Dashing Dreams

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 11
Chapter 10

Chapter 1

Wait! Before you keep reading, this is the 3rd installment in the series. You should read the previous installments so you're not confused:

Ponyville, 7:33 A.M., October 16th, 2012

“Thank you so much for helping me gather all of these frogs, Rainbow Dash.” The two ponies were working together at a small pond on the outskirts of Ponyville. They had gathered nearly a full pond’s worth of frogs, and put them all into baskets. Fluttershy had picked up one basket and began walking off, heading off to the new pond they were relocating the frogs to.

“No problem, Fluttershy. Now all we need to do is bring them to Whitetail Woods.” Rainbow Dash picked up the other basket and joined her. Not too far from where they began walking, Rainbow Dash spotted a poster. It was the unmistakable color scheme that initially caught her attention: sky blue with yellow lightning bolts off to the sides. It was a poster for The Wonderbolts, advertising an upcoming show. Rainbow Dash trotted over and began reading:

Come and see the spectacular Wonderbolts performing at The Cloudisseum. Performance October 24th, one night only. Admission: 2 bits for foals, 4 bits for adults.

Rainbow Dash dropped the basket out of her mouth in her surprise, “I’ve gotta tell Midnight right away!” With that, she spread her wings and flew off as quickly as she could. The frogs came spilling out of the basket and began running away in every direction.

Fluttershy put her basket down. “Oh no, um... please come back little frogs.” She struggled as she tried to get all of the frogs back into the basket.

Rainbow Dash sped through the air, heading straight towards her house. “Midnight! Midnight, wake up!” She stopped and slammed her front door open, and proceeded to fly straight into her bedroom where she crashed into sleeping Midnight. The two flew into her bedroom wall.

“Eh? Rainbow Dash, what’s so important to where you needed to wake me?”

“The Wonderbolts are performing on the 24th! We need to go see them!” The smile on her face reminded him of when she was just a school filly. She made no attempt to hide how much she idolized the flying group.

“Okay, so if I take care of admission fees, will you let me sleep?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Alright, I’ll pay us in when we get there.”

“Oh, thank you thank you thank you thank you!” She dashed out of the room in her excitement.

“Oh thank Celestia.” He fell back down onto the bed. “I love the shit outta that girl, but she needs to know when I need my sleep. Wait, isn’t she supposed to be helping Fluttershy with something or other?” He rolled over in the bed, “*yawn* Oh well, I guess that’s not really my concern.” He then proceeded to roll over and fall back to sleep.

Rainbow Dash had gone into the kitchen after Midnight assured her they would be attending the show. She went to the fridge and pulled out an apple. She set it down on the table and went over to her counter to look at a picture that had been there since her last meeting with The Wonderbolts. It was an autographed picture of Spitfire, their leading member. She was dressed in her full Wonderbolts uniform, with that warm smile on her face. It was signed in the lower right corner, “Always follow your dreams! Spitfire.”

It had been just recently that Rainbow Dash had gotten to know Spitfire... well, officially meet her would be a better description of their relationship. She’d actually saved her life on one occasion, and they had almost gotten to talk again at the Grand Galloping Gala, but that had gone less than well. Still, she had been looking up to Spitfire almost her whole life.

Rainbow Dash was walking down the streets of Cloudsdale. She stumbled across a poster on the wall. It was an advertisement for a show at the Cloudiseum. It read: “Come see the new and spectacular Wonderbolts performing live at the Cloudiseum this week only! Admission: 2 bits for foals, 4 bits for adults.”

Rainbow Dash stared at the poster in amazement. She imagined the amazing tricks and stunts of the majestic ponies soaring through the air. She turned around and flew home as quickly as her wings would take her. She flew up to her house, bursting through the front door. Her parents, who were sitting in the living room, quickly turned around in shock.

“Oh, my goodness. Rainbow Dash, honey, you need to calm down. You almost gave me a heart attack.”

“Sorry mom. I’m just really excited!”

“Excited about what, dear?”

“The Wonderbolts are performing this week at the Cloudiseum! I need to go see them! It’s only 2 bits for kids!”

“I don’t know, honey. Are you sure it will be safe?”

“I’m sure it will be safe, Mom! I promise! Please!”

“Alright, but bring your friend Midnight with you. I just feel more secure if you’re with a friend that I know will keep you safe.” She reached over to her purse and pulled out 4 bits. “Here’s the money to get both of you in.” She handed Rainbow Dash the money who happily accepted it.

“Thank you thank you thank you thank you!” She dashed out of the house but crashed straight into Midnight just a few feet out.

Midnight sat up, shaking his head. “Ow. You’ve gotta be more careful, Dash.”

“Sorry, Midnight. I’m just really exited! We need to get to the Cloudiseum ASAP!”

“Why? What’s so important?”

“A new group called The Wonderbolts is performing all this week, and we need to get tickets now! My mom gave me money to pay us both in!”

“Well that’s pretty cool, but what about Fluttershy?”

“She’s out of Cloudsdale with her family for the week.”

“Oh, oh well. It can be fun with just the two of us.”

“It will, now let’s go get our tickets!” She grabbed his hoof and dragged him down the road. “This is gonna be so awesome!”

They flew all the way down the road until they finally came up to the Cloudiseum. But just as they made it up to the entrance, a pony was putting up a sign in the ticket booth. The sign read: “Sold out”. The two came to a halting stop.

“Aww, no way. They can’t be sold out.”

The older pony seemed to take notice of her dismay. “I’m sorry, all the tickets have been sold. The Wonderbolts are a pretty popular show for such a new group, I’m not surprised.”

“Yeah, we really wanted to see them, are you sure there aren’t any tickets left?”

“Yep, I’m in charge of ticket sales for the Cloudiseum, we sold the last tickets just a minute ago, I’m sorry. Maybe you can catch them next time.”

“Aww man. That bites.”

“Don’t worry, Dash. We’ll be sure to catch the next Wonderbolts show whenever we can. Say, can you tell me which way whoever bought the last tickets went?”

“Sure, they went straight down that road.”

“Thank you, sir.” He began to fly down the road in the direction the old pony had been pointing in.

“Midnight, what are you planning?”

“I just wanna see who got the last tickets and depending on whoever got them, I might need to do some negotiations with them.” They came up to a corner and saw the 3 bullies from flight school just around it. “Oh yeah, that figures.”

Suddenly the bullies turned around and saw the two ponies. “Oh look! It’s Rainbow Crash and her boyfriend, Midnight, umm...” He struggled to come up with an insult. “Uh... I’ve got nothing.”

Rainbow Dash, blushing, yells back, “He’s...he’s not my boyfriend!...”

“We’re just...friends,” said Midnight. “Anyway, now for what I actually came here to talk to you about. If I’m correct, you three have the last tickets to The Wonderbolts showing.”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“What will it take for us to get them from you?”

“Hm....”

“Well?”

“...Fight us for them.”

“Oh, this is gonna be easy.” He said while cracking his neck. “Set down the tickets so nothing happens to them.”

“Alright.” The three ponies set the tickets down in a pile to the side.

“Dash, now!”

She looked at the tickets and quickly realized what he had meant. She flew straight at the pile beside the three pegasi. She went for all three tickets, but only managed to grab two. She flew away as fast as they could, and a second later she was back with Midnight, safe.

“Ah ha ha ha ha ha! Alright, I know that was a cheap trick, but it was worth it. Oh, and just to ensure I don’t see any of you there.” He shot a small flame at the ticket, bursting it into flames, ensuring none of them could get in, should they try.”

“Hey, we paid perfectly good money for those!”

“Yes, and that money will cover for all of the times you hurt Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy in the time we’ve known you,” he said as he turned around and flew off to join Rainbow Dash.

As they sped off toward the Cloudiseum, Rainbow Dash looked over to Midnight, tickets held close so she wouldn’t lose them.

“I thought you were really going to hurt them for a minute there, Midnight.”

“They might deserve it... I’m sure some day they’ll get what’s coming to them. I’m not going to bother with them now though, we have a show to get to.”

Rainbow Dash set the picture down and picked up her apple. “Memories...” She walked towards the door, apple still in hand. “I might as well go back and help Fluttershy with those frogs.”

Chapter 2

Ponyville, 7:43 A.M., October 16th, 2012

Rainbow Dash looked around Ponyville for where she had left Fluttershy behind. She spotted Fluttershy down in the center of town, still collecting frogs right next to the poster of The Wonderbolts. “Oops. I guess that one was my fault.” Rainbow Dash flew back down into Ponyville to help Fluttershy out. She had just finished re-gathering the frogs that Rainbow Dash had dropped as she landed down next to her. “Hi Fluttershy. Sorry I just ran off on you like that. I kinda got caught up in the situation.”

“Oh no, it’s fine, Rainbow Dash. It did take me a while to get all of the frogs together, but I think I handled it just fine on my own. You shouldn't worry yourself about it. I am an expert with animals after all.”

“Oh, okay. Well do you want me to help you bring these to the pond still? I could lend a hoof if you need it.”

“Um, if you want to. I mean, I could use some help.”

“Okay, let’s get going then. To the pond!” Rainbow Dash picked up the newly refilled basket she had been carrying earlier and rejoined Fluttershy heading to the new pond. One of the good things about Fluttershy was that she would forgive just about anything that any pony could ever do, so she wouldn’t worry too much about what happened for now.

Fluttershy knew the way better than she did, so Rainbow Dash waited for her to take the lead. Fluttershy took her basket handle in her teeth and took off, heading towards the forest. Rainbow Dash was following close behind. The shy yellow pegasus had a much slower pace than she was used to, and Rainbow Dash quickly found herself looking around at the landscape out of boredom.

The path Fluttershy chose was taking them over the woods just outside Ponyville. They continued for several minutes, just gliding with nothing much else to do, and Rainbow Dash decided to join Fluttershy up ahead, she had been trailing behind for a while, no reason to stay close together really. They couldn’t exactly make conversation with basket handles in between their teeth. Once she got up to her, she decided to give her a little smile. She was still feeling somewhat sorry for abandoning her earlier. Fluttershy smiled back and then, being the shy pony she was, broke eye contact after a few seconds. She looked down toward the ground of the woods. By the look in her eyes, she had seen something in the trees below. She suddenly changed course and began flying downward. Rainbow Dash wasn’t expecting such an abrupt change in plans from Fluttershy, but welcomed the opportunity to gain some speed, and did a few quick aerial tricks, making sure to keep all of the frogs in the basket, before she caught up with Fluttershy, who was making her way down towards an opening amongst the dense maze of trees.

They landed in a clearing in Whitetail Woods. Rainbow Dash didn’t know why, but the place that they stopped had seemed oddly familiar to her. They set down their baskets of frogs, and took in the peaceful serenity of their surroundings.

“Ah, I always love coming here in the morning. It’s the most beautiful part of Whitetail Woods.” Fluttershy was looking around peacefully, admiring the setting around them. “Whitetail Woods is always so nice and peaceful. I just love everything about it, the trees, the animals. It’s always so beautiful.”

Rainbow Dash was still trying to figure out was what so familiar about this place. “Uh...yeah, it’s um...beautiful, Fluttershy.” She tried her hardest to keep Fluttershy from noticing that she was trying to remember how she knew this place so well, but Fluttershy still saw through it.

“What’s wrong Rainbow Dash? You seem a little out of it.”

“Oh, it’s nothing, just-” And that’s when it hit her. The peaceful clearing, the nice aroma, soft ground... This was where she and Midnight first made love, the place where Rainbow Dash had finally forgiven Midnight for leaving her for an entire year. Rainbow Dash could feel her face start to burn up.

“Um, hey, Rainbow Dash? Why are you blushing? I mean, if it’s okay with you that I ask...”

It didn’t feel like it to her, but it had been 6 months since that night, but she was still a little surprised that it had taken her this long to recognize the spot. Maybe it was the fact that it looked different in the daylight, but she wasn’t completely sure. Despite Fluttershy sitting with her just a few feet away, she couldn’t help but run those memories through her mind, feeling more than a little awkward as she did.

“I-It’s nothing. C’mon, we gotta get these frogs to the lake, quick.” She grabbed the basket with her mouth and started to lift off the ground, and took off ahead of her.

“Oh, wait for me please.” Fluttershy picked up her basket and flew after Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy looked at Rainbow Dash for a bit, not sure if everything really was alright, then decided that Dash would have no reason to lie to her.

They flew at Fluttershy’s slow pace for a few minutes until they finally reached the pond, a small green patch among the green trees. Rainbow Dash had no idea how Fluttershy remembered where to find it. After landing and setting the baskets down, they helped every frog out.

Once they were finished, making sure each and every single frog was there and had been accounted for, Fluttershy asked, “So what exactly happened after you flew away so quickly?”

Rainbow Dash had almost forgotten about ditching Fluttershy already, she was so used to her just letting things slide, but maybe she felt a little hurt this time. It was a bit rude, even for Rainbow Dash. She really did owe her an explanation though, leaving her to re-capture all those frogs by herself. It was for a good reason though.

“Didn’t you see the poster for The Wonderbolts right next to where I left you? They’re performing in Cloudsdale on the 28th and I couldn’t miss it. I had to go talk to Midnight right away about getting tickets to the show. I’m sorry I left you in such a rush, I just was so excited to see them.”

“Oh, I see... that’s okay, I understand.”

“Anyway, he agreed to pay both me and him in.”

“Oh well that was really nice of him.” Rainbow Dash could never quite read Fluttershy’s expression, but she seemed perhaps a little disappointed.

“Oh my gosh! Would you like to go, Fluttershy? I think it’d be really fun if the three of us were all there!” Rainbow Dash felt so rude for not asking Fluttershy earlier.

“Oh no, I couldn’t. I hear there are very loud noises, and you know how I get... I don’t think I’d have much of a good time there. Besides, I have little creatures to take care of here. I think I’m going to be busy for quite some time.” Not disappointment, then. Too bad, Fluttershy was a good friend, but she was so timid sometimes.

“Well, if you say so, but if you happen to change your mind, the offer is still on the table!” She started flapping her wings, getting ready to leave, “See you later Fluttershy! Midnight should be awake by now, I hope, so I’m gonna go talk to him about getting our tickets.”

Chapter 3

Cloudsdale, 11:49 A.M., October 24th, 2012

Midnight and Rainbow Dash were walking with the large crowd to the ticket booth. “I can’t believe it. After all this time, we finally get to go together to see The Wonderbolts performing.”

“The last time we actually went to a show together was just a few months before the incident at flight camp.”

“Yeah, that show was pretty awesome.”

“It’s been more than 6 years since I’ve seen The Wonderbolts perform. I wonder how much they’ve improved.”

“They’ve improved a lot! I actually saved their lives at the best young fliers competition last year. That was the second time that I had ever done a sonic rainboom. I won the competition because of it and I spent the rest of the day with The Wonderbolts.”

“Well, that’s pretty sweet, I hope it improved your chances of joining.”

“I hope so too. Even our 3 asshole friends from flight school actually complemented me about it and wanted to hang out with me.”

Midnight suddenly remembered what he had done to them just before Rainbow Dash and her friends had saved him from total control by Nightmare Moon. “Oh, yes, those three...”

“What’s the matter, Midnight?”

“It’s just...” He struggled to tell her about his encounter.

“What is it?”

“Promise you won’t be upset with me?”

“Of course. I don’t see why I would be.”

“Well, just a few hours or so before I ran into you in Ponyville while I was still under Nightmare’s control, I ran into those three at the weather factory. Nightmare Moon, she fed on my anger. She fueled my anger. In my anger, I killed all 3 of them with in my own free will.”

“Oh wow. Midnight, I...”

“I understand if you’re mad at me.”

“Mad at you? I’m proud of you!”

“Proud of me? Well, there’s more. I killed an entertainer in Manehattan named Trixie. She said that she “vanquished” Twilight after she had brought the Ursa Major into Ponyville. I was so angry with her; I took her life as well. And the same with Gilda, just outside of Ponyville, just a few minutes before we ran into you.”

“Oh, so that’s what that huge tower of fire was.”

“You don’t care that I killed the griffin that you hung out with?”

“Well, just a few weeks before you showed up, she totally flipped out at Pinkie Pie for no good reason. So I guess I realized how bad she really was and how right you were about her.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re not mad at me. You have no idea how good it feels to get that off my chest.” The two had finally come to the entrance gate. They came up to a familiar looking old pony at the ticket booth.

“Tickets please.”

Midnight pulled out both of their tickets and gave them to the pony. “Hey, I remember you. You’re the pony who was running the ticket booth during the first ever Wonderbolts show in Cloudsdale about 8 years ago.”

“That’s me. Glad to see some familiar faces. Enjoy the show you two.”

“Thank you, sir.” The two walked in through the front gate. The stands were crowded; hardly any seats were left open. “Well shit.”

“Don’t worry, Midnight. I see a perfect spot right over there.” She pointed to an open seat way in the distance. “Race you there!” She took off leaving Midnight behind, but he wasn’t going to give up. He quickly picked up his pace and caught up with her. Rainbow Dash landed on the cloud and Midnight landed just a few seconds after. “Ha, I totally beat you there!”

“You did beat me, but I’m not gonna say that you beat me fair and square.”

“Fillies and Gentlecolts.” A voice came from over the intercom.

“Well, It looks like we got in just in time.” Midnight said.

“Please put your hooves together for our celebrity performance you all came here to see, The Wonderbolts!” The 6 ponies came dashing overhead, thunderclouds trailing behind them. Ponies from all across the audience cheered wildly for the ponies in the sky. Rainbow Dash and Midnight were cheering ecstatically as well. The Wonderbolts came straight back down at the crowd. All six were within reaching distance of each other, flying in perfect sync as they circled around the audience within reaching distance of the audience.

“See, I told you they got a lot better.”

“I never doubted you for a second, Rainbow Dash. I can’t wait to see the day that you’re flying up there with them.”

“Yeah, I have no idea when that will be though.”

“Well, haven’t you presented yourself to them? I’m sure you’ve done something to get closer to joining haven’t you?”

“Well, there is when I saved a few of their lives at the best young flier competition about a year ago.”

“Good, good. Anything else?”

“Well there is... Hmm...”

“What?”

“Well, I did try talking to them at last years Grand Galloping Gala, but they were too busy doing other things, and that Gala kinda ended up in a disaster.”

“That’s okay. I’m sure you’ll find plenty of other opportunities to capture their attention.”

“Yeah, I hope so.” She had suddenly realized how far she was from her goal. “Am I really that far? After all these years of trying to join, I’ve gotten practically nowhere.”

Midnight saw the demise in her eyes. His only choice at the time was to try and cheer her up. “Come on, Dash. Don’t let that get you down. I promise you that after the show, I’m going to do all that I can to help you get closer to joining The Wonderbolts. For now, let’s just enjoy the show.”

“Alright, I’ll try.” For the rest of the show, she tried to enjoy watching her idols soaring through the air, but she couldn’t keep her mind off of the fact that she’s nowhere near as close as she thought she was to becoming one of them. Seeing them perform just made her think of it more. After a few hours, the show had finally ended. Rainbow Dash and Midnight were walking out through the entrance gate with the rest of the ponies who had been watching.

“Ow wow. I know it’s been a long time since I’ve seen them perform, but I didn’t think they got that much better. That was amazing! What did you think, Dash?”

She didn’t quite hear him at first. ”Huh? Oh yeah...the show. It was alright.”

“Alright? The Wonderbolts? Rainbow Dash, this isn’t you. Are you still worrying about the fact that you’re still not a Wonderbolt yet?”

“Midnight, I’ve been trying to be a Wonderbolt for most of my life. I’m no where near actually joining. All I’ve done was spend a day with them.”

“But that’s more then most any pony could ever say. You’re closer then you really think you are.”

“No, I’m farther then I thought I was, and at this lousy pace, I’ll never actually be a Wonderbolt.”

“I already told you, I’m going to do everything I can to help you join.”

“I know, but just because you said it doesn’t make me feel like it’s true.”

“I know what you mean. I think I have an idea. Why don’t you head on home? I’ll catch up with you later.”

“Alright, I guess I’ll see you in a few then.”

“Okay, see you at home, Dash.”

Chapter 4

Cloudisseum, 2:07 P.M., October 24th, 2012

As everypony left the stadium, Midnight had moved his way back from the crowd to find the entrance to the back stage. If Rainbow Dash didn’t know what to do, he had his own ideas. Soon, he spotted the entrance in the back of the Cloudisseum, but as to be expected, it wasn’t left open for just anypony to wander inside. Two security ponies were standing guard, flanking the single door leading inside. “Shit, this isn’t gonna be easy. I could always try talking my way in.” Even from this distance, the guards didn’t look particularly interested in talking to anypony. Still, he didn’t want to waste the chance. “Well, it’s worth a shot.” He rounded the corner from the outer walkway and trotted straight up to the security guards who quickly stepped in front of the doorway. He put on his best diplomatic face. “Excuse me sirs. I need to talk to The Wonderbolts right away.”

“No one sees The Wonderbolts without a backstage pass.”

“I really need to talk to them. It’s very important to a friend of mine.”

“No one sees The Wonderbolts without a backstage pass.”

“I have money. How much is it gonna be to get back there?”

“No one sees The Wonderbolts without a backstage pass.”

“Grrr. Fine. Have it your way.”

He was about to resign himself to a more forceful course of action when a bright yellow pony opened the door behind the two security guards. “What seems to be the problem here?” Midnight had recognized her instantly. She was out of uniform but he could tell that she was a Wonderbolt. Her hair was swept back in their signature style, but beyond that, she looked vaguely familiar, he was almost sure he’d seen her before today.

The guards maintained their stoic demeanor even as they spoke to her. “This pony is trying to get backstage without a pass.”

The pony looked over Midnight as the guard pointed at him. Midnight gave her the most sincere smile he could muster, still not very. “It’s okay, Let him through.”

That was a little strange, but he wasn’t going to pass up this golden opportunity to help Rainbow Dash.

“Whatever you say, Spitfire.” Both guards stepped from the doorway, letting him pass.

Midnight walked through the backstage door and up to join the pony who let him through. “Thanks. I really needed to talk to you Wonderbolts. It’s about a friend of mine.”

“No problem. If you didn’t catch it before, my name’s Spitfire.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Spitfire. My name’s Midnight Flare. Everypony just calls me Midnight for short.” He put his hoof out for her to shake it. Spitfire stared at his hoof for a second uncertainly, and let out a small giggle before reaching out to return the gesture, albeit a bit unsteadily. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, perfect. Come on, Midnight. Let me introduce you to the rest of the team.” The ponies walked farther into the substructure of The Cloudisseum. These back rooms were every bit as beautiful as the public section of the floating amphitheatre. Passing showers and several training rooms, they eventually came up to 5 ponies, still in uniform. “Midnight, this is the rest of the team. Meet Soarin, Blizzard, Misty, Lightning Streak, and Captain.” The ponies all smiled to him in turn as Spitfire introduced them. “Everyone, this is Midnight. He came here with something to talk about.”

“Well first off, I have a question for all of you. Do any of you remember a pony named Rainbow Dash?”

“Well of course we do.” Soarin said happily, “She saved my, Spitfire’s, and Blizzard’s lives at the best young fliers competition about a year ago. Why? Do you know her?”

“Well yes. She’s actually the reason I’m here. Look, she really looks up to you ponies. She and I have watched every show of yours we could. Ever since the first time we watched you perform, she’s wanted to be a Wonderbolt. She’s spent most of her free time perfecting her moves to join or trying to get your attention. Today as we watched you perform, she realized that she was no where near to where she thought she was to making it in. Well, she went home after the show and I decided to come straight here to talk to all of you to see if there is anything you could do.”

Spitfire eyed Midnight up from top to bottom. “I think we can work something out.” Something in her tone caught him a bit off guard, but the rest of The Wonderbolts didn’t seem to notice. Maybe he just didn’t know her well enough. “Come on, Midnight, I’ll show you around. See you later, guys.” She waved offhoofedly to the rest of her team as she led Midnight back out of the room. He followed Spitfire as she walked in front of him, heading back down the corridor they took on the way in. Spitfire continued to lead the way, and occasionally looked back at him with a slight smile on her face.

“Where are we going, Spitfire?”

“Almost there, just a bit farther.” she said, vaguely.

A short distance down the hall, she made a right into one of the rooms that opened up to the passage. She nudged the door open and stood half inside waiting for him to catch up. Midnight trotted up and stopped outside the door.

“Well, come on in.”

He started to follow her inside but paused when he realized what the room was: one of the showers. His face grew hot immediately.

“Well come on, we don’t have all day you know.”

“Um... it’s just..”

“Oh, it’s fine, we’re a team, we always shower together, you understand, right?”

It made sense, but he still felt a bit uncomfortable following the mare into the shower room alone like this. She trotted across the room and turned on one of the shower-heads, immediately filling the room with a hot steam. Midnight stood across the room, a bit awkwardly. He wasn’t sure what to do. Spitfire felt the stream of hot water with a hoof, checking the temperature was to her liking before stepping under it. The streams ran over her face and down her mane, which soaked down onto her back. The water continued down her legs before spilling onto the floor. Midnight was stone still. She hadn’t been wearing a uniform when she welcomed him inside, and ponies didn’t even normally wear clothes, but this was different. Something else entirely. Spitfire stayed under the shower for several minutes, much to Midnight’s dismay. He still wasn’t sure he should be there with her, or why she had brought him along for that matter. Spitfire finally turned the shower handle, stopping the flow of water and cantered across the room, still dripping wet, directly toward him. She stopped just feet away. “Midnight?”

He was burning up at this point. “Um...”

“Could you hand me a towel? They’re behind you.”

Midnight felt cool relief wash over him, turning around and taking one of the towels off of the rack. When he turned back, Spitfire was mere inches from his face. She pulled herself in before he could react and pressed her lips to his. Whatever misgivings he had about this were gone, replaced with disbelief. Spitfire pushed herself into him, still soaked, her dripping hoof over his shoulder. He didn’t know what to do, but Spitfire knew exactly what she wanted. She pushed him back into the wall and kissed him harder. She wasn’t letting up. Suddenly she broke off. A moment later, Midnight felt her hot breath on his ear.

“Lie down.”

With those words, Midnight’s senses came flooding back to him. He was alone in a shower with a mare he had never met before. He couldn’t do this to Rainbow Dash. Spitfire brushed up against him, encouraging him to do as she asked. She waited a moment in anticipation, but Midnight couldn’t bring himself to cooperate. He gently pushed her off of him and started walking toward the door.

“Now where are you off to in such a rush?”

“Spitfire, I need to... I can’t.”

“A little shy? I don’t mind...” she trailed off, giving him a sly wink before she joined him at the door. “Come on, I think we should talk to the rest of the team about your friend.”

They walked down the hall in silence. Spitfire kept looking at Midnight along the way.

“This girl just won’t give it up, will she?” he thought as he quickened his pace. She was still keeping up, despite being a head shorter than him. And in a few short minutes, they were back, and joined the rest of The Wonderbolts, who hadn’t moved since they left. Upon seeing them, Captain stepped forward, clearing his throat.

“Well, Midnight Flare, we have come to a decision, I think we can help you, and by extension, your friend, with this problem.” He glanced over to Spitfire, who nodded.

“I agree.”

Chapter 5

Ponyville, 2:33 P.M., October 24th, 2012

Rainbow Dash had been lying in her bed, waiting for Midnight to return. “*sigh* Have I really let myself get this behind without even realizing it?” The Wonderbolts performance was still fresh in her mind, and she couldn’t put it out of her thoughts. Suddenly, Midnight walked in through the bedroom door.

“Hey, Dash! Guess what I got!”

“What could it possibly be?”

“Here, read this and you will see.” He held out a piece of paper to her. She grabbed it and began to read:

Rainbow Dash,

After the performance earlier today, we were approached by your friend, Midnight. He has informed us of your sincere interest in our flying group and requested that you be given a chance to show us your abilities. We haven’t forgotten what you did for us at the Best Young Fliers Competition, and several of us personally owe it to you to give you this chance. We have scheduled you for an audition in two weeks on November 10th. We expect to see your utmost best performance.

Good luck,

Spitfire and The Wonderbolts

“Well?” Rainbow Dash didn’t move. She simply stared at the paper. She didn’t know what to say. She had never felt such happiness before. Midnight noticed that a huge grin had appeared on her face. Suddenly Rainbow Dash tackled Midnight from the bed. “Thank you!” She gave him a thank you kiss. “I can’t believe it, Midnight! After today, I never thought I would make it this far!”

“Ya...” He still wondered if he should tell her about what happened between him and Spitfire. He then wondered if he even could tell her. “Well, I think the best thing for you to do now is come up with some new moves and perfect them.”

“Great idea! I’m gonna go to Sugarcube Corner! All of our friends should be there! You can stay here and rest of you want. Aaahh! This is so awesome!” She happily flew out of the house with the letter, leaving Midnight to rest.

Midnight lay down in the bed, using his hooves as a pillow. “Well, this day has gone a lot better then expected.” He rolled over to find Spitfire lying next to him. She put her hoof right on his chest

“Hey hot stuff.”

Midnight quickly pulled back. “Spitfire?! W-what are you doing here?!”

“Oh, you know. I was just looking for a little fun outta you.”

“Spitfire, I have a girlfriend already. You already know that I’m going out with Rainbow Dash.”

“Oh yeah, I know that. That doesn’t mean we can’t...” she trailed off for a moment, running a hoof down his side. “...have a little fun on the side,” she finished, shifting herself a bit closer.

“Okay now really, what makes you think that just because you don’t care means I’m gonna do anything with you?”

“Well, I do have this.” She reached behind her and pulled out a picture and held it out in front of her for Midnight to see. In her hoof rested a picture of them together in the shower, taken in the middle of their kiss.

“H-how did you get that?!”

“Oh, Cloudisseum security are always happy to help us Wonderbolts with anything we might need. I may have asked one of the guards to take our picture together. Do you like it?” Midnight’s expression was set in stone. “I made sure you didn’t know he was there. Now, you’re going to do what I want when I want you to. Let’s see, what do I want you to do first? Hmm... I’ve got it.” She sat up and held her flank in the air. “I think you know what comes next, Midnight. I’m sure you’ve got some ideas in there.” She swished her tail over his face, flooding his nose with the scent of lemons. His senses numbed for just a moment. She had control now and he couldn’t think of any way to get out of it.

“Aw fuck.”

“Bingo.”

Rainbow Dash landed down next to Sugarcube Corner, making sure the letter stayed intact. She opened the door to find all 5 of her friends gathered around a table. “Hey, look what I’ve got!” She flew up to the table to join her friends. “Take a look at this!” She said while holding the note above her.

“Well, come on, sugarcube. Let us see it.” Applejack said impatiently.

“Hey, I’m getting to it. Hold your horseshoes.” She tossed the letter down to the middle of the table. The five ponies began to read the paper that she had dropped.

“Wow, congratulations, Rainbow!” Twilight said as she finished reading. “I’m guessing you have some new moves planned out.”

“Actually, no. I came straight here when I found this out. I’m gonna go practice in a jiffy, but first I felt like coming here to show you all this. Can you believe it? It’s so awesome!”

“We’re all happy for yah, Sugarcube. Yah finally made it this far.”

“Hey, maybe we can watch you practice.” Pinkie Pie said happily.

“Sounds good to me. I think I’m gonna go talk to Midnight and come up with some good moves.”

“Well, where will you be practicing? We’ll meet you there.”

“Hmm... Let’s say, the park?”

“That works, we’ll see you there!”

“Alright, bye guys!” She flew out the front door, and back to her house.

Midnight and Spitfire collapsed in the bed, both gasping for air. Spitfire lay across Midnight’s chest for a few minutes before she opened her eyes again and looked up to him. “Well, this has been fun.” Spitfire sat up and hopped out of the bed. “I have to get back, but we should do this again soon. I know I’m looking forward to it.” She gave him that same wink as before as she walked out, closing the door behind her. She walked up to Rainbow Dash as she entered the kitchen. “Oh, hey there Rainbow Dash. Just the pony I was looking for.”

“You? Looking for me? What about?”

“I just wanted to tell you good luck. From what I’ve seen you do, I think you’ve got a pretty good shot.”

“Wow, thanks. That means a lot coming from you.”

“No problem. I was just talking to Midnight. I’ve gotta say, you’ve got a good man on your hooves.”

“Yeah, we’ve known each other for most of our lives.”

“Rainbow Dash, listen to me closely.” Spitfire said. Midnight was resting in their bed. Her words caught his attention. “Whatever Midnight tells you, I want you to believe every word he says. From what I’ve seen out of him, I can tell he’s the kind of pony you can trust.”

“What? Why would she say that?” Midnight thought, “If Rainbow Dash sees her with me then Rainbow Dash is gonna believe me and my only choice will be to rat her out.”

“Oh, okay. I think I already knew that but thanks for the reminder I guess.”

“I’ve gotta get going. I’ll be late for our rehearsal. I’ll see you in two weeks then.” She flew out the front door, leaving a storm cloud trail behind her.

“Okay, see yah later, Spitfire!” She closed the door as Spitfire flew away. “What did I come home for again? Oh yeah, I came back to talk to Midnight.” She walked into the bedroom to find Midnight resting. “Hey Midnight. Do you wanna help me come up with my new routine?”

“Well, I don’t see why not.” He sat up slowly and shook his head to help wake himself up. “So, where are we practicing?”

“Out in the park. Our friends are gonna watch.”

“Well, which routine were you thinking of doing? From what I’ve seen, you have some pretty good ones.”

“No, I want to come up with a completely new one. I really have to put on a show for The Wonderbolts if I’m gonna have a chance of getting in.”

“That’ll be hard to do in two weeks, are you sure?”

“Absolutely. I know I can do it, you can help me practice and come up with some awesome new moves.”

“Alright, I trust you. Come on, let’s get going. We need to get as much practice in as we can for you.”

Chapter 6

Ponyville, 3:50 P.M., October 24th, 2012

“So, what do you think they’ll think of our new routine?” Rainbow Dash asked

“Only one way to find out, let’s get started.”

“Sounds good to me. Now, where are our friends?” They looked around to see where their friends were waiting. They found them standing down by the fountain in the middle of the park. They flew down by the fountain and joined their friends who had been patiently awaiting Rainbow Dash to see her new routine. “Hey guys. So, who’s ready to see my new routine?”

“Well, of course, dear. We’ve been waiting a long time to see you blossom like this.”

“Thanks guys. Now, are you guys ready to be amazed?”

“Yes sirree!” Pinkie Pie said as she bounced up and down.

“Alright! Midnight, you know what to do.” She flew all the way to the end of the street in the park and readied herself to take off.

Midnight turned around to face their friends. “Folks, we have a very special guest for you tonight. I’d like to introduce, Rainbow Dash.” She began flying as fast as she could towards her friends. As soon as she was as close as she could, she quickly jerked herself to the sky. “Let’s hear it for the great, Rainbow Dash!” The ponies watching could feel the wind flying by them. She slowly began spinning as she went up and rainbows slowly began to trail off of the ends of her wings. “And now for a lesson in aerodynamic management. Let’s begin.” She began spinning faster and faster until she was completely engulfed in the spiral of 2 twirling rainbows. She quickly halted her spinning, and a small rainbow circle burst from the end of the spiral. “Alright now, wasn’t that fun? Let’s try something else.” Rainbow Dash flew up high above a cloud and stopped mid-air. She flew down towards the cloud as fast as she could, rainbow trailing behind her. As she passed through the cloud, she tried her hardest to turn as sharply as she could. Her efforts failed as she swerved through the air, making a long curve. “Damn it! I knew this would be the hard one for her.” She came down and landed by her friends.

“Gaah, I almost had it!”

“I told you, this one is gonna be the hardest for you to learn.”

“What were you two trying to do?” Twilight asked

“We were trying to make my cutie mark out of a cloud and the rainbow that trails behind me. The problem is turning sharp enough to make the lightning bolt.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll get it down eventually. We just need the practice.”

“Yeah, but we only have two weeks to get that down.”

“Well then that’s two weeks we’re gonna spend getting you to perfect that move.”

Rainbow Dash’s confidence was renewed, if Midnight believed she could do it, she would do it. “Okay. I’m gonna give it another shot.”

“That’s the attitude. Now, let’s see you try it again.”

“Yes sir!” She saluted to him and took off once more, starting at the top of the routine.

“You ready, Dash?”

“Ready!” She took off and went through her routine once more. As she came up to the third part of her routine, she heard Midnight call to her, “You can do it Dash!”

“Let’s do this!” She screamed back. She positioned herself above the clouds for her finally, and dove down. “I’m gonna do it this time, no mistakes!” But as she tried to turn, she spun out of control and started falling to the ground below.

“Rainbow Dash!” Midnight flew straight at her. He caught her just feet above the ground.

“Heh, my hero...” Rainbow Dash said sarcastically. “I was about to save myself, thank you very much!” But as she looked toward Midnight, she could tell he wasn’t buying it.

“*sigh* Rainbow Dash, you have to be more careful! These aren’t as easy as the tricks you’re used to!”

“I know, I know! *sigh* Look Midnight, you can go for now if you want. I don’t think I’m gonna perfect these new moves any time soon, and I’m sure you’ve got better things to do than watch me fail.”

“But what if you spin out of control again? What if something happens to you? What if-”

“Midnight!” Rainbow Dash interrupted. “I said I’d be careful! I’m a big girl now. I’m sure you know that by now...” She started to blush, thinking of all they’ve done.

“Yeah, you’re right...promise me you’ll be safe?”

“I promise, Midnight.” She gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Now, go see if the girls want to hang out or something. I’m going to keep practicing here, you all have fun.”

“Alright, Dash.” He walked over to Rainbow’s friends and told them she was going to stay and practice and wants them all to go do something fun. “So what do you girls feel like doing?”

“Ooh! Ooh! Midnight! Midnight! We should totally play a game!” Pinkie said, bouncing with enthusiasm.

“Alrighty then! What game will we be playing then?”

“Hmm...Ooh! How about tic-tac-toe? I’m great at that game!”

“It’s true, darling” Rarity chimed in. “I don’t think any one of us have beaten her as of late.”

“Sure, why not?” Midnight said, thinking to himself the girls were over-exaggerating about the whole thing. But as the hours passed, he realized that they weren’t.

“Grrr...that’s 35 times in a row! Come on!” Midnight said, becoming more aggravated by the minute.

“Did we not tell you dear? Like I said, she is undefeated.”

“Hehehe!” Pinkie giggled. “It’s true! I don’t know why though, it could have something to do with my little ticks, you know, like the twitchy tail?”

“Twitchy...wha?”

“Ah, don’t worry your pretty little head none.” Apple Jack said. “T’aint nothin’ to worry ‘bout.”

“Whatever. I wonder how Dash is doing with her routine... Hey girls, I’m going to go check on Rainbow Dash. It’s been a few hours now, she’s had to make some progress.”

“Farewell!” “See yah later” “Bye Midnight!” “Um...bye...” “Bye-bye!”

Midnight flew back to the park. As he got closer he kept hearing a strong buzzing noise. Every so often he looked up to catch a glimpse at a rainbow streak in the air that quickly vanished. “Is she still practicing?” He got to the edge of the park and began watching Rainbow Dash continue to try, and continue to fail. “Wow, she’s still goin at it.” He thought, “She’s really determined to do this. Well, I guess that really shouldn’t be a surprise. This is leading towards her life long dream.” Midnight watched as she went through her routine time after time, failing the 3rd phase every time.

Rainbow Dash saw Midnight watching her on the ground as she came out of the failed turn in the 3rd phase. She flew out of her routine and landed down next to Midnight. ”Hey, how long have you been watching?”

“I just got here. I see you still haven’t got the 3rd phase down yet.”

“I know I haven’t. It’s a lot harder then I thought it was gonna be. I don’t even think I can get it down.”

“Dash, remember why you’re working on mastering this move.”

“I know that, but-”

“But nothing, this is your dream and I’m not gonna let you doubt yourself when you’re this close. You can’t let a little doubt get in the way of your life’s dreams. Now, show me that you’re ready and willing to master this move.”

“*sigh* Okay...”

“I don’t think that’s good enough. I think I’ve got something for that.” He reached down and locked his lips with hers. They stayed kissing for a few seconds and pulled away. “Now, show me your ready face.”

“Ready!” She shouted

“Alright, that’s the spirit! Now, let’s go through the routine once more.”

“Alright, let’s do this!” She took off to the end of the dirt road. Midnight watched as she seemed more determined than ever as she ran. She reached the end and quickly sprung into the air. She began spinning slowly, making the rainbows stream off her wings. They seemed more vivid than usual. As the seconds passed, she spun faster and faster, until she was fully engulfed in her double rainbow spiral. She completed that by stopping in mid air, making the rainbow circle burst from the end again, this time quite larger than when she first did it. She then flew above the cloud she was going to use for the 3rd phase. She looked down to Midnight, who in turn gave her a nod. She could do this. Diving as fast as she could, she thought of Midnight, she thought of The Wonderbolts, and all she’s done to be one of them. Reaching the end of the dive, she quickly jerked upward, determined, and to her and Midnight’s amazement, succeeded! She then quickly jerked down to complete the lightning bolt, and did it with no problem.

“It’s...beautiful...” Midnight said in awe, as he gazed upon what Rainbow Dash had created.

She flew down feeling succeeded next to Midnight. “Yes! I finally got it!”

“Indeed you did. Now, you see what a little motivation can do?”

“Yeah, I do. Thanks Midnight.”

“Now, you only got it down once. Remember, a rookie practices until they get it right. A professional practices until they know they can’t get it wrong.”

“True, but I’m beat. Can we just practice more tomorrow? We do have a week to get it down.”

“Alright, we can practice more tomorrow. Come on, let’s go home and get you to bed.

Chapter 7

Cloudsdale, 11:45 A.M., November 7th, 2012

The two ponies walked up to the front gate of the Cloudiseum. “You ready for this, Dash?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Spitfire came around a corner to see them waiting at the gate.

“Oh good. You’re here. Rainbow Dash, you can go in through the backstage door to talk to Soarin about how this is gonna go down. Midnight, I wanna talk to you for a sec out here.”

“Sounds good to me. See you in the stands, Midnight!” She strutted off around the building, as happy as she had ever been.

Spitfire waited until Rainbow Dash was out of sight. As soon as she was, she turned her attention to Midnight. “Alright, let’s get down to business.”

“We are not going to play your little game on Rainbow Dash’s big day. I will not let you ruin this for her.”

“Well that all depends on how I’m feeling. Listen closely. This is important. If you rat me out to your little Dashy, I will make sure that she never becomes a Wonderbolt.”

“You can’t do that. If you do anything. I can easily explain to the other Wonderbolts what you’ve been doing to me.”

“That doesn’t matter. We’ve decided that it needs to be a unanimous decision for her to join. If you rat me out, all I need to do is vote against her joining.”

“You’re a sadistic, demented fuck. You know that? You know, you better not throw yourself on me in front of Dash. If she knows about any of this, you’re not getting any more out of me. I’ll have no reason.”

“*hmpf* We’ll see. Come on, Midnight. The audition is about to begin.” The two began walking to the stadium to see the performance.

“Aw fuck,” Midnight thought, “I don’t like where this is going.” They came in through the front door and into the stands of the Cloudiseum. A series of clouds had been set up to support Rainbow Dash’s routine. All of The Wonderbolts were sitting in the stands but Spitfire and Soarin.

Spitfire flew over to sit on one of the clouds. “Come on, Midnight. Sit here with me.” She rubbed her hoof along the cloud next to her telling Midnight to sit where her hoof was. Midnight flew over to a different cloud, where he felt it was a safe difference from Spitfire. “Hey, come on. Sit with me.”

“No thank you. I like this spot better. You know, not by you.”

“Grrr, fine. I’ll just come over by you if you like that spot better.” She flew over and sat right next to Midnight.

“*sigh* You are very fucking persistent, you know that?”

Soarin walked out of the backstage entrance. “Rainbow Dash says she’s ready. Is everypony out here ready for judging?” Every one of The Wonderbolts in the stand nodded their heads. “Alrighty. Dash, you can come on out and strut your stuff!” All of a sudden, Rainbow Dash came bolting down a cloudy path fully clothed in a Wonderbolts uniform. She came straight at Midnight and Spitfire who had been sitting right at the end of the cloudy trail. As she came to the end of the trail, she shot straight into the air, not too far from Midnight and Spitfire. She started spinning gracefully, letting the rainbows stream off the ends of her wings as she had perfected.

Midnight looked to his side to see Spitfire had not moved her eyesight off of him. As soon as soon as she saw Midnight look over to her, she gave him a smirk and moved in closer. Midnight was quick to back up and respond. “Don’t even think about it.” He glared down at her to make sure she didn’t come any closer.

Soon, Rainbow Dash was engulfed in a beautiful double rainbow spiral. She felt it was much easier now that she mastered it from all that training. The Wonderbolts were all in awe as they gazed upon her magnificence. She stopped in mid-air making the rainbow circle erupt from the end of the stream she had created. Hearing “ooh”s and “aah”s, she felt proud of herself. She flew higher to position herself above the cloud she had asked to be placed for her final phase. “Alright, this is what I’ve practiced for. Here we go!” She dived down through the cloud, and quickly jerked up, much more easily than her first attempts back when she was training, then jerked back down to complete her makeshift cutie mark. Looking back at her masterpiece, she just knew she aced the try-outs and there was no way they wouldn’t let her in. “Alright! Midnight, did you see that?!” She turned around as happy as she could be to see Midnight. But that happiness quickly went away when she saw Spitfire on top of Midnight with both ponies kissing. “M...Midnight?”

Midnight quickly pulled Spitfire off of him. “Gaah, don’t you ever try and pull something like that again!”

Rainbow Dash flew up to the cloud trail next to them. “Midnight! What are you doing?!”

“Rainbow Dash!? I was just-”

“Rainbow Dash, you really need to get your boyfriend under control. I was trying to judge your performance and Midnight just threw himself on me.”

“You bitch!” Midnight thought

“Midnight, is this true?” Dash asked him.

He looked over to Spitfire. He could tell what the grin on her face meant. She wanted him to say yes. He looked over to Rainbow Dash. He could tell that she didn’t want to believe that it was true. She was waiting for him to say no. But he knew that if he denied it, Rainbow Dash would never be a Wonderbolt. “*sigh* It’s true.”

“Midnight, why?” He could tell she was devastated.

“I...don’t know. I really don’t.”

Tears began to roll from her eyes. “What, am I not good enough for you anymore?! Are you turning to other ponies to get more of a thrill?! Or have you just lost interest in me completely?!”

“No, it’s not like that. I still love you a lot.”

“Then why did you throw yourself onto Spitfire?!”

“I don’t know why. I’m sorry, Dash.” He knew no matter what he said, she wouldn’t believe him.

“Midnight, please. Just leave.” She turned her head away from him and pointed at the exit. She didn’t want to look at him. “I just need time to think alone.”

Midnight’s heart continued to sink. “Alright, if that’s the way you want it.” Tears began to roll down his cheeks. “I’ll just get out of your sight. I won’t talk to you anymore if you don’t want me to.” He turned around and flew out the front gate.

Spitfire walked up to Rainbow Dash and put her hoof around Dash’s neck. “Hey, don’t worry about him. He betrayed your trust, so you can just forget about him.”

“Easy for you to say. You didn’t know him and spend most of your life with him like I did.”

“Aww come on, Dash. I know what will cheer you up. Let’s go talk to the rest of the gang and see if you passed. Based on your performance, I think you made it.”

“Okay... but it’s still gonna take me some time to get over Midnight.”

“Give it time. You’ll be over him in good time. Now, let’s go see what the other Wonderbolts thought.”

Chapter 8

Ponyville, 4:20 P.M., November 7th, 2012

Midnight flew through the dark cloudy sky. Heavy black clouds rolled in and the rain slowly began to pour. He landed down at the front door of the house he had shared with Rainbow Dash. He began to open the door and suddenly stopped. “Wait, what am I doing? I can’t go home. Dash will kill me if she finds me here now.” He shut the door and turned around. “*sigh* I guess I can go see if Twilight is home.” He flew off of the cloud and began heading to the center of Ponyville. He landed down in front of the tree library and knocked on the door. A few seconds later, Spike came and opened the door.

“Oh, hey Midnight. What brings you here?”

“Is Twilight here? I really need to talk to her.” Midnight did his best to hide his sorrow.

“Not right now. She’s at Rarity’s helping with some fashion nonsense.”

“Oh, okay. Well, I’ll see you later then Spike.”

“See yah later, Midnight.” Spike shut the door and turned away.

“*sigh* I guess I could find somewhere else to spend the night.” He looked up in a clearing above the buildings to see Sweet Apple Acres on top of a hill in the distance. “I’m pretty sure Applejack would take me in. But I always feel like she’s trying to sleep with me. *sigh* It’s worth a shot.” He set down a way down the road from the entrance to the farm, deciding to walk the rest of the way. As he headed up the road, the sky above grew slightly darker and rain looked like it was on its way. Midnight’s thoughts were still on the Cloudiseum as he approached the entrance to the barn. “I don’t know if Rainbow Dash will ever get over this.”

“Is that you Midnight?” An orange head poked out of the door. Applejack waved a hoof, signaling him to come over.

“Oh, hey Applejack...”

“What’re y’all doing out here? The weather ponies have a storm scheduled for today, ya better get inside.” She opened the door further and let him in.

Midnight entered the barn and looked around. It was a fairly big space, but as far as he could tell, he and Applejack were the only ponies inside. “So, ya gonna answer my question?”

“Huh?” Midnight was still feeling preoccupied with everything that had just happened between him and Rainbow Dash.

“What brings ya out to Sweet Apple Acres?”

“It’s a longer story than you’d really care to hear, I’m sure. I just need a place to stay for tonight. Something... happened between me and Rainbow Dash.”

“Well ah reckon you could stay here, you’re always welcome here anyway. As far as I can tell, we’ve got all night now. Ah’m sure we’ve got time for that story of yours. If you want to tell me, that is.”

“I think so. I’m sure you’ll hear it from Rainbow Dash soon enough anyway. I want someone to at least hear my side of the story.”

“Follow me, if this’ll be a while, we might as well get comfortable.” She led him off down the center of the barn and turned off to the side when they reached one of the stables. There were hay bails set up to sit on and after moving a few around, they both sat down.

“Well, it started a while ago, I’m sure you know how bad Rainbow Dash wants to get into the Wonderbolts.”

“Oh boy, do I. That was some routine she was workin’ on before, she sure was going at that last trick. She’s sure got the talent for ‘em.”

“The thing is, today she might have actually done it.”

“Well I’ll be, that’s great Midnight.” She looked genuinely happy for Rainbow Dash, but her expression changed after a moment, looking back at Midnight. “So why are you here and not celebratin’ with her?”

“That’s where it gets complicated. Spitfire... one of The Wonderbolts, has been... well, let’s just say Rainbow Dash and I aren’t the only ones to use our bed recently.”

Applejack seemed confused for several moments before what Midnight was saying dawned on her. A blush spread across her freckled face and she looked down quickly before meeting his eyes once again. She once again had that trademark resolve of hers on her face. She hopped over to the bail next to him and put a hoof on his shoulder. “Midnight, ah... ah don’t know what to say. She used you!”

“Yeah, she did. She said if I told Rainbow Dash about what we were doing, she’d make sure she’d never make it into The Wonderbolts. I couldn’t do that to her, Applejack, it’s her dream.”

The storm had picked up outside and rain was coming down on the roof of the barn. Nopony was going anywhere in this weather, so it would be just them here tonight.

“Ah know ya couldn’t, Midnight. You’re too good a pony to do that. So if you didn’t tell her, how’d she find out?”

“That’s the worst part of all, at her tryout Spitfire made it seem like I was the one doing it to her. She jumped on me right in front of Rainbow Dash. I had to tell her it was me. If I didn’t, I would have killed any chance of her getting in.” Applejack was now leaning on him a bit, this time it was actually a little comforting. “She told me to leave. I couldn’t go back, I have no idea how to fix this.”

“Midnight, I know how hard it must be without Rainbow Dash, you must be feeling mighty lonely. Ah’m here if ya need me.” She was resting her head on his shoulder now, her big green eyes looking up at him. It actually didn’t bother him, Applejack really was a nice filly, and he was glad to have somepony to talk to.

He sat there for several moments, just running through the whole situation again in his head. Then he turned his head to look down to her.

“Thanks, Applejack, I just-” She pushed upwards and met his lips fully. Her eyes closed and she pressed into him, sending them both falling over on the hay. Applejack continued for a second before Midnight stopped her and lifted her off of him. “I’m sorry, Applejack. After all that has happened. I don’t think moving my emotions to another pony is going to help in the long run.”

“I know. I’m sorry, Midnight. Can yah forgive me?” Silently, she thought, “I jes’ knew I shouldn’t have done that. Now he’s probably going to hate me.”

“Yeah, I forgive you. It’s alright. I think I’ll go talk to Twilight in the morning. Do you mind if I sleep here in the barn?”

“I’d love for y’all to stay here, Midnight. I reckon I’ll jes’ head out over to the house and leave ya be for the night...” She was making her way to the end of the barn as she spoke, head low.

Midnight stood and spoke up. “No, why not stay here? I could use some company. I just can’t stop thinking about how I could possibly fix this. Come on, sit down with me.”

Applejack’s eyes lit up at his response. By now she was almost to the door, but she trotted back with him to the stable. They rearranged the hay bails to cover the ground evenly and then jumped down onto them.

They lay facing each other for a moment without saying anything before Applejack shifted a bit and jumped slightly. “Ah!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Something in the hay, a stick or somethin’ probably, stuck me right in the side.” She turned over to look for the offending object and began to rustle around with the bail she was laying on. Midnight hadn’t really spent much time with Applejack before this, but she really was not a bad looking pony by any account. And now he couldn’t help but notice her toned back and flanks from his view. From all her hard work bucking apples and such, no doubt. Her coat was a soft, warm orange that he had trouble not looking at. While gazing, he realized he had never seen her hat leave her head, and tonight was no exception. Apparently it was her trademark look or something. While she continued to fiddle with the hay, he reached out with a hoof and flicked the back of the hat up, knocking it playfully off her head. She immediately turned around, looking at him accusingly with those large green eyes again. Applejack reached down and retrieved the hat, setting it beside her.

“Now what did y’all do that for?”

“I don’t know, just curious is all. I’ve never seen you without it.”

Her expression softened a bit. “Like what ya see?”

“Applejack, I didn’t mean...”

“I know I know. But you do owe me a little for knockin’ my hat off, don’t ya think?”

“Um... I guess I do.”

“It’s a might cold out tonight, mind if I stay in this stable with you for the night?” she said, replacing the hat on her head finally.

“I suppose, it’s your barn after all. They both relaxed after that, and soon after, Applejack fell asleep. Midnight remained awake, still troubled by what happened between him, Spitfire and Rainbow Dash. After another hour, he too nodded off to the sound of the rain.

Midnight awoke to see the sun shining through the cracks around the door and the high window. The second thing he noticed was that his hooves were wrapped around Applejack, who was still asleep next to him. She was holding him as well. “Did that just happen while we were asleep?” he wondered. It didn’t matter, really. He didn’t want to wake her up by moving, she had been so hospitable after all. So he continued to lie in the hay, allowing Applejack to hold him. He felt like her holding him helped lessen his pain, but he knew it didn’t completely solve the problem. He wasn’t sure anything could solve the problem at this point.

Chapter 9

Ponyville, 7:11 A.M., November 8th, 2012

Midnight had been lying in the hay bale with Applejack for what felt like hours. By now, Applejack was awake and doing her best to cheer Midnight up. “I don’t know if this is as bad as y’all are thinkin’, Midnight. Remember what happened before you two spent the night out in Whitetail Woods?”

“You heard about that?”

“We tell each other things, Midnight, word gets around. Anyhow, I wouldn’t be so sure it’s over between y’all just yet.”

“Yeah, you might be right.” He sat up and got out of the hay bale. “Thanks, AJ. I really needed that. As he turned to the exit, he saw Rainbow Dash, standing and staring at them from the doorway. “Dash, what are you doing here?”

“I came to talk to Applejack to see what she thought about the situation, but I think I already know that answer.” She turned around and slammed the door behind her. Midnight stood where he had been, devastated and speechless.

“Oh no. Don’t worry, sugarcube. I’ll talk to her fer yah.” Applejack ran out of the barn after Rainbow Dash. “Dash, wait. Let me explain.”

Rainbow Dash, who had begun flying away, stopped mid air and turned around. “Explain what?! Explain that Midnight has been sleeping with every pony in Ponyville behind my back?!”

“Now really, sugarcube. How did y’all come to such a conclusion?”

“I saw him sleeping in that hay bale with you. What did you do with him last night? No wait, I take that back. I don’t wanna know.”

“All I did was comfort him. He’s really devastated from what happened at yer audition.”

“Why would he care if I don’t wanna be with him anymore? He has so many other ponies he can turn to.”

“He’s not sleeping with any other pony. How can y’all let one thing ruin all of yer trust for him?”

“Because he tried to get it on with my idol while he was still with me!”

“And what makes y’all think that Midnight was the one who tried getting it on with Spitfire and not the other way ‘round?”

“Because Spitfire told me Midnight jumped on her.”

“And who do y’all think is more trustworthy? The boy who has been loyal to y’all for yer whole life, or a pony yah just met?”

“What are you getting at?”

“I’m just sayin’, Dash. You should at least consider giving him another chance. He doesn’t deserve this.”

“Whatever. I need to get going to rehearsal. Later...”

“*sigh* Why can’t that pony ever listen to reason?” She walked back into the barn where Midnight had been waiting for her to return.

“Well, how’d it go?”

“I’m sorry, sugarcube. I tried my darn’est to get her to listen.”

“It’s okay.” Tears rolled down his face and began to fall from his cheek. “At least you tried.... I think I’m gonna go see if Twilight can help.” He trotted over to the barn door as the tears fell from his eyes down to the barn floor.

“Alright, I’ll see y’all later then...”

Midnight walked into Ponyville and up to Twilight’s house as the tears still rolled from his face. He knocked on the door and just a few seconds later, Twilight came up and opened the door. “Hey Midnight. What brings you he-” She saw the tears falling from his eyes.

“Hey Twilight can I stay with you for a while?”

“Oh no. Something happened with you and Rainbow Dash didn’t it.”

“Yeah, it’s kinda a long story.”

“Well come on in. You can tell me what happened in the library.”

“Thanks, Twilight. I really need somepony who can think rationally to talk to right now.” Midnight walked in and shut the door behind him. He joined Twilight at a round table in the middle of the library.

“So, Midnight. What seems to be troubling you?”

“Well, it’s kinda a long story, but it has to do with an incident with Rainbow Dash.”

“Oh no. This isn’t about you cheating on her is it?”

“What? Cheating on her? Twilight, you can’t seriously think that I would ever cheat on Rainbow Dash.”

“Well, that’s just it. I mean, you told her that you threw yourself onto Spitfire. I think that’s pretty clear.”

“Twilight, I had to tell her that. It was for her own good.”

“I don’t see how cheating on her and telling her about it would be for her own good.”

“Damn it, I already told you! I never cheated on Dash! Damn it, why don’t you believe me?!”

“Oh I dunno. Maybe it’s because you left home when we were both kinds so I didn’t have a big brother to look up to!”

The words hit him like a sonic rainboom. “Twilight, I had to leave you. I’m sorry but it’s because I didn’t know how to control my fire or my emotions.”

“Well, I’m sorry that I can’t trust you but, after that and what happened with Rainbow Dash, I don’t know if I can.”

“Twilight, I...” Tears began to roll down his cheeks again. “I can’t stay.” Midnight turned around and ran out the door.

“Midnight, wait!” She ran out the door after him, but he was already flying above Whitetail Woods. She chased after him doing her best to keep her eyes on him. As she entered the forest, he pulled away and she struggled to see him through the dense trees. Even though she could barely see, she could still tell Midnight was slowly pulling ahead. “No, no, no, no, no. Please come back.” But it was too late. By now he had pulled ahead so far that she couldn’t see him. She came to a sudden stop. “I’m never gonna find him now. I need to go get some help finding him before he does anything drastic.” She went back to Ponyville to gather up her friends.

By now, hours had passed, and Midnight had found a cave deep in Whitetail Woods to hide in. He had been lying up against a rock in the cave for hours. “*sigh* There’s no explaining my situation now. Why does this shit keep happening to me?” He looked to his side to see what seemed to be shaped like a pony. As he looked farther around the rock, he found that the pony was dead, and had been for a long time. It was nothing but a skeletal remains. The dead body had a bow and quiver strapped around it. A notebook and pencil had been lying by its decaying hooves and covered in dust. Midnight picked up the notebook and blew the dust off of it. “These are his final words.” The paper read:

Trust,

It is the thread that ties the bonds of our friendships. Just a little too much tension can cause that thread to break. That thread can be retied by the hoof of forgiveness. This hoof is patient and enjoys taking its time to retie the thread. But sadly, the hoof of forgiveness never took its time to reach out to me and retie my thread of trust. So I came out to Whitetail Woods to try and live on my own. Sadly, the loneliness was too much to take. As you read this, I have already taken my life with the hunting dagger that my friend had carved for me two weeks before I accidentally took his life with it. Now no one around me trusts me, so I have now decided to take my life with the same dagger that had taken the life of my friend. If you are reading this and are suffering the loneliness of distrust, please don’t wait as long as I did do end the suffering.

Midnight set down the note. “So I guess that’s it then.” He turned over the bones to find a bloodstained dagger in the fractured ribcage where the pony’s heart once rested.

Twilight and her friends ran through the woods until they came up to the cave. “Hey, there’s a cave over here!” Twilight yelled out. “Let’s check it out!” They all went up to the entrance of the cave. Twilight could barely see in the dark cave, but she could see the shape of a large black pony. She could see something in his hoof but she couldn’t make out what it was. As it turned in his hoof, the moonlight reflected off of it as they could see him slowly bringing the dagger into the air. “No...Midnight.” Tears slowly began to roll from her eyes.

Midnight, looking down at where his heart lie in his chest, had tears begun to fall from his face. “Well I guess this is it then. I whisper my final words as no pony gets to hear them. I guess this is goodbye then.” He brought the dagger down towards his chest. As it nearly reached his chest, another hoof grabbed his, bringing the dagger to a stop. He quickly looked up in surprise to see a blue pony with a rainbow mane covering her teary eyes holding his hoof. Behind her he could see all of his friends, happy to see him still alive. “D-Dash? What are you doing here?”

“I came as soon as Twilight told me everything that had happened. I was worried about you, Midnight. I had problems believing that you had cheated on me.”

“Dash, I could never give you up. Look, I’m sorry I let you down. I promise that I’ll never run around and desert you. I can’t stand to see you cry. I don’t wanna say goodbye. I’m never gonna tell you another lie and hurt you.”

“Midnight, what are you even saying?”

“I don’t know, but I’m just happy to see you’re not angry.”

“I was never angry with you. I was just disappointed. But, Midnight. Why did you lie to me? If you didn’t throw yourself onto Spitfire, then what happened?”

“Well, ever since the day I got The Wonderbolts to accept your audition, I had been blackmailed by Spitfire.”

“Wait, Spitfire blackmailed you? How?”

“Well first off, she was the only reason I made it in to talk to The Wonderbolts. She brought me into the shower room, and tried to seduce me by running the shower water over her. Then she forced a kiss on me and I pulled away. I didn’t know it until she had shown up at our house but she had one of the security guards take a picture of the kiss. She used me for her own sexual pleasure. She told me that if I refused that she’d show you the picture of the kiss. This went on for the two weeks you were practicing.”

“Spitfire...used you? Midnight, why didn’t you tell me?”

“She said that I ratted her out to you, that she would never let you into The Wonderbolts.”

It suddenly hit Rainbow Dash. “So that’s why you told me that you threw yourself on her. You lied so I can live my dream. Oh Midnight, I’m so sorry.”

“No, it’s not your fault. Do you forgive me?”

“Of course I do. Come on, let’s get you home.”

Chapter 11

Ponyville, 11:13 A.M., November 9th, 2012

Midnight was pacing back and forth in Twilight’s room waiting to see what was to come out of this. “Please Fluttershy.” He thought, “Please don’t screw this up for us.”

Twilight suddenly came through the door. “Midnight. You can come out now.”

“Who showed up?”

“Rainbow Dash did.”

“Then that means...” Twilight just silently nodded her head. “*sigh* fuck, and we were so close.” He came out of the bedroom to find Rainbow Dash crying with Applejack’s hoof around her. “Dash, I’m sorry. I did all I could.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Midnight.”

“This is all my fault. If I would’ve done something when Spitfire first started trying to seduce me, none of this would’ve happened.” Rainbow Dash tried to hold back from bursting out in tears. She ran straight at Midnight and grabbed hold of him. Tears began pouring from her eyes as she cried into Midnight’s fur... maybe. “It’s okay, Dash.”

“No it’s not!” Her voice was muffled as she buried her face into his side. “This is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me!”

Fluttershy walked in through the front door. “Oh, there you all a-” She stopped as soon as she saw Rainbow Dash in her sorrow. “Oh no, what’s wrong?”

“It’s a touchy subject, Fluttershy.” Twilight said. “We can talk about it in my room.” Twilight turned around and Fluttershy joined her as they both walked to Twilight’s room.

“What am I gonna do now? My life is over! I’ve got nothing to look forward to.”

Midnight suddenly snapped from a feeling of sympathy to a feeling of anger. “No. I won’t let it all just end like this.” Midnight stepped back to gently let Rainbow Dash’s hooves fall down to the floor.

“Midnight? Where are you going?”

“I’m taking matters into my own hooves!” He didn’t stop and walked out the door slamming it behind him.

Twilight and Fluttershy came out of Twilight’s bedroom and Fluttershy walked up to Rainbow Dash. “Twilight told me everything. “Oh Rainbow Dash, I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”

“It’s okay, Fluttershy, it’s not your fault.”

“Hey, where did Midnight go?” Twilight asked

“He said he was gonna take matters into his own hooves.”

“Oh that’s not good. That means he’s gonna get aggressive.”

“I know he is, but I also have known him long enough to know that he can handle it.”

“I sure hope you’re right, Rainbow Dash.”

Midnight landed at the backstage entrance to the Cloudiseum. The two security ponies did not hesitate to step in front of the doorway. “No one gets in without a backstage pass.”

Midnight didn’t stop. “Move! Now!”

“No one gets in without a backstage pass.”

“Get out of my fucking way if you don’t want me to burn a hole through each of your skulls!

“We can’t let anyone in or we’ll lose our jobs.”

“Look, if you don’t let me in, you’ll lose a lot more than your jobs.” The two security ponies looked at each other, and then both stepped out of the doorway simultaneously. Midnight moved his way in and began to look for Spitfire. She was in a group talking to other Wonderbolts.

“Hey Midnight. Come here to see me?” She said happily.

“I did, but not for what you think.” He shot a small fire off of his horn and landed it just a few feet from Spitfire.

Spitfire quickly jumped back in fear. “M-midnight? You’re not mad at me are you?”

“Mad at you? No, of course not! Why would I be mad at you for destroying Rainbow Dash’s hopes and dreams for your own personal benefits?!”

“B-but, I did it for you.”

“No, you did it for your own sexual pleasures and you know it! I think you should seriously reconsider your decisions if you have a shred of dignity left!” He took in a deep breath and calmed himself down. “Alright, I’m going to give you some time to think. I think you should seriously reconsider kicking Rainbow Dash out of The Wonderbolts. I’ll be back some time later when I think I’ve given you enough time to consider what you’ve done wrong.” He turned around and walked his way to the door. “Oh yeah, and don’t fire your security guards. I forced my way in here. And when I come back, I expect to be let in here to talk to you.” He left her lying to think about the pain she had put Rainbow Dash through.

Soarin walked up to Spitfire, confused on what he had just seen. “Wow, what did you do, Spitfire? That pony seemed pretty upset with you.”

She didn’t know what to say. None of her peers knew about her seduction and blackmailing of Midnight. How did this even get started? She was never like this before. Then it suddenly hit her. All of her wrongdoings, all of the pain that she had brought upon innocent Rainbow Dash. “Sweet Celestia, how could I have done that to her? What was I thinking?”

“What did you do that was so bad?” Soarin was confused as ever. He had never seen Spitfire like this before.

“I...I... gaah, what is wrong with me?!”

“What could you have done that was so bad?”

She looked up at Soarin, not sure what to say. She just sat on the floor, dazed and confused, until finally, “I blackmailed Midnight for him to have sex with me.”

“You what?!”

“Please don’t hate me.”

“Spitfire, I don’t hate you. It’s just that it doesn’t sound like that is something you would do.”

“It’s not. At least, I thought it wasn’t. I don’t know why I did it.” She could hardly bear the guilt. The confusion made her head start to throb in pain. She grabbed her head as she tried to ease her pain. “What is wrong with me?! How could I be too blind to see what I was doing to Midnight and Dash?”

This all came at Soarin so suddenly. He was learning all of this now. All he could think to do was to put his hoof around Spitfire in sympathy and share his few words of advice. “Look, I’m not really sure what’s going on, but I can really only say one thing. If you caused a problem, then do what you can to fix it.”

“How do you expect me to do that?”

“Well for starters, you can get Rainbow Dash back into The Wonderbolts. The rest, I’m going to leave for you to figure out how to make this right.” He took his hoof off of her and left her to think for herself of what she had done.

“Make it right...make it right... Come on, Spitfire. Do what you must to make it right. I know I can do this.” She struggled to think. She was still shaken up from her sudden revelation. “Gaah, why is this so hard? It’s useless; I’m never gonna think of something spectacular to do for those two. *sigh*, I guess all I can do is just give them my sincere apology. Maybe I could write an apology letter. Their yah go, Spitfire. Now you’re getting back in the swing of things. Alright, let’s get this thing cracking.” She dashed into her dressing room, pumping herself. She wanted to put all she could into fixing this. When she came up to the dresser, she frantically searched for a pen and paper to begin writing. Finally finding what she was looking for, she set the paper down on a table and began her apology. “Alright, let’s do this. It can’t be that hard.”

“Dear Rainbow Dash,”

“No, I can’t start it off like that. She probably hates me, I know Midnight does...”

“I am so sorry for anything I...”

“No no no! They won’t believe me. How can I possibly convince them I mean it?”

She tried and failed for the next hour as the sheets piled up on the floor next to her. There was no way they would want to read anything she had to say. She practically ruined their relationship and had in the process ruined her reputation with both of them. “I’m going to have to bring this in person.” This wasn’t going to be easy, and she knew it. She’d done quite a few things she was just now coming to regret. Now was the time to get them all out in the open. With that, she began her letter. Sweat began to run from her face as she the words poured out of her mind and onto the paper. After a long time of frantic writing, she finally set down the pen and rested her tired hoof. “It’s perfect.”

Ponyville, 7:03 A.M., November 10th, 2012

Rainbow Dash didn’t sleep. She was too torn up from her dreams being shattered the day before. She simply lied in bed, Midnight rapped around her, scarred by Spitfire’s words that rung through her head all night. “Rainbow Dash, get out of that suit, give it back, and get out of here. I no longer want to see you here in The Wonderbolts.” She had been crying all night in her sorrow. But now, her tears had run out. She couldn’t cry anymore. She felt like, crying just wasn’t enough.

“Celestia why? What did I do to deserve this?” A faint noise came from the kitchen. It was the sound of the mail shoot in the door, opening and closing as the mail drifted to the floor. “*sigh*, I might as well.” She didn’t want to get out of bed. She didn’t want any bad news in the mail to make things worse. But what else could she do? She had been lying in bed all night doing nothing but thinking about her suffering. So she got out of bed any way. As she came up to the front door, she noticed one letter that suck out over the rest in the pile spread out across the area on the floor in front of the door. It was in a goldish-yellow envelope, sealed shut with a sticker shaped like a winged lightning bolt. “*gasp* Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!” She yelled as she frantically dashed to the door, hoping for the best out of the gold letter. As she picked up the letter, she quickly ripped open the seal, but carefully. She didn’t want to ruin any part of this moment. She pulled the letter out carefully as she didn’t want to ruin that either. She unfolded the letter, hoping for the best. The letter read:

Dear Rainbow Dash,

Look, we’ve all made mistakes in life that we regret. I, like everypony, have made a huge mistake. I didn’t realize what I had done until Midnight had come and talked to me. I know no matter how much I try to kiss up to you and Midnight, I will never be able to remove the scars that I brought upon you two. The least I can do for you is revoke my last words I spoke to you in person. Rainbow Dash, I hereby welcome you back as our newest member to The Wonderbolts. I hope you can find it in your hearts to both forgive me.

Sincerest apologies,

Spitfire

Rainbow Dash was speechless; in awe and in complete surprise from what she had just read. She never imagined that Spitfire would turn around and change her ways so fast after what she had been doing for so long with Midnight. As her happiness slowly sank in, a knock came from the other side of the door. Rainbow Dash hesitated after the knock. She wasn’t sure what to do after what she had just read. After a few seconds, she shook herself back to her senses, and grabbed the doorknob. As she slowly pushed the door open, she saw a golden pegasus pony with a flaming mane, holding a folded up Wonderbolt suit in her hoof.

“Hi, Rainbow Dash.”

“Spitfire, I...”

“Yes? What is it, Dash?”

“I don’t know what to say. Thank you. What did Midnight do to make you change your mind?”

“Well, I guess Midnight just has a very convincing personality. When he came in and scolded me, I realized that he never actually loved me and I was blinded by my love for him. Oh yeah, you have a very nice man on your hooves, Rainbow Dash.”

“Thanks, Spitfire. I’m glad to see you had a change of heart.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever be like that again. But sadly, I won’t be performing with you guys.”

“You what?! Spitfire, why?...”

“Well, at least not for awhile. I’m going to Haynalulu for a few months on vacation to clear my thoughts up a bit. But don’t worry, I’ll be back performing with The Wonderbolts in no time. For now, you’ll be taking my place in the sky next to Soarin.”

“Wow. Spitfire, this is such an honor. Do you think I’m ready for it?”

“Of course you are, kid. I’ve seen you in practice, and you nailed those moves better then I could.”

“Alright!” She hopped up and down in the doorway like she had never been this happy before. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“Here, take this.” She held the Wonderbolt suit to her. “You’re gonna need this for the show next Saturday. I’m really sorry that I took it away from you.” Rainbow Dash grabbed the suit from her.

“It’s okay, now I guess.”

“Thank you, Rainbow Dash, for forgiving me. I’m going to be heading my way Haynalulu, now. I hope that Midnight can forgive me too, but I don’t think I’m ready to confront him again. I’ll see you in a few months, Dash. And remember, always follow your dreams.” She jumped off of the cloud and began flying her way away. Slowly moving her way across the sky and making her way to the horizon, cloudy trail trailing behind her. Rainbow Dash knew that she wasn’t going to see Spitfire again anytime soon, but she could tell that this wouldn’t be the last time they would see each other.

As she finished her goodbyes, she looked down at the note. She turned around and ran back into the house, waving the note in the air, “Midnight! Wake up! You need to read this!”

Cloudiseum, 11:59 A.M., November 17th, 2012

Rainbow Dash sat in her dressing room, anticipating the start of the show. She was staring herself in the face through the mirror, prepping herself. “Alright, Rainbow Dash. You can do this. You can do it.”

A knock came on her dressing room door, “Rainbow Dash, you ready?” The voice was Soarin’s. “The show is about to start, and we need you out here.”

“I’m ready. Thank you Soarin.” She hopped out of her seat. After a long time prepping, she knew she was ready for this. As she stepped out the door, she saw the rest of The Wonderbolts, standing in starting position, waiting for her to join. She walked up next to Soarin, and got herself in ready position.

“You ready for this, Dash?” Soarin asked.

“I was born ready for this, Soarin.”

“Yeah, I’d believe so. This has been your goal for most of your life. And now, you get to live it. Your friends all waiting out in the stands.”

“...Fillies and Gentlecolts...” The announcers voice came from outside the door.

“Well, it looks like it’s our time to shine. “ Soarin said, “Now, let’s go out there and make your friends proud.”

“Please give a warm welcome for. The Wonderbolts!” The six ponies all ran out in perfect harmony. And took off into the light and crowd awaiting them outside.

The story's still not over. Keep reading in "The Equestria Offensive" here: The Equestria Offensive

Chapter 10

Ponyville, 10:13 P.M., November 8th, 2012

After they had found Midnight in the cave and Rainbow Dash gained her trust for him again, everypony went back to their houses. Midnight and Rainbow Dash had been lying in bed, enjoying their time being together. Even though their separation was short, the pain was still strong and the scars would last. It all made their time back together all that much more wonderful. “So, Dash. This is fun and all, but I’m still wondering. What are we gonna do about Spitfire?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well she’s obviously gonna try and get more outta me. And if she finds that we’re back together, she’s gonna know that I ratted her out and she’ll kick you out of The Wonderbolts.”

“Oh, that’s true. I guess I never thought of that.”

“We need to come up with some way for her to be okay with us being together.”

“Hmm....Maybe we could get her to fess up.”

“Alright, how can we do that?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe we could play with her head a bit.”

“Well first off, you need to act like you still don’t know about it. But no offense, you’re not the best at acting.”

“Hey! I’m great at acting! I bet I could get her to say that she’s gonna go talk to you and I wouldn’t question it.”

“Hey, that’s it. You get her to come to me, and when she tries to get more outta me, I act depressed and bitch her out about it. So when she comes back to you, you can get her to tell you the truth.”

“Midnight, that’s genius!”

“Sounds like a plan. Now when’s your next rehearsal?”

“Tomorrow morning at 10:30 sharp.”

“Well, I guess that means we have the rest of the night to enjoy our time together.”

“Sounds fun. Have any ideas?” She said as she slowly rubbed her hoof across his chest.

“I think I might have one.”

Ponyville, 10:00 A.M., November 9th, 2012

“Alright, we have everything straight?”

“Straight as an arrow. I get her to come to talk to you.”

“And remember, if she ever comes close to figuring you out, deny deny deny.”

“Right. And I think you should talk to Twilight about it since we’ll be doing this at her house.”

“Alright, I’ll leave now and tell all of our friends to give us some headway. Get your uniform on and get going.”

“Okay. See yah, sexy.” She walked into the bedroom, and Midnight walked out the front door. He flew down off the cloudy ledge and headed to Twilight’s house. He landed down just outside of her house to find Twilight and Applejack.

“Oh, hey Midnight.” Twilight said as the two ponies walked up to him. “What brings you here?”

“Well, Me and Dash have a problem with Spitfire. If she finds out that I told Rainbow Dash about her, she’ll kick Dash out of The Wonderbolts. So we came up with a plan to get Spitfire to tell the truth to Rainbow Dash.”

“Okay. Is there anything we can do to help?”

“Well, Spitfire thinks I’m living with you. Dashie is gonna get her to come to talk to me. I just need you to be at home and tell her where I am. I’ll be in your room. Just remember to act like you know nothing.”

“Y’all got anything fer me to do?”

“Applejack, I need you to find all of our friends and make sure they stay away from Twilight’s house so no pony screws this up.”

“Aye aye!” She galloped off straight for Sugar Cube Corner.

“Alright, let’s get inside, Twilight.”

Rainbow Dash flew up to the outer gate of the Cloudiseum. She landed down right by the corner of the entrance where she knew no pony inside could see her. “Alright, time to put on a show.” She walked around the corner, keeping her head down.

Spitfire noticed her coming around the corner and walked up to greet her. “Hey, Dash! You ready for rehearsal?”

“*sigh* sure...”

“Hey, what’s wrong? You’re not still upset about what Midnight did to you are you?”

“That’s just it. I’ve known Midnight for 11 years. I’ve always been able to trust him. Why would he do this to me now?”

“Hey, it can’t be all that bad.” She put her hoof around Rainbow Dash’s neck. “Would it make you feel any better if I went to talk to him after rehearsal?”

“If you think it can help.”

“I’ll do my best. Now come on, we’ve been waiting for you.” The two ponies walked into the backstage of The Cloudiseum.

Midnight had been waiting in Twilight’s bedroom while Twilight paced in the library waiting for Spitfire to show up. All of a sudden, Applejack came bursting through the front door. “I can’t find Fluttershy.”

Pinkie Pie came up behind her. “You’re looking for Fluttershy? She told me she was going to Cloudsdale to congratulate Rainbow Dash about being in The Wonderbolts and getting back together with Midnight.”

“What?!” Twilight yelled out in panic. “This isn’t good!” She dashed up straight up to her bedroom and slammed the door open. “Midnight, we have a problem! Fluttershy is going to Cloudsdale to congratulate Rainbow Dash about being in The Wonderbolts and getting back together with you!”

“What?! No no no no no no! Oh Fluttershy. She’s so innocent and delicate, but too damn obdurate and obstinate. What are we gonna do now?”

“I don’t know if there’s anything we can do.” Twilight said, “We need you to stay here, and we have no other pony who can get to Cloudsdale fast enough.”

“You’re right. I guess all we can do now is hope Rainbow Dash can figure out how to handle the situation.”

Fluttershy flew up to the backstage entrance to The Cloudiseum. The two security ponies quickly stepped in front of the doorway. “Excuse me, sirs. Is Rainbow Dash here?”

“She is. She’s doing rehearsal with the rest of The Wonderbolts. Unfortunately for you, we can’t let you in. No pony is aloud back here without a backstage pass or consent of The Wonderbolts.”

“Oh...okay. Well can you pass on a message? I mean, if that’s okay with you...”

“As long as we don’t let any pony back here who shouldn’t be, we’re doing our job. So I don’t see a problem with it.”

“Okay, well. Can you tell her that Fluttershy said she’s happy for Rainbow Dash for making it into The Wonderbolts and for getting back together with Midnight.”

“We’ll make sure she gets the message.”

“Alright, thank you sirs.” She turned around and began heading back to Ponyville. Just as she was out of sight, Spitfire and Rainbow Dash came up to the doorway.

“Who was that?” Spitfire asked.

“Somepony named Fluttershy.”

Rainbow Dash suddenly snapped in surprise. “Oh no.” She thought.

“She came with a message for Rainbow Dash?”

“R-really? W-what would that be?”

“If I remember right, she said that she’s happy for you for making it into The Wonderbolts.”

“Oh, well that was sweet of her.”

“And I think she said that she’s happy that you got back together with Midnight.”

“Crap!” Rainbow Dash thought, “I guess it’s game over.”

Spitfire angrily looked over at her. “Dash, if you’re back together with Midnight, why are you moping about him?”

“I...uuhhh...” She couldn’t think of anything to say. At this point, she knew she was screwed.

“He told you didn’t he!”

“T-told me what?”

“Don’t lie. I know that he told you. Rainbow Dash, get out of that suit, give it back, and get out of here. I no longer want to see you here in The Wonderbolts.”