//------------------------------// // Chapter 57: Overcoming Fear // Story: Piercing the Heavens // by Calm Wind //------------------------------// MLP: FiM Piercing the Heavens By: Calm Wind Chapter 57: “Steady… don’t tense up…” Silver directed as Dash sat on the floor of the gym. She had her right hoof up in front of her face, small volts of electricity pulsing around it. “Stay relaxed, but keep control. If you want the electricity to remain calm, you have to remain calm.” Silver explained. He was sitting directly behind her, left hoof on her right shoulder, and right hoof cradling her elbow to help her keep steady. Dash stared at the bits of lightning flowing up and down her arm. She was fighting to keep her breath steady. For the most part she was succeeding, but she felt it was mostly because Silver was assisting. “I’m going to count to three and let go, okay?” said Silver suddenly. Dash gulped and gave a very brief nod. “One…” Silver began counting down. “Two…” Dash felt the touch of his hooves lighten. “Three…” He completely let go. Dash managed to hold steady for about two seconds before she stiffened. The electricity flared up towards the tip of her hoof and she panicked. “Ah…” she gasped as the electricity jumped and snapped towards her face. “AHH!!!” she threw her hoof up. The electricity shot up and dissipated about a foot above her. She shook her hoof out as her breath remained at a quickened pace. Silver sighed as he looked her over. As soon as Dash was out of her flustered state, she growled and stomped her hooves on the ground. “DAMMIT!” she yelled out as she gritted her teeth. “I can’t do it! It’s pointless!" She yelled. “Dash,” Silver narrowed his eyes at her. This was their twelfth attempt. Silver could see the frustration settling in around the eighth. It finally boiled over. “I just can’t, OKAY?! I’m afraid of lightning! There! I said it! I can’t do it! You’re asking the impossible of me!” she yelled directly into Silver’s face. Silver didn’t have to say a thing. In fact, he merely glared down at Rainbow Dash. Dash flinched, her anger dissipating when she realized she just yelled into her instructor’s face. “S-sir… I’m sorry—” Dash stammered as she stepped back, sat down, and let her head hang. “Impossible?” Silver cut her off. Dash glanced up at him quickly, but looked right back down. Silver took a deep breath and exhaled. “There are a lot of things that are impossible…” Silver walked up and sat down beside her, facing the other direction. “And it’s foolish to think you can achieve the impossible… But overcoming a fear is not of that category,” he shifted his eyes towards her. “Those who give up on overcoming their fears are not accepting them… they are running from them.” Dash looked towards him, meeting his stern, but sincere gaze before he got up and walked a few steps behind her. Dash turned and watched him as he moved. It looked like he was contemplating or recalling something. “Dash, how familiar are you with the ongoing conflict between the Griffon Kingdom and the Draco Empire?” he suddenly asked. Dash blinked as the two locations registered in her brain. The Draco Empire… the home of the drakes? Aside from being further north of the Griffon Kingdom and Gilda bringing them up once or twice, Dash never knew too much about them. Although… Dash recalled Gilda never speaking too kindly of the miniature dragons. In fact, Gilda often referred to them as ‘Dricks’ which Dash assumed had to be some sort of racial slur or derogatory term. From this Dash could draw the conclusion that the two species didn’t get along very well. “Not much…” Dash admitted as Silver stopped and turned to her. “The drakes and the griffons have been at war constantly throughout their existence. Every once in a while, like now, they go their separate ways for a year or two, but they always end up fighting again and again and again…” Silver explained. “About eighteen years ago… Celestia attempted to end the conflict, claiming she was tired of seeing so much pain and suffering on both sides. So she hoof picked several squads of Wonderbolts to join her on a visit to leaders on both sides,” he patted his chest. “Young Silver Lining, Wonderbolt squad seventeen,” he recalled. “My squad was one of many chosen to come along. With Blazetail and Flashwind of the lead squad taking command in meeting with the griffons, squad two, under the command of my former… and late mentor, Blizzard Strike… was sent to meet with the drakes. Squad seventeen along with a few others were assigned to back them up.” Silver paused and sighed. Dash noticed a sharp change in his expression. “We were unaware that the drakes were under order to attack any who ‘challenged’ their borders… we were ambushed less than half a mile across the border between the two nations. The drakes, unlike the griffons, consider their bodies to be their weapons. They attack with claws, sharp teeth… and can breathe fire…” he looked towards Dash, but he looked sad. “I was young and inexperienced, pinned down by a drake soon after the ambush began. He glared down at me into my terrified eyes with flames sputtering between his teeth and unleashed his fiery breath upon me. I yelled and screamed in pain for five seconds that felt like five years… had Blizzard Strike not flown in and rammed the drake off of me…” Silver reached up, removing the head-mask of his flight suit, before grabbing the zipper, pulling it down and completely removing the suit. Dash had yet to see him without the suit on… and she gasped as her eyes landed on the bottom of his neck and down to his chest. There was a large burn scar that extended from his neck, down to his chest, across his right shoulder and halfway over the right side of his body towards his flank. The whole scarred area was devoid of any fur. His exposed skin looked cracked and chipped with some areas pale while others were bright red. Dash cringed and gritted her teeth as she looked upon the scarring. “I would have surely been burned to death… I was already lucky I survived. Burn treatment is a very painful experience as well, your nerves are constantly on fire as if you have a billion pins and needles stabbing you all over your body,” Silver gave a very detailed description. “You can imagine… I didn’t do too well with fire for a while. I became so afraid of fire that I even avoided Wonderbolts that specialized in it. Fire had become a label for ‘evil’ in my head. I was afraid of any individual capable of commanding it in fear that they would turn on me. But…” Silver paused. He glanced over towards the rest of squad two. Blaze and Wave Chill were doing a joint practice where Blaze tossed fireballs into the air and Wave launched blasts of water up to douse them. “BLAZE!” Silver yelled. “WHOOP!” Blaze tripped as she was trying to throw more fire. It flew out of her hooves and ran smack into Wave, but because he was surrounded by water, it caused a big puff of steam to poof out and surround him. “Oops…” Blaze snickered as Wave coughed and rolled out of the steam cloud. “Yessiree!” Blaze yelled as she turned and saluted Silver. “Come over here for a second!” he ordered. Blaze trotted over as soon as he gave the word. “Right there,” he held a hoof out, stopping her about five feet away. “Hit me with your best flame,” he ordered. Dash blinked and looked at Blaze, expecting her to be surprised or alarm, but… “Alright! Incoming barbecue!” Blaze yelled as if finding the idea fun. Dash looked towards Silver, her eyes widening… he was once afraid of fire… but now… “YAHA!!!” Blaze yelled as she clapped her flint gloves together three times, causing an enormous collection of fire to build up around them. She worked her hooves around the make the fireball three times the size of her head before pulling back a hoof. “Catch!” she yelled to Silver as she thrust her hoof forward into the fire. It pulsed and shot towards Silver. Dash yelped as Silver put up his hoof and let the flame collide with it. As soon as the fire was upon them, Silver spread out his hooves and smacked the floor with both of them. The flame danced up above him. He reached up, stuck his hooves into the fire, and spun around once, expanding it and coating himself in it before turning and facing Dash. The fire was hovering around his body, but it was not against him or burning him. Dash watched in awe as the flames danced and coursed about his body, passing directly over his burn scars and in front of his eyes. He hadn’t handled it as masterfully as Blaze, losing a bit of the flame during the control process, but there was still more than enough to severely burn him had he not bent it to his will. “I learned to face my fear…” Silver said between the swirling flames. “Because I never wanted to be a victim of fire again… nor did I want to run when others facing it depended on me,” Silver grunted and threw his body up while swinging his hooves into the air. The fire spiraled off of him and dissipated in the air. “So DON’T tell me it’s impossible… because from what I’ve seen…” he looked Dash over. "You seem like you didn’t have it half as bad.” Half as bad… Dash looked down as she thought it over carefully. Was the lightning surge she experienced really as bad as she was making it out to be? It gave her an extremely painful jolt… but she had no burns or scars on her body to show for it. Then she remembered something. There was a second pony who experienced the lightning during the tornado incident. She had pushed Descent into the center of the clouds. Descent took the full force of the thundercloud, while she got hit by the powerful aftershocks that spread out. She was knocked out by the blast… but when she saw Descent again during the Shadowbolt attack on the Wonderbolt compound… he was covered in scars and burns from the lightning, some of which looked like they were still healing. Dash didn’t have to wonder if Descent had developed a lightning phobia, because she knew very well that Descent feared nothing. Dash looked back up at Silver as he dismissed Blaze and slipped his flight suit back on. Maybe she was just complaining. Maybe she was jumping to conclusions. It was only one day of practicing it personally with Silver, she would have time to overcome it. Compared to Silver and Descent, she felt like she had gotten off easy. “Okay… let’s try it again…” she swallowed her pride and stepped forward. “No,” Silver looked down at her sternly as he stretched the mask back over his face. Dash opened her mouth to reply, but she wasn’t expecting it and thus had no way to reply. Silver tugged on the ends of the mask while moving his mouth and nose around until it was in place like he wanted it and made a hoof motion towards the equipment closet. “Since you yelled at me, we’re done with lightning and going to do some combat training instead.” Dash followed his hoof and looked towards the closet. “Go put on a set of training armor… and make sure it’s all fastened properly. You’re going to need it,” he grunted before turning, cracking his neck, and throwing a few punches into the air to loosen up. Dash gulped as she walked towards the equipment closet. She did just yell at her instructor… she guessed she had this coming. Hopefully he wouldn’t be too hard on her. “That’s enough for today, dismissed!” Silver nodded as Dash fell into a sweaty heap on the floor. As suspected, Silver did not go easy on her. Their combat session was mostly working on her defense… and Silver really amped up the intensity. He let her have one minute long rest in the whole half hour they battled. Dash picked herself up and dragged her tired body towards the equipment closet. “Broke a sweat, huh? Didn’t know the old stallion still had it in him!” High Winds suddenly trotted up besides Dash and nudged her. Dash rolled her eyes at the clear innuendo, but yelped suddenly as Winds pressed up against her. When she looked however, Blaze had run up and pushed Winds over, squeezing Winds between them. “You broke a sweat too, Windy! Hell, we all did! Squad two knows how to go HARD… eh, Dash?!” Blaze giggled as Dash blushed uncomfortably. “Yeah… sure…” Dash half-heartedly agreed as she unbuckled pieces of her armor, removing most of them herself, flinching as Blaze and Winds unbuckled the back leg guards for her. “PERSONAL SPACE!!!!” Dash finally yelled as she hopped forward, the leg guards coming off as she did. Blaze and High Winds both burst out laughing. “HEY! YOU TWO!” Silver yelled towards them. “SQUAD MEETING! GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE!” he yelled. “Toodles!” Blaze waved to Dash as the two went to see what Silver wanted. Dash just shook her head and groaned in discomfort. Those two loved teasing her a little too much. Dash noticed a box sitting beside the door to the closet that was marked, ‘dirty armor.’ Dash glanced at the armor she was just wearing. It was covered in her sweat and kind of smelled. Dash sniffed the air around her, then turned her head around and sniffed her shoulder. As a matter of fact, SHE was covered in sweat… and kind of smelled. She didn’t really want to go to dinner reeking… so as she left the gym she decided to stop in the closest locker room and find a shower. Lucky for her, there was a pair of locker rooms right across the hall, a mare’s and a stallion’s, meant for quick access to bathrooms and showers for the five personal squad gyms nearby. One of the convenient things about the compound was that there were no designated locker rooms. The Wonderbolts and recruits all had their own facilities and kept their uniforms and such in their living spaces. The locker rooms strewn about the compound were like that of a public gym: for one’s use if needed, with lockers, bathrooms and showers alike, complete with stacks of towels at the entrance. Feeling like taking a good shower, Dash entered the mare’s locker room, grabbed a towel and trotted towards the showers. The locker room was a small with four square rooms that twenty by twenty feet each, arranged in a square. The entrance opened up into the locker area, which had two rows of lockers and a ‘hallway’ along the left side. Along the left wall was a door leading into a bathroom, and the other two rooms were shower rooms, each with five showerheads and connected by an open doorway. These shower rooms were opposite of the entrance, and one could reach them through both the bathroom and the locker area. Dash took a turn into the bathroom on her way in to look at herself in the mirror, sticking her tongue out in disgust as she looked. She definitely needed to shower, she looked extra scuzzy and her mane looked slick with sweat. She whipped her towel onto a hook beside the entrance to the left shower room and walked right in. Her eyes landed on a showerhead on the opposite wall. They were simple showers, all the pipes hidden in the walls. She walked over, and turned both knobs. She shivered as the water burst from the showerhead and began to pour over her. The warm water felt good against her stiff joints and sore muscles. As she found a soap dispenser and started cleaning up, she finally had a moment to think on the weird day she had had so far. Squad zero. That had been the true shock of the day. A secret, not-so-secret-anymore squad specifically hired and trained to counter Shadowbolts… by being like the Shadowbolts? As much as Dash respected the word of her instructor… she was still not sure what to think of them. Silver had shown an incredibly harsh view on them and how they would fail… but Dash recalled seeing Surprise being super friendly to them. That was natural of Surprise, but Soarin also seemed to have a more positive view based on the short exchange between him and Silver that she saw in the training room. Dash wondered what Soarin thought of them in full, she never got the chance to ask him. Dash slightly blushed to herself as the warm water ran down her mane and streamed over her body. Thinking about Soarin… while taking a shower… led to thinking about Soarin taking a shower… led to thinking about Soarin taking a sexy steamy shower… led to thinking about Soarin taking a sexy steamy shower with HER. “Heeeheheee…” Dash giggled to herself while squinting, biting her bottom lip, and crossed and rubbed her back legs together. She had to be careful, it was already hot enough with the warm shower, if she kept thinking like that she’d have to switch to cold water real quick. It had been a long time since she and Soarin had a chance to just spend some time with each other. To be honest, she missed it dearly. She found herself missing him even though he was right there in the compound with her. Her goal, of course, was still to become a Wonderbolt and be one of the best flyers ever in the history of Equestria… but she had a little extra motivation knowing she’d get to do it with the love of her life nearby… and get to spend time with one of the best, most awesome stallions in existence. They could train together and spend time together. It was the perfect deal. She could never pass it up. She turned the shower knobs until the water shut off and last droplets of waster dripped down onto her head. She reached out into the bathroom area, grabbed her towel and stepped back in, rubbing herself down and wondering if she had time to preen her wings before heading off to dinner. “DAMN! That was a rough day of training!” Dash flinched and froze. Blaze. If it were any other mare, Dash wouldn’t have suddenly locked up. But then she heard a yawn. “You know how the captain is Blazey… if we don’t break enough sweat to wash a barn then ‘we didn’t try hard enough.’" High Winds mocked Silver’s voice, earning hysterical laughter from Blaze. Scratch that… if it were any other mare besides Blaze and High Winds. “You do the best impersonations,” Blaze complimented her as High Winds yawned again. “What can I say? I’m a natural at imitating jackasses…” Winds joked about Silver again, earning more laughs from Blaze. Where Dash stood, she was hidden in the left shower room in the corner between the open doorway connecting the shower rooms and the doorway leading into the bathroom. Both doors were about five feet from her. She dared not move, she knew the moment they saw her, they’d harass her again. But if she moved… the shower rooms and bathroom floors were both tile. Her hooves would give her away instantly. Dash flinched as she heard one of them enter the right shower room. She thought about waiting for the sound of the showers to mask her hooves against the tile floor, but even then she still might be seen depending on which showerheads they chose. If they were using ones facing the door, she’d be seen, and they’d be upon her… she just knew they wouldn’t pass up the chance. Her other option was to stand still, wait, and hope they didn’t decide to make a stop in the bathroom through the right shower room. Either way, it seemed unlikely she would find a good distraction for— “What’s the holdup, Blazey?” Winds suddenly said as Dash heard the sound of streaming water start up from one of the showers. “Hey, it’s your fault I was laughing so much!” Blaze’s voice came from the locker area before Dash could hear her hooves on the tile floor of the showers as well. Dash remained perfectly still, contemplating the risk of her first option. Could she make it out without being seen? She also realized she wasn’t fully dried off. Would be strange if she dove out of the locker room still wet? She wanted to avoid anything stupid as well if she could. Dash’s ears suddenly perked up. Not at something she heard… but rather… Something she didn’t hear. Blaze had walked into the right shower room, but Dash had yet to hear another shower turn on. “God damn, Windy…” Blaze’s voice suddenly sounded from the right shower room. “I can’t get enough of your wings…” What? Dash blinked. “Hmmm?” Winds began. “If I had a bit for every time you said that to me…” she said in a voice that sounded… seductive? “Can you blame me, Windy? Mmm… I love the shoulder and wing muscles…” Whoa… Whoa, whoa, whoa… hold up… rewind… One of Dash’s ears flopped down as she squinted and scrunched one side of her face. What the hell… was going on in there? “Well Blazey…” Winds spoke up again, pausing with a slight yawn. “Keep complimenting me with that wet mane look you have going and I might have to do something about it.” Dash couldn’t stop herself. She was beyond confused… and more curious than cat with multiple sets of nine lives to spare. So she carefully… and quietly… peeked around the corner. Blaze and High Winds… were using the same shower. Both drenched beneath the same stream, manes wet and stuck to their bodies. Winds was sitting on the floor and Blaze was walking around her, while sliding a hoof along one of Winds’ powerful wings. They both wore seductive expressions on their faces as Blaze came around in front and sat down directly in front of Winds… so close that the spray of water from the shower equally covered them both. “Are you threatening me with what I want?” Blaze licked her lips as she leaned forward, lightly touching their noses together. Winds smirked and brushed her slick wet mane out of her eyes with a hoof before bringing the same hoof around and sliding it over Blaze’s side from the flank all the way up to her chin. “Because…” Winds slipped her hoof behind Blaze’s head. Blaze reacted by sliding her hooves around Winds. “I know you like it when I’m stern…” The two attacked each other’s lips, kissing each other intensely beneath the warm running water of the shower. Dash instantly pulled back and pressed herself up against the wall. Her face made a full color change from blue to red as the vision fully registered in her head. Blaze and High Winds… were lesbians. It suddenly made a hell of a lot more sense why they were being so touchy and forward with her. Dash wondered why she hadn’t contemplated that possibility already… especially after all the comments about her muscles and physique. Several moans became audible through the sound of the running shower. Dash leaned over and peeked around the corner again. The two were still lip locked beneath the water with their hooves wandering all over each other. Dash pulled back quickly again, her face turning so bright red that she’d be whistling if she were a tea pot. This was FAR from the scenario she was expecting. Now she really felt the need to get away to avoid revealing herself by accident due to embarrassment. One thing she noticed was that the two lovers were not only completely distracted by each other, but also using a showerhead in the far right corner of the right shower room. They were as far away from being able to see into the rest of the locker room as possible. This was her chance. Dash stepped carefully, doing her best to make no noise against the tile floor with her hooves. She was also trying not to yelp or squeak from the embarrassment of hearing two celebrities moan, kiss, and rub themselves on each other. The moment Dash cleared the bathroom and all four hooves touched the carpeted floor of the locker area… she made a beeline for the door. She was still a little wet, but she also still had her towel. She’d be able to dry off completely on her way and drop the towel off at the east laundry cage. She made it through the door, and quickly shut it behind her. She propped her back up against the door, panting in relief, but still blushing uncontrollably, the sound of moaning barely audible behind the closed door, but still loud enough to hear. She took a deep breath relaxed. Her face was still a little red, but she quickly rubbed the rest of the water from her fur with the towel, balled it up and carried it with her as she slowly made her way down the hall. Talk about unexpected. What a way for Dash to find out that two members of the Wonderbolt’s she had seen perform so often were lesbians. She didn’t have a problem with the concept at all. Love is blind and love is free… but she wished she could have found out in a different… less raunchy way. She wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight because she’d be too busy remembering the image of Blaze and High Winds, rubbing against each other and moaning in the shower. Dash found herself blushing uncomfortably again. Yeah… the image was definitely not leaving for a while. It seemed a little unprofessional or careless of them to get so heated with each other in an open locker room… then again it was dinner hours and the hallways were pretty much clear. The locker room was also the last one at the end of the east hallway, meant for easy access from the personal squad gyms… Either that or the two of them being a couple was actually a well-known fact within the compound and they just didn’t give a damn… or… knowing them, they just didn’t care. Dash glanced back towards the locker rooms as she stopped to drop off the towel at the east laundry cage. She caught a glimpse of Silver and Wave Chill exiting the gym and making their way towards the stallion’s locker room beside the mare’s. Wave walked right in, but Silver stopped and glanced at the mare’s locker room door, his ears pointing up. Dash kept her eyes on Silver as he grunted, stepped over and pushed open the door to the mare’s locker room open. “ARE YOU TWO BUMPING DONUTS IN THERE AGAIN?!” he barked into the mare’s locker room. “FUCK OFF, YA OLD FART!” Blaze’s usual crass voice poured from inside. Silver rolled his eyes and let the door close before entering the stallion’s locker room. It looked like it was a well-known fact. Dash was still a bit flustered by the whole thing though… she could only imagine what would have happened if they had found her. A blank expression remained on her face as she made her way towards the mess hall. On the way, a classroom door opened and Storm Front stepped out. His face instantly brightened when he saw Dash walking by. “Hey Dash!” he greeted her cheerfully as they kept moving. She didn’t answer him. Storm awkwardly looked around, but could tell she wasn’t being rude… mostly because of the look on her face. “What’s up with you?” he asked with a chuckle. Dash blinked and shook her head as the two turned towards the mess hall doors. “I’ve seen some shit today…” --- To Be Continued ---