Rainbow Dash held her breath as she stood in the ready position, waiting for the signal to launch into the air. She had done several shows since joining the Wonderbolts, but she still felt a slight pang of nervousness right before it was her time to shine. To the right and left of her were more Wonderbolts who were also ready to launch when the signal rang out. Dash always needed to remind herself that she was on a team, and to not hog the spotlight to herself.

Luckily, before Dash could get too lost in pre-show thoughts and worries, the sound of a cannon rang off and Dash knew exactly what it was, it was showtime.

Herself, along with the Wonderbolts around her, launched from their position and through the short tunnel into the open air of the stadium. As soon as they reached it, the sound of thousands of cheering fans erupted all around them as they flew the first few laps around the stadium, passing hundreds of ponies.

After the first few laps, the Wonderbolts started their big show routines, including near misses, diving into a freefall before quickly pulling up, along with many other stunts that made the Wonderbolts household names throughout Equestria.

Rainbow Dash followed the routine expertly, as she usually did, which all led up to the big climax of the show, her very own patented Sonic Rainboom. After performing a triple helix with the rest of the Wonderbolts she flew out with, she separated and launched into the sky, flying very high up above the coliseum, before leaning back and turning around into a dive. She sped up quickly as the usual air cone began to form around her, but she kept accelerating until...

*boom*

The usual rainbow colored ring shot out on all sides of her as she broke the sound barrier and the crowd roared. Dash joined the rest of the Wonderbolts on one last lap around the coliseum before landing with the rest of the team on a platform in the center of the arena. She stood attention with the others as Spitfire stood in front of them all at the podium with a microphone.

"Good Evening Cloudsdale!" Spitfire shouted enthusiastically into the microphone. Several howls and cheers erupted from the crowd. Rainbow Dash smiled as she looked around at the turnout for the crowd, it was definitely the biggest of the season, though, she knew the reason for that.

It was the last day of the Wonderbolts touring season, winter was upon them, and the Wonderbolts took that time to rest up for the next touring season, which was usually long, grueling, and required maximum endurance for the team. They were still on standby in case any threats arose inside Equestria's borders, but as far as the shows were concerned, they were over until spring.

"Did you enjoy that show or what?" Spitfire continued addressing the crowd, which was met with more thunderous applause. Spitfire let the crowd once again let out their excitement before continuing with the final show wrap up.

"As many of you may be aware, you just witnessed the Wonderbolt's final show of the season..." Spitfire began, many groans and sounds of sadness emitted from the crowd. Spitfire continued, "...Yes, we are done touring for the year, Winter is practically here." As Spitfire spoke, Rainbow agreed with her. The flight suits they wore were not the best for cold weather, and she was slightly shivering. She looked up and saw flurries fluttering down from the clouds.

"But, don't cry fillies and gentlecolts, we will be back in the spring with a new and even more exciting tour, what do ya think of that!?" Spitfire shouted excitedly, grabbing the microphone off the podium and hovering into the air as the crowd let out another roaring cheer. Even a few of the Wonderbolts clapped.

Spitfire landed back by the podium as the cheers died down again. "Until then, we will miss you. Every fan we've seen and met this season has made us all very happy to be Wonderbolts, knowing that we inspire so many of you, and you in turn inspire us to do better after each touring season. Thank you all so much for coming out to our final show of the year, and we'll see you all soon!" Spitfire closed with a nice sentimental little speech before the team one by one flew slowly back to the entrance to the locker rooms, waving to fans as they left the show.

Rainbow Dash smiled wider than she had smiled in a long time as she waved up to the fans all waving to her. This was only her second touring season with the Wonderbolts, but she had already become a quick fan favorite.

As soon as she was back into the tunnel that led to the interior of the stadium where the locker rooms were, she followed a group of Wonderbolt mares back to the female locker rooms. They were instructed to change out of their uniforms and meet outside the locker rooms afterwards for what was gonna happen that night, and since Rainbow had experienced an end of season show last year, she knew what was coming.

After changing and stuffing her uniform in her bag, Rainbow Dash quickly left the locker room where a few Wonderbolts were already waiting for the meeting to begin. Dash looked around and saw a few Wonderbolts hanging around and lounging on a few couches, they were more specifically, the closest friends she had made in the Wonderbolts since joining. Nothing would ever separate her from her closest friends in Ponyville, but the friends she'd met in the Bolts were also great to hang with.

Her closest friends in the bolts consisted of Fleetfoot, who was confident and had a very sassy personality, being the Wonderbolt's "Playmare". Surprise, who was basically a flying white and yellow Pinkie Pie who loved parties and pranks nearly as much as Dash did. Wave Chill, who, as his name suggested, was a pretty chill stallion, and finally Soarin, the most powerful flyer in the Wonderbolts, who Dash had been dating for nearly a year now.

Dash walked over to the group as an argument began to die down, and Dash smirked.

"Alright, what are you jokers arguing about now?" Dash asked as she set her bag on the floor and sat on the couch next to Soarin.

"Wave Chill screwed up his entrance into the helix." Fleetfoot said, trying not to chuckle too much. Wave Chill leaned forward and lightly tapped Fleetfoot's head.

"No I didn't! I got in almost perfectly, it was Fire Streak who stumbled in last." Wave Chill said in defense. Suddenly, a voice called out from outside the group.

"No I didn't Wave, I saw you enter the helix, veer too far to the left, and you nearly ran into Misty." Fire Streak shouted from where he was standing, talking to his brother Lightning Streak and his Girlfriend Misty Fly. Wave Chill turned.

"Yeah? So it's Misty's fault then!" Wave shouted. Rainbow let out a chuckle at this argument.

"No Wave, it's still your fault, you were the one who veered." Fleet said, effectively shutting down the argument. Wave Chill frowned and slumped back on the couch he was sitting on.

The Wonderbolts all joined different conversations as more and more of them left the locker rooms. Eventually the whole team had gathered in the small hangout area outside the Locker rooms when Spitfire finally emerged with her own bag.

"Alright everypony, listen up!" Spitfire shouted, getting the attention of everyone there.

"I would first like to thank you all for a great season. You gave it your all and every show from what I've heard has been amazing. You all earn a pat on your backs and some gratitude for your effort this season." Spitfire said. There was some chatter among the Wonderbolts after Spitfire spoke. Rainbow smiled as she gave herself a pat on the back for a great season. She then felt Soarin bring his arm around her and pull her in closer to him.

"That's an improvement from last year huh?" Soarin whispered into her ear. Dash chuckled and pushed Soarin away, knowing exactly what incident that he was referring to, specifically, her first show and how it involved a stray storm cloud, and a lot of cotton candy.

Spitfire then caught everyone's attention again, "But, for now I'm sure you want to go to celebrate, am I right or am I right?" Spitfire asked sarcastically, getting a big wave of cheers from the more party animal Wonderbolts, like the Streak brothers.

"Heh, as I expected. Tonight, you are free to celebrate the end of the season any way you like, go home, go to a pub, go find a place to sleep, find yourself a hooker, I don't care. Just make sure you report to the compound tomorrow at noon for cleanup and debriefing." Spitfire explained. There was a mixed reaction between cheers and groans. Spitfire rolled her eyes.

"Now, dismissed!" Spitfire shouted. Many Wonderbolts were gone in a flash, many of them quickly making their way out of the coliseum tunnels to the main entrance to go and celebrate how they wanted.

Dash and the others grabbed their bags and all stood up to leave. "So.." Dash began, "...What should we do tonight?" Dash asked as she turned to the rest of her friends. The answer however, came from another pony.

"Well, this year, I've got a special plan for a few select ponies only." Spitfire said as she joined the group. Rainbow was a little surprised, but intrigued.

"What kind of special plan?" Rainbow asked. She noticed that Wave Chill and Surprise also looked confused, but Soarin and Fleetfoot looked like they knew.

"A party at the compound tonight, we'll have some drinks, play some games, listen to some music, and afterwards, just sleep there so we can be ready for cleanup tomorrow." Soarin explained.

"It'll also be a bit more low key than going to some big crowded pub." Fleetfoot added. Rainbow nodded as she thought of the idea, it sounded like fun.

"So, are you guys in?" Spitfire asked Rainbow, Surprise and Wave.

"Of course I will Spitty! It's time for a party!" Surprise said as she hopped up and down. Dash smiled at Surprises action, remembering that Surprise was so close to being Pinkie that it was scary.

"Eh, sure, I'll go, it beats getting drunk at the Nimbus." Wave Chill said, referring to a pub in Cloudsdale. Dash nodded soon after Wave Chill agreed.

"Sure, I'm in, it'll be fun." Dash said happily. Spitfire nodded before turning to some of the other ponies still there, including the Streak brothers and Misty Fly. Thunderlane, one of the newer recruits and a fellow former weather patrol pegasus that Dash knew from Ponyville was still there. And finally High Winds, a female Wonderbolt that Dash didn't know that well.

"We're throwing a party at the compound this year, any of you wanna come?" Spitfire asked the remaining Wonderbolts there. The Streak brothers barely hesitated.

"A private party? Count us in!" Lightning Streak said, high hoofing his brother.

"Eh, sure, I've got nothing better to do." High Winds said as she walked over, followed by Thunderlane.

"Sounds fun, I'm in." Thunderlane said. Spitfire nodded before motioning for them all to follow.

"Alright, time to throw one heck of a party!" Spitfire cheered as she and the others headed for the exit to the coliseum.

Though, none of them noticed the pony watching them from one of the maintenance doors as they walked out. This pony quickly moved from their place and followed them out onto the street, avoiding several more ponies on the sidewalk as they watched the Wonderbolts take off towards their compound on the other side of Cloudsdale.

"Looks like the party's just beginning." The pony said to themselves before moving to follow them, chuckling as they followed.

Author's Note

This chapter is just the standard Slasher setup, but things will get moving soon, don't worry.
Also, who do you think is gonna bite the dust first?