NOTE
(This chapter is not finished as of yet. I've kind of been losing faith in this story. Not because of the story itself but in myself and my capabilities of finishing it. I love this story and I would love to keep it going so please, if you think its good let me know in the comments and I'll start making it a priority to finish chapters.)
Chapter Two: Training Day
“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I am so not ready for this!” Rainbow Dash ran across her living room, an overstuffed bag hanging from her side. “Do I have everything? Check the list again.” She came to a halt and turned to Fluttershy who had been sitting by the door.
“Okay, uh…” She fumbled with the sheet of paper that contained a list Soarin had given to Dash to prepare for her first day of training. “Number one, eat a big breakfast.”
“Check!” Dash nodded
“Number two, pack a bag with the following: A thick sweater.”
“Check!”
“A pair of goggles?”
“Check!”
“A towel?”
“Check!”
“And a large bottle of water.”
“Check.” Dash sighed. Everything seemed ready but she was still nervous.
It had only been a day since the Gala and already she was missing Soarin. That night he had flown her home, after having revived her a second time.
“You sure you’re alright?” He had said as she propped herself up on her front door.
“I’ve never been better.” She smiled.
“You aren’t going to faint in training are you?” Soarin joked.
“Hey don’t think just cause I blacked out twice in one night that I’m some ditsy filly who conks out whenever shes excited.” Rainbow marched up to him and stared him right in the eyes. “When I’m in the zone, nothing can touch me.” She poked his chest.
He laughed and planted a kiss on her cheek.
“You’re cute when you’re angry too.” Soarin poked her back. She blushed and stepped back.
“So this is it?” She said
“Only, ‘till tomorrow. I’ll be back at ten a.m. sharp. Training starts at eleven and goes till eleven. Here…” He handed Dash an envelope. “Everything you’ll need for tomorrow. Have a good night Dash. Welcome to the team.” And with that he bounded off the edge of her cloud. She ran to the edge and called out to him.
“Wait! Soarin!”
“Yes?” His head emerged through the cloud.
Rainbow Dash grabbed him and kissed him one last time. Soarin put his hooves around her and held her as she broke the kiss.
“Can’t you stay?” She whispered.
“Not tonight cutie.” He smiled down at her. She pressed her head against his neck and sighed. “I need to go see about getting you a uniform and there’s a ton of changes we have to make.” He saw her eyes snap open at the mention of a uniform.
“U..uniform?”
“Still haven’t adjusted to the idea of being a Wonderbolt eh?” Soarin laughed. “Go get a good night sleep and I bet all those jitters fade right away.”
“Okay. I’ll be ready.” She nodded, and for the last few moments, she simply stood there, feeling Soarins chest rise and fall against her cheek. “I love you.”
“I love you too Dash.” He tightened the embrace before letting her go and stepping back.
With that he took off, Rainbow Dash watching until he was consumed by the night sky.
“Rainbow Dash?” A soft voice permeated her memories “Rainbow Dash!” This time slightly louder.
Suddenly Dash found herself sitting on the floor in her living room again.
“Are you okay?” Fluttershy was looking down at her,
“Yeah I’m fine Fluttershy.” Dash rolled her eyes as she got to her feet
“Oh, sorry. Its just that, you were staring off into space for a long time. I thought you might have had a melt down or something.”
“Stop worrying about me will ya? I swear, sometimes you get so protective.”
“I..I …I’m sorry.” Fluttershy hung her head. Dash saw her somber expression and sighed, sometimes Fluttershy could be so sensitive.
“It’s okay, I guess its nice to know somepony is worrying about me. Even if shes ALWAYS worried about me.” Dash put her hoof around her friend and tousled her mane. Fluttershy flinched, but smiled. “What time is it?”
“Nine fifty nine.” Fuittershy smiled.
“WHAT!?” Dash jumped to her feet, grabbed her bag and bolted for the door, knocking Fluttershy to the ground in the process. “Sorry!” She shouted, flinging the door open and speeding outside.
Soarin was just touching down outside when Rainbow Dash skidded to a halt in front of him, nearly tipping forward fully and landing flat on her face. Soarin put a hoof out to steady her and pushed her back on to all fours.
“Careful Dash.” He chuckled “You’ll have plenty of chances to hurt yourself training. You want to make it there first though.”
“Hi, uh yeah, yeah I do. Sorry I’m just really eager to get going and ....” Dash brushed her mane from her eyes and stared up at him. At the Gala, Soarin had been in his uniform all night. Now she saw him for the first time without it. “I, uh…” His coat was a beautiful silver blue that shone , and his mane was a dark blue that lined his sharp figure, and his cutie mark, the golden, white-winged lightning bolt glinted in the sunlight. Dash caught herself staring open mouthed again and shook her head. “Sorry. I meant to say I’m really excited.”
“Can I be a little vain and say I don’t mind when you stare at me?” Soarin posed with one hoof in the air.
Dash smiled and rolled her eyes, kicking his other hoof out. Soarin face planted into the cloud.
“A bit too cocky?” He said getting standing up.
“A little.”
“You all ready?” Soarin brushed cloud off himself and hefted Dash’s bag over his shoulder.
“Uh yeah, I guess so.”
“Alright then. We should get going.” Soarin made for the edge of Dash’s cloud, and with a deep breath, she followed him.
The two pegusi dove off the edge of the cloud and flew side by side off into the bright blue sky, Dash nestling in close to Soarin. Fluttershy watched them from the doorway of Dash’s house. She sighed and closed the door on her way out.
Why couldn’t she get Rainbow Dash to see her. Sure she acknowledged her as a friend but after everything she had done for Dash, she still treated her like a sister. Fluttershy hopped off of the cloud and floated gently to the ground. She needed to get home and make sure the animals were fed before she and the other ponies went to the training field to cheer Dash on for her first day. Solemnly, she trotted up the path that lead to her home.
Flutteryshy winced, thinking about Rainbow Dash always made her feel sick, but not in a bad way. It was something she could never explain. Whenever she was around her, she felt a warm tingling in her stomach. She always equated the feeling to being sick but she didn’t mind it. It was something that only Dash made her feel.
She had never really been in love before. Even as a filly, her shyness kept her away from other ponies her age, especially boys, but when Rainbow Dash approached her at junior flight camp, something changed inside her. She and Dash became friends quickly, and even though Dash found Fluttershys shyness difficult to deal with sometimes, she never rejected her for it, as so many ponies had done before. Ever since, Fluttershys affection for Rainbow Dash had grown beyond a simple friendship, and even though she could never bring herself to tell her, Fluttershy had truly fallen for Dash, and that made what she had done hurt even more.
The night of the Gala, Fluttershy had been alone in the gardens. She had hoped to spend at least some of the night with Rainbow Dash, but as soon as they arrived, she had disappeared into a VIP section where Fluttershy couldn’t follow. So she had wandered off to the garden, where she had originally planned to spend her time, trying not to think about Dash. After an hour or so though, a royal guard had approached her, explaining that Rainbow Dash had fallen and hurt herself. Fluttershy had taken off faster than she could ever remember running, but when she arrived, her heart sank.
Rainbow Dash was in the hooves of another Pegasus pony, who seemed to be genuinely worried about her. She recognized the Pegasus as Soarin, one of the Wonderbolts Dash frequently obsessed over. He was cradling her gently as she began to stir. As her other friends arrived, Rainbow Dash began to wake, and when Fluttershy saw the look on her face as her eyes met Soarins, she knew what had happened. A surge of emotions rushed through her; sadness, jealousy, hate, loneliness. That combined with the brush off that Dash gave her when she asked if she was alright was, she now realized, probably what made her do what she did next.
As she stepped out of the lounge, a young, fiery Pegasus pony approached her. Fluttershy recognized her as another one of the Wonderbolts.
“Hey have you seen a pegasus pony around here? Hes about a foot taller than me, blue-ish mane, wearing a uniform like mine?” She looked worried. Fluttershy immediately put two and two together, and acted purely on emotion.
“I think I saw him in there with Rainbow Dash. They were going out onto the balcony.” Fluttershy said, and then took off as fast as she could. She just barely heard Spitfires sharp cry as she ran down the hall.
For the rest of the night Fluttershy felt terrible. She couldn’t even look at Rainbow Dash. She couldn’t even manage to smile. Even when Princess Celestia announced that Rainbow Dash would be in the Wonderbolts, the pit in her stomach burned the entire way home.
“Fluttershy!” Came Pinkie Pie’s voice from outside. Fluttershy grabbed her knapsack and stepped outside.
“I’m coming.” She sighed as she met the other ponies. Her friends smiled, she returned it with a weak grin.
"This is going to be so cool!" Pinky Pie was bouncing in place. "Getting to see the Wonderbolts is one thing but now we have a friend IN the Wonderbolts! How awesome is that?"
The ponies chatted away as they began the trek to the training ground. The night before, Soarin had invited them to give Rainbow Dash a boost on her first day.
“Is everything alright Fluttershy?” Twilight noticed she was trailing behind and slowed up to walk beside her.
“Yes, I’m just…tired I guess.” She tried to smile at Twilight but her heart just wasn’t behind it, and Twilight could see it.
“If there's something you want to talk about…” Twilight started.
“No, just, can I just walk alone for a bit Twilight.” Twilight was taken aback. “Oh, I don’t mean ..I just…” Fluttershy became flustered. “Please, just …let me think alone for a while.” Twilight nodded and sped up to catch the other ponies. Fluttershy hung her head, she couldn’t stand feeling like this. Not only was it making her feel terrible but she was hurting her friends too. She was on the verge of tears as she and the other ponies passed the town limits of Ponyville.
Spitfire bared her teeth as she sped across the sky high above the Wonderbolts training grounds. Ahead of her was the first part of her self-made course. She reached her top speed and snapped her wings to her sides, easily slipping through the narrow hoop. She closed her eyes and quickly began to plummet towards the ground. A grin spread across her face.
This is what she lived for. The danger game, pushing it so close to the edge she almost hit the ground, even though she never would. She listened to the wind rushing by her and could tell exactly how high she was.
The ground was approaching fast and Spitfire spread her wings and felt herself begin to level, her eyes still closed. She felt the tips of the blades of grass on the field brush her hooves. Her eyes flicked open and she saw the second obstacle ahead.
Two large flat wooden boards were placed barely two feet apart. Spitfire turned and passed through them, the force of her passing knocking both boards down.
The final obstacle was a thick board placed at a fourty five degree angle with a target painted just above the center. Spitfire flew towards it and pulled her legs in. The second she was above it, she pushed her legs out as hard as she could and angled her wings up. The shock rattled her teeth but she ignored it as she took off, completely vertical.
Now she began climbing, higher and higher until the training ground was just a tiny green field beneath her. A sharp cold pierced her lungs as she pushed higher.
"Come on, come on!" She said as a frost began to form at the edge of her goggles. Ice was beginning to build on her wings
It hurt but she pushed as hard as she could until she felt the ice begin to form under her suit. Her body screamed at her to stop, the extreme cold penetrating to her bones. Finally she gave in with a frustrated shout and pulled her wings in. Again she began to fall to the ground.
With the same skill as before, Spitfire pulled out of the dive at the last second and glided gracefully across the field. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a pony landing at the edge of the field. She recognized Soarin and began to glide in his direction.
"Hey Spits!" Soarin called. She rolled her eyes as she approached him. She hated that nickname so much.
"Morning Soarin." Spitfire smiled, slowing as she brought her feet to the ground, preparing to land. Then she caught sight of Rainbow Dash stepping out from behind him. Her concentration slipped for a split second and she misstepped in her landing, sending her into a spiraling somersault across the ground. She ground to a halt ten feet away, face first in the ground.
"Ow..." Spitfires voice was muffled by a mouthful of dirt.
"Ive seen better ways to start the day." Soarin smiles and gave Spitfire a hoof. She grabbed it and pulled herself up.
"Good morning Spitfire!" Dash walked sheepishly up to her. "I was uh, hoping we could just forget about last night and maybe just start again?" Spitfire eyed Dash, her face not betraying a single emotion. And even though her eyes were hidden behind her frosted goggles, Dash could tell Spitfire was staring at her.
Spitfire was silent. She was still more than a little angry with Rainbow Dash but she knew if they were both going to be working together she was going to have to get over it. Besides, she thought, that little filly had nothing on her.