Speed

Chapter 1: A Little Boost

        If Pinkie had let Dash finish reading her letter yesterday, her friends would have known that the Wonderbolts Practice Facility was just outside Manehattan, so that was where Dash was heading. Butterflies were starting to flutter in her stomach, and that hope of catching up on some much-needed sleep began to fade. The train ride would take about a day, as Manehattan was way out on the east coast of Equestria, far from the more central location of Ponyville.

        Riding along on the bumpy railroad was a rare experience for Dash, and she realized she had taken for granted the access the train provided to anywhere in Equestria right from her own home. She’d rarely used the train during her stay in Ponyville. There were a few trips to Canterlot, and one memorable journey to find Applejack when she didn’t come home, but other than that she hadn’t really left Ponyville since moving in. To be leaving it now, for such a long time, gave her a heavy feeling in her heart.

        A pony passed with a food cart, asking if anyone wanted something to eat. Dash was not hungry and declined the request. It was the only interaction she’d had with anypony on the train up to this point. She glanced around the train at the other ponies and sighed.

        With nothing to do but gaze out the window at the landscape, thoughts began to fly through her head. What would the Wonderbolts think of her? Would she impress them with her blinding speed, or would she crash and burn so badly that they would send her home? That would be lousy, being Wonderbolt for a day only to find out she didn’t cut it. But that wasn’t going to happen. She would show them her stuff, and they would be deeply impressed, and before she knew it she’d be replacing Spitfire as captain of the Wonderbolts!

        Dash shook herself, reminding herself she was thinking too far ahead. She’d have to take it one day at a time, really get a feel for what they wanted from her, and find more subtle ways of impressing them. It was all about getting the right maneuver, as she found out at the Wonderbolt Academy, about nailing that perfect trick, and all the strength and conditioning needed to do so consistently. It would take a lot of practice, a lot of preparation, and a lot of heart. Well, Dash knew at least she had more than enough of that last element.

        Her thoughts drifted into daydreams of screaming fans chanting her name as she flew through the sky. She could feel her muscles tearing as she pushed her speeds to the breaking point, the chants dying under the air screaming through her ears. A wide turn here, a flip there, and she knew the audience was cheering, even if she couldn’t hear it. Suddenly she was shooting up into the air, preparing for the grand finale. She had to get enough height to pull it off, so she flew so high that ponies would need binoculars to see her from the stands. It wouldn’t matter, though; in a minute she’d be blowing them all away.

        She was high enough now, she turned and dove headfirst towards the ground, feeling her stomach churning and head spinning from speeds approaching the sound barrier. There were only a small number of ponies who had the strength to pull this trick off, and she had done it when she was just a filly. What mattered now, though, is whether she could do it now, in front of thousands of ponies screaming her name. Would she get that last move and wow the crowd, or would she make a small blunder, a miscalculation that would throw her off course and disappoint everypony in the stands?

        None of those questions mattered, because here she was getting closer and closer to the ground, and she still hadn’t reached that breaking point she needed. She dove further and further, preparing herself to pull up at the last possible moment, waiting for the break that would set off the trick and send a hush over the crowd. She could now count the flower petals on the ground. She’d have to pull up early to keep from crushing her skull against the ground, but she needed that final burst of speed.

        Suddenly, she broke free, and she pulled up immediately to rocket back into the air with a trailing rainbow streaking out of her mane. She had performed the Sonic Rainboom! Either the crowd was screaming her name, or they were stunned silent. Whatever the result, she knew they were impressed. She soared higher and higher, curving through the air to make that trademark rainbow shape, both as a visual appeal and to slow her down so she could land safely on the firm earth. She felt less dizzy as her head stopped swimming, and the wind rushing through her ears began to die down, and consequently she could hear the cries of “Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash!” from the stands. She landed on the ground and smiled at the crowd as they erupted into applause, stamping their hooves on the stands and screaming at the top of their lungs. This was the kind of excitement she’d only dreamed of, and now it was a reality! Fans cheering her name, the spotlights all on her, the attention, the recognition!

        A bump in the tracks shook Dash awake from her slumber. Her nerves became unsettled once more, and when the food cart came around this time, she didn’t take anything from it, even though her stomach was rumbling. She knew that proper nourishment was crucial to fuel the athletic tricks she would no doubt be performing the moment she arrived, but she couldn’t bring herself to eat right now, afraid that it would just churn around in her stomach and make her feel sick.

        As the day wore on, Dash looked at the other passengers in the cart. A few were asleep; these she looked at the longest, as they were the least likely to notice her looking. There was a young couple with two rowdy foals that kept whining and leaving their seats. Dash could have lived without that kind of nuisance. There was another pony like her, just looking around at the other ponies, and Dash purposely avoided her gaze, knowing she was probably doing the same to her. Everypony was so isolated that nopony was willing to strike up a conversation with anypony else in the cart.

        Dash shut her eyes and tried to fall back asleep, but the closer she got to Manehattan, the more uncomfortable she felt, and her hunger was only making things worse. It didn’t help that she got motion sick on train rides, which she found laughably ironic.

        The wide fields and distant mountains had now turned to houses, paved roads, and more urban developments, signaling to Rainbow Dash that they were getting closer to Manehattan. She had only been to the city twice before, the first time with her father, going to see the very Wonderbolts she would soon be joining. It had been a thrill to see such tall skyscrapers and lines of ponies in the road. It had been so cool to see the hustle and bustle of the metropolitan lifestyle. But she had been completely blown away by her first ever Wonderbolts performance. The death-defying tricks they pulled in the air had had Dash hanging off her seat, and when she struggled to see what was happening overhead her dad had put her on his shoulders. Then it was as if she was flying in the sky with them, coursing through the air and forming those beautiful arcs of lightning that emblazoned the night sky.

        It had been way past their bedtime, and no doubt Dash’s mom would have had something to say about her dad letting her stay up so late, but it had been so worth it to meet with Spitfire after the performance and get her autograph. Dash hadn’t had a cutie mark at the time, so her autograph had been a nice message about growing up and finding her place.

        What exactly had she written? Dash rummaged through her saddlepack looking for the old promotional poster Spitfire had signed all those years ago, back when she had been a new flyer for the team. She found it, lifted it out, and smiled when she saw it. The poster had a picture of the old Wonderbolts flying towards her with a caption about dates and times across Equestria, but in the upper right corner Spitfire had written Dash’s message before signing the poster. Dash took a moment to read those words carefully again.

To a young pegasus still finding her way in the world, always look to the sky!

        Yes, it was brief, and it was probably a generic message for all young pegasi who attended these events, but these words had been in Dash’s head all her foalhood. They had been playing in her head when she performed her first Sonic Rainboom and gotten her cutie mark, and it was then that she knew that she would always be flying for the rest of her life.

        And now she was here, ready to think of her own messages for young fillies and colts who had been her age, who were seeing the Wonderbolts for the first time. What would she tell them? What kind of dreams would she inspire? It was overwhelming to imagine, and Rainbow Dash had to calm her nerves as the train approached the city of Manehattan proper.

        The skyscrapers were enormous. That was the first thing in Dash’s mind as she entered the city. She couldn’t see how high through the train’s windows, but she knew they towered over her. Billboards for all sorts of goods lined the train tracks, including, to her disgust, Flim Flam Brothers Cider.

No way am I drinking that stuff again, she thought Soon the train entered a tunnel, and she knew they were almost ready to depart. She could feel the tension building inside of her. She wanted to fly around the tall buildings in the high up apartments where the pegasi lived. She’d be getting one of her own for being a Wonderbolt, a penthouse apartment no less. She could imagine taking naps in what would undoubtedly be a luxurious bed, getting some of the best sleep she’d ever had after a hard day’s practice.

        The train stopped at the station, and Dash was the first out. She made her way towards the subway, following the signs as she looked for the B-Line, which would take her out of the city and to the Wonderbolts Training Facility. There weren’t quite as many ponies as she was expecting, but there were still some making their way home from work.

        Leaning against a post was a ragged Earth pony with an unkempt muzzle and matted mane and tail. He held up a can to Dash’s face and shook it, with a small amount of bits jingling inside.

        “Please, ma’am,” he said in a decrepit voice, “can you spare some bits?”

        Dash hastily looked into her saddlepack for her purse. Once she found it and dug it out, she took a few bits in her hoof and dropped them in the bucket.

        “Celestia bless you,” the old pony wheezed before coughing. Dash wanted to see what was wrong with the old pony, but her train was arriving. The B-Line would be heading south to the Wonderbolts Training Facility. She left the poor pony behind as she boarded the train, but as the train departed she stared out the window at him until he was out of view.

        Rainbow Dash saw an empty seat, and was tempted to take it. Instead, she decided to remain floating in the air to stay lose. The train ride to Manehattan had worn on her backside, so anytime she could spend standing or in the air was welcome.

        She took out the letter again and reread it to make sure she wasn’t forgetting something important. It contained most of the basics for the first night: the directions to the facility, the first training session, and the information about her living arrangements. She was sure she hadn’t forgotten anything, so she had nothing to do but wait anxiously for the train to arrive.

        The trip seemed to take forever, especially with the frequent starting and stopping as passengers boarded and departed. Dash kept an eye on the map laying out the stops of the train, and at every stop she counted how many more to go before they reached the facility. Five more stops...four more stops…

When she finally arrived at the train stop, she rocketed out of the ship to the facility’s entrance and flew into the lobby. She was astonished to see Spitfire and Soarin waiting for her there.

        “Your train was late,” Spitfire said as she bumped hooves with Dash. Soarin slapped her on the back and gave her a wide grin. The three of them floated down the hall, and Dash was left in awe of all the accolades sitting in glass cases lining the wall.

        “We’ve already met you as your instructors and as your competitors,” Spitfire said. “Now, we meet as Wonderbolts.”

        “I guess we are,” Dash said, elated that her idols were speaking to her as a teammate, as an equal. Gone were the formalities evident at the Gala. Gone were the harsh militant words of Spitfire at the academy.

        “You psyched for your first training session?” Soarin asked. It was already clear from the smile on Dash’s face, but he was trying to be polite.

        “Um...yeah!” Dash said. “I can’t tell you enough how awesome it is to finally be with you guys.”

        “I understand how you feel,” Spitfire said, smiling at Dash. “I felt the same way when I first joined. Wow, that was way back...I think you were just a filly when I made the team. Didn’t I sign an autograph for you once?”

        “You remember that?” Dash blurted. “But you signed so many! Why do you remember mine?”

        “The rainbow-colored mane,” Spitfire said with a smirk. “Never met another filly with a mane like yours.”

        “Oh! Well, that makes sense,” Dash said, flipping her mane back in an attempt to impress them. Spitfire and Soarin chuckled.

        “Yeah, you and your dad were the only ones I’ve ever seen,” Spitfire commented. “Then when I found out you were an Element of Harmony, I remembered signing that autograph all those years ago. You never know where life’s gonna take you, huh?”

        “I guess not,” Dash said.

        The three of them arrived in the training grounds. There was nothing but the sky above them, and in them were clouds formed in the shape of hoops. Dash looking up to the sky feeling puzzled.

        “Why are we not actually in the clouds?” Dash asked. “We’re all pegasi here, right?”

        Soarin stepped forward to explain.

        “We need to practice taking off from ground level because that’s where we perform our shows. I’m sure you know taking off from a cloud is very different from taking off from solid earth.”

        “Yeah, clouds are much flimsier,” Dash said.

        “Exactly,” Soarin replied. “Now, why don’t you just get up there and run a course through the hoops? Show us your stuff.”

        Dash put down her saddlepack on the ground. She steadied her trembling limbs and flexed her wings. She was ready to show the Wonderbolts what she could do!

        “Whenever you’re ready,” Spitfire said, and immediately after those words Dash took off into the sky.

        Her takeoff was stellar, launching her into the air with a  burst of speed. She flew through the first couple of hoops easily, as they were in a straight line. But at the first curve, she overshot her turn and passed through the cloudy part of the hoop on the left side. She corrected herself and stayed strong through the next few hoops before reaching some in a loop-de-loop arrangement. Dash leaned back and soared through the hoops with ease, a stunt that would make any ordinary pegasus dizzy.

        Soarin and Spitfire watched her carefully, taking mental notes of her strengths and weaknesses. The last thing on their list were her landings, which were coming right up. Dash passed through the last hoop and landed on the ground hard, stumbling a bit on her hooves before straightening up, jutting her chest out and smiling.

        Spitfire and Soarin stomped their hooves on the ground and walked over to Dash with smiles on their faces. Dash thought she was going to melt on the spot.

        “Solid work,” Spitfire said. “You need work on turns and your landings, but everything else looked pretty good.”

        “You’ll work on everything, though,” Soarin informed her. “You can never get too much practice, and everything needs to be in top form for performances. Not to mention the moves we perform are dangerous, and we need to practice so we don’t get hurt.”

        “Gotcha,” Dash said. “So, what’s next?”

        “Run the course a few more times,” Spitfire responded. “This time we’ll join you.”

        “Really?” Dash asked, hardly believing her ears.

        “Of course,” Soarin said. “We fly as a team, right?”

        “Always,” Dash said with a sneer.

        The three of them launched off of the ground. Soarin had a faster takeoff, but Dash soon pulled ahead. Spitfire had the slowest takeoff but gained speed so that she was neck and neck with Dash.

Oh, I see what this is, Dash thought. Okay then, prepare to be blown away! Dash put all her effort into gaining speed, straining her wings as she pushed against the wind whipping at her face. At the first turn, though, Spitfire turned beautifully while Dash arced wide, so she was now behind and playing catchup. Pretty soon Soarin caught up to her as well, and by the time they hit the loop-de-loop Dash was in dead last. Soarin slowed down through the loop, though, as he was starting to get a headache, allowing Dash to pull ahead.

        They were coming up to the final stretch, and Dash poured on enough speed during her dive to catch up with Spitfire. It didn’t last long, though, as Spitfire put out a final burst of speed to land a second before Dash did. Dash stumbled again and nearly fell over as she had taken the landing too fast. She was now winded as Soarin touched down a few seconds later.

        “Your speed is impressive,” Soarin commented with a grin. “It’s pretty hard to keep up with Spit here.”

        “You’re tellin’ me,” Dash said, panting. “How are you guys not gasping for breath?”

        “You need to work on your endurance,” Spitfire said. “Don’t worry, if it’s still an issue after a few days, we can help you with that.”

        “How?” Dash asked.

        “You’ll see,” Soarin said. He looked carefully at Spitfire, who gave him a stern look. They decided without words to drop the subject.

        “One last thing,” Spitfire said with a smile. “Can you do a Sonic Rainboom?”

        “What, you mean right now?” Dash asked, her heart pounding and a panicked look in her eye.

        “It’s your signature move, right?” Soarin asked. “You performed it at the Best Young Flyer’s competition and we were really impressed. We wanna see if you can do it again.”

        “Um...okay, I’ll try,” Dash said, gulping. She hadn’t done one since the wedding of Shining Armor and Cadance. Nevertheless, she took off into the air and soared ever higher, becoming merely a dot from the ground level. She stopped when she thought she was high enough, looked down at the ground, and took a deep breath.

        She rocketed towards the ground, building up speed as she worked with gravity. Her eyes began to water, and she could see the cone that was produced just before a Sonic Rainboom. The ground was getting closer and closer, though, and she still didn’t have enough speed to get that final burst. Just before hitting the ground, she had to pull up early and loop around to lower her speed before landing gently.

        She hung her head in shame, but Spitfire and Soarin applauded again.

        “That was a good effort,” Spitfire said. “I know it’s hard to pull off in front of your idols like that, on your very first day of training. But we’ll get you into shape so you can do it consistently. That sound good?”

        “I guess so,” Dash said, staring at the ground but smiling anyway.

        “I think we’re all set for tonight,” Spitfire said. “You did a good job. You wanna meet the rest of the team?” Spitfire asked.

Dash nodded enthusiastically.

“Then follow us,” Spitfire said. “They’re in the locker room.”

        Dash put on her saddlepack, and then Spitfire and Soarin led her through a door that led down a cold hallway. Dash started to shiver as she realized the hallway’s vents were blasting cold air.

        “Why’s it so c-c-cold?” she asked.

        “We work up a sweat on the field. This helps us cool off faster,” Soarin explained.

        “Cool,” Dash said, almost cracking up hearing her unintended pun. Spitfire and Soarin smiled.

        When they arrived at the locker room, there were ten ponies waiting in the center of the room, five mares and five stallions. They all waved to Rainbow Dash and Spitfire, giving their captain a chance to introduce them.

        “In no particular order, these are High Winds, Misty Fly, Rapidfire, Lightning Streak, Blaze, Fire Streak, Wave Chill, Silver Lining, Surprise, and Fleetfoot,” Spitfire rattled off. Dash stared at them blankly, and Spitfire laughed. “I don’t expect you to remember them all at once, but you’ll get to know them soon.”

        “Nice to meet you, Rainbow Dash,” said Wave Chill. “It’s gonna be real cool to have you around.”

        “Uh...thanks,” Dash said, still in shock that she was in a room with all of her idols. Some were from when she was a filly, some were newer, but she admired all of them equally.

        She didn’t have much to clean up from the brief training session, unlike the rest of the Wonderbolts, who had been flying all day and were covered in mud and grime from their coats to their hooves. Dash stepped into one of the showers, hoping the hot water would ease her weariness from her long travels and her brief exercises. Wave Chill stepped into the shower adjacent to her.

        “So what do ya think about being a Wonderbolt for the first time, huh?” he asked, running suds through his mane. Dash grabbed some shampoo from her saddlepack and began rubbing it into hers.

        “Well, you know, it’s really exciting. I can’t wait to show ’em what I can do!” she boasted. Wave laughed along with her, but then his expression turned more calm.

        “You feeling nervous at all?”

        “What do you mean?” Dash asked, rinsing the shampoo from her mane.

        “I mean you’re about to perform with the fastest fliers in Equestria, and you’ve only just started. Aren’t you afraid you’re gonna screw something up, make a fool of yourself?”

        “Why would I be afraid of that?” Dash asked.

        “Well, a lot of new recruits stay on for a few days and then can’t cut it. They either burn out from the strenuous drills, can’t fly as fast or as strong as the veterans, and a lot of them end up crying or getting so mad that they start smashing the benches in the locker room. A lot of first recruits get asked to leave after only a few days.”

        “Days?” Dash asked, trembling as she began to rub her back with soap.

        “It’s a pretty cutthroat atmosphere around here. You’re either good enough to fly with the Bolts, or you aren’t.”

        “What am I gonna do, Wave?” Dash asked, trembling.

        “Look, give everything you got in tomorrow’s drills. That’s all you can really do. Unless…”

“Unless what?”

“It’s not my place to say. All I know is, there’s ways to make you tougher, stronger, and faster up in that sky. Sometimes you’re good enough to make it without help, but sometimes you need a little boost.”

        “And what the hay does that mean, ‘a little boost?’ What are you talking about?”

        At that moment, Spitfire walked past. Wave cringed and moved closer to Dash.

        “Look, all you need to know is this,” Wave said solemnly. “We are the best of the best. Some of us just need to be a little bit better.”

        And with that, Wave Chill left the shower, leaving Dash to mull over his words. Seriously, what the hay was thatall about?

        Dash toweled off and made her way to the benches to sit and relax. There was a bit of a space in the corner behind one of the lockers, and Dash noticed Fire Streak sitting behind it. Dash would have just ignored him, but he was holding a needle in his hoof filled with a blue fluid the color of her coat.

        Fire Streak reached up behind his back and jabbed the needle into his wing, injecting the fluid into the vein on the wing’s outer edge. The injection was swift, methodical, and when it was done his wing was pulsating. Dash was starting to feel squeamish, but then Fire Streak refilled the needle with fluid in a small vial and jabbed his other wing, injecting more of the fluid. Dash shuddered at the sight, and when Fire Streak turned around and left the corner, Dash looked away quickly.

What was he doing with…with that needle? she wondered. What’s inthat stuff?

        Dash had only one experience to call upon involving a needle that large, and that was when she found one abandoned in the grounds of her flight school. Her stomach had squirmed when she saw it, and she hadn’t known what it was for. The needle Fire Streak was using looked very similar, and it made her wonder. If a needle like that had been abandoned at flight school, what had it been used for? And why was Fire Streak using it now?

        Dash’s thoughts were interrupted when Spitfire called her over. She shook herself out of her reverie and flew over to her.

        “Dash, I almost forgot,” she said as she shuffled over to her. Spitfire threw her a shiny object, and it wasn’t until Dash caught it and looked at it did she find out it was a key.

“You’re gonna be rooming with Wave Chill temporarily, until we can find you a place of your own,” Spitfire explained. “I hope that’s not a problem.”

        “”Nah, of course not,” Dash assured her with a nervous chuckle. “Wave Chill seems like a pretty cool guy.”

        “Good, good. You’ll be here at 0900 hours for morning drills?”

        “You mean nine AM? Absolutely.”

        “Excellent. Wave Chill will show you home. It’s not too far from here, just a short flight. Nothing you can’t handle, right?”

        “Right…” Dash said, with a bit of an undertone. She found Wave Chill waiting in the lobby for her and smiled.

        “Looks like we’re roomies,” Dash said, flashing the key to the apartment at Wave.

        “Nice. The penthouse is just a few blocks east of here. It’s great, you’ll see. Oh, and Dash?”

        “Yeah?”

        “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. We’ve all heard of you and your Sonic Rainbooms. I’m sure you’re gonna be great.”

        “Thanks, Wave.”

        “No problem.”

        Dash and Wave smiled at each other. The two of them left the locker room and made their way outside. The sun had set, and the lights of the city were shining in the distance. The two of them took off, and Dash followed Wave towards his penthouse suite. She was excited to see what tomorrow would bring, even with the uncertainties of today creeping in the back of her mind.