Flying Sky-High

by Calm Wind

Chapter 10

MLP: FiM
Flying Sky-High
By: Calm Wind

Chapter 10:

“One more time.” Fire Streak nodded and made motions to Misty Fly. She smiled and pointed a hoof up. Fire, Lightning, and Surprise all took flight with Misty slightly behind.

Dash was sitting off to the side, watching them practice their impromptu show. She had been curious about each of their skills from the start, but hadn’t actually gotten to see them until now. Misty Fly held her hooves out as she hovered, and made some quick signals. Surprise kicked three clouds into the air, one at a time. Each kick was harder than the last, making the clouds crash together and form a big puffy cloud. Misty Fly made a cutting motion with her hooves. Perfectly synchronized, the Streak twins swiped through the cloud, cutting it into a perfect cube. Misty pumped her wings, pushing herself forward and gathering up the pieces cut off and kicking them to Surprise. She motioned back to the twins, crossing her hooves into an X. The twins crossed through the cloud, cutting it into four smaller cubes.

Misty flew and grabbed two of the cubes while Fire and Lightning cut the other two to their own liking. Fire made his into a pyramid. Lightning made his into what looked like a mare’s plot, earning an eye roll from Misty. She looked back at Surprise, who had bundled the cloud scraps into a sphere, and tossed the other cubes at her. Surprise fell to the ground and the ball of clouds she was holding somehow bounced and propelled her, hind legs first, at the cloud cubes. The cubes were kicked high up into the air. Misty pointed at Fire and Lightning, and the two stood next to each other before rocketing upward, back to back. They twisted around each other as they ascended. When they reached the right height, they turned and pushed off one another, propelling themselves at the cubes. They caught them, turned, and tossed them together. The clouds smashed into each other and compressed, exploding into mist that gently rained down.

Misty Fly made a motion to Surprise and the two positioned themselves beneath the falling mist. They began flying in a circle, keeping the exact pace to create a spiral wind that caused the mist to disperse and fly in every direction.

Misty Fly clapped her hooves together and they all glided back to the ground. She smiled contently and gave a nod to Fire.

“Okay then, I guess that’s good for the day.” He said.

Dash clapped for them and they all gave her a comical bow. So that’s how they all worked. Surprise was really good at manipulating clouds quickly as Soarin had mentioned. The twins were nearly perfect at flying in sync. Every motion Misty called for them to do was timed together so smoothly it’s liked they were one pony, which was funny considering their opposite personalities. Then of course, Misty Fly. Such complicated coordination without any speaking. She was truely amazing. Dash had never met a more inspiring pony in her life.

“So how’d we do m’lady?” Fire addressed Dash with a whisk of his mane.

“I’m not sure how to describe it,” Dash explained happily as they all made their way out of the practice showroom, “I’ve never seen a coordination show up close! It’s awesome to see how it all works.”

“I know, I’m a natural born leader man,” Lightning Streak appeared on the other side of Dash. She rolled her eyes and leaned into him.

“Because you’re just so awesome, the way you coordinate the whole show despite being deaf.” She faked an impressed tone.

“Uh, what?” Lightning didn’t catch on.

“Oh you’re not Misty Fly? My mistake!” She thrust her wing out and he tumbled over himself, again.

“Yup, haven’t lost my touch.” He said as Surprise picked him up off the ground. Fire just shook his head, relaying the scene to Misty Fly with the sign language. Misty shook lightly with a smile, which looked like she would be laughing if she could speak.

“Well we only have one more part of the day, and you can join in this one Miss Dash.” Fire explained as they turned a corner. Dash wasn’t certain how to feel about it, she was still feeling tired from the morning routine. “We are scheduled to a gym weight lifting session. You look like you keep in good shape so it I’m sure it won’t be hard.”

“Oh.” Dash nodded. “That doesn’t sound too bad.”

“I believe the first squad was scheduled to be there with us, but I don’t know if all of them will be there after that little battle dome incident.” Fire trailed off, but Dash got excited. She hoped at least Soarin would show up. Call her a giddy fillyfriend, but she adored his muscular body. If she got to see him pump some iron too? Twice the sexy. “Everypony go ahead and get changed out of your uniforms. Meet in the gym in ten.” Fire pointed to them all as they reached the locker rooms.

“Awww.” Dash was disappointed to part with the uniform. But the chance to see Soarin all sweaty in the gym made her excited nonetheless. The thought alone almost made her hover instead of walk as she went to get changed.

After reluctantly removing the Wonderbolt uniform, Dash dropped it in the laundry chute and followed the signs to the gym. After a few wrong turns, she found her way there. She held her breath as she pushed the left double door open. She exhaled in disappointment when she didn’t spy Soarin anywhere. A few other lower ranking squads were present as well as a few cadets. The only member of squad three that had shown up so far was Lightning Streak. So she just waited patiently for the rest to come and took in her surroundings.

The gym was a large room with a very high ceiling. There were four large fans in each corner of the ceiling and one HUGE fan in the center. All together they blew a gentle breeze down that was very refreshing. The gym itself was divided into three sections. One section had multiple treadmills and other cardio equipment. Another was a large open area with a mat similar to the one in the battle dome. It seemed to be used for stretching and flexibility. Finally, no gym would be complete without a section devoted to strength training. The third section was packed with weight benches, machines, free weights, and the like.

She looked over when she saw Fire Streak enter with Misty Fly and Surprise close behind.

“Perfect, all on time.” Fire nodded, “now we just have to wait for coach Pec Bounce.” Dash blinked at the name.

“Pec… Bounce…?”

“ALRIGHT!!!!!” A loud booming voice came from behind Dash, Misty, and Surprise. Misty didn’t budge, but Dash and Surprise got blown away by it. Dash yelped and tumbled, but Surprise rode the force like it like it was intentional yelling,

“Wheee!”

“WHO’S READY TO GET BUFF?!” The voice yelled again. Dash frantically got to her hooves and shook her head before looking at the owner of the voice. He was a large white pony, body bulging with muscles, with a buzzed yellow mane, and a pair of tiny wings. He wore a red baseball cap and had a whistle hanging around his neck, but the string was pulled so taught by his enormous neck that it looked impossible for the whistle to even reach his mouth.

“Bulk Biceps?!” Dash thought out loud. The “pony” turned to her and cocked an eyebrow at the name.

“OH YOU KNOW MY SON?! YOU MUST BE FROM PONYVILLE!” He shouted. She felt like her face was being blown off as he “spoke.”

“Uh, yeah I do, please stop wrecking my ears.” She said quietly while crouched down and smashing her ears to her head with her hooves.

“YOU’VE GOT A CADET TRAINING DAY HUH? GOOD LET’S SEE WHAT YOU’RE MADE OF!” He yelled at Dash again, before turning and pointing at the weights. “ALRIGHT!”

“Oh man…” Dash could tell this wasn’t going to be easy.

And boy was she right. Squad three was scheduled for a strength session. No sooner did they begin did Dash find herself being yelled at towards almost every weight machine in the gym. Dash was in pretty good shape in terms of strength, having worked at Sweet Apple Acres a lot recently. So it wasn’t too hard to keep up, but Pec Bounce was one hardass of a coach.

“HRGH!” Dash pushed up a barbell before Fire grabbed it and racked it back on the bench. She let her arms dangle down and exhaled.

“IT AINT A BED, ON YOUR HOOVES!” Pec Bounce yelled, blowing Dash off the bench into a heap on the floor. Dash quickly stood up despite how tired her limbs were. “OKAY FIVE MINUTE BREAK THEN WE DO THE CIRCUIT AGAIN!” Pec bounce yelled before trudging off.

“Good lord he’s tough.” Dash sighed.

“But he does his job well,” Fire Streak chuckled as he wiped sweat from his brow. Dash wobbled slightly as she took a few steps. She had gotten stronger over the past few months but this was crazy. Her muscles never felt tighter or more tired in her life. She felt so swollen that it was hard to bend certain parts of her body. To top it off they weren’t done? She wouldn't be able to feel her body tomorrow morning for sure.

But then something caught her eye. Something that made her forget all about her body. At some point during their session, Soarin and Fleetfoot had made their way into the gym. No one was coaching them, but it was to be expected. The lead squad was probably disciplined enough to do their workouts in their sleep. In Dash’s eyes however, Fleetfoot wasn’t even there. Dash was staring at her stallion, and oh dear it would be VERY hard for her to concentrate from this point forward.

Dash wobbled her way over to a machine to peek out from behind. She knew Soarin wouldn’t mind her taking an eyeful of him, but she felt like doing it anyway. He must’ve been going at it for a while already because his muscles were looking pumped and Dash HAD to see more. He was bench pressing, just like she had just been, but upon inspecting the bar, he had to be using at least two hundred pounds. Dash had only lifted ninety-five. To make it even better he was pressing the weight up fast, like it was light. He grunted quitely with each press, his hooves nestled firmly into the hoof holds on the bar. No one was spotting him, but she doubted he would need it.

He re-racked the weight and sat up on the bench, rotating his arms to loosen up as he did. The motion made his chest muscles flex and relax repeatedly. Dash bit her lip and blushed. She wanted to get her hooves on those later for sure. Soarin didn’t look like he was going to burst at the seams like Pec Bounce, but he sure was buff, in the sexy way as well as the efficient way. Dash knew he was strong, but the way his body was all pumped up made him look even more powerful. She was enjoying every second of it.

Soarin suddenly glanced in her direction. She thought about hiding, but nah, she waved and winked. Soarin smirked and wiped his face off with a towel before striking a pose and flexing. Dash giggled to herself and found her wings were not staying to her side.

“Hey watcha doin?!” Surprise’s face suddenly appeared upside down in front of Dash’s.

“AUGH!” Dash screamed, lost her balance and fell backwards. “ME? HAHA? NOTHING! NOTHING AT ALL! HAHAHA!” Dash replied hysterically with her wings completely ruffled and stuck out to her sides. Fire and Lightning had glanced over, wondering what was going on, but Lightning caught on quickly as he looked in Soarin’s direction.

“Girl’s got it REAL hot for commander Soarin huh?” He snickered. Fire sighed and slowly looked at his brother with disapproval.

“Must you always put things so vulgarly?”

“I know right? She coulda had this guy.” Lightning pointed at himself.

“I said nothing about…! Oh, forget it.” Fire rolled his eyes.

Oblivious to the whole situation, Misty just smiled.

Dash ended up internally thanking Surprise for breaking her from the serious tunnel vision, because Pec Bounced returned soon after.

“ALRIGHT! ROUND TWO OF SIX!”

“SIX?!?!?!?” Dash groaned. At least she had some eye candy to motivate her now.

Dash somehow managed to make it through the lifting session with her body still intact. It all went well except for one incident. While spotting Lightning Streak, Dash got distracted by Soarin and Lightning almost crushed himself with the barbell. She got a good scolding from Pec Bounce about gym safety and awareness, but other than that it went fine. But oh yes, the pain. Sweet Celestia the pain. She shower felt good afterward, but she could barely carry her tray of food to the table during dinner.

Alas, she survived the training day, and all through dinner she was sad that she'd be parting ways with squad three soon. But Dash was confident she had made friends in all of them, even Lightning. Favor like that would be good to have come time for Wonderbolt recruitment. It was going on eight o’clock after dinner was over. So unfortunately, it was time to say goodbye.

She bid farewell to Lightning Streak and Surprise, but Fire Streak and Misty Fly accompanied her to Spitfire’s office. Spitfire bid them entry when Fire knocked. As they did, Dash saw that Soarin and Fleetfoot were present as well.

Soarin immediately took note of the wobble in Dash’s step and chuckled to himself. She clearly had a rough time, but she was acting tough and trying not to show it.

“Ah, I almost forgot about you guys.” Spitfire admitted as they entered, “Sorry if I’m not in the best mood, a lot of shit has happened today as you know.” She stood up and came around her desk to give a more casual air to the moment. “So? Report.” She directed to Fire. Fire Streak saluted.

“Miss Rainbow Dash was given the full regular day experience. As expected she showed a little lack of endurance, but I would assume she hasn’t been doing workouts like ours on a regular basis. During the strength session, she performed beyond regular expectation and actually finished Pec Bounce’s crazy circuit training all the way through.”

“Did she now?” Spitfire looked impressed. Dash glanced between them.

“Wait, I was being evaluated?!” She deduced. Fleetfoot giggled off to the side.

“It’s a training day that cadets earn through exceptional work. Why else would we allow it?” She shrugged and winked at Dash.

“Like Fire said," Spitfire continued, "I’m not surprised the endurance training was difficult for you. Some of the veterans still struggle with that. I am, however, very impressed you lasted through the strength training.” Spitfire nodded. “I’ll take note. It’ll help you in the future.” She smiled to Dash.

Well! That was unexpected, but it was an opportunity in disguise.

“Now…” Spitfire turned to Misty Fly. Spitfire proceeded to seamlessly make motions and gestures with her hooves and wings. Again, Dash found herself not surprised. Spitfire was the captain, and being able to fully communicate with the rest of the Wonderbolt members was essential, even if it was more difficult with others. Misty Fly smiled and made a series of gestures back. Spitfire nodded. “And looks like you’ve passed the charisma test with flying colors.” Spitfire added.

“Charisma test?” Dash tipped her head to the side. Soarin cut in.

“She purposely put you with Misty Fly. We wanted to see how you responded to her disability. Many ponies shy away, but a pony with a good heart won’t let it make a difference.” He leaned over and draped a wing over Dash’s back. Fleetfoot made several gagging noises as he did. She ducked while laughing as Soarin swiped his other wing in her direction.

“Then that concludes it. Dismissed.” Spitfire said to Fire and Misty. Fire relayed the message to Misty, who frowned and looked towards Dash. Fire Streak bowed to Dash,

“It has been an honor and a pleasure Miss Rainbow Dash. I hope we see each other again soon in the future.”

“Heh, Thanks Fire.” She had gotten used to his properness. Dash jumped slightly as Misty rushed forward and gave her a big hug followed by a single sniffle. Dash could almost hear her own heart break. It appeared that it really was rare for Misty to find others who tried to understand her. Dash returned the hug and patted Misty on the back lightly. Dash quickly looked to Fire before the hug could break,

“Quick! What’s the sign for goodbye?” She asked.

“Same as yes, but do it with your wing instead.” He quickly responded. Dash broke the hug with Misty, who had watery eyes. Dash made the wing motion to say “goodbye” followed by the motion outward from her mouth to say “thank you.” A single tear fell down Misty’s face, but it was with a warm smile. She did the motion right back to say “thank you” as well, before going to Fire’s side and pressing herself into him. He draped a wing over her as they left.

“I really think I’m gonna cry.” Fleetfoot held her hooves over her mouth lightly. “Dash that was so well done.” She commented. Dash smiled.

“I just want her to know I care,” said Dash, “She's such an awesome pony. She doesn’t get as much love as she deserves.”

“An attitude like that will take you very far in life Dash.” Spitfire nodded in approval. “Remember that.”

Dash tingled as Spitfire complimented her. The whole day had turned out great despite a few hiccups here and there. Speaking of hiccups though,

“Oh! What happened with Rapidfire?!” Dash eagerly asked. Spitfire flinched upon hearing the name and Soarin quickly stepped over to Dash.

“I’ll fill her in Spitfire.” He quickly volunteered. Spitfire sighed.

“Thanks.” She returned to her seat and faced away from them.

“Uh, did I say something I shouldn’t have?” Dash whispered to Soarin with worry. Soarin shook his head as they turned to the door and Fleetfoot went to Spitfire’s side.

“No, it’s just been a hard day for her. Everything that happened put a lot of snags into the lead squad plans. I’ll fill you in as we go back to my room.” He whispered back. Dash took one glance over her shoulder back at Spitfire and saw her shaking her head as Fleetfoot tried to talk to her. Even though it was unintentional, Dash still felt bad about bringing it up.

“Discharged!?” exclaimed Dash as she and Soarin walked up the stairs to the third floor. She wasn’t surprised, but it was still a heavy decision Spitfire had to make.

“Yep,” Soarin nodded, “He finally took it further than he could rebound from.”

“Is there more to it though?” Dash asked out of curiosity. Soarin was going to tell her regardless.

“Well, to put it lightly he tried to kill me. That amount of lightning is very dangerous and unstable. If not…”

“Stop.” Dash shook her head.

“Hm?”

“I get that part. I just don’t want to think about it.” She requested while leaning heavily into him.

“Oh, sorry.” He flopped his ears down.

“But yeah what else happened?” She pressed the question.

“Fleetfoot contacted the Canterlot police. When they arrived, Spitfire spoke with them. Once they had the facts it was decided that Rapidfire would be put under arrest on the intent of attempted murder.”

“Whoa…” Dash’s eyes widened upon hearing. She wasn’t a lawyer, but you didn’t have to be one to understand the severity of something like that. Rapidfire was flying headlong to possibly a life sentence in prison. “Where is he now?” Dash asked with worry. Soarin shook his head.

“He’s under house arrest. Locked in his own room with the armored window shutter closed and locked too. We are apparently holding him here until they can sort out what to do with him.” They stopped in front of Soarin’s room.

“Well on the bright side.” Dash smiled, “he’s finally out of your mane for good!” Soarin chuckled.

“He made one hell of a scene doing it though. The bastard just had to go out in style while he was at it.” They both laughed at Rapidfire’s expense with absolutely no remorse, as if he really deserved any.

“SO!” Dash pounded her hoof against the door, startling Soarin who stopped reaching for the door knob and blinked. Soarin glanced at her and saw her eyes had narrowed to a seductive gaze. “How about we just forget about everything and ‘relax?’” Soarin’s wings twitched.

“Nah.” He said as he opened the door. Dash’s wings fell down from her sides and she stared at him in total disbelief.

“You, aren’t serious right?” She walked in after him and closed the door behind her.

“I am serious,” he turned and stared flatly at her.

“But…” Dash grunted in disappointment. “Gee, you suck.”

“Seriously joking!” Soarin turned, reached over and pulled her roughly into him. She yelped as he plunged his lips against her. She pushed off and smacked him across the face.

“Don't ever play with me like that!” She grabbed his head, pulled him in, and gave her own hard kiss right back. She flinched in surprise as he lifted her up off the ground and into his arms, remaining fully lip locked the whole way. Dash broke the kiss and looked at him holding her up, his muscles handling her weight as if she were a feather.

“You like?” Soarin turned his head slightly and smirked.

“Stop getting sexier, I’m gonna pass out.” She comically crossed her arms and pouted.

“THE RIDE NEVER ENDS!” Soarin proclaimed before pulling her back in. Dash was ready for it this time and softly bit his bottom lip as he kissed her. He slowly moved with her in his arms and pressed her back against the wall. They broke apart and exhaled in each other’s faces. The way he was holding her, her head was slightly higher than his. She looked down at him with a look of pure pleasure.

“Looks like I’m stuck between a wall and a total hunk of stallion.” She reached her arms around his neck. “I’ve never been more thrilled to be at somepony’s mercy.” She whispered.

“Yowza you know how to get me going.” Soarin’s smirk was growing by the second. Dash tried to push off the wall with her wings, but Soarin had her completely pinned.

“Something tells me you’ve wanted to do this all day.” She teased.

“Maybe I haMMPH!” Soarin got cut off as she attacked his mouth again. Soarin parted his lips instinctively and Dash slid her tongue right in, pinning his tongue down before he could even move it.

He let out a moan of satisfaction and the force he was pressing her to the wall with lightened. As soon as Dash felt the pressure fade she slammed her wings hard against the wall and pushed them both towards the bed. Soarin stumbled and fell backwards, turning the tables with Dash now pinning him to the bed.

“Cheater.” He huffed.

“Quiet you.” She ordered as she ran her hooves over his chest and arm muscles. “Mmm, I wanted to get at these since the gym.”

“I was under the impression you were going to get on them in the gym.” He chuckled. “You looked like a griffon waiting to pounce.” He teased. She ran her hoof past his chest, up his neck, and through his mane.

“Seeing you all pumped and sweaty was doing a number on me. You’re sexy enough as is.” She cooed while roughly nuzzling her face into his neck. Soarin bit down softly on her ear as it came into range, earning a sharp moan from Dash.

“Ooh!” Her body tingled all over and she felt weak legged.

“Dropped your guard there.” He taunted as he gently blew warm breath onto her ear as well.

“You bastard… I’ll get yooooooou.” She made a slight effort to pull back but gave up as more tingles took over her body. As soon as he stopped she pushed herself up, but yelped in surprise when her legs didn’t make it all the way up. She fell roughly back onto Soarin.

“OOF!” He grunted as she landed on him. “What was that?!” He laughed as she blushed.

“I kinda got my body put through a wringer today.” She huffed, trying to hide her face with her wing.

“I can help with that.” Soarin gave a single eyebrow bounce. Dash looked at him smugly.

“Oh? How so?” She challenged.

“Watch me work babe.” He winked and suddenly pushed her up off of him with little effort.

“Hey!” She giggled as he shifted over and placed her on the bed beside him. “Faker!” She stuck her tongue out at him.

“Wouldn’t be fun if I just held you down the whole time.” He playfully jeered as he stood up from the bed. “Lay flat.” He ordered as he stretched out his arms. When he turned back around she was laying on her back in a sultry pose. He blinked, and then winked while pointing at her. “NOICE! But I meant the other way.” He chuckled.

“Oh.” Dash snickered and laid flat on her stomach, resting her head on her hooves. “How’s this? She said while wiggling her plot.” Soarin felt his whole body twitch, but Dash hadn’t given him any go ahead yet. He would restrain himself.

“Relax your body completely.” He said as he crawled back onto the bed and shimmied over to her. He gently placed his hooves on her lower back and began to make gentle circular motions.

“OH… MY… GOSH…” Dash moaned each word louder than the last as he slowly made his way up her back. He knew how to give massages too? When did Dash die and find herself in heaven?

“Feel good?” He paused briefly to ask.

“WHY DID YOU STOP?” She whimpered.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” He chuckled and continued. He carefully kneaded out her back muscles, doing his best to loosen any knots he could find. He had his work cut out for them because she had them everywhere. He didn’t mind though, Dash had one hell of a body. He straddled over her lower back to get a better angle as he began working on her upper back. He didn’t even have to find the knots around her wings, they were nearly visible. He reached toward her wings and pressed his hooves into the crook below the base of the wing muscles.

“AHHHHH!!!” She squeaked loudly and both of the wings fired out to her sides, almost knocking Soarin off of her. He blinked and smirked.

“Holy hell, did I find another sweet spot?”

“Nononononononono!” Dash wiggled beneath him. He pressed against it again, this time a little harder.

“AH! Oo! Ahhhhhhhh! Stoooooooop!” She moaned through each breath.

“I think I found a VERY sweet spot.” He chuckled as she continued to squeak at his touch. He released the pressure and she sighed loudly.

“Do it again.” She suddenly demanded. Soarin shook his head with a smile and leaned down towards her ear.

“I promise I’ll be gentle.” He smoothly spoke into her ear before applying the lightest amount of pressure he could to her wing joints. She moaned softly this time as Soarin worked his hooves around them to ease the stiffness. Her wings slowly fully relaxed and melted, falling down onto the bed at her sides. He moved along to the top of her shoulders to work out the last bit of stress.

“I was, nmf, 200% in love with you.” Dash began quietly, “Now I’m, ah, 1000% in love with you.” She sighed the happiest sigh of her life as Soarin moved his hooves to her neck and softly brushed them through her mane. Soarin smiled and rolled off of her.

He glanced at her lying on his bed and bit his lower lip. Having his hooves all over that sexy body had really accelerated the urge. He leaned down to politely ask Dash if she wanted to go for it, but before he could say anything he caught the steady rise and fall of her body. He must’ve really relieved all the tension because she was out cold, fast asleep. Part of Soarin was disappointed, but this was Rainbow Dash. She was special and he would never take advantage of her. He refused to ever do such a thing to a mare he held so dear. He leaned down and whispered into her ear,

“And there is no number that could ever measure how much I love you.” He kissed her lightly on the cheek. She stirred slightly, but smiled and sighed a cute squeaky sigh. Soarin watched her for another moment before he turned off the lights, and crawled into the bed beside her, nestling his body gently into hers. “Goodnight, angel.”

---To be Continued---