Melody's Headcanons: Age Requirements of the Wonderbolts · 10:06pm Mar 19th, 2021

So, there has been a lot of fan speculation as to why Spitfire, Soarin, and Fleetfoot were able to join the Wonderbolts years before Rainbow Dash if, according to the flashback scene in Parental Glideance, they’re only a year apart in age. Well, here’s my headcanon:

There was a flight school that Rainbow Dash attended when she was pulled out of her original flight school (starting the rumor she got kicked out mentioned in Sonic Rainboom) known as Blue Angel Flight School. This school was similar to High School, and had different rankings. Newbies (White Angels), Moderates (Violet Angels), Professional (Silver Angels), and Elitist (Gold Angels). The Elites were Pegasi who were so good, they were top of their class and could pretty much become Wonderbolts the second they graduated.

Spitfire, Soarin, and Fleetfoot also attended the Blue Angel Flight School, but unlike Dash, who remained a Silver Angel, they were in the Elites. Rainbow stayed in the Professional rank due to not applying herself as fully, thinking she knew everything already (to be fair, she pretty much did). Before she could get a chance to make Elitist, she left the school to study on her own (hence the reason in the flashback we see her competing with Spitfire, Soarin, and Fleetfoot in races and yet in the present they act like they’ve never met-they were in different ranks so they hadn't.)

Meanwhile, Spitfire, Soarin, and Fleetfoot rose to the top of the Elitists and was pretty much set to join the Wonderbolts immediately after graduating. They would of course attend Wonderbolt Academy first to learn standard Wonderbolt procedures and alike so they would be set to go. And why didn’t Dash attend the same Academy if she was just as good and simply had lacked the want to apply herself in school? One thing: Age Requirements.

The Wonderbolt Academy used to accept Pegasi as young as 16-my headcanon for when Pegasi foals come of age (specifically Pegasi, more on that another time). Now, because of the age requirement being set so young as well as their rank in Blue Angel Flight School, Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and Soarin were able to join the Academy and become Wonderbolts fairly quickly.

However, after their time at the Academy, the age requirement was likely suddenly changed. Maybe an accident occurred during their time there, and while the trio weren’t affected, one of their classmates was. The officials deemed the accident a result of the young ages of the flyers, and thus switched the age requirement to be older. So while Spitfire, Soarin, and Fleetfoot were already in the Wonderbolts at their young age and quickly climbed to the top, not everyone got that chance.

And that brings us to the reason Dash (and Lightning Dust) took so long to become a Wonderbolt. She is a year younger than Spitfire, Soarin, and Fleetfoot. So, when it would have been her year to take Wonderbolt Academy (the year after they did) she was rejected because the age requirements had been changed. So she was forced to wait.

And that is my headcanon for why Rainbow Dash is only a year younger than Spitfire, Soarin, and Fleetfoot, and still had to wait so long to be a Wonderbolt.

Report Melody Song · 189 views · #Wonderbolts #Age Requirements #Been a while since one of these huh?

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