Author's Note

Alright everyone, here's the start of the Spitfire story. I hope you all enjoy it and remember to follow NineTailBeastBall for helping me out with this story. And as always, thanks for your patience and support, remember to stay tuned for more and keep bronying on everypony!

The Flames of a Dream Still Burn

The Flames Between Red-Hot Lovers

Written by Israel Yabuki

Edited and co-written by NineTailBeastBall

The sky always has and always will be a beautiful sight to behold. Ever since you were a boy, you’ve dreamed of one day being able to fly high into the sky. Though it was physically impossible to do so at that current, young age, you still clinged onto that dream when you one day heard about the elite flying team known as the Blue Angels.

You first watched one of their performances for your tenth birthday, when your father bought you and your mother some tickets to a NASCAR race. The way they gracefully soared through the skies was mind-blowing. The second you saw them, you had to tell your parents you wanted to be just like the Blue Angels.

While your mother was worried about such a career, your father said he would support you and repeatedly reminded you that if you were really dedicated to joining the Blue Angels, you’d have a chance. Even with this support, your mother remained too scared of the thought of losing you if you performed for such a dangerous flight team. It’s because of your her tough love that it was difficult for you to do anything outside your home. Sometimes you would overhear kids from school making fun of you for being so sheltered.

As you got older, your father’s concern grew along with you and he tried over and over to convince your mother that she had to let you make your own decisions. Seeing as she was way too stubborn to listen to reason, it got you so agitated, all you could think about was sneaking out and running away.

One day, you actually planned on doing so after school, until your dad told you about your mom wanting to talk to you. You were extremely annoyed by this point and wanted to just get it over with as quickly as possible. So, when you got home, your mother was waiting for you on the living room couch. Even though she looked stubborn, you could sense she was more guilty and decided to stay. You’ll never forget how she broke down, confessing how sorry she was for being so close-minded. Being the affectionate son that you were, you couldn’t possibly reject her apology.

She explained how she was just so insecure about the thought of having to one day let you go out into the real world. You were her child after all and losing you would be like losing her whole world. You ended the tearful conversation by hugging her that day and told her you forgave her and there was nothing she could have done that would make you stop loving her. From that day forth, you got to have a whole lot more freedom in your life.

Staying loyal to your dream of joining the Blue Angels as the years passed, that goal became a reality when you graduated college to undergo the training. Of course, it wasn’t easy, but with dedication, you earned your place on the flight team. You only spent one whole year with them and already, you performed at about 18 or 20 shows. Each one was even more successful than the last. The job certainly paid well and your fellow Blue Angel comrades were glad to have you on the team.

One of the Blue Angel pilots also happened to be your very best friend and it’s no mystery why. From the moment you started training for your place on the team, he gave you a few tips on how to perform more diligently in the air without worrying about struggling too hard to make those sharp turns. And during most of the previous shows, you finished them off by doing a double barrel roll.

As of right now, the Blue Angels are scheduled to do another air show in Seattle. You’ve been on the team for 3 years now and not once have you regretted getting to where you are today. So it’s no surprise that you were excited for today’s show. The best part for you, was that Seattle is where your parents lived and after telling them where and when you’ll be performing, you asked to come and watch you. For what reason could they possibly have to turn you down after you worked so hard to get here?

Your mother, was scared, but she didn’t have it in her to refuse your invitation and not just because your father was so persuasive. She’s shown a lot of her support for your career, so she’s going to prove it by coming to one of your shows. Your father on the other hand, was excited to come and see you perform.

The big performance would be starting in an hour, which was more than enough time for your parents to arrive. They said over the phone that they would be watching you from the Seattle Space Needle. You knew that even though your mother was hesitant about the show, at the same time, she was very proud of you.

As of right now, you were hopping aboard your jet with the rest of your comrades. “You guys all ready for take-off?” you asked over the mic.

“10-4, bud, let’s take it to the house,” your best friend said into your headset. Starting up the engines, you and the other Blue Angel pilots aligned at the runway in a V-shape formation. Your teammates working at the air hangar all saluted you. You saluted them back before soaring off into the sky, quickly making your way towards Seattle.

Memories came flooding back to you as you were flying in the air. How hard you worked to accomplish your childhood dream. All the trials and tribulations you had to overcome to get to where you are now have all been well worth the effort. You sighed happily and prepared to change the direction of your plane.

“This is it, boys! Let’s show them what we’re really made of!” your captain said as you reached Seattle right on schedule. You followed along with the plan and pulled up to the left and did a barrel roll 5 times before moving to the right with one of the other pilots. The next trick was for you and the other pilot to fly down in a drilling motion and then regroup with the others.

You were about to go through with the plan, but it seemed fate had other plans in mind. Suddenly, you felt a blowout from behind and your jet got all wobbly and unstable. “Shit! Guys! We got a problem!” you said in a bit of a panic. You checked your screen and saw that one of the jet turbines had a blow-out.

“What’s the matter?” your friend asked.

“One of my turbines had a blow-out, I can’t steer this thing right!” you said, trying to steer the jet, but it was all in vein. The jet spirals out of control during its descent and was coming close to hitting the water. “MAY DAY! MAY DAY! MAY-!!!” you shouted before the jet explodes upon impact, after crashing into the water and everything soon went black.

‘Mom... will you ever forgive me for leaving you?’ you thought as you drifted through the dark abyss aimlessly. Somehow even in this dark, lonely void, you were capable of crying. Not because you died, but because you had to leave your mother when she knew the dangers of your career, despite her support. Even now, you were wishing it didn’t have to end this way. For your mother’s sake, you prayed to God that she would be strong in your absence and your father will stand by her side.

You woke up some time later after your body felt heavy again. When you opened your eyes, you saw this beautiful, golden chandelier directly above you. It was a pretty sight to see, but sadly, something told you this wasn’t heaven. You slowly sat yourself up and the moment you did so, you felt a different kind of density in your hands. Looking down, your eyes widened when you saw scales on your hands.

It wasn’t something you were used to seeing and didn’t know what to do other than freak out. “W-What the?! How! W-What the hell is going on? What happened to me?!” you asked, panicking more. Unfortunately, no one was around to give you an answer.

Taking a better look at your hands, it was more than just scales. There were claws on the tips of your fingers, which needless to say, have replaced your fingernails. Reaching up to touch your neck, you felt the same scaly texture, as did your chest which unlike your neck, was in your line of sight. You discovered as you got off the bed that there was more to your mysterious transformation than just scales and claws. At first you couldn’t figure it out, but you felt something on your back that you could move just as easily as you could your arms and legs.

“Oh, this should be good,” you sarcastically told yourself as you turned around to see what this new feeling was. Your jaw dropped from the moment you realized you had wings. “What the... where did these come from?” you asked, extending the membrane and admiring the beauty of these divine new body parts.

You were only given a few more seconds to admire your new wings before you heard a knock at the door and you discovered you were now able to snarl. Whoever was on the other side of the door, decided to stop knocking and opened the door instead. Your eyes locked on and you discovered you had not one, but two visitors. You wondered how many surprises you’d get today, as while one of your visitors appeared to be a blue humanoid dragoness, you were more interested in the other one, as he looked like a human with dragon-like features just like you.

“You done with your little panic session there?” the man asked.

“What... what did you do to me?” you said, answering a question with a question. This time, the dragoness was one who spoke.

“What we did is save your life,” she said, waving some sort of scepter with a beautiful ruby embedded at the top. “I was up pretty early in the morning when I saw you falling out of the sky and I knew no other dragon around would be generous enough to save you. Seeing as I wouldn’t make it in time, I used the Bloodstone Scepter to grant you the tough features of our kind which allowed you to withstand the lava you were about to fall into.”

“So, now... I’m a half-dragon now?” you asked, unable to stop yourself from flexing your wings again.

“Well, those wings of yours aren’t just for show. Honestly, I’m a little bit jealous that you got yours so quickly. It took some time for me to get mine when I was transformed by the scepter,” the dragon man said with a chuckle. “Anyway, they call me Imperium and this is my mate and the lord of all dragons, Dragon Lord Ember.” Whether it was purely out of affection or to embarrass her, Imperium licked Ember’s cheek, making her grumble and blush.

Not wanting to be rude, you introduced yourself to the couple. “So, if you don’t mind me asking, could you two tell me where I am and how I got here?” Before they could answer, your stomach started growling, leaving you embarrassed.

“You have a lot to learn about being a dragon, rookie. I guess a good place to start is to show you what you’ll have to eat around here,” Ember said with a smirk before exiting the room. You frowned, not sure what to make of this smug attitude, but if Ember is the leader of the dragons, you’d have to put up with it. Getting over it, you followed both Ember and Imperium out of the room and down the grand hallway.

This living arrangement seemed a bit different than that of the dragons you’ve read about in story books, or at least for the royalty around here. Looking out of the many windows of what was probably a castle, you couldn’t see anything besides caves and volcanoes, implying that the other dragons didn’t like nice, cozy living arrangements. Due to your growling stomach, you weren’t currently that interested in the environment you were in, or how you ended up here for that matter. You must have been unconscious longer than you thought because of how hungry you were.

Luckily, you didn’t have to wait any longer once Ember and Imperium showed you to the wide dining hall where one huge dragon and a few other dragons were waiting. Amongst them dragons, were some who were quite young who rushed over to Ember and clung onto her, making her groan, annoyed. Imperium snickered and while you didn’t laugh with him, you did smile.

“You’re enjoying this way too much,” Ember snarled, glaring at her mate.

“What can I say, the kids love their mommy,” Imperium shrugged. You had a hunch that the hatchlings had a close relationship with Ember and your theory proved to be correct when you learned the blue dragoness is their mother.

“Mama! Food now! I’m hungry!” demanded one of the hatchlings, as he clung his tiny claws around his mother’s neck.

“Okay already! Just let go of me and we can sit down and eat!” Ember said, trying to get her hatchlings off of her. The hatchlings did so on their own and sat at the table. “Parenthood is one heck of a job, I’ll tell you that much.” You could tell she was doing her best not to curse in front of her children.

Once the little fiasco was over and dealt with, you sat down with the others and served yourself some of the tasty meat they had. But when your eyes locked on the bowl of jewels, you got this strange urge to... eat them?

“Well, aren’t you going to eat, rookie?” Ember asked before biting into a large ruby.

“Y-Yeah, I just got curious of why my taste buds have this sudden craving for jewels,” you said with a gulp. With each passing second, it was becoming much harder to resist the gems in front of you.

“We dragons love to eat jewels. It’s sort of like our bread and butter in a way. If you have a craving for jewels, it’s because your dragon instincts are kicking in,” Imperium explained. On his plate was not only gems, but also what appeared to be beef and steak and roasted chicken. You weren’t quite sure what kinds of animals there were in this unfamiliar world.

Shrugging it off, you decided to start eating, sinking your sharp fangs into the juicy cut of beef. The flavor of your beef was definitely a lot richer than the kind that you had back home. Regardless of the animal that it came from, the meat was and rich and thick. You then gave into your new dragon instincts and went for one of the emeralds on the table. Your teeth had been changed into fangs during the transformation and easily broke through the gem. You didn’t expect the emerald to have such a minty flavor to it, almost like mint candy, only crunchier.

That Bloodstone Scepter, as Ember called it, had changed you not only physically, but mentally as well. These mental changes extended slightly to your manners at the table. Usually you went for the big meals whenever you were hungry, but you never went crazy. However, your were now instincts out of control and you were tearing through your meat while making these predatorial growls.

You could also hear Imperium growl as he’s tearing up his own food. Even though he wasn’t snarling as much as you were, you still theorized that this kind of behavior was just another part of a dragon’s nature. Licking the crumbs off your lips, you sighed in content after wolfing down your tasty meal.

“You weren’t lying. I never would have thought that I’d actually be eating gems when they’re sold at a high price,” you chuckled, but once you calmed down, things got a little more serious. You decided that once you were through eating, you would take advantage of your time to see just what this world had to offer.

Flying a plane was one thing, but being able to fly on your own with your new wings was a completely different experience. It’s amazing how it didn’t take too long to figure out how to use your wings, as Imperium said he’s lost count of how many dragons he’s seen crash when they tried flying for the first time. However even if you adjusted to your wings faster than most dragons, with your lack of training, you could only fly for about 15 minutes before you got tired.

That was exactly the case as of right now, for you were sitting on a rock, tearing through some meat in order to get your strength back. Because of your newfound instincts, over the last week you’ve been here, you’ve often ventured into the nearby forest to hunt down a snack. Today’s menu was the corpse of a cockatrice, a chicken snake hybrid which you didn’t even know existed until today. You kept away from the other dragons, as it was in their nature to be greedy and you had no intention of giving up your kill.

To top it off, it took you much less than a week to learn that the Dragon Lands wasn’t the friendliest kingdom to live in and it was today that you decided you wanted to be in the company of more civilized creatures. You’ve already been approached by some obnoxious dragons who were always waiting for the chance to harass you. They haven’t caused you much trouble yet, but that was only because Dragon Lord Ember and Imperium kept a good eye on you.

You were grateful that the dragon rulers had your back, since you were a bit of a pacifist and preferred to avoid getting into trouble with the dragons around you. After all, the Blue Angels was purely a team for flight demonstration and entertainment, therefore, you didn’t have to go out to battle. Persuading your mother to support your career would have been much harder if you had decided to enlist as a Navy soldier instead.

“I see you’ve caught something new today,” a voice friendlier than what you usually heard around here said. Turning around after swallowing another chunk of your cooked cockatrice meat, you see Imperium’s father walking towards you. Like his son, he too had been altered by the scepter in order to withstand the harsh conditions of the dragon lands. Furthermore, alongside Ember’s father the previous dragon lord, Torch, he currently served as one of the royal advisors and even the testiest dragons respect his authority and started calling him the Great Dragon Elder.

“New, but not as unpleasant as the food at dinner,” you said with a chuckle. You offered the middle-aged dragon hybrid one of the cockatrice you had yet to eat, something few dragons around here would even consider. The Great Dragon Elder accepted it and took a bite out of it, munching on its cooked carcass.

“Here’s the problem, it wasn’t cooked all the way,” he said, grinning before fixing the problem with a nice breath of light orange fire. Blushing a bit at your simple mistake, you also breathed some flames onto the cockatrice. When Ember transformed you, you gained the ability to breathe blue flames, which were possibly the hottest flames and last time, you ended up disintegrating a slab of meat and got some of the ashes all over Ember’s face. Such a mistake infuriated her to the point where she chased you throughout the dragon lands for 3 solid hours.

Mistakes are to learn from, as this time you made sure to be extra careful not to breathe more fire than necessary. You and the Dragon Elder finally got the cockatrice cooked up right this time and it tasted a lot better this time.

“With all due respect, I’m sure you didn’t come here simply to help me with eating,” you theorized, before taking another bite.

“You’re right, we’ve noticed how unhappy you seem to be around here. In fact, you hardly stay in your room at all and instead spend the night staring into the distance until you fall asleep. At the same time, I’ve paid attention to how much you enjoy being in the sky. I expect no less from a member of the Blue Angels. That’s why we’ve decided to do a little searching for a place we know you would be welcome,” the Dragon Elder said.

“What did you have in mind?” you asked.

“Ever heard of a place called Cloudsdale and this place called the Wonderbolts Academy?” the Great Dragon Elder asked.

“No, what are they like?” you asked, feeling your curiosity get the better of you. To answer you, the elder pulled a flyer out from his robe and gave it to you.

“See for yourself,” he answered. Looking at the flyer, your eyes flung eyed open. The flyer showed a picture of what looked like humanoid ponies in blue and yellow uniforms posing as an elite flying team. You only needed one look to figure out these were residents of Equestria.

“How did I not hear about this before?” you asked, unable to tear your eyes away from the poster due to being drunk with fascination.

“Because this entire time, my son has been persuading the leader, Spitfire into trying something new and take in an unfamiliar recruit. He went so far as to brag about how you could fly circles around the other recruits in your sleep, which recommended he didn’t do in the first place,” he said, squeezing the bridge of his nose.

“When... When do I start?” you asked, hoping to have at least a few more days to polish your flying skills before departing to the academy. You didn’t know anything about the winged ponies, or pegasi that you saw on the flyer, but you had reasons to believe that many of them could fly longer than your 15 minute limit.

“Even though Captain Spitfire has made an exception in allowing you into the academy, she’s not being so lenient about the beginning of your training. You like all the other recruits, have 2 weeks before the academy opens up,” he said. Swallowing the last bit of his cockatrice, the Great Dragon Elder stood up and he patted you on the shoulder. “Think about it.”

Once he was done talking to you, he flew back to the castle, leaving you to gather your thoughts on what you should do. Looking at the flyer which was still in your hands, your first thought was to jump at this opportunity since the thought of flying with an elite team thrilled you more than anything else. The only problem you had to work out was the limited amount of time you could stay airborne.

‘If I’m gonna have any chance of proving that I’m qualified enough to join the Wonderbolts, I’m gonna need some help from the experts. But the question is… who do I ask for help? Imperium and Ember are too busy with their kids, and I have a feeling Imperium’s father can’t exactly fly that far either. Guess that leaves Torch as my only option,’ you thought.

After repeatedly flapping your wings in preparation for take off, you soared high into the air with a big leap and flew back to the castle. Retired or not, Torch could be a stubborn old dragon, but you were going to be extra persistent in asking for his guidance.

As a pilot, you never thought such an ironic event of asking for flight lessons would happen, let alone from a creature that is mythical back in your world. Every day for the last 2 weeks, you got very little peace from Torch’s harsh coaching. But thanks to your endurance and his expert teaching methods, you finally exceeded your 15 minute flight limit and instead, you now had the ability to fly for a whole hour. However you were surprised that before you left, Imperium told you that the Wonderbolt elites could surpass such an amount of time.

Flapping your mighty wings, you took in the nice, cool air that blew in your face as you soared. You smiled confidently, excited for the opportunity to finally relive your dream as a performer of the air. With another strong flap, you slightly picked up speed and couldn’t stop yourself from licking your lips out of excitement.

There was an obvious difference between the sky around the kingdom of Equestria and that of the Dragon Lands. The smoke which you often spotted in the atmosphere whether from the volcanoes or the resident dragons, was nowhere to be seen. Instead, the sky was a nice, clean shade of blue with a few white fluffy clouds. Very soon however, clouds weren’t the only thing in your line of sight.

‘Well... this is it,’ you thought, looking down to see a training camp being supported by the clouds below it. You didn’t have time to wonder how it was possible to build on top of a cloud, as you were on the clock. Squinting your eyes, you could see a yellow pegasus mare with a fiery orange and yellow mane and tail wearing an officer’s uniform. Standing beside her, were two muscular stallion pegasi, one had gray fur and the other had white.

Descending onto the cloud concrete, you got an even better look at the yellow pegasus and instantly recognized her as the Wonderbolts’ captain featured on the flyer, Spitfire. The mare raised an eyebrow, clearly not that impressed that she now had a dragon trying out for the team. For all you knew, she was probably displeased that you were the last trainee to arrive.

“So, you’re the newbie the dragon emperor’s husband told me about. Get in line with the rest of the newbies and await my commands,” she ordered in a tone that was very close to yelling. If Spitfire was the kind of captain her uniform told you she was, then she would be shouting at you and the other recruits really soon.

“Speak when you’re spoken to, newbie!” she scolded, confirming your theory.

“Ma’am, yes ma’am!” you frantically replied and saluted before you got in line with the others. Unlike Spitfire, your fellow recruits displayed interest that the Wonderbolts now had a dragon in the academy, even if half of you was still human. However when a whistle was loudly blown, you all gave Spitfire your attention like you should have from the start.

“So you all came here to earn your place in the Wonderbolts. You think you’re qualified to be an elite flyer?” the captain asked, walking from one end of the line of recruits to the other.

“Yes ma’am!” we all shouted in unison.

“Well, as I tell all my recruits: no matter how hard you worked to get here, no matter how much you think you’re qualified to be on the team... you’re NOT!” Spitfire yelled, her mood rapidly changing as she got into the face of a stallion rookie, who was now trembling. “You all will learn the hard way just like I did that you’d already be on the team if you were worthy of the position!”

‘Wow, a hothead and a hardhead,’ you thought to yourself. Unfortunately your thoughts didn’t provide as much safety as you thought, as Spitfire noticed you were smirking a little.

“Something funny, dragon?! If you think this is a place for comedians, you might as well get out of my sight while you still have the chance!” You immediately straightened your expression, not wanting to humiliate yourself any further. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

Now that you thought about it you couldn’t honestly blame Spitfire for acting like a drill sergeant. From what you saw on the flyer, the Wonderbolts were looking for talented flyers for stunt shows, but it wasn’t all fun and games. You understood that as the captain, Spitfire had the responsibility of making sure each recruit, finished their training understanding the risks that come with being on the team. Should a member not take their job seriously during a performance, their carelessness could lead to serious injury to both themselves and others.

Besides, now that you had a good look at her, Captain Spitfire was kind of pretty. It was hard to do so from a distance since she wore sunglasses, but when she got in your face, you noticed her eyes were a nice shade of orange, matching the color of her mane and tail. Also while you were normally a well-mannered man, you noticed she had a pretty nice pair of...

‘What are you doing man, snap out of it! Looking like a comedian is one thing, but it’ll be impossible to live down looking like a pervert!’ you mentally scolded yourself, somehow managing to keep a straight face despite your thoughts. Thankfully, no one had suspected you.

“First thing’s first you slackers, you call this proper way to stand at attention?!” Spitfire yelled and came up to a mare to point out the first mistake. “Legs together!” Not wanting to push her captain any further, the poor mare put her legs together like she was told. Spitfire then went to the stallion standing beside the mare rookie. “Arms down!” she yelled and he corrected himself just as quickly.

It wasn’t long until she reached you again and got up in your face. “Got anything left in that funny bone of yours to make you crack that smirk again, private? I’ve lost count of many recruits who have either dropped out or have been dismissed, so feel free to add yourself to the list whenever you feel like it!” she urged. While it wasn’t pleasant to get yelled at, it would take more than this to make you leave.

“No ma’am! I don’t plan on going anywhere, ma’am!” you declared and Spitfire gave you a small smile, showing she was at least somewhat impressed with your response.

“Good, then if there are no quitters, you can put yourselves to use by giving me 50 laps around the track... NOW!!!” she yelled before blowing her whistle so quickly, none of you had any time to complain. Personally, you wouldn’t have protested even if you had the option, as this was clearly not the most difficult exercise you’d be doing for your training.

As you completed your first lap, you silently thanked Imperium for giving you the chance to relive the career you absolutely loved so much.