Trigger Warning: Paint fume high…

AND WE HAVE 80 FAVOURITES! ^u^

And congratulations to FurballsNLOLipops for being the 400th reviewer! How the hell did I manage to get 400 reviews on this thing? Oh forget it, this is no time to rant. Thank you all for reading! I love you all!

Author's Note: I want to start off by giving a shout-out to the amazing BerryBlastxx, who drew me an absolutely stunning piece of fanart for chapter 35. Oh my God, I can't stop looking at it! It's so beautiful! AGH! Dammit Berry, I love you so much right now! ^u^

Drunkenness- That scene with Tempest and Free Fall was only there to get the chapter rolling. I do realize that I could have cut it out and the chapter would have gone exactly the same, but I need to put the cadets in this story more. I do actually plan to have a chapter focusing solely on the cadets and secondary Wonderbolts, kinda like episode 100 of the show where it focused on the background ponies. And the last chapter was indeed pointless and boring, but I felt like writing the Mane Six one last time before they vanished for ten chapters or so. Also, it's practically guaranteed that more chapters will be made than what I have noted down, because I'm getting new ideas all the time. The original draft of the story was only 26 chapters long for crying out loud! It is also very true that writers go through what you described; I mean, I'd like to move on from this story and write something new (and shorter) but I need to finish this first so… *sigh*

Amellia Rose- Thank you for your kind words once again.

Litestardt- Pleased you found some enjoyment in this pointless authors note that doesn't need to exist. ^u^

Luna'snight625- Yeah, what the hell is "normal"? Is that some kind of thing from the 60's that died out? 0_o

Imaginative Thought- It's nice to meet you, Image. ^u^ I did feel like Rainbow needed to give her friends the proper send-off (especially Twilight, Spike and Rarity, who played little to no role in the last arc). But I do apologize for the SpitBurn chapter before… I kinda wanted to beat myself up as well.

Soaring Heart the Pegasus- Props to you for making it this far. I can only imagine how challenging it is to get through fifty chapters of random sputz. And you don't have to worry about commenting; I'm not much of a commenter either because I'm nervous about repeating myself. Every one of my readers is welcome to say whatever they want, but if you want to remain a Silent Reader, then that's fine too. ^u^ Also... I can't believe I never noticed that Dashing and Soaring were synonyms for Flying. The main characters names are synonyms for the most intimate ritual in Equestria, and I didn't notice! Wow, you are a genius, my friend! Thank you for helping me come to terms with the title of this story! :D

FurballsNLOLipops- Whew! Thank God that description is good enough. :)

Stormstar12- Addicted? As a fellow fic addict, I feel honored that it's my story you've chosen to get hopped up on. Though I wouldn't recommend checking for a new chapter every few hours since it takes me a week and a half minimum to write a chapter. Sorry if that disappoints you. ^u^ Thanks for reading.

Okay! Lets get the final month started!

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As Rainbow Dash came to a stop at the end of the line of cadets along the landing strip, she took note of the changes she could feel in the air. Even though this was only the first day of summer, there was already a wonderfully warm tingle running down her spine as the sun shone down on her. The kind of tingle that made you close your eyes in bliss and enjoy every sensation that buzzed through your nerves; the tingle that made you want to lie down and soak up the sun's every ray. Considering that Rainbow Dash's friends were all the way down in Ponyville now, she figured she could at least get through a lovely day like this.

A part of her wished that whoever was taking their drills today would have mercy and just let the cadets chill out and sunbathe and enjoy the weather while it lasted. It had been pretty chilly for the last few days so a chance to catch some sun was just what the doctor ordered. Well… maybe Rainbow Dash couldn't speak for everypony, but after the stressful events of yesterday she wanted to just lie face down on a high cloud and nap.

In Dash's opinion, there was nothing better than a sunny day with a cloudy sky. One of the perks of being a pegasus is that clouds are pretty much just a fluffy carpet on the floor, so in the summer all over Equestria, it was like a pegasus dogfight all over the skies, trying to get a spot on the highest clouds so they could be closer to Celestia's bright sun. However, Rainbow Dash had learned over the years that the trick was to go for the clouds that weren't too high but not too low either, so she won't be so close to the sun that she gets a sun burn. This is why being a professional snoozer is awesome- you have napping tricks for every occasion.

But no. As a Wonderbolt cadet, Rainbow Dash is obligated to partake in drills, even on a perfect sunny day like this. Then again… there was still that glimmer of hope that by some miracle Lightning Streak would be the instructor for today and let all the cadets off to have some chille tid (chilling time) instead of flying laps or whatever the heck was going to happen today.

Rainbow looked down the line to find Spring Song. The pink mare was standing near the centre of the row of ponies having a supposedly one-sided conversation with Beau, who examining one of her forehooves as if it were the most interesting thing in Equestria. Well, it was definitely more intriguing than talking to Spring Song- a witch made of blubber, salt and cotton candy. At least the pink mare had done a good job of not getting in her way or on her nerves for a little while. Perhaps it was the added stress of having to deal with unqualified instructors that had done the trick; maybe the sheer weirdness of it all exhausted her too much for her to put any energy into antagonizing her.

"Everypony quit your slouching!" Rainbow's head snapped up as a pony she felt she hadn't seen in the longest time began striding along beside the landing strip. She stopped in front of Ray and shoved her stern face in his, making him struggle not to flinch back. "I'm sure I've made my point that a Wonderbolt must perpetually possess perfect posture!" she made sure to spit a little as the enunciated each 'p'. Ray was sweating by this point, and wiped his face with the back of one hoof as soon as Spitfire turned away and continued strutting down the line.

"So, I know that things have been a little crazy around here for a while, but it's over now. It's behind us and we never need to think about it ever again." She stopped at the end of the line and glowered down at everypony. "I'm dead serious right now; nopony is to mention anything that happened while I was away. Nopony will ask any questions about where I was, or why. The good part is that while I was… away on business, I came up with an idea that I believe the majority of you will like. For the final month of this camp you'll be using every skill you've learned thus far- we've never done anything like this in a boot camp before, so I hope to be impressed with what you all can do."

Rainbow grinned widely, but she quickly put on a straight Bolt-face again when she remembered how Spitfire liked to give anypony who smiled an evil glare. But this was great! Finally she'd be able to show off in front of everypony. And no one would call her out on it because it was allowed! Wait… she hoped that was the case anyway. What had Spitfire come up with?

"You all came to this boot camp wanting to train like Wonderbolts, fly like Wonderbolts, and feel like Wonderbolts. Am I right?" Spitfire stood back so she could get a better view of the row of pegasi. They were silent. "That was a question, rookies! I was expecting an answer!"

"YES MA'AM!" Everypony called out in unison. Cinder, who was standing next to Rainbow Dash, only managed to squeak it out, but thankfully Spitfire didn't notice. Rainbow remembered when Cinder came to her and Lullaby to confess that she didn't want to be a Wonderbolt. She still had this aching feeling in her chest that she needed to do something about her situation; but Cinder had refused to tell her why she was here if she didn't want to be a Wonderbolt. Was she just suddenly really self-conscious and timid? She was a decent flyer (she was chosen for the camp after all) so what did she have to worry about? Dash suddenly realised she was staring at the little mare and looked back at Spitfire, wanting to hear the rest of her speech. The coolest thing about this was that for the first time in a while she actually felt pumped up and intimidated. Spitfire's absence had really made things seem simple and (on more than one occasion) utterly ridiculous. But now that she was back on the scene she was aware of every move she made- fearing that the slightest bend of a knee would have the captain snapping at her for her poor posture. And she didn't want to get spat on like Ray…

"I got another question for ya!" Spitfire drifted her narrowed eyes down the line, and Dash was pretty sure that she was attempting to see into their souls. "What's the first thing you think of when you think of the Wonderbolts?"

Paradise raised her hoof.

"Green one! What's your answer?" Spitfire called on her.

"Flying!"

"Very true!" Spitfire nodded, "but by extension, what is our main purpose?"

Spring Song then thrust her hoof in the air, and Spitfire then called on her.

"Putting on airshows." The pink mare answered. Spitfire tapped a hoof against the side of her nose.

"Bingo! We perform in airshows!" Spitfire pushed her sunglasses up her muzzle and smirked. "So that's exactly what you ponies are gonna be doing this month."

A collective gasp rang out, and everypony in the line glanced at one another, wondering if this was actually happening. The reactions from either side of Rainbow Dash were… pretty mixed to say the least. Lullaby nudged her and mouthed "oh my gosh, this rules!" whilst trying not to do a happy dance. Cinder on the other hoof…

"I'm gonna be sick," the little pegasus muttered so quietly that Rainbow Dash barely heard her, her knees shaking so much that they knocked together. It seemed like she was actually turning green… Rainbow scooted away a little bit just in case Cinder was gonna barf.

Rainbow herself was over the moon. If she wasn't obliged to stay firmly rooted to the ground right now she would be tempted to take off and literally rocket clear out of the stratosphere! Spitfire was actually telling them that they were going to perform in an airshow!

"There's one little catch though…"

Dash could swear that a record scratched in her head. She felt like a Grade A doofus now- there was always a catch! Why had she not seen that coming?! So what was it…?

"You're going to be making your own routine; all fifteen of you working together." Spitfire explained. Rainbow tilted her head to the side and thought that through. That didn't sound bad at all. It would be like they were the Wonderbolts 2.0 following in their idols hoofsteps. They would be able to experience what it was like to perform in front of a large audience packed with screaming fans without even being fully fledged Wonderbolts! And Spitfire had just confirmed that nothing like this had ever been done before! This was the greatest catch in the history of catches! If all catches were like this then life would be at least 20% cooler!

Sugar Swoop raised his hoof, and Spitfire nodded in his direction, signalling him to speak. "Aren't we at least going to get some supervision? I personally wouldn't trust us with making a routine by ourselves…" the peach colored stallion glanced at several ponies that may cause trouble, not taking any care to be subtle at all. Though maybe that was his intention…

"Excellent point made there, Swoop," Spitfire praised the stallion. "I don't really have much faith that you ponies could pull this off either, but Silver Lining thought this was a good idea and I'm going to have to talk about it to the rest of the Wonderbolts in a staff meeting today…" she deflated a little at that. Rainbow Dash had been informed by Soarin that staff meetings were the most soul-sucking kind of meetings that you could ever be involved in, but now that she had seen the captain so grumpy about it she finally believed that he wasn't exaggerating. Maybe there were some bad aspects of being a Wonderbolt after all…

"That aside, I'm going to suggest that at certain points, the other Wonderbolts can come out and assist you guys in making your routines. But that's not what worries me- I mean, that's not what is going to be the hardest part of this."

"I'm gonna faint," Cinder ignored the rules and leaned against Rainbow Dash for support, trying not to breathe too heavily. Rainbow spread her left wing and draped it over Cinder; since she was bad at verbal comfort, some silent physical comfort would have to do. Judging by Cinder leaning into her a little more, she appreciated the gesture.

"I really hope you already know this, but the Wonderbolts have different roles; I'm the captain, Soarin's the co-captain, Fleetfoot, Surprise and Silver Lining are stand-in captains. Get it? You guys need to vote for the captains yourself."

Okay, this was just getting more and more interesting. Rainbow's interest rose drastically and she hooked onto Spitfire's every word. Being the captain sounded amazing! Being in charge, leading the flight formations, representing the Wonderbolts, it sounded like the best job in the world, and she had written so many fanfictions about being at the helm of the 'Bolts.

"Anyway, anypony who wants to be captain needs to sign up. You can sign your name on the sheet that's pinned on the bulletin board outside my office. Then you can all vote for the candidates yourself. You have two days to sign up and then a week and a half to campaign. After that you'll all vote for the captain and the runners up will be stand-ins. Also, the chosen captain will have to choose their co-captain themselves- just warning you know, this decision is ridiculously important…" Spitfire carried on. The cadets were chatting excitedly amongst themselves by now, more excited than they had been in weeks.

"Until then, you have laps to fly! I wanna see how much you've improved in my absence." Spitfire blew into her whistle and pointed in the direction of the lap track. The cadets were off without missing a beat, and soon they were flying around and around the track, flying down and upside down and back up again as they went round and round.

Rainbow often wondered if earth ponies and unicorns ever wished that they could do something like this, and it sorta hurt to wonder if she took this for granted. Flying had been her entire life, and to be honest she often forgot to be thankful for the things that she had. A few times she had noticed herself getting twinges of envy towards Twilight when she used magic sometimes, but she never took into account how many ponies may wish they had wings. Flying was, in her opinion, the most exhilarating thing in the world after all. It was a peculiar thing to think about actually- maybe some pegasi and unicorns saw their wings and magic as a burden and would rather be an earth pony? Dash knew that there were ponies like that that existed in Equestria, rare though they were. Heck, Fluttershy had confided in her once that she sometimes felt like an earth pony more than a pegasus, but other times she could not imagine being anything else. It was odd, how ponies felt about their races; Rainbow was relieved that she had no doubts about being a pegasus through and through.

"Dash, you're going slower than usual," Smart Set suddenly flew past her. Rainbow shook her head clear and let out a confused 'whah'. Had she been so caught up in her internal monologue that she'd been lapped by Smart Set? Aw crap, she needed to make up for that. She looked at the pegasus stallion and grinned.

"Thanks for tellin' me," and with a wink, she was zooming away, gradually overtaking the other cadets one by one. She lapped Smart Set a few times as well before she decided to stop showing off. She found herself flying alongside Paradise, who seemed to be flying faster than what Dash usually expected from her. Normally Paradise flew beside Spring Song, but not too close that she could beat her in a race or anything. Rainbow wondered what was making her fly so far away from Spring Song today. She looked over her shoulder, not really needing to look ahead at the track since she basically knew when to dip and rise by this point. Honestly, she wanted to try out a more challenging course, but such a thing did not exist at this Academy… which kinda sucked hardcore.

Spring Song was flying between Tempest and Stargazer, bragging to them about something or other. Rainbow was so sick of seeing that kind of stuff that she just flew the heck away, overtaking Paradise, Cinder and Butternut before catching up to Bumble. Rainbow tapped her on the shoulder, and the light blue pegasus looked at the suddenly-appearing cyan mare with a little shock. Then again, Dash didn't really blame her since they had only shared a few conversations.

"What is it, Rainbow Dash?" Bumble asked in that usual grumpy voice of hers. Bumble didn't intend to sound like a grouch; that's just what her voice sounded like: Grumpy with a slight lisp. In fact, Bumble's lisp was so faint that you had to really be paying attention to hear it.

"I just wanted to ask if you were signing up for the captain positon?" Dash tried to make conversation, caring more about getting Spring Song off her mind than the laps. She was probably like four or five laps ahead of the other cadets anyway. Bumble just scoffed and almost flew off course in her sudden fit of laughter. She looked at Rainbow Dash as if she'd just asked her which way was up.

"What do I look like, a sucker? Dash, there's no point in signing up for captain, 'cause everypony's gonna vote for Spring Song to get her to shut the hay up." She nodded behind her at the pink mare. Rainbow couldn't really argue there… oh wait. Yes she could!

"Pfft. That's the crappiest attitude ever, Bumble. I'm signing up no matter what."

"Do you wanna die?"

Rainbow jolted with shock and looked to her other side, finding herself face to face with Stains, the blue-green pegasus whose special talent had something to do with paint… Rainbow had a theory about what that talent was. But she hadn't asked for fear of sounding cruel.

"Um… no," Rainbow answered. She was pretty happy with her life right now and didn't want to perish under any circumstances. She had a future ahead of her after all. Why was she putting so much thought into this inner monologue? She was talking to freaking Stains!

"It ain't worth it, sister." Stains flew in a manner that looked like a caterpillar wriggling through the sky. She often spontaneously flew in these weird ways… the cadets had learned not to question it. "Spring Song's gonna frakkin' murder your flanks. Ya have stuff to live for."

"My internal monologue was just saying that!" Rainbow defended herself.

"What the heck?" Bumble asked.

"Nothing! And I know I have stuff to live for. Besides, Spring Song is nowhere near crazy enough to kill me for becoming the captain of a fake Wonderbolts team." Dash explained. Stains shrugged and flew normally for a change.

"But being a captain… is it frakkin' worth it even without the risk of death?"

"Here we go…" Bumble picked up speed a little.

"I mean… it's too much responsibility for me. What's even the point. A frakkin' fancy badge and title. We just gotta enjoy the little things in life, Dash. Like the fresh paint in the hallways. It's all about them little things that make life worth it. I'd choose watching a sunset at Winsome Falls over the front spot in a formation any day and I'd have no frakkin' regrets."

"Don't either of you get it?" Rainbow looked from Stains to Bumble. "If you don't stand up against Spring Song then nothing's gonna change. You need to stop showing that she's getting to you, 'cause it'll just encourage her to keep going. By refusing to sign up we're just paving a… velvet walkway or something to her victory. Don't you wanna see her lose out on something?"

"Of course," Bumble folded her hooves against her chest. "It'd be the most satisfying thing to happen in this camp." The blue mare looked behind her so she could look Dash in the eye. "Look, you should sign up, you're the most qualified to be the captain by a landslide and everypony knows it. I'll vote for you, and so will Stains… right?" she narrowed her eyes at the messy-maned mare, who was doing a backstroke in mid-air.

"Meh… maybe," Stains shrugged, "I'll see how things play out, and then I'll throw in my vote. I do hope ya get the most votes though, RD."

"So lemme get this straight," Bumble said, clasping her hooves together in front of her, "you're going to wait until the last minute to vote, and when you do, it's going to be for whoever has the most votes, no matter how the decision may impact the team?"

Stains sighed and flapped ahead, patting Bumble on the shoulder as she passed her. "I never said I wouldn't be a frakkin' coward, Bumble. I do things the safe way, 'cause when it comes down to it, it's better to be pathetic and live than be a risk-taker and die." And then she zoomed off.

"Ugh! Spring Song won't kill you, you tailhole!" Bumble cupped her hooves around her mouth and shouted after the other mare.

"Who will I kill?" Spring Song herself caught up to Bumble and Rainbow Dash, flying a little ahead of Rainbow Dash (who quickly flew ahead to correct that) and a little way behind Bumble.

"Stains," Bumble replied without missing a beat, "for the record I don't think I'd mind if you did, but I just wanna get the yes or no from you."

"Hmm… nah, Stains is fine. I'll let her survive." Spring Song decided to be merciful for once in her damn life. Then the pink pony decided to interrogate Bumble a little more. "Why exactly does she think I'm going to kill her?" she then paused and sighed before rolling her eyes. "Did she break into my room and repaint the walls again?"

"Oh great, did she seriously do that to you too?" Bumble groaned and facehoofed. Suddenly, Bumble shook her head and flapped ahead a little more. "Why am I even having this conversation with you?!"

Spring Song scoffed. "Why not? I'm a pretty good conversationalist if I do say so myself." She flipped her short blonde mane back and grinned like one of those models from the magazines. Bumble sighed and didn't even bother to look back as she replied.

"Well for one thing, I don't really like you… like, at all. Second…" she took a moment to try and think of a way to continue her sentence before just giving up with a groan. "Ugh, I can't think of a second reason. But that's okay because the first reason should be enough, right? If you don't like someone you stay away from them; if you don't then frankly you're just a really stupid pony. So I'm gonna leave."

And with that, Bumble flew off ahead, putting on some extra speed to get away from the devil-mare. Spring Song grumbled and stuck her nose up in the air. "Well screw you too then." She muttered. Rainbow smirked and flew alongside her rival for a second.

"So, you're gonna sign up to be captain right?" she asked. Spring Song nodded and flashed a smile.

"How could I not?" she asked rhetorically. Rainbow let out a chuckle and gave Spring Song the most challenging glare she could muster.

"Well at least my competition's confident in herself." She boasted. She was expecting Spring Song to have a negative reaction to finding out she was basically toast, so she was pretty perplexed to see that she had the exact opposite response.

"That's great," she smiled widely, "for a minute there I thought I wouldn't have any opponents to beat into the clouds." She pounded one of her front hooves against the other one. Rainbow quickly got over her initial surprise to slap a determined look on her face. She wouldn't let there be any more surprises in this duel of theirs.

"In that case," she held out her hoof for Spring Song to shake, "may the best captain win."

Spring Song eyed the outstretched hoof as if it were something vile before curling her lips into a sinister smirk and slanting her green eyes up to glare into Rainbow's magenta ones. There was a silly part of Rainbow's mind that imagined lasers shooting out of them.

"Don't worry," she looked ahead again, "I will," and then she whizzed off. Rainbow glared after her as she flew away; already planning the awesome victory dance she'd perform once she got the most votes. Maybe she'd get Soarin in on this plan as well, and throw in some of the tricks he'd taught her in their lessons. Or maybe she could hire a professional choreographer to help her out. And she could throw in balloons and a marching band somehow too…

Her somewhat retarded train of thought was interrupted by some wheezy puffing and panting coming from her left. She glanced to the side to see that Smart Set had finally caught up to her. The beige stallion got his breathing slightly under control and gave Rainbow Dash the biggest smile he could manage (which was rather small since he was alarmingly low on energy).

"There… I've caught up… to you…" he tried to do what Rainbow Dash assumed was a hoof pump, but it just looked like he was swatting a fly. Realising that since she had begun talking to Bumble she hadn't put much effort into the laps, she gave her wings a fierce flap and got back on track.

Smart Set sputtered out some random syllables and flailed his limbs around, considering trying to catch up to the cyan mare again before finally just sighing in agony, letting his limbs dangle like a rag doll's, deciding that it just wasn't worth it.

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Endnote: So yeah… I do realise that the last couple chapters have been ridiculously short. But that's just because these chapters aren't part of an arc. I need a break from long chapters! So if the next few are short as well then you have every reason to blame my laziness. It'll be just like the good old days at the beginning of the story where the chapters were always this length and came out once a week (a schedule I've been trying to back on). But fear not, for I have a feeling that longer chapters will be making a comeback soon.

That being said, I just want to remind you all that you may have to be patient with me for the time being. As I said in the last chapter, I'm not entirely sure how I want this story to go so the next few chapters will be harder to write than most. Just keep in mind that if I do disappear for a while, it's only because I'm putting my all into this story. I want to make this the best it can be, and in order to do that I need time and space to plan.

Thank you for your patience. ^u^