Midnight and Thunderlane gently opened the ward door and popped their heads in. Soarin was propped up in bed with bandages covering his wing, staring up at the ceiling with a blank look. Hearing hooves on the floor, he looked up at his visitors and gave a smile.
"Hey guys, thanks for visiting. I was getting kinda bored over here."
"No problem Soarin, you're our friend, we wanted to make sure you were okay.” Midnight replied as he and Thunderlane approached Soarin, each taking a seat next to his bed.
“The others are pretty busy at the moment, but they'll all come round when they get a chance. How are you feeling?"
"Well, despite the bandages, not too bad really. Personally I think I could probably fly the race tomorrow, but Spitfire and Fleetfoot said they want me to rest and make sure. They were really insistent, to be honest. I kinda figured they'd be pushing more to make sure I'm fixed and back on the field as quickly as possible. Aside from qualifying for the Games, Spitfire didn't really seem to pleased I've been slacking off from training during my time in Ponyville." the wounded pegasus gave a sheepish glance at his stomach. Although Soarin stuck to his exercise routine and had maintained his general physical fitness, his love of Apple Family apple pies was starting to show.
"Well we hope you get better soon. It's a real shame you're flying with the Wonderbolts and not Ponyville. I wish I could enter into more than one event or I'd join them." Thunderlane replied with a nod. Neither pegasi heard Midnight mumble about alicorn racism and not being able to compete under his breath.
"By the way, Midnight, how is Ponyville doing training-wise?" Soarin asked curiously. “You seemed to be pushing them pretty hard earlier."
Thunderlane looked a little nervous at the question while Midnight seemed to lose a little luster as he sighed.
"Well they're slowly improving. Fluttershy is trying her best, though her low wing power and her lack of athletic prowess isn't helping her much. Truth be told I really hope she doesn't figure out that should the team qualify, there will be thousands of ponies watching her at the Games. Bulk Biceps has strength and determination surely, but his over-sized musculature and his teeny wings are making it hard to gain any speed or maintain himself well in the air. Still he is pushing himself hard to get the best time he can. Rainbow is definitely our saving grace, though she keeps running off for drinks of water or to grab food during training. Really weird because she seems more occupied watching what the Wonderbolts are doing then sticking with the team training."
Soarin gave a nod before speaking again, though this time more to himself, "Well, I hope she finds the time to come see me at some point. She sounds busy but I would really love to see her. Besides, maybe she could speak to Spitfire and Fleetfoot for me, convince them I'll be fine for the competition and get them to stop worrying. They probably can't even practice properly without me right now."
While Midnight agreed an odd expression came over Thunderlane, but before Soarin could question it, a nurse entered the room.
"I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but I need to replace Soarin's bandages now and take another assessment of the damage. You're both welcome to come visit again later though."
Midnight and Thunderlane both nodded and said their goodbyes to Soarin, promising to visit again with more friends later. As they headed back out towards the training grounds though, Thunderlane spoke up.
"Hey Midnight, something Soarin just said caught my attention. He said the Wonderbolts wanted him to stay in bed and get better, but he seemed pretty worried that his absence would hinder their training. Earlier though I saw them practicing out by the hoops with no issues at all. I thought I saw another pegasus with them, but I was too occupied with my track-training to really look."
Midnight stopped for a moment to process that. At the mention of another pegasus, he suddenly recalled Rainbow's recent behavior, and a disturbing thought crossed his mind, spurring his brows to furrow.
"Something does seem odd about that, Thunderlane. In fact, I think it might be worth looking into. especially if a certain Ponyville pegasus has been doing a little sneaking about..."
Rainbow wiped her brow and gave Spitfire and Fleetfoot a wave as she descended towards a nearby lake, her new silver Wonderbolts race suit shimmering in the sunlight. The last few hours had been awesome, sneaking away from the Ponyville team whenever she could so she could fly with her idols. She did her best to help the Ponyville team, but compared to the Wonderbolts, Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps just weren't progressing anywhere fast. Even Rainbow's boundless optimism was starting to dwindle, along with her hopes that Ponyville would be able to qualify. The Wonderbolts though, they were just amazing. Loops and twirls and speed! They were the perfect flyers, and they wanted her to fly with them. It was so cool!
Rainbow ducked beneath a tree and hid her new flight suit so as to not arouse suspicion from Midnight and the rest of the team. Though with Midnight as focused as he was, she doubted he would notice she was practicing with the competition.
[Flashback]
Bulk Biceps flew as hard and fast as he could, only to suddenly get stuck in the hoop he needed to pass through. As Midnight just facehooved on the ground, Rainbow gentled fluttered away towards the Wonderbolts.
"Hey Midnight I'm just gonna..."
*CRASH*
"Ah damn.” Midnight facehooved as he flapped over to Bulk. “You okay Bulk... you do know you're crushing Fluttershy right?... No don't sit down again ugh…”
Midnight didn't even see Rainbow leave.
[Flashback]
Fluttershy daintily nibbled at her apple brown betty while Bulk Biceps scoffed as many as he could into his mouth. Only one remained on the plate, but when offered to Rainbow, she just politely shook her head and rubbed her tummy. Bulk just shrugged and started bouncing the pastry on his muscles, much to Midnight’s annoyance.
"Focus Bulk. Stop playing with your food and get your head in the game."
Rainbow dashed off as Midnight swiped the muffin from Bulk Bicep's arm and gave him an annoyed look.
[Flashback]
Midnight took one look at Rarity's 'flightsuits' and just about had an aneurysm yet managed to maintain a stoic outlook as he approached, his horn flaring.
“Wrong." He grabbed a hold of the Fluttershy and Bulk's flower headbands.
"Wrong!" He swiped the necklaces and loose flowers.
"WRONG." he said with a tone low yet intense as he ripped both the suits off the ponies and started stamping them into the ground in a rather comical way. As Fluttershy and Bulk covered themselves to protect their modesty (once again forgetting they were generally always naked) Rarity strutted over in rage.
"Midnight stop this at once! I worked hard on those!" she protested in indignation when Midnight gave her a hard look.
"Rarity, you are supposed to be designing athletic uniforms, not dresses for a dance recital! If we- I mean... they try to fly in those get-ups, the wind resistance alone will make it virtually impossible to finish the race in the designated time. I know you like to get creative but we need to be practical here."
As Rarity considered Midnight's harsh but honest criticisms of her odd flight suits, Rainbow tippy-hooved away to the Wonderbolts.
[Flashbacks end]
"Heh-heh, he is way too busy worrying about everything. There's no way he noticed I'm gone." Rainbow chuckled to herself before taking a gulp of water from the pond.
"Oh I wouldn’t say that..."
Water sprayed everywhere as Rainbow did a massive spit-take. Nervously she turned around to see an unamused Midnight leaning against a tree while looking at her with his hooves crossed and a frown on his muzzle.
"Uh hey Midnight.... what are you doing here?" she asked tapping her hooves together nervously.
"Oh nothing really. Just curious as to why you were ditching out on practice so much. I figured maybe you were just distracted or something because of Soarin being hurt. Instead I find you're just trying to hide the fact that you've replaced him."
Midnight's displeased tone made her feel like a filly that had just been caught breaking the rules by her parents.
"I'm not replacing Soarin, I'm just helping the Bolts practice without him. I'm still helping Ponyville practice too, it's just..."
"You'd rather fly with the pros then with the ones who actually need you, despite them being your friends and pushing themselves well outside their comfort zones to represent the town they love."
Rainbow's ears drooped and she slumped down. Midnight looked her over for a moment before giving a sigh and placing a hoof on her shoulder. "Rainbow look at me."
Slowly she did as Midnight took a moment to find the right words before taking a deep breath.
"Rainbow, you're a grown mare and I can’t tell you what to do... but before you decide who you wanna fly with, there are some things you need to know. First off, I want you to think hard about Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps. Now we all know they aren't the greatest flyers in the world, and what's more, they both know it. Bulk beefed up to get strong enough to try and compensate for his tiny wings that he has actually hindered himself even more in the air then he would have before, and for a stallion as big and strong as that to have such tiny wings has earned him a great deal of ridicule over his life. Yet here he is out in the open, pushing himself hard to make sure Ponyville makes it to the Games.
“Fluttershy on the other hoof has been your friend since you were fillies. You know the difficulty she has flying, and even more, you know how much she hates drawing attention to herself. There will be hundreds of ponies at the qualification race watching her fly, and should we make it, she'll have thousands watching her at the Games! Yet here she is pushing herself as hard as she can to ignore her social anxieties so that she can help Ponyville. I know flying with the Wonderbolts is your dream but this team need you right now far more than the `Bolts do."
Hearing his words ate at Rainbow. Here she was thinking of just how awesome it was flying with the winners instead of the… non-winners that weren’t doing as well, instead of seeing just how hard Bulk and Fluttershy were pushing themselves. Before she could think further on their efforts, Midnight continued.
"On a side-note, I would also like to make a point of asking, why you haven't gone to see Soarin yet?"
This one caught Rainbow off guard, "Well... Spitfire and Fleetfoot told me that he needed his rest and that I should see him later."
"Rainbow, Spitfire and Fleetfoot don't get to decide for you when it is or isn't okay to see your boyfriend. Soarin is sitting in that hospital room right now, alone and hurt and missing you. He needs his rest, sure, but I know he wants you there far more. I really think you should stop and take a look at things here, because right now you seem to be prioritizing flying over Soarin, and I know you aren't the type of pony to be shallow like that."
Rainbow froze up at his words and almost felt the sensation of tears behind her eyes. He was right! Soarin was her boyfriend and he needed her, far more than the Wonderbolts needed her practicing with them.
"Look Rainbow, like I said, I'm not the boss of you, you can do what you like, but don't let flying with the Wonderbolts blind you from everything else going on. There are more important things than fame and athletics."
With that, he gave her a sad smile and headed back towards the training grounds. Rainbow thought over his words. He was right, As fun as flying with the `Bolts was, they didn't need her like Ponyville did, and definitely not like Soarin did.
However before she could spread her wings and take off for the hospital, two wing-beats behind her made her pause. She turned to find Spitfire and Fleetfoot landing, each with a proud smirk on their faces.
"Rainbow Dash, you got a minute?"
Rainbow was confused, but she nodded and trotted forwards, "Sure."
As she stood in front of them, Fleetfoot stepped forward, her smirk turning into a strong smile, "We think you could be a huge asset to the team Rainbow, so Spitfire and I have been talking and we want you to join the Cloudsdale team... permanently."
Rainbow looked surprised, but before she could say anything, Spitfire looped a hoof around her shoulder and continued, "It doesn't look like Soarin's wing is going to heal in time for the competition, so we want you to fly with us."
Fleetfoot then looped her own arm around Rainbow, "Of course, this means you won't be able to fly with Ponyville, but let's face it, even with you on their team, the chances of them qualifying are pretty slim..."
She nodded her head towards Bulk Biceps and Fluttershy who were practicing passing the golden hoof. Fluttershy tried to pass it to Bulk Bicep's hoof, but she closed her eyes and instead punched him in the face with it. Bulk lost control of his wings and dropped to the ground before giving Fluttershy a hurt look and trotting away, with the yellow pegasus flying after him to apologize.
"So what's it gonna be?" Spitfire and Fleetfoot backed off a little, but the smiles they both had seemed to indicate they knew which choice Rainbow should make.
Despite all that she and Midnight had talked about, Rainbow felt a sense of wonder fill her. The Wonderbolts wanted her! The idols she adored since she was a filly wanted her to be with them!
Still doubt crossed her face as Rainbow realized she would have to choose between flying with her idols, and staying with Ponyville to help her friends. But more than that. She would be stealing Soarin's spot from him. Soarin had seemed excited to be in competition with her earlier, and yet if she went through with this, she would be taking his spot and leaving him on nopony’s team.
As these feeling conflicted inside her, the only response Rainbow could give was, "Um... well..."
Spitfire and Fleetfoot decided not to push her, so with a final, "Just think about it", they were off, leaving Rainbow alone to ponder.
Guilt and doubt flooded through her, fighting against her desires. Should she fly with the Wonderbolts and take her boyfriend's place, or be with her friends but leave the Wonderbolt's without a flyer due to Soarin being unable to compete? She looked up to see Midnight in the distance giving her another look before moving towards Bulk and Fluttershy, who were once again fumbling about with the horseshoe baton. Rainbow couldn't tell whether he was disappointed with her, or just wanting her to choose what she thought was right. With a sigh, the rainbow maned Pegasus slumped down on the ground to try and figure out what to do.
This wasn't going to be easy.
The race was tomorrow so Rainbow had to choose soon. Sighing, she decided, “I’m gonna go see Soarin…”