//------------------------------//
// Quiet on the Set 
// Story: Graphs 
// by Mozzarella 
//------------------------------//

"Anyone can dash the rainbow when the sea is aweosme."


Graphs



***


Showing up early to an event has its advantages. There's no traffic, you can choose whatever seat you want, you can get all your snacks together comfortably, etc. It's generally a good way to do things.

However, it also has the unfortunate effect of ruining the illusion. For whatever reason, seeing the half-assembled equipment being roughly handled by bored workers kills the hype. Not all of the hype, mind you, but enough to notice. 

One couldn't help but wonder how the complicated-looking turntable and the comically large speakers would be held up by a few clouds. Heavy duty magic would most certainly be at work when the grey earth pony finally let the burly pegasi put them down.

"To the left, you dimwit! Your short time in school taught you that much, correct?"

"We were just over there and you said that was no good," whined one of the workers.

"And then you moved it too far. Now, lets try moving a little bit. Not a lot, but a little." She made exaggerated gestures with her hooves to show just what was meant by "a little" and "a lot". 

"Yeah okay, lady. Where do you want this thing then?"

"Place it so that the sound is equally distributed outward. If we're going to play that filth, then we're going to play it right. Now rotate this one a little to the left- that's this hoof- and you rotate the other one to the right. Do we understand?"

The other worker rolled his eyes. "Honey, I didn't sign up to be treated like this by some-" The words were lost as a chunk of cloud engulfed his face. He shook it off to see the mare lower her back leg from a kicking position.

"Finish that sentence and you'll be singing falsetto. Now move it!"

Dash and Blitz sat off on the other side watching the spectacle, trying to keep their laughter from carrying across the acoustically sound Cloudiseum. This particular experience could be counted as an advantage of early arrival. 

"Holy crap," breathed Blitz between laughs. "She's awesome."

"Totally," agreed Dash. "Those stage guys should know what they get when they cross a mare." She eyed the stallion suspiciously. 

"Hey. Don't look at me like that. I didn't cross anything." Just to prove his point, he brought his hooves far away from each other around the back of his seat. One hoof just so happened to land around Dash's shoulders.

She dropped the look and rested her head on his shoulder. "I know."

At some point during their exchange, the grey mare must have been satisfied by her underlings' efforts or too thoroughly pissed off to bear them any longer. The blue pegasi caught the tail end of her rump as she trotted into the halls of the Cloudiseum. 

"Well there goes the entertainment," said Blitz, pouting. 

"It was getting old anyway," replied Dash. She hopped up and gave her back a stretch. "C'mon. Let's take a look around. Maybe somepony else showed up by now."

Blitz snorted as he got up and followed. "Doubt it. Nopony else has Twilight on their backs. They're probably out practicing. We could have gotten another run in too." 

"Like we need it. Are you feeling nervous or something?"

"I dunno. I have no idea who we're up against. Who else is in this thing?"

"Well we've got Soarin and Spitfire for some kind of opening act or speech or something. I guess that girl might have advertised a little. It could be anypony."

"Anypony?" 

"Maybe not anypony, but these competitions are usually kind of diverse." The mare chuckled as she recalled a memory. "This one time, I saw a Royal Guard veteran, a girl scout, and a unicorn with wooden wings at the same event."

Blitz popped a grin. "Seriously? One after the other?"

"One disaster after the other. The vet got tired half-way through his act, the girl scout had to go to the bathroom, and the unicorn's wings fell off and sent him plummeting to the ground."

"No way! Did anypony catch him?"

"No. But this one was held over water, so it's all good. Except, I think he still has the mark from the belly flop."

Blitz cringed and felt a sympathy pain crawling around his stomach. "Rough."

"And wet," added Dash. 

They wandered around the structure in search of anything to occupy them. The bathrooms proved to be less than interesting. Same for the lockers. Nopony aside from the occasional pegasus staffed to set up the stage could be found and listening to how magical speakers and screens worked failed to entertain them. 

"When does this thing start?" asked Blitz impatiently. 

"Uh," she searched for a clock. "Over an hour? Really? I'm sick of this place already."

Blitz's ears drooped. "Maybe something's going on outside. Let's find a window." 

They scoured the narrow halls for a gap in the wall. They considered just poking their heads through. It was just a cloud, after all. Pegasi generally frown upon that, though. 

At last the duo found an open window and lo and behold, there were no flocks of ponies approaching the stadium.

"Agh!" groaned Blitz as he fell melodramatically to the ground. "I can't sit here for another hour! I'll go insane!"

"Hang on, dude. I think I see something." 

"If it's the janitor again, I'm flying away. He's so creepy!"

Dash rolled her eyes and dragged his head out further over the ledge. "That's Vinyl down there. We can chill with her until everypony gets here."

"Oh. Sweet. Let's go."

Dash and Blitz had had enough of the catacombs of the Cloudiseum and those who wandered it, so they opted for jumping out of the window instead of another grueling search for a door. Again, frowned upon by pegasus society, but less so. 

After a soft landing on the platform that encircled the structure, they approached a table outside the main entrance. A white rump and an obnoxiously bright blue tail protruded from under it, shaking back and forth as the pony rummaged through her equipment. She was muttering something angrily.

"Myeh! Vinyl, you need to get your equipment set up. Myeh! You should keep the workers in line. Myeh! This spell better not wear off or I'll blah yadda whatever. I swear, if she wasn't so cute I'd-"

"Uh, Vinyl?" interrupted Dash. The unicorn consequently shot her head up into the table with a painful sounding thunk. 

"Goddamned son of a-" she bit off the curse and ran a hoof across the back of her head. "I'm gonna feel that one tomorrow." She looked over at the pegasi with her eyes possibly spinning behind her purple shades. 

"You alright?" inquired Blitz.

She waved a hoof. "It's all good. I've taken worse hits. So what's up?"

"Do we need to check in or something?"

The DJ grinned sheepishly. "I really don't know. Ya see, they gave me this box," she said as she levitated a medium sized crate onto the table, "and I didn't really look through it all. Supposed to be like paperwork or something stupid like that. Cloudsdale is insane with this bureaucracy!"

Dash nodded. "Tell me about it. You don't even want to know the hoops I have to jump through to make a tornado."

"So yeah. Let me check." The unicorn took out a stack of the neat paper, immediately scattering a few on the cloud floor. She began to mutter the title at the top of each page right before crumpling it and throwing it back into the box. 

Just as she almost filled the box with her trash, she smiled. "There it is. Sign ins. I dunno, just write your names and head inside. There's a lounge set up."

"Seriously?" Dash exclaimed. "We were in there forever and didn't see any lounge."

"Yeah. Right in the lower level. Should have a big star on the door."

Blitz's face had grown confused. "Hold up. There's a lower level? I thought that was just a thin net or something down there."

The DJ shook her head. "Nah. They had to add a full on basement. Something about somepony almost dying or whatever. They got off of paying a whole load of cash by promising to build a safer stadium."

"Lame."

"Totally. Meanwhile, why are you two so early?"

"My friend Twilight would't stop telling us to go," said Dash. "She was about to have a nervous breakdown."

"Ah. One of those ponies. Well you can just put your name down and head in. The others should get here some time soon. Although I wouldn't count on every one of the entries having an anal friend like that." She pushed over the wrinkled document and a pen. 

Dash signed and hurried toward the door. "I'll go check if anypony's inside."

"Right behind ya," Blitz replied, spitting out the pen. He made to follow her, but a white foreleg stopped him. 

"So," Vinyl drawled. "How'd it go?"

Blitz cocked his head to the side. "What are you talking about?"

"You are not that clueless! I'm talking about you two!" She pointed at him and the door his clone just entered. "How did it go?" she repeated. She looked a but too excited to hear, seeing as she was not involved whatsoever.

"Oh," Blitz said, smiling sheepishly. "Well, what we did out there definitely wasn't right..."

The DJ's face fell. 

"...but it felt amazing!" 

The mare laughed and slapped his back. "Nice!"

"You helped me out, though. Thanks."

"Ah, don't mention it. It's my job to bring random ponies together."

"Really?"

"No. But it happens in my club all the time, so I might as well take credit for it. But enough of me. Get in there!"

"Heh. Yes ma'am. See ya later."

Blitz trotted inside in search of this fabled lounge, leaving Vinyl alone to perform an act loosely resembling organization. She glanced up from her work to check for incoming contestants, but nopony was approaching. She thought she saw a red streak, but further examination, even without her shades, proved fruitless. 

"I definitely should have waited until it this thing started before I started drinking," she mused, returning her attention to the table.


...


Slightly earlier...

The pegasus mare fought to keep her hoof in the mouth of her struggling companion. He should have figured out how to read into unspoken signals like an intelligent pony. 

Nopony ever accused this stallion of being excessively intelligent, however. 

"Keep it down!" she whispered rather loudly. "They might be watching!" 

The stallion spat out her hoof and set about trying to unpin himself from the cloud. "What the hell, Spitz?! What's your problem?!" 

"Rainbow Dash!"

Surprise replaced the anger on the stallion's face. "What?"

"The Rainbow-freaking-Dash is over there! Now keep it down!" She usually saved her sternness for the rowdy rookies at the academy, but this was an exception. Image was very important to the Wonderbolts, and it didn't help that the entire team fell in love with her moves, if not her, upon seeing their first sonic rainboom. 

Soarin stopped struggling and moved his hooves to his mane. "Holy crap! She's here?! Does my mane look okay? I didn't bring anything! Aw jeez, I have to go back and pick up some flowers or chocolates or-"

The mare's hoof planted itself back into his mouth as she took a cautious glance behind the cloud at the rainbow dots she could perceive from this distance. "Stick a pie in it, hot shot. We've got to play it cool. I don't want you to embarrass us in front of somepony with her talent." Then she added with mild resentment, "How come I never get flowers or chocolates?" 

He again removed the hoof. "What are you talking about? They're for me so I don't say anything stupid. I just know I'm gonna sound like an idiot the second I say anything to her. I can't even hide behind my uniform this time!" 

Spitfire rolled her eyes. "Don't you have your goggles?"

"Those don't block my face!" 

The mare released him and took up a spy-like position next to him with her back to the cloud. "I know we have an agreement and all, but do you have to make it so obvious that your crushing on her?" 

"You don't get to talk until you apologize for cutting me out of my picture with her."

"I liked the dress! I just need an example to show the seamstress. How was I supposed to know you had an obsession?"

"You don't wear dresses. It's just been sitting on your desk next to the pictures of your family for weeks now. And meanwhile, you said it was fine if I act like this. I get to drool over her and you can have a free pass to crush on somepony else." He took a look over their cover

"I don't think there's a stallion alive that would drive me your kind of crazy."

"Maybe she's got a brother or some guy that looks like her?"

"Yeah, okay. This deal is ridiculously one-sided."

"Well then you shouldn't have agreed." He drew his head back around the cloud sharply. "It is her," he breathed.

"I was drunk!" 

"We were all drunk! I managed not to agree to anything stupid."

The mare grunted and punched the stallions shoulder lightly. "If I didn't know this whole thing was hopeless for you, I might be jealous." 

"It's nice to know you believe in me."

"You know what?" she said, floating over to pin him to the cloud. "I think you don't like her as much as you say. Most normal ponies save this kind of attention for celebrities." 

The stallion looked away and fought off a blush. She pressed rather closely up against him with scarcely any room between their muzzles. 

"Sometimes I like to pretend you don't have complete control over me," he muttered.

Spitfire chuckled. "Well that's just silly." She pushed up closer and leaned into his ear. "You should know better," she whispered. 

Soarin sighed, defeated, and added his own effort into the embrace. Though, he couldn't possibly have brought her any closer. "I'll stop if you want me to. Not like it's serious or anything."

"Hmm. Nah. It's fun to watch." The mare laughed again. "Remember at the gala?"

"Oh come on!"

"When you shoved your face into a pie as soon as she came close?"

"Shut up!"

"I wish you had shut up that night. It was all moaning promises to never eat again. I was trying to sleep."

"And I was deathly ill!" 

Spitfire rolled her eyes and pushed them both deep within the cloud. "Oh quit your whining. You got better. Now come on and help me clear out this cloud. We'll buckle down here until some more contestants show up."

"Why don't we go now?"

"Do you want to risk letting her know how we think? We've got an illusion to maintain."

"Fine," Soarin murmured, somewhat upset at missing a chance for some relatively secluded time with Rainbow Dash. "Say, did you catch if she was with anypony? No reason for her to hang around this early unless she's in this thing."

The mare frowned and tried to recall. "No. Maybe they already went inside? I could barely see her in the first place."

"Huh. I wonder..."


...


The lounge was surprisingly well equipped, considering the rather dirty conditions of the other sections of the stadium Dash and Blitz had visited. Of course, those were the bathrooms and lockers. Public bathrooms and lockers, no less.

There was no want for places to sit. The walls were practically lined with luxurious blue sofas.There was a fancy looking mirror, presumably for makeup and costumes. On the walls where there was not couch, there were large monitors currently showing the empty center of the Cloudiseum. Speakers were installed in the corners near the ceiling. 

Seeing as the room with the most potential to entertain failed to do so, the colorful ponies set out for the sofas. 

"I definitely thought this would be more fun," grumbled Dash as she climbed up onto the corner, placing her hooves behind her head and stretching out along the cushions.

Blitz followed and hopped onto the perpendicular side, resting his head on her waist. "It hasn't even started yet. I bet it'll be fun when somepony shows up."

"I guess you're right."

They both decided they would do no more than shut their eyes. Wouldn't want to be groggy for the show, right?

One nap later, the turning knob of a door woke them from their pleasant but untimely slumber. As they reluctantly opened their eyes, a modest crowd of winged ponies filed in, seating themselves in pairs in various parts of the room. 

"What happened to nah..." Dash's question devolved into a yawn. "...to not sleeping?"

The contagious yawn continued to Blitz. "Not my fault. You're too comfortable to lay on." He scanned the now populated room. "Oh hey. Everypony's here." 

"Hm? Oh, sweet! Let's go check 'em out."

The pair walked about the room, examining the crowd. The contestants all seemed decently talented. There wasn't a senior citizen or filly scout among them, at least. Each pair kept to themselves, likely trying to keep the others from learning any secrets about their acts. Whispers and suspicious glances were exchanged rather frequently. 

Dash paid them no mind. She could care less what everypony else had planned. It wouldn't hold a candle to her performance anyway. What she did concern herself with was the lack of any sort of numbering of each pair of pegasi. The flank of every pony in the room was unobscured by a white card telling when they would be up. 

There was definitely trouble when Rainbow Dash is upset about a lack of order. She wouldn't put it past Vinyl to forget that detail and hold up the whole show. 

"What do you think?" asked Dash. 

Blitz frowned. "I dunno. They don't seem too bad. It shouldn't be a curb stomp, at least. Anypony here I should know?"

The mare scanned the lounge again. "Nah. I don't know any of them either."

"Good. No headaches."

Dash's face morphed into one of weary anger. "I wouldn't count on it, Blitz."

He was about to ask why when a brown stallion stepped into their path. He had a beige mane styled like it was forty years ago and a gray weight on his flank. What was worse was his expression. 

Cockiness. 

Just as Blitz processed his appearance, his brain funneled a few more words into his thoughts. The first was his name: Dumbbell. The second was "Jackass". 

"Well if it isn't Rainbow Crash," the stallion said in the most annoying tone possible. "I didn't know amateurs were invited to this thing."

"Didn't I already kick your ass in the air twice, Dumbass?" Dash droned. 

"It's Dumbbell!" he shot back angrily. "And I'm convinced you cheated last time. I know all about your unicorn friends. Magic is cheating."

The mare closed her eyes, picturing herself crushing his head. This soothed her anger, but it elevated her desire to fulfill that thought. 

"A few things. First, magic is the reason we can do most of our stunts. Wings house the magic in pegasi and make those trails the talented ponies can leave. I guess you wouldn't know about that. Second, my friends don't cheat. Third, I don't cheat. Lastly, do you honestly thing I would need to cheat against you?"

As the brown stallion went red in the face, Blitz burst into a fit of laughter at his expense. He offered Dash a hoof, which she promptly bumped. She allowed herself to grin at her verbal victory. 

"Just what are you laughing at? Who the hell are you anyway?"

Blitz reined in his composure and answered with a grin of his own. "My name's Rainbow Blitz, and I'm laughing because she just kicked your ass again."

"Nobody asked you!"

"Yes you did, jackass." He turned to Dash. "Seriously, you lasted how long with this idiot?"

The mare squinted, trying to remember. "A few years, I think. Only during school, though. He never could make it out of the factory. Never had the wings for it."

"Says the dropout!" responded Dumbell. As if that would win the argument.

"That place was holding me back. Unlike you, I have the skill to work on my own."

Dumbbell growled and took a menacing step forward. Dash smirked at her success in provoking him, about ready to explain just where his organs would be after she rearranged them. 

However, almost instantly, Blitz stepped in front of her. He didn't wear a taunting smile. His face didn't contort as if to say "Seriously?". He stared Dumbbell dead in the eye with the coldest look ever created by Rainbow Dash's mind. 

"Back off," said Blitz with bared teeth.

Dash put a hoof on his shoulder before it started raining red below the Cloudiseum. He softened at her touch, but still gave the brown pegasus the evil eye.

The bully smiled at his success in provocation. There were a number of ways he could have capitalized on it. However, he stuck to his most reliable technique. It had served him well each time it was used.

In high school, that is. 

"Pft. Relax, Rainbow Hiss. Getting a little touchy there. What are you? Her boyfriend?" He raised his chin, staring down his nose at where he expected Blitz's embarrassed face would be. 

The blue stallion eased out of his fighting stance and pondered the question. "I don't actually know," he said. He turned to Dash. "What are we?"

Dumbbell was nonplussed. His flawless teasing had failed! "Wha?"

The mare shrugged. "I dunno. Do we need to name it?"

Blitz shrugged as well. "I guess it'd be good to know, probably." 

"I don't feel like it."

"Neither do I." 

"Hold up!" interrupted Dumbbell. "You are?"

Blitz grinned at him. "Well we're something." He looked over at Dash. "Or else you're the friendliest pony I've ever met."

The Rainbows shared a bit of immature laughter. The other stallion could only shift uncomfortably.

"Aw! He's blushing!" Dash exclaimed, leaning against her double.

"No I'm not!"

"Yeah you are dude," Blitz explained. "So where's your partner? You got a lady friend?"

"Not really, but my-"

Dash snorted. "His mom, maybe."

"Oh! Damn. There should be a first aid station that can help you with that burn somewhere around here." 

"Nice. Alright. He's had enough. Let's go see if the Wonderbolts are here yet." She walked on past Dumbbell, who still sat dumbstruck at the dramatic reversal of the conversation. 

"Right behind ya," answered Blitz as he followed her. "See ya later Dumbass!"

"I-it's Dumbbell," the bully murmured feebly at their backs

It would have been nice to walk away from that unpleasant pegasus and continue to explore the now populated stadium. However, fate had other plans. Before the Rainbows could make it very far, another contestant stepped into their path. 

Dash froze, holding out a foreleg to stop Blitz beside her. 

"Crap," she whispered dejectedly. "Stay still."

"What is it?" Blitz said, frowning. "Is he following us or something? I swear I'll knock his teeth out if he takes one more look at y-"

The stallion's threat was drowned out by the appearance of the pony that had been in their path right between himself and Dash. She had an aqua colored coat, an orange mane mostly slicked back leaving a few spikes in the front, and a cocky grin. She would have looked a lot like Dash had he not been a near exact copy of that particular pony. 

"Rainbow Dash! How's my old cadet buddy doing?" The mare spoke with energy unreciprocated by the sky blue pegasus under her foreleg.

"Fine, Lightning Dust. What are you doing here?" Dash asked with a flat look and poorly veiled annoyance. 

The aqua mare laughed through her teeth and rested more of her weight on Dash's increasingly unwilling shoulders. "So hostile. Are you still upset about the academy?"

"You nearly killed my friends!"

Such a drastic claim warranted some investigation by Blitz. A search of his mind yielded vague memories of vigorous exercise and some reckless behavior by that particular pony. It turned out, she did almost kill a few of Dash's, and therefore his, close friends. So she was already a step towards "enemy" in his mind.

Lightning Dust sighed and rolled her eyes. "Look, I'm sorry. Okay? I got caught up in the competition and I wasn't thinking."

"I'll say," Dash responded.

"Alright. Can we be cool now? Everypony's fine and it's no use being angry when we should be partying!"

Dash was hesitant to accept the apology, considering how superficial it seemed. Lightning didn't seem like the kind of pony that poured her heart out, however. Dash decided to give it up and stop the grudge. It had worked out fine a few days ago, allowing her to regain a childhood friend. And she was right. Tonight was supposed to be a good time. A grudge would get in the way. 

"Fine," Dash said. "Just watch out for my friends next time you decide to start up a tornado." She held up a hoof for bumping.

Lightning hurriedly bumped it. "Got it." She stepped out in front of her new not-enemy and looked over to the stallion that had been eyeing her suspiciously and silently throughout the encounter. "Now that that's settled, who's this guy? You holding out on me with some family? We could have used some competition at boot camp." She inched closer and brushed a hoof up his chest with a mischievous smile. "Is he any good?"

"I'm Rainbow Blitz," the stallion said, taking the cue without the hint. "And yes."

Dash put a foreleg around him much like what Lightning Dust had done to her. "He and I are gonna win this thing." The gesture came out vaguely possessive. Vague enough to fly right over the heads of everyone involved. That would explain the spiky hair. 

Lightning Dust stepped back but leaned her head back in to inspect him. She was, as the children would say, "all up in his business". He unconsciously shifted his weight so as to be ready to flee. 

"Rainbow Blitz, eh?" She gave him a once over and looked around at his wings, giving a slight nod of approval. "Alright. Looks like we got a show then. But, just so you know, me and my partner are winning tonight. So don't get your hopes up too high."

Dash raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? Who will you'll be flying with to beat us?" 

Lightning frowned and began scanning the room. "I let him loose in here. Said he saw somepony he wanted to talk to. I knew I should have kept track of him. Ah! There he is." She looked past the Rainbows to where they had just been standing. "Yo Dumbass!" She beckoned with a hoof. 

Dash and Blitz turned their heads, curious as to who this "Dumbass" was. However, all they saw was the bully they had effectively told off shuffling reluctantly toward them. They were about to ask where her partner was when something clicked between them. It was a nearly audible click, even. 

"No way," Blitz whispered through his grin. "Those two?"

"I guess so? Yeah. He's definitely coming to us," his double whispered back.

"You don't think they-"

"Nah. Not her type. Or his either."

"What type is that?"

"Well he totally wouldn't go for somepony better than him. And believe me, she is. And her, she's too intense to go for a schoolyard punk. Too much insubordination."

"Unless she whipped him."

Dash nodded in agreement. "That would work too."

As much as they would have enjoyed continuing to gossip behind ponies' backs, or in front of their faces for that matter, Lightning and Dumbbell met each other in front of the Rainbows.

"So that's why you're here," Dash remarked. The brown stallion gave her a bitter glance. 

"You two know each other?" asked Lightning. 

"Since school. We were just talking before. Right, Dumbass?"

Blitz snickered. Dumbbell growled. 

Lightning continued unperturbed. "Well since you're so familiar, you should know you don't have a chance."

Dash snorted. "What? Because of him?"

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Dumbass Dumbbell said indignantly. Blitz appeared by his side and nudged his shoulder. When he looked, Blitz just shook his head in an effort to tell him to be silent. 

"We've been practicing," Lightning went on, eyes closed in a smug manner. "And we're pretty damn good if you ask me."

The rainbow maned mare rolled her eyes. "Please. Like you're the only one that practiced. We did too. And then we had it down early, got bored with it, and had enough time to just screw around afterwards."

Literally, Blitz's mental voice added. Instead of punching it, he gave an inward laugh and hoof bumped the voice. Judging by the concealed laughter on Dash's face, he guessed she had had the same exchange. 

"Whatever. We'll show you tonight just how good we are. Come on, Dumbass! We're reviewing." Lightning walked in a huff past Dash to the far side of the room. 

The would-be-bully sighed. "It's Dumbbe-" he began. However, his partner gave him a glance and a sharp nod of the head. "Okay. I'm coming..."

As he shuffled along to his partner, he heard the distinct sound of somepony mimicking the cracking of a whip. He saw behind him the rainbow pegasi throwing their hooves forward, completing the pantomime. 


...


"That was so awesome! I could never tell him off like that alone. Thanks."

"Hey, no problem. He needed to be knocked down a peg. I'm a little more worried about that mare."

"You think she can beat us?"

"No! Not at all. She was just... touching me. I dunno. She was all weird."

"Aw. Don't worry Blitzy. I'll protect you from the big bad filly. Now show me on the doll where she touched you."

"Oh shut up!"

Two pegasi pressed their ears to the wall outside the lounge. Thankfully, the walls were thin and clouds are pretty terrible at blocking sound. You can talk just fine in fog, right?

"I hear her. That's definitely her," Soarin whispered.

"Of course you can pick her voice out of a crowd," Spitfire scolded.

"Like you couldn't," he shot back.

"Whatever. Who's she with?"

"She called him 'Blitzy' or something."

"The hell kind of name is that?"

"Go ask them."

"No. We don't want to get run over by fans."

"Not today, anyway," the stallion added. Their ears returned to the wall.

There were no hoofsteps coming from the room. Plush floors and whatnot, you know. So it was rather surprising when two ponies came through the door a few feet from where two celebrities were spying on a crowd of civilians. 

Spitfire's famous nerve didn't forsake her. Her crouched stance and ear on the wall quickly morphed into the casual and bored posture one would expect from a celebrity at a comparably small event. She still leaned on the wall, but the act of examining her hoof pulled it all together.

Soarin nearly fell on his face. 

Dash and Blitz didn't notice the Wonderbolts next to them right away. Fate had them turn the other way as the exited the door. The yellow Wonderbolt motioned to her partner to follow them with her. 

"Follow my lead," she mouthed to him. 

The celebrities crept quietly behind Dash and Blitz until they stopped at an intersection in the hallway. 

"Maybe they're not coming until later," Blitz said. 

Dash pouted. "Well that would suck. We came early for nothing."

Spitfire halted Soarin with a gesture. Just as the Rainbows were about to continue, she straightened and spoke in her strict academy voice.

"ATTEN-TION! ABOUT FACE!" she bellowed. 

Dash and Blitz wasted no time processing what they heard. They immediately backed up into the wall, backs stiff and right hooves out on their foreheads. 

Spitfire gave them a moment of tense silence in their salute. She made use of the time by examining the stallion, a stranger to her, who had just obeyed her without question or delay. However, she didn't quite fully form that thought. Instead, she found her eyes tracing all over the stallion to collect anything useful about him. She did have to keep an eye out for good flyers in her line of work. 

Strong legs. Rainbow spiky hair. Lightning bolt cutie mark. Strong legs. Nice wings. Legs...

It took her longer than she was proud of to notice that she was biting her lip. She also failed to notice that the stallion she was ogling looked a lot like the mare that had so awed her and her team. 

Soarin meanwhile took in the comparison, grew bored of it, and turned his attention to his entranced partner. He nudged her back into Cloudsdale for fear of the silence weirding out Rainbow Dash. No need for more awkwardness to be associated with him by the multi-colored mare. 

Spitfire shook her head. What the hell was I just doing? she thought. Thankfully, the similar pegasi appeared to still be at attention without any onset of the "starstruck" or whatever it is that the children called it. So she pulled herself together and went on with the plan.

"At ease, Dash. The boot camp act gets dropped off the academy grounds."

Dash sighed out of the salute and turned to her idol. She then realized that her idol was in front of her and had a small breakdown in her head. Nothing was shown on her face though. Even the slight widening of the eyes was transformed into a cool nod of acknowledgment. 

"Heh. Alright. Ya kind of drilled it into our heads back there. It's instinct now. So where have you been?" Dash was rather relieved that her voice wasn't shaking from the shear force of her heart.

"Thought we'd lay low at first. Don't want to get bombarded, you know? Anyway, who's your friend?" Spitfire took the opportunity to check out the stallion again. Tastefully. Her eyes only glazed over a little bit. 

He was growing tired of introducing himself, but he'd endure if it meant talking to Spitfire of the Wonderbolts. 

"Call me Blitz," he said, putting on a smile that he prayed was not awkward looking. 

"Blitz," Spitfire said, using an excessive flourish of her tongue. "Well this is Soarin and I'm-"

"Spitfire. I know." When the mare appeared surprised, Blitz smiled and scratched his neck. "I'm a big fan." 

He's a big fan. Holy Celestia, he's a big fan! He knows me! This is so cool. The thoughts were thankfully not portrayed on Spitfire's poker face. She could not, however, manage to continue speaking. 

When she did not talk, Soarin stepped in. But not before a dirty look was sent her way. "So, are you two here for the show?"

"Please," Blitz scoffed. 

"We are the show," Dash finished for him. 

Soarin nodded, grinning. "Alright! The crowd won't be disappointed tonight. Think you could manage to leave room for us, though?"

Their moment of arrogance was cut short. It took a lot of Dash's concentration to keep from sputtering. "Wait, what do you mean? Aren't you just giving an opening act or something?"

"Opening act?" The stallion waved his hoof. "I'll leave that to the rookies. We're competing like everypony else. Right Spitz?"

Spitz. Spitz and Blitz. Heh. It flows. I like it. That could be our celebrity couple name. Spitz and Blitz...

"Spitfire!"

"Hm? Oh. Right. Yeah. We're just like everypony else." She wasn't quite sure where the conversation had gone in her moment of absence. 

Blitz's eyes popped up at the news. They were now not performing for the Wonderbolts. They were competing against them.

"Oh! Is that why you two aren't wearing your suits?" Dash asked with the same expression as her double. 

"Yeah," Soarin answered. "Those things sort of just draw attention. Meanwhile, you'd be surprised how many ponies don't recognize us without them."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah. In reality, a lot of the admiration we get is just for the suits. They like the group, not the ponies."

"Well that sucks. You guys should do a show without them, then. You deserve to be noticed!"

Rainbow Dash wants me to perform for her without clothes on. Soarin swallowed hard, longing for a protective layer of clothing between him and that mare. For his sake. 

"We can't do that," interjected Spitfire now that she saw that her partner was the one with the dirty thoughts. "They're enchanted for us."

"Enchanted?" asked Blitz. He was starting to get used to talking to them. They were just ponies, after all. No reason he couldn't be cool about it.

"Yeah. They alter our trails to make them look the same. It helps with synchronized flying when there aren't too many colors flashing in your face. You could see how that might get complicated in groups." 

"I guess. So does that mean we get the unfiltered experience tonight?"

Spitfire mustered a grin. "Oh yeah. You'll get to see everything." Her eyes immediately widened. 

That sounded bad. That sounded really bad. Oh crap. How do I get out of this. Uh...

Before she could panic about the implications, the intercom interrupted them. A low quality, yet soothing voice managed to squeeze in the word "Attention" before being drowned out by feedback. 

"Ack! Dammit Vinyl! What did I tell you about checking the hardware! What? Oh. Ahem. My apologies everyone. Would all contestants please report to the lounge for instructions? We are just about ready to begin."

Feedback once again echoed through the stadium as it was shut off.

Spitfire sighed in relief at the diversion. "I guess we better get going. Come on Soarin."

"Yes, boss," he answered, following her. 

"I hope you guys are ready," she said to the Rainbows behind her. "'cause we aren't gonna go easy on you."

Dash glanced at her exiting idols and then at her partner. "I'm ready," she remarked casually. "You?"

Blitz put his foreleg on her neck and smiled. "What do you think?"

They shared a quick hug and followed after the Wonderbolts. Not too quickly though. Wouldn't want to seem to anxious.

A little ways before them, Soarin bumped into his partner intentionally. 

"Drool some more, why don't you," he whispered indignantly. "What happened to the illusion?"

"Shut up!" she shot back. "I'll figure it out. And I don't have to answer to you about how I act with him."

"Why's that?"

She whipped her tail at his rear end, eliciting a tiny yelp. 

"Because I've got a pass."


...