I jolted awake to the beeping of my alarm. I had been in the middle of a fantastic dream full of swooping and soaring and intricate flight patterns, I rotated my sore neck to look at my alarm clock. Ugh, it was so early. I slapped the snooze button, and then remembered what Soarin said about Spitfire hating it when ponies were late. Not wanting to disappoint my new captain so early on in my Wonderbolt career I rolled out of my king-sized bed and winced when my aching muscles were forced into movement, I padded slowly across the red rug, and pulled open the door to the private washroom next to my sleeping quarters.

I took in the features of the washroom, a shower stall, and a large tub for soaking, equipped with water jets. Along with a standard toilet and a large sink, I stared into the mirror above the sink and splashed water in my face to try to jolt myself out of my grogginess, and it only sort of worked.

I made my way out of my private washroom and out of my sleeping quarters. I glanced down either end or the marble hallway and quickly realized that I had no idea how to find my way around the Wonderbase. I strolled down the corridor in search of a directory of sorts, and I caught a glimpse of a white tail turning a corner in front of me. "Wait." I shouted as I bolted toward the unidentified pony. As I caught up with the pony it became clear that he was a Wonderbolt, SilverLining to be exact, his mane and tail were both stark white, and as curly as pinkies mane. He turned around to face me and said. "Oh, you must be the rookie, RainbowDash isn't it?"

"Yup, and you're SilverLining, right?" SilverLining nodded. "Would you happen to know where I'm expected for orientation, I wasn't told."

"I think I saw Spitfire waiting outside by the track, do you need a guide?" Silver asked clearly a friendly pony.

"If it isn't too much trouble, I haven't been giving a tour yet." I said sheepishly.

"I don't think we have enough time for a full tour, but if you follow me I can get you to the track on time." He proceeded to lead me through hallway after hall way, I marvelled at the grand architecture; I did appreciate some good architecture. Finally, after walking for quite a while, we walked through some very grand and ornate double doors and were hit by warm, and blinding sunlight, the storm from yesterday had cleared up fast, leaving us with a stunning view of the official Wonderbolt training facility. It was not a floating island like the academy; however it was just as elegant, maybe even more so. There was a massive track surrounding a lush grassy field, I assumed that area was for running, and endurance training, I also assumed there was also quite a bit of sky training equipment floating on top of the clouds. I looked to my right and there was equipment I didn't even have names for, I couldn't wait to start training and try out the equipment.

"Hey Rainbow, I was just going to come get you, but I see Silver beat me to it." Soarin called as he galloped toward us from the track. "I can take her from here Silver; you should get to the weight room. Coach is in a crappy mood today." Silvers face took on a look of absolute terror at the news. I assumed Coach was another pony I wanted to stay on good terms with.

"Bye Rainbow." Silver called over his shoulder as her bolted in what I assumed was the direction of the weight room.

"Ha, I see you've met SilverLining, he's a cool guy, and really good at maneuvering, but strength is his weak spot, that's why Coach is keeping him in all morning for intense strength training." Soarin explained. "So how did you sleep?" He asked with adorable inquisitiveness.

"Pretty good I suppose. I was exhausted from the storm flying, and my wing is still sore, but I managed to tune it out fairly easily." I replied, thinking back on how comfortable my new bed was.

"When Spits is through with you I'll take you to the infirmary to get that wing checked out, maybe the nurses will take a day of your grounding." Soarin said with a slight chuckle in his voice. I nodded, and then looked around again; I could see several unidentifiable Wonderbolts spiralling through the sky. I caught sight of spitfire on the massive track, which upon closer inspection I noticed was perched seemingly precariously over the side of the mountain face. Soarin and I strolled over to her.

"Hi rookie, so today we are assessing your skill set and the level you are at, Soarin is going to assess you because I have a very important meeting regarding some sponsors. You are both to report back to me at 2:30 exactly in this exact spot." Spitfire said with force. "Is that understood?" She raised an eyebrow in question.

"Yes ma'am." we said in unison. We chuckled to ourselves as Spitfire handed Soarin a clipboard and walked away and into the Wonderbase.

"Well, seeing as your wing is out for the count, you're not going to be able to complete the evaluation today, but we can still get a bit of data from your running speed, and ground agility." Soarin explained, while looking down at the clipboard Spitfire had handed him. "So run four laps around this field as fast as you can, I'll be timing you." Soarin said with a wink.

I launched into my running before Soarin even had a chance to start a countdown. I barreled around corners, and tuned out the pain that each step jolted through my wing; I ignored the aches in my hoofs. I really didn't want to disappoint my new Captain with poor results. Four laps later a came to a stop in front of Soarin. "How did I do." I said hardly out of breath.

"Hmmm. Not too bad, you beat the Wonderbolt record actually, but speed is your forte, lets move on to something else." Soarin said with poorly masked wonder on his face. He wandered over toward an obstacle course that spanned a few miles, full of hoops, jumps, rope apparatuses, and much more. "The record for this course is 17 minutes and 43 seconds, a time set by me actually." He finished glowing with pride.

"Was the record I just broke set by you too?" I said with a knowing grin.

"You'll never know." He retorted. "Now, get ready. Three, two, one, go!"

I shot forward as fast as I could go. I dogged walls, and leapt over trenches. I threw myself through a hole in a wall, and clipped my hind leg; I worked through the pain and kept on running, Soarin flew above me, eyes glued to his stop watch, as a concerned expression crept its way on his face.

As I finally threw myself across the finish line panting Soarin clicked the stop watch. "18 minutes and 26 seconds." He announced flabbergasted. "How in all of Equestria did you manage that on your first day?"

"My name is Dash, and I'm just really awesome." I explain with heaving breaths, after a quick inspection I deduced that my hind leg managed to escape any breaking of the skin, but would probably bruise.

"Well, let's see how you do in strength testing then." Soarin said motioning to some massive weights lying on a patch of grass. I couldn't help but wince internally, I wasn't exactly a pony designed for weight lifting.

By the time 2:30 rolled around I was even sorer than yesterday. It had quickly been made clear by the results of the assessments that I could stand to increase my brute strength; however I was excelling in all other areas. Soarin and I were laughing and chatting near the long forgotten weights as Spitfire approached us. "I'm assuming that you have completed all the assessments I set." She said inquisitively.

"Yes, ma'am." Soarin and I said in harmony once again.

"Dash comma, Rainbow has exceeded in all areas, with the exception of strength. She also broke one or two records." Soarin reported dutifully as he handed back the clipboard, which was now covered in note about me.

"Very well, you both have the rest of the day off, while I go over the results and develop a training regimen, also once that wing has healed have someone tell me so your assessment can be completed." With our dismissal we slowly made our way off the field and into the Wonderbase.

"So, it's about time I gave you a tour." Soarin said with a knowing smile.