//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Of Fire And Lightning // by Compass The Pegasus //------------------------------// “You promised, Soarin! There’s no backing out of it now, you lost. You gotta tell us!” Fleetfoot pouted, right before taking a swig from her mug of Sweet Apple Acres’ seasonal hard cider. The small group of Wonderbolts sat in a rounded corner booth of their favorite pub in Cloudsdale, ‘The Diving Hawk’. Soarin sat squished in the middle between Misty Fly and Surprise on his left, and Fleetfoot, Thunderlane, and Fire Streak on his right. He had no escape. “Aw, come on guys… Do we really have to do this right now? Besides, the big guy isn’t here yet. Don’t you want to wait for him?” he pleaded, looking around at his peers in hopes that one of them would take his side. Unfortunately, the group unanimously agreed to say ‘no’ without even needing to consult each other. “It’s his fault he’s not on time… Wait, it doesn't even matter! You two were roommates! He knows the whole story anyway.” “Not the whole story…” Soarin mumbled. “You lost our bet, and you promised that you’d tell us the story if you lost. And you owe me a hundred bits, but we can sort that out later,” Thunderlane added. “Come on guys, you know what’ll happen to m- to all of us if she finds out, right?” “Yeah. Totally worth it though.” “There’s really no way out of this, is there?” “Nope.” “Ugh… fine,” Soarin groaned, hoofing his face. “But if you wanna keep me talking, keep my drinks coming. I’m hoping that by the time I get home, I won’t remember enough to be incriminated by her.” “Deal.” “Well… alright, pay attention then. I’ll never repeat this story again after this,” he warned. “It all started back on day one.” “Listen up! From this point on, the first and last things I want to hear out of your mouths are ‘Yes, Drill Sergeant’, and ‘No, Drill Sergeant,’ Do you understand me?” “YES, DRILL SERGEANT!” “Good. Now, pass your folders to the front. You will do so quickly and quietly, do you understand?” “YES, DRILL SERGEANT!” A flurry of folders passed through the hooves of the cadets until they were all neatly gathered at the front and passed to a pony standing next to the Drill Sergeant. Soarin’s legs were shaking badly, though he couldn’t tell if it was excitement or fear. The sixty recruits lined up in front of the administration building of the Wonderbolt Academy with Soarin in the very front row, in the farthest left column. The Drill Sergeant casually strolled up to the front of the formation and stared down the fresh fish. Soarin stared directly forward, but could feel the Drill Sergeant’s eyes burning onto him. Fortunately, he moved along. Soarin stole a peek beside him and saw an olive green stallion to his right. He was taller than himself by an apple or so, but also a bit thinner. Soarin could see the beads of sweat running off of his face, clearly terrified. “Now, welcome to Fort Cloudfall, the Eastern location of the Wonderbolt Academy,” the Drill Sergeant called. “You may be wondering why we’re on the ground, and not up in the sky. Is that right?” “YES, DRILL SERGEANT!” “That’s what I thought. You have not earned the right to fly. As long as you are on this premises, you will not fly unless ordered. Understood?” ‘Can’t fly?’ Soarin thought. ‘Well, that’s absolutely ridiculous! This is the Wonderbolts academy, right? Why shouldn’t they let us fly?’ “I promise you, if you do not pay attention to what I’m about to tell you, you’re gonna make your Wonderbolt career very short. Understand?” he screamed into the crowd of cadets. Spit flung out of his mouth as he yelled, and sprayed all over the unfortunate green pony next to Soarin. Clearly distraught, the green pony frowned, trying not to be noticed by the DS. “You will not speak, you will not eat, you will not scratch your butt unless I say so. Attention! Now, grab your bags and enter the building single file. Move!” It took some time for all the recruits to get their paperwork sorted, but once they were finally through processing, they still had to get their photos taken for their Wonderbolt ID card. Soarin managed to get into line quick enough that he was near the front. Standing behind him was the same tall, green, and lanky pony from before. Waiting for his turn, it didn’t take long for Soarin to get bored and turn around to make conversation. “Hey, you were standing next to me earlier, right?” he asked casually, reaching out a hoof. “The name’s Soarin, what’s yours?” The stallion hesitated but returned the hoof bump. “Uh, name’s New Leaf. You can call me Leaf though, if you want,” he replied with a smile. “Nice to meet you.” “Likewise,” Soarin smiled back. “So what made you want to join the Wonderbolts, Leaf?” “Well, I like flying… and I was tired of being a total loser,” he sighed and shook his head. “I’m hoping to change what ponies back home think about me.” “Well, I’m sorry ponies back home think you’re a loser,” Soarin said. “If it’s any consolation, you seem alright to me.” “Well, thanks, but you don’t know me. You’re just saying that aren’t you?” he replied. “I mean I guess I don’t know you yet. Who knows, maybe you really are cool and I just don’t know it yet.” Leaf furrowed his brow as if he didn’t believe the words he was hearing, but after looking at Soarin for a few moments and realizing that he was genuine, his smile radiated and his eyes lit up. “Woah, you really mean it! Thanks- uh…” “Soarin.” “Cool. I’m New Leaf,” Leaf said. Soren cracked a smile, and, when Leaf realized that he’d already introduced himself, they both laughed. As the two stallions waited in line, they talked about anything they could think of, whether it was their favorite music, or who their favorite Wonderbolt was, or even cool callsigns they thought they could get when they finally graduated and became actual Wonderbolts. Soarin decided Leaf could be called “Green Wonder,” and Leaf decided that Soarin would be called “Blue Thunder.” They were both satisfied with their fantasized callsigns and continued to chatter on about things, until the entire world stood still. Bright orange flashed in front of Soarin. A yellow mare that seemed about his own age, maybe a little younger, walked out of the office with her brand new ID card held in her teeth. Her dazzling orange mane stuck straight up as if her head were on fire. Her gait was hardly elegant, but she moved with energy and rhythm, as though she were walking to an imaginary tune. He couldn’t help himself from staring at the mare walking by. His eyes naturally moved to her flank to see her cutie mark, but it was obviously obscured by her wing. Having realized this, his shoulders drooped down slightly. As she walked past him, he noticed she was looking at him as well, and their eyes met - her rich, golden eyes glowed with a brightness that mesmerized him - but she vanished around a corner as quickly as she had appeared. Soarin’s heart beat out of his chest and he felt something deep in his core flash like a bolt of lightning. “Woah…” Soarin mumbled as his head left the clouds and returned to the line. “Uh, you okay dude? You like totally zoned out on me,” Leaf asked, waving a hoof in his face. Soarin blinked at him blankly before registering the question. “Huh? Oh. Yeah, I’m totally good. I just got a bit distracted…” he trailed off. “Uh huh, I could tell. You were totally checking out that mare that walked by.” “Was it that obvious?” Soarin asked, cringing at himself. Leaf just laughed at him. “Buddy, I don’t think it could be more obvious unless you held up a sign,” he managed in between laughs, resulting in a groan and face hoof from Soarin. “You two! Shut your mouths and pay attention. Keep the line moving,” shouted an ivory colored pegasus mare peering out the door of the office. The first thing they noticed about her was that she was very short. They could easily see over her head, and even the high ponytail of her auburn mane didn’t obstruct their vision. Mares were generally shorter than stallions, but this was ridiculous. She could’ve easily passed as a filly in middle school. This tiny mare was a Drill Sergeant? They had to stifle the laughter that was building up deep inside them, which the shorter mare quickly caught onto. “Something funny, cadets?” she asked, immediately killing their stifled laughter and dropping their stomachs to the floor. “N-no Ma’am!” they both squeaked out, straightening themselves out and standing at attention. “MA’AM? Did you two sorry excuses for pigeons just call me Ma’am!?” “Uh… No Drill Sergeant!” they yelled back, generating whispers from the line behind them. She smiled sweetly at them, but there was a distinctly evil glint in her eyes. “Oh, I see. You two think it’s hilarious that I’m a bit on the smaller side, do ya?” “No Drill Sergeant!” “Somehow, I don’t buy that. I’m not exactly sure why. You boys aren’t lying to a sweet little mare like me, right?” “N-No Drill S-Sergeant!” “Ooh boy, am I gonna have some FUN with you two around,” she said as she smiled at them once more. “Let’s see… New Leaf and Soarin. I think the three of us are going to get along just fine. In fact, I think I’m going to have you transferred into my battalion so that we can spend some EXTRA time with each other. What do you think about that, Cadet?” she pressed, as she leaned uncomfortably close to Soarin’s face. “I- uh I think it’s a great idea, Drill Sergeant!” he spat out, feeling a bead of his sweat rolling down his forehead. With a satisfied ‘hmm,’ the mare backed off and leaned casually against the door. “Better remember my face, height, and name, Cadets. I’m Staff Sergeant Swift Bullet, and you two are going to be my favorite toys for the next ten weeks. Now GET IN HERE. You’re blocking up the line!” “Oh great… We’re only like a day into this and we’ve already gotten ourselves screwed…” Leaf mumbled as he and Soarin made their way to the barracks. They had finally gotten their IDs and managed to escape the wrath of their superior, Swift Bullet, since she spotted another mare in line behind them with ‘contraband.’ “Relax, Leaf. We may have gotten off on the wrong hoof, but all we gotta do is try our best to get on her good side. Right?” Soarin assured him. “Or we just lay low until she forgets it all happened.” Leaf shook his head. “I dunno Soarin, she seemed pretty miffed to me.” “She’s supposed to be like that. She’s a commanding officer.” “I guess…” As the rest of the recruits piled into the dormitory, the room was divided into two sides: the left side for stallions and the right side for mares. Beds were stacked up into bunks with each bed having two chests against the wall next to them. The two stallions quickly took the bunk as far back as they could go in the room and then stood at attention while Bullet gave a speech about how all the recruits were simpletons who couldn’t do the most basic of tasks. She then demonstrated the ‘Wonderbolt way’ of making one’s bed, which she did very quickly. So quickly that not a single recruit in the barracks was able to recreate the technique. She made her rounds insulting each and every recruit for their poor work. “Well lookie here. Two halves of a whole idiot!” she mocked, as she stormed up to Soarin and Leaf. “I should’ve known that of all the recruits in here, your bunks would be the worst! I think I’ll have to-” As she continued to yell at them, Soarin looked over her shoulder and noticed the same yellow mare that he had seen earlier, when he was in line for his ID. Looked like she was in Bullet’s company as well. She was frantically ripping off the sheets of her own bunk, which sat closer to the middle of the barracks. As she made her next attempt, she noticed Soarin staring at her again. To his surprise, she seemed to get a kick out of him getting yelled at. He noticed the most subtle of smirks on her face as she jumped over her bunk and perfectly tucked in the last corner. “Now, drop and give me thirty wing-ups, and then take off the sheets and do it all again! This is cutting into your sleep time, so I suggest you two put your shared pea-brain to use!” Bullet concluded, as she moved onto the next bunk. Soarin and Leaf then dropped onto the cold concrete floor and began their wing-ups, which were a lot harder than either of them were expecting. By the twelfth rep, their muscles were already aching. It didn’t help that they’d been awake for nearly twenty hours. “You know that mare I was staring at earlier?” Soarin asked, through labored breathing. “She’s over there on the other side of the room.” “Okay, and? You know, you don’t have to -huff- tell me every time you want to ogle her,” Leaf wheezed as he pushed himself up. “No! I’m not- she… she’s laughing at us!” Soarin hissed, pointing over at her with his nose as he finished up his punishment. She stood smugly next to her bunk, and though he couldn’t prove it, he knew she was looking at them both out of the corner of her eye. Leaf didn’t seem to find it amusing.“That- that- ugh that smug -huff- that bitch!” he managed, completing his very last rep and collapsing onto the floor. “We’re suffering more than any other recruit, and she’s laughing at us.” It was then clear to Soarin that the yellow mare was laughing at them. She let out a giggle when Soarin collapsed as well, but stifled it when Bullet’s head swiftly turned to look for the perpetrator. “Whatever,” Soarin said as he pulled himself up, and then helped Leaf to his hooves. “Let’s just make the beds and ignore her. Sucks, thought she was cute too,” he pouted. “Don’t worry about it, bro. The Wonderbolts are like seventy percent mare. I’m sure you’ll find a mare that isn’t so… uh, like her.” It didn’t take long for the rest of the recruits to finish their own punishments, and soon lights were out. Soarin lay in his lower bunk, kicking himself for finding that mare attractive. Well, who was he kidding? She was attractive. Unfortunately, her personality didn’t match. But something deep down urged him to let it slide and give her another chance. Soarin snorted, imagining Leaf’s reaction to his change of heart. ‘Are you serious bro?’ he would probably say, giving him an eye roll. But it didn’t matter to him. He wanted to get a chance to know her. As he thought about that first time he’d seen her in the hallway, that way she looked at him and how it made him feel, he slowly drifted off into a dreamless sleep. “Rise and shine, pigeons!” the mare shouted, as she banged on a bed frame with her hoof. “It’s Oh-four-hundred! Line up! Line up!” Soarin groaned and rolled out of his bed, yawning. Leaf, who was completely disoriented, couldn’t untangle himself from his sheets, and ended up falling off the top bunk and smacking into the ground next to Soarin. “OOF!” “With the grace of a thousand swans,” muttered Bullet, rubbing the bridge of her nose as she observed. “Come on, we don’t have all day. Jog in place! Get those knees up high! Is that what you call jogging, cadet? My great, great, great grammy can jog better than that and she’s a hundred and ten!” Bullet screamed at a gray mare, who was already sweating profusely. She looked to the right of the gray mare and noticed the orange mare jogging in place. Once again, she jogged as if she were listening to some imaginary music in her head. Within a second, the Drill Sergeant was up in her face, and for the first time, Soarin noticed her flinch and back away from Bullet. “Spitfire! This isn't a dance class! I said jog!” Bullet screamed, startling her. She stopped in her tracks and started jogging again, but Bullet smacked her over the head with a piece of rolled up paper. “Wrong, Twinklehooves! Down! Give me thirty!” She visibly hesitated before replying “Yes, Drill Sergeant!” “Heh, served her right,” Leaf commented, watching Spitfire get down and start her punishment. Soarin shot a sympathetic look at her. ‘Spitfire, huh?’ Soarin thought to himself. ‘Name’s as pretty as the mare.’ After another twenty minutes of warm-ups, Bullet let the entire platoon out for a three mile jog around the airbase. Soarin didn’t have much of a problem keeping up with the group, but he noticed that Leaf trailed behind a bit, with Spitfire not far ahead. He decided to slow down so he could offer some support. Before long, he was near the back, thirty or so paces ahead of Leaf. It seemed Leaf was picking up speed, maybe trying to meet him half-way, and threatened to pass Spitfire. He didn’t see the entire event, but one moment Leaf and Spitfire were side-by-side, and the next moment, Leaf was lying flat on his face. Soarin stopped and headed back to help Leaf, and noticed, as Spitfire passed him, a look of surprise on her face that quickly turned into a laugh. He wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. He offered a hoof to Leaf, who groaned as he was pulled back to his feet. “Dude, what happened?” Leaf breathed hard, and tried to pick up the pace as best as he could, before thinking to answer. “I think she tripped me…” “Spitfire?” Soarin narrowed his eyes and looked ahead to the mare, who was now far ahead of them. “That… sucks. But come on, not much longer now. You’re doing great.” “Thanks. How are you doing this so easily?” he panted. “I did track in school.” Soarin replied. Leaf didn’t have anything to say to that, so they just continued jogging after the main group. Soarin still had the event with Spitfire on his mind after a minute, though, and asked, “Are you sure she tried to trip you? What if you two just accidentally got crossed up?” Leaf rolled his eyes at him. “Alright, fine. Don’t believe me then. But I’m telling the truth. I was trying to make up pace, and I thought I had a chance to pass her, but she stepped on my hooves and screwed me up.” “No, I believe you. I didn’t see what happened, but it seems like something she’d do. I guess you were right. She is a bitch.” Soarin said, losing a little bit of pep in his step. Seeing Soarin deflate, Leaf sighed. “Look, I’ll let it slide one last time, but only because you’ve got a thing for her. If she does that again, I’m holding a grudge.” As ‘Bullet Company’ finished their jog, the short, ivory mare allowed her new recruits to retire to the mess hall for breakfast - though not without doing a hundred crunches first, of course. The twenty ponies of Bullet Company piled into the canteen and stood in line to get their food. Soarin had hoped that the free food would be decent, at least, but he was wrong. So wrong. On his tray sat a small bowl of chopped fruits and various nuts, some scrambled eggs that looked more gray than yellow, a granola bar and a cup of water. The portion size was stingy to say the least, but he was too tired to complain, so he just grabbed his food and sat down next to Leaf. All the other tables were full or nearly full, and chatter polluted the air, but Soarin and Leaf managed to find an empty table. “Y’know, I was hoping I could make more friends here, but it’s harder than I thought,” Leaf admitted, as he bit into his granola bar. “I don’t know if I would’ve ever talked to you if you hadn’t said something first.” “Well, Leaf, you’ve just gotta get over that initial anxiety. You see-” Before Soarin could finish what he was saying, a tray clattered to the table next to him. Both stallions whipped their heads around to see who it was, and to both their surprise, it was either the mare they really wanted to see, or really didn’t want to see, depending on who you asked. “Hey, mind if I sit here?” Spitfire asked. “Only table with a seat left open is with that one mare that I don’t think showers. Thanks.” She sat down without waiting for an answer. “Uh, yeah sure I guess,” Soarin mumbled, scooching closer to Leaf. “The name’s Spitfire,” she said proudly, looking to Soarin and then to Leaf. Her eyes widened, as if she was noticing them for the first time. “Hey, it’s the Swan! Oh wow, when you fell out of your bunk, that was golden!” she laughed as she took a bite of her food. “And you, I don’t know your name,” she added, looking at Soarin. “I’m Soa-” “Hey! My name isn’t Swan! It’s New Leaf, thank you very much,” Leaf interjected, throwing his hooves into the air. “Ahem,” Soarin shot a look at Leaf, who grudgingly shook his head. “I’m Soarin. It’s nice to meet you,” he replied diplomatically. “Soarin, huh?” she asked rhetorically, leaning in to take a closer look at him. “You’re the guys that got targeted by the Drill Sergeant on day one, right? Ha! Hilarious! I can’t wait to see you guys do more wing-ups.” She laughed again. Soarin tried his best to not get irritated, but it was getting tougher by the minute. Spitfire continued to tease them for all the trouble they’d gotten into with Bullet, which Leaf tried to tune out by angrily focusing on his breakfast. “You were doing pretty good in the three mile earlier, too, but you dropped back for the Swan, so you lost some points from me,” she gestured at Leaf. “You tripped me when I tried to go around you!” he shot back. “And my name’s New L-” “I didn’t trip you.” “Yes, you did. I saw you do it.” Soarin interjected. “No you d- what’s your deal? So what, we got a little crossed up. I didn’t trip you. If you wanted to get around me, you should’ve tried harder.” “Y-you-” “Okay, whatever you say, Twinklehooves,” Soarin said, finally getting sick of her teasing. Spitfire stopped in her tracks, stared at him like he’d just grown a third wing. He pressed on, “Not like you weren’t lagging behind too.” “What did you just call me?” “You heard me. Twinklehooves. I saw you losing steam. Don’t try and hide it either.” Spitfire leaned in close enough to Soarin that their brows nearly touched. “Don’t call me that.” she warned. “Oh, did I touch a nerve? Don’t insult me, or my friend. If you mess with us like that again, we’re gonna have a real problem, Twinklehoo-'' She pounced on him the moment the word left his mouth, knocking him off the bench and onto the ground.“I told you not to call me that!” she screamed, wrestling Soarin on the ground. Leaf quickly jumped in to try and pry the mare off of him, but once a stray hoof smacked into his face, he backed off. The entire room froze in place to watch the fight, but it ended almost as quickly as it began, as the two cadets were pulled apart by none other than Swift Bullet. “Ooooh, you two just made my day so much more exciting!” she smugly declared. “Day two, and you’re already fighting? Wow!” A devious smile grew on her face as she considered their punishment. “I’ll tell you what, I won’t report this little brawl… as long as you play by my rules. You two will get EXTRA work, EXTRA physical training and, you know what’s the best of all? You two are gonna spend the rest of basic as buddies! Ha! Isn’t that a total riot? From now on, I will not see you two more than twenty paces apart until you both graduate, understood?” Soarin and Spitfire both looked at each other with the same horrified expression as they fell to their haunches. “With her!?” “With him!?” “NOOO!!”