Ch. 11 Wonderbolt Trials Pt.7
“Next flyer up!” Spitfire ordered, and another mare recruit stepped up to the line, passing her routine to the C.O.
“Name?”
“Sunglow, ma’am” The pink mare crouched down and got into launch position, waiting. Spitfire scribbled down some notes before giving the order.
“Go!”
The mare who’d taunted yet failed to show up Cloudy Sky took off and put on a good show, completing five maneuvers and landing solidly back on the ground in front of their C.O.
Gallus, Firebolt and Solar Flare were impressed by the competition, realizing this was not going to be a cakewalk. They watched as three more recruits each stepped up to the starting line and put on a respectable display of flight skill, but most still got some part of their routine picked apart. Gallus watched and listened intently in order to gain insight on his own performance. An incorrect twist here, a missed roll there; he saw more clearly now in his mind how his routine of five moves would look and should feel like once he was in the air again. Finally the moment was upon one of them at last.
“Name?” Spitfire waited for the response.
“Nightflight, ma’am.” The dark blue stallion nervously dropped his paperwork as he tried to pass it to the C.O., only to bump heads with her as they both bent over to reach for it.
“D’oh!” A small burst of white light flashed in front of Nightflight’s eyes upon impact, the shock wave echoing around his skull.
“Sweet Celestia’s cutie mark, what is your malfunction, recruit?!” Spitfire shouted, rubbing her forehead fiercely.
“Nothing! Ma’am!” Nightflight answered desperately as he scooped the paperwork up as fast as he could, trying to regain some dignity in front of his peers.
“Get moving, newbie!” Spitfire’s voice went tearing through his ears, sending him on his way in an instant.
He made it cleanly through the first four maneuvers of his routine but, in his terrified excitement, overspun his corkscrew and was suddenly out of position and off-timed to go into his next planned move. Quickly he rolled to his right instead and went into a small dive, giving up on the two moves he’d originally planned there, and salvaged the routine with a single inward loop and a spin before landing back at the starting line. But that didn’t save him from Spitfire’s merciless harangue.
“That knock to your head must have scrambled your brains, newbie! You couldn’t keep count of how many times you’re supposed to spin in that particular move! You think I don’t know how many spins are supposed to be in that maneuver?”
“No, ma’am!” Nightflight stood rigidly at attention, not daring to move.
“No ma’am what? You sayin’ you can’t count or that I don’t know?!” Spitfire got right in Nightflight’s face, shouting. The other recruits watched the blue stallion simply wither under her tongue lashing.
“Yes, er, no ma’am!” Nightflight didn’t know what to say in response, confused.
“You had best get your mind straight, newbie, or I will unscrew your head and twist it clean off your neck!” Spitfire was mere inches away from Nightflight’s face, droplets of her spittle landing on his cheeks.
“Yes, ma’am!” Nightflight shouted back.
“Get out of my face, newbie! Next flyer up!” Spitfire pointed the direction out for Nightflight and he hurried away, shaken by her intensity. The next flyer up, a pale green mare, tried an exceptionally hard trick in her routine and ended up colliding with the ground and ruining her first showing.
“Recruit, you’d best square your hindquarters away and start demonstrating you know how to fly, or these trials are definitely going to mess you up!” Spitfire marked up the recruit’s information on her paperwork, making sure the next instructor knew to keep watch on her progress.
“Yes, ma’am.” The mare got to her hooves again, horribly embarrassed. She couldn’t even look at her fellow recruits as she waited for Spitfire’s next inquiry.
“Who’s your recruiter, newbie?”
“Wonderbolt Fleetfoot, ma’am,” she managed to get out in between coughing fits, still recovering from the impact and believing she’d get eliminated after this poor showing.
“Next flyer up!” Spitfire ordered as the mare plodded away, heading towards the next instructor.
Now it was Gallus’ turn to fly. Confidently, he walked right up to the starting line and passed his C.O. the routine he was ready to perform.
“Name?”
“Gallus, ma’am.” The griffon crouched down into launch position. Spitfire scribbled some notes down on her clipboard and then gave the order.
“Go!”
Gallus was off in a flash, quickly getting up to the height he needed, and went into his routine. He started off with a big power dive and then zoomed back up into a vertical corkscrew, spinning no less than six times before coming out perfectly level and flying inverted for several long seconds, then rolling easily backwards into his two inward loop-de-loops, cleanly executed. His friends were excited to watch him perform so well after so little formal training.
“He’s a natural stunt flyer. Look at his transition points; he’s hitting each one right on.” Nightflight was suitably impressed by Gallus’ steady performance, believing now more than ever that a griffon could be a Wonderbolt.
“I knew that the moment I met him. That’s why I want him as my partner for the next part of the trials.” Solar Flare was looking forward to that chance to fly with Gallus. Performing a flight routine together would demonstrate to everypony here that a griffon could fly just as well as any pony.
Gallus landed on his paws and talons right in front of Spitfire, beaming with pride. The C.O. silently made her notes on her forms and his submission.
“Head over and join the rest of the group for the next phase of the trial. Next flyer up!” Spitfire left him wondering but Gallus wasn’t going to worry. He was sure his performance was more than adequate, on par with any pony recruit. He headed away, looking back at his friends and shooting them a quick wink.
As he headed on for the next part of the trial, he spotted Professor Dash with the other Wonderbolt team members putting the new group of recruits through the first phase of the trials. He wanted to run over and tell her about his great first flight and how excited he was for getting to the next part of the trial. But she was busy doing her job and couldn’t be distracted. Gallus told himself he would try after the end of today’s workout to find her and relay what he’d experienced.
Stormbringer walked up and deliberately bumped into Solar Flare on his way to the starting line, grinning like a fool when Solar Flare scowled back at him. He handed off his form to Commander Spitfire and got into launch position.
“Name?” The pencil was poised over the clipboard, anchored tightly in the C.O. teeth.
“Stormbringer, ma’am.” He flicked his wings a few times before settling in to the take-off position.
“Go!” Spitfire ordered and Stormbringer shot straight up and went right into his routine of six aerial tricks. Solar Flare watched, in spite of his dislike of him and Wind Raider, as the pale blue pony executed a near-flawless flight and effortlessly landed in front of their C.O. with a solid thud of his hooves on the ground. Stormbringer stood tall with an expression of absolute confidence, no doubt in his mind of making a good impression with Spitfire.
“Who’s your recruiter, newbie?” Spitfire scratched more notes on her paperwork.
“Wonderbolt Blaze, ma’am.”
Spitfire finished her note taking, and pointed out the direction he needed to go with a forehoof. “Get moving and join the others to continue today’s trial.” Stormbringer saluted her.
“Yes, ma’am.” He did as ordered, heading quickly off to join the other recruits who were listening in to the next instructor’s briefing. It was just Wind Raider and Solar Flare left from this group to fly.
“Next flyer up!” Spitfire looked up to see which one of these two was going next. Neither one stepped forward. Solar Flare kept looking back to the activities field to see Silverstream still working with Cloudy Sky along with four other recruits who were trying desperately to get a last few minutes of practice time in before their flights. Spitfire grew annoyed.
“I said, next flyer up!” she barked. Wind Raider saw how concerned Solar Flare was for his friends, and thought he’d have some fun with him.
“Oh, please, by all means, do go ahead of me.” Wind Raider bowed his head to Solar Flare mockingly. Solar Flare didn’t miss the nasty smug look on Wind Raider’s face. He knew Wind Raider was just hanging back so as to give Silverstream and Cloudy Sky a hard time when they came over for their first flights. Solar Flare countered the snarky gesture.
“Oh no, not me, my good pony. You should go first, I insist.” But Spitfire didn’t have time for games.
“Look, I don’t care which one of you goes first but somepony is going now!” She rechecked her watch, aware of the time that was passing and the schedule they had to keep. Reluctantly, Solar Flare stepped up to the line, catching sight of Wind Raider’s smug smile of satisfaction out of the corner of one eye.
“Name?” Spitfire waited for the answer.
“Solar Flare, ma’am.” He got down in his launch position, focusing on the job he had to do. She wrote down some bits of information before giving him the signal.
“Go!”
The husky stallion took off and went soaring high into the air, getting into his routine straight away. His routine started with a big climb into the sky and into a power dive, building up his speed as he descended. He whooshed passed the C.O. and Wind Raider, soaring back up high into the sky and performing first a four-turn corkscrew and then moving into an easy barrel roll, turning slowly over four times in an outwards body position, arching his back all the way through the move.
Some of Wind Raider’s arrogance was tempered while watching Solar Flare’s well-planned routine of seven aerial moves. Even not wanting to give an inch of praise to Solar Flare, Wind Raider had to admit to himself that Solar Flare was a great flyer. Both of them were fairly equal in both size and weight, proving to the black-maned stallion that there was plenty of tough competition trying out for the academy.
On through his two inward loops, a twisting figure-eight and finally finishing with an ingenious back-flip in the air that landed him near-perfectly on his four hooves right in front of Commander Spitfire, his knees buckling slightly under the pressure of the landing.
He stood at attention at the end, his head high and his wings spread wide. Spitfire wrote down some more notes. “Who’s your recruiter, newbie?”
“Wonderbolt Rainbow Dash, ma’am.” Solar Flare spoke the name of his recruiter with pride, aware of the weight it carried. Spitfire scribbled down more notes, making Solar Flare wonder what the C.O. could be writing about him.
“Get going and join the others at the next part of the trial.” She didn’t look up from her clipboard.
“Yes, ma’am.” Solar Flare saluted his C.O. then headed off for the group of recruits who were listening to Wonderbolt Misty Fly giving her briefing. Another Wonderbolt came hurrying over to Spitfire and saluted, then passed along some paperwork for the C.O. to look over; it was the roster of families to attend the meet-and-greet.
“Status report, Angel Wings.”
“Ma’am, the second group of recruits are approximately halfway through their first training sessions. Wonderbolt Rainbow Dash is getting them ready for the change between training assignments. Next instructions, ma’am?” Angel Wings waited for her orders as Spitfire scribbled down more information.
“Get this back to the main office and have the front office ponies get started on it. I’ll be over to check on Dash’s groups shortly.” Spitfire wrote more down on the paperwork before handing it back to Angel Wings. “Dismissed.” She saluted her underling and Angel Wings returned the same, heading off once more.
“Reservists Sky Stinger and Vapor Trail, front and center,” Spitfire called. The duo were standing in front of her in seconds flat.
“Yes, ma’am?” Vapor Trail responded.
“Get those few stragglers in to do their first evaluations; the next group is going to need the space on the field and we’re short on time. Once you’re done here, we’ll need your help running the Dizzatron.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The duo were more than surprised by their C.O.’s remark.
She wants us to help out more? Vapor Trail wondered what could make her C.O. have need of her and Sky Stinger.
Oh, yeah! Headin’ for the big time! The big cheese needs our help to run the trials! Sky Stinger tooted his horn loudly within his head, giving himself many pats on the back for an awesome first time instructing.
Spitfire turned back to the last waiting recruit; Wind Raider. The stallion didn’t need to be told to step forward, already anticipating his C.O.’s desire to finish the trials quickly.
“Name?”
“Wind Raider, ma’am.” He got into position, crouching down with wings erect, ready for that all important first launch thrust. Spitfire added him name to the list, noting the young stallion’s fit physique and deadly serious expression.
“Go!” She sent him off. That first push launched Wind Raider quickly up into the sky and into his routine, flying effortlessly above them.
He went through the required basic moves, demonstrating he was a steady flyer. For the important part of his flight, Wind Raider went for a grand ending by soaring high into the sky and going into power dive, getting up a good head of speed.
Zoom! He went soaring past Spitfire and went into a triple set of outward loops, each progressively higher in altitude. With the last bit of energy from the third loop, flying vertically upward, he stalled out for a second, only to fall gently over backwards and straight back down with a slowly twisting corkscrew that had him leveling off briefly and exiting his routine with a forward flip, landing right in front of the C.O. It was an impressive first routine and he knew it.
Commander Spitfire kept him waiting for a few seconds before speaking, writing down some notes and rechecking his records. “It says here,” she began slowly, “you’re a legacy to the academy, correct?”
“Yes, ma’am. My brother served as a reservist.” Wind Raider held his head higher when speaking of his connection to this hallowed place.
“Retired?”
“No, ma’am,” he replied, tiny flickers of his expression revealing a sliver of inner torment at the memory of his lost brother, “he’s out on permanent reconnaissance overflights.” It was the military slang used for flyers who’d been lost in battle. Spitfire understood.
“What’s the reservist’s name, recruit?”
“Sky Chaser, ma’am.” His voice wavered slightly.
Spitfire only nodded slightly. “Very well. Best go join the others for the remainder of the trial.” She added more to her notes as Wind Raider saluted her and headed away. Sky Stinger gave a last blow on his whistle, waving at the few recruits to get their attention.
“Everypony in for their flights! Practice time is up!” The few stragglers on the field headed over to the instructors at last, now facing the moment of truth, whether they were prepared or not.
=====*****=====
“That’s it, Cloudy! You’ve got it! You’ve got it!” Silverstream clapped her talons together joyously, applauding her friend’s success at flying inverted for as long as he had. He flipped himself upright again and landed right next to the hippogriff, smiling and reaching out to embrace Silverstream in gratitude for her help. She hugged him back, glad to have helped him out.
“I did just like you said; closed my eyes and just counted to ten and I was fine the whole time! I didn’t feel nearly as dizzy. How’d you know that’d work?” He let go of her, excited that he’d figured out this sticking point in his routine.
“Oh, it’s just a little trick we seaponies use sometimes while we’re swimming. I’m discovering there’s overlap between some aspects of swimming and flying; it’s really interesting. I can’t wait to write it all up in my report when I get back to school. This has been such an amazing experience.”
Hearing more about Silverstream’s life away from here and her school was something of interest to Cloudy Sky. At mealtimes she’d talk about her friends there or some of her teachers at the school, but so little about Seaquestria or her home at Mount Aris. She was the first hippogriff he’d met and he was curious about his friend.
“Silverstream, there’s something I wanted to ask you about, and I hope you don’t mind.” Cloudy Sky felt a bit nervous asking, though he knew he shouldn’t.
“Sure, what is it?” She was all smiles.
“What’s it like being a seapony? I mean, now being a hippogriff and all. Do you miss it, the ocean I mean?”
“I was wondering if any of you were ever going to ask me about it.” She gave a small girlish laugh.
He sighed in relief. “No, I really did want to ask. We just talked so much about the trials and stuff at break times but I never got to ask you about where you’re from. From what I read in books and from Queen Twilight’s account in the newspapers, Seaquestria is one of the great wonders of our world.”
This was an unexpected and delightful distraction for her; being asked about Seaquestria rather than Mount Aris, as many of her new pony friends had queried her about.
“Well, it’s wet all the time so you don’t have to worry about taking showers.” They laughed together at her silly joke.
“I’d like to see it for myself someday; that and Griffonstone. I think it’s so cool that Gallus is here as well. I feel bad for him and the other griffons.”
That caught Silverstream’s interest. “Why would you feel bad for Gallus?”
“From what I learned in history class, back when I was in primary school, griffons were one of the original founding races of creatures of our world. The griffons had, at one time, the greatest empire in the east. Their society contributed a whole bunch to the development of math and the sciences we use today. Now there’s so little left of its past; lost to time and mostly forgotten. I read about the last griffon king, Grover, and the lost treasure of Griffonstone too. The whole country has been without any leader for so long. It just seems so tragic to me.”
She was rather moved by his concerns for griffons; it was genuine of him. “You should tell Gallus that. I’d bet he’d like to hear how much you care about his homeland. Most ponies think very little about it.” But Cloudy Sky shied away from that idea.
“I couldn’t do that. He’d probably think I was just kissing up to him or something.” He didn’t want to sound like those awful mares that’d bugged him the other day; acting like clueless idiots.
“I wouldn’t worry about that, Cloudy. I’ve known him as long as anycreature at the school has, so I’m pretty sure he could tell if you were being genuine. He’s a pretty perceptive griffon.” Silverstream was sure Gallus would like to know he had Cloudy Sky’s admiration. A whistle’s scream broke up their conversation. Both of them turned to look at where the sound was coming from and saw one of the instructors waving at them.
“Everypony in for their flight evaluation! Practice time is up!” Sky Stinger waved them in. Silverstream looked over at her pony friend.
“You ready to fly?” She hoped he was more confident now, having re-flown Cloudy Sky’s routine four more times with him and ironed out the last sticking points he needed help with. But she didn’t have to worry; he was smiling the whole time.
“Thanks to your help, I am.”
Together, they walked over to the spot where they and the remaining recruits lined up for their turn. Cloudy Sky was a little concerned seeing it was Commander Spitfire doing the evaluations and not the two instructors.
“Next flyer up!” Spitfire called out and an orange stallion strode up to the line, passing his routine along to the C.O. “Name?”
“Sunstrike, ma’am.” The stallion flipped his goggles down over his eyes and got down into launch position as Spitfire finished writing down.
“Go!” She ordered and Sunstrike took off. Silverstream and Cloudy Sky watched as Sunstrike performed a routine of five solid maneuvers and then landed back at the starting line seemingly without a flaw in his performance. Cloudy Sky tried not to feel intimidated by the other pony recruits. He had a solid routine and a great friend who’d helped him out. If he could keep his cool, it would go off like clockwork.
Spitfire wrote down her notes on this flyer’s performance, noting his time and maneuvers done.
“Who’s your recruiter, newbie?”
“Wonderbolt Thunderlane, ma’am.” She scratched down some more notes. “Get going and join the rest at the next part of the trials.” She pointed out the way to him and he eagerly got moving.
“Next flyer up!” she called out.
Cloudy Sky and Silverstream watched as three more stallions each put on an impressive display of flight skill, none of them getting more than a cursory critique of their performances. It was now down to just him and Silverstream. Before their C.O. could call out, Silverstream stepped up to the line, ready to fly, and passed to Spitfire her written out routine.
“Name?” Spitfire knew who she was but still had to go through with the formality.
“Silverstream, ma’am.” The hippogriff flicked her wings a few times, settling into her launch position and awaiting the command.
“Go!” Spitfire shouted and Silverstream took off, reaching the correct altitude quickly, and began her routine of six aerial trick moves. Cloudy Sky watched her performance; doing a wing over maneuver followed by flying inverted from a Griffish Bunt move was similar to what he had planned to do in his routine. A pair of loops, one inside and one outside, done sequentially to get her flying upright once more and then finishing off with a beautifully executed Tailslide maneuver that ended with Silverstream making a dramatic dive straight down, only to pull up at the last second to fly parallel to the ground and come to an easy stop right in front of the C.O.
“How was that, ma’am?” Silverstream couldn’t help herself asking, so eager to know if she’d shown herself to be a great flyer. But Commander Spitfire gave no clue as to how well she’d done, simply scratching down some more notes.
“Go catch up with the other recruits for the next phase of today’s trials.” Like with most of the other recruits, she didn’t bother to look up when she spoke and only pointed out the way with a wing. Silverstream saluted her but rushed back to Cloudy Sky to give him one last tight supportive hug.
“Hey, newbie! I said-”
“Give it all you’ve got, Cloudy. I believe in you.” She gave him one last bit of support before rushing off in the direction the C.O. had indicated. Spitfire was only briefly annoyed by the show. She watched as the smallish gray stallion walked up to the starting line and passed her the routine he intended to fly, a small blush on his cheeks as he got into launch position.
She took the form from the recruit, noting that it consisted of the minimum of four maneuvers, the only recruit to do so. She scribbled down some notes about him in her records, instructions for other instructors to read should this recruit get through this assignment.
“Go!” she shouted and Cloudy Sky took off, glad to get this started at last. It was now or never, and he would make his friends proud of him.
“Two… three… four…” He counted the seconds though each maneuver he did, timing himself as Silverstream had taught him to. Up and over with the smoothly done Wing Over move and he rolled his body easily to the right to fly inverted.
Don’t flap your wings! Don’t flap your wings! Resist the urge! Cloudy Sky kept his eyes shut for the whole time he flew inverted, counting in his head how many seconds to go, gliding steadily along his trajectory.
“…nineteen… twenty…” He rolled his body to the left, opening his eyes, and suddenly tensed up, realizing he had messed up the transition.
No… no… no…! He started to panic but kept his head long enough to swing his hind legs around and execute the Flat Spin move.
I goofed! I totally goofed! I rotated the wrong way out of that move! He lost track of his count, fretting when he should have been concentrating. He overspun the move with an extra revolution of his body, not technically incorrect, but he’d only planned to do four turns for his routine.
What was the count at? He tried to recall but knew it was gone. He had to rely on his instincts for the last move; the hardest move. In desperation, he started counting from the first number that popped into his head.
“Forty seven… forty eight… forty nine…” It didn’t really matter now; all he could do was hope to get it right. Down into the first part of Razzle Dazzle’s noted ‘flipty loop’ move he went, twisting his body into position for the inward loop, and then twisting once more to right himself when exiting the inner loop, to then complete the outer loop.
Cloudy Sky rotated his wings forward, catching more wind to break his speed. Like before, he had gotten the completion of the trick down and now it was all about getting the landing.
Oh please…oh please… oh please…! He flapped his wings hard, feeling the relentless pressure against his wing muscles pulling and straining, slowing him down faster then he’d ever forced them to. The ground still seemed to come rushing up to him frighteningly fast as he pumped his wings harder and extended his hind legs out from under his body, readying for the impact.
Oh-h-h-h-h-h-h-h! Cloudy Sky shut his eyes for a split second, not wanting to see the horrendous crash that was going to be his landing. His rear legs touched down with significant force, although gentler then they’d ever had in his previous attempts. He felt his body pitch forward at the impact, driving his forelegs forward and down to make contact with the ground.
His eyes flew open upon his forelegs touching down and the sensation of him now running on his forelegs as his back end was about to come up and over his head like a flip.
“Oh oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!” Cloudy Sky walked for about twenty feet on his forelegs, holding himself at an almost perfect forty-five degree body position before he snarled at himself, stiffly planted his forehooves into the dirt and stopped himself from falling forward, forcefully driving down his back half with his hind hooves finally giving a solid thud at the routine’s completion.
He was shocked to discover himself still standing upright and not in a heap on the ground like before. He’d never once hit the landing in all the times he practiced but just now he’d managed to get pretty close when it mattered the most. Cloudy Sky did all he could to suppress his giddiness as he stood proudly before his C.O. She trotted over to him as she scored his routine.
“A little hot on that approach comin’ in there, recruit. You’d best work more on that,” she pointed out, writing more down about his performance before looking up the recruit’s file on her clipboard. She suddenly discovered what she’d been looking for over the past forty-eight hours.
It’s him! He’s got to be the one! Look at his record! Spitfire saw how nearly blank the file he submitted was, no post-school flight training or work related experience listed. Cloudy Sky waited patiently for the C.O. to say something else, but felt his nerves grow with each passing second, seeing her reading something off her sheaf of papers.
Don’t let on! Play it cool or the whole thing is blown! Spitfire made sure to put on her best poker face.
“According to your record here,” she began slowly, “you won Nimbusville’s semi-annual flight tournament last autumn, correct?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“No previous work with the Weather Bureau as a weather pony, or flight school training?” she inquired casually. Suddenly, Cloudy Sky felt his answers were going to put his chances of getting past today in jeopardy, regardless of his performance.
“No, ma’am,” he replied glumly. It wasn’t what he wanted to say to his C.O. right then. He wished he could have afforded to go on to flight school like the better flyers from his graduating class, or had the grades to get a job at with the Weather Bureau in some capacity. No, he was just a young delivery pony who got lucky one day and won a race. That’s all.
He watched as Spitfire continued writing on her clipboard, fearing what it could be. His mind was instantly thinking the worst; that he was going to get cut because he didn‘t have enough flight experience.
“Get moving on to the next part of the trial with the other recruits.” She inclined her head toward the next field. Cloudy Sky was relieved to go, trying to get a hold of his imagination and just stay focused on what was ahead.
Better clue the team in on this. Spitfire told herself, relieved to have finally solved the mystery of who had been sent from Central Command to spy on the trials. It was a classic ploy; use the least likely candidate to make it into the academy to spy on the whole operations; the candidate who has nothing to lose by not getting in; the one with the cleanest record. Both reservists were at their C.O.’s side as the last recruit trotted away.
“Orders, ma’am?” Sky Stinger wondered what she had in mind for them.
“Let’s move.” Spitfire snapped her paperwork flat on the clipboard and tucked it under a wing before heading towards the group of recruits who were listening to the briefing. The two reservists followed, seeing how serious their C.O. suddenly looked; like a pony on a mission.
“Status report?” The C.O. demanded quietly, getting right to the point.
“All the recruits are present. Silver Zoom and I are waiting for Misty Fly to get done with the initial briefing so we can sort the better ones out for level two formation flying.”
Spitfire shook her head. “Change of plan. Scrap the idea of running any flyers for level two today and just have them concentrate on pairs, extra practice time and the Dizzatron.”
That was an unexpected deviation. “But, Commander, that will put us behind schedule if we want to keep the first group ahead of the new arrivals.” Soarin didn’t mean to object, but thought this was a pretty obvious problem his C.O. should have been aware of.
“I want these two,” Spitfire pointed to Sky Stinger and Vapor Trail with a wing tip, “to take care of the practice time for the recruits, and Misty Fly with High Winds to run any level-one recruit trials. Silver Zoom,” she next turned to Soarin’s partner, “I want you to run the Dizzatron and send Dash over here on the double.”
Silver Zoom saluted her. “Yes ma’am.”
She was not kept waiting, as Rainbow Dash was right at her C.O.’s side in the blink of an eye.
“Yes, ma’am?” She saluted Spitfire, awaiting her orders, a bit confused at suddenly being drawn away from her duty. Spitfire finished with the reservists first.
“You two know what your job is. Get it done.” She looked over her sunglasses at the two reservists, her brow furrowing some, making sure they understood her seriousness. They saluted her back.
“Yes, ma’am! We won’t let you or the team down.” Sky Stinger could feel his C.O.’s glare going right through him, like he was a transparent piece of tracing paper. Vapor Trail was just as nervous but honored that Spitfire had picked them for additional trial duty. Spitfire must have been satisfied with their job with the recruits so far. The two of them went to stand close by the recruits once more, listening to the lesson and ready to help out.
“You two; let’s take a walk. I have information to relay.” Spitfire headed away from the gathering to talk more in private but still be able to observe the recruits. Her two team members followed, wondering what she wanted to tell them. They got out of earshot of anyone else before Spitfire stopped and turned around to speak.
“We’re far enough away now.”
“What is it, Commander?” Soarin and Rainbow Dash waited to hear, glancing at one another.
“Remember our ‘situation’ here? With Central Command sending somepony here to spy on the trials?” She kept her voice low to make sure only these two could hear her.
Rainbow Dash grimaced, recalling the talk she had with Spitfire. Soarin’s expression only grew more serious, aware of how many things were in motion for the trials this time around.
“What about it?” Soarin wondered what it was she had to tell them. Spitfire’s eyes narrowed as a rather sneaky-looking smile crept over her mouth.
“I know who the spy is.” Both Soarin and Rainbow Dash were surprised to hear this, both their brows rising on their foreheads. How could she have figured it out?
“Who is it, Commander?” Soarin leaned in closer, as did Rainbow Dash.
“He’s sitting with your students from the School of Friendship, Dash, just to the left of them; the one with the medium blue mane and tail.” Spitfire carefully looked past Soarin at the spy standing among the others. The trio all traded places so Soarin and Rainbow Dash could see who Spitfire was referring to.
“You mean the pony to the left of Silverstream; the little gray fella?” Soarin sounded unsure.
Rainbow Dash also quickly picked him out, recognizing him as one of the BFFs of the circle of friends Silverstream and Gallus had formed.
“Him? Cloudy Sky? You think he’s sent here from Central Command to spy on the trials?” Rainbow Dash glanced back and forth incredulously between the recruit and her C.O., but Spitfire seemed convinced.
“Didn’t either of you read his profile?” She saw both of them give embarrassed looks, unable to recall any specifics about any single recruit. She growled a bit at their lack of attention to detail.
“Uh-h-h-h…” Rainbow Dash looked up and away from Spitfire, embarrassed.
Soarin tried to explain. “We’ve looked at an awful lot of files over the past two days, ma’am. It’s a little hard to recall-” Spitfire cut him off, showing them both the clipboard with each of the recruit’s profiles.
“His profile was almost blank. He hasn’t any previous job-related experience and he has no flight school training post-primary school.” She spelled it out for them. Rainbow Dash still didn’t see the connection.
“So, big deal, right? Plenty of ponies have tried out for the academy without-” Rainbow Dash was cut off by Soarin, who suddenly saw what his C.O. meant.
“Wait,” he gasped softly, “I see it now, Commander! An unassuming recruit; a flyer who has the least obvious record of flight experience. The least likely to stand out.” Soarin was intrigued by how Spitfire had determined who the spy was. It made sense to him. Spitfire smirked a little, seeing the light bulb go off over his head.
“Exactly. He’s interacting with Dash’s students; checking to see how they like participating in the trials and getting feedback from other recruits about them.” Spitfire was already formulating what this spy’s reason for being here could be. Soarin nodded along.
“It makes sense to me. I mean, we did submit Dash’s proposal in the autumn, and Dash just so happened to bring two non-pony flyers this spring to the trials…” Soarin began putting the pieces into place.
“Are… are you sure of that, Commander? He seems more of just a friend to Silverstream and Gallus from what I could tell.” Rainbow Dash could follow along with Soarin’s thinking. It sounded plausible, but was it right?
“That’s probably his whole angle, Dash. Play it off as the innocent pony and buddy-up with the hippogriff and the griffon. This means Central Command is taking your proposal seriously, Dash. It’s why they sent the second group of recruits so soon after starting; they’re investigating us now!”
Spitfire’s claim seemed tough to argue against. So much of it seemed to fit together. Rainbow Dash didn’t have any evidence to counter her C.O.’s claim, so it seemed like the most logical answer.
“So, what do we do now, Commander? If he is the one sent to spy on the trials, what’s the plan?” Soarin hadn’t really thought of what it was they were supposed to do once this was discovered. They knew who the spy was. Great. Then what?
“We stay on top of it; the trials have to go off smoothly and problem free. I want this year’s trials to be so perfect that when the eggheads and bookworms write more of the history of the Wonderbolts, it’ll say it was due to Commander Spitfire’s leadership and her greatest team that the species barrier was first broken for a non-pony to become a student here at the academy.” Spitfire began reformulating the plan, both what needed to get done, and by when.
Angel Wings came rushing out from the main office building and flew right for her C.O. who was standing with Soarin and Rainbow Dash by the field. Swiftly landing and retrieving her clipboard from her pack, she saluted Spitfire before speaking.
“Latest update, ma’am. School staff has been notified and is making adjustments to the morning menu to accommodate the guests. The Quartermaster’s office has also issued all recruits a second uniform as per your request.”
“You have your plans for the meet-and-greet finalized for tomorrow morning after chowtime?” Spitfire looked up to her team’s captain from the clipboard she was skimming over. Soarin passed her the simple two-page written instructions he and Rainbow Dash had quickly put together earlier today from off his clipboard.
“It’s going to be real simple; all of the team members out on the field for pictures with the families. We’ll use the same backdrops from our last showcase for the photo shoot and I got the school’s student paper to cover it.”
“Did we want to let everypony know Silverstream and Gallus are here?” Rainbow Dash saw this as a problem, recalling Spitfire’s comment about wanting to not draw attention to their presence.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a problem now, Dash. Most if not all the students and staff have found out by now. Besides, I don’t think the student paper doing a quick story of the meet-and-greet is going to get any circulation beyond the student body in general, so it’s safe.” The four of them all nodded.
“I think we’ve got the bases covered, Commander. Dash and I will get the gear out of storage and ready to set up on the field once we’re done with the trials today.” Soarin wanted to get going, disliking the idea of having unfinished duties hanging over his head.
“Report back to me when it’s done. I want us to get the schedule set for the guests so we don’t waste the whole morning. Dismissed.” She saluted them and they headed over to where Rainbow Dash’s team were working on the new arrivals with the wind resistance training and the weight training obstacle course.
“C’mon, let’s get the gear out of the shed and set up.” Soarin led the way, confirming the following day’s plans with his wing pony. He recited aloud what responsibilities he had to juggle this season and Rainbow Dash could tell he was feeling the pressure. Alone with him, Rainbow Dash got to tease him a tiny bit.
“You worrying like that makes you sound a lot like my friend Twilight.”
“Is… that a bad thing?” He did not get her implication.
“She just worries a lot, but it always works out for her in the end.” She gave him a friendly shoulder bump and a grin. He was glad to have her helping, she knew how to relieve some of the tension and get him to smile a little.
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Before I read this, I must know: Do we ever get told why a non-Pegasus joining the Wonderbolts is so rare?
Twilight's a queen? When did that happen?
10516066
Well if I were to guess, it's because the Hippogriffs have been under the Storm King for years before, and most Griffins are more interested in bits than fame and glory.
10516066
This was a point one of the BFF's parents make at a meet & greet with the recruits and Wonderbolts in a few chapters further on; why haven't griffons ever attempted to gain entrance to the Wonderbolt Academy before? My editor asked the same question and I didn't have an answer. This is something that never got cleared up in the TV show or the IDW comic. I have an explanation for why that is so and Gallus discovers the reason no griffon had tried out before. The sesponies hadn't been seen in centuries and had no knowledge of the Wonderbolts even existing. But then again, that's just my slant on it.
10516117
This was a goof; thank you for catching it. This story is supposed to be taking place AFTER Twilight has ascended to the throne of Equestria but I'd started writing it when she was still head-mare of the School of Friendship. In the rewrite of this story coming, the first chapter will be updated to have Starlight and Sunburst in charge of the school instead.
Ah, so that's what Central Command was up to.
Hmmm, would of thought that Soarin would play devil's advocate to point out that since it is a classic poly, it could also be used for classic bait to cover CC's spy ...
10516198
The TV show kind of does give you an answer though. All we see of Griffin society is a depressed society with no strong leadership. This creates a vacuum of flyers capable of meeting the basic requirements just to get in the door. An organization seeking the best is going to have strict recruitment standards. Depressed areas don't typically produce many individuals who can meat the requirements. In human terms the equivalency can be an inner city housing complex or reservation. It's very difficult for young people to break free. To be a top flyer they have to be the best of the best and that's going to be hard as hell even when you've got everything pulling for you. If Equestria wants Griffin flyers they need an outreach program that can help young Griffins meet the requirements.
Glad to see our faves making it through the first trails!
Course the two jerks made it as well but at the very least they saw that the competition's tough so yeah, don't think you're hot stuff boys! 
Still not sure about *the spy* here sent by Central Command but we'll see what happens from here on out, till the next chapter Jay!!!
Fun update. Now we have an idea of who could possibly be the spy sent by Central. I'm not saying this is the guy just yet because he's the first we've seen being speculated as such. There could be other contenders in the mix that we haven't been drawn attention to yet.
Interesting information about the griffons contributing to math and science before their society crumbled. Maybe Gallus auditioning for Wonderbolts will lead to a resurgence of their land.