Author's Note

Here you go, everyone. Chapter 2 is now ready. I hope the work we put into this was to your satisfaction and if it is, feel free to follow NineTailBeastBall for a splendid job well done. Anyways, thank you for your patience and support, remember to stay tuned and brony on.

The First Dragon Recruit

You stared up at the ceiling of the academy barracks, barely able to keep your eyes open after all you’ve done for your first day of Wonderbolt training. You didn’t dare move your wings, which have become sore from all the flying exercises. It’s clear that you were tired, as under normal circumstances, you would’ve thought twice before foolishly lying on your back when both of your wings are aching.

Even with the torment that your wings were going through, you managed to crack a smile since you wouldn’t go to bed with these negative results forever. You planned to stay here at the academy and continue with the training. With patience, the pain will linger less and less and you’ll be able to perform more efficiently. And with a little luck, you might be able to impress that drill sergeant who you secretly have the hots for.

Some ponies think it’s futile to try and win Spitfire’s affection due to the fact that she’ll drive any stallion crazy with her barking orders all the time. But you’re not gonna listen to them just because she’s a bit on the temperamental side, at least while she’s on job. If anything, you had a particular soft spot for ladies who are strong-hearted like Spitfire.

Anyway, today the recruits were scheduled for a machine called the Dizzitron, but the exercise had to be put on hold until tomorrow due to technical difficulties. Truth be told, the gadget started falling apart before any of you got an explanation as to how it works. However, just from the name, you could tell that once the Dizzitron was fixed, you’d be in for a wild ride.

Unable to bare with the pain of laying on your wings, you finally turned over to lay on your side. You sighed at the great change in comfort and closed your eyes to get a well-deserved rest. Something you would need, since training starts at 0600 hours. That means when it was time to wake up, then you’d only have an hour to get ready and have breakfast. Thank god you were used to those conditions.

Just as your brain turned off for the night, your eyes opened back up as you heard two stallions talking to each other. Even though they were whispering, you could still make out that they were amusing themselves by talking about Spitfire’s... assets. These were definitely the immature delinquents of this year’s recruits.

“Can you believe she can fly with those things? I’m surprised she hasn’t broken her back even after being a Wonderbolt for so long,” one of the stallions said, getting a snicker out of his companion and then joining him in the snicker.

“I hear ya man, I’ll bet she’s a regular one night stand, not that I’m into her or anything,” this other stallion whispered.

With the natural aggression of a dragon kicking in again, you began to growl because of how disrespectful they were being. However, you calmed down remembering that fighting amongst your fellow Wonderbolts was strictly prohibited. Plus, you had fangs and claws now and attacking these stallions could lead to you causing injuries that would land you in prison. But there’s still one way to get back at ‘me for what they said about her. All it requires is pushing the right buttons

You weren’t given the best wake up call, for the moment the clock hit 6, all the recruits had their slumber ruined when a loud trumpet was blown over the speakers. In fact, a few recruits fell out of their beds, unprepared to be woken up in such a manner. You were one of the recruits who didn’t fall off the beds, considering your previous experience of the training you went through back in the Navy.

Getting out of bed, you stretched and made your way to get dressed before breakfast. You even made time for your daily hygiene routine. After that, you left for the mess hall with the others and it’s there that you saw Spitfire eating alongside some of her most trusted Wonderbolts. Recruits had to sit in separate tables, unless they either ask permission politely or if the officials offer you to join them.You took a chance and approached Spitfire.

“Permission to sit next to you, captain?” you asked.

“Granted, private,” she said without even turning to look at you. You frowned at such a flat answer, but sat down nonetheless. “You sure got a lot of guts for asking to sit next to your superior, private. Any reason why?”

“Come on, captain, you don’t gotta be mean to him outside of the training grounds,” one of the other ponies said.

“I was just asking what his reason was for asking to sit with me,” Spitfire snarled.

“Well, I just felt like I wanted to give you some company. And there’s a pretty interesting story I wanted to share with you.” You decided to take a bite of your food before going into detail. Even though dragons are carnivores, half of you was still human, so you could eat the vegetables that were being served.

“A story, huh? Surprise me if you think you can, private.”

“First thing’s first, what were to happen if a private were to talk disrespectfully about their commanding officer behind their back?” you asked.

“As if you even have to ask, I’d make ‘em do a total of 200 push-ups... while I sit on their back,” Spitfire said, smirking.

“And she’d call them out for talking bad behind her back. Call them wusses or something much more embarrassing.” Turning to find the voice, you saw a stallion pegasus with pale light blue coat and a dark blue mane coming over to your table. Accompanying him was a light arctic blue mare with a clean, white mane and a smug smile that somewhat irritated you a little. You remembered to keep your emotions in check.

“Why bring up the subject, did some of the recruits talk smack about me?” Spitfire asked, furrowing her brow. You thought about what you should do, wondering if it would be really childish to snitch on a couple of your teammates. If you let their foolishness continue, there’s a chance Spitfire would catch them herself. On the other hand, there was also a chance they’d find a way to keep this up and not be found out about it. And defiling a captain, especially a mare is something you hated the most.

“Uh...” you said, looking foolish since you couldn’t make a decision. Soon, you went with your clean conscience and whispered what had transpired last night in the bunkers. Right away, Spitfire’s confident smirk changed into a snarling scowl and she crushed her cup of water.

“Uh, private... you might want to head back with the other recruits. Trust me, you don’t want to get in the way when she’s this pissed off,” Soarin warned. You nodded and grabbed your tray, then headed off to sit with your teammates. You made a wise choice to stay away from the two stallions who you just sold out.

Now that the repairs for the Dizzitron were finished, you and the other trainees were ordered to fly a few laps before you got the chance to try out the contraption. With one last, powerful flap you landed back on the field, wondering who would be called up first. Truth be told, if this machine did what you think it did, it shouldn’t be too different from the spins you did when you used tp performed in a Blue Angels jet.

“Line up and pay attention, maggots! Yesterday, we faced an unfortunate malfunction with the Dizzitron, but that won’t happen again. Spin-outs are possible for even the Wonderbolts, who are some of the fastest and most talented flyers in the land. That being said, joining the team includes being able to recover quickly.” Nodding to her assistant, the stallion pulled off a large sheet, exposing the recently repaired Dizzitron.

“To train you to fly straight as soon as you can, each of you rookies will be rotated on the Dizzitron and released only after becoming very dizzy. Once you recover, you must come in for a nice, smooth landing. Only a recruit who can be trained to regain their senses in no more than 6 seconds can truly be trusted to be a Wonderbolt.”

Now that Spitfire’s instructions were clear, she scanned the line to decide who would be first. Half of you, wanted to raise your hand volunteering to start things off, but your captain decided on a light gray mare who was looking at the Dizzitron with terror.

“You’re first,” she said, but the mare flew over rather slowly. “TODAY!” The random mare squeaked in fear and hurried up to get on the Dizzitron. You let out a soft growl that Spitfire didn’t hear, thankfully. Your dragon instincts might’ve went unnoticed now, but there’s always a chance you would get caught if you did it again.

Once the mare once strapped in, Spitfire ordered her employee to turn the machine on. Looking over, you saw three images: on the left was a turtle, the middle was a rabbit, and the right side was the image of a pair of wings with a skull in the middle. Piecing it together, you theorized that the images left to right, were the slowest to highest speeds.

Once the stallion pulled a lever, the Dizzitron began to rotate the mare. While your teammates had their eyes on the machine, you looked over at the power source and saw that the arrow was pointing to the image of the turtle. Even at its slowest speed, the Dizzitron was still moving remarkably fast.

“RELEASE!” Spitfire shouted. The mare was quickly thrown off and traveled straight through the air at blazing speeds. You all watched as she struggled to regain control through all the dizziness and eventually settled to a complete stop back on the ground. “Hmm, 11 seconds, not bad for a rookie.”

‘Seems simple enough, no pressure,’ you thought, tightening your fists.

“Alright dragon, it’s your turn,” Spitfire said. Unlike the poor pegasus who was making her way back in line as if she was drunk, you didn’t hesitate to get on the Dizzitron. “Don’t lose your breakfast, private, because we’re about to increase the speed of this bad boy! Sure that won’t be a problem for a dragon of your caliber.”

“Ready and waiting, ma’am!” you agreed with a salute before putting your goggles on. Soon, the Dizzitron started and everything around you was spinning gradually fast. Nevertheless, you focused very hard and waited on her command to be set free.

“RELEASE!” Spitfire shouted. And just like that, you were sent spinning through the air wildly, but quickly recovered and did a barrel roll before flying back quickly and landed on the ground with your wings still extended as if you were showing off and your piercing dragon eyes going quite well with your confident smirk. “Hmm, not bad, rookie. With 7 seconds, you almost beat the record time, but almost isn’t good enough.”

You growled at how frustrating it was that you were just ONE lousy second too late from making the record time.

“Ah, quit your snarling. At least you’re not a slouch like I thought you were, now fall back in line with the others, private!” Spitfire ordered. Calming down because of the sudden praise, you did as you were told. “Alright, so who’s next?”

One by one, you watched the rest of the rookies as they all got tormented by the incredible speed of the Dizzitron. While all of them managed to recover before landing, not one of them did so in less than 6 seconds. The last pony to get launched into the sky was a mare with a crimson coat and a dark blue mane. She managed to land after 9 seconds and was left with spinning pupils like the rest of her teammates.

“Alright maggots, that’s a wrap on the Dizzitron for today, but I recommend you get used to being dizzy, as this isn’t the last time we’ll be putting you on the machine. To make sure each of you become Wonderbolt material, you’ll be split into pairs for the next set of training exercises on our famous air obstacle course! Teams will be decided in exactly one hour, until then return to your bunks to await further instructions!” You all saluted the captain and walked back to your rooms like you were told. Everyone except for you, as you stopped when Spitfire called your name.

“I better not get any more growls out of you, private. I’ve made it very clear that the Wonderbolts must keep their emotions in check, we’re not training rebels. If you’re listening, I’m sure you can understand why we usually don’t let dragons enter our ranks. If you don’t want to set a bad example for the ones who made it possible for you to be here, control yourself, got it?”

“Yes, ma’am,” you sighed, followed with a salute.

“Good. Now off you go,” she said.

Walking back to your bunk, you knew that whether it was intentional or not, Spitfire was going to take your aggression into account when deciding your partner. You knew you’ll have to keep your agitation under control. Ember, Imperium and the others were kind enough to talk Spitfire into letting you join the academy. One wrong move and it’ll all be shot to hell. So, in order to keep your cool, you resorted to picturing a beautiful beach while simultaneously doing your breathing exercises.

As you thought, your aggressive behavior didn’t go without some kind of consequence. When forming teams of two for the obstacle course exercises, Spitfire carefully decides who should be the leader and who will be the wing. Not trusting you with being in charge because of your behavior, you were denied the position. On the other hand, your partner was the sweet crimson mare who was chosen last for the Dizzitron. You saw on the wall that her name was Wind Rose.

Going to Spitfire’s office for an explanation, you learned that her reasons for pairing you up with Wind Rose had nothing to do with her having the second best score on the Dizzitron. Your captain told you during the short time she’s known Wind Rose, she could tell she was the most level-headed of this year’s recruits. Being paired up with someone so calm, would help you keep your dragon instincts in control and prevent you from causing another scene.

You didn’t complain about it and just thanked her for the explanation and saluted her before joining up with Wind Rose in the air obstacle course. She was wearing a gold Wonderbolt pin, signaling she was the leader, while your pin was silver, showing you as her partner. To get the attention of any cadets who weren’t paying attention, one of Spitfire’s employees blew a trumpet, only for it to get smacked out of his hand after he accidentally blew it in his captain’s face.

“I hate it when you do that...” she grumbled before turning her attention to all of you. “Okay rookies, as opposed to what you might have expected, you won’t have to worry about time for this exercise. Here on the obstacle course, you will be tested on your flying under extreme circumstances.” Indeed as you looked around, you saw many ways to get hurt here on the obstacle course. This was definitely no playground.

“Everypony, get on your marks!” Spitfire concluded, blowing her whistle and you tagged behind Wind Rose as she took off at the edge of the field. It wasn’t long before you were forced to stop, having approached one of the many devices on the obstacle course. For this one specifically, you could see employees pouring some kind of a liquid into the machine, creating pink clouds to block you. Looking at one of the teams who weren’t being as careful as you and Wind Rose, you saw that these clouds were particularly sticky.

“Hey, I’ve seen how it takes some time to tear your eyes off the captain. There something about her that interests you?” Wind asked, managing to start a conversation once you made it through the pink clouds. Since you were already facing another challenge with a machine firing blasts of pressurized air, you waited to answer until after you were safe.

“Damn, you’ve got sharp eyes...” you groaned. “If you can keep a secret, I guess you could say I like ladies who are strong-hearted and straight-forward whenever they’re reprimanding and being honest. I even dig a lady in a high-ranked uniform. My only concern is whether or not she’s taken.”

Wind giggled at how much you were admitting, but the laughter stopped as the two of you flew into a storm cloud. You both flapped a little harder to endure the powerful wind being blown in your direction, while at the same time making sure not to get separated. After all, the teams have been warned they would be disqualified if they didn’t fly together.

“You gonna ask her out, Casanova?” Wind Rose asked once you made it through the storm and headed toward some hoops.

“When the time is right, I gotta plan how I’m gonna do it after all,” you confirmed. Making your way through the last hoop, you prepared to land. You and Wind were neither the first nor the last team to finish, but Spitfire already told you it wasn’t a race. Even with it not being a competition, you were still panting quite hard from how much effort you had to put. The captain wasn’t kidding when she said you would be tested on your endurance.

“Looking through my telescope, I could see you two were doing a bit of talking when you should have been paying attention the whole time. Wanna fill me in?” Spitfire asked, looking somewhat displeased. You looked at Wind Rose, hoping she wouldn’t make you look stupid by confessing your interest in Spitfire around the other trainees.

“It was just some... friendly advice I was giving him for his... anger issues, you know like meditation and breathing exercises and all that,” she said, covering for you. Judging from how your captain looked at you squinting, she wasn’t that convinced.

“Get to the mess hall and fuel up. I’m far from done with you newbies today,” she ordered and went back to looking at the sky to observe the progress of the teams who haven’t landed yet. Saluting her, you and Wind proceeded to get some lunch, wondering what they would be serving today.

“Thanks for covering for me,” you said as you got your tray.

“You have an unusual taste in mares, but I couldn’t ruin things for you either way. I won’t lie, Spitfire’s attractive in her own way, but not a lot of stallions can handle her. Call it a mare’s intuition, but I think she’s harsh sometimes because she’s hiding her own insecurities.” As the two of you spoke, you sat away from the others and talked quietly. Wind Rose told you just how much she knew about the captain’s love life, making it clear you won’t be the first to ask her out.

“Damn, she really went through that many heartbreaks?” you asked and looked over at Spitfire, who looked the farthest thing from heartbroken as she talked to her employees. One of them in particular got your attention, as she had a unique, rainbow-colored mane, making her stand out above the others.

“Afraid so. On the bright side, while she’s not so successful with romance, she’s still made plenty of friends, including one of Equestria’s best flyers, Rainbow Dash over there. She can get a little full of herself, but she’s very loyal to everypony here. On top of that, she’s even a 1st ranked mom,” Wind said.

“Rainbow Dash has a kid?” you asked.

“Yup, word up here in the clouds is that the boy has inherited his mother’s ego and love of the spotlight, including his father’s courage.” You noticed how Wind Rose just said “boy” instead of “colt” like you had expected.

“What do you mean by “boy”?” you asked, having a good guess where this was going.

“Oh, that’s right, I guess you didn’t know. Rainbow Dash and her friends all married human husbands and as a result, their children are half pony, half human, so we usually call them by “boys” and “girls,” Wind explained. Having met Imperium before coming to over Equestria, you weren’t as surprised about Rainbow Dash’s marriage to a human as you would have been a couple of days ago.

“Wow, I guess you learn something new every day. Anyways, shall we fuel up? I got a feeling this next exercise is gonna really put our skills to the test,” you implied. You were still feeling as sore as you were last night and the day was far from finished. All the more reason, not to go back to your training on an empty stomach.

Now that you were no longer hungry, you and the other cadets were summoned back to the air obstacle course. Though it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out that things would be different this time around. Standing close to your partner as you were instructed, you awaited Captain Spitfire’s instructions.

“At first, I told you guys you wouldn’t have to worry about time out here on the obstacle course. That won’t be the case this time. Instead of all of you maggots flying at one, I’ll be sending out one team at a time to make their way through,” Spitfire said, pausing to take out a timer. “I will be keeping time of each team and you will be forced to keep flying through the obstacle course until you can complete it in under a minute.” Walking side to side, your Wonderbolt drill sergeant here took notice of how sore and tired you all were and scoffed.

“I can’t tell you how important I find it to inform my recruits I’d never ask for something I couldn’t do myself. If you rookies can’t do what’s asked of you regardless of how much pain you’re in, you don’t belong in the Wonderbolts!” she declared. You and Wind Rose were called up first.

“Say what you want ma’am,” you spoke up, getting everyone’s attention. After all, you were talking to the captain. “I told you before, I don’t plan on going anywhere. I’ll keep going even if my whole body aches, ma’am!”

“Save the big talk until AFTER you beat the clock, private. Now... GO!” she shouted simultaneously starting the timer. Having so little time, Wind Rose didn’t stall and did her duty as the leader to get things started. The moment she was off the ground, you took off as well. Your wings shot jolts of pain with every wingbeat, but you clenched your fist and locked your jagged fangs in place.

As hard as it was to tolerate the pain, what was most difficult about flying through the obstacle course was staying with Wind Rose. Just like last time, you were first met by the pink clouds being generated by the employees pouring liquid into the machinery. With the combination of the pink clouds being sticky and your wings aching all over, the chances of avoiding the them are ranging from 30 to 45%. Through some lousy luck, your leg got caught in one of the clouds after it was generated from behind you and if that wasn’t bad enough, Wind Rose was forced to stop due to the rules of having to stay together.

“Dammit...! I got sloppy!” you said, reprimanding yourself.

“Scold yourself later, let’s move!” Wind Rose urged.

With a powerful kick, you managed to free yourself of the sticky cloud and moved on. You made sure you weren’t so careless when it came to your next challenge of getting through the contraption that was releasing waves of pressurized air. It was the next and final task of getting through a bunch of storm clouds, that proved to be the most difficult.

If you had to guess, it’s been about 30 seconds since you started flying. With the powerful winds of these storm clouds blowing against you and Wind Rose, finishing the exercise before your remaining 30 seconds was up was easier said than done. You began to grit your teeth so hard, you feared they might have cracked, or even pierce your gums.

By the time you finished, you weren’t able to do it under a minute. To add insult to injury, Spitfire held up the timer, showing that you arrived fifthteen seconds too late.

“You’ll have to do better than that, private! Stretch out those wings and shake the lead out!” Spitfire shouted, almost causing you to fall down. If anyone was laughing, they weren’t given much time, as the next team got their turn. You took the chance to catch your breath, as even though you and Wind Rose didn’t beat the clock, you wouldn’t be called out again until everyone else got a shot. With the extra time you had, you massaged your wings and stretched them out wide to loosen them up a bit and hopefully get rid of some of the pain.

Besides working out your aching wings, you exploited your break to look at Spitfire as her back was turned. Even after the way she yelled at you, you didn’t feel any differently about your captain here.

‘Spitfire’s got a real rocking bod, that’s for sure,’ you thought. Whether you were looking from in front or behind, you found it almost impossible to tear your eyes away. Eventually, you found the power to look somewhere else before you gave anybody ideas.

Even with your fascination for Spitfire, you paid attention when she gave out the scores. Out of the 5 total teams, only 2 of them made it through the air obstacle course in under a minute. That means until you and the other 2 pairs beat the clock, you wouldn’t be going anywhere. Spitfire walked up to you and Wind Rose, preparing to start her timer again.

“Get ready and... TAKE OFF!” Just like before, Wind Rose unfurled her wings first and you followed suit. As if waiting for you, the Wonderbolts occupying the sticky cloud machine began pouring the liquid to get things started. Mistakes are definitely to learn from, as this time, you looked both back and front to make sure you didn’t get in the clouds from either side. Such caution rewarded you with getting by in less than 15 seconds.

‘So far so good...’ you thought to yourself. Thanks to the massages and stretching you gave your wings, it was slightly easier to maneuver around and fly a little faster, but they still ached anytime you spread them too far.

Just then, while you were flying through the obstacle course, you heard the sound of a machine malfunctioning and make these weird sounds. Turning your attention away towards the sound, you gasped when you saw it was the cloud machine. The whole machine was going haywire, spurting out these lightning storm clouds all over the place. To make things worse, the clouds were going off by themselves, shooting lightning bolts in random directions.

Naturally, Spitfire reacted quickly, sending the cadets to get clear of the lightning. However, when she flew up to get you and Wind Rose, a stray lightning bolt hit her, making her shriek in pain and quickly fall straight down.

“CAPTAIN!!!” you shouted in a panic. Wind Rose gasped and soon you acted on your own, flying down to try and catch her. Wind Rose followed you close behind. It seemed as though Spitfire had lost consciousness from the moment she was struck, as she wasn’t even trying to stop herself from falling.

Without a second thought, you took a huge gamble to save her by folding your wings up for a short time and reached out in front of you as if you were diving. Your trick somehow worked and as a result, you managed to grab Spitfire and spring your wings out wide to slow down. You flapped your wings rapidly a few times when you were just a couple of feet above the ground and made a soft landing.

The other cadets were in shock at the sight of their captain being struck like that and then rescued soon afterwards. It turns out you were right, Spitfire did get knocked out upon electrocution. Of course, that’s not the worst of it. The shock had left her left wing all charred up and smoking. Needless to say, she wouldn’t be flying for some time.

Besides the recruits, Wonderbolts and medics alike gathered around to check up on the captain’s condition.

“Don’t just stand there, get the elite teams to clear the air so I can get her to the hospital! Let’s MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!” you commanded, suddenly talking like you were the captain now. In any case, no one stood against you as you carried Spitfire to the medical room. Her burned wing wasn’t life threatening at the moment, but if you didn’t hurry, the burns would become infected.

Hours went by and as you sat by her bed, you put down the magazine you were reading upon realizing that Spitfire was waking up. A damaged wing was one thing, but if it weren’t for you, she would most likely be dead.

“Ugh... what happened?” Spitfire asked, groaning. “I remember the obstacle course, but after that... my mind’s blank... O-Ouch! What’s up with my wing?!”

“Don’t touch it. You got struck by lightning and almost had your wing struck clean off. Thankfully, the doctors said your wing was still in tact, but you’ll have to take some time off your duties. I managed to catch you just in time before you hit the ground. Just barely,” you explained.

“Y-You... saved me?” Spitfire asked, obviously impressed.

“I wasn’t going to let you just crash out there. You’re too... precious to us,” you said. Spitfire’s expression changed as a blush covered her cheeks. “I know it sounds cheesy, but we couldn’t risk losing such a valuable leader. Despite the harsh training we all went through, you inspired us to become stronger both physically and spiritually. Without you, we wouldn’t be the elite flying team known as the Wonderbolts. Yes, I know some of us are just rookies, but we’re still Wonderbolts nonetheless.”

Spitfire looked surprised to hear how you and the others felt about her accident, but she also felt touched when you told her you rescued her. Looking at her bandaged wing again, she sighed.

“You have my thanks, newbie. Unfortunately, I’ll be forced to have Soarin take over until I get back on my hooves,” she said. Despite your warning, Spitfire couldn’t help lightly poking her left wing and even that slight touch hurt a little bit.

“Hey, if it’s alright, maybe I can come by and check up on you after practice. You deserve that much at least for being a cool leader,” you said with a wink.

“Yeah well, don’t think just because you saved me that this means I’ll be going any easier on you when I get out of here, newbie,” Spitfire said, patting you on the shoulder.

“I hope not, otherwise I’ll be like “okay, what’ve you done with the real Captain Spitfire?” you said jokingly. You shared a good laugh with Spitfire for a while. When she calmed down, she wrapped her arms around you in a passionate hug.

“Thanks for breaking my fall, private. I don’t normally say this cheesy line to anypony but… you’re a real hero,” she whispered before kissing you on the cheek. “Now go on and rest up for tomorrow, newbie.”

After you left the room, you touched the spot where your captain just kissed and slid down the wall you were leaning on. Now sitting on the ground, a single sigh escaped you and you felt pretty lucky. If a rescue won you a kiss from your dream mare, you can only imagine what your hard work will do in her absence. Only time will tell and thank God that you’re a patient man.