//------------------------------// // 1. Wings and Work // Story: Aerial Dreams // by BNuts //------------------------------// Aerial View barely flapped her tan wings as she came in for her landing at Wonderbolts Academy. As she watched the other Pegasi coming in from all over, many of them tired from their long flights, she chuckled to herself. The Los Pegasus native would never have thought herself the type to enlist in a military organization: she loved the wind and the feel of the air between her feathers, in her mane, and through her coat. That was true whether she was in a gentle breeze, a gale, or anything in between. She would love to spend all her days just basking in the wind and sun. But her father said ‘you can’t make a living playing in the wind.’ Unfortunately, he was right. Aerial had been surprised the day the twin captains of the Wonderbolts, Lightning Strike and Thunder Strike, flew up with an offer of a spot at their vaunted Academy. It was an open invitation, which Aerial could accept by showing up on this particular day. Aerial knew that the Wonderbolts were Princess Celestia’s elite flyers and defenders. If her desire had been to fly with the elite, she might have chosen Azure Flight’s Skybolts, which even predated the Wonderbolts. They were even based in Los Pegasus, as opposed to a small complex of clouds near Cloudsdale, which tended to wander over Central Equestria rather than the east or the west, where Los Pegasus floated. What made Aerial decide on the Wonderbolts was that she knew they did more stunt flying these days, whereas the Skybolts trained very strictly for military exercises. So here she was, mere days later, floating in and landing on the tarmac. An air traffic control pony directed her to one of the fields where some ponies were sitting at a set of tables to check in. “You’ve come a long way,” the stallion assist her said. “I hope it’s worth the while.” “That’s the hope,” Aerial said. “Field Three, and you’d best hurry, missy: they’ll be starting soon.” “Thanks!” Aerial hoofed it to the field, where other new hopefuls were lined up, their saddlebags on the clouds beside their hooves. Evidently they had not yet been allowed to settle in. Aerial joined at the right end of the file, beside an orange-coated and flame-maned mare, and put her bags down too. “Welcome to Basic Training, Rookies,” Lighting Strike said as she approached the group. “You may be the best and brightest from your little home towns, but you’re now all in the company of the elite of the elite. You can forget about everything that made you think you were special. You think you have what it takes to be one of the elite? You think you know what makes a Wonderbolt?” “Yes, Ma’am!” the flame-mane said enthusiastically. “Well you’re wrong!” The outgoing mare stepped back half a pace. “If you had what it took you would already be a Wonderbolt!” Lightning Strike started pacing, and Thunder Strike stepped up from behind her. “No matter how good you think you are, in comparing yourself with present Wonderbolts, or even your peers, you’re going to discover something new about yourselves. Should you survive the revelation, your trainers and your fellows will need to be able to call on you in any situation, and know you’ll immediately respond. The Wonderbolts are not about glory or wealth: we’re a high-performance aerial combat team. Fail to display a full understanding of what that means, and no matter how good a flyer you might be, you’ll never survive Basic.” “Later we’ll be getting a transfer from the west,” Lightning Strike said. “If you can’t keep up with him, you won’t survive for long. But first, you’ve got to show us what you’ve got in you. So, Rookies, give us fifty laps of that circuit,” she indicated a course laid out in floating buoys and clouds. “What are you waiting for? Up and at ‘em, purple mane with pink highlights!” Oh, that’s me! Aerial spread her wings and fanned out her feathers to feel the air as she leaped up and forward. The rest of the group took off and followed after her. She noticed the flame-mane coming up beside her, pumping her wings hard. “Rough start, huh?” Aerial asked. “Yeah, but the Wonderbolts’re the best. I’m Spitfire, by the way.” “Aerial View. Nice to meet you.” “Likewise. Hey, wanna race?” “I’d rather not burn myself out. Besides, we’re already well ahead of the others,” Aerial said, and Spitfire looked back as well. The only other rookie to keep up with them was a silver and white-maned mare, who saluted when they looked. “A little competition never heard anyone,” Spitfire said. “B’sides, you hardly look winded. Where’re you from, anyway?” “Los Pegasus. You?” “Oh, um…” Spitfire fought past her startled expression, and flapped her wings a little harder to recover from the shock. “Cloudsdale.” In other words, Spitfire was more winded, and working harder, than Aerial, who had travelled farther to get to Wonderbolts Academy. “How d’you fly so easy?” “This?” Aerial was flapping her wings a lot less frequently than anypony else. “I just feel and ride the currents when I can.” “But wouldn’t you fall when one clashes with another?” “I can follow from one to another pretty well, although on a course like this, there is some tougher crossover.” But, as Aerial demonstrated, that just meant she had to flap normally for awhile. “I can fly like this for hours, but Dad says I can’t make money like that.” “Which is why you’re here,” “And you?” “Who wouldn’t want to be a Wonderbolt?” Aerial shrugged and faced front again, not wanting to tell Spitfire that she didn’t really have that much motivation for becoming a ‘Bolt. She just wanted to fly.