//------------------------------// // Prologue: Soarin Softly // Story: Soarin Past Lightning // by Capricorn //------------------------------// “It was an accident,” Derpy said in her defense. “I just don't know what went wrong.” Soarin looked at the gray pegasus with disappointment. It might have been an accident but it was no excuse for what happened. He needed to let her know that this was serious business, and that she should have known better. “What went wrong was that you struck lightning at the other flyers,” he said in a stern voice. “I was just trying to bust the cloud,” she explained. “I told you specific directions on how to bust certain clouds and you didn't follow them,” he replied to notify that she should have listened to his instructions. Derpy looked down at the floor with sorrow in her eyes. “I'm sorry sir,” she apologized in a soft voice. “I should have been listening to you.” Derpy turned to exit Soarin's office. “Maybe I'm just not cut out for this.” Soarin stopped her before she made the choice of leaving. She might have done something wrong he wasn't going to let her leave. “You don't have to leave Derpy,” he said, getting up from his desk and flying over to her. “It's no big deal. Sure, you might have disobeyed my orders but you still have what it takes to be a Wonderbolt. I can see that you've learned from what you did and know how to avoid next time it comes around.” The cross-eyed pony smiled widely. “ Oh thank you so much,” she squealed as she gripped Soarin into a hug. “Unfortunately,” he said gently pushing the pegasus off him. “this can't go untreated.” Derpy began to grow a worried look on her face. “You have shown you still need a bit of work before you can become a Wonderbolt and that it might help if you had somepony to guide you to perfection. I'm afraid I'm going to have to demote to wing pony until you can learn to handle yourself in these situations.” “Alright,” Derpy sighed in a depressing tone. It made her sad to not be a lead pony but she was still relieved she wasn't kicked out. She took the golden badge off her uniform and set in on Soarin's desk. He took the badge and replaced it with a silver one that was meant for a wing pony to wear. Derpy pinned the badge on her uniform and waited for further orders. “Now, go join the others outside,” Soarin said in a commanding voice. “You're next task will be given to you.” Soarin put his hoof up to his head. “Dismissed.” Derpy returned the salute and began toward the exit as asked. Soarin followed with a smile on his face. He felt confident that he handled the situation well. He always thought that being a little soft never made you disrespected. Spitfire, on the other hoof didn't agree. She always commanded with a harsh hoof. It's a good thing I was left in charge of Derpy, Soarin thought to himself. Spitfire would never let her actions slide. It would kill him to see anypony get sent home from the academy. He knew everypony had the guts to be a Wonderbolt if they truly had faith. He already knew his group of ponies were fit enough. He trained the ponies who had passed Spitfire's training. She trained the brand new recruits which she thought was a good idea since she figured that if they could handle the captain of the Wonderbolts, they should be treated with more respect and Soarin was good at respecting others, even Spitfire. She was always took being a Wonderbolt very seriously but Soarin wanted it to be fun at the same time. Maybe that's why she was the captain. Either way, he still took pride in being a Wonderbolt, even if he wasn't the captin.. When Soarin made it outside with Derpy, he called out for a pony to come see him. “Flitter,” he shouted to get the pony's attention. Flitter trotted over to him and waited for him state his reasoning for calling her over there. “You have been promoted to lead pony,” he stated, handing the light purple pegasus the golden badge Derpy had turned in to him earlier. Flitter waited a moment before saluting him with an eager smile. “You have my gratitude sir,” she tried to say firmly, without sounding to pleased. She pinned the shinny, golden badge on her uniform and looked it over, liking it's appearance on her. Flitter turned to Derpy and stated proudly, “Well Derpy, it looks like I'm going to be leading you to becoming a Wonderbolt instead.” “Yeah, yeah,” Derpy moaned in an irritated voice. “Alright you two,” Soarin said to get their attention. “go stand in line with your peers.” The two made their way to the line of ponies and stood, firmly in a still position. Soarin walked toward the line in a sophisticated fashion. He turned to them to see them awaiting his orders. It was time for their next task. “Alright everypony,” he said in the straightest way he could. “Today you w-.” He paused from what he was saying on account of something that caught his eye in the background. A tornado! Not to soon after he noticed the others looked behind them to see the twister nearing closer to them. In no time they all began to panic. Soarin was filled with fear but he knew he had to take action. These ponies didn't have enough expeirience to deal with anything as serious as a tornado. “GET TO THE END OF THE PLATFORM! NOW,” he ordered to them. “I'll take care of this.” The ponies obeyed and raced to the end of the platform. Soarin flew toward the tornado and flew as fast as he could around it in the opposite direction the winds were heading order to counter the winds. Each gust tried to propel him away but he kept pushing on in order to protect his fellow ponies. It was as if he were flying right into a wall. Eventually, when he was almost beat by the force winds, the tornado began to slow down and soon stopped. Exhausted from the power of the winds the pegasus landed back on the ground fairly hard. Just as he was about to see if his trainees, he heard one let out a loud cheer. “Alright Soarin! Woohoo,” Derpy cheered to the pony who had saved them from the terrible twister. Soon, all the others began to cheer along with her. Soarin smiled, humbly and stated with pride, “And that, kids is how you deal with a tornado.” It was clear that they looked up to him. He enjoyed the feeling of being an idle. As interested as he was in what or who caused the tornado, he still had a job to do. “Now,” he reminded them. “back to the lesson.”