Chapter 84: Unbreakable
MLP: FiM
Piercing the Heavens
By: Calm Wind
(This Chapter was edited by Lucky424)
Chapter 84:
Soarin flinched as his alarm clock blared out from the nightstand beside his bed. After blinking a few times he groaned and rubbed his eyes as he felt a grip tighten around his torso followed by a higher pitch groan and a nose digging into his chest. Soarin’s eyelids were heavy, but he reached down and stroked Rainbow Dash’s mane as he moved his other hoof towards the alarm and shut it off with a solid strike over the top of it.
He sighed and yawned as he continued to move his outstretched hoof out and over his head, stretching it out before bringing it back around and placing it over Dash just like his other arm was.
“You awake Dash?” Soarin asked as he yawned again.
“Mmhmm…” she hummed into his chest with her nose still firmly pressed into it. “Five more minutes…” she mumbled while turning slightly, shifting forward and rubbing her cheek into his neck. She took a long, deep breath, and sighed.
“That’s gonna turn into thirty minutes you know,” Soarin said as he forced his eyes to open.
“Shut it, you’re comfy,” Dash demanded while clutching him even tighter.
Soarin decided to leave her be. She was being her usual self again and he didn’t want to ruin her comfort.
After receiving the startling news from Discord about the dangerous connection they shared, it took them a while to break from their funk and head to the mess hall for dinner. Even there, they didn’t say much, nor speak to anypony, eating in silence before deciding there was no way in hell they’d be able to sleep apart that night. They got back to Soarin’s room and turned in immediately, holding onto each other… not in fear, but in comfort.
Sure, it was shocking to know that they were connected spiritually and anything Soarin felt through the magic would likely be felt by Dash too, but after all they had been through, it slowly turned into just another thing they had to be aware of, another challenge they’d face together. Being connected by spirit didn’t sound nearly as bad as taking on freak magical tornados or sadistic mercenary leaders bursting with false magic. It just meant that Dash would be able to feel Soarin’s pain when the magic acted up. It was unpleasant to know that if one of them died, the other would too, but… was it really that different?
After all, if you asked either of them, if one of them were to tragically die, the other would surely have no will to live without them.
So really, nothing had changed at all. It was just a reminder.
They still didn’t want to spend the night apart though, and after a long, full night’s sleep in each other’s arms they now lay awake, a little groggy, but well rested.
“Are you feeling better? Soarin asked.
“Mmhmm…” Dash mumbled into his chest again. She turned her body slightly to free her nose from his chest and rest her cheek against it instead. “How about you?” she asked.
“When I’m holding onto you, there’s no better feeling,” he said with a goofy smirk.
“You’re sappy as hell,” Dash giggled while shifting and sighing happily.
“I know,” Soarin replied with a chuckle as he checked his clock again. It was now 6:45am. “We should go grab food now before the mess hall gets packed.
“You don’t know how to sleep in, do you?” Dash groaned as Soarin began to move, clutching him tighter to try and anchor him down. She released an exaggerated, muffled wail of despair as Soarin sat up despite her being attached to him. He sat on his bed and smiled at her as she clung to him and gave him puppy dog eyes with a pout.
“Never willingly… and stop trying to be cute, you’re not fooling me, Little Miss Badass,” he said with a chuckle as Dash’s pout turned into a frown, followed by a smile.
“Fiiiiiiiiine…” she said as she loosened her grip and slid down his body until her plot touched down to the mattress.
Soarin hopped down onto his hooves, letting Dash take her time as she yawned and stretched out.
They both jumped in surprise as a knock suddenly came from his door. It was incredibly early for anypony to go around to rooms. Whoever it was, they were lucky Soarin was an early riser.
Soarin walked over to the door and opened it right as the visitor knocked again.
“Whoa!” Storm Front leaned forward as his hoof missed the opening door and swung downward. Soarin leaned back slightly and blinked as Storm’s hoof almost hit him in the nose.
“Storm?” Soarin tipped his head to the side, wondering why Storm was up so early. Soarin usually didn’t see Storm in the morning until he was leaving the mess hall and Storm was entering for breakfast. “What’s up?” Soarin asked, more curious about why Storm was there than why he was already up.
“Hey Soarin!” Storm greeted him with a very strange, overly cheerful voice and a smile that looked incredibly forced. “I was wondering if this morning we could—” Storm’s eyes widened as he looked over Soarin’s shoulder. “Oh…” his expression turned from happy to embarrassed immediately. “Is this not a good time? Sorry, I’ll just…”
“STORM,” Soarin chuckled, reaching out and grabbing him by the shoulder before he could turn and leave. “It’s fine, we were about to get breakfast, what’s up?” he asked.
“Uh…” Storm looked between him and Dash. “Nothing…” he tried getting away again, but Soarin held firm.
“Storm, what is it?” Soarin asked. Dash looked towards Storm curiously as he peaked over Soarin’s shoulder towards her. Storm leaned towards Soarin and began whispering.
“I was wondering if you could help me today with… you know…”
“Oh, the Sonic B—”
“YES! That! You were gonna show me that flight maneuver today, right?” Storm cut him off in a very loud, distracting tone. Soarin lifted an eyebrow, amused and confused.
“Storm, what’s gotten into you?” Soarin asked as Storm leaned towards him again.
“I don’t want her to know I’m doing this,” he said in a very hushed tone. Soarin stared at him blankly.
“Why?” Soarin asked, finally bringing his tone down to match Storm’s.
“Just… please?” Storm begged. Soarin blinked and glanced back at Dash, who looked incredibly confused. He looked back at Storm with a shrug.
“Sure! The swing spacing maneuvers!” Soarin spoke up, making something up on the spot. “But, Storm, why now?” he kept up the charade while asking a serious question. “We just got back from a show, don’t you want to rest?”
“I would but…” Storm began. “I have meetings with squad seven the rest of the day and then after today we have a full schedule with Spitfire’s new orders and all. I was hoping you could show me the basics so I could work on them on my own.”
“Ah, okay,” Soarin didn’t like that he was technically lying to Dash, but for some reason, Storm didn’t want her to know he was learning the Sonic Blastoff. He wondered why… it was probably pride related. After all, Storm felt like he was falling very short of the elites and their expectations while Dash was busy copying their moves left and right. “I’ll meet you after breakfast… at…” Soarin looked at his clock. It read 6:50. “Let’s say… 8:30,” he suggested. “I have to make a stop after I eat… hopefully it won’t be too long.”
“Sounds good, thanks Soarin!” Storm nodded before smiling and waving at Dash. He turned and left, Soarin closing the door behind him.
“What was that all about?” Dash chuckled.
“Don’t look at me,” Soarin chuckled, forcing himself to stay quiet about the Sonic Blastoff. “Storm’s usually not so... jumpy. That was a new one for me too.”
“So,” Dash hopped off the bed, accepting the explanation quickly. “What are you taking care of after breakfast?” she asked as she walked up and leaned against him.
“I’m going to swallow my pride and go see Luna,” Soarin replied with a huff. Dash’s ears perked up.
“Gonna try getting something out of her, huh?” she asked in a serious tone. Soarin nodded.
“As much as I hate Discord…” Soarin paused and looked around the room, remembering that Discord said something about always watching at least one of them. After a moment Soarin shook his head and looked back at Dash. “He has been more straightforward to us than Luna. Maybe if I tell her Discord sent me personally she’ll tell me more, but I seriously doubt it.”
“Well, good luck with that,” Dash sighed. She was confused as to why Luna was being so secretive. She hadn’t been dealing with her as much as the Wonderbolts had been, but whenever Dash or her friends back home ever had problems that required some wisdom, Celestia never failed to bring them peace on the matter. Obviously Celestia wasn’t available, but Dash didn’t know what Luna was up to, or why she was being so tight lipped… but it had to be for a reason. The divine sisters had never once led the ponies of Equestria astray. Luna had to have her reasons. Dash was certain that Celestia were in Luna’s place with whatever was going on, she’d be doing the same thing.
“Food time?” Soarin asked with a smile, breaking Dash from her thoughts. She smiled back at him and nodded.
“Food time,” she agreed as the two turned towards the door and left his room.
“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!” Little Star yelled as she grabbed Dash by the cheeks and pressed their faces together. “YOU NEVER CAME BACK!” Star shook her lightly as Dash just stared wide eyed.
“Whoa! Star! Calm down!” Dash reached up and grabbed her, pulling her off her face and staring at the little mare as her wings continued to flutter like mad. “Can I come in first?” she chuckled as she stood in the doorway. Little Star continued waving her hooves in attempt to reach Dash’s face again with a face that was both worried and frustrated.
When she realized she wasn’t getting a response, Dash reached back and placed Star on her back. Star latched to the back of Dash’s neck as she continued to scold her for disappearing the night before. Dash answered every word with a nod and a ‘mmhmm’ as she walked in.
“So where were you?” Matteo asked in a much more serious tone than Star from beside his bed as Dash walked in. She looked around quickly to see what was going on before replying. Matteo and Star were right with her. Squall was sitting on his bed, staring over at Dash, and Twister was nowhere to be seen. Probably waiting to spring a prank.
“I was…” Dash paused. She almost said everything without hesitation. She found herself wondering if it was a good idea to tell the others about her connection with Soarin. The last thing she wanted to do was give them something else to worry about. So for the moment, she felt it would be better to keep that bit to herself. It was, after all, a bit personal as well. “Soarin and I were up late discussing what happened with the Shadowbolts… so I just spent the night with him,” she explained. “I also just got breakfast early,” it wasn’t the full truth, but it wasn’t a lie. “How are you guys doing by the way? I’ve…Huh?” Dash looked at all of the beds. She didn’t know how she missed it before, but all the pillows were gone, all three from each bed. “Where are the pillows?” she asked. Her expression flattened as realization hit her.
“You have one guess,” Little Star said with a giggle.
“Where is he?” Dash asked with an exasperated sigh.
“He took all the pillows into your office as soon as we woke up,” Star said as she continued to giggle.
“And you guys didn’t fight it? By that little laugh of yours, I’d almost think you encouraged him,” Dash chuckled at Star as she shrugged.
“Hey, the silly pony makes me laugh, and I didn’t fight it, but Squall tried,” she pointed over to Squall’s bed. Dash glanced over, but Squall had turned around on his bed to face the wall. Dash snickered at Squall’s blatant attempt to not bring attention to himself.
“I’m sorry I missed that,” she joked as she started moving towards her office. She paused as a the noise of a bugle began blaring from her office, playing ‘Reveille.’ Dash paused, startled by the sudden bugle and waited for it to finish before shaking her head and continuing towards her room.
Now begged a much less serious question. Why did Twister take all the pillows and why into her office? Dash braced herself for something weird or slightly unnerving since he had a record of doing that whenever he got her somewhere alone.
She slowly opened the door… but was surprised to see that her office had been left alone. The only difference was a small fort made of the fifteen pillows in the center, in front of her desk. There was a small sign sticking out of the top of the fort that read ‘F.B.A.’ on it.
“Twister…” Dash said his name flatly. Twister’s head instantly popped up in the ‘window’ of the pillow fort.
“ENEMY SPOTTED! FIRE!” Twister yelled in a low, overly serious voice as a pillow launched from behind the fort over the top and careened towards Dash. Having anticipated shenanigans, Dash reached up and caught the pillow, dropping it at her side while lifting an eyebrow at Twister. “Curses! No effect!”
“Twister, put all the pillows back,” Dash ordered. Twister quickly replied by blowing raspberries at her.
“Sorry! But your authority is not recognized inside FORT BAD ASS!” he claimed, still in the very deep tone. Dash lifted her brow, glancing at the sign again. F.B.A. indeed.
Dash stepped forward and glared into the window of the pillow fort, Twister looking back at her with a very silly smile, his cheeks puffed out, and his pupils incredibly wide.
Art by: Scootafail
Dash reached forward and grabbed a pillow out from the bottom of the fort, causing the whole thing to collapse into a pile of pillows, but Twister remained standing. He looked around at the pillows frantically before releasing an incredibly high pitched scream and diving into the pillow pile.
“Pffft…” Dash held back an amused laugh. Only Twister could turn an annoying situation into something funny. “Come on you!” Dash said as she started throwing pillows off the pile and back out the door into the barracks. She removed all of the pillows from the pile, eventually coming upon…
“Ooooooh Soarin…” Twister mimicked Dash’s voice nearly perfectly.
Dash’s eyes widened as she saw Twister, his mane style identical to hers, hugging a body pillow with Soarin on it, stroking the top of the pillow with a hoof with his legs clamped around it as well.
“My rainbow awesomeness is yours to plunder!” he said while trying not to snicker. “Your blown-back mane excites me so!”
“ALRIGHT!” Dash reached down and ripped the Soarin pillow free from Twister. She stopped and looked at the pillow, blushing lightly since it had a picture from one of the Wonderbolt beach photo shoot issues in it… a picture of Soarin that she had always really liked. “I’m keeping this,” she said while tossing the pillow into the corner of her office. “Now you…” she grabbed Twister’s back legs, lifted off and began flapping her wings to pull Twister out of the office, back into the barracks. He slammed his front hooves down on the floor while yelping and grunting in a ridiculously over the top manner as his hooves made loud squeaking noises as they dragged on the floor.
Squall and Star turned and looked as Dash hoisted Twister up, swung him around, and flung him towards his bed. Twister flew from her grip, but immediately twisted and turned in a sharp arc towards Matteo as he was opening his dresser.
“What the?!” Matteo flinched as Twister landed in the bottom drawer and it slammed shut with him inside. Matteo grumbled, reached down and pulled the drawer open, but it was empty. The top drawer suddenly opened, nearly hitting Matteo in the beak. Twister’s head popped up out of the drawer and sneered as he looked directly into the glaring face of Matteo.
“Do griffons wear socks?” he asked as all four of his hooves poked up beside his head, each wearing a hoof sock that was a different color and design.
“No,” Matteo answered flatly before stuffing Twister’s head back into the drawer, slamming it shut, turning around, and sitting with his back against the dresser to trap Twister in.
“THAT WAS A CLOSE ONE AAAAHAHA!” Twister suddenly popped out of Squall’s dresser from all the way across the room.
“GAAAHH!!!” Squall yelped, launching from his spot on his bed in surprise. As he came back down, he landed on the edge of his bed. Squall slammed his hooves to his mattress, but it was too late, he slid off the edge of the bed and landed with a thud on the floor, followed by multiple obscenities.
Dash just blinked as the chain reaction finally ceased.
“Note to self…” Little Star spoke up as she passed by Dash towards the mare’s bathroom. “Don’t throw Twister, who knows what will happen,” she giggled as she entered the bathroom.
“That’s for sure,” Dash chuckled as she went back into her office and chucked the rest of the pillows back out into the barracks. She peeked out once after doing so. Star was in the bathroom, Matteo had already grabbed his pillows, and Squall was trying to grab Twister as he planted a sign in Squall’s bed that read ‘F.G.A’ with a smaller sign hanging off of it that read ‘Fort Grump Ass’. Dash rolled her eyes and tossed three pillows to both Squall and Twister’s bed before taking another look at her squadmates.
They were all distracted.
Dash ducked back into her office, grabbed the Soarin pillow, and snuck back out quickly. She turned the corner, passed Matteo’s area, and placed the pillow on her bed before turning it over and covering it up with the sheet.
“Heh, heh, heh…” Dash chuckled to herself before turning around and freezing. Matteo was staring directly at her with an eyebrow raised. “Uh…!” Dash looked back and forth frantically. “UM…!”
“Dash… It’s fine…” Matteo said calmly as he turned and moved back towards his bed. Dash blinked and her expression went blank as her ears flopped to the sides of her head. It wasn’t the reaction she was expecting. If anything she thought she’d get an eye-roll. Matteo turned and looked back at her as he grabbed the sheet on his bed. He looked over towards Squall and Twister, who were now wrestling for control of the ‘territory’ and Star was still in the bathroom.
He made a head motion towards his sheet. Dash blinked and looked at Matteo’s bed. He lifted up the sheet, reached under and pulled out… the body pillow of Gilda that Twister had pranked him with a while back.
Dash’s pupils shrank and she instantly threw a hoof over her mouth to prevent a burst of laughter. Her cheeks puffed up as the snorts and snickers escaped her nose and her face turned red from all the holding back.
“What? I wasn’t going to get rid of it…” Matteo said with a serious tone despite the humor of the situation. “I’m a long way from home, you know…” Matteo said, turning away and lucky that all the feathers on his face concealed any color changes.
“Oh my god…” Dash said as she took a few deep breaths, fell backwards on her bed and held a hoof to her stomach as she kept laughing little bits at a time. “You crack me up, Matty…” she said while shaking her head back and forth.
“Hmph…” Matteo grunted, but clearly with a smile at the edge of his beak as Dash sat up and kept shaking her head at the big dope.
Matteo seemed to be in high spirits… well, at least as high spirited as the stoned face lug could get. It was an unusual air for him. She slipped off her bed and walked over to him.
“So how are you feeling big guy?” Dash asked. Matteo looked down at her briefly before looking back at his bed and reorganizing his pillows.
“I’m feeling alright, you?” he replied quickly.
“You are acting strange!” Dash pointed out, making Matteo freeze and turn towards her.
“Meaning?” he asked, looking a little put off. Dash shook off his glare and chuckled.
“I dunno, you look… hmm… you look…” Dash was trying to find the right word. “Energized,” she pointed at him.
“Heh…” Matteo smirked. “That is a rather fitting word for it,” he began while lifting up an arm clenching his talons. “Despite our lack of success… and me somehow being thrown by a mare... it was my first taste of real action as a member of the Wonderbolts. It was a special moment for me, and very exhilarating regardless of the outcome.”
Dash smiled as she listened to his explanation. She was glad Matteo was around. Having a massive griffon with a thirst for combat by her side gave a strange sense of security. Like a personal bodyguard for the rest of them. If they ever went out on the town as a squad, they would have hassle free nights guaranteed. Because honestly, who would mess with Matteo?
“Oh um…” Dash remembered something she wanted to ask. “By the way… Matty…”
“Yes?” Matteo cocked his head to the side.
“What the hell was with the eagle cry?!” Dash asked throwing her hooves out. “I wasn’t expecting you to… you know… shatter the windows,” she recalled the moment in disbelief.
“Hah!” Matteo suddenly puffed out his chest with pride. “I’m very proud of my Aquila Grido. I challenge you to find a griffon with stronger lungs,” he said while pounding his chest.
“I’m not gonna take that bet, you made your point loud and clear,” Dash joked with a chuckle before moving back towards her bed. She hopped back up and leaned back.
“Hmm?” Dash suddenly felt something that was definitely not part of her bed. It felt like a piece of paper. She looked down to see a note sitting on the bed. She scooped up the folded piece of paper and looked back down towards her bed, it must’ve moved as she was putting the pillows back and as she flopped down because she didn’t notice it initially.
“Silver dropped by last night,” Star’s voice caused Dash to look up, and then down at star as she walked by Dash’s bed. “Left that note on your bed and dared one of us to read it before you got back. None of us did, obviously…” Star said with a shiver.
“Heh…” Dash chuckled as she looked back at the note.
“What are you two doing?!” Star yelled towards Squall and Twister.
Dash looked up again and saw Squall holding Twister by the neck and shaking him, but Twister looked completely unaffected, staring at Squall with a smug look despite the unfavorable position he was in. Star hopped up on the bed, grabbed Squall’s tail in her mouth and began tugging on it in attempt to get him to put Twister down, despite the fact that the choke hold wasn’t doing a thing to him.
“Okay, let’s see…” Dash disregarded the scuffle and focused on the note since… honestly… everything going on around her was nothing out of the ordinary. She unfolded the note.
Meet me in the squad two private gym at 8:59 AM for some training.
With no love whatsoever,
Silver Lining
P.S. I swear to Celestia, if you show up at 9:00 AM I will punt your ass so far, you’ll land on a pot of gold.
“Snrk…” Dash scrunched her face and snickered as a smile formed on her lips. “That old bastard…” she said to herself as she looked at her clock on her nightstand. It read 8:15AM. It was a good thing she decided to come back and check in despite it being a free day, post show travel for them. She didn’t want to give Silver the honor of kicking her ass, not that he wouldn’t do it anyway once they got started. She didn’t mind some training anyway. Squad Foxtrot was only at the show to observe, they didn’t actually perform. The Shadowbolt chase had her a tad stiff, but it was nothing she couldn’t handle. Something told her this also had to do with Silver disagreeing with Spitfire’s order to ‘ease up’ on the training. That would be so typical of him.
She decided to beat him there and get going right away even though she still had forty-four minutes. She could get warm-ups in beforehand to maximize their time, and it wouldn’t give him a chance to trip her as she came through the door.
But first… she wanted to check on the rest of her squad.
“Alright, you two…” Dash got up from her bed and trotted over to where Squall was still trying to strangle Twister to no avail. She hopped up on the bed and put a hoof on Squall’s arm. “Time to put him down Squall, you know it’s pointless,” she said with a chuckle.
“Nrrgh…” Squall grunted at Twister who started cracking up and swinging his head back and forth.
“Well, stop trying to kill your squadmate,” Dash ordered calmly. Squall didn’t comply at first. “That’s an order Squall,” she added without raising her voice in the slightest.
“Hmph…” Squall released his grip, and Twister fell up, crashing against the ceiling before shooting down towards the bed. Dash extended her wing as Twister fell. He ran into it, and the angle diverted him off the edge of the bed and to the floor. He made a noise similar to multiple glass windows breaking as he crashed, making the rest of them cringe.
“So Squall…” Dash turned to him as she folded her wing back to her body casually. Squall visibly flinched when Dash addressed him and looked away. “Hey c’mon, look at me. I’m just checking in,” she rolled her eyes, but he didn’t look. She kept going anyway. “I know this was all quite sudden, anti-Wonderbolts and all sorts of fun stuff you guys were just thrown into. You handled yourself well out there against them, at least until the rest of the Shadowbolts showed up, but they took all of us out at that point,” she kept her eyes on him, watching his mannerisms. He looked like he was forcing down a smile when she complimented him “So are you feeling alright? Any doubts, curiosity, or injuries?”
“N…no. I’m fine,” Squall replied.
SQUALL REPLIED.
It wasn’t him lashing out either. He replied to her question in a normal manner, a normal tone with no harshness or bitterness. It was good to see him comfortable enough to do so.
Dash looked above Squall to see Twister pop up behind him while holding a sign that said: ‘babby’s first small talk’ on it. Squall noticed Dash looking over him and quickly turned, but Twister was already gone. Dash held in a laugh as she turned to Star.
“What about you, Star?” she asked as Star finally dropped Squall’s tail from her mouth.
“Oh, about yesterday?” Star replied. Dash nodded, amused that she was so occupied with yanking on Squall’s tail that she hadn’t been listening. “Definitely not what I expected when I signed up… you know, all eight times I signed up, but hey, Wonderbolts fight, right?” she said with a shrug. “So we ran into some crazy fighters who had an edge on us. It’s not like they tried to kill us,” she said in a very casual manner that surprised Dash.
“Even after I told you about them? Not a single worry?” Dash blinked. Star nodded.
“They didn’t act like the ones you told us about, I was more concerned with catching them than fighting for my life. So I’m okay!” she ended with a smile.
It certainly wasn’t what Dash was expecting. She thought the experience was going to frighten them for sure. Well, not Matteo, but the rest? Possibly. It seemed they were all fine though, putting it into a similar perspective as the rest. More curious about why the Shadowbolts ran as opposed to being afraid of an attack. She hadn’t asked Twister, but honestly, she knew his response was going to be something completely unrelated. One could ask Twister to count to three and he’d make them breakfast instead.
If only she could be so relaxed about it. Dash, like Spitfire, knew what the Shadowbolts were capable of and while she was equally curious about the Shadowbolts running from them, she couldn’t disregard what they had done in the past. In a way, she envied the rest of her squad. They could approach this with level heads and without worry. At least until they themselves learned what the Shadowbolts could do. Hopefully they’d never be subjected to the worst of it
“Um…”
Both Star and Dash looked towards Squall. He was looking away from them and almost had his back fully turned. He looked over his shoulder at the two of them, his face mostly hidden by his mane, but clearly a small blush on his face.
“Squall?” Dash blinked while tipping her head slightly.
“C-could y-you two… um… get off… my bed?” he asked very shakily, clearly really uncomfortable.
Dash and Star both looked down. They were, indeed, still on Squall’s bed while carrying on their conversation. And from the looks of things, having two mares sitting on his bed with him seemed to make him a little nervous and embarrassed. Star’s pupils widened as she put her hooves to her cheeks.
“Aw, is Squally-wally a wittle shy?” She teased as she hovered up behind him.
“Nnnnnngh…” Squall grunted, turned, and laid flat on the mattress grabbing one of his newly returned pillows and hiding his head beneath it.
“He’s so embarrassed!” Star giggled as she started hovering towards him, but Dash reached out and grabbed her tail.
“Alright, that’s enough, Star. Let’s give Squall his personal space… Celestia knows Twister already violates it enough,” Dash chuckled as she pulled Star through the air.
“Aw… but he’s so cute when he’s blushing!” she added, clearly trying to make him more embarrassed.
“Nnnnnnnnnnnngh…” Squall’s muffled groan came from beneath the pillow. Once Dash was off the bed with Star in tow, she checked the nearest clock. It read 8:30.
“Anyway,” Dash began as she hopped down. “Today is a free day for us. No scheduled training in any of the gyms, but I want each of you to get down to the facilities and do something, workout, treatment, whatever you want, just don’t be lazy. I have some stuff to do to now, so I’ll see you guys around the compound,” Dash nodded, all of them nodding to her in return, except for Squall who was still hiding beneath his pillow.
“Cards tonight?” Twister suddenly popped up in front of her, wearing his poker visor and had a fake cigar in his mouth. Dash blinked and looked back at the others. They all shrugged and nodded. Even Squall looked up from the pillow upon hearing about another poker game.
“Card’s tonight,” Dash nodded to Twister. “I’ll try to find Storm too!”
“YEE-HAW!” Twister yelled as the fake cigar somehow lit and burned all the way down before he dipped down and reappeared beside Little Star and shoving a fake cigar in her mouth.
“I love these guys…” Dash said to herself, shaking her head, but smiling as she walked towards the door and headed out.
“Wait… I’m confused…” Storm scratched his head. “Is it all at once or motion by motion? He asked Soarin.
Soarin was looking away from him.
“Soarin?” Storm blinked, waving a hoof in front of his eyes. Soarin snapped from his thoughts, shook his head and looked towards Storm.
“Ah, sorry…” he said with a sigh.
“You’ve been a little out there since you came in, everything okay?” Storm asked him, both concerned and a little discouraged that Soarin seemed to be paying attention to something else.
“No, it’s nothing. The pony I wanted to meet with this morning was unavailable,” Soarin tried his hardest not to give Storm an odd look. Was everything okay? That was Soarin’s line. Storm had been acting strange since he saw him this morning. But… Storm wasn’t wrong, something was bothering Soarin at the moment. “I didn’t mean to ignore you, what were you asking again?”
Indeed, Soarin had gone all the way through the underground connecting tunnel to the castle, but was immediately turned away by the guards. He wasn’t surprised, not in the slightest. However, there was something strange this time.
Three guards pushed him away from the doors, but as they did, one of them mentioned Luna was in a ‘strategic meeting,’ after which the other two guards glared at him and he promptly shut up.
Strategic meeting? With Luna in charge? They already had a few clues that pointed to Luna knowing about the Shadowbolts. With this, it was certain. She had probably gotten a hold of their reports and was once again doing something without telling them… but what? Why would she leave them out?
With this taking full control of his thoughts, he had eventually found his way to an open gym in the west wing. It was where he and Storm had decided to meet, claiming a space in the gym as other Wonderbolts did their own thing around them. For the first few minutes of helping, Soarin had been paying very little attention. He promised Storm he would help him though… so he had to focus on what he was doing. Wondering about Luna would have to wait.
“It’s a single fluid motion with separate motions,” Soarin focused and started explaining. “Not one or the other. I know your surface tap is—”
“INCOMING! WHOOOAAAAA!!!” Lightning Streak’s voice suddenly blared from nearby. Soarin and Storm both instinctively stepped aside as Lightning Streak crashed to the floor and bounced several times before skidding to a halt on his face. They both looked towards him before turning and looking up to see Surprise back flipping in midair while giggling uncontrollably as Misty brushed her hooves together.
“Yikes…” Soarin chuckled as he looked towards Lightning, who was slowly rising and shaking his head out. “Misty really takes advantage of the padded floors in this gym…” he said as he lightly bounced up and down at the hard, yet cushioned gym surface. This gym in particular had a layer of crash padding beneath the floor mat, allowing for softer landings even when they look rather hard.
“Damn, how does my bro handle this chick?” Lightning wobbled as he stood up and flew back towards Misty.
“Never a dull moment with Squad three, is there?” Storm smirked as he and Storm came back together.
“Never,” Soarin agreed as he went back to his explanation. “Now as I was saying, your Surface Tap move requires two separate rapid motions. I know you’ve perfected that move, it being your personal signature technique and all, but you’re going to have to turn that off if you want the Sonic Blast-off to work. It has specific separate motions that have to be executed in a certain order, but it MUST be done fluidly, without a moment of pause in between each one. So it’s both many motions and one motion.”
“That’s confusing…” Storm blinked and his ears flopped down.
“Why do you think nopony else knows it?” Soarin asked, completely disregarding something obvious.
“Dash knows it,” Storm sighed in frustration. Soarin’s eyes widened and he bit his lip awkwardly. Yeah, he totally forgot to acknowledge the obvious..
“Look,” Soarin quickly placed a hoof on Storm’s shoulder. “I told you already, Dash is a different story. She mimics moves, it’s what she does. Focus on yourself Storm, not her.”
This was admittedly, a little awkward for Soarin. He knew Storm didn’t have the same talents as Dash, but he didn’t factor in the learning process. Dash picked up how to use the Sonic Blast-off after seeing it only once and getting it to almost work on her second try. Storm was physically bigger and stronger than Dash, but he lacked the ability to copy the finesse of the movements. It was going to be a while before Storm even got the maneuver partway down… at least that’s what it looked like.
“I wish it were that easy,” Storm spoke up. “This is—”
“WHOOOOAAAAAHOHOHOHOHOOOO!!!!” Lightning Streak’s voice came from near them again, cutting off Storm.
The two stepped aside again as Lightning Streak flew down in a much smoother arc, crashing to the floor and bouncing much further with his lower trajectory towards the doors of the gym. Fire Streak, with the worst timing possible, stepped through the doors just in time to be body slammed by his twin brother and the two flew right out of the gym with the door closing behind them.
“Ouch…” Soarin looked up and saw Misty Fly cringing as Surprise lost control of her flight and started softly tumbling towards the ground as she clutched her stomach and laughed incredibly hard. The gym door swung back open and Fire Streak stepped through with Lightning Streak right behind him.
“Nice catch bro!” Lightning saluted him.
“Nice crash… idiot…” Fire grumbled as he walked in.
“Harsh bro, extra harsh sauce…” Lightning replied as they flew up towards Misty and the recovering Surprise.
“What were you saying?” Soarin asked Storm with a chuckle as they came back together.
“Nothing,” Storm quickly replied. Soarin could tell he was avoiding something, but Storm was trying to learn, it wasn’t time to discuss personal issues. “So what was that first motion again?!” Storm suddenly asked with an eager tone that was quite a sudden shift. Soarin blinked.
“Locking your hooves down, being—”
“Strong, but relaxed! Yes, now the second?” Storm cut him off.
“The second is…” Soarin looked at Storm curiously. Something was off. Something had been off since earlier. He knew Storm didn’t want Dash to know he was also trying to learn the Sonic Blast-off… but something was strange. This was the second time since he arrived in the gym that Storm’s mood shifted drastically. He kept switching between sounding depressed and sounding overly excited. “Storm, what’s wrong?” Soarin shifted subjects looking at him sternly.
“What?” Storm cocked his head to the side. “Nothing! Absolutely nothing! What’s the second motion?” he tried to avoid but Soarin wasn’t having it.
“Is it about Dash?” Soarin pressed. Storm’s expression lost its forced smile and turned into a frown.
“No…” he sighed. “It’s not,” he admitted as he sat down. “Can we please just continue the training? I bother you with my problems way too much, you don’t need to hear them,” Storm looked away from Soarin shamefully.
“Cut that shit out right now, Storm… The training won’t be effective if your head is elsewhere,” Soarin walked up to him, standing over him, but in a way that was encouraging, letting Storm look up to him. “You’ve gotta know by now that I’m here to help you, I don’t care how many times you need it.”
Storm looked down shook his head.
“I’m worried about my dad,” Storm revealed. Soarin blinked as his eyes slightly widened.
“Your dad? Is something wrong? Did you hear from him again?” Soarin quickly asked, knowing just how tied Storm was to his elusive, but loving father.
“No, but that’s the problem. I’ve heard from him once in the past few months. Besides the letter I got from him about a month ago, which was very brief and looked rushed, I haven’t heard from him. I’m beginning to worry that either something happened to him, or my mom’s starting to snatch up the letters that appear in our mailbox back home… I wouldn’t put it past her,” Storm grunted and lightly gritted his teeth.
Soarin took a long look at Storm for a few moments. He felt for Storm, he really did. Soarin didn’t have a similar experience, but Soarin knew the importance of family, and what his had done for him. Storm had merely a fraction of what Soarin had, but Storm clung to it desperately, his father being the one thing that drove him this far.
“When all this stuff with the Shadowbolts is over…” Soarin suddenly spoke up. “I’m going to get a few of our staff together and we’ll see if we can locate your dad,” Soarin offered.
“What?!” Storm’s ears shot up. “But…”
“No buts,” Soarin shook his head. “We’re Wonderbolts, we have resources. I’m sure with some digging in our intelligence department we can find out where he is,” he said with a smile.
“All for one pony?” Storm shook his head. “No, you don’t have to do that…” he sighed.
“You don’t give yourself enough credit, Storm,” Soarin chuckled. “And I’m willing to bet you wanted to train right now in attempt to ignore what was bothering you. They day after a show? You’re the only Wonderbolt I’ve ever seen do that.”
“Er…” Storm scratched the back of his head, indicating that Soarin hit a bull’s-eye. “Okay that’s part of it… but it also wasn’t helping my other worries…”
“Which are?” Soarin leaned closer.
“Commander, please, you don’t need—”
“Call me Soarin, dammit…” Soarin chuckled as Storm put a hoof over his face.
“Sorry… I just can’t afford to take any days without training… I’m already way behind the rest of the elites at my supposed rank. I mean, come on, what did I even do in Cloudsdale? I just got punted around. Dash was the one who made a difference, she even gave chase and forced one of the Shadowbolts to actually attack! She deserves this elite spot so much more than I do, I don’t know why you guys haven’t switched us ye—”
Storm got no farther as Soarin smacked him upside the head… REALLY hard. Storm nearly fell forward.
“OW!” he yelped as he turned and glared at Soarin, only to be grabbed by the shoulders and see Soarin giving him an incredibly stern glare.
“I swear to Celestia, Storm…” Soarin poked a hoof roughly against Storm’s chest. “Why do you talk yourself down constantly?!”
Storm stared wide eyed at Soarin, completely dominated as Soarin both loomed over him and glared at him.
“You earned your spot… hell, I voted for you to be in this spot, and so did Spitfire! We didn’t pick names from a hat. You convinced two members of the lead Squad that you were fit for the job! Now quit the pity talk and start being proud of yourself! I mean it, you have lots to be proud of, but you barely acknowledge it!”
Soarin backed away for a moment, letting go of Storm as he took a deep breath and put his hooves to his head. Thankfully, his escalated emotional response didn’t activate the magic at all, but he calmed down regardless just in case.
“Sorry…” Soarin shook his head. “That was a little harsh, I just…” he glanced at Storm, who was still staring wide eyed. “Storm, I wouldn’t vouch for you so much if you were inadequate, you have to understand just how selective the Wonderbolts are. I know it’s easy for me to say as a lead squad elite, but I earned my spot just as much as you earned yours, through being selected by those above me. You need to be proud of that. Besides…” Soarin went for the killer blow. “You’ve earned such a high honor that most pegasi can only dream of… I’ve no doubt your father would be incredibly proud to learn of it. What would he say if he saw you acting this way?”
Storm’s ears shot up as Soarin’s last few words really sunk in and Soarin could tell that they sunk deep.
“I…” Storm looked back down. “You’re right… I’m… I’m being stupid. I talk about how much my father inspired me, yet here I am saying I don’t deserve what I earn…” he looked up. “I guess I’m not used to more than one pony believing in me. Thanks Soarin…” Storm nodded with a smile before rubbing the back of his head. “If I do this again, could you hit me a little lighter? Damn, that hurt!” he said with a chuckle, earning a smile from Soarin. “So, could you show me the motion again?” Storm asked with a much more relaxed, normal tone.
“That’s the spirit,” Soarin walked up beside him. “It’s not gonna be easy to get this down, but like I said, Storm,” Soarin winked. “If you’re willing to do the work, I’m willing to teach it to you. So let’s at least get all the motions down so you can start practicing them on your own too.”
“Right!” Storm nodded eagerly.
“HOOOOOCHEEEEMAMA!!!!”
Soarin and Storm both stepped aside as Lightning Streak crashed in between them, this time from directly above, bouncing once before landing flat. They looked up to see Misty Fly shrugging while Surprise fell against Fire Streak, laughing her lungs out as Fire snickered to himself as well.
“I don’t know about you…” Soarin began as he rested his arm on Lightning Streak, who was struggling to stand. “But I wouldn’t pass up a chance to be around a bunch of amazing lunatics like us. It makes for some great times.”
“I completely agree,” Storm smiled as he looked up at squad three.
“Hmmm…” Dash looked up at the clock in the squad two private gym as she started another set of wing-ups.
It was 9:02… but Silver had yet to show. Sure it was only three minutes after, but Silver was never late. In fact, he usually showed up to everything fifteen minutes early. She was there by herself, alone with the echo of her hooves against the floor whenever she walked around.
“Probably got caught up in something important…” Dash spoke to herself as she got through the wing-ups and switched to her arms for pushups.
Or something could be wrong.
“Pfft…” Dash shook her head. This was Silver Lining she was thinking about here, of course nothing was wrong. Knowing him, he probably got drawn into some business with Spitfire… or maybe was being held up by Air Mach.
But for fifteen minutes? Dash looked up at the clock. Make that twenty minutes.
It was now 9:05… and Silver was twenty minutes late, that is, going off of how he was usually fifteen minutes early.
“Nah, it’s probably nothing,” Dash said to herself as she stood back up and began stretching her limbs and wings. If there was a real problem, like a Shadowbolt being in the compound or something, alarms would be blaring right now. It could be…
Dash froze.
What if Silver was trying to test her with something again? After all, he was a crafty bastard when it came to teaching her lessons. However… nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She hadn’t strayed very far from the door since she entered, so she would have heard the distinct creak of the gym doors had somepony tried to come in.
Was he… right outside waiting for her to check?
Dash stopped stretching and stepped towards the doors. She gulped as she gently pushed it. A slow, light creak sounding from it as it opened. She glanced left… then right. She even looked up towards the ceiling.
No sign of Silver at all.
“Huh…” Dash blinked before stepping back into the gym and letting the door close. She stopped dead in her tracks before taking any more steps backwards. Maybe he had been there the whole time and was waiting for her to check the door, then he’d spring out and…!
Dash spun around, but there was nopony there.
“Hm…” she hummed in confusion. She turned and began pacing back and forth.
This was Silver Lining. She had nothing to worry about. He was either caught up in something important, or this was another one of his tests. There was no way anything could be wrong. He was like, the opposite of wrong. Silver knew how to do everything right and stuck by it. He…
Dash glanced up at the clock and bit her lip, a look of worry crawling onto her face.
9:15… Silver was half an hour late.
Dash couldn’t take it anymore, something was wrong.
Dash turned right towards the doors and left the gym, turning into the long hall that led towards the lobby. He wasn’t even in sight in the long hallway. Not a single trace of him, just other Wonderbolts and the newly stationed security guards.
As she walked, Dash began asking passing Wonderbolts.
“Have you seen Captain Silver?”
“No.”
“Seen Silver Lining around?”
“Nope.”
“Where’s captain Silver?”
“Couldn’t tell ya.”
“This isn’t right…” Dash shook her head. Where was Silver? Part of her felt like she was overreacting, that even if Silver was in some kind of predicament, it wasn’t like he was incapable of handling himself. Her worry pressed on however, she just couldn’t push it out of her head.
As she entered the lobby and looked around, Blaze and High Winds came walking out from the west wing.
“Blaze! Winds!” Dash asked as she trotted up to them. “Where’s Silver? Have you seen him?”
“The hell would I know what the old fart is doing?” Blaze lifted an eyebrow and scoffed.
“Haven’t…” High Winds Yawned and scratched her flank. “Seen him…”
“Rgh…” Dash grunted as she looked around. She spotted Wave Chill waiting in line at the mail counter behind Rivet, who was hovering up to receive a package from the orange pony behind the counter. Dash galloped up to him. “WAVE!” she yelled as she drew close, so loudly that Rivet yelped, and leaned forward as the mail pony was handing him the package. He tumbled into the orange pony with the box and the two fell back behind the counter, landing with a POOF on a bag of mail as envelopes flew up into the air. “Ah, sorry!” Dash apologized for startling them before turning back to Wave.
“Whoa, Dash… what’s—”
“Where is Silver?!” Dash cut off Wave while grabbing his shoulders. She blinked, realizing she was becoming frantic without even knowing if there was actually something wrong. She let go of Wave, stepped back, held her hooves out as she took a deep breath, and calmed down. “Sorry… I’m looking for Silver,” she repeated in a much calmer voice, but still with hints of worry poking through.
“Captain Silver? I haven’t seen him since this morning when I left our room, he was still sleeping when I left for breakfast,” Wave explained.
Silver and Wave’s room.
“Okay, thanks!” Dash nodded, turned, and broke into a gallop towards the stairs leading up.
Wave blinked as Rivet and the orange pony peeked over the top of the counter, confused.
“What was that all about?” Wave scratched his head.
Dash made it to the top of the stairs and looked back and forth. She had only ever been to Soarin’s room, the Streak twins’ room, and down the opposite direction towards where Rapidfire used to live. She had never seen which direction Silver’s room was in, but he shared a room with Wave… and she had seen Wave go past Soarin’s room so… to the left she went.
She slowed to a trot as she started reading the nameplates of the doors, passing the squad three rooms and a few more rooms belonging to the high tier elites until she finally came across a door labeled ‘Wave Chill & Silver Lining.’ Beneath Silver’s name was a doodle of a pony stabbing the S of Silver’s name with a… spear? It was hard to tell because it was incredibly poorly drawn, like a preschool crayon doodle with red marker. Based on the style of the mane on the doodle and the chosen color… Dash had to guess it was drawn by Blaze.
She lifted her hoof to knock, but hesitated. She would have probably broken the door down with how heavy her initial wind up was to knock. She took a deep breath and calmed down. Silver probably wasn’t even in his room. It didn’t hurt to check though.
Dash knocked gently, three times on the door.
No response.
She looked back and forth at the empty halls of the third floor before trying again.
“Silver?” she said his name as she knocked a little harder.
Still no response.
She could see it now, Silver was probably down in the gym, just having finished up some sudden business he had to attend to, and was wondering with of her which side of her plot to punt to give her the best arc towards that pot of gold.
One more time wouldn’t hurt.
“Silver are you in th—” as she knocked three more times, a little harder again… the door opened slightly, but not because somepony had opened it, because the door wasn’t locked, and apparently not even closed far enough to latch it.
Dash froze as she saw it happen. If the door wasn’t locked that meant somepony was inside. Silver didn’t strike her as one to forget about locking his door.
Then her ears stood up.
She heard something inside.
It sounded like… grunting… groaning… and…
Pain…
Dash pushed the door open as quickly as she could. She took one step inside, looked down at the floor… and gasped.
Art by: Foxenawolf
“SILVER?!?!” she yelled out in horror.
Silver was sprawled out on his stomach, on the floor beside his bed. The sheets and blanket from the bed were tangled with his lower body. He was unscathed with absolutely no sign that he had come to harm… but his face was wrought with pain and he was reaching his arm out towards two bottles of pills that lay on the floor, one of which was open and its contents spilled out of his reach.
“Rgh… ah…” Silver cringed and his body shook as he kept grabbing for the pills, but they a were good half an arm’s length out of his reach.
Dash galloped towards him, skidding to a stop and crouching down.
“Silver?! SILVER!” she called his name. Silver looked up and forced on of his eyes open.
“D…Dash? Ergh…” he groaned, cringed and slammed his eye shut as his hoof kept reaching and grasping for the pills. Dash quickly realized what he was trying to do, reached over and picked up the bottle that hadn’t spilled. She looked at the label, but all she saw was medical jargon she couldn’t make heads or tails of. All she knew was that Silver was in pain, and apparently this was supposed to help. She reached the pills towards him.
“Here!” she exclaimed as Silver forced his eye open again.
“N…no!” he swiped his hoof out and knocked the bottle out of Dash’s hoof before his arm fell back down and he groaned while panting. “The other… first!” he said as he flopped over on his back, revealing that his other hoof was pressed over his heart.
Dash frantically looked towards the pills spilled out on the floor. She had no time to gather them all back up into the bottle.
“How many?!” she turned and asked.
“Th…three!” Silver choked as his heavy breathing barely left enough air in his lungs to speak.
Without a word, Dash scooped up three of the pills and crouched down beside Silver.
“Help me… sit up…” his voice rasped. Dash obeyed quickly, holding the three pills in her right hoof as she used her left hoof to untangle his legs from his bed sheets and then slipped the arm under his back. Slowly, they worked together until he was sitting up, and as soon as he was up, Silver snatched the pills from Dash’s hoof, shoved them in his mouth, and forcefully swallowed them dry.
Dash shifted so she could keep him propped up, staring at the hoof that Silver had covering his heart as he shook and panted. Dash didn’t know what to say or do, both confused and absolutely terrified.
What… did she just see?
She sat there, supporting Silver for a few more minutes, and watched as he slowly stopped shaking, his breathing slowed to normal, and he removed his hoof from over his chest.
“Ugh…” Silver groaned lightly. He winced and inhaled sharply as he moved his arm back down, his arm moving in a very static, painful way. “Great…” Silver sighed as he glanced at Dash, meeting her concerned eyes. “I didn’t want… anypony to see that…” he grunted in frustration followed by another groan and forcing his arm around his stomach.
“Silver… what…” Dash looked at the pills that were still spilled on the floor. “What is all this?”
“Other pills first, so I can actually move, dammit…” Silver shakily pointed to the bottle he had swatted out of Dash’s hoof. It had rolled all the way towards the open door.
Dash was ready to obey without question, but she was holding him up. Silver quickly realized that.
“The bed, just prop me up there…” he said with a strange tone. Dash wasn’t sure how to describe it, but then again, Silver had his own way of expressing many different emotions. The closest one she could think of as she helped move him over was…
Shame…
“Rgh… ow, ow, argh…” Silver kept flinching as Dash helped him move and prop him up against the bed. He clearly wouldn’t have been able to move at all without Dash’s help… and perhaps that’s where the shame was coming from. He was unable to move on his own, at least in this moment. Dash had never experienced such a thing before, and for one with as much pride and resolve as Silver, it had to be a crippling feeling.
With Silver propped up comfortably, Dash stood up, keeping her eyes on Silver for the first few steps as she walked over and grabbed the other bottle of pills.
“Close that goddamn door while you’re at it too…” he ordered. Dash paused and glanced at him. He didn’t say it again. He was tipping his head back, breathing steadily and covered in sweat, but he had one eye opened part-way and was looking towards her with it. Dash nodded and gently closed the door, making sure it clicked before turning and walking back towards Silver with the other bottle.
Without a word, Silver forced his arm up and grabbed the bottle from Dash before she could ask anything. He groaned in pain as he reached his other hoof around and tried to open the pills, but his hoof kept slipping.
“Rgh…” he grunted as he tried and failed to open the bottle again and again. Dash wanted to reach and grab it from him, but after how hurt he sounded about being assisted, she wanted him to at least try. “Damn!” he cursed as the pill bottle slipped from both of his hooves and clattered on the floor.
“Here…” Dash reached down and grabbed the bottle. Silver’s hoof shot out and tried to stop her arm, but he winced heavily as it touched her arm. “Silver… relax,” she said while gently placing a hoof on his shoulder. “Let me help you… please,” she asked, feeling that getting his permission would help him feel like he was at least a little bit in control.
Silver let his arm fall back down as he stared at Dash with half open eyes. His body was still jittering… but was it from pain or more shame?
“Two pills… with some water…” he instructed her.
“Water…?” Dash looked around the room and spotted a half full bottle of water sitting on Silver’s dresser.
She stood up and made her way towards it, picking up the water… but as she did her eyes landed on a picture frame.
There were three ponies in the photo… a white earth pony mare with a long brown mane that looked about as old as Silver and two younger ponies, a light grey earth stallion with a short silver mane and a white unicorn mare with a curly mane that had silver and brown streaks in it, both looked to be about Dash’s age, probably a year or two younger.
“Any… damn… day now… sweetheart…” Silver suddenly spoke up painfully. Dash snapped from her thoughts and looked towards Silver, cracking a small smile as she moved back towards him. Even in such a state, Silver still had his usual sarcastic mannerisms.
“Sorry…” Dash apologized as she walked back over and sat down beside Silver. She placed the water bottle on the floor as she opened the pill bottle and took out two pills. They were much larger than the first. She could see why he wanted water with them. She handed him the pills before unscrewing the cap from the water bottle and handing it to him too.
Silver popped the pills into his mouth and started bringing the bottle to his lips, but he grunted in pain halfway. Dash quickly reached up and helped him tip the bottle up. The water poured into Silver’s mouth, a few stray trickles of water escaping down his jaw, to his chin, and dripping down his neck.
“Ahhhhh!” Silver exhaled as he downed the whole bottle and let it fall beside him, the plastic bottle clattering to the floor as he took several deep breaths.
Silver breathed a heavy sigh of relief as he slowly turned his head towards Dash. She was staring directly at him with an expression he knew well… and she knew he knew well.
“I’m not getting out this one without an explanation, am I?” he said with an annoyed huff.
“No… you aren’t,” Dash said, adding a slightly stern tone to her voice. She wanted it to be abundantly clear to Silver that what she just saw was incredibly worrying.
“Fine…” Silver sighed. “It’s gonna take a good twenty minutes or so for the second pills to kick in anyway… rgh…” he grunted in discomfort as he tried to shift himself to be slightly more upright. Dash let him handle it himself, waiting eagerly to hear about the well-being of her teacher. “Dash… My body is broken,” he began, followed by a very long pause. “In all honesty I should have retired at least five years ago… maybe even more. At least if I wanted to avoid…this,” he glanced at Dash, then down at the pill bottles sitting on the floor. “I’m being kept together with painkillers, joint relievers, heart medication, and god knows what, I think duct tape is on the list somewhere. There’s a reason my body cracks and pops so much, I’m not doing it on purpose,” he said while shaking his head.
“Painkillers…” Dash repeated out loud. “Heart medication? S…Silver?” Dash felt the air leave her lungs. She looked around, her eyes landing on an open cabinet with multiple bottles of pills of many different sizes.
“Most pegasi start to lose their flight speed and finesse around the age of thirty five,” Silver continued. “And if they keep it up after that, it doesn’t last very long. Misty has been holding up quite well, I’m gonna guess she still has a few years left in her. Me? My body might as well be eighty years old,” he shook his head. “I’m dedicated to the Wonderbolts. Always have, always will be. But there’s one thing about them I have never liked, and that’s the fact that they value flight ability over experience. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in service… once you start falling behind the younger bolts… you have to retire. It’s been a rule upheld since the Wonderbolts were conceived. It’s upheld with the intention of keeping the most youthful and quick flyers at all times. I’m willing to respect all of our traditions, but I refuse to go down without fighting it,” he said with a frustrated grunt.
Dash didn’t know what to say, she just stared at her mentor as he continued.
“Every morning it gets harder and harder to get out of bed, and if I don’t take my medications before eight o’clock, bad things start to happen. If the pain and soreness is bad enough, my body can’t handle it. My heart is already wrecked from years upon years of pushing myself to the limit, so the panic of not being able to move sometimes gives me minor… heart attacks,” he said while looking away from Dash. “But… I have no choice,” he turned and fixed his eyes on Dash. “The only reason I’m still flying with all you kids is because I push myself to the limits of pain and beyond every single day. Hell, that’s the only reason I’ve ever been a Wonderbolt at all… I’ve never had talent… I was never gifted or special. All I ever had was my unwavering will and desire to succeed, pushing myself as hard as I could every day to be the best I could be. I earned my rank though blood, sweat, tears, and backbreaking hard work. Anything less was not good enough… and even though that has caused my body to physically deteriorate I press onward… because if I give anything less on any given day… It won’t be long before Spitfire calls me to her office to discuss retirement. I’m not letting that happen.”
“You…” Dash spoke up, catching Silver’s attention. “You’ve been willingly harming yourself?”
“Heh!” Silver snickered and shook his head, his body twitching lightly in pain as he laughed. “Willingly? You bet your ass. That and… taking measures to make sure nopony knows what I go through,” he took a deep breath. “You’re the first pony to see me… well, slip up. I purposely stay in bed until Wave leaves every morning so he doesn’t see how many of these pills I take, and should I not make it to the cabinet… well, it takes me a while but I get there eventually. The pain never bothered me, all that matters is I cheat my fate as a Wonderbolt.”
“Silver!” Dash exclaimed as she stood up. “That’s reckless! What if I didn’t show up just now?” she said, visibly angry and concerned.
“I’ve gone for longer like that,” he said with a light scoff. “Same thing happened the morning after Soarin beat me senseless during your recruit training. It took me two hours after I rolled out of bed to reach my medicine cabinet from my bed that morning. I even woke up two hours earlier and ordered Wave to do some early morning surprise training to get him out of the room. I was really sucking it up for the next few days. I manage,” he said in a manner that was disgustingly casual to Dash. “And that’s not all I do,” he smirked. “I’ve lied to Bliss about how I feel. I’ve even snuck into her office after physicals to change what’s on my medical reports. Went to doctors out in Canterlot to get medications and paid them extra to keep quiet,” he watched as Dash’s expression became more and more alarmed as he went on. “I do what I must, Dash. Not even the post workout treatments and Bliss’ famous deep tissue torture massages help me. I have to seek my own means to staying in one piece.”
“That’s… that’s…” Dash found herself nearly overrun with worry. Silver… the invincible old veteran… was really just the opposite? He really just sucked it up? Sure his body creaked and popped often, but it was for a horrible, HORRIBLE reason! Silver was willing to put himself through so much pain? “Why? Silver, you could die…” she said loosely. Not quite sure where to go after that, the only thing on her mind was the fact that Silver put his life at such heavy risk.
“Dash…” Silver looked at her seriously. “Sit down for a moment and listen to me,” he ordered. His tone made her freeze. The current nature of his voice mixed with the stern glare was something she had learned never to fight or question. She said nothing else and gave no more protest. She sat right down and listened like he asked.
“Becoming a Wonderbolt is one of the most difficult achievements for a pegasus… no… a pony to achieve in all of Equestria. The selection process is harsher than any school or organization. It’s an achievement that defines a lifetime, and when it ends… it’s heartbreaking. Ponies sacrifice everything to train themselves beyond perfection for a chance at unimaginable greatness for a few years of their life. Some try so hard and never make it, but those that do have only do because they devote their lives to the effort. Once retired… they have nothing left, nowhere to go, and nothing to turn to. They are always welcome, and have their legacies… but nothing can measure up to the honor and glory that comes with being a part of these ranks,” Silver looked down at the floor.
“I watched… every single one of my friends get forced out as they could no longer keep up with the younger bolts… and I was there after each farewell party, as the Wonderbolt retiring sat... surrounded by friends as they collapsed in despair. Even the hardened ponies that I had never seen shed a tear. ‘Where do I go?’ ‘What do I do?’ hearing these words from ponies I loved, trusted, and looked up to as they cried was like a dagger to the chest each time. They had everything they could ever need, Wonderbolt retirement benefits, cash stored up from years of great paychecks… but it never mattered because they could no longer be what they worked so hard for… what they trained for, what they LIVED for.”
Dash’s ears flopped down as Silver told the story with a hardened, unwavering expression. Silver had had to watch his friends be run out one by one… she could only imagine what it would feel like if she were to see it happen to her new friends. One of which she might be saying goodbye to in five years with this system… What would happen to Little Star after that? What about the rest of them?
“Seeing it so many times slowly crushed me on the inside… and… I refused to let the system take me down as it had to the others…If anything to remain and honor them as one of only two left in their generation,” Silver explained as he kept his eyes locked on Dash. “Have I gone to extremes? Maybe… but every night I climb into bed with only one desire. That I can wake up and be a Wonderbolt again for just one more day,” he took his eyes off of Dash and looked straight up. “Some dreams are worth risking everything for, Dash… but I’m sure that’s something you already understand well.”
Dash looked down at her hooves.
Some dreams are worth risking everything for…
She couldn’t agree more. That was basically a the philosophy that had gotten her this far.
But…
Dash glanced up towards his dresser. Her eyes landed on the framed photo she saw earlier.
Dash found herself in a rare spot. That is… possibly disagreeing with Silver.
“Risking everything…” Dash stood up and walked over to the dresser. Silver watched her as she moved, his ears flopping down as Dash grabbed the picture frame. “I know what you mean, sir… but…” she sat back down next to him and held out the picture frame. “Is this your family?” she asked as she looked between him and the picture. The two younger ponies, the earth pony and the unicorn looked like a mix of Silver’s and the older mare’s traits. Silver sighed as he reached up and took the picture from Dash, holding it down in front of him and looking it over.
“My wife, Serenity,” he pointed to the older earth mare before moving his hoof towards the younger unicorn mare. “My daughter, Magic Touch,” and then he pointed at the earth stallion. “My son, Piston,” he named them all off, staring at the picture for another moment before handing it back to Dash. “You don’t even have to say it, I know exactly what you’re thinking,” he said.
Dash looked up from the picture and blinked.
“What an old selfish bastard…” Silver chuckled “Still pursuing his dreams and pushing himself to the brink of falling apart when he has a family that loves and cares about him, who is just as unaware as everypony else about the condition I’m in,” he looked into Dash’s eyes.
Dash bit her bottom lip. She didn’t want to admit that Silver read her mind. That was the first thing she thought, as much as she felt ashamed for it.
“I’d agree with you if I didn’t know my family well…” Silver said with a light chuckle. “They may not know how badly beaten up I am, but they do know that I do what I do with pride… and that it’s my passion. I represent them as much as I represent the Wonderbolts… I would never let them down. Even if I were to fall apart or die in the line of duty, they would know that I went down doing what I love… and with them always on my mind. I’ve been married to my wife for a long time, Dash… and I’ve raised two children who are now as old as you, both making their own way in the world now. I’ve been their father. I’ve given them everything I could, and I’m proud of what they’ve both done with it. All I have left is my duty to the Wonderbolts, and the support my wife and children give me. It’s not something I’m going to let go of easily… and believe me, they know that well.”
Dash wanted to protest. She wanted to tell him that was wrong and his family was more important than being a Wonderbolt… but for some reason she couldn’t. She had a hard time disagreeing with Silver ever… and if he claimed his family was supportive of him, she’d believe it. Even if he was going to extremes without them knowing.
“Dash, I want you to promise me not to tell anypony what you saw here,” Silver suddenly requested. Dash’s eyes snapped to his.
“But—” she got no farther as she met Silver’s stern glare again.
“Dash… PROMISE me,” he repeated harshly, but Dash didn’t want to.
“Silver, I… can’t. I understand everything you are saying, but this more than just the Wonderbolts, it’s your life—”
“My life is the Wonderbolts,” Silver huffed.
“NO IT ISN’T!” Dash pounded a hoof on the ground, making Silver’s eyes widen a little. “You said it yourself! You’re broken, and you’re only causing yourself pain! You’re killing yourself, and you expect me to just let it go? I… just…” Dash lost where she was going. She know it sounded selfish, she was trying to decide for him what was best, but she had no control over that. The thought of Silver putting himself through so much pain was almost too much to bear.
What was the big deal anyway? Why was she getting so passionate about this? She pushed herself to the limit and passed all the time, Soarin did the same. For some reason the thought of Silver doing so was different. As if she were a daughter fretting over a reckless father.
She looked down and squinted her eyes shut. Nothing she could say would change his mind. Silver was too stubborn. He had already pushed himself this far through the pain, there was no way he was going to stop now. And despite how worried she was for him… it’s not like she wanted him to retire, she was just worried for his well-being.
“Rainbow Dash…” Silver said her name, getting her to look up. “I appreciate your concern for me, but I’ve made my choice… I made it a long time ago. I will keep going,” Silver suddenly grunted as he tipped forward, removing his back from the bedside, and putting his front hooves on the ground. “I will… always stand back up,” Silver cringed as he slowly stood on all four hooves and rose up from the ground. He took a few deep breaths as Dash got up and looked him over to make sure he wasn’t going to fall. “If there was one thing I learned from Blizzard Strike, it was how to never quit... to never lie down and accept fate… even if everything weighed against me. If they want me out of the Wonderbolts they’ll have to drag me out by the limp limbs of my dead corpse,” Silver chuckled. “My body might be broken, Dash…” he exhaled through his nose as he forced his arm up and patted his hoof against his chest. “But Silver Lining… is unbreakable. Don't you ever forget that.”
Dash looked upon her mentor as he stood firmly in place despite how he struggled to remain upright. The pain was definitely still searing through his body, but he ignored it, pushed it aside as an afterthought. Dash had never found such a weak and worn image more… inspiring. Silver was willing to do so much… and put himself in the way of physical pain and harm… if he could but be a Wonderbolt for a little longer. It was something he willingly struggled for day, after day, after day.
What a crazy, old… magnificent stallion.
“You should rest, don’t worry about training,” Dash suddenly tried to convince him as she stepped towards him. She stopped and her eyes widened as Silver glared at her harshly.
“Excuse me?” Silver growled at her. “Did I just hear you say ‘don’t worry about training?’” he asked. Dash blinked.
“Uh…” she looked back and forth, yelping as Silver pressed his nose against hers.
“If you think this is getting you out of today’s training session, I oughtta break my hoof off in your ass and call it a howdy-do! Get your ass to the gym! AH!” Silver stumbled after one step. Luckily, Dash reached out and caught him before he could faceplant.
Silver looked to Dash with a scrunched, frustrated face with his ears folded back as Dash smirked and lifted an eyebrow at him.
“Maybe we should wait a few more minutes,” Silver grumbled as Dash helped him stand back up straight.
A thought suddenly occurred to Dash as she helped him and stole another glance at the photo of Silver’s family.
He had no pegasus children.
He expressed his pride in his family, and how he raised them like a good father would, but Dash knew well from her own dad, that nothing fulfilled a father more than passing on their skills and knowledge to their children. Dash didn’t doubt for a second that Silver gave his children everything he could… but at the same time he was never able to pass on his true legacy to any of them.
“Now hear me out… Forget our rank and designation… and forget the Wonderbolts. I’m going to level with you as one pegasus to another. You have more potential than any recruit I’ve seen in my twenty-four years of service… I feel it is my duty… to leave something behind before I’m forced from rank. Therefore, I’m going to teach you everything I know.”
Silver said it himself right before their very first training session began. He wanted to pass on his knowledge to her.
Just like how she seemed to look upon him as a daughter would a father, he looked upon her as a father would a daughter.
Something about that made her feel very… incredibly happy.
“Alright…” Silver stood up and looked like he was managing a little better. “Pain pills are finally kicking in, let’s go,” he said very flatly and started towards the door. He was holding himself better, but his steps were still a little shaky. Dash trotted towards him and leaned into his side, helping him balance out. He turned, clearly ready to shoo her off, but he stopped and looked back forward.
Dash was glad he remembered. He tried fighting her on helping him once before and it didn’t work. He knew it wasn’t going to work now either.
“We should get you some breakfast first, the mess hall is still open,” Dash suggested since Silver had been struggling in his room all morning. Silver blinked and flattened his brow.
“We don’t have time for that,” Silver grunted.
“I’m not letting you start your day busted AND on an empty stomach,” Dash poked him in the ribs. He held his breath for a moment. It was a gentle poke, but his nerves were still tender from the pain. “We’re getting you food,” Dash repeated.
“No, we’re no—”
“Yes we are,” Dash cut him off while looking at him sternly. Silver scrunched his face and released a low pitched, frustrated nicker from the back of his throat.
“Fine, I’m hungry anyway…” he huffed.
Dash grinned from ear to ear, shaking her head lightly as she led Silver out the door.
---To Be Continued---
Oh man... Silver... Just how far will you go to keep doing what you love? 
You reckless, reckless old stallion... but who are we to deny a pony with such unbreakable ambition?
Looks like Soarin and Dash have taken one look at this new connection between them and said: "Give us your best shot" It's not like they haven't been through worse already 
Oh Squad Foxtrot... y u so much fun to write? 
Storm, what's with the secrets? And why won't you accept that you've done something amazing? How many times are you gonna ask Soarin if you're worthy? Hopefully no more after this, Soarin laid it pretty thick to him here 
Silver's turning more and more into Dash's Wonderbolt Daddy, isn't he? Now she knows his secret to remaining in the Wonderbolt's for so long... she's willing to keep his secret, but it doesn't mean she's going to like it. Wonder if she'll be able to keep it down? Even from Soarin?
A chapter stepping away from the current conflict for more very important character development... Are things slowing down a bit?
The Wonderbolts better hope they don't get TOO relaxed in the current calm after their little conflict... who knows what could happen if they let their guard down 
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed! 
(The next chapter will be featuring the first piece of art from my third artist, look forward to some silly, fun, cartoony art! 
)
Stats
Page generated in 0.091 seconds
Total duration
1,073 users online
2,253,643 hits today, 2,571,732 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
brb reading rn
that is one tough old Pegasi.
Lol exactly on time!
Now, it's time to read, and then, comment how amazing it is!
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm baaaaaaccccccccckkkkkkkkk! Well great chapter as usual! Loved getting more info on Silver and seeing how he truly feels. Oh but what about this "strategic meeting"?
Congrats on getting featured!
Wow. First of all, so many feels. I love it. Thanks for showing a bit more about Rainbow's and Silvers relation. Finally LUNA!!!! This is going to bite you on your royal rump if you don't start getting all your friends to talk. You are about to do the same mistake Spitfire did.
Alright, lots of awesomeness in this chapter and I'm really glad.
But we all know something . . . Something is gonna go down.
I'm just waiting for it to happen.
Or . . . Maybe I'll just kick back and enjoy more shenanigans?
Silver reminds me so much of my grandpa. Life has been tough for my grandfather, but he keeps on going. 65 years old and still gets up every day at 6 am to work all day doing his passion, training dogs as he's done for the past 40 years. Not so bad for a guy with prosthetic hooks for hands.
Whoa, I didn't know that pegasi have the shortest lifespan in the Wonderverse. Silver... he's like a drill sargeant when you first meet him, but now, he's just an old stallion just hanging on with his will to live. That's just... badass.
When I read Silver's dialogue, I immediately thnk of Soldier from TF2. Sure, he's crazy for staying even though he's becoming too old to stay, but it's the craziness that I love about this guy! Without the rocket launchers, of course.
I once heard that writing is more lifelike if the writer draws in from life experience. Also, I'm looking forward to more Twister.
LOVE
amazing as always!
Also congrats on making front page of site!
:-D
What if... Twister encounters Lightning in the manner he handles Squall?..
Oh. My. God.
..........
THE FEELS!!!!!!!!!!! ERMAGAWD!!!!!!!!!
I CRIED SO FUCKING HARD!!!!!!!! I STILL AM!!!!!!!! WHY DO YOU DO DIS TO MEH?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? 
Oh, my God. Seriously, dude, I can't stop the tears. It's "Tanks for the Memories" all over again. For me, anyways. Except Tank has been replaced by a hardcore, hard-assed, hardheaded, old, broken, unbreakable, Wonderbolt Daddy with Rainbow Dash as the young, worry-warted, fretting Wonderbolt Daddy's Filly who doesn't want her Daddy to hurt himself. Dude. Genius.
And come on, Storm! Have a little pride in yourself! Just don't turn into Rapidfire. That would be bad news. For everypony. Its kinda funny 'cause the Rapidfire in my universe is a good guy and whenever I read the other two prequels to this story I always find myself thinking, "what the fuck are you doing, man?!" And then I remember I'm not in my universe.
Like I said, you never disappoint! Sure, there weren't any answers, and I'm assuming that because Princess Damn Luna wasn't fucking available again, but this was some damn good shit! Bruh! I NEED MOOAAARRRR!!!!! I always do.
I'm hoping for a new chapter soon! 
wow... the feels, man.....
warrior tears. and THIS NEEDS MOOOOOORE
Go Silver Go... but please just sit this day out... and rest... please? You need rest, not more.
This chapter makes me sad, I just have a deep feeling that something bad is awaiting for one of our beloved characters.
Sliver, why?!? Why u do this to ur self?
if silver lining dies I will cry myself to death. Also don't worry storm! The wonder bolts will help. I feel as though storm and thunder lane have the same jealousy, and that dash is their "dark mirror" also I can't get over sliver
I I i I CANT HANDLE THE FEELS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*hatch slams open* THE BREAD CRUMBS! THEY ARE EVERYWHERE!! I SEE CLEARLY NOW!!
AHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!
...Sorry, just spent a few hours staring at code. It'll do that to you.
SO! For the primary Shadowbolt theory that I've been developing, we now have motivation and means for a retired Wonderbolt to join the Shadowbolts. This new knowledge about pegasi physiology just makes sense with why a Wonderbolt would join the Shadowbolts. It would also explain why, on average, our elite Shadowbolts are older.
Storm's father is also quite clearly a Shadowbolt. No questions at this point. I'll eat a parasprite if I'm wrong.
MOAR!!!!!
The moment I see this when on break And start reading.
gets to the part when dash walks into silvers room
suddenly whistles. I run out and see other guard going thru the motions of a rescue. boss runs by and tells me to help clear the pool and pool deck. I get everyone out of the pool atrium blah blah blah ems arived blah blah blah dude had a stroke by the diving boards.
Calm Wind, I am so much a fan of your writing...
I love Silver Lining so much! Your wonderbolts are super fantastic. 
Looking forward to more!
5930027
Where on earth are you going to find a parasprite?
5930232 Twister will provide one.
Ohmygod... Calm Wind, you have just made my day (and inspired me). That Silver Lining part was sensational!
My good sir, you are a true master with words.
PS: This just might be my new favorite chapter.
Twi also approves of this chapter
media.giphy.com/media/3OYlXjMjL1BCM/giphy.gif
iambrony.steeph.tp-radio.de/mlp/gif/174132__UNOPT__twilight-sparkle_animated.gif
5929997
Like he said his days as a Wonderbolt are numbered he knows it every pony who knows does. Like he told Dash the Wonderbolts are his life. To be kicked from the ranks and forced into retirement simply because one can't keep up with the rest? It would be better to commit suicide than to be subtly told that you're no longer of any value and all the sacrifices you made for the team were all for naught simply because of your age.
You'd think the Wonderbolts would have some of those too old to perform serve in a behind the scenes role such as a trainer or advisor since it's seems to be a big waste just to throw away all that experience like garbage.
Silver, I salute you sir. When his retirement party does come, should bring Pinkie in to set it up.
Somehow I thought of this:
Rainbow Dash-The fearless leader.
Squall-The tough martial artist.
Twister-The unpredictable wild card.
Little Star-The fierce little pony.
Matteo-The courageous griffon.
5930244
Enough said, hope you don't choke.
First off, good stuff, buth come on!!!! Stop teasing Little Star and Squall. Just have them make out already. PLZZZZZ
Also at this point Silver Lining may need to die in battle so that he can enter Valhalla.
5930457
I don't intend to, as I shall have an accordion playing as I eat, and I shall chew well.
5930291 Unfortunately, I don't think Pinkie Pie does that kind of gathering. It's a common motif in these kinds of stories with this kind of character (Obi-Wan in Star Wars IV, Dumbledore in Harry Potter, etc), and Silver said himself:
....This don't look too good...
I also get the impression that Silver Lining shares the same mentality that Bruce Wayne from Batman Beyond would in a similar situation...
In other words:
Before I write my comment on this chapter I want to say this:
This morning I saw your blog post about this chapter coming, and when I saw it I was SOOOOOOOOO Excited! But then I realised I had to go to Basketball. Right then. So I didn't get to read this chapter until now...
This was incredible! When I saw the picture of Silver Lining that was incredibly drawn, I will admit, a worse thought came to my head, but I am so glad that wasn't the case... But I still can't believe Silvers condition!
I realised a couple weeks ago, that if any character here were to leave, I'd be really sad... You write all of your characters so well, that when I'm watching/reading other fan fiction or the show, I actually believe that this is how they're supposed to act, but then I realise, canon and fiction are different. But to be honest, I think you should write at least one episode. Maybe one day you could! THAT'D BE AMAZING! YAY!
Yay! New chapter
and poor Silver 
strategic meeting? 
Yay! New chapter, I really like this chapter. Wow I never thought about how Silver kept up with the others, that was unexpected. And I suddenly thought about Thunderlane, when Silver explaned that he had never something special that stood out, but that he just works hard.
1) That was so sad, I can't believe Silver Lining is that close to death
2) That was the best chapter I have read, like eva
3) I fell asleep 10 mins before you updated, coz over here in Britain it was 1o'clock in the morning when you put up the next chapter
As blunt as ever huh silver?
Storm clam down I'm sure you'll learn the sonic blast off
probably notStorms father is getting a little suspicious
How did lightning streak not break his face?
Squad foxtrot……you're the best
I still can't believe soar and dashie connected by spirit if u told that to them before the tornado incident I'm sure they'd scoff
soarin mostly at falling in loveOh my gosh da feels y u do dis
When I saw the pic of silver lying on da ground my heart stopped
We get to see silvers family (photo) YAAY no wonder they aren't wonderbolts
I feel the more we get into da story the more silver's becoming my fav wonderbolt
Can't wait to see what u have in store for us next
5930869
We'll need a pair of shovels, the Liber Mortuum, some candles, chalk and a hammer or mace.
Oh and a crowbar.
omg if siver dies, i will find you and i will kill you
make no mistake silver means the world to me
didn't pinkie do this exact thing only with soarin
he he I love silver (everybody else "no shit"
)
Awesome chapter, as always.
But you know what I like most about your stories?They are really, truly inspiring, something not many fictions are.
I had to say that after reading this adorable chapter, but now i guess all the action will come, huh?
Luna, come on, you ain't fooling anypody!
I have officially watched too much "how i met your mother" cause this sounds weird to me.
(if you've seen it, you know what i mean
)
Wow, that was a lot of character development... I like
. But serious writing ability aside, let's all appreciate that image of twister... That is one of the most majestic things I have ever seen in my life
.
Anyway great chapter, some feels happend during that ordeal with silver. And as usual my favourite character shows my favourite character flaw, hyper-humbleness (yes I have a favourite character flaw, DON'T JUDGE ME!).
In general great chapter!
P.s. IN NEED MORE MISTYxFIRE SHIPPING! So your mission if you choose to accept it is to give me my fix before the story ends
.
I see what you did there! I SEE WHATCHU DID THERE!
5930953
He is already dead?
Great the only pony to blame then is Celestia and Luna, but we need them for the story
*le sigh* I'll go put my dagger awayfor now...
That's so cute! Dash and silver like daughter like farther! Amazingly awesome!!! Oh! And I forgot to ask last time! Does soarin know about dashs fear of lightning?
AWESOME chapter though!! 
the start of this reminds me of trying to wake up my girlfriend the other morning... didn't work quite as well as it did here
...
How does Lightning streak still have a face
??? How is it even possible 
??? How is his face not the gym's floor's face 
???
You're going to kill Silver off now aren't you
... Either at the end of Part three with Dash seeking vengeance through Part four, or at some point in Part four 
... I will be surprised if you don't after that 
...
Having said that, what a tough bugger he is... I just hope his family really does understand like he says
5931151
He'll be a hundred years in the ground sometime in June or July.
5930525 Funny thing when I was reading the chapter someone outside decided to make a makeshift accordeon concert at 6am. yes I didn't sleep all night waiting for chapter... at least I finally got to read TiNQHIW
5930972 I knew someone would post that video... the first one I mean.
That's cos Lil' Squall has come out to play!
Only adding to my theory Storm's dad is one of the Shadowbolts.
That's it! No mail for her for the next two months!
Well now... I think Dash needs to look in the Wonderbolt's records to find where Silver's home is... cos I don't think his family know the full story. He's probably told a bit, but not everything.
5931438 couldn't help my self
THAT WAS AMAZING. Silver best pony.