The New Recruit

The rest of the night was uneventful. Bub asked Ace a lot of questions, and since it was one-on-one, Ace was plenty happy to answer. When they returned to their dorm, Gent was already asleep, so they went to bed as well. Ace woke up when Gent left at five thirty, and started readying himself for the day as best he could with no supplies. No soap meant no shower, no toothbrush meant no brushing his teeth, and no ID meant no breakfast. He couldn't even access the gym without his ID.

So, he opted to just work out on the floor for a bit. He was in pretty good shape, having spent a lot of time working in a warehouse. He wouldn't have to compete with any other cadets until they arrived, but that was no reason to slack off. He had broken down a wall that nopony ever had. He was an earth pony in the Wonderbolt Academy. That had never happened before. That meant he could keep going, as the way forward was clear now.

Bub woke up next, and took him to breakfast, where they ran into Spitfire. After lodging a complaint about Ace not having an ID, to which Spitfire had a valid reason (that it wasn't usually her job, and she'd forgotten as a result), that was scheduled in for their meeting in a few hours. Until such time, Bub would be escorting him around, and that was an order from the captain.

With that, they went to take a shower, and thankfully, Bub used a liquid soap, so there was no sharing a bar. Once they were clean, Bub showed Ace around a bit more, noting the laundry room to keep Ace from making the same mistake Bub had. There was also an unmentioned nurse station, massage room and sauna, as body wellness was tantamount to training.

About twenty minutes before their meeting was supposed to begin, Ace took a seat outside of Spitfire's office. Bub had to go do his daily training regimen, and left as Spitfire was approaching. Since they were both early, they opted to start early. They didn't have everything ready at the security office to make his ID yet, but they'd have it set up before lunch. That gave them a few hours.

"So, I didn't have you confirm your address at the tryouts," admitted Spitfire. "Honestly, I didn't expect you to make it this far, and you rightly proved me wrong. So now I have to ask for your address again, because I already disposed of the paperwork."

"Oh, I'll write it down. It's a little bit difficult to spell and hard to pronounce."

Spitfire gave him a clipboard and he scrawled it down, as well as filling out any other information relevant to the conversation, then gave it back. "Kizurgudluxgubi street?" she read.

"Not even close, but no one says it right the first time. And if I'd said it, you wouldn't have spelled it right. But that's where I live. Or did, until last night."

"You would probably do well to maintain your rent on the place, in case this doesn't work out."

"It's my dad's place, but sure."

"You and I are going to drop by today. Pick up what you need, pack it into a duffel bag, and then we come right back. There's one reason why I'm going with you."

"You don't want me falling off a cloud?"

"That's the one."

Ace nodded. "Let me know when you're ready."

"Right now."

"Oh, okay..."

Spitfire escorted him out to the courtyard where he'd arrived and stood at the edge. "Are you familiar with the Baro rescue position?"

With a nod, Ace sat back on his haunches and held his elbows aloft. Spitfire came up behind him and hooked her hooves around him in multiple places, and with a good, strong flap, took off.

Ace had experienced this feeling twice before. Most recently, he'd volunteered as a training dummy for a fire rescue demonstration and had to pretend that the building they were on top of was on fire. He had to be carried to the next building over. But long ago, he'd been pushed accidentally off a balcony and had nearly fallen to his death. It was a retired Wonderbolt that had saved him, and he'd wanted to be one ever since.

He'd never flown quite this fast, though. Having Spitfire carry him was an intense experience, as expected. He wasn't looking down at the patchwork of fields and orchards from a cloud, so there was nothing between him and the ground. She was holding him aloft by the elbows and knees, and he was given the opportunity to experience the worlds as only a pegasus could.

His trip down to the ground was a lot faster than his trip up, as was to be expected. Fifteen minutes, rather than two and a half hours plus the time when he was surrounded and could not move. Spitfire managed to drop him down to his hooves just outside of his house, to the applause of several local foals and their parents.

"This is the place?" she asked, whipping off her sunglasses.

"It most certainly is," answered Ace, making his way to the door. "I'll only need a few minutes. Come in and make yourself at home, if you like."

As he opened the door and walked in, she shrugged and followed him, noting that there was an older stallion in the house, with his left front leg in a sling. "You must be Ace's father."

"Aye. Nice of ya ta bring 'im back. I hope he weren't too hurt when ye rejected 'im."

"Oh, no, he was accepted and enrolled. We're just here to pick up his stuff."

"Wha, really? This ain't a gaff?"

Spitfire shook her head. "That son of yours is bound and determined to make it through. Whether he will or not remains to be seen, but I'm pulling for him, now. If he manages, he'll be a living legend. If not, he'll just be the most impressive earth pony to have ever applied."

"That's so, is it?"

"It is. We're just here to pick up the stuff he'll be needing for his time at the academy. I'm not sanctioning these trips very often, so I expect we'll be--"

"Ready," called Ace, coming out of the hallway with a bag strapped to his chest. He hadn't even taken five minutes. Not an academy record, but she'd been expecting an hour, at least.

"My boy," smiled his dad, standing up and giving him a hug. "The Wonderbolt."

"Cadet," corrected Spitfire. "He's still a long way yet from being a Wonderbolt..."