One day, Rainbow Dash was waiting at Canterlot depot to be given her next orders. It was a gloriously sunny morning, and not a cloud was visible in the sky.
Twilight pulled up alongside her with her vans. “Morning Rainbow!” she exclaimed cheerfully. “What’s going on?”
“There was some talk of a special visitor,” the Spam Can replied, “and I was kinda wanting to see who they were.”
“Yup!” said a large red diesel, rolling past with a goods train.
Twilight looked confused. “Is that all Bic Mac ever says?”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Yes. Yes, it is.”
A few minutes passed, and Rainbow Dash was on her own once again. The time crept by slowly. It seemed as the clock would never move.
But then, Rainbow suddenly heard a whistle. And there, backing toward her, was an engine.
She was long, with an 8 wheeled corridor tender, and had four leading wheels, six driving wheels, and two trailing wheels. Her boiler was handsomely proportioned to her frames, and upon her smokebox sat a pair of smoke deflectors. She was painted yellow, with two-tone orange lining.
“Hi their kid,” she said, with a smile.
Rainbow’s mouth hung open in amazement. “Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!” was all she could say. “It’s Spitfire!”
“The one and only,” the other Pacific laughed. “Look, I came here to ask you something very important.”
“Not because this is a stopping point on the Wild Blue Wonder?”
“Nope,” replied the raspy-voiced engine. “We have some training slots opening up for express locomotives. If you do well out there, you may well even become a Wonderbolt.”
Rainbow could not believe what she was hearing. The Wonderbolts were simply the best express locomotives in Equestria.
“How could I say no?” Rainbow answered.
“By making different mouth movements?” Spitfire suggested. “All right, I’ll see you at Cloudsdale depot, tomorrow.”
With a loud whistle, Spitfire pulled away. “Don’t be late!”
“Yes ma’am!”
The next day, after getting her coal and water, Rainbow Dash headed north, up the mainline. Normally she only ran south, toward Appaloosa and Dodge Junction (which was inappropriately named, given the junction had closed several years ago).
It was only a short trip, but it took ages with all the goods trains cluttering up the mainline. She pulled into Cloudsdale yard and saw that camp was already underway.
There were big engines, small engines, long engines, short engines, steam engines, what looked to a petrol engine, and a handful of electrics.
The engines formed up in position, to hear the opening speech.
“Listen up!” Spitfire boomed. “I imagine that you engines think you’ve got what it takes! I imagine you think this’ll be a cakewalk!”
She paused for dramatic effect. “Well you’re wrong! If you had what it took, you’d already BE a Wonderbolt!”
She rolled into the face of a 9F, Bulk Biceps. “Do I make myself clear?!”
“Y-yes ma’am!” he stammered.
Spitfire backed up, and rolled onto the track that Rainbow Dash was positioned on. “You look like you crashed into a paint factory! You sure you’re in the right place?”
“Yes ma’am!”
Spitfire puffed in front of an engine not dissimilar to herself, painted turquoise with two-tone gold and amber lining. “I’m willing to bet you’ll flunk out!”
The other engine cockily smiled. “Try me, ma’am.”
Spitfire looked stunned. “Excuse me?”
“Try me, ma’am.”
The larger engine smirked. “We’re playing it that way, huh? All of you, get out there and do 100 laps of the circuit!”
Rainbow and the turquoise engine effortlessly outpaced the others, zooming round and round the circuit at hitherto unseen speeds.
Eventually, Spitfire called time. “Ok you lot, that’s enough. Get to the shed for debriefing!”
Rainbow came to a stop. “That was amazing! May I ask your name?”
“Lightning Dust,” the other engine replied. “I’m a V2.”
“I’ve never seen one of you before,” Dash admitted.
“That’s because we don’t normally come down here. We usually run fitted freight from the Crystal Empire to Griffonstone and return.”
The two engines, now friends, headed off to the sheds to be stabled for the night.
The next morning, a new training exercise had been built. In front of them was a large turntable.
“This is the spin-o-matic,” Spitfire explained. “The engine that recovers fastest from the spin is the winner.”
She indicated to an EM1 electric. “You! Get on the table!”
The electric gingerly rolled forward, and stopped.
The turntable began to spin, slowly at first, but faster and faster, until it was revolving like a spinning top!
Eventually it stopped, and the electric rolled off, her eyes rolling.
“26.3 seconds, pathetic.”
Several engines were tested, but finally Rainbow’s turn came up. The world began to revolve, speeding round and round until everything was a blur and merged into one.
“STOP!”
The table ground to a stop, and Rainbow rolled off it.
Spitfire looked stunned. “6 seconds. That a new record.”
Then Lightning Dust rolled forward. “Maximum power, if you please,” she said.
The pacific looked a little surprised. “Are you sure about that?” she asked.
“Absolutely. We V2s like to push ourselves.”
“If you’re sure about it.” Spitfire indicated to the member of depot crew.
The table began to spin once again, going so fast it seemed it would never stop!
“STOP!”
The rails clanged into position, and with barely any hesitation, Dust sped forward onto the track.
“6.5. This is a day for records!”
The next morning, the engines all went to have headboards fitted. The engines were to be hauling a passenger train together, to test teamwork. Rainbow puffed into the shed to see her name written as ‘support’, and Lighting’s as ‘lead’.
“That can’t be right!” she said.
“You have a problem, newbie?” Spitfire asked, behind her.
“It’s just that I got the better time on the spin-o-matic, ma’am.”
The larger engine sighed. “It’s not a reflection of your skills. It’s safer for the smaller engine to go out front, that’s the only reason we do it that way.”
Rainbow backed onto the train of 10 coaches. Lightning Dust backed down in front of her and was coupled onto the train.
The signal flashed green, and away they went! They roared across bridges, and thundered through tunnels. The other trains were miles behind, when Dust had an idea.
“See that line on the ledge?” she asked. “We’re gonna take it.”
“But we’re miles ahead of everybody else!” Dash protested.
“So?”
Lightning whistled 3 times, and the points shifted in front of her. Up the ledge they roared, speeding along with power and courage.
But there was a rockslide up ahead. As they rounded a bend, rocks had blocked the rails! Both engines slammed their brakes on, but it was too late.
One moment she was on the rails, the next Lightning’s front bogie was hanging over the edge.
Dash had her brakes jammed on, holding the smaller engine in place.
“We need to whistle for help!” she said. “If we both sound the alarm signal, we can get their attention!”
So, summoning what steam they had, both engines let out long, loud whistles.
The breakdown train got to them presently, and got Lightning back on the rails. Rainbow towed her back to Cloudsdale depot, but Spitfire was not pleased.
“Whilst I agree with engines pushing themselves, I do NOT approve of needless risk-takers!” she snapped.
“I’m sorry ma’am,” Lightning replied.
“That, I’m afraid, is not good enough.” Spitfire rolled forward. “You’re dismissed. Go back to the Crystal Empire, before I tow you there myself.”
Lightning uncoupled, and rolled sadly away, her whistle blowing long into the distance.
Spitfire looked at Rainbow Dash. “Congrats rookie, you passed.”
Rainbow’s face lit up. “Does that mean-?”
“Yes. You’re a fully-fledged Wonderbolt now.”