A Dash of Fate

by Spark Scream

Rating: teen
Tags: Sad, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Soarin, Romance, Spitfire, Tragedy, Princess Celestia
Length: 5581

What if that night at the Gala, eveything went right for Rainbow Dash?

That night at the Gala, everything went right... for Rainbow Dash at least.

Now her life is changing. Shes making new friends, and new enemies.

Relationships are made and broken. All because of that one night at the Gala.

Published 2011-11-04 06:58:32 UTC
Last updated 2012-01-17 14:49:03 UTC

At The Gala

Chapter One: At The Gala

This was it. Everything she had ever dreamed of.
Tonight, at the Grand Galloping Gala, Rainbow Dash was hanging out with the Wonderbolts!
The high pitched squeal she let escape as she followed Spitfire to the VIP Party almost exploded into a full blown shout of joy.

“So you born and bred in Cloudsdale Dash?” Soarin trotted up to Spitfire and Rainbow Dash, large chunks of apple pie still stuck to his face.

Rainbow Dash had to contain another squeal. Soarin had just called her Dash!
“Yeah, right up to junior flight camp. After that I moved to Ponyville.”

“Seems like a quiet town for such a speedster like yourself.” Spitfire grabbed two drinks from a passing waiter and handed one to Rainbow Dash.

Dash’s heart was pounding in her chest. Not only were they talking to her, but they were complimenting her too! She somehow managed to maintain composure in her voice and smiled.

“Yeah its quiet but some great ponys live there, plus there’s almost no air traffic so I have the skies pretty much to myself. Gives me loads of space to practice my moves.” Dash spun in place, nearly losing her footing. She forgot how hard it was to move in her dress.

“Sounds pretty good actually.” Soarin took a sip of Spitfires drink, much to her annoyance. “Speaking of moves, that Sonic Rainboom was something else!”

“Oh that, I …it was nothing.” Dash blushed, rubbing the back of her head.

“It wasn’t nothing!” Spitfire practically spat up her drink. “You singlehandedly disproved eveypony who ever said it was impossible! That move only comes around once in a lifetime, and from what I’ve heard you’ve done it twice.” She winked. “You’re one of a kind Dash.”

Rainbow Dash was on the verge of passing out. She was redder than an apple and starting to get light headed, and it must have shown because Soarin pushed her drink, which she was close to spilling, up to her mouth.

“Take a drink.” He laughed “You look like you need it.”

Rainbow nodded and took a long, hard sip of the cold drink. It helped, but she was still light headed.

“I’m sorry, its just… you guys are my heroes and you’re talking about me like I’m cool.” She laughed nervously. “It makes me feel really weird.”

“You are cool Dash, you saved our lives.” Spitfire beamed. “Look I saw a couple of people I need to say hi to. If you wanna hang out with Soarin for a bit, I’ll be back.” With a nod to the two, she trotted off into the crowd.

“I’m getting hungry, want to see if we can find the buffet?” Soarin said, beginning to search the air for the scent of food.

“Hungry? Again? You just ate a whole pie!” Dash figured only Pinkie Pie could eat like that.

“Yeah but that was like ten minutes ago, and besides that pie just made me hungrier.” She laughed as Soarin licked his lips.

“Come on, I think its over here.” She waved him over and walked into the crowd with Soarin in tow.

As they wound their way around the various party going ponies, Soarin found himself focused on Rainbow Dash’s dress so he didn’t lose her in the crowd. But as he followed her, he noticed he was also staring at her butt. Soarin shook his head and pushed on.

Soon the two emerged on the other side of the room, right in front of the fully loaded buffet table. Soarin’s eyes widened and massive grin spread across his face. Dash giggled as he snatched a plate and began loading it with practically everything.

“And this, and this, and this, and one of those, and two of those, and some of these, I don’t even know what that is but whatever, two of that…” Soarin chattered away to himself as he piled his plate high. Soon he and Dash were sitting at the other end of the table, Soarin having loaded four plates full of food.

“You sure you can eat all that?” Rainbow Dash laughed as Soarin drooled over his haul.

“Yeah, why?” He pulled his eyes away from his food for a moment to notice that she had not taken anything. “Aren’t you eating?”

“Oh, uh no. It looks good and all but …” She started.

“But nothing!” Soarin interrupted. “The Gala is always catered by the best chefs in Equestria. This is the only time of the year you get to eat this stuff without paying through the nose. You have to try it!” Soarin sped back to the buffet table and grabbed an empty plate. He then returned to the table and started filling it.

“I..uh…okay if you insist.” Dash was a little confused by Soarin’s obsession, but he seemed to know what he was doing as he handed her a plate with a few hors d'oeuvres.

“I do! Here try these; they’re some of my favourites.” Soarin beamed.

“Oh, are you sure? I don’t want to eat your favourite ones.”

“Are you kidding? I took like twenty of each of those. You enjoy ‘em.” He said digging in to his plates.

Dash eyed the small vegetable pasty in front of her before popping it in her mouth. The flavour hit her like a ton of bricks. The flakey pastry melted in her mouth and the vegetables accented it perfectly.

“Oh. My gosh.”

“Good eh?” Soarin smiled.

“Good, GOOD? Good doesn’t even describe it! It was the single most amazing flavour I have ever tasted in my LIFE!” She nearly screamed.

Soarin fell to the floor laughing for a moment. When he pulled himself up, Rainbow Dash was stuffing her face with the little pastries on her plate.

“Glad you like them.” Soarin wiped a tear of laughter from his eye. “Cause they just keep getting better from here.”

For the next hour Rainbow Dash sat with Soarin as he pushed more food at her, and everything was just as good, if not better than that first bite.

Spitfire, who had greeted the ponies she had spoken about earlier, was searching through the crowd for the two she had left. Not finding them near the entrance where they had been before, she made her way to the buffet table, knowing Soarin’s obsession well.
As she stepped from the crowd, she spotted them down near the end of the table, talking. Soarin was laughing as Rainbow Dash stuffed her face with a cupcake. Some chocolate icing smudged on her face and Soarin wiped it off before feeding her small cookie. Dash blushed as Soarin wiped her face, then munched the cookie down with a smile.

Spitfire glowered. Was she getting cozy with Soarin? She snorted and walked over to the table.

“Having fun?” She smiled

“Oh Spitfire!” Soarin grinned, his mouth full of food. “You’re just in time, Dash was just about to tell me about her first Sonic Rainboom. Did you know she did it by accident just trying to defend her friend’s honor? Now that’s heroic and awesome!”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full Soarin.” Spitfire shook her head. “I hope he hasn’t tried to shove food down your throat the whole time.”

“Nope, actually…” Dash realized her mouth was full too. She swallowed her food and continued. “Actually, I kinda started stuffing my own face after he got me to try the food. Have you tried this stuff? Its amazing!” She crammed a spinach puff in her mouth.

“Nah, I’m not much of a fancy food person. Have to watch the figure you know, being a flier.” Spitfire eyed Soarin who simply grinned again and kept chowing down. “Unlike this…thing, who’s stomach seems to be a terrifying pit of emptiness.” Dash laughed, spitting food onto both Spitfire and Soarin. He laughed, nearly choking on his food. Spifire didn’t. Dash caught the look on her face and swallowed hard.

“S..sorry.” She grabbed a napkin and wiped some of the food off.

“That’s okay Dash. Im just gonna go to the bathroom.” Spitfire smiled, gritting her teeth, and walked off.

“Did I make her mad?” Dash whispered to Soarin

“Nah, shes just real fussy sometimes, and the whole Gala thing just puts her on edge a bit. She’ll be fine.” Soarin said, wiping his face with a napkin. “Hey do you dance?”

“Do I whaaaaaaa?!” Dash didn’t have time to reply as he grabbed her hoof and pulled her onto the floor.

Soarin immediately began flailing about in a vain attempt to form some kind of dance moves. ‘As coordinated as he is in the air, he isn’t much of a dancer.’ Dash thought, but he didn’t seem to care if anyone was judging him, and so she joined him. The two of them bounced and shook, laughing the whole while. After a few songs a slow song began playing and Soarin made for the table.

“Hey wait!” Dash called to him. ‘Its now or never’ She thought. Soarin came trotting back.

“Whats up?”

“Will you dance to this one with me?” She whispered.

“Huh?” Soarin craned his neck.

“Will you dance with me?!” She yelled, a bit louder that she’d meant to. She covered her mouth and turned bright red.

Soarin burst out laughing.

“Of course I will!” He yelled back, and he took her back out.

Dash began to feel light headed again as she danced close to Soarin. She let a little sigh escape that he clearly heard.

“You know you’re pretty cute when you go all fan girl.” He said to her. Dash’s eyes shot wide open.

“C..cute?” She stammered

“Yeah, that’s what I said. Something wrong?”

“N.n..no, I just…I…just.” Dash took a deep breath. “Nopony calls me cute, not really. Im usually the brave one, or the cool one, or the …brash …one, whatever that means. My friend Rarity calls me that a lot.” She jumped as Soarin put his neck around hers. “Nopony calls me cute.” She whispered.

“That’s hard to believe. I mean you’re all those things, but you’re still cute.”

Dash couldn’t take it anymore. The Gala, the Wonderbolts, hanging out with Soarin and Spitfire, and now Soarin, one of her heroes was telling her she was cute. Her heart was beating so hard she could feel it in her hooves. A black fog edged her vision and quickly she slipped out from under Soarin’s neck and hit the ground with a thud.

The next thing Rainbow Dash remembered was two wide green eyes staring down at her.

“I think shes coming around.” The voice almost made her faint again.

“Rainbow Dash!” A collection of familiar voices called.

Slowly she sat up and saw her friends looking over her worriedly.

“I…uh, I think I’m fine.” She turned her head to see where she was, and felt a sharp pain in her temple. “Gaaahhhaaa!” She closed her eyes and tipped over.

Soarin grabbed her as she nearly fell to the ground again.

“Careful there Dash, you took a pretty sweet spill on the floor there. Hit your head on that polished dance floor pretty hard.” He was smiling down at her as she opened her eyes.

“Soarin brought you out here when you fell, and called a doctor and they came and got us.” Twilight stepped forward. “You’ve got a bump on the head but it doesn’t look serious.” She smiled. “You probably didn’t need us anyway. Looks like you’ve got a pretty good pony looking out for you already.”

Dash suddenly realized the scene she was dead center of. She was on her back, with Soarin holding her up, and everypony she knew staring at her.

Panic hit her fast. She squirmed out of Soarins arms and stood as best she could, her head still splitting.

“Uh, nothing, yeah, nothing at all. Its …just uh, nope, I’m not, I mean I wasn’t…” She stuttered as her friends laughed.

“Its okay darling.” Rarity said, beaming at her friend who was staring at the floor. “We can see you want to be alone. Come along girls.” She winked at Rainbow Dash and trotted out of the room with the other ponies in tow. Fluttershy lagged behind at the door and turned back to Rainbow Dash.

“Are, uh, are you sure you’re okay Rainbow Dash.” Flutterhy’s gentle voice barely carried across the room.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I’m fine okay?” Dash didn’t look up from the floor.

“Oh, okay…” Disheartened, Fluttershy slipped out of the room.

“Well… that was…” Soarin started.

“Soooo embarrassing!” Dash ran to a nearby balcony and threw her hooves over it, sighing.

“Really? Am I that embarrassing to be around?” Soarin smiled.

“No! That’s not what I…” She groaned angrily. “Its not you. Its just, now they’re gonna start teasing me, asking me about you and me. What am I gonna say?”

“What are you going to say?” Soarin strode up beside her and looked out over the balcony.

To Dash, it must have seemed like fate was working overtime that night because at that moment, the moon shone through a passing cloud, casting a beautiful haloed glow around Soarin. She caught herself staring, her mouth hanging wide open, and Soarin staring right back at her.

The wind caught Rainbow Dash’s hair and it fluttered gently in the breeze. She was almost two years younger than him but she was more beautiful than anypony he had ever laid eyes on.

With that he put his hoof under her chin and pulled her face to meet his between them. Dash jumped and almost pushed him as hard as she could before she realized what was happening. His lips were hot against hers as he pressed a bit more forcefully. She returned his force and met it tenfold by slipping her tongue between their lips and probing his. He wasn’t expecting it but Soarin was pleasantly surprised by Dash. He met her tongue by sliding his along it. Dash moaned happily and put her hooves around his neck.

“What the fuck?!” Came a very irritated voice from the balcony door. Dash and Soarin broke their kiss to see Spitfire standing in the doorway. “Who the fuck do you think you are?” Spitfire stormed up to Rainbow Dash and yanked her away, throwing her against a wall.

“Whoa Spitfire, you cant just toss her around like that. She hit her head tonight.” Soarin ran to Rainbow Dash’s side. “Are you alright?”

“She seems okay enough to be making out.” Spitfire snorted.

“Hey back off!” Dash got to her feet and got right up in Spitfires face. “Who do you think YOU are?”

“Both of you cool it!” Soarin pulled Dash away and turned to Spitfire. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I..I’m just… You cant be with her.” Spitfire was blushing

“Why, what business is it of yours?” Soarin’s gaze was piercing,

“B..because..I.” Spitfire didn’t finish. Soarin nodded.

“Right. Dash come on, shes just being difficult.” Soarin took Dash and stalked inside.

“I love you…” Spitfire whispered, but the sound was carried away on the wind.

Inside, Rainbow Dash stopped behind Soarin who continued a few paces before noticing she had stopped.

“T..that kiss…” She began slowly.

“Yes?” Soarin walked back to her.

“Was it real?”

“Yes.”

“Did you mean it?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“How do you want me to say it? You saved my life, you kick ass at flying, you like good foods, you dance like nopony is watching, and as a kicker you’re cuter than anypony I’ve ever seen. Its like it was fate.”

Rainbow Dash was almost in tears. Nopony, NOPONY, had ever called her cute before Soarin, but even more than that, nopony had ever said all those things about her the way he had.

“But just like that? We met tonight…well sort of, we met when I saved you I guess but… This is the first time I met you when you’ve been conscious.”

Soarin cracked up.

“And you’re a laugh riot to be around.” He said stepping close to her. He kissed her again, gently and quick.

“I believe you.” She said as he pulled away.

“HEY, HEY, HEY, HEY, HEY, HEY, HEY, HEY, RAINBOW DASH!” Pinkie Pie bounded up the steps towards the two, completely destroying the moment.

“Yes Pinkie Pie?” Dash facehooved.

“Didja hear!? Didja hear!? Didja hear!? Didja hear!?” Pinkie did not stop bouncing as she spoke.

“No I did not hear I was outside, what is it?”

“I…it ..you…its important, you should probably hear it yourself! Go! The main hall! Now!” Pinkie managed to blurt out before taking off.

“Is she always like that?” Soarin laughed.

“Yes,” Dash sighed with a smile. “Anyway, race ya?”

“What?”

“To the main hall. Race?”

“You think you got what it takes?”

“Hey, you’re looking at the only know pony who can pull a Sonic Rainboom. And I sure as heck was faster than you at the young flyers competition.”

“I was unconscious! That doesn’t count!”

“Details, details. We racin or what?”

Soarin shook his head and laughed.

“You’re on little filly.”

In the main hall, a side door burst open and the two pegusi sped through neck and neck. They both came to a grinding halt at the base of the grand staircase where Princess Celestia stood above the crowd.

“Ah good, you’re here.” Celestia cocked an eyebrow and smiled as the two out of breath ponies bowed. “Twilight tells me you took fall tonight miss Rainbow Dash.”

“I’m alright princess. Soarin here was with me.”

“That’s good to hear, and Soarin, thank you for being a gentlecolt and looking after the lady.”

“Just doing my duty, princess.” Soarin smiled.

“Well now that you’re both here, I have some wonderful news. Specifically for you miss Rainbow Dash.”

“Me?”

“Yes, I have decided that, due to your valiant efforts in saving their lives, and the life of your friend, and with a few recommendations from the members themselves…”

No. Thought Dash

“I would like to royally inaugurate you..”

Oh my gosh no. Her heart was pounding like a jackhammer.

“Into the Wonderbolts.”

The black edged around Rainbow Dash’s vision again and fell to the floor with the biggest grin on her face ever.

Training Day

NOTE

(This chapter is not finished as of yet. I've kind of been losing faith in this story. Not because of the story itself but in myself and my capabilities of finishing it. I love this story and I would love to keep it going so please, if you think its good let me know in the comments and I'll start making it a priority to finish chapters.)

Chapter Two: Training Day

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I am so not ready for this!” Rainbow Dash ran across her living room, an overstuffed bag hanging from her side. “Do I have everything? Check the list again.” She came to a halt and turned to Fluttershy who had been sitting by the door.

“Okay, uh…” She fumbled with the sheet of paper that contained a list Soarin had given to Dash to prepare for her first day of training. “Number one, eat a big breakfast.”

“Check!” Dash nodded

“Number two, pack a bag with the following: A thick sweater.”

“Check!”

“A pair of goggles?”

“Check!”

“A towel?”

“Check!”

“And a large bottle of water.”

“Check.” Dash sighed. Everything seemed ready but she was still nervous.

It had only been a day since the Gala and already she was missing Soarin. That night he had flown her home, after having revived her a second time.

“You sure you’re alright?” He had said as she propped herself up on her front door.

“I’ve never been better.” She smiled.

“You aren’t going to faint in training are you?” Soarin joked.

“Hey don’t think just cause I blacked out twice in one night that I’m some ditsy filly who conks out whenever shes excited.” Rainbow marched up to him and stared him right in the eyes. “When I’m in the zone, nothing can touch me.” She poked his chest.

He laughed and planted a kiss on her cheek.

“You’re cute when you’re angry too.” Soarin poked her back. She blushed and stepped back.

“So this is it?” She said

“Only, ‘till tomorrow. I’ll be back at ten a.m. sharp. Training starts at eleven and goes till eleven. Here…” He handed Dash an envelope. “Everything you’ll need for tomorrow. Have a good night Dash. Welcome to the team.” And with that he bounded off the edge of her cloud. She ran to the edge and called out to him.

“Wait! Soarin!”

“Yes?” His head emerged through the cloud.

Rainbow Dash grabbed him and kissed him one last time. Soarin put his hooves around her and held her as she broke the kiss.

“Can’t you stay?” She whispered.

“Not tonight cutie.” He smiled down at her. She pressed her head against his neck and sighed. “I need to go see about getting you a uniform and there’s a ton of changes we have to make.” He saw her eyes snap open at the mention of a uniform.

“U..uniform?”

“Still haven’t adjusted to the idea of being a Wonderbolt eh?” Soarin laughed. “Go get a good night sleep and I bet all those jitters fade right away.”

“Okay. I’ll be ready.” She nodded, and for the last few moments, she simply stood there, feeling Soarins chest rise and fall against her cheek. “I love you.”

“I love you too Dash.” He tightened the embrace before letting her go and stepping back.

With that he took off, Rainbow Dash watching until he was consumed by the night sky.

“Rainbow Dash?” A soft voice permeated her memories “Rainbow Dash!” This time slightly louder.

Suddenly Dash found herself sitting on the floor in her living room again.

“Are you okay?” Fluttershy was looking down at her,

“Yeah I’m fine Fluttershy.” Dash rolled her eyes as she got to her feet

“Oh, sorry. Its just that, you were staring off into space for a long time. I thought you might have had a melt down or something.”

“Stop worrying about me will ya? I swear, sometimes you get so protective.”

“I..I …I’m sorry.” Fluttershy hung her head. Dash saw her somber expression and sighed, sometimes Fluttershy could be so sensitive.

“It’s okay, I guess its nice to know somepony is worrying about me. Even if shes ALWAYS worried about me.” Dash put her hoof around her friend and tousled her mane. Fluttershy flinched, but smiled. “What time is it?”

“Nine fifty nine.” Fuittershy smiled.

“WHAT!?” Dash jumped to her feet, grabbed her bag and bolted for the door, knocking Fluttershy to the ground in the process. “Sorry!” She shouted, flinging the door open and speeding outside.

Soarin was just touching down outside when Rainbow Dash skidded to a halt in front of him, nearly tipping forward fully and landing flat on her face. Soarin put a hoof out to steady her and pushed her back on to all fours.

“Careful Dash.” He chuckled “You’ll have plenty of chances to hurt yourself training. You want to make it there first though.”

“Hi, uh yeah, yeah I do. Sorry I’m just really eager to get going and ....” Dash brushed her mane from her eyes and stared up at him. At the Gala, Soarin had been in his uniform all night. Now she saw him for the first time without it. “I, uh…” His coat was a beautiful silver blue that shone , and his mane was a dark blue that lined his sharp figure, and his cutie mark, the golden, white-winged lightning bolt glinted in the sunlight. Dash caught herself staring open mouthed again and shook her head. “Sorry. I meant to say I’m really excited.”

“Can I be a little vain and say I don’t mind when you stare at me?” Soarin posed with one hoof in the air.

Dash smiled and rolled her eyes, kicking his other hoof out. Soarin face planted into the cloud.

“A bit too cocky?” He said getting standing up.

“A little.”

“You all ready?” Soarin brushed cloud off himself and hefted Dash’s bag over his shoulder.

“Uh yeah, I guess so.”

“Alright then. We should get going.” Soarin made for the edge of Dash’s cloud, and with a deep breath, she followed him.

The two pegusi dove off the edge of the cloud and flew side by side off into the bright blue sky, Dash nestling in close to Soarin. Fluttershy watched them from the doorway of Dash’s house. She sighed and closed the door on her way out.

Why couldn’t she get Rainbow Dash to see her. Sure she acknowledged her as a friend but after everything she had done for Dash, she still treated her like a sister. Fluttershy hopped off of the cloud and floated gently to the ground. She needed to get home and make sure the animals were fed before she and the other ponies went to the training field to cheer Dash on for her first day. Solemnly, she trotted up the path that lead to her home.

Flutteryshy winced, thinking about Rainbow Dash always made her feel sick, but not in a bad way. It was something she could never explain. Whenever she was around her, she felt a warm tingling in her stomach. She always equated the feeling to being sick but she didn’t mind it. It was something that only Dash made her feel.

She had never really been in love before. Even as a filly, her shyness kept her away from other ponies her age, especially boys, but when Rainbow Dash approached her at junior flight camp, something changed inside her. She and Dash became friends quickly, and even though Dash found Fluttershys shyness difficult to deal with sometimes, she never rejected her for it, as so many ponies had done before. Ever since, Fluttershys affection for Rainbow Dash had grown beyond a simple friendship, and even though she could never bring herself to tell her, Fluttershy had truly fallen for Dash, and that made what she had done hurt even more.

The night of the Gala, Fluttershy had been alone in the gardens. She had hoped to spend at least some of the night with Rainbow Dash, but as soon as they arrived, she had disappeared into a VIP section where Fluttershy couldn’t follow. So she had wandered off to the garden, where she had originally planned to spend her time, trying not to think about Dash. After an hour or so though, a royal guard had approached her, explaining that Rainbow Dash had fallen and hurt herself. Fluttershy had taken off faster than she could ever remember running, but when she arrived, her heart sank.

Rainbow Dash was in the hooves of another Pegasus pony, who seemed to be genuinely worried about her. She recognized the Pegasus as Soarin, one of the Wonderbolts Dash frequently obsessed over. He was cradling her gently as she began to stir. As her other friends arrived, Rainbow Dash began to wake, and when Fluttershy saw the look on her face as her eyes met Soarins, she knew what had happened. A surge of emotions rushed through her; sadness, jealousy, hate, loneliness. That combined with the brush off that Dash gave her when she asked if she was alright was, she now realized, probably what made her do what she did next.

As she stepped out of the lounge, a young, fiery Pegasus pony approached her. Fluttershy recognized her as another one of the Wonderbolts.

“Hey have you seen a pegasus pony around here? Hes about a foot taller than me, blue-ish mane, wearing a uniform like mine?” She looked worried. Fluttershy immediately put two and two together, and acted purely on emotion.

“I think I saw him in there with Rainbow Dash. They were going out onto the balcony.” Fluttershy said, and then took off as fast as she could. She just barely heard Spitfires sharp cry as she ran down the hall.

For the rest of the night Fluttershy felt terrible. She couldn’t even look at Rainbow Dash. She couldn’t even manage to smile. Even when Princess Celestia announced that Rainbow Dash would be in the Wonderbolts, the pit in her stomach burned the entire way home.

“Fluttershy!” Came Pinkie Pie’s voice from outside. Fluttershy grabbed her knapsack and stepped outside.

“I’m coming.” She sighed as she met the other ponies. Her friends smiled, she returned it with a weak grin.

"This is going to be so cool!" Pinky Pie was bouncing in place. "Getting to see the Wonderbolts is one thing but now we have a friend IN the Wonderbolts! How awesome is that?"

The ponies chatted away as they began the trek to the training ground. The night before, Soarin had invited them to give Rainbow Dash a boost on her first day.

“Is everything alright Fluttershy?” Twilight noticed she was trailing behind and slowed up to walk beside her.

“Yes, I’m just…tired I guess.” She tried to smile at Twilight but her heart just wasn’t behind it, and Twilight could see it.

“If there's something you want to talk about…” Twilight started.

“No, just, can I just walk alone for a bit Twilight.” Twilight was taken aback. “Oh, I don’t mean ..I just…” Fluttershy became flustered. “Please, just …let me think alone for a while.” Twilight nodded and sped up to catch the other ponies. Fluttershy hung her head, she couldn’t stand feeling like this. Not only was it making her feel terrible but she was hurting her friends too. She was on the verge of tears as she and the other ponies passed the town limits of Ponyville.

Spitfire bared her teeth as she sped across the sky high above the Wonderbolts training grounds. Ahead of her was the first part of her self-made course. She reached her top speed and snapped her wings to her sides, easily slipping through the narrow hoop. She closed her eyes and quickly began to plummet towards the ground. A grin spread across her face.

This is what she lived for. The danger game, pushing it so close to the edge she almost hit the ground, even though she never would. She listened to the wind rushing by her and could tell exactly how high she was.

The ground was approaching fast and Spitfire spread her wings and felt herself begin to level, her eyes still closed. She felt the tips of the blades of grass on the field brush her hooves. Her eyes flicked open and she saw the second obstacle ahead.

Two large flat wooden boards were placed barely two feet apart. Spitfire turned and passed through them, the force of her passing knocking both boards down.

The final obstacle was a thick board placed at a fourty five degree angle with a target painted just above the center. Spitfire flew towards it and pulled her legs in. The second she was above it, she pushed her legs out as hard as she could and angled her wings up. The shock rattled her teeth but she ignored it as she took off, completely vertical.

Now she began climbing, higher and higher until the training ground was just a tiny green field beneath her. A sharp cold pierced her lungs as she pushed higher.

"Come on, come on!" She said as a frost began to form at the edge of her goggles. Ice was beginning to build on her wings
It hurt but she pushed as hard as she could until she felt the ice begin to form under her suit. Her body screamed at her to stop, the extreme cold penetrating to her bones. Finally she gave in with a frustrated shout and pulled her wings in. Again she began to fall to the ground.

With the same skill as before, Spitfire pulled out of the dive at the last second and glided gracefully across the field. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a pony landing at the edge of the field. She recognized Soarin and began to glide in his direction.

"Hey Spits!" Soarin called. She rolled her eyes as she approached him. She hated that nickname so much.

"Morning Soarin." Spitfire smiled, slowing as she brought her feet to the ground, preparing to land. Then she caught sight of Rainbow Dash stepping out from behind him. Her concentration slipped for a split second and she misstepped in her landing, sending her into a spiraling somersault across the ground. She ground to a halt ten feet away, face first in the ground.

"Ow..." Spitfires voice was muffled by a mouthful of dirt.

"Ive seen better ways to start the day." Soarin smiles and gave Spitfire a hoof. She grabbed it and pulled herself up.

"Good morning Spitfire!" Dash walked sheepishly up to her. "I was uh, hoping we could just forget about last night and maybe just start again?" Spitfire eyed Dash, her face not betraying a single emotion. And even though her eyes were hidden behind her frosted goggles, Dash could tell Spitfire was staring at her.

Spitfire was silent. She was still more than a little angry with Rainbow Dash but she knew if they were both going to be working together she was going to have to get over it. Besides, she thought, that little filly had nothing on her.