Aerial Dreams

by BNuts

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Original Character, Adventure, Wonderbolts
Length: 5961

The full and true story behind Aerial View and her great sacrifice. A prequel to 'First Gear.'

Aerial View was a freewheeling Pegasus who loved to fly more than anything else, so the aerobatic stunt team, the Wonderbolts, seemed like the perfect way to for her to make a living. When she meets other great flyers, Aerial finally gains the motivation to work hard and climb the ladder to command. Then came an event that would change her life forever.

This is my entry for Scribblefest 2016. It occurs over 20 years before the start of First Gear so it can stand on its own or be read as a prequel. Depending on the response, I may write more stories about the generations preceding Gearhead later.

Published 2016-03-05 12:10:02 UTC
Last updated 2016-03-05 12:10:02 UTC

1. Wings and Work

Author's Note

Due to a strange sense of naming on DHX's part, I've renamed 'Fleetfoot' as 'Hasty Hoof.'

1. Wings and Work

Aerial View barely flapped her tan wings as she came in for her landing at Wonderbolts Academy. As she watched the other Pegasi coming in from all over, many of them tired from their long flights, she chuckled to herself.

The Los Pegasus native would never have thought herself the type to enlist in a military organization: she loved the wind and the feel of the air between her feathers, in her mane, and through her coat. That was true whether she was in a gentle breeze, a gale, or anything in between. She would love to spend all her days just basking in the wind and sun.

But her father said ‘you can’t make a living playing in the wind.’ Unfortunately, he was right.

Aerial had been surprised the day the twin captains of the Wonderbolts, Lightning Strike and Thunder Strike, flew up with an offer of a spot at their vaunted Academy. It was an open invitation, which Aerial could accept by showing up on this particular day.

Aerial knew that the Wonderbolts were Princess Celestia’s elite flyers and defenders. If her desire had been to fly with the elite, she might have chosen Azure Flight’s Skybolts, which even predated the Wonderbolts. They were even based in Los Pegasus, as opposed to a small complex of clouds near Cloudsdale, which tended to wander over Central Equestria rather than the east or the west, where Los Pegasus floated. What made Aerial decide on the Wonderbolts was that she knew they did more stunt flying these days, whereas the Skybolts trained very strictly for military exercises.

So here she was, mere days later, floating in and landing on the tarmac. An air traffic control pony directed her to one of the fields where some ponies were sitting at a set of tables to check in. “You’ve come a long way,” the stallion assist her said. “I hope it’s worth the while.”

“That’s the hope,” Aerial said.

“Field Three, and you’d best hurry, missy: they’ll be starting soon.”

“Thanks!” Aerial hoofed it to the field, where other new hopefuls were lined up, their saddlebags on the clouds beside their hooves. Evidently they had not yet been allowed to settle in. Aerial joined at the right end of the file, beside an orange-coated and flame-maned mare, and put her bags down too.

“Welcome to Basic Training, Rookies,” Lighting Strike said as she approached the group. “You may be the best and brightest from your little home towns, but you’re now all in the company of the elite of the elite. You can forget about everything that made you think you were special. You think you have what it takes to be one of the elite? You think you know what makes a Wonderbolt?”

“Yes, Ma’am!” the flame-mane said enthusiastically.

“Well you’re wrong!” The outgoing mare stepped back half a pace. “If you had what it took you would already be a Wonderbolt!” Lightning Strike started pacing, and Thunder Strike stepped up from behind her.

“No matter how good you think you are, in comparing yourself with present Wonderbolts, or even your peers, you’re going to discover something new about yourselves. Should you survive the revelation, your trainers and your fellows will need to be able to call on you in any situation, and know you’ll immediately respond. The Wonderbolts are not about glory or wealth: we’re a high-performance aerial combat team. Fail to display a full understanding of what that means, and no matter how good a flyer you might be, you’ll never survive Basic.”

“Later we’ll be getting a transfer from the west,” Lightning Strike said. “If you can’t keep up with him, you won’t survive for long. But first, you’ve got to show us what you’ve got in you. So, Rookies, give us fifty laps of that circuit,” she indicated a course laid out in floating buoys and clouds. “What are you waiting for? Up and at ‘em, purple mane with pink highlights!”

Oh, that’s me! Aerial spread her wings and fanned out her feathers to feel the air as she leaped up and forward. The rest of the group took off and followed after her. She noticed the flame-mane coming up beside her, pumping her wings hard. “Rough start, huh?” Aerial asked.

“Yeah, but the Wonderbolts’re the best. I’m Spitfire, by the way.”

“Aerial View. Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise. Hey, wanna race?”

“I’d rather not burn myself out. Besides, we’re already well ahead of the others,” Aerial said, and Spitfire looked back as well. The only other rookie to keep up with them was a silver and white-maned mare, who saluted when they looked.

“A little competition never heard anyone,” Spitfire said. “B’sides, you hardly look winded. Where’re you from, anyway?”

“Los Pegasus. You?”

“Oh, um…” Spitfire fought past her startled expression, and flapped her wings a little harder to recover from the shock. “Cloudsdale.” In other words, Spitfire was more winded, and working harder, than Aerial, who had travelled farther to get to Wonderbolts Academy. “How d’you fly so easy?”

“This?” Aerial was flapping her wings a lot less frequently than anypony else. “I just feel and ride the currents when I can.”

“But wouldn’t you fall when one clashes with another?”

“I can follow from one to another pretty well, although on a course like this, there is some tougher crossover.” But, as Aerial demonstrated, that just meant she had to flap normally for awhile. “I can fly like this for hours, but Dad says I can’t make money like that.”

“Which is why you’re here,”

“And you?”

“Who wouldn’t want to be a Wonderbolt?”

Aerial shrugged and faced front again, not wanting to tell Spitfire that she didn’t really have that much motivation for becoming a ‘Bolt. She just wanted to fly.

2. Wings Come In Pairs

Author's Note

Just a reminder I've renamed 'Fleetfoot' as 'Hasty Hoof.'

2. Wings Come In Pairs

Aerial was used to flying the skies solo, but she didn’t mind company either, which was good because the way the barracks were set out, she was bunking with all the other mares from her recruitment group. This included Spitfire, and the silver mare, Hasty Hoof.

Today they would be placed into Lead and Wingpony pairs based on performance scores created during their first flight the other day. While Aerial had finished first, Spitfire and Hasty Hoof had started to lag behind as their stamina failed, the latter more than the former, so maybe she was more of a sprinter. Aerial, being used to gliding as much as flying, could stay aloft for days if she had to, but she wasn’t as good when it came to pure speed.

Maybe that was why Lightning Strike paired her with Hasty Hoof, who was Aerial’s opposite in flying focus. She paired Spitfire with a black-maned stallion, Soarin,’ who came in near the tail end of the main group and before any of the stragglers.

“Cadets, congrats on completing the admission process to the Academy. Now say ‘hello’ to your partners for the remainder of your training tour,” Lightning Strike said.

Before anyone could actually say anything, Thunder Strike continued. “For your first pair exercise, you’ll be flying through this obstacle course together. To complete the exercise, you must both cross the finish line together.”

“This is not a race,” the black-maned, blue-white coated mare said.

“All the same, watch yourselves,” the blue-white maned, black coated stallion said. “It gets narrow up there. Go!”

It took an instant for the cadets to realize they’d been given the signal, but then they were in the air. Spitfire and Hasty Hoof were both eager to get this thing done, but they had to fall back a bit to allow their partners to catch up. The others also adjusted their paces accordingly.

“Come on, we’re being passed!” Hasty Hoof whined as Aerial flew up to her.

“The Captains said this isn’t a race,”

“Everything’s a race, or at least, a competition. Crank it up if you don’t wanna get ejected!”

Aerial hated to admit that Hasty Hoof might have a point, so she just focused on speeding up so she could keep up with her partner’s more aggressive style. All the same, some slower pairs beat them into the first narrow section, forcing them to slow up or crash.

“I hate getting stuck,” Hasty growled.

“Come on,” Aerial said. “If you’ve got to move fast no matter what, we can do some moves while we wait.”

“Great idea: It’ll bring up our scores!” Hasty started leading Aerial through loops between the checkpoints, but as soon as the course became wide enough, she shot between the pairs ahead of them and the cloud-walls to get ahead, and Aerial had to fly hard to even come close to staying with her. She even bumped gently against some of the ponies they passed, sending them back toward the course’s center and stopping them from getting planted in the clouds.

At the end of the course, Hasty remembered the rule about crossing together and slowed down to allow Aerial to catch up again. This allowed Spitfire and Soarin’ to cross the finish line just ahead of them.

“You really… need to… learn to… fly faster!” Hasty said.

“And you seem winded,” Aerial said mildly. “But you’re right, so I’ll try.”

“Thanks. Gonna sit down now.”

4. Wings and the Air

“Fifth?” Aerial asked Lightning Strike, astounded. “With all due respect, ma’am I worked hard to get where I am.”

“And all three of us recognize that,” Lightning Strike said.

“So why not Second?”

“I’m not sure you understand what being Fifth means yet,” Azure said. “Give it a chance, please, and if you still have a complaint, you can bring it to me then.”

“Ma’am, why am I even here, at the Academy?”

“To be honest, it’s because you have a fluid grace that few others have, and yet you show no hesitation to do what’s necessary, at least in an exercise. If you can translate that into action in the field, together with the rest of your group, being Sun Five will be the least of your accolades.”

Aerial thought for a moment. “I’ll give it a chance.”

“Good, because I’d hate to lose you so early,” Lightning Strike said.

* * *

A week later, Windwalker was leading Sun Squadron through a valley and into the foothills of the Crystal Mountains for training. Aerial wouldn’t have thought she would enjoy coordinated flight before, having thought of it as being too restricted and stifling. Now, though, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to feel the way the wind interacted with others’ wings and feathers if she hadn’t joined the Wonderbolts.

As to her original outrage toward being made Sun Five, that had vanished when Aerial realized that that also put her in a command position, as Two Flight Lead, because Windwalker organized the squadron into three flights of four, as opposed to the searching method he had used before. Having two pairs in each flight gave them greater adaptability when they split off into pairs, and then were able to rejoin later.

This was an exercise they were doing as they flew through the shallow passes, which formed a winding maze that branched off and rejoined many times. A split-off flight or duo could easily find the rest of the group by speeding up or slowing down to compensate for the length of their path. And with at least one pony from each pair having memorized a topological map, nopony would get lost.

Three Flight had split off from the rest of Sun Squadron earlier, which was taking a more winding route. Aerial flew at the front of Two Flight’s diamond formation, right behind One Flight. They were approaching a sharp turn when Aerial noticed a strange eddy in the cold wind. “Drop and roll!”

Without hesitation, One Flight plunged downward as soon as they turned the corner and flew over a chasm, which was venting hot air. Their downward flight and their roll compensated for the sudden heat geyser, preventing them from being flung high and far, and from losing control. Aerial led Two Flight in doing exactly the same. She heard Hasty Hoof whooping enthusiastically as they powered through and came out the other side only slightly higher than where they’d gone in.

Windwalker dropped back so he was slightly ahead of Aerial. “Nice tan, and good call. I know who I’m going to listen to first from now on.”

“Only when it comes to the wind,” Aerial grinned. Am I really any darker than before? He doesn’t look… oh, he’s joking. He only jokes when he’s relaxed…

Aerial had also gotten to know Windwalker a lot better over the past week: he believed in reward based on merit and effort, and he put great effort into everything. He took personal responsibility for training every member of Sun Squadron, but he also believed in only asking them to do what they were each potentially capable of doing, and what he could do himself. And he believed in the power of humour to carry ponies through difficult situations.

“Could you teach me how to do that?” Windwalker asked, breaking through Aerial’s thoughts.

“I can try, but in return I want you to teach me everything.”

“Everything I know?”

“Everything you know you can teach me,” Aerial grinned. This was her tough-but-fair commander.

“Then I’ll also try,” he said, and then he pumped his wings and leaped powerfully back to the formation’s head. The flight through the foothills continued, Three Flight rejoining them shortly, and Aerial called out every change in the airflow before they hit them.

5. Wings and Heart

Several nights later, Aerial was weaving between the clouds behind the Academy after Windwalker. Both knew by now that the fastest way to learn from each other was to watch each motion closely, and the imitate it themselves. During these training sessions, they took turns with one of them in front while the other watched, then they repeated each other’s techniques until the other had mastered it.

Aerial had just taught Windwalker how to read crosscurrents, and now he was teaching her another flanking move. She saw him fly sharply around a mid-sized cloud to the left, and followed quickly after only to find that he’d apparently vanished. Aerial felt the air stirring against her back and her wings, and angled them accordingly.

Windwalker smacked into her back, but with a few deft flaps, she flipped his tackle against him, sending them both into a tumbling descent for a soft cloud below. For every twist and turn he made to try to put her below him, she had an answering twist, leaving her on top just before they hit the cloud laughing.

* * *

Three days later, while she was pulling the same move, Aerial wasn’t laughing, but she still was grinning as she gained the advantage over Lightning Strike. The Captain almost wiggled free before Windwalker came sweeping back in across them, using his wings and an aileron roll to stun her long enough for Aerial to finish the dive.

“Thanks,” Aerial said, leaping back into the air.

“Happy to return the favour,” Windwalker said. Sun Squadron was in a wargame against Blitz and Storm Squadrons. In the first encounter against Storm, they’d split into flights as they flew through Storm’s formation to minimize their own losses. To make things more interesting, all three squadrons were armed only with their own hooves. The degree of Sun’s coordination had caught Storm by surprise, costing them a third their strength in that one pass, so Thunder had retreated to regroup.

Blitz had tried engaging Sun immediately afterward to take advantage of their loss of Gale Force and Whiplash. Windwalker responded by having Sun regroup, Aerial now on his wing as Sun Two to take advantage of their great team sense -- only to have them immediately break into pairs. As duos, Sun proved too agile to counter right away, and Lightning lost nearly half her squadron in that one dogfight.

Several quick engagements later, and only Thunder’s flight remained, while Windwalker had only lost Wave Chill and Surprise. Aerial grinned as Windwalker calmly analyzed the situation. She gave a slight nod over to their left, where she spotted a swirling current. He nodded back: that was where they’d finish it.

* * *

“That worked beautifully,” Windwalker said, minutes later as they landed back at the barracks.

“I still can’t wrap my head around it,” Aerial said. She couldn’t get the smile off her face either.

“We won! We won!” Windwalker picked her up in his forehooves and twirled around with her. The others broke out laughing, but she didn’t care.

“It was awesome how you –“

“Oh, but you –“ Windwalker put Aerial solidly back on the cloud, but she still felt like she was floating.

“D’you think we got the most?”

“Maybe, but we do make the perfect team.”

Aerial felt her cheeks grow hot. She hoped she wasn’t blushing.

“Hey,” Windwalker stepped close, and Aerial couldn’t help gazing deeply into his blue eyes. “Would you like to date?”

“Ooh,” the others chorused, led by Spitfire and Hasty, who had made Aerial aware of the rumour between her and Windwalker in the first place.

Aerial didn’t care. She had never felt this happy before, with the wind flowing around and through her, and Windwalker so close. Just like against Blitz and Storm, it was like they were still dancing. “I’d like that,” she said coyly.

And Sun cheered. The sound roused Aerial back to the present. She stared at Windwalker, and blushed deeply.

But regretted not a word or truth.

* * *

“You wanted to see us, sir?” Windwalker asked as he led Aerial into the captains’ office. Thunder Strike was present, his twin out with another group.

“Thank you both for coming,” Thunder said.

“Is this about our…” Aerial started. It had been two months since she and Windwalker started dating, although not much had changed besides them going on more solo flights together. They were still training at the Academy, after all. Their time together had blurred by, nearly all of that time in happy bliss. Even scouting and overwatch missions had been great times in Aerial’s mind.

“If we didn’t want you dating, we would have stepped in. No,” Thunder looked at Windwalker, then pushed a letter across his desk. “It’s time.”

“’Time?’” Aerial blinked as Windwalker read the letter.

“My tour’s already over? I have to go back.”

“Don’t you have any choice?” Aerial’s joy vanished, leaving only desperation. She loved being surrounded by the wind, but she loved being with Windwalker more. Thunder tactfully left the office.

“I can’t deny the Wing Commander’s summons, Ari. It’s not forever, though. We can see each other. But we should probably send messages so we don’t miss each other.”

“The Skybolts’re about merit, right? Not a blood thing?”

“Right. So if you’re hoping to catch my Old Stallion’s eye, you’d best finish your training here.” Windwalker smiled.

“I’ll finish before you do!”

“I’m betting on it.” Windwalker wrapped Aerial in a hug. Later he drew back and kissed her chastely on the forehead, and left. She fought back tears, and focused on her new ambition: She was going to be a Skybolt!

6. Wings and the Storm

“Leads, the captains asked me to brief you while they start mustering our forces,” the stallion in the bomber jacket said. “I’m Wind Rider, former-Captain. The records I hold are unimportant.” He pulled down a wall-map.

“We have intel that a category ten superstorm is bearing down on Cloudsdale. Ideally we would stop or divert the storm, but we don’t have the time or numbers. You will not engage the storm. Your mission is to help the citizens evacuate Cloudsdale, and get out before the supercell hits. Your lives, and those of the citizens, are the only priority.

“Brief your squadrons. You deploy in fifteen minutes.”

* * *

As Aerial sprinted for the barracks, she thought about the seventeen days since she had seen Windwalker and she had become Sun Lead. In that time she had focused on training with her squadron, especially since the stallion Fast Clip joined, rounding out their numbers. Now, being called into action was their first chance to really prove themselves.

* * *

The wind near Cloudsdale was already at a normal storm’s strength despite the tornado being many kilometers away. “Forget proving your mettle,” Aerial said. “Split into pairs and help get those ponies clear. We’ll regroup at the staging area,” she shouted to her squadron. They nodded understanding, then flew off, except for Hasty Hoof, who was Aerial’s wingmare, as before.

They dove in, directing anypony they met to the extraction point, where Cloudsdale’s police force had pulled busses into a sheltering formation. Some Pegasi would be able to leave on their own once they got someplace that was sheltered better from the wind, while others would have to leave on the busses. More than once, Aerial had to snatch a foal from the air and return him or her to his or her parents.

The wind howled higher, throwing earth clods, and larger things, through the air. Aerial climbed clear of the buildings, and saw that the tornado was much closer than Wind Rider had led them to believe. “Where’re those reinforcements?” Aerial wondered aloud, although she could barely hear her own voice.

Looking around, Aerial saw that Pegasi were still streaming out of Eastern Cloudsdale, yet the southeastern corner, closest to the twister, was already being shredded away. She looked at Hasty and the others, desperately ushering ponies to the northwest. She looked back at the tornado, through all the dust and trees and her goggles. We won’t make it!

There was one way. Maybe. Something that’d come up during one of their training sessions, only it could only be used in certain situations. But then, the risk was negated when the city was already starting wither, and the tornado hadn’t even landed yet. I have to try, even to slow it down a little!

Aerial flew out to where she started to really struggle to fly, then made the first slightly-curving dive. She swung back up and around, climbing to her limits before swinging around again, on the same axis, to dive again. She repeated this, rotating on the opposite axis to the twister to create a system that would have an opposing rotation. After five passes, accelerating after each completed loop, Aerial created a weak purple and pink spiral that was the only thing standing between the superstorm and Cloudsdale. She hurried to strengthen it, pushing herself beyond her every limits.

And then the superstorm tore her from her path, and everything was a confusion of sky, cloud, and ground.

Darkness came.

7. Heart and Hope

When she was finally able to maintain focus, all she saw was a sterile, white ceiling. She blinked, trying to determine where she was by the last thing she remembered. The storm! Aerial tried to turn onto her stomach and sit up, but her entire body encountered a hard casing. She looked down. She was practically in a full-body cast!

“You’re awake,” Aerial managed to turn her head slightly to see the voice’s source.

“Lightning Strike,” she said hoarsely.

“Here,” the Captain brought Aerial some water. “Another good sign,” she said, watching her subordinate drink. “You’re alive, awake, and able to be thirsty,” Lightning explained at Aerial’s raised eyebrow.

“What happened… to the storm?”

“Oh, it dissipated halfway to the Crystal Mountains,” Lightning said. “That was a foolish, brave thing you did, but it shows you how badly wrong it can go when the Storm Breaker diverts the storm instead. Just one Pegasus ain’t enough.”

“Are you court-marshalling me?”

“I can’t,” Lightning said, staring. “You did disobey a direct order, but you also improvised quickly enough to save every life the twister would have taken. But the cost to yourself is the question.”

“Cost?” Aerial started trying to wiggle her body, bit by bit. “I can’t feel my wings or back.”

“That’d be the painkillers. The doctors all say the storm gave you extensive injuries, and it’s a miracle they were able to fix what they could. But your wings… wings are our most fragile parts to begin, and they took the worst of the storm’s fury. Still, the princess herself called in the best of the best, and tried what she could after you did what you did.”

“You can’t mean I won’t..?”

“No one can say, or won’t.” Lightning shrugged. “I’ve been trying to think of what couldn’t been done differently, but –“

“Captain, don’t. I don’t need or want sympathy, yours least of all. I acted of my own will.”

“Bull. You forgot you didn’t have Windwalker.”

“Maybe, for an instant. Didn’t have much choice, though.”

“No, I guess it was a case of being at the right place at the right time.” Lightning chuckled. “You’re a hero now, whether or not your body can be healed.”

“As long as I saved somepony,”

“You saved plenty of lives, and we wouldn’t be in this place if you hadn’t acted.”

This place is in Cloudsdale.

“Cadet Hoof caught you. Wanted to avoid moving you as much as possible. You only missed her by a few hours.”

“Ari!” Windwalker burst through the door. “Captain,” he saluted quickly.

“At ease. I was on my way out,” Lightning got up and moved to the door, Windwalker moving aside to let her through. She paused. “Take care of her.”

“Yes ma’am,” Windwalker saluted again, then he rushed to Aerial’s bedside. “Thank Celestia you’re alive!”

“Maybe literally,”

“From what I hear, not hardly. We’ll both have to thank Hasty later.” He paused. “How do you feel?”

“Dunno. Can’t really feel much. Painkillers.”

“Ari,” Windwalker turned warm and soft. “How do you feel?”

“I might never fly again,” Aeriel broke into tears. Windwalker wrapped her in his hooves and wings, a silent, strong presence.

* * *

Six months later, Aerial was holding hooves with Windwalker on a balcony in Azure Base, an ancient pyramidal compound in Los Pegasus. They had held a quiet wedding a month ago, after Windwalker had asked for, and gotten, both their parents’ blessing.

Windwalker had waited for Aerial to heal enough that she was not only discharged, but she had her cast completely removed. This way, she could at least wear the dress she wanted to.

Aerial’s recovery was nothing short of a miracle, however her right wing remained so badly mangled that she could barely move it, and then only extremely slowly. When she was only with Windwalker, she was perfectly comfortable with her bad wing showing, but in company she wore a blue mantle that covered it.

Once the anesthetics wore off at the hospital, Aerial decided to try to be independent of chemicals and medicine. The pain was constant, other than the dull throbs, which hammered at her for hours until they subsided. She forced her mind through the excruciating pain, thinking only of how she had done everything to be with Windwalker, if only in a different way.

She only needed a different dream to support them both.

“Ari, how would you feel about being a guest instructor at Wonderbolts Academy?” Windwalker asked from beside her.

“Without being able to fly?”

“Well, how do you feel about that?”

“It’s the worst feeling a Pegasus could have,” she said, near tears again. Windwalker wrapped his wings around her. “I don’t want anyone else to have to feel this way. But they’d never accept a disabled Pegasus.”

“I disagree. Besides, you’re the most natural and graceful Pegasus I know. You certainly taught me better than I knew. I know you still have it in you, especially since you don’t want anyone else to lose their wings.”

“Sure. How do we go about this?”

“I have an in,”

“You mean you have a letter with a job offer.”

“I have a letter with a job offer. And some strings I can pull. But then, you are a hero, so what would we need with strings?”

Aerial chuckled, and leaned against her husband.

* * *

Returning to Wonderbolts Academy by Pegasus-pulled chariot, Aerial was full of doubts. What if they don’t accept me? What if they only see a Pegasus with a gimpy wing? What about Windwalker’s reputation, if he’s seen with me? But Windwalker only seemed to walk taller as he kept pace with her, even slowing down, so they’d arrive at the tarmac together.

They found Lightning and Thunder with a new group or recruits on Field Three, with Fast Clip and Whiplash holding clipboards behind them. All four snapped to attention and saluted the approaching couple, who saluted back.

“Ah-ten-tion!” Thunder called. “Instructors on the tarmac.”

“Rookies,” Lightning said, “may I introduce your new guest instructors, Captain Windwalker Azure and First Lieutenant Aerial Azure.”

The recruits looked stunned as they stared at the newcomers, then, realizing something, they saluted them crisply, or as well as they were able to. “Sir. Ma’am.”

Whiplash walked up. “Looks like you have their full attention,” he said conspiratorially.

“Yeah,” Aerial said, tears starting to form. But she fought them back: that wasn’t the kind of thing being expected of her now. She marched right up, in front of the new hopefuls.

“Rookies, you may have come here thinking you’re special, that you’re ready to fly with the elite of the elite. I’m here to help you realize you’re not ready. If you had what it took, you’d already be Wonderbolts!”

“Ma’am, yes ma’am!”

3. Wings and the Azure Sky

“Cadets, in the past few weeks you’ve done well working together in order to train and become a cohesive unit,” Lightning Strike said. Indeed, Aerial had worked hard to get her speed to where Lightning and Hasty Hoof could be happy with her, and then she had built up her muscles a bit further beyond that just because she could, and because being stronger meant she could fly longer. Aerial still wasn’t as strong at sprinting as Spitfire, but she was at least comparable to Soarin.’

“You’re about ready for squadron-level exercises, so please welcome your new commander, Lieutenant Windwalker Azure.” The new Pegasus was muscular, but not overwhelmingly so. His coat was grey, and his swept-back mane was light blue with a purple streak closer to the top. Aerial saw calculation in his sharp, blue eyes.

“Commander?” Several of the others were too shocked to stop themselves.

“Wait, from those Azures?”

“Ah-ten-tion!” Everypony snapped to position. “Lt. Azure is indeed from Azure Wing. He is following their tradition of cross-training with us, and will most likely return to Los Pegasus to train with his own Bolts from the Blue.” Lightning Strike paused.

The group’s formal name got blank stares.

“The Skybolts,” Thunder Strike said.

Revelation. And gasps as understanding dawned: this was one of the top elites!

“Titles are all well and good, but why don’t we let the lieutenant prove himself before he gets to give orders?” Misty Fly asked.

“Agreed,” Lightning Strike said, provoking more gasps.

“Which is why we’ll be doing this together,” Lt. Azure said. “This exercise will be a test for me as well, since we’ll have to coordinate our movements as four Flights of three each in a game of Capture the Flag. And our opponents in this race will be Storm Squadron.”

“That’s my squadron,” Thunder Strike said.

“I’ll be observing and scoring,” Lightning Strike said. “At the end we’ll meet with Lt. Azure to discuss your squadron designations. For those who make it, make sure to come up with a good name. The exercise begins in one hour.”

* * *

Azure divvied the squadron into four flights of three each in order to maximize their potential search power, while also giving them a slight boost in case Storm Squadron attacked them, a valid strategy in this exercise.

Azure, Hasty Hoof, and Aerial were One Flight. Aerial glided above the ground, looking for red flags from her high vantage point. When she, or either of the others spotted one, they relayed the location to one of the two full-time search groups through Hasty Hoof, their best sprinter. If the situation changed, Azure was there to issue a response command.

Spitfire, Soarin,’ and Misty Fly were Two Flight, with Spitfire and Misty Fly in front and Soarin’ as their back-up. Three Flight was made up of Whiplash, High Winds, and Gale Force. Both Two Flight and Three Flight were the main search groups.

Four Flight was Surprise, Blaze, and and Wave Chill, who Aerial had learned over breakfast on their second morning were foalhood friends who always tried to stick together. Their job would be to reinforce Two or Three if either came under attack. Otherwise, Azure had ordered them to remain on standby and conserve their strength for the endgame.

At first the plan worked perfectly, and Two and Three were able to quickly recover five of the ten red flags in minutes thanks to Azure’s and Aerial’s vision, and Hasty’s speed. Before Aerial could vector them in for the next recovery, however, she spotted other flyers hovering near the target flag.

“Flight from Storm,” Azure said. “Hard to count their numbers, though.”

“They’re waiting for us,” Hasty realized.

“Mark the location, so we can go in last,” Azure said, and Aerial returned to finding more flags.

Later, Two Flight came under attack while diving to recover a different flag. Hasty immediately launched into action, vectoring Four Flight in to reinforce Two. When Storm’s flight realized that reinforcements were on the way, they retreated, but Misty and Soarin’ already had banged-up wings to deal with. They could still fly, but not fast. Azure swapped Two and Four for the remainder of the exercise.

In saving the guarded flag for last, Azure had set things up so the entire squadron could converge on the one flight that had remained on-station this whole time. He also allowed Misty and Soarin’ to heal as much as possible before engaging the enemy.

When the group from Storm saw the Blue Team converging on them, they took up a secure a position among the branches that made the little pass downward a web. The flag was deep inside a crevice, and it would take skilled flying not to crash while retrieving it. Storm meant to make that as difficult a task as possible.

As Azure commanded from among his group, Spitfire led the effort to push Storm out from their roost, charging and using their hooves as their primary weapons. Aerial spared a moment to watch as Azure manoeuvred with surprising agility, weaving between two ponies to gain a better position. She returned to her own opponent, and charged in to knock him off balance before he could try anything else.

While the others held the group off, and reinforcements from Storm closed, Hasty dropped into the crevice and emerged with the flag. Now the game changed, with the other flights covering for her as she sprinted for the tarmac. Hasty Hoof landed, exhausted, at the same time Thunder Strike landed with the final red flag.

“A tie,” Lightning Strike said when everypony had returned. “Against a veteran Wonderbolt squadron, an excellent result, especially for a squadron’s first time out. Now we’ll deliberate your rankings. Dismissed.”