• Published 3rd Jun 2014
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Piercing the Heavens - Calm Wind



Sequel to Flying Sky-High. A lot has happened, but now Rainbow Dash finally has a chance to fulfill her dream and become a Wonderbolt. As the process begins, will her relationship with Soarin be a blessing? Or will it be a curse?

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Chapter 26: Preparing for the Gauntlet

(NOTE: FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT SEEN MY BLOG POST: DUE TO UNDERESTIMATING HOW LONG CHAPTER 26 WOULD BE IF I WENT THROUGH WITH THE ORIGINAL PLAN, THE FINALE OF PART 1 WILL BE CHAPTER 27. I DIDN'T WANT TO DROP 40k WORDS ON YOU GUYS SO I BROKE THIS CHUNK OFF TO GIVE YOU MORE CONTENT WHILE I WRITE IT. ENJOY!)


MLP: FiM
Piercing the Heavens
By: Calm Wind

Chapter 26:


“EVERYPONY UP! EVERYPONY GET THE HELL UP!” Soarin shouted from the doors of the barracks as he and Silver Lining made their way down the aisle, banging their hooves against every bunk frame as they moved down the aisle.

“No snoozing! On your hooves! NOW!” Soarin yelled again as the cadets began to shift out of bed. Silver Lining growled when he saw the slow pace of everything.

“I want every one of you sorry sacks of shit out of here and in the mess hall in ten minutes!” Silver yelled as he and Soarin turned and headed back down the aisle. “So help me Celestia, if you’re the last son of a bitch out the door, I will duct tape your eyeballs the back of your head so you can WATCH me kick your ass!” he threatened.

The cadets all froze for about a second before they started moving at about three times the pace. Soarin grinned and glanced at Silver as they walked.

“How do you come UP with that stuff on the fly?” Soarin chuckled.

“Experience, son,” Silver smirked as they got to the entrance and turned around. Some cadets were already heading out the door.


Dash trotted quickly out of the bathroom and headed for the doors. She still had a good four minutes, no eyeball duct tape ass kicking for her. She looked to her right as she made her way down the aisle.

She passed right by Arctic Blast’s new bed. She had moved immediately after the scene last night. Arctic was still sitting on the bottom bunk. As Dash walked by, Arctic narrowed her eyes into the sharpest glare her face could muster and locked onto Dash. Dash met the glare head on, not flinching or hesitating in Arctic’s lack of intimidation.

Interesting.

To be honest, Dash wasn’t expecting Arctic to be angry. She half expected to wake up the next morning and see Arctic crying in the corner.

Dash shrugged it off. It didn’t matter. Arctic was beaten. Dash had won. If things were different, Dash would be worried about her spilling the beans to everypony. The Wonderbolts all knew about it already, so they could easily say whatever, but even the cadets wouldn’t hear her out. She had been so damn annoying. None would believe a word she said.

So she was angry. Big whoop, she could kiss Dash’s ass. Arctic deserved no sympathy and got every bit of what was coming to her.

“Hmm!” Dash lightly grunted as she made a brief stop by her bunk. She had literally rolled out of bed and run to the bathroom, so she didn’t have much of a chance to stretch out. She bent down and reached her arms out first, and then stretched out and shook both legs. They were a little sore, but nothing that would slow her down. She reached her neck from side to side. Nothing happened on the left. A loud KRICK sounded out on the right. “Oo, yow!” Dash blinked and chucked as she shook her head out.

Last but not least, the wings. The wing joints right where her shoulder muscles met the wings were pretty tight, but once she got them moving she was sure they would be fine. She fully extended her wings. The right wing was fine. But when she moved the other, she flinched and cringed as the muscles in her right wing cramped up. She quickly stretched and flexed her right wing multiple times until the spasm died down.

That wasn’t good.

She carefully moved her right wing around slowly. Nothing there, but she feared making sudden movements. A brief wave of panic rushed over her. What perfect timing to have a wing problem.

The sense of dread faded quickly though. It was just a small cramp. It’s not like she strained a muscle or dislocated anything. She’d just have to make sure she was well hydrated before the tests started.

They did have an hour between breakfast and the testing for preparation… Dash decided she could make use of that time. The athletic trainers were on duty for the cadets if they required assistance. It would probably be a good idea for her to get her wing checked out, just to be on the safe side if nothing else.

Either way, the number of cadets present in the barracks was dwindling fast. Taking Soarin’s advice of not pissing off Silver, she quickly moved into the aisle and towards the exit.

Dash made it to the doors, taking a long, but subtle glance at Soarin as she passed. Food time, wing check time, then impressing her stallion and the others time. It was going to be one hell of a day.


Arctic snarled quietly as she watched Dash walk all the way down the aisle and out the door.

That bitch. That ugly, over-muscled, butch stallion stealer!

Arctic wasn’t sad. In fact she was nowhere near. Last night she cried a little, but the tears slowly dried up and all she could feel was pure, untamed rage.

Soarin was supposed to be hers. She had it all worked out and Rainbow Dash ruined it! She ruined EVERYTHING! She must be leading him on. There was no way a stallion like him would choose a mare like Dash over her.

Today would be the day. Today she would out-fly Dash in EVERYTHING! She would show Soarin who was the better mare. He would come to his senses and be hers!

Rainbow Dash was going down. She would see to it personally!


Soarin carried his tray towards the door to the mess hall side room. He smiled as he looked over his food.

Fewer cadets meant the chef’s could prepare actual food. Soarin had never been happier to see a fresh bowl of plain oatmeal, and some scrambled eggs that had actually been left in the pan for more than ten seconds. Today was going to be a stressful day, but he was at least glad he could get a decent meal in.

He casually trotted to the side room door and opened it.

“FIRE!” Blaze’s voice met his ears from inside. All Soarin saw was a pair of bands stretched taught on both sides of the door frame, leading inside. He instinctively ducked. A paper plate covered with whipped cream went searing over his head.

A loud PAFF signaled that it hit something behind Soarin. Soarin looked over his shoulder and saw Silver Lining, standing completely still with a plate full of whipped cream stuck to his face. Soarin looked into the room to see Blaze and High Winds both looking towards the door with looks on their faces that screamed “Oh shit…”

Soarin quickly stepped aside as the plate slowly peeled off Silver’s face to reveal a whipped cream covered glare and scowl.

“Aheheh…” Blaze put her hooves behind her back and smiled.

“She did it,” Winds pointed at Blaze, sat down, faked a yawn, set her face on the table, and pretended to be asleep.

“WHAT?!?!” Blaze turned sharply as Winds began fake snoring. “Winds! You damn traitorous bitch!” she reached down and shook Winds, but she continued to feign sleep.

Silver whipped his face back and forth until most of the cream fell from his face. He just grumbled as he passed behind Soarin and sat by himself at the unoccupied table.

Wave Chill was sitting at the table with Blaze and High Winds, minding his own business and staying out of their antics.

“That’s my ass in a vice for weeks…” Blaze sighed as she sat back down. High Winds released a very loud fake snore beside her. “YOURS TOO, BACKSTABBING BITCH!!!!” she yelled at Winds, who only snorted in reply.

Deciding not to take any chances, Soarin joined Silver Lining. Silver didn’t look like he was in the mood for conversation. That was fine by Soarin. He wanted to enjoy his first semi-decent meal in three days.

“Hey Wave!” Blaze yelled even though Wave was directly across from her. He set his food down and sighed.

“What?” he asked unenthusiastically. Blaze sneered.

“So have you and Spitster had make up sex yet?” she couldn’t stop her sneer from growing. Wave said nothing. He merely stared at Blaze from across the table with his ears and brow as flat as possible. He went back to eating. “It was that good, huh?” Blaze chuckled as she leaned back.

“Dude, just do her already…” Said Winds as she sat up and yawned.

“Good morning Windy,” Blaze said while rolling her eyes.

“There will be no doing of your half-sister…BLAZE,” Wave grumbled back with a surprisingly harsh tone.

“C’mon… if there’s anything she needs it’s a good screw. Maybe it’d loosen her up…” she slammed her hooves down on the table and leaned as far in towards Wave as she could. “IF YA KNOW WHAT I MEAN…” she bounced her eyebrows up and down. “Back me up Windy, you know I’m right!” Blaze sat confidently, but received no response. She blinked and turned to High Winds. She was actually was asleep on the table this time. Blaze sighed, reached a hoof down low beneath the table and leaned towards High Winds. By her body movements it suggested Blaze was reaching towards Winds beneath the table. Winds suddenly sprang up.

“WOOO!!!!” she bounced in her seat, blinked several times, and glanced back and forth. “What I miss?” she asked.

“Blazey being the usual bitch!” Fleetfoot’s voice suddenly sounded from beside Blaze. Soarin glanced over and saw Fleetfoot slap a tray down beside Blaze before using her head as an armrest. He was glad he chose this table, Wave was screwed.

“Fleet… you’ve got ten seconds to get your damn shitty hooves offa me before I—”

“Before ya what?” Fleetfoot cut off Blaze while sitting her plot down on the table, making goofy expressions into Blaze’s face, and tapping her hooves against Blaze’s head. Blaze’s face turned red and she grinded her teeth together. “Lemme hear the lion cub roar!” Fleet taunted. High Winds sighed as she leaned her face against her hoof.

“Here we go again…” she said nonchalantly as she yawned.

“I’ll wreck you Fleet! I swear I will!” Blaze barked. Fleetfoot lifted an eyebrow.

“I don’t typically swing that way, but if you really want to, I don’t think you’ll be on top,” Fleetfoot giggled as Blaze looked as if smoke would fly out of her ears any second.

THAT’S IT!” Blaze leapt up and tackled Fleetfoot onto the table.

“Hasn’t Blaze… learned by now?” Soarin sighed while shaking his head and helping himself to his oatmeal. He glanced over to see Fleetfoot on top of Blaze on the tabletop. Blaze was flat on her stomach with Fleetfoot sitting on her back. Fleetfoot began noogying Blaze’s mane while Blaze yelled multiple obscenities, some of which Soarin was sure she made up. Wave had his head on the table face down with his hooves pressed firmly against the back of his head as the mares fought in front of him. Silver Lining grunted.

“I’ve given up on her ‘learning’ just about anything,” he grumbled as he ate his pancakes.

The door opened and Spitfire stepped through. She quickly tipped her head to the right as a plastic cup flew over her left shoulder and bounced off the wall. She flattened her brow when she watched Blaze and Fleetfoot roll off the table and began grappling again. Instead of trying to stop it, Spitfire just let it happen. Blaze was way too stubborn. No matter what Spitfire said, Blaze would never learn that Fleetfoot was way out of her league physically. Spitfire could see it as she sat down beside Silver Lining… Fleetfoot’s devilish grin. She was letting Blaze fight longer this time. Fleetfoot could easily pin her down at any point, but she was purposely letting Blaze think she had a chance.

She just let it be and turned to her breakfast.

“So Soarin,” Spitfire began as Blaze and Fleetfoot fell over onto the floor behind her. “Have you talked to Rivet yet?” she asked as Fleetfoot stood up and cheered, but Blaze leapt up and clamped onto her back.

“Yeah, I spoke to him before I came here,” Soarin nodded as Fleetfoot turned and slammed Blaze against the opposite wall. “I’m meeting him right after breakfast to make sure all the courses are up and ready to go,” he picked up his water cup as Blaze and Fleetfoot ran into their table. Silver’s cup tipped and spilled a little before he quickly set it upright.

“You’re sure you want to use course eight?” Spitfire suddenly brought up. Soarin looked up from his food towards her as Blaze and Fleetfoot bounced off of Silver and fell to the floor beside their table. “Do you think any of them will actually finish it?” Spitfire added.

“If they want to be Wonderbolts we gotta make sure they can take a few bruises,” Soarin shrugged.

“Bruises or concussions?” Spitfire flattened her ears and eyed him sternly. She reached her hoof up as Fleetfoot pushed Blaze towards her. She pressed her hoof against Blaze’s back, and pushed them away from her.

“Like you’ve never taken big hits?” Soarin turned his head to the side to focus on eye on her and cock his eyebrow. “If the past year is any indication, I think toughness is a key factor.”

“Fair enough…” Spitfire sighed as she went back to her food. Fleetfoot suddenly put Blaze’s head to the table.

“Surrender?” Fleetfoot asked while holding Blaze down and bouncing her eyebrows.

“How about you fucking blow me!” Blaze spat back with her right cheek pressed to the tabletop. Fleetfoot snickered, puckered her lips, and started blowing air onto the exposed side of Blaze’s face. Blaze growled in response. Fleetfoot let up just enough to allow Blaze to push off the table and the two began grappling towards the door.

“Just don’t kill anypony alright?” Spitfire said to Soarin, completely ignoring the fighting mares. Soarin nodded.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let that happen,” Soarin assured her as he finished his food and drank the last of his water. He glanced over to the mare scuffle and saw the door open. Fire Streak walked in and immediately held his tray up to avoid spilling anything as Fleetfoot and Blaze ran into him.

Soarin rolled his eyes and gathered up everything onto his tray before standing up.

“I’ll get down there and run checks on everything as they set up,” he directed at Spitfire. She simply nodded with her mouth full of food. Soarin walked around the table, but stopped and blinked at the scene before him.

Misty Fly had pushed past Fire, handed her tray to him, and somehow managed to pry both Blaze and Fleetfoot apart. She had them both pinned to the floor on their backs with an arm against their chests. She was glaring at both of them. Fleetfoot was just smiling and laughing, Blaze was… trying to convince Misty it wasn’t her fault.

Blaze… talking to Misty.

Talking to Misty.

Blaze, for real?

“Hey! I didn’t do shit! She started it! I only fought back!” Blaze kept yelling as Misty glared at her. Fleetfoot couldn’t stop laughing.

“Blaze…” Fire sighed and she turned her head sharply to him. Since he was holding his tray in one hoof and balancing Misty’s tray on his back with his wings, he made a head motion towards Misty and flopped his ears up and down a few times. Blaze stared in confusion.

“What the hell is that supposed to… oh…” realization hit. “Dammit…” Blaze sighed.

Fleetfoot giggled, crossing her legs and putting her front hooves up behind her head as if reclining while underneath Misty’s weight.

“Hard to talk tough when you literally can’t be heard, eh?” Fleetfoot taunted.

Soarin walked up and carefully stepped around them.

“Excuse me,” he said casually as Fire let him by.

“Hey! Princess FakeMcHorn!” Fleetfoot called after him, but Soarin didn’t grace her with a response.

He didn’t have time to get caught in any shenanigans. Spitfire’s concern was well placed. He had to make sure he had everything set and a plan to prevent any serious injury. He wanted to see who was prepared to take a few hits for victory, but he wanted to prevent any trips to the hospital.


Dash poked her head into the training room after having hovered outside the door for a good minute or so. She was actually a little nervous about walking right in. This was the professional Wonderbolt athletic training staff! She didn’t want to just barge in and seem pushy, they were the best of the best, and they worked for… and with the best of the best. She flinched slightly as a small chime on the inside of the door made soft clanging tones.

“Hello…?” she said nervously as she looked in.

“Well, don’t just stand in the doorway…” a voice came from the other side. Dash yelped as the door opened and she almost fell in. “What do you need?”

“Uh…” Dash looked up into the eyes of a large, yellow earth pony stallion with a short black mane wearing a Wonderbolt officer uniform.

An earth pony in a Wonderbolt uniform? Dash glanced past him and saw more of the training staff. They were a mix of the three races. Apparently the Wonderbolts had a lot more earth ponies and unicorns employed then Dash ever knew about. She had seen a couple of the other trainers before when she last visited. In fact, she recognized the trainer across the room as the one who helped pop her wing back in after that battle against Nightshade.

The stallion cleared his throat, making Dash jump.

“Oh! Uh… sorry, I’m having a wing problem…” she quickly said with a grin while holding out her left wing. The stallion nodded and looked over his shoulder.

“Go over to the first table on the right. He pointed before heading into an office that was built into the wall opposite of the entrance. Dash nodded long after the pony had moved away. She slowly trotted into the training room.

The training room was a long room that was about fifteen feet wide from front to back. There was a wide aisle in the center and lining the walls every three feet or so were blue, padded trainer tables. There was all sorts of equipment placed upon single shelves that extended the length of the room on both sides. Dash had no idea what any of them were used for, but some of the ponies present were getting pre-workout treatment and it was clear these trainers knew what they were doing. There were also a dozen large, metal tubs closer to the entrance. They looked like one could sit or stand in them. Upon close inspection as she passed, Dash noticed one was filled with water and had a thermometer in it that was reading very hot.

“Excuse me,” one of the cadets walked past Dash with wobbly steps, he lifted up and slowly let himself down into the tub before relaxing.

A therapeutic hot tub of sorts? It had to be, Dash had heard of taking hot baths before a period of strenuous work, and taking an ice bath right after. The mere thought made her shiver. A super cold bath? That sounded terrible!

Dash made it to the first table on the right side and stood next to it. She looked up as a brown unicorn mare with a slightly darker brown mane, tied up in a ponytail, also wearing the officer uniform, trotted up to Dash and patted her hoof on the padded table. She had a silver earring in each ear, and the hoof she had up on the table had a gold marriage band around it.

“Hop on up, sweetie,” she said with a smile. Dash paused for a moment, blinked, and then quickly did as she was told. She sat down on the edge of the table, with her back hooves dangling off the end. “You’re a new face. What can I help you with?” The mare asked with an even mix of concern and professionalism.

“Um…” Dash suddenly worried she was being stupid and there was really nothing wrong. Upon looking around there were a few cadets that were dealing with what looked like much more serious problems. She didn’t want the Wonderbolt trainers… the BEST trainers to waste time on her. But she was already too deep, so she went for it. “Well, this morning my left wing cramped up on me,” she said nervously while slowly extending her wing.

“A wing cramp? That’s an easy one. Lay flat and I’ll take a look, okay?” the mare tapped the bed again while moving to Dash’s left. Dash quietly sighed in relief. They were there to help them with anything, just as Spitfire said. Plus, this mare seemed very friendly. She couldn’t worry about wasting their time. Dash slid back on the table and gently laid her body down while folding her arms in front of her to rest her chin on. “Extend your wing and let it relax at your side,” the mare ordered while standing back.

Dash carefully unfolded the wing and let it drop off the side of the table. The mare approached Dash and looked her over.

“Hmm…” the mare pondered out loud as she reached up and began applying light pressure around Dash’s shoulder muscles near the wing joints. Dash prayed to Celestia, Luna, and… even Discord that the mare didn’t accidentally hit her extra sensitive spot beneath her wing joints… the one that Soarin liked to ‘torture’ her with. The mare pressed around carefully until Dash felt something sting slightly.

“Ooo!” Dash bounced slightly on the bed.

“Found it,” the mare said casually. “Looks like you’ve got quite a big knot right here,” the mare lightly tapped her hoof on the tender spot.

“Is it bad?” Dash asked while holding her breath. The mare chuckled.

“Oh no, it’s nothing bad at all. I can easily work this out for you,” the mare suddenly left the table and went over to a metallic box of some sort with a lid and handle on it. The mare pulled open the lid while grabbing a large towel off a nearby drying rack. Steam rose up from the container as soon as she opened it. She put the towel down on the table beside the bin and used her magic to pull a ribbed pad out of the container. She let it hang above the container for a moment, letting water drip off of it before placing the pad on the towel, and wrapping it until there were two layers of towel completely around it. She picked the wrapped pad up in her magic and walked back over to Dash.

“To be honest, it’s refreshing to see one of you with a less than cringe worthy problem,” she said as she set the pad on the vacant trainer table beside Dash. As soon as she said it, the door flew open and slammed against the wall beside it. Thunderlane stumbled into the training room and collapsed on the floor.

“Can somepony please help me? I think my body is broken…” he whined as he struggled to stand. His body still had bandages here and there, and his black fur was probably still hiding lots of bruises. The mare helping Dash sighed.

“Him again?” she shook her head as the yellow stallion trainer emerged from the office and helped Thunderlane up before dragging him over to a table a few spots down from Dash. “He’s got a bruised everything, I swear,” the mare chuckled before lightly placing a hoof on Dash’s back. “Okay, I’m going to get a little rough on the knot in your shoulder to make the muscles relax and then you’re going to put this heat pad on it to increase blood flow to the area and loosen up your shoulder,” the mare explained while pointing to the pad on the other table. “This might hurt a little. Ready?” the mare asked. Dash gulped.

“Yes,” she said reluctantly.

“Okay, try to remain relaxed, it will be a lot less painful if the muscle doesn’t bunch up while I’m working it out,” the mare said as she propped her front hooves up on the table. Dash tried her best to relax, but remembering the last time she was at the mercy of a trainer… they used a trick on her and it was a sudden sharp pain. It fixed her wing, but damn it hurt.

Only this time there was no fake countdown… or any countdown for that matter. The mare suddenly placed her elbow onto the knot between Dash’s shoulder and wing and pressed down hard on it.

“Whoa!!” Dash flinched and tensed up slightly.

“Stay relaxed,” the mare said calmly. Dash forced her body to relax and inhaled sharply as the mare continued to work the point of her elbow roughly into the balled up muscle.

Then suddenly, the mare began to hum. Dash blinked and glanced slightly towards her. The mare’s magic was glowing faintly around her horn. It slowly extended to Dash’s back and Dash’s eyes widened as she felt a slight tingling sensation around her shoulder muscle.

After a few seconds, the pain began to lessen and lessen until Dash could barely feel the pressure at all.

“There we go, now it’s cooperating,” the mare said as she stopped humming and made a few more circles into Dash’s back before pulling away. “Here you go,” the mare hovered the heat pad over towards Dash. She grabbed an extra little pad for resting the head on and handed it to Dash. “This should be more comfortable on your arms,” she said while Dash let her slide it into place. The mare hovered the heat pad down onto the spot that was just knotted up.

Dash immediately felt the warmth of the pad through the double layered towel. It was warm, but not searing hot. It had to be pretty heated though if it felt this warm through two layers of thick towel. The mare pressed it gently against Dash’s back.

“Keep this on for ten minutes and call me over so we can stretch your wing out,” she smiled at Dash while patting the table with her hoof. Dash looked up and saw the wall clock. She took note of how long ten minutes would be, then looked back down at the trainer and nodded.

“Thanks,” Dash smiled back.

“Don’t mention it,” the trainer replied. “By the way, my name is Siren Bliss. I’m the head of athletic training here,” she introduced herself and held out her hoof. Dash’s eyes widened slightly as she quickly shook hooves. The head of the Wonderbolt trainers just helped her? That was… unexpected and awesome! Although... Her cutie mark was a purple heart with a music note over it.

“Nice to meet you,” Dash replied, while still staring at the cutie mark. She meant to tell Bliss her name, but her brain was too busy figuring out the connection of microphones to medical practice. Bliss noticed Dash’s confusion and followed Dash’s eyes to her flank. Dash quickly realized she was seen. “Ah, sorry, it’s just… not the cutie mark I expected on an athletic trainer,” Dash chuckled. Bliss smiled.

“I get that a lot. This may be my profession, but singing is my hobby,” she smiled warmly.

Speaking of singing, what exactly happened when Bliss started humming? It was as if her magic soothed the area around Dash’s cramped muscles. Dash was about to ask, but the door chimes jingled again and caught Bliss’ attention.

“Ah, saw that coming…” Bliss smiled. Matteo was standing just inside the door, looking around the room. Bliss turned around and looked deeper into the training room. “Can I get one of you big, strong earth stallions to push these two tables together for me?” she yelled in the direction of three earth stallions and pointed to the two empty tables to the right of Dash. One of the stallions quickly closed a cabinet he was searching through and trotted over to the second and third trainer tables on the right side. He pushed them together as Bliss moved over to Matteo. “Same thing honey?” she asked as she approached him.

“Yes,” Matteo said simply with a nod.

“Double table’s already set for you, second on the right next to the rainbow mare,” she made a head motion towards the table beside Dash as she walked around him and used her magic to open a cabinet near the door.

Matteo looked up and instantly spotted Dash. She smiled and waved at him, receiving a nod in return as Matteo walked over and lifted his hulking body up onto the double trainer table. Even with two tables together he almost didn’t fit. He was all muscles now, but Dash could only imagine how much space he took up back when he was ‘Fatty Matty.’ Matteo glanced at the wrapped head pad on Dash’s back between her wings.

“Wing issues?” he asked as Bliss walked around holding several rolls of blue athletic wrappings and white athletic tape in her magic. Dash nodded.

“Wing cramped up this morning,” Dash said with a slight sigh of frustration. She looked over curiously as Bliss dropped the wrappings and tape on the wall shelf above the trainer tables, and then used her magic to pull over a large wooden box.

“How are the wings feeling this morning?” she asked Matteo as she stepped up on the box so she could actually see over him. Matteo tipped his head back and forth as he made circular motions with his folded wings.

“A little stiff, but the wrappings are still doing a better job than my wing braces. It’s usually much worse,” Matteo explained.

“Good! Then we’ll keep doing it. Up,” Bliss tapped his left wing. Matteo unfolded his massive wing and it extended so far over that it cast a shadow over Dash. Dash continued to watch as Bliss used her magic to grab the roll of athletic wrapping first. The wrapping was a soft, stretchy material that didn’t stick, but could be wrapped around joints in certain patterns. Its main purpose was to surround the area being wrapped before it was covered with the tough, sturdy athletic tape. It would be extra painful to peel tape right off the fur… or in Matteo’s case, the feathers.

Bliss focused the wrapping around the base of Matteo’s wing joint before moving up his wing a few times and stopping just before where his wing feathers began. She placed her hoof down on the wrapping and tore it off from the roll before she brought the tape up and repeated the entire process with the tape, covering the wrapping. She tore off the tape at the end and patted the wrap with her hoof.

“Is that good? Too tight? Too loose?” Bliss asked. Matteo glanced at his left wing. He folded it, extended it, gave it a gentle flap, and tried moving it about a little. He nodded to Bliss.

“Perfect,” he said simply as he refolded his wing.

“Alright then,” Bliss smiled, hopped down, and dragged the box around to the other side. Dash tipped her head as she pondered what the wrappings were for. She glanced up at the clock. Still six-ish minutes to go with the heat pad. She had nothing better to do, so why not?

“Say big fella,” Dash caught Matteo’s attention as Bliss hopped up on the other side of him. “You look like you have much WORSE wing problems, unless this is for something else…” she said while shifting the way her head rested on the pillow pad. Matteo sighed.

“You’d be right,” he began as Bliss tapped his right wing and he opened it up for her. “My wings have never agreed with me much.”

“How so?” Dash asked, trying to pass the time, but she was also genuinely curious.

“I’m… abnormally large for a Griffon…” Matteo paused as he heard snickering. He turned and looked at Bliss. She had paused in wrapping up his wing.

“Sorry,” she giggled. “Just… really? You don’t say?” she forced herself to stop laughing, took a deep breath, and went back to wrapping Matteo’s wing. Matteo looked back to Dash to see her holding in a chuckle herself. He rolled his eyes and continued.

“Because of my size and weight, a lot more stress is put on my wing joints and tendons. The bases of my wings tend to be incredibly stiff the next morning. Having them taped up like this…” he lifted his left wing to show the taping. “…helps stabilize my joints and prevents the muscles from overextending each time I flap my wings.”

“Wow… that sucks,” said Dash as she thought about how much of a pain that had to be, in more ways than one. “So wait… are you hurting from yesterday because the pie battle was unexpected?” she referred to the surprise fake mess hall from yesterday. Matteo shook his head.

“I have wing braces I wear normally. They are black so I doubt you could see them on my wings. They help a little, but not as well as taping. Again, it’s not that I can’t fly without it… it just makes the next morning less painful.”

“Well, if today is as rough as Soarin says it’s going to be, I’m sure the wrap will help,” Dash nodded.

“No doubt,” Matteo nodded back in agreement. “It’s about time things got more physical too. Yesterday was… rough for me,” he said with a dissatisfied grunt. Dash picked up on it.

“I was wondering actually…” she began with a snicker. “How did you do in the fake murder myst—”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he said quickly and flatly.

“That good, huh?” Dash smirked.

“Done,” Bliss chimed in from his right side. “How is it?” She asked as Matteo repeated the same motions from before.

“Perfect again. Thank you.” Matteo gave her a nod of approval. Bliss smiled and pointed towards the entrance.

“Just make sure you sign the exit record before you leave,” she said as she turned to put away the tape and wrappings. Dash watched Matteo as he slid off the table and moved his wings a few more times.

“How heavy are you anyway?” Dash suddenly asked. Matteo stopped and turned to her. The look in his eyes was a mix of frustration and hesitation. “What?” Dash added with a touch of amusement.

“As long as you promise not to call me Fatty Matty…” he requested while averting his eyes slightly. Dash chuckled and shook her head.

“I know muscle weighs more than fat you big oaf. I gained like... ten pounds during my training and with the way I ate and the way I look now I know it wasn’t fat. Plus… you’re a giant, you’ve gotta be heavy,” Dash assured him with her knowledge of body composition. She felt like such a nerd throwing all this stuff around that Soarin taught her, but if she was gonna be an egghead about anything, it would be about athleticism.

“Hmph…” Matteo grunted and looked away. “I weigh three hundred seventy-five pounds.”

“HOLY SH—” Dash shut her mouth as Matteo glared at her. She swallowed and smiled. “Aha… I mean… wow, that’s a lot… I can see why you have wing issues then… wow, I can’t imagine carrying that much weight around every time I fly.”

“It’s a burden, but also an advantage at times…” Matteo trailed off. Dash looked up at the clock.

“Oh… Bliss! All done over here!” Dash called out. It was funny. Dash walked into the training room extremely nervous about annoying the professional trainers. Now she was calling to them from across the room. Bliss being so friendly really helped her loosen up, not to mention Bliss helped her shoulder muscle loosen up physically as well.

“Be right there!” Bliss called as she kept shuffling through the cabinet of medical supplies.

“I’m going to head down to the auxiliary gym, good luck today Rainbow Dash. May we both meet tomorrow as Wonderbolts,” Matteo gave her a nod and made his way over to sign the clipboard by the exit.

Dash looked up and saw Bliss approaching. She was carrying what looked like a small bottle that seemed to be filled with pills by the noise it made as she moved it in her magic. She pointed at Dash as she passed.

“Go ahead and take that off, I have to—”

“OW! Ah!” Thunderlane yelped from a few tables down on the left side. Bliss paused and glanced in Thunderlane’s direction briefly.

“I have to go reassure him he isn’t dying first,” she joked while rolling her eyes and continuing to Thunderlane. Dash carefully removed the pad and tossed it over to the double trainer table as she listened in.

“Something has to be wrong! I can barely move without my body screaming at me!” Thunderlane complained to a pegasus mare trainer. Bliss tapped the trainer on the shoulder. The trainer looked at her and shrugged.

“I’ll handle this,” she winked. The pegasus mare lifted off and went to check on other cadets.

“Sweetie… you walked here, right?” she asked while turning to Thunderlane.

“Uh… yes…” Thunderlane answered.

“No limping?”

“None.”

“Can you move your wings freely?”

“Yes.”

“Does any of the pain restrict movement?”

“No…”

“Taadaa! There is absolutely nothing wrong with you!” Bliss did a pirouette and bowed to him.

“What? But I swear everything hurts!” Thunderlane scrunched his face in frustration. Bliss sighed.

“Look… Thunderlane, was it? You took a beating by Surprise’s S.O.U.P. course, and we checked you out yesterday. There’s nothing wrong with your body, you are just a little banged and bruised,” she held up the small bottle in her magic. “If it hurts that much, take two of these,” she opened the bottle and poured out two clear blue pills. “These are anti-inflammatories. It will help reduce any swelling or pain around the bruises.”

“Painkillers?” Thunderlane gave her an uncomfortable look. Bliss giggled and rolled her eyes.

“No, those are illegal, silly. These reduce swelling. They don’t cut off your nerves. Now take these with water and suck it up a little, okay?” she gave him a friendly, but stern look.

“O-okay…” Thunderlane took the pills from her, hopped off the table, and headed to a water cooler they had in the opposite corner of the entrance.

Bliss turned around and headed back over to Dash, who was snickering as she watched Thunderlane.

“Some ponies just don’t have a pain threshold…” Bliss said with a shrug as she came around the table to Dash’s left wing.

“Yeah, Thunderlane has always been a bit of a whiner,” Dash chuckled.

“Relax the wing please,” Bliss ordered and Dash let her wring flop down. “You know him?” Bliss asked as she began rotating Dash’s wing.

“Yeah, we’re both from Ponyville,” Dash answered as Bliss worked her wing. Bliss pulled it into a full extension, supported it on her shoulder and leaned up to give the shoulder to wing muscle a good stretch.

“He must be good if he made it to today though,” Bliss mentioned. Dash nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, despite the whining, he’s a diehard. He complains about pain, but he never stops trying. I think the Wonderbolts are liking that. He’s freaking out about having made it this far,” Dash added with a chuckle.

“No doubt,” Bliss smiled as she brought Dash’s wing down, got on the other side of it, and repeated the stretch going the other direction. “So… Ponyville…” she suddenly began with a curious tone in her voice. Dash waited for her to continue, curious because she hadn’t met many ponies from other cities who knew much about her tiny hometown. Then the hammer dropped. “Judging by your mane and tail… Are you… Rainbow Dash? Soarin’s ladyfriend?”

Dash’s eyes widened and she instantly stiffened, causing her wing to close and push Bliss forward. Bliss caught herself before face planting and quickly turned around with a smirk on her face.

“That must be a ‘yes’!” she said with a giddy smile.

“SHHHH!!!!” Dash shushed her while looking around. She didn’t think anypony heard it. She hoped they didn’t.

“What?” she asked while pouting. Dash sighed.

“I don’t want any of the cadets to know!” she whispered loudly. “I don’t want them to think I’m getting any special treatment!”

“Are you?” Bliss looked at her smugly. Dash was ready to shush her again, but she stopped. She hadn’t gotten any special treatment… that was true.

“Um… no.”

“Then what’s the problem?” Bliss smiled brightly again while lightly trotting in place. Dash held her hooves out and made small downward motions, hoping to signal Bliss to quiet down.

“Bliss! I just don’t want anypony to think I am… so please?” Dash bit her lower lip and kept glancing about.

“Oh, fine,” she rolled her eyes but giggled. “It’s just so nice to finally meet you. Commander Soarin never stops talking about you,” she said with a dreamy smile. “Love is so precious…”

“Yeah, I’ve heard he does that,” Dash chuckled as Bliss got all mushy and dreamy on her.

“Oh, let’s finish that stretch,” Bliss laughed sheepishly as she got beneath Dash’s wing again to stretch it some more. “Let me tell you something Dashie,” Bliss spoke up as she started pushing Dash’s wing. “That’s quite a stallion you’ve attracted. Not just physically, but in every part that matters too,” she pulled back and shook out Dash’s wing lightly before letting her refold it. “It’s hard to find a good stallion, but when you do… never let go of him. Trust me,” she winked while tapping her hoof on the table that had the marriage band around it.

Dash’s eyes widened briefly at Bliss’ gesture, thinking Bliss had pushed the subject a tad forward, but she calmed down quickly. Bliss was talking about the amazing opportunity she had with Soarin. While Bliss didn’t know all the details of their relationship, it was merely a kind gesture to show that she also knew what it was like to find a stallion that fully reflects what made her happy.

“That should do it!” Bliss smiled and stepped back.

“Thanks…” Dash stood up from the table and lightly flapped her wing a few times. It felt almost as good as new. “Awesome! And…” Dash blushed slightly as she thought over Bliss’ words. “Yeah, he is kinda totally awesome,” she chuckled as she hopped down. “Just keep that down for me okay?”

“The lips are sealed!” Bliss promised while making a locking motion over her mouth. “Good luck! Oh, and make sure you sign your name and write why you came in on the clipboard by the door,” she pointed. Dash nodded.

“Will do,” she looked at her wing and gave it to hard test flaps. “And thanks again!” she waved as she made her way over to the sign out sheet.

Now all she had to was grab her uniform and head for the auxiliary gym.


To be honest, Dash was feeling very focused. She was worried about the little new romantic experience last night distracting her from the tests. However, it was just the opposite.

She smiled to herself as she walked through the halls and back towards the barracks to grab her uniform. She was glad she and Soarin got heavily romantic last night. She had been grinding her teeth to spend time with him since she arrived. Soarin’s incredibly tender and caring gesture to her last night satisfied the urge and more. Now she just wanted to kick some ass.

Dash felt super charged. This was a defining moment of her life. Also, the more she saw the kinds of great ponies and great facilities the Wonderbolts had access to, the more she felt excited for potentially getting a chance to make full time use of them. That, and all the amazing ponies she’d be able to just spend time with.

Time to kick plot and take names.


“No… no, that’s too straight, we need to have them more staggered,” Soarin pointed his arms in different directions as Fire Streak and Wave Chill glanced up at him. “If the pendulums are too straight, it will be easy for them to time a linear shot through them. This course is all about uneven paths and changes in speed,” Soarin explained.

“Any farther and I doubt any of them could make the turn, commander…” Fire scratched his head as he flew up to Soarin and looked down to get Soarin’s view.

“Again, Fire, it’s not if they can make the turn, it’s how they handle not being able to make a clean turn,” Soarin explained to him. Fire gave him a look mixed with confusion and disbelief.

“This is why I never run your courses, Commander, you’re going to kill one of the cadets with a course like this,” he warned. Soarin shook his head.

“We need Wonderbolts that are willing to take hits. Taking it easy on them is not an option,” Soarin clarified.

“Right here?” Wave called from below after dragging a large metal pole further away.

“That’s perfect!” Soarin pointed at him and winked. Wave backed away from it and blinked.

“Commander, this turn is suicide!” Wave reached his hooves towards the contraption.

“Wave, not you too…” Soarin sighed and shook his head.

The turn in question was right after the exit of a very cramped tunnel. There was a metal pendulum swinging in front of the tunnel exit, barely within sight as one traveled through the tunnel. A large, padded wall was erected about seven feet from the end of the tunnel. One had to react to the swinging pendulum while shooting out of the tunnel, and then turn before running face first into the wall. Then they had to fly along the length of the wall and make a sharp turn around the corner, before another pendulum, possibly swinging at them depending on one’s luck, appeared as an obstacle.

“Okay, both of you watch,” Soarin grunted as he flew down into the middle of the course where the tunnel started. Soarin pushed his goggles down and cracked his neck while focusing on the tunnel.

With a loud grunt he pumped his wings hard and pushed himself into the tunnel. He picked up speed as he winded around the inside and fired out the other end past the currently still pendulum. Right before he smacked against the wall, Soarin thrust his wings out and threw his arms and legs to the right to turn his body as he braked, he slammed his hooves against the wall and kicked off, speeding around the corner and dipping beneath the other, currently non-swinging pendulum. He dove down so as not to traverse any more of the course before he pitched around and flew back up to Wave and Fire.

“See? It’s doable,” he nodded while crossing his arms.

“Yeah… for YOU, sir…” Wave scrunched his face while looking back at the deathtrap of a course.

“Look, I have it all figured out,” Soarin sighed while shaking his head. “Just trust me, okay?” Soarin shrugged as he started floating away from them. “Now get the rest of those pendulums up… and please put them where I told you the first time.”

He turned and glided a little ways away. He stopped beside the little yellow stallion, who was holding the blueprint and looking it over. Soarin pulled up beside him and glanced at the blueprint.

Soarin scrunched his brow and looked carefully at the blueprint before glancing up at sets of padded walls all fitted with spring hinges that were being moved into place on a course further over. They were special walls, set up like double doors that one had to strike with their body in order to make it through them, the spring hinges resisting the movement and forcing the walls back into place after being hit. They gave a ‘breaking the door down’ feel. As Blaze and High Winds moved them into place Soarin scratched his head.

“Didn’t we pull those out to reinforce them?” he said. The little yellow stallion kept eyeing the blueprints carefully. “They broke after two hits last time,” Soarin added. He glanced at the little stallion. “You didn’t… upgrade them ALREADY… did you?” he asked. The stallion still didn’t answer. Soarin sighed and rolled his eyes. “RIVET!”

“Ah! Huh?” the stallion flinched and looked up from the blueprints at Soarin.

“Welcome back to Equestria,” Soarin chuckled as he shifted around to look at the blueprints. “Did you already make the changes to the blast walls I requested?”

“Yeah,” Rivet replied quietly. Soarin blinked and looked at him in surprise.

“Wha… Rivet I left those things in pieces last time I used them. You fixed them… and made the upgrades already?” Soarin asked in disbelief.

“All I had to do was improve the spring coil as well as add a second one. There’s a padded reinforcement lining on the inside of the coil box as well. A small decrease in the size of the spring guarantees less stress on the coil itself. Normally that would decrease resistance, which we didn’t want because of how easily you blew the other one apart. So by adding a second one to the mechanism, it allows us to use smaller coils, but gain extra resistance. It should be able to withstand any force you apply to it… as long as you don’t purposely try to overstress it,” he glanced at Soarin, who was staring dumbly at him.

“That was a lot of words for, ‘holy shit, you work fast,’” Soarin chuckled. Rivet frowned and shook his head.

“I didn’t do that much,” he said as he looked back at the blueprints. Soarin reached over and pulled the blueprints down.

“Rivet, I broke these four days ago and was pissed because I wanted to use them in the tryouts,” Soarin pointed at the blast walls. “And they’re already fixed, upgraded, and ready to use… wait, did you run tests on them too?!” Soarin remembered that part of Rivet’s process. Rivet kept his eyes averted and nodded.

“Yeah, I had them test it right after I finished,” he sighed. “I thought Calm was gonna break them, but they held together.”

“Ha! Calm couldn’t put a dent in them? If that’s the case, I doubt anypony will…” Soarin smirked. “How many times did he try?”

“A lot,” Rivet said with slight displeasure. “I lost count at eight. Bitz and Shine ended up stopping him before he hurt himself… but not after he plowed over Swift once by accident.”

“Pfft!” Soarin held in a laugh. “Calm is too determined for his own good. Those four crack me up. I bet they’re fun to work with,” Soarin looked to Rivet. Rivet smiled weakly for a moment.

“Yeah… they’re cool,” he said quietly as Soarin eyed the new blast walls.

“I gotta try it out,” he quickly dropped down and waved for Blaze and High Winds to move back. There was a section with three of the blast walls in a row. There was only ten feet separating each one. Soarin took a deep breath and shot upward into a long loop, arcing down and picking up speed as he leveled out and seared towards the first wall. He focused on it, and gritted his teeth as he brought his hooves up to his chest and thrust his right shoulder right at the crack in the padding between the two panels of the wall. The walls flung open as Soarin rammed his shoulder against them. As soon as he felt the first strike he threw his other shoulder forward as his momentum thrust him at the second wall. Again, the wall was forced aside by Soarin’s mighty shoulder blow. He felt slightly disoriented after the second hit, but two blinks refocused him three feet from the third. With no time to thrust his shoulder, Soarin pulled back both hooves and punched them into the wall to force it open as he sped through.

Soarin pulled up and hit the brakes as he came around to see all three walls had realigned quickly. The new blast walls were perfect. They actually required a good amount of force to break through. The older ones were too easy to push aside, and tended to swing violently back and forth for a good ten minutes before they settled. Soarin grinned in satisfaction and flew back up to Rivet.

“How are they?” Rivet asked from behind the blueprints. Soarin glided up with a smile.

“They’re—”

“YIKES!” Rivet suddenly flinched, frantically folded the blueprint unevenly, tucked it under his wing, and flew right up against Soarin as if hiding in the shadow of Soarin’s large body. Soarin blinked in surprise.

“Whoa! What the—”

“Hey! Everypony! Half an hour till go-time!” Fleetfoot’s voice came from the entrance. Soarin glanced down to see her waving her hooves in the air before leaving.

“Oh,” Soarin chuckled as Rivet peeked over Soarin’s back. Fleetfoot was on schedule keeping duty. She had been put in charge along with Silver Lining to make sure the cadets were all on time and the day proceeded as scheduled. Soarin was more than certain Spitfire assigned her the job on purpose to keep her mostly out of the gym so Rivet could do his work.

Rivet sighed in relief as he grabbed the blueprint from beneath his wing and unfolded it again to continue surveillance of the building.

“Anyway,” Soarin chimed in, “to answer your question before Silly McRivetSquee walked in, yes. It’s pretty much perfect compared to the older one. You do awesome work, kid.”

“No, it’s nothing big…” Rivet quietly deflected the compliment. Soarin flattened his ears.

“Yes, it is,” Soarin countered while pointing at the blueprints. “Do you think I could put these things together? Absolutely not.”

“I’m…” Rivet floated slightly away from Soarin while averting his eyes and shaking his head. “I’m not that special…”

Soarin sighed heavily as he kept up with Rivet’s subtle escape hovering. He put himself right next to Rivet and ruffled his mane lightly.

“Sure Rivet… sure…”

--- To Be Continued ---

Author's Note:

WOO! okay! well you finally know who the little guy is! He's actually the wonderbolt Chief equipment engineer! Fleetfoot! He's a professional! Leave him alone!

so there we have it, i can't believe i thought i was gonna fit all of chapter 26 into 20K words... this is barely a 4th of the content i had planned xD

lots of new names were dropped in this chapter too huh? they will be important in the future ;)

So i already have a good chunk of chapter 27 complete... and it will be the TRUE finale of part 1. i apologize for the confusion, i really underestimated my plans.

i would expect chapter 27 either tuesday or wednesday depending on the legth and how long Kestrel will need to edit such a beast of a chapter. i will keep you all updated on it via my blogs :)

I hope you enjoyed!

Thanks for reading!!!

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