I was asked by Jack for yet another favor. This time, he'd owe me two solids. The next few days, I had to get up early to help repair furnature, fencing, and had to replace a few planks from the barn as well as fixing a few other broken stuff. Free of charge of course as the responsibility fell on my man Jack for not keeping an eye on his little sibling. Hiroto had nothing to do with it as he was inside the entire time, so when asked to help, he replied with "Kotowaru."
I was not happy. Not one bit. I wasn't the only one, as Starla had her time cut short as well as Luna's. Thankfully it took about three days, but still I wanted to deck Jack in the balls at least once each day. Nobody was paid. This was something I was going to remember when it's the most inconvenient for him.
Some time after that, Dash had gotten a letter saying that she had been accepted into the Wonderbolts Flight Academy. Of course that meant a celebration as Pinkie threw a party for her. She threw two actually. One for the news of her acceptance, and one for her going away party. Before she left however, her and I had a few hours of alone time together. Soon, it would be time for us to send her off.
I sighed as the girls and I were following Dash to her home. She had already packed her things, but it didn't seem like she wanted to leave, right away. She's dragging her hooves. I think I should give her a little shove. I picked her up from behind and flipped her onto my back as I quickened my pace.
"What're you doing?" She asked.
"Making sure you aren't late." I replied. "If this is anything like the boot camps back in my world, being late is the last thing ya wanna be."
Her response was silence. Our friends picked up the pace too.
Applejack chimed in. "Don't ya be goin' on worryin' now, ya here. We'll be waitin for ya when ya get back." The other girls nodded in response.
"Thanks girls. You're the best friends I could ever ask for." She flew up to her house, grabbed her things and flew off.
"Don't forget to write!!" Screamed Pinkie.
I gave her one final message. "Kick some ass, Rainbow butt!" She gave a wave before she flew off to the Wonderbolts Academy.
I'm gonna be real. I wish I could've gone with her for moral support, but I shook that thought away. Come on, Xavier. Mom never needed Dad's support when she was in the military. Just pray and keep wishing her well and she'll be back to you in no time with plenty of awesome stories to tell. This is Rainbow Dash we're talking about.
I turned to catch up with the girls who were heading back. Twilight and Fluttershy gave me concerned looks, but I returned with a chuckle and a shrug. Their concern wasn't needed. After we got back to Ponyville, we went our seperate ways and I went on home. Jeff was lounging on the recliner.
"Ya done cryin over Prism Brain yet?" Jeff asked, not looking at me.
I shrugged. "Why would I? She's just headed to her Wonderbolts boot camp or whatever."
He laughed a bit. "A pony flight show boot camp in the sky?"
"Pretty much. Though ya probably would rather her to join the Royal Equestrian Air Force instead, I know."
"Negatory. Seein' an air show was my first time stepping onto a military base. Got a lot of respect for the pilots." He looked up from his book. "We both know the Wonderbolts suck at doing real shit. I think we've influenced enough badassery onto her that she'll give 'em a new name."
I frankly wasn't expecting anything but mockery from Jeff. "Damn straight." One of the rare moments where Jeff isn't an asshole.
I went up to my room as there was nothing for me to do. No jobs, kids in school, bro's hanging out, Twilight and Fluttershy are busy, and I'm in no mood to take a step on that damned farm to see Jack. Not much to do but either play Smash or take a nap. I decided to hang with Starla for a bit.
Day 1
I was on my way to Twilight's one afternoon and came across Pinkie who was standing by her mailbox being weird. I walked over to see what she was up to.
"Hey Pinks. What's up?" I asked.
"Oh hey Eggsy! I'm just waiting for a letter from Dashie!" She replied. "She hasn't sent a letter yet and there's no way I'm gonna miss it when it does!"
It's only been a day... "Look, Pinkie, I miss her too, but nobody writes letters home on their first day."
"But she's not nobody. She's somepony."
I facepalmed. "Pinkie, look. How about ya go do something to take your mind off of Dash? If you get any mail from her, it'll be in the mailbox when ya get to it."
"Applejack said something similar earlier but I'm not moving from this spot." Pinkie said, planting her butt on the ground.
I give up. "Sure. Just don't let the pigeons land on ya, weirdo." I walked away. If Applejack couldn't make her budge, I'm not gonna put a lot of effort into it. I didn't really know why I wanted to to begin with. I thought nothing of it from then on and payed Twilight a visit.
When I got to her library, I walked on in. "Sup Sparklebutt? Where ya at?"
"In my room!" I heard her call from upstairs. I passed by Hiroto and Spike who was helping the former with studying.
"Hey Twilight. What're ya up to?"
Twilight was surrounded by books and paper balls while scribbling on a sheet in front of her with a pen. "Working on combination spells and how to make them last longer with less magic."
"Efficiency."
"That's right."
I tapped her horn a few times. "Good time to distract you?"
She sighed as she knew what was coming next. "Please don't." Smirking, I gave her a double boop on her muzzle. She growled and spoke in a 'keep calm yet annoyed' tone. "Xavier, look. I know Rainbow Dash is not around to keep you occupied, but some ponies like to be productive with their day, so if you're not going to help in any way, I have work to do."
I was going to leave her alone, but not yet. Even from behind she looked like she was about to explode as I got closer. I grabbed her chair and spun it around causing her to yelp before giving her a smooch. She blushed and returned the kiss quickly before going back to her studies.
"You're a cheat. I suppose that helped a little, but I would really like to get back to my studies please." She stated. "We can spend some time tomorrow though."
"It's a date. Gonna mess with Flutters for a bit now. Later." I left her alone and the library, giving Spike and Hiroto a wave, only the former noticing and returning the gesture.
I walked over to Fluttershy's cottage, only to find no Fluttershy. I did see Bri, Jonathan and the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders (Gang) taking care of the animals with Angel's assistance while she was away.
"Hey girls, sup Jon?" I called out.
They waved as Applebloom returned the greeting. "Howdy Xavier!"
"Where's Fluttershy?"
"She and Rarity went over to Zecora's for a while." Bri answered. "She'll be back before dark."
"For her own sake." quipped Scoots before she jumped as if something was on her mind. "Hey, did you get a letter back from Rainbow Dash yet?"
I shook my head. "You too, huh? No, it's only the first day. I'll let you and Pinkie know when she writes home."
"Pinkie Promise?" she asked.
"You have no fingers." I joked before walking off. "Bri, tell Fluttershy I stopped by."
"Okay!" Bri called.
With not much to do with anyone, I went home again and gamed for the rest of the day.
Day 2
There was a shit ton of work to do. So many ponies had made requests for repairs, fence replacement, stuff I wish they had asked me to do yesterday when I had a lot of time. Seeing as how today wasn't a regulated 'break day', I sighed as I headed over to Twilight's first thing to cancel our little planned date. Before I could open the door, it opened and Twilight walked out.
"Wow, you're pretty early. My punctuality isn't rubbing off on you is it?" She joked with a wink. I shook my head. "Is something wrong?"
"Gonna have to cancel our plans today. Got a lot of demands, even when things were split between me, Jack and Jeff." Her ears flattened. "Sorry Twi." I sighed again before walking off. I could feel her disappointment. I was looking forward to hanging out with anyone thats not Pinkie or Rarity anywhere on an Apple Farm. Oh well. Such is life. I went home to see what's on my plate.
First job of the day, fence repair. A runaway cart full of bowling balls had crashed through an old mare's fence.
"Okay..."
Second job, placed by said cart's owner is in need of repairs as well.
"Of course..."
Next job, a broken window and table. Apparently one of the bowling balls was sent flying over
the old mare's house and through a window of a house behind hers and cannonball'd a table.
Wait... Seriously?
Next job is a smaller one, broken chair. Apparently a guy saw it happen, fell over laughing and broke a leg off of the chair he was sitting on.
This town is fuckin chaotic...
The NEXT job, the entire ordeal had distracted a certain mailmare while flying and crashed through a few mailboxes.
I broke into frustrated laughter as this seemed like something out of a crazy g-mod video. "SON OF A BITCH!"
After calming down, I went over to the first job. As I started repairs on the old mare's fence, drilling nails into the replacement fencing, I noticed the nails I had floating next to me in a magical aura.
"Thanks." I turned to see who had helped me and it was Twilight, Fluttershy behind her. What a pleasant surprise. "What brings you here?"
"You sounded like you could use a pair of hooves or two this morning, so Fluttershy and I are going to be your lovely assistants." They both gave me a hug and I gave them headpats.
"I appreciate it. I'd sure love to get all this stuff over with." Before I got back to work, I paused. "Wait... What's your solid?"
They both looked like they were caught in a scheme before averting their eyes.
"Well... we were hoping that in return, you would... picnic with the two of us? If that's okay with you that is.." Fluttershy muttered.
"A lunch date with two chicks? Done. Sooner we can get this done, the sooner we can leave. Though the table and the glass will be an issue..."
Twilight giggled. "Leave that to me."
With Fluttershy's help, the fencing and cart were repaired. I had told Fluttershy to go take the cart back to its owner while I work on the mailboxes, one of them still had a mailmare stuck in it.
"Hey Derpy. ...or Ditzy.. Ya ditz."
She replied with a sheepish grin. I had helped squeeze her out by pushing her head back through the mailbox. I wasn't going to push her out from the other end. Bubble butt. She gave me a hug and flew off. The mailboxes were an easy fix with duct tape. It looked a it tacky but it was stable. Heheh... Stable..
"All done." Twilight said from behind me. "A simple time reversal spell and you've fixed glass and a split open table."
Fluttershy had flown back exhausted. "All... *pant* done... *pant*"
I gave them both ear scratches. "Only two hours. Good work girls." I receiveed a smooch on both cheeks before chuckling. "Alright. As promised, we can hang out at a picnic.
Day Three
Decided to sleep in for the day. After yesterday's debacle, we officially put ourselves on break. Jack and Jeff's jobs took them the entire daylight before they were finished. I kept silent about my assistance obviously. I woke up hearing a few gentle taps on my window. I turned to see Fluttershy smiling. I opened the window to greet her.
"Whassup?"
"We're going to take an air balloon to see Rainbow Dash to deliver a care package and thought you'd want to come along." She replied.
I was out of there. I threw on whatever I could and bounced. Fluttershy led me to the outskirts of town where Twilight had her balloon prepped. The other girls were already there. I've always wondered where Twilight kept that thing. Everyone hopped in before the balloon took off. I had to restrain Pinkie to make sure she didn't bounce herself overboard.
I can't help but think I'm forgetting something important...
I couldn't remember what it was, but the thought of Rainbow Dash being in a tight uniform caused me to simp away from thinking about it. Unfortunately, it was interrupted shortly after we broke through he clouds.
"It's a twister!"
"Hold on!"
I missed the quick time event as said Twister sucked the balloon into itself. Round and around we went when the balloon cords started to snap and guess who was the first one to go overboard:
That's right. The one that always dies first. The black man.
The girls were sent flying, but were caught by clouds. I on the other hand, was thrown in the opposite direction. A stallion had pushed a cloud below me as if to catch me. I braced for impact. Unfortunately, the impact never came as when I looked, the cloud was now above me with a human-shaped hole.
So... That's what I was forgetting... The cloud walking spell bandages! And a parachute.
"SON OF A BITCH!!!"
Well... This is how it ends for me. I thought. I could hear the girls calling out from above growing quiet. Closing my eyes, I sighed as I continued in free fall, plummeting to my doom. I did not want to go out this way, and I detested being in this predicament. Falling out of the sky is Rarity's schtick! Before I hit the ground, I felt a hit from my side before blacking out.
--
It was only for a few minutes until I woke up again, seeing Dash in her Wonderbolts cadets uniform, nudging me awake. Her expression went fron worried to happy before glomping. I wasn't hurt or anything, and I was more than happy to see Dash.
"Good to see ya again, Rainbow Butt." I chuckled.
She socked my arm playfully. "You gotta stop scaring me like that!"
I shrugged. "Well, next time there's a cloud walking tornado coming out of no where while I'm on a hot air balloon, I'll be sure to be ready for it." I joked.
It didn't seem like Dash got the joke. Either that or she didn't find it funny. At first, she looked like a kid would when they disappoint their parents, but then glared before turning towards one of her fellow cadets who was gloating, blonde mane, mint green coat. RD got off of me and trotted towards her. The other cadets didn't seem too happy with her either.
Before I could hear what RD had to say to her, I was tackle-hugged from the other side by Fluttershy.
"Xavier you're okay! I thought we were going to lose you!"
"Same, but I forgot for a moment how fast Dashie is." I chuckled, patting her. "Ya can relax now, I'm fine."
Just then, there was a commotion. A very pissed off Rainbow Dash was being held back by Twilight and Applejack while some of the other cadets were holding back said gloater, now sporting a bruised eye and bloody nose. What had happened was when the gloater tried to hoofbump Dash, Dash hoofbumped her. In the face. Hard. Three times. There was a lot of yelling and I couldn't make out what was being said from that distance, but a few colorful language from Dash that would make Jeff proud. The commotion had caused Spitfire to comeout to see what was going on.
"What the hay's going on here?!" She yelled.
"She socked me in the nose for coming up with a better idea than hers!" The gloater cried.
Rainbow scoffed. "Lightning Dust's plan was to create a twister which not only risked the safety of the cadets, but also almost killed my friends! And she's gloating about it?!"
Spitfire stomped her hoof. "Enough! I want both of you to pack your things immediately! Neither of you are fit to be Wonderbolts!"
Rainbow teared up, gritting her teeth. "Well I don't wanna be a Wonderbolt anymore anyway if this is how things are!" She stormed off to pack her things. Never meet your heroes I guess.
I looked at Fluttershy who had just witnessed the crushed dreams of her best friend. I patted her head and gave her a reassuring smile. "I got this."
I entered her office while she was signing autographs of... herself? She looked up at me before resuming her signatures.
"You're gonna have to get your autographed photos the same way as everyone else." She stated.
I shook my head. "Nah, that's not why I'm here."
"Is this about Rainbow Dash?"
"Yup."
"I didn't want to do it, but I had to. We have a no tolerance to any sort of physical conflict on the training grounds." She said without looking.
"Oh come now, Spitfire, Dash is an awesome flyer and would make the Wonderbolts look so much better."
She paused mid signature, took off her shades and looked up at me. "I'm sorry, Mr. Xavier, but we have rules here. If broken, you risk being removed and disqualified from attending the academy."
I thought for a moment before remembering something. "Alright then. So there's no way to change your mind?"
"No, there's no way to change my mind."
I raised a brow. "Oh really?"
"I changed my mind." Spitfire said to Dash, who had just thrown her bag into the air balloon basket before turning around.
"What?"
"I said I had changed my mind. I'm only kicking one of you out, because you were right. What Lightning Dust did was extremely wreckless and put lives at risk, and is nothing to be proud of. And honestly, if I were in your horseshoes and those I care about were put in danger because of it, I would've made the same move you did, and probably worse." She sighed. "Xavier is right. I cannot rightfully fault you for that."
Before Rainbow could celebrate her stay , Spitfire held up a hoof.
"But that doesn't mean I'm letting you off easy, and if it happens again, you're out for good. Understood?"
"Yes ma'am!" Dash saluted. When Spitfire left, Dash tackled me to the ground, squeezing onto me. "OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!! What did you say to her and how can I repay you?!"
I laughed a bit before answering. "Easy there, ya might break somethin. And all I did was get her to put herself in your shoes, but no need to thank me. Thank yourself. I also gave her a little reminder that she owed you big after a humiliating event she didn't want me to bring up." I looked over to one of our friends, grinning.
"What?"
When Spitfire got back to her office, she had continued signing her photographs. She wasn't clear what just happeneed. She meant what she said to Dash, but she wished he didn't bring up an embarrassing blight of past. She was played, but she didn't necessarily blame him for doing so. She glared at her desk for a while before muttering only two words:
"...Bucking Rarity..."