• Story: Hell Week (Update Part 3!)

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    Author: Squeejee
    Description: Finally old enough to pursue her dream, Rainbow Dash parts with her friends and joins pre-season training with the Wonderbolts. Old enemies and new friends come together as she trains, but being a Wonderbolt is about more than just flying faster than the rest. Will Rainbow Dash prove capable of overcoming the obstacles arrayed before her, or will she drop out and become another failed hopeful? There's only one way to find out! Contains some language not appropriate for younger bronies.
    Hell Week Part 1
    Hell Week Part 2
    Hell Week Part 3 (New!)

    Hell Week (All Links)

    Additional Tags: Dry humor, intense action, speed.

    38 comments:

    1. Navy SEAL training but for ponies... I like this idea.

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    2. Dry humor? You know how to tempt me.

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    3. My thoughts exactly, it almost has a Military Recruit Training vibe to it, except that the Drill Instructors aren't calling you names all the time.

      It's difficult to explain how Military Training is for those who have never been through it before, but it is not like what you have seen on Full Metal Jacket (although some do like to incorporate certain... aspects of it in, they are human too after all, and do joke around behind recruits backs)

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    4. Rainbow Dash, USMC. (or your preferred equiv.) I can get behind this idea.

      I'm also reminded of Storm Wing's line in Through The Eyes Of Another Pony.
      "Everyone cries on the first day."

      *shudder*

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    5. Ditzy Doo is now the most intelligent pony there is.

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    6. Reading through the description brings back memories from high school. I was part of my school's Junior ROTC unit and one component of it was the Honor Guard. If I had known what I was getting myself into, I'd still go for it. Every time we met, we were pushed to our limits and beyond. Slowly but surely, people started leaving when they realized how much work it took. But I stuck through it and I'm glad I did. I was always a driven person, but the time I spent there brought out a drive in me that I still carry today. Though I know it can never match actual military training, I sure gained an appreciation for what our servicemen and women go through.

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    7. As somebody who's actually been to BUD/S, I approve of this concept!

      I failed though, but I never touched that bell!

      Darn run times!

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    8. ooh this is good... Real military atmosphere and style there. And those trainings... typical.

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    9. Hell Week... That's Ironic because that's what my college calls the 2nd week before finals. You know that magical time when final projects, papers, and even some late exams occur all at once. I hate this week so much....

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    10. "Hell week"?
      Sounds like a story my dad told me about his time in the military. Hmmm.
      "Dry humor" too? OKay, it's settled; I'll read this xD

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    11. For two seconds, I thought this was gonna be a story about theatre. Show week for us is referred to as "hell week", lol. *is disappoint*

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    12. Odd narration, almost conversational at times. I do believe it's the first time I've seen narration digress.

      Also, for whatever reason it seems to have had a field day with the formatting on my end. Rather than be on a "page" like most Google docs it fills the whole screen. Given my resolution (and the small font), paragraphs are a single line in most cases and when they aren't the indentation looks odd.

      Interesting concept, curious end to the chapter.

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    13. @B34r

      Rainbow Dash, SEAL

      Wow, this oughtta be good. *Reads.*

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    14. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    15. Dark Griffon said... [Reply To This Comment]

      It's a rather interesting and not-at-all inappropriate take on it, though I don't quite think the Wonderbolts themselves would be running such a camp.

      They're modeled after the Blue Angels. The Blue Angels don't run basic training camps: they take pilots (aka Naval Aviators) who ALREADY are proven the best of the best (and also know how to do good P.R.) from the rest of the Navy. The model doesn't quite work for the Bolts, but I figure they'd have some method of prescreening the mass of applicants, and let "farm teams" handle some of the initial screening.

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    16. But the wonderbolts are a Aerobatic Display team...

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    17. @Ikusa GT

      They also are rather heavily modeled after the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds. But military aerial demo teams do things a little differently then the SEALs. ;)

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    18. @Dark Griffon I know that. That's why I posted that comment in the first place. The concept of a hell week for any Formation team in the world seems just out of place. Although Blue Angels do under go a Two month intensive training program at NAS El Centro

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    19. The formatting on this document is my hell...

      But I am enjoying this so far!

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    20. @Ikusa GT

      Huh. I knew about the training program but not that it took place at El Centro. Learned something new today!

      I could actually see the Wonderbolts doing a sort of Hell Week, but the goal would be different then in the story; a way to break new trainee teams into the squad. More like fraternity hazing, in other words, then tree-shaking elimination training.

      It does make me think, though, what sort of farm-team system that the Wonderbolts would use, and how the Young Flyers' competition fits into it. Since Dash has a YF award, would she be able to bypass the normal farm teams? Do the Wonderbolts affiliate their own farm teams, even, the way Major League Baseball teams sponsor minor league teams?

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    21. @KShrike

      Well, you know, some people don't like swearing in their FiM Fiction, so I thought I'd be up front about it. It gets worse when everyone goes to the dorms and get acquainted enough that they stop being polite.

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    22. @Hagil

      When I initially sent this in, I wasn't aware of the format issues with "publishing" the GDoc instead of linking directly to it. The link has been updated to another one.

      Also, in this version, the narration is more consistent. The EQD pre-reader and my IRL proofreader agree that it was a bit off-putting.

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    23. @Dark Griffon

      This is a concept I've nailed down in my notes, but didn't come up in Chapter 1 (I could have explained it, but it wasn't really necessary). Here's an abridged explanation:

      The Wonderbolts are not a true military unit, at least not anymore. They hold to certain traditions that arose from their days as a wing of the Equestrian Guard, but over time they became more and more "civilian," in part to appeal to younger pegasi and in part to help the crown clarify Equestria's pacifist foreign policy. Mostly the Wonderbolts' military tradition has them do PR for the royal family, but they also participate in races and stunt competitions against Equestria's privately-owned pegasi sports teams.

      To get into their Spring Training and compete for a position on the team, an applicant must fulfill a few requirements. The most important is that they must have a certain number of active years on the competition circuit - this includes the Best Junior Flyers competition as well as a large number of local races and stunt shows (the Running of the Leaves would count, but since Dash tied for last, she left it out of her application). Their are a few minor league teams the Wonderbolts actively support and recruit from, but in Dash's case she applied as a free agent and got invited, thanks in no small part to her impressive record and having met the 'bolts on a few occasions.

      After the brief screening, a large number of applicants are selected and put through the traditional first week of training, after which only a manageable handful of them remain. The process is exclusive enough that many of the applicants who get cut will go on to have successful competitive careers anyway, as anypony who isn't cut on the first two days of training is assuredly a top-tier competitor and will be sought after by the other teams in Equestria.

      Anyway, I'm sure somebody who knows a lot about this sort of thing will come along and blow my headcanon out of the water, but onward to writing chapter 2!

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    24. @Squeejee Well, it really comes down to how you interpret the Wonderbolts. Are they ex-military, as you see them, or are they a fully civilian aero demo team? Affiliated with the throne (as Best Night Ever suggests) or independent?

      When I wrote my story, I tried to straddle all those lines, and the result had its own problems. But it's all in good fun!

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    25. Lol, i just finished a course similar to this a couple of months ago, a six week hell called 'FYOP'...

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    26. Nice

      That's all I can say. It's entertaining

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    27. This doesn't sound like Rainbow at all. I don't see her joining the Wonderbolts if she has to leave her friends behind. In fact, she already decided NOT to do that in the second episode! I'll give it a read.

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    28. A Rainbow Dash story with what seems a militaristic atmosphere, and no shipping?

      Sign me up I'm reading. If only the two stripes my uncle gave me after being in the Nat. Guard were truly my own certificate of hard work.

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    29. http://veggie55.deviantart.com/art/Training-Session-271881087?offset=100#comments

      That is all.

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    30. Hay guise! I'm just here to let you know that I've gotten back from--

      HOLY CRAP FIVE STARS? No time to talk! Must work on chapter 2!

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    31. Hell week <3

      Thank you, sir. May I have another chapter?

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    32. Good fic, I'm really liking it so far. Really wish the chapters were longer, but that just means it's so intriguing that want MORE!

      Honestly, love the characterizations. Can't wait for the next update.

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