Camouflage By: RoflLuxRay
Chapter 3
A small scream escaped from Spitfire, drowned by the surprise of noticing the culprit. Panting loudly, she took a hoof to the chest to calm her soul.
“You were this close from having you face filled with pain,” said the yellow Pegasus still shuddering.
“You wouldn’t do it,” teased Ampy with a mocking grin.
“Oh… don’t doubt of it,” the leader sighed deeply to calm herself once and for all, “but ain’t you one lucky filly… you passed.”
“I had a little help,” said Ampy with a confident mug, turning his eyes to the unicorn in the distance.
“That’s… Twilight Sparkle,” a small grin appeared on her lips, “your luck is amazing, you ran into Celestia’s student and she decided to help you out.”
“So, you’re saying that I snuck into Celestia student’s place?” asked Ampy skeptical.
“And she decided to help you out…” Spitfire grabbed him from the neck and approached his ear to whisper, “And between you and me, she’s a little special every now and then.”
“She treated me well,” Ampy pulled away from her grip with his skepticism even bigger.
“You’ll get to see her next to Celestia.”
“Hey, hey, what are we talking about?” asked Pinkie Pie poking her head between the Pegasi, a conduct commonly considered as rude.
“About how much we love your party, Pinkie pie,” answered Ampy instants before her boss did, “you did one nice job.”
“Thanks!” said the earth Pony with a big smile, “enjoy it all you want, I have to go fed my pet alligator.”
Without saying more, Pinkie turner around and blended well amid the crowd, but gave herself away with her characteristic jumping.
“She could have just blown us off, but that’s just absurd,” said Ampy staring queerly at Pinkie.
“As silly as it sounds, she does have a pet alligator named Gummy,” said Spitfire with a shrug, along with her eyes stretched open wide.
“So this is the fifth Wonderbolt Celestia wanted eh?” asked Twilight with an arrogant tone, walking to the Pegasi as she bit her colorful muffin.
“Yep,” affirmed Spitfire with a nod and a chuckle, “this boy got some nerve, potential and one hell of a cheating skill.”
“Really? What’s his talent?”
“According to Whooves, it’s something like bending time and space, the kind of mumbo-jumbo you understand,” said Spitfire with sarcasm, so much in fact that you could see it pouring out of her mouth.
“Oh please, don’t start,” said Twilight upset, “I’m not in the mood for arguing.”
“You’re the one with a problem here,” said Spitfire keeping her cool, “I’m just giving you a small joke and you make the worst out of it.”
“Eh… Spitfire?” said Ampy by standing between the mares, interrupting their stares of hatred, “how about we get going?”
“Sounds like a good idea,” answered Spitfire turning her back on the unicorn, “we’ve got stuff to do.”
The Wonderbolts’ leader took Ampy by a hoof and dragged him to the entrance, releasing all of her anger by stomping on the wooden floor as they made their way to the entrance. The young Pegasus could only raise a hoof to wave Twilight goodbye with an awkward smile before Spitfire slammed the door shut.
“Well… that was… awkward,” said Ampy rubbing his neck with a nervous smile.
“I’m sorry that you had to see that,” answered her boss immediately, gently lifting her body off the floor, “we don’t get along, and don’t ask why, it’s a long story.”
In that moment, Soarin’ and Flare Charge arrived at their position from different ways, they had seen them walking out of Twilight’s library seconds ago.
“Look at that, you found him,” said Soarin’ with a snicker, patting the rookie on the back.
“He found me, to be exact,” said the leader as she glanced at Ampy with a proud smile, “he passed the test on his first try.”
“No way,” said Flare with much surprise, “no one passes on the first try.”
“Sparkle helped him,” replied Spitfire rolling her eyes in irony.
“Lucky boy,” said Soarin’ ruffling his mane emphatically.
“Hey, don’t think we’re through with you yet,” said Flare stepping forward, “if he cleared the test we can initiate him.”
“You’re right!” added Spitfire with realization, “but we have to do some preparations, how about you go visit your friend? She’s at this town’s hospital.”
“Wait, this is Ponyville?” asked Ampy staggered.
“Yep, this is it,” said Spitfire flying a little higher so that her companions would mimic, “it’s a couple of blocks down that street. You can do more than that, but you only have two hours, got it?”
“Got it,” affirmed the young Pegasus with a nod, “oh, wait, how do I get to the stable?”
“There’s a hidden button only visible with our glasses,” Soarin’ removed his goggles and handed them to Ampy, “Look for a flat part in the cloud and you’ll see it.”
“Alright, thanks,” said Ampy giving the Wonderbolts their first salute, and he felt it natural. He was getting used to the idea of becoming a Wonderbolt, to see the radical change in his life and all that came with it.
As the four Pegasi flew away from the town, Ampy walked through the streets in the direction that Spitfire pointed, meditating, completely lost in what he had to do and say now that he was about to be a Wonderbolt, a legend among ponies.
Naturally, he thought about informing his family about it, that their fifth child, the only one who didn’t follow the tradition of working in the weather to follow his time-limit obsession had become the newest member of the elite Pegasi of Equestria.
Jumping from a train of thoughts to another, he noticed that Celestia told him that the Wonderbolts that perform for crowds are a cover for the real ones, the military organization he had just became a part of.
By walking amid the recurred streets of Ponyville con his mind way up off the floor, he couldn’t notice the earth pony that jumped his way to him, crashing violently and smashing him to the ground.
“Oh, Ampy!” shouted Pinkie Pie, noticing the poor pony she had just ran into, “where were you that you couldn’t see me coming?”
“I might as well ask you the same, if seeing me in the distance made you bump into me anyway,” said Ampy rubbing his back.
“Where are you going?” asked the jolly Pony offering a hoof to stand up.
“To see somepony at the hospital, do you know where that is?”
“Oh, oh!” the pink Pony began agitating and jumping happily about, “yes, yes I Know, it’s two blocks that way, ask for nurse Redheart in the big building with white curtains, but you’ll be back to the party, right?”
“Sure, I think I might have some spare time,” said Ampy anxious to release himself from the stalking glare of the pink mare.
“Okie dokie lokie! See ya!” Pinkie trotted away humming something to herself. Relieved, Ampy resumed his walk down the street, but had lost the ability to remain focused in his thoughts like before, for his mind now lingered between Blueball and Pinkie Pie’s flank, a sight he doubted whether to ignore or admit it was a nice view.
And before he could notice, he was in front of the building that matched Pinkie’s description, conveniently labeled with a red cross in the front sign.
Ampy entered the hospital, which was surprisingly spacious, with an uneasy strut, inspecting the clear blue walls lit by sunlight coming from a wide window pane. Behind a small desk, a large hallway with several beds lined up with a few unfortunate ponies resting as a white-coated pony with pink mane checked on them. Upon noticing Ampy’s arrival, the mare with the Red Cross as a cutie mark approached the reception counter with a helpful smile.
“Good afternoon, how may I help you?”
“Hi, uh…” said the young Pegasus scratching his neck, feeling a little awkward, “I came here to see Blueball Roycewicz?”
“She?” asked the nurse surprised, “poor pony just woke up after her horrible accident… but she might not be the same.”
The horrible news sent a shiver up his spine.
“What do you mean?” asked Ampy with uncertainty.
“The electricity didn’t kill her or cause any damage to her body, it… altered her somehow. She suffered severe cranial trauma along with an impressive electrocution that I can’t see how she survived… and we think this caused the schizophrenia symptoms on her.”
“Can I see her?” the young Pegasus gulped as he glanced at the beds behind the nurse, still not understanding all that the nurse said.
“You’ll have to wait a moment,” said the nurse flipping the pages of a notebook in front of her, “somepony called Nightfall Shades.”
That name instantly rang some bells on Ampy’s head, a name that was not a good omen.
“I know her,” he deducted that lying to the innocent nurse was the best course of action, “he’s a friend of the family.”
“Oh, she’s family of you or the patient?” asked the nurse with surprise.
“Blueball is my friend, and Nightfall is from her family.”
“Well, in that case you can enter,” said the nurse opening a small door next to the counter, signaling him where Blueball’s bed was. He couldn’t really understand why the nurse allowed his entrance, but he was not willing to ask for explanations.
The nurse left him alone next to a light, sea foam colored curtain. Without hesitating, he slid the curtain open with a single movement and saw his friend resting on the bed, covered by thick gray sheets.
The first thing he noticed was how different she was; her coat was now colored in a darker blue than his mane, and her mane had a very stylized and erect shape, as if somepony had done it with styling gel. If you paid close attention to her mane, you could see electricity running through the strands of hair every now and then.
“Blueball?” asked Ampy relieved by the absence of the previous visitor, but worried for her friend’s appearance. Slowly, she opened her eyes and received her friend with a warm, big smile.
“Sapphire Bolt!” she exclaimed drowsily, squirming in his bed. The smile in Ampy’s face was diminished when he saw his friend tied to the bed by steel cuffs.
“How are you?” asked Ampy, obliged by how he saw her and what had happened.
“Well here resting, place like I, is nurse nice,” answered Blueball with confidence, but attacked by her paraphasia.
“That’s nice to hear, feeling better?”
“Yeah, a little up tied, remember can’t what happened well, you tell me could happened what?” the disorder in her words made it hard to understand what she meant, but Ampy was able to understand the message.
“Eh-” before he could finish a word, a jolt of lightning ran through Blueball’s head, making her seizure brutally for a few moments. Shocked by the seizures, he finally understood why she was tied to her bed.
“Are you alright?” asked Ampy walking to a side of her friend, who shook her head to regain her senses.
“Yeah, I guess,” she smiled weakly, “hey, at least I can speak correctly now.”
“Great, at least I can understand you some more,” he said mimicking her smile.
“It’s good to see you, Ampy,” the wounded mare fixed her pink eyes on her friend, “what happened after the accident?”
“You’re so not gonna believe this… I’m about to become a Wonderbolt!”
“What?” there was more shock than joy in her inquiry, “you get to be a Wonderbolt when I saved Rainbow Dash? That should be me!”
“Don’t worry, perhaps I can talk with Spitfire about it…” replied Ampy with an arrogant smirk.
“This is absurd… and didn’t you say that ‘unlike you, I don’t want to be a Wonderbolt’?”
“I know, I know…” the young Pegasus shook his head with a smile, “but that was because I thought they were just a bunch of arrogant acrobats, but it turns out they’re more than that!”
“Well, of course they are!” affirmed Blueball trying to move towards Ampy, but held by her bindings, “they are a military repressor group under the order of Celestia the tyrant, with the objective to contain social movements and repress the ponies.”
“What?” asked Ampy with a sarcastic smile, not taking his friend’s comment seriously, “since when you’re into that kind of stuff?”
“Since Nightshade opened my eyes to the world,” there was something in Blueball’s sight that concerned Ampy, “the Wonderbolts were my heroes, but they are nothing more than a scam.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Ampy backing towards the wall with confusion in his face.
“The Pegasus that followed us to the cloud factory just dropped by and taught me how is that Equestria is doomed if Celestia remains on the throne. She offered me a place among her lines, a spot in the future of Equestria.”
“And don’t tell me that you actually joined them!”
“They are the future of Equestria, my dear friend. You can still change your mind, join the winning side and abandon the Wonderbolts.”
“I… I…” muttered Ampy hesitating, looking away from her with shame. But a part of him had already developed a sense of loyalty towards the Wonderbolts, “I won’t,” he answered with confidence, staring firmly at Blueball, “I have committed with them and I won’t back down, why don’t you leave them? The Shadowbolts are nothing more than a bunch of terrorists.”
“Excuse me?!” she exclaimed offended, “they are a group of humble and honest Pegasi who seek to liberate us, they’re not terrorists!”
“Really?” teased Ampy shaking his head, “don’t tell me you’re serious…”
“Oh, of course I’m serious…” said Blueball with a disturbing smile, somehow controlling the flow of electricity flowing throughout her body, even releasing a few jolts to her surroundings. Upon hearing the electricity, the nurse ran to her bed to see what was making these noises.
“What’s going on?” asked the nurse instants before being thrown to the air by a lightning that struck her chest, crashing into some medical supplies behind. Blueball’s cuffs began to give in to the massive amount of electricity flowing through them.
“Look at what you’ve done!” shouted Ampy with anger, “You’ve killed the nurse!”
“No, she’s just unconscious,” said Blueball lifting her body off the bed without using her wings or hooves, electricity pouring out of her body, crashing against any metallic object around.
“And what’s on your mind, you want to kill me, uh?” teased Ampy stepping towards her.
“I will if you don’t change your mind,” Blueball’s eyes then turned completely white and began to release even more electricity.
“You wouldn’t,” he assured with a confident smirk.
“Is that what you think?” asked Blueball raising an eyebrow, throwing a jolt of lightning straight to Ampy’s head. The young Pegasus moved his head to the left to avoid it in cold blood, keeping his eyes fixed on her.
“What the hell was that, Blueball?” he asked feeling a little nervous.
“I honor my word, Sapphire Bolt, I’m committed to something too,” she began floating to him using the electricity pouring out of her body with a maniac smile.
“Oh, c’mon, you can’t be serious,” muttered Ampy taking a few steps back from her, fearing she might attack him at any moment.
“I will give you one last chance,” said Blueball with her eyes back to normal, “leave the Wonderbolts and I might let you live.”
“I already told you, I won’t!” shouted Ampy with determination.
“Then you’ve made one big mistake…” said Blueball showing anger on her face, tossing another thunderbolt at Ampy, whom swiftly dodged it with a jump to the right.
“No wonder they tied you up,” said Ampy with a mocking grin.
“Shut up!” she said tossing a thunderbolt, almost hitting him in a leg.
“You’re not the same Pegasus I met at flight school, Blueball Roycewicz,” he said glancing at the entrance, preparing to bolt out through the front door. Everypony in the hospital had already left, frightened by the Pegasus with electric powers.
“Oh, you silly pony… I’m no longer Blueball Roycewicz…” the dark blue Pegasus incremented the flow of electricity flowing through her body, to such level that her cutie mark, a small lightning surrounded by white heart shaped clouds, changed to a black lightning with black clouds, “from now on, you will call me Blueball Blitz, the Shadowbolt!”
Instead of giving him an evil laugh, Blueball went straight to the part where she tries to kill the enemy, tossing him several thunderbolts as he ran to the exit, swiftly dodging them by jumping or moving in zigzag.
“You can’t run, my friend!” shouted the new Shadowbolt, chasing him all the way to the entrance by floating to the entrance without using her wings.
“I always knew you were crazy!” said Ampy with iron, expecting that a good joke would calm his friend’s anger as he stepped out though the main door, followed closely by the new Shadowbolt.
“I’m not kidding, I will kill you!” yelled Blueball finally landing a thunderbolt on his tail, paralyzing him completely on contact. With a loud scream of pain, Ampy fell to the floor with cramps all over his body, spinning his head wryly to see how she floated to him releasing lightning all around. Everypony out in the street ran in fear at the sight of Blueball
“C’mon Blueball…” said Ampy with the pain immobilizing him.
“I warned you,” said Blueball pointing an electrified hoof at his face. The screeching in the air increased, centering energy on the tip of the left hoof of the corrupted pony that stared down at her friend with hatred, “I’m sorry it has to ends this way…”
“Hold it!” exclaimed a familiar voice out in the distance as a huge ball of magic impacted on Blueball’s chest, violently tossing her against a wall of the hospital.
“What the hay…?” muttered Ampy as he turned to see Twilight Sparkle across the street with her horn glowing intensely.
“Stay out of this!” yelled Blueball with fury, tossing three thunderbolts in quick succession to Celestia’s student, whom raised a protective barrier around her that saved her from any harm. Even more angered, the Shadowbolt continued to throw electricity at the barrier.
“C’mon Ampy, run!” exclaimed Twilight struggling to keep her barrier on, the ferocious impacts were enough make her kneel to their power.
“You’re not going anywhere,” the Shadowbolt stopped Ampy from running away with another lightning that almost landed on him.
“Don’t make me do it…” muttered Twilight suddenly standing up, increasing the power of her barrier, creating an enormous purple ball of magic on the tip of her horn.
“Break art!” exclaimed the purple unicorn throwing her ball of energy through a hole in her barrier, at such speed that Blueball could not even react. Upon contact, the ball exploded and launched her towards the hospital entrance and destroying a large part of it with the brutal shockwave.
“Get the hell outta here, Ampy,” said Twilight with exhaustion, “I can’t do that too often.”
“Right,” the young Pegasus quickly stood up and began flying as fast as he could, using the moment of weakness in his friend.
“No, you’re not getting away!” yelled Blueball with anger, trying to lift her body off the floor. But the last impact had injured one of her wings and Twilight Sparkle already prepared the finishing blow.
“Don’t make me kill you…” muttered Twilight with a furious scowl. And a second before she casted her spell, a great, dark colored aura appeared from the air to surround Blueball completely.
“Easy now…” said Nightshade placing a hoof on the shoulder of her newest ally, appearing from her aura, “you’ll get your chance.”
“Break art!” shouted Celestia’s student again, launching her powerful spell once again. Quickly, Nightshade relocated her and Blueball to avoid it.
Exhausted, Twilight fell to her knees, panting to catch air as the Shadowbolts glared at her.
“Can we go?” asked Blueball with tranquility, rubbing her sore left wing. And from the same aura she came from, Nightshade vanished as quick as she appeared, leaving a few ponies brave enough to stay and witness the fight completely astonished.
Above in the sky, Ampy noticed Blueball’s absence and Twilight lying on the floor, panting in exhaustion. He quickly descended to assist her.
“Are you okay?” asked Ampy with worry, offering her a helping hoof.
“I think so…” answered Twilight rubbing her head.
“I owe you my life,” said Ampy with a slight blush.
“Yeah, no problem,” replied the unicorn patting him on the back.
“Nurse Redheart is wounded” shouted a green-coated stallion through a hole in the wall, instantly drawing more attention to the scene.
“Any reasons why she wanted to kill you?” asked Twilight absent-mindedly as she ran to the hospital.
“I really don’t know,” answered Ampy flying to catch up to her with a shrug, “Blueball was my friend, I don’t know what got into her.”
“That was your friend?” said Twilight surprised, staring at him for a moment, “now that’s one hell of a friend you have, you didn’t innocently untie her, did you?”
“She got loose on her own, I came to check on her after the accident in Cloudsdale,” both ponies stood aside when the nurse was being carried out unconscious, with a huge black stain on her chest.
“Take her to Canterlot, have one of the Princesses see her,” ordered Twilight with authority. Being the renowned Celestia’s student, it was natural that Ponyville’s citizens obeyed her commands, “well, it doesn’t matter how she got out, Celestia’s suspects were real, the Shadowbolts are five now too.”
“Celestia suspected this?” asked Ampy raising an eyebrow with skepticism.
“Vaguely, but she’s not usually wrong.”
“Wait a minute,” said Ampy stomping one of his hoofs against the floor, “how did you know I was in danger if you were at the party?”
“Pinkie sense.”
“Okay, you saw it through the window,” straightened Ampy with sarcasm and a snicker.
“No, Pinkie sense,” insisted Twilight slightly offended, “Pinkie Pie has some sort of sixth sense, and she felt you were in danger… She mentioned you were here at the hospital, and so I came.”
“Okay, it doesn’t matter; I guess I should go tell the Wonderbolts about this, is there anything I should tell them?” asked Ampy a little anxious the fly.
“Yes,” the purple unicorn walked to him carefully, she was still feeling the effects of the powerful spells she had just casted, “tell them to see Celestia ASAP, I’ll let her know you’re going.”
“Roger,” with a quick nod, the young Pegasus turned around and flew off through a hole in the wall, heading for the skies as fast as she could, putting the goggles Soarin’ loaned him as soon as he reached the clouds. With these special lenses, he could see the electricity inside the clouds flowing, almost surfing through the water.
As he continued to fly away from Ponyville, more and more clouds began gathering around him, each one of them looking exactly like the one another.
After flying north for a few more minutes, a particular cloud caught his attention for the lack of energy, besides from the immense metallic stricture hidden behind condensed water floating in the nothing.
“The button… the button… where’s the button?” he thought as he inspected the surroundings of the cloud, remembering Soarin’s advice to seek a flat side. And on the east side, the goggles allowed him to see a green button hidden next to the enormous door.
Once I opened and he landed, Rainbow Dash ran to meet him in the hangar with a face of shock.
“What are you doing here?” asked Rainbow closing the hangar door with another button.
“The Shadowbolts were in Ponyville, they recruited my friend, Blueball,” answered Ampy a little tired from the trip.
“The one from the cloud factory?” she asked hiding her remorse by biting a lip.
“Exactly, she tried to kill me but a pony called Twilight Sparkle saved my flank.”
“Well…” said Rainbow with a deep sigh, “at least you’re alive. C’mon, I’m sure the boss would like to hear this.”
Ampy followed Rainbow through the hallways of the stable into the meeting room, where the rest of the Wonderbolts were discussing something. And all of them turned to see them with awe.
“What are you doing here?” asked Flare with a frown.
“The Shadowbolts were in Ponyville to recruit my friend Blueball,” replied Ampy firmly, in a way he never thought could do so well
“What?!” shouted all the Wonderbolts as one. Spitfire immediately jumped off her seat to walk to him with her eyes fixes on his.
“Tell me exactly what happened,” ordered the leader with authority, so much that Ampy was frightened.
“I went to visit my friend, Blueball, at Ponyville’s hospital. When I told her I had just joined the Wonderbolts, she-”
“You told her what?!” interrupted Spitfire with a loud shout straight to his face.
“Well, Blueball always admired you, I don’t see why I shouldn’t tell her about what I got myself into, I mean, my family will find out that I’m a Wonderbolt too, right?” said the young Pegasus with a nervous chuckle.
“You don’t get it…” said Spitfire turning her back on him with anger, “you’re not part of the famous Wonderbolts, skillful athletes, no. You’re part of the real Wonderbolts, the ones who serve Equestria and protect it from its enemies. We are an elite group, and anonymity is our first line of defense.”
“Don’t be so hard on him, Spit,” said Soarin’ with calm voice, “we didn’t tell him that.”
“Still, he shouldn’t be going around the world telling everypony he’s one of us,” insisted Spitfire in scolding him, staring at Ampy with frustration.
“C’mon boss, he didn’t mean it,” added Flare to assist Ampy’s defense, “you’ll remember what happened with my family.”
Keeping all other words to herself, Spitfire looked down meditating. And after a deep sigh, she calmed down and turned to see Ampy showing no emotion.
“At least we know they have her,” said the leader walking back to her seat.
“Twilight Sparkle said that you should go and see Celestia ASAP,” assed Ampy with nervousness for her boss’ tantrum.
“WE should go and see Celestia, you mean,” said Spitfire with a grin, ignoring her angers from moments ago.
“That’s right kid,” said Soarin’ jumping off his chair, “after we give you something really special, you’ll be officially one of us.”
“Initiation is a very well preserved rite among the Wonderbolts, because we’ve been defending Equestria for many generations, conserving many traditions since before Luna was banished to the moon,” said Flare jumping off her chair too, joining her companions after a brief strut.
The four Wonderbolts aligned in front of Ampy and signaled him to walk in to the center of the room, the young Pegasus heart racing with excitement.
“You, Sapphire Bolt, have been chosen by her Majesty, Princess Celestia of Equestria and passed the corresponding tests to join the group of Special Weapons, Operations and Special Tactics of the sovereign nation of Equestria,” said Spitfire with a smile slowly spreading through her lips.
“The Wonderbolts are Pegasi with skills, intelligence and agility, you become, you are not born to become part of us,” said Soarin’ changing the tone in his voice to one more serious.
“The Wonderbolts are both first and last line of defense for Equestria, when all light is gone, we will shine among the darkness like a ray of hope,” said Flare proudly, she always enjoyed the initiation.
“Only a few Pegasi have ever served this great tradition among the centuries, and all of them have dedicated their lives to the service of the nation, and even some of them, have lost their life in battle, framing their names in the annals of history with golden letters,” said Rainbow with excitement, she had never initiated somepony before, since she only joined the Wonderbolts six months ago.
“Take this winged lightning,” Spitfire walked towards Ampy and gave him a crystal pin shaped like a lightning with silver wings, “symbol of the Wonderbolts that credits you as one of us.”
Ampy took the pin proudly under the gaze of his colleagues.
“Now you only need to take the vow,” said Soarin’ keeping his serious tone.
“That’s right,” replied Spitfire with a nod, “say with me: I, Sapphire Bolt, swear solemnly to…”
“I, Sapphire Bolt, swear solemnly to.”
“My eternal loyalty to the sovereign nation of Equestria and the Alicorn principality…”
“My eternal loyalty to the sovereign nation of Equestria and the Alicorn principality.”
“In times of war and peace…”
“In times of war and peace.”
“I will veil for the welfare of my nation from the skies…”
“I will veil for the welfare of my nation from the skies.”
“As my forefathers did…”
“As my forefathers did.”
“I take this winged lightning as a symbol of compromise and honor to my motherland…”
“I take this winged lightning as a symbol of compromise and honor to my motherland…”
“And with this solemn vow…”
“And with this solemn vow.”
“I commit to fulfill any duties that may be assigned with proud.”
“I commit to fulfill any duties that may be assigned with proud.”
“Congratulations, Ampy,” said Spitfire stretching out a hoof, “you are now part of the Wonderbolts.”
Everypony else in the room stomped the floor to ovate him, even the doctor did silently in distant corner of the room.
“Any words you would like to add?” asked Soarin’ with a happiness grin all over him.
“Actually no… but I’m really liking this and I’m flattered,” he answered boastfully pressing his pin against his chest. Everypony approached him to officially welcome him as a Wonderbolt, greeting him and patting him on the back.
“Don’t forget we have to go see Celestia ASAP,” Spitfire broke the moment with her order as the doctor approached them with a small silver briefcase on his mouth.
“Congrats, Sapphire Bolt,” said the eccentric doctor passing the briefcase to his hooves, “now that you’re part of the Wonderbolts, I give you the official uniform and goggles.”
The doc opened the briefcase, showing Ampy the blue and yellow striped uniform he would be wearing throughout his service, along with the classic polarized goggles.
“Thanks, Whooves,” said Ampy grabbing his uniform.
“I took your ability into consideration and used a special fabric that should make more efficient your flight speed, and those goggles should reduce the distortion you see when using you space-bending talent,” added the doc joyfully.
“You always give the rookie some new toys…” teased Flare with a mocking smirk on her face as she shook her head.
“They are not ‘new toys’, Flare,” said the doc with a blank look, “they are upgrades to the previous model.”
“Anyhow, thanks for making him a suit,” said Spitfire, cutting the conversation.
“A pleasure,” said Whooves with a subtle bow, a typical gesture in him.
“Alright guys,” Spitfire raised her voice with authority, “we have to get to Canterlot, and fast. I want you all down at the hangar at five, got it!”
“Yes ma’am!” shouted all the Wonderbolts as one, heading to their respective rooms afterwards. Every Pegasi made way for their dorm to wear different attire from the one they wore a few hours ago.
“This may not be so much of a bad idea after all…” thought Ampy as he slid his suit on, modeling it to himself in the mirror. The soft silk Whooves had used was gentle with his skin and seemed pretty resistant.
“Hey kid, time to go!” shouted Rainbow Dash from the hallway, throwing him out of his trance. After a confident nod, he ran to meet Rainbow Dash and everypony else in the hangar.
Every Wonderbolt aligned in front of the door as their leader opened it, which stood in front of them.
“Alright guys,” said Spitfire as the dusky sunlight struck her back, the sun was slowly losing the magic that held it high in the sky, “we have to get to Canterlot before nightfall, so we fly at a fast and steady pace, keep it together and try not to fall behind, got it?”
“Yeah, right,” said Soarin’ immediately after, breaking the classic military protocol they were used to with his sarcastic tone, “can we go now?”
Spitfire smiled after a brief giggle and turned to face the orange skies in front of them.
“Wonderbolts…!” shouted the leader with joy, having a new member among her lines. The young Pegasus belly filled with butterflies as he leaned his body forward to prepare his first flight as an official Wonderbolt.
“Take off!” the five Pegasi bolted though the hangar door into the void ahead, with a triangle formation with Spitfire in the Center, Soarin’ and Flare Charge to the sides and Rainbow Dash and Sapphire Bolt behind these latter two.
They set course to the northwest, where in the distance, the vague silhouette of a mountain with a huge white castles appeared. Home of the sacred Alicorns of Equestria.