A New Generation

by QuiteNiceDynamite

Rainbow Dash in the Wonderbolts

Rainbow Dash trotted home in her Wonderbolt uniform. She was finally happy. After losing her friends and then losing Spitfire in the past few months, she finally had something to smile about. Spitfire was right, she was a Wonderbolt. Rainbow finally had the thing she had wanted since the day she had learned to fly.

Despite it being mid-afternoon, Rainbow Dash didn't see any other ponies as she trotted through Ponyville.

"Where is everypony?" Rainbow asked as she approached her house.

Rainbow flew up to her cloud home, quite annoyed because she couldn't talk to anypony. As she went to open her front door, she saw a note on the door,

"Sugarcube Corner"

Rainbow looked at the note with a furrowed brow, who wanted to talk to her? And why at Sugarcube corner? She took the note off the door and threw it into a bin as she flew on her way to Sugarcube corner.

---

Rainbow stood in front of the door, she could hear quiet muttering from inside, but no more. Rainbow knocked on the door and trotted straight in.

"SURPRISE!"

Rainbow just stood there, her eyes bulging. At least 200 ponies were in there, she saw Big Mac, Bon Bon, Lyra, then suddenly a pink blur tackled her to the ground.

"Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash! It's me, Pinkie!" The hyperactive pony squealed.

"Pinkie! Oh my gosh, it is you!" Rainbow said, still slightly winded by the well-meant tackle.

The two ponies stood up and embraced each other, as Rainbow hugged her crazy friend, she looked over her shoulder.
Her friends were all stood there, waiting for her. She couldn't have felt any better, she could have happily died at that point. She was finally reunited with her friends. She knew that they had only come for this party and would soon go back to where they came, but being with them for just one day was enough for Rainbow Dash.

"Hey, you guys!" She yelled.
Rainbow released Pinkie and they both ran to Twilight, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy.
The six friends all grabbed each other into a tight group hug, it was the first time they had been together for weeks, maybe even months.

"Oh, I've missed you guys." Rainbow admitted.

"Us too, sugarcube." Applejack replied.

Their friends all mumbled in agreement, they had been apart for too long. The six best friends in Equestria didn't deserve to have been kept apart for such a huge length of time. The music kicked in as they hugged,

"Come on, everypony, let's party!" Pinkie yelled, jumping out of the hug and dancing.

The five friends in the hug all released each other and started to party with the other ponies at Sugarcube Corner. The danced and sang long into the night. Rainbow's best friends promised that they would be back soon, they would all be together in a few weeks.

---

Rainbow Dash woke up the next morning, still happy with her life. She knew that she wouldn't see her friends for a while, but at least she had met them. It was her first offical day in the Wonderbolts, and it was the day before the new Academy inductees arrived, so it would be a busy day.

Rainbow arrived at the Wonderbolt training ground at 11AM. She only had to arrive at noon, but she wanted to leave an impression of her professionalism on the other Wonderbolts. No other Pegasi were in the the base apart from Soarin and Manerick, one of the training instructors. Soarin had taken over the Wonderbolts, he'd been promoted to Captain after Spitfire had died, and he seemed to know what he was doing.

Rainbow walked past the Dizzitron machine. She remembered how she had trained on it five years ago, when she and Lightning Dust had strutted their stuff. Lightning Dust's ego was too big, and Rainbow couldn't take it, she'd left before she was inducted. But now, five years on, she was an official Wonderbolt. Tomorrow, new inductees would participate in the training she had all that time ago, and Rainbow would help to judge a squadron of Academy mambers.

As she walked past the Dizzitron, the Pegasi who was maintaining it, Manerick, yelled after her.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash! Nice job in the Derby, I knew you had it in you!"

Rainbow turned to face him, thanking him for his compliment.

"Thanks, it's been too long since I've been around here."

"Yeah, that's true." He replied honestly.

The arm of the Dizzitron started to rotate on its own.

"Goddammit, damn machine can't stay fixed. I gotta fix this up, I'll see you around." Manerick said, frustrated in the machine.

"Okay, I'll see you around." Rainbow replied, walking off to the Captain's office.

---

Rainbow knocked on Soarin's door, waiting for a response.

"Enter." A voice came from inside.

"Ah! Rainbow Dash, good to see you, nice and early as well!" Soarin rejoiced.

"Good morning, Sir." Rainbow replied, recognising her superior.

"Rainbow, you can cut the 'Sir' crap, I'm not the Wonderbolt Captain, I'm just the placeholder. When I see a Wonderbolt who I feel is ready to take the step up, I'll promote them to Captain. I prefer just being in the formation, I don't want any authority." Soarin admitted.

"Yes...Sir." Rainbow giggled.

Soarin chuckled with her,
"You know your way around here, don't you?"

"Yeah, unless something's changed." She replied.

"Not much, nothing's massively different since the time you were here. Right, we've got an hour to burn until the inductees arrive, wanna go for a walk?" Soarin asked, his wing was still healing, so he was grounded.

"Sure, why not?" Rainbow replied.

---

"We may as well go through what's happening today." Soarin started.

"You'll be working with Fleetfoot and Blaze today at the synchronisation post. You won't have seen it before, so I'll show it to you."

Soarin led Rainbow Dash to a large hangar on the west edge of the runway, the hangar stored a small black camera-looking apparatus and a large projector with a screen.

"In here, we lead the inductees in two at a time, picked completely at random. We show them a maneuver on the screen, then the pair have to replicate it as best as they can. We pick them at random so that they aren't just with their friends, and they have to work with a complete stranger. You and Fleetfoot will judge one of the flyers each to judge their skill and potential, and Blaze will study how synchronised they are." Soarin described.

"We use this machine to measure how synchronised they are." Soarin said as he presented the black contraption.
"We line 'em up in the middle of the hangar, then the machine records their progress. Then we look back at the footage and it leaves an outline of where each pair traveled. The pair with the closest lines together get the most points."

"So, this thing draws out which line they take?" Rainbow asked, kind of sure about the machine.

"Exactly. The machinery's complicated, but you'll get used to it." Soarin responded.

The two Wonderbolts continued to walk around the base and then went to the mess hall to have some lunch. By the time they had finished eating, the inductees had started to arrive.

"I'll be at the Dizzitron if you need me, but Blaze and Fleetfoot know what they're doing, you can trust them." Soarin started as he walked towards his office.

"Of course." Rainbow obeyed, "I'll see you later."

"See you later." Soarin replied.

---

The day went past fairly quickly for Rainbow Dash. Inductees came and went, some showed promise, others weren't so good. But Rainbow felt good, she could tell how the younger Inductees were looking up to her. It reminded her of how she idolised the Wonderbolts when she was younger.

After the training session, when the inductees had gone home, the Wonderbolts sat in the mess hall, judging who should be wing and lead ponies.

"Genus Whirl recovered the quickest on the Dizzatron, he's got to be a lead pony." Misty Fly pointed out.

"Yeah, I agree. And I think that Nimbus was great on the synchronisation test. His partner wasn't that great, but he made her look good. Nimbus should definitely lead." Blaze suggested.

"Who else should lead?" Soarin asked.

"I'm thinking...Sky Belle and Airheart should be the other two leaders." Rapidfire replied.

"I can see where you're coming from, I don't really think there's much leader material this year." Soarin sadly admitted.

"That's true, hopefully we'll get some leaders in next months' trials, I don't think any inductees this month could make the step up." Fleetfoot pointed out.

"Yeah, we're gonna need some." Rainbow Dash muttered.

Soarin looked outside, the sun had started to go down.

"Right guys, we may as well pack up for the night, it's getting late. Get yourselves a good sleep."

The Wonderbolts all went away to their homes, getting the sleep they needed for the next week.

---

The next week was decent for Rainbow, a few times she felt a bit bored, but she knew that she needed to prove herself as a Wonderbolt. Being a Wonderbolt just wasn't about your flying ability, but how you can manage a group of inductees. Also, you needed to be disciplined, nopony wanted an arrogant Wonderbolt, you had to be modest to be part of the Wonderbolts.

Inductees came and went, only Nimbus was taken into the Wonderbolts due to his amazing ability to recover and how he could work perfectly synchronised with complete strangers. As Rainbow was trotting towards the mess hall, Soarin peeked his head out of the office and asked her to come in, Rainbow Dash followed him into his office.

"You wanted to see me, Soarin?" Rainbow asked.

"Yes...I had to tell you, it's time." Soarin replied.

"What do you mean, 'it's time'?" Rainbow asked again.

"When you arrived, I said that I'd look for the Wonderbolt that I thought should be Captain instead of me, and my search is over. I've done what I've needed to do as a placeholder, now it's time for you to be the leader of the Wonderbolts."

Rainbow couldn't believe what she was hearing. Soarin wanted her to be the leader of the Wonderbolts. Why her? She'd only been in the Wonderbolts for a few weeks.

"But...why me?" Rainbow asked.

"Because I believe that you deserve to lead us. You have everything needed to lead us, you're the quickest, you're professional, and you're modest in victory. I don't think that any other Wonderbolt has what it takes to be Captain."

"Are you sure? I've never done anything like this before, I'm not sure." Rainbow retaliated.

"Spitfire wanted you to lead."

That was enough for Rainbow, that was like Princess Celestia saying that she wanted her to be her understudy. Rainbow simply couldn't refuse an offer from Spitfire.

"Fine, if Spitfire wanted me to be Captain, I'll do it for her." Rainbow said after a moment of silence.

Soarin saluted her,
"Thank you, Captain Rainbow Dash."