The New Recruit

Ace was shaken up enough in his practice sessions that, after being hit in the face with the baton and falling off of his cloud, he was removed from the show entirely. That is, with two exceptions. He was still allowed to go on the radio shows, and Soarin had put together a speech for him that he would read through a teleprompter.

The speech wasn't anything special. It was the same stuff he'd been saying about safety, following your dreams and how it's okay to ask for help. All the while, he'd been saying that, but he hadn't been showing it.

After giving his speech twice in the Mareland Aerodrome, he bolted upright out of bed, awakening in a cold sweat from another nightmare. This was the eighth time in three days.

He turned to look at the clock. 1:22 AM. It was still the middle of the night. He had to be up in a few hours to load up his trailer onto the train to Canterlot. But if his poor performance here had been any indication, he wasn't going to take to the field. Flopping back down on the bed, part of him wished he was still bunking with Soarin, rather than having his own trailer. Right now, he could really use somepony to talk to. Somepony with the wisdom to help him recover from this spiral more devastating than the dizzitron could ever hope to create.

*Knock* *knock* *knock*

He sat back up. Who would be at his door at this hour? He could roll over and pretend to be asleep. Nopony would blame him, as he was supposed to be asleep right now, but the timing had him curious.

"Princess Luna?" As soon as he opened the door, he bowed, and doing so while standing on the stairs out of the trailer nearly made him collapse. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"

"No such pleasure," she commented. "We must speak with you. Stand up before you fall over."

Ace did as he was told and backed up a few steps to invite her in. "Please, excuse the mess. I've been a bit out of sorts, recently."

"We've noticed," replied Luna, moving to the table and bidding him to sit across from her. "You have been having the same nightmare over and over. When we saw it still plaguing your mind, we rushed over as soon as we could."

Ace lowered his head as he sat down. "I'm sorry, princess. I didn't mean to inconvenience you."

She waved it off. "We would like to know what it is you think is happening in your dreams."

Ace nodded. "I'm practising my stunts. Always on my own. I'm standing on a cloud with a generator strapped to both front legs. I'm working on trying to increase the jump height of my slide, and I hear this shrill cry. I look, and there's this foal falling from some great hight towards a spike trap. I rush over as fast as I can, but I'm never fast enough. I see the spikes go through them and then I wake up. It's a different foal every time, and it's always something new that they fall off of."

Luna simply nodded. That was an accurate series of events. He was clear on what was happening.

"It all started when I heard about that filly that jumped off of her balcony trying to emulate me. I wanted to save lives as a Wonderbolt. Joining the shows was supposed to help me gain perspective on how I was going to do that. Having kids injure themselves and die as a result of me joining up... That's the opposite of what I wanted." He buried his face in his hooves to hide the fact that he'd been brought to tears.

Luna took a deep breath. Not only did he have clarity on what was happening in his dreams, he knew why.

She reached across the table and took one of his hooves. "We know you only meant well. We know you wish the safety of these foals. We know that the reason you've been having these nightmares is due to your inability to save them. You know it's not your fault, right?"

"It is," he whimpered back. "If I hadn't gone out there..."

"Then they would never dare to dream," finished Luna. "You did not cause them to jump. Even if you inspired them to reach for new heights beyond their grasp, they made the decision to do so in a manner that was unsafe. Furthermore, you've opted to speak out to correct this problem."

"I can't correct it," he sobbed. "I can't bring them back."

"You also could never have reached them in time. You were already out of reach by the time they had the idea to attempt it."

Ace just shook his head. He was out of words.

"We have a solution for you," offered Luna. "We will enforce it if you wish. We cannot guarantee that it will end your nightmares, but we do believe it will help."

Ace nodded. "I'm willing to try anything. You know the domain of dreams better than I."

"We suggest that you return to the academy."

Ace looked up. His eyes were red and puffy. "You want me to stop touring?"

"You've already stopped touring. You are currently being dragged along on limp hooves. I want you to return to the academy."

"What could I do to stop the damages, there?"

"What are you doing to stop the damages, here?"

She had a good point. Ace couldn't do anything to help the fillies and colts that looked up to him if he was a nervous wreck. If he retreated to the academy, he would cease being a bad example for them, and the other Wonderbolts could continue preaching safety without him.

"They have rescue simulations in the third- and fourth-year classes," added Luna. "If you ask Lance-Captain Spitfire nicely, I'm sure she'd help you take them as extra classes."

Ace's eyes widened.

"You can't undo the damage that's been done. However, I think it would set your mind at ease, knowing you have a better chance of protecting them from further harm."

Swallowing hard, Ace nodded and wiped his face before bowing once more. "Thank you, your highness. I will return to the academy as soon as I am able."

Luna stood up. "You will return tomorrow morning. We shall escort you, personally. Go back to bed and try to rest well."