Super secret training (Fleetfoot)

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Rumble was once again playing in the woods, but this time he had chosen a better place to play. No scary monster or weird poisonous plants in the Whitetail Wood! What could the Pegasus foal be doing here all alone? He was working on some super secret training! This wasn't the type of training he was doing for a future lifestyle. No playing explorer, or playing knight. Not even practicing flying to one day join the Wonderbolts!

Rumble was practicing how to ride a scooter.

The colt had his own helmet, but he getting a scooter had been a small challenge. He hadn't had enough allowance saved up to buy one new so he had needed to do some searching around. Luckily his friend Featherweight had one he had been willing to part with! Rumble had to part with two weeks of his allowance, had to help take some picture for the Foal Free Press, and spend some time helping to clean the editing room at the end of the day. Not that bad of a deal considering he could spend the time helping the Foal Free Press to hang out with Featherweight and Shady Daze.

Rumble started his practicing slowly by going back and forth on a straight stretch of a trail. Each time he did a lap he went a little fast, pushing with a hoof for a little more speed. He had tried using his wings like another Pegasus in his class, but he couldn't get it to work. For now he was content to get the basics down. Standing upright on the scooter felt odd, but that was due to him not being used to the posture.

With each lap came a little more confidence as he found out he could go straight without any trouble. Each time he went faster he also went a little farther until he left the area he had cleared out. This is when he encountered a most treacherous foe: The rock. The colt didn't know what to do when hitting a bump big enough to destabilize him and instead of bailing out to the side he went down with the ship. Suddenly the back wheels were off the ground, and the ground was coming up very fast! He knew how to land from a crash from flying, but not for a situation like this! All he managed to do was let out a little yell before face planting into the dirt.

Helmets could save someone's life from a fall, or nasty collision, but did little to protect one's face. The fall hurt, and as Rumble pulled himself up onto his hooves he knew there would be marks left that he'd have to explain later.

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Fleet glided low over Whitetail woods, watching her shadow pass over the tops of trees. A movement below, on some trail or other, caught her eye, and without a blink she folded wing and dropped. You couldn't wait on those things, when you saw them. If you took too long to think about it, you'd either lose it or rationalize it away. It was probably nothing, but she'd check.

Landing softly on a branch that arched over the trail, The Wonderbolt observed the pegasus foal on his scooter. Nothing really unusual about that, except his choice of location. Fleet was about to take wing again when a yelp and a thud made her look again, quickly. The poor foal had hit a rock and taken a fall, and it looked like a rough one! Fleet leapt off her branch and was at his side in a second.

"Hey kid, you ok?" she asked gently, helping the foal to his feet, though he was mostly up already. It couldn't be too bad, if he was able to get back up. Still, she used a wing to gently turn his face towards her and winced, though it was hidden by her goggles. That looked pretty painful. Fleet gave a quick preen to her other wing and used the tips of the feathers on it to brush away the dirt and debris on his face. Feathers were more gentle than a hoof could ever be. "Looks like you'll live. Nothing broken, right?"

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Before Rumble could fully check his injuries another pony was there on the scene helping him up to his hooves. The bridge of his nose and chin stung, but nothing too bad, probably just some scrapes. Indeed the bridge of his nose and his chin were red, but nothing that couldn't be fixed by cleaning the area and some band-aids. He'd live, heal, and his fur would grow back just like any other colt who got cuts and scrapes while playing.

The little colt couldn't tell who was there to help him. He didn't know the mare's voice, and he got a face full of wing when he first tried to look at her. After a face full of wing there was a face full of feather, and then he saw her. Standing right in front of him was a freaking legend. He was in the presence of a Wonderbolt, and more importantly it was one of the ones that was on just about all the merchandise. The young flier was awestruck, and suddenly his scrapes didn't hurt anymore.

"You... you... you're Fleetfoot!" Rumble let out a shout of joy and began to bounce in excitement. "Stay right there!" he said excitedly as he ran off a short distance down the trail to where his small cloud was and his saddlebags. He picked up his saddlebags and carried them back to the Wonderbolt and began to search through them. "I got something for you!" One by one he removed something from his bags as he looked for his super secret notebook of secrets! Among the things he emptied out was a small first-aid kit that his brother made him keep with him for just such incidents.

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Fleetfoot was relieved to see that the injuries were less serious than she feared. The scrapes looked raw, and no doubt they would be tender and painful, but they weren't dangerous. She wished she had some water to at least rinse them off with. She was aware that she was being mother-hen-ish but really...

Whatever she had been about to think was completely wiped away from her mind when she found herself confronted by The Look. The eyes that dilated in shock and then grew huge with wonder. The jaw that dropped slightly and the strange way the body was both rigid with tension and limp with amazement. Fleet was no stranger to the effect she often had on fans. But she hadn't been expecting it here and this colt... was almost like a window with his joy shining through his eyes and in his face. There was no attempt to hide it.

It hit Fleet hard, a warm feeling in her heart and a fuzzy feeling in her throat. She even felt her eyes sting with the threat of tears, happy ones. This was the privilege of being a Wonderbolt. She never got tired of it. Never, never, never.

"You... you... you're Fleetfoot!" He shouted, his feelings too strong for a moderate tone of voice to express. Then he was springing off to get something like a little deer, calling back "Stay right there!"

Fleetfoot promptly sat down, as though to suggest she wouldn't dream of taking off on him. Because honestly, she wouldn't. She couldn't. Not when he looked like that, so hopeful and happy. But he was back in no time anyway, digging through his saddlebags frantically in search of something. A pen and a piece of paper, perhaps?

"I got something for you!"

He had something for her? That was unusual! Fleet's curiosity was peaked and she leaned forward a bit, looking into the colt's saddlebags with him, wondering what it could be. But when the first-aid kit fell out, Fleet remembered his injuries and picked it up, checking the contents. It was clearly put together by another stallion, but apparently, one who himself got injuries pretty regularly, if the contents were any indication. All the necessaries were in there!

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Where is it? Where is it? It has to be here! Rumble in his impatience flipped his saddlebags upside down and emptied out their contents, snacks and all. He didn't want to keep Fleetfoot waiting. She was a busy mare, what if she suddenly had to go to Wonderbolt stuff before he could give her something? With everything out in front of him he was able to find IT.

The object the colt was looking for was a spiral bound art book with 'Top Sekret' written on the cover in big black marker. He quickly flipped through the pages quickly passing through crayon covered pages until he came across a specific pair of pages and ripped them out neatly. He held the pages out to Fleetfoot, beaming with pride up at her. It wasn't a signature he was wanting, or a piece of fan art he had colored of her. What he had for her was much more in depth.

Rumble had diagrammed out a stunt specifically for Fleetfoot in crayon. There were little drawings of the Wonderbolt strung together by arrows showing the progression of the stunt. It detailed how the fastest Wonderbolt ever was to zoom on by a body of water and cause a giant wave, and behind her was a string of lights and wing ponies with their own lights. The wave would create a screen of water, and all the lights were meant to shine through and look pretty. There was even a note saying that during the Summer the wave could splash onto the crowd and cool them off!

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Fleetfoot saw the 'Top Sekret' book at the same time Rumble did, and wanted to giggle. She knew the rules though, and stopped herself. There was no way to explain that cute could hit you in the same way that funny did, and in any case, the little colt was too serious about this book to take either remark without a blow to the pride. She wouldn't do that for all the tea in Neighpon.

What he gave her though, did not want to make her laugh. He had designed a trick for the Wonderbolts. No, not just the Wonderbolts. This trick was for her, specifically. That was her likeness, done in crayon, moving through the routine. He had planned it out with her in mind. That was... Fleet was speechless for a moment. Fleetfoot wasn't a visionary, like Captain. She didn't even have a great deal of technical skill, unlike Soarin'. She went through routines and tricks that other ponies planned for the Wonderbolts. Part of the show, never the star. It was only in races that she'd lead. She'd never had anything planned for herself. But a colt had dreamed up a trick for her to star in.

And she would see it done. Oh yes, she would see this get performed somehow! "I'm surprised you thought up a trick for me!" Fleet replied honestly, without a single ounce of patronizing. "And it looks like good one to me! I'll have to try it! Can I really have it? Are you seriously giving it to me?" She had to make sure. It really seemed a little too amazing!

Fleetfoot remembered the first aid kit suddenly, and held it up. "Here, let me patch you up while you tell me about it and about you. Specifically, your name. I can't take all the credit, after all!"

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"Well duh its for you! You're like, my favoritest Wonderbolt!" Rumble said with an excited little hop. The trick was for Fleetfoot so of course she could have it! Truth be told Fleetfoot had just only recently climbed to the top of his favorite Wonderbolt list, but now that he had met her in person her place was cemented there. To make things even better she wanted to know about him. No one in school was going to believe this story when they heard it!

"My name's Rumble, and I'm Thunderlane's little brother! He met Spitfire once over by the Everfree Forest. He's on weather patrol and is in charge of all the storms in Ponyville. I'm the best flier in my class! Not all of the Pegasi in my class can fly yet, but I'm the best one. When I grow up I'm going to be a Wonderbolt just like you!" Rumble rattled on, fidgeting a bit as Fleetfoot got to work on his face. It'd sting getting it cleaned out, but he knew it was for the better. He didn't want to get an infection and have his nose fall off!

"The tricks for you because you're the fastest Wonderbolt ever! You need a LOT of water for it like a lake, or a river, or a big pond. You fly REALLY fast just above the water and WHOOSH!," The colt swiped his hoof across the dirt on the ground making a small wave of dust. "you make a big wave of water! While you do it you have a bunch of lights attached to your tail or get other fast ponies like Rapid Fire or Fire Streak to go with you with lights."

The gray colt stood up on his hind hooves and raised his front hooves in the air. "So you got this BIG screen of water, then all these colored lights go whizzing by looking all sparkling because of the wall, then SPLASH it comes crashing down." The young flier dropped down on his hooves and grinned up at Fleetfoot. "Think you can do it?"

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Fleet couldn't help but blush, when Rumble announced that she was his favoritest Wonderbolt. She knew she was admired as a member, and respected for being the fastest, but to hear that she was somepony's favorite... Was extra special praise. She restrained herself from glomping this little heart-stealer and focused on cleaning his scrapes and listening, instead.

"My name's Rumble, and I'm Thunderlane's little brother! He met Spitfire once over by the Everfree Forest. He's on weather patrol and is in charge of all the storms in Ponyville. I'm the best flier in my class! Not all of the Pegasi in my class can fly yet, but I'm the best one. When I grow up I'm going to be a Wonderbolt just like you!"[/i]

Thunderlane... Thunderlane... the name sounded vaguely familiar. Had she heard it before? Had Spitfire mentioned anything about it? She had a faint mental image of a dark pegasus with a mohawk, that was it. She really needed to brush up on her who's who. Rumble must love his big brother, the way he talked about him. Fleetfoot grinned as Rumble proclaimed himself the best flier in his class, and his ambition of being a Wonderbolt. She stuck a big old Soarin' bandage on his nose when she'd finished cleaning the scrape there.

"You're off to a good start, if you're already the best flier in your class, but don't forget that there's lots more to being a Wonderbolt. You have to have a good heart and be brave, too." Fleet said, pretending to be stern, but then she melted. "But I don't think you'll have a problem with those qualities." she added, warmly.

As the Wonderbolt cleaned his chin, she listened to his explanation and why the trick was perfect for her. However, it wasn't quite as easy as his nose had been, partly because there was more scrape here, and partly because he kept moving around. And yes, partly because she was imagining it in her mind's eye.

"I think it will look amazing when it's performed, and I think I can do it, if I practice. In order to really build up enough speed, I'll have to come out of a dive. An ordinary arena-area probably wont give me enough space to build up the best amount of speed traveling in a straight line. The hard part will be coming out at the right time. Too early, and I wont push enough water- Too late and I'll end up hitting the water, instead. Which probably wouldn't look so incredible, huh?" Fleet giggled and finished off her bandaging by putting two another Soarin' and a Spitfire bandage side by side on his chin.

"There. I think you'll live, Rumble."

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Fleetfoot had said he was off to a good start toward becoming a Wonderbolt. Fleetfoot the Wonderbolt didn't think he'd have a problem with the things needed to be a Wonderbolt. It could have been raining caramel chocolate chews, and Rumble wouldn't have been any happier. His little mind was blown, and all of his friends would be hearing this story as soon as he could run across them. How much they'd believe him was up in the air, but eventually there would be a day when he'd be able to drop the "I told you so" on them.

To top it all off she said she could do the trick. Yes, she'd have to practice it, but it was possible! He stamped his hooves in excitement. "You'd look incredible no matter what you did!" he beamed up at Fleetfoot with a giant grin on his face. He was too psyched up to consider things that the Wonderbolt might not look good doing. A Wonderbolt with a head cold probably probably wasn't the greatest sight to see compared to how they'd normally look.

"So Fleetfoot... what are you doing so close to Ponyville? Are you visiting someone? OH! Do you have family in Ponyville? That'd be SO cool. I could know someone who knows you! So what were you up too before you came down here to hang out with me?"

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"...So what were you up to before you came down here to hang out with me?"

Fleetfoot couldn't help being very amused at the almost possessive way that Rumble seemed to claim her for himself, as though she'd come here specifically with the intent of spending time with him. But she was even more amused that it seemed to be working. Fifteen minutes ago, she was thinking about getting home and flopping into bed. Now she was willing to forgo one of her favorite pastimes to spend a little time with a fan- and she was pleased to do it!

"I was on my way home after running an important secret message from Manehattan to Canterlot." Fleet told the colt, dropping her voice confidentially. "I don't know what the message was, because the scroll was sealed, but it must have been very, very important because they sent me to fetch it at full speed- and it must have been very very secret if they knew it needed to be retrieved but not what was in it."

The Wonderbolt grinned and streeeeeetched, cat-like, as though to ease tired muscles from protracted flying. From Cloudsdale to Manehattan to Canterlot and back to Cloudsdale again was a long flight!

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Rumble was still psyched. Fleetfoot had come down from her flight specifically to spend time with him. Okay, sure she came down to tend to an injury, but she could have left whenever she wanted to and didn't. The only reason he could think of her staying is specifically to hang out with him. Best. Day. Ever. Nopony at home would believe him without proof, except for maybe his brother.

The colt's eyes grew wide when the fastest and most awesome Wonderbolt let him in on her secret mission. Whatever was in the scroll had to be super duper important and ultra top secret of Fleetfoot had to be called to carry it. The distances she had to fly were FAR, like ultra mega he'd-never-traveled-that-far far. She trusted him with what could be a state secret. No one was going to believe him now without documented evidence.

Seeing her stretch out gave him an idea. A little lightbulb of inspiration. "That sounds like a LOT of flying you had to do!" he exclaimed in wonderment. "You must be awfully tired and hungry from so much flying. All that flying for something so important. I bet you didn't even make a single stop on the way there, and now you're flying all the way back home." He set up his plan carefully. He hoped his words would make her notice a rumble in her tummy, a dryness in her throat, or muscles that were suddenly a bit more achey than they were a moment ago. It was all to help set up his next line. "If you want, you can come over to my house to rest a little before going home. You can get a snack, or a drink, and let your wings rest a little bit."

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Rumble's super-secret plan was pretty obvious to the Wonderbolt, but, (and this was a big but) it was working. She was pretty tired, and her wings did ache, and if she wasn't hungry she was definitely thirsty. Of course, she was also almost home, comparatively speaking. Then again, comparatively speaking, she'd been 'almost home' an hour ago, with all the flying she'd done today.

It distressed her a little, to realize how tired she really was. She wouldn't be good for anything- at least not for the rest of the week- and she had the idea that events around Equestria were about to get a lot more interesting. She hoped she wouldn't miss out!

Well, never mind tomorrow. Today she was thirsty and tired. It wasn't good to take advantage of a fan, but Rumble seemed really eager to have her over, and she really could use a break. "If it's no trouble, and not too far..." she began, hesitantly, "Then I wouldn't mind stopping for a drink of water and ... maybe a short rest." she tried to sound reluctant, as though she were afraid of imposing on the colt.

But really, she wanted to giggle.

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"I live right in Ponyville, not far away at all!" The colt exclaimed with excitement. He quickly got to work packing his saddle bags once more. His idea of packing his saddlebags though what shoving stuff in until it all fit and he could close the flaps. Normally he was a bit more organized, but there was no telling if Fleetfoot would get impatient and change her mind! She was the fastest Pegasus EVER, and he didn't want to appear too slow for her.

When the colt was all packed he quickly wiggled under the straps and put them on, then picked up his scooter. He could practice some other time, right now he was going to have a Wonderbolt over at his house! Maybe he could get her to sign something?! "My riding cloud is just over there." he said gesturing to the small cloud hovering just down the path. "I just need to get it and we can go."

Rumble moved with the speed of lightning to his cloud and hopped on it. He had to juggle things around to get situated, but eventually he was able to get into a comfortable position to fly in. "All set! How do you want to go into town? Walk, fly straight there, or go in a bit higher so nopony can see you? You are a super awesome celebrity and stuff."

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Fleet grinned at Rumble's eagerness. It was the fan-love like this that really made her want to go out of her way to make their day. An idea occurred to her. "Well," she began, as though considering. "I'm tired, I admit, but not too tired to give my biggest fan a ride on his riding cloud, if he'll scoot over a bit." Fleet let Rumble get situated on his cloud, and then settled herself behind him. It had been a while since she'd last used a cloud as a prop for flying, but it was like riding a bike... once you learn, you never quite forget.

In no time at all they were zipping inbetween the trees at high speed, Fleet fearlessly manuvering the cloud safely around all obstacles. In reality, she always chose a path that had quite a bit of clearance in every direction- it was just that at the speed they were traveling, it felt more dangerous than it was. And when they broke out of the forest, Fleet crouched down a bit, partly to cut down on wind resistance, but mostly to help anchor Rumble to the cloud, for she really let go then, and showed off some of her best speeds, just to give the colt a taste of it!

When she did stop, and perhaps it would feel all too soon, they were hovering a ways up over the Ponyville's town hall. They had traveled so quickly that probably not many ponies had noticed Rumble yet... or who he was with. "I was... going to fly straight to your house..." Fleetfoot said, panting just a bit, "But I realized I didn't know which one it is... Point it out for me?" she added with a slightly gasping laugh.

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"Really?! Rumble asked, not quite sure he had heard Fleetfoot correctly. She was going to give him a ride! The fastest Wonderbolt ever was going to take him for a spin. Best. Day. Ever. The gray colt moved over as the world famous Wonderbolt settled herself down on his cloud. His face was going to hurt tomorrow from all the grinning he was doing right now, but it would be worth it.

In no time at all the young flier was shouting in excitement as they were zipping all around faster than he'd ever gone before! Trees and branches were zipping by like a blur! Things only got better when they shot out of the forest like a bullet! Rumble felt Fleet tuck him closer to her, something he was not at all opposed to. He had never gone through the girls-are-icky-phase of foalhood, and was completely not bothered by the combination of Fleetfoot's own doing and high speed that pushed him against her. It was hard to see going super-duper fast like they were since he didn't have any goggles, and thank the higher powers they didn't run into any bugs!

"That. Was. AWESOME!" He shouted gleefully! "We were all like WOOOOOSH! I've never gone so fast before! I bet you're WAY faster than Rainbow Dash. Even on a slow day. Right... home... it's umm..." Rumble had to look down across Ponyville to get his bearings. He wasn't allowed to go very high on his own yet, and while he had been higher before, it was always with his brother. Rumble was Thunderlane's shadow, when the two were together he followed his older brother.

"There's the schoolhouse, there's Sugarcube Corner, there's Sweetie Belle's older sister's shop, there's the library... There's my home! See the tree house with the blackened roof like it's been struck by lightning? My brother did that when he got his Cutie Mark. That's where I live!"