The Wonderbolt Academy's New Volunteers

by Jay Watson

Ch. 2 First Time Visit to Cloudsdale

“C’mon! We’ve got to get packed up! This is so exciting!” Silverstream burst through the door to their shared room, nearly colliding with Sandbar and Smolder.

“Whoa! What’s up with you two?” Sandbar ducked just in time to avoid the two flyers as they came charging in. Silverstream finally released Gallus’ foreleg from her grip, the young griffon rotating his limb in its socket a few times to get the circulation going again.

“Professor Dash invited Silverstream and me to visit her home city of Cloudsdale and to check out the Wonderbolt tryouts at their headquarters.” The dragon and earth pony gasped, delighted to hear of their friends amazing opportunity.

“No way! That’s so cool! I was going to go back home to the Dragonlands for my break but it sounds like you are going to have a better time with Professor Dash.” Smolder cheered, smiling at their good fortune.

“You’re getting to see the city and the Wonderbolt tryouts for spring break?” Sandbar thought it almost too good to be true. “You lucky ponies! I’ve always wanted to visit Cloudsdale. Just do us a favor and take lots of pictures while you’re there. I’ll bet this’ll be the best time you’ll ever have.”

He dug out his camera from the drawer of his desk and passed it over to the excited hippogriff, who then proceeded to heedlessly cram it in her bag with the rest of her clothes.

“Just, uh, you know, take care of the camera while you’re away. I mean, it’s uh, not really mine. Like, my dad loaned me his, so…” Sandbar tried getting her attention but she was too preoccupied.

“Uh-huh. Yeah! Sure! I’ll take care of it!” Silverstream continued to shove cram more clothes into the bag, not paying Sandbar any attention. The earth pony could have sworn he heard a crunch or two coming from the bag. He tried not to think the worst right then.

“Well, you two have a great time.” Smolder was a little envious of them getting the chance to go. But, maybe at the end of the semester she and Yona could visit. That would be something!

“I know! I know! This is going to be the best trip ever!” Her bag was conspicuously overstuffed. Gallus was much more selective as to what to bring with him. He’d barely got the first few things in his carry bag before Silverstream was pulling on his foreleg for them to get moving.

“Wait up a second, I’m not done packing!” Gallus pulled back against the hippogriff’s tugging, annoyed at being rushed.

“C’mon! Professor Dash is waiting for us. I don’t want to be late.” She actually pranced in place like a pony. “Oh, I can’t believe this is happening!” He’d just gotten the zipper shut on his bag when Silverstream again began pulling on his foreleg again, wanting him to hurry up. Silverstream practically dragged Gallus back out the door, wanting to get back to the school as quickly as possible.

“See you guys when you get back!” Sandbar called to them as they ran out the door and down the hallway.

Rainbow Dash stood by the entrance to the school with Solar Flare, awaiting Silverstream and Gallus’ return. Even though it was only a few minutes’ wait and they had promised to be back in ten minutes, for Dash it felt like so much longer. This was the first time she felt any pre-tryout anticipation jitters. She paced back and forth, wondering what her commander was going to say when she arrived with three different Wonderbolt contenders. Before she could get herself too worked up about it, Silverstream and Gallus came charging across the campus grounds and right for her and her first recruit, Solar Flare.

He was Rainbow Dash’s first choice for a recruit. A short list of his credentials included a solid record of local service for Equestria’s Weather Bureau, a member of Ponyville’s traveling Buck-Ball team and a letter of recommendation from one of Prince Shining Armor’s lieutenants in Canterlot’s armed forces. With his pale yellow color, stylishly trimmed brown mane and tail on that husky body of his, he looked the part of a Wonderbolt cadet too.

“Nice to meet you! You trying out for the Wonderbolt Academy? That’s too cool! What’s it like in Cloudsdale? Have you ever been there before?” Silverstream vigorously shook the stranger’s foreleg, rattling Solar Flare’s brains in the process. Gallus rescued Solar Flare from further greetings from his excitable hippogriff friend.

‘You’ll have to excuse her, she hasn’t gotten out much from her home. She’s kind of high strung. She’s been a seapony most of her life.” He indicated Silverstream with a sideways nod. Solar Flare looked around the griffon’s shoulder to observe the hippogriff.

Silverstream was pirouetting and fluttering her wings, all while squealing “This is going to be so cool!” Solar Flare looked again at Gallus.

“I see what you mean,” he replied knowingly. Rainbow Dash got their attention.

“Okay we’re all here. You three got everything you need?” She didn’t want to have to fly back to Ponyville for something they’d forgotten.

“Yes ma’am.” Solar Flare smiled and gave a friendly salute to her recruiter and Dash shot him a quick salute back.
“All set here! Let’s go already!” Silverstream couldn’t stand it another minute.

“I guess so. I mean, I wasn’t sure what to bring to wear when staying in a city made of clouds and all so I just-” Gallus was cut off by Silverstream’s high pitched shrillness.

“Stop yapping and let’s get flapping!” Rainbow Dash knew they were ready.

“Remember, you three.” She pointed up into the sky, right at the fabled home of the pegasus ponies, “It’s a three mile flight up to Cloudsdale from Ponyville. I know it looks real close, but it’s not. We’re gonna have to hustle some serious wing if we want to make it in time for signing in.” She gave a quick stretch to her wings and legs, preparing for takeoff. Her students and recruit did likewise, preparing themselves for the flight ahead.

“Let’s move’em out!” Dash took off into the sky in a single bound, leading the way for them. The trio soon were right after her, pumping their wings to catch up and keep pace with the Wonderbolt team member.

Up and up they flew, leaving the ground far below them. For the two pegasus ponies, this flight was no big deal, having flown it so many times in their lives already. But for the duo of hippogriff and griffon, the height to which they were climbing was a bit unnerving. They were not accustomed to flying such heights. They were used to staying much closer to the ground, a ceiling of a few hundred feet at most.

A fall from this height would surely be fatal. Dash checked in on them.

“How are you doing back there? Keeping up okay?” Dash’s voice was hard to hear over the rush of wind by their ears, and the sound of their wings beating against the air didn’t help either. They smiled back, not really sure what she was saying, but trying to let her know they were doing fine.

It took almost three-quarters of an hour to reach the outer edges of the cloud city. Despite the tremendous effort it had taken to reach this place, Sliverstream and Gallus knew instantly the effort was worth the view.

“Welcome to Cloudsdale!” Rainbow Dash proudly proclaimed, making a grand, sweeping gesture with her foreleg. Solar Flare had visited here lots of times so this was nothing new to him. But the two non-pony students could only look on at the incredible beauty and sculpted magnificence of this ethereal place. The larger buildings were coming more into focus now as well as the many cities and suburbs dotting the soft billowy whiteness. The small dots flying in the sky up ahead, slowly resolving into dozens of pegasus ponies heading towards one section of airspace, to a spot not far off to the right of where they were going.

Even from this distance Gallus could make out some small details. The rows of bleachers, the colorful banners hanging from the public address system poles and a large tarmac for the arriving ponies on which to land gave clue to what it was. It reminded him of something like the practice field back at the School of Friendship.

“Is that the Wonderbolt Academy over there?” Gallus got his teacher’s attention, all of them now flying much slower and gliding more as they approached the city’s central area of population and culture.

“Sure is. We made good time getting here, so let’s take a quick pass over the city so you two can get an idea of what it looks like for real before we head over to the academy.” Dash turned to her solo pegasus pony recruit.

“You don’t mind making a quick detour, do you?”

“No problem.” He looked back at the hippogriff and griffon flying behind them, grinning. “C’mon. We’ll show you all the cool stuff to see first.” Dash led them on an easy gliding path over much of the city, Solar Flare pointing out the various places of note and some of the history. Both Silverstream and Gallus remembered what they read from history class at the school when it came to the founding of Equestria and some of the details about pegasus pony culture. But seeing it for real was something each knew had to be done by every creature at least once in their lives. Silverstream quickly pulled out from her traveling bag the camera Sandbar had lent her and began snapping aerial pictures of what she saw.

“Wow! This is amazing!” she exclaimed, clicking away.

“There’s the Parthenon over there and the famous Theatre of Cloudsdale just off to its left. From up here you can also see the tops of several other mountains nearby; that’s where Stratusburg and Nimbusville are.” Solar Flare was enjoying this chance to play tourist guide with them, eagerly showing the newcomers around this special place in Equestria.
Gallus tried taking it all in. The sights and sounds, not to mention the incredible aromas of food wafting up on a breeze as they lazily flew over the grand bazaar that was the center of the city’s bustling market hub right below them. He couldn’t wait to check it all out and sample everything there was to eat.

Rainbow Dash slowed up her flapping, allowing herself to drift back and fly alongside her two student-guests. “What do you think of Cloudsdale so far?” They were all smiles.

“I can’t believe I’m actually here!” Silverstream tore herself away from the camera’s view lens just long enough to answer before returning to snapping away some more, not wanting to miss anything of interest.

“This is really something unbelievable, Professor Dash.” Gallus could not help but catch a little of Silverstream’s infectious excitement. None of his family had ever seen a place like this, and what a tale he could tell them about it when he got back home.

“Glad to hear it. We’d best get over to the tryouts.” Dash picked up her pace and banked off to the right, heading towards their final destination. The trio of flyers followed suit, flying in a loose formation. The number of ponies became clearer once they were right over the grounds.

“Look how many there are!” Silverstream pointed to the mass of Pegasus ponies flying in and around the Wonderbolt grounds. “I’ve never seen so many ponies with wings!”

“This is a pretty important day for a lot of pegasus ponies. Lots of us have trained and worked for this day for a long time. There’s a lot riding on everypony’s shoulders to get into the academy. For some it’s a matter of pride or a legacy from older family members and some do it for the bragging rights of being part of an elite group of flyers.” Solar Flare explained.

“My dad tried out when he was my age but didn’t make the cut. He helped me train for this so I hope to make him proud by getting in.”

Rainbow Dash led them in, gliding closer to the Wonderbolt Academy grounds, both students watching the pegasus ponies practicing below them as they got closer. Dash spotted Commander Spitfire, standing off to one side of the landing strip, getting ready to inspect another group of potential recruits. She brought them in for a safe landing on the edge of the tarmac, a bit away from the larger group of ponies clustered about in the middle of the landing area.

“You three wait right here. I’ll be right back.” Dash wanted to talk with her commander first, hoping to prevent an awkward scene. She put on her camera smile and headed right for Spitfire, as if she had not a care in the world.

“Dash! There you are! What’s the idea showing up last with your recruits? I told you were supposed to be here-” Spitfire had been heading for her right-hoof flyer with scorn in her eyes, but stopped dead when she looked over Rainbow Dash’s shoulder to see who, or what, she had brought along with her.

Dash gulped down the lump in her throat, fearing the worst at her commanding officer’s look of disbelief. She hoped she wasn’t about to get chewed out in front of Twilight’s students. Both Gallus and Silverstream looked on, oblivious to the tension their arrival had caused. They could not see how nervous their teacher now was when facing Commander Spitfire. The two met in the middle of the tarmac.

“Dash, what’s going on? You’ve got Solar Flare here but where are Snowdrop and Inferno? And who are those two… individuals you brought?”

Dash rubbed the back of her head with a free forehoof, feeling terribly uncomfortable just then. “Uh, yeah, well… I thought I’d best make an introduction to them and try to explain. This might be a bit out of the ordinary for Wonderbolt protocol.” With each step they took closer, Dash felt her nerves tightening up.

“Commander Spitfire, you already know Solar Flare from the file I sent you earlier this month,” Dash began her introductions as her C.O. stepped right up to Solar Flare and gave him a quick once-over, eying him up and down. Solar Flare stood tall and at attention while being inspected, wanting to show the C.O. proper respect.

“I see.” Spitfire slid her sunglasses down her nose, and peered at him over them. She got right in front of his face. “You think you got what it takes to be a Wonderbolt cadet, do ya? Think you’re the fastest thing with two wings, eh?”

Solar Flare knew what she was doing and would not cave in to the hard glare Spitfire bore into him with.
“I do not think I’m the fastest thing with two wings, Ma’am!” Solar Flare barked in response, aware at how tough the legendary leader of this group was. He was ready. Spitfire moved on to the two creatures her top lead-pony member had brought today. She didn’t know what to make of them.

“Commander Spitfire, these are two students visiting from Princess Twilight’s School of Friendship. They’re here on a student cultural exchange visit to observe how candidates try out for the academy. This is Silverstream from the Hippogriff Kingdom of Mount Aris and Gallus from Griffonstone.” Dash was as formal and polite as she had ever been, using her best Twilight imitation.

This was completely unexpected and Spitfire was not sure how to react to seeing two creatures she’d never seen before up close. “Are you serious, Rainbow Dash? Now? During the tryouts of all times you want to pull this?” She planted a forehoof to her head, grimacing. The strain of the tryouts were already giving her Pony Headache number thirty-seven on her list, and now she had to deal with insubordinate team members. Was Rainbow Dash pulling some kind of prank?

“Oh, Mrs. Commander Spitfire, Ma’am, it is such an honor to meet you at last! It must be so exciting to lead the Wonderbolts! This is such an amazing opportunity to see for the first time!” Much like how she introduced herself to Solar Flare, Silverstream vigorously shook Commander Spitfire’s free foreleg, thrilled beyond belief to be here. She had nearly shaken the Wonderbolt’s leader senseless with her overly friendly greeting when Gallus decided to step in and hopefully rescue them both.

“Nice to be here, your Commander-ness. When do the festivities get off the ground, so to speak?” His attempt to kid around with her fell flat. Rainbow Dash was aghast at the cavalier way he greeted her commanding officer. Spitfire shook her head a bit, getting her bearings back once more.

“Dash, get over here!” Spitfire ordered. Once she and her underling got out of earshot of the trio, she spoke to Dash in a low growl.

“What in all of Equestria are you doing bringing these two here to the tryouts like this? You were supposed to bring three pegasus ponies to the tryouts like the other team members.” It looked like the jig was up and Dash had to confess why she had brought Silverstream and Gallus with her today. This was so embarrassing.

“Well, it’s really because two of the recruits I picked called out sick the day before yesterday and I didn’t have time to scout out others,” Dash tried to explain. Spitfire’s displeasure grew.

“You were supposed to have at least six candidates selected and pick the best three to bring. The extra three you selected were for covering situations like this! Don’t you remember; that was written in as part of your proposal too!” Soft and lethal with her tone, Spitfire made sure her annoyance was heard by Dash but not the two surprise guests.

“I know! I know! I’m sorry for that, Commander, but I just didn’t know what else to do! I didn’t want to be the only pony to show up without the right number of potential academy cadets, that’s all. Besides,” she tried to find some silver-lining, “the proposal only said that each team member was to bring three recruits to the tryouts, there’s nothing in it that said they had to specifically be ponies. It’s just assumed to be that way. I mean, they are flyers, aren’t they?”

“Don’t pull that political splitting of hairs kind of talk with me, Crash! I’m in no mood for it!” Spitfire suspected Dash must have gotten help from Princess Twilight or one of her other friends to write that proposal. It was much too clever of a loophole for her to have come up with on her own to exploit. While technically correct about the proposal, due to time constraints Spitfire couldn’t hold up the tryouts. There was so much she had on her mind as it was that this bump of turbulence would have to be overlooked for now. They needed two-dozen candidates to hold a full tryout session and Spitfire did not want to have less than that. She looked up over Dash’s shoulder again, peering at Silverstream and Gallus once more, trying to gauge them.

“You think these two ‘guest flyers’ of yours would want to try their luck at going through tryouts with the other recruits? They’re here for a cultural exchange, after all, and it was approved by the Princess of Friendship.”

Dash couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Spitfire was okay with the idea of Silverstream and Gallus participating? Her day had just turned a lucky corner. She wasn’t going to be in trouble after all. Even if this really wasn’t what Twilight had intended for them to be a part of, Rainbow Dash believed it to be the perfect way for Silverstream and Gallus to experience what it meant to become a Wonderbolt Academy cadet.

“Are you kidding, Commander? They’d be thrilled by it!” Dash seemed sure but Spitfire thought it best to ask the two prospects. Dash was grinning like a fool and clearly relieved to be off the hook with her commanding officer. They returned to where the three contenders stood waiting, wondering about the private words the two Wonderbolts were having. The Wonderbolt leader addressed them, her rather serious expression was the polar opposite of Rainbow Dash’s obvious look of elation.

“Since you’re here with permission from Princess Twilight and we are missing two ponies to hold a full tryout session properly, as a gesture of what your professor says is a cultural exchange, I’m offering you both the opportunity to participate in the tryouts if you want. No pony here is forcing you to do this, you can say no and that’s fine.”
Silverstream gasped softly, absolutely stunned. Her eyes went wide. Gallus barely showed any change of expression, only giving a casual nod. Rainbow Dash, standing slightly behind her leader, made exaggerated gestures, trying to get them to stand at attention if they wanted to accept and show Spitfire respect as a commanding officer. But the two either didn’t notice or didn’t get it.

Silverstream was euphoric. “Yes oh yes oh yes oh yes! O-oh-w-e-e-e! I can’t believe it! A chance to participate in the tryouts! This is the greatest day of my life!” She hopped up and down in one spot, practically exploding from her excitement. Dash kept trying to get their attention but they were only looking at Spitfire. This was not how you demonstrated to your C.O. that you were ready for Wonderbolt Academy tryouts.

Gallus casually looked up from his talons in a desultory fashion. “Yeah, I guess it might be worth a few good laughs to see if some ponies can keep up with a griffon.” Gallus, attempting to be amusing, gave Commander Spitfire a salute with the wrong wing and made a rather stupid expression, as if mocking the idea of showing her respect. Dash cringed at her student’s irreverent behavior.

“You two absolutely sure you want to volunteer for the tryouts? For real?” Spitfire made doubly sure they were not kidding. Both of them nodded, without hesitation.

“Oh geez, here it comes!” Dash quietly groaned to herself, knowing what was coming.

“That’s not the way you salute your commanding officer! What in the sweet Faustacorn’s existence are you trying to do to my beloved Wonderbolt tradition, newbie?! I’m giving you three seconds, exactly three seconds to get that stupid looking expression off your face or you’re going to find yourself doing wing-ups from now until lights out! You hear me, newbie?! Do you?!” Spitfire screamed at Gallus, so close he could feel her hot spittle splash in his face. Terrified by the sheer intensity of this pony’s voice, Gallus did as ordered, correcting his salute and dropping the dumb expression, now standing as stone-faced as Solar Flare was. This really was something new to experience!

The Wonderbolt leader then turned her focus on Silverstream. The hippogriff was no fool, she got herself straightened out quick and stood at attention, bracing for Spitfire’s assault. She remembered how serious Solar Flare had been in responding to Commander Spitfire’s hardline. She could do that too.

“What about you, newbie? Think you got what it takes to be a cadet at this academy? Think you’re some hot stuff where you’re from?” Spitfire goaded Silverstream, trying to unnerve her. Not quite as intense as she was with Gallus, Spitfire still had her face only a few inches away from hers and the drill instructor could feel the fear radiating off her.

“No, Ma’am!” Silverstream shouted, looking straight ahead. Spitfire eyed the hippogriff suspiciously, but could see that she was quickly absorbing how things worked in the military. Spitfire was going to be her commanding officer for the tryouts and Silverstream was just some newbie trying to show off her stuff.

“Good. I like honest flyers who can admit they’re not hot stuff. Look to your left, newbie,” Spitfire instructed her to turn and face Gallus and Solar Flare, giving some room to her. “The dropout rate of recruits is twenty percent by the end of first day and after that, it goes higher each day following. You’d best take a good last look at them, ‘cause most likely one of ‘em isn’t coming back tomorrow. Food for thought as to what you’re in for. Now the three of you go join the others over there. Quickly now, newbies, let’s get it done.” The three flyers moved as fast as they could, gathering up their bags and hustling to where the large group of pegasus ponies stood around with their families and well-wishers, awaiting the time for them to leave.

“I don’t know, Dash.” Spitfire sighed. “This idea of yours is not what I thought you had in mind when acting as a recruiter. We only discussed the idea of trying this part of it. I’m not convinced that non-pony flyers have what it takes to get through the tryouts.”

“I know it’s a stretch, Commander, but let them try to get through one day’s events; just to get an idea of what it’s like. They’ll most likely give up during the first round of cuts. It’ll solve a whole mess of problems; the academy gets the two dozen flyers to start tryouts with, Silverstream and Gallus get the experience of a lifetime, we get the notoriety of being the first group in Equestria to have non-pony flyers trying out, Twilight gets to brag about her students and she stays off my back about the whole trip. It’s win-win-win all around.” Dash replied with positivity.

“There’s no way, Crash, no way could you have come up with this all on your own. But I’ll trust your judgement of character with these two.” The Wonderbolt leader turned her head slightly to look at Dash. “You and I are going to have a little talk in my office later about your… ill-preparedness for this year’s tryouts.” Spitfire would trust Rainbow Dash’s unconventional choice… for now.

Author's Note:

This was fun for me to write this part; wanting both Silverstream and Gallus to look rather immature and clueless to the reality of becoming a Wonderbolt cadet. Getting to up Commander Spitfire's take on 'Gunnery Sargent Hartman' was such fun to do. I wanted these two to get scared by her and realize this was serious stuff, not a sport or gym activity.

Comments

[SuperPinkBrony12]

Actually, Spitfire has been canonically established as Captain of the Wonderbolts ever since "Hurricane Fluttershy". And "Rarity Investigates" appears to establish that Soarin is next highest in the chain of command (which would make him co-captain).

[SamSwordsman123]

Okay got me more interested with this second chapter. Though I find it off that Gallus and Silverstream both share a room. They're opposite genders after all. Also Silverstream has a lot clothes? Why is that? Is it for formal occasions since she is Queen Novas niece?

[Kitsune_Kenshi]

Ugh! Enough with the racism