I looked at all the ponies around me. All in training uniforms aside from Commander Firestorm. She had a strange uniform with bell bottoms. I kinda hoped they revised the outfit before I had to wear one.
It was Wonderbolt tryout day and I was nervous.
I wasn't nervous that I wouldn't get in. Being a Wonderbolt was never my dream, it was my fathers. I was nervous I would let him down. I may have hated Flying Nightmare, but he was my dad. I respected him for being there, even if I never got any good advice. He had raised me and my little sister, Aura Dreamer, on his own since I was five and she was two. My mother was a Wonderbolt, too. Until she lost a battle.
"What's buggin' ya buddy?" came the voice of my colt-hood friend.
"It's nothing, Easy Glider," I said, "I'm just worried about letting ponies down."
"Come on," He said, "This is gonna be a walk in the park."
"Have you forgotten how many land mines are in the parks?" I gave him a sideways look.
"If I know you," he said, "this is about your old man. Don't let him bother you. You gotta make your own way."
"That's easy for you to say," I said, "you always wanted this, and your father wouldn't have stopped you from taking another path."
"I guess you have a point. Just do your best," He said, "I happen to know that's pretty damn good."
"I can always count on you," I smiled.
"Next up," announced the Commander, "Daylight Dreamer."
"Great," Easy Glider said, "I have to go after you. Try not to set the bar too high."
-
We were down to the handful of ponies that had made it in. It was official. I was a Wonderbolt. I wasn't unhappy, but excited wasn't the word.
We were flying an obstacle course for our first drill. The commander was saying something about an attack run, but I was just stressing over how I was going to make good time.
Easy Glider apparently read my mind, he leaned in and whispered, "Just pretend I'm at the finish line with a broken leg. That will get you flying."
"Thanks," I replied as my name was called.
I got to the start line and readied myself. The whistle blew and I kicked off. I did just as Easy Glider said only imagining I had a ways to go and medical supplies to pick up before getting to him.
It seemed to be going well, until the sprint to the finish. I was coming in way too fast. I tried to slow down but it wasn't working.
I landed at full speed on my back right leg. An audible crunch could be heard across the compound as I rolled end over end to a stop.
"Way to stick the landing, Crunch," the commander laughed, "GET A STRETCHER! WE GOT A BUSTED LEG!"
Two senior Wonderbolts came up and lifted me onto a stretcher.
Just before they carried me off the commander walked up, "That would have been record time, by the way, Crunch. Learn how to stick that landing and you'll be our fastest flyer easy."
I was carried off to the infirmary. It wasn't like the medical unit. It was just a few Wonderbolts that knew basic first aid with one non-Wonderbolt, but still pegasus, doctor on staff for times like this.
The doctor entered the room and I could swear I had heard her voice before as she asked the first aid ponies what she was dealing with.
She walked around the bed and I was a little embarrassed to see the orange face and purple mane of a mare I indeed had met before.
"I bet you'll have time for ice cream now," Feather touch teased, "you're gonna be laid up for a while."
"Can I at least get a cast first," I smiled. As embarrassed as I was, something about that overblown smile told me everything was going to be OK.
-
I was in my flight unit, Easy Glider was our captain and I was his wing pony. It felt good having his back after all the times he had my own growing up.
We were on our way to defend a town in Northern Equestria. Celestia had gotten word of an attack and she wanted us to check it out.
We made it to the checkpoints just fine but as we approached the town we were ambushed. A group of earth ponies came jumping out of the very trees that were supposed to be our cover. They were carrying machetes and each landed on one of our backs.
I barely managed to dodge them causing my attacker to fall to the ground. As I looked back up I saw Easy Glider falling with an earth pony on his back.
I followed but before I could do anything he hit the ground and the pony on his back stomped on his wings and tried to cut his leg off with his machete.
Furious I charged down after them and managed to shoot him in the leg with my sidearm. It was about .45 caliber, semi-automatic with an eight round clip, but made to strap to a pony's leg, and I had to flick my hoof to fire. Aside from the barrel, it was hardly recognizable as a gun.
They barely managed to escape as their friends started throwing firebombs at us and running. The entire area around us was engulfed in flames. Before I knew it, so were we.
Easy Glider and I were the only survivors of the attack. I aimed to keep it that way. I dragged him out of the flames and put us out.
He was out cold and my feathers were charred, so flying for help was not an option. I looked around and saw the red roof of a hut in the distance just barely lit up by the fire. Huts like that in the woods are usually owned by healers.
I got my friend onto my back and carried him to the hut. I knocked on the door but got no answer. I swung it open and found a decrepit old earth stallion looking over a kettle.
"Please," I said, "we need help."
Slowly he turned his head and looked at me. He wrote something on a piece of paper and held it to me in his mouth.
It said, "I'm Forrest. I'm deaf and mute, please lay your friend down and I will see what I can do"
I set Easy Glider on the floor and the old stallion looked him over, that's when I noticed Forrest only had two legs, his hind legs were replaced with a pair of wheels.
He pulled out a jar of salve and spread it over the burned area on Easy Glider. He then poured the contents of a vial on the gash in his leg.
The old man wrote something else down, "I won't be able to fix his wings until he can swallow, let me tend to you."
I just nodded and stood still as he treated my own burns.
I wrote on the page myself, "My name is Daylight. Thank you, for saving my friend Easy Glider."
He wrote one more time, "You did the saving, you got here. I did the easy part. Get some rest, you need it."
-
I woke up on the floor next to Easy Glider. We were both pretty much healed aside from Easy Gliders wings. My feathers had even grown back. There was a note on the stove next to a potion bottle.
It read, "Your friend should drink this. If you want to pay me back I only ask one thing. Keep the kettle going."
The old man was gone, and the hut was covered in a thick layer of dust.
I looked at the dust-covered shelves filled with potion and books and thought of what I had seen him pull off. I had to learn for myself. If only to keep my friends alive. The Wonderbolts only had one doctor, and the unicorn and earth pony healers were overbooked and constantly under attack.
It was about time a Wonderbolt said 'to Tartarus with protocol'.
I stepped out and found an overgrown garden. In the midst of the weeds, I saw a disturbing site.
It was the skeleton of an old stallion, his hind legs were missing and a pair of rotting wooden wheels lay behind him. The wheels and his neck had clearly been broken for years.
I just buried what was left of him and said a little thank you, promising that he would be repaid.
-
It was a year later and I was in my dress uniform, at a party with the whole team.
I had lost count of how many I had healed before dropping them off with the normal healers to avoid my cover being blown. I had a deal worked out with the earth pony and unicorn healers that they would back my stories. It was only the Wonderbolt's that cared and I was beginning to narrow it down to the leadership.
I heard my name being called by Commander Firestorm yet again. This time it wasn't to fly, it was my turn to see what medal I was being awarded.
I walked to the stage with my head held high. I don't normally like being honored, but I knew I deserved it, and I had actually gotten my father to say he was proud when I told him about the ceremony. It was my very own dream come true.
The crowd was enormous. Even Celestia found the time to attend and give a small speech.
I approached the stage to see Commander Firestorm smiling at me. I had never seen her smile before.
"I award this medal of bravery to Daylight Dreamer," the commander announced, "for selflessly carrying countless troops to the healers while injured himself." She pinned the medal to my jacket, "I can honestly say half of us wouldn't be here if it weren't for you and you're amazing wing power. The entire core is in your debt." She gave a salute, "I am proud to be your first commander."
I saluted back, "Thank you, commander."
I left the stage and was greeted by Feather Touch.
"I'm so proud of you," She said, "What do you say we celebrate at my place. You have the night off after all," she winked at me.
"Can we get ice cream first?" I teased.
-
The war was still raging on a couple years later. I knew something had to be done. I couldn't keep sneaking my friends to that old hut every time we entered battle.
I had learned that the hut once belonged to a healer known as Forrest Meadowbrook. A reclusive member of Mage Meadowbrook's family. He had managed to escape a prisoner of war camp but couldn't make it far, so he found a place to hide and healed anyone who made it to his hut.
Nopony knew what happened to him until I came along. I knew what happened, somepony killed the old man for healing the enemy. I wanted to think it was one of the earth ponies from the attack, but, I wouldn't put it past Commander Firestorm. She hated any kind of magic, be it potions or unicorns. Something in my gut told me it was her.
I had no idea where to start planning an end to the war so I was pondering the thought while I had snuck away to the hut for some reading.
Just then I got a strange sensation, something I had never felt before. Like a dream of things, I had never seen before.
---
I saw a green vial fall to the floor and a light flash.
I then saw a cellar with the answers I needed, but not the one I wanted.
---
I shook my head certain I was just drowsy, but on a whim, I looked at a shelf that was full of vials. I saw a green one with a tag that said 'open'. I looked it over, it didn't seem special.
The vial slipped from my hoof and shattered on the floor revealing a trap door. Inside was a cellar. The only thing in the cellar was a stack of stone tablets. They were in old ponish but I knew just enough to make out that they were all recipes. I got right to translating them.
Luckily for me, Forrest kept a book on translating old ponish around.
Once I had them translated I realized just how useful these could be, but I didn't know much about potions yet.
I had been studying but all I had were Forrest's old books. The only help I had was a small feeling that he was still there guiding me to the right page.
I wrote them out in a book and had it published anonymously. I knew the dangers, but Equestria couldn't get any worse and if the right pony found them...
-
It had been five years and I was still struggling to understand the recipes I had found.
I had gone out to the garden to pick herbs for my research when I heard a pony land behind me. I figured they probably needed help so I turned to look at them.
My heart stopped when I saw the furious look on Commander Firestorm's face.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, WONDERBOLTS DON'T BREW POTIONS!!" she screamed, "YOU ARE GONNA MARCH YOUR ASS BACK TO HQ AND REPORT TO ME FOR YOUR HEARING!! I'M BURNING THIS PLACE DOWN!! I'M NOT MAKING THE SAME MISTAKE AGAIN!!"
Now I knew she killed Forrest, it was written all over her face. I walked right up to my commander and looked her in the eye, "NO! If you're gonna burn this place down, your just gonna have to burn me with it."
"DO YOU WANNA ADD INSUBORDINATION TO THE CHARGES?!" she screamed.
"I'd rather die than be unable to help my friends," I was still staring straight at her only now I was matching her scowl, "you won't find me as easy to kill as a crippled old stallion."
She may have been my commander but she made the mistake of coming alone. I had about fifty pounds and four wing power on her. Not to mention being on home turf meant I knew every weapon I could pull on her. Like the knife, I had just been cutting herbs with. She didn't stand a chance if she was looking for a fight, but I refuse to draw first blood.
"I'll be back," She said, "if you don't come then. I'll just have to take you up on that." She flew off.
I went straight for my sidearm. I was ready to make my last stand, this hut and my friends were all I had. Even my father had succumbed to his injuries shortly after the award ceremony.
My whole life was wrapped around that hut. She wasn't taking me away from it alive, and I wasn't going down without a fight.