Flight

Storm Fire slowly trotted towards the large, dull gray building that towered in front of him, he stopped a few feet from a large mural on the ground. It was a large circle that read "Wonderbolts: Royal Equestrian Air Force". He closed his eyes and smiled to himself. Today was Storm Fire's first day as a Wonderbolt.

He'd passed his final exam at the Wonderbolt Training Academy only a week early and earned himself the rank of Aircolt First Class. Storm Fire thought back to all he'd gone through to make it here. All the simulated battles, all the yelling at from the training officers, all 20 mile runs and never ending flight exercises. All to make it here. For his entire life, he'd done nothing but dream about becoming a wonderbolt, and now, it had finally come true. Storm Fire quickly opened his eyes and continued his steady trot towards the large double doors ahead, only now with a wide smile on his face.

Storm Fire thrusted the doors open, and spotted a bright yellow mare with a red and orange mane not far from the doors. Captain Spitfire, his new commanding officer. He quickly trotted over to her and gave a proud salute and a straight face, he wanted to make a good impression on their first encounter. She casually returned the salute and gave him a goofy grin.

"Take it easy fella, this isn't basic training," she said. Storm Fire slowly put his hoof down. "Now, you must be Storm Fire, new new squad member," the mare continued, "congrats on making it this far, not a lot of ponies do."

"Thank you sir... err mam...," Storm Fire responded.

Spitfire let out a light chuckle, "Just call me Spitfire when we're not on mission, Lieutenant when we are. One thing I'm sure you'll notice is that the Wonderbolts are a lot more laid back than any other branch of the military, because when you're job is being the one who is thrusted head first into the next major conflict, you might as well have a good time doing."

"Well, that's far from what the academy told us, but I think I like this version of the Wonderbolts a lot more," Storm Fire replied.

"Ha!,"Spitfire shouted, "are you kidding me? Those old training officers back at the academy don't know what the hay they're talking about. Now, come with me, I'll show you around and introduce you to the rest of the squad." Storm Fire smiled slightly. "I am in heaven right now" he thought to himself, and followed the mare out of the entrance building and onto the airbase grounds.

For the next 4 hours, Spitfire took Storm Fire all across the base, showing him every nook and cranny in every single building there was on base. Storm Fire was about ready to die of boredom, until they arrived at the final building. It was a small hanger, not meant to hold more than a few aircraft. The pair slowly walked through the massive hangar doors.
"This," said Spitfire, thrusting out a hoof, "is our personal squad hanger."

Storm Fire gazed in awe at his surroundings. 4 F-22 Raptor's, the latest and most advanced piece of weaponry known to Equestria, we're sitting right in front of him. "Wow... these are nothing like the old T-45 Goshawk's we used in the academy."
"Yeah, these have a lot more power, than any other aircraft out there, and its gonna take a little more on hoof training before you're ready to fly a live mission in one of these babies, but with the kind of record you have, that shouldn't be too long," Spitfire replied.

"Wait," said Storm Fire, "You mean I get to fly one of these?"

"Yeah of course! You're plane is right there in the back, fresh off the assembly line.” She pointed to the F-22 furthest from them. "We've already taken the liberty of painting your cutie mark on the vertical stabilizer and putting your name on the cockpit tub. You're a Wonderbolt now, which means you use only the best equipment," Spitfire responded.
Storm Fire suddenly noticed that he and Spitfire weren't the only ones in the hangar, two other ponies, both wearing a blue and yellow Wonderbolts flight suit casually trotted up to Spitfire's side.

"Storm Fire, I'd like to introduce you to the rest of the squad," said Spitfire.

"This is First Lieutenant Soarin," a muscular stallion with a light blue, almost white coat and a dark blue tail and mane swept back gave him a cheerful smile and shaked his hoof.

"A pleasure to meet ya Storm," said Soarin.

"Likewise, Soarin," Storm Fire replied.

"And this," said Spitfire, "is Staff Sergeant Fleetfoot."

A cerulean blue mare with a snow white mane and tail reached over and gave him a hoofbump.
"I've heard about you over at the academy, I look forward to flying with you," Fleetfoot said, giving him a shy smile.

"Thanks," he responded, "I look forward to flying with you too, all of you, it's an honor just being here."

"Aw, don't get all emotional and squishy on us only a minute after we meet," replied Soarin, "Now, I don't know about you guys, but I'm gettin' kinda hungry, so whaddya guys say we hit the mess hall and grab a bite to eat? I heard they have apple pie. Plus it'll give us a good chance to get to know each other."

"You're always hungry Soarin, but it would give us a good chance to get to get to know each other, so why not," said Spitfire.
"Yeah, thats fine with me," Fleetfoot quietly responded.

"Well, lead the way Soarin," Storm Fire, replied.

"YES!" shouted Soarin. "Apple pie here I come!" Soarin sprinted off towards the mess hall, the other three ponies slowly in tow behind him.

When the group arrived at the mess hall, they found that what Soarin had said was true. They were serving apple pie. All of them but Soarin grab a piece and went to take a seat, for he took an entire pie. He happily trotted over to the table where everypony was waiting for him and plopped down his apple pie.

"Boy, I'll tell ya, the chef's here sure do know how to bake a mean apple pie," Soarin said cheerfully, as he began to dig into his pie.

"You know," replied Spitfire," sometimes it seems like you joined the wonderbolts just for the free food." Soarin completely ignored the comment and continued digging into his meal without a fork, licking the dish clean.

"Right.... anyway," Spitfire continued, "so, why don't you tell us a little about you Storm Fire? Your file didn't say much."

"Well that doesn't surprise me," Storm Fire duly responded in between mouthfuls of pie, "there isn't much to say about me, I grew up in Cloudsdale in an average house, with an average family, and went to an average school. After I finally got out of school, I headed straight to the academy, and now I'm here. Becoming a Wonderbolt has been what I've always dreamed of doing since I was a foal. I spent my whole life obsessing about the Wonderbolts and didn't really care about much else."

"Aw come on, there has to be something special. How about like, a special mare waiting for you back at home?", Fleetfoot said.

"No, just me," Storm Fire replied, "I've never really met anypony special. I've never been "one with the mares" if you must, but enough about me, tell me a little about yourselves."

"Well, there isn't much to say about me either," Spitfire responded, "my life was rather similar to yours. I spent my whole life trying to get into the Wonderbolts, not caring about much else."

"Well," Fleetfoot piped in, "I've always been rather shy and quiet, I'm sure you've noticed. When I was young I was usually
the one being bullied, so once I was old enough, I decided to join the air force because I wanted to be apart of something
bigger and important. I was so good that I was invited to the wonderbolts.

"Well," Soarin said while licking his lips, "I never really planned on becoming a wonderbolt. It was my parents who wanted me to become one, and since I never reallt knew what I wanted to do, I just went along with it. The next thing I knew, as soon as I was old enough I was in the training acadamy, and now I'm here. It turned out I actualy enjoyed the Wonderbolts, so now I'm staying."

"I think you stay because of the food still," Spitfire muttered under her breath, just loud enough for everypony at the table to hear. A round of laughter came up from the everypony.

"So," Storm Fire said after a few moments of silence. "Whats next for today Spitfire? More buildings to show me that I'll probably never need to go to?"

"No don't worry, we're done with the buildings," she replied, "All that's left for today is to introduce you to a few more ponies like the your ground crew and aircraft tech team. From then on its mostly just getting you acquainted with your new aircraft.
Your first actual mission is scheduled for about two weeks from now so we have a lot of training to do."

"Ugghhhh.... I thought I finished training after I left the academy," Storm Fire groaned.

"Ha," Spitfire chuckled, "Don't worry, this won't be like the training you're used too."