Loyal Ace

Chapters

Chapter 2: ERN Harmony (Revised)
Chapter 1: Academy (Revised)
Chapter 3: Friends? (Revised)
Chapter 4: Settling In (Revised)
Chapter 5: Competition (Revised)
Chapter 6: First Mission (Revised)
Chapter 7: The Trial (Revised)

Chapter 2: ERN Harmony (Revised)

A small flash of light awoke me from my nap. We had arrived. Rubbing my eyes, I looked out the window, trying to get my first glimpse at the Harmony. What greeted me was the sight of one of the Honour Class destroyers that accompanied the Harmony. Even though it was the smallest escort ship in the navy, it still managed to dwarf our shuttle. Flying in formation with it was a Wing of Hurricanes that would engage anything that was too small for the large MA of the destroyer to track. Groups like this would commonly be deployed to protect merchant ships or space stations. In this case, they would escort us back to the Harmony. Capital ship groups regularly deployed hyperspace disruption fields to prevent ships from getting too close before they could get picked up by detection spells.

"This is Captain Star of the ERN Valour, welcome to the Orion Sector. We will escort you back to the Harmony. Stay in close formation; we had a few hostile sightings in the last weeks."

"This is shuttle 2537. Thank you for the warning, Valour," our pilot responded before moving the shuttle into formation.

The hostile he was referring to were likely some random pirates. While we are at war with a civilisation of machines that appeared in our corner of the galaxy around 100 years ago, they were taken care of at the edge of the equestrian-controlled space and only rarely seen. The biggest thing we would have to worry about were some of the more prominent griffon gangs that made their home in the asteroid fields around here, but we didn't transport anything of value that would attract them to us.

The copilot must have seen our confusion at being greeted in that manner and clarified, "Don't worry. This is standard procedure. Every ship approaching the Harmony has to be escorted."

I took every opportunity that presented itself to take a look at the fighters I would soon get to fly. After about ten more minutes, the Harmony came into view. The tiny speck in the distance getting bigger and bigger as we closed in on her. The first thing I noticed was the white glowing shield that protected the hangar. It was located in the front of the ship, right behind one of its massive Pegaus Drives used for decelerating the ship without the need to turn it around. Arranged around the Drive were her main armaments, four massive MAs. These capital ship versions could quickly destroy a ship the same size as the Harmony, and she had four of them. 'What could possibly require that much firepower?'

The section behind the hanger was covered in radiators. From what I've read, they somehow got rid of all the excess heat the ship generated and were vital to keeping the Magic Core running. They would usually reflect a lot of light, but these ones were somehow not. I suspect it was some kind of enchantment on them. The location we were heading for followed after that. It housed the main crew habitation and the bridge. At first, I was under the impression that we would land in the hangar, but instead, we were heading for one of the docking ports. I could barely take a glimpse at the back section of the ship, which housed the three main Pegasus Drives.

All in all, I could see the ship striking fear into its enemies. It had a practical look about it without any attempt to make it appealing to the eye. The name Harmony did absolutely not fit the ship.

The Captain of the Valour spoke up again as we closed in on the ship. "Harmony Flight Control will take over now, and again, welcome to our small task force. ERN Valour out."

This was followed immediately by another voice. "This is Harmony Flight Control. Prepare for automated docking to take over."

"Shuttle 2537 here. Instructions received. Switching controls over to autopilot. All Systems green on our end." The pilot pressed several buttons.

There was a short pause, and a few lights in the cockpit switched to green before a new message arrived. "Everything green on our end as well. Initiating automated docking."

After acknowledging the message, the pilot turned around to face us. "Hold on, this can get a bit bumpy sometimes."

We had to perform similar manoeuvres during simulator training a few times, but we never had an automated system helping us in case we had to perform a docking manoeuvre with a ship without power. It was always extremely bumpy, so I held tightly onto my seat, expecting the same. To my surprise, it was very smooth. Without the sound of air rushing into the airlock, I would have missed it, which makes you appreciate this automated guiding system. It was time to get up and see the Harmony.

We exited the shuttle through the airlock. Two security officers stood to either side as we set hoof onto the Harmony. They wore a yellow uniform with the name of the ship and their rank on it. They didn't check our bags or anything and only kept an eye on us while we exited the shuttle. A little further down the corridor stood two more ponies. The first one was a pegasus mare with a yellow coat and a fiery mane, Captain Spitfire, the best active pilot in all of Equestria. Her navy blue uniform with her rank and name on it confirmed that as well. I never got to look at the other pony, but I could see out of the corner of my eye that the rest of the ponies approached her. Before we even got to Spitfire, they had already vanished through one of the doors.

"Well, the engineers are efficient. I have to give them that," Lightning Blitz said. I never heard her give out compliments before. 'So it's just me she can't stand.'

Before I could reply, Spitfire approached us, and we saluted her. "You must be the newbies fresh out of the Academy." She was eyeing us for a moment, looking for any movement while we stood at attention. Our instructors had also done this but never looked as intimidating doing so. "Lightning Blitz!" Spitfire said, directing her gaze towards her while I kept my eyes forward. "Your results in the exams were exceptional, that's the reason you are here. I'm gonna remind you, though, that you're nothing special regarding the pilots on the Harmony. We all graduated with top marks; remember that your career has only begun."

"Yes, Ma'am, I will give it my all," she replied.

I knew Lightning Blitz was a good pilot, but I didn't believe she was good enough to be here. With Spitfire herself confirming her talent, I was a bit at a loss for words.

Spitfire nodded to her before she turned her attention to me, not even bothering to call me to attention. "I'm going to be blunt with you, Cadet Iridian Bolt. I understand why Admiral Twilight wants you on the ship, but I strongly disagree with her. Yes, you have talent. Yes, you could be one of the greatest pilots to ever exist, but you're a ticking time bomb, and that explosion could take half the ship with it. I don't need or want somepony like you in any of my Wings, but I will follow the Admiral's wishes and ensure you get the best training you could ever want." Her icy expression sent shivers down my spine. "Don't make me regret that decision."

Being told I would be one of the best pilots was a huge confidence boost. "Thank you, Ma'am, for giving me a chance. I will not disappoint you," I replied. She looked me over for a few more seconds before turning around and silently commanding us to follow her.

"The first stop on our tour will be the bridge. Admiral Twilight likes to meet her new pilots personally." That was somewhat of a shock. Back home, there were ponies worshipping these Alicorns; meeting one of them was the greatest honour one could receive, and we were going to casually see one of them. The short trip through the rather large corridor was otherwise uneventful, and we stepped inside a central lift.

"HAB 1 Bridge!" Spitfire said into a small console, and the door closed. The cabin we were in started to rumble as it began to move. "You will get a list with all the destinations the main lift can reach as well as a map of the layout of the Harmony. There will be no excuse for getting lost on your first day, understood?"

"Yes, Ma'am!" Lightning Blitz and I replayed.

"The PDA you will get is also capable of saving those things on it, so you don't have to carry around all that paper."

Spitfire was about to say something more but was interrupted by the doors opening. The sight that greeted us was the bridge of the Harmony. Magic displays could be seen everywhere with so much information on them I couldn't hope to understand even a fraction of it. There must have been twenty ponies in here, but I wasn't exactly counting. The pony that stood out from the rest, however, was the lavender Alicorn with an ever-moving dark indigo mane and tail with a pink and purple stripe running through it. Sitting in the middle of the room on a large chair, she was towering over everypony as she silently watched out the large observation window that spanned the entire length of the bridge. Her elegant horn would make every unicorn green with envy, and her wings, if she would fully spread them out, could hide a pony if she wanted to. She radiated magical power and authority. This was indeed one of the four existing Alicorns, the strongest beings in existence. In ancient times, they ruled Equestria; nowadays, they acted as generals, advisors or diplomats while Equestria was ruled by an elected Queen and a counsel of different races.

"Relax you two. This is just a casual meet and greet. No need for all this formality," Spitfire said. We set down into our rest position, not daring to do anything else. Spitfire snorted and shook her head. "Loosen up already." We didn't dare to move, too shocked by the Alicorn in front of us. No story told about them could do them justice. "Hey, Twilight, I've got the new pilots with me."

'What's going on? How can Spitfire just talk to the Admiral like this?' I was sure somepony would start jelling at the Captain for the way she addressed the Admiral, but to my and from the look of it Lightning Blitzes surprise, Twilight turned her head in our direction and smiled at us. It was the friendliest smile I have ever seen.

"Hey Spitfire right on time, good." She got up from her chair. "Follow me."

"Let's go, you two!" Spitfires ordered after turning her attention back to us. We followed them into a room on the left side of the bridge. It was a small meeting room with a large desk in the centre; everything else was pretty plain. There was a plant in one corner and a picture of Harmony on the far wall, nothing more.

The Admiral took her place on the other side of the desk while Spitfire sat down on one of the cushions without the Admiral giving her permission; she even motioned for us to do the same. We were too shocked to move. If I hadn't known any better, I would have assumed they were close friends or something like that, not an officer and his superior. "Take a seat!" Spitfire said more insistent and managed to snap us out of our shock. Hesitantly, we obeyed, looking at the Admiral for confirmation.

She nodded and spoke up." Nice to meet you two. Can you tell me your names?"

"Ensign Iridian Bolt Ma'am. It's an honour to meet you." 'Was that a small frown?'

"Ensign Lightning Blitz, Ma'am."

The Admiral looked a little sad now. "This is just a small meet and greet. We are not in any official meeting, and I want to meet the new ponies on my ship, not some military facade. As such, I would prefer it if you address me by my first name. It is just Twilight, and I would prefer it if I could address you this way as well." We slowly nodded. No matter what your superior officer wanted, you did as you were told. That's the golden rule we learned in the Academy. "Good, I have heard a lot of good things about you. Spitfire will make sure you fit in. I know she has a lot planned for the tour. As such, I won't hold you any longer. And let me welcome you onboard my ship."

"Thank you, Ma'am," we responded. We both winced at her expression. Addressing her with her first time was going to take some time to get used to.

"That needs some more work," she turned her head back to Spitfire. "I will see you later."

"Yes, Twilight, meeting at 1800, I won't miss it," she said. Standing up again, she moved towards the door with us in tow. "We're off now, until then." This experience still felt surreal. Moving back through the bridge, we entered the lift again, ready for our next destination.

"Hanger mess hall!" Spitfire prompted, and the lift began to move again. "Before we start this tour, we should get something to eat, and yes, I know you are curious why Admiral Twilight acts like she does. I could tell you but if you want to know you have to ask her yourself. You better get used to this."

We both looked at her questioningly. 'I wonder if the other Alicorns act the same.' Exiting the lift, I could already smell the food that was served there. It smelled good, unlike the cheap stuff we got back in training.

"This is the mess hall for the hanger crew and pilots. It isn't that big, but you should find a free seat if you keep to your shift. It can get crowded at times, but you'll figure it out fast enough." Spitfire motioned with one of her wings to the other side of the room where the food was served. "Grab something to eat. I will wait for you over there at the table." She pointed to one of the empty tables to the left and moved towards it.

Moving forward, I looked at the food. There was a variety to choose from, from fruit to hay fries. After picking up a few things, we moved back to Spitfire.

As soon as we were seated, she continued telling us about her tour plan. "After you're done eating, we'll pick up your dress uniform, flight suit and personal firearm." From the look of it, it wasn't required to wear the uniform all the time. Most of the ponies we encountered on our way here didn't wear anything.

We continued eating and listened to her. "Next will be your quarters. You can drop off your bags there, and then I'll show you the rest of the area. Just a heads up for when you explore the rest of the ship. While you do have access to all of the ship, the engineering teams don't like it when somepony pokes their head into their departments unsupervised. If you want to take a look inside, ask one of them to give you a tour."

"Yes, Ma'am!"

We continued to eat in silence after that, Spitfire watching us all the while. It felt strange having her watch us like that, but I managed. After finishing my food and returning the empty plate, we continued our tour with the armoury that was right next door. The small room had all sorts of lockers in it, a small desk in the middle, and multiple doors leading to other rooms. The pony working here had a fire-red coat with a silvery mane. He was pretty muscular, even for an earthpony.

"Hey, Key. Got two new pilots for you," Spitfire called out to him.

He slowly turned around, clearly not in any hurry. "Name!" He asked us.

Lightning Blitz beat me to it and spoke up first. "Ensign Lightning Blitz, Sir."

He made no expression that would tell us he heard her. He went through a few folders and pulled one of them out of the stack.

After that, he turned to me. "Ensign Iridian Bolt, Sir."

He repeated the same thing, slowly taking the second folder out of the stack. After slowly checking both contents, he made his way to one of the lockers on the far side of the room. With practised precision, he took two of the uniforms - they looked identical to the one Spitfire wore - and hoofed them over to us. He went to the next set of lockers, this time using a key to open them and pulled two flight suits out. It was primarily black with a few blue stripes running through it. I could see my name on one of them but no rank. From the look of it, it would cover nearly all of my body the same way the Academy flight suits did.

"Be careful with this one. It's worth more bits than you make in a year. I recommend you wear it most of the time in the next week. Make sure it fits perfectly. If anything is wrong with it, come back to me," he said in his deep, booming voice.

He made no attempt to explain anything, so Spitfire stepped in. "It has a small magic charge on it. It will provide a small personal shield that protects you in case of a fire or when you eject from your ship. It won't last very long, but it has saved numerous pilots before. Your quarter has a dedicated spot to store the suit to keep this charge topped off."

With a nod, Locked Key, that was what the nameplate on his desk said, moved to the next locker. This one was next to the door and, unlike the other two, was locked with a magical combination lock. With the speed of a tortoise, he pulled two firearms and the necessary holster out of it before closing the locker again. Firearms like this were used as emergency self-defence weapons. The holster would allow the weapon to rest near the left shoulder, easily accessible by hoof or wing. The crystal inside would only hold enough magic for five shots before it had to be recharged.

When it came to combat, we pegasi were pretty useless. Sure, we could fly on our own, but a unicorn could easily blow us out of the sky and block the weak magic of our firearms. Getting into a hoof-to-hoof fight with an earth pony was a sure way to land in the medical wing with every bone in your body broken. But put us into a cockpit, and we were the best.

With a quick salute, we exited the armoury and returned to the central lift.

Spitfire addressed us again. "Let's get that stuff to your quarters. Let's see..." She took a look at her PDA, trying to find something on the ship map. "H-HAB 3-2." The lift began to move. "If you want, you can ask the Admiral or Vice Admiral to register your name. Makes it easier for you to remember the location of your quarter or for somepony to find you."

It was only a short trip before we exited the lift again. After orienting herself, Spitfire looked at me and pointed toward one corridor. “Your quarter is down this hall, third door on the right. We will wait for you here."

"Yes, Ma'am, I'll be back shortly." With a quick salute, I was off. My quarter was nothing special, a bed in the corner, a small desk and a wardrobe for my uniform, but I had it all to myself. Next to the door was a locker with the same magical lock I saw in the armoury. I tried to open it, fully expecting it to be locked, but it swung open.

A small note was pinned to the back of it: "Keep flight suit and firearm inside and locked at all times unless you wear them. To engage the lock, put in your preferred combination and press the button next to it. The combination will be saved after that. In case you forget your combination, report to the quartermaster."

I put my firearm inside and entered my combination. After that, I put away my uniform and got ready to put on my flight suit. 'Might as well start wearing it as soon as possible like Locked Key suggested.'

I entered my personal bathroom through a small door next to the desk. It was super cramped, with a small shower, toilet, and sink, a small shelf under it, and a mirror at eye level.

'Definitely not enough room in here to get changed.' After moving back into the main room, I put on my flight suit. It was very formfitting, only exposing my head, shoulders, wings and hoofs. After ensuring everything fit, I returned to Spitfire and Lightning Blitz.

"H-HAB 4-1." Spitfire looked me over after the lift started moving. "Looking good. Make sure to do some exercise in it, too. If you feel it rubbing too much, it needs to be adjusted. We also have to make sure the enchantment works correctly at some point." We had already arrived at our location before she could finish. "Your quarter is down there, fourth door on the left." She pointed towards one of the corridors. With Lightning Blitz away, Spitfire turned to me again.

"I want to make one thing perfectly clear, Ensign." From the look she gave me, she was unhappy with me being on board the ship. She looked angry and was only short of snarling at me. "If you step one hoof out of line, I will kick you out of here faster than you can blink. When it comes to the safety of my pilots, I do not take any chances. Are we understood?"

Not wanting to give her that reason right away, I saluted. "Yes, Ma'am."

"And another thing, Ensign," she fixed me with a disapproving glare. "Lightning Blitz told me about your rivalry. If I see you arguing, I will kick you both out. You are Wingponies, and you will get along, am I understood?"

"Yes, Ma'am!" I could tell she had already chosen her favourite, better not give her any reason to get rid of me right away.

After Lightning Blitz returned, we took a quick look at the training rooms. It was what I expected with exercise equipment of all forms. If I had a guess, there was space for twenty ponies in her, a few already working out. They all burst out laughing when Spitfire decided it was a good idea to set us on fire. I had no idea how she did it, but Lightning Blitz and I were on fire for nearly a minute before she extinguished the flames. We continued without any explanation on her part. The next stop was the flight simulator. A lot of my training would take place here to get used to the new fighters.

The last location was the hangar itself. Instead of taking the lift, we took a short flight through the ship's central corridor. It was big enough to let pegasi fly without the fear of hitting other ponies walking inside it. The entrance was on the top in order to not disrupt operations inside, giving us a fantastic view of all the things going on in there; the corridor continued on the ceiling of the hanger with a few platforms moving up and down in order to get to the ground floor.

We just stood there for a while, looking at the scene in front of us. Ships were moving around on movable platforms all over, mechanics fixing and maintaining equipment and I could see five other pilots dressed in their flight suits getting ready, probably going on patrol. After a short time, Spitfire took off again and flew down with us following right behind her.

"Make sure not to fly too far away from the central walkway if you want to get up or down. Or just grab one of the platforms if you feel too lazy to fly yourself," Spitfire said warningly.

Touching down, we took a short walk toward one of the mechanics working at one of the fighters. He was a brown unicorn with a greyish mane and tail. I couldn't see his cutie mark because he was wearing some kind of blue overall covering most of his body.

Gesturing towards him, Spitfire continued, "This is Drive Shaft. He is one of the Senior Mechanics and is in charge of maintenance for your Wing." She turned back to us after he looked in our direction. "These two are the new pilots, Lightning Blitz and Iridian Bolt."

"Hi," was all he said before glancing back to the fighter he was working on.

"He doesn't talk much, but his work is always top-notch. I leave you in his capable hoofs for now. See you around," Spitfire added, leaving us alone with him after we gave her a salute.

We watched Drive Shaft work for a few more minutes before he levitated his tools away and turned towards us. He appeared to be deep in thought for a moment before addressing us. "I have to give you an overview of the Hurricane." He tapped his chin with a hoof. "Let's see. How familiar are you with it already?"

"We trained on the MKI version. And I got to see the MKII in action during my exam," I answered swiftly.

"Yeah, whatever. Just tell yourself that," Lightning Blitz quipped. She made no attempt at hiding the fact she didn't like me.

"Could you please stop arguing? I can go over the differences between those two ships," came Drive Shaft's meek voice. Looking at him, his drooped ears and sad look stopped any desire to continue arguing with Lightning Blitz.

Having our full attention, he continued. "OK, well. The biggest difference is that the MKII has its own MC. You might have noticed that we don't have any of that old-school fuel around. The standard Speed of the MKII is about 60% higher, and the increased available magic allowed them to fit a small SG as well. Power output of its two MAs is about the same. Oh, and it can utilise your own magic thanks to the PD to boost speed and manoeuvrability." His shy nature was completely gone when it came to explaining his work.

He looked at our confused expressions, giving us a little smile as he shook his head. "It uses a Magic Core instead of the old fuel the MKI uses, has a small Shield Generator, and uses the Pegasus Drive for propulsion," he explained. I'm sorry, I can get carried away sometimes."

"Is that how Fire Streak managed to pull these insane speeds during my exam?" I asked.

"Yes. You should be able to double your speed for a short time. The flight simulators onboard can simulate this, too. From what I heard, it can be quite tiring, though. If you're out there flying and something seems off to you, make sure to tell me. You get assigned your own ship, and I like to ensure all the settings are custom-fitted to you."

I was only half-listening to his explanations; something else was far more interesting. Not far from us stood a fighter with flames covering its wing. It had some other subtle differences I could make out, but I was not sure what their purpose would be. I pointed at it and addressed Drive Shaft. "Can we get a custom paint job like that, too?"

He looked at where I was pointing and answered while shaking his head. "No. These ships are reserved for the Wonderbolt Wing. This one is Captain Spitfires. They are heavily modified to allow them to use more of their magic. We have to restrict that sort of thing to the best pilots we have because the amount of work that goes into it is many times higher than a standard fighter."

He returned to his own thoughts for a few seconds, giving me the chance to let his explanation sink in. 'I can have one of these as well if I show them how awesome I am.'

"OK, the last thing I have to do is go over the rules here." He pointed towards something. "See that yellow line over there and there?" I looked at it and nodded. Seeing that, he continued, "Everything beyond that is off-limits. It's too dangerous to move there with all the fighters moving around or coming in for a landing. You can fly around the hangar as long as you stay away from there. Always make sure you're not in the way of the mechanics. What a mechanic says goes. Even the enlisted crewmembers outrank you regarding the work we do here. Chief Mechanic Solid Steel will chew you out if you're in the way of our work."

He thought about something again, slowly tapping a hoof to his chin. "That should be everything important that I can think of for now. I would show you your ships, but we are still working on them." Having finished the tour, he got back to work.

Lightning Blitz and I stood there for a few more minutes, taking in the sight of the hangar and the fighters. Checking my PDA for the schedule, I noticed that I still had two more hours to kill before meeting the rest of the Wing.

"Listen, Crash. I don't like you. I'm not sure that will ever change. But I had a little talk with Captain Spitfire while we were waiting for you." She let out a sigh. "As long as you don't do anything stupid, I will leave you alone, and I promised not to talk about you to the other ponies here. But," she fixed me with a determinant expression. "If you start boasting about every little thing again and look down upon the rest of us who had to work hard for a spot on this ship, let's just say Spitfire promised me she would throw you out of the next airlock if you do that," Lightning Blitz said.

'Here we go again. Why can't she just shut up.' "You could call me by my real name, for starters. And I worked as hard as anypony else here," I snarled at her.

"Respect is something you have to earn from me, and you have no idea how gifted you are. What you pull off with ease takes us normal ponies months to learn. And what do you do with that gift? Rub it into our coats and drag us down. Captain Spitfire is right; you're a ticking time bomb. Let's hope she can defuse you before it's too late."

With that, she simply left, leaving me standing there with my own thoughts. 'Whatever, I have Admiral Twilight on my side. She thinks I'm going to be the greatest pilot ever. It's not my fault the others can't keep up.'

I took the time left to look around some more and make sure I knew where everything was. I also registered my name to the central lift system and had a look around the rest of the ship.

Chapter 1: Academy (Revised)

Author's Note

With the many spelling and grammar mistakes in the story, I sat down to fix the mess that was the first chapter of my first story here on the site for those of you who still want to read it. I'll put a (revised) into the chapter titles of those chapters I already fixed. Enjoy the now readable story.
Revised 03. Jan. 2025

Chapter 1: Academy (Revised)

"Why do they have to..." I was hitting the punching bag again. "Make us do these stupid tests." Another hit echoed through the training room of the Royal United Equestrian Navy Academy, RENA for short, or as everypony else simply calls it, the Academy. It was the largest and most prestigious of its kind, bringing forth some of the most accomplished pilots Equestria has ever seen. My name is Iridian Bolt, and I was one of these aspiring pilots.

Earlier this morning, we received our results for the latest theory test we performed, and I failed miserably. Giving the bag another one-two punch to vent my frustration, I lost my balance, dropping back to all fours again. As a pegasus pony, I was usually quite proficient in holding my balance on two legs thanks to my wings, but I was pushing myself too hard. Sweat was already running down my orange coat, and my rainbow mane, a family trait, constantly got in my eyes, making me even angrier at my failure. 'This is an easy exercise; I shouldn't struggle this hard with it.'

Making my way to one of the benches, the one with my bottle on it, I stopped and took a long gulp of water. The physical requirements to become a pilot were already high enough, but I wanted to be at the top of the list. I moved to one of the treadmills to begin my next workout, starting out with a slow trot and gradually increasing it to a fast gallop.

"All these theory tests are just so stupid. Why do all this when everypony knows I'm already the best at this," I muttered to myself.

A loud bang made me trip and fall down. "Looks like Crash is at it again." I already knew who was making fun of me without looking up; Lightning Blitz had been the thorn in my side since day one. It didn't help that her cutie mark was a literal depiction of a fighter, making her ego that much more unbearable.

Getting up onto my hoofs, I turned in her direction. The bluish-green mare before me smiled mockingly as she flipped her long purple mane to the side. "A few friends of mine and I have a little wager going. Care to take a guess what it's about?" She said in the most condescending voice I had ever heard.

"No, and I don't care," I snarled, trying to ignore her. "Now get lost!"

She wasn't budging and pretended to not have heard me. "It's about how often you will crash your fighter during our next training. A few even think you're gonna wreck the simulator this time."

I usually tried to ignore her when she threw insults at me, but I couldn't take it anymore. Turning around, I got muzzle-to-muzzle with her. "Well, guess what. I already broke more records than you ever will, so just buck off and leave me alone!" I returned to my bag, picked it up with a wing and exited the room. "Whatever, I'm done with training anyway."

It was not worth fighting with her about it. Finals were in two weeks, and after that, I never had to see her again. With my flight skills, I would definitely get to serve onboard one of the 'Alicorn Ships.' These were the greatest honour a new pilot could receive, each under the command of one of Equestria's alicorns and acting as our flagships, symbolizing the might of our navy for all to see.

'I should take a shower and a quick nap after,' I thought to myself after giving my coat a small sniff. There was nothing else to do anyway before the last theory class.

My shower took longer than I thought. I could barely keep myself awake during this mind-numbing lecture without a nap. The instructor went over everything we knew already and was wasting our time. Looking around, I could see at least five other Cadets asleep.

"Captain Fire Streak will have your options ready for you. You will be called into his office to choose what post you want to be stationed at."

The instructor in front of the class showed us a folder with the name of a ship. "You are expected to serve in that position for at least two years before any transfer request can be granted."

'Yes, sleep does sound great right now.'

I already knew all this and had to be ready for my more critical flight training later that day. It was the last training day before the exams, the last chance for me to break a few records.

I must have dozed off because the instructor was about to finish the lecture when I opened my eyes next. "Your next assignment is to report to the south side hangar for your last flight practice. For those of you who have slept through my class, I will ensure the committee will deduct a few points from your test scores." That's what he was always telling us. He couldn't actually do that. It was just his way of trying to motivate us. It never worked. "Class dismissed!" We saluted in unison and left the lecture hall.

The long walk to the other side of the Academy wasn't that exciting either. Lightning Blitz was giving me her usual looks. I never understood why they couldn't allow us to fly over there. We are all pegasi, after all.

The smell of oil and magic-infused fuel was the first sign that we were close. The hanger was located on the south side of the mountain the Academy was built on, with the runway stretching all the way to the north. I didn't pay too much attention during history class, but I recall them mentioning that the Academy Complex was over two thousand years old and was used by a Pegasi stunt team in the past.

We entered the hangar, and I had a clear view of my training ship, the Hurricane MK I fighter. Mechanics moved around, making last-minute adjustments and refuelling the tanks.

It was not in active use anymore, replaced by the newer MKII, but it handled very similarly. The most significant difference between them was the Magic Core, which made the fuel the MKI used obsolete. The weapons we used were different, too. Instead of the two Magic Accelerators, or MAs for short, the Hurricane usually had mounted on either side of the cockpit; these training ships had smaller weapons that only left a trace of magic on the target that could be tracked by the eggheads at Ground Control. It was a way to count our 'kills' during training, with the record standing at 8 'kills' held by none other than me.

"Listen up, Cadets!" We moved into an orderly line, stood at attention and saluted our flight instructor. They never bothered giving us a schedule in order to keep us on your hoofs. It meant every training would be a surprise, just like a mission in reality would be. "Today's exercise will involve a fight between two full Wings."

A Wing consisted of five fighters, with one of them taking on the role of Wingleader. Our instructor reviewed some more training details, but I tuned most of them out; we had already heard this a million times.

"The Goal of this exercise is NOT to eliminate the most opponents." I rolled my eyes. They always told us that, but in the end, it came down to who won and how many kills you got. That's what the records showed. My spirit was high, and I was ready to prove myself. "Looks like another fight in atmosphere. Why can't we do a fight in orbit for once." I thought to myself, longing for a more challenging and dangerous mission.

The Hurricane was capable of flight in space, and after I got my position on a spaceship, that was where I would spend most of my time. Sure, we took a few orbital flight lessons, but they seemed inadequate, in my opinion. Even the simulator training was mostly done in atmosphere.

"Wingleader for Wing one will be Cadet Lightning Blitz!" Our instructor took a quick look over the other Cadets. "Wingleader of Wing two, Cadet Iridian Bolt!" I stepped forward and saluted.

The distribution of the rest of the cadets went by without me paying much attention. My mind was set on being able to put Lightning Blitz in her place for once. If I had to, I would take on her Wing on my own. "Everypony, get to your fighter and get ready for take-off!"

Relaxing my stance, I walked to my assigned fighter and took a seat in my cockpit. Until now, I hadn't taken a look at my Wingponies. 'Could have gotten worse ponies for My Wing.' I thought after looking them over. I was getting ready for take-off, going through my pre-flight checklist and ensuring I was correctly strapped in. I'm not into making checklists but this one was important. One small thing wrong with the fighter could end up with me dead.

One of the mechanics checked me over as well, making extra sure I did everything correctly. Since our final exams were so close, the other cadets and I were able to do this ourselves, but this was part of protocol to ensure our safety.

'What call sign should I give my Wing? Let's just keep it simple.' This was a bonus of being the Wingleader. I could create my own call sign for this mission. Tapping a small crystal, I opened the communication with my Wing. "This is Red leader. Communication check!”

"This is Red one check." Communication was clear, and I could hear my Wing acknowledging my order.

"We have green light for take-off. Once you're in the air, get into formation immediately. I won't tolerate any slowpokes out there." As I rolled onto the runway, I waited for everyone to position themselves before initiating my take-off.

'How did she... I can't believe it, I lost.' I was alone with my thoughts for the moment. My Wingponies did so terribly that Lightning Blitz was able to hit me. 'And that smug face of hers.'

"Cadet Iridian Bolt, a word, please." I approached our flight instructor and stood to attention. "Why did you abandon your Wing up there?”

"Sir, I believed it was the most strategic move to eliminate the enemy Wingleader as swiftly as possible." I wasn't about to reveal my true motivation to show Lightning Blitz how much better I was than her.

"I know you two can't stand each other. But you have to think about your Wingponies first. It is the top priority of a leader to keep them safe. Now get going; you have the time off until your final exam.”

I saluted him, my defiance simmering beneath the surface. 'They can say what they want. I'm still at the top of every list. They wouldn't put me there if they thought I was wrong.' I turned and walked back into the barracks, heading straight for the showers.

Two weeks went by painfully slowly. It did catch me off guard when they dragged us out of bed without any food to take the simulator exam, but I managed it just fine.

The scenario itself was designed to be unwinnable. They wanted to test our reactions in a situation where victory seemed impossible. In a real battle, there's always the chance you won't make it home, but this was just a simulated flight. It wasn't fair to test us against something like this. Yet, I managed to impress them with the number of enemy 'kills' I scored, showing them that despite overwhelming odds, I was determined to succeed.

"Final day, you got it, Ace; knock them off their hoofs." I was standing in my room, giving myself a final pep talk. The written exam would be held in twenty minutes. Checking my uniform one last time, I decided to go over to the mess hall for a quick bite to eat. It was surprisingly empty, with everypony doing some last-minute studying.

"Five minutes, let's get this over with. I'm already pumped for the flight test." I exited the classroom with a good feeling. The questions were not that difficult, and I finished well within the time limit.

Our group was heading to the southern hangar again, where we would take the flight exam. One of our flight instructors was already waiting for us, and we lined up in front of her. "Listen up, Cadets! Your final test will be simple. You will be put into a full Wing with the goal to hold out as long as possible against one of the senior instructors who will try to shoot you down."

'Just my luck, this exam is with a full Wing. I hope they don't slow me down too much. If the last training was any indication, they will be the reason I fail this test.'

The instructor stopped in front of me. "Cadet Iridian Bolt, you will be the Wingleader of the first group."

"Yes, Ma'am," I replied quickly and saluted. After picking four other Cadets to join my Wing, she waved us over to the fighters to prepare for take-off.

Getting the opportunity to shoot down one of the senior instructors could show them how good a pilot I was. This was my chance to prove myself. My ship was a bit to the side of the rest, allowing me to hear our instructor communicating with somepony. "Captain Fire Streak, the Cadets are about to get into the air. Ground Control cleared you to engage them as soon as they are up there."

I was pretty sure I was not supposed to hear that, but this was big. Captain Fire Streak was one of the greatest pilots Equestria had ever seen, and even though he retired to take over as head of the Academy, his skill was still legendary. I didn't know if facing him was exciting or terrifying, but it was a chance of a lifetime. It wasn't long after that we got into the air.

"Maintain close formation and keep an eye out for our enemy." My Order was met with a "Yes, Ma'am" from my Wingponies. I chose not to tell them who our opponent was; it would just mess with their confidence if they knew. We flew in a large circle around the Academy, waiting for Fire Streak to make his moves.

"I see something, approaching fast from above 3 o'clock." One of my Wingponies called out. Looking in that direction, I could see him as well.

"Affirmative, fan out and prepare to engage." It would take us a few seconds to get into range, a last chance to take a deep breath and calm myself.

"She's faster than should be possible. That thing moves at least two times faster than our fighters could." Red Three, if I remember correctly, called out. He didn't sound very confident, so I ignored his comment about the speed.

"Keep focused; this is what we trained for. I will try to get behind him, Red four, you're with me. The rest of you will try to slow him down." They confirmed my orders and took position.

Fire Streak was keeping his distance and biding his time. He was waiting for something, but I was not about to give him time to pick the perfect time to attack.

Red Four and I moved around him, trying to attack him from two different directions. That was when Fire Streak accelerated fast. "Red Two here taking fire. She's way too fast; I can't shake her. I need help." She sounded terrified. 'She is getting shot at with training rounds. Nothing is going to happen to her.'

"I'm close. Hold on." That was Red Three again. They were starting to panic. 'How did they make it this far into training when they can't keep a cool head.' Time to end this; now was the perfect time to attack with Fire Streak distracted. I saw the magic rounds impacting Red Two, putting her out of the fight. 'Come on, just a little closer.'

He accelerated just as I was in range. I could not keep up, but I got a good look at his fighter. "He's not flying one of our training ships. Looks like it's a modified version of a MKII Hurricane," I called out.

We were at a considerable disadvantage. I didn't know the differences between those ships, but we were outclassed heavily by the looks of it. Fire Streak accelerated faster and was more manoeuvrable than us.

"She's back at 10 o'clock low." I heard Red one say.

"OK, same thing again. I nearly had him last time. Focus on staying out of line of fire." With Red One and Three keeping him occupied again, I was able to get a good angle on Fire Streak. Pulling the trigger sent a salvo of magic projectiles at him. He managed to evade just in time, and my first and second salvo completely missed the mark, but I managed to clip his wings with the third.

"This is Control: Enemy Shields at 73%, " said a voice from my fighter's communication crystal.

"What! That thing has shields? How is that a fair fight?" I couldn't help but voice my frustration. How were we supposed to win against an opponent with such a significant advantage?

"This is Red Three, I'm hit; minor damage." That got me thinking straight again; there was no time to dwell on it. I still had three Wingponies with me. I was grateful that the magic the training weapons fired could be tracked so precisely by Ground Control. It meant a hit was not guaranteed to put you out of the fight. "Hit again, I'm out."

I was expecting Captain Fire Streak to just take off again and put some distance between us, but he stood his ground to go after Red One. 'You'renot going to get away this time.' I gritted my teeth and lined up my attack, shooting my weapons again. Time slowed, and I could see the magic race across the sky. Moments later, it impacted on his shield. Unfortunately, he also managed to disable Red One at the same time, leaving just me and Red Four in the fight.

"This is Control: Enemy Shields at 28%."

I managed to take a good chunk off it, but now, with no more distractions, we would be unable to keep up with him; he was already too far away to engage him. Something was different this time, though. Before, he circled around us out of reach to get a good firing angle on us, but now.

He was preparing for a head-to-head engagement. 'Why would he do something we were told never to do?' "Red Four, do you have any idea why he is not engaging us in a dogfight? He's just using hit-and-run tactics."

"Yes, Red Leader, Her ship is much faster than ours. She's out of range before we can react properly to it. I don't see a way of winning with just the two of us."

I had a plan - a terrible plan, but a plan. "Next time he attacks, we will face him head-on."

"Are you crazy?" came the expected reply, but we had nothing to lose at this point.

"He's an instructor. He won't expect us to do something they told us not to do. It will throw him off, giving us a chance to finish him off."

There was a short pause before Red Four replied. "For the record, I still think you are crazy. Let's do it."

We held our position the same way we did during the rest of the fight to keep our plan from being revealed. When he finally came for us again, we turned to face him head-on. It didn't have the desired effect, and he just kept his course.

After all this action, I forgot that his weapons had longer ranges than ours, too. Our plan was short-lived when he opened fire at us well beyond our maximum range. Red four was hit almost immediately, and my attempts at avoiding his fire didn't last long. I was able to get some shots out myself, but I didn't manage to go through his shield before taking hits myself. With that, our test was over.

Back on the ground, I could already see the flight instructor approaching me. "Cadet Iridian Bolt, tell me about the plan you had."

I stood to attention before answering her. "I was not aware of how much we would be outclassed by our enemy. That is why I ordered three of my Wingponies to be the distraction while we tried to pin our opponent in.” This was the right call to make; I was sure of that.

"You were aware that your opponent would be Captain Fire Streak, one of Equestria's best pilots. Tell me, what could you have done differently?" 'So they did tell me who we were fighting against on purpose.' It was just another way of testing me.

"If this were a real battle, I would have tried to disengage or call for backup. Our chance of winning was almost non-existent. Our objective for this test was to try to shoot him down, that is what I tried to achieve," I stated confidently.

She looked at me, somewhat disappointed. "You clearly missed the point that these mock battles should be taken seriously as if they were real. But I have to give it to you; you gave us quite the show up there, and the other Cadets praised you for your leadership skills. I have to agree with them on that. You stayed cool under pressure, reassured them and tried to find a way out of the situation. I don't like the way you used your Wingponies as cannon fodder, though."

There it was again. Always that 'as if real' talk, but then they score us on our performance anyway. They should make up their mind. I just had to tell her what she wanted to hear. “Thank you, Ma'am. I would not have made that call if I knew what I was up against. I was under the impression that they would be able to hold out long enough for me and Red Four to finish off our enemy."

I could see it on her face; she was pleased with my answer. "That is all. It will take a few weeks to gather all the possible postings available for you. We will inform you when the time to pick one has come. You are dismissed for now."

"Yes, Ma'am," I replied. The exam was finally over. No more studying, no more training. I would be a full-fledged pilot. All that was left was to enjoy the downtime and wait for my results. I could already picture the giant stack of folders on Captain Fire Streak's desk when he called me into his office and hoofed me the folder of the 'Alicorn Ships.'

If I had to pick one of them, it would be the 'Celestial Hammer.' You could always see her in the newspapers defending merchant ships from pirate attacks. There were stories about her exiting hyperspace and lighting up everything around her with beams of pure sunlight, destroying everything in her path. It was a shame they didn't use any fighters.

The 'Dreamwalker' would be a solid pick too. That ship was one big mystery, and nothing was known about her other than her large changeling crew. I had seen a few pictures of it, and its impressive fighter count was the only thing of note.

The third option would be the 'Harmony'. 'What a lame name for a ship that is supposed to be powerful enough to rip apart any ship.' The thought of not getting at least one request from one of these ships never crossed my mind for the next three weeks.

My day began with a massage on my PDA, a small device worn on a front leg that served as a communication and information tool. It was capable of receiving messages and other important notifications, such as orders to report to Captain Fire Streak. After getting out of bed and taking a short shower, I put on my uniform and made my way to his office. Making a Captain wait was not something I wanted to try.

Checking my uniform for the last time, I knocked on the door and waited for his reply. A loud "Enter!" could be heard from the other side. Stepping inside, I stood to attention and brought my left hoof to a salute. Fire Streak eyed me for a moment before I announced myself. "Cadet Iridian Bolt reporting as ordered, sir."

"At easy Cadet." I settled into my rest position. It always amused me that the rest position was us just sitting down and keeping our back as straight as possible with our front legs close together in front of us.

"I have good and bad news for you, Cadet." I could see him pulling out a small stack of folders from one of his drawers. "These are all the ships requesting your transfer to them. They range from patrol ships to some larger destroyers in the defence fleet. Nothing special. Most of them don't like it that you tend to take unnecessary risks, and your skill isn't going to change their opinion of you." He let out a short breath and looked me straight in the eyes. "I have to agree with their assessment.”

That couldn't be the truth, could it? All those were just small, insignificant positions on small and insignificant ships. They took everypony who graduated.

What he did next was a far greater shock, though. He took the folders and threw them into the trash bin next to his desk, then pulled a new folder from his desk. Seeing what was written on it made my heart stop, and I only just managed to avoid falling over.

ERN Harmony

I didn't expect that. I was ready to work even harder to get a better position, but this changed everything.

"This came from Admiral Twilight Sparkle herself. She made it clear that you had no say in the matter. It is the Harmony or nothing."

The Harmony. Twilight Sparkle personally wanted me there. I was not sure how to respond to that, so my only response was a shaky "Thank you, Sir."

He quickly responded. "Don't thank me yet. While I have to agree with the Admiral that the Harmony could be a great opportunity for you, the officer in charge of you will be Captain Spitfire." I had heard of that name before but was unsure how to place it. "With her in charge, you will either break and be sent back or become a great pilot. There will be nothing in between." He continued.

I remembered the name now. She was known as the leader of the famous Wonderbolts. An elite Wing of the best pilots in all of Equestria. Fire Streak continued his speech. "I would have liked to put you on a smaller ship first in order for you to get a feel for the military life. We can use reckless pilots, but a broken spirit is useless to us. Are you willing to take that risk?"

There was only one choice for me. "Yes, Sir. I would never forgive myself for not at least trying."

He was eyeing me again, making sure I truly meant what I said. “Good. One last piece of advice: If you want to make it through all this, you need to leave that big ego behind. You might be skilled, but there is far more to being a pilot than you think. Take the folder and familiarise yourself with it. I hope to hear great things about you. Dismissed.”

I took the folder under my wing and saluted before exiting the office. After closing the door, I let out a heavy sigh. My dream came true: a pilot position on one of the 'Alicorn Ships.' Even though I would be new, the position alone would make me famous. All that was left was to study the folder and wait for a shuttle to take me to the ship. My hard training was finally rewarded.

'I should see how Lightning Blitz is doing. The look on her face when she sees this is going to be priceless.' I decided against it. I would not stoop down to her level.

Getting back to my room did not take me long. My roommate was out in the training room at the moment, giving me some needed privacy. I liked him well enough, and we did spend some time together unwinding from time to time, but I was looking forward to getting my own quarter. That was a luxury granted to us for spending most of our time away from civilisation.

I sat on my bed, opened the folder in front of me, and began reading. "The Harmony is part of a small group of ships, two destroyers of the Honour Class, a supply ship and the Harmony herself. Let's see here... Classified as 'Capital Assault Carrier.' Wow, that's a mouth full.”

I skimmed through the technical descriptions. I wasn't that interested in the Harmony itself and wanted to know who I would be flying with and what fighter I would fly.

"Ah, here we are. Wingleader is going to be Lieutenant High Flyer. Let's hope the LT isn't some high-strung officer like her name suggests." Continuing to read, I got the names of the two Lieutenant Junior Grades of my new Wing, Strafe Run and Dark Wisp. The other Wing pony took me by surprise, however. “Lightning Blitz," I growled. 'What! She got on the Harmony as well and is one of my Wingponies. Great, just great. Let's just hope the rest of the team puts a stop to her insults.' I knew she was a good pilot, but I didn't think she would get a position on one of the big three.

After that short freakout, I continued to read, "Our commanding officer will be Lieutenant Commander Sky Dagger."

Skimming through the folder again, I tried to figure out what I would get to fly. "Ah, here we go. It's gonna be the MKII Hurricane. I expected that." I flipped through a few pages and hummed to myself. "No details. They will tell us about it during our training on the Harmony." More training. I was not looking forward to it. With our lack of experience with the MKII, it was necessary to get more instructions.

The following section piqued my interest. "The Harmony is the only Ship capable of teleporting its fighters directly into combat thanks to Admiral Twilight Sparkle's unique Magic." I knew the Alicorns possessed incredibly powerful magic, but teleportation? That was something impossible for ponies. To my knowledge, only changelings had the ability to move short distances through magically created portals.

After finishing my reading, I tried to relax for a bit. The shuttle would arrive in four days to pick us up. Until then, I had nothing else to do. I could have another roll in the hay with my roommate as a way to say goodbye. 'Why couldn't he be my new Wingpony? That way, I could have somepony to buck at least. Not looking forward to find somepony during my heat again.'

I managed to avoid Lightning Blitz for the entire time, but now, with the shuttle waiting for us, I could see her already standing at the landing platform. "Looks like they took pity on you, Crash. Let's hope you don't break anything on our first day again. It would be a shame if you got kicked out so soon.”

We were not even inside the shuttle yet, and she already started bombarding me with insults. "Yeah, whatever." I countered lamely.

I was not in the mood to argue with her. Entering the shuttle I could see seven other ponies sitting inside that were picked up earlier. They got more new crew than just two new pilots. We didn't talk during the flight. Everypony was nervously looking forward to seeing the Harmony up close and getting to set a hoof on it. Well, everypony except me, I don't get nervous about something like that. I was simply excited.

Leaving the atmosphere of the planet, the shuttle engaged its hyperdrive. We would be travelling for roughly half a day. From what the pilot told us, the Harmony was currently doing a standard patrol nearby. I was glad for that; travel to the farthest reaches of equestrian-controlled space could take weeks, and I was not ready for that long of a journey in a small shuttle. But then again, we wouldn't have used a shuttle if it took longer. Closing my eyes, I decided to take a nap.

Chapter 3: Friends? (Revised)

I made my way to the briefing room and arrived two minutes early. Entering the large room, a large pegasus was already waiting near one of the doors. He had a light blue coat and a dark blue main and tail. He was waving me over to him.

"Iridian Bolt, right? I'm Lieutenant Commander Sky Dagger and in charge of your Wing." He took a look over my withers. "And you must be Lightning Blitz."

Looking behind me confirmed that Lightning Blitz was standing right behind me. She stood at attention and saluted Sky Dagger, who returned the salute.

"Yes, Sir. Ensign Lightning Blitz, reporting as ordered!"

I felt a little silly not noticing he was a senior officer when I entered and stood to attention as well.

He looked at me again and continued with a slight nod of his head. "Captain Spitfire might not care about proper protocol, but the Wings under my command will follow it." His gaze softened slightly. "You're not in trouble for not saluting as long as it does not become a habit of yours. Follow me, the rest of your Wing is waiting inside."

With that, he turned around and stepped through the door with Lightning Blitz and myself behind him. Inside was a small meeting room with a table in the middle and enough space for maybe two full Wings. Three other ponies were seated around it, none of them wearing their uniform or flight suit.

"These are the other ponies of your Wing. This is your Wingleader, Lieutenant High Flyer," Sky Dagger said. He pointed at a pegasus mare with a dark grey coat that was nearly black and a deep red mane and tail. Her eyes somewhat matched her coat, but they had a slightly yellowish tint to them. She stood up to her full height and towered over us.

Lightning Blitz and I saluted her. "Ma'am."

"She is also the one that overruled my insistence for a dress code during our meetings," Sky Dagger continued.

"You know as well as I do, Sir, that we are about to go on a mission when we meet under normal circumstances. It's much more practical to show up in our flight suit or nothing at all." High Flyer turned towards us with a smile on her face. "It's nice to meet you two."

She was at least a head taller than anypony in the room, and she looked upon us with a motherly expression on her face. I would have expected somepony like her to be a teacher or something like that. She would also make every model back on Equus envious.

"Likewise, Ma'am," We answered her.

"You can take a seat." She gestured towards a cushion. "And you don't have to salute or stand at attention when we are not on duty. We are going to be a team, after all." We moved to take a seat. "Did Captain Spitfire set you on fire already?" She asked matter of factly. That got a small chuckle out of the rest of the team, and I flinched back a bit. "I take that as a yes then."

"Looks like I'm not needed any more. Remember to get them their training schedule," Sky Dagger noted.

"Yes, Sir. I will," High Flyer said, hiding a smirk behind her hoof. We saluted him before he left us alone. "You should have seen him when Vice Admiral Star Bright set him on fire right in the middle of the bridge. She was our Commanding Officer before Spitfire took over, and that little ritual stuck. It is the best way to get new pilots used to the flight suit and trust it to keep them alive," High Flyer added.

"Isn't that kind of dangerous? What if it fails and we get hurt?" Lightning Blitz interjected, sounding concerned. I didn't question their methods; hopefully, they knew what they were doing.

"We don't do this to make sure they work. They get tested and fully charged before they are hoofed out. It's 100% safe. You could run around fully on fire for an hour, and nothing would happen. They are designed to keep you alive in open space after all," High Flyer said.

"That sounds like a challenge to me," I added absentmindedly. That got a disapproving glare from everypony in the room.

"If you want to get thrown out. These suits are your life insurance, not something to play around with, is that understood!" High Flyer said. Her expression changed in an instant from friendly to disapproving.

"Sorry, Ma'am. It was meant as a joke, nothing more."

She studied my expression for a moment before continuing. "Let me introduce the rest of the team. This is Lieutenant, Junior Grade Strafe Run and Dark Wisp."

That was when I noticed that Strafe Run was a unicorn, not a pegasus like the other pilots. He had a moss green coat and an azure blue mane and tail. His eyes did not match the rest of him at all, being bright pink. Dark Wisp was black with a greyish-blue tail and mane, and dark yellow eyes.

Apparently, Lightning Blitz noticed as well and voiced her question before I could. "If you don't mind me asking, Sir, I didn't know there were any unicorn pilots left."

The unicorn in question answered us. "Don't worry. I'm the last one on the Harmony," He said jokingly. Lightning Blitz's tone did not indicate that she disliked him being here. I was so sure she would look down on him for being inferior or something like that. "At the moment, I'm training to be a flight instructor. As soon as I get my license, I will work full-time and step down as a pilot. I'm good, but the new fighters are limited in their performance if you're not a pegasus."

"On that note. Admiral Twilight has given you permission to train our new pilots. She thinks it would be a good way to prepare you for the exams," High Flyer said.

"Okay then, I'm going to thank her later. How about we head down and get you into your first simulated mission. Permission to go all out, Ma'am?" Strafe Run asked.

"Go for it. I recommend scenario Epsilon Three for the full experience."

We didn't talk much longer after that. Dark Wisp wasn't a pony of many words, and I was excited to get started and to show them my skills.

The simulator room was just five decks down. Strafe Run took the opportunity to show us how to access the stairs in case of an emergency. Now, with a purpose other than just the tour I took in the sight. Right next to the door was a small control station; it would allow a pony to set parameters for the simulation. These settings would then be sent to the simulator cockpits, and the integrated enchantments would create a virtual world. There was almost no telling it apart from reality. The room had twenty of those cockpits. The simulators could be connected to each other, allowing the pilots to share a simulated world. What I would have given for that sort of equipment when I was younger, but the civilian versions of these had severe limitations and still cost more bits than a small house.

Still standing at the entrance, Strafe Run addressed us. "Have you ever flown the MKII before? I'm unsure if they already have these simulators at the Academy."

"They do, but they are still new, and most instructors are not trained on them yet. That's why they still use the MK I's," Lightning Blitz replied.

Strafe run nodded. "Okay, I'm going to give you some short instructions. The flight controls are completely different; getting used to them might take some time." He approached one of the cockpits. "Iridian Bolt, take a seat." I did as I was told, sitting down in the cockpit. It felt a little weird, and the flight controls were awkwardly placed to the side of me; I couldn't reach them at all with my hoofs. "First of all, lay down on your belly and use your wings for the controls."

That was a lot more comfortable. Using my Wings instead of my hoofs to fly the fighter would take some time to get used to, but I could see the reasoning behind it. We have a lot more fine control with our wings. 'Now I understand why unicorns no longer fly these fighters.' They could use their magic to control them, but doing so without seeing what they were manipulating with their magic was almost impossible and took a lot of concentration. The use of one's wings on the other hoof came instinctual to us pegasi.

"Let me adjust your seat. You should be able to comfortably reach the instruments with your front hoofs. Use your back legs to stabilise yourself. The fighter's own antigravity fields will prevent you from moving around if you pull tight corners, but under extreme forces, they can't fully keep up, so make sure you brace yourself during tight turns. The simulator uses the same system to give you a sense of movement," Strafe Run continued. After making sure I was settled in, he turned away from me. "Lightning Blitz, take that one over there and get yourself settled in."

I was still trying to get comfortable but had some difficulties with my wings. I always had bigger wings than other ponies, and this was a downside now. It was a little cramped. After more wiggling around, Strafe Run approached me again after he ensured Lightning Blitz was positioned correctly.

"Hold on a moment," he said before pressing a button on the side and adjusting my seat some more.

"Thanks, that's better. Can you move the controls a little closer?" I asked, and he pressed a few more buttons until I was finally comfortable.

"After training, make sure to memorise the position number so you can quickly adjust the simulator for the next session. I would recommend taking notes when you adjust it later on. That will help the mechanics better fit your fighter's cockpit to your size. Adjusting it after it is fitted is always a hassle, so don't hesitate to experiment in the simulator later to get the perfect position. For now, this will do," Strafe Run said.

He stepped away and went to the simulator controls, input something, and then went to another cockpit. The simulation started, and we found ourselves inside the Harmony hangar.

I could hear Strafe Run talking to us. The enchantments made it sound like he was talking to us over the fighter's communicator. "We are going to start out easy. This will be the position you find yourself in after you board your fighter inside the hangar."

I took a look around. Everything looked almost identical to the real thing, except there were no ponies. I could see the yellow line in front of me. A small jolt ran through the ship as it started to move on its own.

"The fighters get positioned for launch automaticity, keeps the accident rate low and allows us to launch entire Wings at the same times others come in for landing," Strafe Run continued his explanations.

I came to a stop right next to the hangar's white glowing shield. Looking around again, I could see Strafe Run to my right. It was impressive. If I didn't know better, I would have guessed he was right there and not in his own simulator. I couldn't see Lightning Blitz; she must have been on his other side.

"This will be similar to starting from an airfield; just give it full throttle. After you leave the hanger, I want you to keep going straight for ten seconds and then kill your acceleration. This is standard procedure. After that, you will get new instructions." He gave us a few seconds to orient ourselves. "3...2...1... lets go."

And with that, he was off. Lightning Blitz followed close behind Strafe Run, and I left the hangar shortly after. This was a new experience for me. Yes, we did orbital flights in the Academy, but this was something completely different. The only thing I could see was the blackness of empty space.

Lightning Blitz seemed to have a few problems herself. "Wow. How do I orient myself out here? There are no reference points anywhere. I don't even have a speed indicator on this thing. Why didn't we learn this in the Academy?"

The chuckle from Strafe Run made me glad I didn't ask that question. He still answered her even though it was a stupid question. "Because they only cover the basics. This sort of training was always going to be handled at the locations you get stationed at."

That made sense. The training at the Academy couldn't possibly cover everything, and we only studied there for two years. Not that I needed the extra training.

"I want you to look at your heads-up display or HUD. The central dot is your fighter. You should see two other dots next to it. These are other ships surrounding you." I took a look, and sure enough, I could see my fighter as well as Lightning Blitz and Strafe Run. They were even labelled with an acronym of their name.

"Yes, I can see them. But shouldn't we see the Harmony as well on there?" Lightning Blitz asked.

"You can scroll through different zoom levels on the right of the display. It will automatically change the level if an unknown object closes in on you. You can also change that setting to include known objects if you like. The number next to the object is your relative speed to it. In this case, it should be close to zero."

I could see the Harmony on my display after adjusting the zoom level. The number next to it was a lot higher than I thought it would be. At the moment, we were moving away from it at around 150 trots per second, and with no air to slow us down, we would keep that speed until we slowed down. 'Going this fast in only ten seconds, these Drives are quite powerful, and that is without my magic.'

The simulator stuttered for a moment, confusing me about what just happened, but Strafe Run answered that question shortly after. "I just took a safe state of your position for us to come back to later. For now, just experiment a bit, pull some manoeuvrers to get a feel for it, and try to keep within a radius of 5 kt around me. I'm setting up an operating area. The OA will be displayed on your HUD."

As soon as he finished his explanation, I pushed the accelerator forward as far as it would go. I wasn't about to do one of the boring old exercises we did in the Academy; no, I was going all out. On a few occasions, I went far past the OA, having difficulties keeping myself stable. Making a note to adjust my seat later, I continued to pull even more complex manoeuvres.

"Iridian Bolt, try to stay inside the radius. Lightning Blitz, stop doing this by the book. I want you to go all out as well," Strafe Runs instructed.

I tried my best to stay inside our OA but found it difficult because some of the moves I pulled took me through the entire thing. I also had some difficulties keeping my speed in check, which led to me blasting off into the distance a few times.

"You two are doing great; just focus on fine control to keep yourself close by, and remember the best way to slow down is to rotate your ship around and accelerate."

That was easier said than done. It already took a lot of work to control the ship with my wings. After a few minutes of fumbling around, my patience started to wane. 'Why is this so hard? This should be easy.' I took some time to concentrate more on my wings to keep the fighter stable. That was when I noticed a faint glow around them. I could hear a voice over the communicator saying something, but I was too focused on my wings to understand anything, and the glow continued to intensify.

After taking a deep breath, I looked at my location. Seeing that I had already gone way too far, I turned around and accelerated to full. I didn't expect my fighter to make a mighty lunch forward, the Antigrav System that simulated G-Forces pressing me against the leg rest. It didn't take long for me to shoot out the other side of the OA, leaving me disoriented and in pain. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a warning signal blinking and beeping.

"Iridian Bolt, can you hear me?" Strafe Run called out to me with concern in his voice.

To get my nerves under control, I let go of my flight controls and relaxed for the moment to calm down. 'This is a simulation, nothing to be afraid of.' It didn't help much. "Yes, Sir. I'm a bit shaken, but otherwise okay. There is a red light, and the Drive is not responding."

"That is normal. You tripped the safety override. It prevents the Antigrav from causing you injuries if you pull too many G's." With a bright flash, the simulation ended. Strafe Run approached me and helped me out of the cockpit. I managed to stand on my own shaky hoofs, and he led me to the exit. "Lightning Blitz, feel free to continue. I'm going to get Iridian Bolt to the infirmary. If you want to stop, there is a big red button under your controls. If something happens, another instructor or I will be informed and come help you."

Lightning Blitz nodded with a slightly worried look on her face. I wasn't sure she was worried for me or herself, though. We made our way through the Harmony towards the nearest infirmary. As we passed, I got a few worried looks from other crew members, and I tried to hide how shaken I was.

As soon as we entered the infirmary, one of the medical staff noticed and approached us. "What happened to her?" he asked while helping me into one of the medical beds.

"She had her first simulator flight and lost control of her magic," Strafe Run answered for me.

"This doesn't look like normal magic exhaustion." He looked at me again. "What happened?" I didn't know the answer to his question and shook my head. "Can you tell me your rank, name and where you are?"

"Ensign Iridian Bolt, and I'm on board the Harmony inside the infirmary near the simulator room."

He nodded. "Good. Now, can you tell me what happened to her, Strafe?"

"She had a rather violent magic flare. Tripped the Antigrav override and the simulator's main safety switch."

"All that on her first flight? Didn't you instruct her on proper safety?" He moved one of my legs, and I winced in pain. "It looks like she sprained her right rear leg as well."

"I have never seen a pegasy instinctually use her magic. I didn't teach her that, so I assumed this couldn't happen. I take full responsibility for it," Strafe Run said.

I was just confused at this point. What were they talking about? Magic flares were something unicorns got before they learned how to control their magic properly. "What do you mean magic flare?" I had to ask.

"Pegasy magic can flare the same way any other magic can. Normal use of it is just instinctual to them; that is why it doesn't happen under normal circumstances. Feeding power directly into the Pegasus Drive or the simulator is different; it takes conscious effort. That's why Strafe Run here didn't expect you to do it," the doctor explained. He turned to Strafe Run and continued. "Did you get the reading of the flare?"

"Yes, I took a short look at it. There was a gradual build-up and then a 745% spike. I have never seen something this violent."

The doctor turned to me with a shocked expression. His eyes were as large as dinner plates. "You are lucky this happened in the simulator. Otherwise, you'd probably be dead. The Antigrav in the simulator is not strong enough to seriously harm you, but without the safety built into it, a sprained leg would have been the least of your worries."

I was in shock. I was still shaken up by the events, but being told that I could have died was a severe blow. I wasn't even realising the doctor checking the rest of me for injuries.

"Okay, you are free to leave. I put a healing spell on your leg, it should be healed by tomorrow. You also need to drink a lot today to help you recover from magic exhaustion. It will take a few weeks to fully recover, but by tomorrow, you should be able to exercise it again. You're not on active duty at the moment, so there is no need to take you off." He made some notes on a piece of paper before addressing Strafe Run again. "I recommend you get some food into her and then help her to her quarters."

"Thanks, Doc," I said.

He nodded at me before turning to Strafe Run again. "And I will file a report with the senior instructor. You're not in trouble, Strafe, but I think she needs somepony to help her learn about her magic. I know the way we unicorns use it doesn't transfer well to pegasi, and because of that, I'm going to recommend that she get a different instructor."

"Yeah, don't worry, I understand, Doc. Let's get going, Iridian Bolt."

"Bye, Doc, and thanks. Hey, Strafe Run, I know it's inappropriate for me to ask, but can you call me Iridian? I think this bonding experience could qualify us as being friends."

That got a pleasant smile on his face. "Sure, Iridian, I like that. You can call me Strafe. But keep in mind that on missions, we still have to be professional. Admiral Twilight encourages us to be friends with each other no matter the rank, but the protocol is there for a reason."

"Yes, Sir!" I said mockingly.

He rolled his eyes, and I giggled behind a hoof. A Friend. I never had real friends before. I always saw other ponies around me as my competitors. Sure, competing with someone in a race could be fun, but I never thought of them as friends. I hope I don't mess up with my very first one.

As we exited the infirmary, I could have sworn I saw a large purple pony standing in the corner of the room. I dismissed it as me still feeling groggy after the incident with the simulator.

Chapter 4: Settling In (Revised)

The next days were rather uneventful. I had a few more surges during training, but none were as strong as the first one. Even Lightning Blitz was getting them now. Strafe would continue our training for now until my new instructor was ready.

The doctor was right in the end; Strafe could not teach me how to control my magic. Nothing he explained made any sense to me. To my frustration, Lightning Blitz had no problems at all. Strafe told me I had unbelievable magic reserves, and he did not know how to deal with it. My new instructor would do some tests to measure my strength and I was promised to break some pegasi magic records. I knew Lightning Blitz was getting annoyed by that, but she kept her mouth shut for now.

"Ensign Bolt!" somepony yelled, ripping me out of my daydreaming. I currently sat at a table in the training room taking a break. Constantly flaring took a lot out of me and I had to take many breaks and drink a lot of water during and after my training.

Turning towards the source of the shout, I could see Sky Dagger looking at me. I was about to get up to stand at attention, but he interrupted me with a hoof gesture. "You can stay seated. I know you're exhausted."

I straightened up in my seat and saluted him. "Thank you, Sir. What can I do for you?"

"Your Instructor is ready to begin your training. You'll get the schedule sent to your PDA." I gave him a nod. "As you were," he finished.

He said nothing else before turning around and leaving, letting me relax again. 'Finally, can't wait to meet her.'

Even though I had flared almost every day, it seemed I could recover from it faster than the doctor or Strafe thought possible. Yesterday, after another strong flare, they finally prohibited me from further simulator training. They were afraid I wouldn't be able to recover my magic before my new instructor could run her tests. Strafe didn't say it, but I could see he was worried I would hurt myself again if I continued. Finishing up my training routine, I took a shower and went to bed. I couldn't wait for the next day to arrive already.

The next morning, somepony knocking on my door startled me. I had woken up a few minutes ago and was still wet after my morning shower. Seeing Captain Spitfire after opening the door, I stood to attention. I remembered she didn't like to be saluted to when off duty and relaxed again.

"Morning, Ensign. Get dry and into your flight suit."

"Yes, Ma'am, one moment, please."

Getting dry took a bit of time, but putting on my flight suit was a routine by now. With that finished, I stepped outside my quarters.

"I have your assignments from your new instructor. She wants to meet you at exactly 0900 on the bridge. You better get moving or you'll be late," Spitfire said, putting some weird emphasis on being punctual.

"Yes, Ma'am," I replayed. Spitfire left again, leaving me alone to think about her phrasing. 'That was strange. Why is nopony telling me the name of my instructor? Is she going to be some sort of mysterious war hero or something? And why do I have to meet her on the bridge? Is this part of the training? I better make sure I'm on time.'

I stood in front of the door of the bridge, waiting for the precise time to enter. At precisely 0900, I stepped through the door. "Ah, Iridian, right on time. How long have you been waiting in front of the door?" came Admiral Twilight's voice as soon as I entered.

I blushed at that comment. That was when I realised I was just standing there in front of the Admiral like an idiot. "Just a few seconds, Ma'am," I stammered.

"Not bad. You'll have it down in no time. You familiarised yourself with my ship well enough, it seems."

"Of course, Ma'am. I intend to work here for quite some time, its normal to be familiar with my workplace."

"Good, follow me, Iridian. Star Bright, the bridge is yours." The blue unicorn in question saluted and took a seat in the captain's chair. From what I understood, she was the one in charge of this ship since alicorns, in theory, couldn't hold any military position according to the law. But this was the Admiral's personal ship, and it made sense to rely on the millennia-old alicorn to guide it. I didn't know the exact workings, nor was I interested in the politics behind it.

I followed the Admiral out of the door. It looked like we crossed the entire HAB section before we ended up in front of a nondescript door. I still did not know what was going on, following the Admiral through the ship like she was a simple massager. Upon entering the room, I found what appeared to be a laboratory and library combined. I looked around but couldn't see anypony else, only row after row of bookshelves with the occasioned strange-looking device in between.

"Ma'am, am I supposed to wait for my instructor here?" I asked her, confusion in my voice.

She shook her head and giggled. Turning around, she smiled at me. "No, Iridian, I'm going to be your instructor."

To say I was shocked was an understatement. The Admiral herself was going to teach me? I could only assume that this was some sort of prank. But then again, I was told back at the Academy that the Admiral herself wanted me here.

"Has this something to do with why you wanted me on your ship, Ma'am?" I inquired.

"No, I didn't know about your magic ability at that point. Let's not talk about this; we are here to get you back flying. First thing first, you will call me by my first name. I'm not acting in any military capacity here, I'm just your teacher, as such any titles are unnecessary. Second, I want you to step on that platform over there." She pointed at a strange contraption in the middle of the room.

"Okay, Twilight," - I inwardly cringed - "what are you going to do with me?" I carefully stepped onto the platform and surveyed my surroundings. It had two metal rods on both sides, with small loops at the end. Otherwise, it looked unremarkable.

"I want you to put one of your wing's feathers inside those loops. It might be uncomfortable, but this will not take long. This device will measure the limit of your magic output. And don't worry about flaring; I will keep your magic flow steady with my own magic," she explained.

I placed a feather inside and the Admiral moved to each one of them to fixate my wings. It was uncomfortable, just as she said, but bearable.

"Now, I want you to feed your magic into it. It works the same way as the simulator."

I nodded and concentrated on my wings, the faint glow around them becoming brighter with every second. The feeling was similar to my first flare, and I feared it was about to happen again, causing my breath to become heavier and heavier. I was moments before hyperventilating at that point, but then another glow added itself to my own. Looking back at the Admiral showed that her horn was glowing a soft purple, and she had a reassuring smile on her face. 'Leave it to the millennia-old alicorn to make me feel safe.' During my last days of training, I somewhat developed a fear of my magic but her smile washed it all away.

"Iridian, you can stop now," she said after a short while, her voice as soothing as her smile. I must have drifted off somewhat because my mind blanked after watching her. I relaxed and the glow around my wings vanished, the familiar feeling of tiredness I had after my flares overcoming me again. "That was very good. Getting rid of your magic flares should be easy. We have to overcome your fear of your own magic first before we can do any real training, though." That was easier said than done. She didn't almost die the first time she consciously used her magic.

"Let me tell you a little secret." She moved close and whispered quietly into my ear. "When I first flared, I nearly destroyed an entire school. It took me days before I even dared to use my magic again. Being terrified of something like this is normal and you will overcome it,” she reassured me. My discomfort must have shown on my face for her to pick up on my fear so easily. 'Destroying an entire school? My flares are child's play compared to that. Maybe I could learn to use it properly.'

I looked back at her and nodded. "I think I can do that."

A loud beeping sound interrupted our quiet moment. "Sorry for that. The results are in. Let's see..." She locked over a sheet of paper before her eyes went wide. "Wow, Heart wasn't kidding when he told me about this," she said.

"Who is Heart?" I asked confused, never having met somepony with that name.

"Oh, he's the doctor that treated you after your first flare and filed the report," she answered, waving her hoof dismissively and reading of the sheet in her magic. "Your maximum stable power output is already in the upper percentile of pegasi. With dedicated training, you could become one of the most powerful pegasi in Equestria. Your Power Curve is amazingly stable as well for someone as young as you. They were not kidding when they told me you might be the most talented pegasi RENA has ever seen."

Lightning Blitz's words proved accurate; I was a good pilot because I was naturally talented. Did anything I have done even matter at this point? Being told I could become the strongest pegasi should have pleased me, but somehow it didn't. My conflict must have shown on my face again or the Admiral was psychic.

"Don't worry about it. Without true dedication, you would not have scored as high as you did at the Academy. You might be naturally talented, but that's only half of what makes a good pilot. Can you do me a favour and concentrate on your wings again?" I was still thinking about the Academy, but did as I was told. "And now look at your wings, please," she commanded.

I was just moving on autopilot at that point, but what I saw surprised me. My wings were glowing a bright magenta. This was the first time they took on any colour other than the generic white. I turned my head to the Admiral to see if she was casting any magic, but her horn was not glowing.

"See, it's that easy." She said with a smile on her face. I looked back at my wings, still glowing brightly. The small sliver of fear slowly vanished. "And now let it flow back inside of you. Don't let it go!" She emphasised the last part quite prominently. I did as I was told again, took a deep breath, and the glow vanished.

"We will continue this exercise the next time. I don't want you to use your magic outside this training with me. Nothing bad should happen, but I want to make sure you have full control over it before letting you use your magic. It was nice to see you again, Iridian. Our next session will be in two days, same time. I will meet you here." She held the door open for me and we left the Laboratory. "I will see you then."

"See you later, Twilight."

After the training with the Admiral, I decided to take a break and eat something in the mess hall. I felt strangely good about everything that happened. Everything she told me just, I couldn't put it into words. She made me feel safe and nothing could change that fact. Was that the true power of the alicorns? Her presence made it so easy to call her just Twilight. I flailed my hoofs in annoyance. 'I can't believe I did that. Now that I'm alone here, it just feels all sorts of wrong.'

"Hey Iridian, got space for two more?"

To deep in my own thoughts, I replayed to the familiar voice without looking up. "Yea sure, Strafe." I subconsciously moved a bit to the side to make extra room for him.

"How's your 'private' training going?" I heard Lightning Blitz ask.

'Oh no, she is with him. This is going to suck.' It was obvious in hindsight that she was here; he was still training her, after all.

To my surprise, Strafe scolded her the moment she finished the sentence. "You cut that attitude out right now. You're supposed to be each other's Wingponie, not throwing veiled insults at each other."

"I'm sorry." She quickly added and visibly shrunk down, her ears pinned to her head.

Before anypony else could say anything, I spoke up, the calming presence of Twilight still affecting me somewhat. "It's fine. I can understand you, the Admiral opened my eyes to a few things. I did act like a spoiled brat in the Academy, and I'm sorry for rubbing it into your coat all the time back then."

Lightning just stared at me. Her look told me she knew my apology was sincere, but she couldn't quite believe it. It took her a few seconds to comprehend what had just happened. "Apology accepted. But I have to say, having this much magic is not what I would want for myself."

Strafe and I gave her a flat look. Why would she say something like that? She looked at us and shook her head, giving a small chuckle. She let out a long sigh and elaborated, "I haven't told you, but after the incident in the simulator, I was terrified of what happened. I could see your extreme acceleration. When it happened first, I was just angry at you that you naturally mastered everything in a matter of minutes again, but then the simulation suddenly stopped. I wasn't sure what was going on at that point, but seeing Strafe carry you off was unsettling."

It was easy to tell it still affected her somewhat. "The worst part was, shortly after you left, I was about to go back to practice, but a technician stormed in and shut everything down before I could get back to it. I asked him what was going on, and he had that horrified expression on his face. After explaining to him what happened, he sent me out, telling me you managed to fry the entire safety system. I saw him take a shattered crystal out of a small box next to the door. Had I gone back to training and flared myself, I could have landed in the infirmary with even worse injuries than yours."

"Why didn't you tell me about it?" Strafe yelled with a slight look of horror on his face. "I would have never allowed you back in there without some form of counselling."

"Captain Spitfire was waiting for me at the door, and we talked about it. She also told me about your ability, Iridian. Hearing it terrified me even more. I'm glad it is not my burden, but as your Wingpony, I need to support you as best as I can. We don't have to be friends, but I kind of miss the days competing with you. I would like to go back to these days; without the insults."

I was sitting there, slack-jawed, unable to say anything for the next few minutes, giving my best goldfish impression. The one who made my life at the Academy a living nightmare was telling me she would like us to be rivals again. Well, friendly rivals this time. I couldn't believe it, but it was the truth. I could see it in her eyes, and having someone who pushed me to my limits again would be nice.

"Sure, Lightning, I would like that. And addressing somepony by first name usually means they are friends." I told her, not able to hide my grin, and even Strafe was oohing at us.

Lightning's look of shock slowly faded into a grin. She composed herself and practically yelled at me, "Fine, you asked for it. You, me, simulator now. I will not give up my spot as top of our class so easily."

I just shook my head in amusement, even though I wanted to take her up on the challenge. "Sorry, Lightning, I'm still not allowed in there. Orders from the Admiral herself," I reluctantly told her.

"Not even with Strafe nearby, in case something happens?" She asked.

"While I should have the flares under control, the Admiral is not 100% sure it won't happen again. Me wrecking the simulator might have something to do with her decision, and I don't have any control over my magic output yet."

"Ha! Finally something I am better at than you," she said, striking a victory pose. "Did you get your magic tested?" I shot her a questioning look, not wanting to offend her again. "Oh, come on, I'm over it. I can deal with you being more magically gifted than me, and I asked, so don't worry about it."

"Okay, but I warned you." I took a deep breath. "The admiral put me on some weird contraption, strapped my wings in and told me to use my magic." Lightning giggled at the image. I rolled my eyes and continued, "Haha, laugh it up. After that, she told me my stable output is already one of the best she had ever seen before, and my power curve was surprisingly stable for my age. She told me that's the reason I have an easier time learning all the stuff to be a pilot." Lightning just flailed her legs about, and Strafe stared at me. "The Admiral also told me that with enough training, I would easily be the strongest pegasus in Equestria."

"I can't believe it. I never stood a chance against you, did I?"

She didn't sound offended, but she was clearly not thrilled about it, either. I tried to comfort her a bit. "A lot of the time during practice, you were able to defeat me."

"Yeah, that was because you were a lousy team player. Now I'm not sure I can keep up."

Strafe was just observing us at first, but a confident smirk started to creep up. After Lightning and I exchanged a little more banter, he interjected, "Looks like I have to pull out a few Strafe Run originals for your training, Lightning. Can't have the Admiral outshine me as a flight Instructor now, can I."

I was about to reply when a familiar voice startled us. “Is that a challenge?”

We all just stopped. Everything went deathly silent as the Admiral appeared out of nowhere. Strafe started giggling like a madmare, and shortly after, we all burst out laughing. Here it was again, Twilight's talent to make everypony around her feel at ease.

"Two weeks from now, Lightning and Iridian will have a simulated competition. We will put you in the lead of your own Wing and see who comes out on top. And as a little bonus incentive for you, Strafe, if Lightning wins, I will make you an official flight instructor. I will count this as your test for your license," Twilight said.

I could see Strafe's shocked look morph into the biggest grin I had ever seen. He jumped to his hoofs, enveloped Lightning in his magic and ran off, dragging her behind him. "Come on, Lightning, we have training to do."

Twilight and I laughed at his antics. Every pony in the mess hall was grinning or laughing at this point. After watching them leave, Twilight leaned closer and whispered in my ear. "Don't tell him, but I am going to grant him his license, no matter who wins. So don't go easy on them. And it's nice seeing you make friends."

I turned to her with my best deadpan look I could muster. "Twilight, was that your plan all along? Forcing me to make friends?"

She smirked and left without a word. Of course, that was her plan. From what information I could gather about her, she used to be the Princess of Friendship when alicorns used to rule. I had to ask her about that sometimes. 'Wait, why is it getting easier to call her by her name?'

"Focus on your wings and let your magic flow through them," Twilight said. It was our next training session, and I was slowly getting the hang of my magic by now. I didn't flare once and the fear of this much power was almost nonexistent at this point.

"Now, for something new. I hope you will never need to use it, but I will teach you, anyway." I was a bit surprised by that. Why would she teach me something I wouldn't need? A purple magic shield formed around me. "Flap your wings forward and release your magic," she said after making sure the shield was stable.

I forced the magic in my wings outwards with a strong flap. My jaw dropped at what I saw. The flap of my wings created a massive magic stream in front of me. The effect was comparable to my firearm, but much bigger. I also felt exhausted after just one blast. My magic slammed into Twilight's shield, but it held without failing and it didn't seem to phase her at all. 'Is my magic that weak compared to a unicorn's?

"Well done. As I said earlier, I hope you never have to use this skill. It will allow you to defend yourself in emergencies."

"Why isn't that taught to every pegasi if it's that useful?" I asked.

"Because it requires a certain amount of magic. You probably noticed that your wings glow magenta when you gather your magic in them." I nodded and Twilight continued, "There are only five ponies on the Harmony who are capable of gathering enough magic in their wings to make them glow in a colour other than the generic white." She tapped her chin, thinking about how to phrase her explanation. "You can think of it as a threshold. If it is crossed, it allows the pony to use their magic for other things than just enhancements of their body, like strength or flight. In other words, it allows you rudimentary use of spells."

Could I use magic like unicorns do? That sounded amazing and like a lot more work. "For now, what I taught you will be enough. I need you to promise me you won't pursue spell-casting until you make it into the elite Wing. You need to focus on your instinctual magic control first and that will take time to master."

"I promise, Twilight. But Why did you teach me that one spell?" I asked her.

"Call it insurance. Your firearm is strong enough to defend yourself most of the time, but the spell I taught you is a lot more powerful. If your firearm is not enough, you have my permission to use the spell, but only then," Twilight answered.

"So what now? I feel extremely tired after that and we still have time in our session."

"Anything you want to discuss, any questions?" Twilight asked.

I sat down on a cushion and took a large gulp of my water. "I have some questions, but they are not related to the training. It's about you personally."

She looked at me, trying to understand my question. "Are you trying to get to know me? It's been a long time since anypony tried that."

"Why? Aren't you the one encouraging everypony to be friends?" I asked her.

She let out a heavy sigh before answering. "It's not that simple for other ponies. I am an alicorn and an admiral. They act friendly, and that is enough for me, but they don't try to be my friend; they are afraid of offending me somehow."

Seeing her so down on herself stirred something in me. "We could be friends," I blurted out, immediately followed by me sticking my hoof into my mouth. 'What am I thinking? Sure she is a nice pony, but being friends with an alicorn? That is going too far.'

She must have sensed the conflict inside me. "It's nice of you to say that, but you're just doing that because I used to be the Princess of Friendship. I have this 'aura' around me that makes everypony act more friendly around me. I know you don't mean what you said."

She was right. I didn't mean it, did I? Now that I thought about it, why couldn't we be friends? If I ignored the fact she was an alicorn and admiral, I would consider her a friend. Heck, If I could be friends with Lightning, then why not her too? "I did mean it, Twilight. I want to try being your friend."

I was shocked when she launched herself at me and embraced me in a tight hug. She let go of me after noticing how uncomfortable I was. "I'm sorry, Iridian, I forgot that ponies these days are much less open about their feelings." She was looking away from me to hide a small blush on her face. "So what now? I'm not used to modern friendship customs."

'Oh boy, this is awkward. What should I do?' "Let's start with the questions I had. You already know so much about me. I want to learn some things about you." She turned back to me, her blush still on her face, and nodded. "You already answered a few, but I still don't know what you mean by 'Princess of Friendship'. It sounds kinda lame."

She giggled before answering, "Back in those days, a lot of the most powerful magical artefacts were powered by actual friendship. My friends and I could use a set of gems to fire giant rainbow lasers and cleans evil back then. That is how I earned my wings." She slightly ruffled her wings to emphasise.

"Seriously? That sounds like one of those fairytales you would read to foals," I said, not able to hide my disbelieving tone.

"Where do you think they got the idea from." She added, giving me a conspiratorial wink.

"So what happened? Why is nopony calling you that any more?"

She let out a melancholic sigh before answering, "We weren't needed. Equus united under one banner around five hundred years after I became a princess and with that, we had to hold elections because the other races wanted to be represented. It was a fair compromise, so we stepped down and took on the roles of advisors. With the creation of more and more powerful magical devices, the power of friendship lost most of its charm. Why find friends to stop the bad guy when you can just shoot him?" She shot me a quick smile after seeing my ears droop a little.

"It's not as bad as it sounds. I was at the forefront of this magic development and I welcomed it. Celestia and Luna relinquished their hold of the sun and moon soon after that. Our magic was no longer needed to keep Equestria safe. Only after the war with the machines started were we forced to take up arms again. Maybe it's time to bring some of that magic of friendship back."

This time I was the one tackle hugging her. The way she told her story made it sound so sad. I was sure I wanted to be her friend, and what can I say; shooting rainbow lasers sounded awesome.

"Thank you, Iridian," she said with a small sniff. We stood there embracing each other for I don't know how long. I didn't want to let go of her.

"Twilight, your meeting with Spitfire is..." We turned our heads toward the voice of the new arrival. In the door stood Vice Admiral Star Bright with her mouth agape. "I... I will tell her you will be a bit late," she said after watching us for a few seconds. She spun around and vanished through the door as fast as she appeared.

'Was that a tear I saw in her eyes?' I looked back at Twilight and found myself staring back into her purple eyes. I'm sure I blushed as hard as she did after we broke the hug. "Just to make this clear, I'm only into stallions. I like to be your friend, but there will never be anything more." I hastily blurted out, not wanting her to get the wrong impression.

She was still blushing furiously, and I could see the small amount of disappointment on her face. 'Wait, is she actually into me? Gosh, that's awkward.'

She got herself under control again after shaking her head a bit. "Sorry about that. I told you it's been a long time since I had an actual friend. I just... overcompensated." Yeah, I didn't believe that for a second and by the look on her face, neither did she. She got up and moved towards the door. "I have to go now. Spitfire is waiting for me. See you tomorrow."

"Until tomorrow," I said while she left.

The next days went by quickly. My physical training and the training with Twilight took up almost all of my day. I could understand now why she wanted me to wait with spell training as well. There was just not enough time in one day to do it all.

I was doing a little CQC training when Strafe entered the training room. "There you are, Iridian."

"Hi, Strafe, haven't seen you in a while."

He nodded and continued the conversation. "Been pushing Lightning pretty hard lately. And from what I heard, you're training nonstop as well. I was afraid you would go easy on me because my licence is on the line."

"Never! That would be the biggest insult I could throw at you." True, it crossed my mind briefly, but Twilight quickly averted that thought.

"Thanks. Lightning and I are taking a break tomorrow. How about you join us in the evening?"

An idea formed in my mind. "Yeah, sure. Do you mind if I bring a friend?"

"Making new friends already?" he asked, faking a look of surprise. I punched him in the shoulder for that remark. "It's nice that you start to fit in. I know Captain Spitfire was worried about you, but it seems it's working out for you."

"Now I only need to stop blowing up the simulator," I said, slightly disgruntled.

Strafe smiled, doing his best to hold back his laughter. "We'll meet you at the bar at 1600, sounds good?"

"We have a bar on board?" I asked.

"Yep, it's registered on the main lift. Can't miss it."

"Okay, see you tomorrow then." I was done with my training, anyway. Time to surprise Twilight.

Standing in front of the bar, Twilight and I both looked at the door hesitantly. Funnily enough, it was just called 'The Bar'. Guess you don't need a name if it's the only one on the ship. "Are you sure this is a good idea? I wouldn't want to intrude on your friends," Twilight asked, clearly nervous. She was fidgeting with her wings and shuffling her hoofs a bit.

I quickly tried to calm her. "It's fine, Twilight. Strafe told me I could bring a friend."

"You didn't tell them it was me, did you?" She said with a deadpan look, and I grinned at her, giving her a single "Nope" as an answer. She sighed and shook her head disapprovingly. "Fine. But if it isn't working out, I will leave. I had Star Bright draw up some plans to give me an excuse to leave."

"Seriously? Come on, let's go, don't wanna be late."

We entered the Bar; it was a nice little thing, not too large or crowded. I was wondering if they sold alcohol here or if it was just for the atmosphere. Most of the tables were already taken, with only a few being empty. Taking a quick look around, I noticed a few ponies were staring at us. Some of the younger crewmembers tried to get up and salute but were quickly stopped by the more senior crew.

I spotted Strafe and Lightning at a table in the far corner; they hadn't noticed us. A wicked look and a pointed hoof in their direction got Twilight to move. I made sure to be as quiet as possible, and she apparently did the same, catching on to my plan.

"Hey Gals, I'm here." I tried to sound as overly happy as I could.

They both turned to me. Strafe just looked happy I made it. Lightning, on the other hoof, completely froze when she saw Twilight. "M... Ma'am."

That wouldn't do at all, and I had to step in. "Drop it, Lightning. We are off duty, no need for that crap."

"Wow, since when did you get so protective? Are the rumours true?" Strafe interjected.

Lightning managed to get herself under control and looked confused at Strafe. "What rumours?"

I shoot Strafe the most menacing stare I could. He grinned and turned back towards Lightning. "There is a rumour going around of Iridian and the Admiral making out when they thought they were alone. They say you were about to get very intimate with each other."

"Wow, wow, wow. Hold on, it was just a hug, nothing more." I corrected.

"Thanks for confirming. I was just making it up," He smirked.

"Why you sneaky little..."

I was about to launch myself at Strafe when Lightning spoke up. "So, are you marefriends already?"

I was too distracted wrestling with Strafe to answer. A still fiercely blushing Twilight answered with a shake of her head. "No, I was just hugging her as a friend. I am used to the old times when it was common for ponies. You could think of it as a friendly hoof bump."

The rest of the evening went without anything of interest happening. I don't know if Strafe and Lightning considered Twilight a friend already, but they could at least talk normally with her. It turned out the bar did sell alcohol; they ran this place like a business in the city, and it was extremely pricy, but there wasn't much else to spend one's bits on. I was glad I had the next day off because the rest of the night was just a blur to me.

Chapter 5: Competition (Revised)

"Now hold it steady at 50%," Twilight instructed, looking at another of her contraptions.

It took a lot of effort to keep my magic stable at a specific level, and I was failing miserably. It had been ten days since I started my training and I still struggle with anything resembling fine control. I could give you full power or none at all, but anything in between was off the table.

"Iridian, slow down. You're almost at full power again." I could hear the concern in her voice. Trying my best to keep my magic in check only hastened the process. My magic started flaring again, forcing me to use the breathing exercise Twilight taught me early on. I took a deep breath and focused on 'sucking' my magic back into my body. The tingling feeling on my wings lessened and was gone after a few more deep breaths.

Using the simulator again might be safe if someone is watching you, but I fear your magic might overpower its safety measures, and you must still actively work to prevent your flares.

"Sorry Twilight. It's my fault, I should be able to do this," I tried to placate her.

"Don't worry about it. But this training method isn't working out. I have to come up with something different."

"So what now?" I asked.

"We have to get you actual flight experience. It's only four days until you face Lightning, and you were non-stop training your magic until now."

My eyes went wide. "Oh my gosh, I totally forgot. Learning magic was so exciting. Can we go right now?" I was practically prancing around the room at the thought of it and giving her my best puppy dog eyes to convince her to get right to it.

"It has been a while since I instructed somepony. If you like, I could teach you. But if you want a real flight instructor, I can ask somepony else."

I got right up to her muzzle. "No Twilight, I want you to teach me. How many ponies can say they got trained by one of the alicorns?"

"If that is your reason for it, I'm going to find somepony else." Her stern expression brought me back instantly. She was right. This was not something to brag about. I didn't want her to train me because she was an alicorn. I'm pretty sure the flight instructors on board are just as good as her, if not better if she hadn't done this in years. But she was my friend, and I trusted her.

"I want you to do it because I trust you. You know me; I can't help but brag about it. You, Strafe and Lightning know it's just in good fun. I don't actually mean it."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Fine. I don't have any meetings today. If you want, we can start right away." I nodded in eager anticipation. "Get suited up, and I'll meet you here again in one hour," she said.

"Why not meet at the simulator room?" I asked her, confused.

"Well, I don't fit into them. Just come back here as soon as you're ready."

With a nod, I was off. I was not sure why Twilight wanted me to see her in her laboratory, but she was insistent. After getting into my flight suit I made my way back.

The sight that greeted me after entering the lab again took me by surprise. Twilight was waiting already waiting, but what she was wearing was absolutely breathtaking. Her own flight suit was the same black as all the others with the same uncovered spots but where normal ones had just a few blue lines on them, caused by the magic running through them, hers was covered in purple lines and had strange runes all over it. The amount of magic in that thing must have been mind-blowing.

'I have to admit she looks hot in it as well.' That thought made me blush a little. "You should wear that more often. It looks good on you," I said with a grin on my face. I knew exactly how that comment would make her feel. She wasn't subtle in showing me that she had a crush on me.

She blushed and turned away. "Y...you really think so?"

Oh goddess, if cuteness could kill, I would be dead ten times over now. 'I did make it clear I was not interested in a relationship with another mare, was I? I hope I didn't go too far.' "Sorry Twi, I didn't mean it like that. I'm just teasing you." My blush was impossible to hide.

"I know Iridian. It's nice to get a compliment from time to time, though."

Shaking my head to clear all the thoughts in it, I turned back to her. "Enough of that mushy stuff. Let's get to flying," I said in order to get us back on track.

"Okay, follow me," Twilight said after composing herself again.

We exited the laboratory and entered the room next to it. The Inside looked nearly identical to the simulator room I was familiar with. The two differences were the larger cockpit in the centre and the fact that it had only six individual simulators. It also looked a lot more ragged, with wires and faintly glowing magic flow pipes hanging openly on the ceiling.

Twilight motioned for me to get into one of the cockpits. "How much training did you get before the incident?" She asked.

I gulped nervously as I got comfortable, feeling Twilight's magic wash over me for a moment, and the seat adjusted itself to be more comfortable for me.

She picked up on my nervousness. "Sorry Iridian. I just took your measurements and adjusted the seat for you. I'm sure you didn't get your settings the last time," she said soothingly.

I nodded, still nervous. At that moment, I was so glad nopony else was in the room other than us; I would be the laughingstock if they saw me so scared.

"You don't have to worry about anything in here. This Simulator differs from the other one. I designed it myself to handle my own magic output and to be frank, your magic flare, as powerful as it was, is just a small firecracker compared to an alicorn's magic."

"I trust you. Okay, I'm ready." I said with a nod.

"I want you to brace yourself to the best of your ability. I will try to move you with my magic to make sure you don't hurt yourself during high G manoeuvres. The safety in here will not prevent injury if you don't do it right."

Twilight gave me a few instructions on how to brace myself correctly and, after ensuring I was doing so, went into her own cockpit. This was the first time I could take a good look at it. It was so different from my own, having more in common with the fire control system battle mages operate. The sheer number of buttons, screens, and controls made it impossible for anypony to operate with just four limbs. She didn't envelop a single button or leaver, all the controls were encased in her magic glow at once. It looked impressive, and before I knew it, the simulation flashed online. I was stationary in the hangar again and couldn't see Twilight's or any other ship.

I could hear her voice over the simulator's communicator. "Iridian, did you go through the start sequence with Strafe already?"

"Yes. Wait for the go, full throttle for ten seconds, and then just wait for more orders." I repeated what Strafe told me to make sure I remembered correctly.

"Good. I will give us a little shortcut to that."

I was confused by that statement. 'Shortcut? Is she going to restart the simulation in space?' My ship began to move on its own again. To my surprise, it moved to the centre of the hangar, onto a small square I hadn't noticed before. It was rather unassuming until it started to glow bright purple.

"Teleport in 3...2...1..." I heard Twilight say. It sounded like an automated massage, and not like she was actually talking to me.

A bright flash and I found myself in the middle of space. My HUD didn't show any nearby ships, even the Harmony was out of range. Another purple flash near my location deposited another ship. I had never seen something like this before. It was as big as the shuttle I arrived on with no visible weapons. That was expected; unicorns didn't need conventional weaponry to deliver devastating strikes.

"Actual teleportation will feel a lot stranger, but you get used to it. Before we start, just give me a minute to see if everything still works correctly. Why don't you tell me in the meantime what you already learned?"

I told her what we had been doing before the accident. All the while I could see her go through some basic mobility, shield and weapon tests. It was amazing how manoeuvrable her ship was. It might not keep up with the Hurricane, but for a ship its size, it was pretty good.

After I finished telling her, she continued, "That's not much, then. I'm not gonna lie. Four days will not be enough to get you up to par with Lightning. She will probably win, but I will try my best to get you up to speed, and if you're doing well enough, I might give you a small reward."

I knew that what she said was true. There was no hope of winning. It didn't matter to me anymore; I wasn't competing with Lightning to prove I was better than her. I would like to win, of course, but this was for fun and for us to push each other harder, and that thought excited me even more. The reward was a nice encouragement as well.

"I set up the operating area. I want you to start out like last time. Just get comfortable. Don't use your magic for now," Twilight said.

Our first training day was just me flying around and testing my limits. It went fine for the most part. I was showing off a bit at the end, lost control and slammed into Twilight's ship. It was funny that the simulator showed me the damage that resulted from this collision. What was surprising was that despite my fighter's complete destruction and my death in the explosion, her shield appeared undamaged. It was not unheard of for pirates to ram enemy ships far bigger than them, the exploding magic core dealt significant damage, allowing them to board. 'That's one tough shield.'

On the second day, I was supposed to use my magic in small bursts during manoeuvrers. The lack of control was obvious to everypony. Most of the time, I would fling myself far outside our OA, but I was getting better and better at it as the day progressed. I could feel the immense pressure I was putting my body under during my high G turns. If my magic was getting any stronger, I would run the risk of injury, even if I braced myself correctly. I had to do more core strength training to make sure I could endure it. Twilight explained to me that the Antigrav of the Hurricane itself was at its limit, preventing me from using my full magic potential. According to her estimates, I had to learn to control my magic, or I would reach the limit of what my body could endure in a few years.

The next day we didn't do much actual flying. Twilight went over all the protocols and rules I had to follow when flying with my Wing. It wasn't that much different from what I was used to in the Academy. We finished that day with landing practice and goddess, did I need it. I expected it to be fully automated, but I was wrong. In order to land safely, I would have to follow a path that was displayed on my HUD and keep inside a small relative speed range to the Harmony. The HUD would then guide me to my landing spot. The last part was easy, just set the ship down gently. The landing platform would move precisely into the right position under my ship. I thought it would be harder to compensate for the artificial gravity in the hangar, but my ship did that on its own. No, the hard part was staying on my flight path. There was a lot of crashing, and Twilight threw random events at me all the time, but in the end, I got landing down.

"That's enough for today. Tomorrow we are going to do a bit of formation flying. This should be familiar to you. I want to make sure you are ready for the day after," Twilight told me.

"Thanks Twi. I know you put a lot of work into this and I'm truly grateful for it."

"That's what friends are for Iridian," she said with that calming smile on her face.

"But this is something you shouldn't have to do. You are still the Admiral, you're in charge. I feel like I'm taking time away from that and I'm not sure the other pilots like that I get special treatment." I truly meant it. She probably had a lot more important things to do.

Twilight giggled at what I said and embraced me into a hug. "You don't have to worry about that. I wouldn't mind teaching more, but the other pilots are too afraid to ask me. I used to be a teacher way back when and it was always fun."

"Okay, and what about your duties? You can't just stop doing them, can you?"

"Unless we are in an emergency, there is not much to do for me other than offer some advice. I would have told you if I was busy."

"If that's true, I'm fine with this. I should get going, though, or there will be no free table left in the mess hall."

We embraced each other in a goodbye hug before I left. That was something we started doing, and it felt kind of nice. I can't figure out why it wasn't done anymore because it was so comfortable to just hug somepony.

The next day, I was a bit early. I was not prepared for another pony to be in the room at this point in time. In one cockpit sat none other than Captain Spitfire herself. I didn't pay her any attention and got seated myself. The simulation started on its own with no imputes from myself, startling me for a moment, and I found myself next to Spitfire's fighter. The wings painted to look like actual flames were unmistakable.

"Ensign Iridian Bolt, you're early. Haven't you learned to be right on time for your appointments?" came her voice over the communicator.

"Sorry, Ma'am. The Admiral gave me permission to come in to train on my own if I wanted to today. She told me she was busy most of the day."

"In that case, you are late for your training session because I saw you eating two hours ago. You should have come straight here. I was waiting for you to show up all this time."

“Sorry, Ma'am. If I knew, I would have come immediately."

"Let's see if you could have used that extra training. Admiral Twilight gave me an overview of your training," Spitfire said. "I'm disappointed with the lack of progress you made. I was told you were a natural. Why do you still need so much training?"

She was getting on my nerves already. I thought I left that attitude behind when Lightning and I made up, but here was another pony insulting me the same way the other cadets at the Academy did.

"I set up a race circuit for you to fly through. The Record is 3:23. Somepony with your talents should finish it in under three. Get ready to start when the light turns green."

I was angry at that point. Who does she think she is? How am I supposed to just beat the record like that? Is she angry with me because I get to train with Twilight personally or because I became her friend? She encouraged us to be friendly with her during our first meeting. There was no point in arguing with Spitfire, so I just did my best and tried to beat the time; I did not succeed.

"You missed so many checkpoints I can't even give you a time. That was the worst I have anypony seen perform on it," Spitfire said with a shake of her head.

I couldn't take it anymore. "What the buck, Captain. You're just trying to get me kicked out, aren't you? Well, guess again, I don't care what any of you say. I just started my training. You can't expect me to beat any records already. And if you're jealous that I get to spend time with Twilight, she can choose her own friends and doesn't need you to baby her."

With that, I stormed off, not looking back or even acknowledging anything Spitfire did. She went just too far this time. 'Looks like my career is over. She's going to kick me out any second now.' You didn't talk to your superior officer like that without consequences.

"Good. It looks like you finally have that massive ego of yours somewhat under control."

I turned around at that and just looked at her blank expression. Was she trying to rile me up to get me to snap? Or did she just try to prove a point? I was about to shout at her again.

"Come on, let's get some combat practice going," she said, pointing her hoof back to the simulator.

After getting my emotions back in check, I asked. "What time did you actually expected me to finish the race?"

"Non. I'm the only one who has ever finished it."

She set me up to fail from the start. 'I hope she does have my best interests at heart.'

We started out by fighting against one another. I didn't stand a chance. If I thought Fire Streak was good, Spitfire was on another level. On more than one occasion, her entire fighter was engulfed in flames in the colour of her magic. It was everywhere, and she used it to attack and defend herself. This was what perfect control over one's magic looked like. 'Is this her way of showing me what there is still to learn for me and what I could achieve one day?'

Still doing our practice fights, I got curious. "Why is that circuit you created so difficult?"

"Already thinking about being the second one? You should focus on practice; you missed a target." I swung my ship around to engage the target I missed, and she continued her explanation without missing a single practice target. "Many of the checkpoints are just large enough to fit your fighter through. Most of the turns are extremely tight. Hazards don't allow you to slow down too much. Every movement has to be perfect to be able to make it through, and without magic to rely on, it's a test of pure skill. I created it to push myself, never intended for other pilots to try it, but it became somewhat of a staple in putting Newby's in their place. I am still trying to beat the very first time I set."

"It didn't feel all that difficult when I flew it."

"All part of it. You missed another target," she pointed out. "The apparent ease forces you to focus and not let your guard down."

The rest of the training went on without anything remarkable happening. I was as good as I was going to get for tomorrow.

"I'm looking forward to you beating my time. Don't keep me waiting for too long." She left me alone with my thoughts. I couldn't figure out her motives at all.

It was the day of my competition with Lightning Blitz. I was on my way to the simulator, and everypony I encountered seemed to be excited about it, making me think we would have a huge audience. Entering, I noticed my friends and Spitfire waiting for me; I was the last to arrive just on time.

"What's this magic orb doing in here?" I pointed at a purple, glowing orb in the room's corner.

"It is going to record the simulation and project it throughout the Harmony," Twilight explained. "A lot of ponies wanted to see your fight. Last I heard, there was a lot of betting going on."

"We have a total of 32386 bits in the pool. You are quite the underdog, Iridian Bolt," Spitfire added. Everypony just looked at her in surprise, and she shrugged. "What? It was bound to happen. I just made the betting official to keep them from going overboard."

"We made a few changes to the scenario. You will not directly fight each other, and you will be alone and not with a Wing of your own," Twilight said.

"Why did we need to change it?" Lightning asked, a little disappointed. "I was looking forward to blowing Crash out of the sky."

There was that stupid name again. But this time, it was just her trash-talking. Something I was very good at. "Yeah, I'm going to be so awesome that the only thing that will crash is the simulation."

Before we could get more creative with our banter, Strafe interjected. "I asked for the changes. It wouldn't be a challenge otherwise because of Iridian's shorter training time. This should be a bit more even."

"You two will fight against me," Twilight said. "Your score will be the number of hits on me. I will fight back, and you will lose points if your ship is destroyed. In order to prevent bias against any of you, I will not be able to tell you apart. This should make it as fair as possible."

I never actually saw Twilight fight. It was as new to me as it was to Lightning, and her look told me she was as shocked as I was the first time hearing that Twilight herself was a trained pilot. A few minutes later, Twilight returned wearing her flight suit. It was fun seeing the expression of the other ponies marvelling at its design. Strafe, in particular, was amazed by it. Being a unicorn himself, he could probably feel the magic in it.

"The match begins as soon as I set up the operating area. If you leave the area for too long, you will start losing points. There will be no warning, so keep track of your own position," Twilight explained.

"Any damage you inflict on each other will be negated and you will lose points. There will be no friendly fire," Spitfire added.

With that, Twilight, Lightning and I jumped into our cockpits, and the simulation started with Lightning and me in the middle of the Harmony's hangar.

"If your ship gets destroyed, you will start here again."

"Teleport in 3...2...1..."

With a blinding light, we found ourselves in space. I quickly checked my HUD and spotted two other ships, Lightning and Twilight. Waiting for the OA to be set up, I tried to focus and get my nerves under control.

The OA appeared on my HUD without warning, and I immediately started my attack run. Lightning had the same idea of using our superior speed and the initial surprise for hit-and-run attacks. What we didn't expect were the giant magic beams Twilight fired at us. I was able to narrowly avoid being hit, but it threw off my aim.

'Wow, this is what it's like to be on the receiving end of a battle mage. I wonder how much Twilight is holding back.'

She hadn't moved away from her spot; she was still sitting in the middle of the OA. 'If she is just sitting there without moving, I could just fire from far away.' We were scored on hits, not damage, so that was a viable tactic. I lined myself up and fired. This time, Twilight moved to avoid my shots, but she didn't move that far from her original spot.

Closing in, I fired a few more times, scoring two hits while I approached. Our weapons did nothing to her shield, but that was not the goal; I had scored my first two points. I kept going and closed in even more, scoring three more hits.

'Why isn't she moving? It looks like she is just taking the hits.' A massive beam was fired in my direction, answering the question in my head immediately. I was too close this time to evade, and my ship was destroyed with a single hit, and I found myself back in the hanger of the Harmony.

"She lured me in... yes, I got five points, but she just deleted them again. It... is... on..." I had a wicked grin on my face. I was born for this kind of competition. Back into action again, I kept enough range to avoid getting shot this time.

In the distance, I could see Lightning pulling away after an attack run of her own. The space around her was filled with an uncountable number of small beams. Some of which hit her shield and threw her around, but she kept her fighter in one piece until a larger beam fully hit her.

Shaking my head to clear my mind, I continued my attack. I couldn't allow myself to get distracted as Twilight focused her attention back on me. This continued for quite some time. The time limit was twenty minutes, and I didn't know how much of it had already passed. Every time I scored some hits, Twilight would retaliate with overwhelming firepower.

This was not a test of how many points I could score; it was a test of survival. Scoring too many hits meant I got reckless and sent back to the hangar. Only taking a few shots didn't give me enough points to get ahead of my many deaths. Most of my focus was to keep myself from getting blown out of the sky. I didn't use my magic once out of fear that I would hurt myself, but I had to start now if I wanted any chance of getting at least one point to stick.

Lining up for the next attack, I pushed magic into my wings and opened fire. I was hoping to gain enough speed to avoid getting shot at and get outside her range before she could retaliate. At first, it looked like it was working. Twilight didn't fire a single shot at me until I was beside her ship. I didn't realise she fired at me until the familiar sight of the hangar greeted me again.

'Wow, did she just kill me directly through the canopy of my fighter?' Pulling up the report of my destructions, I could see a small beam hitting me right in the head.

"Time is up, ending simulation," came Twilight's voice through the communicator.

I jumped out of the cockpit as soon as the simulation turned off and rushed towards her. “Oh my gosh, how did you do that? How did you hit me so perfectly? Were you aiming for me?”

"Based on your speed, I calculated the perfect time to encase your fighter in my shield to cancel out yours and fire a small beam at your head," she said matter-of-factly. "My calculation was unfortunately off by two centitrot. Looks like I'm a bit rusty."

"Got it, egghead, you were aiming for me... THAT... WAS... AMAZING!"

"Can I ask you a question, too?" Lightning asked, approaching Twilight as well. She nodded, prompting Lightning to continue. "Was that your full power, or did you hold back? I have never seen this much firepower before."

"Yes, I did. I was trying to limit myself to the strength of a normal battle mage."

"You missed the mark by around fifty of them. Never seen a battle mage quite that strong and accurate," Spitfire said, coughing slightly into a hoof. She pulled out a small sheet of paper. "I have your points ready if you're interested." After we nodded, she continued reading the results. "Lightning Blitz, you were able to keep four points. It was an excellent tactic to wait with your attack to the last moment. You scored four hits and were saved by the bell, so to speak. Iridian Bolt didn't manage to keep any of her points. You had three before your last death. Overall, Iridian Bolt hit more of her shots, but her reckless flying got her hit more often in return."

"Well done, Lightning," Strafe said, giving her a hoof bump. "I'm impressed you could keep your magic so controlled under fire. Your practice paid off."

"Thanks, Strafe. Couldn't have done it without you," she said before turning to me. "Crash, great match; looking forward to the next one."

"That nicknames gonna stick isn't it," I said, slightly annoyed.

"Yep, deal with it. How did you do that last attack run, by the way? Your entire ship was covered in a magenta glow, and you blew any acceleration I ever did out of the water."

"I was just putting my full magic behind that attack. It sounds awesome. It's too bad I couldn't see that myself," I said. "You should see Captain Spitfire do it. Her entire fighter becomes one large flame."

"Now I'm jealous, you got to train with the Angel of Fire herself," Lightning said, playfully pouting to get her point across.

"She let me try out the race circuit she created. Come on, let's try it together, see who will beat her time first."

We just stepped back in the cockpit and started our next competition, ignoring everypony around us. They didn't matter to us at the moment. After a few runs, we exited the simulator again. I was still no closer to finishing the track.

"Iridian, I have to put my hoof down here," Twilight said. "I don't mind your little competition with Lightning, but I cannot allow her into this simulator after this. If I did, others would ask for permission as well, and it is not big enough for so many ponies. It started out as my personal simulator but grew in size because of a few pilots that were too powerful for the other one."

"It's fine, Crash. We can just compare times. We don't have to fly together."

"But what if we want to try other stuff? Ever since we made up, I have been looking forward to competing with you in so many things, but if you can't join me, what are we supposed to do?"

"I'm going to work on it a bit and see if I can connect both rooms together without compromising the safety override," Twilight said.

"No Twi, you don't have to do all that for us. We will find a way." Lightning was looking at me funny for some reason. Even Strafe and Spitfire gave me strange looks. 'Did I say something stupid?'

"I love to tinker. It's been a while since I made any modifications to the ship. It's going to be my own challenge."

While I could believe it, I had to ask. "You build parts of the ship?"

"I designed the entire ship myself and built a few things on my own. From time to time, I upgrade some things here and there."

"That's impressive," Lightning added.

"With enough time, you can do a lot," Twilight said before turning to me again. "Iridian, we need to get going. Your fighter should be ready. And I'll see you tomorrow, Lightning."

We arrived in the hangar and moved down to where Senior Mechanic Drive Shaft was awaiting us. He saluted Twilight. "Ma'am, the fighter is ready. She just needs a few finishing touches."

We moved over to my waiting beauty. 'I should think of a name for her. Another time when I get to know her a little more.'

"We installed the new Antigrav according to your specifications and put the cockpit together using the numbers you gave us," he told Twilight.

I was a bit confused. Weren't modifications like that reserved for more elite pilots?

"Thank you, Drive Shaft," she said, and he returned to his work, leaving us alone again. "What do you think, Iridian?" I looked at it for a moment, taking it all in. "Go ahead, make sure the cockpit is comfortable, and I didn't mess anything up with your measurements."

I entered the cockpit and took my seat. It looked exactly like the simulator cockpit. It was still so surreal to me that I was finally sitting in my own fighter. "What was that about the Antigrav?" I asked after shifting around a bit to get into a good position.

"After your first magic flare and getting your magic readings, I decided to make some improvements to it. It will counteract more G-Forces now without increasing magic consumption. I would say I got around 20% more effect out of it. You are going to be the test pilot for it. If something feels off with it, tell Drive Shaft, and he will try to fix it."

"Twilight, did you design the Hurricane as well? You seem to know a lot about it."

"No, it was designed by Commander Hurricane and named after him. The only input we alicorns had was Luna's design of the Pegasus Drive. She is the reason you can use pegasus magic directly."

"Cool. When can I take this baby outside?"

"There are still a few things you need to learn about your magic, but I think I'm going to put your Wing on rotation for patrol in two weeks," Twilight said. "Vice Admiral Star Bright has the last say in those matters, but she usually follows my advice."

"I can't wait. Does that mean we will train together some more?"

Twilight nodded and smiled at me. Drive Shaft had already made himself scarce when we started our conversation, so it was just Twilight and me going over the fighter's specifications. I already knew about most of it, but it was nice listening to her and watching her bright smile as she explained everything.

Chapter 6: First Mission (Revised)

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Chapter 7: The Trial (Revised)

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