Jetpack Harmony

The mares and stallions of the princess' wonderbolts stood in perfectly aligned rank and file, sweating bullets in the morning sun. They didn't sweat from the heat, as it was a beautiful spring morning. No, every wonderbolt on the flight deck that morning was pouring with sweat from the soul crushing terror of their commanding officer's conspicuous absence.

To be clear, everypony loved Rainbow Dash as an officer, she was ruthless, but not unfair. The captain of the wonderbolts demanded the absolute best from everypony under her command, and got it, or else, and that's how they wanted it. The wonderbolts were constantly striving for better and better performances and ponies were breaking company records left and right, and woe to the pony that stood in the way of this juggernaut of progress.

If your uniform was one single feature out of regs, you flew ten laps around the entire air base. If you were one second slower than a previous fly through on an obstacle course, you flew it again carrying heavy horseshoes, and Celestia help you if you were late to report. Nopony actually knew that the punishment was for reporting late as only two ponies had committed the infraction during Rainbow's tenure, and neither had wanted to talk about it afterwards.

So there they stood, all trembling slightly as they sweated in terror. Each staring blankly into the sky in front of them, each terrified about what their commander's absence meant. Each flinched slightly as a prismatic streak stretched across the air base and all had to brace themselves for the back draft at Rainbow's entrance. The pegasus breathed heavily through Her nose, trying to disguise how out of breath she was. She saw her wonderbolts standing at attention and her mood lifted slightly. All of her hard work was showing.

"Alright everypony! We're going to perform the L7 maneuver again until we get it right!" She bellowed in her scratchy command voice. Everypony under her command silently groaned and Rainbow glared at the microscopic movements that only officers can perceive. "None of that!" She called out preemptively. "Just because every nation bordering Equestria has recognized how awesome we are doesn't mean we're never going to go war again! And I REFUSE to look my friend in the eye and tell Twilight her wonderbolts aren't FULLY COMBAT READY! IT'S THAT UNDERSTOOD?!" She bellowed angrily.

"YES MA'AM!" Every wonderbolt called out in perfect unison, their roar echoing off of the far walls.

Several hooves went up at once and Rainbow groaned. "No Skytrotter, you may not be excused to the infirmary. I don't care if your tummy hurts, suck it up soldier!" She snapped.

The beige and sandy blonde stallion put his hoof down and snapped off, "No ma'am! Just wanted to inquire. . ." His military tone trailed off into an embarrassed tone. "But uh. . . What the hay is that on your back?" A series of agreeing murmurs ran through the ranks and the ponies that still had their hooves raised lowered them, the same question being on everypony's mind.

Rainbow Dash's frustration roiled afresh and she ground her teeth at the biggest pain in her flank at the moment. She stomped a hoof and snarled, "Ten HUT!" The few ponies that had broken discipline to gawk at the large backpack on their commander's back all snapped back to rigid attention. The captain of the wonderbolts marched slowly through the ranks as she explained. "Now everypony listen up, cause I'm only going to explain this once!"

She awkwardly tilted a hoof towards the bulky backpack that had robbed her of sleep. "This is a highly classified piece of military hardware in development by Princess Twilight herself!" A few shocked gasps and a low hum of awe ran through the ranks. "The princess has assigned me with the task of field testing this equipment for further research." She put on that tiny touch of aggression that all officers used to convey that they were dead serious. "This is top secret information! Anypony caught discussing this hardware in any way, or spreading information about it will be subject to DISCIPLINARY ACTION, up to and including DISHONORABLE DISCHARGE! IS! THAT! UNDERSTOOD?!!!" The captain snarled.

"YES MA'AM!!!" Came the deafening roar from the rank and file.

Rainbow smirked to herself. In one fell swoop she had stopped the flood of questions about the device stuck to her back. She flew into the air and bellowed. "Alright then let's move! Flankers in positions, strikers up front! And I want it done RIGHT this time!" The rank and file moved promptly, though reluctantly, into position and the captain saw that everything was correct. She nodded to herself. "Commence the exercise!" She bellowed.

The wonderbolts began flying their routine and instantly she could see the same mistakes that had plagued this particular exercise for the last two months began to show themselves. Like watching a train wreck in slow motion she could see the lines of ponies begin to go askew and unit cohesion disintegrate. Several ponies began to get out of line, which put them in other ponies' way. Pegasus crashed into each other and fights broke out mid air. The captain blew a shrill whistle and the exercise stopped.

"For Pete's sake! How many times are you going to embarrass the uniform?! Flitter! Flutter! Stay in your position! Thunder! Flash! You're supposed to stay leg's length away from your lead pony as she flies through the curve! The idea is to attack from two directions at once! Not cluster together haphazardly!" She snarled.

A pink mare cringed in embarrassment. "I'm sorry ma'am! It's just hard to keep the right distance away from Flighty when Flitter's trying to flutter right up my tail end!"

A red stallion grew even redder and snapped back, "No I'm not! I keep having to drop back because you keep lagging your big flanks behind! I almost crashed into Skytrotter!"

"Enough! Nopony's impressed by your secret romance anymore! It's old news." The captain snapped, causing both of them to blush deeply. "Flutter, you're not in junior speedsters anymore. You should understand how to ride a pony's vector by now! Don't fight their back draft, use it! Your wing should be. . . Darn it, hold on." She attempted to show the proper curvature of the wing, but as it had done every time she'd tried to demonstrate this maneuver, she couldn't maintain her position with just one wing. "Look! You just!. . ."

Then she got an idea, an idea that filled her to overflowing with spite and bile, but it would work. She groaned hard and sighed. Everypony hovering around her gawked with wonder as Rainbow's boosters slowly began to come to life. Her wings beat slower and slower until finally the jetpack was supporting her entire weight. She fought the rising sense of triumph, desiring to stay mad, and cleared her throat to focus herself. "Alright! Now watch my wing!" She snapped to get her subordinate to stop staring at the gently sputtering machine. "See, the very tip of your primaries should be curved at the very tips. You steer by changing the curvature and your angle. Get it?"

A light came into the pink pegasus eyes. "Oh! Just like the sky smasher routine! Yes ma'am!"

No matter how much she wanted to stay pouty about the inconvenience, the captain just couldn't hold back a smirk anymore. "Well Alright then. Go to it!" She snapped, her grin evident in her voice. The wonderbolts formed back into line and ran the maneuver again. Rainbow's smirk grew to a full grin as her flyers perfectly performed the drill that had baffled them for two months. As they came out of the maneuver the various squads couldn't help but high hoof each other in triumph.

The captain allowed her subordinates a brief moment of victory before calling them back to discipline. "Alright, alright, you managed to do it right once, and it only took TWO FULL MONTHS!" She snapped in a teasing chide. "Now let's run it again, and let's see how many months it takes THIS TIME!"

Flutter fluttered over to the grinning commander and cheered. "Sure thing captain! Now that I can see what I'm supposed to do it's no problem! Princess Twilight sure is onto something great with that thing on your back!" Instantly the jubilant mood died. A mortified silence hung over the entire air base. Everypony stared at the pink pegasus in shock and horror. The pink pegasus hovered in petrified terror, her stiff wings barely able to keep her airborne.

Rainbow's grin had soured into a murderous glare. It was only with the dead silence of the that the captain realized she was still hovering in air on the gentle boosts of the jetpack. Her piercing blood red eyed bored straight through to the soul of the young pegasus, pinning her in place. "Miss Flutter. Please report to my office. Post haste." She growled in a barely audible croak.

The red pegasus dashed over and babbled, "Please ma'am! It was my fault she was out of position. The only reason she spoke about the device on your back was because of my incompetence! And She!. . ." Flitter stopped suddenly when he realized he'd just committed the same infraction.

The captain's murderous glare mutated into a malicious grin. "Well now." She growled through her murderous smirk. "The love birds can get to go to tartarus together. Let's go." Flutter unthinkingly sought shelter beneath the foreleg of Flitter and the two slowly followed the gloating captain. A lead pony called the rank and file to attention and everypony saluted their son to be departed comrades. They arrived at the office and the couple silently shuffled their way in. Rainbow shut and locked the door, choosing the curtains behind her.

The captain leaned on her desk, unable to use her office chair due to the jetpack. The couple held each other tightly and trembled in each other's forelegs, each constricting more and more elaborate tortures in their minds. Rainbow steepled her hooves and stared at the quivering couple for several long silent moments. She reached into a drawer on her desk and produced a ream of papers as thick as a full set of encyclopedias. The couple untensed slightly in confusion.

The cruel captain cracked the book open and trailed a blue hoof down the first page. "Daring Do and the Wonderbolts save Equestria again. By Captain Rainbow Dash." She grinned her most evil grin. "Chapter one."

The young couples pupils shrank in horror and both breathed, "Oh Celestia help us. . ."