"Doctor! We need a doctor!"
"Oh the horror!"
"I'm fine, it's just my wing, I swear!"
"He's delirious! Will he ever recover!?"
Soarin had been doing routine practice runs of the Wonderbolt's training course when a sudden gust of wind pushed him to far off and he slammed into a fly-through ring. The papparazzi had pretty much been waiting for this kind of drama as the Wonderbolts were set to perform at the Grand Galloping Gala within the week! But without Soarin, there's always the possibility they would have to cancel their appearance if they couldn't find a suitable replacement.
"Alright, alright, everypony, back it on up, give the stallion his space..." Rainbow Dash and Spitfire had come over to hold back the papparazzi while Fleetfoot and Blaze helped him over to the locker rooms.
"We have to find somepony to replace me. I can't fly with this wing, and the Princesses won't be pleased to hear that the Wonderbolts are missing a member." Soarin told the two ponies.
"Well, we could always get somepony from the reserves, but that could cause issues because they don't know the full routine" Fleetfoot mused
Blaze added "Yeah, but they're also not as good as you, Soarin. I think we will just have to cancel the whole appearance instead."
The trio were nearing the locker room at this point, where Soarin was let down by his two friends. "Look, I'll think about it. You two play damage control and act like everything will be fine. I'm going to go get patched up now."
---
Vapor Trail was leaving her job at the weather factory for the day and was heading home. She may be in the Wonderbolt Reserves, but that doesn't mean she doesn't need a roof over her head. Her and Sky Stinger had shot straight through the Academy and were now just waiting to be called up to the big leagues once another Wonderbolt decided to retire. Though, Vapor Trail would admit the chances were pretty bleak at best. Most of the Wonderbolt's were already in their prime, so they wouldn't ever really be needed, right? Right?!
In all honesty, Vapor Trail didn't really want to be a full-fledged Wonderbolt. The attention, the expectations, she just couldn't imagine being put under all that stress. The only reason she was still in the program was for Sky Stinger. Vapor Trail couldn't help but sigh at her dilemma and walked up to her door. She was about to enter when she heard a whistle and the hustling of pony hooves. Vapor Trail then heard a pony speak up. "Ms. Trail, is that you?"
Vapor Trail was a bit worried, not being used to ponies hiding in her yard, but decided to answer anyway. "Hello? Why do you need me?" Though instead of answering with words, the little yard erupted in a sudden boom of camera flashes and demanding questions.
"Vapor Trail, how do you feel about Soarin choosing you for his replacement in the upcoming Gala?!" Asked a particularly avid paparazzi
"What? I-" Tried to respond, but she was cut off by another paparazzi
"Ms. Trail, are you good enough to replace Soarin? Have you even been practicing the routine!?"
Vapor Trail had backed in her door and had frozen up from the attention when she felt the support of the door fall away, making her roll back into her house. There, she came eye-to-eye with Sky Stinger, who was smiling like a giddy schoolfoal.
"Your getting called up?! Why didn't you tell me!? Oh, oh! Is it a secret mission?"
Vapor Trail, who was still a bit shook up, stammered to her hooves and asked "What do you mean? What is all this about Soarin? I just wanted to come home and go to bed!"
"Oh! You haven't even heard about your own promotion? Soarin got injured a couple hours ago and he chose you to replace him for the Grand Galloping Gala! I'm so excited!" Sky Stinger basically yelled out, pulling his longtime friend into a hug.
"WHAT!? He chose me!? Why me!?"
"Well, duh, he thought you had what it takes to take his place, obviously."
"But he never even asked me if I wanted me to do it!" Vapor Trail shut some of the blinds to stop the flashing of the papparazzi, who had only grown in number since she came inside.
Sky Stinger came down from his excited flying and dejectedly asked "Wait, you don't want to do it?"
Vapor Trail looked at her friend with a conflicted look on her face. She probably just let it slip that she didn't really want to be a Wonderbolt, something she hoped would never come up again after the Academy tryouts. "Sky Stinger that's not what I meant I really-"
"No, no I get it," Sky Stinger began to cry "your just doing this whole Reserves thing for me, aren't you? I was never really was in control of myself, was I?"
Vapor Trail tried to explain herself again, but Sky Stinger just brushed past her and flew out the front door, allowing for the paparazzi to take flashing pictures as Vapor Trail looked at her best friend fly away.
"Oh, sugarcubes."
---
Spitfire had getting ready for a media appearance when the news finally broke as to just who Soarin had elected to take his place in the Gala show. The writers had to scramble to come up with a new speech, as otherwise they were just going to announce the cancelation of the event. Spitfire had her doubts about Vapor Trail, but she had to trust Soarin. After all, his little bit was to be the main show so nopony else had practiced it. Probably better to grab somepony who hasn't been training for a different part for 2 months, like the other Wonderbolts, she reasoned. "I hope you know what your doing, Soarin...". Spitfire walked out on stage to greet the reporters and deliver a nice little speech about the expectations we put on our idols, and how sure of Vapor Trail she really was, even if it was a lie.
---
"...and it is with great honor I announce Soarin's temporary replacement, Vapor Trail! Her hard work and dedi-"
Vapor Trail switched off her radio. She was growing tired of the gossip on the news, as it was all anypony was even talking about.
Vapor mocked the news broadcasts to herself. "Star Wonderbolt injures himself right before the Gala! Can his replacement do her job and save the day, or is she doomed fail and go down in the annals of history as a failure?!" Vapor Trail just hung her head at the prospect. She really enjoyed flying, but when she was in the Academy it became more of a chore than anything else. Just another job, she thought. Sky Stinger leaving over it made her feel the worst, though. She had already been through this whole debacle, and she didn't like lying to her friend, but he always had a fragile ego. She just wished she could go back in time and tell him herself, in her own words, and just be free of this whole mess. Vapor slumped in her seat, sulking at the inevitable arrival of one of the Wonderbolts to her home. You would think she would be the first to hear about this, but no! Tell literally everypony else accept for the only pony who actually needs to know!
As Vapor sat in her sorrow, she heard a knock from her backdoor. A bit odd, but the papparazzi were still all over her lawn, making it difficult for anypony to get through. Vapor Trail opened the door to reveal a badly disguised duo of Soarin and Rainbow Dash, both of them wearing shades and tuxedos, looking around the outside of her house.
"Is the coast clear, Special Agent RD?" Disguised Soarin asked
Rainbow Dash, who was in the middle of a kickflip off the side of the house, looked over and responded, "Coast is clear, Special Agent S, proceed to introduction phase, over." Vapor, bewildered by the sight, noticed a group of balloons behind the fence and two pink hooves holding up a record player playing the Quest: Not Possible theme song.
Soarin did a couple of flips himself, despite his injury, and walked up to Vapor Trail's porch, hiding behind a few potted plants along his way. "Mrs. Trail-"
"I'm not married." Vapor Trail cut off, unamused by the whole spectacle.
"Er, Ms. Trail, you have been selected by Soarin for a special assignment regarding the Grand Galloping Gala. We need you-"
"Is this all just some joke to you!? Does my time mean nothing to you!?" Vapor Trail was just livid at this point. The most likely reason she wasn't told sooner was because these hooligans were probably planning this whole getup.
The record player stopped, and a pink pony popped up from behind the fence asked with forlorn eyes "You don't like the special agent shuffle?"
"No! And I can't believe you thought I would!" Vapor Trail was more upset now than in her whole life. She didn't like the feeling of her heart pumping all that blood, but she was to upset to pay it any mind. "I lost my best friend! Why didn't you just tell me I was replacing you!?"
Rainbow Dash, brought back down by Vapors words, moved over to comfort her. "Hey, whats up with all that stuff about losing your friend?"
Vapor looked at Rainbow, tears in her eyes. "Sky Stinger. He... he left earlier when I accidentally said I didn't want to be a Wonderbolt."
The small group of home invaders all yelled in unison "WHAT!?"
"You remember him Rainbow Dash, right? Remember how he was devastated when he found out he wasn't as good at flying as he thought he was, and that it was only because I was helping him? And now he knows the only reason I'm still in the Reserves is because I didn't want to hurt him. Now I've really messed up, haven't I?." Vapor Trail sunk down to the floor. "I think you need to find somepony else to replace you, Soarin. I'm just going to weigh you down."
"Wait, so let me get this straight, you don't want to be a Wonderbolt, and that made your friend leave?"
"Yeah."
"So what if we got you two to reconcile? Would you consider doing the Gala team?"
"Can't you just find somepony else?"
Soarin walked up and explained "Well, no, we can't. While your flying scores aren't the best, you and Sky Stinger have proven just how quickly you two can pick up on lessons, something we really need."
"Then just get Sky Stinger. I know he would love to play Wonderbolt for a day."
"We can't, his scores in flying speed were lower than yours, and marginally lower across every other stat. Vapor Trail, your pretty much our best option at the moment. We need you."
Vapor got back on her hooves. "If you can get me some alone time with Sky Stinger, I would be happy to participate."
"Ooh! Super Secret Spy 'find a missing friend' music, activate!" The pink pony started to play the theme song again and scurried off with Soarin, leaving Rainbow Dash to talk with Vapor Trail. "Sorry about the whole 'secret agent' thing. Pinkie thought it would help convince you to participate on such a short notice."
"Don't worry about it. I'm sorry for yelling earlier." Vapor sighed deeply "I was just so on edge, otherwise, it was pretty funny, if not a bit odd."
"Hehe, thats Pinkie for you.' Rainbow Dash got up "Hey, meet us at the practice grounds in an hour. We should have Sky Stinger by then."
"I'll be there." Vapor waved Rainbow away as she went back into her house to mentally prepare for what she had to tell her friend.
---
"Okay Vapor Trail, you've got this. It's go time." Vapor had been trying to hype herself up to talk to Sky Stinger, who had indeed been collected by Rainbow Dash and her little entourage and was now sitting in the stands waiting for her. The sky was turning to all the beautiful pastel colors of sunset, giving an almost picture-esqe look to the scene. With a huff, Vapor Trail walked out to her longtime companion. "Hey, Sky, what's up?"
"Not you." Sky Stinger jeered.
"Oh, hehe, funny." Vapor's smile faded from her face as she sat next to Sky. "So, look, I know how your feeling right now and it must be pretty horrible. I just wanted to say that I never wanted to hurt you. It's just that the Academy was so draining and when I realized that maybe I didn't want to be a Wonderbolt, it was too late to tell you. I didn't want to make you drop out for me so I just kept going. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't be doing this." Vapor Trail went to get up, but Sky Stinger stopped her.
"Vapor, it's fine. It's just that after the tryouts I could never really get over that feeling that I wanted to spend everyday of my life with you. So when you told me that you didn't really want to be a Wonderbolt, I thought I was losing you again. And I don't want to lose you, Vapor. I can't lose you again..." Sky removed his gaze from Vapor, them both starting to tear up over the emotions.
"Sky Stinger?"
"Yeah?"
Vapor lunged over and kissed Sky with all the love for her friend. "I would never leave you, Sky! I love you to much!"
"I love you too, Vapor!" Sky said while pulling in Vapor and kissing her back.
Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Soarin had been sitting behind a nearby food stall watching the scene unfold above.
"Ugh, if I knew they were going to kiss I would've just left." Rainbow said, hiding the fact that she really found the whole thing heartwarming.
"Well, you can't leave, because your my way around town!" Soarin interjected.
"Ooh ooh! I get to plan the celebration party!" Pinkie started jumping over the place in excitement.
Soarin ignored Pinkies enthusiasm "We still have a job to do anyway, Rainbow Dash. We better go over and get Vapor before the two start to think about going back home."
"Fiiine. Let's go." Rainbow lazily answered. She turned to Pinkie and asked "Pinkie, can you go get the flag set I was talking about earlier?"
"Yuperino!" And then Pinkie was off to get her friend a flag set, whatever THAT was.
"Alright, lets go get her."
Soarin and Rainbow Dash walked over to where the pair were making out, letting there presence be known.
"Hmm hmm!" No response.
"Hey, lovebirds, we have some practice to do!" Still, nothing.
"VAPOR TRAIL!" That got their attention.
Vapor Trail and Sky Stinger jumped a bit and looked at Soarin and Rainbow in shame. "Oh, I didn't see you there, Rainbow Dash."
"Yeah, well sadly I did. C'mon, we have to practice for the Gala."
Vapor turned to Sky and apologized profusely that she had to train now, but he didn't mind at all.
"We'll just talk about this later, Vapor. I love you!"
"I love you to!" The two lovers tried to embrace again, but Rainbow pulled Vapor back before they got back into the throws of love.
"No you don't!"
"Oh, sorry." Vapor gave a small smile to Rainbow, who was motioning for her to follow her down to the training field.
---
Vapor's training had gone surprisingly well, considering she only had a few days to actually do it. Despite a few setbacks, like Pinkie bringing the nations colors instead of training flags, Vapor was ready to make her love proud, and prove that she isn't just some backup. Sky Stinger had been allowed in the tunnel as per the request of Vapor.
"Your going to do great out there, I know it!" Sky encouraged.
"Oh, thank you honey." The couple nuzzled each other before the other Wonderbolts came out of the locker room.
Spitfire came up to Vapor to hopefully dispel any pre-show jitters. "Alright, sprout, here's your chance to prove to the world what you got. Make me proud, kid."
Vapor looked back at Spitfire with a full smile "I will, I promise!"
"Better." Spitfire turned around and put her hoof in the middle of the Wonderbolt circle. "Alright, everypony, here is the big show, the big shebang. Let's get out there and turn some heads!"
"BREAK" All the ponies said in unison. The ponies made their way down the long tunnel, out to were the thousands of eager onlookers waited their arrival.
A great, loud announcer came onto a stage in the middle of the stadium to hype up the groups arrival. 'Ladies and gentlecolts, foals and fillies, please, give a round of applause foooor, The Wonderbolts!"
Vapor whispered inspirational quotes to herself in an attempt to calm her nerves. Rainbow Dash noticing the discomfort of her peer.
"Hey kid, don't beat yourself up right before the big show. you got this, trust me."
Vapor smiled in appreciation, but she didn't have much time to appreciate as the show was about to start.
The Wonderbolts launched into the air, as the announcer blared about the moves they were making. They all flipped and spun circles and made the clouds spell out 'WONDERBOLTS'. They were doing well, and Vapor was keeping up pace. But this was it, the big moment of the whole event: Vapor had to divebomb the Royal booth and pull away right before she would crash as the other Wonderbolts flew circles around her. The group went way up in the sky, almost out of view of the spectators below, and began there decent.
Celestia, Luna, and Mi Amore Cadenza were all wowed by the spectacle, but Twilight had already read about it in a book, so she wasn't as impressed.
As Vapor Trail's speed increased, she looked upon the stands of the stadium. She saw her parents and Sky's family, mouths agape, she saw the Princesses, all gazing upon them, but then she saw Sky Stinger, who made her feel joy unlike any other. Vapors speed continued to increase, the Wonderbolts struggling to keep up with Vapor as the motivation flowed through her veins. She got so fast, the other Wonderbolts had to break from their encircling just to keep up.
Twilight's interest was peaked, putting down the book she had sneaked in. "Ooh, what's this?"
Vapor's wings were beating harder than ever. She thought of Sky and the pure happiness she felt around him, and the future they had together. As the joy took over Vapor's body, the other Wonderbolts began to fall behind. Vapor was going so fast, a cone of air began to form around her, but she didn't even notice. She was just so happy. In her speed, she remembered just why she loved to fly so much. It wasn't because she had wings, it wasn't because of her status as a Reserves member. No, it was because when she flew, she did it with Sky, and if that meant flying with the Wonderbolts to make him happy, then she was going to do it. The air around Vapor began to condense more and more until...
BOOOM
A sonic boom lit up the stadium in a light green hue, throwing off the other Wonderbolts from their pursuit. Twilight jumped out of her seat as Vapor pulled up out of the way of the booth just in time.
Vapor Trail had done it. Unintentionally, sure, but she had done it. She really was good enough to be a Wonderbolt. The crowd cheered and applauded at the show, as Vapor the other Wonderbolts flew up to where a cloud was waiting for them, to take them away to another location. As Vapor landed on the cloud, the Wonderbolts swarmed her with admiration. Rainbow Dash had the loudest of praises though.
"That. Was. AWESOME!"
"Oh, thank you Rainbow Dash."
Spitfire wasn't about to just walk over for nothing. "Kid, that was some good stuff. Next time though, try to tell us if your going to go supersonic, that kind of stuff can be dangerous you know."
"I'm sorry, I'll try harder next time."
"Oh, don't sweat it, kid, that was a lot cooler than what we originally had in store anyway. Good job."
The group picked up Vapor and began singing praises and parading her around the small cloud.
---
The cloud had found its way to Cloudsdale, where Vapor and Sky had met up for a much overdue date. It was to late at night to go to any restaurants, so the two decided to head back home and chill out under the night stars while eating a salad. It didn't really matter to either of them where they went though, as long as they were doing it together, they didn't care if it was in Tartarus or if it was in the greatest 5-star restaurant in Canterlot.
They had each other, and that was enough.
FIN