“Welcome to the Wonderbolts Academy, where you can blah the blah blah blah.”
Said a less-than-enthusiastic receptionist. A wad of gum was stuck between the receptionist’s teeth. He had a bored look over his eyes, which, must have developed from hearing about Equestria’s best fliers brag about themselves too much.
The receptionist looked at his client, who had a grey complexion in his fur, cautious and deep red eyes, and a red and black striped messy mane. His tail was no neater than his mane, and consisted of the same two colors. He reminded the receptionist of someone, but the receptionist decided he wouldn’t rather think about it. Nothing too interesting, decided the receptionist, looking back down at what had been reading before.
Talon was nervously rubbing a hoof on the back of his neck. He didn’t know what to expect, nor what to do, and what the Wonderbolts Academy was really about. The Academy had been recommended by his mentor, but his mentor didn’t give much information about. The receptionist was also being less than as helpful as Talon wanted him to be. Instead, there was a bit of awkward silence for Talon as the receptionist looked over a magazine, with the receptionist’s back leg hooves on his desk and a very laid back position in his chair.
The receptionist looked up from his magazine. “What, what the hell are you still doing here? Get outta here! You want me to spoon feed you all o’ this? Didn’t ya read your pamphlet before joining this here academy?”
Talon shook his head.
An angry and irritated look rose from the receptionist’s features. Before the receptionist could conjure any insults, a voice called from behind the receptionist, up the stairs.
“It’s alright, Shell, I’ll take care of him.”
Talon lifted his head to see the voice. A stallion with dense green eyes looked back at him. His mane and tail were combinations of different shades of green. His fur was a rough and uneven lapis color. He had a carefree smile, and a likeable and friendly appearance.
The receptionist didn’t even look up. Talon only heard an “Umph” and a flip of paper from the receptionist before following the other stallion upstairs.
“So, how do you like the academy?” said Veer, the stallion who had greeted him at the receptionist’s room and proceeded to give him a tour of the entire place. They passed by the Grand hall, the showers, the meeting grounds, the mess hall, the living quarters, the racing tracks and obstacle courses, the training center. Oh, and the bar. From past experience, Talon knew he should avoid that area. Besides, it was for the older veterans here anyways, those who were leaving or graduating to the Ace. The Ace was the actual battleground for becoming a Wonderbolt, where only the fastest fliers, the best maneuvers and tricks, and the most agile pegasi can compete to become part of the team.
“It’s impressive, I suppose.” replied Talon. Talon enjoyed the small tour of the academy. On the way around, Talon had observed that Veer was a little, quirky?, and gave a rather enthusiastic showing of the Wonderbolts Academy. Nevertheless, Talon enjoyed Veer’s company, and was grateful he had saved him from his awkward talk in the receptionist’s room.
Veer snorted. “Obviously not THAT impressive if that’s all you can say about it. Come on, it’s getting late. I’ll show you where you’ll be staying for the night. Maybe we could grab a snack at the-”
“Hey look, its Veer and his newbie squad.”
Talon turned around to see a few mares and stallions trotting across the walkway, heading towards him and Veer. He saw them, and knew from their look that they were up to no good. An arrogant smile, condescending tone, head held high and chest puffed out. He knew the look from a very specific sibling.
“What’s up, Veer? Still giving the diaper patrol around our Academy?” said a stallion, who had dark features and an icy blue striped mane with rigid designs.
“Back off, Thunderlane, I’m not looking for any trouble right now. All I want to do is-”
“All you want to do is give the new guys a hard time and the new girls an even harder one, isn’t that right, you perv?” said Thunderlane.
Veer steadied himself on his four hooves and slowly approached Thunderlane. They stared into each other’s eyes, without breaking contact. Veer walked up to him until they were within hoof distance, and they remained that way for a short period of time. Talon saw a glean in Veer’s eyes that he recognized to be a pulse of adrenaline. Veer breathed started to breathe heavily, his eyes narrowing. Talon knew things were about to get ugly, unless someone intervened.
“Come on Thunder, just back off.” said a mare to his right. The mare had cyan fur and a striking rainbow striped mane and tale. Her eyes were a gentle amethyst. “It’s not worth it. What’s the fun in giving a newbie a hard time?”
“What, don’t tell me you have a crush on him, Rainbow Dash?” replied Thunderlane, a small mischievous glint in his eyes.
He must’ve known that Rainbow Dash pretty well, or at least well enough to know how to get under her skin. The mare started to glow red in her cheeks, her eyes narrowing. “With the newbie? HELL, NO.”
Thunderlane gave a small smirk. “No, I meant Veer.”
“With that bastard? Who the HELL do you think I am, Thunder? Don’t mention something like that.” said the rainbow colored mare.
Veer, obviously hurt from the comment, turned his attention from Thunderlane to Rainbow Dash. “Who would want to go out with someone as slow as Dash?”
The mare completely lost it. She dashed (whoops, made a pun) towards Veer and latched a hoof onto his collar. “You wanna run that through me again?”
Veer, surprised at her speed yet acting not intimidated, replied, “I bet my colt Talon, here, can beat you in a head on head race.” he said, gesturing to Talon.
The mare looked at Talon. “Is that true, newbie? You think you can beat The Best Young Flyer of all of Equestria?”
Talon stammered and rubbed the back of his neck with his hoof, not realizing how he quickly he became the center of the argument. The gentle amethyst in the mare’s eyes quickly turned into a raging storm of color. “W- well, I- I’m honestly not really-”
“Of course he could beat a wingpony like you!” interrupted Veer, who pressed his hooves into Talons shoulders, pushing him forward. “And after he’s done, he says he’ll be cleaning the track with you!”
The mare glared directly into Talon’s eyes. “Well, then, you’re on! Tomorrow, 10 AM, on the main course, and don’t be late.” she said, before turning away and heading towards the living quarters.
After they were gone, Veer turned to Talon and said, “That went better than expected.”
“How the hell did that go better than expected? Were you expecting a full on brawl that would end up getting us all killed?” asked Talon, overwhelmed with new events and struggling to find a logical and calm place in all of the chaos.
“Kinda.” replied Veer, simply.
“Celestiadammit, you’re trying to get me killed Veer, aren’t you? How the hell am I supposed to get through all of the crap you set me up with tomorrow? It’s my first day, and I can’t understand half of the crap that happened today.” Talon swore.
Veer said, “Well, are you a decent flier?” Talon gave somewhat of a half nod. “In that case, problem solved. Just beat Rainbow Dash, the mare who has 17 different academy records. It won’t be that hard.” Talon glared at Veer.
Veer wrapped a hoof around Talon’s neck. “Look, kid, it’s not that bad. All you have to do is embarrass yourself completely in tomorrow’s race, face a few death threats from a mare, and not end up getting kicked out of the academy for how badly you performed against that said mare. Things could be worse.”
Talon shrugged off Veer’s hoof. “Well, when you put it that way, you seem like more of a foal than I had originally thought.” Talon trot towards the living quarters, not even waiting for Veer.
“You need help finding your room? Its number 117!” called Veer.
“Go buck yourself.” was the only reply Veer got.
[size=16][size=14] Some days, it’s easy to wake up early. You’re bright with optimism, have a lot planned for the day, and are confident that you can get through it. Without any hesitation.
Today wasn’t that kind of day for Talon. He had fallen asleep flat on his stomach the previous day, and hadn’t bothered to look around the apartment. He had thought that his roommate was either out, or was asleep under his covers. It had been too dark to see anything anyways. Today, he was woken up by the sound of the showers. He tried to close his eyes, and go back to sleep, but when he started dozing off again, he heard the door open.
“Hey, you gotta get ready for your race today!”
When Talon heard the voice, he groaned and turned over, raising a hoof to punch that voice. He was expecting the voice to be Veer. It was not Veer.
“Gr- Ow… What the hell was that for?” said the lightning yellow stallion who was lying flat on the ground and rubbing the sore spot on his cheek.
“S- sorry, I thought you were someone else.” said Talon to the stallion. “Say, who are you anyways?”
The stallion sat back up, still rubbing the spot with his springy snow white hair waving around. “I’m your roommate, Sleetsnow. Just call me Sleet for short.” said the stallion, in a way that made it sound like he had known Talon a long time before. Sleet was comfortable meeting new people, even if it was that the new people punched him in his face. Sleet sniffed the air. “Go take a shower, you smell like you rolled in dung before you fell asleep.”
Talon groaned. “How do you know about the race anyways?”
“What race? You mean the one Veer invited everyone to watch?”
Talon groaned again. “You mean that foal actually invited everybody to watch it?”
“Yea! He started spreading pamphlets and everything! He even reserved the main racetrack for you guys to use!” Sleet flashed Talon with a mischievous smile.
Talon groaned for a third time.
“No, but seriously. Go take a shower, Talon. You smell like mule shit.”
By the time Talon and Sleet had made it to the mess hall for breakfast, it was already packed. Although the hall was especially large, a hundred pegasi or so had been stuffed into the little room. It was hot, and Talon hated heat. Plus, he was already sweating anyways from the implications of that day. On the way in, he saw a few ponies from the other day. So, no one good. Rainbow Dash, Thunderlane, and some other ponies were at a table chatting. Luckily, they didn’t see Talon. The receptionist was there as well, holding up a small line of ponies, probably flirting with some of the servers. However, Veer had seen them, and was starting to make his way towards him. Talon whispered to Sleet to start walking away slowly, but instead, Sleet caught Talon’s shoulder, holding him still, and waved Veer over.
“Hey, what’s up Sleet and Talon?” said Veer, with a mischevious smile. “You like the new decorations I put up?”
“Look, Veer, I really don’t want to talk to you, especially after what happened last night, and… what the hell are you talking about when you say decorations?” Talon said while looking around. All over the entire mess hall were fliers and posters that depicted a rather messy and quick sketch of Talon and Rainbow Dash facing off, with large letters at the bottom of the posters that read- THE RACE OF THE CENTURY! A BATTLE BETWEEN RAINBOW DASH AND TALON!
Talon facehoofed. You really are trying to get me killed, aren’t you, Veer?
“Hey, look who it is? The newbie that EVERYPONY’s talking about!”
Talon turned around and found himself facing Dash and her little gang. Thunderlane, with a smirk, walked up to Talon, leaning in close, and whispered, “You should have stayed home today, Talon. You’re as good as dead now.”
Talon rubbed the back of his neck with his hoof and tried his best to put on a smile, but smiles don’t come so easily when you’re facing imminent death. Especially at a crazy mare’s hoofs.
Trying to make the best out of a nonsensical situation, Talon backed up and said, “Look, I don’t want to race you. This is just all a misunderstanding.” Talon realized that if he could explain to Thunderlane and Dash that the whole idea of the race was just a mistake and a crazy idea of Veer’s, then he wouldn’t have to race Rainbow Dash and would be able to avoid the entire situation and dying. Problem solved.
But before he could try to explain himself and attempt to correct the conundrum, a voice called out from behind Dash.
“Hey! Stop swarming the newbies! Give them a bit of room! We don’t wanna intimidate any of ‘em!” They all faced towards the direction of the voice, and saw the head of the Wonderbolts Academy. Spitfire.
“C’mon Thunderlane and Dash, we need more ponies in the Academy! Decent fliers in Equestria are getting more and more rare!” said Spitfire, who was very familiar with the way that veterans of her academy dealt with newcomers. “If you keep on scaring them off, I won’t… Hey, wait a sec, don’t I know you, kid?” she said, looking directly at Talon.
Talon was afraid she might recognize him. “No, you must have mis-
“Don’t be silly, of course I know you!” said Spitfire, her face lighting up. “You’re Fleetfoot’s little trainee!”
A small gasp escaped from Rainbow and her crew.
Talon gave a weak smile. He wasn't one for bragging, but he would be lying if he said that he didn't feel a small amount of content from the surprise that grew from Dash's eyes.
However, Spitfire was unaware of Talon's predicament, and obliviously made the situation worse for him.
"That reminds me of the little bet me and Fleetfoot had!" said Spitfire, her grin getting larger as she talked. "Fleetfoot had been bragging about the process and boring stuff that her trainee had been making, and I got a little tired of her bragging, so I offered her a chance for her to prove herself. We had quite a few bits floating around, so we decided to place a small bet on a little race between Fleetfoot's trainee, that is, you, and whoever I picked from my Academy to go up against you."
Spitfire turned to Rainbow Dash and said, "And I choose you to go against Talon as part of my bet."
Rainbow Dash had a stunned face after Spitfire had turned to her. She had to process quite a bit of information, mainly that her archrival being a trainee of one of the fastest pegasi alive and that her rolemodel had first picked her to be the one who represented her in a bet. "M-Me?" said Rainbow Dash, jumbling her words. She felt a bit awkward and stupid for saying that.
Spitfire gave her a reassuring smile, one of the first times she's ever done that as a coach. "Of course!" she said, while putting a hoof on one of Rainbow's shoulders. "Rainbow, you've proven time after time that you'd be the best first pick as a new wonderbolt. Not only that, but you have shown an incredible amount of tenacity and courage. So when I say that you have the guts to beat this spineless son of a gun, then you have the guts to beat this spineless son of a gun! Understand?"
Was she talking about me? thought Talon. He started to walk away from Spitfire and Rainbow Dash, feeling rather unwanted and intruding. Maybe that bet between Spitfire and Fleetfoot wasn't as friendly as he had originally thought.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash had regained her composure and rebalanced herself. She looked at Spitfire, confidently, and said, "Don't worry, coach, I won't let you down!"
As Talon was walking away, Sleet and Veer walked alongside him, sneering as they made their way to get some breakfast. "Sometimes, I don't know whether you guys are trying to be my friends or trying to be the cause of my death."[/size][/size]
