> Top Wing
>  by LCranston
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1 - Digging Up the Shameful Past
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclaimer:

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is the property of Hasbro and associations and are used without permission for the sole purpose of entertainment for no financial gain of any kind.

Top Gun was written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps, Jr. and is handled by Paramount Pictures.  

Stratum, Steele, Big Bucks, Special Seed, Crystal Gaze, Ethereal Curtain, and Thunder Boss are my intellectual property, but Lauren Faust can make me an offer if she wishes.


Background and setup:

Top Gun was one of the great movies of the ‘80’s.  Everyone who saw it wanted to go out and become a fighter pilot, even kids.  We all got over it, but still the aspect of putting yourself on the line for your country remains a strong idea in our minds forever.

However, the movie is about more than shooting the enemy.  It’s about realizing that the only true obstacles to victory are ignorance and fear.  If we remain attached to them, we fail.  If we separate ourselves from them, we win.  This simple concept is not easily done.  Often times, it takes great sacrifice to remove them from ourselves.





Top Wing


(Approximately three years after Princess Luna’s return)

Stratum looked up at the sky through the overbearing foliage of the Everfree Forest.  With all of the wild trees growing in random places, he wondered how any thing could thrive in such an environment.  It was even a chore to see the sky, much less catch sunlight on his face.  How is the world did the grass get enough sunlight to grow?
A younger stallion came up to him breathlessly, asking, “Mr. Stratum, we’ve finished residence three.  Where do you want to dig now?”  The stallion was Stratum’s height, with a green coat, green eyes, and yellow mane.  His flank symbol was a shovel and pail.
Without looking, Stratum asked, “What was the shard density in the last layer of dirt?”
The stallion mumbled, “Um, I don’t know.  We didn’t record that.”
Stratum sighed, shaking his head.  He spoke evenly, “How do you expect to earn your archaeology degree if you don’t do the basic tasks?”
The student lowered his head and said, “I’m sorry.”
The short, yellow archaeologist turned back to camp, heading for his tent.
He ordered, “Don’t be sorry.  Do it.  Don’t do anything else until you record the shard density for every layer dug out since we made camp.”
The young stallion whined, “But that’ll take hours!”
Stratum’s voice took on a firm tone as he said, “Then you better get started.  I want all of those numbers by the time I’m ready to dig tomorrow.  I suggest you work through dinner.”
The stallion went back to the students’ tents, relaying the bad news.
Stratum thought to himself, Oh Celestia, what am I going to do with these ponies?  I swear the next generation are all slackers.  I did my density calculations every day and trended them on a map without being told.  How am I ever going to find the key to defeating the K’klattcha this way?  By the time I get these students into shape, the barrier will have expired.

The next day found Stratum digging alone in the ruined temple.  The students could not agree on which pottery shards had come from which dig sites, so they all submitted conflicting calculations on the shard density.  Stratum had uniformly thrown the reports into the campfire.  He then nominated a young mare to be in charge of the density calculations and went off to dig by himself.  
He dug carefully around the shattered stone throne.  Doing this was therapeutic as well as enlightening.  Sometimes he felt like the only true archaeologist in Equestria.  He wondered if there were any others in far away places like Stalliongrad or Hoofington.  Maybe he could finally find a date.
CRACK!  Suddenly, his small pick broke the back of the base of the throne.  He frowned, worried that he had ruined a precious artifact.
He swept away the debris, hoping the throne was still salvageable.  Underneath the seat it appeared to be a hollow space.  
Inside were some clay tablets, still in perfect condition!  Stratum had to force himself to drag them out slowly, careful not to stress them.
The writing was similar to the writing painted on the walls of the temple.  He already had a basic working knowledge of the grammar.  
Reading the tablet slowly and consulting his notes, he pieced together a simple phrase, saying it aloud.
“…forever live…memory…hearts within…memory stone…”
His curiosity peaked and he tried to translate another phrase.
As he finished, a young mare trotted up with a pack of papers.  She had pink eyes, a pink coat, and a green mane.  Her cutie mark was a shovel crossed with a measuring stick.  
Laying them at his hooves, she reported, “Here are the density reports since we arrived.  It seems that their residences were passed down from parents to children over at least a hundred generations.  They never even thought of building new residences.  They had plenty of materials.  I don’t understand.”
Stratum remarked, “Often, families have a cultural bias against building new homes because they limit their populations by choice.”  He looked at a word that seemed untranslatable.  He frowned and continued, “Or maybe all of the rest of the land was taken by their livelihoods and could not be sacrificed for more homes.  Perhaps that’s why the village dried up.  All of the children moved away to form a new village and the old one just died off of old age.”
The mare wondered out loud, “That wouldn’t explain the damage to the temple.  It actually looks ransacked.”
Stratum replied, “I can’t explain that yet.  I could learn more if I could translate this tablet.”
The mare looked at the ancient writing and felt her brain turn to mush.  She offered diplomatically, “I’m sure if you sent it to the university at Canterlot, the linguists could do something with it.”
Stratum replied, “And look incompetent in front of the board?  Never.  Besides, they’d just ask me to teach them to read the language so they can translate it.  No, it’s better to do it myself and be slow.”
He translated a few more characters and then noticed the mare sitting down upon the ground.  He asked, “Do you have a question?”
She replied mildly, “No, I’m just curious what the tablet says.”
He read off what he had so far.  “It says, ‘Our hearts will forever live in the stone.’  Some more junk.  Then it says, ‘The memories must be sealed by the law.’  That’s about all so far.”
The mare offered, “Does ‘sealed by law’ mean there was a law that said no one could read these memories?”
Stratum replied, “No, it means that the actually law itself protected the memories.  This word ‘law’ is a proper noun.”
She began to be lost and finished by gesturing to the free-standing wall of the temple behind the throne, “Oh, like those religious rules written on the wall.  They would be an object because they were important.”
Stratum’s brain did a triple somersault back flip and clicked into place.  He trotted over to the wall and looked closely.  The laws of the temple were painted upon the wall in two distinct columns.  There was a space between the lists as wide as a pony.
He turned around and bucked the wall hard.  CRUNCH!  A stone in the wall gave way and fall inwards.  He looked inside the hole he had created.  The soft glow of red met his vision as his eyes beheld a familiar shape.
The mare stood up and angrily rebuked, “What are you doing?!  Didn’t you teach us to never be too rough?  What does this mean?  Are you listening to me?  What do you see in there?”
Stratum turned around to look at the mare.  He replied, “Wondrous things.”

A young stallion with a green coat, purple mane, and yellow eyes raced into Ponyville hours later.  His flank symbol was a pair of horseshoes each with a pair of slim wings framing them.  Panting heavily, he altered his course for the Ponyville library.
Upon reaching the library, he tried to slow down.  His front hoof slipped into a mud puddle, robbing him of all friction for a short time.  
However, traveling at his speed meant a short time was all it needed to reach the front door.  
WHAM!
Inside, a purple unicorn looked up from her chemical table to stare at the door.  Since another knock wasn’t forthcoming, she trotted over to open the upper half of the door.
A lone hoof rose up, bearing a scroll.
A whimpering voice stated, “Urgent message for Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight took the missive and read it.  After several lines, a baby dragon came down into the main room.
He asked, “Who’s at the door?”
She replied distractedly, “Some messenger.  He’s got an urgent letter to send to the Princess!”  After a moment, she looked up and looked sheepishly at the door.  “Um, Spike, would you invite our guest in and give him some water?”
The purple unicorn continued to read the letter carefully.  Spike opened the bottom half of the door to admit the stallion inside.
The stallion grumped, “Ouch.  Why do they make such hard doors?”
The dragon joked, “To keep out all of the soft-heads, Swiftrunner.”
Swiftrunner playfully punched Spike in the arm, but could not keep off the wry smile from his face.  Spike left for the kitchen and returned with a tall glass of water.
As Swiftrunner drank the water, Twilight commanded, “Spike, take a letter.”
“Dear Princess Celestia,

Swiftrunner has just come from Stratum’s camp with fantastic news.  He claims to have found the legendary Memory Stone, right in the same village he found before.  He theorizes that the memory of how to put up the barrier might be stored inside the stone.  However, it’s brimming over with active magical energies.

He requests that a royal chariot be sent to collect the stone, which is the size and shape of the front half of a pegasus and made entirely of a single ruby, be sent right away.  He also requests a unicorn from the Enchantment School of your Royal Academy be alerted to study how to extract the memories, preferably without frying the recipient.

I await your response.

You faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle.”
Once Spike had written the letter, Twilight rolled it up with the original missive and a map showing the location of Stratum’s camp.  Then Spike belched his special green flame to send the letter to the Princess.
Twilight turned to Swiftrunner and said, “Well, it looks like you can take a rest.  It’ll be a bit before we get the response, much less the escort.  I’d suggest checking back here in a bit before heading back to camp.”
The green stallion smiled and raced towards the marketplace, “Yes!  There’s still time to catch Daisy May before she closes up shop for the day!”

A rough voice sounded, “Move aside, you losers!”  Gilda the griffon was back in Ponyville and she was letting the marketplace know it.
Several ponies moved aside, but had scowls upon their faces.  They weren’t going to challenge the griffon, but her manners left them cold.
Gilda looked around, trying to see if there was anything radical enough to warrant her attention.  All she saw were boring stalls of boring ponies selling boring junk while boring foals played their boring games.
She was almost ready to fly off when she overheard something on the far side of the street she was standing upon.
“Yup, it was just me and the teacher, frantically chiseling away at the precious statue.  We were racing against time, trying to liberate it from the rock wall before the roof collapsed upon it.  That would have been one flattened statue if it wasn’t for me and my rugged muscles.”
She slinked over to see a green stallion flirting badly with an orange mare.  She had yellow eyes and blue eyes.  Her cutie mark was a pair of daises in a flower vase.  She was selling flowers in her stall.
She blinked and said with fascination, “Wow, Swiftrunner, that’s amazing!  I can’t wait to see the statue.  I’m sure it looks as heroic as you!”
Gilda thought she was going to vomit right there.  She decided to just take off and fly right there when she heard something that stopped her.
“Oh, yeah.  It looks just like me.  It’s shaped like a pegasus ready to take flight, carved from a single, huge ruby.  Well, other than the wings it looks like me.  Stratum says it’s enchanted, too.  Something about storing memories like a book.”
The griffin’s eyes went wide.  She thought, The Memory Stone?  I thought that was just a legend!  If it’s true, then those lame ponies must have found the one witness to the Great Betrayal.  I gotta tell someone about this!
Gilda leaped into the air, flapping her wing powerfully and heading north.

Hours later, Gilda prostrated herself before an old griffon seated upon a throne made of stone and gold.  She was in the throne room of Razorbeak Castle, capital of the Griffon Kingdom.  A pair of young, strong griffons, dug their claws into the wooden floor, hoping this commoner would give offense to the king and need a good punishment.
Gilda wrapped up her story, “…and then he said it was made of a single, huge ruby, carved like a pegasus taking flight.”
The griffon king considered these words carefully.  They stirred a foul current in his heart.  He was knowledgeable in all of griffon history, bloody and violent as it was.
He asked in a dangerous voice, “Is there any doubt?  Where is this statue?”
Gilda nervous answered, “It’s in the Everfree Forest, near the path to Ponyville.  No doubt at all.  Stratum’s the best archaeologist there is.  He’d never be wrong about this.”  King Razorbeak was really the only flying thing she feared.  His tastes in punishment bordered on the permanent.
He stated, “I need to have that statue destroyed.  It may contain the only living memory of our betrayal of the pony kingdom.  Perhaps guiding the K’klattcha to the surface was not a good idea, but the price they offered couldn’t be turned down!  No one would turn down such riches!”
Gilda added, hoping that extra information would move him to look favorably upon her, “They’re probably making preparations to move it right now!  My source told me that a letter was sent to Princess Celestia already.  It’ll be exposed soon!”
King Razorbeak stood up and bellowed, “Send for my advanced scouts!  I have places for them to search!  Also, send for General Stonetalon.  I have an…exercise for him to perform.”
The king let loose a griffon war cry, letting all in his castle know that he was serious and in charge.  All griffons in the castle responded with the same call, lest they appear disloyal.

The next day, a pair of pony merchants were pulling their wagon up the northern road.  Special Seed and her husband Big Bucks were happily humming a traveling song as they approached the border to the Griffon Kingdom.
Big Bucks was a short, thin stallion with a green coat, black mane, and green eyes.  His flank symbol was three stacks of gold coins.
Special Seed was an average-sized mare with a burgundy coat, purple mane, and red eyes.  Her cutie mark was a small pile of different-shaped plant seeds.
A sudden, piercing cry split the air as a pair of griffons swooped down to land in front of the ponies.  The ponies reared up in surprise, stopping the wagon quickly.
One of the griffons puffed out his chest and stated officially, “Halt!  This border is closed by order of his Supreme Majesty, King Razorbeak of the Griffon Kingdom!”
Big Bucks complained, “Oh, come on!  Who do you think you’re fooling?  I’m Big Bucks and this is my wife Special Seed.  We’ve been coming up this road at this time of year for ten years now.”
Special Seed whined, “It’s time for the annual Mountain Seed Swap!  You know, where griffons trade seeds with lowlanders for a wider variety of crops to plant!  Without the swap, your plates are going to be lighter this winter.”
The other griffon pushed his face up against Special Seed’s sad expression, ordering, “The Royal Griffon Air Force is conducting a series of military maneuvers over these skies, including practice bombing runs.  It’s not safe for anyone, much less you earth ponies, to travel.  The border is closed for two weeks, no exceptions.  Now either turn around or make camp and wait because it’ll be my feathers on a plate if you earth ponies get bombed into smithereens because of your stubbornness!”
The griffons spread their wings wide and leaped into the air.  Flapping their wings powerfully, they took their posts back on top of a pair of clouds in the sky.
Special Seed turned to her husband and asked, “Bucky, what are we gonna do?”
Big Bucks thought over every aspect of the situation.  He wondered what were his chances of sneaking past the guards at night and then again on the way back.  Seeing the alert posture of the guards, he decided his chances were slim.
He acquiesced, “We’ll just have to turn around and head back for Horseshoe Hill.  We better tell everypony else coming this way that the road’s closed.  We won’t do well this winter if we try to make a break for it, get caught, and have all our seeds confiscated.”
Special Seed sniffed, trying to contain herself.  Seeds were her special talent.  She knew all about every seed in Equestria.  Seeing and learning about new exotic seeds from faraway lands was something she positively lived for.  She was looking forward to this all year.
She said wistfully, “Maybe we should tell somepony in Canterlot.  Princess Celestia should know about this.”
Big Bucks smiled and said, “Well, we know one way to get a letter to the princess.”
As the pair turned their wagon around, they heard a dull boom from back north.  The earth ponies shivered as they considered that maybe the griffons were serious about this.

Hours later, Princess Celestia sat in the throne room of Canterlot Castle.  Looking out of the window, she saw that the sun was approaching the western horizon.  She thought wistfully that it was nearly time to lower the sun and call for Luna to raise the moon.
As she decided to stand up and make the customary royal proclamation, her horn glowed without her command.  She steeled her willpower to not show surprise in front of her bodyguards.
As the horn’s energy discharged, it accepted an object teleported to her and wrapped it in a telekinetic field to make it hover in mid-air.  
She concentrated on shaping the field.  The magic easily bent to her will, unrolling the scroll delicately.  The scroll read:
“Dear Princess Celestia,

Forgive the intrusion, but Big Bucks and Special Seed just sent me a rush delivery letter from Horseshoe Hill.  They were making their yearly trip to the annual Mountain Seed Swap, which is a legally recognized event up in the Griffon Kingdom.

They were rebuffed forcefully by the Royal Griffon Air Force, who was claiming to be putting on military maneuvers all across the entire northern border.  The griffons seemed really serious about not letting anypony in or out through the north border.  

While military exercises are nothing new, the Griffon Kingdom created the Seed Swap to bolster the variety of their own food stores.  Why would any griffon schedule practice maneuvers that would hurt the local food supply?

Big Bucks and Special Seed also say that they heard the sounds of bombing from inside griffon territory.  I think perhaps you should find out what the Griffon King is thinking.  My history books say that some wars start with using maneuvers as an excuse to move armies close to borders.  Also, some griffons have been seen flying over Ponyville and Sweet Apple Acres.  They have not attacked or even communicated with anypony.  They just circle around as if they were searching for something, then they fly away.

Everypony’s getting nervous.  I’ve been calming them as much as I can but some official word about their intention would be nice.

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle”
The white alicorn called out, “Luna!  I need you!”
After a moment, the alabaster double doors opened, admitting the dark alicorn into the throne room.
Princess Luna teased, “Don’t tell me that you’ve forgotten how to lower the sun, sister.  Perhaps I can do it this once.”
Celestia telekinetically moved the scroll into Luna’s field of vision, stating with disappointment, “This is no jest.”
Princess Luna read the missive, her eyes narrowing.  She complained, “Is the Griffon King insane?  His people will starve!  They’re used to our carrots and wheat.”
The white alicorn decided, “I am going to lower the sun a little early today.  Please raise the moon right afterwards and join me in the planning room.  We have much to discuss.”
She turned to her guards and ordered, “Send for General Ironhoof!  The Equestrian Royal Air Force is to be deployed at once!”
An hour later, the ponies in Canterlot were greeted with the magnificent sight of the entire Canterlot Royal Guard flying in formation overhead.
The crowd of ponies below stomped their front hooves in applause at the sight.  The applause died down as they realized that the dozens upon dozens of armored pegasi were not circling back to land in Canterlot.  
They were headed directly towards the northern border.
A general sense of anxiety spread all throughout Canterlot when the populace realized that not a single Royal Guard was left to defend them.
	
> Chapter 2 - Oldest Thorns Fester the Most
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


An hour into night, Spike belched.  The brilliant green flame covered the bookshelf that he was dusting.  A scroll materialized, falling to the floor.
He frowned, grumbling, “Geesh, I’m glad it wasn’t a real flame.  Twilight would have my scales if all of these first editions were sneezed out of existence.”
He picked up the scroll and opened it.  It was a long scroll with instructions and magical formulae.
He raced up the stairs to the bedroom, calling out, “Twilight!  The princess sent a letter and it’s urgent!”
The purple unicorn trotted over form her she had been writing in her journal of magic research.  Magically levitating the scroll, she read it aloud:
“My dependable Twilight Sparkle,

Below is a spell to temporarily disrupt the magical aura of a powerful object.  The Memory Stone is called a repository of living memories because the chief’s life force was used as the guiding mind for the stone.  The stone itself is considered alive and it does not know that the rest of the village is gone.

Casting the spell once an hour will daze the living essence enough for anypony to carry the stone out of the Everfree Forest, which supplies the stone with all of the raw magical energy needed to store and retrieve new memories.

The reason for the behavior of the griffons is that long ago, before the arrival of the K’klattcha, the beetles lived underground eager to find a way to the surface to rampage and conquer.  The griffons, ignorant of the violent nature of the beetles, agreed to scout a way for their population to emerge into the surface world in a place other than the cold mountains.  The warm Everfree Forest was perfect and the griffons were paid handsomely for their efforts.

When the K’klattcha broke through, Stratum’s ruined village was the first to fall to their pincers.  Nopony survived, but the last living chieftain recorded his memory of the event and the griffon who discovered the crack in the rocks.  Living memories are more convincing than simple verbal accusations.  With a functioning Memory Stone, one pony could convince entire populations of a past event that contradicts history books.

Knowledge of this event is embarrassing to the griffons.  If this event were commonly known, then Canterlot could renegotiate our peace treaty to our advantage, including the possibility of land concessions.  The King of the Griffons does not wish this to happen.  However he learned of the Memory Stone, he has decided to send his scouts to steal it while his Air Force threatens us from the northern border.

If we gain the stone, he may attack.  In that case, we must engage them at the border and not over populated areas.  If they gain the stone, then they will do so by force and Stratum’s group is in mortal danger.

We will not allow any harm to befall our subjects.  Twilight Sparkle, you must learn this spell and make haste to Stratum’s camp.  Take a strong pony with you to help pull the cart faster out of the forest.  On the path where the Everfree Forest emerges in to Equestria, I will send a team of unicorns to bring the statue to Canterlot.  They will pool their energies to transport artifacts which may resist on their own.  The statue will not allow itself to leave the ground as long as it is in the Everfree Forest.

Make haste, my faithful student.  If we can receive the statue soon, we might be able to diffuse the Griffon King before he becomes too entrenched to back off with dignity.

Yours faithfully,
Princess Celestia”
Twilight looked up from the scroll with a determined look on her face.  Mentally, she calculated what she needed to take along for the trip.
Spike fearfully, asked, “Twilight?  Does this mean there will be war?”
The purple unicorn stomped a front hoof and declared, “Not if I have anything to say about it.  Pack my saddlebags for a long trip.  I’ll need to swing by Sweet Apple Acres to pick up Applejack for the trip.”
The baby dragon began stuffing one side pouch of the saddlebags with daisy and daffodil sandwiches.  He asked, “When do we get back?”
Twilight stuffed a couple of geography books and spellbooks into the other pouch and said, “Oh no.  I need you here in case something important happens.  The princess will need to be notified immediately if any griffons attack Ponyville.  Would you tell the others, please?”
Spike, proud to have an important role, saluted and sped off to Carousel Boutique to start distributing the news.

Two days later, Fluttershy was going through her morning routine of feeding her animals.  She had just brought worms to the birds in her trees when her ears turned to the sky.
Tilting her head back, she thought she heard a sound…like a whistling.  Still there was nopony in the air.
Waving it off as just a stray thought, she turned to decide where she would go to collect some fish.
Suddenly, the whistling sound started again from above.  Looking up, she saw a pair of griffons descend from above.  They emitted a war shriek, paralyzing the kind pony.
One griffon landed in front of her while the other landed behind her.  The griffon in front snarled at the yellow pegasus, “You!  Tell us where you hid the ruby statue!”
Fluttershy curled into a ball and began to tremble openly.  She shakingly answered, “I-I-I don’t h-have any st-st-statue.”
The griffon shrieked loudly, brandishing a razor-sharp blade affixed to the middle of his wing joint.  He leveled it at the yellow pegasus, who recoiled away from the weapon.
She bumped up against the griffon behind her, feeling trapped.  Looking up, she recognized the other griffon’s face.
“G-Gilda?  What are you doing here?”
The first griffon barked, “Never mind her.  You’re gonna tell us where that statue is, or else…”  He swung his wing in a vicious backslash across Fluttershy’s door.  The blade bit deeply into the hardwood, carving a long gash across her front door, doorframe, and outer wall.
The yellow pegasus gasped and began to cry.  The first griffon looked around and saw all of the animals on the property.  Some were trying to ineffectively surround the griffons.  Others were cowering.  One was a tiny, annoying rabbit who kept kicking the griffon in the foot.  He got an idea.
He threatened, “If you don’t tell me exactly what I want to know, then we’re just going to have to ‘ask’ each and every one of your little friends here.”
Fluttershy’s pupils shrank to tiny dots.  She threw herself at the footclaws of the threatening griffon and begged, “Oh, please-please-PLEASE!  Don’t harm my little friends!  I promise you I don’t know!  If I had it, I’d give it to you right now and that’s the truth!  Please, take me instead!”
The aggressive griffon smiled a nasty smile.  Gilda knew what he was thinking.  Redclaw was never known for his sense of mercy.
She spoke up, “Uh, hey!  That won’t be necessary because she’s gonna tell us who’s really got the statue!”
Both the aggressive griffon and the yellow pegasus looked over to her inquisitively.
Gilda explained, “Look around, it’s like a hotel for crawling things.  Why would they store such an important thing in a place where some things are just gonna build nests all over it?”
Fluttershy nodded, agreeing, “Yes, it’s not here!”
Trying to seize the momentum, Gilda grabbed Fluttershy by the shoulders and brought her up to her beak.
Staring her in the eyes, she demanded, “All right, Klutzershy, now talk!  Who’s got the magic statue?”
The kind pony babbled, “W-w-well, the o-only one around for m-magic stuff is Twilight.  Sh-she went into the E-E-Everfree Forest the d-day before ye-yesterday.”
The aggressive griffon slapped his foreclaw across his face in frustration.  He griped, “That means the unicorn already has the statue!”
Gilda said, “Well, we better report this.  We can’t fly into the Everfree Forest by ourselves.  We’ll need reinforcements.”
The griffons snarled at Fluttershy and then flew off.  Fluttershy trembled and then sobbed.  Several birds, squirrels, chipmunks, and otters came over to comfort her.
Angel bunny just kicked her in the flank.  She looked up at him.  He pointed deliberately at Ponyville.
Drying her tears, she declared, “You’re right, Angel.  I have to warn the others!  Take over for me while I’m gone!”  With that, the yellow pegasus flapped her wings steadily and raced towards the Ponyville.
Suddenly, half of the assembled animals heard a rumbling from their stomachs.  Realizing the huge task that lay before him, Angel slapped his paw to his face and rubbed it downwards strongly.

Minutes later, Fluttershy burst into Carousel Boutique.
She screamed, “RARITY!  I need help!”
Immediately, the white unicorn galloped from the kitchen into the main showroom…and proceeded to get her legs tangled in measuring tape, trip, fall into a pile of shiny fabric, knock a box of patterns off of a table, hit an inclined broom, launch a box of glitter into the air, spin around on the floor, get the flailing ends of the cloths tangled in multiple fitting dummies, and stand upright in a shower of glitter amongst six captured dummies.
Fluttershy momentarily forgot her trouble and clapped her hooves together in astonishment.  “Um, that’s really impressive, Rarity.  What do you call it?”
Embarrassed, the white unicorn began to struggle within her web of fabric and tried to speak dismissively, “Oh, it’s just something I threw together at the last second.  Now what is the matter, dear?”
The yellow pegasus stomped her hooves into the floor and recited rapidly in a single breath, “Oh Rarity it’s so terrible there were these two griffons and they were so mean and they carved my door and they threatened my poor animals friends now what did they do to deserve that they want the magic statue twilight went to get but I didn’t have it I would give it if I had it but that doesn’t make me a traitor does it no I don’t think so we just gotta warn Princes Celestia!!!”
Ceasing her struggles to conserve brainpower in the face of the longest run-on sentence of her life, Rarity made a decision.
She called out loud, “Pinkie Pie!”
A whooshing sound precipitated the flinging open of the front door to the fashion shop.  A dust cloud surrounded the pink earth pony, who stood at attention like a soldier.  She saluted and replied with a big smile, “Yes, ma’am?”
Rarity ordered, “Get Spike!”
The pink one saluted and then raced off towards the library.
The sound of a big splash echoed into the shop.
“AAAAAHHHHH!!!”  The sound of a very young dragon screaming echoed into the shop.
Pinkie ran back inside the shop and saluted, “Done.”
The white unicorn had made very little progress in untangling herself.  Looking over to the front door, she did not see anything resembling a dragon.
She fussily demanded, “Pinkie, where’s Spike?”
Pinkie Pie replied truthfully, “Back at the library.  He’s probably still drenched after that huge water balloon.”
Fluttershy smiled, and then smiled wider.  She tried to smother her smile and almost succeeded.
Rarity sighed greatly and then moaned, “Please bring Spike here.”
Pinkie replied, “Okie dokie lokie!”  She raced over to the library, grabbed Spike in her mouth, and then raced back to the boutique.  She put him down in front of Rarity.
Spike asked flatly, “Pinkie, wherefore you strike me in my shiny scales with that ice-cold water balloon?”
The pink one pointed a hoof at the white unicorn, explaining, “Rarity ordered me to do it.  She must have had a reason.”
Spike gazed at the glittery unicorn of his dreams, all tied up in colorful streams of fabric and surrounded by dressmaker dummies.
He plaintively asked, “Rarity?  Why would tell Pinkie to do that?  What did I do to upset you?”  After a moment, he asked in confusion, “Are you trying to be a pop star now?”
Rarity’s temper soared to maximum.  
Her white coat turned red as she screamed, “GET ME OUT OF THIS NOW!!!”
The others jumped into action, untying her and brushing the glitter off of her coat.
Rainbow Dash flew in through the open door and said, “Geesh, what happened here?  It looks like a tornado swallowed up one of your fashion shows and then threw it up all over you.”
Rarity glared at the blue pegasus, clearly not amused.
The pegasus landed, subconsciously walking behind Pinkie Pie.
She offered diplomatically, “I heard all the screaming and thought I’d help.”
As the others finally succeeded in untying Rarity, the white unicorn stated imperiously, “Spike, take a letter.”
Confused, he looked around and asked, “What could we learn about friendship from this?”
Rainbow Dash jested, “That Rarity needs supervision when in one of her creative moods.”
Pinkie Pie answered, “That somepony needs to be clearer with her instructions lest some otherpony might wind up wasting a perfectly good jumbo water balloon.”
Fluttershy offered, “Um, maybe…that glitter makes everything better?”
Rarity carefully swept the last of the glitter from her mane and said, “Fluttershy, tell Spike what you told me.  Spike, you need to write this down and send it to the princess.  It’s urgent.”
The baby dragon shook off the water, and then produced a quill and parchment, ready to transcribe.
Fluttershy took a deep breath and reiterated, “Oh Rarity it’s so terrible there were these two griffons and they were so mean and they carved my door and they threatened my poor animals friends now what did they do to deserve that they want the magic statue twilight went to get but I didn’t have it I would give it if I had it but that doesn’t make me a traitor does it no I don’t think so we just gotta warn Princes Celestia!!!”
The dragon blinked…and then blinked again.  
He scribbled a couple of words down and then politely asked, “Could you please repeat that last part?”
The yellow pegasus smiled gently and said, “Of course, which part was that?”
Spike wisecracked, “The part after ‘Oh Rarity’.”
Rainbow Dash laughed loud and hard, curling a foreleg across her midsection.
“Ah, ha ha!  Ha ha, hee hee!  Ho ho, hee!  Man, you can’t better than this!  You guys should do this for the next talent show.  You’re guaranteed to win!”
Rarity summarized, “Fluttershy was attacked by griffons at her home.  They threatened to hurt her animals if she didn’t give them the magic statue Twilight’s going after.”
Fluttershy added, “They had blades on their wings.  They’re very sharp.”
Spike rapidly scribbled a quick note to the princess and then sent it off with his special fire breath.

Sitting at a long table laminated with a map of Equestria and the surrounding territories, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia gazed at the dozens of reports, lists, and figures of ponies and griffons.  Also sitting at the table were over a dozen of high-ranking armored pegasi.
The dark alicorn turned to her sister and stated, “I don’t like this, sister.  It makes no sense.”
The white alicorn asked, “What does not make sense?”
Luna pointed at the northern border of Equestria and pointed out, “If they were going to attack, why would they assemble and then wait for us to assemble also?”
General Ironhoof, a pegasus with a brown coat, black mane, and gray eyes, spoke up, “They have attacked.  There have been three aerial battles thus far.  All three were draws.”
Princess Celestia added, “My sister makes a point.  All three battles were directly over the border, not clearly on either side.  They clearly have been choosing the sites of each battle.  Why not make battles in pony territory?”
The general objected, “They attacked Horseshoe Hill.”
The white alicorn refuted, “Minor damage only.  They carved up the front faces of the buildings and drove out the ponies.  When your squadrons arrived, they fled.”
Ironhoof reasserted, “Because they fear us!  They would have killed everypony if we had not arrived!”
All of the armored pegasi stomped their hooves in support and whinnied.
Princess Luna patiently declared, “My sister states that they did not have to wait for you to arrive.  They could have killed half of the town while you were still on the wing.  They waited until you arrived, put up a front, and then retreated.  It was never their intention to harm anypony.”
General Ironhoof frowned and asked, “What are you saying, Princess?”
Luna said plainly, “War is not their goal.  They want the Memory Stone and they’re willing to do anything to get it.  If we move our Air Force away, they’ll attack.  If we don’t, they’ll do something else.  I wish I knew how they were going to get the stone if they can’t use the spell to transport it.”
Suddenly, a scroll appeared before Princess Celestia in a flash of magical fire.
Using her horn’s magic, she levitated and unrolled the scroll.  She read it silently, grimacing at the end.
She declared, “Ask and you shall receive, my sister.  Small patrols of spare griffons are using wing blades to terrorize ponies into being willing to give up the Memory Stone if they ever see it coming out of the Everfree Forest.”
General Ironhoof thumped a hoof upon the table and offered, “Just tell me how many to draw from the front lines and we’ll garrison our western borders!”
Princess Luna pointedly asked, “How many can you slip away without being seen by the griffons?”
The armored pegasus frowned and replied, “None.  They’re watching us like hawks…er, griffons.  They’ve got eyes of eagles.  They miss nothing.”
Princess Luna cautioned, “If they see us sending reinforcements towards their operatives, they may panic and start an all-out war.”
Princess Celestia read the letter again, trying not to dwell upon the terror that befell the gentle yellow pegasus she knew well.
She ordered, “General, fire up the mobile outpost.  It’s time we upped the stakes.  Send it to take position over the farms west of Ponyville.”
The general replied, “Yes, Your Majesty.  However, we’ve only got a skeleton crew on it now.  Who are we going to send on it as fighters?”
Celestia continued giving orders, “Send word to Steele.  He needs to make pegasus armor.  This model needs to be light and the joints flexible.  It specifically needs to block a blade without making the pegasus too heavy to fly, turn, or fight in mid-air.”
Princess Luna nodded and said, “I will head up this project.  Who is going to wear the armor?”
The white alicorn spread her wings wide and looked up to gaze at the assembled table.  She issued her command, using her full confidence.
“Bring me Spitfire.  I need the Wonderbolts!”

The next day, the citizens of Ponyville marveled at the sight of a huge cloud shaped like a small castle with a road next to it flew overhead and headed westward to the farms.
Soon, flyers came drifting down overhead.  Several ponies picked up flyers and read them.  Many excited voices were raised to the skies, calling their friends.  In time, several dozen pegasi headed towards Cloudsdale for the rare event.
Rarity frowned as she began sweeping all of the flyers away into a wastebasket outside of her shop.  She grumbled as she did her chore.
“Inconsiderate pegasi.  Dumping their refuse onto us without a thought.  I have a good mind to go up there and teach them a lesson about littering.”
Suddenly, a happy, bouncy pink dynamo sailed in from above and landed in front of the white unicorn.  
She shoved a flyer into the white unicorn’s face and shouted, “Rarity, Rarity, Rarity!  This is her big chance!  She’s always wanted this and now it’s here!”
The unicorn pushed her energetic pink friend backwards and focused her gaze upon the flyer.
“Hmmm…’Are you the best flier in Ponyville?  Prove it at the open tryouts for the Wonderbolts today.’  Say, that’s happening in just an hour from now!”
Pinkie Pie hopped up and down faster than anypony had seen her do before.  
Her mouth was a blur as she agreed, “Yes!  Yes!  Yes!  She needs to try out!  She’ll make it for sure!”  She grabbed Rarity by the shoulders and demanded, “Where is she?!”
The white unicorn gently pushed the pink earth pony backwards and advised, “No more cake before breakfast, dear.  I haven’t seen Rainbow Dash today.  We need to find her.”
Just at that instant, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew over from the direction of the library.
Fluttershy consoled her friend, “Oh, Rainbow Dash, I’m sure nopony remembers.”
Pinkie pointed her hoof at the blue pegasus and shouted, “Found her!  What do I win?”
Rarity showed the flyer to Rainbow Dash and stated, “Darling, have you seen these?  I’ll bet the Wonderbolts would love to have you try out.  You’d be a horseshoe-in after winning the Young Flier’s Competition with a sonic rainboom.”
The blue pegasus looked away and mumbled, “Oh, that.  Well, it’s not the right time.  I gotta train for something like that.”
Pinkie’s face scrunched into a confused ball as she said, “Train?  You’ve been training every day of your life!  You even slack off from weather duty to train.  This is the right time!”
Rainbow Dash angrily glared at Pinkie and said firmly, “I’m just not up for it, okay?  Maybe next year.  I’m just not ready now.”
Rarity insisted, “But dear, you could really help!  You’ll be asked to safeguard ponies from the attacks of griffons.  You’d be a bona-fide hero!  You do want to help Twilight and Applejack come home safely, don’t you?”
The blue pegasus growled in frustration and took off for the sky.  She made a beeline right for her house where nopony without wings could bother her.
Pinkie Pie and Rarity just stared after her with their jaws hanging open.
Fluttershy gave them a sad look and asked, “Just be patient with her.  This kind of thing brings up some bad memories.”
Rarity queried, “But her dream is being offered to her on a silver platter.  Why is she resisting?”
The yellow pegasus informed the others, “Remember how she never finished flight school?  Well, this is something to do with that.”
Pinkie Pie just mentioned quietly, “But this is her dream.  She won’t give up her dream, will she?”
Fluttershy flew up after Rainbow Dash at a normal pace.  She knew where the pegasus would be.
She called back, “I’ll talk to her.”
	
> Chapter 3 - Clarion Call
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Minutes later, Fluttershy arrived at the cloud home of her winged friend.  Sounds of yelling and thumping were heard.  Fluttershy knocked on the door timidly.  At first, it seemed that no pony heard her.
She called out, “Rainbow?  Are you home?”
The intense sound of hooves racing up to the door preceded the swift open of the portal.
An angry blue head stuck out, screaming, “I told you to leave me alone!”
Totally intimidated, the kind mare lowered her head submissively and backed off.
She acquiesced, “Okay, you seem busy anyway.”
Rainbow Dash blinked, then looked closely.  She recognized the form of her friend.  She smiled and then calmed down.  
She said, “Hey, Fluttershy.  C’mon in.  I thought it was some others who tried to follow me home.”
Fluttershy walked inside and shut the door behind herself.  She noticed several holes in the cloud walls of the house.  She wasn’t an architect, but she imagined that it wouldn’t take much more for the walls to start crumbling.
The blue pegasus trotted over to a sofa and flopped on it.  The yellow pegasus walked over to daintily sit down next to her friend.
After a few minutes of silence, Rainbow Dash tugged on her multi-colored mane and cried out, “I hate this!  Why doesn’t everypony just leave me alone?!  If I don’t want to try out, then I won’t try out!”
Fluttershy instantly agreed, “It must be annoying to have people encourage you to live your dreams.”
The colorful pegasus yelled, “It’s just ‘stop throwing things’ and always ‘don’t yell at me’ with them.”
The yellow pegasus said uneasily, “Yeah.”
Rainbow Dash rolled over on her back and smirked, “C’mon.  Talk to me, ‘Shy.  I can’t stand it when you’re quiet.”
The yellow pegasus smirked back and commented, “You haven’t called me that since flight school.”
Dash reminisced, “Yeah, those were the days…while they lasted.”
Fluttershy stated, “It wasn’t your fault.”
The blue pegasus snarled and stood up, pacing back and forth.
She griped, “That hardly helps, now does it?  I nearly died.  Those jerks never got punished.  Finally, that instructor gets promoted for weeding me out!”
Fluttershy counter, “No, he didn’t.  He just got offered a different job.”
The blue pegasus asked, “You remember what happened, right?”

*begin flashback*

Back in the late summer in the obstacle course of Cloudsdale Flight School for Foals, several winged colts surrounded a timid yellow pegasus.  The colts all pushed her in different directions in mid-air, laughing as they did.
The yellow pegasus cried to herself as she was pushed.  They always did this after lunch.  She hoped they’d get bored soon so she could go cry by herself again.
“Leave her alone, you freaks!”
A bold little filly with a blue coat and a rainbow-colored mane zipped in, pushing a pair of the bullies aside.
One of the bullies taunted, “Coming to your lame friend’s rescue again, Rainbow Crash?  Betcha can’t catch me to settle it!”  He then took off in a wide circle.
The young Rainbow Dash crowed, “I beat you in a race.  I can find you anywhere!”  She took off, soaring faster and faster, eager to catch her quarry.
After the pair completed two full circles, another colt, waiting for his moment, took off directly at the side of the blue filly.
WHAM!  The bully struck Rainbow Dash sideways, bouncing off and tumbling in the air.
Rainbow Dash’s world began to spin as she got flung off-course and strayed over the side of the large cloud that served as the school grounds.  Her right wing was numb from the impact.  Pain tickled its way up her wing, paralyzing her delicate pegasus nerves.
The crowd of bullies looked in awe at the results of the accident.  If that filly didn’t recover, the fall from this height would kill her.
The original bully colt called out, “That wasn’t supposed to happen.  Let’s get out of here!”
Fluttershy trembled and cried out, “Help!  Mayday!  Rainbow Dash is in a flat spin!  She’s falling to the ground!”
The blue filly shook her head and looked around.  The whole world spun out of control.  Looking down, she saw the rock-hard ground approaching quickly.  She tried to flap her wings, but her right wing would not respond.  Her left wing flopped around uselessly.
Fear crept into her spine like an icy chain.  It wrapped itself around her heart and squeezed it tightly.
She shut her eyes and cried loudly.  
She bawled, “Help me!”
Suddenly, a pair of powerful hooves scooped her up and stopped her fall.  Opening her eyes just a crack, she saw the gym coach carrying her up to the cloud of the school grounds.
When he crested the edge of the cloud, he dumped her onto the cloud and landed next to her.
He stuck his face into the blue filly’s face and gave her a glare of impatience.
He barked, “What is wrong with you?  Did I not teach you how to recover from a flat spin?”
Rainbow Dash just sobbed, gulped a breath of air, and whimpered, “But-but my wing…hurt.”
The tall, strong stallion reared up and declared, “If you don’t find a way to overcome your own pain, then you’re better off dead.  The world isn’t a nice place and I won’t be there to save you every time!  Now get back to class!”
The stallion flew back towards the group of colts who were trying to hide behind a dumpster.  He shouted, “Hey, Hoops!  What did I tell you about picking on fillies?!”
Rainbow Dash just cried and cried.  Nothing seemed to cheer her up.
Fluttershy said, “Um, Rainbow Dash?  It’s all over now.  You can get back up.”
The blue filly wailed her anguish.
The yellow filly asked, “What can I do to help?”
Dash replied through her sobs, “J-just…talk…t-t-to m-me…Fl..Fl…Flut…”
Fluttershy, understanding the true request, walked around to lie down next to her friend.  She draped a wing over her distraught friend and smiled gently.
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and buried her face in her hooves.  Her mind whirled around in circles, seeing the hard stones of the far ground rise up to slam into her.  She begged, “Talk to me, ‘Shy…please.  I can’t get it out of my head.”
The yellow pegasus started saying, “There’s nothing to be afraid of.  You are Rainbow Dash, the fastest, bestest flier in all of flight school.  Why, just a couple of days ago, you did something that nopony in history thought was possible!  You did a sonic rainboom, without even trying!  You’re my hero, Rainbow Dash.”
The blue pegasus calmed down, and only sobbed occasionally.  She turned to her friend and asked, “R-really?”
The yellow pegasus nuzzled the blue pegasus gently.  She said confidently, “Definitely.  I wish I had even one-tenth of your courage.  Why, if I had just a drop of your courage, I could save all of Equestria every day!  There’s nopony better at flying than you.”
Rainbow Dash just leaned into the nuzzling, taking in the gentle attention.

*end flashback*

The kind mare insisted, “I really meant it.  You are my hero.  You’re not afraid of anything.  You even kicked a full-grown dragon right in the face without even flinching.”
Dash griped as she paced, “Fat load of good it did me.  Hoops and Dumb-Bell went right back to trying to nail me sideways to make me flat spin onto the playground.  I dropped out of flight school that week.”
Fluttershy asked, “Why didn’t you go to the teachers?”
The blue pegasus’s complexion blossomed into a crimson rage.  She screamed, “I DID!!!  Those jerks!  Who would ever believe a trouble-maker?!  They just told me to ‘play nice’, as if that just solved anything.”
The yellow pegasus asked, “Well, why did you run away?”
Rainbow Dash pawed the floor of her home aggressively, saying, “If they did it once, they’d do it again when the teachers weren’t around.  I wasn’t safe there.  I left to make my own way in the world.  I could fly faster than anypony, so I got a job managing the weather in Ponyville.  I could do the job of two mares, so I stayed on.  I figured nopony from flight school would follow me there.”
Fluttershy walked over to gently nuzzle her friend briefly.  She gently said, “When I made a home in Ponyville, I was so glad I found you.”
Rainbow’s temper just dissolved like mist in the morning sun.  She smiled back awkwardly, saying, “Yeah, that was pretty sweet.  Thanks for coming over, ‘Shy.”
The yellow pegasus started to leave, saying over her shoulder, “Anytime.  Whatever you want to do is fine with us, but you know that Twilight and Applejack are in harm’s way.  It would help them if you tried out.  The Wonderbolts are protecting the area they’re in.  I’ll see you tomorrow.”
As Fluttershy closed the door behind herself, Rainbow Dash looked around her house.  Mentally counting the number of holes, she cringed at all of the work she’d have to do repairing the walls.  She figured that trying out had to be easier than this, and Rainbow Dash always preferred the path of lesser resistance.

After flying back to the skies above Ponyville, Rainbow Dash wondered if she had the right place.  There was a complicated obstacle course and only five ponies hovering around.  She flew up to take her place in line and listen to the competition.
The one in charge was a tough-looking stallion wearing mirrored sunglasses and constantly writing on a clipboard.
He bellowed, “Do you call that flying?  You were slower than a broken wagon!  You failed the time trial.  Get out of here!”
A mare with a gray coat, yellow mane, and crossed eyes sniffed once, wiping away a tear.  She flew off awkwardly.  Nopony knew if it was her natural flying or the stallions berating.
A stallion piped up, “Hey, you can’t talk to her like that.  It’s rude to a lady.”
The stallion growled and stared down the stallion with hate in his eyes.  He said dangerously, “Oh, so you’re sensitive, are you?  Well, you can go cry together because you’re out!  No soft hearts here!  Now get out!”
The stallion huffed and flew away.
That voice echoed in Rainbow Dash’s mind clearly.  It was the same stallion.  He was tall and muscular with a tan coat, white mane cut short, and fierce yellow eyes normally covered by mirrored sunglasses, and a flank symbol of mirrored sunglasses crossed with a single wing.  Yup, it was Thunder Boss, all right.
He growled at the next mare and said, “Well, are you flying today or waiting all day?  Go!”
The mare took off into the jungle gym of hoop-shaped clouds.  She flapped hard, trying to build up speed.
Dash kept watching her with dismay.  She thought, No, you’ll just get out of control that way.  Your turning radius is too wide for that speed.  Slow down, you fool.
The mare’s wing clipped three hoops in a row.
Thunder Boss yelled, “Disqualified!  If you can’t fly better than that, you’ll be dead before you even take off!  Get down on the ground with the cows!”
The mare burst into tears and flew away.
Thunder Boss yelled at the last applicant, “You’re next, get going!”
The remaining stallion complained, “What is wrong with you?  We’re here to do you a favor and you just attack them like that?  What are you trying to do, sabotage your own membership drive?”
The stallion in charge shoved his face into the others’ face.  He spoke evenly, “I’m trying to make sure that weaklings don’t join up.  We’re not going to have a tea party, we’re going into battle!  If you’re sensitive, you’ll be too busy crying to save your teammate’s life!  Now are you going to fly or walk?!”
The other stallion turned around and huffed, “I wouldn’t join your bunch if you paid me!”  He flew off to comfort the mare who quit before him.  She could still be heard even though she was halfway to the ground.
Thunder Boss screamed, “Oh, that’s just great!!!  There’s nopony in all of this backwater to join up!  We’re doomed!”
Rainbow Dash made her presence known, “No, you’re not.”
The stallion looked over to her, and his mouth twisted into a grimace.
He spoke evenly, “Well, well, look who it is.  It’s the filly who gets picked on by everyone else.  Feel like getting your tail kicked by other winged creatures now?”
Refusing to rise to the bait, Dash stated, “I’m here to join the Wonderbolts.  You need me and I need to defend my friends.  Two of them are hauling that precious statue you want so badly.”
Thunder Boss barked, “I don’t care if the entire Ponyville orphanage is singing for their lives!  I am NOT going to give a uniform to a drop-out who can’t even pull out of a flat spin!”
Rainbow Dash pushed her nose into his nose and spoke dangerously, “I can pass any test you give me, ‘coach’.  Now click that stopwatch and time me.  I can clear your stupid little obstacle course in ten seconds flat.”
Without warning, the blue pegasus zoomed off at high speed right for the first cloud hoop and cleared it before the stallion could remember to start timing her.
Dash poured on the speed, remembering to tilt the fronts of her wings into the turns and pull her wings close to her body for straight-aways.  She felt the wind pull the skin of her face backwards, trying to cheat her of victory.
Flaring her wings for tight turns, she flapped and twisted her body to shorten her turning radius and dove for the next gate.  She pulled up sharply right before the gate and felt her left wing slice through the hoop.
She pulled up in a half loop and rolled upright, tucking her wings in.  She turned left sharply, feeling the next cloud hoop blast across her face.
She thought, Oh, come on!  I can’t blow this!  Gotta slow down and finish on time!
She flared her wings out and pulled up to clear the next hoop and then galloped in mid-air while pumping her wings hard to clear the last hoop.
Thunder Boss clicked the stopwatch off, reading the number on the display.  He frowned slightly.
Rainbow Dash glided back down next to him and gloated, “Ha!  There!  Now let’s get me fitted for my uniform.”
The stallion crossed out her name on the paper and turned his back.
She complained, “I just finished your obstacle course!  Now let me in!”
Thunder Boss looked back at her and said, “I remember you perfectly.  Not just back then but now.  You’re that immature showoff that did the sonic rainboom in an unsanctioned race as a filly.  You could have killed somepony if you were aimed at the seats when you did that trick.  Then you showed off at the Young Flier’s Competition with another sonic rainboom.  You had a great routine but you were so nervous you abandoned it because you found it hard.  Ever since school, you’ve got a reputation as a slacker in the Equestria Weather Service.”
He turned around and stared her down, saying, “The Wonderbolts do not give uniforms to any random lazy, disrespectful mare who sleeps half of her shift away, no matter how fast she is!”
Dash argued, “If you’re recruiting in an open drive, then you’re desperate for replacements.  Just how many Wonderbolts are left out of the original eleven?  Can you afford to reject me?”
Thunder Boss turned away and said, “I’d rather go back empty-hoofed than send unreliable showoffs like you into battle.  You’d just get killed and it would be my fault.  Go home.”
The blue pegasus stared hotly at the back of the stallion.  She felt her temperature rise until she shook with rage.  
She declared, “I will be a Wonderbolt!  I’ll get on the team and show you I’ve changed!  Just you wait!”
She sped off at top speed right for Canterlot.  She had an ace to play and now was the time.

In the throne room, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna sat in their twin thrones, fretfully eating their dinners.  They had insisted on average fare during times of crisis.  It showed humility and deference to the fate of the common pony, lest they forget whose welfare they were serving.  
Princess Luna forced the last spoonful of oatmeal down her mouth and swallowed the mess.  
She grimaced and complained, “Sister, ‘tis noble of us to not partake of sumptuous feasts as sacrifice on behalf of our subjects.  But would a light glaze of peaches really be that disrespectful?”
Celestia cleaned the oatmeal from her mouth with a napkin.  She tried to come up with a wise expression to convince her sister to stop thinking of such luxuries.  However, the fresh taste of peaches sounded really good right about now.
The double doors to the throne room burst open.
BLAM!  An exhausted blue pegasus stood boldly in the middle of the throne room.
She approached the princesses without fear or announcement.
The pair of armored earth ponies charged to block her path.
Rainbow Dash called out forcefully, “I want to be a Wonderbolt!  You need me and I need to defend my friends!  Twilight and Applejack are risking their lives to get that stupid statue and Thunder Boss just cheated to keep me out of the one post that will help me bring them home alive!  I am going to be a Wonderbolt no matter what!”
She glared at the two alicorn sisters and demanded, “Are you going to help me or not?!”
The sisters looked at each other and gave a slight smile.
Princess Celestia declared, “Guards, escort Miss Rainbow Dash to Steele for her armor fitting.  I will draw up her appointment papers immediately.”
Princess Luna added, “Sister, I will send word to the outpost to expect Miss Rainbow Dash soon.  I’m sure Spitfire will be glad to get any extra fliers she can receive.”

Rainbow Dash found herself in the last place she expected.  She had never seen an armor smithy before.  She thought there would be huge bonfires the size of houses.  Racks and racks of wicked-looking weapons and armor, all polished to gleaming finishes with elegantly-lacquered insignias.
This was just a double-wide room with a hearth, anvil, and big pile of firewood.  Still, the tall red pony was nice enough.  He really seemed to care about his work.  
He asked a lot of questions about the fit and motion of joints.  He would take off a piece, pound it with his massive hammer, and fit it back on her body.  It always moved better afterwards.
She asked, “Are you sure this metal casing on my wings won’t screw up my ability to generate lift?”
Distracted, Steele just kept hammering on her helmet.
He replied, “That’s right, Miss Dash.  The wing armor only covers your leading edges and flexible joints.  Your actual feathers are not covered.  Your back, head, and hooves will be protected as well.  This will stop a blade directly, but not any unprotected areas.  I had to pull back armor from some places as a trade-off for covering your wings.  I had to stop your wings from getting cut up.  You’ll be slower, but you can flap just as hard as before.  Just remember to pace yourself or else you’ll run out of energy too soon.”
He placed the helmet upon her head and fastened the chin strap.  He stepped back, smiling at his work. 
He asked, “How does that fit?”
She flapped her wings, rising slowly off the ground and turned her head left and right.  
Landing on her hooves, she said, “Feels good.  I’ll take it.”  After a moment, she added with a chuckle, “Kinda looks like that outfit Rarity made for me once.  Maybe she should learn to work metal.”
Steele chuckled and said, “Just bring it back without your blood stained on it and I’ll be happy.”
Suddenly, the enormity of it all hit Rainbow Dash.
She was going into battle.  She might die.
She shivered a little and tried to reply.
Steele, seeing this happen to Royal Guards who don their armor for the first time, placed his massive hooves upon her shoulders. 
He stared into her eyes and said calmly, “You got the best armor, the best training, and the best heart of any one on that battlefield.  If you want out, you better say so now.  There’s no shame in changing your mind.”
Rainbow Dash thought about Twilight and Applejack, broken and bleeding on the ground.  She felt fear, but she felt something else.  She felt anger.  Anger over what in the world caused this to happen.  
She banished her fears and replied, “Not a chance.  I gotta help my friends and you just gave me the means to come back alive.  Thanks, Steele.  Something I can do for you?”
He smiled and asked, “Yes.  Tell that little brother of mine to come back home alive.  I miss his boring stories over dinner.”
	
> Chapter 4 - The Worst Pain Comes From Waiting
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


An hour later, an armored blue pegasus flew overhead of the floating outpost situated over Sweet Apple Acres.  She landed on the empty lane of the landing strip and immediately got off the lane.  
A tall, muscular female pegasus galloped up to her and challenged, “Who the hell are you and why should I not buck you right off my landing strip?!”  She had a light purple coat, gray mane, and green eyes.  Since she was armored, her cutie mark was concealed.
Calmly, Rainbow Dash presented her papers and said, “New recruit, ma’am.  You must be the deck officer.  Pleased to meet you.”
The mare took the papers and scrutinized them closely.  After a moment, she narrowed her eyes and sneered at the smaller pegasus.
“Oh, so you’ve been given a Royal Appointment.  Do you think that makes you special?”
Rainbow Dash replied nobly, “No, ma’am.  It makes me part of the team.  What are my duties?”
The mare, secretly impressed in spite of the blue pegasus’s reputation, snarled, “Follow me.”
They went inside the main doors and down the immediate spiral staircase to the next floor.  Emerging into the next hallway, they turned into the first room on the right.
Inside were two dozen pegasi, all in critical condition.  Pony after pony were moaning in sheer agony.  Their ribs were slashed right open.  Thick bandages showed the stains of old bleeding upon them.  Legs were broken, no doubt from the fall after the shock of the midsection wounds.
Nurses raced back and forth, bringing water and changing bandages.  A thin unicorn walked among the lines of wounded pegasi.  Her horn glowed powerfully, discharging on every wounded flier.  Their pain seemed to somewhat abate, but not completely.  Her own eyes were sunken with fatigue but she did not stop or rest.  
A couple of the wounded pegasi absently called out for their mothers, despite being surrounded by their comrades.  They were delirious with fever.
The deck officer pointed her hoof into the room and commanded, “Your first job is to not end up like them.  We’re out of spare beds.  Now report to the flight tower for your briefing.”

The blue pegasus went back into the hallway and ascended the stairs back to the main level and then up two more floors.  She entered the hallway and then spotted a large open room across the hallway from her.
Entering the conference room, she saw that it had a large board for drawing plans against the far wall.  Several pots of liquid rainbows, separated into their individual colors, were arranged neatly on a wall rack.  Currently, a map of the territory beneath the floating outpost was drawn in fine detail.  Overlaying the map was a grid dividing up the area into numbered sectors.
There were a couple dozen chairs in the center of the room spaced widely apart from each other.  Rainbow knew that these were for the active flight teams.  The extra space was so they could maneuver in full armor without bumping into each other easily.  Lining the walls were dozens of other chairs closer together.  Most of those chairs against the wall were filled with pegasi and unicorns with notebooks and clipboards, shuffling their hooves impatiently.
Rainbow Dash decided not to make a scene.  Instead, she took a seat in the third row in the middle.  Several ponies looked at her inquisitively.  After seeing her multi-colored mane, they whispered to each other.  Dash tried not to listen to what they said.  Instead, she studied the map closely, memorizing the location of each sector.
The sounds of several pairs of hooves came from behind her.  Four armored pegasi walked up to the front of the middle section and took their seats.  Where their flight armor did not cover showed the trademark uniform of a Wonderbolt.
A pegasus with a shocking orange mane turned around and said, “Hey there.  New recruit?  Just get here?”
Dash smiled and said, “Yup.  Just trying to fit in.”
The orange-maned pegasus cheerfully said, “Welcome!  I’m Spitfire.”
The blue pegasus enthusiastically replied, “I know who you are.  And that’s Soarin, Rapidfire, and Fleetfoot.  You guys are awesome!  I’ve been trying to get into the Wonderbolts my whole life!”
Soarin turned around upon hearing his name.  He glanced at the blue pegasus’s mane and said, “Oh, oh, oh!  I know you!  You’re that mare who saved my pie at the Grand Galloping Gala!”
Dash held her head up high and affirmed, “Yep, that’s me!”
Fleetfoot and Rapidfire turned around.  Their faces were more neutral.
Fleetfoot inquired cautiously, “Your name is Rainbow Dash?”
Dash answered, “Yup.  That’s me.”
Rapidfire asked, “You got into the Wonderbolts?  Where’s your uniform?”
The blue pegasus deflated a bit and replied, “I passed the obstacle course in ten seconds flat, but that jerk still wouldn’t let me in.  I got in by Royal Appointment, so it’s just temporary.  But don’t worry.  I’m here to work.  You just tell me what to do and I’ll do it.  I’m not here to show off.”
Fleetfoot and Rapidfire turned back to the map.  Rapidfire mumbled, “We’ll see.”
Spitfire smirked and said, “Careful, that ‘jerk’ is now your boss.  Welcome to the team, rookie.”  
Rainbow Dash fought down her natural instincts as best as she could.  Her mind whirled at a thousand miles per hour, Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh, she called me ‘rookie’!  I’ll never wash these ears again!  
Instead, she just grinned like a fool.  If Spitfire accepted her, then maybe she could join permanently once this was all over.
Keeping up the conversation, she asked, “I only see four of you.  Where are the others?”  The faces of the Wonderbolts fell.
Spitfire commented, “In a bad way downstairs.  We’re it for now.”
With that, Spitfire and Soarin turned to study the map.
Suddenly, the powerful sound of hoofsteps filled the room.  Somepony called out, “Thunder Boss on deck!”
The entire room stood up.  The Wonderbolts stood at rigid attention.  Rainbow Dash tried to mimic them but without the nervous trembling.  After the powerful stallion entered the room and stomped up to the front of the room, everypony in the briefing room sat down, paying close attention to everything he did and said.
Thunder Boss stomped quickly up to the map and turned around.  He barked, “Gentleponies, this is bull’s-eye!  The caravan carrying the payload is finally ready to come out of the Everfree Forest.”
He pointed on the map at the edge of the forest in a square marked with a six.  A dotted path wound its way through the forest connecting with a known path through the farmlands.  He then pointed to the square north of there marked with a seven.
“Princess Celestia herself explained to me that nopony can teleport the payload until it fully clears the influence of the forest.  Her student, Twilight Sparkle, is escorting the payload personally and will give us the signal when it is clear.  Ethereal Curtain, you will wait for her signal and then your group will begin your magical extraction at once.”
A tall, thin, unicorn stallion with a gray coat, white mane, and purple eyes nodded grimly.  He was surrounded by six other unicorns who nodded their understanding.
Thunder Boss stared right at the Wonderbolts and explained, “There are griffons in the area, and tensions are high.  If you witness a hostile act, you will counterattack immediately.  Make no mistake, they’re equipped with those wingblades.  A single good strike will slice your entire wing right off of your body.”
The blue pegasus felt a shiver of fear rush through her spine.  The image of her…mutilated, spinning, falling to her death…it was her worst fear.  She steeled her resolve to not show it.
The imposing stallion in front of the room carefully controlled his voice and commanded, “Wonderbolts, you are Equestria’s best!  Make us proud!”
The Wonderbolts sat up just a bit straighter, showing their pride.  Rainbow Dash sat up as straight as possible, showing that she belonged.
Thunder Boss called out, “Fleetfoot, Rapidfire!”
The pair of Wonderbolts stood up and replied, “Yes, sir!”
The stallion ordered, “Sector six.  You’ll be the first to see the caravan.  If they’re in trouble, you have permission to land and assist.”  The pair saluted, acknowledging the order.
He then called out, “Spitfire, Soarin!”
The pair of Wonderbolts stood up and replied, “Yes, sir!”
Thunder Boss ordered, “Sector seven.  All griffon incursions to date have come from the north, so you’ll probably see them first.  Be wary of bait traps.”  The pair saluted, acknowledging the order.
He then stated, “Rainbow Dash!”
The blue pegasus stood up and replied proudly, “Yes, sir!”
He ordered, “You back them both up on alert-one.  If you launch, fly over sector six first to make sure the caravan is not under attack.”
Rainbow Dash saluted and said, “Yes, sir!”
Thunder boss saluted the group and said, “Dismissed.”
The entire room stood up and began to file out of the room.  
Rapidfire trotted up to Thunder Boss and asked, “Excuse me, sir.  With regards to Rainbow Dash, is she really qualified…”
The stallion in charge interrupted, “I know what’s on your mind, Rapidfire.  Yes, she is.  Now get on it.”
Rapidfire walked away, submissively saying, “Yes, sir.”
The blue pegasus overhead the conversation.  Her mind filled with anger.  Is this how it was going to be for the rest of her life?  One little mistake that was somepony else’s fault?  She determined to not let it get to her.  She just concentrated on her job.

The creaking of wheels was loud and constant.  In fact, they were almost as loud as Applejack’s breathing.  The farm pony had been pulling non-stop since she started hours ago.  The rough, unsmoothed path of the Everfree Forest wasn’t helping any at all.  
All of Stratum’s students followed behind the wagon in a loose group.  They had been taking turns helping to push the wagon.  However, being academics, they didn’t help much before being tired out.
Next to the cart was Twilight, whose breathing was labored all the same.  Once again, just like every hour, she concentrated with all her might.  Her horn slowly filled with magic while her mind formed complex patterns.
She turned her head and discharged her horn straight at the statue.  A burst of sickly green energy enveloped the statue.  Although no other pony in the group could sense it, the purple unicorn could tell that the mind of the statue was thrown into total confusion.  She really hoped all this effort was worth it.
Behind the wagon, Stratum pushed with his head until he was too tired to assist.  Looking around the side of the wagon, he saw the tree line at the end of the forest.
He chirped, “I can see the end the forest!  We’re almost out!”
Applejack grunted in annoyance, “I hope so!  This here stone is heavier than it looks!  I could sleep fer a week!”
Twilight moaned, “No more magic for a month for me, please.  I’ve had it.”
Stratum took a few deep breaths, readying himself to push again.  He lifted his gaze to glance at the sky.  He saw very few clouds, but one had brown feathers.
He mentioned, “Huh, never saw that before.  This forest gets weirder every day.”
Twilight asked impatiently, “What do you see now, Stratum?”
He pointed with his hoof up to the sky between sets of gnarled branches.
He said, “That cloud has feathers.”
Panicked, Twilight followed his pointed hoof to look up into the sky.  She remembered the princess’s warnings.  Her fears were confirmed as she saw a griffon leapt from the cloud and fly off north just above the tree cover.
Applejack grunted as the path inclined up again.  She leaned forward, pushing with her powerful shoulders against the harness.
She asked, trying to take her mind off how uncomfortable this was, “Clouds with feathers?  What does that mean, Twilight?”
The purple unicorn’s spirits sunk as she decided, “It means our job just got twice as hard.”

Rainbow Dash walked out onto the main deck of the outpost.  Fleetfoot and Rapidfire were airborne and disappearing towards their station.  She watched as Spitfire and Soarin raced at top speed down the track and leaped up into the air.
She thought to herself, Okay, now comes the hard part.  The active teams are in the air so I have to set up and wait.
She took her place on the landing strip in the middle of the deck.  She placed herself inside a large golden box painted into a specific place in the lane.
The blue pegasus took this time to stretch each and every one of her muscles carefully and fully.  She also flexed her joints, making sure the armor didn’t need adjusting.
Deep down inside, she hated waiting.  Almost as much as she hated being alone.

Up in the top level of the castle of the floating outpost was a single, open room.  Contrary to most expectations, very few pegasi were up here.  It was mostly unicorns who had mastered the ‘Walk On Clouds’ spell.  Most of these unicorns were magical technicians, who remotely scanned the integrity of the many layers of the cloud castle.  They would use their magic to repair any damage from this central level.  There was also a team dedicated to moving the fortress-shaped cloud or resist it moving in strong winds.
There were a couple of pegasi here.  They were lower-ranked officers who job it was to coordinate information and orders between all stations and levels.  So, they tended to run around, enter, and exit the room a lot.
There was also a middle-aged unicorn mare with a simple table and chair up against a side wall.  She was dressed in old-fashioned clothing that involved skirts, scarves, and a hood.  She had a yellow coat, blue mane, and blue eyes.  Her cutie mark was a crystal ball.  Upon the table was a crystal ball sitting on a stand.  She gazed into the crystal ball, seeking visions.  Her horn was perpetually charging and discharging at the same time.
Thunder Boss stepped boldly into the control room.  
He turned to the middle-aged mare and asked in a surprisingly gentle voice, “What do you see, Crystal Gaze?”
She replied mildly and professionally, “Both flight teams are approaching their stations.  Rainbow Dash is in position.”
He said mildly, “Good, good.”  He walked over an exact copy of the map in the briefing room.  Next to it was a window looking out onto the flight deck and a speaking tube.  This was the place he was always meant to be.  He finally felt comfortable enough to relax.  There was nothing else to do until the griffons made their move.
	
> Chapter 5 - The Enemy Within
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Half an hour later, Spitfire and Soarin completed yet another wide circle.  They prepared to do so again.  Neither one wanted to admit it, but they were almost wishing the griffons would attack.  That way they could know where the griffons were.  Not seeing anything at all was unnerving.
Soarin thought he saw something out of the corner of his eyes.  Turning his head, he saw a pair of griffons hopping from cloud to cloud at a moderate pace.
The stallion communicated using official protocol, making sure his flight leader understood his tension.
“Bolt-One, Bolt-One.  Contact four o’clock five hundred feet.  Two griffons cloud hopping towards sector six.”
Spitfire turned to her right, Soarin matching her path.  She spotted the griffons and frowned.
“Bolt-Two, I see two griffons at cruising speed heading south-south-west.”
Soarin affirmed, “Rodger, that’s them.”
Spitfire groused, “They can see us but they’re not reacting.  What’s wrong with them?”
The dark-maned Wonderbolt smiled and replied, “Why don’t we go ask them?”
The pair turned to face the griffons.  They continued to fly at the same speed, not wanting to tip off the potential enemies.
Suddenly, the griffons leapt off their clouds, spread their wings, and soared quickly towards the south, ignoring any other clouds.
Soarin called out, “Spitfire!”  
She replied hotly, “I see them.  Go!”
The pair turned around and accelerated to catch up to the griffons.  They flapped their wings hard, slowly catching up to the griffons.
Spitfire growled, “This would be easier without the armor!”
Suddenly, both Wonderbolts heard a battle cry from below.  Another pair of griffons were flying upwards from below, their wingblades extended.
Both pegasi rolled to their right, putting their back armor to the blades.  The harsh shriek of metal on metal sounded as the griffons’ attacks skittered off the armor.
The first pair then turned around, extending their wingblades.
The biggest griffon declared, “Finish off all of the ponies first!  We can’t fly the statue back if there’s a single one of these Wonderbolts in the sky!”

Over in sector six, Fleetfoot and Rapidfire had just completed another full circle.  They looked around, trying to see anything out of the ordinary.  They both saw several dots at the edge of their vision to the north.
Rapidfire called out, “Who’s that with Spitfire and Soarin?”
Fleetfoot broke formation to fly towards the group.  He narrowed his eyes, trying to focus on the shapes.
His partner called out, “You’re breaking formation!”
Fleetfoot replied, “If there’s only two Wonderbolts out there, the rest have to be griffons, right?”
Rapidfire pulled away to form up with his partner.  His logic made sense.  They increased their speed to meet up with the others.
After a minute, the shapes got bigger and better defined.
Rapidfire replied, “Bolt-Four, confirmed four griffons engaged with Wonderbolts.  Let’s move in and help out.”
Fleetfoot clenched his teeth and replied, “Rodger that.”
As the miles ticked by, Spitfire and Soarin turned away from their pursuers to meet up with Fleetfoot and Rapidfire.
A shrill war cry echoed from above.  All four pegasi gasped and looked up.  A griffon dove from above, wingblades extended.
A sharp pain erupted from Fleetfoot’s left side and he cried out in agony.  He felt both hot and cold at the same time.  He spread his wings wide on reflex, trying to glide down controlled rather than crashing.
Rapidfire called out, “Wrong, make it five!!”

Upon hearing the report, Thunder Boss turned away from the window to stare in shock at Crystal Gaze.  He asked, “That’s FIVE?!”
The unicorn mare continued to gaze into her crystal ball with detached interest.  Her voice sounded far away as she answered, “Yes, sir.”

Soarin turned sharply to the left, right into the path of an approaching griffon.  He raised his front hooves and thrust the forward in an attack.  The griffon closed her wings around herself, spoiling her lift.  She plummeted beneath the attack.
Spitfire turned to the right, spiraling to draw attention to herself.  Two griffons flew after her.
Rapidfire saw this ploy and made ramming speed.  He lowered his head and bounced his body off the lead griffon’s back.  The glancing blow shook the enemy from Spitfire’s tail but did not incapacitate him.
From above, a griffon shrieked a war cry and swung his wingblade with savage fury.  The blade caught on the neck armor and was deflected away.  A second griffon flew up and punched the Wonderbolt in the belly.  The griffon followed up by stabbing Rapidfire in the lung.
As the breath left him, Rapidfire’s eyes closed.  Consciousness tried to flee but the Wonderbolt forced his wings to spread wide to try to glide down.  His body gracefully obeyed the call of gravity.

Crystal Gaze’s eyes snapped wide open at the images that flashed before her inner sight.  She yelled, “Fleetfoot and Rapidfire have fallen!  They’re bleeding badly!”
Shocked, everypony in the control room began whispering concernedly to each other, except one.
Thunder Boss leaped over to the speaking tube.  He barked his orders loud and clear.

On the flight deck, Rainbow Dash was beginning to cramp up.  She wished that there was more action.  The voice of Thunder Boss barked loud and clear.
“LAUNCH RAINBOW DASH ON ALERT-ONE!”
The blue pegasus was surprised for only a second.  She steeled her nerve and tensed her muscles for the takeoff.  The voice barked another order.
“SEND THE RESCUE TEAMS TO PICK UP FLEETFOOT AND RAPIDFIRE!  SECTOR SEVEN!”
Rainbow Dash’s brain worked in overdrive.  She thought, Sector seven?  That means they left sector six to help Soarin and Spitfire…and may have gotten killed.
She thought about the images of griffons standing over the corpses of Twilight and Applejack.  The blue pegasus felt fear creep into her spine…and then she squashed it with a surge of willpower.
She mentally declared, My friends need me!!  I am NOT gonna chicken out!!
She tensed her whole body and raced down the runway as fast as she could.  Leaping into the air, she spread her wings and pumped them up and down as hard as she could.  She needed to build up speed early to cover distance quickly.
Not forgetting her orders, she headed due west for sector six.  She pumped her wings harder and harder.  She mused that it must not be her lucky day.  The very air was resisting her by forming a bubble right in front of her.
In due time, she reached the expected path into the Everfree Forest.  She could not see the caravan but she did see Ethereal Curtain’s group of unicorns, ready to combine their powers to teleport the entire caravan directly to Canterlot Castle and to safety.
Satisfied that everything was under control, she flapped her wings extra hard and turned sharply to the right.  Offended by anything that stood in her way, she pushed right through that accursed air barrier to reach her teammates.

The caravan could clearly see the edge of the Everfree Forest ahead.  It was only about fifty feet away.
Twilight gave a final blast of magic to stun the mind of the statue.  She vowed to take up knitting if she never had to cast that spell ever again.
Applejack started to slow down.  Her breathing doubled in its intensity.  She had stopped sweating, which was a bad sign.
Stratum wished he could give her his water, but he already did that miles ago.  He said, “We can’t stop now!”
The farm pony sharply retorted, “Easy fer you ta say, bookworm!  You try haulin’ this here mountain all by yerself!”
Twilight consoled her, “Just make it to those unicorns, Applejack.  Then I’ll personally treat you to Canterlot’s finest restaurants and swimming pools.”
The orange pony stopped, no longer able to contain the painful heartbeat in her chest.  Unable to respond with words, she just ignored the others.
BOOM!
Everypony looked up to see a multi-colored ring expand across the sky.
Stratum shook with anxiety and asked, “Wh-what does th-that mean?”
Twilight smiled and pointed up at the sky, explaining, “That means a good friend of ours has finally accomplished her life’s dream.”
Applejack remembered the first sonic rainboom she ever saw as a filly.  New hoped filled her as she stood up and braced herself against the harness.
She declared, “If’n Rainbow Dash can join the Wonderbolts, then I can haul this here hunk o’ rock a few more feet.  Everypony git behind me and push!”

Crystal Gaze looked deep into her crystal ball and reported, “Rainbow Dash has cleared sector six and is approaching the battle.”
Thunder Boss didn’t say anything.  He just moved the marker on the map representing Rainbow Dash towards the cluster of griffons and two pegasi.

When the blue pegasus arrived at the battle, she took in the sight of Soarin and Spitfire flying like mad to avoid six griffons.  
She summed up the situation, “Oh, horseapples.”
Two griffons noticed the new arrival.  The leader of the griffons called out, “Keep these two pinned or else!”  He gestured to the griffon hovering next to him.
The pair of winged attackers flew off to meet the blue pegasus.  The leader immediately flew upwards to gain altitude, the other circled around to the left to try to get behind the new armored pegasus.
Rainbow Dash noticed the griffon circling around behind her at close range.  She mimicked the griffon’s attack pattern.  Soon the two were circling each other only a few dozen feet apart.
The griffon taunted, “Hey, Rainbow Crash!  Did you come out to play?”
Dash replied fiercely, “I came out here to pluck every last one of your sorry butts outta the sky!”
The griffon stated, “Oh, I’m so scared of a tin can.  Come over here and say that.”
The blue pegasus demanded, “Why did you do it, Gilda?  You were hardcore, but not a murderer.  Ponies might die because of this!”
Gilda just frowned and answered, “A girl’s gotta eat, Dashie.  Would you desert Celestia for the reward of exile and starvation?”
Rainbow Dash declared, “I would never maim or kill just to eat!  That’s the coward’s excuse!”
From high above, the griffon leader shrieked and slammed himself into the left side of the blue pegasus.
Rainbow Dash’s wing bent awkwardly, making it numb.  The pegasus spun around like a top and began to fall out of the sky.

Spitfire banked left and yelled, “Soarin!  Plan Bravo!”
Soarin grunted in frustration and said, “I hate Plan Bravo!”
He turned to the left, coming to face Spitfire.  
The two pegasi flew right towards each other at the same altitude.  They flew so close that they could see the dents in each other’s armor.  They both banked slightly left and then flew straight up.
The following griffons tried to bank left and then corrected right.  They saw the ponies fly up and tried to follow.  Suddenly, all four griffons squawked in panic and then scattered in different directions to avoid a four-way head-on collision.
Flying upwards a mere few inches between their bellies, Soarin complained nervously, “This is why I hate Plan Bravo!  We almost crashed!”
Spitfire smiled faintly and said, “Well, we’ll just have to practice more.”
A glint of metal caught her eye.  Looking down, she saw the blue pegasus’s predicament.
She said, “No!  Rainbow Dash!”
Soarin looked around and saw the griffons re-forming into a two-pronged attack.  
He barked, “We got our own problems.”

Crystal Gaze reported, “Rainbow Dash got hit.  She’s falling in a spin.”
Thunder Boss did not reply.

The world spun around Rainbow Dash.  Her left wing was no longer numb.  Now it hurt.  Pain blossomed like fire in her veins.
She tried to flap her wings to establish lift, but it was no good.  She couldn’t move her wings correctly in the swirling vortex of wind in the flat spin.  She knew if she didn’t try something different, she’d die.  
Blinking back moisture in her eyes, she pitched nose downward, accepting whatever fate would befall her.
Then she flared her wings wide.  The wind caught her and leveled her out.  The pain died down, allowing her to flap her wings and gain altitude.
Looking around, she saw Spitfire and Soarin being chased on two sides by griffons into the last two griffons.  They were doomed.   She would be next.
She turned away and headed back to sector six.  She told herself, I gotta protect my friends.  I’m not really a Wonderbolt.  I failed the test.  They’ll understand.

Crystal Gaze sighed and reported, her voice heavy with disappointment, “Rainbow Dash is fleeing to sector six.”
Thunder Boss roared, “I KNEW IT!!  That filly is a COWARD!”  He bucked the wall powerfully.
CRACK!  His hooves kicked a hole big enough for a foal to walk through.
Seething in rage, he exclaimed, “DAMN IT!”

Spitfire saw the retreating pegasus.  Her mouth melted into a frown.
Soarin kept his gaze stoic.  He counted the griffons and tried to come up with a plan to buy the caravan enough time with their deaths.

Rainbow Dash’s conscience screamed at her with every inch she flew.  
Her ego tried to rationalize her choice.
She just couldn’t see any way to win.  She didn’t sign up to die.  She just wanted everyone to live and go home.  Why did everything have to be so hard?  She really wanted to nap in a tree and wake up to a treat from Sugarcube Corner.
Rainbow Dash realized that if she fled, there might not be a Sugarcube Corner.  If she returned, then the others would have to go to Sugarcube Corner without her ever again.
She whispered, “I just don’t know what to do.”  Tears welled up in her eyes.  She fought them bitterly, but they kept coming.
She begged out loud, “Talk to me, ‘Shy.  Tell me what to do.”
Deep down inside herself, Rainbow Dash felt worthless.
A gentle voice echoed in her mind from the depths of her memory, Why, if I had just a drop of your courage, I could save all of Equestria every day!
The blue pegasus opened her eyes, asking, “Fluttershy?”
The sight of her friend, smiling and waiting for her, filled the blue pegasus with new hope.  Rainbow Dash turned around and flapped her wings as hard as she could.  
She headed back to the battle.

Crystal Gaze happily chirped, “Rainbow Dash is returning to battle!”
The despair in the control room lifted.  Ponies whispered to each other about their chances of winning.
Thunder Boss lowered his mirrored sunglasses and stared at the crystal ball as if trying to see for himself.

Surrounded by griffons, Spitfire and Soarin hovered in place.  They did not show how scared they were.  
The griffons laughed cruelly and brandished their wingblades.
The leader of the griffons taunted, “Well, well, well.  It’s been a hard time, but I’ve finally finished off all of the Wonderbolts.  My liege will reward me well.”
Spitfire challenged, “The Wonderbolts are not finished!  My teammates are still alive and they’ll recruit more!”
The griffon leader replied haughtily, “They’ll never fly the same again!  Without the two of you, any new recruits won’t be trained as well.  The time of the Wonderbolts is over!”
He reared back with his wingblade, ready to stab the pony in her exposed belly.
“Think again, featherhead!”  SLAM!  CRUNCH!
Rainbow Dash rammed herself directly into the griffon leader’s ribs and shoulder.  His wing bones snapped as well as three ribs.  Robbed of breath, he glided down to the ground in defeat.
Knowing a chance to escape when they saw it, the Wonderbolts reacted.  Soarin flapped his wings and moved straight up, taking two griffons with him.  Spitfire stopped flapping her wings and mock-saluted her captors.  Falling down, she tumbled and spread her wings.  Two griffons chased her.
The remaining griffon slashed horizontally with his wingblade at Rainbow Dash.  She lowered her gaze and allowed the blade to crash against her helmet.
The griffon slashed downward at her wing.  The blue pegasus folded her wings inward.  The blade clanged against the metal covering her wing bones.
Rainbow Dash tumbled forward in a somersault and brought her hind legs up.  She bucked hard, slamming her hooves into the griffon’s face.  The griffon fell, the wind opening his wings.  The creature glided to a cloud and collapsed.
Soarin called out, “That’s another one down.  It’s four-to-three.”
Spitfire replied, “Then let’s even the odds.  Plan Delta!”
The two Wonderbolts turned towards each other, head on.  The griffons anticipated this maneuver.  They slowed down and spread out.
Soarin and Spitfire rotated to their right side and passed by each other at high speed.  They even zoomed by each other’s pursuing griffons.
Each flight of pursuing griffons gave each other a wide birth, only to realize they lost their quarry.  Looking around, they saw the Wonderbolts flying in a tight circle above them.
Squealing in rage, they flapped their wings to ascend.  When they rose to the same altitude as the pegasi, they brandished their wingblades.
Seeing the unafraid looks in the eyes of their quarry, the griffons snarled.
Gilda threatened, “You’re outnumbered.”
Spitfire replied, “No, we’re not.”
WHAM!  Rainbow Dash flew up from below, slamming her front hooves in a powerful attack to a griffon’s chest.  Every creature in the sky heard the crunching of bone as the griffon’s ribs collapsed.  
The injury made the griffon’s flight muscles useless.  He chose to glide to the ground painfully.
The remaining griffons saw that they no longer outnumbered the ponies and now they were surrounded on two sides.
One of the griffons asked fretfully, “What’ll we do, Gilda?”
She looked at Rainbow Dash and said, “Dash, it doesn’t have to be like this.”
The armored blue pegasus hotly replied, “You’re right.  You can FLEE!”
She launched herself at Gilda with fury.
Gilda dove to gain speed and turned northward.
She called out, “Retreat!  Our flight leader has failed us!  Leave him!”  The other two griffons followed her back to the Griffon Kingdom.
Spitfire ordered, “Rainbow Dash!  Let them go!  We’ve got a job to do!”

Crystal Gaze recovered her distant, calm composure.  She reported, “Three griffons fell.  The remaining griffons are fleeing.”
Everypony in the control room went wild cheering.  Everypony was hugging and high-hoofing the pony next to them.
The middle-aged mare smugly asked Thunder Boss, “Are you happy, sir?”  
The powerful stallion stopped mid-dance at his place by the hole in the wall.
He recovered his composure and said calmly, “Um, yes.  Thank you, Miss Gaze.”
Thunder Boss turned to a desk near the map.  Upon it was a warm cup of coffee.  It was steaming hot earlier, but that was before the battle.
Still, coffee was coffee.  The strong stallion lifted the cup in his hoof and brought it to his lips.
A trio of armored pegasi rapidly approached the top level of the castle and flew by it at top speed.
The wake of the pegasi’s passing shook the cloud walls and floor of the control room.
The coffee sloshed in the cup and spilled all over Thunder Boss’s chest.
Frustrated, he stuck his head out of the window and saw a fluttering multi-colored mane heading away from him.
Shaking his hoof at the retreating form he screamed, “RAINBOW DASH!!!”
	
> Chapter 6 - Growing Up
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Applejack hauled the cart forward with a final pull.  She fell down and gasped a huge lungful of breath.
She declared, “That’s it!  If’n y’all want this here rock so badly.  Y’all can pull it the rest of the way!”
Hearing a deep, rumbling laugh above her, she opened her eyes.
Ethereal Curtain stated, “I accept your terms.  You are now free of the influence of the Everfree Forest.”  He discharged his horn in a huge circle engulfing the cart and all of the ponies who came with it.  The six unicorns with Ethereal Curtain all discharged their horns as well, surrounding themselves and the circle cast by Ethereal Curtain.  
Before anything else could happen, Applejack pointed her hoof at Twilight and declared, “You owe me a five-star vacation…NOW.”
Twilight smiled sheepishly, remembering her promise.  She hoped she could make monthly payments to the hotels and restaurants in Canterlot.
Instantly, the combined circles flared brightly and then disappeared, teleporting the statue and all ponies to Canterlot Castle.

Down in the locker room for the Wonderbolts, Rainbow Dash carefully removed the armor pieces from her body and put them in a pile to be collected.  The terms of the royal appointment were for the duration of the emergency.  Once it was known that not only did Princess Celestia receive the Memory Stone but she viewed and displayed the memory about the griffon involvement in bringing the K’klattcha to the surface, then the emergency was all but over.
She expected both armies to back down any time now.  It was well-known that Princess Celestia was an excellent negotiator and she even had the griffon prisoners who eagerly talked in exchange for food and medical care.
She looked at the armor and saw all of the dents that the wingblades had caused.  If it wasn’t for Steele and his special talent of crafting great armor, she would be dead.
She mused to herself, Well, it was great, but now it’s over.  I just hope ponies won’t think of me as a lazy bum anymore.
Heavy hoofbeats announced the arrival of a familiar stallion into the locker room.
Thunder Boss was uncharacteristically cheerful as he spoke up, “Well, Miss Dash, how does it feel to be Equestria’s number one hero?”
The blue pegasus tried not to smile too big.  She almost succeeded.
She played it off casually by saying, “Aw, it was a team effort.  I’m just glad everypony survived.”  Her smile faded with concern as she asked, “Will the Wonderbolts recover?”
Thunder Boss waved off her concern by saying, “Would it shock you to know that they’ve had injuries just as serious and made full recoveries?  Training to be a Wonderbolt is rough, kid.  One mistake too many and you face-plant into the ground.  It’ll be some time before the team is back up and running, though.”
He pulled down his mirrored sunglasses and said seriously, “Maybe this is your lucky break.  They’ll be needing pegasi to fill the space.  With this recent incident, you could leverage your way in.”
To his surprise, Rainbow Dash shook her head.
She explained, “No, it’s not the right time.  Now that you’re here, I gotta say something to you.”  He leaned in, intrigued.
The blue pegasus elucidated, “All these years you’ve called me weak and scared.  I never understood why.  I thought you were just another one of those bullies.  That’s why I left.  I didn’t think you could be right.  I was a scared little filly.  Flying is my control.  Without it, I had no control over anything, not even myself.  I have a little growing up to do before I can join the Wonderbolts.  To be a Wonderbolt is to be the best.  I’m just not quite there yet.”
Impressed, the stallion patted her roughly on the shoulder and said, “It takes a lot of guts to admit you’re not perfect.  If you do decide it’s time, look me up.  I’ll give you a real test.”
Rainbow Dash, feeling uncomfortable with all of the mushy stuff, stated boldly, “Actually, I have my sights higher than that, sir.”
Thunder Boss’s face went into total confusion as he asked, “Higher than a Wonderbolt?  What’s that?”
The blue pegasus buffed a hoof against her chest and proudly declared, “I’m planning to be an instructor, sir.”
The stallion’s jaw dropped and hung open freely.  He recovered and jokingly demanded, “An instructor…for the Wonderbolts?”
Unable to contain her glee any longer, she just nodded her head.
Thunder Boss trotted out of the locker room, exclaiming, “Celestia help us all!”

The next day, Rainbow Dash had gone back to her job and went right to work.  She got everything done early and then helped everypony else get their work done early.
Impressed with the results, the boss had given everypony the rest of the day off.  Rainbow Dash felt good about doing a good day’s work.
She was currently seated on a cloud over Ponyville’s town square.  She could see practically every mare, stallion, and foal in Ponyville from where she was.  She never really watched the families before.  Often, other ponies were just…in the way.  Now she thought they were the most precious thing there was in the world.
She heard the flapping of familiar wings from her right side.
A yellow pegasus landed on her cloud and said, “Oh, Rainbow!  There you are!  We’ve been looking all over for you.  Applejack says the Apple family wants to all get together and have a feast to thank you for saving their farm.  Pinkie Pie wants to bake a cake shaped like your head.  Twilight wants your input into a book she’s writing on the entire incident for historic records…”
Rainbow Dash reached up, gently grabbed her friend by the shoulders, and pulled her into a sitting position.
Fluttershy interrupted her train of thought and said, “Um, can I sit down?  Thanks.”  She smiled sheepishly.
The blue pegasus said, “There’s time for all of that later.”
The yellow pegasus insisted, “But the mayor said she wants to hold a parade in your honor in a few hours.”
Rainbow Dash sat upright with stars in her eyes.  She asked, “A parade?  For me?”  Her mind reasserted itself and she calmed down.
She asked, “What about the Wonderbolts?  They deserve equal credit, too.”
Fluttershy said, “Well, we would invite them except that most are in the hospital and Spitfire and Soarin have patrol duties in Canterlot.  You’re the only one nearby.”
Rainbow shook her head and said, “It doesn’t feel right without them.”
The yellow pegasus sighed and said, “Well, if you really don’t want to.  All the fillies and colts really wanted to meet you and there’s a lot of pegasus parents who wanted to ask how their foals could earn a place in the Wonderbolts.”
The blue pegasus looked at her friend and said, “You know, Fluttershy, there was actually a moment in the battle when I ran away?”
The kinda mare looked shocked as she inquired, “You?  Ran away?  Why?”
Rainbow Dash recounted, “It was when Spitfire and Soarin were outnumbered and running for their lives.  I was knocked into a flat spin.”
Fluttershy leaned in close to Dash.  She moaned, “Oh, how terrible for you.  You must have been so scared.”
The blue pegasus felt ashamed, but continued, “I was.  I pulled out of it and leveled off.  I was so scared that just one griffon could do that to me.  I thought multiple griffons would kill me.  I would never see you or any of the others again.  I fled so I could just make sure Twilight and Applejack got home.  I turned my back on the Spitfire and Soarin.”
The yellow pegasus sighed, “Oh, Rainbow.”
Rainbow Dash said, “But then you were there.”  When she saw Fluttershy’s look of confusion, she elucidated, “I remembered what you said back in flight school.  You told me I had more than enough courage to do anything.”
Fluttershy smiled and said, “I did say that.”
The blue pegasus finished, “So, I decided that I had to go back and save everyone.  I did have enough courage to save all Equestria and it’s all thanks to you.”
Her heart greatly moved, the yellow pegasus nuzzled the blue pegasus.  She purred, “I’m glad I could help.”
Rainbow Dash looked her friend in the eye and declared, “You once told me that I’m your hero.  Well, now you’re my hero, Fluttershy.”
The kind mare took in the compliment with joy in her heart.
The blue pegasus stood up and stretched her muscles, announcing, “Well, we better go and get that parade going.  Those adoring fillies and colts are waiting for us.”
Startled, Fluttershy asked, “Us?  Why us?”
Rainbow Dash answered, “Because you’re going to ride on the float with me.  If it wasn’t for you, I’d have chickened out.  Besides, somepony else has to take some of the glory or else it’ll all go to my head.”
Both mares leaped off the cloud and glided towards city hall.
The kind mare timidly asked, “Sitting up high…in front of all those ponies…with all of them staring at us?”
Rainbow Dash joked, “Maybe they’ll throw candy, too.”
Fluttershy worried, “Throw candy?  Oh, I hope they don’t throw hard candy.”

THE END