The New Recruit

The show went on without Ace for the rest of the morning and into the afternoon. Throughout the event, Ace was in the back rooms, helping with setup and cleaning up. He couldn't join in most of the events because he hadn't practised, and those he could join in were already full on the roster.

Skylight had glanced his way a few times, especially when he was called onto the field to move equipment with the ground crew, but since Ace was always backstage and she was always on the field, there hadn't been an opportunity to make clear her disappointment in him.

Soarin had come backstage a few times, and had urged Ace to keep his head down, help the ground crew, not mess anything up, and he'd be right behind him when the time came. Ace had done so as much as he could, and nopony had so much as raised their voice at him other than to call his attention.

Finally, it was time for the curtain call, and Ace was brought back onto the field. This was the time that everypony that had been a part of the show was called onto the field for one more chance to greet the audience and accept their applause. There was a fairly significant swell when Ace came out, and that made him feel pretty great.

Once the curtain call was done, they all went backstage. There was a half-hour break period for the fans to unload from the stands, use the bathroom, buy merchandise, and do whatever they pleased within reason. The same thirty minutes would be afforded for the Wonderbolts to quickly shower, have lunch, put on a fresh uniform, and then return to the field to sign autographs. Ace had already showered and put on a fresh uniform, as Soarin had ordered him to stay out of the way. While the others were showering, Ace was helping to set up the tables for the autographs, as well as the tables for lunch. Having worked in the kitchens, he was well-versed in food preparation. As usual, he joined Soarin for lunch, and that was enough to keep Wind Spire at bay, and Skylight was waiting. Before the meet-and-greet was a bad time to confront Ace, because he needed to keep smiling for the fans.

Before they headed out to sign, Skylight held up her hoof. "Remember, everypony. We have a lot of pictures to sign, and it's already going to be an hour and a half, minimum. So no open-ended questions. "What's your name," "How do you spell that," and "Did you enjoy the show?" If they ask you something, keep your answers short and to the point, or the security team will cut you off. Save your long-winded speeches for press conferences or your autobiography."

Ace nodded. He knew that a lot of what she said was directed at him, because she was glaring at him as she said it. He was very willing to believe that she'd said it for his benefit, in case nopony else had, as opposed to the idea that she was mad at him for ruining her show and didn't want him to ruin her autograph signing.

They walked out onto the field to a smaller roar of applause from fans held away from the autograph table by a velvet rope. They took their seats and the fans were sent forward with their promotional material for signing. Ace was new, so he had a long line. A lot of ponies wanted to ask him questions, and Skylight had to assign an extra guard to his detail to keep things moving along.

Most of the ponies that had showed up had the photographs from one of Ace's photoshoots. He'd done two for the purposes of having something to sign for the fans, and two for the posters promoting the show. Almost everypony had one of these pictures, though some just had autograph books. One, however, had neither.

"Hey, can you sign this?" he asked, pushing forward a week-and-a-half old newspaper; the one that had been written by Flair. More importantly, Ace recognised the voice.

"Of course," he smiled, signing the paper, making sure not to obscure the article. Once he was done, he did something unorthodox, standing up and hugging the fan. "I'm glad you made it, dad."

"I've been keepin' up with your progress. I'm real proud a' you, Ace."

Security came to escort his dad off the field, and he went willingly after dropping an envelope, but Skylight still glared at Ace for holding up the line.

The rest of the signing was uneventful. Some of the ponies later in the line also presented him with the news article, and some with the even older first article that alleged that he was bribing or blackmailing his way in. There were a few that tried to make accusations of their own, for which the security team did need to step in, but most of them were genuine fans or ponies trying to collect all of the signatures to sell the collection. There were a lot of ponies here to see Ace, and because of that, everypony was sitting there for two and a half hours.

Finally, the fans were gone, and as the ground team came out to take away their table, they were done for the day. It was almost four in the afternoon, and they had the rest of the day off, as long as they were here by seven in the morning tomorrow, they could do whatever they wanted.

Skylight, however, had other plans, pulling Ace aside as soon as she was sure nopony would see them. "Just what are you playing at, Eight?"

"I'm not sure what you mean, ma'am."

"Don't play games with me. Earth ponies don't fly. And somehow, you've deceived all of these ponies into believing you can. So how are you doing it? A unicorn friend in the ground crew? A wire rig? What are you using to cheat these ponies out of their money?"

Ac didn't know how to answer that. He wasn't cheating anypony. He was primarily using clouds to keep himself aloft, but that was clearly visible to anypony that had watched his act.

Soarin stepped in, pulling her shoulder back. "Ease up on him, commander. He has every right to be here."

Skylight turned her head to scowl at him. "This doesn't concern you, lieutenant. Return to your trailer. That's an order from your commander."

"It certainly is," he nodded, tightening his grip. "But I have orders from Spitfire, Steelwing and Princess Luna to keep him out of trouble. Do you want to tell Princess Luna why her orders were countermanded, or should I?"