From Here to Home

Just outside the dull walls of the mess hall, Thunderlane continued his 'clop pushups', straining to keep his set going. The sound of his hooves beating against one another paced him steadily. That, and his loud breathing.

The large-framed bodybuilder sat close to him, tiredly hoofing at the ground next to him. Snowflake felt his large muscles aching from the earlier training. He turned his eyes from the other cadet, looking up towards the sky. It had darkened since the past hour, the athletes having done their work for the day.

“How much are you at right now?”

“Doesn't even matter!” Thunderlane gasped between motions. He pushed himself off of the ground once more. “More than I can count,” he breathed out, hitting his hooves together and placing them back on the asphalt in a swift movement.

Snowflake let out a sigh. Now even Thunderlane was one-upping him here. “I-I think we should head to the barracks by now. Everypony else is there. You look about done by now too.”

Thunderlane gritted his teeth, forelegs shaking as he pushed off into the air once more. He hit his hooves together and fell torso-first to the hard ground, laying there as he caught his breath.

“Are we going now?”

“Nope, not yet...” Thunderlane sighed, wearily swaying his head back and forth. “Besides, you should be working on your cardio by now. Spitfire already chewed you out on that before.”

“But I'm tired...”

“Oh jeez, suck it up. This is coming from the guy who I saw squat three-sixty kilo's!” The pegasus gave him a stare, which wasn't all too convincing, given his lack of energy. “Go out to the track, do some sprints, and I'll see you in an hour, alright?”

Snowflake shivered. Indeed, he was a small, frightful child in the body of a large, hulking stallion. His eyes darted around, before he whispered to his friend. “What if Spitfire's there? What if she yells at me?”

“Such a baby...” Thunderlane continued to take in air, heart beating rapidly. “Spitfire isn't a creepy old pony, she doesn't get scarier in the night-time. She yells at all of us, and if anything, she'll yell at you less for not being such a pushover. Just... get on with it.”

“C-Can you come with me?”

His eye twitched.

“What? No!” he shouted. Looking at his friend for a while, he saw the snow white stallion about to start bawling. Rolling his eyes, Thunderlane gritted his teeth and pushed himself off the cold ground. “Alright fine, I'll go.”

“Yeaugh!” Snowflake shouted as Thunderlane made his way towards the track. With a smile, he sheepishly caught up to his trusted friend, no longer fearing the scary drill instructor.

Cloudchaser passed the last ring of could as she completed her last aerial lap. She slowed the flapping of her wings, and set herself down on the asphalt runway. She knew her intervals were weak in comparison to whatever it was they were going to do tomorrow. Still, she was beaten for the day. Beyond her own erratic breathing, she heard somepony else's, steady and brief. Turning to face the noise, she saw the fastest lead pony in the Academy using one of the pull-up bars that Spitfire set up for them.

“Hi Rainbow Dash!” She waved out to her, causing the pegasus to glance to her side. “Can't say I've seen you do pull-ups before. Any good at them?”

“I'm decent, I guess.” Rainbow Dash turned her head back to the bar, and continued to put in her work. After all, it took more than just fast flight to be a Wonderbolt.

“Wow, 'decent'! I wish I were decent at those, but-” She chuckled briefly, rolling her eyes. “You know me!”

“Sure.”

Cloudchaser broke her grin. Somepony must have been in a crap mood. “Oh, am I talking too much? I tend to do that a lot, like right now. Uh, I'll just be quiet now.” She shifted her eyes awkwardly, forcing out a loud breath. “Sorry,” she squeaked.

“It's all good.” Rainbow quickly slid her hooves off the bar, landing gently on the ground. She had the kind of grace that would be hard to find in someone as athletic, or loud as she was. “So where's Snowflake at?”

“Oh, you mean Roid Rage? He went to hang out with Thunderlane.” Cloudchaser pondered for a bit, biting her lip. “Might be too soon to ask, but whatever happened to that 'Lightning Dust'? I thought she was being dismissed or something, but Flowershine told me she heard she was still here.”

“I doubt Spitfire'd just let go of a pony as fast as her.” She brought a hoof to her chin to settle on the idea. “Well, not as fast as me, but you get the idea. Whatever it is, she still gave me that badge, I'm the lead pony now.”

“Right, so I guess...you two are still at it?”

“Yep, can't just forgive her for being such an ass about what happened to my friends. If she's still here, Spitfire's probably gonna straighten her out... Listen, I don't really wanna talk about it.”

Cloudchaser quieted down by then. Once again, her tendency to talk too much got her on someone's nerves. “My bad, I shouldn't have asked.”

Dash shrugged it off. “So your sister isn't doing this with you? She did pretty good on Hurricane Day, from what I saw.”

“I know, I tried to get her in. Flitter told me she it 'wasn't her thing', and some other stuff. She can't fly a quick four-hundred metre or anything, but she's never out of breath, you know? She'd do good here. Rainbow Dash nodded intently, as Cloudchaser continued. “Meanwhile, I'm getting my ass kicked in like ten minutes of this training.”

“So I guess you're not ready what's happening before we go back to Ponyville?”

“Huh? What's going on?”

“We'll you know,” she flipped her rainbow mane, trying to play it off casually. “Before we go home this week, Spitfire's gonna wanna see who makes the cut, right?” Cloudchaser nodded. “Right. So, we're probably gonna get a killer evaluation some time soon. Just to see who can really push themselves harder, you know?”

Cloudchaser's struggled to keep her jaw from hitting the floor. The ache in her wings was enough to make them fall off, and her heart was on the verge of exploding. This 'killer evaluation' did not look good. The way her lip quivered was enough to make the cyan-coated pony smirk.

Rainbow Dash turned her back to Cloudchaser, walking away. “Shouldn't be a problem for me, but you know, just a tip.” With that, she spread her wings and flew off, leaving Cloudchaser to take in the news.

She shook her head, pacing back and forth in anxiety. The first three days were hard enough on her, tearing away at her body, and mind. Whatever was in store for them before the end of the week would not be pretty.

From what she knew of Spitfire, it would be far, far away from 'pretty'.

Hey Flitter, how's my favourite sister doing? Pretty good? Knew it.

Since I'm sure you're just begging to know what it's like being a top-tier athlete, I'll have you know it's pretty damn cool. Real tough too. You know Spitfire was gonna make us do five hundred laps on the first day? Thanks to Rainbow Dash and her friend though, we only had to do like two hundred or something. I dunno, I lost count after the first couple thousand, I mean, nevermind.

Other than that, it's pretty chill. We saved some lives, did just a few hundred one-hoof pushups, the usual. Rainbow Dash and that other chick must be on steroids or something though. They're both breaking records and making us all look bad. What else, what else... Ugh, why does writing have to be so hard? See, I'd write more stuff but writing is bad for my brain. Thunderlane probably made his letter really long and stuff. It's gonna make me look dumb, I know it.

Guess that's all, so enjoy yourself, alright Flitter? And send some of those chocolates you brought home too, I liked those. Oh, and keep that teddy bear I sent you safe, alright? Spitfire told Roid Rage he couldn't keep it, so hold onto it until we get back.

Cheers, Cloudchaser

Flitter wore a tired smile as she set the letter down onto the wood table. The gray colt sitting next to her had his head buried deep in the note he was reading. She got up, walking towards the kitchen counter as the foal continued to read.

“Could I get you something to drink, Rumble?” She received a slight nod in response, Thunderlane wrote more in his letter, a lot more. She poured herself a glass of water, and opened up the refrigerator to get Rumble some vegetable juice. He was one of the few kids to not have to retch after drinking anything with vegetables in it.

Flitter picked up a glass in her teeth and brought it to the table, glass clanking against the wood. Rumble put the letter down, and swiftly grabbed the glass within his hooves. The pegasus brought her own glass over, and got comfortable in her seat. Then it got quiet.

Flitter liked the quiet.

“Thanks for taking care of me, Ms. Flitter.”

'Ms. Flitter', that was cute. Rumble had that kind of effect on people. The two had known one another for how long? Still, the colt couldn't help but be shy around her.

“It's my pleasure, Rumble.” Flitter offered him a smile, prompting him to turn his head away. “So, how's your brother?”

“He's fine...”

“Is that all? But he wrote so much, you can tell me more than just that.” She received no more of a response than silence. Not the kind she liked though, it was the awkward, forced silence. “Are you tired?” The colt shook his head. “You just don't want to talk to me, right?” Then there was a nod, at least they could agree on that. “Sorry.”

Flitter sighed, mostly to herself, because she knew the only other pony in the room wasn't open to much discussion. He was always shy, but the last few days were pushing on it. Rumble would usually down his drinks, it'd save some time. Maybe he just wasn't in the mood to do that anymore.

“When's Thunderlane coming back?”

He was not only Rumble's older brother, but perhaps his father-figure as well. Not all foals in Ponyville were looked after by their parents, as was the case in their household. Flitter had lived with her parents, prior to moving to Ponyville with her sister when they became old enough to live on their own. She would sometimes wonder how it would feel like to be raised the way Rumble did, wincing at the thought of being raised by somepony like Cloudchaser.

“Uh... I think it's just a week, no big deal.”

His face lit up, Flitter was glad to spot a smile there. “Really?”

“Yep, they figure out who makes the cut in the first week. Those ponies get to stay for months if they're good enough!”

“Months!?”

“Yes, it's even longer for some other training facilities,” she said, not paying attention to the distressed colt next to her. “Hey, remember when I was training for long distance flight in the Canterlot Games, but the camp didn't accept me and I cried for a couple days?”

“Yeah yeah, what if Thunderlane makes the cut?” Rumble asked. “Is he going to be away for months?”

“Well, yes, but don't you think that's what your brother wants? He'd be really sad if he didn't make it. You can understand that, right?”

“I-I guess...”

Flitter noticed unrest in his eyes. She moved a bit closer and gave out a smile. "You'll be fine, Rumble. You're a strong pony, I know that." He nodded back. “Hey, cheer up. That just means we get to spend more time together!” She pulled the kid into her with a foreleg, to which he tried to squirm out of the embrace. Flitter giggled a bit before letting him go.

“Come on Rumble, let's get you to bed.”