• Published 26th Apr 2015
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Wonderbolt Trials and Tribulations - White Comet



Rainbow Dash finally gets the opportunity of a lifetime; a chance to join the Wonderbolts and fulfill her lifelong dream. She presumes that from this point on, it'll be smooth sailing. She was wrong...

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Chapter 24

Dash landed at the entrance to the Wonderbolts HQ. She felt pumped. She felt ready to do whatever it takes to beat her fifteen competitors. She felt prepared. Everything seemed to be going according to plan.

She pushed through the doors, taking in the familiar sight of the half-cloud building around her. Nice and cold, it always seemed to be a little on the cooler side in the building. Probably because it helped everypony cool off after training.

What caught her eye though was Spitfire in her dress uniform sitting on one of the benches. What was she doing here?

Dash immediately straightened up and marched over to where she was sitting. "Trainee Rainbow Dash reporting Ma'am!" She spoke professionally, raising her hoof to her forehead in a salute.

Spitfire seemed undisturbed from the papers she was filling in on her clipboard. "At east Rainbow Dash," she replied calmly, batting a hoof at Dash. "We haven't started yet."

"Oh...Sorry," Dash replied, dropping her hoof down. 'Smooth…'

"But since you're here early, sign this form," Spitfire told her, presenting her clipboard and pen to her.

Dash took the clipboard and looked over the form as she took the pen. This was a lot of reading, but she was just skimming through it to make sure this wasn't a test. If this were her first day, she would've just signed right away. But her training had taught her to be more vigilant.

Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, she quickly put a few squiggles in the box at the bottom and returned it to Spitfire.

"Thanks," Spitfire replied, "How did you enjoy your time out in Canterlot with my sister and the others?"

Dash suddenly froze as Dash bought up the subject. Spitfire wasn't meant to know about that. Who would've told her? Wave Chill was the only pony that sort of had a problem with her being there, and even then he wasn't overly objective about it.

But another thing also caught her off guard. Was Spitfire making small talk? It sounded innocent enough, but after all the subtleties she had been put through over the training, she had a nagging feeling in the back of her mind telling her she was being judged from her words and actions.

"Uhh...it was fun," Dash answered back. "I enjoyed myself."

"Good," Spitfire replied while still concentrating on the forms she was filling in for the other ponies.

Dash stood there in silence, trying to comprehend what Spitifre was up to. She was quickly searching for possible questions and answers, but Spitfire didn't seem to be too quick in continuing the conversa--

"Well don't just stand there, you can take a seat you know Dash." Spitfire quickly advised, tilting her head towards the empty side of the bench.

"Oh...sure," Dash quickly walked around to the other side of the bench, dropping her saddlebags at her hooves before sitting herself down.

"It's alright to be nervous. But remember, Wonderbolts are meant to be leaders. And leaders don't show it." Spitfire advised.

Dash nodded, "I'll remember that" she replied.

Spitfire didn't respond, but Dash was sure it was deliberate.

The room was silent, but Spitfire's presence made their air feel thick for Dash. She just couldn't get it out of her head that she was up to something. She felt awkward, just sitting where she was next to her. She didn't want to say anything as Spitfire didn't seem particularly talkative at the moment. She just sat in silence and prayed somepony else would appear soon.

Soon enough, she heard the doors being opened. She turned her head to see another pony walk through. Unfortunately, it wasn't somepony she was looking forward to meeting.

Thunder Flash walked through and trotted up to Spitfire. "Good morning Ma'am, I'm here for--"

"Signature at the bottom," Spitfire quickly butted in, shoving the clipboard up at Thunder's face.

Thunder remained calm and took the pen, quickly squiggling at the bottom of the sheet. Spitfire moved the signed form to the bottom of the pile.

Thunder took a space on the row behind Dash, seeming like she was deliberately moving away from here. Probably for the better. Did their final warning carry over to now? Dash wasn't sure, but she certainly wasn't going to test it if she could help it.

Finally, somepony that Dash did recognise came through the door. Dahlia walked in with a smile on her face and trotted up to Spitfire. "Hey Captain, I'm here--"

"Sign in the box," Spitfire cut her off, presenting the clipboard.

Dahlia raised an eyebrow. "O...kay," Dahlia quickly signed her name at the bottom before trotting around, taking the space next to Dash. "Long time no see, stranger. How have you been?"

Dash went for a hoofbump, but Dahlia leaned right in for a hug. She chuffed, "I've been good," she replied, returning to hug. "What have you been up to?"

Dahlia withdrew the hug and sighed, "Relaxing mostly. This Wonderbolt stuff takes a lot out of you."

"Same here," Dash replied, "I got to catch up with my friends, and that's all I really did." She explained, vaguely. She left out the part about her going drinking with some Wonderbolts in Canterlot, but it was probably wise to keep that a secret for now. Although Spitfire knew about it. Would she call her out on it? Dash hoped not. Although from what she's seen this morning, Spitfire didn't seem to be in that sort of mood.

The other ponies that would be joining them didn't take much longer to arrive. White Comet and Bright Skies joined them, and they spent a bit of time catching up. But it was short lived as Dash saw Spitfire trotting towards the middle of the room in front of them.

"Alright, everypony!" She bellowed, getting everypony to look in her direction. "Welcome back to your final week. But before we start, I just wanted to say that you're all very capable pegasi to make it this far. To that extent, you now meet the requirements for a reserve commander. So consider yourselves to have that title as of now. However, while you're here, that stands for nothing. Because the eight of you here this week are here to decide which three of you will officially get the honour of being able to call yourself a Wonderbolt. We've got some admin things to sort out this morning, but the testing will begin from after lunch. Remember, there will be no more formal training. You will be assessed and judged on everything you do from this point onwards. Now let's get this over with. Follow me to your room."

Dash picked her saddlebags up and over her back while beginning to walk in Spitfire's direction. Spitfire didn't mention anything she wasn't expecting, so far so good.

Everypony remained silent as they walked down the corridor following Spitfire. They walked right to the end of the hall before Spitfire stopped and turned around.

"This will be your room for the final week," She motioned with her hoof at the door. "Since there's eight of you, keeping you all in one room makes things easier for everypony. Now, when you go in, you will find a bed with your name on it. On that bed will be your new uniforms, made to the dimensions we previously took of you. So I hope none of you have overindulged during your time off."

Spitfire's remark got a few snickers out of some ponies.

"Put on your dress uniform then head to the location on there. I'll be waiting." Spitfire said no more and spun around, walking off.

One of the other ponies opened the door up and kept it open using one of his hind hooves as he walked through. Dash followed him through, taking the door from him and repeating the action for the next pony.

She walked up the room until she finally saw a bed with Rainbow Dash written on a plaque on the end of it. She was right at the far end of the room on the right. She smiled as she trotted up to it to see her uniform. She let her saddlebags drop to the floor as she leant in to examine it. It was still in its protective plastic.

As she extended her hooves out to touch it, she saw herself shaking. Not much, but noticeably. Was she nervous? Maybe a little, but she felt more excited. Her very own uniform. And it was official. There was even a flightsuit there too. So she wouldn't have to put up with the horrible ones they kept around ever again.

Dash slowly unpacked and unfolded it. It was almost perfect. She immediately noticed that it lacked the rank insignia on the shoulders, and also the wings emblem on the collar. Presumably, something that she would have to earn. Made sense. The navy blue of the jacket looked like a blank canvas, awaiting a few medals to make their way onto it.

Dash went ahead and threw it on, gliding the white shirt around her forelegs. It had been a while since she'd tied a tie, but she managed to get the hang of it with a bit of trial and error. She then pulled the jacket on and did the buttons up, a perfect fit.

Brushing the suit down, she took a few steps towards a big mirror at the end of the room, just to look at herself. There she was. In the Wonderbolts HQ. Wearing a Wonderbolts dress uniform. It was almost too good to be true. She couldn't help but laugh at the goofy grin she had plastered on her face in the mirror.

While she could stand there all day admiring herself, she knew that Spitfire would be expecting them to follow the orders for their assigned task.

She heard a few conversations as she headed for the door, but nopony tried to get her attention. Although it did make her think what the atmosphere would be like in this room for the next week. Up to this point, everypony had been mostly friendly. But now they were competing for a place that not everypony could take. Only time would tell how that would affect everypony's thoughts…

She made her way over to the main hall where Spitfire had told them to meet, hearing a few hoofsteps following behind her. Inside she found Spitfire patiently waiting for them. She simply saluted as she had been trained to do so and went along the room to make room for her teammates.

They all lined up along the wall at the back of the room. Some following procedure and saluting, some just walking in. But nothing was said about it. Dash couldn't help but think maybe she was trying too hard, but in her mind, it was better to be safe than sorry at this stage.

Spitfire walked over to her but stopped about a pony's length before her. Dash simply stared straight ahead. Spitfire looked her up and down, then slowly trotted along the line of ponies. "Glad to see everything fit perfectly," she commented, stopping about halfway down.

"Now, onto our next matter. For the remainder of your time here, we will be assigning somepony from our ranks to personally tutor you. To help guide you," Spitfire stated, walking back towards the back of the room where a blackboard hung on the wall behind a desk. She picked up her clipboard and looked down at it. "I'm going to start reading names and who your tutor will be. When I do, walk up to our offices to find them. Don't be nervous, they'll be expecting you."

Not waiting for a response, Spitfire glanced down at her clipboard. "Thunder Flash?"

"Ma'am?"

Dash only glanced her eyes over towards her briefly, keeping her head perfectly straight.

"Your tutor will be Rapidfire. And he hates tardiness, so go find him." Spitfire ordered.

"Yes, ma'am!" Thunder responded and trotted towards the door.

Dash did her best to suppress a smile, but she was unable to contain it all the way. The corners of her lips twitched when she saw the grimace that Thunder attempted to hide. Rapidfire would be brutal on her, and everypony knew it. Dash was glad it wasn't her, but it was only fitting that her major rival was now stuck with him.

Dash listened to the other pegasi being assigned their tutors. But no one had got Soarin yet. She was beginning to wonder if Spitfire had saved him for her? Nah, she wouldn't be that evil to put them in that awkward situation. Did she even know that much? Or if she did, would she do it intentionally? Or as a challenge to see if they could keep things professional between them? So many possibilities, but Dash did her best not to think about them.

"Rainbow Dash," Spitfire spoke.

"Ma'am?" Dash stepped forward.

"Blaze, go," Spitfire quickly ordered, churning through the list.

Dash blinked, "Yes, ma'am!" she swallowed her hesitation and trotted out the door.

Well, she didn't get Soarin as her tutor at all. And that was a good thing in her mind, it meant less awkwardness getting in the way. But would Blaze be any better? Dash had seen the way she acted when she went out with them, and she was sure there would be questions. Only one way to find out.

She walked along the upper hallway with the offices of the Wonderbolts lined up along their sides. She trotted past Soarin's, which is where she would typically stop. She was tempted to stop by to say hi, but her brain told her otherwise.

She stopped outside the door with Blaze's name written on the top of it. She took a deep breath and knocked firmly on the door.

"Enter," Blaze's voice called from beyond the door.

Dash entered through with pace, closing the door behind her and stopping just short of her desk. "Candidate Rainbow Dash reporting as ordered, Ma'am!" Dash spoke aloud, raising her hoof in a salute.

Blaze's ears twitched as Dash spoke, "You come with a volume control Dash?"

Dash blinked at Blaze's sarcasm, causing her to lose focus and stare at her.

Blaze chuffed, "At ease. Take a seat," she motioned with her hoof.

"Yes ma'am," Dash remained in character but relaxed a bit. Pulling one of the chairs back and sitting down on it.

Blaze leant over her desk and placed her forehooves together, keeping a straight face and looking Dash in the eye. "How are you feeling?" She asked.

"I'm...good," Dash replied, surprisingly hesitantly.

"Good," Blaze replied monotonously "Feeling confident?"

"As ever," Dash replied, shooting a grin and a nod back at Blaze.

"That's more like it," Blaze acknowledged, a half-smile forming on her face. "You've got some tough competition now. You've all been friends up to now. Tell me, how do you think that relationship will progress going forward?"

"Well…" Dash was a little thrown off by the questions. Given how she's saw Blaze in the past, she seemed like a completely different pony with the Wonderbolts uniform on. The questions weren't entirely unusual, but the way they were worded wasn't very Blaze-like. "I think only time will tell. I know I've got some tough competition here."

"You do," Blaze replied, "Bright Skies, White Comet, Dahlia. All competent fliers. And then there's the three you probably haven't spoken to much. Live Wire, Forester, Bourbon. Have you even spoken to them at all?"

"Not much," Dash replied, "Only a little bit. I can usually hear Live Wire coming a mile away though," She said, chuckling slightly.

"Yeah, he's got a few screws loose," Blaze replied, rotating her right wrist. "But in a way, that can make him better sometimes. He doesn't see risk. He doesn't hesitate. He doesn't think. He just does."

Dash just sat and listened to Blaze. She had obviously been observing all of them more closely than she knew. Dash couldn't say anything about all these ponies. She wasn't sure how many they started out with, but it was definitely way more than one hundred. How Blaze had kept track of that from the get-go was insane.

Blaze chuffed, "I understand you probably haven't been keeping tabs on everypony. And as your tutor from now, it's my job to bring you up to speed."

"R...right…" Dash nodded, sort of understanding what Blaze was getting at.

"Now, Bourbon may be a trash-talker, but he's got the skills to back it up. Don't take anything he says as empty threats. Same goes for Forester but in the opposite way. While he's quite a reserved stallion, he'll pull skills out of nowhere sometimes." Blaze trailed off, then chuffed again. "And I'm sure you're familiar with Thunder Flash."

"Too familiar," Dash added.

"She seems like the kind of pony that will do anything to win. But then again, so do you," she nodded at Dash. "May the best mare win, I guess."

"I'll win," Dash replied confidently.

"That's what I like to hear," Blaze smiled and nodded. "Now, the way this tutoring system works is that I will be available anytime to guide you. Obviously, I can't do it for you, nor can I hand it to you on a plate, but I can help to guide you and point you in the right direction. So if there's anything, and I mean anything, come and find me. Got it?"

"Got it," Dash replied, smiling and nodded.

"Good," Blaze replied, then sighed. "Glad that's out of the way. Is there anything you immediately would like to ask me?"

"Uhh…" Dash thought for a moment, but nothing immediately sprung to mind. "Not right now. But I'll think of something."

"I'm sure," Blaze replied. "But I do have something I want to ask you if I may?"

"Uh, sure. What is it?" Dash asked.

Blaze glanced to her left and right, before looking back at Dash then smiling. "Did you and Soarin have fun that night?" She asked, a cheeky grin crossing her face.

"W-what?" Dash stuttered, wholly taken off by the question.

"Did you go all the way or did you just...ya know, fiddle around with each other?" She made some hoof gestures to symbolise what she was implying.

"Umm…" Dash's ear flopped down as she felt her cheeks burning. She wasn't expecting the conversation to take a swing in this direction at all…

"C' mon, you can tell me, we're both mares here," Blaze added, bouncing her eyebrows at her.

"Well…" Dash swallowed, recollecting the events. "We kissed…"

"Yeah…" Blaze hurried her along.

"And...then we went to sleep." Dash finished off.

"Pfft," Blaze rolled her eyes. "Nice try, I bet you two were…" She trailed off as she saw the genuine look in Dash's eyes. "Really? That's it?"

Dash nervously nodded.

"Well, that wasn't very juicy," Blaze huffed, crossing her forelegs, "Why can't you just fuck already?"

"Eeep," Dash couldn't help but feel her wings extend with a fast pomf.

Blaze snorted at Dash's expense. Dash just wanted to melt through the cloud floor and into non-existence. Luckily it was just her and Blaze exchanging her...activities...anypony else she might have just died.

"Alright recruit, I've embarrassed you enough. On your hooves," Blaze ordered, a neutral expression suddenly returning to her face.

"Y-yes Ma'am," Dash responded, standing up from her chair.

"It was good to talk to you recruit Dash. As I said, feel free to find me if you need anything. You're dismissed." Blaze run down.

"Thank you, Ma'am," Dash replied, saluting before turning and walking out of the door. But not before checking her wings had retracted themselves, and she looked a little less flustered.

She waited to hear the click of the door closing behind her before she released a gasp for air. Blaze's sudden change of tone caught her off guard way more than it should have. But it made it very difficult for Dash to process. Which Rainbow Dash did she prefer? The regular Rainbow Dash, or the very professional Wonderbolt material Rainbow Dash? She would have to work that one out soon…

Her train of thought was interrupted when she felt a wing wrap around her barrel. "Eep," a squeak escaped her lips as she was dragged through a door, the door being closed behind her to leave her in almost complete darkness.

"Guess who?"

Dash sighed, "A cleaning room? So romantic…" She replied sarcastically.

"Well I thought you might appreciate the privacy," Soarin replied, chuckling.

"That depends, what did you have in mind?" Dash asked.

"I just wanted to talk...possibly the last time for a while. I think we should avoid meeting each other as much as we can until the end. Just in case we get caught. You and me are pretty much known with the rest of the 'Bolts now, and I don't wanna arouse suspicion."

Dash slowly took in what he was saying. As disappointed as she was, she couldn't deny that he was absolutely spot on. "I don't like it...but you're right…"

"Plus I don't want to do anything that might affect my own credibility. It's already borderline if I'll get away with rooting for you without raising any eyebrows."

Dash nodded, taking in everything he said. All his points were valid. But she smiled as another idea formed in her head. "So...if we're not gonna hang out for a while--"

It appeared Soarin had the exact same idea. Before Dash could even finish speaking, she felt her lips being caressed by his in a long passionate kiss. She was determined to make the kiss last as long as she could. Nopony could see them, or think to look here. She suppressed a moan to keep it quiet. She wrapped her forelegs around Soarin as their tongues met.

The kiss lasted for several more moments before she eventually backed off. She couldn't see him very well due to the poor lighting, but she knew she was looking into his eyes. She felt the tips of their noses touch, feeling his breath against her face.

"Hope that keeps you going," Soarin broke the silence.

"You bet I'm coming back for more after that," Dash replied with a smile, brushing a hoof through his mane.

"Great...now you go first," He replied, slightly pushing the door open to let a slither of light through.

Dash slowly pushed it open and tipped her head between the gap, making sure that there was nopony to spot her.

"Good luck," Soarin whispered to her as she pushed the door open, confirming nopony was around.

Dash walked straight down the corridor, taking long powerful strides to imply she was walking somewhere meaningful. She didn't look back, only hearing the door to the cleaning room click shut as Soarin left. Soarin was right, she had to concentrate. She wanted nothing more than to be able to spend all the time she could with him, but now wasn't the time for it. She had to concentrate on her task ahead. And if it meant abstaining herself from him, then so be it. Besides, it would only make the reward that much sweeter...

Author's Note:

And suddenly, a new chapter!

Looks like Soarin's taking a better safe than sorry approach. Good thing Dash wholeheartedly agrees. As she said so herself, it would only make the reward much more satisfying.

Oh Blaze, you shouldn't go embarrassing your candidates like that! :rainbowlaugh:

Sorry that this chapter is a little short. It's been a while since I've last updated, and I at least wanted to get something out.

On that subject, sorry for the 3 months of...nothingness...I've been extremely busy. And for once, busy with good things!

That being said, I haven't been doing nothing for 3 months. In the spare time I did get, I wrote down a plan for the remainder of the story. This makes it a little easier for me to focus, and hopefully means I can churn the chapters out to you guys quicker!

Thanks for reading! :twilightsmile: (again, I'm sorry it's a little underwhelming for a 3 month wait, but I promise the next chapter will be longer. And will be out soon!)

(oh hey, where have we heard that one before? :rainbowlaugh: )