The Light Behind the Darkness

“GET UP YOU TWO! WE HAVE TRAINING AND YOU AREN’T DOWN THERE IN TIME, YOU ARE GOING HOME!” screams Spitfire’s loudly, obnoxious voice.

Melody and I spring out of bed and rush to the closet to get our cadet uniforms on. I grab the piece of clothing, and slip it on as fast as I can. Melody does the same. We grab our flight goggles, and rush out the door, down the hall to the cafeteria.

Me and Melody are the second ones here. A black mane and whited coated stallion is here sitting at one of the tables alone.

As we pass by him, I hear somepony speak to me, “So you’re the famous Rainbow Dash?”

I stop and turn to face who said that. “Uh… yeah. Why do you ask?” How does he know who I am? I haven’t even meet this guy.

The stallion stares at me with a black gaze. “Just wondering if you were the pegasus mare everypony keeps talking about,” he says in a silk like tone.

I raise an eyebrow, “Who are you?”

“I am Moon Shadow.” He offers me his hoof. I shake it slowly.

I realize something, “ Wait ponies talk about me?” I question.

His blank look changes slightly to one of confusion, “Well, not everypony can perform a Sonic Rainboom.” I nod. “It looks like your friend is waiting is waiting for.”

My attention is now on Melody sitting at a table alone, watching me. “Well, then I better go to her. Nice to meet you, Moon Shadow,” and I trot to the table Melody chose to sit at. I would glance a few times at Moon Shadow, wondering what just happened.

I find a seat across from Melody. “Nice to see you join me.” She looks at me curiously, “Who was that?”

I shrug my shoulders, “Just some cadet by the name of Moon Shadow.” I look in his direction, then turn my attention back to Melody.

“Ooh, mysterious. So what did he want?” I shoulders again.

“He asked if I was Rainbow Dash?” I answer.

My blue friend looks at me, confused, “That’s all he wanted?”

I nod, “Yup.”

As me and Melody converse, more ponies start to rush in the mess hall. Eventually, Flaming Shield joins us, but with his roommate, Steel Wings, absent. Soon, the last cadet arrives, and Spitfire shows up.

“So, before you start your training to become a Wonderbolt, there are some things you will you need to know,” Spitfire motion a hoof. A few Wonderbolts, who I recognize as Surprise, Fleetfoot, and Soarin, walk and stand behind the captain at attention. “The ponies who stand here will be your instructors, each handling a different skill you will need to be Wonderbolt material.” She motions a hoof to the three Wonderbolts. “Surprise,” the white mare with a yellow mane, same to Pinkie’s, and white coat, steps up, “will handle agility and aerial acrobatics. Fleetfoot,” another mare coated sky blue and a mane of silver white steps up, “she will be handling your speed ability. Soarin,” now Soarin steps up, “will be in charge of combat. And I,” Spitfire motions to herself, “will be in charge of getting your strength up. You will first be joining Surprise in the gymnasium .”

Spitfire makes a little nod with her head, and the others walk away, making her the center of attention, “With all that said, training begins in half an hour,” She turns and leaves.

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Half an hour passed by, and everypony followed Spitfire to the gymnasium to start our first day of training. I have to admit I am a bit nervous. I mean, what if I do something completely embarrassing and be known as a joke instead of the most awesome flyer in Equestria.

“Nervous?” Melody snaps me out of my thoughts. I look at her. I nod, sheepishly.

“A little.” I look down to avoid eye contact with her. Was it that easy to tell I am nervous. I look back up at her.

Melody smiles, “It’s okay. I’m nervous, too.”

Soon, everyone arrives at the doors to the gym where Surprise stands before us. I don’t know much about Surprise, but I have seen her at Pinkie’s parties before, since they are cousins. I do know she almost as crazy and random as Pinkie Pie.

“Okay everypony,” she begins in a high pitched voice, “for now on, you will come here everyday after breakfast,” she pauses, “Now less talking and more flying,” Surprise cheers, jumping up excitedly.

Everypony grows an eager face and I could tell they are ready to become Wonderbolts, as am I. Surprise opens the doors and zooms inside with everypony in tow. I follow behind a grey pony with a red tail with Melody beside me, and Flaming Shield beside her, all grinning from ear to ear.

I fly through the doors, and met with quite a sight. The gymnasium was huge, about as large as my cloud home back in Ponyville, and the ceiling was about 30 feet above my head. There are different contraptions, some I could recognize, some looked familiar, but some just looked odd. I can some weights and exercise machines. In a corner of the large gym, was a padded area with nothing but space. There’s even a balance beam and trapolin, but I don’t see how that could really benefit in improving my flying.

I turn my attention back to Surprise who is motioning for everyone to follow her to the open padded area. It looks like I’m the only pony to notice while everypony else is distracted by the new setting, so I head in her direction.

She smiles at me, “Long time no see, Rainbow Dash. How have you been?”

“Fine...um…” I look around the the room and it looks like ponies are still busy absorbing the seen. “Shouldn’t you get everypony’s attention?” I ask.

She looks around, and giggles, “Yeah, I guess so. We will have to talk some other time. I know you’ve gotten to talk to Soarin already.” She giggles again in a similar matter that reminds me of Pinkie, reminding me how much I miss my friends and wish I see them.

I shake my head, putting the regret of leaving my friends in the back of my mind. I walk to Melody and Shield, who have finally gotten use to the large gym. Surprise gathers up all the cadets, and eventually everypony is now with their focus on training.

Surprise steps in front of us. She stops a hoof on the ground to get ponies’ attention. “Okay, now before we do anything, we need to stretch first. I want you all to step up on the paded area, get into two lines, and do what I do.”

I trot on to the mat and stand between Steel Wings and a sky blue mare with her mane in a long, wavy mane a shade lighter than her coat and cutie mark of a cloud. She almost reminds me of Fluttershy in a way. She seems to hind behind her mane and looks tense, just like Fluttershy would.

I look at Surprise as she begins to speak. “Okay, cadets, follow my lead.” Surprise stands on her hind legs and reaches up. I do the same, as does the others. Next she sets her hooves back on the ground, and stretches them as far as she can while keeping her back hooves in place. We all do the same. Surprise does other stretches with the cadets all copying her.

“Okay, everypony, now that we are all stretched out, we can begin. Today I just want to see what you guys can do. Since this session of training is acrobatics, I want to see what you can do.”

“Um… how are we gonna do that with so little room to fly?” the stallion who I saw in front of me earlier asks in a rude tone.

Surprise bounces over to a button on the wall. “Like this, silly,” she giggles, pressing the button. All of sudden the ground starts to shake a bit. There is the sound of something mechanical opening from above. I look up and stare at the ceiling opening up, to reveal a crystal clear sky. I stand there, gaping up at the opening above me.

Coming back to my senses, I shake my head, then look back up, then look at everypony else. Some look to have resided from the shock, but most still look dumbfounded.

“Okay, cadets,” Surprise says, stealing everypony’s attention. “It time to start,” her tone turning more serious. “Okay,” she yells, “I want you all to make a line on the wall over there,” she points a hoof to an empty space on the wall, “and when I call out your name, all be doing the same stunts I tell you to do. Everypony got that?” everypony nods, most looking a little timid at the sudden change of attitude, excluding me because I was use to Pinkie doing it. “Great,” her voice changes to cheerful once again. “Okay, first is,” she looks at a clipboard that came from nowhere, “Sky Blue!”

The pony I stood next flies up, looking a little skittish, again reminding me of Fluttershy.

Surprise speaks, “Ready Sky Blue?” Sky Blue just nods. “Okay, let’s start with a triple flip, then I want you to dive down for three seconds, pull up and twirl to finish it off.” Sky Blue nods, then gets ready to start her performance.

She looks down at everypony nervously, telling me she is scared. She is taking a long time to pick up the courage to start. I watch with concern, as she keeps hesitating. “Why won’t she just fly?” Golden Wings voice catches my attention. “It’s not that hard.” Golden puts her hooves up to abilify her her words, “Would you just do the stunt already, Shy Blue?”

I glare at her, “She’s trying,” I say in Sky Blues defence, “She’s just nervous!”

Golden rolls her eyes, “What ever Rainbow Crash,” I really want to hurt. So, bad. “Why do you care?”

An ear piercing holler stops me from telling her, “SHUT UP!” I turn to see Surprise with a random megaphone similar to one Pinkie owns. “Okay, girls!” she put the megaphone away, “Go on Sky Blue.” The blue mare looked even more terrified now, and I kinda felt bad for interrupting her.

I look at Surprise who is busy watching Sky Blue, then at everypony else who are also waiting for her to start. I do a doubletake before lifting off. No pony seems to notice me, except Golden Wing, who looks at me confusing. I look away from, turning to my target.I show up beside Sky Blue, who doesn’t look to good. She’s shaking and has a terrified look in eyes when looking up at me.

I hear Surprise yell something, probably telling me to come down, but I need to help this poor mare.

I place a hoof on her shoulder, making the terrified pegasus flinch, “It’s okay, just ignore them and fly,” I tell her in calm voice that resembles the way I speak to Fluttershy when she is scared.

The poor mare stares at me in the eye for the first time, and I can spot small tears building up, I give her an encouraging smile. She looks at the ponies below us, then back me. She gives me a weak smile and nods. I nod in return and head back to my place on the ground.

Sky Blue takes a deep breath, then telling Surprise, who was glaring at me for not following orders, she is ready. Surprise turns to Sky Blue. “Oh, well get started then,” She says, staring at me with a face of ‘what did you do’ written on it.

Sky Blue takes a deep breath, then begins, and wow, did she perform. She starts off flying upward, when she reaches a good height, she does a graceful triple flip. After her third flip, she nose dives downward, her body straight, front hooves angled, and back hooves pointed. After three seconds she pulls up  before hitting the ground. When she pulls up, she corkscrews up in a graceful manner. To finish, she stops her upward motion, only staying in one spot still twirling.

When she stops, everypony, including me, are all staring in amazement. Surprise didn’t give her a hard task, but the way Sky Blue was able to make such simple stunts look so graceful and majestic. It was quite a sight to see, and after witnessing such a performance, I really want to more of what she can do.

Sky Blue flies down, landing next to Surprise, who says a few words to her. The blue mare then walks in my direction, then stops at my hooves. She averts her eyes, still reminding of Fluttershy. “Thank you...for the encouragement,” she whispers.

I smile at her, “No prop, and you gave quite the performance.” She looks up at me, smiling, then walks away.

“Okay, next up is Flare Chaser,” Surprise calls.

A grey stallion with a red mane in need of a haircut and a flame as his cutie mark, walks up. He looks a little tense, but in the way Sky Blue did. He had a look on his face that said ‘don’t bother me’. He looked like the type of stallion you don’t want to mess with.

He walks up to Surprise, “Alright, Flare Chaser, I want you to do what I told Sky Blue. Start with a triple flip, then dive down for three seconds, pull up and twirl to finish it off. Got that,” he just nods.

Flare chaser flies up to get started. He stops, centered above us. He pauses for a moment, then begins. Like Sky Blue, he flies upward, except he doesn’t stop to do the flips. Instead he stays in an upward direction while doing the stunt. He goes for the dive on his last flip, waiting three before pulling up. He stays at a straight angle. He then changes his direction, going vertical while he spins. He finishes, hovering down to get Surprises opinion, then trotting back over to his spot in line.

I have to say, his performance was pretty good.

Surprise calls the next pony, “Shooting Comet!” Comet flies up to Surprise, who tells her what to do. Comet then flies up to the center.

She starts off going straight to the flips, then diving down for three seconds, keeping her body straight. She pulls up doing a graceful corkscrew. She soon finishes the simple, yet graceful and impressive show.

“Next is Rainbow Dash.” Surprise calls my name. I trot on up to her, trying to hide the fact that I am dying on the insiding. Surprise goes over what I need to do, then telling me good luck.

I fly to the center, like all the other cadets did before they began. I take a deep breath, my eyes closed.

“Hurry up!” I hear Golden shout. I just ignore her. I exhale deeply. I inhale sharply, narrowing my when I am focused enough.

I speed upward to right height. I stop my upward motion to tuck my legs to my chest and do the triple flip. I then let go of my back legs, straighten and angle my body to gain speed as I nose dive to the ground. I count three seconds, before pulling up at that sharpest angle I can, and corkscrew upward in a speed so that it looks like a spinning rainbow. I start to slow down, as I finish the presentation.

I hover down to Surprise, who has wide eyes and a shocked look on her face. “I knew you were good, but I didn’t know you were superspectaculrific!” I chuckle a little. I didn’t think I was that good. My awesomeness surprises me sometimes.

I walk back the wall where the other cadets stand.

“Tickle Feather,” Surprise calls out.

An orange stallion with a crazy green and yellow mane and a shaking feather as his cutie mark, trots up to Surprise with a spring in every step. Surprise smiles and tells him what to do.

Instead of flying to the center of the gym like everypony else did, he shoots off from the ground, doing three flips. He dives down, going at an impeccable speed. Three seconds. He makes a sharp upward motion, corkscrewing. He finishes, looking happy as can be, grinning from ear to ear.

He trots back to the line with the same spring in his step. What a weird pony.

Surprise calls the next pony, “Artistic Melody!” I see Melody walk up to Surprise, who tells her the aerial performance.

She walks to the center, takes breather, then shoots off vertically. She gets to a high enough altitude before tucking her back legs to her chest and doing three flips, going down. She then straightens her body, diving in a vertical angle. I don’t know how she did it but she managed to pull up, and  corkscrew upward. To finish it of she she twirls in place for a few seconds.

I have to say, her true talent may be writing and art, but she can really fly.

“Moon Shadow.” Moon Shadow walks up. I swear, even the way he walks is mysterious.

Surprise tells him what to do. He flies to the center, and begins. He does a triple flip, nose dives for the three seconds, makes a sharp upward pull, flies straight, then stops to twirl, all while keeping a straight face.

Something about this stallion is just not right. I mean he isn’t even breathing heavily or break a sweat. Surprise even looks sceptical of the pegasus.

“Okay,” Surprise says, “Flaming Shield.”

His performance starts off with him doing the triple flip a little sloppily, then him diving down with a great amount of speed. He pulls up, doing a corkscrew.

He hovers to ground, talks to Surprise, and heads back over here.

“Golden Wings,” Golden Wings smirks when her name is. I wanted to smack it off so hard.

She trots up to Surprise who gives her the drill on what to do. She nods, her smirk growing, and takes off. She starts in an upward direction, going into a graceful triple flip. She dives down for three seconds and pulls and finishes with delicate twirl. She hovers to the ground, a smug look on her face. I hate to admit it, but she could be Wonderbolt material. If it weren’t for the spoiled attitude.

“Last but not least,” Surprise announces, “Steel Wings.”

Steel Wings walks out of the line. “Of course they save the best for last.” He struts up to our commanding officer. I try to hold back my laughter at how funny it looks.

Surprise starts to tell give him the drill, but he stops her, “I got this in the bag,” he cheers.

Surprise gives him a funny look, “Okay,” her tone unsure, as am I.

He starts off zooming to the sky, going right for a sloppy triple flip, then nose diving for a total of three seconds, pulling up not so sharply. He rockets up, with a shaky corkscrew, and finishes with twirl. He ends the show with a smirk similar to Golden Wings. He hovers down to Surprise. I need say it, he may be fast, but he needs work on grace… a lot.

“Okay, that is all for training today, oh and look at the time,” I look at a nearby clock. It read 9:30. “Head on out to the track where you will meet Fleetfoot to begin your speed training,” Surprise orders.

We all file out of the gymnasium and head to the track.