, “what? You didn’t think I wouldn’t recognize the Wonderbolts’ leader without her suit?”

“Actually, I did.”

“It’s pretty good camouflage, y’know, the one they wear. You don’t see them around without their suits on,” said Twilight with a chuckle, “I know her for a friend of mine who joined them not so long ago, her name is Rainbow Dash.”

“Yeah, I know her, I’m actually being tested to join them,” the blue Pegasus reached his hoof to grab a snack from the table.

“Another Wonderbolt?” uttered Twilight with a mouthful, “Celestia found the fifth pretty fast.”

“She was the one that convinced me to join, actually,” the young Pegasus took a big bite of his snack and began chewing it viciously.

“Right…” with a big gulp, Twilight engulfed the mouthful that kept her from speaking properly, “hey; you’re doing the infamous ‘combat test’, are you?”

“Why the air quoting?”

“Because the ‘combat test’ is nothing more than a charade for hide-and-seek. They threaten you by saying they will beat you to a pulp for you to run and hide, see how good can you do it. It’s not a test of speed or strength, is one of wits and intelligence, they evaluate your ability to disappear in high-risk situation; how good is your camouflage without wearing one.”

Twilight’s word instantly cleared Ampy’s mind, it even seemed obvious to him now that the Wonderbolts would land a hit on them.

“And for how long am I supposed to hide?” asked Ampy raising an eyebrow.

“Rainbow told me that you’re supposed to find them first or something like that,” said the purple unicorn with another shrug as a sly grin drew on Ampy’s face, “you’re lucky, nopony told that to Rainbow.”

“And I am thankful,” said the young Pegasus with a nod, walking between the crowd with his eyes fixed on Spitfire. Carefully, he approached the dancing couple, avoiding any eye contact with his leader.

And just when he approached enough, he winked his eye at Pinkie for her to release her from the dance, taking the Wonderbolts’ leader from the back and whispering to the ear.

“Gotcha.”

Comments

[yusha]

OOHHH SNAP

[yusha]

and why is it that im the first?