[Cloudsdale] Not the biggest fan [Private, PM if interested]

[Bannhammer]

Ace sighed and for the tenth time that minute fidgeted with his collar. He'd been pulled from Foreward Observation post Indigo out west to come do some flyovers. A few soldiers in need of R&R team up for a week or two and fly for civilians. Hoofball games, races, political stuff, there was always an excuse to have a few REA ponies fly over in formation. Of course, Ace did his job without complaining. As a soldier, it was his job to follow orders, and to work as a team. What was best for the individual was not always best for the group.

Without thinking he reached into one of the pockets on his uniform for some of his herbs. He needed them less and less, thanks to Vinyl, but he still hadn't broken the habit yet. There were still some jitters in his system that lingered. Still, as long as he had his herbs Ace High was a relatively calm pony.

He looked to his sides, the third flyover in 3 days, and again half of the team was drunk. It seemed that instead of getting their ordered rest and relaxation through actually resting and relaxing, most of the ponies decided that a few drinks and late nights would lift their spirits. Ace just shook his head slowly. Wait until their C.Os chew them out, maybe then they'll remember responsibility.

A small pegasus with a clip board poked through the floor of clouds, giving them a quick heads up. Four minutes to take off, and 6 minutes to crowd. Nopony seemed to pay her much mind, if there was anything an REA soldier could do, it was fly in formation. Celestia knows that after a few months of P.T and basic, formation was second nature. Heck, Ace could probably keep a steady flight while sleeping.

The ponies out there, in the crowd, none would recognize him, except for a rare pony who was a passionate fan of flying. He was basically a prodigy back at flying academy, the big stallion on campus. It wasn't a matter of if he would be a wonderbolt, it was how long until he was captain. He stunned the world at the best young fliers competition for basicallly inventing a move, the controlled plummet, more commonly referred to as the falling leaf. He climbed up high, stalled out, and fell for about a mile, twisting and tumbling in the air, before regaining balance right above the ground. Needless to say, he was the one with the golden laurels at the end of the day.

Ace sighed loudly. That was a long time ago. He rubbed his temple with a hoof, sighing frustratedly as he tried to forget the past. To think, the day he was supposed to show up to Wonderbolt training camp, he enlisted.

With a shake of his head, the dark blue pegasus forced himself to focus. "No regrets..." he muttered to himself, taking one final stretch. Right before take off, he reached into his saddlebags and pulled out his golden laurels, grinning wide as he affixed the ensemble to his head. The head dress, along with the patch stitched to his uniform, would at least make himself known to anypony out there who knew what to look for. Although to be honest, most ponies in the crowd were there for the REA's follow up act, the wonderbolts.

A bunch of jerks who fly around and do loops for money. They were the worst kind of celebrities. So much talent, and yet instead of doing something for the country they decided to sit back and be fawned over. Ace spat to on the cloud below him, wiping his muzzle while the order to take off was given.

Of course, the highest ranked pony took point, and Ace's laurels glimmered in the sunlight as his uniform fluttered in the wind. They didn't fly for long until the crowd appeared below. There were a few cheers, not many, and Ace simply shrugged it off. As he expected, the noise grew immense as the showponies appeared behind them. He scowled and pulled a quick 180, a move that would've been impressive had anypony seen it.

With a rare scowl he watched the Wonderbolts. They were supposed to do a simple flyover, no tricks, no nonsense. What happened was far, far different. They were trailing smoke, doing corkscrews and barrel rolls, and even a few loops. Normally Ace wouldn't be upset by this sort of stuff, but the fact that they were given a simple task to do, and they decided to ham it up, it was infuriating. To think he was almost one of them!

There was no impulse in his reaction, it was cold and calculated. With a powerful flap, his wings pushed him towards the wonderbolts at racing speeds. He buzzed the leader, whizzing past them before doing a tight barrel roll aroud another one. It wasn't long before he had the lot of them disoriented and struggling to stay up. With a triumphant cheer, he stalled into a falling leaf, pulling up right above the crowd.

[colour=#696969]"Ladies and Gentlecolts, if you want to meet real heroes, stop on by your local REA veterans chapter." [/colour]with a quick salute he sped off, probably to get reprimanded, but ****, it was worth it. When he landed, he got a few pats on the back and was offered a drink. Of course, he said yes, and started to head down to the local pup for a cold glass of water, tearing down a Wonderbolts poster as he went.

Hopefully he could lay low for the rest of the day.

[Apolline Allura]

On her day off from her weather pony duties, Lightning Dust had very little to do actually. Of course she'd spend hours flying and breaking her own personal records (barring the decrease in such since being put on suspension from her Wonderbolt training), and then maybe a nap and dinner after because where did all the time in the day go in winter, but she had been out of things to do since pulling her exact same times of the day before in laps around her house. Right down to the millisecond.

But she fidgeted and tossed about on the cloud she had sat upon to try and collect herself. Wonderbolt training really had been one of the best times she had had in recent memory. And yet the same thing she had prided herself on, her ability, had ended up getting herself kicked out.

Several specks in the distance received her attention. There was a show today, she had forgot about. Lightning Dust kicked through the bottom of the cloud with both hind legs and shot off in the direction of the faintly heard cheers and vapor trails in the sky.

Dust could see them. Spitfire, Fleetfoot and Soarin, all strutting their stuff. How she longed to be up there, doing the same.

Just in the middle of a routine motion, a streak of darkest blue sped past the trio, making a show of the accidential tearing down of the poster nearby. Lightning Dust couldn't help but chuckle a but at that. That'd ruffle some feathers for sure.

Closer inspection revealed a pegasus stallion, skinning and grinning with the best of them.

[colour=#808080]"Ladies and Gentlecolts, if you want to meet real heroes, stop on by your local REA veterans chapter."[/colour]

[colour=#40e0d0]"Ha! This guy."[/colour] said Dust, shooting upwards to meet the stallion.

He had guts, that was for sure. Dust couldn't pass up the opportunity to give him his props, and so she waved and called out to him.

[colour=#40e0d0]"Oi, fly boy!"[/colour]