Spitfire looked at the pony before her. A young mare with a teal green coat, a blonde mane and yellow eyes to match. Though she was standing at attention, Spitfire could see the slight confusion in her eyes.
"You've worked hard to prove yourself Lightning Dust, come a long way since you first arrived at the academy." Spitfire said, breaking the silence between them.
Lightning remained silent. She didn't really have anything to say to Spitfire. She was too confused to.
"Worked your way out of the brig and through intense squad training, the Jolly Wrenches should be good for you."
Lightning decided to speak. "Why me?"
Spitfire cocked an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
Lightning narrowed her eyes a little, looking down. "Ma'am… I know it's great that you've given me a second chance and all… but this seems a bit… I don't… bit more than I deserve, especially after how I acted the first time I was given something big."
Spitfire's look softened a little. "We both messed up during that time Lightning Dust, and just so you know… I'm aware that the others have not been kind to you since then, reason I think this would be good for you. A clean slate for a little bit, as it were.
Lightning nodded. "Right."
Spitfire nodded back as she looked to the other end of the run way to see Soarin' trotting over with a thin brown mare beside him.
"Have you filled her in on everything?" Spitfire asked.
"Yes, Thorn is all ready to go." Soarin' replied, nodding to the mare beside him.
Thorn gave a salute. "Private Thorn reporting for dusty-I mean duty."
Spitfire couldn't help but chuckle a little. "I think someone is either nervous or excited."
"Both!"
"Understandable. Thorn, this is Lightning Dust, she is one of the ponies you will be traveling with to Flysenhower Island."
Thorn looked to Lightning, a bit of recognition in her eyes.
"Oh… Nice to meet you."
Lightning just gave a silent nod. Anyone at the academy knows of me… I just wish it wasn't in that way…
"Who's the other pony coming with us?" Lightning asked.
"She'll be flying in any moment now." Spitfire answered, looking to the skies.
Right on cue, Rainbow Dash came soaring through the sky and onto the runway to greet them. She gave her salute to Spitfire.
"Rainbow Dash reporting for duty."
Spitfire saluted back. Before she could say anything they all heard a squeal. They looked to the source to see it was Thorn.
"Ohmygoshohmygosh! Is she the other pony?!" She asked, bouncing a little.
Spitfire gave an irritated look. "If I say yes will you please stop bouncing like a filly?"
Thorn nodded, planting her feet on the ground. "Sorry, ma'am, just this is Rainbow Dash we're talking about, she's one of the best flyers in Equestria."
Rainbow gave a shy smile. "Ah shucks."
"Hey, Dash."
Rainbow looked over to Lightning, complete surprise in her eyes. "Lightning Dust? What are you doing here?"
"Same reason you're here, I'm going to Flysenhower Island."
Rainbow's jaw dropped a little. HER? Has Spitfire lost her mind?!
Lighting got an awkward look on her face. "I'm just as confused as you are."
Spitfire cleared her throat. "Attention!"
The three mares stood in attention as Spitfire paced back and forth in front of them.
"Thank you all for accepting the offer that was given by the Jolly Wrenches. It's appreciated and will hopefully be helpful to us in the Wonderbolts."
The three mares nodded.
"As Lightning Dust mentioned, you will be flying to Flysenhower Island for training. Many of you probably have heard about the Jolly Wrenches through many of the stories that Wonderbolts have told to their comrades and trainees."
Oh yes… Rainbow thought. She and her fellow companions had heard the horror stories of "The Terrifying Jolly Wrenches." About how unfitting their name was, how they could swallow a pony whole if they were in the mood, how they were never kind to anyone outside their squadron. According to these stories, they were anything but jolly.
"I want to assure you that even though they aren't exactly the Wonderbolts best friend, they are good trainers, you will learn a lot from them. Things I don't even know you will learn from them."
Spitfire stopped pacing and stood facing the three mares.
"Reason I have no need to speak to you longer, it's time you report to Flysenhower. It's in the eastern part of Equestria, get their as fast you can."
"Yes ma'am!" the mares shouted.
Spitfire grinned. "Good, and a few warnings, it's going to be a rough landing… and Flysenhower has a tendency to move. You'll see it when you get there, I don't know how to explain it, just get going."
Without any question, the three mares took the skies and headed for the east. Spitfire looked to Soarin' giving a bit of a worried look.
"They'll be fine, Spitfire." Soarin' said with a reassuring smile.
"I know… I just wish I knew how to explain what they're getting themselves into."
It was a long flight to Flysenhower. Sure, they knew the way thanks to Soarin' giving Thorn the instructions on how to get there… it was just hard to keep themselves entertained.
"So, Thorn, how long have you been in the Wonderbolts Academy?" Rainbow asked.
"About year a now, I think." Thorn answered. "Still working my way up, though honestly I'm just thinking of doing the Wonderbolts as a part time thing and not just my only source of making income."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I'm really into gardening, have a nice little green house back where I live."
"Where do you live?"
Thorn gave a little bit of a sheepish look. "You're not gonna believe me if I told you."
"Oh come on, try me."
"Alright… I'm from Canterlot."
"Really?"
"Yep, mother was a Canterlot Unicorn who fell in love with Pegasus, and that's the gist of it."
"Doesn't seem that hard to believe… Then again, Canterlot mainly has Unicorns, and I don't know a lot of them actually practicing gardening… Also, you don't come off as a snob like the other ponies I've seen from there."
"That's why I said you wouldn't believe me, I'm too nice."
"Got ya…"
Rainbow looked to Lightning Dust. She had been silent for the most part. She only answered the occasional yes and no questions, but she was just keeping to herself. Rainbow was surprised she wasn't challenging her and Thorn to race to Flysenhower. Which… seemed very unlike her.
"Hey, Lightning Dust."
Lightning looked over to her. "Yeah?"
"What have you been up to since I last saw you?" No harm in talking to her, she doesn't seem like the same pony from before.
"Just training."
"Really?"
"Yep."
"Anything else?"
"Nope."
"What kind of training?"
Lightning gave a bit of an irritated look. "I really rather not speak of it, Dash."
Now Rainbow was really confused. Since when does Lightning Dust not want to talk about something? She's usually comfortable talking about anything.
"Okay."
The three flew on in silence before Thorn broke it with a loud yell.
"Incoming!"
The three mares broke their position, dodging a lightning bolt.
"What hay?! Thorn, you sure you lead us in the right direction?!" Rainbow asked, looking to the startled Pegasus.
"Pretty sure, from what Spitfire told me, we should be close. I just saw the rock with the Jolly Wrench insignia that serves as the checkpoint. Flysenhower is close."
"Then let's hurry over before we get zapped."
Thorn nodded and kept leading the way. Not too long after it begun to rain. Hard. It was coming down in sheets, drenching them.
"Do they have no weather ponies? I would think they keep the skies clear near their base camp." Rainbow said, looking around. "In fact, I can't see said base camp."
"Just keep following me, I promise I'll get us there."
"Thorn, you better, or I'm gonna mock ya for having a poor sense of direction for the rest of our training days together."
Thorn grinned. "Challenge accepted. No one questions my sense of direction!
Thorn lead on, helping them dodge more lightning bolts. Finally, they saw it. Flysenhower Island… and their jaws dropped when they realized something. It was MOVING.
"I guess that's what Spitfire meant by 'it has a tendency to move.'" Lightning said after a moment.
"Well, come on, let's get down there."
Thorn dove down with her partners following after. Coming in they could see other creatures practicing in the sky. They could see griffons, hippogriffs, and the occasional Pegasus doing air drills. They even saw dragons in the sky as well, firing off commands to their squadrons.
"I can see why some ponies would say they're terrifying." Rainbow commented. Dragons, full grown ones, can scare any pony.
They came down to the runway making a bit of rough landing. There, they saw a griffon waiting at a post. He was gray and black, and had on a red helmet with a blue visor. He smirked as the ponies approached him.
"You must be the new trainees, enjoying the weather?" he asked.
Rainbow felt her left eye twitch. "This is a thunderstorm for flying out loud! How can we possibly enjoy this? How do you guys even train in this? Do you even HAVE weather control?"
The griffon broke down laughing. "Oh you Wonderbolts, such wimps you are." He composed himself a little. "We don't have any weather control to speak of, what you see is what you get, we let nature do it for us."
The three mares were just dumbstruck.
No weather control…? They just… let the clouds move on their own…?
"Okay, I'm just gonna say this now, you guys are nuts." Rainbow said, breaking the silence.
"We take pride in it." The griffon answered with a grin. "Now, that aside, my name is Echo, I'll be helping with getting you three lovely mares settled into your barracks. You'll have a professional orientation tomorrow and will be given your uniforms that you will wear at all times during training, for now… I figure you three are exhausted from the flight over here and could use some rest."
You think? Rainbow thought, cocking an eyebrow at him.
"Now, follow me, let's get you settled."
The three mares followed him down the runway to the big building ahead. They watched the skies again, seeing fellow Jolly Wrenches coping with the tough weather… even using it as a means of training.
The three gulped as they headed inside.
What have we gotten ourselves into?