Soaring with the Rainbows Chapter 10

Soarin with the Rainbow chapter 10

Soarin trotted around nervously, treading a circle into the training field with his pacing. Twilight's habits were rubbing off on him. The elements were nowhere to be found. They all should be here by now. The trials would start soon, and Soarin knew that Spitfire would take every opportunity to thwart Rainbow and make sure the cyan Pegasus never joined the team. Ever since Rainbow, with Soarin by her side, confronted her at the last stunt show, Spitfire had refused to talk to either of them, which was making team practices hard. Even worse, for the past month she'd been actively trying to stop their meetings, refusing to give Soarin time off, and trying to override the trainers when they disputed that order. The fire-maned mare had told him, very pointedly, that she was not expecting any new members from this try-out. Spitfire was well known for going through with her threats, and Soarin was confused and worried. Spitfire's hate seemed to have sprung out of nowhere, vehement and poisonous. Rainbow Dash was trying to forgive her, by Celestia, not to usurp her! Whether it was her pride or her ego, or just the possibility of being out flown, he didn't know, but the fire-mane mare was obviously set on stopping Rainbow's dream of a blue and yellow flight-suit.

Where was she?! If he knew Twilight, she'd never let Rainbow be late, and he did know Twilight! After months of flying back and forward between Ponyville and the Wonderbolts base, he was proud to call Rainbow friend's his friends too. After all, he'd been there with them when Fluttershy and Big Macintosh started holding hooves, and he'd sat there with Spike, useless, as Twilight howled in her friends arms after Blues was forced to leave Ponyville with the band. His last visit was only a few days ago, winging it down from Canterlot with a huge gem for Spike's birthday. This year Spike hadn't gone through the greed-growth, but he was certainly going through another kind of growth… The dragon now measured up to Soarin's eyes, and although still young, he couldn't really be called a baby any longer.

The ground was beginning to wear under his hooves. All the ponies on base knew of his argument with Spitfire, after all she wasn't subtle. Some glanced at him with sympathy; others watched him with humor in their eyes. Seeing the attention he was gathering, Soarin stopped his pacing and began a motionless study of the skyline. Only twenty minutes before the trails began. Rainbow had better come soon.


He wasn't the only one to yelp. All across the training field, ponies yipped, fell over, or in the case of one particularly battle ready Wonderbolt, did a barrel roll and dived into the innocent judging tent, bringing the structure down in a floaty, billowy mess. Whipping around to see the source of the purple light flash, Soarin was confronted with a unicorn, five dizzy friends, and a seasick dragon.

"Silly Soarin!" Soarin just raised an eyebrow trying to comprehend what had just happened. "What, you thought we weren't coming?! Of course we'd be here!" Pinkie Pie giggled, predicting his thoughts before bouncing past him and into a wall, after which she giggled even harder.

"Sorry girls. I really need to recalibrate that spell, I'm sure that Goldenshine's law of unanimous equilibrium can be fitted in there somewhere."

Soarin, somewhat relieved, stared disbelievingly at the elements of harmony. Unicorns were known to 'pop', but he'd never expected Rainbow Dash, "the flyer", to arrive like this. All seven of the travellers were looking a bit worse for wear. Twilight was looking worn out but enthusiastic as she lectured a rather confused trainer who happened to be wandering by on the laws of magic. Pinkie Pie was looking well, considering she'd just skipped into a wall, but then again, she'd probably had practice. The other four elements were dizzy, but otherwise unharmed. It was Spike who was looking miserable, as green as the spikes on his head and begging for a bucket.

The wings on Soarin's back settled down, feathers smoothing out from what Spitfire called the puffy 'frightened' position. When he'd told Rainbow that, she'd laughed and shared a much ruder descriptive word with him, a "wing boner". Moving away from the embarrassing word, the Rainbow Dash Support Group seemed here to cheer.

Technically, nopony was allowed to watch the trials, but Soarin didn't see anypony about to argue. Denying the elements of harmony and the personal student of princess Celestia herself looked like career suicide to the trainers, although Soarin knew that the elements would comply with any rules. It was a very happy accident, and the light blue Pegasus wasn't going to do anything to fix it.

Even Spitfire wasn't going to evict them. Soarin could see her from across the field, glaring at the elements. She'd thought that she probably would have the opportunity to pick on Rainbow while she was alone, but obviously, Rainbow's friends messed that up. Denied a defenseless and scared Rainbow Dash, Spitfire looked on at the group of friends with a predator's gaze.  The fiery Pegasus's eyes came to rest on Fluttershy. the meekest of all the friends, she was stumbling and uncommonly ungainly, dizzy after the teleportation. Spitfire's eyes lit up at the sight of the dizzy shy Pegasus, and she sped off, shouting orders that Soarin couldn't hear.

Dizzyness… After spending almost his entire life with the mare, Soarin knew how Spitfire thought. What weakness could she see in Fluttershy? Fluttershy, after all, had come here to cheer, not to fly. Rainbow was the one who was flying… And Rainbow was dizzy too… Dizzy and uncoordinated after Twilight's teleportation, but somehow calm.

Soarin twirled round to Rainbow and the elements, speaking rapidly. "Rainbow, Spitfire's up to something. She's basically sworn to make sure you never get into the team. I need to stop her, you need to get ready, everypony else needs to get in the stands, now!."

While her friend's faces showed confusion, Rainbow's showed understanding. "Girls, I'll explain later. Right now you guys get into the stands, I need to warm up. And for Celestia's sake, somepony take care of Spike, he's gone as green as a bug!"

Their friends tottered off, Fluttershy supporting the purple-green dragon. Rainbow flexed her wings and shook her mane, already gearing up into her competitive mode. "You know, I'd be feeling a lot more ready if you actually helped me train instead of just barking orders at me on the day."

"Unfair advantage Rainbow." He said, spreading his wings and speeding away toward the support staff.

"Then what are you doing now?"

"Making sure this is fair!" He called over his shoulder.

Soarin spotted Spitfire, seeing the orange blur zip round the training field. He accelerated after her, pausing in front of staff and security alike and taking back her discriminating orders, issuing fair ones in their wake. The trials had to be unbiased, but Spitfire, with a combination of both outright and subtle instructions, was tipping the scales to anypony who wasn't Rainbow Dash. A clever strategy, but not one that a co-captain that had served under Spitfire for a long time couldn't combat.

He followed her, mimicking her every twist and turn. Soarin was lucky that her path wound around the buildings, if her course was straight, Spitfire would unknowingly have left her purser in the dust. As it was, with the frequent stops and the limited space, Soarin was always only a dozen pony lengths behind her.

They kept up the "dancing" session for a while, with Soarin still undetected behind Spitfire's back. Whenever he did catch a glimpse of her face, she was smirking, even gloating… After telling a security pony that no, he didn't have to electrify the fencing, Soarin lost track of the yellow blur. Turning his head around, he discovered that Spitfire had stopped. She was looking over at the exit of a building, watching the trainers as they trotted out. Soarin got another glimpse of the gloating grin as she flew to meet them.

"Dance over." He puffed, relieved.

The trainers, experts and everypony else, were congregating over in the stands, giving the elements and their dragon friend apprehensive looks. Spitfire landed beside them, starting up a conversation with one. One the outside, at least, she looked the perfect Captain, involved but discrete, professional and composed. Soarin felt his temper flare up at the sight of her. Pushing his anger down, he beat his wings and went over to join the group.

All of the trainers were here to see the next Wonderbolts perform for the very first time, but only the three most senior were judging. Completely, innocently, and utterly by mistake, Spitfire had situated herself right in the middle of those influential three.

" Enough's enough Spitfire, stop it. Now." With irritation clear in his voice, and anger shimmering underneath, Soarin stepped up behind the Wonderbolts Captain.

"Oh, hi Soarin. What are you talking about?" A happy smile and, when the trainers couldn't see her, a warning glare shone on Spitfire's face.

Soarin was now having real trouble keeping his temper. It wouldn't help Rainbow if he killed his Captain. It really wouldn't. But still, the prospect was tempting. Settling for wiping the smug grin off Spitfire's face, he sat down next to her, smiling like the old friends that they were.

His grin changed to a fake and entirely mocking one. "So. Your little trick with everypony's orders, that was good. A pity you never checked who was following you."

If Soarin had been paying attention, he would have seen plainly the flash of hurt and pain that passed over Spitfire's face. Wrapped up in the vicious sense of triumph and the ever-increasing battle for his temper, he missed the chance to see it. But, before Spitfire could retaliate, the most senior trainer stepped forward.

There was no podium, no crowd, and no grand gestures. The Wonderbolts, out of line with the rest of their activities, always kept the trials small. All that was needed to enter was self-confidence and a reputation for good flying. The staff that wasn't needed to help didn't even pause in their work, working around and through the trials. Indeed, there were only about half a dozen applicants, standing in one corner of the field and swaying nervously. This might be an important day of their lives, but there was no fanfare, no ceremony.

"Come over here, you lot." The lead trainer called, standing up on his seat. The nervous contestants flitted over instantly and formed an anxious huddle, looking small and scared.

"Right." The trainer went on, so close to the candidates that he didn't need to speak above talking volume. "You know why you're here. You're probably surprised to see that there aren't a million camera ponies and reporters here, but this is how it goes. When we don't need them, we the Wonderbolts, and yes, I do include the staff in that statement, tend to dislike cameras. The fact is you'll get sick of them after a week or so.

You're almost certainly also wondering why your being judged but us stodgy old trainers, instead of your idols. But I know for a fact that over half of you are either friends with a team member or were referred by one. It's been our long standing policy to allow Wonderbolts to refer ponies that they think can take it, but in return, the trainers need to judge who's in and who's out. Gotta be unbiased and all.

So yeah. Sorry about the speech, but you can't really avoid those. One, two, and three, let's see your speed, line up on the starting line."

The Pegasi wearing said numbers sped up into the sky to the makeshift racecourse, with expressions ranging from determined to terrified. Up above, Soarin could see Fleetfoot shooing away other Wonderbolt members, having just completed the route. It was a simple design, with just cloud posts showing the route, the rest empty sky.

Soarin sat back and watched. There wasn't really anything more he could do. Rainbow breezed through the speed rounds, did brilliantly on the reaction timing testing, and managed to actually do fairly well on the team flying, which was quite a surprise. Through it all, Spitfire became more and more agitated, starting to whisper to the trainers that that move was a fluke; that Rainbow must be cheating, that that other colt had been better. To her chagrin, the trainers weren't swayed.

Spitfire knew what was going to happen. So did Soarin. The final test, the final check, was possibly the most important, and defiantly the way you made you mark on ponies' minds. Every Wonderbolt had some trick, some particular stunt, which was theirs and theirs alone. The last part of the trials was the see the newbie's stunts. And Rainbow Dash could break the light spectrum: The sonic rainboom.

Near him, Spitfire was twitching.

The eyes of everypony in the field were on the rainbow Pegasus as she flew away from the field, high and far out. When she was a gleaming speck in the distance, she turned, and dove. Already, Soarin could see the cone forming; he could hear the wind beginning to whistle. Beside him, Spitfire was squirming.

Then, just over the arena, it broke. The light spectrum fell away in a beautiful, glistening halo of colors, the explosion reverberating in the still air. Soarin watching Rainbow Dash, his eyes wide. Her rainbow wake streaming out behind her, she looked… Unworldly. Untouchable. Beautiful. She landed softly, not a feather out of place, only slightly out of breath. It didn't seem possible.

The silence in the training field was only broken by Rainbow's friends; their cheers giving the normally bustling field an echoing, empty feel. Soarin didn't know what to say. He'd seen this once before, while falling to his death, which tended to make an imprint on a colt's mind. But… It just didn't seem possible. His colleagues looked even more stunned then him. Spitfire looked like a mare whose last hope had fled, beaten and desperate.

The silence continued for so long that the friendly cheers dropped away. The elements started to look concerned at the utter lack of reaction. Gathering his wits, Soarin nudged the trainer beside him, urging him forward.

"Uh…" The stunned trainer stuttered. "Did you… That was… We…" He shook his mane, and Soarin could almost see his mind wrestling with itself. "I… I think I speak for all of us when I say that… We… Um, are... impressed? Rainbow Dash… I believe that there could only be one outcome, after what we've just seen. Welcome to the Wonderbolts... I think?"

With a loud, happy yell from Rainbow, the silence was irrevocably broken. Murmurs broke out from the staff, some of them wandering over to talk to the rather confused and dazed remaining applicants. The other elements surrounded Loyalty, encompassing her in a huge, multicolor hug, laughing and shouting. Soarin rose up from his seat, eager to go join the celebration.

"No." Was the hiss from beside him. Soarin turned to look at Spitfire, surprised by the venom in her voice. "No." She repeated, her eyes narrowing.

"Spitfire? What are you-" Before the rest of the sentence was out of his mouth, she was gone. "Spitfire? SPITFIRE!"

An orange streak was careening toward the crowd of Rainbow's friends and admirers. Oh buck… Soarin leapt after her, but he might as well been moving in slow motion, for all the good his flight did. By the time he arrived at the place where Rainbow, moments before, had been surround by friends, both mares were high in the sky.

And they were fighting. As the first yelps of panic began on the ground, up in the air, Rainbow and Spitfire were fighting. Really fighting, actually hurting each other. And he could see why. Down on the ground, Fluttershy was holding a hoof to her bleeding nose, whimpering. Attacking Rainbow's friends generally didn't go down well with the mare herself. Spitfire had lost it.

Soarin was left watching the two angry blurs clash, willing his wings to drag his body higher, faster. It wasn't any use. The two mares breezed past him, making him look like he was standing still in the sky. Other flyers were trying to catch them too, but they were just as useless as he was.

The white Pegasus whimpered, his volatile emotions breaking through. He couldn't let Rainbow get hurt! Panicking, he whipped around to his teammates, who looked just as shocked as he was. Nopony had thought that Spitfire would take her strange rivalry this far.

"Get her!!"

"But we don't know why-"

"JUST GET HER!"

The Wonderbolts around him saluted and sped off, mindful of his fury. Soarin took off after them, but was left behind in a matter of seconds, useless.  Fear and panic rose up inside him, but his impending terror was interrupted.

"Soarin!" A purple field covered him, dragging him down to the dirt against his will. Struggling, Soarin yelled at the purple unicorn below him to let him go, to help him, to just do something!

Twilight was talking to him, shaking him, and demanding to know what had happened, what had gone wrong. He shouted that he didn't know, that he had tried to stop Spitfire. That that this wasn't his fault, couldn't be his fault. And then they were hugging him, and he squirmed out of the embrace, all attention on the sky, on the fighting mares above them. And Twilight was casting spells, and Applejack was tossing rope, and he said that it wouldn't work, that they were too fast. Fluttershy was crying again and Applejack was swearing, and he tried to take off again but Twilight wouldn't let him, she was saying that if the other Wonderbolts couldn't catch them there was nothing he could do and Soarin was lost. He was lost.

He shivered, feeling his heart stop as the blue and orange Pegasi met hoof to hoof once again. Being around the elements, being in the midst of their crying, hugging group, took the edge off the panic that threatened at the edge of his mind.  Soarin comforted them automatically, not even hearing his own words, too focused on the air above him. Rarity was sobbing, and Fluttershy had her arms around the white unicorn, kind even in the face of her own terror. Ponies didn't fight. Ponies never, ever fought. They couldn't they didn't, but they were, and Rainbow was getting injured, Rainbow was getting hurt! Soarin quivered, trying to keep his panic and terror suppressed. Whimpers broke out from the group as a whole, background music to the silent, far off fight.

"No!" He hissed, unable to watch, unable to look away.

All eyes were on the two distant specks, trailed by Wonderbolts, as they came together to clash once again… and fell, tangled.

"NO!"

His action was a reflex, drilled into his heart by training and memory. Faster than a thought, Soarin catapulted off the ground, accelerating up to meet the falling pair. He world narrowed to blue, and adrenaline, instinct stronger than his temper or his fear, streamed through him. He slammed into the tangle of hooves and wings, plucking his target out and tearing her from the mad-mare's grasp. The collision sent all three flying, hurtling toward the ground. Wrapping himself around his prize, Soarin braced for the impact…