MLP: FiM
Piercing the Heavens
By: Calm Wind
Chapter 22:
“Come on! Come on! Everypony in! Before my damn mane gets any greyer! Come on!” Silver Lining barked at the cadets as they quickly shuffled into the auxiliary gym. It didn’t take nearly as long with only a hundred cadets, but it only took a day for Silver to effectively intimidate them all. All he did was direct them around, but if any of the ponies lagged behind he got really creative with his threats. A majority of which were different ways to kick a pony in the ass.
Dash pushed through the doors with the rest of the cadets, and like most upon entering, blinked and stared up at the monstrosity that was set up before them. She ended up running into Thunderlane from behind, who in turn lurched forward and ran into Matteo. After Dash and Thunderlane regained their hooves, they walked up beside Matteo while viewing the… thing in the gym.
“Uh… should I be scared?” Thunderlane furrowed his brow.
“What is this thing?” Dash glanced up at Matteo. He shook his head.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” he put plainly while scanning the large construct.
They were looking at what seemed to be a long, winding silver cylinder that had gone up in the auxiliary gym at some point while they were elsewhere. As Dash traced the tube along, she saw there was a clear area that looked like a finish line, and that the cylinder was, in fact, a tube. She looked up towards where the front end of the tube began. It was surrounded by a large box attached to the cylinder that was propped up by thick steel supports as was the rest of the tube.
What was in the tube? Hell if Dash knew. Fleetfoot made it clear more than once. Today was all about how they handle the unexpected. There was no way to prepare or be ready for whatever shenanigans were about to ensue. After fighting an uphill battle against a pie launching machine in thick fog, Dash was sure something ridiculous was ahead.
“See!? I told you guys no pranks until the next test!” Fleetfoot hopped up and flew in a lazy circle over the cadets as Silver Lining kicked the last one through the door. “But noooooooo, you all thought I was gonna pull a fast one! I know Soarin is a princess and all, but my word is just as good as his.”
“Just get them going!” Soarin’s voice came from off to the side.
“Quiet, princess!” Fleetfoot shouted as she flew back to the front of the group to give in instructions. “So as you can see…” she turned her back to them. “Behind me is a large tube,” she turned back around. “You have to fly through it,” she nodded. “Any questions?” she looked out into the cadets. Thunderlane slowly raised his hoof. “Didn’t think so! Surprise!” Fleetfoot called while backing away.
Dash blinked and flattened her ears. Those were supposed to be instructions? Gee, thanks for all the details Fleetfoot.
“HI!” Surprise dropped down from above and gave a huge smile to all the cadets. “Everypony say hello to one of my FAVORITE personal courses!” she motioned to the tube. “The Slide of Unconventional Possibilities!” she smiled as an explosion of confetti erupted behind her.
“Slide of Unconventional Possibilities?” Dash repeated while looking up at Matteo. Matteo looked down at her, then back towards Surprise.
“S.O.U.P?” Matteo put the acronym together.
“EXACTLY!” Surprise popped up from the feathers on his back. “It’s a tasty mixture of unexpected things cooked in a pot and served hot, hot, HOT!” she dove back into Matteo’s feathers. “WhooooooooOOOAAAAAOOF!!!” Surprise fell from the ceiling and landed flat on the ground in front of the cadets. She looked up and scratched her head. “Huh… that's never happened before…”
“Uh…” Thunderlane tipped his head to the side. “What sort of things would those be?”
“SILLY!” Surprise was suddenly right in front of Thunderlane and pressing her face completely against his. “Would it be the special S.O.U.P. surprise if I told you what the ingredients were?” she bounced her eyebrows up and down against his face. Her body contorted and flung away from Thunderlane with a loud SPROING as if her body was spring-loaded.
“Whoa!” Fleetfoot ducked as Surprise flung over her head and crashed into High Winds behind her. Fleetfoot winced as she watched the collision before turning back to the cadets. “Well then! To breed some competition, we’re going to have you cadets go two at a time. While we aren’t testing to see who gets out first, we do want to see who competes versus who goes through the motions!” The cadets began moving to form a line near the base pillar that held up the apparent starting line. “HOLD IT!” Fleetfoot threw her hooves out. The cadets all froze and looked back to her. “We’re gonna do this differently too! BLAZE!” Fleetfoot called down. Blaze was trying to untangle Surprise from High Winds. She stopped and glanced up. “All yours Blazey!”
“Rgh…” Blaze growled and dropped Surprise and High Winds onto the ground. Winds had fallen sleep anyway. “Stop calling me that,” she grinded her teeth and glared at Fleetfoot as they passed.
“Who’s the alpha mare?” Fleetfoot cooed slyly as they passed.
“Fuck you,” Blaze hissed back as Fleetfoot giggled all the way to the ground. “ALRIGHT LOSERS! LISTEN YER SHIT UP!” Blaze puffed her chest out as she hovered above the cadets. “You’re going two at time! Who will you be paired with?! It’s up to me to use my powers of matchmaking to find you the PERFECT RIVAL!”
“Aka, she’s gonna pick completely at random!” Fleetfoot yelled from the ground.
“SHUDDAP!” Blaze spat down towards Fleetfoot as she giggled away again. “First up is…” Blaze pushed her goggles up and eyed the one hundred cadets carefully as if she really was trying to determine something. “You and you!” she pointed at Twister and Thunderlane.
“What?” Thunderlane blinked and his ears flopped down.
“Well…” Twister suddenly slithered his body up onto Thunderlane’s back like a snake. “What are we waiting for…?” he sneered before extending his wings and taking off towards the start above them.
“Just my luck…” Thunderlane groaned as he followed.
“Good luck with… whatever the hell’s in there!” Dash chuckled as Thunderlane just shook his head in response. Dash watched as Thunderlane and Twister were allowed into the box. The Wonderbolts all hovered up and fastened a different pair of strange looking goggles to their eyes. Dash examined the length of the tube again and realized there was no way to see inside. There were small hatches littered around, but nothing like windows. Dash looked back at the Wonderbolts as they flew around the tube, looking closely at blank spots on it.
She put it together. The Wonderbolts had special infrared goggles to see them in the fog. Were these goggles that let them… see through things? Where did they get all these cool gadgets?
Dash’s suspicions were confirmed when she saw the Wonderbolts suddenly move their heads along the outside of the pipe as if they were keeping track of something moving. They could see into the pipe. A few faint yelps and screams sputtered out the finish end of the pipe. All the cadets turned and looked at the finish line with dread as the sound of the yelling resonated all the way through.
“OOOOOOOO!! That’s gonna leave a mark!” Soarin suddenly commented. Dash looked up and saw the rest of the Wonderbolts wincing as well. Fleetfoot did a single backward somersault while absolutely cracking up.
“WOW! He hit that hard! Good thing we had them sign the consent forms!” she chortled while clutching her sides. They all gradually moved along the pipe, giving Dash an idea of where the two were inside. Every few seconds the Wonderbolts would react to something happening inside. Most likely something unpleasant, but amusing to them. After about five minutes, the Wonderbolts gathered by the finish line. The pipe to the finish was against the ground and facing horizontally after a huge dip just before it. It looked like there was one final dive on the inside followed by leveling out and launching the occupants out with plenty of space to safely slow down once free from the pipe.
“Oo! OW! Oh god! GAH!” Thunderlane’s voice came from the inside. Twister suddenly shot out of the tube, did a quick flip and landed on his hooves, skidding to a stop before striking a gymnast finishing pose.
“TAADAA!!!” he yelled out. Immediately afterward, Thunderlane launched back first out of the pipe.
“OHHHH SHIIIIIIIT!” he yelled as he his plot smacked against the floor. He started painfully tumbling along the ground until finally coming to a stop after his face skidded on the floor for a few feet. Everypony, cadets and Wonderbolts alike, all cringed as he came to a full stop.
“Oh damn…” Soarin hovered over Thunderlane. They were hard to see with his black fur, but Thunderlane clearly had some nasty bruises. A few welts were all Soarin needed to see to figure that out.
“Ow… ow…” Thunderlane grimaced as he tried to push himself up. Spitfire quickly turned to Fire Streak.
“Fire, get the training staff in here, I get the feeling we’re gonna need them more than once,” she ordered. Fire saluted and made his way towards one of the side passage doors.
“I can’t believe he finished… did you see how many times he wiped out?” Soarin asked Spitfire as he pushed his goggles up and helped Thunderlane get to his hooves.
“Perseverance is a valuable trait,” Spitfire walked up and lightly held her hoof to Thunderlane’s shoulder. “It was sloppy cadet… but one hell of an effort. Hang tough, the trainers are on the way.”
Thunderlane just nodded and sighed as his body twitched in discomfort. Dash gulped as she saw the beat up state Thunderlane was in. What the hell was IN this thing?
“YOU AND YOU! YOU LOOK LIKE YOU HATE EACH OTHER’S ASS WITH A PASSION!” Blaze yelled as she pointed at two more cadets. Dash turned and saw two mares look at each other and shrug. Blaze was being completely random. Seeing as how there were a hundred of them, and they were only going two at a time. That meant fifty runs. This was going to take a while. Dash steeled her nerves for the incoming cacophony and did some light stretches and wing-ups to stay loose.
“Rainbow Dash… I’m scared… what’s in there?” Derpy approached Dash while dragging her hooves and looking up at the tube. Dash pushed through one more wing-up before standing up and glancing at the tube herself. She looked back down at Derpy, then over near the finish line.
Twenty-seven runs… and Dash still hadn’t been picked. Neither had Derpy, Matteo, or Storm Front. The Wonderbolt training staff had arrived soon after Thunderlane took a beating inside the pipe. They now had their hands full with multiple cadets who seemed a little banged up after their run. Although none of them looked half as beat up as Thunderlane. What the hell did he do in there? It sure made the Wonderbolts react.
“Don’t worry Derpy, Thunderlane has a history of… crashing into things…” she snickered, but gently draped a hoof over Derpy’s back. “Whatever’s in there, just take it at your pace,” Dash assured her. Derpy cracked a small smile and nodded. She looked like she was going to say something else, but she got distracted by Storm Front coming into the general vicinity to talk to Matteo. She quickly left Dash’s side to join them.
Dash chuckled as she watched Derpy approach Storm and Matteo. Derpy had said more than once she was scared of Matteo, even after Dash had told her he was a nice guy. Yet, with Storm Front over there, Derpy didn’t give a DAMN about Matteo being right there.
Dash couldn’t help but feel a little sad at the sight. Derpy was clearly drawn to Storm. It was no surprise, Storm was probably the nicest stallion Dash had ever met… and Derpy didn’t really get the amount of kindness she deserved. How long could Derpy stay afloat in the tryouts though? Dash hated thinking about it, but Derpy barely squeaked into the second day. Was she going to be forced away from Storm after today?
“OW! Like, STOP!”
Dash turned her head towards the trainers. She snickered as she saw Arctic Blast being looked at by a trainer. She had just finished her run. She came out of the pipe way before the stallion she was chosen to go with, but she had a large bruise on her right shoulder. It didn’t look very painful. Arctic was one of the skinniest ponies Dash had ever seen, so she probably bruised when a fly landed on her. She had white fur though, so the bruise was very visible and she was FUMING about it.
Dash blinked as she saw High Winds trot over as the trainers struggled to keep Arctic from squirming. High Winds stopped beside Arctic and began poking the bruise with a hoof over and over again. Arctic yelped each time while demanding High Winds stopped, but she kept doing it. Silver Lining was standing right next to them, but didn’t do anything. Eventually Blaze sped towards them and pulled Winds away while saying something about being a little too cruel.
Dash was not quite as familiar with squad two, but she was seeing little things as the tryouts went on.
High Winds was interesting. She always seemed tired and half asleep, but she was also very blunt and had a bit of a guilty pleasure in being overly blunt and harsh to those she disliked. Blaze looked nearly identical to Spitfire. Dash wondered if there was any relation. If there was, Spitfire definitely got the maturity.
Blaze was wild, crazy, and swore way too much. Also she seemed to get into many fights she could never win. Fleetfoot demonstrated that for all of them in the barracks earlier.
Dash hadn’t gotten much of a read on Silver Lining yet. He was tough, stoic, serious, and very creative with threats. She hadn’t seen him do anything besides yell at the cadets so far. He also looked old. He was definitely older than Misty. Maybe he was in his forties? He had to be at least. Dash knew that Wonderbolt ranks were determined by ability, not quite by experience. If Silver was able to maintain the highest non-lead squad rank, captain of squad two, at his older age, then he had to be a badass.
She had briefly met Wave Chill before. Soldier type. Yes pony. A bit robotic around senior officers. Speaking of Wave Chill, where was he? Dash looked around the while gym. Every member of squad one and three was there, but Wave was missing from two.
“YOU AND YOU!” Blaze suddenly flew up to them. Dash’s head snapped up, hoping Blaze was pointing at her.
Unfortunately, she was pointing at Matteo and Derpy. Dash’s pupils shrank.
“M-m-m-me?” Derpy pointed at her while glancing at Matteo. Matteo looked down at her with a regular expression. He did not glare nor give any look meant to intimidate. But a big scary griffon was looking down at her. Derpy squeaked, quickly grabbed Storm Front’s left wing, and covered herself with it.
“Yes, you Blondie! You and the big ass feather bag!” Blaze confirmed. The look Matteo gave Blaze was definitely a glare. Blaze cocked an eyebrow at him. “Oh, what up G? You wanna go?” she taunted in a condescending tone while putting up hoofticuffs and bobbing back and forth in the air. Matteo rolled his eyes and grunted before spreading his large wings and slowly taking off towards the start.
“Um… um…” Derpy squeaked while fidgeting and rubbing her hooves against two of Storm’s wing feathers. Storm reached a hoof up and patted her on the head. She looked up at him hesitantly.
“Go ahead Derpy, Matteo may be scary looking, but he won’t hurt you,” Storm gave her a wink. Derpy gulped before unwrapping herself from Storm’s wing and taking off very slowly towards the start.
Dash watched as Derpy and Matteo entered the box, then turned and approached Storm as he preened the two feathers Derpy had nervously rubbed out of place with her hooves.
“I hope she’s alright in there…” Dash made small talk as Storm refolded his wing.
“I’m sure Matteo won’t do anything to her,” he answered while cracking his neck. Dash shook her head.
“I’m not so much worried about him, I’m worried about whatever’s in this… crazy huge clusterf— tube thing,” Dash confirmed. She gulped as she saw the Wonderbolts moving along, implying the course had begun. Storm merely nodded as he sat down and kept his eyes firmly fixed on the pipe. Dash glanced at him, her curiosity getting the better of her. “So Derpy’s a real big fan of you, huh?” she threw out. Storm’s reaction was not what she expected. He didn’t flinch in surprise, nor did his eyes widen. He just smiled and shrugged.
“She’s a very nice mare,” he began. “I haven’t really done anything besides be myself.”
“Well, have you seen the way she looks at you?” Dash nudged him as she sat down beside him. He turned and gave her a slightly uncomfortable expression.
“Getting a little personal here isn’t it?”
“Hey, I’ve been friends with her for a long time, I’m just curious,” Dash crossed her hooves while looking back up at the pipe. Storm sighed while swishing his tail back and forth.
“Well… I’m not gonna lie, Derpy is very pleasant. She’s happy, carefree, and bubbly. I’ve done nothing but smile every time she’s around,” a small smile cracked on the edges of his mouth, but they almost instantly turned down. “I’ve only known her for two days, but… I have taken a liking to her. I just don’t know though. We’re in different places. Plus, who knows what’s going to happen here.”
“Whoa there,” Dash extended her wing and jabbed him in the shoulder. He jumped slightly and turned to her while rubbing his shoulder.
“What was that for?”
“Something I’ve heard in the past and I’m stopping you right now,” Dash winked at him. “Look, distance is a bad excuse. It’s way too early to know for sure if the two of you could be a thing, but don’t say it won’t work because of distance,” Dash sighed while smiling. “It’s not like Cloudsdale is very far from Ponyville. You can easily see her again if you want. But if something does happen between you two… make it work. Trust me, I’ve made it work,” she nodded to him. Storm blinked at her.
“You’re in a long distance relationship?” Storm asked. Dash pounded a hoof to her chest.
“And proud of it!” she chuckled. “If you find another worth the trouble, it’s totally worth it.”
Storm looked away as he thought it over, but both of them were caught off guard by sudden laughter from above.
“PFFFFF!!!!!!! HAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!”
Dash and Storm looked up to see Fleetfoot near the pipe, laughing so hard that she almost couldn’t stay afloat.
“That just looks… painful…” Soarin cringed beside her. He turned and looked at Fleetfoot as she did multiple forward tumbles in the air while laughing hysterically. “You are terrible,” he said while shaking his head.
“HahahaWHOA!” Fleetfoot yelped as she nearly dropped like a rock out of the air.
From below Dash and Storm looked up with dread as squad three gathered around with Soarin and Fleetfoot at the one particular spot near the halfway point of the pipe. Squad two and Spitfire kept following the line of the pipe.
Something had happened. Dash began dreading that Derpy got hurt. She flinched as Storm suddenly stood up and took off towards the stationary gathering of Wonderbolts.
“What happened!?” he yelled as he approached.
“WHOOOAAAAA buddy…” Lightning Streak flew up in front and pressed his hooves to Storm’s chest. “Go wait your turn.”
“But… did something happen?!”
“Yeah bro, painful shit,” Lightning tipped his goggles up.
“Is—”
“Come on now, let’s just back off,” Fire Streak flew up and joined his brother’s side as the two pushed Storm back down to the ground. They pushed him all the way back down to Dash. Lightning Streak shrugged.
“Don’t go all bonkers bro, we’ll help him,” he put his goggles back on as he and Fire Streak took back off towards the tube. Storm blinked.
“Him?” he scrunched his face.
“Look!” Dash pointed towards the finish line.
Squad two and Spitfire neared the end of the pipe and spread out by the finish line.
Derpy flew out of the pipe. She had a huge smile on her face.
“That was so much FUN!!!!” she yelled out as she slowed down. Surprise was suddenly all the way over by the finish line. She bounced up and down in the air beside Derpy.
“I know! Isn’t it?!” Surprise yelled while the two bounced happily.
“Huh…” Storm blinked, sat back down, and refolded his wings. Dash snickered.
“The gallant switch sure flipped on quickly there, eeeehhhh?” she nudged him again. Storm sighed.
“I was worried about her,” he admitted. Dash smiled as she got up to do a few more wing-ups.
“Like I said, don’t use distance as an excuse,” Dash put plainly as she stretched her wings out.
They both kept an eye on the tube as eventually Soarin, Fire Streak, and Lightning Streak entered the pipe through a hatch. A few moments later, they emerged and the gathering began following the pipe again. Did Matteo get stuck? How the hell did he manage that?
Eventually Matteo shot out of the finish and slammed his talons and paws to the ground. He skidded to a stop and fell to the ground while panting. The training staff was over by him immediately. He didn’t look too banged up, but there was a large chunk of feathers missing from his left side right before his lion body. He quickly dismissed the trainers, claiming to be fine. However, he started walking with his back legs spread more apart than usual. It didn’t look right at all. He was quickly approached again, and this time he couldn’t fight them off.
“Yikes… and I was worried about Derpy…” Dash chuckled as she saw Derpy and Surprise still talking and giggling off to the side.
“YOU TWO! I CAN SEE FIRES BURNING AGAINST EACH OTHER’S SORRY GUTS!” Blaze zipped up to them.
She was pointing at Dash and Storm Front. Dash glanced at Storm.
“Pfff…” Dash tried to hold it in while covering her face with her wings.
“You think this is a damn GAME?!” Blaze got in Dash’s face. Dash barely flinched. Blaze tried. She tried real hard. But she just wasn’t intimidating. At all. If she was related to Spitfire, she got the short end of the stick for sure.
“Fine, we’re going,” Dash chuckled as she and Storm took off.
Finally, it was her turn. Dash was getting sick of waiting. She flew down beside Storm as they ascended.
“So just cause I think you’re a nice guy doesn’t mean I’m not gonna kick your ass in this,” she jeered while giving him a light body bump as they flew. Storm lifted an eyebrow and smirked.
“Bring it on, Colors,” he taunted back.
“You do have a snarky side!” Dash chuckled as they reached the large box at the start of the tube. It was just a large wooden box that looked to be about twelve by twelve feet sticking to the start of the ten by ten foot tube. They approached the simple door, but were stopped as Surprise shot up in front of them, glaring.
“Y’ALL… READY… FOR… THIS?!” she emphasized each word while slightly tipping her head more to the right with each one. Dash and Storm glanced at each other, and then looked back to Surprise.
“Er…”
“NO! NOPONY EVER IS!” She appeared behind them and shoved them both through the door. They tumbled in and rolled to a stop on the floor. Dash sat up first, shaking her mane out. The box was completely empty on the inside. Nothing but a single light bulb hanging overhead.
“Well… this should be fun,” she chuckled, but then she blinked as she stared straight forward at a wall. There was no entrance into the tube. Storm picked himself up off the floor and looked towards the wall as well.
“Uh… what are we supposed to—” he looked behind them. “What?!” he remarked. Dash quickly turned and looked back… at a solid wall.
“HUH?!” she rubbed her eyes. The door was gone, vanished as if it never existed. “What the hell?” she looked to Storm, who only shrugged.
“So what the hell are we supposed to—” Storm stopped as both he and Dash heard a quiet sliding noise. They both looked to the wall on the right. A small little door had opened.
A penguin emerged from the door.
It casually made its way past Dash and Storm, never hesitating or stopping to look at them. Dash and Storm just silently watched it as it made its way from one side of the box to the other before opening another small door with its flipper and ducking inside. Dash and Storm blinked and looked at each other.
Suddenly, the floor began shifting. Dash and Storm both yelped as they felt the floor moving beneath them. Out of nowhere, the floor tilted down from the walls, then catapulted towards the wall connected to the pipe. Dash and Storm both shielded themselves for a collision, but at the last second, the wall dropped and they were flung into the tube. It was pitch black inside. The only source of light was the light bulb from the box that was slowly growing fainter as they careened into the tube.
“RGH!” Dash flattened out and extended her wings, but she had no idea where she was going, she couldn’t see a thing, nor could she see Storm. Then something opened in front of them. Dash shielded her eyes as the light poured in right after her eyes had somewhat adjusted to the dark. She felt the nip of very cold air suddenly prick her body. She opened her eyes.
She and Storm had been hurled into a pipe that was completely lined with ice. It explained the sudden, severe cold, but what was this supposed to accomplish? Dash blinked as Storm took off down the pipe.
“Ah!” Dash quickly remembered, this was a test, and they wanted them to compete. She pumped her wings and sped up as the pipe began to wind to and fro. The cold was biting at her and making her fur stand on end, but beyond that, was this supposed to present a challenge?
As soon as Dash thought about it, an extremely sharp U-turn approached. It was right after another turn, so Dash was caught completely off guard by it. She tried to hit the brakes as she turned, but there was no way she wasn’t going to hit the wall of ice.
Ahead of her, Storm Front was in the same bind, but as he neared the wall, he suddenly turned his body to face the approaching wall. He extended his hooves, struck them against the wall, and was propelled in the other direction, continuing down the pipe. Dash reached her hooves out to try and kick off the icy wall, but as soon as her hooves made contact, they lost traction and her body crashed against the wall.
“YEEOW!” Dash shivered as the sting of cold clawed at her underbelly. She tried to push off, but each attempt just made her hooves slip uncontrollably. She slid down the wall as she rounded the U-turn and down to the floor of the pipe. She concentrated, realizing her hooves would only slip more if she hurried. She was sliding down the pipe, but she didn’t think the Wonderbolts would find it very impressive if she body surfed the whole way down.
She carefully pushed her hooves down while extending her wings, managing to catch the air and lifting herself from the ice. A feeling of relief rushed over her with her body no longer pressed to the cold.
“Huh?” She looked down as she regained her flight.
Six penguins, riding a mattress, slid past her down the pipe. The penguin in front was wearing a red hat and overalls. They all looked up at her before they flew by and disappeared around the corner.
Dash shook her head and focused down the pipe. This course was designed by Surprise, there was no use questioning anything. Just go!
Dash took off around the corner, zipping past the penguins and doing her best to make up lost ground. She hit a straightaway and caught a glimpse of Storm Front ahead, making another sharp turn. Again he turned and tapped off the wall, shooting in the desired direction. Dash was too far away to see how he was doing it, but she refused to body board it again. She maintained her speed and hugged the left wall. When the pipe turned hard to the right, she used Twister’s Spiral Turn while touching her hooves to the wall, followed by sharply pumping her wings in a full follow through to use Matteo’s Air Burst. She angled her legs to brace her body as the Air Burst propelled her forward. Her hooves slid against the wall, sling shotting her around the outside wall and down the straight away after. She was slowly closing the distance between her and Storm.
They approached what looked like a zigzag pattern in the pipe. Dash used the straightaway beforehoof to her advantage, closing as much space as possible between her and Storm in case he used that technique again. Although a zigzag was much more manageable than a U-turn, she wondered if he would even go for it.
“Huh?” Dash watched Storm as she closed in and he reached the pipe pattern. He wasn’t even changing his flight path. He was going to hit the wall! Then he turned towards the wall in the wrong direction. Was he nuts?!
But Storm did not crash. He flipped around, striking his back hooves against the wall. It propelled him hard towards the first corner of the crooked pipe. He reached his front hooves out, and repeated the motion, ricocheting off the first corner towards the second. Storm proceeded to bounce his way through the zigzag pattern seamlessly without losing any speed.
Dash’s mouth hung open in awe as she slowed down to weave normally through the pattern. How the HELL did he do that? She only caught a brief glimpse of it. He wasn’t just kicking off the wall. Each time he did, his front or back hooves were slightly staggered as he hit the wall. She’d have to see it up close.
Great. Here she was stumbling around while Storm Front showed off some wicked moves. She had to pick it up.
She rounded the last zigzag, spotting another turn ahead. She pitched hard to the right, making a clean turn.
“Whoa!” she quickly pumped her wings down as the pipe suddenly turned upward. She pitched up, coming over the top of the sudden hill, but— “OOF!” As soon as she came up, Storm Front came flying backwards and crashed into her. The two tumbled for a moment, but broke apart and regained flight. Storm turned to her, but she didn’t even stop to think about it. Dash propelled herself back upward.
She emerged in a new pipe. She eyed it quizzically as she flew into it. The sides of the pipe looked different, almost soft… and rubbery… with multiple colors. There was a sudden dip in the pipe ahead. Dash turned down, only to see too late that the dip was less than three feet down.
“Yikes!” she shielded herself as she struck the wall… and bounced wildly back in the other direction. “What the—!” she freaked out as she began bouncing off the wall continuously. Up, down, left, right, every direction. She couldn’t regain control. It was like she was in a bounce castle and every wall was like a super ball.
Suddenly Storm’s hooves extended out and caught her as he flew by. He quickly let go of her and continued down the tube, being careful not to touch the incredibly bouncy walls. Dash blinked, wondering why Storm had helped her, but she quickly put the thought aside and took off after him.
She caught up to him fast, but followed his example by slowing down and making her way around the turns carefully. The pipe winded and turned with much less sharpness, but one false move and she might be bouncing forever again.
But Dash’s competitiveness got the better of her. She had been behind long enough. She wanted the Wonderbolts to see her in the lead. She took a reckless chance and sped up as they approached a turn that was slightly sharper. She closed the distance between them little by little, catching up to his back hooves right as they began to turn.
Dash instantly regretted her speedup. She pitched hard to the left to make the turn. She passed Storm in the process, but right before she could even out, her body bounced roughly against the wall. The rubber wall propelled her across the pipe towards the opposite wall as it straightened out. There was a straight away ahead, but Dash found herself bouncing back and forth down the length of it.
“Oo! Ow! Ah! Ee!” she grunted and squeaked as she continuously bounced and bounced and bounced and bounced.
This was heavily embarrassing. What a great show she was putting on. What was worse, she could see a new pipe approaching once again. If she didn’t regain control soon, she’d possibly have a painful collision in the very near future. It grew closer and closer. Dash tried to fight the bouncing, but every time she tried to slow herself down, her wings were thrown off balance by another bounce.
The new pipe was drawing near. Dash braced herself for a painful impact.
“OOF!” her eyes opened in surprise to see Storm holding onto her. Again? He caught her again? He let go of her and made a sharp turn around the first corner of the new pipe. Dash shook her head in confusion as she made the turn herself. “What?” Dash blinked as she came around into a long straightaway… that was littered with trees and wildlife like a forest. A deer was front and center, eating grass and looking up at Dash.
Ignore it. Just ignore it. There’s no rhyme or reason, just GO!
Dash followed after Storm, weaving through the trees and catching up to him. Storm suddenly veered directly towards one of the trees.
Oh no.
Not this time.
Dash veered over as close as she could. She was going to see how he did this.
Storm staggered his hooves as he came near. Dash focused her eyes on his hooves.
It was fast… really fast. Dash almost didn’t catch it as he propelled off the trunk and proceeded to bounce his way through the forest, ricocheting off the tree trunks at an incredible speed just as he had through the zigzag in the ice pipe.
Just as she though, he wasn’t just kicking or punching off the walls. It was very precise and very quick, but he was using some sort of rapid tap on the surfaces. He pushed one hoof forward, hitting the surface to almost completely counter his momentum, and then he punched hard with the other hoof, completely reversing the course of his forward motion while turning his body in the direction he wanted to go.
It all happened so quickly it only seemed like he was just kicking off.
Dash pondered it as she continued to duck and weave through the trees.
“OH SHIT!” she yelped as two trees, stuck really close together, appeared before her. She twisted her body to make it as vertically flat as possible, squeezing between the two trunks while only lightly scraping her stomach against one of them. “Whoa…” she sighed in relief, but blinked as she saw a couple of black feathers fall off her arms, body and mane. She glanced back to see black feathers all over the small opening.
She put two and two together.
Oh man… was that where Matteo got stuck? And seeing how fast Dash was going before they appeared… ouch… that HAD to hurt.
She focused back forward as she cleared the last trees and found herself making a turn into yet another new pipe. Just how many of these were there?
“Whoa!” Dash suddenly put on the breaks as she came around the corner. The pipe dipped down… and as it dipped down, it was nearly filled to the brim with water. There was barely a foot of space between the top of the pipe and the water. “What?! Are you KIDDING ME?!” Dash exclaimed as she set down at the edge of the water and frantically looked around.
Storm Front wasn’t there. That meant…
“Ooooo! I will NOT be discouraged!” Dash smacked her hooves against her head and dove right into the water.
Dash wasn’t a bad swimmer, but she wasn’t too stellar either. Driven by her urge to catch up, she swam vigorously through the water, coming up for air whenever she needed to. Here was a place where her training would pay off. Her wings were useless underwater, so she had to rely on her body strength to get through this.
She swam around two turns, one right after the other, and to her relief, this was the shortest pipe yet. She saw the pipe tip back up as she slowly came around the bend. She also caught a view of Storm out of the water and vigorously shaking himself off.
There was a thought… Dash suddenly realized something that made her beyond confused as she clambered out of the water and began shaking herself dry the best she could.
She had seen multiple ponies finish… not one of them looked wet. How?
She stopped thinking so hard when she saw Storm take off to the best of his ability with wet wings and turn the next corner nearby. Dash shook herself out one more time before breaking into a gallop and leaping up while pumping her wings. They felt soaked and heavy, but she would not fall behind.
She rounded the turn right behind Storm into what looked like a simple, straight tube that had absolutely nothing in it. She could hear what sounded like a loud humming noise, but could see nothing in their way. Dash focused down the length of it, determined to get in front.
Then Storm suddenly yelped and fell sharply to the floor, his hooves slamming hard to the ground. Dash’s eyes widened as she suddenly felt an invisible force slam hard against her back. She went shooting downward and barely readied her hooves in time to land cleanly. She forced her head up the best she could, to see the top of this particular pipe was lined with large vents. The vents were blasting air at them with incredible strength. Dash looked back down to see Storm had begun advancing on his hooves down the pipe with quickened but heavy steps.
Unlikely possibilities was right.
Slippery surfaces…
Rubber walls…
A forest…
Swimming…
And now this.
These were situations Dash never thought she’d be in.
She forced her body up and took a few steps, only to get her body forced back down by the air. She had to concentrate here too.
Don’t rush! You’re strong enough to pound through this! What’s the point of all these muscles if you can’t push your way through a little breeze?!
Dash forced her body up, tensing her legs to stabilize as she locked onto Storm ahead of her. She pushed herself forward, first in a staggered walk, then in a strong stride, and eventually she managed to form a slow gallop. Storm had only managed a normal walking pace. So Dash not only caught him, but passed him as they made their way down the straightaway. After taking the lead, Dash felt a surge of adrenaline that made her feel like she could push a train. She broke into a full gallop, making full use of her well-earned strength to get all the way to the end of the vents.
“AH!” she yelled victoriously as she broke free from the powerful air ducts and instantly picked back up into the air.
Oh look… she was all dried off. That explained it.
She gave a quick look to see Storm still struggling through the air. He was stronger than Dash, but it looked like his larger body gave the air more to push down upon. How the hell did Arctic or Derpy get through this part? A mystery Dash would probably never figure out, nor would she waste time thinking about. She turned the corner and dipped down again into…hopefully… the last part of the tube. She was getting tired. This was a bit of an endurance test too.
She turned the corner and flinched as she careened towards her next obstacle.
Exercise balls…
Exercise balls... EVERYWHERE…
Dash hovered for a moment as she saw the cacophony before her. It was another straight shot… but the walls were made of the same bouncy rubber as the second tube… and large exercise balls were bouncing ALL OVER THE PLACE.
Dash could place absolutely no reason for this section. It was like Surprise had thrown together a bunch of actual unlikely circumstances… and then got to this point and ran out of ideas.
Not wanting Storm to catch up, Dash stopped hesitating and shot into the pipe of flying balls. It wasn’t cluttered to the max, but the balls were bouncing and flying past her incredibly fast. She pitched and weaved and weaved and pitched, nearing the end of the end of the short pipe and doing all she could to avoid contact with—
“ARGH!” Dash grunted as one of the balls launched up from the floor and directly into her stomach. She flailed as she was forced upward. She knew full well what was coming next. She could do nothing to stop her momentum as her back struck the rubbery ceiling. She bounced back down, then up then down. It was a repeat of the bouncy pipe. She neared the edge again. This was gonna hurt.
“GOTCHA!” Storm dove in… and caught her… for the THIRD TIME. He let her go and sped ahead as the pipe dipped down.
What the hell? Why did he keep saving her? It was actually bothering her now. THIS WAS A COMPETITION!
Dash shot after him, dipping into the pipe. She expected it to be another short drop, but her eyes widened as she looked down into a pipe that extended straight down.
Realization hit. There was only one section of the pipe shaped like this, the dive right before the finish line. Dash glanced back and forth as she dove after Storm. There actually appeared to be nothing special about this pipe. It was merely a freefall to the finish. Dash flattened her body and pumped her wings. She wanted to catch up, but she didn’t have much space to do so. She couldn’t go too fast because she risked slamming into the pipe as it angled out at the bottom.
Dash saw only one option to catch up… and it was a long shot. Storm was already angling out as he neared the bottom of the dive. Instead of slowing down, Dash sped up and angled herself towards the wall of the pipe, opposite of the direction it flattened out at the bottom. This was going to be either the coolest thing ever… or a one-way ticket to the emergency room. Why risk it? Because these were the Wonderbolts watching her!
As the angle of the pipe drew near, Dash forced her wings in opposite directions. The force threw her into Twister’s Spiral Turn. With the twist she was able to angle herself so her back hooves were facing the wall, slightly staggered.
The moment of truth. Storm glanced over his shoulder just in time to see it happen.
Dash gave the wall a hard tap with one hoof and instantly kicked the wall as hard as she could with the other. She launched from the wall at an incredible speed, angling perfectly with the pipe and searing towards the finish line, and still twisting a little from the Spiral Turn. She used the remaining spin in her twist to give her the extra boost she needed for Matteo’s Air Burst. She pumped her wings down; causing a burst of wind that propelled her further and effectively doubled her speed.
The gap between her and Storm closed quickly…
And they crossed the finish line at the exact same time.
The two fired out of the pipe and both threw their wings out to slow down. Finally free of the confined space, Dash felt relieved. That was… BY FAR… the most complicated physical experience of her life…
She blinked as she caught a glimpse of Storm veering around and heading down towards the rest of the cadets who had finished. She glared at him as he passed her. Something in particular was nagging her. She followed after him and the two landed, but before she could say anything to him, they were surrounded by trainers to get checked out.
It’s not like they were going anywhere. Dash had made a mental note to confront him later.
Soarin and Spitfire hovered side by side above the end of the pipe. Soarin glanced at Spitfire as she nodded in approval.
“I’d say that’s the best I’ve seen yet,” she commented.
“Which one?” Soarin asked.
“Both,” she tipped her goggled up and smiled. “Dash may stumble a bunch, but her recovery is always incredible. Not to mention that’s the third move I’ve seen her copy. Storm Front is quite a strong flyer. That bouncing move is something I’ve never seen before. And of course, I’m sure you noticed the last thing about him…” she trailed off. Soarin blinked and thought about it.
“Oh. Yeah.” Soarin realized what she was talking about. Soarin breathed a sigh of relief. He was worried about Dash going in, worried about her little slips-ups, and worried how Spitfire would react. It seemed Spitfire was focusing on more than the overall performance. She was really looking at the little things that set each cadet apart.
Storm Front specifically…
No other cadet had…
Soarin found himself pondering. Spitfire was seeing it. Now he was too. Storm Front was really standing out, just like Dash. Twister and Matteo were really creating a buzz themselves… as well as a couple other ponies. But Storm and Dash were stellar. Especially after this test, and what he saw Storm Front do… Soarin realized he might have a little trouble selecting who would earn the elite spot.
--- To Be Continued ---