At the age of sixteen, Soarin' loses someone very close to him, his father. He's about to enter the Wonderbolts academy but will he be able to stay strong, or fall apart?
Soarin' was closer to their father than Wave Chill was, so when he suddenly passes away why does Soarin' go as if nothing has happened? Soarin' promised his dad that he'd become a Wonderbolt and his dad promised that he'd be there to see every show. Now that it's not possible anymore, how will he cope with the academy and can he still achieve his dreams of following his fathers legacy by becoming a Wonderbolt himself?
Sidestory to the Trapped Series- but it can be read alone since it happens beforehand! Edited by the brillWolfePony
My father lifts me up into the air as I flutter my wings as fast as they can go. The wind blows my mane wildly around my face and caresses my feathers.
"Okay, son, I'm going to let go now. Keep flapping your wings." Dad slowly removes his hooves and I continue to flap my wings.
All I can think about is how I want to make him proud, I want to show him that I can fly. One day, I'm going to be the best flier in Equestria. One day, I'm going to be a Wonderbolt.
Suddenly, I'm floating in the air and I begin to slowly flap my wings so that I don't fall to the ground. My dad is looking up at me with a proud smile across his face and he is giving a look that says: "That's my son, look at him go."
"Daddy, daddy, look! I'm flying!" I cry in glee as I soar through the air.
The feeling is amazing, no wonder so many pegasi love the feeling of flight. It's as if it puts you on an emotional high. I don't ever want to stop.
"Soarin' you should come back down now," my dad says in a firm voice and I immediately obey.
Once my hooves touch the soft cloud I begin to bounce up and down in joy. "Did you see? Did ya, did ya?" I beam as I jump around my dad.
"Yes, I did, you were brilliant Soarin'!" he smiles and ruffles my mane before scooping me up with his wings.
"I'm going to be a Wonderbolt, daddy, just like you were!" I giggle happily.
Dad looks down at me with a warm smile. "Yes you will be, son and I will be there to see your first show. I will be there to see all of your shows."
"Promise?" I ask.
"I promise," he replies and crosses his heart with his hoof.
I stare at the acceptance letter in my hooves as I think back to the first day I ever flew. Who would have known that a little colt like me would've gone so far? I was a late bloomer, in terms of flying. I flew for the first time at the age of six, whereas everyone else had been flying since three or four. Hell, even Wave Chill was flying before me and he's three years younger than me.
Those ten years have gone by so fast. I'm sixteen now and I've graduated from flight school, that's why I applied to the academy. There were rumours that this was the last chance for someone as young as me to apply since they were boosting the age up to eighteen next year, because of that I didn't think I'd be accepted. But the letter before me is telling me otherwise, I did it, I got in!
I fold the letter up swiftly and put it in my mouth before galloping into the hallway to try to find my dad. He's in the sitting room reading the newspaper with a pair of glasses sitting haphazardly at the end of his muzzle. His dark blue mane matches mine but his fur is a greyish colour and his eyes are deep blue. He glances up at me and raises an eyebrow as if to ask why I'm disturbing his precious reading time.
Stepping forward, I hold out the letter for him and allow him to read it. I watch as his face grows from one of confusion to one of joy as he jumps up from his seat and cheers, ignoring the fact that his newspaper fell off of his lap.
"You did it, son! I knew you would!" he grins and brings me in for a hug.
I'm not normally the hugging type of pony but when it comes to my father I don't really care. Wave Chill was always closer to our mum whereas I spent all my time with dad. I think I connected more with my dad because it took so long for me to learn how to fly, so he put all of his time into me. I respect him for that; I know it must have been frustrating being a former Wonderbolt with a six year old son who couldn't fly. Still, he didn't treat me any differently.
My father left the Wonderbolts when my mum fell pregnant with me because he wanted to spend time with his new family. When he left, everypony was going wild about the fact that the great Solar Dust was having a child which would definitely be in the next generation of the 'Bolts. From the day I was born I had the pressure put on me to be the best.
The day I got my cutie mark was when I raced against the Wonderbolt Captain and nearly beat him. I'm not sure if he recognised me since he knew my father well, but if he did then he didn't say anything about it. I had only been flying for just over two years so when I almost won it was a shock to everypony. Who would have thought, Soarin' the pathetic pegasus who couldn't fly almost won against a Wonderbolt.
When I got home after that race my father cried in joy. After years of struggling to fly, I had proven that I was capable in becoming a Wonderbolt.
Today, I'm even closer to it; I cannot wait to see the pride on dad's face when I finish my first ever show. That's why I have to get into the team, not just to achieve my dreams of flying with the Wonderbolts but also to make my dad proud. I want to prove to Equestria that I am the son of a Wonderbolt and I am capable of achieving whatever I want.
"This calls for a family celebration!" Dad announces, a grin spread across his face.
Mum and Wave Chill walk into the sitting room together with a confused look across their face. "What in Equestria is going on in here?" Mum sighs and shakes her head disapprovingly at the two of us.
"I did it, mum! I got into the Wonderbolts Academy, this was the last chance I had until I turned eighteen and I did it!" I grin and present the letter to her.
She smiles as she reads the letter and passes it on to Wave Chill. "Well done, Soarin', I'm so proud of you." She turns to look at Wave Chill. "You'll be next, kid."
Wave Chill frowns slightly; a look of envy fills his eyes. "But I couldn't enter because I was too young, now I have to wait even longer!"
"Don't worry, you're a good flyer, Wave. You'll be up with us in no time at all!" I smile and ruffle his mane.
Wave Chill simply mumbles in reply and stalks up the stairs. I laugh softly as I watch him walk away. I know how it feels: having to wait to be accepted into the team and now he has to wait for five years instead of three. Still, he has a chance to finish flight school and improve his skills. Plus, I can teach him a few extra tricks so that he has a better chance. He doesn't realise it yet, but he's lucky.
Dad and I sit at the table as my mum calls Wave Chill down for dinner. He seems to have cheered up a bit so we all celebrate my achievement.
I look around the table at my family as I think: This is perfect; nothing could go wrong for me right now.
The sun shines through my window, making my room light up cheerfully. My eyes flutter open slowly as I roll over in my bed to come face to face with a Wonderbolts poster and stuck beside it, my acceptance letter. Thank Celestia, I thought it was all a dream but this has proven me wrong.
I have a week before I have to pack up and leave for the academy, and since my mum is at work and my dad has gone to do some errands, I thought I could spend some time with Wave Chill. Even though we have the typical sibling rivalries, I'm going to miss him a lot and I really hope that he'll get into the Wonderbolts too, when the time comes. I know he's jealous of me but honestly, if I had it my way I would bring him with me. I know it's his dream too. It's hard to find a pegasus that didn't dream of being a Wonderbolt.
Sliding out of my bed, I rub my eyes and stretch my wings out before dragging my hooves as I approach the door. The house is silent and I figure that Wave Chill is probably still deep in his slumber, him being the lazy flank that he is. So, I use this opportunity to have a shower without having to worry about any distractions.
I turn the shower onto its coldest setting and step in without a problem. I normally have a cold shower because either somepony else uses up all the hot water or I just need a good wakeup call and today, it's the latter. The cool water soaks my mane and fur as I stand underneath the showerhead for a few moments.
Once I'm fully awake, I turn off the water and climb out before giving my wings a flap to get rid of any water then proceeding to drying off with a towel. I trot out of the bathroom now, feeling less groggy and disoriented, and make my way down into the kitchen to find Wave Chill already up and eating breakfast with my dad.
"Good morning, everypony." I say, shocked to see them both sitting there, my dad, apparently, arrived back from his errands faster than expected.
Wave Chill smiles at me. "Hey, Soar, I was wondering if you wanted to play some Super Flimflam Bros on the Gamepony?"
I sit down at the table and stare at him a few moments. "Wait... You actually want to hang out with me?" I gasp dramatically and grin widely at him.
Wave Chill rolls his eyes and nods. "Of course I do, don't be daft. You're going away in a week."
"Okay, fine, go and set up, I'll be up in a second." I watch as Wave Chill gets up from his seat and flies up the stairs, and then I turn to face my dad. "Should we do some flight practice afterward?"
"Of course, son, I'll see you in a few hours." Dad says as he gets up and takes the newspaper under his wing before trotting into the sitting room.
I tidy the kitchen up, putting the plates away before flying upstairs and into Wave Chill's bedroom where he's already started playing. We've both been trying to beat Super Flimflim Brothers on the Gamepony for years now, even though the game has long gone out of style.
Wave groans as he loses his last life before mumbling angrily as he passes the console over to me. I laugh softly as I begin to play the first level of the game and pass through it with ease. Wave watches over my shoulder as I play. After a few minutes, he stands up and looks at me.
"I'm going to get some snacks, do you want something?" he asks.
I pause the game and look up at him. "Sure, if there's any Jaffa Cakes can you get me a few of them?"
Wave Chill nods and flies out of the room. Once he's gone I start the game again and continue to play as I wait for my brother to return. Suddenly, I hear Wave galloping up the stairs calling out my name.
"Soar! It's dad, he's not breathing." he cries out.
"Quit playing around, Chill. It's not funny." I say and my heart is pounding in my chest.
Wave Chill appears at the bedroom door with tears streaming down his cheeks. I instantly throw the console on the bed and sprint down the stairs. The sitting room door is wide open and I can see my father's gray hooves on the sofa. Slowly, I walk in to find him lying across the sofa as if he's sleeping; it's not unusual to find him like that.
The daily newspaper is folded up on the floor and is sitting neatly at the end of the sofa and the television is softly playing in the background. Dad's favourite show is just finishing, it's called 'The Bill' and he watches it every Thursday without fail.
"Dad?" I call out softly.
When there is no answer, I walk over to him slowly and shake him. He's completely still, his chest isn't moving at all and even though I know that it's impossible for him to get so cold so quickly but he feels like ice.
A scream escapes my lips as I continue to shake him, begging him to wake up. He was perfectly fine a moment ago; we spoke not so long ago. He promised that we'd have flight training later on today. He's fine, he's always fine. Frantically, I run over to our rotary phone and dial for an ambulance. Tears are streaming down my cheeks as I wait for an answer.
"Hello, Cloudsdale Emergency Services, how may I help you?" A gentle voice comes from the other end.
"C-Can I have an ambulance please, it's my dad. He's not breathing." My voice breaks.
"Okay, sweetie, can you tell me where you live?" the mare says.
I tell her our address and she says they'll be here as soon as they can, not to worry. She also says that they will probably have to send the police over to us too due to protocol but everything will be okay.
She's wrong though, nothing will be okay anymore. Maybe this is just a dream; this is all just a dream.
I pick up the phone again and turn the dial as I ring mum's work number. After a few rings her voice echoes down the line.
"Hello?" Mum calls cheerfully.
"Mum..." I whisper weakly.
The line is silent for a few moments before she speaks again, "Soar? What's up, darling?"
I glance back at dad who is resting peacefully before talking down the line again. "Dad's not breathing. He's not breathing, mum, you need to come home."
"Soarin', that's not funny." She says sternly.
"Do you think I'm joking, mum?" I yell before saying in a calmer voice, "Please, just come home."
"Okay, okay, I'll be there as soon as I can, I promise," she whispers before the line goes dead.
I place the phone down slowly before running up the stairs to find Wave Chill sitting on the floor with tears running down his cheeks, the Gamepony completely forgotten about.
"He was perfectly fine, Soar, I swear," he sobs.
I look at him before sitting down beside him and putting a hoof on his shoulder. "M-Maybe he's just unconscious..." I say weakly.
It's not real, this isn't real. He's alive, he's alive. I look at my hooves as I hold my tears back as well as I can.
"Don't worry, Wave," I whisper.
The doorbell rings sharply through the room, causing us both to jump. I scramble to my hooves before going to answer the door. I find the paramedics there with a few police ponies. Cautiously, I pull back the door and let them in.
A mare in a black police uniform steps forward to talk to me. "Hello, sweetie, we're just going to check your dad to make sure he doesn't have any bruises since this was a sudden event. Okay?"
"Does he have any recent injuries that we may notice?" another police pony asks.
I look around at everypony as I try to scrape my mind for anything, but it's too hard to talk right now. "H-He crashed the other week and broke a rib, but that's it." I whisper.
"Okay, sweetie, is anypony else home with you?" The first mare asks.
"My younger brother, Wave, is upstairs. Mum said she'd be home soon."
The mare sympathetically puts a hoof on my shoulder before nodding. "Why don't you go up to your brother now, we will let you know when your mum is home."
I nod and slowly walk up the stairs, leaving them to do whatever they need to do.
My whole body feels numb and I can't feel anything but the roar of blood in my ears. I don't understand what's going on, why is this happening to me, to us. Everything was going perfectly, it was perfect. Now, it's ruined.
I sit beside Wave Chill in silence and we both leave each other to our own thoughts.
The rest of the day goes by in a blur. It's now about nine pm and the police are still here, as are the paramedics.
Throughout the day, ponies have come in and out of my room, asking me questions. "Are you okay?" "Do you want anything?" "Do you need to talk?" I, of course, said "No," to all of them. I just wanted to be left alone, why can't they just leave me alone?
They're now about to take dad's body away and bring him back to the hospital. I sit alone in my room as I watch out the window. The paramedics are bringing a trolley towards the house now so they can bring his body out.
Somepony knocks at my door and I turn to see that it's mum. Her eyes are red and her mane is a mess around her face. Her entire body is violently shaking, like it has been since she returned home.
"They're taking dad away now, do you want to say goodbye?" She asks softly.
I stare at her blankly. Why do I need to say goodbye when he's going to be coming home again? Slowly, I shake my head and return to looking out the window. I hear my door creak shut and hoofsteps grow further away from the door.
I watch as they bring the trolley out which now has a dark body bag on it as well. I wince as I slowly climb to my hooves and return to my bed before collapsing onto it.
Maybe if I fall asleep everything will be back to normal when I wake up? I think as I close my eyes, my body feels emotionally weak from everything that has happened today, so I almost instantly fall asleep and into a dream world where my dad is still alive.
I'm standing in a dark room; the only source of light is a candle sitting alone in the corner of the room. I glance around in confusion as I wonder how I ended up in the strange place. Slowly and cautiously, I lift up my hoof and take a step forward. The floorboard beneath me creaks at the weight I put upon it. My hoof snaps back to where it was before, as if it had been shocked with an electric current.
The room is silent; all that can be heard is my heavy breathing as the fear begins to bubble up inside of me. Finally the sound of another pony's hoofsteps fills the room as they walk closer and closer to me. I hold my breath as I beg Celestia to let me get through this, to let me survive.
Then, he speaks. His voice is so familiar yet so distant and so lost. His voice soothes me without me even realising it.
"Hello, son... I came to apologise, I promised to be there for all your shows but now I'm gone." Dad says softly and I realise now that this is a dream.
"Dad, you can come back! You've only just left us last night, you can come home!" I exclaim in confusion and shock.
He can't leave, he just can't.
"I'm sorry, Soar. I can't do anything about it, forgive me. Live a happy life, Soar, make me proud. I'll always be watching down on you, I can promise you that for sure." I can barely make out his silhouette in the candle light, but I'm sure that he's reaching out to touch me; however, he brings his hoof back to the ground.
Tears are now streaming down my cheeks; I don't care if I seem weak. "Dad, please, don't leave me! I can't get into the team without you cheering me on! Stay, please!" I beg but I know it's no use.
"I'm sorry, son," he says, his voice growing quieter as I get pulled away from him. "Stay strong for me, you can do it... Goodbye, Soar. I love you..."
Suddenly I am blinded by a white light and I can no longer hear my father's voice.
"No, don't. Dad!" I cry out and sit upright in the bed.
I look around my room, shocked to find nothing has changed. The sun is shining happily through my window as if it didn't care that my father had just died. When some ponies talk about death in novels, they say that the sky is gloomy and it's raining, they make it out as if the whole world is affected by our loss. That's not true though, it's just another normal day.
Ponies die every day, ponies that I don't know and I go about as if it's a normal day for me because I'm not affected by their death. It's sadistic and cruel, the way this world works, but it's the only way it can work. If we mourned for the death of every single pony that died, we would never be happy, never get on with life. That's why we only mourn for the ones that hurt the most, the ponies who are our loved ones.
Still, my father wants me to be strong and he wants me to get on with life. Mum and Wave Chill are going to need someone to be strong in the family right now, so I will be the one to do that. I will hide my pain and act as if I can get through this. I'll act as if I really am strong and maybe in the end I will trick myself into thinking that it's true.
I climb out of bed and walk out into the hallway. Wave Chill and mother aren't in their rooms so I figure that they're downstairs, maybe they didn't even go to bed last night.
When I reach the bottom of the stairs, I see that Wave Chill and mum are sitting silently at the table. Mothers hair is in a mess around her face, her makeup has ran down her cheeks in black streaks and her eyes are red and puffy from the tears that she's shed since last night. Wave Chill is pale and his eyes are tired as he silently spins a coin around on the table. His hooves shake with each movement he makes.
Slowly, I walk over to the stove and turn on the cooker before I begin to make breakfast. I need to be strong. I need to be strong for them.
"Good morning, everypony!" I say as I attempt to fake a smile. "It's a beautiful day, isn't it?"
Wave Chill glances up at me in confusion. "Soar, don't you... Don't you remember?" He asks and his voice breaks.
"Yes, I do, but I'm okay! We're okay, aren't we, mum?" I begin to make some pancakes and focus all my attention on that.
"Soarin', stop it, you're being disrespectful!" Mother cries out.
As I flip the pancake, I turn to face mum. "Dad would want us to be happy and carry on with life, so I'm not upset, I'm happy. After this I need to get new saddle bags for the Academy, then I need to do our groceries..." I trail off as I mumble about everything I need to do.
I place the pancakes in front of mum and Wave before I make myself a slice of toast. Wave Chill stares at me in shock and confusion. I need to stay strong, even if they think it's wrong and I'm supposed to be upset. Dad wouldn't want that.
"Anyway, I'll be off for a few hours. Make sure you both eat." I turn to face Wave Chill. "Look after mum, okay?"
Wave Chill frowns slightly as he watches me pick up my saddlebag and a bag of bits, when he doesn't answer my question I send him a look, "Okay, Wave?" I ask sternly.
"Okay, I will! Celestia, Soar, stop being such an angry sod..." he mutters under his breath.
Rolling my eyes, I walk out the door and mutter all the insults I could say back to him but decided not to since I should be the bigger stallion.
As I fly through Cloudsdale, I get a few sympathetic looks from my neighbours but I just send them a cheerful smile in return. They cannot see my cracks, nopony can find out that the strings inside of me are breaking.
I land near the bag shop and slowly walk in as I count up my bits. I just need a simple yet large bag which will be able to hold my possessions for the academy. There is already a yellow mare with a fiery orange mane standing at the counter.
"No way, that's mental! Two hundred bits just for a bag? No offence, mate, but you're a rip-off," The mare exclaims in utter shock.
I walk up beside the fiery mare and look over her shoulder at the brown leather bag, "I do have to admit," I say as I turn to the clerk. "It looks far less than two hundred bits, Streak."
"S-Soar, what're you doing here... I thought you'd be with your family?" Streak stumbles awkwardly. "I-I mean, I'm sorry for your loss."
I have been going to school with Streak ever since I was a colt so of course he'd know about my loss.
The mare is looking at me in curiosity and I can feel her gaze burning into me.
I smile at Streak, "Well the other day I was accepted into the Wonderbolts Academy so I needed a saddlebag but if you're selling them for that much I don't think I'm gonna buy it from you, sorry."
As I turn to walk out of the store I hear Streak calling me back. A small smile forms across my lips as I turn and walk back towards the counter.
"Fine, one hundred bits..." Streak mumbles under his breath in defeat.
"How about eighty bits?" I ask, knowing that I'm pushing it.
Streak sighs and nods. "Okay, eighty bits it is then."
I grin at Streak before placing one hundred and sixty bits on the table. "I'll take two of them, please!"
Once Streak has packed up the bags and made the payments, I pass one over to the mare.
"I'm Soarin', by the way," I smile.
The mare looks back at me with a raised eyebrow, "I'm Spitfire. It looks like I'll be seeing your goofy flank in the Academy."
I freeze and stare back at Spitfire. "W-Wait, you're... Spitfire, last year's recruit of the 'Bolts?!" I say in shock.
Spitfire laughs, "Yup, I sure am! I'm also the Wonderbolts' new captain as of next year; I look forward to working with you, Soar."
"But... I'm not even on the team yet?" I frown in confusion.
"Well, if you're the Soarin' that almost beat old Hurricane in a race, then I'm sure you'll be on the team in no time. Anyway, I need to head back to HQ, thanks for getting me this bag. I'll see you next week, Rookie!" Spitfire laughs as she stretches out her wings and flies away.
I stare after her in complete shock. I haven't been to any of the shows which she's performed in and I also have never seen her out of uniform so it's completely acceptable not to recognise her. Nonetheless, it was a complete shock to bump into her. I just hope nopony at the Academy realises about my father because that would mean that if I did get into the team, it would be out of sympathy.
Sighing as I set off into the sky, I head towards the supermarket as I run through the shopping list in my mind so I don't forget anything.
It's strange, I thought the world around me would collapse if I ever lost my father but in reality, it's still spinning on its axis. It just feels emptier and colder.
