Spittin' Distance

On a day with patchy Skies the Wonderbolts were preparing for an upcoming air show. Spitfire ran them through a few novice techniques. A simple barrel roll, some loose formation flying, and an outside loop that no one could keep tight. Spitfire shook her head with a grumble and took her whistle in her hoof.

 *tweet* “Front. And. Center!” She commented. Instantly they broke formation and raced towards her, nearly colliding with each other. They landed with a might that tore up some patches of grass. “Can you tell me what you all just did wrong?” She asked with a calm yet stern tone. Everyone looked around confused as if she were talking another language. “I expect Rainbow not to understand, but the rest of you? Drop!” They all flopped on their bellies. “Forty wing ups should give you enough time to think about where you slipped up.” She blew her whistle and they began. Panting as they counted.

Wing ups were child’s play for them, but after flying nonstop all morning, they can take a toll on you. It took Aloe forever to work out the knots in Rainbow’s wings the last time she was there, looks like she's going to have another deep tissue and preening. “Crash, what is the Wonderbolt call to arms?”

“Take to the Skies for the Glory of Equestria!” Rainbow said loud and proud.

“Fleetfoot! Our oath!” She began to pace.

“The sky has no limit, and neither do we! We are wonderbolts, as unified as our sky! From the beat of our wings to the pounding of our hearts!” She nearly gasped for air. “Wonderbolts Fly! Fly! Fly!”

“I'm afraid we contradicted our own oath just a few moments ago.” She stopped pacing and looked down on the bunch. “Now, can anyone tell me what we did wrong?”

“Our, f-formation wasn't tight enough?” Blaze spoke up, struggling to speak.

“Why did that sound like a question?” Spitfire demanded.

“Our formation wasn't tight enough!” Blaze spoke with more confidence.

“Precisely!” Spitfire nodded. “Rise to your hooves.” Everyone obeyed with a few groans and relieved sighs. “The anniversary of princess Twilight's coronation is in three months and you all look like you're sleeping out there! We don't have much time. We need to get these forms and routines down pat people. Now, go rest up and study the flight plan. Dismissed!”

Spitfire walked away while looking down her clipboard. She took notes on what needed to be improved during every practice. As she read through them she began wonder if she was being too hard on them. A great majority had been with her for years, but still she knew that she could be very grating at moments. That's no matter, they would have quit ages ago if she was a tyrannical leader. On some days she does feel like she may have taken it too far.

“Spitfire! Spitfire!”

“Yes Rainbow?” She asked.

“Okay, I was going through the formations and I was wondering about the last one we just did. Was I going too slow?”

“Quite the opposite Dash, you were too fast. Remember that you're not flying alone out there. When you fly with the wonderbolts, you fly together as one. Keep that in mind cadet.”

“Yes sir uh ma'am!” Rainbow saluted with her wing. She was just about to turn and trot off when she saw a hazy mint blue dot flying in. “Who is that?”

“I don't know, but they have another thing coming if they think they can can fly in unannounced.” Spitfire took to the sky and made a B-line for the intruder. It could be a crazy pony, could be some idiot who got lost while wandering around. Either way she was about to set them straight. The blue pony landed and so did Spitfire. “This is a restricted area, turn around immediately or be met with deadly force!” She shouted at the stallion. It was an empty threat seeing as she was the only one. He began to walk towards her. “Turn around and leave now! Last warning!” He began to gallop towards her. Spitfire snorted and dug into the grass ready to deal with this unknown with deadly force.

“Please don't attack miss!” He shouted as he came closer.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn't!”

“Look!” He gasped for air as he approached her. He held out a piece of paper that looked like a transfer form. Spitfire took it and read over it carefully. He was a male Pegasus, light blue with dark blue eyes, and bronze brown hair.

“Sorry about that.” She gave him back the form. “Next time you should call ahead before showing up on secured grounds.”

“Well you didn't buck my face in so that's a plus,” He chuckled. “I'm Cold Front.” He held out his hoof.

“Spitfire, Commander Spitfire.” She shook his hoof.

“Nice to meet you miss,” he gave her a big toothy grin.

“Right, come on kid. I'll show you to your barracks.” She took off and he followed. He seemed a little ditzy, probably was the head weather control of a small village somewhere in the backwater of Equestria. Either way, even clearing the weather at Wonderbolt head quarters was a task to take on. Hopefully he'd be up for it.

“So, what kind of weather do you guys usually request?” Cold Front spoke up.

“Sunny only with a few clouds, sometimes we maneuver in between them. It's good for practice.”

Cold Front looked around trying to come up with another topic for small talk.

“How long have you been a wonderbolt?”

“Twenty five years, been one since I was nineteen,” Spitfire answered. “Here we are.” There was a building below in the shape of two converging lightening bolts. They landed in in front of the doorway. “Here is where you will be for the duration of your time here. Weather ponies don't get any breaks or special treatment. You must be fit and ready to take on any weather situation. Report to the unit leader, he shouldn't be hard to find.” She took off into the sky, leaving Cold Front to watch until she was out of view.

“Wow, what a mare…” he said as he entered the barracks. The walls were a cobalt blue and were decorated with Wonderbolt memorabilia, posters, passed Wonderbolt veterans, performance snapshots. He walked up to a desk where a silvery white pony sat with a headset on. “Excuse me? Excuse me ma'am?”

“Hold on,” she turned to him. “Hi, you must be Rainy's fill in!” She said with exuberance.

“Yeah, I'm Cold Front.”

“Nice to meet you, I'm Misty. I run communications around here. You'll be getting all of your weather requests from me.”

“That's cool. What's it saying now?”

Misty put the headset back on.

“Jet Stream, what's the weather looking like for the rest of the day?” She nodded a few times before answering.  “Clear skies until eighteen hundred hours, need to water the grass for the night.”

“Wow, I'll keep an open ear,” he winked as he walked past her desk.

“The living quarters are to the right.”

“Yup,” he said as he sped walked back the other way.

Later that afternoon Cold Front was standing on the grass adjacent to the runway watching the as the Sun got ready to sleep for the night. The golden orange glow reminded him of Spitfire. The fierce yet calming hues coming together were beautiful, just like her. “Eh she's older and way out of your league old boy,” he sighed as he kicked the grass below him. There wasn't much to do other than watch the sunset or go back the barracks and relax until the call comes in. He could watch them practice, honestly not every pony got to see the Wonderbolts practice right in front of you. The way they swooped and dove together in forms that look like they took way more focus than a measly weather pony could muster.

They came to a maneuver that looked like a flower opening and at the center was Spitfire flying with grace and control. She beat her wings and pulled into a steep climb with the others forming up around her. How they flew with heart and soul was something that he never got tired seeing. Especially with her out in the lead. “No! Nope, no no no. Not at all, negatory.” He turned away from them and looked back to the sunset.

“Kid!” He turned around and saw Spitfire walking towards him.

“Hi, I mean uh… Yes Ma'am!” He sat up erect with a salute.

“At ease…”

He dropped his salute but kept his chest puffed up.

“I said at ease.”

“Sorry,” he said with a mighty exhale. “I'm not used to this military stuff.”

“It'll grow on you,” Spitfire chuckled. “What are you doing over here?”

“Oh, I was uh. Watching the sunset Ma'am. I don't get a view like this back home.”

“Yeah, I see it everyday. Never really pay much attention to it. Anyway, the weather ponies are up to bring the rain. You'd better get over there.”

“Right,” he took off. “Goodnight Ma'am!” He said before he flew to join the growing thundercloud. Spitfire turned back to the sunset.

“It does look good.” She shrugged. She looked back to where Cold Front had flew off to. “He's still new, hopefully he can keep up.” She flew off to her own quarters to get some much needed rest...