My Little Pony: Third Gear

Chapter 9: War Gaming The System

For much of the remainder of the week they did formation exercises. They practised manoeuvres, both famous and not, but all in the Wonderbolts playbook. They conducted mock battles against balloon and straw targets. Most importantly, they slowly got to know each other’s skills, weaknesses, and eccentricities. Lightning Dust still pushed herself beyond the capabilities of everypony except for Dash and their instructors, but at least she became willing to work with the other members of Slipstream.

On the last day of the week, they had but one exercise scheduled. Spitfire herself came out to watch and grade them on their performance in their first war game. “Congratulations on making it this far. I’m sure you’re all on the way to becoming good friends,” Spitfire said. “That said, I have some bad news for you: for this war game, you’ll be fighting each other. It’ll be 'last pony flying,' with the blunted paint weapons we use in all the other mock battles. You have fifteen minutes to get into position. Exercise, start!”

Everypony scrambled to get a paint smock and a weapon, and then they leaped for sky, some going in separate directions from the rest of their squadron for a few moments. These ponies quickly realized their error and caught up, but that cost them precious seconds.

The fifteen minutes that Spitfire had given them was not just to find a good patch of sky from which to start. It was also time in which the different squadrons could come up with their strategies. In a crisis, they could not expect to have so much time in which to prepare, so they had to learn how to make the most of the time they had.

Fortress Squadron began their strategy session by analyzing their opponents.

Slipstream had two speedsters, two above-average multi-role flyers, a tank, and Contrail. They would have the advantage in both long-range and close dogfights, but if Fortress could pin Lightning Dust and Dash in somewhere, they would be unable to use their speed advantage. And if Contrail was separated from the others, that would make his ability unavailable to anypony to use. The problem then became Cloudchaser and Midnight Strike, because Snowflake could be overwhelmed. Fortress would just have to find another way to outperform the two flyers.

Illusive Squadron was mostly an unknown quality to Gearhead and the others. While Rook had access to all the cadets’ files, he was not able to share their information, and likewise for Prism and Contrail. What they did know was that Flowershine had grown more confident in herself as the training progressed, Thunderlane was daring but never left a teammate behind, and Wild Fire liked to push everypony to do better. If Fortress could not separate them in battle, they would have to do their best to adapt on the fly.

Fortress Squadron decided to stay together and fly while using the cloud banks as cover as much as possible. They would try to analyze each situation carefully, in order to avoid any traps that might be presented as opportunities. They would use a diamond formation, with Gearhead at the van and Rook in the rear, so that regardless of whether they were attacked head-on or from behind, they could turn and adapt quickly. If they were flanked, Gearhead and Rook would have to scramble to get into a blocking posture. The others had become fairly skilled in formation flying, so it was possible that they could try to use that to their advantage. Gearhead would not use any magic besides his various wings and a defensive shield, and he would not be calling upon the Twin Engine.

The fifteen minutes expired all too soon, and with a blast of a set of air horns, the war game was on. Gearhead had grabbed a wooden sword as his weapon, its blade painted in bright green. Starry Eyes and Sightseer both had compact bows and quivers with arrows. Pizzelle had opted for a lance, which was a traditional Pegasus weapon, and Fluttershy had a staff. Rook was unarmed, but that did not remove his threat.

Flying in a criss-cross pattern, Fortress encountered Illusive first, as Thunderlane and Lime Jelly popped their heads through the clouds just six meters to Gearhead’s eleven o’clock. Gearhead signalled a charge, not wanting Prism to be able to counter them at their position, and Starry Eyes and Sightseer quickly nocked their arrows and let loose, aiming for where the two targets’ center masses, and their smocks, would be.

Thunderlane managed to duck clear of Starry Eyes’s arrow, but there was a THUNK! and Spitfire shouted “out!” at Lime Jelly. She responded with an “aww,” but retired without further objection.

Now that Fortress’s position was known, they climbed to distance themselves from the clouds, and oriented their formation downward, with Gearhead still in the lead. Thunderlane and Wild Fire came weaving out of the clouds at a wild sprint, and Fortress’s archers reloaded, but held their arrows as their targets juked wildly. Gearhead noticed Flowershine come out of the clouds to head directly toward them. It was a suicide play, unless it was a distraction for something else.

Prism shot out of a high cloud half a kilometer away and rocketed toward them, a diamond of targets clearly available to her. “Target, up!” Pizzelle called, and Sightseer reoriented on her. Prism held her speed and heading until she was halfway up Sightseer’s range, and then, when he opened fire, she spiralled and dodged all over the place.

“Hold fire,” Rook called. “She’s making you waste your ammo.” He adjusted his position, just barely getting in front of Prism’s sudden charge before she could reach Pizzelle and knock her out with her own lance, which Rook caught between his forehooves. He sent Prism reeling with a swift, but softened headbutt, and Prism vanished into the cloud, calling a retreat.

Fortress had made it though its first engagement without any losses, but Sightseer and Starry Eyes had both used over half their arrows, and Pizzelle was shaken with how close she had come to being eliminated. Their position was also known now, so Rook had them move off rapidly through the clouds.

* * *

Gearhead felt the wind’s flow suddenly change, becoming harsher and more turbulent. Some of the others also felt the disturbance in their feathers and scanned for the source. Radiating a rainbow of light, Dash was on them in an instant, followed by Lightning Dust. Rook shouted “scatter!” as he and Gearhead moved to block the quick attack.

Gearhead braced himself against Dash using the sword he was wielding with his mouth as well as his hooves. She pushed him five meters from the group and the expanding shock wave that had formed at impact, and then he delivered a stinging spinning slash even as he angled his weapon to deflect Dash’s grip on him to one side. “Quattuor Magnae Spiritus invoco,” he started, watching Dash fall for a dozen meters before she started gliding again.

“Pizzelle. Sightseer, out!”

Gearhead looked back toward where the rest of Fortress was, and saw that Pizzelle and Sightseer were both falling away. Medics flew up to catch them before they could fall too far. “Ignis transmutare alas.” Lightning Dust was also falling, Rook just having delivered a four-hoof piledriver to her shoulders.

“Rainbow Dash. Lightning Dust, out!”

As his Fire Wings took form, Gearhead sent the magic of his Wind Wings toward his hooves instead of dispersing it or absorbing it. The speed boost launched him forward, closing the few meters quickly. Lightning Dust had only managed to push Rook back three meters, but considering his defensive magic that was impressive enough.

Wreathed in bright blue flames for a moment, Gearhead grazed Midnight Strike, and connected more fully with a swing of his sword, before coming about to rejoin the others, the flames vanishing from around his body to compress about his wings instead, with a slight swirling effect near the middle.

“Midnight Strike, out!”

“Slip, lets go!” Contrail called. Cloudchaser and Snowflake turned from where they had also started to close on Fortress, but Starry Eyes picked his target and loosed his last arrow. He took Snowflake between the wings.

“Snowflake, out!”

With only Cloudchaser as his Wing Pony, Contrail retreated. “That’s for Sightseer and Pizzelle,” Starry Eyes said.

“One, nice shot,” Rook said. “Two, we are not going out for revenge every time we lose a teammate. Consider what is best for the entire squadron first, like whether or not we could have used that arrow later.”

“I understand, sir.”

“Good, because now that we’re down to four I’ll need your full attention here and around us. I will be your shield, and Gearhead will be Fluttershy’s, but we had better hope Slipstream and Illusive fall into their roles, or we’re done.”

“What is the plan, Commander?” Gearhead asked.

“Well, what is your analysis, Cadet?”

“We cannot take another ambush, but it would also be unwise to keep flying around in partial cover. We are more vulnerable without Pizzelle and Sightseer to spot with us,” Gearhead said.

“We need more room and time to react,” Starry Eyes said.

“Which is exactly why we’ll fly around, slowly, and in the open,” Rook said. “Double-Deus Formation, if you would be so kind,”

“Sir, yes sir!”

* * *

“That was well done,” Prism said as she lay in a nearby cloud for cover. She and Starburst were watching as the remains of Fortress began to fly out in the open skies in two pairs of two flyers. Thunderlane and Wild Fire were out scouting, while Flowershine maintained the rear perimeter.

“They’re out in the open, now,” Starburst said.

“Yes, and?”

“And it smells of a set-up.”

“That’s because it is a set-up,” Prism said. “Two Tanks and two defensive flyers, one of them an archer. What do you think our chances are of getting through Rook and Gearhead after seeing how they dealt with Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust?”

“They’ll block for sure, and take out whoever we send to charge. We could use them as a diversion, but then it’s an expensive diversion. We only have one more flyer than they do, I don’t think we can afford the losses.”

“We have two possible plays,” Prism said, nodding. “We either focus on just one of the Tanks and force him down with overwhelming brute force, or we wait for Con to attack. What are the problems with both plays?”

“Whoever we attack, the rest won’t just hover in place. If we’re gonna go with Plan A, we need to do it in a way that’s certain and swift,” Starburst said. “As far as Plan B, if we can see the trap from here and know that it’s unlikely we’ll come out on top, how much more for Slipstream, which has half as many flyers as Fortress?”

“So we wait and see if we can establish a truce. Combined, we’d have seven, and the best chance of success.”

* * *

Contrail and Cloudchaser were not as well hidden as they thought they were, lying in a cloud bank to Fortress’s port. Gearhead softly called them out to the others, and continued to scan for Illusive Squadron. He knew they still had five members to Fortress’s four, which gave them an advantage, but that advantage was reduced by the distance they would have to travel to attack Fortress.

Gearhead watched as Contrail and Cloudchaser took to the sky. They flew as though to circle ahead of Fortress, then probably around the squadron if they did not come in for a head-on attack – and if they were not going to flank the foursome, why would they attack straight-on?

“Um, behind us,” Fluttershy said. Gearhead and the others looked to find Illusive Squadron flying in a chevron. Like Slipstream they were circling, but slowly closing the distance.

“They got us good,” Rook said.

“How?” Gearhead asked. “They would still have to come all the way out here to attack us.”

“And if we let them do that it will be a battle that’s seven to four. Not favourable odds. At the same time, we don’t want to chase either group and tire ourselves out more than we are already from flying constantly.”

“They got us,” Starry Eyes said.

“Except if we’re patient and clever,” Rook said. He changed his heading slightly, and the others moved to match him. “Instead of them drawing us into their zone, we can still draw them into ours.”

“We just change the zone a little,” Fluttershy said, seeing what was going on.

* * *

It was a long time coming, but finally the three circling squadrons came into proximity of each other. First it was Fortress, slowly angling toward Slipstream, and then angling back out, and not changing their speed until a few minutes ago. Slipstream, in response, kept adjusting their own heading to more closely match that of Fortress, even while they kept their leisurely pace so they would be rested when the battle began. Illusive kept closing while circling, or trying to, because for every meter they might have gained the speed change from Fortress was making them lose one and a bit.

Then Fortress leaped up to flank speed, and Illusive scrambled to match them. Slipstream wheeled about to try to open the distance, but the only way they really could do that was if Cloudchaser was willing to leave Contrail behind and be boosted by him. That would not happen, if Gearhead had anything to say about it, rocketing ahead as he was on wings of dark blue flame with Fluttershy right behind him.

No matter how Contrail tried to move, Gearhead matched him. Because the Fire Magic he was using kept cycling itself through itself, it did not expend its energy very quickly. When it started to drain, he would just pour more mana into the wings, reinforcing them. It was not as if he had much else to put his magic power into anyway.

Contrail finally flipped and turned to fight, lance to sword. With a twist that he did by using his tail, Contrail separated his lance into two parts, one which he could use with his mouth and a shorter piece for his tail. Gearhead drew his sword and sent some magic into it. Fluttershy ascended, but also moved back so she would be out of the way, but highly visible to Cloudchaser.

At first clash, it seemed that Contrail would be able to overwhelm Gearhead because he had two weapons to Gearhead’s one, but the former found handling a second weapon against this opponent to be awkward, and generally a no-go: Gearhead angled his head to take both blows and deflect them, or he would simply turn his body to avoid a thrust, and in the first place the lance was only suited for thrust-based attacks, and not swings.

Gearhead had two chief advantages, one being that he was extremely used to fighting with a sword, and this was also because of the second advantage: he had extensive battle training under Prince-Captain Shining Armour, and now Captain Stalwart Shield. He had a decent amount of actual combat experience as well, and although he tried to use it as little as possible during his Wonderbolts training, he also had a great deal of magic at his disposal.

While Contrail and Gearhead continued to fly at each other, Rook and Starry Eyes caught up with Fluttershy to chase Cloudchaser down. The plan here was to eliminate Slipstream before Illusive could arrive, however Contrail was just adept enough at flying in battle to make it difficult for Gearhead to connect more often than one in every ten or so swings, and not with enough strength to put him out of the fight. Cloudchaser, on the other hoof, was agile enough to give Rook and Starry Eyes a worthy chase, while Fluttershy started to fall behind due to fatigue.

Gearhead and Contrail were in a spiralling, climbing clash, so they both saw in turn when Illusive finally drew close. The other four launched and spread out from Prism, who held the center position in their charging formation. They ignored Fluttershy in favour of running Rook and Starry Eyes down. Prism herself came blasting up at Contrail and Gearhead, although neither could guess who her first target was.

They never found out, because that was when Fluttershy intercepted Prism with her staff. Gearhead had to return his full attention to Contrail, because the other began attacking with the longer mouth lance again. He could hear the mares grunting or yelling as they fought, but could not afford to pay them any more attention than that at the moment.

Gearhead angled his sword to deflect a lance high and to the left, then he slid along the lance’s cone, and slashed down. His sword grazed Contrail’s tail, and with a yelp the latter dropped the smaller portion of his lance before turning to face his opponent again. It was just as well that he did, because Gearhead flipped and charged right back in. It was not as sharp a turn as he would have had with the Twin Engine, but then nothing was exactly the same, and the move was much closer to what could be expected of a Wonderbolt.

This time Gearhead folded his wings and dropped for a full second when he was within striking distance of Contrail. He launched from directly below him as the Pegasus was recovering from extending against the suddenly-empty air. Gearhead accelerated hard, and as a result he slashed Contrail across both of his left legs and grazed his chest. Only his shield stopped Contrail from scoring a hit of his own on Gearhead’s left shoulder.

“Thunderlane. Starburst. Flowershine. Starry Eyes. Contrail. Cloudchaser – out!”

“Well, that stung,” Contrail said, sinking slightly even then.

“You going to get that looked at?”

“Yeah...”

“What is it?”

“You tell me,” Contrail said, still descending.

Gearhead turned to see that Fluttershy and Prism were flying practically together, in as much as they were using precisely the same moves, but they were also keeping a meter and a half between them. As they turned, Gearhead caught a glimpse of Prism’s shimmering eyes, and noticed that they were locked wide open even as his Shift Focus technique took hold. Contrail flapped his wings harder, trying to keep up, but he was still hurting form the blows that Gearhead had given him. He went in for a landing instead.

With Shift Focus, Gearhead could see that a sphere of translucent green and near-grey magic was in effect around the two mares. As Rook drew close, he was drawn in to the sphere, and took up a holding position on Fluttershy’s wing, his eyes wide open like Prism and Fluttershy herself. “Hello? Anypony in there?” Gearhead called.

After a couple more weaving dives and climbs, Gearhead realized that all three Pegasi were in a trance, and that Rook had widened Prism’s and Fluttershy’s magic sphere. Probably the only reason Gearhead had not already joined them was that his unique grasp of magic, and Shift Focus, granted him enough resistance. Judging by their empty-eyed looks, the trance had something to do with what they were all seeing.

So Gearhead swooped in to kick Rook out of the sphere and cover Fluttershy’s eyes while looking down at the top of her head instead of across at Prism. The sphere quickly collapsed, Fluttershy shuddering in a way that Gearhead could feel because he was practically standing on her back.

Fluttershy and Prism both were flapping their wings too feebly to fly, but Gearhead could only carry one of them. Fortunately Rook had recovered enough to carry Prism on his own back, while Gearhead exchanged his harmful Fire Wings for Light Wings.

* * *

“After reviewing the reports I assigned for you to submit, Lieutenant Azure, Second Lieutenants Sapphire and Blue, and I have come to an agreement,” Spitfire said. She had ordered everypony to report to one of the Academy’s briefing rooms. It was an oval room with a long, oval table in its center. Everything, including that table, was cloud-white with silver linings, and while the walls could be made translucent or transparent at need, at the moment they were opaque.

After that first war game, Spitfire had waited only as long as it took for everypony to regain consciousness before issuing her order that everypony write a report detailing their full experience during the exercise, which she was calling ‘Mist Castle’ in honour of the last two squadrons on the field. Now, three days later, Spitfire looked ready to lambaste all of the cadets.

“It was a disaster,” Spitfire said. “The only possible way it could have gone any worse is if you’d lost every single pony, and you came uncomfortably close to doing just that! What do you ponies think would’ve happened if that’d been real, and not an exercise? Let me put this another way: Cadet Dash, if Cadet Thirdson had been equipped as usual and you were really enemies, would you have attacked him?”

“No ma’am,” Dash said, hardly even pausing to think about it.

“And why not? You seemed fairly eager here,”

“Ma’am, Gearhead would never even try to harm me, or any of his friends. He also wasn’t armed as usual, but if he was, and he was able to use everything at his disposal, like his magic and the Twin Engine’s bladecasters, there’s no way we’d have even gotten close enough to attack him. Not only that, but he’s gotten a lot of combat training.”

“Information, Cadet Dash, that might’ve dissuaded Cadet Dust from her own attempt to attack, don’t you think?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Tsch,” Lightning Dust herself merely clicked her tongue, keeping her forelegs crossed and looked bored.

“Cadet Dust, this is mainly for your benefit,” Spitfire said. “Your action in charging in at Fortress Squadron, the only group with dedicated Tanks, cost Slipstream, your own squadron, four flyers, including yourself. That’s two-thirds of your entire force.”

“It’s their fault they couldn’t keep up with me. Even Dash. Imagine how disappointed I feel!”

“You want disappointed, Cadet? Your next outburst earns you a suspension, and there’re plenty of other Pegasi willing to take your slot, even this late in the program. Do you understand me?”

“Yes ma’am,”

“Be sure that you do – all of you – because in this case your Commanders were under strict orders not to volunteer any intel. That doesn’t mean they couldn’t share, but you needed to think to ask them for it.

“In your case, Cadet Dust, while planning an attack on Fortress you could have thought to ask Second Lieutenant Blue what he knows about Second Lieutenant Sapphire. And even if you didn’t know about their connection with Cadet Thirdson, you could’ve asked Cadet Dash about him.

“At least then you’d know that Cadet Thirdson has received the combat training Cadet Dash mentioned, and from no less than Prince-Captain Shining Armour and Captain Stalwart Shield. At the very least, you’d know Cadet Thirdson’s part in repelling the Changelings, and as for the Second Lieutenant, defence is his magic. Real combat or exercise, with one in three members having defence as a specialty, you might have reconsidered your attack, wouldn’t you?”

“With due respect, ma’am, this was an exercise, and I always push myself. It’s the only way to get better.”

“Then from now on you’ll treat our exercises as if real lives are on the line, no matter whose. All of you will. Because you kill or get killed, and that pony’ll be ejected from the Academy. Is that understood?”

“Whoa, isn’t that a little harsh?!” Dash said.

“Cadet Dash, we do what we must in order for all of you to take what we’re trying to teach you seriously. The Wonderbolts is an elite flying and aerobatic team. If you can’t crack it, you’d better leave. Now, everypony, am I making myself clear?”

“Ma’am, yes ma’am!”

“Good. You’ll begin your next exercise as soon as you get outside. It’s our famous obstacle course, and you’ll run it in your Lead / Wing pairs, or as full squadrons. There’re checkpoints scattered throughout the course, so no skipping. This should be familiar to every one of you who participated in the Hoofington F1. And here’s the only rule: each pair must go through each checkpoint, and cross the finish line, together. The penalty for not following this rule is a disqualification in your grade. This is not a race!”

Lightning Dust grinned across at Dash, as though the debriefing they had all just sat through had never happened.

“Oh, one more thing before I forget: Cadets Dash and Thirdson, you’re swapping squadrons, and partners.”

“What?!” Dash and Lightning Dust both leaped to their wings, incredulous. Gearhead raised an eyebrow, but he had wondered if something like this was coming, after the way Lightning Dust had performed recently.

“Relax, it’s just on a trial basis. Probably for this exercise only. Since you and your new partners share old roles, lets have you work out who will lead and who will follow between yourselves, and then have you switch roles halfway through the course. Fast Clip’ll give you a signal you can’t hope to miss.”

“This is a joke, right? You can’t actually be pinning the Earth Pony on me!”

“I’m the Captain, and I am, Cadet Dust. Final warning, by the way.”

“Come on,” Lightning Dust grumbled, “lets get this over with already.” Gearhead shrugged, and followed, noting that Fluttershy was pleased to be partnered with Dash this time around. Maybe she intended on showing her oldest friend what she could really do now.

* * *

“Oh, come on!” Lightning Dust seemed to complain a lot, and it did not help matters that she and Gearhead found themselves trapped behind Flowershine and Thunderlane.

“Captain Spitfire did say that this is not a race,” Gearhead said, using his Light Wings again to avoid having his Wind Magic disrupt the obstacle course, given its cloudy composition, as well as to avoid throwing the other flyers off their rhythm.

“It still bites that they’re so slow,” Lightning Dust put real venom in her words, but the two up front did not seem to care what she said.

“We will just have to be patient until the course opens up enough to pass them safely, is all,”

“I’m out of patience!”

“Well then, why not score some extra points with some loops through the hoops? If we do them in synchronization, I bet Captain Spitfire will be impressed.”

“I hope you’re right, ‘cause if I don’t get at least one warning wiped because of this, I’m gonna make sure you pay!” Despite the hostility, they started pulling loops after all. Gearhead and Lightning Dust could pull off three in a row before they had to move forward, to the next loop. And then the course widened, and Lightning Dust jumped at the chance to push through the pair ahead of them.

“Wait,” Gearhead called, as Flowershine and Thunderlane went spinning toward the clouds. Lightning Dust was not listening, sprinting ahead, so Gearhead launched himself after her, muttering an incantation as he went. Before the two ponies whom Lightning Dust had forced aside could hit the cloud barrier, Gearhead’s Capturing Wind Arrows wound gently around their legs and barrels and pulled them back just enough to gentle their impact, and then they let go. Gearhead turned back to face front, since he had had to fly backwards in order to keep up with his Lead Pony even as he affected the rescue.

“What took you?” Lightning Dust asked when Gearhead caught up, a few seconds later.

“I had to deal with the ponies you forced off the course,” Gearhead said. “If you could be gentler—“

“I don’t have time to be gentle,” Lightning Dust said, “and neither do you. Now lets win this!”

“Not. A. Race,” Gearhead said, rolling his eyes, but he had to chase Lightning Dust down anyway.

* * *

Dawn was out to get some things from the store when she had to stop and take a few steps back. “Ah, Pinkie Pie? Whatever are you doing out here?”

“What do you think?” Pinkie asked without taking her gaze from a single object right in front of her.

“Well, it looks like you’re staring at a mailbox as though it would spontaneously sprout a letter.”

“You mean it won’t?”

“Seriously? Not unless it has a similar enchantment to what Spike can do. Does it?”

“Don’t I wish it did! Then Rainbow Dash’s letter would get here sooner.”

“Oh, so you’re waiting for a letter from the Academy. But from the look of you, you’ve been waiting awhile.”

“Ten days and counting,”

Dawn nearly fell flat on her face. “Don’t you need to eat or sleep or anything?”

“But if I leave and Rainbow Dash’s letter comes when I’m gone, I won’t be able to respond right away,” Pinkie’s other friends started to arrive. From their expressions, they’d all heard this particular tirade before. “If I don’t respond right away, she might get worried that something’s wrong. If she’s worried she won’t be able to focus on her training, and she won’t pass as a Wonderbolt. She’ll never get to live her dream of becoming a Wonderbolt, and it’ll be all my fault!”

“I told her to at least let RD get settled in first, but she won’t leave the mailbox at all,” Applejack said.

“Nope, I’m sticking to it!” Pinkie said.

“If Rainbow Dash is focused on her training like she should be, it could be some time before she writes anything,” Dawn said. “Are you going to stay here the whole time?”

“Yep!”

“You know,” Twilight said, “you could always write something to her. Tell her how things are going back in Ponyville?”

“That’s a great idea! No, wait: what if that makes her worry? We could send her something, but nothing to make her worry. Maybe she’s low on sweets?”

“A care package,” Rarity brightened.

“Ooh, that’s a great idea! No wait, what if it gets lost in the mail? And then we’ll be like ‘so did you get the care package we sent you?’ and Rainbow Dash’ll be like ‘what care package?’ and she’ll worry about when it’s coming, and then...”

“Here we go again,” Twilight said.

“Wait! We can deliver it ourselves, and say ‘hi’ at the same time!”

“Now there’s an idea I can get behind,” Applejack said.

“Oh, I agree,” Rarity said.

“It sounds perfect,” Twilight said. “I’ll prep the balloon.”

“Actually, we do have a faster way to get to the Academy and back,” Dawn said.

“Faster’s good,” Pinkie said, “but I don’t think a single Engine could lift all of us.”

“Then it’s a good thing we’ll have two: Gearhead gave me a code that lets me summon the Silver Wind. We can fly to the Academy in safety and style.”

“Will we really be okay?” Rarity asked.

“True, I only have a hundred hours logged flying it, and most of that’s in simulation,” Twilight said.

“We’ll be fine,” Dawn said. “I have confidence in my ability.”

“Oh, so you’ve been training too?” Rarity asked.

“I have one hundred and three hours!” Dawn smiled, her eyes sparkling.

“That’s...” Twilight seemed to struggle between saying something snarky and saying something supportive, and the hope Dawn was radiating was not helping. “A good plan,” Twilight said finally.

“I’ll go tell Spring Flight that we’ll be going. Somepony can come tell me when everypony and the package is ready to go. Oh, but I came out to shop, so I’d better finish doing that first.” Dawn cantered merrily away.

* * *

“D’you suppose she does that on purpose?” Applejack asked, blinking the radiance from her eyes.

“I have no idea,” Twilight said.

“You must be joking,” Rarity said. “That is all-natural sweetness. I can’t even begin to imagine what terror she wreaked as a filly.”

“Hey, are we forgetting something?” Pinkie asked.

“Right, we’d better get started on that care package,” Applejack said.

“Wait: who’s gonna watch the mailbox?!”

Twilight and Rarity groaned in exacerbation. Applejack collapsed to the ground.

* * *

Spitfire stood with Contrail as they watched the cadets fly the obstacle course. Prism and Rook had taken up positions overlooking other portions of the course, also taking command of their own emergency response team in case somepony got stuck in the clouds, or scalded by the hot vapour jets.

“What’re your thoughts on Lightning Dust?” Spitfire asked, frowning.

“She’s impulsive and seems to refuse to acknowledge even her partner, let alone the rest of her team, but she’s one of the fastest and most agile flyers in the whole group, so it’d be a shame to have to expel her. To be honest, Captain, she reminds me of me.”

“Unfortunately for her, if she can’t work as part of a team she can’t be a Wonderbolt, no matter how skilled she is. If you want to see her succeed, you’ll have to work with her.”

“Figures that’d be the case, since Gearhead’s not having any effect on her.”

“She’s not even waiting up for him, is she?”

“Not at all,”

“Well, this week’s war game will give a rude awakening if she’s not with the program by then.”

“So we’re going ahead with it after all,”

“Of course. We’re not gonna wait for just one or three recruits to catch up to the rest. Not if we’re gonna augment the active Wonderbolts roster with a reserve unit.”

“Something we seem to need after the last few outings against serious threats?” Contrail raised an eyebrow.

“Unfortunately, yes: We’re supposed to be the elite of the elite, but we’re being taken less seriously than the Elemental Six, and few beings even know the full extent of what they’ve done. If not for our pride as Pegasi, then we certainly have to do it as Princess Celestia’s best.”

“I’ll do what I can to help, Captain, even though Prism Flight is bound to return to the west.”

“I appreciate your efforts, Second Lieutenant, so show me that Cadet Dust isn’t a lost cause.”

“Yes ma’am,” Contrail gave her a salute.

* * *

“Looks like you two set an academy record for speed,” Contrail said when Lightning Dust and Gearhead came in.

“Thanks,” the former grinned.

“As well as a record for allies downed,”

“How’s that my fault?”

“Captain Spitfire told everypony at the outset that this exercise is not a race. She also told you to treat every threat as though it was real, with real lives on the line. So tell me, Cadet, what’s the most important thing to you?”

Lightning Dust stood straight. “Winning, of course!”

“The Wonderbolts is a team. An assemblage. You have until the end of the week to get with the program, Cadet Dust. All this training has real stakes, especially for you since you’re on the wire, so I hope you’ll start treating it that way, instead of treating everypony like they’re competition.”

“Of course they’re competition: you only have so many slots on the Wonderbolts roster! Only the best can be a part of it, and the best includes me.”

“Ah, now I understand how you’re seeing things here: While that is true of the active unit, the Captain is planning on starting a much larger, and more open reserve unit. The Reserves will augment the main unit’s fighting forces for those emergencies the princesses’ other special forces cannot handle alone. So even if you stow your competitive spirit, you can make the Reserve even if you don’t make the main unit.”

“I don’t believe you,”

“No? Lets see how long that lasts then, Cadet Dust. For the remainder of the week you’re to meet me on the field for additional exercises two hours before morning muster. If necessary, we will also meet for an additional two hours after lights-out. You want to be the best, I’ll train with you to help you become the best of what makes a Wonderbolt.”

“Four hours less sleep?”

“Can’t hack it, Cadet?”

“I’ll show you who’s the hack!” Lightning Dust stalked off.

“Is that not dangerous for her?” Gearhead asked.

“It’s far less dangerous than her current attitude is for everypony, including herself. Sorry, Gearhead.”

“For what?” Gearhead turned his surprise onto his friend.

“Partnering the two of you doesn’t seem to have helped at all, what with her dragging you all over the place.”

“It was worth the attempt,”

“Yes, well, we’ll be trying something else, so I hope you don’t mind us using you again, in order to make a point.”

“If it sticks, I won’t mind at all,” Gearhead said, grinning. “What did you have in mind?”

“Oh, the method itself shouldn’t change anything you already do. Just keep up your morning training sessions. Lets see if we can’t impress our Little Missy Dust with your efforts.”

“I am so glad you did not use ‘Dusty’ with her,”

“You’ve no idea how tempting it is, though.”

* * *

It was still pitch-dark out when Lt. Blue came for Lightning, and she was yawning past her morning grogginess as they headed out. Blue led her back around the barracks to a small clearing that was enclosed on all sides by clouds or buildings, so what was happening inside was mostly shielded from view.

And what was happening inside the cleared space was the Earth Pony, who thought he was so special he had to try out for the Wonderbolts. The same one, Lightning had realized awhile ago, she had cut off in the Hoofington race to try to knock him down a peg. How her efforts had backfired, she didn’t know, but she figured him for a cheater.

Thirdson was deep into some routine of his, flipping and spinning through an admittedly solid-looking stream of magic blasts. As far as Lightning could tell, he should’ve already been hit, or maybe he was cheating. Thirdson flipped over a trio of close missiles, and as he did so he brought his sword across in a wide swing, sending two more blasts high into the air. He spun with the swing, stepping quickly and using his magic wings for extra speed and balance, yet the rain of wind and light blasts continued to creep closer.

One after another, Thirdson slashed the missiles away. He backed off to buy himself some time, and yet they continued to close. Suddenly they were on him, drilling past his swing, and he took them in his shield. Lightning remembered then that she had bounced off something similar in the race – as well as the stopping power Lt. Sapphire had shown during the last war game.

“If showing me this was your plan, I’m not impressed,” Lightning said.

“In that case, lets join in,” Blue said.

“You mean ‘interrupt,’” Lightning scoffed. “That seems like a bad idea. B’sides, in case you haven’t noticed, I don’t play well with others.”

“That’s why this’ll be good. Hey Gearhead, can you deal us in?”

“If you are certain,” Thirdson had regained his balance and fended off the last dozen blasts.

“I am, she’s not,” Blue nodded to Lightning.

“Hey! I can do anything you can,”

“Show me,”

“So what’s the point of all this?” Lightning asked Thirdson.

“Agility and endurance training. Simply deflect or evade the blasts. I will shield you if they get too close.”

“I don’t need your pity protection, or anything, really.”

“Suit yourself,” Thirdson said, and then he started muttering something that Lightning couldn’t understand. Some circle with a star inside of it glowed behind Thirdson’s sword, which also glowed, and then hundreds of those magic blasts flew off in every direction.

“Hey Gearhead?” Blue said, watching the missiles fly.

“What is it, Contrail?”

“I’ve an idea: Oriented from where you were facing before, you cover our two to five. I’ll take six to nine, and our friend Lightning Dust here will cover ten to one. Deal?”

“Not your friend,” Lightning growled. “B’sides, we don’t have any weapons.”

“Virga,” Thirdson said, and two long, metal staves flew through the air for the two Pegasi to grab. “You are now armed.”

“Get ready, because here they come!” Blue said. And just like that the rain was upon them, and Lightning was swinging at the stinging blasts for all she was worth. Even with all of her effort focused on the missiles coming at her from the front, she still struggled to get her staff into line. But she would never admit that Blue and Thirdson were keeping anything off of her. After all, the other blasts were going for them, not her.

Lightning lost track of time, and at some point they started doing the exercise while airborne. She was stung a few times by missiles that snuck through the trio’s defences, but considering the number of projectiles, she ended up surprisingly unharmed. “Same time tomorrow?” Blue asked.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Lightning said. “You want to do that again?”

“I found it bracing,” Blue started leading them to the field for muster.

“You’re insane,”

“Then I must have completely lost my marbles,” Thirdson said.

“And you just figured this out now?” Blue said, elbowing the Earth Pony. “I mean, you’ve been doing this every morning for how long?”

Thirdson shrugged. “I have been doing some morning training for up on ten years, but I guess it has been about a year since I started including this sort of magic.”

“Why?” Lightning asked, and was surprised by herself.

“Because I need to learn how to control my powers,” Thirdson said, not showing any sign of hesitation.

“You seem to control them just fine. In fact, that was your magic, so couldn’t you have just made it all miss?”

“If that was the point of it all, yes. But I am constantly testing myself, on my own time.”

“I test myself too,”

“On your own time?”

“Mostly, yeah! You’re not the only one who trains off the clock, you know!”

“Perhaps you could show me sometime?”

“No way, Earth Pony.”

“Actually, I have some Pegasus in me,”

“No way,”

“It’s true,” Blue said. “Unicorn too.”

“Then you’re as strange as they come,”

“Do you really think so?”

“Yeah,”

“My thanks,”

“That wasn’t a compliment!”

“I shall still take it as such,” Thirdson said with a light smile. Lightning didn’t know what to say to that, so she went quiet instead.