CLOUDSDALE—The Summer Sun Celebration has long been the venue of choice for the Wonderbolts to formally introduce their newest squad of recruits. It serves as a low-pressure introduction to the high-profile lives they will lead, where most attention will be directed elsewhere for a squad fresh out of formal training. This year’s squad in Baltimare looks as promising as ever, and may be the most talented group since Spitfire, Soarin and Fleetfoot first took to the sky with the Blue and Gold. But keeping a watchful eye over them is a pony who has been flying in the elite ranks longer than most of this year’s recruits have been alive.
Silver Zoom is as integral to the Wonderbolts as Princess Celestia is to Canterlot. “Ask anypony in the organization, ‘who best exemplifies who we are and what we’re about?’ and they’re going to tell you ‘Silver Zoom,’” said Soarin, who recalled being awestruck as a foal at Silver’s precision and skill at a Wonderbolts show in Manehattan. “He’s what we all aspire to be.”
Rapidfire, who was periodically foalsat by Silver while his parents were on the road, agreed. “I don’t think anypony could imagine the Wonderbolts without him. Heck, I'm not sure anypony on the team remembers the Wonderbolts without him. I practically grew up on the team and I don't.”
Similar sentiments are echoed throughout the ranks. “Everypony looks up to him, even the ponies who outrank him,” said Sun Chaser, who considers the autographed photo of Silver she got as a teen to be one of her most prized possessions. “He’s a star among stars.”
This is Silver Zoom’s twenty-fifth season with the Wonderbolts, which makes him the longest-tenured Wonderbolt in history. “Technically, it’s twenty-four full seasons and one half-season as a recruit,” chuckled Silver, “but it’s close enough.” As a Wonderbolt, he has served under three different Captains, commanded dozens of ponies himself, and has performed over a thousand shows. He has also been tasked with training new recruits for the last seventeen years; every Wonderbolt flying today received at least some training from Silver. “He’s notorious,” said Fire Streak, who serves as an assistant during the monthlong training process. “And he’ll really get into it. I still flinch when he lays into a rookie. But he knows what we need recruits to do inside and out, and he knows twenty different ways to reach them.”
Born in Cloudsdale to a weather factory worker and a secretary, Silver Zoom had a happy, if unremarkable, foalhood. “We were never well off,” he recalled, “but we were comfortable enough. I always had what I needed, but treats were few and far between.” He started flying recreationally at age 10, “because all my friends were doing it.” It was on the track that he discovered his fierce desire to compete—and win. “Nothing but first place was good enough. I got a bit of a reputation for being nasty to other foals on race days, but that didn’t matter to me. Only winning did.” Once he finished school, the Wonderbolts seemed like the obvious choice. “I didn’t want anything to do with weather thanks to my old man, but speed flying was getting boring. The Wonderbolts offered good pay and steady employment, and a chance to climb through the ranks. It was a no-brainer.”
Joining the Wonderbolts a quarter century ago was a very different proposition than it is today. “Back then we were really more of an extension of the Air Force. We had a full military command structure, you had to respect rank in the halls—it’s nothing like it is today.” One of the few ways that the Wonderbolts still closely resemble the organization from days of old is in Silver’s recruit training courses. “There’s a reason I still do it this way; it works,” he insisted. “We may not look like the Royal Guard the day of a show, but the discipline and work ethic behind the scenes has to come from somewhere. The training is the key to our success.” Making the team remains one of the highlights of his career. “It’s a moment that’s bigger to me now than it was when it happened,” he reflected. “It was a big deal at the time, but knowing now how big of a chapter it started in my life makes me appreciate it way more.”
Silver quickly rose through the ranks, finding himself among the Elites by the start of his third season. His no-nonsense approach garnered respect among the team’s seasoned veterans, particularly Cyclone, Captain Shockwave’s second in command. “I was willing to do anything to improve and he was willing to make me do anything,” Silver laughed. “I was always willing to take on a challenge, and he loved that.” Silver was also part of a wave of young Elites that brought a new energy to the team, and the attendance at shows continued to climb. “We were outgrowing some of our smaller venues, but the bigger venues were sometimes too big.” He laughed. “There was one weekend in Baltimare where we did two shows at different stadiums. The first show at the smaller one was overflowing with ponies, but the bigger was at least half empty the following night. The crowds should have traded.”
The final show that season was in late autumn in Whinny City, on a day that remains one of the darkest in Wonderbolt history—and one that nearly ended Silver Zoom’s career before it truly began. “The weather was miserable,” he started, his mood darkening as he recalled that fateful day. “It was about 40 degrees out with wind gusts up to 50 miles an hour. I think somepony on the local weather team got fired over it. I remember there was an advisory discouraging pegasi from going out for their own safety. But nothing was going to stop us from flying.” The first squad to perform did not come through unscathed; future Captain Trailblazer came back with a bloody nose and a chipped tooth caused by a miscue on a formation change. “We knew it was going to be a tough flight, but we were confident we’d be able to get through it.” Silver paused. “Maybe too confident.” A change of formation to put the squad into position for the show’s finale left them out of alignment, and Cyclone ordered another pass to regroup. “It was my fault,” admitted Silver quietly, pausing momentarily to collect himself before continuing. “I was too low and too far forward coming out of the cross, and if we didn’t even it out the finale would never work. We were making another pass so I could get into position when we hit turbulence.” The blast of air knocked Silver backward into the rest of the squad, colliding directly with Cyclone and glancing off Polar Freeze. “I remember the impact, and the sensation I was falling, but I didn’t have enough time to worry about crashing. Next thing I remember was waking up in the hospital.” Silver crash-landed in the stadium infield, breaking his nose, two ribs, and fracturing bones his right wing, as well as suffering a concussion. Cyclone was less fortunate. “I know I can’t prove it, but I like to think he had enough control to steer himself away from the crowd,” said an emotional Silver Zoom. “He always put the fans first. Always.” Cyclone hit the base of the wall in front of the grandstand, suffering catastrophic injuries. Attempts to resuscitate him proved unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the hospital.
“I was a mess for months after the accident,” recalled Silver. “The only reason I stayed on the team was because Shockwave refused to accept my resignation. He knew the only way I’d ever get over it is if I went back to work, and he was right. I’m glad he stuck with me.” Silver spent most of the following season out of the Elites as he recovered, but he was back to his full capacity by the end of the year. After Shockwave retired, Silver became one of the featured Wonderbolts under Captain Trailblazer, and his role in the organization continued to grow. “I started working with the recruits, which I absolutely loved doing and still do. It meant I didn’t really get to perform for the entire month of June, but now that I’m older it’s nice to have a break.”
Controversy swirled at the retirement of Captain Trailblazer, who passed over Silver in favor of Spitfire as his successor. “I’ll admit, at the time I was livid,” said Silver, “but in retrospect Trailblazer made the right decision. Spitfire’s got another decade of flying left in her at the very least, and she’s done a fantastic job as Captain. She’s made a lot of changes I would have never had the guts to make that have helped bring this team closer together. And I’m happy she’s finally been willing to reform the retirement process. The was far overdue.”
For all that he has done for the Wonderbolts, the Veterans’ Committee might be Silver's most important contribution of all. Though he started advocating for a reform of the retirement system almost a decade ago, the overhaul only began this past year. “As we became less of a branch of the military and more of an independent organization, we lost a lot of the benefits that veterans generally receive. But we were still on the same basic plan,” explained Silver. “So that meant retirees got a small pension, a couple bonuses for rank here or there, and that’s it. ‘Thanks for your service, bye, don’t let the door hit you in the plot on the way out.’ It was appalling.” The plight of veterans first came to Silver’s attention as his friends started to retire. “They weren’t getting enough to live on, so unless they were really smart with money from the start they suddenly couldn’t afford to stay where they were. So they all left.” Without a solid connection to the organization, former Wonderbolts would often vanish, only resurfacing in crime reports or obituaries. “I couldn’t take reading about another teammate who died of alcohol poisoning or a drug overdose. I had to do something.” At Silver’s urging, Captain Spitfire assembled a Veterans’ Committee that now holds control over the organization’s retirement system. Silver is one of seven active Wonderbolts on the committee, along with nine veterans. “Most of what we’ve done so far has just been basic necessities; we upped the pension, crafted a more permanent bonus system for former record holders, things like that. But we’re going through every little part of this system to try and make it the best in Equestria.” Part of that plan has been to reconnect with all retirees. “A lot of veterans weren’t receiving their pensions at all, because the addresses we had on file were out of date, or they just said, ‘screw this’ and left it. So we’re going back to try and mend those burned bridges. It might be a year or two before we find everypony again, but it’ll be worth it in the end.”
Silver Zoom is now 42, almost ten years older than the next eldest Elite. His twentieth wedding anniversary is rapidly approaching, and his elder of his two foals is now in college. But the R-word is not anywhere in his immediate future. “I intend to remain with the team for as long as possible,” he said. “I’ll know when it’s time, but that time hasn’t come yet. As long as I can keep up with the Elites, I’m not going anywhere."
At this point, there seems to be no indication that he's slowing down. “He wears us out,” laughed Wave Chill, who rooms with Silver on the road. “I’ll be completely exhausted, barely able to drag myself out of bed, and he’ll be done with breakfast and ready to go already. He ages like an alicorn.” While his future retirement is inevitable, it’s not hard to believe that Silver Zoom’s legacy with the Wonderbolts could indeed live on for all eternity.
