Some things just never hit home until enough time passed by for it to sink in. Surprise was happy to be Spitfire's designated wingmare for the new maneuver. Time passed and that happiness turned to nervousness. What if she messed up? What if she disappointed her incredibly awesome lead- friend? Yes, Spitfire was her friend. She didn't have to worry about things like disappointment. Her mind buzzed with such thoughts and distracted her from making too many responses to what what going on around her. Both of the pegasus mares had followed High Winds back to one of Canterlot's shopping plazas. They were seated next to a fountain that had to be the designated meeting place for the other mares. They waited there while the others slowly gathered together.
Finally, Surprise broke from her internal distraction. I've gone over this a hundred times already, she thought. There was no need to keep dwelling on such trivial things. That's certainly what she told herself but hardly what she ended up doing. Spitfire helped her escape her own mind. "This is going to be a mess...not that it isn't already."
"Huh?" gasped the white mare. "Oh...yes. We never went through with the dare. Blaze won't be happy."
Spitfire almost stuck her tongue out in disgust. "I don't care if Blaze is happy or not."
"Yeah, I guess she's the type that moves on really fast," Surprise contemplated.
Spitfire leaned over to her friend and started getting tickled by the spray of the plaza fountain behind them. It was a bit refreshing. "I much prefer to have a trooper like you around," she kidded as she half-hugged her 'Bolt.
Surprise simply got flustered and didn't have to wonder about a response as High Winds came back with Misty and Fleetfoot. The three of them each had a relieved expression.
Misty was first to speak, "I'm glad Blaze isn't here yet."
When Spitfire released Surprise from her hold, she picked up on the odd mood and gave a look to motion one of the other girls to continue.
High Winds answered, "We were worried about you two. We don't really care about the whole dare. Are you two doing okay?"
"We didn't think you'd go off and disappear like that if there wasn't some problem," Fleetfoot knifed in.
Surprise mustered some unusual courage and interrupted her own captain from the reply. "We're doing great! In fact, I'm now the lead wingmare," she beamed.
High Winds and Fleetfoot were only momentarily stunned and Misty was in a prolonged shock. Spitfire mentally shook her head. Surprise was being giddy right now - maybe even moody. But then she probably was too. There was just too much going on in their lives for anything to feel normal. It was already a stretch to use the word "normal" with the Wonderbolts. "Sorry, Misty," the orange pegasus started. "I know you're usually my wingmate when Soarin' can't fill in. I thought it would be best if I changed our positioning a bit."
The mares all looked to Misty for her response, which was simply a nod when she could afford to give it. Spitfire knew she could trust Misty to handle everything well. On top of the mare being just a tad older than the others, she had a certain mental maturity that was rare in the business. As for the others, they had at least proved the were mature enough to be concerned for their teammates. Blaze was a tad lacking in that category.
So, with that, the entire matter was resolved. Fleetfoot took the silent cue to change the direction, "Looks like you're finally relaxing, cap'."
High Winds echoed, "Our plan worked out in the end...even if it didn't go at all like we thought."
The five mares shared only the briefest second of laughter. It was the special kind of laughter that was not for comedy but rather for relief. An invisible burden left the group of mares. "Thanks, girls," Spitfire said warmly. "I'm glad I have such a great team. You're all very considerate to think of me like that."
"More than you know," Misty added too faintly to be heard.
The girls started to discuss what they were going to do next when the latecomer finally arrived.
"Hey! Dare Dropouts!" Blaze was as energetic as always. When she got close enough to start her ranting, Spitfire ended it prematurely. Thankfully the mare picked up on the tone of her voice.
"I hope you remember what the point of this vacation was," the captain suggested.
"Yeah yeah," Blaze relented. "Well I guess it's okay since you're the captain and all."
Spitfire gathered her breath, "I'm going off with Surprise to get in some training...whatever I still have strength for. You girls can keep on with the vacation."
Fleetfoot started to raise her hoof but Spitfire anticipated her question, "I'm not overworking myself, Fleet. I actually want to do this to relax. It's okay if you don't get it. I'd just like to work on the sync with my wingmare."
Surprise grinned while Blaze fumbled over her words. "Y-you took Surprise on? I thought I was next up for lead wingmare?"
Misty slung a hoof over the girl's shoulders, "You've still got some work to do before that, Blaze."
Slowly the mare turned her head to her would-be comforter, "You saying I'm lacking, missy?"
High Winds gave a nod to the captain to indicate they should just leave. Misty and Blaze would be at odds for a while.
"Are we going back to the-?" Surprise tried to ask when Spitfire covered her mouth with one of her flexible back hooves. A single knowing look passed between them and Surprise remembered they were supposed to keep hush.
With a final goodbye, the two mares left the others and started back to the Royal Palace.
What the two mares found when they got back was an odd sight. One of the guards lead them to the private garden and told them to wait. Apparently, the princess was off doing something else and had to be retrieved. It proved how careful she was with details that she would instruct a guard to handle the two mares when they got back. What didn't make sense, however, was the crate that sat squarely in the middle of the garden's pathway. It was marked "water bottles, aspirin, and ammo."
"Wha-" Surprise started.
"Welcome back, my little ponies!" Celestia declared as she rushed into the garden. It definitely looked like she had raced to meet them.
"What's the crate for?" Spitfire felt almost awkward in asking.
"Hm?" the princess paused as she took everything in. "Oh! Yes! I just haven't sent in on ahead yet."
A bright yellow glow emitted briefly from the alicorn's horn and the crate disappeared with a "poof."
"It's the supplies for our next exercise," she continued.
"What's the water for?" Surprise asked.
Spitfire could only facehoof. Out of the three items, that was what she was curious about.
Celestia was even less revealing. "You'll find out. First we need to get to where the crate is. I teleported it not far from here. It just wasn't a good idea to use the cannon here so I had it set up farther across the mountainside. We'll be quite private there. It was one of my favorite places to watch my sister's night sk-"
"Cannon?!" Spitfire backtracked.
"That's what I said, yes," Celestia smiled almost evilly.
Sighing, the captain couldn't help but complain, "I was just thinking of doing some gentle stuff to get in sync with S-Prize." She almost didn't use the mare's more familiar name. A slight sweat broke out as she tried to recall if she had used the name properly before. Quickly she had to decide to just use it as she remembered to and not stress out. Celestia knows she already had to much to stress over...literally.
"Oh, I haven't forgotten. I don't expect you to go 110% after the exercises we've already done. Think of this as a sort of warm up."
"This sounds exciting," Surprise added innocently. It was certainly not the kind of encouragement the princess needed.
At once, Celestia beckoned the two pegasus to follow her into the cavern. It was the same one with the "Diving Pool" and Spitfire almost got a bout of nausea at the remembrance.
"Don't worry, Fire. We're just taking the cavern because it's easier to leave this way without being seen," the white alicorn assured.
Surprise, ever full of wonder, couldn't help but kindle the conversation as they went. She was being much more outgoing and Spitfire took it as a good sign. "It leads outside of Canterlot?" the white pegasus inquired.
Celestia was at ease in answering all of the mare's questions. "At quite a few points. It's a very complex cavern..."
What they found at the end of the awkwardly long trek was an enclosed field upon the side of Mt. Canter. They had exited the cavern some distance back and the field before them was mostly hidden from Canterlot's view. It did, however, present an incredible view of the sky. The first tones of burnt yellow began to show on the horizon as the afternoon approached its end.
The crate that the two pegasus had seen earlier in the garden was now sitting before them in the grass. What was more interesting, however, was the cannon next to it. It was nothing like the cannons occasionally used in their performances. It had two long but thin barrels that pointed upwards, as if it was challenging the sun to a shootout. Gears could be seen behind the barrels and they gave the Wonderbolt captain a dangerous feeling about the cannon's rate of fire.
Celestia began opening the crate and removing its contents. "Move over there," she instructed the mares with a pointing hoof.
Surprise gave her friend a questioning look, not knowing whether to go along or not. With a nod, Spitfire directed her to the spot the princess indicated. After unpacking the crate, opening several jugs of water, and loading the cannon with some sort of belt-like object, Celestia approached the two very concerned mares. "You said this wasn't going to be extreme, right? I don't really have the ener-"
"No no," Celestia interrupted her orange trainee. "I'm just preparing things. Consider this a light...introduction."
"To what?" Surprise tried to ask but failed as she squeaked in shock. Something just tied itself to her tail.
Spitfire remained cool. "What are you doing?"
Celestia smirked as she continued to keep her horn glowing. "I'm tying banners to you. They will trail behind you as you fly."
"I'm very familiar with the idea. We do it all the time. The question is what do you want them for?" The captain didn't let her nervousness show.
"You need to get used to the sensation," the Princess of the Sun replied deadpan.
"What-?" Spitfire was cut short when Surprise screamed and bolted into the air. Smoke was trailing behind her. The captain quickly looked back to see her own tail-attached banner begin to burn. She looked back to Celestia with saucer-sized eyes.
"Get used to the fire, Fire," Celestia giggled eerily.
Off she was like a bolt of lightning.
She knew she couldn't keep the flames from crawling up the banner towards her tail but the heat was unbearable if she stood still. She panicked as she begun to realize what would happen if she stopped flapping her wings. The flaming banner would droop below her hooves and begin cooking her. In the distance she could see Surprise adding length to her smoke trail.
She gave an eek when she slowed down even a small fraction. That blasted banner wasted no time in falling when she lost momentum. It was obviously heavy material, since it took so much strength to pull behind her. The captain began to worry for her new wingmare, since she didn't have nearly the same strength as herself. She must have been racing ahead on mere adrenaline and panic. Spitfire wasn't doing much greater with most of her strength already used up in prior hours.
What happened from then on was mostly something Spitfire didn't want to recall or have recorded in any way. There were simply some moments in life that were so embarrassing that they were best left forgotten - or shared only by the closest of friends. Suffice it to say, it was not even five minutes later that both pegasus were lying on the grassy field. Panting from the exhaustion, they gave harsh glares to an awkwardly cheerful Celestia.
"What? I already removed the banners..." the alicorn tried to play innocent.
Spitfire felt like she was going to expire into her grave right then and there. Surprise was entirely honest, "That was...horrible!"
Celestia's cheerful facade faded and she resumed her trainer's tone, "It's supposed to be. That's only a partial taste of what it's like to engage the Bullet. The fire on those banners would only singe you at worst - I placed a protective spell over you both. The Bullet, however, would roast your entire body. You have to take this training seriously and get comfortable with the heat."
Surprise looked as if she were going to start crying so the captain rolled over to her and grabbed the mare's front hooves in her own. "We...can do this," she encouraged while still a tad short on breath.
The white pegasus gulped and gave a tiny nod. It was at that moment that Spitfire finally closed her eyes. Her hooves gently fell from her wingmare's and she didn't respond when Surprise shook her.
"Oh dear," Celestia sighed. "And I was trying not to push her that hard."
"Is she okay?" Surprise asked very worried.
"Of course. But we need to get her to bed."
Surprise sighed so deeply that it sounded like she had held her breath for hours. "I guess I could use some rest, too."
Celestia picked up the sleeping mare with her magic. "Oh? You look like you still have some energy...I think I should get you started on some stretching after we put Fire away."
"Stretching?" the near-white mare inquired curiously.
"I have to get you to Spitfire's current level if you two will be learning together."