The New Recruit

Ace was in awe of everything as he was taken from building to building. Perhaps he was still in shock from his early acceptance, as most pegasi had the opportunity to let the excitement wear off in the comfort of their homes. When his eyes went wide at the sight of the cafeteria, Spitfire rolled hers.

"It's a cafeteria," she huffed. "It's not a big deal."

"But this is where the Wonderbolts eat!" he gushed breathlessly.

"And the cadets, yes," she nodded. "That includes you. You'll be eating your meals in here. With certain exceptions, food is to stay in the cafeteria. This place runs very clean. It also operates on as little waste as possible. If I catch you throwing away perfectly good food, there's going to be trouble. Am I understood?"

"Eat your zucchini, right," he nodded, his eyes taking everything in. "There are starving children that would like nothing more than to have my string beans, so I'd best be grateful."

Spitfire rolled her eyes. Technically, this wasn't her job, but since nopony whose job it was would think she was serious about letting him join, she had to do it herself. In truth, she was completely serious. If he were to join, then one of three things would happen. He would pass, indicating that there was enough flaw in their system that an earth pony could qualify as a Wonderbolt, he would fail, indicating why every applicant needed to be a pegasus, or he would drop out, meaning the academy would be noted as having done nothing wrong.

There was some concern that she had, in that his failure might open the academy up to a lawsuit, and a pretty big one. Failure on their part to provide for him a real position among the Wonderbolts based on his race was an actual problem. If she had rejected him because of his race, she'd be opened to the same lawsuit, but since he'd met her requirements, and spoke to her in her office, he had, on a technical level, met all of the requirements to join the academy, as ridiculous as his methodology was.

She was, however, taking some liability for his safety. There was, baked into the enrollment contract, a clause that applied to injured pegasi, with broken or damaged wings. She was not required to apply this ruling to him, as he has posited to her that he was in good health, but she would, anyway. She was going to give him every opportunity for success, even if that meant assigning ponies to catch him if he started falling.

Speaking of falling, "This is the training grounds. For anypony else, I would say that this is where you would practice your aerobatics."

Ace looked over the edge and gulped. "That's a long way down..."

"Two and a half kilometres," nodded Spitfire. "You tumble over the side of this platform without somepony to catch you, you would hit the ground in 22 seconds or so. We timed it. You would have that amount of time to call out to your teammate and hope that they hear you and catch up, then make peace with your creator of choice. Barring that, you'd best hope that it's really muddy and soft down there."

Ace stepped away from the edge, clearly frightened.

"So, yeah, make sure you maintain a good relationship with your flight partner. That, or just don't mess up."

He vehemently nodded. She hadn't meant to upset him so, but she needed to be sure that he understood the safety regulations. If he didn't understand that he was putting himself in some degree of danger, then his family would have a stronger case against the academy if he were to be injured or killed. Plus, she didn't want him to fall off the side and die. She wasn't pleased to have him up here, but she didn't wish him harm.

She escorted him to the next stop, "The gym. This is where you'll probably spend a lot of time, I'd wager. We have all kinds of machines for working on your flight muscles, as well as simple gear for the rest of your body. It takes a good cardio workout to ensure that you can keep flying for a long period of time. I imagine you know how to gallop when your wings grow sore, eh?"

He nodded. "Yes, ma'am..."

"Good. Come along."

She led him through the various classroom settings. They had all kinds of programs, all related to flight in some way. There was a language arts class, for example, that dealt with reading the material written in older flight manuals, as well as how to transcribe new manuals, there was science being taught about the air pressure and the math to calculate it, and even the history of the Wonderbolts. All of these could transfer over as college credits, and could thus be useful to him if he decided to transfer to something easier to reach. There was even a library.

"Finally, we come to the dormitories. You'll be sharing a room with up to five other ponies. I suggest you make friends with them, because they're going to be living with you for... Actually, not very long. Most of them are moving on soon, so you won't be around them very often. Still, they are your upperclassponies, and you are to give them the respect that they've earned. And when your actual dormmates arrive, I expect you to use your experience to set an example as to how to behave. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good." Spitfire kicked open the door. Five stallions, all pegasi, were horsing around and being obnoxious. She was not pleased to be greeted with a fart blown in her general direction. "Ahem!"

They looked up from their activities and all fell into line. "Ma'am!"

"This is Ace of Clubs. He's going to be taking the final bunk in this dorm. He's an early arrival from the next batch of cadets."

There was some chuckling from the other stallions, though they tried to keep a straight face.

"I'm not kidding. Give him a bed, set him up with sheets and a pillow, and give him time to settle in and study. He'll be sleeping here tonight, and tomorrow, there better be a place where he can move his stuff in." That shut them up. "As you were, cadets. Ace, come to my office at 0900. These other cadets will help you. Dismissed."