DragonZeus1- I'm super glad that you like my story. Also, nice use of the Rainbow Dash quote :D.

Authors note: Firstly I want to say that if you made it this far, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! *Cyber-cookies* for everyone! I've never been so dedicated to a story before and I appreciate all the positive feedback. As I said at the end of the last chapter: this is where the real story begins. There are two main storylines, which I won't spoil and just to let you know, things start to get a little tense in this chapter. This chapter also introduces a second pairing into the story. I'll give you guys a full explanation at the end because this is turning into another of my really stupid, long rants. Initiating chapter 6!

…..

"WAKE UP!"

"Whooza!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, jolting from her sleep. She shivered, suddenly aware that her blanket wasn't covering her. She was standing up and…wet? She suddenly remembered where she was. She'd woken up to the sound of the bugle and went to have a shower. She must have fallen asleep in there.

"Nice nap?" Spring Song teased her as she came out of the shower and shook herself, spraying water all over the pink mare, making her squeal.

"Very funny," Rainbow Dash said blankly, now completely dry. She'd had hardly any sleep. She'd woken up halfway through the night and discovered that it must have been like 100 degrees in the bedroom. So she'd opened a window to let in some cool air. She'd returned to her bed and gone back to sleep only to wake up a half hour later with a cloud owl on her head; it was terrifying! After she'd sorted the owl situation out she lay awake for the rest of the night.

She brushed her teeth and made her way back to her and Spring Song's room where she put on her cadet uniform and did her morning stretches. She double checked to make sure that her letter to her friends was in her saddlebag, ready for her to post after drills and headed out the door towards Lullaby and Paradise's room. She knocked on the door, nodding her head every time she knocked and waited for one of the mares to open the door.

"Who is it?" Paradise's voice rang out from behind the door.

"It's me!" Rainbow Dash replied, preparing for the door to open. It didn't open; instead Paradise just asked another question.

"Me who?"

"ME! It's Rainbow Dash!" The rainbow maned mare responded, resisting the urge to face hoof.

"How do I know its Rainbow Dash and not a pony doing a voice imitation of Rainbow Dash?" Paradise asked again.

"Huh?" Rainbow couldn't believe how ridiculous Paradise was being. The green mare only made Rainbow Dash even more befuddled by her next sentence.

"You could be a thief or a changeling, or an alien!"

"UGH! Lullaby, open the door!" Rainbow Dash finally ordered. A few seconds later the purple mare pulled the door open and peered out at Rainbow.

"See, I told you it was just Dash," she told Paradise, opening the door wider. "Did ya need something?"

"I was just seeing if you were ready to head outside," Rainbow Dash replied, noticing that Lullaby was already dressed in her cadet's uniform. She let out a groan and nodded her head backwards.

"I'm all set but Paradise is having…difficulties," She replied, looking a little disgruntled. The sound of Paradise grunting was heard and Rainbow Dash poked her head it to see what was going on. She let out a small chuckle when she saw that the green mare was stuck in her cadet's uniform.

"Um…Lullaby, I've forgotten which hole my head goes through," She said, looking at her two friends through one of the sleeves before promptly toppling over. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and assisted Paradise in getting her uniform on. After a few minutes they were finally ready and began to head down the hall. Spring Song was waiting for them by the door with Ray and Sugar Swoop.

"What took so long, we're almost late," Spring Song asked the three of them. Rainbow Dash eyed Paradise, who dipped her head with embarrassment. Fortunately, Rainbow wasn't a snitch.

"We just lost track of time," She fibbed, earning a grateful smile from Paradise. Spring Song just rolled her eyes before leading the way out the door and into the training grounds. Rainbow Dash noticed the sky was packed with clouds, so she wouldn't be surprised if they were assigned to do some cloud-busting. They joined the end of the cue and waited.

"What's that smell?" Rainbow Dash asked as she suddenly scented something sweet on the breeze. She felt Spring Song nudge her so she turned to face her pink furred friend.

"It's just my body spray. It's peppermint," She explained, lifting up one of her wings to take a whiff of the sweet smelling spray. Even Dash had to admit that it smelt pretty good, though she had no intention of using it herself.

"I hope we do something fun today," Spring Song sighed, folding her wing back to her body. "I mean, busting clouds is fun and all, but how about a race?" She shrugged. "I'm itching to show everypony how fast I am," She stared straight ahead, probably imagining herself showing off. Rainbow Dash was secretly praying for a race, too. She couldn't wait to whizz past all the other cadets and prove to them that she was Wonderbolt material. She could see it now, she would fly with them one day, she was sure of it. She'd never been so sure about anything in her entire life. Except that she was awesome, but everypony knew that.

For a few more minutes the cadets stood there. What was taking so long?

"My legs are getting stiff," Sugar Swoop complained from a few spaces down the line. He did a few stretches before sitting down on his rump. Spring Song let out a groan from beside Rainbow Dash and slumped lower to the ground.

"I could be asleep right now, where are they?" She practically yelled, making all the ponies in the line stare at her.

"Well…Fast Clip got the Feather Flu, remember, it could be something to do with that," Rainbow Dash suggested, shrugging her shoulders.

"Good point," Ray agreed, nodding. Spring Song sighed and lay flat on the ground. "I just hope they get here soon otherwise I might just go back to our room and take a few winks."

Rainbow Dash let out a sigh and sat down beside her friend. They'd never had to wait this long before.

What was taking so long?

…..

Braeburn shuffled his hooves to try and get the feeling back into them since he'd been standing still for quite some time. He was waiting outside the captain's room with Whiplash, who had introduced himself quite politely. The pegasus stallion had explained to Braeburn what he had to do, which was just reading what the cadets had to do and handle the roll call list. This had to be the easiest job in Equestria.

But Braeburn was getting a little worried. The captain hadn't shown up yet and he and Whiplash were beginning to become concerned. According to Whiplash, the captain was a very punctual pony, so it was unusual for her to be late.

Braeburn began to panic some more, thinking of what could have happened. Maybe she'd got hurt or lost. No, she wouldn't get lost on her way to work. He was just overthinking things. She'd show up.

For a couple more minutes, Braeburn and Whiplash waited, but nopony came. Braeburn finally let out a sigh and opened his mouth to ask Whiplash if they should send out a search party or something, but before he had a chance to say anything, he heard approaching hoof steps coming from behind him and somepony spoke.

"Sorry I'm late, my alarm didn't go off," She spoke in a raspy voice and she sounded a little frantic, as if she'd been in a hurry, which she probably had been. Braeburn turned around to greet the captain.

"That's quite alright, ma'am, it's not your fau-" Braeburn never finished his sentence because his breath was suddenly taken away. His jaw went slack and his eyes bulged out of his head.

The Earth Pony knew that it was rude to stare at ponies, especially mares, but he just couldn't help himself. His mind went completely blank and he froze. He felt his heart thump harder and faster inside his chest and all he could focus on was this vision before him. She was the most beautiful…no-dazzling…no…stunning mare he'd ever seen. She had yellow fur that seemed brighter than the sun, a fiery spiked mane and her cutie mark was a cluster of flames. She wore a captain's uniform with several medals and badges on it and a whistle hung around her neck. Braeburn couldn't see her eyes very well through the sunglasses she was wearing, but they still seemed to pierce right through him. She was a little shorter than him, the top of her head only just reaching above his shoulders, but her spiked mane added a little height to her.

"You okay, cowboy?"

Braeburn was snapped from his trance by the captain. She looked a little confused and for the first time Braeburn realised he must have looked like a total idiot, just standing there and staring at her.

"Um…yes, ma'am," Braeburn replied, struggling to get the words out. Whiplash stepped forward to address the mare.

"We'd better get outside. The cadets must be getting restless by now, Captain Spitfire."

"Spitfire…what a wonderful name," Braeburn thought, letting out a silent sigh. Spitfire nodded and began leading the two stallions out into the training grounds. Braeburn was shocked when she turned to talk to him.

"So, Whiplash showed you the ropes, right?" She asked him. For a brief moment Braeburn wondered if there was somepony behind him that she was talking to and stupidly looked over his shoulder to check. No, she was definitely talking to him.

"Yep. Ah know exactly what Ah have to do," He confirmed, trying to put on his most confident face. Spitfire gave him a nod and turned back around, which was lucky for Braeburn because she turned just in time to miss the bright red blush that crossed his features.

…..

Rainbow Dash was interrupted from her daydream by approaching hoof steps. She sprung back up to her hooves as she heard the familiar commanding tone of Spitfire. All the cadets stood tall and straight as the yellow mare approached them. Rainbow Dash waved to Braeburn, who was following her with Whiplash. He gave her a small wave before returning to following the Wonderbolt captain.

"It's roll call time again, ladies, so hopefully, nopony got lost coming out the door again," Spitfire eyed Paradise, who stared at the floor in shame. "Hey, cowboy, could ya pass me the clipboard?" She called over her shoulder at Braeburn, who jolted up as if he'd just been awoken from hypnosis.

"Pardon?" He asked. Spitfire nodded down at the clipboard, which Braeburn obediently passed to her. Rainbow couldn't help but notice that the earth pony's face turned a shade of red when he passed her the clipboard. He must be really nervous. Spitfire proceeded to call out the names and everypony answered, which Spitfire was relieved to see. She gave the clipboard back to Braeburn, who proceeded to clutch it to his chest. Rainbow Dash felt a stab of pity for him. He was so nervous he needed something to hold. Poor guy.

"Okay, so for the first half of drills you'll be doing cloud busting in pairs," Spitfire announced, pacing back and forth before the line of pegasi. "I don't want any of the whole 'I don't like my partner' boo hoo, you're gonna be paired up and you're gonna like it!"

"Please let me be with Spring Song, Celestia!" Paradise pleaded to the sky. Everypony stared at her. "Did I say that out loud?" She squeaked, at which Bumble nodded. Paradise smiled a nervous smile before looking at the ground again. Spitfire walked over to Whiplash and peered over his shoulder at what was written on his clipboard.

"Okay, Tempest, you'll be with Beau," Spitfire began listing the pairs. "Stargazer, you're with Butternut…Paradise and Sugar Swoop are a pair…Rainbow Dash-"

Rainbow Dash wondered who she'd be paired with.

"-You're with Ray…"

"What!?" Spring Song gasped, glaring angrily at Rainbow Dash. The cyan mare shifted her eyes to the side, unsure why Spring Song was ticked with her.

"It's not my fault!" She defended herself. Spring Song just looked away with a look that practically screamed 'whatever'."

"…Spring Song and Bumble will be together…"

Rainbow Dash didn't hear the rest of the pairs. She was too busy trying to ignore Spring Song. She could feel the pink mare's cold stare stabbing at her like a knife. What was she meant to do about this situation?

"Now, get going!" Spitfire's harsh voice busted into Rainbow's thoughts and she took off into the sky, meeting up with Ray. The two of them immediately started kicking the clouds to smithereens faster than any other pair. The entire time Rainbow Dash was aware of Springs Song's icy glare on her back and it made it incredibly difficult to focus.

For what seemed like hours they kicked, punched and karate-chopped clouds and at last the sky was clear. Rainbow Dash wasted no time in zooming back down to the ground. She sighed in relief and looked over at Whiplash who was jotting something down on his clipboard. She felt a hoof prod her shoulder and turned to see Paradise with Spring Song standing not too far behind her.

"So, what happened?" The green mare whispered to Rainbow Dash. The cyan mare groaned and rolled her eyes.

"Nothing! We just busted clouds!" She insisted, becoming infuriated with the whole subject. Paradise gave her a smile and turned to Spring Song.

"See? I told you nothing happened," She told her pink furred friend. "Now you don't have to be mad at her."

"Huh?" Rainbow Dash whispered to herself. Spring Song was mad at her? She hadn't intended for that to happen. She was learning that Spring Song tended to be a little dramatic at times.

"Okay, nice work up there, newbies!" Spitfire congratulated the cadets. "I'm sure you'll all be pleased to hear that after lunch you'll all be racing."

"Finally!" Sugar Swoop exclaimed, hoof bumping Ray.

"Get outta here!" Spitfire dismissed the cadets and they all began flocking to the mess hall. Rainbow Dash flapped over to Braeburn.

"So…how's work?" She asked him. Braeburn hadn't seemed to see her come over and jumped as she spoke, though he smiled when he saw it was her.

"Oh, it's…great," He replied. Rainbow Dash had expected him to rant about all his worries since he'd seemed so nervous earlier.

"What do you have to do besides look at a clipboard?" She asked, wondering how he and Fast Clip could handle such an unchallenging job.

"Nothin' else," Braeburn sighed. "Ah'm glad there's decent pay, though."

"Hey, cowboy!"

Rainbow Dash and Braeburn turned to see Spitfire and Whiplash heading towards them.

"You can go hit the mess hall now," She informed him before trotting right past him. Braeburn opened his mouth so speak but no words came out, so instead he just nodded rapidly. They watched as Spitfire headed to her office and Whiplash went to the mess hall.

"Um…where's she goin'?" Braeburn asked Rainbow Dash, nodding at Spitfire.

"She always eats in her office," Rainbow Dash replied, beginning to head to the mess hall. Braeburn walked beside her, still staring after the Wonderbolt captain until she disappeared through the door, and even after she'd vanished from sight he kept staring.

"Watch out for that-"

"WHOA!" Braeburn tumbled over and landed flat on his face.

"-loose cloud," Rainbow Dash finished before helping the Earth Pony to his hooves. "Are you okay?" Dash asked him, concerned about his behaviour.

"Um…yeah, of course," He insisted, before looking straight ahead and picking up the pace. The rainbow maned mare pushed the mess hall door open and headed to the kitchen with Braeburn. As they went in they saw Soarin and Fleetfoot frantically rushing around, putting things in ovens and rolling out dough.

"What's goin' on!?" Braeburn exclaimed, noticing the layer of flour on the floor. Soarin stopped putting icing sugar on a lopsided apple cake long enough to answer his friend.

"Well, we decided to be the replacement cooks," He said quickly before proceeding to place the cake on the counter. Fleetfoot suddenly skidded past Rainbow Dash to stand beside Braeburn.

"How did your job go?" She asked him, her eyes sparkling with interest. Braeburn trotted over to a counter and pulled up a chair so he could sit at it.

"Brilliant," He replied, getting a distant look in his eyes. Fleetfoot grabbed a plate of apple fritters and placed it in front of Braeburn.

"Here, Braeburn, have thome thelebration lunch," She smiled, grabbing one of the fritters for herself. Braeburn shook his head and pushed the plate towards the blue furred mare.

"No thanks, Fleetfoot, Ah'm not hungry," He said, before returning to staring at the wall. Rainbow Dash headed over to Soarin, who was pouring apple juice into plastic cups.

"Hey, Soarin, what're we gonna do after drills?" She interrogated him. Soarin poured the last of the juice into the cups before replying.

"I thought I could teach you that trick you tried to do the other day…ya know, when you crashed?" He suggested. Rainbow Dash groaned, trying not to think too much about the crash.

"That sounds great," Rainbow Dash would be relieved to finally do that trick.

"Hey Thoarin, have the cadet'th all got lunch, yet?" Fleetfoot asked him from her seat beside Braeburn. Soarin looked over the counter to see and turned back to Fleetfoot with a relieved look on his face.

"Yep, our work here is done," The pale blue stallion sighed. He took off his apron and threw it at Braeburn, who didn't even acknowledge the impact. Soarin sat on the other side of Braeburn and Rainbow Dash sat at the other side. For the rest of lunch the four of them talked…well, three of them talked while Braeburn just stared at the wall. Maybe there was an interesting stain on it. .Rainbow Dash examined the wall closer…nope, nothing.

"Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow looked over her shoulder to see Lullaby and Sugar Swoop at the counter. "C'mon, we've got one minute to get outside!" Lullaby told the cyan mare. She quickly gobbled down an apple fritter and prodded Braeburn, who was promptly snapped from his daze.

"What?" He asked her.

"We need to get back outside!" Rainbow Dash reported. At this, the Earth Pony leapt up from his chair, surprising Fleetfoot and Soarin at his sudden movement. Braeburn reached under his cowboy hat and pulled out the clipboard that he had placed under there for safe keeping and trotted out the door. Rainbow turned to the two Wonderbolts.

"Was that weird, or is it just me?" She asked them.

"It's not you," The other two said in unison. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and followed Braeburn outside. Rainbow Dash joined the end of the line beside Paradise and Braeburn went to stand beside Whiplash. Sugar Swoop, Ray and Tempest were the last cadets outside. Spring Song waved at Ray, though he paid no attention to her. Rainbow Dash actually felt a little sorry for the pink mare.

"Alright, newbies, it's race time!" Spitfire announced, walking onto the scene in the half-march-half-strut of hers. The cadets erupted into cheering and Rainbow Dash heard Paradise whisper to her.

"This is gonna be so much fun…but Spring Song is definitely gonna win. She always wins when she races against me and Ray."

"Well…I usually come pretty close," Ray bragged from Rainbow Dash's other side. Spring Song had a smug look on her face. The cadets were let to a circular race track for them to fly around.

"The rules are simple. Just fly 'round the track forty times," Spitfire told them as they all lined up at the starting line

"Time to show 'em my stuff!" Rainbow Dash thought, stretching out her wings and flapping them a couple of times to warm them up.

"3…"

Spring Song gave Rainbow Dash a competitive smile, which she returned.

"…2…"

Rainbow Dash braced herself for take-off, feeling the adrenaline begin to pump through her veins.

"…1…"

The cadets prepared to flap their wings.

TOOOOOT!

Spitfire blew her whistle and the pegasi set off, Rainbow Dash immediately taking the lead. This was easy!

After thirty laps, Rainbow Dash was still in the lead, Sugar Swoop in second place and Spring Song in third.

This was too easy.

Suddenly without warning, a pink blur caught up to Rainbow Dash. The cyan mare turned her head to the side, shocked to see that Spring Song had caught up to her. This was crazy. She had been in third a few second before. Rainbow Dash just shook off all her thoughts and flapped her wings harder.

She was in the lead.

No, Spring Song was.

No, it was Rainbow Dash.

Holy Celestia, Spring Song was pretty fast. Paradise hadn't been lying when she'd said that Spring Song was super swift.

One lap left.

The two leading mares gave it their all as the finish line came into view. Rainbow Dash poured the last of her strength into her flight as she finally pulled ahead of Spring Song, crossing the finish line in first place.

"Rainbow Dash wins!" Spitfire announced. Braeburn rushed over to congratulate the rainbow maned pegasus along with several of the other cadets.

"You were awesome, Rainbow Dash!" Stains exclaimed, slapping Dash on the back.

"Yeah, you even beat Spring Song," Paradise chirped. "I didn't think it could be done!"

After receiving several hoof bumps and slaps on the back, she turned to Spring Song and got a fright. If looks could kill, Rainbow Dash would be a crumpled heap of feathers on the floor.

Spring Song glared at Rainbow Dash with a stare that could turn even Medusa to stone. Everything about the pink mare screamed one thing:

I will destroy you!

…..

Rainbow Dash sat perched on the cloud beside Braeburn while Soarin busted a few clouds out of the sky. She was still baffled about the whole Spring Song situation. Why was she so mad at her? It was just a stupid race!

"Dash!"

"Huh?" Rainbow Dash sat upright as Soarin's voice interrupted her thoughts. The pale blue stallion flapped in front of her with a confused expression on his face.

"Why are my two friends so…weird today?" He asked Rainbow. "You're constantly drifting into your own thoughts and Braeburn's staring at some invisible thing every ten seconds!"

Rainbow Dash looked over at the Appaloosan stallion. It was true. Ever since he's sat down on the cloud he'd been staring down, saying nothing. It just didn't seem right. He hadn't seemed normal all day!

"Hey, Braeburn, can I talk to you for a second?" Rainbow Dash asked him. The Earth Pony just kept staring at the cloud. Rainbow Dash scooted a little closer and yelled in his ear.

"HEY! EQUESTRIA TO BRAEBURN! DO YOU COPY?" She bellowed, making the stallion jump a whole five feet into the air.

"Hey, what're ya doin'?" Braeburn asked, rubbing his ear. Soarin landed on Braeburn's other side.

"What's going on with you, buddy?" he asked his friend. "We're your friends, you can tell us anything."

"Well…" Braeburn hesitated, looking down at the cloud again. Soarin and Rainbow Dash leaned in closer to him, but that just made him nervous.

"Ah…um…" He stuttered, turning bright red.

"Go on…" Soarin encouraged Braeburn, who suddenly sat upright.

"Oh, Ah just remembered that Ah have to go to the staff room. Surprise said she had another story to tell me," He said. Soarin raised an eyebrow, not quite convinced.

"Really?" He questioned the Earth Pony, who nodded.

"Eeyup, Ah'd better get goin'," Braeburn jumped off the cloud, falling twenty feet before landing on the soft, fluffy cloud. It was kinda like jumping on cotton candy, only less sticky.

"This isn't over!" Soarin called after him as he swiftly retreated into the academy. He turned to Rainbow Dash. "Something's definitely wrong with him, Dash. I mean, after drills ended he came in for a snack and put apple juice on a slice of bread and jam in a cup!"

"Yeah…I wonder what happened to him." Rainbow Dash replied, putting a hoof to her chin in thought, growing more curious by the moment. Soarin rolled his eyes and took off.

"C'mon, forget him. We'll probe him some more later. For now, let's do this trick!" The stallion flew higher into the air and Dash immediately flew after him, forgetting all about Braeburn. The two pegasi flew higher and higher until finally they halted just when the air began to get thin.

"So what do we do, captain?" Rainbow Dash asked Soarin, putting extra emphasis on 'captain' to tease him. Soarin let out a chuckle before explaining.

"Okay, Dash, I want you to just fly in a circle," He commanded her. Rainbow Dash instantly began flying in a circular pattern.

"Great. Now dip down a little."

Rainbow Dash did as she was told, tilting her body forward so she began descending from the sky.

"Just keep doing that!" Soarin ordered as Rainbow sped up, going round faster and faster as she got lower in the sky. A tornado was beginning to form around her, getting bigger as she sped up. Then…

"PULL UP NOW!" Soarin yelled down to her.

Rainbow flew up once again and the tornado exploded into violent bursts of wind that blew all the surrounding clouds away. Rainbow Dash touched back down on the cloudy ground outside the academy and Soarin landed beside her a few seconds later.

"Holy Celestia, even I haven't been able to do that trick like that before," He admitted, looking a little ashamed that he'd been outshined at his out trick. Rainbow Dash, however felt pride oozing out of her.

"That was so FUN!" She cheered, flapping into the air. "You're like the best mentor EVER!"

"I try my best," Soarin blushed, rubbing the back of his head. "C'mon, we'd better get back inside. I'm gonna try and get answers from Braeburn."

"Well, I'm gonna go find Spring Song," Rainbow Dash decided, beginning to head back inside, determined to fix things between the two of them.

…..

Rainbow Dash stared down at the blank piece of paper on the bedside table. She hadn't been able to find Spring Song. She'd knocked on all her friends' doors and they'd all claimed that they hadn't seen her. This was so irritating. All she wanted to do was make amends. She decided to just write the letter so she could turn in early.

What's up, everyone?

I've finally managed to do that cool trick. You remember… when I crashed. I really don't want to think about that, though. Anyways, I'm having a little trouble with one of the other pegasi here, Spring Song. She got a little mad at me earlier when I beat her in a race.

What a drama queen.

So, I really want to apologise to her for…whatever it is I need to apologise for but I just can't find her. I'm sure she's avoiding me. All of this is making me exhausted. I'm just gonna go to sleep. I'll write to you tomorrow to give you guys an update on the whole Spring Song thing.

Yours tiredly,

Rainbow Dash.

She put the letter in her bag and crawled into bed, feeling a little lonely. She'd been so used to having Spring Song in the room with her when she went to sleep. She hated being all alone. She sighed and huddled further into the bed, trying to block out all her worries. She'd sort this out tomorrow and then she wouldn't have to deal with this anymore.

"Good night-" She began to say before realising her roommate wasn't there. She let out a groan before closing her eyes and falling into a dreamless sleep.

…..

Endnote: What will happen next?

Will Spring Song and Rainbow Dash make amends?

Read the next chapter and find out!

Anyways, before I start getting crazy reviews saying: 'Braeburn and Spitfire? Are you INSANE!?' I would like to say that those two are my OTP. Please don't call me crazy. It's not all that strange. I've read a few fanfics about those two and they have two fanclubs on DeviantART. I bet that I can get at least one of you to ship these two y the time this story ends.

Stay tuned for chapter 7!