W.O.N.D.E.R.B.O.L.T.S

Hello there! And welcome to a long-ish chapter!
***

"Now Miss Dash, the first order of business is getting you registered as a full Wonderbolt. It would be illegal to let you in on any classified information before that point." Well, any MORE classified information. Rapidfire thought bitterly. Walking through the halls with the cyan mare at his side, he could see the bounce in her step and the look of joy on her face. He was curious about how she would perform...not how well she could fly, as he already knew she was a first rate flier. No. He wondered how well she would focus on the task at hand. The fact that she was spouting questions about flying manuvers certainly wasn't boosting his confidence.

Finally, they reached the end of the hallway. There were two doors: one led to the registration room, the other led to the rest of W.O.N.D.E.R.B.O.L.T.S headquarters. Inside the registration room, an overweight, curly maned, green unicorn sat at a desk, small spectacles perched on the bridge of her nose. "Hello there!" She beamed. "You must be Rainbow Dash! May I call you Rainy?"

"I prefer Dash." She replied, trying to control the edge in her voice. This mare just met her, yet she had single hoofedly found the most annoying nickname for Rainbow that she could think of.

"Well Dash," She chirped, searching for papers under her desk. "You must be awfully skilled to be joining the Wonderbolts!"

Rainbow Dash smirked. "Well I don't mean to brag, but..."

Rapidfire found himself to be disliking the mare more and more every second he was in her presence. A true member of the W.O.N.D.E.R.B.O.L.T.S. elite was to be truthful! "Could you hurry it up with the papers, Jubilee?"

"Oh Rapidfire, you're no fun." She said with a giggle that was quite unexpected for a mare her size. Finding what she had been looking for, she dropped a stack of papers on the desk. "Just skim over this and sign where needed, Rainy."

"RAINBOW DASH." She muttered under her breath as she picked up a pen and flipped through. "Let's see...no telling, blah blah blah...listen to your peers, blah blah blah..." Signing wherever needed, she pushed the contract back to Jubilee. "Now, do I get a uniform yet?"

"Just hang on." Rapidfire said. "You still have more to go in order to join. Follow me." He led her through a door to the right of Jubilee.

"See you later, Rainy!" The unicorn called as the two left.

Once the door closed behind them, Dash turned to the stallion. "Do ponies join that often?" Following the colt shaking his head NO, she replied "Then what does Jubilee do all day?"

"Well, Jubilee is head secretary. She keeps tabs on all 'Bolts, enemies, and so on." In her mind, Rainbow Dash had a fleeting image of a file labled RAINY. She blushed at the thought. "Now Miss Dash, the next step is to acquire all information about you that we can. It helps us make good excuses for your absences from everyday life."

"Wait...isn't that what the public flight team is for?"

"Would you believe it if somepony told you they were going on a seven month Wonderbolts tour?"

"Seven months!?"

"We never know how long missions will be. Now take a seat."

She sat in a chair not unlike the one she had regained consciousness in hours ago. Rainbow Dash didn't know how long she sat there, telling about her childhood, flight school, and her time in Ponyville. Several times she was asked to back up to say things like the exact appearances of friends, date of birth, and the times she has seen Princess Celestia.

Finally, Rapidfire closed his notebook. "All right. I believe I have enough information. Follow me." He walked towards the door they had entered.

"Hello again Rainy!" Jubilee twittered as they passed by her to go into another room.

"It's Rainbow Dash!" She yelled over her shoulder as they walked through.

"You might as well give up now." Rapidfire sighed. "Once she's got a nickname for you, you're stuck with it. It took countless years of threatening legal action to get her to stop calling me Rabbitfire." He cringed at the memory. The first time he had met her, he had a stuffed up nose and couldn't pronounce Ps. When Jubilee discovered his real name, she chose to call him Rabbitfire anyway on account of that it was "more adorable."

Looking around, the mare took in her surroundings. The walls were metal with many shelves holding many boxes. She figured it was a supply room of sorts. A pony stood waiting for them, and Rainbow Dash was sure she had seen him somewhere before...

"Evening Barley." Rapidfire grinned, walking towards the skinny pegasus to shake hooves.

"Hey Rapid. Is this the new recruit?" He turned towards Dash, and she realized that this was the pony dragging the cart yesterday. Yesterday? It seemed like ages ago, but in reality, it truly was yesterday. Or the day before, depending on how long she was out.

"Yep. Pretty lucky too. She was caught reading a W.O.N.D.E.R.B.O.L.T.S. informational booklet. If it wasn't for her standing with Celestia, she'd be heading off to Fillydelphia right now with a purple coat, blue mane, a blueberry tattooed onto her flank, and the name Berry Haze." The cyan pegasus shuddered at the thought. "Anyway, she's all checked out."

"All right then. If you'll accompany me, Miss. He flicked his sandy tail in indication that she should follow. "Now, this is supply room C. Pretty basic stuff is stored here, uniforms, matches, blankets, dried food...you can get stuff from here anytime. But, you need to input your hoof signatures to access rooms like this." He held out a small square box. "Please put your hoof in here." Following his instructions, she was greeted with a sharp flash of pain that quickly subsided. "Good. Now the other one." She lifted her other front leg and was greeted with the same pain. "Nice. Now for the moment you've probably been waiting for."

He led her to a large wardrobe, and slid oped the door. Inside, there hung rows upon rows of Wonderbolts uniforms. "Now...I'll have to find your size." He searched the row, finally pulling out one suit. "Try it on."

She took the outfit and proceeded to put it on, trying her hardest not to cry on her first day there. On this day, her dream had become a reality. She had known about it for a while now, but the true realization hit her full force as soon as she felt the aerodynamic fabric against her skin.

Barley broke this moment by casually saying "You know, I saw you flying away after you knocked the tent off the cart."

"You did?"

"I'm a secret agent. Sure, I have to give you credit for being quiet, but flying over the Everfree? It was basically every color of the rainbow against a wall of green. How could I miss it?"

"Well...why didn't you tell?"

"Believe it or not, I'm at a higher rank than Spitfire. Yet she had been bossing me around during the entire trip. A stallion deserves his fun, doesn't he?" He laughed, then his face grew serious. "Don't tell her I said that though, she'd have my head."

"Sure." She looked in a nearby mirror, taking in the view of herself in uniform. "How often do I get to wear this?"

"Whenever you're on duty, but out of headquarters. It's a lot easier to explain why you're in the middle of nowhere in one of these than in a high tech battlesuit." He replied with a wink. "Now, take it off and I'll show you the rest of W.O.N.D.E.R.B.O.L.T.S."

Reluctantly, she removed her suit, folding it carefully and placing it on her back. She saw that Rapidfire wasn't there. "Where's Rapidfire?" She asked.

"Oh, he must've snuck off while we were talking. You'll see him around."

With that, the two ponies exited the room, passed Jubilee, (Hello Barley! Hello Rainy!") and went off to see headquarters.