The Light Behind the Darkness

Everypony was screaming and asking me question all at once I couldn’t possibly answer them due to them speaking over one another. I cover my ears with my hooves to drawn out the constants questions  being thrown at me and close my eyes because they are  really close to me, and crouch down in my seat.

I slowly open my eyes when the sounds of questions start to die down. When they open, I see Flaming Shield and Artistic Melody in front of me, backing everypony away and getting them to leave. Eventually all the cadets leave, and Melody smiles at me, “Okay that should do it,” she says.

“Yup,” now Shield turns to face me. “So, you know the princess of friendship?” I knew that was coming.

I groan, “Yeah, please don’t ask how though. That is classified,” I explain. Shield raises an eyebrow, but reluctantly nods, as does Melody. I’m glad they understand.

“Why don’t you read your letter while you can,” Melody says. I smile and nod.

“Thanks,” I tell them. I start to read the letter.

‘Dear Rainbow,

We all miss you dearly and wish you didn’t have to go, but remember, even though we are not physically there, we support all the way. Pinkie really misses you, she isn’t as cheerful as she use to be. Fluttershy is taking good care of Tank, so don’t worry about him, he just a little slower and not his usual self, that’s what Fluttershy said, though. Scootaloo really misses you, she keeps on looking in the direction of Cloudsdale every now and then.

You would not imagine the surprise we got when Derpy came to give us your letter, and of course the joy. We’re glad that you are making new friends and that you can see some familiar faces, too. You should have Rarity’s face when you mentioned you and Soarin ‘catching up,’ she wouldn’t stop going on and on about how jealous she was.

Good luck and we miss you dearly.

Love,

Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie, Scootaloo, and Spike

PS: This is Twilight writing.’

I stare at the letter, trying my hardest to hold back the tears. I may have cried in front of my friends, but they are my family, so I can let loose any tears with them. These are ponies, I haven’t got to really know them. I may be good friends with Melody, but we haven’t known one another all that long. I manage to keep the tears in, but that doesn’t stop my eyes from getting a little misty. I will have to write my letter back to them soon, but that can wait, plus I have food that needs to be eaten.

I begin eating again. When I finish I stay to wait for Melody and Shield because they are still well into their meals. I soon get bored, so I tell them I’m going to explore the camp and leave. I haven’t been here ever since I won the Best Young Flier's Competition, so the place was a little like the castle labyrinth , just not as confusing and more familiar. I walk into a hall I think I have in before, to see two cadets conversing with each other.

I was about to pass them when one of them speaks, “Well, look what we have here,” says a smooth, sinister, mare like voice.

A mare with a light blue coat, golden mane, tail and wings, and a cutie mark of golden wings, appears in front of me. She is followed by another mare with navy blue coat, silver, white mane, and a shooting star cutie mark, who I know as Shooting Comet. “You don’t look like the type to know a princess on a personal level, how did that happen?” she asks snidely.

“I don’t have time for this.” I start to leave, but she put a hoof in my way. I glare at her.

She jeers at me, “Don’t you have a little attitude. That was kind of rude you know.” Does this girl seriously want me to slap her. Of course I wouldn’t do that, or else I would be saying goodbye life dream.

“You blocking my way is kind of rude, too, you know,” I bark back at her. Why won’t she let me leave.

“I just wanted to talk. Get to know the competition,” She sneers.

I look at her, confused, “Seriously.”

“Yes, if anypony is going to get to the top rank, it’s me,” she points to herself.

I stare at her, trying to hold in my laughter, “You know that everypony is going to be the same rank after graduation.”

“Hmm, maybe for you.” This mare is obviously full of herself, even more than me. Now that is saying something.

“Who are you anyways?”I ask with slight disgust.

She giggles annoyingly, “Oh how silly of me. I am Golden Wings,”

“Listen I just want walk the hall, is that too much to ask?”

“Well, if that’s the case,” she picks up her hoof, walks behind me, then pushes me. The force causes me collide into another pony who probably just walked into the scene be accident.

“Uhg,” I hear the familiar voice of Soarin groan, great. I look up to see the Wonderbolt on the floor, in uniform.

I turn to glare daggers at the two mares who were laughing, “Well have fun exploring Rainbow Crash.” Okay now I want kill her. I clench my teeth, but then remembered somepony hurt.

I get up and walk to Soarin. He has his eyes clenched, groaning. “Are you okay Soarin?” I ask with concern for my friend.

He opens his eyes to meet mine, “Yeah.” I offer a hoof to help him up. He takes it and soon he soon got on his hooves. “What happened?”

“Some cadets giving me a hard time and pushed me into you, sorry about that,” I apologize, turning my head to the direction Golden and Comet were standing, but no longer present. They must have ran when they saw it was Soarin I bumped into.

I stares at me with a bit of concern, “Some cadets giving you a time?” I nodded, “Who were they?” He asked.

I shake my head, “It doesn’t matter, nothing I haven’t dealt with in the past,” I mentally shiver at the memories of flight school and the name, ‘Rainbow Crash.’

He nods, “Okay. Just come to me or somepony if it gets out of hoof.”

“Don’t worry, I can handle it,” I claim.

“Alright, well I don’t have training until later this afternoon. Do you want to hang for a bit?”

I casually say sure, but in the inside, my internal fangirl is going crazy. I may be good friends with Soarin, but that didn’t mean I don’t get excited about hanging  out with my idol. I am glad that I have right to call him a friend and him call me a friend in return. It feels good to know him on a personal level.

We walk alongside each other. I speak first after a few seconds, “So, how is life as Wonderbolt?” It was the first conversation starter I could come with.

“It’s hard, I won’t lie. Getting up early. All the training. Don’t get me started on the paparazzi. But it is all worth it to perform and amaze the fans and know you put a smile on their face,” Soarin finishes.

I smile, “I hope I someday have that feeling.” I sigh and look at him.

“You will someday, just get through with this camp and you’ll get the chance to wow Equestria.” We turn a corner.

I nod.

“So what is in Ponyville like?” Soarin ask.

“Where to begin,” I say, “It’s nice, crazy, chaotic, quiet, and friendly.”

Soarin looks at me, confused, “I’m sorry you lost me.” I chuckle.

“Yeah,” I pause, “Ponyville is a small town with friendly ponies, but there has been some chaotic moments,” I explain.

“I hear it’s the home of Princess Twilight Sparkle. She’s a friend of yours, right?” he asks.

I nod, “Yup.”

“I remember there being a report about a dragon attack there and even took down a few Wonderbolts that were sent to handle it. Do you have any idea what happened to the dragon? The reports say it mysteriously disappeared.” Soarin looks at me curiously.

“Yeah, I know what happened to him,” I look down at the tiled flooring, remembering time Spike took greed to a whole new level.

“Do you mind telling me?” he asked.

I up at him, “You’re in for one heck of a ride.” I begin, “Twilight has this assistant named Spike. He’s a dragon,you might remember him from the Equestria Games.”

“The purple dragon that attempted the Cloudsdale?” I nod, “Yeah, I wish I didn’t remember,” I laugh.

I continue with the story, “It was Spike’s birthday. You see, he never got very many presents, so when he was being showered with them, he started getting greedy. He started to grow in greed and size. He was the dragon that attacked Ponyville and took down those Wonderbolts,” Soarin’s eyes stops in his tracks as he stares at me with dinner plates as eyes. I stop to let the stallion register the information, then I start again. “So Spike goes on his rampage, taking everything in sight, he even took my friend Rarity.” We start to walk around the HQ again. “My friends tried to stop him, but in the end, Spike saw this gem he gave Rarity that she wearing. He realized what he was doing and turned back to normal. Me and my friend, Fluttershy caught them. Thats what what happened.”

Soarin nods, probably thinking. “I’ll have to tell Spitfire this.” He smiles at me with a slightly goofy grin, “Thanks for telling this.”

I return the smile, “No sweat.”

He then stops walking again, his eyes shrinking slightly as if realizing something. “Hey do you know what time it is?” His tone sounds a little worried and frantic.

“I don’t know, do you know where a clock is?”

“Yeah,” and off he sprints with me in hoof. We end up in a vacant hall we walked through earlier, in front of a clock. Soarin read the clock. “Oh horse apples! I need to head to head to training!” He frantically ran down the hallway, “Nice talking to you, Dash!” and disappeared into a corner.

“Okay,” I say slowly and walk back to the room.

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Back in my room, I find Melody and Shield talking. When I walk in, they smile. I smile back. They go back to their conversation while I get out a piece of paper, quill, and ink to write a letter to my friends. I trot on over to my desk. I set the supplies down and think.

I pick up the quill and begin writing,

‘Dear Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, Scoots, Spike,

Today has been okay. I met a few new cadets, hanged out with Shield and Melody more. I got to hang more with Soarin, too.

I also got your letter, and now everypony knows that I am friends with the Princess of Friendship. Thank you Spitfire. Anyways, thanks for the words of encouragement, and please don’t be down about my absence, I’ll be back home before you know it, cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. About Rarity, though, I don’t know why she would be jealous about me hanging out with Soarin.

I’ll write  soon write about training tomorrow. That will be when training starts.

Love,

Dashie.’

I finish the letter, leaving out the part about Golden Wings. I head to lunch, leaving the note on the desk. Shield and Melody follow me.

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I lay in bed, thinking about tomorrow. Hopefully I can meet all the cadets I will be training with tomorrow, and hopefully none of them are as shallow as Golden Wings. I turn to look at Melody. I hope some of the cadets are like her, and Flaming Shield, too. They are good ponies to be friends with.

I look over to the clock, wondering what time it is. It read 11:46. I need to get some sleep if I don’t want to be completely miserable tomorrow. I close my eyes and slowly fall asleep.