The Tryout
Trials of the Heart
Chapter One
The Tryout
Rainbow Dash burst through the cloud bank and slowed to a hover, looking around to get her bearings. Cloudsdale shimmered in the late morning sunlight off to her left, so she pumped her wings and angled toward it. The rope in her mouth grew taut, but she bit down and yanked on it, heedless of the load she was pulling.
A ways behind her, where the rope passed back through the cloud bank, the sea of white rose and parted, allowing Twilight’s hot air balloon to float up through it and follow the chromatic pegasus toward Cloudsdale. The balloon’s lone occupant clutched her worn Stetson to her head to keep it from blowing away in the growing wind as she was dragged toward the cloud city. Applejack’s mouth moved, but any words of awe or wonder were carried away by the wind.
Several minutes later, the balloon set down on a landing pad near the outskirts of the city. Rainbow tied the rope in her mouth to a post so that the balloon wouldn’t float away and then reared up and hooked her forelegs over the edge of the basket. “We’re here!” She chirped.
“Really? Ah hadn’t noticed.” Applejack replied wryly. She looked over the side of the basket at the cloud surface it was resting on and swallowed.
“You know, you’re adorable when you’re scared.” Dash smirked before darting in and planting a quick peck on her marefriend’s cheek.
“Ah ain’t scared!” Applejack shot back, a light blush rising in her cheeks.
“Sure you aren’t.” Rainbow winked. “Now come on, we’ve only got forty-five minutes and it’s gonna take at least twenty to walk to the stadium from here.” She started walking toward the city, planning out the most efficient walking path to the Cloudsdale Coliseum. “Let’s see... if we take Rainfall Road down to the Cloudwalk, we can bypass the weather factory and all that traffic. Sound good?” She broke into a trot as she got to the edge of the dock and reached a ramp down to a nearby road. She gazed in the direction of the Coliseum, her wings fluttering in anticipation.
After half a minute, Dash realized she hadn’t heard anything from Applejack. Not a complaint, not a word of encouragement. Nothing. Turning back to the landing pad, she saw that her marefriend was still sitting in the balloon basket, eyeing the cloud surface warily. She galloped back up the ramp, leapt into the air, and flared her wings, gliding across the dock to land next to the basket.
“Come on, AJ! We’ve gotta get going if we’re gonna make it on time.” Dash reared up and grabbed the cowpony’s hat in her teeth before wheeling around and galloping away.
“Get back here ya thievin’ varmint!” Applejack leapt over the edge of the basket, sinking into the cloud landing pad with a soft hiss, but she didn’t fall through. With that particular fear abated, she pursued the prismatic hat thief off of the dock and down a ramp that connected to the main road. After a minute of chasing, she caught Dash when the speedster skidded to a stop to avoid barreling into a group of elderly pegasi.
“Gotcha!” She leapt onto her marefriend’s back and grabbed her hat, sending both of them to the ground in the process. She triumphantly placed her Stetson back in its rightful place atop her head, then turned her attention to the mare trapped under her. “Now... what’re we gonna do with you?”
“Not now, AJ.” Rainbow squirmed and tried to free herself, but she couldn’t get any leverage over the much stronger earth pony. “We don’t have time for this. We’re running late as it is!” She wriggled harder as she spoke, a note of worry creeping into her voice.
“Ya shoulda thought ‘bout that before takin’ mah hat.” Applejack replied, a devious smile spreading across her face. “You know the rules. If yer gonna take this bull by the horns, you’d better be ready fer a ride.” She leaned down and dug a hoof into Dash’s ribs, a little below the wing joint. The other mare immediately started convulsing uncontrollably, her breath forced from her lungs in short, erratic bursts.
“No! Please!” Rainbow managed to choke out between fits of laughter. “Uncle! I give!” She tried to curl into a ball and protect herself, but the orange mare held her in place and continued her assault. By the time it ended, she was gasping for breath and a light sheen of sweat matted her coat.
Applejack stood up, finally allowing her marefriend a respite. “Maybe that’ll teach ya, although the last couple dozen times haven’t seemed to make a difference.” She reached up and adjusted her hat before lending a hoof to help Rainbow up. Once they were both back on their hooves, they noticed a crowd had gathered to see what the commotion was all about. The elderly pegasi that Dash had so nearly bowled over gave them knowing smiles and a few winks, while a few younger mares walked away rolling their eyes. However, most of the observers were stallions, who were smirking, leering, or just staring open-mouthed.
“So... which way was it now?” Applejack felt her cheeks tingle as blood flowed into them, and she reached up to pull her hat down so it covered her eyes.
“This way.” Dash, her face as red as the streak in her mane, broke into a trot and wove her way through the crowd, angling for a thin road of cloud. It was a rarely-used, and therefore rarely-maintained, strip of cloud that was barely wide enough for one pony to walk on. Several spots were even narrower due to chunks of the walkway having been blown away by the wind, or from just a general lack of repair. Rainbow easily wove her way along the road, barely looking where she was going and focusing instead on her destination.
Off in the distance, the Coliseum rose above the rest of the skyline, an ever-present reminder of the pegasus race’s military heritage. Every minute or so, a pegasus could be seen flying around the air space above it, stringing together stunts into elaborate routines.
“Oh man, did you see that one?” Dash asked, again forging ahead without waiting for answer. “An inverted three-sixty corkscrew? I mean, I could pull that off in my sleep, but it’s impressive to see someone else who can pull it off.” She kept walking until she saw another small figure rise up out of the Coliseum, twirling and flipping in seemingly impossible ways. “Whoa!” Rainbow pointed excitedly. “Did you see that? That was—” She turned around and her words died in her throat as she realized her partner was still a ways back, and only advancing at a snail’s pace as she edged around a missing piece of the walkway.
“Applejack!” Dash broke into a canter and made her way back. “We don’t have time for this! We gotta go.” She hopped off the pathway and glided around behind the other mare. “Let’s get moving.” She lowered her head and pushed on her marefriend’s backside.
“Whoa, nelly!” Applejack dug her hooves in and sat down, keeping her eyes on the edge of the walkway. She swallowed and took a deep breath to calm her nerves. “Well, pardon me if’n Ah’m not keen on fallin’ off.” She leaned over and glanced past the edge, feeling her head start to swim before she settled back onto the middle of the road. “Ya know Ah ain’t a fan of heights to start with, and bein’ all the way up here counts as just a bit more’n ‘high,’ Ah reckon.”
“Aww...” Rainbow edged around her marefriend and stood in front of her, a mischievous grin on her face. “Is poor widdle AJ scared?” She asked, reaching out to pinch the other mare’s cheek.
“Ah ain’t scared!” Applejack huffed, glaring for a moment before her eyes were drawn back to the walkway’s edge. “But did ya hafta pick such a... small road?” She looked back up to see her marefriend eyeing her hat and placed a protective hoof on it. “Don’t even think about it, sug, or have ya already forgotten how that turned out fer ya last time?”
“Oh, please.” Rainbow shot back. “If it hadn’t been for that group of old pegasi, you wouldn’t have caught me until we got to the Coliseum and I let you catch me.” She turned and faced back toward their destination. “Well, in that case, do you want a ride?” She asked, shaking her rump suggestively and glancing over her shoulder to catch the other mare staring. “At this rate, it’s the only way we’ll— Ow!” She sat down, rubbing her newly sore flank after her marefriend smacked it.
“Now now, AJ.” Dash threw a sultry look over her shoulder. “I think we need to agree on a safe word before you start getting too rough.” She ducked under another blow, this one aimed at her head, and hopped out of range of any further attacks. “Now hurry up, slowpoke. We should be almost there by now, but somepony is dragging her hooves.” She trotted down the path, checking behind her every few seconds to make sure the other mare was keeping up.
Applejack swallowed nervously and reluctantly sped up to a trot as well. She tried not to look down, hoping that ignoring just how far away the ground was would soothe her frazzled nerves a bit. She kept her eyes focused on the back of Dash’s head and tried, with only partial success, to keep her gaze from wandering down to her marefriend’s prismatic tail, which seemed to be swinging side to side a bit more than normal. She was about to say something about it when her hoof landed on the edge of a missing piece of the walkway, sliding off when she shifted her weight onto it. She fell sideways off the edge of the road and grabbed onto it with a forehoof for a second, but the cloud broke apart under the strain.
“Dash!” She yelled up at the rapidly receding walkway before she tumbled over and lost sight of it, giving her a perfect view of the ground as it rushed up at her. A second later, saw Rainbow speed past her and come to a hover underneath her. She braced herself, but her landing in Rainbow’s hooves still jarred her.
“Gotcha!” Dash caught her marefriend in her forelegs and immediately began looking her over for injuries, even as Applejack’s momentum carried them down. “What happened? Are you okay? You’re not hurt are you? Do you ne—”
Applejack silenced the other mare’s flow of questions with a hoof. “Ah’m fine, sugar.” She looked up and saw her hat slowly floating down, so she grabbed it and held it in her lap. She nestled into Dash’s chest and tried to slow her racing heart. “Thanks fer catchin’ me.”
“Like there was ever any doubt.” Rainbow flashed a cocky grin and flapped her wings harder, slowly rising back up toward Cloudsdale. She leaned down and nuzzled against her marefriend’s cheek. “You know I’ll always be there for you.”
“Ah know.” Applejack nuzzled back, smiling as Dash alighted on a new road, this one much bigger than the one they had just been on. “Now, ya mind tellin’ me just why we had to take that dinky little side road?” She asked once she had gotten her hooves onto relatively solid ground. She cast a glance behind her at the path they had come from, suppressing a shiver.
“It was either take Rainfall Road, or deal with that.” Dash stopped and pointed a hoof through a gap between two stores. Across a large empty space sat Cloudsdale’s Weather Factory, swarming with pegasi buzzing around at high speeds. A walkway in front of the Factory was packed with ponies, including the occasional unicorn or earth pony, and the factory workers sped by, their hooves passing inches above the heads of those walking below them.
Applejack merely stared at the scene, her mouth agape. A prod in her ribs brought her back to reality, and she swallowed nervously. “Ya know... that nice little side road ain’t lookin’ nearly so bad right now.” She pulled herself away from staring between the shops and followed her marefriend as they continued on toward the Coliseum. As they reached the building, Dash looked up at yet another pegasus flying in the airspace above it.
“Is she... no, way. AJ, check it out!” She pointed up as the pegasus began streaking down from an extreme height. “Look, she’s going to try and break the sound barrier.” As soon as Rainbow finished speaking, a familiar white cone formed around the speeding pegasus, but she slowed down as she reached the barrier and was thrown backwards.
“Ooh, so close.” Dash shook her head. “Gotta give her props for having the guts to try, though.” She trotted through an archway with a banner hanging across it. Applejack paused for a moment to read the sign.
Wonderbolts tryouts today. Applicants only beyond this point.
“Uh, Dash? You sure Ah’m allowed in with ya? The sign says—”
“Yeah, you’re fine. The letter said I can bring one pony along for ‘moral support’.” Dash rolled her eyes, a cocky grin spreading across her face. “More like one pony for ‘post-tryout celebration support,’ right? Now, come on. It’s this way.” She trotted down a nearby hallway, leaving the other mare scrambling to catch up.
They eventually found their way to the interior of the Coliseum, where a dozen or so pegasi were sitting in the bleachers off to one side while Spitfire and Soarin’ were sitting off to the other, flanked by a pair of security guards. Most of the pegasi in the stands looked winded, and a few were being comforted by their ‘moral support’ pony. Spitfire was busy talking to one of the guards, who was writing on a clip board, while Soarin’ seemed uninterested in the whole ordeal.
Rainbow walked up to a grey pegasus stallion dressed a Wonderbolts shirt and holding a clipboard. “The name’s Rainbow Dash. I’m here for my tryout.” She stated proudly, puffing her chest out a bit.
“Yeah, you and everyone else here.” The stallion replied, letting out an exasperated sigh. He made a note on his clipboard and pointed to the stands where the applicants were sitting. “Take a seat, fly your routine when called, and try not to mess up.” Dash glared at him and opened her mouth to respond, but her marefriend cut her off.
“Thank ya kindly, sir.” Applejack bumped her friend, edging her toward the stands. “Let’s go, sugarcube. There’s some nice ground-level seats right there.” They walked over to a bank of seats nearby, waiting until they were out of earshot to speak again. “Ya know, if’n yer really anglin’ to make the Wonderbolts, ya probably shouldn’t go mouthin’ off to anypony.”
“He started it.” Dash seethed. She shot a dirty look at the stallion, who was now talking to a light teal mare with a two-tone yellow mane. Rainbow blinked a few times before recognition struck. “Lightning Dust?” She uttered the words with an air of disbelief and waited for her former academy partner to catch up.
“Rainbow Dash?” Lightning smiled broadly, speeding up to reach the cyan mare. “How’s it goin’? I haven’t seen you since... well, the Academy.” Her cheeks colored as she finished, and she rubbed a hoof along the back of her neck.
“Yeah.” Dash responded a little coldly. “It’s been, what... almost two years? Honestly, I never thought I’d see you at a Wonderbolts tryout after what happened there.” She kept her expression neutral, but her voice carried a hint of aggression.
“Me neither.” Lighting Dust admitted with a nervous chuckle. “I'm actually glad to see you here, I never got the chance to apologize to you..." She looked past Dash in surprise. "Or your friends for that matter. I just let my dream be the most important thing, and didn't care about who I hurt while I was chasing it. After I got kicked out of the Academy, I realized what a huge jerk I was being to ponies who I might have to have as teammates someday.” She ran a hoof through her mane. “Anyway, I've been working on it, and Spitfire finally gave me another chance to show I'd learned my lesson.”
“Just like that?” Rainbow asked, arching an eyebrow skeptically.
“Well, not quite.” Dust replied, her blush deepening. “I may have... sort of... kinda followed Spitfire around for a while, like six months or so, begging for another shot.” She flashed a weak smile. “Whatever it takes, right? Anyway, she said ‘yes’... eventually, and I got another invitation to the Academy.” Her smile grew more confident as she talked. “She said she was impressed with my tenacity and my new work ethic, so she asked me to come and try out for the team. How awesome is that?”
Dash said nothing, staring at Lightning for several long moments. Then, her expression brightened and she smiled. “Totally awesome!” She put out a foreleg and they bumped hooves. She turned as someone cleared their throat behind her. “Oh, right, sorry. Lightning Dust, this is Applejack, my marefriend.” She stepped over to the cowpony and draped a wing across her back, darting in for a quick kiss on the cheek.
“Hi there.” Lightning extended a hoof. “I remember seeing you that day at the Academy.” Her smile faltered as Applejack narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “It’s, uh, n-nice to meet you?”
“Likewise.” Applejack replied, shaking the other mare’s hoof with a strong grip.
“Just like that?” Dust asked. She cradled her foreleg gingerly once the other mare finally freed it. “You don’t hate me for what I did?” Her voice wavered on the question, and she cringed slightly, as if she expected somepony to attack her.
“What’s done is done.” Applejack stated plainly. “Ain’t nothin’ doin’ bout it now.”
“Thank you so much.” Lightning let out a relieved sigh. “I was really worried that—”
“Lightning Dust! You’re up!” The clipboard-wielding stallion’s voice boomed across the Coliseum, and immediately Lightning Dust was in the air, rapidly pumping her wings to gather speed. Rainbow Dash and Applejack called out some words of encouragement before she got too far away, then trotted over to sit in the stands and watch her audition.
“Hey.” Rainbow nudged her marefriend with an elbow. “Thanks for that.”
“Fer what?” Applejack asked, looking away from Lightning’s routine long enough to shoot the other mare a questioning look.
“For being cool with Lightning Dust.” Dash leaned in for a quick nuzzle before going back to watching the tryout. “I know that you and the girls never really got to know her when she wasn’t being a pain in the flank.”
“Everypony makes mistakes, but that don’t mean that they shouldn’t get a chance to fix ‘em.” Applejack reached down and held hooves with her marefriend. “Ah ain’t ‘bout to be all buddybuddy with her, but she deserves a second chance.”
Rainbow shifted over, snuggling up to the other mare and resting her head on Applejack’s shoulder. “Have I told you lately how amazing you are?”
Applejack chuckled and leaned down to kiss her marefriend on the forehead. “Not since we left Ponyville this mornin’.” They shared a brief smile before turning back to watch the rest of Lightning’s tryout. Several of the tricks involved drew reactions from the crowd, and one even garnered an impressed nod from Spitfire, though Soarin’ appeared to be taking a nap.
After she finished her routine, Lightning Dust landed next to Rainbow and Applejack, pausing for a quick smile before collapsing into an exhausted heap on one of the empty seats. She spent a few minutes catching her breath before she finally spoke. “So, how’d... I do?” She asked between heaving breaths.
“Not bad, not bad at all.” Rainbow replied as another pegasus took to the air. “You started to lose it on that triple corkscrew loop, but you did a great job saving it. Even Spitfire seemed impressed.”
“Really? Sweet!” Lightning pumped a hoof in the air weakly, then seemed to pass out from exhaustion. Dash snickered into a hoof and looked up to watch the current applicant’s routine.
“She did good... like really good.” She whispered, a note of nervousness creeping into her voice.
“Ya ain’t worried, are ya?” Applejack asked, offering a quick squeeze of support. “You’ve been working for this for Celestia only knows how long. You’ll be fine. Besides, Ah doubt anypony here can beat yer finale.”
“Worried? Me? No way.” Rainbow waved away her marefriend’s allegation and flashed one of her trademark cocky grins. Her smile soon crumbled as her gaze fell upon the passed-out pegasus a few seats down. “I’m just a little... well, yeah, I am worried.” She lapsed into silence and simply watched her former partner catch her breath with a downcast smile.
Applejack nudged her marefriend with a shoulder. “Care to explain, sug?” She glanced over at Dust to make sure their conversation was still private. “Ya just said she did a great job. What’s there to be worried ‘bout?”
Dash nestled a little closer, sinking into the embrace before letting out a small sigh. “The Wonderbolts have only ever accepted one new member per tryout, and that’s if they take anypony.” She paused to shake her head. “Starting about twenty years ago, there was a fourteen year stretch where they didn’t accept anypony. They even started holding more tryouts in different places, hoping to find some hidden talent somewhere. Between that and some of the older members retiring, the Wonderbolts were down to two members before Spitfire made the cut, and then Soarin’ a few months later.”
“Well, couldn’t she just go to the next tryout and get in then?” Applejack wondered, keeping her voice down as Lightning Dust started to stir next to them.
“There’s no way of knowing when the next one will be.” Dash looked up at the current participant just in time to see her hit a patch of rough air and get thrown off-course. “Now that the Wonderbolts have gotten their numbers back up, they’ve cut down on the number of tryouts they hold. This is the first one they’ve had in nearly three years, and it’s only happening because Silver Lining is retiring.” She looked across the arena to where Spitfire and Soarin’ were sitting and sleeping, respectively. “Who knows how long it will be before another Wonderbolt retires?”
Rainbow swallowed, slumping down into her seat. “Besides, it’s not her I’m worried about, it’s... me.” She was barely whispering by the time she finished. She brought her hind legs up onto the seat and hugged them to her chest. “Lightning did so well, what if I don’t stack up? What if... what if I’m not good enough?”
“Rainbow Elizabeth Dash.” Applejack reached down and lifted her marefriend’s chin to look in her eyes. “Yer the fastest, best flier in all of Equestria. Not to mention, yer the only pegasus to ever pull off a Sonic Rainboom. That’s gotta count fer somethin’.”
“That’s just it.” Dash looked off to the side, unable to hold the other mare’s gaze. “I don’t want to skate by on that one trick. What if it gets old? Sure, it’s cool now, but what about after five shows? Ten? A year? What happens when people get bored with it?” Her ears folded back against her head. “You saw what happened at the Best Young Fliers competition. What if that happens here, or even worse, what if it happens during a performance?”
Applejack seemed to think about that for a moment, but in the end, she simply leaned in and kissed Rainbow. The pegasus was hesitant at first, but she eventually succumbed, returning the kiss with a slow-burning passion. After a few seconds, Applejack drew back with a smile. "Then you'll just find another, even more amazin' trick, sugar. And nopony will be able to stop ya."
Dash smiled, but instead of being cocky, it was simply confident. She nestled down next to Applejack, laying her head on her marefriend’s shoulder. “Thanks, AJ. You’re the best.”
“And don’t you forget it.” The farm pony nuzzled her lover’s mane, unable to keep a smile off of her own face.
“Rainbow Dash! You’re up!”
Rainbow was gone with burst of air. Applejack reached up to keep her hat from blowing away and watched her marefriend climb into the air. After a few moments, she dropped her gaze down to Spitfire and Soarin’ to watch their reactions. She had seen Dash’s routine enough times over the last few months to have it memorized, after all. She saw Spitfire tap Soarin’ on the shoulder, but he made no move to get up from his nap.
“Hey.” Lightning’s voice pulled Applejack’s attention from the Wonderbolts across the stadium. The pegasus had struggled up to a sitting position, but her breathing was still a little labored. “So... you and Dash, huh?”
“Eeyup.” Applejack confirmed, feeling a light heat flush her face. She coughed into a hoof to try and cover it up.
“Cool.” Dust looked up to see Rainbow pull out of a steep dive and move into a complex series of tight spirals and loops, a small smirk forming on her face. “Honestly, I didn’t think that she swung that way. I could’ve sworn I saw her checking out a couple of the stallions at the Academy.” She leaned back, draping a foreleg over the back of the seat next to her. “Man, if I’d known she was into mares back then, I would’ve made a pass or two.” She shook her head and turned back to the earth pony. “How long?”
“It’ll be two years next month.” Applejack bit her lip and watched for the other mare’s reaction.
“Wow, congrats!” Lightning went back to watching Dash’s routine, but after a few seconds, something clicked in her head and she flattened her ears back nervously. “Two years? So that means when she was at the Academy, you two were...” She trailed off into silence, dropping her gaze to stare intently at her hooves.
“Eeyup, for ‘bout a month.” Applejack replied.
“Oh.” Lightning Dust tapped her hooves together, chancing a look up at the cowpony. “Um... sorry about that ‘making a pass’ comment. I... didn’t know.”
“Don’t you fret none.” Applejack waved away Lightning’s apology. “Ah couldn’t rightly expect ya to. We were mighty secretive ‘bout the whole thing early on.” She noticed a questioning look from the other mare and felt her cheeks flush with color again. “It was mah fault. Rainbow woulda been happy to parade ‘round town hoof-in-hoof and shout it from the top of town hall, but Ah talked her into keepin’ it quiet.” It was her turn to fold her ears back and stare at her hooves.
“Ah wasn’t ashamed or nothin’, it’s just... mah family’s really old-fashioned, and mah Granny Smith’s been goin’ on ‘bout me findin’ a nice stallion to settle down with fer ages.” She pulled her hat off and ran a hoof through her mane. “The only ponies who knew about us back then were our closest friends... and mah brother, after he caught us bein’ a little too friendly once.” She clutched her hat to her chest, as if trying to hide behind it. “We’ve been gettin’ more... open with who we let know about us, but Ah still ain’t had the heart to tell Granny Smith.”
“Yeah, I can see—” Lightning stopped talking as she looked up to see Rainbow streaking downward, a familiar white cone forming around her. “Is she...” She turned to face the earth pony. “Is she gonna try a Sonic Rainboom?” Applejack didn’t answer, instead focusing across the stadium, where Spitfire was flailing a foreleg and smacking Soarin’ in the face to wake him up.
A deafening boom ripped through the Coliseum as Dash broke the sound barrier mere feet above the building. The ring of chromatic light spread out over the arena, briefly blinding its occupants with its brilliance. Everyone present broke into thunderous applause, except for Spitfire and Soarin’, who shared a meaningful look with each other.
“That’s it, everypony! Show’s over!” The clipboard-wielding stallion’s voice rang out across the Coliseum, but it seemed quieter in the wake of the Rainboom. Everyone made their way toward the exits, chattering excitedly about witnessing such a legendary event from so close, though several of them groaned about how they would never get into the Wonderbolts now. Applejack and Lightning Dust lingered for a bit, waiting for Dash to make her way back to the Coliseum.
Just as the residual streak of prismatic light was fading, a new one streaked down, and Rainbow alighted on the ground nearby. The trail of chromatic light seemed to flow from her mane and tail for a few moments, making them seem to flow in an ephemeral wind like one of the princesses. She shook it off, scattering shards of colored light in every direction and returning her mane and tail to their normal ruffled appearance.
“So, how’d I do?” She asked, flashing a confident grin.
“Ya did a great job, sug.” Applejack trotted over and leaned in for an affectionate nuzzle.
“Great?” Lightning repeated. “Great? You did a Sonic Rainboom! Forget all the other stuff, you could have just done that and sat down and still been the best one here.” She slumped into a seat, her earlier enthusiasm gone. “I don’t even know why they had the rest of us come in. They should have just offered you the spot and called it a day.”
“Hey.” Dash sat down next to her and placed a comforting hoof on her back. “Don’t be like that. You did great. Even Spitfire thought so.” She began rubbing small circles on the other mare’s back.
“Oh, please.” Lightning scoffed. “Like anypony is going to remember anything that happened today other than your Rainboom.”
Applejack watched Rainbow comforting her former partner, and a twinge of jealousy plucked at her heart. She brushed it off and moved over to sit down on the other side of Dust. “Ya never know, maybe they’ll offer both of y’all a spot.”
“Yeah, right.” Lightning spat. She turned as Dash coughed and gave her a disapproving look. “Sorry.” She offered, giving Applejack an apologetic smile. “I guess the ‘Bolts offering two spots wouldn’t be the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen, but it would certainly be up there.”
“You know what you need?” Dash asked, standing up and flapping her wings once. “A drink. A strong one... or five.”
“That actually does sound really good.” Lightning admitted with a weak smile. She turned and nudged Applejack with an elbow. “Whadda ya say? You up for a little celebrating?”
“Do apples grow on trees?” Applejack responded, giving her hat a quick tug. “Y’all got anywhere particular in mind? Ah ain’t exactly familiar with the local waterin’ holes.”
Lightning Dust looked back to Rainbow, a smirk forming on her lips. “Skychaser’s?”
Dash broke out in her own smirk, enjoying some joke that Applejack wasn’t in on. “Oh, man. It’s been too long since I’ve been there. Let’s do it.”
“Is there somethin’ Ah should know ‘bout this place?” The earth pony asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.
“Don’t worry about it.” Dash walked over to her marefriend and darted in for a quick kiss on the cheek. “You’ll see when we get there. Speaking of getting there...” She gazed off into the distance and chewed on her lip for a few seconds. “Hey, Dust, is there any way to get to Skychaser’s on hoof?”
Lightning put a hoof to her chin. “On hoof? No, but why would we need—” She stopped as her eyes fell on Applejack’s bare back. “Ah, right. Well, in that case, Dash, you can either give her a ride there, or find a nice cloud for her to sit on and push her there.”
“I think we’ll go for the second one. We don’t want a repeat of what happened last time I tried to give you a ride, do we, AJ?” Rainbow shot her marefriend a playful glare, but couldn’t keep a light blush from coloring her cheeks.
“Ah told ya a hundred times before, Ah didn’t know you were that sensitive there.” Applejack giggled playfully, pulling the brim of her hat down to cover her face. “How was Ah supposed to know that a little brush would make yer wings stiffen up?”
“Didn’t make the ground any softer.” Dash shifted over and bumped her marefriend with her flank.
Lightning snickered into a hoof. “Oh, just look at you two.” She trotted over to a tunnel that led out of the Coliseum. “I’m gonna go on ahead. I’ll meet you guys there, okay?” Without waiting for a response, she left through the tunnel, leaving Applejack and Rainbow Dash alone in the arena.
“So...” Applejack cleared her throat and pushed her hat back up and out of her eyes. “Ya wanna get that cloud and we can head out?”
“In a minute.” Dash leaned in and nuzzled her marefriend’s neck for a moment before planting a light kiss.
“Come on, sugar.” Applejack protested halfheartedly, fighting to keep a shiver from running down her spine. “W-we gotta get goin’.” She placed a hoof against her marefriend’s chest, but couldn’t bring herself to push the other mare away.
“I told you, in a minute.” Rainbow replied, trailing a hoof along Applejack’s side and smiling as the earth pony let out a contented sigh. The muffled sound of hoofsteps made her ears swivel and face a nearby tunnel. She stopped teasing her marefriend, drawing a short but irritated groan from her, and turned to face the source of the noise.
“There you are, Rainbow Dash.” Spitfire emerged from the archway and trotted over to the pair. “I hoped I could catch you before you got away.”
“Sure. What’s up?” Dash tried to appear nonchalant, but Applejack noticed a small flutter of her wings that betrayed her thinly-concealed excitement. The farm pony suppressed a smile, knowing that her marefriend was likely freaking out in her head.
“I just wanted to say that you did a great job today. It’s clear that you’ve been working hard and pushing yourself since the Academy. You pulled off some really impressive stunts, and I’m not just talking about the Rainboom. Although, it was nice to be awake to see it.” Spitfire shook her head, chuckling to herself, then turned and started walking back toward the tunnel she had entered from. “Like I said, great job today. Keep an eye on the mail. We’ll be in touch.”
"No biggie, take your time, I'll be here when you're ready." Dash rubbed a hoof against her chest nonchalantly. She managed to maintain that posture for a full thirty seconds after Spitfire was out of earshot, then broke into the girliest squeal imaginable. Her wings shot up, the tips flapping excitedly, and she actually rose a few inches off of the floor. "Yes! I am so awesome! I mean, I knew I was awesome, but even I didn’t think I was this awesome! How lucky are you to have such an awesome marefriend, AJ?"
“Well, Ah reckon Ah’d have to be the luckiest mare in Equestria.” Applejack replied, rolling her eyes. She reared up and put her forehooves on Rainbow’s back, bringing her down to the ground again. “Now, you gonna be able to get those things—” She pointed at Dash’s still-fluttering wings. “—under control enough to get us to the bar?”
“Yeah, just a sec.” Dash scrunched her face up in concentration and slowly forced her wings back to her sides. “There we go. Wait here a second.” She trotted to the edge of the walkway and jumped off, only to reappear a few seconds later with a tuft of cloud in her hooves. “Here we are. Now we just give it a tug here...” She shaped the cloud, gradually forming it into a flat, round disc. “Alright, hop on.”
“Ya sure ‘bout that?” Applejack poked the floating platform, sending it floating out over the empty center of the Coliseum. Rainbow reached out and grabbed the cloud, pulling it back onto the walkway.
“Of course I’m sure. Besides, even if you fell, I’d totally catch you.” She pushed the disc, bumping it into her marefriend’s chest. “Now hop on. We’ve gotta get to Skychaser’s before Lightning Dust thinks we snuck off to do something else.”
Applejack lifted her forelegs and rested them on the platform, leaning on it to test its support. It dipped a little when she pressed on it hard, but it seemed solid. Satisfied, she climbed onto it, pulling her hat off and setting it between her forelegs. “Ya mean that wasn’t yer little plan before Spitfire showed up?”
“No!” Dash shot back, but after a second she shuffled her hooves and dropped her eyes to stare at the ground. “Well, maybe...” She looked back up and stepped over to push the cloud platform, flashing a devilish grin. “But only for a little bit, don’t get your hopes up.” She trotted over to the edge, hopping off and angling down through the hole in the center of the Coliseum. “Now, hold on tight, we’ve got some serious air space to cover.”
Applejack opened her mouth to respond, but her words disappeared as the cloud beneath her hooves suddenly accelerated and she slid backward a few inches. She reflexively laid flat and dug her hooves in, shutting her eyes against the rapidly passing scenery. After what felt like several minutes and a few impossibly sharp turns, the flying disc and its occupant slowed to a halt. The farm pony cracked and eye open and was greeted by the sight of Dash trying to contain her laughter.
“You doin’ okay there, AJ?” Rainbow asked, a giggle escaping her. She brought a hoof to her mouth to try and stifle it, but she couldn’t hide the smile covering her face.
“Ah’m doin’ just dandy, thank ya very much.” Applejack grabbed her hat and placed it back on her head. She looked around, taking care not to look too far down, They had arrived at a stand alone building that floated a short ways off of a heavily-traveled airway. The tavern was made of slate-grey cloud, and a wooden sign above the door read ‘Skychaser’s’ in simple block lettering. She dared a look at the base of the building and found a walkway running around the edge, though it was a bit too small for her taste. Scooting over to the edge of her platform, she glanced down, and immediately regretted that decision. The platform was still a little over a foot away from the path ringing the bar, and in the space between the two, Applejack got a good look at the ground, nearly a mile away. She quickly backpedaled, squatting down in the middle of the disc.
“Can’t ya get it any closer, sugar?” She asked, barely managing to keep a worried quiver out of her voice.
“Of course, but do you really think I wanted to miss that reaction?” Dash chuckled to herself and pushed the platform in closer until it eventually merged with the walkway. She flapped her wings and floated over to land in front of the other mare on the path. “There we go. No scary sp—” Her words died in her throat as she looked up and saw her marefriend glaring daggers at her. She involuntarily took a step back, swallowing. “I’m gonna pay for that later, aren’t I?”
“You have no idea, sugarcube.” Applejack replied, breaking out in a wry grin. She stepped onto the sidewalk and nudged Dash with a hoof. “Now let’s head on in before Lightning Dust gets any ideas ‘bout where we are.” Her marefriend turned and walked toward the door with her tail tucked meekly between her legs, and the farm pony followed suit, making sure to keep her eyes forward and not daring to look down again. After an agonizingly long time, she reached the door to the bar, trotting through it as Rainbow held it open from the other side.
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Added to read later, this sounds interesting!
Moar! I demand moar!
Not normally one for AppleDash, but this is pretty funny so far.
Good, good. Let the apples dash through you.
I like it. I really wish we had more AppleDash's start off with them already as a couple.
Commence read.
More Apple-Dash goodness. Okay then.
Hope Lightning Dust gets in. Then we can have tension.
You repeated one of the paragraphs; the one starting with "That's just it". Aside from that, great start.
i can just see it now. Lightning dust makes some smart ass comment or a pass at RD right in front of AJ. AJ not liking that ends up in a bar brawl with Lightning Dust
2293215 That I did... not sure how that happened. Thanks for pointing that out.
Not bad, this looks like fun.
Gentleponies, you had my curioisty, but now you have my attention
Huzzah, we have several nice things going for this fic:
1. Fun Rainbow Dash and Applejack dynamic
2. Nice Lightning Dust? (Naturally skeptical)
3. The threat of the Wonderbolts
It certainly would be interesting to see if the AppleDash can hold up to LightningDash if both Rainbow and Lightning are accepted and they end up sharing a room as rookies, training together, etc. Just how good is Lightning Dust? She says one thing, but is she just waiting to pounce?
A touch of jealousy from Applejack was mentioned already. I sense a Love Triangle incoming! Applejack x Rainbow Dash x Lightning Dust!
Carry on!
Looks good so far. Added to Twilight's Library.
And given the amount of time Lightning Dust got in the first chapter, I'd imagine she'll be a reoccuring character, so both getting in seems likely, especially with the emphasis on how they've never taken more then one applicant.
But that's just me being trope-conscious. ^_^
sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/1860_431214873632421_168620976_n.jpg
Oooh, man, gonna have to track this. I'm a sucker for love triangle fics.
I can't accept this portrayal of Lightning Dust. In the show she was never anything but careless, arrogant, utterly unapolagetic and indifferent to others' welfare to the point of scociopathy. That suddenly, without any substantial explanation, she has become so remorseful and amiable is simply unbelievable. You can't reform an antagonist with a single apology and a 'I realized I was a jerk, so now I'm not and we can all be best friends'. But I've been waiting so long to see some Rainbow Dash-Lightning Dust shipping that I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume not everything has been revealed yet.
I have no other complaints. A bit of a slow introduction, perhaps. But you've gotten Applejack and Rainbow Dash's characterization, dialogue, and interactions down to so near perfection that nearly any other problems could be overlooked.
2302284
It's been two years since that time. Two years is a lot of time and easily enough for a person(or pony) to change radically.
2330703
But I haven't seen any of that change, so I'm being asked to blindly accept it. An author could dramatically change any established canon with a passing mention that X number of years have passed. It's ham-fisted story telling and a cop out, boring means of reforming an antagonist.
This isn't Lightning Dust. It's an entirely new character sharing Lightning Dust's name.
2332620 This is also only the first chapter.
You're seeing very little of her actual character here. You know what she has told Dash, and how she acts in this chapter. You're correct, you cannot dramatically change personalities, even with time. Keep reading, and judge based on her actions, not her words, if she has changed.
Trixie did not stop being Trixie, even when she apologized.
2333261
Sorry, I didn't mean to come off as so hyper critical. As I said in my original comment, I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt and assuming all has yet to be revealed.
"Rainbow Elizabeth Dash!"
I have no idea why, but I laughed so hard when I read this.
2292608
That was terrible.
Good show!