Stunt Flier for Hire

by RaginCroissant

Practice Makes Perfect

Twilight approached the Cloudeseum, thankful that she had managed to get away with flying through Cloudsdale with only a few pegasi giving her a wave. She landed with the soft, recognizable thud of landing on a cloud. Taking a few seconds to gain her balance allowed her enough time to gawk at the size of the structure in front of her. Despite previous trips to Cloudsdale, she couldn’t help but marvel at the sheer size of the Cloudeseum. Twilight took a few unsteady steps toward the door, nearly falling over several times. She glared at down at the clouds near her hooves while magically opening the door in front of her.

As Twilight crossed the threshold of the door she noticed a light purple pegasus sitting at the front desk. She held her head in her hoof, her dark gray mane covering up most of her face, as she rolled a quill back and forth on the desk, clearly bored of how her day had been going. She gave a quiet sigh that was just barely heard by Twilight. The princess walked up to the desk and waited for a few seconds with an awkward grin. Receiving no response, she quietly coughed hoping to get the mare’s attention.

“How can I help you today?” She replied in monotone, still concentrated on her quill. Even Twilight was hypnotized by the quill’s periodic rolling for a few seconds. She gathered her thoughts and looked toward the pegasus sitting at the desk. Twilight noticed a Wonderbolts pin adorned on her necklace, similar to the one she had seen Spitfire give to Rainbow.

“Uh, yes. I’m here for the Wonderbolts practice. I believe Spitfire is waiting for me.” By time Twilight had explained her presence, the secretary had managed to quickly place her quill in line with a stack of papers to her left, realign the stack of papers themselves and sat there with a nervous smile. She quickly got out of her seat and walked around her desk, which allowed her enough room to bow to Twilight. A few sheets of parchment had fallen to the ground from the wind generated from the secretary’s swift movement. Twilight caught them in her magic and placed them back on the table.

“Yes, I’ll call Captain Spitfire right away, Your Highness.” The secretary said. Twilight kept a smile on her face despite the desire to grumble to herself. After rising, the pegasus returned to her desk and pulled out a small roll of parchment, which was quickly written on with a short message. Twilight stretched her neck hoping to get a glimpse of what was being written, but all she could see was the header which read ‘urgent’ in bold, capital letters. The secretary carried the message over to a small tube which sucked up the parchment from her hoof and sent it on its journey. Twilight looked at the contraption, one she was unfamiliar with.

“We should receive a response in just a bit. Oh, I’m Storm Slinger, by the way.” The secretary said, retaining her nervous tone in her speech. Twilight seemed to pay no attention as she walked up to the tube.

“What is this? I’m not familiar with it.” She got closer to inspect it, feeling a slight suction coming from the opening that Storm Slinger had sent the parchment through. Twilight heard the pegasus clear her throat as she walked next to Twilight.

“Oh, that’s just a new transport system we had installed the other day. I don’t remember what it’s called, but Pegasi are able to harness wind and run them through these pipes, which allows us to send notes to anywhere in the stadium.” Twilight continued her inspection, amazed that such a simple system allowed for much more efficient exchange of information. She looked back to the secretary.

“It must have been quite expensive to get the entire stadium filled with these. Not to mention the cost of the wind.” She again got close to the tube when an odd sound resonated from the input. She hummed to herself as her curiosity for the source of the sound rose. Her answer was found by way of a pop from the machine and a small bump against her muzzle. She noticed a piece of parchment rolling on the floor. It was rolled up with an orange tie with the Wonderbolts emblem stamped to it.

“Oh! Are you okay Princess Twilight?!” The pegasus frantically asked. She had reached over to grab a tissue, only to be stopped by Twilight pointing a hoof to her, signifying that she was fine. Twilight rubbed her muzzle to clear the slight discomfort.

“I’m fine. What does the note say?” Twilight, nasally, asked Storm. The secretary picked up the parchment and gave it a quick scan. She looked up to Twilight with a smile that she had been accustomed to seeing with other secretaries.

“Spitfire is busy at the moment with Reserves Training, but they’ve sent an assistant to direct you, Princess.” Satisfied with the response Twilight thanked the secretary for the help and took a seat at one of the available seats in the lobby. She looked around at the many pictures of famous Wonderbolts events hanging around the room. She began to feel a small sense of pride at the absence of Princess Celestia in any of the pictures. Or Princess Luna in any of the more recent photos. It was a great honor to be the first Equestrian princess to be involved in a Wonderbolts and Twilight was beginning to feel a little anxious. Before long, she heard hoofsteps enter the room. She looked toward the doorway in the back of the room as a stallion entered.

“Good morning, Princess. I’m…”

“Solar Blaze, Spitfire’s agent. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Twilight interrupted him as she rose from her seat and walked up to the confused stallion. He was slightly jarred at the idea of the princess knowing who he was, but clearing his throat gave him time to reorganize his thoughts.

“Yes. Now, if you’ll follow me, I’ll lead you to the practice field.” He turned around and began to walk with Twilight in tow. The two walked around the stadium, which the size made for quite a long journey.

“I must say, it’s quite an honor to meet you Princess Twilight.” Solar trying his best to strike up a conversation. He looked behind him to make sure Twilight was, in fact, still following him.
“I could say the same for you. It still amazes me that you were able to make Spitfire the highest paid Wonderbolt in history, in only her second year no less.” Solar couldn’t help but blush a little at the compliment.

“It’s all part of the job. Spitfire did all the work. She definitely deserved it.”

“I’ll say. The way she went on that 4 derby win streak was incredible. I’d never seen anything like that!”

“Certainly quite a feat.” Solar responded, more than happy to speak about his client. The conversation was stopped as the two arrived at a long hallway, filled with two rows of cloud statues. Twilight had a huge grin on her face as she quickly went to each and every statue, ignoring Solar’s growing impatience. He took a glance at his watch as he noticed Twilight staring up at the single, giant statue at the end of the hallway.

“I’m sorry to interrupt Princess Twilight, but if we want to make it on time, then we need to get going.” Twilight turned around and gave a sheepish smile.

“Sorry. I was just fascinated by all these statues. I’m a huge fan of Wonderbolts history.” He chuckled a bit, agreeing as he went to the right of the statue and opened a door for Twilight, which she happily trotted through.

“You know, my friend Rainbow Dash looks…”

Rainbow Dash opened up the door leading from the Reserves’ locker room and was followed by a teammate, Fly By.

“Practice sure was tough today, but it will all be worth it.” Rainbow said longingly as her teammate agreed. The two of them walked past the giant statue of General Firefly which Rainbow took notice of. “You know, ponies always told me I look just like General Firefly.” She boastfully announced while pointing to the statue.

“Hmm...I don’t see it.” Fly By responded, taking glances between Rainbow and the statue. The rainbow maned pegasus stood there shocked. Her jaw nearly dropped. It seemed like such an obvious connection. She flapped her wings and took to the air to allow for a better view.

“How about now?” The shake from her teammates head gave her a look of disappointment. “Uhh...what about the mane? Totally the same mane, right?.” When her teammate still wasn’t convinced she flew back down.

“Sorry Rainbow Dash, I just don’t see it. Maybe a little like Daring Do, but definitely not General Firefly.”

“Pffft. You’re just crazy.” Rainbow playfully punched her teammate. “Anyway, I got to get going. I have to go tell a friend she needs to see a clock smith. See ya in a few days.” The two waved to each other and left the stadium.

Twilight stood at the edge of the cloud field in the center of the stadium watching as Spitfire, Soarin and Fleetfoot flew overhead in a synchronized flight pattern. She had to brace herself from the gust of wind that threatened to knock her over. She regained her balance just in time to see the three Wonderbolts perform a flip, followed by a finishing stunt to land in front of Twilight. The purple spectator gave an enthusiastic cheer and clapped her hooves at what she had just seen.

“Thanks. But just wait until Friday.” Spitfire gave the princess a wink.

“That was fantastic! I can’t wait to see the whole performance come together.” Twilight said ecstatically. Twilight noticed a slight blush from Soarin and Fleetfoot for the approval of a princess.

“Now, there’s also the matter of what you’ll be doing.” Spitfire pointed at Twilight. “You’re confident with your flying, correct?” Twilight nodded in response.

“Yes I am Spitfire. Like I said yesterday, I’ve done some training with Rainbow Dash. I’ve learned to do a few flips and even a corkscrew. Though, that one could use a bit of practice.” Twilight swore she could still feel leaves and twigs stuck in her mane after an unfortunate encounter with a tree the previous day.

“Oh. No need to worry about anything too extreme. Once you’re announced, we only want you to fly around the stadium a few times, maybe do a flip or two before landing. Make sure to give a nice smile and wave too.” Twilight’s face fell a bit, though she still held a small smile. She looked around the giant stadium she was standing the middle of.

“Are you sure? I could learn some other tricks by Friday.” She said with an obvious hint of disappointment. The act of holding her smile was becoming much more difficult for the princess.

“I’m sure. We don’t need anything too crazy. I like your enthusiasm though, that will do wonders for the crowd on Friday.” Spitfire turned around and noticed her teammates had already taken off. “We’re excited to have you involved Princess. We’ll see you in Canterlot on Friday. 5:30.” Spitfire herself took off toward the locker room after Twilight gave a nod of understanding. When the field was clear Twilight disappointingly looked toward the ground and kicked a few clouds around with her hoof.

“Woo…” Twilight gave an unenthusiastic simulation of a stadium full of ponies cheering before taking off toward the locker room herself.

Author's Note:

I think we all learned a valuable lesson today: I need a lot of work on coming up with names, but we'll stick with what I came up with for now. If you've made it this far, thanks for reading! :D

Comments

[LordBrony2040]

This is so going to end badly...

Look Rainbow, I have almost no flying experience and now I'm a Wonderbolt! I know, you've been working for years and years just to get into a half-assed version of the group that's never going to ever perform, but I got to be in their show after just learning to do some basic tricks! Sure it's all because I'm a princess and mocks everything a team of the greatest fliers in Equestria is supposed to stand for what with them supposed to be the best of the best and all, but you don't mind, right? I mean, it's like your dream coming true for me with hardly any effort! Isn't that great?

[The Dragon Warlock]

So when are we getting to the part where Rainbow learns that Twilight got special treatment by becoming a Wonderbolt before her and then s**t going down? I can only imagine what will happen then.

[meerkat8472]

4719187 She's not exactly a Wonderbolt, by the sound of it she isn't even performing with them. She's just starting the show off by flying in and surprising everyone. It sounds like a one time thing. Also, Twilight knows Rainbow is going to take it badly, that's why she's trying to keep it secret. Although it makes you wonder why she's doing it in the first place. You'd think Rainbow's feelings would mean more to her than some one time performance.

[LordBrony2040]

4719368

I don't think she does know, or is even thinking about Rainbow's feelings on the subject.

She gave Rainbow the ticket to the show, and the short synopsis says this is all about Twilight living a dream, while the end of the last chapter shows her being disappointed she won't be allowed to show off more with a few tricks.

So far, this is being made out to be pure self-indulgence on her part made possible because of her princess status. The fact she actually gave Rainbow a ticket to the show is just rubbing salt in an open wound.

[meerkat8472]

4719420 I see your point, but she did hide the uniform from Rainbow Dash. I guess that could just be that she wanted to keep it a surprise. So yeah, I guess Twi is being a bit selfish.

[2tail]

4710004
In this chapter it looks like all she will be doing is smiling and wave. I think most flyers outside the Wonderbolts can do a few flips.
It also looks like have not been pushing her to do what the other Wonderbolts train to do. Spitfire just want her to be able to fly around smoothly and do a few flips. It looks a lot like what they do in baseball where they have a person throw the 1st pitch. They try to check that the person knows how to throw a ball (so the ball will get from point A to point B).

[khatre]

4720897
Before this chapter I was hoping for more (so was Twilight by all appearances ...) Now it looks like she will be stuck with her Princess duties. Smile and Wave ... Poor Twilight , this has got to be a serious let down for her.

on the other hand she could train extra hard when she is away from Spitfire and change the game plan when the show actually starts ... At least that is what Rainbow would do in her position ...

[Dire Wolf]

Why would Spitfire need an agent?, she's technically a soldier and the Wonderbolts part of the Royal Guard, hence the use of military ranks like Commander, Admiral, and General. So she would still receive military pay, though she might get a bonus for being the squad Captain.

[Grzyby]

“You’re confident with you’re flying, correct?”
"you're"

Other than this, continue

[RaginCroissant]

4724157 Fixed! That would have been quite embarrassing if too many people saw that. Thanks.

[Twilight Shine]

Keep up the good work

[Twilight Shine]

She glared at down at the clouds near her hooves while magically opening the door in front of her.

U repeated at again

[Twilight978]

Cool story I just can't wait for the next chapter.

[BackgroundNoise]

Spitfire is going at this the wrong way, nobody likes to feel like a gimmick. Instead of being condescending she (or another Wonderbolt) should help Twilight practice and keep her from getting too ambitious with her performance. Heck, since she's an alicorn it's probable that she could even do magic tricks while flying, which has a certain entertainment value in of itself. Just because this show is about the Wonderbolts doesn't mean you can't help someone who you personally asked to sponsor you shine too.

I mean, think about it this way, Twilight is basically doing this out of a combination of fillyish enthusiasm and the goodness of her own heart, and Spitfire is essentially using her; as if being asked to help 'the Wonderbolts'* should be consolation enough. I dunno, maybe I'm reading too far into this, but so far my initial impression of Spitfire hasn't been a good one.

*Insert sarcastic airquotes.*

[Oddboy]

4808060 Make sense, when you put it that way. I agree with everything you said.

And let's not forget that while she is an alicorn, she is also royalty. How many performers get to have a genuine princess in their show? Much less for free, at that!

I don't feel that Spitfire really appreciates the situation and how lucky she is.

[NeverKnown]

looking forward to the next chapter keep up the great work

[Black Hoof]

Looking forward to see any word from the author about this fanfic. Be it on hiatus, or maybe even cancelled so we'd at least know...