//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Ace Flier // by nixf //------------------------------// Getting to be a Wonderbolt was the ultimate dream. To soar through the clouds alongside the absolute peak in performance was an amazing experience that Rainbow Dash cherished. Even the challenge of training was exhilarating when she was surrounded by the Wonderbolts. Just the knowledge that she was on the bleeding edge of flight was something that she could never explain. However there was one little part of being a Wonderbolt that Rainbow Dash utterly hated. The press conferences that ran alongside the events, dragging them all away from training or flying to sit cooped up in a room with thirty annoying reporter ponies. In the air, Rainbow Dash loved the yells of her fans. On the ground she despised the argumentative yelling from the reporters.  So it was little surprise that Rainbow Dash was in an absolutely foul mood as she sat on the hard wooden chair as the team was thrown question after question. Well, not the entire team. Somehow only her, Soarin and Spitfire had been dragged into it. The rest of the team were probably already out partying, either that or stuffing their faces with room service and waiting. It was equally infuriating to know that the questions were all a blatant facade intended to make them trip up on misleading questions and give the reporters something barely newsworthy for the next day's published newspaper. It was dragging on longer than normal, which wasn’t much of a surprise as they were in Manehattan and the room was stuffed full of reporters all wanting their own minute to annoy. However, it was just all part of being in the Wonderbolts, and Spitfire had promised to take the team out in the evening to make up for the extended session. Her luck had been holding so far, with most of the questions directed towards Soarin and Spitfire. For some reason, the reporters were very insistent that the two had an open relationship or something, though Rainbow Dash didn’t see why anyone would care. They were awesome flyers, why would you ask anything other than the stats of the day’s show. “Ms Dash, are the rumours true?” “What?” Rainbow Dash jerked back awake and frowned at the reporter who was staring at her so insistently. Spitfire was rolling her eyes at Rainbow Dash, and she knew there was probably going to be a lecture later about paying attention. “Um, I wasn’t paying attention. You were really boring. What are we talking about?” The reporter glared at her.“We wanted to know if the rumours about your relationship status change was true.” Rainbow Dash returned the glare with an eye roll, it wasn’t her fault that she didn’t pay attention. The reporter ponies needed to learn to be more interesting. “I don’t know, what are the rumours?” Rainbow Dash asked with a shrug. She could tell them that she was joining the herd, but with the mess of paperwork and the princess parts it was seemingly more a casual job offer than a relationship at this point. So if they wanted to know anything then they would need to badger Twilight. “There are rumours that the Wonderbolts often have cases of infidelity,” The reporter tried to lead, but Rainbow Dash wasn’t really paying him any more attention. “I wouldn’t know.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, “If you’re not going to ask about how awesome I am at flying, then there probably isn’t much I can tell you. I can tell you that I did like a perfect Immelman loop in the show after the wave turn. If you want some controversy, my cobra manoeuvre was nowhere near as clean. It was still pretty awesome though.” “So are you saying that you won’t comment on rumours that you are sleeping with other team members,” The reporter pushed. "How cheap do you think we are? The Wonderbolts have enough bits to pay for separate hotel rooms. So every pony in the team gets their own bed." Rainbow Dash couldn't help the irritation with the dumb questions get to her. She knew perfectly well that the reporter had to rely on innuendo to even ask the questions, so she made sure to always answer them painfully literally. "I meant do you have se-" the reporter tried again before being interrupted. “Seriously?” Spitfire cut in, “You know the guidelines on what is and isn’t okay to ask at these junkets. Do we need to reconsider allowing you here?” “It’s a fair question.” The reporter argued. “Wonderbolt fans deserve to know whether the mares and stallions that they idolise are actually as pure as they pretend to be, or if they are-” “Just stop!” Spitfire spat back, waving away the reporter with a rather rude gesture. “We will be talking with your paper about appropriateness of questions. This is intended to be a family friendly event, and that includes this as well. You remember the media guidelines that you agreed to for access." “It’s the free press, I can ask anything,” The reporter argued, seemingly oblivious of the reporters behind him that were shaking their heads as he continued to dig himself into an even deeper hole. “I think that my readers deserve to know if the Wonderbolts are actually all degenerates that sleep around.” “This is a media junket designed to give you easy access to us,” Spitfire shot back, “that’s the agreement we have with your paper.” “Okay, I think maybe we should call it a night,” Soarin interrupted, thankfully ending the conversation Spitfire could get too angry. “Let me handle the last few reporters and you get ready for tonight.” “Fine,” Spitfire growled, nodding for Rainbow Dash to follow her as she trotted out of the room. Rainbow trailing after her. As soon as they were outside Spitfire jumped into the air, Rainbow Dash flying into the air after her. Spitfire slowed her flight and Rainbow Dash took the chance to fly alongside her. “Sorry about the press,” Spitfire apologised as they flew over Manehattan. “I know you didn’t join the Wonderbolts to deal with that rubbish. You know that most of our press conferences aren’t that bad.” “I have been to a few of them before, you know,” Rainbow Dash called back as she pulled off a heartline roll, her wings flicking to guide her smoothly through the rollover. “They always ask dumb questions. It doesn’t bother me.” “I guess working with Princess Twilight also leads to a few of them?” Spitfire asked cautiously. “Not really.” Rainbow Dash admitted, slowing down her flight a little to make sure she didn’t fly too far ahead of Spitfire. She was still having difficulty properly slowing down around the other Wonderbolts, though she was trying. “Princess Celestia used to try and keep reporters away from us as everything was either a state secret or we were on a mission. Also, pretty much every reporter has learnt to never ask Twilight an open ended question. She can lecture you about any topic for hours.” “You speak from experience?” Spitfire queried. “She can be very thorough with her explanations, let’s leave it at that.” Rainbow Dash sighed, switching to a gentle glide as they slowly began their turnaround back towards their hotel. "Though the real reason they never bother is that Pinkie Pie has a tendency to completely derail any question. So they generally become pointless." “There was something else I was going to ask,” Spitfire hesitantly began, her own wings beating a little faster than was strictly necessary to maintain her height, “you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. But, are you seeing anypony?” “Funnily enough, I have no idea.” Rainbow Dash chuckled. “Maybe? I’ll have to ask Twilight to check the paperwork.” “The paperwork?” Spitfire raised an eyebrow before shaking her head, “No, I meant if you had your eye on anypony in the team. No judgement, but it would be nice to know if I could help. You know, give you a chance to be with them off the record and play interference with the media if you need it.” “Is this about what that reporter said?” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, flaring her wings and angling them vertically so she could shoot backwards beside Spitfire. “Look, I’m not here to shack up with any of the Wonderbolts. I am here to fly, and I am here to do it well. So don’t worry about stupid questions from stupid reporters.” “Hmm,” Spitfire didn’t look entirely convinced but didn’t ask any more questions on the flight back to the hotel.   Spitfire had gone all out for the drinks that evening. Not only had she reserved a private room for the entire team to act like drunk idiots, she had even ordered them enough food to appease the entire team. The plates were piled high with pizza and other absolute trash food. There was so much food that Rainbow Dash knew that even Pinkie Pie would have almost been satisfied. Naturally with the food there was also plenty of drinks, all being charged to the Wonderbolts HQ as ‘entertainment’. Rainbow Dash was already four cocktails in, switching from cider as soon as she realised that she didn’t have to cover the costs. With so much alcohol in everypony’s system, the conversation was quickly devolving into absolute nonsense as they all struggled to keep the conversation going. No pony was slurring their words too much yet, but Rainbow Dash knew that she was probably only a few drinks away from sleeping on the table.  Soarin’s foreleg wrapped over her back was probably the only real reason she was still standing straight, though it was also clear that Soarin was using her to keep himself level as well. “Thunderlane seems to think that he’s Celestia’s gift to mares,” Fire Streak laughed. As he hoofed over yet another beer to Soarin.  “Check him out talking to Blaze like he has a chance. He said that he was rated the hottest Wonderbolt. She’s in the team, she already knows he’s talking out of his rear.” “It’s not like he’s even the hottest stallion here,” Rainbow Dash responded with an eye roll, taking another drink of a particularly fruity cocktail. “Oh, who would you say is the most,” Soarin cut in, wiggling his eyebrows at Rainbow Dash, a smirk plastered over his face. “It’s me, clearly.” Fire Streak mock boasted, barely about to finish without laughing. “I mean, Soarin’s rump is apparently one of the top ten stallion plots of the decade,” Rainbow Dash countered with a laugh, “Or at least that is what Mare’s Weekly tells everypony. I’m sure they are accurate.” “Is this really a top ten ass,” Soarin laughed as he waved his rump at Rainbow. “What do you think Dash? The best you’ve seen, or do you need to study it a bit closer? Maybe it could make the top five." “I think I’ve seen enough,” Rainbow Dash chuckled, shoving Soarin’s plot away. “You’d better put that away before you tempt somepony.” “We’re talking about my ass, not being an ass, Dash” Soaring shot back with a smirk. “You really shouldn’t use terms like that,” Spitfire nudged Soarin with her shoulder, “all it takes is one reporter mis-hearing and then we’re stuck in another hour long reporter rabble.” “It’s fine Spits, we're in a private room,” Soarin complained, "you don’t have to ride me on it." “I’ll ride you all I damn well want,” Spitfire shot back, pushing herself against him and narrowing her eyes. “Great, mummy and daddy are fighting again,” Dash snickered as she watched the two mock glare at one another. “Did you just call Soarin daddy?” Fleetfoot asked, a weird expression plastered across her face. Dash just waved her off as she finished off the last of her cocktail, letting out a belch as she slammed the glass down on the table. “They are the ones that tell us what to do, so they are basically the parents of the team.” Dash shrugged, waving down a waiter pony so she could try the next cocktail in the list. After making her order, she turned back to meet Fleetfoot’s frown. “What?” “You do understand how weird it is to call Soarin Daddy, right?” Rainbow Dash just rolled her eyes. “You need another cocktail in you, maybe without the tail.” “I’m serious Dash,” Fleetfoot stepped right up to Rainbow Dash, her muzzle only a hair away from her own. “Reel it in Dash before I make you. At least slow down on the drinks.” “Whatever.” Dash waved her off, seeing that her next drink was ready for her. “What did Fleety want?” Soarin had somehow managed to make it to the bar before Rainbow Dash, and was already necking back a glass of some amber liquid. “Or was our little Dashie trying to put the moves on her?” “She just thought I had too much or something.” Dash managed to get a clumsy hoof around the new drink and take a sip. She twisted her mouth as she realised that the drink was a lot stronger than she expected. “Wow, this one has a kick.” “What did you expect?” Soarin chuckled as he took another sip of his own drink. “It’s a Manehatten iced tea.” “I expected it to taste like tea or something, not pure alcohol.” Rainbow Dash shrugged, before taking another careful sip, this time being careful to just have a smaller amount. “Well, with that drink you’re probably going to hit your limit.” “Please, I’m way too awesome to get taken down by just a drink.” Rainbow Dash paused, lifting the glass up and peering into it. “Wait, how much is in this?” “Three of them will put me down for the night,” Soarin chuckled. “Apparently those from Manehatten need something strong to deal with the fact that they live in Manehatten instead of somewhere awesome like Cloudsdale.” “You’d better hope no pony hears you say that. Spitfire told me they are big business for the Wonderbolts.” “Please, you’d be surprised by the amount of nonsense ponies will let us get up to.” Soarin gestured to the rest of the team, nearly spilling his drink in the process. He quickly set it down on the bar, and threw a foreleg on Rainbow Dash, pulling her close. “I think you’re probably the only one of us without a horrible news story about their misguided youth or whatever.” “I think Princess Luna kind of made a law banning anyone talking about “her saviours” in a bad light,” Dash muttered, shifting her weight to try and reduce how much Soarin was leaning on her. “Not sure if that is true though. Though it would explain why no one bugs me about Flight Camp.” “There you two are!” Spitfire stumbled over to them, a blush on her cheeks as she struggled to keep her balance. She threw her foreleg over Rainbow Dash’s neck, mirroring Soarin. “I see that Soarin has already decided to ask.” “Ixnay on that Spits,” Soarin yelped in a panic, gesturing for Spitfire to stop. He also pulled himself away from Rainbow Dash. “Oh, right...” Spitfire nervously chuckled, gently lifting her arm off of Rainbow Dash’s back as well. “Um, I was also coming over to say that the others wanted to head out on the town soon. I only booked here for a few hours.” “Oh sure, I’m game for a longer night.” Rainbow Dash agreed. “I assume you’re joining, Soarin?” “I could be convinced,” Soarin chuckled. “I assume that they want to try out karaoke or something?” “After this many drinks?” Spitfire laughed. “Definitely!” Soarin quickly downed the rest of his drink before pulling himself back onto all four hooves, clearly ready to head out that second. Spitfire looked equally ready, though a lot less stable.  Rainbow Dash tried to down the rest of her drink, but Soarin nudged her. “Maybe skip drinking that much that quickly, you don’t want to be as drunk as Spitfire. I can promise you the next morning will not be fun.” “Fair point.” Rainbow Dash breathed a sigh of relief as she put it back down, belatedly realising that she would have been utterly ruined if she had gone for it. She was awesome, but even awesomeness had its limits. “Anyway, karaoke?” Soarin asked the group after finally freeing himself from Spitfire's hug. With a few nods of agreement the remainder of the Wonderbolts all quickly downed the last of their drinks and prepared to leave.  Rainbow Dash made to follow them. However Fleetfoot stepped in front of her, a frown on her face. Rainbow tried to step around her, but Fleetfoot just moved back in front of her. Rainbow Dash was not the queen of understanding social cues, but even she was smart enough to recognise that Fleetfoot was trying to stop her following. “I think you’ve had a few too many drinks Rainbow, it’s time to call it a night,” Fleetfoot told her as she gestured to the numerous empty glasses sitting on the table behind Dash. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, knowing that more than half of them had been Soarin’s. “You do realise that he is currently dating Spitfire, correct?” “And? I know that they are dating.” Rainbow Dash asked, having no idea what point Fleetfoot was trying to make. She didn’t know why either of them would care what Spitfire and Soarin were doing in their hotel room. “They asked me if I wanted to join in a karaoke session with the other half of the team. Same as you.” “Rainbow, you were hitting on Soarin!” Fleetfoot told Rainbow Dash with a huff. “It kind of went beyond okay. So I think it would be a good idea if you called it a night and headed home before you do something that you’ll regret. Okay?” “I wasn’t hitting on anyone,” Rainbow protested, but she could tell that Fleetfoot had made up her mind. It would have been fun to go to karaoke with the others, but it was clear that Fleetfoot would make sure that she never put a hoof into the place. Groaning, Rainbow Dash decided to cut her losses. “Fine, I guess it was getting late anyway. See ya tomorrow for training.” Dash huffed as she left the bar, doing her best not to snap at Fleetfoot as she left. She flicked her tail in irritation as she angrily trotted back to the team’s hotel, once again annoyed that she couldn’t finish a night’s drinks with the team. This time she had managed to free up the next morning, and it still wasn’t enough to actually get through the night. “Was I even flirting?” Rainbow Dash asked herself out loud with a huff. Sure, she had let him hug her and they had been pretty close the whole night, but that didn’t mean much. If that counted as flirting, then she had done it with all of her friends, and they clearly didn’t not see her that way. Right? Rainbow Dash paused before tapping her face with her hoof, realising the blatantly obvious. Her friends had wanted to have a romantic relationship with her. Was just talking nicely to others enough to count as flirting? She was pretty sure that she was able to talk casually with other ponies without them all thinking that she was flirting with them, right? “Why does this have to be so confusing?” She complained to herself as she continued her trot, her thoughts swirling as she tried to organise the confusing mess that was her life. “Think, Rainbow. Fleetfoot described your behaviour as flirting, but you only saw it as being friendly. You’ve only ever been friendly with your friends, but they all want to have a romantic relationship. Surely I have not been giving them signals that were that misleading.” Rainbow Dash quickly recalled the many, many, times that she had dragged Fluttershy physically out of the mare’s bed. Fluttershy had been very embarrassed every time that Rainbow Dash had done it, maybe it was one of those flirty things that she wasn’t meant to be doing with her friends. “Have I tricked my friends?” She asked herself quietly, frowning as she tried to focus on putting one hoof in front of the other, but the thoughts kept on returning. “I’ve hugged all of them, I’ve hugged them a lot actually. Am I meant to be hugging friends? Is that why they want me to join their herd?” Rainbow Dash frowned, before shaking her head. She had also hugged Scootaloo a whole bunch as well and that hadn’t been an issue. So maybe she was fine, it was just an overreaction from Fleetfoot. It wouldn’t be the first time that Fleetfoot had been overly protective of Spitfire and Soarin. Nodding to herself, Rainbow Dash continued her walk. Glad that she had mostly worked through the confusing nonsense that Fleetfoot’s words had put in her head. Mostly.