Rave stood in the office. His eyes were fixated on his new boss, Spitfire as she stood in front of him. Her own eyes were fixated on Rave’s. Although Rave was silent, his mind was rushing along. “That was hot,” a thought that came to his mind. “This smoking hot mare is going to be our boss now. Maybe she’ll need help with other things.” Rave mind continued to race on leaving his thought process in the dust. His mind was filled with thoughts like this as he just looked at Spitfire. “Hey she even made you close the door just now. That could mean.” A small grin appeared on Rave’s face before he broke eye contact with Spitfire. “As if that would happen” he calmly thought to himself.
“ So,” Spitfire said effectively breaking the silence. “You already got the job but tell me about yourself Rave.”
“Well,” Rave started. “I come from the 82nd Air Support Group where I worked in recon and personnel recovery. I was awa…” Rave stopped his sentence as he could see that Spitfire seemed to be a little put off by his answer. “Capt, is there a problem?” he asked
“Um,” a word that passed by Spitfire’s lips. Rave had caught her off guard by his question. She didn’t know that Rave had picked up on her body language in reaction to his answers. “ umm yea.” She resumed. “I want to know about you. I have already read all the information that was in your package for the job, so I don’t want any of that stuff. Just relax and go with the flow. What do you do for fun Rave? ”
“Well” Rave spoke as he visual appeared to calm down. He let out a sigh which showed him to relax even more. He moved from his spot for the first time since closing the door. He positioned himself in a way that Spitfire could see his cutie mark. “I really love to dance” he said as he brought attention to his mark.
“Interesting” she noted as she walked back behind the desk and sat down. She picked up a notepad and began writing in it. “So what do you think your cutie mark means?”
It was now Rave’s turn to be caught off guard by a question. He knew what he was good at and at what he loved to do, but he never put them together with his cutie mark besides his dancing. “My Cutie mark means,” he paused to think for a bit. “I think it mean me ,” he finally spoke. Spitfire’s face showed an expression of sheer disbelief and confusion that Rave picked up on instantly. Moving to speak before Spitfire had a chance; Rave started “I say it means me. On the surface it shows just three glow sticks. This represents my talent of dancing and things like it. Choreographed movements fall into this category if I do say so myself. However it’s just not the glow sticks but how they are arranged also describes me. They form the letter “A.”” He continued as he watched Spitfire continue to write on the notepad that seemed to hold her attention. “I believe that the arrangement of the glow sticks represents my thirst for knowledge. I simply just want to keep learning new things,” he concluded as he looked back at Spitfire.
Spitfire had finished writing in the notebook and looked up at Rave. She stood back up from behind her desk and walked toward him without taking her eyes off of him. As she approached him one can see that Rave only barely stood taller the Spitfire. The difference was so small the one couldn’t tell it if they were not standing beside each other. Spitfire had passed his face and begins to walk around inspecting him. She paid attention not only to Rave’s uniform, an item that he had to hastily fix after landing, but also his physique.
Although Rave stood shorter than most stallions his age by no means was he scrawny. He wasn’t buff as one might say but he did have a toned body. He had the in shape appearance to him. “I’m about to touch you. is that alright?” Spitfire asked.
“You can touch me when ever and where ever you like,” thought Rave before it was completely pushed out of his mind. “yes, It’s fine Capt,” Rave replied. He felt her hoof on his back as it moved down along his spine. After moving all the way down his back she gave a few taps on his flank before moving to the other side. “No wingboners. No wingboners. No wingboners.” Rave continued to think to himself. It seemed to be working until he felt a small tug on his right wing. Spitfire had been tracing Rave’s stripes with her hoof for a little bit and it was this action that leads her to his wing. As to not completely fall prey to the wicked wingboner, Rave decided to open his right wing on his own terms. This seemed to catch Spitfire off guard a bit as she backed up a little. She resumed her inspection as her began to touch Rave’s wings. His entire body was striped and his wings were no exception. They each had two stripes through the wings although only when they were fully open could you see both. Spitfire’s hand followed the stripes along the wing before tugging at them to inspect their strength.
After inspecting Rave’s wing, Spitfire stepped back. Rave could see that see her face showed a slight blush. She did well at keeping a straight face despite the blush. “Checking out the new recruit already eh Spits.” A voice sounded. The voice originated from the left of Rave which caused him to stop looking at Spitfire. “I mean you seemed like you were in your own little world when you were inspecting him. I’m also sure that the physical contact is not required” the voice laughed. As Rave look to where the voice was coming from it was brought to his attention that there was another door to the office besides the one he entered. Standing in this second doorway was a very light blue, to the point of being white, stallion eating an apple while looking at the pair.
“Soarin,” Spitfire emphases, “don’t you ever knock?” Spitfire looked flustered having been caught in the act so to speak. “How look have you been there” as she tried to regain her composure.
“Since the flank tapping” replied Soarin as he entered the room. He discarded the remains of the apple into the waste bin as he approached Rave. “So Spits does he pass your inspection?” Spitfire stood silent as it seemed that Soarin was getting to her. “Come on Spits, he wants to know too,” Soarin said as he placed a hoof around Rave’s neck. “Isn’t that right,” Soarin continued as he nodded his head up and down. Rave was still dumbfounded at what was taking place. It seems that his mind which had been running at 100s of miles per minute had instantly stopped and felt like staying stopped for the moment. Rave just nodded his head in agreement as he looked toward Spitfire.
Spitfire sighed as she finally regained her composure. “Yea I think he will make an excellent addition to the team. Besides,” she continued, “ It’s not every day do you see a Zebra in Equestria. And one that has wings is even rarer.” She smiled and blushed a bit at that comment as Soarin begin to pat Rave on the back. Rave continued to show an expression of dumbfoundedness. Even though the conversation had taken place in front of him, he still had no idea what was going on.
Soarin continued to pat Rave on the back, “Congrats you just became a Wonderbolt apprentice.” Rave’s face just dropped as he heard these words.
“Did you say I’m a Wonderbolt apprentice?” Rave questioned. He thought that between the earlier conversation and Soarin’s back patting, that he had heard wrong.
“Yes, you’re a Wonderbolt apprentice,” Spitfire re-informed Rave. She wore a face that showed pride and respect as Rave stood there. “Although you’re not a fully fledged Wonderbolt at the moment you are currently closer than most will ever be. At this point you are destined to become a Wonderbolt and fly along the Best of the Best. Congrats Rave Darkness.” Rave just froze there as the news began to sink in. Deciding to proceed with his portion Soarin started to nudge Rave along back into the hallway. It took a few tries for Rave to start moving but once he did his mind also came back in full swing. In his mind, one thought was louder than the others, ”WOOOOOONNDEERRRRRRRRRBOOOOOLT.”
Rave continued to follow Soarin down the hallway. Rave was coming down off of his high which allowed him to regain higher brain function. Rave began to shake his head side to side in a attempt to regain his focus. Soarin picked up on this movement. “So,” Soarin started. “It seems that you have finally come back to us. So how does it feel?”
“Honestly, sir confusing” Rave replied. “I thought I was picked to work as a support personnel for the 1st flight team, not to become a member of it.”
Soarin began to laugh as they continued forward. “How many units do you know of that pull active duty members to just be support personnel. Not to mention the amount of paperwork and hurdles you had to go through should have been a dead give-a-way.” Rave’s eyes opened wide as the information he received from Soarin made perfect sense.
“ I feel stupid,” muddled out of Rave’s mouth. “How did I not see that?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Soarin intervened. “No one ever does. I sure know I didn’t,” Soarin laughed out. They continued to walk down the hallway until they came to a pair of double doors. “Here we are,” Soarin said as he opened the doors. Hidden behind the door was a huge hanger. The hanger was big enough for the Wonderbolts to hold a full practice without having to open the roof. Rave’s jaw dropped at the sheer size of the place as he was left speechless. “I did the same thing,” chuckled Soarin getting Rave’s attention. A small blush appeared on Rave’s face as he was motioned to continue following by Soarin.
As he walked, Rave looked around the room noticing some of the other ponies. “That’s Mist Fly,” Rave thought excitedly to himself. “Over there is Fleet Foot.” He continued to walk around following Soarin as he keep pointing out the other members of the Wonderbolts by name in his mind. A feeling started to well up in him from the back of his mind. Its approach was halted as it seemed that Soarin had reached his destination.
“Here we are. The Wonderbolts Main Locker room,” Soarin triumphantly proclaimed as if he had just won a gold medal in the Equestria Games. “Go look at the lockers on the right wall.” Rave followed Soarin’s instructions as he moved to the right of the room. On a plaque, over the lockers, on the right wall of the locker room, the word “Apprentices” was spelled. Rave walked down the row of lockers until he spotted something that made him stop at the third one from the end. The name plate on it simple said “Rave D.” Looking at this Rave just sat down on the floor and stared at it. The feeling that was creeping up earlier had come back in full force. That feeling had reviled it’s self to be doubt.
“ I’m on the road to become a Wonderbolt,” Rave said to himself as he looked up at the nameplate. “The Wonderbolts. The best fliers of all Equestria want me to join them. All the Pegasus dream of this moment and I’m living it.” He looked down at the ground. “But was this my dream? Can I live up to the Wonderbolt’s expectations?” Rave just sat there as he restarted staring at his name plate.
Looking at Rave from the end of the lockers was Soarin. He had a small smile on his face as a small tear rolled down his face. Soarin moved to wipe the tear from his face as he turned around to give Rave more time to himself. “Don’t worry newbie,” Soarin said to himself as he walked away. “I did the same thing.”