> Camouflage
>  by RoflLuxRay
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Camouflage

A Fan Novel from: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
By: RoflLuxRay
Edited by: Prince Bluelolz

“Designed by mother nature…” thought a young Pegasus as he pierced the skies with his orange colored eyes, staring at the clouds that passed by. Behind him, several Pegasi walked around seemingly nervous, some with more serious looks on their faces than others, trying to hide the fear flowing through their bodies.

“You know what you have to do… just as it is in your flank,” he spun his head wryly to observe the divided-in-two chronometer cutie mark in his dark blue coat, partially covered by the sheet labeled with number seven. At the end of his flank, his short tail dyed in a similar color to his coat with several strands colored in an intense yellow sprouted and waved along with a slight breeze that struck his side. The color pattern in his tail was also shown in his mane, which had the habit to remain erect due to frequent contact with static electricity when flying.

“Beat the record… smash the time… earn it,” he kept thinking like a nervous tic assaulting his brain, such words filled him with courage for his upcoming presentation. Not everypony can enter the best young flyer competition, let alone be confident enough to believe he can win it.

“Ampy!” shouted a gray Pegasus behind him with her mane dyed in a deep black, trotting towards him with a confident grin, “what’s your number?”

“Roy,” he replied quickly upon recognizing his old rival, “I got number seven, how about you?”

“I got thirteen,” she uttered with a snicker, pushing her pink eyes away from him and piercing the floor with them, “Lucky pony, you’re up before me.”

“I’ll see Princess Celestia before you, certainly,” said Ampy leaning against a cloud pillar next to him, just like many in the backstage of the great Cloudsdale arena. A great red curtain was the only thing to protect them from the screaming and hollering of thousands of Pegasi outside. One by one, each of the young promises flew out to showcase their abilities and routines, in an attempt to impress the luxury jury that everyday assisted: The worldwide famous Wonderbolts and one of the two rulers of Equestria, Princess Celestia.

“Number six!” shouted a yellow coated mare with a small board in hooves, “number six, you’re up!”

Suddenly, a red coated pony with the six on his flank rushed towards the red curtain shouting only he could understand.

“I don’t think anypony can steal the show, it’s only you and me, Sapphire Bolt…” said Roy with arrogance as he leaned against the same pillar Ampy just did, glancing at the rest of the contestants with a sly grin.

“That’s your problem, Blueball Roycewicz..:” he said gently shaking his head with a chuckle, “you always believe you’re the center of the spectacle, and you’re not. I think Ponyville’s Cheerilee was quite emphatic with that.”

“This is who I am, and Rainbow Dash always shows her true self, I don’t see why not mimic her attitude.”

“Because she’s a Wonderbolt and she has the bragging rights… and you shouldn’t look up to her like that.”

“Don’t lecture me like you’re my dad, Ampy,” she said with a blank look in her eyes, “you are one rare Pegasus, the only one of the whole generation who does not enjoys a Wonderbolts’ show.”

“That’s because, unlike you, I don’t want to be one.”

“Then why are you on this competence if not to have an audition for the Wonderbolts?” she remarked with a snicker.

Just when he was about to answer her friend’s question, the Pony with the six in her flank reappeared through the red curtain, with a face filled with panic.

“Did you see that?” said Blueball mockingly, “poor filly ended up completely scared.”

“Don’t make fun of him… you’ll get your turn,” Ampy began walking to the curtain with a confident grin on his face; he knew his turn was next.

“Number seven!” shouted the organizer mare, “where are you?”

“Right here,” he said with tranquility, lifting his body off the floor with just one flap of his wings. He could hear the audience outside stomping on the clouds, anxious to see the next contestant.

“You have three minutes to do your thing, if you exceed the time limit a bell will ring,” she said with her eyes well set on the board, “you can’t interact with the audience, especially with the judges.

The smile on Ampy’s face only kept growing bigger.

“I’ll be back in two.”

Without announcing, he bolted through the curtain at high speed. He flew through the entire stadium made entirely of clouds as his name filled the giant speakers above him, the crowd roaring with excitement.

Floating in the middle of the stadium, a line of ten pillars made of clouds served as obstacles for the youngsters, each one of them separated by a gap of fifty meters. Just above the curtain he had just flown out of, Princess Celestia observed calmly as the young Pegasus circled the stadium, in company of four members of the Wonderbolts.

“You’re not doing this for them, you know what you want…” he thought a second before reaching the pillars, turning sharply to the left to fly close to the base of the stadium.

“Who’s that?” asked Spitfire, the current leader of the Wonderbolts to the stallion next to him, also dressed in the classic blue and yellow uniform. Rainbow Dash, the newest element in their squad, spun his head to face her leader with curiosity.

“The chart says…” Soarin’, the only stallion in the team; turned his face down to a sheet of paper in his hooves, “his name is Sapphire Bolt, born in Trottingham. His cutie mark is a chronometer split by lightning.”

“Intriguing,” added Flare Charge, an orange-coated mare with her eyes set on the Pegasus below, flicking her short mane away from her cyan eyes, “never heard of such mark.”

“His routine is already rare,” said Rainbow Dash pointing at Sapphire with a hoof, “look.”

Below them, at the base of the stadium, Ampy flew in circles, flapping his wings at fast as he could, completing a lap in around ten seconds.

“He’s flying pretty fast,” said Spitfire with cold voice.

“That’s nothing,” said Rainbow Dash with a shrug, arrogance pouring out of her body, “that kid needs more training to beat my record.”

“Still, he’s flying pretty fast; perhaps the fastest one we’ve seen so far,” Flare Charge’s comment instantly hushed her; she was still not used to impose herself to the Wonderbolts.

“That’s enough, time to go up,” bending one of his wings he began gaining altitude while following the course marked by the base of the stadium. Making an spiral as he rose to the skies, his tail began creating a small trail of something that seemed like electricity.

“You’re pretty tight on time, I need more speed!” he thought forcing his body to flap his wings even faster, increasing the speed of the spiral. Everypony stared at him in awe, except for the five judges on top.

“How fast do you think he’s going?” asked Soarin’ with a hint of excitement on his voice.

“Three fifths of the Sonic Rainboom, perhaps,” answered Spitfire bluntly, “but there’s something fishy on that kid…”

“Not many ponies reach that mark, right?” asked the majestic Alicorn next to them that stared at the Pegasus with a calm look.

“That’s right, your highness,” answered their leader immediately, “Not many ponies reach such speed, maybe one in every two thousand.”

“This boy ain’t over, look,” Flare pointed at the electricity trail in front of them, Ampy had escalated most part of the stadium in bare ten seconds, constantly reducing the size of the spiral to the center.

“Ten…” he accelerated a little more and headed to the skies, above the electricity spiral he had just created.

“Nine…” he stretched his arms widely to stop his flight.

“Eight…” the blue Pegasus spun his body to change his course for a nose flight.

“Seven…” he placed his hooves in front of him to accelerate his fall, resuming the flaps in his wings.

“Six…” the wind began to strike his face as he kept gaining speed, aided by the law of gravity.

“Five…!” he reached his own trail of electricity and began dragging it with both hooves.

“I’m running out of time, four…!” he kept descending through the stage at full speed, breathing was now becoming harder.

“He’s falling pretty fast,” Spitfire stood up and approached the edge of the balcony to observe the electric spiral more carefully, “I bet he’s on transonic speed by now, but…”

“Dammit, faster!” Ampy closed his eyes and tried to flap his wings even faster, but his body had reached a limit. The air around his flank was now condensing, but creating a small distortion behind him.

“Two…!” with the electricity on his hooves, he created a small shockwave upon opening his arms.

“One!” with the air current boost created by the opening of his arms, he flew away to avoid any harm from the shockwave, if any. A small burst of harmless yet colorful electricity spread through the crowd all around, making them explode in applause.

“An electric shock…” muttered Soarin’ without hiding any excitement in his voice, “not bad for a kid of his age.”

“He did all of that in less than a minute, if he had taken a second more, the electricity would have become harmful,” said Flare Charge with a satisfied look in her face.

“You didn’t notice, right?” asked the leader with a serious look, staring at Ampy fly around the stadium to receive his ovation.

“Notice what?” instantly answered the rookie with her characteristic emphasis, “how cool his performance was?”

“No,” remarked Spitfire, assaulting her with a cold glare, “that boy… I think he dilated time.”

“You’re saying he’s fast enough to create a gap between clocks, but not enough to blast a sonic Rainboom?” asked Flare skeptical.

“Everypony does something special when flying at high speed, and I think this boy here just slowed time down, just look at the time in his presentation,” she pointed at an enormous digital clock above the red curtain that marked fifty two seconds.

“Fifty two seconds? So what?” asked Rainbow with an uninterested snicker.

“When you learn more, Rainbow Dash, about the marvelous supersonic flight you can develop, you will know that the time it takes for the electricity released by a Pegasus to become harmful is of only forty seven seconds,” retorted Spitfire as she stared at her almost with despise. The rookie turned her purple eyes towards Sapphire Bolt feeling crushed inside.

“Whadda’ya say?” asked Soarin’ raising his left eyebrow and turning towards his leader.

“I’d like to test him, but not as the ‘winner’ of this competence.”

“It will be hard to hide the fact-”

“Guys,” interrupted Celestia with her classic calm voice, “I think you have some job,” she pointed to the horizon with a hoof covered by a golden horseshoe.

In the distance, a black cloud was closing in too fast to only be a dark cloud. Its size was immense, probably twice the size of the stadium and loosed black colored lightning all around. The crowd, naively, believed this was a part in Ampy’s performance.

“That was not in the plan,” he muttered to himself, stating at the cloud intensely, floating back to the red curtain.

“Princess,” said the leader of the Wonderbolts as she stared at the clouds in a similar fashion as the Pony below, “go get some cover.”

“I’m on it,” the Alicorn slowly stood up and retired to the back part with a slow walk, whatever was on that cloud did not scare her.

“Alright guys, you know what’s this about,” said Spitfire preparing herself to jump off the balcony’s edge, “we want them on jail, not dead.”

“You’re taking the fun out of it, boss,” said Flare as a smile began drawing on her lips, spreading her wings to jump in any second.

“I’m not kidding,” remarked the leader, “it’s the princess’ orders.”

“Lead the way then,” said Soarin’ putting his protecting goggles in his eyes and opening his wings slowly.

“On your mark…” the Wonderbolts stared with anxiety at the cloud already placed above the stadium; some ponies in the crowd have already noticed the fact that this cloud had scared their ruler and began to grow nervous.

“Ready…” Rainbow Dash put her goggles on at the last moment, leaning her body towards the abyss in front.

Inspired by curiosity, Sapphire Bolt remained next to the curtain with his eyes fixed on the clouds above.

From it, four trails of black clouds suddenly appeared in all directions.

“Go!” the four Wonderbolts began flying at full speed towards the center of the stadium, each one following a particular trail of black clouds. These did not pay any attention to their followers, but gathered in a far corner of the flying field.

When the black clouds on their flanks dissipated, four Pegasi dressed in a similar fashion to the Wonderbolts, but in darker colors, appeared. One of them removed her glasses, revealing her honey-colored eyes that instantly fixed on Sapphire Bolt’s position.

“Keep them busy,” she said passing a hoof through her long, dark blue mane with an arrogant tone, “I’ll go get the kid.”

“Right away, boss,” another Pegasus with a clear, cream blue mane answered with deep voice, turning towards the Wonderbolts closing in rapidly.

“Rainbow Dash, focus on Starry Skies, I need her neutralized. Soarin’, keep Stratus and Charger, you don’t want them on my back; Flare Charge, come with me, I’ll need your help to stop Nightshade,” ordered Spitfire firmly, the rest of the team gathered behind her to affirm instantly.

“Yes ma’am!” they all shouted as one, breaking formation to fulfill their commands. Rainbow Dash turned left to chase a Pegasus with purple mane, which flew above them with the intention to get away.

Soarin’ spun his body to the right, setting course towards two physically bulky Pegasus. One of them removed his goggles to strike him with a stare filled with hatred from his green colored eyes. The other one only passed a hoof through his stylized pale blue-green mane.

“What the hell is going on?” Ampy thought with the fear quickly escalating through his body, but immobilized by his curiosity. Upon noticing a dark mane violently waving with the air, quickly closing in on him, his body finally reacted and forced him to retreat inside the curtain.

“Hey Niggas!” shouted Soarin’ with a mocking grin on his face, completely attracting his target’s attention.

Meanwhile, Flare Charge and Spitfire accelerated to gain on Nightshade. The leader of the dark Pegasi spun her head wryly to see them, and suddenly flap her wings faster; creating a dark aura behind her that doubled her speed in the blink of an eye.

“Dammit!” said Flare with frustration, “I hate it when she does that.”

“Focus, Flare,” added Spitfire without taking her eyes off the curtain, “we don’t know what the hell she wants, double the step.”

Back with the arrogant Pegasus with navy blue mane, his call not only attracted the attention of his targets, but enraged one of them.

“This is it, Charger,” said the Pegasus with green eyes and pale blue-green mane, “I’m ripping his head off.”

“Quiet, Stratus,” answered his ally with cold blood, “we need to obey the boss and entertain them, some other time we’ll kill him.”

“I don’t care,” said Stratus grinding his teeth, “that faggot is mine.”

“Not so fast,” Charger quickly bit his tail to stop his flight, “the boss is being followed, we need to protect her.”

Stratus scoffed angrily, calming the movement in his wings.

“What’s the matter, Niggas?” asked Soarin’ with the sole intention to mock them, “are the Shadowbolts a bunch of sissies?”

The mocking only enraged the old member of the royal guard, but bounced off the well-known assassin and gangster.

“C’mon, just let me break him a leg.”

“No!” answered Charger with exasperation, “we have to clean a path for the boss and keep these guys busy, I don’t think she likes us not following orders.”

“C’mon fillies!” the Wonderbolt began dancing in the air, taunting them with both hooves.

“You go obey the boss,” ignoring the voice of reason in Charger, the Shadowbolt began flying at full speed towards Soarin’. Seeing this, the cocky Pegasus flew in the opposite direction to flee.

“I can’t believe this guy is second in command…” said Charger covering his face with a hoof in disappointment.

Behind the curtain, all the contestants were all gone, and Ampy had no different intention. The clouds on the floor were covered with sheets of paper of all sorts, as if a tornado had just passed by.

“Where are you going?” Ampy froze when the voice coming from behind him met his ears.

“To the exit, what for?” his reply seem to calm him, but the heart in his chest kept pounding rapidly.

“Good answer, fellow,” the uniformed mare walked to his back, the sound of her hoofsteps bouncing in the walls all around, “what’s your name?”

“Sapphire Bolt,” fighting the fear in his body, he turned to face Nightshade with a scowl, “what’s going on here?”

“Don’t be intimidated by our… special entrance,” the tone in her voice drastically changed, showing some degree of niceness even, “we are an independent group in search for the liberation of Equestria.”

“Uh?” asked Ampy changing his scowl for a confused frown, “explain yourself.”

“We call ourselves the ‘Shadowbolts’ and been mistakenly tagged by a terrorist group by Princess Celestia,” she walked close enough to him to greet him with a hoof, and so she did with a smile, “my name is Nightshade, a pleasure in meeting you.”

“Ponies call me Ampy, because of my mane,” he thought keeping cordiality with the stranger was the best strategy to avoid any hostilities.

“Ampy?” asked Nightshade raising an eyebrow, “it really suits you. Anyway, I won’t steal much of your time and cut to the chase, we have been watching you and we would like to have someone with your profile among us.”

“You watched my presentation?”

“We didn’t need to, for we know what you can do.”

“Many ponies leave a trace of lightning when flying, there’s nothing special with that,” he said with a genuine nervous smile on his face.

“You know exactly what I mean,” the kind smile slowly turned evil, striking Ampy with paralyzing fear.

Outside in the stadium, Charger had gained on the two Wonderbolts and stood in their way, glaring at them from behind his polarized yellow goggles. Upon recognizing the blockade, Spitfire stopped her way and signaled her partner to entertain the stallion ahead.

“Where to?” he moved quickly to block Spitfire’s path, but Flare used the instant of distraction to tackle him and push him against the nearest wall of the stadium. The strong Pegasus barely felt the violent impact, taking his goggles off to assault the Wonderbolt with an intense glare from his dark brown irises.

“I don’t usually punch mares…” he said raising one of his hooves to land a powerful punch on Flare’s jaw, making her fly back staggered. Charger took his chance and resumed his chase for Spitfire.

“Dash!” shouted the wounded mare. Her partner recognized the call and turned her face to see her from a quite a distance, “your turn!”

“Roger!” twisting her body, the mare with the colorful mane changed her direction to a nose dive. This being her specialty, she reached an amazing speed in just seconds.

“Faster…!” she thought to force her body to increase her amazing speed. Placing both hooves in front of her, she created a small supersonic cone around her, releasing a small amount of electricity to the environment.

“Gotcha!” shouted Charger as he reached a hoof to grab Spitfire’s tail. But before he could even touch a strand of mane, Rainbow Dash rammed him on the back and dragged him down.

“The road’s clear, boss!” the Doppler Effect drowned the rookie’s voice, but the leader was able to hear it. With a sigh of relief, she continued flying towards the curtain 

Behind it, Ampy retreated towards a pillar behind him, completely amazed by the Shadowbolt’s words.

“I really have no idea what you’re talking about,” the nervousness in his voice continued to grow with every step Nightshade took.

“Don’t fool me, Ampy,” Nightshade kept walking towards him to intimidate him, without taking her eyes off his.

“I’m not kidding,” the young Pegasus closed his eyes to avoid the crushing glare, “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Liar!” Nightshade slapped him on the face with anger, with such force that he fell completely staggered. Behind one of the many pillars around, his old friend and rival, Blueball Roycewicz, stared completely amazed.

“Keep your dirty hooves off my friend!” she shouted with anger, walking towards the terrorist Pegasus without any fear in her eyes.

“Blueball Roycewicz?” asked Nightshade with an arrogant smug, “such surprise you’re both here.”

“What the hell are you doing here, Roycewicz?” asked Ampy with surprise as his friend helped him to regain his composure.

“I decided to stick around to see the Wonderbolts, what’s wrong with that?”

“Listen to me, little fillies,” Nightshade rose her voice in a threatening way, “you two are coming with me, and you better do it nicely.”

“You can’t force us,” retorted Ampy with courage.

“Oh… really?” Nightshade’s body began emanating an strange dark aura that spread through the room like mist. Both youngsters remained paralyzed by it, only staring with horror in their eyes, “of course I can force you.”

“Let them go!” suddenly, Spitfire burst through the curtain and tackled the Shadowbolt, smashing her body against the wall. The aura pouring from Nightshade vanished almost instantly, releasing both Pegasi from their paralysis.

“What the hell are you waiting for?” Spitfire turned to see them with desperation, “get out of here!”

With an impulsive nod, Ampy took Blueball by a hoof and began running towards the exit.

“C’mon!” he shouted as he took off, flapping his wings with hurry. It took a few seconds for Blueball to exit the trance she was in, but once out, they both accelerated towards the cloud factory in the fat west.

The outsides of the stadium hosted nopony, they had all ran to their houses and took shelter inside; such an attack demanded that response from the habitants of the pacific Pegasus town. Behind them, they could hear and see how both mares fought.

“Where should we go?” asked Ampy with concern.

“We could hide in the cloud factory,” she replied pointing the immense building surrounded by a mass of black clouds.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea…”

“If these guys have been watching us, heading back home seems like a stupid idea, don’t you think?”

“I guess you have a point…”

Giving credit to his friend without saying a word, they continued flying towards the cloud factory with their hearts racing at full.

Back in the stadium Nightshade had her gaze fixed upon Spitfire from a side of the room.

“I don’t know what you want, but it’s not gonna happen!” shouted Spitfire stomping her hoof on the ground.

“C’mon Spitfire,” said Nightshade with a shrug, “you should open your eyes, Celestia may not look or act like a tyrant, but she’s not good for Equestria.”

“You’re really gonna pull that one again?” asked Spitfire with a blank look in her eyes.

“I’m going to pull it until you let me say what I found those letters!”

“Silence!” shouted Spitfire with anger, launching herself towards the enemy recklessly. Nightshade dodged the attack and landed a ferocious kick on the stomach that thrown the Wonderbolt towards a wall; the sound of the clouds cracking filled the air.

Nightshade used the moment to abandon the room through the curtain and head for the highest part of the stadium.

“Shadowbolts!” her called gathered them all in just second, making them drop fights or chasings, “Listen up, I need to capture those two ponies alive.”

“It won’t be easy with these troublesome Wonderbolts behind us,” said Starry Skies with Trottingham’s accent, characteristic of the aristocracy she came from.

“I know; which is why I want you to listen to me. Those Pegasi are of crucial importance to Celestia, so we need to keep them away from her dirty golden horseshoes. Stratus, stay here with Starry Skies and keep these guys busy at all costs. Charger, you’re coming with me.”

“Could you leave me a translator in case she wants to talk to me?” said Stratus sarcastically, only getting a smack on the shoulder from his partner, “I can hardly understand her accent.”

“Stop fooling around, we got work to do,” finished Nightshade with determination, killing the laughing between her subordinates. Starry Skies and the second in command flew back to the lower part of the stadium slowly to avoid detection. The other followed the trace of the electricity released by Ampy when flying, only visible under the shades of Charger and Nightshade’s glasses.

“Hm…” said Charger with intrigue, “they went to the cloud factory.”

Without saying a word, they parted towards the west to catch on the young Pegasi.

Confused by the lack of Shadowbolts in plain sight, all of the remaining Wonderbolts gathered next to the red curtain.

“Where did they go?” asked Flare Charge panting from exhaustion.

“The niggas fled!” teased Soarin’ with a mocking smile, the sound of his voice echoing in the empty walls of the stadium.

“Don’t call them like that, that’s racist!” said Rainbow Dash giving her partner a cold glare.

“Well, we can’t just stay here sitting ducks, we have to go and look for them,” said Flare seemingly anxious.

“Wait a sec,” added Soarin’ immediately with the authority of being the second-in-command of the Wonderbolts, “we have to wait for Spitfire’s orders before we even move.”

“Well the orders are here boys,” said Spitfire flying to them hastily and waving a hoof, signaling the other Wonderbolts to gather around her.

“You don’t like to keep us hangin’, do ya?” said Soarin’ with sarcasm.

“Very funny,” the Wonderbolts’ leader looked at him unamused for a moment, “it seems the Shadowbolts are here for Sapphire Bolt, and they’re probably really close to him now.”

“What would they want from the boy?” asked Flare with a shrug.

“I think the same we do,” Spitfire’s answer caused anxiety on the group, and Rainbow Dash seemed particularly agitated by it.

“Do you think he might join them?” said the rookie with worry, “you’ll remember the tried doing it with me some time ago in the Everfree forest.”

“I hope not, and I’d rather make sure he doesn’t,” answered Spitfire gently shaking her head, “the plan is as follows: Soarin’, knowing Nightshade she probably has an ambush ready in case we try to leave flying through the roof. You and Flare Charge deal with it while me and Rainbow Dash sneak out through the main entrance.”

“Isn’t it a little silly to ‘sneak out through the main entrance’?” remarked Soarin’ raising an eyebrow.

“No, she expects us to follow her through where I saw her fleeing, trust me.”

“Just making sure everything’s clear, boss,” the only male Pegasi of the group straightened up and saluted her.

“You know your orders, Wonderbolts, make me proud!” shouted Spitfire and the Wonderbolts split in two pairs. Soarin’ and Flare flew to the upper part of the stadium and instantly drew the attention of Stratus and Starry Skies like the yellow-coated mare had predicted, starting a frenetic race throughout the cloudless Cloudsdale sky. 

Rainbow Dash and her leader descended to where the curtain was, which was now torn apart and hung from the edge.

“Do you think the distraction will work?” asked Rainbow with much concern as they ran through a hallway with cloud pillars next to them.

“I think they must be questioning where the hell we are, but there’s no way they can know we’re here.”

“Wait a moment,” said the rookie with realization, “how are we going to know where did they go?”

“Chill out, Nightshade may be pretty fast but she can’t hide the dark trace she leaves when flying at high speed. We follow it and we’ll find Sapphire Bolt.”

“I hope you’re right…” After Rainbow’s deep sigh, Spitfire kicked the double cloud doors with enough strength to vaporize them. The Wonderbolts raised their sights into the sky to find Nightshade’s trace.

“This way, keep it close,” Spitfire opened her wings and began flying west, facing the distant cloud factory.

A few miles from there, right outside the factory, Sapphire Bolt and Blueball Roycewicz leaned against the blue wall made out of clouds to give their bodies rest from their tiring flight.

“I think we lost them,” said Ampy between his panting, but his friend however, remained quite active and aware of her surroundings.

“Where is everypony?” she asked when noticing the lack of all living form around them. A mass of black clouds floated above some massive smoking pipes that loosed lightning to the environment, constantly filling the air with thunder.

“You should know that since today’s the competence, the factory doesn’t work,” replied the blue Pegasus now catching more air, slowly decreasing his panting.

“Well that’s better, we can hide inside.”

“Are you insane?” asked Ampy pulling her from a shoulder and glaring intently, “that place is dangerous.”

“Your choice, it’s either walking into the cloud factory or get caught by the crazy weird Pegasus,” said Blueball with a grin as she walked towards the factory’s main door to open it slowly. Inside, various cloud refining mechanisms were visible for instants inside the spacious building. There was no light inside, for not being a working day, the only one that ever met them was the momentary flashes coming through the massive windows above their heads, caused by lightning.

“Sometimes I wonder why I hang out with you…” he muttered with resignation, walking inside the factory right behind his friend, “alright, we’re in, now what?”

“Now we wait,” a sudden flash lit her face for a second, revealing the white colored machinery around them.

“It’s a shame you couldn’t participate,” said Ampy trying to hide his nervousness behind a change of subject.

“Oh… that… it doesn’t matter,” she said with an indifferent shrug, “what I wanted was to see the Wonderbolts and I got it.”

“I hope I don’t see them anymore, look at all the problems they bring.”

“Don’t say that,” another lightning allowed him to see her friend’s pink irises along with her disgust face, “I hope they are following us, actually.”

“If you say so…” ignoring the comment, Ampy spun his eyes and caught a glimpse of something flying through the windows above, sending a shiver down his spine, “you saw that?”

“See what?” she asked with nervousness as Ampy signaled to get behind him with a hoof. The blue Pegasus kept moving his head along with his eyes to either dissipate or confirm his suspicions. And the mare behind him was doing the same.

“No matter what happens, stay close,” whispered Sapphire Bolt as another shadow swept the floor in a moment, revealing by a flash of light.

And when darkness covered them again, a shadowy figure already stood right in front of them.

“I will ask you one more time,” said Nightshade with malice in her voice, “will you join our cause?”

“I don’t have enough reasons to do it,” answered Ampy with a nervous gulp and Blueball peeped from behind him cautiously.

“I think you’re right, young pony,” the gesture on Nightshade’s face revealed she actually agreed with Ampy’s words, “I will give them to you.”

Two consecutive lightning bolts shook the windows above them as Nightshade walked in front of them, looking for the right words to say.

“We are a… independent organization,” she raised her sight to meet Ampy’s orange eyes, “the only thing we want is a change for Equestria, and doing it, we’ve been mistakenly flagged as terrorists by Princess Celestia. She, young ponies, is the reason of the cultural setback our nation suffers, because of her racist actions towards the other races apart from unicorns, ever wondered why there  are  mostly unicorns in Canterlot?”

“I’ve heard that before,” Blueball left her cover in sympathy with the Shadowbolt’s words, “my father often says stuff like that.”

“Then your father listens to the right persons, Blueball Roycewicz,” a grin slowly spread through Nightshade’s face.

“I don’t fight for political ideas, if that’s all you have to say, you cannot convince me,” said Ampy as blunt as he could, even giving the uniformed mare a cold glare.

“If we don’t succeed, Celestia will exterminate all the pony races and do something terrible. Joining us will not only save you from the apocalypse, but will also allow you to develop all of your potential.”

“Why do you need me so bad?” asked Ampy exasperated.

“Because of what you can do, because of your ability and talent, we need you, Sapphire Bolt.”

“Giving me compliments will not work, I have made up my mind and I said I will not join,” the young Pegasus looked away from Nightshade with despise and a confident smirk on his face.

“That’s not the best choice, and I think you know it,” the Shadowbolt spread her wings to intimidate. A flash of light was drowned by the dark aura emanating from Nightshade, paralyzing them upon contact, “looks like we’ll have to do this the hard way!”

The aura seemed to choke them, to steal the air from their own throats before it could go down. But before the Pegasi’s conscience vanished into the darkness, a distant shout drew the Shadowbolt’s attention.

“Leave them alone!” Shouted Spitfire with fury, tackling Nightshade from a side and smashing her on a wall far from the Pegasi.

When their senses returned, Ampy turned his head to the windows above and saw how another Pegasus broke through, bathing them with shattered glass.

“Rainbow!” yelled Spitfire holding Nightshade against the wall, “get them outta here!”

“Right away,” said the rookie with a quick and confident nod. Both youngsters stared at her astonished, not moving a single muscle.

“What the hell are you waiting for?!” yelled Spitfire desperately, struggling to hold Nightshade against the wall.

“C’mon!” the Pegasus with the colorful mane shook Ampy’s shoulders to make him react, but Blueball reacted first. She raised her head to see a shadow fly by the window for a moment.

“Watch out!” shouted Blueball suddenly, pushing one of her heroes to a side, keeping them safe from the violent tackle Charger was going to connect. Instead, she took the hit and got launched to the cloud machinery hidden in the darkness.

A loud, high-pitched shriek escaped from her chest as electricity ran through her body, illuminating the whole facility with a bright blue color. Ampy finally reacted to the screams of her friend, staring at how she squirmed in pain.

As time passed by, her screaming became louder and louder along with a drastic color change on her mane and coat into a deep dark blue. Naturally, Ampy tried to run to assist her best friend, but Rainbow Dash took him from the hip and lifted him off the floor, taking him away from Blueball. She even whispered something into his ear, but his desire was to stop his friend’s suffering.

Spitfire released Nightshade and flew towards them, commanding something Sapphire Bolt could not understand; in his head, only the shouts of pain of Blueball were audible. Against his will, the Wonderbolts took him away through the hole on the windows above, ignoring Blueball’s suffering completely.

> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Camouflage by: RoflLuxRay

Chapter 2

“Just who the hell do you think you are?!” asked Ampy furiously when Rainbow Dash released him on the clouds of what seemed to be the front entrance to a palace.

“We just saved your ass, you should be grateful, kid,” answered Flare Charge with indignation, taking off the thick goggles.

“Thankful?” the young Pegasus took the Wonderbolt from her suit and stared at her eyes with fury, “you let my friend die in that factory, and she worshiped you liked gods.”

“We’re sorry about your friend,” said Spitfire landing next to them and breaking them up before taking off her mask, “but we needed to get you out of there.”

“Why does everypony need me?” said Ampy with desperation, even laughing a little.

“Because of what you can do,” the Wonderbolts’ leader approached him cautiously, “you’re one unique pony, y’know?”

“Don’t tell me you’re gonna ask me to join too…” he said with irony, rolling his eyes.

“Oh, we’re not going to,” Spitfire walked to the enormous double doors made entirely of clouds and opened them, revealing a huge golden hall with pink flags hanging from the ceiling. A red carpet ran through the floor all the way to a golden throne where Princess Celestia gracefully sat gazing at the entrance, “the princess will.”

The three Wonderbolts around him led the young Pegasus to the center of the hall, right in front of two tough-looking Pegasus guards protecting the staircase that led to her majesty’s throne.

“Wonderbolts reporting, your majesty,” said Spitfire giving the majestic Alicorn a salute, gesture quickly mimicked by the rest of her squad.

“Welcome, Wonderbolts,” replied the Princess with a calm voice, “is this Pegasus the one Soarin’ was telling me about?”

“That’s right, Princess,” said Spitfire pointing a hoof at Ampy, “this is Sapphire Bolt.”

“It’s an honor, your majesty,” said Ampy with a bow, he had never seen an Alicorn, nor spoken to one before.

“I recognize the Wonderbolts’ course of action was not the correct one, but I’ve been informed that Blueball Roycewicz was found alive and is being transferred to a hospital down in Ponyville.”

“Can I go see her?” he asked with a grateful smile.

“Of course, but before you do…” with a movement of her hoof, she signaled her guards to abandon the room. With a slow strut, the golden armored Pegasi left the room through a door on to the right. When the clouds closed, Celestia cleared her throat and continued, “There are some things you should know about. As you may have noticed, the Wonderbolts do much more than just stunts.”

“Oh really?” asked Ampy faking surprise, so well that even the Princess bought his skepticism.

“The Wonderbolts are a select group of Pegasi whose mission is to ensure the safety of Equestria, an elite squad chosen amongst thousand to serve under my command. The Wonderbolts shown to the public are nothing more than a cover, apart  from the group I command. I'll be straight with you, Sapphire Bolt, you were born with an unique ability, whose addition to the team is of crucial importance.”

“I’m flattered by the offer, but I have to decline it,” replied the young Pegasus firmly, “fighting for my country is not my dream.”

“Then, what is it?” asked Celestia with a mystic sense in her words.

“What I dream of is to hone my soul, my wings and my skills, to beat all the time limits and to impose unbeatable records, immortalize my name for my talent.”

“How would you like to be immortalized for your actions?” Celestia’s words caused him to open his eyes widely, “dreams are something that we carry throughout our lives, giving us a reason and motive to carry on. What some ponies don’t know is that sometimes our actions are not the adequates to accomplish our dreams, which is why many ponies are not content with the cutie mark they bear.”

“I know that daily training will assist me in making the dream come true,” replied Ampy trying to debate the Princess’s words.

“I do not doubt it,” Celestia looked down with a happy grin on her face, for she knew the right words to say, “but if your true desire is to write your name in golden letters, why do it in something that can be beaten, that can distort throughout time?”

“Explain yourself.”

“If you accept my offer, not only I assure you that your name will persist through history, but you will also be a role model for future generations. Equestria is on the brink of chaos, and I ask you to help us prevent it. You shall be remembered by all if we were to succeed,” Celestia was well known for her persuasive skills, giving her both good and bad reputation among her subjects.

“I’m no good at fighting; I don’t even know what I would do,” Ampy’s will was slowly bending under the intense stare of the ruler.

“Their mission is not to exterminate,” straightened Celestia quickly, “their mission is to ensure the peace, they are both first and last line of defense. If you were to accept, you would be trained for duty.”

“Can I fly as fast as I can, without any limits?”

“Every Wonderbolt is fast and special, if they are here is because they fly as fast as their hearts desire.”

“This isn’t looking like a bad idea”, though Ampy passing a hoof on his chin, “but how can I know what they’re up to?”

“Have you made up your mind?” asked Celestia with authority.

“I will join if you answer one question,” Ampy stepped forward, facing the heavy stare from Celestia’s lavender eyes, “why do the Shadowbolts exist?”

“Ah… them…” muttered Celestia taken aback by the question, “they’re Pegasi who lost their way, traitors. They show up every now and then to ruin some event, claiming they will release Equestria from my millenary reign of tyranny.”

Ampy kept silence for a moment, satisfied with Celestia’s eloquent answer. Even though forgiving the Wonderbolts’ actions seemed difficult, Blueball’s survival made the idea of joining them not so bad after all. He never thought of devoting his life to stuff other than flying distances as fast as he could, but he always toyed with the idea of using his speed, his obsession with time limit, to swing the fair arm of justice, but somepony else’s.

“Very well, Celestia,” he said with a dim smile on his lips, “I will join you.”

“Excellent decision, Sapphire Bolt,” said Celestia with a nod.

“Please, call me Ampy, it’s for the mane,” added immediately the young Pegasus.

“Alright then, Ampy. Spitfire!” the leader straightened her pose instantly, “take him and give him a good training. I need him ready by Friday.”

“Right away, Princess,” Spitfire took his shoulder and began walking to the door from which they came from. Upon closing the thick double doors, the Wonderbolts gathered around him and stared at him expectantly.

“So… what’s up?” said Ampy trying to not feel overwhelmed by the six eyes he had on him.

“Well, we have to do some tests first: One of speed, one of skill and one of combat,” answered Spitfire walking to the group.

“Why don’t you introduce yourselves?” suggested Ampy with a nervous chuckle, “I mean, you already know me but I don’t know your names.”

“I like this kid’s attitude,” said Soarin’ with enthusiasm, passing a hoof through his long dark blue mane, “why don’t you start, Spitfire?”

“Alright then” said the leader with a warm smile, “I’m Spitfire and I run the show here. If you follow orders and don’t do anything stupid you’ll fit in just fine.”

“I’m Soarin’,” the light blue-coated Pegasus walked towards Ampy and offered him a hoof, “I’m second in command and the one who delivers the bad news and witty one-liners.”

“The name’s Flare Charge,” the orange-coated mare removed her mask off her face, waving her short straight red mane through the air, “I’m in charge of tactics and recon.”

“And I’m Rainbow Dash,” she followed the example of Flare and removed her mask and glasses. Her colorful mane slid through her neck all the way to her back, “and looks like I’m no longer the rookie, oh, and I’m in charge of some of the intelligence and planning too.”

“You know us all now, why don’t you introduce yourself officially?” said Spitfire with a grin that spread through the group.

“I’m Sapphire Bolt, but you can call me Ampy, for the mane,” he replied passing a hoof through his mane.

“I’m sure having you among us will come in handy, but before you can start flying with us on missions and stuff, you’re gonna need an uniform,” said Spitfire gently floating to the edge of the cloud where the building was, preparing for flight.

“Will it be the usual blue and yellow?” asked Ampy with fake disappointment.

“It’s our camouflage, you’ll get used to it,” the rest of the Wonderbolts followed their leader to the edge of the cloud.

“Camouflage?” the young Pegasus lifted an eyebrow in amazement.

“If you come you’ll see why, and I’ll use this chance to see how fast you can fly,” said Spitfire with a sly grin.

“How much ‘til we get where we going?” asked Ampy with anxiety, floating towards a side of Rainbow Dash with an arrogant mug.

“Two minutes or so,” replied Rainbow Dash placing her goggles back on.

“I’ll get there in one fifty,” Ampy leaned his body forward into the abyss in front of him, his body filling with nervousness and excitement at once.

“Just try to keep up with us, I’d like you to get there in once piece,” warned Spitfire as she took her goggles off, tossing them to the young Pegasus, “oh yeah, I forgot, use these and try not to get lost.”

“Alright,” with no intention to obey her at all, Ampy placed the goggles on his eyes and spread his wings widely, even enjoying the moment before the takeoff.

“Wonderbolts…!” everypony present assumed a takeoff position leaning their body forward, “go!”

The five Pegasi took off at an amazing speed, keeping a prudent distance between them as taught in flight school. After a few dozen meters, Ampy seemed to fall behind from the rest of the pack, which incited him to double his efforts to only catch up to them.

“Wonderbolts, left!” shouted Spitfire, signaling the turn with a hoof. Everypony spun their bodies and turned west, towards a distant cloud cluster.

“Sprint to the finish!” commanded the leader and the Wonderbolts sped up even more, condensing air around their flanks. Ampy now fell far behind than before, forcing him to push his body to the limit.

“Hooves to the front and focus on one point…” he thought to himself closing his eyes before focusing. By placing his hooves in front, he cut the air easily like the other Wonderbolts. And every time he focused on a single point in the distance, this seemed to come closer to him, even distorting his surroundings. Without even noticing them, he slowly passed the Wonderbolts at an amazing speed, leaving some of them speechless.

“I don’t see a sonic cone around him, how is he doing it?” asked Soarin’ with his eyes wide open with surprise.

“That’s what he does,” answered Spitfire instantly, “he’s not flying fast, he’s slowing time.”

“Cheating filly…” muttered Flare with a snicker.

“Well, can we catch up to him?” asked Rainbow Dash turning to face the others.

“I don’t think so; he’ll probably keep slowing time down if we try to.”

“So we just let him crash against the cloud?” asked Soarin’ with a cocky giggle.

“That’ll teach him to follow my orders.”

Ignoring the dialog behind him, Ampy continued his race towards the cloud cluster which was now pretty close to him. Thinking the destination was behind the clouds, he accelerated to bust through it and save the bother to turn around it.

But for his surprise, when trying to fly through them, he crashed violently against them.

“What the…” he though with little consciousness, sliding down the clouds before separating his face from them with a flap of his wings.

“That’s why we follow orders,” said Spitfire with her bossy tone, tapping her hoof against a solid part of the cloud. It opened slowly, revealing something similar to a metallic hangar inside.

The Wonderbolts landed on the dark marble floor, turning the roof lights upon contact. The hangar extended for dozens of meters and had only one door to the right.

Everypony removed their outfits and placed them on mannequins inside air-locked capsules on the wall, and after tapping a red button next to them, a thick glass slid to protect their valuable outfits.

“Welcome to the stable, home of the Wonderbolts,” said Spitfire now exhibiting her yellow coat and flaming lightning cutie mark, walking to the distant door with the rest of her squad behind.

“So this is where you live eh?” asked Ampy surprised by the facilities, trying not to drool.

“This is where we gather, we have a life after all,” straightened Flare turning to him, flashing the flaming arrow on her flank.

“You can stroll around later, for now we’ll just show you the basics, the mission room, the lab and the dorms,” added Spitfire as she walked through the small blackened hallway, only lit by lights to the sides of the floor.

The Wonderbolts led the young Pegasus to a huge circular room with a huge screen on the wall. A large black metallic pentagonal table appeared in the center down a small staircase, with a yellow chair on each arista.

“I though you guys only did silly stunts…” said Ampy overwhelmed by the architecture.

“Oh, we don’t do that,” said Spitfire strutting to the center of the room, “this is the mission room, where we discuss missions and get our orders.”

“Do I get my own seat?” 

“We seat where we want to, there’s no order,” replied Rainbow Dash as their leader approached to a sliding door across the room, guiding them to another hallway into another white door labeled with ‘lab’ on the frame.

“This is the doctor’s lab,” Spitfire opened the door showing a large white room with several microscopes and glass equipment neatly aligned on a large metallic table. Watching something on the microscope, a brown earth pony with a browner mane spun his head wryly to receive everypony with a smile.

“Back already?” he said with hurry, “I thought you might take longer with the whole ‘Shadowbolt attack’ issue on the best flier competition, I had just found out.”

“This is the doc,” Spitfire pointed at the stallion with a hoof, “Doc, this is the new one.”

“Interesting subject, Spitfire,” the doc approached Ampy sliding his white lab coat on his back, analyzing him with a quick sweep of his eyes, “I wasn’t expecting this coloring, nor that twin-colored mane, or that defiant attitude visible on his body language or that energetic vibe when entering.”

“Don’t fret, he’s a little weird but he’s the smartest pony in all of Equestria,” said Spitfire to cease the strange look in Ampy’s eyes.

“Just… the doc?” asked Ampy with the queer gaze on his eyes.

“Ponies ask me if I’m doctor what, when, where but never who. Taking that and using a little pony cleverness, I call myself Doctor Whooves, a pleasure to meet you, young…” the strange doctor paused to allow Ampy to introduce himself.

“Sapphire Bolt, but call me Ampy, for the mane,” he replied with a nervous grin.

“Such original combo, given by the mixture of colors in your mane. Ampy… Ampy from Ampere, the recognized units for measuring electricity, diminutive to give it a young, fresh touch, correct?”

“Get off him, Whooves,” said Flare gently pushing the eccentric earth pony away from Ampy, “you can study him later.”

“Of course, I presume this was only a formality,” the doctor strutted back to his microscope with a snicker, “make sure I have access to the data of his tests to analyze him, if you may.”

“Of course doc,” said Spitfire with a jolly giggle, “c’mon kid.”

“So long, boy!” said Whooves waving one of his hooves to the air before the door shut. Spitfire led them to another hallway with several polarized glass doors to the sides.

“These are the dorms,” said Spitfire as she stopped in front of a door not labeled like the others, “and this one here is yours.”

“Can I take a look?” said Ampy seemingly anxious.

“Of course,” Spitfire agreed with a nod, opening the glass door with a button to her side so that Ampy could enter the spacious room painted entirely in white. In a far corner, a comfy bed with blue sheets and a small white shelf laid, with a work table right next to it. Of all the places in all of Equestria, this was probably one of the best equipped when it came to technology.

“So what’s next?” asked Ampy.

“We do the tests, and once you’re done with them, you may enjoy the place and look around some more,” replied Spitfire waving a hoof.

“Well what the hay are we waiting for?” the anxiety in him kept growing as Spitfire led him back to the hangar.

“So, we’ll begin with the first test, Soarin’, open the door,” said the leader and her partner rapidly rushed to press a green button next to the giant door, slowly activating the opening mechanism, “this test is a speed test, you’ll race Rainbow Dash on a sprint to marker ten kilometers  from here and back.”

“Sounds reasonable,” he said with an arrogant smirk, walking towards the edge of the hangar. A gust of air blew into the hangar, waving everypony’s manes with force.

“It won’t be easy,” Rainbow Dash flew to his side with a similar gesture in her face, “I’m the fastest one of us all.”

“Is there a record?”

“Fifty seven seconds flat,” answered the mare boastfully.

“Twenty kilometers in less than a minute?!” Ampy thought to himself biting a lip, “that’s gonna be pretty tough to beat...”

“Chill out kid,” said Spitfire looking around for a whistle. 

The young Pegasus began flooding with nervousness, for the Wonderbolts had easily passed him before with little effort.

“Relax… clear your mind and… fly…” he kept repeating in his head to calm his nervousness. The rest of the Wonderbolts only stared expectantly; it was always interesting to see the performance on a new recruit.

“Get ready…!” shouted Spitfire, followed by an suspenseful silence, “set…” both Pegasi opened their wings to ready the takeoff.

“Go!” with Spitfire’s loud shout, both ponies bolted into the emptiness ahead, rapidly gaining an incredible speed. Naturally, Ampy fell behind because of Rainbow’s flight skills and acceleration.

“The rookie is mine,” thought Rainbow Dash with a confident smirk when noticing Ampy’s absence on the edge of her sight. Feeling she had another race on her bag, she accelerated even more just to ensure her apparent victory. In the distance, a small cloud with a large yellow post started to look like what it was and not like a vertical line in the distance.

“Okay… hooves to the front and focus on one point,” Ampy recited to himself, making exactly what his mind told him to do. Doing this, the space around him began to distort with the pole in the distance as the center of the distortion.

Before she could notice, Ampy flew past Rainbow at twice her speed.

“Oh no, you won’t,” said Rainbow Dash with anger, accelerating even more by flapping her wings and taking a similar pose to his rival. To the level of her flank, the air began condensing, forming a ring colored like a rainbow. In front of her, the air bent and formed a supersonic cone; the effort could be seen on her face along with the pain she felt for flying at such speed.

Before she reached the marker, she passed Ampy and broke the sound barrier right on the pole.

By doing it, the sonic boom created what ponies know as ‘Sonic Rainboom’, a large rainbow that spread through the air like a shockwave, launching Rainbow Dash and multiplying her already incredible speed three times.

Being protected by his peculiar ability, Ampy saw the explosion in slow motion and distorted, as the space around him was bent. This however, did not stopped him from seeing Rainbow Dash flying away from him at an impressive speed, even for him.

“Damn she’s fast…” he thought to himself amazed by his opponent’s speed, “Alright, that’s enough. Stare at one point… see how it comes closer to you…” 

Forcing his ability to the max, the space bent even more, duplicating his speed. 

Back at the hangar, the three Pegasi noticed how they approached at an unbelievable speed.

“They’re pretty fast eh?” said Soarin’ slowly steeping back from the edge of the hangar with a hint of fear in his voice.

“You’re a Wonderbolt, and you’re scared of two Pegasi flying towards a pretty large hangar at high speed with low chances of crashing against you?"

“These kids are gonna slam against the wall, now that you’re near there, would you mind activating the emergency mattresses on the door?” ordered Spitfire calmly, seeing how the rookies approached at full speed. The light blue-coated Pegasus then pressed a button next to the giant door and several clear-white mattresses appeared from the wall to save the two Pegasi from a certain death, or at least from a fracture.

Both ponies did not give up until the finish line, expecting to win by a photo finish. Brutally, they crashed against the mattresses, even shaking the whole cloud with the force of the impact.

Behind Rainbow Dash, the rainbow colored trail behind her slowly vanished into thin air, and after that, they could see how the space behind Ampy twisted back to normal.

“Try to be more careful next time, you won’t all ways have something to crash on,” warned Spitfire gently shaking her head with her eyes closed.

“Who won?” asked Rainbow Dash separating her face from the mattress to see the Wonderbolts below.

“You by a couple of seconds,” answered Flare glancing at a chronometer on the wall.

“Yes!” shouted the rainbow-colored pony as she danced on the air, “I won, I won…”

“Gimme time,” said Ampy floating away from the mattresses with a worried look on his face.

“I smashed my record! For twenty seconds, this is so awesome!” Rainbow’s dance continued at the side of her partners after landing next to them.

“Really?” asked Ampy with a huge skeptical frown, “I felt like I flew for a minute out there.”

“That’s what you do-”

Loud hoofsteps coming from the hallway interrupted Spitfire as the doc appeared with a paper on is mouth, tossing it to the air and catching with both hooves.

“Boys, you have got to see this, it’s the result from the flight test, they’re amazing!” shouted the Doctor with excitement.

“Alright then, tell us,” said Soarin’ with an amusement smirk, seeing the doctor always made him laugh.

“Okay…” the doctor inhaled deeply before continuing, “Sapphire Bolt’s flight causes a well-known phenomenon named temporal dilation. There’s actually nothing rare in it, everypony dilates time to some degree when flying, but the interesting thing in here is that he’s actually quite slow; he can’t fly faster than Soarin’s record of Mach .83. But even though he’s not that fast, he can somehow dilate time, at least enough to keep up with Rainbow Dash’s incredible supersonic speed.”

“Great, now say that in English…” remarked Ampy with an eyebrow up.

“I mean, it’s that when you fly, you dilate time, and while at it, you distort space,” trying to explain his ideas better, the eccentric doctor took the piece of paper in his hooves, “let’s say you want to travel from point A to point B. The easiest way to do this is to draw a straight line that connects both points, but what you do, is to bend the time-space tissue, literally attracting point B to you; assuming you are point A of course. When applying your ability, it seems that you fly at high speed, but you’re not that fast according to my data.”

“So you’re saying I’m slow?” asked the young Pegasus slightly offended.

“In theory, yes, you are slow. But using you strange and peculiar ability, you might be able to keep up with the rest of the Wonderbolts,” said the doctor folding its paper and placing it back in its lab coat. 

“What do you think, doc?” said Spitfire turning her head to face the doctor with a satisfied smirk, “did he pass the test?”

“Well…” the brown earth pony scoffed while scratching his head, “he did lose the race against Rainbow Dash, but, massacred the previous time record like Rainbow, managed to keep up with her boosted by the Sonic Rainboom and we are not seeing his full potential. I’d give him a six-pack and a medal.”

“And with that the ability test is covered too, since you’re already in-flight,” said Spitfire signaling the two Pegasi to gather around her, “Now remains the combat test… but don’t worry, I won’t make you wrestle with Soarin’. The test consists as follows…”

She stopped suddenly, as if she had ran out of words to describe the test. Glancing rapidly at his companions, Ampy recognized the sly grins on their faces, the way they stared at him intensely and expectantly.

“Okay… what’s going on?” asked Ampy with a nervous giggle, taking a few steps back from the other Pegasi.

“Look at that!” added Soarin’ with a brief laugh, “he’s got no idea.”

“The test is about us trying to kick your flank,” teased Flare glancing at Spitfire with her sly grin.

“Hey, you spoiled the surprise!” remarked Soarin’ punching her shoulder.

“Oh, hell no,” said Ampy lifting his body off the floor with a few flaps from his wings, “I didn’t came here for this, I’m outta here.”

“Well, you better start flying now!” threatened Rainbow diving towards him, a movement swiftly evaded by the young Pegasus. As the colorful mane Pony crashed on the floor, Ampy bolted out the hangar door without caring whether the Wonderbolts were serious or not.

“Should we catch up to him?” asked Flare as she prepared to chase the young Pegasus.

“Nah,” retorted the leader flicking her hair away from her face, “just put him under pressure and an eye on him, you know what this is really about.”

“So we just chase him around and see what he does?” asked Soarin’ with sarcasm, “I’m sure he’ll use his ability if we put pressure on him.”

“I don’t think so,” added the doctor instantly, almost interrupting the sub-leader of the Wonderbolts, “it seems that he can only use his ability on straight runs, but if you can make him take a curve, mathematically, he should-”

“Okay doc,” interrupted Spitfire pushing the earth Pony away with a hoof to prevent him from taking more of their time, “thanks for the advice. Okay guys, you know your orders, go get him!”

Flare and Soarin’ obeyed the leader’s call and flew off the hangar’s door at full speed towards the small blue dot on the distance.

“You wait here, Dash,” said Spitfire placing a hoof in front of her companion to stop her from flying, “you’ve flown enough for today.”

“But I…” the rookie lowered her head and nodded in resignation, “okay boss, as you say.”

“Don’t worry, Spit, I can keep her busy,” said the doctor with a subtle nod of approval.

“You better do,” the yellow Pegasus ran off to the edge and prepared to fly, “we’ll be right back.”

“Go get ‘em boss!” shouted Rainbow as her leader threw herself towards the emptiness ahead.

Ampy had gained some advantage on them, but he was flying on unknown territory, he couldn’t recognize the lands, or the small town below or even see Cloudsdale somewhere nearby.

“Where the hay am I?” he muttered inspecting the surroundings, still not recognizing the town below. When he recognized small figures with the shape of ponies walking on the colorful streets below, he flew rapidly to hide somewhere in that town.

“Look, he’s flying towards Ponyville,” signaled Flare with a hoof.

“Well, it’s a relief we’re not dressed for the occasion!” said Soarin’ with a sarcastic mug.

“Still, we should not fly too fast or we’ll draw some attention,” said Flare turning to him with a cold glare, “and try to keep it serious.”

“Sit rep!” shouted Spitfire from a distance, quickly catching up to them at incredible speed.

“He’s flying to Ponyville, and fast,” answered Soarin’ with serious voice.

“Wow, you can listen after all!” remarked Flare with a snicker, “anyway, I’m sure he’s gonna try to hide. It’s better if we split for a higher chance of success.”

“Alright, that’s how we’ll do it. You two go to the ground and enter the town strutting from two different places and sweep the place cautiously. I’ll chase him,” said Spitfire with authority and her subordinates quickly obeyed, descending quickly in two directions while she kept her flight to intercept the young Pegasus.

The ponies of Ponyville were in the middle of a hard-work’s day, like any other Wednesday afternoon. Many used the remaining sunlight to eat lunch at a humble restaurant or gather with some friends.

“Where…?” Ampy scanned the town with his eyes, looking for a good place to hide. Amid the curious structures, a tree in the center of the town presented itself as the best option.

Turning his flight angle a few degrees, he fixed his route to that peculiar tree.

“Fool,” thought Spitfire with a confidence smirk, turning her head to locate her companions.

Hastily, Ampy stopped just in time to avoid crashing on the spacious wooden balcony and managed to land somewhat gently. After analyzing his surroundings, he opened the glass double doors to enter a completely darkened room. It seemed abandoned, there was absolutely no light inside due to the thick curtains covering all the windows around; he was barely able to see his own silhouette in the dark.

He advanced carefully, constantly tapping the walls with a hoof to find a light switch or anything that could grant him illumination. And while doing it, he suddenly tapped on something fluffy and it returned the gesture instantly.

“Silly, you’re late and through the balcony as usual,” said a high pitched feminine voice as Ampy backed into the room flabbergasted.

“Eh? Who goes there?” he asked with a hint of fear in his voice, trying to locate the thing hiding in the shadows.

Suddenly, a small candle lit, lightening the face of a pink-coated pony with puffy wild mane, with her eyes well fixed on him.

“Oh, you’re not… I haven’t seen you before here in Ponyville!” shouted the Pony with excitement, only confusing the young Pegasus furthermore.

“Could you please be quiet?” asked Ampy rushing to cover her mouth with both hooves, “I’m hiding.”

“Oh, oh,” with a swift movement of her head, she removed the hooves from her mouth and stared back at him, “are we playing hide and seek, because if we are I would totally like to play because-”

“Look, I don’t know who you are or what the hell you’re doing in this place, but I just need to hide here for a while, got it?”  Interrupted Ampy hastily, hushing the pink Pony with the tip of his left hoof.

“Hey, why don’t you stay for the party?!” the Pink mare’s request caught him completely off guard, making him fall back towards the wall staggered. And just when he touched the wall with a hoof, the lights came back on in the exact moment a door was opened in the opposite side of the room, revealing lots of shelves filled with all sorts of books.

With a look of shock, a purple unicorn with her mane dyed in an heaver purple and a fuchsia stripe, entered the room under the loud shout of “surprise!” straight from the throats of at least thirty ponies previously hidden in the shadows.

“Pinkie Pie?” she asked and the Pink Pony happily skipped about to greet her with a huge smile.

“Twilight!” she exclaimed with much joy, “I thought you would never make it!”

“I got a little delayed by some incident back at Cloudsdale, but I’m here,” the unicorn greeted Pinkie Pie with a warm hug as the other guests approached to greet her as well.

“If I get outta here, I’m sure they’ll find me… I guess it’s better if I stick around and hide in this party, they say that there’s no better place to hide a tree than a forest,” thought Ampy as he straightened his pose to blend with the crowd, even approaching to greet this Twilight.

Carefully, he snuck around the ponies to greet the purple unicorn, giving her a well faked smile as he stretched out his hoof.

“Congrats,” the hostess stretched out a hoof with a queer look on her face.

“Do I know you?” asked Twilight with much doubt.

“He just got here and I don’t know him either, but everypony is welcome to a party from Pinkie Pie!” shouted Pinkie jumping around happily.

“I’m sorry I snuck into your party without an invitation, but I needed a place to hide,” the tone in Ampy’s voice made the face in Twilight’s face change.

“Why? What’s going on?” she asked concerned.

“I can’t say much, but I’m being followed and I really, really need to hide,” he replied sweeping the room with his eyes, trying to see somepony hiding between the large tables with decorations, balloons and candy all around

“I don’t think they’ll find you here with the ponies all crammed up, you know what they say, there’s no better camouflage than the most obvious one,” said Pinkie without any trace of seriousness in her, “what’s your name?”

“Sapphire Bolt, but they call me Ampy, for the mane; and if you excuse me, I have to go and hide,” after introducing himself, Ampy turned around and walked towards one of the various tables around.

“Wait a second!” said Twilight with loud voice, stopping Ampy’s calm walk, “that name… are you that Pegasus from the best young flier competition?”

“Don’t you go around saying that,” the blue Pegasus froze and spun his head wryly to give her a cold look.

The unicorn then dashed to him and dragged him from a hoof into a corner of the library.

“Are you being followed by the Shadowbolts?” asked Twilight with fear as she shook him from the shoulders.

“No,” the blunt response instantly calmed Twilight’s soul, making her sigh in relief, “but still, I need to hide.”


“From who?” after the unicorn’s inquiry, Spitfire walked through the entrance, glancing at her surroundings with a serious look on her face.

“From her,” answered Ampy pointing at the yellow-coated Pegasus standing at the entrance.

“Don’t you worry, I can keep her busy!” said Pinkie pie with a chuckle, carelessly strutting towards Spitfire.

Ampy then used the moment to hide in the opposite side of the party, always covering his face from Spitfire’s vision using the body from some random guest in the party, followed closely by Twilight.

“Hey you!” shouted Pinkie in a volume impossible to ignore, calling the serious sight of the Wonderbolt.

“Yes?” she asked raising an eyebrow.

“Let’s dance!” without any warning, Pinkie Pie grabbed her from a hoof and began dancing to the rhythm of some techno music coming from somewhere in the room. The pony with the pink mane shook her body to the beats joyfully, but her dancing partner didn’t seem that amused.

“And what are we celebrating?” asked Ampy tapping a hoof along with the beat on the floor.

“I… really don’t know,” said Twilight with an indifferent shrug, “the pink pony over there is the organizer, her name is Pinkie Pie; oh yeah, that’s right, I’m Twilight Sparkle, with this whole situation there was barely room for formalities.”

“It’s cool,” said Ampy with a nod and a genuine smile.

“And why is it that you’re hiding from a Wonderbolt?” asked the unicorn and Ampy turned to stare at her arrogant smirk in awe, “what? You didn’t think I wouldn’t recognize the Wonderbolts’ leader without her suit?”

“Actually, I did.”

“It’s pretty good camouflage, y’know, the one they wear. You don’t see them around without their suits on,” said Twilight with a chuckle, “I know her for a friend of mine who joined them not so long ago, her name is Rainbow Dash.”

“Yeah, I know her, I’m actually being tested to join them,” the blue Pegasus reached his hoof to grab a snack from the table.

“Another Wonderbolt?” uttered Twilight with a mouthful, “Celestia found the fifth pretty fast.”

“She was the one that convinced me to join, actually,” the young Pegasus took a big bite of his snack and began chewing it viciously.

“Right…” with a big gulp, Twilight engulfed the mouthful that kept her from speaking properly, “hey; you’re doing the infamous ‘combat test’, are you?”

“Why the air quoting?”

“Because the ‘combat test’ is nothing more than a charade for hide-and-seek. They threaten you by saying they will beat you to a pulp for you to run and hide, see how good can you do it. It’s not a test of speed or strength, is one of wits and intelligence, they evaluate your ability to disappear in high-risk situation; how good is your camouflage without wearing one.”

Twilight’s word instantly cleared Ampy’s mind, it even seemed obvious to him now that the Wonderbolts would land a hit on them.

“And for how long am I supposed to hide?” asked Ampy raising an eyebrow.

“Rainbow told me that you’re supposed to find them first or something like that,” said the purple unicorn with another shrug as a sly grin drew on Ampy’s face, “you’re lucky, nopony told that to Rainbow.”

“And I am thankful,” said the young Pegasus with a nod, walking between the crowd with his eyes fixed on Spitfire. Carefully, he approached the dancing couple, avoiding any eye contact with his leader.

And just when he approached enough, he winked his eye at Pinkie for her to release her from the dance, taking the Wonderbolts’ leader from the back and whispering to the ear.

“Gotcha.”

> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Camouflage By: RoflLuxRay

Chapter 3 

A small scream escaped from Spitfire, drowned by the surprise of noticing the culprit. Panting loudly, she took a hoof to the chest to calm her soul.

“You were this close from having you face filled with pain,” said the yellow Pegasus still shuddering.

“You wouldn’t do it,” teased Ampy with a mocking grin.

“Oh… don’t doubt of it,” the leader sighed deeply to calm herself once and for all, “but ain’t you one lucky filly… you passed.”

“I had a little help,” said Ampy with a confident mug, turning his eyes to the unicorn in the distance.

“That’s… Twilight Sparkle,” a small grin appeared on her lips, “your luck is amazing, you ran into Celestia’s student and she decided to help you out.”

“So, you’re saying that I snuck into Celestia student’s place?” asked Ampy skeptical.

“And she decided to help you out…” Spitfire grabbed him from the neck and approached his ear to whisper, “And between you and me, she’s a little special every now and then.”

“She treated me well,” Ampy pulled away from her grip with his skepticism even bigger.

“You’ll get to see her next to Celestia.”

“Hey, hey, what are we talking about?” asked Pinkie Pie poking her head between the Pegasi, a conduct commonly considered as rude.

“About how much we love your party, Pinkie pie,” answered Ampy instants before her boss did, “you did one nice job.”

“Thanks!” said the earth Pony with a big smile, “enjoy it all you want, I have to go fed my pet alligator.”

Without saying more, Pinkie turner around and blended well amid the crowd, but gave herself away with her characteristic jumping.

“She could have just blown us off, but that’s just absurd,” said Ampy staring queerly at Pinkie.

“As silly as it sounds, she does have a pet alligator named Gummy,” said Spitfire with a shrug, along with her eyes stretched open wide.

“So this is the fifth Wonderbolt Celestia wanted eh?” asked Twilight with an arrogant tone, walking to the Pegasi as she bit her colorful muffin.

“Yep,” affirmed Spitfire with a nod and a chuckle, “this boy got some nerve, potential and one hell of a cheating skill.”

“Really? What’s his talent?”

“According to Whooves, it’s something like bending time and space, the kind of mumbo-jumbo you understand,” said Spitfire with sarcasm, so much in fact that you could see it pouring out of her mouth.

“Oh please, don’t start,” said Twilight upset, “I’m not in the mood for arguing.”

“You’re the one with a problem here,” said Spitfire keeping her cool, “I’m just giving you a small joke and you make the worst out of it.”

“Eh… Spitfire?” said Ampy by standing between the mares, interrupting their stares of hatred, “how about we get going?”

“Sounds like a good idea,” answered Spitfire turning her back on the unicorn, “we’ve got stuff to do.”

The Wonderbolts’ leader took Ampy by a hoof and dragged him to the entrance, releasing all of her anger by stomping on the wooden floor as they made their way to the entrance. The young Pegasus could only raise a hoof to wave Twilight goodbye with an awkward smile before Spitfire slammed the door shut.

“Well… that was… awkward,” said Ampy rubbing his neck with a nervous smile.

“I’m sorry that you had to see that,” answered her boss immediately, gently lifting her body off the floor, “we don’t get along, and don’t ask why, it’s a long story.”

In that moment, Soarin’ and Flare Charge arrived at their position from different ways, they had seen them walking out of Twilight’s library seconds ago.

“Look at that, you found him,” said Soarin’ with a snicker, patting the rookie on the back.

“He found me, to be exact,” said the leader as she glanced at Ampy with a proud smile, “he passed the test on his first try.”

“No way,” said Flare with much surprise, “no one passes on the first try.”

“Sparkle helped him,” replied Spitfire rolling her eyes in irony.

“Lucky boy,” said Soarin’ ruffling his mane emphatically.

“Hey, don’t think we’re through with you yet,” said Flare stepping forward, “if he cleared the test we can initiate him.”

“You’re right!” added Spitfire with realization, “but we have to do some preparations, how about you go visit your friend? She’s at this town’s hospital.”

“Wait, this is Ponyville?” asked Ampy staggered.

“Yep, this is it,” said Spitfire flying a little higher so that her companions would mimic, “it’s a couple of blocks down that street. You can do more than that, but you only have two hours, got it?”

“Got it,” affirmed the young Pegasus with a nod, “oh, wait, how do I get to the stable?”

“There’s a hidden button only visible with our glasses,” Soarin’ removed his goggles and handed them to Ampy, “Look for a flat part in the cloud and you’ll see it.”

“Alright, thanks,” said Ampy giving the Wonderbolts their first salute, and he felt it natural. He was getting used to the idea of becoming a Wonderbolt, to see the radical change in his life and all that came with it.

As the four Pegasi flew away from the town, Ampy walked through the streets in the direction that Spitfire pointed, meditating, completely lost in what he had to do and say now that he was about to be a Wonderbolt, a legend among ponies.

Naturally, he thought about informing his family about it, that their fifth child, the only one who didn’t follow the tradition of working in the weather to follow his time-limit obsession had become the newest member of the elite Pegasi of Equestria. 

Jumping from a train of thoughts to another, he noticed that Celestia told him that the Wonderbolts that perform for crowds are a cover for the real ones, the military organization he had just became a part of.

By walking amid the recurred streets of Ponyville con his mind way up off the floor, he couldn’t notice the earth pony that jumped his way to him, crashing violently and smashing him to the ground.

“Oh, Ampy!” shouted Pinkie Pie, noticing the poor pony she had just ran into, “where were you that you couldn’t see me coming?”

“I might as well ask you the same, if seeing me in the distance made you bump into me anyway,” said Ampy rubbing his back.

“Where are you going?” asked the jolly Pony offering a hoof to stand up.

“To see somepony at the hospital, do you know where that is?”

“Oh, oh!” the pink Pony began agitating and jumping happily about, “yes, yes I Know, it’s two blocks that way, ask for nurse Redheart in the big building with white curtains, but you’ll be back to the party, right?”

“Sure, I think I might have some spare time,” said Ampy anxious to release himself from the stalking glare of the pink mare.

“Okie dokie lokie! See ya!” Pinkie trotted away humming something to herself. Relieved, Ampy resumed his walk down the street, but had lost the ability to remain focused in his thoughts like before, for his mind now lingered between Blueball and Pinkie Pie’s flank, a sight he doubted whether to ignore or admit it was a nice view.

And before he could notice, he was in front of the building that matched Pinkie’s description, conveniently labeled with a red cross in the front sign. 

Ampy entered the hospital, which was surprisingly spacious, with an uneasy strut, inspecting the clear blue walls lit by sunlight coming from a wide window pane. Behind a small desk, a large hallway with several beds lined up with a few unfortunate ponies resting as a white-coated pony with pink mane checked on them. Upon noticing Ampy’s arrival, the mare with the Red Cross as a cutie mark approached the reception counter with a helpful smile.

“Good afternoon, how may I help you?”

“Hi, uh…” said the young Pegasus scratching his neck, feeling a little awkward, “I came here to see Blueball Roycewicz?”

“She?” asked the nurse surprised, “poor pony just woke up after her horrible accident… but she might not be the same.”

The horrible news sent a shiver up his spine.

“What do you mean?” asked Ampy with uncertainty.

“The electricity didn’t kill her or cause any damage to her body, it… altered her somehow. She suffered severe cranial trauma along with an impressive electrocution that I can’t see how she survived… and we think this caused the schizophrenia symptoms on her.”

“Can I see her?” the young Pegasus gulped as he glanced at the beds behind the nurse, still not understanding all that the nurse said.

“You’ll have to wait a moment,” said the nurse flipping the pages of a notebook in front of her, “somepony called Nightfall Shades.”

That name instantly rang some bells on Ampy’s head, a name that was not a good omen.

“I know her,” he deducted that lying to the innocent nurse was the best course of action, “he’s a friend of the family.”

“Oh, she’s family of you or the patient?” asked the nurse with surprise.

“Blueball is my friend, and Nightfall is from her family.”

“Well, in that case you can enter,” said the nurse opening a small door next to the counter, signaling him where Blueball’s bed was. He couldn’t really understand why the nurse allowed his entrance, but he was not willing to ask for explanations.

The nurse left him alone next to a light, sea foam colored curtain. Without hesitating, he slid the curtain open with a single movement and saw his friend resting on the bed, covered by thick gray sheets.

The first thing he noticed was how different she was; her coat was now colored in a darker blue than his mane, and her mane had a very stylized and erect shape, as if somepony had done it with styling gel. If you paid close attention to her mane, you could see electricity running through the strands of hair every now and then.

“Blueball?” asked Ampy relieved by the absence of the previous visitor, but worried for her friend’s appearance. Slowly, she opened her eyes and received her friend with a warm, big smile.

“Sapphire Bolt!” she exclaimed drowsily, squirming in his bed. The smile in Ampy’s face was diminished when he saw his friend tied to the bed by steel cuffs.

“How are you?” asked Ampy, obliged by how he saw her and what had happened.

“Well here resting, place like I, is nurse nice,” answered Blueball with confidence, but attacked by her paraphasia.

“That’s nice to hear, feeling better?”

“Yeah, a little up tied, remember can’t what happened well, you tell me could happened what?” the disorder in her words made it hard to understand what she meant, but Ampy was able to understand the message.

“Eh-” before he could finish a word, a jolt of lightning ran through Blueball’s head, making her seizure brutally for a few moments. Shocked by the seizures, he finally understood why she was tied to her bed.

“Are you alright?” asked Ampy walking to a side of her friend, who shook her head to regain her senses.

“Yeah, I guess,” she smiled weakly, “hey, at least I can speak correctly now.”

“Great, at least I can understand you some more,” he said mimicking her smile.

“It’s good to see you, Ampy,” the wounded mare fixed her pink eyes on her friend, “what happened after the accident?”

“You’re so not gonna believe this… I’m about to become a Wonderbolt!”

“What?” there was more shock than joy in her inquiry, “you get to be a Wonderbolt when I saved Rainbow Dash? That should be me!”

“Don’t worry, perhaps I can talk with Spitfire about it…” replied Ampy with an arrogant smirk.

“This is absurd… and didn’t you say that ‘unlike you, I don’t want to be a Wonderbolt’?”

“I know, I know…” the young Pegasus shook his head with a smile, “but that was because I thought they were just a bunch of arrogant acrobats, but it turns out they’re more than that!”

“Well, of course they are!” affirmed Blueball trying to move towards Ampy, but held by her bindings, “they are a military repressor group under the order of Celestia the tyrant, with the objective to contain social movements and repress the ponies.”

“What?” asked Ampy with a sarcastic smile, not taking his friend’s comment seriously, “since when you’re into that kind of stuff?”

“Since Nightshade opened my eyes to the world,” there was something in Blueball’s sight that concerned Ampy, “the Wonderbolts were my heroes, but they are nothing more than a scam.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Ampy backing towards the wall with confusion in his face.

“The Pegasus that followed us to the cloud factory just dropped by and taught me how is that Equestria is doomed if Celestia remains on the throne. She offered me a place among her lines, a spot in the future of Equestria.”

“And don’t tell me that you actually joined them!”

“They are the future of Equestria, my dear friend. You can still change your mind, join the winning side and abandon the Wonderbolts.”

“I… I…” muttered Ampy hesitating, looking away from her with shame. But a part of him had already developed a sense of loyalty towards the Wonderbolts, “I won’t,” he answered with confidence, staring firmly at Blueball, “I have committed with them and I won’t back down, why don’t you leave them? The Shadowbolts are nothing more than a bunch of terrorists.”

“Excuse me?!” she exclaimed offended, “they are a group of humble and honest Pegasi who seek to liberate us, they’re not terrorists!”

“Really?” teased Ampy shaking his head, “don’t tell me you’re serious…”

“Oh, of course I’m serious…” said Blueball with a disturbing smile, somehow controlling the flow of electricity flowing throughout her body, even releasing a few jolts to her surroundings. Upon hearing the electricity, the nurse ran to her bed to see what was making these noises.

“What’s going on?” asked the nurse instants before being thrown to the air by a lightning that struck her chest, crashing into some medical supplies behind. Blueball’s cuffs began to give in to the massive amount of electricity flowing through them.

“Look at what you’ve done!” shouted Ampy with anger, “You’ve killed the nurse!”

“No, she’s just unconscious,” said Blueball lifting her body off the bed without using her wings or hooves, electricity pouring out of her body, crashing against any metallic object around.

“And what’s on your mind, you want to kill me, uh?” teased Ampy stepping towards her.

“I will if you don’t change your mind,” Blueball’s eyes then turned completely white and began to release even more electricity.

“You wouldn’t,” he assured with a confident smirk.

“Is that what you think?” asked Blueball raising an eyebrow, throwing a jolt of lightning straight to Ampy’s head. The young Pegasus moved his head to the left to avoid it in cold blood, keeping his eyes fixed on her.

“What the hell was that, Blueball?” he asked feeling a little nervous.

“I honor my word, Sapphire Bolt, I’m committed to something too,” she began floating to him using the electricity pouring out of her body with a maniac smile.

“Oh, c’mon, you can’t be serious,” muttered Ampy taking a few steps back from her, fearing she might attack him at any moment.

“I will give you one last chance,” said Blueball with her eyes back to normal, “leave the Wonderbolts and I might let you live.”

“I already told you, I won’t!” shouted Ampy with determination.

“Then you’ve made one big mistake…” said Blueball showing anger on her face, tossing another thunderbolt at Ampy, whom swiftly dodged it with a jump to the right.

“No wonder they tied you up,” said Ampy with a mocking grin.

“Shut up!” she said tossing a thunderbolt, almost hitting him in a leg.

“You’re not the same Pegasus I met at flight school, Blueball Roycewicz,” he said glancing at the entrance, preparing to bolt out through the front door. Everypony in the hospital had already left, frightened by the Pegasus with electric powers.

“Oh, you silly pony… I’m no longer Blueball Roycewicz…” the dark blue Pegasus incremented the flow of electricity flowing through her  body, to such level  that her cutie mark, a small lightning surrounded by white heart shaped clouds, changed to a black lightning with black clouds, “from now on, you will call me Blueball Blitz, the Shadowbolt!”

Instead of giving him an evil laugh, Blueball went straight to the part where she tries to kill the enemy, tossing him several thunderbolts as he ran to the exit, swiftly dodging them by jumping or moving in zigzag.

“You can’t run, my friend!” shouted the new Shadowbolt, chasing him all the way to the entrance by floating to the entrance without using her wings.

“I always knew you were crazy!” said Ampy with iron, expecting that a good joke would calm his friend’s anger as he stepped out though the main door, followed closely by the new Shadowbolt.

“I’m not kidding, I will kill you!” yelled Blueball finally landing a thunderbolt on his tail, paralyzing him completely on contact. With a loud scream of pain, Ampy fell to the floor with cramps all over his body, spinning his head wryly to see how she floated to him releasing lightning all around. Everypony out in the street ran in fear at the sight of Blueball

“C’mon Blueball…” said Ampy with the pain immobilizing him.

“I warned you,” said Blueball pointing an electrified hoof at his face. The screeching in the air increased, centering energy on the tip of the left hoof of the corrupted pony that stared down at her friend with hatred, “I’m sorry it has to ends this way…”

“Hold it!” exclaimed a familiar voice out in the distance as a huge ball of magic impacted on Blueball’s chest, violently tossing her against a wall of the hospital.

“What the hay…?” muttered Ampy as he turned to see Twilight Sparkle across the street with her horn glowing intensely.

“Stay out of this!” yelled Blueball with fury, tossing three thunderbolts in quick succession to Celestia’s student, whom raised a protective barrier around her that saved her from any harm. Even more angered, the Shadowbolt continued to throw electricity at the barrier.

“C’mon Ampy, run!” exclaimed Twilight struggling to keep her barrier on, the ferocious impacts were enough make her kneel to their power.

“You’re not going anywhere,” the Shadowbolt stopped Ampy from running away with another lightning that almost landed on him.

“Don’t make me do it…” muttered Twilight suddenly standing up, increasing the power of her barrier, creating an enormous purple ball of magic on the tip of her horn.

“Break art!” exclaimed the purple unicorn throwing her ball of energy through a hole in her barrier, at such speed that Blueball could not even react. Upon contact, the ball exploded and launched her towards the hospital entrance and destroying a large part of it with the brutal shockwave.

“Get the hell outta here, Ampy,” said Twilight with exhaustion, “I can’t do that too often.”

“Right,” the young Pegasus quickly stood up and began flying as fast as he could, using the moment of weakness in his friend.

“No, you’re not getting away!” yelled Blueball with anger, trying to lift her body off the floor. But the last impact had injured one of her wings and Twilight Sparkle already prepared the finishing blow.

“Don’t make me kill you…” muttered Twilight with a furious scowl. And a second before she casted her spell, a great, dark colored aura appeared from the air to surround Blueball completely.

“Easy now…” said Nightshade placing a hoof on the shoulder of her newest ally, appearing from her aura, “you’ll get your chance.”

“Break art!” shouted Celestia’s student again, launching her powerful spell once again. Quickly, Nightshade relocated her and Blueball to avoid it.

Exhausted, Twilight fell to her knees, panting to catch air as the Shadowbolts glared at her.

“Can we go?” asked Blueball with tranquility, rubbing her sore left wing.  And from the same aura she came from, Nightshade vanished as quick as she appeared, leaving a few ponies brave enough to stay and witness the fight completely astonished.

Above in the sky, Ampy noticed Blueball’s absence and Twilight lying on the floor, panting in exhaustion. He quickly descended to assist her.

“Are you okay?” asked Ampy with worry, offering her a helping hoof.

“I think so…” answered Twilight rubbing her head.

“I owe you my life,” said Ampy with a slight blush.

“Yeah, no problem,” replied the unicorn patting him on the back.

“Nurse Redheart is wounded” shouted a green-coated stallion through a hole in the wall, instantly drawing more attention to the scene.

“Any reasons why she wanted to kill you?” asked Twilight absent-mindedly as she ran to the hospital.

“I really don’t know,” answered Ampy flying to catch up to her with a shrug, “Blueball was my friend, I don’t know what got into her.”

“That was your friend?” said Twilight surprised, staring at him for a moment, “now that’s one hell of a friend you have, you didn’t innocently untie her, did you?”

“She got loose on her own, I came to check on her after the accident in Cloudsdale,” both ponies stood aside when the nurse was being carried out unconscious, with a huge black stain on her chest.

“Take her to Canterlot, have one of the Princesses see her,” ordered Twilight with authority. Being the renowned Celestia’s student, it was natural that Ponyville’s citizens obeyed her commands, “well, it doesn’t matter how she got out, Celestia’s suspects were real, the Shadowbolts are five now too.”

“Celestia suspected this?” asked Ampy raising an eyebrow with skepticism.

“Vaguely, but she’s not usually wrong.”

“Wait a minute,” said Ampy stomping one of his hoofs against the floor, “how did you know I was in danger if you were at the party?”

“Pinkie sense.”

“Okay, you saw it through the window,” straightened Ampy with sarcasm and a snicker.

“No, Pinkie sense,” insisted Twilight slightly offended, “Pinkie Pie has some sort of sixth sense, and she felt you were in danger… She mentioned you were here at the hospital, and so I came.”

“Okay, it doesn’t matter; I guess I should go tell the Wonderbolts about this, is there anything I should tell them?” asked Ampy a little anxious the fly.

“Yes,” the purple unicorn walked to him carefully, she was still feeling the effects of the powerful spells she had just casted, “tell them to see Celestia ASAP, I’ll let her know you’re going.”

“Roger,” with a quick nod, the young Pegasus turned around and flew off through a hole in the wall, heading for the skies as fast as she could, putting the goggles Soarin’ loaned him as soon as he reached the clouds. With these special lenses, he could see the electricity inside the clouds flowing, almost surfing through the water.

As he continued to fly away from Ponyville, more and more clouds began gathering around him, each one of them looking exactly like the one another.

After flying north for a few more minutes, a particular cloud caught his attention for the lack of energy, besides from the immense metallic stricture hidden behind condensed water floating in the nothing.

“The button… the button… where’s the button?” he thought as he inspected the surroundings of the cloud, remembering Soarin’s advice to seek a flat side. And on the east side, the goggles allowed him to see a green button hidden next to the enormous door.

Once I opened and he landed, Rainbow Dash ran to meet him in the hangar with a face of shock.

“What are you doing here?” asked Rainbow closing the hangar door with another button.

“The Shadowbolts were in Ponyville, they recruited my friend, Blueball,” answered Ampy a little tired from the trip.

“The one from the cloud factory?” she asked hiding her remorse by biting a lip.

“Exactly, she tried to kill me but a pony called Twilight Sparkle saved my flank.”

“Well…” said Rainbow with a deep sigh, “at least you’re alive. C’mon, I’m sure the boss would like to hear this.”

Ampy followed Rainbow through the hallways of the stable into the meeting room, where the rest of the Wonderbolts were discussing something. And all of them turned to see them with awe.

“What are you doing here?” asked Flare with a frown.

“The Shadowbolts were in Ponyville to recruit my friend Blueball,” replied Ampy firmly, in a way he never thought could do so well

“What?!” shouted all the Wonderbolts as one. Spitfire immediately jumped off her seat to walk to him with her eyes fixes on his.

“Tell me exactly what happened,” ordered the leader with authority, so much that Ampy was frightened.

“I went to visit my friend, Blueball, at Ponyville’s hospital. When I told her I had just joined the Wonderbolts, she-”

“You told her what?!” interrupted Spitfire with a loud shout straight to his face.

“Well, Blueball always admired you, I don’t see why I shouldn’t tell her about what I got myself into, I mean, my family will find out that I’m a Wonderbolt too, right?” said the young Pegasus with a nervous chuckle.

“You don’t get it…” said Spitfire turning her back on him with anger, “you’re not part of the famous Wonderbolts, skillful athletes, no. You’re part of the real Wonderbolts, the ones who serve Equestria and protect it from its enemies. We are an elite group, and anonymity is our first line of defense.”

“Don’t be so hard on him, Spit,” said Soarin’ with calm voice, “we didn’t tell him that.”

“Still, he shouldn’t be going around the world telling everypony he’s one of us,” insisted Spitfire in scolding him, staring at Ampy with frustration.

“C’mon boss, he didn’t mean it,” added Flare to assist Ampy’s defense, “you’ll remember what happened with my family.”

Keeping all other words to herself, Spitfire looked down meditating. And after a deep sigh, she calmed down and turned to see Ampy showing no emotion.

“At least we know they have her,” said the leader walking back to her seat.

“Twilight Sparkle said that you should go and see Celestia ASAP,” assed Ampy with nervousness for her boss’ tantrum.

“WE should go and see Celestia, you mean,” said Spitfire with a grin, ignoring her angers from moments ago.

“That’s right kid,” said Soarin’ jumping off his chair, “after we give you something really special, you’ll be officially one of us.”

“Initiation is a very well preserved rite among the Wonderbolts, because we’ve been defending Equestria for many generations, conserving many traditions since before Luna was banished to the moon,” said Flare jumping off her chair too, joining her companions after a brief strut.

The four Wonderbolts aligned in front of Ampy and signaled him to walk in to the center of the room, the young Pegasus heart racing with excitement.

“You, Sapphire Bolt, have been chosen by her Majesty, Princess Celestia of Equestria and passed the corresponding tests to join the group of Special Weapons, Operations and Special Tactics of the sovereign nation of Equestria,”  said Spitfire with a smile slowly spreading through her lips.

“The Wonderbolts are Pegasi with skills, intelligence and agility, you become, you are not born to become part of us,” said Soarin’ changing the tone in his voice to one more serious.

“The Wonderbolts are both first and last line of defense for Equestria, when all light is gone, we will shine among the darkness like a ray of hope,” said Flare proudly, she always enjoyed the initiation.

“Only a few Pegasi have ever served this great tradition among the centuries, and all of them have dedicated their lives to the service of the nation, and even some of them, have lost their life in battle, framing their names in the annals of history with golden letters,” said Rainbow with excitement, she had never initiated somepony before, since she only joined the Wonderbolts six months ago.

“Take this winged lightning,” Spitfire walked towards Ampy and gave him a crystal pin shaped like a lightning with silver wings, “symbol of the Wonderbolts that credits you as one of us.”

Ampy took the pin proudly under the gaze of his colleagues.

“Now you only need to take the vow,” said Soarin’ keeping his serious tone.

“That’s right,” replied Spitfire with a nod, “say with me: I, Sapphire Bolt, swear solemnly to…”

“I, Sapphire Bolt, swear solemnly to.”

“My eternal loyalty to the sovereign nation of Equestria and the Alicorn principality…”

“My eternal loyalty to the sovereign nation of Equestria and the Alicorn principality.”

“In times of war and peace…”

“In times of war and peace.”

“I will veil for the welfare of my nation from the skies…”

“I will veil for the welfare of my nation from the skies.”

“As my forefathers did…”

“As my forefathers did.”

“I take this winged lightning as a symbol of compromise and honor to my motherland…”

“I take this winged lightning as a symbol of compromise and honor to my motherland…”

“And with this solemn vow…”

“And with this solemn vow.”

“I commit to fulfill any duties that may be assigned with proud.”

“I commit to fulfill any duties that may be assigned with proud.”

“Congratulations, Ampy,” said Spitfire stretching out a hoof, “you are now part of the Wonderbolts.”

Everypony else in the room stomped the floor to ovate him, even the doctor did silently in distant corner of the room.

“Any words you would like to add?” asked Soarin’ with a happiness grin all over him.

“Actually no… but I’m really liking this and I’m flattered,” he answered boastfully pressing his pin against his chest. Everypony approached him to officially welcome him as a Wonderbolt, greeting him and patting him on the back.

“Don’t forget we have to go see Celestia ASAP,” Spitfire broke the moment with her order as the doctor approached them with a small silver briefcase on his mouth.

“Congrats, Sapphire Bolt,” said the eccentric doctor passing the briefcase to his hooves, “now that you’re part of the Wonderbolts, I give you the official uniform and goggles.”

The doc opened the briefcase, showing Ampy the blue and yellow striped uniform he would be wearing throughout his service, along with the classic polarized goggles.

“Thanks, Whooves,” said Ampy grabbing his uniform.

“I took your ability into consideration and used a special fabric that should make more efficient your flight speed, and those goggles should reduce the distortion you see when using you space-bending talent,” added the doc joyfully.

“You always give the rookie some new toys…” teased Flare with a mocking smirk on her face as she shook her head.

“They are not ‘new toys’, Flare,” said the doc with a blank look, “they are upgrades to the previous model.”

“Anyhow, thanks for making him a suit,” said Spitfire, cutting the conversation.

“A pleasure,” said Whooves with a subtle bow, a typical gesture in him.

“Alright guys,” Spitfire raised her voice with authority, “we have to get to Canterlot, and fast. I want you all down at the hangar at five, got it!”

“Yes ma’am!” shouted all the Wonderbolts as one, heading to their respective rooms afterwards. Every Pegasi made way for their dorm to wear different attire from the one they wore a few hours ago.

“This may not be so much of a bad idea after all…” thought Ampy as he slid his suit on, modeling it to himself in the mirror. The soft silk Whooves had used was gentle with his skin and seemed pretty resistant.

“Hey kid, time to go!” shouted Rainbow Dash from the hallway, throwing him out of his trance. After a confident nod, he ran to meet Rainbow Dash and everypony else in the hangar.

Every Wonderbolt aligned in front of the door as their leader opened it, which stood in front of them.

“Alright guys,” said Spitfire as the dusky sunlight struck her back, the sun was slowly losing the magic that held it high in the sky, “we have to get to Canterlot before nightfall, so we fly at a fast and steady pace, keep it together and try not to fall behind, got it?”

“Yeah, right,” said Soarin’ immediately after, breaking the classic military protocol they were used to with his sarcastic tone, “can we go now?”

Spitfire smiled after a brief giggle and turned to face the orange skies in front of them.

“Wonderbolts…!” shouted the leader with joy, having a new member among her lines. The young Pegasus belly filled with butterflies as he leaned his body forward to prepare his first flight as an official Wonderbolt.

“Take off!” the five Pegasi bolted though the hangar door into the void ahead, with a triangle formation with Spitfire in the Center, Soarin’ and Flare Charge to the sides and Rainbow Dash and Sapphire Bolt behind these latter two.

They set course to the northwest, where in the distance, the vague silhouette of a mountain with a huge white castles appeared. Home of the sacred Alicorns of Equestria.