The New Recruit

After arriving, the Wonderbolts unloaded from the train in a specific order. It had been communicated to the press the order in which they would be exiting, and they just had to follow that order to make sure that the cameras caught a good look at them exiting the train. This was to drum up a little bit more hype as the lineup was made clear, a necessity as they had less prep time for the two shows they were doing here. That's why two of them had to go do the radio broadcast as soon as the photo op was done.

The trailers were set up in the lot before the Wonderbolts arrived, prompting the team to put on their outfits for training. As they did their practice runs, the radio was set to the local station, so as soon as the announcement was made, they could hear Wind Spire and Autumn Gust talk about the show, with special highlights on Ace and Freefall. Freefall for being promoted at the start of the season and moving up, and Ace for being promoted mid-season from the first year at the academy and being an earth pony.

Then came something Ace was not expecting, and it knocked Skylight and Soarin off-balance, too. The host had asked if there was any chance that they could meet and talk with Ace, and Autumn Gust had responded with "Yes." Wind Spire quickly rebutted the statement, saying that Ace was quite busy, and the chances of interviewing him was very unlikely, but there was a small chance, sure.

"Great. So now we need to prep you for an interview, too," grumbled Skylight. "As if we needed another thorn in our hooves..."

"We could have Gust do it," suggested Ace. "Her mess, she cleans it up?"

"No," answered Soarin, "It's going to end up my job. I'm supposed to do it, after all. I'll just scrap your speech for parts."

"Besides, she made the mess," agreed Skylight. "We're not going to trust her to clean it up."

"Do we even have to do the interview?" asked Ace. "Lance-Sergeant Wind Spire gave us an out. We could say I was just too busy."

Skylight shook her head. "We're the Wonderbolts. The difficult, we do right now. The impossible will take a little while. You're doing that interview. Between you, the sergeant and the lieutenant, you're going to cover up Gust's mistake from public view. We're going to pretend that this was planned from the start, and we're going to pretend that it's easy."

Two days later, after the show and the autograph signing, Ace didn't return to his trailer. They were leaving the next morning, and Soarin had stayed up with him half the night prepping him for the interview.

"Seven thirty-eight PM on Friday, for those of you just tuning in, we're joined now by two of the Wonderbolts, Ace of Clubs and Soarin. How are you two gentlecolts this evening?" asked one of the hosts, a stallion by the name of News Break. He was joined by his co-hostess, Windy Weather.

"We're feeling good," nodded Ace. He'd been told to keep most of his answers positive if he could, and if he didn't know, just be silent for a few seconds, and Soarin would take control.

"Happy to be here," added Soarin, affirming Ace's response.

"So the two of you just finished your second show here in Trottingham. How'd you like our fair city?" asked Windy.

"Well, it wasn't just the two of us up there," chuckled Ace. "Did you guys catch the show? Lance-Lieutenant Freefall had an amazing recovery from a nasty spinout, today. And that baton relay; just fantastic. And I wasn't involved in either, so, you know, credit goes to all of the other Wonderbolts, too. They worked hard, you know?"

"To answer your question, though," interjected Soarin, "We have enjoyed our time here in Trottingham. The Coriander Smokehouse and Grill was amazing, the ponies were friendly, and the streets were so clean and tidy. Everywhere you look, just beautiful scenery. Truly, we're glad to have been here."

"Excellent," nodded Break. "Now, Ace, I hear that you're still in your first year at the Wonderbolts Academy. Is there any truth to that?"

"Yeah, so... I'm not technically in the academy right now, on account of the fact that I'm on tour. If my tour ends for any reason, I am to return to the academy, but for the purposes of attendance, I'm on what is called "Academic hiatus." When I do return, I'm to be rigorously tested to ensure that I'm up to speed with my fellow students, and if I should fail, I'm to be brought back a year. Which, since I'm in my first year, that would be kicked out of the academy with option to re-enroll next year."

"Sounds tough," noted Windy. "It would be tough for any pegasus, but we're told, and we at the studio can see, that you're actually an earth pony. How do you make it to the academy, when it's up in the sky?"

"Well, it wasn't easy. I hopped a cloud that I made from local fog that took a little too long to clear out, and just rode it up to the school."

"We definitely don't recommend that, though," added Soarin.

"Yeah, what I did was dangerous," agreed Ace. "If I had fallen from that cloud after the first minute and before making it to the academy, I would have less than twenty seconds to make peace with death. Let's be clear; it's not the best way to go about attending the academy. I would strongly recommend that you never go up to a great height unless you have at least two ways down, as I do in my stunt."

"Two ways down?" inquired Break. "Surely one would be enough?"

"Normally, yes, but what if there's no way for me to grab a cloud? I don't have wings, so if my equipment breaks, I'm counting on my fellow Wonderbolts for a rescue. Here, let me put it this way: If you're up on your roof patching a hole to remove a leak, you have one way down; the ladder that you used to climb up. If a strong wind blows the ladder over, you're stuck. Because your windows were locked on the inside, because you thought you only needed one way down. If you unlock those windows, it doesn't matter if the ladder falls over, because you can go in through the window."

"That's an interesting analogy, but I see what you mean. So, what are some of the challenges of being an earth pony in the Wonderbolts?"

"Well, aside from no pony believing you at first and constantly being mistaken for a personal assistant, the hardest part is not being able to fly. It's about what you'd expect, honestly..."