Chapter 14: Flyboys
Sparrow stepped out of the dormitory building and looked across the sidewalk to see the line of ponies still standing still. Split Shifter was at the end of the line still and seemed to be in the same position since they both first arrived. Ponies turned their heads and looked at Sparrow as he approached the line, Split Shifter lifted his head up above the ponies in front of him and waved to Sparrow, motioning for him to join the line.
Sparrow arrived behind Split and the pony shifted around to look at the griffon and smile "Heya friend, you been gone a while, almost thought you got the boot."
"I think I almost did but it worked out well enough." Sparrow quipped as he stood behind Split. Strangely enough, the line started moving as the finished their exchange. It moved rapidly enough that they didn't have a chance to talk anymore as the line continued moving.
Once Split reached the booth next to the main building Sparrow saw the mare who had been speaking to each of the candidates. It was Spitfire herself taking down registration. That would explain why the line didn't move while I was gone. Sparrow couldn't hear the exchange between Split and Spitfire but the stallion seemed a little shaken after their conversation. Split finished and stepped inside the building past the booth. Now it was Sparrow's turn to step up.
"Hello again noobie," Spitfire smirked at Sparrow, he blinked at the bright yellow mare in response, "are you ready?"
"Ready ma'am?" Sparrow puffed up his chest and flared his wings "I was born ready for this chance."
"Good to hear, don't mess it up. Head on inside and then you'll get the full tour." Spitfire finished and stepped out of the door on the side of the booth and stood next to the door of the main building. "Well trainee? Am I gonna have to yell at you to open the door or are you just going to stand there?"
"Oh!" Sparrow leaped forward and pulled the door aside to let Spitfire through, he could see her smirk through the glass before he followed behind her to join the other trainees.
It's going to be an interesting few weeks Sparrow thought to himself as he stood next to Split.
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Sparrow woke up to the same trumpet song that had been playing every morning since the training had started. He still hadn't asked for the name of the tune, but he knew that once he was done he didn't ever want to hear it again. Split Shifter hopped off the bunk above Sparrow and began his own morning routine. Sparrow groggily got up and made his bed before heading to the restroom. Every morning had been the same after that first day of signing up. He and the rest of the trainees would wake up and go for a 30 minute flight around the local area to work up a sweat and burn some fat.
After that they would all head inside for a quick bite to eat before more training began. They used a machine called the Dizzotron to practice recovery from dizziness in flight before a landing. Every pony handled it differently, Split had been the fastest to recover from it, he did not however break the Academy record on it. Sparrow broke the Dizzotron itself when he went the first day though, the restraints on it had been too small to hold him in place, it launched him early and all the straps broke off. He got to help clean up the machine for the rest of the day even though it technically wasn't his fault it had broken.
In the afternoon they would go for another fly around the area, this time however they spent an hour straight going as fast as they could. The other Wonderbolts there besides Spitfire would fly with them and shout for them to go faster at all times. It was hectic the first few days but as time went on Sparrow began to enjoy the flights, it let him unwind before the next bit of training for the day.
In the late afternoons all the trainees would sit down in one of the many classrooms around the facility to learn about the history of the Wonderbolts. Sparrow didn't care too much about the history as he was just there for the flight training mainly but he did enjoy learning about General Firefly, the original Wonderbolt who began the whole idea of the flying group. Once they're studying had concluded they would go eat dinner which would generally consist of a large amount of starch based foods, Sparrow guessed it was to help everyone's bodies keep up with the tough amount of training early in the morning. That's how it had been the past 3 weeks, today however, was a little different.
On his way back to the dormitories after breakfast someone called out, "Yo Sparrow!" A wing tapped against Sparrow's side as he turned his head to see Split Shifter grinning brightly at him, "good speed at the flight today, probably still due to your size but you definitely got a knack for flying."
Sparrow grinned before elbowing Split in the side "Oh ya like my speed matches up to your technique. Don't think I don't see you getting yelled at every morning when you're trying to pull off some crazy trick."
Split lifted a hoof up to scratch the back of his mane, "What can I say, I love to impress the ladies, especially one in particular." He winked somewhere past Sparrow, the griffon turned his head to see a disgruntled Spitfire with a small bit of red on her face. "She doesn't know it yet, but I've got her right where I want her." Split chuckled to himself and Sparrow rolled his eyes.
"Trainees!" A Wonderbolt instructor belted out for everyone to hear, Sparrow recognized her as Fleetfoot, all of the other trainees turned from their own little cliques they had made to look at the Wonderbolt. "From today onward you are going to be assigned a flight partner, you will stick with them through thick and thin and you will take care of each other as if you were family. The idea is to promote the idea that we are all family and we should treat each other as such. Do you get me!?"
"YES MA'AM" The crowd shouted out.
"Good!" Fleetfoot continued "Now, on to who your partners will be. You most likely already know them," a few trainees eyed each other warily before focusing back on the Wonderbolt, "it will be your bunk mate. No ifs ands or buts about it, you two are now an inseparable team and are expected to be seen everywhere together. If any of us catch you without your wingpony, you will be disciplined. You don't want to know how." Fleetfoot glared at the crowd as if that made her point more intimidating.
"I know how I'd want to be disciplined." Muttered Split Shifter. Sadly just loud enough for a certain Wonderbolt to hear.
"Who said that!? Who in Tartarus said that?" Fleetfoot shouted out, no one in the crowd of trainees responded "It was Princess Celestia herself that said that then huh?"
"It was me ma'am" Split straightened up and called out.
Fleetfoot approached Sparrow and Split Shifter glaring, both of them stood straighter. "Congratulations on being the first."
When she didn't look like she was going to say more Sparrow piped up "Being the first for what ma'am?"
"Oh you didn't know?" Fleetfoot sneered "The first trainees ever to fly 500 laps around the school. Better get to it. You've got an Academy record to set."
Split Shifter scoffed "You can't be serious ma'am, it was just a dumb joke."
Fleetfoot got right up next to Split's snout and stared him down. "I was joking too." Split looked a little hopeful, then she dropped the bomb "600 laps now, hilarious, I know." Sparrow could see Split visibly droop lower before Fleetfoot stepped away. "The rest of you get to training, you aren't here to stand and gawk!" Sparrow started to step away from Split before Fleetfoot called out to him "Ah ah ah, you're his wingpony, or wing griffon in this case. You stick with him." Sparrow could feel his feather droop a little lower as well now. It was going to be a tough afternoon.
"Come on Split." Sparrow nudged the pegasus to break him out of his stupor.
"Well I guess now we know what they do for discipline eh?" Split grinned at Sparrow.
Sparrow couldn't help but grin back "You really are a pro at pushing ponies buttons."
Split took a bow "Don't I know it."
Sparrow scratched at his chin for a moment "Hm, that's actually pretty good sounding."
The two began walking towards the flight line to begin their disciplinary training. Split tilted his head and cocked and eyebrow "What sounds good?"
Sparrow smiled, "Your nickname, I just thought it up. Split Shifter Pro."
Split couldn't help but burst out laughing "Pro huh?" he continued chortling till he calmed down "Yeah I suppose that fits."
Sparrow looked forward to the end of the flight line and into the open sky. "You ready? This is gonna suck."
Split looked forward as well, "My ma always told me, 'If something sucks, embrace the suck, and having a friend along is a good help too' I think she was right."
Sparrow smiled "Ya I think she was right too Split. Let's get this over with."
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