//------------------------------//
// Chapter 45: Soarin, Go Home, You're Drunk 
// Story: Piercing the Heavens 
// by Calm Wind 
//------------------------------//

MLP: FiM
Piercing the Heavens
By: Calm Wind
Chapter 45:





“To move from a basic ‘arrow’ to an ‘X’ formation you have to take into account the speed at which the whole squad is traveling. There are two ways to morph the formation into the ‘X;’ either have the back two fly up and close in, or have the leader drop half a pony length back and the two ponies flanking them move up and out while those in back move in to compensate… now when the compensation is…”

Dash frantically scribbled notes into the notebook attached to her binder as Silver went on and on and on about how to change from an ‘arrow’ to an ‘X’ and back, drawing on the whiteboard with so many arrows and lines it looked like a spaghetti factory exploded. She and the rest of her recruit class were all packed into a small classroom with uncomfortable plastic chairs and four long tables that were so old they had scribbles on them with dates beside them going back at least thirty years. Dash was sitting third table from the front… where Wing Buster apparently sat thirty years ago, who was also apparently the best… whoever the hell Wing Buster was. Well, Wing Buster’s memorial, written in blue ink on the old wooden table was now being used as an elbow rest… hopefully he felt proud.

Dash was having hard enough time keeping up with what Silver was saying and drawing… it didn’t help that she was tired… and this was very boring. Silver was one hell of a flight instructor… but he didn’t seem to be a very good teacher. If he was any more monotonous, the dried up gum pressed to the bottom of the tables would fall asleep too.

Dash dared NOT let her eyelids get heavy though. She was sure the rest of the recruits were just as worried as her… anypony who fell asleep would get hell from Silver. He was carrying a yardstick around, using it to point at the different sloppy diagrams he had drawn. Silver was bad enough by himself… getting yelled at by Silver whilst he was holding a three foot long piece of wood made the possibilities much worse.

She was having a hard time concentrating… but the boring lecture was far from the reason.

She was thinking about Soarin… and the… scene at breakfast earlier. The last time she saw him before that was when they were brought back together. He looked so drained when she left him… and then he showed up nearly bouncing off everypony and everything, puffing his chest out, strutting around, and looking… sexy as hell in the process…

Dash crossed her legs and blushed lightly as she thought about it. Okay, she had to be reasonable about this. Did they solve one problem with Soarin and cause another…? Or was something different happening altogether? She had to find him later and find out. Or at least try to find out, he seemed adamant to press her to a bed the moment she got anywhere near him later.

THUMP

Dash flattened her ears and slowly glanced to her right. Dash thought that Thunderlane would’ve been a little more worried about nodding off in front of Silver… Or at least enough to keep him awake. Apparently not. Thunderlane had just passed out beside her. Dash quickly glanced between Thunderlane and Silver. Silver still had his back turned to them. Dash quietly reached over and began nudging Thunderlane, trying to wake him while keeping her eyes on Silver.

“And from there we can—” Silver turned around and stopped mid-sentence. Dash was sitting back upright the instant she saw Silver move. 

That was it.

Thunderlane was on his own. He was sitting on the right end of the table, leaving himself open for Silver to easily do something to him.

Dash gulped as Silver began moving towards the tables, but he suddenly diverted, and walked down the left side instead. Heads turned to look as Silver walked down the left aisle and passed Dash’s table, stopping at the forth in the very back left corner of the desk arrangements. Dash glanced at Thunderlane once before turning and looking. She saw Squall sitting in the back left seat, reclining and holding his pen in his mouth. His notebook was completely blank. Matteo, sitting beside Squall, was already shifting his chair over so as not to be drawn into whatever Silver was going to do/say.

Squall looked directly at Silver as Silver glared hard at him, his grip on the yardstick tightening.

Once again… Squall was clearly trying to act tough… and picked the worst pony to do it to. 

“Say…” Silver began while gently bouncing the yardstick on his shoulder. “I happen to notice that I just drew up diagrams for the past twenty minutes… and you haven’t taken a single note down… care to explain yourself?” his voice was menacingly quiet. All eyes were trained on Silver, specifically on the yard stick.

“This is boring,” Squall instantly. The yardstick stopped bouncing on Silver’s shoulder, making the rest of the recruits flinch so hard the noise of shifting seats quietly filled the room. 

“Boring, eh?” Silver narrowed his eyes further. 

“Yeah, boring, just like everything else so far!” Squall yelled back at Silver. “I don’t need all this basic stuff! It’s not challenging!” Silver stood quietly as Squall yelled in his face. Dash couldn’t believe it. Squall was either extremely stupid, or extremely delusional. She glanced over at Thunderlane again, who was still asleep. She tried to nudge him awake now that she had a chance, but he remained out. Had he not gotten much sleep the night before or something? He was sleeping like a rock. “Seriously! How hard is it to fly side by side or in shapes?!” Squall continued. “I made it this far! I think I know how to fly straight!

“Son…” Silver started quietly. “Were you an expert the first time you blew your uncle?” he paused as Squall eyed him in confusion. “I didn’t think so. There’s a learning curve, just like here,” he said while remaining calm and stoic. A few snickers sounded out, but none dared to make a scene.

“What?!” Squall threw his arms out to his sides. 

The moment he did, Silver reared back and slammed his hoof hard against the table right next to Squall’s notebook. Squall flinched and yelped as Silver got down into his face.

“DAMMIT, YOU SON OF A SHITDICK! DID I NOT PUNCH YOU HARD ENOUGH TWO DAYS AGO OR SOMETHING?! I THOUGHT YOU’D WISE UP AFTER THAT!” He barked as Matteo shifted even further away, pressing himself into Twister and Little Star by accident as he shifted all the way to the end of the table to stay out of Silver’s way. Silver leaned forwards and firmly pressed a hoof against Squall’s chest. 

“YOU’VE GOT TO BE THE LEAST INTELLIGENT ASSWIPE I HAVE EVER HAD THE AGONY OF INSTRUCTING! I’D LOVE TO DRAW UP A LIST OF HOW MANY THINGS ARE WRONG WITH YOU, BUT I DON’T HAVE THE TIME OR THE CRAYONS TO DO SO!!!” Silver didn’t let up. There was something different about his yelling this time. He sounded legitimately angry. Normally it sounded like he was just doing his job… but was Squall really pushing him over the edge?

“SOMEWHERE OUT THERE, THERE IS A POOR, TIRELESS TREE PRODUCING OXYGEN FOR YOUR SORRY, STUPID ASS… I BELIEVE YOU OWE IT AN APOLOGY!” Silver finally stopped yelling. Squall was staring with wide eyes, frozen in his chair. Silver pulled back, resting his hooves back on the ground before resting the yardstick over his shoulder and bouncing it casually again. He took a deep breath and sighed. “Congratulations son… I officially can’t think any less of you. I bet your ass is jealous of all the shit that comes out of your mouth…” he turned and made his way all the way around the back table before walking back up the right side.

Dash blinked as she realized Thunderlane was still asleep. How he managed to sleep through the yelling was beyond her, but he managed. It was too late, Silver was a few steps away from being right beside them. Dash held her breath… but Silver didn’t yell.

With one swift motion, Silver took the yardstick and smacked it HARD against the desk right in front of Thunderlane’s nose.

“AH!” Thunderlane awoke with a start and leaned back so hard he almost fell back in his chair.

“Wake up, sweetheart,” Silver said simply as he walked the rest of the way back up to the whiteboard.

Dash breathed a silent sigh of relief. Thunderlane got off easy. Squall took the brunt of Silver’s wrath of the moment. Dash subtly turned to look back at Squall. 

Wait…

He was…

Smiling?

Squall was smiling. After all that berating he got? Silver had just thrown enough insults into Squall’s face to level a brick wall! Dash would have been in pieces after insults like that. Was Squall trying to get on Silver’s bad side? Normally that would sound sarcastic… but it was almost as if he was… literally.

“Is this shit boring?” Silver suddenly spoke up. “Yes,” he answered for them before rapping the yardstick hard against the whiteboard. “But if I don’t drill this into your head I ain’t doing my job! SO DEAL WITH IT!” He yelled, making all the recruits jump slightly in surprise. “If I really have to give all of you with a short attention span something to be excited about… we are having combat demonstrations after lunch,” he said with little change in his tone.

However, a wave of excitement swept through the recruits. Silver looked around and saw all the faces light up. He shook his head.

“Wow… suddenly interested? Yeah we’re having a three elite squad combat session later today…” he lifted his brow at them with an unamused look on his face as the recruits suddenly all looked incredibly excited. “Wow, don’t go wetting yourselves while you’re at it…” he stomped his hoof hard on the floor. “BUT WE’RE NOT DONE HERE YET, SO SIT THE HELL DOWN AND PAY ATTENTION!” he yelled before turning back to draw up some more formations.

Excited? That was an understatement. Dash could barely sit still in her seat now. They were going to watch a combat practice between three elite squads after lunch?! She was suddenly fired up!

But… she had to sit through another hour of this first… son of a—





“Now up!” Spitfire yelled as she and Soarin pitched upward, flying through three cloud rings while twisting around each other back to back. “Then throw!” she said next as she reached her arm toward Soarin.

“Alley-oop!” Soarin yelled as he grabbed Spitfire’s arm and spun her around once. Fleetfoot passed perpendicular to them as Soarin released Spitfire and flung her with perfect timing so she could turn around and fly side by side with Fleetfoot. 

As they flew, Soarin fell back, freefalling towards the ground. He positioned his body to look like he was reclining and relaxing as he fell. He tipped his head back to see Spitfire and Fleetfoot coming back around towards him. 

“Incoming!” Air Mach’s voice came from below. A giant cloud careened up towards him, Soarin leveled out as he fell, paying no attention to the cloud coming at him. “DOUBLE CLOUD BURST OF MY BURNING STALLION SOUL!” Air Mach yelled dramatically as a SECOND cloud came flying up from the ground at about ten times the speed of the first. It struck the first cloud before it could hit Soarin. The collision caused the clouds to combine, then bust into four smaller clouds that dispersed in a pattern that left Soarin untouched. 

“LLLLLLLLLLLLadies!” Soarin smirked as he turned his back to the incoming mares while holding his arms out at his sides. He braced himself to prevent whiplash as Spitfire and Fleetfoot grabbed hold of his arms and yanked him along with them. As soon as Soarin was moving at their pace, he latched his hooves to their arms and began twisting. The trio became a blur of light blue and yellow for a few moments until Soarin released Fleetfoot, slinging her upward towards the four clouds. He grabbed Spitfire with both hooves swung her around and released her down towards Air Mach. 

Fleetfoot shifted her pace and momentum as she rose to create a spiral motion. Her speed created cross breezes as she rotated her motion, causing a whirlwind to build up behind her. The clouds got sucked together into her wake and began following her.

Down below, Air Mach had lifted into the air and used a pair of hoof covers similar to Blaze’s to start a flame and packed together a dense ball of fire. The fire raged violently within Air Mach’s hooves as he forced the strong flames into a diameter roughly the size of a grapefruit.

“BURNING FLAME OF MY BURNING SOUL TO ANOTHER BURNING SOUL AND—”

“JUST THROW IT!” Spitfire cut him off as she neared.

“YES MA’AM!” Air Mach yelled as he pulled back and flung the small fireball towards Spitfire. 

Spitfire readied her hooves as the fireball closed in. When it was roughly a foot away from her, Spitfire brought her hooves in, clapping them over the flames. The ball exploded, shooting flames towards her and up her arms. Her speed prevented her from catching fire, but she worked to control the flame, keeping it around her arms as she turned back and began heading towards Fleetfoot, who still had the clouds in tow. 

Air Mach landed on the ground and Soarin slammed down beside him.

“Watch and learn, Animak!” Soarin nudged him as he set his hooves firmly into the mat. He proceeded through his motions to execute the Sonic Blastoff as smoothly and seamlessly as possible. A loud BOOM sounded out as Soarin exploded up towards Fleetfoot and Spitfire. The force of the sonic boom crashed against Air Mach. He held firm against the force while smirking at giving chase as soon as he was stable.

Spitfire and Fleetfoot drew near each other on a collision course. They grew closer and closer, Fleetfoot with the four clouds in tow and Spitfire with the flames hovering and streaking around her like an aura. 

“Disperse!” Spitfire yelled as she shook her hooves roughly, shedding the flames from her body. Fleetfoot ceased her spinning and released the clouds from the whirlwind. They both shifted slightly to pass right by each other, and as they did they pushed off each other’s hooves, sending themselves in opposite directions, clear from the paths of the flames and the clouds. The fire crashed into the clouds, the two forces cancelling each other’s speed and stopping in midair, creating a pillar of clouds… that was on fire. 

“YEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!” Soarin yelled out as he zoomed upward, still speeding up from his Sonic Blastoff. He punched a hoof forward as he collided with the bottom of the cloud pillar, going right through the bottom cloud as well as the other three as he moved up. The clouds burst and expanded creating four growing rings of fire in his wake. He slowed down and hovered in place about the rings with a lingering trail of fire dying in his path.

“WOOOHOOO!!!!” Air Mach yelled as he flew up after Soarin, passing through the rings as he began spinning violently. His spinning caused a whirlwind like Fleetfoot, but his had opposite cross breezes, sucking the rings of fire back in. Air Mach ceased spinning as he reached Soarin above the rings and they watched as the rings capsized and exploded in a fireworks fashion as they crashed in on themselves.

“Aw yeah! That was sick!” Soarin hoof-pumped as the flames died and the clouds disappeared. He angled down towards Spitfire and Fleetfoot on the ground with Air Mach close behind. He landed beside Fleetfoot. “I dunno about y’all, but I’m feeling PUMPED for this show already!” he remarked while giving Fleetfoot a really hard pat on the back.

“Oof!” she grunted and fell to the ground as Soarin approached Spitfire. 

“So waddya say? I think I picked it up real quick!” Soarin cracked a suave smile while winking. Spitfire rolled her eyes and shook her head. She had her… urges under control for the time being, but Soarin was still not quite… acting like Soarin.

“It looked good,” Spitfire nodded while turning away from him. “You picked it up quick. We’ll just have to make sure it’s fine-tuned before next week. Including…” she turned to Air Mach, who was trying to pull Fleetfoot up, but she was batting his hooves away. “Air Mach!” Spitfire yelled at him. He was a foot from her and saluting in an instant. 

“What’s up boss lady?” he stood pridefully with his chest puffed out.

“You did fine… just tone down on the yelling okay?”

“NO CAN DO MA’AM!” he quickly replied. She didn’t say anything back. She only glared at him. Air Mach glanced back and forth before saluting again. “CAN DO MA’AM!”

“Good—EEP!” Spitfire jumped in surprise as Soarin draped an arm over her shoulders.

“I dunno babe, the yelling kind of adds some dramatic effect to it all, you know what I’m saying?” he casually gave his opinion. Spitfire blushed lightly and glared at him.

“WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!” she snapped at him, but Air Mach interrupted.

“I like your style commander Soarin! Only true stallions like us can understand the heat of a burning soul within our chests!” he pounded his chest hard.

“Yeah!” Soarin reached forward and the two bumped hooves. “See S’fiery? You’ve gotta—WHOA!” Soarin yelped as Spitfire grabbed him by the neck and yanked him down to her height.

“Will you two excuse us for a moment? I need to have a little chat with Soarin…” Spitfire addressed Fleetfoot and Air Mach before dragging Soarin along with her.

“Hey! Hey! Hey! What gives?” Soarin asked as she dragged him a good enough distance away from the others two. She let him go, walked in front of him and looked at him sternly.

“Soarin, what’s going on with—” Spitfire paused. Soarin shook his head out, whisking his mane around, cracking his neck and rotating his arms a few times before looking right back at her with a confident smile. Spitfire glared and bit her lips, blushing as she looked down and shook her head. “DAMMIT!” she cursed, breathed in and composed herself before breathing out. “Soarin, what’s going on? What’s with all this recently?”

“What’s with all what?” he grinned wider while tipping his head to the side. Spitfire growled.

“Soarin, don’t bullshit me. You were bedridden and in pain a day ago… and then you shoot out of a libido cannon, swaying your plot, puffing your chest out, dancing about, and hip thrusting everything with your mind. Seriously, why are you suddenly like this?” she asked with concern. He didn’t waver though.

“Aw don’t be such a downer!” he shrugged and gave her shoulder a playful light jab. “Everything with Dash got fixed, I controlled the dark magic, and DAMN I just feel GREAT!” as he said ‘great’ a small flash of yellow light shone from his eyes and the horn. It was less than a second, but Spitfire saw it.

“There! That! What was that?”

“What was what?” Soarin blinked.

“Your eyes and horn! Yellow magic! Is that the magic you mentioned? The one that absorbed the dark magic?” Spitfire pressed him. Soarin looked like he was having trouble standing still. He was now bouncing back and forth gently on his left and right hooves. 

“I have no idea… all I know is it feels awesome!” he repeated while fluttering his wings and hovering slightly. Spitfire looked him over carefully. She wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Soarin was clearly feeling better… but that was just it. He looked like he felt too good. He also had no idea why he felt so good. Apparently it had to do something with the yellow magic, but beyond that they knew nothing. She decided to let it be for the time being and see what happens… as weird and slightly uncomfortable as it was to have her childhood friend one step short of a brother appear to be incredibly confident and sexy.

“Alright… if you say so,” she sighed as she walked past them and the two returned to Air Mach and Fleetfoot. “Alright guys… that will do for our show training today. We have combat demonstrations for the recruits after lunch, so get to the mess hall early. I don’t want anypony getting cramps during the sparring,” she made clear. She flinched in surprise as Soarin put her in a headlock and ruffled her mane.

“Combat demonstrations?! SIGN ME THE HELL UP! YEAH!” Soarin let go of her and trotted towards the door with quite a bit of spring in his step. Air Mach followed while yelling challenges at Soarin, leaving Fleetfoot and Spitfire behind. Spitfire grumbled she tried to get the static out of her mane from the noogie. Fleetfoot walked up beside her and shrugged. 

“So… what the hell is with him?” Fleetfoot asked, just as confused as Spitfire. Spitfire glanced at the door and shook her head.

“I have absolutely no idea…”





“JUMPING DAMN JEHORSEPHAT! SETTLE THE HELL DOWN!” Silver yelled as he led the recruits into the battle dome. “We ain’t going to the amusement park! Single file! Let’s go!”

Dash was almost bouncing as she walked. Combat demonstrations. The last time she saw an organized combat session was when Soarin and Rapidfire fought. It… almost ended terribly, but she got to at least watch Soarin beat the stuffing out of a pony she wholeheartedly disliked. 

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but you look excited,” Thunderlane joked as he walked beside Dash.

“Can’t help it!” Dash smiled. “I’ve seen this before, it’s gonna be awesome!” she preached. Dash had seen FAR BEYOND friendly sparring in terms of combat… but something about it made it much more interesting. The fact that it was a competition as opposed to a fight to the death made it so much more appealing.

They were led up into the spectator seats by Silver and given a designated spot to sit before Silver himself made his way out into the field towards where a few elite Wonderbolts were already gathering. From where they sat, Dash could make out Spitfire, Fleetfoot, Autumn Rain, Point Dex, and High Winds along with Silver. Blaze and Wave Chill emerged from the main entrance carrying a few sets of the padded sparring armor.

The more Dash saw, the giddier she got. She had been side by side with some Wonderbolts already, but she had yet to be able to sit and focus on Wonderbolts as they fought. She wanted to watch and analyze how the best fought. This was quite a treat.

Dash moved into the seats, but right before she sat down, Storm Front flew up from below and landed beside her.

“Storm?” she blinked as he gave her a smile.

“Hey!” he greeted cheerfully as he sat down.

“What are you doing up here? Matteo asked as he took a seat behind them. Dash sat down, awaiting his answer, for she too was curious.

“They won’t let me fight,” Storm said with a sheepish grin and a shrug. “Which I’m okay with. They want me to watch and learn anyway.”

“SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSay…” Twister was suddenly on the seat beside Storm with his head in Storm’s lap. “Haven’t seen you in a long time!” he sneered so wide his teeth went past the edges of his face. “What’s it like being better than us?” Twister’s mouth rotated… he didn’t change his expression, his mouth literally rotated on his face so the giant sneer turned into a toothy frown. Storm lifted his eyebrows, glanced at Dash then gently patted Twister on the head.

“Good to see you again too Twister…” Storm joked as he slowly pushed Twister off his lap.

“So who’s fighting? I see… members from Squad one, two, and seven…” Dash squinted as she looked at the Wonderbolts out in the infield of the dome. 

“That’s all,” Storm nodded. Dash blinked and looked to him. He glanced at her. “One, two, and seven, That’s what Autumn told me," Dash thought for a moment, and was admittedly a little disappointed. 

“No three?” Dash pouted. She was hoping to watch Misty fight. During the confrontation with Nightshade, Misty proved to be quite a unique and admirable opponent. Dash was hoping to actually watch Misty, but it looked like she’d have to settle for the rest… not like they wouldn’t be just as awesome. 

“I heard Squad three has a show in Cloudsdale tomorrow,” Storm nodded. “They’re making final preparations or something,” he turned to Dash. “Squad four, five, and six are out attending events as well, so they called us up. But like I said, I’d rather watch, especially if they’re fighting squad one and two…” Storm looked back forward.

Dash followed Storm’s gaze and spotted Silver speaking with Spitfire. Spitfire glanced towards the recruits before nodding and replying. Dash’s attention was drawn away as Soarin, Air Mach, and Macho Savage all emerged from the stallion’s locker room. They all strutted towards the rest in a rather… silly, but testosterone fueled way. Dash found herself snickering. Soarin was being ridiculous. She found it funny, but really, she couldn’t help but feel like something was off. 

She had to press him about it later. It was fun… and kind of sexy… but Soarin wasn’t acting like Soarin. Dash was good at getting him to fess up about things, so if he was going to tell anypony anything, it would be her. 

“Alright recruits, listen up!” Dash flinched in surprise as Spitfire’s voice met her ears. Dash, along with the rest all quickly turned and listened as the LEAD CAPTAIN of the Wonderbolts herself addressed them. “Good to see you all today,” Spitfire began as she began hovering back and forth in front of them. “As I’m sure… or rather I hope Silver has drilled into your heads at this point… Wonderbolts are not just show time flyers… we are a military combat force that specializes in being able to meet and combat abnormal threats that Equestria’s regular guard… tends to bounce off of. We have to be at our best, and be out of the ordinary, plain and simple. This is why our training schedule is rigorous and why we participate in friendly sparring matches on a regular basis,” Spitfire paused, stopped, and faced them. “So sit tight and watch carefully… if you’re worth half of what we think you are, you’ll be able to fight like this someday too,” she said very sternly.

Spitfire was very different from Silver. Spitfire didn’t need to intimidate anypony. She was THE CAPTAIN of the whole Wonderbolt force. Her words held weight just for that.

“The way we do this is simple. We get together a few squads… and using a random selection method, we chose who will fight who. The matches are either five minutes long, until a pony gets pinned for five seconds, or until a pony gets the shit kicked out of them. This is for sport, competition, and to keep our skills sharp… so as I said… PAY ATTENTION,” Spitfire smirked. “And welcome to Wonderbolt combat.”

Dash was literally bouncing in her seat now. So much so that she was getting weird looks from Thunderlane, Storm, and Matteo. She didn’t care though. She was going to see some action. REAL. WONDERBOLT. ACTION. It had been a long time since she watched Soarin and Rapidfire duke it out… she only hoped it was just as exciting with the rest.

---To be continued---