The New Recruit

The rest of the day was pretty exhausting. Aside from having more boring classes that just made him want to fall asleep, Ace also had to work on making dinner for all of the students, and the cafeteria was now back to full capacity. In addition, he also had to help the new students on kitchen duty find their places, and they didn't want to listen to him, so every time he issued a command and they ignored him, he had to call the instructor over, who would tell the new student to do as Ace commanded, which they would do without question. It wasn't so much that they thought he was wrong, as much as it was they were lazy, he wasn't the boss, and they didn't respect him.

And after that, he had to go back out to the field to run the obstacle course again, twice. Soarin took note of a burn mark on Ace's leg from a student that wasn't paying attention and bumped him with a hot pan, but Ace insisted that it wouldn't be a problem, and he'd deal with it as soon as he could. Spitfire set up the new obstacle, a flag that Ace was just not allowed to touch, and he ran the course twice more. The third time was his official score, three minutes and twenty-six point four seconds. Soarin escorted him to the nurse station, Ace rubbed a bit of ointment on his burn, and then he was finally allowed to go back to his dorm.

But the day wasn't over yet.

"Just what are you playing at?" asked Blitz Break as he entered.

"I assure you, I'm not playing at anything," sighed Ace, slipping into his bunk.

"You're not, huh?" Blitz sneered. "Showing me up on the course, a special visit from the coach, prancing about the kitchen like you own the place... You're cheating the system."

"I promise you I'm not."

"Then explain yourself!"

"Look, I'm really tired. Can we do this later?"

The answer came in the form of Blitz pulling him out of bed and onto the floor. The point of collision was right on his burn, which sent a shockwave of pain through Ace's body. "Stand up and face me, coward!"

Ace knew this day would come. He'd hoped it would be a little bit later, but having it out of the way now meant he could stop dreading it. He rolled over and stood up, turning to look at Blitz. "You don't have to do this..."

"Backing down? Yeah, that's what I thought!"

"If it will settle you down, sure."

"Then tell me what your game is!"

Ace just shrugged and shook his head. "I don't know what to tell you, Blitz..."

"That's "Mr. Break" to you!"

"My apologies," smirked Ace. "May I go to bed, now?"

"Not until you answer my question!" Blitz started advancing on Ace, pushing him back against the wall by bumping him with his chest. Ace was pretty sure he could bump back with more force, or even just stand still and not move, but Blitz wanted to feel big and strong, and he figured he could end this sooner if he just played along. "Well?"

"I've told you, I'm not playing at anything. I'm just here for the opportunity to be named a Wonderbolt."

"Aha! J'accuse! You're after my spot!"

"Your spot? Ha!" They both turned to look as Golden Pomade approached. "That spot on the Wonderbolts is mine! I paid for it fair and square!"

"It's mine!" shot Blitz back, shifting his focus to the new challenger. "I'm the best flyer in this class!"

"Best? Ha! I bet you can't even pirouette!"

"I can so! And I had the fastest time on the obstacle course! Name another new arrival that ran the course faster than I did! Oh, wait, you can't!"

Ace took this opportunity to slip back to his bed, nestling into his mattress and covering up with a fleece blanket. He was determined to sleep, and having his aggressor distracted was all kinds of helpful. Now if only they'd shut up, he could rest.

That didn't happen, though, as he hadn't been in bed for more than a minute before he heard the sound of a hoof colliding with flesh. Immediately, his eyes flew open and he leapt out of bed, bolting over to the two squabbling pegasi.

"That's enough!" he barked, pushing them off of each other with ease and holding them away from each other. "Both of you, calm down! Is this the behaviour of a Wonderbolt?"

"Stay out of this, lowborn!" shouted Pomade. "This doesn't concern your kind!"

"Yeah, butt out!"

The door opened again, and in walked Peregrine, rubbing his mane with a towel. Right behind him stood Fleetfoot, and she wasn't too proud of what she saw.

"You wanna tell me whath goin' on with your dormmateth?"

"I'd love to," he sighed. "Unfortunately, I have no idea..."

One by one they were taken out into the hall to explain in relative privacy what was going on. Ace was the last one questioned, and when he and Fleetfoot entered the room again, Peregrine was holding the two apart.

"Tho it theemth that you're all innothent," she noted. "You all tethtified that you were doing nothing wrong, and the other two were thcuffling. Here'th the problem I thee with that. I don't believe any of you. Tho, you're going to come out into the hall, and I'm going to watth you do puth-ups until I thtart to feel thleepy."

With a frustrated sigh, Ace walked out into the hall and started doing his workout. He was tired and sore, but Fleetfoot outranked him. The same was true of Peregrine; he had to come out and work, too, despite clearly being innocent. It was the other two that whined and complained about it.

After a few minutes, however, she called out to them. "Peregrine and Athe, you two can go to bed. I'm tired of watthing you, tho that countth. Blitth and Pomade, kick it up a notth."

Ace didn't need to be told twice. He went right back to bed.

"She actually does believe you," said Peregrine from across the room. "It's a solidarity thing. A whole "working together" mindset. My aunt does that all the time at home."

"Oh, yeah?" asked Ace. "Who's your aunt?"

"...Fleetfoot..."