Summer Rains was a strong and stout looking pony with a short clear blue mane and a lime-green coat that gave off the same pleasant sort of vibe that his name did. Rainbow Dash could tell just by looking at the thin strands of his mane that it would become an unruly mop if he ever let it grow out more. Rainbow Dash’s own mane spilled out of her helmet, thankfully no one had tried to cut her mane in her sleep, even though it was obviously standard for the soldiers to have their manes short. Maybe it was her special privilege as a mare to keep it long. She wasn’t sure how to feel about it if that was the case. Or maybe they just wanted to wait for her to wake up and Crescent Moon was going to drag her off to the barber sometime later today. Neither option really appealed to her.
When they opened the door to the barracks and stepped outside, Rainbow Dash got her first look at the military base that she would be staying and training at for now. It was of an impressive size but what first caught her attention was the large mountain dominating the view in front of her. It seemed the base was located at the eastern most part of the front half of the mountain right before the backside became buried in the clouds that the mountain was partially situated in. Looking up she was also pretty sure they were at the very bottom of the mountain as level upon level of cloud city kept creeping up the mountain until she could see the huge council building or whatever. Buildings and walls of cloud obstructed her view to the west or south but she was pretty sure from her own sense of direction and distance telling that the camp stood at the mountain’s base.
Thanks to where they were in the world and the high column of clouds that blocked off most of the sky not directly above the mountain she wasn’t sure how early in the morning it was. “Early” was all the light and the current moisture in the air told her.
Giving up on learning anything else about the rest of the city she turned her eyes back to the base to check it out. Her squadmates trotted forth in a single-file line with her at the end so a lot of her vision was obscured but she could already make out that they were walking onto a wide and open field of clouds that looked like it was lined with several other barracks identical to the one they had just emerged from back the way they had come. There were several other buildings smattered about along the edges of the base, one that was about triple the size of the barracks with most of the others looking like one or two room offices and shacks. Besides the buildings it looked like right ahead of her there was a paved track of clouds done into a long oval ring. Hanging in the sky above the track, Rainbow Dash could see a bunch of hoops and rings of varying sizes and placement. She was pretty happy when she saw those—that was something just like back home when it came to practicing your flight. She couldn’t wait to show off her skills and fly through those hoops like the ace she was.
To the side of the track, and in the direction her squad was heading, Rainbow Dash saw several lines of soldiers standing at attention. All of them in groups of six so they must be individual squads. Which meant that when Dash’s group stood beside them she’d stick out like a sore hoof even more cause she’d be the seventh in line. She had a feeling that she was going to be getting singled out a lot here.
Whatever. She rolled her eyes. It wasn’t something she could avoid.
Rainbow Dash formed up with the others, standing right next to Summer Rains and keeping her eyes forward. She was used to Wonderbolt boot camp after all. Despite her preference for flying around and doing stuff, discipline had been well drilled into her by Spitfire. If she had to just stand still and be quiet here for the moment then she would.
She heard a door opening from one of the other buildings and a fluttering of wings but since no one turned to look she didn’t either. Let them try to find a fault with her.
Two pegasi flew down in front of the lined up soldiers. One of them a now armor-clad Crescent Moon and the other a grizzled old pegasus wearing an eyepatch with a lightning bolt for a Cutie Mark over his storm cloud gray flank.
“As you’ve already certainly noticed, we have a new recruit. That changes nothing!” The old pegasus stomped his hoof on the ground. “If you thought we might be doing something different you’re wrong. Training will commence just like normal as if she was a pegasi soldier like any other. So get to it! One hundred push-ups and then ten laps around the track! And don’t even think about using those wings!”
“Sir, yes sir!” All of the soldiers except Rainbow Dash yelled in unison and immediately dropped to the cloud ground, beginning their push-ups.
Because she was slightly slow on the uptake Crescent Moon took the opportunity to lay into her.
“And what’s the matter with you, Rainbow Dash?” He snidely asked as he flew up to her. “Do you think you don’t need to do the training too?”
She knew answering was pointless so she just frowned and began to do her push-ups. If that’s how they were going to do things then fine.
Crescent Moon just grinned at her as she began the workout though and glanced over to the eye-patch wearing pony.
“Can’t have a squad lacking coordination. You all need to be on the same page,” the pony said. “So thanks to a certain someone on your squad not having the sense to get down and begin their push-ups when instructed, Crescent Moon’s squad will do an extra hundred push-ups.”
Rainbow Dash bristled, her face getting red as she did her push-ups. Those jerks! She had to bite her lip to keep from saying anything or making it worse. This was going to make her really popular with the other soldiers in the squad. Crescent Moon and this instructor or whoever were probably looking for the slightest problem or mistake from her to punish her. They wouldn’t get her to break so easily though, she was way too stubborn for that. And way too fit. Let them throw whatever they had at her!
“Thank you, sergeant. I think my squad will be happy for the extra exercise. I leave the rest to you now,” Crescent Moon nodded at the sergeant and flew up into the sky, going to somewhere else on the base.
Rainbow Dash didn’t bother looking after him—thinking that any sign she was taking her attention off her push-ups would get them all in trouble again.
These push-ups though… they were actually starting to wear on her. She was wearing armor, and she was way more used to exercising her wings than her legs. Weight-lifting and strength training were normal to her but she was a Wonderbolt so it usually had to do with her wings. Not this kind of thing. Obviously it made sense for them to make the soldiers go through full body training but that meant Dash was a little more troubled than she thought she would be. The armor was still light since it had to allow for quick flight but after two-hundred push-ups the extra weight would really add up. And then they’d have to run around that track too instead of flying or anything. This was the kind of stuff Applejack was better suited for. Rainbow Dash wanted to use her wings already.
The other lined up squads finished their push-ups long before Rainbow Dash’s did and then quickly ran out to the track. And in fact they completed their ten laps before her squad even began that part of the training too. An extra hundred push-ups really took a lot of time. By the time she finally got to the last one her forelegs were on fire and her back and shoulders weren’t doing much better.
And now I have to run. Great.
Once the last of the seven was finished they all ran out to the track together. Rainbow Dash had a feeling that Summer Rains and the others were probably pretty peeved at her but she had some questions she wanted to ask him.
“Hey, Summer Rains? Is this like your normal morning training? I want to know when I can actually fly,” Rainbow Dash’s feathers ruffled for emphasis.
Maybe he was just too polite to mares but he didn’t seem angry at her for the extra work. “This is normal. Flight training is later in the day after lunch.”
Rainbow Dash nodded. Speaking of lunch, they hadn’t even had breakfast! “Er, what about breakfast? I think I’m kind of hungry.”
“That will be after this. Once our laps are done we’ll head over to the mess hall,” he pointed with his head to the large building Rainbow Dash had noticed earlier.
“Alright. I guess we’re really working up an appetite before that.”
Summer Rains didn’t say anything in response. She couldn’t tell if he was naturally taciturn and just didn’t say anything unneeded or if he was nervous around her like the others still seemed to be. She was hoping the soldiers would be more carefree and boisterous like the Wonderbolts were but that didn’t seem to be the case. Even back in Equestria most of the royal guards were pretty no-nonsense and the military here seemed to take itself even more seriously. Whatever, she’d crack their shells and become friends with them just like she did when she first joined the Wonderbolts too. After all, of all the ponies in Equestria she was definitely one of the best at making new friends.
Running the laps of the track definitely winded her more than she was willing to admit. She was going to chalk it up to the lack of food and the armor she was wearing. Since there was absolutely no way one of the most physically fit ponies in Equestria could be tired from a little running. Thanks to her excellent inner sense of distance she was pretty sure each lap around the track was half a mile. Easy peasy. She could run five miles while carrying twice as much weight as this no problem.
The sweat that turned her mane into a wet rag was an unavoidable side-effect. At least the air was cool and breezy.
To her joy and satisfaction she was the fastest in the squad even on her legs and she finished up the ten laps first, waiting for the others to join her so they could then go eat breakfast. When the last member of her squad pulled to a stop she shot a grin at Summer Rains.
“So? We eating?”
“Yes,” he nodded. Like the others he was worn out and sweaty. “We’ll show you how things are done in the mess hall and where we sit. Every squad has their own table, hopefully someone had the foresight to bring in an extra chair for you.”
The mess hall was organized in a very orderly manner with four rows of twelve tables each taking up most of the floor space and the back wall dominated by the chow line and the kitchens behind it. Several hairnet wearing pegasi stood with ladles in hand, spooning helpings of vegetables, soup, and oatmeal from various large pots into the bowls and trays of the soldiers shuffling on by. All of the tables were numbered and Rainbow Dash’s squad was seated at lucky number 7 in the first row closest to the food. And thankfully that seventh seat had been brought out for her, making her sit comfortably at the head of the table with Summer Rains immediately to her left.
Her squad had patiently waited in line for their food and could now sit down at their table and eat. The mess hall was only about half full at the moment, either the base was understaffed or there were multiple different schedules and timetables depending on your unit. Rainbow Dash shrugged; it wasn’t really important to her, and dug into her food. Her helmet sat next to her tray and her mane fell looser around her face and neck than normal thanks to how much she had sweat earlier.
She looked around at Summer Rains and the others as they all ate, occasionally sending glances her way. Soldiers at other tables did much the same. Rainbow Dash was pretty sure this was going to be the norm for most of her time here. Nothing she could do about that though so instead she figured it would be best to get the rest of the introductions done with. Since the stallions certainly weren’t going to be the first one to speak up and say hi.
Rainbow Dash swallowed a mouthful of oatmeal and sighed. “Okay, so can I at least learn your guys’s names already? I can guess you’re a little weirded out by all of this but we should at least be able to make friends. Besides Summer Rains none of you have even talked to me.”
The five unknown soldiers looked a little ashamed and with a quick nod from Summer Rains they put down their spoons and the long put off introductions finally got under way.
“Well… my name is Wild Wind,” the stallion directly to her right said. He was a snow white pegasus with a pink mane a shade or two darker than Fluttershy’s along with pink eyes to match it. “And actually I’m the squad’s corporal, I report directly to Lieutenant Moon and I’m technically your superior officer now as well. I um, had been letting Summer Rains talk to you—even though admittedly it should’ve been me.”
“No hard feelings,” Summer Rains shrugged.
“Wild Wind,” Rainbow Dash repeated the name to drill it into her head. “Well nice to meet you, uh, sir?”
The corporal shook his head. “You really don’t need to call me that.”
“We’re cousins,” the soldier sitting by Summer Rains suddenly said as he held a hoof on the shoulder of the other stallion sitting next to him. “My name is Skychaser and this is Flashbolt.”
Skychaser was a hazel pony with an ocean blue mane and a brilliantly white smile that he only now showed off for the first time to Rainbow Dash. Flashbolt on the other hoof had a creamy complexion and a walnut mane. She would’ve never guessed they were related if he hadn’t said anything. The only similarity they had was nearly identical brown eyes.
The soldier sitting right across from Skychaser then raised his hoof. “My name is Clear Skies, everyone just calls me Clear.” His voice was surprisingly deep but smooth. His name didn’t exactly fit his appearance though as he had a deep orange coat and a mane that was about four different shades of purple. Rainbow Dash was sure Rarity would correct her on the precise names of the colors, like violet, indigo, lavender and whatever but Rainbow Dash couldn’t tell which was which.
“And that leaves me. I’m Fierce Current,” the soldier sitting to the right of Clear Skies at the end of the table said. He was a cherry colored pony with a brown mane and blue eyes that really stood out against his coat.
“Well hey, glad we got that out of the way,” Rainbow Dash said with a smile of her own and a small wave. “So uh, is there anything you want to ask me or whatever? I figured you guys would be super curious about Equestria and why I’m here and everything.”
Summer Rains opened his mouth but before he could get anything out Wild Wind beat him to it.
“We’ve been specifically told by the Lieutenant to not ask you about Equestria,” the corporal elaborated.
Rainbow Dash snorted and rolled her eyes. “Figures. So what’s up with that guy then? Why isn’t he here eating with everyone else?”
“As an officer he has his own shared quarters with the other officers. They don’t go through the same routine as us everyday,” Wild Wind told her.
“So he doesn’t sleep in the barracks either?”
“No,” the corporal shook his head.
“Dumb!” Rainbow Dash’s wings spread open in annoyance.
“It’s just how the military hierarchy works,” Summer Rains said. “The barracks aren’t our homes or anything either. No one permanently lives on base, we all have our own homes and families in the city, it’s just we have long shifts of work and training where we might go several weeks at a time staying on base.
“Eh, I get that.” Rainbow Dash had to agree. “I’m part of a couple groups back home where it can basically work out the same. Long training camps, long adventures, stuff like that.”
Wild Wind cleared his throat. “And speaking of our training we need to finish up our breakfast soon and get back to it. There’s a quite a lot to do until our next break at lunch and quite a lot to do after it as well.”
Rainbow Dash grinned at him and folded her hooves behind her head in a cocky pose. “Hey, as long as I get to fly today I’ll be happy.”
They started doing wing push-ups right after breakfast. So it may have not been flying but it was still something more Rainbow Dash’s speed. She kept stealing glances at the other squads out on the clouds with them; some of who were jogging along as a unit, or sparring with each other, or going through another exercise. The only ones she was actually jealous of were the ones in the sky right above her that were flying through that ringed obstacle course. Now Rainbow Dash had to watch them while she waited until after lunch to go up there.
Her squad moved on to lifting weights with their wings, a different kind of exercise that worked a different muscle group. Naturally Rainbow Dash excelled at that too but Fierce Current was also able to lift an impressive amount of weight with his wings. Honestly after fighting those other soldiers and flying circles around them, when she first got here she wasn’t really expecting anything impressive from these guys.
“Hey Fierce, nice job!” She said to the cherry pegasus as he lifted a dumbbell equal to her own. A little positive encouragement between squadmates was a good thing, right? She wanted to get closer to these guys after all.
“Thank you,” the stallion responded. “I’m more impressed by you though. Before today nobody on the squad could lift as much with their wings as me.”
It was physically impossible to stop the smug grin from appearing on her face. “Well I’ve got a set of pretty powerful wings here.”
“So I’ve seen,” Fierce said. Rainbow Dash assumed he also watched her fight with Blizzard.
After that they went about doing short running sprints on the ground, where Skychaser and Flashbolt proved to both be equally fast. Although again Rainbow Dash could now take the title of fastest from them. Supposedly Clear Skies was their fastest at long distance running… besides Rainbow Dash now.
“Are you putting us all to shame intentionally?” Clear Skies asked as he watched Rainbow Dash sprint back and forth on the clouds, although there was a measure of humor in his deep bass voice.
“Hey, if I’m doing something I’m doing it the best I can. That’s just how I fly. Give a hundred and ten percent for everything. As long as it isn’t something lame or boring,” Rainbow Dash answered.
“I’m not sure if you’ll like to hear it then but I think you’ll fit in well here,” Summer Rains told her.
“If that’s just a side-effect of being awesome then there’s nothing I can do,” Rainbow Dash shrugged as she went back for another sprint with Skychaser and Flashbolt. “Asking me to not be awesome is—like—impossible.”
The squad went through more and more exercises after that until it was time to head back to the mess hall for lunch. Bread and a thin gruel along with something that looked like creamed corn to Rainbow Dash until Summer Rains helpfully informed her it was something called “grits”. Tasted good though. She ate all of that up even faster than her breakfast. All this working out gave her even more of an appetite than it made her sweat. And since flying was coming up she wanted to be absolutely full of energy so she could show off to her best ability. Rainbow Dash was excited to have the chance to teach these soldiers how a pegasus could really fly.
After they had all finished up lunch it was time for them to take to the skies and her squad flew up on a level with all of the rings she had been continuously checking out from below. They now stood on a staging cloud with another couple of squads who were all getting ready for flights as well.
“So who’s the fastest flier?” Rainbow Dash asked her unit.
“That would be me,” Wild Wind said before looking off into the distance. “Although I believe that with you here that’s another thing that’s already changed.”
“Hey, don’t sweat it dude. I’m the fastest back home too.” She patted his back with her wing.
Rainbow Dash stepped forward to the edge of the cloud, her sharp eyes picking out every possible route to fly through the rings and make it to the other end. Some rings were wide enough for her to fly through easily even with both wings extended while others were barely big enough for her to squeeze through even if she tucked her wings into her sides. Being a smaller mare she had to wonder if those rings were new or if they were just made to see which soldier would be dumb enough to try and get through them without hitting the sides. That eye-patch wearing sergeant was floating alongside the rings too, watching and making sure that no one screwed up or tried to cheat. Some other soldiers were floating along with him—either more sergeants or lieutenants she had to guess.
“So is there like a set path we need to do or is it just whatever?” Rainbow Dash asked Wild Wind.
“You need to at least go through twenty rings. Any size, in any order, and without turning around. The sergeants are watching and timing you,” he nodded towards the other soldiers Dash had noticed.
“Heh,” Rainbow Dash cracked her neck and stretched her wings. “Well prepare to be amazed.”
She didn’t wait for anyone to call go or even check to see if someone else was preparing to take a flight through the rings. The Equestrian pegasus blasted off from the cloud in a rainbow flash. She intentionally went for rings that caused her to immediately and swiftly change direction mid-flight, ones most pegasi would have to slow down to get to, but not her. She was like lightning as she conquered this course, her wingtips never once even coming close to touching the edges of the obstacles. Wanting to show off as much as possible she finished it with shooting like an arrow through one of the smaller rings. All accomplished at a speed that most pegasi couldn’t dream of or even just keep up with watching.
Rainbow Dash landed on a cloud right at the end of the wings and held her head high with her wings up. She knew how to look as impressive as possible for a crowd.
“Is that good enough for a mare from Equestria?” She half-yelled at the sergeants watching.
They acted like they hadn’t even been paying attention to her.
Rainbow Dash scowled but didn’t make a scene out of it. She knew already how things were going to play out here. With a flap of her wings she started flying back to her squad on the other side, taking the opposite side of the course from where the sergeants were. While she flew around at a more leisurely pace she saw other squads flying in unison on mock patrols through the sky or going through aerial maneuvers and spars of dog-fighting. Hopefully she’d get to do that stuff today or soon too. She’d excel at it. She’d excel at anything they had her do, even wearing this armor and being in a foreign environment. Cause that’s just how awesome she was.
And she’d never forget her friends or betray her home. She didn’t know how patient Commander Blizzard was but she’d never give him the benefit of seeing her come around to his ideals or embrace that “True pegasus way”. And the next time they fought, which she knew they would, things would be different.