The End, and the Beginning
Rainbow Dash sighed heavily and looked around the room she sat in. For the past two weeks, it had been hers. The office of the Captain of the Wonderbolts. This was what she had always wanted, what she had always dreamed of, and the goal she had aimed at her entire life. But what should have been one of the most triumphant moments of her life sat like ashes in her mouth.
It had been an accident. A stupid training accident, in a maneuver that every Wonderbolt could do in their sleep. Spitfire had been leading a bunch of recruits through an inverted outside loop, when a zeppelin full of fillies on a school outing had blundered into their flight path. Spitfire never hesitated for a second, and instead of pulling out of the maneuver, the Wonderbolt leader had instead continued and tightened the loop, carrying her and her flight out of the way of the zeppelin, but directly into a cliff face.
Spitfire had hit the rock wall at full speed. The recruits behind her had time to react, and even though they all hit the rocks as well, they were able to turn their impacts into bruises and broken bones. Spitfire lasted for three days in Canterlot General while every pony with an ounce of medical magic tried to save her life. In the end, the damage had just been too great and one of the greatest captains in Wonderbolt history passed away with her friends and family at her side.
She had been buried with full military honors, with the princesses themselves watching, as Rainbow, Soarin, Thunderlane and Misty Fly flew the missing mare formation in honor of their fallen captain. Afterwards, Soarin had delivered the shock of Rainbow’s life when he announced that he was retiring. With his life partner gone, all the passion for flight was gone from his life.
While Rainbow and the ‘Bolts were absorbing that bombshell, Soarin laid down the biggest one of all. Knowing her partner in both life and the air, Spitfire had left behind instructions that if Soarin was unable to continue, Rainbow Dash was Spitfire's choice as successor as both Captain and leader of the ace flying team. Soarin promised he would stay on long enough to see Rainbow through the transition, but from then on it was her team. That had been a month ago.
“Well, I guess that’s about it,” Soarin said, entering the room and laying the last bits of paperwork on Rainbow's desk. “You’re up to speed on pretty much everything now. Time for me to go.”
“Stay, please,” Dash said, plaintively. “I still don’t know half this paperwork stuff and I don’t know the first thing about setting up training.”
“Yes, you do,” Soarin said, a sad little smile on his face. “You’re new, but you’ve already got a good handle on things. Just like she knew you would. If I stay, all I’ll do is keep things the way they were. This is your time, and your team now. Show Equestria that Spitfire was right about you.”
“I’m gonna miss her,” Dash said, taking in a breath.
“We all will,” Soarin said, before reaching into a pocket of his uniform and pulling out a small jewelry case. “Spitfire wanted you to have this.”
“What is it?” Dash asked, curious. Spitfire had never been one for jewelry of any sort.
“It’s…“ Soarin trailed off, trying to form the right words. “It’s something of a future job offer. She always called it, ‘The Last Promotion’. Open the box once I’m gone, and never let anypony know you have it.”
“What?” Dash asked, but Soarin just shook his head before snapping a parade ground quality salute.
“It has been an honor,” Soarin said, looking Rainbow in the eye until she finally returned the salute.
“Fly well,” Dash said, not knowing what else to say, and with that Soarin left the office leaving Dash alone with her thoughts and the mysterious box.
It wasn’t a big box, barely the size of a hoof in length and width, made of enameled black metal and adorned with Luna’s familiar crescent moon. Curiosity afire, the azure mare opened the box, and the first thing that greeted her eyes was a folded note. Dash lifted the bit of paper, revealing a segmented bracelet lying on a bed of dark purple velvet beneath. Setting the box and its bracelet to one side, Rainbow began to read the note:
Hey Crash,
If you’re reading this, well... It means I’m not around anymore, and neither is Soarin. I sure hope he didn’t die from whatever got me, but either way you reading this means I’m not around anymore, Newbie. It’s all up to you now, but don’t sweat it. You’ve got what it takes.
Now, you’re probably wondering what the hell is going on with that bracelet. It’s something that I’m only allowed to pass on to one pony. A pony who is brave, loyal and able to take on dangers to Equestria that normal ponies could never reach, let alone fight. You and your friends have taken on fights like that, so I’m pretty sure I’m passing this on to the right pony.
If you want to know more, put the bracelet on and wear it around a bit. If you don’t, then keep an eye out for somepony to pass it on to.
Oh, one thing. You can never, ever, tell anypony about this. Unless they’re a Captain of the Wonderbolts, or their wing pony. Good luck, Crash.
All the best,
Spitfire.
P.S. For Celestia’s sake, keep working on your conditioning, your muscle tone is terrible.
Rainbow reread the note twice, trying to glean some kind of extra meaning from the words, and failing utterly. She considered going to Twilight about it. If anypony knew what Spitfire was talking about, it would be Dash’s favorite egghead. With the note failing to answer any of the questions swirling in her head, Dash examined the bracelet itself.
It was a fairly simple hoof bracelet, meant to go around a pony’s fetlock and fasten there. It consisted of four curved pieces of what looked like grey silver, each engraved with a design that reminded Dash of a section of storm-tossed sky. Thunderclouds, lightning bolts, and wind gusts were engraved along the silver, and the etchings tickled the frog of the mare’s hoof as she traced their lines.
“Something weird is going on here,” Dash said, to the empty office. “Something bad could happen if I put this on, but if I don’t it’ll drive me nuts not knowing what’s going on.”
Rainbow Dash walked back and forth for a minute or two, trying to decide what to do. She wanted to talk to her friends, to somepony, anypony, but it was all up to her. Drawing in a breath and standing up tall in front of her desk, the flier scooped up the bracelet.
“Here goes nothing,” she said, and with a few quick motions clasped the piece of jewelry around her fetlock. For a long, long moment, nothing happened and Rainbow breathed out a sigh of relief. “Heh, just one last practical joke. Nice one, Spi—”
The bracelet began to glow, and the four segments seemed to flow and merge into a single, unbroken ring around Dash’s limb. She began to pull and push at what was now a metal cuff locked around her, which began to shrink and tighten.
“Hey!” Dash shouted at the piece of metal. “Leggo. Get off!” The metal circle began to press painfully against the mare’s flesh and an overwhelming feeling of pressure flowed over her, wrapping itself around her head and bringing sudden darkness to her eyes and unconsciousness to her body.
“Greetings, Rainbow Dash,” a voice said, an apparent moment later, as Rainbow opened her eyes.
“Huh?” Dash asked, opening her eyes to see a familiar dark blue alicorn in front of her. “Princess Luna?”
“Yes, it is I,” Luna said, a serious look on her face. “It pleases me that you decided to take up Spitfire’s bequest.”
“Yeah, what the heck is going on?” Dash asked, taking in their star-filled star filled surroundings. “This kinda looks like what Twilight talked about when she became an alicorn. Am I—”
“No, Rainbow,” Luna interrupted with a small smile. “Though, were it in my power all of Twilight’s friends would become alicorns. You have each earned it many times over. No, you are here for a different reason.”
“Okay, why?” Rainbow asked, not worrying about being overly polite. Luna was a friend, after all.
“Rainbow Dash, you and your friends have met and defeated many enemies of Equestria, yes?” Luna asked, leading Rainbow through the starfield.
“We sure have,” Rainbow said, preening a bit. “We’re kinda awesome that way.”
“Indeed you are,” Luna said, nodding. “But Equestria has other foes. Foes not of this world, foes who are not bound to the mortal plane, who dwell in places of death and shadow. Places a living pony cannot go.”
“So that’s where you and Princess Celestia come in, right?” Rainbow asked, trying to see where they were walking but only seeing an endless path of stars.
“Nay, brave Rainbow Dash,” Princess Luna said, her ears flattening against her head. “For all our power, we are living ponies, and to go where these terrible creatures dwell would mean our instant death. Alicorns or not.”
“So, what do you do about them?” Rainbow asked, and her heart stopped as a familiar figure stepped out of the star fog.
“What do you think, Crash?” Spitfire asked. “If the living can’t go in, it’s time to send the dead.”
“SPITFIRE!” Dash exclaimed, hugging the mare who would always be “her” captain.
“Heya Newbie,” Spitfire said, breaking the hug. “Glad to see you mare’d up. You ask her yet, Ma’am?”
“I was getting to that, Spitfire,” Luna said, smiling at the joyful reunion. “If you remember, I had asked you to wait until I summoned you.”
“Sorry Ma’am,” Spitfire said, snapping off a salute and clearly not sorry for her actions. “I’ll let you carry on.”
“Thank you for your permission, Spitfire,” Luna said wryly, and Spitfire flushed slightly. “As I was about to explain, Rainbow Dash, there are threats to Equestria that the living cannot reach, let alone combat. To that end, I took it upon myself to intercept the spirits of the bravest, most loyal pegasi that I knew of, and gave them the option of letting them carry on to the Summerlands and eternal rest or—”
“Or battling the enemies of Equestria from beyond the grave in an eternal struggle of light against darkness?” Rainbow Dash blurted out in a rush. “You want me to join the ‘Ghost Herd’? Be one of ‘The Forever Mares?’ A ‘Soldier of the Night’?” Luna’s eyes went wide in surprise.
“How do you know these names?” Luna asked. “This is all supposed to be held in the strictest confidentiality.”
“You might wanna have a chat with A.K. Yearling then,” Dash said, with a small laugh. “Those names are all throughout, ‘Daring Do, Beyond the Farthest Star.’ It’s one of my favorites.” Spitfire snorted in laughter.
“I am familiar with Miss Yearling, and I shall have a word with her. Considering she is a pegasus, she falls with my authority regarding this,” Luna said, with a face that did not promise a pleasant conversation for the author.
“So, I’m totally up for a fight against the powers of darkness,” Rainbow said, chewing her lip. “But, I’m not really keen on the whole dying thing right now. Wait, I’m not dead am I? That bracelet thing didn’t kill me did it?”
“Nay, fair Rainbow,” Luna said, her good humor returning. “All the bracelet did was mark you as a potential Stormrider. Which is my name for the spirit ponies I send to battle these threats. Those other names were given to my spirit ponies by others through the years. As for yourself, you will live your life, to its fullest, and only when you pass on in the natural course of events will I come and ask if you wish to join us.”
“Stormrider, huh?” Rainbow asked. “Do we get cool storm powers and stuff?”
“You’re damn right we do,” Spitfire said, grinning. “And a lot more besides.”
“So, if I have to be dead to be a Stormrider, and I’m not dead, why are we talking about this now, Princess?” Dash asked, briefly remembering her manners.
“You did not become a Wonderbolt in one sudden leap,” Luna said, pleased that the impetuous mare was giving things some thought. “Just as you had to prepare to become a Wonderbolt, so too is there preparation to become a Stormrider. Consider this your… ‘orientation’.”
“Well, I’m in,” Rainbow said, emphatically. “I get to be awesome forever! Twilight is gonna be soooo jealous.”