Authors note: This story takes place after season 4 and is canon until Rarity Investigates.

When I watched the season 3 episode, Wonderbolts Academy, I couldn't help thinking 'Where the heck is Soarin?' he's a Wonderbolt and this was the Wonderbolts Academy, so why isn't he there. So, I became inspired to write a story relating to Soarin's role in the Wonderbolts Academy.

Yes, there will be some SoarinDash in here, so you've been warned in advance.

I also wanted to add Braeburn into the story since he's my favourite stallion, so I decided to make him Soarin's friend from High School. I know what you're thinking: This story must take place in Cloudsdale, so how is an earth pony walking on clouds? Well, if you paid attention to the episode Sonic Rainboom, you would know that there is a spell that allows non-pegasus ponies to walk on clouds. Only instead of the shorter spell that is shown in the series, this spell lasts longer. Simple. I think that covers everything.

Now let's get this started!

"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!"

Rainbow Dash repeated over and over again in her head. She was so excited that she felt like she could do a dozen Sonic Rainboom's in a row! She'd been waiting for this for a whole month and now she was finally going.

Why was Rainbow Dash so excited, you ask?

One month before, Rainbow Dash had signed up for a four month long training course at the Wonderbolts Academy; it had taken forever for her to get her reply in the mail and she was so overjoyed when she read that she had been accepted. Then again, it was kinda obvious that she would be picked, right? Now, after an agonisingly long wait and a series of rib-crushing hugs from Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash was finally on her way to Cloudsdale.

Pinkie Pie had refused to let Rainbow Dash leave unless she promised to write a whole bunch of letters to her and the others, and so Rainbow Dash had Pinkie-Promised that she would write a letter every day and that finally got Pinkie Pie to let her leave.

Rainbow thought back to the last time she was at the Academy. She knew that Lightning Dust would never be allowed back for a boot camp, not after the way she had acted, right? She'd enjoyed every single moment of the academy after Lightning Dust had been kicked out and she planned not to have her time ruined by an overconfident cadet... even if she did kinda see what Lightning Dust was getting at with her 'only the best of the best' motto. Anyhow, Rainbow couldn't wait to experience the thrill of training for the Wonderbolts again.

And then…

There it was:

Cloudsdale. Her old home.

Even now, Rainbow was mesmerized by the rainbows tumbling from the cloudy city. Everywhere she looked, pegasi were flying around, doing their daily business. As Rainbow Dash touched down she sighed softly at the feel of the fluffy clouds beneath her hooves. The academy wasn't that far away, so Rainbow Dash decided to walk for a change and keep all of her energy bottled up so she could wow the others straight away. There was no doubt her mind that she could wow them without all her energy anyway, but she wanted to fly even faster and awesomer than ever before, if that was even possible.

Before Rainbow Dash knew it she was inside the Academy. The actual Academy was a huge building made of clouds, but for the whole of her previous time in the academy, she had only really done outside activities with the other cadets.

She was meant to report to the Main Hall, most likely to get lectured on this and that. As she made her way through the hallways, she met two other pegasi that looked a little lost; they were talking animatedly to each other, both looking a little unnerved.

One was a light purple mare with a blue and orange striped mane and tail, the other a tall stallion with peach coloured fur and an orange and red mane and tail that reminded Rainbow Dash a little bit of candy canes. The purple mare noticed her, looking over her shoulder as she heard the approaching hoofsteps on the rainbow maned pony.

"Are you looking for the Main Hall, too?" She asked, looking a little embarrassed that she and her companion had been caught in this situation. Rainbow Dash didn't want to admit that she was lost, but at least she wouldn't be the odd one out with these two.

"Yeah… would it kill them to put up some signs telling us where it is?" Rainbow Dash replied coolly. The purple mare giggled and held out her hoof.

"Name's Lullaby," She greeted as Rainbow Dash shook her hoof eagerly. Rainbow noticed that the mares cutie mark was a nightcap surrounded by musical notes. The peach furred stallion shook Rainbow Dash's hoof too after Lullaby had let go of it.

"And I'm Sugar Swoop," he told Rainbow, who saw that his cutie mark was, ironically, a candy cane.

"And I'm Rainbow Dash," The cyan pegasus puffed out her chest and grinned. She was expecting these two pegasi to at least ask her for an autograph or something but all they said was that it was nice to meet her. Oh well, after she wowed the Wonderbolt's during the boot camp and got into the Wonderbolts, the whole of Equestria would know her name! Somepony suddenly cleared their throat at the end of the hall. Rainbow Dash turned to see a familiar face. It was none other than High Winds the Wonderbolt.

"Are you guys looking for the main hall?" High Winds asked, looking a little bored, as if she'd had to ask this question several times already. "It's this way." She pointed a hoof towards the hallway on the right. Rainbow Dash felt a little embarrassed that she needed help to get somewhere but thanked High Winds anyway. There was no way she wasn't going to thank one of her life long heroes. She actually wondered how she wasn't fangirling right now.

The main hall was HUGE! When she looked around Rainbow noted that there was really no need at all for the hall to be so massive since there were hardly any pegasi there. The Wonderbolts were lined up against one of the end walls, all of them out of their regular flight suits and instead in their academy uniforms. Rainbow Dash noticed the Elite Three Wonderbolts: Spitfire, Soarin and Fleetfoot wave at her and she eagerly waved back.

All of the Wonderbolts were there, Surprise, Misty Fly, Rapidfire… yep, definitely all of them. It was rare that they all showed up in one place at the same time. Rainbow Dash looked around the hall. She wasn't looking for a Wonderbolt; she was looking for a friend of hers.

One week ago, Rainbow Dash was helping Applejack with some apple-bucking since she'd lost a bet. They had tried to see who could eat the most pies in ten minutes and Applejack had beaten her by one pie and a half. Just one and a freaking half! So, because she lost she had to help harvest the apples. If Dash had won, Applejack would have had to help time how fast she could fly around Ponyville- what bad luck Dash had had that day. Or so she thought. She and Applejack had been working for about twenty minutes when Big Macintosh showed up with Applejack's cousin Braeburn from Appaloosa.

Braeburn told them that he was completely broke after he'd messed up his career selling apples. Rainbow Dash had asked him how he could possibly mess up selling apples, since Applejack and her family did it so easily without any mishaps at all. Braeburn had then rather sheepishly explained that apparently his apples had been 'invaded' by caterpillars. So, after a few ponies ended up in the ER because of his apples, the sheriff had insisted that he temporarily end his apple selling business.

Rainbow Dash couldn't believe what he said next. Apparently, Braeburn had been offered work in Cloudsdale in the Wonderbolts Academy thanks to a pegasus friend of his. Rainbow Dash almost had a happy heart attack when he told them that his friend was none other than SOARIN!

According to Braeburn, he and Soarin had gone to high school together and were close friends, so Soarin was offering Braeburn a job at the boot camp so he could earn enough money to get back on his hooves (and buy apples that came without bugs).

So, Braeburn had come to Ponyville because he knew that Twilight could cast a spell that allowed earth ponies to walk on clouds. So, before they knew it, they were at Twilight's castle explaining the situation to their purple alicorn friend and Twilight had graciously accepted to cast the spell on Braeburn. It was a little harder for her to do but she managed to cast a spell that would allow him to walk on clouds for the length of the boot camp at least and he'd left for Cloudsdale immediately.

But Rainbow Dash couldn't see him in the hall. There were only pegasi. Rainbow Dash decided that she would find him later since she supposed than none of the supporting staff were present at the moment… and also because Sugar Swoop began prodding her shoulder.

"Are you okay? You seemed miles away," he told her, looking concerned and amused at the same time. Rainbow Dash nodded her head.

"Yeah, I was just looking for somepony," She replied honestly. Sugar Swoop didn't ask her anymore questions. Lullaby suddenly gasped with excitement and bounced up and down.

"It looks like the Wonderbolts are about to say something. This is so exciting I could barf stars, rainbows and candy!" The purple pegasus clutched her stomach as if she really were about to throw up. Rainbow and her two new friends joined the crowd of pegasi who were standing by, waiting for the Wonderbolts to address them. One of them, Silver Lining, cleared his throat and raised a hoof for silence. In a flash, the hall became quiet, with the exception of the fading echoes of the conversations that the group of excited pegasi had been having mere moments ago. Fleetfoot stepped forward and began talking in that lisp of hers.

"Welcome to the Wonderbolt'ss Academy," she greeted. Rainbow Dash tried not to laugh at her lisp. It was just so darn hilarious and although she did hear a couple of the other pegasi chortling, Fleetfoot ignored them. She must have been used to it by now.

"During the four month'ss that you will be here, you will be expected to act like real Wonderbolt'ss. You will wake up at the ssame time, you will do the ssame drills, you will eat, ssleep and breathe Wonderbolt'ss," she explained. Rainbow Dash smirked.

She already did.

Soarin took up the lecture.

"Today and tomorrow, there will be no drills. Today, you will prepare your dorms; the sleeping arrangements are on the board over there," Soarin pointed a hoof towards the back of the hall, where a long list of names and a map of the dorms had been posted on the wall. "Tomorrow, you will be fitted for your cadet uniforms. After that, you will train like real Wonderbolts every day."

Rainbow Dash looked calm on the outside, but on the inside she was doing a happy dance. Real Wonderbolts training!

AWESOME!

Spitfire ended the lecture.

"Now, we'll leave you to get ready. Go to your dorms and unpack, and in exactly one hour, you will go to the mess hall for dinner. Good luck," the yellow Wonderbolt dismissed them all with a flick of her hoof. Suddenly the room filled with overlapping speech again as the crowd of new cadets dispersed and went over to the map. Rainbow Dash was about to go over and join in the search for her room when she felt a hoof on her shoulder. She turned and saw Soarin standing behind her, smiling brightly..

"Hey there Rainbow Dash, I'm not surprised to see you here," he complimented her. Rainbow Dash felt pride welling in her chest.

"It's great to see ya, Soarin," she greeted. Soarin was wearing his blue officer uniform and black tie and his flying goggles were balanced on his head, making Rainbow Dash wonder if he ever took them off. "Is there something you wanted?" she asked, curious as to why the Wonderbolt co-captain had come over to see her. Soarin shook his head.

"I just wanted to say hi," he admitted, shrugging his shoulders. "I'd bet all the pies in the world that you're the best cadet here," he stated. Rainbow Dash almost did a double-take. Soarin was very passionate about pies, and he would bet all of them on her being the best!?

Heck, so would she.

But still, it was a nice thing for him to say.

"Thanks," Rainbow Dash beamed. Soarin nodded over to the dorm map.

"You should go and find your dorm, but I'll see you in the mess hall!" Soarin told her as he began trotting back towards the other Wonderbolts.

"Yeah, see ya!" Rainbow Dash went over to the map and tried to find her name. Maybe she would be rooming with Lullaby? No, Lullaby was rooming with somepony named Paradise. After a brief scan of the map she found her name near the bottom of the list, which revealed that she was sharing a room with a mare by the name of Spring Song in room 7.

Despite being the last pony to come over to the map thanks to her talk with Soarin, it seemed that most of the ponies were still just standing around and talking to each other. This was perfect, since Rainbow Dash knew that there was a high chance that one of these ponies was Spring Song, and if Dash got to their room before her she could put all of her stuff in place first. She'd hate to get there last and have all the good spots for her stuff taken. So she began heading in the direction of the double doors, but didn't make it before she heard somepony whining.

"C'mooooon!" Soarin was pleading from the other side of the room, "pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease-" he was repeating to Spitfire as he bounced from hoof to hoof frantically. The Wonderbolt captain looked exasperated at the co-captain's begging, and Fleetfoot was smirking, clearly enjoying her pain. Finally the golden Wonderbolt stomped a hoof down on the floor.

"If I say yes, will you shut your pie-hole?" she snapped, though she was smiling despite herself. Soarin seemed like one of those ponies who you struggled to be mad at because they were such a dork. Soarin jumped for joy and even clicked his hooves together.

"Thanks, Spitz! This is awesome!" Soarin looked over at Rainbow Dash for a split second before looking away. Rainbow Dash wondered what they were arguing about but just shrugged ti off, figuring that either it wasn't important or she would find out about it eventually. The curious part of her hoped that it was the latter reason. She made her way through the maze of hallways until she found room 7, which was identical to all of the other doors, except for the fact that it of course had the number seven on it.

Rainbow Dash opened the door to see that there was nopony there. Yes! That meant that Spring Song was still in the main hall and she had time to arrange her stuff before her new roommate arrived. Another victory for Rainbow Dash!

The dorm wasn't anything special; not to small but not on the large side either. There were two beds, one on either side of the room and neither having sheets. It was a good thing Dash remembered to bring some from home, though she hoped Spring Song didn't make fun of her for having little tortoises printed on hers. Each bed also had a side table with a lamp on it. There was a vanity to the left of the door, and a full length mirror beside it, which Rainbow Dash figured kinda defeated the object of having a vanity in the first place, and it appeared that there was a small room for the toilet at the back of the room. There was a wardrobe in the back left corner of the room which must be for keeping their cadet uniforms in when they finally got them, and there was even a bookshelf against the right wall. Perfect! Rainbow Dash had brought all of her Daring Do books with her and she intended to make good use of those shelves. The carpet was a dark blue color and the ceiling was painted a lighter shade. There also seemed to be glow-in-the-dark star stickers on it.

The cyan mare made her way over to the bed on the right side of the room and set down her bulging saddlebags. She was pleased that nopony had ridiculed her for carrying such large bags on her back, but she figured hat she'd been getting one heck of a workout from flying and lugging them around with her since she left Ponyville. She placed her Daring Do books on the shelves just like she had planned and put her secret stash of candy under the bed (she refused to share them!). She put some paper and a quill on her bedside table so she wouldn't forget to write to her friends back in Ponyville... actually now that she thought about it, she should write to them now to get it over with. She picked up the quill in her mouth and spread a piece of paper out on the bedside table, beginning to write.

Hi, everypony,

I'm writing this from my dorm at the academy! It's an okay room, though it's pretty small. I haven't met my roommate, Spring Song yet, but I'll tell you all about her when I do meet her.

I've already made two new friends here, Lullaby and Sugar Swoop and they seem pretty nice. Maybe Spring Song could be friends with us, too, though I promise that they'll never replace you guys. There's no way they're as awesome as all of you.

I'll send you another letter tomorrow, Pinkie Promise.

Yours awesomely,

Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash rolled up the scroll and tucked it into one of her saddlebags, deciding that she would post it later. Just then, the door swung open and three ponies strode in, all talking excitedly to each other. In truth, their sudden (loud) entrance had freaked Dash out a bit, but she did her best not to visibly show it. At the head of the group was a pink pegasus mare with a blond streaked tail and mane and bright green eyes. She was followed by another shorter mare, who was green with a short blue mane and tail and a tall stallion who was yellow colored with a brown Mohawk.

"Um… hi," Rainbow Dash greeted them with a small wave, unsure as to why there were three pegasi there instead of just one mare. The blond pegasus looked her up and down skeptically before smiling at her.

"I'm gonna go ahead and say that you're Rainbow Dash, judging by that mane of yours," she said, to which Rainbow Dash nodded. The pink pegasus shook Rainbow's hoof eagerly. "I'm Spring Song," she greeted, and that solved the mystery of which of the mares was going to be her roommate.

"And… who are you two?" Rainbow Dash looked at the two pegasi Spring Song had entered with. Spring Song placed a hoof on the shoulder of the green mare.

"This is Paradise, my BFF," Spring Song introduced the mare, who smiled brightly. Rainbow Dash remembered reading the name Paradise on the dorm map in the same room as Lullaby.

"BFF's forever!" Paradise chirped in response to what Spring Song had said. Spring Song rolled her eyes and leaned down to hiss in Paradise's ear.

"BFF already has the word 'forever' in it, dummy," she informed the green mare, who let out a long noise of realization. Then Spring Song moved over to the stallion.

"And this is Ray," she patted the stallion on the back.

"'Sup?" Ray asked casually. At least these three seemed friendly.

"Wanna come to the mess hall with us when we're done setting up?" Spring Song offered. Rainbow Dash shrugged and said that she would. After that she went back to placing her stuff around the room, and found to her surprise that instead of going to their own rooms and sorting out their things, Paradise and Ray were sticking around to help Spring Song, who occasionally paused her own work to tell them to do something differently. Rainbow Dash could see that Spring Song was a bit of a perfectionist... maybe she and Twilight would get along nicely?

After a long while their room looked pretty good; not perfect, especially since Rainbow Dash wasn't much of an organizer. She noticed that Spring Song looked over at her side of the room a little uneasily since it was clear that Rainbow was a bit of a slob, but she didn't voice her discomfort out loud, which Dash appreciated because she got this kind of thing from Twilight and Rarity all the time.

"Well... it's almost time for dinner," Spring Song made it clear that she wanted to avoid the subject of the room's appearance. "We should probably go." once he others had agreed, Spring Song turned to walk out the door, giving Rainbow Dash a clear view of her cutie mark, which a flaming sunflower. She looked at the other two pegasus ponies' cutie marks, too. Paradise's was a sun setting behind a hilltop and Ray's was winged meteor.

Rainbow Dash followed them out the door. She was surprised to have made so many friends in the short amount of time she'd been at the academy. But then again, who wouldn't want to be her friend?

They made their way to the mess hall, which was already packed with pegasi. They had to go to the back of the line to get their food (they were near the back because Spring Song had taken a while getting her side of the room just the way she had wanted it, and even Rainbow Dash had joined in as the time for dinner edged closer so things would hurry along a little more, but that gave them a lot of time to get to know each other. Rainbow Dash learned that Spring Song was from Las Pegasus, Ray was a descendant of Commander Easyglider and Paradise liked manga. Rainbow was a little surprised to find that whatever Spring Song chose to eat, Paradise and Ray chose to eat too; it was like the room decorating situation all over again. She decided to just get her own choice of food since had no interest in becoming a copycat.

As she scooped up some beans she heard a familiar voice from behind the counter.

"Hey there Rainbow Dash, Ah've been lookin' for ya!"

Rainbow looked up at the voice to see the speaker.

"Braeburn, I've been looking for you, too," The cyan pegasus gleefully greeted her earth pony friend. "So, you're working as a cook, here?" Rainbow was surprised since it was usually mares who worked as cooks. Call it a stereotype, but throughout her years at school this had been nothing but true for her.

"Yeah, Soarin knew how well Ah baked, so he got me the job faster than ya could say 'apple tarts," Braeburn explained. Rainbow Dash warily eyed the apple fritter she had picked up.

"These things haven't got caterpillars in, right?" she asked. Braeburn looked pretty unamused at that.

"It was one time!" he insisted, not realizing that she was joking. He took a moment to calm down before twiddling his hooves anxiously. "Ah'll catch up with ya later, Rainbow Dash. Ah have t' make some more apple pie."

Okay, catch ya later, Brae!" Rainbow Dash went to the table where Spring Song, Paradise and Ray were. Spring Song turned to Ray.

"Ray, would you mind sitting somewhere else?" she asked. Ray tilted his head with confusing, and Rainbow couldn't help but copy his motions. What was Spring Song doing?

"Why?" Ray asked the question on Dash's mind. Friends were supposed to hang out together, so why the hay did Spring Song want Ray to go?

"We need some girl time with Rainbow Dash, 'kay? Paradise told him. Rainbow didn't like the sound of that... at all. Ray sighed, shrugged and went to join a pair of stallions on one of the other tables. Rainbow Dash cautiously sat down beside Spring Song and began nibbling on her horseshoe fries.

"So, what do you think of the academy?" the pink pegasus asked Rainbow, who smiled widely despite the situation. She didn't wasn't fully content with Spring Song and Paradise just sending Ray away like that.

"It's awesome. I can't wait to start drills!" she replied quickly, preferring to eat rather than converse at dinnertime.

"Me neither; me and Paradise are amazing fliers," she bragged, placing a hoof on Paradise's shoulder. Paradise nodded in agreement with a mouthful of grapes. After that there was a thankfully long pause, and Dash managed to get through half of her carrot juice.

The sentence that Paradise said next almost made Rainbow Dash choke on her drink.

"So who do you think is the cutest Wonderbolt?"

"Um… what was that?" Rainbow Dash wondered if she'd heard right, really... really hoping she'd misheard. She hated talking about these kinds of things.

"Isn't Fire Streak so hot?" Paradise drooled. Rainbow almost puked up her dinner. She didn't reply.

"None of the Wonderbolts seem my type," Spring Song told Rainbow, who was trying her best not to listen to this. "The only ponies who know this are me and Paradise, but…" Spring Song leaned over and whispered in Rainbow's ear. "…I like Ray."

Rainbow wanted to turn their volumes to mute.

"Can we talk about something else?" she asked hopefully, spooning some beans into her mouth. Spring Song shrugged.

"Sure."

"Hey, Rainbow Dash, over here!" the three pegasus mares turned to the speaker. It was Soarin. "Can you come over here a sec?" he was sitting at a table with the other Wonderbolts. Rainbow obediently got up and trotted over to the Wonderbolt co-captain.

"What's up, Soarin?" Rainbow asked.

"I've got some good news. I was talking to Spitfire earlier about stuff and she initially said no but I kept on saying please and please and over and over... to be honest I think she wanted to strangle me, but she didn't in the end (thank Celestia) and she said that I could be your trainer!" he told her gleefully. Rainbow Dash's jaw almost hit the floor.

A Wonderbolt!

Training her!

This… was… AWESOME!

"Really?" Rainbow Dash flapped into the air in excitement.

"You bet. Starting the day after tomorrow, I'll be teaching you some Wonderbolt level tricks," he told her. So this must have been what Soarin and Spitfire were arguing about back in the main hall.

"This is so cool. I've gotta thank Spitfire," Rainbow Dash looked around the room, but the Wonderbolt captain was nowhere to be seen. "Where is Spitfire?" she asked.

"She always eats alone in her office," he replied. Rainbow looked confused and tilted her head to the side.

"Why?"

Soarin shrugged. "She's not much of a 'social butterfly' I suppose," he replied. He then changed the subject. "Hey, Braeburn told me he knew you. Is that true?"

"Yeah, we met in Appaloosa a few years back," she answered.

"Apparently, you helped settle something between the Appleoosan's and a herd of buffalo?" he couldn't remember the exact story.

"That's right," Rainbow nodded, recalling the time where she and Pinkie Pie had tried to argue for the buffalo's side. She was so pleased when they finally settled their differences and became friends, though she would never get that song that Pinkie Pie sang out of her head.

"It's kinda odd that he works here," Soarin stated, beginning to eat a large slice of apple pie.

"Because he's an earth pony?" Rainbow Dash suggested since it was the obvious answer.

"Nah, because he knows absolutely nothing about the Wonderbolts," Soarin replied with a mouthful of pie, "the other day I quizzed him on who all the Wonderbolts were and the only one he could name was me," he chuckled.

"You would've thought he'd know this stuff since he's your friend," Rainbow Dash glanced over to the food counter where Braeburn was slicing up some apple cake while a small dark blue cadet stood by, drooling at the dessert.

"I know right!" Soarin agreed, throwing his hooves into the air and accidentally slapping Blaze.

"Watch it, dumbass," The orange maned Wonderbolt rubbed her sore cheek.

"Um… oops," Soarin laughed weakly and scooted away from Blaze. Soarin then glanced up at the clock and his eyes bulged.

"Whoa! Dinner's almost over. Better hurry up," he began eating his pie faster. It was then that Rainbow realised that she was still hungry, too. Since she had been in the line longer than she had intended, there was less time for her to ear.

"I'd better go finish my dinner, too," she nodded back at her table where Spring Song and Paradise were laughing about something- probably something pointless, judging by their topics of conversation thus far.

"Okay, then. See ya tomorrow," Soarin bidded the cyan pegasus farewell. As Rainbow Dash sat back down at the table beside Spring Song, the two mares immediately began bugging her with questions. It was actually pretty creepy how they whipped their heads around the seconds her rump touched the seat.

"What was that all about?"

"What did he say?"

"Are you in trouble?"

"It was nothing…" Rainbow trailed off before smirking. "If you count him training me as nothing!" she finished with what bordered on a squee. Spring Song and Paradise did an actual squee and began chattering away.

"Do you think we'll all have Wonderbolt mentors?" Paradise asked. Rainbow Dash decided not to say that she didn't think they would. If they were all going to have Wonderbolt's teaching them, Spitfire wouldn't have been arguing with Soarin over it. Rainbow felt like she was the luckiest pony in Equestria.

When she had finished eating, she, Spring Song and Paradise walked back to the dorms, and Rainbow Dash decided to celebrate her first day at the Academy by eating some of her candy stash. Just when she was on her sixth piece of candy corn she remembered.

She hadn't posted the latter she had wanted to send to her friends.

But she didn't care, because that old letter was useless now. She reached into her saddlebags and took out the old scroll. She crumpled it up and tossed it over her head into the trash. Spring Song noticed and gave her an approving nod at her skill. Dash grabbed another piece of paper and her quill before starting to write another letter.

Hi, everypony!

I'm having an epic day here. You'll never guess what happened!

Soarin is going to train me!

That's right. While the other cadets are lounging around on their butts doing nothing in their free time I'm going to be zooming through the sky with the Wonderbolts co-captain learning Wonderbolt level tricks!

In other news I've met my roommate Spring Song and her friends and they seem pretty nice; I just hope they don't get jealous of the fact that I'm apparently a big deal when it comes to training now.

I can't wait to tell you more.

Yours awesomely,

Rainbow Dash.

"Watcha doin', Dash?" Spring Song asked, placing a clock on her bedside table despite there being one on the back wall of their room.

"Just writing a letter to my friends," she replied, rolling up her letter and tucking it into her saddlebags, deciding that she would post it sometime tomorrow. Spring Song's gaze flickered from Rainbow Dash to the rainbow maned mare's row of books on the bookshelf and she gasped.

"Are those Daring Do books?" she asked, pointing over at them. Rainbow Dash nodded and Spring Song whizzed over to them in a flash. She began examining each of the covers until she finally picked one up. "This is the only one I haven't read," she told Rainbow, holding up the cyan pony's copy of 'Daring Do and the Forbidden City of Clouds'. That was one of Rainbow Dash's favourites. Spring Song looked at Dash with the biggest, saddest pair of eyes she had ever seen. "Would you mind?" she asked, sticking out her bottom lip. Rainbow shrugged. Puppy dog eyes didn't really have any effect on her (unless it was Fluttershy or Pinkie Pie doing them) but it just wouldn't hurt to let Spring Song read her books.

"Sure, you can read it," she replied. She'd already read that one four times anyway. Spring Song flung herself onto her bed and opened the book to the first page.

"Thanks, Rainbow Dash. You're awesome," the pink pegasus complimented Dash, who nodded.

"I know," she smiled. She decided that she would read a Daring Do book, as well. There was nothing else to do, anyway. She decided that she would read her favourite one, which was 'Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue'. She still felt like an idiot for trying to break into the hospital to get the book.

Rainbow Dash sat on her bed and began to read, though it was hard to focus with everything going on.

She couldn't believe that Soarin was going to be her mentor; it just seemed too good to be true. She decided that she'd bottle up all of her excitement for the next morning. That way she could still have some hype left in her when she finally told Lullaby and Sugar Swoop about the news.

Dash had known that the boot camp would be awesome but she'd never thought it would be THIS awesome.

She couldn't wait for tomorrow!