Blitz

1

Like many young pegasi, Blitz was enamored with the Wonderbolts. He had followed them as much as possible; the bookshelf in his room was stuffed with individual biographies, beginning and advanced aerial maneuvers, and even their complete history dating back to their official formation over sixty ago. He would spend hours reading and dreaming of them; of someday flying with them, going so far as to develop a schoolcolt's crush on Spitfire.

All of it was just whetting of the appetite for what he was seeing now. Celestia's sun sat above the stadium, a distant jewel glistening in the endless sky; the serene setting seemingly contrasted the excitement of the fast-paced aerial show below.

The Wonderbolts broke apart, taking their own routes around the arena to build up their speed. They reached the southern wall in unison, pushing off of it and entering a delta formation, kicking on their signature crackling smoke contrails. Rainbow Dash flew rear-center just below Spitfire, her uniquely colorful trail contrasting the dark smoke perfectly. The crowd gasped in a mixture of shock and excitement as they drew closer to the seat which Princess Celestia would normally occupy. Ponies covered their eyes in the suspense, but the bone-crushing impact never came as the Wonderbolts flew apart with inches to spare; the air exploded in a single firework from the force of their separation.

"Did you see that!? That was awesome!" Blitz was on the edge of the cloud now, his head going from the aerial show to Swirl and back again. She wore a grin that stretched across her face as she kept an eye on the excited colt, making sure he wouldn't slip off the cloud. Deciding he would be fine, she turned her attention back to the show as they prepared for their next trick.

They tucked their wings and fell into a nosedive, each pulling up at the last second to fly upside-down inches above the crowd. Their maneuver was met with thunderous approval; the Wonderbolts kept their concentration even through the deafening noise.

Blitz was having the time of his life as he tried to follow their every movement. He set his focus on Spitfire as she pulled up and righted herself, flying to the southern wall to regroup with the team. Swirl had to pull him back from the edge of the cloud by his tail more than once, but had eventually just given up as he would only go right back to his spot.

The hours flew by just as quickly as the athletic stunt group, the sun having long since hit its apex and begun the slow descent into rest. Regrouping after another successful crowd pleaser, the Wonderbolts were off again with Rainbow Dash taking position in the bulls-eye of their newly formed vertical ring. The others circled around her, creating a smokey corkscrew with a rainbow core. They held the formation for the length of the arena, flying upwards at the end and arcing over the top of the Cloudiseum.

The structure was vibrating now as the crowd reached maximum volume. Each hair of Blitz's violet coat was standing on end; not even his wildest daydreams could match the adrenaline coursing through him as he watched his lifelong heroes perform such unbelievable stunts.

The ending was a true spectacle. The Wonderbolts formed abreast, flying high above the Cloudiseum for all to see as they began their grand finale. They spread apart, their smoking trails replaced by small bursts of fireworks that popped within seconds of each other against a sky that had fallen into early stages of dusk. The crowd had settled down, expressing their joy of the light show through 'ooohs' and 'ahhhhs'.

They pulled up, each arcing backwards softly, meeting up to form a tight circle and falling into a steep nose-dive. Cloudsdale itself seemed to shake as the air exploded behind the Wonderbolts, bright golden balls of light appearing and shooting down everywhere. The crowd cheered and stomped their hooves in approval as the Wonderbolts leveled out and waved their goodbye before landing in the ready room, the curtains closing behind them.

"What did you think?" Swirl was smiling down at Blitz. He sat speechless, mind still reeling from the excitement of the show.

"I-I..." he could only manage a stutter. She giggled as she picked him up, flying them both down to the floor level. Ponies filed out of the Cloudiseum as Swirl said her goodbye, ruffling his hair.

"Have fun at the meet, kiddo." He nodded, his face glowing from the grin that covered it as he waved good-bye to Swirl and trotted towards the guard standing next to a doorway blocked by a velvet rope. Blitz dug through his shoulder pouch, retrieving the ticket with his mouth and giving it to the guard, who looked it over thoroughly.

"Ah, there it is," the guard had spotted the emblem that identified the special ticket. "You're a real lucky kid; this was the only ticket of its kind." He unlatched the velvet rope, giving Blitz a wink as the colt trotted through.

Spitfire and Soarin' were the only Wonderbolts in sight, out of uniform already and standing in front of media ponies. Lights flashed from cameras and microphones were shoved into their snouts. Soarin' let Spitfire do most of the talking while he tried to back into his room, his stomach growling its protest at being empty. Baron and Thunder had already retired to their quarters; being the oldest fliers on the team had left them exhausted. With tomorrow free, Flash had taken off to spend the day with his sweetheart. As the rookie, Rainbow Dash had been delegated to putting the uniforms away.

Blitz edged his way through the circle of ponies, finding it harder than he thought it would be. He was met by Spitfire's flank when he finally broke through; she was finishing an interview for one channel and preparing for another bombardment of typical questions from the next. Blitz dug out his favorite photo of her, finding a pen in the process. His muffled calls of 'Spitfire!' were drowned out by the unending noise of the crowd, and her gaze missed his small stature. His heart sank; he persisted to no avail. She turned around and proceeded into her room, done with every pony for the night.

His mouth hung open, the picture fluttering to the cloudy floor. His tail drooped, dragging behind him as he turned around and lowered his head. He had gotten one of the rarest tickets a pony could have, and all the Wonderbolts had been too tired or too busy to greet him.

2

Rainbow Dash was grumbling to herself as she washed the Wonderbolts' uniforms. She had wanted just a bit of time in front of the cameras, if only to say hi to her friends down in Ponyville... and perhaps brag about her performance today.

"That stupid Spitfire, always in the limelight!" Her whispering was furious as she dried and folded each uniform. "It's not fair! I was in the center most of the night! She barely even kicked on her trail!" She snorted, taking deep breaths to calm down. It was, after all, quite generous of Spitfire to give up the center position. And she was the best at talking to the camera. Rainbow Dash's frustration was slowly replaced with shame; who was she to be acting like such a hot-shot? She stopped her chore when she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. Turning her head to get a proper view, she saw a violet pegasus colt sulking his way across the ready room.

"H-hey! What's up?" the light blue pegasus hovered over to see if she could help, reeling back when the colt picked his head up and snapped at her.

"What? Aren't you too busy for me too!?" The ferocity in the tone was more than he'd meant to give, but the result was all he could hope for. She fell to her flank, giving a surprised look. He snorted and began walking again as she glanced over to where Spitfire had been surrounded by the media, now just empty space. She could only manage a simple 'oh', realization dawning on her.

"Wait a second!" She trotted, catching up and walking beside him even has he muttered under his breath. "I know you. You got the ticket to meet and greet us back here. But I guess the others just forgot." His snort was harder this time, as if to laugh at the thought, but she stayed with him.

"Hey, come with me for just a few minutes. After that I'll stop bugging you." Blitz nodded his agreement; a few more minutes wouldn't hurt, and the ticket wouldn't be completely wasted. She led him to the western edge of the Cloudiseum, sitting down and inviting him to do the same. He accepted the offer, sitting a few inches from her and watching the sun sink low behind the horizon.

Dash was the one to the silence. "I'm sorry about back there," she began sincerely, "sometimes Spitfire can get a little camera happy. And she can be rude..." She trailed off, remembering her own experience at the Grand Galloping Gala a few years ago. She recounted the night to him, explaining how a few months earlier she had saved Spitfire's life, but was still ignored the entire night. His ears perked up as he looked at her, confusion in his eyes.

"Why did you still want to become a Wonderbolt then, even after that?" The cyan mare sat quietly for a moment, not having thought about it herself. Feeling his curious eyes on her, Dash returned his gaze; her magenta eyes were as warm as her long smile.

"Because. It's not about just one pony. It's about being the best. I didn't want this to fly with them, I wanted this to prove to everyone... and myself... that I can be the best. Understand?" He nodded, his spirit rising. It had finally dawned on the colt that he was sitting right next to a real-life Wonderbolt, and the day's earlier excitement came back full-force. She giggled; helping him had made her feel better as she remembered her original goal. Who cared about being interviewed? Dash would just let her flying do all the talking for her.

"Say, what's your name anyway?"

He exclaimed proudly, "I'm Blitz!" She giggled again at his new found enthusiasm. It was almost contagious.

"Blitz, huh? That's a pretty cool name. Hey, it's getting dark out. Mind if I walk you home?" She saw his face light up at the prospect.

"I would love that! Oh... and Miss Rainbow Dash?" He looked down, thankful she couldn't see his blush in the dark.

"Just Dash to you. Only my cool friends can call me Dash."

"Oh, okay... Dash?" Blitz tried the word as if trying on a shoe, seeing if he'd like the fit. He did.

"Yeah?"

He wrapped his legs around her neck in an embrace. "You're my new favorite Wonderbolt." She grinned, returning the hug before the both of them set off for his house.