> Life and Times of Rave Darkness > by Ravedarkness > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prelude (Re-edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Ring ring ring” It was the sound one could hear cutting through the silence of the room. Darkness covered the room except for the small rays of morning sun slipping past the curtains. The ringing sound of the alarm clock was soon accompanied by the sound of rustling sheets and annoyed groaning. With a swift move of a hoof the alarm was silenced. 'Peaceful quiet swept over the room, and the stallion that continued to lay in the bed looking at the clock to this right. Sounds of displeasure and annoyance escaped his mouth as he stretched and moved about his bed. His eyes slowing opened and shut, and couldn't seem to decide which one they'd rather rest upon. It was a decision that he had to make every morning due to his love of sleeping and comfort of his bed and for the fact he hated mornings with a passion . He rolled out of his bed and onto the floor. The sunlight that had been peeking through had gotten stronger as Celestia finished raising the sun to begin the day. Bright sunlight alone was not enough to be a good reason to give up just a few extra minutes of rest, but today was an important day for his unit, and he had work he needed to get done before everything kicked off. 'Getting out of bed had one distinct pleasure; stretching his wings. After having them folded all night, they were cramped and stiff. As his wings expanded one could see that they were different the other pegasi. They were different not due to their shape, but due to their color; his were stripped. In fact his entire body had strips. While it may have seemed out of place among the other pegasi for him it was perfectly normal. Rave Darkness was a Half zebra, Half pegasus hybrid. His father, a zebra named Low Swing, had served in the royal guard where he met Rave’s mother, Sound Thought. His mother, a pegasus, was a teacher in Canterlot who also worked as a trainer with the royal guard. That was how they meet or so the story went. Rave really didn’t care much about how his parents met as old stories didn't matter much when the day was asking for his attention right now. After he finished up his morning stretches, Rave headed to the bathroom to take a shower. His flank showed a colored cutie mark,a rare development for half zebras that inherited a stripped pattern. The mark showed three glow sticks; green, red, blue; arranged to form an ‘A.’ He had gained it when he learned about his special talent of dancing. He could easily pick up all different types of dance from ballet to b-boying. The mark added color to his gray shaded color scheme which is a staple of zebras. He entered his shower, still groggy from the fact that he had just awoken, and turned on the water. Rave had forgotten that it took some time for the water to heat up to a pleasurable temperature thus he was blasted by a stream of cold water. Teal eyes covered his face as the cold water hit his body. By instinct, he quickly jumped out of the water stream to the back of the shower. He stood at the back of the shower and periodically check the water for the correct temperature. Once the water reached the correct temperature, equitable to a pleasant summer day, Rave resumed his shower. Looking at Rave, one would assume that he had just stepped out of an old black and white movie. His light gray coat was interrupted by darker gray stripes that tracked over his body in an organized pattern. His muzzle was colored the same as his stripes and had a distinctive pattern at the point where it met the lighter coat color as if someone painted a star on it. The fronts of his ears were also stripped. One stripe at the base of his neck curved in a complete circle, which always struck him as familiar to the necklace Princess Celestia wore. On his body the stripes resembled claws when looked at from the side, and each leg had three stripes evenly spaced apart. Fitting with this zebric heritage, his mane was jet black...usually. At times, the tips of his hair would turn white. It was something that baffled doctors, he went to as a child for check ups, to the point that they were convinced that he dyed the tips. He liked for his hair to lay flat, but occasionally he would spike it along with his tail. Rave turned off the water and flapped his wings hard to dry off. He then stepped out of the shower and continued his morning routine which included putting on his uniform. He joined the Equestria’s Royal Air Force a little over two and a half years ago. Ever since he first saw the Wonderbolts perform when he was a child, he dreamed of joining the best flyers of all Equestria. The Wonderbolts were a division of the Royal Air Force; although, to the masses the entire Royal Air Force was called the Wonderbolts. What few of the common ponies knew was that the RAF also did specialty weather detail, Air Recon, and even air support for the Royal Guard, among other duties. A three flier cell went up against a Dragon in Ponyville a few months back. Back when Rave first joined, he was part of the 82nd Air Support Group, where he specialized in Recon and personnel recovery; however, his new job, which he started today, tasked him as a support personnel to the 1st Flight Team. Being on the 1st Flight Team was one of the most prestigious positions a pony could have in the RAF. they were known to all as the best flyers in all of Equestria. The 1st Flight Team’s Commander Spitfire was a sight to behold even when she was on the ground. She was fierce yet graceful, and Rave had heard many stories about her. The Vice Commander Soarin’, was also the epitome of flying greatness. Rave had almost fainted when he heard that he was chosen to be support personnel to Spitfire and Soarin' directly. It was a position many sought but only a few opening for. Rave checked his uniform one more time. He was to wear the blue top suit for the day, but was also given a signature blue flight suit the resembled the “Wonderbolts” own minus the patch over his cutie mark. Rave found himself smiling from ear to ear as he walked about his apartment making sure he had everything he needed. Pausing at the front door, Rave smacked the side of his face; killing anything else bouncing around in his skull other than his game face. He looked over to the clock and his once happy expression turned into one of pure panic. He was ten minutes behind schedule. Rave quickly gathered his things before blasting through the door in a dead flight toward his new RAF hangar on the flight line. As Rave flew out of his apartment two unicorn stallions looked on. “It seems like he is running late as usual.” “That's what he thinks. I set his clocks ahead fifteen minutes last night," laughed the taller of the two. > Late > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rave was furiously flapping his wings in an attempt to fly faster. No matter how much he tried his efforts all proved useless due to the Uniform of the day. The suit top was not designed with flight in mind. “Stupid uniform,” he cursed as he flew toward his destination. He started to feel discomfort at the point where his wings rubbed up against the back of the suit. “This is crazy. How am I late? I even woke up early today.” Thoughts racing through his head as fast as he was racing through the sky. “Well that doesn’t matter now. I just need to make up those ten minutes.” He pushed forward as he forced himself to fly fast despite the pain. Going back to the two Unicorns from earlier. “ Spazzer how did you set back all his clocks without him noticing?” the smaller white unicorn with a flat topped Mohawk ask the taller one. “It was very easy Midget,” Spazzer replied. “Hacks,” Midget dully stated seemly annoyed by his own utterance of the word. “Yep,” a joyous Spazzer emitted. Midget and Rave referred to some of the things Spazzer did using the word “Hacks.” They used it when he did something that didn’t really have an explanation on how he did it. It is the same thing Pinkie Pie does. Lucky for the sanity of people the two haven’t met. (Yet) Spazzer was a blue stallion with white hoof tops. He stood above average size for stallions and had a lean muscular built. His cutie mark three dots: red, blue, and green, each with a tail thus forming a circle. It looked as if the circle was rotating clockwise. He was a wiz when it came to light shows. He was a one man lightning system with his magic. He was also a fair dancer and raved with Rave on occasions. Midget just introduced his face to his hoof after hearing Spazzer’s response. “Why did I even ask,” mumbled Midget as he shook his head looking over to a very enthused Spazzer. Midget stood shorter than average for adult stallions. He was just a tab bit shorter the Rave was. Midget’s cutie mark showed two Vinyl records side by side. Not only did it represent his musical prowess, but also indicated his understanding of the musical hardware as well. Midget Djed at places around the town which often had him up all night. On a few occasions he ran into DJ Pon3 and even Djed beside her. On the occasions when Rave, Midget and Spazzer went out together, ponies knew that a party was happening. Together Midget would control the tunes, Spazzer had the lights, and Rave broke it down on the dance floor. Everypony around knew that when these three were together something was going to happens. “ Well we also need to head into work, Spazz” Midget said as he return his hoof to the ground. “Yea I suppose,” Spazzer replied as the high of emotion he was on started to dissipate. “But can we stop to get something to eat? I’m starving.” “You’re always hungry” laughed Midget as he started down the walkway to work. “But seriously I need food” shouted Spazzer as he ran to catch up with Midget. Rave was still pushing himself to get to his jobsite “on time.” If he had looked at one of the clocks, he passed by, in his panicked state; he would have realized he would be ten minutes ahead of schedule. Upon the horizon he could see the runway of the base he would be working at from now on. His frantic pace became one of clam but urgent. As he approached the ground he could see other ponies hustling about the base. One could see that they all were not just pegasai, but all types of ponies. Being a pegasai was not required to enlist in the RAF; in fact it was nearly a one to one ratio of pegasai to non-pegasai within the force. While nearly all of the jobs that required flight were reserved for pegasai; medical, communications and other support jobs fell to into the hand of unicorns. Jobs dealing with heavy lifting and construction were better left to the earth ponies. Spazzer was in fact a medic in the RAF while Midget worked the communications front of things. There were exceptions to the norm as Rave’s friend Blitz had shown. He was assigned to a flying job as a unicorn since his special talent actually dealt with cloud manipulation and cloud walking. As Rave landed, he took in the sights of his new duty station. Around him were people he never seen before and it made nervous and excited all at the same time. His first impression was very important to his success in his new position. Or at least he thought so to himself as looked over his uniform. His frantic flight had caused some parts of his uniform to move out of place. They were simple fixes and wouldn’t cause a problem if not fixed on a normal day. “Today was not normal by any means” Rave thought to himself as he fixed the small problems with his uniform. He headed to the office of his new boss. As he stopped at the door he could hear the whispers from around the area. “That must be the new guy” he overheard from a Stallion standing behind him. “He seems to be just “her” type. She is going to have fun with him” A mare replied to the stallion “He is going to need all the luck he can get,” whispered the stallion. “That is the truth” laughed the mare. “Calm down and relax,” Rave thought to himself. “You will be just fine. You would not have been selected for this position if they didn’t think you had all the qualifications. You got this in the bag.” Rave’s mood began to become more relaxed as he positively talked himself up. Being able to smile even when situation was bleak, at best, was a trait Rave had enjoyed all his life. It allowed him to shine even when the pressure was on him. He actually liked working under pressure and felt he worked better under it. Not just by keeping a positive outlook allow him this trait; however, he always understood the consequences of failing. This would cause his mind to become a battlefield if he left it to wander. This happened to one of the times he didn't keep a close eye on his mind as a battle started to brew. “Unless you screw up big time,” a thought that popped into Rave’s head. The thought had affected rave to where he had frozen for a second. As he returned to normal and reached for the door handle, his brain was instantly flooded with anxiety and the thoughts that go with it. “Is my uniform correct? Is she going to like me? Do I look alright? Am I really the right person for this job?” Rave took a deep breath allow him to take in all the concerns his brain just overwhelmed him with. He knew that each one was a viable concern but he took then all before dismissing each and everyone. He felt relaxed as he sat his hoof on the handle. He simply smiled as he moved the handle and opened the door to his new boss’ office. Opening the door, Rave was exposed to a sight that he was not expecting, the room was empty. Not only was it empty but the lights were off. “Even if I was behind schedule by ten minutes and didn’t make them up flying, I set up my schedule to arrive 15 minutes early which would equate to 5 minutes early now,” he pondered. “I know being five minutes early isn’t something special, but I’m still early none the less.” As Rave stood there deep in thought, a mare with an orange mane with yellow highlights approached the office. She walked up to Rave and tapped him on the back. Rave spun around to see who it was, visually annoyed that his train of thought had been interrupted. “You are early.” The mare spoke. “I like that, but being a full twenty-five minutes early makes you seem way too uptight. That I don’t like. Now if you would excuse me I would like to get into my office if you don’t mind.” Rave moved to remove himself from the doorway as the mare walked past. His face showed that his brain was still at work processing this new information. “Ma’am, did you say I was twenty-five minutes early?” Rave asked as he repositioned himself in front of the door facing the mare. “One” the mare replied turning around to face Rave. Her face showed an unpleasant demeanor. “Call me Captain Spitfire, Capt, or just Spitfire. Do not use Ma’am when it’s just us. That word just never sat well with me. And to answer your question, yes you are twenty-five minutes early.” She raised her hoof to point at a clock hanging from the wall. The clock backed up Spitfire’s story of Rave being early showing that it was just ten minutes after the he saw when he left home. “That would mean I did in ten minutes what would normally take twenty-five.” Rave pondered. “In this uniform that would be nearly impossible meaning.” His train of thought paused as his face showed an expression of annoyance. “I was never behind schedule,” he mumbled out. He tilted his head down as his face showed a deadpan look. “That would mean someone changed all the clocks in my apartment,” He thought. “But who would do....” his train of thought completely stopped as it purpose seemed to be fulfilled. “Spazzer,” was the single word or name in this case that escaped his mouth. “What was that” Spitfire questioned him. She had taken to looking through some papers that were left on her desk after she had left the previous day. Rave, realizing that he had said his previous statement out loud, returned his look to rest upon Spitfire. “ Nothing Ma’am,” a reply that got him a glare from Spitfire’s brilliant orange eyes as she look at Rave from just above the papers she was holding. “Sorry ma’am,” The look intensified as Spitfire placed the papers back on her desk. All of her attention was on Rave. “Um,” he started as he was visually flustered. “I’m just going to stop talking for now if that is alright with you,” moving his own eyes away from Spitfire’s glare. Spitfire continued to glare at Rave for a few more seconds before small chuckles could be heard. “Well that is something I’ve never heard before,” Spitfire chuckled. “It was pretty effective in getting out of your current situation if I do say so myself. Anyways,” Spitfire stood up and walked to the front of her desk before turning back to Rave. “How about you come in and close the door so we can get started. “Yes Ma…,” Rave spoke before he cut himself off as he saw Spitfire face react to his reply. “Sure thing Captain Spitfire.” With that Spitfire’s face showed a small smile which caught Rave off guard as his heart seemed to skip a beat. “I think I might be screwed,” he thought to himself as he closed the door. “Ya think,” his mind replied back. Elsewhere….. AHHCOOH “You alright there Spazzer,” Midget asked as he sat on the ferry to work. A sneezing Spazzer sat next to him. The RAF employed air ferries to take the non-flying members to their work stations. It was a system that worked fairly well most of the time. Even when things weren’t running smoothly with it, the problems were minor overall. This is how Midget and Spazzer go to work every morning. “Yea I’m alright” Spazzer replied as he used a napkin to with his nose. “it seems like Rave found out about how I set his clocks back,” he grinned. Midget had his front hooves shaking beside his head. “What does that have anything to do with sneezing?” Midget retorted while failing his arms around in his seat. “You know” Spazzer spoke showing a serious face replacing his smiling one from earlier. “That old saying about how you sneeze when people talk about you.” Midget nodded as Spazzer continued. “well at this time in the morning only you and Rave would be talking about me since everyone else who talks about me is sleep. With you sitting right beside me, and the fact I would hear you talking about me only leaves Rave. With today being his first day at his new job, there would be no reason for him to talk about me except if he figured out about the clocks.” A wide grin returned to Spazzer’s face as he finished his hyperactive monolog. Midget just put his hooves back down as he looked at Spazzer. “you know what” Midget started. “I’m just going to leave it like that.” > News to Me > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rave stood in the office. His eyes were fixated on his new boss, Spitfire as she stood in front of him. Her own eyes were fixated on Rave’s. Although Rave was silent, his mind was rushing along. “That was hot,” a thought that came to his mind. “This smoking hot mare is going to be our boss now. Maybe she’ll need help with other things.” Rave mind continued to race on leaving his thought process in the dust. His mind was filled with thoughts like this as he just looked at Spitfire. “Hey she even made you close the door just now. That could mean.” A small grin appeared on Rave’s face before he broke eye contact with Spitfire. “As if that would happen” he calmly thought to himself. “ So,” Spitfire said effectively breaking the silence. “You already got the job but tell me about yourself Rave.” “Well,” Rave started. “I come from the 82nd Air Support Group where I worked in recon and personnel recovery. I was awa…” Rave stopped his sentence as he could see that Spitfire seemed to be a little put off by his answer. “Capt, is there a problem?” he asked “Um,” a word that passed by Spitfire’s lips. Rave had caught her off guard by his question. She didn’t know that Rave had picked up on her body language in reaction to his answers. “ umm yea.” She resumed. “I want to know about you. I have already read all the information that was in your package for the job, so I don’t want any of that stuff. Just relax and go with the flow. What do you do for fun Rave? ” “Well” Rave spoke as he visual appeared to calm down. He let out a sigh which showed him to relax even more. He moved from his spot for the first time since closing the door. He positioned himself in a way that Spitfire could see his cutie mark. “I really love to dance” he said as he brought attention to his mark. “Interesting” she noted as she walked back behind the desk and sat down. She picked up a notepad and began writing in it. “So what do you think your cutie mark means?” It was now Rave’s turn to be caught off guard by a question. He knew what he was good at and at what he loved to do, but he never put them together with his cutie mark besides his dancing. “My Cutie mark means,” he paused to think for a bit. “I think it mean me ,” he finally spoke. Spitfire’s face showed an expression of sheer disbelief and confusion that Rave picked up on instantly. Moving to speak before Spitfire had a chance; Rave started “I say it means me. On the surface it shows just three glow sticks. This represents my talent of dancing and things like it. Choreographed movements fall into this category if I do say so myself. However it’s just not the glow sticks but how they are arranged also describes me. They form the letter “A.”” He continued as he watched Spitfire continue to write on the notepad that seemed to hold her attention. “I believe that the arrangement of the glow sticks represents my thirst for knowledge. I simply just want to keep learning new things,” he concluded as he looked back at Spitfire. Spitfire had finished writing in the notebook and looked up at Rave. She stood back up from behind her desk and walked toward him without taking her eyes off of him. As she approached him one can see that Rave only barely stood taller the Spitfire. The difference was so small the one couldn’t tell it if they were not standing beside each other. Spitfire had passed his face and begins to walk around inspecting him. She paid attention not only to Rave’s uniform, an item that he had to hastily fix after landing, but also his physique. Although Rave stood shorter than most stallions his age by no means was he scrawny. He wasn’t buff as one might say but he did have a toned body. He had the in shape appearance to him. “I’m about to touch you. is that alright?” Spitfire asked. “You can touch me when ever and where ever you like,” thought Rave before it was completely pushed out of his mind. “yes, It’s fine Capt,” Rave replied. He felt her hoof on his back as it moved down along his spine. After moving all the way down his back she gave a few taps on his flank before moving to the other side. “No wingboners. No wingboners. No wingboners.” Rave continued to think to himself. It seemed to be working until he felt a small tug on his right wing. Spitfire had been tracing Rave’s stripes with her hoof for a little bit and it was this action that leads her to his wing. As to not completely fall prey to the wicked wingboner, Rave decided to open his right wing on his own terms. This seemed to catch Spitfire off guard a bit as she backed up a little. She resumed her inspection as her began to touch Rave’s wings. His entire body was striped and his wings were no exception. They each had two stripes through the wings although only when they were fully open could you see both. Spitfire’s hand followed the stripes along the wing before tugging at them to inspect their strength. After inspecting Rave’s wing, Spitfire stepped back. Rave could see that see her face showed a slight blush. She did well at keeping a straight face despite the blush. “Checking out the new recruit already eh Spits.” A voice sounded. The voice originated from the left of Rave which caused him to stop looking at Spitfire. “I mean you seemed like you were in your own little world when you were inspecting him. I’m also sure that the physical contact is not required” the voice laughed. As Rave look to where the voice was coming from it was brought to his attention that there was another door to the office besides the one he entered. Standing in this second doorway was a very light blue, to the point of being white, stallion eating an apple while looking at the pair. “Soarin,” Spitfire emphases, “don’t you ever knock?” Spitfire looked flustered having been caught in the act so to speak. “How look have you been there” as she tried to regain her composure. “Since the flank tapping” replied Soarin as he entered the room. He discarded the remains of the apple into the waste bin as he approached Rave. “So Spits does he pass your inspection?” Spitfire stood silent as it seemed that Soarin was getting to her. “Come on Spits, he wants to know too,” Soarin said as he placed a hoof around Rave’s neck. “Isn’t that right,” Soarin continued as he nodded his head up and down. Rave was still dumbfounded at what was taking place. It seems that his mind which had been running at 100s of miles per minute had instantly stopped and felt like staying stopped for the moment. Rave just nodded his head in agreement as he looked toward Spitfire. Spitfire sighed as she finally regained her composure. “Yea I think he will make an excellent addition to the team. Besides,” she continued, “ It’s not every day do you see a Zebra in Equestria. And one that has wings is even rarer.” She smiled and blushed a bit at that comment as Soarin begin to pat Rave on the back. Rave continued to show an expression of dumbfoundedness. Even though the conversation had taken place in front of him, he still had no idea what was going on. Soarin continued to pat Rave on the back, “Congrats you just became a Wonderbolt apprentice.” Rave’s face just dropped as he heard these words. “Did you say I’m a Wonderbolt apprentice?” Rave questioned. He thought that between the earlier conversation and Soarin’s back patting, that he had heard wrong. “Yes, you’re a Wonderbolt apprentice,” Spitfire re-informed Rave. She wore a face that showed pride and respect as Rave stood there. “Although you’re not a fully fledged Wonderbolt at the moment you are currently closer than most will ever be. At this point you are destined to become a Wonderbolt and fly along the Best of the Best. Congrats Rave Darkness.” Rave just froze there as the news began to sink in. Deciding to proceed with his portion Soarin started to nudge Rave along back into the hallway. It took a few tries for Rave to start moving but once he did his mind also came back in full swing. In his mind, one thought was louder than the others, ”WOOOOOONNDEERRRRRRRRRBOOOOOLT.” Rave continued to follow Soarin down the hallway. Rave was coming down off of his high which allowed him to regain higher brain function. Rave began to shake his head side to side in a attempt to regain his focus. Soarin picked up on this movement. “So,” Soarin started. “It seems that you have finally come back to us. So how does it feel?” “Honestly, sir confusing” Rave replied. “I thought I was picked to work as a support personnel for the 1st flight team, not to become a member of it.” Soarin began to laugh as they continued forward. “How many units do you know of that pull active duty members to just be support personnel. Not to mention the amount of paperwork and hurdles you had to go through should have been a dead give-a-way.” Rave’s eyes opened wide as the information he received from Soarin made perfect sense. “ I feel stupid,” muddled out of Rave’s mouth. “How did I not see that?” “Don’t worry about it,” Soarin intervened. “No one ever does. I sure know I didn’t,” Soarin laughed out. They continued to walk down the hallway until they came to a pair of double doors. “Here we are,” Soarin said as he opened the doors. Hidden behind the door was a huge hanger. The hanger was big enough for the Wonderbolts to hold a full practice without having to open the roof. Rave’s jaw dropped at the sheer size of the place as he was left speechless. “I did the same thing,” chuckled Soarin getting Rave’s attention. A small blush appeared on Rave’s face as he was motioned to continue following by Soarin. As he walked, Rave looked around the room noticing some of the other ponies. “That’s Mist Fly,” Rave thought excitedly to himself. “Over there is Fleet Foot.” He continued to walk around following Soarin as he keep pointing out the other members of the Wonderbolts by name in his mind. A feeling started to well up in him from the back of his mind. Its approach was halted as it seemed that Soarin had reached his destination. “Here we are. The Wonderbolts Main Locker room,” Soarin triumphantly proclaimed as if he had just won a gold medal in the Equestria Games. “Go look at the lockers on the right wall.” Rave followed Soarin’s instructions as he moved to the right of the room. On a plaque, over the lockers, on the right wall of the locker room, the word “Apprentices” was spelled. Rave walked down the row of lockers until he spotted something that made him stop at the third one from the end. The name plate on it simple said “Rave D.” Looking at this Rave just sat down on the floor and stared at it. The feeling that was creeping up earlier had come back in full force. That feeling had reviled it’s self to be doubt. “ I’m on the road to become a Wonderbolt,” Rave said to himself as he looked up at the nameplate. “The Wonderbolts. The best fliers of all Equestria want me to join them. All the Pegasus dream of this moment and I’m living it.” He looked down at the ground. “But was this my dream? Can I live up to the Wonderbolt’s expectations?” Rave just sat there as he restarted staring at his name plate. Looking at Rave from the end of the lockers was Soarin. He had a small smile on his face as a small tear rolled down his face. Soarin moved to wipe the tear from his face as he turned around to give Rave more time to himself. “Don’t worry newbie,” Soarin said to himself as he walked away. “I did the same thing.” > "head UP" > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As you can see this is not the next chapter. sorry for the break but i'm currently working as a Writer on a Fan Animation. a Production created by Military Bronies for all Bronies. " A Mile in our Hooves" i'll work on this in soon i promise. till then just think what Spazzer would do.