RosaSilvermist- I'm gonna have to work this one out in my head. Well we have this chapter, the next one, the one after that and one more after that and then Rainbow Dash goes back to Ponyville for the Spring Celebration. So we'll get to see the rest of the Mane Six in Chapter 18. Man, that chapter will be fun to write! The more Pinkie Pie the better! :D

Imperialcrystalgirl- Whew. I seriously thought that I may be writing those notes for nothing. It's true, Spitfire does rule. You saying that made my day *cyberhugs*.

DragonZeus1- YAY! We're 'Plushie Buddies'! *hugs plushie again*

Sparkling-nexis137- I'm so happy that you like learning about the cadets. More info about them will come in later chapters. Also, I love that you enjoyed the BraeFire moment. Writing about those two makes me smile like an idiot! :D

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*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

"Ugh, mom, I don't wanna go to school!" Rainbow Dash mumbled, still half asleep. "All the ponies wanna eat my tail to see if it tastes like skittles!"

"You'll miss breakfast!"

"I'M UP!" Rainbow sat upright in her bed. She looked around, realising she was at the Academy and not at her childhood home with her dad, Rainbow Blaze, and her mom, Firefly. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and looked over at Lullaby. The purple mare was still fast asleep.

Huh!?

Why hadn't she been woken up by the bugle? Rainbow looked over at the clock on the wall and her pupils shrunk as she saw the time.

5 O'CLOCK!

Who in their right minds would be up at five O'clock? Better yet, who would wake her up at 5 O'clock? It was bad enough having to be woken up by a loud horn at six, but now some moron was knocking on her door at five. FIVE! Rainbow Dash marched over to the door and pulled it open, suddenly finding herself glaring into the green eyes of Soarin.

"What's the big idea? How would you like it if I came banging on your door at five in the morning?" Rainbow complained, blowing a lock of her messy mane out of her eyes. She didn't really care about her bedhead as long as she got a little more sleep.

"Sorry, Dashie, but I just really wanted to apologize," Soarin didn't seem the slightest bit shaken at Rainbow's outburst. Rainbow was instantly angered because she had no idea what he was talking about. Maybe she did, but her brain didn't function properly unless she'd had at least nine hours sleep.

"Apologize for what?" she yawned, trying her best to keep her heavy eyelids up. She felt her head tip backwards and quickly shook herself to keep herself from falling over.

"Apologize for acting like an idiot two days ago. I don't know what came over me," he looked down at the ground. Rainbow Dash face hoofed.

"You woke me up just for that? Soarin, you didn't have to; I thought that was just your normal behaviour," she groaned, the only thought in her mind was that she'd been woken up for something as stupid as this. Right now, she didn't care about Soarin's crazy antics. It was a natural thing that she'd grown used to.

"Oh, then…this was a waste of time," Soarin looked sheepishly away. Rainbow groaned and rubbed her temples as if she were having a migraine. "Let me make it up to you anyway," he reached into the pocket of his uniform and Rainbow wondered for a moment whether he was going to talk to a pen again. Instead he pulled out two pieces of paper.

"Oh. My. Gosh. Are those…"

"Two tickets to the Wonderbolts airshow tonight? Yes, they are," Soarin replied. Rainbow was wide awake now. She grabbed the tickets and stared at them as if they were the most precious of jewels. "One for you and one for a guest of your choice," Soarin reached into his pocket again and pulled out another one. "I'm saving this one for Braeburn. I'm sure he'll want to see her in her flight suit," he seemed to say that last part to himself.

"Who in her flight suit?" Rainbow Dash asked, tilting her head. Soarin's eyes bulged.

"Did I say that out loud?" he muttered, looking a little horrified. Rainbow was about to ask another question when she felt a pair of hooves grab her round the neck.

"Gotcha!" Lullaby chuckled, hugging Rainbow Dash. Dash dipped her head and mumbled something under her breath.

"Lullaby, how can you be so active at this hour?" she asked. Lullaby shrugged.

"My whole life I've been woken up at ridiculous times by crying foals, so I'm just used to being up early," Lullaby explained. Rainbow Dash threw her head back and yawned.

"I'm so tired, but now I'm way to excited to go back to sleep," she looked down at the tickets in her hooves. Lullaby gasped beside her and ogled the tickets with her now huge golden eyes.

"Are those tickets to the airshow tonight?" she asked breathlessly. Rainbow nodded, passing her one of the tickets.

"Yeah, you wanna come?" she offered. Lullaby looked at Rainbow Dash, then the ticket, then back at Rainbow Dash, then back at the ticket. This went on for a while.

"Really?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, you're my best friend here, so it only seems right that I should take you," she explained.

"Ahem," Soarin cleared his throat, eyeing Rainbow Dash. The blue mare grinned and rolled her eyes.

"My best friend here besides you, of course, Soarin," Dash assured the Wonderbolt, who gave her an appreciative nod. Lullaby began bouncing up and down with glee.

"This is so cool! My very first Wonderbolts airshow!"

Rainbow blinked a couple of times. "Wait…you've never seen a Wonderbolts airshow before?" she asked, trying to process this. Lullaby looked a little ashamed of herself.

"Yeah. I've never had the time with my sisters and brother to look after. Besides, I've never really had that kind of money. Airshow tickets are like fifty bits, Dash!" the mare told Rainbow Dash.

"Well, I'm honoured to be taking you to your first one. I promise you that it'll be awesome!" the rainbow maned mare vowed. Lullaby lunged forward and wrapped Rainbow in a rib crushing hug.

"THANK YOU!" Lullaby squealed, almost cutting of Rainbow Dash's circulation.

"No…problem," Rainbow wheezed, trying to breathe. Suddenly, another door opened and Smart Set poked his head out the door looking pretty mad.

"What's the deal, guys? Some of us are trying to sleep!" he complained, still wearing a sleeping mask. Rainbow raised a hoof as if to say 'See!' while Soarin guffawed at the sight of the cadet with a polka dot sleeping mask and Lullaby let go of Rainbow Dash so she could cover her mouth. The purple cadet sheepishly giggled and spoke.

"Um…oops."

---

"Okay, since this is a combat lesson, I will be in charge today," Rapidfire announced, looking at the line of cadets. Silver Lining and Fire Streak were with him, the latter reclining on a lawn chair. Rainbow Dash wondered how this would work. Would they all just fight eachother like a pack of wild animals, or would they be in smaller groups or pairs?

"I don't like this," Rainbow Dash heard Cinder whimper further down the line. The little blue mare was shaking like a leaf in the breeze and looked a little pale. Rainbow hoped that the timid pegasus wouldn't get hurt.

"Okay, so here's how things will work: The fifteen of you will be separated into three groups based on your strength and skill," Rapidfire, looked down at the clipboard in his hooves. He began calling out the names of the cadets and telling them which Wonderbolt to stand with.

Rainbow Dash was ordered to stand with Rapidfire himself, along with Lullaby, Spring Song, Butternut, Tempest, Bumble and Free Fall.

Paradise, Beau, Smart Set, Sugar Swoop, Stargazer and Ray were sorted into the group with Silver Lining.

And Cinder and Stains were told to stand by Fire Streak.

Rapidfire looked over the three groups. "Okay, so with me we have the Dragons, which is the highest combat group. Silver Lining over there has the Eagles and Fire Streak has two…" he looked over at Stains, who waved and Cinder, who hid behind her. "…Chickens," he finished.

"Ooh, ooh, ooh!" Paradise raised her hoof from her spot beside Silver Lining and jumped up and down. Rapidfire looked over at the green mare.

"Yes, cadet?" he allowed her to speak. Paradise put on her cutest pair of puppy dog eyes.

"Can I be a Chicken instead of an Eagle?" she asked sweetly. Rapidfire blinked a couple of times.

"What?" he raised a brow. "Kid, you're in a really good group, ya know. I'm not moving you to the lowest group."

"Oh…okay," Paradise shrugged, looking over at Fire Streak and winking at him. Fire Streak shifted his eyes and looked like he wanted to get the hay out of there. Rapidfire face hoofed.

"Okay then, here's how things will work. Your Wonderbolt overseers will pair you up- well, not you, Fire Streak- and each pair will engage in mid-air fights. Each of you must be at least 5000 feet high in the air otherwise you will be disqualified. The 5000 foot limit and fighting space is marked by those flags," Rapidfire nodded up to two flags perched on a pair of clouds. "Let me make myself clear, I do not want any bloodshed, broken bones or tears...well maybe tears. Got it?" Rapidfire exclaimed.

"Yes, sir!" the cadets replied in unison.

"Then let's get started!" Rapidfire turned to the seven cadets in the Dragon group and frowned. "Stupid odd numbers," he cursed. He looked back down at his clipboard and started muttering things to himself. "Okay, looks like one of you will have to fight me. I was hoping it wouldn't come to this but there's no other option…unless one of you wants to fight that chair," he looked over at Fire Streak's chair. Fire Streak was leading Stains and Cinder to a spot away from the other groups when Stains tripped over one of the chair's legs and landed on her face.

"Heh…looks like it'll be a worthy opponent," Bumble giggled. Rapidfire blew his whistle to get everypony to stop laughing, even though he was suppressing a smirk.

"Pay attention! By the end of the day each of you will have fought in a battle and hopefully impressed me. I'm gonna work hard to make you guys great fighters…or at least as good as that chair," that's when he started chuckling.

"I'll fight the chair!" Paradise piped up from the Eagle group. Rapidfire looked over at the green mare.

"Why in the name of Luna would you want to do that, cadet?" he asked her. Paradise shuffled her hooves.

"Definitely not so I can search it for Fire Streak's fur and then use the DNA to clone him," she bit her lip and turned red. Rapidfire massaged his forehead and groaned.

"Okay, for the rest of the day I'm gonna ignore her. I swear if she says one more word I could strangle her," the Wonderbolt stallion increased his grip on the clipboard. "Is anything that comes out of her mouth…normal?" he asked his group.

"No," they all replied.

"Well, the Chickens will fight first, then the Eagles, then us," Rapidfire calmed down and read his clipboard. "So we just have to figure out who will fight who…" he scanned the sheet he was reading. "Okay, so I'll pair you up based on your level of strength, so…Lullaby, you're with Spring Song,"

Lullaby cautiously moved over to stand beside the pink mare. Spring Song looked at Lullaby as if she were something unpleasant on the bottom of her hoof. It didn't look like they'd have any trouble fighting eachother.

"Butternut, you're with Tempest,"

Butternut flapped over to Tempest and hoof bumped him. Tempest looked a little horrified that he had to fight a mare, though he didn't voice this out loud.

"Bumble and Free Fall are a pair,"

"Uh…okay," Free Fall stood next to Bumble, who patted his shoulder to wish him luck.

"And Rainbow Dash, you're with me," Rapidfire tossed his clipboard over his shoulder and cricked his neck side to side.

"Let's do this thing," he stretched. Rainbow Dash felt like dancing for joy. She was gonna fight a Wonderbolt! She was about to start repeating 'ohmygosh' when-

"Hold up!" Paradise called out. Rapidfire rolled his eyes and angled his ears to Paradise, even though he didn't turn to look at her. "If the Wonderbolts can fight cadets does this mean I can fight Fire Streak?" Paradise's eyes glazed over and she smiled dreamily. "And after I beat him up he'll see how strong I am, then we'll date for a few months and get married and have three foals," she sighed. Rapidfire finally lost it. He charged towards her, his eyes blazing with anger.

"Oh no…Paradise, shield your neck!" Spring Song called out as Paradise began running for her life, Rapidfire hot on her tail.

---

"You ready, Rainbow Dash?" Rapidfire asked the rainbow maned cadet. Rainbow nodded enthusiastically. After Fire Streak and Silver Lining had caught Rapidfire and calmed him down, he had taken a few deep breaths and regained his composure and returned to his group (now with clouds stuffed into his ears so he didn't have to hear Paradise any more).

"I am," Rainbow Dash followed up her nod with a determined flap of her wings. Rapidfire looked confused.

"What?" he asked, leaning closer to her. Rainbow Dash groaned and pulled the lumps of cloud out of Rapidfire's ears.

"I AM!" she bellowed and Rapidfire recoiled, rubbing his ears.

"No need to shout," the Wonderbolt snapped. Rainbow Dash flexed her wings, ready to take off. Stains and Cinder were puffing and panting, lying on their backs on either side of Fire Streak's chair, while the flame maned stallion himself lounged on the chair reading the latest issue of Pick Your Pegasus. The two Chickens had taken forever to start fighting. Neither of them wanted to hurt the other so they started off with gentle slaps. It was only when Rapidfire had warned them that if they didn't do something he'd make them do 100 push ups that they finally stopped slacking and started attacking. In the end Stains had won the fight when she veered out of control and crashed into Cinder by accident, sending the little blue cadet tumbling out of the sky.

Sugar Swoop had won his fight against Beau when he pulled on her wings and she lost focus. A pegasus pony's wings were their weak spot, especially when flying. Pegasus wings have sensitive glands in their bases that, when poked roughly, can cause the wings, and sometimes the whole body, to stiffen.

Paradise had won her fight against Stargazer by pushing the charcoal black mare out of the sky right in the middle of her lecture of why violence was never the solution. Painful and ironic.

Smart Set and Ray had been close but Smart Set had delivered the final blow to Ray's face and sent the stallion reeling in pain giving Smart Set enough time to buck him below the 5000 foot marker.

The Dragons' fights had been a lot more intense. Rainbow Dash was impressed to see that Bumble and Free Fall knew a lot of cool moves. Bumble delivered countless slaps round Free Fall's face, but the stallion eventually won put putting Bumble in a headlock until she gave up.

When it was Tempest and Butternut's turn, Tempest had complained that he couldn't hurt a mare. Butternut seemed to have no problems with hurting stallions though and she won the fight in no time at all, breaking an Academy Record.

Lullaby and Spring Song's fight had been the most interesting to watch. Rainbow Dash couldn't hear anypony cheering for Lullaby besides herself, but that was probably because Paradise was cheering so loud for Spring Song that ponies could probably hear her in Manehattan. Lullaby fought like a black belt and Spring Song was obviously intimidated. The pink mare had spent most of the fight flying in circles while Lullaby chased her. Finally, Lullaby caught up to her and twisted her back legs, sending the pink mare spiralling downwards, below the 5000 foot marker and into the clouds below, cursing the entire way down.

That just left Rainbow Dash and Rapidfire.

The two of them flapped up into the air and halted several metres above the two flags. Rainbow Dash knew that Rapidfire had much more experience than her, so the chances of her winning this fight were pretty slim, but she may or may not know more moves than him, so she could have an advantage.

"Are you ready!?" Silver Lining called from below, whistle in his teeth. Rapidfire saluted and Silver Lining tooted the whistle loudly. If there was one thing Rainbow Dash hated almost as much as the wake up calls it was the whistles. Rainbow dove forward hoof clenched and thrust it forward with enough force that it sent Rapidfire tumbling backwards. Rainbow Dash cringed as she realised that she may have just felt his skull.

Rapidfire had a hoof to his head and was glaring at Rainbow Dash with such malice that it sent a chill down the cadet's spine. Despite this she was not going to hold back. She threw another punch at Rapidfire's face but this time the stallion brought up a hoof to block it and countered with an upper cut to the soft flesh of Rainbow's neck. Rainbow felt her entire face throb with the force of a thousand heartbeats as his hoof made contact with her throat and she flapped backwards, choking violently and clutching her neck.

Rapidfire kicked Rainbow in the gut and sent her falling down. Panicking, Rainbow Dash pulled up, shocked to see that she had almost fallen beneath the marker. She wasn't going to give up. She had fought Spring Song and…well she hadn't won, but there was no way she was going to lose to Rapidfire. She zoomed back up, preparing to launch another punch at the Wonderbolt's stomach, doing her best to ignore her screaming pain in her neck. As she was about to make contact with his tummy, the Wonderbolt kicked down with a hind leg and bucked her shoulder…hard! Rainbow began to feel scared. Her opponent had an unfair advantage. He was larger, older, and had way more experience than her. She couldn't help fearing that Rapidfire could easily lob her head off if he tried hard enough and felt her blood run cold. She wasn't going to chicken out of this; she had never backed out of a challenge and she certainly wasn't going to start now. Trying to focus on anything other than her throbbing neck and shoulder, Rainbow Dash backed away and gave Rapidfire her most fierce battle glare. The Wonderbolt dove forward, hooves outstretched, ready to strike the cyan mare again and Rainbow Dash quickly spun to the side. Rapidfire flew through the spot that Dash had been in mere moments ago and cursed. He made a 360 degree turn and lunged at Rainbow once again. Rainbow Dash flapped upwards and felt Rapidfire zoom underneath her, missing her by a hairbreadth. Rainbow kicked down and roughly bucked the side of Rapidfire's head. He flew shakily for a moment, spitting vile words before throwing himself back into the fight, managing to grasp Rainbow around her neck.

She fought to breathe as Rapidfire squeezed. She felt frightened despite knowing that Rapidfire wouldn't let her die. She knew that this was just a tactic to get her to surrender, but Rainbow Dash wasn't one to give up. She thrust out with her back legs and felt her hooves pummel fur and flesh. Rapidfire yelped and the pressure around Rainbow Dash's neck vanished, giving her time to breathe and get back into a fighting stance. Rapidfire threw a punch at Rainbow's cheek and the rainbow maned pony practically felt her teeth shake. Rainbow Dash used as much force as possible to launch at uppercut at Rapidfire's chin and the Wonderbolt's head jolted backwards at a painful looking angle. Rainbow Dash was about to ask if she had busted his neck when he thrust a hoof (which she barely missed) at her face. Rapidfire drew a fore hoof back and Rainbow Dash prepared to make a hasty dodge when suddenly her back hooves were swept out from underneath her and she somersaulted as Rapidfire kicked them with a leg. Rapidfire flew forward and head-butted Rainbow Dash in the belly, sending her flipping backwards, clutching her sore stomach. While Rainbow Dash tried to fly straight again, Rapidfire roughly grabbed her by the bases of her wings and squeezed them. Rainbow Dash gasped and her wings froze. She began plummeting downwards and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

"Rapidfire wins!" Silver Lining called out after Dash had fallen below the 5000 foot mark. She managed to flap her wings again just in time to hover down to the ground. Lullaby rushed over to her and slapped her on the back.

"Nice job, Rainbow Dash. You were awesome!" she congratulated her friend. Somepony scoffed and Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes as the familiar voice of her nemesis flooded her ears.

"Nice job, Rainbow Trash!" Spring Song cackled sarcastically. "I think that chair could fight better than you," she nodded over to Fire Streak's chair. As if on cue, the chair folded up and Fire Streak toppled to the ground. Spring Song looked at Dash smugly.

"Is that so? This coming from the pony who lost her fight, too," Rainbow Dash folded her hooves and raised a brow. Spring Song opened her mouth to make a comeback but she couldn't think of anything. She babbled mindlessly for a second before calling Paradise over.

"Paradise, what good stuff did I do in my fight?" she asked her best friend. Paradise put a hoof to her chin in thought and gasped.

"You flew round and round in circles the whole time!" she exclaimed, giving a toothy grin. "I like circles!"

Spring Song groaned as Rainbow Dash and Lullaby burst out laughing.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash,"

Rainbow looked over to the side and saw Rapidfire, Silver Lining and Fire Streak standing there. She heard Paradise squeeing and asking Spring Song how her mane looked (Spring Song said it looked abysmal but Paradise mistook it for a compliment).

"Yes, sirs?" Rainbow Dash stood straighter out of respect. Rapidfire gave her an approving smile.

"That's some of the best fighting I've seen for a while, cadet. You may not have won but I don't think I've been beaten up that much for years," he congratulated Rainbow Dash. "Sorry about the curse words by the way. It's just a little humiliating…getting beaten up by a mare- and a cadet at that."

"Thanks, sir," Rainbow Dash beamed, trying not to squeal with glee. Rapidfire gave her a final smile and turned to leave with his fellow Wonderbolts at his side.

"Wait for me!" Paradise pounced forward after Fire Streak. The off-white stallion jumped in panic and took off, leaving a fiery trail behind him and Paradise chased after him like a homing device. Silver Lining tutted and turned to Rapidfire.

"She's a real nut isn't she?" he looked back up at the pursuing pegasus before looking back at Rapidfire. "Hey, lemme ask you something. If you had to go into battle would you want her with you?"

Rapidfire shrugged and shook his head. "I don't know. I just don't know."

---

Just got back from a Wonderbolts airshow!

It was SO AWESOME! They all did Buccaneer Blaze's and I almost went blind and then they flew right through this cloud ring and it exploded into flames and then-

Sorry, my quill snapped 'cause I was writing so fast. Maybe it's best that I don't give you guys all the details anyway since it would probably take ten scrolls to write. The point is it was cool!

So as you can plainly see, I wasn't killed in combat training. In fact, I got to fight a Wonderbolt! I…lost…(Don't laugh, Applejack!) But I did pretty well anyway, according to Rapidfire, my combat trainer.

There's not much else to say other than I learnt that a chair can be as good a fighter as a pony. Don't ask.

I'll see you soon at the Celebration. Pinkie Pie, I promise I'll give you a hundred hugs when I get back.

Yours radically,

Rainbow Dash!

"You're not hurt are you?" Lullaby asked Rainbow Dash as she put her letter in her bag ready to post in the morning.

"Nah, I'm fine. A little fight never hurt anyone," Rainbow shrugged. Lullaby looked like she was about to point out that Dash couldn't be any more wrong but decided against it.

"Heh…if you ask me Spring Song should be a Chicken," Lullaby chuckled. Rainbow Dash heartily agreed.

"You can't get any more chicken-y that her," she smirked. Lullaby shrugged.

"Well, unless you're an actual chicken," she pointed out and Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement, finding amusement in imagining Spring Song in a chicken costume. Rainbow flopped down on her bed and looked over at Lullaby.

"Ya know my friend Pinkie Pie wore a chicken outfit for Nightmare Night one year. Maybe I could borrow it and stuff Spring Song into it," she schemed. Lullaby cackled with laughter and sat up straight on her bed.

"We should totally do that," she decided. Rainbow Dash knew that there was no way they'd get Spring Song to wear such a thing unless it was with brute force but who was she to miss an opportunity to insult the pink mare.

"Or maybe we could get Twilight to turn her into a real chicken," Rainbow Dash smiled evilly.

---

Endnote: Weird ending, I know, but chickens are funny!

Anyway, I'm proud to announce that in the next chapter we take a teeny tiny time jump into the second month of the boot camp. Yes, finally it's April!

Seriously, March has been dragging on forever it feels like it's been March for three months (gee, I wonder why that is).

So, stay tuned for chapter 15, April 1st, which can only mean one thing:

PRANK DAY!