//------------------------------// // Prolouge: The Sonic Rainboom incident // Story: Soarin's New Wings // by Foal Star //------------------------------// Soarin stood in the empty Wonderbolts locker room, gazing at his reflection in the mirror as he made sure his uniform was on right. He adjusted his goggles on his forehead and mumbled, “Alright, goggles? Check!” He flicked his tail to and fro to ensure that it wouldn’t get in the way. “Tail? Check!” He lowered his head and brushed his mane, “Mane? Check.” He cantered around the mirror and smiled. “Right then. Looks like everything is good to go.” Out of nowhere, Spitfire came right up behind him and shouted. “Hey Clipper! Looking forward to watching amateurs humiliate themselves?” Soarin shrieked and jumped back, turning to see Spitfire in her Wonderbolts uniform giving him a smirk and a devilish glare with her big brown eyes. He gulped, building the strength to respond with a smirk. ”Well, it's not like we do this to look for potential recruits. But you do enjoy the idea of seeing ponies make fools of themselves.” Spitfire rolled her eyes, crossing her forelegs across her chest as she sat down. “Alright, just say it, then... I'm too harsh when it comes to judging these competitions.” Soarin blushed as he started stepping back. He stammered.  “I... I don’t think you're being too harsh, and that's not what I was getting at that.” Spitfire blushed as she slapped him on the back again. “I hope you’re ready for tonight! Been looking forward to it all week.” Soarin fell into a dreamy look as Spitfire flew right back into his face. “But if you ever tell anypony about us I swear... I’ll make you clean the barracks, and scrub the stadium for the rest of your time in the Wonderbolts.” Soarin gulped, as Spitfire punched him in the chest. “Stop being such a nervous filly, Clipper, still can’t take a joke it seems.” Soarin gave another exasperated sigh and mumbled, “Ye..yeah...it’s fine, I'll definitely keep our date a secret.” Spitfire came up and kissed him on the cheek, making his wings shoot upward, then whispered in his ear, “Good to know, now let's get out there and see some spectacular crashes.” The blushing stallion whispered, “Sounds like a plan.” She flicked her tail at him and soon the two were flying off towards the stadium getting in place with the rest of the team. When they landed, she shouted, “Alright, fillies! Time to show these young fliers what real talent looks like!” She slipped her goggles over her face and got into a stance as Soarin slowly placed his goggles over his face all the while thinking to himself. Better not screw this up, or tonight is going to suck. Soarin slowly got into a stance with the rest of his team and then they heard the announcer shout something about Celestia as he thought to himself, Alright keep it together. Just get this overdone maneuver over with and sit down and judge for a few hours. When he heard the announcer shout, “Get ready to meet our celebrity judges for the young flyer competition...The Wonderbolts!” Soarin shot into the air with his fellow Wonderbolts at breakneck speed up into the air and swirling around a firework explosion, then they broke the formation in a spectacular display.  Soarin, Spitfire, and Silver Zoom sat together on a cloud. As the announcer continued to drone on, Spitfire came over and whispered in Soarin’s ear, “Too easy, bet those amateurs think that was something special.” Soarin shrugged at the remark. “I guess so.” He was now engrossed into the competition and spotted the first contestant, a brown-coated pony with a peculiar hourglass for a cutie mark flying through hoops. He eyed him and mumbled, “I feel like i've seen him before, yet he wasn't a pegasus.” Spitfire shrugged. “Beats me, but his flying is terrible, uncoordinated, and pathetic. No way he’s getting anywhere near the Wonderbolts.” Soarin, getting a bit agitated, just mumbled, “Yeah sure.” He took out his scoring papers and scribbled down his thoughts. The best young flyer competition went on for some time with Spitfire snickering as another pony slammed into a cloud and crashed into the stands. “Oh this is just great!” Soarin eyed her, too scared to say anything. He just turned his head to the pegasus being helped as he thought. I just hope she’s doing okay. Spitfire looked down at her next form. “Number fifteen is the last one... Whoever the pony is they better be worth something. So far this whole competition has been a waste of my time.” Soarin turned and looked into the empty stadium, still too scared to say something, then out of nowhere two ponies flew into the stadium. One was a white-coated unicorn but she had beautiful eye-catching butterfly wings, a colorful costume filled with sparkling jewels, and makeup that covered her face with thick black eyelashes. Spitfire was bursting into fits of laughter at the sight, scoffing, “Is that contestant number fifteen!” Soarin snickered, then looked over to the side and said, “I...I dont think so, it could be the cyan pegasus quivering over there,” he said as he pointed towards the pegasus nervously wavering in the back. Spitfire turned to where Soarin was pointing towards, and nodded, mumbling, “Guess you’re right, Soarin. She seems to be pretty nervous.” They watched Rainbow Dash fly through the columns of clouds only to bounce off of one and into the stadium's wall, making Spitfire scoff. “Oh darn... and here I was thinking she was going to be good.” Soarin rolled his eyes and continued to watch as Rainbow Dash got up, flew to the clouds, and started spinning them, making Spitfire scratch her chin. “Not bad, very impressive.” Soarin smiled at Rainbow Dash flying through the air and thought to himself. Yeah you go fifteen prove Spitfire wrong for once. He blushed at what he just thought. The cloud spun out of control, spinning right at Princess Celestia, who had to duck as it flew over her head. Spitfire clenched her teeth and slammed a hoof into the cloud. “Seriously?!” Soarin sighed as he looked at the blue pegasus and whispered, “It’s not over yet.” He pointed towards the sky as they both watched Rainbow Dash climb higher and higher with Rarity doing the same. The white-coated unicorn stretched out her beautiful transparent wings, letting the sun shine through them while the ponies in the stands gasped in awe. Soarin turned his attention from Rainbow Dash to Rarity, eyeing her wings as he saw smoke coming off of them. “Spitfire her wings!” Spitfire gasped as she watched them smolder until they poofed into puffs of smoke. She started falling, screaming at the top of her lungs. Spitfire, Soarin, and Silver flew down at neck-breaking speeds to catch her before hitting the ground, but Rarity’s flailing hooves hit the three in the faces, knocking them out. Soarin was unsure of what was happening as his vision blurred, seeing the ground only a few feet away. He thought, Is this it am I going to die? All of a sudden, he felt something hot slam into his back and his vision went black. Soarin woke to beeping sounds echoing throughout the room, his eyes opening up to see green all around him. The walls were painted green, and a green divider was on the left side of his bed. Soarin groaned feeling some strange pressure on his back, as he slowly lifted himself up and grumbled. “What’s happening? Where am I?” He looked around to see Nurse Redheart opening his door looking down at a clipboard and heard her ask, “ Hey Soarin, how are you feeling?” The stallion groaned, maneuvering his body to sit up he thought, Seems like I’m alive and Nurse Redheart knows me pretty well by now as he responded with a smile. “A bit sore, but overall feeling okay.” The nurse smiled at him. “Good to hear that. It seems that you weren’t seriously injured. We examined you earlier and only found a couple minor bruises besides the other issue.” At that Soarin sighed in relief but was a bit confused, so he asked, “Okay, so what is it this time, a broken wing, or a broken leg?” Nurse Red heart was writing some things down in her chart as she turned to Soarin with a surprised look and whispered, “Oh, you don’t know?” Soarin gulped, now becoming a bit worried as he asked, “Wha..what is it?” Redheart sighed, looking up with a worried look. “Alright, Soarin it has to deal with your wings, you see, Rainbow Dash...um the mare who used the rainboom to save you, your friends, and Rarity... some of its power hit your back and um...well it mixed with residue from Rarity’s butterfly wings.” Soarin whimpered as he flexed his wings but could feel that they were lighter than normal and asked, “Let..let me see them. Give me a mirror.” Redheart gulped and whispered, “Of course, but please don't try to freak out.” She took a hand mirror and held it to Soarin’s face, who gaped at what he saw. He had a pair of transparent, sparkling butterfly wings with pink and yellow spots all over them. He sat in awe while they glimmered with the sunlight. He flexed them in their shimmering splendor as he could only stare, flapping them as he rubbed his eyes. “This is a dream, some stupid dream.” The nurse walked out of the room and slowly shut the door behind her while Soarin was thinking to himself. This is a dream..this is a dream nothing more just go to sleep and wake up and your wings will be normal. That was when he heard a familiar mare ask, “Soarin, you okay?” Soarin peeked from his covers, seeing the yellow mare with her wild orange flaming mane. He whispered, “Spitfire is that you?” She gulped, looking at his large butterfly wings, then stammered, ”H...h..hey Soarin. Glad to see that you're okay.” Soarin turned to look in the mirror again and saw his butterfly wings flapping. “No I'm not okay! I'm far from okay! What in tartarus happened?” “Well, to be truthful, I don’t know, I was unconscious when they brought us back to the stadium. I didn’t even notice your wings until Princess Celestia came down and went straight to you. She tried using spells and even asked Twilight to figure out what happened and how to fix your wings. ” Soarin sighed looking up at the mare. “Is that all!?” Spitfire sighed, coming close to Soarin. She smoothed the mane from his eyes. “Hey...it’s going to be fine. Twilight is looking into your case and will get you fixed up, but you need to stay strong. When this is over you're going to be back with the Wonderbolts, got it?” Soarin grumbled, turning towards Spitfire and asked, “If i'm stuck like this? If I'm stuck with these...” Pausing to give his new butterfly wings a small flap, “Will I still be a Wonderbolt?” Spitfire got up and exclaimed, “You won’t be stuck with those and will soon have your old wings back, and you need to believe that.” The stallion slowly looked up so his blue eyes met the brown eyes of his lover and asked, “If i'm stuck like this...will we even have a chance?” The yellow pegasus looked back and whispered, “Just get better, Clipper.” As Spitfire left the hospital room, Soarin laid his head back onto his pillow and stared at the ceiling above him in silence.