(As a preamble to this story, I would like to say that I am writing this mostly for fun and probably won't be updating all that often. This is only something I am doing out of boredom right now, so I'll only be continuing this if I get so much as one response. I would also like to take note that there is another fic out there by the title of 'Sonic Flameboom'. I have not read it, merely searched it up in order to see if it was, in fact, an original title. I am simply saying, I know I might get some 'You're copying' or 'Wow real original's, but again, I stress, I'm writing this for fun and have not read the other 'Sonic Flameboom' story. And I digress, let's get on with this story.
-RagingTanuki)
"Hey, Spitfire! Great job out there today!" Soarin's words were barely audible over the rest of the Wonderbolts' cheering and hollering. I felt myself crack a smile as I returned a loud "You too!" Stretching my wings out, I trotted across the light clouds to settle beside my friend. "You handled those rookies well! N-Not like I thought they'd be any trouble!" His green eyes darted away from me, as though he was expecting me to snap at him. I let out a small chuckle and gave him a light hit with my hoof.
"You can drop the scared act, y'know? We aren't running the Academy right now!" I motioned to the room, which was jam-packed full of the other members of my team. Some were busying themselves with setting up for the after-performance celebration while others were taking a moment to fix their feathers or just sit down and take a breather. Either way, all of the ponies in this room were fully-fledged Wonderbolts.
"Yeah, well…" His voice trailed off before the sky-blue door swung open and a similarly-colored Pegasus pony marched through the door with the elegance of an elephant, another Wonderbolt trailing behind her. She was a rookie, just recruited from the academy, and boy did she have a mouth on her. I could see the pony behind her attempting to look impressed, smiling wide while her eyes almost seemed to scream the word 'help'.
"Did you see me out there!? That was awesome! I can't believe it! I mean, I never thought I was gonna get into the Wonderbolts!" Our newest member laughed, removing the mask from her face and revealing a mane just as expressive as she. "PSYCH! I knew I was gonna get in! I mean, how could I not? I was the best flyer in Ponyville! Haha! I guess it's just taking a while to sink in, but…I mean did you see me out there when we were doing those flips?! I was like, NNNYAAAAAWWWW!" The rainbow-hued Pegasus began zipping back and forth across the room, leaving a trail of colors behind her. The Pegasus that she had entered the room with was trying to keep a smile on her face, but I could tell that she had about had it with the gloating.
"Fleetfoot, can you come over here? I wanna discuss our routine for the next Summer Sun Celebration." The flyer heaved a sigh of relief as she hurried toward me, yelling a quick, insincere apology to her conversational dictator. I gave her a small wink, hoping that she knew I was trying to save her from the rookie's ego instead of wanting too serious a talk. "So I was thinking something similar to what we did here, but maybe with a bit more pinwheels…"
"Pinwheels!? What we need is more speed!" It wasn't Fleetfoot that answered. I was surprised to hear a voice from behind me. I looked behind me to see the rookie proudly grinning as though she had just given me the answer to life. "I thought we were going a bit slow today. I mean, I know that the practices were the same speed, but those were just practices! I was thinking the real thing would be much more epic! With lots of speed and more dives and loops! I was this close to doing an extra fast corkscrew during that last part!" Was this rookie out of it? Even just knowing that she was thinking of doing something out of turn was troublesome. The Wonderbolts are supposed to be a fluid group. Everyone depended on each other! If even one of us falters, or shows off, the rest of the team could be blown way off course! I filtered my annoyance through an angered huff and shook my head lightly.
"No, Dash. That wouldn't work. What we need is control, not speed. You should know that better than anyone! Or…should I bring up your time at the Academy with the rest of the group?"
"Hey, my time at the Academy can be put into one word: Awesome." She never dropped the grin from her face as she flatly denied the times that she had gone along with her old flying partner's dangerous habits.
"Fine, then. That doesn't change my mind. We stay at an even speed below 100 miles an hour, rookie." Soarin and Fleetfoot eyed each other as Dash dropped her grinning façade. She now looked at me with confusion, unwilling to accept the fact that I had told her that control was more important than velocity. She stuttered a few times before I interrupted her, "You may be out of the Academy, but I'm still your superior. We stay in a group, stick to the practiced routine, and don't get carried away. Do you understand?"
At this point the entire room had gone mostly silent as the majority of the Wonderbolts stared at me and the rookie. I was used to this, she wasn't. I can only assume that it was all of those eyes on her that kept her from arguing back. She frowned and spit out a curt "Yes, Spitfire" before turning to where the group was getting the food set up. The air in the room was tense as she refused to look back. Eventually, some of the Pegasi picked up their conversations and I turned back to my own small group. Soarin attempted to give me a reassuring smile while something I didn't think I'd hear reached my ears.
"She has a point, you know." The normally quiet Fleetfoot gave me a small shrug, "I don't want to argue, but…we could have fit a few corkscrews into the ending. I wasn't even winded by the time we landed. I'm sure the rest of the group could've kept up if we had flown a little faster." I could hardly believe that she was telling me this, but at the same time…
"But…we have to be careful. I don't want any of us to go too fast. Just going the slightest bit faster increases the risk of…injury." I frowned slightly, my eyes lowering to the ground. "I don't want any of you guys to get hurt. Control and safety are my top priorities."