Pain. Lightning Dust opens her eyes and immediately closes them again. Light hurts. Everything hurts. Memories start coming back to her. There’d been an accident at the show in Ponyville. Maybe she’s dead? No, she finally decides, she hurts too much to be dead. So she’s probably in the hospital.
After a few more minutes she tries opening her eyes again. This time she keeps them open and eventually they start focusing. She’s definitely in a hospital, but she can’t hear the beeping of machines. She also can’t hear whatever Wind Rider is trying to tell her. Whatever it is, he’s pretty worked up.
She closes her eyes. She’s sore and tired and frankly doesn’t want to deal with anything right now.
*****
Wind Rider is still there when she next wakes up.
“Oh good, you’re awake.” This time she can hear him. “Nod if the magical surgery to restore your hearing was successful.”
Lightning Dust attempts to move unsuccessfully. “I can’t move my head.”
“That’s because you’re in a full body, wing, and hoof cast. Better get used to drinking through a straw, hot shot.”
Lightning Dust groans. “Does Spitfire know?”
“Yes, she was here already. So was Rainbow Dash.”
“Great. I’m never going to hear the end of it. Can you get the doctors to reverse that healing spell on my ears?”
“Pretty sure that goes against the Hippocampus Oath, hot shot.”
“What do you want, Wind Rider?”
“Only for you to get better. We can’t restart the Wash-Ups if you’re in the hospital.”
“That’s Washouts, old geezer. And what do you mean ‘we’? The Washouts is my group.”
“You’re incompetent, so I’m stepping in to run things. You can still be the star.”
“No way.”
Wind Rider walks over to the IV drip. “I think these painkillers are clouding your thoughts. Maybe if I turn them off you’ll be able to think clearer.”
The cast may be interfering with Lightning Dust moving the rest of her body, but it doesn’t impede her eyes widening in horror. “Let’s not be hasty.”
“Good, I knew you’d see reason, hot shot. Do you want to beat Rainbow Dash?”
“Yeah. More than anything.”
“Makes two of us. That punk’s broken most of my records, and her little unicorn friend got me booted out of the Wonderbolts.”
“Welcome to the club.” Lightning tries laughing, but finds that it hurts too much to laugh.
Wind Rider just glares at her. “For now, focus on healing. I’ll take care of everything else.”
*****
When Lightning Dust finally trots out of the hospital, she finds Wind Rider, Rolling Thunder, and Short Fuse waiting for her. There’s a token balloon, but that’s the extent of the festivities. There’s work to be done.
“Your old stunts were beyond reckless, they were suicidal. Believe it or not, the safety rules are there for a reason. The danger is supposed to be an illusion, aside from the very real danger of crashing.”
“But what about Crushinator Jaws of Smash-A-Lot (Patent Pending)?”
Wind Rider’s eyes narrow. “Did you learn absolutely nothing from your hospital stay in a full body, wing, and hoof cast, drinking through a straw?”
“Uh… Point made and taken.”
“This is why I’m the brains of this outfit now, hot shot. As for the rest of you, fall in.”
With a salute, Short Fuse and Rolling Thunder line up.
“That goes for you too, hot shot.” Once Lightning Dust is in place, Wind Rider continues, “First order of business: we need a new name. By the time we’re done tearing them down, there won’t be a Wonderbolts to wash out of.”
“Extreme Aerial Stunt Team?”
Wind Rider shakes his head at Short Fuse’s suggestion. “That abbreviates to E.A.S.T., and Rainbow Dash flew east for days to break my endurance record.”
“How about Radical Aerial Stunt Squad?” is the best Rolling Thunder can come up with.
With no better options forthcoming, Wind Rider accepts the name. “With that settled, we need some new recruits.”
“Way ahead of you. Here’s a list of all the ponies who washed out of the academy this year.” Lightning Dust pulls a page out, with a list of names on it.
Wind Rider shakes his head. “Nope. If we want to hit the ‘Bolts where it hurts, we need a different strategy. We’re going to raid the Junior Wonderbolts and promise them a chance to move up to the big leagues, now. Thanks to the impatience of youth, most of them will jump at the chance. I’ve already got a pony in mind: Wind Sprint. She just entered the Junior Wonderbolts a few months ago. Before that, she was trying to get on a buckball team. Rainbow Dash is apparently a friend of her stepdad.”
“How do you know all that?”
“Easy, hot shot. Rainbow Dash loves to hear herself talk. All you need to do is listen when she runs her mouth.”
“She hates you too. How did you get close enough to listen to her talk about herself?”
“All I needed to do was go to a cider bar wearing a cheap disguise that shouldn’t have fooled anypony. She was bragging about how many Junior Wonderbolts she’s mentoring. It’s what gave me the idea in the first place.”
*****
The four pegasi watch the Junior Wonderbolts tryouts from the bleachers, trying to figure out which of the many foals below is Wind Sprint. Wind Rider’s plan is brilliant, except for the glaring detail of not knowing what Wind Sprint looks like.
Thankfully, the announcer calls out the name of each candidate as they take to the sky, and eventually they figure out she’s a purple pegasus filly.
As the tryouts draw to a close, they find her in the crowd leaving the stadium. She’s looking for her parents, neither of whom is a pegasus. She’s in the sky, alone. It doesn’t take long for four incredibly fast flyers to catch up to her.
Lightning Dust’s spiel is short and to the point. They’re looking for new talent and out of all the potential recruits, they think she has what it takes.
[CHOICE]Does Wind Sprint join them?
Wind Sprint suggests that they talk to Spitfire and resolve their differences once and for all (hero)
Wind Sprint decides that being a Wonderbolt is more prestigious. (chaos)
Wind Sprint joins the Radical Aerial Stunt Squad. (Villain)
“Why do you guys hate the Wonderbolts so much?”
“They kicked us out.”
“To be fair, don’t you think you may have deserved it?” Wind Sprint points to Lightning Dust. “You’re insanely reckless and endangered ponies.” She turns to Wind Rider. “You tried to frame Rainbow Dash so the Wonderbolts would kick her out, just because she broke your records. Boo-hoo, get over yourself. Somepony will eventually come along and blow Rainbow’s records out of the sky too.” She turns to Short Fuse. “Have you ever heard of anger management? No? Look it up.” Finally, she reaches Rolling Thunder. “I have no idea who you are or why you got booted out of the Wonderbolts.” She shrugs. “Sorry.”
“I don’t have to take this verbal abuse from a kid.” Lightning Dust turns her back on Wind Sprint and prepares to fly off – they’re in hostile territory and the less time she spends in Cloudsdale the better she likes it.
“Hold up, hotshot. She’s got a point. I had a distinguished career with the ‘Bolts. Ponies used to look up to me. I threw it away because I was afraid of another hotshot breaking my records. If you’d made it into the Wonderbolts too, I’d probably have done the same thing to you.”
“Thanks a lot, geezer.”
“But maybe it isn’t too late to right some wrongs. You’ve got talent, Lightning Dust. You can squander it trying to do something on your own, or you can make your peace with Spitfire, Rainbow Dash, and the team.”
“Hey! What about us?!?” Short Fuse screams, attracting the attention of passing pegasi.
“That’s up to both of you to rectify whatever shortcomings got you booted out of camp. Maybe they won’t take any of us back. But I think we should try.”
Lightning Dust snorts but she sees Wind Rider is serious.
“Do you want to be the best of the best, hotshot, or do you want to settle for being the best of the rest?”
Lightning hovers, fuming.
“Think of it this way, hotshot. At least this time it’s only your pride that’s going to hurt, and not your whole body.”
Lightning screams in frustration but eventually relents. They’re attracting a crowd, which is the last thing she wants. She eyes the group surrounding them. “Fine, let’s go talk to Spitfire.”
Wind Sprint leads the way, and Spitfire is surprised to see them.
“Newbies. And oldbie. What brings you here?” She’s less than happy to see any of them, especially Wind Rider.
“Me.” Wind Sprint pushes her way to the front of the group and smiles up at Spitfire. “They were trying to recruit me to a rival organization, but I think maybe all that’s needed here is talking things out. There’s a lot of talent in this room and we all know it.”
Spitfire pulls down her glasses and looks at Wind Sprint. “Yeah, there is. Calmer heads and all that. I’m surprised that it took a filly to point out the obvious to all of us. So let’s talk about why the Wonderbolts should give you another chance.”
Author's Note
Story notes: https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/1030681/story-notes-air-supremacy
Thanks to her stepdad, Quibble Pants, Wind Sprint has learned to research things. She doesn’t need anypony to tell her who Wind Rider and Lightning Dust are, though she struggles to place the other two. It doesn’t matter, she has nothing to say to any of them other than ‘no’.
Wind Sprint loves danger. She loves flying fast, she loves athleticism, and she loves being the center of attention. She also loves her parents. The parents who’ve taught her that there are no shortcuts in life. The parents who’ve done their best to protect her from ponies like these.
Quibble Pants isn’t the athlete her biological father had been. At first, that had mattered to her way more than it should’ve. But as her mom and Rainbow Dash had suggested, Quibble had grown on her. His advice is sage. He’s annoying at times, but he genuinely cares about her.
He cares so much, in fact, that he’d given her a whistle to use in the event of an emergency. An emergency like four strangers surrounding her. She blows the whistle. Right outside the Wonderbolts Stadium in Cloudsdale. In the middle of hundreds of Wonderbolts enthusiasts, not to mention a dozen actual Wonderbolts, including Rainbow Dash.
She finds attention is immediately drawn to them. Four pegasi make themselves scarce as the crowd recognizes them. Rainbow Dash chases after her rival for life, Lightning Dust, while Spitfire takes off after Wind Rider. The other two find themselves chased by Surprise and Soarin’.
She sits back and watches the fireworks as the two rival teams take to the air.
Author's Note
Story notes: https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/1030681/story-notes-air-supremacy
