Dreams and Nightmares

by UndercoverBrony

Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Opportunity Knocks Google docs

The sun hung high in the clear blue sky above the Manehattan Pegadrome, cleared by the combined efforts of the entire city's weather team. Today was the day of the world famous All Equestria Pegasus Spectacular, and the stands were packed to bursting with excited spectators from all around, eager to catch a glimpse of the greatest fliers in Equestria. Throughout the day, they had been entertained by many talented ponies, but in truth everything up to this point had all been but a warm-up for the final event, the climax that everypony had been waiting for.

The crowd was almost silent, with only a hushed murmuring of excitement betraying their anticipation. The announcer's voice boomed out from the loudspeaker system: “Fillies and gentlecolts! I am proud to introduce our final act for this festival, and let me assure you that we have been saving the very best for the very last! Please, stamp your hooves for the incredible... the astounding... the unstoppable... Wonderbolts!”

At this cue, a pounding rock beat sounded out through the speakers, and everypony stared up into the sky, each hoping to be the first to catch a glimpse of their heroes. “Look!” A young filly yelled out, pointing up towards the sun, and suddenly thousands of eyes were squinting at it. Sure enough, emerging from the light was a dark shape... no... six dark shapes flying in such close formation that they looked like a single entity. They dived down towards the stands with dark clouds of smoke streaking out behind them. The cheers from the crowd were deafening now, almost drowning out the amplified music.

Just a moment before they would have crashed into the crowd, the ponies turned and split into two groups, skimming so low and fast above the spectators that many a mane-style was ruined by the wind in their wake. Once they had cleared the end of the stands, they arced back up skywards, then turned to charge towards each other, spreading out slightly to allow the two halves of the team to pass through each other when they met.

However, two of the ponies in the centre of the group must have been flying just ever so slightly too close and, as they crossed, for a split second two wing-tips met. At such high speeds even this minor collision sent them spiralling out of control. One corrected in time and recovered from her tumble, shooting upwards into the sky. But the other was not so fortunate. Despite his best efforts to perform an emergency stop, he ploughed into the ground, carving a trail of disturbed earth behind him as he slid. He finally came to a halt when he smashed, head-first, into a pie seller's stall.

A shocked gasp rose up from the crowd, and then silence. Most could only look on in disbelief, while the closest ponies leapt from the grandstands and charged towards the stricken pegasus in the hopes of offering whatever aid they could provide...

---

“I'm alright, doc, really,” insisted Soarin for what seemed like the thousandth time. His costume had been removed- well, torn off actually so that the doctors could see the extent of his injuries. Angry red scratches marred his chest and legs, souvenirs of his long slide across the ground, and a bandage was wrapped tightly around the top of his head. “It wasn't as bad as it looked. I'd scrubbed most of my speed by the time I hit the ground, and the slide took the majority of the energy out of what was left.”

He was lying on a hospital bed in the Pegadrome medical centre. It was a bare, white, clinical place, as might be expected from such a facility. Fortunately, nopony else was injured during the day, so after the initial chaos of medical staff fussing all around him subsided he was left almost alone. Only one doctor remained, examining every inch of his body for even the slightest bit of damage.

“With all due respect Soarin,” said the doctor, “only one pony in this room is a qualified doctor, so I'll be the one who decides whether you're alright or not, okay?” Doctor Diligent was an old, experienced pegasus, and the personal physician for the Wonderbolts. His mane and coat were both grey, although Soarin never thought it polite to ask whether this was his natural colouring or due to his advanced years. On his flank sat the image of a bone saw, more evidence of his age since such implements were rarely used nowadays. Nopony ever felt inclined to ask how he came by it.

It was that moment that Spitfire chose to burst in, her eyes full of worry for her fallen team-mate. “Soarin!” She dashed to his bedside. “I'm so sorry, it's all my fault, I was too close and-”

Soarin interrupted her by gently placing his hoof across her mouth. “Don't you go worrying yourself about that. It was just as much my fault as yours, these things happen.”

“All too often, recently...” muttered Doctor Diligent under his breath. It was true enough. In recent months there had been several accidents, although this was the first to happen in an actual show rather than just in training. Nopony had been seriously hurt, but the doctor seemed to be getting increasingly worried and, lately, irritated by the number of injuries. “I've told you before; you're taking too many risks.”

Spitfire sighed. They'd been having this argument all too often over the last few months. “We aren't doing anything different. It's just a run of bad luck, is all. What's important is that Soarin is okay.” She paused. “Er... you are okay right?”

“For Princess Celestia's birthday celebration, you mean?” interrupted Diligent before Soarin had a chance to answer. “I can count, you know. With all the recent accidents, you've burnt through your entire supply of reserves.”

“It's not a problem, Spitfire,” Soarin reassured her, flapping his wings to lift himself into the air. “See? I didn't hurt my wings at all. I can fly just fine.”

“No!” the doctor yelled, as he dragged Soarin back down to the bed. “What did I just tell you? I'm the doctor here! You had a serious accident and hit your head hard. It's impossible to know what internal damage there could be! If you were to have another accident now then it could aggravate the injury and cause you serious, lasting damage! You are officially grounded for the next fortnight!”

“Now hang on a minute th-” Spitfire started to protest, but Diligent cut her off.

“Oh, no. Don't you try to argue with me on this one. I've caved in enough times to your pressure, but now I've had enough. Soarin is not flying at Celestia's party and that is final.” His face was grim, and Spitfire could tell that there was no point in arguing with him.

There was a brief pause, then his expression seemed to somehow grow even more determined, as he reached a further decision. “In fact, if there are ANY more injuries before Soarin is recovered, even as much as one tiny splinter, then Celestia help me I will ground the whole bucking lot of you! Permanently!”

That was unexpected. For a moment the two Wonderbolts could only stare at him in shock, their mouths agape. While they had had disagreements in the past, this was the first time that he'd ever dropped an ultimatum like that on them.

Spitfire was the first to recover the power of speech. “You... you can't do that...”

“I can and I will,” snapped the doctor. “I have the authority to ground you for medical reasons. Since you seem to all have some sort of death wish, I think insanity should be reason enough to do that!” There was another pause, and he seemed to recover some of his composure. “Look... maybe you think that if you want to risk your necks then that's your own problem. But I am responsible for your safety. Don't think this is just about you, either. It was a miracle that nopony else was hurt today- just imagine if you'd managed to crash into the spectators!” He shook his head. “Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a report to write on this incident before tonight.” With that, he left the pair alone.

For a while, they just sat there in silence, their spirits broken. Soarin spoke first. “So... I guess that means it'll just be the five of you at the celebration then... There's no way we can train someone in all our routines in just a week!” It was true. Finding a pony skilled enough in such a short space of time would be hard enough, let alone training them.

Unless... unless that pony already knew all the Wonderbolts moves. Spitfire grinned as she remembered a certain pegasus who had not only displayed great flying skills, but also an in-depth knowledge of everything Wonderbolt-related. She wouldn't put it past her to have already memorised all their routines... “Oh, I don't know about that Soarin. I've still got a trick or two up my sleeve...”

---

It was the following morning in Ponyville, and Rainbow Dash was busy with her usual morning routine: having a lie-in. A knock at the door woke her from her doze. Suddenly she was fully alert- it wasn't often that anypony came up to visit her. Only Fluttershy could reach, and she wasn't one for dropping by unannounced. Oh, and Pinkie occasionally, using some contraption or other to pull herself up off the ground.

However when she opened the door, it wasn't Fluttershy or Pinkie waiting for her. “Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoooooosh!” She squealed with glee as she recognised her hero, Spitfire, waiting outside her door.

This is just like one of my dreams, she thought. Wait... maybe this is one of my dreams. She slapped herself across her face with her hoof. Nope... not asleep. She winced. That had hurt.

“Er...” Spitfire was temporarily at a loss for words, as one might expect somepony to react when the pony they were trying to talk to started attacking themselves for no apparent reason. “Hello, Rainbow Dash. Nice to... see you again.” She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts and get back to her original reason for being there. “Listen, I need your help.”

“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!” I must be dreaming! Rainbow readied her hoof again for another slap, but Spitfire saw it coming and grabbed her leg before she could go through with it.

“Please, Rainbow, the last thing I need right now is another injured pegasus. Can I trust you not to punch yourself again?” Rainbow nodded, and Spitfire released her hoof. “Now, Soarin has been hurt and...”

“Oh no! Is he alright?” Dash gasped, her concern for one of her idols momentarily granting her the power of somewhat coherent speech. In her head though, thoughts were racing. Could this really be going the way that I think it's going? She hardly dared to believe that it could be true. She bit her lip, waiting in eager anticipation to hear what Spitfire would say next.

“Don't worry, Rainbow; he's going to be fine. But he's out of action for a couple of weeks and we have a big performance coming up for Celestia's birthday celebration, so I was wondering if you would be interested in stepping in and-”

That was it; she couldn't hold it in any longer. “This is so totally awesome!” She was beaming from ear to ear- her dreams really were coming true! This is totally the BEST DAY EVER!

Wait... what if Spitfire thinks I'm happy about Soarin getting injured? She'll take it all back and I'll never get another chance! “Er... not about Soarin that is. Well, except that if he hadn't got injured you wouldn't be asking me to join the Wonderbolts!” Wait... did Spitfire actually say that? She'd never actually said that! “You... you are asking me to join, right?”

“Well...” Spitfire paused, looking a little sheepish.

Rainbow was aghast- I've read it all wrong! I wasn't being invited to join at all, and now I've made a complete foal of myself!

“It's not a permanent position. Not yet. For now it's just a one night deal, I can't make you any promises beyond that.”

Aw, hay, I'll take that. “Thank-you! Thank-you! Thank-you! Thank-you! Thank-you!” She embraced Spitfire rather more tightly than the other pegasus looked comfortable with.

She gently pushed Rainbow away. “Now, we've got less than a week before the performance, so I'm going to need you to work hard to learn our routines. Am I right in thinking that you already know our moves?”

Rainbow nodded eagerly. “I practice them every day already! Well... as well as you can on your own, anyway.”

“Okay, that's good,” said Spitfire. “But doing a trick on your own is one thing; it's totally different if you're flying in formation with other ponies. For the first couple of days we'll work on just me and you flying together, then for the remainder of the week the rest of the team will come down and we can practice in full formation. Ponyville is as good a place to practice as any, and it might help you if you're somewhere familiar. Now, let's start wi-”

A new voice from down below on the ground interrupted Spitfire in mid-flow. “Rainbow? Are you awake up there? Can you come down? I need to talk to you!”

“That's Twilight,” explained Dash. “Oooh! I've got to tell her! Just... stay up here and don't let her see you! I'll be right back!” Stay cool Dash, stay cool. She wasn't quite sure how she was going to break the news. It's not like there's anything bad about it that needs careful handling, of course, but somehow it would just feel anticlimactic to just come out and say it.

She fluttered nonchalantly down towards the ground, attempting to appear as if nothing was out of the ordinary. However, for Rainbow, 'fluttering' and 'nonchalant' were hardly normal behaviour, so Twilight already looked slightly suspicious that something odd was going on. “Well hello there Twilight, nice day we're having today, isn't it?” Yep, nothing suspicious about that at all.

“Yes, I guess it is.” Twilight narrowed her gaze at her friend. “Of course, it was supposed to be raining today, according to the weather schedule. Not that I'm complaining; I'm on important business and frankly I was worried I was going to get soaked. Applejack won't be very happy if her trees don't get some water though.”

“Oh, sorry. I was... busy.” Busy getting recruited by the Wonderbolts!

“Busy napping, you mean?” Twilight sighed. “Well, as long as we get some rain at some point today, I guess it's not really a problem.”

Rainbow shook her head. “Sorry, Twi, I'm kinda busy all day. All week in fact.” Busy training with the Wonderbolts!

Another frustrated sigh from Twilight. “Well, anyway. That isn't actually why I'm here. I'm here to give you this...” She reached into her saddle bags and pulled out a small envelope with her magic. It was edged with gold, and marked with the royal seal. “It came through this morning via Spikemail. Princess Celestia has invited all of us to her birthday celebration this weekend!”

“Oh... sorry Twi, I don't think I'll be able to go with you guys.” Rainbow feigned disappointment. She would of course be going, just not with Twilight and the others. “I'm going to be... busy.” Busy performing with the Wonderbolts!

“What?” Twilight stared at her friend in disbelief. Dash felt a pang of guilt- she couldn't stand letting ponies down, even when she had a good reason. “What could be more important than the Princess's birthday? Can't you see that this invitation is in her own hornwriting? It's addressed to you personally! Is this about the Gala? Don't worry; it's not going to be anything like that! We'll all be together, you'll see! It'll be fun!” When Dash didn't seem to respond to that, Twilight played what she presumably thought was her trump card. “The Wonderbolts will be there...”

“You bet we will be!” All of a sudden Dash was right up in Twilight's face, grinning wildly.

“Oh... good.” Twilight appeared rather shocked at Dash's sudden change of heart, apparently not immediately noticing what Dash was telling her. “We... as in you and us or... as in you... and the... Wonder...”

“Whad'ya mean me and the Wonderbolts?” Rainbow was really enjoying the confusion all over Twilight's face. It wasn't often that she got to outfox the bookworm. “I am a Wonderbolt!”

“You... you got into the Wonderbolts!?” Realisation finally dawned, and Twilight was smiling along with Rainbow now, overjoyed at her friend's success. “Oh that's great news! So what you're saying is that you can't come with us... because you'll be up there performing?”

“Yep!”

“And you won't be able to do the weather patrol this week because you'll be so busy practising?”

“Yep!”

“And that's why you didn't make it rain today as well!”

“Y-” She paused. “Er... well actually no, I really was just busy napping until like five minutes ago actually...”

“Oh.” Twilight's grin vanished. “Let me guess, you're too busy to fix that now?”

“Sorry Twi, I really am,” Rainbow admitted. “It's only a few days until the celebration, and I've got a lot of training to do. You know I don't like to leave Ponyville in the lurch but... it's kinda my big break you know? I have to impress the others so that they'll take me on permanently. The other pegasi should be able to cover my weather duties; I just haven't had time to ask anypony yet.”

“It's alright Rainbow, I understand. You helped me make my big break yourself, remember? Although neither of us knew it at the time. I'll talk to the mayor and get her to reassign another pegasus to do the weather this week.”

“Oh, and can you let everypony else know as well? I'd love to dash round and see the looks on their faces myself- yours was priceless by the way- but I think Spitfire wanted to get started with the practice as soon as possible.”

“Sure thing, Dash.” Twilight nodded. “Good luck! I mean... break a leg! Or a wing I guess...”

“Save that for the performance itself!” Dash laughed. “I don't think you're supposed to say that just for practice! Later!” She rushed up back to her cloud home, eager to get back to her Wonderbolting. “Sorry that took so long, but I just had to let somepony know.”

“It's alright Rainbow, being a Wonderbolt isn't all about work 24/7, you can take five minutes to talk to a friend, you know. Especially about something as important as this.” Spitfire lowered her goggles, grinning at Dash. “That said... playtime's over. You ready to fly?”

“Always!” Dash dropped into her ready position. This is actually happening! Training with the Wonderbolts... well, a Wonderbolt anyway. Wait... I was right the first time! There are TWO Wonderbolts here right now! “We gonna race?”

“No, Dash.” Spitfire shook her head. “That's not what the Wonderbolts are about. You need to learn how to fly in formation, remember? So just stick close and follow my lead.” Spitfire leapt into the air and shot off.

“Aw yeah!” Dash dashed off in pursuit, glad to see that she could easily keep pace with Spitfire. Not that I'm not the fastest flier in all Equestria of course but... well this is Spitfire we're talking about here, the leader of the Wonderbolts! If there's anypony who can beat me at speed, it's her.

“Closer, Dash,” Spitfire instructed. Rainbow obliged, drawing alongside her on the left. “Closer.” Okay then... she halved the gap between them, it felt dangerously close now, and just a slight deviation could send the pair of them crashing into each other. “Closer.” Really? Well... nopony said being a Wonderbolt was supposed to be easy. She closed in just a little bit further, so that their wing-tips were almost touching. “Good, that's perfect.” Well it was hardly as if we could have gotten any closer than this...

She hadn't ever flown this close to another pony before. Not at this sort of speed at any rate. She could feel Spitfire's wing-beats pushing the air aside. Spitfire looked back over her shoulder- behind them were two trails, one of black, sparking smoke, the other a rainbow. “You do know how to make a smoke trail, right?” she asked.

“Of course I do...” Rainbow looked a little dejected. “It's just... rainbows are sort of my thing, you know? I mean... a trail's a trail, right?”

Spitfire sighed. “The Wonderbolts are a team. It’s not about your own personal glory. That’s why we all have the same uniform. If you want to be part of the team, then you have to follow the rules. Do you want to be part of the team?”

“Of course I do!” Dash swept her wings out, flinging more moisture from the air into her trail. The rainbow behind her vanished, replaced by a mass of dark cloud. Her ears drooped a little as she looked behind her. Relax Dash, she thought, you’re joining the Wonderbolts. No need to get upset over what kind of trail you’re leaving.

“Good work, Dash,” Spitfire encouraged her. “But there is one other thing. The Wonderbolts are all about synchronised flying. So you need to match your wing-beats to mine. When mine go up, yours go up. When they go down, yours go down. Got it?”

“Got it.” It was harder than it sounded though. The shapes and weights of the two ponies, as well as how exactly they moved their wings, were just subtly different. When Rainbow first tried to match Spitfire's beat, she found that she was actually starting to pull ahead of the other pony. Then when she slowed down to try and get back in formation, their wings fell out of step again. After a few attempts, and just as many failures, Rainbow growled with frustration. “It's no good! I just can't keep pace with you and keep in step at the same time!”

“You just need practice!” replied Spitfire. “This isn't my natural beat either, you know. I had to learn this myself once. This is the Wonderbolt beat, and every Wonderbolt has to learn it. Don't worry; all of us had this problem to begin with. Believe it or not, the hardest part of being a Wonderbolt isn't the tricks, or the speed, it's keeping in formation and keeping in time. Once you've mastered that, the rest will seem easy!”

I certainly hope so, because I'm concentrating harder now than I have on any trick ever before. Even the Sonic Rainboom had only really needed raw speed and power- this was totally different. Concentrate... concentrate... oh buck this! “This is impossible!”

“Of course it’s possible!” Spitfire laughed. “We do it all the time. Just keep practicing.”

“But... all this... trails, and flapping...” Rainbow shook her head. “When are we going to do some tricks?”

“We can’t start on tricks until you’ve got formation flying sorted.” Spitfire frowned. “What’s the matter, I thought this was supposed to be your ultimate dream?”

“It is!” protested Dash. “It’s just... I don’t know, it’s not quite what I expected...”

Spitfire snorted. “If you were expecting training to be fun then I’ve got some bad news for you. You’ll get the glory, the exhilaration, the speed and so on soon enough. But to get there you’re going to have to train hard. Being a Wonderbolt isn’t some sort of pleasure cruise. Now are you going to buckle down and put in the work, or am I going to have to find some other pony who will?”

“No!” Rainbow replied quickly. “Wait... I mean yes! Um...” She paused. “I mean, yes I’ll put in the work, and no you don’t have to find somepony else. Just... I don’t know, have you got any pointers? I mean... you’re the expert here.”

“Now that’s more like it.” Spitfire grinned. “You need to put more thought into how you move your wings. If you try to match your wing-beat to mine, you go too fast. So all you need to do is-”

A terrifying roar bellowed out from down below, interrupting Spitfire mid-sentence. “That came from the Everfree Forest...” muttered Dash, suddenly breaking formation and slowing down to a hover. “A little too close to Ponyville for my liking...”

Spitfire banked around and halted herself alongside Dash. “Lesson adjourned then I guess... if that thing's as dangerous as it sounds then protecting the town takes priority. Let's go show whatever that thing is what the Wonderbolts are made of, shall we?”

“Aw yeah!” replied Dash enthusiastically, and they shot off side by side towards the source of the noise.