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Soarin's POV

The door was kicked open with a deafening BANG.

I shot up in bed with a startled yell. "Aah!"

"Get up, son. Spitfire wants you in the briefing room. Now."

I groggily turned my head toward the doorway—or what was left of it. The door hung off its hinges, splinters littering the floor. Yeah, Spitfire was gonna love that.

And standing in the middle of the destruction, looking like he hadn't done a damn thing wrong, was Silver Lining.

Oh boy.

I rubbed my eyes. "Good morning, Silver."

"Good morning," Silver replied flatly. "Had a good sleep?"

"Yeah—"

"Good. Because Spitfire wants the team assembled NOW, so get your lazy ass outta bed and move it!"

I groaned and flopped back onto my pillow. "Silver, quit the bad language..."

Silver huffed. "Who the fu—"

"SILVER?" I shot him a glare.

He turned to look at me like I was the problem.

"What?" he grumbled.

"You know Spitfire hates it when you curse in the barracks," I said, sitting up and running a hoof through my mane.

Silver rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. Like she doesn't swear every other sentence."

"Yeah, but you're not Spitfire."

Silver opened his mouth to argue, but before he could get a word out—

"Silver Lining!"

We both turned to see Spitfire standing in the hallway, wings flared, eyes locked onto Silver like a hawk ready to rip him apart.

Oh, this was gonna be good.

Silver blinked, then nodded at her. "Uh... morning, captain?"

Spitfire's eyes flicked from the ruined door to Silver's completely unbothered expression. Her eye twitched.

"Silver." Her voice was deadly calm. "How many times have I told you to STOP kicking down doors?!"

Silver snorted. "I dunno, how many times have you shoved that stick further up your ass?"

"SILVER LINING!"

He rolled his eyes. "What? I'm just saying, maybe if doors weren't built like wet paper, I wouldn't have to break 'em."

Spitfire's nostrils flared. Oh, she was fuming now. "Oh really? Well, guess what? I'M NOT MAKING YOU FIX IT THIS TIME."

Silver blinked. "Wait, what?"

"You heard me." Spitfire's smirk was pure evil. "Instead, you're getting extra drills. And cleaning duty. For a MONTH."

Silver's ears flattened. "Oh, come on—"

"AND if I hear one more whining out of your mouth, I'm doubling it."

Silver opened his mouth, then shut it. His face twitched like he was physically holding back. He inhaled sharply through his nose. "...Fine."

Spitfire smirked. "That's what I thought."

I chuckled. "Damn, Silver, you really screwed yourself this time."

He shot me a glare. "Shut up. I hope you trip on a cloud and eat shit."

Spitfire's eyes snapped to him.

Silver went rigid.

I whistled.

------------

After Spitfire murdered Silver Lining—okay, maybe not, but she definitely considered it—I sat through the pre-flight briefing, my mind elsewhere.

I really needed to talk to Dash and figure out what I actually did wrong.

"Alright, listen up!" Spitfire called out, snapping me back to reality. "We've got some newbies in today. The elites will be paired with them to help them with the training routine. You'll be responsible for making sure they're up to standard before evaluation."

She started reading off the assignments, but I wasn't paying much attention—until I heard my name.

"Rainbow Dash and Soarin Skies."

I perked up immediately. Perfect. Finally, a chance to talk to Dash.

"Perfect," I muttered under my breath, smirking to myself.

But then—I heard a groan.

I turned my head and saw Rainbow Dash grumbling under her breath, her ears pinned back.

Wait. What?

Before I could even process that, Spitfire continued. "The elites will report back with progress updates, and later, the newbies will undergo a test to determine if they've actually improved."

Ponies nodded in understanding.

"Alright, you're dismissed. Get to work!" Spitfire said, but then suddenly raised a hoof. "Oh—one more thing!"

Everyone froze in place.

"I'll be assigning a senior elite to oversee the training. To make sure no one dies."

A few ponies snickered.

"Or, more importantly," Blaze piped up, grinning, "to make sure no one bangs instead!"

The room exploded with laughter.

"BLAZE!" Spitfire scolded, her face turning red.

"What?! I'm just saying, things get pretty heated during 'training' sessions! And you never know if the elites have a thing for some of the newbies"

Spitfire rubbed her temples, clearly regretting all of her life choices. "Ugh. JUST GET GOING!"

I walked up to Rainbow Dash, my hooves barely making a sound against the floor beneath us. 

She was adjusting her flight goggles, wings twitching in a way that told me one thing—she was annoyed.

"Hey, Dash," I greeted, keeping my voice light, hoping to cut through whatever invisible wall she'd put up.

She barely spared me a glance. "What do you want, Soarin?"

I frowned. Okay, ouch.

"Well," I started, rubbing the back of my neck, "I have to help you with learning our routine, so I figured we should, y'know, talk?"

Dash let out a sharp scoff, finally looking at me—though not in the way I wanted. There was no warmth, no teasing spark. Just... irritation.

"We don't need to talk," she muttered, pulling her goggles over her eyes. "We just need to get this over with."

What the hell?

I blinked at her, caught off guard by the sheer hostility in her voice. This wasn't like Dash. Yeah, she could be blunt, but this? This was different.

"Uh... what did I do wrong?" I asked, my voice softer this time.

She finally turned to face me fully, and when her magenta eyes met mine, I felt something sharp twist in my chest. There was something buried in that gaze—anger, frustration, disappointment.

"Maybe you should think about that," she said flatly, before snapping her wings open and taking off without another word.

I stood there for a moment, watching her disappear into the sky, my stomach churning uneasily.

What did I do?

"Alright, get in the air! We don't have all day!" Spitfire's sharp voice cut through my thoughts like a blade.

I exhaled slowly and launched myself into the sky after Dash.

Whatever it was, I needed to fix it.

And fast.

-------------

After a while of flying, I finally managed to catch up with her. We landed on a high hill, one of the quieter spots near the training grounds. A massive Starbloom Tree stood tall at the center.

I couldn't get a morning picture

Dash stood a few steps away, wings still slightly flared, like she was ready to bolt at any second.

Before I could say anything, another voice cut through the moment.

"Well, well, well. Look who finally made it."

I turned to see Silver Lining leaning against the tree, looking entirely too smug. His storm-grey feathers ruffled slightly as he smirked at us.

"Silver?" I raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing here?"

Silver's smirk widened. "Oh, I'm just here to make sure you don't spend the whole session staring at her flank."

I sputtered. "What?! I—That's—"

Dash groaned, dragging a hoof down her face. "Can we NOT do this right now?"

Silver shrugged, looking entirely too pleased with himself. "Hey, I'm just looking out for my boy here. Can't have him getting distracted, y'know?"

I rolled my eyes

"Okay, before we start, introductions first," I said, gesturing between them. "Silver, this is Rainbow Dash. Dash, this is Silver Lining."

Rainbow's head snapped toward me so fast I swore I heard a crack.

"Soarin," she said, her voice low and dangerous, "what did you just call me?"

I blinked. "Uh... Dash?"

Her wings flared. "No. No. You do not get to shorten my name like that!"

I raised an eyebrow. "But literally everyone calls you Dash."

"Yeah, but you're not 'everyone.'"

Silver snorted. "Ohhh, I like her already."

I shot him a look. "Not helping."

Silver ignored me and turned to Rainbow with a smirk. "Nice to meet you, Rainbow Dash, full legal name, unabridged and unaltered."

Rainbow crossed her forelegs. "Thank you."

Silver leaned toward me and whispered, "Yeah, she's gonna be fun to mess with."

I groaned. This was gonna be a long day.

Let me know if I should change anything