Paint the Sky

by Prism Shine

Rating: teen
Tags: Wonderbolts, Spitfire, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Romance, Soarin, Fleetfoot, Rainbow Dash, Comedy
Length: 3514

Rainbow Dash becomes a Wonderbolt.

Rainbow Dash finally has the chance to become a Wonderbolt. But as soon as she gets into the tryouts, many events await her.

Inspired by the song "The Seventh Wonderbolt" by Silvia Hound.

A/N: I am bad at making long descriptions.

Published 2015-08-25 15:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2015-09-25 15:10:18 UTC

Chapter 1

(Timeline position: This is the first story. This happens some time after S4.)

Paint the Sky
Chapter 1
Written by Prism Shine

It was a fine morning in Equestria.

Soarin walked down the corridor with a somewhat bored expression on his face. He was about to turn to the right to get to his room, but when he reached for the doorknob, he heard two muffled voices coming from Spitfire's office next door.

Curiosity took over from there. He headed for Spitfire's office with light hoofsteps, and opened the door just by a small amount. He looked through the small opening. As he did, he saw two fellow Wonderbolts he knew well.

Fleetfoot and Spitfire herself.

"Alright, let's put personal matters aside from now." Fleetfoot said. "Anythin' coming up soon?"

"Let me get the schedule." After a few seconds, Spitfire replied, "Hmm. Well, we have a show, an interview and-- HEY!" She got interrupted by Fleetfoot snatching the papers.

"I'll see it for myself." Fleetfoot blew a short raspberry at her, then looked through the schedule. "Ehh, shows, interviews, photo shoots and-- Oh, sweet. It's that time of the year?"

Spitfire sighed. "Yeah. Get Soarin here, won't you?"

Soarin froze. He tried to move away, but his legs wouldn't listen to him.

"Mmkay." Fleetfoot turned and opened the door. "I just got-- WOAH!"

Soarin fell into Fleetfoot's chest. "Oof."

Spitfire heard his voice clearly. She got up to get a better view at what was happening.

"Soarin, what the hell?" Spitfire flattened her expression. "...If you fell into Fleet's chest, does that mean that you've heard everything?"

"Yeah. But what did Fleet mean by 'that time of the year'?"

Spitfire smirked at that. "Heh. We're having recruit tryouts again."

Just then, a growl rang out next to Soarin.

"Get off my chest, you freak." Fleetfoot pushed him away.

Soarin rolled his eyes. "When are they?"

Rainbow Dash was still asleep in her cloudominium. She had a peaceful look on her face, as though she was having a good dream.

Suddenly, her alarm clock rang.

Dash's eyes snapped open with an unamused look. "Stupid alarm clocks..." She muttered under her breath. She slapped the top of the alarm clock down, and the ringing ceased.

She stretched, and looked at the right of her bedroom.

On the cloud wall was a poster of the Wonderbolts. It had the three best Wonderbolts flying, while at the bottom, there were words that said 'The sky's the limit'.

Made by SolarAsylum (deviantArt)

She smiled slightly. It had been given to her by Spitfire after one of their Wonderbolt flight camps.

She breathed in the fresh air, and her face turned back into her usual smirk.

"Might as well get breakfast,"

"YOU'LL WHAT?!" Fleetfoot screamed. She relaxed immediately, however. "Spitfire... you are crazy."

Spitfire raised an eyebrow. "Trust me, it might be chaos, but they'll have the best Training Instructor ever." She cleared her throat. "Moving on. Fleet, you'll be in charge of speed. Soarin, you're in charge of aerial tricks. I'll be overlooking everything, as usual."

Spitfire looked at Fleetfoot. "Well? Which courses?"

"Definitely Courses 1, 2 and 5." Fleetfoot nodded triumphantly.

Soarin started at Fleetfoot wide-eyed. "Course 5? Are you serious?"

"What's wrong with Course 5?" Fleetfoot had an innocent look.

Soarin facehoofed. "Everything," He winced. "absolutely everything."

"Hm?" Fleetfoot just remembered something. "Spitty, did you already inform the cadets from the Academy?"

"Yeah. They should have received it right about now."

Rainbow Dash glided through Ponyville with a relaxed demeanor. "Those were some good waffles. I wonder how Pinkie makes 'em."

When she reached her cloudominium, she checked her mailbox.

"Bills, newspaper.." Rainbow Dash listed out, bemused. But as she reached the last letter, she saw the Wonderbolts symbol on it. She gasped.

"NO WAY." She had a grin so wide, it was making her face hurt. But she didn't care. Pain could wait their damn turn. She ripped open the envelope, and read the letter inside.

Dear Rainbow Dash,

You have been called back to the Wonderbolt compound to partake in the recruit tryouts. It's in a week. We hope to see you there, and we hope you pass the tryouts.

The tryouts are three days long. We will be testing your aerial tricks, speed and much more. Please arrive there before 3:00 PM.

Sincerely,
Captain Spitfire

Dash was about to explode, Pinkie Pie style. But there was no way she wouldn't tell her friends. She wanted to tell them all, and say her goodbyes. She was so ecstatic that it only took her seconds to go to each of her friends' houses and tell them to meet up near her cloudominium.

After a while, she found that all her friends were all assembled.

"Hey, guys!" She greeted them with total enthusiasm.

"Hi, Rainbow Dash." Twilight smiled. "What's the news?"

"Well..." Dash flew in small circles. She stopped and faced them after 5 loops. "The Wonderbolts are having recruit tryouts, and I've been called back to join the tryouts!" Her wings flapped furiously in excitement, making a soft buzz.

Everyone was silent for a small moment.

Pinkie Pie was the first to recover. "How long are they?" She questioned while swaying back and forth.

"Three days."

Pinkie's coat color went several shades darker.

"Even longer if I get accepted, though."

Pinkie's mane deflated. Her eyes started getting teary, but she was holding it back.

Dash noticed Pinkie's appearance. She smiled with concern.

She flew over to Pinkie and patted her back. She looked at all her friends. "However," She put her hooves on her hips. "I'll still be visiting you guys every now and then."

Pinkie's mane and coat went back to normal in half a heartbeat. She gasped and held her breath in for 5 seconds. Once she exhaled, she tackled Dash and hugged her tightly.

"I'll miss you so so so so so so so so so so much!" Pinkie fired the words out quickly.

Dash squirmed out of Pinkie's grasp. "Me too. I'll write to you guys too, when I can." Dash sighed. "Well, I gotta tell Scoots now. I'll see you later!"

Dash kicked off the ground and started to search for the orange filly crusader.

As the door closed on Spitfire's office, Soarin and Fleetfoot gave very loud sighs.

Spitfire glanced at them both. "You were that scared?"

"Hell, she's already a military by herself!" Soarin winced.

Fleetfoot cringed. "Let's just hope none of them turn into Lightning Streak, or worse, get their balls smashed."

Spitfire and Soarin glared at Fleetfoot with disapproval.

"What?" Fleetfoot realized what she just said. "...Hey, it could happen!"

-<[]>-
A week later
-<[]>-

Dash was waiting for the train in Ponyville, and her friends were with her. They were all wishing her good luck and giving their goodbyes.

"Do your best, Dashie!" Pinkie squealed. She was rapidly bouncing up and down, as if she were on a sugar buzz.

Dash snickered. "Geez, Pinks. Calm down."

"She can't." Rarity grimaced. "We were with her at the time. Some time after you left, she..." Rarity paused to find the right word. But she didn't have to.

"She grabbed a bag of sugar and guzzled it all." Applejack tipped her hat down. She tried to imitate Pinkie's voice. "'Ah use it as a stress reliever!' She said."

What was funny about the imitation was that it sounded like a squeaky Pinkie Pie with a farmer accent. Because of that, everyone was laughing really hard.

Applejack shrugged. "Ah tried."

The train whistle sounded out. "All aboard!" The conductor yelled.

"Well, looks like I'm going. I'll see you guys soon." Dash smiled weakly.

Everypony said goodbye one last time.

The next thing she knew, Dash was sitting on one of the train seats. She sighed.

There's no going back now, She thought.

Author's Note

I know there's not really that much comedy. I'm not a humorous person, but I try to make people laugh.

IF Y'ALL ARE CONFUSED WHY I SAID TRAIN, IT'S CUZ THE HQ IS IN CANTERLOT IN THIS AU.

I wonder who's the Training Instructor... :rainbowhuh:

By the way, information about the Wonderbolts in this story will be on my profile page soon. :twilightsmile:

Chapter 2

Paint the Sky
Chapter 2
Written by Prism Shine

Squad 1, 2 and 3 were having a meeting. It was about the tryouts.

Spitfire wasn't there yet, however.

Since she hadn't arrived, everyone was goofing around in the meeting room, chatting and using whatever they had to amuse themselves. Paper airplanes flew all over the room, ponies were chatting noisily...

"WHO WANTS TO HAVE A PAPER AIRPLANE COMPETITION?!" A high-pitched voice screamed out.

Everyone looked at the source of the voice. They all knew who that voice belonged to. It belonged to Surprise from Squad 2. Some ponies raised their hoofs up as high as possible, some cheered, and some immediately grabbed a piece of paper to create their airplanes.

There were two ponies that ignored her, though.

"Damnit, this place gets stranger every day." Misty Fly grumbled.

Fire Streak was sitting a few seats away from her. "Spitfire sure is taking her sweet time," He sighed. "Where is she?"

Spitfire was on the rooftop of the compound, staring at the sky. She looked like she was deep in thought. In all honesty, she was thinking about the recruits.

There were some recruits to have higher expectations for. Rainbow Dash, for example. Hell, she could do a Sonic Rainboom! She thought.

Speaking of recruits, she still had to go attend the meeting. She turned around and descended the staircase.

When Spitfire reached the meeting room, she heard noise coming from inside. She raised an eyebrow.

She opened the door and her pupils shrunk at the sight.

"What the hell are you guys doing?!" She was dumbfounded. Paper was everywhere, ponies were running around...

Everypony was ignoring her, though. She narrowed her eyes.

She took a deep breath.

"SERIOUSLY, YOU GUYS? THIS IS A MEETING ROOM!" She bellowed.

It was now silent in the room. Everything froze, and the only sound in the room were paper airplanes landing.

Everyone dashed to their seats and gave a big smile.

Spitfire rolled her eyes and went to her seat. "Alright, let's start."

Dash was on the train to Canterlot, and she was beyond excited. She could barely keep herself from springing up from the chair and flying around in circles.

She looked out the window, and she saw Canterlot Castle in the distance. As the train went closer to it's destination, she could see the Wonderbolt compound next to it. That just helped boost her excitement even more. She was bouncing up and down while holding all the screaming in.

When the train arrived at Canterlot, she burst out the train's door and jumped as high as she could. After all, she was bouncing up and down. She spread her wings and kicked off the ground. She wanted to get to the compound as soon as possible.

She flew past buildings and houses, leaving her signature rainbow trail behind her. She was having a blast.

In fact, she was having so much fun that when she reached the compound, she couldn't stop.

"WOAH!" Dash yelped. She pushed her wings back to stop, but she was already in for a crash. She closed her eyes and waited for the impact... but it never came.

She opened her eyes slowly and saw a mare holding out two hooves to stop Dash's crash.

Dash looked at the mare. Her coat was a tan orange, and she had a long black mane tied up into a ponytail. Dash could see her cutie mark slightly, and it looked like a thin, long pencil. Her tail was the same colour as her mane, but it was cut short.

"You okay?" The mare asked.

"Huh?" Dash was interrupted from her analyzing. "Uh.. Y-Yeah. Thanks."

"Whew. That's good." She sighed in relief. She blinked once. "...Are you here for the tryouts too?"

"Yeah."

"Hm, alrighty then. I'll see you there!" And with that, the mare went through the front doors.

Dash tilted her head. She could use for some competition. She dove down and entered the compound.

"Testing, testing, 1 2 3!" Fleetfoot yelled into the microphone installed on a podium.

"Uh.. Today is sunny?" Fire Streak shouted into that same microphone.

Fleetfoot looked at Fire Streak with an eyebrow raised. "Today's cloudy."

"It's sunny." Fire Streak blinked.

"Cloudy."

"Sunny."

"Cloudy."

"Sunny!"

"IT'S FUCKING CLOUDY, ALRIGHT?" Fleetfoot yelled again, this time into Fire Streak's face. It was loud enough to blow his mane back.

"Both of you shut up." Soarin said with a slight smile on his lips. Fleetfoot frowned, but Fire Streak had his attention elsewhere.

"Spitty." Fire Streak called out.

Spitfire was organizing papers, with Soarin helping her. "Yeah, Fire Streak...?" She asked without making eye contact.

"The recruits ar--" Fire Streak's usual, bored face twisted into a mortified one. "Spitty, call me Brother Streaky! Please!"

Soarin snorted. "Brother.. Streaky?"

Fleetfoot, on the other hoof, was snickering. "Pffft... Brother Streaky..." She slammed her face down on the podium and lightly punched it with her front hooves.

Spitfire glared at him in disgust. She mouthed out three words with no regret at all.

Fire Streak's eyes widened, and his mouth dropped. He let out a brief gasp. "Love you?"

Soarin flattened his expression and facehoofed. He turned to Fire Streak with an unamused look. "She obviously meant 'Go to hell', dumbass!"

Spitfire buried her face in her hooves and groaned. "Fire Streak, you are a total idiot..."

"Anyway," Fire Streak said loud enough to drown out Spitfire. "The recruits are coming in." He pointed a hoof at the front door, and sure enough, ponies were going through it.

Fleetfoot bent down and grabbed a small box. She placed it on top of Soarin's head quietly, and it slowly slid off. Fleetfoot grinned.

Soarin squinted at the entrance. "Sweet Luna," He said. "That's a lot of participants. I guess it's gonna take us forever to choose the fo--" Soarin gave a high-pitched squeak as the box hit his muzzle. At that, Fleetfoot burst out laughing.

Soarin glared at her and sighed. He turned back to the entrance and started waving his hoof as high as he could. "All participants over here!" He yelled.

Rainbow Dash went through the doors with butterflies in her stomach. When she entered, her eyes almost immediately landed on ponies crowding in front of a podium. She figured those ponies were other participants. She trotted over, bouncing slightly every once in a while.

As she blended in with the crowd, she looked right saw the mare who helped her earlier a few centimetres away. She thought about moving over to chat, but she shook her head and turned her head back to the podium.

"That's all of them," Soarin mumbled, but loud enough for Spitfire to hear.

Fleetfoot and Soarin went down from the podium and let Spitfire take their place. She adjusted the microphone a bit, and cleared her throat.

She glanced down at all the participants. "Hello, and welcome to the tryouts. As you all know, the tryouts will be three days long. We've only mentioned aerial tricks and speed in the letter we sent you, but there's more."

She paused for a second, and mumbles were heard in the crowd.

Spitfire cleared her throat once more. "However, we will keep them a secret from you. You will only know where the venue for the current type of tryouts are." She reached down and got the small box from earlier. "Inside this box, there is a location written on paper. Those pieces of paper will tell you where your dorms are. There will be four pieces of paper with the same location written down, which means four of you will be staying in the same room. Basically, we're having a lucky draw to see where you're staying."

She stepped down from the podium and went to the first pony at one end of the first line.

Spitfire was close to Rainbow Dash now. Dash bit her lip, nervous for some reason. She looked away from the front, and took deep breaths.

"Uh.." She jumped in surprise. She breathed in too much oxygen, and had to hold in severe coughing. She glanced at the front again, just to see Spitfire in front of her.

"I- Uh- Sorry," She grinned sheepishly. She put a hoof inside the box and pulled out a small, folded piece of paper. She blinked.

Spitfire cracked a small smile at Dash's reaction, and shook her head. She went to the pony next to her.

However, Dash didn't notice Spitfire's slight change in demeanor. She unfolded the piece of paper, and read the words scribbled inside.

You will be staying in:

2nd Floor, Room 20.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow briefly, and waited patiently for everypony to draw their papers.

After what seemed like forever, Spitfire climbed back onto the podium. "Well, all of you have gotten your location. But don't go there just yet. I want to explain some things first.

"After the tryouts, there will be four of you that gets chosen as a Wonderbolt. But don't get your hopes up; there's no such thing as luck here. You will be graded by your attitude and skill. So–"

Suddenly, Surprise popped out of thin air, flying upside down. She adjusted the microphone, and took a deep breath. "–SO EVEN IF YOU'RE 2SKILLED4US, IF YOU'RE A BITCH, YOU WON'T GET IN!" She cried. Surprise curled up into a small ball, took on a smug expression and disappeared with a soft pop.

Spitfire rolled her eyes, as if she was used to this. She scanned the crowd of recruits to see their reactions. Of course, they were dumbfounded.

She pulled the microphone back down. "Thank you, Surprise. That was unneeded."

"No problem!"

"Well, you heard her. More details of the tryouts will be explained each day. Now, before you go to your dorms, I want you all to take a tour around the compound.You're dismissed."

As the crowd slowly dissipated, Spitfire muttered something under her breath, soft but audible enough for Soarin and Fleetfoot to hear. She crossed her hooves and gritted her teeth.

"The reason why I want you all to take a tour is because I don't want any of you newbies to get lost and be 30 minutes late for the tryouts."

Both Fleetfoot and Soarin smiled widely.

Spitfire stepped down for the last time, and went into her office.

Rainbow Dash entered a hallway on the 1st floor, and looked around. She saw doors with signs hanging next to them. She went into the first one she saw, with the word "Gym" written on it.

She pushed open the door leading into the room, and when she peeked inside her mouth dropped.

It was HUGE. Probably as big as her bedroom back in Ponyville. She saw racks full of dumbbells leaning on one wall, and some benches standing in front of another wall. She assumed those were for resting, since there were water bottles on the armrests.

She was about to step inside, but just then she heard a stallion's voice. Dash looked at the far center of the room, and saw a grey stallion with white hair. She didn't recognize him at first, but then she realized it was Silver Lining of Squad 3.

"Uh.. Alright. You've done your wing-ups. Now I want you to.. uh.."

"Sweet Celestia... You forgot again?!" A mare's voice cried out.

"Wha–?! Shut up, Blaze!" Silver visibly panicked. "I didn't forget!" And with that, he took a glance at a piece of paper laying down next to him. "N-Next, you guys gotta do push-ups!"

"Yeah, you definitely forgot." Another stallion muttered.

"Wave Chill, you shut up too. Now go do your damn wing-ups."

A raspy mare voice chuckled. "Silver, it was push-ups. Stop using your blank mind."

Silver grunted. "High Winds, you're in their side too?!"

Dash closed the door silently before they could notice her, and she continued down the hallway.

Spitfire was lazily signing paperwork when she heard somepony knocking loudly. She raised an eyebrow. "Come in."

The door burst open, and a light blue pegasus with a yellow mane hopped in.

Spitfire grimaced at this, but quickly dismissed it. "...What is it, Lightning Streak?"

Lightning Streak continued hopping about while staying in his place. "Captain, Squad 4 and Commander Rapidfire's about to come back!"

Author's Note

NEW CHAPTER, YAY!

Well, you've been introduced to almost all the Wonderbolts. You just have Rapidfire and Squad 4 left, hehe :ajsmug:

Okay, so:
Spitfire and Fire Streak = Siblings

This feels like absolute rush. :applecry:

== Feel free to give me constructive criticism! Fan art is also appreciated, btw. :raritywink: ==