A Night On The Town

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’...