Chapter 1
Wonderbolt Academy
Hearthfire was caught up another of her fantasy dreams. She was dreaming that she was
flying through the air as fast as her wings could carry her, Soarin’ and Spitfire at her sides,
and that they were performing for the celebration of the return of Princess Luna. The iconic
wonderbolt flight suit she was wearing rippling in the wind at the sheer force of the speed.
The team of three pegasi swooped upwards, high into the sky, before diving back down
at terminal velocity, creating a trio of sonic rainbooms in their wake. The crowd in the
performance stadium was in elated uproar at the display. Hearthfire landed in the stadium
turned her head to look at her two teammates. Soarin’ suddenly came over to her and
planted a large kiss on her lips, her eyes closing in sheer joy. Suddenly, a large whistling
noise shattered the fantastic dream she was having; a loud, irritated mare’s voice yelling
“Rise and shine recruits! Time waits for no pony!”
Heathfire groggily opened her eyes to see Spitfire in her air commander uniform trotting
down the hall, two other female officers following suit. Hearthfire rubbed her eyes lazily and
murmured to herself ‘Great,’ as she rolled out of her bunk, straightening her crimson and
gold streaked mane ‘Just as the dream was getting good.’
Hearthfire had only been at Wonderbolt academy for two weeks and was still getting used
to the early-morning wake up calls. It was nothing like being at home, where her mother
said she could get up when she wanted. Here, there were strict rules to abide by, and if
Hearthfire ever wanted to become a Wonderbolt, she would have to learn to live with
them. Everypony in Hearthfire’s bunkhouse was relatively new as well, apart from a few
mares who were fairly seasoned vets at the academy, who quickly and coolly presented
themselves for roll call. Hearthfire rushed over to the central area of the bunkhouse,
forming up into a neat line with the rest of the ponies following suit. As she reached her
point in the line she realised that her back felt unusually stiff this morning. As she turned
her head, her orange cheeks turned bright red as she realised that her wings were sticking
up in the air, refusing to stay folded. With a jump, she heard Spitfire’s voice boom over her
shoulder:
“Well, well, well. Looks like somepony had a good dream last night!”
The other cadets started to giggle, but then a stare from the officers in the room silenced
their muzzles. Hearthfire turned her heard slowly, her cheeks still flushed red, to find that
Spitfire was standing right in front of her, a serious expression on her face.
“What’s your name cadet?” Spitfire asked in a militant demeanour.
Hearthfire gulped and replied “Hearthfire, ma’am.”
“Well, Hearthfire,” Spitfire replied gruffly “Why don’t you tell everypony here who you
were thinking of to give you those raised wings of yours hmmm?!” Hearthfire looked down
at the floor dying of embarrassment. Spitfire slammed her hoof down on the floor next to
her, immediately getting Hearthfire’s to attention in front of the Flame-coloured mare.
“Well cadet?!”Spitfire yelled at Hearthfire, who was rigidly standing to attention “Spit it
out!”
“Commander Soarin’ Ma’am...” Hearthfire replied through gritted teeth.
“I can’t hear you!” Spitfire yelled, stamping her hoof on the floor again.
“COMMANDER SOARIN’ MA’AM!” Hearthfire finally yelled, her usually orange face now as
red as her hair as the other cadets in the bunkhouse burst out in laughter at the mortified
pony. All but one, whose sapphire blue eyes looked over at Hearthfire empathetically. The
two Pegasus officers in the room blew on their whistles, and the room once again fell into
silence.
Spitfire replied tauntingly to Hearthfire “Commander Soarin’ ,eh?”
“Ma’am yes ma’am.” Hearthfire replied quietly still standing to attention, her wings slowly
descending to her sides, hanging her head in shame.
“Well, Cadet Hearthfire, let’s see if 20 laps around the track can cure you of your itch for
commander Soarin’.” Spitfire relayed as she motioned to the door.
Hearthfire saluted Spitfire and replied reluctantly “Yes Ma’am” as she walked out of the
bunkhouse, closing the door behind her. Hearthfire checked to see if she was out of earshot,
and then muttered to herself:
‘Bitch.’
A few minutes later Hearthfire was around halfway through her assigned laps. Spitfire had
come to check on her a moment ago saying she had ‘good taste’ or something; Hearthfire
was too busy running to hear the full remark. ‘Damn Spitfire for being a superior officer!’
Hearth thought if herself. If she wasn’t such a legend in the Wonderbolts and all, Hearth
would have kicked her ass a long time ago. ‘But then again, I suppose she has to humiliate
some pony once in a while to assert her dominance,’ Hearth continued thinking as she
finished her 12th lap. She just wished it wasn’t her that Spitfire had picked on this time...
Suddenly, Hearthfire slowed her pace as her sapphire eyed friend, Silver Lining, had come
over to trot alongside her. The sapphire eyed Pegasus had a short, cropped violet mane and
tail, and her coat was (as her namesake suggested) a metallic silvery grey colour.
“Hey SL,” Hearthfire said, gathering her breath back from sprinting around the track, coming
up on her 13th lap. “What brings you over here,” she continued panting “shouldn’t you be
on weather duty with the others right now? Spitfire would be pissed if she knew you were
here.”
Silver Lining jogged ahead of her, Hearthfire trying to catch up with the playful Pegasus. The
two pegasi had been friends ever since they had graduated flight school. Silver was always
the more playful of the two, always getting them into some scrape or another, and usually
taking the blame for it. She always was very affectionate of Hearthfire, always standing up
for her if she was being bullied. She was like a sister to her.
Silver Lining turned around trotting backwards in front of Hearthfire, before replying to her
question.
“I finished before the others,” Silver started, circling around the trotting orange pony, “Ol’
Spitfire said she’d never seen anypony kick clouds that fast in her life,” she proceeded
to trot along backwards next to Hearthfire, her Greyish cloud cutie-mark clearly visible,
“There’s a reason I have this after all.” Silver continued, motioning to her cutie mark and
winking. “She was so impressed that she gave me the rest of the morning off, so I thought
I’d come see how ‘Cadet Hearthfire’ was doing after this morning’s fiasco.” Silver concluded
teasingly, as she flipped herself around to run next to Hearthfire as she finished her 18 th lap.
“Were you really having a dream about Soarin’?” Silver asked, noticing her orange
counterpart going slightly redder than was normal of physical exhaustion, collapsing on
her back after finishing her final lap around the track. Silver lay on the ground next to
Hearthfire, her sapphire eyes waiting intently.
“Yeah,” Hearthfire replied between breaths. Her hooves were aching as she flapped the tips
of her wings to cool herself down. She recalled the dream to her closest friend, who listened
intently to every word. As she finished regaling the fantasy, she added “I don’t really like
Soarin’ like that though,” almost recovered from her exhaustion “I think it’s more to do with
the fact that there’s nothing much to do around here y’know? Other than train, that is.”
“Sounds like you could use some down-time,” Silver Lining remarked as she got back up
onto her hooves, Hearthfire following suit. Looking confused, she asked Silver quietly
“Where are you going with this?” Silver leaned in and whispered something that made
Hearthfire shoot back and yell “Oh, no! Not again, you know what happened last time!”
“Come on!” Silver Lining replied teasingly “We were younger back then! Besides, you
really need the stress relief.” She said poking Hearth in the chest, who looked on at Silver
disapprovingly.
“Spitfire would never let us!”
“She doesn’t have to know,”
Hearthfire let out a sigh of exasperation and eventually agreed “Fine, but if we get caught,
this was all your idea!”
Silver blushed slightly and giggled “Isn’t it always? I’ll meet you tonight, 8’oclock, at the
northern entrance. Don’t be late.” She concluded, walking off toward the bunkhouse,
swishing her short, violet tail behind her.
Hearthfire chuckled to herself before setting off after her friend. But, she was right, she
really needs an outlet for her stress, and what Silver Lining had in mind would definitely
count as ‘stress relief’...
Chapter 2
Stress relief
It was 7:55PM and Hearthfire was waiting at the northern entrance of the academy, just as Silver Lining had planned. With what they were going to do, she really didn’t want to get caught. Silver always had some crazy ideas, but this one was just insane. If Spitfire caught them sneaking out like this, they would be scrubbing toilets for a week, or worse! As Hearthfire was thinking this, Silver rounded the corner of and trotted over to her orange-coated friend.
“Well,” Hearthfire laughed quietly as Silver approached “Looks like I’m the one that was early for once. What took you?”
Silver sighed and replied “I ran into Ol’ Spitfire on the way over here. She wanted to properly congratulate me on beating the academies cloud kicking record from earlier. It took a little longer than expected.” She shook her mane of violet hair and smiled “So, you ready to go?”
“I suppose,” Hearthfire answered, tentatively scratching at the floor with her hoof. Silver Lining gave her friend a little nudge on her side don’t worry and walked out into the streets of Cloudsdale.
“Don’t worry!” Silver said looking back at her friend, who was following in her wake as they walked out of the entrance to the academy. She stopped and laid a hoof on Hearthfire’s shoulder, smiling cheerily “Let’s not focus on the future, let’s focus on here and now.” Hearthfire looked up into Silvers shining Sapphire eyes, replying happily
“You’re right SL! Let’s go and have some fun!” as she rushed off down the street, Silver Lining in tow. “Now that’s more like it!” Silver shouted after her as they ran through the city streets together.
Hearthfire had never been out in Cloudsdale at night. The city seemed so... alive. Lights of hotels and restaurants glimmered off of the pure white clouds beneath them. Pegasi of all shapes and sizes chatted amongst each other. The sounds of the beats from various clubs and bars along the central promenade of Cloudsdale entertainment district filled the air, filling Hearthfire’s ears with their pounding notes.
“So,” Silver turned to her friend as they trotted down the street “What we doing first?”
“Well, I was thinking,” Hearthfire replied hesitantly “Since you’ve got more experience with ‘Nights out’, I thought you could choose.” Silver looked at Hearthfire with a crooked grin “Always leave it up to me to come up with a plan, eh?”
“It’s what your best at,” Hearthfire replied, winking at her friend, who seemed to blush a little at the compliment. “Well,” Silver countered “I was thinking we hit one of the clubs, and I know just the place!” Silver Lining trailed off down a path off to the left “Follow me!” She yelled to her friend as she grabbed the crimson haired pony by the wing. Hearthfire gave a little squeal of excitement and followed Silver Lining down a maze of twists and turns, before they finally stopped in front of a large, grey building.
The building was decorated with blue neon lights and looked kind of menacing because of two looming towers that were covered in luminescent orange and red striped lights which pulsated at varying levels of intensity. “What is this place?” Hearthfire asked Silver as they walked up to the entrance of the club. Silver placed her front hooves on the doors, then turned to Hearth and simply said “Welcome, to club Thunderstorm!” She swung open the doors and the blaring sound of bass and hoof stomping. The twosome walked inside, Hearthfire was in awe. The dance floor was alive with lights and sounds, ponies were in a mosh pit at the front of the stage, over which an ice-blue Alicorn DJ presided over the impressive setup of deck and speakers, her celestial mane of snowy-white hair swishing back and forth to the beat. Hearthfire was struck dumb with fear as the blue Alicorn opened her eyes to reveal her glowing golden pupils, glistening in the dry ice on stage.
Silver Lining snapped her friend out of the trance with a swift nudge to her ribs. Hearthfire staggered and turned to her friend, who yelled pointing at the Alicorn on stage;
“That’s Sub-Zer0! She’s the resident DJ here!” Silver lining continued “I’ve been coming here for almost two years! My brother owns the place! Come on, I’ll take you to meet him!” She finished, grabbing Hearth’s hoof in hers and dragging her toward the bar. The bar was fairly empty; most of the ponies were on the dance floor apart from a few who were relaxing in the VIP area, sipping on the margaritas they had ordered. Hearthfire and Silver Lining sat on two of the stools at the bar and a Grey Pegasus bartender with a black thundercloud as his cutie mark came over to greet them.
“Hey big bro!” Silver yelled, hugging the Pegasus over the bar “Good to see you again!” The grey Pegasus behind the bar laughed as they both pulled away from the hug.
“Good to see you again sis!” The Pegasus replied turning to Hearthfire, who was quietly running her hooves through her crimson and gold mane “Who’s your friend?”
“This is Hearthfire, Thunderstorm!” Silver replied, nudging Hearth to get her attention. Hearthfire shot her head up to look at Thunderstorm, whose yellow eyes were transfixed on her. “Hey there, Thunderstorm.”
“Always good to meet a friend of SL’s,” Thunderstorm replied, then continued to work on mixing the drink he was making “Y’know, I saw you two come in,” he continued, juggling the mixer in his wings “What brings you here tonight? I thought you were supposed to be at Wonderbolt Academy?”
“We snuck out!” Silver Replied to her brother “Hearthfire here needed a break from training at the academy, so thought I’d take her to the best club in all of Cloudsdale to take the edge off!”
“Well,” Thunderstorm replied, filling two shot glasses with the drink he’d been mixing “These little beasts should take the edge off somewhat!” The liquid he was pouring from the mixer was as black as tar, but flowed like water, as it settled in the glasses; small blue lightning bolts seemed to flash through the liquid, illuminating the surface of the counter beneath them. “I call this ‘Liquid Lightning’,” He pushed the two shot glasses towards Hearthfire and Silver “Go on; give it a try, on the house!” He concluded enthusiastically.
Silver Lining grabbed the Shot of ‘Liquid lighting’ and downed it, a blue aura emanating her mouth as it slid down her throat. She shook her head vigorously and said to her brother “Woo! You really know how to make a good cocktail big bro! Can I get another?!” Thunderstorm nodded as Silver turned to Hearthfire, who was staring at the sparking shot nervously, “Come on Hearth!” Silver encouraged her friend “It’s not that bad! Live a little!” she finished, downing her second shot of ‘Liquid Lightning’.
Hearthfire picked up the sparking shot glass tentatively. It was warm to the touch, the miniature bolts of lightning intensifying where her hoof was in contact with the glass. She gulped, held her nose, and downed the shot. Hearthfire shuddered as the bitter black liquid slithered down her throat. It gave her a surprisingly warm feeling in her stomach, like she was hugging a hot water bottle. Then, her eyes went wide as a rush of adrenaline kicked in numbing her other senses, she felt like she had just had caffeine injected directly into her bloodstream. “That was...” Hearthfire started as the adrenaline started to take over her system “BUCKIN’ AMAZING!” were the only words she could come up with.
Silver lining and Thunderstorm cheered, clapping their hooves together as Hearthfire screamed in ecstasy. “WOO! LET’S DO THAT AGAIN!”
“I knew you’d like it here Hearth!” Silver yelled. Wrapping a hoof around the orange Pegasus next to her, she asked her brother rather excitedly “Can we get a row of these bro?! I think Hearthfire here like’s em’!”
Hearthfire turned to her friend and yelled “Like them?! This is the best thing I’ve ever tasted!”
“Alright!” Thunderstorm laughed over the two excited mares “You want a streak of ‘Liquid Lightning’?! You got one!” He continued, juggling the mixer up into the air with his wings as he lined up shot glasses on the counter in a lightning bolt pattern. Then he proceeded to skillfully snatch the Mixer out of the air with his hooves and pout the contents into each of the fifteen shot glasses lined up on the counter, the small static bolts jumping from glass to glass as each filled with the sparking, black liquid.
“Alright!” Silver Lining and Hearthfire yelled at the same time “LETS PARTY!”
Around an hour and a half later, Silver and Hearthfire had drawn quite a crowd to their little drinking game cheering as Silver finished off the 13th shot in the streak of ‘Liquid lightning!’
“TWO MORE SHOTS, TWO MORE SHOTS!” The crowd was cheering as Hearthfire reached for the 14th shot of the black liquid. In all truth, Silver had done most of the shots; Hearthfire had only managed about three so far. Her vision was slightly blurred due to the alcohol coursing through her system and the music Sub-Zer0 was playing seemed to be slightly muffled. She managed to swallow her fourth shot of ‘Liquid lightning’ from the row, receiving a cheer from the crowd for doing so.
“ONE MORE SHOT, ONE MORE SHOT!” The crowd cheered enthusiastically as Silver Lining picked up the last shot in the row. She put her free hoof in the air, silencing the crowd and said with a slur “I declare this party, officially...” She proceeded to down the last shot and concluded “STARTED!” as she held up the glass victoriously, then unexpectedly planted a large kiss on Hearthfire’s surprised mouth, eliciting an uproar of cheers from the club-goers ,who proceeded to jump up and down to the bass that Sub-Zer0 dropped in that moment.
Hearthfire was both surprised and pleasantly shocked as her Violet-maned friend kissed her. She let it slide as Silver Lining pulled away with an embarrassed look on her face; After all, emotions tend to run high after ponies have had a lot to drink. Hearthfire grabbed her now flustered friend by the hoof and yelled “Come on, let’s dance!” As she dragged her to the dance floor. Hearthfire was in ecstasy, her heart was racing as she shook her mane of crimson and gold around her face, laughing as Silver was dancing close next to her. This was the happiest she had been in a long time. Silver was really letting her hair down as she nudged up ever closer to Hearthfire, the music around them swarming into their ears like a hornets’ nest. Yet, it seemed silent as the orange and silver ponies danced side by side, forelegs in the air, cutie marks rubbing up against one another. The two best friends were sharing in one of the most emotion filled nights of their lives.
Then as suddenly as the moment had started, it ended as Silver Lining threw up all over the dance floor. The ponies around them moved away as Hearthfire escorted Silver out of the club. They had had fun, but it was now time to get back.
Silver Lining was a mess; her usual violet mane was now all frizzy and slightly entangled with her own vomit as Hearthfire escorted her drunken friend through the streets of Cloudsdale.
“Aww,” Silver whined as she staggered under Hearthfire’s outstretched wing, “I was just having fun, and you dragged me away. Spoilsport.”
“I’m just looking after you, Silver.” A tipsy Hearthfire giggled “Besides, we need to get back and get you cleaned up before Ol’ Spitfire figures out we've gone missing.”
Silver scoffed ,swinging one of her forelegs in front of her slurring, “Ah, Fuck Shitfire, fuck her with Celestia’s forehooves!”
Hearthfire laughed and said “I think you've had a bit too much to drink Silver.”
“I could say the same about you Hearth.” Silver giggled.
“Touché,” Hearthfire grudgingly replied.
“Anyway,” Silver Lining slurred, “I was thinking we should do something else before we get back to the bunkhouse,” Blushing slightly.
“What are you thinking?” Hearthfire dared to asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Immmm thinking,” Silver replied pointing at the looming academy “That we sneak into the gym, lock ourselves in the spa, and clean off in the hot tub!”
“Well,” Hearthfire concluded hazily “That would be more relaxing than using the showers to clean you off.” Not realising her slip of the tongue.
Silver Lining had picked it up though, and raised an eyebrow “ OK, then... Let’s do it!” she drunkenly whispered in Hearthfire’s ear as they quietly slipped back in through the Doors of Wonderbolt Academy.
The gymnasium was quiet as the two drunken ponies tip-hoofed though the various rows of exercise machines as they made their way towards the empty spa. The only sound that could be heard was the whirring of the air conditioning as it cooled the air around the two sweating ponies as they closed the door to the spa. Turns out by ‘lock themselves in the spa’, Silver really meant to just wedge the door shut with a chair to keep it from opening on the outside.
Hearthfire used a towel to wipe the sweat from her face before lowering herself into the Academies hot tub with a long sigh. The hot tub was large enough for at least twenty ponies, and dominated the centre if the room, so it felt almost like being In a small swimming pool as Hearthfire dunked her head into the steaming water around her, washing the sweat from her soft crimson and gold mane. As Hearthfire lifted her head out of the water she caught the sight of Silver Lining with a towel around her flank, running her hooves though her short violet mane, trying to get the chunks of vomit left in her hair out. Silver caught Hearth’s gaze and looked back at her blushing slightly as she walked over to the side of the hot tub.
“My mane must look a mess,” Silver sighed as she sat on her haunches, trailing her forelegs in the shallow pools warm water. “I’m sorry for ruining your night Hearth, being ill like that...” Hearthfire trotted slowly over to her downtrodden friend lifting her head with her hoof to look into her eyes,
“ You've got nothing to be sorry about SL,” Hearthfire said sincerely “you took me out to have a good time, and I’ll be damned if that wasn't the best time I've had since...” Hearthfire’s heart skipped a beat as she remembered something that brought tears to her eyes “Since...” she tried to continue, but she just ended up bursting into tears in front of Silver Lining who saw in her beautiful Scarlet eyes what Hearthfire was thinking about, and embraced her empathetically.
Silver turned Hearthfire’s teary face to meet hers and kissed her calmingly on the cheek. Hearthfire lunged into her friend’s arms, bawling her eyes out as the alcohol in her body forced her to remember a memory from her childhood that haunted her to that very day.
“It’s OK Hearth” Silver said over Hearthfire’s shoulder “I know it’s hard to remember, but you just let it all out ok?”
Hearthfire pulled away from the embrace to look up into the loving sapphire eyes of the Pegasus before her. “I just miss him so much...” She sniveled through teary eyes Silver holding onto her shoulders.
“I know,” Silver Lining replied “We all miss him, especially you and your mom, but crying over the sad times aren't going to change the fact that he’s gone.” Silver realized she was welling up too now “You need to remember the good times you both had and hold onto those memories, and besides, he wouldn’t want you crying over him now would he?”
Hearthfire took a deep breath and replied “I guess not”, wiping the tears from her face and looking up to the loving angel above her, who asked “No more tears now OK?”
“No,” Hearthfire replied into Silver Linings Glistening sapphire eyes “No more tears.”
“Good.”
Hearthfire was took by surprise when Silver Lining suddenly dived on top of her and into the pool, passionately locking her lips onto Hearthfire’s. Hearthfire pulled away from the passionate embrace and exclaimed “What are you doing SL?!” Before being forcefully pushed to the edge of the hot tub, lips locked in another tight embrace.
“Relieving your stress Hearth,” Silver replied half breathed, before throwing the now sopping wet tow she was wearing onto the marble floor behind them. “I promised you the best night of your life,” She continued as Hearthfire moaned when Silver’s hoof circled her cutie mark. “And I don’t break promises Hearth, you know that...” She concluded before pulling away seductively and diving her head under the water between Hearthfire’s hind legs.
In that moment, Hearthfire could tell that it was about to get a lot hotter than she expected in the hot tub tonight...
A few hours later and both Hearthfire and Silver Lining were laying exhausted in the now rather placid seeming pool, Silver tucked under one of Hearthfire’s orange wings.
“Just so we’re clear,” Hearthfire panted “This changes nothing between us right?” Silver peeked her eyes through Hearthfire’s feathers, causing them both to giggle slightly.
“Of course not silly,” Silver chuckled “Can’t have Ol’ Shitfire finding out about this now, can we?”
Laying a small peck on Silver Lining’s nose, Hearthfire replied “Good, coz' you know I hate serious relationships. Let’s call it ‘Friends with benefits’ for now OK?”
“Sounds good to me pal.” Silver replied, stepping out of the hot tub and shaking her short mane dry, Hearthfire following suit. She caught a glance of the clock hanging above them and her eyes went wide.
“Crap!” She yelled quietly “Its nearly three in the morning! We’d better get back to the bunkhouse!” Silver also looked up at the clock and nodded, the two of them running back to the bunkhouse as quickly and quietly as they could. As they reached the bunk house, they slowly opened the door to see that everypony was still asleep. Silently both giving a sigh of relief, the two ponies kissed each other on the cheek and laid down in their separate bunks.
Hearthfire knew they’d only get around 2 hours sleep, but it was worth it. There was one phrase that popped into Hearthfire’s head just before she fell asleep.
Best. Night. Ever.
