A Dash of Happiness Soared Through the Skies

A Dash of Happiness Soared Through the Skies

By: RDcrystalheart AKA Crystal Heart

Chapter Eighteen: Day Three

"Alright recruits! Today, I will be training you!" Soarin Skies said, using the nearby megaphone to project his voice. The recruits, especially Lightning Tile, were all smiling, and were excited about the day's events.

Soarin was known for bringing out surprises through his courses. Whatever he said he was going to do... Well, there was probably a lot more to it than what met the bare eye.

"Alright! Line up with your cabin roommate!" Soarin said. Dash looked around, and spotted Hibiscus Wings walking in from the mare's locker room. She grabbed her hoof, and dragged her back to where Soarin was standing.

"Alright! So today we are going to go over a few simple flight patterns. Then, a few other things will be done. But lets not worry about those things just yet! Now grab three other groups!" Soarin said.

Hibiscus and Dash joined Cloud Ember, Lightning Tile, Burning Cloud, Storm Fire, Swift Wings, and Water Tag, and they all made their way to an empty spot on the fields. Out of the corner of her eye, Dash spotted her parents looking at the training. She waved over at them, and they gladly returned the gesture. Dash smiled, before turning her attention back to Soarin.

"Okay! Now, I want you to elect a captain for your team! This shouldn't take long. Thirty seconds top. Your time starts... Now!" Soarin said, before blowing into a whistle. Dash turned to her team.

"Who wants to be captain?" She asked. Everypony instantly backed away. Dash rolled her eyes.

"Fine! I'll be captain... Not that I have any problem with it!" She said, grinning, while turning back to Soarin. Once all the groups were settled, Soarin continued giving out instructions.

"Alright! I'm sure you are all familiar with most basic flight patterns? The arrow, and delta?" Soarin asked them. They all nodded. Soarin gave them a firm shake of his head.

"Good. We are going to be learning three new flight patterns. The advanced arrow, or, 'double A', the alpha, and the omega!" Soarin exclaimed. "Captains will be at the front of each movement, and will be conducting the entire performance. Now... Get into arrow position!" Soarin yelled, giving them all the okay symbol to take off.

Dash and her team all started flying up, and got into arrow position. Since there was an even number of ponies, the formation looked a little off. But it worked! Dash was at the front and center, with Hibiscus Wings, Burning Cloud, and Water Tag to her right, and Cloud Ember, Lightning Tile, Swift Wings, and Storm Fire to her left. Soarin gazed at all the formations, before giving a nod of approval.

"Nice job! Now to get into a double A formation, the two last ponies on the left are going to go right behind the captain, and the last pony on the right will go right behind the two. Got it? It will look like an arrow with a line!" Soarin explained. Everypony nodded.

Swift Wings got out of his position, and went right behind Dash, with Storm Fire right behind him. Then, Water Tag moved behind Storm Fire. Soarin looked at their group, before giving them a nod. They had done it! They had created an advanced arrow formation!

"Nice job, Team Dash!" Soarin congratulated. Dash and her teammates grinned, and nodded back to Soarin.

Once the other teams finished moving into position, Soarin gave them their next assignment.

"Alright! To get into an 'alpha' position, four of you, including the captain, will be forming a circle. Then, the remaining four, will do as follows. Two will jut up at a slant from the middle pony in the circle, and the other two will do the same thing, just pointing down. Sound good?" Soarin asked. Everypony nodded, as they started getting into the position.

The mares created a circle, with Dash in front, and the stallions divided themselves up into two, and put themselves into pair forms. Burning went with Storm, and Water went with Swift. Soarin nodded up at them.

"Alright. There's still one more that we need to complete. And it is the most challenging one. It's the omega formation. Now, you don't have to know this one right away! It isn't as easy as the other two we just did." Soarin said, stopping to see if anypony had any objections. When nopony said anything, he just shrugged.

"Alright. Wow... I say 'alright' a LOT! Gotta add that to my to-do list... 'Stop saying alright!'" Soarin said, which earned more than a few giggles. Soarin smiled up at them, before continuing his speech.

"Okay. Six of you will be making a circle, but without a back pony. The remaining two will be jutting out from the back sides. Got it?" He asked. Some teams looked confused, but most nodded. Soarin nodded back at them.

"Good." He said, before going to help the teams which didn't understand. Dash and her team started getting into formation. Dash, Hibiscus, Lightning, Ember, Burning, and Water Tag all created an incomplete circle. And Storm and Swift both went to the back sides, pointing outwards. Soarin, who had been observing them all, grinned, and nodded up at them.

"Wow! Team Dash has got it! Nice work!" Soarin said. Dash and her friends all smiled, and nodded, proud of their work.

Once everypony had completely finished the formation, Soarin made them all shift in between the arrow, double a, delta, alpha, and omega positions, to get comfortable with them.

"Nice work, everypony! Looks like we have no more time! Everypony, please head on to the mess hall for some lunch! Enjoy! Oh! Could Cloud Ember, Lightning Tile, Burning Cloud, Swift Wings, Storm Fire, Water Tag, Rainbow Dash, Hibiscus Wings, Button Down, and Epic Note please stay out here a little longer? That will be all!" Soarin said.

Dash knew that the ponies Soarin had called out were the ones that were personally invited, so she patiently waited with her friends, to see what Soarin wanted. Once he was sure everypony else had gone inside, he turned to the ten.

"Alright! I have a little surprise for you all! I wanted to let you have some time to perfect your moves! So, I've called nine other Wonderbolts here, and you each will be assigned randomly to one! They will then help you work on some flying skills! So... Here they are!" Soarin announced. Once he did, nine members of the Wonderbolt elite stepped out in full uniform.

They were Misty Fly, Spitfire, Fleetfoot, Lightning Streak, Fire Streak, Wave Chill, Rapidfire, Surprise, and Silver Lining. The ten recruits instantly started to mentally pick which Wonderbolt they would want to be with. Of course, Rainbow Dash was hoping for Soarin. Spitfire stepped up.

"Alright! These are two hats! Inside one, I have OUR names. Inside the other, I have YOUR names! I will be picking one out of each, and that will be your assigned Wonderbolt partner! Are you ready?" Spitfire asked them. They all nodded in excitement. Lightning Tile leaned over to Dash.

"You must be feeling a little jealous... Because you know Soarin is going to want to be with me!" She said. Dash raised an eyebrow, and didn't answer. She looked over to Soarin, who was looking back at her with a smile. Spitfire then put her hoof in one of the hats, and then the other.

"Okay! Hibiscus Wings... You're with Misty Fly! Lightning Tile is with Lightning Streak, Cloud Ember, you're with Fleetfoot! Burning Cloud is with Wave Chill, Storm Fire's with Rapidfire, Swift Wings... You're with Silver Lining! Button Down will be with me, and Rainbow Dash... You're with... Oh... You're with Soarin. Um... Moving on! Epic Note, you're with Fire Streak, and finally... Water Tag... That makes you with Surprise! Now go find your Wonderbolt, and they'll tell you what to do!" Spitfire said, starting to trot over to Button Down. Soarin turned to Dash, and grinned.

"Well, Dash! Look's like you're with me!" He said. Rainbow excitedly nodded, and looked around. She saw her parents quickly look away, before rolling her eyes. She looked some more, and saw that everypony had their backs to them. Rainbow grinned, and quickly hugged him. Once she pulled away, she smiled.

"And I'm very glad." She said. Soarin grinned a goofy grin, before slightly frowning.

"My wing is still hurting a little... So I can't really assist you in the air. But I can point out some improvements from the ground, if that's okay!" He told her. Dash nodded.

"Of course, Soar! Your health is important to me!" She told him, placing a hoof on his shoulder. He smiled, and nodded.

"Thanks, honey. Now! What is your most prominent move?" Soarin asked her. Dash blushed furiously for being called 'honey', but kept going nevertheless.

"Hmm... Definitely the Sonic Rainboom." She said, thinking a little bit about it. Soarin's eyes widened, before he placed his hoof behind his neck, and chuckled sheepishly.

"Um... I've actually never done that before... And I'm not really sure if I could be much help... But I can try!" Soarin told her. Dash grinned, and nodded.

"The effort is all that counts." She said simply, before taking off, starting to gain altitude.

Soarin quietly watched her ascend, before her figure was just a speck in the sky. He could make out her body shifting, and getting into a diving position. Soarin took a deep breath. She was going for it.

He watched Rainbow starting to free fall, giving gravity a head start for her, before her wings started to flap. And flap hard. Her hooves were out straight, and her hind legs were tucked underneath. She slowly unfolding them, until her body was forming a clear 180 degree angle. But Soarin saw something.

He tried to warn her to stop, but she was still too far away. He tried to fly up to stop her, but the pain was unbearable! He could only pray...

"DASH! DASH! STOP! DASH STOP!" He yelled out to her. But she didn't hear him. Nopony did, besides Dash's parents. Everypony else was too far away, doing their own things. Firefly and Rainbow Blaze started to panic.

"What's going on, Soarin?" Firefly asked Soarin. Soarin turned to her with a worried look, before pointing towards his marefriend.

"Her wings! They aren't flapping at the right angle! Making her wing joints stick out, and not move as smoothly! If she doesn't fix them, she'll create an air cloud, which will bounce her off. And since she's going so fast... Who knows what she will hit!" Soarin said, starting to panic as well. Rainbow Blaze grunted loudly in frustration, before pushing Soarin.

"Well go up and save her!" He said harshly. Soarin glared at him.

He had never glared at an older pony before... And it didn't feel right. But he knew he had to get the message to sink in to Blaze.

"Have you even been paying attention to ANYTHING? You HURT me! I can't FLY for another three weeks!" He yelled. Blaze stepped back, clearly shocked at the stallion's outburst, before scoffing.

"I knew you weren't right for her..." He said, before taking off. Soarin's jaw dropped, but he shook it off. His mare was in danger for ponies sake! He looked up again, and saw the cone beginning to form. He closed his eyes, as the air cloud begun to take shape. He opened his eyes again for just a fraction of a second. Just in time to see Blaze swoop in, and catch Rainbow, saving her, before any more damage could take place.

Rainbow Dash was confused. Why had her father caught her? She was so close to making the sonic rainboom! Blaze gently placed her on the grass, and she saw the worried face he, her mom, and her coltfriend were giving her.

"DASHIE!" Soarin and Firefly exclaimed at the same time. They both galloped over to her. Blaze gladly let Firefly see her, but blocked Soarin.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" He yelled, causing Soarin to instantly back away. Dash got up, and shook out some cloud dust from her mane, before angrily looking to her father.

"Why did you stop me?" She asked him, in a strangely calm tone of voice. Blaze pointed over to Soarin.

"Because THIS idiot told me that you would crash, because your wing angle was off." He said, rolling his eyes. Soarin looked down, before speaking up.

"I'm... Sorry, Dash... I tried to fly up to you... But the pain was unbearable! I'm sorry... I should have tried harder..." He said, guilt written all over his face. Dash looked at him with a curious look, before chuckling, and rolling her eyes.

"Oh come on... I'm fine! That's all that matters! BESIDES! Didn't you see me a few years ago? I nailed the dizzitron! I could have easily spun back into position, even if I did go flying off..." She told him, trotting towards him. Soarin looked up in surprise.

He had forgotten about that! He placed his front hoof behind his neck, and chuckled nervously.

"Oh... Right..." He said sheepishly. Dash rolled her eyes again, and nodded.

"I am the greatest flyer in Equestria, ya know..." She boasted. The minute those words escaped her lips, Soarin broke into a huge grin.

"That's the Dashie I know and love!" He said. Dash nodded, and flipped her mane.

"Hehe... I am pretty extraordinary..." She told him, before flapping her wings, and doing a flip in midair. Soarin nodded, and started to fly up as well. He screamed in pain, and fell back down. He landed with a thump, and started laughing. Dash quickly joined in.

"Hey... How 'bout we don't fly together until your wing is healed..." She suggested, still wiping tears of laughter. Soarin instantly nodded, grinning up at her.

"Deal."